cõmitt Idolatrie. 1. Cor. 7. And therfor the Apostle of Christ saith: If any brother haue a wyfe / whiche beleauith not / if she be contẽt to dwell with hym / let hym not putt her awaye. &c. But if the vnbeleauinge do departe let hym depart. A brother or a Syster is not in subiectiõ to such. But Godd hathe called vs in peace. Euen so truly it is an vnnatural thinge not to norishe the children / or to neglect the aged parẽtes / or to forsake frendes and familiars. Godds worde doth euery wheare commaũde that we shuld do reuerence and dutie to them to whom by the lawe of Godd / and man / we owe it. In which sense we do willingly admitte that sayinge of the Apostle. That he which doth not prouide for them which be of his howshold / both denieth the faith / and is wors thẽ an infidele. We do acknowledg that they are deuels and not men whosoeuer they be / which do wickedly disturbe wel ordered policies / ãd howsholdes. But yet in all theis we do also acknowledge this / ãd we se it taughte in the whole scripture as for an vndoubted truithe / that the lord Godd is better thẽ all theise / that the couenant and bonde of religiõ doth excede all other bondes in the world. And that the lord doth both so will and cõmaũde / that we shuld esteame him aboue all thĩges / ãd loue hym aboue al thinges / and that when he speakith we all shuld holde our peace / that there we shuld not thincke at all of coloured expositions and excuses / but only of symple and playne obedience / such / as we reade that Abraham shewed vnto Godd / whõ Godd
Gen. 12. Heb. 11. Gen. 22. Heb. 11. commaunding hym / did go out of his countrie into a straunge lande / and when he did not refuse to sacrifice vnto the lorde his only Sõne / withough suspicion of crueltie. Truly in the hold gospell the lord dothe saye. Luc. 14. If a man come to me / and hate not his father / and mother / and wyfe / and childrẽ / and brethern / and systers / yea and his own lyfe also / he can not be my disciple. And whosoeuer doth not beare his crosse and comme after me / can not be my disciple. They truly which haue beene content to beare this ioke of the lords / haue neither lost themselues / yea thoughe they haue beene slayne of persequatours / nor yet their familie / which they dyd leaue in trobles and penurie of thinges. For by teachinge of experience and witnessing of histories / we haue lerned / that Godd by such miracles as haue beene done at the graues of martirs hathe witnessed / that they which wer killed / wer not loste but saued, that they wer not deade but lyuing. Furthermore we cã not say nay but that Godd hathe blessed the families of such slayne martirs / and that he hath moued the hartes of goode men which haue receyued thos abiects and miserable persõs into their custodie / so that they wanted nothinge. Besids this the godly do knowe that in this world they must honger / and that they must be exercised with diuers aduersities / that they may be made like vnto the image of Christ who was himself in all pointes tempted for vs / Heb. 4. lyke as we are / but yet without synne. But now this remaynith as yet to be discussed / which theis men do
take as for an oracle / and most euidẽt truithe. Wether it sufficith to kepe faith in the harte, and not confesse it with mouthe. That it is sufficient if a mã do keape the true faithe in his harte / and that ther is no farther neade of outward confession / through which thow shuldest be drowned in the deape of afflictions. Yf it doth suffice to beleaue in harte / and the confession with the mowthe seme not necessarie / wherfor I praye you Hath the lorde sayed? Euery one which confessithe me before Men. &c. Beholde he saythe before Men. But faith which stickith still in the harte is not brought forth before men. Yea it is not to be called a confession / when faith doth lurcke in the hart. For Confession doth properly bringe forth that which dyd lye hidden wythin. The Apostle therfor taking from vs all doubt in this controuersie. Rom. 10. The worde (sayth he) is nyghe the / euen in thy mouthe / and in thy harte. This same is the worde of faythe / whiche we preache. For if thow knowledg with thy mouth that Iesus is the lorde / and beleaue in thy harte that God raysed hym vpp from deathe thow shalt be safe. For to beleaue with the harte iustifieth / and to knowledge with the mowthe maketh a man safe. what canst thow desire to be more playnly and euidently spokẽ in this matier? Thow dost clearely heare that thow takest awaye saluacion if thow dost cut of the confession of the mouthe from the beleif of the hart. Yea and the beleif of the harte is that nature that it cã not lye hydd / but must of necessite breake forth to be confessed with the mouthe. Yf the confession of the mouthe neadith not / neyther then shall ther
neade ony preachinge of the truithe. But the Apostles / bushopps and faithfull martirs of Christ / whẽ they preached euen amonge the wicked / haue most bitterly condemned Idolatrie / and all doctrine and worshipp which doth not agre with the holy gospell / and affirmed that the gospell only dothe teache the true worshipp of Godd. By that confession of mouthe they did glorifie Godd / they did disanull Iudaisme and paganisme / and did erecte many holy congregracions throughe the worlde / which by holdinge their peace and keapinge the true faith within their harte they shuld neuer haue edified. Wherof euery man seith that the confession of the mouthe is allwayes necessarie / and that it is required of euery one of vs. The notable examples also of the excellent seruauntes of Godd cõtayned in the scriptures do teache the same. 1. Reg. 19. That same gret prophet of Godd Helias was ones of that mynde that he only of all the true worshippers of Godd was lefte alyue vppon the earthe. But he hearith euẽ of the lord hymself / which sayeth / I haue lefte me seuen thousand in Israel / of which neuer mã bowed his knee vnto Baal nor Kyssed hym with his mouthe. Heere is nothinge spoken of the secret faithe of the harte / but of the outward fruites of true faithe. For theis wer outward thinges / to bowe the knees vnto Baal / and to kisse his Image with their mouth. It is saied that they did not theis thinges / and therfor are they taken for true and veray worshippers of Godd. The lorde / if he hadd
thoughte that which theise our men do thincke / he might haue made mencion of the faithe of the harte without the outward confession / especially seing thos tymes wer so daungerous that Helias himself did flie into the wildernes. But the lord doth praise in his faithfull the outwarde confessiõ / which was made in worcke / rather thẽ in wordes. Wherfor we must shew forthe the faith of the harte both by deedes and wordes / after the exeample of theise seuen thowsande confessors whom God doth praise. We must not goo vnto vnholy assemblees / we must not bowe our knees nor vncouer our heades before Idolls / we must not kisse thos thinges / which are contrarie to the gospell.
Dan. 3. Yf ony other in the whole world / thos the princes (of whom mencion is made in Daniell) might haue coloured ther Idolatrie / but they chose rather to submitt themselues to cruel punishment / then to bowe their knee before that Image which the kinge did sett vpp to be worshipped. Their men of ours wold haue sayed. It shalbe better to kepe faithe in the harte for the profitinge of many / then rashly to poore it furthe to the hurte of an infinite number. For so longe as we are safe / the miserable captiues shall receyue gret and many benefites: Yea and also we priuely may promote the truithe in the princes courte. But by this same vnceasonable confession / confusion of all thinges shall euen at ons ouerwhelme all theise thinges. And with out doubt they wold haue added
that the Image which the kyng hadd sett vp was not altogether to be deputed amõg prophane thinges / forbicause that the true God had shewed the kinge a visiõ or an Image / which did conteyn great misteries of the kingdome of Godd / after the forme of which Image / Nabugodonozor hadd caused this Image to be made and graued / which Image the faithfull for the cause might beholde and reuerence as the worke of Godd. But thos valieant / and glorious Martirs do make mentiõ of no suche thinge / Dan. 3. and though they did knowe the kinges mynd well inough in this matier / yet they do playnly saye to the kinge. Be this known vnto the (o kynge) that we wil not serue they goddes / nor do reuerẽce vnto that Image which thow hast sett vpp. Neither did they only vse this libertie of speache before the kyng / but willingly they offered ther bodies to all daungers / yea euẽ to most fearfull fires. Dan. 6. Daniel also did not thĩcke that Godd was religiusly inough worshipped and serued with the inwarde faithe of the harte / except he had added the outward confession also. For when thos hethen princes did laye snares for hym / of which he was not ignorant / and therfor might peaceably haue prayed to the lorde within his walles at home / yet wold he not dissemble in this matier. For what doth the scripture saye? This / that when Daniel perceyued what the kinge hadd cõmaunded / he wẽte into his howse / and the windows of his wall towardes Hierusalẽ stode open. There kneled he down vpon his knees thre times a
daye / he made his petition and praised his Godd / and so opened he his confession to Godd. This same most holy prophet of Godd mighte seme to be beside hymself thus willingly to procure euill to hymself / and as it wer without neade to prouoke the enemies of Religion against hym: but the scripture doth not settfurth vnto vs ony error / no vncõsideratnes or rashe boldnes in this matier / but doth teache vs playnly to yelde vnto Godd confession in deedes and in wordes. Vnto theis examples of the holy scripture we will now adde other thinges which do agre with them (for thos thinges which do diagre from the scriptures we passe litill or nothing at all / what autoritie so euer they haue amonge mẽ) Ecclesiast. hist. lib. 6. cap. 28. This we will do out of the Ecclesiasticall historie. Eusebius entreating of such things as Origen did / makith mencion that Origen did mightily oppugn a new heresie which did springe vpp in his tyme / it was called the heresie of Helchesaites / and at lẽghth he did happily extinguishe it. He shewith that they amõg many other things did holde this heresie / that if a man did denie in persequution [he] synned not at all / forbicause that he which is stable and confirmed in his harte / although he doth denie with the mouthe for necessitie / yet as touching the harte he abidith in faithe. By which wordes truly euery man may perceyue that the same pestilent errour is brought agayn as it wer out of hell / in our age / and se that he ought cheifly to beware of it as of an heresie condemned. The same Eusebius in the
viij. booke doth sett furth notable exãples of many martirs of Christe which did frely confes the truith / out of whom I will recite vnto your godlynes theise few thinges / wich without doubt will be acceptable vnto all. They whos mynd (saithe he) was more readie and their faithe more stronge / suffered torments. Sum wer beaten with whippes / other were tormẽted with irõ houes / sum other wer burned with fierye plates / of whõ many indeed being weried did gyue ouer. But other did abide paciently euen to the end. Sum of the persequutours them selues verely / as thoughe they hadd vsed pitie / did bringe many of our mẽ to the wicked sacrifices / and made a noise as though thay hadd sacrificed / when indeede they hadd not sacrificed. Of sum other whẽ they hadd not so mutch as come nighe the vncleane sacrifices / they did crye out / that they had already sacrificed ãd did now depart. Which wer only faultie (I praye you marcke theise wordes) in this / that they did with silence beare the fault which was obiected against them. Sum being taken vpp half alyue were thrown awaye as thoughe they hadd beene deade. Sum beinge drawn out by the feate / were accompted amonge them which hadd sacrificed. Other cryed out that they were Christians / and dyd glorie in the confessinge of that healthfull name. Many also with a greater confidence did testifie that they neither hadd / neither wold sacrifice
euer. Whos mouthes and eyes the tormẽtours did forthewith beate / to cause them to holde ther peace / and they wer with violence thrust forthe as though they hadd done the thinge. For so the enemies of godlynes did mutch esteame it / if at least wise they did but seeme to bring to pas that which they wolde. Many other thinges like vnto this / might I add / partly out of the Tripartita historia / partly out of Eutropius. But theis are sufficient: And theis do plainly and euidently inough proue / that the lord doth require of true Christiãs / a true and playne confession of the mouthe / yea euen in the gretest daũgers and furies of the persequutors and therfor that theise tenderlinges do most manifestly err / which do thincke otherwise / only to saue their filthie paunche.