THough I well knowe not what ye be that wrote vnto me / yet it semeth / that the reuerent feare of God resteth in your harte / and that ye haue a good opinion of me . And forasmuch as ye so earnestly require mi iudgement whether ye maye laufully in outwarde dedes and words resemble the papists in com̄itting Idolatrie at the presence of the Masse and other supersticious churche seruice / so that ye reteyne the true profession of Christ inwardly in your harte : albeit this mater hathe been and is already sufficiently answered and plainly determined of late by S. Petre martyr in the treatise of Cohabitacion / and in an other worke ( as I heare saie ) of S. Ponet late Bishop of wynchestre / wherin he reproueth Hill and Petresone with other such like dissemblers and halting heretiks of thes later dais / prouing that no christen man maie or can at all one tyme serue God truly with the harte / and the deuil with tonge and body / seing ther is no drawing of cuttes nor parting of stakes betwene Christe and Belial : yet will I ( at your earnest request ) open vnto you also my faithe and minde therin . For nature willeth / that a man should gently shewe hym the right waye that is out of it : and Goddes worde commaundeth euery man to loue his neighbour / and ( as muche as in him lieth ) to procure and further his wealthe and saluacion . And in dede ( for myne owne parte ) I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ / which I professe ▪ For ( as S. Paule sayeth ) it is the power of God vnto saluacion to euery one that beleueth . And to th intent ye shall perceaue my iudgement herein not to be rashe / I bring with me ( for a champion ) the most excellent doctour S. Austen / who if he made as muche against vs / as he dothe for vs / should be rolled vp / that all pulpittes / scholes / barbours shoppes tauernes and warehouses should ryng of him . Such is the practice of the Deuil and his worldings / to dissemble and hyde all thinges that make against them / and falsly to allege and racke pieces of scripture and good mennes myndes / to seme as though they hade som shewe of truthe for them . This erroneous opinion and very heresie of dissimulacion is not newe / nor yester daie sprongen out of the Hill and stone : but the papistes haue of long tyme embraced it / and in king Edwardes daies practiced it / hauing this general rule / which I wolde not that ye or any honest man should folowe . Iura periura / secretum pandere noli . That is in Englishe thus . So thou doest not thy secretes vtter , Sweare , and forsweare , it maketh no mater . But this is an olde heresie ( newe scoured ) at least of a thousaunt yeare olde brought in / in . S. Austens tyme by a certayn sorte of heretikes called Priscillianistes / who taught that it was no sinne to ly with the lippes to on that was not of their owne religion / so they kept the truthe in their harte / alledgeing this sayeng of Dauid in the psal. lorde who shal dwel in thi tabernacle &c. He that speaketh truth in his harte : as though it were ynough unto saluacion to speake the truthe in the hart / though he lied neuer so ofte with the lippes before him that were not / or at least he toke not for his neighbour / and therfore ●hike these heretiks : whan S. Paule saied / Laieng aparte lyeng / speake the truthe / he added these wordes : euery one with his neighbour / to this purpose / that it might he laufull to speake a lye to any other that is not our neighbour / that is / which dothe not professe that religion that we doo .

S. Austen briefly answereth to these and all suche like obiectiones what so euer maye be made . If this opinion and doctrine ( saieth S. Austen ) were founde catholike and to be allowed / it disgraceth and dishonoureth all the martyres / and wipeth awaie all persecucion and martirdome . For by their opinion the martirs hade done more godly and more wisely / if they had not confessed them selues to be christianes before the tyrannes and persecutours / neither hade they made them to be murtherours / but with lieng and denyeng the truthe / they should haue saued their owne bodies / and not haue suffred them to haue executed the mischief thei had conceaued in their minds . For the tyrannes and persecutours were not the martyrs neighbours by profession of Christes faithe / so that they were not bounden to speake to them the truthe with their lippes / which they spake with the hart : but they were the vttre enemies of God and the truth . If this wer tolerable and good doctrine ( saieth S. Austen ) what neded Petre to lament his sine so bitterly after he hade denied Christ with his mouthe ? Thinke ye he did before denie him with his harte ? No / no ( sayeth S. Austen ) he denyed not his maister Christ with his hart but he lamented for the punishment that was towarde him / that he had not professed with his mouthe to saluacion / that he beleued with the hart to iustificacion . therfore the wordes of the prophet Dauid are not so to be taken / that a man maie laufully lye with the mouthe / keping the truthe in his harte . But it is therfore spoken / bicause it maie be / that a man maye speake that truthe with the mouthe / which can doo him no good / onles it procede from the botome of the harte : that is / if he beleue not that he speaketh : as the auncient heretiks the priscillianists and papists did ( for they spake the truthe with the mouthe / as others did / but thei beleued it not / nor professed it in harte ) and as our hillistes / petreson̄istes and other newe heretikes do at this present dissemble / lieng with lippes / and professing outwardly thatvhich in their hartes thei knowe to be false and cleane contrary to goddes worde / bicause they wolde preserue their substance . And therfore neither of them maye be accompted of the nombre of those that the prophet sayeth / speake the truthe in their harte . A true christen man as he professeth the truthe in his harte / bicause he so beleueth / so wil he do with the mouthspeake it to declare it . Against this truthe ther maye be no deceipt in mouth nor hart / but he must beleue with the hart to iustificacion / and make confession with the mouthe to saluacion . For in the same Psal. after these words / He that speaketh the truthe with his harte / immediatly it foloweth . He that hathe not done deceat in or with his tonge . These words the heretikes ( bicause thei mak against them ) vtterly leaue out . And the other wordes of th apostle / layeng aparte lieng / speake the truthe euery man with his neighbour / they expounde as the Iewes doo their lawe / wher bicause they be commaunded only to deale plainly / and vse mercy with their brethren and neighbours / they not only thinke they maie / but also doo vse with the christianes al subtiltie / deceat / gile / and crueltie . But those wordes are not so to be take / as though ther were non other our neighbours / but suche as be presently membres of the body of Christ / and professe one religion and faith with vs : but that we shoulde take euery man to be our neighbour / whom we wolde haue hereafter to be our neighbour / albeit he be not presently our neighbour : as Christ did declare the Samaritane to be neighbour to the straunger with whom he vsed mercy / and the straunger to the Samaritane .

And therfore he ought to be taken for our neighbour and no straunger / whom we desire ( as we ought to desire all men ) to professe Christ as we do . And if bicause he is not yet of our faithe / some misteries ought to be kept from such a straunger / yet we ought not therfore to speake vnto him that which is false . For ther were in th apostles tyme / that preached Christ and the truthe not truly : that is / not with a true minde and sincere conscience / but of enuie / contencion / and with a corrupt minde : and yet they wer suffred and allowed / but non commended for speaking of an vntruthe with a safe conscience . And th apostle saieth : Let Christ be preached / whether it be by occasion / or by truthe : but he saied not let Christ be first denied / that after he maye be preached . We maie not doo euil / that good maie folowe : for if we doo / our damnacion is iuste and certain . But let vs turne the wordes / bicause we haue folowed euil / let vs repent and doo good / that we maye come to saluacion . These heretikes allege for them examples out of scripture .

As of the mydwyues of the Egipcianes / who made a lye to Pharao to saue the male children of the Hebrewes / and therfore God blessed them . Of Rahab / that made a lye / to saue the two Israelites . Of Iehu / who fayned him selfe the Seruaunt of Baal / bicause he wolde destroie the priestes of Baal . And of Naaman / that sayed to Eliseus the Prophet . But herein the lorde be mercifull to thy seruaunt .

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

For the midwiues and Rahab were not rewarded of God for their lieng / but for the mercie they vsed towarde the people of God . As for Iehu / he is not in all scripture commended : no / scripture saieth of him / that his harte was not right before the Lorde . And the scripture saieth not / that Naaman hade a dispensacion of the prophet . For if the prophet wolde haue consented to his request / he hade had non autoritie to dispense with Goddes worde . The dedes of auncient fathers and others in scripture are not written / to th intent we shoulde folowe them in euery thing / but many euil thinges be declared of them / to let vs knowe / that were they neuer so holy / yet they were men / and might and did fall : that knowing their and our weakenesse / we should not trust in our owne selues / or in our owne works / but confessing our selues to be sinners / we should call to God for mercie . To be short / S. Austen concludeth / that for no cause men maie lye or dissemble : and specially in maters of religion they may in no wise doo it . And that that is thus spoken against liers and dissemblers / maketh asmuche against Idolatrie and wicked doers . For in bothe of them the hart and the outwarde senses doo not agree . And this is a general sentence in scripture without exception : Thou hatest ( O God ) all those that worke iniquitie / and shalt destroie al those that speake lies . And Christ also saieth : He that confesseth me before men / I will confesse him before my father which is in heauen : and he that denieth me before men / I wil denie him before my father in heauen . And again . Wo be to him by whom slaundre cometh . And again , who so euer offendeth one of these litle ones which beleue in me / it were better for him / that a milstone were hanged about his necke / and that he were drowned in the depthe of the sea .