also promises of him both to be and to be performed Wherefore that name of Iehoua is properlie attributed vnto God of the similitude of which word Iupiter being desirous to be reputed for a God commanded himselfe to be called Ioue The Rabbins saie that those letters wherof that word consisteth are spirituall What the word spirit signifieth And vndoubtedlie God is a spirit and a spirit first signifieth things that be without bodies or that haue light bodies as vapors and exhalations the which in shew are light and thin but yet they are of excéeding great strength For by them earthquakes are stirred vp the huge seas are troubled the storms of wind are blowne abroad Wherefore that word began afterward to be applied to the soule of man to angels and to God himselfe for these things which otherwise séeme but slender doo bring great things to passe Others saie that those letters whereof the word Iehoua is written be resting letters and that is verie agréeable vnto God No waie to find quietnes but in God onlie For séeing we doo all séeke for rest and felicitie there is no waie to find the same but in God onelie thus much hitherto of the word Iehoua signifieth the chéefe being wherevpon Plato had that his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or essence And that this may be the more manifest some of the names of God are deriued from his substance Names deriued from Gods substance and other from some propertie Substantiall names be Iehoua Ehi that word signifieth I will be For there is no creature that may saie I will be For if God drawe backe his power all things doo straitwaie perish God doubtlesse may trulie saie so bicause he cannot faile nor forsake himselfe Names referred vnto his properties Other names are referred to some propertie of God as El vnto might Cadoseh vnto holines Schaddai vnto sufficiencie howbeit these things in God be no accidents but onlie as we comprehend them in our cogitations For whereas God is infinite and we cannot wholie comprehend him yet by certeine tokens and effects we doo in some part vnderstand of him thereof are those names which signifie some propertie of God The Iewes being led of a certeine superstition pronounce not that holie name Tetragrammaton but in the place thereof they put Adonai or Elohim and so thinke that they worship the name of God more purelie and reuerentlie but God requireth no such kind of worship And hereby it commeth to passe that in translating of the holie scriptures the Grecians for Iehoua haue made Lord as in stead of Iehoua liueth they haue said The Lord liueth And whereas in the new testament Christ is so oftentimes called Lord his Godhead is nothing atall excluded by that word as some vnpure men doo babble but is rather established Vndoubtedlie Thomas ioined both togither Iohn 20 28. My Lord saith he and my God Finallie God In Iudg. 2 verse 1. to the intent that the knowledge of him might not be forgotten hath accustomed to put men in mind of those benefits which he hath bestowed vpon them and would that those should be as certeine words expressing vnto vs his nature and goodnes And hée beginneth alwaies the rehersall at his latter benefits and of them he claimeth to himselfe titles or names attributed vnto him vnder which he may both be called vpon and acknowledged For euen at the beginning God was called vpon as he which had made heauen and earth afterward as he that was the God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob after that as the deliuerer out of Aegypt then a deliuerer out of the captiuitie of Babylon but lastlie as the father of our Lord Iesus Christ ¶ Of the omnipotencie of God looke Peter Martyr in his Treastise Of both natures in Christ set foorth at Tygure 1563. pag. 4. 3 The words which be in the second booke of Samuel the seuenth chapter In 2. Sam. 7 verse 23. Looke In Gen. 18. at the beginning And In 2. Sam. 23 verse 2. verse the 23. namelie The gods came that he might redéeme vnto himselfe a people are a sharpe corsie vnto the Hebrues which will not acknowledge thrée persons in the diuine nature Som bicause it is said Gods refer it to the opinion of men Such is that saieng of Paule There be manie gods and manie lords 1. Cor. 8 5. For neither can they admit or alow of a multitude of gods But forsomuch as the intreating here is of a singular or particular fact this place must in anie wise be vnderstood of the true God Kimhi thinketh that Dauid said Gods for honor sake euen as men also to speake the more pleasinglie and ciuilie doo oftentimes vse the plurall number in stead of the singular But if it be so what new religion entered straitwaie into Dauid Why did he straitwaie adde Thou Lord in the singular number For we must heape vpon God all the honours that we can Others had rather refer this saieng vnto Moses and Aaron who were sent to deliuer the people out of Aegypt but this cannot be for in the booke of Chronicles all these things are spoken of God himselfe by name 1. Chro. 17 verse 11. For so Dauid speaketh Thou camest to redeeme thy people Wherefore we shall much more rightlie and trulie vnderstand the thrée persons in one diuine nature The Trinitie namelie the Father the Sonne and the holie Ghost which being thrée persons yet are they shut vp vnder one substance This opinion is true sound and catholike whether the Hebrues will or no. But those words which be added And might doo great things for you some would by Apostrophe or conuersion of speach refer them to the Iewes which me thinke is not probable For Dauid talked not of these things with the people but secretlie with God Wherefore I had rather thus to vnderstand them of God himselfe and to ascribe these maruellous things to one God in thrée persons But God came to deliuer his people when he sent Moses Aaron vnto them for when he appointed Moses to that message he added withall And I will be with thee God doubtlesse is in euerie place at all times Exod. 3 12. but then he is said to come How God is said to come Exo. 12 12. when he dooth some great or new thing And so he was said to be among the Iewes when he smote the Aegyptians and their first borne Againe when Pharao followed the Iewes going foorth of Aegypt and that they began to murmur thinking that they should euen then haue perished Moses on this wise recomforted them God shall fight for you and ye shall be still Exo. 14 14. yea the Aegyptians themselues also did perceiue the same For they said Let vs flie awaie Ibidem 25. for God himselfe dooth fight for them Yea and afterward when the people had worshipped the golden calfe and that God was angrie he would not go foorth with them
no doubt but euerie one would haue fauoured his owne tribe and béeing so manie tribes as there were they would hardlie haue agréed all vpon one man And wheras Saule was of the least tribe of lowe degrée of base parentage if he should haue béene chosen by anie other means the matter might haue béen greatlie stomached of all sorts Num. 16 2. Core Dathan Abiram and others of their felowes stirred vp sedition against Moses and Aaron bicause they supposed them to haue vsurped the principalitie and preesthood by fraud and collusion Sundrie waies were the lots in old time Kimhi thinketh that all the people stood before the Lord for in deliberation and counsell of great matters it behooued the magistrate or prince to stand before the high préest So we sée in the book of Numbers Num. 27 22 that when Iosua was appointed to be captaine of the people he stood before Eleazar and the préest vsed to make answere through Vrim and Thumim So dooth Kimhi thinke that Samuel stood before the high préest and receiued the oracle of Vrim and Thumim that is to saie by those letters which were ingrauen in the pretious stones of the Ephod He saith moreouer that the arke perhaps was brought thither howbeit these things be vncertaine For there is here no mention made either of the préest or yet of the arke Rab. Shelomo thinketh that such was the maner of lots as that the names of euerie of the tribes were written in seuerall scrols which béeing throwne into a pot were afterward drawne by the chéefe préest It maketh for Kimhi that there is no mention made of lots Shelomo followeth the common opinion which is that Saules election was doone by lots which thing was not strange from the vse custome of the Iewes For of two hée goats Looke in Iudg. 20 8. Much vse of lots among the Iewes Leuit. 16 8. Iosua 13 6. 1. Par. 24 31 1 Sam. 14 41 Ionas 1 7. Acts. 1 26. it was chosen by lots which of them should scape By lots the land of Canaan was diuided among the tribes by lots the préesthood was appointed by lots Ionas Ionathas were found out and by lots Matthias was taken into the apostleship as we read in the first of the Acts. Wherfore séeing lots were in such sort vsed commonlie among the Iewes it should appeare that Shelomo did not thinke amisse in saieng that Saule was chosen by lots And whereas Kimhi saith that the high préest the arke of the Lord and the Ephod were present me thinketh it is not agréeable to truth For the arke at that time was in Kiriathiarim And if so be that the Ephod were there yet it followeth not of necessitie that therefore the arke was also there for we may sée how often those things were a sunder 1. Sam. 30◠For when Dauid fled and came to Ceila he had Abiathar the préest to put on the Ephod and yet the arke was not carried with him in that flight The same thing was afterward doone in Siceleg when as yet the arke was present with him But thou wilt saie that in the text lots are not named I grant but yet there is another word there of the same signification For Lachad signifieth To get to laie hold on and to attaine by coniecture 3 But what lots those were I knowe not for as I said there were manie kinds of lots Cicero in his booke De diuinatione saith Many kinds of lots that When one Numerius Suffecius had cut in sunder a flint stone the lots made in an oke leaped out that at the same time an Oliue trée bid sweat honie and that therefore a little chest was made of the same trée into which the lots were cast these were called Praenestine lots which were verie famous in times past In Plautus we read of lots made of firre and poplar trées which were cast into a vessell of water and according as euerie lot arose first or last from the bottom so the matter was decréed Pausanias saith that lots were woont to be doone out of a pot made of claie and that one Cresphon in the diuision that was made of Peloponnesus to handle the matter that the field of Missena might fall out to his share he corrupted the préest Temenus for he dried others lots by the sun but Cresphons by the fier and therefore Cresphons lots béeing longer before they were made wet he obtained the féeld of Missena Darius the king of Persia in stead of lots vsed the neighing of a horsse And some haue obserued the first arising of the sun To vse lots is nothing else What is to vse lots but to doo something through which we may come by the knowledge of a thing that we knowe not Three kinds of lots But all kinds of lots may be reduced to thrée sorts For either we doubt to whom a thing should be adiudged as in the diuision that is made of féelds and possessions these lots are called lots of diuision either we doubt what is to be doone and such be called consulting lots or else we would faine knowe what should come to passe and this is called diuination by lots But it behooueth verie much to knowe Vpon what principle lots depend vpon what principle lots doo depend For to saie that they be ordered by fortune that were a vaine thing by diuels that is superstitious by heauen and the stars that is plaine ridiculous wherefore they are ruled by God For as saith Salomon Lots are put into the bosome Pro. 16 33. but they are tempered by the Lord. And Augustine vpon the 30. psalme sheweth that lots are nothing else but a signifieng of Gods will when man standeth in doubt And digressing from hence he saith Lots a token of the will of God that predestination and grace may be called lots bicause they depend not vpon our merits but vpon the mercies of God For with God predestination is eternall and certaine though it séeme to come to passe by lots And to Honoratus he saith that In a great persecution all ministers ought not to flie awaie nor yet all abandon themselues vnto perill but those must be retained which shall be sufficient for the present vse and the rest to be sent awaie that they may be reserued till a better season But here what maner of choosing shall be had Those must be retained saith he whom we shall thinke to be the more profitable and better for the people which remaine But if all shall be alike and all shall saie that they would tarie and die then saith he the matter must be committed vnto lots And in his booke De doctrina christiana he saith If there happen to méet with thée two poore men whose néed presentlie is alike and thou hast not then wherewith to helpe them both but one thou canst helpe there is no better waie than to deale by lots How and when lots must be vsed 4 But
set foorth their matter with goodlie words and so it may be vnderstood what they saie they account breuitie a speciall praise of speaking And a little after it followeth thus The name of things doone requireth order of time to be obserued will also haue the description of countries For in matters which be great and woorthie of memorie we first looke what counsell was taken secondlie the acts that were doone and lastlie what end and successe came thereof And in counsels is signified what the writer alloweth and in the acts is declared not onelie what was doone and said but also in what maner they were executed c. By these things we may perceiue what is the nature of Annales or of historie And it séemeth we may affirme The narrations of the scriptures be rather histories than chronicles that the narrations of the holie scriptures be rather like histories than Annales For not onelie acts are there set foorth as they were doone but also the verie causes counsels and meanes are shewed Also the orations admonitions and reprehensions are otherwise set foorth with som ornaments All which rather belong vnto histories than vnto bare Chronicles 21 But since we haue heard the opinion of Cicero let vs sée also what Aulus Gellius saith Aulus Gellius opinion of chronicles and histories who in his fift booke and fift chapter writeth on this sort Some doo thinke that a historie differeth from a Chronicle in this that whereas both of them are a declaration of things that be doone yet that a historie is properlie of such things as the writer himselfe is present at the execution of those things which he intreateth of c. This distinction he himselfe dooth not followe and that for some certeine cause Which distinction neuertheles Seruius the Grammarian vsed and after him Isidorus in his first booke of Etymologies which is a maruell bicause he is not only against Tullie who said that An historie is a gathering of things doone from yéere to yéere but also contrarie to Virgil whose verse is in the first of Aeneidos And if it please you to heare the Chronicles of our labours Wherein he declareth that Chronicles also belong to such things as the writer was present at But I will speake againe of Gellius He reporteth that there were others which thought histories to be either the exposition or demonstration of things that haue béene doon and they be Annales or Chronicles when the acts of manie yéeres are afterward compiled an order of euery yéere being kept According to which iudgment the historie of the scriptures cannot be named among Chronicles séeing in the declarations of things doone in them the course of yéeres manie times is not obserued Afterward the same Gellius according to the mind of Sempronius Asellio added this much But the difference betwéene those which would leaue Chronicles behind them and others which indeuoured to discourse of the worthie acts of the Romans was this In their Chronicles they onlie shewed what déeds were doon euerie yéere but the histories not onelie shewed what was doone but also how by what order deuise and counsell the same was atchéeued And a little after the same Asellio in the same booke Chronicles can neither mooue the more couragious sort to defend the Common-weale nor yet the more cowardlie to doo amisse Wherefore since by the knowledge of the scripture men be admonished and stirred vp to the right worshipping of God to repentance of their life to put their whole confidence in God and finallie to take in hand all offices which appertaine to good life and conuersation they rather containe historie than chronicle I haue vsed manie words touching this matter but I trust not without some fâ—uit God is the authour of historie 22 But it must not be thought that historie was deuised by man séeing God himselfe is the author thereof who would that the forefathers should declare vnto their children and posteritie the maruellous things that he did in Aegypt in the red sea and in the wildernesse yea and he bad as we read in Exodus that the warre against Abimelech Exod. 17 14 the victorie which the Israelites had of him should be recorded in writing but this kind of writing began before Moses For euen he maketh mention Histories before Moses time Num. 21 15 Ios 10 13. 2. Sam. 1 18. aswell of a booke of the wars of the Lord as also of an other booke of iust men The prophets also oftentimes mingled histories with their prophesies I omit Dauid who manie times garnished his psalmes which he soong with histories of the scriptures I passe ouer our euangelists in the new testament and the Acts written by Luke wherin are large and most profitable histories Of these bookes if God be authour as we must beléeue he is euen God himselfe shal be counted the authour of historie And this is not vnbeséeming for him séeing historie is an excellent thing for as Cicero writeth in his booke De oratore it is a testimonie of times The praise of historie a light of the truth the life of memorie the maister of life and the messenger of antiquitie c. Verie singular are these commendations and not fit for euerie historie but for such onelie wherein those rules are obserued which this authour hath in the same place set downe that is to wit The rules of a true historie that there be no false thing told that there be no bashfulnes in telling the truth that there be giuen no suspicion of fauour or hatred Wherin although the Latine Historiographers were better than the Gréekes The Latine histories of more credit than the Greeke which as Quintillian saith were in these matters almost as lewd as the poets yet Augustine in his 131 epistle to one Memorius a bishop giuing no small praise to historie among other liberall disciplines and writing of the truth saith that he could not perceiue how those stories which are compiled by men can be well able to kéepe the truth séeing that writers are constrained to giue credit vnto men and oftentimes to gather rumors and reports of the multitude who neuerthelesse are to be excused if they kéepe the course that is required in a historie and write nothing of affection or set purpose to beguile men The histories of the scriptures most true But there is nothing more true than the histories reuealed and written by the inspiration of God as these histories of ours be 23 Besides the commoditie of the truth The commodities comming by histories the knowledge whereof is without doubt most excellent we obtaine other commodities also and those not small by the reading of histories By them we may gather great and abundant store and matter of most profitable arguments For as Quintillian saith histories and examples be iudgements and testimonies And the vse of examples is of two sorts at the least Two maner of vses of examples one is
afterward perish There is no doubt but they serued for that age euerie thing is not alike conuenient for all places times persons Wherfore we answere that so it séemed good vnto God and thereby wée gather that those bookes had not béene profitable for vs. Howbeit they are iustlie and greatlie blamed which make much adoo about the losse of manie bookes when as they in the meane time haue not perused ouer those which be now extant of the holie scriptures And I am certeinlie persuaded that it tendeth to the profit of the elect that there haue so manie miscarried Also there be certeine monuments extant of ecclesiasticall writers not verie whole but as it were fragments of them by the taste whereof wée may knowe that the rest which be lost were not of such value as the losse of them should be much lamented Plato in his dialogue Phaedrus reporteth that a Daemon who as I take it was a wise man cam to Thamus king of Aegypt offered him foure of his deuises namelie number geometrie lots and letters and when he came to the commendation of letters hée declared that they were a great helpe to memorie and a singular furtherance to wisedome The king examining his saiengs some part he allowed and some he did not And when he had considered of letters hée pronounced the contrarie of them A kings opinion as touching written monuments For letters saith he helpe not the memorie as thou bearest mée in hand but they rather confound the same For when men haue once put in writing those things which they haue heard or found out they are no longer carefull to ponder them in their mind and to repeate them often to themselues and if letters were not they would often meditate those things which are found out and knowne and would be dailie more and more ripe in them Further as touching the increase of wisedome men will herafter saith he despise their teachers by turning themselues vnto written books which being often red doo tell but one tale This was the opinion of a king of Aegypt which in verie déed I allow not For I affirme that books are of singular great profit for else God would not haue bestowed the scriptures vpon men yet that king seemed to saie somewhat For if there be not a mean and in reding of books they may doo hurt It is said of Socrates and Pythagoras that they wrote nothing themselues Socrates Pythagoras wrote nothing themselues but that their schollers after them set foorth some bookes in their names No nor our Sauiour Christ did not leaue behind him anie writing of his owne dooings but his apostles did register his sermons acts and miracles Yea and it is not said in the historie that Salomon wrote these things but that he spoke and disputed Wherefore it should séeme that those things which be extant and written in his name were receiued from his mouth which may well bée perceiued by the booke of the Prouerbs The cause why so manie of his saiengs haue béene omitted perchance is for that they which tooke the words from his mouth did not thoroughlie marke all things Besides this so manie were the exiles of the Hebrues as it is a maruell that these scriptures which we haue were preserued and these by Esdras were restored and amended Wherefore we must well and thankfullie vse them as a heauenlie and diuine gift And I am out of doubt that the apostles gaue more epistles vnto the churches than we haue in these daies And I am thoroughlie persuaded that those which are lost be lost by the appointment of God Of Paule and his epistles and stile looke the preface vpon the epistle to the Romans The seuenth Chapter Whether yong and incontinent men and finallie anie other sort are to be excluded from hearing of the word of God IT should séeme that Aristotle may for iust cause be blamed when he wold exclude a yoong man frō hearing of morall philosophie for thus he saith He will heare in vaine without fruit bicause he hath not experience and that although he haue his right reason yet is he ouercome with lusts and affections and so ouercome as he cannot doo those things that he would and therfore he saith that as his reason is ouercome so is this learning vnderstood of him ouercome that since he is not able to produce the same into act his labor in hearing will be frustrate Howbeit hereof is gathered an argument of the contrarie to wit that they by this facultie are verie greatlie holpen which doo suffer their affections to be ruled by reason Againe it belongeth to those that be perfect men to subdue the affections of their mind to reason and yoong and incontinent men which haue most néed of amendement are not iudged méet for these things These being plucked awaie from hearing there will be no kind of men left vnto whom these things will bring anie commoditie Whervpon Aristotle shall hardlie auoid it but that this will become superfluous Eustratius answereth that there be some men and those not a few which are lead onlie by custome to become good but they cannot procéed therein by an order and waie prescribed séeing they are destitute of infallible rules which when they haue afterward procured to themselues by this doctrine they are most of all established in iust and honest actions not being now anie more led by customs but throughlie persuaded by a full assurance of their mind And there be some which of a certeine naturall inclination doo flie from wickednes and desire goodnes but how those things doo differ one from another or by what meanes they may of the good things which without doubt are manifold followe the better they are ignorant by themselues neither is there anie doubt but that they which be so framed may thereby obteine great helpes That incontinent men may receiue fruit by hearing of good doctrine And therefore we are not to thinke that the incontinent and they which be subiect to their affections shall as we haue heard of Aristotle be altogither vnprofitable hearers for vnlesse they be wholie without sense they when these things are set before them will at the leastwise knowe whither they are brought by their lusts and wil perceiue how far off they are now distant from the right course it cannot possiblie be but that some maner of waie they will be stirred vp vnto better things wherevpon they may by little and little both be healed and reape commoditie as we read that it happened at Athens to the most desperate yoong man Polemon That yoong men may be profitable hearers when he had heard Xenocrates dispute manie things of temperance Wherfore these things which are here spoken must not be vnderstood without exception For sometime there be yoong men so framed by nature and so amended onlie by discipline and education that euen by this kind of learning they are able to profit much as
small questions gathered out of the booke De trinitate Adde withall that if the holie Ghost should be said to be begotten then in the trinitie we should appoint two sonnes two fathers For séeing the holie Ghost is as well of the father as of the sonne he should haue them both to be his fathers if it might be said that he is begotten of them yea and if the matter be well considered he might I saie be called both the sonne and sonnes sonne of one and the selfe-same Father For in affirming him to be begotten of the Father he should be called his Sonne but in asmuch as it should be said that he is borne of the Sonne he should be nephew vnto the Father which things be absurd and wholie strange from the scriptures Since the Sonne is called the onlie begotten it may not be said that the holie Ghost is begotten Iohn 1 14. Iohn 3 16. 1. Iohn 4 9. Yea and further to saie that the holie Ghost is begotten the words of the scripture are against it which verie often doo call the Sonne The onlie begotten whereof it followeth that the holie Ghost is not begotten In the first chapter of Iohn it is said We sawe the glorie thereof as the glorie of the onlie begotten of the father And in the third chapter of the same gospell So God loued the world as he gaue his onlie begotten sonne And the same Iohn in his epistle In this the loue of God towards vs appeared that he gaue his onlie begotten sonne Christ as touching his humane nature is called the first begotten Rom. 8 29. And Christ as touching his humane nature hath béene accustomed in the scripture to be called not The onlie begotten of God but The first borne among manie brethren as it appeareth in the epistle to the Romans Howbeit doubtles as touching his diuine nature he hath no brethren There be some which cauill that in the Synod of Nice the holie Ghost was not in expresse words called God but that onlie the Godhead of the sonne was expressed Vnto which obiection Epiphanius answereth Why Epiphanius in the Synod of Nice and other fathers else where haue not expresly named the holie Ghost God that in the Synod of Nice the controuersie was as touching the sonne onlie For Arrius at the first contended onlie against this point And Councels for the most part define not anie other things but such as are called in question yet neuertheles if a man diligentlie examine the matter he shall sée that those things be there defined which doo plainelie inough declare the diuine nature of the holie Ghost For it is there said We beleeue in the holie Ghost and it is not lawfull for one to put his confidence in a creature Moreouer that which was doon in the Synod of Nice was performed in the Synod of Constantinople 18 Also they obiect that among the fathers there were some and especially of the more ancient of them which were slacke in their writings to expresse in plaine words the holie Ghost to be God Among whom Erasmus reckoneth Hilarie Erasmus Hilarie who was thought to be the first among the Latins that wrote against the Arrians This father in his booke De trinitate neuer by expresse words called the holie Ghost God Vnto this obiection we answere that the most ancient fathers in teaching diuine things vsed a singular modestie and did imitate the holie scriptures so much as they could and although they said not in expresse words that the holie Ghost is God yet in the meane time they wrote those things which manifestly prooue his Godhead And further it appeareth that they of set purpose disputed against them which denied the Godhead of the holie Ghost and equalitie of the thrée diuine persons as we sée by the strife that was about the word * Of like substance Homousion A similitude from which manie of the Catholiks at the beginning did restraine themselues bicause it séemed to bée but new and that it was not had in the holie scriptures yet they neuertheles did imbrase and most willingly admit the thing signified Howbeit we striue not about these things but grant first and chéefelie whatsoeuer is in the holie scriptures and then whatsoeuer is necessarilie and manifestlie deriued out of them Next vnto those ancienter sort of fathers did Basil and diuers others succéed which by all meanes both testifie and defend the holy Ghost to be God 19 Others cauill bicause it is written that None knoweth the Father but the Sonne Mat. 11 27. and on the other side None the Sonne but the Father in which places they saie that there is no mention of the holie Ghost and therefore it séemeth vnto them that he knoweth neither the Father nor yet the Sonne that for the same cause he is not God To these also we answer Whether the holie Ghost knoweth the Father and the Sonne that when the knowing of the Father and of the Sonne is attributed to two persons the holie Ghost must not be excluded séeing he is said to be the spirit aswell of the Father as of the Sonne wherfore that which is belonging to both is also common vnto him And if they demand a plaine testimonie hereof out of the scriptures we will bring foorth one out of the first epistle to the Corinth where it is written 1. Cor. 2 11. The things of man none knoweth but the spirit of man which is within him and euen so those things which be of God Matt. 16 17. none knoweth but the spirit of God Also it is written in the gospell Blessed art thou Simon the sonne of Iona The holie Ghost both knoweth the Father and the Sonne and also reuealeth them for flesh and bloud hath not reuealed these things vnto thee but the spirit of my father which is in heauen By these testimonies it is manifest that the holy Ghost dooth not only knowe God but dooth also reueale make him to be known vnto others But this error whereby some indeuor Origins error to rebuke the holie Ghost with an ignorance of heauenlie things tooke beginning frō Origin who affirmed a certeine degrée to be among the natures of Intelligencis so as he though that the Father knoweth himselfe onelie he said that the Sonne did not knowe the Father and that the holie Ghost knew not the Sonne Epiphanius and he would moreouer that the angels perceiue not the holie Ghost and lastlie that men sée not the angels And that this order is set downe by him Epiphanius sheweth out of the booke as he testifieth The booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which booke neuertheles so far as hitherto I remember I haue not read the matter plainlie in such sort described Which is no maruell for that booke which Ruffinus translated Ruffinus hath manie things vnperfect For he plucked out those things which hée thought
A parologisme This is a false argument taken from that which is absolute to that which is in some respect bicause we also doo confesse that parents ought also to offer vp their children vnto God by bringing vp of them godlie and religiouslie but not in making a burnt sacrifice of them Perhaps they are driuen by an other reason namelie bicause they had heard of their ancestors that is of the holie Patriarchs that it would come to passe that one daie God would be well pleased with an humane sacrifice Which as they did peculiarlie vnderstand concerning Messias so the wicked being taught by the instruction of the diuell vnderstood it of some particular men Vndoubtedlie it was a maruellous blindnesse of their minds that they abhorred not to sacrifice their children vnto diuels and it was more than a true pretence of religion which consisted not of the word of the Lord but of a humane and diuelish inuention And certeinlie the more feruent that men be in superstitions deuised by them selues the further are they carried headlong into things more absurd And if so be that a good intent were at anie time to be commended here should it most of all haue taken place For they which did sacrifice their owne children did not onlie séeme to mortifie humane affections but vtterlie to despoile them On this wise doo men when they be carried awaie of their owne will What else I beséech you was this than to be cruell against their owne bloud Wild beasts which be altogither destitute of reason would commit no such thing who doo fight for their yoong ones offer them selues to die for the safetie of them Hereby we vnderstand what miserable gods the idolaters haue worshipped whom they would not haue to be mercifull vnto them except they had first doone them much harme Vnder the colour of godlinesse the earth was polluted with innocent bloud that a more vnhappie destruction might come against it And thus we sée that idolatrie exacteth more and farre more gréeuous things of men than true godlinesse and the word of God can obteine It gréeued not those men to kill their sons but they that professe the Gospell will not abide to chasten them no not lightlie The priests of Baal lanced their bodies so cruellie as the bloud ran on euerie side out of their bodies and they which would be called christians withdraw not their bodies from hurtfull pleasures 39 But and if we should demand Gen. 8 21. Exod. 29. Leuit. 1. 2. 3. Num. 15. 28. euerie where whether God haue at anie time delighted in humane sacrifice that will we not denie for through the death of Christ GOD was well pleased with mankind And that which in manie places of the lawe is written as touching sacrifices to wit that God smelled those things as a sweet sauor Leuit. 26. Num. 28. Ezec. 20 41 that must be referred not vnto the cattell which was sacrificed but vnto the principall type that was shadowed by them that is vnto Christ whose death neuerthelesse did not barelie and by it selfe please God but so farre foorth as it procéeded of a true obedience perfect mind and singular charitie And if thou demand whence that obedience and charitie obteined their dignitie and excellencie It shall be said from the diuine person in which the humane nature was sustained while Christ so farre foorth as he was man should suffer the works of our saluation Also the sacrifices of the holie martyrs wherein they suffer themselues to be slaine for the name of God is also most déere vnto God Yet is not God cruell as he that reioiseth in the bloud and death of men for the deaths and slaughters of martyrs please not God of them selues and in their owne nature except in that that they are offered for the testifieng of his truth Againe he hath not so respect vnto patient men as they be méere men and the children of Adam but as they belong vnto the bodie of Christ and are now become his members by regeneration and according to the forme of Paules speaking are called the men of God 2. Tim. 3 17 That God in his owne right might require humane sacrifices 40 In verie déed God might in his owne right haue required humane sacrifices of men For séeing he is the Creator of men he may determine of them at his owne pleasure which yet is the more lawfull for him when as all the posteritie of Adam haue béene made subiect vnto death That therefore which euerie houre they owed to God he might require of them whensoeuer he had thought good For trulie no iustice was against it but that he might vse their death for the fulfilling of his decrées And in requiring of this kind of oblations he shuld haue doone no iniurie vnto them for in stéed of the losse of this transitorie and fraile life he would haue requited them with a blessed and eternall life the which should haue béene counted for an aduantage and that a most manifest aduantage Wherefore those men that were to be offered in a burnt sacrifice might haue set their minds at quiet by this sound consolation But when it was lawfull for God thus to doo hée would not naie rather he forbad that it should be doone First before the lawe was giuen when as he staied Abraham from killing of Isaac Gen. 22 12. Leui. 18 21. Deu. 12 31. Deut. 32 17 Psal 6 37. Iere. 32 35. Afterward in the verie lawe it selfe in two or thrée places he chargeth that men should not offer vp their sonnes and sacrifice them as did the nations of the Chanaanites And after the lawe was made he oftentimes by the oracles of the prophets rebuked the Israelites when they committed such things And in the place of humane sacrifice he appointed the slaughters of beasts that is of buls of calues of shéepe of goats and of birds which neuerthelesse he remooued afterward when Iesus Christ had béene sacrificed Why God required the sacrifices of beasts And why he for a time suffered those kind of sacrifices Tertullian in his second booke against Marcion declareth First bicause he sawe the Hebrues incline to the ceremonies of the idolaters where these beasts were vsed in sacrifices wherefore he rather would that those things should be doone vnto him than vnto the vaine gods of the Gentils yea rather vnto diuels Furthermore with singular diligence and perfect precepts he distinguished the kinds of the sacrifices also he prescribed in a maner infinite things as touching the places vessels rites to the intent he might exercise those fathers verie busilie in his seruice that they might be constreined to meditate daie and night in his lawe and that with a true faith otherwise their sacrifices should haue béene hated of him as he spake by the prophet Esaie Esaie 1 11. To what end is this multitude of sacrifices offered vnto me Haue I required this at your hands
they should deale more mildlie they threatened that they would kill themselues And when it was obiected by our men that it was not lawfull they vsed to flie to that example which we haue mentioned of Razis 2. Ma. 14 37 and vnto the place in the epistle to the Corinthians If I shall giue my bodie that I be burned and haue not charitie 1. Cor. 13 3 it profiteth me nothing Wherefore it is lawfull saie they so it be doone in charitie Another argument of the Donatists for Paule reprooueth not the same saue where charitie faileth But they fondlie and vnlearnedlie depraued the words of Paule for they as Augustine said are thus to be ment If of necessitie we must either die or else admit some mischéeuous act it is much better for a godlie man to die yet not so as anie man ought to be the author of his owne death but to be readie to abide anie thing doone by the tyrant and executioner So may it séeme that those fellowes of Daniel deliuered themselues when they said Dan 3 18. that they would rather die than worship the image of Nabuchad-nezar And Christ is said to haue giuen himselfe for our saluation Yet saith Paule Rom. 5 8. if a man euen so giue himselfe that he be burned of a tyrant if it be not in charitie it shall profit him nothing Yet this also did the Donatists vaunt Another argument of the Donatists that man hath frée will in his owne matters and therefore it is lawfull for anie man to kill himselfe if he will But this is ridiculous vaine sith our will must euermore be drawne backe from sin For this both the holie scriptures exhort and good magistrates and godlie parents in their subiects and children doo the same 17 But Ierom vpon Ionas saith that It is our part not violentlie to plucke death vnto vs but with a good courage to suffer it when it is offered vnlesse perhaps it be Whether selfe-death may be lawfull for keeping of chastitie where chastitie is put in danger As if he had said It is lawfull for one to kill himselfe for preseruing of chastitie Of the same opinion Ambrose séemeth to be in his third booke De virginibus for so he writeth of Pelagia the virgine that the tormentors threatened hir that vnlesse she would worship idols Examples they would rauish hir and that she to auoid as well the one as the other cast hir selfe downe headlong This act did Ambrose commend and he addeth that hir mother did escape awaie with other two daughters and that when in flieng awaie they were hindered by a riuer they of their owne accord rusht headlong into the same and by that meanes they were drowned Eusebius also in his eight booke and 15. chapter when he reckoneth vp the lewd lusts of Maxentius saith that he bearing inordinate loue vnto a certeine matrone of Rome of singular beautie priuilie sent ministers of his lewdnesse to bring hir vnto him Who hauing bound hir husband and vsed all threatenings towards him lastlie obteined of him that he yéelded his wife vnto the lust of the tyrant But she as though she would séeme to obeie when she had obteined a time to make hir selfe readie being retired into a parlor did thrust hir selfe through with a sword And that fact is not blamed but rather allowed Augustins opinion touching these examples Héere Augustine somewhat doubteth what answer to make First he saith that on the one part he séeth that lawe of God Thou shalt not kill and on the other part that they be celebrated in the church as martyrs As touching the word of God he is resolued and concerning the iudgement of the church it might be that God by some reuelation made it be knowen that their dooings pleased him and that they were stirred by the motion and instinct of the spirit and by the speciall counsell of God And like to this is that which we read to be doone by Samson Iud. 16 28. in the booke of Iudges But by Augustines leaue this comparison dooth not sufficientlie agrée for as touching Samson that he was set on by the spirit of GOD it is certeine also God restored his strength vnto him which he before had taken awaie And Samson when he died did call vpon the Lord. Heb. 11 32. And the epistle to the Hebrues giueth him a testimonie of faith and godlinesse and reckoneth him in the number of the saints Which can not be said of these virgins for they haue no testimonie out of the word of God Exod. 20 13 Augustine addeth that that lawe Thou shalt not kill is certeine and well knowen But no man must be persuaded to kill himselfe through a diuine motion vnlesse he knowe and haue a certeine triall that it is the motion of God Indéed I confesse that God sometimes dooth certeine things by extraordinarie means For he commanded the Hebrues to rob the Aegyptians Exod. 11 2. Gen. 22. 1. and Abraham to kill his sonne yet may we not hereby pronounce any thing more than we sée is euident by the holie scriptures Verelie I for my part can not allow of the facts of these virgins for whether they were doone by the motion of God I knowe not neither doo I thinke that the same can certeinlie inough be knowen of anie Yet may it be that they acknowledged their sinnes before they departed out of their life and that God forgaue them Vndoubtedlie the indeuour of defending chastitie and religion is verie laudable yet must we take héed that we defend the same by good meanes and right considerations Those virgins which did these things be praised Admit they be so But sometimes things which be doone amisse be praised also The word of God is such as in commending thereof we can not be deceiued 18 I knowe there be some of the latter writers which thus decrée that If anie man Whether for the cause of Gods glorie it be lawfull for one to kill himselfe for his owne sake bicause he can not indure either sharpenesse of punishment or reproch dooth kill himselfe he sinneth verie gréeuouslie but that if he onlie laie before his eies the glorie of God bicause he perceiueth that those things which he shall suffer will redound to his dishonor he may so be excused Iud. 16 30. For so Samson killed himselfe bicause he sawe that his miserie was a dishonor vnto God 2. Mach. 14. verse 43. And that same Razis also those other women which we now spake of did so likewise But this distinction dooth not weaken the truth which we defend for it is a stedfast and euerlasting rule Rom. 3 8. that We must not commit euill that good may come thereof Yea and the martyrs also could easilie perceiue that their death would redound to the glorie of Gods name yet was there none of them that killed himselfe 2. Sam. 1 16 Euen so might that
féeding and propagation would be frée from impediment and had rather fight than to be kept from these things And in the state of polygamie although women come not to the field yet they be at war togither somtime with chiding and bralling and oftentimes with their fists and nailes He that marrieth a wife giueth his bodie vnto his wife how can he then deliuer the same afterward to another It is a great iniustice when one will not abide by his promise Neuerthelesse thou wilt saie He deliuereth his bodie indéed yet not altogither I heare thée but why then will he haue his wife to giue hir bodie altogither vnto him In contracts consideration must be had to both alike Besides this the principall point of matrimonie is fréendship and fréendship dooth chéeflie consist in iustice if iustice halt matrimonie must néeds be lame Paule addeth that verse 4. The husband hath not power of his owne bodie but the wife nor the wife of hir owne bodie but the husband Wherefore the husband cannot marrie a second wife without iniurie doone vnto the first He affirmeth also that the troubles in matrimonie are verie great verse 28. For such shall haue tribulation of the flesh And it is not the part of a wise man to increase his owne troubles where no néed is for there be verie few which be able well to susteine one such kind of crosse as this is The eight argument 8 Another reason is deriued from the signification or sacrament Paule saith vnto the Ephesians Ephes 5 25. Husbands loue your wiues as Christ hath loued his church c. And They shall be two in one flesh Great saith he is this sacrament or mysterie in Christ I saie and his church But Christ hath one onelie church wherefore if our actions ought to be correspondent vnto the originall forme it shall not be lawfull for vs to marrie more wiues than one This reason Ierom vsed against Iouinian in which place he earnestlie inueiheth against Lamech who as he saith diuided one rib into two And so he affirmeth that the heretiks diuide the church into sundrie conuenticles This dooth not much trouble me séeing this reason might serue for polygamie For Salomon 1. Kin. 11 3. had seuen hundred Quéenes and thrée hundred concubins And in the Canticles it is read Cant. 6 7 and 8. that he had thrée score Quéenes and foure score concubins howbeit one of them was his dooue one was his perfect one That dooth Augustine in his treatise De bono coniugali the 18. chapter thus interpret that Christ of all his particular churches throughout the world hath collected one church vnto himselfe I passe ouer how others doo interpret Rachel to be the church and Lea the synagog In verie déed there was one onelie dooue that is to saie one perfect church The Schoole-diuines saie that thrée things speciallie are requisite in matrimonie fruitfulnesse dwelling togither that the man and woman may one helpe another and the sacrament as they terme it that is the signification That first good thing touching fruitfulnesse polygamie nothing hindereth naie rather it is an increase to the same Yet that they can dwell togither in that state and the husband helpe all his wiues alike it can hardlie be In matrimonie there must be a singular charitie But both reason it selfe and Aristotle in the eight booke of his Ethiks doo teach that speciall fréendship cannot abide among manie for among the more in number that fréendship is spred the slacker it must be toward euerie one in particular There ought also to be a singular vnitie in wedlocke for They be two in one flesh And Paule saith Ephe. 5 30. Bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh But no one man can be one and the same towards manie Further in polygamie all the rest are oftentimes contemned in comparison of one and they are counted in the place of handmaids and that same one dooth beare rule and command the rest Neither dooth malice there staie it selfe sith oftentimes for that one womans sake the residue are miserablie afflicted And this appéereth out of the second chapter of Malachie verse 14. for there the wiues that were waxed old when they were despised and wronged by their husbands by reason they had married other wiues came into the court of the temple and complained vnto the Lord. And héerein the husbands committed double sinne both in that they married others wiues and bicause they afflicted their former wiues It séemeth also that the hauing of manie wiues maketh against good manners sith enimities are not onelie sproong vp among their wiues but also are bred and increased among their children For Agar Gen. 16 4. when she sawe hir selfe to haue conceiued she despised hir mistres then she fled afterward when she was returned and could not agrée with Sara Abraham was constrained to cast hir foorth Ibid. 21 14. Touching Iacob the historie is well knowne Of Helcan and his wiues we haue spoken in our Commentaries vpon the first booke of Samuel Epiphanius Epiphanius against the Massalians saith that The ancient fathers when they had manie wiues neuer susteined them togither in one house Gen. 31 33. Whence he tooke that I knowe not yet from thence I suppose he had the same for that Laban when he pursued Iacob and sought his idols it is written that he first entered into the tent of Rachel afterward of Lea whereby it appeareth that they dwelt asunder Salomon although he gaue no good counsell to himselfe yet by th'inspiration of the holie Ghost he gaue good warning to others For in the Prouerbs he saith Prou. 5 19. Delight thy selfe with the wife of thy youth let hir be thy hynd let hir be thy fawne satisfie thy selfe alwaies with hir paps But this cannot he doo which hath manie wiues And not onelie Salomon did sée this but Laban also For he although he had forced Iacob to take the two sisters yet when he ouertooke him flieng into Gilead and had made a couenant with him he added this Gen. 31 50. Molest not my daughters nor yet bring in other wiues vnto them For this he sawe could not be doone but that those should be greatlie disquieted Lamech had two wiues Gen. 4 19. Ada and Sela and Sela signifieth in Latine Vmbra eius that is His shadowe For she séemed rather to be the shadowe of a wife than a wife indéed 9 Yea and the Comedie also teacheth that polygamie is a great corrupting of matrimonie sith in the Comedie Phormio the old man Chremes when he had a wife at Athens that was rich and would marrie an other in Lemnos was constrained to change his name and to call him selfe Stilpho Which vnlesse he had doone perhaps that second woman of Lemnos would not haue béene married vnto him Yea Chremes by the Parasite Phormio is accused of polygamie as of a gréeuous crime and offense The Romane lawes
which is the head should liue and we that be his members should remaine in death And in the first chapter to the Ephesians he writeth verse 20. According to the greatnesse of his power and according to the strength of his mightie power which he wrought by raising vp of Christ from the dead Againe in the second chapter he ioineth vs vnto him saieng Ephes 2 1. When we were dead in our sinnes he quickened vs with him and togither with him raised vs vp from the dead and made vs to sit at the right hand in heauenlie places These be the arguments wherby the apostle of the Lord dooth confirme resurrection neither did he send vs to the rapting either of Henoch or Elias There be some which saie These things did therefore happen to leaue vs an example doubtlesse not of our resurrection but of our last taking vp 1. Thes 4 17 whereof there is mention made in the Thessalonians Of this opinion was Tertullian in his booke De resurrectione carnis 87. page They are not yet dead but they be documents of our perfectnes to come And Irenaeus in his fift booke writeth that they be an example of our assumption to come And I haue shewed that by the example of their taking vp the bodies which are now a burthen vnto vs shall be no hinderance to the assumption For that hand of GOD which fashioned man of the slime of the earth put him afterward into paradise And he addeth that a certeine elder which was after the apostles taught that not onelie Henoch and Elias were rapted into that place but also Paule the apostle 2. Cor. 12 2. as we read in the second epistle to the Corinthians Indéed I grant that in the words of Paule there is mention made of paradise Paradise but that the same was in the garden of Eden wherein Adam first was it is not prooued thereby For the apostle added that he was taken vp to the third heauen that is to the highest and most perfect And indéed Iohannes Damascenus affirmeth that there be thrée heauens namelie the aire wherein the birds doo flie the second heauen he accounteth to be the region of the celestiall spheres and the third to be the highest seats of the blessed saints which by a certeine elegant metaphor is called paradise The similitude whereof is deriued from the garden of pleasures wherein Adam was placed euen as the region of torments by a metaphor before declared is called Gebenna For these places are more fitlie expressed by metaphors than by proper names Also that same elder asketh the question of himselfe by what meanes they could continue there so long without meat And in answering he retireth himself to the strength of Gods power Ionas 2 2. whereby Ionas was also preserued thrée daies in the bellie of the whale and whereby the companions of Daniel remained safe in the fornace Dan. 3. 93. when it burned vehementlie We might also adde the fasting of Elias 1. kin 19 8. and of Moses by the space of 40. daies but these things are from the purpose Exod. 24 18 Others saie that Henoch was therfore taken vp that his preaching by that means might become the more fruitfull The world in that age was degenerate and the Cainits preuailed in number power aboue the children of God Their idolatrie did Henoch either by his preaching or prophesieng reproue Wherefore by a verie euident seale of taking him vp God would seale his sound and profitable doctrine verse 16. Now then in the 44. chapter of Ecclesiasticus he is said to be translated for an example of repentance vnto the generations bicause a forme and example of repentance was giuen vnto the generations that is vnto men Neither are these ment to be the last generations but rather the generations of those men which liued at that time For if he had died after the maner of other men he shuld not haue béene thought to be beloued of God or of him to haue béene assisted and sent to preach But séeing God as it were by his stretched out hand from heauen caught him vp vnto him men could not choose but haue in admiration an act or thing so vnvsuall Others there be that attribute all this to his owne honestie and righteousnesse Gen. 5 22. Eccl. 24 16. Heb. 11 5. for it is said in Genesis that he walked before God And in the booke of Ecclesiasticus and also in the Epistle to the Hebrues we read that he pleased God or he approoued him selfe vnto God And by faith as the apostle saith he pleased or approoued himselfe vnto him which vndoubtedlie was no vaine faith but was adorned with good woorks Bréeflie he was taken vp for bicause of edifieng And what is spoken concerning him must also be transferred vnto Elias Opinions touching the returne of Henoch and Elias 20 Now there resteth that we examine the opinions of them which thinke that these men were taken vp to the intent that about the latter time they should returne and should take vpon them a dangerous fight against antichrist And albeit that this were the opinion of most ancient fathers yet it is imbraced without testimonie of the holie scriptures And indéed as touching the returne of Henoch there is no word extant in the diuine oracles And those things which are spoken in the 44. chapter of Ecclesiasticus that he was an example of repentance vnto the generations must rather be vnderstood of the men of his owne time than of them which shall liue in the last time But I sée that the occasion of error came bicause it is written in the booke of the Apocalypse verse 3 c. the eleuenth chapter that two men with singular praise are extolled Two famous witnesses of the church in the last age which in the last age of the world shall fight against antichrist And we are taught that they shall be the witnesses of God against the beast and they shall preach 1260. daies Of these is described the maner of their apparell namelie that they shall be couered with sackcloth And they are commended as two oliue trées and two candlesticks in the sight of God and it is said that there is power giuen them to close heauen that it shall not raine which perhaps dooth somewhat séeme to prooue for Elias And they shall be able as it is there said to turne water into bloud It is also added that they shall be slaine of the beast but that after thrée daies they shall be raised vp by the spirit of God Vpon this occasion were the ancient fathers led to thinke that Henoch and Elias shall returne againe at the last But these are the imaginations of men neither are they taught by the holie scriptures séeing in that place is no mention either of Henoch or of Elias We must grant indéed Henoch and Elias sent in these our daies that certeine men were to be sent vnto
sent into Gallies that they may neither hurt themselues nor others and that they may labour with some profite to the Common-weale By this meanes might the inconueniences which come by banished men be taken away These thinges vndoubtedlie are not set downe of vs by reasons Demonstratiue but confirmed as me thinketh by probable reasons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This moreouer I thinke good to adde that if anie through feare flie away of their owne accord the Citie is not therefore to be blamed because it could not let them But yet it séemeth not to be well aduised if afterward it forbiddeth them to returne Better it should be to suffer them to returne whome being returned they may send out vnto such places as they shal thinke to be due vnto their misdéedes The sixteenth Chapter Whether it be lawfull for a Christian man to goe to lawe HEre nowe the place putteth vs in remembrance to sée whether it bee licenced vnto a Christian man to trie matters by lawe In 1. Cor. 6. Thrée things to be spoken of In which we will accomplishe thrée thinges First wee will prooue by firme and strong Argumentes that it is lawfull Secondly shall be set foorth the forme and waie wherein this ought to be And finallie whereas there be certaine places in the holy Scriptures which séeme to teach the contrarie and that certain reasons are woont to be brought which are thought to be a let we will interprete the wordes of the holie Scripture and will confute the reasons obiected The first place Verse 1. As touching the first the sentence of Paul which we haue in the 1. Epistle to the Corinthians the 6. Chapter plainely perswadeth that to goe to lawe is not forbidden he reprooueth those onlie because they went vnto Infidels Further because they were ouercome with perturbations of the minde in that they coulde not beare iniuries finally because themselues did iniurie Remooue thou those faults that are reprooued and what will remaine but that causes may be heard betwéen faithful men in the Church and that wise iudges maie be appointed to discerne pronounce iustly of causes Acts. 15. 20 Paul appealed vnto Cesar In the Actes of the Apostles Paul appealed vnto Caesar for defence of his owne life he would not be iudged by the lieftenant of Iurie because he sawe that his Tribunall seate was alreadie corrupted by the head Bishops and Priests He chose Caesar to bee his iudge with whom his cause might be vnderstoode Wherefore before the Apostle were laide two vniust tribunall seates and both of Infidels That he chose vnto himselfe which séemed to haue least discommoditie Euerie godly man so much as is possible must escape the iudgements of the faithlesse and vngodly euen as wee at this day will not bee iudged by the Pope who holdeth all for excommunicate euen so manie as will not be subiect to his Tyrannie And the verie same Apostle as we reade in the same Booke of Actes sent a young maÌ„ his sisters sonne vnto the Tribune Acts. 23 17 Paul caused that the â—aying in waite of the Iewes should be shewed vnto the Tribune who shoulde declare the conspiracie which the Iewes made against him and so was he saued and sent againe by night vnto Caesarea Whereby it appeareth that it is not forbidden to implore the helpe of publike power Iudgement and Magistrates are instituted by God 2 Furthermore God did not institute any thing which is against Charitie But iudgement and Magistrates without all doubt are brought in by God so as they are not repugnant vnto charitie Gen. 9. 6. We reade in Genesis the 9. Exo. 18. 19. Deut. 1. 9. in Exodus the 18. and in Deuteronomie the first that a Magistrate and iudgements are instituted by God The Anabaptists crie that in Christianisme there is required a farre greater perfection than in the old law and therefore that arguments must not be sought from thence These mad men vnder a colour of perfection endeuour to confound the world by a confused order of things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If we shoulde want Magistrates woulde not murthers robberies and other mischiefes euerie where abound There is no hope that anie man might let offences to happen For as Christ said they must of necessitie happen What doe these men meane Matt. 18â— Will they haue them punished or not punished If they will say vnpunished what ende or measure will there then be of calamities But if they will haue them to be punished by whom at the length shall punishments be executed Doubtlesse Magistrates being taken away if euerie man punish and reuenge at his owne pleasure all things will be filled with a confused order and while they faine to followe perfection they will bring vs into an vtter confusion of things Verse 19. Verse 9. Besides this in the 18. Chapter of the Booke of Exodus and in the first Chapter of Deuteronomie God prouided with all diligence that the qualities and vertues of them which should be appointed Iudges might be expressed to the intent we may plainelie perceiue that he had a singular care of iudgements In Esaie it is said Esa 1. 17. Seeke yee iudgement helpe the fatherlesse iudge the widowe and the like places wée méete withall euerie where in the Prophets And in the Psalmes it is shewed that God hath so great a care of iudgementes Psal 82. 1. as he himselfe will sit with the Iudges Wherefore it is said God stoode in the Synagogue or in the companie of Iudges he is Iudge in the middest of them 2. Par. 19. ver 6. And in Paralipomenon the Iudges are admonished that it is not the businesse of men which they execute but the businesse of God The verie which thing is written in the first Chapter of Deuteronomie Deut. 1. 10. 3 But least these men should thinke that a Magistrate and Iudgements are assured onelie by the olde lawe we heare that they be established in the Epistle to the Romanes the 13. Chapter Rom. 13. 1. 1. Pet. 2. 13. That it is lawfull for godlie men to beare office and also by Peter in his Epistle And that it is lawfull for godly men to beare office the examples of Ioseph Dauid Ezechias Iosias Daniel and his fellowes doe plainely declare And in the new Testament Paul in the 16. Verse 23. Chapter to the Romans writeth Erastus the Chamberlaine of the Citie saluteth you Acts. 13. 1â— And in the Actes of the Apostles when Sergius Paulus the Proconsull was conuerted vnto Christ he renounced not his office And that it belongeth to a Magistrate to iudge causes and take away contentions by punishing and rewarding it is perceiued by the definition thereof The definition of a Magistrates office For it is a power instituted by God vnto the safetie of good men and reprehension of euill men by laying of punishments vpon the one sort and giuing rewardes vnto
disputation which we shewed before that he made openly of this controuersie hee first published in Englande And at the same time he woulde haue the Commentaries vpon the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians to be printed with vs at Zuricke a worke without doubt for the plaine exposition of manie darke and harde questions most worthie to bee reade And after that hee was returned out of Englande to Strasborough from thence was called to Zuricke hauing gotten amongst vs not onely some leasure but also that libertie of writing which he desired he reuiewed manie of those things which hee had written before he finished them and put them in print And first the Commentaries vppon the Epistle of Paul to the Romanes which hee publikely interpreted before in Oxforde Of which booke this onely will I say that hee performed the same with great learning and diligence so as all men confesse that after so manie verie learned interpretors olde and newe which haue written vppon this Epistle yet this booke maie bee reade with great and peculiar fruite At the same time was set foorth by him a defence of the auncient and Apostolike doctrine touching the holy Sacrament of the Eucharist against the booke of Stephen Gardiner For hee a fewe yeares before had published a venimous and pestiferous booke of the Eucharist vnder the name of M. Antonius Constantius wherein by meere sophisticall and most crooked Argumentes he indeuored to ouerthrowe the true and sounde professed doctrine which we hauing receaued of Christ and the Apostles and most auncient fathers of the Church doe followe and professe at this daie And to the compiling of this booke verie manie of the Papistes applyed their trauell and deliuered all their Arguments vnto Gardiner that hee out of that heape might choose what hee woulde and of this booke they triumphed and gloried that there was no man which durst incounter with this their Goliath wherewith beeing mooued that most learned and godlie man Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterburie who oftentimes before incountered with Winchester went awaie with victorie and with singular praise hee tooke this matter vppon him But he being held in most straite prison and had neither store of bookes about him not so much as paper to write and afterwarde being taken awaie by cruell death which for the confession of the true faith hee constantlie suffered was constrained to leaue off the workes which were now in his handes begunne Wherefore manie Englishmen which were louers of godlie true religion desired Martyr oftentimes both in his presence and by letters that hee would succeede in this burthen and that hee woulde not suffer the mindes of the simple to be infected with venim of this booke nor the Popes adherentes so impudently and arrogantlie to triumph against our men Therefore being stirred vp at the desire of friendes and with the equitie of the thing it selfe hee tooke this worke in hand and hauing ouercome diuers and manifolde impedimentes hee finished it at Zuricke and committed the same vnto printers to be dispatched And first of all in this booke he defended the reasons of our men whatsoeuer they were that Gardiner had gathered and confuted Then also hee defendeth against such false accusations the rules which hee himselfe had set foorth in the treatise of the Eucharist Thirdly hee defendeth the answers whereby the argumentes of the aduersaries are wont to be confuted in this disputation Lastlie hee approueth the iust and true interpretations of certaine places which Gardiner with his sort brought out of the fathers for himselfe And in all this whole worke whatsoeuer is vttered aswell in the holie scriptures as in the monuments of the auncient fathers Councels he hath so plentifully diligently comprehended and hath examined all thinges so exactly and perfectly as this worke is helde in admiration euen of them which bee great learned men After this defence against Gardiner there followed an other defence against the two bookes of vnmaried life of Priestes and monasticall vowes written by Richard Smith an Englishman sometime professor of the Diuinitie lecture at Oxford For when Martyr interpreted at Oxford the first Epistle to the Corinthians in the 7. Chap. where the Apostle writeth many things of virginity matrimonie had also disputed largely of vowes Smith in whose place Martyr by the Kings commandement was appointed to reade the Diuinitie lecture was continually present and not onely gaue great heede to those thinges which Martyr saide but did also diligently put them in writing and afterwarde going to Louane he set foorth two vaine but yet venemous bookes against Martyr as touching the sole life of Priests and of Monasticall vowes This man could not Martyr in his Commentaries of the Epistle to the Corinthians answere For his friendes vrging and earnestly desiring the edition of that booke he might not deferre the same but yet in the ende of his seuenth Chapter hee promised this answere and shortly after hauing gotten leasure he answered him but for certaine causes weightie and of great importaunce he finally after certaine yeares published this answere when he was at Zuricke And he confuteth not onely Smithes argumentes but he diligently and throughly examined in a manner all things that may bee saide in this matter Which all they can testifie that haue not slightly perused the same Furthermore at Strasborough after he was returned thither out of England he interpreted the booke of Iudges and as ye knowe did set foorth amongst vs Commentaries vppon the same wherein he expounded many questions of Diuinitie not common euerie where and that verie golden booke which neuerthelesse many by reason of the difficultie and great darkenesse haue shunned hee made verie plaine by bringing a light of interpretation Lastly when Iohn Brentius had set foorth a litle booke as touching the personall vnion of the two natures in Christ wherein hee for assuring of the carnall corporall and reall presence of the bodie and bloud of Christ in the holy supper tooke vpon him to defende a newe and monsterous doctrine of the vbiquitie of Christes bodie Martyr at the request of his friendes setting foorth a Dialogue confuted his booke And because hee knewe that Brentius did in other writings not altogether deserue ill of the Church he woulde not put thereunto his name and expressely defame and speake ill of him especially since this nothing furthered the cause but largely confuted his arguments least they shoulde bleare the eyes of the ignoraunt And further which was the chiefe point of the question he prooued by most assured testimonies of the scriptures and most auncient fathers that the humanitie of Christ is not euerie where With this writing Brentius being mooued indeuoured at one push to ouerthrowe both Martyr and Bullinger by setting foorth a vehement and stinging booke Which booke when our Martyr sawe being a man otherwise most milde of nature yet was he somewhat angrie that Brentius dealt in an ill cause and with so great vnfruitefulnesse