Starting a new section today in Bucer’s 1535 letter to Bullinger, on that perennially vexed question of Franco-German relations.

Bucer on the Gauls

Concerning our response to the Gauls: For me, in Christ there is neither Gaul nor German, and it is not permitted to condemn those whom you have not caught being evil now; that they were so in the past is not enough for condemnation. I was asked to respond as to how the king could give his aid to uniting the churches and what could be tolerated as a legacy from received opinions as long as godliness was left unharmed. Those who were asking were not so evil that they should have been considered dogs or pigs–at least as far as I am concerned. For I ignore warnings that rely on suspicions. The Christian cannot be caught out; for he follows the Word of the Lord, and if someone departs from it in error, he considers it his profit to pay the penalty for it, indeed, he pays it for his own good.