A Treatise of the Cohabitation Of the Faithful with the Unfaithful Part 2

If ony of them which beleaue not / do bidd you to a feaste / and yf ye will go / whatsoeuer ys sett before you that eate / &c. In which wordes he teachith / that it is lefte vnto our own will as a fre thinge to go / or not to go. I answer / that ye must marcke well thos wordes of Paule / (and yf ye will go.)

[[Hovv theise vvordes, and if ye vvill go, ar to be vnderstonded.]]

He doth not grant vnto euery mans will thys libertie / and fredom / but vnto a goode and a right will he gyuith libertie to go. For yf a man wold go thether to drincke droncken / glotonusly to fill the belly / or to gyue the tongue to filthie and vncomly talke / without doubt that man shuld syn / euen for the wickednes of hys will / and for hys corrupt entent and purpose. Euen so / yf a man dowbted hys own strenghth / and dyd certaynly perceyue that he could not profite them that shuld be there / and yet wold go thether / vndowbtedly with a safe cscience and with a goode will he could not take that thing in hde / for he can not direct hys doing to the glorie of G.o.dd / as he ys cmaunded to do. Wherefor though Paul expressely doth not adde that rule / yt folowith not therfor / that yt is not to be added: yea that yt ys to be added I will proue by other places of the Scripture. And to thend that we do not herin depart from Paul / the same thing / and doctrine of will /

[[1. Cor. 7.]]

he teachith in the .7. chapter of the same epistle: wher he entreating of gyuyng or not gyuinge a virgine to mariage saithe / That he doth well which keapith his virgin / d that purposith it surely in his harte / (addinge this condici) hauing no neade / but that he poure ouer his own will: for if he shuld do otherwise then his daughter either wolde / or then her necessitie required / then shuld he neither will / nor do well.

Thus to do a goode worcke / or to make an acte prefect / yt sufficithe not to take heede that it be not euell of nature / or repugnant vnto G.o.ds worde / but vnto this ys also required / that we do go about the same with an vpright and perfect mynde and will. S. Paul / therfor / doth not simply permitt this going / but with certayn circ.u.mstances. Which ar / to go with a goode will to enstruct the vnfaythfull: Agayn to go with an a.s.sured purpose / not to be, d taste of such str?ghthe / that he shall not be ouerthrown. And thus this proposicion remaynith true / that the man whiche ys weak and vnlearned / must separate himself fr the company and famyliar conuersacion of the vnbeleauers / so mutch as cyuile and naturall businesses and affaires will suffer / and as the necessitie of lyfe shall require (as I saide before). Lykewise all houshold duties and offices appointed in G.o.ds worde must be obserued / els shall he offend / for as Paule saithe:

[[1. Timo. 5.]]

He that prouidith not for hys / and especially for them of hys own howshold / the same hath denied the faithe / and ys wors then an Infidell. And to proue farther / that this vnlearned and weake man must abstayn from the familiar companie of the vnbeleauers / yea thoughe they be most deere vnto hym / that Rule doth serue / which Christe our Sauiour gyuithe sayinge.

[[Matt. 5. 18.]]

If thy hande or fote offend the / and hinder the / cut yt of / and cast it from the / &c. If thyn eye offend the / plucke yt out / and caste yt from the. We ar not commaunded in this place / to cut of the outward membres of our bodie / as Origen (yf it be true that sum do report of hyme) dyd vntruly thincke / but as the sownd interpretours do write / thos frends and thinges / which ar most nighe and deere vnto vs / Theise ar they which must be cut of plucked out / and cast awaye from our familiaritie and companie / when they do plucke / d separate vs / from the true waye of saluacion / or be such a hinderaunce vnto vs as puttinge impedimentes and lettes in our waye / do hynder vs from walking in G.o.ds lawe. Chrisostom entreating this matier / writ.i.the.

[[In Ioan. hom. 15.]]

If the membre which ys misioined vnto the bodie must be cut of / ar not then euell frends mutch nore to be cut of? And agayn / he saith / If we do cut of that membre which ys rotten / and incurable from the bodie / for feare les yt shuld corrupt the other partes therof / (which we do not bicause we do neglect it / for who yet did euer hate his own fleshe, but to saue the rest) how mutch more is this to be done to them which ar euell ioyned vnto us? Which yet we must not do as thoughe we did despise th? / but to prouide that our helthe and saluaci be not brought in dauger by th?, after that we do see that we can not profite them at all. To this also belgith the lawe which christe did giue:

[[Matth. 18.]]

That he which will not heere the brethern admonis.h.i.+ng him / And doth contemne the voice of the churche when it reprouith / and correct.i.th hym: he is then to be estemed and taken as an ethnicke / and a publicane.

[[1. Cor. 5.]]

Which thing Paule putt.i.th in practise when he biddith / that the Corinthians shuld excommunicat the fornicator / les that a litill leau? shuld soure the whole lumpe of dowe. To the same pupose he usith the vea.r.s.e of the poete Menander.

[[1. Cor. 15.]]

Euell wordes do corrupt goode maniers. Ther Paul teachith that the true doctrine of the Resurrection was greatly hindered amonge the Corinthians / which wer but newly turned vnto christe / bicause they dyd to lightly gyue eare to the vnG.o.dly argumentes and reasons of philosophers / or rather of heretiques / which did contend and stryue agaynst that doctrine.

No man can sufficiently consider / how the bewitching of wicked tales / and talkes / do shake and hurt the tender conscience d weake faithe / of the foeble d weake brother. Wherfor it is most necessari and profitable to admonishe them which ar weake / that they do abstayn / and withdrawe them selues / from the felows.h.i.+pp and familiar companye / of the vnbeleauers. The phisicions / do cowncell when a contagius disease hath enfected any nigh place / that thei which as yet ar sownd and not enfected / shuld not cme vnto them that be enfected alreadye and sicke / bicause that in the bodies of men / and the temperatures / and disposicions of the same / ther is such a comm pa.s.sion and suffering / that the infection doth easily go from them that be infected / vnto the other. And though they which do not take heede and keape th? selues from that infection / do not presently feale the poyson and force therof / yeat inas.m.u.tch as by lytill and litill the infection / and poyson receyued doth growe / not long after they ar sure to feale the force and strenghthe of it. Seing this is so / and eich man maye worthily and G.o.dly take heede to auoide the diseases of the bodie / mutch more dilig?t heede is to be taken of all men / that they do not fr ony man or place gett vnto themselues infecting vices of the minde. Our Nature / and disposici through our naturall and birthe syn is now so corrupt / (as both the holy scripture doth warn vs / d infinite examples of dayly experi?ce do teache vs) that we neade not to dowt at all / but that we shall easily receyue the poison / and infecti of other m?s synnes / if we do not fle farr from them: And as with no great labour they will cleaue vnto vs / so after they be ons crept and roted vnto vs / th? hardly and not without great payn and labor / will they be thrust out agayn.

[[In Io?m. hom. 56.]]

Wherefor Chrisostom in the afore named place semith to say well.

If (saithe he speaking of the vnbeleauers and wicked) we coulde make them better / and not hurt our selues / all thinges wer to be doone: but wh? we can not profite them / bicause they be incurable / and such as will not be amended / and yet we hurt our selues / they ar vtterly to be cutt of. And to the end that he might the more strongly confirme his saying / he alledgith that sayinge of Paul:

[[1. Cor. 5.]]

Put awaye the euell from among yowe. Which wordes of Paule ar not to be vnderstonded of the synne / for the greke word is in the masculyne gendre / t?? p?????? / and therfor he meanith by it / the wicked man. The same wordes I will now sumwhat bend / vse / and turn / vnto the profite of you that be weake / and thus saye vnto yowe. Put awaye your own selues from the euell men that ar emongst you: for seing ye ar but priuate men / and vnlearned / and therfor can not put away the euell from among you / yet your selues ye may ridd / and conuey awaye from being emongst the wicked / and the euell men.

Morouer it happeneth that whilest the weake and vnlearned do thus familiarly accompanie the vnbealeuers / They c not chose but they must heare many subtill reasons and see many other thinges which do mutch make against the true religi that they do profes: Which thinges when they se and be not able to disproue and confute / They do it not: And so they rne into two mischeifs. The furst is / That they ar as it wer witnesses of the blasphemie / and of the reproche that the vnbeleauers do to the truthe: the seconde / that they maie happ to haue summe stinge left sticking in their concience / with which they shalbe longer / more greuusly and daungerusly tormented / th? either they thincke of or do feare. Let vs heere therfor the wise m which doth saye.

[[Eccles. 13.]]

Who so touchithe pitche shalbe fyled ther with all / and he that is familiar with the proude / shall become lyke vnto hym: Take not a burth? vppon the / aboue thy poure / neither ioyne thow thi self to hym that is more honorable / and ritche then thiself. These words of the wiseman / do for two causes belong to our purpos. Furst / bicause that they do teache / that other mens synnes ar lyke vnto pitche / which doth stycke vnto the fingars and garments of them that do touche it. Agayn / that eich man shuld well trie and consider his own poure and strenghth. Vpp which cowncell / I do gather two thinges.

Furst / that the infirme and weake must not ioyn themselues in familiaritie with the wicked / for wickednes will then cleaue vnto them: Secondly that eich man must so well consider / and iustly trie his own poure and strenghth / that he doth not ouermatch himself.

The churche of G.o.dd in all ages hath felt by experience that mutch euell hathe happened through this familiar companie / and felows.h.i.+pp keapt betwene the weake in faithe and knowledge / and the vnbeleauers. In the Primitiue churche forthwith after christes ascension / because the Iues which wer conuerted vnto christe did lyue a great while with thos gentils which hadd receyued the gospel / ther begon a very Iuishnes. For the Iues did enforce the ceremonies of Moses lawe / myngling th? with the doctryne of the gospell / through which they did infect many congregacions of the christis so sore / that sca.r.s.ely and hardely at l?ghth could that euell be roted out: Yea that euell hath so preuailed / that euen vntill our tymes / in Spayn namely / and in sum other places also / ther be many which do not only holde still the ceremonies of Moses lawe with the professi of christe / but they do thincke them to be necessarie vnto Saluacion. They emongst the Spaniards which be of this mynde / ar called Marrani. And vnto this daye the churche of India is enfected with the same vice. But let the examples of the holy scripture / I praye you / teache vs euen the same. The Israelites which wer captyues in Babilon / by the s.p.a.ce of 70.

yeares / when they hadd libertie gyuen them furst of Cyrus / then of Darius / thos two most n.o.ble Kinges to return / they did not all forthewith return / but a great nuber of th? / such namely as wer weaker in the lord th? other / being delighted with the commodities d pleasures of their houses / feildes and traffique of merchandize / did abide still amonge the chaldees: Which men how sharpely they wer reproued of Esdras / Nehemias / Zacharias / and other prophetes / it dothe playnly appeare in the scripture to them that liste to seake and knowe it. How the Israelites wer infected throughe that conuersacion which they hadd with the Egiptis / it appearith playnly by this / that whilest they wer in the desert / when as yet the wonderfull benefites of G.o.dd wer euen before ther eyes / they did fall fr the lord their dilyuerer vnto Idolatrie / and vnto that kinde of Idolatrie / which they wer acquaynted withall in Egipte. Ther they hadd seene howe the Egiptians wors.h.i.+pped an Oxe /

[[Exod. 23.]]

they therfor violently trauailed with Aar when Moses was absent / that he shuld make th? a calf to wors.h.i.+pp: which when he hadd doone / th? began they ioyously to crye: Theise ar the G.o.dds / O. Israell / which brought the out of the lande of Egypt. Agayn / when by the desert wild and barren places /

[[Numer. 25.]]

they wer comme to the coastes of the Moabites / and began to waxe more familiar with them then became the poeple of G.o.dd / through that familiaritie they wer brought to this / that not only they did cmitt most vile whordom with thos beastly wom? / but also that they sacrificed vnto their most shamefull Idoll / Baalpeor / and suffred themselues to be coupled vnto his sacrifices. for which they suffred many miseries and calamities.

[[Math. 26.]]

Peter likewise / when he cme into that wicked court of the cheif prest and was ther conuersant emongst thos damsels and vnG.o.dly seruantes / most miserablie did he denie d forsweare his master christe our Sauiour: which his fault / after he departed fr thence / he did bewaile with abundaunce of teares.

By these histories ye may playnly see / what happenith vnto the weake through that familiar conuersacion which they haue with the vnfaithful.

[[Esaiae 6.]]

Esaye the prophet / when he did se the lorde sitting vppon his seate of glorie / with his Angels about hym most purely publis.h.i.+ng his prayse / though he semith not to thincke hymself greatlye gyltie of ony notable cryme or fault / yet cryeth he out / O wo is me / &c. I dwell amonge a poeple that hath vncleane lyppes. This man of G.o.dd truly did thincke / that he hadd gotton no small corruption and infection / bicause he hadd lyued long with an vncleane poeple.

The histories of the heathen do teache vs the same thinge.

Alexander that gret and mightie kinge of Macedonia / who by the force of armes / and most notable victories / hadd subdued the greatest parte of the whole worlde / Euen he hymself was ouercomme with the maniers of the Persians.

And vppon whom of right / as vppon a conquered poeple / he shuld haue laied lawes / to haue brought them to that seuere kinde of lyfe which the Macedonians vsed / euen he as a m cquered d ouercme of ther maniers / suffered hymself to be so shamefully misused / that he did take vnto hym their kinde of araye / their lowse delicacie / their pompe and pride / and set. furthe hymself to be wors.h.i.+pped of th? as G.o.dd. And so being corrupted he did allow that fall from the maniers of the grecians / through which he did sustayn great reproche amonge the wise / and mutche hatred amonge his souldiours / d that not vnworthilie. Besids this / we must knowe / that if these men do without ony Rule or G.o.dly end keape such companye / and be familiarly conuersant with the vnbeleauers / except that in theise the fruite of their conuercion do quickly appeare / and of the other also it be by all meanes ernestly sought / both in the reprouing of their vnbeleif / d in alluring them to the truithe / It doth happen that ther conuercion is hindred by such companie and familiaritie. For whilest the vnbeleuers do se that the faithfull do lyue so frendly / and familiarly with them / they do iudge forthewith that their supersticion / and vnbeleif / is not so wicked a thinge / nor yet a thinge so to be abhorred d cond?ned / as it is reported / yea thus maye they be brought to imagin / that they maye be saued though they do perseuere / and contynue in their vnbeleif. For if it wer otherwise (shall they thincke) theise goode and G.o.dly men / wold not be thus familiar and frendly with vs.

I do omitt to speake of this / that many other of the brethern ther ar / which by the example of this conuersacion / do persuade themselues that they maye do euen the self same thinge / and so do beare with the wicked / and do wincke at their euell / bicause that they haue seen other men do so before them And thus it commith to pas / that by the example of sum men / this euell spreadith it self abroade so that in the end / our faith and Religion / is eu? layed forth for the wicked and vnG.o.dly / to mocke / and contempn.

Often tymes also that thing happenith / which we reade to haue happened in Pauls tyme / amonge the Corinthians /

[[1. Cor. 10.]]

that the brethern by this conuersaci / ar brought to be partakers of the wickednesses / vile custumes / and Idolatries of the vnfaithfull: Which familiar conuersacion / dothe not only couple them with the vnfaithfull / but it is a meane to make them Idolatrours: for thauoiding of which / Paule cryeth out in the same place:

[[1. Cor. 10.]]

fle Idolatrie. I do likewise pa.s.se ouer with silence / that wher our weake and vnlearned brethern / do thus ioyne themselues in familiar conuersacion with the vnfaithfull / it can not be but betwene them and the vnfaithfull / sumtyme ther will happen communicacion of Religion: And th? though it happ so that through want of learninge / our weaklinges do not slyppe and foile them selues / Yeat bicause they can not dissolue / and answer vnto the arguments / and subtile reasons of the aduersaries aptly / ther arisith then contentius stryfes betwen them / and not only this / but euel speakings / reproches / and hatreds / which thinges ar so farr from edifying / that they do altogether hynder and lett it: furthermor in these conflictes it happenith / that our weaklinges at lenghth are putt to silence / so that they neither speake to confes the truithe / nor to reproue that whiche is fals: Now consider heere what a libertie these men do lose: which christian libertie is in free boldenes in speakinge / to reproue that which is fals / as to confes G.o.dd / and his truithe. This libertie of free speaking and confessing / no christen man ought so to gyue ouer / but that he in all his talke shuld and might vse it.

But in this cpanie of vnbeleauers / these weaklinges do not / yea darre not vse it / les they in ther sayings / shuld be s.n.a.t.c.hed vpp / d put to shame. Yet truly no men / nor ony companye of men shuld cause a christian to caste awaye this fredom and libertie.

[[2 Cor. 6.]]