by your lawes taken away your selues who haue sought them ye so excuse as that ye would haue men to thinke ye iudge them not allowable but tollerable only and to be borne with for some helpe which ye find in them vnto the furtherance of your purposes till the corrupt estate of the Churâ—h may be better reformed Your lawes forbidding Ecclesiasticall persons vtterly the exercise of Ciuill power must needs depriue the Heads and Maisters in the same Colledges of all such authoritie as now they exercise either at home by punishing the faults of those who not as children to their parents by the law of Nature but altogether by ciuill authority are subiect vnto them or abroad by keeping Courts amongst their tenants Your lawes making permanent inequalitie amongst Ministers a thing repugnant to the word of God enforce those Colledges the Seniors whereof are all or any part of them Ministers vnder the gouernment of a maister in the same vocation to choose as oft as they meet together a new president For if so ye iudge it necessary to do in Synods for the auoyding of permanent inequality amongst Ministers the same cause must needs euen in these Collegiate assemblies enforce the like Except per aduenture ye meane to auoid all such absurdities by dissoluing those Corporations and by bringing the Vniuersities vnto the forme of the Schoole of Geneua Which thing men the rather are inclined to looke for in as much as the Ministery whereinto their founders with singular prouidence haue by the same statutes appointed them necessarily to enter at a certaine time your lawes bind them much more necessarily to forbeare till some parish abroad call for them Your opinion concerning the law Ciuill is that the knowledge thereof might be spared as a thing which this land doth not need Professors in that kind being few ye are the bolder to spurne at them and not to dissemble your minds as concerning their remoouall in whose studies although my selfe haue not much bene conuersant neuerthelesse exceeding great cause I see there is to wish that thereunto more encouragement were giuen as well for the singular treasures of wisedome therein conteined as also for the great vse we haue thereof both in decision of certaine kinds of causes arising daily within our selues and especially for commerce with Nations abroad whereunto that knowledge is most requisite The reasons wherewith ye would perswade that Scripture is the onely rule to frame all our actions by are in euery respect as effectuall for proofe that the same is the onely law whereby to determine all our Ciuill controuersies And then what doth let but that as those men may haue their desire who frankely broch it already that the worke of reformation will neuer be perfect till the law of Iesus Christ be receiued alone so pleaders and Counsellors may bring their bookes of the Common law and bestow them as the students of curious needlesse arts did theirs in the Apostles time J leave them to scanne how farre those words of yours may reach wherein ye declare that whereas now many houses lye waste through inordinate suites of law This one thing will showe the excellencie of Discipline for the wealth of the Realme and quiet of Subiects that the Church is to censure such a party who is apparantly troublesome and contentious and without REASONABLE CAVSE vpon a meere will and stomacke doth vexe and molest his brother troble the Country For mine owne part I do not see but that it might verie well agree with your principles if your discipline were fully planted euen to send out your writs of surcease vnto all Courts of England besides for the most things handled in them A great deale further I might proceed and descend lower But for as much as against all these and the like difficulties your answer is that we ought to search what things are consonant to Gods will not which be most for our owne ease and therefore that your discipline being for such is your errour the absolute commaundement of Almightie God it must be receiued although the world by receiuing it should be cleane turned vpside downe herein lyeth the greatest danger of all For whereas the name of diuine authority is vsed to countenance these things which are not the commaundements of God but your owne erronious collections on him ye must father whatsoeuer ye shall afterwards be led either to do in withstanding the aduersaries of your cause or to thinke in maintenance of your doings And what this may be God doth know In such kinds of error the mind once imagining it selfe to seeke the execution of Gods will laboureth foorthwith to remoue both things and persons which any way hinder it from taking place and in such cases if any strange or new thing seeme requisite to be done a strange and new opinion concerning the lawfulnesse therof is withall receiued and broched vnder countenance of diuine authoritie One example herein may serue for many to shew that false opinions touching the will of God to haue things done are wont to bring forth mightie and violent practises against the hinderances of them and those practises new opinions more pernitious then the first yea most extremely sometimes opposite to that which the first did seeme to intend Where the people tooke vpon them the reformation of the Church by casting out popish superstition they hauing receiued from their Pastors a generall instruction that whatsoeuer the heauenly father hath not planted must be rooted out proceeded in some forrein places so far that down went oratories the very teÌ„ples of God theÌ„selues For as they chanced to take the compasse of their coÌ„mission stricter or larger so their dealings were accordingly more or lesse moderate Amongst others there sprang vp presently one kind of meÌ„ with whose zeale forwardnesse the rest being compared were thought to be maruelous cold dull These grounding theÌ„selues on rules more generall that whatsoeuer the law of Christ commandeth not thereof Antichrist is the author and that whatsoeuer Antichrist or his adherents did in the world the true professors of Christ are to vndoe found out many things more then others had done the extirpation whereof was in their conceipt as necessary as of any thing before remoued Hereupon they secretly made their dolefull complaints euery where as they went that albeit the world did begin to professe some dislike of that which was euill in the kingdome of darknesse yet fruits worthy of a true repentance were not seene that if men did repent as they ought they must endeuour to purge the earth of all maner euill to the end there might follow a new world afterward wherein righteousnesse only should dwell Priuate repentance they sayd must appeare by euery mans fashioning his owne life contrary vnto the custome and orders of this present world both in greater things and in lesse To this purpose they had alwayes in their mouthes those greater
We may not giue our selues this liberty to bring in any thing of our will nor choose any thing that other men bring in of their will we haue the Apostles themselues for authors which themselues brought nothing of their owne wil but the discipline which they receiued of Christ they deliuered faithfully vnto the people In which place the name of discipline importeth not as they who alleage it would faine haue it construed but as any man who noteth the circumstance of the place and the occasion of vttering the words will easily acknowledge euen the selfe same thing it signifieth which the name of doctrine doth and as well might the one as the other there haue bene vsed To helpe them farther doth not Saint Ierome after the selfe same maner dispute We beleeue it not because we reade it not Yea We ought not so much as to knowe the things which the booke of the Lawe containeth not sayth Saint Hilarie Shall we hereupon then conclude that we may not take knowledge of or giue credit vnto any thing which sense or experience or report or art doth propose vnlesse we find the same in scripture No it is too plaine that so farre to extend their speeches is to wrest them against their true intent and meaning To vrge any thing vpon the Church requiring thereunto that religious assent of Christian beliefe wherewith the words of the holy Prophets are receiued to vrge any thing as part of that supernaturall and Celestially reuealed truth which God hath taught and not to shewe it in Scripture this did the auncient Fathers euermore thinke vnlawfull impious execrable And thus as their speeches were meant so by vs they must be restrained As for those alleaged words of Cyprian The christian religion shall find that out of this scripture rules of all doctrines haue sprâ—ng and that from hence doth spring and hether doth returne whatsoeuer the Ecclesiasticall discipline doth coÌ„teine surely this place would neuer haue bin brought forth in this cause if it had bene but once read ouer in the author himselfe out of whom it is cited For the words are vttered concerning that one principall commaundement of loue in the honour whereof he speaketh after this sort Surely this commaundement containeth the Law and the Prophets and in this one word is the abridgement of al the volumes of scripture This nature and reason and the authority of thy word O Lord doth proclaime this we haue heard out of thy mouth herein the perfection of all religion doth consist This is the first commandement and the last thing being written in the booke of life is as it were an euerlasting lesson both to men and Angels Let Christian religion reade this one word and meditate vpon this commaundement and out of this scripture it shall find the rules of all learning to haue sprung and from hence to haue risen and hither to returne whatsoeuer the Ecclesiasticall discipline containeth and that in all things it is vaine and bootelesse which charity confirmeth not Was this a sentence trow you of so great force to proue that Scripture is the onely rule of all the actions of men Might they not hereby euen as well proue that one commandement of Scripture is the onely rule of all things and so exclude the rest of the Scripture as now they do all meanes besides Scripture But thus it fareth when too much desire of contradiction causeth our speech rather to passe by number then to stay for waight Well but Tertullian doth in this case speake yet more plainely The scripture sayth he denieth what it noteth not which are indeed the words of Tertullian But what the scripture reckoneth vp the Kings of Israell and amongst those Kings Dauid the scripture reckoneth vp the sonnes of Dauid and amongst those sonnes Salomon To proue that amongst the Kings of Israell there was no Dauid but only one no Salomon but one in the sonnes of Dauid Tertullians argument will fitly proue For in as much as the scripture did propose to recken vp all if there were moe it would haue named them In this case the scripture doth deny the thing it noteth not Howbeit I could not but thinke that man to do me some peece of manifest iniury which would hereby fasten vpon me a generall opinion as if I did thinke the scripture to deny the very raigne of King Henry the eight because it no where noteth that any such King did raigne Tertullians speech is probable concerning such matter as he there speaketh of There was saith Tertullian no second Lamech like to him that had two wiues the scripture denieth what it noteth not As therefore it noteth one such to haue bene in that age of the world so had there beene moe it would by likelihood as well haue noted many as one What infer we now hereupon There was no second Lamech the scripture denieth what it noteth not Were it consonant vnto reason to diuorce these two sentences the former of which doth shew how the later is restrained and not marking the former to conclude by the later of them that simply whatsoeuer any man at this day doth thinke true is by the scripture denied vnlesse it be there affirmed to be true I wonder that a cause so weake and feeble hath bene so much persisted in But to come vnto those their sentences wherein matters of action are more apparantly touched the name of Tertullian is as before so here againe pretended who writing vnto his wife two bookes and exhorting her in the one to liue a widdow in case God before her should take him vnto his mercy and in the other if she did marry yet not to ioyne her selfe to an infidel as in those times some widowes Christian had done for the aduancement of their estate in this present world he vrgeth very earnestly Saint Paules words onely in the Lord whereupon he demaundeth of them that thinke they may do the contrary what Scripture they can shew where God hath dispensed and graunted licence to do against that which the blessed Apostle so strictly doth inioyne And because in defence it might perhaps be replied seeing God doth will that couples which are maried when bothe are infidels if either party chaunce to be after conuerted vnto Christianity this should not make separation betweene them as long as the vnconuerted was willing to reteine the other on whom the grace of Christ had shined wherefore then should that let the making of mariage which doth not dissolue mariage being made after great reasons shewed why God doth in Conuerts being maried allow continuance with infidels and yet disallow that the faithfull when they are free should enter into bonds of wedlocke with such concludeth in the end concerning those women that so mary They that please not the Lord do euen thereby offend the Lord they do euen thereby throw themselues into euill that is to say while they please him not by
change is requisite had bin worse when that which now is changed was instituted Otherwise God had not then left this to choose that neither would now reiect that to choose this were it not for some new grown occasion making that which hath bene better worse In this case therefore 〈…〉 not presume to change Gods ordinance but they yeeld thereunto requiring it selfe to be chaunged Against this it is obiected that to abrogate or innouate the gospel of Christ if mē do Angels should attempt it were most heynous and cursed sacriledge And the Gospell as they say containeth not only doctrine instructing men how they should beleeue but also precepts concerning the regiment of the Church Discipline therefore is a part of the Gospell and God being the author of the whole Gospel as well of discipline as of doctrine it cānot be but that both of them haue a common cause So that as we are to beleeue for euer the articles of euangelicall doctrine so the precepts of discipline we are in like sort bound for euer to obserue Touching points of doctrine as for example the vnity of God the trinitie of persons saluation by Christ the resurrection of the body life euerlasting the iudgement to come and such like they haue bene since the first houre that there was a Church in the world and till the last they must be beleeued But as for matters of regiment they are for the most part of another nature To make new articles of faith and doctrine no man thinketh it lawfull new lawes of gouernment what common wealth or Church is there which maketh not either at one time or another The rule of faith saith Tertullian is but one and that alone immoueable and impossible to be framed or cast anew The law of outward order polity not so There is no reason in the world wherfore we should esteeme it as necessary alwayes to do as alwayes to beleeue the same things seeing euery man knoweth that the matter of faith is constant the matter contrariwise of action daily changeable especially the matter of action belonging vnto Church polity Neither than I find that men of soundest iudgement haue any otherwise taught then that articles of beliefe and things which all men must of necessity do to the end they may be saued are either expresly set downe in Scripture or else plainly thereby to be gathered But touching things which belong to discipline outward politie the Church hath authority to make canons laws decrees euen as we reade that in the Apostles times it did Which kind of lawes for as much as they are not in themselues necessary to saluation may after they are made be also changed as the difference of times or places shall require Yea it is not denied I am sure by themselues that certaine things in discipline are of that nature as they may be varied by times places persons and other the like circumstances Whereupon I demaund are those changeable points of discipline commaunded in the word of God or no If they be not commanded and yet may be receiued in the Church how can their former position stand cōdemning all things in the Church which in the word are not commanded If they be commaunded and yet may suffer change how can this later stand affirming all things immutable which are commanded of God Their distinction touching matters of substance and of circumstance though true will not serue For be they great things or be they small if God haue commaunded them in the Gospell and his commanding them in the Gospell do make them vnchangeable there is no reason we should more change the one then we may the other If the authority of the maker do proue vnchangeablenesse in the lawes which God hath made then must al laws which he hath made be necessarily for euer permanēt though they be but of circumstance only and not of substance I therfore conclude that neither Gods being author of lawes for gouernment of his Church nor his cōmitting them vnto Scripture is any reason sufficient wherefore all Churches should for euer be bound to keepe them without chaunge But of one thing we are here to giue them warning by the way For whereas in this discourse we haue oftentimes profest that many parts of discipline or Church politie are deliuered in Scripture they may perhaps imagine that we are driuē to cōfesse their discipline to be deliuered in scripture and that hauing no other meanes to auoid it we are faine to argue for the changeablenesse of lawes ordained euen by God himselfe as if otherwise theirs of necessitie should take place and that vnder which we liue be abandoned There is no remedie therefore but to abate this error in them and directly to let them know that if they fall into any such conceit they do but a little flatter their owne cause As for vs we thinke in no respect so highly of it Our perswasion is that no age euer had knowledged of it but onely ours that they which defend it deuised it that neither Christ nor his Apostles at any time taught it but the contrary If therefore we did seeke to maintaine that which most aduantageth our owne cause the very best way for vs and the strongest against them were to hold euen as they do that in Scripture there must needs be foūd some particular forme of Church-polity which God hath instituted and which for that very cause belongeth to all Churches to all times But with any such partiall eye to respect our selues and by cunning to make those things seeme the truest which are the fittest to serue our purpose is a thing which we neither like nor meane to follow Wherefore that which we take to be generally true concerning the mutability of lawes the same we haue plainely deliuered as being perswaded of nothing more then we are of this that whether it be in matter of speculation or of practise no vntruth can possibly auaile the patrone and defendor long and that things most truly are likewise most behoouefully spoken 11. This we hold and graunt for truth that those very lawes which of their own nature are changeable be notwithstāding vncapable of change if he which gaue them being of authority so to do forbid absolutely to change thē neither may they admit alteratiō against the will of such a law maker Albeit therfore we do not find any cause why of right there should be necessarily an immutable forme set downe in holy scripture neuerthelesse if indeed there haue bene at any time a Church-politie so set downe the change whereof the sacred scripture doth forbid surely for mē to alter those lawes which God for perpetuity hath established were presumption most intollerable To proue therfore that the wil of Christ was to establish laws so permanent and immutable that in any sort to alter them cannot but highly offend God thus they reason First if Moses being but a seruant in
then receiued he for performance of this duty the special gift of the holy Ghost To keepe this cōmandement immaculate and blamelesse was to teach the Gospel of Christ without mixture of corrupt vnsound doctrine such as a number did euen in those times intermingle with the misteries of Christian beliefe Til the appearance of Christ to keep it so doth not import the time wherein it shold be kept but rather the time whereunto the finall reward for keeping it was reserued according to that of S. Paul concerning himselfe I haue kept the faith for the residue there is laid vp for me a crowne of righteousnes which the Lord the righteous shall in that day render vnto me If they that labour in this haruest should respect but the present fruit of their painefull trauell a poore incouragement it were vnto them to continue therein al the daies of their life But their reward is great in heauen the crowne of righteousnes which shal be giuen them in that day is honorable The fruite of their industry then shall they reape with full contentment and satisfaction but not till then Wherein the greatnes of their reward is abundantly sufficient to counteruaile the tediousnesse of their expectation Wherefore till then they that are in labour must rest in hope O Timothie keepe that which is committed vnto thy charge that great commandement which thou hast receiued keepe till the appearance of our Lord Iesus Christ. In which sense although we iudge the Apostles words to haue bene vttered yet hereunto we do not require them to yeeld that thinke any other construction more sound If therefore it be reiected and theirs esteemed more probable which hold that the last wordes doe import perpetuall obseruation of the Apostles commaundement imposed necessarilly for euer vppon the militant Church of Christ let them withall consider that then his commaundement cannot so largely bee taken as to comprehend whatsoeuer the Apostle did commaund Timothy For themselues do not all blind the Church vnto some things whereof Timothy receiued charge as namely vnto that precept concerning the choise of Widowes So as they cannot hereby maintaine that all things positiuely commanded concerning the affaires of the Church were commanded for perpetuitie And we do not deny that certaine things were commanded to be though positiue yet perpetuall in the Church They should not therefore vrge against vs places that seeme to forbid change but rather such as set downe some measure of alteration which measure if we haue exceeded then might they therwith charge vs iustly Whereas now they themselues both granting and also vsing liberty to change cannot in reason dispute absolutely against al change Christ deliuered no inconuenient or vnmeete lawes Sundry of ours they hold inconuenient Therefore such lawes they cannot possibly hold to be Christs Being not his they must of necessity graunt them added vnto his Yet certaine of those very lawes so added they themselues do not iudge vnlawfull as they plainly confesse both in matter of prescript attire and of rites appertaining to buriall Their owne protestations are that they plead against the inconuenience not the vnlawfulnes of popish apparell and against the inconuenience not the vnlawfulnesse of Ceremonies in Buriall Therefore they hold it a thing not vnlawfull to adde to the lawes of Iesus Christ and so consequently they yeeld that no lawe of Christ forbiddeth addition vnto Church laws The iudgement of Caluin being alleaged against them to whom of all men they attribute most whereas his words be plaine that for Ceremonies and externall discipline the Church hath power to make lawes the answer which herunto they make is that indefinitly the speech is true and that so it was meant by him namely that some things belonging vnto externall discipline and Ceremonies are in the power and arbitrement of the Church but neither was it mēt neither is it true generally that al externall discipline all Ceremonies are left to the order of the Church in as much as the sacraments of Baptisme the Supper of the Lord are Ceremonies which yet the Church may not therefore abrogate Againe excommunication is a part of externall discipline which might also be cast away if all externall discipline were arbitrary and in the choise of the Church By which their answer it doth appeare that touching the names of Ceremonie and externall discipline they gladly would haue vs so vnderstood as if we did herein conteine a great deale more then we do The fault which we find with them is that they ouermuch abridge the Church of her power in these things Whereupon they recharge vs as if in these things we gaue the Church a liberty which hath no limits or boūds as if all things which the name of discipline cōteineth were at the churches free choice so that we might either haue Church-gouernours and gouernement or want them either reteine or reiect Church censures as we list They wonder at vs as at men which thinke it so indifferent what the Church doth in matter of ceremonies that it may bee feared least we iudge the very sacraments themselues to be held at the Churches pleasure No the name of ceremonies we do not vse in so large a meaning as to bring Sacraments within the compasse and reach thereof although things belonging vnto the outward forme and seemely administration of them are conteined in that name euen as we vse it For the name of ceremonies we vse as they themselues do when they speake after this sort The Doctrine and Discipline of the Church as the waightiest things ought especially to be looked vnto but the Ceremonies also as mynt comyn ought not to be neglected Besides in the matter of externall discipline or regiment itselfe wee doe not deny but there are some thinges whereto the Church is bound till the worlds ende So as the question is onely howe farre the bounds of the Churches libertie do reach We hold that the power which the Church hath lawfully to make lawes and orders for it selfe doth extend vnto sundrie things of Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction and such other matters whereto their opinion is that the Churches authoritie and power doth not reach Whereas therefore in disputing against vs about this point they take their compasse a great deale wider then the truth of things can afford producing reasons and arguments by way of generality to proue that Christ hath set downe all things belonging any way vnto the forme of ordering his Church and hath absolutely forbidden change by addition or diminution great or small for so their maner of disputing is we are constrained to make our defence by shewing that Christ hath not depriued his Church so farre of all libertie in making orders lawes for it selfe and that they themselues do not thinke he hath so done For are they able to shew that all particular customes rites and orders of reformed Churches haue bene appointed by Christ himselfe No they graunt
the dutie of vniformitie throughout all Churches in all manner of indifferent ceremonies will bee very hard and therefore best to giue it ouer But perhaps they are by so much the more loth to forsake this argument for that it hath though nothing else yet the name of Scripture to giue it some kinde of countenance more then the next of liuerie coates affordeth them For neither is it any manâ— dutie to cloth all his children or all his seruants with one weede nor theirs to cloath themselues so if it were left to their owne iudgements as these ceremonies are lâ—ft of God to the iudgement of the Church And seeing Churches are rather in this case like diuerse families then like diuers seruants of one family because euery Church the state whereof is independent vpon any other hath authoritie to appoint orders for it selfe in thinges indifferent therefore of the two we may rather inferre that as one familie is not abridged of libertie to be clothed in Fryers gray for that an other doth weare clay-colour so neither are all Churches bound to the selfe same indifferent Ceremonies which it liketh sundry to vse As for that Canon in the Councell of Nice let them but read it and waigh it well The auncient vse of the Church throughout all Christendome was for fiftie dayes after Easter which fifty dayes were called Pentecost though most commonly the last day of them which is Whitsunday be so called in like sort on all the Sundayes throughout the whole yeare their manner was to stand at praier whereupon their meetinges vnto that purpose on those dayes had the name of Stations giuen them Of which custome Tertullian speaketh in this wise It is not with vs thought sit either to fast on the Lordes day or to pray kneeling The same immunitie from fasting and kneeling we keepe all the time which is betweene the Feasts of Easter and Pentecost This being therefore and order generally receiued in the Church when some began to be singular and different from all others and that in a ceremonie which was then iudged very conuenient for the whole Church euen by the whole those fewe excepted which brake out of the common pale the Councell of Nice thought good to inclose them againe with the rest by a lawe made in this sort Because there are certaine which will needs kneele at the time of praier on the Lordes day and in the fiftie dayes after Easter the holy Synode iudging it meet that a conuenient custome be obserued throughout all churches hath decreed that standing wee make our praiers to the Lord. Whereby it plainely appeareth that in things indifferent what the whole Church doth thinke conuenient for the whole the same if any part doe wilfully violate it may be reformed and inrayled againe by that generall authority whereunto ech particular is subiect and that the spirit of singularitie in a few ought to giue place vnto publike iudgement this doth clearely enough appeare but not that all Christian Churches are bound in euery indifferent ceremonie to be vniforme because where the whole hath not tyed the parts vnto one and the same thing they being therein left each to their owne choyce may either do as other do or else otherwise without any breach of dutie at all Concerning those indifferent thinges wherein it hath beene heretofore thought good that all Christian Churches should bee vniforme the way which they now conceiue to bring this to passe was then neuer thought on For till now it hath bene iudged that seeing the lawe of God doth not prescribe all particular ceremonies which the Church of Christ may vse and in so great varietie of them as may be found out it is not possible that the lawe of nature and reason should direct all Churches vnto the same thinges each deliberating by it selfe what is most conuenient the way to establish the same things indifferent throughout them all must needs be the iudgement of some iudiciall authoritie drawne into one onely sentence which may be a rule for euery particular to follow And because such authoritie ouer all Churches is too much to be granted vnto any one mortall man there yet remaineth that which hath bene alwayes followed as the best the safest the most sincere and reasonable way namely the verdict of the whole Church orderly taken and set downe in the assembly of some generall councell But to maintaine that all Christian Churches ought for vnities sake to be vniforme in all ceremonies then to teach that the way of bringing this to passe must be by mutuall imitation so that where we haue better ceremonies then others they shall bee bound to followe vs and we them where theirs are better how should we thinke it agreeable and consonant vnto reason For sith in things of this nature there is such varietie of particular inducements whereby one Church may be led to thinke that better which another Church led by other inducements iudgeth to be worse For example the East Church did thinke it better to keepe Easter day after the manner of the Iewes the West Church better to do otherwise the Greeke Church iudgeth it worse to vse vnleauened bread in the Eucharist the Latine Church leauened one Church esteemeth it not so good to receiue the Eucharist sitting as staÌ„ding another Church not so good standing as sitting there being on the one side probable motiues as well as on the other vnlesse they adde somewhat else to define more certainely what ceremonies shall stand for best in such sort that all Churches in the world shall know them to be the best and so know them that there may not remaine any question about this point we are not a whit the neerer for that they haue hitherto said They themselues although resolued in their owne iudgements what ceremonies are best the foreseeing that such as they are addicted vnto be not all so clearely and so incomparably best but others there are or may be at least wise when all things are well considered as good knewe not which way smoothly to rid their hands of this matter without prouiding some more certaine rule to be followed for establishment of vniformitie in ceremonies when there are diuerse kinds of equall goodnesse and therefore in this case they say that the later Churches the fewer should conforme themselues vnto the elder and the mo Hereupon they conclude that for as much as all the reformed Churches so farre as they know which are of our confession in doctrine haue agreed already in the abrogation of diuerse things which we reteine our Church ought either to shew that they haue done euill or else she is found to be in fault for not conforming her selfe to those Churches in that which she cannot deny to be in them well abrogated For the authoritie of the first Churches and those they accompt to be the first in this cause which were first reformed they bring the comparison of younger daughters conforming themselues
Notwithstanding we do not deny alteration of laws to be sometimes a thing necessary as when they are vnnatural or impious or otherwise hurtfull vnto the publique community of mē and against that good for which humaine societies were instituted When the Apostles of our Lord Sauiour were ordained to alter the lawes of Heathnish Religion receiued throughout the whole world chosen I grant they were Paule excepted the rest ignorant poore simple vnschooled altogether and vnlettered men howbeit extraordinarilie indued with ghostly wisedome from aboue before they euer vndertooke this enterprise yea their authoritie confirmed by miracle to the end it might plainely appeare that they were the Lords Ambassadours vnto whose Soueraigne power for all flesh to stoope for all the kingdomes of the earth to yeeld themselues willingly conformable in whatsoeuer should be required it was their duty In this case therefore their oppositions in maintenance of publique superstition against Apostolique endeuours as that they might not condemne the wayes of their ancient predecessors that they must keepe Religiones traditas the rites which frō age to age had descended that the ceremonies of Religion had beene euer accompted by so much holier as elder these and the like allegations in this case were vaine friuolous Not to stay longer therefore in speech concerning this point we will conclude that as the change of such lawes as haue bene specified is necessary so the euidence that they are such must be great If we haue neither voice frō heauen that so pronounceth of them neither sentence of men grounded vpon such manifest and cleare proofe that they in whose hands it is to alter them may likewise infallibly euen in hart conscience iudge them so vpon necessitie to vrge alteration is to trouble and disturbe without necessitie As for arbitrary alterations when laws in themselues not simply bad or vnmeet are changed for better and more expedient if the benefit of that which is newly better deuised be but small sith the custome of easinesse to alter and change is so euill no doubt but to beare a tolerable soare is better then to venter on a dangerous remedy Which being generally thought vpon as a matter that touched neerly their whole enterprise whereas change was notwithstanding concluded necessary in regard of the great hurt which the Church did receiue by a number of things then in vse whereupon a great deale of that which had bene was now to be taken away and remoued out of the Church yeat sith there are diuerse waies of abrogating things established they saw it best to cut off presently such things as might in that sort be extinguished without danger leauing the rest to be abolished by disusage through tract of time And as this was done for the manner of abrogation so touching the stint or measure thereof rites ceremonies and other externall things of like nature being hurtfull vnto the Church either in respect of their quality or in regard of their nūber in the former there could be no doubt or difficulty what should be done their deliberation in the later was more hard And therefore in as much as they did resolue to remoue only such things of that kind as the Church might best spare reteining the residue their whole counsell is in this point vtterly cōdemned as hauing either proceeded from the blindnes of those times or from negligence or from desire of honour and glory or from an erroneous opinion that such things might be tollerated for a while or if it did proceed as they which would seeme most fauourable are content to thinke it possible from a purpose partly the easilier to draw Papists vnto the Gospell by keeping so many orders stil the same with theirs and partly to redeeme peace therby the breach wherof they might feare would insue vpon more thorow alteration or howsoeuer it came to passe the thing they did is iudged euill But such is the lot of all that deale in publique affaires whether of Church or cōmonwealth that which men list to surmise of their doings be it good or ill they must before hand patiently arme their minds to indure Wherefore to let go priuate surmises whereby the thing in it selfe is not made either better or worse if iust and allowable reasons might leade thē to do as they did then are these censures al frustrate Touching ceremonies harmelesse therfore in thēselues hurtful onely in respect of number was it amisse to decree that those things which were least needfull newliest come should be the first that were taken away as in the abrogating of a nūber of saints daies and of other the like customes it appeareth they did till afterwards the forme of common prayer being perfited articles of sound Religion and discipline agreed vpon Catechismes framed for the needfull instruction of youth Churches purged of things that indeed were burthensome to the people or to the simple offensiue and scandalous all was brought at the length vnto that wherein now we stand Or was it amisse that hauing this way eased the Church as they thought of superfluitie they went not on till they had pluckt vp euen those things also which had taken a great deale stronger and deeper roote those things which to abrogate without constraint of manifest harme thereby arising had bene to alter vnnecessarily in their iudgements the auncient receiued custome of the whole Church the vniuersall practise of the people of God and those very decrees of our fathers which were not only set downe by agreement of generall councels but had accordingly bin put in vre and so continued in vse till that very time present True it is that neither councels nor customes be they neuer so ancient and so generall can let the Church from taking away that thing which is hurtfull to be retained Where things haue bene instituted which being conuenient and good at the first do afterwards in processe of time waxe otherwise we make no doubt but they may be altered yea though councels or customes generall haue receiued them And therfore it is but a needles kind of opposition which they make who thus dispute If in those things which are not expressed in the Scripture that is to be obserued of the Church which is the custome of the people of God and decree of our forefathers then how can these things at any time be varied which heretofore haue bene once ordained in such sort Whereto we say that things so ordained are to be kept howbeit not necessarily any longer then till there grow some vrgent cause to ordaine the contrary For there is not any positiue law of men whether it be generall or particular receiued by formall expresse consent as in councels or by secret approbation as in customes it commeth to passe but the same may be taken away it occasion serue Euen as we all know that many things generally kept heretofore are now in like sort generally vnkept and abolished euery where Notwithstanding
not loosely through silence permitted thinges to passe away as in a dreame there shall be for mens information extant thus much concerning the present state of the Church of God established amongst vs and their carefull endeuour which would haue vpheld the same At your hands beloued in our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ for in him the loue which we beare vnto all that would but seeme to be borne of him it is not the sea of your gall and bitternes that shall euer drowne I haue no great cause to looke for other then the selfesame portion lot which your maner hath bene hitherto to lay on them that concur not in opinion and sentence with you But our hope is that the God of peace shal notwithstanding mans nature too impatient of contumelious maledictiō inable vs quietly and euē gladly to suffer al things for that worke sake which we couet to perform The wonderful zeale and feruour wherewith ye haue withstood the receiued orders of this Church was the first thing which caused me to enter into consideration whether as all your published bookes and writings peremptorily maintain euery Christian man fearing God stand bound to ioyne with you for the furtherance of that which ye tearme the Lords Discipline Wherin I must plainly confesse vnto you that before I examined your sundrie declarations in that behalfe it could not settle in my head to thinke but that vndoubtedly such nūbers of otherwise right wel affected most religiously enclined minds had some maruellous reasonable inducementes which led thē with so great earnestnes that way But when once as near as my slender abilitie would serue I had with trauell care performed that part of the Apostles aduise counsel in such cases whereby he willeth to try al things and was come at the length so far that there remained onely the other clause to be satisfied wherein he concludeth that what good is must bee held there was in my poore vnderstanding no remedie but to set downe this as my finall resolute perswasion Surely the present forme of Church gouernment which the lawes of this land haue established is such as no lawe of God nor reason of man hath hitherto bene alleaged of force sufficient to proue they do ill who to the vttermost of their power withstand the alteration thereof Contrariwise The other which instead of it we are required to accept is only by error misconceipt named the ordinance of Iesus Christ no one proofe as yet brought forth whereby it may clearely appeare to be so in very deede The explication of which two thinges I haue here thought good to offer into your owne hands hartily beseeching you euen by the meeknesse of Iesus Christ whome I trust ye loue that as ye tender the peace and quietnesse of this Church if there bee in you that gracious humilitie which hath euer bene the crowne and glory of a christianly disposed minde if your owne soules hearts and consciences the sound integritie whereof can but hardly stand with the refusall of truth in personall respects be as I doubt not but they are things most deare and precious vnto you Let not the faith which ye haue in our Lord Iesus Christ be blemished with partialities regard not who it is which speaketh but waigh onely what is spoken Thinke not that ye reade the wordes of one who bendeth himselfe as an aduersary against the truth which ye haue alreadie embraced but the words of one who desireth euen to embrace together with you the selfe same truth if it be the truth and for that cause for no other God hee knoweth hath vndertaken the burthensome labour of this painefull kinde of conference For the plainer accesse whereunto let it bee lawfull for mee to rip vp to the very bottome how and by whom your Discipline was planted at such time as this age wee liue in began to make first triall thereof 2. A founder it had whome for mine owne part I thinke incomparably the wisest man that euer the french Church did enioy since the houre it enioyed him His bringing vp was in the studie of the Ciuill Lawe Diuine knowledge he gathered not by hearing or reading so much as by teaching others For though thousands were debters to him as touching knowledge in that kinde yet he to none but onely to God the author of that most blessed fountaine the booke of life and of the admirable dexteritie of wit together with the helpes of other learning which were his guides till being occasioned to leaue Fraunce he fell at the length vpon Geneua Which Citie the Bishop and Cleargie thereof had a little before as some doe affirme forsaken being of likelihood frighted with the peoples sudden attempt for abolishment of popish religiō the euent of which enterprise they thought it not safe for themselues to wait for in that place At the comming of Caluin thither the forme of their ciuill regiment was popular as it continueth at this day neither King nor Duke nor Noble man of any authoritie or power ouer them but officers chosen by the people yearely out of themselues to order all things with publique consent For spirituall gouernment they had no lawes at all agreed vpon but did what the pastors of their soules by perswasion could win them vnto Caluin being admitted one of their Preachers a diuinitie Reader amongst them considered how dangerous it was that the whole estate of that Church should hang stil on so slender a thred as the liking of an ignorant multitude is if it haue power to change whatsoeuer it selfe listeth Wherefore taking vnto him two of the other ministers for more countenance of the action albeit the rest were all against it they moued and in the end perswaded with much adoe the people to bind themselues by solemne oath first neuer to admit the Papacie amongst them againe and secondly to liue in obedience vnto such orders concerning the exercise of their religion and the forme of their ecclesiasticall gouernment as those their true and faithfull Ministers of Gods word had agreeablie to Scripture set downe for that end and purpose When these thinges began to bee put in vre the people also what causes mouing them thereunto themselues best know began to repent them of that they had done and irefully to champe vpon the bit they had taken into their mouthes the rather for that they grew by meanes of this innouation into dislike with some Churches neare about them the benefite of whose good friendship their state could not well lacke It was the manner of those times whether through mens desire to enioy alone the glory of their owne enterprises or else because the quicknesse of their occasions required present dispatch so it was that euery particular Church did that within it selfe which some fewe of their owne thought good by whome the rest were all directed Such nūber of Churches thē being though free within themselues yet smal commō conference before hand
Church staÌ„deth bound by the law of God to put downe Bishops and in their roomes to erect an eldership so authorized as you would haue it for the gouernmeÌ„t of each parish Deceiued greatly they are therfore who think that all they whose names are cited amongst the fauourers of this cause are on any such verdict agreed Yet touching some materiall points of your discipline a kind of agreement we grant there is amongst many diuines of reformed Churches abroad For first to do as the Church of Geneua did the learned in some other churches must needs be the more willing who hauing vsed in like maner not the slow tedious help of proceeding by publike authoritie but the peoples more quick endeuor for alteratioÌ„ in such an exigent I see not well how they could haue staied to deliberat about any other regimeÌ„t theÌ„ that which already was deuised to their hands that which in like case had bene takeÌ„ that which was easiest to be established without delay that which was likeliest to content the people by reason of some kind of sway which it giueth them When therfore the example of one Church was thus at the first almost through a kind of coÌ„straint or necessitie followed by many their concurrence in perswasion about some materiall points belonging to the same policie is not strange For we are not to maruell greatly if they which haue all done the same thing do easily embrace the same opinion as coÌ„cerning their owne doings Besides mark I beseech you that which Galen in matter of philosophie noteth for the like falleth out euen in questions of higher knowledge It fareth many times with mens opinioÌ„s as with rumors reports That which a credible person telleth is easily thought probable by such as are well perswaded of him But if two or three or foure agree all in the same tale they iudge it then to be out of controuersie and so are many times ouertaken for want of due consideration eyther some common cause leading them all inâ—â— error or one mans ouersight deceiuing many through their too much credulitie and easinesse of beliefe Though ten persons be brought to giue testimony in any cause yet if the knowledge they haue of the thing whereunto they come as witnesses appeare to haue growne from some one amongst them and to haue spred it selfe from hand to hand they all are in force but as one testimony Nor is it otherwise here where the daughter Churches do speake their mothers dialect here where so many sing one song by reason that hee is the guide of the quier concerning whose deserued authoritie amongst euen the grauest diuines we haue already spoken at large Will ye aske what should moue those many learned to be followers of one mans iudgement no necessitie of argument forcing them thereunto your demaund is answered by your selues Loath ye are to thinke that they whom ye iudge to haue attained as sound knowledge in all points of doctrine as any since the Apostles time should mistake in discipline Such is naturally our affection that whom in great things we mightily admire in them we are not perswaded willingly that any thing should be amisse The reason whereof is for that as dead flies putrifie the oyntment of the Apothecarie so a little folly him that is in estimation for wisedome This in euery profession hath too much authorized the iudgement of a few This with Germans hath caused Luther and with many other Churches Caluin to preuaile in all things Yet are we not able to define whether the wisedome of that God who setteth before vs in holy Scripture so many admirable paternes of vertue and no one of them without somewhat noted wherin they were culpable to the end that to him alone it might alwayes be acknowledged Thou onely art holy thou onely art iust might not permit those worthy vessels of his glory to be in some thinges blemished with the staine of humaine frailtie euen for this cause least wee should esteeme of any man aboue that which behoueth 5. Notwithstanding as though ye were able to say a great deale more then hitherto your bookes haue reuealed to the world earnest chalengers ye are of triall by some publique disputation Wherein if the thing ye craue bee no more then onely leaue to dispute openly about those matters that are in question the schooles in Vniuersities for any thing I know are open vnto you they haue their yearely Acts and Commencements besides other disputations both ordinary and vpon occasion wherein the seuerall parts of our owne Ecclesiasticall discipline are oftentimes offered vnto that kind of examination the learnedest of you haue bene of late yeares noted seldome or neuer absent from thence at the time of those greater assemblies and the fauour of proposing there in conuenient sort whatsoeuer ye can obiect which thing my selfe haue knowne them to graunt of Scholasticall courtesie vnto straungers neither hath as I thinke nor euer will I presume be denied you If your suite be to haue some great extraordinary confluence in expectation whereof the lawes that already are should sleepe and haue no power ouer you till in the hearing of thousands ye all did acknowledge your error and renounce the further prosecutioÌ„ of your cause happily they whose authority is required vnto the satisfying of your demaund do think it both dangerous to admit such coÌ„course of deuided minds vnmeet that laws which being once solemnly established are to exact obedience of all men and to constraine therunto should so far stoup as to hold theÌ„selues in suspeÌ„se froÌ„ taking any effect vpoÌ„ you till some disputer can perswade you to be obedient A law is the deed of the whole body politike wherof if ye iudge your selues to be any part theÌ„ is the law eueÌ„ your deed also And were it reasoÌ„ in things of this qualitie to giue meÌ„ audience pleading for the ouerthrow of that which their own very deed hath ratified Laws that haue bin approued may be no man doubteth again repealed to that end also disputed against by the authors thereof theÌ„selues But this is wheÌ„ the whole doth deliberate what laws each part shal obserue not when a part refuseth the laws which the whole hath orderly agreed vpon NotwithstaÌ„ding for as much as the cause we maintain is God be thanked such as needeth not to shun any triall might it please theÌ„ on whose approbatioÌ„ the matter dependeth to coÌ„descend so far vnto you in this behalf I wish hartily that proofe were made euen by solemne confereÌ„ce in orderly quiet sort whether you would your selues be satisfied or else could by satisfying others draw theÌ„ to your part Prouided alwaies first in asmuch as ye go about to destroy a thing which is in force to draw in that which hath not as yet bin receiued to impose on vs that which we think not our selues bound vnto to ouerthrow those things whereof we are possessed that therefore
rashnes God was not ignorant that the Priests and Iudges whose sentence in matters of controuersie 〈◊〉 ordained should stand both might and oftentimes would be deceiued in their iudgement Howbeit better it was in the eye of his vnderstanding that sometime an erroneous sentence definitiue should preuaile till the same authoritie perceiuing such ouersight might afterwardes correct or reuerse it then that strifes should haue respit to growe and not come speedily vnto some end Neither wish we that men should do any thing which in their hearts they are perswaded they ought not to doe but this perswasion ought we say to be fully setled in their harts that in litigious and controuersed causes of such qualitie the will of God is to haue them to do whatsoeuer the sentence of iudiciall and finall decision shall determine yea though it seeme in their priuate opinioÌ„ to swarue vtterly from that which is right as no doubt many times the sentence amongst the Iewes did seeme vnto one part or other contending and yet in this case God did then allow them to doe that which in their priuate iudgement it seemed yea and perhaps truly seemed that the lawe did disallow For if God be not the author of confusion but of peace then can he not be the author of our refusall but of our contentment to stand vnto some definitiue sentence without which almost impossible it is that eyther wee should auoyd confusion or euer hope to attaine peace To small purpose had the Councell of Ierusalem bene assembled if once their determination being set downe men might afterwards haue defended their former opinions When therefore they had giuen their definitiue sentence all controuersie was at an ende Things were disputed before they came to be determined men afterwardes were not to dispute any longer but to obey The sentence of iudgement finished their strife which their disputes before iudgement could not doe This was ground sufficient for any reasonable mans conscience to build the dutie of obedience vpon whatsoeuer his owne opinion were as touching the matter before in question So full of wilfulnes and selfeliking is our nature that without some definitiue sentence which being giuen may stand and a necessitie of silence on both sides afterward imposed small hope there is that strifes thus far prosecuted will in short time quietly end Now it were in vaine to aske you whether ye could be content that the sentence of any Court already erected should bee so farre authorized as that among the Iewes established by God himselfe for the determining of all controuersies That man which wil do presumptuously not harkning vnto the Priest that standeth before the Lord to minister there nor vnto the Iudge let him dye Ye haue giuen vs already to vnderstand what your opinioÌ„ is in part concerning her sacred Maiesties Court of high Commission the nature whereof is the same with that amongst the Iewes albeit the power be not so great The other way happily may like you better because Maister Beza in his last booke saue one written about these matters professeth himselfe to be now weary of such combats and encounters whether by word or writing in as much as he findeth that controuersies therby are made but braules therfore wisheth that in some common lawfull assembly of Churches all these strifes may at once be decided Shall there be then in the meane while no doings Yes There are the waightier matters of the lawe iudgement and mercie and fidelitie These things we ought to do and these things while we contend about lesse we leaue vndone Happier are they whom the Lord when he commeth shall finde doing in these things then disputing about Doctors Elders Deacons Or if there be no remedie but somewhat needs ye must do which may tend to the setting forward of your discipline do that which wise men who thinke some Statute of the realme more fit to be repealed then to stand in force are accustomed to do before they come to Parliament where the place of enacting is that is to say spend the time in reexamining more duly your cause and in more throughly considering of that which ye labour to ouerthrow As for the orders which are established sith equitie and reason the law of nature God and man do all fauour that which is in being till orderly iudgement of decision be giuen against it it is but iustice to exact of you and peruersnes in you it should be to denie thereunto your willing obedience Not that I iudge it a thing allowable for men to obserue those lawes which in their hearts they are stedfastly perswaded to be against the law of God but your perswasion in this case ye are all bound for the time to suspend and in otherwise doing ye offend against God by troubling his church without any iust or necessary cause Be it that there are some reasons inducing you to think hardly of our lawes Are those reasons demonstratiue are they necessary or but meere probabilities only An argument necessary demonstratiue is such as being proposed vnto any mâ— vnderstood the mind cannot choose but inwardly assent Any one such reason dischargeth J graunt the conscience and setteth it at full libertie For the publike approbatioÌ„ giuen by the body this whole Church vnto those things which are established doth make it but probable that they are good And therefore vnto a necessary proofe that they are not good it must be giue place But if the skilfullest amongst you can shew that all the bookes ye haue hitherto written be able to afford any one argument of this nature let the instance be giuen As for probabilities what thing was there euer set downe so agreeable with soâ—â—â—d reason but some probable shewe against it might be made Is it meete that when publikely things are receiued and haue taken place generall obedience thereunto should cease to bee exacted in case this or that priuate person led with some probable conceipt shoulde make open protestation I Peter or Iohn disallow them and pronounce them nought In which case your answere will be that concerning the lawes of our Church they are not onely condemned in the opinion of a priuate man but of thousands yea and euen of those amongst which dâ—uers are in publique charge and authoritie As though when publique consent of the whole hath established anything euery mans iudgement being thereunto compared were not priuate howsoeuer his calling be to some kind of publique charge So that of peace and quietnes there is not any way possible vnlesse the probable voice of euery intier societie or body politique ouerrule all priuate of like nature in the same body Which thing effectually proueth that God being author of peace and not of confusion in the Church must needs be author of those mens peaceable resolutions who concerning these thinges haue determined with themselues to thinke and do as the Church they are of decreeth till they see necessary cause enforcing
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus much acknowledged by Mercurius Trismegist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus much cōfest by Anaxagoras Plato terming the maker of the world an Intellectual worker Finally the Stoikes although imagining the first cause of all things to be fire held neuerthelesse that the same fire hauing arte did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They all confesse therfore in the working of that first cause that counsell is vsed reason followed a way obserued that is to say constant order and law is kept wherof it selfe must needs be author vnto it selfe Otherwise it should haue some worthier and higher to direct it and so could not it selfe be the first Being the first it can haue no other then it selfe to be the author of that law which it willingly worketh by God therefore is a law both to himselfe and to all other things besides To himselfe he is a law in all those things whereof our Sauiour speaketh saying My Father worketh as yet so I. God worketh nothing without cause All those things which are done by him haue some ende for which they are done and the ende for which they are done is a reason of his will to do them His will had not inclined to create woman but that he saw it could not be wel if she were not created Non est bonum It is not good man should be alone Therfore let vs make an helper for him That and nothing else is done by God which to leaue vndone were not so good If therfore it bee demanded why God hauing power hability infinit th' effects notwithstāding of that power are all so limited as wee see they are the reason hereof is the end which he hath proposed and the lawe whereby his wisedome hath stinted th' effects of his power in such sort that it doth not worke infinitely but correspōdently vnto that end for which it worketh euen al things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in most decent and comely sort all things in measure number waight The generall ende of Gods external working is the exercise of his most glorious and most abundant vertue Which abundance doth shew it selfe in varietie and for that cause this varietie is oftentimes in scripture exprest by the name of riches The Lord hath made all things for his owne sake Not that any thing is made to be beneficial vnto him but all things for him to shew beneficence and grace in them The particular drift of euery acte proceeding externally from God we are not able to discerne and therefore cannot alwaies giue the proper and certaine reason of his works Howbeit vndoubtedly a proper and certaine reason there is of euery finite worke of God in as much as there is a law imposed vpon it which if there were not it should be infinite euen as the worker himselfe is They erre therfore who think that of the will of God to doe this or that there is no reason besides his will Many times no reason knowne to vs but that there is no reason thereof I iudge it most vnreasonable to imagine in as much as hee worketh all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely according to his owne will but the counsell of his owne will And whatsoeuer is done with counsell or wise resolution hath of necessitie some reason why it should be done albeit that reason bee to vs in somethings so secret that it forceth the wit of man to stand as the blessed Apostle himself doth amazed therat O the depth of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of God How vnsearchable are his iudgements c That law eternall which God himself hath made to himselfe and therby worketh all things wherof he is the cause and author that law in the admirable frame wherof shineth with most perfect beautie the countenance of that wisdome which hath testified concerning her self The lord possessed me in the beginning of his way euē before his works of old I was set vp that lawe which hath bene the patterne to make and is the Carde to guide the world by that law which hath bene of God and with God euerlastingly that law the author and obseruer whereof is one only God to be blessed for euer how should either men or Angels be able perfectly to behold The booke of this law we are neither able nor worthy to open and looke into That little thereof which we darkly apprehend we admire the rest with religious ignorance we humbly meekly adore Seeing therfore that according to this law he worketh of whom through whom for whom are all things althogh there seeme vnto vs cōfusion disorder in th' affaires of this present world Tamen quon am bonus mund◠rector temperat rectè fieri cuncta ne dubites Let no man doubt but that euery thing is wel done because the world is ruled by so good a guide as transgresseth not his owne law then which nothing can be more absolute perfect iust The law wherby he worketh is eternall and therfore can haue no shew or colour of mutability for which cause a part of that law being opened in the promises which God hath made because his promises are nothing else but declarations what God will do for the good of men touching those promises the Apostle hath witnessed that God may as possibly denie himselfe and not be God as faile to performe them And cōcerning the counsel of God he termeth it likewise a thing vnchangeable the counsel of God and that law of God wherof now we speake being one Nor is the freedome of the wil of God any whit abated let or hindered by meanes of this because the impositiō of this law vpō himselfe is his own free volūtary act This law therfore we may name eternal being that order which God before al ages hath set down with himself for himself to do all things by 3 I am not ignorant that by law eternall the learned for the most part do vnderstand the order not which God hath eternally purposed himselfe in all his workes to obserue but rather that which with himselfe he hath set downe as expedient to be kept by all his creatures according to the seuerall conditiō wherwith he hath indued them They who thus are accustomed to speake apply the name of Lawe vnto that onely rule of working which superiour authority in poseth whereas we somewhat more enlarging the sense thereof terme any kind of rule or Canon whereby actions are framed a lawe Now that lawe which as it is laid vp in the bosome of God they call eternall receiueth according vnto the different kinds of things which are subiect vnto it different and sundry kinds of names That part of it which ordereth naturall agēts we call vsually natures law that which Angels doe clearely behold and without any swaruing obserue is a law coelestiall and heauenly the law of reason that which
his maker resembleth him also in the maner of working so that whatsoeuer we worke as men the same we do wittingly worke and freely neither are we according to the maner of naturall agents any way so tied but that it is in our power to leaue the things we do vndone The good which either is gotten by doing or which consisteth in the very doing it selfe causeth not action vnlesse apprehending it as good we so like and desire it That we do vnto any such ende the same we choose and preferre before the leauing of it vndone Choice there is not vnlesse the thing which we take be so in our power that we might haue refused and left it If fire consume the stubble it chooseth not so to do because the nature thereof is such that it can do no other To choose is to will one thing before another And to will is to bend our soules to the hauing or doing of that which they see to be good Goodnesse is seene with the eye of the vnderstanding And the light of that eye is reason So that two principall fountaines there are of humaine action Knowledge and Will which will in things tending towards any end is termed Choice Concerning knowledge Behold sayth Moses I haue set before you this day good and euill life and death Concerning Will he addeth immediatly Choose life that is to say the things that tend vnto life them choose But of one thing we must haue speciall care as being a matter of no small moment and that is how the will properly and strictly taken as it is of things which are referred vnto the end that man desireth differeth greatly from that inferiour naturall desire which we call appetite The obiect of appetite is whatsoeuer sensible good may be wished for the obiect of wil is that good which reason doth leade vs to seeke Affections as ioy and griefe and feare and anger with such like being as it were the sundry fashions and formes of appetite can neither rise at the conceipt of a thing indifferent nor yet choose but rise at the sight of some things Wherefore it is not altogether in our power whether we will be stirred with affections or no whereas actions which issue from the dispositioÌ„ of the wil are in the power therof to be performed or staied Finally appetite is the wils sollicitor and the will is appetites controller what we couet according to the one by the other we often reiect neither is any other desire termed properly will but that where reason and vnderstanding or the shew of reason prescribeth the thing desired It may be therfore a question whether those operations of men are to be counted voluntary wherein that good which is sensible prouoketh appetite and appetite causeth action reason being neuer called to councell as when we eate or drinke or betake our selues vnto rest and such like The truth is that such actions in men hauing attained to the vse of reason are voluntary For as the authoritie of higher powers hath force euen in those things which are done without their priuitie and are of so meane reckening that to acquaint them therewith it needeth not in like sort voluntarily we are said to do that also which the will if it listed might hinder from being done although about the doing thereof we do not expressely vse our reason or vnderstanding and so immediatly apply our wils thereunto In cases therefore of such facility the will doth yeeld her assent as it were with a kind of silence by not dissenting in which respect her force is not so apparant as in expresse mandates or prohibitions especially vpon aduice and consultation going before Where vnderstanding therefore needeth in those things reason is the director of mans will by discouering in action what is good For the lawes of well doing are the dictates of right reason Children which are not as yet come vnto those yeares whereat they may haue againe innocentes which are excluded by naturall defect from euer hauing thirdly mad men which for the present cannot possibly haue the vse of right reason to guide themselues haue for their guide the reason that guideth other men which are tutors ouer them to seeke and to procure their good for them In the rest there is that light of reason whereby good may be knowne from euill and which discouering the same rightly is termed right The will notwithstanding doth not incline to haue or do that which reason teacheth to be good vnlesse the same do also teach it to be possible For albeit the appetite being more generall may wish any thing which seemeth good be it neuer so impossible yet for such things the reasonable will of man doth neuer seeke Let reason reach impossibilitie in any thing and the will of man doth let it go a thing impossible it doth not affect the impossibility thereof being manifest There is in the will of man naturally that freedome whereby it is apt to take or refuse any particular obiect whatsoeuer being presented vnto it Whereupon it followeth thâ—t there is no particular obiect so good but it may haue the shew of some difâ—icultie or vnplesant qualitie annexed to it in respect whereof the will may shrinke and decline it contrariwise for so things are blended there is no particular euill which hath not some appearance of goodnes whereby to insinuate it selfe For euill as euill cannot be desired if that be desired which is euill the cause is the goodnes which is or seemeth to be ioyned with it Goodnesse doth not moue by being but by being apparant and therefore many things are neglected which are most pretious onely because the value of them lyeth hid Sensible goodnesse is most apparent neere and present which causeth the appetite to be therewith strongly prouoked Now pursuit refusall in the will do follow the one the affirmation the other the negation of goodnes which the vnderstanding apprehendeth grounding it selfe vpon sense vnlesse some higher reason do chance to teach the coÌ„trary And if reason haue taught it rightly to be good yet not so apparently that the mind receiueth it with vtter imâ—ossibility of being otâ—erwise still there is place left for the will to take or leaue Whereas therefore amongst so many things as are to be done there are so few the goodnes wherof reasoÌ„ in such sort doth or easily can discouer we are not to mâ—ruaile at the choyce of euill eueÌ„ then when the coÌ„trary is probably knowne Hereby it cometh to passe that custome inuring the mind by loÌ„â— practise so leauing there a sensible impression preuaileth more theÌ„ reasonable perswasioÌ„ whâ—t way so euer Reason therfore may rightly discerne the thing which is good yet the will of maÌ„ not incline it selfe theruâ—to is oft as the preiudice of sensible experience doth ouersway Nor let any man thinke that this doth make any thing for the iust excuse of iniquity For there was neuer sin coÌ„mitted wherein a
whereunto reasonable creatures are bound but as hath bene shewed we restraine it to those onely duties which all men by force of naturall wit either do or might vnderstand to be such duties as concerne all men Certaine half waking men there are as Saint Augustine noteth who neither altogether asleepe in folly nor yet throughly awake in the light of true vnderstanding haue thought that there is not at all any thing iust and righteous in it selfe but looke wherwith nations are inured the same they take to be right and iust Wherupon their conclusion is that seeing each sort of people hath a different kind of right from other and that which is right of it owne nature must be euery where one and the same therefore in it selfe there is nothing right These good folke saith he that I may not trouble their wits with rehearsal of too many things haue not looked so far into the world as to perceiue that Do as thou wouldest be done vnto is a sentence which all nations vnder heauen are agreed vpon Refer this sentence to the loue of God it extinguisheth all heinous crimes referre it to the loue of thy neighbor and all grieuous wrongs it banisheth out of the world Wherefore as touching the law of reason this was it seemeth Saint Augustines iudgement namely that there are in it some things which stand as principles vniuersally agreed vpon and that out of those principles which are in themselues euident the greatest morall duties we owe towards God or man may without any great difficultie be concluded If then it be here demaunded by what meanes it should come to passe the greatest part of the law morall being so easie for all men to know that so many thousands of men notwithstanding haue bene ignorant euen of principall morall duties not imagining the breach of them to be sinne I deny not but lewd and wicked custome beginning perhaps at the first amongst few afterwards spreading into greater multitudes and so continuing from time to time may be of force euen in plaine things to smother the light of naturall vnderstanding because men will not bend their wits to examine whether things wherewith they haue bene accustomed be good or euill For examples sake that grosser kind of heathenish idolatrie wherby they worshipped the very workes of their owne hands was an absurdity to reason so palpable that the Prophet Dauid comparing idols and idolaters together maketh almost no ods betweene them but the one in a maner as much without wit and sense as the other They that make them are like vnto them and so are all that trust in them That wherein an idolater doth seeme so absurb and foolish is by the Wiseman thus exprest He is not ashamed to speake vnto that which hath no life he calleth on him that is weake for health he prayeth for life vnto him which is dead of him which hath no experience he requireth helpe for his iourney be sâ—â—th to him which is not able to go for gaine and worke and successe in his affaires he seeketh furtherance of him that hath no maner of power The cause of which senselesse stupidity is afterwards imputed to custome When a father mourned grieuosly for his son that was taken away suddenly he made an image for him that was once dead whom now he worshipped as a God ordeining to his seruants ceremonies sacrifices Thus by processe of time this wicked custome preuailed was kept as a law the authority of Rulers the ambition of craftsmen and such like meanes thrusting forward the ignorant and increasing their superstition Vnto this which the Wiseman hath spoken somwhat besides may be added For whatsoeuer we haue hitherto taught or shal hereafter coÌ„cerning the force of mans naturall vnderstanding this we alwayes desire withall to be vnderstood that there is no kind of faculty or power in man or any other creature which can rightly performe the functions alotted to it without perpetuall aide concurrence of that supreme cause of all things The benefit whereof as oft as we cause God in his iustice to withdraw there can no other thing follow then that which the Apostle noteth euen men indued with the light of reason to walke notwithstanding in the vanity of their mind hauing their cogitations darkned being strangers from the life of God through the ignorance which is in them because of the hardnes of their harts And this cause is meÌ„tioned by the Prophet Esay speaking of the ignorance idolaters who see not how the manifest reason condemneth their grosse iniquity and sinne They haue not in them saith he so much wit as to thinke shall I bow to the stocke of a tree All knowledge and vnderstanding is taken from them For God hath shut their eyes that they cannot see That which we say in this case of idolatry serueth for all other things wherein the like kind of generall blindnes hath preuailed against the manifest lawes of reason Within the compasse of which lawes we do not onely comprehend whatsoeuer may be easily knowne to belong to the duty of all men but euen whatsoeuer may possibly be known to be of that quality so that the same be by necessary consequence deduced out of cleere and manifest principles For if once we descend vnto probable collections what is conuenient for men we are then in the territory where free and arbitrarie determinations the territory where humane lawes take place which lawes are after to be considered 9 Now the due obseruation of this law which reason teacheth vs cannot but be effectuall vnto their great good that obserue the same For we see the whole world and each part thereof so compacted that as long as each thing performeth onely that worke which is naturall vnto it it thereby preserueth both other things and also it selfe Contrariwise let any principall thing as the Sun the Moone any one of the heaueÌ„s or elemeÌ„ts but once cease or faile or swarue and who doth not easily conceiue that the sequele thereof would be ruine both to it selfe whatsoeuer dependeth on it And is it possible that man being not only the noblest creature in the world but euen a very world in himselfe his transgressing the law of his nature should draw no maner of harme after it Yes tribulation and anguish vnto euerie soule that doth euill Good doth followe vnto all things by obseruing the course of their nature and on the contrarie side euill by not obseruing it but not vnto naturall agents that good which wee call Reward not that euill which wee properly tearme Punishment The reason whereof is because amongst creatures in this world onely mans obseruation of the lawe of his nature is Righteousnesse onely mans transgression Sinne. And the reason of this is the difference in his maner of obseruing or transgressing the lawe of his nature Hee doth not otherwise then voluntarily the one or the other What we do against our
cured They saw that to liue by one mans will became the cause of all mens misery This constrained them to come vnto lawes wherein all men might see their duties before hand and know the penalties of transgressing them b If things be simply good or euill and withall vniuersally so acknowledged there needs no new law to be made for such things The first kind therefore of things appointed by lawes humane containeth whatsoeuer being in it selfe naturally good or euill is notwithstanding more secret then that it can be discerned by euery mans present conceipt without some deeper discourse and iudgement In which discourse because there is difficultie and possibilitie many waies to erre vnlesse such things were set downe by lawes many would be ignorant of their duties which now are not many that know what they should do would neuerthelesse dissemble it and to excuse themselues pretend ignorance and simplicitie which now they cannot And because the greatest part of men are such as prefer their owne priuate good before all things euen that good which is sensuall before whatsoeuer is most diuine for that the labor of doing good together with the pleasure arising from the coÌ„trary doth make men for the most part slower to the one proner to the other then that dutie prescribed them by law can preuaile sufficiently with them therefore vnto lawes that men do make for the benefit of meÌ„ it hath seemed alwaies needful to ad rewards which may more allure vnto good then any hardnes deterreth from it punishments which may more deterre from euil then any sweetnes therto allureth Wherin as the generalitie is naturall Vertue rewardable and vice punishable so the particular determination of the rewarde or punishment belongeth vnto them by whom lawes are made Theft is naturally punishable but the kinde of punishment is positiue and such lawfull as men shall thinke with discretion conuenient by lawe to appoint In lawes that which is naturall bindeth vniuersally that which is positiue not so To let goe those kind of positiue lawes which men impose vpon theÌ„selues as by vow vnto God contract with men or such like somewhat it will make vnto our purpose a little more fully to coÌ„sider what things are incident into the making of the positiue lawes for the gouernment of theÌ„ that liue vnited in publique societie Lawes do not onely teach what is good but they inioyne it they haue in theÌ„ a certain coÌ„straining force And to coÌ„straine meÌ„ vnto any thing inconuenient doth seeme vnreasonable Most requisite therefore it is that to deuise lawes which all men shal be forced to obey none but wise meÌ„ be admitted Lawes are matters of principall consequence men of coÌ„mon capacitie but ordinary iudgemeÌ„t are not able for how should they to discerne what things are fittest for each kind and state of regiment Wee cannot be ignorant how much our obedience vnto lawes dependeth vpon this point Let a man though neuer so iustly oppose himselfe vnto theÌ„ that are disordered in their waies what one amongst them commonly doth not stomacke at such contradiction storme at reproofe and hate such as would reforme them Notwithstanding euen they which brooke it worst that men should tell them of their duties when they are told the same by a lawe thinke very wel reasonably of it For why They presume that the lawe doth speake with all indifferencie that the lawe hath no side respect to their persons that the law is as it were an oracle proceeded from wisedome and vnderstanding Howbeit laws do not take their constraining force froÌ„ the qualitie of such as deuise them but from that power which doth giue them the strength of lawes That which we spake before concerning the power of gouernment must here be applyed vnto the power of making lawes wherby to gouerne which power God hath ouer all and by the naturall lawe whereunto hee hath made all subiect the lawfull power of making lawes to commaund whole politique societies of men belongeth so properly vnto the same intire societies that for any Prince or potentate of what kinde soeuer vpon earth to exercise the same of himselfe and not either by expresse commission immediatly and personally receiued from God or else by authoritie deriued at the first froÌ„ their consent vpon whose persons they impose lawes it is no better then meere tyrannie Lawes they are not therefore which publique approbation hath not made so But approbation not only they giue who personally declare their assent by voice sign or act but also wheÌ„ others do it in their names by right originally at the least deriued from them As in parliaments councels the like assemblies although we be not personally our selues present notwithstanding our assent is by reasoÌ„ of others agents there in our behalfe And what we do by others no reason but that it should stand as our deede no lesse effectually to binde vs then if our selues had done it in person In many things assent is giuen they that giue it not imagining they do so because the manner of their assenting is not apparent As for example when an absolute Monark commandeth his subiects that which seemeth good in his owne discretion hath not his edict the force of a law whether they approue or dislike it Againe that which hath bene receiued long sithence and is by custome now established we keep as a law which we may not transgresse yet what consent was euer thereunto sought or required at our hands Of this point therefore we are to note that sith men naturally haue no ful perfect power to commaund whole politique mulâ—itudes of men therefore vtterly without our consent we could in such sort be at no mans commandement liuing And to be commanded we do consent when that societie wherof we are part hath at any time before consented without reuoking the same after by the like vniuersall agreement Wherfore as any mans deed past is good as long as himself continueth so the act of a publique societie of men done fiue hundred yeares sithence standeth as theirs who presently are of the same societies because corporations are immortall we were then aliue in our predecessors and they in their successors do liue stil. Lawes therefore humaine of what kinde soeuer are auaileable by consent If here it be demaunded how it commeth to passe that this being common vnto all lawes which are made there should be found euen in good lawes so great varietie as there is wee must note the reason hereof to bee the sundry particular endes whereunto the different disposition of that subiect or matter for which lawes are prouided causeth them to haue especiall respect in making lawes A lawe there is mentioned amongst the Graecians whereof Pittacus is reported to haue bene author And by that lawe it was agreed that hee which being ouercome with drinke did then strike any man should suffer punishment double as much as if hee had done the same being sober
those things which are for direction of all the parts of our life needfull and not impossible to be discerned by the light of nature it selfe are there not many which few mens naturall capacitie and some which no mans hath bene able to find out They are sayth Saint Augustine but a few and they indued with great ripenes of wit and iudgement free from all such affaires as might trouble their meditations instructed in the sharpest and the subtlest points of learning who haue and that very hardly bene able to find out but onely the immortality of the soule The resurrection of the flesh what man did euer at any time dreame of hauing not heard it otherwise then from the schoole of nature Whereby it appeareth how much we are bound to yeeld vnto our creator the father of all mercy eternall thankes for that he hath deliuered his law vnto the world a law wherein so many things are laid open cleere and manifest as a light which otherwise would haue bene buried in darknesse not without the hazard or rather not with the hazard but with the certaine losse of infinite thousands of soules most vndoubtedly now saued We see therefore that our soueraigne good is desired naturally that God the author of that naturall desire had appointed naturall meanes whereby to fulfill it that man hauing vtterly disabled his nature vnto those meanes hath had other reuealed from God and hath receaued from heauen a law to teach him how that which is desired naturally must now supernaturally be attained finally we see that because those later exclude not the former quite and cleane as vnnecessary therefore together with such supernaturall duties as could not possibly haue beene otherwise knowne to the world the same lawe that teacheth them teacheth also with them such naturall duties as could not by light of nature easily haue bene knowne 13. In the first age of the world God gaue lawes vnto our fathers and by reason of the number of their daies their memories serued in steed of books wherof the manifold imperfections and defects being knowne to God he mercifully relieued the same by often putting them in mind of that whereof it behoued them to be specially mindfull In which respect we see how many times one thing hath bene iterated vnto sundry euen of the best and wisest amongst them After that the liues of men were shortned meanes more durable to preserue the lawes of God from obliuion and corruption grew in vse not without precise direction from God himselfe First therefore of Moyses it is sayd that he wrote all the words of God not by his owne priuate motion and deuise for God taketh this act to himselfe I haue written Furthermore were not the Prophets following commanded also to do the like Vnto the holy Euangelist Saint Iohn how often expresse charge is giuen Scribe write these things Concerning the rest of our Lords Disciples the words of Saint Augustine are Quic quid ille de suis factis dictis nos legere voluit hoc scribenduÌ„ illis tanquaÌ„ suis manibus imperauit Now although we do not deny it to be a matter meerely accidentall vnto the law of God to be written although writing be not that which addeth authority and strength thereunto finally though his lawes do require at our hands the same obedience howsoeuer they be deliuered his prouideÌ„ce notwithstanding which hath made principall choice of this way to deliuer them who seeth not what cause we haue to admire and magnifie The singular benefit that hath growne vnto the world by receiuing the lawes of God euen by his owne appointment committed vnto writing we are not able to esteeme as the value thereof deserueth When the question therefore is whether we be now to seeke for any reuealed law of God other where then onely in the sacred Scripture whether we do now stand bound in the sight of God to yeeld to traditions-vrged by the Church of Rome the same obedience and reuerence we do to his written lawe honouring equally and adoring both as Diuine our answer is no. They that so earnestly pleade for the authority of Tradition as if nothing were more safely conueyed then that which spreadeth it selfe by report and descendeth by relation of former generations vnto the ages that succeed are not all of the them surely a miracle it were if they should be so simple as thus to perswade themselues howsoeuer if the simple were so perswaded they could be content perhaps very well to enioy the benefit as they accompt it of that common error What hazard the truth is in when it passeth through the hands of report how maymed and deformed it becommeth they are not they cannot possibly be ignorant Let them that are indeed of this mind consider but onely that litle of things Diuine which the Heathen haue in such sort receiued How miserable had the state of the Church of God beene long ere this if wanting the sacred Scripture we had no record of his lawes but onely the memory of man receiuing the same by report and relation from his predecessors By Scripture it hath in the wisedome of God seemed meete to deliuer vnto the world much but personally expedient to be practised of certaine men many deepe and profound points of doctrine as being the maine originall ground whereupon the precepts of duty depend many prophecies the cleere performance whereof might confirme the world in beliefe of things vnseene many histories to serue as looking glasses to behold the mercy the truth the righteousnesse of God towards all that faithfully serue obey and honor him yea many intire meditations of pietie to be as patternes and presidents in cases of like nature many things needfull for â—â—plication many for applicatioÌ„ vnto particular occasions such as the prouidence of God from time to time hath taken to haue the seuerall bookes of his holy ordinance written Be it them that together with the principall necessary lawes of God there are sundry other things written whereof we might happily be ignorant and yet be saued VVhat shall we hereupon thinke them needlesse shall we esteeme them as riotous branches wherewith we sometimes behold most pleasant vines ouergrown Surely no more then we iudge our hands on our eies â—â—perfluouâ— or what part soeuer which if our bodies did want we might notwithstaÌ„ding any such defect reteine still the complete being of men As therfore a complete man is neither destitute of any part necessary and hath some partes wherof though the want could not depriue him of his essence yet to haue â—hem standeth him in singular stead in respect of the special vses for which they serues in 〈…〉 all those writings which conteine in them the law of God all those â—â—nâ—râ—ble bookes of Scripture all those sacred tomes and volumes of holy wriâ— â—â—ey are with such absolute perfection framed that in them there neither 〈◊〉 any thing the lacke whereof might depriue vs of life
which is meere we owe in this case obedience to that law of reason which teacheth mediocritie in meates and drinkes The same things diuine lawe teacheth also as at large we haue shewed it doth all partes of morall dutie whereunto we all of necessitie stand bound in regard of the life to come But of certaine kindes of foode the Iewes sometime had and we our selues likewise haue a mysticall reliâ—ious and supernaturall vse they of their Pasâ— all lambe and oblations wee of our bread and wine in the Eucharist which vse none but diuine law could institute Now as we liue in ciuill societie the state of the common wealth wherein we liue both may and doth require certaine lawes concerning foode which lawes sauing onely that we are members of the common wealth where they are of force we should not neede to respect aâ— rules of action whereas now in their place and kinde they must be respected and obeyed Yea the selfe same matter is also a subiect wherein sometime Ecclesiasticall lawes haue place so that vnlesse wee will bee authors of confusion in the Church our priuate discretion which otherwise might guide vs a contrary way must here submit it selfe to bee that way guided which the publike iudgement of the Church hath thought better In which case that of Zonaras concerning fâ—stes may be remembred Fastinges are good but let good things be done in good and conueniâ—nt maner He that transgresseth in his fasting the orders of the holy fathers the positiue lawes of the Church of Christ must be plainely tolde that good thinges doe loose the grace of their goodnesse when in good sort they are not performed And as here mens priuate phansies must giue place to the higher iudgement of that Church which is in authoritie a mother ouer them so the very actions of whole Churches haue in regard of commerce and fellowship with other Churches bene subiect to lawes concerning foode the contrarie vnto which lawes had else bene thought more conuenient for them to obserue as by that order of abstinence from strangled and bloud may appeare an order grounded vpon that fellowship which the Churches of the Gentiles had with the Iewes Thus we see how euen one and the selfe same thing is vnder diuers considerations conueyed through many lawes and that to measure by any one kind of law all the action of men were to confound the admirable order wherein God hath disposed all lawes each as in nature so in degree distinct from other Wherefore that here we may briefly ende of lawe there can be no lesse acknowledged then that her seate is the bosome of God her voyce the harmony of the world all things in heauen and earth doe her homage the very least as feeling her care and the greatest as not exempted from her power both Angels and men and creatures of what condition so euer though each in different sort and manner yet all with vniforme consent admiring her as the mother of their peace and ioy The second Booke Concerning their first position who vrge reformation in the Church of England Namely That Scripture is the onely rule of all things which in this life may be done by men The matter contained in this second Boooke 1 AN answere to their first proofe brought out of scripture Prou. 2.9 2 To their second 1 Cor. 10.31 3 To their third 1. Tim. 4.5 4 To their fourth Rom. 14.23 5 To their proofes out of Fathers who dispute negatiuely from the authoritie of holy scripture 6 To their proofe by the scriptures custome of disputing from diuine authoritie negatiuely 7 An examination of their opinion concerning the force of arguments taken from humane authoritie for the ordering of mens actions and perswasions 8 A declaration what the truth is in this matter AS that which in the title hath bene proposed for the matter whereof we treat is onely the Ecclesiasticall lawe whereby we are gouerned So neither is it my purpose to maintaine any other thing then that which therein truth and reason shall approue For concerning the dealings of men who administer gouernment and vnto whom the execution of that law belongeth they haue their iudge who sitteth in heauen and before whose tribunall seate they are accomptable for whatsoeuer abuse or corruption which being worthily misliked in this Church the want eyther of care or of conscience in them hath bred We are no Patrones of those things therfore the best defence whereof is speedie redresse amendment That which is of God we defend to the vttermost of that habilitie which he hath giuen that which is otherwise let it wither euen in the roote from whence it hath sprung Wherefore all these abuses being seuered and set apart which rise from the corruption of men and not from the lawes themselues come we to those things which in the very whole intier forme of our Church-politie haue bene as wee perswade our selues iniuriously blamed by them who endeuour to ouerthrow the same and in stead therof to establish a much worse onely through a strong misconceipt they haue that the same is grounded on diuine authoritie Now whether it be that through an earnest longing desire to see things brought to a peaceable end I do but imagine the matters whereof we contend to be fewer then indeed they are or else for that in truth they are fewer when they come to be discust by reason then otherwise they seeme when by heate of contention they are deuided into many slippes and of euery branch an heape is made surely as now wee haue drawne them together choosing out those things which are requisite to bee seuerally all discust and omitting such meane specialties as are likely without any great labour to fall afterwardes of themselues I knowe no cause why either the number or the length of these controuersies should diminish our hope of seeing them end with concord and loue on all sides which of his infinite loue and goodnes the father of all peace and vnitie graunt Vnto which scope that our endeuour may the more directly tend it seemeth fittest that first those thinges be examined which are as seedes from whence the rest that ensue haue growne And of such the most generall is that wherewith we are here to make our entrance a question not mooued I thinke any where in other Churches and therefore in ours the more likely to be soone I trust determined The rather for that it hath grown from no other roote then only a desire to enlarge the necessarie vse of the word of God which desire hath begotten an error enlarging it further then as we are perswaded soundnesse of truth will beare For whereas God hath left sundry kindes of lawes vnto men and by all those lawes the actions of men are in some sort directed they hold that one onely lawe the scripture must be the rule to direct in all thinges euen so farre as to the taking vp of a rush or strawe About which
marying in him they do that whereby they incurre his displeasure they 〈◊〉 an offer of themselues into the seruice of that enemy with whose seruants they linke themselues in so neere a bond What one syllable is there in all this preiudiciall any way to that which we hold For the words of Tertullian as they are by them alleaged are two wayes misunderstood both in the former part where that is extended generally to all things in the neuter gender which he speaketh in the feminine gender of womens persons and in the later where receiued with hurt is put in stead of wilfull incurring that which is euill And so in summe Tertullian doth neither meane nor say as is pretended Whatsoeuer pleaseth not the Lord displeaseth him and with hurt is receiued but Those women that please not the Lord by their kind of marying do euen thereby offend the Lord they do euen thereby throw themselues into euill Somewhat more shew there is in a second place of Tertullian which notwithstanding when we haue examined it will be found as the rest are The Romaine Emperours custome was at certaine solemne times to bestowe on his souldiers a Donatiue which Donatiue they receiued wearing garlands vpon their heads There were in the time of the Emperors Seuerus and Antoninus many who being souldiers had bene conuerted vnto Christ and notwithstanding continued still in that militarie course of life In which number one man there was amongst all the rest who at such a time comming to the Tribune of the army to receiue his Donatiue came but with a garland in his hand and not in such sort as others did The Tribune offended hereat demaundeth what this great singularitie should meane To whom the souldier Christianus sum I am a Christian. Many there were so besides him which yet did otherwise at that time whereupon grew a question whether a Christian souldier might herein do as the vnchristian did and weare â—s they wore Many of them which were very sound in Christian beliefe did rather commend the zeale of this man then approue his action Tertullian was at the same time a Montanist and an enemy vnto the Church for condemning that propheticall Spirite which Montaâ—â—s and his followers did boast they had receiued as if in them Christ had performed his last promise as if to them he had sent the Spirit that should be their perfecter and finall instructer in the mysteries of Christian truth Which exulceration of mind made him apt to take all occasions of contradiction Wherefore in honour of that action and to gall their minds who did not so much commend it he wrote his booke De corona militis not dissembling the stomacke wherewith he wrote it For first the man he commendeth as one more constant then the rest of his brethren Who presumed sayth he that they might well enough serue two Lords Afterwards choller somewhat more rising within him he addeth It doth euen remaine that they should also deuise how to rid themselues of his martyrdomes towards the prophecies of whose holy spirit they haue already shewed their disdaine They mutter that their good and long peace is now in hazard I doubt not but some of them send the Scriptures before trusse vp bagge and baggage make themselues in a readinesse that they may flye from Citie to Citie For that is the only point of the Gospell which they are carefull not to forget I knowe euen their Pastors very well what men they are in peace Lions Harts in time of trouble and feare Now these men saith Tertullian They must be aunswered where we do find it written in Scripture that a Christian man may not weare a garland And as mens speeches vttered in heate of distempered affection haue often times much more egernes then waight â—o he that shall marke the proofes alleaged and the answers to things obiected in the booke will now and then perhaps espie the like imbecillity Such is that argument whereby they that wore on their heads garlands are charged as transgressors of natures lawe and guilty of sacrilege against God the Lord of nature in as much as flowers in such sort worne can neither be smelt nor seene well by those that weare them and God made flowers sweet and beautifull that being seene and smelt vnto they might so delight Neither doth Tertullian bewray this weaknes in striking only but also in repelling their strokes with whom he contendeth They aske sayth he What scripture is there which doth teach that we should not be crowned And what scripture is there which doth teach that we should For in requiring on the contrary part the aide of scripture they do giue sentence before hand that their part ought also by scripture to be aided Which answer is of no great force There is no necessitie that if I confesse I ought not to do that which the scripture forbiddeth me I should thereby acknowledge my selfe bound to do nothing which the Scripture commandeth me not For many inducements besides Scripture may leade me to that which if scripture be against they all giue place and are of no value yet otherwise are strong and effectuall to perswade VVhich thing himselfe well enough vnderstanding and being not ignorant that Scripture in many things doth neither commaund nor forbid but vse silence his resolution in fine is that in the Church a number of things are strictly obserued whereof no law of scripture maketh mention one way or other that of things once receiued and confirmed by vse long vsage is a law sufficient that in ciuill affaires when there is no other law custome it selfe doth stand for lawe that in as much as law doth stand vpon reason to alleage reason serueth as well as to cite scripture that whatsoeuer is reasonable the same is lawfull whosoeuer is author of it that the authoritie of Custome is great finally that the custome of Christians was then and had bene a long time not to weare garlands and therefore that vndoubtedly they did offend who presumed to violate such a custome by not obseruing that thing the very inueterate obseruation whereof was a law sufficient to bind all men to obserue it vnlesse they could shew some higher law some law of scripture to the coÌ„trary This presupposed it may stand then very well with strength and soundnesse of reason euen thus to answer Whereas they aske what scripture forbiddeth them to weare a garland we are in this case rather to demaund what scripture commandeth them They cannot here alleage that it is permitted which is not forbidden them no that is forbidden them which is not permitted For long receiued Custome forbidding them to do as they did if so be it did forbid them there was no excuse in the world to iustifie their act vnlesse in the scripture they could shewe some lawe that did licence them thus to breake a receiued custome Now whereas in all the bookes of Tertullian besides there is not so much found as
matter whereof they speake Let any man therefore that carieth indifferency of iudgement peruse the Bishops speeches and consider well of those negatiues concerning scripture which he produceth out of Irenaeus Chrysostome Leo which three are chosen from amongst the residue because the sentences of the others euen as one of theirs also do make for defence of negatiue arguments taken from humane authority and not from diuine onely They mention no more restraint in the one then in the other yet I thinke themselues will not hereby iudge that the Fathers tooke both to be strong without restraint vnto any speciall kind of matter wherein they held such arguments forcible Nor doth the Bishop either say or proue any more then that an argument in some kinds of matter may be good although taken negatiuely from Scripture 7 An earnest desire to draw all things vnto the determination of bare and naked Scripture hath caused here much paines to be taken in abating the estimation and credite of man Which if we labour to maintaine as farre as truth and reason will beare let not any thinke that we trauaile about a matter not greatly needful For the scope of all their pleading against mans authoritie is to ouerthrowe such orders lawes and constitutions in the Church as depending thereupon if they should therefore be taken away would peradueture leaue neither face nor memory of Church to continue long in the world the world especially being such as now it is That which they haue in this case spoken I would for breuities sake let passe but that the drift of their speech being so dangerous their words are not to be neglected Wherefore to say that simply an argument taken from mans authority doth hold no way neither affirmatiuely nor negatiuely is hard By a mans authority we here vnderstaÌ„d the force which his word hath for the assurance of anothers mind that buildeth vpon it as the Apostle somewhat did vpon their report of the house of Cloe and the Samaritanes in a matter of farre greater moment vpon the report of a simple woman For so it is sayd in Saint Iohns Gospell Many of the Samaritans of that City belieued in him for the saying of the woman which testified He hath told me all things that euer I did The strength of mans authority is affirmatiuely such that the waightiest affaires in the world depend therâ—on In iudgement and iustice are not herevpon proceedings grounded Sayth not the law that in the mouth of two or three witnesses euery word shal be confirmed This the law of God would not say if there were in a mans testimony no force at all to prooue any thing And if it be admitted that in matter of fact there is some credite to be giuen to the testimonie of man but not in matter of opinion and iudgement we see the contrary both acknowledged and vniuersally practised also throughout the world The sentences of wise and expert men were neuer but highly esteemed Let the title of a mans right be called in question are we not bold to relie and build vpon the iudgement of such as are famous for their skill in the lawes of this land In matter of state the waight many times of some one mans authority is thought reason sufficient euen to sway ouer whole nations And this not onely with the simpler sort but the learneder and wiser we are the more such arguments in some cases preuaile with vs. The reason why the simpler sort are mooued with authority is the conscience of their owne ignorance whereby it commeth to passe that hauing learned men in admiration they rather feare to dislike them then know wherefore they should allow and follow their iudgements Contrariwise with them that are skilfull authority is much more strong and forcible because they only are able to discerne how iust cause there is why to some mens authority so much should be attributed For which cause the name of Hippocrates no doubt were more effectuall to perswade euen such men as Galen himselfe then to moue a silly Empiricke So that the very selfe same argument in this kind which doth but induce the vulgaâ— sort to like may constraine the wiser to yeeld And therefore not Orators only with the people but euen the very profoundest disputers in all faculties haue hereby often with the best learned preuailed most As for arguments taken from humaine authority and that negatiuely for example sake if we should thinke the assembling of the people of God together by the sound of a bell the presenting of infants at the holy font by such as commonly we call their Godfathers or any other the like receiued custome to be impious because some men of whom we thinke very reuerendly haue in their bookes and writings no where mentioned nor taught that such things should be in the Church this reasoning were subiect vnto iust reproofe it were but feeble weake and vnsound Notwithstanding euen negatiuely an argument from humaine authority may be strong as namely thus The Chronicles of England mention no moe then onely sixe kings bearing the name of Edward since the time of the last conquest therefore it cannot be there should be moe So that if the question be of the authority of a mans testimony we cannot simply auouch either that affirmatiuely it doth not any way hold or that it hath only force to induce the simpler sort and not to constraine men of vnderstanding and ripe iudgement to yeeld assent or that negatiuely it hath in it no strength at all For vnto eâ—uery of these the contrary is most plaine Neither doth that which is alleaged concerning the infirmitie of men ouerthrow or disproue this Men are blinded with ignorance and errour many things may escape them and in many things they may bee deceiued yea those things which they do knowe they may either forget or vpon sundry indirect considerations let passe and although themselues do not erre yet may they through malice or vanity euen of purpose deceiue others Howbeit infinite cases there are wherein all these impediments and lets are so manifestly excluded that there is no shew or colour whereby any such exception may be taken but that the testimony of man will stand as a ground of infallible assurance That there is a City of Rome that Pius Quintus and Gregory the 13. and others haue beene Popes of Rome I suppose we are certainely enough perswaded The ground of our perswasion who neuer saw the place nor persons before named can be nothing but mans testimony Will any man here notwithstanding alleage those mentioned humaine infirmities as reasons why these things should be mistrusted or doubted of Yea that which is more vtterly to infringe the force and strength of mans testimony were to shake the very fortresse of Gods truth For whatsoeuer we beleeue concerning saluation by Christ although the scripture be therein the ground of our beliefe yet the authority of man is if we
therunto may we cause our faith without reason to appeare reasonable in the eyes of men This being required euen of learners in the schoole of Christ the duty of their teachers in bringing them vnto such ripenes must needes be somewhat more then only to read the sentences of scripture and then paraphrastically to scholie them to vary theÌ„ with sundry formes of speech without arguing or disputing about anything which they contain This method of teaching may coÌ„mend it selfe vnto the world by that easines facilitie which is in it but a law or a patterne it is not as some do imagine for all men to follow that will do good in the Church of Christ. Our Lord and Sauiour himselfe did hope by disputation to do some good yea by disputatioÌ„ not onely of but against the truth albeit with purpose for the truth That Christ should be the sonne of Dauid was truth yet against this truth our Lorde in the Gospell obiecteth If Christ be the son of Dauid how doth Dauid call him Lord There is as yet no way knowne how to dispute or to determine of things disputed without the vse of naturall reason If we please to adde vnto Christ their example who followed him as neere in all thinges as they could the Sermon of Paule and Barnabas set downe in the Actes where the people would haue offered vnto them sacrifice in that Sermon what is there but onely naturall reason to disproue their acte O men why doe you these thinges We are men euen subiect to the selfe same passions with you wee preach vnto you to leaue these vanities and to turne to the liuing God the God that hath not left himselfe without witnesse in that he hath done good to the world giuing raine and fruitfull seasons filling our heart with ioy and gladnesse Neither did they onely vse reason in winning such vnto Christian beleefe as were yet thereto vnconuerted but with beleeuers themselues they followed the selfesame course In that great and solemne assembly of beleeuing Iewes how doth Peter proue that the Gentiles were partakers of the grace of God as well as they but by reason drawne from those effectes which were apparently knowne amongst them God which knoweth hearts hath borne them witnesse in giuing vnto them the holy Ghost as vnto vs. The light therefore which the starre of naturall reason and wisedome casteth is too bright to be obscured by the mist of a word or two vttered to diminish that opinion which iustly hath beene receiued concerning the force and vertue thereof euen in matters that touch most nearely the principall duties of men and the glory of the eternall God In all which hitherto hath beene spoken touching the force and vse of mans reason in thinges diuine I must craue that I be not so vnderstood or coÌ„strued as if any such thing by vertue thereof could be done without the aide and assistance of Gods most blessed spirit The thing wee haue handled according to the question mooued about it which question is whether the light of reason be so pernitious that in deuising lawes for the church men oughâ— not by it to search what may be fit coÌ„uenient For this cause therfore we haue endeuoured to make it appeare how in the nature of reason it selfe there is no impedimeÌ„t but that the self-same spirit which reuealeth the things that god hath set down in his law may also be thoughâ— to aid direct men in finding out by the light of reason what lawes are expedient to be made for the guiding of his Church ouer and besides them that are in scripture Herein therfore we agree with those men by whom humane lawes are defined to be ordinances which such as haue lawfull authorisiâ— giuen them foâ— that purpose do probably draw from the lawes of nature God by discourse of reason aided with the influence of diuine grace And for that cause it is not said amisse touching Ecclesiasticall canons that by instinct of the holy Ghost they haue bin made and consecrated by the reuerend acceptation of all the world 9 Lawes for the church are not made as they should be vnles the makers follow such directioÌ„ as they ought to be guided by Wherin that scripture standeth noâ— the church of God in any stead of serueth nothing at aâ—â—o direct but may be let passe as needles to be consulted with we iudge it prophane impious and irreligious to thinke For although it were in vaine to make laws which the scripture hath already made because what we are already there coÌ„manded to do on our parts there resteth nothing but only that it be executed yet because both in that which we are commanded in concerneth the duty of the church by law to prouide that the loosenes and slacknes of men may not cause the commandements of God to be vnexecuted and a number of things there are for which the scripture hath not prouided by any law but left them vnto the carefull discretion of the Church we are to search how the Church in these cases may be well directed to make that prouision by lawes which is most conuenient c fit And what is so in these cases partly scripture and partly reason must teach to discerne Scripture comprehending examples lawes lawes some naturall and some positiue examples neither are there for al cases which require lawes to be made and wheâ— they are they can but direct as precedents onely Naturall lawes direct In such sorte that in all things wee must for euer doe according vnto them positiue so that against them in no case we may doe any thing as long as the will of God is that they should remaine in force Howbeit when scripture doth yeelde vs precedents how far forth they are to be followed when it giueth naturall lawes what particular order is thereunto most agreeable when positiue which way to make lawes vnrepugnant vnto them yea though all these should wanâ— yeâ— what kinde of ordinances would be most for that good of the Church which is aimed at al this must be by reason found out And therefore Tib refuse the conduct of the light of nature saith S. Augustine is not folly alone but accompanied with impietie The greatest amongst the Schoole diuines studying how to set downe by exact definition the nature of an humane lawe'â— of which nature all the Churches constitutions are found not which way better to do it thâ—n in these words Out of the precepâ—s of the law of nature as out of certaine coÌ„mon vndemonstrable principles mans reason doth necessarily proceede vnto certaine more particular determinations which particular determinations beeing found out according vnto the reason of man they haue the names of humane lawes so that such other conditions be therein kept as the making of lawes doth require that is if they whose authoritie is thereunto required do establish and publish them as lawes And the truth is that all our
continuance of it must then of necessitie appeare superfluous And of this we cannot be ignorant how sometimes that hath done great good which afterwardes when time hath chaunged the auncient course of thinges doth growe to be either very hurtfull or not so greatly profitable and necessary If therefore the end for which a lawe prouideth be perpetually necessary the way whereby it prouideth perpetually also most apt no doubt but that euery such law ought for euer to remain vnchangeable Whether God be the author of lawes by authorizing that power of men wherby they are made or by deliuering them made immediately from himselfe by word only or in writing also or howsoeuer notwithstaÌ„ding the authority of their maker the mutabilitie of that end for which they are made doth also make them changeable The law of ceremonies came from God Moses had commandement to commit it vnto the sacred records of scripture where it continueth euen vnto this very day and houre in force still as the Iewe surmiseth because God himselfe was author of it and for vs to abolish what hee hath established were presumptioÌ„ most intollerable But that which they in the blindnes of their obdurate hearts are not able to discerne sith the end for which that lawe was ordained is now fulfilled past and gone how should it but cease any longer to bee which hath no longer any cause of being in force as before That which necessitie of some speciall time doth cause to be inioyned bindeth no longer theÌ„ during that time but doth afterwards become free Which thing is also plain euen by that law which the Apostles assembled at the counsell of Ierusalem did froÌ„ thence deliuer vnto the Church of Christ the preface whereof to authorize it was To the holy Ghost and to vs it hath seemed good which stile they did not vse as matching theÌ„selues in power with the holy Ghost but as testifying the holy Ghost to be the author and themselues but onely vtterers of that decree This lawe therefore to haue proceeded from God as the author therof no faithful man wil denie It was of God not only because God gaue theÌ„ the power wherby they might make lawes but for that it proceeded euen froÌ„ the holy motion suggestion of that secret diuine spirit whose sentence they did but only pronounce Notwithstanding as the law of ceremonies deliuered vnto the Iews so this very law which the Gentiles receiued from the mouth of the holy Ghost is in like respect abrogated by decease of the end for which it was giuen But such as do not sticke at this point such as graunt that what hath bene instituted vpon any special cause needeth not to be obserued that cause ceasing do notwithstanding herein faile they iudge the lawes of God onely by the author and maine end for which they were made so that for vs to change that which he hath established they hold it execrable pride presumption if so be the end and purpose for which God by that meane prouideth bee permanent And vpon this they ground those ample disputes coÌ„cerning orders and offices which being by him appointed for the gouernment of his Church if it be necessary alwaies that the Church of Christ be gouerned then doth the end for which God prouided remaine still and therefore in those means which he by law did establish as being fittest vnto that end for vs to alter any thing is to lift vp our selues against God and as it were to countermaund him Wherin they marke not that laws are instruments to rule by and that instruments are not only to be framed according vnto the generall ende for which they are prouided but eueÌ„ according vnto that very particular which riseth out of the matter wheron they haue to worke The end wherefore lawes were made may be permanent and those lawes neuerthelesse require some alteration if there be any vnfitnes in the meanes which they prescribe as tending vnto that end purpose As for exaÌ„ple a law that to bridle theâ—â— doth punish the ones with a quadruple â—estitution hath an end which wil coÌ„tinue as long as the world it self coÌ„tinueth Theft will be alwayes and will alwayes need to be bridled But that the meane which this law prouideth for that end namely the punishment of quadruple restitution that this will be alwaies sufficient to bridle and restraine that kind of enormity no man can warrant Insufficiency of lawes doth somtimes come by want of iudgement in the makers Which cause cannot fall into any law termed properly and immediatly diuine as it may and doth into humaine lawes often But that which hath bene once most sufficient may wax otherwise by alteratioÌ„ of time place that punishment which hath bene somtimes forcible to bridle sinne may grow afterwards too weake and feeble In a word we plainely perceiue by the difference of those three lawes which the Iewes receiued at the hands of God the morall ceremoniall iudiciall that if the end for which and the matter according whereunto God maketh his lawes continue alwaies one and the same his laws also do the like for which cause the morall law cannot be altered secondly that whether the matter wheron lawes are made continue or coÌ„tinue not if their end haue once ceased they cease also to be of force as in the law ceremonial it fareth finally that albeit the end coÌ„tinue as in that law of theft specified and in a great part of those ancient iudicials it doth yet for as mush as there is not in all respects the same subiect or matter remaining for which they were first instituted euen this is sufficient cause of change And therefore lawes though both ordeined of God himselfe and the end for which they were ordeined continuing may notwithstanding cease if by alteration of persons or times they be fouÌ„d vnsufficieÌ„t to attain vnto that end In which respect why may we not presume that God doth eueÌ„ call for such change or alteratioÌ„ as the very coÌ„dition of things theÌ„selues doth make necessary They which do therfore plead the authority of the law-maker as an argument wherefore it should not be lawfull to change that which he hath instituted and will haue this the cause why all the ordinances of our Sauiour are immutable they which vrge the wisdome of God as a proofe that whatsoeuer laws he hath made they ought to stand â—nlesse himselfe from heauen proclaime them disanuld because it is not in man to correct the ordinaÌ„ce of God may know if it please theÌ„ to take notice therof that we are far froÌ„ presuming to think that meÌ„ can better any thing which God hath done eueÌ„ as we are from thinking that meÌ„ should presume to vndo some things of men which God doth know they cannot better God neuer ordeined any thing that could be bettered Yet many things he hath that haue bene changed and that for the better That which succeedeth as better now wheÌ„
that in matter of circumstance they alter that which they haue receiued but in things of substance they keepe the lawes of Christ without change If we say the same in our owne behalfe which surely we may do with a great deale more truth then must they cancell all that hath bene before alleaged and beginne to inquire a fresh whether we reteine the lawes that Christ hath deliuered concerning matters of substance yea or no. For our constant perswasion in this point is as theirs that we haue no where altered the lawes of Christ further then in such particularities onely as haue the nature of things chaungeable according to the difference of times places persons and other the like circumstances Christ hath commaunded prayers to be made sacraments to be ministred his Church to be carefully taught and guided Concerning euery of these somewhat Christ hath commaunded which must bee kept till the worlds end On the contrary side in euery of thē somewhat there may be added as the Church shall iudge it expedient So that if they will speake to purpose all which hitherto hath bene disputed of they must giue ouer and stand vpon such particulars onely as they can shew we haue either added or abrogated otherwise then we ought in the matter of Church politie Whatsoeuer Christ hath commanded for euer to be kept in his Church the same we take not vpon vs to abrogate and whatsoeuer our lawes haue thereunto added besides of such qualitie we hope it is as no law of Christ doth any where condemne Wherefore that all may be layd together and gathered into a narrower roome 1. First so farre forth as the Church is the mysticall body of Christ and his inuisible spouse it needeth no externall politie That very part of the law diuine which teacheth faith and workes of righteousnesse is it selfe alone sufficient for the Church of God in that respect But as the Church is a visible society and body politique lawes of politie it cannot want 2. Whereas therfore it commeth in the second place to be inquired what lawes are fittest and best for the Church they who first embraced that rigorous and strict opinion which depriueth the Church of liberty to make any kind of law for her selfe inclined as it should seeme thereunto for that they imagined all things which the Church doth without commandement of holy scripture subiect to that reproofe which the scripture it self vseth in certaine cases when diuine authority ought alone to be followed Herupon they thought it inough for the cācelling of any kind of order whatsoeuer to say The word of God teacheth it not it is a deuise of the braine of man away with it therefore out of the Church S. Augustine was of another mind who speaking of fasts on the Sunday saith That he which would chuse out that day to fast on should giue therby no small offence to the Church of God which had receiued a contrary custome For in these things wherof the scripture appointeth no certainty the vse of the people of God or the ordinances of our Fathers must serue for a law In which case if we will dispute and condemne one sort by anothers custome it will be but matter of endlesse contention where for as much as the labour of reasoning shal hardly beate into mens heads any certaine or necessary truth surely it standeth vs vpō to take heed least with the tempest of strife the brightnesse of charity and loue be darkened If all things must bee commaunded of God which may be practised of his Church I would know what commaundement the Gileadites had to erect that Altar which is spokē of in the booke of Iosua Did not cōgruity of reason induce them therunto suffice for defence of their fact I would know what cōmandement the women of Israel had yearly to mourne and lament in the memorie of Iephtaes daughter what cōmandement the Iewes had to celebrate their feast of Dedication neuer spoken of in the law yet solemnized euen by our Sauior himselfe what cōmandement finally they had for the ceremony of odors vsed about the bodies of the dead after which custome notwithstanding sith it was their custome our Lord was contented that his owne most pretious should be intoombd Wherfore io reiect all orders of the Church which men haue established is to thinke worse of the laws of men in this respect then either the iudgement of wisemen alloweth or the law of God it selfe will beare Howbeit they which had once takē vpon thē to condemn all things done in the Church not cōmanded of God to be done saw it was necessary for thē cōtinuing in defence of this their opiniō to hold that needs there must be in scripture set down a cōplete particular forme of Church polity a forme prescribing how al the affaires of the church must be ordered a form in no respect lawful to be altered by mortal mē For reformatiō of which ouersight error in thē there were that thought it a part of Christian loue charity to instruct thē better to open vnto thē the diference betweene matters of perpetual necessity to all mens saluation and matters of Ecclesiasticall politie the one both fully and plainly taught in holy scripture the other not necessary to be in such sort there prescribed the one not capable of any diminution or augmentation at all by men the other apt to admit bothe Herupon the authors of the former opinion were presently seconded by other wittier and better learned who being loath that the forme of Church-politie which they sought to bring in should be otherwise then in the highest degree accounted of tooke first an exception against the difference betweene Church-politie and matters of necessitie to saluation secondly against the restraint of scripture which they say receiueth iniurie at our hands when we teach that it teacheth not as well matters of politie as of faith and saluation 3. Constrained hereby we haue bene therefore both to maintaine that distinction as a thing not only true in it selfe but by them likewise so acknowledged though vnawares 4. and to make manifest that from scripture wee offer not to derogate the least thing that truth thereunto doth claime in as much as by vs it is willingly confest that the scripture of God is a storehouse abounding with inestimable treasures of wisedome and knowledge in many kindes ouer and aboue thinges in this one kinde barely necessary yea euen that matters of Ecclesiasticall politie are not therein omitted but taught also albeit not so taught as those other thinges before mentioned For so perfectly are those thinges taught that nothing can euer need to be added nothing euer cease to be necessary these on the contrarie side as being of a farre other nature and qualitie not so strictly nor euerlastingly commaunded in scripture but that vnto the complete forme of Church-politie much may bee requisite which the scripture teacheth not and much which
it hath taught become vnrequisite sometime because we neede not vse it sometime also because wee cannot In which respect for mine owne part although I see that certaine reformed Churches the Scottish especially and French haue not that which best agreeth with the sacred scripture I meane the gouernment that is by Bishops in as much as both those churches are fallen vnder a different kinde of regiment which to remedie it is for the one altogether too late and too soone for the other during their present affliction and trouble this their defect and imperfection I had rather lament in such case then exagitate considering that men oftentimes without any fault of their owne may be driuen to want that kinde of politie or regiment which is best and to content themselues with that which either the irremediable error of former times or the necessitie of the present hath cast vpon them 5. Now because that position first mentioned which holdeth it necessarie that all thinges which the Church may lawfully doe in her owne regiment be commaunded in holy scripture hath by the latter defendors thereof beene greatly qualified who though perceiuing it to be ouer extreame are notwithstanding loth to acknowledge any ouersight therein and therefore labour what they may to salue it by construction we haue for the more perspicuitie deliuered what was thereby meant at the first 6. how iniurious a thing it were vnto all the Churches of God for men to hold it in that meaning 7. and how vnperfect their interpretations are who so much labour to helpe it eyther by diuiding commaundements of scripture into two kindes and so defending that all thinges must be commaunded if not in speciall yet in generall precepts 8. or by taking it as meant that in case the Church doe deuise any new order shee ought therein to follow the direction of scripture onely and not any starlight of mans reason 9. Bothe which euasions being cut off wee haue in the next place declared after what sort the Church may lawfully frame to her selfe lawes of politie and in what reckoning such positiue lawes both are with God and should be with men 10. Furthermore because to abridge the libertie of the Church in this behalfe it hath bene made a thing very odious that when God himselfe hath deuised some certaine lawes and committed them to sacred scripture man by abrogation addition or any way should presume to alter and change them it was of necessitie to be examined whether the authoritie of God in making or his care in committing those his lawes vnto scripture be sufficient arguments to proue that God doth in no case allow they should suffer any such kind of change 11. The last refuge for proofe that diuine lawes of Christian Church-politie may not be altered by extinguishment of any olde or addition of new in that kinde is partly a marueilous strange discourse that Christ vnlesse he would show himselfe not so faithfull as Moses or not so wise as Lycurgus and Solon must needes haue set downe in holy scripture some certaine complete and vnchangeable forme of politie and partly a coloured shewe of some euidence where change of that sort of lawes may seeme expressely forbidden although in truth nothing lesse be done I might haue added hereunto their more familiar and popular disputes as The Church is a Citie yea the Citie of the great king and the life of a Citie is politie The Church is the house of the liuing God and what house can there be without some order for the gouernment of it In the royall house of a Prince there must be officers for gouernment such as not any seruant in the house but the Prince whose the house is shall iudge cōuenient So the house of God must haue orders for the gouernment of it such as not any of the household but God himselfe hath appointed It cannot stand with the loue and wisedome of God to leaue such order vntaken as is necessary for the due gouernment of his Church The numbers degrees orders and attire of Salomons seruants did shewe his wisedome therefore he which is greater then Salomon hath not failed to leaue in his house such orders for gouernment thereof as may serue to be as a looking glasse for his prouidence care and wisedome to be seene in That little sparke of the light of nature which remaineth in vs may serue vs for the affaires of this life But as in all other matters concerning the kingdome of heauen so principally in this which concerneth the very gouernment of that kingdome needfull it is wee should be taught of God As long as men are perswaded of any order that it is only of men they presume of their owne vnderstanding and they thinke to deuise an other not only as good but better then that which they haue receiued By seueritie of punishment this presumption and curiositie may be restrained But that cannot worke such chearefull obedience as is yeelded where the conscience hath respect to God as the author of lawes and orders This was it which countenanced the laws of Moses made concerning outward politie for the administration of holy things The like some law giuers of the Heathens did pretend but falsely yet wisely discerning the vse of this perswasion For the better obedience sake therfore it was expediēt that God should be author of the politie of his church But to what issue doth all this come A man would thinke that they which hold out with such discourses were of nothing more fully perswaded thē of this that the scripture hath set downe a complete forme of Church-politie vniuersall perpetuall altogether vnchangeable For so it would follow if the premises were sound and strong to such effect as is pretended Notwithstanding they which haue thus formally maintained argument in defence of the first ouersight are by the very euidence of truth themselues constrained to make this in effect their conclusion that the Scripture of God hath many thinges concerning Church-politie that of those many some are of greater waight some of lesse that what hath beene vrged as touching immutabilitie of lawes it extendeth in truth no further then onely to lawes wherein thinges of greater moment are prescribed Now those things of greater moment what are they Forsooth Doctors Pastors Layelders Elderships compounded of these three Synods consisting of many Elderships Deacons women-church-seruants or widowes free consent of the people vnto actiōs of greatest moment after they be by Churches or Synodes orderly resolued All this forme of politie if yet wee may terme that a forme of building when men haue laide a fewe rafters together and those not all of the soundest neither but howsoeuer all this forme they conclude is prescribed in such sort that to adde to it any thing as of like importance for so I thinke they meane or to abrogate of it any thing at all is vnlawfull In which resolution if they will firmely and constantly persist I see not
is so different from that of the reformed Churches Beeing asked to what Churches ours should conforme it selfe and why other reformed Churches should not as well frame themselues to ours their answere is That if there be any Ceremonies which wee haue better then others they ought to frame themselues to vs if they haue better then we then we ought to frame our selues to them if the Ceremonies be alike commodious the later Churches should conforme themselues to the first as the younger daughter to the elder For as S. Paul in the members where all other things are equal noteth it for a marke of honor aboue the rest that one is called before another to the Gospell so is it for the same cause amongest the Churches And in this respect he pincheth the Corinthes that not being the first which receiued the Gospell yet they would haue their seuerall maners from other Churches Moreouer where the Ceremonies are alike commodious the fewer ought to conforme themselues vnto the moe For as much therefore as all the Churches so farre as they know which pleade after this manner of our confession in doctrine agree in the abrogation of diuers things which we reteine our churches ought either to shew that they haue done euill or else she is found to be in fault that doth not conforme her selfe in that which she cannot denie to be well abrogated In this axiome that preseruation of peace and vnitie amongst Christian Churches should be by al good meanes procured we ioyne most willingly and gladly with them Neither denie we but that to th' auoyding of dissention it auaileth much that there be amongst theÌ„ an vnitie as well in ceremonies as in doctrine The only doubt is about the manner of their vnitie how far churches are bound to be vniforme in their ceremonies what way they ought to take for that purpose Touching the one the rule which they haue set down is that in ceremonies in differeÌ„t all churches ought to be one of them vnto another as like as possibly they may be Whcih possibly we cannot otherwise conster theÌ„ that it doth require them to be euen as like as they may be without breaking any positiue ordinance of God For the ceremonies wherof we speake being matter of positiue law they are indifferent if God haue neither himselfe coÌ„manded nor forbidden theÌ„ but left theÌ„ vnto the Churches discretion So that if as great vniformitie bee required as is possible in these things seeing that the law of God forbiddeth not any one of theÌ„ it followeth that from the greatest vnto the least they must be in euery Christian Church the same except meere impossibilitie of so hauing it be the hinderaÌ„ce To vs this opinion seemeth ouer extreame violent wee rather incline to thinke it a iust and reasonable cause for any Church the state whereof is free and independent if in these things it differ from other Churches only for that it doth not iudge it so fit expedient to be framed therin by the patterne of their example as to bee otherwise framed then they That of Gregorie vnto Leander is a charitable speech and a peaceable In vnâ fide nil officit Ecclesiae sanctae consuetudo diuersa Where the faith of the holy Church is one a difference in customes of the Church doth no harme That of S. Augustine to Cassulanus is somewhat more particular and toucheth what kinde of ceremonies they are wherein one Church may vary from the example of an other without hurt Let the faith of the whole church how wide so euer it haue spred it selfe be alwaies one although the vnitie of beliefe be famous for varietie of certain ordinances wherby that which is rightly beleeued suffereth no kind of let or impediment Caluin goeth further As concerning rites in particular let the sentence of Augustine take place which leaueth it free vnto all Churches to receiue their owne custome Yea sometime it profiteth and is expedient that there be difference least men should thinke that religion is tyed to outward ceremonies Alwayes prouided that there be not any emulation nor that churches delighted with noueltie affect to haue that which others haue not They which graunt it true that the diuersitie of Ceremonies in this kind ought not to cause dissention in churches must eyther acknowledge that they graunt in effect nothing by these words or if any thing be granted there must as much be yeelded vnto as we affirme against their former strict assertion For if Churches be vrged by way of dutie to take such ceremonies as they like not of how can dissention be auoyded Will they say that there ought to be no dissention because such as are vrged ought to like of that whereunto they are vrged If they say this they say iust nothing For how should any Church like to be vrged of dutie by such as haue no authoritie or power ouer it vnto those things which being indifferent it is not of dutie bound vnto them Is it their meaning that there ought to be no dissention because that which Churches are not bound vnto no man ought by way of dutie to vrge vpon them and if any man doe he standeth in the sight both of God and men most iustly blameable as a needelesse disturber of the peace of Gods Church an author of dissention In saying this they both condemne their owne practise when they presse the Church of England with so strict a bond of dutie in these thinges and they ouerthrowe the ground of their practise which is that there ought to bee in all kinde of ceremonies vniformitie vnlesse impossibilitie hinder it For proofe whereof it is not enough to alleage what S. Paul did about the matter of collections or what Noble-men doe in the liueries of their seruants or what the Councell of Nice did for standing in time of prayer on certain daies because though S. Paule did will them of the Church of Coriâ—th euery man to lay vp somewhat by him vpon the Sunday and to reserue it in store till himselfe did come thither to send it vnto the Church of Ierusalem for reliefe of the poore there signifying withall that he had taken the like order with the Churches of Galatia yet the reason which hee yeeldeth of this order taken both in the one place and the other sheweth the least part of his meaning to haue bene that whereunto his wordes are writhed Concerning collection for the Saintes hee meaneth them of Ierusalem as I haue giuen order to the Church of Galatia so likewise doe ye saith the Apostle that is in euery first of the weeke let each of you lay aside by himselfe and reserue according to that which God hath blessed him with that when I come collections be not then to make and that when I am come whom you shall choose them I may forthwith sende away by letters to carrie your beneficence vnto Ierusalem Out of which wordâ— to conclude