A Treatise of the Cohabitacyon...

In this furst treatise theys / thinges ar contayned.

1. The question of Cohabitacion.

2. Christiãs maye not be present at popishe masses and supersticions.

3. The masse is a prophanaciõ of the lordes supper.

4. The dutie of princes is to mayntain pure Religion amonge ther subiectes / and what inferior Rulars must do when they be commaunded contrarie by their superiors.

5. A confutacion of the reasons which ar made to proue the Cohabitacion lawfull.

6. How the Iues ar to be handeled of christians.

7. The papistes ar heretikes.

2 Aij Whether the dwellinge toge·
ther and familiar conuersacion of the
godly withe the godles / the faithfull withe the
faythles / the professor of Christes
gospell withe the papiste be
lawfull or no.

T(The) He reasons bi whiche many do persuade them selues / and others also / Reasons prouing that it is lawfull. that yt ys lawfull / for the faythfull to haue famylier conuersation / and to dwell together withe the vnfaythfull, are theise.

1 Christe Iesus dyd go vnto the feastes and dyners of publicans and synners / and was there accompanyed and famyliarlie conuersaunte with them. In lyke maner beinge bydden of the phariseis to dyners / he went.

2 1. Cor. 7. Also S. Paule dothe byd / that the faythful whiche is ioyned in mariage withe the vnbeleuer sholde not be separated / yf the vnbeleuer will dwell withe the faythfull.

3 1. Cor. 10. Againe he teacheth / if any of them whiche beleue not byd you to a feaste / and if ye will go / what soeuer ys sett before you / that eate / &c. In an other place he likwise sayethe: 1. Cor. 5. I wrote vnto you in an epistle / that ye sholde not cõpanie withe fornicatours. And I meant not at all of the fornicatours of this || worlde / or of the couetous / or of extorsioners / or of the Idolatrors / for then muste ye neades haue gone owt of the worlde. But nowe I haue written unto you / that ye companye not together. If any that is called a brother / be a fornicatour / or couetous / or a worshipper of Images / or a rayler / or a drunkard / or an extorsioner / with him that ys suche / see that ye eate not.

4 Genes. 12. Abraham beinge called to go owt of Chaldee / ys commaunded to trauayle in those countries / in whiche the people were altogither vngodlye and wicked Idolatrours / that ys / in the lande of Canaan / and in Egypte.

5 Genes. 13. Lot refused to continewe in the housholde / and familiar companie of Abraham / and did chose to dwell amonge the Sodomytes.

6 4. Reg. 5. Naaman the Sirian / after that he was healed of his leprosie / dyd returne to his Idolatrous nation.

7 Marc. 5. Christ our Sauior dyd not reteyne with him all those whom he dyd heale / but commaunded some of thẽ to returne vnto their own famyliars / countrymẽ / and kinsfolkes (which yet were wicked / and infidels) among whom they sholde publishe and declare / what the lorde hade done for them.

8 The Iues both by the ciuile ãd canon lawes ar not only permitted to lyue among the christians / but also to haue their synagoges: and tribute is taken of them.

9 Some heretiques haue libertie giuen them by 3 Aiij ciuile lawes / to dwell amonge the faithfull: for the lawes do not apoynte them all to be punished by deathe. We reade that the Nouations hade their Churches and congregations / permitted in Constãtinople / in the tyme of Constantine the greate / ãd Theodosius / whiche were moste godlie Emperours.

These are the reasons by whiche many do persuade them selues and others / that yt ys lawfull for the godlie and faythful / to dwell together and to haue familiar conuersation withe the wicked and vnfaythfull / The disposition of the Tretise. To proue that their persuasions are false and vntrulie gathered of thes places / I muste propounde certayn diuisions: whiche beinge done / I shall put forthe certayne propositions or sentences In the prouinge of which to be true / ye shall playnlye perceyue howe these places alledged / are abused of them to maynteyne their false opinion.

The furst Diuision Firste / I muste deuide betwene the estates and sortes of men: Some sortes of men / are Magistrates and rulers: some other be subiectes and of the comen sorte of people.

The secõd Diuision The second diuision shalbe of cohabitation or dwelling together / of which one kinde ye free / that ys / where men be not compelled to cõmunicate withe wicked superstitions / vngodly rites and Idolatries.

An other kinde of cohabitation / or dwellinge together there is which ys not free / and that ys where || men are compelled to communicate withe wicked supersticions / to be presente at Idolatries / and so to defyle them selues.

The thred diuision. The thirde diuisiõ shalbe of the godlie and faithfull men them selues / whiche are thus familiarlie conuersaunte withe the vnbeleuers. Either they are learned stronge and able to confesse the doctrine of truithe in religion / and to reproue and cõuince the false: orels they ar vnlearned / weake / and vnable to stande in the confession of the truithe / and reprouinge of vntruthe.

These three diuisions shall suffice. Nowe will I put forthe certeyne sentencis and propositions.
The firste sentence and proposition / shalbe of those which in estate and condicyon are priuate mẽ and subiectes: Of that cohabitatiõ and dwellinge whiche ys free. And of those men which are learned ãd stronge: of all wich I make this proposition.

The furst proposition. Priuate men and subiectes / which ar learned and stronge / dwellinge in that place where they be free and not compelled to communicate withe wicked supersticions / they maye be famyliarlie conuersaunte / dwell ãd liue together with the vnbeleuers This maye they do / but yet vnder certeyn cõditiõs / and obseruinge certeyn rules.

1 Rules to bekept. Of which the firste ys this / that they do teache thos vnbeleuers with whom they do liue and are familiarlie conuersaunte / and do instructe them in the truithe / trulye teachinge them and earnestlie callinge them / vnto the knowledge of the truithe / 4 Aiiij and faythe in Christe. And this they muste not leaue of to do so longe as they be dwellinge and familiar with them. To the end also that they maye do this the better / yt ys not vnlawfull / but moste conuenient for them to shewe them selues frendlie / gẽtill / and louinge unto the vnbeleauers withe whõ they are familiarlie conuersaunte / and dwellinge / So that theise maye perceyue that the faythfull do loue thẽ: els ys yt to be feared that they shall do no good withe them. for that doctrine ys moste redylie receyued of the hearer / which cõmeth from him / of whom the hearer ys persuaded / that he ys hys frende / and that he louithe hym indeede.

2 The second thinge that the faythfull must take heede of / ãd Rule which they must obserue ys this: That they do lyue an holy lyfe / and that amonge the vnbeleauers their conuersacion be so godly / graue / comely / and agreing with their profession / that in no wise they do gyue any offence through the wickednes of their lyfe: for yf by their lyfe the vnfaythfull shuld be offendid / then shuld their mynistery be vnprofitable to the vnbeleuers / for that by their euell doings they shuld ouerthrowe what soeuer they labored to builde vpp in wordes.

3 The thred thinge that theise men must take heede of / and Rule which they must obserue is. That they do not communicate / with the vnfaythfull in their supersticiõs and idolatries / nor iet do so mutch as outwardly to seame to allowe them. Thys ys not to be doone in ony wise / no not in hope therby || to wynne the vnbeleauer from hys supersticion / and Idolatrie: Ro. 3 For this Rule of the holy ghoste doth euer remain certain / Euell things ar not to be doone / that goode maye comme therof. This vnchaungeable rule must not be broken.

4 The fourth and last thing that theise men must take heede of / and Rule which they must obserue is this. That they haue not ther familiar conuersaciõ with the vnbeleuers for their own cause / as for their pleasure and recreacion / or for their gayn and profite / but only in respect of wynnynge them to the gospell of christe. Neither ys this conuersacion and companie / contynually to be hadd and kept with the vngodly and vnbeleuers / but so long as ther is goode hoope of wynninge / and conuerting thẽ to the gospell of christe. For yf the vnbeleauers shall shew themselues so obstinate in their euell / that they giue iuste cause to despaire of ther amendement / then ar they vtterly to be forsaken / and no conuersacion or cõpanie is to be hadd with them / farther thẽ the necessitie of lyfe enforcith either partie. As yff the vnbeleauers shuld be in such extreme necessitie / that they could not be releaued but at the hand of the faythfull: or yf theise shuld be in that necessitie / that they could not otherwise obtain thinges necessarie but of the vnfaithfull. Also in byinge and selling thinges necessarie for the lyfe / as garmentes / victuals / and such like: Agayn in such thinges as cyuile estates / and condicions do require / as of princes and Rulars to demaunde 5 Av lawfull defence / and to obey them in thinges lawfvll: to fathers / maried folke / masters / ãd such lyke / to do thos duties which ar appointed in godds worde. In theise thinges to vse the vnbeleauers / or to minister vnto them / ys not vnlawfull.

Thus and in thys manier / yt ys lawfull for a priuate mã / which is lerned / ãd constãt in godds truithe / being in that place wher no man ys compelled to be partaker of wicked supersticions / to dwell together / and vse familiar conuersacion with the vnbeleuers and vnfaythfull / as theise named Rules and condicions / do appoint and suffer. And so haue ye this proposiciõ declared and opened / The same ys cõfirmed / by the example of Christ our Sauiour. He dyd resorte to the dyners / and feastes / where scribes and pharisees / publicanes and synners were / to thys ende onlie / euen to teache them and to winne them vnto the Gospell. So saieth hierom. Hiero in Matt. cap. 9. The lorde dyd go vnto the feastes of synners / that he mighte haue occasion to teache them and that he mighte gyue spirituall meates to them which dyd bydde hym: and after speaking how christe went ofte to feastes / Theare ys (saithe he) no other thinge reported / but what he dyd / and what he taughte there. That bothe the humblenes of the lorde in goinge to synners / and the power of hys doctrine in conuertinge the penitents / mighte be declared.

After the same maner / the prophetes in the olde tyme were conuersaunte with the Idolatrous people. || So were the Apostles famyliarlie conuersaunte with the vnbeleuinge Iues / and went also emõgest other vnbeleuing nations and men. Act. 17. S. Paule when he came to Athens / dyd not thinke skorne so famyliarlie to behaue him selfe that he went in to the temples of their Idolls / and verye curiouslie searched the corners of the same / he dyd viewe their altars / the titles and inscriptions of ther altars / so that he founde owte that title / Ignoto Deo which was an altar dedicated vnto the vnknowen God / wherof he dyd take occacion to make that same hys sermon in which he preached Christe vnto them euen as yt were owt of their own bokes.

And thus / I thinke / that this our proposition / (which of yt owne selfe ys plaine and euident ynoughe) ys sufficientlie proued. Namelie thys / that a priuate man / learned / and constaunte in the truithe / beinge in that place where no man ys compelled to communicate with wicked supersticions / maye be familiarlie conuersante with the vnbeleuers / so longe as in hys conuersation he doth obserue and kepe / the conditions before mencioned. Cõuersation vuith men excõmunicate. Here I thinke good to adde / as yt were by the waye of admonicion / that kepinge these rules and conditions / yt ys lawfull for the godlie to be conuersaunte with them which be excommunicate / euen to call them in to the waye of godlynes / and not to communicate with them in any euill or synne. The secũd proposition. Nowe will I put forthe an other proposition or sentence / whiche shalbe of those persons whych 6 be of a priuate estate and are subiectes / of that cohabitacion which ys fre wher no man is compelled to communicate with wicked supersticions / ãd of suche men as be vnlearned in the knowledge of gods truithe / weake in faythe / and therfor vnable to make a christian confession of truithe. Thys collection agreeth with that which I gathered before / of which I made my former proposition / sauinge that wheras there / with the priuate estate and free dwellinge / Ignoraũnce in men is intollerable. I coupled men that were learned and stronge to confesse the truithe / heare I do adde in the place of them / men vnlearned / vnable / and to weake to confesse the truithe. But herin thincke not that I do alowe suche ignoraunce and vnablenes in men. Suche ignoraunce in men is sharply to be reproued / for ther is none so veri an idiote / so simple and vnlearned amonge Christianes / but he ys bounde in conscience to be able to rendre an accompte of hys faythe / ãd also to be somwhat able to teache and instructe others / yea and to saye somwhat for the truthe / in all the principall poyntes of the christian faythe / which he may do yf he be but meanlie instructed in the Catechisme. But bicause / partlie throughe the peruersnes of the ministers which do not their office to instructe men / partlie throughe the negligence of men which do not their dutie in seekinge to be instructed / suche ignoraunce there is / I admytt therfore into this my collection those ignoraunte / vnable / and weake men. And so I make this proposition. Those men || which are of a priuate estate and condition / dwellinge or beinge in a place where they be not compelled to communicate with wicked supersticions. And are them selues vnlearned and vnable to confesse and defende the truithe / maye not vse famyliar conuersation with the vnbeleuers.

These men ar not in that condition that the learned be / of whom I dyd speake before / for they cannot teache the vnbeleuers / yea they be not able to defende the gospell of christe from the blasphemie of the vnbeleuers / neither can they deliuer them selues frõ suche false snares as the vnbeleauers shall laye for thẽ: Wherfor they must not haue familiar conuersaciõ with them / through which they shall thus throwe themselues into perill / and ieoperdie: Except that they can assure themselues of such strẽghth / that they shall not yealde vnto the wickednes of the vnbeleuers. Otherwise / if they shall happen to dwell togither in one place with the vnfaithfull: Lett thẽ take goode heede that they do lyue an holy lyfe amonge them: And for the rest / let them so far as the necessitie of lyfe / and ciuile businesses and affaires shall suffer them / vtterly abstayn from the companie of the vnbeleauers.

A question. But heere risith a question: Whether that such a weake and vnlearned man / maye learn ony of the liberall artes / or philosophie / of such a master as is an vnbeleauer.

Vnto which I answer: that forbicause to lern such artes of an vnfaithfull master is not of such 7 necessitie as can not be auoided / therfor the man that ys weake in faithe must not lern them of hym. Yt is a very daungerus thinge / to vse them which ar vnbeleauers as Masters and teachers: for often tymes in the myndes of the hearers ther arisith a gret admiracion and estimaciõ of the teacher / and it maye easilye com to pas at the lẽghthe / that they shall thincke and Iudge that theise teachers ar not deceyued in Religion / bicause they be of an exacte and perfect knowledge in these liberall sciences / ãd philosophie. This (I saye) may happẽ of it that men ar wont to attribute mutch vnto their teachers. Yea that it may be so / I will proue by the cõtrarie. Origen by teaching the Mathematicalls / and such sciences / did bring many mẽ to the knowledge of christe. For furst he dyd begyn to reade among them such sciences with which they wer delighted / In which he being expert / dyd shew vnto his hearers suche connynge / that he dyd forthewith gett amonge them great estimacion / and so the more easili drawe them vnto the doctrine of christe. Augustine likewise cam to Millaine / to heere Ambrose / bicause he was counted an excellent Rhetorician. And so whilst he desirusly herd hym / at the lenghth by hearinge he was tourned form the sect of the Manichees / vnto the true catholiques. As therfor by lerning of these sciences of godly teachers / the vnbeleauers haue beene conuerted vnto the faithe of christe / euen so / yea mutch more easilie it maye comme to pas / that they which || ar weake and vnlearned / may vnder vnbeleauinge masters / be drawn from christe to vngodlynes.
Wherefor seing that this can not be doone without great perill and daunger / that such a weakling shuld vse an vnfaithfull Master / I thincke that he shuld abstayn alltogether from suche.

Sum do heere obiect and saye / that S. Paul to the Corinthians doth appoint no such Rule condicion not exception / as I haue spoken of / vnto the weake and vnlearned: but he playnly saith. 1 Cor. 10. If ony of them which beleaue not / do bidd you to a feaste / and yf ye will go / whatsoeuer ys sett before you that eate / &c. In which wordes he teachith / that it is lefte vnto our own will as a fre thinge to go / or not to go. I answer / that ye must marcke well thos wordes of Paule / (and yf ye will go.) Hovv theise vvordes, and if ye vvill go, ar to be vnderstonded. He doth not grant vnto euery mans will thys libertie / and fredom / but vnto a goode and a right will he gyuith libertie to go. For yf a man wold go thether to drincke droncken / glotonusly to fill the belly / or to gyue the tongue to filthie and vncomly talke / without doubt that man shuld syn / euen for the wickednes of hys will / and for hys corrupt entent and purpose. Euen so / yf a man dowbted hys own strenghth / and dyd certaynly perceyue that he could not profite them that shuld be there / and yet wold go thether / vndowbtedly with a safe cõscience and with a goode will he could not take that thing in hãde / for he can not direct hys doing to the glorie of godd / as he ys cõmaunded to do. Wherefor though 8 Paul expressely doth not adde that rule / yt folowith not therfor / that yt is not to be added: yea that yt ys to be added I will proue by other places of the Scripture. And to thend that we do not herin depart from Paul / the same thing / and doctrine of will / 1. Cor. 7. he teachith in the .7. chapter of the same epistle: wher he entreating of gyuyng or not gyuinge a virgine to mariage saithe / That he doth well which keapith his virgin / ãd that purposith it surely in his harte / (addinge this condiciõ) hauing no neade / but that he poure ouer his own will: for if he shuld do otherwise then his daughter either wolde / or then her necessitie required / then shuld he neither will / nor do well. Thus to do a goode worcke / or to make an acte prefect / yt sufficithe not to take heede that it be not euell of nature / or repugnant vnto gods worde / but vnto this ys also required / that we do go about the same with an vpright and perfect mynde and will. S. Paul / therfor / doth not simply permitt this going / but with certayn circumstances. Which ar / to go with a goode will to enstruct the vnfaythfull: Agayn to go with an assured purpose / not to be, ãd taste of such strẽghthe / that he shall not be ouerthrown. And thus this proposicion remaynith true / that the man whiche ys weak and vnlearned / must separate himself frõ the company and famyliar conuersacion of the vnbeleauers / so mutch as cyuile and naturall businesses and affaires will suffer / and as the necessitie of lyfe shall require (as I saide before). Lykewise || all houshold duties and offices appointed in gods worde must be obserued / els shall he offend / for as Paule saithe: 1. Timo. 5. He that prouidith not for hys / and especially for them of hys own howshold / the same hath denied the faithe / and ys wors then an Infidell. And to proue farther / that this vnlearned and weake man must abstayn from the familiar companie of the vnbeleauers / yea thoughe they be most deere vnto hym / that Rule doth serue / which Christe our Sauiour gyuithe sayinge. Matt. 5. 18. If thy hande or fote offend the / and hinder the / cut yt of / and cast it from the / &c. If thyn eye offend the / plucke yt out / and caste yt from the. We ar not commaunded in this place / to cut of the outward membres of our bodie / as Origen (yf it be true that sum do report of hyme) dyd vntruly thincke / but as the sownd interpretours do write / thos frends and thinges / which ar most nighe and deere vnto vs / Theise ar they which must be cut of plucked out / and cast awaye from our familiaritie and companie / when they do plucke / ãd separate vs / from the true waye of saluacion / or be such a hinderaunce vnto vs as puttinge impedimentes and lettes in our waye / do hynder vs from walking in gods lawe. Chrisostom entreating this matier / writithe. In Ioan. hom. 15. If the membre which ys misioined vnto the bodie must be cut of / ar not then euell frends mutch nore to be cut of? And agayn / he saith / If we do cut of that membre which ys rotten / and incurable from the bodie / for feare les yt shuld corrupt the 9 B other partes therof / (which we do not bicause we do neglect it / for who yet did euer hate his own fleshe, but to saue the rest) how mutch more is this to be done to them which ar euell ioyned vnto us? Which yet we must not do as thoughe we did despise thẽ / but to prouide that our helthe and saluaciõ be not brought in daũger by thẽ, after that we do see that we can not profite them at all. To this also belõgith the lawe which christe did giue: Matth. 18. That he which will not heere the brethern admonishing him / And doth contemne the voice of the churche when it reprouith / and correctith hym: he is then to be estemed and taken as an ethnicke / and a publicane. 1. Cor. 5. Which thing Paule puttith in practise when he biddith / that the Corinthians shuld excommunicat the fornicator / les that a litill leauẽ shuld soure the whole lumpe of dowe. To the same pupose he usith the vearse of the poete Menander. 1. Cor. 15. Euell wordes do corrupt goode maniers. Ther Paul teachith that the true doctrine of the Resurrection was greatly hindered amonge the Corinthians / which wer but newly turned vnto christe / bicause they dyd to lightly gyue eare to the vngodly argumentes and reasons of philosophers / or rather of heretiques / which did contend and stryue agaynst that doctrine. No man can sufficiently consider / how the bewitching of wicked tales / and talkes / do shake and hurt the tender conscience ãd weake faithe / of the foeble ãd weake brother. Wherfor it is most necessari and profitable to admonishe || them which ar weake / that they do abstayn / and withdrawe them selues / from the felowshipp and familiar companye / of the vnbeleauers. The phisicions / do cowncell when a contagius disease hath enfected any nigh place / that thei which as yet ar sownd and not enfected / shuld not cõme vnto them that be enfected alreadye and sicke / bicause that in the bodies of men / and the temperatures / and disposicions of the same / ther is such a commõ passion and suffering / that the infection doth easily go from them that be infected / vnto the other. And though they which do not take heede and keape thẽ selues from that infection / do not presently feale the poyson and force therof / yeat inasmutch as by lytill and litill the infection / and poyson receyued doth growe / not long after they ar sure to feale the force and strenghthe of it. Seing this is so / and eich man maye worthily and godly take heede to auoide the diseases of the bodie / mutch more diligẽt heede is to be taken of all men / that they do not frõ ony man or place gett vnto themselues infecting vices of the minde. Our Nature / and disposiciõ through our naturall and birthe syn is now so corrupt / (as both the holy scripture doth warn vs / ãd infinite examples of dayly experiẽce do teache vs) that we neade not to dowt at all / but that we shall easily receyue the poison / and infectiõ of other mẽs synnes / if we do not fle farr from them: And as with no great labour they will cleaue vnto vs / so after they be ons crept and roted vnto vs / thẽ hardly 10 Bij and not without great payn and labor / will they be thrust out agayn. In Ioẽm. hom. 56. Wherefor Chrisostom in the afore named place semith to say well. If (saithe he speaking of the vnbeleauers and wicked) we coulde make them better / and not hurt our selues / all thinges wer to be doone: but whẽ we can not profite them / bicause they be incurable / and such as will not be amended / and yet we hurt our selues / they ar vtterly to be cutt of. And to the end that he might the more strongly confirme his saying / he alledgith that sayinge of Paul: 1. Cor. 5. Put awaye the euell from among yowe. Which wordes of Paule ar not to be vnderstonded of the synne / for the greke word is in the masculyne gendre / τὸν πονηρον / and therfor he meanith by it / the wicked man. The same wordes I will now sumwhat bend / vse / and turn / vnto the profite of you that be weake / and thus saye vnto yowe. Put awaye your own selues from the euell men that ar emongst you: for seing ye ar but priuate men / and vnlearned / and therfor can not put away the euell from among you / yet your selues ye may ridd / and conuey awaye from being emongst the wicked / and the euell men.

Morouer it happeneth that whilest the weake and vnlearned do thus familiarly accompanie the vnbealeuers / They cã not chose but they must heare many subtill reasons and see many other thinges which do mutch make against the true religiõ that they do profes: Which thinges when they se and be not able to disproue and confute / They do it || not: And so they rõne into two mischeifs. The furst is / That they ar as it wer witnesses of the blasphemie / and of the reproche that the vnbeleauers do to the truthe: the seconde / that they maie happ to haue summe stinge left sticking in their concience / with which they shalbe longer / more greuusly and daungerusly tormented / thẽ either they thincke of or do feare. Let vs heere therfor the wise mã which doth saye. Eccles. 13. Who so touchithe pitche shalbe fyled ther with all / and he that is familiar with the proude / shall become lyke vnto hym: Take not a burthẽ vppon the / aboue thy poure / neither ioyne thow thi self to hym that is more honorable / and ritche then thiself. These words of the wiseman / do for two causes belong to our purpos. Furst / bicause that they do teache / that other mens synnes ar lyke vnto pitche / which doth stycke vnto the fingars and garments of them that do touche it. Agayn / that eich man shuld well trie and consider his own poure and strenghth. Vppõ which cowncell / I do gather two thinges. Furst / that the infirme and weake must not ioyn themselues in familiaritie with the wicked / for wickednes will then cleaue vnto them: Secondly that eich man must so well consider / and iustly trie his own poure and strenghth / that he doth not ouermatch himself.

The churche of godd in all ages hath felt by experience that mutch euell hathe happened through this familiar companie / and felowshipp keapt betwene the weake in faithe and knowledge / and the 11 Biij vnbeleauers. In the Primitiue churche forthwith after christes ascension / because the Iues which wer conuerted vnto christe did lyue a great while with thos gentils which hadd receyued the gospel / ther begon a very Iuishnes. For the Iues did enforce the ceremonies of Moses lawe / myngling thẽ with the doctryne of the gospell / through which they did infect many congregacions of the christiãs so sore / that scarsely and hardely at lẽghth could that euell be roted out: Yea that euell hath so preuailed / that euen vntill our tymes / in Spayn namely / and in sum other places also / ther be many which do not only holde still the ceremonies of Moses lawe with the professiõ of christe / but they do thincke them to be necessarie vnto Saluacion. They emongst the Spaniards which be of this mynde / ar called Marrani. And vnto this daye the churche of India is enfected with the same vice. But let the examples of the holy scripture / I praye you / teache vs euen the same. The Israelites which wer captyues in Babilon / by the space of 70. yeares / when they hadd libertie gyuen them furst of Cyrus / then of Darius / thos two most noble Kinges to return / they did not all forthewith return / but a great nũber of thẽ / such namely as wer weaker in the lord thẽ other / being delighted with the commodities ãd pleasures of their houses / feildes and traffique of merchandize / did abide still amonge the chaldees: Which men how sharpely they wer reproued of Esdras / Nehemias / Zacharias / and || || other prophetes / it dothe playnly appeare in the scripture to them that liste to seake and knowe it. How the Israelites wer infected throughe that conuersacion which they hadd with the Egiptiãs / it appearith playnly by this / that whilest they wer in the desert / when as yet the wonderfull benefites of godd wer euen before ther eyes / they did fall frõ the lord their dilyuerer vnto Idolatrie / and vnto that kinde of Idolatrie / which they wer acquaynted withall in Egipte. Ther they hadd seene howe the Egiptians worshipped an Oxe / Exod. 23. they therfor violently trauailed with Aarõ when Moses was absent / that he shuld make thẽ a calf to worshipp: which when he hadd doone / thẽ began they ioyously to crye: Theise ar the godds / O. Israell / which brought the out of the lande of Egypt. Agayn / when by the desert wild and barren places / Numer. 25. they wer comme to the coastes of the Moabites / and began to waxe more familiar with them then became the poeple of godd / through that familiaritie they wer brought to this / that not only they did cõmitt most vile whordom with thos beastly womẽ / but also that they sacrificed vnto their most shamefull Idoll / Baalpeor / and suffred themselues to be coupled vnto his sacrifices. for which they suffred many miseries and calamities. Math. 26. Peter likewise / when he cãme into that wicked court of the cheif prest and was ther conuersant emongst thos damsels and vngodly seruantes / most miserablie did he denie ãd forsweare his master christe our Sauiour: 12 Biiij which his fault / after he departed frõ thence / he did bewaile with abundaunce of teares. By these histories ye may playnly see / what happenith vnto the weake through that familiar conuersacion which they haue with the vnfaithful. Esaiæ 6. Esaye the prophet / when he did se the lorde sitting vppon his seate of glorie / with his Angels about hym most purely publishing his prayse / though he semith not to thincke hymself greatlye gyltie of ony notable cryme or fault / yet cryeth he out / O wo is me / &c. I dwell amonge a poeple that hath vncleane lyppes. This man of godd truly did thincke / that he hadd gotton no small corruption and infection / bicause he hadd lyued long with an vncleane poeple.

The histories of the heathen do teache vs the same thinge. Alexander that gret and mightie kinge of Macedonia / who by the force of armes / and most notable victories / hadd subdued the greatest parte of the whole worlde / Euen he hymself was ouercomme with the maniers of the Persians.
And vppon whom of right / as vppon a conquered poeple / he shuld haue laied lawes / to haue brought them to that seuere kinde of lyfe which the Macedonians vsed / euen he as a mã cõquered ãd ouercõme of ther maniers / suffered hymself to be so shamefully misused / that he did take vnto hym their kinde of araye / their lowse delicacie / their pompe and pride / and set furthe hymself to be worshipped of thẽ as godd. And so being corrupted he did allow that || fall from the maniers of the grecians / through which he did sustayn great reproche amonge the wise / and mutche hatred amonge his souldiours / ãd that not vnworthilie. Besids this / we must knowe / that if these men do without ony Rule or godly end keape such companye / and be familiarly conuersant with the vnbeleauers / except that in theise the fruite of their conuercion do quickly appeare / and of the other also it be by all meanes ernestly sought / both in the reprouing of their vnbeleif / ãd in alluring them to the truithe / It doth happen that ther conuercion is hindred by such companie and familiaritie. For whilest the vnbeleuers do se that the faithfull do lyue so frendly / and familiarly with them / they do iudge forthewith that their supersticion / and vnbeleif / is not so wicked a thinge / nor yet a thinge so to be abhorred ãd condẽned / as it is reported / yea thus maye they be brought to imagin / that they maye be saued though they do perseuere / and contynue in their vnbeleif. For if it wer otherwise (shall they thincke) theise goode and godly men / wold not be thus familiar and frendly with vs.

I do omitt to speake of this / that many other of the brethern ther ar / which by the example of this conuersacion / do persuade themselues that they maye do euen the self same thinge / and so do beare with the wicked / and do wincke at their euell / bicause that they haue seen other men do so before them And thus it commith to pas / that by the 13 Bv example of sum men / this euell spreadith it self abroade so that in the end / our faith and Religion / is euẽ layed forth for the wicked and vngodly / to mocke / and contempn.

Often tymes also that thing happenith / which we reade to haue happened in Pauls tyme / amonge the Corinthians / 1. Cor. 10. that the brethern by this conuersaciõ / ar brought to be partakers of the wickednesses / vile custumes / and Idolatries of the vnfaithfull: Which familiar conuersacion / dothe not only couple them with the vnfaithfull / but it is a meane to make them Idolatrours: for thauoiding of which / Paule cryeth out in the same place: 1. Cor. 10. fle Idolatrie. I do likewise passe ouer with silence / that wher our weake and vnlearned brethern / do thus ioyne themselues in familiar conuersacion with the vnfaithfull / it can not be but betwene them and the vnfaithfull / sumtyme ther will happen communicacion of Religion: And thẽ though it happ so that through want of learninge / our weaklinges do not slyppe and foile them selues / Yeat bicause they can not dissolue / and answer vnto the arguments / and subtile reasons of the aduersaries aptly / ther arisith then contentius stryfes betwen them / and not only this / but euel speakings / reproches / and hatreds / which thinges ar so farr from edifying / that they do altogether hynder and lett it: furthermor in these conflictes it happenith / that our weaklinges at lenghth are putt to silence / so that they neither speake to confes the || truithe / nor to reproue that whiche is fals: Now consider heere what a libertie these men do lose: which christian libertie is in free boldenes in speakinge / to reproue that which is fals / as to confes godd / and his truithe. This libertie of free speaking and confessing / no christen man ought so to gyue ouer / but that he in all his talke shuld and might vse it.

But in this cõpanie of vnbeleauers / these weaklinges do not / yea darre not vse it / les they in ther sayings / shuld be snatched vpp / ãd put to shame. Yet truly no men / nor ony companye of men shuld cause a christian to caste awaye this fredom and libertie.

2 Cor. 6. For our purpose also makith that sayinge of S. Paul. Set your selues at large / for what felowshipp hath righteousnes with vnrighteousnes? Or what companie hathe light with darcknes? Or what concorde hath christe withe Beliall? Either what parte hath he that beleauith / with an Infidell? Or how agreith the tẽple of godd / with Images? These wordes ar so playn that they neede not to be expownded: In which / this conuersacion of which we now do entreate / is most simplye / and playnly forbidden. The figures and ceremonies of Moses lawe ar taken awaye / but yet the thinge figured / which is as I might saye / the strenghth / the pythe / and foundacion of them / doth remayn. Numer. 15. Which thinge being true / I maye thẽ aske this question. The lorde commaunded that the Iues shuld 14 make gardes in the quartiers of their garmẽts / ãd to put vppon the garde / a ribande of yelow silcke / &c. My question now is. Whi the lorde did commaunde / that the Iues shuld differ from the gentils / not in circũcision only / but euen in their garments also? Euen for this cause verily / that they shuld be taught euen by their gardes also / that they wer gods peculiar people / and that they shulde separate themselues from the gentils / that they shuld not be conuersaunt with them / neither shuld they ioyne themselues in familiaritie withe them / farther then the necessitie of either of the lyues did require. The Iuishe gardes we do reiect / but this which is ment by the gardes we both do and must retayne. In many places the lorde commaunded the Iues also that they shuld not return into Egypte / and that they shuld not aske healpe of the Egiptians / nor of the Assirians: Which he did partly to this end / that through such familiaritie as then must haue beene betwene them and their healpers / the Israelites shuld not be infected withe their vices. The booke of the Iudges / doth playnly inough teache vs this will and pleasure of godd. Iudic. 2. For the Israelites did synne greuusly in this / that they did put to tribute thos Idolatrus nacions / ouer whom the lorde hadd gyuen them uictorie / and did couenant with thẽ / that they shuld dwell amonge them in peace / which thinge godd hadd diuers tymes expressly forbidden them to do / commaunding that they shuld vtterly destroye || the inhabitãtes of that lande: This he did partli bicause / that through this they shuld not be brought by the Cananites / into the daũger of Idolatrie. Now the cause being such with these weake / and vnlearned men / of whom I now do speake / they must likewise take goode heade to obserue that rule / which the lorde appointed vnto the Israelites. It appearith playnly / that this commãdement of god was kept longe tyme amonge the Iues: for they did not vse ony familiaritie / nor keape companie withe the Samaritans which did not truly worshipe the lyuynge godd / no not in christes tyme / Ioan. 4. as it appearith by the talke that he hadd with the woman at the well. Morouer as the goode fathers in olde tyme / did esteme it as their singular ioye / when they might be familiarly conuersant with the godly / so how mutch they sorowed Whẽ they could not be so conuersant with the people of godd / and in godds house / Dauid is witnes: Who when he fledd from the face of Saul his persequtour / did mourn / and in the psalmes with most heauie complaintes / doth lamẽt / that he was compelled to be conuersant amonge straungers / such as did not knowe the lyuyng godd / and to be as it wer an exile from godd / and his people. So shuld the companie hadd with the vnfaithfull / be heauy and bitter to the faithfull.

Daniel 1. Daniell and his thre felows / might haue lyued / vppon the Kinges table / and haue eaten most fyne and delicate meates / but they did rather chose to lyue 15 together with potage / and water / and vtterly to forsake thos pleasures / and delicacies / then they wold defile them selues with the meates of the vnbeleauers. Moses also / as it is writon in the epistle to the hebrues / Hebr. 11. might if he wold haue beene taken for the Sonne of Pharaos daughter / and so to haue beene in greate hoope of obtaynynge the kingdome of Egipte: but all this sett a parte / he did chose rather / forsaking all theise thinges / to go vnto his brethern / which wer in miserable bondage / seruinge and laboring in claye / and bricke: Which thing to do / as it was a greate triall of his faithe / so the doinge of it doth commend / and sett furth his faithe / and shew what loue he hadd to be conuersant with the people of godd. They which do not folowe these examples / do shew how litell they do regarde the glorie of godd / and the communiõ and felowship of sayntes / which they will not gayne nor redeame with losse / no thoughe it be of neuer so litill: And in this preferring of their own gayne welthe and commoditie / aboue the glorie of godd / and the felowlie communion of the godlye / they do most wickedly. 1. Cor. 10. Do we (saithe Paule to the corinthians) prouoke the lorde? Ar we strõger then he? Theise weake brethern / which do not trie their own strenghth to fele their weaknes so / that they might seeke the encreace of strenghth in them selues / but being weake indeede / both dare and do thus desperatlie committ themselues vnto this familiar conuersacion with the vnfaithfull / they do || tempt godd / and do after a sort prouoke hym / as thoughe they wolde becõme stronger than he.

Many more reasons might I bringe to proue this proposicion true. That a priuate man / being in a place wher he is not compelled to communicate with the supersticiõs of the vnfaithfull / and is vnlearned vnable / and to weake to confesse the truithe / must not ioyne in familiaritie / nor be familiarly dwelling and conuersant together with the vnfaithfull. But bicause I do suppose that it is sufficiently proued by the reasons which I haue alledged / I will now prepare myself to an other proposicion.

The thred proposicion shalbe / of Priuate men and subiectes / which ar lerned and stronge / and of them also which ar weake and vnlearned / of that dwelling which is not fre / wher as men ar compelled by lawes / and Tyrannye to communicate and to be partakers with the wicked in their supersticions and Idolatries: And of theise I make this proposicion / and sentence. The thred proposicion. Priuate men and subiectes be they learned or vnlearned / stronge or weake / which ar dwelling and abyding in that place wher men ar compelled to communicate / and be partakers withe Idolatrors / and to be present at vnlawfull supersticions and Idolatries / defiling thẽselues with vncleane Religiõ / maye not dwell together nor be familiarly conuersaunt / they may not ioyne in societie with suche Idolatrors: I saye / that this cohabitacion / and familiar dwelling 16 together is vnlawfull / vngodlye / and not to be kept in ony wise: But in this case a faithfull man must either flye / or dye for the truithe / that he be not compelled to defile himself with Idolatrie. Ther is truly but one truithe / and that same must be holden with a pure cõscience / neither must it be forsakẽ for the pleasure of ony man. 1. Cor. 10. S. Paul saith to the Corinthians: flye ye Idolatrie. Then do men flye Idolatrie / when either they do depart frõ the place wher Idolatrie is cõmitted / or when abiding still in the same place / they do gyue their lyues and suffer deathe bicause they will not cõmitt Idolatrie nor allowe it with ther presence. Paul therfor teachith by this sayinge / that in no wise the faithfull shuld come at the Idolatries of the vnfaithfull / but flye frõ them: which sentence is so playn to the vnderstondinge of the most symple / that it neadith no exposicion at all. The lawe and the prophetes / the olde Testament and the newe / ar full of such sentences / ãd cõmaundementes / which do forbidd straũge worshippinge of godd and Idolatrie. 2. Mach. 7. Call to your mynde the historie of the Machabees / which I do not recite as thoughe I wold gyue to that booke ony lyke autoritie with the Canonicall scriptures, but bicause the historie is rehersed not only ther / but also in Iosephus / and the examples of them ar profitable for vs / therfor I do alledge them. That godly Mother hadd rather haue the whole fruite of her bodie to be miserablie destroyed / thẽ ons to taste of swynes fleshe.

Gen. 2. Swynes fleshe / and Adams apple / of their very nature ar not so to be abhorred / for eiche of them is a goode creature of godd. But forsomutche as vnto them godd hathe ioyned his worde to forbid the tasting of them / therfor euen as Adam could not eate the forbidden apple / so could not they eate swynes fleashe without committing of greate synne: which rather then they wolde do / the poore babes offer themselues to the deathe / and the godly mother doth most stronglye therto encorage thẽ and most constauntly abide the same herself.

In the church of christe ther haue beene innumerable martirs / as Eusebius / and others do write / which haue most constantly abidden deathe / bicause they wold not depart from the Religion of christe / nor file thẽselues with Idolatrie: They wold not put one grayne of franckinsence vppon the altars of the Idols / nor throwe one floure / nor ons bowe the knee before them / but suffered rather deathe. Matth. 10. Luc. 12. They hadd this alwais before ther eyes: Feare not hym that killethe the bodie / &c. And that he speakith of killing the bodie / is likewise to be vnderstonded of taking awaye of goodes ãd ritches: But he is to be feared / which after that he hath taken awaye bothe lyfe and goodes / can throwe the soule into euerlastinge fire / feare hym.

S. Paule to persuade the Corinthians that they shuld abstayn from meates offered vnto Idols / vsith theise reasons: 1. Cor. 3. Bicause they wer the Temple of godd. They wer the membres of christe / and therfor 17 C they might not become the mẽbres of an Idoll. Bicause they wer partakers of the lords table of which they could not be partakers and of the table of Deuels also. And the same thing that Paule said vnto the Corinthians / do I also saye vnto these our brethern of whom I do entreate.

Daniel. 3. Daniel his thre felows did gyue themselues / to be thrown in to the burnynge fornace / rather then they wold worshipp the kinges golden Image. But theise thinges must now be applied vnto theise most vnhappie Daies / in whiche / wher poperie rulith / the godly which do dwel togither with the vngodlie / the professours of christes gospell / I meane / With the papistes / ar compelled to be at ther Masses / and most vile and filthie Idolatries and supersticions: vnto them doth this proposicion reatche / and of them therfor I do playnly affirme / and saye this / It is not lawfull to be present at the popyshe Masse and supersticions That it is not lawfull for thẽ to be present at the popishe Masses / at popishe superstitions and jdolatries. It is to well knowne / that many fondlye do flatter / and indeede deceyue them selues / imagining that it is lawfull for them to be present at this popish pelf. Againste whom with all ther clokes I vse this sayinge of Paule / flye ye Idolatrie. But here they resiste and saye / that this sayinge and suche other as before I haue alledged / are to be vnderstanded of the sacryfices done vnto Idoles / and false goddes / and not of such supersticions as are nowe growen and vsed in papistrie / As of masses / and such like / for in || the sacrifices of the gentils what so euer is done / yt is done vnto Idolles / But here in the masse that whiche ys done is done as a worshippe vnto god / for the name of godd is caled on: It hathe the begynynge of Christes ordinaunce and institution, although that some nowghtie men abuse it: wherfore / seinge theis do thus differ from the other / theis can not by these sentences / and like reason be forbiddẽ to them / as Idolatrie was to the Corinthiãs: This they saye. But theis mẽ shuld considre and wel vnderstande / that theris no owtwarde worcke wiche is to be estemed as a worshippe and seruice of godd / but only that which is apoynted and ordeyned by godds worde so to be / which ordinaunce in the worde if it wante / it is vtterlie nothinge ells but mans inuention what so euer it be: for worshippings of god and goddes seruice are they not / but only when they haue godds worde to beare and warraunte them. God can not be truly worshipped with out faithe, for if faithe be not in the worshippe that is done vnto god / that worshippe the lorde dothe abhorre / as the Prophet Esaie dothe witnes. Incẽse is an abhominable thinge vnto me / I maye not awaie with your newe moones. &c. I hate your holie dayes / &c. Thus dothe god reiect the seruice apointed in his worde / because it was done without faithe. If the seruice and worshippe of God taughte in his worde maie be done with out faithe / and therfore displease god / mutch moore these worshippinges which haue not their ordinaunce in godds worde ar done withe out 18 Cii faithe / therfor do displease godd: for faithe hathe no place at all where goddes worde is not: now these inuentions of men be they neuer so glorious to the eye / they be not ordeyned in godds worde / they can not therfor be doone in faythe / they can not please god / uuhat so euer is not of faith is synne. Ro. 14. yea god dothe abhorre them / and accompte them as an abhomination / because they be not so done / in faithe I meane In faithe they be not done / because they are not taughte in godds worde / for where ther is no worde of god there is no faithe / and where no faithe is / there is no worshippe of godd / but a filthie hypocrisie / and stinking abhomination. Nowe let the papistes shewe that ther masse is a worshippe of god / taughte in his worde / whiche we saie plainlie that they can not do / let them do it therfore if they can / and when they haue do yt / then will we saye with thẽ: But vntill they haue done it / their masse shall remaine a filthie and stinkinge abhomination before the lorde / and suche a thinge as the lorde dothe deteste and abhorre. If so be that we will do honour and worshippe vnto men / we are accustomed principallie to obserue with what thing they are moste delighted / which thinge after that we haue perceiued / we do it / and then do we thinke to haue bestowed our labour wel when we haue done it: God is delighted onlie with that seruice which he hathe set forthe in his worde / wherfore he that will do godd acceptable seruice / muste do that which his worde teachethe / and in suche wise as it || techethe / els as the lorde by the Prophet Esaie sayeth / he dothe detest and abhorre their sacrifices.
Isay. 1. And to proue that the masse with all such popishe baggadge is verye Idolatrie / I neade not to bring mani reasons / for this one thing dothe easelie teache it. There is no true god that wilbe worshipped with this popishe seruice: for the true liuinge god hathe in his worde plainlie apointed the maner howe he wilbe worshipped / in wich word this masse / and their popishe pelf is not taughte / but they ar cleane contrarie and repugnaunte vnto it: wherfore whẽ the wicked papistes do their popish seruice vnto a god (they saye) it is plaine that they do not worshippe that true lyuinge godd / whõ the holy scripture teachith vs to knowe and worship / but sum such other godd as they haue fayned in their fantesie to be their god / such a one as is delighted with these their seruices: But seinge that in verye dede there is no suche true god at all / as they do Imagine / the god then whom they serue is but a newe god / fantasied and inuented in their owne myndes: wherfore by righte their god maye and must be called / an horribe Idoll / their masse likewise with all popishe seruice done vnto him / abhominable Idolatrie / And they which do such popishe seruice vile Idolatrors. But wher as they saye that those thinges wich be done and spoken in the masse hadde their begynnynge of the ordinaunce of Christe, and that by the wikednes of men they are corrupted: This sainge helpethe not at all / for 19 Ciij in these thinges / it is not the begyñynge that is to be consydered only / or that can make them good onlie / seinge they are swarued from the truithe / but nowe their nature / and vse vs to be tried / whether they do agree with the verie worde of god or no. numer. 21. what thinge hade a more pure begynynge euen by goddes commaundement then the brasen serpent? It was erected god both willinge and commãdinge it. It was sett forthe with miracles / for whosoeuer dyd beholde it he was deliuered from the bytinge of deathlie serpentes / 4 Reg. 18. But this not withstondinge when mẽ dyd worshippe the same serpent and offered incẽse vnto it / the godlie dyd so abhorre it / that Ezechias that most holy kynge not regardinge at all the begynnynge of yt / dyd breake it in peces / and vtterlie destroyed the worshippinge of yt / Therfore it is not sufficiẽt to cõsider the begynnynge of a thinge / but howe the ordre and vse of yt dothe agree wyth the firste institution and ordinaunce. This acte of Ezechias is praised in the scripture. And wolde to god that we hade now an Ezechias wich wold so handle the masse. ffurthermoore our men wolde haue this thinge to be consydered in them / that thoughe they go to the masse / yet they haue no mynde to decline ãd departe frome god / but that they worshipp hym ther: vnto this I answer / that the Israelites when they dyd compell Aaron to make them a calfe to worshippe / they hade not indede that mynde that they wolde fall frõ the true lyuynge god / so || that they wolde no more confesse that he deliuered them out of Egypte / but this only was their mynde they wolde not reteyne that worship of the inuisible god which was deliuered them in worde / but they wolde worshippe the true God vnder some signe / and visible form and shape / whiche sholde represent vnto them the liuinge God their deliuerer: And that shape or forme they moste desyred to haue / wich they hade seene the Egyptians vse to represente vnto them their god: They vsed the form or shape of an oxe / the very same forme wolde the Israelytes nowe haue: And as the very heathen men mighte haue sayde that they worshipped the one only true liuinge god the Author and maker of all thinges / whose maiestie was shewed / figured / and set forthe vnto them by those diuers signes / and formes / which they dyd worshippe: As that the signe of Minerua dyd set forthe his wisdom: the signe of Mars his mighte and power: the signe of Iupiter his Iustice and goodnes: So wolde the Israelites haue their god and deliuerer set forthe vnto them in the shape of a Calfe / not that they mynded to turne awaye from him / or to denye him (as they thoughte) but because they wolde worshippe him as it pleased their fantesie. But we muste not apoynte the manier and ordre of godds seruice after our mynde and iudgment / or as they cõmonlye saye / after the goode intent of men: for this doinge in the Israelites god did not like / but for yt he punyshed them grevouslye: 20 Ciiij Nether dyd Moses alowe it / for he knewe that god wolde not so be worshipped. This cloke therfore must haue no place in this matier. but we muste see whether god will haue suche worshippe and seruice / whether goddes worde teachethe yt / whether it be clothed with the worde of truithe / which if it haue not / then dost thou not worship the true god with that worshippe which pleaseth him. Ieroboã thought mutch after this sorte / 3. Reg. 12. for his mynde was not to drawe the people awaye from the worshippe of the god Iehouah / but he feared les if they sholde customablie go to the temple at Hierusalem / the people wolde fall from his kingdom and ioyne themseues agayne to the house ãd stocke of Dauid: wherfore he sekinge his owne profite / sayde / that it was not nedefull that they sholde go vp vnto the temple / and to the Arke of the couenaunte when they wolde worship the true god: for the same god which was represented vnto thẽ by the Arke of wodde ãd the tẽple / mighte euen aswell be represented vnto them by these newe signes and golden calues: There is no chaunge but euẽ of the forme and owtwarde shape: for as at Hierusalem by the Arke / so here by the calues the liuinge god sholde be represented: And what makethe yt matter what the signe be / so the worshippe be all oone: Therfore the same worshipp that ells they sholde do at Hierusalem / they mighte more commodiusli do yt in bethel / and dan. So that he dothe nothynge ells / but establishe || this owtwarde worke / in wich he wolde haue thẽ worship the true god: but he hade no warraunte in godds worde for it / and that beinge absent / ther is nothinge in his acte remayninge but mans worcke / supersticion / and Idolatrie: so is it iudged. And therfor none of his subiectes shuld haue herckned to hym. So now / when Tiraunts / Kinges / Queenes / Bisshopps / and such other as ar the soudiours of Antichriste / the Pope I meane / do compel and constrayn men vnto such vile and vngodly supersticions as the popishe brood haue and do sett upp, althoughe they do pretend a goode well willing mynde vnto their poeple and countrith (as thei saye) and that all shalbe for their wealthe: And thoughe they do also saye / that theise thinges ar of an auncient begyñynge and cõtynuance: Yet indeed they ar but popishe Idolatrours / and to Idolatrie do they trayn men. Therfor their subiectes must not herken vnto them neither obey them herin / But do rather as S. Paule teachith. Ephes. 5. Haue no felowshipp with their vnfruitfull works / but rather reproue them. He callith theim their worckes, for gods worckes they cã not be called / bicause they do differ / ãd swarue frõ his worde: with thẽ (saithe he) haue no felowshipp What then is to be doon in that case? We must (Paule saith) reproue theim. And that so oft as neede shall require / to reproue theim with greate libertie and boldenes: So farr must we be from dissemblinge with them / that we must (he saithe) 21 Cv reproue them. If thou be a preacher / preache against them: If thow be noone / yet speake against them / reproue them / and condemn them. But our men do saye / That it wer very perillus to do thus: for then (saye they) shall we be burned / or hanged / we shall loose our goodes / londes / and promocions / I heare you well. And do yowe on the other part consider this as well / that ther is not one of vs all which hath receiued christendome vnder such a couuenaunt and condicion / that with it he shuld haue and holde in safetie his lyfe / his ritches / and dignities without perseqution: it is saide vnto vs / and in this case as a lawe layed vppon vs all / Math. 16. that Except we do renownce and vtterly forsake all our thinges and take vpp our crosses and folow christe / we can not be his disciples / and except we do lose our lyues we shall not saue them.
This verily / this must we determyn with our selues / this must we appoint our selues vnto / to do and abide this must we caste our acompt / To this euery christian must be so readie and bent / that he shuld not doubt / no not deliberate or take aduise of this matier.
Ciprian. That example of Cyprian is to be sett before our eyes: When he was brought vnto the place wher he shuld suffer deathe / The magistrate being very desirus indede to deliuer hym from deathe / sayde vnto hym. Now I do gyue the space to deliberate and aduise thi self well / whether thow wilt thus || Wrechedly dye / or obey / and be let go free. To whõ this godly mã answered. In so holy a thinge / ther is no deliberacion or aduise to be taken. This readines must euery christian haue in this case to beare the crosse ãd to followe Christe as Christes disciple. Trulye they whiche be not this wise mynded / but to saue their lyues and goodes do defile them selues with masses / and wicked supersticions / art greuouslye punished for it euen presentlie: a greuus punishement. firste their owne conscience dothe miserably torment thẽ. Secondlie the light of goddes truithe which was opened vnto their mynde is by lytell and lytell put owt. Then the loue of the truithe and the hate of falshode waxeth colde in them. fourthly their mynde becommith nomore displeased or vnquieted for the euill that they do / but they begynne to please them selues in this their euill and dissemblinge / yea ãd do go aboute to persuade others ũto the same. Laste of all they begyn to hate thẽ which do not harcken to their aduise and counsell / which is to do as they do / yea and they stirre vp againste thẽ sharpe persequtiõ / for so moche as in thẽ lyethe. This hathe bene the moste vnhappie ende of many. But this is not the end of all their miserie / as ye may well perceyue / if ye do consider what is appointed to be their perpetuall porcion / which shalbe payed them full truly in the laste daye. Let them therfore beware of this bottomles pytt which feare to breake their neckes. But some there are which in this their dissemblinge are wonte to defende 22 thẽ selues after this sorte: we do not theis thinges (saye they) with our hartes / we do only thus behaue our selues in bodie / and in outward behauiour. To whom I do answer: god he is the lorde of harte and bodie / as he requireth the worshippe of the harte / euen as iustlie and seuerlie dothe he commaunde the owtwarde worshippe of the bodye: for these owtwarde doinges are a kinde of confession / and therfore as men owght to be sounde and vprighte in the beleif of harte / so owght they to be in owtwarde cõfessinge and expressinge of their godlynes and religiõ. The doinges of men be as it were a tongue: The tongue dothe confes the thinge that lyeth in the harte by wordes: so doinges do giue a confession therof in dede: As he therfore which denyethe with tongue is a denyer of Christe / so he that in owtwarde worckes and doinges denyeth Christ / is iustlie called a deniar. Of whom Christe doth saye. mat. 10. he that denyeth me before men / him will I denye before my father which is in heauẽ: wherfore as the tõgue owghte not in the confession of godlines and religion to differ from the mynde / so muste not the owtwarde doinges of the body disagree from the same. And vnto these men this also I saye / with paule / Rom. 10. that the belefe of the harte doth iustifie / but the mouthe and owtwarde doinges do make the confession vnto saluation / And therfore Christe dothe saie / mar. 8. he that is ashamed of me before men / of him will I also be ashamed before my father which is in heauen. Morouer || I wold it wer well knowen vnto these men / that it is no true faythe which doth not breake forthe in workinge that worke which dothe agree with faithe. As is writen of Christe / who verylie soughte the glorye of his father / The zeale of thy house hathe eatẽ me / This zeale dyd not lye in Christes brest only / but it brake forthe into wordes / as it apeareth by his sermons / and into deedes also / as yt apeareth ther / wher he withe a whippe dyd dryue the byars and sellers owt of the temple:
This is a zeale / which only deseruyth the name of a christian zeale. And euen the same I saye of faythe. What zeale thẽ / what faithe / what studie or care for faithe is it / that these men do bragge of / that they haue shutt vp so close in their brestes that it breaketh not forthe into wordes and dedes? As This true christian zeale / and their dissemblinge can not be together in oone man / euen so true and lyuely faith can not lurcke in such a dissemblinge breste. ffurthermore / there are two kindes of worshippe due vnto god / an inwarde / and an outwarde worshippe / The inwarde worshippe is of the mynde / that is when we beleue goddes truithe / and do thinke of god true and worthye thinges / The owtwarde worshippe is of the bodye / which is declared by those owtwarde signes that do belonge to the true worshippe of god / In lyke maner there are two kindes of Idolatries / one is inwarde / which is the Idolatrie of the mynde / that is when a man dothe not thinke 23 well / nor beleue trulye on the true lyuing godd / but dothe fayne vnto him selfe throughe false doctrine / either a straũge god in his owne mynde / or straũge worshippinge of god: An other is outwarde wich is Idolatrie of the bodie / and that is whẽ we do bestowe the worshippe wich is only due vnto god vppon creatures / And whẽ we do owtwardlye worshippe god other wise then he wilbe worshipped.
Truly Theise dissemblers do not giue to god this worshipp of mynde and bodie which is due vnto him / but the Idolatrie of mynd and bodie they do commytt / bothe because they owtwardlie do ioyne with papistes in their Idolatrie / and because in their mynde they do persuade them selues that it is lawfull for them so to do. We thinke / (saye they) as you thinke / and in our hartes we do reteyne the truithe / and so our mynde is pure. But your bodyes ye do giue ouer to the deuill and to Idolls. 1. Cor. 6. Thy bodye / sayeth Paule / is a membre of Christe / why doest thow make yt the membre of an harlot? here they will saye againste me / that Paule spake this of whordome / I graunte that: But the prophettes do teache vs that the moste vile and horrible whordome is Idolatrie. Hieremie / Ezechiel / ãd the other prophettes do speake so against the Iues and their Churche / that they name it to be euen like an harlot which hathe opened her legges vnd^er euerye tree that hade any bowghes to Idolls and vngodlye Idolatries. Wherfore if thow maye not make thy bodye the membre of an harlot, thow muste || not make yt the membre of an Idoll. This collation betuene whordome and Idolatrie is playne and true / taughte by the prophettes and Paule. Morouer howe vayne this ther excuse is / that sayinge dothe sufficyentlie declare / in which the lorde pronounceth. 3. Reg. 19. I haue lefte me seuen thowsand in Israell / of which neuer man bowed his knees vnto baal / nor kissed hym with his mouthe. He sayeth not / which thinke well in their mynde / which do beleue well / but he sheweth the signe of owtwarde worshippinge / that is to bowe the knee / and kisse. which doth teache that ther is required vnto the true worshipp of godd / not a pure mynde only / but the owtwarde sygne / token / and doinge of worshippe / and seruice. The lorde our god is not content with halfes / he will not part stakes with the dyuel. Esay. 45. All knees (saith the lorde) shall bowe vnto me. God will not parte so / that he shall haue the mynde / and the dyuell the bodye. All is myne / saythe the lorde / and I will haue all or none / I will haue bothe the obedience of the harte and the bowinge of the knee: Which worship by these thy dissemblinges thou takest from god / and so thou dost robbe him of his honor / and bestowe it vpon Idolles / euen popishe masses. But thou saiste / I despise the Masse / and all Idolatrous poperie in my harte: why then doest thou prostitute thy body vnto yt? My mynde ys pure thou saiest: yee / but god will haue mynde and bodye pure. If this thy reason and excuse were of any force / then mighte the Corinthians 24 haue sayde to Paule / why doest thou so reproue vs? we also by the grace of god do knowe that there is no Idoll. A true opinion we kepe in our mynde of godd his truithe / let god be cõtent with that / and in the meane tyme our bodies shall serue for our cõmodyties. 1. Cor. 10. But paule telleth them plainlye that they do communicate with deuills. The meates offered to Idolls of their owne nature were pure / yet when the corinthians do eate them with the Idolatrors in ther Idolatrie / then they become (saith paule) partakers of the table of deuilles: when ye then be present at a Masse / which is an Impure thinge / and do ther as the papistes do / mutch more iustly is it sayed of you / that then ye ar partakers of thos deulishe dragges which ar in the Masse. Again our men do obiecte and saye: It is not we that haue corrupted theis thinges / we wolde be gladde to haue them pure and incorrupte: ther impuritie must not be adscribed vnto vs. I answer: An other mans synne shall not indeede be imputed vnto the / for eche man shall beare his owne synne: but yet this thinge I do reproue in the / that thou dost communicate with wickednes: This is thy synne / here thou art defyled. and for this shalt thou be iudged. Paule sayde vnto the corinthians: 1. Cor. 10. Ar not they which do eate of the sacrifice / partakers of the temple? what saye I then? that the Image is any thinge? or that it which is offered Images is any thinge? Naie. but this I saie / that the thinges which the gentills do offer / they offer to deuels || and not to god. I wolde not that ye sholde haue fellowshippe with the deuills: ye can not drincke of the cuppe of the lorde / and of the cuppe of Deuels / ye can not be partakers of the table of the lorde and of the table of deuels. Thoughe corrupcion of meates offred vnto Idols is not to be imputed to all them that be partakres of them / (which wer not indeede corrupt of thẽ selues (as I saide), but when they wer offred vnto Idols that made them corrupte) yeat the veraye communicating and eating of them with Idolatrors is a fault iustly layed to their charge / from which they shuld haue keapte themselues aswell for the honor that they do owe vnto godd / as for the conscience which they ought to haue to edyfie other men. If it wer not so / whi did paule thus rebuke the Corinthians? Yea whi wolde not our holy martirs of the primitiue churche communicat and be partakers in the Sacrifices of the heathẽ? The martirs might haue saide / we knowe that an Idoll is nothing / and to offer vp sence to them is but an owtward thing / we do it but in bodie / our spret and harte is pure / and that we do / against our will we do it &c. They veryly did know no suche excuse / but they cõsidered that godd required this / that they shuld outwardly confes hym / and reproue / and fle from Idolatrie: And therfor aswell for their duties sake towarde godd / as bicause they wold not offend the brethern by their example / they did gyue their lyfe in the quarell without making ony such blinde excuses.
25 D These men do saye further that the Masse is not to be lickened iustly vnto the Idolatrie of the heathen / for that was directly forbidden of godd / so is not the Masse / saye they: for thoughe it hathe sumwhat swarued aside / yeat is it the Instituciõ of christe. But to the contrarie I do saye / that the Masse is so farr swarued from the ordinaunce of christe / that it hathe nothing agreing with christis Institucion / yea and that it is most directly repugnãt ũto it / A very Idoll / wherin massemũgers do committe very vile Idolatrie. And this will I proue by diuers reasons. ffurst of all. The Supper of the Lorde / as it was delyuered of christe shold be a publique and a common worcke and action: for Christe our Sauiour made it with his Apostles. But nowe in the Masse / ther commithe forthe one sacrificing preste / disguised with straunge araye / and he doth all thinges alone / the rest stonde still loking / heeringe / and holding their peace. If paule did worthely and Iustly saye / when the Corinthians did not tarie and loke one for an other / that they did not then eate the Lordes supper / then ther is not the Lordes supper eaten / wher one tarieth not for an other so that they maye eate all together: And how shall we then saye / that the Masse is the Lordes supper / wher one only sacryficing prest doth eate and drincke vpp all alone? surly it can not be so called: for to be, and not to be the Lords supper / ar || contrarie / Paule saith / it is not the Lords supper / wherfor call your Masse by what name ye will / the Lords supper it is not / for paule is to be beleaued before all massinge marchauntes.
They saye morouer that in their Masse / they do offer vpp the sonne of godd vnto the eternall father for the synnes of the quicke and the deade: And this they do call the principall point of their masse. But in the Laste Supper of the Lorde that Scacrifice and oblaciõ was not made / but vppõ the crosse / as the scripture witnessith. And as for this their offerẽge / ffurst / paul doth denie it in most playn words in the epistle to the hebrues / Heb. 9. 10. wher he sayeth that all oblacions for synne wer consummate and finished / and all thinges made perfect by that one only oblacion / which christe Iesus our Sauiour in his own parson made of hymself vppon the crosse. The worde of godd teachithe / that christe was but ons only to be sacrificed and offered / And that Sacrifice no more to be made: for if it wer often to be made / then the furst was not perfect / But the furst was perfect / Therfor ther must be no repeating of it. The papistes do saye / that they dayly offer christe for to take awaye synne / and that this Sacrifice must be dayly repeted of them / The scripture denieth this playnly: And thus ye do se that heere is a playne contradiction.

Again The supper of the Lorde was not instituted 26 Dij to the end that such a sacrifice for synne (as they fayne) shuld be made of it / but that in the vse of it the communicantes shuld be put in mynde / and made partakers of that only propiciatorie sacrifice which christe offered ons only for all euer vppon the crosse. And therfor ther Masse / in which they wold worcke such marueyles / and the Lordes supper ar vtterly vnlyke. But here they will reply and saye.

The fathers do speake thus of this Sacrifice / We graunte indeede / that the fathers do often tymes speake so as thoughe that the lorde wer offered in this administracion of the Sacrament / or sacrificed: But they vsed this worde / Sacrifice, improperly / for by that kinde of speaking they did onderstonde / the offringes of praise / and sacrifices of thanckes made and gyuen for christes sacrifice done vppon the crosse / This they called to sacrifice. Our sacrificing prests ar not content with this / for they will haue their own worcke to be an vnwonted worcke / belonging to them alone / which neither the scriptures / nor the fathers do teache: ffor to offer this Sacrifice of whiche the fathers do speake / partayneth not to the preist alone / but to the whole poeple that stõdith by / and doth cõmunicate / And so it is a || common oblacion and sacrifice of all / not of the preiste more then of the poeple / but this only that the preist both in wordes and action / doth go before the poeple.
de Ciuitate dei. lib. 10. cap. 6. Augustine doth saye / that the churche is offered in that offeringe which it doth offer. For all which do communicate / they do offer them selues vnto godd / and do testifie that their will is / to abide in christe.
The papistes do holde also that the breade is turned into the substaunce of christes bodie / and that ther remaynith nothing but the qualitie and accidẽce of breade as whitenes / &c. for the substaũce / saye they / is christes bodie. But the scripture saith that christe in his laste supper did gyue breade vnto his disciples / 1. Cor. 11. and paule callith it breade also / yeat in the Masse the papistes saye that it is otherwise.
The vse of the breade and wyne by christis instituciõ is only / that the congregacion shuld eate and drincke therof in the remembrance of christe / But the papistes in their Masse do most shamefully abuse them both. For wheare as the worde of godd saythe: Deutron 6 math. 4. Thow shalt worshipp the Lorde thy godd and hym only shalt thow serue / They in ther masse do lyfte vpp the breade and wyne / and euen in the rowme of godd they sett them furthe to be adored and worshipped of the poeple: now how farr this differrith from the vse of christes supper eich man may se. Yea what can be more vile and filthie Idolatrie / then to adore and worshipp a peace of brede ãd cupp of wyne / as godd? Be not offended that I do 27 Diij vse theise bare names. I do confes / that whosoeuer acording to the Lordes Instituciõ doth cõmunicate with the cõgregaciõ and dothe eate the breade ãd drinke of the cupp of the Lorde / beholding the deathe of christe with Lyuely faithe / the same man is in sprete ãd after his manier / made partaker of the body ãd bludd of the lorde. Contrari wise if thow do not vse the breade and wyne acordinge to the ordinaunce of christe / but gase vppon them / then ar they nothinge els to the / but breade ãd wyne: But if in a popishe Masse / or in the popishe hãging / heauing / carying / or handelinge of them / thow do worshipp them / thẽ ar they vnto the a false Idoll / ãd thow indeede a filthie Idolatror. If therfor thow wilt be partaker of the body and bludd of christe in the holy supper / then eate the breade and drincke the cupp as the lorde hathe instituted. Godd wold haue the poeple in the vse of the holy Supper to ascend vppwarde into heauen in mynde and affectiõ / that they might ther cleaue fast vnto christe. And therfor the true ministers of the churche do labour to the vttermost of their poure / thus to lifte vpp the poeples mynde into heauen / that they shuld not seeke christe in the worlde / that they shuld not thinck ony fleshly or earthely thinge of hym: Theise men clean contrarie in the order of their Sacrament and Masse do miserably detayn the poeple in the earthe / bynding and holding them to the visible signes.

1. Cor. 14 The apostle commaundith that thinges shuld not be doone in the congregacion in a straunge tongue || / except ther wer an Interpretour / that the thing being vnderstonded of all / the hearers might saye / Amen / and that the edifyinge of them shuld be sought. Now theise men in their masse do all in the Laten tongue / which is to the common poeple vnknown / and they do defend this theyr doing euen against the worde of godd. But it is most certayn that christe our sauiour in his administration / and after him all his apostles and disciples which wer hebrues / vsed theyr vulgare hebrue tongue / the Grecians also their greke tonge. And euen vnto this daye the Sclauonians in their churches vse their vulgare and commen speache.

Those wordes of our greate and singuler consolation / in wich the partakinge of Christes bodye and bloude is promised / the papistes in their Masse speake secretlie / they whisper them so that euen they which knowe the Latine tonge cã neither heare thẽ nor vnderstande them. And so do they rumble them vp to their owne selues as thoughe the people were vnworthie to heare thẽ: But christ in his super spake thẽ openlie. And so the greke churche ãd the Churche of India / do yet speake thẽ with ã audible voice And the aunciẽt manier was / as Ambrose and Augustĩe amõg other of the fathers do testifie that the people dyd answer vnto those words. Amẽ. But as I suppose the papistes do thus murmure ãd speake these words in secrete / bicause they wolde not haue their Lies knowen / for they do saye / Take ye and 28 Diiij eate / and this so oftẽ as ye do / do yt in the remẽbraũce of me. But who taketh / or to whõ do they giue? The wordes be spokẽ to the people: And yet they thẽ selues do eate and drike vp all alone / and do distribute vnto no mã ells. Is not this to make a lie? To lie alwaies is takẽ to be an euill thĩge / but before god to lie / is a moste shamles and wiked thinge: who dothe eate (o ye lyyng papistes) or who doth drinke wyth you? If ye do distribute at any tyme to ony other ye do yt not when ye your selues receyue / but ye chose for them an other time / yea and another kinde also / for to thẽ ye do minister but the breade onlye. Thus ye se that all theise thinges which these massers do in their masse / ar contrarye to the institution of Christe. Ther masse then and Christes supper ar not lyke.

The papistes saye that by their Action (I meane ther handeling of ther breade and wyne) they do applie vnto others the profitt of Christs bloudie sacrifice and passiõ. Of a Sacramẽt they saye that they make sacrifices to profit the quicke and the Deade. and this do they ĩ ther masse. But the scripture teacheth / that there is but one only propiciatorie sacrifice / able and auaylable to take awaie synnes / whiche Christe Iesus offered in his owne fleshe vpon the Crosse. And that euerie man muste applie vnto him selfe by liuelie faythe the benefite of that same sacrifice of christe / as the scripture teacheth likewise / that eche man is iustified by his own faithe, and || that eche man in his owne righteousnes or vnrighteousnes / doth liue / or die. It teachithe also that christe did institute the sacrament only to this end that the congregacion shuld eate and drincke it in the remẽberaunce of that same his Sacrifice. And that eiche one in the drincking therof shuld apply vnto himself by faithe / the fruite of that Sacrifice. Now compare the doctrine of the scriptures and of the papistes in this pointe together / and thou shalt se that their Masse is contrarie to christes Institucion. But as they haue / so still will they saye:

That aswell the liuing as the deade be helped by this their acte applied at their pleasure. If they wolde saie that thei profyt others by praier / that were tollerable. But they go further and saie / that ther verye massinge worcke it selfe / hathe so moche vertue / power ãd strenghthe in it / that it shall profit not only all kyndes of mẽ / but all such creatures ãd beastes for whom they do say ther masse / bicause in it they do applye the benefite of christes passion: but ye must vnderstõd whẽ they be payed for ther labor. This is an horrible error in no wise to be suffered / for as I sayed / ther is but one only sacrifice propiciatorie to take awaye synne / which one sacrifice eiche one of vs must applie vnto our selues by liuelie faythe / And this applyinge faithe is the only gifte of god: But on this grounde buylde they their purgatorie and mutch other such pelf / by which they do pycke mens purses. They saye ther Masses also 29 Dv in the honor of this / or of that saincte. And of what saintes? suche verylie whose histories are not certaynlie knowen / and are of none authoritie / yea many of thẽ are no better then poetes fables / of whõ not vnworthelie we doubte whether they be sainctes or no: But be it that they were true sainctes / yet this their doinge is moste cõtrarie to christes ordinance / for Christe did institute his supper to this ende that it sholde be vsed in the remembrance of his deathe and not of other mens / weare they neuer so holye.

In their masse they haue also diuers and sundrie rytes ãd customs / clothes / signes / gestures / tornes / remouinges / ãd blissinges / of and with the breade ãd wine / but christe vsed none of all theis in his supper: And what they do meane by these thinges the poeple doth not knowe / neither can the priestes them selues for the most part tell what is ment by them: for if ye aske the meaninge of them / either cã they saye nothinge at all / or if they do saie owghte / they do not saye all one thinge / but thinges that be moste cõtrarie / wherby a mã maie iudge that there is no truithe at all in their wordes. But here they do saie. Thinkest thou that the foolishe vnlearned people in the olde Lawe dyd vnderstand all the legall ceremonies? no it was not requisite / no more is yt nowe: To this I answer / Althoughe that all the poeple dyd not knowe what was mente by them in the olde lawe / It sufficed yet that they hade the worde of god for them / Nowe do yee shewe vnto vs the || worde of god for theise your signes and it shall suffice vs.
Agayne the godly and lerned preistes could shew what was ment by the rites and ceremonies of the lawe / and that by the word of godd: but ye can do neyther of theis: for ye haue enuented theis toyes in your own braynes: signes ye do call them but ye do not know what thinges they do signifie. And therfor as in rites your Masse doth differ from christes supper / so whẽ ye saye your pleasure of your rites / ye ar not to be beleaued: for faith hath no place where goddes worde doth not shew it selfe. I saide that massemungers in their masse do committ Idolatrie. Their bready god hanged vp in a pix / and their Images / vnto which they turne them selues and do make their moste vncleane seruice and sacrifice do proue this true: Neither do they accompte it sufficient to behold theis their Idols when they saye their Masses / but also they so offer vnto them / they cense them / they bowe the knee vnto them: let them nowe denye whilest they will that they do not worship the breade / nor the Images / yet this worship they do them / This kinde of worship (I saye) which is giuen customabilie vnto god alone / as the lawe of god teacheth. But seing they giue this vnto these Idols / are they not Idolatrors? yes truly. And howe thẽ dare ony christian be present there / to vncouer the heade to bowe the kne to offer and do such like thinges with them?

They saye that ther Masse is christes Institution / And our men (of whom I now haue spoken) do saye that the Masse hath sum affinitie with christes institucion of the holy supper.

But I saye that the olde heathens myghte wyth more coloure of truithe / excuse and defende their sacrifices by that maner / then these men maye do their masse. ffor verylye the sacrifices of the heathen haue lesse departed from the maner which the fathers vsed in sacrificinge before the lawe giuẽ / which also the lorde approued in the lawe / thẽ these massers do frome the supper which Christe / and the Apostle paule hathe prescribed. In bothe their sacrifices was the inuocation of god / a Temple / an Aultar / slayne sacrifices / sacrificinge priestes / sleynge of beastes / sheddinge of bloude / salte / wine / oyle / mele / an holy feaste / holy garmentes / washinge / censinge / fyer / singinge / prophecies / and suche other thinges / all which to repeate it were to longe: let our Massers (if they can) shewe so many thinges which Christe did in the holye supper: Which thinge if they can not do / then let them cease to boaste that their Masse is the institution of Christ and the Apostles / from which it differethe so farre that if the Apostles and fathers of the primatyue churche were nowe here to beholde this || masse / they sholde not knowe it to be the lords supper / but wolde surlie marueyle at suche a monstruous mahometrie.
I omytte also that in and with their Masse they haue many Anniuersaries yearemyndes / diriges done for the deade: But The Lord did not institute ony of them. If they saye that Cyprian and others of the fathers do speake of suche Annyuersaries: I answer that those of which the fathers do make mencyon / were nothinge els but thãckfull remẽbraũces of the Martirs departed / in which they did gyue thancks to godd for thẽ. They also in their Masses do call vppon the saintes and holy men departed / which is a thing most contrarie to true godlynes / and vtterly vnknown and vnpracticed in the administracion of the Lordes supper.
And to be shorte all their thinges which they do in their Masses / they do choppe and chaũge / they bye and sell and sett them furthe to most vile and filthie gayne. Wherfor / my most Louing Brethern take ye diligent heede / les whilest ye pretend to worshipp godd in your going to Masses / and to entreate hym to be mercifull vnto yow / ye do not most mightyly kindle his wrathe against you by hearinge of theise Masses: which as ye playnly do se / ar nothing els but a shamfull deuise sett vpp to deface the deathe of christe / a pestilent practise fownde out to ouerthrowe the true vse of the Lordes supper / and an Idolatrie inuented to infect the poeple and to make them Idolatrors. 31 whearby eich man may easily iudge / how great a synne it is / to be partaker of a Masse.

But notwithstondinge all this which is spoken / yeat theise men whiche thincke that they maye dissemble at the Masse / cease not to saye / That thoughe the Masse be not the Lords supper / but an Idolatrie / yet is not the presẽce at it so earnestly to be forbidden / seing that such thinges haue been graũted vnto the Infirmities of mẽ: If a man do aske them wheare: Naman. They do bringe forth the Example of Naaman the Syrian / and by it they will neades haue it made Lawfull vnto them to communicate with wicked supersticiõs. 4. Reg. 5. for he prayed Heliseus / saye they / that he might be suffred to kneele in the temple of Rymmon that Idoll / whẽ the kinge did worshipp / and leane vppon his arme. whom the prophet answered / goo in peace. And that / saye they / which was permitted vnto Naaman / whi do ye forbyd vnto vs? ffurst theise men shuld weye with them selues / whether that we only haue redde this Example of Naaman / or not. So we thincke that the holy Apostles and Martirs of the olde churche which wer occupied nighte and daye in the holy scriptures / did not consider this acte and Example? Truly they wer not ignorant of the historie / yet did they neuer knowe this vnderstandinge of it: for if they did / whi then wolde they not folow this example / especially when they might therby haue saued their lyues?

But these holy and godly learned men did see || that thinge in this historie / which our men do not consider / namely this / that Naamã now newly cõuerted to the faithe was a smoking flaxe which was not to be putt out / a weake and shaken reade which was not to be brosed in peices / and that as yet he was very weake / for he was not yet prepared and readye to denye and forsake hymself and all that was his for goddes sake. He thought that it might cõme to pas that he shuld together with the knowledge of the Lyuing godd / easili holde and keape still his old place / office / and dignitie / if he coulde happen to haue that / which he desired of the prophet: And when he did well perceyue that this was his infirmitie and synne / it trobled himso that therfor he desired the prayers and helpe of Heliseus: he desired hym / that if he shuld happen to fall into this euill / yeat that he might be fauored / that he mighte finde mercie / ãd that Heliseus wold praye that the Lorde wolde forgyue hym. Who doth at ony tyme aske forgyuenes for that which he accõptithe Lawfull? forgyuenes is asked for synnes only / Naaman therfor acknowledged this his acte to be a synne: And if I so fall (quod he) then praye the Lorde to forgyue me. This place therfor doth make most against our men / and euen the same wayes which they go about to excuse their facte / by the same it is most playnly proued to be synne. Let them aknowledge therfor in their doĩge that thinge / which Naaman the Sirian did. And let them begg the mercie of godd / and the prayers of godly men / that the 32 same thing which they haue euell doone / and do / maye be pardoned them. Neither did Eliseus / as our men do thincke / graunte Naaman licence or libertie to do so as he hadd sayde / but only he saide vnto hym / goo in peace: which manier of speaking was a kind of takinge leaue vsed in that age. And as for any other thinge ther can none be gathered out of thos wordes / onles it be this that he promised to do that which Naaman required: goo thy wayes (saithe he) I will do as thow desirest / I shall praye for the. The prophet doth not reiect hym / if he shuld fall into this euell. As we do not vtterly reiect nor shutt theise mẽ frõ grace which thus do fall: Yeat must we sharply reproue their doinges that they may acknowledge their fault and synne / and vnfaynedly lament and repẽt the same. And we ought also hartily to praye that they may be raysed vpp agayn. They do obiect also certayn wordes out of the Epistle of Ieremie / which is ẽtitled Baruch. The wordes ar theise. Bar. 6. Now shall ye see in Babilon godds of golde / of syluer / of wodde / and of stone / borne vppõ mens shulders to caste out a fearefulnes before the heathẽ / But loke that ye do not as the other: be not afrayed let not the feare of thẽ ouercome yowe. Therfor when ye do see the multitude of poeple worshipping them behinde and before / saye yee in your hartes / O Lord / it is thow that oughtest only to be worshipped / Of theise wordes our men do gather / that it is sufficient for them when they ar present at Idolatries /
|| Masses / and popishe supersticions / to saye in ther harte / O Lord it is thow that oughtest only to be worshipped. In answer to these men: furst I saye / that this booke entitle Baruch is none of the Canonicall scriptures: And therfor no man is bownd to the doctrine of it. But admit the booke wer of sufficient auctoritie / Then theise men must vnderstonde / that the prophet doth not gyue the Iues leaue to comme vnto the temples of Idols / that ther they might be present at vngodly Idolatrie / bowe ther knee / and so make vpp the matier / with sayinge in their hart to the true and lyuyng godd / O Lord / it is thow that oughtest only to be worshipped. But he gyuith the Iues instruction against Images which wer caried about / ãd Idolatries which wer vsed in those places wher they were exiles: ffor the Maneir of the Babilonians was / not only to haue Images in ther temples / but also to haue them sett abroode and caried openly vppon mens shulders. As it is not vnlike that the Image of Nabugodonosor, which beinge dedicated in the feilde of dura, was caried aboute the whole Regiõ with Musicall Instrumẽtes ãd sõges / at the sownde of which whersoeuer the Image was seene / commaundemẽt was gyuẽ vnto all mẽ that they shuld worshipp it: which Daniels felows wolde not do. Of theise thinges I saye / that epistle entreatithe / playnlye to warne the godly / that they shuld not adore / nor worshipp thos Idols thoughe that the heathenishe poeple did so bothe before 33 E them / and behind them / but when they did see this Idolatrie / detesting it / they shuld then saye / O lord / it is thou to whome worshipp doth only belõge: he saied not / bowe the knee with thẽ / and saye in your hartes / o lord / it is thou &c. but when ye do see these Idols and Idolatrye / say so. These seyngs and suddayn meetings in the cytie streetes ãd fieldes / could not be auoyded / and therfor the godly were to be enstructed and admonished / how they shuld behaue them selues in that case.

But our men / as they are veraye bolde to abuse the scripture for their purpose / go on further and aske / how it happened that Daniel was not throwen into the fierie fornace with his felowes? Daniel. 3. seing lyke punishement was appointed vnto all men which did not worshippe. They will of necessitie haue it graunted them therfor / that Daniel did dissemble / (as they now do) and that therfor nothing was done vnto hym: And that thinge which Daniel dyd / they thincke that they maye do. I aunswer our men thus / that they do not reason well to saye / He was not punished / therfor he was ther and worshipped / they do out more in the consequẽt / then is in the antecedẽt / and so to reason is to make a subtill cauillacion / taking that to be a cause which is no cause. For there might be many other causes / wherfor Daniel was not likewise punished: happilie the Image ãd he did not meete together: or yf he did meete it / men did not mark what he did: or els though men marcked that he did not worshipp / yet he was not accused: || or yf he were accused / yet through the singular fauour which the King did beare vnto him he was delyuered from punishmẽt. It must not then forthewith folowe / that Daniel for feare of death did present himself before that Idoll / and did dissemble his Religion / doing there as other Idolatrors did: this we must not iudge of Daniel / Daniel. 6. seing in the lyke quarell / he was not afrayde to be thrown vnto the lyõs. Now seing there may be many other causes why he was not caste into the fire with his felowes / why do these men chose vnto them selues this one cause? and that such a one / as is sclaũderous vnto that holy man / of which in the holy scriptures / there is not so much as a suspicion contayned. Yet they do thinke that they do not vnaptly saye for themselues / and defend their cause / when they do alledge that out of the Actes of the Apostles: Actor. 21. where mencion is made howe that Paule / through the councell of the Elders of the churche of Hierusalem / did take on hym a vowe with other foure men / and did purifye hymself after the maner and custumme of the Iues. Yf (saye they) suche an Apostle dyd take thys lybertye to vse in Iurie the ceremonies which were now abrogated / euẽ we also maye vse / and comme vnto the rites / and ceremonies now vsed in our countrithe. For the better vnderstõding of this matter we must first well consider what the somme of Paules preachinge was: Rom. 3. We do suppose (saith he) that a man is iustified by faith / without the workes of the Lawe. Gal. 3. And as many as are vnder the deedes of the Lawe 34 Eij are subiect to the curs. Abac. 2. Agayne the Iuste man shall lyue by his faithe. Rom. 1. This is the somme of Paules doctrine / wherby it doth appeare / that Paule did not vtterly condẽne the obseruing of the ceremonies of the Law / but only whẽ it was done with this minde / as thoughe that Iustification did not cõme therby. And the same his meaning he vtterith most playnly to the Galathians / where he saithe. Gal. 5. As many of ye as are circumcised / ye are fallen from the grace of Christe: for Christe shall not profite you at all: ye are gone quite frõ Christe / as many as are Iustified by the Lawe / As yf he wold saye / These thinges of theyr owne nature do not alienate and separate vs from Christe / but only when they be done with this mynde and purpose / to be Iustified by them: Take awaye this opinion / and this euell hurtefull purpose being remoued / then Paule cõmendeth these worckes / and all other ciuyle ordinaunces cõmaunded / and appoynted to that Nacion: he condẽneth them not / but so farre as they wer iustly and not supersticiously vsed / he did leaue thẽ in theyr place / Gal. 3. ãd did not hinder the obseruacion of them. As he dyd also write / that in the Lord / there was neither Iue nor gentill / neyther nonde nor fre. Gal. 6. And that in Christe Iesus / neyther circumcision auaileth any thing at all / nor vncircumcision / but the obseruing of the commaũdements of God / or a new creature. 1. Cor. 7. And againe yf any be called being circũcised / let him not adde vncircũcision. If anye be called vncircũcised / let hym not be circũcised. Let euery man abyde in the || same estate / in which he is called. All these indifferẽt thinges / might somtyme be well obserued / somtyme be as well left vndone / as most serued for edifying in godd. Of which vse and obseruacion of thẽ 1. Cor. 9. Paule doth speake / when of him self he saieth: I am made all vnto all mẽ / that I might wynne manye: Vnto the Iues / I am made as a Iue / to thẽ which are without the lawe / as though I were without a lawe. This sentence he hath also confirmed by examples: Actor. 16. For when he was required to circũcise Timothie / because that the custumme which was yet in force might be kept / he did it: But when they wolde enforce him to the ouerthrowĩg of the christiã libertie / that he shulde likewise circumcise Titus / Gal. 2. In no wyse wolde he gyue place vnto them / no not for the space of one houre / and because (saith he) false brethren came in / to espie out / or to betray our libertie. S. Paule did obserue these thinges then / when it might be done without an euell mynd / when no hurte shuld ensue of it: The cause ãd end why Paule did it / was to auoide the offendinge of the beleauing Iues / les yf he did it not / they shuld therby be alienated and turned awaye from Christes gospell / which they had newly receyued. But we must not compare these ceremonies of the old lawe with the Inuencions of men / they can not be iustly compared with Massing: They were plainly taught in Goddes worde / but these masses and popishe Idolatries are thrust vnto vs by the subtiltie of the deuell / and craftye deceyuing of mẽ. They were thinges 35 Eiij indifferẽt / and as such thinges might be well vsed. But these are thinges vtterly euell and can not be well vsed. They after Christes ascenscion into heauẽ wer not forbidden / and therfor might be obserued / so long as the Temple and common welth of Israel did cõtinue and the citie was vndestroyed / and vntill the full reuelinge and preachinge of the gospell was had / vntill by it the churche of Christe / which was to be gathered of the Iues and gentils / were well / and fully vnited and knitt together. Aug. Epistol. 19. ad Hieron. Neyther wer those ceremonies / as Augustine saith / suddenly and without honor to be buried and throwen awaye. But these masses / and such popish supersticions / which are farsed full with Idolatrie / alwayes haue beene / are / and shalbe forbiddẽ. Those thinges might therfor be keapt and obserued for a tyme / so that men did not vse them with that mynde (as I sayed) to be iustified by them. Wherfor yf thow wilt consider the matier it self / that is / the nature of the acte / Paule can neither be therin reprehended / nor yet can these dissemblige Massehaunters vse his well doinge as a defence for their euell doinge: but much les can this be done / yf thou wilt searche out the mynde / councell / and entent of Paules doinge. Bothe these thinges these mayntayners of massehaunting do want. For furst they are occupied in a thing which is contrary / and repugnant to Godds worde / as it is already declared. Secondly / in thys their dissimulacion they do only seke themselues / for to thend that they maye retayne their riches / dignitie || / and estimacion by falling to poperye they offend the weake and drawe them by their example from Christe to Antichrist / wheras Paule did herin obserue thinges commaunded in Goddes worde / and thẽ to this ende only / les the beleauing Iues shuld fall backe frõ Christ / and that he might the more easily drawe others / which yet beleaued not / to the gospell of Christe. Furthermore these men do saye / that they by their dissimulacion will auoide offence. For (saye they) yf we shuld so vtterly forsake the Masse as ye wolde haue vs / we shulde be taken as wicked mẽ ãd euell doers / ãd so shall we geue great offence in out countrithes. I graũte that these men do seke to auoyd offence / but what offence? euẽ the offẽce of the world. They will not offend / but whom? Tyraũtes / ãd such as ar the very limmes of antichrist. And why? les they shuld procure against thẽselues theyr wrath / poure / and tyrãnie. But this is that offence / which Criste sayeth shuld not be auoided: Mat. 15. Let them alone (saith he of the Phariseis) They are blinde ãd the leaders of the blinde. Heere we must consider which be euell offences / and such as are to be auoyded indeed. Euẽ those I say / which are an Impediment to the setting forth of the gospell / which do offend and hinder mẽ / be they simple / or wicked / that they do not embrace pure doctryne / and turne vnto Christe. Now beholde / I pray the / by cõming to the Masse / what offence thou doest gyue? The Idolatrous ãd supersticious people / ar they not offended by this thy doing? Yeas verely. For when they do se 36 Eiiij the haũte their masses / they say / these gospellers do cõme to our masses / which they wold not do yf our masses wer so euell as thei call thẽ: wherfor we may perseuere ãd cõtinue in our old purpose. And on the other parte / the weaker brethrẽ / which are but newly turned / ãd not farr entered into the knowledge of Christ / whẽ they do se these better lerned professors / enseyng bearers / and chief men in the scole of Christ comme to the masse / they are taught to do the lyke: and wher before they wer perswaded not to comme at masses / now they thincke that they were then deceyued / and that it is but a fonde precise scrupulositie so to abstayn from masses: and it cometh to pas / that where they shuld go forwarde in the waye of truth / now they do go backe. Thus both the wicked and the godly / are offended by thy example: It is playne therfor that vnder the cloked colour of auoyding of offence / these men do fall into the very offẽce gyuing. They say morouer: It is nedefull to cõdiscende vnto the weake: for there are many which are not persuaded that the masse is naught / and therfor are neyther ready to forsake their countrie / nor to dye in the quarell / whiche men yf they shulde perceyue that we did not come to masse / they wold not gyue then any ear or credite vnto vs in the other matiers and chief pointes of religion: wherfore we must gyue and yealde somwhat vnto their infirmitie / as Paule doth teache the Romayns. This they saye. Rom. 14. But what will Paule / I praye you / that we shuld yealde to the weake? This verily / fyrst that we || shuld not please our selues: Agayne / that we shuld not so lyue after our own mynde / that we shulde cõtemne their saluacion. We do graunte therfor that som thinge is to be gyuen vnto the infirmitie of the weake brother / but euen with Paule / we will not suffer that to be done / but in thinges indifferẽt. But those thinges which of them selues ar euell and forbidden of Godd / must not be done in respect of any man. Rom. 3. For that same Rule doth stonde certayn which gyueth leaue to no mã to do euell that goode maye comme theron. To abstayn / or not to abstayn from meates / was then a thing indifferẽt. In such thinges they which be stronger must beare with the Infirmitie of the weaker: but meate eating ãd Massehauntinge are not lyke / for this is no thing indifferẽt / but manifestly euell / as it is sufficiently proued / and therfor it is not to be done in respect of bearing with any man that is weake. But are the weake alwayes to be borne with all in thinges indifferent? no truly / we must not alwayes yealde to the weake but only whylest they be taughte: And when they do vnderstonde the thing that is taught them / and yet do wauer and doubt of a wilful scrupulositie / their infirmitie is no longer to be norished nor born with all: For we must not so beare with them / that out libertie shal be in subiectiõ to their frowardnes / nor that therby we do hurte others by our example.

Agayn they obiect and saye: Yf we shuld do as ye wold haue vs to do / then must we eyther flye out of our coũtrithe / or els forthwith shall we suffer death 37 Ev and so the congregatiõs shalbe left vtterly desolate / ther shall be none lefte to teache and norishe those afflicted mẽbres which shall remayne in our churche: Better it is / that by our bearing and dissemblinge / ther do remayne yet sum leight / then that by doing as ye wold haue vs all together shuld be putt out. 1. Cor. 15. If sum do remayne ther / it wil brust forthe at lẽgthe / and a litill leauẽ will soure the whole lũpe of dowe. &c. Truly for all this goodly clooke / it is easily perceyued that through this dissẽbling the edifying of the churche is hindered and not furthered. These men pretẽde with Athlas to beare vp heauẽ withe their shulders / but they do ouerthrow altogether: Godd doth se more thẽ we / in the thinges which shall happen to the churche: We must obeye hym in seruyng hym ãd his churche with the cõfessiõ of truthe. The issue / and succes / let vs cõmitt vnto hym to whom the churche doth belonge: And let vs do that wherunto we ar called. The churche shall be destroyed thẽ / thow sayest: Let God care for that / he will well prouide for that / let vs not doubt. Wel maye theise mẽ be answered / as the lorde answered Peter / whẽ he called hym / sayinge: Ioan. 21. folowe me: Peter made a staye at it and asked hym what Iohn shuld do. If I will (saith Christ) haue hym to tarye / what is that to the? do thow folowe me. So if thow aske in this case / what shall then be done with the churche? I aunswer / what is that to the? Do thow the thinge wher vnto thow art called. Besids this oftẽ tymes the doctrine of the gospell is more sett furth / and || better receyued / when it is mayntayned by deathe / and fleinge / then when by words only it is propownded and taught: for then men are taught by deedes / as before they wer by wordes: Haste thow confessed the gospell in wordes? This then remayneth for the to do: die / or flye for the gospell so shalt thou cõfesse the same indede. And Let vs not feare the desolatiõ of the churche / for wher one of our brethern dyeth / or flyeth for the doctrine / in his rowm shall rise vp a great sorte. But if we stãd and continue in dissemblinge / thẽ is the light of the truithe put owt / nether is there any cõfession made indede.

They bringe in also the examples of Zacharie / Iohn the Baptist / the virgin Marie / and Ioseph / which in the corupted and infected tymes whẽ they lyued dyd cõme vnto the seruice of God in the Tẽple of the Iues / The same thing maye be permitted to thẽ (they thincke) and that yt is as lawfull for thẽ to partake ãd vse the ceremonies in the popish churche be they neuer so corrupt. True it is that ther were many wicked doctrines and euill opinions at that tyme emongest the scribes and pharisees. But yet the estate of thẽ was far otherwise / thẽ it is in our tyme: They hade corrupted the doctrine of the law and of iustificatiõ. They were couetous / That thing which they dyd / Was done with out fayth / and therfor abhominable before God / yet the rite and maner of sacrificing apointed by Goddes lawe was not chaũged / for the same beastes were offered which the lawe dyd cõmaũde / the same daies were obserued / and ceremonies / and therfore it was lawfull to vse thẽ inasmoche as they hade the worde of Godd for 38 thẽ. And eiche mã that so vsed thẽ receyued accordĩg to the measure of his faithe. For the corrupte doctrines / sentẽces and manieres of the priestes / Bishoppes and scribes / dyd not hurte at all the prophettes and godlie men which wer thẽ selues cleare frõ thẽ / of a contrarie mynde to thẽ / in all thinges thinking according to Godds worde / yea dyd also reproue and sharplie rebuke those thinges: which thing Augustine dothe witnesse as he is allegded. 23. q. 4. ca. Recedite. and in many other places there. Let our sacrificinge priestes do the same vnto vs at this daie. Let thẽ celebrate the lordes supper and vse other ceremonies / so as by Godds worde they be apointed / thẽ we will not draw backe at all / but vse thẽ / thoughe they thẽ selues thincke corruptlie / and liue more wickedlie / we shall bewaile / we shall admonishe / we shall reproue / we shall accuse thẽ / and they shall beare their owne synne. Their synne shall not hurte vs / nether will we absteyne frome the sacramentes for their nowghtines / but vse thẽ. In which doĩge we shall not cõmunicate with their wickednes / for we shall vse the rite and ceremonie as the lorde cõmaũded / and instituted. And this thing mẽt Christ whẽ he saide. Matth. 23. The scribes ãd pharisees do syt in Moses chaire / what they byd yow do / that do / but as they do / see that ye do not. So Christe commaunded the leper whom he hade clẽsed to go vnto the priest. Luc. 2. The blessed virgin likwise she might well after the birthe of our sauiour Christ offer the payre of Turtles or too yonge pigeons / because it was so commaunded in the lawe. By this example our men can not heare masse / because it is a thinge contrary || to godds worde: But let these papists giue vnto vs the sacramentes / as Christe dyd institute them / and we shall vse thẽ / and yet neuerthelesse reproue their wickednes. Nowe our men beinge thus at all pointes answered / and ouercommed / do flye to this atlenghth. Thoughe saye they it be a synne to go to Masse and suche popishe pelfe yet it is but a light synne / and not se seuerely to be reproued. What (say they) we do many thinges which we shuld not fo. but God forgyuithe thẽ. &c. To the last I aunswer: The goodnes of Godd which doth forgyue synnes vnto them that be truly penitẽt / doth not diminishe at all the gretnes of the synne. Wherfor I will aunswer only / to that they saye / that it is but a light synne. Which thinge whilest they do saye / they do not thincke this with themselues / that all synnes haue their proper wieght and burthen. For doinges and the nature of thinges done ar not to be considered simplie of themselues, but they ar to be weyed by godds worde and laws / by which they ar forbiddẽ: By it / wicked actes and the doinge of them ar to be iudged: And seing that the poure of the lawe and worde of god is all one in all cõmaundmentes / by it / the weighte / burthẽ and greatnes of synne cõmitted / is to be weyed considered and iudged. Iacob. 2. S. Iames therfor in this cause doth saye. He that hathe obserued the whole lawe / and dothe offend in one / is made giltye of all. Which sayinge truly is harde and sharpe / but most true / and teachith all men that they shuld not extenuate synne. But this place 39 of Iames / is not to be vnderstõded / as thoughe that all synnes wer equall and like. August. Epist. 29. ad Hiero. That doth Augustine truly and playnly denye: He saith that the Stoickes do go about to proue it / when they saye / that all vertues are cõioyned and knitt together / so that he which hathe one of them hath all / and he that wãtith one wãtith all. For wisdome (saye they) is not fearefull / nott intemperate / nut vniuste / therfor it hath ioyned with it the vertues which be contrarie vnto these vices: And likewise iustice / strẽghthe / tẽperaunce and other vertues are not vnwise / but are ioyned with wisdome / wheruppon they do conclude / that all vertues are conioyned and knitt together. Theise thinges / saith Augustine / Iaco. 3. do not agre with the holy scriptures / which do witnes. 1. Ioan. 1. That in many thinges we do all offend / and If we saye that we haue no synne / we do deceyue our selues and ther is no truithe in vs. Wherfor seing that we synne in many thinges / and in synnynge we cã not haue that vertue which is cõtrarie to that synne which we do committ / and yet it may be that he which fallith in one synne / many be cõstaunt in other vertues / the opinion of theis philosophers is fals. As for example: Be it / that one be of an hastye nature / or do exceade measure in eatinge / and yet he gyuith euery man his own / and will gyue his life in Godds cause: though this man be fearce / and intemperate / yet is he called a iust mã / and a stronge man. S. Augustine doth also putt awaye the similitude of the stoicks / whiche is. That the man || doth die in the waters / if they be but half a handfull ouer, his heade / aswell as he ouer whos heade they are / ten / or twentie cubites. This is no apte similitude / saith he / therfor let vs take an other more fitte for our purpose / of light namely and darcknes. Certaynly when one is in darcknes / the more he dothe departe and go out of it and drawith nighe vnto light / he begynnith the better to see sumwhat / and so though that yet he be compassed with darcknes / yet is he sumwhat partaker of the lighte. But he that wull knowe more of this matier / let hym reade that Epistle of Augustyne: Wher he prouith playnly / that all synnes ar not like / as the Stoicks did thincke: Now to return to our place / which we did rehearce. He that offendith in one / is giltie of all. Ther is no obseruacion of Godds Lawe to be receued with an exception / as thoughe we might chose one parte of it to obserue / and separate or sett asyde the other parte at our will and pleasure to neglecte it. The commaundemẽtes of the lawe ar conioyned of the lorde and knitt together / and so gyuen vnto vs: We must not now disseuer / and separate thẽ as we lust / but without exception we must obserue the whole lawe. We must consider and loke vppon the Auctoritie of the lawe gyuer / which is Godd / It is of force aswel in one cõmaundement / as in the rest. This doth Iames seame to meane / when he saith: Iacob. 2. He that hath sayde / Thow shalt not committ adulterie / the same hath sayde / Thow shalt not kill. As if he shuld saye / he is no les contraried in any one 40 of theise commaundemẽtes / then in an other. And therfor (to adde this by the waye) let them wel consider what they do which do profes to receyue the gospell / and yet they do refuse ecclesiasticall disciplyne: Wheras the lorde / which hath reuealede and opened the gospell vnto vs by Christe / doth appoint discipline to be a parte therof. Theise men do synne against the whole lawe. The papistes do also synne herin / which do preache their parted righteousnes / as meritorius of congruitie. But to returne / this is also manifest / that he that synnith in one / is therfore giltie in all / for that as now by lust and tentacion / he is caried into sum one transgression / and so dothe synne / euen in like manier shuld he offend in an other euill / if he wer assaulted in the same sorte / and whith that same violence of tentacion. And Augustine in the place before alledged. doth saye. That therfore he is made giltie of all / bicause he synneth against charitie / vppon which the obseruacion of the whole lawe is grownded. To be short therfor / when we do thus fall into synne / we must not lightly tryfle it of and excuse it / sayinge that it is but light / and small: for synne is not to be considered of the matier / and manier of the action only / but of the force poure / and dignitie of Godds worde which doth forbidd it. And yet les I shuld seeme to be to rigorus and strayte in this matier of massehauntinge / let ther be hadd a consideracion / or difference of the matier / and doinge.
|| And truly I can not see / how this kinde of synne and doinge cã be iudged to be light / or small / seing that it is a transgressiõ committed against the furst table of the lawe / in which the worship due vntto Godd is cõmaũded which worshipp being sownde and safe in a mã other vices and synnes ar the more easily corrected: And agayn this being corrupted / all other actes are most vnacceptable vnto Godd. Whordõ by Godds lawe is to be punyshed by deathe / yet is it a synne but against the .ii. table. And what shal we thincke then of spirituall whordome? how seuerely doth Godd iudge it? how sharply ought it to be punished? If therfor thow dost consider the commandement which thou breakest / it is of God: If the matier / it is aganist the furst table and therfore thys synne is the more heynus and weightie. Besids this / our men do counte this Masse hauntinge a fault to be either contemned / or not so depely to be considered in theim bicause they do not synne with mynde will and affection / but as it wer compelled and of necessite. But I aske them / what manier a violence and compulsion this is throughe which that necessite commithe of which they make their excuse? Truly they can not saye that it is ony other / then bicause they wolde not ronne into the daunger of the losse of their Goodes / their estimacion and lyfe. Aristote. Ethi. lib. 3. This is then no absolute necessite but such a one as risith of ther own corrupt affection and will, wich prouith that their action is volũtarie. As Aristotle in his Ethicks doth saye of the 41 F losse which shippmen do suffer in a tempest / which do cast out of their ship al their Goodes whẽ they be in daunger of shipp wracke: They seame truly to be compelled to do it / and yet willingly they do it / and therfor they are sayed .To do. bicause that withe deliberacion and aduise / they do determin / both with iudgemẽt and will / rather to abide the losse of their goddes / thẽ of their lyfe. Which thinge as the mariners do wisely determyne / so our men do folishly / which for the loue that they beare to their lyfe / bodie ãd goodes do not chose to abide the losse of thẽ all / in refusing to come to these detestable masses / to gayn therby lyfe / and saluacion euer lastinge. And so do they cõmitt doble synne. Furst they synne willingly. Thẽ they do prefer earthly thinges before heauẽly / outward thinges before inward / the bodie before the soule / their Goodes before God: Which is not done but of such / as ar the very childrẽ of the world. Of affectiõ verily / though they do saye nay / they do that which they do / but of that inordinate affection which they do beare to their riches. Wherfor this is no iust excuse which they make. For as well might the Corinthians / euen by the very same reason / haue sayde to Paule. If we do comme vnto these feastes wher the meates offered vnto Idols are eaten / we do it not with that mynde as thoughe we allowed such sacrifices / but we ar compelled therunto / for if we shuld auoide theise solemne feastes / we shuld be taken as sedicius men / euell citizens / vncourteous / we shuld loose our frends / ãd most profitable healp || and defence / Yea and paraduẽture our goodes and countrith, Paule hearith noone of all these thinges / but doth sharply reproue thẽ / as in the furst epistle which he wrote vnto thẽ it doth appeare. Exod. 32. Aarõ also by the same reason might haue excused the making of the goldẽ calf / and sayed / I did it not with my mynde / I was cõpelled / and if I hadd not folowed the mynde of the poeple / they wold haue stoned me. &c. But Moses / who did well perceyue that this was not of an absolute necessite / but did rise of such a corrupt grownd and matier as neither righteousnes doth suffer to be receyued / neither Godd doth admitt / he cõdemnith the act / ãd doth sharply reproue Aaron for it. Thise men ought also to thincke this: That the masse is as it wer the signe ãd sure marke / the pleadg / ãd seale / by which the papists do knowe who be theirs / frõ others. For whether a mã gyuith almos / whether he prayeth / whether he lyueth a chaste lyfe / and so forth / they passe not at all: This only they do regarde / whether he hearith Masses: which thĩg if they perceyue that he doth / for the which they thĩke that mã to be ther own / ãd on the other parte / to abhorr the Masse and not to heare it / is euen the begynninge of fallinge from ther kyngdõ / and from Antichriste. Wherfor we may call Massehearinge / The publique profession of poperie / the badge of the most vile and filthie Idolatrie which is vsed in our age. In this therfor / ĩ which papistes put so mutch confidence / that they make therof the very marcke wherby the godly are known from their men / no 42 Fij Christian must dissemble. For if he do / then doth he publiquely professe hymself to be a papist / which is euen to denie Christes gospell: And this to do / is so greate a synne / as no mã cã extenuate by ony blind cloke or reason. But thow wilt saye: Ther be greate daungers / of which I am in present ieoperdie / and I shall also sett mi self forthe to other most heauy daũgiers / except I be partaker and do cõmunicate with papists in the Masse / and such popishe Idolatrie. I grant that ther are daungers / such is theyr Tyrannie. But remember thou / That Godd hath forseene all theise daungers before / and also hath shewed that they shuld comme / of which though he wer not ignorante / yet did not his wisdõ chaunge his lawe to haue them auoyded: He commaunded / and doth / that Idolatrie shall not be cõmitted but that mẽ shuld flye from it / which commaundement he wyll haue kept what soeuer perill dothe cõme theron. Wherfor let vs cast our care vppon hym which hath gyuen vs this commaundemẽt / for he which doth know righte well / that theise euels are ioyned with the obseruinge of his commaundementes / he will care for them which for rightuisnes shalbe persequuted. Truly the violence / and nature of persequution and daungiers is not such / that it can chaunge Godds lawe: neither that he will haue his lawes chaunged for them. Let persequutions be howsoeuer they be / yet Godds lawe remaynith vnmoueable. Let vs not seeke then to deuide and part ourselues / and our seruice / betwen || Godd ãd the deuell / as thoughe we wold gyue our mynde ãd affectiõ vnto Godd: ãd in poperie and supersticious Idolatries to gyue our bodyes doĩges / and outward actiõs vnto the deuell. 1. Cor. 6. Our mynde is Godds seate / our bodie is his Tẽple. Mat. 22. Gyue therfore to Godd / that which belongith vnto hym. Thincke what thow lust of doing and dissemblinge for thy commoditie: Yeat this Rule / and certayn Canon of the holy ghost must now either rule the / Roma. 3. or herafter in Godds iudgement cõfownde the. Euell thinges are not to be done that Goode shuld come theron.

Now seing that we haue sufficiẽtly spoken of priuate men and subiectes / in and through all the partes and membres of our distictions and diuisiõs / it remaynithe that we shuld entreate of Princes: for so at the begynning we ordered our diuision.

Of Rulers and Princes. Of Rulers and princes / I make this diuisiõ / Some there are which be chiefe princes / suche as do not depẽd and hange on other / of whõ the Ciuilians do saie / that they haue a mere Rule. Other are vnder Rulars and such as be of lesse authoritie then they / which do depende and hãge on the higher princes / either by the right (as they saie) of fee / or ells because they are their officers / and mynisters / that is to saye (as they be commonlye termed) their deputies / lieutenaũtes and executours of their office. I will firste speake of the higher / absolute / and mere Rulers: And of them A question I will both aske and answere this questiõ: Whether it be lawfull for thẽ to suffer and permite in their dominiõs the free and familiar conuersatiõ 43 Fiij and dwellinge togither of the vnfaithfull with the faith full: The answer I thinke that it is lawfull / but yet so that they muste take hede of certeyn thinges / and obserue ans kepe certeyn Rules and conditions.

The firste is / that they do not enforce nor compell their faithfull subiectes to ioyne with the vnbeleauers in their assẽbles / nor in such vnholy kyndes of worshipp of Godd as are cõtrary to Godds worde: for then shold they not be Godds ministers / as they are taughte to be in the epistle to the Romains / Rom. 13. but rather the ministers of the deuill / of Antichriste / and of their furie. Then sholde they be a feare vnto them that do well / and not to them that do euill / neither sholde they promote the worke of God / but the tyranye of Antichriste.

The secõde is / they muste not graunte nor suffer / the vnfaithfull to vse their supersticions and wicked Idolatries which are cõtrarie vnto Godds worde. For it is not sufficient / that they do not compell the godly to wicked supersticiõ and Idolatrie / but also they muste forbidde the same to the wicked Idolatrours: For not doinge of this Salomõ is greatlie accused: 3. Reg. 11. Indeed he did not compelle the Iues to worshipp Idolles / but yet did he permit and suffer his wyues and concubines, wich were straungiers, to haue their Chapells amonge the Iues / in which they worshipped Astaroth / Chamos ãd such idolls / For which cause the lorde was so angrie wyth him / that as he suffered his true worshippe to be parted ãd diuided / as he suffered seruice to be done partlie || to God and partlie to Idolles. Euẽ so was his kingdõ diuided / parte of it came vnto his sõne / ãd parte to Ieroboã the sõne of Nabat. And agayn for doing of this / Achaz / ãd other wicked kĩges wer reproued of the prophetes. Magistrates are apoĩted to be the defẽders / ãd executours of the first table of the lawe as well as of the secõde: with what obseruatiõ thẽ of iustice cã a magistrate graũte or suffer Idolatrie to be vsed? It is writõ that he hathe the sworde to punishe euill thĩges and vices. If it be his part to punishe theues / ãd not to permitt them / the same must he do to Idolatrours. Or ells we must saie that Idolatrie is no such synne ãd vice as theft is / or that with other vices it is not to be punished. And that theis prĩces maye do this the better / they muste thẽ selues take hede that they be cleare frõ these Idolatries ãd supersticiõs. Augustine writĩg againste the donatistes dothe ĩ manye places notablie intreate ãd hãdle this sentẽce of the psalme. Psal. 2. And nowe ye kĩges be wise be warned ye that iudge the earthe. Serue the lorde wyth feare. &c. It is reasõ ãd semyng faithe he that kinges sholde serue the lorde / neither is it spokẽ of kinges in respecte that they are mẽ / for so are they boũde to obserue cõmen lawes euẽ as other mẽ are / but as kĩges they be admonished to vse their power giuẽ thẽ of God / ãd their sword to defẽde the catholike truithe / and to represse the wicked which do oppugne the church ãd truithe of Christ: wherfore it is not lawfull for prĩces to graũt vnto the wicked and vnbeleuers their euill and vngodlie Godds seruice and Idolatries / but they muste maynteyn to their power / those holy rites ãd ordinaũces of godds seruice 44 Fiiij which do agree with the worde of God / ãd forbid those which are cõtrarie to yt. I do not saie that they must be to curius in ceremonies / as many are / which wolde that ĩ any wise all rites ãd ceremonies sholde be throughli ãd in all places of oone sorte / ãd manier: But this theis princes shold prouide / that the ceremonies vsed in ther churches sholde not be contrarie to godds worde / yea and that they sholde most neerely agre therwith / ãd shuld make for godly edyfyinge and decẽt and comelye ordre in the churche: But of their liknes / ãd that ĩ all places the rites / ãd ceremonies shold be of one forme / I do not thinke it a thing worthie the labor. For what matter maketh it if some men do receyue the sacramẽt stõding / other sittinge / other kneling. And if in some places whilest the bretherẽ do cõmunicat / a place of the scripture be redd / or some psalmes be sõg of the people / or other songes of thankes geuing. Nether is it any great matter / when a corps is caried to the buriall / whether that mẽ do followe the hearce holdĩg their peace / or singing of psalmes / or suche other thinges as maye edifie them that do stãde by. These thinges are to be lefte so free that in the churches suche maie be vsed / as shall seme most meete for the edyfyinge of the people. Yea I suppose that this varietye and chaunge in rytes / and ceremonies / dothe not a lytell profyte ãd helpe to bring in a true opiniõ of ceremonies / and to haue it kepte also: that is / that mẽ shuld beleue that all those ceremonies which the holie scripure doth not apoint / are not necessarie vnto saluaciõ / but maye be chaũged accordinge to the estate of tyme / ãd as shall serue for edifyĩg / as they shall thĩk || Godd which haue in their hand the orderinge the churche. That moste worthie commen wealthe of the venetians / which haue vnder their dominions / many Cities and places in Grece / they do in eche of them permit and suffer the rytes / and ceremonies / bothe of the Greke churche / and of the Latin churche / for those wise men do thincke / that the dyuersytie in outward ceremonies which are not taught in Godds worde is not hurtefull. I do not alledg this to allowe all such ceremonies as they do permitt in thos places / but only to shew that they thincke it not a matter of necessite to haue all one forme of ceremonies: The verie same thinge before thẽ did Augustine iudge as in his epistles to Ianuarius / and Cassulanus it dothe apeare.

The thirde thinge is / that the princes and rulers which do suffer these vnfaithfull mẽ to dwell ĩ their dominions sholde prouide that they mighte be taughte the truithe: and in this behalfe they muste not neglect them: for as the princes do declare their gẽtilnes in suffering thẽ to dwell in their dominions so this their pacience muste be directed to the glorie of God: And howe can that be soughte in theis vnbeleauers / if they be suffered to abyde in their noughtie opinion without teachinge: Surely by thys meanes in processe of tyme they be made no whit the better / but a greate deale worse then they were before.

The fourth is / that these princes take Godd hede / that by this dwellinge and cõuersation which they 45 fv do graunte vnto the vnfaithfull / they do not infecte the poeple cõmitted to their cure and chardge with their scabbe of vnbelefe ãd errour. Charytie is to be shewed vnto straungiers indede / but yet not so that they muste hurte the poeple amõg whom they lyue. And this shal the princes remedie very wel / if that they do not always beare with the corrupt blindnes of the vnbeleauers / but after sufficient teachinge do compell them to embrace true religion. I say that when they haue prouided that these vnfaithfull haue bene taught a good whyle and truly instructed / they must then enforce and compell them vnto those holye and pure rytes and worshippinges of Godd which are commaunded in the scriptures: for princes and rulers must not alwayes / nor yet to longe suffer theyr cytyzens and subiectes / to lyue without exercise of godlynes and vertue. The ende of policall gouernemente is / that the subiecte both sholde lyue in felycytie / ãd also in the practyse of godlynes / because that godlines and the true worshipp of God is the chefest of all vertues.

But some man will obiecte against me / and say / yf so be that the vnfaithfull be not yet persuaded / they shall then embrace truthe against theyr conscience / which thinge yf the prince compell them to do / then he compelleth them to synne. Here must we make a difference betwene the thinge that of it selfe is synne / and that which is so by chaunce / by some fortune / or some other thinge that happeneth / per accidens, as the Logicians do saye: for whẽ the || Magistrate / in the matter which now we haue in hãd / dothe propounde vnto these his subiectes / the thing that is right / goode / iuste / and cõmaunded of God / prouidinge to haue them taughte therin / and they will not be taughte / yf then he enforceth them owtwardlye to vse none other order in religion then is commaunded of Godd / and to forsake all other / he doth that which is iuste and appertayninge to his office. But that synne is entermingled in this matter / truly it is not throughe the faulte of the prince / but it is of the vnbeleif of these men / of whiche the prince can not be iustly accused / when he hath diligẽtly done his part / that they shold be well instructed. Morouer them which do obiecte this consider / that by the same reason that they accuse these princes we may accuse God: for he doth propounde his lawe / which is moste perfyte to be obserued of all men. Shuld men saye? we are weake / our nature is corrupte and infected / neither can we do these thinges as thou dost commaunde them / And why dost thou then enforce this lawe vpon vs? If we do cõtrarie to that which thou doest commaunde / verely we synne / and yf we go not about to do it we synne / we shall synne also yf we go aboute to do that which thou commaundest / for we want of perfection / neyther do we obey as we sholde do: wherfore do what we will / we shall not auoyde synne: vnto this the Lorde wolde aunswer. The thinges that I do propounde to be obserued of you are iuste and perfect / no man can accuse them of wickednes / But in that 46 ye are weake and do fall / and faile in fulfilling of my lawe / the faulte muste not be layed vnto me / for it is of your own malice and corruptiõ / and not through my faulte / for the which I maye not withdrawe my holy commaũdements / Yet thus I haue prouided helpe for you / Beleue in my only dearly beloued sonne / and loke what so euer ye wante / wherin soeuer ye do fayle / and not fulfyll my commaundementes / it shall not be imputed / nor laid to your chardge vnto euerlasyinge deathe: yea your endeuoyrs and your doinges / although they be not fully perfect ãd absolute / yet will I accepte thẽ well / they shall please me / and I will allowe thẽ. Euen so shall the good prince and Magistrate saye: The thinges which are conteyned in Goddes worde / suche thinges as are comlye and do edifie / do I require of you / yf your mynde and conscience do go agaynst them / ye can not impute it vnto me / I haue laboured and done my parte that ye sholde not be ignoraunt / and miserablie perish in ignoraũce. I haue caused you to be sufficiently instructed / and nowe will I procede exhorting / admonishinge / and demaundinge of you obedience in these thinges: do you reade the holye scriptures / heare the teachers and pastours / ãd pray the Lorde to open the eyes of your harte and mynde. Thus in aunswering to this obiectiõ I shew what a goode prince in this case may and must do. That thinge also is not to be passed ouer of which Augustyne maketh mencion / that he hymselfe was somtyme of this opinion / that nothing sholde be violẽtlye || done agaynst heretiques / but that they shold only be taughte / But his mynde altered after that he was admonished by some wyse Bishoppes / howe certeyn cities / which somtyme were altogether corrupted with the errour of the Donatistes / were cõpelled by the violence of the lawes of good Emperours to receyue the catholike faith / ãd these at lẽgth were so syncerelie tourned vnto the truthe / that they dyd gyue to God moste hartye thãckes for that violent enforcement / sayinge that nowe thoughe they might safelye / yet by no meanes wolde they retorne any more to suche pernicious and hurtfull opiniõs. The prince therfore / after that he hath gyuen them sufficient instruction / yf he shall enforce these men vnto the embracing of such rites and ceremonies as are good and godlye indede / he shall do no hurte at all but muche good. I do meane that this sholde be practysed only vpon suche as be cityzens / and naturall borne subiectes / or suche as beinge straungers borne / do as denizens dwell in theyr domininiõs / ãd so by priuiledge haue the benefite of theyr coũtrithe: Otherwyse yf they be but straũgiers which do passe through their countrithe / or such as do come either to bye or to sell marchaundize / there is no suche violẽce to be shewed towardes thẽ. And yet this thing they must take heade of euen in thẽ / that they do not seduce their people ãd subiectes which are of a good iudgement / that they do not infect them with vice and errour. The Israelites / as I thincke / ar in this pointe to be folowed. They did admitt no straunger 47 to be as a Iue / or proselyte / neyther did they gyue vnto any the libertie of their countrith / except he did fyrst circũcise himself / admitt Moses lawe / did cõmunicate / and became partaker with them in theyr Sacrifices / submitting himself to their discipline: Which thinge / seing it was well and diligently obserued of them / why shuld not our princes do euen the same? That they shuld suffer no Citezen / nor subiect / eyther naturall / or straũger born / but that they shuld compell and enforce hym / to receyue such religion / and obserue such rites and ceremonies / agreing with Godds worde / as they by common autoritie haue establyshed. Now will I speake of those princes and Rulers / which ar vnder these chief Rulers. Whome I do deuide into two sortes. Eyther they are such as haue Iurisdiction / poure / and auctoritie / which commeth to them by discent frõ theyr Auncetours / or els committed vnto them of Emperours / Kinges / and common welthes: Eyther els they haue no Iurisdiction nor Rule ouer others / neyther by discent from theyr auncetours / nor by commission from other higher princes / but only are taken and estemed as men of worshipp / for the auncientnes of their house and blud / or for their riches. This last sorte do not differ at all in a maner from priuate men / of whom I haue spoken before / for these are mere subiectes as they are. Therfor (I do suppose) that the former Rules / appointed vnto priuate men and subiectes are to be committed vnto thẽ / to be obserued of thẽ / in such maner as I haue || before declared. But of this other sorte of Princes and Rulers / of which some by right of inheritaũce / some by vertue of office committed vnto them / are Rulars and gouernours of countrithes / cities and places. Of these I do saye and pronoũce this / That in matters which do belong to Godd and true Religion / they ought to do no other things / but those / which I haue already shewed that the muste do / which are meere / absolute / and the hygher princes and Rulars. For it is not lawfull for them / no not at the commaundement of theyr hygher Princes and Lordes / to compell those subiectes ouer whom they haue rule / to recyue wicked Religion and supersticion / neyther to permitt the vnfaithfull in the places where they do beare Rule / to haue theyr vngodly Idolatries and supersticions. This must thei not do / no thoughe they were (I saye) therunto cõmaunded by theyr hygher princes and Lordes / of whom / and vnder whome / they haue theyr auctoritie. But yf thou wilt saye / that they must obey theyr hygher poures / I will graunt that / but (as the sayinge is) vs^que ad Aras, that is vntill they do come to matters of Religion / and vntill they do commaunde in Religion thinges contrarie to Goddes worde and truthe. For when they shall commaunde that which is against Godd / and is hurtefull to the conscience of mã / these magistrates must not obey thẽ. For these vnder Rulars are called into a parte of the cure and charge of the goode gouernemente of the countrie / by the force of theyr dignitie and office:
48 They must not therfor putt those thinges in execution / whiche are agaynst Godd / and are hurtefull to theur countrye: Yea they ought both to persuade by reason / and to defende by poure the contrary.
The Lacedemonians / when they whiche hadd ouercomme them / did demaunde of them such thinges as were against the ciuile lawes and libertie of their citie / They answered / If ye do commaunde vs to do thinges which ar more weightie and greuous then death / we wyll rather dye then do them: Thus ought these vnder Rulars answer theyr higher Lordes / when they do commaunde them to do thinges which are to the defacing of Godds glorie ãd truth / and to the wounding and vnquieting of the consciences of the subiectes / whiche thinges are more weyghtie and greuous then death indeede. In Cyuile thinges they may gyue place to the vniust commaundementes and decrees of theyr hygher Lordes / but that ought they not to do in the cause of Godd / and pure Religion. The Machabees at such tyme as the Iues were vnder the rule of the Macedonians (Antiochus / Demetrius / and Alexander / I meane) which princes did leade the people awaye from the true worship of God / and from the seruice taught in hys worde / wolde not obeye them. But that house and tribe of the prestes called Asmonei, whiche in dignitie were nexte vnto the house and stocke of the Kinges / and bare the chief Rule nexte vnto it / les that the true worshippe of Godd commaunded and taught in the lawe / and which hadd bene retayned and vsed in theyr countrye / shulde || be thus leafte and forsaken / they did Rebell against thos kinges as the hostorie doth witnes. But if this historie for the insufficiencie of the auctoritie of the bocke (which yet is a true historie / as Iosephus also doth witnes) will not suffice to proue this matier: Then let vs consider what Ioiada the bishopp did in the dayes of Athalia: 4. Reg. 11. She hadd by violence obtayned the kingdomme / ãd so was she the supreame ordinarie poure: But yet he sturred vpp a commotion agaynst her / And he brought the Sonne of Asa / Kinge Ioas / I meane (who was saued by hym frõ her bluddy sworde) into the kingdome: For he knew that by Goddes worde the kingdome was gyuen to the house of Iuda / He perceyued also that she went about to haue all good Religiõ / and true godlynes / vtterly ouerthrowen. Therfor as she had vniustly shedd innocẽt bludd / euen so he most iustlye commaunded that she shuld be slayne. 4. Reg. 18. Kinge Ezechias also / was in subiection to the King of the Assyriãs / for Achaz his father hadd submitted hym selfe vnto hym / and did not only paye hym tribute / but also for his pleasure did chaunge Godds Religion: for whẽ he wente to Damasco to meete this Kinge / he commaunded that an altar shuld be made at Hierusalẽ / after the patrone and fashion of that which he hadd seene at Damasco. This Kinge Achaz his sonne / godly Ezechias / perceyuinge that these thinges whiche his father hadd done / were repugnant and contrarye vnto Godds worde / hurtefull also to the consciences of his subiects / he (I say) did fall away 49 G frõ the Kinge of the Assyrians / which yet was now his superior and hygher poure. Indeede he soughte fyrst to pacifie hym with gyftes / which thing when he coulde not do / then to the vttermost of hys poure he dyd defende hym self / and his people agaynst hym. Neuertheles in this matter sedicion muste be auoyded so much as may be / and these princes must not vnder the colour and cloke of Religion / seeke theyr own gayne and honor: but here only let thẽ resiste / that nothing be done contrary to Godds worde / and not for those thinges which are done to hinder theyr ambicion. Of this corrupt affection yf thei be cleare / and only for Religions sake do resiste the wicked proceadinges of theyr hygher princes and Lordes / let them not thincke that they do herin anye vnrighteousnes at all. But yf one will obiecte and saye: Thys maye not be / for all men are commaũded to obeye the hygher poures. I answer / Rom. 13. It is true indeede that the holy scriptures do commaunde / that euerye soule shulde obeye the hygher poures / but so farr as by Godds word it is lawfull to obey / and no further. For the holy scriptures do likewyse say / that the Rular is not any feare to them that doth good / but to them that do euell. Wherfor seying these princes / in this case by theyr endeuour and laboure / do promote that which is goode / they do well and not euell: and so ought they for this doinge to be without fear of the hygher poure / because that herin they do not resiste agaynst them / with that Resistaunce which is forbidden. Wilt thou (saith he) be without || feare of the poure? do well then / and so shalt thou be praysed of the same: If these princes and rulars do defende godlynes and religion / they do good / then by the iudgement of Goddes worde they are without feare of the poure / and do deserue prayse of theyr hygher poures and lords. But yf thou do euell (saith Paule) then feare the poure / for he beareth not the sworde for nought / but is the minister of Godd to take vengeaũce on them which do euell. Thus doth this place arme the myndes and cõsciences of these inferior princes of whom I speake / that they shulde note feare theyr hygher poures / when for the defence of Goddes religion / they do resiste and not obeye theyr wicked commaundementes. Yf any will now thus saye agaynst me. He that hath the kinglye and supreame auctoritie / vnto whom by othe I do owe obedience / commaundeth these thinges / and therfore I must obey. I answer that thou arte not boũd herin to keape any such othe or promis. For when he commaundeth those thinges whiche are agaynste God / he dothe not the office of Goddes minister / to him thẽ therin thou dost owe neyther faith nor obedience. Agayne yf thou wilt aske / By what righte may these vnder rulars and inferiour magistrates / thus sett them selues agaynst the hygher princes / which haue the verye supreame right and poure to defende pure and godlye Religion / and the true faithe. I aunswere. That the electours of the Empire / and the Princes of Germanie / and the fre cityes / do it by the Imperiall poure and righte / whiche 50 Gij is committed vnto them: And that the Magistrates and Rulars whiche are in kingdoms / they do and darre do it / by the Kinglye poure and right lykewyse committed vnto them. For Emperours and Kinges / and such hygher poures / haue therfor chosen and taked these vnder Rulars and officers / as it were into a parte of theyr Rule / to be theyr helpers / in administringe and ordering theyr businesses and charge / to the ende that Iustice might florishe so muche the more. And euen so from the begynninge poure and Rule was gyuen vnto these / that they shulde rule the common wealthe / for that part therof / whiche was committed vnto them / iustlye / vprightlye / and godlye. Wherof the Emprour in the Code doth saye / that yf he shulde commaunde anye thinge agaynste righte / he wolde not that any suche decree of his shulde auayle in iudgementes. The very same thinge is to be sayde / where a kinge or suche which do retayne the supreame auctoritie / do commaunde or determyne anye thynge againste right. Not vnworthy is Traianus the Emperour therfore commended / who when he delyuered the sworde to a Rular in his Empire / sayde: If I do cõmaunde Iuste thinges / vse this for me / but yf I do require vniust things / vse it against me. But on the contrary part / Gregorie the great / Byshopp of Rome / can not in this behalfe be praysed / but dispraysed / and accused: Who seinge that the lawe whiche Mauritius the Emperour had made was vniuste / which was / That no man entangled with the matters || of the common wealth / or which was appointed to the warrs / might be made a priest or a mõck / he wrote to the Emperour / That after that he hadd seene hys lawe / he was wonderfullye afrayed and astonied / And therfor he desireth hym to diminshe somwhat of the rigour of the lawe or els to chaũge it altogether: But yet he added / That as touchinge hymself / after that he hath now done his office in admonishing hym / now for the obedience which he doth owe vnto him / he wolde publishe his lawe / as he hadd commaunded. Thys acte surely can not / but be reproued in this Busshopp. Agayn here thou wilt happily saye. What yf the hygher Prince wil not allowe me to do myne office / or doth reuoke this parte of myne office? Truly no man cã take that frõ thyne office / which God hath cõmaunded the to do in it. No mã can discharge the of that dutye / wherewith God chargeth the in thyne office / do thou the dutye that longeth to it. Many there are which do thincke / that when this dealinge and doinge of the inferior magistrate agaynste the hygher Rulars is thus straitly required / That Godds Religiõ is not to be promoted after this manier by thẽ / but rather / that they do sufficientlye the thinge which belõgeth vnto them / yf they do forsake theyr office / and gyue ouer their Rule and auctoritie. So do not I thincke / Thy dignitie and office is not so lightly to be gyuen ouer. Thou dost gyue ouer thyne office / because thou wilt not strayne thy self therin to promote the 51 Giij glorie of Godd: And this is to depart and fall from thy vocacion: which thou oughtest not to do / especially whẽ thou dost playnly see / that thy roume and place / shalbe bestowed vpon those / which ar wicked and both do / ãd will oppresse the kingdom of God. These men must abyde therfor in theyr offices / so lõg as they be not putt out of them by the higher poures / and strõgly must they defend the glorie of God in them.

Now when I on this maner do entreate of these thinges / I do not make or shewe an easye waye to sturre vp sedicions. But this onlye I do seke / and care for / Matt. 22. That those thinges which do belonge vnto Godd / shuld be gyuen vnto Godd: and those thinges which are belonging vnto Cesar / shulde be gyuen vnto Cesar. If the worldly substaũce and ritches of men were required and asked by the hygher poures / I wold councell to gyue thẽ. But in those thinges which do belonge vnto the worshipp of Godd / I say / that thei must not yealde to the wicked requestes of theyr hygher Rulars and lordes: here is no place to be gyuen to thẽ / but in our owne ciuile matters we must yealde / yf to yealde in them be not agaynst Goddes lawe. 3. Reg 21. In which case Naboth is to be excused / which wolde not graunte hys vyneyard to the Kinge: He dyd it not of couetousnes / or of to great a desyre which he dyd beare to the thinges of the world / but because he dyd knowe that in gyuing awaye of his vineyarde so / Goddes lawe shulde be broken / by which he hadd appointed / that the feeldes || and possessions amonge the people of Israell / Num. 33. shuld remayn in theyr tribes and kindreds / as they were iustly distributed at the beginning. This lawe of God wolde Kinge Achab haue broken / and therto required he the cõsent of Naboth / which he with a good and a safe conscience could not do / and therfor wold not. But halas / sorow it is to behold / how that there are many Dukes / Earles / and such princes / from whome yf an Emperour or a Kinge wold take their dominions / landes / lordshipps and inheritaunce / they wold leaue nothing vndone / yea they wold do all that they could do / to defend their own / and do resiste their vnrighteous doinge: But when the kingdom of God is assaulted by tyrauntes, and the gospell and bequest of the bludd of Christe taken violently and wretchedly away from them / and frõ the children of Godd which are committed to theyr tuition and defence / they will do nothing at all. Yea when they are required of theyr hygher poures / as ministers of theyr furie / to destroye and ouerthrow the gospell / then they neyther sturre nor speake anye thing at all / but do as they are biddẽ. In theyr own cause they can fight / and rebell / but in Goddes cause / they are as it were no princes nor Rulers. Wherby we can not thincke any other thing of them / then this / That they do not at the hart esteme the gospell of Christe.

A confutation of the places alledged. Nowe this is remayning / that I sholde answer vnto those reasons which were put forthe at the begynning to proue that the dwelling together of the 52 Giiij faithfull with the vnfaithfull is lawfull / and confute them. Firste / the example of Christ is set against vs / which dyd eate and drinke familiarlye with scribes / pharisees / publicanes / and synners. We muste remembre that Christe was not only stronge / but the chiefe heade of all them shich be stronge. He coulde so profyte them which were euell / that theyr euill shuld not hurte him / and therfore might vse familiaritie with the wicked. Euen so there is no cause to the contrarie / but that they whiche be learned and constante in the truthe / suche as can profit the vnfaithfull by their cõuersation and familiar being with them / and not be hurt by it them selues (as we haue admonished before) may be conuersaunt with the vnbeleauers and wicked.

The seconde place is / 1. Cor. 7. Paule wolde not that the faithfull maried vnto an vnbeleuer sholde departe / yf the vnbeleuer will dwell together with the other. This I do also acknowledge / as befor I haue said: for vnto thẽ / al necessary businesses / especially those which are ordeyned of God / are to be done. And yet in that place which is here alledged / Paule is not so to be vnderstanded without exception / as these mẽ do iudge: for yf the vnbeleuĩg maried parson / shold cõtinually moue the faithfull to Idolatrie / or sholde not cease to blaspheme Christ / and prouoke the other to cõmit like blasphemie / so lõg as thei did liue together / this ioynt life in mariadge were not to be cõtinued: for this were not to dwell together / but to conspire together against Christ: Paule therfor speaketh || of suche cohabitacion as is laufull without suche soliciting or mouinge to euell and blasphemye.

An other sentence of Paule is broughte which he writeth to the Corinthians / 1. Cor. 5. where he teacheth that all couetous parsons / euill speakers / dronckardes / whoremũgars / and such lyke are not to be auoided / for then sholde they haue gone out of the worlde.
But he wold / that we sholde kepe our selues frõ thẽ / which being called brethren / are infected with these vices. As concerninge this place / we must consider the mynde and purpose of Paule. Firste he dyd perceyue that for the necessitie of lyfe it coulde not be that the faithfull shulde auoyde the companie of all which at that tyme were vnbeleuers / for the greater part of men at that ceason was without Christ / and they beinge auoided of our men / coulde not therby haue bene made the better / But into thẽ which before were bretheren / bothe sorowe and shame was dryuen / when they dyd see that they wer now shonned of the godlye / to whome as they were before righte deare / so with them they were familiar. And by this meanes the church was not euill reported / neither for clokinge of euill among themselues / nor for to seuere separatinge themselues from them which were not yet conuerted: seing that they lyued with the vnbeleuers / partly for the necessitie of lyfe / partlye to turne them to the gospell of Christ: wherfore this sentence doth make nothing at all agaynst those thinges which we haue alreadye spoken.

Moche lesse maketh that for them which they do 53 Gv bringe in / Gene. 12. that Abraham did becomme a straungier amõg the heathẽ and Idolatours: first that which Abraham dyd / euen by the callinge and commaundmente of God he dyd it. Againe he was of suche knowledge and constãcie in the truithe that he coulde be conuersaũte whith the vnbeleauers with out hurtinge of him selfe / and wyth moche profyting of thẽ. For he caryed aboute with him the name of god ãd his holy ãd true worship / whither so euer he wẽt. And the very same thing / maie we answer of Lot.

5 Gene. 13. For if Lot went to Sodome / with a Good mynde to teache thẽ true faithe and godlie life / he owght not to be accused therfore / for it was well done / yea it was the prouidence of God towards the Sodomyts / that they mighte be better taughte / and ernestly caled vnto repẽtance. So dothe God admonishe before he destroieth. So Abraham was sent amonge the Cananites. On this sorte to go amõge the wicked / and vnbeleuers is lawfull and laudable. But if Lot went to Sodõ only because the pleasaunte commodytie of the place pleased him / he dyd not wel. Neither indede dyd his going thither happen luckelie / for he was led awaye captiue / so that he was in nede to be rescued again by Abraham. Gene. 14. And likewise when God burned the Cytie / he was compelled euen against his will to forsake it.

Of Naaman I shall not nede to speake nowe / 6 for of him I haue spokẽ inough before. 7 I suppose lykewise that the cause is opẽ and plaine inoughe / wherfore manye of them which were healed of Christe || were sent frõ him to their own coũtrie / and kindred / to publishe and declare and amõge thẽ / what hade happened vnto thẽ. This nowe remayneth / that I sholde peculiarlie speake of the Iues / and heretikes. For these too kindes of mẽ do in all places this daye liue amonge / and do dwell togither wyth the Christians.

Of the Iues As concerninge the Iues / there be certayn reasons why they are to be borne withall and suffered. Of which Augustine / amonge others / doth make mencion in many places. Furste / they aboue all other sortes and nations of men hadde the promise made vnto them. Neither are they all yet vtterly to be despayred of / for the roote remaynethe into the which they maye be ingrafted agayne / and nowe and thẽ some of them / thoughe not many in Nombre / do come vnto Christe. Paule saithe to the Romains / Rom. 11. that partly blindnes is happened is Israel / as if he wolde saie / not vpon all / not for euer. And afterwarde he saieth / when the fulnes of the gentyles ys comme / thẽ all Israell shalbe saued: vnto that ende therfore the lorde saueth / and preseruith them vnto this daye. And that thou sholdest not thincke that this place is to be vnderstanded allegorically of the spirituall Israel / Paule teacheth it as a mysterie / ãd dothe recite the prophecie of Esaie / Esa. 59. in which it is sayd: That then all the iniquite of Iacob shal be taken awaie. Besids this they are called ennemies / but yet beloued for the fathers. Quest. Euãg. lib. 2. quest. 33. And Augustine expoundinge the historie of the prodigall sonne / saieth / that he dothe represent the gentiles / Luc 15. for as he went 54 into a farre countrie / so the gentyles dyd departe so farre frome God / that they worshipped Idolls as by a publike order and custome cõmenlye receyued: But the elder sonne / by whõ the people of the Iues is signified / went not farre awaie / but was in the felde / not in his fathers house verylie / which is the church / but in the fielde / for the Iues are occupied / and cõuersaunte aboute the letter of the scriptures / they vnderstãde them whith an earthly and fleshy mynde: And therfore it is sayde / that he was in the felde: At the begynning he wẽte not into the house / but at the last he shall entre / and be called also: Lib. de fide rerũ inuisib. cap. 6. And alwaies Augustine bringith this sentence to persuade men to suffer the Iues / which is writẽ in the 58. psal. Psal. 59 as he nõbred the Psalmes. Sley them not / lest my poeple do forget / but scater thẽ abroade. &c. The sonne of God praieth the father / that the Iues mighte not be vtterlie slayne and destroyed but scatered abroad throughe the worlde. Other countries and nacyõs / being subdued of the Romaynes receyued their lawes and rytes / and so became Romains / but the Iues although that they also were ouercomme of the Romaines / yet were they neuer made Romaĩs / neither ĩ ordinaũces / lawes / nor religiõ. They do kepe their own lawe (so farre as they cã) euẽ vnto this daye: They wander aboute dispersed and scattered abrode / neither do they forget the lawe of Godd / the haue it / not to obserue it indeede / but only they do reade yt / ãd they do also reteyne certeyn signes / as Circũcisiõ and other ordinaũces / || by which they are knowẽ from others. But they offer no sacrifices / for to sacrifice was lawfull only at Hierusalẽ. And thus it semeth that the lorde hathe sett vppon them a signe / as he dyd vppon Cain / which slewe his brother Abell.

Neither is this their dispersion amonge all the nacions of the worlde vnprofitable for vs. They are braunches brokẽ of / and we are grafted in their place / which thinge whilest we do beholde / we must acknowledg the iustice of God towards them / and his grace towards vs: And we muste take hede / that we be not lykwise cutt of through vnbelefe / for the which they were broken awaie. Ther is another cõmoditie besydes this that commith of this their dispersiõ which is / that they do kepe our bokes / the holy byble I do meane. These they do carye aboute with them / they reade them / and thoughe they beleue not / because they are blinded / yet do they cõfesse that these wrytinges are true. And so though they be our enemies in their mynde / yet the bokes which they haue and do reuerẽce / are our witnesses. wherfore I cã not maruayle ynoughe at those mẽ which do persequute and hate the tonge of the Hebrewes / and the Hebrewe bibels / and do burne them / whẽ as Augustine in his boke / De doctrina Christiana, dothe bidde / Lib. 2. ca. 11. that we sholde go to the truithe of the Hebrue tonge / if we do doubte in any place of our translations. The selfe same thinge dothe Hierome teache in manye places. But they saie that these bokes are corrupted of the Iues. Heare I thinke good 55 to answer with Hierome. Either saithe he they dyd this before the comminge of Christe / and the preachinge of the Apostles / or after: if before / it is maruell that when Christ / the Apostles / and Paule / dyd reproue moste shãfull faultes in the Iues / that they wolde haue kepte in silence so greate and haynous a sacriledge as this: surelie if it hade bene so / they wolde haue reproued yt. But if it was done after Christes ascẽsiõ / they wolde thẽ chieflie haue corrupted those places which do make mẽciõ of Christ / and those which Christe / and his Apostiles did alledge. But those remayne safe and vncorrupte / the same sense and meaninge of thẽ is in their bible in which they were recyted of Christe / and his Apostles (for aboute the wordes they were not so curious) wherfore it is not lyke / that they haue corrupted any other places at all in the holy bokes of the scripture. Yea if a mã dothe iustly beholde thẽ / he shall see that they haue many moo testimonies and sentences for vs / more plaine / I saye / then our cõmen translatiõ hathe / as in the .2. Psal. kisse the sonne / where ours hathe / laie holde of knowledg. In like maner the whole .53. of Esaie / which dothe moste plainlie prophecie of Christ / remaynith vncorrupt. The bokes therfore are not corrupted. Yea they coulde not haue corrupted those bokes thoughe they wolde / but it shuld be easyly espied: for ther be of them many moste awncient in wryten hande / which haue bene kepte moste diligentlie of Christians. But let vs retourne to the profyt that Augustine speaketh of. Many mighte || thinke / that those thinges which are spokẽ of the olde people were vayne and fayned / and likwise those thinges which we do tell owte of the prophettes / excepte they dyd see the Iues thẽselues yet liuinge / and remayninge / with their bokes / which do beare witnesse to the thinges that we do speake: wherfore though the Iues be blinded in mynde / and in harte are our enemyes / yet euen them and their bokes we haue moste plaine witnesses of out faithe. Aske thẽ of the prophettes whom Christ dothe alledge / they graunte them to be true. Aske them of the vnderstandinge of thẽ / in yt they are ignoraunte / because they are blinded. And amonge all other witnessinges / that witnesse which is gyuen of a mãs enemie is of greatest weight / and makith most for him: Of suche witnesses truly the lorde hathe prouided good stoore for his churche. For we haue not only the bokes of the Hebrues to make for vs / but also the verses or rydles of the Sibylles / which were of an heathẽ poeple. It is not to be thought / that our elders fayned thos verses: for Sibylles bokes were euen commune / in all mens hands / in the tyme of Eusebius the bishoppe of Cesarea / of Lactantius / and of Augustine. All which do vse / and alledg them. But if they hade alledged false and counterfett verses / the heathen mẽ which then excelled in knowledge / and were very many also in numbre / they wolde haue reproued theym as vayn men and lyars. If then men wyll gyue this vnto the verses of the Sibylles that they be vncorrupte / moche more is it to be giuen to the bokes of the Hebrues. Thus hath it pleased the lorde to defende and arme his churche / yea euẽ with the testimonies of his aduersaires. Wherfor let the Iues be suffred amonge the Christians / both for the promis which they haue of the saluaciõ to comme to their stocke / and also for the commodities which they do carie with them / such as I haue rehearsed. And for this cause / they be not only by lawes suffered / but also they haue their Synagoges graunted vnto them: As in the Nouellis Constitutionibus of Iustinian / and in the Decrees / it doth appere: But this is permitted vnder such condicion that they shuld not haue moo Synagoges then they hadd before / nor greater: Yet maye they repaire them that fall into decaye: This was graũted to them / bicause that in their cõgregacions / ther is no impiete / nor wickednes committed: They do but reade only the bookes of the holy scripture / and do publiquely praye. In which thinge yet the Magistrates and Bushopps / do euell / which do not diligẽtly serche / take heede / and prouide / that they do nothinge els in their congregations indeede / then that I haue spoken of: for they shuld by al meanes take heede / that in their publique and cõmon prayers / exhortations and readinges they do not speake euell of Christe our lorde and Godd. Which thynge seing they do not / both the Magistrates and the Bushopps are in greate fault. Vnto Turcks this ought not to be graunted / that they shuld gather them selues together in congregations to do their || Godd seruice / bicause that in the same they reade neither the old Testament / nor the newe / but only their own blasphemus and filthie Alcorane. Morouer the Iues shuld be forbidden the practise of their exchaũges / and their vsuries. For not without mutch dishonesti and shame / do they afflicte many poore Christians therwith. But Christian Princes and Rulars do take tributes / and gret taxes for these gaynes of vsurie and shamefull couetusnes of the Iues / so farr ar they from forbidding them these wicked practises. Agayne Christian princes do not prouide to haue the Iues which do dwell vnder their dominions taught in Goddes truithe: which indeede is an euill negligẽce in them: for truly they ought to compell the Iues to comme vnto the godly sermons of the Christians / and that often tymes. Els if they be left in this point neglected / they do waxe dayly wors and wors / and lytill yea no hope at all is ther to be hadd of their conuercion. Theise princes are likewise bownd to take heade that the Iues do not corrupt the Christiãs / which ar vnder their Rule / that they do not seduce them and bringe them into Iuishnes. Neither shuld the weaker sort of Christians haue ony familiaritie with them / but only such Christians as be learned / and constant in the truithe. And that for such causes / as I haue alledged before. Last of all it is meete and conueniẽt / that they shuld be known from the Christians by their araye / or som suche outwarde signe / les ony man at vnwares shuld be conuersaunt with them / 57 H as though they wer Christians. And thus mutch of the Iues shall suffice. Now will I entreate of Heretikes.

This worde Hæresis, is deriued of the Greke worde / αιρεῖν, which signifieth to chose / to pick / or to cull out. For heretikes do chose out / vnto thẽselues sum doctrine which is contrarye to the holy scriptures / and do obstinatly defend the same. Vnto this euell they are brought / either bicause they do not know the holy scripture / either bicause that though they do knowe them yet they do contemne and despise them either els bicause they do applye thẽselues to get sum honor or riches by this meane. Wherfor Augustine saith. Lib. de vtilit. credẽ. He is an heretike which either enuentith / or folowith fals and new opinions for ony worldly commoditie / and cheifly to gett himself glorie ãd autorite. But of Heresie I will make this definicion. Vvhat heresie is. Heresie / is a choise and obstinate defence / of certeyn doctrynes which are contrary vntto Godds worde / springinge / either of the ignoraunce / or of the contempt of the holy scriptures / to gett therby aduaũtag / or honors. There are foure kyndes of causes in this definicion. The formall cause is / chosinge and defending of picked doctrynes. The materiall parte or cause is picked doctryns contrary to Godds worde. For he that beleauith no doctryne at all / is godles / and not an Heretike. The cause efficient by which they are moued to Heresie is / ignoraunce and contempt of the holy scripture / and lust or couetus desire. The end whi men fall to Heresie || is / to obtayne honors / ãd riches: For they do abhorre the Crosse which folowith the preachinge of the gospell / ãd as Paule saith / Phil. 3. Theyr belly / is their god. Augustine hath also this diuisiõ. Quest. in Matth. quest. 11. Euell catholiques are they / which do lyue otherwise thẽ they saie that they do beleaue. Schismatiques are they / which for diuersitie in opiniõ do diuide and separat the church / for σχιζειν, is to deuide. Heretikes are they / which perseuere / and cõtinue in that schisme. Lib. 2. contra Cresco. cap. 7. But in an other place he saith. That Heresie / doth differ frõ schisme. For a Schisme / is a stryfe which risith vppon diuersitie of sentẽces. Neither can a dyuiding or a schisme be / onles they which do make it do thinke and holde cõtrarie thinges. But Heresie is / an inueterat schisme. 1. Cor. 11. Saint Paule obseruith no such diuersitie / for he vsith theise too wordes for one thinge. Nowe that ye se what Heresie is / consider well wether that the papistes be heretikes / or no? They themselues do stoutly saye that they be none. Yea ãd sum other ther are / which dare affirme / that the papistes do differ from vs only in certayn abuses of ceremonies / and not in the doctrine of faith. But how farr theise mẽ do err from the truithe / it shall forthwithe appeare. For I will playnly proue / that the papists are Heretikes / and do mayntayne Heresie againste certayn principall doctrines of our faithe.

1 The Papistes are heretiques. Furst in the Article of Iustification / the papistes do picke out vnto themselues this doctrine: That a man is not iustified by faithe only / but by goode 58 Hij worcks also. which doctrine is contrary to the holy scriptures. Paule teachith thus. Rom. 3. We holde that a mã is Iustified by faithe / without the deedes of the Lawe. Agayn he saith. Gal. 2. We do knowe that a man is not Iustified by the deedes of the lawe / but by the faithe of Iesu Christe. And Peter / whom Paule did thẽ withstõd / did not speake agaynst this doctrine. Of the Iues / also he writith thus. Rom. 10. For being ignorant of Gods righteousnes / and goinge about to establishe their own righteousnes / they were not obediẽt to the righteousnes of God. In which place he settith theise two righteousnesses / the one / against the other / the righteousnes of faith / against the righteousnes of worckes / so that the one excludith the other. The same thinge he doth where speaking of Iustificatiõ he saith. Rom. 11. If it be of grace / thẽ is it not of worcks / if it be of worcks / thẽ is it no more grace. To the Philippians he playnly saith / Phil. 3. that the worcks which are wrought before Regeneracion / can not iustifie / for he doth counte them to be but losse and dunge / which truly he wold not haue done / if they hadd such poure and vertue / that they could iustifie. This is most playne / that men before regeneraciõ are euell / and then must this sentẽce of Christes stõde true. Mat. 7. An euell tree cã not bringe forth goode fruite. For how can it be / that they wich are deade as cõcerning righteousne / can of thẽ selues go ony thinge forward vnto their new birhte: Ephes. 2. And we all wer such / euẽ deade throughe synne / and the || children of wrathe. The Epistle writon to the Hebrues doth witnes / Hebre. 11. That without faith it is impossible to please God: And to the Romayns Paule saith. Rom. 14. That what soeuer is not of faith is Synne. This is the doctrine of the scripture cõcerning this matier. The papistes (as I sayde) so teache cleane contrarie doctrine / and do obstinatly defẽd it / notwithstõding that they be admonished of their error by the holy scriptures / by the aunciente fathers / as Hierom / Augustin / and others / by the godly Coũcels / as Africanum / Mileuitanum / Arausicanum / And now also being admonished therof by vs / yet will they not leaue their errour: Wherfor by the former definitiõ of Heresie / they are proued heretikes.

An other doctryne also they do hold which is this. That the worcks which men do after regeneracion / are meritorius of their own worthines vnto euerlasting lyfe / And that they do fulfill the lawe of God. Yea they be not content to saye this only / but they adde. That men can do more goode worcks thẽ the lawe of Godd requirirth. For (saye they) to lyue a syngle lyfe / to preache the gospell frely / mẽ are not commaunded by ony expres cõmaundement of Godd. This they do teache / and obstinatly defend. But we do lern out of the holy scriptures / that Rom. 8. The afflictiõs of this lyfe / are not worthie of the glorie / which shalbe shewed vppon vs. He speakith heare of the best kind of worcks / euen of sufferinge martyrdom. Besides this eiche man dothe fele him selfe bounde betwene / and giltie of the breaking of theis two comaundementes. 59 Hiij Deut. 5. Thou shalt loue the lorde thy God whith all thy harte / with all thy soule / and with all they mighte: lykewise of the same other commaundemente. Exod. 20. Thou shalte not luste / Ther is none amõg mortall mẽ / that dyd euer fulfill those commaundementes. For the prophet saythe: Esa. 64. that our rightuousnesses / are as the clothe stayned withe the floures of a woman. And Christe wolde haue vs all / yea euen the blessed virgin / and the Apostles themselues to praye / Mat. 6. forgyue vs our trespasses. Iacob. 3. Iames addeth / in many thinges we all do synne. Ioan. 1. Iohn saythe. And if we saie we haue no synne / we do deceyue our selues. 2 This do we learne in the holie scripture / of our continuall synnynge: they teache not then that we can do any thing more then we sholde. But here the papistes do seke startinge hooles / and saie that they which liue a sole life / they which do preach the gospell frelie / do more thẽ the law cõmaundeth / as I sayde: But this is not true / for they which haue the powre to liue a sole and chaste lyfe / ãd do know that in this kinde of lyfe they shall more paynfully and profitably labor in the preachinge of the gospell of Christe thẽ otherwise. They are bownde to take it on thẽ ãd to lyue in it. For if they do yt not / it is certeyne that they loue not God with all their harte / bycause they sholde then leaue vndone somewhat that they mighte do / to the glorie of his name / and wolde not. Like is to be saide of thẽ / which mighte preache the gospell frelye / and do se that it shalbe for the increase of the kingdõ of Godd / and do it not. Wherfore || seinge the papistes do bothe thincke and teache otherwise in this matier then the holie scripture dothe teache / and do defend their errour with an obstinate mynde they are heretikes.

3 They do chose vnto them selues also an other doctrine / which is / that they which be regenerat / muste alwaies doubte of their saluatiõ. But Christ / the Apostles / and the whole scripture / do teache cleane contrarie / Ioan. 6. he that beleuithe in me (saith Christe) hathe euerlasting life. If he hath it / howe cã he doubte of yt then? Act. 10. And it is writen in the Actes. To him giue all the Prophetes witnesse / that all they which beleue throughe his name / shall receyue remissiõ of synnes. Rom. 8. And to the Romains / whõ he hath called / them also be iustified / whom he iustified / thẽ he also glorified: But here the papistes haue this shifte / A mã muste not doubte of Gods promises (they saye) but he muste doubte of the infirmitie of his fleshe / that he can not do those thinges which are to be done / to obtayne the promises of Godd. Rom. 4. Butt we be admonished by Abrahãs example / that we sholde not in beholding of our imbecyllitie / fainte in faith / nor fall from beleauinge certainly the truithe of the promises: he considered not the barren wombe of Sara / nor his own old and effoebled bodie / he stackered not at the promise of God through vnbelefe / but became strõge in faithe / and dyd giue glory vnto God / knowinge that he was sufficientlie able to performe those thĩges which he promised. &c. Rom. 4. Therfor by faithe is the enheritaunce gyuẽ that it might 60 Hiiij come of grace / that the promise mighte be certaine and sure: for if the certayntie of saluaciõ did hãge on our merytes ãd worthines of our worckes / it should alwaies stumble / and be in daũgier of ouerthrowe. Thus the papistes do spoile men of healthfull hope / ãd make mẽ doubt / if not despaire / which is not to be done: for that nature of hope maie not be inuerted which Paule teacheth Rom. 5. to be suche / that it dothe not make a man ashamed: if then we do certaynlye hope and loke for life euerlastinge / we shall not be deceyued: and seing it is the holye ghoste that bearithe witnes vnto our spret / Rom. 8. that we are the children of Godd / surly his witnes we may not reiect / without cõmitting gret offence. Exod. 20. I am sayth Godd / The lorde thy Godd / this will he haue them that be his to beleaue: Roma. 5. And whosoeuer beleauith this / hath the quiet peace of a iustified consciẽce / and knowith hymself to be in safetie / for Godd is his iustifier / and who shall condẽne hym / whom Godd doth iustifie. Roma. 8. Against al theise manifest testimonies of the holy scriptures / theise men do teache their contrary doctrine / and do obstinatly defend it / wherfor they are heretiques.

Moreouer they do teache that euery mã must satisfice for hys synnes in this lyfe / which if he do not / then must he go to purgatorie: And that by the poure of the Keyes committed vnto them / they can turn the euerlastinge punishment in to a temporall. Psal. 32. If therfor satisfaction be not made whilest a man is in this lyfe / he shall do it / when he is goone out || this lyfe. But against this / the holy scriptures do teach. Rom. 4. Blessed are they whose vnrighteousnesses are forgyen / and whos synnes are couered. What blessednes / I praye you shuld this be / if they which be reconciled vnto Godd / shuld be bownde to sustayne such paynes and punishmentes. When a Synner doth repent (saith Godd by the prophet) Ezech. 18. The synnes that he hath done / shall not be thought vppon. But Godd will thincke vppon them / if it be true that either a man must satisfice / or go to pugatorie / if Godd wil so sharply punishe them by such paynes as they saye are in purgatorie. It is writon in the reuelacion. Apoc. 14. Blessed are the deade which do dye in the lorde / euẽ so saieth the spret / that they rest from their labours. They which do dye in the lorde / that is the beleauers / how do they rest frõ their labours / if it be so that they must yeat be vexed in purgatorie? Christe our Sauiour when he did forgyue synnes sayed. Luc. 7. Thy faithe hath made the safe: go thy wayes / synne no more. Ioan. 5. Luc. 23. To the theif he saied. This daye thow shalt be with me in paradise. Phil. 1. Paule desired to be loosed / and to be with Christ. How chauncith it that there is no mencion made of purgatorie? In the old lawe / ther wer sacrifices ordeigned / for princes / prests / for the Nazarites / for the lepars / for gelousie / for the synne of ignoraũce / and many such lyke. How happened it that ther was no sacrifice appoĩted for the dead? The church truly (as we also do graunte) hath keyes cõmitted vnto it. And theise are / the preachinge of the gospell / Mar. 16. that is the forgyuenes 61 Hv of synnes to thẽ which do beleaue in Christe / and the threateninge of condemnaciõ / through which heauen is shutt againste the vnbeleauers. One key is the promis / an other key is faith / by theise two keys heauẽ is opened to the penitẽt. Theise keyes Christ did delyure whẽ he sayed: goo in to the whol world / ãd preach the gospell to euery creature / he that beleaueth ãd is baptised / shalbe saued. Those ministers do occupie these keyes which do preach the gospell. But here is no menciõ made of altering of Goddes iudgements / nor of turninge of punishmentes. Christe our sauiour / by that one sacrifice of his bodye / ones offered for all euer / did worcke perfect saluaciõ / and made a perfect and consummate ende of sacrificing for synne: where then is their enuented satisfactiõ for synne? Yea who doth not see / that this theyr doctryne doth withdrawe frõ Christ / the fulness of that his satisfactiõ with which he satisficed for vs? when they do saye that it is not sufficient / except we do adde ours also. And this theyr wicked errour they go about to colour / because the olde fathers vsed oftẽ times this worde / satisfaction. But they will not see / that the fathers mẽt therby / to satisfice the churche / when they were receyued publiquely to repentaunce / and not to satisfice to Godd. Except thow wilt saye that to satisfice is nothing els / but when one doth make himself approued vnto an other man. For euen so are we saide to satisfice to Godd / when as after our cõuercion and turning to his grace / we do lyue godly for his pleasure || / to aproue our selues vnto hym / as his childrẽ. Thus satisfactions / are signes of the forgyuenes of synnes and of true repẽtaũce. But (as I sayde) theise mẽ do both thincke / and teache otherwyse / and do defẽde obstinatly theyr error / they will not be satisficed by the word of God / wherfor they are heretikes.

They do teache furthermore / that it is lawfull in the congregacion to do the holy seruice / in a tongue that is not vnderstõded. And this they do indeede / and defende theyr misdoinge / neither being admonished will they amende it. 1. Cor. 14 Paule doth forbidde the christians the vse of those tongues in the congregacions / which euen by miracle were bestowed vpon them / except they did interpretate and expoũde that which they shuld speake in them. And all Paules reasons are grounded vpon the edifying of the cõgregacion / whiche aboue all thinges we ought to seeke in the holy meetinges and cõgregacions. But there shalbe no edificacion at all / when that thing which is spoken / is not vnderstonded of the people. Paule saith. My brethren yf I do come vnto you speaking with tongues / what shall I profite you / excepte I speake to you / eyther by reuelaciõ / or by knowledge / or by prophecying / or by doctryne. But these sacrificers / lyke men that can do mutch more then Paule / they do come with a straunge tong / which the congregacion vnderstondeth not / and yet neuertheles they bragge that they do muche profite the congregaciõ. Paule will rather speake fyue wordes / to the enformacion of others / then ten thousand wordes 62 with tongues: Our sacrificers cleane contrary / will rather speake a thousand / yea an infinite number of wordes in a straũge tongue / then a very feawe / the meaning of which maye be vnderstonded. Paule proueth his sentence and minde / euen by thinges that haue no lyfe / as by a trompe / and harp / and les we shulde be one to an other as barbarus / and aliauntes / but this is of no force / nor auctoritie with the papistes. For our purpose we haue the example of Godd himself / which dyd speake vnto the Iuishe people in their naturall tongue. The greke churche did receyue the doctryne of the gospel of the Apostles (whiche were Hebrues) in their naturall greke tongue. And as from the beginninge the Hebrues in theyr congregacions haue vsed their naturall Hebrue tongue / so haue the Grecians their greke tongue / and so at the begynning the latin churche vsed their naturall latine tongue also: Only these heretiques (the papistes I meane) are delighted with a straũge tongue. In nouel. Constitu] Iustiniane the Emprour determineth / that all thinges shulde be spoken openlye and plainlye in the Temples / that they mighte bothe be hearde and vnderstonded / But this the papistes regarde not. Wherfor seing they cã not / nor will not / be moued from this their opinion / which is so absurde and repugnant to the holye scriptures / to the order of the catholique churche / to the lawes of the Emproure / without all doubt they are heretiques.

They do teache that the sacrament of the Lordes body and bludd / shuld be ministred in one kinde only || / when it is gyuen to the people. It is most manifest and playne / that Christe our Sauiour did otherwyse institute it / euen to be mynistred in bothe kindes to all communicauntes. These sacrificers therfore in taking awaye of the cupp frõ the people they do committ most shamefull sacriledge. We bring in agaynst them the Institucion of Christe: But that can they not abyde to heare of. Yeat les they shulde seame to saye nothing / They saye / That the Lord did delyuer it in bothe kindes vnto prestes onlye / that is to his Apostles. And yet when they themselues do mynister it vnto prestes whiche do not saye Masse / they do gyue but the one kinde only. But they haue nothinge to aunswer vnto Paule 1. Cor. 11. (who writinge to the hole churche of the Corinthians / which were not prestes only (as the papistes call them) but a cõgregacion bothe of men and women) dothe delyuer the holy supper vnto them in bothe kindes / as he receyued it of the Lorde / heere haue they nothing to saye. And vnto this madnes some of these masters do come at lenghth / That they saye that the holy communion is not to be called the Lordes supper / for wher is it (saye they) called the supper of the Lorde? Dotor VVeston. Forsothe Paule / the scoler of the holy ghost / calleth it so. 1. Cor. 11. Yea they aske farther / where the scripture teacheth / that this holy sacrament shulde be gyuen vnto women / Lyberall to Women as thoughe they wolde be counted of fauour and of their liberalitie / to gyue a communiõ vnto women / 1. Cor. 11. and not because Godd in his worde hath appointed the sacramẽt of hys bodye and blud 63 to be delyuered vnto women as well as to men. In the holy scripture it is writen / Let a man proue hym selfe. In this worde man is man and woman comprehended. No saith a Doctor the greke worde is / ἀνηρ which signifieth the mankinde only: Maister Latymers answer therfor is true. Thys Doctor lyeth lowdly / for the greke worde / in that place is ἄνθρωπος / which signifieth bothe man and woman. The scriptures also do teache / 1 Cor. 10. that the holy communion doth partayne vnto all them / which ar one breade / and one cupp: wherfor except they wyll exclude women out of the bodye of Christ / and shew that they be not of the churche of Christe / how shall / or can this papist / depryue them of the holy communion? Especially seinge it is playnly taught / that in Christe there is neyther man / nor woman / neyther bonde / nor fre / but all are one in Christe. Gal. 3. But to returne to their sacriledge / in which thei do take away one parte of the sacrament. Of this thefte the institution of the Lorde / the Epistle of Paule / the custome ãd manier of the primatiue churche / which was to mynister this holy supper in both kindes / dothe accuse them / which dyd continue euen vntill the tyme of Thomas Aquinas / and vnto this daye it continueth in all the Easte church / wherfore seing tht in this thinge also they are so obstinate / they can be none otherwyse estemed but as heretykes.

They haue also another most pernicious and hurtefull doctryne / of the calling vpon the dead sainctes / and worshippe / and adoration / to be gyuen to theyr Images. Deut. 6. The holy scripture sayth / Thou shalt || worshipp the Lorde thy God / and hym onlye shalte thou serue. But they denye that they do worshippe the Images: They maye denye it in wordes / but in theyr dedes they do testifie cleane contrarye. They fall downe before them / they praye to them / thei crie and call on them / they cense them / they light vp cãdels before them / what do they more to God hym selfe? They leaue no peculiar thinge vnto Christe / to aske of him / which they do not aske of some saincte / They do gyue titles / and names vnto the sainctes / especiallie to the blessed virgin Marie / which do belonge vnto Christe alone. Thou quene (saye they) of mercie / our aduocate / our lyfe / our sweetnes / ãd our hope. Certaynlie these thinges do belonge to Christe onlye / vnto him therfore alone shoulde thei leaue these thinges vntouched / and withowt diminutiõ. I speake not this / as though I dyd not thinke / that the moste holie virgin were worthy of singular praises / But euen she her selfe will not be made equall with Christe. They do furthermore crie owt of all corners at all their altars vnto their sainctes / as thoughe they were present euerie where. But this presence belongithe to god onlie / neither is it communicated to any creature. Acto. 4. Again it is writẽ in the holye scripture: That ther is none other name vnder heauen / but the name of Christe onlye / wherin we muste be saued. 1. Ioan. 2. And Iohn doth saie: If we synne / we haue an aduocate wyth the father / Iesus Christe the rightuous / and he is the propiciation for our synnes. But theis heretikes make many aduocates. 64 Esaie confessith and saieth. Esa. 63. Abraham hathe not knowen vs / And Israel hathe forgotten vs. And therfore (saith he) these are not to be called vpon / we must not truste in them / but in God onlye / and that vnto him wee muste flye. We are commaũded also in moste plain wordes / that what so euer we aske / we sholde aske it in the name of Iesus Christe / Ioan. 16. and not in the name of other sainctes / as theise men do. But contrary to this true doctryne they do stifflie maynteyne their wicked error / therfor are they verylye heretikes. Here I do let passe their masse / in which they make their mishapen Godd of breade / throughe their art of transubstantiation. They sett vpp their sacrifice for the quicke and deade / the verie abhomination and God Maozim: which thinges they do defẽde wyth moste peruerse obstinacie. But howe contrarie they are to the worde of Godd is not nowe again to be repeted / seinge that a lytell before / in this matter I haue sayde sufficiẽtlie. But if I wolde spẽde more tyme here / I mighte reherce many other doctrines of the papistes in which they do shãfully swarue frõ the truithe of Godds worde. And of their errours they will not chaũg any thing at all which prouith them to be obstinate heretikes. But this that I haue writõ is inough / and inough againe to proue that thei are heritikes. Now let thẽ saie that we dissent but in ceremonies. But I saie that we dissẽt in doctrines. Let the papistes saie that we shold not haue departed frõ thẽ / but I saie / they shoulde not then haue departed frõ the truithe. Augustine || wolde not graũte vnto Cresconius / Aduersus Crescon. lib. 21. that the controuersie betwene the Catholikes and the donatistes / was a lighte and small contention / and schisme: But he saieth that they defended an heresie / and that moste horrible / euen this that they did rebaptize. And yet baptisme reiterated dothe nomore differ from the worde of God / then these errours of the papistes / which I haue repeted.

Wherfore Christian princes / whilest they do suffer them in their dominions / they owghte no otherwise to suffer them / then vpon suche condicyons as are aboue rehersed. That is / that they do compell no man to partake their wicked Idolatries. That they do not permitt them to haue their rites and supersticious ceremonies. That they take hede / that they do not corrupte others which do beleaue truly / and be of good iudgemẽte. And last of al / after that they haue bene cõpetentlie taughte / to enforce them outwardly to embrace sownde / and holye rites / and ceremonies agreinge with Godds worde. Thou wilte saie happelie / if it shoulde be so / their condition sholde be more miserable then the condicion of the Iewes / and Turckes / whom we do not compell to receyue our Religiõ. I graunte / but yet this sholde be iustlie done. And that for theis causes. Firste bycause the Iewes are not Citizens in our common welthes / but receyued vnder this condicion / that it is lawfull for them to vse their owne lawes / so lõge as they will: wherfore if they do not behaue thẽselues well / or they do not please vs / they be turned 65 I awaie and caste owte / as oftẽ tymes they haue beene handeled. And not without iuste cause / when their conuersation hathe beene hurtfull. But these papistes are our citizẽs / therfore they must be otherwise handeled / and seinge they do confesse Christe / they are to be enforced to his pure and true religiõ. Again the Iues can not do so moche hurte as these Iebuzites maie / for all men / for the moste parte / do shonne and deteste the Iue / But these are subtile sorcerers / which vnder the cloke of the name of Christ / and ciuile familiaritie / maye deceyue many: furthermore there is a promise of the saluatiõ of the Iues / to be shewed ĩ the latter age / The lyke peculiar promise of papistes ther is not. And yet I do not speake this / as though I dyd condemne the counsell of many good prĩces / which haue cast the Iues owt of their countrye / for good iuste and laufull causes. Their acte I do allowe. But to returne vnto theise heretiques the papistes / we are bounde to praie for them / and seinge they do dwell amonge vs / we muste obserue the aforenamed rules / In vsinge or not vsinge familiaritie / and being conuersaunte with thẽ / which I dyd giue / of being conuersaunt with the vnfaithfull and wicked / in which sorte I do place them. And if any of them do returne to the truith / and will embrace the true Religion of Christ / they are not to be rebaptized. For though a Christian ought not to demaunde baptisme in the popishe churche / yet the baptisme which they haue hetherto vsed we acknowledge it to be such that it is not to be reiterated || of them whõ they do baptise. Augustine writinge of baptisme / Cõtra donat. lib. 5. cap. 23. againste the donatistes / sayeth that when they retorne / the hãdes only are to be layde on them: and that les is sholde apeare / that they were before without fault. Also that the holye ghost maye by praier be begged to cõme vpõ them / whose singular gifte the vnitie of the true churche is. This ceremonie trulye is laudable / but yet seinge it is not appointed to this purpose in the holye scripture / it maie be omitted: because we do se that the cheifest vse of it (as the apostles vsed it) was in the institution of the ministers of the churche. Suche of them as haue bene byshopps / and elders / maie be receyued into their degrees / and offices / if they do returne vnto the truithe: but this must be done / so as shall seme moste profitable to the flocke / and churche of the lorde. If they haue suche giftes as maie serue for the edyfying of the churche / And if by their ministerie / the truithe of the gospell and the saluation of the people which was committed vnto them maye be propmoted more then by the ministerie of other / and aptelie / and as profitable. They maie be restored to their place / ãd degree. The order of which matter is lefte vnto the iudgement of the churche of God. But if they remayne obstinate in their euill / and do continue peruerters of the godlye doinges of the magistrates / and pestilent corruptors of the people: Then the magistrates maie / and owghte to vse the sworde againste thẽ: for he bearith the sworde to take vengeaunce on them that do euill / and therto is he minister of God.

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Sermon Title Text

Vr lorde Iesus Christ hath forsayed that ther shuld be persequutions / and cheifly in the later tymes / through which sum shuld be despolied of their goodes / sum also thrown out of their dwellinges / and other shuld be shut vpp in prisõ / agayn that other shuld be fried in the fire and put to other punishmentes / and executed with infamus deathes / And that for the lord Christe himself / and for the doctrine / and confessiõ of the truith of the gospell. The same lord did then also forsaye / that not a few shuld fall from the truithe known. All which thinges truly we haue herd and seene fulfilled / not in this tyme only / but in tymes long passed. For ther are sum which at this daye do openly / and that without shame / curs and bydd adew to the truith of the gospell / which with demas do embrace this present worlde. There are other / and not afew / which do themselues also denie the truith known / and yet wyll not be accompted to be forsakers of it. Thy do stayne themselues with dyuers || glosses and colours that they might not be known of the godly and more simple sorte of men. One faynith that he doth not go out of Egipt and Babilon / bicause he may wynne many vnto Christe: when as in the meane tyume he doth both withdrawe himself from Christ / and doth cõfirme manye that be weaker men in the filthes of babilon so that they do not at ony tyme thincke ernestly of true repentaunce. Other do fantisie that ther is no neade opẽly to cõfes religion / but that the inward beleif of the hart doth suffice: And if it be of vrgẽt necessite to confes ony thinge openly / yet that the confession sufficith which is made amonge the brithern which are well known and companions in Religion: Neither that the confession amonge the aduersaires is straitly required / which shall put them in daũger of lyfe. And therfore thou shalt finde sum men of exercise which cã conningly dispute of papisticall ceremonies and make meruailus interpretacions of theim / laboring by all meanes to proue that the godly by the partaking of them neither are defiled / nor yet that the religiõ of the gospell is denied. Thus wittye and subtill doth that trembling feare / and gret desire of this world make them. Truly when the tyme serued that they might lyue without daũger in rest and quiet at ease / they then wold neuer haue thought / no not so mutch as dreamed ony of this matier / Yea of theis thinges they wold haue bẽ loth but euẽ to haue spokẽ / as thinges playne cõtrary to simplicitie / and true religion. But now when the lord hath sent amonge 67 Iiij them the fire of persequution or rather of probatiõ / and they do se that either they must flye out of their countrie / or that they must put ther lyfe in extreme ieoperdie / and yet haue no will to leaue either ease or their riches / or to committ themselues to daũgers / they turn themselues into all formes / and craftyly creping backe by clokinge and dissemblinge they do seeke wayes / by which they may slypp awaie out of the conflict. Which when it happenith as they wold haue it / thẽ without all doubt / ther lyues / their substaunce / and goode estimaciõ do vtterly perishe. For this cause I thincke that I can not entreate a more profitable mater and more meete and necessarie for this our world / The argument and matter. then of the true cõfessing of Christe and the truithe of the gospell / and of the foule denyinge of the same. This matier truly is copius / and most ãple / wherthrough I doubt nothing at all but sum of you be all redy made afraide with the largenes of it / which do consider the end of the sermon by the begynning / and of the mater it self: But I will at this present touche but certayn pointes of this matier hauing cõsideraciõ of the tyme / and especially of you / reuerend fathers and beloued Brethern in Christ. The lord gyue me grace omitting thinges not necessarie / to prosequute only all thos thinges which be necessarie. Thos shameles men / which affirme (without doubt against their own consciẽce) The cloke of them that deny true religion. that ther is no neade at all of the outward and daũgerus confession among the aduersaries of the religion of the gospell / they do wrast the ordinaunces || of Godd to make a cloke for their malice. And they saye / that Godd will not haue holy mariages broken / or that the honor due vnto parẽts shuld be vndoone / that Godd will not haue the gouernmẽt of polities or howsholds disturbed / ãd to be short that he will not haue a mans death and destruction. For what encrease shall happen to the glorie of God by the vnrecouerable miserie of me and my houshold? what profyt shuld come of my chaynes / or of my pouertie vnto my neighburr? And who is it that knowith not that all thinges which we do are to be referred to the glorie of Godd / and to the profit of our neighburr? Yea and if I be burned / or cast into exile for the confession of the gospell / do I not take miself awaie frõ myne by deathe / before my tyme? Do I not throw all myn with me into extreme pouertie and beggerie? And thẽ after all by goodes be loste I am compelled to be burdenus vnto others. The towardlynes of my Sonnes shalbe brought in daunger. The chastitie or my wyfe and doughters shalbe brought into hazarde. For they being pressed with most hard necessitie shall learne by euell artes to gett necessaries for their lyfe. And who will thĩcke that Godd doth allowe theise thinges? who doth so mutche cõmend the faith of mariage / the godly bringing vp of childrẽ / and an howshold wel ordered / that Paule his apostle fearith not to saye, 1. Timo. 5. That if ony prouide not for his and specially for theim of his houshold / the same hathe denied the faith / ãd is worse than an infidell. Wherfor les I shuld be constrayned 68 Iiiij to confession / and so denie the faithe / I retayne faith in my harte / and by holding my peace I do dissemble for a tyme / I do not vtterly denye nor throw awaye all Religiõ. All theise thinges (I say) they do most wickedly wraste against their naturall and godlye sense / to defend their desires / and to retayne their wordly commodities.

Confession is necessarie But against all theis we do sett the sentẽce of our lord and Sauiour Iesus Christe / which is neither darcke nor doutfull / that by it all the subtilties of theise mene maye at ones be confuted / and vanishe awaye. In the gospell of Mathewe he confirming the mynds of his disciples against the thretts and terrors of this wicked world / amõg other thinges / Matth. 10. Are not (sayth he) two lytle sparowes solde for a farthinge. And one of them shall not lyghte on the grownd withe out your father: yea euen all the heares of your heade are nombred. feare ye not therfor: ye are if more value then many sparowes. Euery one therfor that shall knowledge me before men hym wyll I knowledge also before my father which is in heauen. But whosoeuer shall denye me before men / hym wyll I also denye before my father which is in heauen: the same lord in the gospell of Marcke / Marc. 8. Whosoeuer (saythe he) shall lose hys lyfe for my sake and the gospell He same shall saue it. For what shall it profyte a man / if he wynne al the worlde and lose his owne soule? or what shall a mã gyue to redeme hys soule wythall agayn? Whosoeuer therfor shalbe ashamed of me ãd of my wordes / || in this aduowtrus and synfull generation: of hym also shall the sonne of mã be ashamed whẽ he commith in the glorie of his father withe the holy angels. Theis wordes of the lorde are playne / ãd spokẽ without ony darcknes. The lord requirith of eiche one of vs that symple and open confessiõ which we make before men / and that such men as are synnars and adulterars / the emenies / I saye / of Godd / and of all true religiõ. for such men do the prophets also call fornicatours and adulterars. He requirith / I saye / that we shuld cõfes hym and his worde / That is / that we shuld simply cõfes that he is Christ / and that we shuld not denye ony thing of his worde either by out wordes or deedes. Examples of true confession, Mat. 16. We read that Peter did confes Christ the lorde sincerely and with a true cõfession when he answered vnto the lorde / which asked and sayed. But whõ saye ye that I am / he answered. Thow art Christe the sonne of the lyuinge Godd. Ioan. 6. Agayn whẽ many did fall from the lorde for that sermon in which he declared in the Synagoge of the Capernaites / that he only was the foade of lyfe / and for that cause the lorde saide to his disciples: Wyll ye also go awaye? Peter answered / and cõfessing the lorde with a notable cõfession he said / lorde to whom shall we go? Thow hast the wordes of eternal lyfe / And we beleue and are sure / that thow art Christe the sonne of the lyuinge Godd. Such like cõfession absolute and true doth the blessed apostle and Euangelist Iohn commẽd vnto vs sayinge. 1. Ioan. 4. Dearly beloued / beleue not euery sprit / but 69 Iv proue the sprites / whether they are of Godd or not. For many false prophetes are gone out into the worlde. Hereby shall ye know the spirite of Godd: Euery sprite that confessith that Iesu Christe is cõme in the flesh / is of Godd. And euery sprite which confessith not that Iesu Christe is come in the fleshe is not of Godd. And this is that spirite of Antichriste / of whome ye haue herde / howe that he shuld comme and euen now alreadi is he in the worlde. Furthermor this true and catholike confession / doth so attribute all out whole lyfe and saluaciõ vnto the lorde Christe / that it doeth take the same from al other meanes and thinges with which mãs doctrine hathe ony part: wherfor it is not sufficiẽt only to haue cõfirmed the part affirmatiue (as they call it) except thow do also expres the negatiue / and dost so ascribe vnto Christe our lorde all the thinges of our lyfe and saluaciõ / that all men may vnderstõd that thow dost clyme to him al the partes of our saluacion / and that thow dost not gyue ony part therof to ony other. For we do fynd that the lord Iesus did teache such a confession / and that his apostles made the lyke. For whẽ the lorde in the gospell of Iohn speakĩg plainly inough hadd sayed. Ioan. 10. I am the dore / by me if any mã entre in / he shall be safe and shall go in and oute / and finde pasture. A thefe cõmith not but for to steale / kyll / and to destroye: I am come that they might haue lyfe / and that they might haue it more abũdantly: I am the goode shepeherd / a goode shepeherd gyueth his lyfe for the shepe. Yet was he not || contẽt with theis though thy be most playne wordes / but he ioyned also a Negatiue / with a most pitthie asseueraciõ / sayĩg: Verely verely I saye vnto yowe he that enterith not in by the dore into the shepefolde / but clymbeth vp some other waye / the same is a theife and a murtherer. He likewise saith playnly in the same chapter / A goode shepeherd goeth before his shepe / and the shepe folowe hym bicause they knowe his voice. Yea forthewith he addith this also / A straunger will they not folowe / but wil flie frõ him / for they know not the voice of straũgers. Agayn in an other place / Ioan. 14. I am the waye (saithe he) the truthe and the lyfe: Yet he not being content wyth this so playn a doctryne doth adde agayne the exclusyue and saithe / No mã commith to the father but by me. Wherfor Peter thought it not inoughe that he sayde in that full senate of Hierusalem / That Christe is that Rocke which doth by his dethe and resurrection establishe and preserue the beleauers / Act. 4. onles moreouer he had Vindicated to Christ alone all thinges that concerne saluaciõ / and taken the same awaye from others / saying. Neither is there saluacion in ony other: For among men vnder heauen ther is gyuen none other name wherin we must be saued. After which manier likewise saĩt Paul doth proue that Roma. 3. faith in Christ through grace doth iustifie / neither doth he saye this only / Ephe. 2. but he doth also remoue all that which might seeme to gyue iustice vnto men / the lawe I meane and worckes / sayinge. We knowe that a man is not iustified 70 by the dedes of the lawe / Gala. 2. but by the faith of Iesus Christe. And we haue beleued on Iesus Christ that we might be iustified by the faythe of Christe / and not by the dedes of the lawe / bicause that by the dedes of the lawe no fleshe shalbe iustified. And in an other place the same Paule: Behold (saith he) I Paul saye vnto yowe / Gala 5. that if ye be circũcised / Christe shall profite yow nothing at all. I testifie agayn to euery man which is circumcised / that he is bownd to keape the whole lawe. Christe is become but in vayn to yowe / as many of yow as are iustified by the lawe are fallen from grace / we loke for and hope in the spirite to be iustified thorow faithe. Theis cleare examples of Christ and the apostles / and doctrine of the sincere and sounde confession of Christe do suffice to yow reuerend and godly hearers. Out of which we do gather / that their cõfessions are neither full / nor sincere / which do confes that indeede Christe is thier saluaciõ and rightuisnes / their preist and sacrifice / their aduocate and mediator / Imperfaite confessiõs. yet so that it notwithstõding they do gyue the very same / and cõmunicate them to synneful men / to thinges also and meanes which are in no place instituted nor approued of Godd. And no les corrupt is their confession also / which do confes wyth the mouthe that Godd alone is to be adored and worshipped / that Christe is the only preiste and true aduocate with the father / but yet in their deedes they do denye that same confession of their mouthe / bowinge their knees to Images / worshippinge creatures / || callinge vppon their patrons and fayned saynts of heauen. The hole doctryne of Christe is to be confessed. But the Apostles did not only confes Christe himself / but also all Christes doctrine / all Christes wordes / the whole gospell (I saye) of saluacion: of which Christe is the only Marcke. And therfor when the preistes and senators of Hierusalem did forbidd the apostles that they shuld nomore preache the gospell / they ãswered hartily and playnly: whether it be right in the sight of Godd to herken vnto yow more thẽ vnto Godd / iudge ye. Act. 4. For we can not but speke that which we haue seene and herde. And when they were shutt vp in prison for free preching of the gospell / and wer in daũger of their lyues / they are delyuered of the angell / of whõ by the cõmaundement of Godd they do heare. Act. 5. Go and stande and speake in the temple to the poeple all the wordes of this lyfe. Therfor all thos thinges which are cõtayned in the holy gospell / and holy scriptures / must be confessed of them which are faithfull indeede: for all thos are the wordds of Godd / and the wordds of saluacion / And all thos do sauer of Christe and do bringe vnto Christe. Ioan. 1. In whom only it hath pleased God the father that all fulnes shuld dwell / in whõ (as Paule doth witnes) Colos. 1. 2. we are made perfite so that we want nothinge / as agayn the lorde himself doth testifie: Ioã. 4. 5. 7. he that eateth or drincketh me shall not be hungry or thrustie for euer / but he shall haue in hym self the healthefull waters of euerlastinge lyfe. Yf we do knowe / beleaue / and vnderstonde theise thinges 71 let vs gyue glorie to our only Sauiour Christe / and not gyue it awaye vnto other / But let vs frely confes hym only / and alone / in mouth / and deedes / to be our saluacion iustice sanctificacion absolution or rather perfectiõ / the peace of our soules / and lyfe euerlasting. But the lord doth sett denying against confessinge. Ther are diuers kinds of denyinge / which beinge but lightly rehersed it shall again appeare what is the sowndness and simplicitie of confessinge. Furst Christe and Godds worde is denyed / when our redeamer Christe / and the worde of lyfe is opẽly blasphemed in playne wordes / whẽ he is not acknowledged to be the only Sauiour / ãd when the due dignitie and auctoritie of the scriptures is not adscribed vnto them. Then by silence also is Christe and Christes worde denyed / namely whẽ vppõ occasion offered we do not deffende the glorie of the name of Godd and of the truythe known againste the ennemis of Godd and sclaunderers of the worde of Godd. A. Neuter. For in this case it is lawfull for no man to be a / neuter / as they call it. In the most auncient lawes of Solon which were at Athens grauen in postes of woode / the which also ons made by hym the Athenienses ordeygned vnder great religiõ and punishmẽt that they shuld contynue for euer: one lawe Aristotle doth report to be writon in this sence. That if throughe discorde the poeple shuld be deuided into too partes / and eich partie shuld take armour / then he which did not ioyne himself to the one partie / but || slipp asyde separated from the common euell of the cytie / he shall lose howse / countrithe / and goodes / and be an exile and a banished mã. Mutch les is it lawfull for them which haue professed the name of Christe / and are signed with holy baptisme / in that fierce fight betwene Christe and Antichriste to slippe a syde / and to ioyne himself vnto neither partye. That same newtralitie doth seame truly to be wisdõ to many childrẽ of this worlde / but indeede it is folyshnes / yea it is a very denying of Christ / by which they do exclude themselues out of that heauenly countrithe / they spoile thẽselues of all spirituall riches / and make themselues exiles and banished men. Math. 26. For Christe and his truithe is denyed either by dissemblinge: as when Peter was charged by the mayde that he was one of the nũber of the disciples / ãd he answered I wote not what thow sayest. He knew verily what she sayed / but being bewitched with a certayne feare / he fayned that he knewe not the thĩg which he did know very well. Euen so truly at this daye many do saye that they are more simple then that they can vnderstond the dissension in religion and gyue answer of all controuersies: But they do vnderstond so mutch as sufficith: yet for the ieoperdies which be at hand / or for sum vayne feare / they do fayne that they do not vnderstonde. Neither wer it necessarie for euery one to answer to all darcke or hard thĩges / which thing they which are well exercised can not do / it sufficith to confesse thos thinges which be opẽ and playne. Ther is also a coloured denyinge 72 whẽ we playyng the foxes with foxes do cõfes verely sumwhat of our religion / yetwe do so enwrapp it with such darcke wordes and doutfull sentẽces / that vnto thẽ which are most subtill and conning in quidities / it shall not playnly appeare what we do thincke. But the cõfessiõ shuld be simple / and playne. Glorie is to be gyuẽ to Godd. In making of it Godd / and not Man were to be considered. Man maye be deceyued / but no man cã deceyue Godd. And also we are commaunde to render vnto God his glorie franckly before men. But I do not see how thow haste glorified Godd before men / when thow dost so temper thy confession that it sumwhat sauerith indeede of the truithe of the gospell / and yet they which be superstitius shall not see their supersticions vtterly reiecrted / nor their errors condemned by thy confession / but maye iudge that thou dost yet holde on their syde. Agayn many do confes Christe in wordes and his gospell frely / and openly inoughe / but euẽ they themselues do forthwith defile and ouerthrow this Christiã and gospellike cõfession with vngospellike deedes. I do speake nothing heere of thos synnes and wickednesses by which they do vnhallow the doctrine of our Sauiour / but of thos supersticius ceremonies and wicked cõgregacions with which they do cõmunicate / by which communiõ or partakinge indeede they do denye that which they did cõfes before. For he which doth cõfes by mouthe that they which do depart out of this lyfe in true faithe do not (throughe the mediacion of Christe) comme || into Iudgment / but do strayte waye passe from the bodily deathe vnto lyfe euerlasting / euen as the doctrine of the gospell doth enstruct vs / and we do playnly confes in the articles of the apostles Crede / this namely that we do beleaue the forgyuenes of synnes / the rising again of the fleshe / and lyfe euerlasting: And yet so sone as ony of their elders or familiars do depart out of this worlde / they go strait to sacrificing prestes / ãd do demãde of them churche assemblees / supplicacions / dirges / weake myndes / trẽtalles / to be short / yearemynds / ãd prayers and sacrifices expiatorie for the deade / to whom he doth ioyne hymself / and doth obserue thos rites / hath he not playnly denyed in deede that which he hadd confessed in worde? He that doth confes that Christe was ons only offered for the synnes of the whole world / ãd that he is not therfore to be offerred any moore / And that the holy Supper is a remembraũce of this only and euerlasting sacrifice / and not the sacrifice it self / and yet neuertheles doth go vnto ther gods seruice / which do stoutly asseuere that they do offer vp Christ in substaũce for the synnes of the lyuing ãd the deade: doth he not by goĩg to and cõmunicatinge with this seruice / denye that which by speaking and professing he hadd cõfessed? Theis truly are wayes of denyinge / which they do not fully vnderstonde which are almost persuaded / that Religiõ is but a playe / and as it were a slipper fitte for euery foote. Theis mẽ do knowe how to rule all religiõs vnder a certayn colour of holy concord / 73 K but indeede for earthly cõmoditie / that among whõ soeuer they do lyue like vnto a Cameleon they do take vnto themselues their coloure and ceremonies / being mutch more changeable than Protheus / of whom it is but folly to beleaue / that they do passe for ony religiõ at all. But let vs passe ouer theise vnstable chãgelinges / and establishe our mynds / that they be not lewse nor waueringe / but being knytte vpp and cõfirmed in the lorde / they maye haue sum suretie and stablenes of the sure and stable worde of Godde / which we may both in mowthe and deedes confes / and in which we may finally reste. That maruailus and heauenly and therwith thõderinge prophet Helias / 3. Reg. 18. howe longe (saithe he) halte ye betwene two opinions. If the lorde be Godde folowe hym: but if Baal be he / then go after hym. Euen so truly our lorde hymself doth saye in the gospell / that no man can serue two masters. Let vs therfor forsake all other Godds and religions / and cleaue only to our Godde / which is the father of our lorde Iesus Christ / and let vs sticke faste in the only Christen religiõ / which is delyuered vnto vs in the holy scriptures. For it is euerlasting and most certayne. It sufficith not to confes Christe amonge the brethern. Mat. 10. But if it be sufficient to confes Christe and his gospell amonge our felows and brethern in religion / wherto I praye you will theis our men refer thos wordes which do go before this place of confession in the gospell? Behold I send you forthe as shepe amõge wolues. &c. They shall delyuer yow vp to the cowncelles and shall scourge yow for me. &c. But || whẽ they delyuer yow vpp take ye no thought how or what ye shall answer: for it shalbe gyuẽ yow / euẽ in that same houre / whal ye shall speake. &c. Feare ye not thẽ which kyll the bodye / but are not able to kyll the soule. He which doth denye that all theis sayinges must be vnderstond of persequutors / he saithe that darcknes is lighte. Yea and in Marc he doth playnly saye. Marc. 8. Whosoeuer therfor shalbe ashamed of me and of my wordes in this aduoutrus and synefull generacion / of hym also shall the sonne of man be ashamed. He requirith therfor a confession of the truithe not only in the companye of the godly / but also in the companye of the vngodly and persequutours / howsoeuer it be ioyned with the ieoperdie of lyfe and of all the substaunce. The lord speaking in the boke of the reuelacion with the church of pergamos / Apocal. 2. I knowe (saith he) where thow dwellest / euẽ where Sathans seate is / and thow keapest my name / and haste not denyed my faythe: And in thos dayes in which Antipas was a faythfull witnes of myn / which was slayne amõge yow where Sathã dwellithe. In which wordes truly the confession made in persequution is allowed / made I saye in that place / wher Sathan did beare rule / wher euen very then Antypas thaty notable Martir of Christe was slayn for confessinge of religion. Otherwise when all thinges are quiet it is not so harde a thing to confes the name of Godde. For if so be that the lord will not haue vs be ĩ ieoperdie of bodie goodes and lyfe / if it seme to be euill and a synne for a man / 74 Kii as it wer to procure deathe to hymself by the confessinge of truithe / wherfor dothe the lorde (I praye yow) exhorte thos his disciples / that they shuld not feare them which do kill the bodie / and can not kill the soule? Whi doth he by playne wordes saye / as it wer prouoking vs to martirdome? Marc. 8. Whosoeuer will folow me / let hym forsake hymselfe / and take vp his crosse / and folowe me. For whosoeuer will saue his lyfe shal lose it. But whosoeuer shall lose his lyfe for my sake / and the gospelles the same shall saue it. He addith forthwithe wordes which do make for the contempt of thos thinges / for which theis men do thincke that in religion silence maye be kept and dissimulacion vsed / sainge. What shall it profite a mã / yf he wynne al the worlde / and lose his owne sowle. Therwith also doth he adde through what thinge we do lose our soules / that is through Shame. For he saithe. Whosoeuer therfor shalbe ashamed of me and of my wordes / in this aduowtrus and synefull generacion / of hym also shall the sonne of man be ashamed when he commithe in the glorie of his father withe the holy Angelles. Therfor Paule that chosen vesell of Christe / and a most faithfull teacher of the churche / who gyueth euell councell to no mã / neither leadith he ony man from the true waye / it is (saith he) a true sayinge: 2. Tim. 2. for if we be deade with hym / we shall also lyue with hym: if we be pacient / we shal also raigne with hym. If we denye hym / he shall also denye vs. The same Paul to the Hebrues / Heb. 10. Call to remẽberaunce (saithe he) the dayes that are || passed / in the which after ye hadd receyued light / ye endured a great fighte of aduersities / partely while all men wondered and gased ay yowe for the shame and tribulacion that was done vnto yow / partely while ye became companions of them which so passed theyr tyme. For ye became partakers also of the afflictions which happened thorow my bondes / ãd toke in worthe the spoyling of your goodes / and that with gladnes / Knowing in your selues / how that ye haue in heauẽ a better ãd an enduring substaunce. Caste not awaye therfor your confidence / which hath a greate recompense of rewarde. For ye haue neade of pacience / that after ye haue doone the will of God / ye might receyue the promise. For yet a very litill while / and he that shall comme / will comme / and wyll not tarye. But the iuste shall lyue by faithe. And if he withdrawe hymself my soule shall haue no pleasure in hym. It is not we that withdrawe ourselues vnto damnaciõ / but we partayne vnto fayth / to the wynning of the soule. This truly is a sownde and wholsome doctrine / to cleaue faste vnto this / is to pleas Godd / and to glorifie hym / adde also to promote the saluacion of the brethern. The deathe ãd persequution of the sainctes doth glorifie Godd. Therfor whils theise men do replie / what shuld come to the encrease of glorie of Godd / or what commoditie shuld comme to Christe of thos my labors and daungers which I shuld sustayne for religion? wittingly and willingly they do disproue the doctrine of the apostle / which doth playnly witnes / not in theis places only which we haue 75 Kiij alledged / but in many others also / that both Godd is glorified by our sufferinges ãd calamities which we do sustayne for religions sake / and also that the weake brethern are therby edified / of whom it is certayne that by dissemblinge and denyinge of Religion they be offended / confirmed in ther errours / and indeede destroyed. For that most excellent prophete Dauid / Psal. 116. Righte deere (saithe he) in the fighte of the lorde / is the dathe of his sainctes. And sainct Peter saith Dearly beloued / 1. Pet. 4. maruayle not that ye are proued by fyre / which thynge is to trye yow as though sum straũge thinge happened vnto yow / but reioyce / in as mutch as ye are partakers of Christes passions / that when his glorie appearith / ye maye be mery and gladd. If ye be rayled vpon / for the name of Christe / happie are ye / for the glorie and the sprite of Godd restith vpon you. On ther parte he is euill spoken of / but on your parte he is glorified / and so furthe. And sainct Paule dothe pronounce that it is a most greuus synne of ony mã do offend the weake by his euell example. Thy brother doth perish (saithe he) for whom Christe died. When ye synne so against the brethern / and wounde thier weake conscience / ye synne againste Christ. Again we are saied in the scriptures to haue saued hym whom we haue by sounde doctrine and our goode example / either reteyned in the waye of the lorde / or haue brought hym backe that wẽt astraye. But if a greater regarde vs to be had of wife / childrẽ and houshold then of pure religion / so that for that || regard / religion seeme either to be dissembled or denyed: Yf it be euill for religions sake to dissente from them that be of kindred and alliannce / yea and for religion to depart from a lawfull wyfe / and in sum / for faithe to disagree with all frẽdes and familiars / shall we saye that the lorde did teach euill / which sayed in the gospell? Mat. 10. Thincke not that I am come to sende peace vnto the earthe. I came not to send paeace but a swearde. For I am come to sett a man at variance against his father / and the doughter against her mother / and the doughter in lawe against her mother in lawe. And a mãnes foes shalbe they that are of his own housholde. For frõ hence forthe ther shalbe fyue in one howse deuyded / thre against two / and two against thre. Luc. 12. The father shalbe deuided against the sonne / and the sonne against the father. This not spokẽ as though that dissension in itself did pleas Godd the autor of all peace / but bicause he will haue that peace which stondithe vppon euell and wicked thinges broken / and haue vs all conioyned in that which is holy and goode. And therfore we do not allowe whẽ mariages frẽdshippes and leagues are broken without necessitie / and vnder an vntrue pretence of religion. Agayn we do dissalowe thos which are kept againste the cõmaundement of Godd with playne hurte of true religion / and open denyinge of the faithe. All persons must bende themselues to peace and concorde so far as they maye / with retayninge of sowndnes in religiõ: But whẽ it can not be retayned / let none thincke that to keape peace with them he must 76 Kiiij cõmitt Idolatrie. 1. Cor. 7. And therfor the Apostle of Christ saith: If any brother haue a wyfe / whiche beleauith not / if she be contẽt to dwell with hym / let hym not putt her awaye. &c. But if the vnbeleauinge do departe let hym depart. A brother or a Syster is not in subiectiõ to such. But Godd hathe called vs in peace. Euen so truly it is an vnnatural thinge not to norishe the children / or to neglect the aged parẽtes / or to forsake frendes and familiars. Godds worde doth euery wheare commaũde that we shuld do reuerence and dutie to them to whom by the lawe of Godd / and man / we owe it. In which sense we do willingly admitte that sayinge of the Apostle. That he which doth not prouide for them which be of his howshold / both denieth the faith / and is wors thẽ an infidele. We do acknowledg that they are deuels and not men whosoeuer they be / which do wickedly disturbe wel ordered policies / ãd howsholdes. But yet in all theis we do also acknowledge this / ãd we se it taughte in the whole scripture as for an vndoubted truithe / that the lord Godd is better thẽ all theise / that the couenant and bonde of religiõ doth excede all other bondes in the world. And that the lord doth both so will and cõmaũde / that we shuld esteame him aboue all thĩges / ãd loue hym aboue al thinges / and that when he speakith we all shuld holde our peace / that there we shuld not thincke at all of coloured expositions and excuses / but only of symple and playne obedience / such / as we reade that Abraham shewed vnto Godd / whõ Godd || Gen. 12. Heb. 11. Gen. 22. Heb. 11. commaunding hym / did go out of his countrie into a straunge lande / and when he did not refuse to sacrifice vnto the lorde his only Sõne / withough suspicion of crueltie. Truly in the hold gospell the lord dothe saye. Luc. 14. If a man come to me / and hate not his father / and mother / and wyfe / and childrẽ / and brethern / and systers / yea and his own lyfe also / he can not be my disciple. And whosoeuer doth not beare his crosse and comme after me / can not be my disciple. They truly which haue beene content to beare this ioke of the lords / haue neither lost themselues / yea thoughe they haue beene slayne of persequatours / nor yet their familie / which they dyd leaue in trobles and penurie of thinges. For by teachinge of experience and witnessing of histories / we haue lerned / that Godd by such miracles as haue beene done at the graues of martirs hathe witnessed / that they which wer killed / wer not loste but saued, that they wer not deade but lyuing. Furthermore we cã not say nay but that Godd hathe blessed the families of such slayne martirs / and that he hath moued the hartes of goode men which haue receyued thos abiects and miserable persõs into their custodie / so that they wanted nothinge. Besids this the godly do knowe that in this world they must honger / and that they must be exercised with diuers aduersities / that they may be made like vnto the image of Christ who was himself in all pointes tempted for vs / Heb. 4. lyke as we are / but yet without synne. But now this remaynith as yet to be discussed / which theis men do 77 Kv take as for an oracle / and most euidẽt truithe. Wether it sufficith to kepe faith in the harte, and not confesse it with mouthe. That it is sufficient if a mã do keape the true faithe in his harte / and that ther is no farther neade of outward confession / through which thow shuldest be drowned in the deape of afflictions. Yf it doth suffice to beleaue in harte / and the confession with the mowthe seme not necessarie / wherfor I praye you Hath the lorde sayed? Euery one which confessithe me before Men. &c. Beholde he saythe before Men. But faith which stickith still in the harte is not brought forth before men. Yea it is not to be called a confession / when faith doth lurcke in the hart. For Confession doth properly bringe forth that which dyd lye hidden wythin. The Apostle therfor taking from vs all doubt in this controuersie. Rom. 10. The worde (sayth he) is nyghe the / euen in thy mouthe / and in thy harte. This same is the worde of faythe / whiche we preache. For if thow knowledg with thy mouth that Iesus is the lorde / and beleaue in thy harte that God raysed hym vpp from deathe thow shalt be safe. For to beleaue with the harte iustifieth / and to knowledge with the mowthe maketh a man safe. what canst thow desire to be more playnly and euidently spokẽ in this matier? Thow dost clearely heare that thow takest awaye saluacion if thow dost cut of the confession of the mouthe from the beleif of the hart. Yea and the beleif of the harte is that nature that it cã not lye hydd / but must of necessite breake forth to be confessed with the mouthe. Yf the confession of the mouthe neadith not / neyther then shall ther || neade ony preachinge of the truithe. But the Apostles / bushopps and faithfull martirs of Christ / whẽ they preached euen amonge the wicked / haue most bitterly condemned Idolatrie / and all doctrine and worshipp which doth not agre with the holy gospell / and affirmed that the gospell only dothe teache the true worshipp of Godd. By that confession of mouthe they did glorifie Godd / they did disanull Iudaisme and paganisme / and did erecte many holy congregracions throughe the worlde / which by holdinge their peace and keapinge the true faith within their harte they shuld neuer haue edified. Wherof euery man seith that the confession of the mouthe is allwayes necessarie / and that it is required of euery one of vs. The notable examples also of the excellent seruauntes of Godd cõtayned in the scriptures do teache the same. 1. Reg. 19. That same gret prophet of Godd Helias was ones of that mynde that he only of all the true worshippers of Godd was lefte alyue vppon the earthe. But he hearith euẽ of the lord hymself / which sayeth / I haue lefte me seuen thousand in Israel / of which neuer mã bowed his knee vnto Baal nor Kyssed hym with his mouthe. Heere is nothinge spoken of the secret faithe of the harte / but of the outward fruites of true faithe. For theis wer outward thinges / to bowe the knees vnto Baal / and to kisse his Image with their mouth. It is saied that they did not theis thinges / and therfor are they taken for true and veray worshippers of Godd. The lorde / if he hadd 78 thoughte that which theise our men do thincke / he might haue made mencion of the faithe of the harte without the outward confession / especially seing thos tymes wer so daungerous that Helias himself did flie into the wildernes. But the lord doth praise in his faithfull the outwarde confessiõ / which was made in worcke / rather thẽ in wordes. Wherfor we must shew forthe the faith of the harte both by deedes and wordes / after the exeample of theise seuen thowsande confessors whom God doth praise. We must not goo vnto vnholy assemblees / we must not bowe our knees nor vncouer our heades before Idolls / we must not kisse thos thinges / which are contrarie to the gospell.

Dan. 3. Yf ony other in the whole world / thos the princes (of whom mencion is made in Daniell) might haue coloured ther Idolatrie / but they chose rather to submitt themselues to cruel punishment / then to bowe their knee before that Image which the kinge did sett vpp to be worshipped. Their men of ours wold haue sayed. It shalbe better to kepe faithe in the harte for the profitinge of many / then rashly to poore it furthe to the hurte of an infinite number. For so longe as we are safe / the miserable captiues shall receyue gret and many benefites: Yea and also we priuely may promote the truithe in the princes courte. But by this same vnceasonable confession / confusion of all thinges shall euen at ons ouerwhelme all theise thinges. And with out doubt they wold haue added || that the Image which the kyng hadd sett vp was not altogether to be deputed amõg prophane thinges / forbicause that the true God had shewed the kinge a visiõ or an Image / which did conteyn great misteries of the kingdome of Godd / after the forme of which Image / Nabugodonozor hadd caused this Image to be made and graued / which Image the faithfull for the cause might beholde and reuerence as the worke of Godd. But thos valieant / and glorious Martirs do make mentiõ of no suche thinge / Dan. 3. and though they did knowe the kinges mynd well inough in this matier / yet they do playnly saye to the kinge. Be this known vnto the (o kynge) that we wil not serue they goddes / nor do reuerẽce vnto that Image which thow hast sett vpp. Neither did they only vse this libertie of speache before the kyng / but willingly they offered ther bodies to all daungers / yea euẽ to most fearfull fires. Dan. 6. Daniel also did not thĩcke that Godd was religiusly inough worshipped and serued with the inwarde faithe of the harte / except he had added the outward confession also. For when thos hethen princes did laye snares for hym / of which he was not ignorant / and therfor might peaceably haue prayed to the lorde within his walles at home / yet wold he not dissemble in this matier. For what doth the scripture saye? This / that when Daniel perceyued what the kinge hadd cõmaunded / he wẽte into his howse / and the windows of his wall towardes Hierusalẽ stode open. There kneled he down vpon his knees thre times a 79 daye / he made his petition and praised his Godd / and so opened he his confession to Godd. This same most holy prophet of Godd mighte seme to be beside hymself thus willingly to procure euill to hymself / and as it wer without neade to prouoke the enemies of Religion against hym: but the scripture doth not settfurth vnto vs ony error / no vncõsideratnes or rashe boldnes in this matier / but doth teache vs playnly to yelde vnto Godd confession in deedes and in wordes. Vnto theis examples of the holy scripture we will now adde other thinges which do agre with them (for thos thinges which do diagre from the scriptures we passe litill or nothing at all / what autoritie so euer they haue amonge mẽ) Ecclesiast. hist. lib. 6. cap. 28. This we will do out of the Ecclesiasticall historie. Eusebius entreating of such things as Origen did / makith mencion that Origen did mightily oppugn a new heresie which did springe vpp in his tyme / it was called the heresie of Helchesaites / and at lẽghth he did happily extinguishe it. He shewith that they amõg many other things did holde this heresie / that if a man did denie in persequution he synned not at all / forbicause that he which is stable and confirmed in his harte / although he doth denie with the mouthe for necessitie / yet as touching the harte he abidith in faithe. By which wordes truly euery man may perceyue that the same pestilent errour is brought agayn as it wer out of hell / in our age / and se that he ought cheifly to beware of it as of an heresie condemned. The same Eusebius in the || viij. booke doth sett furth notable exãples of many martirs of Christe which did frely confes the truith / out of whom I will recite vnto your godlynes theise few thinges / wich without doubt will be acceptable vnto all. They whos mynd (saithe he) was more readie and their faithe more stronge / suffered torments. Sum wer beaten with whippes / other were tormẽted with irõ houes / sum other wer burned with fierye plates / of whõ many indeed being weried did gyue ouer. But other did abide paciently euen to the end. Sum of the persequutours them selues verely / as thoughe they hadd vsed pitie / did bringe many of our mẽ to the wicked sacrifices / and made a noise as though thay hadd sacrificed / when indeede they hadd not sacrificed. Of sum other whẽ they hadd not so mutch as come nighe the vncleane sacrifices / they did crye out / that they had already sacrificed ãd did now depart. Which wer only faultie (I praye you marcke theise wordes) in this / that they did with silence beare the fault which was obiected against them. Sum being taken vpp half alyue were thrown awaye as thoughe they hadd beene deade. Sum beinge drawn out by the feate / were accompted amonge them which hadd sacrificed. Other cryed out that they were Christians / and dyd glorie in the confessinge of that healthfull name. Many also with a greater confidence did testifie that they neither hadd / neither wold sacrifice 80 euer. Whos mouthes and eyes the tormẽtours did forthewith beate / to cause them to holde ther peace / and they wer with violence thrust forthe as though they hadd done the thinge. For so the enemies of godlynes did mutch esteame it / if at least wise they did but seeme to bring to pas that which they wolde. Many other thinges like vnto this / might I add / partly out of the Tripartita historia / partly out of Eutropius. But theis are sufficient: And theis do plainly and euidently inough proue / that the lord doth require of true Christiãs / a true and playne confession of the mouthe / yea euen in the gretest daũgers and furies of the persequutors and therfor that theise tenderlinges do most manifestly err / which do thincke otherwise / only to saue their filthie paunche.

Of ceremonies. It remaynith now right Reuerend fathers / and most deare brethern in Christe that I shuld breifly touche also theis mens reasoninges of popishe Ceremonies / which I said at the begynning they do wittyly handle to persuade thẽselues / and others / that no man by the partakinge of them doth either defile himself / or by it denie the religion of the gospell. And surly it is well known that the name of Ceremonies not being narowly weyed / hath bewitched the eyes of many / not only in this but in other controuersies of religion. It is therfor to be known that Ceremonies are nothinge els but holy rites. And of Ceremonies sum are called diuine which are instituted (I saye) of Godd himself / sum other are || called humayne / such as are inuented by mãs will. Diuine ceremonies. But of the dyuine or ceremonies of God / sum belonged to the olde poeple / of which the writinges of the prophetes and apostles do beare witnes that they wer abrogate in Christe. Sum do belonge to the new poeple that is to Christiãs / which were delyuered vnto them of Christe by the Apostles / and thos truly very fewe / as of holy assemblees / of sacramentes / and certayn ecclesiasticall obseruaciõs / which are declared in the writĩges of the Apostles. Humaine ceremonies. Of ceremonies enuented by man ther is almost neither measure nor end. For they wer enuẽted and established at dyuerse tymes / ãd that by diuers and sundry autors / and they were so delyuered and instituted of them / that they do not only not consent with the holy scriptures but they be contrary to thẽ / insomutch that they do deface and corrupt the ordinaunces which Godd hath instituted / and do put them out of place. Of this kinde is that churche deckinge and dressinge / in which Images haue the cheif place. Of the same sorte also is Massinge / straunge apparell / synging / and feastes appointed to saintes which be in heauen / and other innumerable of this sorte. All which truly the papistes do adorne with the title of ceremonies / which whẽ the simple and such as haue litill knowledge do heare / they do Imagine sum holy thinge as thoughe that all theis thinges were sent down out of heauẽ from the lord Godd hymself to be kept. But heere we do admonishe men that they must stey sumwhat / and 81 L must sumwhat more diligently make difference betwene ceremonies / and must more narowly loke / whether that theis ceremonies (of which we do cõtend) be of Godd or of man. Euery man knowith that none in defiled by such ceremonies as are of Godd. And he which denieth that a man is defiled by humayn ceremonies / he seith nothing at all. For though I do not again vrge that which I saied euẽ nowe / that thos humayn ceremonies are contrary to Goddes worde / and do defile Godds ordinaunces / corrupt them and hyde them / can that be obscure or vnknown to ony mã which our lord Iesus Christe doth playnly with expressed wordes bringe out of Esaye? Mat. 15. They do serue me in vaine / teachinge the doctrines and preceptes of men. Tit. 1. Again that which Paule doth affirme that they be commaundements of men that tourn awaye the truthe? And that the holy Martir of Christe propownced? Cypriani epist. lib. 1. epist. 8. It is adulterus / it is wicked / it is sacrilegus / whatsoeuer is instituted by mans furie to violate the ordinance of Godd. And for this cause the godly will not call theis ordinãces ony lõger / ceremonies / simply / but rather mans institutions / and supersticions / which are reiected and forbidden of Godd. Wherfor howsoeuer theis men do beautifully set furth and adorn theise thinges / yet shall they neuer bringe this to passe / that the goddly will beleaue that it is lawful for thẽ to cõmunicate with supersticiõs / and such institucions as are forbiddẽ of God: Neither will the godly beleaue but that theis thinges are forbiddẽ / || except the papistes shall proue by playne testimonies of the scripture that they are so instituted of Godd as they do vse them. Which thinge when it can not be proued of them / nor yet at all of ony other of the papistes / sum of our false gospellers do turn thẽ selues hither / that they saye that Paule also did vse forbidden ceremonies / Paul circũcised Timothee. and that the prophetes of Godd did reproue the sacrifices / which they neuertheles did partake without synne. And if we do graunte thẽ this altogether / how can they (I praye yow) helpe or sett furth their cause? We reade that Paule vsed ceremonies instituted of Godd / circumcision and sacrifices / but theis men do contend for ceremonies instituted by men. Paul did ons circũcise his Timothie / Actu. 16. 18. 21. and did ons ore twis take on him a vowe / and that for certayn and weightie causes. But theise men couet to waxe old in their supersticions / and haue no lawfull causes to do so / except thow wilt call that lawfull which cõmith of the affectiõs of the fleshe. Without doubt Paule wold not haue one ore two of his actes to be sett against his whole doctrine. But whi do they not rather folow Paule in that / Gal. 2. when he refused to circũcise Titus? seing like causes are ministred vnto them by thos which go about to spoile thẽ of their libertie / ãd brĩg thẽ into bõdage. Hovv the prophetes reproued Sacrifices and vver also partakers of thẽ. We do saye that ther were two sortes of the Sacrifices amõg the old poeple of Israel. Sum of them are redd to be instituted of Godd / which the poeple sum tyme abused / or els did not vse them with true faithe / which thing the prophetes 82 Lij did reproue / and not the Sacrifices thẽselues / of which they did partake religiusly and without synne: Euen as we reade that Paule did worthely partake the supper of the lorde / although he doth reproue the abuse of the supper in the Corinthinians. Other sacrifices ther were enuented by man / such were the sacrifices of Baal / and of Ieroboam / and thos which were done in the hilles. Theis truly the prophetes did reproue / but it is not redde that they did communicate with the same. This example therfor is of force against them which will excuse themselues by the example of the prophetes / in that they do partake such sacrifices as are instituted of man.

Hovv sum do thincke that they may be at Masses, ãd hovv thei vnderstõd the masse. Forthewith thẽ they saye / what is it to me though papistes do abuse the Masse? In their abuse I do call to mynd the true vse / and I cõme vnto it with an other mynde and vnderstondinge then they do saye it. For when I see the breade and cupp / I do not thincke vppon the transubstãciation which the pope hath fayned / but on the sacrament of Christe. And therfor when I am at masse I do not regarde what ceremonies be ther / ore what the minister is / but I do remember the very institution of Christe and I do spitiually receyue that / wich he doth saye that he doth corporally offer and receyue / for the lyuinge and the deade. and seinge I know that the vertue of the sacramẽt is not of les force for the varietie of ceremonies / ore the vnworthines of the ministers / I do suppose that I / which do well vse an || euell thinge / am neither defiled / nor yet that by this my spirituall cõmunicating I do denie the gospell. By theise wordes a man wold iudge theis men to be madd / except he do consider that it is not they which do thus speake / but feare / and desire / which are affections playnly most trobled. They do simply acknowledge that papistes do abuse the supper of the lorde / but yet (they saye) that they themselues do wel vse their abuse / forbicause they do come enstructed with an other meaninge then the papistes do it / not to heare a popishe masse which the papistes saye / but to receyue the supper of the lorde / the self same which they in their masse do thĩcke abhominable. I do not know whether ther cã be ony greter absurditie spokẽ. Thow maiste saye that theis mẽ haue learned an arte which hetherto no man coulde attayne / to robb a naked man of clothes / to wringe water out of a pumeise stone / and to bidde a man to get fishe in the aire / that is / at a table wher no meate is sett furth at all / to fare delicatly and to be filled. But go to / let them frely profes before them with whõ they do thus cõmunicate / that they be of that mynd which they speake of / that is / that in cũminge to Masse they will not cõme to Masse / but that in it they will vnderstõd and consider breade / yea and that they will sett before their myndes the supper of the lorde / that they wil not cõfes the popishe transubstantiation / but that they do here in acknowledge Christes Sacrament / and that they do well receyue that spiritually in the Masse / which the prest doth 83 Liij offer / and receyue bodily for the lyuing and the deade / which thinge he beleauith not. Will not all they forthewithe crye out / that ther holy Masse is vnhalowed / and that they which thinke so are heretikes / and that they which do cõmunicate with them are excommunicated? Truly they wold so behaue themselues / that euery man might vnderstond / that ther is a grete difference betwene the Masse and the supper of the lorde / and that they do embrace the Masse / but the supper of the lord they do all wayes hate and reiect. With such a kinde of mẽ yet do theis men communicate / which wold thincke it a hurtefull and damnable thinge / if they shuld admitte vnto their diuine seruice / the cõpanions of the religion of the gospell with their faithe. For they do take the approuinge of their doctrine / to be the condemnynge of the religion of the gospell: And they do take the communion in the Masse to be a certayn confession and approbation of their religion. Who is it then which doth not se / that theis mẽ do receyue no part of the lordes supper at all in the masse / but also that by comminge to the masse they do deny the supper of the lorde ãd the whole faithe of the gospell? Theis men saye that they passe nothing what the ceremonies be / what the ministers / for that the vertue of the Sacramẽt is not the wors for thẽ. But the cheif question heer is not of the worthines of the ceremonies or ministers / but of the true vse and institucion of the supper of the lorde / and whither that the Masse as it is this daye vsed (I do not now || speake ony thinge at all of that which was vsed aboue a thowsand yeares passed) wer so instituted of Christe / and be indeede the very supper of the lorde? Yf the Masse be that misticall supper of the lorde / it must needes be allowed of the lorde / and thow (if so be thow dost come to it in faithe) canst not but receyue therof the foode of lyfe / forsomutch as the vnworthnes of the mynister doth not hinder the. But if the Masse be not the supper of the lorde / if the supper of the lord be defaced corrupted and troden vnder fote by the Masse / truly thow shalt receyue no fruite therof / but shalt rather purchase to thy self greate gilte of synne / for that the gaye glosse of the ceremonies or ony worthines of the ministers shall not helpe the at all. Euen Ieroboam himself wold haue beene counted to haue sacrificed to the Godd of Israel: but yet bicause he did not sacrifice after the same manier which God had cõmaunded / but rather after that sorte which he himself hadd inuẽted amd instituted / godd did not accept his sacrifices / and thos did synne against godd and against true religiõ / yea and against the lawfull Sacrifices of godd / as many as did cõmunicate with the sacrifices of Ieroboã. For both that Ieroboã synned / ãd that he did leade Israel to synne / the scripture doth repeate very ofte / to beate ĩ to the heade of the whole worlde / that simple obediẽce doth pleas the lorde / ĩ which we keape his ordinaunces after that manier only which he hath instituted / addynge nothinge / dyminishing nothĩg / and chaũging nothĩg in them.

I will not now reason how that the Masse doth 84 Liiij agre nothing at all with the lordes supper / for this is euẽ to the eyes of all men often tymes shewed in many bookes of most lerned and godly seruantes of Godd. Yea euẽ children which are but instructed in the prĩciples of faith / do know that Christe did institute a comõ partaking / ore communiõ / in which all the faithfull which are one bodie in Christe are knitt together into one bodie / ãd that the Masse is a dissipaciõ of vnitie and a priuate deuowrĩg of one lurching sacrificer. They knowe that Christ cõmaũded: Take / eate / diuide it amonge you / and drincke ye all of this. And that the Masse doth sett furth theis thinges to be gazed vppon / to be worshipped / to be caried about / and to be shutt vpp / to be hãdeled and also receyued of preistes only: They know that Christe sayd: Do this in the rememberaunce of me. And that the priestes do saye Masse in the remẽberaunce of sayntes / that they do sacrifice for the synnes of the quicke and the deade / and to be short that they do say masse for euery thinge / for filthie lucres sake.

Ther were in the tyme of the Apostles certayn witty disputars which reasoned that it was lawful for Christians to eate meates offered vnto Idols. Meates offered to Idolls / were sacrifices vsed in the temples of Idolls / to be offered vnto Idols. Therfor thos faithfull men did contend / that it was lauful indifferently to communicate with the holy seruice of the Christians / and also to sytte down in the Idols feaste. They did add plausible expositiõs / that an Idoll was nothinge / bycause Godd was || not represented by the Idoll / that ther is but one Godd / the same our true and euerlastinge Godd: Wherof it folowed that the Idoll was nothinge / that is to say a thinge of no valure or a very vanitie / that it could hurt no bodie / and that the very meate offered vnto the Idoll was a thinge of nothinge / that it did defile no man. But Paule with many wordes doth confute that folery. 1. Cor. cap. 8. 9. and 10. In this tenth chapter amonge other thinges he gatherith of the nature of the supper of the lord that a man maye not bothe be partaker of the supper of the lorde and of the table of Idols / and saith: Ye cã not drincke of the cup of the lorde / and of the cup of deuils. Ye can not be partakers of the lordes table / and of the table of deuiles. Either do we prouoke the lorde? Are we strõger then he? Also the Apostles of Christe and elders of the churche of Hierusalem in that same greate and notable coũcell of Hierusalem / which of all that euer were was most holy and of most auctoritie / did playnly forbidd the Gentils / which were conuerted to Christe / thos meates offered to Idols. Yea and the lord Iesus hymself in the boke of the Reuelacion doth greuusly accuse and condemne them which do eate meate offered vnto Idols. This may ye se in the epistles of the churche of Pergamos and Thiatira. Apocal. 2. In the furst he saithe: But I haue a few thinges againste the / bicause thow hast there them that maintaine the doctrine of Balaam which taughte in balacke to put occaciõ of synne before the childrẽ of Israel / that they shuld 85 Lv eate of meates dedicate vnto Idolls and committ fornication / and so furth. I thincke here neadith not many wordes to shew wherfor I haue alledged thies sayinges of meates offered vnto Idolls: for all the godly do plainly see / that by like reason all diuine seruice that is vnholy / or contrary to Godds worde / with what colour so euer they be stayned / are forbidden and condemned. They see that all such expositions are put awaye / by which theise fearefull mẽ / and such as do loue the worlde and worldly pompe to mutch / do leade themselues away frõ the right tracke / that they shuld not sincerely confes Christe.

The Conclusiõ and adhortation to fre confessiõ. All they which be godly do both see and perceyue that they which do desire to lyue euerlastingly haue neade to make a simple cleare and playne cõfession / they see that Christes name must be confessed / and that no man must communicate with Antichriste / how great so euer daungers do hange ouer them / and how gret so euer the aduaũtages be which are offered vnto them. They see that they must treade down the feare and desire of the fleshe. The most holy Apostle of Christe writith of Moses. Heb. 11. By faith Moses when he was greate / refused to be called the sonne of Pharaos daughter / and chose rather to suffer aduersitie with the people of Godd / then to enioye the pleasures of synne for a ceason / and esteamed the rebuke of Christ greater riches / thẽ the treasures of Egypt. For he hadd respect vnto the rewarde. Whos example (most goodely indeede) that we || may folowe / we must alwais haue before our eyes ãd (as I iudge) we must neuer lett slypp out of our myndes thos most holy most true and healthefull wordes of our lord Christe / which I see neade often tymes to be repeated and inculcate: Mat. 10. Euery one that shall knowledge me before men / hym wyll I knowledge also before my father which is in heauen. But whosoeuer shall denie me before men / hym will I also denie before my father which is in heauen. Luc. 9. For who so is ashamed of me and my wordes / of hym shall the sonne of man be ashamed when he commith ĩ his maiestie / ãd in the maiestie of his father / and of the holy Aungels. And therfor ther are in all places of the scripture most large promises sett furthe to them which do fely confes Christe / and deny Antichriste with a goode corage. Iohn in the boke of the Reuelacion / Apocal. 6. I sawe (saithe he) the sowles of them which wer filled for the name of Iesu and the word of God. And wher as in this furst place he hadd writõ / them which wer filled / he added. Apoc. 13. 19. 20. And as many as worshipped not the image of the beast / nor did take the marcke in their foreheade / or in their hande / all which / whom he did se in the very same place / he couplith together and saythe. And they lyued and reigned with Christe. He saith that they lyued and reigned with Christe / not only they which were filled / but they which abiding in the constaũtnes and confession of true faithe / did not worshipp the image of the beaste / nor receyued ony markes of it. The blessed Apostle Paule doth proue that we 86 do receyue more in the rewarde of sufferinge / then it is that we do heere suffer ĩ the afflictiõ it self / Rom. 8. saying: for I suppose that the afflictiõs of this lyfe / are not worthie of the glorie which shal be shewed vpõ vs. Who is it thẽ that will not labor with all his poure to come vnto so greate an excellẽcie / that he may become the frend of Godd / and forthwith ioye with Christ? that after famin and banishemẽt or tormẽtes and punishemẽtes / which are but earthely / he may attayn vnto heauenly rewardes? Yf it be a glorius thinge for worldly souldiours to returne in to ther coũtrie triũphing after they haue vanquished their enemie / how mutch more worthi a thĩg is it for vs / after our fleshe the world and deuell beinge ouercõme / to go again with triũphe into paradise? And to offer vnto Godd a gifte most acceptable / faith incorrupte / the sownd vertue of mynd / and sincere cõfession of faithe / a notable praise of deuotion. To cõme in his cõpanye when he cõmith to take vengeaunce of his enemies / To stond by his syde when he shall sytte down to iudge / to be made the felow heire of Christe / to be made equall with the angels / to reioyce in the possession of the heauenly kingdom with the patriarches / with thapostles / with the prophetes / and all confessours and martirs. What persequution can vanquishe theis thoughtes / which are not uain / but of force / and of poure / ĩ the holy ghoste? what tormentes can ouercome them? The mynd ons grownded in theis godly meditaciõs doth endure stronge and stable / and that mynd abydeth || immutable against all the terrors of the deuell / and the threttes of the world / and of Antichriste / that mynd I say which the certayn and sure faith of thinges to come doth strenghthẽ. The eyes be shutt vpp in theis persequutions of the earthe / but heauẽ is open. Antichriste threatneth / but the lord Christe defendith. The world is taken from him that is killed / but paradise is gyuen to him being therunto restored. Tẽporall lyfe is taken awaye / but the euerlastinge lyfe is repayred. What a dignitie (o brethern) is it / how great a safetie / for a man to depart myrily from hens / to depart so through oppressions and trobles? It is a glorius thinge to shutt vpp the eyes in a moment / with which men and the world wer seene / and forthewith to open the same to se Godd and Christe. But that we maye behold theis thinges in mynde and thought / that we may (I saye) night and daye meditate theis thinges / and sincely confes the holy name of Christ / and escape and treade down all thinges which are contrary to pure confession / we must diligentlly praye vnto that same our heauenly father through Iesus Christe our lorde.

2.v	But nowe I haue written unto you
4	frendlie / gẽtill / and louinge unto the vnbeleauers
5	and to obey them in thinges lawfvll
5.v	[Sidenote] Cõuersation vuith men excõmunicate.
9	euell ioyned vnto us?
”	To the same pupose he usith the vearse of the poete Menander.
14	the lorde hadd gyuen them uictorie
20.v	as the popishe brood haue and do sett upp,
86	which are not uain

2 Aij Whether the dwellinge toge· ther and familiar conuersacion of the godly withe the godles / the faithfull withe the faythles / the professor of Christes gospell withe the papiste be lawfull or no.

Notes on the Text

2 Aij Whether the dwellinge toge·
ther and familiar conuersacion of the
godly withe the godles / the faithfull withe the
faythles / the professor of Christes
gospell withe the papiste be
lawfull or no.