foure parts Of the diuision of the holy Scriptures and ascribe some bokes as wel of the old testament as of the new to lawes some to histories some to prophecies and other some agayne to wisdome But it is not meete so to deuyde the bookes of the holye scripture one from an other bicause that in the bokes of Exodus Leuiticus Numeri and Dâ—uteromie in which they appoint lawes to be conteined are founde almoste as many histories as lawes Besides that in the bokes which they assigne to prophetes lawes of liuing vprightlye are oftentimes written and clearely expounded Neither can we properly separate the bokes of Salomon other of the kynd which they wil haue proper to wisdome from lawes and prophecies For there are in them sentences here and there written which seruing for the instruction of life haue also wtout controuersy the nature of lawes Furthermore for the that in theÌ„ are very many secretes opened vnto the church by the inspiration of the spirite of god they poure vndoubtedly into the attentife hearers oracles of thinges to come It may easily he graunted that all these things which they make mentioÌ„ of are founde in the holy bookes I meane the precepts of liuing notable hystories prophecies of thinges to come and also moste wise sentences and sayinges but in such sort that in maner in euery booke they are set forth vnto vs dispersedly neither yet would I that these holy bookes should be deuided one from an other by these endes and limittes I would rather thinke as the learned sorte doe also iudge that whatsoeuer thinges are conteyned in the holy Scriptures should be referred vnto two principall heades the lawe I meane and the gospell There be two principal pointes whereunto al the whole scriptures are referred For euery where are declared vnto vs either the precepts of god of vpright liuing or wheÌ„ we are reproued to haue strayed froÌ„ theÌ„ by reasoÌ„ of weakenes or els of malice the gospel is layd forth before vs wherin by Christ that thing wherein we haue offended is pardoned and the strength and power of the holy ghost promised vs to reforme vs againe to the image of god whiche we had loste These two thinges maye we beholde in all the bookes of Moyses in the histories Prophetes and bookes appointed to wisdome and that not onely in the olde Testamente but also in the newe and they are not separated one from an other by bookes and leaues but by that maner which is now declared What thinges are entreated of in thys boke of Iudges And this is sufficient as touching the generall matter of the holy scriptures But nowe we must peculiarly speake of this booke that we may vnderstand what things they be which are entreated of in the same And to the ende we may the more plainly vnderstande this it is nedefull to call to memory those thinges which were spoken of in the former bookes In Genesis is set forth the creation of the worlde then howe of Abraham Isaac Iacob and his twelue childreÌ„ was engendred the people of god and how they wer brought into Egipt to driue away their famine Exodus teacheth the greate encrease and incredible multiplication of the Israelites the maner also and forme wherby they were of god by Moyses deliuered from bondage and set at liberty and how they wer excelleÌ„tly adorned with lawes iudgementes and ceremonies whiche thinges are also comprehended in the bookes of Leuiticus What is coÌ„tayned in the bookes which go before the iudges The booke of Numbers conteineth very many passages of the Hebrewes and diuerse placings and orderings of their tents in the desert places also certain vsages of those rules which were prescribed before of god in the lawes And lastly of al in Deuteronomy When Moyses should depart out of this life he like a most faithfull minister of god moste learned preacher repeteth vnto the people almost the whole lawe After whose death Iosua captain of the Hebrewes led the people beyond Iordane and possessed some parte of the promised land of Chanaan and deuided it as god had commauÌ„ded to his whole natioÌ„ by tribes WheÌ„ he was dead god gouerned the Hebrewes by certain excellent meÌ„ which were called Iudges of which Iudges this booke which we haue taken in hand to enterpreate hath his name and title Why thys is called the booke of the iudges But for the better vnderstanding of the title therof we muste know that this word Shaphat in the Iewes tongue signifieth somtime to execute the law and to iudge the causes betwene theÌ„ which are at controuersie which office yet is not proper to those Iudges of whiche we nowe entreate For there were Leuites appointed which sate and gaue iudgement at the gates of euery citye and aboue all iudgementes sate Senadrim which were an assembly of 70. elders Senadrim Furthermore the word signifieth to reuenge to set at libertie which these excellent meÌ„ performed whose noble acts ar declared in this volume They by their authoritie through their might and counsell deliuered the Israelites when they were oppressed of straungers and kept them in the obseruing of the law true worshipping of God And that their office may the better be perceiued we wyll briefly expound the face and estate of that publike weale God himselfe was the true and proper king of that nation Of the common wealth estate of the Iewes for he onely had the principal power there but not as he had ouer other nations but so that he by his becke oracle and certain commaundement gouerned the estate of the Israelites which he promised to do in the .18 chap. of Exodus Wheras he said that that people should be hys chiefe kingdome But bycause he would also vse the ministery of men he prouyded al thyngs necessary for the Hebrewes fyrst by Moyses and then by Iosua as long as they liued They exercised the office of princes or captaines which men being dead god would haue the best and most excellent men to haue the rule ouer theÌ„ for such men were picked out to be of the senate whose excellent conditions are set forth as well in Exodus as in Deuteronomy for the lawes of God would not suffer euery one to be called to that office That is wheÌ„ the best men are gouernours ouer the coÌ„moÌ„ weale If thou shalt therfore consider these men then shalt thou see the forme of that gouernment which is called Aristocratia But bicause that it was not lawfull to attempt great matters without the peoples consent we may therfore iustly thinke that it was also a common wealth which endured to the tyme of Saule and Dauid the first kings That estate therfore in respect of god was a kingdome but in respect of the Senate those chiefe men it was Aristocratia Bicause in electing of theÌ„ they had no regard to their riches but to their vertue and godlines for that the weightiest
be geuen as the ability of the geuers could beare and as much as seemed mete for the worshipping of God From hence do these our Papistes think their Masse to be deriued as though it were a tribute and a willing oblation which might be offered euery where vnto God in the church for the quicke the dead But I thynke not so Certeyne Hebrew wordes are obserued in the latin church The hebrew words cam not vnto the latine church but by the Greeke churche I know right wel that the church hath borowed certayne words of the hebrues as Sathan Osianna Zebaoth Halleluia Pasah or Pascha and such other mo But we must marke that those woordes came not vnto the Latine Church but by the Greeke Church for as muche as those woordes are found in the new Testament as it is written first in Greeke also in the translation of the old Testament as it was turned by the .lxx. Wherefore wee haue no hebrew woordes deriued to our Church which the Greeke Churche had not first But if we shal diligently peruse ouer the bookes of the Greeke father we shal neuer find this woord Missa which is Masse vsed of thē Wherfore I thynk that this woord of Missa is not deriued from the Hebrues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Greeke church called the holy supper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which woorke signifieth a common publicke woorke Neither is that woord proper to holy things yea it is also applyed vnto prophane actions which ar publike And who knoweth not that the administration of the supper of the Lord is a thing pertaynyng to Christian people For as many as be present ought to be partakers thereof and to communicate together An argument against priuate masses And least I should ouerskyp thys the etimologie of this woord bringeth no smal argument against priuate Masses Bisides this that woord pertaineth not only to the Lords supper but also it is attributed to other holy functions wherefore it is written in the actes of the Apostels the .13 chap. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whcyh some haue tourned whilest they did sacrifice whē as rather they should haue said whilest they serued or wrought publikely namely in a holy thing which they did without doubt in preaching of the Gospel Names of the holly supper among the Latynes This holy function namely the Lordes supper had other names among the Latines For it was sometimes called the Communion sometimes the supper of the Lord other sometimes the Sacrament of the body of Christ or the breaking of bread And our fathers haue often tymes called it as the Greeke fathers dyd dreadful misteries and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Howe the father 's called the supper a sacrifice I wyll not speake of how they vsed to cal it oftē times by the name of a sacrifice not therfore as our aduersaries do foolishlye imagine bicause that there the body blood of Christ is offered vnto God for a sacrifice for the quicke the dead Although the fathers abhorred not from that kinde of speche whereby they sayde that the body and bloud of Christ was offered vnto God But what they vnderstoode by those words if they be diligently red they do manifestly expound namelye that then were thankes geuen vnto The most auncient fathers vsed not the maine of Masse Augustine By those names did the most auncient fathers call the Lordes supper But they made neuer mencion of the Masse For it thou shalt reade Ireneus Tertulilan Ciprian Hilary and their like thou shalt neuer finde that woord in them in that signification Augustine maketh mēcion twice of it namely in her sermon de tempore 237. where he maketh mencion of the Masse of those that were to be instructed before baptisme In that place he exhoreth men to forgeue iniuries one to another For saith he we must come to the Masse of those that are to bee instructed where we shal pray forgeue vs our trespasses as we also forgeue our trespassers And be writeth also in the sermon de tempore .91 these woordes In the history which is to be red at Masses Some are in doubte whether those sermons were of Augustines writing or no Whē the name of Masse begā to be vsed but to me they seme to be the style and sentences of Augustine And as I coniecture I thinke that this name Masse began almost to be vsed at that time howbeit but seldome and not often For if it had bene then a woord in much vse Augustine in especial who framed hys wryting vnto the vulgare people would oftener haue made mencion of it They alledge Ignatius in his Epistle ad Smyrnenses Ignatius An argumēt against priuate Masses But that place maketh very much against the Massemongers for asmuch as there Ignatius ordayned that Masses shoulde in no wyse be had vnlesse the Bishop were present wyth such great warinesse did antiquity abhorre priuate cōmunions For he would haue al men to be presēt at that doing of it specially the Bishops These thinges haue I said as grautning vnto the aduersaries that it was the very booke of Ignatius The epistles of Ignatius are Apocriphas that it containeth in it the word Masse which yet we ar not compelled to graūt For it is Apocripha yea and that as their own Gratian testifieth Moreouer those Epistles were written in Greeke and therefore I am assured that be which turend it into latin did put this word Masse for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For thus it is written in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and straight way after that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. This is the Greeke sentence of Ignatius wherein as appeareth ther is no mencion made of this woord Masse Leo also is cited in his .9 Epistle to Dioscurus Leo. And argumēt againste priuate Masses where I confesse that that father made mencion of Masse but yet in such sorte that in the same place he is wonderfullye againste priuate Masses For he was demaunded seing that the temple was not so large that it coulde not containe the whole people which came while holy thinges wer administred what the rest of the multitude should do which remained without and could not be present Leo answered that when that part of the people is gone forth which was before present at the holye celebration the residue might succede and repeate againe those holye thinges If so be that priuate masses had bene then in vse what needed of that matter to haue asked counsell of Leo the bishop of Rome Surely this question is a manifest token that Masse was not vsed to be had but once They wer wont also to bring Iohannes Cassianus Iohannes Casianus who lyued in the tyme of Honorius and was driuen out of the Churche of Ierusalem by heretickes from whence he came to Massilia and was a Monke by profession For hee maketh mencion of Masse in his .3 booke .7 and 8. chap. but he wresteth
this horrible wickednesse there hangeth vpon this our world most sharpe punishments Yet in this kind of arguments that vice is most diligently to be taken hede of Of examples we reasō what vices are to be eschewed which creapeth vpō one before he beware thereof And the commeth two maner of wayes First that we take not vpon vs to follow those doynges of the sainctes which they sometimes committed vnaduisedly For euē as men they fell sometimes that most filthily Wherfore the things done by thē which we do set forth as examples to be folowed of vs must with great iudgement be examined Augustine Augustine writeth of this thing in his 2. booke against the 2. epi. of Gaudētius after this sort We must not alwaies imitate or allowe whatsoeuer good men haue done but we must adde therunto the iudgement of the scriptures marke whither thei allow these dedes This father doth very wel admonish vs here that although they wer holy mē pleased god very many waies The fallings of the sainctes are not to be folowed the holy scriptures witnessed excellently well of them yet are not all their actions to be iudged absolute and without fault For euery man both is a lyar and oftentimes sinneth For who woulde followe Dauyd his horrible aduoutrye and betraying of faythfull Souldiours or the forswearyng of Peter or hys wycked dissimulation surely none which hathe but euen a cromme of godlinesse Moreouer it sometymes happeneth that that worke whiche is done well and rightly by some excellent person is forbidden of other men bycause God whiche hath geuen a lawe to men is not so bounde vnto the same that he may not lose some frō that common bonde when it semeth good vnto him It is not lawfull for any man to steale God will some times haue certaine thinges done of godly men whiche be not lawfull for others to do and yet the Hebrewes when they were led out of Egypt were permitted yea and commaunded of god to cary awaye the Egyptians goodes whiche they had borowed of them euen agaynst their willes and without their knowledge What shal we do then Thus truly we must well and diligently cōferre those thinges which are expounded in the holy histories with the general rules of the cōmaundementes of God wherewith when we do perceaue that they do agree The doynges of saintes must be weighed by the rules of gods Law let vs boldly vse them But if they disagree from thē let vs recken them either for certaine fallinges or singular prerogatiues of some and kepe our selues backe from following of them And these prouisoes beyng added great profit shall come by reading of histories and especially diuine histories And that did Chrisostome very well vnderstand when as in the preface of his exposition vpō the Epistle to Philemon Chrisostome he wished that all those thinges had bene written for vs which the Apostles spoke and did when they sat downe what they did eate or what they did write other thinges of this kynde And the same Chrisostome writeth in his 57. Homily vpon Genesis that histories were geuen vs by the holy ghost to the entente we shoulde followe them Augustine Also Augustine in his seconde booke and 28. chap. De doctrina Christiana teacheth that many darcke and hard thinges may some times onely be opened by the knowledge of an history Moreouer who soeuer muche exerciseth him selfe in redyng ouer of histories he doth not without fruite reuolue with him selfe the doinges examples of our times There was vpon a tyme a certaine man euill fauored enoughe Note a pleasaunte historie who neuerthelesse was meruelous desirous of beautifull children and yet he maryed a fowle wyfe wherfore he was mocked of euery bodye This man went into the Citie where he bought most fayre ymages whiche he set in his chambre and gaue his wife charge that for a certayne space she should euery day most earnestly looke vpon those ymages She obeyed her husbandes commaundement and by that meanes brought him forth most beautifull children So wil it also come to passe with vs which thoughe we by reason of naturall sinne grafted in vs are defourmed lothsome and are continually prouoked as well by the deuill as by wicked men to vnlawfull thinges yet if we will attentiuely diligently gather together the exāples of the sainctes trimly paynted forth in the diuine histories and if we reuolue the same in our mynde we shall forthwith shewe forth most excellent workes acceptable to God And now that I haue entreated enough as I suppose of the matter and forme of writing of this booke the nexte is to speake some what of the efficient cause What is the efficient cause of this booke If we would searche to knowe the man by whom God would haue these thinges written that can we not vnderstand by the holy Scriptures The Hebrewes affirme that Samuel put these thinges in wryting but they speake that without testimonie of the Scriptures Other also thincke that euerye Iudge wrote suche thinges as were done in his own time which monument of theirs being in sondry pampheletes Samuel afterwarde compiled into one certain body or volume Agayne there be some whiche ascribe all this to Esdras or to Ezechias the king which Ezechias the booke of Prouerbes mencioneth to haue gathered together some of the sentences or as some call them the parable of Salomon but I thincke it is not mete for me to stāde about this matter for there is no cause why we should curiously searche out those things which God will not reueale in his oracles wherfore I will returne to declare the principall efficient cause of this booke The spirite of God is properly the aucthour of this Booke We must ascribe al what soeuer it is to the spirite of God For Paul writing to Timothe sayth that the scriptures were reuealed by god and there is no doubte but he spake then of the bookes of the olde Testament But thou wilte aske who shall persuade vs that the holy bookes were reuealed vnto men by the holy ghost The spirite of God testifieth vnto the faithful that the holy Scriptures came frō God Euen the same spirit which hath prouided to haue these things written doth make vs assuredly to beleue that they are not the inuentions of men For nether can the holy lyfe of the teachers nor yet miracles be sufficient to persuade vs of this It is the spirite the spirit I say of god which testifieth vnto our spirite of this thyng The moste daungerous error of the Antichristes must diligently be taken hede of whiche dare affirme It is not the Church which geueth authoritie to the Scriptures that it is the Churche which bringeth authoritie to the holy Scriptures when as it is cleane contrary For what soeuer authoritie or estimation cōmeth vnto the Churche that all whole cōmeth of the worde of God It is horrible to be heard that
that there was a little of the day remaining So also men when they come to age ar weakned in the body The Leuit would tary no longer which turned to his greate hurt Let vs by the way note in this place that for him which shal make a iorney it is vnprofitable to tary long at banquetings For commonly they ar oppressed with night before they can come to theyr lodginges Now it semeth that I should entreate of adulteries wherby I might declare the nature and greiuousnes of that sinne and setforth the punishmentes of that crime which ar appointed both by the ciuil laws by the ecclesiastical but these shal be spoken of when wee are come vnto the history of Dauid who committed most filthy adultery with Bethsaba Now I haue determined to entreate onelye of the reconsiliation of the husband and the wife after the committing of adultery and I will touch the whole matter briefly ¶ Of the reconciliation of the husband the wife after that adultery hath ben committed THe ciuil lawes are vtterly against the reconciliation of the husband and the wife after the one hath committed adultery The ciuill lawes abhorre from reconciliation after adultery For in the Code ad l. Iuliam de adulteriis in the law Castitati nostrorum temporum it is ordeined that if a man maried againe a wife condemned of adultery he incurreth the crime of being a bawd And in the same title in the law Crimē it is had that he which retaineth still in matrimonye a wife that hath played the adulteresse can not accuse her of adultry Although afterward by a new law it was otherwise prouided for Neither was it a light thinge to be condemned is a bawde but it was euen as greiuous as if a man had ben condēned of adultry Yea and if a man retayn her that is condēned of adultry he may him self without an accuser be condēned of adultry And if a man marie agayn her whom that he hath once repudiated he cannot accuse her of the adultry before committed But if she again commit adultry he may Bycause in marieng her againe he seemeth to haue allowed her acte And if any woman be condemned of adultry no man can take her to wife Wherefore the ciuil lawes do abhor from reconciliacion after adultry so that it be conuict and condemned For if it be onely his suspicion it is lawful for the husband to retayne and accuse her whome hee suspecteth Who if hee afterwarde see that he was ledde by a vayne supicion to accuse her hee maye cease from that which he hath begonne so that he first obteine a release of the Iudge Ierome vpon the .19 chapter of Mathew may appeare to agree with the ciuil lawes For he writeth she which hath deuided one flesh into one or two ought not to be retained least her husbande be made subiect vnto the curse For as it is written in the .18 chapter of the Prouerbes He which retaineth an adultresse is vngodly and a foole In dede so haue the .70 interpreters turned it but the verity of the Hebrewe hath it not The same Ierome saith If there happpen any sin it breaketh not matrimony But if ther happen adoultery then the wife is not lawfull And in the .32 question the first ar rehearsed the words of Chrisostome If a manne haue to doe with an adulterous wife let him do penaunce And the same Chrisostome vpon the .26 chap. of Mathew Euen as he is vniuste whiche accuseth an innocent so is he a foole which retayneth an adulteresse The same thing is had in the decretals de Adult in the chap. Si vir sciens And it was decreed at the counsell of Orleaunce The husband which retaineth an adulteresse is partaker of the crime And if a woman repudiated marye an other her laste husband being dead she can not return vnto the first For now she is vncleane vnto him as it is written in the .24 of Deut. But now omitting these thinges let vs see the reasons which serue for reconciliation God himselfe which is onely good would be the husbande of the church and that not onely in our time but also in the times of the fathers But the church especially the old church oftentimes turned aside to idolatry and cōmitted whoredome with the Gods of the Gentiles as euerye where appeareth in this booke and also in the history of the kinges and in the prophetes Neuertheles yet Ieremy called it back againe in the name of God to return to her husband Which selfe thinge Hoseah the prophet also did that with many words And if god be redy to receaue his wife beynge an adulteresse man ought also to returne into fauor agayne with his wife especially if she repent and beginne a new life For as many as are christian men professe the imitation of God Ther is also an example of Dauid who toke agayne his wife Michol although her father had placed her to an other man Iustinian Iustinian also in his Authentikes when he commaundeth that an adulteresse should be beaten be shut vp in a monastery yet hee geueth libertye to the husbande to take her againe if he will within the space of two yeares so he most manifestly alloweth reconciliation Augustine Augustine in his 2 boke to Pollencius is very much in this that they should be reconciled For many in his time would not receaue their wiues which had cōmitted adultery as such as which were now polluted contaminated Where fore he wrote doest thou thinke her polluted whom baptisme and repentaunce hath purged Whom God hath clensed She ought not to seme to thee polluted And if she be now recōciled vnto the kayes of the church admitted into the kingdome of heauen by what right canst thou put her from thee These thinges are had also in 32. question .1 If she haue fallen thou must know it came of humayne nature mercy muste be shewed her if she arise For we woulde the same to be done vnto vs. And extreme right is extreme wronge In the decretals de adulteriis stupris in the chap. Si vir sciens it is had out of the counsel of Orleaunce An adultresse if she repent ought to be receaued The glose in that place demaūdeth by what right or dewty she ought to be receiued It answereth Not by the lawe of necessitye for if the man wil not he cannot be compelled to receaue her wherfore he ought by the law of honesty to take her agayne But I woulde demaund whither it ought not also to be done by the dewty of piety by the strēgth of the commaundement of God forasmuch as Paule to the Philip. saith do these things whatsoeuer ar honest and iust Therfore it is also don by necessity of the commaundement But the gloser in that place intreated of the outward iudgemente wherein no man can be compelled to receaue an adulteresse But in the Cannon now cited it is added Not
the holy oracles and wordes of god should get their credite by men which are otherwise lyers But these things they faine to the entēt that seyng they are manifestlye founde often tymes to haue decreed and ratified in the Sacraments doctrines farre otherwise than the holy scriptures will beare Whiche thing they would defend that they may do it bycause the Churche whiche doth bring authoritie and credite to the worde of God may alter things in the holy Scriptures as pleased it Wherfore we must resiste them by all meanes possible in this thyng which they take vpon them to do We may not suffre our selues to be brought to thys poynte to thincke that the Scriptures haue had their credite and authority by the Churche And yet do I not write these thynges as thoughe I woulde despise or contemne the dignitie of the Churche vnto the whiche There be three offices of the Churche touching the word of God The Churche as a witnesse kepeth the holy Bookes I do attribute thre offices and them moste excellent as touchyng the worde of GOD. The firste of them is that I do confesse that the Church as a witnesse hath kept the holy bokes But thereby it can not be proued that it is lawful for it to peruert or alter any thing in the holy bookes Experience teacheth vs that publique and priuate wrytinges are committed to scriueners whiche are commonly called notaryes to be layd vp and diligently kept of thē And yet there is none that is in his right wittes which wil say that he may alter any thing in them or wil beleue that their authoritie is of greater force than their willes were whiche desired to haue the same written The worde of God reuealed and written Neither shall it be here vnprofitable to obserue the difference betwene the worde of god as it was reuealed at the beginning to the Prophetes sainctes as it was afterwardes preached or written For we do easely acknowledge betwene these that there is onely difference of tyme and not of the authoritie or efficacie For we confesse that the worde vnwritten was more auncient than that which was afterward appointed to letters and we graunt that either cōferred together was geuen to the Churche but in suche sorte that the Churche as we haue sayd can not by any meanes wrest or chaunge it The office of the Churche is to publishe and preache the worde of God And this vndoubtedly is the second office of the Church to preach publish the wordes committed vnto it by God In which thing it is lyke a common crier who althoughe he do publishe the decrees of princes and magistrates yet he is not aboue the decrees or equal vnto them in authoritie But his whole office is faithfully to pronounce all thynges as he hath receaued them of the princes and magistrates And if he should otherwise do he should be counted altogether for a traytour Wherfore the ministers of the Churche ought to care and study for nothing so much as to be founde faithfull We acknowledge also the last office of the Churche to be The Churche discerneth the holy bokes frō counterfaite such as are Apochriphas that seyng it is endued with the spirite of God it must therfore discerne the sincere vncorrupted bookes of holy Scriptures from the counterfaite and Apocriphas whiche is not yet to be in authoritie aboue the worde as many do foolishely dreame For there are very many which can discerne the true propre writings of Plato and Aristotle from other falsely put to them yet in comparison of iudgement they are neither of greater lernyng nor yet of equall with Plato or Aristotle And euery one of vs cā easely know God from the deuill yet are we not to be coūted equal with God much lesse can we thinck that we do excel him So the Churche ought not bycause of this to preferre faith or authoritie thereof before the Scriptures Augustine But they say Augustine sayeth I would not beleue the Gospell except the authoritie of the Churche did moue me therunto But in that place is read to moue together for in very dede Faith is not poured in by the minister but by God it is the spirite of God which poureth faith into the hearers of his worde And bycause the ministers of the Churche are his instrumentes they are rather to be sayd to moue with than absolutely to moue The same Augustine writeth in his 28. booke and second chap. against Faustus that the Maniches ought so to beleue that the first chap. of Matthew was writtē by Matthew euen as they did beleue that the Epistle whiche they called Fundamentum was written by Maniche bycause vndoubtedly they were so kept by their elders from hande to hand deliuered vnto them This is it therfore that the Churche moueth withall to beleue the Gospell bycause faithfully it kepeth the holy scriptures preacheth them and discerneth them from straunge Scriptures The same father manifestly witnesseth in his 6. booke of his confessions the 4. and 5. chap. that God him selfe in very dede did geue authoritie to the holy scriptures Tertullianus Irenaeus But Tertullianus and Irenaeus hauing to do against heretikes did therfore send thē to the Apostolicall Churches bycause they did not admitte the whole scriptures Wherfore they would that they should take their iudgemēt of those Churches which were certainly knowen to be Apostolical For it was meete that those Churches should continuallye remayne both witnesses and also keapers of the holy scriptures and yet therfore they did not decree that the authoritie of the Churche should be preferred before the scriptures What is to be thought of a certayn rule of the Logiciens But the aduersaries say that they are led by the sentence whiche is cōmonly vsed among Logiciens Euery thyng is such a thyng by reason of an other VVherfore that other shal more be counted suche Wherfore they reason after this maner If by the Churche the Scripture hath hys authoritie it must nedes be that the Church much more hath that authoritie But they remēber not that this sentence put by the Logiciens taketh place onely in finall causes and is of no strength in efficient causes For althoughe our inferior worlde be made warme by the sunne and the starres yet doth it not thereby followe that they are farre more warmer And agayne when immoderate men by wyne are made droncke we can not therby conclude the wyne to be more dronken than they Yea the Logiciens teache this that this their sentence is then strong and of efficacy in efficient causes when such efficient causes are brought forth whiche are whole and perfect and not whiche are perciall and maymed whiche rule is not obserued of our aduersaries in this argument For the Churche is not the whole and perfect efficient cause of that faith and authoritie whiche the holy Scriptures haue with the faithfull For if it were
ouer the red sea But for thys it is woorthy to beare awaye the garland bycause of that tribe Messias should be geuen not onely to the Iewes but also to al the world Neither happened these priuileges and dignities to Iudah by order of birth For it was reckoned the fourth amōg the sonnes of Iacob Ruben in deede was fyrst borne but bycause of his vile incest wherby he abstayned not euen from his fathers bed he was throwne downe from hys proper dignity and in his steade as concerning the kyngdome Iudah was substituted But the dignity of birthright was geuen to Ioseph Wherein Iudah excelled the tribe of Ephraim Wherefore his first tribe called Ephraim was not onely valiant mighty but also was exalted to the kyngdom of ten trybes which kingdome neuerthelesse was both vnconstant and also abode not alwayes in that famyly But the principallity of Iudah is euerlasting bycause it was not taken away from it euen to Christes tyme and he comming of that family raygneth and shall raygne for euer All whych thynges Iacob hym selfe confirmed wyth hys noble prophecye wherein he fore sayde to hys children what thynges shoulde happen to them in the latter tymes Wherfore it is not to be maruelled if his Prophecies be in some parte fulfilled now For the spirite of god doth euer wel agree with it selfe as it whiche bringeth those things to passe which are agreable to his prophecyes How farre the oracle geuē to the Israelites pertaineth vnto vs. And that which is sayd here to be answered to the Israelites let vs thinke also to be answered vnto vs that if we will be sure to obtayne the victory agaynst the enemyes of mans saluatiō we must haue him to be the captaine of our battayle which by the holy Prophecye of Iacob is called the Lyon of the tribe of Iudah If by hys conductyng and name we wil fyght agaynste the deuil the fleshe the world death and hell our victorye shall not then in any poynte be doubtfull but most certayne And yet would I not haue the reader to thinke bycause I haue put thys allegorye in that therfore I will vse many allegoryes in thys historye for I will vse them rarely and very seldome Allegoryes are not alwaies to he discōmēded not that I would haue theyr pleasantnes and elegancye be vtterly dispised The old fathers certaynly delited very much in them I will not say to much Yea and we fynde them sometymes applyed in the holy Scriptures For Christ in the gospell compared hymselfe allegorically both to Salomon and to Ionas and also to the serpent which Moyses at the commaundemente of God hong vp in the wildernesse I will not speake of Paule who writing to the Galathians made Isaac and Ismaell the sonnes of Abraham two peoples and pronounced Sara and Agar to be two Testamentes applying the Hebrewes to the Mounte Sina and the Christian Church to the Citye of Ierusalem but euen as Allegoryes are not vtterly to be dispised Allegories must not be rashly vsed so are they not to much rashly to be vsed For although it be free for euery man in thys kynde of interpretation to deuise what things he lyste so that he straye not from the rules of fayth and holy Scriptures yet haue we not therby any strong or certaine argumentes for the confyrmation of the doctrine of fayth Therefore there is smal profyte by the labour taken in them Neuerthelesse I except those which are put in the holy Scriptures Whither firme argumēts may be brought frō Allegories for they are to be counted the wordes of the holy ghost Wherfore theyr authoritye is great both in prouing alledging of testimonyes But the other wherin the wits of men haue dalied although with Godlynes and in a ryght vnderstanding bicause they are the inuentions of men theyr cōclusions and argumentes are very weake For men being the authors of them myght both be deceaued and also deceaue But thys Allegorye by me broughte forth namely that the aunswere of God for the appoynting of the tribe of Iudah to be captaine of the warres doth no lesse belong to vs than to the Hebrues hath no small certaynty and scarcely pertayneth to allegoryes For whatsoeuer they were that defended the people of God in the olde time Christ was theyr hed and captayne Wherfore whatsoeuer they dyd in defendyng of hys members they did it as his ministers and vicars Wherby he which religiously reuolueth their actes in his minde and then putting them asyde doth behold the hed and chiefe captayne Howe those thinges agree with Christ which seme to be spoken of Dauid Salomon by whose conducting they obtayned the victoryes He I saye doth not straye from the marke which the holy ghost had in the holy bookes After thys maner those thyngs which are red in the holy Scriptures both of Salomon and also of Dauid and seme to be spoken of them in respecte of the historye are not allegorically applyed by the Apostles in the new Testamente to Christ seing that the holy ghost spake them purposedly of hym Wherefore I haue not absurdely sayde that the oracle geuen to the Israelites shoulde be thoughte to bee spoken vnto vs. Behold I haue geuen the land into his hands God sheweth forth in this place his liberal boūtefull goodnes He doth not only geue answer to that which he was demaūded but also addeth therunto a most notable promise He first appointeth the tribe by name which he wyll haue to make warre first before the other tribes against the Chananites Then he promised to geue them the land of the Chananites whych he dyd to their great commoditye for he made the Iewes more cherefull to fight in that he sayde that he woulde helpe them Moreouer he wold not haue the possession of those regions ascribed vnto their own strength or power but vnto him selfe Ye shall not take it saith he but I haue deliuered the land into their handes And he vseth a verbe of the preterperfect tense wherby the certainty of hys sayinges shoulde be expressed Of this place we may iustlye gather We must aske counsel of God when wee take any thinges or affaires in hād that in busines which we take in hande what so euer they be God must alwaies be asked counsel of And thys maye be proued not onely by this example but also by infinite other whych the treasures of the holye scriptures minister vnto vs to which cōmeth a most strong reason What so euer is not of faith sayth Paul is synne wherby it followeth that no man should attempt any thing without fayth And that is no fayth whych leaneth not to the woorde of God For as the same Apostle hath taught From whence the woord of God is to bee sought faith commeth of hearing and hearing commeth by the woord of God which woord we cannot haue by any other accustomed rule and ordinary way than out of Gods oracles which haue bene set foorth
vnto vs in the holy scriptures And it wer good to marke the difference which is found betwene the asking counsel of God in the old time and ours at this present Howe wee and the elders do diuersly aske coūsel of God They were very much carefull for the successe of thinges and they almost desyred alwayes to knowe when they tooke warres in hand or attempted anye other thyng whether they should speede wel or il in them And that was not hard for them to do for they had an oracle prepared of God for them for that purpose And God had promysed that he would answer them out of the mercy seate what soeuer they should demaunde or aske of him But we if we should aske counsel of the holye scriptures for the successe and end of our enterprises and purposes cōcerning earthly infelicities and misfortunes we should seeme and that not vnwoorthily to play the fooles For there is no place there at all which answereth anye thyng for our singular and priuate thinges But that onelye remayneth for vs to enquire for whether that which we begyn or go about be allowed to be iust holy and acceptable to God by the testimonies of the holy scriptures But why the Iewes had proper and certayne oracles geuen them for theyr matters and we haue nothing answered vs particularly Why we haue not oracles as the Iewes had I thynke there be no other cause but bycause vnto that people a certain assured publique wealth was due by the immutable coūsel of God which should endure to the time of Christ and therefore there were prepared for it certaine extraordinarye aydes aboue the power of nature whereby it should be kept and defended by God But vnto vs there is no such promise made of any certain seate or publique wealth seing that our church is dispersed throughout the whole world whereunto is no certaine seate or place promised and therefore it needed not that concernyng humaine thinges our publique wealthes should be particularly gouerned by certaine oracles answers for temporal thinges Besides this the volumes of the holy scriptures are more aboundaunt in our tyme than they were at that time with the Hebrewes when these thinges were done whych we nowe expounde They had but the law onelye we haue receaued nowe the bookes of the Prophetes and of wyse men vnto which are added also al the writinges of the new Testament And seing that those writinges are so manye so excellent it is no maruayle if we are not euery day enstructed of god by new oracles answers Neyther ought we to thinke bicause of that that God setteth lesse by vs than he dyd by the Hebrewes I wyl not speake howe hys spirite is geuen to vs thorow Christ more aboundantly and more openly than it was in the olde tyme to the Iewes Finally our publique weales dominions and kingdomes at endewed with many more artes which serue for peace and warre than the people of the Hebrewes were How we ought to behaue our selues in asking counsel of God Wherefore it is no maruel if we being heaped vp with so many other gyftes be destitute of singular oracles It shal be our part therefore aboue al thinges when we haue any affaires to take in hand diligently to consider the woord of God wherein is opened vnto vs hys commaundement or wyl afterward to embrace the same with a firme and stedfast fayth wherby we maye bee vehementlye kyndled to cal vpon our heauenlye father by the which we may be able to fulfyl that which he hath commaunded and to obtayn that which he hath promysed 3. And Iudah said vnto his brother Simeon Go vp with me into my lot that we may fight agaynst the Chananites and I wyl also go with thee into thy lot And Simeon went with hym The tribe of Iudah doth associate to it selfe the Simeonites to make warre against the Chananites which most euidentlye testifieth that the answer of God dyd not speake of any one singuler man but of the whole tribe of Iudah For neither Othoniel Why Simeon is taken into felowshyp wyth Iudah nor yet Caleb had any brother which was called Simeon and therefore there is no mencion made of them by Gods oracle but it comprehendeth the whole tribe of Iudah But the cause why Simeon is called of Iudah to be as a companion of hys warre and that they twoo ayded one an other is bycause the possession of the tribe of Simeon was mingled and scattered among the fieldes and countries belonging to the tribe of Iudah Neighbourhed therefore made them to defende and succour one the other And this coniunction of these two tribes is most manifestly gathered out of the .xv. chapter of the booke of Iosua It is not agaynst fayth to vse the ayde of men Let vs learne hereby that it is not agaynst the true fayth for vs to vse vsual aydes and mans strength when occasion serueth to obtayne the easelyer those thinges which God of his goodnes hath liberally promised vnto vs. God had promised vnto the tribe of Iudah that he would geue the land of Chanaan into their handes which althoughe they of Iudah faythfullye beleued yet were they not afeard to cal vnto them the Symeonites whych were their neighbours that they myght bee ayded of them in their fight For by that meanes they thought they should be the stronger to ouercome their enemies Christ hath no otherwyse confuted the deuyl which counselled hym to cast him selfe down hed long vnder the pretence of Gods promise wherin he sayd that he had now committed his health to the Angels whych sentence he put foorth out of the holye scriptures But the sonne of God answered that God must not be tempted but he must rather vse staires which were made for that purpose to serue to come downe by Moreouer al they are counted to tempt God which trusting to gods promises do neglect humane helpe which are already or maye be easelye prepared and gotten Dauid in the latter booke of Samuel setteth him selfe foorth vnto vs as an example who beyng wonderfullye adourned with the promises of God vsed for al that in the insurrection of Absalon not onely to flye away but also the diligence of Chusay the Arachite and of the Priestes Yea and Paul the Apostle as it is written in the Actes of the Apostels althoughe his onelye confidence was in Christ yet he appealed vnto Cesar made a discension betwene the Pharisies and Saduces and testified that he was a Citizen of Rome It is euident therfore by these manyfest examples that we must vse the helpe of nature and wysdome to obtayne those thinges which God hath promised to geue vs. Yong men are to be exhorted to good studies Wherefore the yong men of our tyme are diligently to be admonished to labour to attayne vnto languages good artes and sciences and that wyth great study Which they may when oportunity serueth vse in preaching and defending the
by an other reason Romaine lawes forbad the mariage of the brothers daughter the incestuous mariages were forbidden by the light of nature seing that they were earnestly forbidden by the Romane lawes which were counted among the excellentest honestest lawes these by name wherby any man should marrye his niepce by the brother Although Claudius Caesar whē he would marry his brothers daughter Agrippina caused the fyrst law to be abrogated and to be decreed that euery man might haue his brothers daughter to wife But there was neuer a one at Rome except it were one or two which would follow his example And the Romaines obserued the first law which was most honest The Romaine lawes in prohibiting mariages had certaine lawes not mentioned by God Neuerthelesse we muste vnderstand the diuerse persons were prohibited by the lawes of the Romanes of whom the law of god hath made no mention and yet their prohibition was not without a reason Wherfore the Citizens of Rome were bound to obserue thē although by the light of nature they could see no cause why they should so doe which lawes were wont to be called a peculiar kinde of lawes bicause it semeth to be priuate for certain places I will make the thing more plaine by examples The tutor might not marry his pupill The Romaines would not as it is written in Codice that matrimonies shoulde be contracted betwene the tutor and pupill committed to his charge Bycause they saw that this would easely come therby that that tutor which had consumed his pupils goodes least he should be compelled after his tutorship to render accompt of those goods might sollicite the mayden to mariage which being obtained he should be free from geuing accompt of her goods This surely was a good law but yet it was not perfectly obserued Cicero otherwise a graue man Cicero was euill spoken of for the same cause for being farre in other mens debt when he had forsakē his wife Terence he maried his pupill of whose goods affayres he had charge ouer as a tutor The Romanes deceeed also A prisident myght not marry a wife of hys prouince that no president of any prouince should take to wife eyther to himselfe or to any of hys any out of the same prouince wherein he gouerned For they knew right wel that it might so happen that the Pretor Proconsul or President in a prouince cleauing to his families and kynsfolke cōming to him by his wife might make new tumultes and at length be alienated from the publique wealth They saw also a great daunger to hang theron least he should not be iuste and seuere in geuing iudgement bycause he woulde gratifie his kinsfolke more than others Lastly mariages shoulde not haue remayned at libertie in prouinces bicause Magistrates might in a manner compel thē of the prouince to contracte matrimonies either with thēselues Felix had a Iew to hys wife or with their frendes We see also this most honest law violated For Faelix which gouerned Iewrye vnder Nero as it is writtē in the xxiiii chap. of the actes of the Apostles had Drusilla a Iewe to wife But what nede I rehearse that these lawes of a small weyght were not obserued whē as that people had shaken of euen those lawes which we called morall and are knowen by the law of nature Cicero The monstrug lust of Sassia Cicero declareth in his oratiō for Cluentius the one Sassia a most wicked womā was so prouoked with filthy lust that she instigated her sonne in law Aurius Melinus to whō she had before maried her daughter to repudiate his wife wherby he shuld marry her self in stead of her daughter which thīg at the lēgth she got him to do And whē the dede was coūted ful of dishonesty yet was it not punished by the lawes neither do we rede that the matrimonye whiche Cicero cōtendeth to be cōtracted by no good grounds by no authors altogether vnluckely was dissolued by the power cōmaūdemēt of the magistrates Wherfore hereof cōmeth a good reasō also why god would againe inculcate by a law those things whiche by the light of nature were iudged honest For the bonds barres windowes of nature were brokē by the impotent lust of mē therfore it was necessary they should be boūd with an other bond For the Israelites were no more shamefast in keping of natural honestye than were the Romaines Neither is this to be left out the god had certaine proper things in his law whiche may be called peculiar thinges for all men were not bound vnto thē by the lawe of nature but the Hebrues onely For he woulde not haue them to contracte matrimony with the Chananites Hamorrites Iebusites c. And other people seme not to haue bene bounde to the law neither should we at this day if there were such nations still Matrimonyes ought not to be contracted in cōtrary religiō Augustine be letted but that we might ioyne our selues in matrimony with them Although the cause of the law ought at this day to be holden which cause is the matrimonies shoulde not be contracted with them which be of a contrary religion For it is not conuenient that the Godlye should be ioyned with the vngodly I know that Augustine writeth concerning vnlawfull mariages to Pollentius in the second booke and of the Sermon of the Lord vpon the Mountaine that there is not a place in the new Testament wherin by expresse words matrimonies with infidels are prohibited But of this matter I will not write much at this present seing that I haue largely entreated of it in the Epistle to the Corinthians This will I saye more ouer that a good man ought in contracting of matrimonyes to follow chiefly that which is honest and not lightly to depart frō cōmendable orders vsuall customes which are not agaynst the word of god And if there happen peraduenture any doubt let him not thinke it much to aske coūcell of his magistrate otherwise he shal rashly put both himselfe his wife and his children to daunger For if he be maryed in any of the degrees prohibited by the peculiar law he shal not then be counted a husband but a whoremonger and his wife a harlot their childrē bastardes Howbeit the magistrate although concerning matrimonie he maye forbid certaine other contractes besides those which God hath forbidden yet can he not neither ought he to remit any of those which God hath commaunded whiche he hath prohibited by his law yea he must most diligently see that he burthē not the people to much The pope hath grieuously sinned concerning these lawes or without an earnest cause as we see the Pope hath done who hath two wayes sinned in this thing fyrst in that he durst vsurpe the office of making of lawes in a common wealth which vndoubtedly pertaineth not vnto him Secondly bicause in his lawes he followed not the word of god but with out
thinges beyng added as it seemed good vnto sundrye men neuerthelesse after a sorte they mighte bee borne withall neyther can they iustly be accused eyther of superstition or els of Idolatry Rites were not like in all churches The churche of Millayne Howbeit they were not a lyke in all Churches neyther were they obserued after one maner For yet in the Churche of Millaine it is otherwyse vsed after the institution of Ambrose But afterward the Romanē Antichristes corrupted all thynges as I shall declare in an other place And that by the olde institution were obserued those thinges whych I haue mencioned Tertulian I coulde easely proue by most auncient wryters Tertullian in hys Apologye sayth we assemble and gather together that wee praying might embrace one another as though we would make a rushing into God with our praiers This violence is acceptable vnto God We pray also for Emperours for their ministers powers for the state of the world for the quietnes of things the tariyng of the end These things declare the sūme of the collects And for the rehearsing of the Scriptures hee addeth wee assemble together to the rehearsal of the holy scriptures if the quality of the present time doth compel vs either to foresee any thing or diligently to acknowledge any faults we do assuredly fede our fayth wyth holye woordes wee erecte our hope wee fyxe oure confidence and yet we continually repeate discipline by inculcating the preceptes of God Ther are also exhortations castigations and sharpe iudgementes of God for there was iudgement with great waight c. These are the thinges whych wer done in the holy assembly Wherunto those thinges are also to be added which the same authour saith in an other place namelye that the Lordes Supper was wont to be receaued at the handes of the chiefe Ministers c. We may by these woordes perceaue the principal partes of the Masse which we haue made mencion of Iustine the Martyr in his second Apologie maketh mencion that the Christians assembled together on the Sonday Iustine martyr but he writeth nothing of other feast daies There he saith was rehersed the holy scriptures whereunto the Byshop dyd afterward adioyne his exhortation Which being finished saith he we ryse and pray He addeth afterward The bread and drinke is brought to the bishop ouer which he geueth thankes as earnestly as he can to whom all men answer Amen These two words declare that they wer not carelesly to be passed ouer First thankes were not geuen rashlye but with as muche earnest as might be that is with a singular affection Moreouer it is manifest that all these thynges were spoken with a loud voyce seing al the people answered Amen Afterward saith he is distributed the Lordes supper then is the common geuing of thankes and the offering of almes Dionisius in Hierarchia Ecclesiastica maketh mencion almost of these same things namely of the reading of the scriptures singing of Psalmes Cōmuniō Dionisius and other thinges which wer to long now to rehearse But which is muche to be maruailed of he maketh no mencion of the offering of the body of Christ The workes of Dionisius ar not hys whych was the Areo-Pagite Yet we must not thinke that he was that Areopagite of whom the Actes of the Apostles haue mencioned But whatsoeuer he was it is not to be doubted as farre as I can iudge but that he was an old wryter But why I can not thincke that he was an Areopagite these are the reasons that leade me thereunto First bycause the kinde of writing which he vseth especially of the names of God and de Hierarchia celesti containeth in it rather the doctrine of vayne Philosophye than the pure doctrine of Christian religiō and vtterly wanteth edefiyng moreouer those bookes ar in a maner voyd of testimonies of the holy scriptures Monkes were not in the churche in the Apostles tyme. Furthermore in his Hierarchia Ecclesiastica hee maketh Monkes as a myddle order betwene a Clarke and the Lay men When as in the Apostles time that kynde of life was not yet in the Churche Besides this the auncienter Fathers neuer made mencion of those bookes which is a good argument that those wrytinges wer none of that Martyrs doing Gregory the Romane was the first of all wryters that made any mencion of him who in one of his Homelies mencioneth of his writinges But let vs leaue him and come to Augustine Augustine That father in his .59 epistle to Paulinus when he dissolueth the .v. question expoundeth the .4 words which ar written in the .1 epistle to Timo. the .2 A place to Timothe expounded 1 Tim 2. chap. And these are the woordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And he affirmeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to go before the celebration of the sacramēt but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he maketh prayers which are said in the administration of the sacrament wher after a sorte we vow our selues vnto Christ and he thincketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bee peticions and requestes with which the Minister of the Church prayeth for good thinges vnto the people standing by And finally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he affirmeth to be the cōmon geuing of thankes I could to these bring a great many more monuments of old writers but that I thinke these are sufficient at this present But now to returne to the name of Missa Note an other kind of mission I see ther haue bene some whych haue thought it to haue ben deriued of the word Missio that is sending bicause those thinges which wer offered of the faithfull were sayde to be sent and they thyncke that this hebrewe woorde Missath gaue the occasion to that name bycause in Penticoste the Iewes vsed to send gyftes But why I doo not thyncks the name of Missa to be deriued of the hebrewe woorde I haue before declared And nowe I adde this that if Missa were so named of the oblation of thinges which wer geuen of the godly then do the Papistes abuse that name who haue no regard at al to the almes of godly men but onely to the oblation of the bodye and blood of Christe which they commonlye boast and that impudently that they doo offer it vnto God the father for the quicke and the dead But of these thinges I thinke I haue spoken inough and inough 34 And the Amorrites draue the childrē of Dan vnto the moūtain for they suffered them not to come downe into the valley 35 And the Amorrites began to dwel in the mount Heresch in Aialem and in Saalbim and the hande of Ioseph preuailed so that they became tributaries 36 And the coast of the Amorrites was from the going vp of the Scorpions and from Petra and vpward They of the tribe of Dan distrusting the mercy and fauour of God wer driuē by the Chananites or Amorhites into the hilly places wher they were scarse
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
and made to stand stil I wyll not speake howe the Poetes fable that when the walles of Thebes the Citye were built the stones of their owne motion came together with the sound of the Harpe And no man is ignoraunt what the same Poetes haue written of Arion and Orpheus And who knoweth not how much Dauid here ther in his Psalmes praiseth both Musick songes Tertulian And among Christian men Tertulian in his Apology teacheth that the faithfull did very often make suppers wherin after they had moderatly and honestly refreshed the body they recreated themselues with godly songes And in an other place when he commendeth Matrimony that is of one and the selfe same religion he sayth that Christian couples doo mutually prouoke them selues tosing prayses vnto God Whether singinge may be receaued in the Church The east churche Plini But now that we haue sene the nature beginning and vse of songes and musicke ther resteth to inquire whither it may be vsed in Churches In the East part the holy assemblies euen from the beginning vsed singing which we maye easily vnderstand by a testimony of Plini in a certain Epistle to Traian the Emperor where he writeth that Christians vsed to syng hymnes before daye vnto their Christ And this is not to be left out that these words wer written in that time that Iohn the Euangelist lyued for he was a liue vnto the time of Traian Wherfore if a man shal say that in the time of the Apostles there was syngyng in holy assemblies He shal not stray from the truth Paule who was before these times vnto the Ephesians saith Be not filled wyth wyne wherein is wantonnes but be ye filled with the spirit speaking to your selues in Psalmes Himnes and spiritual songes singing in your hart geuing thankes alwaies vnto God for all thinges in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ To wyne the Apostle setteth the spirite as contrarye and forbiddeth the pleasure of the senses when in steede of wyne he wil haue Christians filled with the spirite For in wine as he saith is wantonnes but in the spirite is both a true and a perfect ioy Drounckerdes speake more than inough but yet foolish and vayne thinges Speake ye saith he but yet spirituall thinges and that not onely in voyce but also in hart for the voyce soundeth in vaine where the minde is not affected They which be filled with wine do speake foolish filthy and blasphemous thinges but geue ye thankes to God alwaies I say and for all thinges To this ende vndoubtedly ought Ecclesiastical songes to tend vnto To the Colossians also are written certaine thinges not disagreing from these Let the woord of the Lord sayth the Apostle abound plentifully in you teache and admonish ye one another in Psalmes Hymnes and spirituall songes singing in your hartes with grace By these woordes Paule expresseth two thinges Fyrst that our songes be the woord of God which must abound plentifully in vs and they must not serue onely to geuing of thankes but also to teache and to admonish And then it is added with grace which is thus to vnderstand as though he should haue said aptly and properly both to the senses and to measure and also vnto the voyces Let them not syng rude and rusticall thinges neither let it be immoderatly as doo the Tauernhunters To the Corrinthians the firste Epistle the .xiiii. chapter where he entreateth of an holy assemblye the same Apostle writeth after this maner When ye assemble together according as euerye one of you hath a Psalme or hath doctrine or hath a toung or hath reuelacion or hath interpretation let al thinges be done vnto edifieng By which woordes is declared that Syngers of songes and Psalmes had their place in the Church The west Church Augustine But the west Churches more lately receaued the maner of singing for Augustine in his .ix. booke of Confessions testifieth that it happened in the tyme of Ambrose For when that holy man together with the people watched euen in the Church least he should haue bene betrayed vnto the Arrians he brought in singing to auoyde tediousnes and to driue away the time But as touching the measure and nature of the song which ought to be retained in Musicke in the Church these thinges are woorthy to be noted What maner of measure the ecclesiastical song ought to be Augustine Augustine in the same bookes of Confession both confesseth and also is sory that hee had sometimes fallen bicause he had geuen more attentiue heede vnto the measures and cordes of musicke than to the woordes whiche were vnder them spoken Which thing hereby he proueth to be synne bicause measures and singing were brought in for the wordes sake and not wordes for Musicke The manner of the churche of Alexandria And he so repented him of his fault that he execeedingly allowed the manner of the Church of Alexandria vsed vnder Athanasius for hee commaunded the Reader that when he sang he should but lytle alter his voyce so that he shoulde bee lyke rather vnto one that readeth than vnto one that syngeth Howbeit on the contrary when he considered how at the beginning of his conuersion he was inwardly moued with these songes namely in suche sorte that for the zeale of pietye he burst forth into teares for this cause I say he consented that Musicke should be retained in the Churche but yet in suche maner that hee saide he was readye to chaunge his sentence if a better reason could be assigned And he addeth that those do synne deadly as they wer wont to speake which geue greater hede vnto musicke than vnto the woordes of God Ierome Gregory To which sentence vndoubtedlye Ierome assenteth as he hath noted vpon the Epistle to the Ephesians Gregory also of Rome in the Synode of Rome was of the same opinion And both their wordes are wrytten in the Decrees Dist 92. in the chap. Cantantes and in the chapter In sancta Romana In which place are read in the glose two verses not in dede so eloquent but yet godly Non vox sed votum non cordula musica sed vox Non clamans sed amans cantat in aure Dei That is Not the voice but the desire not the plesantnes of musick but the voyce Not crying but louing syngeth in the eare of God And in the wordes of Gregory this is not slightlye to be passed ouer in that hee saith Whilest the swetenes of the voyce is sought for the life is neglected and when wicked maners prouoke God the people is rauished by the pleasauntnesse of the voyce The abuses of Ecclesiasticall Musicke But now let vs declare the cautions which are to bee obserued to the ende we maye lawfully and fruitfully vse singing in the Church The first is That in Musicke be not put the whole summe effect of godlines and of the worshipping of God For among the Papists they do almost euery where thinke that
he had a wonderfull great number of people in that City I might rehearse a great many other places both out of the old Testament and out of the newe but that I wil not be tedious Philo a Iewe. Philo a Iew as Ierome in his booke de viris illustribus saith wrote fyue bookes of Dreames which are sent by God Ciprian also telleth Ciprian that in his tyme wer certain things sene by dreames which serued for the edification of the Churche he doth geue not a litle Augustine Thre kindes of dreames but very much authority vnto them And Augustine in his .xii. booke de Genisi ad litteram the .3 chap. sayth That there are three kindes of dreames The first saith he pertaine vnto the outward senses which he calleth corporal Againe other some he calleth Spirituall which consyst of images haue place about the phantasy or power of imagination The last he nameth Intellectual bicause they are comprehended onelye by reason and iudgement of the mynde And those which consist by imagination namely those that are put in the secoÌ„d place as we haue a litle before taught saith he make not Prophets affirmeth that Ioseph was much more truly a Prophet then Pharao And bicause we wyl not go from our history we may affirme the same thing of the soldiour which in the hearing of Gideon expouÌ„ded the dreame of his fellow soldiour namely that he rather was a Prophet then he which had the vision But in this order or degree of Prophetes Daniel excelleth the rest For he dyd not onelye interpreate the dreames of the king but when he had forgotten those thinges which he saw in his sleepe he could reuoke them into his memory againe Farther he did not onely interpreate the dreames of other men but also he was by God instructed of his owne visions By the Deuil also are dreames sometimes moued for Augustine in the place alredy alledged de Genisi ad literam writeth that one possessed wyth a Deuil by dreames declared in what houre a priest would come vnto him through what places he would passe Oracles answered sometymes by dreames and visions And we are not ignorant that the Ethnikes had oracles where men were al night to obtaine visions and dreames Suche a one was the oracle of Amphiarus Amphilochus Trophonius and of Esculapius In those places the Deuil shewed vnto those whiche slept remedies and medicines to heale suche as were sycke and therwithal also he gaue answer of other matters And to obtaine such visions and dreames there were commaunded vnto those which came to enquire of any thing I cannot tel what choise of meates and separate lodginges Pithagorians and certain pure and chaste daies It is said also that the Scholers of Pithagoras eschewed beanes bicause they make troublesome dreames But our God to declare that he is not bounde to those thynges shewed vnto Daniel the kinges dreame when he and his fellowes by prayers had vehemently desired it of him And it is not to be doubted but that the deuil can mingle him selfe with dreames Augustine when as through his diligence there haue bene and also are now many false Prophetes wherefore Augustine in his booke before alledged the .xix. chap. If an euyl spirite saith he possesse men he maketh them either diuelish or mad or els false prophetes And contrarywise a good spirit maketh faithful prophetes speaking misteries to the edification of other He also demaundeth in the same booke the .xi. chap. by what meanes the reuelations of euyl and good spirites may be discerned one from an other Augustine Howe dreames ar to be knoweÌ„ whiche are of a good spâ—â—â—â— and which are of an euyll And he answereth That that can not be done except a man haue the gifte of discerning of spirites But he addeth that an euyl spirite doth alwaies at the last leade meÌ„ to wicked opinions and peruers maners althoughe at the beginning the difference can not be knowen with out the gift of the holye ghost In his Epistle to Euodius which is the .100 epistle inquiring of the same matter he sayth I would to God I could discerne betwene dreames which ar geuen to errour and those which are to saluation neuerthelesse we ought to bee of good courage bycause God suffreth his children somtimes to be tempted but not to perysh Aristotle But what shal we answer vnto Aristotle who denieth that dreames ar sent of God and that for this cause in special bicause God would geue this faculty of diuination to wyse and good men and not to the foolish and wicked We answer that for the most part it is true that true Prophetes which are by God illustrate with dreames and visions Why God somtimes vseth euyl Prophetes and vnwyse are both good and godlye Howbeit leaste it should be thought that the power of God is bound vnto the wysedome or maners of men God wyl sometimes vse the woorke of euyl men in those things to declare and shew forth the great and wonderful power of his prouideÌ„ce Tertulian as one which can vse all kinde of instrumentes Farther as Tertulian writeth in hys booke de Anima seing that he distributeth his Sunne and rayne both to the iust and to the vniust it ought not to be marueilous if he bestowe also these gyftes which serue especially to the instruction of men both to the good and to the euil And that we should not be ignorant of his doing the holy history declareth that the Ethnikes were by God verye oftentimes admonished and corrected in theyr sleepe So Pharao king of Egipt was commaunded to restore vnto Abraham his wife and Abimelech king of Gerar was in like maner admonished And Tertulian saith moreouer that euen as God when hee instructed the wycked in theyr sleepe doth it that they might become good so contrariwise the Deuil inuadeth the godly when they are a sleepe by dreames to seduce them oute of the ryghte way Aristotle thought the God in distributing his giftes ought to haue a regard to wise men and especially to Philosophers God reuealeth misteries rather vnto the litle ones then to the wyse when as Christ hath taughte altogether otherwise I thanke thee saith he O heauenlye father that thou hydyng these thinges from the learned and wise hast reuealed them to lyttle ones c. Paul also sayth that the vocation of God chiefly pertayneth to the vnnoble vnlearned and weake An other argument was that beastes also when they sleepe do dreame when yet no man wil say that God ministreth and disposeth their dreames That Philosopher is deceaued bicause he supposeth that if God do send some dreames vnto men he ought therefore to be made author of al dreames which vndoubtedly to farre froÌ„ our meaning For we referre not vnto God himselfe al those things which ar natural as certain peculiar effectes by which immediatly as to speake with Scholemen men should be instructed of thinges to
consecrated your handes so farre was it of that they shoulde be depriued of the holy Ministery But the Pope saith that Dauid for shedding of bloud was in the olde tyme prohibited to builde the Temple But in this place we muste marke the misterye wherin Salomon shadowed Christ the peacable king For he was by hym expressed whiche hath gathered together the Churche the true Temple of GOD without weapons vnto the true and euerlastyng peace But bloude beyng iustly and ryghtly shed Bloud shed iustly rightly restraineth not from the holy ministery restrayneth not from the holye ministery For Pinhas who was hygh Priest thrust thorough two moste vnpure whoremongers Elyas a man of the stocke of the Leuites slew with hys owne hande the Prophetes of Baal And Samuell a man of the same tribe dyd hymselfe kyll Agag the king yet neither of them both were reiected froÌ„ theyr office Neither do I therfore speake these thyngs to commend the promotyng of murtherers vnto holy orders but thys only I oppugne that euery slaughter euery murther maketh a man so irregular as these menne saye that he can not be ordeyned a Minister of the Churche What if a man haue bene a Iudge or a Magistrate or in iuste warre hath fought for hys countrey can not he therefore be ordayned a Minister of the Churche Peraduenture he hath obteyned excellent giftes of God and is endewed with singular doctrine adorned with a pure lyfe instructed with dexterity of gouernyng and godly eloquence can not the Churche as these men most absurdely thynke vse hys gyftes Vndoubtedly that was not obserued in Ambrose he was seruaunt vnto Cesar and decided matters in the lawe beyng Pretor of Millan and yet was he by violence taken to be a Byshop I knowe that Paul requireth that a Byshoppe be no striker but no manne doubteth but that that is to be vnderstande of an vniuste murther or violence But what should a man here doo all thynges are by the Papistes handled supersticiously Nowe the thirde cause why Lictores and hangemen are euyll spoken of is this bicause very many of them liue wickedlye and filthy and were before tyme noughty men Aristotle Howbeit the office defileth them not but rather by they re faulte they pollute an excellent office Aristotle in his .6 boke of Politikes the last chapter sayth that good men abhorre this kind of office namely of punishing of meÌ„ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bycause it hath a hatred annexed vnto it For they doe oftentimes incurre the hatred of men But in my iudgement a good and godly man ought not for that cause to abhorre his administration I remeÌ„ber an aunswere of Chrisippus A saying of Chrisippus who being demauÌ„ded why he excercised not the office of a magistrate If I excercise it not rightly sayd he I shal displease god but if I do rightly I shal displease men but I wil do neither of both He semed to some to haue aunswered very prudently but me thinketh he answered folishly For he should rather haue aunswered coÌ„trarily that the publike welth ought to be gouerned and that rightly to please both God and good menne but a wise and good man muste not haue a respecte vnto wicked men By these thinges it is now manifestly shewed that Gidion in that he himselfe killed the kinges of Madian committed nothing that was not decent for him neyther that he commaunded his sonne to do any fylthy acte 22 Then the men of Israel sayd vnto Gideon Reigne thou ouer vs both thou and thy sonne and thy sonnes sonne bycause thou hast deliuered vs out of the hand of Madian 23 And Gideon aunswered them I will not raygne ouer you neither shall my chyld reigne ouer you the Lord shal raigne ouer you The people â—eceauinge a benefite at Gideons hand would haue made him king that they might not be couÌ„ted ingrate But seing gratitude is a vertue it ought to haue no vniust thing ioyned with it whiche these men obserued not For they appoynted not theyr kyngdome by the lawe of god In Deut. the .27 chap. it is written that he should be a king whom god had chosen It pertained vnto god to elect a king Neyther perteined it vnto the people to appoint a kinge whome they would Wherfore that which they doo now is not frely to geue any thing that is theyr owne but to geue the which is an other mans The right to appointe a king belonged to god and not vnto men which thyng also Gideon wysely saw neyther was Christ ignorant therof when they which were filled with bread came vnto him to create him a king Christ refused a kingdoÌ„e offred vnto hym What manner of men the olde Romayne bishops were he wayghed the maner of his vocation and for that his kingdome was not of this worlde and vnderstoode that they vsurped an other mans right and were not moued therunto By iust causes he put of from himself such a burtheÌ„ The same things happened in a maner vnto the bishops of Rome Which at the beginning were holy for very many of theÌ„ wer notable by constancy of faith martirdom Farthermore their church was kindled with feruentnes of charity towards the poore most liberal so that it sent almes euen into the east part to the Ilands and metalle places where the holy confessours of Christ liued in exile All which thinges got that chaire much fauor and grace with the faithful Gregorius Wherefore the supreame power and kingdome in the church was in a manner offred some times vnto those bishops which they like Gideon refused with a great spirite singuler modesty Of which thing also what Gregorius the b. of Rome iudged I will briefly declare In his .4 boke of Epistles in the .32.34.36.38 .39 Epistles he of that matter writeth at large both vnto Mauritius the emperor and also to Constantia Augusta likewise to the Patriarkes Alexandrinus and Antiochenus yea and to Iohn the Patriarche of Constantinople and lastlye to Anianus Deacon of the same church In the time sayth he of Pelagius my predecessor Ioannes Constantinopolitanus when he had assembled a sinode by an other pretence claymed vnto him self the title of the vniuersal supreame Patriarch which thyng Pelagius toke in euil part and therfore made the acts of that Sinode frustrate Farther he commaunded his Deacon which was his deputye whome he had with the Emperoure that he should not communicate with Iohn being so arrogant and proud Gregorye succeded Pelagius and decreed the same things writing vnto the emperor sayth Peter the chiefe amonge the Apostles neuer called himselfe vniuersall Apostle and neuerthelesse Iohn byshop of Constantinople now goeth about to cal him selfe the vniuersall Patriarch straightway he crieth out O times O maners And this reason he addeth to these things if the vniuersal head be so ordeyned of men by the ruine or corruption of such a head the church also shall perishe together Of this place
Christ in Iohn aunswered of the man borne blynd Neither hath this man sinned nor his parentes that he should be borne blynd but that the glory of God should be made manifest Also Peter and Paul when they were put to death could not complayne that they had not deserued death Although God when they were killed had not a respect vnto this to punishe thē What God regardeth in the martyrdome of his sainctes but that by their bloud might be left a testimony of the Gospell of his sonne Wherefore seing the matter is so and we be al subiect vnto sinnes there is no cause why we should complayne that God dealeth to seuerely with vs if we be afflicted for the sinnes of our parents For God can so directe those troubles The scourges of the children profite sometymes the parentes that they shall pertayne not onely to hys glory but also to the saluation of our parentes For oftētymes he punisheth the parents in the children and the prince in the people For the parentes are no les grieued for the punishement of their childrē then if they themselues wer afflicted If the children dye for the parētes cause they haue no wrong done vnto them for death is also dew vnto then they should otherwise haue dyed Wherfore if God will so vse their death he may doo it iustly The grieues of the children are the grieues of the parents Which thing also we may affirme of other calamityes For if the sonne be vexed with sickenes he deserued the sickenes if he haue lost money thē hath he lost thinges transitory and vnstable and which were geuen hym on that condition that they mought easely be taken away agayn God as touching the regenerate turneth punishmēts into medicines Wherfore if god will with these kindes of calamityes punish the parentes in the children he can not be accused of iniustice Wherfore Augustine in his questions vpon Iosua the 8. question by originall sinne sayth he many punishements are dew vnto vs which yet God conuerteth into certayne medicines and maketh them very much to profite vs although they seme vnto vs euil For if the sonne had lyued peraduēture he would haue followed the euill steppes of his father or els committed woorser things Wher fore if God take him out of this life he can not complayne that he is ill delt with For through the benefites of god his death redoundeth to his profite For he is taken away least by malice his heart should chaūge And vndoubtedly we must suffer easy euils to atteyne vnto great good thyngs For so the Phisitions with a bitter purgation trouble the throte to restore the sicke person to hys former health In lyke maner when we haue deserued punishmentes God yet turneth them to good By this means discipline is kepte in the worlde And by this meanes saith Augustine a certayne discipline is established in the world For vnles it were so men would continually proue worse and worse A certayne coniunction also and society of mankinde is declared whē one after this maner is punished for the sinne of an other For they whiche pertayne vnto one kingdome or City or Churche are after a sorte one body among themselues And in the body one mēber suffereth for an other Wherfore seyng thys is so in the body it is not absurde that the same do chaunce also in the society of men Plutarche Plutarche in his booke de Sera numinis vindicta hath very well taught this The eye saith he is sicke the vayne of the arme is cut so the father hath sinned and the sonne is punished the prince hath behaued himselfe ill and the people is vexed and such compassion or suffring together is there in things humane That author iustly accuseth the rashenes of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whiche as often as these thynges doo chaunce do complayne that God dealeth cruelly For the father sayth he is either good or euill If the sonne of a good father be peraduenture afflicted with euill straightway they crye out that God doth vniustly neither is it meete that the sonne should be so miserably handled which had so good a man to his father But if the father be euill and the sonne come into misery agayne they make exclamation that here also god is vniust For the sonne ought not to haue ben punished when as the father sinned wherfore the common people thinke that the sonne should by no meanes be afflicted But what if the father be euill and yet all thinges go prosperously with the sonne here also they cōplayne as he sayth of the iniustice of god For they deny it is iust that then the sonne should lyue prosperously whiche hath so euill a father These thinges this man thoughe he were an Ethnike writeth very godltly Children are certayn partes of the parentes Moreouer we must consider that children are as certayn partes of the parētes and haue somewhat of the parentes in them Wherfore it is not absurde if God punish the part of the parentes in the children But I will returne to Augustine who saith the god by this meanes setteleth discipline in the world in the publique wealth in the Churche and in the famely Whose saying in any iudgement can not be discōmēded for if the children be punished for the sinnes of their parētes they haue nothing wherof to complayne They owe vndoubtedly this duty vnto their parentes for of them they haue that they are Wherfore if they leaue theyr lyfe for them they haue no wrong done them For they render vnto them that whiche they receaued of them If god shoulde saye vnto them I will vse your punishment to the saluation of your parētes they can by no right refuse it Iohn sayth that euery one ought so to loue his brother to be ready to lay euen his life for him And if we must geue our life for our brother how much more ought we to geue it for our father God vseth sundry instrumentes wherwith he draweth men vnto him Why then should he not vse either the sickenes or death of the children either for the chastenyng or for the saluation of the parentes Augustine in his .8 Augustine The lesser part iustly suffreth punishment for the greater question vpon Iosuah whiche I haue oftentymes alledged sayeth That it is iust that the lesser part suffer punishement for the greater as in that hystory it happened bycause of the sacrilege whiche Achan committed A fewe fel in the battaile and the whole multitude was absolued Hereby we vnderstād how great the anger and vengeance of God would haue bene if the whole multitude had sinned when as the sinne of one manne was so excedingly punished And Plutarche in that booke whiche a little before I brought This thing sayth he also the Capitaynes doo in their hostes If there be any thyng commonly committed of all they put the tenth manne to death that by the punishment of a fewe the rest
the enemyes of the olde Testament snatche occasion to speake euill of GOD the creator of the world For they called hym both an euyll GOD and a cruell Suche were the Maniches Valentinians Marcionites and suche lyke pestilences When he delighteth saye they in the bloude of manne howe can he not but bee cruell Augustine aunswereth God reioyseth not in bloud So farre is it of that GOD reioyseth in the bloude of man that he reioyseth not euen in the bloude of beastes onely he suffred for a tyme that sacrifices of beastes shoulde be offred by lytle and lytle to instructe men But what the Sacrifices of the Elders signified whiche serued to theyr erudition in that place What the sacrifices of the Elders signified he declareth not but I will in fewe woordes shewe it First was set foorth in those Sacrifices that the rewarde of sinne is death And that dyd he after a sorte testifie whiche brought the Sacrifice namely that he had deserued to be kylled but by the goodnes of GOD hys death was transferred to the Sacrifice By thys meanes were the Elders instructed that they should eschewe synnes Farther those Sacrifices directed the myndes of menne vnto Christe and they were certayne visible sermons of hym and taught that Christ shoulde bee that Sacrifice whiche shoulde take awaye the sinnes of the worlde and vpon whom our death and damnation should be transferred God mought haue required humane sacrifices Wherefore GOD of hymselfe delyghted not in bloude but by thys schoolyng he instructed his people Yea if he had delyghted in Sacrifices he mought haue required them of the number of menne For what should haue letted hym or what iniury shoulde he haue doone vs if he woulde haue had Sacrifices of menne offred vnto hym For manne must needes sometymes dye Wherefore to preuent the tyme one yeare or two it woulde not haue bene so grieuous neither shoulde he haue doone vs any iniurye chiefly when we shoulde vnderstande that with hym we shoulde lyue for euer Vndoubtedly in thys thyng no manne coulde haue accused GOD as cruell But nowe seyng he hath remoued all those holy seruices he manifestly teacheth that he reioyseth not neither in the bloude of menne God woulde haue the firste borne of menne redemed and not sacrificed nor in the bloude of beastes Yea the firste borne of menne when they were bounde vnto hym he woulde not haue them Sacrificed but redemed with a price whiche he woulde not haue doone if he had taken any pleasure in bloude In Deuteromy the .12 chapter he sayeth The Nation whiche I wyl expell before thee doo Sacrifice theyr sonnes and daughters but see that thou do not so Certayne kyllynges of men are acceptable vnto God But Augustine demaundeth farther whether there be any slaughter of men whiche is acceptable vnto GOD Hee aunswereth that there is But what slaughter When menne sayeth he are kylled for ryghteousnes sake not that the death of Martyrs of it self pleaseth GOD but bicause faith towardes God piety is by that Martyrdomes are lyke sacrifices both declared and also kept And the death of Christ so pleased God that it redemed the whole worlde and the death of Christians whiche they suffer in Christes name may be called after a sorte a Sacrifice Wherefore Paul in the .2 to Timo. the last chapter writeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is I sacrifice c. in whiche saying he calleth his death an immolation And to the Phil. the .2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The martirdomes of men make not satisfaction for sins but if I offre in an oblation and seruice of our fayth And yet do not such sacrifices make satisfaction for sinnes for that doth the death of Christe onely But the death of Martirs are acceptable because the cause is thankefull Augustine was baptised of Ambrose and being wōderfully affectioned toward him he followeth his opinion as his Scholemayster asmuch as he may but somwhat more warely He cōpareth Iiphtah with Abraham but he putteth a difference whyche Ambrose noted not Abraham saythe he had the woorde of god to sacrifice his sonne so had not Iiphtah yea rather he had the law against him that he shoulde not sacrifice And in Abraham not the death pleased god but the faith Farther there is great difference for a man to do any thinge of himself and to haue a will to doo those thinges that are commaunded him And Augustine doth subtilly admonish Iiphtah vowed an human◠sacrifice as Augustine thinketh that Iiphtah vowed an humane sacrifice not deceaued but willinglye Whatsoeuer sayth he shall come out of my house I will offer it for a burnte offringe c. Doo we thinke that beastes woulde come forth to meete him returninge home Men vse to go and mete such as haue the victory and to reioyse Wherfore he vowed an humane sacrifice The scripture only maketh mencyon of this acte but praiseth it not as also it is there written that Iudas had to do with his daughter in law but it is not allowed So there can nothing be gathered by these wordes The rashenes of the father is punished in the death of the children why the acte of Iiphtah should be praysed Farther Augustine thinketh with Ierome that god woulde punish the rashenes of the vow in the father by the death of hys daughter But there are two places sayth he why I cannot reprehend Iiphtah Because in the Epistle to the Hebrewes he is numbred among the saints in this place it is written that the spirite of the Lord was vpon him But those holy men which are rekoned vnto the Hebrewes did they neuer sinne Vndoubtedly their sinnes also ar set forth in the holy scriptures Gideon who is in the number a little before his deth made an Ephod which was the destructiō both of himself of his house But as touchinge the other place The sprite of the Lorde came vpon hym But this nothing letteth but that afterward he might fall But Iiphtah thou wilte saye had the victory but Gidion after that acte nothing went well with him Yea rather sayth he Gideon did before after a sort tempt God yet he had the victory So much of Augustine But I would say otherwise For I agree not with Augustine to thinke that Gidion tēpted God Therfore I would aunswere after this maner Dauid cōmitted aduoutry straightway afterward obteined the victory toke the city Rabath-Ammon in whose siege he prepared that Vrias should be slayne Saule persecuted Dauid in the meane time there were brought him messengers from the Philistians He leauing Dauid went to war and obteined the victory Moses sinned at the waters of strife the people also hadde sinned many waies and yet they obteyned the victorye agaynste Sihon and Og moste myghtye Kynges Wherefore wee will graunte that Iiphtah was numbred amonge the Sayntes and yet he mighte sinne and althoughe he synned he obteyned the victorye And we wil graunt that
Iustice in contaminatyng an other mannes thyng Ye are bought with a greate pryce wherefore glorify God in your body These argumentes of Paul are both most pleasaunt and also most strōg which if they satisfy not some let him loke vpon our Samson He was no idolatrer no murtherer no these and yet is he taken bound his eyes put out and is compelled to grinde in a prison euen as if he had ben a foure footed beast Paul laboureth by many argumētes to proue whoredome is sinne And no maruayle bicause then he wrote vno the Corinthians whiche at that tyme abounded aboue other in fornicatiōs Wherof came the Prouerb Nō quiuis Corinthū that is It is not for euery mā to go to Corinthus And in vniuersal al the Ethnikes were in an ill opiniō touching this vice Eusebius For which cause whē the Church was yet springyng as Eusebius testifieth in his .3 booke of his hystory the .29 chap. the Nicolaites did openly manifestly commit fornication layd the custome of their wicked crime vpō Nicolaus the deacon Clemēs Alexandrinus The history of Nicolaus the deacon although Clemēs Bishop of Alexādria in Stromatis do excuse Nicolaus For he sayeth that he neither thought nor taught any such thing But hauing a very fayre woman to his wyfe and therefore beyng thought to haue ben gelous ouer her he brought her foorth before the people and said This is my wife And that ye might vnderstand that I am not gelous ouer her I am cōtēt for my part that any of you take her to wife Which thing also he mēt as farre as the law of God would suffer But they which were afterward called Nicloaites vnderstandyng his wordes peruersly supposed that he thought the wyues among Christians ought to be cōmon Of this Secte it is written in the Apocalips But this thou hast bycause thou hast hated the actes of the Nicolaites whiche I haue hated Wherfore it is no meruayle though Paul tooke so great paynes to teache that whoredome is sinne Fornicatiō cōtrary to matrimony This wicked crime is contrary vnto matrimony For they whiche haunte wandryng lustes and harlots are farre from contracting of Matrimony Wherfore Terence sayth They which loue can ill abide to haue a wife geuen thē For whiche cause Clemens sayth Clemens whoredome leadeth from one matrimony to many that is from one lawful coniunction to many vnlawfull wicked The Epistle to the Hebrues ioyneth fornicators which aduoutrers testifieth that God will iudge them And those two vices are so ioyned together that they are comprehended in the selfe same precept wherin it sayd Thou shalt not commit aduoultry Fornication is repugnat vnto Christ the publique wealch This pestilence also is repugnāt both vnto Charity to the publique wealth vnto charity vndoubtedly bycause the fornicators do iniury vnto their children whiche not beyng lawfully procreated are scarsely at any tyme brought vp honestly vertuously And they hurt the publique wealth bycause they defraud it of good Citizēs For Mamzer a bastard I say one borne in fornication is prohibited to be receaued into the Church not that he is restrayned from the holy cōmunion or from the misteryes of saluation but bycause it is not lawfull for him to gouerne the publique wealth to be numbred among Citizens Some thinke that this euill may be remedyed if a man should keepe a concubine at home So say they shall the yssue be certayn It may be peraduenture certayne but it shall not be legitimate Seing therfore this wicked crime is both agaynst matrimony and charity also the publique wealth it cā not be denied but it is a sinne most grieuous A Christiā magistrate ought not to suffer harlottes And for as much as it is so why are fornications now a dayes openly suffred in Cityes I speake not of the Ethnikes I speake of Christians and of those Christiās which wil alone seme be called the successors of Christ Whoredome or fornicatiō is most impudently mainteyned in their dominion they not onely willing therunto but also taking a commodity tribute therof That whiche is against the word of God against matrimony against charity against the publique wealth is no sinne or els it is a notable sinne If it be sinne why is it not taken away weded out Augustine But I know what they will bable they bring foorth Augustine who in his booke de Ordine wryteth thus Take awaye harlottes and all thyngs shal be filled with filthy lustes But let vs consider in what time Augustine wrote that booke Vndoubtedly when he was yet Catechumenus and not sufficiently enstructed in religion And althoughe he had not beene Catechumenus yet thys his saying agreeth not with the word of God neyther with Augustine himselfe who in an other place affirmeth that the good which commeth of euil as a recompensacion is not to be admitted Which thing also Paule hath taught to the Romaynes euen as they were wont to say of vs Let vs do euil thinges that therby may come good thinges whose damnation is iust We must neuer haue a regard to the end and euent when we are vrged by the commaundemente of god Somtimes men say vnto vs Vnles thou committe sinne this euill or that will succede But we must aunswere let vs do what god hath commaunded vs he will haue a care of the successe Neither is it meete that one onely sentence of Augustine should be of greater authority then so many reasōs which we haue brought and so many most manifest wordes of God God commaunded absolutely and by expresse wordes that there shoulde be no harlot in Israell But some go aboute to wrest this place out of our handes in sayinge that these hebrewe woordes Kadschah and Kedaschim signifieth not whores or harlots but rather the priestes of Priapus which were vowed or consecrated to thinges most filthy I contrarily thinke that Chadschah signifieth an harlot and Kedaschim vnnaturall and effeminate persons God woulde haue neyther of these suffred among his people But in that they obiect the holy seruices of Priapus it is nothing For it was sufficientlye before decreed touchinge idolatry and what nede it agayn to be repeated But that we may the more manifestly vnderstand that Kadschah signifieth a harlot let vs reade the historye of Iuda and Thamar in the booke of Genesis Certaine wordes ar taken both in the good and euill parte and there we shall see that Louah Kadschah are taken both for one and the selfe same thing For whiche cause we must note that there are certayne wordes whiche maye be taken both in the good and euil parte of which sort is this word Kadschah among the Hebrewes which signifieth both holy and also an harlot euen as among the lattines thys word sacrum that is holye Virgil. wherefore Virgill sayth Auri sacra fames that is the holy hunger of gold This Hebrew word Kadasch is to prepare or
thing in dede the Magistrate doth not by himselfe but hee ought to haue a regarde that they may be in a redynes which should do them wel Wherefore either power extendeth most amply and comprehendeth al thinges but not after one and the selfe same maner And the rule of either of them is to bee taken out of the woord of God which is plaine to be in the Church Againe there are two subiections One is political and ciuil Two kinds of subiection whereunto all men are subiect who if they offend in any thing against the lawes let them at the iust Magistrates hand looke for imprysonment punishment by the pursse banishment death and outward paines But if they doo wel let them looke for honours rewardes dignities and prayse And after this maner the ciuil power is not subiect vnto the ministery of the woorde bicause by it it can not by these kindes of punishmentes be afflicted and constrained The other subiection is spiritual that is of faith and of obedience For strayghtway as sone as men heare of their duty out of the woord of God and that either this thing or that is to bee done or this or that thing to be auoyded they geue place beleue and obey Bycause they perceaue that that which is spoken is the woorde of God And these are the endes of eyther power A sentence of Valentiniā the Emperour And so is to be vnderstand that saying of Valentinian the Emperour out of the booke called Historia Tripartita which thing is had also in the distinction .63 chap. Valentinianus Chuse saith he suche a bishop vnto whom we which gouerne the Empire may sincerely submyt our heades and vse his admonicions as medicines c. By which wordes is vnderstand that it longeth vnto the Ecclesiastical power An error of the same Valentinian to admonish out of the woorde of God for saluacion Although the same Emperour afterward erred For when he had appointed Ambrose Pretor of the City of Millane the people did chuse him byshop Which thing when the Emperor knew A bishop ought not to haue a care onely ouer soules or onely ouer bodyes he gaue thankes vnto God therfore after this maner I had made hym ruler ouer the bodyes of men but thou wouldest haue him ruler ouer the soules c. Valentinian did not rightlye put a distinction betwene offices For why Ought bishops to haue a care onely ouer soules and not also ouer bodies What if they geue them selues to glotonye or dronkennes or liue licenciouslye touching outwarde thinges shall they not reproue these thinges Vndoubtedly they must reproue them Neither must princes haue a care onely ouer the bodies of men and neglect their soules For wee do not imagine that a prince is a neateherd or a swineherd to whom is committed onely the care of the belly flesh and skinne of his subiectes yea he must prouide that they may liue vertuously and godlily But what if Christian Princes when they are by the woorde of God admonished of publike and most grieuous synnes wil not heare neither amende that which they haue noughtely committed What I say shal the bishop do herein Ambrose excommunicated Theodosius the Emperor when he exercised so grieuous tiranny against the Thessalonians Innocentius also excommunicated Arcadius when he had exiled Iohn Chrisostome who admonished him freely and trulye as it is had in the dist 96. chap. Duo sunt in the dist 18. in the chap. Quoniam quidam And they are the wordes of the syxt Synode where it is decreed that ther should euery yeare be had two Sinodes And if princes would hinder them let them be excommunicated Eusebius But what do I make mencion of these latter thinges Let vs reade Eusebius in his .vi. booke and .xxxiiii. chap. where he saith that Philip the Emperor who liued in the tyme of Origene was the first Christian prince and when he would haue bene present together with the faithful on Easter euen and haue communicated with them in prayers the bishop bicause he was a wicked and noughty liuer reiected him among them that wer put to penance that he should make open confession before the Churche and acknowledge his synne otherwyse hee could by no meanes be admitted vnto the Communion This did the byshop at that tyme against the Emperour chiefe Monarche of the whole world Wherfore the ciuil power ought to be subiect vnto the woorde of God which is preached by the Ministers But againe the Ecclesiasticall power is subiect vnto the ciuil when the Ministers behaue themselues yll either in thinges humane or Ecclesiastical For these powers are after a sorte conuertible and sundry wayes are occupied about the selfe same thinges and mutually helpe one an other euē as Aristotle Theodectes calleth Rhethorike and Logike interchangeable artes Aristotle bicause either of them are occupied in the selfe same thinges after a sundry maner The Ecclesiastical power is subiect vnto the Magistrate not by a spiritual subiection but by a politike For as touching the Sacramentes and sermons it is not subiect vnto it bicause the Magistrate cannot bende the woord of God or the Sacramentes which the ministery vseth neither can he compel the pastors and Teachers of the Church to teach otherwise or in any other sorte to administer the Sacramentes then is prescribed by the woorde of God Howbeit ministers in that they are men and Citizens are without all doubte subiect vnto the Magistrate and also their lands riches and possessions So Christ payd tribute so also did the Apostles and the whole primatiue Churche when there were yet most holye men Their manners also are subiect vnto the censures and iudgementes of the Magistrates Farthermore we must adde that Ministers are subiect vnto the Magistrate not onely as touching those thinges which I haue rehearsed but also as I before signified cōcerning their function Bicause if they teache not right neither administer the Sacramentes orderly it is the office of the Magistrate to compel them to an order and to see that they teache not vnpurelye and that they myngle not fables Princes may put Ministers oute of their place if their be haue thē selues yll or that they abuse not the Sacramentes or delyuer them otherwise then the Lorde hath commaunded Also if they liue noughtelye and wickedly let them put them out of the holy ministerye This did Salomon who deiected Abiathar and substituted Sadok in his roume as it is written in the fyrst boke of Kinges the second chap. And in the new Testament Iustinian displaced Siluerius Vigilius which thing I doubt not but other princes did sometimes But how iustly I wil not presently declare this one thing I wil say that that thing was lawful for them in the causes now alledged But some man wil say that I speake now of the fact and not of the right Yea but I speake also of the right For the king ought to haue with him the law of God
answer of Bonifacius a deceite of equiuocation For we demaund whither an ecclesiastical Minister may beare the office of a ciuil Magistrate and vse a ciuil sword and they remit vs vnto the sword of Peter a man otherwise priuate Bernardus Howbeit Bernardus in his .4 booke de Consider ad Eugenium semeth to interprete the two swordes I graunt that Bernard hath certaine thinges lyke vnto this but yet not vtterly the same But we must remember in what tyme Bernardus lyued He liued at that time wherein all thinges were corrupted in the Church and if a man reade those his bokes de Consideratione he shal se that he grieuously complaineth of the corruption of his time Eugenius was by the Romanes excluded the City and peraduenture he meditated by violence to restore himselfe Wherefore Bernard exhorted them to preache the Gospell to deale aganst the Romanes with the woorde and with Sermons rather then wyth the sword Eugenius said what wilt thou haue That I should feede Serpentes and Dragons and Beastes Yea rather assayle them saith Bernard with the woord not with iron And in an other place he saith If thou wilt haue both swordes thou shalt leese both Neither is it to be thought that Eugenius would by himself haue fought but peraduenture he assayed to moue warre by other from whiche purpose Bernard disswaded him And thus much of him But in that Bonifacius addeth that those swords of the church ought to be in order namely that the one should be subiect vnto the other that he proueth by thys saying of Paule Those powers that are are ordeined of God is manifestly declared how this man wresteth the scriptures For this word ordinatae that is ordered is in Greeke written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is nothing els then instituted or appointed But be it so as Bonifacius hath expounded it what manner of order shal this be at the length Vndoubtedly it shoulde be that the Minister shoulde teache and the ciuil power shoulde heare and beleue But this is nothing vnto the Pope which teacheth nothing The lowest thinges saith Dionisius are by meanes reduced vnto the hyghest Wherfore Bonifacius concludeth that the outward sword ought to be referred vnto God by the spiritual Vndoubtedly I wil easely graunt that the swoord of the spirit that is the word of God is the meane wherby the other sword namely the outwarde ought to be tempered and directed vnto God But why doth not the Pope retaine this meane The Pope vseth not the swoorde of the woord Why vseth he not the word Why teacheth he not why preacheth he not Nndoubtedly princes that stray are not by him reuoked into the right way yea rather contrarywise the Pope and bishops of the Church are somtimes rebuked and iustly reproued of princes Aaron assuredly being high priest It longeth to princes sometimes to admonish and correct Ecclesiastycall men fel greuously in making the golden calfe and obeing the foolishnes of the people Moses accused him greiuously whome it is certayne that he was a ciuil magistrate For toward the end of Deut. he is called a king And when the priestes abused the mony which was offred for the mending of the couerings of the temple who remedied that but onely Ioas the king I will not speake of Dauid and Salomon and others which deuided the lottes of the priest orders of the Leuites And I will not at this time proue these things by any more examples For they are manifest inough of them selues Wherefore I graunte that the ciuill power maye be corrected of the ministers by preaching of the word But the Pope vseth not this kind of gouernment but rather an incredible tirrannye They boaste moreouer that they themselues are greater in dignitye for that they excercise spirituall heauenly thinges where as princes are occupied onely about earthly and ciuill thinges Be it so for we deny not but that ministers are occupied about thinges greater and more deuine then magistrates are But doth the Pope alone minister them Yea rather he neuer doth it at al. Wherfore if the dignity of the ministery depend of those things then will it follow that many bishops and priestes do in dignity far excell the Pope which neuer preacheth most rarely and to very few administreth the Sacraments Let vs come to tenthes Of tenthes by the paiment wherof Bonifacius laboreth to proue that al princes ar subiect vnto him This argumēt semeth to haue some shew bicause at the first sight it agreeth with the .7 chap. of the Epistle to the Hebrewes wher Paul proueth the dignitie of christ to be greater thē the dignity of the priesthode of the Leuits For thus he gathereth Abraham payd tenthes vnto Melchisedech at which time Leui was not yet but was at the time in the loins of Abrahā so paid tēthes in him And he which payeth tenths to an other by the self same thing professeth himself to be inferior vnto him Christ was priest accordinge to the order of Melchisedech Wherfore the Apostle concludeth that the priesthode of the Leuits was much inferior vnto the priesthode of Christ I haue opened the spring frō whence Bonifacius deriued his argumēt The place is very dark and nedeth explicatiō and moreouer Bonifacius doth not aptly apply it to his purpose First we ought to vnderstand that tenthes in the old time pertayned vnto ceremonies that aswel in Melchisedech as in the Leuites Both the priesthode of Leui also of Melchisedech signified Christ For in either priesthode they were referred vnto Christ And either priesthode was in very dede a figure of Christ for euen as the Leuiticall prieste entred once euery yeare into the Sancta Sanctorum and that neuer without blood So Christ by his blood entred once into the tabernacle that is into heauen and agayne Melchisedeche for that he had neyther father nor mother resembled Christ which in respect that he was God had no mother and in respect that he was a man wanted a father But what signified the tenthes in either priesthode Christe was more playnelye signified by the priesthode of Melchisedech then by the Leuiticall priesthode Vndoubtedly they signified nothing els then that the elders ought to referre al theyr things vnto christ By that ceremony the people worshipped euen Christ And if a man wil conferre Melchisedech and the priesthode of Leui together although both of them seme to shadow Christ yet shall he se that he is more expressedly manyfestly signified by Melchisedech as the Epistle to the Hebrewes testifieth Bonifacius sayth we receiue tenthes of all the lay men Ye do take them indede but now that Christ is come the paying of tenthes is no more a ceremony as it was before the comming of Christ when by tēthes men worshipped Christ which was to come in the flesh and confessed that they ought vnto him both thēselues and al that they had After which self same manner they payd the
publique wealth he doth in deede punishe sinnes greuously but after his fatherly correction he doth with an vnmeasurable goodnes restore the hurtes and losses wherin men oftentymes incurre by theyr owne error faulte In all these things we may see an Image of our tymes For we are infected with the same infirmityes that our fathers were neither doth the deuill and his meÌ„bers with lesse diligence at this day vexe the congregatioÌ„ of the godly then he did in the old time Wherfore let vs praye vnto God our most louyng father thoroughe his sonne Iesus Christ that euen as from the begynning he hath holpen and noorished hys Churche in most great daungers so also he would now keepe and defende it when it is almoste ouerwhelmed with euils and calamityes Let vs desyre him also that euen as he from tyme to tyme stirred vp Iudges and deliuerers vnto the Hebrues by whom he restored both liberty and health and as in our tyme he hath geuen Heroicall and most excellent men namely Luther Zuinglius Oecolampadius Phillip Melanchton and suche like setters forth of the doctrine of the Gospel so he would vouchsafe to go forwarde and in conuenient tymes stirre vp certayn lyghtes by whiche he may illustrate the mindes of hys elect and kindle their heartes to keepe amplifie the Church of Christ that at the leÌ„gth he may haue it raygning with him in heauen without spot or wrinkle Amen ¶ The ende of the Commentary vpon the Booke of the Iudges ¶ A diligent Index or table of the most notable thinges matters and wordes contayned in thys whole woorke VVhich thinges ye shall fynde by the folio which is on the fyrst syde of the leafe and b signifieth the seconde syde of the same leafe A. AAroÌ„ reproued iustly 53 b Abimeleche Gedeons sonne 153. b Abimileches tiraÌ„ni 155 b Abimileches vices 157. b Abraham maried his brothers doughter 20. Abrahams leage with the Chananites 99. b Abrahams saying Sara was hys Sister 89. Abuses of church musicke 103. b Accidences do differ 286. b Accusations violate not but helpe the lawes 255 Action one and the same maye be good and bad 79 Actions should be both iust and iustly done 245 Actions voluntary naturall 63. b Adam and Eua whether they wer buried in Hebron 14. b Adonibezek 11 Aduersity giueth occasion of profitable sermons 113. b Aduersity oght to moue vs to praise thaÌ„k god aswel as prosperiti 104 Aduersities behauiour 6 Aduoutries counted lyghte crimes with Papistes 233 Aduoutries looseth her dowry 81 Adulterers and hooremongers god wyll iudge 249 Adultry punished with adultry 254. b Adultry salued by recoÌ„ciliatioÌ„ 249 Adultry and rapt ioyned 283. b Aesopes fables 160 Aestimation is not so much to be regarded as truth 90 Affections are qualities 141. b Affections of the bodye and mynde also signified by dreames 135 Affections ar attributed to God improperly 176 Affections which are to be counted godly 194 Affections whether they bee good or euyll 142 Affections may be ioyned with obedience 195. b Afflicted persons thinke god is not with them 114. b Affliction to the afflicted of God is not to be added 235. b Affliction springeth of synne 112 Affliction of the Israelites of forty yeares 200. b Afflictions of the goodlye are not properly punishments 181. b Afflictions of this life God sendes to diuers endes 180 Afflictions great or smal is no sure argument of the heynousnesse of synnes 171. b Afflictions final causes 8 Affricanes are Chananites 7 Affricanes wer Phenitians 68 Age good what 155. Ain turned by g. 226. b Allegories vse 8. b Allegory taken out of the holy scripture 141 Alexander vnto Darius 157 Altare erected 280. b Altare is not to bee erected but to God 69 Altars vsed why 122. b Alteracion is none in God 175 Ambition handled 157. b Ambition when it hath place 183. b Ambition of kings and bishops 12 Ambrose a Neophyt when he was made bishop 184 Ambrose opinion of Iiptah disalowed 194 Ambrose first vsed singyng in the west church 103 Anabaptistes fault 132. b Anabaptistes error 264. b Anabaptistes deny that the olde testament pertaineth to vs. 186. b Anadiplosis 109. b Anathemata 30. b Anarchia is destruction of a coÌ„mon wealth 139 Ancyrana Synodus 95 Angel signifieth diuersly 59 Angels howe they haue their names 205. b angels why they fell 15. q angels cannot burn in lustes 285 Angels whyther they dyd eate and drinke 212 angels bodyes wherin they appere are true and humaine 211. b Angels what maner of bodies they take vpon them 209. b angels apparitions 208 Angels apparitions may be imagigined .3 maner of waies 209. b. 211 Angels appearing and Gods do eeuidently differ 1â—2 b Angels whether they se God 121. b angels may worke miracles 126. b Anger of God described 70 Anger defined by the matter 73. b anger asswaged by gentle aunswer 141. b anger why Christ forbad 166. b Anger an vnfit affection to punysh in 280. b Answer with the Hebrues is to begyn to talke 244 Anthropomorphites error 118 Antichrist the pope of Rome 147. b Anticipation a common figure in scriptures 246. b Antiochus begyled 86 Apelles error 210. b Apis the oxe was loÌ„g fatting 122 b Apollonius Thyaneus 211 Apology defined 159. b Apoplexia 163. b Apostles how thei ar fouÌ„dacioÌ„s 149 Apparel prescribed by lawes 111. b Apparitions of angels 208 appeale from the Pope 266. b Application of popishe sacrifice for quicke and dead 50 Aquarij heretikes 189. b Arba the builder of Hebron 15 Arguments false of Siricius 94 Arguments from the euents to the cause are not alwayes firm 271. b argument against the Pope 161 Aristocratia 1. b Aristocratia in the church 241 Aristocratia compared with a kingdome 156 Aristotle deceiued 138 Arke taken 244. b Armes of noble men 140. b Artes forbidden 283 Ascension daye whether it was on the wensday or thursday 276. b Asers situation 108 Asking at God how 272 Assamonites or Machabites 259 Assemblies exercises 65 asses vsed in Syria 106. b Asses much vsed in Syria 25. b Attilius Regulus 85. b Augustines saying I would not beleue the Gospel c. scanned 5. b Augustine vsed the latine toung to preach in 84 Augustine Ierome contend 60. b Augustine excuseth Tertullian 120 Augustine chaunged his opinioÌ„ for compelling of heretikes 55 Augustines mother 138. b Aunts why meÌ„ may not mary 19 b B. BAal-berith 155 Baal handled 123. b Baal and Baalim 68 Balaams praying was prophesying 207 Banished mens custome in buylding of Cities 40 Banishment the extremest punishmeÌ„t of the citizens of Rome 146 b Baptisme of Infanes 75. b Baren mothers haue brought forth many excellent men 200. b Baruch is Apocripha 51 Bastard defined 177 b Bastards haue no place in the congregacion of Israel 177 Bastardes proue wurs then other children 178 Bastards wer not commaunded to be banished by the law 183 Bawde who acording to the Ciuill law 249 Bawdes are the Popes 232 Bawdry 232 Beanes make
236. 13.1 Let eueri soul be subiect 262 b 13.1 Powers ar ordained of God 260. b. 1. Corinth 2.15 He that is spirituall discerneth all thinges 262. 6.1 Dare anye of you hauyng a cause agaynst an other 256. b 6.13 14 The body is not for fornication 229. b 7.5 Defraud not one another except it be for a time 94. 7.11 If the womā depart let her remain vnmaried or let her bee reconciled 222. b 7.14 Els were your chyldrē vncleane but now ar they holy 182 7.15 If the vnfaithful depart 86 7.37 He dothe well c. that wyll kepe his virgin 46. 8.4 We know that an Idol is nothing in the world 69. b 10.24 Non quae sua sunt quaerētes Such as seeke not their owne 38. b 10.27 If anye that is an infidell byd you c. 44. b. 45. b 11.5 Euery woman that prayeth or prophecieth barcheaded 93 13.2 If I had al fayth 130 13.12 We shal see him face to face 121. 14.34 Let your women keepe silence c. 93 15.44 It is raysed a spiritual body 211 Galath 1.8 Though we or an angel from heauen c. 262 1.15 c. When it pleased God to reueale his sonne in me c. I communicated not with fleshe and bloud c. 265 3.19 It was ordayned by angels in the hand c. 120 Ephes 5.18 Be not dronke with wyne c. but speake in psalmes c. and songes 103 Philip. 4.8 Whatsoeuer things are honest 250 Collossi 3.16 Let the woorde of Christe abounde in you c. in psalmes c. 103 1. Thes 5.22 Ab omni specie ma la abstinete Refrain from al apparance of ill 18. b 1. Timo. 2.1 Supplications praiers intercessions and geuynge of thankes 44 2.11 I permit not a woman to teache c. 93 3.3 No striker 146. b 4.8 Bodely exercise profits lytle but. c. 140. 279 Titus 1.7 No striker 146. b 2.3 Women should be teachers of honest thinges c. 93 Hebru 7.2 Abraham payed tenthes c. 261 13.4 Hooremongers and adulterers God wyl iudge 254. b 13.16 To do good and to distribute c. 251. b Iacob 1.13 God tempteth no mā 79. b 2.10 Who so keepeth the whole law c. 53 1. Peter 4.17 Iudgement begin at the house of God 234. b Apocal. 19.10 22.8 9. I fell downe to woorshpp before the feete c. 69. b ¶ The common places contayned in this booke OF prediction or treasō 36. b Of Masse 41 Of teares 62 Of Sacrifice 63. b Of Idolatrye 68 Of a league 73. b Of truth and of a lye 87 Of dissimulacion 89. b ¶ Whether it be lawfull to lye to preserue the lyfe of oure neighbours 90 ¶ Whether it be lawfull for subiectes to rise against their princes 90 ¶ Whether it bee lawfull for the godly to haue peace with the vngodly 99 Of musicke and songes 102 Of visions or in what sorte and how much God may be knowen of men 118 Of myracles 126 Of Dreames 134. b Of the affections of enuye and emulacion 141. b Of mercy 142 Of a good intent 132 Of Matrimonye and hauing of Concubines 153. b Of ambition 157. b Of murther of Parentes or kinsfolkes called paracidium 158 Of a fable and apollogy 159 Of wyne and dronkennes 161. b Of murther 165. b ¶ How synne dependeth of God 166. b ¶ Whether we cā resist the grace of God or no. 167. b ¶ How God sayth that hee wyll not geue that which he wil giue and contrarily 174. b Of bastards and children vnlawfully borne 177. b ☞ Whether the sonne shal beare the iniquity of the father 178. b Of thinges which were taken by the right of workes 186 Of prescription 188 Of custome 189 Of the vow of Iiphtah 192 Of sedicion 197 Of the vow of the Nazarits 201 Of Sacrifice 206 Of the vision of Angels 208 ☞ Whether it be lawful for children to mary without the consent of their parentes 214 Of playes 218 Of hooredome fornication 129 Of the head of the church 241 Of Securitye 246. b Of the reconciliation of the husbande and the wyfe after that adultry hath ben cōmitted 247 Of a Magistrate 255 Of merites 272 Of fasting 274 Of Rapte 283 Of daunses 286 FINIS ⧠Faultes escaped in the printing desiring thee gentle Reader to correct the same in thy booke before thou beginnest to read this worke which shal helpe thee much in the vnderstanding of those places The order of which correction here vnder thou maiest see The letters a. and. b. which stand by the numbers signify the sides of euery leafe a. signifieng the first syde and b. the second syde Leafe Lyne Faultes Corrected 2. a 3 iudged and iudged 3. b 50 he Greeke the Greke 4. a 20 not reuenge reuenge 7. a 6 holy hylly 10. a 23 region religion 11. a 9 contamined contaminated 11. a 20 This is my This is in my 22. a 48 to vnprofita not vnprofitable 25. a 24 word wordes 25. b 20 wayling wayting 31. b 5 their maters their own mat 31. b 8 greuous suffer greuous 31. b 30 least left 32. a 34 the wel valle the valleys 35. a 2 helpe for the helpe from the 38. b 38 deceaued receaued 39. a 22 ceaseth not to ceaseth to be 40. a 13 signes synnes 43. b 28 saluation salutacion 47. b 47 stranger stronger 48. a 1 that none that to none 49. a 1 obey admoni obey their admo 52. b 25 contemne continue 53. a 10 workers workes 57. a 39 misery mistery 60. a 18 by colour by no colour 61. a 18 weyed weeded 62. a 9 offer offered 62. a 29 sacrifice sacrificer 62. b 33 nation motion 63. b 20 set setteth 63. b 48 sayth fayth 64. a 1 participacion particion 65. b 36 sawe same 68. b 21 there they 73. b 7 angry angry anger anger 77. b 14 doubt double 81. b 18 is maruayle is no maruayle 84. b 16 nothing one thyng 86. b 50 other vnderstād othe vnderstand 87. a 49 not any not least any 92. b 27 do desperate and desperate 96. b 1 by an ordinarye by no ordinary 100. a 22 decreased digressed 100. a 23 the knight the Kenite 100. b 49 Leuites Kenites 106. a 17 xl C. men xl M. men 111. b 25 decrees .23 q. 5. cha dixerit aliquis decrees causa 23. q. 5. dicat aliquis .28 d. 1 120. a 53 word world 122. b 1◠litle title 124. a 17 inuiolated violated 132. a 42 13500. men 135000. men 134. b 1 Recubites Recutites 144. a 32 mention mantion 192. b 51 dryuen drawne 201. b 4 eare heare 203. b 52 preserue obserue 223. a 15 doubting doubling 227. a 20 ententes euentes 228. b 14 pronounces prouinces 230. a 32 Sickenes Sadnes 247. a 16 Cain Cham 269. b 14 leuened leuelled 285. a 14 cōmunicate excommunicate ¶ The commentarie of Master Peter Martyr vpon the Booke of Iudges THere be some whiche deuide the holy scriptures into
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
met hym either a dogge or an asse whiche had hen wicked to haue offred and so in one place he prayseth that whiche in an other place he dispraiseth Ambrose Ambrose in his .3 booke de Virginitate sayth that the mayden was in very deede immolated he writeth the Iiphtah vowed not before the battaile but in the fight in the very conflict when things were doubtfull And he addeth I do not allow the murther but I se a laudable feare that he would not violate his promise that he had made And he saith moreouer that this act is to be cōferred with the worke of Abrahā For Abrahā when he was about to kill his sonne the Lord cried out vnto him Now I know that thou louest me And he concludeth that after the same maner may Iiphtah be praised bycause he shewed by his example that the oracle of god wherin he cōmaunded the vowes should be performed was to be preferred before childrē although the onely begotten child should be killed But he demaūdeth whether God haue a respect vnto persons whiche letted Abrahā that he should not offer vp his sonne but with stoode not Iiphtah He denieth the God accepteth persons but it behoued saith he to declare vnto Abrahā that he delighted not in humane sacrifices Afterward succeded the law which in Deut. Leui. prohibited the immolatiō of children Wherfore the will of god was already declared both in Abrahā in the law wherfore there neded no new oracle or new prohibition Farthermore he noted that in Iiphtah was not that perfection whiche was in Abraham For Abraham wept not tare not his garmentes deferred not two monethes but strayghtwaye went and Isaac followed hym Therefore it is no meruayle sayth he if God prohibited not Iiphtah for so muche as he woulde punishe hys longe taryeng And in his thyrd booke de officiis the .12 chapter he writeth I will neuer be persuaded but that Iiphtah vowed vnaduisedly for so muche as he afterwarde repented And he addeth that in deede he alloweth not the acte but he sayeth that in a godly feare he fulfylled his vowe but in suche sorte that he appointed his posterity to lament it He sayeth farther I can not accuse the mā bycause it was necessary for hym to paye that whiche he had vowed but it is a miserable necessitye sayeth he whiche is payed with parricide and it is better not to vowe that thyng whiche he wyll not vnto whome thou vowest And strayght way he saith All promises are not to be kept for euē god also sometymes chaungeth his will By which wordes he alludeth vnto the place whiche is written in Numbers the .14 chapter of the prayers of Moses Wherfore Ambrose is vtterly of that sentence to thinke that the mayden was offred and for that cause as I haue sayde preferreth her before the two Pithagorians And of her he sayeth in hys exhortation to virgins She payed with her bloude the vnaduised vowe of her father And vpon the firste Epistle to the Corinthians the .15 chapter he sayth In a thyng whiche could not be acceptable he was founde faythfull offryng his daughter as he had foolishely vowed And agayne The acte is not allowed but the perseueraunce of fayth is worthy to be brought foorth for an example to followe But these wordes of Ambrose are not so lightly to be passed ouer What thynges are to be noted in the woordes of Ambrose for they can not be simply allowed and as they be spoken of hym Yet haue I brought them to shewe that he thought that the mayden was offred in very deede But in hys woordes thys firste I marke that he affirmeth a certayne godly feare to be in Iiphtah whereby he was led to performe his vowe and that children were not to be preferred before Religion thirdly that Iiphtah was found faythfull in that thyng whiche coulde not be acceptable vnto God Lastly that hys perseuerance of fayth is brought foorth for an example to followe As touchyng the first I knowe not how that may seeme a godly feare which driueth a man to parricide for he calleth that kyllyng parricide Godly feare driueth not a man to commit parricide and that three or foure tymes Ther are in dede affections in vs which are grafted by god but yet to vertues and to do well A feare to eschewe sinnes An anger to punishe wicked actes c. Wherfore feare when it is applied vnto vertue may be called godly but if it serue for vice it can not seme godly yea rather What affections are to bee coūted godly it hath a certayne maner of vngodlines Otherwyse the endeuor of Idolatrers might be praysed for we see them diligently labor to worship god but bycause they apply not themselues to the sincere worshippyng of God their endeuour can not be called godly So when that feare of Iiphtah draue him to commit parricide howe could it be godly If thou wilt say that by parricide he vnderstādeth not the sinne or the wicked acte but the immolatiō of his daughter I will demaūd why he sayth that he alloweth not the acte vndoubtedly if he cā not allowe it then perceaueth he that it is sinne But in that he sayth That the loue of children is les to be estemed them Religion That is true but that was no religion but a foolishe vnaduised and rashe vowe Neither is the loue of children to be les estemed then such religion Thirdly he sayeth that he was founde faythfull But what fidelity is there in that thyng whiche coulde not be acceptable to God If my seruaunt should do that whiche I had forbidden hym can he therin seme faythfull But in that he calleth the vnchaungeable mynde of Iiphtah constancy in my iudgement he erreth when as rather it was wilfulnes wherby he would nedes fulfill that whiche he had vnaduisedly vowed neither can perseuerance in an euill thyng bee called constancy He attributeth vnto hym a feare whiche also he calleth a godly feare and yet afterwarde he sayth that he repented If he repented hym he dyd agaynst his conscience but no man ought to doo any thyng agaynst it For what is not of fayth is sinne Farther if he repented why amended he not hys faulte For if any thyng had ben done rashely that ought to haue ben amended If GOD as he sayeth doo sometymes chaunge his sentence why then is it not lawfull for vs to chaunge a sentence that is not ryght Afterwarde he sayth he can not but prayse Iiphtah But what will he prayse An vncircumspect vowe But that ought rather to bee reprehended What wyll he prayse the performaunce of the vowe But that he calleth parricide neyther can that bee praysed I saye therefore that Ambrose affirmeth that the mayden was in very deede immolated and yet are not al hys wordes to be allowed Augustine Let vs heare nowe what Augustine sayeth of thys thyng In hys question 29. vpon thys booke he writteth that out of this place