Gospell For although God haue promised that the preaching of hys woord shal be fruitful through the benefite of his spirite yet must euerye man instruct him selfe in hys vocation according to his hability Neyther ought men to bragge out of season as phanatical men are accustomed to do God according to hys promyse wyl be with vs when we shal speake He hath promised in dede and wyll surely perfourme when tyme wyl not serue or that a man can not either thincke or meditate what to speake But if libertye be geuen and leasure graunted to fynde dispose and wysely to deuise those thinges which we should speake then can we not be excused but that we tempt God when as we neglect to do these thinges Yea rather let vs plucke all thinges vnto vs what so euer they be so farrefoorth as godlynes permitteth and occasion offereth it selfe to helpe our labour to obtayne those thinges which are already promised vs. Furthermore Princes publicke weales may make leagues somtimes this coniunction of Iudah wyth Simeon doth admonishe the readers that it is lawful in those warres which ar taken in hand iustly to make a league whereby Princes or publique weales maye be ioyned together to defende honest thynges The godly ought not to ioyne them selues wyth the vngodly as Iudah now ioyned fellowshyp wyth the Symeonites to fyght against the Chananites But thys must be taken heede of that such coniunction and league be ioyned together wythout fault neyther ought the godly to ioyne them selues in league wyth the vngodlye For the scripture reproueth Iosaphat who otherwyse was a godly kyng for making league wyth wycked Achab and other kynges are often tymes reprehended by the Prophetes for ioyning them selues in league eyther wyth the Egiptians or els wyth the Assirians But surelye this Simeon was of the same region that Iudah was and both their endeauours tended to thys ende religiously to fulfyl the wyll of God I knowe there be some whych by the example of Asa kyng of Iudah beyng well praysed defende suche leagues made wyth Infidels For he beyng greuouslye oppressed of Basa kyng of the ten Tribes as it is wrytten in the fyrst booke of the Kynges sent vnto Benadab kyng of Siria as appeareth in the .xvi. chapter a certayne somme of gold and syluer and he made a couenant wyth hym of that condicion that he shoulde inuade the kyng of Israel whereby he myght bee deliuered from hys oppression But they whych affirme those thynges should consider wyth them selues two thynges Fyrst that the kyngdome of the tenne Tribes had now fallen from God and from woorshypping of hym Wherfore if an vngodlye kyng was styrred vp agaynst it the same is not for all that to be conferred wyth those whych confessing them selues to be Christians do incense Tyrannes whych are of a straunge religion agaynst other Christians Besydes that thys deede of Asa kyng of Iudah is mencioned in the holy scriptures But we cannot fynde that it was allowed to be well done Yea if we looke vpon the latter booke of Chronicles the syxtene chapter we shall see that that kyng was most greuously rebuked of God by the Prophet for suche a wycked deede For it is thus wrytten At that tyme came Hanani the Sear to Asa kyng of Iudah and sayde vnto hym bycause thou haste trusted in the kyng of Siria and not rather put thy trust in the Lorde thy God therefore is the hoste of the kyng of Siria escaped out of thyne hande Had not the Ethiopes and they of Ludim an exceadyng strong hoste wyth many Chariotes and horsemen And yet bycause thou dyddest put thy trust in the Lorde he delyuered them into thyne hand For the Lorde and hys eyes beholde al the earth to strengthen them that are of perfect hart towarde hym But thou herein hast done foolyshly and therfore from hence foorth thou shalt haue warres c. For I shewed before that we myght without daunger discommende thys example whych they bryng of thys kyng when as God doth so sharpelye chasten hym by hys Prophet But we wyll entreate of thys more largely afterward 4 And Iudah went vp and the Lorde deliuered the Chananites and Pherezites into their handes and they smote them in Bezek to the number of ten thousand men The victorie whiche the two tribes obteyned ouer the Chananites is described and accordyng to the manner of the holy Scripture the same is set forth and comprehended in fewe wordes afterward the maner howe the thyng was done is more amplye expounded Now briefly is declared that they of Iudah obteyned the victorie and slew ten thousand of their enemies Why suche as are ouercome are sayde to be deliuered of God into the handes of their ouercommers And the Lord deliuered the Chananites The holy Scripture obserueth his olde order to say that they whiche are ouercome in battaile are deliuered into their enemies handes by God and speaketh thus to adminishe vs that victory is not the worke of our owne strength but of the goodnesse and counsel of God Wherfore souldiours and emperours whē they haue the vpper hand in battailes they must bridle them selues from boasting and gloryeng which Ieremy also faithfully geueth counsell to do For he sayth let not him that is mightye glory in his owne strength Nebuchadnezar kyng of the Babilonians folishely despising this was so vexed tossed with madnesse that he was almost chaūged into a dumbe beaste Wherefore the administration of the kyngdome was taken away from him he liued in great misery of long time who out of doubt had not fallen into so great misfortune if as it was mete he had confessed that what soeuer he had gotten was geuen him by the prouidence and coūsel of God But as Daniel mencioneth he being puffed vp with the noblenesse and dignitie of his actes most presumptuously and proudly bragged of them for he sayd that in the strength and might of hys owne arme he had established the kyngdome of Babilon In the bookes of the Ethnikes thou shalte very seldome or peraduēture neuer fynde any suche kynde of speache For men whiche are destitute of faith do not ascribe those good thinges vnto god which they thinke they haue attayned vnto by any labour or industrie Yea and they ascribed the chaunces of warre not to come by the fauour of God but by strength and pollicye and sometymes by fortune Wherfore Cicero in his boke of diuination affirmeth that the victory of the Decianes whiche they gotte by vowing of them selues to the people of Rome Cicero Howe Cicero interpreteth the vowing of the Decianes was an excellent and polliticque deuise of warre So farre is he from attributing it to the prouidence of the gods They knew sayth he that the strength force of the Romayne people was such that if they sawe their captaynes either to be in extreme daungers or els to be slayne or to be taken of their enemyes that they would by no meanes suffre
by the testimonies of his aduersaryes which is witnessed by our enemies And god hath wonderfully prouided for this kinde of testimonies for his church For we haue not only the bokes of the Hebrewes witnessing with vs but also Verses of the Sibillas which were borne in sundry countreyes Neither is it to be supposed that our elders fayned those Verses of themselues Verses of the Sibillas For in the time of Lactantius Eusebius of Cesaria Augustine which alledged those Verses the bokes of the Sibillas were rife in euery mans hand Wherfore if our elders should haue adioyned vnto them any counterfayte Verses the Ethnykes which were then many in number and were full of eloquence and deadly enemies to our religion would haue reproued them as vaine and liars What then remaineth but that god would wonderfully defend his church euen by the testimonies of our aduersaries Therfore the Iewes are now suffred among Christians partly for the promise sake which they haue that saluation should be geuē to their kinred partly bicause of the commodities which I haue now rehearsed out of Augustine Wherfore they are not only suffred but also thei haue Sinagoges wherin they openly read the bokes of the holy scriptures and also cal vpon the god of their fathers In which thing neuerthelesse the diligence of the Magistrates and bishops is much to be required who ought to prouide that they do there no other thing and by al meanes to beware that in their commō prayers exhortations and Sermons they curse not nor blaspheme Christ our God If the Magistrates and bishops haue not a care ouer these things they can not but be most iustly accused The Turkes ought not to haue any Sinagoges graūted them But it is not lawful to graunt vnto the Turkes any holy assemblies for that they haue not a peculiar promise of their saluation neither would they there read either the old Testament or the newe but only their most detestable boke called Alcoran Furthermore the Iewes muste be forbidden that they exercise not false bargayning and Vsurye among Christians The Iewes must be prohibited from false bargaining and vsurie therby to vexe and afflict the poore Christians before our face which can not be done but with great horror But our princes exacte of them a very great tribute and receaue at their handes a great pray by their handes by vsury and false bargayning So farre are they of from prohibityng them from these euill artes Furthermore which is more hurtfull they prouyde not to haue them taughte when as they oughte to compell them to come often to the holy Sermons of the Christians Princes ought to care that the Iewes may be taught otherwise whilest they are so neglected and vnloked vnto they waxe euery day worse and worse and more stubborne So that either very little fruite or ells almoste none at al can now be looked for by theyr dwelling among Christians It is also diligently to be sene vnto that they corrupte not our men in seducing them to their Iewishe religion The heresie of the Marranes By reason this thing hath bene neglected the heresie of the Marranes hath much increased and that chiefly in Spaine Moreouer it is mete that they may by some apparail or certain signe be knowen from Christians least a man vnawares should be as familiarly conuersaunt with thē as with Christians And as touching this kinde of infidelles these thynges are sufficiente What heresye is Now must we speake of heretikes The woorde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is deriued of thys verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is to electe or choose For those kinde of men chose vnto thēselues some certaine opinions which are against the holy Scriptures and doe stubbornly defend the same The causes of heresye And the causes of this their choyse for the most part are either bicause they are ignoraunt of the holy Scriptures or els if they know them they dispise them and being driuen by some couetousnesse they applye thēselues to the inuention of some errors Wherfore Augustine in his booke de vtilitate credendi writeth Augustine An heretike is he which for the loue of gayne or rule eyther bringeth vp or els followeth new opinions The definition therfore of heresie is a choyse and stubborne defending of opinions The definition of heresye which are against the holy Scriptures either by reason of ignorance or els contempt of them to the end the easlier to obtaine their own pleasures and cōmodities The choyse and stubburne defending is in this definition in stead of the forme But the opinions disagreing with the holy scriptures serue for the matter Pride and couetousnesse make heresie And the obteining of dignities gayne and pleasures are appoynted as endes of thys so great a mischiefe By this definition it is manifeste inough as I thynke who be heretikes I minde not at this presente to speake of the kindes sortes of heresies I shall as I trust haue better occasiō a place more mete to speake therof This wil I say briefly as touching this questiō we must haue none otherwise to do with heretikes than with infidels and Iewes And I suppose that these things are sufficient as touching this question whiche hath bene hitherto discussed I woulde God so perfectly as with many woordes Wherfore I will returne vnto the historye The second Chapiter 1 ANd the Angel of the Lord ascended from Gilgal to Bochim and sayd I made you to go out of Egipte and haue brought you vnto the Lande whiche I sware vnto your Fathers And I sayde I wil not breake mine appoyntmente that I made with you TWo things haue hitherto bene set forth vnto vs. Fyrst the noble victories which the Israelits obteined as long as they obeyed the word of God Secondly the transgression wherby contrarye to the commaundementes of God they both saued and also made tributaries vnto themselues those nations whom they ought vtterly to haue destroyed But nowe is set forth vnto vs how God of his goodnesse by hys Legate reprehended the Israelites for the wicked acte whiche they had committed and that not without fruite For whē they heard the word of God they repented Fyrst the messenger of God maketh mencion of the benefites which god had bestowed on his people The principall poyntes of the Sermon Secondly he vpbraydeth thē of their wicked actes wherwith they being ingrate requited so great giftes Lastely are set forth the threatninges and punishementes wherewith God woulde punishe them excepte they repented But before we come to entreate of the oration of this legate it were good to declare what he was The Hebrew worde Melach It is doubtful what this Legate was and also the Greke worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are doubtfull and sometymes they signifie a nature without a body I meane spirites the ministres of God and other sometymes they signifie a messanger what soeuer he be There are examples of these in many
land of Egipt followed straunge Gods euen the Gods of the nations that wer round about them bowed them selues vnto them Wherefore they angred the Lord. 13 They forsooke I say the Lorde and serued Baal Astharoth Vnder those vngodlye Princes which succeeded the good the people grieuously fell Not bicause that they before had not also transgressed for that as we haue shewed they grieuously synned in sparing of the Chananites but nowe they began to contaminate and defile them selues with the superstitions and idolatry of those Nations R. Leui demaundeth in this place how it could be that none of those should be on lyue which had sene the woorkes of God which hee hadde done for Israel when as from their comming out of Egipt to this present time there were but 67. yeares passed He answereth that there might easely be some found which had sene those woorkes yea all men confesse that Phinches lyued at that tyme but there were but fewe suche and there were not many wise men and whych could rightly and with authority instruct the young of those things All the Israelites became not idolatrers which they had sene And it might be that the scripture spake not these woordes of al the people but onely of the new Magistrates which succeded Neither ought we hereby to vnderstand that all the Israelites were become Idolatrers but the moste part of them and which was more haynous they openly professed wicked worshippinges when as neuerthelesse some although but few and peraduenture secretly claue vnto the true God Neither maye wee gather hereby Miracles are not sufficient to persuade godlines that myracles of them selues haue the power to be sufficient either to bring in or to retaine godlynes For Chore Dathan and Abiram Zimri Achan and the ten spies were without dout at the doing of the myracles which were done as well in Egipt as in the wildernes and yet neuerthelesse they fell from God and defiled them selues wyth moste grieuous wicked actes Moreouer they whiche when Moyses was absent woorshypped the golden Calfe and were consecrated to Baal-Peor the God of the Moabites they I say vndoubtedly beheld the wonders whereby God defended the people from their enemies and helped them in diuers necessities and yet for al that they became Idolatrers committed wicked worshippings Euen so came it to passe of the Scribes and Phariseys for the history of the gospell declareth that they saw the wonderful workes of Christ They which sawe not the miracles in the old tyme are not therfore excused from infidelitie and yet they wonderfullye contemned and maliciouslye despised him Wherefore we must thinke that this is not now rehersed of our history as a lawful excuse of the transgressiō which afterward happened For if by that meanes the act of the Hebrewes coulde be defended then might the superstitious Idolatrers of our time defend their cause for they might say miracles haue now ceased and those thinges which Christe or his Apostels did are not in our time sene But we in this sort answer to them which doo thus excuse their infidelitye The miracles which wer don in the old tyme profite vs also namely that the miracles of Christ the Apostles which were done once ought also to suffice vs for for our sakes were they put in writing that wee readyng them myght receaue fruite by them beyng assured that they were ministred not onely to them which lyued at that tyme but also vnto vs. So might it be aunswered to the Hebrewes of whom we nowe entreate what though ye haue not sene the miracles which wer done in the time of your Fathers Haue not Moyses and Iosua faithfullye written all those thinges whych God hath done for your nations sake Yea and your Fathers which were present and saw them haue trulye declared them vnto you when ye were yet lytle ones The scripture therfore doth not so speake at this presēt to excuse that new generation But to declare what pretence they made when they departed from the woorshipping of the God of their Fathers and what occasion they tooke and also to set foorth that they were of a corrupt and naughtye nature which when their good Maisters and Magistrates were dead became vnmindfull of all true godlynes For it is very likely that they as they were impudent so also openly they boasted abroade those or such lyke woordes We ar in doubt neither do we easely beleue that the Lord did so many miracles as our Fathers haue both written and also shewed vs. Who can tell whether they were so or no we vndoubtedlye know not whether the Lorde or anye other God hath for our saluation sake caused such or so great thinges to be done And so they leauing faith and forsaking the true God dyd euyll in the syght of the Lorde How thinges in the scripture ar called good or euell in the sight of the lord By this hebrewe phrase it is declared that God was maruellouslye offended wyth thys their transgression As contrarywise they are called good thinges in the sight of the Lord which doo excedingly please him This is the common and receaued exposition Howbeit if we more narrowly marke this kinde of speeche we shall easylye perceaue that it declareth some other thing vnto vs. Namely that those thinges which the Iewes dyd were allowed by mans iudgement and peraduenture had a goodly shew but yet in Gods iudgement they were most detestable And withoute doubte that people synned a great deale more haynouslye in thys last transgression than they did in the first For there they onelye omitted the ouerthrowing of ymages and aultares but here they woorship straunge Gods Neither durst they do this onely but they forsooke also the worshipping of the true God Wherein vndoubtedly they were to be counted muche more corrupt than were the Samaritanes For they although they woorshipped their Idoles yet therwithall they ioyned the worshipping of the true God as it is declared in the second booke of Kinges And in how euyll part God taketh it thus to bee reiected he hath expressed by Ieremy the Prophet in the .2 chapter Where hee commaunded the Hebrewes to go and looke vpon other Nations An amplifieng of the idolatrye of the Hebrewes and see whether they haue so vnconstantly chaunged the Gods of their Fathers Whiche Nations if they were knowen constantlye to haue retayned their old woorshippings although they were vngodly Israel might thereby learne not to abiect their old rites and customes of their Fathers This wycked acte moreouer was for thys cause much more detestable bicause they had newly receaued the benefit of their deliuery out of Egipt and had also made a couenaunt with god first by Moses and afterward by Iosua when he was euen at the point of death Furthermore bicause they began to worship the gods of those nations which they had nowe eyther driuen oute of the lande of Chanaan or els made tributaries vnto them selues What a
doubted but that they did it by euill guile The same 23. question .2 Dominus which is takeÌ„ out of his questioÌ„s vpon the boke of Iosua rehearseth the place wherin it is sayd the God coÌ„mauÌ„ded the Hebrues to fight against the citie of Hay by wiles which without doubt belong to guile Ierome vpon the 17. chap of Ezechiel bringeth this sentence as a worldly senteÌ„ce Ierome namely VVhether it be guile or power who can require in an enemy Howbeit he assenteth vnto it althoughe he denieth that it can take place where an othe is made But I will strayt waye expounde that Ambrose in the 14. Ambrose question the 4. permitteth guile or gainefull fraud against enemies after this maner he interpreteth a place of Deut. where God gaue the Iewes liberty to put their money to vsury to straungers namely that where the warre is iust there also may vsury take place For the goods of the enemies ar ours they may lawfully be taken away from them And it skill not whither it be done either by violence or by guile There are which alledge that which is written in the latter Epistle to the Corinthians the xii chap When I was crafty I tooke you by guile But that maketh nothing to the purpose when as it is most manifest that he spake it in mockage For hee fayned as though he had receaued money of the Corinthians by other meÌ„ which by himself he refused to receaue which thing he strait way putteth away But those examples which we brought firste do manifestly proue that it is lawfull to vse guile yea euill guile against enemyes namely in keping close our Counsels doinges vsyng coulorable workes wordes The ciuile lawes permite guile against enemies Nether do the ciuil lawes otherwise teach In the Code de coÌ„merciis et mercatoribus Lege Non soluÌ„ The emperor decreed not only the no gold should be caried vnto the barbarous nacions that were enemies of the pub wealth but also that by subtile guile or pollicy the gold which they had shuld be taken froÌ„ theÌ„ Also in the digestes de captiuis postliminio reuersis Lege Nihil interest it is decreed the captiues howe soeuer they returned into their couÌ„trey againe should recouer agayne their owne goods old state whether they were sent home againe or whether they escaped by violeÌ„ce or by guile Although afterward in Lege postliminio Paragrapho captiuis that be restrained if that they returne with a mind to tary at home For if they shuld either promise or sweare vnto their enemies to returne they should not enioy the right of returniÌ„g Attilius Regulus Wherfore Attiliê° Regulê° enioyed not the benefit bicause he was seÌ„t to Rome to persuade the senate for the chaÌ„giÌ„g of captiues Wherfore for as much as he promised was minded to returne he might not by the lawes vse euill guile A diuisioÌ„ of an other By this also appeareth that to be true whiche a litle before was said namely that we may not vse euil guile against our enemy if ther be an othe made And that this may the playnlyer be vnderstand we must deuide an othe as the lawyers do so that one kinde of othe is called an approuing or an affirming of a thing an other a promising of a thing or as thei speake the one affectiue the other promissory For wheÌ„ we swere either we do affirme or els deny some thing to be or to haue ben which we ought neuer to do with euil guile if we adde therunto an othe Or els we promise to performe somthing for as much as faith is to be kept eueÌ„ with our enemy the same faith also is not to be broken with euill guile Wherefore if those things which we haue sworne vnto our enemy to kepe obserue are temporal goods as are money honours life of the body for these things the name of God is not to be prophaned Wherfore Dauid in his .15 Psal sayth He that sweareth to do euill changeth not In Hebrew it is thus written Nischoah Leharah Velo Iamid Kimhi which place I know Kimhi expoundeth of those which vowe vnto God certaine hard sharpe things which serue to the subduyng of the fleshe neyther do ther chauÌ„ge the which they haue promised But the sentence me thinketh semeth more simple if it haue a larger sense namely of an othe hurtful vnto vs which a good godly man will not abrogate or chaunge Ierome Ierome also vpon Ezechiell the 17. chap. is of this opinion For there the Lord saith that he was very angry against Zedechias bycause he had broken the othe which he had made vnto Nebuchad-nezar king of Babilon For although the Iewes counted him as an enemy yet as Ierome teacheth he was now as a frende when he had by an othe promised his faith vnto Zedechias For the beloÌ„geth vnto friends one to be faithful vnto the other Ambrose Wherfore euil guile ought there to take no place And Augustine in the 33. questioÌ„ the 1. chap Noli existimare writing vnto Bonifacius admonisheth him to kepe faith with his enemy also Augustine Ambrose also in the 28. questioÌ„ the 4. chap. InnoceÌ„s admonisheth the same hath the same sentence in his boke de officiis where he bringeth the example of Iosua toward the Gabaonites who althoughe he might haue made the othe voyde of no force yet by the consent of God he caused it to be kept ratified Neither suffered be the Gabaonites to be slayne whoÌ„ for all that he punished bicause of the guile which they vsed An othe for an vniust thing is to be broken But if the othe be geueÌ„ for an vniust or vngodly thing it is vtterly to be made frustrate bycause an othe ought not to be a bond of iniquitie Neither is it of necessitie that a maÌ„ to be absolued of these kindes othes should come before some iudge Which I therfore speake bycause the Pope claimeth this right vnto himself namely to release a bond in such kind of othes as they commoÌ„ly say to dispense with them as it appeareth in the 15. question the 6. The Pope dissolued both lawfull vnlawful wher Nicholaus absolueth one Treuerensis And his pride arrogaÌ„cy hath so farre now at the length extended his ryght or power that he absolueth not onely vnlawful othes but he abrogateth also iust and lawful othes when it semeth good vnto himselfe So Zacharias losed the frenche men of an othe wherein they were bound vnto their kyng and he put the kyng from his kyngdome and substituted Peppine in his place But that is not to be meruayled at when as it is a common saying in the courte of Rome at this daye A prouerbe of the courte of Rome Non est regum magnatuÌ„ sed mercatorum stare iuramentis that is It is not mete for kynges and noble men but for merchantes
before other kynde of men had the promise of saluation neither are they paste all hope when as daylye some of them although but a fewe retourne vnto Christ Blindnesse sayeth Paule to the Romanes fell partly on Israel as though he woulde say not on al. Moreouer the same Apostle addeth when the fulnesse of the Gentiles is entred then all Israell shall be saued And least thou shouldest peraduenture thinke that these wordes are to bee vnderstand allegorically Paule writeth them as a miserye and to confyrme his sentence he bryngeth the Prophecye of Esay the Prophet namely that iniquitie shal be then taken away from Iacob Furthermore they are now called enemyes vnto God for our sakes but called frends bycause of their fathers The same Augustine in hys Questions vppon the Gospell the second boke and xxxiii Question if that these bookes be of Augustine his writing when he interpreteth the parable of the prodigal sonne he sayeth that that sonne signifyeth the Gentiles For it is written that he departed into a farre countrey bycause the Ethnikes were so farre departed from God that they openly worshipped Idoles and with open profession But the elder sonne by whome was shadowed the people of the Hebrewes went not so farre And although he were not in hys Fathers house whiche is the Churche he dwelled for all that in the fielde For the Iewes are exercised in the holy Scriptures whiche they doe not ryghtlye vnderstande nor yet with that spirituall sense wherein the Churche of Christe taketh them but in an earthlye and carnall sense Wherefore they are not vnaptelye sayde to bee in the fielde Thys Elder sonne entreth not at the begynnyng into the house of hys Father but in the latter dayes he shall also bee called and come The same Father also bringeth for thys sentence that which is written in the 58. Psalme as he readeth it Do not kil them least they forget thy law but in thy power disperse them The Sonne of God sayth he prayeth vnto the father that that nation might not be destroyed but might wander euery where throughout the worlde Other prouinces when they were ouercome of the Romanes followed the lawes and rites of the Romanes The Iewes receaued not the lawes and customes of the Romanes so that at the length they were made Romanes but the Iewes although they were ouercome by the Romanes yet woulde they neuer followe their lawes rites and ceremonies they yet obserue theyr owne as muche as they maye and being dispersed they wander abroade Neither haue they vtterly forgotten the lawe of GOD not that they Godlye applye themselues to obserue it but only reade it and kepe certayne signes and institutions wherby they are discerned from other Nations Moreouer it semeth that God hath put a signe vppon them as he dyd vppon Caine bycause he had killed his brother Abell namely that euery man shoulde not kill them The dispersing of the Iewes is profitable to Christians Neyther is thys theyr dispersion through oute the worlde vnprofitable to the Christians bycause as it is written to the Romanes they are shewed vnto vs as broken bowes And for so much as we were grafted in their place when as we see that they were so miserably cut of we acknowledge the grace of god toward vs and by beholding of them we are taught to take heede that we also bee not likewyse cut of for infidelitie sake for which self cause they are broken of There is also an other commoditie whiche commeth vnto vs by theyr dispersing bycause our bookes are saued by them I meane the holy Byble whiche they euery where carye aboute with them and reade And althoughe bycause they are blynded Against those whiche burne the Bibles in Hebrewe they beleue not yet they confesse that those writynges are moste true They are in harte deadly enemyes agaynst vs but by these bookes which they haue and reuerence they are a testimonye to our religion Wherefore I can not inough meruaile at those whiche doe so much hate the Iewes tongue and Bibles in Hebrewe Augustine that they desire to haue them destroyed and burnte when as Augustine de doctrina Christiana thinketh that if we chaunce somtymes to doubt of the Greke or Latin translation we must fly vnto the truth of the Hebrue And Ierome in many places writeth the same Whether the Hebrues haue corrupted the bokes of holy scriptures Ierome But they say that the holy bookes were vitiated and corrupted by the Hebrues To thys Ierome vpon Esaye the .vi. Chapter towarde the ende aunswereth thus Eyther they dyd thys before the comming of Christ and Preachyng of the Apostles or els afterwarde If a man will saye that it was done of them before then seing Christ and his Apostles reprehended the moste greuous wicked actes of the Iewes I maruaile why they would speake nothing of that sacrilege and so detestable a wicked acte Vndoubtedly they woulde haue reproued them for viciating and corrupting the Scriptures But if thou wilt contend that there were afterward faultes brought in by them then will I say that they ought chiefly to haue corrupted those places which do testifye of Christ and his religiō and which were alledged by the Lord himself and of the Apostles in the newe Testament But they remaine vncorrupt and the same sentence remaineth stil in the Hebrue Bibles which they put For they wer not so carefull for the words Wherfore it is not likely that they as touching other places haue corrupted the holy scriptures Yea if a man diligently reade ouer their bookes he shall finde in them a great many more testimonyes and those more plaine and manifest than our common traslatiō hath Do not they read in the second Psalme Kysse ye the sonne which ours haue translated Take ye hold of discipline Which woordes vndoubtedly are referred vnto Christ But I meane not at this present to bring all such testimonies It is sufficient if with Ierome I proue that the bokes of holy Scriptures are not corrupted by the Hebrues neither assuredly if they woulde they should haue missed of their purpose For there are found many most auncient handwritten bookes which haue bene of a long time most diligently kept by Christians which came neuer in their hands to corrupt But let vs retourne to treate of that commoditye which Augustine hath declared There are very many sayeth he that would peraduenture thinke that those things which we declare of the auncient people and of the Prophets are vayne and fayned of vs vnlesse they saw the Iewes yet remaining on liue The Hebrues their bokes ar most plaine witnesses of our fayth which with their bookes maintaine our sentence euē against their will Wherfore although the Hebrues be blinded in hart are against vs as much as they maye yet are they with their bokes most plaine witnesses of our fayth And vndoubtedly of al testimonies that testimony is most of value God wil haue a church euen