the text declareth It is good for a man not to touch a woman Now doth blessed S. Paule aunswere to this holy hypocrisie on this maner To auoyde fornication sayth hée notwithstandyng your holynesse let euery man mary a wyfe Now if blessed Saynt Paule had thought it vnlawfull to marry for any Christen man then would not hée haue sayde Let euery man marry Marke also that it is not agaynst the perfection of any Christen man for to marry but hée is rather boūde to marry if hée haue not the gifte of chastitie Farthermore note that S. Paule neither biddeth them that thought it holynes to bée vnmaryed to fast or to labour or to weare héere But alonely to marry as who shoulde say God hath ordayned and approoued a lawful and a laudable remedy against your sicknes My doctrine is that you shall heare your God and vse to your comforte those creatures remedies with thankes géeuing that God hath appointed and therewith bée you cōtent and recken not your selues wyser then God in helpyng and curyng your diseases For nothing can bée vnlawfull that God doth allowe and prooue And for vsing of Gods creatures and his ordinaunces in tyme and place requisite can no man bée blamed béefore God But for refusing of Gods remedies whē they bée necessary let no man thinke that hée shall auoyde Gods daunger As for an example Hée that wyll not eate and drinke when hée is hungry and thirsty but excogitateth some other remedie of his owne brayne so long that hée bringeth himselfe in vtter destruction let no man doubte but in this case before God hée is a murtherer and an homicide I thinke there is no learning to the contrary Wherefore I woulde that mē should well remember themselues in thys case thinke not that they cā inuent a thyng more pleasaunt vnto God then hée can doe hym selfe His pleasure is best knowen vnto himselfe For this cause I iudge it lawfull for euery Priest that hath not the gift of chastitie to vse the remedy that God hath ordayned and also sanctified Blessed S. Paule saith that mariage is honorable and the bedde of them is vndefiled but fornicatours and aduoulterers God shal iudge Marke that S. Paule caulleth it honorable and a cleane thyng What presumption is therefore in vs that recken it a dishonour and vncleannesse for priestes to vse maryage God sayth hée shall iudge whorekéepers and aduoulterers but not them that bée maryed Wherefore yet agayne after y e doctrine of S. Paule I exhorte all Priestes that can not liue chaste to receiue Gods remedie with thankes This is S. Paules doctrine where hée sayth I woulde that all men were as I my selfe am But euery mā hath his proper gift of God one after this maner an other after that I say vnto the vnmaryed men and wydowes it is good for them if they abide as I doe But and if they can not abstaine let them mary For it is better to mary then to burne I can not deuise a clearer text for my purpose then thys is Saint Paule woulde that euery man had the gifte of chastitie But in as much as all men hath not one gift therefore sayth S. Paule must euery man vse himselfe after his gifts And hée that hath not the gifte of chastitie S. Paule wyll plainely that hée shall mary Hée sayth not that hée shal chastice himselfe wyth labour and wyth payne to remedye that weakenes though I woulde bée contente for my parte gladly that men shoulde prooue all maner of lawfull remedies to helpe them to lyue sole But then if they can not so continue I wyll in no wise that they shall refuse maryage as a thyng vnlawfull and filthy but rather vse it and prooue it at the least wise as they haue done other remedies that they haue inuented séeing that God hath iustituted this as a thyng that hée iudgeth for a lawfull and principall remedy But note that S. Paule sayth it is better to mary then to burne S. Paules meanynge is that if man hath not the gifte to extincte the burnyng and ardent desire of nature that then hée must mary rather then bée subiecte vnto such concupiscence S. Paule sayth not rather mary then to kéepe whores But hys will is that wée shoulde bée so farre from all whoredome that wée should not suffer our selues so much as to burne The whiche precéedeth all whoredome and is lesse in very déede then whoredome And yet S. Paule wylling vs to auoyde this lesse thing commaundeth vs to mary how much more to auoyde open whoredome abhominable and detestable vncleannes that is now vsed shamelesse in the worlde I doe not reprooue that Priestes doth lyue sole I had rather thereto exhorte them But this I detestate that men had rather suffer and allow priestes to liue in whoredome and in all abhominable fornication then for to vse that lawfull remedy that God hath both ordayned and sanctified Wée haue no mention in any storye that euer any Priest was burned for kéepyng of whores but for mariage we haue séene and doe sée dayly how cruelly and violently men doth persecute them as though Gods blessed ordinaunce were rather to bée extincted and abhorred then that thyng y e both God nature reprooueth Where is there one man in England that hath so great loue and reuerence to the holy state of Matrimony that hée should kéepe a maryed Priest in hys house But Priestes that lyue vnlawfully agaynst Gods law and mans law and agaynst all honesty and morall vertue bée in euery mans houses company and rulers and coūsellers and controllers Alas for pitie what shall I say to the affectiōs of mens hartes that thus can winke I will not say alow at such abhominable thynges Yea and the selfe same men shall bée most extreme and cruell vnto a poore simple Priest that of a good hart towardes Gods ordinaunce maryeth a lawfull wife This Priest I say shall neither haue meate nor drinke of thē nor yet no office of charitye But the other sort shalbée exalted and set vp in all honour and kept in reuerence and estimatiō And why Bycause as they say they bée good and cleane felowes and loueth a péece of flesh well These blasphemous woordes haue I heard diuerse tymes and many And men sit and laugh at them haue a great reioysing in them So sore is Gods holy ordinaunce a morall vertue goodnes extincted in mens hartes O Lord God and thy mercy were not how were this world able to cōtinewe that thus abhominably and shamefully iudgeth of thy halowed sanctified workes But oh Lord haue thou mercy and pitie on vs for the swéete bloud of thy sonne Christ Iesus Loke not on our synnes oh lord God for who is able to abyde in thy syght But Lord of thine infinite mercy send downe thy spirit into y e harts of thy people that they may bée taught better to iudge of thy heauenly and Godly
proued to be the enemyes of God and that we hate him For how can we be at peace with God and loue hym seing we are conceiued and borne vnder the power of the deuill and are his possession and kingdome his captiues and bondmen and ledde at his wyll he holdeth our hartes so that it is impossible for vs to consent to the wil of God much more is it impossible for a man to fulfill the lawe of his owne strength and power seyng that we are by birth and of nature the heires of eternall damnation As sayth Paul Ephe 2. We sayth he are by nature the children of wrath Whiche thyng the lawe doth but vtter onely and helpeth vs not yea requireth impossible thynges of vs. The lawe when it commaūdeth that thou shalt not lust geueth thee not power so to doe but damneth thee because thou caust not so do IF thou wilte therefore bee at peace with God and loue him thou must turne to the promises of God and to y t Gospell which is called of Paul in the place before rehearsed to the Corinthians the ministration of righteousnes and of the spirite For fayth bringeth pardō and forgeuenes freely purchased by Christes bloud and bringeth also the sprite the sprite looseth the bondes of the deuill and setteth vs at libertie For where the sprite of the Lord is there is libertie sayth Paule in the same place to the Corinthians that is to say there the harte is free and hath power to loue the will of God there the hart mourneth that he cannot loue inough Now is that consent of y t hart vnto the law of God eternall life yea though there bee no power yet in the members to fulfill it Let euery man therfore accordyng to Paules councell in the 6. chapter to the Eph. arme himselfe with y t armour of god that is to vnderstand with gods promises aboue all thing sayeth he take vnto you the shield of fayth wherewyth ye may be able to quenche all the fierye dartes of the wicked that ye may be able to resist in the euill day of temptation and namely at the houre of death See therfore thou haue Gods promises in thyne hart and that thou beleue them without waueryng when temptation ariseth and the deuill layeth the law thy dedes agaynst thee aunswere him with the promises and turne to God and confesse thy selfe to hym and say it is euenso or els howe could he be mercifull but remember that he is the God of mercy of truth and cannot but fulfil his promises Also remember that hys sonnes bloud is stronger then all the synnes and wickednes of the whole world and therewith quiet thy self and therunto commit thy selfe and blesse thy selfe in all temptation namely at the houre of death with that holy cādle Or els perishest thou though thou hast a thou sand holy candels about thee a C. ton of holy water a shipfull of pardones a clothe sacke full of Friers coates and all the ceremonies in the world and al the good workes deseruings and merites of all the men in the worlde bee they or were they neuer so holy Gods worde onely lasteth for euer and that which he hath sworne doth abide whē all other thynges perish So long as thou findest any consent in thyne hart vnto the law of God that it is righteous and good and also displesure that thou canst not fulfill it dispayre not neither doubt but that Gods spirit is in thee and that thou art chosen for Christes sake to the inheritaunce of eternall lyfe And agayne Rom. 3. We suppose that a man is iustified through fayth without the deedes of the lawe And likewyse Rom. 4. We say y t sayth was reckoned to Abraham for righteousnes Also Romaynes v. seyng that we are iustified through fayth we are at peace with God Also Roma 10. With the hart doth a man beleue to be made righteous Also Gal 3. Receiued ye the spirite by the deeds of the law or by hearyng of the fayth Doth he which ministreth the sprite vnto you worketh miracles among you do it of the deedes of the law or by hearyng of faith Euen as Abraham beleued god it was reckoned to hym for righteousnes Vnderstand therfore saith he that the children of fayth are the children of Abraham For the Scripture saw before that God would iustify the heathen or Gentiles by fayth shewed before glad tidings vnto Abraham in thy sede shall all nations be blessed Wherfore they which are of fayth are blessed that is to witte made righteous with righteous Abraham For as many as are of the deedes of the law are vnder curse For it is written saith he Cursed is euery man that continueth not in all thinges which are written in the booke of the lawe to fulfill them Item Gala. ij where he resisted Peter in the face he sayth We whiche are Iewes by nation and not sinners of the Gentiles know that a man is not iustified by the deedes of the law but by the fayth of Iesus Christ and haue therfore beleued on Iesus Christ that we might be iustified by the fayth of Christ and not by the deedes of the law for by the deedes of the law shall no flesh be iustified Item in the same place he sayth touchyng y t I now liue I lyue in y e fayth of the sonne of God which loued me and gaue him selfe for me I despise not the grace of GOD. For if righteousnes come by y e law thē is Christ dead in vayne And of such like ensamples are all the Epistles of Paul full Marke how Paule laboreth with him selfe to expresse the excedyng misteryes of fayth in the epistle to the Ephesians and in the Epistle to the Collossians Of these and many such like textes are we sure that the forgiuenes of sinnes and iustifying is appropriate vnto faith onely without the addyng to of workes Take for the also the similitude that Christ maketh Math. vij A good tree bringeth forth good frute And a bad tree bringeth forth bad frute There seest thou that the frute maketh not the tree good but the tree the frute that the tree must afore hand be good or be made good yer it can bryng forth good frute As he also sayth Math. xij either make the tre good and his frute good also either make the tree bad and hys frute bad also How can ye speake wel while ye your selues are euil So likewise is this true and nothyng more true that a mā before all good workes must first be good and that it is impossible that workes should make hym good if he were not good before yet he did good workes For this is Christes principle as we say a generall rule How can ye speake well while ye are euill so likewise how can ye do good while ye are euill This is therfore a playne and a sure
That fayth haue they in theyr owne workes onely But the true hearers vnderstand the lawe as Christ interpreteth it here and feele thereby theyr righteous damnation and runne to Christ for succour and for remission of all their sinnes that are past and for all the sinne which chaunce thorough infirmities shall compel theÌ„ to do for remission of that the law is to stronge for their weake nature And upon that they consent to the lawe loue it and professe it to fulfill it to the vttermost of their power and then go to and worke Faith or confidence in Christes bloud without helpe and before the workes of the law bringeth all maner of remission of sinnes satisfaction Faith is mother of loue fayth accompanieth loue in all her workes to fulfill as much as there lacketh in our doing the lawe of that perfect loue which Christ had to his father and vs in his fulfilling of the law for vs. Now when we be reconciled then is loue fayth together our righteousnesse our keeping the lawe our continuing our proceeding forwarde in the grace which we stand in our bringing to the euerlasting sauing and euerlasting life And the woorkes be esteemed of God according to the loue of the hart If the woorkes be great loue little and colde then the woorkes be regarded thereafter of God If the workes be small and loue much and feruent the workes be taken for great of God And it came to passe that when Iesus had ended these sayinges the people were astonied at his doctrine for he taught them as one hauing power and not as the Scribes The Scribes and Phariseyes had thrust vp the sworde of the woorde of God into a scabbarde or shethe of gloses and therein had knit it fast that it coulde neither sticke nor cut teaching dead workes without fayth and loue which are the life and the whole goodnes of all workes and the onely thing why they please God And therefore their audience abode euer carnall and fleshly mynded without faith to God and loue to their neighbours Christes wordes were spirit life Ioh. vi That is to say they ministred spirite and life and entred into the hart and grated on the conscience and thorow preaching the lawe made the hearers perceaue their duties euen what loue they ought to God what to man and the right dampnation of all them that had not the loue of God and man written in their hartes and thorow preaching of fayth made all that consented to the lawe of God fele the mercy of God in Christ and certified them of their saluation For the worde of God is a two edged sworde that pearceth and deuideth the spirite and soule of man a sonder Heb. 〈◊〉 A man before the preaching of Godes woorde is but one man all fleshe the soule consenting vnto the lustes of the fleshe to follow them But the sworde of the worde of God where it taketh effect diuideth a man in two and serteth him at variaunce against his own selfe The fleshe haling one way and the spirite drawing another the fleshe raging to follow lustes and the spirite calling backe agayne to follow the lawe and will of God A man all the while â—e consenteth to the flesh before he be borne again in Christ is called soule or carnall But whe he is renued in Christ through y t word of lyâ—e and hath the loue of God and of hys neighbor and the fayth of Christ written in his hart he is called spirite or spirituall The Lord of all mercy send vs preachers with power that is to say 〈◊〉 expounders of the worde of God and speakers to the hart of man and deliuer vs from Scribes Phariseyes hypocrites and all false Prophetes Amen An aunswere vnto Syr Thomas Mores Dialogue made by William Tyndall 1530. ☞ First he declareth what the Church is and geueth a reason of certaine wordes which Master More rebuketh in the translation of the new Testament ¶ After that he aunswereth particularly vnto euery Chapter which semeth to haue any appearaunce of truth thorough all his foure bookes ¶ Awake thou that slepest and stand vp from death and Christ shall geue the light Ephesians 5. THe grace of our Lord the light of his spirite to see to iudge true repeÌ„taunce towardeâ— Gods lâ—we a fast fayth in the mercyfull prâ—…es y â— are in our sauiour Christ serueÌ„t loue toward thy neighbour after the exaÌ„ple of Christ his Saints be with thee O Reader with all that loue the truth loÌ„g for the redemption of Gods elect Amen Our Sauiour I esus in the 16. of Iohn at his last Supper when he tooke his leaue of his Disciples warned them saying the holy Ghost shall come and rebuke the world of iudgemeÌ„t That is he shall rebuke the world for lacke of true iudgement and discretion to iudge and shall proue that the tast of theyr mouthes is corrupt so that they iudge swete to be sowre and sowre to be swete the eyes to be blynd so that they thinke that to be the verâ— seruice of God which is but a blynd superstition for zeale of which yet they persecute the true seruice of God and that they iudge to be the lawe of God whiche is but a false imagination of a corrupt iudgement for blynd affection of whiche yet they persecute the true law of God and them that kepe it And this same it is that Paul sayth 1. Corinth ij how that the naturall man that is not borne agayne and created a new with the spirite of God be he neuer so great a Philosopher neuer so well sene in the law neuer so sore studied in the Scripture as we haue examples in the Phariseis yet hee cannot vnderstaÌ„d the thynges of the spirite of God but sayth he the spirituall iudgeth all thyngs and hys spirâ—e searcheth the deepe secretes of God so that what soeuer God commauÌ„deth hym to do he neuer leaueth searchyng till he come at the bottome the pith the quicke the lyâ—e the sâ—… the mâ—â—ow very cause why and iudgeth all thyng Take an example in the great commaundement loue God with all thyne hart y t spirituall searcheth the cause and looketh on the benefites of God and so conceaueth loue in his hart And when he is commaunded to obey the powers and rulers of the world hee looketh on the benefites which God sheweth the world through them and therefore doth it gladly And when hee â–ª is commauÌ„ded to loue his neighbour as hym selfe he searcheth that his neighbour is created of God and bought with Christes bloud and so forth and therefore he loueth hym out of his hart and if he be euill forheareth hym and with all loue and pacience draweth hym to good as elder brethren wayte on the youÌ„ger and serue them and suffer them when they will not come they speake fayre flatter and geue some gaye thyng and
onely in number exceedyng but in knowledge also excellyng both by preaching and Printing doe so garnishe the Church in euery respecte that it may seeme and so peraduenture wil be thought this time of ours to stand now in little neede of such bookes and momumentes as these of former antiquitie yet notwithstandyng I am not of that mynde so to thinke For albeit increasing of learning of tonges and sciences wyth quicknes of wit in youth and other doth maruailously shut vp as is to be seene to the sufficient furnishyng of Christes Church yet so it happeneth I can not tell how the farther I looke backe into those former tymes of Tyndall Frith and others lyke more simplicitie wyth true zeale and humble modestie I see wyth lesse corruption of affections in them and yet wyth these dayes of ours I finde no fault As by reading and conferring their workes togither may eftsoones appeare In opening the Scriptures what trueth what soundnes can a man require more or what more is to be sayd then is to be founde in Tyndall In his Prologues vppon the fiue bookes of Moses vppon Ionas vppon the Gospelles and Epistles of S. Paule namely to the Romaines how perfectly doth he hit the right sence and true meaning in euery thing In his obedience how fruitfully teacheth he euery person his dutie In his expositions and vppon the parable of the wicked Mammon how pithely doth he perswade how grauely doth he exhort how louingly doth he comforte simply without ostentation vehement without contention Which two faultes as they cōmonly are wont to folow the most part of writers so how farre the same were from him and he from them his replies and aunsweres to Syr Thomas More doe well declare in doctrine sound in hart humble in life vnrebukeable in disputation modest in rebuking charitable in trueth feruent and yet no lesse prudent in dispensing with the same and bearyng with time and with weakenes of men as much as he might sauing onely where mere necessitie constrayned hym otherwise to doe for defence of trueth against wilfull blyndnes and subtile hypocrisie as in the Practise of Prelates is notorious to be seene Briefly such was his modestie zeale charitie and painefull trauaile that he neuer sought for any thing lesse then for hymselfe for nothyng more then for Christes glory and edification of other for whose cause not onely he bestowed his labours but hys life and bloud also Wherfore not vnrightly he might be then as he is yet cauled the Apostle of England as Paule cauleth Epaphroditus the Apostle of the Philippians for his singular care and affection toward them For as the Apostles in the primatiue age first planted the Church in trueth of the Gospell so the same trueth beyng agayne defaced and decayed by enemies in thys our latter tyme there was none that trauayled more earnestly in restoring of the same in this Realme of England then dyd William Tyndall With which William Tyndall no lesse may be adioyned also Iohn Frith and D. Barnes both for that they togither with him in one cause and about one tyme sustayned the first brunt in this our latter age and gaue the first onset agaynst the enemies as also for the speciall giftes of fruitfull erudition and plentifull knowledge wrought in them by God and so by them left vnto vs in their writinges Wherfore accordyng to our promise in the booke of Actes and Monumentes wee thought good herein to spend a litle diligence in collecting and setting abroad their bookes togither so many as could be founde to remaine as perpetuall Lāpes shyning in the Church of Christ to geeue lyght to all posteritie And although the Printer herein taking great paynes coulde not paraduenture come by all howbeit I trust there lacke not many yet the Lord be thanked for those which he hath gotte and here published vnto vs. And woulde God the like diligence had beene vsed of our auncient forelders in the tyme of Wickliffe Puruey Clerke Brute Thorpe Husse Hierome and such other in searching and collecting their workes and writings No doubt but many thinges had remayned in lyght which now be lefte in obliuion But by reason the Arte of Printing was not yet inuented their worthy bookes were the sooner abolyshed Such was then the wickednes of those dayes and the practise of those Prelates then so craftie that no good booke coulde appeare though it were the Scripture it selfe in Englyshe but it was restrayned and so consumed Whereby ignoraunce and blyndnes so preuayled amonge the people tyll at the last it so pleased the goodnes of our God to prouide a remedy for that mischiefe by multiplying good bookes by the Printers penne in such sort as no earthly power was able after that though they did their best to stoppe the course thereof were he neuer so myghtie and all for the fartheraunce of Christes Church Wherefore receaue gracious Reader the Bookes here collected and offered to thy hand and thanke God thou hast them and reade them whilest thou mayst while time life and memory serueth thee In reading wherof the Lord graunt thou mayst receaue no lesse fruit by them then the harty desire of the setter forth is to wishe well vnto thee And the same Lord also graunt I beseech him that this my exhortation wishe so may worke in all that not onely the good but the enemies also which be not yet wonne to the worde of trueth setting aside all partialitie and preiudice of opinion woulde with indifferent iudgementes bestow some reading and hearyng likewise of these to taste what they doe teach to vewe their reasons and to trye their spirite to marke the expositions of Tyndall the argumentes of Frith the Articles and allegations of Barnes Which if they shall finde agreable to the tyme and antiquitie of the Apostles doctrine and touchstone of Gods worde to vse them to their instruction If not then to myslike them as they finde cause after they haue first tryed them and not before And thus not to deteine thee with longer processe from the reading of better matter I referre and commende thee and thy studies gentle reader with my harty wishe and prayer to the grace of Christ Iesu and direction of hys holy spirite desiryng thee lykewyse to doe the same for mee Iohn Foxe The Martyrdome and burning of William Tyndall in Brabant by Filford Castell Lord opē the K. of Englāds eyes Here foloweth the historie and discourse of the lyfe of William Tyndall out of the booke of Actes and Monumentes Briefly extracted FOr somuch as the lyfe of W. Tyndall author of this treatise immediately folowing is sufficiently at large discoursed in the booke of Actes and Monumentes by reason whereof we shall not néede greatly to intermedle with any new repetition therof yet notwithstanding because as we haue takē in hand to collect and set forth his whole workes togither so we thought it not vnconuenient to collecte likewise some briefe notes concerning the order of his
for the professiō of our Baptisme or couenantes made betwene GOD and vs. As for an ensample Christ sayth Mat. v. Happy are the mercifull for they shall obtayne mercy Lo here GOD hath made a couenaunt with vs to be mercyfull vnto vs if we will be mercyfull one to an other so that the man whiche sheweth mercy vnto his neighbour may be bold to trust in GOD for mercy at all needes And contrarywise iudgement without mercy shal be to him that sheweth not mercy So now if he that sheweth no mercy trust in GOD for mercy his faith is carnall and worldly and but vayne presumption For God hath promised mercy onely to the mercyfull And therfore the mercyles haue not Gods word that they shall haue mercy but contrarywise that they shall haue iudgement without mercy And Math. vi If ye shall forgeue then theyr fautes your heauenly father shall forgeue you but and if ye shall not forgeue men their faultes no more shall your father forgeue you your faultes Here also by the vertue and strēgth of this couenaunt wherewith God of his mercy hath bounde him selfe to vs vnworthy he that forgeueth his neighbour may be bold when he returneth and amendeth to beleue and trust in GOD for remission of what soeuer he hath done amisse And contrarywise he that will not forgeue can not but dispayre of forgeuenesse in the end and feare iudgement without mercy The generall couenaunt wherin all other are comprehended included is this If we meke our selues to god to kepe all his lawes after the ensample of Christ then God hath bounde him selfe vnto vs to kepe and make good all y t mercies promised in Christ thoroughout all the Scripture All the whole law which was geuē to vtter our corrupt nature is comprehended in the tenne commaundementes And the ten commaundemēts are comprehended in these two loue God and thy neighbour And he that loueth his neighbour in GOD and Christ fulfilleth these two and consequently the ten and finally all the other Now if we loue our neighbours in God and Christ that is to witte if we be louyng kynde and mercyfull to them because God hath created them vnto his likenes and Christ hath redemed them and bought them with his bloud thē may we be bold to trust in God through Christ and his deseruing for all mercy For God hath promised and bounde him selfe to vs to shew vs all mercy and to be a father almighty to vs so that we shall not neede to feare the power of all our aduersaries Now if any mā that submitteth not him selfe to kepe the cōmaundements doe thinke that hee hath any faith in God the same mans fayth is vayne worldly damnable diuelish playne presumption as is aboue sayd and is no fayth that can iustify or be accepted before God And that is it that Iames meaneth in his Epistle For how can a man beleue sayth Paule without a preacher Rom. 10. Now read all the scripture and see where God sent any to preach mercy to any saue vnto them onely that repente and turne to God with all their hartes to kepe his commaundementes Vnto the disobedient that wil not turne is threatned wrath vengeance and damnation according to all the terrible actes and fearful ensamples of the Bible Faith now in God y t father through our Lord Iesus Christ accordyng to the couenauntes appointment made betwene God and vs is our saluatiō Wherfore I haue euer noted the couenantes in the margents also y t promises Moreouer where thou findest a promise and no couenaunt expressed therwith there must thou vnderstand a couenaunt that we when we be receyued to grace know it to be our duty to kepe the law As for an ensample when the scripture saith Mat. 7. Aske and it shall be geuen you seeke and ye shall fynde knocke and it shall be opened vnto you It is to be vnderstand if that when thy neighbour asketh seketh or knocketh to thee thou thē shew hym the same mercy which thou desirest of God then hath god bound him selfe to helpe thee agayne and els not Also ye see that two thynges are required to be in a christen mā The first is a stedfast fayth and trust in almighty God to obtayne all the mercy that he hath promised vs through y t deseruyng and merites of Christes bloude onely without all respect to our owne workes And the other is that we forsake euill and turne to GOD to kepe hys lawes and to fight agaynst our selues and our corrupt nature perpetually that we may do the will of God euery day better and better Thys haue I sayd most deare reader to warne thee least thou shouldst be deceyued and shouldest not onely read the scriptures in vayne and to no profite but also vnto thy greater damnation For the nature of gods worde is that whosoeuer read it or heare it reasoned and disputed before hym it wyll begin immediately to make hym euery day better and better till he be grown into a perfect man in y t knowledge of Christ and loue of the law of God or els make hym worse worse till he be hardened that he openly resist the spirit of god then blaspheme after the ensample of Pharao Coran Abiron Balam Iudas Symon Magus and such other This to bee euen so the woordes of Christ Iohn 3. do well confirme This is condemnation sayth he the light is come into the world but the men loued darkenes more then light for their deedes were euill Behold when the light of Gods worde commeth to a man whether he reade it or heare it preached or testified and he yet haue no loue therto to fashion his lyfe therafter but consenteth still vnto hys olde dedes of ignoraunce then beginneth hys iust damnation immediatly and he is henceforth without excuse in that he refused mercy offered hym for God offreth mercy vpon the conditiō that he will mende hys liuing but he wyll not come vnder the couenaunte And from that houre forward he waxech worse and worse God taking hys spirit of mercy and grace from him for his vnthankfulnes sake And Paul writeth Rom. 1. that the heathen because whē they knew god they had no lust to honour hym wyth godly liuing therfore God poured his wrath vpon them and tooke hys spirit from them and gaue thē vp to their hartes lustes to serue sinne from iniquitie to iniquitie till they were thorowly hardened and past repentance And Pharao because when y e word of God was in his countrey Gods people scattred throughout all his lād yet he neither loued thē nor it therfore God gaue hym vp and in takyng hys spirit of grace from hym so hardened hys hart with couetousnes that afterward no myracle could conuerte hym Hereunto pertaineth y t parable of the talentes Mat. 25. The Lord commaūdeth the talent to be taken away from the euill and slouthfull seruant and to
Christes glad tydings first through openyng of the law to rebuke all thinges and to proue all thynges sinne that procede not of the spirite of faith in Christ and to proue all men sinners and children of wrath by inheritaunce and howe that to sinne is their nature and that by nature they can no otherwise doe then sinne and therewith to abate the pride of man and to bring him vnto the knowledge of him selfe and of his miserie wretchednes that he might desire helpe Euen so doth S. Paule and beginneth in the first Chapter to rebuke vnbelefe and grose sinnes which all men see as the Idolatrie and as the grose sinnes of the heathen were and as the sinnes now are of all them whiche liue in ignoraunce without fayth and without the fauour of GOD and sayth The wrath of GOD of heauen appeareth through the Gospell vpon all men for their vngodly vnholy lyuyng For though it be knowē and dayly vnderstād by the creatures that there is but one God yet is nature of herself with out the spirit and grace so corrupt and so poysoned that men neither can thanke him neither worship him neither geue him his due honor but blind thē selues and faule without ceasyng into worse case euen vntill they come vnto worshipping of Images workyng of shamefull sinnes whiche are abhominable and agaynst nature and moreuer suffer the shame vnrebuked in other hauing delectation and pleasure therein In the second Chapter he procedeth further and rebuketh all those holy people also whiche without lust and loue to the law liue wel outwardly in the face of the world and condemne other gladly as the nature of all hypocrites is to thinke them selues pure in respect of open sinners and yet hate the law inwardly and are full of couetousnes and enuy and of all vnclēnes Math. xxiij These are they whiche despise the goodnes of GOD and accordyng to the hardenes of their hartes heape together for thē selues the wrath of God Furthermore S. Paule as a true expounder of the law suffreth no man to be without sinne but declareth that all they are vnder sinne whiche of freewill and of nature will liue well suffreth them not to be better thē the open sinners yea he calleth them hard harted and such as can not repent In the thyrd Chapter he mingleth both together both the Iewes and the Gentiles and sayth that the one is as the other both sinners no difference betwene them saue in this onely that the Iewes had the word of God committed vnto them And though many of them beleued not thereon yet is Gods truth and promise thereby neither hurt nor minished And he taketh in his way and allegeth the saying of the 50. Psalme that God might abyde true in his wordes ouercome when he is iudged After that he returneth to his purpose agayn and proueth by the Scripture that all men without difference or exceptiō are sinners and that by the workes of the law no mā is iustified but that the law was geuen to vtter and to declare sinne onely Thē hee begynneth and sheweth the right way vnto righteousnes by what meanes mē must be made righteous and safe and sayth They are all sinners without prayse before God and must without their own deseruyng be made righteous throughe fayth in Christe which hath deserued such righteousnes for vs and is become vnto vs Gods mercystole for the remission of sinnes that are past thereby prouyng that christes righteousnes which commeth on vs through fayth helpeth vs onely whiche righteousnes sayth he is now declared through the Gospell was testified of before by the lawe of the Prophetes Furthermore sayth he the law is holpē and furthered thorough fayth thoughe that the workes therof with all their boast are brought to nought In the iiij Chapter after that now by the 3. first Chapters the sinnes are opened and the way of faith vnto rightuousnes layd he begynneth to aunswere vnto certain obiections and cauillations And first putteth forth those blinde reasons whiche commonly they that wil be iustified by their owne workes are wont to make when they heare that faith onely without workes iustifieth saying shall men do no good workes yea and if fayth onely iustifieth what nedeth a man to studie for to do good workes He putteth forth therfore Abraham for an ensample saying what did Abraham with his workes was all in vayne came his workes to no profite And so concludeth that Abraham without and before al workes was iustified and made righteous In so much that before the worke of Circumcisiō he was praysed of the Scripture and called righteous by his fayth onely Gene. xv So that he did not the worke of Circumcision for to bee holpen there by vnto righteousnesse whiche yet God commaunded hym to do was a good worke of obedience So in likewise no doubt none other workes helpe any thyng at all vnto a mās iustifiyng but as Abrahams Circumcisiō was an outward signe wherby he declared his righteousnes which he had by fayth and his obedience and readynes vnto the will of God euen so are all other good workes outward signes and outward frutes of fayth of the spirite which iustifie not a man but that a man is iustified already before god inwardly in the hart through faith and through the spirite purchased by Christes bloud Herewith now stablisheth S. Paul his doctrine of faith afore rehearsed in the thyrd Chapter and bringeth also testimony of Dauid in the xij Psalme whiche calleth a man blessed not of workes in that his sinne is not rekened and in that fayth is imputed for righteousnes though he abide not afterward without good workes when he is once iustified For we are iustified receiue the spirite for to do good workes neither were it otherwise possible to do good workes except we had first the spirite For howe is it possible to doe any thyng well in the sight of God while we are yet in captiuitie and bondage vnder the deuill and the deuill possesseth vs all together and holdeth our hartes so that we can not once consent vnto the will of God No man therfore can preuent the spirite in doyng good the spirite must first come and wake him out of his sleepe with the thunder of the law and feare him and shew him his miserable estate wretchednes and make him abhorre hate him selfe and to desire helpe and then comfort him agayne with the pleasaūt rayne of the Gospell that is to say with the sweete promises of God in Christ and stirre vp faith in him to beleue the promises then when he beleueth the promises as God was mercyfull to promise so is he true to fulfill them and wil geue him the spirite and strength both to loue the will of God to worke there after So see we that God onely whiche accordyng to the Scripture worketh
all in all thinges woorketh a mans iustifiyng saluation and health yea poureth fayth belefe lust to loue Gods will strength to fulfill the same into vs euen as water is poured into a vessell and that of his good will and purpose and not of our deseruynges and merites Gods mercy in promising and truth in fulfilling his promises saueth vs and not we ourselues and therfore is al laude prayse glory to be geuen vnto God for his mercy and truth and not vnto vs for our merites and deseruynges After that he stretcheth hys example out agaynst all other good workes of the law and coÌ„cludeth that the Iewes can not be Arahams heyres because of bloud and kinred onely and much lesse by the workes of the law but must inherite Abrahams fayth if they wil be the right heyres of Abraham for as much as Abraham before the law both of Moses also of Circumcision was through faith made righteous and called the father of all them that beleue not of them that worke Moreouer the law causeth wrath in as much as no maÌ„ can fulfill it with loue and lust and as longe as such grudgyng hate and indignation agaynst the law remayneth in the hart and is not takeÌ„ away by the sprite that commeth by fayth so long no doubt the workes of the law declare euideÌ„tly that the wrath of god is vpon vs and not fauour wherfore fayth only receyueth the grace promised vnto Abraham And these ensamples were not written for Abrahams sake onely sayth he but for oures also to whom if we beleue fayth shall be reckened lykewise for ryghteousnesse as he sayth in the end of the chapter In the 5. chapter he commendeth the fruit and workes of faith as are peace reioycing in the conscience inwarde loue to God and maÌ„ moreouer boldnesse trust confidence and a strong a lusty mynd and stedfast hope in tribulation and suffering For all such follow where the right fayth is for the aboundant graces sake and giftes of the sprite which god hath geuen vs in Christ in that he suffred hym to die for vs yet his enemies Now haue we then that fayth only before all workes iustifieth and that it followeth not yet therfore that a man should do no good workes but that y t right shapeÌ„ workes abide not behind but accompany fayth euen as brightnesse doth the sunne and are called of Paul the fruites of the sprite Where y t spirite is there it is alwayes sommer and there are alwayes good fruites that is to say good workes This is Paules order that good works spring of the sprite y e spirit commeth by fayth and faythe commeth by hearyng the worde of God when the glad tidings and promises which God hath made vnto vs in Christ are preached truely and receiued in the ground of the hart with out waueryng or doubâ—ing after that the law hath passed vpon vs and hath damned our consciences Where the worde of God is preached purely and receiued in the hart there is faith the spirit of God there are also good workes of necessitie whensoeuer occasioÌ„ is geueÌ„ Where Gods word is not purely preached but mens dreames traditions imaginations inuentioÌ„s ceremonies superstition there is no fayth and consequently no spirite that commeth of GOD and where Gods spirite is not there can bee no good workes euen as where an apple tree is not there can grow no apples but there is vnbeliefe the diuels sprite and euill workes Of this Gods sprite and hys fruites haue our holy hipocrites not once knowen neither yet tasted how swete they are though they fayne many good workes of their own imaginatioÌ„ to be iustified withal in which is not one cromme of true fayth or spiritual loue or of inward ioy peace and quietnes of conscience for as much as they haue not the worde of GOD for them that such workes please GOD but they are euen the rotten fruites of a rotten tree After that he breaketh forth and runneth at large sheweth whence both sinne and righteousnesse death and life come And he compareth Adam and Christ together thus wise reasonyng and disputyng that Christ must nedes come as a seconde Adam to make vs heyres of his righteousnesse through a new spiritual birth without our deseruinges Euen as the first Adam made vs heyres of synne through the bodily generation without oure deseruyng Wherby it is euidently knowne and proued to the vttermost that no man can bryng himselfe out of synne vnto righteousnesse no more then he could haue withstaÌ„d that he was borne bodily And y t is proued herewith for as much as y t very law of God which of right should haue helped if any thyng could haue holpeÌ„ not onely came and brought no helpe with her but also encreased synne because that the euil and poisoned nature is offeÌ„ded and vtterly displeased with the law and y t more she is forbid by the lawe the more is she prouoked and set a fyre to fulfill satisfie her lustes By the law then we see clearely that we must needes haue Christ to iustify vs with his grace to helpe nature In the vi he setteth forthe the chiefe and principall worke of fayth the battayle of the sprite agaynst the fleshe how the sprite laboureth and enforceth to kyll the remnaunt of sinne and lust which remayne in the fleshe after our iustifiyng And this chapiter teacheth vs that we are not so free from sinne through fayth that we should henceforth go vp and down idle carelesse sure of our selues as thoughe there were now no more synne in vs. Yes there is sinne remayning in vs but it is not reckoned because of fayth and of the sprite which fyght agaynste it Wherefore we haue inough to doe all our lyues long to tame our bodies and to compell the members to obey the sprite and not the appetites that therby we myght be like vnto christes death and resurrection and might fulfill our baptisme which signifieth the mortifiyng of sinnes and the new lyfe of grace For this battayle ceaseth not in vs vntill the last breath and vntyll that sinne be vtterly slayne by the deth of the body This thyng I meane to tame the body and so forth we are able to doe sayth he seyng we are vnder grace not vnder the lawe What it is not to be vnder the lawe he himselfe expoundeth For not to be vnder the lawe is not so to be vnderstand that euery maÌ„ may do what hym lusteth But not to be vnder the law is to haue a fre hart renewed with the sprite so that thou hast lust inwardly of thine owne accorde to do that which the lawe commaundeth without compulsion yea though there were no law For grace that is to say gods fauour bringeth vs the sprite maketh vs loue the lawe so is there now no more sinne neither is the law now any more
not to God that we should continue vnfruitfull as before but that he should put the seede of his holy sprite in vs as S. Iohn in his first Epistle calleth it and to make vs fruitfull For sayth Paul Ephe. 2. By grace are ye made safe through fayth and that not of your selues for it is the gifte of God and commeth not of the workes least any man should boast himselfe For we are his workemanship created in Christ Iesu vnto good workes which God hath ordeyned that we should walke in them William Tyndale otherwyse called Hitchins to the Reader GRace and peace with all maner spirituall fcelyng and liuyng worthy of the kyndenes of Christ be wyth the reader with all that trust the wyll of God Amen The cause why I set my name before this little treatise and haue not rather done it in the new testament is that then I folowed the counsell of Christ which exhorteth men Math. 6. to doe their good deedes secretly and to be contente with the consciēce of well doyng and that God seeth vs and patiently to abyde the reward of the last day which christ hath purchased for vs now would I fayne haue done likewise but am I compelled otherwise to do While I aboade a faythfull companion which now hath taken another voyage vpon him to preach Christ where I suppose he was neuer yet preached God which put in hys hart thether to go sende his spirite with hym comforte hym and bryng hys purpose to good effecte one William Roye a man somewhat crafty when he commeth vnto new acquayntance and before he be through knowne and namely when all is spent came vnto me and offred hys helpe As long as he had no money somwhat I could rule hym but as soone as he had gotten hym money he became lyke hymselfe agayne Neuerthelesse I suffered all thynges tyll that was ended which I coulde not doe alone without one both to write and to helpe me to copare the textes together When that was ended I toke my leaue and bade hym farewell for our two lyues and as men say a day longer After we were departed he went and gate him new frendes which thyng to doe he passeth all that euer I yet knew And there when he had stored hym of money he gate hym to Argentine where he professed wonderfull faculties maketh boast of no small things A yeare after that and now xij monthes before y ◠printyng of this worke came one Ierome a brother of Grenewich also through Wormes to Argentine saying y ◠he intended to be Christes Disciple another whyle to kepe as nye as God would geue him grace y ◠profession of hys baptisme to get hys liuyng with his hādes to lyue no lōger idlely of the sweate and labour of those captiues whiche they had taught not to beleue in Christe but in cut shooes and russet coats Which Ierome with all diligence I warned of Royes boldnes exhorted him to beware of hym to walke quietly and wyth all patiēce long sufferyng according as we haue Christ hys Apostles for an ensāple which thyng he also promised me Neuerthelesse whē he was commyng to Argētine Williā Roye whose toung is able not onely to make fooles starke mad but also to deceaue the wisest that is at the first sight and acquaintaunce gate hym to hym and set hym a worke to make rymes while he hym selfe translated a Dialogue out of Latin into Englishe in whose Prologue he promiseth more a great deale then I feare me he will euer pay Paule sayth 2. Timo. 2. The seruaūt of the Lord must not striue but be peaceable vnto all men and ready to teach one that can suffer the euill with mekenesse and that can informe them that resiste if God at any tyme will geue them repentaunce for to know the trouth It becommeth not then the Lordes seruaunt to vse rayling rymes but Gods worde which is the right weapon to slay sinne vice all iniquitie The Scripture of god is good to teach and to improue ij Timo. iij. and. ij Thes ij Paule speakyng of Antechrist sayth Whom the Lord shall destroy with the sprite or breath of his mouth that is with the word of God And. ij Cor. x. The weapons of our warre are not carnall thynges sayth he but mighty in God to cast downe strong holdes and so forth that is to destroy high buildings of false doctrine The word of God is that day wherof Paul speaketh i. Cor. iij. which shall declare all thing that fire which shal try euery mans worke and consume false doctrine with that sword ought men sharply to fight and not to rayle with foolishe rymes Let it not offende thee that some walke inordinatly let not the wickednes of Iudas cause thee to despise the doctrine of his fellowes No man ought to thinke that Stephen was a false preacher because that Nicolas whiche was chosen felow with hym Act. vj. to minister vnto the widowes fell after into great heresies as histories make mention Good and euill go alwayes together one cā not be knowen without the other Marke this also aboue all thinges that Antechrist is not an outward thyng that is to say a man that should sodēly appeare with wonders as our fathers talked of hym No verely for Antichrist is a spirituall thyng And is as much to say as agaynst Christ y t is one that preacheth false doctrine contrarie to Christ Antechrist was in the old Testamēt and fought with the Prophetes he was also in the tyme of Christ of the Apostles as thou readest in the Epistles of Iohn and of Paule to the Corinthians and Galathians and other Epistles Antechrist is now shall I doubt not endure till the worldes ende But his nature is when he is vttered and ouercome with the worde of God to go out of the playe for a season and to disguise hymselfe and then to come in agayne with a new name and new rayment As thou seest howe Christ rebuketh the Scribes and the Pharises in the Gospel which were very Antechristes saying Wo be to you Pharises for ye robbe widowes houses ye praye long prayers vnder a colour ye shut vp the kingdom of heauē suffer thē not y ◠would to enter in ye haue taken away the keye of knowledge ye make men breake Gods commaundementes with your traditions ye beguile the people with hipocrisie and such like Which thynges all our prelates do but haue yet gotten them new names and other garmentes and are otherwyse disguised There is difference in the names betwene a Pope a Cardinall a bishop and so forth and to say a Scribe a Pharisey a seniour and so forth but the thyng is all one Euen so now when we haue vttered hym he wyll change hymselfe once more and turne hymselfe into an angell of lyght 2. Cor. 11. Read the place I exhorte
of the commaunder and worke with tediousnes But he that worketh of pure loue without seekyng of reward woorketh truly Thirdly that not the saintes but god onely receiueth vs into eternall tabernacles is so plaine euidēt that it nedeth not to declare or proue it How shall the saintes receaue vs into heauen when euery man hath neede for him selfe that God onely receiue hym to heauen and euery man hath scace for himself As it appeareth by the fiue wise virgins Math. 25 which would not geue of their oyle vnto the vnwise virgins And Peter sayeth in the 4. of his first Epistle that the righteous is with difficultie saued So seest thou y ◠the saying of Christ make you frendes and so forth that they may receiue you into euerlasting tabernacles pertayneth not vnto the saintes which are in heauen but is spokē of the poore and nedy which are here presēt with vs on earth as though he would say What buildest thou churches foundest Abbeys chauntries and colledges in the honor of saints to my Mother S. Peter Paule and saintes that be dead to make of them thy frendes They nede it not ye they are not thy frendes but theirs which liued then whē they did of whome they were holpen Thy frendes are the poore which are nowe in thy tyme liue with thee thy poore neighbours which neede thy help and succour Them make thy frendes with thy vnrighteous Mammon that they may testify of thy faith and thou maist know and feele that thy fayth is right and not fayned VNto the second such receauing into euerlasting habitations is not to be vnderstand that men shall do it For many to whom we shew mercy do good shall not come there neyther skilleth it so we meekely and louingly do our duetie ye it is a signe of strong fayth and feruent loue if we do wel to the euill and studye to drawe them to Christ in all that lyeth in vs. But the poore geue vs an occasion to exercise our fayth and the dedes make vs feele our fayth and certify vs ānd make vs sure that we are safe and are escaped and translated from death vnto lyfe that we are deliuered and redemed frō the captiuitie and bondage of Satan and broughte into the libertie of the sonnes of God in that we fele lust and strength in our hart to worke the will of god And at that day shal our dedes appeare and comfort our hartes witnes our faith and trust which we now haue in Christ which fayth shall then keepe vs from shame as it is written None that beleueth in him shall be ashamed Rom. 9. So that good works helpe our fayth and make vs sure in our consciences and make vs feele the mercy of god Notwithstanding heauen euerlasting lyfe ioy eternal faith the fauour of God the spirite of God lust and strength vnto the wil of God are geuen vs freely of the bounteous and plenteous riches of God purchased by Christ without our deseruings that no man should reioyce but in the Lord onely FOr a further vnderstanding of this Gospel here may be made 3. questions What Mammō is why it is called vnrighteous and after what maner Christ biddeth vs counterfet folow the vniust and wicked stewarde which with his lordes dammage prouided for his owne profite and vātage which thing no doubt is vnrighteous and sinne First Mammon is an Hebrue word signifieth riches or temporal goods and namely all superfluitie and all y t is aboue necessitie that which is required vnto our necessary vses wherwith a man may helpe an other without vndoyng or hurtyng himselfe For Hamon in the Hebrew speach signifieth a multitude or abundance or many And therehence commeth Mahamon or Mammon aboundaunce or plenteousnes of goodes or riches Secondarily it is called vnrighteous Mammon not because it is gottē vnrighteously or with vsurye for of vnrighteous gotten goods can no mā do good workes but ought to restore them home agayne As it is sayd Esay 61. I am a God that hateth offeryng that commeth of robbery And Pro. 3. sayth Honour the Lord of thine own good But therfore it is called vnrighteous because it is in vnrighteous vse As Paule speaketh vnto the Ephes 5. how that the dayes are euill thoughe that god hath made them and they are a good worke of gods makyng How be it they are yet called euill because that euill men vse them amisse much sinne occasions of euill peril of soules are wrought in thē Euē so are riches called euill because that euill men bestow thē amisse and misuse them For where riches is there goeth it after the common prouerbe He that hath money hath what him listeth And they cause fighting stealing laying awaite lying flatering and all vnhappines against a mans neighbour For all men holde on riches part But singularly before God is it called vnrighteous Mammon because it is not bestowed and ministred vnto our neighbors nede For if my neighbour neede and I geue him not neyther depart liberally with him of that which I haue than withholde I from him vnrighteously that which is hys owne For as much as I am bounden to helpe hym by the lawe of nature which is whātsoeuer thou wouldest y ◠an other did to thee that doe thou also to hym And Christ Math. 5. Geue to euery mā that desireth thee And Iohn in his first Epistle if a man haue thys worldes good see hys brother nede how is the loue of God in hym And this vnrighteousnes in our Mammō see very few men because it is spirituall and in those goodes whiche are gotten most truely and iustly whiche beguile men For they suppose they do no man wrong in keepyng them in that they got them not with stealyng robbing oppression and vsury neither hurt any man now with them Thirdly many haue busied thēselues in studying what or who this vnrighteous steward is because y t Christ so praiseth him But shortly and plainly this is the aunswere That Christ prayseth not the vnrighteous stuard neither setteth him forth to vs to coūterfait because of his vnrighteousnes but because of his wisedome onely in that he with vnright so wisely prouided for himself As if I would prouoke another to pray or study do say The theeues watch all night to robbe and steale why cāst not thou watch to pray and to study Here prayse not I the theefe and murderer for their euill doyng but for their wisedome that they so wisely and diligently wayt on their vnrighteousnes Likewise whē I say misse women tyre thē selues with gold and silke to please their louers what wilt not thou garnish thy soule with fayth to please Christ here prayse I not whoredome but y ◠diligence which the whore misuseth On this wise Paule also Roma v. likeneth Adam Christ together saying that Adam was a figure of Christ And yet of Adam haue we
working of the spirit of God in them Last of al exhorteth he to vnitie peace and sobernes to auoyde braulinges sectes opinions disputing and arguing about wordes and to walke in the plaine and single fayth and feeling of the spirite and to loue one an other after the ensample of Christ euen as Christ loued vs and to be thankefull and to walke worthy of the Gospell and as it becommeth Christ and with the ensample of pure liuing to draw all to Christ Christ is Lord ouer all and euery ChristiaÌ„ is heyre annexed with Christ and therefore Lord of all euery one Lord of whatsoeuer an other hath If thy brother or neighbour therfore nede and thou haue to helpe hym and yet shewest not mercy but withdrawest thy handes froÌ„ him then robbest thou hym of his owne and art a thiefe A Christian man hath Christes spirite Now is Christ a mercifull thing if therefore thou be not mercifull after y â— ensample of Christ then hast thou not his spirite If thou haue not Christes spirite theÌ„ art thou none of his Ro. 8. nor hast any part wyth hym Moreouer though thou shew mercy vnto thy neighbour yet if thou do it not with such burning loue as Christ did vnto thee so must y â— knowledge thy sinne desire mercy in Christ A Christian man hath nought to reioyce in concerning his deedes His reioycing is that Christ dyed for hym and that he is washed in Christes bloude Of his deedes reioyceth he not neither counteth his merites neither geueth pardons of them neither seeketh an hyer place in heauen of them neither maketh himselfe a sauiour of other men thorough his good workes But geueth all honour to God and in his greatest deedes of mercy knowledgeth himselfe a sinner vnfainedly and is aboundauntly content with y â— place that is prepared for him of Christ and his good deedes are to him a signe onely that Christes spirite is in him and he in Christ and thorow Christ elect to eternall life The order of loue or charitie which some dreame the Gospell of Christ knoweth not of that a man should beginne at himselfe and serue him selfe first and then discend I wot not by what steppes Loue seketh not her own profite ij Cor. xij but maketh a man to forget him selfe and to turne his profite to an other man as Christ sought not him selfe or his owne profite but ours This terme my selfe is not in the Gospell neither yet father mother sister brother kinsman that one should be preferred in loue aboue an other But christ is all in all things Euery Christen man to an other is Christ him selfe and thy neighbours nede hath as good right in thy goods as hath Christ him selfe which is heâ—re and Lord ouer all And looke what thou owest to Christ that thou owest to thy neighbours nede To thy neighbour owest thou thine hart thy selfe all that thou hast canst do The loue that springeth out of Christ excludeth no man neither putteth difference betwene one and an other In Christ we are al of one degree without respect of persous Notwithstandyng though a Christen mans hart be open to all meÌ„ and receaueth all men yet because that his habilitie of goodes extendeth not so farre this prouision is made that euery man shall care for his owne houshold as father and mother and thine elders that haue holpen thee wife children and seruauntes If thou shouldest not care prouide for thyne houshold then were thou an infidele seyng thou hast taken on thee so to do and for as much as that is thy part committed to thee of the congregation When thou hast done thy dutie to thyne houshold and yet hast further aboundance of the blessyng of GOD that owest thou to the poore that caÌ„ not labour or would labour can get no worke and are destitute of freÌ„des to the poore I meane which thou knowest to them of thyne owne parish For that prouision ought to be had in the coÌ„gregation that euery parish care for there poore If thy neighbours whiche thou knowest be serued and thou yet haue superfluitie and hearest necessitie to be among the brethren a thousand myle of to theÌ„ art thou detter Yea to y â— very infidels we be detters if they nede as farforth as we maynteine theÌ„ not agaynst Christ or to blaspheme Christ Thus is euery man that nedeth thy helpe thy father mother sister and brother in Christ euen as euery man that doth the will of the father is father mother sister and brother vnto Christ Moreouer if any be an infidele and a false Christen and forsake his household his wife childreÌ„ and such as can not helpe them selues then art thou bound to them and haue wherewith euen as much as to thyne owne houshold And they haue as good right in thy goodes as thou thy selfe And if thou withdraw mercy from them and hast wherewith to helpe them then are thou a thefe If thou shew mercy so doest thou thy dutie and art a faythfull minister in the houshold of Christ and of Christ shalt thou haue thy reward and thanke If the whole world were thyne yet hath euery brother his right in thy goodes is heyre with thee as we are all heyres with Christ Moreouer the rich and they that haue wisedome with them must see the poore set a worke that as many as are able may feede them selues with the labour of their owne handes accordyng to the Scripture commaundemeÌ„t of God Now seest thou what almes deede meaneth and wherefore it serueth He that seketh with his almes more then to be mercyfull to a neighbour to succour his brothers nede to do his dutie to his brother to giue his brother that he oweth him the same is blind and seeth not what it is to be a Christen maÌ„ and to haue felowshyp in Christes bloud As pertaining to good workes vnderstand y t all workes are good which are done within the law of GOD in fayth and with thaÌ„kesgeuyng to God and vnderstand that thou in doing theÌ„ pleasest God what so euer thou doest with in the law of God as when thou makest water And trust me if either winde or water were stopped thou shouldest feele what a preciouse thyng it were to do either of both and what thankes ought to be geuen God therfore Moreouer put no difference betwene workes but what soeuer commeth into thy handes that do as time place and occasion geueth and as god hath put thee in degree hie or low For as touchyng to please God there is no worke better then an other GOD looketh not first on thy woorke as the world doth as though the bewtyfulnes of the worke pleased hym as it doth the world or as though he had nede of them But God looketh first on thy hart what fayth thou hast to his wordes how thou beleuest hym trustest him and how thou louest hym for his mercy that he hath shewed
ther he looketh with what hart thou workest and not what thou workest how thou acceptest the degree that he hath put thee in not of what degree thou art whether thou be an Apostle or a shoemaker Set this ensample before thine eyes Thou art a kechinpage and washest thy masters dishes an other is an Apostle and preacheth the word of God Of this Apostle harke what Paule sayth in the. 2. Corinth ix If I preach sayth he I haue nought to reioyce in for necessitie is put vnto me as who should say God hath made me so woe is vnto me if I preach not If I do it willingly sayth he then haue I my reward that is then am I sure that Gods spirite is me and that I am elect to eternall lyfe If I do it agaynst my will an office is committed vnto me that is if I do it not of loue to God but to get a liuyng thereby for a worldly purpose and had rather otherwayes lyue then do I that office which GOD hath put me in and yet please not God my selfe Note now if this Apostle preach not as many do not whiche not onely make them selues Apostles but also compell men to take thē for greater then Apostles yea for greater thē Christ him selfe thē wo is vnto him that is his damnation is iust If he preach his hart not right yet ministreth he the office that GOD hath put him in and they that haue the spirite of God heare the voyce of God yea though he speake in an Asse More ouer how soeuer he preacheth he hath not to reioyce in that he preacheth But and if he preach willyngly with a true hart and of conscience to God then hath he his reward that is then feeleth he the earnest of eternall lyfe the woorkyng of the spirite of God in hym And as he feeleth Gods goodnes and mercy so be thou sure he feeleth his owne infirmitie weakenes vnworthynes and morneth and knowledgeth his sinne in that the hart will not arise to worke with that full lust loue that is in Christ our Lord. And neuertheles is yet at peace with God through faith and trust in Christ Iesu For the earnest of the spirite that worketh in him testifieth and beareth witnes vnto his hart that God hath chosen him and that his grace shall suffice him whiche grace is now not idle in hym In hys woorkes putteth he no trust Now thou that ministrest in the kechen art but a kechenpage receauest all thyng of the hand of God knowest that God hath put thee in that office submittest thy selfe to his wil and seruest thy master not as a man but as Christ him selfe with a pure hart accordyng as Paule teacheth vs puttest thy trust in God and with hym sekest thy reward Moreouer there is not a good dede done but thy hart reioyceth therein yea when thou hearest that the word of God is preached by this Apostle and seest the people turne to God thou consentest vnto the deede thyne hart breaketh out in ioy springeth and leapeth in thy brest that God is honored And in thyne hart doest the same that y ◠Apostle doth and happely with greater delectatiō and a more feruent spirite Now he that receaueth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shal receaue the reward of a Prophet Math. x. that is he that consenteth to the dede of a Prophet and maintaineth it the same hath the same spirite earnest of euerlastyng lyfe whiche the Prophete hath and is elect as the Prophet is Now if thou compare dede to dede there is difference betwixt washyng of dishes and preachyng of the word of God but as touchyng to please God none at all For neither that nor this pleaseth but as farforth as God hath chosen a man hath put his spirite in hym and purified his hart by fayth and trust in Christ Let euery man therefore wayte on the office wherein Christ hath put hym and therin serue his brethren If he be of low degree let him paciently therin abyde till God promote him and exalte hym hyer Let kyngs and head ofcers seke Christ in their offices ministre peace and quietnes vnto the brethren punish sinne and that with mercy euen with the same sorow and grief of mynde as they would cut of a finger or ioynte a legge or arme of their own body if there were such disease in them that either they must be cut of or els all the body must perish Let euery man of what soeuer craft or occupation he be of whether bruer baker tayler vitailer merchaunt or husbandman referre his craft and occupation vnto the commō wealth and serue hys brethren as hee would doe Christ him selfe Let him bye and sell truly and not set dice on his brethren so sheweth he mercy and his occupation pleaseth God And when thou receauest money for thy labour or ware thou receauest thy dutie For wherein so euer thou minister to thy brethren thy brethren are dettours to geue thee wherewith to mainteine thy selfe and houshold And let your superfluities succour the poore of whiche sort shall euer be some in all townes and cities and villages and that I suppose the greatest nūber Remēber that we are members of one body ought to minister one to an other mercifully And remember that whatsoeuer we haue it is geuen vs of God to bestow it on our brethren Let him that eateth eate and geue God thankes onely let not thy meate pull thine hart from God And let him that drinketh do likewise Let him y t hath a wife geue God thākes for his liberty onely let not thy wife withdraw thine hart from God and then pleasest thou God and hast the worde of God for thee And in all thinges looke on the worde of God and therein put thy trust and not in a visure in a disguised garment and a cut shooe Seeke the worde of God in all thinges and without the worde of God do nothing though it appeare neuer so glorious What soeuer is done without the worde of God that count idolatry The kingdome of heauen is within vs. Luk. xvij Wonder therefore at no monstrous shape nor at any outward thyng without the worde For the world was neuer drawen from God but with an outward shewe and glorious appearaunce and shining of hipocrisy and of fayned and visured fasting praying watching singing offering sacrificing halowing of superstitious ceremonies and monstrous disguising Take this for an ensample Iohn Baptist which had testimony of Christ and of the Gospell that there neuer rose a greater among wemens children with his fasting watching praying rayment and strāight liuing deceaued the Iewes and brought them in doubt whether Iohn were very Christ or not and yet no Scripture or miracle testifiyng it so greatly y ◠blinde nature of man loketh on the outwarde shining of workes and regardeth not the inwarde word which speaketh to the hart
is the same god and hath sworne to vs all that he sware vnto them and is as true as euer he was and therefore can not but fulfil his promises to vs as wel as he dyd to them if we beleue as they dyd The houre shal come when all they that are in the graues shall heare hys voyce that is to say Christes voyce shall come forth they that haue done good into the resurrection of lyfe and they that haue done euil into the resurrection of damnation Iohn v. This all lyke textes declare what soloweth good workes and that our dedes shall testifie with vs or agaynst vs at that day and putteth vs in remembraunce to be diligent and feruent in doyng good Here by mayst thou not vnderstand that we obtayne the fauor of god and the inheritaunce of life thorough the merites of good workes as hyrelynges do their wages For then shouldest thou robbe Christ of whose fulnes we haue receaued fauour for fauour Ioh. i. that is gods fauour was so full in Christ that for his sake he geueth vs his fauour as affirmeth also Paule Ephe. i. he loued vs in his beloued by whom we haue sayth Paul redemptiō through his bloud and forgeuenes of sinnes The forgeuenes of sinnes then is our redēptiō in Christ and not y t reward of workes In whō sayth he in the same place hee chose vs before the makyng of y ◠world that is long before we dyd good workes Throughe fayth in Christ are we also the sonnes of god as thou readest Io. i. in that they beleued on his name he gaue them power to be the sonnes of god God with all his fulnes riches dwelleth in Christ and out of Christ must we fetch all thynges Thou readest also Iohn iij. he that beleueth on the sonne hath eternal life And he that beleueth not shall see no lyfe but the wrath of god abydeth vpon him Here seest thou that the wrath vengeance of God possesseth euery man till fayth come Fayth and trust in Christ expelleth the wrath of god and bringeth fauour y t spirite power to do good and euerlastyng lyfe Moreouer vntill Christ hath geuē thee light thou knowest not wherein stādeth the goodnes of thy workes vntill his spirite hath loosed thyne hart ▪ thou canst not consent vnto good woorkes All that is good in vs both wil and works commeth of the fauour of GOD through Christ to whom be the laude Amen IF any man will do his will he meaneth the will of the father he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of god or whether I speake of my selfe Iohn vij This text meaneth not that any man of his owne strength power and free will as they call it can do the will of god before he hath receaued the spirite and strength of Christ through sayth But here is ment that which is spokenin the thyrd of Iohn when Nicodemus marueiled how it were possible that a man should be borne agayn Christ aunswered that which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that whiche is borne of the spirite is spirite as who should say he that hath the spirite thorough fayth and is borne agayne and made a new in Christ vnderstandeth the thynges of the spirite and what he that is spirituall meaneth But he that is flesh and as Paul sayth i. Cor. ij a naturall man led of his blind reason onely can neuer ascend to the capacitie of the spirite And he geueth an ensāple saying the winde bloweth where he lysteth and thou hearest his voyce and wottest not whence he cōmeth nor whether he will So is euery mā that is borne of the spirite he that speaketh of the spirite can neuer be vnderstand of the naturall man which is but flesh and sauoreth no more thē thynges of y ◠flesh So here meaneth Christ if any man haue the spirite consenteth vnto the will of God this same at ones wotteth what I meane IF ye vnderstand these thinges happy are ye if ye do them Iohn xiij A Christen mans hart is with the wyll of God with the lawe and commaundementes of God and hongreth and thyrsteth after strength to fulfill them and mourneth day and night desiring God according to his promises for to geue him power to fulfill the will of God with loue and lust then testifieth his deede that he is blessed and that the spirite which blesseth vs in Christ is in hym and ministreth such strength The outward deede testifieth what is within vs as thou readest Iohn v. The deedes which I do testifie of me sayth Christ And Ioh. 13. hereby shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye loue one an other And Ioh. 14. he that hath my commaundements keepeth thē the same it is that loueth me And agayne he that loueth me keepeth my commaundementes and he that loueth me not keepeth not my cōmaundementes the outward deede testifiing of the inwarde hart And Ioh. xv If ye shall kepe my commaundemēts ye shall cōtinue in my loue as I kepe my fathers commaundemēt and continue in his loue That is as ye see the loue that I haue to my father in that I keepe his commaundementes so shal ye see the loue that ye haue to me in that ye kepe my commaundemētes Thou mayest not thinke that our deedes blesse vs first and that we preuent God and his grace in Christ as though we in our naturall giftes and beyng as we were borne in Adam looked on the lawe of God and of our owne strength fulfilled it and so be-became righteous and then with that righteousnes obtayned the fauour of God As Philosophers write of righteousnes and as the righteousnes of temporall lawe is where the lawe is satisfied with the hipocrisy of the outward deede For cōtrarie to y ◠readest thou Ioh. xv Ye haue not chosen me sayth Christ but I haue chosen you that ye goe and bring forth fruite and that your fruite remayne And in the same chapter I am a vine and ye the braunches and without me can ye do nothing With vs therefore so goeth it In Adam are we all as it were wilde crab trees of which God chuseth whom he will and plucketh them out of Adam and planteth them in the garden of his mercy and stocketh thē and grafteth the spirite of Christ in them which bringeth forth the fruite of the will of God which fruite testifieth that God hath blessed vs in Christ Note this also that as long as we liue we are yet partly carnall and fleshly notwithstāding that we are in Christ and though it be not imputed vnto vs for Christes sake for there abideth remaineth in vs yet of the olde Adam as it were the stocke of the crabe tree and euer among when occasion is geuen hym shoteth forth his braunches and leues budde blossome and fruit Against whom we must fight and subdue hym and chaynge all
is for Christes sake deceaueth him selfe and maketh a mocke of himselfe vnto the godles hipocrites infidels No man can serue two maisters God and Mammon that is to say wicked riches also Mathew vj. Thou must loue Christ aboue all thing but that doest thou not if thou be not ready to forsake all for hys sake if thou haue forsaken all for his sake then art thou sure that thou louest him Tribulation is our right baptisme and is signified by plunging into the water Wee that are baptized in the name of Christ sayth Paule Rom. vj. are baptized to dye with him The spirite through tribulation purgeth vs and killeth our fleshly witte our worldly vnderstādyng and belly wisedome and filleth vs full of the wisedome of God Tribulation is a blessing that commeth of God as witnesseth Christ Math. v. Blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousnes sake for theyrs is the kyngdome of heauen Is not this a comfortable word Who ought not rather to chuse and desire to be blessed w t Christ in a little tribulation then to be cursed perpetually with the world for a little pleasure Prosperitie is a right curse and a thing that God geueth vnto his enemies Wo be to you ritch sayth Christ Luke vj. loe ye haue your consolation wo be to you that are ful for ye shall hunger wo be to you that laugh for ye shall weepe wo be to you when men prayse you for so did theyr fathers vnto the false prophetes yea and so haue our fathers done vnto the false hypocrites The hipocrites with worldly preaching haue not gotten the prayse onely but euen the possessions also and the dominion and rule of the whole worlde Tribulation for righteousnes is not a blessing onely but also a gift that God geueth vnto none saue his speciall frendes The Apostles Act. v. reioyced that they were counted woorthy to suffer rebuke for Christes sake And Paule in the second epistle third chapter to Timothe sayth All that will liue godly in Christ Iesu must suffer persecutiō And Philip. j. he sayth Vnto you it is geuen not onely to beleue in Christ but also to suffer for his sake Here seest thou that it is Gods gift to suffer for Christes sake And in the 1. Pet. 4. sayth Happy are ye if ye suffer for the name of Christ for the glorious spirite of God resteth in you Is it not an happy thing to be sure that thou art sealed with Gods spirite vnto euerlasting life And verily thou art sure therof if thou suffer patiently for his sake By suffring art thou sure but by persecuting canst thou neuer be sure For Paule Rom. 5. sayth Tribulation maketh feeling that is it maketh vs feele the goodnesse of God and his helpe and the working of his spirite 2. Cor. 12. the Lord sayd vnto Paul My grace is sufficiēt for thee for my strēgth is made perfect through weaknes Lo Christ is neuer strong in vs till we be weake As our strength abateth so groweth the strength of Christ in vs when we are cleane emptied of our own strength then are we ful of Christes strength looke how much of our owne strength remayneth in vs so much lacketh there of y ◠strength of Christ Therfore sayth Paule 2. Cor. 12. Very gladly will I reioyce in my weaknes that the strength of Christ may dwell in me therfore haue I delectation sayth Paule in infirmities in rebukes in need in persecutions and in anguish for Christes sake for when I am weake then am I strong Meaning that the weaknes of the fleshe is the strength of the spirite And by flesh vnderstand wit wisedome and all that is in a man before the spirite of God come and whatsoeuer springeth not of the spirite of God and of Gods woorde And of like testimonies is all the scripture full Behold God setteth before vs a blessing and also a curse A blessing verely and that a glorious and an euerlasting if we will suffer tribulatiō and aduersity with our Lord and sauiour Christ And an euerlasting curse if for a little pleasure sake we withdrawe our selues from the chastysing nurture of God wherewith he teacheth all his sonnes and fashioneth them after his godly will and maketh them perfect as he did Christ and maketh them apte and meete vessels to receiue his grace and hys spirite that they might perceaue and feele the exceeding mercy which we haue in Christ the innumerable blessinges and the vnspeakeable inheritance whereunto we are called and chosen and sealed in our sauiour Iesus Christ vnto whome be prayse for euer Amen Finally whome God chuseth to raigne euerlastingly with christ him sealeth he with his mighty spirite and poureth strength into his hart to suffer afflictiōs also with Christ for bearing witnesse vnto the truth And this is the difference betwene the children of God and of saluation and betwene the children of the deuyll and of damnation that the children of God haue power in theyr hartes to suffer for Gods worde which is theyr life and saluatiō their hope and trust and whereby they liue in the soule and spirite before God And the children of the deuyll in time of aduersity flye from Christ whome they followed faynedly theyr hartes not sealed with hys holy mighty spirite and gett them to the standerde of theyr right father the Deuyll and take his wages the pleasures of this world which ar the earnest of euerlasting damnation which conclusion the xij chap. to the Hebrues well confirmeth saying My sonne despise not thou the chasticing of the Lord neither faint whē thou art rebuked of him for whom the Lord loueth him he chasticeth yea he scourgeth euery sonne whome he receaueth To persecution and aduersitie for the truthes sake is Gods scourge and Gods rod and pertaineth vnto all his children indifferently for when he sayth he scourgeth euery sonne he maketh none exception Moreouer sayth the text If ye shall endure chasticing God offreth hymselfe vnto you as vnto sonnes what sonne is it that the father chasticeth not If ye be not vnder correction whereof all are partakers then are ye bastardes and not sonnes Forasmuch then as we must needes bee baptised in tribulations and through the red sea and a great and a fearefull wildernes a land of cruell Giantes into our naturall coūtrey ▪ yea and in asmuch as it is a playne earnest that there is no other way into the kingdome of life then through persecution sufferyng of payne of very death after the ensample of Christe therefore let vs arme our soules with the comforte of the Scriptures How that God is euer ready at hand in time of neede to helpe vs and how that such tyrants and persecutors are but gods scourge and his rod to chastice vs. And as the father hath alway in time of correction the rod fast in his hand so that the rod doth
nothing but as the father moueth it euen so hath God all tyrantes in hys hande and letteth them not do whatsoeuer they would but as much onely as he appoynteth them to do and as far forth as it is necessarye for vs. And as when the childe submitteth himselfe vnto hys fathers correction and nurture and humbleth himself altogether vnto the will of his father theÌ„ the rod is taken away euen so when we ar come vnto the knowledge of the right waye and haue forsaken our owne will and offer our selues cleane vnto the will of God to walke which way soeuer he will haue vs then turneth he the tyrantes or els if they enforce to persecute vs any further he putteth them out of the way according vnto the comfortable ensamples of the scripture Moreouer let vs arme our soules with the promises both of helpe and assistance and also of the glorious rewarde that followeth Great is your reward in heaueÌ„ sayth Christ Math. 5. And he that knowledgeth mee before men him will I knowledge before my father that is in heauen Math. 10. and Call on me in time of tribulation and I wyll deliuer thee Psal 65. and Beholde the eyes of the Lord are ouer them thet feare hym and ouer them that trust in hys mercy to deliuer theyr soules from death and to feede them in time of hunger Psal 46. And in Psal 47. sayth Dauid The Lorde is nygh them that are troubled in theyr hartes and the meeke in spirite will he saue The tribulations of the righteous are many and out of them all will the Lord deliuer them The Lord keepeth al the bones of them so that not one of theÌ„ shall be brused The Lord shal redeeme the soules of his seruauntes And of such like consolation are all the Psalmes full woulde to God when ye read them ye vnderstood them And Math. 10. When they deliuer you take no thought what ye shall say it shall be geuen you the same houre what ye shall say for it is not ye that speake but the spirite of your Father which speaketh in you The very heares of your heades are numbred saith Christ also Math. 10. If God care for our heares he much more careth for our soules which he hath sealed with his holy spirite Therefore sayth Peter 1. Pet. 4. Cast all your care vppon him for he careth for you And Paule 1. Cor. 10. sayeth God is true he wil not suffer you to be tempted aboue your might And Psal 71. Cast thy care vpon the Lord. Let thy care be to prepare thy selfe with all thy strength for to walke which way he will haue thee and to beleue that he will goe with thee assist thee and strengthen thee agaynst all tyraÌ„tes deliuer thee out of al tribulatioÌ„ But what way or by what meanes he will do it that committe vnto him and his godly pleasure and wisedome and cast that care vpon him And though it seeme neuer so vnlikely or neuer so impossible vnto naturall reason yet beleue stedfastly that he will do it and then shall he according to his olde vse chainge the course of the worlde euen in the twinckling of an eye and come sodenly vpon our Gyantes as a theefe in the night and coÌ„passe them in their wyles and worldly wisedome when they crye peace all is safe then shall theyr sorrowes beginne as the panges of a woman that traueileth with childe and then shall he destroy them and deliuer thee vnto the glorious prayse of hys mercy and truth Amen ANd as pertayning vnto them that despise Gods worde counting it as a phantasie or a dreame and to them also that for feare of a little persecution fall from it sette this before thyne eyes how God since the beginning of the world before a generall plague euer sent his true prophetes preachers of his word to warne the people and gaue them time to repent But they for the greatest part of theÌ„ hardened theyr hartes and persecuted the worde that was sent to saue them And then God destroyed them vtterly and tooke them cleane from the earth As thou seest what followed the preaching of Noe in y â— olde world what folowed the preaching of Loth among the Sodomites the preachyng of Moses and Aaron among the Egiptians and that sodenly against all possibilitie of mans witte Moreouer as ofte as the children of Israell fel from God to the worshipping of images he sent his prophets vnto them and they persecuted and waxed harde harted and then he sent them into all places of the world captiue Last of all he sent his owne sonne vnto them and they waxed more hard harted then euer before And see what a fearefull example of his wrath and cruel vengeance he hath made of them vnto all the worlde now almost fifteene hundred yeares Vnto the olde Brittaines also which dwelled where our natioÌ„ doth now preached Gildas and rebuked them of theyr wickednes and prophesied both vnto the spirituall as they will be called and vnto the lay men also what vengeaunce would follow except they repented But they waxed hard harted and God sente his plagues and pestilences among them and sent theyr enemies in vppon them on euery side destroyed them vtterly Marke also how Christ threateneth theÌ„ that forsake him for whatsoeuer cause it be whether for feare eyther for shame eyther for losse of honour frendes lyfe or goodes â–ª He that denyeth me before men him will I deâ—y before my father that is in heauen He that loueth father or mother more then me is not worthy of me all thys he sayth Math. 10. And in Mark 8. he sayth Whosoeuer is ashamed of me or my wordes among this adulterous and sinfull generation of him shall the sonne of man be ashamed when he commeth in the glory of his father with his holy Angels And Luk. 9. also None that layeth his hande to the plowe and looketh backe is meete for the kingdome of heauen Neuerthelesse yet if any man haue resisted ignorantly as Paule did let him looke on the truth which Paule wrote after he came to knowledge Also if any man cleane against his hart but ouercome with the weaknes of the flesh for feare of persecution haue denied as Peter did or haue deliuered his booke or put it away secretly let him if he repente come again and take better hold and not dispayre or take it for a signe that God hath forsaken him for God ofttimes taketh hys strength euen froÌ„ his very elect wheÌ„ they either trust in theyr own strength or are negligent to call to him for his strength And that doth hee to teach theÌ„ to make theÌ„ feele that in that fire of tribulatioÌ„ for his wordes sake nothing can endure and abide saue his word and that streÌ„gth onely which he hath promised For the which strength he will haue vs to praye vnto him night and day wyth all
Now without these and a thousand such lyke pointes couldest thou not vnderstand Scripture which sayth that righteousnes commeth by Christ and not of mans will and how that vertues are the fruites and the gift of Gods spirite and that Christ blesseth vs in tribulations persecution and aduersitie How I say couldest thou vnderstaÌ„d the scripture without Philosophy in as much as Paule in the second to the Collossians warned them to beware least any man should spoyle them that is to say robbe them of their fayth in Christ thorough Philosophy and deceitful vanities and thorough the traditions of men and ordinaunces after y e world not after Christ â–ª By this meanes then thou wilt that no man teach an other but that euery man take the Scripture and learne by hymselfe Nay verely so say I not Neuerthelesse seyng that ye wyll not teach if any man thyrst for the truth and read the Scripture by hymselfe desiring God to open the dore of knowledge vnto him god for his truthes sake wil and must teach hym Howbeit my meaning is that as a mayster teacheth his prentice to know all the poyntes of the mete yarde first how many inches how many feete and the halfe yarde the quarter and the nayle and then teacheth him to mete other things therby euen so will I that ye teach the people Gods lawe and what obedience God requireth of vs vnto father and mother mayster Lord King and all superiours and wyth what frendly loue he commaundeth one to loue an other And teach them to know that naturall vename and byrth poyson which moueth the very harts of vs to rebell against the ordinaunces and will of God and proue that no man is righteous in the sight of God but that we are all damned by the lawe And then wheÌ„ thou hast meeked them and feared them wyth the lawe teache them the testament and promises which God hath made vnto vs in Christ and how much he loueth vs in Christ And teach them the principles and the ground of the fayth and what the sacramentes signifie and then shall the spirite worke wyth thy preaching make theÌ„ feele So would it come to passe that as we know by naturall wit what followeth of a true principle of naturall reasoÌ„ eueÌ„ so by y e principles of y e fayth by y â— plaine scriptures by the circumstaÌ„ces of the text should we iudge all meÌ„s exposition and all mens doctrine and should receaue the best and refuse the worst I woulde haue you to teach them also the properties and maner of speakinges of the scripture and how to expound prouerbes and similitudes And then if they goe abroad and walke by the fieldes and medowes of all maner doctours and Philosophers they coulde catch no harme They should discerne the poyson from the hoonny and bring home nothyng but that which is holsome But now do ye cleane contrary ye driue them from Gods worde and will let no man come therto vntil he haue ben two yeres maister of art First they nosel them in sophistry and in benefundatum And there corrupt they their iudgementes with apparent argumeÌ„ts and wyth alleaging vnto them textes of Logike of naturall Pâ—…ia of metaphisike and morall Philosophy of all maner bookes of Aristotle and of all maner Doctours which they yet neuer sawe Moreouer one holdeth this an other that One is reall an other nominall What wonderfull dreames haue they of their Predicamentes vniuersales second intentions Quidities Hecseities and Relatiues And whether Species sundata in chimerae be â—…aspecies And whether this proposition be true 〈◊〉 eus est aliquid Whether eus be â—quiuocum or 〈…〉 â—ns is a voyce onely say some Ens is 〈…〉 saith an other and descendeth into ens creaâ—… â–ª and into eâ—s increatum per modâ—s inâ—…sâ—…os wheÌ„ they haue this wise brauled viij x. or xij or moo yeares and after that their iudgementes are vtterly corrupt then they beginne their diuinitie Not at the scripture but euery man taketh a sundry Doctour which Doctours are as sundry and as diuers the one coÌ„trary vnto the other as there are diuers fashions and monstrous shapes none like an other among our secres of religion Euery religion euery vniuersitie and almost euery man hath a sundry diuinitie Now what soeuer opinions euery man fyndeth wyth his Doctour that is his Gospel and that onely is true with him and that holdeth he all his life long and euery man to maintaine his Doctour with all corrupteth the Scripture fashioneth it after his owne imagination as a Potter doth his claye Of what text thou prouest hell will an other proue purgatory an other Lymbo pâ—trum and an other the assumption of our Lady And an other shall proue of the same text that an Ape hath a tayle And of what texte the Graye Fryer proueth that our Lady was without originall sinne of the same shall the blacke Fryer proue that she was conceaued in originall sinne And all this do they wyth apparent reasons with false similitudes and likenesses and with argumentes and perswasions of mans wisedome Now there is no other diuisioÌ„n or heresy in the world saue maÌ„s wisedome and when mans folishe wisedome interpreteth the scripture Mans wisedome â—â—atereth diuideth and maketh sectes while the wisedome of one is that a white coate is best to serue God in an other saith a black an other a graye an other a blew And while one saith that God will heare your prayer in this place an other saith in that place And while one saith this place is holyer and an other that place is holyer and this religion is holyer then that and this Saint is greater with God then that an hundred thousand like thinges Mans wisedome is plaine idolatry neither is there any other idolatry theÌ„ to imagine of God after mans wisdome God is not mans imagination but that onely which he saith of himselfe God is nothyng but hys law and his promises that is to say that which he biddeth thee to doe and that which he biddeth thee beleue and hope God is but his worde as Christ sayth Iohn 8. I am that I say vnto you that is to say that which I preach am I. My words are spirite and life God is that onely which he testifieth of himselfe and to imagine any other thing of God then that is damnable idolatry Therefore saith the 118. Psalme Happy are they which search y â— testimonies of the Lord that is to say that which God testifieth and witnesseth vnto vs. But how shall I that doe when ye will not let me haue his testimonies or witnesses in a touÌ„ge which I vnderstand Will ye resist God Will ye forbid hym to geue hys spirite vnto the laye as well vnto you Hath he not made y e English tounge Why forbidde ye hym to speake in the Englishe tounge then as well as in the Latine Fynally that
for the electe onely in whose hartes God hath written hys lawe with his holy spirite and geuen them a feeling faith of the mercy that is in Christ Iesu our Lord. ¶ Why Tindall vsed this worde congregation rather theÌ„ church in the translation of the new Testament WHerefore in as much as the clergy as the nature of those hard indurat AdamaÌ„tstones is to draw all to them had appropriat vnto themselues the terme that of right is common vnto all the whole congregation of them that beleue in Christ wyth their false and subtil wyles had beguiled and mocked the people brought them into the ignoraunce of the word making theÌ„ vnderstand by this worde church nothing but the shauen flocke of them that shore the whole worlde therefore in the translation of the new Testament where I found this word Ecclesia I enterpreted it by thys word congregation Euen therfore did I it and not of any mischeuous mynde or purpose to stablâ—she heresie as master More vntruely reporteth of me in hys Dialoge where he rayleth on y t translation of the new Testament And when M. More sayth that this word Church is knowen wel inough I report me vnto the conscieÌ„ces of all the land whether he say truth or other wise or whether the lay people vnderstand by Church the whole multitude of all that professe Christ or the iugglyng spirites onely And wheÌ„ he saith that congregation is a more generall terme if it were it hurteth not For the circumstance doth euer tell what coÌ„gregation is ment Neuerthelesse yet sayth he not the truth For whersoeuer I may say a congregation there may I say a Church also as the Church of the deuill the Church of Sathan the Church of wretches y t Church of wickedmen the Churche of lyers and a Church of Turkes therto For M. More must graunt if he will haue Ecclesia translated throughout all the new Testament by this woorde Church that Church is as commoÌ„ as Ecclesia Now is Ecclesia a Greeke word and was in vse before the tyme of the Apostles and taken for a coÌ„gregation among the heatheÌ„ where was no congregation of God or of Christ And also Lucas him selfe vseth Ecclesia for a Church or congregation of heathen people thrise in one Chapter eueÌ„ in the xix of the Actes where Demetrius the goldsmith or siluersmith had gathered a company agaynst Paule for preachyng agaynst Images Howbeit M. More hath so long vsed â–ª his figures of Poetry that I suppose wheÌ„ he erreth most he now by the reason oâ— a long custome beleueth himself that he sayth most true Or els as the wise people which when they daunce naked in nettes beleue that no man seeth them euen so M. More thinketh that his errours be so subtilly couched that no man can espy them So blinde he counteth all other men in comparison of his great vnderstandyng But charitably I exhorte him in Christ to take hede for though Iudas were wilier then his felowes to get lucre yet he proued not most wise at y t last end Neither though Balam the false Prophet had a cleare sight to bryng y â— curse of God vpon the childreÌ„ of Israell for honours sake yet his couetousnesse did so blind his prophesie that he could not see his owne end Let therfore M. More and his coÌ„pany awake be tymes ere euer their sinne be ripe lest y e voyce of their wickednesse ascenoâ— vp and awake God out of his slepe to loke vpoÌ„ them and to how his eares vnto theyr cursed blasphemies agaynst the open truth and to send his haruest men and mowares of vengeaunce to repe it But how happeth it that M. More hath not contended in likewise against hys derelyng Erasmus all this longe while Doth not he chauÌ„ge this word Ecclesia into congregatioÌ„ and that not seldome in the new TestameÌ„t peraduenture he oweth him fauour because he made Moria in hys house Whiche booke if it were in English theÌ„ should euery man see how that he then was farre otherwise mynded then he now writeth But verely I thinke that as Iudas betrayd not Christ for any loue that he had vnto the hyghe Priestes Scribes and Phariseis but onely to come by that wherfore he thirsted eueÌ„ so M. More as there are tokens euideÌ„t wrote not these bookes for any affectioÌ„ that he bare vnto the spiritualty or vnto the opinions which he so barely defeÌ„deth but to obtaine onely that which he was an hungred for I pray God that he eate not to hastly lest he be chokeo at the latter end but that he repeÌ„t and resist not the spirite of God which openeth light vnto the worlde ¶ Why he vseth this woorde Elder and not Priest AN other thyng which he rebuketh is that I interprete this Greeke worde Presbiteros by this worde Senior Of a truth Senior is no very good Englishe though Senior and Iuniot be vsed in the vniuersities but there came no better in my mynde at that tyme. Howbeit I spied my fault since long yer M. More tolde it me and haue â—…ded it in all the woorkes which I sens made and call it an Elder And in that he maketh hereâ—ie of it to call Presbiteros an Elder he condemneth their owne old Latin text of heresie also which they vse yet dayly myâ—â—…ch and haue vsed I suppose this I suppose this run huÌ„dred yeares For that text doth 〈…〉 an elder likewise In the. 1. Pet. 5. â—…s standeth it in y e Latin text Seâ—…ores qui in vobis sunt obsecro ego conâ—… pascite qui in vobis est gregem Chriâ—… 〈…〉 elders that are among you I 〈…〉 which am an elder also that ye sedâ—… flocke of Christ which is among 〈…〉 There is Presbyteros calle◠〈…〉 And in y t he sayth fede Chrisâ—… he meaneth euen the Ministeâ—… chosen to teach the people to 〈…〉 them in Gods word no â—ay 〈…〉 And in the 2. Epâ—stâ—e of Ioh◠〈…〉 text Senior electae Dominae 〈…〉 The elder vnto the eleâ—t Lady 〈…〉 her children And in the 〈…〉 Iohn Senior Gaâ—o dilecto 〈…〉 vnto the beloued Gaiâ—s In these 〈…〉 pistles Presbyteros is calleâ— an 〈…〉 And in the xx of the Actes y â— text sâ—… Paule sent for maiores natu Eccleâ—… 〈…〉 elders in byrth of the congregation or Church and sayd vnto them take 〈…〉 vnto your selues vnto y â— whoâ—e 〈◊〉 ouer which the holy ghosâ— hath 〈…〉 you Episcopos ad regendum Eccleâ—… Dei Byshops ouerâ—caâ—s to 〈…〉 the Church of God There is â—…teros called an Elder in byrth 〈…〉 same immediately called a 〈…〉 ouersear to declare what pâ—… ment Hereof ye see that I haue 〈…〉 more erred then their owne text 〈…〉 they haue vsed sence the scripture waâ— first in the Latin â—oung and that their owne text vnderstandeth by Presbyâ—eros nothyng saue an Elder And they were called
for vs y â— remissioÌ„ of our sinnes but also the forgeuenesse of that grosse and fleshly imagined Purgatory saue thou must bye it out of the Pope And with such traditions they tooke away the keye of knowledge and stopped vp the kyngdome of heauen that no man could enter in And as I sayd they taught the people to beleue in the dedes of the ceremonies which God ordeined not to iustifie but to be signes of promises by which they that beleued were iustified But the Phariseis put out the significations queÌ„ched the fayth and taught to be iustified by the woorke as ours haue serued vs. For our Sacramentes were once but signes partly of what we should beleue to styrre vs vp vnto fayth and partly what we should do to styrre vs vp to do the law of God and were not workes to iustifie Now make this reason vnto Iohn and vnto many Prophetes that went before him and did as he dyd yea and vnto Christ him self and his Apostles thou shalt finde them all heretickes and the Scribes and Phariseis good men if that reason be good Therfore this wise thou mayst aunswere No thankes vnto the heades of y â— Church that the Scripture was kept but vnto the mercy of God For as they had destroyed the right sense of it for their lucre sake euen so would they haue destroyed it also if they coulde rather then the people should haue come vnto the right vnderstaÌ„dyng of it as they slew the true interpretours and preachers of it And euen so no thankes vn to our hypocrites that the Scripture is kept but vnto the bottomlesse mercy of God For as they haue destroyed the right sense of it with their leueÌ„ and as they destroy dayly the true preachers of it and as they kepe it from the lay people that they should not see how they iuggle with it euen so would they destroy it also could they bryng it about rather theÌ„ we should come by the true vnderstandyng of it were it not that God prouided otherwise for vs. For they haue put the stories that should in many thynges helpe vs cleane out of the way as nye as they could They haue corrupt the Legend and lyues almost of all Saintes They haue fayned false bookes and put them forth some in the name of S. Hierome some in y â— name of S. Augustine in the name of S. CypriaÌ„ S. Dionise and other holy men which are proued none of theirs partly by the stile and Latine partly by autenticke stories And as the Iewes haue set vp a booke of traditions called Talmud to destroy the seÌ„se of y â— Scripture Vnto which they geue fayth and vnto the Scripture none at all be it neuer so playne but say it can not be vnderstand saue by the Talmud euen so haue ours set vp their Dunce their Thomas and a thousand like draffe to stablish their lyes thorough falsifying the Scripture say that it can not be vnderstand without them be it neuer so playne And if a man alledge an holy Doctour agaynst them they glose him out as they do the Scripture or will not heare or say the Church hath otherwise determined Now therfore when they aske vs how we know that it is the Scripture of God aske them how Iohn Baptist knew other Prophetes which God styrred vp in all such times as the scripture was in like captiuitie vnder hypocrites Did Iohn beleue that the Scribes Phariseis and hygh Priests were the true Church of God and had hys spirite and could not erre who taught the Egles to spy out their pray euen so the children of God spy out their father and Christes elect spy out theyr Lord and trace out the pathes of hys feete and folow yea though he go vpoÌ„ the playne and liquide water which will receaue no stepe yet there they find out his foote his elect know him but the world knoweth him not Iohn 1. If the world know him not thou call the world pride wrath enuy couetousnesse slouth glottony and lechery then our spiritualtie know hym not Christes shepe heare y â— voyce of Christ Iohn x. where the world of hypocrits as they know hym not euen so the wolues heare not his voyce but compell the Scripture to heare them and to speake what they lust And therfore except the Lord of Sabaoth had lest vs seede we had bene all as Sodome and Gomor sayd Esay 1. And euen so sayd Paul in hys tyme. And euen so say we in our time that the Lord of the hostes hath saued him seede hath gathered hym a flocke to whom he hath geuen cares to heare that the hypocritish Wolâ—es can not heare and eyes to see that the blynd leaders of the blynd can not see and an hart to vnderstaÌ„d that the generation of poysoned Vipers caÌ„ neither vnderstand nor know If they alleage S. Augustine which sayth I had not beleued the Bospell except the authoritie of the church had moued me I answere as they abuse that saying of the holy man euen so they alleage all the Scripture and all that they bring for them euen in a false sence S. Augustine before he was conuerted was an heathen maÌ„ and a Philosopher full of worldly wisdome vnto whom the preaching of Christ is but folishnesse sayth Paule i. Corin. i. And he disputed wyth blynde reasons of worldly wisdome agaynst the Christen Neuerthelesse the earnest liuing of the Christen according vnto theyr doctrine and the constant suffering of persecutioÌ„ and aduersitie for their doctrines sake moued hym stirred hym to beleue that it was no vayne doctrine but that it must nedes be of god in that it had such power with it For it happeneth that they which wyll not heare the worde at the beginning are afterward moued by the holy conuersation of them that beleue As Peter warneth ChristeÌ„ wines that had heathen husbandes that would not heare the truth preached to liue so godly that they might winne their heathen husbandes with holy conuersation And Paule sayth how knowest thou Christen wife whether thou shalt winne thine heathen husband with holy conuersation meÌ„t he For many are woÌ„ne with godly liuing which at the fyrst either will not heare or can not belene And that is the authoritie that S. Augustine meane But if we shal not beleue tyll the liuyng of the spiritualtie conuert vs we be like to bide long inough in vnbeliefe And wheÌ„ they aske whether we receaued the scripture of them I aunswere that they which come after receaue the scripture of them that go before And when they aske whether we beleue not that it is Gods worde by the reason that they tell vs so I aunswere that there are two manuer faythes an historicall fayth and a feelyng fayth The historicall fayth hangeth of the truth and honestie of the teller or of the common fame and
all wayes and done thy best to hew them and to make them frame thou must be fayne to cast them out wyth the Turkes and Iewes to serue God wyth the image seruice of their owne false workes Of these and such like textes and of the similitudes that Christ maketh in the Gospell of the kyngdome of heauen it appeareth that though the holy ghost be in the chosen and teacheth them all truth in Christ to put their trust in hym so that they cannot erre therein yet whyle the worlde standeth God shall neuer haue a church that shal eyther persecute or be vnpersecuted them selues any season after the fashion of y ◠Pope But there shall be in the church a fleshly seede of Abraham and a spirituall a Cain and an Abell an Ismael and an Isaac an Esan and a Iacob as I haue sayd a worker and a beleuer a great multitude of them that be called and a small flocke of them that be elect and chosen And the fleshly shall persecute the spirituall as Cain did Abel and Ismaell Isaac so forth and the great multitude shall persecute y ◠small little flocke and Antichrist wil be euer the best christen man SO now the church of God is double a fleshly and a spirituall the one will be and is not the other is may not be so be called but must be called a Lutheran an hereticke and such like Vnderstand therefore that God when he calleth a congregation vnto hys name sendeth forth his messēgers to call generally which messengers bring in a great multitude amased and astonied wyth myracles and power of the reasōs which the preachers make and therewyth be compelled to cōfesse that there is but one God of power might aboue all that Christ is God and man and borne of a virgine and a thousand other thynges And thē the great multitude that is called and not chosen when they haue gotten thys fayth common as wel to the deuils as them more strongly persuaded vnto the deuils then vnto them then they go vnto their owne imaginations saying we may no longer serue Idoles but God that is but one And the maner of seruice they fet out of their owne braynes and not of the worde of God and serue God wyth bodely seruice as they did in tymes past their Idoles their hartes seruing their owne lustes still And one will serue hym in white an other in blacke an other in grey an other in pyed And an other to do God a pleasure withall will be sure that his show shall haue two or three good thicke soles vnder and wyll cut hym aboue so that in sommer whyle the weather is hot thou mayst see hys bare fote in winter hys socke They wyll be shorne and shauen and Saduces that is to say righteous and Phariseis that is seperated in fashions frō all other men Yea and they wyll consecrat thēselues altogether vnto God and wyll annoint their handes and halow them as the chalice from al maner lay vses so that they may serue neither father nor mother maister Lord or Prince for poluting thēselues but must wayte on God onely to gather vp hys rentes tythes offeringes all other duties And all the sacrifice that come they cōsume in the altar of their bellies and make Calil of it that is a sacrifice that no mā may haue part of They beleue that there is a God But as they can not loue hys lawes so they haue no power to beleue in hym But they put their trust and confidence in their owne workes and by their own workes they will be saued as the rich of this world whē they sue vnto great men hope with giftes and presentes to obtayne their causes Neither other seruing of God know they saue such as their eyes may see and their bellyes feele And of very zeale they will be Gods vicars and prescribe a maner vnto other and after what fashiō they shall serue God and compell thē therto for the auoyding of Idolatry as thou seest in the Phariseis But little flocke as soone as he is perswaded that there is a God he rūneth not vnto hys owne imaginatiōs but vnto the messēger that called hym and of hym asketh how he shall serue God As litle Paul Act. ix whē Christ had ouerthrowen him and caught him in hys net asked saying Lord what wilt thou that I do And as the multitude that were cōuerted Act. 2. asked of the Apostles what they shoulde do And the preacher setteth the lawe of God before them and they offer their hartes to haue it written therein consenting that it is good and righteous And because they haue runne cleane contrary vnto that good law they sorrow mourne and because also their bodyes and flesh are otherwise disposed But the preacher comforteth them and sheweth thē the testamēt of Christes bloud how that for his sake all y ◠is done is forgeuē and all their weaknes shal be taken in worth vntil they be stronger onely if they repent wyll submit themselues to be scholers and learne to keepe this law And a little flocke receaueth thys testament in hys hart and in it walketh serueth God in the spirit And from henceforth all is Christ wyth hym and Christ is his he is Christes All that he receaueth he receaueth of Christ and all that he doth he doth to Christ Father mother maister Lord and Prince are Christes vnto hym and as Christ he serueth them wyth all loue Hys wife children seruauntes and subiectes are Christ vnto hym and he teacheth them to serue Christ and not hymselfe and hys lustes And if he receaue any good thyng of mā he thāketh god in Christ which moued the mans hart And his neighbour he serueth as Christ in all hys neede of such thynges as God hath lent because that all degrees are bought as he is with Christes bloud And he wil not be saued for seruing hys brethrē neither promiseth his brethren heauē for seruyng hym But heauen iustifying forgeuenes all gyftes of grace and all that is promised them they receaue of Christ and by hys merites freely And of y t which they haue receaued of Christ they serue ech other freely as one hand doth the other seekyng for their seruice no more thē one hand doth of an other ech the others health wealth helpe ayde succour to assiste one an other in the way of Christ And God they serue in the spirit only in loue hope faith and dread When the great multitude that be called and not chosen Cain Ismaell Esau carnall Israell that serue God night and day wyth bodely seruice and holy workes such as they were wont to serue their Idoles withall beholde little flocke that they come not forth in the seruice of god they rore out where are thou Why commest thou not forth and takest holy water Wherfore saith y
till domes day Tyndall And ye in putting them in heauen hell and purgatory destroy y e argumentes wherwith Christ Paul proue the resurrection What God doth with them that shall we know when we come to them The true faith putteth the resurrection which we be warned to looke for euery houre The Heathen Philosophers denying that did put that the soules did euer lyue And the Pope ioyneth the spirituall doctrine of Christ and the fleshly doctrine of philosophers together things so contrary that they can not agree no more then the spirite and the fleshe do in a Christen man And because the fleshly mynded Pope consenteth vnto heathen doctrine therefore he corrupteth the scripture to stablish it Moses sayth in Deut. the secrete thinges pertaine vnto the Lord and the thynges that be opened pertaine vnto vs that we do all that is written in the booke Wherfore Sir if we loued the lawes of God and would occupy our selues to fulfill them and woulde on the other side be meeke and let God alone wyth hys secretes and suffer him to be wiser then we we should make none article of the faith of this or that And againe if the soules be in heauen tell me why they be not in as good case as the Angels be And then what cause is there of the resurrection M. Item no man shall pray to saintes Tyndall When ye speake wyth saintes that be departed it is not euill to put them in remembraunce to pray for you M. Why do they not heare vs Tyndall If they loue you so feruētly and be so great with God why certifie they you not that they so do More So they do in that we feele our peticions graunted Tyndall God saued the olde Idolaters with worldly saluacion and gaue them their peticions which they yet asked of their Idoles as ye see thorow out all the olde testament God heareth the crowes foules beastes and wormes of the earth as the text saith men and beastes doth God saue which beastes yet pray not to God The Iewes and Turkes doth god saue in this worlde and geueth them their worldly peticions which yet worship not God as his godly nature is to be worshipped but after their owne imagination not in the spirite wyth fayth hope and loue but wyth bodely seruice as the Pope doth As the popishe serue S. Appoline for the tooth ache and are healed euen so the Iewes and Turkes be healed and pray not to her but serue God after an other maner for the same disease So that God doth saue in this world all that keepe y ◠worldely lawes worldely that is to wete outwarde in the body for bodely rewarde and not in the hart of loue that springeth out of the mercy that God hath geuen vs in Christ which same though they be Turkes if they breake the worldly lawes he rebuketh them as the Niniuites and punisheth them diuersly And if they knowledge their sinne and mende he healeeh them agayne But and if they harden and sinne as beastes and will not amend he destroyeth them vtterly as the Sodomites And yet all such haue no part in the life to come But with his children in whose hartes he writeth the fayth of hys sonne Iesus and the loue of his lawes he goeth otherwise to worke hys lawes in their will and their peticions are his honour their neighbours welth and that he will prouide them of all thinges necessary vnto this life and gouerne them that their hartes be not ouercome of euill And he heareth thē vnto his honour and their euerlasting saluation and purgeth them and teacheth them thinges wherof the popish and all they whose hartes the God of this world hath blynded to serue God with workes hath no feelyng And when he sayth that the Emperour and that coūsell which decreed that Images for the abuse should be put out of the church were heretikes It is much easier so to say then so to proue Vnderstand therefore that Images were not yet receaued in the Churche in the tyme of S. Hierome at the least waye generally whether in some one place or no I can not tell For S. Hierome rehearseth of one Epiphanius a Byshop in the countrey of Cipres that the most perfect of all y e Byshops of hys tyme how that the sayd Epiphanius the Byshop of Ierusalem went together to Bethell by the way they entred into a Churche for to pray and there found a vayle hāgyng before the doore and an image paynted thereon as it had bene of Christ or some Saint For the Byshop was so moued therwith because sayth S. Hierome that it was contrary to the Scripture that he cut counseled to bury some dead ther in and sent an other cloth to hāg in the stede And afterward when they were crept in a litle and litle there was no woorshyppyng of them at the least waye generally vntill the tyme of S. Gregory In so much that when Cirenus the Byshop of Massilia offēded with the superstitiousnes of the people burnt thē S. Gregory wrote that he should not destroy the Images but teach onely that the people should not worshyp them But whē it was so farre come that the people worshypped them with a false fayth as we now know no other vse and were no longer memorials onely then the Byshops of Grece the Emperour gathered them together to prouide a remedy agaynst that mischief cōcluded that they should be put down for the abuse thinkyng it so most expedient hauyng for them first the example of God whom a man may boldly folow which commaunded in the begynning of all his preceptes that there should be no image vsed to worship or pray before not for the Image it selfe but for the weakenesse of hys people and hauyng agayne before their eyes that the people were fallen vnto Idolatrie and imageseruyng by the reason of them Now aunswere me by what reason caust thou make an hereticke of hym that concludeth nought agaynst God but worketh with God putteth that blocke out of the way where at his brother the price of Christes bloud srōbleth and loseth his soule They put not downe the images for hate of God and of his Saintes no more then Ezechias brake the brasen Serpēt for enuy of the great miracle that was wrought by it or in spite of God that commaūded it to be kept for a memoriall But to kepe the people in the true faith onely Now seyng we may be all without images to put them downe is not against Gods cōmaūdemēt but with it namely if they be abused to the dishonour of God and hurt of our neighbours where is charitie if thou which knowest the truth and caust vse thyne image wel wilt not yet forbeare thyne image and suffer it to be put out of the way for thy weake brothers sake whō thou seest perish there
and he will therto consider our mekenes and what soeuer chaunceth neuer taketh away hys mercy till we cast of the yoke of our profession first and runne away with vtter defiaunce that we will neuer come more at schole Then our stubburne and hard hartes mollifie waxe soft and in the confidēce and hope that we haue in Christ and his kindnes we go to God boldly as vnto our father and receaue life that is to say loue vnto God and vnto the law also That whiche we haue seene and heard we declare vnto you that ye may haue felowshyppe with vs and that our felowshyppe may be with the father and with his sonne Iesus Christ And these thynges we write vnto you that your ioye may be full To bryng vnto the felowshyp of God and Christ and of them that beleue in Christ is the finall intent of all the Scripture why it was giuen of God vnto man and the onely thyng which all true preachers seke wherby ye shall euer know and discerne the true word of God from all false and counterfayted doctrine of vayne traditions the true preacher from the wylie hypocrite We preache vnto you sayth Iohn y t euerlastyng lyfe which we haue heard and in hearyng receaued through fayth and are sure of it to draw you to vs out of the felowshyp that ye haue with the damned deuils in sinnefull lustes and ignoraunce of God for we seeke you and not yours as sayth Paul ij Cor. xij We loue you as our selues in God therfore wold haue you felowes and equall with vs build you vpon the foundation layd of the Apostles and Prophetes which is Christ ▪ Iesus and make you of the houshold of God for euer that ye and we felowes and brethren and coupled together in one spirit in one fayth and in one hope might haue our felowship thereby with God and become his sonnes heyres with Iesus Christ beyng his brethren and coheyres and to make your ioy ful through that glad tydinges as the aungell sayd vnto the shepheardes Luke ij Behold I shew you great ioye that shal be vnto all the people how that there is a Sauiour borne vnto you this day whiche is Christ the Lord. And these tydinges we bryng you with the worde of God onely which we receaued of his spirit and out of the mouth of his sonne as true messengers We preach not our selues but Christ our Lord and vs your seruauntes for hys sake we do not loue our selues to seke yours vnto vs that after we had with wiles robbed you of all ye haue we should exalte our selues ouer you separate our selues frō you and make our selues a seuerall kyngdome free and frāke raygnyng ouer you as heathen tyrauntes holdyng you in bondage to serue our lucre and lustes tanglyng your conscience with doctrine of man whiche draweth from God and Christ and fearing you with the bugge of excommunication agaynste Gods word Or if that serued not shakyng a sword at you And this is the tydinges whiche we haue heard of hym and declare vnto you that God is lyght and in hym is no darknes at all If we say that we haue felowshyp with hym and yet walke in darkenes we lye and do not the truth But and if we walke in light as he is in light then haue we felowshyp together and the bloud of Christ his sonne clenseth vs from all sinne As the deuill is darknes and lyes so is God light and truth onely and there is no darknes of falshead consentyng to wickednes in hym And the brightnes of his light is his word and doctrine as the. C. and. xix Psalme sayth Thy worde is a lanterne vnto my feete a light to my pathes And Christe is the light that lightneth all men And the Apostles are called the light of the world because of the doctrine And all that knowe truth are light Ye were once darkenes sayth Paule Ephes v. but now light in the Lord walke therfore as the children of lyght And good workes are called the frutes of light And all that lyue in ignoraūce are called darknes as he sayth afterward he that hateth his brother walketh in darknes For if the light of the glorious Gospell of Christe dyd shyne in his hart he could not hate his brother By walking vnderstande consenting doing and working If then we walke in darcknes that is consent and worke wickednes and say we haue felowship with God we ly For to haue felowship with him is to knowe and consent and professe his doctrine in our hartes Now if the commaundementes of GOD bee written in our hartes our members can not but practise thē shew the fruite So whether light or darknes be in the hart it will appeare in y t walking For though our members be neuer so dead vnto vertue yet if our soules knowledge the truth consent vnto righteousnes we haue the sprite of life in vs. And Paule sayth Rom. viij If the spirite of him y t raysed vp Iesus from death be in you thē wil he y t raised vp Iesus frō death quicken your mortall bodies by the reasō of the spirit that dwelleth in you So that it is not possible for him that knoweth the truth consenteth thereto to continue in sinne And then finally if we haue the light in our harts and walke therein then we haue fellowship with God and are his sonnes and heires and are purged from all sinne through Christes bloud If we say we haue no sinne we deceaue our selues and trueth is not in vs. If we think there is no sinne in vs we are beguiled and blinde and the light of Gods word is not in vs and eyther folow sinne as beastes without consciēce at all Or if we see the grosse sinnes as murther theft and adultery yet we haue hanged a vayle of false gloses vpon Moses face and see not the brightnes of the law how that it requireth of vs as pure an hart to God and as great loue vnto our neighbours as was in our sauiour Iesus ceaseth not before to condemne vs as sinners If we knowledge our sinnes he is faythfull and iust to forgeeue vs our sinnes and to clense vs from all vnrigh teousnes If we confesse our sinnes not in the preistes eare though that tradition restored vnto the right vse were not dānable but in our hartes to God with true repentaunce and fast beleife then is he faythfull to forgeue and to purge vs because of his mercifull truth and promise For he promised Abraham that in his seede all the worlde should be blessed from the curse of sinne And hath aboundantly renued his euerlasting mercy vnto vs in the new testament promising that our sinnes shall be forgeuen vs in Christes bloud if we repent and trust thereto If we say we haue not sinned we make him a lyer and hys woord is not in vs. For his
hee listeth and maketh the grounde of whose hart he lusteth fruteful and chooseth whom he will at his own pleasure and for no other cause knowen vnto any man Who is a lyer but he that denyeth that Iesus is Christ The same is Antichrist that denyeth the father and the sonne For asmuch as Antichrist and Christ are two contraries the study of Antichrist is to quēch the name of Christ how can the Pope his sectes be Antichrist when they all preach Christ How was say I agayne to thee Pelagius whose doctrine the Pope defendeth in the hyghest degree Antichrist and all other heretickes Verely Syr the Pope seketh hym selfe as all heretickes dyd and abuseth the name of Christ to gather offeringes tithes and rētes in his name to bestow them vnto his owne honour and not Christes and to bryng the conscience of the people into captiuitie vnder hym through superstitious feare as though he had such authoritie giuen hym of Christ And euery sillable that hath a soūde as though it made for his purpose that he expoundeth falsly and fleshly and therwith iuggleth bewitcheth the eares of the people maketh them his owne possession to beleue what hym lusteth as though it made no matter to them whether hee preached true or false so they beleue and do as he biddeth them But all the textes that shew his dutie to do he putteth out of the way and all the textes therto that set the consciences at libertie in Christ proue our saluation to be in Christ onely And with Pelagius hee preacheth the iustifying of workes whiche is the denying of Christ He preacheth a false bynding and losing with eare confession whiche is not in the trust and confidence of Christes bloud shedyng He preacheth the false penaūce of dedes not to tame the flesh that we sinne no more but to make satisfaction to redeme the sinne that is past Which what other cā it be saue the denying of Christ whiche is the onely redemption of sinne He maketh of the workes of the ceremonyes which were wont to be lignes and remembraunces of thinges to be beleued or done image seruice vnto God hys Saintes whiche are spirites to purchase with the merites of them what soeuer the blynd soule imagineth whiche all are the denying of Christ For if thou wilt receaue any annoyntyng of grace or mercy any whence saue of hym he is no longer Christ vnto thee Christ is called Iesus a Sauiour he is called Christus kyng annoynted ouer all men of whom they must hold and whose benefite must all they haue He is called Emanuel God is with vs. For he onely maketh God our God our strength power sword and shield shortly our father He is called Sanctus that is holy that haloweth sanctifieth and blesseth all natiōs And these be his names for euer be no names of hypocrisie as we some time call him Thomas Curteis which is but a churle and as we call them Curates whiche care for their Parishes as the Wolfe for the flocke and them Byshops that are ouersears which will so ouer see that they will suffer nought to be prosperous saue their owne cōmō wealth as some call them selues dead which liue in all voluptuousnes and as some call them selues poore without hauing any thing proper and yet lyue in all aboundance and as they shaue and disguise them selues with garmentes and ornamentes to signifie euer a contrary thyng then that they be Nay Christ is no hypocrite or disguised that playeth a part in a play and representeth a person or state which he is not But is alway that his name signifieth he is euer a Sauiour euer annyonteth with grace euer maketh God with vs and euer sāctifieth Neither is there any other to saue and sanctifie frō sinne or annointe with grace or to set God at one with men And these thynges which his name signifie doth he euer vnto all that haue trust confidence in his bloud assone as they repēt of the sinne whiche they desire to be saued and sanctified from Now though the Pope his sectes giue Christe these names yet in that they robbe hym of the effect and take the significations of his names vnto them selues and make of hym but an hypocrite as they them selues be they be right Antichristes and deny both the father and sonne For they deny the witnesse that the father bare vnto his sonne and depriue the sonne of all the power and glory that hys father gaue hym Whosoeuer denyeth the sonne the same hath not the father For no man knoweth the father but the sonne to whom the sonne sheweth hym Math. xj Moreouer if thou knowe not the mercy that God hath shewed thee in Christ thou canst not know hym as a father Thou mayst wel besides Christ know hym as a tyraunt And thou mayst know hym by his woorkes as the old Philosophers did that there is a God but thou canst neither beleue in his mercy nor loue his lawes which is his onely worship in the spirite saue by Christ Let therefore abide in you that which ye heard at the beginning If that which ye heard at the beginning shall remayne in you then shall ye continue in the Sonne and in the Father And this is the promise that he hath promised vs euerlasting life If we abide in thold doctrine which the Apostles taught and harken to no new then abide we in the Sonne for vpon the Sonne build they vs and in the Father thorough confidence in the Sonne are heires of euerlasting life These thinges haue I written vn to you because of them that deceiue you And the anointing that ye receiued of him dwelleth in you and ye need not that any man teache you but as that annoynting teacheth you of all thinges and is true and is no lye Euen as it hath taught you so abide therein When a true preacher preacheth the spirite entreth the hartes of the elect and maketh them feele the righteousnes of the law of God and by the law the poyson of their corrupt nature and thence leadeth them thorough repentaunce vnto the mercy that is in Christes bloud and as an oyntment healeth the body euē so the spirite through confidence and trust in Christes bloud healeth the soule and maketh her loue the law of God and therfore is called annoynting or an oyntment and may well be signified by the oyle of our sacrament But outward oyle can neyther heale the soule nor make her feele saue as a signe or as a bush at a tauern dore quencheth a mans thirst neither is it a thing to put trust in Let vs ther fore folow the teaching of the spirite which we haue receiued as Paule sayeth an earnest to certifie our hartes and to make vs feele the thinges of God and not cleaue to the traditions of men in which is no feeling but that
he breake his fathers cōmaundementes though he be not vnder damnatiō yet is he euer child and rebuked and now then lasshed with the rod by the reason wherof he is neuer bold in his fathers presence But y t childe that kepeth his fathers commaūdements is sure of himselfe and bolde in his fathers presence to speake aske what he will They that minister well get them good degree and great confidēce in the fayth that is in Christ Iesu sayth Paule 1. Tim. 3. He that worketh is bold before God and man For hys conscience accuseth hym not within neither haue wee ought to wyte hym withall or to cast in his teeth And as without the sight of the woorkes Iacob the Apostle can not see thy fayth Iaco. 2. no more shalt thou euer be sure or bold before God or man But if our hartes condemne vs God is greater then our hart and knoweth all thyng If our conscience accuse vs of sinne God is so great and so mightie that it can not be hid Dearely beloued if our hartes condemne vs not then we trust to Godward And whatsoeuer wee aske that shall we receaue of him because we keepe his commaundementes and do the thynges whiche are pleasaunt in his sight Kepyng of the commaundementes maketh a man see his fayth and to bee bold therein And fayth when it is without conscience of sinne goeth into God boldly and is strong and mighty in prayer to coniure God by all hys mercyes therewith obtayneth what soeuer hee asketh of all his promises And the text sayth because we kepe his commaundementes Yea verely hys commaundemētes make vs bold But the keepyng of mens traditions and domine ceremonies make vs not bold before God nor certifie our conscience that our faith is vnfayned Thou shalt not know by sprynkling thy selfe with holy water nor kyssing the pax nor with takyng asshes or though thou were annoynted with all the oyle in Thames strete that thy fayth is sure But and if thou couldest finde in thyne hart to bestowe both lyfe and goodes vpon thy neighbour in a iust cause and hast proued it then art thou sure that thou louest Christ and feelest that thou hast thy trust in his bloud And this is his commaundemēt that wee beleue in his sonne Iesus Christ and loue one another as he gaue commaundement Fayth is the first and also the roote of all commaundementes And out of fayth spryngeth loue and out of loue workes And when I breake any commaundemēt I sinne agaynst loue For had I loued I had not done it And when I sinne agaynst loue I sinne agaynst fayth For had I earnestly and with a full trust remembred the mercy that Christ hath shewed me I must haue loued Wherefore when we haue broken any commaundement there is no other way to bee restored agayne thē to go through repētaunce vnto our fayth agayne and aske mercy for Christes sake And assoone as we haue receaued faith that our sinne is forgiuen wee shall immediatly loue the commaundemēt agayne and through loue receaue power to worke And he that keepeth his commaundemētes abideth in him and he in hym And hereby we knowe that there dwelleth in vs of hys spirite which he gaue vs. Through the woorkes we are sure that we continue in Christ and Christ in vs and that his spirite dwelleth in vs. For his spirite it is that kepeth vs in fayth and through fayth in loue and through loue in workes The fourth Chapter DEarely beloued beleue not euery spirit but proue the spirits whether they bee of God For many false Prophetes are gone out into the world Spirites are taken here for preachers because of the preachyng or doctrine which if it be good is of the spirite of God and if it be euill of the spirite of the deuill Now ought we not to beleue euery mans doctrine vnaduisedly or condeinne any mans preachyng yer it be heard and sene what it is But a Christen mās part is to examine iudge trie it whether it be true or no. Quench not the spirit saith Paul i. Thess the last Neither despise prophesiynges but proue all thyng and kepe that whiche is good Destroy not the giftes of the spirite of God but trie whether they be of God and good for the edifiyng of his congregation and keepe that whiche is good and refuse that whiche is euill And suffer euery person that hath any gift of God to serue God therin in his degree and estate after a Christen maner and a due order Why shall we try the doctrines Verely for there bee many false Prophetes abroad already We told you before that Antichrist should come as our master Christ told vs that he shuld come But now I certify you that Antichristes kyngdome is begon already And his Disciples are gone out to preache Trie therefore all doctrine wherewith shall we trie it with the doctrine of the Apostles and with the Scripture which is the touchstone ye and because ye loue compendiousnes ye shall haue a short rule to trie them with all Hereby knowe ye the spirite of God Euery spirite that confesseth that Iesus Christ is come in the fleshe is of God And euery spirite that cōfesseth not that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God And the same is that spirite of Antichrist of whō ye haue heard that he should come And euen now he is in the world already Whatsoeuer opinion any member of Antichrist holdeth the ground of all his doctrine is to destroy this article of our fayth that Christ is come in the flesh For though the most part of all heretickes confesse that Christ is come in the flesh after their maner yet they deny that he is come as the Scripture testifieth the Apostles preached hym to be come The whole study of the deuill and all his members is to destroy the hope and trust that we should haue in Christes flesh and in those thynges which he suffered for vs in his flesh in the Testament and promises of mercy which are made vs in his flesh For the scripture testifieth that Christ hath taken away the sinne of the world in his flesh and that the same houre that he yelded vp his spirite into the hands of his father hee had full purged and made full satisfaction for all the sinnes of the world So that all the sinne of the worlde both before his passion and after must be put away through repentaunce toward the law and fayth and trust in his bloud without respect of any other satisfactiō sacrifice or worke For if I once sinne the law rebuketh my consciēce and setteth variaunce betwene God and me And I shal neuer be at peace with God agayne vntill I haue heard the voyce of hys mouth how that my sinne is forgiuen me for Christes bloud sake And assoone as I that beleue I am at peace with God Rom. v. and loue his law agayne and of loue
it is the gift of God and commeth not of workes lest any man should bost him selfe But we are his workemanshyp created in Christ Iesu vnto good workes vnto whiche God ordeined vs before that we shuld walke in them The text is playne we were stone dead and without lyfe or power to do or consent to good The whole nature of vs was captiue vnder the deuill and led at his will And we were as wicked as the deuill now is Except that hee now sinneth agayne the holy ghost and we consented vnto sinne with soule and body and hated the law of God But God of his grace onely quickened vs in Christ and raysed vs out of that death and made vs sit with Christ in heauenly thynges That is he set our hartes at rest and made vs sit fast in the lyfe of Christes doctrine and vnmoueable frō the loue of Christ And finally we are in this our second byrth Gods workemāshyp and creation in Christ so that as hee which is yet vnmade hath no life nor power to worke no more had we till we were made agayne in Christ The preachyng of mercy in Christ quickened our hartes through faith wrought by the spirit of Christ which God poured into our hartes yer we wist Dearely beloued if God so loued vs then ought we loue one an other If we felt the loue of God in Chrisles bloud we could not but loue agayne not onely God and Christ but also all that are bought with Christes bloud If we loue God for the pleasures that we receaue then loue we our selues But if we loue hym to do hym pleasure agayne that can we no otherwise do then in louing our neighbours for his sake them that are good to continue them in their goodnes them that are euill to draw them to good Loue is the instrument wherewith fayth maketh vs Gods sonnes fashioneth vs lyke the image of God and certifieth vs that we so are And therfore commaundeth Christ Math. v. Loue your enemyes Blesse thē that curse you pray for them that persecute you that ye may be the sonnes of your heauenly father whiche maketh his sunne rise ouer good and bad and sendeth his rayne vpon iust and vniust ye whiche made the sunne of his mercy shyne vpō vs and sent the rayne of the bloud of his deare and onely child vppon our soules to quicken vs and to make vs see loue to loue agayne No man hath at any tyme sene God If we loue one an other God dwelleth in vs and his loue is perfect in vs. Though we can not see God yet if we loue one an other we be sure that he abydeth in vs and that his loue is perfect in vs that is that we loue hym vnfaynedly For to loue God truly to giue him thankes is onely to loue our neighbour for his sake For vppon his person thou canst bestow no benefite And for as much as we neuer saw God let vs make no image of him nor doe hym any imageseruice after our own imagination but let vs go to the scripture that hath sene hym and there wete what fashion he is of and what seruice he wil be serued with Blind reason sayth God is a kerued post and wil be serued with a candle But Scripture sayth God is loue wil be serued with loue If thou loue thy neighbour thē art thou the image of God thy self and he dwelleth in the liuing temple of thine hart And thy louing of thy neighbour for hys sake is hys seruice and worshyp in the spirite and a cādle that burneth before hym in thyne hart and casteth out the light of good workes before the world draweth all to God and maketh his enemyes leaue their euill and come and worshyp him also Hereby we know that we abyde in him and he in vs. For he hath giuen vs of his spirite He that hath not Christes spirit the same is none of his Roma 8. If we haue the spirite of God then are we sure But how shall we know whether we haue the spirite Aske Iohn and he will say if we loue one an other And we haue sene and do testifie that the father hath sent hys sonne the sauiour of the worlde Whosoeuer confesseth that Iesus is the sonne of God in hym dwelleth God and he in God And we haue knowne and beleued the loue that God hath to vs. First the Apostles taught no fables but that they saw and receaued of God by the witnesse of his spirite Secondaryly Iohn ascēdeth vp stepe higher from loue to fayth and sayth he that be leueth that Iesus is Gods sonne hath God in hym And I doubt not but the Pope and his defēders will aunswere Iohn and say then the deuil hath God in hym and is also in God For other fayth then such as the deuill hath felt they neuer any But Iohn preuenteth them we haue knowē and beleued the loue that God hath to vs. That is we beleue not onely with story fayth as men beleue old Chronicles but we beleue the loue and mercy that GOD shewed vs and put our trust and confidence therein And so taketh Scripture belefe we beleue that Iesus is the sonne of God made man and slayne for our sinnes which is a tokē of great loue And that loue beleue we trust therto Where Paule sayth i. Cor. xij No man can cal Iesus Lord except the holy ghost had taught hym But thorough the holy ghost he meaneth not with the mouth onely but in the hart with vnfayned fayth putting his hope trust in the Lordshyp which he hath ouer sinne damnation hell and death For so could no man call Iesus Lord except the holy ghost had taught hym as Christ saith Math. xvi flesh bloud shewed thee not that But yet how shall I see my fayth I must come downe to loue agayne thence to the workes of loue yer I can see my faith Not alway but sometime thou shalt fecle thy fayth without the outward deede as in great aduersitie and persecution when the deuil assaulteth thee with desperation and layeth thy sinnes before thee would beare the in hād that God had cast the away and left the succourles for thy synnes sake Then commeth fayth forth with her shielde and turneth backe agayne the dartes of the deuill and aunswereth Nay for Iesus is y ◠sonne of God yea and my very God and my very Lord and hath takē away my sinnes all dānation And this trouble aduersitie which is come vpō me by settyng of thee and on of thy lymmes is onely to make me feele the mercy of my father and his power and helpe within in my soule and to slay the rest of the poyson which remaineth in the flesh God is loue and he that abydeth in loue abydeth in God and God in hym This haue we heard aboue and it is easie to be vnderstand Herefore is loue perfect with vs
beleued in Christ to bee incarnated and to suffer death what els meant the poore woman of Lanane by eating then to beleue whē she aunswered Christ saying Ye say soth my Lorde But yet doe the little whelpes eate of the crummes that fall from their maisters table This dyd she aunswere in an allegory accordyng to Christes first aunswere vnto her she meanyng by y t eatyng of the crummes the belief of his woordes and Gospell to be scattered among the Gentils as Christ aunsweryng cōfirmed her meanyng saying O woman great is thy fayth He sayd not thou art a great eater and deuourer of bread Here it is playne that to eate in the Scripture is taken to beleue as Christ him selfe expoundeth it so oft and so plentuously And I am here compelled to inculke iterate it with so many wordes to satisfie if it were possible this carnall fleshvowerer and fleshly Iew. Now to examine and to discusse this matter more depely playnly I shall compare the old passeouer with the new and supper of the Lord. And to shew you how the figures correspond their verities I will begyn my comparison at Baptisme comparyng it with the Lordes Supper which be the two Sacramentes left vs now vnder the grace of the Gospell And afterward to set foorth both these Sacramentes playnly I wil compare Circumcision with Baptisme the passe lambe with Christes Supper We by Baptisme as we testified vn to the congregation our entryng into the body of Christ take here Christes body as doth Paule for his congregation to dye to be buried and to ryse with him to mortifie our flesh and to be reuiued in spirite to cast of the old man and to do vpon vs the new euen so by the thankes giuyng for so did the old Greke doctours cal this Supper at Gods bourde or at the Lordes Supper for so doth Paule call it we testifie the vnitie and communion of our hartes glued vnto the whole body of Christ in loue yea and that such loue as Christ at this his last Supper expressed what tyme he sayd his body should be broken and his bloud shed for the remission of our sinnes And to be short As Baptisme is the badge of our fayth so is the Lordes Supper the token of our loue to God our neighbours where vppon standeth the law and the Prophetes For the end of the precept is loue out of a pure hart and good conscience and fayth vnfayned So that by baptisme we be initiated cōsigned vnto the worship of one God in one fayth And by the same faith and loue at the Lordes Supper we shew our selues to cōtinue in our possession to bee incorporated and to be the very members of Christes body Both these Sacramentes were figured in Moyses law Baptisme was figured by Circumcision the Lordes Supper by the eatyng of the passelambe Where lyke as by Circumcisiō the people of Israell were rekened to be Gods people seueral from the Gētiles so be we now by Baptisme rekened to bee consigned vnto Christes Church seuerall frō Iewes paynyms c. And as their passeouer that is to say their solēne feast yearely in eatyng their passelambe was an outward token of their perseueraunce in their religion and in remembraunce of their passage out of Egypt into the lande of Chanaan so is now the eatyng of the Lordes Supper whiche Christ and Paule called our passeouer a token of our perseueraunce in our Christen profession at Baptisme and also thankes giuyng with that ioyfull remēbraunce of our redemption frō sinne death and hell by Christes death Of the figure of this Supper our new passeouer thus it is written After ye be entred into that land whiche the Lord God shall giue you accordyng to his promise ye shall kepe this ceremonie And when your children aske you what Religion is this ye shall aunswere them It is the sacrifice of the passyng ouer of the Lord when the Lord passed foorth by the houses of the children of Israell in Egypt smityng the Egyptiās and deliuering our houses This eatyng therfore of the passe lambe was the figure of the Lordes Supper ▪ whiche figure when the houre was come y ◠he would it to ceasse and giue place vnto the veritie as the shadow to vanish away at the presence of the body He sayd thus with a feruent desire do I long to eate this passeouer with you ere I suffer Agayne let vs compare the figure with the truth the old passeouer with the new and diligētly consider the propertie of speakyng in and of either of thē Let vs expende the succession imitation and tyme how the new succeding the old mediatour Christ betwen both sitting at the Supper celebrating both with his presence did put out the old and bryng in the new For there is in either of them such like composition of wordes such affinitie and proportiō of spech such similitude and propertie in them both the new so correspōdyng in all thynges to the old that the old declareth the new what is it wherfore it was instituted and what is the very vse therof And to begyn at Circumcision the figure of Baptisme ye shall vn derstand that in such rites and Sacramētes there are two thinges to be considered that is to wit The thyng and the signe and of thyng The thynge is it wherfore the signe is instituted to signifie it as in Circumcision the thyng is the couenaunt to be of the people of God and the signe is the cuttyng of the foreskinne of the preuy mēber In the passeouer the thing was the remēbraunce with thankes giuyng for the deliueraunce out of the hard seruitude of Egypt but the signe was the lambe rosted with such ceremonies as were there prescribed them So in baptisme The thyng is the promise to be of the Church of Christ the signe is the dippyng into the water with the holy wordes In our Lordes Supper the very thing is Christ promised and crucified and of faith with thankes giuing vnto the father for his sonne giuen to suffer for vs. But the signe is the dealyng and distributing or reaching forth of the bread and wyne with the holy wordes of our Lord spoken at his supper after he had thus dealt the bread wyne vnto his Disciples And here is it diligently to be noted That in all such rites ceremonies or Sacramentes of God thus instituted these two thinges that is to witte the thyng signified and the signe that signifieth be concurraunt and inseparable It is the common vse and propertie of spech in the Scripture to call the signe the thyng As is Circumcision called the couenaunt Euery manchild must be circumcised that my couenaunt might be in your flesh for a perpetuall bande And yet was it onely but the outward signe seale of the couenaūt that the sede of Abraham should be his especial chosen people that he would
eyes at his last Supper when he offered hym selfe willyngly to dye for vs hys enemyes Whiche incomparable loue to commende bryng in Paules Argumentes so that this hys flocke may come together and be ioyned into one body one spirite and one people This done let hym come downe and accompanyed honestly with other Ministers come forth reuerently vnto the Lordes table the congregatioÌ„ now set round about it and also in their other conuenient scates the pastour exhorting them all to pray for grace faith and loue whiche all this Sacrament signifieth and putteth them in mynde of Then let there be read apertely and distinctly the vi Chapter of Iohn in their mother toung Wherby they may clearely vnderstand what it is to eate Christes flesh and to drinke his bloud This done and some brief prayer and prayse song or read let one or other minister read the xj chapter of the first to the Corinthians that the people might perceiue clearely of those woordes the mistery of this Christes Supper and wherfore he did institute it These with such lyke preparations and exhortations had I would euery man present should professe the Articles of our fayth openly in our mother toung and confesse his sinnes secretly vnto God praying intierly that hee would now vouchsafe to haue mercy vpon hym receiue his prayers glewe hys hart vnto hym by fayth and loue encrease his fayth geue hym grace to forgyue and to loue his neighbour as him selfe to garnish hys lyfe with purenes and innocency and to confirme hym in all goodnes and vertue Then againe it behoueth the curate to warne and exhorte euery man deepely to consider and expende with hym selfe the signification substauÌ„ce of this Sacrament so that he sit not downe an hipocrite and a dissembler sith God is searcher of hart and raines thoughtes and affectes and see that he come not to the holy table of the Lorde without that fayth whiche he professed at hys Baptisme and also that loue which the Sacrament preacheth and testifieth vnto hys hart lest hee now founde gilty of the body and bloud of the Lord that is to wytte a dissembler with Christes death and sclaunderous to the congregregation the body bloud of Christ receiue his own damnation And here let euery man fall downe vppon hys knees saying secretly with all deuotion their Pater noster in English theyr Curate as example kneelyng downe before them Which done let hym take the bread and eft the wyne in the sight of the people hearing him with a loude voyce with godly grauitie and after a Christen religious reuerence rehearsyng distinctly y e wordes of the Lordes Supper in their mother toung And theÌ„ distribute it to the ministers which taking the bread with great reuerence will deuide it to the congregation euery man breakyng and reaching it forth to hys next neighbour and member of the mistike body of Christ other ministers folowyng with the cuppes powring forth dealing them the wyne all together thus â—â—yng now partakers of one bread and one cuppe the chyng thereby signified and preached printed fast in their hartes But in this meanâ— while must the minister or pastour be readyng the communicatioÌ„ that Christ had with his Disciples after his Supper beginnyng at the washing of their feete so readyng till the bread wyne be eaten and dronken and all the action done And then let them all fall downe on their knees geuing thankes highly vnto God the father for this benefite and death of his sonne whereby now by faith euery man is assured of remission of his sinnes as this blessed Sacrament had put them in mynde and preached it them in this outward action and Supper This done let euery man commende and geue them selues whole to God and depart I would haue hereto put my name good Reader but I know well that thou regardest not who writeth but what is writteÌ„ thou estemest the word of the veritie and not of the authour And as for M. More whom the veritie most offendeth and doth but mocke it out when he cannot soyle it he knoweth my name well inough For the deuill his gardian as him selfe sayth commeth euery day into Purgatory if there be any day at all with his haynous and enuious laughter gnashing his teeth and grynnyng tellyng the Proctour with hys Popes prisoners what soeuer is here done or written against them both his person and name to And he is now I dare say as great with his gardian as euer he was If any man tel ye loe here is Christ or there is hee beleue hym not For there shall aryse false Christes false annoynted giuyng great miracles Take hede I haue told ye before if they therefore tell ye loe hee is in the desert go not forth loe hee is in the preuy pixe beleue it not FINIS A diligent and necessary Index or Table of the most notable thynges matters and woordes contayned in these workes of Master William Tyndall The letter A. signifieth the first columne and B. the second columne of the same side A. A Aron added nothyng to Moses law Representeth Christ euery true preacher 125. a Abbottes and Bysshops kepe MoÌ„kes in ignoraunce 361. a Abhominable blasphemie 330. a Abiectes from God who 25. a AbrahaÌ„ 303. his childreÌ„ haue his faith 45. a. and are the childreÌ„ of faith 63. a Abraham how iustified 334. a AbstineÌ„ce outward is hypocrisis 76. b. for common wealth sake is conunendable 228. a Abstainyng from Images 22. a AbsolutioÌ„ of the Popes Legate 181. b Abuse of Abbeyes 359. b. of confirmatioÌ„ 277. a. of Images 271. a. of scriptures and Sacraments by Papistes 13. b. 339. b. 427. b. 365. b. in prayer 249. b Actual sinne washed away in Christes bloud 32. a Adam must be ouerthrowen Christ put on 90. b Adelstone kyng 102. b Admonition 207. b. to blynde guides to rulers 341. a. to ministers 427. b. to More 251. a. to al subjectes 376. b to votaries 21. a Adrian the first Pope 349. a Adrian the ij and iij. 351. a Aduauncement of the Pope 348. b. of the Clergy 347. a Aduengers robbe God of his honour 178. b Aduoutry 205. a Adultery of Dauid 169. b Aduersaries to Christ knowen by their deedes 102. a Aduersitie how profitable 120. a Affinitie of the passeouer and Christes Supper 467. a Afflicted in this World wherewith coÌ„forted 190. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 253. a Age to be preferred before youth 311. a. to be honored 345. b Agreement in doctrine betwene Papistes and Phariseis 17. b. and in Scriptures 265. a Albe 277. b Alchouse a pulpit for Papistes 2. a Allegories 166. a. not agreable to the text are false 167. b. their right vse 167. a. they proue nothing cause blindnes Well to be weyed How to be vnderstode 14. a. they are no sense of Scripture 167. a Almosse 217. a. and 228. a. What in signifieth 83. b. How truly bestowed 74. b Almose of
ready fully purged in their hart and their rebellious meÌ„bers through death are wholly subdued These men shall geue no reckoning neyther of idle woorde nor euill déed for all theyr sinnes are couered of Christ and hys bloud shall geue the whole accomptes for them The vnfaythfull to theyr vtter confusion shall haue the booke of theyr conscience opened and there shall be presented before them all theyr euill deades woordes and thoughtes And these are they that Christ speaketh of which shall geue thys great accompt Note also that in the text they are called men which woord in Scripture is euer for the most part taken in the worste sense and signifieth wicked men fleshly men and men that folow their own lustes and appetites THen confirmeth he purgatory out of the 66. Psalme which sayth we haue gone through fire and water and thou hast brought vs into colenesse I am sure you haue not forgotten that M. More alledgeth the Prophet Zachary in the ix and affirmeth that thâ—re is no water in Purgatory It were hard to make these two agrée for when meÌ„ ground them on a lye then for the most part theyr tales and probations are coÌ„trary and will not well stand together Neuerthelesse in one poynte they agrée full well that is both of them say vntruly for neither nother text serueth any whit for Purgatory And as concernyng the place of Zachary it is sufficieÌ„tly declared what it meaneth And now wil I also declare you the vnder standyng of this text and first that it can not serue for purgatory I besech you that haue the psalter once to read the Psalme I thinke you shal wonder at their doâ—yng dreames and ignoraunce which allege this text for Purgatory The text of y e Psalme is this Thou hast brought vs into a straite laden our backes with trouble or heuynesse Thou hast set men vpon our heades we haue gone through fire water and thou hast led vs out agayn into a place of refreshyng The textes before and after in the same Psalme will not suffer that this place should be vnderstand of Purgatory For the text immediately before sayth thou hast set men vpon our heades But the chiefest defenders of Purgatory and eueÌ„ M. More hym selfe say that they are not men but deuils which torment the soules in Purgatory notwithstandyng my Lord of Rochester good man affirmeth that they are aungels whiche torment the soules there but neuer man doted so farre as to say that men torment the soules in Purgatory wherefore I may conclude that this text is not ment of purgatory but that the Prophet meÌ„t that men ranne ouer the childreÌ„ of Israell subdued them and wrapped theÌ„ in extreme troubles which in the Scripture are signified by fire and water Besides that the textes folowyng wil not admit that this should be vnderstaÌ„d of Purgatory for it foloweth immediatly I will enter into thy house with â—urt offrynges I shall offer vnto thée fat sacrifices with the reke of wethers I shall burne to the Oxen Goates Now is there no maÌ„ so mad as to thinke that the soules of Purgatory should offer vnto God any such sacrifices So that the text is playnly vnderstand of the children of Israell which through the Lord were deliuered from their afflictioÌ„s and enemies then offred theyr loyall sacrifices of prayse and thankes to the Lord theyr shield and protection NOwe flyeth my Lorde vnto the Church sayth that because the Churche hath affirmed it we must needes beleue it for the Church caÌ„ not erre As touchyng this poynte I will referre you vnto a woorke that William Tyndal hath writteÌ„ agaynst M. More wherin ye shal wel perceiue what the Church of Christ is that hys Churche neuer determined any such thyng But that it is the Sinagoge of Sathan that maketh articles of the fayth bindeth meÌ„s conscieÌ„ces further then the Scripture will THen waxeth his Lordshyp somewhat hote agaynst Martine Luther because he would that no man should be compelled to beleue Purgatory For my Lord sayth that it is profitable and wel done to compel men to beleue such thynges whether they will or will not And to stablishe his opinion hée plucketh out a word of the parable of Luke xiiij that a certayne man made a great supper and sayd vnto his seruauÌ„tes go forth quickly into the wayes and compell them to enter in Verely there Christ ment no other thyng but that his Apostles should go forth into all the world and preach his word vnto all nations openyng vnto them the miserable state and conditioÌ„ that they be in and agayne what mercy God hath shewed theÌ„ in his sonne Christ This would Christ that his Apostles should expound and lay out so euidently by reasons Scriptures and miracles vnto the Gentils that they should eueÌ„ by their manifest persuasions be compelled to graunt vnto them that he was Christ and to take vpon them the fayth that is in Christ On this maner did Christ compel the Saduces to graunt the resurrection Math. xxij And by these meanes compelled hee the Phariseis to graunt in theyr consciences that he dyd his miracles with the power of God yet afterward of very hate knowyng in theyr hartes the contrary they sayd y e he dyd them by the power of the deuill Math. xij But to say that Christ would haue his Disciples to compell men with prisonment fetters scourgyng sword and fire is very false and farre from the mildenesse of a ChristeÌ„ spirite although my Lord approue it neuer so much For Christ dyd forbyd his Disciples such tyraÌ„ny yea and rebuked them because they would haue desired that fire should descende from heauen to consume the Samaritanes which wold not receiue Christ Luke ix But he commaunded them that if meÌ„ would not receiue their doctrine they should departe from thence and spryncle of the dust of their féete to be a testimony agaynst the vnfaythfull that they had bene there preached vnto them the word of life But with violence will God haue no man compelled vnto his law Paule also testifieth 2. Cor. 1. that he had not rule ouer the CorinthiaÌ„s as touchyng theyr fayth By our fayth we stand in the Lord by our infidelitie we fall from hym As no man can search the hart but onely God so can no man iudge or order our fayth but onely God thorough his holy spirite Furthermore fayth is a gifte of God which he distributeth at hys owne pleasure 1. Cor. 12. If he geue it not this day he may geue it to morow And if thou perceaue by any exterior worke that thy neighbour haue it not enstruct him with Gods word and pray God to geue hym grace to beleue that is rather a poynte of a christen man then to compell a man by death or exterior violence Finally what doth thy compulsion and violence
scholes of slaundering rayling and gesting Deare brother if it had bene so that I had spoken certayne wordes in déede which mighte haue séemed in your eyes to be rayling detracting and slaundring as I haue not sauing a little gesting woulde you disproue my doctrine thereby What will you then say to S. Iohn baptist which calleth the pharisies then heades of the church as are now our doctoures generation of vipers would you therefore conclude that his doctrines were naught I thinke you be not so chyldish And it séemeth this one sentence to be more rayling and slaundering then all that I haue written What wil you say to Christ which called the scribes and pharisies hypocrites Math. 15. 16. 22. And in the 13. he séemeth to rayle aboue measure where he calleth theÌ„ hypocrites and blinde guides paynted sepulchers whych outwardlye appeare righteous but within are full of hypocrisie serpents and generation of Vipers Besides that he calleth Herode Foxe Luc. 13 and the Iewes he called a froward and aduouterous generation Math. 12. 16 and in the 17. he sayth O vnfaythfull and ouerthwart nation woulde you thinke it should excuse the Iewes which refused his doctrine to say that he rayled and that no reasonable man woulde thinke those things to be pointes belonging to vertue but rather spices and braunches of pride and that hée shewed not hym selfe charitable but malicious nor no wisedome therein but folie would it excuse them to say as you do to me that if he had bene one halfe yeare at schole of discretion and charitie he should more haue prospered in vertuous learning and that he had bene at the scholes of sclanderyng rayling and iestyng Finally S. Paule in your eyes might appeare to rayle and slaunder and to be cleane destitute of Gods spirite which as Luke saith replenished with the holy Ghost sayd to Clemas that resisteth hym Actes 13. O thou ful of all suttelty deceite thou sonne of the deuill and enemy of all righteousnes ceaseth not to peruerte the rightwayes of the Lord. I can bryng many â—â—o such sayinges of Peter Iohn Iames and Iudas and yet I thincke you will not improue their doctrine thereby but because I studye to be shorte I shall count it sufficient to haue warned the reader of this Notwithstanding peraduenture Rastell wil not yet be aunswered but will say that albeit I haue touched inough as concernyng those thynges that appeare railyng and slanderyng in his eyes yet I brought none that iest as I do whereunto I may aunswere and alledge for me Helias the Prophet which both mocked the false Priestes and iested with them saying call loude vnto your Gods for peraduenture they are a sléepe and caÌ„ not here or els they be gone out of towne I cannot inough meruell that my brother Rastell would vse such maner of reasoning with me as to improue my doctrine because of my raylyng and iestyng For ther with he hath made a foule hole in his kinsmans best coate for euery maÌ„ perceiueth that M. More his bookes are so full of rayling gestyng and baudye tales that if the furious Momus Venus had take out theyr partes there should be very little left for Vulcanus After this Rastell dissenteth to the purpose of his matter would proue that my expositions of Scripture are not good because they are an occasion to bryng y t people to boldnes of sinne and to moue the people to delite in other mens faultes and to laugh therat and to put you an exaÌ„ple he sayth if I should take vpon me the expositioÌ„ of this text In principio erat verbum verbum erat apud deum c. and expound it after this maner In the begynnyng of this yeare Iohn Frith is a noble Clerke He killed a mylstone with his spere Keepe well your geese your dogges do barke I trowe sayth Rastell all wise men would thinke that this were a fonde exposition yet this exposition would please childreÌ„ fooles and mad men as well as the exposition of S. Austen or S. Hierome or any other Doctor of y e Church because it would make them to laugh so sayth Rastell Frith maketh such expositioÌ„s with iestyng and rayling to make the people laugh not regardyng to edifie the people nor to prouoke them to vertue mekenes or charitie nor to leaue their sinne but rather geueth them boldnes to beleue that there is no Purgatory nor hell but mocketh and iesteth at those reasons that bee made for proofe of Purgatory Now as touchyng the first part where he saith that my expositions be an occasion to bryng the people to boldnes of sinne I aske hym why his aunswere is because I geue theÌ„ boldnes that there is no Purgatory nor yet hell thereto Rastell by his leaue maketh a fitten I dare not say hee maketh a lye for that hee would call rayling for I neuer denyed hell but affirme in many places of my booke eueÌ„ in the first side of myne aunswere agaynst him I affirme hell and perpetuall damnation but when ye come to the proofe of his wordes then you shall sée how wisely the maÌ„ coÌ„cludeth for he thinketh that ab inferiori ad suuÌ„ superius confuse distribue men shall thinke it a good consequent as if I should say that we lacke fire in prisoÌ„ then would he coÌ„clude that there lacked fire in all Middlesex Or if I wold say their were no wit in Rastels head then would hee conclude that there were no witte in no maÌ„s head but he hath so long studyed Philosophy that hee hath cleane forgotten his principals of Sophistry notwithstandyng we wil forgeue him this faute for the man is somewhat aged and therfore I thinke it is loÌ„g since he read them and that they are now out of his memory neuerthelesse he will say that hys argument is not soluted for although I denye not hell yet I denye Purgatory and so I geue the people an occasioÌ„ to sinne because they feare not Purgatory whereunto I haue so sufficiently aunswered in Rastels vij argument that I wonder that hee is not a shamed to bryng the same agayne but he trusteth that my bookes shall neuer be read and his may go surely abroad and therefore he may say what he will onely hee careth not what he saith so he hold not his peace And where hee reporteth that I make expositions to make the people to delite to heare of other meÌ„s fautes and to laugh thereat therto will I say nay till he be at laysure to proue it and where he sayth if he should take vppon hym to expounde In principio erat verbum in this maner In the begynnyng of this yeare Iohn Frith is a noble Clerke He killed a mylstone with his spere Keepe well your geese the dogges do barke Saying that all wise men would say that this were a fonde exposition Therto I aunswere that saying for the ryme
that ensue his steppes yet let them surely reken vppon it for there is no doubt but all whiche will deuoutly lyue in Christ must suffer persecution for whom the Lord loueth he correcteth and scourgeth euery child that he receaueth for what child is that whom the father chastiseth not If ye be not vnder correction of which we are all partakers theÌ„ are ye bastardes and not children Neuertheles we may not suppose that our most louyng father should do that because he reioiseth in our bloud or punishment but he doth it for our singular profite that we may be partakers of holynes and that the remnaunt of sinne whiche through the frayltie of our meÌ„bers rebell agaynst the spirite will causing our workes to go vnparfectly forwardes may somedel be suppressed lest they should subdue vs and reigne ouer vs as I haue sufficiently declared in the Epistle of my booke whiche intreateth of Purgatory to the which I remit theÌ„ that desire to be further instructed in this matter Of these thynges God had geuen me the speculation before and now it hath pleased hym to put in vre and practise vpon me I euer thought and yet doe thinke that to walke after Gods word would cost me my life at one tyme or an other And albeit that the kynges grace should take me into his fauour and not to suffer the bloudy Edomites to haue their pleasures vpon me yet will I not thinke that I am escaped but that God hath onely differred it for a season to the intent that I should woorke somewhat that he hath appointed me to do and so to vse me vnto his glory And I beseche all the faythfull followers of the Lord to arme them selues with the same supposition markyng theÌ„ selues with the signe of the crosse not from the crosse as the superstitious multitude doth but rather to the crosse in token that they be euer readye willingly to receaue the crosse when it shall please God to lay it vpon them The day that it coÌ„meth not counte it cleare wonne geuyng thankes to the Lord which hath kept it from you And then when it commeth it shall nothing dismay you for it is no new thing but eueÌ„ that which ye haue continually looked for And doubt not but that god which is faythfull shall not suffer you to be tempted aboue that which ye are able to beare but shall euer send some occasion by the which ye shall stand stedfast for either he shall blind the eyes of your enemies and diminish theyr tyrannous power or els when he hath suffred them to do theyr best and that the Dragon hath cast a whole floudde of waters after you he shall cause euen the very earth to open hir mouth and swalow them vp So faith full is he and careful to ease vs what time the vexation should be too heauy for vs. He shall send a Ioseph before you against ye shall come into Egypt yea he shal so prouide for you that ye shall haue an hundred fathers for one an huÌ„dred mothers for one an hundred houses for one and that in thys lyfe as I haue proued by experience And after this life euerlasting ioy wyth Christ our Sauiour Not withstandyng sith this stedfastnes commeth not of our selues for as S. Austen sayth there was neuer man so weake or frayle no not the greatest offender that euer lyued but that euery man of hys owne nature should be as frayle and committe as great enormities except he were kept from it by the spirite power of God I beseche you brethren in the Lord Iesu Christe and for the loue of hys spirite to pray with me that we may be vessels to his laude prayse what tyme soeuer it pleaseth hym to call vpon vs. The father of glory giue vs the spirite of wisedome vnderstandyng and knowledge and lighten the eyes of our mynde that we may know hys wayes praysing the Lord eternally If it please any of our brethren to write vnto vs of any such doubtes as peraduenture may be founde in our bookes it should be very acceptable vnto vs and as I trust not vnfrutefull for them For I will endeuour my selfe to satisfie theÌ„ in all poyntes by Gods grace To whom I committe to be gouerned and defended for euer Amen Iohn Frith the prisoner of Iesu Christ at all tymes abydyng his pleasure A treatise made by the sayd Iohn Frith whiles he was prisoner in the Tower of London Anno. M. D. xxxij called a Myrrour or glasse to know thy selfe I Was desired of a faith full frende to whom I am so much bound that he might lawfully haue commaunded me that I would make him a litle treatise by the which he might be somewhat instructed to knowe himselfe and so geue God thanckes for the benefites which he hath so aboundantly poured vpon him This thing I tooke vpon me very gladly partly to fulfill his right wise request which I trust shall be to the great profite of Christes flocke and partly to declare what I thinke both of my selfe and of all other Herein may all men sée what they haue receaued of God and how they ought to bestow the talent that is coÌ„mitted vnto them which if you note well it will cause you to say with the wise man Salomon Vaiuersa vanitas omnis homo viuens that is Euery maÌ„ liuing is nothing but vanitie which also the Prophet Dauid confirmeth saying If all men liuing were pondered in one ballance and vanitie hanged in the ballaunce agaynst them it should quite way them downe and be heauier then all they As by example if a man prayse a very foole and thinke his witte good and profounde then is that person in déede more foole theÌ„ the other And eueÌ„ so uÌ„th maÌ„ doth prayse and commende riches honour beautie strength and such other vaine and transitorie things which are but as a dreame and vanishe lyke a flower in the fielde when a man shoulde haue moste néede of them it foloweth well that he hymselfe is more vayne then those thyngs whych are but vanitie For if it were possyble that thou shuldest haue al these things an hundreth yeare continually wythout any trouble or aduersitie as neuer man had yet were it but a vaine dreame if it be compared vnto that euerlasting lyfe whych is prepared for Christes electe and faythfull followers So that all flesh is as hay and all hys glory lyke a flower of the hay is withered and the flower fallen but God and his worde endure for euer Therfore let not the wyse man reioyse in his wisedom neither y e strong man in hys strengthe nor the ryche in hys riches But he that reioyseth let hym reioyse in the Lord to whome be all honor praise without end Amen The first Chapter That all goodnesse commeth of God and all câ—… o. ourselues THe Philosophers to 〈◊〉 God had enspired 〈…〉 of truthe knowledged
for it is better to mary then to burne The Pope sayth all monkes Fryers and Nunnes shall vowe and sweare chastitie be it geuen them or not my Priestes also shall not be wedded but as for to kéepe whores and rauishe other mens daughters wiues shal be dispensed withall I will sée no such thinges for my Byshoppes haue yearely great mony by it like as baudes be wont to haue 57. Christ sayth all meates that maÌ„ taketh with thankes staineth not the soule for all things are pure to them that are pure The Pope sayth he that eateth egges butter or fleshe in these dayes that I haue commauÌ„ded to be fasted doth not onely stayne his soule wyth sinne but also is to be denounced an hereticke Dist 4. ca. Statuimus This agréeth with Christ euen as the lyght doth with the darcknes And yet haue we bene thus blynded long that we could neuer perceaue this Antichrist till now in the last dayes 58. Christ sayd vnto his Disciples that you bynde in earth shal be bouÌ„de in heauen and that you lose in earth shal be losed in heauen The Pope chalengeth greater authoritie for he will lose soules out of Purgatory and commaunde the angels to fetch them out and all for money without money you get nothing 59. Christ sayth wheÌ„ you haue done all thynges that I haue commaunded you yet say that you are vnprofitable seruauntes The Pope sayth do those thynges that I commauÌ„d thée and take a sure conscience vnto thée that thou art a iust and a religious maÌ„ and that thou hast deserued heaueÌ„ And as for I myselfe If I do wrong in euery thyng 〈◊〉 bring many thousandes with me into damnation yet shall no man rebuke me but cal me the most holiest father Dist. 40. ca. Si Papa 60. Christ teacheth vs to fulfill the woorkes of mercy to the poore euer commendyng mercy aboue offerings and sacrifice The Pope teacheth vs to geue our money for pardons masses diriges to images and Churches so that we may offer vnto their bellyes And he that sayth it is better to geue our charitie to the poore as Christ sayth is counted halfe an hereticke because he goeth aboute to marre the Popes market 61. Christe suffered death for our sinnes and arose for our iustification or els we all should haue perished The Pope sayth if thou bye my pardoÌ„ or els be buried in a gray Friers coate thou must néedes be saued so that Christ hath suffered in vayne sith a Friers coate will saue a man 62. Christ onely is our mediatour which maketh vnite betwixt hys father vs howbeit the prayer of a iust man is very good and profitable The Pope sayth The greatest power and saluation next to Christ is myne Dist 60. cap. Si Papa I maruell then why he is so curious to cause vs to worship the Saintes y â— are a sléepe And not rather hym selfe sith he chalengeth a greater power then euer they dyd while they lyued 63. Christ sayth who soeuer breake one of my lest coÌ„maundementes shal be called the lest that is to say none in the kyngdome of heauen The Pope sayth what pertaineth his law vnto me I am subiect to no lawes 25. q. 1. cap. Omnia therefore doth the Pope but seldome right And is alwayes agaynst right yea and agaynst his owne lawes as often as men do bryng hym money for that loueth he aboue all thynges 64. Christes law is fulfilled through charitie The Popes law is fulfilled by money if thou haue no money to geue them thou shalt carye a fagot though thou offende not money them they sée thée not do what thou wilt 65. Christ is the head of the Church as the Apostle doth testifie And also the stone whereon the Church is builded And this Church is the coÌ„gregation of the faythfull and the very body of Christ The Pope sayth I am the head of the Church Dist 19. cap. Enim vero And the seate of Rome is the stone wheron the Church is builded Dist 19. Ita Dominus Can any thyng be more contrary vnto the honour and glory of God then thus to dispoyle hym of his kyngdome whiche he so dearely hath bought shedyng his precious bloud for it 66. Christes law whiche is the holy Scripture came by the inspiryng of the holy ghost whiche dyd infuse it aboundauntly into the hartes of the Apostles and of the same spirite hath it his enduraunce and interpretation The Pope sayth I am Lord of the Scripture to alow and disalow it for of me doth it take his full authoritie ca â–ª Si omnes And for a token of this is the Scripture of Christ layd vnder his féete when he is at Masse 67. Christes Apostle sayth that a Byshop ought to be so well learned that he with the Scripture be able to ouercome all them that be agaynst the fayth The Pope and Byshops will dispute in Scripture with no man but cast them first in prison and proper engynes they haue inueÌ„ted to wring their fingers so sore that the bloude shall braste out at their fingers endes they pyne them and scourge theÌ„ with infinite other tormeÌ„tes payning theÌ„ to forsake the truth And after make them sweare on a booke that they shal tell no man of it thus cruelly do they entreate them against iustice And if they can not subdue them to theyr willes then do they committe them vnto y e seculare power to be burned 68. Christes accusation and cause why he was condemned vnto death was writteÌ„ ouer his head in Hebrew Gréeke Latine that all men might know the cause this was an argument that they vsed iustice although they condemned him vniustly sithe men might sée the offence and iudgement ioyned together The Pope and Byshoppes condemne men and committe them vnto the seculare power that they shold execute the sentence But this is a mischeuous abomination that they will not suffer the seculare power to know the cause why they put men to death worshipfull dis diuines Master Doctor O you gentle nobilitie ponder this matter indifferently Beware how you do execution except you know the cause why Thinke you the bloude shall not be requyred on you if for an others pleasure you destroy the worke of God They will say vnto you as the Iewes sayde vnto Pilate concerning Christ If he were not an euill doer we would not haue deliuered him vnto you Trust not their wordes for no doubt they are lyers know the cause your selues and heare the matter vnfaynedly Thinke you they woulde not let you know the cause and iudgement if they did iustice and not tyrannye Be therefore no longer â—oyes to theÌ„ which ought to be your seruauntes God hath geueÌ„ you his spirite grace and vnderstanding hide not the talent that God hath geuen you but do your diligence to sée iustice executed secluding all tyranny for that is your office appoynted you of
of their deliueraunce and toke in his hande bread blessed brake it and gaue it to his disciples saying this is my body which shal be geuen for you For this night shall y ◠power of Pharao y e diuell be distroyed and to morow shall you be deliuered from Egypt y e place of sinne and shall take your iourney towardes the heauenly mansion which is prepared of God for all that loue him Now cōpare them togeather 1 The paschall lābe was instituted eaten the night before the children of Israell were indeede deliuered from Egipt Likewise was the sacrament instituted and eatē y t night before we were deliuered from our sinnes 2 The pascall lambe was a very lambe in deede And so is the sacrament very bread in déede 3 The pascall lambe was cauled the passing by of y e Lord which destroyed the power of Pharao and deliuered thē The sacrament is called the body of y e Lord whiche destroyed y e power of the deuill and deliuered vs. 4 ¶ As many as did eate the pascall lambe in fayth were very mery and gaue God greate thankes For they were sure the next day to be deliuered out of Egipt as many did eate his sacrament in fayth were mery gaue God great thākes for they were sure the next day to be deliuered frō there sinne 5. They that did not eate the pascall lambe in fayth could not be merye For they were not so sure of deliueraunce from the power of Pharao They y ◠did not eate this Sacrament in fayth could not be mery For they were not sure of deliueraunce from the power of the deuill 6. They that beleued the worde of the Lord did more eate the passing by of the Lord which should deliuer thē then they did the lambe They that did beleeue the word of the Lord did more eate y e body of the Lord which should be geuen for their deliuerance then they did the bread For y ◠thing doth a man moste eate y t he most hath in memory most reuolueth in mynd as appeareth by Christ Iohn 4. I haue meate to eate y t ye know not 7. They that beléeued not y e next day to be deliuered from Egipt did not eate y e passing by of y e Lord although they did eate the lambe They y ◠beleued not the next day to be deliuered from sinne dyd not eate the body of the Lorde although they eate the breade 8. The children of Israell were but once deliuered from Egypt notwithstanding they did euery yeare eate y e lambe to kéepe that facte in perpetuall remembraunce Euen so Christ bought and redemed vs but once for all and was offered and sacrificed but once for all though y e sacrament therof be daylye broken amonge vs to kéepe that benefite in continuall memorye 9. As many as dyd eate y e Paschall Lambe in fayth and beleued Gods word as touching their deliueraunce from Egypt were as sure of their deliueraunce through fayth as they were sure of the Lambe by eating it As many as doe eate this sacrament in fayth and beleeue Gods word as touching their deliueraūce frō sinne are as sure of their deliueraunce through fayth as they are sure of the bread by eating it 10. As many as did eate of that Paschall Lambe did magnifie theyr God testifying that he onely was the God almighty and they his people sticking to hym to be deliuered by his power from all daunger As many as do eate of thys sacrament doe magnifie their God testifying that he only is the God almighty and they his people sticking by him to be deliuered by hys power from all danger 11. When the Israelites were deliuered frō Egypt they eate neuerthelesse the Paschall Lambe which was still called the passing by because it was y e remēbraunce of the passing by of y e Lord and hartely reioyced offering hym sacrifice acknowledgyng w t infinite thākes that they were the fellowship of thē that had such a mercifull God Now Christes electe are deliuered frō sinne they eate neuerthelesse the sacramēt which is still called hys body that once dyed for their deliueraunce and hartely reioyce offering to hym the sacrifice of prayse knowledging with infinite thākes that they are of the fellowship of thē that haue such a mercifull God 12. The Paschall Lābe after their deliueraunce it was yearely eaten brought as much myrth and ioye vnto them that did eate it in fayth as it did to their fathers which felt Pharao hys fury and were not yet deliuered For they knew right well that except God of his mercy and wonderful power had so deliuered them they shoulde also them selues haue been bond in the land of Egypt and vnder that wicked prince Pharao of which bondage they greatly reioyced to bee rid already and thanked God highly because they found thē selues in that plenteous land which God prouided for them The sacrament which after our deliueraunce is yearely and dayly eaten bringeth as much myrth and ioye vnto vs that eate it in fayth as it did to the Apostles which were not yet deliuered For we know right well that except God of hys mercye through y e bloud of hys sonne had so deliuered vs we shoulde also our selues haue been bonde in Egypt the place of sinne vnder y t wicked prince the deuill of which bōdage we greatly reioyce to be rid already thanke God highly because we finde our selues in y e state of grace haue receaued through faith the first fruites and a taste of the spirite which testifyeth vnto vs y ◠we are the childrē of God ¶ Thys Maundy of remēbraunce was it that Paule receaued of the Lorde and deliuered to the Corinthians in the xi chapter For though he borrowe one propertie and similitude of the sacrament in the x. chapter that in my minde maketh neither with vs nor against vs albeit some thinke that it maketh whole for the exposition of Christes wordes this is my body But in my minde they are deceaued For y e occasion that Paule spake of it in the x. chapter was thys The Corinthians had knowledge that all meates were indifferent and whether it were offered to an Idole or not that the meate was not the worse and they might lawfully eate of it whether it were solde thē in the Shambles or set before them when they dyned and supped in an vnfaithfull mans house asking no questions except some man did tell them that it was offered to an Idoll and then they should not eate of it for offendyng his conscience that so tolde them albeit they were els frée and the thing indifferent thys knowledge because it was not annexed with charitie was the occasion of great offending For by reason thereof they satte downe among the Gentiles at their feastes where they eate in the honor of their Idols and so did not onely wound the conscience of their weake brethrē but
then those men that call thē selues y e holy church yea take away the name of the church and set in her stéede the name of the deuyll how will you then know a byshop frō the deuyll By their workes nay trewly for they bée all one And yet will you bée the heades of Christes church yea the holy church her selfe not so yée wicked not so Wherefore that this blessed spouse of Christ may bée knowen from thée open and abhominable whores and harlotes therefore will I by gods grace set out what holy Church is and where by men shall know her This worde Ecclesia both in y e new testament and the olde is taken oftētymes for the whole congregatiō and and the whole multitude of y t people both good and bad as it is in the booke of Numeri Why haue you brought the congregation or Church of God into wildernes Also in an other place The king turned his face and blessed the whole congregation or Church of Israell and all the Church of Israell stoode Likewise in the new testamēt Saint Paule to the Corinthians I haue sēt vnto you Tymothy the which shall learne you my wayes y e bée in Christ Iesu as I doe learne euery where in all congregations Also in an other place doe you despise the congregation of God and shame thē that haue not In all these places in many moe is it open that this greke word Ecclesia is taken for the whole congregation both of good bad Wherfore this is not y e church that we will greatly speake of for in this church are Iewes and Sarasens Murtherers and Theeues Baudes and Harlots though we know them not But there is an other holy Church of the which S. Paule speaketh you men loue your your wiues as Christ hath loued the Church and hath geuē him selfe for her that hée might sanctifie her and clense her in the fountaine of water through the worde of life to make her to him selfe a glorious Church without spot or wrincle or any such thyng but that she might bée holy without blame Here haue you the very true Churche of Christ that is so pure and so cleane without spotte But wherby is shée pure cleane not by her owne merites nor by her owne might not by exteriour araye not by gold nor siluer nor yet by precious stones neither by myters nor crosestaues nor by pillers nor pollaxes But wherby then by Christ onely which hath geuen him selfe for that intēt that hée would make her cleane and therefore sayth S. Paule Hée gaue him selfe that hée might sanctifie her that hée might clense her and make her to him selfe a glorious Church Also in an other place you are washed you are sanctified you are iustified in the name of Iesus Christ and in the spirite of God Sée my Lordes how the Church is washed by Christ by his holy spirite and not by your blessynges not by your spirituall ornamentes nor by your spirituall holy water for these thynges cannot helpe the holy Church for she is holy in spirite and not in outwarde hypocrisie she is also clensed by Christes blessed bloud not by outward disguisinges This doth S. Augustine wel proue saying Of Christ is the church made fayre first was she filthie in sinnes afterward by pardon and by grace was she made fayre c. Here S. Augustine sayth y t Christ hath made his Church fayre and that by his grace his pardon and not by your pardons nor by your grace For this Church stādeth by Christes election not by yours And if Christ haue not washed you chosen you then bée you none of this Church though you ride with a thousand spiritual horses and haue all the spirituall tokēs on earth For and if y e sonne of God haue deliuered you thē are you truely deliuered Ye can not make by all your power and holynes that we shall alwayes finde good ale or wyne where there hangeth out a gréene signe and will you with your spirituall signes and tokens make the Churche of God to folow you or by them assigne out where the Churche shall bée Nay nay my Lords it will not bée but they that beléeue y e Christ hath washed them from their sinnes and sticke fast vnto his merites and to the promise made to them in hym onely they bée the Church of God so pure and so cleane that it shall not bée lawfull no not for Peter to say that they bée vncleane but whether they bée Iew or Gréeke kyng or subiect carter or Cardinall butcher or Byshop tancardbearer or cannelrater frée or bounde Frier or fidler Monke or miller if they beléeue in Christes word sticke fast to his blessed promises and trust onely in the merites of his blessed bloud they bée the holy Church of God yea and the very true church afore God And you with all your spiritual tokens with all your exteriour cleannes remaine in your filthynes of sinne from the which all your blessings all your pardons all your spirituallitie all your holynes can not clense you nor bring you into this Churche Boast crake blast blesse curse till your holy eyes start out of your head it wil not helpe you for Christ chooseth his church at his iudgement and not at yours The holy ghost is frée inspireth where hée will hée will neither bée bound to Pope nor Cardinall Archbishop nor Byshop Abbot nor Prior Deacon nor Archdeacon Parson nor Vicare Nunne nor Frier Briefly come all the whole rabble of you togither that call your selues y e holy Churche and exclude all other yea and take sunne moone starres to helpe you with all the frendes you haue in heauē and earth and yet shall you not bée of holy church except that you haue y t spirite of Christ bée washed in his blessed bloud For y e holy Churche of Christ is nothyng els but that congregation that is sanctified in spirite redéemed with Christes bloud and sticketh fast and sure alonely to the promises that hée made therein So that the Church is a spirituall thyng and no exterior thyng but inuisible from carnall eyes I say not that they bee inuisible that bée of the Church but that holy Church in her selfe is inuisible as fayth is and her purenes and cleanes is before Christ onely and not before the worlde for the worlde hath no iudgement nor knowledge of her but all her honour and cleanes is before Christ sure and fast And if there appeare any of her goodnes vnto the worlde of that shée maketh no reckenyng nor thinketh her selfe any thyng thyng the better that the worlde iudgeth well of her for all her trust is in Christ onely She suffereth the worlde to rage and blaspheme both agaynst her and agaynst Christ her maker Shée standeth fast and beléeueth sted fastly that that shal haue a shamefull ende and euerlasting
compared to the vyne and all the members of holy Churche to the branches that as the braunches can bring foorth no frute of them selues so cā holy church of her selfe bring foorth no goodnes except shee remaine in Christ by persite fayth This is wel proued by your owne law whose wordes bée these therfore is the Church holy because she beléeueth righteously in God c. Here you not the cause wherfore the Church is holy because she beléeueth righteously in God that is she beléeueth in nothyng but in him and she beléeueth nor heareth no worde but his as our master Christe beareth witnesse my shéepe heare my voyce and an other mans voyce doe they not know Also in an other place hée that is of God heareth the wordes of God How cōmeth this that y e Church of God hath so sure a iudgemēt that she knoweth the voyce of Christ frō other voyces can not erre in her iudgement Because that Christ hath chosen her and because she is learned of God as our master Christ sayth and because she hath as S. Iohn sayth the inwarde oyntmēt of God y ◠teacheth his all maner of verity so that she can not erre But why can shee not erre because she may doe what she will Because that all thing that she doth is well done because she may make new rules and newe lawes at her pleasure Because she may inuent a newe seruice of God that is not in Scripture at her wil Nay nay my Lordes For she is but a woman and must bée ruled by her husbande yea she is but a shéepe and must heare y e voyce of her shepheard and so long as she doth so long cā she not erre because the voyce of her shepheard can not bée false This may be proued by your own law whose wordes bée these y e whole Church can not erre Also in an other place the congregation of faythfull men must néedes bée which also can not erre c. These wordes bée playne what Church it is that can not erre that is the congregation of faythfull men that bée gathered in Christes name whiche haue Christes spirite whiche haue the holy oyntement of God whiche abyde fast by Christes word and heare no other mās voyce but his Now my Lordes gather you all togither with all the lawes that you cā make and all the holynes that you can deuise and crye the Church the Churche and the Councels the Councels that were lawfully gathered in the power of the holy ghost all this may you say yet lye and if you haue not in déede the holy ghost with in you and if you doe heare any other voyce then Christes then are you not of the Churche but of the deuill and théenes murtherers as Christ saith For you come into the fold of Christ without him you bring not his voice but you come with your owne voyce with your owne statutes with your owne word your owne mandamus mandamus precipimus precipimus excommunicamus excommunicamus These bée the voyces of murtherers and Théeues and not of Christ therfore you can not but erre for you bée not taught of God you haue not the holy oyntment you haue not the worde of God for you you heare not the voyce of the true shepheard therfore must you néedes erre in all your counsells This is an other maner of rule then my Lorde of Rochester doth assigne to examine your counsels by for hée sayth where that the Pope and the counsell doth not agrée all in one there will hée suspect the counsell not to bée right Who did euer heare such a rule of a Christean man yea and of a bishop yea and of a doctor of Diuinite where hath hée learned this Diuinite to recken a counsell to bée trew because y e the Pope and so many men doe agree in one yea and that such men as haue so often tymes erred in their coūcels as hée doth declare hym self rekening the counsell of Constantinople that had 330. Byshops and yet did erre and hée knew no other cause but bée cause the Pope did not agrée to them Is not this a resonable cause cā not the Pope erre let hym read his own lawe Distinctio 19. Anastasius Distinctio 40. Si Papa and also 24. q 1. Arecta in the glose and there shall hée fynde that the Pope hath erred Wherefore then should the matter stande in his iudgment Now how will hée by thys rule saue the counsels of constance and of Basell where in both counsels the Popes were condemned for heretykes As the same counsels make mencion also that the councels haue erred that graūted hée hymselfe but peraduenture hée will saye that they were not full Councels Now is it well amended what distinction is as conscernyng the veritie in a counsell that hath a thowsand byshops and in an other that hath fyve thowsand can the multitude helpe to the veritie Then had the Turke the veritie and we the falsed then had the Prophet Micheas the worsse part for hée was alone against iiij hundred so was y e verytie by y e Prophets of Ball and not by Elyas for they were foure hundred and fyftye hee was but one man Briefely Christes flocke is alwayes y e smallest nūber in this world but yet it is the best not the smallest number maketh Christes flocke but that Christes Church stādeth neyther by the greatest number nor yet by the smallest nor by the iudgmēt or numbring of man but by the callyng and eleccion of God Wherefore let my Lorde bring forth what counsell that hée will and if they haue not the word of God I will not all onely say they may erre but also that they doe erre in verye déede And that will I proue by the greatest lawyer that they haue called Panormitanus whose wordes bée these that Councels may erre as they haue erred as concernyng that contract of matrimony inter raptorem raptam and the saying of Saint Hierome was afterward preferred a boue the statute of the counsel as it is proued 36. q. 2. Tria for in thinges concerning the fayth is the saying of a priuat person to bee preferred afore the saying of the pope if hée haue better reasōs and scriptures of the new and of the olde testamēt for him then the Pope nor it can not helpe to say that the counsell can not erre because that Christ did pray for his Church y e her fayth should not fayle For I aūswere to this that though y e generall coūcell doe represent y e whole vniuersall church neuertheles in very déede there is not y e very vniuersall church but representatiue For the vniuersal church stādeth in y e election of all fayth full men all faithfull mē of y ◠world make that vniuersall Church whose head and spouse is Christ Iesus the Pope is but the vicar of Christ and not the
and by what authoritie your highe pollitike rule saued that you dare géeue either of these kindes to the laye men seyng they were both alonely geuen to the Apostles for eueÌ„ by that authoritie that you haue power to take away the one kynd by that selfe same haue you power to take away the other for they were both geuen at once and indifferently to the receiuers so that as many as receiued the one receiued also the other and to them that hée sayd take and eate this this is my body to them hée sayd drinke all of this c. Now if you may thus take away y e partes of y e sacramentes at your pleasure y e coÌ„sequent shall bée y â— incontinuance all the sacramentes shal be destroyed and Christes word set at naught Wherefore my Lord this blasphemous euation will not helpe you but such shamfull solutions must they vse that will be agaynst the open worde of God Amend your conscience my Lorde for if you doe not remeÌ„ber the terrible wordes of y â— Prophet hée shall shake his sword bend his bowe make it al ready therein hath hée prepared the shot of death his arrowes for to burne This is no smal threatning nor lightly to auoide But let vs sée what the scriptures say that which I gaue vnto you I receaued of y e Lord. Marke S. Paules wordes how hée receaued this thyng of the Lorde c. The Lord Iesus the same night in y e which hée was betraied tooke bread and thanked and brake it and sayde Take ye and eate this is my body which is broken for you this doe yée in the remembraunce of mée After y e same manner hée tooke the cup said this cup is the New testament in my bloud this doe as oft as you drinke in the rememberaunce of mée for as often as you shall eate this bread and drinke this câ—p you shall shew the Lordes death tyll hée come Marke diligently how S. Paule declareth how the Lord Iesus Christ dyd institute this blessed and comfortable sacrameÌ„t in both kindes and in both kindes dyd mynister it hymselfe and not that all onely but also enacted this coÌ„mauÌ„dement to all Christen people which must receiue it This doe as often c. Yea and this commauÌ„dement is geueÌ„ after the Sacrament is ministred in both kinds Teaching vs that in both kindes the Lord hath instituted this Sacrament to bée receiued and also that they y â— so receaue it not breake this commaundement of the Lorde This doe as often c. This commaundement S. Paule did not lightly let slyp but hée knew that it was the ordinaunce and y e commaundement of the Lord and also knew y e one iot or tytle of his wordes should not nor ought nor can not bée let slip without perrell of the soules of them y â— so littell makes of his word And therfore hée durst not nor would not and yet hée had as great auctoritie as the counsell of constance let slip or tanspose the institution and commaundement of the Lord but wholy and fully with all diligence hée wrote those wordes vnto all the whole congregation of the Corinthians not to the ministers or priestes all onely but to the whole congregation that is as well to the mynisters of the word as to lay men and also the contrary for hée sayth when you come togither that you may perceaue y â— hée speakes indifferently hée there reproueth theÌ„ that tarryed not for poore men And also these wordes bée playne who so euer shall eate of this bread and drink of this cup worthely c. Now vnto this whole congregatioÌ„ I doubt not but by y e spirit of the Lord which sawe béefore this damnable errour to bée instituted of antichrist and his very all onely mynisters hée sayd drinke you yea and to reproue and manifestly to declare this open errour hée adeth this worde Cuppe signifying and teaching that Christes ordinaunce is not to receaue the bloud in the body onely but to receaue the bloud after his institution by it selfe out of the cup lest they should bée found correctours and blasphemers of the holy institution and commaundement of the Lord Of whom S. Paule receaued this coÌ„maundemeÌ„t and of no couÌ„sels Now what ChristeÌ„ man can doubt but our M. Christ to whom all thing is bare and open both things present also to come knew that there was bloud in his owne body Also Saynt Paule his scholer which learned this lesson of hym was not ignorant that there was bloud in his body And yet firste our maister Christ géeueth his bloud alone by it selfe out of the cup and his diligent scholer knowyng the doctrine of his maister dyd the same regardyng his maisters doctrine and preferring it before his carnall reasoÌ„ which knew that there was bloud in euery body but his maisters doctrine taught him that his maister kept not his bloud in his body but for vs lost and damned persons for our innume rable detestable and aboue all capacitie to declare damnable and abhominable sinnes brake his body shed his bloude thereout plentously and therewith made sacrifice and satisfactioÌ„ for all our sinnes as Saint Iohn sayth The bloud of Iesus Christ clen seth vs from all sinne also we are sanctified by the offeryng of the body of Iesus Christ once for all Now that all Christen men which bée sanctified by the offeryng of this body and by sheadyng the bloud out of this body shoulde alwayes haue both those partes in remeÌ„braunce hée according as the bloud was deuided froÌ„ the body for all sinners indiffereÌ„tly that will come vnto Christe and accordyng to his maisters institution commauÌ„dement ministred this Sacrament and also ordeined it to bée ministred to all men The body by it selfe the bloud by it selfe That they might alway not remember alonely that our Sauiour Christ offered his body for vs but also shed out of that same body his most precious bloud and therfore sayth S. Paule as his maister Christ taught him As often as you shall eate this bread and drinke this cup you shall shew the Lordes death till hée come Now my Lordes come to your counselles Christ and S. Paule defendeth thys thyng partinaciter as you call it that is stifly and strongly wyll they abide by it and will not reuoke it Wherfore after the decrée of your Counsell they bée condemned for heretickes I can no more say but God helpe them for there is no remedy with them but they must néedes to the fier for they will not bée abiured in no wise It is a piteous case that two so good men as these bée will bée thus openly agaynst the decrée of the holy counsell yea and against so many and so noble fathers and so great clarkes the which knew this matter as ye say as well as they and it is not to bée thought that the holy Ghost would leaue so
tame his body that it may waite vpon God deceiueth hym selfe All our doynges must tende to the honour of God and loue of our neighbour This boke is a preachyng of fayth and loue Here thou mayest learne a right meditation or contemplation The workes of God are supernatural We must abstaine froÌ„ outward euill though not for loue yet for feare of the vengeance of God Vnto the law of god we may neither adde nor minish We are coÌ„maunded to abstayne from Images God is mercyful to them that repent Christ hath deliuered vs therfore we ought to serue him our neyghbour for his sake Loue onely to the fulfillyng of the lawes of God We must trust onely in God not in our selues Howe a maÌ„ may trye examine hym selfe how much he loueth God and his neighbour God styrreth vp his people vnto fayth A right way of prayer The pith effect of all y e lawes of God And if wee firste loue God then out of that loue wee must nedes loue our neighbour What it is to loue and feare God and what it is to despise hym The word of god may not be altered Let no maÌ„ draw vs from gods worde Of maters of the common weals None may be condemned vnder two witnessed Christ our sauiour declared in the old testament The curse and wrath of God ouer al those that break his lawes We may not be to curious in the searchyng of Gods secretes but rather study to vnderstand to do our duety towards god and our neighbour The Papistes kept the Scriptures from the lay people because they onely will be the publishers expositors therof The scripture hath a body and a soule The scripture contayneth iij. thinges The maner of hipocrites in reading the law of god The papisticall and corrupt doctrine of the papists Now the Papistes â—ring and wrest the scriptures God correcteth where he loueth God casteth none away but such as refuse to kept his lawes and will not harken vnto hys voyce Such as hardeÌ„ their hartes and not harken to the will of God to do it God casteth out The Prophetes of God bare the weakenes of their brethren their 〈◊〉 ries also with patience The Pope and his ministers are persecutors ouer their brethren The cruell opinioÌ„ that the disciples had of Christ The ignoraunce and imperfection of the apostles God doth mercifully try tempt vs to moue vs to vtter our hartes myndes towardes hym Ionas of himselfe was an vn mete messenger to be sent of such a message but god assisted him with his holy spirit The carnal imagination of mans nature without Gods spirite Ionas so long as he was in his carnall imagination could nâ—t abyde the voice of God but fled howbeit God called hym â—…ne Ionas flesh râ—belled agaynst the spirite The wicked seke to to coâ—er their wickednes with â—ope holy workes How Ionas was â—rapped made aâ—rayed Ionas beyng afrayd comesseth his sinnes Le ts howe they may be vsed law fully Miracle moueth the heathen to know god and to call vpon him As Ionas lay three dayes and iij. nightes in y t Whals Bely so Christ lay thre dayes and three nightes in the earth How christ sheweth his death resurrectioÌ„ by Ionas the Prophet Christ by the mouth of his Apostles preached repentaunce to the Iewes Where ther is no repeÌ„tauÌ„ce there God powreth out his vengeaunce Gildas a writer of y t Brittishe Chronicle Wicleffe a preacher of repenâ—â—nÌ„ce They slew Richard y t second They set vp Henry the fourth Henry the fift Henry the sixt Christ now preacheth repeÌ„taunce vnto vs. Ionas called vpon God out of the fishes belly The sacrifice that Ionas offereth vnto God The sacrifices of the olde lawe were ordeyned to put vs in remeÌ„braunce of the sacrifice of thankesgeuyng Ionas dyd that God commaunded hym Niniue was the greatest Citie in the world â–ª Christ is mercyfull to the that repent and call for mercy The doctrine of the Phariseis and the Papists make sinne of that is no sinne This is y â— doctrine of y t Papistes and hypocriticall monkes at this day The blynd and fruteles workes of the Papistes Papisticall sinnes Papistes taught theÌ„ selues and theyr workes withall crueltieÌ„ The false wicked doctrine of the Papistes Blinde and btpocritical doctrine The Phariseto set vp a righteousnes of workes to cleÌ„se their soules withall By the worldly fleship interpretations of the scriptures the Iewes hartes were hardened The heâ—â— then repented at the preachyng of Ionas A good and profitable example Note herâ— the great mercy of God The right maner how to read the Scripture All our deedes are made perfect in christes bloud All the promised made by God in Christ are made to theÌ„ that repent The two keyes that open aâ— the Scripture A very fruitfull good lesson How thou mayst at all tymes apply the stories of the Bible to thy great comfort The law must be fulfilled with the mercy that is in Christ In thy hart are the wordes of the law in thine hart are the promises and mercy of Christ Our sinne is of our selues but remission sorgeuenes therof commeth frely of the mercy of God for christes sake God hath no nede of our works but we must do theÌ„ for our selues and for the profite of our neighbors Christ hath satisfied for our sinnes as well after baptisme as before Baptisme Our actuall sinnes are washed away in Christes bloud The Zewes to this day ar locked out from the vnderstanding of the scriptures The right way into the vnderstanding of the Scritures Iaco. 1. The generall couenaunt that God hath made with vs. Lawe In these commaundemento is contayned tee whole law Where no good 〈…〉 are there the fayth is vayne What fayth it is that saueth Two thinges are required to be in a christian man What the nature of gods word is When we heare gods will and do it not then God withdraweth his mercy and fauour from vs. He that harkeneth to the word of God doth it the same shal be blessed in his deede What it is to build vppon â—and The vncleane spirit that returneth in worse sort theÌ„ he was when hee was cast forth Such 〈◊〉 are profes sours of the worde 〈◊〉 God and will not tame and scourge theÌ„ selues theÌ„ will God plague 〈◊〉 scourge Christes deedes â—et vs in the fauour of God our owne helpe vs to continue in his fauour Loue is the fulfilling of the law Faith is cause of loue God requireth mercie and not sacrifice Onely loue vnderstandeth the law Gospell New Testament Our workes extend no farther then to our neighbour Why Tyndall vsed this worde repeÌ„tauÌ„ce rather then penaunce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The foure partes of repentanÌ„ce What maner of satisfaction weâ— ought to make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why hee nameth theÌ„ Elders not priests William Tyndals Prologue vpon the Gospell of Marke The Prologue of W.
profession of the fayth in Christes bloud and of the loue to the law and longyng for the lyfe to come be called all these thynges were malyce and froward vnderstandyng away because that where one of them is there be all three and where all are not there is none of them And because that the one is knowen by the other is impossible to know any of them truly and not be deceaued but in respect and comparison of the other For if thou wilt be sure that thy faith be perfect then examine thy selfe whether thou loue the law And in lyke maner if thou wilt knowe whether thou loue the lawe aright then examine thy selfe whether thou beleue in Christ onely for the remission of sinne and obtayning the promises made in the Scripture And euen so compare thy hope of the lyfe to come vnto fayth and loue and to hatyng the sinne of this lyfe whiche hate the loue to the law engendereth in thee And if they accompanie not one another all thre together then be sure that all is but hypocrisie If you say seyng fayth loue and hope be three vertues inseperable Ergo fayth onely iustifieth not I answere though they be inseperable yet they haue seperable and sundry offices as it is aboue sayd of the lawe fayth Fayth onely which is a sure â—nd an vndoubted trust in Christ and in the father thorow hym certifieth the conscience that the sinne is forgeuen and the dampnation and impossibilitie of the lawe taken away as it is aboue rehearsed in the conditions of the couenaunt And wyth such perswasions mollesieth the hart and maketh her loue God agayne and his lawe And as oft as we sinne faith onely kepeth that we forsake not our profession and that loue vtterly quench not and hope fayle and onely maketh the peace agayne For a true beleuer trusteth in Christ onely and not in his owne workes or ought els for the remission of sinne And the office of loue is to powre out agayne the same goodnes that she hath receaued of God vppon her neighbour and to be to hym as she feleth Christ to her selfe The office of loue onely is to haue compassion and to beare with her neighbour the burthen of his infirmities And as it is writteÌ„ 1. Pet. 4. Operit multitudinem peccatorum couereth the multitude of sinnes That is to say considereth the infirmities and enterpreteth all to the best and taketh for no sinne at all a thousand thinges of which the least were inough if a man loued not to go to law for to trouble vnquiet an whole towne and sometyme an whole realme or two And the office of hope is to comfort in aduersitie and make patient that we faint not and fall downe vnder the crosse or cast it oâ—… our backes And thus ye see that these three inseperable in this life haue yet seperable and sundry offices and effectes as heate drith beyng inseperable in the fyer haue yet their seperable operations For the drith onely expelleth the moystnes of all that is consumed by fyer and heat onely destroyeth the coldenes For drith and colde may stand together and so may heate and moystnes It is not all one to say the dryth onely and the dryth that is alone nor all one to say fayth onely and fayth that is alone Go to then and desire God to print this profession in thyne hart and to encrease it dayly more and more that thou mayst be full shapeÌ„ like vnto the image of Christ in knowledge and loue and meeke thy selfe creepe lowe by the grounde and cleaue fast to the rocke of this profession and tye to thy shippe this anker of fayth in Christes bloud wyth the gable of loue to cast it out against all tâ—…pests and so set vp thy sayle and get thee to the mayne sea of Gods worde And reade here the wordes of Christ with this exposition folowing and thou shalt see the lawe fayth and workes restored eche to his right vse and true meaning And therto the cleare difference betwene the spirituall regiment the temporall and shalt haue an entraunce and opeÌ„ way into the rest of all the scripture Wherein and in all other thinges the spirite of veritie guide thee and thyne vnderstandyng Amen ¶ The fift Chapter of Mathew WHen he saw the people he went vp into a mouÌ„taine and sat him downe and his Disciples came to hym and he opened his mouth and taught them saying Blessed be the poore in spirite for theirs is the kingdome of heauen CHrist here in his first Sermon begynneth to restore the law of the ten commanndements vnto her right vnderstandyng agaynst the Scribes and Phariseis which were hipocrites false Prophetes and false preachers had corrupt the scripture with the leauen of their gloses And it is not without a great mysterie that Christ beginneth his preachyng at pouertie in spirite which is neither beggerie nor agaynst the possessing of richesse But a vertue coÌ„trarie to the vice of couetousnesse the inordinate desire and loue of richesse and puttyng trust in richesse Riches is the gift of God geuen maÌ„ to mayntaine y â— degrees of this world and therefore not euill yea and some must be poore and some rich if we shal haue an order in this world And God our father deuideth richesse and pouertie among his childreÌ„ accordyng to his godly pleasure and wisedome And as richesse doth not exclude the from the blessing so doth not pouertie certifie thee But to put thy trust in the liuyng god maketh y â— heyre therof For if thou trust in the liuing God TheÌ„ if thou be poore thou couetest not to be rich for thou art certified y â— thy father shall minister vnto thee fode raymeÌ„t and be thy defeÌ„der if thou haue riches thou knowest that they be but vanitie and that as thou broughtest them not into the world so shalt thou not carie them out and that as they be thyne to day so may they be an other mans to morow and that the fauour of God onely both gaue and also kepeth thee them and not thy wisedome or power and that they neither ought els caÌ„ helpe at nede saue the good will of thy heauenly father onely Happy and blessed then are the poore in spirite that is to say the rich that haue not their confidence nor consolation in the vanitie of their richesse and the poore that desire not inordinatly to be riche but haue their trust in the liuyng God for fode and raymeÌ„t and for all that partayneth either to the body or the soule for theirs is the kyngdome of heauen And contrarywise vnhappy accursed and that with the first depest of all curses are the rich in spirite that is to say the couetous that beyng riche trust in their richesse or beyng poore long for the consolation of richesse and comfort not their soules with the promises
of their heauenly father confirmed with y ◠bloud of their Lord Christ For vnto them it is harder to enter into y ◠kingdome of heauen then for a camel to enter through y ◠eye of an nedle Mar. 10. No they haue no part in the kyngdome of Christ God Ephe. v. Therefore is it euident why Christ so diligētly warneth all his to beware of couetousnesse and why hee admitteth none to be his Disciples except he first forsake all together For there was neuer couetouse person true yet either to God or man If a couetous mā be chosē to preach Gods word he is a false Prophet immediatly If he be of the lay sorte so ioyneth he him self vnto the false Prophetes to persecute the truth Couetousnesse is not onely aboue all other lustes those thornes that choke y t word of God in them that possesse it But it is also a deadly enemy to all that interprete Gods word truly All other vices though they laugh thē to scorne that talke godly yet they can suffer thē to lyue and to dwell in the countrey But couetousnes cannot rest as long as there is one that cleaueth to Gods word in all the land Take hede to thy preacher therfore and be sure if he be couetous and gape for promotion that he is a false Prophet leaueneth the Scripture for all his crying fathers fathers holy Church and fiften hūdred yeares and for all his other holy pretenses Blessed are they that mourne for they shall be comforted This mournyng is also in the spirite and no kinne to the sowre lokyng of hipocrites nor to the impaciēt weywardnesse of those fleshely which euer whyne and complayne that the world is naught because they cānot obtayne and enioy their lustes therin Neither forbiddeth it alwayes to be mery and and to laugh make good chere now and then to forget sorrow that ouermuch heauynesse swalow not a man cleane vp For the wise man sayth sorow hath cost many their lyues And Prouer. xvij an heauy spirite drieth vp the bones And Paule commaundeth Philip. iiij to reioyse euer And Roma xij he sayth reioyse with them that reioyse and sorow with thē that sorow and wepe with them that wepe which seme two contraries This mourning is that crosse without which was neuer any Disciple of Christ or euer shal be For of what soeuer state or degree thou be in this world if thou professe y ◠Gospell there foloweth the a crosse as warmenesse accompanieth the sonne shynyng vnder which thy spirite shall grone and mourne secretly not onely because the world and thyne owne flesh carie thee away cleane cōtrary to the purpose of thyne hart But also to see and behold the wretchednesse misfortunes of thy brethrē for which because thou louest them as well as thy selfe thou shalt mourne and sorow no lesse thē for thy selfe Though thou be King or Emperour yet if thou knowest Christ and God through Christ and entendest to walke in the fight of God and to minister thyne office truly thou shalt to kepe iustice with all be compelled to do dayly that which thou art no lesse loth to do then if thou shouldest cut of arme hand or any other member of thyne owne body yea and if thou wilt folow the right way and neither turne on the right hand nor on the left thou shalt haue immediatly thine own subiectes thyne owne seruauntes thyne owne Lordes thyne own coūsellours and thyne owne Prophetes thereto agaynst thee Vnto whose froward malice and stubburnesse thou shalt be cōpelled to permitte a thousand thynges agaynst thy conscience not able to resiste them at whiche thyne hart shall blede inwardly and shalt sawse thy swete soppes which the world weneth thou hast with sorowes mough and still mournyng studyeng either alone or els with a few frēdes secretly night and day and sighing to God for helpe to mitigate the furious frowardnesse of them whō thou art not able to with stand that all go not after the will of the vngodly What was Dauid cōpelled to suffer all the dayes of his lyfe of his own seruauntes the sonnes of Seruia Beside the mischaūces of his own children And how was our king Iohn forsaken of his owne Lordes when he would haue put a good and godly reformatiō in his owne land How was Henry the secōd compassed in lyke maner of his own Prelates whom he had promoted of nought with the secrete conspiracie of some of his own temporal Lordes with thē I spare to speake of y e mournyng of the true preachers the poore cōmon people which haue none other helpe but the secret hand of God and the word of his promise But they shal be cōforted of all their tribulatiō and their sorrow shal be turned into ioye and that infinite euerlastyng in the lyfe to come Neither are they without comfort here in this world for Christ hath promised to sēd them a comfortour to be with them for euer the spirite of trouth whiche the world knoweth not Iohn xiiij And they reioyse in hope of the comfort to come Rom. xij And they ouercome through fayth as it is written Hebr. xj the Saintes through fayth ouercame kyngdomes obtained the promises And. i. Iohn v. this is the victorie that ouercōmeth the world euē our faith But the blind world neither seeth our comfort nor our trust in God nor how God thorough faith in his word helpeth vs maketh vs ouercome How ouercome they wilt thou say that be alwayes persecuted and euer slayne verely in euery battaile some of them that wynne the field be slayne yet they leaue the victorie vnto their deare frēdes for whose sakes they toke the fight vppon them and therfore are conquerours seyng they obtayne their purpose maynteine that they fought for The cursed riche of this worlde whiche haue their ioye and comfort in their riches haue sence the begynnyng fought agaynst them to wede thē out of the worlde But yet in vayne For though they haue alwayes slayne som yet those that were slayne wanne the victory for their brethren with death euer increased the nūber of them And though they semed to dye in the sight of the foolish yet they are in peace and haue obtayned that euerlastyng kyngdome for which they fought And beside all this when God plagueth the world for their sinne these y ◠mourne and sorrow are marked with the signe of Thau in their foreheades and saued from the plague that they perish not with the wicked as thou seest Ezech. ix as Lot was deliuered frō among the Sodomites And contrariwise cursed are they that laugh now ▪ that is to say which haue their ioy solace and comfort in their riches for they shall sorrow and weepe Luke vj. And as it was answered the rich man Luke xvj sonne remember how that thou receauedst thy good dayes in thy life tyme and Lazarus likewise euill