An answer to a certain godly man[n]es letters desiring his friends judgement, whether it…An answer to a certain godly man[n]es lettres desiring his frendes iudgement, whether it…

For when my master goeth in to the house of Remmon to worship there / he leaneth on my hand / and ⟨image 7⟩I must bow wham he boweth. And so many others. But these heretics are like Spiders / that suck poison out of sweet flowers / not like bees / that suck out the sweet and profitable honey.

For whan my maister goeth in to the house of Remmon to worship ther / he layneth on my hande / and ⟨image 7⟩I must bowe whā he boweth. And so many others. But these heretikes are like Spyders / that sucke poysō out of swete flowres / not like bees / that sucke out the swete and profitable honye.

For the midwives and Rahab were not rewarded of God for their lying / but for the mercy they used toward the people of God. As for Jehu / he is not in all scripture commended: no / scripture sayeth of him / that his heart was not right before the Lord. And the scripture sayeth not / that Naamā had a dispensation of the prophet. For if the prophet would have consented to his request / he had had non authority to dispense with God's word. The deeds of ancient fathers and others in scripture are not written / to the intent we should follow them in every thing / but many evil things be declared of them / to let us know / that were they never so holy / yet they were men / and might and did fall: that knowing their and our weakness / we should not trust in our own selves / or in our own works / but ⟨image 7⟩confessing our selves to be sinners / we should call to God for mercy. To be short / S. Austen concludeth / that for no cause men may lye or dissemble: and specially in matters of religion they may in no wise do it. And that that is thus spoken against liars and dissemblers / maketh as much against Idolatry and wicked doers. For in both of them the hart and the outward senses do not agree. And this is a general sentence in scripture without exception: Thou hatest (O God) all those that work iniquity / and shalt destroy all those that speak lies. And Christ also sayeth: He that confesseth me before men / I will confess him before my father which is in heaven: and he that denieth me before men / I will deny him before my father in heaven. And again. Woe be to him by whom slander cometh. And again, who so ever offendeth one of these little ones which believe in me / it were better for him / that a millstone were hanged about his neck / and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.