Chapter 11

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 spoken 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 can 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 / when 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 contayned 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 euen of the lord hymself / which sayeth / I haue lefte me seuen thousand in Israel / of which neuer man 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 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 confession / which was made in worcke / rather then 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 among prophane thinges / forbicause that the true God had shewed the kinge a vision 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 mention 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 reuerence 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 euen to most fearfull fires.

[[Dan. 6.]]

Daniel also did not thincke 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 commaunded / he wente into his howse / and the windows of his wall towardes Hierusalen stode open. There kneled he down vpon his knees thre times a 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 vnconsideratnes 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 men)

[[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 lenghth he did happily extinguishe it. He shewith that they among 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 examples 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 tormented with iron houes / sum other wer burned with fierye plates / of whom 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 men to the wicked sacrifices / and made a noise as though thay hadd sacrificed / when indeede they hadd not sacrificed. Of sum other when they hadd not so mutch as come nighe the vncleane sacrifices / they did crye out / that they had already sacrificed and 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 euer. Whos mouthes and eyes the tormentours 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 Christians / a true and playne confession of the mouthe / yea euen in the gretest daungers 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 themselues / 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 mans 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 Christians / which were delyuered vnto them of Christe by the Apostles / and thos truly very fewe / as of holy assemblees / of sacramentes / and certayn ecclesiasticall obseruacions / which are declared in the writinges of the Apostles.

[[Humaine ceremonies.]]

Of ceremonies enuented by man ther is almost neither measure nor end. For they wer enuented and established at dyuerse tymes / and 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 them / 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 when 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 heauen from the lord Godd hymself to be kept. But heere we do admonishe men that they must stey sumwhat / and must sumwhat more diligently make difference betwene ceremonies / and must more narowly loke / whether that theis ceremonies (of which we do contend) 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 euen 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 man 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 ordinances ony longer / 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 them to communicate with supersticions / and such institucions as are forbidden of God: Neither will the godly beleaue but that theis thinges are forbidden / 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 them selues hither / that they saye that Paule also did vse forbidden ceremonies /

[[Paul circumcised Timothee.]]

and that the prophetes of Godd did reproue the sacrifices / which they neuertheles did partake without synne. And if we do graunte them 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 circumcise 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 commith of the affections 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 circumcise Titus? seing like causes are ministred vnto them by thos which go about to spoile them of their libertie / and bring them into bondage.

[[Hovv the prophetes reproued Sacrifices and vver also partakers of them.]]

We do saye that ther were two sortes of the Sacrifices among 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 did reproue / and not the Sacrifices themselues / 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, and hovv thei vnderstond the masse.]]

Forthewith then 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 comme 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 transubstanciation 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 sacrament 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 communicating 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 thincke abhominable. I do not know whether ther can be ony greter absurditie spoken. Thow maiste saye that theis men 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 whom they do thus communicate / that they be of that mynd which they speake of / that is / that in cumminge to Masse they will not comme to Masse / but that in it they will vnderstond and consider breade / yea and that they will sett before their myndes the supper of the lorde / that they wil not confes 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 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 communicate 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 men yet do theis men communicate / which wold thincke it a hurtefull and damnable thinge / if they shuld admitte vnto their diuine seruice / the companions 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 men 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 and 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 Sacrament is not the wors for them. 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 commaunded / but rather after that sorte which he himself hadd inuented amd instituted / godd did not accept his sacrifices / and thos did synne against godd and against true religion / yea and against the lawfull Sacrifices of godd / as many as did communicate with the sacrifices of Ieroboam. For both that Ieroboam synned / and that he did leade Israel to synne / the scripture doth repeate very ofte / to beate in to the heade of the whole worlde / that simple obedience doth pleas the lorde / in which we keape his ordinaunces after that manier only which he hath instituted / addynge nothinge / dyminishing nothing / and chaunging nothing in them.

I will not now reason how that the Masse doth agre nothing at all with the lordes supper / for this is euen to the eyes of all men often tymes shewed in many bookes of most lerned and godly seruantes of Godd. Yea euen children which are but instructed in the principles of faith / do know that Christe did institute a comon partaking / ore communion / in which all the faithfull which are one bodie in Christe are knitt together into one bodie / and that the Masse is a dissipacion of vnitie and a priuate deuowring of one lurching sacrificer. They knowe that Christ commaunded: 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 handeled 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 rememberaunce 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 expositions / 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 can 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 stronger then he? Also the Apostles of Christe and elders of the churche of Hierusalem in that same greate and notable councell 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.]]