A Treatise of the Cohabitacyon of the faithfull with the vnfaithfull.
Wherunto is added.
A Sermon made of the confessing of Christe and his gospell / and of the denyinge of the same.
Anno M.D.LV.
Apocal. 18.
Come awaye from her my poeple / that ye be not partakers of her synnes / that ye receyue not of her plagues.
In this furst treatise theys thinges ar contayned.
1. The question of Cohabitacion.
2. Christians maye not be present at popishe masses and supersticions.
3. The masse is a prophanacion of the lordes supper.
4. The dutie of princes is to mayntain pure Religion amonge ther subiectes / and what inferior Rulars must do when they be commaunded contrarie by their superiors.
5. A confutacion of the reasons which ar made to proue the Cohabitacion lawfull.
6. How the Iues ar to be handeled of christians.
7. The papistes ar heretikes.
Whether the dwellinge together and familiar conuersacion of the godly withe the godles / the faithfull withe the faythles / the professor of Christes gospell withe the papiste be lawfull or no.
[] The reasons bi whiche many do persuade them selues / and others also / that yt ys lawfull / for the faythfull to haue famylier conuersation / and to dwell together withe the vnfaythfull, are theise.
[] Christe Iesus dyd go vnto the feastes and dyners of publicans and synners / and was there accompanyed and famyliarlie conuersaunte with them. In lyke maner beinge bydden of the phariseis to dyners / he went.
[] [] Also S. Paule dothe byd / that the faythful whiche is ioyned in mariage withe the vnbeleuer sholde not be separated / yf the vnbeleuer will dwell withe the faythfull.
[] [] Againe he teacheth / if any of them whiche beleue not byd you to a feaste / and if ye will go / what soeuer ys sett before you / that eate / &c. In an other place he likwise sayethe: [] I wrote vnto you in an epistle / that ye sholde not companie withe fornicatours. And I meant not at all of the fornicatours of this worlde / or of the couetous / or of extorsioners / or of the Idolatrors / for then muste ye neades haue gone owt of the worlde. But nowe I haue written unto you / that ye companye not together. If any that is called a brother / be a fornicatour / or couetous / or a worshipper of Images / or a rayler / or a drunkard / or an extorsioner / with him that ys suche / see that ye eate not.
[] [] Abraham beinge called to go owt of Chaldee / ys commaunded to trauayle in those countries / in whiche the people were altogither vngodlye and wicked Idolatrours / that ys / in the lande of Canaan / and in Egypte.
[] [] Lot refused to continewe in the housholde / and familiar companie of Abraham / and did chose to dwell amonge the Sodomytes.
[] [] Naaman the Sirian / after that he was healed of his leprosie / dyd returne to his Idolatrous nation.
[] [] Christ our Sauior dyd not reteyne with him all those whom he dyd heale / but commaunded some of them to returne vnto their own famyliars / countrymen / and kinsfolkes (which yet were wicked / and infidels) among whom they sholde publishe and declare / what the lorde hade done for them.
[] The Iues both by the ciuile and canon lawes ar not only permitted to lyue among the christians / but also to haue their synagoges: and tribute is taken of them.
[] Some heretiques haue libertie giuen them by ciuile lawes / to dwell amonge the faithfull: for the lawes do not apoynte them all to be punished by deathe. We reade that the Nouations hade their Churches and congregations / permitted in Constantinople / in the tyme of Constantine the greate / and Theodosius / whiche were moste godlie Emperours.
These are the reasons by whiche many do persuade them selues and others / that yt ys lawfull for the godlie and faythful / to dwell together and to haue familiar conuersation withe the wicked and vnfaythfull / [] To proue that their persuasions are false and vntrulie gathered of thes places / I muste propounde certayn diuisions: whiche beinge done / I shall put forthe certayne propositions or sentences In the prouinge of which to be true / ye shall playnlye perceyue howe these places alledged / are abused of them to maynteyne their false opinion.
[] Firste / I muste deuide betwene the estates and sortes of men: Some sortes of men / are Magistrates and rulers: some other be subiectes and of the comen sorte of people.
[] The second diuision shalbe of cohabitation or dwelling together / of which one kinde ye free / that ys / where men be not compelled to communicate withe wicked superstitions / vngodly rites and Idolatries.
An other kinde of cohabitation / or dwellinge together there is which ys not free / and that ys where men are compelled to communicate withe wicked supersticions / to be presente at Idolatries / and so to defyle them selues.