are required of theyr hygher poures / as ministers of theyr furie / to destroye and ouerthrow the gospell / then they neyther sturre nor speake anye thing at all / but do as they are bidden. In theyr own cause they can fight / and rebell / but in Goddes cause / they are as it were no princes nor Rulers. Wherby we can not thincke any other thing of them / then this / That they do not at the hart esteme the gospell of Christe.
[] Nowe this is remayning / that I sholde answer vnto those reasons which were put forthe at the begynning to proue that the dwelling together of the faithfull with the vnfaithfull is lawfull / and confute them. Firste / the example of Christ is set against vs / which dyd eate and drinke familiarlye with scribes / pharisees / publicanes / and synners. We muste remembre that Christe was not only stronge / but the chiefe heade of all them shich be stronge. He coulde so profyte them which were euell / that theyr euill shuld not hurte him / and therfore might vse familiaritie with the wicked. Euen so there is no cause to the contrarie / but that they whiche be learned and constante in the truthe / suche as can profit the vnfaithfull by their conuersation and familiar being with them / and not be hurt by it them selues (as we haue admonished before) may be conuersaunt with the vnbeleauers and wicked.
The seconde place is / [] Paule wolde not that the faithfull maried vnto an vnbeleuer sholde departe / yf the vnbeleuer will dwell together with the other. This I do also acknowledge / as befor I haue said: for vnto them / al necessary businesses / especially those which are ordeyned of God / are to be done. And yet in that place which is here alledged / Paule is not so to be vnderstanded without exception / as these men do iudge: for yf the vnbeleuing maried parson / shold continually moue the faithfull to Idolatrie / or sholde not cease to blaspheme Christ / and prouoke the other to commit like blasphemie / so long as thei did liue together / this ioynt life in mariadge were not to be continued: for this were not to dwell together / but to conspire together against Christ: Paule therfor speaketh of suche cohabitacion as is laufull without suche soliciting or mouinge to euell and blasphemye. An other sentence of Paule is broughte which he writeth to the Corinthians / [] where he teacheth that all couetous parsons / euill speakers / dronckardes / whoremungars / and such lyke are not to be auoided / for then sholde they haue gone out of the worlde. But he wold / that we sholde kepe our selues from them / which being called brethren / are infected with these vices. As concerninge this place / we must consider the mynde and purpose of Paule. Firste he dyd perceyue that for the necessitie of lyfe it coulde not be that the faithfull shulde auoyde the companie of all which at that tyme were vnbeleuers / for the greater part of men at that ceason was without Christ / and they beinge auoided of our men / coulde not therby haue bene made the better / But into them which before were bretheren / bothe sorowe and shame was dryuen / when they dyd see that they wer now shonned of the godlye / to whome as they were before righte deare / so with them they were familiar. And by this meanes the church was not euill reported / neither for clokinge of euill among themselues / nor for to seuere separatinge themselues from them which were not yet conuerted: seing that they lyued with the vnbeleuers / partly for the necessitie of lyfe / partlye to turne them to the gospell of Christ: wherfore this sentence doth make nothing at all agaynst those thinges which we haue alreadye spoken.
Moche lesse maketh that for them which they do bringe in / [] that Abraham did becomme a straungier among the heathen and Idolatours: first that which Abraham dyd / euen by the callinge and commaundmente of God he dyd it. Againe he was of suche knowledge and constancie in the truithe that he coulde be conuersaunte whith the vnbeleauers with out hurtinge of him selfe / and wyth moche profyting of them. For he caryed aboute with him the name of god and his holy and true worship / whither so euer he went. And the very same thing / maie we answer of Lot. [] [] For if Lot went to Sodome / with a Good mynde to teache them true faithe and godlie life / he owght not to be accused therfore / for it was well done / yea it was the prouidence of God towards the Sodomyts / that they mighte be better taughte / and ernestly caled vnto repentance. So dothe God admonishe before he destroieth. So Abraham was sent amonge the Cananites. On this sorte to go amonge the wicked / and vnbeleuers is lawfull and laudable. But if Lot went to Sodom only because the pleasaunte commodytie of the place pleased him / he dyd not wel. Neither indede dyd his going thither happen luckelie / for he was led awaye captiue / so that he was in nede to be rescued again by Abraham.
[] And likewise when God burned the Cytie / he was compelled euen against his will to forsake it.