agre nothing at all with the lordes supper / for this is euẽ to the eyes of all men often tymes shewed in many bookes of most lerned and godly seruantes of Godd. Yea euẽ children which are but instructed in the prĩciples of faith / do know that Christe did institute a comõ partaking / ore communiõ / in which all the faithfull which are one bodie in Christe are knitt together into one bodie / ãd that the Masse is a dissipaciõ of vnitie and a priuate deuowrĩg of one lurching sacrificer. They knowe that Christ cõmaũded: Take / eate / diuide it amonge you / and drincke ye all of this. And that the Masse doth sett furth theis thinges to be gazed vppon / to be worshipped / to be caried about / and to be shutt vpp / to be hãdeled and also receyued of preistes only: They know that Christe sayd: Do this in the rememberaunce of me. And that the priestes do saye Masse in the remẽberaunce of sayntes / that they do sacrifice for the synnes of the quicke and the deade / and to be short that they do say masse for euery thinge / for filthie lucres sake.
Ther were in the tyme of the Apostles certayn witty disputars which reasoned that it was lawful for Christians to eate meates offered vnto Idols. Meates offered to Idolls / were sacrifices vsed in the temples of Idolls / to be offered vnto Idols. Therfor thos faithfull men did contend / that it was lauful indifferently to communicate with the holy seruice of the Christians / and also to sytte down in the Idols feaste. They did add plausible expositiõs / that an Idoll was nothinge / bycause Godd was
not represented by the Idoll / that ther is but one Godd / the same our true and euerlastinge Godd: Wherof it folowed that the Idoll was nothinge / that is to say a thinge of no valure or a very vanitie / that it could hurt no bodie / and that the very meate offered vnto the Idoll was a thinge of nothinge / that it did defile no man. But Paule with many wordes doth confute that folery. 1. Cor. cap. 8. 9. and 10. In this tenth chapter amonge other thinges he gatherith of the nature of the supper of the lord that a man maye not bothe be partaker of the supper of the lorde and of the table of Idols / and saith: Ye cã not drincke of the cup of the lorde / and of the cup of deuils. Ye can not be partakers of the lordes table / and of the table of deuiles. Either do we prouoke the lorde? Are we strõger then he? Also the Apostles of Christe and elders of the churche of Hierusalem in that same greate and notable coũcell of Hierusalem / which of all that euer were was most holy and of most auctoritie / did playnly forbidd the Gentils / which were conuerted to Christe / thos meates offered to Idols. Yea and the lord Iesus hymself in the boke of the Reuelacion doth greuusly accuse and condemne them which do eate meate offered vnto Idols. This may ye se in the epistles of the churche of Pergamos and Thiatira. Apocal. 2. In the furst he saithe: But I haue a few thinges againste the / bicause thow hast there them that maintaine the doctrine of Balaam which taughte in balacke to put occaciõ of synne before the childrẽ of Israel / that they shuld
eate of meates dedicate vnto Idolls and committ fornication / and so furth. I thincke here neadith not many wordes to shew wherfor I haue alledged thies sayinges of meates offered vnto Idolls: for all the godly do plainly see / that by like reason all diuine seruice that is vnholy / or contrary to Godds worde / with what colour so euer they be stayned / are forbidden and condemned. They see that all such expositions are put awaye / by which theise fearefull mẽ / and such as do loue the worlde and worldly pompe to mutch / do leade themselues away frõ the right tracke / that they shuld not sincerely confes Christe.
The Conclusiõ and adhortation to fre confessiõ. All they which be godly do both see and perceyue that they which do desire to lyue euerlastingly haue neade to make a simple cleare and playne cõfession / they see that Christes name must be confessed / and that no man must communicate with Antichriste / how great so euer daungers do hange ouer them / and how gret so euer the aduaũtages be which are offered vnto them. They see that they must treade down the feare and desire of the fleshe. The most holy Apostle of Christe writith of Moses. Heb. 11. By faith Moses when he was greate / refused to be called the sonne of Pharaos daughter / and chose rather to suffer aduersitie with the people of Godd / then to enioye the pleasures of synne for a ceason / and esteamed the rebuke of Christ greater riches / thẽ the treasures of Egypt. For he hadd respect vnto the rewarde. Whos example (most goodely indeede) that we
may folowe / we must alwais haue before our eyes ãd (as I iudge) we must neuer lett slypp out of our myndes thos most holy most true and healthefull wordes of our lord Christe / which I see neade often tymes to be repeated and inculcate: Mat. 10. Euery one that shall knowledge me before men / hym wyll I knowledge also before my father which is in heauen. But whosoeuer shall denie me before men / hym will I also denie before my father which is in heauen. Luc. 9. For who so is ashamed of me and my wordes / of hym shall the sonne of man be ashamed when he commith ĩ his maiestie / ãd in the maiestie of his father / and of the holy Aungels. And therfor ther are in all places of the scripture most large promises sett furthe to them which do fely confes Christe / and deny Antichriste with a goode corage. Iohn in the boke of the Reuelacion / Apocal. 6. I sawe (saithe he) the sowles of them which wer filled for the name of Iesu and the word of God. And wher as in this furst place he hadd writõ / them which wer filled / he added. Apoc. 13. 19. 20. And as many as worshipped not the image of the beast / nor did take the marcke in their foreheade / or in their hande / all which / whom he did se in the very same place / he couplith together and saythe. And they lyued and reigned with Christe. He saith that they lyued and reigned with Christe / not only they which were filled / but they which abiding in the constaũtnes and confession of true faithe / did not worshipp the image of the beaste / nor receyued ony markes of it. The blessed Apostle Paule doth proue that we
do receyue more in the rewarde of sufferinge / then it is that we do heere suffer ĩ the afflictiõ it self / Rom. 8. saying: for I suppose that the afflictiõs of this lyfe / are not worthie of the glorie which shal be shewed vpõ vs. Who is it thẽ that will not labor with all his poure to come vnto so greate an excellẽcie / that he may become the frend of Godd / and forthwith ioye with Christ? that after famin and banishemẽt or tormẽtes and punishemẽtes / which are but earthely / he may attayn vnto heauenly rewardes? Yf it be a glorius thinge for worldly souldiours to returne in to ther coũtrie triũphing after they haue vanquished their enemie / how mutch more worthi a thĩg is it for vs / after our fleshe the world and deuell beinge ouercõme / to go again with triũphe into paradise? And to offer vnto Godd a gifte most acceptable / faith incorrupte / the sownd vertue of mynd / and sincere cõfession of faithe / a notable praise of deuotion. To cõme in his cõpanye when he cõmith to take vengeaunce of his enemies / To stond by his syde when he shall sytte down to iudge / to be made the felow heire of Christe / to be made equall with the angels / to reioyce in the possession of the heauenly kingdom with the patriarches / with thapostles / with the prophetes / and all confessours and martirs. What persequution can vanquishe theis thoughtes / which are not uain / but of force / and of poure / ĩ the holy ghoste? what tormentes can ouercome them? The mynd ons grownded in theis godly meditaciõs doth endure stronge and stable / and that mynd abydeth
immutable against all the terrors of the deuell / and the threttes of the world / and of Antichriste / that mynd I say which the certayn and sure faith of thinges to come doth strenghthẽ. The eyes be shutt vpp in theis persequutions of the earthe / but heauẽ is open. Antichriste threatneth / but the lord Christe defendith. The world is taken from him that is killed / but paradise is gyuen to him being therunto restored. Tẽporall lyfe is taken awaye / but the euerlastinge lyfe is repayred. What a dignitie (o brethern) is it / how great a safetie / for a man to depart myrily from hens / to depart so through oppressions and trobles? It is a glorius thinge to shutt vpp the eyes in a moment / with which men and the world wer seene / and forthewith to open the same to se Godd and Christe. But that we maye behold theis thinges in mynde and thought / that we may (I saye) night and daye meditate theis thinges / and sincely confes the holy name of Christ / and escape and treade down all thinges which are contrary to pure confession / we must diligentlly praye vnto that same our heauenly father through Iesus Christe our lorde.
A Treatise of the
Cohabitacyon of the
faithfull with the
vnfaithfull.