Part 10

onles moreouer he had Vindicated to Christ alone all thinges that concerne saluacion / 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 saint 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 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 circumcised / 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 confessions are neither full / nor sincere / which do confes that indeede Christe is thier saluacion and rightuisnes / their preist and sacrifice / their aduocate and mediator /

[[Imperfaite confessions.]]

yet so that it notwithstonding they do gyue the very same / and communicate 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 answered hartily and playnly: whether it be right in the sight of Godd to herken vnto yow more then 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 daunger of their lyues / they are delyuered of the angell / of whom by the commaundement 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 contayned 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 whom (as Paule doth witnes)

[[Colos. 1. 2.]]

we are made perfite so that we want nothinge / as agayn the lorde himself doth testifie:

[[Ioan. 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 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 perfection / 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 openly blasphemed in playne wordes / when he is not acknowledged to be the only Sauiour / and 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 when vppon 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 religion and punishment 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 man. 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 wisdom to many children 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 themselues 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 number of the disciples / and 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 thing 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 thinges / which thing they which are well exercised can not do / it sufficith to confesse thos thinges which be open and playne. Ther is also a coloured denyinge when we playyng the foxes with foxes do confes verely sumwhat of our religion / yetwe do so enwrapp it with such darcke wordes and doutfull sentences / that vnto them which are most subtill and conning in quidities / it shall not playnly appeare what we do thincke. But the confession shuld be simple / and playne.

[[Glorie is to be gyuen to Godd.]]

In making of it Godd / and not Man were to be considered. Man maye be deceyued / but no man can 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 euen they themselues do forthwith defile and ouerthrow this Christian and gospellike confession 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 congregacions with which they do communicate / by which communion or partakinge indeede they do denye that which they did confes before. For he which doth confes 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 / and do demande of them churche assemblees / supplicacions / dirges / weake myndes / trentalles / to be short / yearemynds / and 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 / and that he is not therfore to be offerred any moore / And that the holy Supper is a remembraunce 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 substaunce for the synnes of the lyuing and the deade: doth he not by going to and communicatinge with this seruice / denye that which by speaking and professing he hadd confessed? Theis truly are wayes of denyinge / which they do not fully vnderstonde which are almost persuaded / that Religion is but a playe / and as it were a slipper fitte for euery foote. Theis men do knowe how to rule all religions vnder a certayn colour of holy concord / but indeede for earthly commoditie / that among whom 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 religion at all. But let vs passe ouer theise vnstable changelinges / and establishe our mynds / that they be not lewse nor waueringe / but being knytte vpp and confirmed 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 thonderinge 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 religion / 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 amonge wolues. &c. They shall delyuer yow vp to the cowncelles and shall scourge yow for me. &c. But when they delyuer yow vpp take ye no thought how or what ye shall answer: for it shalbe gyuen yow / euen in that same houre / whal ye shall speake. &c. Feare ye not them 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 / euen 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 amonge yow where Sathan 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 in ieoperdie of bodie goodes and lyfe / if it seme to be euill and a synne for a man / 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 man / 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 man / 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 rememberaunce (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 / and toke in worthe the spoyling of your goodes / and that with gladnes / Knowing in your selues / how that ye haue in heauen a better and 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 damnacion / 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 and 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 alledged / but in many others also / that both Godd is glorified by our sufferinges and 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 straunge 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 man 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 went astraye. But if a greater regarde vs to be had of wife / children 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 frendes 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 mannes foes shalbe they that are of his own housholde. For from 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 spoken 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 when mariages frendshippes and leagues are broken without necessitie / and vnder an vntrue pretence of religion. Agayn we do dissalowe thos which are kept againste the commaundement 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 religion: But when it can not be retayned / let none thincke that to keape peace with them he must committ Idolatrie.

[[1. Cor. 7.]]

And therfor the Apostle of Christ saith: If any brother haue a wyfe / whiche beleauith not / if she be content 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 subiection 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 parentes / or to forsake frendes and familiars. Godds worde doth euery wheare commaunde 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 then an infidele. We do acknowledg that they are deuels and not men whosoeuer they be / which do wickedly disturbe wel ordered policies / and howsholdes. But yet in all theis we do also acknowledge this / and we se it taughte in the whole scripture as for an vndoubted truithe / that the lord Godd is better then all theise / that the couenant and bonde of religion doth excede all other bondes in the world. And that the lord doth both so will and commaunde / that we shuld esteame him aboue all thinges / and 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 / whom 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 Sonne / 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 children / 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 can 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 persons 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 take as for an oracle / and most euident truithe.

[[Wether it sufficith to kepe faith in the harte, and not confesse it with mouthe.]]

That it is sufficient if a man 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.]]