A Treatise of the Cohabitation Of the Faithful with the Unfaithful Part 10

And to the Romains / wh he hath called / them also be iustified / whom he iustified / th? he also glorified: But here the papistes haue this shifte / A m muste not doubte of G.o.ds promises (they saye) but he muste doubte of the infirmitie of his fleshe / that he can not do those thinges which are to be done / to obtayne the promises of G.o.dd.

[[Rom. 4.]]

b.u.t.t we be admonished by Abrahs example / that we sholde not in beholding of our imbecyllitie / fainte in faith / nor fall from beleauinge certainly the truithe of the promises: he considered not the barren wombe of Sara / nor his own old and effoebled bodie / he stackered not at the promise of G.o.d through vnbelefe / but became strge in faithe / and dyd giue glory vnto G.o.d / knowinge that he was sufficientlie able to performe those thiges which he promised. &c.

[[Rom. 4.]]

Therfor by faithe is the enheritaunce gyu? that it might come of grace / that the promise mighte be certaine and sure: for if the certayntie of saluaci did hge on our merytes d worthines of our worckes / it should alwaies stumble / and be in daugier of ouerthrowe. Thus the papistes do spoile men of healthfull hope / d make m? doubt / if not despaire / which is not to be done: for that nature of hope maie not be inuerted which Paule teacheth

[[Rom. 5.]]

to be suche / that it dothe not make a man ashamed: if then we do certaynlye hope and loke for life euerlastinge / we shall not be deceyued: and seing it is the holye ghoste that bearithe witnes vnto our spret /

[[Rom. 8.]]

that we are the children of G.o.dd / surly his witnes we may not reiect / without cmitting gret offence.

[[Exod. 20.]]

I am sayth G.o.dd / The lorde thy G.o.dd / this will he haue them that be his to beleaue:

[[Roma. 5.]]

And whosoeuer beleauith this / hath the quiet peace of a iustified consci?ce / and knowith hymself to be in safetie / for G.o.dd is his iustifier / and who shall cond?ne hym / whom G.o.dd doth iustifie.

[[Roma. 8.]]

Against al theise manifest testimonies of the holy scriptures / theise men do teache their contrary doctrine / and do obstinatly defend it / wherfor they are heretiques.

Moreouer they do teache that euery m must satisfice for hys synnes in this lyfe / which if he do not / then must he go to purgatorie: And that by the poure of the Keyes committed vnto them / they can turn the euerlastinge punishment in to a temporall.

[[Psal. 32.]]

If therfor satisfaction be not made whilest a man is in this lyfe / he shall do it / when he is goone out this lyfe. But against this / the holy scriptures do teach.

[[Rom. 4.]]

Blessed are they whose vnrighteousnesses are forgyen / and whos synnes are couered. What blessednes / I praye you shuld this be / if they which be reconciled vnto G.o.dd / shuld be bownde to sustayne such paynes and punishmentes. When a Synner doth repent (saith G.o.dd by the prophet)

[[Ezech. 18.]]

The synnes that he hath done / shall not be thought vppon. But G.o.dd will thincke vppon them / if it be true that either a man must satisfice / or go to pugatorie / if G.o.dd wil so sharply punishe them by such paynes as they saye are in purgatorie. It is writon in the reuelacion.

[[Apoc. 14.]]

Blessed are the deade which do dye in the lorde / eu? so saieth the spret / that they rest from their labours. They which do dye in the lorde / that is the beleauers / how do they rest fr their labours / if it be so that they must yeat be vexed in purgatorie? Christe our Sauiour when he did forgyue synnes sayed.

[[Luc. 7.]]

Thy faithe hath made the safe: go thy wayes / synne no more.

[[Ioan. 5.]]

[[Luc. 23.]]

To the theif he saied. This daye thow shalt be with me in paradise.

[[Phil. 1.]]

Paule desired to be loosed / and to be with Christ. How chauncith it that there is no mencion made of purgatorie? In the old lawe / ther wer sacrifices ordeigned / for princes / prests / for the Nazarites / for the lepars / for gelousie / for the synne of ignorauce / and many such lyke. How happened it that ther was no sacrifice appoited for the dead? The church truly (as we also do graunte) hath keyes cmitted vnto it. And theise are / the preachinge of the gospell /

[[Mar. 16.]]

that is the forgyuenes of synnes to th? which do beleaue in Christe / and the threateninge of condemnaci / through which heauen is shutt againste the vnbeleauers. One key is the promis / an other key is faith / by theise two keys heau? is opened to the penit?t. Theise keyes Christ did delyure wh? he sayed: goo in to the whol world / d preach the gospell to euery creature / he that beleaueth d is baptised / shalbe saued.

Those ministers do occupie these keyes which do preach the gospell. But here is no menci made of altering of G.o.ddes iudgements / nor of turninge of punishmentes. Christe our sauiour / by that one sacrifice of his bodye / ones offered for all euer / did worcke perfect saluaci / and made a perfect and consummate ende of sacrificing for synne: where then is their enuented satisfacti for synne? Yea who doth not see / that this theyr doctryne doth withdrawe fr Christ / the fulness of that his satisfacti with which he satisficed for vs? when they do saye that it is not sufficient / except we do adde ours also.

And this theyr wicked errour they go about to colour / because the olde fathers vsed oft? times this worde / satisfaction. But they will not see / that the fathers m?t therby / to satisfice the churche / when they were receyued publiquely to repentaunce / and not to satisfice to G.o.dd. Except thow wilt saye that to satisfice is nothing els / but when one doth make himself approued vnto an other man. For euen so are we saide to satisfice to G.o.dd / when as after our cuercion and turning to his grace / we do lyue G.o.dly for his pleasure / to aproue our selues vnto hym / as his childr?. Thus satisfactions / are signes of the forgyuenes of synnes and of true rep?tauce. But (as I sayde) theise m? do both thincke / and teache otherwyse / and do def?de obstinatly theyr error / they will not be satisficed by the word of G.o.d / wherfor they are heretikes.

They do teache furthermore / that it is lawfull in the congregacion to do the holy seruice / in a tongue that is not vnderstded. And this they do indeede / and defende theyr misdoinge / neither being admonished will they amende it.

[[1. Cor. 14]]

Paule doth forbidde the christians the vse of those tongues in the congregacions / which euen by miracle were bestowed vpon them / except they did interpretate and expoude that which they shuld speake in them. And all Paules reasons are grounded vpon the edifying of the cgregacion / whiche aboue all thinges we ought to seeke in the holy meetinges and cgregacions. But there shalbe no edificacion at all / when that thing which is spoken / is not vnderstonded of the people. Paule saith. My brethren yf I do come vnto you speaking with tongues / what shall I profite you / excepte I speake to you / eyther by reuelaci / or by knowledge / or by prophecying / or by doctryne. But these sacrificers / lyke men that can do mutch more then Paule / they do come with a straunge tong / which the congregacion vnderstondeth not / and yet neuertheles they bragge that they do muche profite the congregaci. Paule will rather speake fyue wordes / to the enformacion of others / then ten thousand wordes with tongues: Our sacrificers cleane contrary / will rather speake a thousand / yea an infinite number of wordes in a strauge tongue / then a very feawe / the meaning of which maye be vnderstonded. Paule proueth his sentence and minde / euen by thinges that haue no lyfe / as by a trompe / and harp / and les we shulde be one to an other as barbarus / and aliauntes / but this is of no force / nor auctoritie with the papistes. For our purpose we haue the example of G.o.dd himself / which dyd speake vnto the Iuishe people in their naturall tongue. The greke churche did receyue the doctryne of the gospel of the Apostles (whiche were Hebrues) in their naturall greke tongue. And as from the beginninge the Hebrues in theyr congregacions haue vsed their naturall Hebrue tongue / so haue the Grecians their greke tongue / and so at the begynning the latin churche vsed their naturall latine tongue also: Only these heretiques (the papistes I meane) are delighted with a strauge tongue.

[[In nouel. Const.i.tu]]

Iustiniane the Emprour determineth / that all thinges shulde be spoken openlye and plainlye in the Temples / that they mighte bothe be hearde and vnderstonded / But this the papistes regarde not. Wherfor seing they c not / nor will not / be moued from this their opinion / which is so absurde and repugnant to the holye scriptures / to the order of the catholique churche / to the lawes of the Emproure / without all doubt they are heretiques.

They do teache that the sacrament of the Lordes body and bludd / shuld be ministred in one kinde only / when it is gyuen to the people. It is most manifest and playne / that Christe our Sauiour did otherwyse inst.i.tute it / euen to be mynistred in bothe kindes to all communicauntes. These sacrificers therfore in taking awaye of the cupp fr the people they do committ most shamefull sacriledge. We bring in agaynst them the Inst.i.tucion of Christe: But that can they not abyde to heare of. Yeat les they shulde seame to saye nothing / They saye / That the Lord did delyuer it in bothe kindes vnto prestes onlye / that is to his Apostles. And yet when they themselues do mynister it vnto prestes whiche do not saye Ma.s.se / they do gyue but the one kinde only. But they haue nothinge to aunswer vnto Paule

[[1. Cor. 11.]]

(who writinge to the hole churche of the Corinthians / which were not prestes only (as the papistes call them) but a cgregacion bothe of men and women) dothe delyuer the holy supper vnto them in bothe kindes / as he receyued it of the Lorde / heere haue they nothing to saye. And vnto this madnes some of these masters do come at lenghth / That they saye that the holy communion is not to be called the Lordes supper / for wher is it (saye they) called the supper of the Lorde?

[[Dotor VVeston.]]

Forsothe Paule / the scoler of the holy ghost / calleth it so.

1. Cor. 11. Yea they aske farther / where the scripture teacheth / that this holy sacrament shulde be gyuen vnto women /

[[Lyberall to Women]]

as thoughe they wolde be counted of fauour and of their liberalitie / to gyue a communi vnto women /

[[1. Cor. 11.]]

and not because G.o.dd in his worde hath appointed the sacram?t of hys bodye and blud to be delyuered vnto women as well as to men.

In the holy scripture it is writen / Let a man proue hym selfe.

In this worde man is man and woman comprehended. No saith a Doctor the greke worde is / ???? which signifieth the mankinde only: