An answer to a certain godly man[n]es lettres desiring his frendes iudgement, whether it be laufull for a christian man to be present at the popishe masse, and other supersticious churche seruice. — Answer to a certain godly mannes lettres.

An answer to a certain godly man[n]es lettres desiring his frendes iudgement, whether it be laufull for a christian man to be present at the popishe masse, and other supersticious churche seruice. — Answer to a certain godly mannes lettres.

Table of contents

Title page

Almighty God lighten our hartes with the knowlage of his worde / and geue vs grace to expresse our dueties in our dedes

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Almighty God lighten our hartes with the knowlage of his worde / and geue vs grace to expresse our dueties in our dedes

THough I well knowe not what ye be that wrote vnto me / yet it semeth / that the reuerēt feare of God resteth in your harte / ād that ye haue a good opiniō of me. And forasmuch as ye so earnestly require mi iudgemēt whether ye maye laufully ī outwarde dedes and words resemble the papists in com̄itting Idolatrie at the presēce of the Masse and other supersticious churche seruice / so that ye reteyne the true profession of Christ inwardly in your harte: albeit this mater hathe bē ād is already sufficiētly āswered and plainly determined of late by S. Petre martyr in the treatise of Cohabitaciō / ād in an other worke (as I heare saie) of S. Ponet late Bishop of wynchestre / wherī he reproueth Hill and Petresone with other such like dissēblers ād haltīg heretiks of thes later dais / prouīg that no [Page] christē mā maie or can at all one tyme serue God truly with the harte / ād the deuil with tōgue and body / seing ther is no drawing of cuttes nor parting of stakes betwene Christe and Belial: yet will I (at your earnest request) opē vnto you also my faithe and minde therin. For nature willeth / that a man should gently shewe hym the right waye that is out of it: and Goddes worde commaundeth euery man to loue his neighbour / and (as muche as in him lieth) to procure and further his wealthe ād saluacion. And in dede (for myne owne parte) I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ / which I professe▪ For (as S. Paule sayeth) it is the power of God vnto saluaciō to euery one that beleueth. And to thintent ye shall perceaue my iudgemēt herein not to be rashe / I bring with me (for a champion) the most excellēt doctour S. Austē / who if he made as muche against vs / as he dothe for vs / should be rolled vp / that all pulpittes / scholes / barbours shoppes tauernes ād warehouses should ryng [Page] of him. Such is the practice of the Deuil ād his worldings / to dissemble ād hyde all thinges that make against thē / ād falsly to allege ād racke pieces of scripture and good mēnes myndes / to seme as though they hade som shewe of truthe for thē. This erroneous opiniō ād very heresie of dissimulaciō is not newe / nor yester daie sprōgē out of the Hill and stone: but the papistes haue of lōg tyme ēbraced it / ād in kīg Edwardes daies practiced it / hauing this general rule / which I wolde not that ye or any honest mā should folowe. Iura periura / secretū pādere noli. That is in Englishe thus.

So thou doest not thy secretes vtter,

Sweare, and forsweare, it maketh no mater.

But this is an olde heresie (newe scoured) at least of a thousaunt yeare olde brought in / in. S. Austens tyme by a certayn sorte of heretikes called Priscillianistes / who taught that it was no sin̄e to ly with the lippes to on that was not of their owne religiō / so they kept the truthe in their harte / alledgeing [Page] this sayēg of Dauid in the psal. lorde who shal dwel in thi tabernacle &c. He that speaketh truth in his harte: as though it were ynough ūto saluaciō to speake the truthe in the hart / though he lied neuer so ofte with the lippes before him that were not / or at least he toke not for his neighbour / ād therfore [...]hike these heretiks: whā S. Paule saied / Laiēg aparte lyēg / speake the truthe / he added these wordes: euery one with his neighbour / to this purpose / that it might he laufull to speake a lye to any other that is not our neighbour / that is / which dothe not professe that religiō that we doo.

S. Austē briefly answereth to these and all suche like obiectiones what so euer maye be made. If this opiniō ād doctrine (saieth S. Austē) were foūde catholike and to be allowed / it disgraceth and dishonoureth all the martyres / and wipeth awaie all persecucion and martirdome. For by their opiniō the martirs hade done more godly and more wisely / if they had not confessed them selues to be christianes[?] [Page] before the tyrannes and persecutours / neither hade they made them to be murtherours / but with lieng and denyeng the truthe / they should haue saued their owne bodies / and not haue suffred them to haue executed the mischief thei had cōceaued in their mī ds. For the tyrānes and persecutours were not the martyrs neighbours by profession of Christes faithe / so that they were not bounden to speake to them the truthe with their lippes / which they spake with the hart: but they were the vttre enemies of God ād the truth. If this wer tolerable ād good doctrine (saieth S. Austē) what neded Petre to lament his sine so bitterly after he hade denied Christ with his mouthe? Thinke ye he did before denie him with his harte? No / no (sayeth S. Austē) he denyed not his maister Christ with his hart but he lamē ted for the punishmēt that was towarde him / that he had not professed with his mouthe to saluaciō / that he beleued with the hart to iustificaciō. [Page] therfore the wordes of the prophet Dauid are not so to be takē / that a mā maie laufully lye with the mouthe / keping the truthe in his harte. But it is therfore spokē / bicause it maie be / that a man maye speake that truthe with the mouthe / which cā doo hī no good / onles it procede frō the botome of the harte: that is / if he beleue not that he speaketh: as the auncient heretiks the priscillianists ād papists did (for they spake the truthe with the mouthe / as others did / but thei beleued it not / nor professed it in harte) and as our hillistes / petreson̄istes ād other newe heretikes do at this present dissemble / liēg with lippes / ād professing outwardly thatvhich ī their hartes thei knowe to be false and cleane cōtrary to goddes worde / bicause they wolde preserue their substāce. And therfore neither of them maye be accompted of the nō bre of those that the prophet sayeth / speake the truthe in their harte. A true christen man as he professeth the truthe in his harte / bicause he so beleueth / so wil he do with the mouthspeake [Page] it to declare it. Agaīst this truthe ther maye be no deceipt in mouth nor hart / but he must beleue with the hart to iustificaciō / ād make cōfessiō with the mouthe to saluaciō. For ī the same Psal. after these words / He that speaketh the truthe with his harte / immediatly it foloweth. He that hathe not done deceat ī or with his tōgue. These words the heretikes (bicause thei mak agaīst thē) vtterly leaue out. And the other wordes of thapostle / layeng aparte liēg / speake the truthe euery mā with his neighbour / they expoūde as the Iewes doo their lawe / wher bicause they be commaunded only to deale plainly / ād vse mercy with their brethren and neighbours / they not only thīke they maie / but also doo vse with the christianes al subtiltie / deceat / gile / and crueltie. But those wordes are not so to be take / as though ther were non other our neighbours / but suche as be presently mēbres of the body of Christ / and professe one religion and faith with vs: but that we shoulde take [Page] euery man to be our neighbour / whom we wolde haue hereafter to be our neighbour / albeit he be not presently our neighbour: as Christ did declare the Samaritane to be neighbour to the straunger with whom he vsed mercy / and the straunger to the Samaritane.

And therfore he ought to be taken for our neighbour and no straunger / whom we desire (as we ought to desire all men) to professe Christ as we do. And if bicause he is not yet of our faithe / some misteries ought to be kept from such a straunger / yet we ought not therfore to speake vnto him that which is false. For ther were in thapostles tyme / that preached Christ and the truthe not truly: that is / not with a true minde and sincere conscience / but of enuie / cōtēcion / and with a corrupt mīde: ād yet they wer suffred ād allowed / but non cōmēded for speakīg of an vntruthe with a safe conscience. And thapostle saieth: Let Christ be preached / whether it be by [Page] occasiō / or by truthe: but he saied not let Christ be first denied / that after he maye be preached. We maie not doo euil / that good maie folowe: for if we doo / our damnacion is iuste and certain. But let vs turne the wordes / bicause we haue folowed euil / let vs repent and doo good / that we maye come to saluacion. These heretikes allege for them examples out of scripture.

As of the mydwyues of the Egipcianes / who made a lye to Pharao to saue the male children of the Hebrewes / and therfore God blessed them. Of Rahab / that made a lye / to saue the two Israelites. Of Iehu / who fayned him selfe the Seruaunt of Baal / bicause he wolde destroie the priestes of Baal. And of Naaman / that sayed to Eliseus the Prophet. But herein the lorde be mercifull to thy seruaunt.

For whan my maister goeth in to the house of Remmon to worship ther / he layneth on my hande / and [Page] I must bowe whā he boweth. And so many others. But these heretikes are like Spyders / that sucke poysō out of swete flowres / not like bees / that sucke out the swete and profitable honye.

For the midwiues and Rahab were not rewarded of God for their lieng / but for the mercie they vsed towarde the people of God. As for Iehu / he is not in all scripture cōmēded: no / scripture saieth of him / that his harte was not right before the Lorde. And the scripture saieth not / that Naamā hade a dispensaciō of the prophet. For if the prophet wolde haue consented to his request / he hade had nō autoritie to dispense with Goddes worde. The dedes of aūcient fathers ād others in scripture are not writtē / to thintēt we shoulde folowe thē in euery thīg / but many euil thīges be declared of them / to let vs knowe / that were they neuer so holy / yet they were men / and might ād did fall: that knowīg their ād our weakenesse / we should not trust ī our owne selues / or ī our owne works / but [Page] confessing our selues to be sinners / we should call to God for mercie. To be short / S. Austē concludeth / that for no cause men maie lye or dissemble: ād specially ī maters of religiō they may in no wise doo it. And that that is thus spoken against liers and dissemblers / maketh asmuche agaīst Idolatrie and wicked doers. For in bothe of thē the hart and the outwarde senses doo not agree. And this is a general sentence in scripture without exception: Thou hatest (O God) all those that worke iniquitie / ād shalt destroie al those that speake lies. And Christ also saieth: He that confesseth me before mē / I will confesse him before my father which is in heauē: and he that denieth me before mē / I wil denie him before my father in heauē. And agaī. Wo be to hī by whō slaūdre cometh. And again, who so euer offendeth one of these litle ones which beleue in me / it were better for him / that a milstone were hanged about his necke / ād that he were drowned in the depthe of the sea.

[Page]Thus ye haue the iudgement of Saint Austen in your question that ye moued: with whom I agree and consent / bicause I am sure / that this doctrine dothe agree in euery parte with the worde of God.

And therfore onles ye thinke your selfe so sure / that ye are hable to abyde what so euer crosse shalbe layed vpon you for Christes sake / tempre not God in lyngryng in that lande of the lordes wrathe / but in tyme come out of Egipte / least with your ouerlong lyngryng and tempting of God / he pull awaye his grace from you / as a vssel not mete to kepe it / and so leaue you to your self to your final destrucion and eternal vndoyng.

Be not carefull for to morowe / make not your good your God / as they saye: let your worldly substaunce be your seruaunt and not your maister / and put your hole trust in God.

[Page]I haue not sene the iuste forsaken (saieth the Prophet) nor his sede lacke sustenaunce.

Doo ye not see the foules of the ayer (saieth Christ) who albeit they sowe not / nor reape / neither carie into Barnes / yet lacke they not: for your heauenly father fedeth them: how muche more shall be prouyde for you / O ye of litle faithe? Remembre also that comfortable sayeng of Christ: Who so euer shall forsake houses or brethren or sisters / or father or mother / or wife or children / or landes for my names sake / the same shall receaue an hundred folde in this life / and after this life / life euer lasting. God is no lyer / ne yet dissembler. Of his mercie we haue the promyse: of his veritie / the hope of enheritaunce: of his iustice / the assuraunce: and of his power / the full performaūce. We haue a playne experiēced exāple of the holy mā Iob / to whom albeit God suffred Satā to plage hī / yet did he make a ful restitucion and [Page] recompēce for all. And therfore leaue those fleshe pottes / come out of Egipte / and serue God bothe with tongue and harte / with saiēg ād doing / with the outwarde mā and inwarde man / that your spirite and your soule and your body maie be in euery parte perfitly sounde (as thapostle sayeth) and that ye maie with ioie loke for thappearing of the great God and our saueour Iesus Christ. For he hauīg made the hole man / body and soule / to serue him / wil not be contēt to be serued with the one parte / ād the Deuil with the other. Thou shalt worship the lorde thy God / and serue him alone / saieth Christ. He will haue all or none. Therfore seing all cōmoditie must be hade at his hādes bothe for body and soule / let him haue all the vse of bothe as his owne / and despere not of his prouidence / which is the almighty eternal God / blessed for euermore: In whō fare ye as hartily wel / as I wolde my selfe

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An answer to a certain godly man̄es lettres / desiring his frendes iudgement / whether it be laufull for a christian man to be present at the popishe Masse / and other supersticious churche seruice.

1557.

3. Re. 18.

Wherfore halte ye on bothe sydes? If the Lorde be God / folowe hym / and if Baal be / than folowe hym.

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Title statement

An answer to a certain godly man[n]es lettres desiring his frendes iudgement, whether it be laufull for a christian man to be present at the popishe masse, and other supersticious churche seruice.Answer to a certain godly mannes lettres.

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1557

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2003-09 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

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A20144

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STC 658

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ESTC S110274

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99845847

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99845847

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10773

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— An answer to a certain godly man[n]es lettres desiring his frendes iudgement, whether it be laufull for a christian man to be present at the popishe masse, and other supersticious churche seruice., Answer to a certain godly mannes lettres., Becon, Thomas, 1512-1567, attributed name..

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[16] p.

Heirs of W. Rihel?],. [Strasbourg :: 1557.. (Sometimes attributed to Thomas Becon--STC.) (Imprint suggested by STC.) (Signatures: A.) (Reproduction of the original in the British Library.)

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