The Obedience of a Christian Man, Part 10
¶Of the sacramentes.
FOr as moch as we be come to signes / we will speake a worde or two of the signes which God hath ordened that is to saye / of the sacramentes which Christe left amōgest vsus for our cōforte / that we maye walke in light and in trouth and in fealinge of the power of God. For he that walketh in the daye stombleth not / when contrary wyse he that walketh in the nyght stō bleth Iohn. xj. And they yt walke in darknes wotte not wheder they goo. Ioh. xij.
This worde sacramēte is as moch to saye as an holy signe / ād representeth allwaye some promise of God.Sacramentes are signes of gods promises As in the olde testamēte God ordeyned yt the raynebowe shulde represent ād signifie vntounto all mē an othe that God sware to Noe ād to all mē after him / that he wolde no more drownd the worlde thorow water.
¶The sacrament of the body and bloud of Christe.
SO the sacramente of the body & bloude of christe hath a promise annexed which the prest shulde declare in the english tonge This is my body yt is brokē for you. This is my bloude yt is shed for many vntounto ye forgevenesse of synnes. This do in remēbraunce of me saith Christe. Luke. xxij. And .j. Corinth. xj.The promyse which the sacrament preacheth iustifieth only. Yf when thou seist the sacrament or eatest his body or drinkest his bloude / thou have this promyse fast in thine herte (that his body was slayne / and his bloud shed for thy synnes) and belevest it / so art thou saved and iustified therby. Yf not / so helpeth it the not / though thou hearest a thousāde masses in adaye or though thou doist no thinge else all thy lyfe longe / then eate his body or drinke his bloude: no moare then it shulde helpe the in a deed thurst / to beholde a bussh at a taverne dore / if thou knewest not therby yt there were wine with in to be solde.
¶Baptim.
BAptim hath also his worde and promise which the prest ought to teach the people ād Christen them in the english tonge / and not to playe the popengay with Credo saye ye / volo saye ye ād baptis mum saye ye / for there ought to be no mummynge in soch a mater. The prest before he baptiseth axeth sayenge: belevest thou in God the father almyghty / and in his sonne Iesus Christe / and in the holy goost / and that the congregaciō of christe is holy. And they saye yee. Thē the prest appon this fayth baptiseth the childe in the name of the father / and of the sonne / and of the holy goost / for ye forgevenesse of sīnes / as peter saith Act. ij
The washynge without the worde helpeth not: but thorow the worde it purifieth and clenseth vsus. As thou readest Ephe. v. How christe clenseth the congregacion in the founteyne of water thorow the worde. The worde is the promise that God hath made How the sacramentes iust…fy.Now as a preacher / in preachinge the worde of God saveth ye hearers that beleve / so doeth the washinge in that it preacheth and representeth vntounto vsus the promise that God hath made vntounto vsus in Christe. The washinge preacheth vntounto vsus / that we are clensed with Christes bloudeshedinge which was an offeringe and a satisfaction for the sinne of all that repente and beleve consentinge and submittinge them selves vntounto the will of God. The plunginge in to the water signifieth that we dye and are buryed with Christ as cōcerninge the olde lyfe of synne which is Adam. And the pullinge out agayne signifie…h that we rise agayne with christe in a new lyfe full of the holy goost which shall teach vsus and gyde vsus ād worke the will of God in vsus as thou seist Roma. vj.
¶Of wedlocke.
MAtrimonie or wedlocke is a state or a degree ordined of god & an office where in ye husbāde serveth ye wife & ye wife ye husbōde. It was ordined for a remedy & to encrease the worlde / and for the man to helpe the woman and the woman the mā with all love and kyndes / and not to signifie any promise that ever I herde or redde of in ye scripture.Matrimony was not ordeyned to signyfy any promyse. Therfore ought it not to be called a sacramente. It hath a promise that we synne not in that state / yf a man receave his wife as a gyft geven to him of God / and the wife her husbōde lyke wise: as all maner meates and drinkes have a promyse that we synne not / yf we vse them measurably with thankes gevinge. Yf they call matrimonie a sacrament because the scripture vseth the similitude of matrimonie to expresse the mariage or wedlocke that is betwene vsus ād christe (For as a woman though she be never so pore / yet when she is maried / is as rych as her husbande: even so we when we repente and beleve the promises of God in Christe / though we be never so pore synners / yet are as rich as Christe / all his merites are ours with all that he hath) Yf for that cause they call it a sacramente: so will I musterde seed / leven / a net / keyes / bred / water and a thousande other thinges which Christe and the prophetes and all the scripture vse / to expresse the kyndgome of heven and Gods worde with all. They prayse wedlocke with their mouth / and saye it is an holy If wedlocke be holy why had they lever have whores then wives.thinge / as it is verely: but had lever be sanctified with an whore / thē to come with in ye sentory
¶Of order.
SVbdeacō / deacon / prest / Bisshope / Cardinall / Patriarch and Pope / be names of offices and serves or shulde be / and not sacramentes. There is no promise coupled therwith. Yf they minister their offices truly / it is a signe that Christes sprite is in them / if not / that the devyll is in them. Are thes all sacramentes / or which one of them? Or what thinge in them is that holy signe or sacramente? The shavinge or the anoyntinge? What also is the promise that is signified therby? But what wordes printeth in them that character Character.that spirituall seale? O dreamers ād naturall beestes without ye seale of the sprite of God: but sealed with the marke of the beeste and with cancred consciences.
There is a worde called in latine sacerdos in greke hiereus / in hebrue cohan / Sacerdos.that is a minister an officer / a sacrificer or a prest / as Aaron was a preste and sacrificed for the people and was a mediator betwene God and them And in the english shulde it have had some other name then preste: But Antychrist hath deceaved vsus with vnknowen and straunge termes / to bringe vsus in to cō fusion and supersticious blindenes. Of that maner is Christe a preste for ever and all we prestes thorow him and neade no moare of any soch preste on erth to be a meane for vsus vntounto God. For Christe hath brought vsus all in into the inner temple within the vayle or forehanginge / and vntounto the mercy stole of God. And hath coupled vsus vntounto God / where we offer every man for him selfe the desyres and petitions of his hert / and sacrifice and kyll the lustes and appetites of his flesh with prayer / fastinge and all maner godly livinge.
Presbiter▪A nother worde is there in greke called presbiter / in laten / senior / in english an elder and is nothinge but an officer to teach and not to be a mediator betwene God and vsus. Thys neade no anoyntinge of man.Prestes now oughte not to be annoynted with oyle· They of ye old testamēte were anoynted with oyle / to signifie the anoyntynge of Christ and of vsus thorow Christ with the holy goost. This wise is no mā prest but he that is chosē / save as in tyme of necessite every person christeneth so maye every man teach his wife and houshold and the wife hir childern. So in tyme of neade if I se my brother synne I maye betwene him and me rebuke him and damne his deade by the law of God. And maye also conforte them that are in dispayre with the promyses of God / and save them if they beleve.
The ostice of a preste:By a prest then in the new testamente vnderstonde nothinge but an elder to teach the younger and to bringe them vntounto the full knowlege and vnderstondinge of Christe ād to minister the sacramentes which Christe ordeyned / which is also nothynge but to preach Christes promises. And by them that geve all their study to quench the lyght of trouth and to holde the people in darkenes vnderstonde the disciples of sathā and messngers of Antichriste / what so ever names they have or what so ever they call them selves. And as concerninge that oure spiritualie (as they wilbe called) make them selves They wilbe hol…er but their deades be not holy at all.holyer thē the laye people and take so great l…ndes and goodes to praye for them / ād promise them pardons and forgevenes of syn…es / or absolution / without preachinge of Christes promises / is falsheed and the work…nge of Antichriste & (as I have said) the ra…eninge of those wolfes which Paul (Actuī. xx.) prophesied / shulde come after his departinge not sparinge the flocke. Their doctrine is that marchaundice wherof Peter speaketh sayenge: thorow covetousnes sha…l they with fayned wordes make marchaūd…ce of you .ij. Pe. ij. And their reasons wherewith they prove their doctrine are (as saith Paul .j. Timo. vi.) superfluous disputīges / arguīges or braulinges of men with corrupte mindes & destitute of trouth / which thīke yt lucre is godlynes.Cōpare ther… deades to the doctrine ād deades of Christ ād of his postles and iudg… there frutes. But Christe saith Math. vij. by their frutes shalt thou knowe them / that is by their fylthy covetousnes and shamelesse ambition and dronken desyre of honor / contrary vntounto the example and doctrine of Christe and of his Apostles. Christ said to Peter / the last chapter of Iohn. Fede my shepe / ād not shere thy flocke. And Peter saith .j. Petri. v. Not beinge lordes over the pharishes: but these shere … are become lordes. Paul saith .ij. Corinth. j Not that we be lordes over your fayth: b…t these will be lordes and compell vsus to bel… ve what so ever they lust / without any witnesse of scripture / yee clene contrary to …he scripture / when the open texte rebuketh i…. Paul saith / it is better to geve then receave. Act. xx. But these doo nothinge in the worlde but laye snares to ketch and receave what so ever cometh / as it were the gapinge mouth of hell. And .ij. Corinth. xij. I sele not yours but you: but these seke not youre Christe but yours to them selves / and therfore lest their deades shulde be rebuked will not come at the lyght.
Neverthelesse the trueth is / that we are al equally beloued in Christe / and God hath sworne to all indifferently. Accordinge therfore as every man beleveth Gods promises longeth for them and is diligente to praye vntounto God to fulfill them so is his prayer herde / and as good is the prayer of a cobler / as of a Cardinall / and of a bocher / as of a Bisshope / and the blessinge of a baker that knoweth the trouth / is …s good as the blessinge of oure most holy father the Pope. And by blessinge What blessinge meane….vnderstonde not the wagginge of the Popes or Bisshopes hande over thyne heed / but prayer as when we saye God make the a good man / Christe put his sprite in the or geve the grace and power to walke in the trueth and to folowe his cō maundmentes &c. As Rebeccaes frendes blessed her when she departed / Gene. xxiiij sayenge. Thou arte oure sister: growe vntounto thousande thousandes and thy sede possesse the yates of their enimies. And as Isaac blessed Iacob Gene. xxvij. sayenge. God geve the of the dewe of heven and of the fatnes of the erth abundaunce of corne / wyne and oyle &c. And Gene. xxviij. Almyghty God blesse the and make the growe / and multiply the / that thou maist be a greate multitude of people and geve to the and to thy sede after the the blessinges of Abrahā / that thou maist possesse the londe wherin thou art a straunger which he promysed to thy graundfader and soch lyke.
Last of all one synguler doute they have / what maketh the prest / the anoyntynge or puttinge on of the hondes or what other cerimonie or what wordes. About which they braule and scolde one ready to teare out a nothers throte. One sayth this and a nother that / but can not agre. Nether can any of them make so stronge a reason which a nother can not improve. For they are all out of the waye and without the sprite of God to iudge spirituall thinges. How be it to this I answere / yt when Christ called .xij. vp in to the mountayne ād chose them / then immediatly without any annoyntynge or ceremony were they his Apostles / that is to wete / ministres chosen to be sent to preach his testamente vntounto all the whole worlde. And after the resureccion when he had opened their wittes and geven them knowleage to vnderstonde the secretes of his testamente and how to bynde & lowse and what he wold have them to doo in all thinges / then he sent them forth with a commaundement to preach and bynde the vnbelevinge that contynue in synne / and to lowse the belevinge that repent.The cōmaundemente maketh prestes. And that commaundemēt or charge made them Bisshopes Prestes / Popes and all thinge. Yf they saye that Christ made them prestes at his mayndey or last soper when he said / do this in the remembraunce of me. I answare / though the Apostles wist not then what he ment / yet I will not stryve nor saye that agenst / Never the later the commaundmente and the charge which he gave thē made thē prestes.
And / Actes the fyrst / when Mathias was chosen by lotte / it is not to be douted but that the Apostles / after their commune maner / prayd for hym that God wolde geve hym grace to minister his office truly and put their hādes on hī / & exhorted hī ād gave hym charge to be diligēte & fayth full and thē was he as great as the best. And actes .vj. Whē the disciples that beleved had chosen .vj. Deacons to mynistre to the wydowes / the Apostles prayed and put their handes on them and admitted them without moare adoo. Putt…nge on of handes.Their puttinge on of handes was not after the maner of the dome blessinge of our holy Bisshopes with two fyngers: but they spake vntounto them and tolde them their dutye and gave them a charge and warned them to be faythfull in the lordes busynes: as we chose temperall officers and reade their dutye to them and they promyse to be faythfull mynistres and then are admitted. Nether is there any other maner or ceremony at all required in makynge of oure spirituall officers / then to chose an able person and then to reherse him his dutie and geve hym his charge and so to put hym in his rowme. And as for that other solenne doute / as they call it wether What Iudas is now.Iudas was a prest or no / I …are not what he then was: but of this I am sure / that he is now not only prest / but also Bisshope / Cardinall and Pope.
¶Of penavnce
PEnaunce is a worde of their awne forginge to disceave vsus with all / as many other are. In the scripture we fynde penitentia repentaunce. Agite penitentiam / do tepente / Peniteat vos / let it repente you. Metanoyte in greke / forthinke ye / or let it forthinke you. A poynte of practise.Of repentaunce they / have made penaunce / to blynde the people ād to make thē thinke that they must take payne ād doo some holy deades to make satisfactiō for their synnes / namely soch as they enioyne them.☞ As thou maist se in the cronycles / when greate kynges and Tyrantes (which with violence of swerde conquered other kynges lōdes and slew all that came to honde) came to them selves & had conscience of their weked deades / then the Bisshopes coupled them / not to Christe: but vntounto the Pope and preached the Pope vntounto them / and made them to submitte them selves and also their realmes vntounto the holy father the Pope and to take penaunce / as they call it / that is to saye / soch iniuncions as the Pope and Bisshopes wolde commaunde them to doo / to byld abbays / to endote them with lyvelode / to be prayd fort for ever: and to geve them exemptions and prevelege and licens to doo what the luste vnpunished.
RepentaunceRepētaunce goeth before fayth ād prepareth the waye to Christe and to the promises. For christ cometh not / but vntounto them that se their synnes in the law and repent. Repentaunce that is to saye / this mornynge and sorowe of the herte lasteth all oure lyves longe. For we fynde oure selves all oure lyves longe to weake for Gods lawe / and therfore sorowe & morne lōginge for strēgth Repētaunce is no sacramente: as fayth hope / love / and knowleginge of a mans synnes are not to be called sacramentes. For they are spirituall and invisible. Now must a sacramēte be an outwarde signe that maye be sene / to signifie / to represente and to put a man in remembraunce of some spirituall promyse which can not be sene but by fayth only. Repentaunce and all the good deades which accompanie repentaunce to sley the lustes of the flesh are signified by Repentaunce is signified by baptim.baptim. For Paul saith Roma. vj. (as it is above rehersed). Remembre ye not (saith he) that all we which are baptised in the name of Christe Iesus / are baptised to dye with him? we are buried with him in baptim for to dye / that is / to kyll the lustes and the rebellion which remayneth in the flesh. And after that he saith / yee are deed as concerninge synne but lyve vntounto God / thorow Iesus Christe oure lorde.☜ If thou loke on the profession of our hertes and on the spirite ād forgevenes which we have receaved thorow Christes merites / we are full deed: but if thou loke on the rebelliō of the flesh we do but begynne to dye and to be baptised that is / to dround and quench the lustes / ād are full baptised at the last mynute of deeth And as concerninge the workinge of the sprite we begynne to lyve and growe every daye moare and moare both in knowleage and also in Godly lyvinge / accordinge as the lustes abate. As a chyld receaveth the full soule at the fyrst daye / yet groweth dayly in the operations and workes therof.
¶Of confession.
COnfession is divers? One foloweth true fayth inseperably. One cōfession is to knowlege where in thou puttest thy truste.And is the confessinge and knowleginge with the mouth / wherin we put oure trust and cō fidence. As when we saye oure credo: confessinge yt we trust in God the father almyghty and in his trueth and promises: and in his sonne Iesus oure lorde and in his merites and deservinges: and in the holy goost / and in his power / assistence and gidinge. This confession is necessary vntounto all men that wil be saved. For Christe saith Mathew x. he that denyeth me before men him will I denie before my father that is in heven. And of this confession saith the holy Apostel Paul in the .x. chapter / The belefe of the herte iustifieth: and to knowleage with the mouth maketh a man safe. This is a wonderfull texte for oure philosophers or rather sophisters / oure wordly wise / enimies to the wisdome of God / oure depe and profunde welles with out water / oure cloudes without moysture of rayne / that is to saye / naturall soules without the sprite of God and fealinge of godly thynges. To iustifie and to make safe are both one thinge. And to confesse with the mouth is a Good worke and the frute of a true sayth / as all other workes are.
Yf thou repente and beleve the promyses then Gods trueth iustifieth the / that is / forgeveth the thy synnes and sealeth / the with his holy sprite and maketh the heyre of everlastinge lyfe thorow Christes deservynges. Now if thou have true fayth so seist thou the exceadinge and infinite love and merciemercy which God hath shewed the frely in Christe: then must thou neades love agayne: and love can not but compell the to worke and boldly to confesse and knowleage thy lorde Christ and the trust which thou hast in hys worde.If when tirā tes oppose the thou have power to cōfesse then arte thou sure that thou arte saffe. And this knowlege maketh the safe / that is / declareth that thou art safe all ready and certyfieth thine herte and maketh the feale that thy fayth is ryght and that Gods sprite is in the / as all other good workes doo For if when it cometh vntounto the poynte / thou have no lust to worke nor power to cōfesse / how coudest thou presume to thī ke that Gods sprite were in the?
A norher confession is to … knowlege thy synnes in thine herte vntounto God·A nother confession is there which goeth before fayth and accompanyeth repentaūce. For who so ever repenteth doeth knowlege his synnes in his herte. And who soever doeth knowlege his sinnes receaveth forgevenes (as saith Iohn. in the fyrst of his first Pistle) Yf we knowlege oure synnes he is faythfull & iust to forgeve vsus oure sinnes & to clense vsus from all vnrighteousnes / that is / because he / hath promised / he must for his truethes sake doo it. This confession is necessarye all oure lyves longe / as is repentaunce. And as thou vnderstondest of repentaunce / so vnderstonde of this confession for it is lyke wise included in the sacramēte of Baptim. For we all wayes repente and all wayes knowleage or cō fesse oure synnes vntounto god / and yet dispeare not: but remembre that we are washed in Christes bloude / which thinge oure baptim doth represente & signifie vntounto vsus.
Shrifte.Shrifte in the eare is verely a worke of sathan and that the falsest that ever was wroughte and that most hath devoured the fayth. It began amonge the grekes ād was not as it is now / to reken all a mans synnes in the prestes eare: but to axe coūcel of soch doutes as men had / as thow maist se in saint Hierom and in other autours. Nether went they to prestes only which were very fewe at that tyme / no moo thē preached the worde of God / for this so greate vauntage in so many masses sayenge was not yet founde: but went indifferently / where they sawe a good and a lerned mā.Shrifte was put downe for knave…y amō ge the grekes But is stablished thereby amonge vsus. And for because of a litle knavery which a deacō at Constātynopyll playd thorow cōfession with one of the chefe wives of ye cite it was layd downe agayne. But we Antichristes possessiō / ye moare knavery we se growe therfore dayly / the moare we stablysh it. A christē man is a spirituall thinge and hath Gods worde in his herte and Gods sprite to certifie him of all thinge. He is not bound to come to any eare. And as for the reasons which they make are but persuasiōs of mans wisdome. Fyrst as perteyninge vntounto the keyes and maner of byndinge and loosinge is ynough above rehersed and in other places. Thou maist also se how the Apostles vsed them in the Actes and in Paulus pistles / how at the preachinge of fayth the sprite came and certified their hertes that they were iustified thorow belevinge the promises.How a man shall know that his synnes are forgeven.
When a man fealeth that his herte consenteth vntounto the law of God / and fealeth him selfe meke / pacient / curtous and mercyfull to his neyboure / altered and fascioned lyke vntounto Christe / why shuld he doute but that God hath forgeven him and chosen hym and put his sprite in hym / though he never cromme hys synne in to the prestes eare?
Blynd reason is there gyde and not gods spirite.One blynde reason have they sayenge. How shall the prest vnbynd / loose and forgeve the synne which he knoweth not? How dyd the Apostles? The scripture forsake they and runne vntounto their blynde reasons and draw the scripture vntounto a carnall purpose. When I have tolde the in thine eare all that I have done my lyfe lonhe / in ordyr and with all circumstances after the shamefullest maner / what canst thou doo moare / then preach me the promyses sayenge: Yf thou repente and beleve / Gods trueth shall save the for Christes sake? Thou seist not myne herte / thou knowest not whether I repente or no / nether whether I consente to the lawe / that it is holy righteous and good. Moare over whether I beleve the promyses or no / is also vnknowen to the. Yf thou preach the law and the promyses (as the Apostles dyd) so shulde they that God hath chosen repent and beleve and besaved: even now as well as then. How be it Antychrist must know all secretes to stablesh his kyngdome and to worke hys mysteries with all.
They brynge also for them the storie of the .x. lepers. which is writtē in the .xvij chap. of Luke.Lerne to know them for they are verely lepers in their hertes. Here marke their falsheed and lerne to knowe them for ever. The fourtene sondaye after the Feest of the Trinite the begynnynge of the .vij. lesson is the said Gospell and the .viij. and the .ix. lessons with the rest of the seventh ys the exposicion of Bede apon the said Gospell Where / saith Bede / of all that Christ healed of what so ever disease it were / he sent none vntounto the prestes / but the lepers. And by the lepers enterpreteth folowers of false doctrine only / which the spirituall officers / and the lerned men of the congregacion ought to examine / and rebuke their lerninge with Gods worde ād to warne the congregacion to be warre of them Which / yf they were afterwarde healed by the grace of Christe / ought to come before the congregacion and there openly confesse their true fayth.
But all other vices (saith he) doeth God heale within in the conscience. Though they this wise reade at matens / yet at hye masse / yf they have any sermon at all / they lye clene contrary vntounto this open trueth. Nother are they ashamed at all. For why they walke all to gether in darkenes.
¶Of contrition
COntrition and repentaunce are both one and nothinge else but a sorowfull ād a mornynge herte. And because that God hath promysed mercy vntounto a cō trite herte / that is / to a sorowfull and repē tinge herte they to begyle Gods worde and to stablysh their weked tradition / have fayned that new worde attrition sayenge: thou canst not know whether thy sorrow or repē taunce be Attriciō is of the levē of the phareses.contrition or attrition / excepte thou be shreven. When thou art shrevē / thē it is true contrition. Oh foxy pharesay / that is thy leven / of which Christe so diligently hade vsus beware. Mathe. vj. And the very prophesie of Peter thorow covetousnes with fayned wordes shall they make marchādice of you .ij. Petri. ij. with soch gloses … they Gods worde / to sytte in the cons…nces of the people / to leade thē captive … to make a praye of them: byenge & …ellinge their synnes / to satisfie their vnsaciable covetousnes. Never the lesse the trueth ys / when any man hath trespased agēst God. Yf he repente and knowleage his trespase / God promyseth him forgevenesse withoute eare shrifte.
Yf he that hath offended his neyboure repente and knowlege his faute axinge forgevenes / yf his neyboure forgeve hym / God forgeveth hym also / by his holy promyse / Mat. xviij. Lyke wise i… he that synneth opē ly / when he is openly rebuked / repente and turne / then yf the cōgregation forgeve him God forgeveth him. And so forth who so ever repenteth and whē he is rebuked knowlegeth his faute is forgeven.
He also that douteth or hath his conscience tangled / ought to open his mynde vntounto some faythfull brother that is lerned / ād he shall geve him faythfull councell to helpe hym with all.
To whome a man trespaseth vntounto hym he ought te confesse.Whō a man offendeth to hī must he cōfesse. But to confesse my selfe vntounto the O Antichriste / whom I have not offended / am I not bounde.
They of the olde lawe had no confession in the eare. Nether the Apostles nor they that folowed many hūdred yeres after knew of any soch whisperinge. Wherby then was their attrition turned vntounto contrition? yee why are we which Christ came to lowse moare bound then the Iewes. Yee and why are we moare bound without scripture? For Christe came not to make vsus moare bonde / but to loose vsus and to make a thousande thinges no synne which before were synne and are now become synne agayne. He left no nother law with vsus but the law of love. He loosed vsus not from Moyses to bynde vsus vntounto Antichristes eare. God … not tyed Christ vntounto Antichristes eare nether hath poured all his mercy in thyder for it hath no recorde in the olde testamente / that Antichristes eare shulde be Propiciatorium / that is to were Gods mercy stole / and that God shulde crepe in to so narow a hole / so that he coude no where else be founde.It hath no record in the scripture that God shuld crepe in and hyde him selfe in ā tychristis eare Nether did God write his lawes nether yet his holy promyses in Antichristes eare: but hath graved them with his holy sprite in the hertes of them that beleve / that they myght have them all wayes redy at hande to be saved therby.
¶Satisfaccion.
AS perteynynge vntounto satisfaccion / this wise vnderstonde / that he that loveth god hath a cōmaūdmēt (as saint Iohn saith in ye fourth chapter of his fyrst pistle) to love his neyboure also whō if thou have offended thou must make him amendes or satisfaccion or at the lest waye yf thou be not able / axe hym forgevenes / and yf he will have mercy of God / he is bounde to forgeve the. Yf he will not: yet God forgeveth ye / yf thou this submitte thy selfe.Christ is an everlastinge satisfaccion. But vntounto Godwarde Christe is a perpetuall and an everlastinge satisfaccion for ever moare.
As oft as thou fallest thorow fraylte / repente and come agayne and thou art safe and welcome / as thou maist se by the similitude of the riotuous sonne Luke. xv. If thou be lopē out of sentuary come in agayne. Yf thou befallen from the waye of trueth come therto agayne and thou art safe / yf thou begone astraye come to the folde agayne and the sheperd Christ shall save the yee and the angels of heven shall reioyse at thy comynge / so ferre it is of that any man shall beate the or chyde the. Yf any Pharisey envye the / grudge at the or rayle apon the / thy father shall make answere for the / as thou seist in the fore tehersed lykenes or parable. Who so ever therfore is gone out of the waye by what so ever chaunce it be / let hym come to his baptim agayne and vntounto the profession therof and he shalbe saffe.Baptim l…steth ever
For though that the washinge of baptim be past / yet the power therof / that is to saye / the worde of God which baptim preacheth lasteth ever and saveth for ever. As Paul is past and gone / never the lesse the worde that Paul preached lasteth ever and saveth ever as many as come therto with a repentinge herte and a stedfast fayth.
Here by feist thou that when they make pennaunce of repentaunce and call it a sacramente and divide it in to contricion / confession and satisfaccion they speake of their awne heedes and lye falslye.
¶Absolucion.
THeir absolucion also iustifieth no mā from sinne. For with the hert do men beleve to be iustified with all / saith Paul Romna. x. that is thorow fayth and belevinge the promises / are we iustified / as I have sufficiently proved in other places with the scripture. Fayth (saith Paul in the same place) cometh by heringe / that is to saye / by hearinge the preacher that is sent frō God and preacheth Gods promises. Now when thou absolvest in latyne the vnlerned heareth not. For how / saith Paul .j. Corint. xiiij. when thou blessest in an vnknowen tō ge / shall the vnlerned saye Amen vntounto thy thankes gevinge? for he wotteth not what thou saist. So lyke wise the laye wotteth not whether thou loose or bynde / or whether thou blesse or curse. In lyke maner is it if the laye vnderstāde latyne or though the prest absolve in englishe. For in his absolucion he reherseth no promise of God: but speaketh his awn wordes sayēge: I by the auctorite of Peter and Paul absolve or loose the frō all thy synnes. Thou saist so / which art but a lyinge man and never moare then now verely.
Thou saist I forgeve the thy sinnes / & the scripture saith (Iohn the first) that Christe only forgeveth and taketh awaye the synnes of the worlde. And Paul and Peter and all the Apostles preach that all is forgeven in Christ and for Christes sake. Gods worde only looseth and thou in preachinge that mightest loose also and else not.
¶ Who so ever hath eares let him heare ād let him that hath eyes / se. Yf any man love to be blynde / his blyndnes on his awn heed and not on myne.
THey allege for them selves the sayenge of Christ to Peter Math. xvj. what so ever thou byndest on erth / it shalbe bonde / and what so ever thou loosest / it shal be looset / and so forth.Of byndynge and loosynge and of the popis auctorit… or power. Lo saye they / what so ever we bynde and what so ever we loose here is no thīge excepted. And a nother texte laye, they of Christ in the last of Mathew All power is geven to me saith Christ / in heven and in erth: goo therfore and preach &c. Preachinge leaveth the Pope out and saith loo all power is geven me in heven and in erth.The pope calēgeth power not over man only but over God also. And therapon taketh apon him temporall power above kynge and Emperoure / and maketh lawes ād byndeth them. And lyke power taketh he over Gods lawes and dispenseth with them at his lust / makynge no synne of that which God maketh synne ād maketh synne where God maketh none: yee and wypeth out Gods lawes cleane ād maketh at his pleasure / and with him is lawfull what he lusteth. He byndeth where God looseth ād looseth where God byndeth. He blesseth where God curseth and curseth where God blesseth. He taketh auctorite also to bynde and loose in purgatory.Purgatory is the popis creature he maye therefore be bold there. That permitte I vntounto him: for it is a creature of his awn makynge. He also byndeth the angels. For we reade of Popes that have commaunded the angels to fett dyvers out of purgatory.The pope bindeth the angels. How be it I am not yet certified whether they obeyed or no.
The true binninge and loosynge.Vnderstonde therfore that to bynde and to loose / is to preach the law of God and the gospell or promyses / as thou maist se in the thred chapter of the second pistle to the Corintheans Where Paul calleth the preachinge of the law the ministration of deeth and damnation / and the preachinge of the promyses thē ministrīge of the sprite ād of righteousnes. For when the law is preached all men are founde synners and therfore damned: and when the Gospell and glad tydinges are preached / then are all that repente ād beleve / founde righteous in Christ. And so expounde it all the olde doctours. Saynt Saynt Hierō agenst bisshopes ad prestes.Hierom saith apon this texte / what so ever thou byndest / the bisshopes ād prestes saith he / for lacke of vnderstondinge / take a litle presumption of the phareses apon them. And thinke that they have auctorite to bynde innocētes and to loose the weked / which thinge our Pope and Bisshopes doo. For they saye the curse is to be feared / be it right or wronge.The curse ys to be fered. Though thou have not deserved yet yf the Pope curse the thou art in perell of thy soule as they lye: yee and though he be never so wronfully cursed / he must be fayne to bye absolutiō.The ryghte maner of loosynge. But saynt Hierō saith as the prest of the olde law made the lepers cleane or oncleane / so byndeth and vnbyndeth the prest of the new law☜
The prest there made no man a leper nether clensed any man / but God: and the prest iudged only by Moyses law who was cleane and who was vncleane / when they were brought vntounto him.
So here we have the law of God to iudge what is synne and what is not / and who is bounde and who is not. Moare over if any man have synned / yet if he repente and beleve the promise / we are sure by gods worde that he is loosed and forgeven in Christ Other auctoryte then this wise to preach / have the prestes not. Christis Apostles had no nother thē selfes as it appereth thorowout all the new testamente. Therfore it is manyfest that they have not.
Saynt Paul saith .j. Corinth. xv.Christ vnderstode this texte all power is gevē me en hevē ād …n erth and also vsed it ferre other wise thē the Pope. When we saye all thīges are vnderunder Christ / he is to be excepted that putt all vnderunder him. God the father is not vnderunder Christ / but above Christe and Christes heed .j. Corinth. vi. Christe saith Iohn. xij. I have not spoken of myne awn heed but my father which sente me / gave a cōmaundemente what I shulde saye / and what I shulde speake. What so ever I speake therfore / even as my father bade me so I speake. If Christ had a law what he shulde doo / how happeneth it / that the Pope so runneth at large lawlesse? Though that all power were geven vntounto Christ in heven and in erth. Yet had he no power over his father ner yet to raygne temporally over temporall princes: but a commaundmente to obeye them. How hath the Pope then soch temperall auctorite over kinge and Emperoure? How hath he auctorite above Gods lawes and to commaunde the angels / the sayntes and God him selfe?
Christes What auctorite christ gave his apostlesauctorite which he gave to his disciples / was to preach the law and to bringe synners to repētaunce / and then to preach vntounto them the promyses which the father had made vntounto all men for his sake. And the same to preach only sente he his Apostles The righte byndinge and loosynge.As a kynge sendeth forth his iudges and geveth them his auctorite sayenge: What ye doo that doo I. I geve you my full power. Yet meaneth he not by that full power / that they shulde destroye any towne or Cite / or oppresse any man or doo what they lyste or shulde raygne over the lordes and dukes of his Realme and over his awne selfe. But geveth them a law with them and auctorite to bynde and loose / as ferforth as the law stretcheth and maketh mencion: that is / to punesh the evyll / that doo wronge / and to avenge the pore that sofre wronge. And so fer as the law stretcheth / will the kynge defende his iudge agenst all men. And as the temperall iudges bynde and loose temperally / so doo the prestes spiritually and no other wayes. How be it by falsheed and sotyltye the Pope regneth vnderunder Christe / as cardinals and Bisshopes do vnderunder kynges lawlesse.How the pope regneth vnderunder christ.
THe Pope (saye they) absolveth or loseth a pena et a culpa / that is from the faute or treaspase and from the payne due vntounto the treasp…e.A pena et a culpa is a propir dreame God yf a man repēte forgeveth the offence only / and not the payne also / saye they / save turneth the everlastinge payne vntounto a temperall payne. And apoynteth seven yeares in purgatory for every deedly synne The pope y… moare mightie and moare mercyfull for money thē god is for the deeth of his only sonne.But the Pope for money for geveth both / and hath moare power then God and is moare mercyfull then God. This doo I / seaith the Pope of my full power and of the treasure of the chyrch / of deservinges of martirs / confessours and merites of Christ.
The merites of sayntes.Fyrst the merites of the saintes d…d not save them selves but were saved by Christes merites only.
Secondaryly God hath promysed Christes The merites of christe.merites vntounto all that repente: so that whosoever repenteth is immediatly heyre of all Christes merites and beloved of god as Christ is.The pope selleth that which God geveth frely. How then came this foule monster to be lorde over Christes merites / so that he hath power to sell that which god geveth frely. O dreamers / yee o devels ād o venymous scorpions what poyson have ye in your tayles? O pestilent leven that so turneth the swete bred of Christes doctrine in to the bitternisse of gall.
Freres▪The freres runne in the same spirite and teach sayenge: doo good deades and redeme the paynes that abyde you in purgatory yee geve vsus some what to doo good workes for you.Synne is the best marchaundice that is. And this is synne become the profitablest mirchaundice in the worlde. O the cruell wrath of God apon vsus because we love not the trouth.
For this is the damnation and iudgemente of God to sende a fals prophet vntounto him that will not heare the trouth. I know you saith Christ Iohn. v. that ye have not the love of God in you.Christe prophesied of antichriste and told why he shuld come. I am come in my faders name ād ye receave me not / yf a nother shall come in his awne name / him shall ye receave. This doeth God avēge him selfe on the malicious hertes which have no love to his trueth.
All the promyses of God have they other wypt cleane out or thus levended them with open lyes to stablysh their confession with all.The promyses are ether put out or levē ded and why. And to kepe vsus frō knowleage of the trouth / they doo all thinge in latyne.Al is in latyn
They praye in latyne / they Christen in latyne / they blesse in latyne / they geve absolution in latyne only curse they in the englyshe tonge. Wherin they take apon them greater auctorite then ever God gave them. For in their curses as they call them / with boke bell and candle / they commaunde The pope cō maundeth god to curse.God & Christ and the angels ād al sayntes to curse thē: curse thē God (saye they) father / sonne and holy goost / curse them virgen Mary. &ce. O ye abhominable? Who gave you auctorite to commaunde God to curse? God …ommaundeth you to blesse and ye commaunde him to curse. Blesse them that persecute you: blesse but curse not saith Saynt Paul Romanorum. xij. What tyranny will these not vse over men / which presume and take apon them to be lordes over God and to commaunde him? Yf God shall curse any man who shall blesse and make him better? No man can amē de him selfe / excepte God poure his sprite vntounto him. Have we not a cōmaundmente to love oure neyboure as oure selfe? How can I love him and curse him also? Iames saith / it …s not possible that blessinge and cursinge shulde come both out of one mouth. Christ commaundeth. Math. v. sayenge: love youre enemies. Blesse thē that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. Praye for them that do you wronge and persecute you / that ye maye be the childerne of your hevenly father.
In the marches of wales it is the maner if any man have an oxe or a cow stollen / he cometh to the curate ād desyreth him to curse the steyler.A custome that is vsed in the marches of wales. And he commaundeth the pareshe to geve him every man Gods curse ād his. Gods curse and myne have he / saith everymā in the pareshe. O mercyfull God what is blasphemy / if this be not blasphemy and shamynge of the doctrine of Christe?
Vnderstōde therfore / the power of excommunication is this. Yf any man synne openly and amendeth not when he is warned: then ought he to be rebuked openly before all the paresh And the priest ought to prove by the scripture / that all soch have no parte with Christ. For Christ serveth not but for them that love the law of God and consente that it is good holy ād righteous. And repente sorowinge and mornynge for power and strength to fulfill it. And all the pareshe ought to be warned / to avoyde the companye of all soch / and to take thē as hethē people. This is not done that he shuld perish / but to save him / to make him ashamed and to kyll the lustes of the flesh / that the sprite myght come vntounto the knowlege of the trueth. And we ought to pitie him and to have compassion on him and with all diligence to praye vntounto▪ God for him / to geve him grace to repente & to come to the right waye agayne / & not to vse soch tyranny over God and man / commaundinge God to curse. And if he repente we ought with all mercy to receave hī in agayne. This maist thou se Math. xviij. and .j. Corin. v. &. ij. Corī. ij.
¶Confirmacion.
IF confirmacion have a promise / then it iustifieth / as fer as the promise extendeth. Yf it have no promyse / then is it not of God as the Bysshopes be not.Gods sacramē tes preach gods promyses· The Apostles and minesters of God preach Gods worde / and Gods signes or sacramentes signifie Gods worde also and put vsus in remembraunce of the promyses which God hath made vntounto vsus in Christe. The popes sacramentes are doume.Contrary wise Antychristes Bisshopes preach not and their sacramentes speake not / but as the disgysed Bisshopes mum / so are their supersticious sacramentes doume. After that the Bisshopes had left preachinge / then fayned they this dome ceremonie of confirmacion to have somewhat at the lest waye / wherby they myght regne over their dioceses.Christenynge of belles. They reserved vntounto them selves also the christeninge of belles and coniuringe or haulsoninge of churches and churchyardes / and of altares and superaltares / and holowinge of chalices and so forth / what so ever is of honoure or profitt. Which confirmacion and the other coniuracions also they have now committed to their Why sofregās a…e ordeyned.Suffreganes: because they them selves have no leysoure to mynister soch thinges / for their lustes and plealures and abondaunce of all thinges / and for the combraunce that they have in the kynges maters and busynisse of the realme. The bisshops devide al amō ge them.One kepeth the privey seale / a nother the greate seale / the thryd is confessoure / that is to saye / a privey traytar and a secret Iudas / he is presidente of the princes councell / he an ambassadoure / a nother sorte are of the kynges secret councell. Woo is vntounto the Realmes where they are of the councell. As profitable are they verely vntounto the Realmes with their councell / as the wolves vntounto the shepe or the foxes vntounto the gysse.
Cerimonies bringe not the holy goosteThey will saye that the holy goost is geven thorow soch ceremonies. Yf God had so promysed so shulde it be / but Paul saith Galat. in the thrid chapter / that ye sprite is receaved thorow preachinge of the fayth. And Actes in the tenth chapter / while Peter preached the fayth / the holy goost fell on Cornelius ād on his houshoulde· How shall we saye then to that which they will laye agenst vsus / in the eghre chapter of the Actes of the Apostles.Puttynge on of handes▪ Where Peter and Iohn put their handes on the samaritanes and the holy goost came? I saye that by puttinge or with puttinge or as they put their handes on them / the holy goost came. Never the lesse the puttinge on of the handes did nother helpe ner hynder. For the texte saith they prayd for them that the myght receave the holy goost.
God had made the Aopstles a promise / that he wolde with soch miracles confirme their preachinge and move other to the fayth. Mar. the lest. The Apostels therfore beleved and prayed God to fulfill his promise / and God for his truethes sake even so did. So was it the Prayer of faith doeth the myracles.prayer of fayth that brought the holy goost / as thou maist se also in the last of Iames. Yf any man be sycke sayth Iames / call the elders of the congregacion / and let them praye over him annoyntynge him with oyle in the name of the Lorde / and the prayer of fayth shall heale the sycke. Where a promyse is there is fayth bolde to praye / and God true to geve hir hir peticion. Puttinge on of the hondes is an indifferē te thinge. For the holy goost came by preachinge of the fayth / and myracles were done at ye prayer of fayth as well with out puttinge on of hondes as with / as thou seist in many places. Puttinge on of the hondes was the maner of that naciō / as it was to rente their clothes / and to put on sacke / and to sprinkle them selves with asshes ād erth / when they herde of or sawe any sorowfull thinge / as it was Pauls maner to stretch out his hande / when he preached. And as it is our maner to holde vp our handes / when we praye / and as some kysse their thome nayle and put it to their eyes / and as we put our handes on chylders heedes / when we blesse them sayenge: Christ blesse the my sonne / and God make the a good man: which gestures nether helpe ner hynder. This maist thou wel se by the .xiij. of the Actes / where the holy goost commaunded to seperate Paul and Barnabas / to go and preeache. Then the other fasted and prayed and put their handes on their heedes and sent them forth. They receaved not the holy goost then / by puttinge on of hondes / but the other as they put their handes on their heedes prayed for them / that God wolde go with them and strength them / ād coraged them also / biddinge thē to be stronge in God / and warned them to be faythfull and diligent in the worke of God and so forth.
¶Anoylynge.
LAst of all cometh the anoylynge with out promyse / and therfore without the spirite and with out profitt / but all together vnfrutefull and supersticious. The sacramentes which they have imagined are all without promise / and therfore helpe not. For what so ever is not of fayth is synne. Roman. xiiij. Now without a promyse can there be no fayth.The latyne tonge destroyeth the fayth. The sacramentes which Christ him selfe ordeyned / which have also promyses and wolde save vsus if we knew them and beleved them / them minister they in the latyne tonge. So are they also become as vnfrutefull as the other. Yee the make vsus beleve that the worke selfe without the promyse saveth vsus which doctrine they lerned of Aristotell.That the worke with out the promyse saveth ys improved. And thus are we become an hundred tymes worse then the weked Iewes which beleved that the very worke of their sacrifyce iustified them. Agenst which Paul fyghteth in every pistle / provinge that nothinge helpeth save the promyses which God hath sworne in Christ.The people beleve in the worke with out the promyse. Aske the people what they vnderstande by their baptim or washinge. And thou shalt se that they beleve / how that the very plunginge in to the water saveth them: of the promyses they know not / ner what is sygnifyed therby. Baptim is called volowīge in many places of Englonde / because the prest saith volo saye ye.Uolowinge. The child was well volowed (saye they) yee and oure vicare is as fayre a volower as ever a prest within this twenty myles.
Behold how narowly the people loke on the ceremony. Yf ought be left out / or if the chyld be not al together dipt in the water / or if / because the chylde is sycke / the prest dare not plūge him into the water / but powre water on his heed / how trīble they? how quake they? how saye ye sir Ihon / saye they / is this child christened ynough? hath it his ful christendom? They beleve verely that the chylde is not christened:☞ ye I have known prestes that have gone vntounto the orders agayne supposinge that they were not prestes / because that the bysshope left one of his cerimonies vndone. That the call cōfirmation / the people call byshopynge. They thinke that yf the bysshope butter the chyld in the foreheed that it is saffe.The worke saveth not but the worde that is to saye the promyse. They thīke that the worke maketh saffe / and lyke wise suppose they of an oylinge. Now is this false doctrine verely. For Iames saith in the fyrst chapter of his Pistle. Of his good will begate he vsus with the worde of lyfe / that is / with the worde of promyse In which are we made Gods sonnes and heyres of the goodnes of God before any good workes. For we can not worke Gods will tyll we be his sonnes and know his will and have his sprite to teach vsus. And saynt Paul saith in the fyft chapter of his pistle to the Ephesiās. Christe clēsed the congregation in the fountayne of water thorow the worde. And Peter saith in the fyrst of his fyrst pistle. Ye are borne anew / not of mortall seed / but of immortall seed / by the worde of God which lyveth ād lasteth ever. Paul in every pistle warneth vsus that we put no trust in workes / ād to beware of persuasions or argumentes of mans wisdome of superstitiousnes / of cerimonies of Pope holines and of all maner disgisinge. And exhorteth vsus to cleve fast vntounto the naked and pure worde of God ☜The promyse of God is the ancre that saveth vsus in all temptations. Yf all the world be agenst vsus / Gods word is strōger then the world. Yf the world kyll vsus / that shall make vsus a lyve agayne. Yf it be possible for the world to cast vsus in to hell from thence yet shall Gods worde bringe vsus agayne. Hereby seist thou that it is not the worke but the promyse that iustifieth vsus thorow faith. Now where no promyse is there can no faith be and therefore no iustifienge though there be never so glorious workes. The sacramente of Christes body after this wise preach they. Thou must beleve yt it is no moare bred / but the very body of Christe / flesh / bloude and bone / even as he went here on erth / save his cote.In all thynge they leve out the promyses For that is here yet / I wott not in how many places. I praye the what helpeth al this? Here is no promyse. The devels know that Christ dyed on a fredaye and the Iewes also. What are they holpe therby? We have a promyse that Christ and his body and his bloude and all that he dyd and sofered / is a sacrifice / a raunsome and a full satisfaction for our synnes: that God for his sake will thinke no moare on them / yf we have power to repente and beleve
Holy werkmen thinke that God reioyseth in the deade selfe without any forther respecte. They thinke also that God as a cruell tyrant / reioyseth and hath delecration in oure payne takynge without any forther respecte. And therfore many of them marter them selves without cause / after the ensample of Baals prestes which (iij. Regū. xviij) cut them selves to please their God with all and as the olde hethē pagās sacrificed their childern in the fyre vntounto their Gods. The mōkes of the charterhouse thinke that the very eatīge of fish in it selfe pleaseth God and referre not the eatinge vntounto the chastenynge of ye body. For whē they have slayne their bodies with colde fleme of fysheatinge: yet then will they eate no flesh and sley thē selves before their dayes. we also when we offer oure sonnes or doghters and compell or persuade them to vowe and professe chastite / thinke that the very payne and that rage and burnynge which they sofre in absteyninge from a make pleaseth God / and so referre not oure chastite vntounto oure neybours profit. For when we se thousandes fall to innumerable diseases therof and to dye before their dayes: yee though we se thē breake the commaundmentes of God dayly and also of verry impatiency worke abhominations agenst nature to shamefull to bespoken of: yet will we not let them mary / but compell them to cōtinue still with violēce. And thus teach oure devines as it appereth by their argumentes. He that taketh most payne / saye they / is greatest and so forth.
The people are throuly brought in beleve that the dede in it selfe without any forther respecte saveth thē if they be so lōge at church or saye so many pater nosters & rede so moch in a tonge which they vnderstōde not or goo so moch a pilgremage and take so moch payne or fast soch a supersticious fast / or observe soch a superstitious observaunce nether profitable to him selfe ner to his neyboure: but done of a good entente only / saye they to please God with all: ye to kysse the paxe they thinke it a meritorious deade / when to love their neyboure and to forgeve him / which thinge is signifyed therby / they … to do… / nor have power to doo / nor … …hat they are bounde to do…t / yf they … by him. So sore have oure fals … broughte the people out of their … and have wrapped them in darknes and have rocked them a slepe in blyndnes and ignorancy. Now is all soch doctrine false doctrine / and all soch fayth false fayth. For the deade pleaseth not / but as fer forth as it is applied vntounto oure neybours profit or the tamynge of oure bodies to hepe the cōmaundmente.
Now must the body be tame only / and that with the remeadies that God hath ordened / and not kylled. Thou must not forswere the naturall reamedy which God hath ordened and brīge thy selfe in to soch case that thou shuldest ether breake Gods commaundment or kyll thy selfe or burne nyght & daye without rest so that thou cāst not ones thinke a Godly thoughte: nether is it lawfull to forsake thy neyboure and to withdraw thy selfe from servinge hym and to get the in to a denne and lyve ydely profitable to no man but robbinge all men / first of fayth and thē of goodes and lāde and of all he hath with makynge hym beleve in the ypocresy of thy superstitious prayers ād Pope holy deades The prayer of fayth and the deades ther of that sprīge of love are accepted before God The prayer is good accordinge to the proportiō of fayth and the deade accordinge to the measure of love. Now he that bydeth in the worlde / as monkes call it / hath moare faith then the cloysterar. For he hangeth on God in all thinges. He must trust God to sende hym good speede / good lucke / favoure helpe / a good master / a good neyboure / a good servāte / a good wife / a good chapmā marchand to sende his marchaundise saffe to londe and a thousande like. He loveth also moare / which appereth in that he doeth service all wayes vntounto his neyboure. To praye one for a nother are we equally bound and to praye is a thinge that we maye all wayes doo / what so ever we have in hande and that to doo maye no man hyre a nother Christes bloude hath hyred vsus all ready. Thus in the deade deliteth God as ferforth as we do it ether to serve oure neyboure with all / as I have said / or to tame the flesh / that we maye fulfill the commaundmente from the bothom of the herte.
And as for oure payne takinge God reioyseth not therin as a tyraunte: but pitieth vsus and as it were morneth with vsus and is all waye ready and at hande to helpe vsus / yf we call / as a mercyfull father and a kynde mother. Never the later he sofereth vsus to fall in to many temptacions and moch adversite: yee him selfe layeth the crosse of tribulaciō on oure backes / not that he reioyseth in our sorowe / but to dryve sinne out of the flesh which cā none other wise be cured: as the phisicion and surgion doo many thinges which are paynefull to the sycke / not that they reioyse in the paynes of the pore wretches: but to persecute and to dryve out the diseases which can no other wyse be healed.
Whē the people beleve therefore yf they do so moch worke or sofre so moch payne or goo so moch a pylgremage / yt they are saffe / is a false fayth. For a christen man is not saved by workes / but by fayth in the promises before all good workes / though that the workes (when we worke Gods commaundmente with a good will and not workes of oure awne imaginacion) declare that we are saffe ād that the sprite of him yt hath made vsus saffe is in vsus: yee and as God thorow preachī ge of fayth doeth purge and iustifie / even so thorow workynge of deades doeth he purge and iustifie the membres / makynge vsus perfecte both in body and lykenes of Christe.A christē man neadeth not to goo a pylgremage to be saved thereby.
Nether neadeth a christen man to runne hither or thither / to Rome / to Hierusalem / or saynt Iames or any other pilgremage fer or nere / to be saved thereby / or to purches forgevenes of his synnes.Saluacion is with in vsus. For a christen mans health and saluacion is with in him: even in his mouth. Roma. x. The worde is nythe / e…en in thy mouth and in thyne herte that is the worde of fayth which we preach sayth Paul. Yf we beleve the promyses with oure hertes and confesse them with oure mouthes / we are saffe. This is oure health with in vsus. But how shall they beleve that / they heare not? And how shall they heare without a preacher saith Paul Roma. x. For loke on the promyses of God and so are all oure preachers dome. Or yf they preach them they so sau…e them ād leven them that no stomake can broke them ner fynde any saver in them. For they paynte vsus soch an eare Confession.confession as is impossible to be kepte / ād more impossible that it shuld stande with the promyses and testamente of God. And they ioyne them penaunce / as they call it / to fast / to goo pylgremages & geve so moch to make satisfaccion with all. They pr…ach their masses / their merites / their pardons / their cerimonies and put the promyse clene out of possession. The worde of health and saluacion is nye the / in thy mouth and thine herte sayth paul. Naye saye they / thy saluation is in oure faythfull eare ☜. That is their holde / thereby know they all secrets / there by mocke they all men and all mens wives and begyle knyght and squyer / lorde ād kynge / and betraye all realmes.Bisshopes worke there treasō thorow cofession. The Bisshopes with the Pope have a certeyne conspiracion and secret treason agenst the whole worlde. And by cōfession know they what kynges ād Emperours thinke. Yf ought be agenst them / doo they never so evyll / then move they their captives to warre & to fight and geve them pardons to sley whom they will have taken out of the waye. They have with falsheed taken from all kynges ād emperous their ryght and duties / which now they call their fredomes lyberties and priveleges and have perverted the ordinaunces that god left in the worlde / ād have made every Kynges be sworn to the bisshopes and not the bisshopes vntounto the kynges.kynge swere to defende their falsheed agenst their awn selves. So that now if any mā preach Gods worde truly & shew the fredome & libertie of the soul which we have in Christ / or entende to restore the kynges agayne vntounto their duties and right ād to the rowme and auctorite which they have of God / and of shadowes to make them kynges in deade / and to put the world in his order agayne: thē ye kīges delyver their swerdes & auctorite vntounto ye ypocrites to sley him So drōkē are they with ye wine of ye whore. ¶The text that foloweth in Paul will they happly laye to my charge ād others.How shall they preach excepte they be sent ys expounded. How shall they preach excepte they be sente / saith Paul in the said .x. to the Romaynes. We / will they saye / are the Pope / Cardinals and Bisshopes all auctorite is ours. The scripture perteyneth vntounto vsus and is our possessiō And we have a lawe / that whosoever presume to preach without the auctorite of ye bisshopes is excommunicate in the deade doinge. Whense therfore hast thou thine auctorite will they saye. The old pharises had ye scripture in captivite lyke wise / and axed christ by what auctorite doist thou these thinges? as who shulde saye. We are pharises & thou art none of our order nor hast auctorite of vsus Christ axed them a nother question ād so wil I doo our ypocrites. Who sent you? God? Naye he yt is sende of God / speaketh Gods worde Iohn. iij.How to know who ys sēt of god ād who ys not. Now speake ye not Gods worde / ner any thinge save your awne lawes made clene contrary vntounto Gods worde Christes apostles preached Christ and not them selves. He that is of the trueth / preacheth the trueth. Now ye preach no thinge but lyes / and therfore are of the devyll the father of al lyes ād of him are ye sent. And as for myne auctorite or who sente me. I reporte me vntounto my workes as Christ Iohn the fyft and also tenth chapter. Yf Gods worde beare recorde that I saye trouth / why shuld any man doute / but that God / the father of trueth and of light hath sente me as the father of lyes and of darknes hath sente you / and that the spirite of trueth and of light is with me / as the sprite of lyes and of darknes is with you? By this meanes thou will that every man be a preacher will they saye No man may preach but he that y… called and sent of God.Naye verely. For God will that not and therfore will I it not / no moare then I wold that every mā of Lōdon were mayre of London / or every man of the realme kynge therof.☞ God is not the auctor of dissention and strife / but of vnite and peace ād of good order. I will therfore that where a congregation is gathered to gether in Christ one be chosen after the rule of Paul / and that he only preach / and else no mā opē ly: but that every man teach his housholde after the same doctrine. But if the preacher preach false: thē whosoevers herte God moveth / to the same it shalbe lawfull to rebuke and improve the false teacher with the clere and manyfest scripture / and that same is no doute a true prophete sente of God. For the scripture is Gods and thers that beleve and not the false prophetes.
SAcramente is than as moch to saye as an holy sygne. And the sacramētes which Christ ordened preach Gods word vntounto vsus and therfore iustifie ād minister the sprite to them that beleve / as Paul thorow preachīge the Gospell was a minister of righteousnes and of the sprite vntounto all that beleved his preachinge. Dome ceremonies are no sacramentes / but superstitiousnes. Christes sacramentes preach the fayth of Christ as his apostles did and therby iustifie. Antichristes dome ceremonies preach not the fayth that is in Christ / as his Apostles our misshapes and cardinals doo not. But as Antychristes bisshapes are ordeyned to kill who so ever preach the true fayth of Christ so are his ceremonies ordeyned to quēch the fayth which Christes sacramentes preach.The difference betwene true sacramen…es and false. And hereby maist thou know the difference betwene Christes signes or sacramentes ād Antichristes signes or ceremonies / that Christes signes speake & ātichristes be dome
Here by seist thou what is to be thought of all other ceremonies / as holowed water / bred / salt / bowes / belles / wax / asshes and so forth / and all other disgisinges and apesplaye and of all maner coniuracions / as the coniuringe of church and church yardes and of alter stones and soch like. where no promyse of God is / there cā be no faith ner iustifienge / ner forgevenes of synnes▪ For it is moare then madnes to loke for any thinge of God save that he hath promysed. How fer he hath promysed so fer is he bounde to them that beleve and forther not. A fayth without gods promise is ydolatrie:To have a fayth therfore or a trust in any thinge / where God hath not promysed ys playne ydolatrye and a worshepinge of thine awne imaginacion in stede of God. Lat vsus se the pith of a ceremonye or two to iudge the rest by In coniuringe of holy water they praye / that whosoever be sprinkled ther with maye receave health as wel of body as of soule / and lyke wise in makynge holy bred and so forth in the coniuraciōs of other ceremonies. Now we se by dayly experiens that halfe there prayer is vnherde. For no mā receaveth health of body therby. No moare of lykelyhode doo they of soul. Yee we se also by experiens that no man receaveth health of soule therby. For no man by sprynkelinge himselfe with holy water and with eatinge holy bred / is moare mercyfull then before / or forgeveth wronge / or becometh at one with his enemy / or is moare paciente and lesse covetous and so forth. Which are the sure tokens of the soull health
They preach also that the wagginge of the Bisshopes hande over vsus blesseth vsus ād putteth awaye oure synnes.The bisshop… blessynge. Are thes workes not agenst Christe? How can they do moare shame vntounto Christes bloud? For yf the wagginge of the Bisshopes hande over me be so precious a thinge in the syghte of God that I am therby blessed / how thē am I full blessed with all spirituall blessinge in Christe as Paul sayeth Ephe. j. Or yf my synnes be full done awaye in Christe / how remayneth ther any to be done awaye by soch phantasies? The Apostles knew no wayes to put a waye synne or to blesse vsus but by preachinge Christe.How the postels blessed …s. Paul sayeth Galat. ij. yf righteousnes come by the law / then Christe died in vayne. So dispute I here. If blessynge come by the wagginge of the misshapes hande / then died Christe in vayne and his deeth blessed vsus not. And a litle afore / saith Paul / yf while we seke to be iustified by Christe we be foūde yet synners (so yt we must be iustified by the law or ceremoni…s) is not Christe thē a mynister of synne? So dispute I here. Yf while we seke to be blessed in Christe we are yet vnblessed and must be blessed by the wagginge of the bis…hapes hāde / what have we then of Christe but curse? Thou wilt saye. When we come first to the fayth / then Christe forgeveth vsus and blesseth vsus. But the synnes which we afterwarde committe are forgeven vsus thorow soch thinges. I answere: Yf any mā repente truly and come to the fayth and put his trust in Christe / then as ofte as he synneth of frayl…e / at the sygh of the herte is his synne put awaye in Christes bloude. For cristes bloude purge… ever & blesseth ever. For Ihō saieth ī ye s…ōde of his first epistle.
This I writte vntounto you yt ye sinne not. And though any …an sinne (meaninge of fraylte and so rep…nte) yet have we an advocate with the fa…her / Iesus Christe which is righteo…s / ād …e it is yt obteyneth grace for oure synnes & Heb. vij. it is writtē. But this mā (meaninge Christe) because he lasteth or abydeth ever / hath an everlastinge presthode Therfore is he able also ever to save thē that come to god thorow hī seīge he ever liveth to make intercessiō for vsus. The Bisshopes therfore oughte to blesse vsus in preachinge Christe and not to deceave vsus and to brynge the curse of God apon vsus with wagginge their handes over vsus. To preach is their dutie only and not to offer their fete to be kyssed or testicles or stones to be groped. We feale also by experience that after the Popes / Bisshopes or Cardinals blessinge we are no other wise disposed in oure soules then before.
Let this be sufficiēt as concerninge the sacramētes and ceremonies / The protestacion of the auctor.with this protestacion / that if any can saye better or improve this with Gods worde / no man shalbe better contente there with then I. For I seke no thinge but the trouth ād to walke in the light. I submitt therfore this worke ād all other that I have made or shall make (if God will that I shall moare make) vntounto the iudgementes / not of them that furiously burne all trueth / but of them which are ready with Gods worde to correct / if any thinge be said amisse / ād to further Gods worde.
Cōfession robbeth the sacramētes and ma…e them frutlesse·I Will talke a worde or two after ye wordly wisdome wih them & make an ende of this mater. Yf ye sacramētes iustifie / as they saye / I vnderstōde by iustifienge forgevenes of synnes. Then doo they wronge vntounto the sacramentes / in as moch as they robbe the most parte of them thorow cōfessiō of their effecte and of the cause wherfore they were ordeyned. For no man maye receave ye body of Christ / no mā maye marye / no mā maye be oyled or an eled as they call it / no mā maye receave orders / excepte he be first shrevē. Now when the synnes be forgevē by shreft afore hande / there is nought left for ye sacramentes to doo. They will answere / yt at the lest waye they encreace grace / & not ye sacramētes only / but also hearīge of masse / matēs and evensonge / & receavinge of holy water / holy bred & of the Bisshopes blessinge and so forth by all ye ceremonies.What grace i… By grace I vnderstōde ye favoure of God and also the giftes & workīge of his sprite in vsus / as love kyndnes / paciēce / obediēce / mercyfulnes / despisynge of worldly thīges / peace / cōcorde & soch lyke.How to know what iustifieth ād what not or what bringeth graand what not. Yf after thou hast herde so many masses / matēs & evēsonge and after thou hast receaved holy bred / holy water & the bisshopes blessinge or a cardinals or ye popes / yf thou wilt / thou be moare k…de to thy neyboure & love hī better thē before / yf thou be moare obediēte vntounto thy superiors / moare mercyfull / moare ready to forgeve wrōge done vntounto ye / moare despisest ye worlde & moare a thurst after spritual thīges yf after yt a prest hath take orders he be lesse covetous thē before: yf a wife after so many and oft pylgremages be moare chast / moare obediente vntounto hyr hus…ande / more kynde to hyr maydes and other servauntes: Yf gentyll men / knyghtes / lordes / and kinges ād Emperours / after they have sayd so often dayly service with their …ith their chapellayns quod …e God geve grace their chapellayn … at the last make thē not so mad to saye service alone while they.chapellaines know moare of Christ then before and can better skyll to rule their tenauntes / subiectes and realmes christenly then before and be content with their duties / then do soch thinges encreace grace / yf not / it is a lye. whether it be so or no I reporte me to experience. Yf they have any other enterpretations of iustifienge or grace I praye them to teach it me. For I wold gladly lerne it. Now late vsus goo to our purpose agayne