For while he wente aboute to persuade his bretherne according to the flesh how much he loued them in that he said that he wished for theyr sakes to be accursed from Christe if he had added that he had done it for the honor of Christ whom he worshipped I cannot tell what might seme to be dimished of that loue which he sayd that he bare towards his brethren Wherefore he cunningly kept that in silence wherein yet was the chiefe and principall cause of his desire Howbeit least the prudent reader should in any wise Why he made no mencion of the principall cause of his desire erre he hath so tempred his wordes which follow that by them he may very easely gather what his meaning was For thus he writeth To whome pertayneth the adoption the couenantes the glory the geuing of the lawe the worshippyng the promises of whome are the fathers of whome is Christ according to the flesh who is God ouer all blessed for euer Amen These wordes being well and diligently examined do declare what Paul had a regard vnto in this his so feruent desire Let vs call to memory that the Israelites were called of God that they abode long in the profession of God that they kept the lawes of God a longe tyme that they by innumerable Prophetes receaued promises of Christ to come and of other good thynges Forasmuch therefore as they had bene such men and yet semed now to be excluded and other nations which were ignoraunt of God and geuen to most filthy idolatry were placed in their stede many began to be offended at the prouideÌ„ce fayth and gouernmeÌ„t of God Wherfore ether they blasphemed him or ells they made exclamation openly that this was not the Christ promised in the Law These thinges troubled Paul excedingly much For he would not that in the affayres of the Gospel should be brought in a stage matter or a matter of pastime as though that which god had promised to one people he would geue to an other and as though Christ was borne for the Iewes but profited none but the Gentiles And that Paul was by this reason chiefely moued that manifestly declareth which is a litle afterward added Not as though the word of God The end of Moses request hath fallen away By which wordes he declareth that he admonished vs of these thinges lest any maÌ„ should thinke that the promises of God were not sure And none other entent had Moses wheÌ„ he desired to be blotted out of the booke which God had writen theÌ„ that God should spare the people For he geueth this reasoÌ„ Lest peraduenture it be said that God hath brought a people out of Egipt but was not able to bring to passe that they should obteyne the Land which he had promised them and therefore would he kill them in the desert Nether doth Paul in this place say that he Paul desired not to cease of froÌ„ louing of God Euery man ought to preferre the honor of God before his owne felicity Why Paul wished not this thinge for the Gentils wisheth to be seperated from the loue of God for he would by no meanes cease of from louing of him only he wisheth to be excluded from the blessed coniunction with God to be deuided from the fellowshippe of the Angelles and of the sayntes to be depriued of the fruition of eternall felicity And this thing ought euery one of vs to desire namely to preferre the honor of God before his owne felicity And Paul speaketh not these thinges of the Gentiles as he doth of the Iewes not that he would not doo as much for them also when the like danger of the honour of God shoulde happen but bycause then he entreated not of the Gentiles For they on euerye side of theyr owne accord came vnto Christ wheÌ„ as the Iewes most vehemeÌ„tly resisted him The same Chrisostome vpon Mathew expounding this place It is better that one member bee cutte of and cast away then that the whole body should perishe saith That Paule considered this thing that rather he being cut of and made accursed God might haue glory of the greate body being saued theÌ„ that he himselfe should be saued and a greate multitude of Iewes which were like vnto a certayne greate body should be cast into hell fire This so greate loue of Paul â—arre passeth the affect of all parentes toward theyr Children And so greate was it that Chrisostome writing touching priesthode sayth that he was for a iust cause feared a way from that office bycause he saw himselfe to be farre distant from such kinde of loue The same Chrisostome de prouideÌ„tita dei writeth That Paul desired rather to liue in hell then to se his brethern condemned And he addeth that it was a greater vexation vnto Paul to se the distruction of hys brethern the Iewes then if he himselfe should haue bene tormented in hell For he desired that torment rather then to se his brethern perish miserably Nether was he deceaued in this iudgment For it came not from reason or vnderstanding but from the impulsion of the spirite of God The Schoolemen differ not muche from thys interpretation of Chrisostome For Thomas sayth That Paule neuer wished for the seperation from God which coÌ„meth through sinne nether coulde he wish for it keping charity but for the aduauncement of the glory of God it was Lawfull for him to wish for the seperation from felicity Yea yâ— same Thomas addeth That Paul somtimes desired for his bretherns sake to be seperated from that felicity and to haue it differred for a time For vnto the Phillipians he writeth That to dye should be vnto hym gayne howbeit it was profitable for them that he should abide in the flesh he sheweth that he both desired and also hoped that God would graunt that he might be conuersante with them for a time So saith Thomas mought he also in this place for the helth of hys brethern wish to be seperated from God ether for euer or else for a time But that these These words cannot be vnderstande of a seperation for a time wordes can not be vnderstand of a seperation for a time this word Anathema sufficiently declareth For Anathema signifieth yâ— seperation from commoÌ„ vse which can neuer by any meanes be reuoked or restored againe But this Greke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may signify not only I did wishe but also I did pray Neyther Paul wished for that thing which could not be done The will is sometimes rauished to thinges impossible ought we to meruayle that Paul wished for this thing although it coulde not come to passe for there is no doubt but that he was one of the predestinate for our will is oftentimes rauished vnto those thinges which are not possible to be done For so prayed Dauid Who shall geue me power to dy for thee my sonne Absolon When yet it could not be that he should dye for Absolon That are
speaketh not of ciuill righteousnes which we get by workes and which cleaueth in our mindes as a qualitie but onely of the righteousnes which is geuen vnto vs fréely and is imputed vnto the beleuers Wherefore Paul expressedlye added this particle Before God Whereby is manifestly gathered that the woorkes of men are not of that nature that they can be layde agaynst the wrath and seueritye of God and that they can appease him and make him mercifull vnto vs. Moreouer To haue whereof to boast before God Is to obtayne anye thynge as an excellente and noble gifte whiche we may boaste that we haue receyued of God and not to haue obtayned it of our selues or of our owne strengths For he which leaneth vnto workes commendeth hymselfe and hys owne But hee which is iustified by fayth commendeth the liberalitie of God and setteth foorth hys giftes Whereupon Chrisostome noteth that men haue much more to glorye of when they leane vnto fayth then when they féeke to glory in their works The giftes of God which fayth taketh hold of farre excell all our workes They which glory of workes doo magnifie a thing which is séene and felt but he which glorieth in fayth conceiueth a noble opinion of God so that he is perswaded that he wil performe euen those thinges which can not be done by nature neither boasteth he of those thinges which he hath done but extolleth those thinges which God hath done namely that he loueth him that he hath forgeuen him his sinnes and counteth him in the number of the iust This is in a maner the whole glorieng What is the glorieng of the godly Glorieng is righteousnes freely liberally geuen What is to beleue of the godly By this kinde of speache we sée that the Apostle by glorieng vnderstandeth righteousnes fréely geuen of God Whereby is easelye expressed what Paul ment when before he sayd All men haue sinned and want the glory of God In which place by glory he vnderstode nothing els then righteousnes freely geuē of God bycause by that chiefly shineth forth the glory of God This oracle is writtē in the 15 chap of y◠boke of Genesis Vehaamin beiehonah veiahashbo lo tfaddicka Abraham beleued in God and he imputed vnto him righteousnes To beleue in this place is assuredly to thinke that God of his mercy loueth vs which mercy by hys mere promise is set forth vnto vs and we not to suffer our selues by reason of our vnpuritye or vncleanes to be plucked awaye from this perswasion Wherefore it wholy consisteth in the embrasing of the grace and promise of God offred vnto vs. In very many places Abraham is highly cōmended and praised But he was neuer called iust but then onely when he beleued Hereby may we Onely in thys place Abraham is called iuste How diligent depe a handler of scriptures Paul was know with what great diligence Paul did both handle search and weigh the holy scriptures He declineth not to allegories nor to mens inuentions He especially weigheth two wordes which he compareth together by which the whole reason is knit together which wordes are To beleue and righteousnes to be imputed But in the historie of the booke of Genesis which we are now in hand with it is had after this maner God appeared vnto Abraham and sayd that he was his buckler or protection and his plenteous reward Which things when he heard he begā to complayne for that he had no children For the elders ▪ had an exceding greate desire to haue children and that for two causes partlye bycause they desired the increase of a people which might worship God and partly bycause they had heard that the Messias should take flesh of theyr nacion Therfore they desired by hauing Why the elders wer so desirous of posterity of children to light at the length vpō that Messias But God vouchsaued not onely to geue vnto him posteritie but commaunded him also to number the starres of heauen which thinge when he could not do God promised that the aboundance of his sede should be as greate Abraham beleued God and it was imputed vnto him for righteousnes That which the Grecians haue turned in the passiue significatiō 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is was imputed in the hebrue is written actiuely he imputed namely God imputed vnto him righteousnes But in the sence there is no difference And Paul therefore followeth the seuenty interpreters bycause theyr translation was not vnknowen vnto the heathen where let vs note that that which in the hebrew is in Deum that is in God the same both Paul and the seuenty haue turned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to God wherfore they obserued not that difference of Augustene of beleuing God and beleuinge in God But here ariseth a doubte how Abraham semeth to How that the fayth of Abraham was in Christ haue obtayned righteousnes by fayth For that fayth was not of Christ but onely of an infinite yssue and posteritie But vnto this may answere be made many wayes First that Abraham beleued not onely touching issue but chiefelye touching those thinges which at the beginning of the chapter were promised vnto him namely that God would be vnto him both a shield and a reward And moreouer then this he foresaw Christ in his posterity Wherefore in the Gospell it is saide of hym that he saw the day of Christ and reioyced And Paul to the Galathians referreth all thys vnto one seede whych is Christ Farther hee whyche talked wyth hym was the sonne of God For no man hath sene God at anye tyme. Therfore whatsoeuer thinges we haue either seene or knowen of hym the Sonne which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared it vnto vs. Wherfore if he beleued God he beleued in Christ We haue oftentimes Christ the roote of all promises also declared that in all promises was wrapped and infolden as the roote and foundacion that promise which was touching Christ Neyther seeme they to thinke amisse which affirme that alwayes the obiect of faith is the mercy and goodnes of God which sheweth forth it selfe in singular giftes eyther temporall or spirituall Wherefore when the elders conceaued a hope of victory of deliuery from enemyes and from other calamityes they chiefely did put their confidence in the deuine goodnes because by it God was moued mercifully and appeasedly to geue vnto them these singular giftes And he coulde not be appeased towardes them but by Christ Wherefore in that they beleued any of the promises of God they beleued in Christ Which thing also we ought to be myndfull of when we aske our dayly bread we ought to beleue y◠we shal not want such thinges as pertayne to our liuing Some thinke this to be repugnaunt vnto the argument of Paul which is written in the 106 Psalme of Phinees the sonne of Eleazar who when he had thruste thoroughe the Madianitishe Whither Phinees were iustefied by his worke
lust may be found the nature of In naturall lust there is the nature of sinne sinne For it is vniust that the body should not obey the minde in honest thinges that lustes should be against the mind and beare dominiō ouer it and that reason should be against God and abhorre from his cōmaundements These things seinge they are vniuste whether they happen vnto vs with our wils or of necessitye vndoubtedly they are sinnes But this man which obiecteth these thinges doth he not sée that he must also of necessity graunt that the posterity of Adam is guilty of his sinne and that not willinge and against their mind which thinge is most of all against the word of God For it is written in the Prophet The Sonne shall not beare After Pigghius opinion the Son beareth the iniquitie of his father not his owne the iniquity of the father also The soule which sinneth it shall dye Which sayinge vndoubtedly were false if we beleue Pigghius forasmuche as children do dye and are guilty of eternall damnation although they haue not sinned Vnto which absurdity we are not compelled which do put in euery man that is born sinne and a cause why he shoulde die and be condemned Pigghius also thinketh it contumelious and blasphemous against God for that he suffreth sinne to be planted in them that are borne when as they can do no otherwise but to be borne in suche sorte affected as we sée all other menne that are borne to be affected But let Paul answere to this obiection who in this Epistle saith O man what art thou which answerest vnto God Hath not the potter power ouer his clay to make of one and the selfe same lompe one vessel for honor and an other for contumely Let Esay also aunswere who saith that it is not mete that an erthē pot should dispute with other erthē pots of the worke of his maker God is not such a one to be brought into order by our reasō which should come to passe if we should measure his iustice by the rule of our iudgemēt And forasmuch as there passeth no day wherin happeneth not somwhat in the gouernmēt of worldly things which we find fault with accuse fatisfieth not our wisdome whē then shall we confesse God to be iust For who can assigne a cause why so much grace is not geuē vnto him whiche pearisheth for euer as is to an other which is saued I know that these men are accustomed to say that God doth therein no vniustice because he by no law is bound to destribute one the self same and equal grace vnto al men But vndoubtedly humane prudence will not there stay For it wil complaine and saye that although he be not bound by the prescripte of mans law yet by the law of his goodnes he ought to be one and the selfe same vnto al men Farther what humane wisedome can sée what that iustice of God is that some are taken away being yet infants and children that theyr hartes should not be peruerted with malice and so to attain to saluation wheras other are kept safe till they come to ripe age wherin to deserue vnto themselues distruction when as otherwise they mought haue bene We oughte to haue in reuerence the secretes of God and not to correct them A saying of Cato they had bene taken away in theyr infancy Here we ought to haue in reuerence to worship the secretes of the iudgement of God and not to desire to correct them or to amende them accordynge to the prescripte of our lawes Cato beinge an Ethnike when he tooke Pompeius parte because he iudged it iuster then Cesars at the last the victory declining and Pompey being discomfited put to flight looked vp to heauen and cried out that in thinges deuine there is greate obscurenes For he thought it a thing vnworthy that the prouidēce of God should suffer Cesar to haue the vpper hād And I my selfe whē I consider these things am much delighted whith Augustines answere which he vseth agaynst the Pelagians Two argumentes of the Pelagians when he was in hand with this selfe same cause which we are now in hand with For the Pelagians obiected vnto him two argumentes somewhat subtle and hard One was how it can be that God which of his goodnes forgeueth vs our owne sinnes will impute vnto any other mens sinnes An other was if Adam by originall sinne condemneth men vnwares and agaynst their will why doth not Christ also to the ende he might in no part be inferior vnto Adam saue the vnbeleuers To these thinges Augustine answereth what if I were so An excellēt sentence of Augustine dull that I could not straight way confute these reasons shoulde I therefore geue euer a whit the the les credit vnto the holy scripture Yea rather it is much more conuenient for me to acknowledge myne owne rudenes then to ascribe vntruth vnto the holy scriptures But afterward he dissolueth both the arguments For to the first he answereth God imputeth not to vs an other mans sinne but our owne Christ to saue his wayteth not for their will The iustice of God hath no nede of our defence that God is the chiefe good thing nether doth he as these men alleadge in originall sinne impute vnto vs an other mans sinne but our owne iniquity which sticketh vnto our nature euen from the very beginning To the other he saith that Christ saueth also those that are vnwilling for he wayteth not for them to will but of his owne accord commeth vnto sinners both vnwilling and resisting And he also bringeth many infants to felicity which as yet beleue not neither by reason of age can haue fayth whereby to beleue Therefore do I alleage these thinges to shewe that it is lawfull for me if I will to vse the same answere which this father vsed first and to say vnto Pigghius Let vs suffer God to defend himselfe he nedeth none of our defence that he should not be counted vniust or cruell Let vs beleue the scriptures which crye euery where that we are borne corrupt and vitiate Which thing also both death and an infinite heape of miseryes do manifestly declare vnto vs which thinges vndoubtedly God would not lay vpon the childrē of Adam vnles there were in them some sinne deseruing punishement But they which discend not into themselues neither behold their owne nature how redy it is to all wickednes those I say know not what this concupisence meaneth Howbeit many Euen the Ethnikes wondred at the corruption of our nature of the Ethnike Philosophers saw it For they do meruayle how in so excellent a nature there can be so greate wickednes selfe loue and desire of pleasures And they so acknowledge these euils that they iudged it very nedefull that children should haue correction and discipline and to corect this naturall malice they gaue counsell to sustaine labours and excercises and
the merites of the parentes For they can not by procreation of the body poure grace into the children forasmuch as it is a thing altogether spirituall nether hath it any naturall fellowship with the fleshe Wherefore forasmuch as goodnes holynes are the mere and pure giftes of God God doth in dede promise that he will doo good vnto the posterity of godly men euen to a thousand generations But that is not to be vnderstand as though there were put any merit in the parentes God was of his mercy moued to make this promise and not by the merites of men And to declare his libertye herein he suffereth it sometimes to happen otherwise and by that meanes teacheth that holy parentes are not so holy but that they haue still much wickednes and corruption in them which they may se to be naturally grafted in theyr children Whereby we may manifestly se the corruption of our nature which also followeth the sayntes euen to the death And for the more establishing also of thys sentence some bring out of the Psalme a curse of the Churche agaynst the children of the vngodlye That they shoulde be orphanes that no man shoulde haue compassion on them that they shoulde begge theyr liuinge If the children of the vngodly be innocents then is this no iust prayer Wherfore it semeth by these words of necessity to follow that they are partakers of the wyckednes of their parentes And bicause they are infantes it can by no other meanes be done but by propagation I know there are some which will haue these wordes of Dauid to be prophesies of thinges to come wherin the holy ghost hath foretold that these misfortunes shall come vnto them But graunt that they be prophesies Yet can it not be denied but that there is in them both the forme the affect of a prayer But a prayer Whether the latter mē be more miserable then the first ought to be iust for otherwise it should be no prayer But where as they say that that is most absurd which followeth of this doctrine namely that the last men also should be more miserable then all others bicause they should beare the synnes both of Adam also of all their elders it may be answered two maner of wayes For first not all thinges which seme absurd vnto vs are also absurd before God The things that are absurde vnto vs are not absurd before God For not to depart from this selfe same matter Christ threatneth the Iewes that all the murther of the godly from Abell euen to Zacharias the sonne of Barachias should come vpon them And who séeth not that the estate of the children of Israel which were led away into captiuity was much more miserable then very many generations of their elders which had defiled themselues with the selfe same sins Farther we aunswer that that should in dede be absurd if the sinnes of the elders should continually passe into the children But seyng we haue declared that that is not alwayes so but that the prouidence of God hath appointed an end and measure To the reasons of the scholemen Affections of the mind◠are communicated frō the parents vnto the children vnto this euil and hath therfore determinately pronounced onely of the third and fourth generation there is no cause why it should seme absurd vnto any man But the reasons of the scholemen wherwith they withstand this propagation are very weake First they alledge that the qualities of the minde are not communicated from the parentes vnto the children which thing euen experience teacheth to be false For we sée oftentymes that of angry persons are borne angry children and of sad parentes sad children Neither doth this similitude serue thē to any purpose when they say that of a Grammarian is not borne a Grammarian nor of a Musician a Musician For these are artes which are gotten by precepts and exercise not affections which are naturally grafted in men And yet by experiēce we sée that it somtymes commeth to passe y◠in what arte the father chiefly excelleth he hath children very prone vnto the same whither if be husbandry or the arte of war fare or els some liberall science Farther we in this place principally speake of those affections which are the groundes and beginninges of actions In the other Sinne defileth both soule and body argument they say that sinne in the parentes doth vitiate only the soule which is not true For as we haue before taught their body is also defiled And therfore it is no meruaile if fathers do communicate such a body vnto their children Wherfore as touching this matter I gladly agrée with Augustine that it is probable and agreable with the scriptures and this sentence Martin Bucer a man no lesse lerned then holy hath allowed that priuate sinnes are deriued from the parents vnto the children But we must note that that commeth by chaunce and is not of necessitie For God sometimes stayeth the sinnes of the parentes and of his goodnes suffreth not the nature of men vtterly to be destroyed But when he will either represse this traductiō of sins or els suffer it to take place he himself only knoweth Howbeit vnto vs it is sufficient to consider these two things First the sinne is poured from the parentes into the children Secondly that the same is by the benefite of God sometimes prohibited which yet can by no meanes be spoken of Originall sin For we al are borne infected with it Now let vs returne vnto the words of the Apostle which we haue so long tyme intermitted Moreouer the lawe entred in by the way that sinne shoulde abounde But where sinne abounded there grace abounded muche more That euen as sinne hath raigned in death so might grace also raigne by righteousnes vnto eternall life through Iesus Christ Moreouer the law entred in by the way that sinne should abounde But The Methode of Paule where sinne abounded there grace abounded much more We muste call to memory that the Apostle began to reherse the effectes of iustification namely that by it we haue peace with God and that we do reioyce not onely bicause of the hope of that glorye but also we reioyce in tribulations bicause we are assured of oure saluation For the confirmation of whiche hope he hathe declared that GOD hathe geuen his sonne vnto the deathe and that when we were yet sinners enemies vngodly And that it should not be obscure by what meanes the righteousnes of Christ could saue vs he sheweth by a comparison that euen as by the sinne of Adam all men haue perished so by Christ all men haue reuiued And in this comparison he teacheth that the effect of sinne is death And that men are deliuered from it only by Christ Now bycause a man might aske whether the law hath any thing profited to the attayntment of that saluation he answereth by preuention that it rather augmented the disease so farre was it of
haue despised me And in Ezechiell God saith That the children of Israell are his children namely by reason of this promise generally published amongst them and confirmed by circumcision and many other ceremonies and rites Howbeit forasmuch as many of them fell away from piety and from saluation it was very plaine that not all they were the children of God or the séede of Abraham vnto whom the promises were by election due Wherfore when Paul saith That not all they which are of Israell are Israell by Israel in the second place he vnderstandeth that séede whereunto is adioyned election and by children and by the children of God and by the children of the promise he vnderstandeth those vnto whoÌ„ the perfection of the promise was by the purpose of God coÌ„tracteth He bringeth the firste example of Isaack and Ismael out of the 21. chapiter of Genesis where Abraham is commaunded to caste forthe the handemayden and her sonne as Sara had requested â–ª For in Isaack saith he shall thy seede be called â–ª That is that promise The generall promise is by electioÌ„â—ontracted to some perticuler men which I haue made to thy séede shall by electioÌ„ be performed in Isaack neither shall pertaine to thine other sonne Ismael This place declareth that that which was before promised generally is by the hidden election of God contracted to certaine perticuler men The other oracle touching this selfe same matter is extant in the 18. chap. of Genesis In that tyme will I come and Sara shall haue a sonne This thing God promised when he was entertained of Abraham vnder yâ— oke of Mambra Ismael was nowe borne yet God promised vnto Abraham perticularly that A similitude he should haue a sonne of Sara in whom should be certainly performed the promise which before semed to hang vncertaine As if a father hauing many childreÌ„ should be promised that it should come to passe that in his stocke he should haue a kyngdome he should not streight way perceiue which of those children should be exalted Election or purpose directeth the promises Election is not repugnaunt vnto the promise to that dignitie but that appointing should consist onely in election Paul here by sheweth that the hidden purpose of God moderateth and contracteth that which was promised generally Not as though the election of God is repugnant vnto the promise yea rather it performeth accomplishethit but yet in these in whom it is decréed to be performed Neither ought we to thinke that the election of God is bound to naturall procreation And when the Apostle maketh mencion of the children of the flesh and of the children of the promise by children of the flesh he vnderstandeth those which haue in them nothing singuler or excellent besides the generation of the flesh which came vnto them from the holy Patriarkes And the children of promise he calleth those vnto whome the promise is now by election appointed From a perticuler proposition he ascendeth to a generall proposition And in this example of Esau and Ismael this is to be noted that the Apostle from a perticuler proposition ascendeth to a generall proposition that by such singuler factes he mought gather the order and maner of the election of God Here are we admonished neuer to step backe froÌ„ the faith of the word of God although these thinges which are in it intreated séeme to ouerreache humane reason and iudgement or to be made void Doubtles there should at that time most of all haue bene great doubt when as the promises made vnto the nation of the Iewes were now publikely extant but on the other side there were none in the whole world which more resisted Christ or with more cruel furiousnes repelled his Gospel then did that nation And yet notwithstanding the Apostle with an inuincible faith persisteth and as we haue now declared comforteth himselfe touching the promise of God After the same maner commeth it to passe touching the children of the faithfull We haue a promise that God is not onely our God but also the God of our We baptise infantes vnder the faith of the indefinite promise Against the Anabaptistes séede which promise being indefinite is by the hidden election of GOD applied vnto infantes not in déede alwayes to all but to some certaine as it shall séeme good vnto the purpose of God Which purpose being hidden from vs and we being bounde to follow the outward worde which is commended vnto the Church vnder that promise we baptise our infantes euen as the Elders circumcised theirs This facte the Anabaptistes reproue for that wee are not any thing assured either of the spirite or of the faith or of the election of these infants But we nothing passe vpon that only we haue a respect vnto the worde of God which is offred vnto vs in the generall and indefinite promise But the execution therof we commit vnto God when as we cannot iudge of his election But let them on the other side aunswer vs by what reason they baptise those that are of full age when as it is vncertaine whether they pertaine to election or no and whether yâ— thinges which they say they beleue and professe be truly said and whether with a sincere minde they come vnto Christ or no. Here they can answer nothing but that they follow the confession of that faith which they that are of full age make before the church when they come to be baptised But forasmuch as by yâ— confession they may easely be deceiued neither do they certainly know any thing either of their mind or of the election of God there is no cause why they should accuse vs. For it is euen so with vs in infantes which are offred vnto the church to be baptised as it is with them in those that are of full age And not only this but also Rebecka when she had conceaued by one euen by our father Isaack For the children being not yet borne and when they had done neither good nor euill Vnto the example which he before brought of Isaack and Ismaell he now addeth an other of Iacob and Esau and that not without great cause for men mought haue suspected that there had bene a diuersity in Isaack and Ismaell for that one was the sonne of an handmayden and the other of a frée woman when as no such thing could be pretended in Iacob and Esau For they had one and the selfe same father and one and the selfe same mother they were brethern which came both out of one bely and also twines conceaued in one and the same houre Wherefore as touching nature or procreation of the flesh there could be put no difference at all betwene them Wherefore seing that the one of them was reiected of God and the other elected it is of necessity that the same be attributed wholy vnto the will and election of God as to a higher ground and principle whereby are seuered those which haue one and the same
Neither in this place as I haue admonished is to be imagined any other holines in y◠roote or in the first fruites then the blessing What holines in the first fruites is here mēt Holines of the roote originall sin let not one the other of the couenant made betwene God and the fathers Neither is the holynes of the roote or first fruites any thing against originall sinne for by nature we incurre that sinne which nature we draw corrupted from our parents But by the promise and force of the couenaunt it is forgeuen which forgeuenes when God worketh we can not learne by the testimony of the scriptures Paraduenture it is forgeuen vnto infantes when they are yet in the wombe or when they are borne or straight way after their birth neither is it paraduenture geuen vnto all men at one and the same time And such a forgeuenes is nothing els but not to impute that sinne vnto them although in very déede it be in them Wherefore we putting our confidence in the constancy of the couenaunt and truth of the promise of God do baptise our infants This allegory of Paul of the holines of the rootes and of the first fruites might at the first sight seme to be against a saying of Ezechiell Whether Paul be against Ezechiel in the 18. chapiter wherein he saith If the father be godly innocent and adorned with vertues the sonne which is borne of him if he be vngodly and an oppressor and defiled with wicked facts shall dye the death the holines of his parent shall nothing profite him And Christ séemed to declare the selfe same thing when he sayd If ye be the children of Abraham do his workes But in very déede obseruing the exposition which we before brought in those sayinges there is no contrariety for we do not affirme y◠the generation or propagation of the flesh is the whole perfect absolute The propagatiō of the fleshe is not the cause of holines cause of grace or of holynes for God can without it geue grace and in very déede he geueth it vnto many which were the children of infidels and many of those which are the posterity of holy parēts are excluded from it but the promise which is y◠cause of holines is in this manner forme set forth offred vnto vs of God y◠he will be our God and y◠God of our séede Which promise y◠childrē of the godly whē they come to age ought by faith to take hold of and to assent vnto it and y◠with an effectuall assent which hath ioyned with it the fruits of good workes otherwise they should not haue saluation the piety of their parēts elders should nothing profite thē Neither must we say as some say y◠Paul now speaketh not of actual holines as they call it but of holines in power for the children of the wicked also maye as touching power be saued for they are created vnto the image of God whereunto is not repugnant so that it please God but that they may be brought to saluation Howbeit they vse to say that the childrē of the faithful haue a more nigher power But this also is not inough for that in this sorte to be nigh in power what thing is it Doubtles they can assigne none other thing but this promise and couenante made with God Howebeit Ambrose laboureth thus to declare it Forasmuch as saith he they haue had faithfull elders they also are not vnworthy to be called vnto the fayth But he séemeth to write ambiguously For if he take worthines for merite Iustificatiō cosisteth not of merites his wordes ought in no wise to be admitted For there is none which meriteth or deserueth to be brought vnto iustification But if by woorthines he vnderstande that they by reason of the promise and couenant of God are somewhat more apte then others this is to come to that exposition which we firste gaue Let vs in the We as touchyng our childrē haue the fruicion of the same priuiledges that the Iewes had meane time hereof gather that the Iewes are not to be reiected as Paul concludeth Let vs also constantly beleue y◠we are in such sort brought into theyr society that as touching our children we haue the fruition of the self same blessinges and priuileges that they had And therfore is not their saluation past all hope whiche now both in the east parts and also vnder the tyranny of the Papistes liue in sondry supersticions séeing that they haue discended from faithfull elders for it maye easly come to passe that the blessing and vertue of the couenant may spring forth againe in them and that they may be drawen to saluation And though some of the braunches be broken of and thou being a wilde oliue tree was grafted in them and made pertaker of the roote and of the fatnes of the oliue tree boast not thy selfe againste the braunches And if thou boast thy selfe thou bearest not the rote but the roote thee And though some of the braunches be broken of When the Apostle had now proued that the fall of the Iewes was not so horrible but that manye of them were saued and shall hereafter be saued and had added that y◠fall was such that it brought no small commoditye vnto the Gentils and after that had by the holines of the roote and of the first fruites proued the excellēcy of the Iewes now he concludeth that we ought not to despise them nor to reproche them And he vseth the figure occupatio that is a preuention for the Gentils moughte haue sayde what profite haue they by the holines of the roote and of the first fruites when as they are cut of from the holy stocke of their godly parentes The Apostle aunswereth now indéede they are cut of but ye haue bene long time wilde oliue trées vnfruitfull The calling to minde of a mans olde estate much conduceth to modesty and straungers from God He putteth them in minde of their old estate which thing much conduceth vnto modesty Men should plucke the wallet whiche hangeth at theyr backe before them and looke vpon it and beginne firste of all to wéede their owne fieldes and then they should not easly skorne at other mens infirmities misfortunes and chaunces In this sorte doth Paul now deale with the Gentils The braunches saith he are broken of but ye haue bene longe time vnfruitefull they are cut of but they were in the stocke we are grafted in but they before obteined the naturall sappe and proper fatnes when the Gentils are sayde to haue bene wild oliue trées without fruit he entreateth not of any Ethnikes perticulerly which thoroughe faith obteined saluation but as I before admonished these things are spoken of the people of the Gentils generally which are worthely called a fruiteles wild oliue trée for that they had not publikely the profession of true piety as the Iewes had Some thinke it straunge that Paul
conclusions Paule preached those thinges which we now read and had oftentimes incultated that grace is ther aboundant where sinne hath abounded and taught that the law therfore entred in that sinne shoulde be increased Of these thinges the vngodly sayd it followeth that men should sinne freely because to the attaynemente of grace and the promises of God we haue neede of synnes All menne All men are greeued when they heare that they are euill spoken of and especially ministers doubtles are sory when they heare theyr name or fame to be euell spoken of For they vnderstande that the prayse of a good name and of a good fame is an excellente good gifte of God But aboue other the pastors and ministers of the word of God are most greeuously troubled with this kind of discommodity Because they rightwell perceaue that theyr infamye and especially as touchinge doctrine redoundeth not onely against the truth of God but also bringeth no small hurt vnto the people committed vnto theyr charge Therfore the Apostles did euermore put away suche slaunders from themselues And that the fathers also did the like theyr writinges do testefye But Paule in thys place doth not playnely absolue that which he obiected vnto himselfe but afterward in the 6. chapter the matter shal be more at large discussed Onely at this presente he depelleth from his doctrine false slaunders And those things the vngodly are therfore wont to obiect because when they are accused they are alwayes ready to lay vpon God the cause and blame of theyr sinnes not in deede manifestly but by circumstances Some whē they are accused say that they are driuen by the starres to commit those things which they do But who made the stars God Why then God is accused So came it to passe in our fyrste parente when God reproued hym The woman sayde he whiche thou gauest me she hath deceaued me The wicked de lay vnto God the cause of theyr sins And by these woordes he wrested the cause of his sinne vnto God After the selfe same manner do these men deale whome Paule now speaketh of We sinne say they but the doctrine of the Apostle hath declared vnto vs that our sinnes are no let vnto the glory of God but rather pertayne vnto the settinge foorth of his truth fayth and constancy of promises And what other thinge els is this then to accuse the word of God As touching the first obiection Paule sayth Is God vnrighteous vvhich bringeth in anger As though he shoulde haue sayd that which ye fayne vnto your selues that synnes are vniustlye punished if by their occasion the goodnes of God be set foorth is absurde For then God should iudge vniustlye But no good vpryght reason can once imagine that he which is iudge of all men should be vniust Therfore he addeth I speake as a man That is these thinges I spake not that I thinke so in very déede but I speake those thinges which men both oftentymes thinke and do also not very seldome obiect vnto vs. But as touching the wordes it shal be good to note that whereas it is sayde If our vnrighteousnes commende the righteousnes of God by the righteousnes of God is vnderstanded his goodnes and mercy For that word which is in the Hebrue Tsedek our men haue turned iustice or righteousnes when as in very deede it signifieth mercy He also vseth thys word the truth of God which signifieth nothing els then his fayth or fidelity For before he sayde Shall our vnbeliefe make the fayth of God without effect Fayth in that place and truth in this place is nothing els then a constancy in promises and couenantes And when we reade I speake as a man we are taught what maner of thinges those are which we thinke vpon so long as we are not regenerate but are strangers from God Origen in this place followeth an other reading For he hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this particle he ioyneth with those things which went before so that thereof this sentence he gathereth Is God vniust which bringeth in anger agaynst man God forbid But the common reading is both playne and also serueth well to the purpose The maner which the Apostle vseth in aunswering when he sayth God forbid teacheth vs how redy God forbid what it signifieth with the Apostle we ought to be to repell from our thoughtes and cogitations whatsoeuer absurd thing reasō inferreth out of the scriptures against God We ought straight way to answere These thinges are after the maner of men and therefore are they not to be harkened vnto It oftentymes happeneth that our sense thinketh that God is cruell and forgetfull of his an accepter of persons and such lyke But then must we call to memory that the doinges of God are not to be measured The doings of God are not to be measured by the law of man according to the law of man for he is aboue all lawes neyther ought to be iudged of any other This thinges haue the flatterers attributed vnto the bishop of Rome bearing him in hand that he hath the fulnes of power whereby he can dispence both with the lawes of man and also with the lawes of God so that he himselfe can be iudged of no man Which fulnes of power one Baldus a lawyer not the worst of his time writeth to be the fulnes of time as which inuerteth and turneth vpside downe all rightes and lawes These thinges are agréeable vnto God only Wherefore it is blasphemy to attribute them vnto any man Only touching thinges of God it is wickednes to search out the causes and reasons but whatsoeuer Philosophers or any other kinde of men do set forth vnto vs it must be exactly examined by the word of God And as we are blamed and as some affirme that we say why do we not euill thinges that good may ensue whose damnation is iust Now withstandeth he the other obiection wherein the aduersaryes sayde that we shoulde sinne that thereof myght follow some excellent good thing namely the iustification of God and commendation of his mercy Whereunto with one words he answereth this when he sayth that the damnation of these men is iust For by that meanes he confesseth that that so greuous an error is farre strange frō his doctrine when as he cōdemneth it together with thē although some expound it in the passiue signification as though the condemnation whereby they are condemned were for that they had so euill an opinion of the Gospell Their obiections are answered when they are brought to these absurdities which coulde Sinnes are not the true cause that God should be made iuste Against good ententes not be concluded of these thinges which are spoken of Paule but of the false surmising of these men whereby they thought that sinnes were the true cause that God should be made iust For the Apostle also sayth together with them that euil things are not to be committed that good should come
speake peculiarly of Christ we haue in Genesis that the sede of the woman Peculiar testemonies of Christ of faith that iustesieth should treade vnder foote the head of the serpent And to Abraham it was sayd In thy seed shall all nations be blessed And of the same Abraham it is written He beleued God and it was imputed vnto him for righteousnes Moreouer Paul citeth Say not in thine hart who shall ascend vp into heauen or who shall descend downe into hell The woorde is nighe at hand in thy mouth and in thy harte Paul also addeth And this is the woord of fayth which we preach If thou beleue with thy hart and confesse with thy mouth Again The Scepter shal not be taken away from the tribe of Iuda neyther a captayne out of his loynes tyll he be come whiche shal be sent and he shal be the expectation of the Gentles Ieremy writeth of Christ He shal be called God our righteousnes And in the same prophet we reade that God appoynted to geue a new Testament not according to that which he made with the Fathers but in describing his law in their harts bowells Abacuk saith The iust shall liue by fayth Esai saith I am found of them that sought me not Also God hath layed vpon hym all our iniquityes Dauid also Blessed are they whose iniquityes are forgeuen and whose sins are couered Blessed is the man vnto whome the Lord hath not imputed sinne An other kind of testimonyes also is had out of the dedes of the old fathers whiche were certayne forshewinges that Christe An ether kind oâ— testemonies are the actes of the Fathers should come to redeme mankinde For as he is sayd to lyue in vs for that we are his membres so also both was he and liued he in the old fathers Wherfore they were no les his members then are we But how the head suffereth and is recreated in his members it is most apertly declared in Paul wheÌ„ it was sayd Saul Saul why persecutest thou me And in the last iudgemeÌ„t Christ will pronouÌ„ce that whatsoeuer hath bene geueÌ„ vnto the least of his was geuen vnto him wherfore so often as we reade that the elders were ouercome brought into captiuity oppressed with calamityes we must vnderstand that Christ in them suffred these self same things And agayne wheÌ„ we heare that they got the victorye were restored and A shadowe of the death and resurrection of Christ delyuered let vs thinke that Christ also was in like sort affected in them And in the one we haue a shew of his death begon and in the other a shadow and beginning of hys resurrection And that this thing is so we are tought by that whiche Christ sayd that he should be in the hart of the earth thre dayes and thre nights lyke as was Ionas the prophet He likened himselfe also vnto the brasen serpente which Moses set vp vpon which whosoeuer looked they obteyned health be inge otherwise in daunger to dye of the venemous stinginge And in Oseas the prophet we reade Out of Egipt haue I called my sonne Which oracle the Hebrews contend to wreste vnto Pharao which was destroyed and vnto the people of Israell deliuered from his tyrannie Which thing if we should in the meane time graunt theÌ„ yet would I aske of them of whence that nation had the preeminence to be called by the name of the Children of God That vndoubtedly coulde not be proued The â—lders were not the childreÌ„ of God but by Christ to come by any other meanes then by Christ which is the Sonne of God being the first begotten amongest many brethren By whom others also as manye as are nombred to be the children of God haue aspired to suche a deuine adoption Wherefore the Apostle sayth that Christ was the first fruites and pronounceth that he hath the principalitie ouer all thinges Wherfore not without cause hath our Euangelist cited this place of the Prophet touching the Lord forsomuch as he also was by the admonishment of the Angell called backe out of Egipt Lastly the The thirde kinde of â—estemonies are sacrifices sacrifices oblations and ceremonies of the Elders bare witnes of this kinde of righteousnes For in those beastes which were slayne the death of Christ was manifested vnto the fayth of the Elders For euen as the thing sacrificed which otherwise had nothing offeÌ„ded was slaine for the sin of an other which escaped frée so was thereby shewed that Christ should be flayne for vs which were guiltie of death that by the pacefieng of the heauenly Father we might escape the punishments which we had deserued Neither let any man say that the sacraments of The sacraments of the elders how they had saluation ioyned with them and how they had not What was Paules meaning to yâ— Hebrues touching the rites of the Iewes the Elders had not saluation ioyned with them For that thing will we also graunt as touching the outward woorke which commonly is called the woorke wrought But the fayth which in those rites embraced Christ brought saluation vnto the Elders euen as at this day also the outward exercises of the sacraments or commaundementes doo nothing profite but onelye fayth bringeth saluation which seeth that vnder the infoldinges of sensible signes are set forth vnto vs heauenly giftes And if at any time the Apostle vnto the Hebrews or in anye other place seeme to affirme otherwyse wee must thyncke that hee hath to doo agaynste the Iewes which seperated Christe and hys fayth both from the lawe and also from ceremonies Which two things being seperated he firmely and strongely concludeth that they haue not saluacion by such rites and sacrifices The righteousnes of God by the fayth of Iesus Christ Now is it meete to tell what fayth is Fayth therefore is an assente and that a firme assente to the What is fayth wordes of God obteyned not by reason or by naturall demoÌ„stration but by the authority of the speaker and by the power of the holy Ghost And this definicion disagreeth not from that which Paule putteth in the .xi. to the Hebrues Hereby we may see about what thinges faith is occupied namely aboute the woordes of God And it is manifest what is the chiefest principle ground vnto whiche all thinges pertayning to God are referred and that is The Lord hath sayd But the authority of the speaker cannot be of force with vs so much as it ought vnlesse the perswasion of the holy Ghost be therunto adioyned In Greeke it is called Whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is deriued 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word is deriued of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for we ar not accustomed to beleue but that which we are fully perswaded of Basilius as touching fayth when he expoundeth this place of the Psalme I haue beleued and therefore haue I spoken writeth Do not contend to see those thinges which are layd vp a farre of
after the seuenth day there commeth vnto the infant newly borne so much strength that he is able easely to abyde the payne of circumcision But let vs leaue vnto them these The eyght day betokeneth the resurrection of Christ fayned toyes and let vs rather thus thinke that in the eight day was betokened the resurrection of Christ and therewith all ours which thing may easely be perceaued by Paule for he sayth that in circumcision was signified the cutting of of the sinnes of the flesh But the sinnes of the flesh can neuer be perfectly cut of from vs vntill we are come to the holy resurrection All the whole tyme of this world and the tyme of this whole life representeth a weeke of dayes But the eight day signifieth the resurrection There is moreouer an other reason The tyme of thys life is a weeke not worthy to be contemned namely that a childe being so newely borne is able to do nothing of hymselfe as touching the attaynement of righteousnes Wherfore hereby we be admonished y◠iustification cōmeth not of our workes And although it were so in the rite of Circumcisiō yet are not we in Baptisme bound to any certayn nomber of dayes For Christ hath made vs fre from this In baptisme we are not compelled to an◠certayne nomber of dayes Circumcisiō mought in the primitiue church be retayned for a time kinde of obseruation Howbeit there haue bene some which haue gone aboute in Baptisme also to compell Christians vnto the eyght day But those the Counsell held by Cypriam hath condemned In the primitiue Church Circumcision was for a tyme obserued Augustine also vpon the epistle vnto the Galathians saith that not euery circumcision after Christ was condemned but only that circumcision wherin was put hope of saluation but that circumcisiō which was receaued for this cause only to retaine peace in the Church and the more to aduaunce the preaching of the Gospel mought well be borne with all For this cause Paul suffred Timothe to be circumcised But if it be required to be done as necessary vnto saluation it is by no meanes to be permitted And therfore Paule ernestly resisted and would not suffer Titus to be circumcised as it is written in the epistle to the Galathians They say that euē now very many Churches Many churches of the christians retaine still circumcisiō in the East or in the South retayn still to this day Circumcision together with Baptisme How rightly they do it let them see vnto that Doubtles it is most likely that forasmuch as they haue retayned it so long and that so stifly they put some hope of theyr saluation in it Wherefore they should do much better if they would vtterly omitte it But it shal be good in the meane time to declare Why circumcision bound men to obserue the law how Paul to y◠Galathians sayth that he which is circumcised is debter to obserue the whole law For when Abraham receaued Circumcision the law was not yet geuen Wherefore it semeth that Circumcision had not that of his owne force and nature to binde men to obserue the law But we ought to remember that that whiche the Apostle sayth proceedeth out of an other principle namelye that Circumcision represented Christ as which should come and geue himselfe vpon the crosse and the law should so long be of force vntil Christ came Wherfore seing by Circumcision they testified that he was not as yet come it must nedes follow that they were kept still vnder the law when as the law could only by the comming of Christ be abrogated And with how greate an obseruation God would haue that sacrament to be kept hereby it is manifest for that in the booke of Genesis the 17. chapter he testefieth That the soule which is not circumcised the 8. day should be cut of from his people Ambrose in his booke of Abraham the Patriarch semeth to wonder at this so greate seuerity For God sayth he appoynted How it is sayd that the soule of the vncircumcised should be cut of cities of refuge that if any had by chance or vnwares killed a mā he mought haue a place whether to go that the frendes and kinsfolke of the party slayne should not kill hym so that he had not of set purpose and willingly but by chaunce and vnawares committed the murther Wherfore seing infants did not by their owne will refuse circumcision what reason was there they should bee cut of He answereth that therefore peraduenture God would haue the children depriued of theyr corporall life that in them the parentes might be punished for theyr impiety But he sayth that there were other which were of the opinion that this sentence pertayned not vnto the infants but vnto those in whose power they were as if it had bene sayd that they should be cut of But the very words of the scripture are agaynst this sentence wherefore he turneth himselfe to an allegoricall exposition as though that threatning should pertayn to those which circūcise not the mind which is the strongest most excellentest portion of the soule But suche allegories satisfie not this question Wherfore I thinke that two thinges are necessary to the absoluinge of this doubte The firste is that that threatning pertayned vnto him when he came to full age if he should then allow the negligence of his parents not receaue Circumcision vnto which he was by the law bound The second is that God is not to be accused of iniustice if somtimes he killed the infant being so brought vp vncircumcised For such seuerity mought be of force to admonish mē in how il part God taketh it to haue his sacramentes contemned And if paraduenture thou demaund what is to be What is to be iudged of children that perished without circumcision iudged of the soule of a child so killed hauing not as yet receaued the sacramēt I answer that we ether as touching his saluation or condemnatiō can affirm nothing on neither side For if he pertayned to the number of the elect so that he was predestinate to eternall life there is no cause but that he may be saued forasmuch as grace is not bound vnto the sacraments But if he were a vessell to that end made of God to shew forth in him his wrath and so to be condemned what can we complayne of the seuerity of God especially seing we are all borne the children of wrath and of condemnatiō Howbeit in my iudgmēt we ought to hope well of him for that forasmuch as the promise was geuen vnto the sede of Abraham and he being an infant hath not by any actuall sinne of his owne withdrawen himselfe from the promise it is most likely that he is admitted vnto the kingdome of God Neither oughte we to thincke that he was slayne of God to eternall condemnation but rather to saluation that he shoulde not by mallice change his hart and that by hys death he mought testifye
vnto hys parents vnto his elders vnto others how greuously they sinned in neglectyng hys circumcision and might profite the whole Churche being a manifest token of the wrath of God against the contemners of the sacramentes Farther it is Before circumcision were some signes of the sacramentes Whether the sword wherewith they circumcised were made of stone Circumcion spread abroade to outward nations not hard to beleue that godly men which liued before Circumcision was instituted had other certayne notes wherby theyr righteousnes which was had by fayth was sealed For we read that they both offred fyrst fruites and also sacrificed But by what signe they signifyed theyr fyrst regeneration the holy scriptures mencioÌ„ not And the Hebrues in Circumcising their children vsed a knife made of stone which thing yet God commaunded not But they were moued so to do by the example of Zippora the wife of Moses whiche vsed suche a knife in circumcising of her sonne when he was in danger to haue bene slayne of the angell And although this sacrament was diligeÌ„tly obserued and kept amongst the Iewes yet it spred abrode also to forren nations For if we may geue credite to Ambrose in his 2. booke of Abraham the patriarch the Egiptians Arabians and Phenicians were circumcised And he thinketh that they for this cause did it for that they thoughte that by suche firste fruytes of their bloude are driuen The deuill as much as lieth in him vitiateth the sacraments of God A foolish manner of the Iewes in circumcâ—sing of their children The Egiptians circumcise their children in the 14. yeare awaye diuels to the ende that they shoulde not hurte hym which is circumcised So the deuill hath alwayes gone aboute to vitiate the sacramentes of God For it was supersticion to ascribe the power of saluation or of the deliuery from Sathan vnto the nature of bloud shed forth And at this day the Iewes seme not to be farre from this kinde of foolishenes For whilest they circumcise the infante there standeth one by with a little vessell full eyther of earth or of duste where into they thruste the foreskinne beyng cut of as though the Deuil seemed by that meanes to haue his meat For the Lord said vnto the serpent euen straight way at the beginnyng Vppon thy breast shalt thou creepe and earth shalte thou eate They séeme to thinke that the deuill hauing thus gotten his meate departeth from the child and wyll not afterward trouble him any more Amongst the Ethnickes also as the same Ambrose affirmeth was circumcision corruptly obserued after an other maner for the Egiptians circumcised not in the eight daye as God had commaunded but in the. 14. yeare for that Ismael at that age receiued circumcision Which maner also it is most likely the Arabians followed For at this day the Turkes also are circumcised at that age Although the Egiptians as the same Ambrose affirmeth were wont also to circumcise theyr women The Egiptians circuÌ„cise women kynde and that in the. 14. yeare as they did their males And of this thinge they gaue this reasoÌ„ that they would by this signe signifie that lust is to be restrained which in eyther kinde at that age beginneth chiefly to be kyndled But God commaunded that onely the male kindes should be circumcised and yet were not the women of the Hebrewes therefore counted either straungers froÌ„ the Church The womeÌ„ of the Hebrewes though they were not circumcised perished not An obiection against circumcisi â–ª or from the couenaÌ„t For they are alwaies numbred together with the men they that were vnmaried with their Father and the maryed with their husbandes There haue bene some which haue by deceitfull arguments spoken yll of circumcision and after a sorte reproued the God of the olde Testament For first they sayd that the foreskinne that was cut of is eyther according to the nature of the of the body or els it is against the nature thereof If it be according to nature why would God haue it cut of If it be agaynst nature why doth God suffer it to be brought forth Ambrose in his 77. epistle to Constantius answereth That that foreskinne is according to the nature of our body but it is not absurd that those thinges which are agreable with our body or our flesh be cut of if the spirite may thereby be holpen Which thing we see done in fastings and other mortifications of the fleshe and in bearing the crosse which God hath layd vpon all the faithfull In whych we are compelled to suffer many thinges which are against the fleshe Farther they said that God feared away the other nations from the law of Moses when An other obiection he layd vpon them this yoke of Circumcision Which if it had bene away many straungers and outward nations would haue come vnto the religion of the Hebrewes But after the selfe same maner also they mought cauell against Christ him selfe for that he seemed to feare away the world from his religion partly by reason of the seuerity of his doctrine and partly by reason of the persecutions and martirdome which in the first time the most part of the faithfull were lyke to suffer But they which truely pertaine vnto the number of the elect doo in no wyse leape backe because of the difficultie of the calling But they which go backwarde were not of vs and therefore they are fallen away They maruayle also why God would in so tender age haue such a ceremonie excercised which mought oftentimes bring weake litle bodies into danger As touching age saith Ambrose Euery age meete for the sacrament Few children died by occasion of circumcision as euery age is subiect vnto sinne so also is it mete for the sacrament And that Infants are subiect vnto sinne theyr diseases weepings paines and deathes aboundantly declare And if peraduenture they were brought in daunger of their lyfe yet was there no cause why they should complaine for as much as they ought the same all whole vnto God And yet as they write very few haue by that occasion died And that payne and daunger brought some vtilitie For euen as valiant soldiours when they remeÌ„ber that they haue before suffered many thinges for that they would not flee away are the more animated to stand by it least they should dishonor those skarres and woundes which they before suffered rather then they would forsake theyr place and standing So would God that Why God would haue the children afflicted with such a wound and with paine the hebrues being now of full age and at mans state should defend the profession of theyr law euen agaynst all dangers when they called to remembraunce that for religions sake they had bene wounded euer from theyr infamy But now he sayth CircumcisioÌ„ is worthely refused of Christians for that forasmuch as Christ hath shed his bloud the price of our redemption there is now no neede that euery particular man should priuatelye shed
lord and his tonge so tyed that he could not declare it which punishment was verye conueniente for that offence For they which beleue not doo nether speake nor confesse Abraham considered with himselfe although I am now by nature past children gettinge and am become barren yet the and might of God is not subiect vnto the impediments of creatures For God can beyond the accustomed maner and course of nature bring to passe whatsoeuer he wil wherfore although I cā not by mine owne strengths beget a child yet God can adorne his promise with a miracle wherby he may ouercome the order of nature The Rabines of the Hebrues say that Abram begetteth not but Abraham begetteth Bycause saye they in that name is put the aspiratiō He which is a letter pertaining to the name Tetragrāma tō As if it should haue ben said the power of God being aded he which could not beget now begetteth children Augustine in his questions vpon Genesis thinketh that this place of the Apostle is not simply to be vnderstanded For we rede that after the death of Sara Abraham had many children by his wife Chetura which he afterward maried And he addeth that the opinion of naturall philosophers is that men of greate age can not beget children of old women but yet they may of young maydens Wherfore he thinketh that we must in this place vnderstād that the body of Abraham was dead as touching Sara his wife which was now fower score and ten yeares old But this exposition hath not such firme cause to compel vs to thinke it to be true For in that Abraham begat children of Chetura Sara being now dead that mought come by this meanes that God had now besides the order of nature restored vnto him strength to beget childrē Nether maketh that any thing to the purpose which Origen affirmeth who vpon this place writeth that the body of Abraham is vnderstand to be dead bycause he now liued chastly with his wife nether had any more fellowship with her But he cōmēdeth him for that when he had receaued the commaundement of God that he should haue issue by his wife he agayne went in vnto her These thinges as it appereth he deuised of his owne hed for they can not be gathered out of the history Now the Apostle is in hand with this to commend the fayth of Abraham for that he constantly gaue assent vnto the promise of God although both his owne nature and his wiues nature were vtterly agaynst it But whither Abraham any thing doubted when God promised vnto him a child the scripture semeth to leaue in suspēce For in the 12. Whether Abraham doubted whē he had a child promised him chapter of Genesis it is written that he laughed and sayd shall a child be borne to one of an hundreth yeares of age And shall Sara bring forth a child being 90. yeares of age I would to God Ismaell mought liue in thy sight These words haue a shew both of ioy and of admiration being ioyned notwithstanding with some doubting And this scripture therfore maketh mencion of these things that the fayth of Abraham which is so highly commended should in no wise be thought to haue bene without doubtings which are accustomed to spring of the flesh and humane fence but bycause the fayth of the Patriarch ouercame these doubtings therefore is it praysed Nether doo we read there that Abraham was accused of God Both of thē laughed Abraham Sara of incredulity as Sara was which also laughed And if a mā waigh the outward laughter they were both a like But God which is the sercher of the hartes vnderstood right well the fayth of ether of them Holy men although they beleued the promises of God yet sometimes through humane weakenes they somewhat doubted and therof it oftentimes came to passe that they required signes and miracles to confirme theyr weaknes which thing we reade of Gedeon and Ezechias The saints to confirme theyr fayth sometimes required miracles A remedy against weake fayth Whither the blessed virgin doubted the king But in this place is shewed a remedy agaynst such temptacions namely to call backe our thoughtes from humane lettes and to fixe our eyes only vpon the power of God Of this thinge the Angell admonished the blessed Virgine saying No word is impossible with God Although it appeare not by the wordes of the virgine that she doubted but only asked how that shoulde come to passe For she doubted not but that as the Angell had tolde her she shoulde conceaue and that straightway but because she saw that she was not as yet coupled in matrimony although she were betrouthed she demaūded how that should come to passe whether she shoulde wayte till she were ioyned in matrimony or whether it should by any other meanes come to passe Wherefore the Angell in his answere comprehendeth two principall pointes The one is wherby he remoueth away doubting if paraduenture there stacke any in the minde of the Virgine for he sayth No word is impossible with God The second is of the maner of conceauing The holy ghost sayth he shall come vpon thee and the power of the most highest shall shadow thee But whereas some fayne that she asked this because she had vowed her virginitye vnto God it nedeth no long confutation The blessed virgine made no vow especially seing we are by the history it selfe tought that she was betrothed to a mā nether was there at that tyme any such custome to vow virginity vnto God But to return to our purpose our part is to resist the doubts which striue agaynste fayth by the consideration of the power of God for there can no doubt arise as touching the will of God For of his owne accord he promiseth whatsoeuer he setteth forth to be beleued nether doubtles woulde he do it if he would not geue it Wherefore it followeth that they whith are tempted The prayers of the church begin at the omnipotency of God with such doubting are in doubt of hys power Hereof I thinke it commeth to passe that the prayers of the Church do so oftentymes beginne with the omnipotency of God to the ende the hartes of them that pray shoulde be confirmed and that they should not with doubting require any thinge in their publique prayers Of those thinges it is manifest how gréeuous a sinne it is to doubt of the promises of God For that is nothing els but to make God eyther a lyar or els A greuous sinne to doubt of the promises of God The deuell hath not fayth weake And they which are of that mynde can nether call vpon God nor aske or looke for any thing at his hands But now forasmuch as this is the nature of faith which the Apostle now describeth it manifestly appeareth that the deuill hath not fayth For he can haue no confidence that he is accepted of God and besides that he knoweth right well by the naturall sharpenes of
ernest peny and a triall of the saluation to come And therefore in those which are in Christ he hath engrauen and emprinted his spirite Nether nede we sayth Ambrose forasmuch as we are so deare vnto God to be aferd that we should of him be deceaued And Paul hath not without a cause made mencion of the holy ghost For he it is which beareth witnes vnto our spirite that we are the sonnes of God and by him we chiefely acknowledge the thinges that are geuē vs of God For as it is written in the first to the Corrinthians we haue not receaued the spirite of this world but the spirit which is God to know the thinges which are geuen vs of God But because we can not by certayne demonstracions or by experience of the sence teach vnto the infidels this loue of God whereof the holy ghost maketh vs assured therefore it is A similitude sayd to be powred into our hartes For we are in this life like strangers which although at home they come of a noble parentage and are rich yet so long as they are abiding amōgst strange nations they are not had in estimation But yet they knowing their owne nobility reioyce in their hart and passe not vpon the vayne opinions that other men haue of them So we hauing the loue of God shed abroade into our hartes when we are as fooles miserable men derided of the wicked are nothing at all moued with their iudgement being fully contented with our state and condition Augustine somewhat otherwise expoundeth this place For he thought that by loue is to be vnderstand that loue wherwith we loue God which exposition in my iudgement can haue no place For we haue not therefore our hope vnshaken because we loue God but because we are loued of God Farther the scope of Paul is to confirme our hope by the benefit of the death of Christ which maketh vs assured not of our loue towards God but contrariwise of Gods loue towardes vs. Wherefore he concludeth his argument with these wordes And God hath set forth his loue to wardes vs. c. Although we also gladly acknowledge with Augustine that the hope of godly men is somewhat confirmed for that they now feele by the holy ghost that they are inflamed with the loue of God when they vnderstand that for their sake the sonne of God was of hym deliuered vnto the death And that our loue is deriued of that loue of God wherewith he embraseth vs it is playne and manifest Our loue springeth of the loue of God but as touching the sence of the Apostle the former exposition is more naturall For Christ when we were yet weake according to the consideration of the time died for the vngodly For a man will scarce dye for a righteous man For for a good man it may be that one dare dye But God setteth forth his loue towardes vs seing that while we were yet sinners Christ died for vs. Much more then being now iustified by his blood we shal be saued frō wrath thorough him For if whē we wer enemies we wer recōciled vnto God by the death of his sonne much more being reconciled we shal be saued by his life And not only this but we also reioyce in God through our Lord Iesus Christ by whome we haue now receaued the attonement For Christ when we were yet weake c. Now he expresseth the reasō wherby we may knowe that God loueth vs namely for that he gaue his sonne for vs whē we were yet weake sinners vngodly enemies Wherfore we manifestly gather that y◠hope cā not confound vs wherby we haue full confidence y◠seing we are now regenerate and reconciled vnto God we shal at the length obteine eternall felicity For if he vouchased to geue so much for enemies and sinners sakes vndoubtedly he wil geue much more vnto his frindes and childrē Wherfore The Methode of Paules reason Paul first setteth forth the benefite bestowed vpon mākind the sonne of God I say which was geuē vnto the death Secondly he maketh a comparisō wherby is excedingly confirmed the hope of the faythfull Last of all he sheweth that we doo not only hope but also excedingly reioyce of this loue of God towards vs. As touching the first part he doth not coldly or sclēderly declare how much good God hath bestowed vpon vs when he gaue his sonne for our saluatiō but with greate amplificatiō he setteth forth the matter namely that his sonne was not geuen for all men but for those which were vtterly vnworthy of all mercy For before we wer by the benefite of God made pertakers of this redemption we could by no helpe or force of our owne helpe our selues And therfore Christ is sayd to be geuen for weake ones which wholy neded all maner of helpe And those selfe same being wicked and vngodly refused the helpe offred vnto them And when they were sinners these euells dayly encreased more and more For both the infirmity was encreased and the remedy grew the more in hatred by reason of theyr impiety which more and more encresed This also helped therevnto for that men were now declared to be open enemies And it was a greate matter to vndoo and make voide those thinges which were once decreed This is the meaning of these wordes vveake vngodly sinners and enemies For a righteous man and for a good man Seing that all men are loth to dye thereby is manifest how greate was the loue of Christ towards vs which would dye for such as once were we as hath now bene declared For the righteous Some hereby haue vnderstand a iust cause For they whiche haue deserued death canne skarslye bee perswaded too take theyr death patient For the Good That is they more willingly dye for that which is profitable and plesant as the parentes for theyr children the husbands for their wiues merchants for theyr merchandise Origen bringeth an example of the Martirs which suffer death for Christs sake who is in very dede good Others make mēcion of the Decians Curtians Codrians and the bretherne called Phileni which of theyr owne accorde gaue theyr liues for theyr countrey For all these semed to haue bene moued to geue themselues to the death both for that which is iust for that which is profitable For it was a thing iust that they should be so kind vnto theyr countrey in the defence thereof to be willinge to shedde theyr liues Farther also by theyr death they semed to preserue those who were vnto them most deare Vndoubtedly for my part I thinke with Chrisostome that by these woords Iust and Good are simply to be vnderstand good men and iust men although Ierome to Algasia in his 7. question taketh Iust and good substātiuely for a thing iust and good But why Paul sayd Scarce for a iust man and addeth peraduenture for a good man I thinke this to be the cause for that they which seemed sometimes to
something which is of his owne nature sinne which yet is not imputed of God as we sayd commeth to passe in the beleuers as touching the corruption of nature and pronesse vnto sinnes These thinges are of them selues sinnes although for Christes sake they are not imputed as the Apostle in this The imputation of sinnes of two sortes ether as touching God or as touching men The tyme of the lawe is not excluded from sinne place sayth that before the Law there were many sinnes which yet were not so imputed or counted of men Although herein is some difference for there the imputation is by the mercy of God remoued way but here it is remoued away thorough the ignorance of man Farther although it be said Euen vnto the law yet is not thereby the time of the law acquitted free from sinne For the Law is not of that strength to abolish sinnes And this was of no smal force to abate the hautines and pride of the Iewes For they counted themselues more holye all thē other nations for that they had receaued a law from God The like kinde of speach is vsed of the Ethnikes when they write that euen vnto the tenth yere did the Greacians fight agaynst Troy for in so saying they doubtles excluded not the tenth yeare So when Paul sayth Sinne was in the world Euen vnto the law he excludeth not that time which was vnder the law And this wōderfully Only grace ouercommeth sinne setteth forth the grace of Christ which alone was able to vāquishe and to driue away sinne when as sinne was of so greate force to destroye and had so farre and so long ranged abrode that it could not be restrayned no not by the Law Paul when he sayth That death raigned vseth the figure Prosopopaeia nether ought we therfore to thinke y◠by this word Kingdome is ment any healthfull gouermēt Howbeit Why the power of of death is called a kingdome therefore he calleth the power of death a kingdome to show that the power thereof was exceding great wherunto all thinges gaue place that it was of a wonderfull mighty force which had brought all tlhinges vnder his subiectiō The selfe same forme of speaking he vseth agayne in this epistle saying Let not sinne raigne in your mortall body as if he should haue sayd Although ye cannot prohibit sinne to be in you yet permite not vnto it the kingdome and chiefe dominion it all your endeuors and counselles should geue place and be obedient vnto that And he therefore added that death raygned from Adam euen to Moses to declare that there was sinne in the world For death and sinne follow one the other Agaynst them that deny originall sinne in children inseperably and Sinne and death inferre and bring in one the other Hereby are confuted those which contend that infantes are without sinne and say that for that cause they dye for that by reason of the sinne of Adam they are vnder the condition of mortality being otherwise themselues innocent and cleane from sinne For if this were true the Apostle should then in this place conclude nothing For it mought easely be answered that althoughe men died before the law yet sinne at that time had not his being Wherfore let vs say with Paul Sinne and death are so ioyned together that they cannot be parted a sonder Ambrose suspected the Greke bookes that these two things are so ioyned together that they cā not be parted asonder Ouer them also that sinned not after the like maner of the transgression of Adam These wordes were in some copies set forth affirmatiuely by taking away this word not And of this reading doth Origen make mencion and so farre is Ambrose of from dissalowing it that he thinkethn one but it to be natiue And he hath a large discourse of the variety of the Greke bookes and semeth for that cause to haue them in suspicion as corrupted in many places after that the contencions of the heretikes grew strōg But in the expositiō of that reading which he followeth he semeth to speake but slenderly to the matter for he will haue death to haue rayned ouer those onely which in sinning were like vnto Adam and this he saith happened in idolatry For he affirmeth that the sinne wherein Adam fell was in a maner of this sorte that he beleued himselfe to be God and preferred Sathā before God more esteming his coūsell then the cōmaūdemēt of God But as for others which keping still their faith in the only Creator did notwithstāding sometimes fall he thinketh not that they fell after y◠like maner that Adam fell and therefore he writeth that they died the death of the bodye Ambrose held that some had in hell a free custody but not eternall death were kept in hell in a free custody euē to the cōming of Christ but in those which had imitated the sinne of Adam ternal death wholy raigned These things as euery mā may easely se are both farre fetched also do much weakē the argumēt of the Apostle wherefore if this text should be red affirmatiuely peraduēture we mought picke therout this sentēce to vnderstād y◠death raigned ouer al mē which sinned after the like māner of the transgressiō of Adam for that he hauing sinned it was all one as if all men had bene present and sinned together with him But let vs leaue this readinge and follow the common readinge and especially seinge Chrisostome Theophilactus and the Greeke Scholies pronounce these woordes negatiuely And so this is the sence that those menne which were before the lawe although they sinned not after that manner that Adam fell who besides the lawe of nature had also a certain commaundement prescribed him yet they also were obnoxious vnto death But Augustine applieth these wordes vnto infantes which die and haue sinne although they sinne not after the selfe same manner that Adam sinned And so Not to sinne after the like manner of the transgression of Adam is nothing els but not to haue sinne actuall and personall as they call it But I woulde thinke that in these woordes may be comprehended both infantes and others that are of age both those before the law and those after the law and those vnder grace Rude and blockish 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 sinne not after the same manner that Adam did as many as are so rude and blockishe that they are vtterlye ignorante of the commaundementes of God of whiche kinde of men it is not incredible but that there maye some be founde in the worlde And in this case vndoubtedlye all men dye although they know not the commaundement prescribed them of God as Adam did Which was the figure of that which was to come By y◠which was to come we may vnderstand all that which afterward happened in all men which procéeded from Adam which were aswel as he obnoxious vnto the curse and vnto death So the first father was a figure and
many other hard and gréeuous thinges But they saw not the cause and fountayne of these The Ethnikes saw the euil but vnderstoode not the fountayne thereof euils For that can be perceaued only by the word of God Farther this Pigghius reasoneth and sayth that this desire which Augustine calleth concupisence is a worke of nature and of God and therefore it can not be counted sinne But we haue before answered that it commeth not from the groundes of nature as it was instituted by God but of nature corrupted For man when he was created was made right and and as the scripture sayth to the Image of God Adam whē he was created had affectiōs geuē him which were gentle and moderate Iulianus Pelagians praised lust Wherefore that desire of thinges pleasant and preseruatiue in Adam when he was first created was not outragious or vehement to be against right reason and the word of God for that followed afterward Wherefore we ought not to call it the worke of God as Pigghius sayth but the wickednes of sinne and corruption of affections Wherefore Augustine calleth Iulianus the Pelagian an vnshamfast prayser of concupiscence For he which thing Pigghius also doth commended it as a notable worke of God Moreouer Pigghius is agaynst Augustine for this cause namely because he sayth that concupisence is sinne before baptisme but after baptisme he denieth it when as sayth he the concupisence is one and the selfe same and God is the selfe same and his lawe the selfe same Wherefore he concludeth that ether it must be sinne in both or els in neither But here Pigghius excedingly erreth two maner of wayes first because What mutation commeth by regeneration he thinketh that in regeneration is made no mutation especially seing that he can not deny but that in it commeth the remedy of Christ and his righteousnes is applied and the guiltines taken away For that God imputeth not that concupisence which remayneth after regeneration Moreouer also the holy ghost is geuen that the might of concupisence myght be broken so that although it abide in vs yet it shoulde not beare rule in vs. For to thys thynge Paul exhorteth vs when he sayth Let not sinne raigne in your mortall body On Augustine affirmeth that those thinges which remaine after regeneratiō are sinne If at any time he deny it to be sinne the same must be vnderstād as touching the guiltines therof That lust is not actuall sinne Why original sinne is called lust Whither this sinne be the wāt of originall righteousnes What the scholemen vnderstand by originall righteousnes Not euery defect or want maketh the thing euill the other side also he is deceaued in that he supposeth that Augustine thinketh that the concupisence which remayneth after baptisme is vtterly no sinne and especially if it be considered alone and by it selfe For by most expresse wordes he sayth that of hys owne nature it is sinne because it is disobedience against which we ought continually to striue But when he denieth it to be sinne the same is to be vnderstand as touching the guiltines therof for that is without doubt taken away in regeneration For so it comth to passe that God although it be in very dede sinne doth yet not impute it for sinne Farther Augustine compareth concupiscence with those sinnes are called actuall being compared with them it may be said that it is no sinne For it is far from the haynousnes of them But I meruaile how Pigghius could be so bold to say that Augustine without testimony of the scriptures affirmeth lust to be Originall sinne when as he in his disputations against the Pelagians doth mightely defend his sentence by the holye scriptures But why he calleth Originall sinne concupiscence this is the cause for that Originall doth most of all declare it selfe by the grosser lustes of the mynde of the flesh Now I thinke it good to sée what other men haue thought touchyng this For besides this opinion there is also an other sentēce which is of those which say that Original sinne is the want of Originall iustice Anselmus was of this opinion in his booke de partu virginis and he drew many scholasticall authors into this his sentence And these men by Originall iustice vnderstand nothing elles then the right constitucion of man when the body obeyeth the soule and the inferiour partes of the soule obey the superiour partes the mind is subiect vnto God to his law In this iustice was Adam created if he had abode all we should haue liued cōtinually in it But forasmuch as he fell all we are depriued of it The want of this righteousnes they affirme to be Originall sinne But to make their sentēce more plaine they say that not euery defect or want is sinne or euill For although a stone want iustice yet shall not therfore the stone be called vniust or euill But when the thing is apte mete to receiue that which it wanteth then such a defect or want is called euill as it happeneth in the eye when it is depriued of y◠faculty of seing And yet we do not therfore say that in the eye is blame or sinne for then cōmeth sinne when by reason of such a want followeth a striuing and resistyng against the law of God Pigghius condemneth this sentence also For he saith it is An obiectiō of Pigghius no sinne if a man kepe not the gift which he hath not receiued For it may be that he which is borne hauing his health and being whole of body and limmes may fal into a disease or lose one of his members or become maymed which defectes or wantes yet there is no man will call faultes or sinnes but this similitude serueth not to the purpose For a disease or lamenes of the body serueth nothing eyther to the obseruyng or violating of the law of God But that which they call the wante of original iustice bringeth of necessitie with it the breach of the law of God More ouer he contendeth y◠the losse of originall iustice in children is not sinne bicause it was not lost thorough their default But this agayne is to call God to accompt But God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is not to be compelled to order neither ought he to be God is not to be broght to order ordered by humaine lawes But let Pigghius conferre that his opinion wyth thys which he impugneth This affirmeth that God condemneth vice and corruption which it putteth to be in children newly borne But Pigghius maketh children gilty and condemneth them of that fault and sinne which is not in them But onely is that which Adam our first parent committed For otherwise he counteth those children most innocent But whether of these is more farre from reason more abhorreth euen also from humane lawes to punish an innocent for an other mās sinne or to condemne him which hath in himselfe a cause why to be condemned
knowe our selues neither doo we abhorre so much as it behoueth vs from our naturall corruption and from the sins which do spring therof Yea rather there are very many which vnder the pretēce of the prayse of nature and of the workes of God do highly commend many things which by very good right ought to be condemned especially when they are sinnes The meaning therfore of this place is that now by the grace of Christ and profession of baptisme the old man is crucified and that it ought continually so to be kept vnder that the body that is the multitude of sins which spring out of it should be abolished And although in this lyfe we can not obteine to be vtterly frée from fallyng An excellēt comparisō sometimes yet ought all our endeuor to tende to this ende that euen as Christe gaue not himselfe partly but wholy vnto the crosse for our sakes so also ought we to die not onely to one or two kindes of sinnes but vtterly to all kindes of sinnes And this crucifieng if we haue a respect vnto the first communion which we haue with the death and resurrection of Christ commeth first of the holy ghost and frée mercy of God But when we are once through faith regenerate and are translated from Adam vnto Christ it behoueth vs to put to our labour endeuour and diligence And therefore Paule vnto the Galathians writeth that they whiche are of Christe haue crucified theyr fleshe wyth the lustes therof And that worthely For sithen they are y◠members of Christ it is mete that they be conformable vnto their The Deuil is crucefied with the flesh hed And Ambrose noteth that we together wyth the fleshe do crucifie the Deuill because he by the meanes of it is of efficacy in vs. That henceforth we should not be seruants vnto sinne He stil more plainly declareth what this meaneth the body of sinne to be abolished And this is the meanyng that we should not obey our naturall lust thorough committing of diuers wicked vices And by the worde of bondage or seruitude he sheweth that he layeth before vs not thinges vnprofitable but things that aboue all other are to be desired namely that we might be set at liberty Neither spake he that to this end The end is that we should not be seruants vnto sinne that sinne should by no maner of waye remayne in vs for that is vnpossible so long as we liue in this world But therfore he so admonisheth vs that we shoulde not be seruantes vnto sinne For he that is dead is iustified from sinne Wherfore if we be dead with Christ we beleue that we shal also liue with him Knowing that Christ beyng raysed from the dead dieth no more Death hath no more dominion ouer hym For as touchyng that he died he died concernyng sinne once and as touchyng that he lyueth he liueth vnto God Lykewyse consider ye also that ye are dead as touching sinne but are aliue vnto God through Iesus Christ our lord For he that is dead is iustified from sinne The reason why we should not be seruantes vnto lust is this namely because we are by death deliuered from it For to be iustified from sinne is as much as to be deliuered from it so that henceforth it hath no more power ouer vs. And Paul seemeth here to speake not of the death of nature but of mortification wherof I haue so oftentimes spoken And iustification may be here taken properly for that mortificatiō may be the effect therof For we cannot attain vnto it vnles we be first iustified Although some not vnaptly vnderstand this place of the vsual and natural death For they that are dead do cease of from the wicked workes in which they before liued And we vse to say of a thefe 〈◊〉 is now hanged that he will steale no more and the prouerbe is a deade man 〈…〉 teth not Wherefore if we followe this sence then shall it be a metaphore that euen as they whiche are naturallye deade do forsake and finishe the sinnes which whilest they liued they committed so we forasmuch as we are dead vnto Christ and haue professed that we will dye vnto sinne oughte vtterlye to A place of Iohn cease from synne These woordes of Paul are no otherwyse to bee vnderstande then are these wordes of Iohn He whiche is borne of GOD synneth not That is in that euerye one lyueth and woorketh oute of the principle and grounde of the heauenlye natiuitye And this principle or grounde is the holye Ghoste The principles of the heauenly regeneratiō and the worde of GOD. So he is saide to be loosed from sinne and not to doe any thing by the impulsion thereof which is dead vnto sinne and is crucified together with Christ in that he is dead and fastened vnto the crosse And euen so teacheth Peter in his first epistle the 4. chapter Forasmuch as Christ hath suffred for vs in the fleshe be ye armed with the selfe same cogitation For he which is deade ceaseth to sinne neyther liueth he in the desires of men but in the will of the Lord God Wherefore if we be dead with Christ we beleue that we shall also liue with him To the ende we should not be afrayd at the name of death which he hath before so often made mencion of he presently addeth a consolation declaring that vnto this death which he hath spoken of is annexed the life of Christ so that After regeneration we leade the life of God if we dye together with Christ we shall also liue together with him And this life is not only that which we looke for in the world to come but also it is euen that life which we now leade which in very dede is one and the selfe same with the life to come but that this is only a life begonne and vnperfect but the other is perfect and absolute For we which beleue in Christ and are iustified do also euen now presently leade the life of God For we are driuen and moued not of our selues but of the spirit of God But what maner of life this life of Christ is which is in the meane tyme communicated vnto vs whilest we liue in this world the Apostle straight way declareth Knowing that Christ being raysed from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion ouer him As the life of Christ is neuer extinguished by any death so the life of the children of God and brethren of Christ oughte not to be quenched by sinnes But why Christ dyeth no more this is the cause for Why Christe dieth no more that he hath ouercome death and taken away sinne by whose meanes only death was vpholden and bare dominion For vnto the Corrinthyans it is written The sting of death is sinne and in this epistle death raigned by sinne Wherefore they which are pertakers of the death of Christ neither ought nor can any longer be subiect ether vnto sinne
case was only touching the life and goodes of the body But here we haue an enemy in the inward partes and in the very bowels and our minde is subiect vnto sinne euen against our willes and we resisting it We were sold so soone as Adam had sinned For by one man sin entred into the world and in hym all men haue sinned We were solde gratis that is for nothyng for there was no iust cause which draue our first parentes to sinne why we are sayd to be sold gratis Farther also forasmuch as when we are borne we draw sinne with vs neither take we it vpon vs of our owne will therfore are we sayd to be sold gratis Augustine vpon the booke of Iudges the 17. questiō wondreth at this phrase of speach in the Scriptures wherby men are said to be sold gratis when as no price at al was What to be solde gratis signifieth payd for them And he saith that by this phrase is signified nothing els but that y◠Israelites were deliuered of God into the power of their enemies of whom they should be afflicted no otherwise then if they had bene bought bondmen And he sayth that this word gratis which is red in the Psalmes and in Esay is very aptly put For that God when he in such sort deliuered the Iewes into the power of straungers got therby no honour or worshipping at all as a reward or price For they were idolatrers So we are sayd to be deliuered gratis both vnto the deuill to y◠corruptiō naturally grafted in vs for y◠by thē redoundeth vnto God neither honour nor thanks For they are enemies vnto God do cōtinually beare hatred against him But as we are sold gratis so also are we redeemed gratis not but y◠We are redeemed gratis Achab sold him selfe to do euill Christ hath paid for vs both his lyfe bloud but for y◠we haue therunto geuē nothing of our own neither ar we iustified by any our merite The self same phrase of speach is red in y◠1. boke of Kings the 21. cha of Achab y◠wicked kyng He was solde to do euill in the sight of the Lord. But in the Hebrew phrase this word Hithmabo signifieth that he sold himself both for that he willingly and of his owne accorde dyd those things wherunto by the lust grafted in hym he was moued and also for that thorough his owne will he had therunto added many kindes of sinnes Augustine in hys 41. treatise vpon Iohn compareth this seruitude wherby we liue in vnder sinne with the ciuill and outward seruitude and in that comparison setteth before our eyes in how vnhappy estate they are which are in such sort solde vnder sinne and made seruantes vnto the tiranny therof A bondeman sayth he is in A comparison betwen◠the seruitude of sin and ciuile seruitude some hope to chaunge hys lord or maister if he chaunce to be ouer cruell and froward towardes hym For by one meanes or other he practiseth wyth some to buye hym of hys Lorde and counteth it a great benefite if he may leaue his cruell Lorde and obteyne a gentler But sinne so cleaneth in vs that there is no man whiche can hope for any suche change They which are seruants as touchyng ciuile seruitude are in good hope that they shall at one tyme or other find the meanes to runne away from theyr Lords But as for vs whether shall we go whersoeuer we shall be we shall draw wyth vs the tyran sin Suppose that there were one which would redeme vs. Is it not of necessity that he be free from the common Lord whose seruantes we are that is from sinne I thynke verily it is For other wyse whatsoeuer he should buye should be bounde vnto sinne vnto whome he though he were now a redemer is also a seruaunt But there can none be found free from sinne except only our Lord Iesus Christ. Wherfore vnto hym let hym go whosoeuer wyll be deliuered from sinne But a man will obiect But the Apostle sayth that we are now deliuered from sinne for thus he writeth But now we beyng deliuered from sinne are made the seruantes of righteousnes Why then doth he nowe complayne that he is sold vnder sinne Here must we call to mynd that which we haue oftentimes said that we are in déede deliuered by Christ but yet not with a full deliuery but only Our deliuery is not yet full and perfect with a deliuery begonne which then at the last shall be perfect when our last enemy death shall be destroyed and when as Paul sayth this mortall body shall haue put on immortality and this corruptible body shall be made incorruptible But in the meane tyme we possesse not a full liberty but a liberty hoped for Now then seyng that we are still carnall and sold vnder sinne it is our partes continually with faithfull prayers to cry vnto the lord not without good aduisement to approue those things which are pleasant vnto vs but rather let vs haue in suspiciō all things y◠are ours for that frō the bondslaues of sin can nothing lightly be looked for which is in very dede good And whē we are oppressed with any calamity let vs in no wise complain of God as though he afflicteth vs without any our defect For it is not possible but that of them whiche liue vnder sinne should be many It is not possible but that we must nedes commit many thynges amisse thinges amisse committed The thinges which Paul before spake in this chap. that he knew not sinne and was ignorant of lust when he wanted the lawe and as soone as it came sinne excedingly encreased in him and so increased that of it through the commaundement he was slayne and such other like thinges all these I say the Pelagians easely graunted mought be vnderstand of Paul both when he was yet an infant and also whē he was of full age so long as he endeuoured not himselfe to an vpright life But here they somewhat staggered when they saw that he sayd of himselfe and that in the present tempse The lawe is spirituall Here falleth away much from free will but I am carnall being sold vnder sinne For here they felt that somewhat but what do I say somewhat yea rather that very much falleth away from frée will They saw moreouer that he can not be iustified at his owne pleasure which is driuen to be the seruaunt of sinne and which after he is come vnto Christ is sayd yet notwithstanding to be sold vnder sinne so that he can not in all poyntes fulfill the lawe of God which is spirituall Wherefore they went about to wrest these wordes of the Apostle to an other sense For they sayd that he called himselfe carnall for that whilest he here liued he had not yet put on the spirituall fleshe which we shall haue in the resurrection but still caried it about with him which in the meanetyme was
our sinnes we straight way despayring of saluation except we come vnto Christ perceaue that we are vtterly vndone Wherefore the selfe same spirite being our guide we come vnto Christ and by faith embrace him and the promise of the mercy of God by which meanes our sinnes are forgeuen vs and we are receaued into the adoptioÌ„ of the sonnes of God Wherefore Paules meaning was to declare vnto the Romanes that they being now past that first steppe being regenerate in Christ haue obtayned adoption and therefore it behoued them not only to liue holily but also fréely and of theyr owne accorde to worke vprightly Vnto this our interpretacion Ambrose subscribeth Two degrees of cenuersion for he sayth That the Apostle here teacheth the Romanes that they are no more vnder the lawe but do now liue vnder fayth Wherefore I thinke with hym that in these wordes is set forth two steppes of conuersion And if a man demaund touching the people in the olde tyme how they had the spirite of Christ I thinke yâ— may thus be answered by deuiding yâ— Iewes into thâ—e partes For some of them Three kindes of peopâ—e amongst the Iewes wer vtterly wicked vngodly which besides name habitatioÌ„ outward Circumcision had nothing coÌ„mon with yâ— people of God these meÌ„ I graunt were vtterly voyd of the spirit of Christ yea rather they liued vnder the spirit of SathaÌ„ On the other side there were some excellent holy men as Dauid Ezechias Iosias Elias Daniel many such other like whom we can by no meanes deny but the they had the spirite of the Gospell although as the time required they were compelled to obserue many ceremonies and rites pertayning vnto the lawe Agayne there were some others which were weake which although they can not be compared with these whome we haâ—e mencioned yet forasmuch as they being godly beleued in the Messias to come and were by that fayth iustified we ought not to thinke that they were strangers from the spirit of Christ although by reason of their imperfection the lawe chalenged greate power ouer them and they were with others as those tymes required compelled to be subiect vnto infinite ceremonies And this is the reason why the elders are said to haue liued vnder the law and vnder the spirite of bondage They had not the Sacramentes oâ— their saluation so perspicuous and cleare as ours nowe are neither had they the misteries of Christe so commoÌ„ly reueled as we now haue in the Gospell Wherfore although amongs vs are many wicked meÌ„ a great nuÌ„ber of weake ones yet are we said to be deliuered froÌ„ the law both because we are deliuered froÌ„ ceremonies for the we haue the sacrameÌ„ts misteries of saluatioÌ„ obtained through Christ made more clere more manifest theÌ„ theirs commoÌ„ly were Paul also calleth the elders little ones for the they The holy men of the elders weâ— seruants but yet profitable seruauntes liued vnder tutors and gouernours and were instructed of the law as of a scholemaister And when they are called seruaunts we ought to vnderstand the they wer profitable seruantes For such seruauntes beare great good will loue vnto their maisters and are persuaded that that which is to the honour of their maister shal also turne to their honour But lewd seruantes neuer refraine from vices nether do they any thing well vnles they be by stripes compelled These their two titles which I haue mencioned Paul ioyneth together in the epistle vnto the Galathians For thus he sayth The heyre so long as he is a little one liueth vnder tutors and gouernours and differeth nothing froÌ„ a seruant wheÌ„ as yet he is Lord of all By which words he declareth that the elect of God amongst the elders were in very dede heyres although according to the consideration of the tyme they were as little ones vnder the forme of seruauntes kept vnder the scholing of the law and elementes of this world This thinke I is to be thought of the elders Now will I returne vnto Paul He declareth that the Romanes are now iustified so that they are no more vnder the law and condemnation but are now thorow faith and the spirite adopted into childreÌ„ Wherfore it is mete that they which are come to this estate should resemble the nature of their father that the thinges which are allowed of him they also should allow and the thinges that he condemneth and escheweth they also should abhorre and detest Although this spirit of adoptioÌ„ can not so long as we liue here The spirite of adoption is not yet perfect and absolute in vs. be perfect and absolute in vs. For there is remaining in vs a perpetual strife of the flesh against the spirit This also is to be obserued that Paul here changed the Antithesis for when he had made mencion of the spirite of bondage the order of spech semed to require that he should haue said that they had receiued the spirit of liberty but in stede of liberty he did put adoption to make the thing whiche he had in hand the more notable For it is a farre greater matter to be adopted of God to be It is a greater matter to be adopted then to be set at liberty Definition of adoption Arrogation what it differeth from adoption his sonne then to be set at liberty But bicause here is mencion made of the adoption of the children of God this place semeth to require to speake somwhat of it also The Lawyers as it is had in the institutions define adoption to be a legitimate acte imitating nature found out for their solace or comfort which haue no childreÌ„ Farther they make a distinction betwene adoption and arrogation For arrogation they say is wheÌ„ he which is his own man at liberty is receiued in the steade of a son but adoptioÌ„ is when he which is receiued is vnder an other mans power Howbeit the lawes forbid that the elder should be adopted of the yonger for it semeth a thing monstrous that the sonne shoulde excéede the father in yeares And therfore Cicero oftentimes vehemeÌ„tly inueigheth against that adoption of Clodius Now God adopteth vnto himselfe his elect not for that he had not an other sonne for he had his only begotten sonne Christ in whom he was well pleased but for God adopted vs wheÌ„ as yet he had a sonne that in al the nature of man he had as yet no children For through Adam we wer all made straungers from him Wherfore God for this cause sent his naturall and legitimate sonne into the world that by him he might adopt vnto himselfe many children out of our kinde And this is not wont commonly to be in vre For they which haue one onely sonne seke not to get any other sonnes yea rather they reioyce that that their sonne shall not be compelled to parte the inheritaunce with his bretherne But so great was the loue of God and of Christ
example of creatures For foure causes creatures are saide to morne our selues vnto patience Sithen the whole world is vexed with so many calamities it is mete also that we with a quyet minde beare afflictions when they light vpon vs. And there may be foure reasons geuen why we thinke creatures to be vexed and to morne The first is for that they are wearied with continuall labours to serue our dayly vses Hereof it oftentimes commeth to passe that when as we whiche thyng many tymes happeneth greuously sinne they suffer punishementes together with vs whiche is not hard to sée in the flood in Sodom and in the plages of Egypt Farther there is a certaine Sympathia that is a coÌ„passion or féelyng together betwene all creatures and man by meanes wherof in aduersitie they sigh and morne together with him Last of all there is great iniury done vnto them in that they are compelled to serue vncleane and wicked men Vnto whiche thyng Ose the Prophet had a regard as we before declared wheÌ„ in the person of God he sayd I will take away my wheate my wyne and myne oyle will set at libertie my wooll my thred that they may not couer thy filthynes Ambrose in many places maketh on this side In his Epistle to Horantianus entreatyng of this place of Paul by an induction he sheweth that euery creature By a large induction â—â— shewed that creatures mourne foâ— our sakes mourneth wayteth for the reuelation of the sonnes of God And he begynneth at the soule The soule saith he caÌ„ not but be afflicted mourne when it seeth it selfe closed vp in the body as in a certayn vile cotage and that not with his will but by reason of hym which hath made it subiect For the purpose of God was that it should be ioyned together with the body that by the vse of it it might one day attayne some fruites worthy the trauailing for For Paul in the latter to the Corrinth sayth That we shall all be set before the iudgemeÌ„t seat of Christ that euery maÌ„ may cary away those thinges which he hath done thorough the body whither it be good or euill He saith also in yâ— self same Epistle That we sigh so loÌ„g as we are in this earthly habitacle not for that we would be cleane spoysed of it but rather to haue it ouer clothed And Ambrose citeth out of the Psalmes That maÌ„ is made like vnto vanity and that man is whole vanity Wherunto I thinke is thys added yâ— we mighte vnderstaÌ„d yâ— thys waight of the body these grieues which Dauid coÌ„playneth to come vnto the soule by reason of the body came not by the institutioÌ„ of God but rather crept in by reason of sinne For otherwise the body was not geuen vnto the soule as a graue or prison as some fayne but as an instrument most apt to the accomplishing of most excellent The body was not at the beginning geuen vnto man as a prison actes moste notable enterprises Ambrose goeth on in his inductioÌ„ sayth that the Sunne Moone and the rest of the starres are wearied with theyr continual course and the inferior creatures also for our sakes labour But he sayth that thys they doo not with an vnwilling mynde for that they vnderstand that the sonne of God for our sakes toke vpon hym the forme of a seruant and by hys death procured theyr life and sauegard Farther he sayth that for this cause they comfort themselues for that one day they shall be deliuered and theyr labors shall one day haue an end Wherfore if I may declare my iudgement touching these matters I somewhat doubt first whether the sonne and Moone and rest of the starres labor in theyr courses Farther I thinke Ambrose Ambrose speaketh figuratiuelye spake figuratiuely that all creatures with a quiet mynde beare those their griefes for that they know that Christ the sonne of God for our saluation hath suffred the ignominye of the crosse and death Nether suppose I this to be without a figure in that he sayth that they by thys meanes comfort themselues for that they vnderstand that theyr labours shall one day be finished and that they shall be repayred and renewed Last of all he maketh mencion of the Angelles and sayth that they are not glad in punishing of wicked men for that they are touched with mercy had rather to adorne with benefites then to afflicte with punishemeÌ„ts especially seing as Christ in Luke sayth that the Angelles excedingly reioyce ouer one sinner that repenteth The same Ambrose expounding thys place sayth that the anxietye of creatures shall so long last vntill the nomber of them be full which shall be saued And to be subiect vnto vanity he interpretateth to be mortal and transitory Wherefore How long this mourning of creatures shall last vanity is in that place after hys mind that mortality wherby all creatures in such sort labor and therefore with it are compelled continually to wrastle so Salomon not without iuste cause sayde Vanity of vanities and all things are vanity The commentaries which are ascribed vnto Ierome seme not much to disagree from the sentence of Augustine but that they by euery creature vnderstaÌ„d the whole nomber of the iust euen from Adams time Which nomber of saints together with our first parent they say doo earnestly wayte for the reuelation of the sonnes of God that they also as the epistle to the Hebrues declareth may be made perfect with vs Origen mencioneth certayne thinges touching the minde which is the chiefest parte of our soule whiche he sayth sigheth and wyth greate payne sorroweth for that it is compelled continually to abase it selfe to serue the manifold and sundry necessities of the body But Chrisostome playnlye maketh on our side and confesseth that Paul here vseth the figure Prosopopaeia which figure is very much vsed in the holy scriptures For the prophetes and The prophets and Psalmes very oftentimes attribute sence vnto things insensible Psalmes somtimes commaund the floods and wods to clap with theyr hands sometimes they bring in the hilles daunsing and the mountaines leaping for ioye not that in very dede they ascribe motion and sence vnto thinges insensible but to signify that that good thinge which they commend is so great that it ought to pertayne also to creatures vtterlye without sence and â—ealinge The prophetes also are wont sometimes to bring in woodes vine trées the earth it selfe and other of the elementes mourning and howling also the roufes of houses and of temples cryeng the more vehemently to aggrauate that euill which they describe Nether ought it to seme straunge if Paul follow these phrases of the Prophets especially seing that in both of them was one and the selfe same spirite of God Nether is it hard to shewe how our miseries redound also vnto creatures For when maÌ„ was adiudged vnto the curse the earth also was condemned to be accursed and to be
declare in him his power therefore he hath mercy on whom he will hardeneth whom he wil. Why then do we still complayne For who can resist his wil Here againe he addeth God forbid He for no other cause as I suppose thus wresteth the text but Why this place is made so troublesome of these fathers Origene wrote a boke of free will for yâ— he would not haue mans vnderstanding to much offended or free will impayred But that this wrested expositioÌ„ yet satisfied hym not it is manifest by yâ— which he alledgeth out of a boke of fre wil which he saith he wrote although yâ— boke be not at this day extaÌ„t And in it he endeuoreth to interpretate these words as if they were the wordes of Paul himselfe and not of any other man asking a question They hurt no more free will sayth he then that which we rede in Dauid Vnles the Lord build the house they labour in vaine which build it The builder in dede doth somwhat for he is carefull and laboreth but God remoueth away the lets and permitteth the worke to be accomplished So will he haue that to be vnderstanded whiche is written vnto the Corrinth Neither he which watreth nor he which planteth is anye thing but God which geueth the encrease Wherefore although we labor yet it is God which geueth perfection accomplishmeÌ„t to our labors After this maner thinketh he may aptly be expounded this sentence It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that hath mercy But this cauillation Augustine of whose iudgment as touching this matter I am in a greate many places excellently well confuteth For so sayth he we may inuert the sentence the other way and thus say It is not of God that hath mercy but of man that willeth and runneth But touching this matter we will speake more at large in due place Thus much we thought good at this present to reherse that thou moughtest se that Origen hym selfe putteth no greate affiance in this his first interpretation howbeit he goeth on in it and thus repelleth that troublesome and importunate inquisitor O man what art thou that answerest vnto God and goest to Law with him when as thou art as clay in the hand of the potter Neither vouchesafeth he to make anye other answer to the troublesome inquisitor For so he sayth Christ when he was demaunded by what power he did those thinges would not make answere vnto the Scribes Whome doubtles he would haue aunswered if they had asked the question with a godly minde and with a minde desirous to learne For so also a master that hathe a malipert seruaunt which neglecteth to doo the thinges which he is commaunded and troublesomely enquireth the causes of those thinges which are commaunded him would say vnto him What hast thou to doo to enquire touching these thinges I will haue it so bycause it is my pleasure so When as otherwise he would make answere if he were asked the question of a faythfull and an obedient seruaunt Therefore God although he hid from many what he would do yet reueled he his secretes vnto Daniell a man desirous of knowledge So we also if we be not rash and importunate inquisitors may in the scriptures know the causes of the loue and hatred of God towardes Iacob and Esau although to the malepert and importunate inquisitors that answere which is here geuen of Paul ought to be sufficient And in the first epistle to Timothe it is written That In a greate house are vessells some of gold some of siluer some of clay in this place that distinction of vessells is not discribed Thys thing only Paul sayth That the potter may of one and the selfe same masse make one vessel to honour and an other to contumely But vnto Timothe is geuen a cause of the diuersity For thus it is written He wich shall purge himselfe from these thinges shal be a vessell to honour sanctified to God and prepared to euery good worke Of which wordes we may inferre to the contrary He which purgeth not himself nor clenseth him selfe shall be a vessell Origene geueth a cause of the loue of God towardes Iacob â–ª and â—â— his hatred towardes Esau The opinioÌ„ of Origene is coÌ„futed to contumely Lo saith he the cause which was not geuen vnto the Romanes is geuen vnto Timothe Wherefore Iacob was therefore beloued bycause he had clensed him selfe from sinnes for the scripture geueth testimony of hym that he was a man simple gentle and obedyent to his parentes And Esau was therefore hated for that he had not purged him self but perseuered in malice in impiety This exposition of Origen conteyneth many things which are not to be allowed First for yâ— he persisteth not in those thinges which he had spoken at the beginning namelye that election consisteth not of woorkes but of the purpose of God and good pleasure of him that calleth Secondlye for that he maketh darke those thinges which in the Apostle are plaine and perspicuous Thirdly for that in his booke of frée will he declareth that he followeth not the exposition which he presently bringeth moreouer for that he thinketh that the Apostle in this place dissolueth not yâ— question where he of purpose putteth it forth and entreateth of it but dissolueth it in the Epistle to Timothy where he onely by the way toucheth that matter Lastly for that out of those wordes of the Apostle he gathereth not a good solucion For of that sentence of Paul He which purgeth himselfe shal be a cleane vessell oughte not to be inferred that a manne can by hys owne strengthes purge hymselfe for that thinge doth God onelye and not we our selues Neyther is that argument of force to proue our strengthes and the libertye of our wyll whyche is taken of a commaundemente or of an exhortacion For God oftentymes commaundeth and oftentimes exhorteth after this maner If thou shalt do this or that these or those thinges shall happen vnto thée to the ende we might vnderstande our infirmity and acknowledge from whence those things which are commaunded are to be sought for But to be clensed and purged in suche sorte as God geueth grace cannot be the cause of election Now wil I come to Ambrose who in a maner nothinge disagréeth from these thinges for he also will haue the purpose of God to signifie foreknowledge And when yâ— Apostle saith That the election should abide according to purpose he peyseth that word should abide and thereof gathereth that the foreknowlege of God cannot be deceaued neither is it possible but yâ— euery thinge shall so come to passe as God foreséeth euery thing shall come to passe but he saith What acception of persons â—â— that God loueth and hateth as he that foreknoweth thinges to come and not as an accepter of persons but doubtles God cannot be sayd to accept persons for that we beleue he fréely loueth and hateth whome he wil not by
more excellency then the effect especially in that it is such a cause wherfore if workes be the causes of predestinatiō they are also more worthy of more excellency Our works cannot be of more worthines then predestination That which is constant certaine dependeth not of that which is vncertain vnconstant then predestination Moreouer predestinatiō is sure cōstāt infallible How thē shall we appoint y◠it depēdeth of y◠works of frée will which are vncertaine vncōstant may be bowed hither thither if a mā cōsider thē perticulaly For men are a like prone vnto this or y◠kinde of sinne as occasions are offred For otherwise if we will speake generally by reason of the sinne of the firste parentes frée will before regeneration can do nothing els but sinne Wherefore according to the sentence of these men it must néedes follow that the predestination of God which is certaine dependeth of the workes of men which are not onely vncertaine but also are sinnes Neither can they say that they mean of those works which follow regeneration For those as we haue taught spring of Grace and of predestination Neither do these men consider that they to satisfye humane reason We must not so defēd ou◠liberty that we spoile God of his libertie and to auoutch I know not what liberty in men spoyle God of his due power liberty in electing which power and liberty yet the Apostle setteth forth and saith that God hath no les right ouer men then hath the potter ouer the vessels whiche he maketh But after these mens sentence God can not elect but him only whom he knoweth shal behaue himselfe wel neither can he reiect any man but whom he séeth shal be euill But this is to go about to bring God into an order and to make him subiect vnto the lawes of our reason As for Erasmus he in vaine speaketh against this reason For he sayth that it is not absurde to take away from God that power which he himselfe will not haue attributed vnto him namelye to do any thing vniustly For we say that Paul hath in vaine yea rather falsly set foorth this We must geue vnto God that liberty whiche the scripture geueth vnto him liberty of God if he neither haue it nor will that it should be attributed vnto him But how Paul hath proued this libertye in God that place whiche we haue cited most manifestly declareth They also to no purpose obiect vnto vs the iustice of God for here is entreated onely of his mercy Neither can they deny but y◠they by this their sentence do rob God of a greate deale of his loue and good will towardes men For the holy scripture when it would commend vnto vs the fatherly loue of God affirmeth that he gaue his sonne and that vnto the death and that then when we were yet sinners enemies and children of wrath But these men will haue no man to be predestinated which hath not good woorkes foreséene in the minde of God And so euerye man may say with himselfe If I be predestinated the cause thereof dependeth of my selfe But an other which féeleth truely in his harte that he is fréely elected of Loue towards God is kindled of the true feling of predestination God for Christes sake when as he of himselfe was all maner of wayes vnworthy of so greate loue will without all doubt be wonderfullye inflamed to loue God againe It is also profitable vnto vs that our saluation shoulde not depende of our works For we oftentimes wauer and in liuing vprightly are not very constant Doubtles if we should put confidence in our owne workes we should vtterly dispayre But if we beleue that our saluation abideth in God fixed and assured for Christes sake we cannot but be of good comfort Farther if predestination shoulde come vnto vs by our woorkes foreséene the beginning of our saluation should be of our selues against which sentence the scriptures euery where cry out For that were to raise vp an idoll in our selues Moreouer the iustice of God shoulde then The consideration of the election of God ▪ and of the election of man is diuers haue néede of the externe rule of our workes But Christ sayth Ye haue not elected me but I haue elected you Neither is that consideration in God which is in men when they beginne to loue a man or to picke out a frende For men are moued by some excellente giftes wherewith they sée a man adorned But God can finde nothing good in vs which first proceedeth not from him And Ciprian saith as Augustine oftentimes citeth him that we therefore can not glory for that we haue nothinge that is our owne and therefore Augustine concludeth that we oughte not to parte stakes betwene God and vs to geue one parte to him and to kéepe an other vnto Vnto God is all whole to be ascribed our selues touching the obteinement of saluation for all whole is without doubte to be ascribed vnto him The Apostle when he writeth of predestination hath alwaies this ende before him to confirme our confidence and especially in afflictiōs out of which he saith that God will deliuer vs. But if the purpose of God shoulde be referred vnto our workes as vnto causes thereof then could we by no meanes conceaue any such confidence For we oftentimes fall and the righteousnes of our If predestinatiō shold depend of workes i◠woulde make vs not to hope but to dispayre workes is so sclender that it cannot stand before the iudgement seate of God And that the Apostle for this cause chiefly made mencion of predestination we maye vnderstand by the. 8. chapter of this Epistle For when he described the effectes of iustification amongst other things he saith that we by it haue obteined the adoption of sonnes and that we are moued by the spirit of God as the sonnes of God and therfore with a valiant minde we suffer aduersities and for that cause euery creature groneth and earnestly desireth to be at the length deliuered And the spirite it self also maketh intercession for vs. And at the last addeth That vnto them that loue God all thinges worke to good And who they be y◠loue God he straightway declareth Which are called saith he according to purpose These seketh Paul to make secure that they shoulde not thinke that they are hindred when they are excercised with aduersities for that they are foreknowne predestinated called and iustified And that he had a respect vnto this security those thinges declare whiche In which wordes of Paul the aduersaries a◠deceiued follow If God be on our side who shal be against vs Who shall accuse against the elect of God First by this methode is gathered that the aduersaries much erre supposinge that by this place they may inferre that predestination commeth of workes foreséene For Paul before that gradation wrote these wordes To them that loue God all
with her it could not be auoyded but that he should committe incest of which inceste shoulde be borne children which should pollute themselues with murthering one the other and should ouer throw theyr fathers kingdome The auncienter Philosophers as Democritus â–ª and Empedocles affirmed that the will also is subiect vnto fate or vnto the connexion of causes But Chrisippus the Stoike hereunto rather inclined to excepte the will of man as Oenomaris Cynicus as Eusebius Caesariensis de Preparatione Euangelica â–ª citeth him saith that Democritus made men bondmen and Chrisippus halfe bondmen But leuing these let vs returne vnto Cicero who said If there be foreknowledge then thinges should in such sort come to passe as they were foreknown neither can the euent foreséene be auoyded so that then the liberty of men is vtterly takeÌ„ away Lawes theÌ„ are in vaine admonitions are in vayne rewards punishmeÌ„ts and such like things are in vaine wherfore he setteth forth a choyce that a man should chuse whether he would rather admitte foreknowledge or liberty of the will for that they could not consist both together as farre as he iudged And because he was man hauing to do in ciuill matters and delt in lawes iudgemeÌ„ts he rather reiected the foreknowledge of God then he would loose the liberty of the will of man Wherefore Augustine sayth of him Those which will be free he maketh sacrilegious persons so that to defend their liberty they spoyle God of his foreknowledge Ciceroes reason was If the wil be frée there can not be a certaine and sure connexion of causes for if it were certaine it could not be broken of our will and if there be no certaine connexion then can there be put no foreknowledge and therfore he affirmed that God also foreknoweth not what thinges shall come to passe for if he should foreknow them then should there be a certaine and firme order of causes which being graunted there shoulde bee nothing remayning in the power of our will But we ought to hold either of these sentences for of the one we haue by sence experience For euery man may consider in himselfe how he woorketh by counsels and deliberation and electeth that whiche pleaseth him But the other that is the foreknowledge of God we hold by faith whiche knowledge is of no les The elections counsels of man are not against the prouideÌ„ce of of God The wil of man is placed in the order of causes God by his foreknowledge changeth not the nature of causes Fortune chaunce are referred vnto vs not vnto God force then the apprehension both of sence and of reason Wherefore we deny vnto Cicero this consequence There is a certaine and constante order of causes whiche God foreknew therfore there is nothing in our will And we therfore deny the argument for that our will also is to be placed amongst the causes of thinges yea it hath not amongst them the vnworthiest place Wherefore euen as God can foreknow what shall come to passe of other causes in like sort is he able plainely to sée what our willes wil elect And as in foreséeing other causes and theyr effectes he in no wise destroyeth nor chaungeth the natures of them so also leaueth he in their ful state the willes of men This also moued Cicero that then nothing should come by chaunce But forasmuch as very many thinges happen by chaunce and fortune it is manifest that there cannot be a certaine or sure order of causes neither also any foreknowledge In this sort reasoned he But we aunswere that those thinges which are said to come by chance ar so called things coÌ„ming by chance as they are referred to our vnderstanding whiche forasmuch as it is weake by reason of the dulnes therof seeth not the course or connexion of causes but if their be coÌ„pared vnto the mind of God from which nothing is hidden they can not be said to come by chance or rashely The infirmity of the mind of man is that it maketh fortune or chance to be with thing we wil declare by an example If a maister should sende his seruaunt to the market and commaunde him to be there by sixe of the clocke and should also commaund his Baliue apart to doo the self same thing doubtles both the Baliue and the seruaunt should mete together which to either of them should come by chaunce for that they knew not of their maisters commaundement but the maister he selfe who knoweth the matter will not iudge this to come by chance which thing hereby also may be made more plaine Suppose that I knewe that there were treasure hidden in a place and I should commaund one to digge in that place when he should find the treasure he would cry good fortune but I which knew the matter would attribute nothing vnto fortune So God forasmuch as he knoweth the course and connexion of all causes neuer ascribeth any thing to fortune Wherefore let vs put all thinges to be subiect vnto the purpose of God and amongest all other thinges our wils also which we affirme haue that power which God willed who tempereth the natures of all thinges There is a certayne cause as sayth Augustine which so worketh that it is by no meanes wrought and suche a cause is God And there is an other cause which so worketh that it also is wrought of an other of which kinde is our will which so willeth and worketh in that that it also is wrought of God Wherefore we ought neyther to assent vnto Cicero nor to the Stoikes for as we ought to withdraw nothing from Our wils are not free froÌ„ the foreknowledge of God Note a saâ—ing of Austine the foreknowledge of God so lest of all are our willes to be exempted from it for they pertayne to yâ— better part of the world For what should he haue a care of or what should he foreknow if he should neglect men Our willes as sayth Augustine are able to doo so much as God would and foreknew they should be able to doo and therefore whatsoeuer they are able to doo they most certaynly are able to doo and whatsoeuer they shall doo they shall without all doubt doo for that he whose foreknowledge can not be deceaued foreknew that they should be both able and also do it And in yâ— Necessity of two sortes 10. chap. of the fifth booke before cited he deuideth as we also did a necessity in to two parts one whereby we are compelled to suffer those thinges whiche we would not as is the necessity of death wherunto will we or nill we we must gâ—ue place The other necessity he sayth is that according to which any thing is sayd to be necessary that is shall vndoubtedly come to passe And touching this there is no nede that we should be aferd concerning our will for by it the will is not diminished the first indede is repugnant vnto it for it is not possible Not euery
â–ª mencioneth laboureth to wrest against the Christians for they saith he sacrifice in gardens for they haue their grene enclosed places hard by their temples wherein whilest they are abiding they boast that they there worship God they burne incense also vpon brickes for they haue their alters whereupon they sayâ— they do sacrifice and they dwell in graues for they runne from place to place to dead carkases and such other like thinges he obiecteth vnto vs. This Iew doubtles in my iudgement is to be commended not for that he wrongly interpreteth Esay and wresteth to the Gentiles those thinges which are spoken against 〈…〉 Iewes but for that he saw that those things are superstitious which are reâ—ayned still in the Papacy for a singular worshipping of God and perceaued that those thinges are in the scriptures reproued in his brethern the Iewes which ouâ— religious men and sacrificing priests count for most high holynes For they say come not nere to me I am holier then thou art For if a man come vnto them â–ª to admonish them out of the word of God they make him afeard and vtterly 〈…〉 him away neither wil they heare him This Hebrew word Sodar that is â—ebellious the 70. interpreters and Paul agreeing with them haue turned by 〈…〉 wordes namely by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is vnbeleuing and gainsaying For these two thinges are proper vnto them that fall from God not to beleue and to gaynesay his commaundementes as contrariwise they come vnto God and geue themselues vnto him which beleue his wordes and obey The summâ— of impiety â–ª his commaundementes In these two wordes is comprehended the summe of al impiety With which although the fathers of the Iewes were infected yet their childreÌ„ wheÌ„ they crucified Christ filled it vp vnto yâ— toppe for which cause they are most greuously punished loÌ„g time haue ben punished so yâ— Christ said truely That vpon you may come all the righteous bloud which hath bene shed from the bloud of Abell vnto the bloud of Zacharie the son of Barachias This place most manifestly teacheth that it is vtterly necessary that yâ— grace of God do preuent vs It is necessary that the grace of God do preuent vs. forasmuch as of our owne streÌ„gths we are not first able to seke to recouer saluatioÌ„ lost First we are sought of God who offreth himselfe vnto theÌ„ yâ— are in hand with other matters not only with other matters but also cleane contrary matters yea and to such which vtterly resist him Neither is it possible that of vs being corrupt should spring forth the beginninges of goodnes The shepherd seketh Examples the shepe gone astraye and not the shepe the shepherd The woman seketh the grote and not the grote the woman We are fallen into so deepe a pit that of our selues we can by no meanes get thereout And forasmuch as by reason of sinne we are now dead we are not able to rayse vp our selues I would gladly therefore demaunde of those which defend workes preparatory whether they Agaynsâ— workes of preparation will confesse that men by reason of sinne are dead or no If they wil not confesse this they haue Paul against them who saith that the stipend of sinne is death and they shal be thought to be of this iudgement that sinne is not so greuous an euil that it bringeth with it vtter destruction And if they confesse that they which sinne are dead before God then must there be looked for some streÌ„gth from els where whereby they may rise agayne and reuiue I woulde know of them also whether Abraham were moued of himselfe to depart out of his owne contrey and to forsake idolatry And whether the Israelites deliuered theÌ„selues out of Egipt or no And if the efficacy and goodnes of God were of force in all these why contend they that a man being now dead through sinne can prepare himselfe to grace he prepareth himselfe rather to greater corruptioÌ„ then to saluation But what nede we so many wordes in a matter not doubtful howbeit Sinners prepare theÌ„ selues to greater corruptioÌ„ â–ª anâ— not to sa 〈…〉 tion this I say that they which defend workes of preparation haue their feete so fast tâ—ed with testimonies of the scriptures that the more they stirre themselues the faster are they bound and lesse able are they to escape away Moreouer hereby it is manifest why the Ethnikes so long as they were strangres from God were called not a nation and fooles for that they sought not God nor asked after God The first and principall steppe to saluation is that God do declare The principall step to saluation himselfe vnto vs and that manifestly for vnles he manifestly and plainly reuele himself vnto vs our mind wil alwayes leape backe for that by reason of oâ— the corruption grafted in it it abhorreth from things diuine If GOD be found of him that seeke hym not and do appeare vnto them that aske not after â—im saluation then commeth vnto them by chance not that there is any fortune or chance as touching God but as touching them For they are in hand with â—ther deuises their purposes and ententes be farre diuers when they lighte â—ppon saluation yea oftentimes they manifestly labour to bryng themselues to destruction For Paul when he was taken persecuted the members of Christ and entended to put in prison and in bounds as many as he found addicted to that way Wherefore let vs acknowledge those thinges which are of God â—o â—ee Gods neither let vs attribute his giftes to our preparations But vnto Israell he sayth Thys proposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth vnto may also aptly signifie agaynst and peraduenture also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is touching but thys is not of much waight Paule vseth here manifestly the figure Apostrophe which is when a man turneth hys speach to an other person when as in Esay â–ª as we haue sayd the person is couertly chaunged I haue stretched out myne handes all the day long By the gesture of the handes he declareth the beneâ—olence of God in what sorte it was euer towardes the Iewes They which call any man vnto theÌ„ do vse to stretch out theyr hand vnto hym and they also which What to stretche ouâ— the hande signifieth doe allure by giftes oftentymes shewe them forth in theyr handes Wherfore to stretch out the handes is by an allegorye nothyng ells then to call to allure by giftes although God also be sayd to stretch forth hys handes to worke miracles and wonders as it is written in the Actes Stretch forth thine hand to thys end that healynges wonders and signes may be wrought through the name of thy holy sonne Iesus Wherefore if after thys maner also we shoulde vnderstand that sentence the Apostle spake most aptly for there was neuer any tyme wherin God did not with great miracles and wonderfull workes call vnto hym
against these thinges and is offended therewith for it would by it selfe get saluation and coueteth this similitude or likenes of God that euen as he hath felicity of himselfe neither dependeth of any other so would it be vnto it self the cause of blessednes This is that poysen which the serpent in the first temptacion breathed into our first parents Seing therfore the case standeth so and that there can not be rendred a reason of the iudgementes of God the Apostle draweth the faithfull into this bottomles pit And although he had sayd much and brought inuincible argumentes whereby he proued that the thing is so yet when he sawe yâ— this could not satisfy and that mans iudgement could not be therwith content he being as it were ouercome with the déepenes of the matter cryeth out O the deepenes He is al whole inflamed with a wonderfull affect and that the motion of his exclamation should not seme to be of man the things which he addeth he bringeth out of the scriptures of God for this VVho hath knowen the minde of the Lord or who hath bene his counseller is thus written in Esay in the 40 chapiter mi ticcen eth ruah iehoua that is Who hath prepared instructed the spirit of God Veisch atsatho iodâ—eunu that is And who hath shewed vnto him his counsell And that which is added who hath geuen vnto him first and it shal be recompensed Forasmuch as God is the highest and chiefest he is not moued by outwarde thinges him is written in Iob the 41. chapiter mi hecdimani vaaschallem that is Who shall preuent or go before me and I will recompense Wherefore the Apostles meaning is by these wordes to proue that God through his frée will and election geueth saluation vnto men By which sentence mans pride is wonderfully abated and put downe And these are the reasons which he vseth God is the chiefe in all things therfore he is moued by no outwarde things the chiefe as touching wisedome when as he nedeth not to be instructed of any the chiefe as touching streÌ„gth and power for no man hath geuen vnto him any thing first but he geueth vnto all others the thinges which they haue Doubtles these thinges ought to be a bridle vnto euery man though he haue neuer so redy a witte and déepe iudgement not to speake arrogantly of God or to be more curious in searching out of things If Paul the teacher of the Gentles do in this sorte wonder what shall we do then it behoueth Let euery man consider with himselfe who it is that after this sort crieth out and he shall sée that it is Paul the instructer of the whole worlde who was rapt vp euen into the third heauen and there saw secretes which were not lawfull for men to speake And seing that he so wonderth and is amased at the iudgementes of God how should not we which are farre inferior vnto him reuerence them O the depenes saith he of the riches of the wisdome of the knowledge of God These wordes we may thus vnderstand as though by these thrée Three properties of God genitiue cases were shewed thrée distinct proprieties of God namely his riches wisdome and knowledge and so shewed as most déepe and inpenitrable And by riches paraduenture is to be vnderstanded goodnes and clemency Or it may be taken seperately O the depth of the riches and the two genitiue cases which follow namely of the wisedome and of the knovvledge depend and are gouerned of the first word namely of riches as though he should say that the wisedome and knowledge of God is most rich and plentiful but which way soeuer it be taken it maketh no matter We know by many places of the scriptures that wisedome In God in Christ wisedome knowledge are ioyned together and knowledge are ioyned together in God and not only in God but also in Christ according to that saying in the epistle to the Colossians in whome are all the threasures of the wisedome and of the knowledge of God where also thys worde treasure answereth vnto this word riches So greate is the wisedome and knowledge God knoweth al thinges that after a wonderfull maner of God that nothing escapeth his sight Wherefore vnto the Hebrewes it is sayd All thinges are naked and open before his eyes Neither doth he only know all thinges but also after a wonderfull maner knoweth them Hovv vnserchable are his iudgmentes and his vvayes past finding out Here is after the Hebrew maner a repeticion and doubling of wordes and one and the same thing is signified And vvayes iudgmentes are taken both for one and the same thing vnles by iudgmentes we will vnderstand the endes and by wayes the meanes and maner whereby he bringeth all thinges to theyr endes appoynted The wayes and iudgments of the Lord are after a sort known by the creatures and so farre is there no let but that we may searche them out But although We must enquire no farther of the iudgemeÌ„ts of god then the holy scriptures set forth vnto vs and creatures declare The deepenes pertayneth to election and to predestination By these wordes we are not feared away froÌ„ the searching out of the scriptures we search out the endes or successes of thinges and also the reasons whereby God worketh in thinges yet shall we neuer be able to find them out The iudgmentes of God as it is sayd in an other place are a great a depth Wherfore let vs thinke that God doth always that which is best And touching his ways and iudgmentes let vs enquire not farther then is set forth in the holy scriptures otherwise we shall fall into such labirinths or mases that we shall neuer be able to winde our selues out of them And this is to be knowen that these vnserchable iudgements whiche are ment in this place pertayne chiefely to the election of God and to predestination And when he sayth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he sayth not only vnsearchable but which also ought not to be serched out And yet doth he not in these wordes feare vs away froÌ„ the searching out of the scriptures when as here is not entreated of the wil of God reuealed in the scriptures but of the secrets of his counsels whose most wonderfull depth Paul wondered at but yet expressed not how greate it is And lest he should seme to speake this without any proofe he addeth For who hath bene his counseller or who hath geuen vnto him first and he shal be recompensed Which testimonies as we haue sayd are taken out of the 40. chapiter of Esay the Prophet and out of the 41. chapited of Iob. And the meaning is that we can not penitrate vnto the secretes of God when as they no maner of way depend of vs for our wisedome or goodnes can do God no pleasure at all Of this matter it is written in the first to the Corrinthians The things which are of
men do make their last willes withous a solemnitie required thereunto and without a sufficient nomber of witnesses prescribed whiche yet otherwise were necessary such testaments ought to be allowed Now if a maÌ„ would transferre this prerogatiue vnto citesins who for that they haue their abidings in cities haue store of men of vnderstanding he should excéedingly erre For if their testamentes should be so made they are refused neither are they counted firm So we say that the workes of men iustified may please God which thing yet neyther can nor oughte to be graunted vnto them whiche are without faith and without Christ Farther let vs marke the accustomed fond kind of reasoning of the aduersaries whiche the Logicians call A non causa vt câ—usa â–ª that is from that whiche is not the cause as the cause For they alwayes appoint good workes to be the causes A similitude of righteousnes when as in very dede they are the effects of righteousnes not causes For it is as though a man should say the fire is therfore hot because it maketh How this sentence is to be vnderstand â–ª God rendreth to euery man according to his workes hot But it is cleane coÌ„trary for therfore it fore maketh hot because it is hot So also we because we ar iustified therfore do iust thinges and not because we do iuste things therfore we are iustified Somtimes also they make this obiectioÌ„ that God will reÌ„der vnto euery man according to his works Wherfore works say they are yâ— causes of our felicity But here also as theyr woÌ„ted maner is they are very much deceiued For vnles they haue found out some new grammer vnto themselues vndoubtedly this word according signifieth not yâ— cause But Christ say they in yâ— his Iuxta last iudgement séemeth to expresse these thinges as causes wherfore the kingdome of heauen is geuen vnto them For thus will he say I was hungrye and ye fed me I was thursty and ye gaue me drinke But Christ doth not in very déede rehearse these thinges as causes but rather those thinges which wente before Come ye blessed of my father possesse ye the kingdome which was prepared for you from the beginning of the world For the true cause of our felicitie is because we are elected and predestinate of God to yâ— eternal inheritance For they which are in this number are when time serueth adorned with faith whereby being iustified they haue right vnto eternall Why Christ in the iudgement will make mencion of outwarde workes There are two beginninges of thinges life But because this faith is hidden neither can be séene and Christ will haue all men to vnderstand that none but the iust are receiued into the kingdome of heauen therefore reherseth he these outwarde workes that by them it might plainly be perceaued that righteousnes is geuen vnto men by faith For there is no man that can be so ignorant but that he knoweth that there are two grounds of things the one is whereby they are the other whereby they be knowne Againe they obiect out of the first of Samuel Those that honor me I honor those that loue me I loue Here say they the promise is made vnto the worke But if they woulde make a distinction betwene the promises of the Gospel and the promises of the lawe as we haue els where aboundauntly taught they should easly vnderstand that that place is nothing repugnant vnto our sentence For if we coulde of our selues satisfie the commaundement of the law then might it be the cause why the promise should be geuen vnto vs. But forasmuch as no man is able to performe it all men flye vnto Christ and are through faith towardes him iustified Then by a certaine obedience begonne we begin to worke which although it be not exactly done according vnto the rule of the commaundement yet it pleaseth God And he of his mere liberality performeth the promise whiche was adioyned vnto that worke And so those conditions whiche are adioyned vnto the preceptes are not vnprofitable For they that are iustified attayne vnto them Neyther 〈…〉 thâ—se men ashamed to cite these wordes out of the 25. Psalme Looke vpon my labour and my vtility and forgeue me all my sinnes as though our labours or afflictions are the causes of the remission of sinnes But in this place Dauid being in most gréeuous calamities desireth of God to forgeue him his sinnes that if he should be angry for his sinnes the cause of punishmentes might be taken away For here is not entreated of labours which a man taketh vpon him of his owne voluntary will but of punishementes A similitude inflicted by God We sée also that children whilest that they are beaten of their maisters do desire forgeuenes and pardon If thou geue an almes vnto one that is leprous the leprosy can not properly be called the cause of thy compassion or mercy For otherwise all that passed by the leper should do the same But the true cause is the louing affection in thy minde But they say moreouer that in the holy scriptures much is attributed vnto repentaunce Which thing we deny not But we on the other side woulde haue them to vnderstand that repentaunce is the fruite of fayth and that no man can with profite repent hym of hys sinnes A distinction of confession vnles he first beleue They also vainely boast of many things touching confession But touching it we make a distinction For either it is seperated from hope and faith as it was in Iudas which confessed that he had sinned in deliuering the iust bloud and so farre is it of that that confession should bring any profite that it is a preparation also vnto desperation and vnto destruction or els it is ioyned wyth fayth and hope as it was in Dauid and Peter and so is it not the cause but the effect Aâ—riculeâ— confession of iustification for it followeth fayth and goeth not before it The auricular confession also of the Papistes is vtterly supersticious wherfore we vtterly contemne it For they obtrude it as a thing necessary vnto saluation and as a cause why sinnes should be forgeuen which they are neuer able to proue by any testimony of the holy scriptures They violently wrest this also out of the Lordes Forgeue vs our trespasses is expounded prayer Forgeue vs our trespasses as we also forgeue them that trespasse agaynst vs Agayne Forgeue and it shal be forgeuen you Ergo say they the forgeuenes of iniuries is the cause why our sinnes are forgeuen vs. This their reason as the common saying is with the one hand stroketh the head and with the other geueth a blowe For if the forgeuenes of iniuries should as these men would haue it deserue remission of sinnes then that remission were no remission For after thou hast once payd the price â–ª there is nothing that can be forgeuen thee but then hath remission place when the price is
bicause of vnbeliefe they were broken of but thou standest by faith Here is geuen the reason of the fall and destruction of men and on the other side of saluation and constancie namely vnbeliefe faith And of the Iewes which should one day be restored he addeth And if they abide not stil in their vnbeliefe they shal be againe grafted in for God is of might to graft thē in Héere we sée that by departing from vnbelief which consisteth in beleuing Hereby is proued that the restoring of thē that fall cōmeth by faith men that haue fallen are restored This maketh very muche against the error of those which although they after a sort confesse that the first iustification is giuen fréely without any workes going before yet vnto men that haue fallen they graunt not restitution vnto iustification but by satisfactions and many workes preparatory These things haue I gathered out of the Epistle vnto the Romanes now will we in order prosecute the other Epistles In the first Epistle to the Corinthians the first Chapter it is thus written bicause the world in the wisedome of God knew not God by wisedome it pleased God by the folishnesse of preaching to saue them that beleue Bicause the wise men of this world saith the Apostle by their naturall searching out could not take hold of the wisedome of God whereby they might be saued God of his goodnesse hath instituted a contrary way namely the preaching of the Gospell which vnto the flesh séemeth foolishnesse that by it saluation should be geuen vnto men but yet not to all sortes of men but to those only that beléeue Wherfore in the .ij. to the Corinthians the. 1. chapter it is thus written by faith ye stand by which wordes we vnderstand that the foundation wherby we are confirmed and established in the way of saluation is faith Farther Paule to the Galathians the .ij. Chapter where he reproueth Peter for his dissimulation wherby he séemed to lead the Gentiles to obserue the Ceremonies of the Iewes thus speaketh If thou being a Iewe liuest after the maner of the Gentiles and not as doe the Iewes why compellest thou the Gentiles to liue as doe the Iewes For we which are Iewes by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles knowe that a man is not iustified by the workes of the law and we beleue in Christ that we might be iustified by the faith of Christ not by the workes of the law because by the workes of the lawe shall no fleshe be iustified Héere we sée that the Apostles therefore folowed Christ y◠they might be iustified by faith which they could not obtaine by works And afterward the life which I now liue in the flesh I liue by the faith of the sonne of God which is all one as if he should haue said As yet in déede sinne sticketh in my fleshe and in it I cary death about but yet notwithstanding I haue life not through mine owne merite but by the faith of the sonne of God In the .iij. chap. he thus wryteth I would know this of you receiued ye the spirite by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith And straight way he addeth he which ministreth vnto you the spirit in you worketh miracles doth he the same by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith By these words we sée that it is faith and not works wherby we take holde of the gifts of God and he addeth ye know that they which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham and that vndoubtedly for no other cause but because in beleuing they imitate him Wherfore sayth he the scripture foreseeing that God would iustifie the Gentiles by faith shewed before hande glad tidings vnto Abraham saying in thee shall all nations be blessed This blessyng spred not abrode vnto them bicause they had their beginning of the flesh of Abraham but bicause they followed the steppes of his faith Otherwise of Abraham as touching the fleshe came not as farre as we can read any other nations then the Ismaelites Edomites and Israelites Then foloweth the conclusion Therefore they which are of faith shal be blessed with faithfull Abraham But to be blessed in the Hebrew phrase is nothing else then to receiue the gifts of God amōgst which iustification is the principallest Wherefore it followeth That vnto the Gentiles through Christ might come the promise made vnto Abraham that we might receyue the promise of the holy Ghost through faith We sée therefore that the promise of the holy ghost is not taken hold of by workes as many faine it is which thing euen reason sufficiently declareth For seing the Lord as it shall a litle afterward be declared had by promise geuen this blessing vnto Abraham we must se what is referred vnto the promise as a correlatiue Which as we haue sayd cā be nothing ells but fayth for fayth setteth forth vnto it selfe the promises of God as an obiect Paul furthermore addeth that the scripture concludeth all thinges vnder sinne that the promise by the fayth of Iesus Christ should be geuen to them that beleue Thys is the cause why y◠holy scriptures so diligently shew vnto men how they be guilty of sinnes namely that they should be the more stirred vp to embrase y◠promises of God at the least way by fayth when as they haue not good workes by which they may take hold of them And this vnderstand we by that which is afterward written The law is our schoolemaister vnto Christ that we should be iustified by fayth These wordes signifie nothing els but that y◠law therfore sheweth sinnes setteth forth vnto mē their infirmity and stirreth vp theyr lustes wherby sinnes are more and more encreased that they being thus admonished should returne vnto Christ and might from him thorough fayth receaue righteousnes Which thing they vndoubtedly did of whome it is sayd Ye are all the children of God by the fayth of Iesus Christ For what is it to be the sons of God but to haue now obteyned adoption which we obteine only by regeneration or iustification And in the 4. chapiter Brethern sayth he we are after Isaake children of the promise But to be children of the promise is nothing ells but to beleue those thinges which God promiseth wherby we are made his children according as he hath promised we should be For so was Isaake borne vnto Abraham not by the strength of nature but by the benefit of the promise of God In the 5. chapter he writeth We in the spirite looke for the hope of righteousnes by fayth In this place are two thinges touched the sprite of God whereby we are new facioned and renewed vnto saluation and fayth wherby we apprehēd righteousnes Wherfore in this matter of our iustificatiō although there be in our minds many ther workes of the holy ghost yet none of them except fayth helpe to iustification Therfore the Apostle concludeth Circumcision is
put But Pighius sayth farther that God requireth these woorkes that he may◠fréelye impute vnto vs iustification Whosoeuer is but euen slenderlye exercised in the holye Scriptures shall easelye sée that thys man is euen directlye repugnaunt vnto Paul For he in the Epistle to the Romaines sayth Vnto hym whych worketh not a reward is imputed accordyng to grace But Pighius sayth vnto him which worketh God imputeth righteousnes fréely But to impute fréely and not to impute fréely euery childe may sée that they are contradictories But mark gentle Reader this reason of two members These workes which he speaketh of either profite vnto iustification or else profite not If they profite not why calleth he them preparations For amongst causes are reckened also causes preparatory But if he will say that they profite are in very déede causes preparatories with what mouthe can he affirme that he plucketh away nothing from the honoure of Christ but appoynteth him to be the whole and absolute cause of our iustificatiō But peraduenture this two membred argument a man will turne vpon vs touching those works which follow iustification For he wil say either they are profitable to obtaine saluation or they are not profitable If they be not profitable Wherunto good works profite after iustificatiō why are they required and why are their promises setforth vnto thē But if they be why doe we not allowe merite to be in them I answer that suche workes are profitable vnto men regenerate for that they liuing vprightly and orderly are renewed and made more perfect But that is nothing else but a certaine inchoation and as it were a participation of eternall life Farther it hath séemed good vnto God by suche meanes or rather by suche spaces to bring men vnto eternal felicitie But we can not cal these workes merites For Paul expressedly teacheth that the stipend of sinne is death but eternall life is grace But that which is giuen fréely vtterly excludeth merite And in the meane time we ought to remember that That which is geuē frely excludeth merite there is a great difference as we haue oftentimes taught betwene their works which are as yet straungers from Christ and from God and their workes which are now by grace grafted into Christ and made his members Afterward also he goeth about to confute that which we say that a man is iustified by that faith which hath a respecte vnto the promises of Christ and of the remission of sinnes as though we holde that faith is the proper correlatiue of such promises For he saith that faith hath equally a respect vnto all the thinges which are set forth in the holy scriptures Yea saith he he doth vnto God a thing no les acceptable which beleueth that he created the world or beleueth the thre persons of the diuinitie or the resurrection to come then he which beleueth that Christe was giuen to be our mediator and that by him is to be obtained the remission of sinnes For that faith is of no lesse worthinesse then the other And if we be iustified by faith he contendeth that that faith no lesse pertaineth to the other articles then to the remission of sinnes by Christ And this he thinketh may be proued by that which Paul wryteth in the. 4. chapiter vnto the Romaines And not for him only were these things written but also for vs vnto whome it shal be imputed so that we beleue in him which hath raised vp Christ from the dead Beholde saith he that faith is imputed vnto vs vnto righteousnesse whereby we beleue that God raised vp Christ from the dead and not that faith whereby we beleue that sinnes are forgiuen vs by Christ First here we confesse that our faith assēteth vnto all the things which are contained in the holy scriptures But forasmuche as amongste them there is but onely one principall and excellent truthe vnto which all the other truthes are directed namely that Christ the sonne of God suffred for vs that by him we might receiue forgiuenesse of sinnes what meruail is it if our faith haue a respect vnto this one thing chiefly For this our assumpt Paul proueth For he saith that Christ is the end of the law Wherfore séeing he is the end of al the scriptures he is also the summe and principall obiecte of our faith although otherwise Christ is the principal obiect of our faith by our faith we also embrase all other thinges which are contained in the holy scriptures And whereas he addeth that the faith which is of the other articles is no lesse acceptable vnto God then this faith which concerneth Christ and the remission of sinnes we may first say that that is not true if a man rightly way the dignitie of the action of faith For the dignitie of faith as also the dignitie of other suche like kindes of powers is measured by the obiects For as those obiects differ one from an other in excellency and dignitie so the assētings of faith ought according The dignity of faith is mesured by the obiect to the same to be counted inferior or of more excellency Séeing therefore God would in suche sort haue his sonne to die and that men should be by him reconciled that for this he hath instituted all the other things to be beleued which are set forth in the holy scriptures we can not put any doubt but that this pleased him much more then the other For that the other are directed vnto this as vnto their end And this is a common rule amongst the Logicians Euery thyng is such a thyng by reason of an other wherfore that other thyng shall much more be such Wherfore this actiō of faith wherby we assēt vnto this most noble truth ought to excell al other actiōs of faith whatsoeuer they be And so it is not by a thing like acceptable vnto God whither a man beleue this or that If we should vse this answere I know Pighius were neuer able to confute it but we say moreouer that he in vain contendeth about the greater or lesse dignitie of faith as touching this or that article For we are not iustified by the dignitie of faith For it is in euery mā weak◠and féeble But we therefore say that we are iustified by faith bicause by it as by We are not iustified by the dignity of fayth an instrument vnto this ende giuen vnto vs and by God appointed we apply Christ vnto vs and take holde of the forgiuenesse of sinnes Wherefore the worthinesse or vnworthinesse therof is to no purpose considered But that which he bringeth out of the. 4. Chapiter of the Romaines he bringeth cut of and maimed For if a man read the ful and perfect sentence he shal easely sée that plaine mention is there made of the death of Christ and of the remission of sinnes which by it we haue obtained For Paul saith that vnto vs it shall be imputed as it was vnto Abraham if