A treatise of the cohabitacyon of the faithfull with the vnfaithfull. / Whereunto is added. A sermon made of the confessing of Christe and his gospell, and of the denyinge of the same.

by Pietro Martire Vermigli; Heinrich Bullinger

In their masse they haue also diuers and sundrie rytes ãd customs / clothes / signes / gestures / tornes / remouinges / ãd blissinges / of and with the breade ãd wine / but christe vsed none of all theis in his supper: And what they do meane by these thinges the poeple doth not knowe / neither can the priestes them selues for the most part tell what is ment by them: for if ye aske the meaninge of them / either cã they saye nothinge at all / or if they do saie owghte / they do not saye all one thinge / but thinges that be moste cõtrarie / wherby a mã maie iudge that there is no truithe at all in their wordes. But here they do saie. Thinkest thou that the foolishe vnlearned people in the olde Lawe dyd vnderstand all the legall ceremonies? no it was not requisite / no more is yt nowe: To this I answer / Althoughe that all the poeple dyd not knowe what was mente by them in the olde lawe / It sufficed yet that they hade the worde of god for them / Nowe do yee shewe vnto vs the

worde of god for theise your signes and it shall suffice [vs.]
Agayne the godly and lerned preistes could shew what was ment by the rites and ceremonies of the lawe / and that by the word of godd: but ye can do neyther of theis: for ye haue enuented theis toyes in your own braynes: signes ye do call them but ye do not know what thinges they do signifie. And therfor as in rites your Masse doth differ from christes supper / so whẽ ye saye your pleasure of your rites / ye ar not to be beleaued: for faith hath no place where goddes worde doth not shew it selfe. I saide that massemungers in their masse do committ Idolatrie. Their bready god hanged vp in a pix / and their Images / vnto which they turne them selues and do make their moste vncleane seruice and sacrifice do proue this true: Neither do they accompte it sufficient to behold theis their Idols when they saye their Masses / but also they so offer vnto them / they cense them / they bowe the knee vnto them: let them nowe denye whilest they will that they do not worship the breade / nor the Images / yet this worship they do them / This kinde of worship (I saye) which is giuen customabilie vnto god alone / as the lawe of god teacheth. But seing they giue this vnto these Idols / are they not Idolatrors? yes truly. And howe thẽ dare ony christian be present there / to vncouer the heade to bowe the kne to offer and do such like thinges with them?

They saye that ther Masse is christes Institution / And our men (of whom I now haue spoken) do saye that the Masse hath sum affinitie with christes institucion of the holy supper.

But I saye that the olde heathens myghte wyth more coloure of truithe / excuse and defende their sacrifices by that maner / then these men maye do their masse. ffor verylye the sacrifices of the heathen haue lesse departed from the maner which the fathers vsed in sacrificinge before the lawe giuẽ / which also the lorde approued in the lawe / thẽ these massers do frome the supper which Christe / and the Apostle paule hathe prescribed. In bothe their sacrifices was the inuocation of god / a Temple / an Aultar / slayne sacrifices / sacrificinge priestes / sleynge of beastes / sheddinge of bloude / salte / wine / oyle / mele / an holy feaste / holy garmentes / washinge / censinge / fyer / singinge / prophecies / and suche other thinges / all which to repeate it were to longe: let our Massers (if they can) shewe so many thinges which Christe did in the holye supper: Which thinge if they can not do / then let them cease to boaste that their Masse is the institution of Christ and the Apostles / from which it differethe so farre that if the Apostles and fathers of the primatyue churche were nowe here to beholde this

masse / they sholde not knowe it to be the lords supper / but wolde surlie marueyle at suche a monstruous mahometrie.
I omytte also that in and with their Masse they haue many Anniuersaries yearemyndes / diriges done for the deade: But The Lord did not institute ony of them. If they saye that Cyprian and others of the fathers do speake of suche Annyuersaries: I answer that those of which the fathers do make mencyon / were nothinge els but thãckfull remẽbraũces of the Martirs departed / in which they did gyue thancks to godd for thẽ. They also in their Masses do call vppon the saintes and holy men departed / which is a thing most contrarie to true godlynes / and vtterly vnknown and vnpracticed in the administracion of the Lordes supper.
And to be shorte all their thinges which they do in their Masses / they do choppe and chaũge / they bye and sell and sett them furthe to most vile and filthie gayne. Wherfor / my most Louing Brethern take ye diligent heede / les whilest ye pretend to worshipp godd in your going to Masses / and to entreate hym to be mercifull vnto yow / ye do not most mightyly kindle his wrathe against you by hearinge of theise Masses: which as ye playnly do se / ar nothing els but a shamfull deuise sett vpp to deface the deathe of christe / a pestilent practise fownde out to ouerthrowe the true vse of the Lordes supper / and an Idolatrie inuented to infect the poeple and to make them Idolatrors.

whearby eich man may easily iudge / how great a synne it is / to be partaker of a Masse.

But notwithstondinge all this which is spoken / yeat theise men whiche thincke that they maye dissemble at the Masse / cease not to saye / That thoughe the Masse be not the Lords supper / but an Idolatrie / yet is not the presẽce at it so earnestly to be forbidden / seing that such thinges haue been graũted vnto the Infirmities of mẽ: If a man do aske them wheare: Naman. They do bringe forth the Example of Naaman the Syrian / and by it they will neades haue it made Lawfull vnto them to communicate with wicked supersticiõs. 4. Reg. 5. for he prayed Heliseus / saye they / that he might be suffred to kneele in the temple of Rymmon that Idoll / whẽ the kinge did worshipp / and leane vppon his arme. whom the prophet answered / goo in peace. And that / saye they / which was permitted vnto Naaman / whi do ye forbyd vnto vs? ffurst theise men shuld weye with them selues / whether that we only haue redde this Example of Naaman / or not. So we thincke that the holy Apostles and Martirs of the olde churche which wer occupied nighte and daye in the holy scriptures / did not consider this acte and Example? Truly they wer not ignorant of the historie / yet did they neuer knowe this vnderstandinge of it: for if they did / whi then wolde they not folow this example / especially when they might therby haue saued their lyues?

But these holy and godly learned men did see

that thinge in this historie / which our men do not consider / namely this / that Naamã now newly cõuerted to the faithe was a smoking flaxe which was not to be putt out / a weake and shaken reade which was not to be brosed in peices / and that as yet he was very weake / for he was not yet prepared and readye to denye and forsake hymself and all that was his for goddes sake. He thought that it might cõme to pas that he shuld together with the knowledge of the Lyuing godd / easili holde and keape still his old place / office / and dignitie / if he coulde happen to haue that / which he desired of the prophet: And when he did well perceyue that this was his infirmitie and synne / it trobled himso that therfor he desired the prayers and helpe of Heliseus: he desired hym / that if he shuld happen to fall into this euill / yeat that he might be fauored / that he mighte finde mercie / ãd that Heliseus wold praye that the Lorde wolde forgyue hym. Who doth at ony tyme aske forgyuenes for that which he accõptithe Lawfull? forgyuenes is asked for synnes only / Naaman therfor acknowledged this his acte to be a synne: And if I so fall (quod he) then praye the Lorde to forgyue me. This place therfor doth make most against our men / and euen the same wayes which they go about to excuse their facte / by the same it is most playnly proued to be synne. Let them aknowledge therfor in their doĩge that thinge / which Naaman the Sirian did. And let them begg the mercie of godd / and the prayers of godly men / that the

same thing which they haue euell doone / and do / maye be pardoned them. Neither did Eliseus / as our men do thincke / graunte Naaman licence or libertie to do so as he hadd sayde / but only he saide vnto hym / goo in peace: which manier of speaking was a kind of takinge leaue vsed in that age. And as for any other thinge ther can none be gathered out of thos wordes / onles it be this that he promised to do that which Naaman required: goo thy wayes (saithe he) I will do as thow desirest / I shall praye for the. The prophet doth not reiect hym / if he shuld fall into this euell. As we do not vtterly reiect nor shutt theise mẽ frõ grace which thus do fall: Yeat must we sharply reproue their doinges that they may acknowledge their fault and synne / and vnfaynedly lament and repẽt the same. And we ought also hartily to praye that they may be raysed vpp agayn. They do obiect also certayn wordes out of the Epistle of Ieremie / which is ẽtitled Baruch. The wordes ar theise. Bar. 6. Now shall ye see in Babilon godds of golde / of syluer / of wodde / and of stone / borne vppõ mens shulders to caste out a fearefulnes before the heathẽ / But loke that ye do not as the other: be not afrayed let not the feare of thẽ ouercome yowe. Therfor when ye do see the multitude of poeple worshipping them behinde and before / saye yee in your hartes / O Lord / it is thow that oughtest only to be worshipped / Of theise wordes our men do gather / that it is sufficient for them when they ar present at Idolatries /