the holy oracles and wordes of god should get their credite by men which are otherwise lyers But these things they faine to the entēt that seyng they are manifestlye founde often tymes to haue decreed and ratified in the Sacraments doctrines farre otherwise than the holy scriptures will beare Whiche thing they would defend that they may do it bycause the Churche whiche doth bring authoritie and credite to the worde of God may alter things in the holy Scriptures as pleased it Wherfore we must resiste them by all meanes possible in this thyng which they take vpon them to do We may not suffre our selues to be brought to thys poynte to thincke that the Scriptures haue had their credite and authority by the Churche And yet do I not write these thynges as thoughe I woulde despise or contemne the dignitie of the Churche vnto the whiche There be three offices of the Churche touching the word of God The Churche as a witnesse kepeth the holy Bookes I do attribute thre offices and them moste excellent as touchyng the worde of GOD. The firste of them is that I do confesse that the Church as a witnesse hath kept the holy bokes But thereby it can not be proued that it is lawful for it to peruert or alter any thing in the holy bookes Experience teacheth vs that publique and priuate wrytinges are committed to scriueners whiche are commonly called notaryes to be layd vp and diligently kept of thē And yet there is none that is in his right wittes which wil say that he may alter any thing in them or wil beleue that their authoritie is of greater force than their willes were whiche desired to haue the same written The worde of God reuealed and written Neither shall it be here vnprofitable to obserue the difference betwene the worde of god as it was reuealed at the beginning to the Prophetes sainctes as it was afterwardes preached or written For we do easely acknowledge betwene these that there is onely difference of tyme and not of the authoritie or efficacie For we confesse that the worde vnwritten was more auncient than that which was afterward appointed to letters and we graunt that either cōferred together was geuen to the Churche but in suche sorte that the Churche as we haue sayd can not by any meanes wrest or chaunge it The office of the Churche is to publishe and preache the worde of God And this vndoubtedly is the second office of the Church to preach publish the wordes committed vnto it by God In which thing it is lyke a common crier who althoughe he do publishe the decrees of princes and magistrates yet he is not aboue the decrees or equal vnto them in authoritie But his whole office is faithfully to pronounce all thynges as he hath receaued them of the princes and magistrates And if he should otherwise do he should be counted altogether for a traytour Wherfore the ministers of the Churche ought to care and study for nothing so much as to be founde faithfull We acknowledge also the last office of the Churche to be The Churche discerneth the holy bokes frō counterfaite such as are Apochriphas that seyng it is endued with the spirite of God it must therfore discerne the sincere vncorrupted bookes of holy Scriptures from the counterfaite and Apocriphas whiche is not yet to be in authoritie aboue the worde as many do foolishely dreame For there are very many which can discerne the true propre writings of Plato and Aristotle from other falsely put to them yet in comparison of iudgement they are neither of greater lernyng nor yet of equall with Plato or Aristotle And euery one of vs cā easely know God from the deuill yet are we not to be coūted equal with God much lesse can we thinck that we do excel him So the Churche ought not bycause of this to preferre faith or authoritie thereof before the Scriptures Augustine But they say Augustine sayeth I would not beleue the Gospell except the authoritie of the Churche did moue me therunto But in that place is read to moue together for in very dede Faith is not poured in by the minister but by God it is the spirite of God which poureth faith into the hearers of his worde And bycause the ministers of the Churche are his instrumentes they are rather to be sayd to moue with than absolutely to moue The same Augustine writeth in his 28. booke and second chap. against Faustus that the Maniches ought so to beleue that the first chap. of Matthew was writtē by Matthew euen as they did beleue that the Epistle whiche they called Fundamentum was written by Maniche bycause vndoubtedly they were so kept by their elders from hande to hand deliuered vnto them This is it therfore that the Churche moueth withall to beleue the Gospell bycause faithfully it kepeth the holy scriptures preacheth them and discerneth them from straunge Scriptures The same father manifestly witnesseth in his 6. booke of his confessions the 4. and 5. chap. that God him selfe in very dede did geue authoritie to the holy scriptures Tertullianus Irenaeus But Tertullianus and Irenaeus hauing to do against heretikes did therfore send thē to the Apostolicall Churches bycause they did not admitte the whole scriptures Wherfore they would that they should take their iudgemēt of those Churches which were certainly knowen to be Apostolical For it was meete that those Churches should continuallye remayne both witnesses and also keapers of the holy scriptures and yet therfore they did not decree that the authoritie of the Churche should be preferred before the scriptures What is to be thought of a certayn rule of the Logiciens But the aduersaries say that they are led by the sentence whiche is cōmonly vsed among Logiciens Euery thyng is such a thyng by reason of an other VVherfore that other shal more be counted suche Wherfore they reason after this maner If by the Churche the Scripture hath hys authoritie it must nedes be that the Church much more hath that authoritie But they remēber not that this sentence put by the Logiciens taketh place onely in finall causes and is of no strength in efficient causes For althoughe our inferior worlde be made warme by the sunne and the starres yet doth it not thereby followe that they are farre more warmer And agayne when immoderate men by wyne are made droncke we can not therby conclude the wyne to be more dronken than they Yea the Logiciens teache this that this their sentence is then strong and of efficacy in efficient causes when such efficient causes are brought forth whiche are whole and perfect and not whiche are perciall and maymed whiche rule is not obserued of our aduersaries in this argument For the Churche is not the whole and perfect efficient cause of that faith and authoritie whiche the holy Scriptures haue with the faithfull For if it were
foure parts Of the diuision of the holy Scriptures and ascribe some bokes as wel of the old testament as of the new to lawes some to histories some to prophecies and other some agayne to wisdome But it is not meete so to deuyde the bookes of the holye scripture one from an other bicause that in the bokes of Exodus Leuiticus Numeri and Dâ—uteromie in which they appoint lawes to be conteined are founde almoste as many histories as lawes Besides that in the bokes which they assigne to prophetes lawes of liuing vprightlye are oftentimes written and clearely expounded Neither can we properly separate the bokes of Salomon other of the kynd which they wil haue proper to wisdome from lawes and prophecies For there are in them sentences here and there written which seruing for the instruction of life haue also wtout controuersy the nature of lawes Furthermore for the that in theÌ„ are very many secretes opened vnto the church by the inspiration of the spirite of god they poure vndoubtedly into the attentife hearers oracles of thinges to come It may easily he graunted that all these things which they make mentioÌ„ of are founde in the holy bookes I meane the precepts of liuing notable hystories prophecies of thinges to come and also moste wise sentences and sayinges but in such sort that in maner in euery booke they are set forth vnto vs dispersedly neither yet would I that these holy bookes should be deuided one from an other by these endes and limittes I would rather thinke as the learned sorte doe also iudge that whatsoeuer thinges are conteyned in the holy Scriptures should be referred vnto two principall heades the lawe I meane and the gospell There be two principal pointes whereunto al the whole scriptures are referred For euery where are declared vnto vs either the precepts of god of vpright liuing or wheÌ„ we are reproued to haue strayed froÌ„ theÌ„ by reasoÌ„ of weakenes or els of malice the gospel is layd forth before vs wherin by Christ that thing wherein we haue offended is pardoned and the strength and power of the holy ghost promised vs to reforme vs againe to the image of god whiche we had loste These two thinges maye we beholde in all the bookes of Moyses in the histories Prophetes and bookes appointed to wisdome and that not onely in the olde Testamente but also in the newe and they are not separated one from an other by bookes and leaues but by that maner which is now declared What thinges are entreated of in thys boke of Iudges And this is sufficient as touching the generall matter of the holy scriptures But nowe we must peculiarly speake of this booke that we may vnderstand what things they be which are entreated of in the same And to the ende we may the more plainly vnderstande this it is nedefull to call to memory those thinges which were spoken of in the former bookes In Genesis is set forth the creation of the worlde then howe of Abraham Isaac Iacob and his twelue childreÌ„ was engendred the people of god and how they wer brought into Egipt to driue away their famine Exodus teacheth the greate encrease and incredible multiplication of the Israelites the maner also and forme wherby they were of god by Moyses deliuered from bondage and set at liberty and how they wer excelleÌ„tly adorned with lawes iudgementes and ceremonies whiche thinges are also comprehended in the bookes of Leuiticus What is coÌ„tayned in the bookes which go before the iudges The booke of Numbers conteineth very many passages of the Hebrewes and diuerse placings and orderings of their tents in the desert places also certain vsages of those rules which were prescribed before of god in the lawes And lastly of al in Deuteronomy When Moyses should depart out of this life he like a most faithfull minister of god moste learned preacher repeteth vnto the people almost the whole lawe After whose death Iosua captain of the Hebrewes led the people beyond Iordane and possessed some parte of the promised land of Chanaan and deuided it as god had commauÌ„ded to his whole natioÌ„ by tribes WheÌ„ he was dead god gouerned the Hebrewes by certain excellent meÌ„ which were called Iudges of which Iudges this booke which we haue taken in hand to enterpreate hath his name and title Why thys is called the booke of the iudges But for the better vnderstanding of the title therof we muste know that this word Shaphat in the Iewes tongue signifieth somtime to execute the law and to iudge the causes betwene theÌ„ which are at controuersie which office yet is not proper to those Iudges of whiche we nowe entreate For there were Leuites appointed which sate and gaue iudgement at the gates of euery citye and aboue all iudgementes sate Senadrim which were an assembly of 70. elders Senadrim Furthermore the word signifieth to reuenge to set at libertie which these excellent meÌ„ performed whose noble acts ar declared in this volume They by their authoritie through their might and counsell deliuered the Israelites when they were oppressed of straungers and kept them in the obseruing of the law true worshipping of God And that their office may the better be perceiued we wyll briefly expound the face and estate of that publike weale God himselfe was the true and proper king of that nation Of the common wealth estate of the Iewes for he onely had the principal power there but not as he had ouer other nations but so that he by his becke oracle and certain commaundement gouerned the estate of the Israelites which he promised to do in the .18 chap. of Exodus Wheras he said that that people should be hys chiefe kingdome But bycause he would also vse the ministery of men he prouyded al thyngs necessary for the Hebrewes fyrst by Moyses and then by Iosua as long as they liued They exercised the office of princes or captaines which men being dead god would haue the best and most excellent men to haue the rule ouer theÌ„ for such men were picked out to be of the senate whose excellent conditions are set forth as well in Exodus as in Deuteronomy for the lawes of God would not suffer euery one to be called to that office That is wheÌ„ the best men are gouernours ouer the coÌ„moÌ„ weale If thou shalt therfore consider these men then shalt thou see the forme of that gouernment which is called Aristocratia But bicause that it was not lawfull to attempt great matters without the peoples consent we may therfore iustly thinke that it was also a common wealth which endured to the tyme of Saule and Dauid the first kings That estate therfore in respect of god was a kingdome but in respect of the Senate those chiefe men it was Aristocratia Bicause in electing of theÌ„ they had no regard to their riches but to their vertue and godlines for that the weightiest
be geuen as the ability of the geuers could beare and as much as seemed mete for the worshipping of God From hence do these our Papistes think their Masse to be deriued as though it were a tribute and a willing oblation which might be offered euery where vnto God in the church for the quicke the dead But I thynke not so Certeyne Hebrew wordes are obserued in the latin church The hebrew words cam not vnto the latine church but by the Greeke churche I know right wel that the church hath borowed certayne words of the hebrues as Sathan Osianna Zebaoth Halleluia Pasah or Pascha and such other mo But we must marke that those woordes came not vnto the Latine Church but by the Greeke Church for as muche as those woordes are found in the new Testament as it is written first in Greeke also in the translation of the old Testament as it was turned by the .lxx. Wherefore wee haue no hebrew woordes deriued to our Church which the Greeke Churche had not first But if we shal diligently peruse ouer the bookes of the Greeke father we shal neuer find this woord Missa which is Masse vsed of thē Wherfore I thynk that this woord of Missa is not deriued from the Hebrues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Greeke church called the holy supper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which woorke signifieth a common publicke woorke Neither is that woord proper to holy things yea it is also applyed vnto prophane actions which ar publike And who knoweth not that the administration of the supper of the Lord is a thing pertaynyng to Christian people For as many as be present ought to be partakers thereof and to communicate together An argument against priuate masses And least I should ouerskyp thys the etimologie of this woord bringeth no smal argument against priuate Masses Bisides this that woord pertaineth not only to the Lords supper but also it is attributed to other holy functions wherefore it is written in the actes of the Apostels the .13 chap. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whcyh some haue tourned whilest they did sacrifice whē as rather they should haue said whilest they serued or wrought publikely namely in a holy thing which they did without doubt in preaching of the Gospel Names of the holly supper among the Latynes This holy function namely the Lordes supper had other names among the Latines For it was sometimes called the Communion sometimes the supper of the Lord other sometimes the Sacrament of the body of Christ or the breaking of bread And our fathers haue often tymes called it as the Greeke fathers dyd dreadful misteries and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Howe the father 's called the supper a sacrifice I wyll not speake of how they vsed to cal it oftē times by the name of a sacrifice not therfore as our aduersaries do foolishlye imagine bicause that there the body blood of Christ is offered vnto God for a sacrifice for the quicke the dead Although the fathers abhorred not from that kinde of speche whereby they sayde that the body and bloud of Christ was offered vnto God But what they vnderstoode by those words if they be diligently red they do manifestly expound namelye that then were thankes geuen vnto The most auncient fathers vsed not the maine of Masse Augustine By those names did the most auncient fathers call the Lordes supper But they made neuer mencion of the Masse For it thou shalt reade Ireneus Tertulilan Ciprian Hilary and their like thou shalt neuer finde that woord in them in that signification Augustine maketh mēcion twice of it namely in her sermon de tempore 237. where he maketh mencion of the Masse of those that were to be instructed before baptisme In that place he exhoreth men to forgeue iniuries one to another For saith he we must come to the Masse of those that are to bee instructed where we shal pray forgeue vs our trespasses as we also forgeue our trespassers And be writeth also in the sermon de tempore .91 these woordes In the history which is to be red at Masses Some are in doubte whether those sermons were of Augustines writing or no Whē the name of Masse begā to be vsed but to me they seme to be the style and sentences of Augustine And as I coniecture I thinke that this name Masse began almost to be vsed at that time howbeit but seldome and not often For if it had bene then a woord in much vse Augustine in especial who framed hys wryting vnto the vulgare people would oftener haue made mencion of it They alledge Ignatius in his Epistle ad Smyrnenses Ignatius An argumēt against priuate Masses But that place maketh very much against the Massemongers for asmuch as there Ignatius ordayned that Masses shoulde in no wyse be had vnlesse the Bishop were present wyth such great warinesse did antiquity abhorre priuate cōmunions For he would haue al men to be presēt at that doing of it specially the Bishops These thinges haue I said as grautning vnto the aduersaries that it was the very booke of Ignatius The epistles of Ignatius are Apocriphas that it containeth in it the word Masse which yet we ar not compelled to graūt For it is Apocripha yea and that as their own Gratian testifieth Moreouer those Epistles were written in Greeke and therefore I am assured that be which turend it into latin did put this word Masse for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For thus it is written in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and straight way after that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. This is the Greeke sentence of Ignatius wherein as appeareth ther is no mencion made of this woord Masse Leo also is cited in his .9 Epistle to Dioscurus Leo. And argumēt againste priuate Masses where I confesse that that father made mencion of Masse but yet in such sorte that in the same place he is wonderfullye againste priuate Masses For he was demaunded seing that the temple was not so large that it coulde not containe the whole people which came while holy thinges wer administred what the rest of the multitude should do which remained without and could not be present Leo answered that when that part of the people is gone forth which was before present at the holye celebration the residue might succede and repeate againe those holye thinges If so be that priuate masses had bene then in vse what needed of that matter to haue asked counsell of Leo the bishop of Rome Surely this question is a manifest token that Masse was not vsed to be had but once They wer wont also to bring Iohannes Cassianus Iohannes Casianus who lyued in the tyme of Honorius and was driuen out of the Churche of Ierusalem by heretickes from whence he came to Massilia and was a Monke by profession For hee maketh mencion of Masse in his .3 booke .7 and 8. chap. but he wresteth
before other kynde of men had the promise of saluation neither are they paste all hope when as daylye some of them although but a fewe retourne vnto Christ Blindnesse sayeth Paule to the Romanes fell partly on Israel as though he woulde say not on al. Moreouer the same Apostle addeth when the fulnesse of the Gentiles is entred then all Israell shall be saued And least thou shouldest peraduenture thinke that these wordes are to bee vnderstand allegorically Paule writeth them as a miserye and to confyrme his sentence he bryngeth the Prophecye of Esay the Prophet namely that iniquitie shal be then taken away from Iacob Furthermore they are now called enemyes vnto God for our sakes but called frends bycause of their fathers The same Augustine in hys Questions vppon the Gospell the second boke and xxxiii Question if that these bookes be of Augustine his writing when he interpreteth the parable of the prodigal sonne he sayeth that that sonne signifyeth the Gentiles For it is written that he departed into a farre countrey bycause the Ethnikes were so farre departed from God that they openly worshipped Idoles and with open profession But the elder sonne by whome was shadowed the people of the Hebrewes went not so farre And although he were not in hys Fathers house whiche is the Churche he dwelled for all that in the fielde For the Iewes are exercised in the holy Scriptures whiche they doe not ryghtlye vnderstande nor yet with that spirituall sense wherein the Churche of Christe taketh them but in an earthlye and carnall sense Wherefore they are not vnaptelye sayde to bee in the fielde Thys Elder sonne entreth not at the begynnyng into the house of hys Father but in the latter dayes he shall also bee called and come The same Father also bringeth for thys sentence that which is written in the 58. Psalme as he readeth it Do not kil them least they forget thy law but in thy power disperse them The Sonne of God sayth he prayeth vnto the father that that nation might not be destroyed but might wander euery where throughout the worlde Other prouinces when they were ouercome of the Romanes followed the lawes and rites of the Romanes The Iewes receaued not the lawes and customes of the Romanes so that at the length they were made Romanes but the Iewes although they were ouercome by the Romanes yet woulde they neuer followe their lawes rites and ceremonies they yet obserue theyr owne as muche as they maye and being dispersed they wander abroade Neither haue they vtterly forgotten the lawe of GOD not that they Godlye applye themselues to obserue it but only reade it and kepe certayne signes and institutions wherby they are discerned from other Nations Moreouer it semeth that God hath put a signe vppon them as he dyd vppon Caine bycause he had killed his brother Abell namely that euery man shoulde not kill them The dispersing of the Iewes is profitable to Christians Neyther is thys theyr dispersion through oute the worlde vnprofitable to the Christians bycause as it is written to the Romanes they are shewed vnto vs as broken bowes And for so much as we were grafted in their place when as we see that they were so miserably cut of we acknowledge the grace of god toward vs and by beholding of them we are taught to take heede that we also bee not likewyse cut of for infidelitie sake for which self cause they are broken of There is also an other commoditie whiche commeth vnto vs by theyr dispersing bycause our bookes are saued by them I meane the holy Byble whiche they euery where carye aboute with them and reade And althoughe bycause they are blynded Against those whiche burne the Bibles in Hebrewe they beleue not yet they confesse that those writynges are moste true They are in harte deadly enemyes agaynst vs but by these bookes which they haue and reuerence they are a testimonye to our religion Wherefore I can not inough meruaile at those whiche doe so much hate the Iewes tongue and Bibles in Hebrewe Augustine that they desire to haue them destroyed and burnte when as Augustine de doctrina Christiana thinketh that if we chaunce somtymes to doubt of the Greke or Latin translation we must fly vnto the truth of the Hebrue And Ierome in many places writeth the same Whether the Hebrues haue corrupted the bokes of holy scriptures Ierome But they say that the holy bookes were vitiated and corrupted by the Hebrues To thys Ierome vpon Esaye the .vi. Chapter towarde the ende aunswereth thus Eyther they dyd thys before the comming of Christ and Preachyng of the Apostles or els afterwarde If a man will saye that it was done of them before then seing Christ and his Apostles reprehended the moste greuous wicked actes of the Iewes I maruaile why they would speake nothing of that sacrilege and so detestable a wicked acte Vndoubtedly they woulde haue reproued them for viciating and corrupting the Scriptures But if thou wilt contend that there were afterward faultes brought in by them then will I say that they ought chiefly to haue corrupted those places which do testifye of Christ and his religiō and which were alledged by the Lord himself and of the Apostles in the newe Testament But they remaine vncorrupt and the same sentence remaineth stil in the Hebrue Bibles which they put For they wer not so carefull for the words Wherfore it is not likely that they as touching other places haue corrupted the holy scriptures Yea if a man diligently reade ouer their bookes he shall finde in them a great many more testimonyes and those more plaine and manifest than our common traslatiō hath Do not they read in the second Psalme Kysse ye the sonne which ours haue translated Take ye hold of discipline Which woordes vndoubtedly are referred vnto Christ But I meane not at this present to bring all such testimonies It is sufficient if with Ierome I proue that the bokes of holy Scriptures are not corrupted by the Hebrues neither assuredly if they woulde they should haue missed of their purpose For there are found many most auncient handwritten bookes which haue bene of a long time most diligently kept by Christians which came neuer in their hands to corrupt But let vs retourne to treate of that commoditye which Augustine hath declared There are very many sayeth he that would peraduenture thinke that those things which we declare of the auncient people and of the Prophets are vayne and fayned of vs vnlesse they saw the Iewes yet remaining on liue The Hebrues their bokes ar most plaine witnesses of our fayth which with their bookes maintaine our sentence euē against their will Wherfore although the Hebrues be blinded in hart are against vs as much as they maye yet are they with their bokes most plaine witnesses of our fayth And vndoubtedly of al testimonies that testimony is most of value God wil haue a church euen
hande and hys hande preuayled agaynst Chusan Riseathaun 11 And the lande had rest .40 yeares And Othoniel the Sonne of Chenez dyed Israel cryed vnto the Lord bicause they wer euil vexed and most grieuously oppressed of the Sirians They acknowledged now after their great hurt that straunge Gods profited them nothing yea rather they brought vpon them the miseries wherwith they were vrged When they vnderstoode that mans helpe was on euery side cut of they conuerting them selues vnto the true God called vpon him This is the fruite of miseries as touching the elect or rather the fruit of the goodnes of God which by troubles calleth againe vnto him those which are hys Of Othoniel we haue spoken inough before Now he is called a Sauiour bicause he brought health vnto the Israelites as the other Iudges dyd Othoniel was called a sauiour and a redemer which wer also called Sauiours he was a shadow of Christ But the Chaldey paraphrast calleth him Porken that is a Redemer Which surname also rightly agreeth with Othoniel bicause before it is sayd that God sold the Israelites and when bondmen are sold they haue nede of one to redeme them For as much as before it was said the God raised vp Iudges After what maner God raised vp Iudges now is declared the maner forme how he raysed them vp For it is written And the spirite of the Lord was vpon hym For by the holy ghost wer not onelye geuen vnto hym strength political wisdome and warlyke artes but also he was made the more certain of his calling The Chaldey paraphrast vnderstandeth by the Spirit of God the power of prophecy Dauid Kimhi But Dauid Kimhi interpreteth it the gift of force strength But I thinke that either interpretacion is to be allowed For besydes the strength and power which was geuen the Iudges they had also the iudgement and feeling of the wil of God which pertained vnto prophecy He iudged Israel That is he set them at liberty and was their Gouernour as touching ciuil thinges and restored the pure worshipping of God In that it is aboue written that God sold Israel to the king of Mesopotamia And nowe again it is declared that he deliuered the same king vnto Othoniel we may gather that victories ar geuē at the pleasure of God which also we haue often noted before R. Leui ben gerson thinketh that in that supputation of .40 R. Leui ben gerischon yeares wherein the Iewes lyued peaceably vnder Othoniel were comprehended also the eyght yeares of seruitude which went before But of this thing we wil speake aboundantly in the history of Iiphtah God is also to be called vpon of synners This place teacheth that men must call vpon God though they haue synned which I therfore thought good to note bycause sinnes vse much to feare away men from the inuocation of the name of God for this is the nature of synnes to alienate vs frō God vnto whom we yet by praiers come againe Wherfore seing these thinges are contrary namely to be alienated from God and to come vnto him it is wonder how they can be applyed to one and the selfe same man Augustine And this maketh with it also which is written in the gospel God heareth not sinners Although Augustine wryte of that sentēce that it is found in dede in the holy scriptures but it was spoken by hym whych was borne blynde when his hart was not yet illustrate Wherefore he iudgeth that that sentence is not to be taken as a firme and certaine rule A distinction of synners But I would rather make a distinction betwene synners for there are some which when they cry vnto the Lord do repent and from their hartes are sory for the euils which they haue committed But ther are other which continue stil in their mynd and purpose to synne and haue a very great delite therin Farther I am not afeard to affirme that god heareth those synners which being repentant cry vnto him with faith wher as those are repulsed which being hardened in their sinnes and wāting faith do call vpon god Wherfore it appeareth that those sinners which come to god and those that depart from god are not sinners of one sort bicause they which after they haue synned cal vpon god by faith repent them of theyr synnes are deuided from those which stubbornly without repentaunce perseuer in their synnes For they although by wordes they cry vnto god yet in hart and mynde they are farre from him so farre are they for to be ioyned vnto him or to come vnto him by fayth and prayers ¶ Whether God be the cause of synne BVt in these thinges which are sayd there ariseth a question which is not to be left vnspoken of For it is writtē that god sold the Israelites to the king of Mesopotamia Wherfore it semeth that he holpe a wicked man aided hym to satisfy his tyranny and ambition For he had neither a iust cause nor yet an honest title to clayme vnto him the dominion of the Hebrues What shall wee saye therefore Shall we affirme that God is the cause of this sinne Ther happeneth in this booke and in other places of the holye Scriptures suche kynde of speeche and that often times very plaine and therefore it semeth good to be expounded once for all Whether by the word permissiō this question may be dissolued Some yea and that with no euyl minde labour to excuse God and say that he doth not these euyl thinges but onely permitteth them And they thinke that in doubtful places that interpretation is to be applied which altogether wanteth fault and daunger of vngodlines Vndoubtedly this their saying wer to be praised if that we could se their exposition to be allowed in the scriptures But there it is farre otherwise sayd It is proued by good reasons that besides permission god worketh somewhat whē sins ar cōmitted namely that God doth stirre vp wycked men to their wicked actes that he seduceth delyuereth commaundeth hardeneth and deceaueth them and bringeth to passe those sinnes which are grieuous Suche kindes of speeche do manifestly teach vs that God after a sorte woorketh euyll thinges not onely in permitting but also in doing in vs. Without doubt al we are said both to haue our being and also our mouing in him For he is in suche sort the first cause of all thinges that without him we can do nothing For how should we moue our selues vnlesse by his power we wer both moued and also driuen Farther how farre his gouernment extendeth we may reade in the .xi. chap. of Mathew for two Sparowes saith the Lord are sold for a farthing and yet one of them falleth not to the ground without the wyll of the father And that was as much to say as without the counsell of God nothing be it neuer so smal is done in the world Moreouer that permission wherby certaine go about to make
and made to stand stil I wyll not speake howe the Poetes fable that when the walles of Thebes the Citye were built the stones of their owne motion came together with the sound of the Harpe And no man is ignoraunt what the same Poetes haue written of Arion and Orpheus And who knoweth not how much Dauid here ther in his Psalmes praiseth both Musick songes Tertulian And among Christian men Tertulian in his Apology teacheth that the faithfull did very often make suppers wherin after they had moderatly and honestly refreshed the body they recreated themselues with godly songes And in an other place when he commendeth Matrimony that is of one and the selfe same religion he sayth that Christian couples doo mutually prouoke them selues tosing prayses vnto God Whether singinge may be receaued in the Church The east churche Plini But now that we haue sene the nature beginning and vse of songes and musicke ther resteth to inquire whither it may be vsed in Churches In the East part the holy assemblies euen from the beginning vsed singing which we maye easily vnderstand by a testimony of Plini in a certain Epistle to Traian the Emperor where he writeth that Christians vsed to syng hymnes before daye vnto their Christ And this is not to be left out that these words wer written in that time that Iohn the Euangelist lyued for he was a liue vnto the time of Traian Wherfore if a man shal say that in the time of the Apostles there was syngyng in holy assemblies He shal not stray from the truth Paule who was before these times vnto the Ephesians saith Be not filled wyth wyne wherein is wantonnes but be ye filled with the spirit speaking to your selues in Psalmes Himnes and spiritual songes singing in your hart geuing thankes alwaies vnto God for all thinges in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ To wyne the Apostle setteth the spirite as contrarye and forbiddeth the pleasure of the senses when in steede of wyne he wil haue Christians filled with the spirite For in wine as he saith is wantonnes but in the spirite is both a true and a perfect ioy Drounckerdes speake more than inough but yet foolish and vayne thinges Speake ye saith he but yet spirituall thinges and that not onely in voyce but also in hart for the voyce soundeth in vaine where the minde is not affected They which be filled with wine do speake foolish filthy and blasphemous thinges but geue ye thankes to God alwaies I say and for all thinges To this ende vndoubtedly ought Ecclesiastical songes to tend vnto To the Colossians also are written certaine thinges not disagreing from these Let the woord of the Lord sayth the Apostle abound plentifully in you teache and admonish ye one another in Psalmes Hymnes and spirituall songes singing in your hartes with grace By these woordes Paule expresseth two thinges Fyrst that our songes be the woord of God which must abound plentifully in vs and they must not serue onely to geuing of thankes but also to teache and to admonish And then it is added with grace which is thus to vnderstand as though he should haue said aptly and properly both to the senses and to measure and also vnto the voyces Let them not syng rude and rusticall thinges neither let it be immoderatly as doo the Tauernhunters To the Corrinthians the firste Epistle the .xiiii. chapter where he entreateth of an holy assemblye the same Apostle writeth after this maner When ye assemble together according as euerye one of you hath a Psalme or hath doctrine or hath a toung or hath reuelacion or hath interpretation let al thinges be done vnto edifieng By which woordes is declared that Syngers of songes and Psalmes had their place in the Church The west Church Augustine But the west Churches more lately receaued the maner of singing for Augustine in his .ix. booke of Confessions testifieth that it happened in the tyme of Ambrose For when that holy man together with the people watched euen in the Church least he should haue bene betrayed vnto the Arrians he brought in singing to auoyde tediousnes and to driue away the time But as touching the measure and nature of the song which ought to be retained in Musicke in the Church these thinges are woorthy to be noted What maner of measure the ecclesiastical song ought to be Augustine Augustine in the same bookes of Confession both confesseth and also is sory that hee had sometimes fallen bicause he had geuen more attentiue heede vnto the measures and cordes of musicke than to the woordes whiche were vnder them spoken Which thing hereby he proueth to be synne bicause measures and singing were brought in for the wordes sake and not wordes for Musicke The manner of the churche of Alexandria And he so repented him of his fault that he execeedingly allowed the manner of the Church of Alexandria vsed vnder Athanasius for hee commaunded the Reader that when he sang he should but lytle alter his voyce so that he shoulde bee lyke rather vnto one that readeth than vnto one that syngeth Howbeit on the contrary when he considered how at the beginning of his conuersion he was inwardly moued with these songes namely in suche sorte that for the zeale of pietye he burst forth into teares for this cause I say he consented that Musicke should be retained in the Churche but yet in suche maner that hee saide he was readye to chaunge his sentence if a better reason could be assigned And he addeth that those do synne deadly as they wer wont to speake which geue greater hede vnto musicke than vnto the woordes of God Ierome Gregory To which sentence vndoubtedlye Ierome assenteth as he hath noted vpon the Epistle to the Ephesians Gregory also of Rome in the Synode of Rome was of the same opinion And both their wordes are wrytten in the Decrees Dist 92. in the chap. Cantantes and in the chapter In sancta Romana In which place are read in the glose two verses not in dede so eloquent but yet godly Non vox sed votum non cordula musica sed vox Non clamans sed amans cantat in aure Dei That is Not the voice but the desire not the plesantnes of musick but the voyce Not crying but louing syngeth in the eare of God And in the wordes of Gregory this is not slightlye to be passed ouer in that hee saith Whilest the swetenes of the voyce is sought for the life is neglected and when wicked maners prouoke God the people is rauished by the pleasauntnesse of the voyce The abuses of Ecclesiasticall Musicke But now let vs declare the cautions which are to bee obserued to the ende we maye lawfully and fruitfully vse singing in the Church The first is That in Musicke be not put the whole summe effect of godlines and of the worshipping of God For among the Papists they do almost euery where thinke that
Iustice in contaminatyng an other mannes thyng Ye are bought with a greate pryce wherefore glorify God in your body These argumentes of Paul are both most pleasaunt and also most strōg which if they satisfy not some let him loke vpon our Samson He was no idolatrer no murtherer no these and yet is he taken bound his eyes put out and is compelled to grinde in a prison euen as if he had ben a foure footed beast Paul laboureth by many argumētes to proue whoredome is sinne And no maruayle bicause then he wrote vno the Corinthians whiche at that tyme abounded aboue other in fornicatiōs Wherof came the Prouerb Nō quiuis Corinthū that is It is not for euery mā to go to Corinthus And in vniuersal al the Ethnikes were in an ill opiniō touching this vice Eusebius For which cause whē the Church was yet springyng as Eusebius testifieth in his .3 booke of his hystory the .29 chap. the Nicolaites did openly manifestly commit fornication layd the custome of their wicked crime vpō Nicolaus the deacon Clemēs Alexandrinus The history of Nicolaus the deacon although Clemēs Bishop of Alexādria in Stromatis do excuse Nicolaus For he sayeth that he neither thought nor taught any such thing But hauing a very fayre woman to his wyfe and therefore beyng thought to haue ben gelous ouer her he brought her foorth before the people and said This is my wife And that ye might vnderstand that I am not gelous ouer her I am cōtēt for my part that any of you take her to wife Which thing also he mēt as farre as the law of God would suffer But they which were afterward called Nicloaites vnderstandyng his wordes peruersly supposed that he thought the wyues among Christians ought to be cōmon Of this Secte it is written in the Apocalips But this thou hast bycause thou hast hated the actes of the Nicolaites whiche I haue hated Wherfore it is no meruayle though Paul tooke so great paynes to teache that whoredome is sinne Fornicatiō cōtrary to matrimony This wicked crime is contrary vnto matrimony For they whiche haunte wandryng lustes and harlots are farre from contracting of Matrimony Wherfore Terence sayth They which loue can ill abide to haue a wife geuen thē For whiche cause Clemens sayth Clemens whoredome leadeth from one matrimony to many that is from one lawful coniunction to many vnlawfull wicked The Epistle to the Hebrues ioyneth fornicators which aduoutrers testifieth that God will iudge them And those two vices are so ioyned together that they are comprehended in the selfe same precept wherin it sayd Thou shalt not commit aduoultry Fornication is repugnat vnto Christ the publique wealch This pestilence also is repugnāt both vnto Charity to the publique wealth vnto charity vndoubtedly bycause the fornicators do iniury vnto their children whiche not beyng lawfully procreated are scarsely at any tyme brought vp honestly vertuously And they hurt the publique wealth bycause they defraud it of good Citizēs For Mamzer a bastard I say one borne in fornication is prohibited to be receaued into the Church not that he is restrayned from the holy cōmunion or from the misteryes of saluation but bycause it is not lawfull for him to gouerne the publique wealth to be numbred among Citizens Some thinke that this euill may be remedyed if a man should keepe a concubine at home So say they shall the yssue be certayn It may be peraduenture certayne but it shall not be legitimate Seing therfore this wicked crime is both agaynst matrimony and charity also the publique wealth it cā not be denied but it is a sinne most grieuous A Christiā magistrate ought not to suffer harlottes And for as much as it is so why are fornications now a dayes openly suffred in Cityes I speake not of the Ethnikes I speake of Christians and of those Christiās which wil alone seme be called the successors of Christ Whoredome or fornicatiō is most impudently mainteyned in their dominion they not onely willing therunto but also taking a commodity tribute therof That whiche is against the word of God against matrimony against charity against the publique wealth is no sinne or els it is a notable sinne If it be sinne why is it not taken away weded out Augustine But I know what they will bable they bring foorth Augustine who in his booke de Ordine wryteth thus Take awaye harlottes and all thyngs shal be filled with filthy lustes But let vs consider in what time Augustine wrote that booke Vndoubtedly when he was yet Catechumenus and not sufficiently enstructed in religion And althoughe he had not beene Catechumenus yet thys his saying agreeth not with the word of God neyther with Augustine himselfe who in an other place affirmeth that the good which commeth of euil as a recompensacion is not to be admitted Which thing also Paule hath taught to the Romaynes euen as they were wont to say of vs Let vs do euil thinges that therby may come good thinges whose damnation is iust We must neuer haue a regard to the end and euent when we are vrged by the commaundemente of god Somtimes men say vnto vs Vnles thou committe sinne this euill or that will succede But we must aunswere let vs do what god hath commaunded vs he will haue a care of the successe Neither is it meete that one onely sentence of Augustine should be of greater authority then so many reasōs which we haue brought and so many most manifest wordes of God God commaunded absolutely and by expresse wordes that there shoulde be no harlot in Israell But some go aboute to wrest this place out of our handes in sayinge that these hebrewe woordes Kadschah and Kedaschim signifieth not whores or harlots but rather the priestes of Priapus which were vowed or consecrated to thinges most filthy I contrarily thinke that Chadschah signifieth an harlot and Kedaschim vnnaturall and effeminate persons God woulde haue neyther of these suffred among his people But in that they obiect the holy seruices of Priapus it is nothing For it was sufficientlye before decreed touchinge idolatry and what nede it agayn to be repeated But that we may the more manifestly vnderstand that Kadschah signifieth a harlot let vs reade the historye of Iuda and Thamar in the booke of Genesis Certaine wordes ar taken both in the good and euill parte and there we shall see that Louah Kadschah are taken both for one and the selfe same thing For whiche cause we must note that there are certayne wordes whiche maye be taken both in the good and euil parte of which sort is this word Kadschah among the Hebrewes which signifieth both holy and also an harlot euen as among the lattines thys word sacrum that is holye Virgil. wherefore Virgill sayth Auri sacra fames that is the holy hunger of gold This Hebrew word Kadasch is to prepare or
that there was a little of the day remaining So also men when they come to age ar weakned in the body The Leuit would tary no longer which turned to his greate hurt Let vs by the way note in this place that for him which shal make a iorney it is vnprofitable to tary long at banquetings For commonly they ar oppressed with night before they can come to theyr lodginges Now it semeth that I should entreate of adulteries wherby I might declare the nature and greiuousnes of that sinne and setforth the punishmentes of that crime which ar appointed both by the ciuil laws by the ecclesiastical but these shal be spoken of when wee are come vnto the history of Dauid who committed most filthy adultery with Bethsaba Now I haue determined to entreate onelye of the reconsiliation of the husband and the wife after the committing of adultery and I will touch the whole matter briefly ¶ Of the reconciliation of the husband the wife after that adultery hath ben committed THe ciuil lawes are vtterly against the reconciliation of the husband and the wife after the one hath committed adultery The ciuill lawes abhorre from reconciliation after adultery For in the Code ad l. Iuliam de adulteriis in the law Castitati nostrorum temporum it is ordeined that if a man maried againe a wife condemned of adultery he incurreth the crime of being a bawd And in the same title in the law Crimē it is had that he which retaineth still in matrimonye a wife that hath played the adulteresse can not accuse her of adultry Although afterward by a new law it was otherwise prouided for Neither was it a light thinge to be condemned is a bawde but it was euen as greiuous as if a man had ben condēned of adultry Yea and if a man retayn her that is condēned of adultry he may him self without an accuser be condēned of adultry And if a man marie agayn her whom that he hath once repudiated he cannot accuse her of the adultry before committed But if she again commit adultry he may Bycause in marieng her againe he seemeth to haue allowed her acte And if any woman be condemned of adultry no man can take her to wife Wherefore the ciuil lawes do abhor from reconciliacion after adultry so that it be conuict and condemned For if it be onely his suspicion it is lawful for the husband to retayne and accuse her whome hee suspecteth Who if hee afterwarde see that he was ledde by a vayne supicion to accuse her hee maye cease from that which he hath begonne so that he first obteine a release of the Iudge Ierome vpon the .19 chapter of Mathew may appeare to agree with the ciuil lawes For he writeth she which hath deuided one flesh into one or two ought not to be retained least her husbande be made subiect vnto the curse For as it is written in the .18 chapter of the Prouerbes He which retaineth an adultresse is vngodly and a foole In dede so haue the .70 interpreters turned it but the verity of the Hebrewe hath it not The same Ierome saith If there happpen any sin it breaketh not matrimony But if ther happen adoultery then the wife is not lawfull And in the .32 question the first ar rehearsed the words of Chrisostome If a manne haue to doe with an adulterous wife let him do penaunce And the same Chrisostome vpon the .26 chap. of Mathew Euen as he is vniuste whiche accuseth an innocent so is he a foole which retayneth an adulteresse The same thing is had in the decretals de Adult in the chap. Si vir sciens And it was decreed at the counsell of Orleaunce The husband which retaineth an adulteresse is partaker of the crime And if a woman repudiated marye an other her laste husband being dead she can not return vnto the first For now she is vncleane vnto him as it is written in the .24 of Deut. But now omitting these thinges let vs see the reasons which serue for reconciliation God himselfe which is onely good would be the husbande of the church and that not onely in our time but also in the times of the fathers But the church especially the old church oftentimes turned aside to idolatry and cōmitted whoredome with the Gods of the Gentiles as euerye where appeareth in this booke and also in the history of the kinges and in the prophetes Neuertheles yet Ieremy called it back againe in the name of God to return to her husband Which selfe thinge Hoseah the prophet also did that with many words And if god be redy to receaue his wife beynge an adulteresse man ought also to returne into fauor agayne with his wife especially if she repent and beginne a new life For as many as are christian men professe the imitation of God Ther is also an example of Dauid who toke agayne his wife Michol although her father had placed her to an other man Iustinian Iustinian also in his Authentikes when he commaundeth that an adulteresse should be beaten be shut vp in a monastery yet hee geueth libertye to the husbande to take her againe if he will within the space of two yeares so he most manifestly alloweth reconciliation Augustine Augustine in his 2 boke to Pollencius is very much in this that they should be reconciled For many in his time would not receaue their wiues which had cōmitted adultery as such as which were now polluted contaminated Where fore he wrote doest thou thinke her polluted whom baptisme and repentaunce hath purged Whom God hath clensed She ought not to seme to thee polluted And if she be now recōciled vnto the kayes of the church admitted into the kingdome of heauen by what right canst thou put her from thee These thinges are had also in 32. question .1 If she haue fallen thou must know it came of humayne nature mercy muste be shewed her if she arise For we woulde the same to be done vnto vs. And extreme right is extreme wronge In the decretals de adulteriis stupris in the chap. Si vir sciens it is had out of the counsel of Orleaunce An adultresse if she repent ought to be receaued The glose in that place demaūdeth by what right or dewty she ought to be receiued It answereth Not by the lawe of necessitye for if the man wil not he cannot be compelled to receaue her wherfore he ought by the law of honesty to take her agayne But I woulde demaund whither it ought not also to be done by the dewty of piety by the strēgth of the commaundement of God forasmuch as Paule to the Philip. saith do these things whatsoeuer ar honest and iust Therfore it is also don by necessity of the commaundement But the gloser in that place intreated of the outward iudgemente wherein no man can be compelled to receaue an adulteresse But in the Cannon now cited it is added Not
answer of Bonifacius a deceite of equiuocation For we demaund whither an ecclesiastical Minister may beare the office of a ciuil Magistrate and vse a ciuil sword and they remit vs vnto the sword of Peter a man otherwise priuate Bernardus Howbeit Bernardus in his .4 booke de Consider ad Eugenium semeth to interprete the two swordes I graunt that Bernard hath certaine thinges lyke vnto this but yet not vtterly the same But we must remember in what tyme Bernardus lyued He liued at that time wherein all thinges were corrupted in the Church and if a man reade those his bokes de Consideratione he shal se that he grieuously complaineth of the corruption of his time Eugenius was by the Romanes excluded the City and peraduenture he meditated by violence to restore himselfe Wherefore Bernard exhorted them to preache the Gospell to deale aganst the Romanes with the woorde and with Sermons rather then wyth the sword Eugenius said what wilt thou haue That I should feede Serpentes and Dragons and Beastes Yea rather assayle them saith Bernard with the woord not with iron And in an other place he saith If thou wilt haue both swordes thou shalt leese both Neither is it to be thought that Eugenius would by himself haue fought but peraduenture he assayed to moue warre by other from whiche purpose Bernard disswaded him And thus much of him But in that Bonifacius addeth that those swords of the church ought to be in order namely that the one should be subiect vnto the other that he proueth by thys saying of Paule Those powers that are are ordeined of God is manifestly declared how this man wresteth the scriptures For this word ordinatae that is ordered is in Greeke written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is nothing els then instituted or appointed But be it so as Bonifacius hath expounded it what manner of order shal this be at the length Vndoubtedly it shoulde be that the Minister shoulde teache and the ciuil power shoulde heare and beleue But this is nothing vnto the Pope which teacheth nothing The lowest thinges saith Dionisius are by meanes reduced vnto the hyghest Wherfore Bonifacius concludeth that the outward sword ought to be referred vnto God by the spiritual Vndoubtedly I wil easely graunt that the swoord of the spirit that is the word of God is the meane wherby the other sword namely the outwarde ought to be tempered and directed vnto God But why doth not the Pope retaine this meane The Pope vseth not the swoorde of the woord Why vseth he not the word Why teacheth he not why preacheth he not Nndoubtedly princes that stray are not by him reuoked into the right way yea rather contrarywise the Pope and bishops of the Church are somtimes rebuked and iustly reproued of princes Aaron assuredly being high priest It longeth to princes sometimes to admonish and correct Ecclesiastycall men fel greuously in making the golden calfe and obeing the foolishnes of the people Moses accused him greiuously whome it is certayne that he was a ciuil magistrate For toward the end of Deut. he is called a king And when the priestes abused the mony which was offred for the mending of the couerings of the temple who remedied that but onely Ioas the king I will not speake of Dauid and Salomon and others which deuided the lottes of the priest orders of the Leuites And I will not at this time proue these things by any more examples For they are manifest inough of them selues Wherefore I graunte that the ciuill power maye be corrected of the ministers by preaching of the word But the Pope vseth not this kind of gouernment but rather an incredible tirrannye They boaste moreouer that they themselues are greater in dignitye for that they excercise spirituall heauenly thinges where as princes are occupied onely about earthly and ciuill thinges Be it so for we deny not but that ministers are occupied about thinges greater and more deuine then magistrates are But doth the Pope alone minister them Yea rather he neuer doth it at al. Wherfore if the dignity of the ministery depend of those things then will it follow that many bishops and priestes do in dignity far excell the Pope which neuer preacheth most rarely and to very few administreth the Sacraments Let vs come to tenthes Of tenthes by the paiment wherof Bonifacius laboreth to proue that al princes ar subiect vnto him This argumēt semeth to haue some shew bicause at the first sight it agreeth with the .7 chap. of the Epistle to the Hebrewes wher Paul proueth the dignitie of christ to be greater thē the dignity of the priesthode of the Leuits For thus he gathereth Abraham payd tenthes vnto Melchisedech at which time Leui was not yet but was at the time in the loins of Abrahā so paid tēthes in him And he which payeth tenths to an other by the self same thing professeth himself to be inferior vnto him Christ was priest accordinge to the order of Melchisedech Wherfore the Apostle concludeth that the priesthode of the Leuits was much inferior vnto the priesthode of Christ I haue opened the spring frō whence Bonifacius deriued his argumēt The place is very dark and nedeth explicatiō and moreouer Bonifacius doth not aptly apply it to his purpose First we ought to vnderstand that tenthes in the old time pertayned vnto ceremonies that aswel in Melchisedech as in the Leuites Both the priesthode of Leui also of Melchisedech signified Christ For in either priesthode they were referred vnto Christ And either priesthode was in very dede a figure of Christ for euen as the Leuiticall prieste entred once euery yeare into the Sancta Sanctorum and that neuer without blood So Christ by his blood entred once into the tabernacle that is into heauen and agayne Melchisedeche for that he had neyther father nor mother resembled Christ which in respect that he was God had no mother and in respect that he was a man wanted a father But what signified the tenthes in either priesthode Christe was more playnelye signified by the priesthode of Melchisedech then by the Leuiticall priesthode Vndoubtedly they signified nothing els then that the elders ought to referre al theyr things vnto christ By that ceremony the people worshipped euen Christ And if a man wil conferre Melchisedech and the priesthode of Leui together although both of them seme to shadow Christ yet shall he se that he is more expressedly manyfestly signified by Melchisedech as the Epistle to the Hebrewes testifieth Bonifacius sayth we receiue tenthes of all the lay men Ye do take them indede but now that Christ is come the paying of tenthes is no more a ceremony as it was before the comming of Christ when by tēthes men worshipped Christ which was to come in the flesh and confessed that they ought vnto him both thēselues and al that they had After which self same manner they payd the
publique wealth he doth in deede punishe sinnes greuously but after his fatherly correction he doth with an vnmeasurable goodnes restore the hurtes and losses wherin men oftentymes incurre by theyr owne error faulte In all these things we may see an Image of our tymes For we are infected with the same infirmityes that our fathers were neither doth the deuill and his meÌ„bers with lesse diligence at this day vexe the congregatioÌ„ of the godly then he did in the old time Wherfore let vs praye vnto God our most louyng father thoroughe his sonne Iesus Christ that euen as from the begynning he hath holpen and noorished hys Churche in most great daungers so also he would now keepe and defende it when it is almoste ouerwhelmed with euils and calamityes Let vs desyre him also that euen as he from tyme to tyme stirred vp Iudges and deliuerers vnto the Hebrues by whom he restored both liberty and health and as in our tyme he hath geuen Heroicall and most excellent men namely Luther Zuinglius Oecolampadius Phillip Melanchton and suche like setters forth of the doctrine of the Gospel so he would vouchsafe to go forwarde and in conuenient tymes stirre vp certayn lyghtes by whiche he may illustrate the mindes of hys elect and kindle their heartes to keepe amplifie the Church of Christ that at the leÌ„gth he may haue it raygning with him in heauen without spot or wrinkle Amen ¶ The ende of the Commentary vpon the Booke of the Iudges ¶ A diligent Index or table of the most notable thinges matters and wordes contayned in thys whole woorke VVhich thinges ye shall fynde by the folio which is on the fyrst syde of the leafe and b signifieth the seconde syde of the same leafe A. AAroÌ„ reproued iustly 53 b Abimeleche Gedeons sonne 153. b Abimileches tiraÌ„ni 155 b Abimileches vices 157. b Abraham maried his brothers doughter 20. Abrahams leage with the Chananites 99. b Abrahams saying Sara was hys Sister 89. Abuses of church musicke 103. b Accidences do differ 286. b Accusations violate not but helpe the lawes 255 Action one and the same maye be good and bad 79 Actions should be both iust and iustly done 245 Actions voluntary naturall 63. b Adam and Eua whether they wer buried in Hebron 14. b Adonibezek 11 Aduersity giueth occasion of profitable sermons 113. b Aduersity oght to moue vs to praise thaÌ„k god aswel as prosperiti 104 Aduersities behauiour 6 Aduoutries counted lyghte crimes with Papistes 233 Aduoutries looseth her dowry 81 Adulterers and hooremongers god wyll iudge 249 Adultry punished with adultry 254. b Adultry salued by recoÌ„ciliatioÌ„ 249 Adultry and rapt ioyned 283. b Aesopes fables 160 Aestimation is not so much to be regarded as truth 90 Affections are qualities 141. b Affections of the bodye and mynde also signified by dreames 135 Affections ar attributed to God improperly 176 Affections which are to be counted godly 194 Affections whether they bee good or euyll 142 Affections may be ioyned with obedience 195. b Afflicted persons thinke god is not with them 114. b Affliction to the afflicted of God is not to be added 235. b Affliction springeth of synne 112 Affliction of the Israelites of forty yeares 200. b Afflictions of the goodlye are not properly punishments 181. b Afflictions of this life God sendes to diuers endes 180 Afflictions great or smal is no sure argument of the heynousnesse of synnes 171. b Afflictions final causes 8 Affricanes are Chananites 7 Affricanes wer Phenitians 68 Age good what 155. Ain turned by g. 226. b Allegories vse 8. b Allegory taken out of the holy scripture 141 Alexander vnto Darius 157 Altare erected 280. b Altare is not to bee erected but to God 69 Altars vsed why 122. b Alteracion is none in God 175 Ambition handled 157. b Ambition when it hath place 183. b Ambition of kings and bishops 12 Ambrose a Neophyt when he was made bishop 184 Ambrose opinion of Iiptah disalowed 194 Ambrose first vsed singyng in the west church 103 Anabaptistes fault 132. b Anabaptistes error 264. b Anabaptistes deny that the olde testament pertaineth to vs. 186. b Anadiplosis 109. b Anathemata 30. b Anarchia is destruction of a coÌ„mon wealth 139 Ancyrana Synodus 95 Angel signifieth diuersly 59 Angels howe they haue their names 205. b angels why they fell 15. q angels cannot burn in lustes 285 Angels whyther they dyd eate and drinke 212 angels bodyes wherin they appere are true and humaine 211. b Angels what maner of bodies they take vpon them 209. b angels apparitions 208 Angels apparitions may be imagigined .3 maner of waies 209. b. 211 Angels appearing and Gods do eeuidently differ 1â—2 b Angels whether they se God 121. b angels may worke miracles 126. b Anger of God described 70 Anger defined by the matter 73. b anger asswaged by gentle aunswer 141. b anger why Christ forbad 166. b Anger an vnfit affection to punysh in 280. b Answer with the Hebrues is to begyn to talke 244 Anthropomorphites error 118 Antichrist the pope of Rome 147. b Anticipation a common figure in scriptures 246. b Antiochus begyled 86 Apelles error 210. b Apis the oxe was loÌ„g fatting 122 b Apollonius Thyaneus 211 Apology defined 159. b Apoplexia 163. b Apostles how thei ar fouÌ„dacioÌ„s 149 Apparel prescribed by lawes 111. b Apparitions of angels 208 appeale from the Pope 266. b Application of popishe sacrifice for quicke and dead 50 Aquarij heretikes 189. b Arba the builder of Hebron 15 Arguments false of Siricius 94 Arguments from the euents to the cause are not alwayes firm 271. b argument against the Pope 161 Aristocratia 1. b Aristocratia in the church 241 Aristocratia compared with a kingdome 156 Aristotle deceiued 138 Arke taken 244. b Armes of noble men 140. b Artes forbidden 283 Ascension daye whether it was on the wensday or thursday 276. b Asers situation 108 Asking at God how 272 Assamonites or Machabites 259 Assemblies exercises 65 asses vsed in Syria 106. b Asses much vsed in Syria 25. b Attilius Regulus 85. b Augustines saying I would not beleue the Gospel c. scanned 5. b Augustine vsed the latine toung to preach in 84 Augustine Ierome contend 60. b Augustine excuseth Tertullian 120 Augustine chaunged his opinioÌ„ for compelling of heretikes 55 Augustines mother 138. b Aunts why meÌ„ may not mary 19 b B. BAal-berith 155 Baal handled 123. b Baal and Baalim 68 Balaams praying was prophesying 207 Banished mens custome in buylding of Cities 40 Banishment the extremest punishmeÌ„t of the citizens of Rome 146 b Baptisme of Infanes 75. b Baren mothers haue brought forth many excellent men 200. b Baruch is Apocripha 51 Bastard defined 177 b Bastards haue no place in the congregacion of Israel 177 Bastardes proue wurs then other children 178 Bastards wer not commaunded to be banished by the law 183 Bawde who acording to the Ciuill law 249 Bawdes are the Popes 232 Bawdry 232 Beanes make
agayne to Gellius He sheweth that there were other which thought histories to be either an exposition or els a demonstration of thinges done But yerely chronicles were when things done in many yeres were compiled together obseruing the order of euery yeare c. According to which sentence this our booke cannot be called a yerely chronicle for that in the narrations thereof it oftentimes noteth not the yeres wherin things were done Moreouer the same author I meane Gellius addeth Sempronius Asellios mynde therin but this was the differēce betwene those whiche woulde leaue behinde them yearely chronicles and those which enterprised to write of thinges done by the Romaynes The yerely chronicles did declare that onely whiche was done and in what yeare it was done but that was not sufficient for an history to declare what was done but it must also shew by what counsell and after what sort they were done And a little after the same Aselio writeth in the same booke for neither can the bookes of the yerely chronicles any thing stirre vp the readers to be more quicke to defend the common wealth nor yet more slow to cōmit thinges vnaduisedly Furthermore bicause that by the knowledge of this booke men are admonished and stirred vp to the true worshippyng of god to repent to put their trust in god and to practise all dueties of lyfe cherefully It conteyneth an history and not yerely Chronicles Peraduenture I haue expounded these thinges with to many woordes but yet as I suppose with some fruicte The number of the yeares that the history of the iudges conteyneth But the space of the tyme which is comprehēded in these declarations if we may beleue Augustine in his xviii booke de ciuitate dei and 22. chap. is 329. yeares which he gathereth thus Whē Rome was builded the Hebrewes had bene in the land of Chanaan 718. yeares of which as he saith 27. perteyned vnto Iosua 329. to the Iudges 362. are referred vnto the kinges For Ezechias the king lyued in the tyme of Romulus God is the author of histories An history is not to be counted a thing of mans inuention when as god him selfe was the author therof which would haue the elders to expoūd to their children and their posteritie those thinges which he had done for Israell in Egipte in the sea and in the wildernes And he commaunded also as it is written in Exodus that the warre which was had against Amalech and the victory which the Hebrewes got of him Histories wer before Moyses time should be put in writing yea and this kind of writing began before Moyses for he maketh mencion both of the booke of the battails of the Lord as also of the booke of the iust men I will not speake of the Prophetes which with their prophecies oftētimes mixed histories I passe ouer Dauid who adourned here and there the psalmes whiche he song with histories I skip ouer our Euangelistes and the Actes which Luke wrote in which are written moste profitable histories in the new Testament If god be the author of these bookes as we must nedes beleue thē god must be counted the author of histories which is not a thing for him vnsemely for an history is a noble thīg as Cicero writeth in hys 2. The praise of an history boke de Oratore it is a witnes of times the light of truth the life of memory the maystres of life the messenger of antiquitie c. These prayses certainly are great and they agree not with euery kynde of histories but with those onely in which those rules are obserued What are requisite to a true history The Latin Historiographers are more faithful than the Grecians which the same author hath set forth in that place namely that it set forth no lies or be afraid to tel the truth that there be no suspicion of fauour or flattery Which order although the Latin Historiographers haue more faithfully accōplished than the Grecians for Quintilianus saith in his iiii chap. of his secōd boke that the greke Historiographers vsed as much licence in writing almoste as the Poets did yet Augustine in his .131 epistle to Memorius the Bishop when he amōg other liberall disciplines attributeth much to histories writing of the truth therof saieth that he cannot see how those histories whiche are written of men can wel follow the truth for that the writers are compelled to geue credite vnto men and oftentimes to gather together the brute of the vulgare people The holy histories are most true whiche writers neuerthelesse are yet excused if they kepe liberty and write nothing disceitfull but there can be nothing at al more true than the histories reuealed and written by the inspiration of god as our histories are Besides the truth whose knowledge without controuersie is most excellēt The commoditie of an historye by the reading of histories we get also other cōmodities and those very excellēt By them we attayne to matter and most aboundant plenty of moste profitable arguments For as Quintilianus writeth in the .iiii. chap. of his .12 boke Exāples and histories are iudgementes and testimonies The vse of examples is double And the profit of the examples is at the least way two fold One is that we should imitate vse allow and commend those thinges which we are taught to be done of holy mē We vnderstande by the diuyne historye that Abraham was a holye man and dearly beloued of god and also one that kepte very good hospitalitie Whereby we learne that hospitalitie is a noble vertue and very deare vnto God and againe we are taughte to auoyde those thinges which we see these godlye men to haue auoyded For when we consider howe Dauid woulde not kil Saul hys deadly enemye hauing twice libertie to doe it we gather that it is not to bee permitted that priuate men althoughe it laye in their power shoulde 〈◊〉 reuenge their priuate iniuries The other vse of examples is that of these thinges whiche are there declared perticularly when we shall perceaue that they be al like we may of them gather generally and vniuersally some one profitable sentence By the history of the Sodomites we note how greuously god punished most horrible fleshly filthines and that the tribe of Beniamin for the same cause was almost cleane put out and Ruben the first begotten son of Iacob for incest was put besides his place and dignity Dauid for committing aduoutry incurred horrible punishmentes and Ammon and Absolon for committing incest came to a most wycked end and Troy as the heathen testifye was vtterly ouerthrowen for aduoutry sake Of these things therfore in such sort considered which happened perticularly we plainly say that all these wandring and vnlawfull lustes of men are most greuously punished of god To which propositiō if we shal adde this sentence that now also throughout all Christendom such free and wādring filthy lust raigne euery where we may strongly conclude that for
so then were it very easy to persuade the Ethnickes and Turkes of the holy Scriptures and to bryng the Iewes to receaue the new Testament and how true this is the thing it selfe witnesseth And I thincke I haue spoken enough of the efficient cause of this booke and of the holy Scriptures Of the ende of this booke And now lastly order semeth to require the seyng we haue spoken of the matter forme and efficient cause of the holy bookes we shoulde also entreate somewhat to what end they were written Wherin I thincke it not nedeful to kepe the reader long for that before when I entreated many thynges of an historye I haue expounded also the profite and commodities whiche come therof whiche no doubte of it belong vnto the ende but nowe presently I will say thus much compendiously that all these thinges are mentioned by the holy ghost that we shoulde behaue our selues vprigthly both in prosperitie and also aduersitie For we learne by the examples of holy men when we are afflicted with sundry troubles and miseries stedfastly to holde our faith to put our hope in God to call vpon him only therewithall to repent vs of our sinnes whiche thinges if we do he will no lesse be presente to helpe vs than we know that he oftentimes deliuered the people of the Iewes And this Paul declared when he sayde to the Romaines whatsoeuer things are written they are written for our learning that we thorough patience and consolation of the Scriptures might haue hope Moreouer we are instructed in prosperous thinges to kepe the feare of god lest we fal into grieuous sinnes by whiche meanes we might be made guiltie both of punishement in this lyfe and also of euerlastyng damnatiō Finally we may moste manifestly gather the ende of reading of these bookes out of the Apostles doctrine whiche he deliuered to Timothe writing after this sorte in his second Epistle and third chap. All Scripture geuen by inspiration of God is profitable to doctrine to reprouing to correction and to instruction which is in righteousnesse that the man of God may be perfect and prepared to al good workes And now that as I suppose I haue spoken enough of the end and other causes of this booke I will come nygher to the exposition of the same first I wil declare whether this booke according to the sentence of the Hebrewes be the second booke of the firste Prophetes whose coniunction is so great with the history of Iosua that a man woulde easely saye that they be both one Whether the booke of Iosua ought to be reckened with the booke of Iudges And peraduenture there be some which suppose that Iosua should be reckened with the iudges to whom I will not subscribe For iudges were raised vp of god when the people were oppressed with outwarde enemies but when Iosua was proclaymed prince all the affaires of the Israelites were in good prosperitie For Sihon and Og most mightie kinges were ouercome and that office was cōmitted to Iosua wherby Moyses being dead he might leade the people ouer Iordane and take possessiō of the lande of Chanaan and deuide the promised lande by lottes vnto the children of Israell and besides that the people did set their handes to a decree whiche they had made of Iosua that he whiche obeyed not his voyce should be killed as we read it written in the first chap. of his booke But there is no mention made of suche thynges as concernyng the Iudges And yet both the bookes are so like and of such affinitie that many thinges are repeated in this our booke especially in the beginning whiche no doubte were done when Iosua was yet lyuing There resteth now to admonishe the reader somewhat of the partes of this boke The partes of the booke of Iudges There are as many principall membres in it as there were Iudges to Samuels tyme. For that in euery one of them still riseth vnto vs a new historye But the first of all was Othoniel of whom we will speake in the third chap. So that all those thinges whiche are written vnto that place do contayne the thynges done from the death of Iosua vnto Othoniel And certainly bycause the Iewes as long as Iosua liued worshipped god a right kept the lawe as muche as the weakenesse of mā coulde do god stil wrought with them accordyng to his couenaunt gaue thē a great victorye ouer their enemies so that euery tribe ouercame his enemies for the most part which were yet adioynying to their borders And then when the Israelites obteynyng the victorye did transgresse the commaundements of their god did not cleane destroy the nations which they had ouercome as god had commaunded them yea they made them tributaries vnto them god therfore grieuously admonished them by his messanger bycause they had not onely saued their enemies but also had moste filthyly honoured theyr gods So that god was not wtout a cause angry with them and deliuered them into the handes of outwarde tyrannes But when they were sorye for it and called vpon their god he had compassion of them and raysed them vp Iudges by whom they might be deliuered when they were deliuered they fell agayne to Idolatry they were afflicted againe they repented wherby in course their deliueries and oppressions are set forth But their first oppressiō worthy of memory was vnder Chusan Resanthaim from the which Othoniel the first of al the iudges reuenged them of whom we will speake in his place But now we will put here vnderneth the wordes of the holy history The first Chapter 1 IT came to passe after the death of Iosua that the childrē of Israel asked the Lord sayeng Who shall go vp for vs agaynst the Chananites to fight first agaynst them 2 And the Lorde sayd Iudah shal go vp beholde I haue deliuered the lande into his handes IT semed good vnto the children of Israel to take warre in hande for as it is writtē in the xiii chap. of Iosua they had not yet at this tyme conquered all the promised land so that in euery tribes lotte there were enemyes remayning And when they sawe there was no remedy but that they must dryue them out by force they doubted not whether they shoulde make warre agaynst them but their doubte was whiche tribe should fight before all the other The Israelites aske counsell of God The matter seemed to be of such great importaunce that they asked counsell of god whiche was the chief gouernour of their publicque weale Iosua that worthy captayne was no more a liue at whose becke and pleasure they hanged The Israelites affaires had euill successe whē they were done without God hys counsell Neither yet had they forgotten howe euill successe they had when not long before they toke weighty affaires in hand without asking counsell of God For in their settyng forth to battaill against the citie of Hai they sped very vnluckely in the
fayth in Christ Whicâ— when it is done they are chaunged froÌ„ promises of the law into promises of 〈◊〉 Gospell And although they be frely graunted In euangelical promises although they be frely geuen yet must we work as though they were legal yet in atteining vnto theÌ„ we 〈◊〉 our endeuor studye no lesse than if they were promises of the law But yet 〈◊〉 touching those good thinges whiche endure but for a time and passe not maâ— strength labour and the rewardes of them are temporall it is not to be deny but that our workes are much auayleable For it is sayd that they are oftentimâ— gotteÌ„ by them Although also in obtayning them the fauor of god is nedeful thâ—â— unto which is aboundauntly bestowed on theÌ„ which worke by the word of God by faith Which thing is manifestly sene of the readers of this history for it decireth that god graunted the victory to a fewe Iewes being straungers and youâ— souldiers agaynst strong warlike men many more in number than they of monstrous stature and inhabiting most strong fenced cities and castles 8 And the children of Iudah fought against Ierusalem and tooke it smote it with the edge of the sword and set the citie on fyre 9 Afterward the children of Iudah descended to fight against the Chananites that dwelte in the mountaine and in the south and in the lowe countrey 10 And Iudah went agaynst the Chananites that dwelt in HebroÌ„ and the name of Hebron before was Kiriath Arba and they smote Sesay Ahimman and Thalmay 11 And from thence they went to the inhabiters of Debir and the name of Debir before was Kiriath Sepher The things which are now red vnto the xvii A briefe rehearsal of things in the booke of Iosua verse are most part transferred hither out of the booke of Iosua the .xv. chap and are now declared by a certain briefe rehearsall of things and it is done to this end that we might vnderstand that the tribe of Iudah had obtayned Ierusalem when Iosua was yet liuing so that it was the easier for him to lead away Adonibezek captiue thither And these be the things which are repeated in thys place out of the booke of Iosua The conquering of Ierusalem Hebron and Debir the matrimony also betwene Achsa Othoniel and the departure of the Kenites from the citie of Palmes That al these things I say are now declared by a certaine repetition it is therby manifest bicause it is written in the booke of Iosua that the king of Ierusalem was taken we read in the end of the xv chap. that the same citie of Ierusalem came into the handes of the people of God and that the children of Iudah dwelt in it with the Iebusites Besides that these things which are now rehearsed of Hebron are contayned in the x.xi and about the end of the xiiii chap. in the booke of Iosua And the historye of Achse and Othoniell is red in the xv chap. of the same boke How farre this parenthesis extendeth This repetition therfore or parentheses extendeth to these wordes And Iudah wet with hys brother Simeon c. In which place the author returneth to make mention of the actes which the tribes of Iudah and Simeon ioyned together dyd at this time performe Which thiÌ„g also by this appeareth the more manifest bycause strayghtway is declared how Gasa was taken which citie is sayd in the xi and xiii chap. of Iosua to haue yet remained in the hands of the enemies The perâ—erfect tence is expouÌ„ded by the preterplusperfecte tence is numbred among those cities which were not conquered vnder Iosua Wherfore the wordes of the preterperfect tense which are red in this repetition are to be interpreted in that time past which we call the preterplus perfecte tense that the order of the historye might be made more playne and manifeste They smote them with the mouth of the sword This is a Metaphor in this maner of speche very often tymes vsed in the holy scriptures wherin by the mouth of the sword we ought to vnderstaÌ„d the edge therof bycause it semeth to deuour and consume those thinges whych are smytten in maner lyke a mouth And wher it is said that They set the city of fyre we must vnderstand it by this figure Hypallege when the thing is cleane contrary for fire is throwne into the city and not the city into the fyre Neither ought this to be vnderstand thus as though they had then burned the whole citye For it is wrytten in the booke of Iosua and afterward it shal be expounded in this booke that that city was after that inhabited by the tribe of Iudah and Beniamin and also the Iebusites yea and the castle therof which was very wel fensed was not deliuered vp to the Israelites The city of Ierusalem was taken when Iosua was yet a lyue tyl in Dauid his time as it is declared in the latter booke of Samuel Neyther ought that to moue you bycause it appeareth not in the booke of Iosua that the city of Ierusalem was taken For although this be not plainly and manifestly spoken yet may it be vnderstand by those thinges which are there intreated of namely that the king of Ierusalem was taken and that Iudah dwelled in that city neither could he yet cast out the Iebusites from them Al these thinges I say are signes that the city was taken at that tyme although it was not yet possessed fully and in al partes It seemeth also somewhat obscure that it is wrytten that Iudah descended when he should go fight against the Chananites who dwelled on the mountaines When as we accustome in going to mountaines to ascend and not to descende But we must vnderstand that those countries wer ful of mountaines Wherefore when the host remoued from one mountaine to an other it must nedes descend first into the valley from whence it might afterward ascend vpon an other mountaine Thou wylt peraduenture aske whether Iudah at that tyme coÌ„quered the plaine or the valley which was betwene No verely He assaulted them in dede but he could not ouercome them For we shall heare in thys chap. that those which were not ouercome of Iudah in the valley had yron Chariotes so that by that meanes they were not ouercome And Iudah went against the Chananites that dwelt in Hebron These thnges are now therfore repeated that we should vnderstande that it was not of necessity that the city Hebron should be taken of Iudah then when the Israelites were in this iourney on warfare which they tooke in hand after the death of Iosua namelye at that tyme wherein the publique wealth was gouerned by elders without any certaine Iudge Iosua being yet alyue Why Hebron was called the city Arba. And the name of Hebron before time was called Kiriath-Arba and they smote Sesay Ahimman and Thalmay The reason of the name of this city is not of euery man taken a like The
they say by anticipatiō For it is written in the .11 chap. And Iosua came at the tyme destroyed the Enakims from the mountaynes namely Hebron Debir and all the mountaynes of Iudah If these things should haue ben mencioned in the place as things whiche should come to passe sone after the death of Iosua then had it not ben well spoken to haue sayd And Iosua came at that tyme. And this I thincke the reader shall playnly see proued if he will not thincke it paynfull diligently to read ouer the 10 and 15. chap. of Iosua 12 And Caleb sayd He that smyteth Kiriath Sepher and taketh it to him will I geue Hacsah my daughter to wife 13 And Othoniel the sonne of Kenatz Chalebs yōger brother toke it and he gaue him Hacsah his daughter to wife Here is wont to be demaunded how these cities Hebron and Debir should be written in the booke of Iosua to haue ben taken of Iosua when as it is here put that Chaleb conquered them Chaleb desired to haue these regions assigned him for his inheritaunce whereunto I aunswere that all that warre was gouerned by the conduicte of Iosua who was the chief and principall gouernour of the whole hoste but the principall settyng forward agaynst Hebron and other places adioyning thereunto was committed vnto Chaleb the chief of the tribe of Iudah and that not without a cause For he as it is written in the xiiii chap. of Iosua desired to haue that parte assigned peculiarly vnto hym for hys inheritaunce whiche requestes he easely obtayned For he required the same trusting to God hys promises Chaleb was a faithfull espye for when he was sent with other spyes to view the lande of Chanaan he faithfully made relation of the things as they wer in dede not vnfaithfully as his fellowes did Neither was he an author of the peoples seditiō as the other were yea he rather encouraged the peoples myndes and diminished those thinges whiche his fellowes had amplified concerning the fence of the cities of the giaūtes also and of the strength of the Chananites For he regarded not mās strength but with a singular faith most constantly remembred the power the goodnesse promises of god Wherfore god being angry with the rest destroyed them in the wildernesse so that they came not to the promised lande But he promised Chaleb for his faithfulnesse this inheritaunce whiche when he afterward demaunded he put Iosua in remembraunce of the thyng before done and of the promises of God God promised Chaleb the lād whereon he should treade And the place where the promise is contayned is in the 14. chap. of Num. there God promised him that land wheron his foote should treade whiche wordes the Iewes thincke thus to be expoūded The rest of the spyes being amased for feare of the giauntes and putting small confidence in god durst not entre into the citie of Hebron whiche Chaleb him selfe searched with a valiaunt courage The promise therfore of this possession was made vnto him in the second yeare after the deliuery out of Egypt Chaleb surely declared a valiaunt noble hart when as he did not only require the possession of these places but he enterprised also to conquere thē for al that they were fenced inhabited with most strong giaūtes Wherfore we must beleue that he tooke in hand such so great an enterprise not by his owne power but by gods promises And here ariseth no small doubt howe Chaleb being of the tribe of Iudah Hebron was one of the Cities of refuge could obtayne the citie of Hebron which by lotte belonged to the Leuites For god had cōmaunded that certain cities as wel beyond Iordane as on this side should be had for refuge sake The cities of refuge belōged to the Leuites that thither might flye as many as had slayne any man by chaunce and not of pretensed purpose And the possession of those cities whiche were therfore appoynted belonged to the Leuites Wherfore it was not lawfull that Hebron should be geuen to Chaleb The Leuites had the citie of Hebron but Chaleb had the grounde and Lordship seing it was numbred amōg the cities of refuge These thinges are true but we must vnderstand in the meane tyme that the Leuites myght possesse but their cities only the suburbes adioyning to the walles of them But as for the grounde or dominion whiche they call at this day Lordship it was not graunted them to haue Chaleb therfore desired to possesse the grounde but as for the citie whiche he had in his handes he let to the Leuites as the lawe commaunded It is most certein that there is mention of the citie Hebron in the booke of Gen. when as it is there written that Abraham liued in the groue of okes of Mamere the same had if we may beleue Ierome a precious turpentine tree which grew there from the beginnyng of the world and continued till the time of Constantine the great It is said to be 12000. paces distaunte from Ierusalem Dauid reigned in it some while before he was anoynted king ouer all Israel Neither haue we any thyng to do to write nowe of the auncientnesse therof seing I haue somewhat spoken of it before And Chaleb sayd he that smiteth This whole history is declared in the 15. chap. of the booke of Iosua word for word wherby it appeareth that that is most certain whiche I before admonished you of The conqueryng of Debit was harde namely that all these thinges are now mencioned by a certain repeticiō The conquering of Debir semeth to haue ben paynefull and daungerous and meruelously much desired of Chaleb when as he offreth so ample noble a gift to the conquerour therof namely his owne daughter to wyfe being him selfe the prince of the most noble tribe of Iudah And Othoniel the sonne of Kenaz Chalebs younger brother tooke it It is certain that Othoniel obtayned the victory but whether be were Chalebs brother or his brothers sonne or some other kinne to him it cānot be gathered by these words But how they were kinne it wer good to know partly for the knowledge of the history partly to vnderstand whether the matrimony which followed betwene Othoniel and Achsah were lawfull In the first booke of Paralip Hefron was called also Iephuna and second chap. the father of Chaleb is called Hesron whiche man was the third frō Iudah for Iudah had Pharez by Thamra his sonnes wife and Phares begat Hefron which was called by an other name Iephuna for which cause Chaleb is very often written the sonne of Iephuna R. Salomoh Of whiche thing I can not tell what fonde inuētion R. Salo. writeth namely that he was so called bycause he disagreed from the mynde and counsell of the other spyes Panah signifieth in Hebrew to depart or to decline wherfore he thincketh that this surname was geuen to Chaleb for the cause now alledged Neither maketh that any
by an other reason Romaine lawes forbad the mariage of the brothers daughter the incestuous mariages were forbidden by the light of nature seing that they were earnestly forbidden by the Romane lawes which were counted among the excellentest honestest lawes these by name wherby any man should marrye his niepce by the brother Although Claudius Caesar whē he would marry his brothers daughter Agrippina caused the fyrst law to be abrogated and to be decreed that euery man might haue his brothers daughter to wife But there was neuer a one at Rome except it were one or two which would follow his example And the Romaines obserued the first law which was most honest The Romaine lawes in prohibiting mariages had certaine lawes not mentioned by God Neuerthelesse we muste vnderstand the diuerse persons were prohibited by the lawes of the Romanes of whom the law of god hath made no mention and yet their prohibition was not without a reason Wherfore the Citizens of Rome were bound to obserue thē although by the light of nature they could see no cause why they should so doe which lawes were wont to be called a peculiar kinde of lawes bicause it semeth to be priuate for certain places I will make the thing more plaine by examples The tutor might not marry his pupill The Romaines would not as it is written in Codice that matrimonies shoulde be contracted betwene the tutor and pupill committed to his charge Bycause they saw that this would easely come therby that that tutor which had consumed his pupils goodes least he should be compelled after his tutorship to render accompt of those goods might sollicite the mayden to mariage which being obtained he should be free from geuing accompt of her goods This surely was a good law but yet it was not perfectly obserued Cicero otherwise a graue man Cicero was euill spoken of for the same cause for being farre in other mens debt when he had forsakē his wife Terence he maried his pupill of whose goods affayres he had charge ouer as a tutor The Romanes deceeed also A prisident myght not marry a wife of hys prouince that no president of any prouince should take to wife eyther to himselfe or to any of hys any out of the same prouince wherein he gouerned For they knew right wel that it might so happen that the Pretor Proconsul or President in a prouince cleauing to his families and kynsfolke cōming to him by his wife might make new tumultes and at length be alienated from the publique wealth They saw also a great daunger to hang theron least he should not be iuste and seuere in geuing iudgement bycause he woulde gratifie his kinsfolke more than others Lastly mariages shoulde not haue remayned at libertie in prouinces bicause Magistrates might in a manner compel thē of the prouince to contracte matrimonies either with thēselues Felix had a Iew to hys wife or with their frendes We see also this most honest law violated For Faelix which gouerned Iewrye vnder Nero as it is writtē in the xxiiii chap. of the actes of the Apostles had Drusilla a Iewe to wife But what nede I rehearse that these lawes of a small weyght were not obserued whē as that people had shaken of euen those lawes which we called morall and are knowen by the law of nature Cicero The monstrug lust of Sassia Cicero declareth in his oratiō for Cluentius the one Sassia a most wicked womā was so prouoked with filthy lust that she instigated her sonne in law Aurius Melinus to whō she had before maried her daughter to repudiate his wife wherby he shuld marry her self in stead of her daughter which thīg at the lēgth she got him to do And whē the dede was coūted ful of dishonesty yet was it not punished by the lawes neither do we rede that the matrimonye whiche Cicero cōtendeth to be cōtracted by no good grounds by no authors altogether vnluckely was dissolued by the power cōmaūdemēt of the magistrates Wherfore hereof cōmeth a good reasō also why god would againe inculcate by a law those things whiche by the light of nature were iudged honest For the bonds barres windowes of nature were brokē by the impotent lust of mē therfore it was necessary they should be boūd with an other bond For the Israelites were no more shamefast in keping of natural honestye than were the Romaines Neither is this to be left out the god had certaine proper things in his law whiche may be called peculiar thinges for all men were not bound vnto thē by the lawe of nature but the Hebrues onely For he woulde not haue them to contracte matrimony with the Chananites Hamorrites Iebusites c. And other people seme not to haue bene bounde to the law neither should we at this day if there were such nations still Matrimonyes ought not to be contracted in cōtrary religiō Augustine be letted but that we might ioyne our selues in matrimony with them Although the cause of the law ought at this day to be holden which cause is the matrimonies shoulde not be contracted with them which be of a contrary religion For it is not conuenient that the Godlye should be ioyned with the vngodly I know that Augustine writeth concerning vnlawfull mariages to Pollentius in the second booke and of the Sermon of the Lord vpon the Mountaine that there is not a place in the new Testament wherin by expresse words matrimonies with infidels are prohibited But of this matter I will not write much at this present seing that I haue largely entreated of it in the Epistle to the Corinthians This will I saye more ouer that a good man ought in contracting of matrimonyes to follow chiefly that which is honest and not lightly to depart frō cōmendable orders vsuall customes which are not agaynst the word of god And if there happen peraduenture any doubt let him not thinke it much to aske coūcell of his magistrate otherwise he shal rashly put both himselfe his wife and his children to daunger For if he be maryed in any of the degrees prohibited by the peculiar law he shal not then be counted a husband but a whoremonger and his wife a harlot their childrē bastardes Howbeit the magistrate although concerning matrimonie he maye forbid certaine other contractes besides those which God hath forbidden yet can he not neither ought he to remit any of those which God hath commaunded whiche he hath prohibited by his law yea he must most diligently see that he burthē not the people to much The pope hath grieuously sinned concerning these lawes or without an earnest cause as we see the Pope hath done who hath two wayes sinned in this thing fyrst in that he durst vsurpe the office of making of lawes in a common wealth which vndoubtedly pertaineth not vnto him Secondly bicause in his lawes he followed not the word of god but with out
reason forbad fyrst al degrees euen to the seuenth which when he saw afterward was not obserued and al was ful of confusion he cut of his prohibitions to the fourth degree In which thing he is yet constant hardened if there come no money in but if money be offred wherof he must haue much brought hym to fyl his filthy cofers he setteth at libertie as pleaseth him both his own lawes and the word of god This we must also knowe that God had in his lawes an other decree whiche may lawfully be called peculiar bycause it extendeth no way to other nations neither ought it to be in force at all tymes And that was that when any husband deceased without children the brother which remained on liue or some other next of kynne should mary the first mans wife left so that the first childe which should be begotten of that mariage shoulde be counted the sonne of hym that was dead and should fully succede him as touching his inheritaunce For God would not in that publique wealth that men should altogether be extinguished and he prouided that the same distinction of landes shoulde be kepte as much as might be And seing the same is not vsed in our publique wealthes neither hath God commaunded that it shoulde it therfore pertayneth nothyng vnto vs. Wherfore we must keepe oure selues vnder the generall and common lawe She that is left of the kinnesman ought to he maryed namely that no man presume to mary the wife of his brother being dead although he dyed without children Let vs also knowe that in the beginning when onely the familie of Adam lyued on the earth brethren were not forbidden as they were afterwarde For brethren were driuen of necessity to mary their sisters But afterward wheÌ„ men were increased in number shame shewed it selfe forth and they began by the instinction of God or by nature either to abstayn from prohibited persons or at the least to know that such coniunctions were ful of ignominye But what tyme they began first to abstaine it appeareth not by the history The Gods of the Hâ—â—â—â—â—â—ried â—hâ—â—â— Systers Peraduenture the Heathen Poetes haue declared that necessity of the elders whych compelled the famyly of the first Parentes to constrayne the brother to mary the Syster when as they fable that their Gods had their Systers to wyues for the chiefe of them namelye Iupiter had Iuno whych in Virgil speaketh thus of her selfe But I whych walke the Quene of the Gods both syster and wyfe to Iupiter And although the woorde of God Causes 〈◊〉 manye degâ—â—es in mariages aâ— forbydden Augustine and instincte of nature were sufficient by them selues to make vs to abstayne from the foresayde coninunctions yet are there many good causes of prohibition alledged by diuers wryters Augustine in hys .xv. booke De ciuitate dei and .xvi. chap. writeth that the same abstinence was very profitable to dilate more amplye the bondes of humane fellowshyp For if mariages should be included wythin the walles of one family theÌ„ should there come no kynreds with others Furthermore it is not meete that one and the selfe man should occupye the persons of diuers kynredes namelye that one man should be both vncle and husband of one woman and the same woman to be both Aunt and wyfe of one man Which reason Cicero also hath touched in hys fyft booke Definibus and also Plutarch in his .108 probleme And they being both Ethnickes could not haue sene this but being illustrate by the light of nature This also is the third reason bicause these persons from whom we should abstain do dwel together often tymes in one house Wherefore if there shoulde be manye maryed folkes together they woulde not vse them selues so grauelye and seuerely as domestical shamefastnes requireth Plutarch The causes of strife betwene kinsfolk ought to be cut of Plutarch in the place before sayde hath set forth two other reasons besydes those which we haue declared One is bycause betwene kynsfolkes discordes are to be feared For they would soone complayne that the right of kynred should be taken away whych saying I doo vnderstand thus if eyther she or he which should ouerskyp the nearer degre and marry with the degree farther of she which were nearer would thinke that she had iniury done vnto her as though in ouerskipping her he would put her to shame as it is a common vse in wylles and Testamentes where they which are nyghest of kynne maye not nor oughte not to bee forgotten of hym which maketh the wyll And in the lawe for raysing vp seede to the brother already deceased the fyrst place must be geuen to the nyghest of kynne who if hee refused to vse hys right was made ashamed as that law doth more amplye declare the same Wherefore seyng discordes betwene al men are to be abhorred WomeÌ„ for that they are weake ought not to haue their patrimonies diminished but increased much more are they vtterly to be detested betwene kynsfolkes Plutarch also bryngeth an other reason bycause women are weake and therefore they haue neede of many sundry patrones wherefore when they are maryed to straunge men if they shoulde be euyll handled by their husbandes as often tymes they are they haue al their kynsfolkes easely for Patrones but if they be wyues to their own kynsfolkes and happen to be euil entreated of them they should then haue very fewe to defende their cause For other kynsfolkes woulde not bee so ready for their sakes to fall out with their own kynne which they woulde not be greued to doo wyth straungers But nowe that I am in hande wyth Plutarch I remember that whych he hath wrytten in the syxt probleme Of the matrimoni of brethreÌ„ and Systers chyldren Plutarch and I thinke it is 〈◊〉 vnprofitable to declare it although it seme to disagree from that whych Augustine wryteth in hys .xv. booke De ciuitate dei .xvi. chapter of the matrimony of Brothers and Systers chyldren For he affirmeth there that before hys tyme the same was lawfull although those kyndes of maryages semed very rare bycause men after a sorte eschewed to contracte with persons so nigh but he saith that the licence was afterward taken away Which I surely can not perceaue in the Romane lawes which were publikely receaued allowed which yet wer vsed thorough out Aphrica Wherefore it maye seme obscure to some of what lawes Augustine speaketh wherby he sayth that in his time those kindes of matrimonyes were prohibited But we must vnderstand that in his time the law of Theodosius the elder was of force who was the fyrst among the Emperoures that I know of which prohibited matrimonye of this degree Which also Aurelius Victor and Paulus Diaconus do testifye And that is found at this day writteÌ„ in the boke called Codex Theodosianus concerning incestuous mariages by these wordes Let this sentence remaine concerning them whosoeuer from henceforth shall defyle hymself with
sore detest Augustine that we should haue the fruition of those things which we only ought to vse contrariwise we should vse those things which we should haue the fruition of than which peruersenesse in humane actions no worse thyng cā be thought What is the chief peruersenes of humane actions Wherfore when it is demaūded whether it be lawful in well doyng to haue a respect to the gayne or rewarde We can not well deny but that it is lawfull for as much as god him selfe hath promised a reward to them whiche lyue godly neither did God that for any other cause thā by his giftes and allurements to stirre vp men to iust good godly and holy workes Neither is the rewarde onely to be desired neither the chief partes must be ascribed vnto it But although we do not vniustly in hauing a regarde vnto the reward offred vs by God whē we are occupied in good workes yet this is diligently to be taken hede of that we be not moued onely bycause of the rewarde whiche is offred vs. Neither is this sufficient for if a mā would say that he would in doing good both obtayne the rewarde set forth and by the same worke obey God he must take hede that he attribute not the chiefest partes to the gift or rewarde bycause alwayes as I haue already sayd that among the endes eche of them as he is more excellent by nature so ought it to be preferred in the first place And in this there nedeth a singular diligence bycause it oftentimes happeneth that we deceaue our selues falsly supposing that nothing is more excellent or dearer to our mindes than god from whom neuerthelesse we are by litle and litle withdrawen and plucked backe by reason of to much desire and delite of reward or gift Wherfore it afterward happeneth If we preferre other things before god we incurre into grieuous punishementes that we come to great miseries therby For when god perceaueth that we more esteme those thinges whiche ought to be of lesse estimation with vs he withdraweth them away lest they should more and more plucke vs away from him Whiche thing happened many tymes to the Israelites frō whom God sometymes toke away riches libertie and the promised lande to call them agayne to him selfe whom they lesse estemed than their riches possessions and also Idols Wherfore those thinges being marked and obserued whiche I haue rehearsed I doubt not but that it is lawfull for godly men after the sincere earnest desire of God to do good for rewarde and gift Neither am I ignoraunt that Bernarde writeth in his litle booke of louyng of God that charitie by it selfe can not be empty althoughe it behold no reward Bernarde c. By which words he putteth vs in mynde of two things both that the workes of charitie in them selues haue so much delectatiō pleasure and commoditie as may be sufficient for them whiche lyue well although of that their well doyng they should haue no other rewarde geuen them of God And that we in louyng of God should looke for no other reward but this that he according to his goodnesse wil not suffer but faithfully to rendre those things which are to be rēdred vnto vs. And therfore no man ought chiefly to be moued with the desyre of the rewarde A comparison of the loue of the children of the wife And he addeth that he doth farre preferre the loue of the wyfe toward her husband before the loue and obeysaunce wherwith the children loue the father For as much as the sonnes do so loue their father bycause they hope they shal be enriched of him by his inheritaunce wherfore their loue as he thincketh is not so pure But the wife if she be such a one as she ought to be she wisheth good to her husband for his owne cause and his owne sake although she hopeth or looketh to obtayne no good at his hand Many haue thought that the sentēce of this father ought to be allowed haue gone about to make playne the same by a certain distinction not so circumspectly inuēted by them in my opinion for they affirme that we may measure God or his nature by our worthynes or that we may beholde him according as our perfection vprightnesse is Moreouer they say that we must do what soeuer we do for his sake in the first consideration and not in respect that he is our chief goodnesse and felicitie And this they thincke that Bernarde ment by the wordes now alledged For they bryng these words which he writeth in another place We must worship god also in that he is our felicitie blessednesse namely that he suspected al that loue wherewith we loue any thing besides God But these men do not marke that by this distinction which is founde out rather by the iudgement of men thā by the veritie of the Scriptures that they are agaynst the sentence of God For he sayd vnto Abraham as it is written in Gen. I am thy reward and that very ample walke thou therfore before me be perfect vndoubtedly by these wordes God offreth him selfe vnto vs not imagined by him selfe or plucked away from our commodities but in respect that he is our rewarde Moreouer as I sayd now at the first god would not adioyne promises gifts and rewardes to his commaundementes in vayne or without effect but aduisedly and moste wisely Did he that I praye thee that we should close our eyes and ouerskip them To looke for a rewarde set forth vnto vs by God is not only of such as are vnperfecte I thincke not Neither canst thou say that they serue for the ruder sorte and such as be not yet absolute and perfect for I will demaunde strayght waye of thee whether Abraham Moyses Dauid the Prophetes and Apostles were not so perfect as either the nature of men in this life can be or is required of vs If thou wilt say they were imperfect then can not I tell what excellencye or perfection of men thou faynest to thy selfe Paul certainly setteth forth him selfe vnto ythers as a perfect man in such sorte as a man may in this lyfe be perfect when he wrote be ye perfect as I am perfect I speake not how the Scripture yea god him selfe pronounceth Moyses to be most meeke he commendeth Dauid also that he was made accordyng to his will and harte Wherfore if thou wilt graunt that these were notable excellent and perfect men as men may be in this world neither canst thou deny the promises and rewardes offred to them of god This without doubte followeth that men of the excellenter sorte may in well lyuing and doyng lift vp their eyes to the rewarde Augustine And I thincke Augustine hath trimely made manifest this thing where as he sayth in his booke of confessions he loueth thee not speaking to God whiche loueth any thing besides thee We may loue gayne and
playnly written that they went frō thence to Iudah Wherfore I can better agree with Iosephus Iosephus Why the Kenites departed from Iericho who writeth the they therfore departed frō thence bicause in the deuision of the land distributing of fieldes as I haue before sayd their inheritaunce fell about the tribe of Iudah wherfore they got thē vnto it when Hebron Debir were conquered But why frō the time they came ouer Iordane euen to this time they dwelt rather about Iericho thā in any other place seing the scripture speaketh not of it I am cōtent to lacke the knowledge therof But bicause this Kenite as many Hebrues confesse was the father in law of Moyses which thing also Ierome confyrmeth in his booke of traditiōs or Hebrue questions vpon the first boke of Samuel vpon Paralip we must therefore call to memory Iethro of whom is mentiō made more largely in the boke of Exodus That Iethro was he to whō Moyses came when he fled out of Egipt What this word Cohen signifyeth who was also either prince or priest of Madian For the Hebrue word Cohen signifieth both therfore the holy historyes writeth of the sonnes of Dauid that they were Cohenim that is princes highly exalted amongest magistrates ii Sam viii Aben-Esra for so were kynges wont to exalte their children Although Aben-Esra affirmeth Moyses father in law to haue bene priest of Madian And sayth that he ministred not to Idols but to the true god for the pure worshipping of god was not so peculiar to the people of Israell but that there were godly men in other places which worshipped god sincerely There is no doubt but the Melchisedech was such a one whō the scripture calleth the priest of the high god Moyses defended the daughters of this Iethro frō the shepherdes at the wel by which meanes he was made his sōne in law And afterward when he fed his shepe not farre frō the mount Sina he was called of god to deliuer the people of Israell frō the Egiptian bondage Wherefore he asked leaue of him to depart went his way to Egipt frō thence after wonder full works of god he led the people into the deserte and fought agaynst Amelek in whose land Kenite the Madianite dwelt And when Moyses had obtayned the victory Iethro who was not with Amelek in the warre came vnto Moyses hys sonne in law reioyced at his happy successe in the battaile he did sacrifice and cōmunicated together with his sonne in lawe the rest of the Israelites in geuing thankes to god He gaue also vnto Moyses wholesome coūsell not to weary himself in hearing al causes But rather that he should haue men chosen out which might both heare also determine cōmon and light causes such as wer harder to be referred only to him and he for the most hard matters to aske coūsel of god and loke what god had answered commaunded the same to be decreed for the people Whē Iethro or Kenite had done these with Moyses in the wildernesse after the warre of Amelek before the law was geuen he returned into his own countrey as it is written in the xviii Chap. of Exodus But concerning his returne into his own countrey there are two opinions Of the returne of Moyses father in law into his countrey both of the Hebrues our men Some say that he returned to dispose and set an order in his domesticall things and to make preparation for his familie to iourney with the Israelites Which things being al finished almost in one yeares space he returned to his sonne in lawe and went together with him and the Israelites to the land of Chanaan And so they say although it be sayd in the historye that he departed before yet it is truely put in the boke of Num. that Moyses spake with him in the second yeare from the departure out of Egipt when the tabernacle was then finished orders appoynted wherby the Hebrues shoulde go forward For he destred him not to depart frō him but to be as it were an eye to the Israelits in this their iourney into straunge countryes for that he knew all the places of the desert very well bycause he was borne in the countrey adioyning vnto it Not bycause the pyllers and cloudes led not the Israelites safely soundly but bycause this man was very cunning in pitching and camping an hoste Moyses woulde therfore as they say haue him to instructe the troupes of Souldiours which shoulde goe forth and to prouide that they going forwarde shoulde abyde ioyned together and shoulde keepe the iuste manner of warlyke order Whereunto thys also was a helpe for that by reason of hys knowledge of the countreyes he coulde easely admonyshe the Israelites of the nature of those places and howe farre distante and nyghe they were together Howbeit other say that Iethro so returned to hys house after he had reioyced with Moyses that he retourned not vnto hym agayne for as it is to be beleued he was very aged and therfore he spent the reste of hys age with hys neyghbours and familye in Madian exercisyng his office eyther of a prince or ells of a priest Neuerthelesse they thynke that he left a sonne with Moyses called Hobab to the entente he might be throughly enstructed by Moyses hys kinnesman and by Aaron and other excellent men of the Hebrues in Godlinesse and knowledge of worshipping of God Therfore they wil haue this man to be he whō Moyses spake vnto in the .x. of Num. and made ouersear for pitching of the campes Besides that they say that this mans sonnes familye were now at this present called Kenites And I my self to say what I thinke true do much agree with this latter sentence For Balaam the Prophet in the .24 chap. of Num. prophecied peculiarly of the Kenites Balaam the Prophet that they should haue their habitations in the most fenced places and that thei should there abide til they were led away captiues by the Assirians he ioyneth them as it appeareth manifestly in that place with Amelek for as I sayd before they inhabited al one land with the Amelekites Wherfore it is gathered that Iethro so departed from Moyses into Madian to dwell there continually And so it might be that Balaam the Prophet ioyned the Kenites with the Amelekites of which Kenites neuerthelesse part were with the Israelites for as much as Iethro as it is sayd left his sonne with them Besides this in the .x. chap. of Num. Hobab was desired of Moyses to come go with the Israelites whether they went who refused to goe any farther bycause he was mynded to returne home into his countrey For he was left there of his father to be better instructed in the worshippyng of God and he abode with the Israelites tyll they were readye to depart thence And then he thought to haue returned into his countrey but being desired of
of Ioseph cōprehendeth with it Ephraim Manasses First therfore is declared what those tribes ioyned together did afterward shal be shewed of eche of their doings perticularly This is chiefly set first that God was with them to make vs to vnderstand that this enterprise had good successe bycause God wrought with them The name of the citie but afterward was called Bethel that is the house of God bycause Iacob when he had there sene God and his aungels ascending and descending vpon a ladder as it is written in the 28. chap. of Gen so named it Luz is not Ierusalem But in the olde tyme it was called Luz whiche worde signifieth in Hebrewe a Walnutte or an Almond or els a Filberd Nut bycause peraduenture that place was set with Wallnut trees Filberd trees Almond trees and the like kynde of trees They are very muche deceaued whiche thought this citie to haue ben Ierusalem for Ierusalem was taken long before neither was it euer called Luz or Bethel And besides that this citie pertayned to the house of Ioseph A forged tale of the Iewes but Ierusalem longed to the lott of Beniamin and Iudah But that whiche the Hebrues trifle concernyng the gate of this citie is not worthy to be rehearsed For what is more childishe than to saye that the way of entraūce into the citie was thorough a caue at the mouth wherof was a nut tree a tree I say great and hollowe wherby they went down into the caue whiche would entre into the citie and for that cause it was called Luz They should haue spoken somewhat more likely if they had sayd there had ben a gate in some secrete part or side of the walles the commyng wherunto should haue ben by certaine turnings and circuites so that straungers should not easly haue found out the way vnto the same Dauid Kimhi D. Kimhi writeth that there were many gardynes there If I should speake my fantasie herin I thincke that the spyes of the Israelites did not aske him which came out of the citie for the dore or gate therof but whiche was the weaker part of the city or lesse fenced that therby they might the easier take it The third espiall mencioned in the scripture Now is rehearsed in the scripture the third espiall For the first is written in the 13. chap. of the booke of Num And other happened vnder Iosuah when those two searched the citie of Iericho whom Rahab the harlot kept with great fidelitie and this is the third whiche we haue now in hand Although I am not ignoraunt how Ioseph in the boke of Gen layd to his brethrens charge that they were espies What in the office of spyes But the office or worke of spyes is as Chrisostome sayeth expounding those wordes of Paul in the second chap of the Epistle to the Galathians that there were false brethren entred to espye out our libertie to know the doynges of the aduersaries that they theirs may haue the easier entraunce to conquere or repulse them The end of espiall Now we vnderstand that it is an action and we se to what end it is ordayned Moreouer it commeth from enemies and from the mynde of an aduersarye but it is done priuily and craftely As it is lawfull to fight with enemyes by violence and weapons when warre is iustly taken in hand so is it iust and lawfull to vse the arte and subtelty of especials Ierome Espyall is a thing īdifferēt Wherfore Ierome vpon the 27. chap. of Ezechiel sayeth that espiall is an indifferent thing namely whiche a man may vse both well and euill Moses and Iosua vsed it wel and also the house of Ioseph If so be that the warre be vniust the espiall also seruing thereunto must nedes be vniust Wherefore the brethren of Ioseph when he sayd vnto them by the health of Pharao ye be spyes did put that away from them as an iniury or a rebuke The punishement of spyes But the punishment of spyes is if they be taken all one with the punishment wherwith enemyes are punished when they fall into the handes of their enemyes For it skilleth not whether a man fight with weapons or by subtilty and craft Wherfore they must be of a valiaunt courage Spyes muste be valiaunt Iosephus which for the common profit aduenture their lyfe in playeng the spyes For it is not euery mās office to be a good spye Iosephus writeth that the spyes whiche were sent by Iosua were Geometricians bycause they ought well and clearly to knowe the situation of the lande of Chanaan And Homer made Vlisses and Dyomedes spyes Homerus whiche otherwise were noble men Paul the Apostle in the Epistle to the Galath The place before mentioned the secōd chap. excellently referred the worke of espiall to cententions of Religion where he writeth that there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is that there were certain incommers being false brethren whiche 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is came in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to espye out our liberty as though he should saye they subtilely sought searched out our opinion to resist it and made search with great diligence whether they that were with vs kept vncircumcisiō and that was to espye out the libertie of the Churche namely that by it they might ouerthrowe Christians And the spyes saw a man come out of the citie For what cause he wēt forth the history declareth not but there may be many causes ymagined either for that he went to seke somewhat to serue him for his houshold or els bycause he would flye out of the citie being besieged or finally that he also might spye out what was done by his aduersaries And they sayd vnto him shewe vs we pray thee the waye into the citie They speake fayre vnto the man they pray hym the matter is not done by violēce but they go aboute by frendly wordes to allure him to betray the Citie Whether the spyes of the Chananites coulde promise safely And we will shewe thee mercy Seing the spyes had not the chief gouernment in the publicque wealth how durst they promise safety vnto this man especially if they had no peculiar commaundement to do it Thou wilt say peraduenture they did trust that the Senate of the publicque wealth and Captaynes of the warre would ratifye that whiche they had promised But the superiour power can not confirme that whiche is done by the subiectes vnlesse it be also lawfull for the same power both to promysse and also to performe that whiche they did And God had prohibited by expresse wordes that the Chananites those proscripte people shuld haue their liues graunted thē Peraduēture they had before their eies that exāple of Rahab the harlot whose lyfe in the time of Iosua was not onely spared but also she was receaued with all that belonged vnto her and had in honor of the Hebrues And therby they iudged that it
I answere that all these are so farre forth to be obserued as long as the othes and promises be not agaynst the worde of god and good lawes Which thing if it be afterward knoweÌ„ theÌ„ are they of no force yea they are theÌ„ vtterly voyde To these I adde that it manifestly appeareth by the cautions now alledged that we must neither for sweare nor lye wherby a laudable good proditioÌ„ should succede Wherfore they which sweare vnto their magistrates The prodition of the Counsel holden at Constantia promise to defeÌ„d the citie caÌ„ not be excused when their minde is to betraye to deceaue This haue the Antichrists done in the counsel holden at Constantia For that they might theÌ„ eassier allure thither Iohn Husse Ierome of Praga they promised him safety by publique fayth And therefore they can not defend their prodition admitte it were nothyng els as iust and honest But they were without doubt treacherers and wicked betrayers in swearyng promysing that by their letters whiche they would not performe But now we must returne to the history Howe the Luzite might be suffered of the Israelits to go in safety It is not certain as it is sayd whether this Luzite had faith or whether he wer an infidel If he had faith his prodition is to be commended otherwise it is to be discommended But if he beleued not neither cleaued vnto the true God why did the Israelites let hym go Forsooth bicause he of his own wil went into banishment Neither seemed this to be against the counsel of God For God woulde therefore haue those people cut of least they dwelling together with the Hebrues should haue geuen them an occasion of falling and offence Wherefore when they departed and chose wylful banishment that came to passe which God would haue to be done But thou wilt say By this meanes might al those nations haue bene sent away Why the Chanaâ—it s departed not giue place to the Israelites neither ought they to haue ben slain as god had coÌ„mauÌ„ded What might haue ben done I nede not to answer for as much as that is demaunded which coulde not be done For so manye and so great were the sinnes of those nations that they vtterly deserued death Wherfore god taking away his spirite from them dyd so harden their hartes that they endeuoured not them selues to depart but rather to resist the Israelites as much as in them lay They made many battailes therfore in which as god had ordained and as they had deserued they came to vtter destruction although a very few of them were saued in departing or els in embracing the true religion And they smote the cyty wyth the edge of the swoorde This is not to be ascribed to cruelty but rather to obedience and religion towarde the true god for so was it his wil to be done and so had he commaunded But they let the man and his houshold go free Howe they coulde discerne this mans family from the rest it is not writteÌ„ But it is most lykely that either he entred with the Israelites into the city or els he shewed vnto them his house by some token wherby they might leaue it safe and vntouched according to their purpose Rahab certainly in Iericho hong a purple corde in the window of her house to auoid the misery and sacking of the souldiours And the man went into the land of the Hithites Kimhi wryteth that these Hithites were none of those seauen nations which were commaunded to be destroyed in the land of Chanaan But he declareth not what these Hithites wer And these are the names of those nations which should haue bene destroyed of the Israelites The Chananites the Iebusites Hemorrhites Gergesites Pheresites Hithites and Hiuites These are the nations which god commaunded to be weeded out of the land promised vnto the Israelites But this is to bee noted by the way that there is a difference betwene these woordes Kethim and Chethim for that which is written by Kaph signifieth as they interprete the Italians or such as dwel in Ilandes or the Macedonians and that woorde is found in Esay Ieremy and in the booke of Num where the prophecies of Balaam are mentioned But that woord which is written with this letter Cheth signifieth either one of the seauen nations of the country of the Chananites or els those to whom it is sayd that this Luzite went And he built a City and called the name of it Luz The maner of banished meÌ„ in buildyng or adourning of citiâ—s So men that wer driuen out of their countrey wer wont to do that being moued with the loue of their country to cal the places which they did build either by the name of their country which they left or els to builde them as neare as they coulde in forme like the other So it is said that Aeneas dyd in Italy buyld Troy the city of the Pisites was in the same country built by the Graecians Like wise the Israelites leauing the land of Palestine decked vp a city graunted vnto them in Egipt like vnto Ierusalem building a temple there ordaining also Priestes and sacrifices as they had before in Ierusalem In which doing they synned most haynously although neuerthelesse they were moued thereunto by the loue of theyr countrye whych they had forsaken Vnto thys day The tyme of Samuel is by those woordes noted who is thought to be the writer of this history And by this sentence the Hebrues do gather that that City and the name therof endured to the time of Samuel 27 But Manasses did not expel Beth-Sean with her townes and Thaanach with her townes the Inhabiters of Dor wyth her townes the inhabiters of Iibleam with her townes nether the inhabiters of Megiddo with her townes And the Chananites began to dwell in the land 28 And it came to passe that as sone as Israel was waxed mighto they put the Chananites to tributes and expelled them not 29 In lyke maner Ephraim expelled not the Chananites that dwelt in Gazer and therefore the Chananites dwelt styll in Gazer among them 30 Neither dyd Zebulon expel the inhabiters of Kitron neyther the inhabiters of Nahalol wherfore the Chananites dwelt among them and became tributaries vnto them 31 Aser also dyd not cast oute the inhabiters of Acho and the inhabiters of Zidon of Achlab Achzib Helbab Aphik and Rehob 32 And the Aserites dwelt among the Chananites the inhabiters of the land for they did not driue them out 33 Neither did Nephtalim driue out the inhabiters of Beth-Semes nor the inhabiters of Bethanath but dwelt amoÌ„gest the Chananites the inhabiters of the land and the inhabiters of Beth-Semes and Beth-Anath became tributaries vnto them The synnes of the Israelites In this place the holy history setteth foorth the synne of the Israelites in that they did not cast out and destroye those peoples as God had commaunded them but made them tributaries vnto them
Before the other tribes Manasses is reckoned and the names of his Cities which are here mencioned ar rehearsed in the booke of Iosuah the 17. chap. where almost these selfe same woordes ar rehersed namely how Manasses although he did not conquer them did for all that make them tributaries vnto him But that is not so to be vnderstaÌ„d as though this sinne were then committed for as long as Iosuah lyued the people dyd not so openly fal yea rather the people did their duty diligently all Iosuas time and al the time of the Elders which had seene Moses and had liued together wyth Iosua as we shal heare straight way in this booke but these thinges are spoken in that place by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is by anticipation And the hebrewe phrase is to be noted namelye And Benethiah that is her daughters For it signifieth litle suburbes townes and villages whyche when they are compared with greater cities do seme to be daughters of those Cities The same kinde of speaking is vsed also in other languages Cities called Matrices and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scithopolis For we call often times the principal Cities Matrices that is chiefe Cities and the Grecians call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beth-San was a City in the tribe of Manasses which was afterward called Scythopolis of which city both Ptholomey and also Ierome haue made mencion Thaanach is reckoned to be .x. myles distant froÌ„ Cesaria in the way to Ptolemais But the Chananites began to dwell in the land This hebrewe woorde Ioel which the latine interpretour translateth presumpsit and we haue turned it caepit that is began signifieth also to wyll to be at rest and to sweare The sence seemeth to bee this that the Chananites seyng they were not rooted out would haue gladlye bene content to haue taryed in those places where before they dwelled and that peraduenture with a bond and an othe but in such sorte that they would haue giuen a certayne tribute vnto the Israelites which nowe had preuailed But they of Manasses bicause they could not cast these out were punished for their smal faith For if they had perfectly beleued euen as God was with them in the conquering of Luz and other Cities so would he also haue ayded them in casting them out but bicause their fayth was so diminished God withdrew his ayde from them but in the meane tyme hee referred this punishment as I haue before said to profitable endes meete for his prouidence And they although they could not vpon the sodayne expell their enemies yet ought they not to cease of from making warre against them neither was it lawful for them to make any couenaunt or league with them And it appeareth that they required tribute of these nations and bargained with them without anye lawfull cause for thus speaketh the scripture And it came to passe that as soone as Israel waxed mighty they put the Chananites to tribute Wherefore they preuayled against them and they wer stronger than those nations and therefore they can not be excused in that they most filthilye made couenauntes with them For they seemed to be entised thereunto by couetousnes of money and seruitude of those nations And in expellyng dyd not expell them What the doubling of a word signifieth wâ—â—h the Hebrewes Thys doublyng of woordes in the hebrew expresseth a perfect and absolute action and this signifieth as muche as if it should haue bene said And they brused them and some of them they expelled but they did not vtterlye destroye them as God had commaunded But what can we answer of Salomon Salomon also brought these nations vnder tribute which in the first booke of kings the .9 chap. and in the .8 chap. of Paralip is written to haue brought vnder tribute the rest of the Amorrites Hethites c. I beleue verely that the rest of those nations embraced the religion of the true God For Dauid who was otherwyse a most noble king and valiaunt Captaine and who possessed his kingdome perfectly suffered them not to worship ydols in his dominions And if Salomon dyd afterward lay a greater burthen on them than hee did on the Israelites hee can not lawfully be blamed for he did so also with the Gabaonites For it is meete that the Israelites should be handled more gentlye of their King than straungers Neither should Salomon be excused if he did that for to muche greedye desire of money or if he did bargaine with them for money that they keeping still theyr idolatrous and false worshipping might liue vnpunished in his kingdome Ephraim also expelled not the Chananites It is not declared that this tribe did put their enemies to tribute which I thinke neuertheles they dyd wheÌ„ as it was declared before that Manasses did so and we shall heare straight way that the tribe of Zebulon did the same For it is not verye lykelye that those Ephraites wer better than their felowes As touching the city Gazer Ierome saith that it was .4 myles distant from Nicopolis which is Emaus and is called by an other name Gazer Kitron also in the tribe of Zebulon and Nahalol were compelled to pay tribute that they might haue Chananites to be their citizens The city Acho was afterward called Ptolemais Ptolemais Dispa Achzib also was called afterwarde Dispa being .ix. miles distant from Acho in the way toward Tire Likewise the tribe of Nephtalim brought the Chananites vnder tribute ¶ Of Masse BIcause in these places there is often mencion made of this hebrew woorde Masse which signifieth tribute of which word is deriued Mishah Whence the woorde Masse is thought to be deriued whyche of some is taken for tribute which was wont to be payde of euerye person And some of the Popes hirelinges thyncke that their Masse had hys name from thence therefore peraduenture it shall not bee vnprofitable somewhat to write of it That woord is red in Deut. the .16 chap. wheÌ„ God commaunded that seauen weekes should be reckoned after Easter and then should be kept the feast of Pentecoste Thou shalt appeare saith he before the Lord and shalt geue Missah Nethobath Iedecha that is a free oblation of thine owne hand And that oblation was so called as an yearely tribute which neuertheles was willing and without constraint Howbeit other and peraduenture more truly do interpretate that woord to signify sufficient namely that ther should be geuen as much as should be inough and sufficient for in the .15 chap. of that booke where the Lord commaunded the Israelites to open their handes vnto the poore to lend him that which might be sufficient that hebrew woord Dai the Chaldey Paraphrast enterpreth Misshah In which place I take it that there is a regard to be had as wel of the pouertye of the poore as of the abilitye of the geuer For that was commaunded to be osberued in voluntary oblations namely that so much should
thinges beyng added as it seemed good vnto sundrye men neuerthelesse after a sorte they mighte bee borne withall neyther can they iustly be accused eyther of superstition or els of Idolatry Rites were not like in all churches The churche of Millayne Howbeit they were not a lyke in all Churches neyther were they obserued after one maner For yet in the Churche of Millaine it is otherwyse vsed after the institution of Ambrose But afterward the Romanē Antichristes corrupted all thynges as I shall declare in an other place And that by the olde institution were obserued those thinges whych I haue mencioned Tertulian I coulde easely proue by most auncient wryters Tertullian in hys Apologye sayth we assemble and gather together that wee praying might embrace one another as though we would make a rushing into God with our praiers This violence is acceptable vnto God We pray also for Emperours for their ministers powers for the state of the world for the quietnes of things the tariyng of the end These things declare the sūme of the collects And for the rehearsing of the Scriptures hee addeth wee assemble together to the rehearsal of the holy scriptures if the quality of the present time doth compel vs either to foresee any thing or diligently to acknowledge any faults we do assuredly fede our fayth wyth holye woordes wee erecte our hope wee fyxe oure confidence and yet we continually repeate discipline by inculcating the preceptes of God Ther are also exhortations castigations and sharpe iudgementes of God for there was iudgement with great waight c. These are the thinges whych wer done in the holy assembly Wherunto those thinges are also to be added which the same authour saith in an other place namelye that the Lordes Supper was wont to be receaued at the handes of the chiefe Ministers c. We may by these woordes perceaue the principal partes of the Masse which we haue made mencion of Iustine the Martyr in his second Apologie maketh mencion that the Christians assembled together on the Sonday Iustine martyr but he writeth nothing of other feast daies There he saith was rehersed the holy scriptures whereunto the Byshop dyd afterward adioyne his exhortation Which being finished saith he we ryse and pray He addeth afterward The bread and drinke is brought to the bishop ouer which he geueth thankes as earnestly as he can to whom all men answer Amen These two words declare that they wer not carelesly to be passed ouer First thankes were not geuen rashlye but with as muche earnest as might be that is with a singular affection Moreouer it is manifest that all these thynges were spoken with a loud voyce seing al the people answered Amen Afterward saith he is distributed the Lordes supper then is the common geuing of thankes and the offering of almes Dionisius in Hierarchia Ecclesiastica maketh mencion almost of these same things namely of the reading of the scriptures singing of Psalmes Cōmuniō Dionisius and other thinges which wer to long now to rehearse But which is muche to be maruailed of he maketh no mencion of the offering of the body of Christ The workes of Dionisius ar not hys whych was the Areo-Pagite Yet we must not thinke that he was that Areopagite of whom the Actes of the Apostles haue mencioned But whatsoeuer he was it is not to be doubted as farre as I can iudge but that he was an old wryter But why I can not thincke that he was an Areopagite these are the reasons that leade me thereunto First bycause the kinde of writing which he vseth especially of the names of God and de Hierarchia celesti containeth in it rather the doctrine of vayne Philosophye than the pure doctrine of Christian religiō and vtterly wanteth edefiyng moreouer those bookes ar in a maner voyd of testimonies of the holy scriptures Monkes were not in the churche in the Apostles tyme. Furthermore in his Hierarchia Ecclesiastica hee maketh Monkes as a myddle order betwene a Clarke and the Lay men When as in the Apostles time that kynde of life was not yet in the Churche Besides this the auncienter Fathers neuer made mencion of those bookes which is a good argument that those wrytinges wer none of that Martyrs doing Gregory the Romane was the first of all wryters that made any mencion of him who in one of his Homelies mencioneth of his writinges But let vs leaue him and come to Augustine Augustine That father in his .59 epistle to Paulinus when he dissolueth the .v. question expoundeth the .4 words which ar written in the .1 epistle to Timo. the .2 A place to Timothe expounded 1 Tim 2. chap. And these are the woordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And he affirmeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to go before the celebration of the sacramēt but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he maketh prayers which are said in the administration of the sacrament wher after a sorte we vow our selues vnto Christ and he thincketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bee peticions and requestes with which the Minister of the Church prayeth for good thinges vnto the people standing by And finally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he affirmeth to be the cōmon geuing of thankes I could to these bring a great many more monuments of old writers but that I thinke these are sufficient at this present But now to returne to the name of Missa Note an other kind of mission I see ther haue bene some whych haue thought it to haue ben deriued of the word Missio that is sending bicause those thinges which wer offered of the faithfull were sayde to be sent and they thyncke that this hebrewe woorde Missath gaue the occasion to that name bycause in Penticoste the Iewes vsed to send gyftes But why I doo not thyncks the name of Missa to be deriued of the hebrewe woorde I haue before declared And nowe I adde this that if Missa were so named of the oblation of thinges which wer geuen of the godly then do the Papistes abuse that name who haue no regard at al to the almes of godly men but onely to the oblation of the bodye and blood of Christe which they commonlye boast and that impudently that they doo offer it vnto God the father for the quicke and the dead But of these thinges I thinke I haue spoken inough and inough 34 And the Amorrites draue the childrē of Dan vnto the moūtain for they suffered them not to come downe into the valley 35 And the Amorrites began to dwel in the mount Heresch in Aialem and in Saalbim and the hande of Ioseph preuailed so that they became tributaries 36 And the coast of the Amorrites was from the going vp of the Scorpions and from Petra and vpward They of the tribe of Dan distrusting the mercy and fauour of God wer driuē by the Chananites or Amorhites into the hilly places wher they were scarse
that it myght easely come to passe that he should fal into the sinne whiche he declared vnto the holy Prophete Naaman the Syrian knewe that his deede was culpable nought And when he knewe ryght well that the same agreed not with true godlynesse he required the prayers and intercession of the man of GOD whereby he fallyng of weakenesse hys faulte myght be forgeuen hym Otherwyse there is none whiche nedeth to aske pardon for that which he thynketh is lawfull for hym to doe We make intercessions for sinnes and not for thinges permitted vs. Wherefore thys place maketh much agaynst our aduersaries and that that is sinne which they moste earnestly goe aboute to excuse is manyfestly proued by thys historye I would to God they woulde diligentlye marke in that action that which theyr Naaman selfe And if they shoulde fall as thys man feared that he shoulde fall they woulde not cloke it with a vayne defence but woulde emplore the mercye of God and prayers of holy men that that maye gentlye be forgeuen them Elizeus gaue not Naamā libertie to go vnto Idols whiche they naughtely haue committed Neyther did Elizeus as they persuade themselues geue Naaman the Sirian liberty to go vnto Idoles he sayde onely Go in peace Which was also an accustomed kinde of salutation at the time Neither may we gather any other thing out of these words then that the Prophet promised to do that which he was requested to do Namely to pray vnto God for the saluation of the man Fyrst to strengthen him that he should not fal Secondly that if he sinned his fault might be forgeuen him They vse to obiecte also certayne woordes out of the Epistle of Ieremye the Prophet which are written aboute the end of a litle booke entituled of Baruch An answer to a place of Baruch And these are the wordes In Babilon ye shall see Gods of golde and Siluer borne vppon mens shoulders to caste oute a fearefulnesse before the Heathen Take heede ye followe not the Gentiles when ye see the multitude of people worshipping behynde and before But saye in your hartes O Lorde it is thou that oughtest onely to be worshipped c. By these wordes do our Nicodemites thinke it to be sufficient that they which are presente at Idolatrous worshippings do say in their hartes O Lord it is thou that oughtest onely to be worshipped But they shoulde more attentyuely consider that the Prophet if he were a Prophet which spake these woordes which I therefore speake bycause the little booke of Baruch is Apochriphus The boke of Baruch is Apochriphus and is not founde in the Hebrewe gaue not the Iewes libertye to goe into the Temples of the Idols and to bee there present at prophane and Idolatrous rites and there to speake with the true God in themselues in theyr hart onely But he speaketh of those Images which were caryed about the citye for that was the manner among the Babilonians as the historie of Daniell testifyeth Images amōg the Babilonians wer crried about the citye which maketh mencion that an image set vp by Nabuchadnezar was openly caried about with great pompe and with Musicall instrumentes and sundry songes At the hearing whereof al men were commaunded to worship the Image which they beheld which the felowes of Daniel would not do Of those images I say it is writtē in the Epistle and the Godly are faythfully admonished that they should not as the Ethnykes did who were behinde and before thē reuerence or worship those images Yea rather in detesting their wicked worshipping they should say or at the least way in their hart O Lord it is thou only that oughtest to be worshipped These metings comming by chaunce through the citie could not be auoyded the Godly therefore were to be admonished how in suche metinges they shoulde behaue them selues But with great importunitye as they be shamelesse Why Daniell was not cast i◠to the fornace with his fellowes they yet go farther and demaund how chaunce Daniell was not cast into the burning fornace with his fellowes when as the punishment was a like appointed vnto thē which would not worship the image of Nabuchadnezar Wherfore these mē fayne with thēselues that Daniell dyd make as though he worshipped it and for that cause the Chaldeians medled not with him And they saye also that they may lawfullye do that which they thinke thys holy Prophet of God dyd They consider not that they openly fal into a false kynde of reason which commonly is called Non causa vt causa which is when that which is not a cause is put for a cause Paralogismos For there might be very many other causes why Daniell was not then punyshed Peraduenture he mette not the image which was caryed about or if at any time he met it the Chaldeians marked not what he dyd Or being founde faultye in it and marked he was not accused bycause the Kyng loued him excedinglye But we must not beleue Daniel dissimuled not the worshipping of the image that the man of god for feare of punyshment or death would dissemble the worshippyng of the image agaynst the lawe and pietie whē as it is afterwarde declared how for piety sake he was caste to the Lyons Wherefore forasmuche as there myghte be diuerse causes that he was not deliuered to be burnt in the fyre with his fellowes Why do these men thē snatch vnto thē only one cause and that such a cause as was vnworthy and ful of reproche to such a holy man and specially seing in the holy scriptures there is not so much as a suspition of so detestable an acte any way geuen vs Of Paule who toke on hym a vowe clensed hymself after the manner of the Iewes They seeme to themselues to speake much to the purpose and trimlye to defende theyr doing when as they bryng that whiche is written in the Actes of the Apostles the xxi Chapter where it is declared that Paul by the Counsell of the Elders of the Churche of Ierusalem tooke vppon hym a vowe and foure other men with hym and purifyed themselues after the manner of the Iewes If the Apostle of God saye they woulde vse the ceremonyes of the lawe alreadye abolyshed we maye also be suffred sometymes to admitte and to be present at rites and ceremonyes so long tyme receaued The sūme of the Preaching of Paule But that thys may the playnlyer be vnderstande we muste knowe that thys was the summe of the Preachyng of Paule We thynke that a man is iustifyed by fayth without workes As many as are vnder the law the same are vnder the curse The iuste man shall lyue by hys fayth How far legall ceremonies were graunted or condemned in the primatiue church Wherefore the Apostle in that fyrst tyme of the Preachyng of the Gospel dyd not condemne the ceremonyes and obseruations of the lawe towarde the Hebrues vnlesse they were retayned
by the testimonies of his aduersaryes which is witnessed by our enemies And god hath wonderfully prouided for this kinde of testimonies for his church For we haue not only the bokes of the Hebrewes witnessing with vs but also Verses of the Sibillas which were borne in sundry countreyes Neither is it to be supposed that our elders fayned those Verses of themselues Verses of the Sibillas For in the time of Lactantius Eusebius of Cesaria Augustine which alledged those Verses the bokes of the Sibillas were rife in euery mans hand Wherfore if our elders should haue adioyned vnto them any counterfayte Verses the Ethnykes which were then many in number and were full of eloquence and deadly enemies to our religion would haue reproued them as vaine and liars What then remaineth but that god would wonderfully defend his church euen by the testimonies of our aduersaries Therfore the Iewes are now suffred among Christians partly for the promise sake which they haue that saluation should be geuē to their kinred partly bicause of the commodities which I haue now rehearsed out of Augustine Wherfore they are not only suffred but also thei haue Sinagoges wherin they openly read the bokes of the holy scriptures and also cal vpon the god of their fathers In which thing neuerthelesse the diligence of the Magistrates and bishops is much to be required who ought to prouide that they do there no other thing and by al meanes to beware that in their commō prayers exhortations and Sermons they curse not nor blaspheme Christ our God If the Magistrates and bishops haue not a care ouer these things they can not but be most iustly accused The Turkes ought not to haue any Sinagoges graūted them But it is not lawful to graunt vnto the Turkes any holy assemblies for that they haue not a peculiar promise of their saluation neither would they there read either the old Testament or the newe but only their most detestable boke called Alcoran Furthermore the Iewes muste be forbidden that they exercise not false bargayning and Vsurye among Christians The Iewes must be prohibited from false bargaining and vsurie therby to vexe and afflict the poore Christians before our face which can not be done but with great horror But our princes exacte of them a very great tribute and receaue at their handes a great pray by their handes by vsury and false bargayning So farre are they of from prohibityng them from these euill artes Furthermore which is more hurtfull they prouyde not to haue them taughte when as they oughte to compell them to come often to the holy Sermons of the Christians Princes ought to care that the Iewes may be taught otherwise whilest they are so neglected and vnloked vnto they waxe euery day worse and worse and more stubborne So that either very little fruite or ells almoste none at al can now be looked for by theyr dwelling among Christians It is also diligently to be sene vnto that they corrupte not our men in seducing them to their Iewishe religion The heresie of the Marranes By reason this thing hath bene neglected the heresie of the Marranes hath much increased and that chiefly in Spaine Moreouer it is mete that they may by some apparail or certain signe be knowen from Christians least a man vnawares should be as familiarly conuersaunt with thē as with Christians And as touching this kinde of infidelles these thynges are sufficiente What heresye is Now must we speake of heretikes The woorde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is deriued of thys verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is to electe or choose For those kinde of men chose vnto thēselues some certaine opinions which are against the holy Scriptures and doe stubbornly defend the same The causes of heresye And the causes of this their choyse for the most part are either bicause they are ignoraunt of the holy Scriptures or els if they know them they dispise them and being driuen by some couetousnesse they applye thēselues to the inuention of some errors Wherfore Augustine in his booke de vtilitate credendi writeth Augustine An heretike is he which for the loue of gayne or rule eyther bringeth vp or els followeth new opinions The definition therfore of heresie is a choyse and stubborne defending of opinions The definition of heresye which are against the holy Scriptures either by reason of ignorance or els contempt of them to the end the easlier to obtaine their own pleasures and cōmodities The choyse and stubburne defending is in this definition in stead of the forme But the opinions disagreing with the holy scriptures serue for the matter Pride and couetousnesse make heresie And the obteining of dignities gayne and pleasures are appoynted as endes of thys so great a mischiefe By this definition it is manifeste inough as I thynke who be heretikes I minde not at this presente to speake of the kindes sortes of heresies I shall as I trust haue better occasiō a place more mete to speake therof This wil I say briefly as touching this questiō we must haue none otherwise to do with heretikes than with infidels and Iewes And I suppose that these things are sufficient as touching this question whiche hath bene hitherto discussed I woulde God so perfectly as with many woordes Wherfore I will returne vnto the historye The second Chapiter 1 ANd the Angel of the Lord ascended from Gilgal to Bochim and sayd I made you to go out of Egipte and haue brought you vnto the Lande whiche I sware vnto your Fathers And I sayde I wil not breake mine appoyntmente that I made with you TWo things haue hitherto bene set forth vnto vs. Fyrst the noble victories which the Israelits obteined as long as they obeyed the word of God Secondly the transgression wherby contrarye to the commaundementes of God they both saued and also made tributaries vnto themselues those nations whom they ought vtterly to haue destroyed But nowe is set forth vnto vs how God of his goodnesse by hys Legate reprehended the Israelites for the wicked acte whiche they had committed and that not without fruite For whē they heard the word of God they repented Fyrst the messenger of God maketh mencion of the benefites which god had bestowed on his people The principall poyntes of the Sermon Secondly he vpbraydeth thē of their wicked actes wherwith they being ingrate requited so great giftes Lastely are set forth the threatninges and punishementes wherewith God woulde punishe them excepte they repented But before we come to entreate of the oration of this legate it were good to declare what he was The Hebrew worde Melach It is doubtful what this Legate was and also the Greke worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are doubtfull and sometymes they signifie a nature without a body I meane spirites the ministres of God and other sometymes they signifie a messanger what soeuer he be There are examples of these in many
places of the scriptures which should be superfluous now to declare Some supposed that some certayne spirite was sent from God whiche appeared vnto the people in a visible forme and reproued them as he was commaunded And they persuade them selues that he was first sene in Gilgal and there commaunded the people to ascend from thence to a place whiche was afterward called Bochim of weapyng The Hebrew word Melach is not agaynst this interpretation and that maketh with it also bycause he speaketh as God The aungell speaketh in the person of God I haue made you sayth he to ascend out of Egypt With whiche selfe same kinde of speache the Aungell in Genesis spake to Abraham and in Exodus to Moses Where it is also written that God put his name in him But it semed vnto the auncient fathers That aungell whiche spake vnto the fathers is thought to haue ben christ that that aungell which in the olde Testament appeared spake in the name of God was Christ the sonne of God For it is writtē in Iohn No man hath sene God at any tyme the sonne which in the bosome of the father he hath declared him These wordes declare vnto vs that what soeuer thinges are sayd to haue ben spoken by God in the olde Testament the same were made open by Christ But other suppose that this messanger or legate was a minister of the Churche that is either a Priest or a Prophet whose office was to reprehend the sinnes of the people Amonge the Hebrew Rabines Leui the sonne of Gerson Leui the sonne of Gerson doth therfore thinke this to be very likely bycause it is not conuenient that an aungell should openly speake to so great a multitude But his reason is very weake for seing God whē he gaue the lawe spake in the mount Sina to the whole multitude of the Hebrues what should let but that he could teache an angell to do the same But this is of some what more strength bycause it is declared in the history that this messanger ascended from Gilgal to Bochim For if he were an angell it semeth that it should rather haue ben sayd that he discended from heauen not ascended from Gilgal to Bochim And surely it appeareth a fayned thing that they fayne that he first appeared in Gilgal and then called the people together to Bochim For he mought haue in Gilgal expressed vnto the people those thinges whiche he afterward declared in Bochim Wherfore the Hebrues affirme that this Prophet or Priest receaued in Gilgal the spirite and inspiration of God wherewith he was stirred vp and appoynted to the assembly of the people whiche then for certaine causes were assembled in Bochim Praises of Phineas the priest there to expresse the commaundementes of God to the people yea they say that that Prophet was Phineas the Priest the nephew of Aaron I meane the sonne of Eleazar for he was a very seuere man and most zelous of godlynesse and righteousnesse In the booke of Numb it is mencioned how he slew Zamri a prince of the family of Simeon namely for this bycause he cōmitted open fornicatiō with a Madianitishe harlot And the father of the harlot was a prince among the Madianites And God manifestly allowed the zeale of Phineas For he promised him the priesthode of his nation with an euerlastyng couenaunt and ceassed from destroyeng the people being mitigated with his noble acte Phineas therfore was not onely godly but also of a stoute and valiaunte courage He feared not for gods cause to entre into grieuous hatreds and to put himselfe to present daunger Wherfore Dauid in the 106. Psalme rehearsing this history commendeth him after this sorte Phineas stode vp and reuenged and the plague ceassed and it was coūted vnto him for righteousnesse from generation to generation for euer Wherfore that acte whiche by his owne nature mought haue semed cruell and horrible did not onely please God and was of him allowed for a iust acte but he also deliuered the people from a most grieuous plague wherewith they were then vexed The counte of the yeares if they be rightly counted is not agaynst this opinion now alleged Yea and it is found in this selfe same boke that he was on lyue when warre was made agaynst the tribe of Beniamin to reuenge the wicked acte perpetrated in Gabaa R. Salomoh Rabbi Salomoh also declareth that the booke which is entituled Sedar Olam testifieth the same Kimhi Likewise Dauid Kimhi the old Hebrues seme to encline to this opinion But what soeuer he was I thinke it skilleth not much This ought to be most certain and sure that the thinges declared by him were the wordes of God Where Gilgal lyeth Gilgal is a citie lyeng in the playne of Iordane not farre from the citie of Iericho And it had that name hereof bycause there Iosuah by the commaundemēt of the Lord prouided that the people of Israel whiche had wandred vncircumcised thoroughe the wildernesse celebrated a solēpne circumcision And when they had so done God aunswered that he had remoued from thē the reproche of Egypt For Gal signifieth in Hebrew to turne away and to remoue Moreouer in that place but not at that tyme but long before was the tabernacle the Arke of the couenaunt Namely in the tyme of Iosuah when the people passed ouer Iordane And by that meanes that place was counted religious Wherfore Saul the first king of the Hebrues was annoynted in Gilgal But Bochim was so called of thē whiche wept as we shall strayght waye heare And it is called so now by the figure Prolepsis bycause it was not yet named by that name And as it appeareth by the history they goyng from Gilgal ascended to Bochim Furthermore we must note that the legate speaketh not in hys owne name but in the name of God yet he vseth not those kinde of phrases which the other Prophetes did namely Thus saith the Lord. c. The word of the Lord came vnto me c. And in rehearsing the benefites bestowed on the people First of all he maketh mencion of the delyuery of their fathers out of Egypte bycause that had newly happened vnto the Hebrues The benefites of God are like wordes which testifie of hys nature goodnesse And God to the end the knowledge of him should not be blotted out vseth to put men in mynde of those benefites that he hath bestowed on thē and will haue thē to be as certain wordes expressing his nature and goodnesse vnto vs. And he alwayes begynneth his rehearsall at thinges that are latest done and of them he claymeth vnto him selfe titles or names attributed vnto him God taketh surnames by hys benefites by whiche he would be both called vpon and also knowen for at the beginning God was called vpon by that that he created heauen and earth and afterward by that that he was the God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob After that
A vehemente amplyfieng of synne is the greatnesse of the benefites of god which ought to stirre vs vp to the obseruing of the law Afterward is set forth the grieuousnesse of the punishmēts bycause the waight of the synnes cōmitted doth euidently declare the burtheu of thē Wherfore these two things are worthily alledged in the sermon to the end the Hebrues might fele the enormity of the wicked acte whiche they had committed whereas otherwise they would haue thought it but a light faulte Two Antitheses to be considered in thys oration Furthermore we must consider in this oration the contrary positions artificially ioyned together to augment the vehemency For to that benefite wherin God had brought them out of Egypt this is layde agaynst that they draue not the Chananites from the countrey geuen vnto them And to this benefite that God had geuen them an aboundant and fertile countrey this is contrary that the people suffred Idolatry to be no lesse vsed there than it was before And this was to rendre euill for good Wherfore God would not suffer that to be left vnpunished but caused it to happen otherwise vnto them than they thought For the nations whiche they for their cōmoditie had saued did them great hurte so that they are cōpared to thornes And the Gods of those nations which they had not abolished turned to a snare greuous stumbling blocke to the Hebrues Whether the people wer by this oratiō stirred vp to faith But this sermon may seme vnperfect enoughe for so muche as fayth is not set forth in it wherunto the mynde of the hearers should be erected onely the synne is declared and the punishement wherewith they should be punished is expressed And these thinges except fayth be mixed with thē breede rather desperation thā saluation so farre of is it that they should bryng a iust remedy To this I aunswere that that parte whiche semeth to wante is elegantly contayned in the sermon nowe alledged so that it be somewhat more diligently considered For when the benefites bestowed on them by God are expressed they make vs assured of the goodnesse and mercy of God whiche benefites also remayne still for the Israelites if they will repente For god is not chaunged but is perpetually of the selfe same nature and will And vnlesse he be resisted by sinnes he is towardes men very fauorable and louyng Furthermore fayth is stirred vp in the hearers when it is shewed vnto them that god would that his couenaunt made with them should abide for euer Wherefore it is manifest that this was his will that the impediment of synnes beyng by full repentaunce taken away his couenaunt whiche he had made might be of force for euer Wherfore there is no cause why we should complayne that fayth is left out when as both the promises and the couenaunt are mencioned whiche can not be conceaued and established but onely by fayth There yet remayneth a doubte whether God require the selfe same thyng of Christians whiche he woulde haue to be done of the Hebrues Wether it be required of vs that we should breake Idoles namely that they should by violence take awaye and breake in pieces the Idoles and superstitions both of the infidelles also of heretikes If thys should be demaunded as touchying Princes and Magistrates it is without controuersie that they ought to purge their dominions from such euils and to that end haue they receaued of God the sword and power But they which are priuate persons ought to abstayne from violence for so much as to them is not committed the sworde and power to constrayne Of thys thyng Augustine in the .x. tome and 6. Augustine sermon after this manner aunswereth that the Christians ought so to do as God commaunded the Hebrues in the 7. of Deut where he expressedly commaunded that these thinges ought then to be done of the Iewes when the lande was in their owne power Wherfore Christians ought also to do the same but yet in those landes cities and houses whiche they possesse namely they must there ouerthrowe Idoles and superstitious altars Howbeit it is not lawfull for them to breake into other mens houses landes and Townes and with violence to breake and ouerthrowe Idoles and altares This sayeth he is not to heale the synne of Idolatrye whiche lyeth chiefly in the hearte it ought chiefly be weyed out of the heartes of our neighbours by the worde and doctrine whiche beyng done as many as we shall wynne vnto Christ will helpe vs to take awaye outwarde Images when as they are persuaded by the worde of GOD and that by our diligence they haue first shaken away the same thinges out of their own heartes Cōsilium Eliberinum And accordyng to this meanyng the Counsell holden at Eliberium did decree in the 60. Canon By these thynges we muste note that this is the will of GOD that we should abstayne from traffickes We must haue no felloweshyp with the vngodly matrimonyes and fellowshippes with infidels and heretikes as by the lawe it was forbidden that the Iewes should make no league with the Chananites but this would I haue so to be vnderstande as I haue before and that largely declared Moreouer we are playnely taught that the commaundementes of GOD are simply to be obeyed The commaūdemēts of god are not to be mitigated by man his inuentions so that we may not go about either to mollefye or to mitigate them by mannes inuentions Seyng that GOD punished the Hebrues and that grieuously whiche peraduenture thought that they had sufficiently fulfilled hys precepte when they had made the Chananites tributaries But as touchyng their Idoles and superstitions he required nothyng elles of the Israelites but that they woulde not worshyppe them Wherefore suche interpretations are to be taken hede of whiche do either vtterly take away the worde of GOD or at the least do make it to be of small force This did the sonne of GOD sharpely reproue when he sayed that the Phariseys by their doctrine and humane inuentions did wrest the law of God as thoughe it had ben made of ware to their filthy lustes wicked desires This sermō is takē out of the holy scriptures We must also marke that this whole sermon is taken out of the holy Scriptures for there is nothing contayned in it which is not found in the bookes of Numb Deut and Iosuah Whereby we gather that preachyng is then of efficacy when it is drawen out of the worde of GOD and not of the inuention of man Sinners ar punished by the same thinges whereby they haue trāsgressed Neither is it to be passed ouer that it is a common thyng with the Iustice of God to punishe synners by the same thynges whereby they transgresse As nowe it is declared that the Israelites should incurre most great damages as well by the nations as also by the Idoles whiche they contrary to the commaundement of GOD had
sacrifice but bycause the memorye of hym beyng once offred is called to remembraunce Moreouer we must take heede that we persuade not our selues that God is pacified either by teares or by Sacrifices or by the receauyng of the Sacramentes whiche are but outwarde thynges God is not pacified by outward thynges of them selues For by one onely Sacrifice by the death I saye of Christ God is made mercifull vnto vs the fruite of whose death euery man applyeth vnto hym selfe by fayth And of that fayth we haue those outward thynges as witnesses and sygnes Wherfore if at any tyme we shall heare either the Fathers or the Scriptures them selues to saye that by teares synnes are wyped awaye or that by Sacrifices or Sacramentes GOD is made mercyfull vnto men so ought we to vnderstande their speaches that we referre the Sacrifices and Sacramentes both to Christ hym selfe The properties of thinges are oftentimes attributed to the signes of the same thīgs and also to faith in him for so much as all those are signes of him Neyther let vs thinke that this is a newe or an vnaccustomed thing that the properties operations and efficacy of thynges shoulde be transferred to the signes whiche by the institution of God do note and signife vnto vs the same thinges But these thinges left a syde let vs speake somewhat particularlye both of teares and syghing and also of Sacrifice ¶ Of Teares TEares are counted as certayne thynges added and ioyned to repentaunce Teares are adioyned both to repentaunce also to prayers and also to prayers For not onely the repentaunte when they with a grieuous sorowe deteste their synnes do vse to weepe but also as many as do earnestly and vehemently contend to obteyne any thyng Howbeit the tokens of true repentaunce are not alwayes measured by teares Weepyng is not alwayes a tokē of true repentaunce Teares do not alwayes declare that the praiers are of efficacy 2. Sam. 12. For we reade both in the booke of Genesis and also in the Epistle to the Hebrues that Esau also wepte Teares also do not alwayes declare that the prayers are of efficacye to obteyne that whiche is desired For Dauid after hys aduoutry fasted and wepte whilest he earnestly prayed that lyfe might be spared vnto hys sonne whiche was borne vnto hym by Bethsabe whiche thyng neuerthelesse he could not obteyne but that teares in those examples had no good successe there were diuerse causes thereof For Esau as we shall strayght waye declare mourned not of fayth And Dauid obtayned not that whiche he desired bycause GOD had ordayned to geue him that whiche was much better and more noble than that whiche he required In dede the sonne whiche was conceaued by aduoutry remayned not a lyue But of the same mother he afterwarde had Salomon who succeded the Father in a peaceable and moste ample kyngdome after his death yea and he beyng yet lyuyng But contrarywyse let vs marke howe in Peter teares were tokens of very true repentaunce And also in that woman whiche as the Euangelistes declare with her teares washed the feete of the Lorde And as touchyng prayers Ezechias was hearde when with weepyng he prayed and the death which was threatned hym was differred to an other tyme. Iosias also was hearde who prayed vnto GOD with many teares The 126. Psalme speaketh thus of the fruite of prayer whiche hath sighyng and teares adioyned with it They wente and wepte castyng their sedes but doubtelesse they shall come with ioye shall bryng with thē their sheaues And they which sowe in teares shall reape in ioye It is also written in the 7. Psalme The Lorde hath hearde the voyce of my weepyng And in the 56. Psalme The teares of the Sainctes are in a manner put before GOD in a bottle or potte and faythfully sealed in hys booke Dauid also in hys 95 Psalme stirreth vs vp by these wordes Let vs weepe before the Lorde whiche made vs c. But muche more are we instigated vnto it by the example of Christe who as it is written in the Epistle to the Hebrues with a loude crye and with teares prayed for vs. Paul also in the 20. of the Actes sayeth that he had longe serued the Lorde with an humble hearte and with teares What teares ar not allowed of God Neuerthelesse God alloweth not those teares whiche are by a certayne naturall nation powred out without any affection of the mynde as it commonly happeneth vnto those whose eyes are striken with any stroke or to those whiche runne either on foote or on horsebacke and whiche with ouer muche drinke become dronke for these are naturall accidences neither pertayne they any thyng to godlynesse But affections after which teares do followe are these heauynesse of the mynde After what affections teares do followe whiche other call sorrowe also gladnesse and that by contrary reasons For of sorowe spryngeth cold whereby as the whole bodye is constrayned together so also are the humors of the hed whereby it commeth to passe that weapyng by violence bursteth forth But contrarywyse in gladnesse the pypes pores wayes about the eyes are loosed wherby there is made a waye open vnto teares And vndoubtedly of those two affections we haue a testimony in the booke of Esdras For there it is written that when the temple was built the people wept but not all for one cause Parte of thē very sory that the new buylding differed muche in dignitie and ornamentes from the fyrst But contrarywise other reioysed that the house of GOD whiche had layen so longe prostrate was raysed vp agayne And it is manifest in the holy hystorye that Ioseph when he sawe hys brother Beniamin whome he loued wepte for ouer muche ioye Anger hath sorrowe and pleasure mingled together Furthermore there are other affections mixed of sorrowe and ioye whiche make vs to weepe as is a vehement anger whiche hath by reason of contempt sorowe myngled with it and also some ioye and pleasure whilest it goeth aboute reuengement as thoughe it were present Mercy also shaketh out teares for that we are troubled and are sory for other mens euils and are desirous to profite the afflicted For a vehement desire also casteth out teares Wherfore the men of God when in prayeng they earnestly desire to obtayne any thing easely burst forth into teares But what the matter of suche an humour is The Phisicall matter of teares we leaue to the consideration of naturall Philosophers for they do not well agree among them selues as touching it Some thincke that they do come by reason of the gaule beyng troubled vnto which opinion agreeth the first booke de mirabilibus sacrae Scripturae Augustine the x. chap whiche booke is entituled to be Augustines wryting Other suppose them to be a certayne kynde of sweate whiche Plutarche affirmeth Plutarche but some do thinke that euen as from mylke is seperated whay so also a watrish humour is separated
maruayle howe chaunce Why the Isralites after their repentance â—o not breake the league maâ—e with the Chananites that they styll kept the league which was wickedlye made with the Chananites ouerthrew not their detestable worshippinges Temples and Idols Vndoubtedly if theyr repeÌ„tance had bene true and perfect they ought faythfully to haue amended that wherein they synned for among other thinges those ar counted the iust fruites of repentaunce I haue nothing els to answer here but that I thinke they dyd not thys bicause they wanted force God forgeueth sinnes but he doth not by by restore the good thinges taken away luckelye to fight against those nations For God to punish the transgression and violating of his law had nowe withdrawen theyr strength and audacity And although they repented yet he did not by and by restore vnto them their old strengthes For he vseth in deede straightwaye to receaue repentaunt synners into fauour but he doth not by and by restore those thinges which he by his iust iudgement hath for sinnes taken away This maye we easely see in the fal of our first Parentes For the euils therby comming vnto mankinde wer not taken away of God Yea and those commodities most quiet state whiche they had in Paradise men neuer afterwarde recouered although God hath reconciled vnto himselfe those that beleue in Christ For Dauid had woord brought him by Nathan the prophet that his sinne was forgeuen him yet he could not escape but that his sonne which was borne vnto him perished and he himselfe fel into grieuous miseries So God woorketh somtimes partly to keepe discipline and partly to make manifest vnto men how much he detesteth sinnes Againe more and more to stirre vp repentaunce and that an earnest repentaunce of wicked actes committed in suche as are renued But let vs returne vnto the history wherin certain thinges which happened vnder Iosua are more fully repeated Now saith he He had let the people go and euery man went into his inheritaunce Iosua sent away the people twice from hym to possesse the land The Israelites were twice thus sent away by Iosua First when the land of Chanaan was deuided by lottes For at that time euery Tribe went to possesse those places which fel vnto them by lot Iosua also sent away the people when he should dye For he had called together vnto him the whole multitude of the Israelites by his last sermon to admonish and exhort them Which he preached in such sorte as it is described in his booke the .24 chap. And as it is most likely we ought to vnderstande that sending away in this place to be the same which was done last Seing that it is written in the place now alledged that when the people had heard the words of Iosua renued the couenante of god they wer sent awaye and euerie one went to his owne possession After that is mencioned the deathe of Iosuah euen with as many wordes as it is now repeated Iosua when he should dye executed the office of a good prince Here let vs note that Iosua being almost at the poynt of death executeth the office of a good Prince in exhorting the people openly that with many words not to depart from the sincere religion In which thing he with a godly and holy study imitated Moyses whom he succeded who as we reade toward the end of Deut. behaued himselfe after the sawe sort Iacob also the most holye Patriarche euen now ready to dye called vnto him al his children and seriously and with great holines preached vnto them And that Princes and Kinges shoulde coÌ„modiously do the same it is prescribed vnto them in Deuter. that they should be most studious in the law of God For by that meanes were they made apt to admonish the people and to exhort them faithfully to obserue the commaundementes of the Lord. The Israelites when they wer sent away by Iosua ar sayd to haue gone to possesse the land bicause as yet ther remained very many places for euery Tribe not yet conquered Of which places when Iosua was dead and in the time of the Elders they obtained certain when as they got the victories in battailes as we haue heard froÌ„ the beginning After which victories the first transgression folowed vnto which succeded the repentaunce before mencioned But they abstained from idolatry as long as Iosua lyued and all the time of the Elders which wer equall with him and ouerlyued him who also had seene the wonderfull workes of the Lord. For at that time sound doctrine and the woord of the Lord testified by notable victories wer of great force That good Magistrate by whom the publike wealthe was then gouerned had had experience of the wonderfull power of the woord of God and therefore he continually laboured openly to inculcate vrge it vnto the people of Israel which thing could not want iust fruit ExperieÌ„ce declareth People frame them selues to the example of their princes that almost in euery age the people frame them selues to the example of their Magistrates For if the Princes be zelous both of religion and godlines their subiectes also wil embrace godlinesse and religion But coÌ„trarywise if Princes liue vngodly and dissolutely the people wil likewyse despise religion and lyue filthily Moreouer let the Magistrate as long as he is in authority chiefly haue a care to thys that the holy ministery be perfect and that it teache and administer sound doctrine and pure rites and that he suffer not supersticious or wycked opinions to bee thrust into the church But euen as he prouideth that other Artificers abuse not their sciences so let him diligently beware that the Ministers of the church do not either corrupt the godly rites or falsify the holy doctrine We see that somtimes it happeneth that the ministery in the Church is very laudable and pure But yf an vngodly and wicked Magistrate obtaine the chief rule of thinges It profiteth much to the Ecclesiasticall ministery to haue the magistrate a helper that holy ministery is easely despised of the people Wherfore it is made of lesse efficacy than it would haue bene if it myght haue had the Magistrate a furtherer of it Wherfore we must with most feruent praiers desire that seing the church hath now by the benefit of God in many places recouered godly doctrine and sincere Ministers that it would please God to geue vnto it Magistrates which may be most zelous of godlines and religion If a man should aske whether the people may be good and godly although the Magistrate and Minister of the Church be corrupt I answer that somtyme they may be as touching some as we see to happen in the Papacy where some godly and holy men are euery wher found which neuertheles lyue vnder wicked corrupt and vngodly ciuyl Magistrates and Ministers of the church Howbeit publike exercises of sound religion and godlynes can not vniuersally be had wythout them
plaine this question at the length is called againe to the will For who soeuer can let and prohibite any thing that is euil and doth it not it is manyfest that after a sort he is willing therunto Besides that he permitteth it not against his wyll God doth not idlelye beholde those thinges whych are done o◠men but worketh together with them Esay 5. but willinglye Wherefore a wyll without doubt is contayned in that permission But now must we shew that God when sinnes are committed doth not ydely looke on yea he woorketh somwhat there For Esay in the .v. chap. saythe that God would geue a token and with his hissing cal a nation from the vtmost partes of the earth which should ouerthrow the kingdome of the Hebrues as their synnes had deserued By which it manifestly appeareth that God stirreth vp Tyrannes and outward nations to these vniust warres Esay 10. Also in the .x. chap. the same Prophet pronounceth that king to be wicked which in that expedition was in the hand of God as a saw a staffe and an axe There is no man ignoraunt but that al these thinges do so woorke and moue that they be first moued Yea and that proud king is therfore reprehended bicause he so exalted himselfe as though he wer God who had by him brought such and so great thinges to passe Gen 45. Ioseph also in the booke of Genesis said vnto his brethren which had by a wicked cōspiracy sold him It was not you but god that sent me into Egipt In the first booke of the kinges also 1. kinges 22. and the .xxii. chap Sathan who was readye to deceaue Achab was commaunded by God to do it to preuaile Which words declare that God himselfe commaundeth and also stirreth vp to deceaue Further it is written in the Prouerbes the .xxi. chap. Prouerbes 21. The hart of the king is in the hand of God he shal incline it whether soeuer he wyl The scripture saith also of Pharao Exodus 9.10.11 Rom. 9. kinges seme free from humayne lawes but God boweth them whether he wyll which place Paul alledgeth that his hart was hardened by God Neither maketh this anye thing against it Pharao was hardened both of god of hym self if thou shalt say that it is written in the .viii. chap. of Exodus that Pharao hardened himselfe for as muche as bothe sayinges are true For God doth no violence to the wyll of man seing that nothing is more contrarye vnto it than to make it to doo any thing vnwillingly or by compulsion Howbeit it is chaunged and bowed of God so softly and pleasantly that it willinglye without violence inclineth to whatsoeuer pleaseth God Augustine And it often times happeneth as Augustine in diuers places hath taught that God punisheth former sinnes by latter synnes And the holye scriptures before Augustines time testified the same especiallye Paule in his Epistle to the Roma the first chap. Wherfore God hath in his hand the affections of our hart which he loseth or restraineth as shal seeme good to his most wise prouidence turneth them whithersoeuer it shal please him And so great is his power God worketh more as touching sinnes than is expressed by the worde permission 2. Thess 2. that we must beleue that he worketh much more than may be expressed by the woord of permission For Paul feared not thus to write vnto the Thessalonians bycause they haue not receaued the loue of the truth therfore shal God send on them an error so that they shal beleue lyes al they shal be iudged which haue not beleued the truth but allowed vnrighteousnes These wordes manifestly testifye that God did cast error vpon them to punish their former sinne namelye vpon those which despised the truth offered them Dauid also semeth to tend to this when in the .2 booke of Samuel the .16 chap. he said of Simeck Suffer him 2. Sam 16. for God hath cōmaunded him to curse me Also in the same booke the .12 chap. God by Nathan the Prophet saith of Dauid which had grieuously fallen 2. Sam 12. behold I wyll stirre vp euil against thee wil take thy wiues geue them vnto thy neighbour who shal sleepe with them this diddest thou secretly but I wil do this thing openly in the eyes of the Sunne and of all Israel If the matter be so thou wilt say they which sinne shall easily be excused The sinnes of men are not excused by the working of god for they may sone say that they wer by God moued stirred vp to sin Not so For mē ar not so deliuered by God vnto sins as though they wer them selues pure innocent For they which ar so stirred vp to naughtines haue worthily deserued the same And the same men are not driuen against their wil but they wonderfully delite themselues in those transgressions and sinnes Wherefore their excuse is foolishe or rather none But this semeth to be agaynst the things before said Whither God do together both hate wil sinnes bicause in the Psalmes it is wrytten that God is such a one as willeth no iniquity and hateth synnes And vndoubtedly he is so in dede For vnles he hated sinnes why should he punish them for thinges that are allowed are not wont to be punished Farther he hath most seuerely prohibited them by his lawes But as touching this A distinction of the wyll of God thus must we decree of the wil of god that it is in nature and very dede one whych yet may be deuided for diuers and sundry respectes For as it is set foorth in the scriptures the law he condemneth sinnes he prohibiteth them and threatneth most grieuous punishments vnto them Howbeit bicause he directeth the same sinnes whithersoeuer he wil vseth them to his counsels and decrees neyther when he may letteth them it is therfore sayd that after a sort he wylleth them Neither is it meete to deny that such sundry respectes are in the wyl of god For god would before al beginninges haue his sonne sacrificed vnto him for a most swete sacrifice who yet himself said in the law Thou shalt not kil thou shalt not shed innocent bloud God also forbad that any shoulde be deceaued who for all that would haue Achab to be deceaued of Sathan Christ was killed by the will of God as we haue a lyttle before mencioned And least any man should doubt that Christ was put to death by the wyl of God we may se in the actes of the Apostles that it is most manifestly said that the Iewes did those things which God by his counsel had before ordained What then Shal we say that god is the cause of synne Not so God if we speake properli is not the cause of sinne for if we wil speake properly and that it may the more manifestly appeare we must marke that one selfe acte as it is deriued from
manner he were assured either to liue in perpetual seruitude or els to be put to a most cruel death I aunswere that in my iudgemēt he ought to returne vnto them for as much as in this case there is no daunger but as touching goods of this world of money I say liberty life of the body whiche are not so muche to be estemed that for their sakes an othe or the name of GOD should be violated And the verse of Dauid before brought serueth aptly for this purpose And this sentence is so firme true that euen an Ethnike Attilius Regulus Marcus Attilius Regulus I say knew it For he returned to Carthago where he knew certaynly that either he should be in perpetual seruitude or els lose his life and that most cruelly Neither canst thou aunswere me that he did foolishly therin bycause the Romayne lawes as we haue before said de captiuis postliminio reuersis in lege postliminiū Paragrapho Captiuus do ordeyne and holyly decree that he should not be counted to enioy the benefite of the law postliminius which had promised to returne agayn Farther the nature of man persuadeth the selfe same thing for it is ciuile delighteth in society Wherefore next to God and godlines towarde him there is nothing whiche ought more to esteme then fayth whiche wonderfully helpeth humane fellowship For without it it is not possible for men to liue together Farther who will not say that the money liberty and life of one man is rather to be lost then the money libertyes and liues of innumerable men For if couenantes and promyses be not kept with those thieues henceforth they will geue credet to no man that they shall take they would sende home none to their owne house to fetche their raunsome but as many as they take either they will kill them or els kepe them with them in miserable and perpetuall bondage Lastly this I thinke good to admonishe you of that in othes let signes of vniuersality trouble no man As if a man promise and swere vnto hys frende that he wil be an helper vnto him in all thinges or if a man promise and sweare vnto a Scoole or vnto the Churche that he will do and obserue all thynges whiche it shall decree How it is lawfull to sweare certain thyngs vniuersally For all suche kynde of speaches as it appeareth by that whiche we haue sayde are to be vnderstande so that the obedience of the worde of God be kepte And vndoutedly althoughe that clause be by the nature of another vnderstād alwayes to be added yet for al that it is the duty of godly mē to expresse it when they are receaued into any vniuersity College office corporatiō or felowship according to the custome are cōpelled to sweare for to obserue statutes lawes decrees It is the sure way I say by expresse wordes to testifie that they wil obserue all those things vnles they shal finde that any of the same ar against the word of god And as touching this matter I think I haue spokē sufficiēt now Our Ehud vsed euill guile I graunt but yet agaynst hys enemy Neither doth the scripture make mencion of any othe that was made betwene him Eglon the kyng And though there had ben an othe yet he had ben quitte of it for as much as the stirring vp of god wherby god opened vnto him his will had abrogated it ¶ Of Truth and of a Lye NOw resteth to intreate of the second question namely Of Truth Whether it be lawfull for a good godly mā to lye But first before I entreat of a lye I thinke it good somwhat to speake of truth whiche vndoubtedly is an excellent vertue Truth as saith Tullius de Inuentione is wherby things which are Tullius whiche haue ben which shal be are spoken vnaltered Wherin we first note that it cōsisteth in wordes for saith he they are spokē not that I am ignoraūt that both dumbe men also other mē speake somtime by signes Augustine but bycause as saith Augustine in his first boke de doctrina Christiana wordes among other signes are the principall most playne Farther we are hereby taught that truth is not only to be considered as touching one difference of time but as concerning thre differēces for he saith both those thinges which are and whiche haue ben which shal be These things vndoubtedly are then spoken truly when they are set forth vnaltered that is euen as they are by speaking made neither more ample nor lesse than they are Augustine This selfe same thing almost hath Augustine sayd in his booke de vera Religione chap 36. where he writeth that the truth is whereby the whiche is is signified Truth is a vertue And it is a vertue bycause by it men are made prone redy to speake that which is true The generall worde of it is equalitie The generall of vertue is equalitie wherunto is ioyned in steade of difference this voyce namely of wordes to the thinges which are signified And as it is well knowen of all men all vertues leuel vnto the middest flye frō extremities Two faultes in speaches Wherfore in kinde of speches thou shalt find two faultes namely if thou shalt speake more than the thing is or els lesse than the thing is Neyther is vertue content with the middest only for we must adde also circumstances which vse continually to followe it Wherfore the truth is not alway to be spokē to euery man neither at all times nor yet of euery thing yet we must not lye but it is wisedome sometimes to kepe close those thinges which we wil not for iust occasiō haue knowen He which should vaunt abrode euery where vnto all mē the gifts of God geuen him he should be counted foolish vnwise as cōtrary he which should boast of a crime What truth requireth wherinto by humane weaknesse he hath fallen should rightly and worthely be reproued Truth therfore requireth this that those things which we haue within vs as touching our sense or wil be signified of vs as it is prudētly rarely Farther the vertue wherof we speake hath chiefly simplicitie ioyned vnto it it is very much contrary vnto doublenesse Besides this it is a part of iustice For it rēdreth vnto things their wordes and to a neighbour the truth which of duty longeth vnto him without whiche truth humane fellowship can not consiste For if a mā should cōtinually suspect him selfe to be deceaued by any man he would neuer beleue him in any thyng Aristotle Whē an Irony is lawfull Wherby amongest men al trades and societies perishe Aristotle in his Ethikes affirmeth that truth declineth sometimes to defection especially when any man speaketh of himselfe For the wisedome requireth that a mā boast not of himselfe Wherfore Paul in his second Epistle to the Corinthians the 12 chap. writeth
a thing cannot be hurt without blame And lastly euery man by lying leeseth hys own credite for being taken in a lye he shal euer after be suspected Wherefore though he would he shall not bee able by admonition or correction to helpe hys neighbour For the which cause the fault which is in a lye pertaineth not onely to the hurt and losse of our neighbour but it is in it by the general woord as by that which we haue already said manifestly appeareth But among lies What kinde of lye is most grieuous that lye semeth to be most grieuous which is cōmitted in religion doctrine and godlynes bicause in no other thing can guile be more hurtful pernicious For there if we shal erre we are thrust from the eternal felicity Augustine Wherefore Augustine in his Encheridion the .18 chap. hath very wel wrytten that they in dede doo synne grieuously which deceaue trauelyng men shewing them a contrary waye but they are much more detestable which as touching godlynes by lying doo bryng men into errours If the three kinde of lyes should be compared together I meane a pernitious lye a sportefull lye and a seruiceable lye A pernitious lye Two euyls in a pernitious lie should rightfullye be counted more detestable bicause in it are two euyls One is the abuse of signes the other is the hurt of our neighbour And that both of the minde which deceiueth which thing is common vnto all lyes and also of the thing whych is lost But as for other lyes although they are not without fault yet is that not a litle diminished by the good added vnto it either of delectacion or of helpe And in dede a sportefull lye hath in it but a smal and sclender nature of a lye A sporteful lye for as much as the falsehood is straightway founde out neither can it be long hydden from the hearers Augustine Yea Augustine wryteth that suche lyes are not to be counted for lyes But as touching a seruiceable lye the iudgement of it is more darke hard For some deny it to be synne for they say it hath a consideration to thys Whyther a seruiceable lye bee synne to helpe our neighbour whom we ought in woordes and dedes to relieue as much as we can Wherfore they thinke that therby commeth no abuse of signes for as much as al our thinges ought to haue a respect to the commodity of our brethren Neither do they thinke that in it is sinne committed against humane societie when as by this kinde of lye men are made safe and kept harmlesse Farther they say that where as it is in the holy scriptures written that God wyll destroy al those which speake lyes the same is not to be vnderstand of euery kind of lye but onely of a pernicious lye Which thing Augustine also in hys Encheridion the .18 chap. seemeth to graunt Plato They bryng also the opinion of Plato in his booke de Repub who although he feared away the people from lyes yet he gaue Magistrates libertye to lye especiallye in making of lawes But in my iudgement the thing is farre otherwyse neither wyl I easily graunt that a seruiceable lye wanteth the abuse of signes Aristotle For Aristotle in his booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 defining woordes saith that they are notes of those affections which we haue in our minde Wherby it followeth that al they abuse wordes which signify thinges to be otherwise than they thinke in their minde Farther that reason which they bring of loue is a very weake reason For we ought to help our neighbours but yet by iust and honest meanes otherwise let vs permit thefts to be bestowed in almes geuing But the sentence of the Apostle must abyde firme and stable which is that euil thinges must not be done that therby good thinges may come to passe Neither do I thinke that true that by those kinde of lyes humane fellowship is not hurt for as much as take awaye fayth and there remaineth almost no trafficke among men But as touching that sentence of the holy scriptures wherin it is said Thou shalt destroy al them that speake lyes We graunt with Augustine that that sentence is not vniuersally spoken for as long as the power and coniunction of faith abideth with Christ so long those sinnes ar not imputed which otherwise of their own nature should be our destruction And this also wil I easily graunt of seruiceable and sportful lyes bicause they are not so much against charity as are pernicious lyes But this can no man deny that in making a lye we doo against faith And we must vtterly graunt that he which lyeth looseth thereby his own credite so that afterward he cannot profitably admonishe reprooue or with fruite geue counsel as he ought to do For they which heare him will easily beleue that he seruiceably lyeth to cal them againe into the way not that the thing is so in very dede A contentiō betwene Ierome Augustine This vndoubtedlye was the cause that Augustine was against Ierome who in a maner attributed a seruiceable lye vnto the holy scriptures If this saith he should be so the authority of the holy scriptures wold soone decay For the Readers of them would easily say that the thing is not so but that it is so written An error of Plato to keepe men in doing their duty Nether ought the authority of Plato much to moue vs for as much as in that place he very much erred graunting that in thinges pertayning vnto God they might fayne fables which might serue to bring foorth and keepe a good opinion of them Wythout doubt we may not mocke in matters touching God Farther the law of God is equal and the selfe same as it wyl not haue the people to lye so also it prohibiteth the same vnto the Magistrates Who are to bee excused of a lie Howbeit they cannot iustly be accused of a lye which in their talke ar farre from doublenes For somtimes it cōmeth to passe that some speake that whych is false and yet they thought the same to be true With which men they also ar excused which haue geuen their promise to do a thing which afterward they are not able to performe Bicause at the beginning when they promised it they wer fully mynded to doo that which they had promised and therefore they haue not lyed If so be that afterward they doo not accomplish those thinges whiche they haue said the same happeneth by some other meanes And sometimes it happeneth that he which deliuereth his sword to some man to kepe falleth afterward mad wherfore he ought not to restore the swoorde vnto him which hath left it with him bicause a new case as the Lawyers say requireth a new helpe After which selfe same sort Paule is excused who sayd that he would go into Spaine when as for al that he went not thither Paule also promised the Corrinthians
euery man shal be geuen a mayde or two that is the praye of the rascall souldiours shal be bondmen or bonde women be geuen But to our Sisera shal be geuen the most worthiest thinges garmentes I say of diuers colours and nedle worke Plini in his 8. booke the .48 chap writeth that the men in the old time vsed to dye their wolle and garmentes with such sundry and pleasaunt colours Plinius bicause they would imitate the most beautifull coloures of floures and herbes And the same writer attributeth vnto the Babilonians the inuention of diuers coloures in garmentes and euen as garmentes of siluer which were found out in Asia vnder Attalus the king were called Attalical so those garmentes whiche were by the Phrigians wroughte with the nedle beinge set out with golde and sundry coloures and pictures wer called Phrigionical And for that these workmanshippes wer in the old time had in estimation god would haue the holy tabernacle and the high priestes garmentes wrought with nedle worke And this is not to be passed ouer that by the ciuile lawes it was not lawefull for euerye man to weare such precious garmentes Wherfore it is sayd now in this song that garmentes of sundry coloures and such as were wrought with the nedle ar attributed only to the prince In the Code de vestibus oloberis lege Auratas It is prohibited vpon great punishmente that any other men shoulde were precious garmēts Lawes for apparell And it is no doubt but that in the old time there wer lawes for apparel which at this day lye vtterly voide These womē spake as they knew the maner then vsed for they were not ignorant of the custome in war wherby princely garmentes wer not distributed to priuate men but vnto captaynes and emperors Discipline of warre amonge the elders Farthermore we muste consider that the elders vsed greater discipline in their camps than at this day our men do For when a town or city was sacked euery man had not that which he by violence tooke al thinges wer brought vnto the king or Emperour and not vndoubtedly that he only should haue them but that he should part them according to the labor dignity and quality of the souldiors which manifestlye appeareth in the decrees 23. question the .5 chapter Dixerit aliquis They are the woordes of Ambrose in his booke of Abraham the Patriarche And the same thing is most playnly taught Dist the .1 chap. Ius militare This hebrew word Tsoari signifieth properly a necke or neckes in the plurall number but in this place by translation it signifieth a captayne or prince 31 So let al thine enemies perish O Lord But they that loue thee let them be as the Sunne when he riseth in his strength And the land had rest .40 yeares The thinges which are now mencioned the holy Ghost doth therfore speake them by Deborah to expresse with a great emphasis and signification that those thinges do happen vnto the vngodly which they be afeard of the things which they hope happen cleane contrarye Therefore the songe is nowe concluded with an elegant exclamacion and consisteth of thinges contrary So let all thine enemies perish O Lord as Sisera hath fallen This her Apostrophe or turning to God stirreth vs vp that we shuld with a singular affectiō embrace God the author of so great notable acts Deborah also in this speaking declareth that she setteth not forth her own cause for she sayth not let my enemyes perish but thine But they that loue thee let them continually encrease in al kind of good things as the sunne increaseth from his rising vntil it be none wherin he is most strong ether from the spring time to the highest of sommer She addeth not Let them that loue him be saued as the Antithesis or cōtrary position required For these two are contraries namely to be saued and to perish But let them be encreased saith she strengthened as the sunne increaseth from his rising vnto his strength By thys conclusion the vse of example is taught vnder the forme of a prayer Sisera is ouerthrowne but the people of Israel is encreased with a notable victory so therfore shall it come to passe and happē vnto vs. We shal be deliuered if we be godly they which do persecute vs for Christs cause shal perish Wherfore it is profitable by exāples to gather out rules of the gouernmēt of God which rules with frute let vs apply vnto our own things This performed Dauid as touching this selfe same historye in his psalme where he sayth do vnto them as vnto Middian as vnto Sisera Iabin at the riuer Kyson Wherfore the some of this hystory is to set before vs the seuerity of god toward his enemies again his clemēcy towards the godly And therfore it behoueth that the seuerity of his iudgements breath in vs a fear and that by fayth we take hold of his goodnes and clemency The syxt Chapter ANd the children of Israell did euill in the syghte of the Lorde and the Lorde deliuered them into the hands of Middian seuen yeres 2 Wherfore the hand of Middian preuailed against Israel frō the face of Middiā the children of Israel made them dennes in the mountaines and caues and stronge holdes 3 For when Israell had sowen Middian came vp and Amaleke and the sonnes of Kedem came vp agaynst them 4 And camped against them and destroyed the fruite of the earth euen till thou come to Haza neyther lefte they anye foode in Israell neither cattell nor oxen nor asses 5 For they went vp and theyr cattell and came with theyr tents as greshoppers in multitude so that they and theyr camels wer without number they came I say into the land to destroy it Deborah and Barac were deade by the authority of whiche princes the people of the Hebrewes were kepte in their dutye and religion But after theyr death they fell agayne vnto sinnes and especially vnto idolatry But yet they are not counted to haue turned so heynously from God as they did before for it is not written And they added to do euil Farther their punishment was not so long for they serued the Madianites onely seuen yeares Moreouer it is not sayde that God sold them as he did before but that he deliuered them I confesse that these coniectures are but small but yet not so small that they shoulde seeme vtterly to be despised Two thinges are principally entreated of in this hystorye The principall pointes of thys history The ordre of thinges to be spoken of the affliction of the Hebrewes and theyr deliuery by Gidion But bicause eche of these partes haue their causes therfore we must also entreate of them For euen as affliction springeth of sinne and deliuery beginneth of repentance so was it mete that first it should be declared that the Israelites had sinned before mention be made that they were deliuered vnto the Madianites and theyr repentaunce must
lendeth to those things so also without it ther is no defence to be had out of munitions walles being otherwise neuer so strong and Castels very well fenced Wherefore before we begyn munitions we must put our confidence in God and we must lay the most profitable foundation of holy prayers and pray vnto God to keepe vs chiefly in true and sincere godlynes to cal vs backe from synnes and daylye to geue vnto vs a perfect repentance Lastly we must desire that when a iust and holy man shal haue neede to haue the vse of such munitions hee woulde vouchsafe to bestow vpon them that his most mighty and healthfull power Which selfe same cogitations and prayers we must vse both in meate drinke apparel or any other thing when we begin to receaue them And the children of Israel cryed Now shal be declared the deliuerye of the Israelites but firste is set foorth their repentance and inuocation Nowe at the length the Hebrues flie vnto the sure rockes vnto the safe dennes and vnto the true Castels For the rocke or castle best fenced as we reade in the Prouerbes is the name of the Lord. In that rocke Dauid escaped al aduersities 7 And when the children of Israel cryed vnto the Lorde bycause of Midian 8 The Lord sent vnto the children of Israel a Prophet who sayd vnto them Thus saith the Lord god of Israel I haue brought you out of Egipt I haue brought you I sai out of the house of bōdage 9 And I haue deliuered you out of the handes of the Egiptians out of the hand of al that oppressed you and haue cast them oute before you and geuen you their land The maner whereby the Israelites wer stirred vp to cal vpon God is in this place set forth They were turned vnto God by the impulsion of faythe whyche was stirred vp by the preaching of the woord of God for he had sent vnto them a man which was a Prophet not legions of Angels not a multitude of souldiours not armour neither warlike engins He directed vnto them a Preacher Minister of the woord of God And this ought not to seme absurd if this verbe Vaiischlah be interpretated in the signification of the preterpluperfect tense for as much as it is a thing very much vsed in the holy scriptures And yet I denye not that this place may be vnderstand an other way namely that the Israelites in dede cried first but yet with a certaine violence stirred vp by troubles and miseries which violence by it self could not be allowed of God nether had it obtained any thing at his handes except it had bene adorned with a true faith perfect repentaunce for the bringing to passe wherof God not forgetting his mercy sent them a Prophet or Preacher meete thereunto Howbeit the first sense which cōsisteth al the preterpluperfectnes pleaseth me very wel although I deny not but that both waies may be admitted Farther some thinke that these thinges ar to be vnderstand by Synechdoche so that it is ment that not one prophet but very many prophetes were sent of God But I iudge that it is wrytten of some one certaine prophet which was of great authority among the Hebrues And I am not ignorant that some thinke this prophet to haue ben an Angel which I allow not forasmuch as he is called both a man and a prophet And I finde in no place of the holy scriptures the Angls wer called prophets although on the contrary we rede in them sometimes that a prophet was called an Aungel Aflictiō◠make open the waye vnto profitable sermons as it most manifestly appeareth of Malachi But let vs marke this rather that oppressions and aduersities which often times happen do geue good occasion of profitable sermons for as much as the hearers by such vexation ar made much more attentiue The Hebrues thinke that this Prophet was Phineas of whom also they saye that it is written in the first booke of Paralip the .ix. chap. that he liued in the time of Dauid when as for all that the same place may otherwise bee expounded But who hee was it maketh no great matter We must rather marke the argument of the sermon whiche is in fewe woordes toutched First the benefites of God are rehearsed their deliuery I say out of Egipt wherby they were deliuered from seruitude most grieuous his defence against those which went about to oppresse them and lastly the possession of the land of Chanaan God had now faithfully performed al these thinges as hee had promysed vnto their fathers Whereby it manifestly appeareth that the couenaunt made with the fathers was on his part kept vnuiolated Let vs note in these wordes that God at that time was by this title praised namely bicause he had deliuered his people out of Egipt for his nature otherwise is most farre remoued from the mindes of men neither can it any otherway be knowen but by the effects But of this thing I haue inough spoken as much as semed sufficient Wherefore it is manifest that the Preacher which was sent from God doth beate into the Hebrues the benefite which they had receaued namelye both to stirre vp in the Israelites the knowledge of the true God and also to shewe foorth hys truth endued with constancy 10 And I sayd vnto you I the lord your God Fear not the gods of the Amorites in whose lād ye dwel but ye haue not obeied my voyce Now is added what God againe required of the Hebrues namelye that hee shoulde be their God and that they shoulde not feare the gods of the Amorites or not worship them For in this woorde feare is verye often comprehended all maner of worshipping and religion For what should they woorship straunge gods when they were the peculiar people of the true God by whom they were deliuered from the house of bondage that is out of a prison or dungeon moste hard and afterward in their iourney they were deliuered both from the Amalekites also from the Moabites from Sihon and Og the kinges Wherfore forasmuch as they had receaued these benefites of their God it was neither lawful nor meete that they should worship straunge gods Two principal synnes of the Israelites Ye haue not obeyed my voyce Two most grieuous crimes of the people are reproued wherof the latter dependeth of the first First they beleued not his word then they obeyed it not Vndoubtedly they which beleue not the thyngs that God setteth forth do not also obey his cōmaundementes And contrarywise they which do truly beleue do willingly and without compulsion obserue his commaundements Although the wicked actes of the Hebrues were sundry and manifold yet onely one is reproued namely Idolatrye bicause in it almost al the other sinnes are comprehended For if we commit synne there wher God is called vpon and if we sinne in that thing wherein we seeke to be reconciled vnto god what goodnes can ther be in any other of
our actions If these things be corrupted in vs which are taken for holy thinges what maye be iudged of other workes which are counted prophane Wherefore forasmuche as in these thinges the Hebrues greuously fel we must vnderstand that they also sinned in all other thinges 11 And the Angell of the Lorde came and abode vnder the Oke which was in Ophra that pertayned vnto Ioas the Abiezerit and his sonne Gideon threshed wheat to prepare his flight frō Midian When by faith the sinnes of the Israelites were forgeuen and that they had called vpon God and repented their deliuery is set forth wherby they were deliuered from the outward bondage of the Madianites Which without doubt God would haue done by Gideon the Iudge for the which cause hee raised hym vp to deliuer the Iewes And this brought he not to passe til such time as things were almost come to vtter desperation al humane helpes wer taken away and the Israelites trusted onely to flight Wherfore Gideon is not called but when he gathered some wheate to hide least the Madianites shoulde violentlye take it away And that is ment by this Hebrue woord Lehanim that is if thou turne it woord for woord to prepare his flight For he would hide that wheate from the Madianites were it neuer so litle that with it he might somewhat sustaine both himselfe and his household He which appeared vnto him was in very deede an Angel as it shall afterwarde by manifest tokens and argumentes bee declared He came to Ophra but to that Ophra whych pertayned vnto Ioas the Abiezerit which is therfore added bicause there was also an other Ophra in the Tribe of Beniamin wherof is mencion made in the boke of Iosua And I doubt not but that the Angel came vnto Gideon in the shape of a man for he abode vnder the Oke Gideon was of the tribe of Manasses and as we shal heare he spake vnto hym Ioas the Father of Gideon was of the family of Abiezer which in the booke of Numb and in Paralip is reckoned among those that were of the Tribe of Manasses And Gideon at that tyme threashed corne in the wyne presse Twoo maners of threashing The Hebrues haue two wordes Dash which signifieth to thresh but yet then when we occupy to threashing beastes The other woorde is Chabat which is also to thresh but yet with flayles and without beastes Wherfore it is noted that Gideon vsed this latter kinde of threshing that he might the better hide that which he did and therfore it was in a wyne presse where forasmuche as wyne was vsed to be pressed no man did easily suspect that any wheate was there threshed Let vs marke in this place that the excellent men in the olde time when they had gotten any leasure either from holy seruices or from ciuil things thei spent al that leasure either about husbandry or about the arte of a Shepehearde For they would not consume them selues with ydlenes sumptuousnes glotony or dronkennes And this shal we not onely learne in Abraham Isaac Iacob Gideon and other holy fathers but also it manifestly appereth by the histories of the Romanes For there we reade that Curius and Seranus and such like wer elected for the chiefest Magistrates when in the fieldes they were at plough and tylled the grounde And the earth also at that tyme as Plini saith brought foorth her fruites more plentiful and aboundant when it was handled with the handes of Emperors most noble Not vndoubtedlye bicause the earth was endued wyth any sense but bicause wise men as they vsed wisely to gouern waighty affairs so also for husbandry when they were occupied about it they exercised it wyth farre greater diligence then did the rude men Our Gideon without doubt had seruauntes whom he might haue commaunded to haue wrought what woorke so euer was to be done yea and his father as we shall afterwarde heare was a man of power among the people And for all that he was suche a one yet he despiseth not rusticall woorkes 12 Then the Angel of the Lord appeared vnto him and sayd vnto him The Lord is with thee thou valiant man A salutacion vsed of the godly Here is expressed a moste auncient maner of salutacion wherein they sayde The Lord is with thee We rede in the booke of Ruth that Boaz vsed it when he came vnto his haruest men The Angell also in this manner saluted the blessed Virgin Yea and the Church of Christ by the Minister saluteth the people in the holy seruices and saith The Lord be with you The angel called Gideon a strōg man not by that strength as it is thought wherwith he was before endued but by the strength which should afterward be geuen him for the accomplishing of thinges Although it might easily be that Gideon was a man skylfull in feates of warre But the first interpretatiō agreeth better Howbeit Augustine in hys questions vpon this place Augustine thus readeth this particle as thoughe God hym selfe should be called a strong and warlike man as if he should haue saide That God which is mighty warlike is with thee or be with thee Neither ought it much to moue vs bicause this woord Man is added forasmuche as it is after the same maner writtē in the song of Exodus For God may so be called by a Metaphore But the first exposition is more receaued and seemeth more simple 13 To whom Gideon answered O my Lorde I praye thee is the Lord with vs Why then is al this come vpon vs and where be all his miracles which our fathers told vs of and sayde Dyd not the Lord bring vs out of Egipt But now the Lorde hath forsaken vs and hath deliuered vs into the hand of the Madianites The hebrue word Bi signifieth in me and is spoken by the figure Eclipsis as though it should haue bene looke louingly vpon me And therfore they turne it I prai thee which is a particle of one that exhorteth The next word is Adonai by which name Gideon called him which appeared vnto him not by a religious or deuine title but by a common title whych is applyed also to prophane men For he vnderstood not that he was an Angel he thought he was some Prophet or holy man Gideon perswadeth himself that God was not with him when the Israelites were afflicted with so great miseries For he vnderstandeth the saying of the Angel as though he had said that God was not onely with hym but also with al the Hebrues God is not supposed to bee with those whiche ar afflicted And it is no doubt but that the nature of mā thinketh that God is not with those which are afflicted The saintes after this maner semed to expostulate with God Wherfore in the Psalmes it is written Aryse O God why turnest thou thy face awaye from me why hast thou forgotten me and such lyke This is a grieuous kinde of temptacion wherunto if a
of consolation wherfore it is no maruel if he againe desired the remedy which he had had experiēce of Why Gideon required contrary sygnes He requireth contrary signes bicause the first semed not to be so great a wonder that the rest of the earth should be dry the fleese moyst Bicause such is the nature of wool that by a certaine proper power it draweth moystnes vnto it selfe as the Magnete stone draweth yron and Naphtha fire Naphtha a kinde of chalk Wherefore the wool myght easilye drinke in the dewe and that aboūdantly although the earth wer not yet moist But that about the fleese the earth should be moist and the wool dry it was vtterly against nature What is the Allegorye of these sygnes Augustine vpon the .71 Augustine Ambrose The Allegorye of these signes Psalme writeth and also Ambrose in his first booke de spiriru sancto in the Proheme The fleese they vnderstand to be the people of the Hebrues who in the old time wer watred with the woord of God when as the whole earth that is all other nations wanted the preaching of the woord of God Christ also was the minister of the circumcision in the first embassadge he sēt his Apostles onely to the Iewes But afterward the thing was so altered that the whole worlde after the comming of the holy ghost vpon the Apostles was watred wyth the woord of God and the Iewes vtterly wanted it and as barren bowes were cut of from the fertile and fat Olyue tree ¶ Of Miracles IN the ende of the chapter twoo thinges are to be enquired of The first is of miracles the other is how much or in what sort it is lawful to require them The Etymology of the wordes As touching the firste the Hebrue verbe is Pala or Niphla whiche is it was hard or marueilous wherof ar deriued these nownes Niphlaoth or Miphlaoth By which woordes are noted thinges seuered from other for their dignitye or excellency seperated I say and wonderful The Grecians call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of thys verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is to maruayle The Latines call them Miracula that is miracles bicause they are woorthy of admiration They cal them also Prodigia monstra and Portanta that is wonders monsters and thinges seldom sene that we should vnderstand that God by these thinges wyl shewe that some certayne thing shal come to passe or be done contrary to the cōmon order of things aboue hope or expectation Miracles very muche renoumed Wherfore seing mircales ar done aboue the natural course of thynges they bring with them admiration And vndoubtedlye there are verye many miracles which by writers are made famous as the temple of Diana in Ephesus the Tombe of Artemisia Queene of Caria the horrible great image of the Sūne at Rhodes the walles of Babilon very many other of the sort Wherfore Augustine against the Epistle of the Maniches the .xvi. Augustine A general description of myracles chap. prudently writeth I call a miracle whatsoeuer appeareth harde or vnaccustomed aboue the hope or faculty of the wonderer By which wordes a certaine large description of miracles may be had Transubstantiation is yll fayned to be a myracle And forasmuch as it said that a miracle appeareth they are worthely reproued which do fayne Transubstantiation and wyll haue it to be a miracle which can neither be confirmed by the holy scriptures and seing that it appeareth not neither can it be sene it cannot be called a myracle After this very common and large description ther is to be added that of miracles certaine are true False miracles and certaine are false For those are called false myracles which either are not that which they seme to be or els if they bee they are not done by anye power which passeth nature but by the powers of nature although it be secrete For Angels either good or bad may do them and that thre maner of wayes For sometime they applye vnto matter the strengthes of nature which they perfectly know of which cōiunction of the matter wyth efficient causes do follow effectes ar in dede in a maner vpon the sodaine at the which the beholders cannot but maruayle The deuils know that of thinges putrified are engendred Frogges woormes or some certaine Serpentes so that heate in certaine degrees be added Wherfore seing to them it is not hard to couple these thinges together they do it somtimes to deceaue men with al. And by this meanes Augustine thinketh as he writeth in his .3 Augustine booke de Trinitate that the sorcerers of Pharao did sometimes the same thinges which Moses dyd Farther the mouings of the spirites of the blood and humours doo verye much trouble the bodies of men whereby figures images and shapes of thinges whyche in them are kept are in the same mocion brought before the phantasy or imagination by that maner and order that the troubler of the spirite knitteth them Wherof do spring sundry and manifold sightes which we see doo sometimes happen in suche as are in phrensy And the thing may come so farre that the formes and images which are inwardly kept may be called backe euen vnto the outwards senses Whereby he which suffreth such thinges weeneth that he verilye seeth and feeleth those thinges whiche are in his imagination or phansye and in hys sense when as in very dede there is no suche thing outwardlye done And thys kinde of miracles ought rather to be referred to illusions then to miracles It also commeth to passe that sometimes these spirites by their own power either of the ayre or els other elements do forme certaine bodies that they appeare vtterly like mens bodies and vnder them they appeare to whō soeuer they lust So came they sometimes to Abraham Lot and other fathers These thinges if we speake properly and simply ar not true miracles but in our reason iudgement ther is nothing letteth but that they may so be called Yea and commonly Iuglers are said to do miracles when as for all that they deceaue by the nymblenes of the handes or by the powers of certaine thinges natural do represent thinges wonderful to the beholders What true miracles are But this is the definition of true miracles A miracle is a woorke hard and vnaccustomed by the power of God which passeth al faculty of nature created to this ende wrought to cause the beholders to wonder and to confirme fayth towardes the woord of God Causes of myracles Wherefore the matter of miracles are woorkes and the forme is that they be hard and vnaccustomed The efficient cause is the power of God which ouercommeth nature created And the end of them is both admiration and also confirmation of faith And that we should not doubt of the efficient cause this I thinke good to be added That that power of God which vtterly is aboue the faculties of nature is to be vnderstande sometimes to
dareth do thing but so much as God himselfe wyll somtime permit him as we reade was done of Iob. God sometime suffreth the sayntes to be greuously afflicted of Sathan to the ende his grace towardes them may most manifestly be declared Whither the plagues of the Egiptians wer done by good Aungels or by euyll But when Augustine expoundeth these wordes of the Psalme namelye the sending out of euyll Angels he doubteth whither the plagues of the Egiptians were done by a good Angel or by the Deuyl And at the length he sheweth that the plague and destruction of the first begotten maye be ascribed vnto the ministery of the Deuyl but the other plagues are to be attributed vnto good angels that the sentence both of the booke of Exodus and of the Psalme may stand fast Howbeit as touching that plage of the firste begotten in Exodus it is written vnder the name of God I wil this night passe through Egipt and wil smite c By these woordes that destruction semeth to be ascribed eyther vnto god or to a good Angel and not vnto the Deuil But that moueth me not much bycause although it were done by the ministery of the Deuil yet maye it be ascribed vnto the Lorde For Iob when by the woorke of the Deuil he was bereft bothe of goodes and children said neuerthelesse The Lorde hath geuen and the Lorde hath taken away and that sayd he was done by the Lorde which was done by the Deuil But some obiect If we assigne these things vnto the Deuil then shal he seme to haue fought against himself For the Sorcerers by the help of deuils withstoode Moses when they did the same thinges that he dyd And if plagues were by euyl Angels sent against the Egiptians and the Sorcerers went about to withstand them then Sathan semed to resist Sathan Neither could the Sorcerers haue trulye sayde that they fayled and testified that it was the fynger of God whych wrought But these reasons in my iudgement are not strong bycause the thinges done by the Sorcerers were done by the power of Sathan which is vnto him naturall For by it he is able to applye the seedes of thynges and woorking causes to his matter prepared and to woorke wonders as touching the sight of man But those thinges wherewith God afflicted the Egiptians were by his most mighty power wrought by the instrument of the Deuyll Wherefore it is no maruail if the Sorcerers failed and felt the most excellent power of the finger of God The place of Exodus and of the Psalme is conciliated Howbeit the booke of wysdome the .xviii. chap. semeth vtterly to ascribe these plagues vnto God wher he saith while al thinges wer stil and when the night was in the middest of her course thy almighty word c. And in the .xvii. chap. it is written that the Egiptians being among those plagues especially when they were oppressed with darknes wer with horrible vexations of minde and sights very terrible so vexed as though most doleful spirites had perpetuallye bene before their eyes and about their phantasy which vndoubtedly might be done by the sending of euyl Angels as the Psalme doth mencion Their hart also was hardened and their mindes were dayly made much more obstinate againste the Israelites And that semeth to haue pertained to the sending downe of euil angels Wherfore these two places may easely be made to agree in ascribing the plagues which ar mencioned in Exodus to good Angels and the terrible sights and hardning of the hartes to the sending of euyl Angels vpon them of whych the Psalme now alledged maketh mencion The power to work miracles maketh not mē better or woorser But forasmuch as God as it is declared for the woorking of miracles vseth both euil good angels men the godly men ought not therfore to be greued bicause oftentimes he geueth not vnto them this faculty For they are not for the cause of any worse condition then are they to whom God graunteth to woorke miracles For the Lord said vnto his Disciples when they returned from theyr embassadge Reioyce not in this bicause spirites are subiect vnto you reioyce ye rather for this bycause your names are wrytten in heauen There are some which are so desirous of such thinges that to obteine signes they are not afraid to vse euen the help of the deuill and vnder this pretence they excuse themselues To worke signes we must not vse the help of the deuill bycause god himself to worke signes vseth Sathan in following of whome they do well so farre ar they of that they can be cōdemned guilty of any crime They say also that Paul deliuered some to the deuill to be vexed and therfore they also may vse his ministerye But what manner of men are they whiche wil affirme that it is lawfull for them to do asmuche as is lawfull vnto god God is the author of all creatures wherfore it is no marueile if he vse them all But vnto vs it is by the law of god prescribed that we should not do it It is not lawfull to imitate God in all thinges And the immitation of god is so farforth commended vnto vs as by his law it is commaunded vs and no otherwise For he reuengeth his owne iniuries And who will saye that priuate men may do the same God adioyned vnto his owne burnt offring the bullocke appointed for Baal as we haue haue now hard with the wood also dedicated vnto the same idole Shall euerye one of vs therefore eate thinges dedicated vnto idoles The rule of our actiōs is the word of God Wherfore we ought not to be drawen to imitate him but so muche as the lawe suffreth That lawe hath he made not for himself but for men that they should frame theyr life after it Wherfore it was to him lawful to require of Abraham the immolation of his sonne which thing none of vs can require of our frend Paule and other Apostles had euill sprites subiect vnto them and by them it was sometimes lawfull vnto them to punish the guilty for theyr saluation Wherefore those to whome such a gift is not graunted ought to abstayne from excercising the same Wherefore the vse of the power of euil spirites is of two sortes wherof one is with authority and that belongeth chiefelye vnto god also to the Apostles and to the sayntes of the primitiue church The other by compact obedience which is vtterly forbidden mē For what participatiō cā ther be of the light with darknesse of god with Belial And for that cause the sorcerers which beleue thē can not be excused yet they ar by the law condēned guilty of superstition idolatry And it is not to be thought but that god vpō very iust causes and to vs most profitable hath forbidden these things to be done Why God forbad men to vse the helpe of the deuil to worke myracles For he prouideth that we should not
he had a wonderfull great number of people in that City I might rehearse a great many other places both out of the old Testament and out of the newe but that I wil not be tedious Philo a Iewe. Philo a Iew as Ierome in his booke de viris illustribus saith wrote fyue bookes of Dreames which are sent by God Ciprian also telleth Ciprian that in his tyme wer certain things sene by dreames which serued for the edification of the Churche he doth geue not a litle Augustine Thre kindes of dreames but very much authority vnto them And Augustine in his .xii. booke de Genisi ad litteram the .3 chap. sayth That there are three kindes of dreames The first saith he pertaine vnto the outward senses which he calleth corporal Againe other some he calleth Spirituall which consyst of images haue place about the phantasy or power of imagination The last he nameth Intellectual bicause they are comprehended onelye by reason and iudgement of the mynde And those which consist by imagination namely those that are put in the secoÌ„d place as we haue a litle before taught saith he make not Prophets affirmeth that Ioseph was much more truly a Prophet then Pharao And bicause we wyl not go from our history we may affirme the same thing of the soldiour which in the hearing of Gideon expouÌ„ded the dreame of his fellow soldiour namely that he rather was a Prophet then he which had the vision But in this order or degree of Prophetes Daniel excelleth the rest For he dyd not onelye interpreate the dreames of the king but when he had forgotten those thinges which he saw in his sleepe he could reuoke them into his memory againe Farther he did not onely interpreate the dreames of other men but also he was by God instructed of his owne visions By the Deuil also are dreames sometimes moued for Augustine in the place alredy alledged de Genisi ad literam writeth that one possessed wyth a Deuil by dreames declared in what houre a priest would come vnto him through what places he would passe Oracles answered sometymes by dreames and visions And we are not ignorant that the Ethnikes had oracles where men were al night to obtaine visions and dreames Suche a one was the oracle of Amphiarus Amphilochus Trophonius and of Esculapius In those places the Deuil shewed vnto those whiche slept remedies and medicines to heale suche as were sycke and therwithal also he gaue answer of other matters And to obtaine such visions and dreames there were commaunded vnto those which came to enquire of any thing I cannot tel what choise of meates and separate lodginges Pithagorians and certain pure and chaste daies It is said also that the Scholers of Pithagoras eschewed beanes bicause they make troublesome dreames But our God to declare that he is not bounde to those thynges shewed vnto Daniel the kinges dreame when he and his fellowes by prayers had vehemently desired it of him And it is not to be doubted but that the deuil can mingle him selfe with dreames Augustine when as through his diligence there haue bene and also are now many false Prophetes wherefore Augustine in his booke before alledged the .xix. chap. If an euyl spirite saith he possesse men he maketh them either diuelish or mad or els false prophetes And contrarywise a good spirit maketh faithful prophetes speaking misteries to the edification of other He also demaundeth in the same booke the .xi. chap. by what meanes the reuelations of euyl and good spirites may be discerned one from an other Augustine Howe dreames ar to be knoweÌ„ whiche are of a good spâ—â—â—â— and which are of an euyll And he answereth That that can not be done except a man haue the gifte of discerning of spirites But he addeth that an euyl spirite doth alwaies at the last leade meÌ„ to wicked opinions and peruers maners althoughe at the beginning the difference can not be knowen with out the gift of the holye ghost In his Epistle to Euodius which is the .100 epistle inquiring of the same matter he sayth I would to God I could discerne betwene dreames which ar geuen to errour and those which are to saluation neuerthelesse we ought to bee of good courage bycause God suffreth his children somtimes to be tempted but not to perysh Aristotle But what shal we answer vnto Aristotle who denieth that dreames ar sent of God and that for this cause in special bicause God would geue this faculty of diuination to wyse and good men and not to the foolish and wicked We answer that for the most part it is true that true Prophetes which are by God illustrate with dreames and visions Why God somtimes vseth euyl Prophetes and vnwyse are both good and godlye Howbeit leaste it should be thought that the power of God is bound vnto the wysedome or maners of men God wyl sometimes vse the woorke of euyl men in those things to declare and shew forth the great and wonderful power of his prouideÌ„ce Tertulian as one which can vse all kinde of instrumentes Farther as Tertulian writeth in hys booke de Anima seing that he distributeth his Sunne and rayne both to the iust and to the vniust it ought not to be marueilous if he bestowe also these gyftes which serue especially to the instruction of men both to the good and to the euil And that we should not be ignorant of his doing the holy history declareth that the Ethnikes were by God verye oftentimes admonished and corrected in theyr sleepe So Pharao king of Egipt was commaunded to restore vnto Abraham his wife and Abimelech king of Gerar was in like maner admonished And Tertulian saith moreouer that euen as God when hee instructed the wycked in theyr sleepe doth it that they might become good so contrariwise the Deuil inuadeth the godly when they are a sleepe by dreames to seduce them oute of the ryghte way Aristotle thought the God in distributing his giftes ought to haue a regard to wise men and especially to Philosophers God reuealeth misteries rather vnto the litle ones then to the wyse when as Christ hath taughte altogether otherwise I thanke thee saith he O heauenlye father that thou hydyng these thinges from the learned and wise hast reuealed them to lyttle ones c. Paul also sayth that the vocation of God chiefly pertayneth to the vnnoble vnlearned and weake An other argument was that beastes also when they sleepe do dreame when yet no man wil say that God ministreth and disposeth their dreames That Philosopher is deceaued bicause he supposeth that if God do send some dreames vnto men he ought therefore to be made author of al dreames which vndoubtedly to farre froÌ„ our meaning For we referre not vnto God himselfe al those things which ar natural as certain peculiar effectes by which immediatly as to speake with Scholemen men should be instructed of thinges to
consecrated your handes so farre was it of that they shoulde be depriued of the holy Ministery But the Pope saith that Dauid for shedding of bloud was in the olde tyme prohibited to builde the Temple But in this place we muste marke the misterye wherin Salomon shadowed Christ the peacable king For he was by hym expressed whiche hath gathered together the Churche the true Temple of GOD without weapons vnto the true and euerlastyng peace But bloude beyng iustly and ryghtly shed Bloud shed iustly rightly restraineth not from the holy ministery restrayneth not from the holye ministery For Pinhas who was hygh Priest thrust thorough two moste vnpure whoremongers Elyas a man of the stocke of the Leuites slew with hys owne hande the Prophetes of Baal And Samuell a man of the same tribe dyd hymselfe kyll Agag the king yet neither of them both were reiected froÌ„ theyr office Neither do I therfore speake these thyngs to commend the promotyng of murtherers vnto holy orders but thys only I oppugne that euery slaughter euery murther maketh a man so irregular as these menne saye that he can not be ordeyned a Minister of the Churche What if a man haue bene a Iudge or a Magistrate or in iuste warre hath fought for hys countrey can not he therefore be ordayned a Minister of the Churche Peraduenture he hath obteyned excellent giftes of God and is endewed with singular doctrine adorned with a pure lyfe instructed with dexterity of gouernyng and godly eloquence can not the Churche as these men most absurdely thynke vse hys gyftes Vndoubtedly that was not obserued in Ambrose he was seruaunt vnto Cesar and decided matters in the lawe beyng Pretor of Millan and yet was he by violence taken to be a Byshop I knowe that Paul requireth that a Byshoppe be no striker but no manne doubteth but that that is to be vnderstande of an vniuste murther or violence But what should a man here doo all thynges are by the Papistes handled supersticiously Nowe the thirde cause why Lictores and hangemen are euyll spoken of is this bicause very many of them liue wickedlye and filthy and were before tyme noughty men Aristotle Howbeit the office defileth them not but rather by they re faulte they pollute an excellent office Aristotle in his .6 boke of Politikes the last chapter sayth that good men abhorre this kind of office namely of punishing of meÌ„ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bycause it hath a hatred annexed vnto it For they doe oftentimes incurre the hatred of men But in my iudgement a good and godly man ought not for that cause to abhorre his administration I remeÌ„ber an aunswere of Chrisippus A saying of Chrisippus who being demauÌ„ded why he excercised not the office of a magistrate If I excercise it not rightly sayd he I shal displease god but if I do rightly I shal displease men but I wil do neither of both He semed to some to haue aunswered very prudently but me thinketh he answered folishly For he should rather haue aunswered coÌ„trarily that the publike welth ought to be gouerned and that rightly to please both God and good menne but a wise and good man muste not haue a respecte vnto wicked men By these thinges it is now manifestly shewed that Gidion in that he himselfe killed the kinges of Madian committed nothing that was not decent for him neyther that he commaunded his sonne to do any fylthy acte 22 Then the men of Israel sayd vnto Gideon Reigne thou ouer vs both thou and thy sonne and thy sonnes sonne bycause thou hast deliuered vs out of the hand of Madian 23 And Gideon aunswered them I will not raygne ouer you neither shall my chyld reigne ouer you the Lord shal raigne ouer you The people â—eceauinge a benefite at Gideons hand would haue made him king that they might not be couÌ„ted ingrate But seing gratitude is a vertue it ought to haue no vniust thing ioyned with it whiche these men obserued not For they appoynted not theyr kyngdome by the lawe of god In Deut. the .27 chap. it is written that he should be a king whom god had chosen It pertained vnto god to elect a king Neyther perteined it vnto the people to appoint a kinge whome they would Wherfore that which they doo now is not frely to geue any thing that is theyr owne but to geue the which is an other mans The right to appointe a king belonged to god and not vnto men which thyng also Gideon wysely saw neyther was Christ ignorant therof when they which were filled with bread came vnto him to create him a king Christ refused a kingdoÌ„e offred vnto hym What manner of men the olde Romayne bishops were he wayghed the maner of his vocation and for that his kingdome was not of this worlde and vnderstoode that they vsurped an other mans right and were not moued therunto By iust causes he put of from himself such a burtheÌ„ The same things happened in a maner vnto the bishops of Rome Which at the beginning were holy for very many of theÌ„ wer notable by constancy of faith martirdom Farthermore their church was kindled with feruentnes of charity towards the poore most liberal so that it sent almes euen into the east part to the Ilands and metalle places where the holy confessours of Christ liued in exile All which thinges got that chaire much fauor and grace with the faithful Gregorius Wherefore the supreame power and kingdome in the church was in a manner offred some times vnto those bishops which they like Gideon refused with a great spirite singuler modesty Of which thing also what Gregorius the b. of Rome iudged I will briefly declare In his .4 boke of Epistles in the .32.34.36.38 .39 Epistles he of that matter writeth at large both vnto Mauritius the emperor and also to Constantia Augusta likewise to the Patriarkes Alexandrinus and Antiochenus yea and to Iohn the Patriarche of Constantinople and lastlye to Anianus Deacon of the same church In the time sayth he of Pelagius my predecessor Ioannes Constantinopolitanus when he had assembled a sinode by an other pretence claymed vnto him self the title of the vniuersal supreame Patriarch which thyng Pelagius toke in euil part and therfore made the acts of that Sinode frustrate Farther he commaunded his Deacon which was his deputye whome he had with the Emperoure that he should not communicate with Iohn being so arrogant and proud Gregorye succeded Pelagius and decreed the same things writing vnto the emperor sayth Peter the chiefe amonge the Apostles neuer called himselfe vniuersall Apostle and neuerthelesse Iohn byshop of Constantinople now goeth about to cal him selfe the vniuersall Patriarch straightway he crieth out O times O maners And this reason he addeth to these things if the vniuersal head be so ordeyned of men by the ruine or corruption of such a head the church also shall perishe together Of this place
without him Ther was a publike wealth then in Israel they had Senatours and in al places ther wer Iudges appointed wherfore the forme of the publike wealth could not by men be chaunged wtout great offence If so be thou wilt demaund when it is to be thought that God doth gouern rule in other Magistrates I answer Then when this is onely prouided for that Citizens may liue vertuously And forasmuch as piety is of al vertues the most excellent the Lord doth then raigne whē althings ar referred vnto it Farther as touching ciuil actions when to euery man is rendred his own Magistrates gouerne not for their own commodity but for the publike vtility When the thing is otherwyse shall wee saye that God raygneth or no as when Nero Domitianus Commodus Heliogabalus and suche wycked men wer gouernours A distinctiō of those thynges which are done vnder Magistrates Did God then cease from gouerning of the worlde I thynke we must make a distinction of these thinges which are done in those kingdomes of the good thinges I say from the euil forasmuch as there is no Empire so vitiate and corrupt but that it stil retaineth in it many good thinges Let vs looke vpon the gouernment of Nero we shal se ther in a maner an infinite number of wicked and mischeuous actes where yet many partes also of Iustice floorished Prouinces were gouerned by Pretors and Presidentes which execute lawes not altogether vniustly It was lawful for Paul to appeale vnto Rome neyther could the Hebrues by the lawes be permitted to iudge him as they lusted themselues And the same Paul when he had shewed that he was a Citizen of Rome escaped both from bondes and from stripes Wherefore seing in a gouernment most corrupt very many good and profitable thinges floorished the same coulde come frō none other but from God It is therfore manifest that god at that time forsooke not the care and administration of thinges But if thou go forward and aske How God ordereth himself toward the fauts of Princes whether the vices and corruptions of Empires are to be referred vnto God I wyll answer that the true cause of synne is in man but the wil of God doth neither allow those vices nor cōmaunde them in his lawes yea he prohibiteth and detesteth them But he vseth them to punish the wickednes of the people for for the synnes of the people he maketh an hipocrite to raygne and in his fury he geueth kinges For such thinges are euyl and synnes and haue in them a consideration of punishments as they are punishmentes they pertayne vnto the iustice of God But when Princes are so corrupt what is to be done We must obey Whither it bee lawfull to ryse vp against euyl Princes but vsque ad aras that is so farre as religion suffreth Maye priuate men take vpon them to alter a corrupt Prince They may do it in admonishing in geuing coūsel and reprouing but not by force of weapons Yea Citizens may fight for the defence of the publike wealth as long as it lasteth Wherfore Pompeius Cicero and Cato are not lightly to be condemned for that they resisted Cesar going about to styrre vp insurrection althoughe at that time the publike wealth was very corrupt But when he had once obtained the Empire he ought not by priuate men to be depriued with weapons Wherfore Augustus said vnto Strabo who spake euil of Cato being then dead that he was a good Citizen which contended that the present state of thinges should not be chaunged In the publyke wealth of the Hebrues which floorished in the time of Gideon God gouerned in very deede It was as I haue said Aristocratia where Elders were chosen by common voices to do iustice in which office vnles they rightly behaued themselues they were both punished and put out of their roume but if there happened any hard warre God himselfe raysed vp Iudges but they were not chosen by the people neither did the children succede the Parentes in that office After this maner did God gouerne the Hebrues The wordes of Gideon sufficientlye declare that the Iudges exercised not the office of an ordinarye Magistrate It was in the Lord to rayse vp for the time whom he would What we must consider when any thing is offred vnto vs. therfore the Lord said vnto Samuel They haue not reiected thee but me that I should not raigne ouer them Hereby we gather that when anye thing is offered vs we must alwayes weigh whither the same be good of his own nature and whither it bee lawfully geuen and may lawfully be vsed Which if it be not let vs put awaye from vs whatsoeuer is offred as Christ reiected Sathan when he promised hym all the kingdomes of the world neither receaued he the kingdome offred him by the people Thys the Pope considereth not who for his vnlawfull Supremacye or tyranny continually warreth and there is nothing which he attempteth not so farre is he of to refuse these thinges c. 24 Againe Gideon said vnto them I would desire a request of you that ye would geue me euery man the earings of his pray for they had golden earinges bicause they were Ismaelites 25 And they sayd we wyl geue them And they spread a garment and dyd cast therein euery man the earinges of hys pray 26 And the weyght of the golden earinges that he required was a thousand seuen hundreth syckels of gold besides collers pomanders and purple rayment that was on the kinges of Madian and besyde the chaynes that were about their Camels neckes 27 And Gideon made an Ephod thereof and put it in hys City in Ophra And all Israel went a whooring after it in the same place which thing was the destruction of Gideon and hys house Here is set foorth an example of a most grieuous fal very much to be lamented A man holy in miracles and notable in faith filthelye falleth Euerye man therefore is admonished not to trust vnto his former lyfe and thinges that hee hath well done Kim his opiniō of the Ismaelites and Madianites They had golden earinges bycause they were Ismaelites Kimhi thinketh that the Madianites and Ismaelites were al one which he saith is confirmed by the booke of Genesis wher it is written that the brethren of Ioseph sold him to the Madianites and straightway it is added that the Ismaelites sold hym in Egipt wherfore he gathereth that they were al one namelye which had theyr ofspring of Agara And she as some say was Ketura the handmayd of Sara afterward the wife of Abraham But the Chaldey Paraphrast interpreteth the Ismaelites Arabians and not Madianites Yea and Iosephus in his booke De antiquit by the children of the East he vnderstandeth Arabians They turne this Hebrue woorde Scheharonim lunulas that is litle Moones wherof is mēcion made before For in the Arabike toung Schehara signifieth luna that is the Moone The other
commodiously distributed vnto many So Alexander the Macedonian aunswered vnto Darius that the worlde could not holde two Sunnes as though one shuld hinder the other in gouerning Neither was Cicero ignoraunt of this reason who in his .3 booke de Officiis sayth that Remus slewe Romulus vpon a certayne shewe of vtility as though he saw that the kingdome should better be gouerned by one then by two Whom yet he confesseth to haue offended beyng deceaued with this shewe of vtility and that he put of all humanity and piety The other thing whiche they pretended is that therfore they slewe theyr brethren or kynsfolkes bycause they had conspired agaynst them But when I praye you complayne they of conspiracies euen then when they had slayne those whom they complayned of they could not defend theÌ„selues He slewe 70. brethren excepte one namely Iotham of whome shall mention be made afterwarde The Hystorye writeth that there were 70. slayne either bycause Abimelech so willed and commaunded or elles bicause onely one wanted of that summe The maner of the scripture in reckenyng of numbers whiche thyng we may see oftentymes vsed in the holy Scriptures that some certayne number is mentioned as a full number from whiche yet some may be taken away He slewe them vpon one stone It is thought to haue bene some notable stone which was appoynted for a place of execution Abimelech therfore is by a greate and detestable murther of hys brethren consecrated kynge Kynges were appointed to profit men and to defend them but he begynneth his kyngdome with murther Wherfore he ought rather to be called a Tyranne then a king The place where he was created is setforth wherfore we must vnderstand that this worde Alon signifieth a plant whiche R. Dauid in libro Radicum supposeth to be a pine tree Ionathan maketh it a chestnut tree and Ierome turneth it alwayes an oke Sometimes it signifieth a plaine and the Chaldey paraphrast interpreteth it Mischar that is a playne field thether assembled the Sechemites to create a kyng There was an image or piller set vp as some thinke to a superstitious woorshippyng whiche thyng althoughe it be not agaynst the wicked manners of thys people and impiety of Abimelech yet it is not of necessity that we should so thinke for we rede many tymes in the Scriptures that images were erected not for diuine worshippynges but for other causes In the booke of Genesis the 31. chap. a heape of stones was set vp in mount Gilead as a border and monument vnto the posterity of Iacob and Laban and in the 35. chap. of the same booke a piller was erected by the tombe of Rachel Yea and Absalon adorned his tombe with an image The famely of Millo The famely of the mother of Abimelech was not noble when as she tooke her name of the towne Millo is the name of her house That worde signifieth other wise a gulfe filled whiche Salomon built by the City of Ierusalem The Sechemites created a king the other tribes neither were at it neither wer they called So was there a schisme among the Israelites whiche is wont oftentymes to happen when the worshipping of god is viciated These thynges haue I briefly noted as concernyng the Hystory Now let vs more nighly looke vpon the wicked and flagicious actes by which this man came vnto his tyranny First he was very ambitious he deceatefully and falsely accuseth his brethren vseth the corruption of bribery to worke treason is a robber of the commoÌ„ threasory he wrought by open violence and at the last committed murther of his brethren called Parricidium ¶ Of Ambition What Ambicion is What honor is Excellent men are iustly honored AS touching the first Ambition is to much desire of honor And honor is that reuerence which is geuen vnto any man to beare testimony of his excellency And that testimony is borne vnto hym iustly and of right bycause it is mete that we recompence somewhat vnto them whiche doo helpe and norishe vs and are endewed with giftes of God And we haue nothing more worthy or better then honor Farther that they and their like may go forwarde to excercise them selues longer and more constantly in helping keping of other Moreouer that we adding such reuerence may get vnto them authority whereby they may the more aptly and commodiously execute their office It is lawfull for godly men to receaue the honours offred them Hereby it is manifest that it is lawfull euen for holy men also to embrace the honours whiche are geuen vnto theÌ„ for vertue doctrine and pietyes sake For they both desire and allow things that are iust and do reioyse that men performe that whiche the law of God will haue done And he commauÌ„deth to honor the father the mother the Magistrate and such like Wherfore if men obey his preceptes holy men can not but accept it thankfully Thou mayst adde that if it should not so be their ministery would be contemned whiche is by all meanes to be auoyded What must be taken heede of when honours are admitted But bycause we are prone to pride hautines and arrogancye therfore we must beware and that circumspectly that for the desire of honor we abuse not that whiche after a sorte may be iust Wherfore I thought it good to note those thinges which I iudge are to be taken heede of in this thing First that we rest not in this kinde of good as in the last end Whatsoeuer we do must be directed vnto God and especially that honor whiche is geuen vnto vs when we rightly and orderly execute our dutyes so that thereby both we our selues may know also teach other to glorify God Honor is the reward of vertue not men in good workes For this hath Christ commaunded that we shoulde so directe our wookes whereby they whiche see theÌ„ may glorify God the heauenly father Neither ought this to moue vs which is â—oÌ„monly spoken the honor is the rewarde of vertues For that is not to be vnderstaÌ„d neither as touchyng the vertues theÌ„selues nor yet in respect of the meÌ„ which are adorned with theÌ„ For it shuld be very yll with either of theÌ„ if they had no other ende performed then honor The ende of good men is eternall lyfe and the heauenly kyngdome And the ende of vertues is to prepare and renewe vs to the glory of God But honor is called the rewarde of vertues as touching other whiche doo beholde and wonder at the giftes of God in good and holy men Howe honor is the rewarde of vertue and and when they desire to offer or recompence them somewhat and haue nothing excellenter then honor then doo they geue that Wherefore after this maner is honor counted the rewarde of vertue The other caution is that a man doo not so burne with the desire of honor that he care not howe he come by it whether it be by right or by wrong Salust hath writteÌ„
ioyned together with filthines ought not to be admitted But those which are written honestlye and shamefastlye so that they refresh the mind with some pleasure and ar also profitable to setforth good maners are not be despised That fylthy ones are to be repudiated the Apostles confyrmeth by two testimonyes To the Corrinthians in the first Epistle he writeth Euill communications corrupt good manners And to the Ephesians the. v chapter it is written let whoredome and all vncleannes and couetousnesse not reigne in you as it becommeth sayntes then is added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and whyche are not comelye By these woordes he reproueth all those coÌ„munications whych are contaminated with filthines scurilitye Plato The same thing saw Plato in his thirde boke de Repub. wher he excludeth Poetes which spake of gods as though they should speake of men Bycause they in so writing do both vnworthely intreate of the nature of god which is best and most high also they excuse the sinnes of common men when as they testifye that both the gods and also noble meÌ„ committed the same sins which thing assuredly we may see in the coÌ„modye Enuchus of Terence where Cherea a wycked yonge man beholding a wanton table in the harlotes house Terence wherein was painted Iupiter persynge vnto Danae by a showre began to haue a pleasure in himself bicause he beyng a vile man did those thinges whych he knew by that table the chief God in the olde time committed I did it sayth he and I dyd it with a good wil. Cicero Cicero also Homere sayeth he fayned these and transferred humayne things vnto the gods I had rather they had transferred thinges diuine vnto vs. Augustine in his .2 booke of Confessions the .15 and 16. chap. complaineth and soroweth that he being a child and younge man learned profitable words Augustine But yet in thinges vayne I would to god sayth he I had beene instructed in profitable writings I hard Iupiter thuÌ„dring and therwithall coÌ„mitting adoultry The mindes and affections of men ar prone inough vnto vices wherfore it is wickedlye done that children and younge men should in that age be by vyle and filthye fables stirred vp vnto sins Apologies are profitable whych consisting both of honest wordes and good arguments do rightly instruct that first age Esope Esope the aunciente writer happely excercised hymselfe in this kinde althoughe there are some which referre his Apologies vnto Hesiodus who was auÌ„cienter theÌ„ Esope But this our Apology wherof we now entreat was written long before Esope and Hesiodus tyme. For the time of the iudges and namelye of Gidion was an hundreth yeares and more before the war of Troy There is an other Apology also in the .2 boke of kinges the .14 chap. where Amasias obteyning the victory of the Edomites prouoked the king of Israel to make war with him Vnto whom the king Ioas aunswered thus The thistle of Labanon sent vnto the Cedre that is of Libanon and sayd Geue thy daughter to my son to wife And the wyld beast went out of Libanon and trode downe the thistle By which Apology he shewed that he was so much greter theÌ„ Amasia the king of Iuda as the Cedre excelleth the thystle and admonished him that he should after that sort be troden down oppressed of his host as was the thistle by wilde beastes These things haue I therfore rehearsed lest the Greke and Ethnike writers should be thought to be the first inuenters of these profitable fayninges The vse of Apologies Al men agre in this that the vse of Apologies are then to be had when we haue to do with rude persons For they vnderstand neither perfect Sillogismes or vnperfect neyther are they able to perceaue inductions so that of perticulars they cangagather vniuersals And they passe not vpon the exaÌ„ples of noble men for that they themselues are abiect and base Wherfore when such wayes of doctrine can not take place there remayneth nothing but fayned narrations where beyng allured by the neâ—mes of the thing they geue much heede to the thinges which are spoken and sometimes at the length are perswaded They are good also to help memory for things â— are so new pleasauÌ„t do very must delight thinges that are so sweete are not so easely forgotten Farther men will easlier suffer themselues to be reproued by Apologies then by open wordes for the playne truth engendreth hatred But beyng couered with Apologies and darke speeches it may be suffred At the beginning the hearers know not wherto the thing teÌ„deth therfore for that they knowe not what wil be spoken they tary out the end are at the last peraduenture perswaded Christe finished the whole parable of the vine and at the end the Phareseis and Scribes vnderstode that it was spoken against theÌ„ So also among the Romayns Menenius Agrippa by an Apology woÌ„ne the people which wer departed to adioine theÌ„selues agayn to the PatritiaÌ„s For these causes ar Parables dreames visioÌ„s of Prophets very much vsed in the holy scriptures The fable of Esope of the frogges which desired a kinge differeth not muche from this Apology which we ar now in hand with for to theÌ„ after the beame or post which they dispised was geuen a dragoÌ„ which by litle litle eat theÌ„ vp al. And I wil begyn at the declaration of the fable wherin it is said If ye haue done rightly and orderly reioyse with Abimelech and Abimelech with you But if not let a fire come out from him consume you The oliue tree vine tree fyg tree is the famelye of Gideon and the trees which desire a king are the Sechemites And as among trees there are some noble and some abiect so also amonge men there ar some noble and excellent and some vnnoble and of no reputacion The bramble brier signifieth Abimelech Of the braÌ„ble or briar Plini Plini in his 24. booke and .14 chapt writeth of this kind of thorn And as touching this matter these are the properties therof it is a plant vile and abiect as was Abimelech who was a bastard and borne of a hand mayd so that he was not to be compared with his brethern And as he without any vtility gouerned the Israelites so is the braÌ„ble wont to bringforth no frute The bramble also pricketh euen as Abimelech very muche hurted the Israelites Moreouer some write that the bowes of brambles are sometimes so vehemently shaken and moued with the winde that out of them is fire kindled wherewith not only they theÌ„selues burn but the whole wood wherin they grow is burnte which thinge Iotham nowe foretelleth to come to passe of Abimelech Wherfore the properties do wonderfully well agree But here are twoo questions offred vnto the readers The fyrst is bycause it is said that the trees wente to the Oliue tree vine tree figge tree and bramble to create them a king when as the
damages comming of dronkennes wee wyll deuide the euyls thereof by their subiectes for it hurteth the body vexeth also the mynde wasteth the goods and is hatefull to our neighbours As touching the body by dronkēnes come oftentimes sodaine deathes dissolucions of the members Apoplexia is when mans sēses are taken a way the disease called Apoplexia and sundry and miserable chaunces For the smoothe and plaine ground is vnto dronkardes a denne for they fall breake their legges their armes and sometimes their neckes and are burnt when they fall into the fyre The liuer is inflamed with to much drynke the head is pained the members are made weake and tremble the senses ar corrupted the natural heate is ouerwhelmed with ouermuche wyne the stomake which is ouer largely distended is sicke with crudity or rawnes and with intollerable paines the whole body is in a maner inflamed and the thirst is augmented Dronkardes lye groueling like blockes and so are beriued of their strength that neither head nor foote can do their office Wherfore it is written in the .23 Prouerb 33. chap. of the Prouerbs To whom is wo to whom is sorrow to whom is strife to whom is sighing and to whom are woundes without cause Or to whom is the rednes of the eyes Euen to them that tary long at the wine and to thē that go and seeke largely to poure in wine Looke not vpon the wine when it is red and when it sheweth his coulour in the cup and goeth downe pleasantly in the ende thereof it wil bite like a Serpent and put out his sting lyke a Cockatrice Thine eyes shal looke vpon straunge thinges and thine hart shall speake leude thinges And thou shalt be as one that sleepeth in the middest of the sea and as he which sleepeth in the top of the mast of a shyp They haue striken me and it payned me not they haue brused me and I felt it not When I awake I wyll seeke it againe c. And behold with how many punishments God afflicteth drōkardes Esay in his .v. chapter agreeth with Salomon For he also saith Esay 5. wo vnto those which are mighty and strong to drinke wine And in the same v. chap. hee saith that dronkardes regarde not the woorke of the Lorde neither consider the woorke of his handes Moreouer to suche men is wo Ierome bicause as Ierome vpon that place writeth they are most vnhappye who being from morning to night occupied in dronkēnes glotony and sundry pleasures they vnderstande not the woorkes of the Lord in them and not considering wherfore they were created slepe out in a maner their whole life Wherfore Ioel cryed out vnto them Ioel. 1. awake vp ye dronkards weepe and howle all ye that drinke wine But dronkardes are not by these cryes stirred vp for they do not onely sleepe but seme to be in a maner buryed Wherefore Vergil aptly saith of a Citye Virgil. that it was buryed wyth sleepe and wyne But now let vs see how muche the soule or mynde is hurt with dronkennes How much the mynde is hurte with wyne Dronkardes are oftentimes striken with the spirite of amasednes and are turned in a maner into furiousnes they become like brute beastes so that there seemeth to remaine in them no vnderstanding It is a grieuous thing wythout doubt for a man to wounde himselfe or to depriue himselfe of any member but of his own free wyll to take away his minde from himselfe it is an euyll intollerable In Hosea the .4 chap. it is woorthely written that wyne and dronkennes take away the hart And in the .xix. of Ecclesiasticus it is written wyne and women make wise men to apostatate that is to depart from right institutions so that they are no more their own men for they are withdrawen from their office and vertue also fal from the right trade of life And in the same booke the 31. chap. it is written wine dronken with excesse engendreth bitternes of mind with braulinges and skeldinges Dronkennes encreaseth the courage of a foole tyl he offend but it diminisheth his strength In these woords ther is an elegant Antithesis namely that wine increaseth the courage spirits causeth greater audacitye but it diminisheth and weakeneth the strength Plato Wherefore Plato in his .vi. Dialogue de Iusto at the beginning A dronkard saith he hath a tirrannical hart for he would rule all men as he lust and not by any reason or lawe Dronkennes also bringeth obliuion of lawes and ryghte Wherefore Salomon saith in his Prouerbes that wine must not be geuen vnto kinges least peraduēture they drinke forget the law ordained change the iudgement of al the children of the poore Plato also writeth in his .3 booke de Repub. the dronkēnes may be suffred in any mā rather then in a Magistrate Plato For a dronkē man knoweth not the groūd wheron he is And if a Magistrate be dronk thē hath the keper nede of a keper This is moreouer to be added that ther is nothing kept secret wher drōkēnes raigneth Bicause it openeth not onely the secrete partes of the body but also of the minde And in drinking ar poured out woordes vnshamefast foolish vnapt Horace and wycked Wherefore Horace describing the effectes of dronkennes sayth What is it that dronkennes committeth not It discloseth thinges secrete it establisheth hope and thrusteth foorth the vnarmed man into the battaile It taketh away the burthen from careful mindes it teacheth artes Whō haue not full cups made eloquent and whom being in extreme pouertye haue they not made careles Plato And Plato in his first booke de Legibus toward the ende saith thus When a man drinketh wine at the first it maketh him cherefullyer afterward the more he drinketh the greater and better hope he is in and feeleth him selfe stronger Then as though he were wyse the man is fylled wyth that confidence liberty and audacity that without feare he both saith doth whatsoeuer pleaseth him The same Plato in his .vi. Dialogue de Legibus sayth He which is fylled wyth wine is stirred vp with a woodnes both of mynde and body and both draweth and is drawen euery where And a dronkard is as a man out of hys wyt Seneca Seneca in his third booke of Natural questions the .20 chap. saith that dronkennes tyl it be dryed vp is madnes and with ouermuch heauines is brought on sleepe And in his .60 Epistle to Lucillus toward the end One houres dronkennes recompenseth his long madnes with the wearynes of a long time And in the .84 Epistle Dronkennes draweth out al vice and kindleth it and detecteth it It putteth awaye all shamefastnes whose nature is to resist euyll endeuours Where to much power of wyne possesseth the minde whatsoeuer euyll lay hidden bursteth foorth Dronkennes maketh not vices but brinketh them to light In dronkennes he that is proude his pride encreaseth
the sōne of God who hath geuen himself for me Hereof springeth that confidence which Paul had when he said Who shall lay accusation against the elect of god It is god which iustifieth c. Wherefore if god accuseth vs not neither will our hart accuse vs when we beholde Christe For we haue now confidence towardes god and we shall obtaine And whilest wee are conuerted vnto Christ not onely accusation and sinne is abolished but repentance also is augmented as we now see is done in the Hebrues 15 And the children of Israel aunswered vnto the Lorde we haue synned doo vnto vs whatsoeuer is good in thyne eyes onelye wee pray thee delyuer vs thys day 16 Then they put awaye their straunge Gods from among them and serued the Lorde and hys soule was grieued for the miserye of Israel 17 Then the chyldren of Ammon gathered together and pytched in Gilead and the children of Israel assembled them selues and pitched in Mizpa 18 And the people and Princes of Gilead sayde euerye one to hys neyghbour whosoeuer wil begyn the battayle against the chyldren of Ammon shal be Captaine ouer al the inhabitantes of Gilead The repentaunce of the Hebrues profited god aunswered very sharpelye The propertye of true repentaunce I wyl not heare you But they crye againe Doo what seemeth good in thine eyes that is what soeuer pleaseth thee This vndoubtedly is to repent when we are not onelye repentaunt for the synnes which wee haue committed but also wee willingly suffer what soeuer pleaseth god A notable example is set foorth vnto vs in that they put away their straunge gods and woorshipped the true god It is not sufficient to take awaye euyll thynges excepte in the place of euyll thinges we substitute thinges that are good Many haue taken awaye Masses idolatries and superstitions and yet haue not woorshipped god trulye bicause he is not woorshipped by woordes but by true fayth good woorkes But ther are very fewe which embrace these thinges And hys soule was grieued Contraction ampliation of the mynde Thys Hebrew woorde Tiktsad signifieth to drawe together When we reioyce and are merye the spirites in vs are made more ample but when wee are sorye the spirites are contracted vnto the hart So it is said that God contracted hys soule Affections are improperlye attributed vnto God and was after a sorte sory for the miseries of his people This kinde of speeche is not proper of God but improper For God is not sory neither is he touched with affections Wherefore it is a speeche after the condition of men For often times those thinges are ascribed vnto god whych are noted to be in men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And often tymes thinges which happen vnto men are ascribed vnto God For men are fyrst grieued for the miserye of an other before they haue compassion of them Therfore bicause God doth that which men do that ar grieued that is bicause he helpeth it is said he his grieued which thinges happeneth in men that helpe those that are in misery Such a kinde of speche is ther in the booke of Numbers the .21 R. Moses Maimon chap. The soule of the people was faint bicause of the iourney for that wildernes grieued the people But R. Moses Maimon sayth that this woorde Catsad signifieth not onely a minde but also a wil which being before ready to reuenge did now after a sort withdraw it self Howbeit the first interpretacion seemeth to hang wel together The Ammonites on euery side grieuously oppressed al Israel but bicause Gilead was a notable City and wel fensed they determined therfore first of al to conquer it But the children of Israel pitched in Mispa so far from thence that they could not easelye succour those that were besieged Wherfore the Gileadites in so great a daunger thought they had nede of a captaine for the administration of thinges for the state consisting onely of the people there could be nothing well done vnles some one man were made ruler ouer them Euen after the same maner as the Romanes were wont in great daūgers to create a Dictator Wherfore the Giliadites saw that they needed a Captaine but who that should be they could not easely prouide VVho so euer say they wyl begyn the battayle agaynst the Chyldren of Israel let hym be our heade Peraduenture they had desired a captaine of the Lord and receaued an answer that by this token they should know who should be receaued as their captaine namely he which first shoulde begyn the battaile against the enemies Such signes God somtimes vsed without any voice or outward oracle as whan he promised the seruant of Abraham that she should be Isaacs wife which should geue drinke vnto the Camels It maye also be that the Citizens decreed so among themselues that the chiefe man of the city being stirred vp with the desire of the rewarde might the more couragiouslye and cherefully fight against their enemies In this maner Chaleb when hee besieged Hebron encouraged the mindes of his soldiours Whosoeuer said he cōquereth Hebron I wil geue him Achsa my daughter to wife With which promise Othoniel being moued cōquered the City was made the sonne in law of Chaleb So in these hard times when things wer in great daunger it was necessary to vse such coūsel But what if he which first would haue begon the battaile against the aduersaries had bene a naughty and wicked man What I say shoulde then haue bene done What also if he had bene vnmeete to gouerne the publike wealth although he had had warlike strength This obiection maketh me rather to allow the first sentence that is that the signe was offered of God and therfore they were sure that he would not geue them an euill captaine Although as touching the question we may thus answer All ciuil promises are so farforth to be kept as they may be performed by honest wayes right meanes that is so much as conscience and the woord of God wil suffer ¶ The .xi. Chapter 1 ANd Iiphtah the Galaadite was a mightye man the sonne of an harlot and Gilead begat Iiphtah 2 And Gileads wyfe bare hym sonnes whiche when they wer come to age thrust out Iiphtah and said vnto hym thou shalt not inherite in our fathers house For thou art the sonne of a straunge woman HEre is set foorth vnto vs Iiphtah a man abiect and obscure not as touching his Tribe for he was of the Tribe of Manasses but as touching his mother for he was the sonne of an harlot Wherefore his brethren thrust him out as a bastard The name of his father was Gilead who seemeth to haue bene so called by the name of the mounte and citye And that man had not onely this bastard to sonne but also he had other which wer legitimate children Wherfore though Iiphtah had a noble man to his father yet that nothing profited him bycause he was a bastard and not borne in lawful
Christ in Iohn aunswered of the man borne blynd Neither hath this man sinned nor his parentes that he should be borne blynd but that the glory of God should be made manifest Also Peter and Paul when they were put to death could not complayne that they had not deserued death Although God when they were killed had not a respect vnto this to punishe thē What God regardeth in the martyrdome of his sainctes but that by their bloud might be left a testimony of the Gospell of his sonne Wherefore seing the matter is so and we be al subiect vnto sinnes there is no cause why we should complayne that God dealeth to seuerely with vs if we be afflicted for the sinnes of our parents For God can so directe those troubles The scourges of the children profite sometymes the parentes that they shall pertayne not onely to hys glory but also to the saluation of our parentes For oftētymes he punisheth the parents in the children and the prince in the people For the parentes are no les grieued for the punishement of their childrē then if they themselues wer afflicted If the children dye for the parētes cause they haue no wrong done vnto them for death is also dew vnto then they should otherwise haue dyed Wherfore if God will so vse their death he may doo it iustly The grieues of the children are the grieues of the parents Which thing also we may affirme of other calamityes For if the sonne be vexed with sickenes he deserued the sickenes if he haue lost money thē hath he lost thinges transitory and vnstable and which were geuen hym on that condition that they mought easely be taken away agayn God as touching the regenerate turneth punishmēts into medicines Wherfore if god will with these kindes of calamityes punish the parentes in the children he can not be accused of iniustice Wherfore Augustine in his questions vpon Iosua the 8. question by originall sinne sayth he many punishements are dew vnto vs which yet God conuerteth into certayne medicines and maketh them very much to profite vs although they seme vnto vs euil For if the sonne had lyued peraduēture he would haue followed the euill steppes of his father or els committed woorser things Wher fore if God take him out of this life he can not complayne that he is ill delt with For through the benefites of god his death redoundeth to his profite For he is taken away least by malice his heart should chaūge And vndoubtedly we must suffer easy euils to atteyne vnto great good thyngs For so the Phisitions with a bitter purgation trouble the throte to restore the sicke person to hys former health In lyke maner when we haue deserued punishmentes God yet turneth them to good By this means discipline is kepte in the worlde And by this meanes saith Augustine a certayne discipline is established in the world For vnles it were so men would continually proue worse and worse A certayne coniunction also and society of mankinde is declared whē one after this maner is punished for the sinne of an other For they whiche pertayne vnto one kingdome or City or Churche are after a sorte one body among themselues And in the body one mēber suffereth for an other Wherfore seyng thys is so in the body it is not absurde that the same do chaunce also in the society of men Plutarche Plutarche in his booke de Sera numinis vindicta hath very well taught this The eye saith he is sicke the vayne of the arme is cut so the father hath sinned and the sonne is punished the prince hath behaued himselfe ill and the people is vexed and such compassion or suffring together is there in things humane That author iustly accuseth the rashenes of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whiche as often as these thynges doo chaunce do complayne that God dealeth cruelly For the father sayth he is either good or euill If the sonne of a good father be peraduenture afflicted with euill straightway they crye out that God doth vniustly neither is it meete that the sonne should be so miserably handled which had so good a man to his father But if the father be euill and the sonne come into misery agayne they make exclamation that here also god is vniust For the sonne ought not to haue ben punished when as the father sinned wherfore the common people thinke that the sonne should by no meanes be afflicted But what if the father be euill and yet all thinges go prosperously with the sonne here also they cōplayne as he sayth of the iniustice of god For they deny it is iust that then the sonne should lyue prosperously whiche hath so euill a father These thinges this man thoughe he were an Ethnike writeth very godltly Children are certayn partes of the parentes Moreouer we must consider that children are as certayn partes of the parētes and haue somewhat of the parentes in them Wherfore it is not absurde if God punish the part of the parentes in the children But I will returne to Augustine who saith the god by this meanes setteleth discipline in the world in the publique wealth in the Churche and in the famely Whose saying in any iudgement can not be discōmēded for if the children be punished for the sinnes of their parētes they haue nothing wherof to complayne They owe vndoubtedly this duty vnto their parentes for of them they haue that they are Wherfore if they leaue theyr lyfe for them they haue no wrong done them For they render vnto them that whiche they receaued of them If god shoulde saye vnto them I will vse your punishment to the saluation of your parētes they can by no right refuse it Iohn sayth that euery one ought so to loue his brother to be ready to lay euen his life for him And if we must geue our life for our brother how much more ought we to geue it for our father God vseth sundry instrumentes wherwith he draweth men vnto him Why then should he not vse either the sickenes or death of the children either for the chastenyng or for the saluation of the parentes Augustine in his .8 Augustine The lesser part iustly suffreth punishment for the greater question vpon Iosuah whiche I haue oftentymes alledged sayeth That it is iust that the lesser part suffer punishement for the greater as in that hystory it happened bycause of the sacrilege whiche Achan committed A fewe fel in the battaile and the whole multitude was absolued Hereby we vnderstād how great the anger and vengeance of God would haue bene if the whole multitude had sinned when as the sinne of one manne was so excedingly punished And Plutarche in that booke whiche a little before I brought This thing sayth he also the Capitaynes doo in their hostes If there be any thyng commonly committed of all they put the tenth manne to death that by the punishment of a fewe the rest
true God But especially Iiphtah which was both a bastard and a banished man and also a man of warre which kinde of men do not so much thinke vpō the lawes Wherfore he voweth but not according to the prescript of the lawe It was lawful to vowe mē also vnto God But we must knowe that it was lawfull for the Iewes to vowe menne also vnto GOD and to dedicate them vnto hym Yea and the redemption of manne is seased in the lawe by the variety of kynd and age Hanna the mother of Samuel dedicated him from a childe to the deuine worshyppyng and it is very likely that Helkana her husbande allowed the vowe But that which Interpreters say of the virginity of the daughter of Iiphtah it cannot be gathered by the woordes of the history Yea rather it is not true although some Rabines were of that opinion but yet without example and testimony of the woord of God I know that that Hanna of whom Luke maketh mēcion was dayly in prayers and other women for praiers sake watched continually at the Tabernacle and that the sonnes of Hely accompanied with diuers of them but the scripture testifieth not of any that vowed chastity neither did God in the olde Testament euer speake anye thing of thys kynde of vowe Wherfore this sentence And I wyl offer it for a burnt offring is an interpretacion for it expoundeth and contracteth the first part of the Oration It shal be the Lordes How shal it be the Lordes He declareth howe when hee addeth And I wil offer it for a burnt offring Other make Vau a disiunctiue The vowe of Iiphtah was vnwarly made as I haue before touched But that is not certayne Neither is the vow therfore excused but that it was vnwarely made For there mought easely haue met him a dogge as I before admonished whiche could neither be sacrificed vnto GOD nor dedicated vnto hym He went forth and smote The victory is not here onely described but also amplified namely that there fell many in that battayle and that he ouerthrewe twenty Cityes and subdewed vnder him the Ammonites 34 Then Iiphtah commyng to Mizpa to hys house beholde hys daughter came out to mete him with timbrels and daunces which was his onely child and of hym selfe he had neither other sonne nor other daughter 35 And when he sawe her he rent his garmentes and sayd Alas Alas my daughter thou hast brought me lowe and thou art amōg them that trouble me For I haue opened my mouth vnto the Lord and can not go backe 36 And she aunswered hym My father if thou hast opened thy mouth vnto the Lord do vnto me as thou hast promised seyng that the Lord hath auenged thee of thine enemies the childrē of Ammon 37 And she sayd more ouer vnto her father Do thus much for me suffer me two monethes that I may go downe to the mountaynes and bewayle my virginity I and my friendes 38 And he sayd Go And he sent her away two monethes So she went with her frendes and lamented her virginity vpon the mountaynes 39 But after the ende of two monethes she returned to her father who did to her accordyng to the vowe whiche he had vowed Wherfore she had knowē no man and it was a custome in Israel 40 The daughters of Israell went frō tyme to tyme to lament the daughter of Iiphtah the Gileadite fower dayes in a yeare When he had gotten the victory agaynst his enemyes he returned home to Mizpa for there he dwelled And therfore we heard before how he made the couenant with the Gileadites before the Lord in Mizpa Here let vs note with howe great a moderation godly princes in those tymes made warres they prolonged them no longer then necessity required but as soone as their enemyes wer tamed they strayghtway returned home So also the dictator among the Romaynes his enemyes beyng vanquished and all thinges accomplished accordyng to his minde he straight way forsooke his office of a Magistrate Iiphtah is sayd not to haue had other children of himselfe bycause peraduenture he had by his wyfe children in lawe Yea and he might haue children whiche were adopted Of him selfe he had begotten onely this daughter And this is put in that we might vnderstande howe hearde and bitter it was vnto hym to slaye hys onely daughter Things nobly done of princes wer publiquely songe She went out to mete her father by the waye with timbrelles and daunces to reioyse for hys victory and to singe a songe of victorye for so were the thynges that were nobly done by prynces wonte to be celebrated with daunces and songes The mayden also when Saul returned came and met hym with reioysing And vndoubtedly suche reioysinges were nothyng elles then publique geuyng of thankes In that it is sayd thou hast brought me lowe In Hebrew it is expressed by this verbe Caraa as thoughe it should haue ben sayd thou hast thrust me done or thou hast humbled me of late I was puffed vp with the victory whiche I obteyned agaynst myne enemyes but thou hast thrust me downe yea rather thou hast vtterly destroyed me and brought me to nothyng for as muche as my posterity is vndone myne enemyes did grieuously vexe me and now thou my daughter also art one of them whiche trouble and afflicte me I haue opened my mouth This is a circumscription or description of the vowe He tare hys garmentes after the manner of the Hebrues when they sawe that they were ouerwhelmed with any greuous calamity vnlooked for What the fearyng of garmētes signifieth they tare theyr garmentes signifyeng that they were now subiect vnto the anger of God and not worthy to be couered with garmentes I haue opened my mouth sayth he The lawe of God in the booke of Numbers the .30 chapter intreatynge of Vowes vseth such a forme of speakyng whereby myght be vnderstande What to open the mouth in vowyng signifieth that the vowe was conceaued not onely in mynde and purpose but also outwardly expressed by wordes Wherefore they were called calfes of the lippes whiche a man had promised to God not onely in mynde but also in voyce And I can not go backe sayeth he It is meruelous why he should say so For in the last chapter of Leuiticus are many thynges wrytten of the redeemyng of vowes whiche I wyll thus gather into a fewe If any had vowed a man it was lawfull to redeme hym with a pryce and there was an estimation set And therefore it was called the vowe of estimation For they vowed either themselues or theyr seruauntes or theyr children and it was lawfull for euery manne to vowe them which he had in hys power From twenty yeares vpwarde to sixty they payd for the male fifty sicles for the female .30 From fyue yeares vpwarde to twenty for the male they payd twenty sicles and for the female tenne If a manne had vowed a house vnto GOD and would redeme it the house was estemed
grieuously First he is accused of them bicause he went to the battail and called not them This seemeth to be the coulour of their complaint bicause people confederated together ought not to take in haÌ„d any warre before they haue called theyr fellowes and made them of counsell Iiphtah purgeth himselfe of this false accusation and sayth that they haue a false grounde bicause he called them but they denyed to come But these men when they sawe that by iuste meanes they coulde not defende that whiche they obiected they pleade not againste him at the iudgement seate neither by the order of law but make a tumult and sediciously brag of suche complaintes The saintes ar alwaies wrapped wyth newe troubles And here we see the state of holy men sufficiently expressed how they are alwayes wrapped with new troubles so that they ar almost no sooner passed out of one but an other is at hand But by the goodnes of God euen that woorketh to good in vs for we ar so corrupt and viciate that when thinges go prosperously with vs we are wonderfullye puffed vp so that by our insolency we are made intollerable which thing that it shoulde not happen God vseth agayne to exercise the elect with troubles after that he hath grauÌ„ted them some prosperity Wherfore let none of vs thinke when we haue obtained any good successe that straightway we must fight no more Yea rather wee must prouide that then chiefly we may euen weary God with prayers wherby he may bring to a perfect and absolute ende the good woorke that he hath already begone in vs. We must also marke the wysdome of Iiphtah how first he woulde proue all thinges before he woulde take weapons against his brethren First he maketh hys Apologie wherein he sayth that he did not rashlye moue warre but bycause there was a very grieuous contencion betwene him and the Ammonites and that he was muche oppressed by them and therefore he could not abstayne from weapons Farther he denyeth that he called them not I cryed vnto you sayth he but when ye saued me not I tooke in hande warre my selfe to mine own great daunger Wherefore he addeth that God delyuered the Ammonites into hys handes which myght haue bene a token that God disalowed not his act Which kynde of argument is in this place of force for as much as he attempted no vniust thing otherwyse there can bee no firme reason deriued of it bycause God sometimes fauoureth the enterprises of the vngodly by reason of his counsels which are alwayes iust but sometimes hidden from vs. Ieroboam the sonne of Nabat was by a sedicion created king ouer the ten Tribes and obtayned that which with naughty conscience he desired Nabuchad-Nezar also fought tirannously and ambiciouslye agaynst the Hebrues and obtayned the victorye when yet no man can allowe those doinges as godly bicause of the successe of them The Ephramites were not content with this Apology Wherefore Iiphtah fought against them neither ouercame he his enemies onely but also followed the victorye and that they shoulde not escape he preuented them and possessed the passages of Iordane He found out by a phrase of their speeche who were Ephramites They which would passe ouer might peraduenture be either Rabenites or Gadites or of half the tribe of Manasses Therefore least they should be deceaued Diuers properties or speche 〈◊〉 one and the 〈◊〉 same toung he tryed them by experience of their toung Neither neede we to maruayle at the diuersity of pronunciation among the Hebrues when as euery nacion althoughe they vse one common toung yet haue they some differences in diuers partes therof All the Grecians spake Greke and yet among them the Iones Attici Dores Acoles and such lyke had some difference in their speaking and that a notable difference The Prenestines also which dwelt not farre from Rome as we reade in Plautus for Ciconia sounded Konia In Italy also there are at this day very manye differences of properties of speche But it may be doubted wherof they should come From whence the diuersâ—ty 〈◊〉 the â—roperâ—â—es in spâ—â—che is Some answer that it commeth of custome which is not sufficient inoughe bycause we wil demaund againe why the firste inhabiters of these places beganne so to speake or to talke Therefore there are other which being led by naturall reason doo referre that diuersitye vnto the ayre water and sundrye aspecte of heauen But we ascribe the beginning of this thing to haue bene from the building of the Tower of Babel For in the booke of Genesis it is written that the differences of tounges sprang thereof which as they are perfect very great betwene nacion and nacion so are they found to haue begon in euery nacion They chosed this woorde Schiboleth not rashly but suche a one as made very muche for this present matter For it signifieth both an eare of corne and also a passage of a Ryuer as it is wrytten in the .xxi. chapter of Esay Wherefore when they were at the passages of Iordane they put foorth this word whereby they would proue whither the Ephramites should passe ouer which word should signifye the passage it selfe They might in deede haue tryed the same in many other woordes if they would but they proued it in a woorde whose signification was agreable wyth the place Wherfore Iiphtah made ciuill war but yet not vniust warre Al ciuil war is not vniust For he had the sword wherwith his duty was to punysh not onely the enemies but also the citizens when they offend either against the lawes of man or the lawes of God God had geuen him the victory The Ephramites contemned it God woulde haue the Galaadites pertaining to Manasses to possesse the land the Ephramites endeuoured to driue them out from thence and to destroye them They inuaded their borders they reproched them and called them the runnagates of Ephraim As though they were to be counted as certaine fugitiue bondsclaues if they were compared with the moste noble Tribe of Ephraim Or els they so called them as thoughe at some other tyme they had made warre and they as fugitiues escaped out of the battayle But in the holye Scripture there is no suche battayle founde They also violated humane ryght and the lawes for wyth weapons they inuaded those that were condemned by no ryght and they woulde take awaye the dominion ouer the Galaadites whych was geuen vnto Iiphtah The gift which was geuen vnto Iiphtah could not be reuoked But gyftes can not be reuoked by anye humane ryght vnlesse peraduenture there happen any ingratitude But that Iiphtah was not ingrate the benefites whiche he bestowed on his doo declare Yea and also in the Digestes De donacionibus in the lawe last saue one in the Paragraphe Si quis it is hadde that a gyft geuen vnto a man for that that he hath delyuered the geuer from theeues coulde not be reuoked not for ingratitude if any shoulde happen But
wife came and tolde her husband saying A man of God came vnto me and the looke of hym was lyke the looke of an Aungell of God very terrible and I asked hym not whence he was neither tolde he me his name 7 And he sayde vnto me Beholde thou shalt conceaue and beare a sonne Now therfore thou shalt drinke no wine nor stronge drinke neyther eate any vncleane thyng for the chylde shal be a Nazarite to God from his birth to the day of his death 8 Then Manoah prayed vnto the Lord and sayd I praye thee my Lord let the man of God whom thou senttest come agayne vnto vs and teache vs what we shall do vnto the childe when he is borne 9 And God hearde the voyce of Manoah For the Aungell of the Lorde came agayne vnto the wife as she sat in the fielde but Manoah her husbande was not with her 10 And the wife made hast and ranne and shewed her husbande saying vnto hym Beholde the man hath appeared vnto me that came vnto me to daye 11 And Manoah arose and went after hys wyfe and came to the man and sayd vnto him Art thou the manne that spakest vnto the woman And he sayd Yea. 12 Then Manoah sayd Nowe let thy saying come to passe But what shal be the iudgement of the childe and his worke 13 The aungell of the Lord aunswered vnto Manoah The womaÌ„ must beware of all that I sayd vnto her 14 She may eate of nothyng that commeth of the wine vine tree that is she shall drinke no wine nor stronge drinke nor eate any vncleane thing let her obserue all that I haue commaunded her The woman thought that it had bene some godly man whom she had sene or a Prophete for she knew not that it was the aungell of God His looke saith she was terrible The Hebrewe worde is ambiguous for it may be turned both terrible and wonderfull And vndoubtedly the thinges whiche are wonderful especially deuine things doo strike into men a feare She faythfully sheweth vnto her husband these thinges and doth the dewty of a good wife What matrimony is For Matrimony is an vnseperable society hauyng the communion both of thynges deuine humane And this matter pertayned partly to thinges deuine bycause it was shewed in the name of God and partly vnto humane thynges bycause it was a matter as touchyng the receauyng and education of a child She sayth she asked him not whence he was bycause in such visions men are so amased that they are attentiue onely vnto the thynges which are spoken neither haue they any leasure to enquire of more thinges So the mother of the Lord when the Aungell saluted her asked hym not what his name was or from whence he came Gideon also when he receaued the oracle of the Aungell for the delyuering of the people was altogether so astonished that he was nothyng inquisitiue what his name was But the woman speaketh these thynges by anticipation for she thought that her husbande woulde heare and inquire of hym the truth Althoughe Iosephus in hys booke de Antiquitatibus as I haue before admonished sayeth that when he hearde the wordes of his wife he somewhat suspected her of euill Ambrose Howit Ambrose in hys .70 Epistle where he very diligently entreateth of this Hystory denieth that to be very lykely For if sayeth he he had ben gelious God would not haue sent an aungell vnto hym But me thinketh Ambroses reason is not firme For Manoah might otherwise be a good man although he were touched with suspition Very good men also haue oftentymes some suspition of such things For euen Ioseph the husband of Mary whoÌ„ the holy Scripture testifieth that he was a iust man somewhat sinisterly suspected hys Spouse to whom yet the Aungell appeared Wherefore I rather beleue that Manoah was eyther altogether without gelousy or elles not very muche gelous For he accused her not abroade her repudiated her not neither vsed he the publique remedy of the lawe For then was in force that lawe whiche was geuen by GOD that if a manne suspected his wife of aduoutry he should bryng her to the doore of the tabernacle where the Priest should searche out the honesty of the woman by solemne waters and by a bitter curse The cause of the lawe of gelousy For God would that maryed folkes should lyue together with a mery quiet and not suspitious mynde But Manoah dyd not onely not vse these remedyes but also he by no meanes rebuked his wyfe But strayghtwaye prayed vnto the Lorde that that man of God would returne the seconde tyme wherby he myght vnderstand how the child should be brought vp Neither dyd he tempt god by hys prayers In deede no man ought to desire a signe that he may beleue the articles of fayth For those thynges whiche are contayned in them are already before sufficiently proued and confirmed by the worde of God and by miracles But if there happen any newe and singular reuelation bycause there may bee deceates and guiles of deuilles who transforme themselues yea euen into the aungelles of lyght if we require a signe of the Lorde or instruction we sinne not That a baren woman shoulde beare or that a childe shoulde set the people at liberty it was a certayne singular thyng Wherefore Manoah prayeth for nothyng curiously and therefore GOD hearde hym He afterwarde demaunded the name of the aungel but bycause he demaunded it curiously he was not hearde The aungell came agayne vnto the woman the selfe same daye as all interpreters doo agree And vndoubtedly it might be that first he came in the mornyng and the second tyme either at noone or about the sunne set Manoah asked VVhether he were the manne whiche spake with hys wife whiche thing wheÌ„ he affirmed vnto hym he sayde Let thy sayinge come to passe It maye be an oration of one that wisheth as if he shoulde haue sayde I woulde to GOD it myght come to passe Or it may by supposition as if it shoulde haue bene sayd If it come to passe as thou haste sayde VVhat then shal be the iudgement of the child When he saith iudgement he asketh not Counsel of Astronomers which aunswere by the starres what shall come to passe of a childe He onely demaundeth what GOD had decreed of the childe Neither ought the decree of GOD wherof he inquireth to be referred vnto the merites of the child but onely vnto the mercye of GOD. For Mischpat is very well turned a decree for a decree is of mercye and not of merite The Aungell repeateth vnto hym all those thynges whiche he had before commaunded the woman to take heede of She maye not eate sayeth he of any thynge that commeth of the wyne grape Certaine wine â—rees beare not wine These woordes declare that there are also other kyndes of vynes out of whiche is not gathered wyne But when the Aungell sayeth Neyther shall she drynke wine nor stronge drinke hys aunswere
Tertulliane de anima Brothel houses sayth he are execrable before God But if they shoulde be suffred saye they there is some hope of theyr conuersion For Christ sayth Harlots and publicanes shal go before you in the kingedome of god How harlots do go before the Scribes and Phareseis in the kingdome of heauen But let them tel me whither they can by no other meanes be reuoked into the right way then to be borne withal It is true indede that Christ sayd Harlots and publicanes shall go before you in the kingdome of God But he vnderstandeth not Harlots as long as they be harlots and ar not conuerted For what cause then is it said that they shal go before the Phareseis Scribes in the kingdom of God bicause they being conuerted do acknowledge and bewaile theyr sinnes but the Phariseis Scribes regarded not their wicked actes but would seme to be moste holy If harlots should be suffred bicause they may be conuerted then shal ther be no sinne so greuous which ought to be punished for there is none so farre past grace but there is some hope that he may be reuoked into the right way and so al lawes shall sleepe They adde moreouer God hath prohibited harlots In the tyme of Salomon there wer harlots in Israel as it is had in Deut. which yet were afterward suffred For Salamon gaue iudgement betwene twoo harlots First I answer that it is not certaine that they were harlots for as muche as this woord Zouah signifieth also her that keepeth a vitling house and one also which getteth her liuing by sundry kinde of gaine Farther though they wer harlots yet is it a friuolous and most weake argument For wee must not reason from that which is done to that which ought to be done God in deede prohibited harlots but afterward discipline quailed and many things were cōmitted against the law But we ought to haue a regard not to that which is done but to that which God hath cōmaunded to he done otherwise if we will liue according to examples there are euil examples inough euery where For Popes and Cardinals doo not onely suffer harlots but also keepe them themselues as thinges most dainty Neither are they afearde of the Canons which decree that Priestes for whooredomes should be deposed in the distinction 82. chap. Presbyter when as yet the glose saith there Now a daies no man is deposed for whoredome The same is had in the second question .7 chap. Lator The Apostle excludeth whooremongers from the kingdome of God But these exclude them not from the Church neither thinke they that they ought to be deposed But that is no maruaile Aduoutries accounted of the Papistes very light crimes for as muche as they say that the Bishop may dispense with aduoutries and other light crimes as it is had Extra de Iudiciis in the law At Clerici they are the woordes of Alexander .3 wherby it appeareth that these men count aduoutries for crimes very light Why ought we then to depende on their examples Philo a Iew saith that in the publike welth of the Iewes Philo. harlots could not be suffred For al when they came to ripe age ought of necessity eyther to be husbandes or wiues Widowes in deede ther wer some but yet wel growen in yeares and of an approued incontinency This example should we followe namely of such an holy publik welth not the example of the papisticall court When I was on a time at Rome I remembred a wittye saying of Crates An Apothegma of Crates He when he came to Delphos and sawe in the temple of Apollo a golden ymage of Phrynis a very notable harlot cryed out Beholde a token of the wantonnes of the Grecians So I considering there suche sumptuous harlots and so gorgiously appareled said Behold a token of the wantonnes of the bishop of Romes Prelates But let vs leaue them and go on with the woordes of God and the reasons brought from thence Basilius in his first booke vpon the Psalmes expounding these wordes Basilius And hath not syt in the chaire of pestilence writeth very wel Whooredome saythe he stayeth not in one man but inuadeth a whole City For some one yong man cōmeth vnto an harlot and taketh vnto himself a fellow and the same felow also taketh an other fellow Wherefore euen as fire being kindled in a City A similitude if the winde blow vehemently stayeth not in the burnyng of one house or twoo but spreddeth far and wyde and draweth a great destruction with it So this euyl being once kindled spreddeth ouer al the partes of the City Ambrose Ambrose also wisely writeth vpon the .119 Psalme alledging the wordes of the .vi. chap. of the Prouerbs who can noorishe burning coales in his bosome and not bee burnt who saith he can thinke that harlots can be noorished in a City and yong men not be corrupted with whooredome The sentence of Augustine inuerted And so may we aptly turne that sentence of saint Augustine cleane contrarelye If thou take awaye harlots thou shalte fyll all thinges with filthy lustes Not so but rather contrarily Noorishe harlots and thou shalt fyl al thinges with filthy lustes They obiect againe that the good which commeth of euil is a recompensacion and they wil haue brothel houses to be suffered least violence shoulde be offered vnto honest Matrons I haue answered before that euil thinges are not to be done that good thinges should ensue Yea but saye they God himselfe hath ordained that the good which cōmeth of euil is a recompensacion For bicause of the hardnes of hart of the Hebrues that they should not folow greater euils he graunted them the booke of diuorcement But these men ought to remēber that we must not cal God vnto iudgemēt neither is it lawful to require of hym a reason of his lawes It is not lawful alwaies to reason by the example of God Wherfore it is no firme conclusion God did so therefore it is lawful for vs to doo the like We must not looke what God hath done but what he hath commaunded vs to doo But as concerning diuorcement we shal haue occasion in an other place to speake therof God saw that hatred oftē tymes happeneth betwene man and wife and daunger of committing murther which thing rather then it should happen he graunted the booke of diuorcement But it is a false argument God gaue the booke of diuorcement therefore it is lawful for vs to keepe brothelhouses To the reasons of the aduersaries To the fyrst Now resteth to confute the reasons of the aduersaries First they said whoredome is in the actes of the Apostles nūbred among those thinges which of their own nature are not euil as blood thinges strangled and thinges dedicated vnto Idoles For there is no creature of God euil which is receaued with thankes geuing Wherfore fornication is no syn seing it is reckoned with those things But
asking counsell of the Lord pertayneth vnto vs. Why the Leuite aunswered in the name of Iehouah And in this Hystorye let vs consider as I haue before sayde that the Leuite aunswereth in the name of Iehouah that is of the Lord bycause he would signifie that he knewe well ynough that the Idole was nothyng I sayeth he aunswere in the name of the Lorde This sentence which R. Selemoh followeth seemeth plausible But to me it seemeth not so For I thinke that the younge man dyd it to get authoritye to his Religion For whiche cause he is the more grieuously to be accused for that he contaminated the name of GOD in applyeng it vnto an Idole He aunswereth your waye is in the sight of the Lorde that is God himselfe will go out before you and direct your iorney all thinges shall go well and prosperous with you when as God is with you and directeth you And so did it succede in very deede For they luckely spyed out all thynges the euent came to pas as they desired Wherfore it may well here be demaunded why God so prospered these euill workes Before I aunswere to thys question Our workes do not therfore please God bycause they haue good successe this I thinke good to put in by the waye that we ought not to take it for a sure token that our doynges do please GOD bycause sometymes they haue a prosperous successe otherwyse if we should measure thynges by the euent and successe we should allowe the wicked and most euil doers for as much as fortunate and prosperous thinges doo happen vnto them We should also prayse deuiners sorcerers southsayers and coniurers bicause they haue sometimes foretolde thinges that are true It is sometymes permitted vnto the deuill to deuine by them Let suche foretellynges be referred vnto the .13 chapter of Deuteronomye where it is thus written If a Prophet ryse vp among you or a dreamer of dreames and shall geue thee a signe or wonder and that whiche he hath foretolde thee come to passe Thou shalt not harkē vnto his voyce If he entise thee to Idolatry let hym be killed sayth he neither let hym be spared The Lord proueth his by the miracles of the vngodly Afterward is added a reason why God dealeth after this maner which thyng was at the begynnyng demaunded bycause sayth he the Lord proueth you whether ye loue him or not And therwith agreeth Paul in his .2 Epistle to the Thes the .2 chap. wher he entreateth of Antechrist His comming saith he shal be by the working of Sathan with power signes liyeng wonders withall deceatefulnes in those whiche perish bycause they receaued not the loue of the truth to that end they might be saued And therfore God shall send thē the efficacy of illusion that they should beleue lyes that all they should be iudged whiche haue not beleued the truth Wherfore althoughe we do see signes yet must we not straightwaye geue fayth vnto those by whom they are wrought but must diligently examine whether they attempt to teache any thyng contrary to the worde of God In the Papistical Masses marchādise of reliques were oftentymes wrought great miracles yet ought we not to beleue such superstitiōs to fall frō Christ the true worshipping of god How miracles profite for saluation God suffreth this kind of miracles to be wrought that ingrate men those which haue forgotten their God should be deceaued be taken as it were by these nettes that the godly should become the more vigilāt better Neither ar these things spokē to despise al miracles For they which are done in a true cause for sound doctrine are certaine praises of god trumpets of the truth But cōtrarily they which vnder the pretēce of miracles do with drawe men from the worshipping of GOD we ought to counte them cursed thoughe they worke neuer so great miracles 7 Then the fyue men went and came to Lais and sawe the people whiche were in it dwelling carelesly after the manner of the Sydonians quiet and sure And for that there was no mā in the land whiche made them ashamed in any thyng nor whiche by the inheritance receaued the kingdome and for that they were farre from the Sidonians neither had they any busines with other men 8 So they came agayne vnto theyr brethren in Zora and Esthoall and their brethren sayd What haue ye done 9 And they sayd Arise that we may go vp vnto them For we haue sene the lande and beholde it is very good and do ye sit stil Be not slouthfull to go to enter and possesse the land 10 When ye shall enter ye shal enter into a careles people farther the coūtrey is large in roome for god hath geuen it into your hāds a place whiche wanteth nothing that groweth in the earth 11 Thē there departed thēce of the family of the Danites frō Zorah frō Eshtaol sixe hundreth mē appoynted with instrumētes of warre 12 And they went vp pitched in Kiriah iearim in Iudah Wherfore they called that place Mahaneh dan vnto this day and it is behind Kiriah-iearim 13 And they went thence vnto mount Ephraim and came to the house of Michah 14 Then answered the fiue men that went to spye out the countrey of Laish and sayd vnto their brethren Knowe ye not that there are in these houses an Ephod and Theraphim and a grauen and molten Image Now therfore consider what ye haue to do 15 And they turned thetherward and came to the house of the yong man the Leuite whiche was in the house of Michah and saluted hym peaceably 16 And the sixe hundreth men appoynted with their weapons of warre whiche were of the children of Dan stoode by the enteryng of the gate 17 Then the fiue men that went to spye out the lande went in thether and tooke the grauen Image and the Ephod and the Theraphim and the molten Image and the Priest stoode in the entrynge of the gate with the sixe hundreth men that were appoynted with weapons of warre 18 And the other went into Michahs house and fet the grauen Image the Ephod and the Theraphim the molten Image Then sayd the Priest vnto them What do ye 19 And they aunswered him holde thy peace laye thyne hande vpon thy mouth and come with vs to be our father and Priest Whether is it better thou shouldest be a Priest vnto the house of one mā or that thou shouldest be a Priest vnto a tribe to a familye in Israel 20 And the Priestes hearte was glad and he tooke the Ephod and the Theraphim and the grauen Image and went in the middest of the people 21 And they turned and departed and put the children and the cattell and the substaunce before them The City of Lais is in the booke of Iosuah called Lesem And they saw the people dwelling in security This worde people is in this place ioyned with an adiectiue
thing in dede the Magistrate doth not by himselfe but hee ought to haue a regarde that they may be in a redynes which should do them wel Wherefore either power extendeth most amply and comprehendeth al thinges but not after one and the selfe same maner And the rule of either of them is to bee taken out of the woord of God which is plaine to be in the Church Againe there are two subiections One is political and ciuil Two kinds of subiection whereunto all men are subiect who if they offend in any thing against the lawes let them at the iust Magistrates hand looke for imprysonment punishment by the pursse banishment death and outward paines But if they doo wel let them looke for honours rewardes dignities and prayse And after this maner the ciuil power is not subiect vnto the ministery of the woorde bicause by it it can not by these kindes of punishmentes be afflicted and constrained The other subiection is spiritual that is of faith and of obedience For strayghtway as sone as men heare of their duty out of the woord of God and that either this thing or that is to bee done or this or that thing to be auoyded they geue place beleue and obey Bycause they perceaue that that which is spoken is the woorde of God And these are the endes of eyther power A sentence of Valentiniā the Emperour And so is to be vnderstand that saying of Valentinian the Emperour out of the booke called Historia Tripartita which thing is had also in the distinction .63 chap. Valentinianus Chuse saith he suche a bishop vnto whom we which gouerne the Empire may sincerely submyt our heades and vse his admonicions as medicines c. By which wordes is vnderstand that it longeth vnto the Ecclesiastical power An error of the same Valentinian to admonish out of the woorde of God for saluacion Although the same Emperour afterward erred For when he had appointed Ambrose Pretor of the City of Millane the people did chuse him byshop Which thing when the Emperor knew A bishop ought not to haue a care onely ouer soules or onely ouer bodyes he gaue thankes vnto God therfore after this maner I had made hym ruler ouer the bodyes of men but thou wouldest haue him ruler ouer the soules c. Valentinian did not rightlye put a distinction betwene offices For why Ought bishops to haue a care onely ouer soules and not also ouer bodies What if they geue them selues to glotonye or dronkennes or liue licenciouslye touching outwarde thinges shall they not reproue these thinges Vndoubtedly they must reproue them Neither must princes haue a care onely ouer the bodies of men and neglect their soules For wee do not imagine that a prince is a neateherd or a swineherd to whom is committed onely the care of the belly flesh and skinne of his subiectes yea he must prouide that they may liue vertuously and godlily But what if Christian Princes when they are by the woorde of God admonished of publike and most grieuous synnes wil not heare neither amende that which they haue noughtely committed What I say shal the bishop do herein Ambrose excommunicated Theodosius the Emperor when he exercised so grieuous tiranny against the Thessalonians Innocentius also excommunicated Arcadius when he had exiled Iohn Chrisostome who admonished him freely and trulye as it is had in the dist 96. chap. Duo sunt in the dist 18. in the chap. Quoniam quidam And they are the wordes of the syxt Synode where it is decreed that ther should euery yeare be had two Sinodes And if princes would hinder them let them be excommunicated Eusebius But what do I make mencion of these latter thinges Let vs reade Eusebius in his .vi. booke and .xxxiiii. chap. where he saith that Philip the Emperor who liued in the tyme of Origene was the first Christian prince and when he would haue bene present together with the faithful on Easter euen and haue communicated with them in prayers the bishop bicause he was a wicked and noughty liuer reiected him among them that wer put to penance that he should make open confession before the Churche and acknowledge his synne otherwyse hee could by no meanes be admitted vnto the Communion This did the byshop at that tyme against the Emperour chiefe Monarche of the whole world Wherfore the ciuil power ought to be subiect vnto the woorde of God which is preached by the Ministers But againe the Ecclesiasticall power is subiect vnto the ciuil when the Ministers behaue themselues yll either in thinges humane or Ecclesiastical For these powers are after a sorte conuertible and sundry wayes are occupied about the selfe same thinges and mutually helpe one an other euē as Aristotle Theodectes calleth Rhethorike and Logike interchangeable artes Aristotle bicause either of them are occupied in the selfe same thinges after a sundry maner The Ecclesiastical power is subiect vnto the Magistrate not by a spiritual subiection but by a politike For as touching the Sacramentes and sermons it is not subiect vnto it bicause the Magistrate cannot bende the woord of God or the Sacramentes which the ministery vseth neither can he compel the pastors and Teachers of the Church to teach otherwise or in any other sorte to administer the Sacramentes then is prescribed by the woorde of God Howbeit ministers in that they are men and Citizens are without all doubte subiect vnto the Magistrate and also their lands riches and possessions So Christ payd tribute so also did the Apostles and the whole primatiue Churche when there were yet most holye men Their manners also are subiect vnto the censures and iudgementes of the Magistrates Farthermore we must adde that Ministers are subiect vnto the Magistrate not onely as touching those thinges which I haue rehearsed but also as I before signified cōcerning their function Bicause if they teache not right neither administer the Sacramentes orderly it is the office of the Magistrate to compel them to an order and to see that they teache not vnpurelye and that they myngle not fables Princes may put Ministers oute of their place if their be haue thē selues yll or that they abuse not the Sacramentes or delyuer them otherwise then the Lorde hath commaunded Also if they liue noughtelye and wickedly let them put them out of the holy ministerye This did Salomon who deiected Abiathar and substituted Sadok in his roume as it is written in the fyrst boke of Kinges the second chap. And in the new Testament Iustinian displaced Siluerius Vigilius which thing I doubt not but other princes did sometimes But how iustly I wil not presently declare this one thing I wil say that that thing was lawful for them in the causes now alledged But some man wil say that I speake now of the fact and not of the right Yea but I speake also of the right For the king ought to haue with him the law of God
written bicause he is ordained a keeper not onely of the first table but also of the latter It longeth not to the Minister of the Churche to put downe Princes Wherfore he which offendeth in any of them both falleth into his power But althoughe a king may remoue an vnprofitable and hurtful bishop yet can not a bishop on the other syde put downe a king if he offend Iohn in dede reproued Herode but he displaced him not of his kingdome Ambrose and Innocent excommunicated Emperours but they went no farther Yea and Christ called Herode a woolfe but he tooke not away from hym his kingdom and he payed tribute vnto Tiberius a most wicked Tiranne neither was he at any time author to any man to shake of his yoke Wherefore let Popes take heede by what right as they lust them selues they put Kinges and Emperors out of their place This thing did neither anye of the Prophetes nor the Apostles nor Christ The Popes boast that they haue great power but if it be any that they haue it consisteth wholy in the woord of God Let them teache preach and admonish if they wil exercise their power otherwise the ciuil and temporal power whom they so much crake of is farre from the ecclesiastical Ministers In summe euen as there is found no king nor Emperour so great which is not subiect vnto the power of the woord of God which is preached by the Ministers so on the other syde is there no bishop which when he hath offended ought not to be reproued by the ciuil Magistrate What difference so euer there bee the same as I haue sayde is wholye as touching the manner of reprouing The Ministers of the Churche doo that by the woorde and Princes by outward punishmentes But our false ecclesiastical men wil be princes and raigne But Christ woulde be no king And when he was sought for to that ende to be made a king he vtterly refused it yea he openlye professed that his kingdome was not of this worlde He said also vnto the Apostles Princes of the nacions do beare rule ouer them but ye shal not do so Peter also whose successors they affirme them selues to be admonisheth Ministers not to exercise dominion ouer the Clergy But these men wyll haue prysons soldiours and swoordes and styrre vp warres as they lust them selues Perduenture they wil obiect vnto vs the Assamonites Of the Assamonites or Machabites out of the olde Testament whom it is certayne that they were both Kynges and Priestes and confounded both the powers That historye in deede is wrytten in the bookes of the Machabites but we must see whyther they dyd it rightly or wyckedly and ambiciously Vndoubtedly I thinke they did it not orderly for God by his word had many tymes adiudged the kyngdome vnto the Tribe of Iudah euen to the tyme of Messias And contrarily he commaunded the Leuites that they shoulde possesse no landes and muche lesse to occupye a kyngdome among theyr brethren But if a man had rather saye that they did thys thyng by a certayne secrete reuelacion and hydden iudgement of GOD hee shall not amende theyr cause For that whithe is so done ought not to bee drawen into an example But I thynke rather that they offended in so doyng They dyd well vndoubtedlye when they delyuered theyr Countrey from tyrranny but that thing being finished they ought not to haue taken vpon them the kyngdome Neyther dyd GOD obscurely declare that that theyr act displeased hym For as wee gather out of Iosephus that house afterward neuer wanted Tragedies How the Apostles somtimes vsed outwarde punishmentes They farther obiecte vnto vs that Peter slewe Ananias and Saphira and that Paule strake Elimas the Sorcerer wyth blindnes That is true in deede but they dyd these thinges by the woorde of God not by violence not by the swoord neither by the labour of a hangman Let these men doo the same thynges by the woord and wee wyll regarde them Why doo they not harken vnto Paule to Timothe Let no man going on warfare for God wrap hymselfe in cares of this lyfe If they wil go on warfare for God why doo they in such sorte hynder themselues with worldly busines Haue they so much leasure from their own affaires that they can haue a care ouer other mens thinges Let them answer plainly would they at this day abide that any king should attempt to teache the Gospel or administer the Sacramentes They would not suffer it Neyther did God hymselfe also suffer it The offices of both the powers must not be confounded but he strake Ozeas with Leprosy when he would haue burnt insence vnto God Why therfore doo they inuade other mens borders These functions ought to be seperated bicause either of them requireth a whole man a part by hym selfe yea rather scarce hath beene founde anye one man at anye tyme which coulde ryghtlye execute eyther of them so hard a thyng is the execution of them both Howbeit both of them doo helpe one an other for the politike Prince geueth iudgement and the Ecclesiasticall doth not in deede geue iudgement but he teacheth how iudgement ought to bee geuen Haue no respect sayth he of persons in iudgement afflict not the poore and straunger receaue no bribes c. So on the other syde the political Magistrate preacheth not neither administreth the Sacramentes But vnlesse these thinges bee ryghtlye ordered he ought to punish the Ministers Wherin either power differeth and agreeth And to be briefe there are two thinges to be considered of vs in thys collacion In the Ciuyll Magistrate is to be considered both the power and also the man which beareth and exerciseth the power He in respect that he is a Christian man is vndoubtedly subiect vnto the woorde of God and in respect that hee beareth power and gouerneth he ought also to be subiect vnto the same woord of God For out of it ought he to seeke rules to gouerne and to administer In the Minister of the Churche also is to be considered both the ministerye it selfe and also the person which executeth it As touching the person the minister is subiect vnto the Ciuill power for he is both a Citizen and payeth tribute as other men doo and is vnder the correction of manners But as concernyng the ministerye he is also somewaye subiect vnto the Magistrate For if he eyther teache or administer the Sacramentes agaynst the woorde of God he must bee reprehended by the Ciuil Magistrate And yet must hee not seeke for rules and reasons of hys function at the same Magistrates hand but out of the woorde of God By thys distinction we may easelye vnderstande the differences and agrement of eyther power To the argumentes of Boniface Now resteth to come to that Thraso Bonifacius to confute hys argumentes Fyrst he gathered out of that whych the Apostles answered Beholde here are two swoordes and Christ added It is sufficient that the Churche hath
then be But both we our selues and al ours doinges I say sayinges thoughtes and counsels are due vnto god Wherfore our merites do vtterly perish Moreouer those workes whereby wee should merite ought to be of our selues which cannot be affirmed for as muche as it is god which worketh in vs both to wil to perform that not as we wil but according to his good wil. Augustine Wherfore Augustine was accustomed very wel to say that God which crowneth his giftes in vs. And in his .100 Epistle ad Sixtū Presbiterum Paul saith he when he had sayd The rewarde of synne is death dyd not straightway adde contrarily The rewarde of righteousnes is euerlasting lyfe But Grace sayth he is eternal life for that is not rendred to our merites but is geuen freely He might in deede haue wrytten after the same manner if he woulde For the holye Scripture sometimes so speaketh But for that he was a defender of grace hee woulde not geue occasion vnto his enemyes to impugne it Farther our woorkes how holye so euer they appeare are neuerthelesse vnpure and imperfect Wherefore they are woorthye rather of punishment then that they should deserue any good And wythout doubt they should be punished were not the redempcion and iustification whyche wee haue by Christ our Lorde There ought also to be some anallogy or proporcion betwene merites and rewardes whereof there is none betwene our workes and eternall lyfe For as Paul saith The sufferinges of this time are not woorthy of the glory to come which shal be reuealed in vs. This is to be added that in the holye scriptures is no where found the name of merite Some in deede are wont to bring the .xvi. chap. of Ecclesiasticus and there they say it is written All mercy shal make place vnto euery one according to the merites of his workes But they which obiect this thing let him looke vpon the Greeke text wherin it is thus written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is in latine Deus omni misericordiae faciet locum quisque iuxta opera sua inueniet Which in englyshe signifieth God wil make place vnto al mercy and euery man shall finde according vnto hys woorkes But in these woordes there is no mencion made of merite onely this is wrytten that whose woorkes are good they shall be in good case but yet their woorkes are not sayde to bee merites or causes of rewarde I wyll not speake howe that booke is not in the Canon bycause Paule and the Gospels vse the same forme of speaking But of that whyche is wrytten vnto the Hebrewes by suche Sacrifices God is well pleased I haue before spoken nowe wyth one woorde onely will I briefly touche the thing This woorde of deseruing is not founde in the Greeke In Greeke is read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by whyche woorde is onely signified that the good woorkes of the faythfull are gratefull and acceptable vnto God Of the woorde reward But as touching this woorde rewarde which some bicause they do not well vnderstand it do take for merite we must deuide it two maner of wayes For that is sometymes called a rewarde whiche is geuen freelye but yet is promysed by adding of some worke wherby men should be styrred vp to doo well So eternal life may be called a reward not that we deserue the same by our woorkes but bicause by a certain order appointed of God it followeth our good workes But somtimes a reward is that which is due vnto good dedes Whither eternal lyfe may be called a reward is rendred vnto them of duty After this maner eternal life cannot be called the reward of our workes Wherfore Paul to the Romanes saith Abraham beleued God it was imputed vnto him for righteousnes But vnto him which woorketh reward is not imputed according to grace but according to debt Wherefore eternal lyfe for as muche as it is not of ryght dewe cannot be a reward if the woorde be taken in that signification But when they thus reason there is a reward geuen ergo there is a merite The argument is not firme A genere ad species bicause in affirming we may not discend from the general woorde to the species Neyther doth he rightly conclude whych sayth It is a liuing creature ergo it is a man This generall word reward hath two species therfore this argument is not firme if we saye It is a reward Ergo it is plaine that it must be geuen of dewty This saying also of Ieremy is to be added Cursed be euery one that putteth his hope in man and calleth flesh his strength But all our thinges whatsoeuer they be are not without flesh Wherfore it is not lawful for vs to put confidence in them Ierome And Ierome writing vpon that place hath very well brought in manye thinges whereby may be vnderstanded that in our workes there is no regard of merite Yea and the Papists also themselues which ar the patrones of merites are sometimes compelled to confesse that our merites are nothing at all For on the 2. Sonday in the Aduēt thus they pray Be pacefied O god with the prayers of our humility and wher helpe of merites do want succor vs with the aydes of of thy mercy The fathers whē in theyr writings they oftentimes inculcate this word of meriting do by it signify nothinge els then to get to obteine and to atteine to And as manye of them as haue written purelye the same haue detested the consideration of merites whereof the papistes so much bost Wherfore the Israelites were not heard thoroughe the merite of their teares or prayers but bycause by fayth in Christ to come they obteyned forgeuenes of sins and so by his merite onely they returned into fauor againe with god They offred sacrifice What profite the sacrifices of the law had Although I haue before largely spoken of the sacrifices in the olde time yet I thinke it good here also briefly to touch what profite was of them in the old law When men are vexed with calamityes they beginne to think vpon theyr sin they loke vpon the law wher whē they behold the wrath of god kindled for sinne they are in hart deiected in which perturbatiō there remaineth no remedy but to get them vnto Christ which is the summe and end of all sacrifices Him did the fathers which wer godly embrase by faith but in the sacrifices as often as the sacrifice was slaine so often the death of Christe was after a sorte set before the eyes of those that stoode by by whose death the synnes of the world should be taken away The sacramēts of the olders ours at al one but differ in outward Simboles signes Wherfore they had after this manner a communion amonge themselues in Christ which by sundry notes and signes dayly signified to the people in the old time wherhēce they by fayth receaued vnto their saluacion both his death and the fruite
of the Church Whether fastes denounced ought to be obeyed whether men are bound to obey them or no Vndoubtedly they are bound by the law of fayth by obediēce For when fastes are set forth that are agreable vnto the word of God how can he which beleueth in god detract thē Assuredly he cā not Howbeit this is to be vnderstād of those which are of the state conditiō that they be able to fast For if a mā be hindred either by age or disease or labours in the case this ought to be of force which the scriptures say I wil haue mercy not sacrifice But they which are not hindred ought to obey Consilium Gāgrense In the counsell of Gāgrensis chap. 30. it is ordeyned that if a mā obey not the fastes which ar cōmāded him of the Church howsoeuer he boast of perfectiō without bodely necessity proudly contemneth the decrees of the Church let him be accursed The Canones of the Apostles In the Canones of the Apostles although they be Apocripha conteyne certayne strāge things neither is it sufficiently agreed vpō the nōber of them in the Canon I say .68 it is cōmanded that the Clergy which fast not hauing no bodely necessity shuld be deposed Let infātes in no case be cōpelled driuē to fast for that should hurt their health Yet Ioel sayth Sanctify a fast gather together old men sucking children And the Niniuites at the preaching of Ionas cōpelled beasts infātes to fast These wer extraordinary thinges neither are they for that end set forth that we should imitate them Augustine As for priuate fastes most men will haue them to be free Wherfore Augustine ad Cassulanum We know sayth he that we must fast when we are commaunded but on what dayes we should fast and what dayes we should not we know not bycause that is no where prescribed in the newe Testament therfore fastes are to be left free And in his 2. booke de Sermone domini in monte expoundyng these woordes Howe fastes maye be called free or not fre Iudge not and ye shall not be iudged he writeth that men may two maner of wayes iudge rashly Either if they drawe that into the euill parte whiche mought haue bene done ryghtly or if when it is manifest that a facte is playnely euill they thinke that he which hath done it can not repent And of the first kynd he bringeth an exāple as if a mā bycause he is sicke in the stomake or is troubled with any other infirmity of the body would not fast An other whiche knoweth not this will suspect him to be a gloton to much delicate For here that which is free which may well be done is drawen into the worse part This in deede is Augustines opinion which yet we ought prudently soundly to vnderstand For if a priuate man when he is in misery or daunger doth see that fasting prayers may helpe him he except he fast doth vndoubtedly sinne But for as much as fasting after this sort maner now declared may profit we must vndoubtedly fast It is free in deede bycause by the outward law he can not be condēned which fasteth not But when our fast may aduance the glory of god it is no more fre for asmuch as we ar cōmanded to loue God withall our hart with all our soule wtal our strength For there are many things which of their own nature are free indifferent But when it commeth to choise we see they may eyther illustrate or obscure the glory of God then are they not free nor indifferent bycause all our strengthes and facultyes are to be applyed vnto the glory of God In true fastīg we must faste the whole day Farther there is an abuse of fastes as touching the space of tyme for as much as the Papistes if they some litle while defer their dinner and then whatsoeuer they eate so that they eate no fleshe they thinke it sufficient But the elders remayned fasting al the whole day euen to euening al which time they were occupied in the worde of God in prayers and holy occupations In Leuit. the .23 God sayth The Iewes fasted from euenyng to euenyng when ye fast rest from all worke and afflicte your soules for it is a Sabaoth And no man doubteth but that the Sabaoth endureth from euening to euening So Saul when he had put the Philistines to flight proclaymed a fast vntill night And Dauid in the death of Abner sware that he would taste of no meate till night Tertulian Augustine Tertullian cōtra Psychicos sayth that the Churche produced their fastes euen to euenyng Augustine de moribus Ecclesiae contra Manicheos Let accustoned fastes saith he of the Church be continued euen vntil night for al the whole day were celebrated holy assemblyes were also had publique prayers but at euenyng they were dismissed In the Lent did eate meate But it is a sporte to see how the Papistes illude this aūcient custome they say their euen songes before noone then they go to dyner at night they institute a drinking so boast that they fast very wel Thomas Aquinas Consilium Calcedonense Whiche was the ix houre Thomas in secunda secundae sayth that in his time fastes were produced euen vnto the ninth houre And he bringeth the counsell of Chalcedonia where it is decreed that he which eateth before the ninth houre should not be counted to haue fasted Here by the way we must declare which was the ninth houre The vi houre was at none in which tyme we rede the Christ our sauiour was crucified Wherfore the ninth houre must needes be the third houre from noone The elders dyd so deuide the tyme The distribution of the houres among the elders that alwayes from the Sunne set to the Sunne rysing they counted 12. houres and agayne as many from the rysing of the Sunne to the goynge downe thereof Agayne they deuided eyther tyme into foure spaces and those they called watches And euery one of those spaces contayned three houres Wherefore the thirde houre from the rysing of the Sunne is with vs eyther the eyght or nynth houre as the tyme of the yeare requireth For these houres are vnequall The sixte houre is noone and the nynth is the thirde at after noone and the .xii. at the sunne set But Thomas obiecteth vnto hymselfe that whiche we say namely that the elders fasted the whole day It is ridiculous to heare what he aunswereth Bycause we sayth he are in the state of the day and the elders were in the state of the nyght therefore we must finishe our fastes in the day tyme when as they ended them in the night tyme. And he bryngeth this saying of Paul The nyght is past the day hath drawen nyghe Whiche sentence how much it serueth to this present thyng all menne see and vnderstande An other abuse is the choyse of
rewardes for gods sake which he loueth not for thy sake By these words is gathered that we may loue gayne and rewardes for gods sake for it is lawfull to embrace the meane endes for the last and chief goodnesse Neither are we forbidden but that we may sometymes wishe for meat drincke and cloth and such thinges as are nedefull for this lyfe yea and Christ hath commaunded by expresse wordes that we should aske them and he hath promised them to those whiche seke for the kyngdome of God for he hath sayd first seke the kingdome of God and these thinges shal be ministred vnto you Wherfore it is true that these may be so hoped for regarded and receaued of God as gifts and rewardes and not as the principall thinges For they also are to be referred to a farther end according to Paules most wholesome admonition who hath written whether we eat or whether we drinke or whether we do any other thing let vs do it to the glory of God And finally seyng God him selfe his glory What is the foundation of earthly promises beneuolence fauour are the roote and foundation of other promises and of euery rewarde so often as we shall beholde these other thinges for as much as they are comprehended in those former thynges we must neuer suffer to haue one separated from an other but in the latter continually looke vpon those whiche are first Wherby as Augustine hath geuen vs counsell we shall loue nothyng besides God which for his sake we should not loue And thus much of this said question In latter promises the firste are continually to be beholden now we will returne to the history For as muche as it is now manifest that it was lawfull for Chaleb to set forth a rewarde to all them whiche should conquere the citie of Debir to encourage them to performe that whiche they ought otherwise of duety to haue done it was counted no sinne in Othoniel of whome we now entreate couragiously to fight for the obtayning of a wife whiche he knew otherwise to be acceptable to God 14 And it came to passe as he went she moued him to aske of her father a fielde and she lighted of her Asse and Chaleb sayde vnto her What wilt thou 15 And she aunswered him geue me a blessing for thou hast geuen me a drye lande geue me also springes of water And Chaleb gaue her springes both aboue and beneath In the xv chap. of Iosua where all these things of Achsah and Othoniel are rehearsed in maner by so many wordes Dauid kimhi onely thre differences are perceaued in the word One is that which is here Techitioth and Alioth is there Techitith Alith Moreouer there it is said Tinna here is Hicah Lastly there is Scadah here is Haschadah R.D. Kimhi hath noted these things For the interpretors of the Hebrues are most precise yea in obseruing the very prickes I would they were as quicke in sight diligēt in rendring reasons of annotatiōs Hachsah persuaded prouoked her husband to aske the field of Chaleb her father which I therfore tell you bicause the Latine trāslation is corrupted For it hath that the husbād persuaded the wife to aske the field of Chaleb The pollicy of Achsah Furthermore by this we may consider the sharpenesse of the witte of a woman She therfore moueth her husband to aske the field bycause she was persuaded with her selfe that her father would not deny him that whiche he should aske She thought moreouer that if her husband obtayned the field she should easely by her selfe afterward obtayne the waters wheras if she should haue asked them both at one time namely the field and the waters it might peraduenture be hard to obtayne both together But if the field were first geuen to her husband her father might be coūted very hard if he should deny his daughter the waters she requiring thē of him And in asking she wisely watched a fitte tyme namely when she should be brought to her husbād for then parents are wont to shewe thē selues more gētle towardes their childrē whē they se that they shal be by by taken frō thē Wherfore thoughe they were at other times hard thē yet they somwhat relent In this reason of the petitiō I haue followed Leui the sonne of Gerson Leui the sonne of Gherson who expoundeth that Hachsah would therfore haue her husbād to aske the ground first that she might the better afterward desire the waters But R. D. Kimhi in interpreting of the boke of Iosua sayth that he namely Othoniel would not aske it D. Kimhi wherfore the womā her self was constrayned by her selfe to aske her father And this semeth to be the meanyng of this interpretor Chaleb had before geuē vnto his daughter the field as lād for her dowry the soyle wherof was dry barrē wherfore the witty maydē toke occasiō to aske that it might be fertile thoroughe water But howsoeuer it be it skilleth not much let vs only deligētly marke this that Chaleb was liberal honorable For that he graunted his daughter both the waters aboue the waters beneath She lighted of her Asse She lighted to declare her due obeysaunce towardes her father and to make her peticion the more acceptable and she so lighted that she kneled on the grounde with her knees as the Hebrew word signifieth For the Hebrewes vse that worde Sanach when they will signifie a stake or wedge or any such thyng to be driuen To be shorte she asked vpon her knees those thinges whiche she desired Rebecka also as it is written in the booke of Gen. whē she sawe Isaak to whom she was brought for to be hys wife she lighted of her camele wheron she sat Neither let vs meruayle that Achsah beyng the daughter of a prince rode on an Asse Asses are very vsed in Siria seing that in Siria Asses are very muche vsed for this kynd of beast whiche is of his owne nature cold is more vsed in hotter countreys than in regions towarde the northe And as we shall heare in this historye fifty sonnes of a certain iudge road vpon fiftye Asses Mephiboseth also the nephew of Saul the kyng and Balaam the Prophete vsed this kynd of beaste Riuers fountaynes of waters are muche set by in Siria Why GOD brought hys people to drye regions Neither is it in vayne that this request for waters is so diligently described in this place for as muche as Siria hath grounde fertile enoughe but that it wāteth water here and there Wherfore it commeth to passe that riuers and fountaynes of waters are muche estemed in those places And God of purpose brought his people to these so drye regions neither would he haue them dwell in watery places that they wayling for water might continually depend vpon hym and thereby might haue the better occasion to pray the oftener to the heauenly father and the more seruently to
the signification of that woord farre otherwise than to the holy Communion For by Masse hee vnderstandeth perfection finishing and absolution Wherfore he saith praestolatur congregationis missam Let him tarye the ende or fulnes of the congregation That is that the multitude and congregation maye be absolued and fulfyled And by and by after Contenti somno quia missa vigiliarum vsque ad lucem conceditur That is being content with the sleepe which is permitted them froÌ„ the end of the vigiles vnto day light wherby this woord Missa he vnderstandeth that time of the watch wherin the vigiles wer ended For then was it lawfull for the Monkes to slepe vntil day light Neither must I ouership that ther is meÌ„cion most manifestly made of Masses in the exposition of the .xi. chap. of the Prouerbs of Salomon which exposition is ascribed to Ierome The exposition of the Prouerbes is falsely ascribed to Ierome But that boke without coÌ„trouersy is none of Ieromes writing For Gregory is there alledged who liued long after Augustine and Ierome Bruno Amerbachius in his epistle which he set before the booke saith that he saw in an old booke that that interpretatioÌ„ was entituled to Beda Many abuses in the church in the time of Beda And if it wer so then it is no maruaile if hee made mention of Masses for then in the time of Beda the priest many abuses had crept into the church I do therfore admonish you of that bicause in that place that couÌ„terfait Ierome affirmeth that the souies of such as are dead are by the celebrations of Masses deliuered out of Purgatory Ierome was not so wont to speake From whence thys woorde Masse coÌ„meth Now resteth to declare from whence the name of Masse which vndoubtedly is a latin word semeth to be deriued The old fathers if a man wyll diligentlys marke their writinges did put this word remissa which is forgeuenes for this woord remissio Tertullian which is also forgeuenes Tertullianus in his .4 booke agaynsts Marcion the .249 syde We haue spoken saith he de remissa peccatorum that is of the remission of synnes Ciprian Ciprian de bono patientiae saith Qui remissam peccatorum erat daturus lauatro regenerationis tingi non est dedignatus He whyche came to geue remission of synnes disdained not to be washed with the lauacre of regeneration The same man writeth in the .14 epistle of his .13 booke Qui blasphemat spiritum sanctum remissam peccatorum non habet that is he which blasphemeth the holye Ghost hath not remission of sinnes Wherefore seing in steede of remissio they haue said remissa they may be counted also in stede of missio to haue vsed this word missa Therfore that which was done in the Church post missionem Cathecumenorum Cathecumenites that is after the sending away of the Cathecumenites they called Missa that is Masse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to declare that also by the way is to teache to enstruct especially by voice and not by writing whereof they wer called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which wer not yet washed with the lauacre of regeneration but wer instructed of their faith Tertullian called them Audientes or Auditores that is hearers But Augustine called them Competentes that is desirers or requesters that is of baptisme For before they should be baptised at Easter they signified their names .40 daies before in which space they wer instructed not onely their faith but also their life and maners wer examined of the Pastors of the church The Cathecumenites not coÌ„municantes wer sent out by the Deacon Cyrillus Gregory But in the holy assembling when the holy scriptures wer red the sermon done the Deacon cryed Exeunto Catechumeni that is let the Cathecumenites go forth the Grecians said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is holye thinges for holy ones as it is gathered out of the seruice booke of the elders Also out of Cyrillus vpon Iohn the .xii. boke .l. chap yea in Gregories time as hee testifieth him self in his second booke .23 chap. of his dialogues it was sayd if any man coÌ„municate not let him geue place And that maner maye appeare to be very like vnto a certaine custome of the Ethnikes For in a certayne vsage of their seruice of God as Festus declareth the Sargeant said Festus A maner of the Ethnikes in a certaine seruice of theirs Apuleius Exesto hostis victus mulier virgo that is let the ouercome enemy the woman the maide go foorth for in that kinde of seruice it was forbidden that those kinde of persons shoulde be present And Apuleius in his .2 booke saith that the Priest did vse when he offered sacrifices to say thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is who shal abide here To whom was answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As though it should haue bene said honest good men when as they which wer polluted vnworthy wer gon So was it done in our church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for after that saying aforesaid of the Deacon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fallers away such as wer put to repentance went their way Of these orders Dionisius made mencion They wer called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which wer vexed with euyll spirits Peraduenture they wer excoÌ„municated for those at that time I meane in the primatiue church wer deliuered vp to Sathan Missa as it wer Missio Ambrose Therfore as it now appeareth by that which we haue said the Latin church called the celebration of the sacrament of the holy supper Missam as it wer missionem that is a sending away For Ambrosius also said in a certain place missas facere And surely this sentence semeth muche more probable vnto me than doth theirs which thinke that name to be deriued of this hebrew woorde Masse But now that we haue entreated of the name of Masse Partes of the Masse we wyl also set foorthe the partes thereof as they were had among the elders The Grecians seeme to haue begon their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the exercise of the Lords supper at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Lord haue mercy vpon vs As though before al they would implore forgeuenes of their sinnes Which phrase the latin church hath borowed of the which some attribute to Gregory But whylest the people gathered together and before they were assembled they song a peece of some Psalme Introitus or some part of the scripture and that song they called Introitus that is an entraunce bicause that at that time the people might enter in And they make Celestine authour of that After 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the people being in a maner glad for the obtaining of pardon for their synnes to geue thankes vnto God Gloria in excelâ—s Collectes did syng this hymne Gloria in altissimis that is
thinges Iosua Othoniel Dauid Salomon and manye other mo possessed by the ryght of warre For when those Princes had the victory Warre is a iust woorke to attayne possessioÌ„ the thinges taken from their enemies came into their possession But it is not sufficient to make warre to clayme something by the right therof but the warre also must be iust Bycause vnles it be iust it is not warre but robbery But how shal we know when war is iust or vniust Whereby iuste war is knoweÌ„ from vniust Augustine Augustine as he is alledged in th .23 Question .2 chap. Notandum writeth that his war betwene Sihon and the Israelites was iust For they desired to passe wythout hurt through his kingdome which thing by humane fellowship should not haue bene denyed them especiall seing they had faithfully promised not to be troublesome to any man This sentence of Augustine the Gloser goeth about to defende and that by ciuill lawes In the Digestes de aqua pluuia cohercenda in the lawe in summa in the Paragraphe item varus somethyng is permitted in an other mans ground so that it be done without the hurt of the possessor And in the Code Dâ— Seruitutibus in the law per agrum Maximianus and Diocletianus doo thus ordaine That no man can prohibite thee to vse the common high waye And that thing onely did the Israelites desire wherfore being repulsed they iustly tooke warre in hand So much sayth the Gloser Whither a waâ— ought to be geueÌ„ vnto an hoâ—t whose reason doth not so fully satisfy me For that which Augustine speaketh of priuate men may easely be admitted and these thinges which are brought out of the ciuill law do seeme also to be written concerning priuate men But if a man wil leade an host through an other mans country and if they faithfully promise not to be troublesome yet whether a way ought straightway to be graunted him or whether he ought to be beleued it is not certaine They promise thou wilt say that their host shal do no harme but if they stand not to their promises then shall the lande be in theyr power Vndoubtedly Iulius Cesar would not permit the Heluecians to passe thorow his Prouince although they promised that they woulde passe without doing iniury or hurt The Israelits tought iustly against Sihon But I say that the warre which the Israelites made against Sihon was iust but not therfore bicause he denied them leaue to passe throughe his country but bicause he came out of his borders with his host and willinglye offred wrong vnto the Israelites For euery man ought to defend both himself and his against violence That which Augustine bringeth hath some shewe yet his reason is not firme For how could Sihon know certainly whither the Isralites would do him no hurt especially they being so many in number For ther were sixe hundred three score sixe thousand armed souldiours wel appoynted to the battail He might peraduenture haue permitted them to haue passed and that safely although not al of them together but by bandes But seing the first reason before alledged is sufficient wee must not muche labour for Augustines sake What maner of warre is iuste But now I wil generally declare what maner of war is counted iust Such a war is counted iust whiche is taken in hande at the commaundement of the Magistrate either to demaund things againe or els to put away iniuries or to reuenge them as it is had in the .23 question the .2 chap. iustum and they ar the woordes of Isidorus Isidorus For first we must beware that war be not taken in hande by the authority of a priuate man But the causes wherfore war may iustlye be made are these to require thinges taken away or els to repulse iniury Wherunto is agreable that which Augustine writeth in the same place in the chapter Dominus Augustine Iust war is that which is taken in hand to reueÌ„ge iniuries After this maner war is iustly proclaimed against Cities when they wyll not either render thinges taken away or amende those thinges which of theirs was vniustly done For if they wil not punish the guilty it is lawful for other to make warre against them So al Israel tooke war in hand against Beniamin that a most filthy wicked crime should not remaine vnpunished But Augustine addeth that those warres also do in especial seme iust which are taken in hande by the commaundement of God as are many which were done in the old Testament For if God commaunde once to make warre wee muste not seeke for anye other cause of iustice For God knoweth very well what is to be rendred vnto euery man For then both captaine and souldiours are not so muche to be counted authors of the warre as ministers of God of his law And therfore when the people are after this maner called to war they ought not to neglect the coÌ„maundement Augustine Wherfore the same Augustine in his .205 epistle to Bonifacius the Earle a maÌ„ of war which at that time gouerned Affrike vnder Cesar Thou oughtest not saith he to thinke that they which with weapons serue the publik wealth caÌ„ not please God This was the propositioÌ„ wherof afterward he bringeth reasoÌ„s For Dauid saith he made many wars and yet was he dearely beloued of God And vndoubtedly I could bring forth very many examples out of the old testament But the Anabaptistes cry that the old Testament pertaineth nothing vnto vs. I wil therfore make mencion of those thinges whych Augustine alledgeth out of the new Testament The Centurion came vnto Christ and desired him to heale his seruant which was sicke but Christ said he would come to hys house The CeÌ„turion said I am not worthy that thou shouldest come vnder my roofe but onely say the woord my seruant shal be healed And other woordes which are red in the .8 chapter of Mathew At the last Christ answered that he founde not so muche faith in Israel no not in those whiche seemed most holye And the same man was a Centurion and had soldiours vnder him vnto whom for all that Christ ascribeth a very good and most excellent faythe In the Actes also of the Apostles the .x. chapter it is written that Cornelius so lyued in warfare that the Angell testified of hym that hys prayers wer heard of God Yea God also so regarded hym that at Peters hande he hearde the Gospell was baptised and receaued the holye ghost And the Soldiours when they came vnto Iohn to be baptised of him as it is in the third chapter of Luke asked what they should doo Iohn aunswered ye shall doo violence vnto no man bee ye content with your wages Neyther called he them backe from warfare but rather confirmed them when he commaunded them to be content wyth their wages The same Augustine againste Faustus in his .xxii. booke and .lxxiiii. chapter saythe The Lorde was tempted of the
Herodians whither it were lawfull to geue tribute vnto Cesar and he aunswered Geue vnto Cesar that whych is Cesars and the thinges that are of God to God By which woordes he woulde signifye nothing els but that tributes are to be geuen vnto Princes And tributes are geuen that Princes should vse the swoorde defend the right of the publike welth and make warre when neede shall require Which thing if it had not bene lawfull the Lord would neuer haue commaunded them to pay tributes vnto them But to returne to the Epistle of Augustine In making of iust war saith he What thynges are to be taken heede of in iuste warres many thinges are to be taken heede of For it is not sufficient that the warre be iust except also the warre be iustly handled Wherefore he admonisheth hys Earle when saythe hee thou puttest on thyne armour remember that thy strength is the gyft of God and determine wyth thy selfe not to abuse that gift against God Yea rather doo thys fyght for hys lawes and name let promises be kept euen with enemies but muche more with friendes for whom thou makest warre By which woordes hee reprehendeth those Soldiours whiche are more grieuous in Cities then the very enemies of which we see in our dayes a great many mo then we would which when they are in their places where they wynter it is wonderfull to see how they handle the Citezens and the men of the country it is horrible to see what filthy and abhominable things they commit He addeth also the thirde caution Thinke with thy selfe that warre must not be made but for necessity Wherefore let the minde alwaies be enclined vnto peace Make warre bicause thou canst not otherwyse doo but if thou canst make peace refuse it not Warre is taken in hand onely to amende thinges amysse Yea and the Apostles afflicted certaine that they might become the better Paul sayd vnto the Corrinthians deliuer suche a one to Sathan to the destruction of the fleshe that the spirite may be saued And to Timothe he sayth of Hymeneus Alexander I haue delyuered them to Sathan to learne not to cursse So oughte they also to restrayne Princes that they maye bee made better Augustine also in his .xix. Augustine booke De ciuitate dei sayth that warres though they bee neuer so iust yet vnto godly men they seeme both troublesome and grieuous for besydes other things which the nature of man escheweth they shall see the iniquity of their aduersaries syde for which they are compelled to fyght and they cannot but be sorye for it And in the Epistle before alledged Rage not saythe hee nor waxe not insolent agaynst those that submyt them selues but shewe mercye to those that are ouercome Wherefore Virgil sayth Spare them that submit them selues Virgil. and destroye the proude Moreouer he admonisheth the same Earle to beware of vyces whyche are wont to followe hostes namelye of fylthye luste of rauenous pyllynge and of dronkennesse For it is a thyng moste vyle for thee therefore to make warre to amende the vices of others when as thou in the meane tyme art a great deale more vicious and muche more art ouercome bothe wyth affections and diseases then they are whyche are ouercome For in warre we reproue not the ende but the desire to hurt the crueltye of auengement the outragiousnesse of rebelling and the lust of bearing dominion These thinges saith he are condemned For they which forsaking suche vices doo make iust warre are the Ministers of God and of the lawes The same father against Faustus Manicheus This order saith he is to bee kept that the war be proclaimed either of God or of Princes to breake the pryde of man and to came the stubburne Farther the Souldiours oughte to bee perswaded that the warre is iustlye made and not taken in hande againste the woorde of God otherwyse let them not fight Neither doo I to this ende speake these thinges bicause I woulde haue Soldiours to vnderstand the secretes of Princes but that knowing wittingly they suffer not themselues to fight against true and iust causes Yet it may be saith Augustine that the Prince may make warre againste his conscience and yet his Soldiours nothing offende so long as they obey the ordinarye power For the people must obey their Prince And in their so doyng it may be doubtfull vnto them whether their Prince make warre contrarye to the commaundement of God But they are excused so long as they obey their owne Prince in a doubtful cause their own Prince I say and not a straunge Prince Wherefore those hired Soldiours can not be excused which hauing no respecte vnto the cause Againste hyred Soldiours but onely for mony and rewardes sake do serue straunge Princes Wherefore Iiphtah thus reasoned as touching the first point of his Oracion we haue taken the land by the right of warre therefore thou vniustly requirest the same of vs. The next poynt is our God hath geuen it vnto vs whiche is the Lorde and distributer of all thinges humane He brinketh his argument from the gyfte of God God is the distributer of kyngdomes Virgil. And that God might geue and distribute kingdomes the verye Ethnike authours also sawe And therefore in Virgil Eneas doth so often boast that hee by the commaundement of God went into Italy and for that cause would not abide either at Carthage or in Sicilia when he mought haue obtained either of those kingdomes Augustine Augustine in his .v. booke De ciuitate dei the .xxviii. chap. Of kingdomes sayth he and Prouinces it is certaine that God distributeth them both when and how muche and to whom hee wyll and that by secrete iudgementes but not vniust In the booke of Genesis God promised vnto Abraham and his posterity the land of Chanaan but hee promised it after foure hundred yeares Now saith he I wyl not geue it for as yet the synnes of the Chananites are not full I wyll not cast them out now but I wyll tary tyll their iniquitye be come to the hyghest afterward I wyll bring you in Also in the seconde chapter of Deutronomy it is written that the Horites dwelled in mount Seir which were men experte in warres and very valiant whom God sayth he draue oute of those mountaynes that the Chyldren of Esau myght possesse the lande And in the same chapter he testifieth that he dyd cast out the people of Emim gaue their kingdomes vnto the Ammonites and draue out Zanzumim oute of theyr places and placed the Moabites there If thou wylt say that thys was done by God peculiarly agaynste these nacious bycause the Edomites had their ofspring of Esau the Ammonites and Moabites of Lot which was kynsman vnto Abraham and had together with hym accomplished most daungerous viages I aunswer the same may be saide also in the same place of other nacions which came not of Abrahrm The Capadocians draue out the Heuites whyche were the first