A18644:13
Whether Christian faith may be kept secret in the heart, without confession thereof openly…VVhether Christian faith maye be kepte secret in the heart, without confession thereof openly…
Whether Christian faith may be kept secret in the heart, without confession thereof openly to the world as occasion shall serve Also what hurt co[m]meth by the[m] that hath received the Gospel, to be press[n]t at Mass unto the simple and unlearned [sic].VVhether Christian faith maye be kepte secret in the heart, without confession thereof openly to the worlde as occasion shal serue Also what hurt co[m]meth by the[m] that hath receiued the Gospell, to be prese[n]t at Masse vnto the simple and vnleatned [sic].
printed by John Day?, 1553
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
On the other side, shall pull us back the love of wife, children, brother sister, kindred, friends, lands, & the love unto our selves, but he that is over come by any of these means,1 hath this judgement, He is not mete for me saith Christ. These things are unpossible unto men, yet to christian men in Christ possible, & so necessary, that christianity and true religion cannot be in him that is afraid to confess Christ and his gospel in the time of persecution. The wisdom of the world doth say: although i do accomplish the desire of my friends, and to the sight of the world, am present at the mass, and with my body do as other men do: or as i may do, yet my heart is clean contrary to their belief, ⟨image 4⟩and I do detest such idolatry, and believe that the thing that i am present at, is mere idolatry and abomination. Here be fair words for an evil purpose, and a pretensed excuse for a just condemnation before god. For if it be true, ye know the thing ye resort unto to be y• dishonour of god: why do ye honour it with your presence? If ye know it to be evil, why refrain ye not from it? If your conscience say it is idolatry, why serveth your body such things as your faith abhorreth? If in your heart ye know but one God, why with your external presence serve ye the thing that ye know is not god? If your faith see idolatry, why doth your silence confess & proofs the same? Two men in one, god loveth not. If the inward man know the truth, why doth the outward man confess a falsehood? If the spirit be persuaded that the mass is idolatry,2 why doth the corporal presence use it as god in doing godly honour to it? Do ye not perceive what is written in Isaiah and s. Matthew. This people honour ⟨image 4⟩me with the mouth, but their hearts be far from me. The cause why God was offended with this people,3 was that outwardly they confessed him, but their hearts were far from him inwardly. whereof ye may see what it is to bear ii. faces in one hood, outwardly to serve god, and inwardly to serve the devil. Now mark of this place. If it be so horrible and damnable a thing to be false in the heart, which none knoweth but God, & is worthy also of damnation, what is to be judged of the outward & manifest use of idolatry? which not only God, but also every good man knoweth and abhorreth. There is no collared nor cloaked hypocrisy that god can away with.