that this phrase of spéech can haue no place if the soule of Christ had béene deriued by waie of propagation through the lawe of nature from his forefathers vnlesse we shall affirme that nature dooth worke by chance And he thinketh What maner of lot could haue place in the soule of Christ that this word Lot did therefore take place in the soule of Christ to the intent we should vnderstand that those ornaments which we knowe were most abundant and plentifull in it were not bestowed thervpon for anie merits going before but thorough the méere mercie of God and that this was a verie great ornament of the soule of Christ to be ioined to one and the selfe-same substance and person with the word of God The booke of Wisdome is not reckoned canonicall But this testimonie forsomuch as it is not had out of the holie scriptures which are reckoned canonicall it hath no great force Augustine leaueth indifferent the question of deriuation of soules from parents Psal 33 15. Euen those things are said to bee created which are doone by meanes Gen. 1 20. Last of all he leaueth indifferent the question as touching the deriuation of soules from parents as a thing each waie probable And bicause they which are against it are woont to cite this place out of the 33. psalme Which facioned the harts of them seuerallie this saith he is also weake bicause euen they which defend the deriuation of the soule from parents denie not but that the soules be created by God although they affirme that the same is doone by a meane For so we read in the booke of Genesis that the birds were not created of nothing but at the commandement of God they issued foorth out of the waters And euerie one of vs is said to be dissolued into the earth from whence we were taken when as neuertheles we haue not bodies immediatelie out of the earth but of the bodies of our parents The receiued opinion is that the soules in creating are infused Thus this opinion cannot be confuted and ouerthrowne by the scriptures Although I knowe this is the opinion receiued in the church that the soules are in creating infused and in infusing are created Neither haue I recited these things to the intent that I would haue anie alteration concerning this doctrine but that it may onelie be vnderstood what maner of propagation of originall sinne séemed most easie vnto some of the ecclesiasticall writers And surelie the Schoole-men The opinion of deriuing soules froÌ„ parents is oppugned onlie by naturall reasons when they refuse this doctrine they onelie vse naturall reasons to wit that forsomuch as the reasonable soule in nature is altogither spirituall and indiuisible it cannot be sundered which thing is required in deriuation of the soules from parents And for that they hold it to be the vnderstanding part and a thing of more woorthines than that it can be drawne out of the matter or substance it selfe they earnestlie affirme that it must not haue his being by generation but by creation 50 Augustine assigneth another waie in his booke De nuptijs concupiscentia and in manie other places where he disputeth against the Pelagians touching this kind of sin this he saith that This vice is supposed to passe into the children through the plesure which the parents take in the fellowship of nature But this reason of propagation leaneth to a suspected ground in my iudgment an vntrue for that plesure which is taken of procreation is not euill in his owne nature vnlesse a naughtie desire come vnto it For if that action should of necessitie haue sinne ioined therewith the holie Ghost would not exhort anie man therevnto which yet he dooth when he persuadeth vs vnto matrimonie and when as by Paule he admonisheth them 1. Cor. 7 2 and 3. which be coupled in wedlocke to yéeld mutuall beneuolence one towards another Howbeit admit it were so grant we that through mans infirmitie there be some fault therein it would followe thereof The infection of carnall lust standeth not onelie in carnall desires but in other lustings also that onelie this kind of lust is deriued vnto the children But the infection of originall sinne consisteth not onlie in those things which apperteine vnto carnall desires but also in other lustings after riches honors reuengements and finallie in the whole corruption of our nature The third waie is that God dooth therefore create the soule with such an imperfection or defect bicause it must become the soule of man now damned and appointed to be vnder the curse Such a soule saie they God createth as vnto such a man is required euen as we sée vnto the bodie of a dog is giuen such a life as is méet for a dog and vnto the bodie of an asse such a life as is requisite for an asse But this séemeth to be a verie hard opinion namelie that God should contaminate with sinne a soule which as yet apperteined not to Adam especiallie séeing they cannot saie that this kind of sinne is the punishment of another sinne which went before Wherefore this deuise is reiected among all men least we make God to be absolutelie the author of sinne The fourth maner is imbraced by the consent of a great manie and it séemeth verie like to be true That the soule is not created with sinne but is said to drawe sinne vnto it so soone as it is ioined with the bodie namelie that the soule is not created sinfull but straitwaie draweth sinne vnto it so soone as euer it is ioined to the bodie deriued from Adam For séeing it wanteth those graces and vertues wherewith the soule of the first man was indued and also hath obteined a bodie subiect vnto the curse and hath instruments vnapt and little méet to spirituall works therefore when it should rule the bodie it is gréeued and oppressed by the same and is drawne vnto such lusts as are agréeable to the bodie For it is weakened on each side The soule weakened two maner of waies both with the vnpurenes of the bodie and the imbecillitie of it selfe bicause it is destitute of that power wherewith it should vanquish nature Vpon which two principall points the corruption and naughtinesse of the whole nature dooth depend I haue now spoken so much as I thought should be méet for this present purpose what the apostle meaneth by this word Sinne by whom he saith it is spread abroad ouer mankind and what the ecclesiasticall writers haue taught concerning the maner how it hath béene conueâ—hed from one to another That sinne is the cause of death In 1. Cor. 15 verse 2. Augustine Adams bodie was mortall but not of necessitie to die 51 But against the Pelagian errors Augustine disputeth earnestlie in his booke De peccatorum meritis remissione where he declareth that The bodie of the first man was not of necessitie subiect vnto death yet was he mortall bicause if he did sinne he was to die But
into him He followed the intisements of couetousnes he betraied not the Lord to obeie his prophesie Christ also was by the will of God sâ—aine for he said in the garden Ibidem 39. Let this cup passe away from me if it be possible but not my will be doone but thine And of himselfe he said before hand I will giue my life for my sheepe Ioh. 10 11. Yea Herod and Pilat are in the Acts of the apostles said to haue agréed togither Acts. 4 27. to doo those things which the counsell of God had decréed Are either the Iewes or those princes by reason of this to be acquited from sinne when as they condemned and slue an innocent man Who will saie so Shall anie man also acquite of villanie the brethren of Ioseph Gen 45 7. when they sold their brother although God would by that meanes that Ioseph should come into Aegypt Neither shall the crueltie of the king of Babylon be excused Esaie 10 7. although the iustice of God decréed to haue the Iewes in such sort punished He which is killed Exo. 23 31. is said to be deliuered by God into the hands of his enimie And God is also said to deliuer a citie Iosua 6 16. when it is woon by assalt Iob. 1 21. And Iob said that those things which were by violence and robberie taken awaie from him by the Chaldaeans and Sabeans were taken awaie by God The Lord saith he gaue and the Lord hath taken awaie Of predestination and the counsell of God cannot be inferred anie excuse of sins Wherefore of that counsell of God whereby he vseth sinnes to their appointed ends cannot be inferred anie iust excuses of sinnes for wicked works are iudged and condemned by reason of the lewd and corrupt hart from whence they are deriued Wherefore let no man be offended with the doctrine of predestination séeing rather by it we are led to acknowledge the benefits of God and to giue thanks vnto him onlie And let vs also learne not to attribute more vnto our owne strength than we ought let vs haue also an assured persuasion of the good will of God towards vs whereby he would elect his before the foundations of the world were laid Let vs moreouer be confirmed in aduersities knowing assuredlie that whatsoeuer calamitie happeneth it is doone by the counsell and will of God and that finallie by the moderation of predestination it shall turne to good and to eternall saluation VVhether God would kill or destroie anie man In 1. Sam. 2 verse 25. 59 But there ariseth a doubt whether God would kill or destroie anie man for it is written that The sonnes of Helie hard not their fathers words bicause the Lord would slaie them In the 18. and 33. chapters for both the chapters are of one argument Ezec. 18 33 11. although Ierom shewed some difference betwéene them yet so small as it maketh in a maner no matter Ezechiel That God would not the death of a sinner verse 21. vnder the person of God saith As trulie as I liue I will not the death of a sinner but that he conuert and liue And in Esaie 28. chapter it is read I saith the Lord will doo a strange worke namelie to punish you wherevpon it is gathered that it is farre from the nature of God to laie punishments vpon vs for sinnes Wherefore it is euerie-where pronounced of the church that the propertie of God is to forgiue and to be mercifull Ibidem 13. And in the first chapter of Wisedome if yet we shall allow of that booke it is written God made not death Wisd 1 13. nor delighteth in the destruction of the liuing Furthermore the name of the verie same GOD is called in the holie scriptures Iehouah which soundeth nothing else than Being or To be Wherefore Augustine in his booke De vera religione the twelfe chapter saith that The nature of God is To be forsomuch as all things haue from thence euen that being that they haue But death bringeth to passe that things cease to be so that it séemeth not to procéed from God And in Genesis it is written that God made man a liuing soule Genes 2 7. wherevpon it followeth Diuers testimonies that God will not the death of a sinner Iere. 29 11. that he did not so make him that he would destroie him but rather that he should liue And in the 29. chapter of Ieremie it is said My thoughts are the thoughts of peace and not of affliction saith the Lord. Neuertheles we vnderstand here that he would destroie the sonnes of Helie And Ieremie in the lamentations saith Lamen 2 8. that God minded to ouerthrowe the wall of Zion And in Zacharie it is said Euen as God thought to punish you Zach. 8 14. what time as your fathers prouoked him to wrath so now haue I determined to doo well vnto you And there is a place extant in the 14. chapter of Esaie Esai 14 24. wherein by manifest words it is declared that God consulted and decréed with himselfe vtterlie to destroie the Babylonians and Assyrians And verie manie testimonies for the confirmation of this matter might be gathered out of the holie scriptures but bicause wée méete with them euerie-where I will passe them ouer 60 As touching the discourse which we haue in hand first we must determine of some certeine thing secondlie we must incounter the testimonies and reasons which may séeme to be against the definition set downe First of all Death distinguished the nature of death is to be distinguished bicause there is one of the soule and another of the bodie As touching that of the bodie it would be superfluous to saie anie thing séeing by the sense we perceiue the same to be nothing else but a departure of the soule from the flesh Wherfore on the other side we affirme that the death of the soule dooth then happen when we for sinne sake are separated froÌ„ God Vnto these things That the death of the bodie dooth depend of the death of the soule Rom. 5 12. this also is to be added that the death of the bodie dooth depend of the death of the soule for vnles that had gone before this should not followe wherevpon Paule most trulie wrote that By sinne came death into the world Onelie Christ is here to be excepted who onelie died without sinne albeit that neither he in verie déed died altogither without sinne séeing that he bare our sins on his bodie vpon the crosse 1. Pet. 2 24. But the procurer of death as Augustine saith in his fourth booke De ciuitate Dei Augustine the 12. chapter was the diuell for he was therefore of Iohn called A murtherer euen from the beginning Iohn 1 44. bicause he persuaded the first men vnto sinne Euen as Christ therefore is the mediator of life so is the diuell of death And it
manner what preeminence had Henoch and Elias aboue other men All the elect and faithfull of Christ as touching the soule are translated from hence vnto God and are not condemned with euerlasting death Indéed I am not ignorant that sometimes Not to see death is referred to the soule euen as the testimonies which we haue alreadie brought doo declare but sometimes on the other side it is referred to the death of the bodie as it is manifest by Simeon vnto whom it was reuealed Luke 2 26. that He should not see death till he had first seene the Lord Christ Yea and the sonne of God himselfe saith Matt. 16 28. There be of them which stand here present who shall not taste of death vntill they see the kingdome of God that is Note the preaching of the Gospell spread ouer the face of the earth or as others will vntill they shall sée the transfiguration of Christ vpon mount Thabor Neither is there anie doubt but that the death of the bodie is betokened in both these places Further those words of Paule to the Hebrues alledged a little aboue are so significant as they séeme wholie to testifie that Henoch is not dead But they that be of an other mind doo vrge that which is written in the same epistle of the Hebrues namelie Heb. 9 27. that It is decreed that all men shall once die But we answer that these generall propositions must not alwaies be vnderstood without anie exception True indéed it is which is now affirmed as touching the ordinarie and common maner but yet it is not brought to passe thereby but that GOD by his speciall prerogatiue and certeine peculiar will may exempt some from the lawe of death For what shall become either of vs or of others which shall be found aliue at the last daie Vndoubtedlie 1. Thes 4 15 They shall be caught vp to meet with Christ in the aire And Paule vnto the Corinthians said 1. Co. 15 51 We shall not all die but we shall be all changed Besides this if the words of that saieng be vrged with extremitie how will it be true that men once die séeing Lazarus the sonne of the widowe Iohn 11 â—4 Luk. 7 15. Matt. 9 25. Matt. 27 52 and also the daughter of the ruler of the synagog whom the Lord raised vp from the dead died not once but twise And it is thought by Augustine and diuerse others that those manie bodies of the saints which rose after the death of Christ and appéered vnto manie in the citie of Ierusalem when they had performed that which they were appointed to do setled in their graues as they did before 18 They also saie that it is written vnto the Romans Rom. 5 12. that Death by one man entred in vpon all men and that in the first epistle to the Corinthians the 15. chapter it is said verse 22. As in Adam all men are dead so in Christ all shall be made aliue that it may be taught that the life lost in Adam is recouered againe in Christ Vnto these saiengs we answer manie waies First euen as I said before that these generall propositions must not be vnderstood without priuiledge and exception Secondlie I will confesse that Henoch and Elias in their owne nature were subiect vnto death and in that they are not dead but doo inioie eternall life that they obteine by Christ Howbeit an other answer there is much more perfect namelie to saie that the same changing wherby we affirme that the bodies of those saints were glorified in taking vp was a certeine kind of death Wherfore Iustinus Martyr in his dialog with Triphon saith Iustinus Martyr that the world in the last time shall perish and not perish In what respect the world shall perish It shall not perish séeing it shall not be reduced to nothing But it shall perish bicause it shall be changed to better for the light of the sunne and moone shall both be purer and greater than now it is For we shall haue a new heauen and a new earth for bicause all things shall then be made new Others saie that the death of Henoch and Elias is not altogither taken awaie but rather deferred bicause they shall come in the last time shall die in fighting against Antichrist of which opinion was Tertullian Tertullian who in his book De anima page 682. saith Elias and Henoch were translated and their death is deferred For they are reserued to die hereafter that with their bloud they may extinguish Antichrist Againe in the same booke in the 672. page Elias shall come not from the departure of life but from the translation thereof he shall not be restored to his bodie from which he was not exempted but he shall be restored to the world The same father against the Iewes called Henoch an Inceptor Candidâ—tus or one readie apparelled for eternitie And in his booke De trinitate 603. he saith that God translated Henoch into the societie of his owne fréendship And séeing a fréend dooth benefit him whom he loueth and wisheth well vnto it is not likelie that God translated Henoch for to kill him Irenaeus But Irenaeus in his fourth booke thirtie chapter is of the opinion that Henoch hath exercised a message against the angels who were thought in old time to be fallen through a naughtie desire towards women and he saith that he is euen as yet preserued aliue for a testimonie of Gods iudgement And these things may suffice as touching the second point whereby is prooued by probable reason that they séeme not to be dead Thy Henoch and Elias were caught vp 19 It remaineth that we séeke to what end they were so taken vp Some saie that it was doone to the intent we might haue before our eies a certeine figure and shew of our resurrection as if so be that the taking vp of these were a liuelie example thereof to teach vs that we are not to measure our felicitie by or with the terme of this life But in my iudgement examples ought to be cléere and manifest for that otherwise they are but weake proofes Certeinlie in this place there is no mention made of resurrection either ours or theirs The signe of Ionas the prophet dooth manifestlie shadowe the resurrection Matt. 12 40. who was cast vp aliue out of the bellie of the whale Rom. 8 11. But Paule to the Romans did plainlie shew the resurrection after another sort If ye haue saith he his spirit which raised vp Iesus Christ from the dead the same shall quicken your mortall bodies As if he had said Séeing the spirit is one it will bring foorth the same effects And in the first epistle to the Corinthians the 15. chapter he saith vers 12 c. If Christ be risen from the dead we also shall rise againe Which he therefore speaketh bicause it is not méet that Christ
his disciples manifestlie naming him selfe that none should be so hardie as diuide Christ into two sonnes Among these comes Vigilius Vigilius which in the 1. booke against Eutiches writeth The sonne of God as concerning his humanitie departed from vs as concerning his Godhead he saith vnto vs Behold I am with you vnto the end of the world And straightway after Because whome he left from whom he departed with his humanitie he neither left nor forsooke them with his diuinitie For according to the forme of a seruant which he tooke froÌ„ vs into heauen he is absent from vs according to the forme of God wherewith he departeth not from vs he is present with vs vppon the earth yet both present and absent he is one and the selfe same to vs. Also in the 4. booke If of the word and the flesh the nature be all one how is it that séeing the word is euery where the flesh also is not found euery where For when hée was in the earth hée was not also in heauen and now because hée is in heauen verilie he is not vppon the earth And it importeth not much that we should expect Christ to come out of heauen as touching the flesh it selfe whom we beléeue to be with vs vppon the earth as concerning the word Therefore as you will haue it either the word is contained in a place with his flesh or the flesh with the word is euerywhere because one nature dooth not receaue a thing contrarie or diuers in it selfe But it is a thing diuers and farre vnlyke To be limited in a place and to be euery where Forasmuch then as the word is euerywhere but the flesh thereof is not euery where it appeareth that one and the selfesame Christ is of both natures That both he is euerywhere according to his diuine nature and that according to the nature of his humanitie he is contained in a place that he is created and that he hath no beginning that he is subiect vnto death and that he cannot dye And straightway he addeth This is the Catholick faith and confession which the Apostles haue taught the Martyrs haue confirmed and the faithfull doe to this day kéepe 75 Moreouer Fulgentius vnto Trasimundus the King the 2. booke One the selfesame man locall of a man Fulgentius which is God immensible of the father one and the selfesame according to humane substance absent out of heauen when he was in earth and forsaking the earth when he ascended into heauen but as touching the diuine and immensible substance neither leauing heauen when he descended out of heauen neither forsaking the earth when he ascended into heauen And this appeareth certainlie by the assured word of the Lord himselfe who to shew that his humanitie was locall said vnto his disciples Iohn 2. 17. I ascend vnto your father and my father vnto my God and to your God Of Lazarus also when he had said Lazarus is dead Ioh. 11. 14. he added saying I am glad because of you that ye may beleeue because I was not there He shewed vndoubtedlie the infinite greatnesse of his diuinitie vnto his Apostles saying Beholde I am with you euen to the end of the world How ascendeth he into heauen but for that he is in a place as very man Or how is he present with his faithfull sauing because he is one immensible and very God The same father in the 3. booke The very same and inseparable Christ as touching his flesh onelie rose out of the sepulchre The very same and inseparable Christ according to the whole man which he receaued forsaking the earth locallie ascended into heauen and sitteth at the right hand of God According to the selfesame man he shall come to iudge the quicke and the dead and to crowne the faithful and godlie Lastlie Bernard vppon the Canticles the 33. Bernard Sermon I also haue the word but in the flesh and before me is set the trueth howbeit in a Sacrament The Angell is fatned but yet with the fatnesse of Corne and is now filled with graine In the meane time it behooueth me to be content with the barke of the Sacrament with the branne of the flesh with the chaffe of the letter with the couering of faith And these thinges be such as being tasted bring death if they haue not receaued some seasoning of the first fruites of the spirit Death is altogether to me in the potte vnlesse it should be swéetened by the little meale of the Prophet 1. Kings But certainelie in how great aboundaÌ„ce soeuer these things doe waxe fatte the booke of the Sacrament and the fatte of the wheate faith and hope memorie and presence eternitie and time the visage and a glasse the Image of GOD and the forme of a seruant are not receaued with like pleasantnesse Verilie in all these thinges faith vnto me is rich and the vnderstanding poore And is the sauour of faith and vnderstanding all one when as this tendeth vnto merit and that vnto reward Thou séest that there is asmuch difference betwéene the meats as betwéene the places And euen as the heauens are exalted from the earth so are the inhabitantes therein Here thou plainelie séest that Bernard maketh an Antithesis or contrarie comparison betwéene the remembrance and presence of a thing and speaketh of many other thinges which serue much to that we haue in hand But let vs returne vnto the aduersaries they haue fathers to oppose against vs. They haue Irenaeus who saith that the Eucharist consisteth of two thinges the one earthlie and the other heauenlie the which also Gelasius supposeth Howbeit these thinges conclude not vnlesse thou shalt vnderstand the whole Sacrament After what maner the sacrament may be said to consist of two things so that thou make it one thing consisting of the signe and the thing signified then we graunt that it standeth of two partes But if afterward thou wouldest appoint so great a coniunction betwéene the bread the bodie of Christ as is betwéene the diuine and humane natures in Christ that should in no wise be graunted because it were necessarie that of bread and of the bodie of Christ should be made one substance that is one subiect so as they might neuer be sundred one from an other the which is most absurd Out of the other fathers they obiect in a manner the very same which the Transubstantiatours cited before The third opinion deâ—…red 76 Now let vs sée what they which imbrase the third opinion saie against these men First they admit not that same scattering of the body of Christ so as it can be euery where because it is against the propertie of mans nature And Augustine vnto Dardanus doth most plainly write otherwise Furthermore they contend that the eating set foorth in the 6. of Iohn and this last eating is altogether one sauing that in this are added signes And that they prooue by this Argument that Iohn
father Also Paule said that He knoweth nothing else but Christ 1. Cor. 2 2. and him crucified And indéed God may be said to be made visible in Christ God is said to be made visible in Christ bicause he is ioined in one person with man Wherefore they that sawe Christ might auouch that they sawe God and he that acknowledgeth beholdeth him by faith dooth sée a great deale more than if he should sée Moses burning bush Therefore it is written vnto the Colossians that All the treasures of the wisedome and knowledge of God are laid vp in him Colos 2 3. In Iudges 6 verse 22. Looke In 2. Sam. chap. 24 verse 18. The presence of God striketh a feare in the godlie Before pla 3 art 9. Exo. 33 20. Iohn 1 18. 1. Tim. 6 16. 16 But in marking thou shalt alwaies perceiue that the fathers of old time after they had once séene God or any angels were in excéeding great feare and were so astonied as they looked but for present death And no maruell for it was not vnknowne to them what answere GOD made vnto Moses when he desired to sée his face Man shall not see me liue And Iohn the Baptist as we read in the first of Iohn said No man hath seene God at anie time And Paule vnto Timothie hath confirmed the same saieng No man hath seene God nor yet may see for he is inuisible bicause he dwelleth in the light that cannot be come vnto Which thing also both Gedeon and Manoa the father of Samson Iudg. 6 22 and 3 22. Gen. 32 30. doo testifie Iacob likewise after his nights wrestling wherein he thought he had contended with a man when he perceiued it was an angel marueled how he had escaped safe and aliue I sawe the Lord saith he face to face and yet my life is safe as though hée could scarselie beléeue it might be Exod. 20 19 Moreouer the Hebrues when the Lord came downe vpon Mount Sinai to giue the lawe were so dismaied with feare and trembling that they said to Moses Wee praie thee deale thou with God least if he continue talking so with vs we die euerie one And with these places that also maketh much that is written in the same booke of Exodus Exo. 24 11. Looke in 1. Kin. 19 11. euen when the couenant was made betwéene God and his people and Moses had recited the same and sprinkeled the people with the bloud of the sacrifices and had brought the elders vnto the mount where they sawe God sitting vpon a throne in great maiestie and glorie But after that vision is recited it is added And yet did not God stretch out his hand vnto them Which declareth that it was a rare sight and a strange that men should sée God without all perill and danger of life Wherefore euerie part of that is recorded as doone by speciall prerogatiue Esaie 6 11. Ierom writeth of Esaies death Ierom also testifieth that Esaie was slaine by the Iewes vnder this colour bicause he said that he saw God sitting vpon his throne as it is written in the sixt chapter of his booke They cauilled with him that it was but a lie forsomuch as God cannot be séene of anie man that liueth and therfore they vniustlie condemned him as one that taught the people his imaginations not that which the Lord had shewed him These things did they deuise against that innocent prophet when as they had no other cause to laie against him 17 The like examples also are not wanting in the new testament when the Lord reuealed to his apostles a certeine shew of his glorie maiestie vpon mount Tabor Matt. 17 6. he shone with excéeding great brightnes light was wholie changed before them with whom Moses Elias were strait waie present the voice of the father was heard from heauen These things bicause they did manie waies excéed the power of mans sight the apostles eies might not endure them wherefore they fell prostrate vpon the earth as if they had béene dead Also Peter Luke 5. when at Christes becke he had fished and caught an incredible number of fishes for before that commandement hée had labored long in vaine woondering at the strangnes of the thing and perceiuing that God was in Christ he was so afraid that he said to him I pray thee Lord depart from me for I am a sinful man and cannot abide the presence of the Godhead without perill And Paule when he would make relation 2. Cor. 12 3. how he was taken vp euen to the third heauen where he learned such heauenlie things as hée could not by spéech expresse vnto man wrote Whether in the bodie or out of the bodie I knowe not Assuredlie he durst not affirme that those things happened vnto him while hée vsed the bodie and senses of this life Wherefore it is euident inough that Gedeon was not astonied without a cause 18 But now I thinke if good to shew the reason why the sight of God or of the angels dooth séem to bring present destruction vnto men Peraduenture it commeth to passe by meanes of the heauie masse of this bodie Platonists which as the Platonists affirme is vnto vs as a darke and shadowed prison wherewith we are so hindered that wée cannot perceiue the things which are heauenlie If happilie we doo somtimes sée them by and by we thinke the coniunction of our soule and bodie to be sundered and that we shall die out of hand and that therefore the sight of heauenlie things is propounded vnto vs bicause the diuorce of the mind of the bodie is at hand Moreouer Aristotle Aristotle in his metaphysicks dooth witnes that the power of our vnderstanding is so litle able to comprehend the things diuine which in their nature are most cléere and manifest that it may iustlie be likened to the eies of owles and bats which cannot abide to looke vpon the brightnes of the sunne or the light of the daie They which thus iudge doo saie somewhat but yet not so much as sufficeth for a plaine declaration of the matter The bodie was not giuen as to remooue vs from seeing of God The bodie from our first creation was not therefore giuen vnto men to be anie hinderance to our knowledge of God nor yet to shut vp our soules as it were in a dark and blind prison For so the goodnes of God should become guiltie for making the nature of man bodilie and corporall And that it is so Gen. 2 15. and 19. it is to be prooued by the historie of Genesis which testifieth that God was verie familiar with our first parents notwithstanding they had bodies For he brought them into paradise which he had planted he shewed them the fruits wherof they might eate and concerning other some he made a lawe that they should not touch them and he set all liuing creatures before Adam that he
rich man which decréed with himselfe to inlarge his barnes and to laie vp for manie yéeres to come it is said Thou foole Luke 12 20. this night shall they take thy soule from thee Also Chrysostome in his second homilie of Lazarus The soules of men saith he are not taken awaie al in one maner of estate for some depart hence vnto paine and others béeing garded with angels are taken vp into heauen Apoc. 7 14. and 14 4. In the Apocalypse the soules of the blessed receiue long garments they stand before the throne and followe the lambe wheresoeuer he goeth Acts. 7 59. When Steeuen was dieng he said Lord Iesus receiue my spirit If the soule should haue died vtterlie why did he rather commend that than his bodie doubtlesse it cannot be found in anie place that the godlie commended their bodies vnto the Lord. And in the second to the Corinthians the 5. chap. For we knowe verse 9. that if the earthlie mansion of this our tabernacle be dissolued we haue a building giuen of God euen an house not made with hands but eternall in the heauens These words are not to be vnderstood of our state after the resurrection for there we shall be clothed with our bodies also and therefore they are ment of the state betwéene our departure hence and the resurrection Wherefore soules doo remaine after this life And in the same epistle Paule saith Whether in the bodie or out of the bodie 2. Cor. 12 3. I knowe not c. Which prooueth that the soule may be seuered from the bodie For he putteth a possibilitie both of the one waie the other In this place therefore the question is not as touching the bodie but as touching the soule of Samuel 3 But the controuersie is whether this were Samuel or the diuell About which matter not onlie the Rabbins but also the christian fathers haue disagréeed among themselues The opinions of the fathers and first of Iustinus Yea and among the latter writers Burgensis thinketh one waie and Lyra another Iustinus Martyr against Triphon saith that It was Samuel In which place he hath certeine things which may not well be granted For he saith that all souls before Christ euen of the godlie were after a sort vnder the power of the diuell so that he might bring them backe when he would But Christ saith Luke 16 22. that Lazarus was in the bosome of Abraham and not in the power of the diuell But that thou wilt saie is a parable I grant it yet is it drawne from things likelie to be true and which might be Yea and Tertullian so accounted that narration to be doone indéed as he thinketh that Lazarus was Iohn Baptist and the rich glutton was Herod and that Christ would forbeare their names verse 23. In the 46. of Ecclesiasticus is set foorth the praise of Samuel where among other things it is said that he prophesied after that he was dead and foreshewed to the king the daie of his death Contrariwise Tertullian in his booke De anima Tertullian hath manie things most worthie to be marked For he calleth the arts of magicke a second idolatrie For euen as in the former the diuell faineth himselfe to be God so in the latter he faineth himselfe to be an angel or a dead man séeketh both waies to be worshipped And it is no maruell if he dazell the outward eies of men when as he before occupied the eies of the mind For so saith he did the rods of Pharaos sorcerers séem to be serpents Exod 7 1◠The rod of Pharao sorcerers but yet afterward falshood was deuoured vp of the truth And wheras the Symonians say that they can with their inchantments call vp the dead vnto life that was onlie a méere imagination and a mocke And euen so the diuell in this place mocked both the witch and Saule and deceiued both the eies of the one and the eares of the other In Lybia saith he there be Nasomons which lie at the toombs of their parents and in Europe French men which lie watching at the sepulchers of mightie men to the intent they may receiue oracles frō them after they are dead but he saith that in those things there is no certeintie or soundnes and that they be onlie vaine lies and phantasies Origin writeth nothing purposelie of this matter and yet in the historie of Balaam he saith Origin that good spirits doo not obeie magicall incantations Contrariwise Ambrose vpon Luke Ambrose held that it was Samuel in the first booke and first chapter saith that Samuel prophesied euen when he was dead But without doubt he alludeth vnto that place of the 46. chapter of Ecclesiasticus As touching Chrysostome and Ierom I will speake afterward Augustine was doubtful whether it was Samuel or not 4 Augustine did not alwaies write of this thing after one maner In the second booke to Simplicianus the third question he saith that both may be defended yet as touching the first opinion he séemeth to doubt how Saule béeing a man now reiected by God could talke with Samuel béeing a prophet and holie man But he answereth that this is no new thing for in Iob Iob. 1 6. the euill spirits talked with God himselfe And in the historie of Achab the lieng spirit offered his seruice vnto the Lord 1. Kings 22. yea and that princes doo sometimes talke with théeues yet to the intent they may punish them whereas in the meane time they speake not with honest men The diuell can doo manie things against the godlie Iob. 1. 12 and 2 6. Luk. 22 31. Matth. 4 5. whom they looue and meane to defend But what power saith he had the diuell ouer Samuel that he was able to bring him He answereth that he had power to torment Iob and that he coueted to sift his disciples that he set Christ vpon the pinacle and furder that if Christ without anie diminishing of his honour might be hanged vpon the crosse and afflicted with torments it is likelie that Samuel also might be raised againe without anie impairing of his felicitie doubtlesse not by anie strength or power of the diuell but by the permission of God that he might terrifie Saule So doo some vnderstand that which was doone in Balaam Num. 22 12 for he was a soothsaier and tooke his iournie to the intent that by magicall charms he might curse the Iewes but God preuented the cunning of the diuell Howbeit of this matter I affirme nothing But Augustine demandeth further how Samuel being so good a man did come vnto an euill man And he answereth that in this life also good men doo come vnto euill men But this is a weake argument for men doo it in this life either of dutie or else of fréendship or familiaritie Now Samuel was out of this life and was called by a witch whom he ought not to haue obeied But Augustine
he would not that it should be lawfullie said This is mortall Therefore it shall vtterlie die Euen as we grant that our flesh is in such case as it may be wounded and yet it may come to passe that it shall not be wounded The bodie also of man as I may saie is in case to be sicke wheras neuerthelesse it chanceth manie times that some doo die before they be sicke Therefore he saith A similitude The garments and shooes of the Hebrues Deut. 29 5. that the state of Adams bodie was such as although he might die yet vnlesse sinne did happen he should be preserued from death by God euen as the garments and shoos of the Hebrues by the power of God were not consumed or worne by the space of fortie yéers in the wildernesse as we read in the 19. chapter of Deuteronomie And he thinketh Enoch and Elias that as concerning this condition Enoch and Elias haue now the state of Adams bodie bicause they be preserued from death yea whether they be susteined without meate or else doo vse such sustenance as God prepareth for them For the first man had meates wherewith he might be nourished and he did eate other fruits to withstand the defects of nature The tree of life was a remedie against oldnesse But the trée of life was against old age for by the same trée it came to passe that the decaid matter which was amended should be of no lesse goodnes and perfection than that which was lost But séeing the same commeth not to passe in vs we both are troubled with old age and at last death catcheth hold of vs. In Adam therfore there was a state of mortalitie but yet such as was to be swalowed vp by the benefit of God when he should at his due time be translated vnto the chéefe felicitie Whereby Augustine iudged that we may perceiue the greatnes of the benefit of Christ séeing he hath restored vs vnto more than Adam tooke from vs bicause that through Christ Augustine iudged that Christ restored more vnto vs than Adam tooke away not onelie life is restored vnto vs and death chased awaie but mortalitie also at the resurrection shall he taken awaie For we shall not be able to die which thing Paule teacheth when he writeth that This mortall shall put on immortalitie And that saieng vnto the Romans séemeth to make with this doctrine when he saith But if Christ doo dwell in vs Rom. 8 10. verelie the bodie is dead by reason of sinne In which place he saith not that our bodie is mortall through sin but is dead that is to saie subiect vnto death Afterward he addeth vers 11. His spirit which hath raised Christ from the dead shall quicken your mortall bodies This he spake of the resurrection wherin our bodies must be quickened which he called mortall but not dead that thou maiest vnderstand that not onelie death shall be taken from them but also that they shall be mortall no more And whereas the Pelagians thinke Death brought in by sinne cannot be vnderstood allegoricallie Rom. 5 12. that death is allegoricallie to be taken for the fall of soules it can in no wise be allowed séeing it is written in the fift to the Romans By one man sinne entered into the world by sinne death But if that onelie the death of soules he brought by Adam why did Paule expresse twaine who not onelie said Sinne but he also added Death Moreouer the testimonie of the booke of Genesis dooth most plainelie conuince them wherein mans punishment is thus recited Gen. 2 19. Earth thou art and into earth thou shalt returne Which saieng these men are constrained whether they will or no to ascribe vnto the death of the bodie vnlesse they dare affirme that our soules be fashioned of earth and into earth shall be dissolued And whereas they obiected Whence depended the preseruation of the first mans bodie Deut. 29 5. that we haue a bodie by nature compact of contraries if forceth not much bicause the same preseruation dooth not depend of nature but of God as the scriptures declare to be doone as touching the garments and shooes of the Hebrues But of what thing he meaneth death it cannot better be perceiued than by an Antithesis or comparing of it with the contrarie which is with life Life is of two sorts But life is of two sorts the one wherewith we be mooued to spirituall to diuine and to heauenlie good things and the same commeth to passe so long as we be ioined togither with God for vnlesse we be set on by the spirit of God we cannot procéed vnto those things which doo surpasse our owne nature Another life is wherewith we be mooued to pursue those good things which make to the preseruation of nature maintenance of our bodilie state Both of these liues Both the liues did death take awaie did death which was laid vpon vs for sinne take awaie For death is nothing else but a depriuing of life for so soone as euer man sinned he was turned awaie from God and so was forsaken of his grace and destitute of his fauour so that he was not able to aspire againe vnto eternall felicitie This bodilie life also may be said to be taken awaie through sinne How immediatelie after sinne came doth for immediatelie after sinne the beginnings and ministers of death inuaded man such be hunger thirst sicknes consumption of moisture and heate and the dailie quenching of life for all these things doo lead a man awaie to death And Chrysostome vpon Genesis Chrysost treating at large of this matter saith that The first parents so soone as they had sinned were dead foorthwith for the Lord foorthwith pronounced the sentence of death against them A similitude And euen as they which be condemned to die although they be reteined somewhile aliue in prison yet are reputed for dead euen so the first parents albeit through the benignitie of God they liued longer yet in verie truth they were dead by and by after that God denounced sentence against them Ambrose saith Ambrose that they were suddenlie oppressed with death bicause afterward they had no daie nor houre There is no houre wherein we are not subiect vnto death nor moment wherein they were not subiect vnto death Neither is there anie mortall man that can assure himselfe to liue the space of one houre Whereby it appéereth that both sorts of death was brought in by sinne So then we must beware that we consent not vnto them Death is not naturall vnto man which are woont to saie that death is naturall vnto man and as it were a certeine rest whereby the motion of life is interrupted In death there is a feele of Gods wrath Matt. 27 35. Iohn 21 18. Esaie 38 2. These sort of opinions must be left vnto the Ethniks for
busines and labour in dooing than in vnderstanding And not onelie this The 2. reason but also the predestination or prescience séemeth to be a hinderance to it For it séemeth that this may be inferred If God hath knowen all things before they be brought to passe and can not be deceiued the libertie of our will is quite gone and all things happen of necessitie Also The 3. reason the power of GOD wherewith all things be wrought causeth no small difficulty of this matter for of such efficacie is the will of God as Paule to the Romans said Who is able to resist his will Moreouer the scriptures affirme sinne to be of so great force The 4. reason as by the same all things in a maner are corrupted and despoiled in vs wherfore the strength which is left vnto will is verie féeble the which is not able to doo as reason hath appointed Againe The 5. reason so much is attributed to the grace of Christ by diuine oracles as without the same it is said that we are able to doo nothing which either may be acceptable or gratefull vnto God And séeing the same is not equallie giuen vnto all men it is thought that their libertie is destroied for so much as they haue not this grace in their owne power The 6. reason The Mathematicians also extoll the powers celestiall and in a maner persuade that of them doo depend those things which happen so as there might not séeme to be left vnto vs the perfect libertie of such things as are to come The 7. reason Finallie there haue béene such also who would affirme that there be definite causes of things to be doone Looke part 1. pl. 13. art 13. the which being ioined one with an other and tied with a sure knot there is brought to them a certeine necessitie and destinie which cannot be withstood 32 But we néed not stand much vpon that argument To the first reason which was taken frō the force of knowledge bicause it expresselie appéereth by those things which we haue alreadie spoken that this libertie is not iudged to be in men not yet regenerate as concerning works which be in verie déed good and doo please God wherfore that kind of reasoning is not to be weakened séeing it surelie confirmeth the doctrine of the apostle To the second reason In the next reason there is a more difficultie and trouble for there be few which can perceiue how the prouidence of God Few see how the prouidence of God can suffer anie free choise in our will or as they terme it his prescience can suffer anie frée choise to remaine in our will And the place is so difficult and dangerous to be dealt in as manie of the old writers in reasoning about this matter were brought to such a passe as they iudged altogither that of those things which be doone there ariseth a necessitie yea and they supposed that God himselfe is held with this necessitie Wherof came a prouerbe A prouerbe that God also might not withstand necessitie so as he durst not attempt anie thing against the same A licence of the Poets Through this libertie of theirs the poets went further and said that manie things be doone euen whether the gods will or no. And Homer brought in Iupiter to be sad and to lament the necessitie or destinie by the force whereof he was let from remoouing death which approched vnto his swéet sonne Sarpedones And he maketh Neptunus to take verie gréeuouslie◠the chance of his sonne Cyclops of whom he being stirred vp with a lust to reuenge would haue driuen Vlysses altogither from home and complaineth that this was not granted to him by destinie And in Virgil Iuno dooth no lesse outragiouslie bewaile bicause she had kept wars so long togither with one nation and yet could not remooue as she desired from the coast of Italie the Troian nauie But we Christians doo not in such sort speake of God for we haue most certeinlie learned out of the holie scriptures that there is nothing vnpossible to God and we are taught by Christ himselfe that althings are possible vnto God And our faith after the example of Abraham Rom. 4 20. dooth chéeflie cleaue to this persuasion that God can doo whatsoeuer he hath promised Neither must we conceiue in our mind Christ was not deliuered to the crosse against his fathers wil. that Christ was either condemned vnto the death or forced to the crosse against his will or his father not willing GOD would these things to be doone not being led thereto by an ineuitable necessitie but by a superabundant excéeding charitie towards men So the scripture teacheth vs which saith Iohn 3 16. So God loueth the world as he gaue his onelie sonne c. And vnto the Romans it is written Rom. 8 23. Which spared not his owne sonne but gaue him for vs all Christ himselfe by the same loue was mooued to die for vs and he taught vs Iohn 15 13. that A greater loue than this can none haue that one putteth his life for his friends And thereby he shewed himselfe to haue excéeded the measure of mans loue bicause he would suffer death for his enimies And that he willinglie and of his owne accord tooke death vpon him he sufficientlie declared when in the last banket which according to the Paschall custome he kept with his apostles he said Luke 22 15. I haue earnestlie desired to eate this passeouer with you 33 By these places we perceiue that the Lords death was throughlie foreknowne and vnderstood and did in no respect infringe the libertie either of Christ or of the father Therefore Cicero otherwise a verie learned man is greatlie to be woondered at Augustine against Cicero against whom Augustine in his fift booke De ciuitate Dei especiallie in the ninth tenth chapters earnestlie disputeth concerning this question The controuersie dependeth vpon this that in the latter booke De diuinatione all things are refelled which were brought by Quintus Ciceros brother in the former booke And Cicero indeuoreth by all meanes to ouerthrowe all predictions of things to come and of the prescience of God Therefore Augustine affirmeth that the Astrologians had reasons which were better to be borne withall than his bicause though they attribute ouermuch vnto the starres yet they take not awaie all diuination and prescience Augustines example of a Physician And a certeine Physician as the same Augustine declareth in his booke of confessions being a graue man and one that detested Astrologie when he was demanded how it came to passe that Mathematicians did prophesie so manie truths he durst not contrarie vnto all histories and experience denie euerie diuination but he answered that a certeine destinie was spred ouer things and he affirmed that it was not incredible but that reasonable soules did after a sort féele it Surelie there is nothing
Herewithall adde the iustice of rendering like for like for the prophets of Baal had caused the ministers of the true God to be slaine 1. kin 18 4. and 13. as well by Iezabel as by king Achab But will some man saie By these lawes and reasons it is prooued that these Baalites had indéed deserued death but perhaps they should not haue béene slaine by the prophet for auoiding suspicion of man-slaughter Howbeit this I answere that the king was also present and consented vnto the slaughter Helias indéed preuented the kings iudgement yet it appéereth not that he did against it bicause the king being present did not withstand it But wherefore he held his peace manie reasons may be brought First it might not be but that by séeing so great a woonder he also was astonished excéedinglie amazed wherefore he could not but spurne against the pricke Adde also that the king durst not stand against so great a consent of the people Also it might be that he was verie desirous of raine and that therefore least he should be disappointed he gaue some maner of consent vnto this slaughter He caused the false prophets to be brought to the brooke Kison to wit that their dead bodies should be cast into it a brooke otherwise noble Iudg. 4 15. for the victorie gotten of Iabin and Sisara by the leading and conduct of Barach and Debora as it is written in the booke of Iudges and mentioned by Dauid in the Psalmes Psal 43 10. But to some it séemeth an vnwoorthie and cruell thing that the prophet himselfe with his owne hand as the historie reporteth slue some of them As though it were not read that Samuel smote Agag the king of Amalech 1. Sa. 15 33. Moses also with the Leuits destroied manie thousands of idolaters But and if thou wilt saie that Moses was prince of the people and as a lawfull magistrat vsed the Leuits in stéed of soldiers I grant But what should we saie of Phinees who being a priuate man slue Zimbri and Cosbi Exod. 2 12. which were taken in whoredome Did not Moses also before he receiued the principalitie slaie an Aegyptian man It is not lawfull to blame that fact Act. 7 24. séeing Steeuen in the Acts of the apostles alloweth and commendeth it We knowe in déed that it is the part of prophets and ministers to deale by the word not by violence and by the sword Wherefore Peter and Paule Acts. 13 11. Acts. 5 5. if they punished or put anie to death they did it by the word not by the sword But we saie that these things which Moses and Helias did were not ordinarie but certeine acts out of vse and common order 1. kin 18 23 Yea and wheras Helias exercised the office of a priest and sacrificed out of the place chosen by God Augustine vpon Leuiticus question 56. excuseth it by the same reason by which was excused the déed of Abraham Gen. 22 3. who ment to slaie his owne sonne All these things were doone by the priuate instinct of God against the common lawe set foorth The lawe-giuer himselfe when he commandeth anie thing to be doone against his lawes his commandement must be counted for a lawe Of Parricide or slaieng of parents In Iudg. 9 verse 5. 9 Of the wicked crime of parricide there are manie things written in the ciuill lawes Ad L. Corneliam De parricidijs And as far as may be gathered out of the lawes and histories in old time the name of that crime was giuen vnto those which murthered their parents grandfathers and great grandfathers c to those also which murthered their children and childrens children c. But afterward by Pompeius the signification thereof was further extended And they were also called parricides which killed their brothers their sonnes in lawe their daughters in lawe their fathers or mothers in lawe and such other The lawe of Numa Pompilius Although there be an old lawe and giuen by Numa Pompilius If anie man wittinglie bringeth a frée man to death let him be taken for a parricide And Augustine in his third booke De ciuitate Dei Augustine the sixt chapter counted Romulus guiltie of parricide bicause he slue his brother And there he derideth the Ethniks which affirmed that their gods suffered Troie to be destroied bicause they would take vengeance of the adulterie of Paris But how saith he were they fauourable vnto Rome when as the builder thereof committed parricide straitwaie at the beginning Augustines booke De patientia supposed not his Howbeit the same Augustine in his booke De patientia which neuerthelesse is counted none of his in the 13. chapter appointed a certeine latitude or degrées betwéene parricides for as he saith he sinneth more heinouslie which killeth his parents or children than he which murthereth his brethren And he which slaieth his brethren offendeth more than he which destroieth those that be further of kin And the wicked crime of slaieng parents or superiours séemed to be so horrible that at Rome for the space of six hundred yéeres after the building of the citie it was not committed Yea and Romulus Romulus made no mention of parricide in his lawes that made no mention of it in his lawes being demanded why he left it out answered that he could not be persuaded that anie such thing can happen vnto men Solon also being asked why he likewise by his lawes did not restreine parricide An answer of Solon answered that he wold not by anie occasion of his lawes giue men knowledge of so horrible a wickednesse and by his admonishment to stir them vp after a sort vnto it For it oftentimes happeneth that they which forbid certeine vices prouoke men to fall into them who verie often will indeuour to doo such things as they are forbidden The murther of brethren and kinsfolke hath vndoubtedlie béene from the beginning as all histories doo testifie And the punishment of those parricides which slue their parents or children was by lawes as it is perceiued Ad legem Corneliam de parricidijs that they should be sowed in Culeo The punishment of parricides that is in a leather sacke and with them also were put an ape a cocke and a viper and were throwne into the deapth of the sea or else in the next riuer adioining But they which slue of their kinsfolke or cousins were punished with the sword onelie These punishments if at anie time they were either passed ouer or winked at by the magistrates God himselfe punished them as the historie of Samuel declareth of Absolom Absolom 2. Sa. 18 14. which killed his brother and most cruellie set vpon his father He also striketh them with rage and madnesse which commit such horrible wicked acts as both the poets and also historiographers write of Nero and of Orestes Nero. Orestes For both of them hauing killed their mothers became mad And it is a
Christ himselfe although by his death he was to deliuer mankind yet did he neuer offer to kill himselfe but tarried to be slaine by others 2. Sam. 1 16 And when the Amalechit had said that he stood vpon the bodie of Saule while he was dieng and did presse him downe that he might die the more easilie Dauid answered Thou art the sonne of death But if it had béene lawfull for Saule to haue killed himselfe how could the yoong man which hastened his death be worthie of death For it is lawfull for one to helpe an other in an honest matter and especiallie his prince And if the lawe forbid thée to kill an other man it much rather forbiddeth thée to kill thy selfe sith that which is not lawfull for thée to doo to an other is vnlawfull for thée to doo to thy selfe Whence the rule of charitie must be taken For the rule of charitie must be taken from that charitie wherewith we loue our selues Furthermore thou killest either an offender or an innocent If innocent thou dooest iniurie to the lawe if an offender yet art thou iniurious against the lawe for thou bereauest thy selfe of time to repent And if so be God would suffer thée that thou mightest repent surelie thou that art not a magistrate oughtest to suffer thy selfe Thus much out of the holie scriptures Augustine Arguments out of the fathers 12 Augustine in his first booke De ciuitate Dei from the sixt chapter vnto the 20. disputeth hereof at large And the cause whie he wrote these things in so manie words was for that when the barbarous nations after the sacking of Rome did iniurie vnto yoong maidens and matrons manie rather killed themselues than they would abide such things But Augustine counselled that they should not so doo And in the 17. chapter he saith that It is not lawfull for anie to kill themselues either for obteining of good things or for auoiding of euill for it is murther which is forbidden by the lawe of God And Iudas Matt. 27 5. when he killed himselfe vndoubtedlie did slaie a wicked man yet is he guiltie saith he not onelie of the death of Christ but of his owne also The same father in the second booke and 19. chapter against Petilianus Thou saist saith he that a traitor hath perished by an halter and for such hath left the halter As if Petilianus would saie that it is lawfull for a christian man to reuenge his owne sinne vpon himselfe and they which would so doo should be accounted for martyrs But we saith Augustine account not such to be martyrs The same father in his 60. epistle and in the 204. dooth much more plentifullie dispute of this matter Ierom in his epistle to Marcella Ierom. concerning the death of Blesilla vnder the person of God saith I receiue not such soules which against my will went foorth of their bodies And those philosophers which so did he calleth the martyrs of foolish philosophie The same father vpon Ionas saith that It is not our part to plucke death to vs violentlie but when the same is offered to take it patientlie except saith he it be where chastitie is in danger Chrysost Chrysostome vpon these words of the first chapter to the Galathians He hath deliuered vs out of this wicked world Gal. 1 4. If so it were saith he that this life were euill they should not doo euill which kill themselues but we saie that they be wicked and woorse than murtherers The canons condemne those also which geld themselues And those canons which be called The canons of the apostles Canons of the apostles doo call such men murtherers of themselues But and if it be not lawfull for one to geld himselfe much lesse is it lawfull to kill himselfe But yet it must be noted that it is not there ment of them which for disease are cut by the Physician 13 Herevnto also agrée the better sort of the philosophers The better I saie Arguments out of the philosophers and poets Plato bicause I knowe that there were manie as Cleanthes Empedocles Zeno and others which slue them selues Plato in Phaedone saith that This thing for two causes is not lawfull First bicause it is not lawfull to slaie the seruant of an other and that all we be the seruants of God Secondlie for that soldiers be condemned if they forsake their station without their emperors commandement He saith that God hath set vs as it were in a station wherefore he that without his commandement shall leaue his place is a traitor Aristotle in the fift of his Ethiks saith Aristotle that It is not lawfull to kill a citizen without commandement of the lawe and magistrate and therefore they which kill themselues ought to be gréeuouslie punished for they are noted with infamie These things he said although it be reported that afterward for the auoiding of danger he did wilfullie kill himselfe Virgil. Virgil placeth these kinds of men in great torments in hell saieng Then lowring next in place beene they that fell with wilfull death And guiltlesse slue themselues with hastie hands abhorring breath And shooke from them their soules How gladlie now in skies againe Would they full poore estate and hardnesse of their life sustaine The destnies them resist and lake vnlouelie them detaines And bellie fenne that nine times flowes among them fast restraines Out of the Epigrams And one that wrote Epigrams saith Death to contemne in poore estate an easie thing it is In thrall to liue who can abide doth valiantlie ywis 14 In the Digests De bonis illorum Arguments out of the lawes qui ante sententiam sibi manus attulerunt aut corruperunt accusatores L. Qui rei it is decréed that they who shall kill themselues their goods shall be confiscate the reason is that they must be taken for such as haue confessed themselues guiltie Yet is the sharpnes of that lawe mitigated by Antonius the emperor for he decréed that that lawe shuld be of force if the crime be woorthie either of death or of banishment Wherefore they which for theft kill themselues are excepted They also be excepted which being wearie of life or impatient of sorowe doo slea themselues Also Adrian excepteth the father who being suspected of killing his sonne killeth himselfe for it shuld séeme saith he that he did it rather for the loue of his sonne than for guiltinesse of the crime And if so be that one going about to kill himselfe and others comming in the meane time doo let him of his enterprise so he doo this through an vnpatiencie of sorowe or wearinesse of life him also Adrian dooth except but if he shall doo it for anie other cause he appointeth him to be punished For he that will not spare himselfe saith he how will he spare others In the Digests De iure fisci in the lawe In fraude in the Paraph Si quis If anie through shame
they should deale more mildlie they threatened that they would kill themselues And when it was obiected by our men that it was not lawfull they vsed to flie to that example which we haue mentioned of Razis 2. Ma. 14 37 and vnto the place in the epistle to the Corinthians If I shall giue my bodie that I be burned and haue not charitie 1. Cor. 13 3 it profiteth me nothing Wherefore it is lawfull saie they so it be doone in charitie Another argument of the Donatists for Paule reprooueth not the same saue where charitie faileth But they fondlie and vnlearnedlie depraued the words of Paule for they as Augustine said are thus to be ment If of necessitie we must either die or else admit some mischéeuous act it is much better for a godlie man to die yet not so as anie man ought to be the author of his owne death but to be readie to abide anie thing doone by the tyrant and executioner So may it séeme that those fellowes of Daniel deliuered themselues when they said Dan 3 18. that they would rather die than worship the image of Nabuchad-nezar And Christ is said to haue giuen himselfe for our saluation Yet saith Paule Rom. 5 8. if a man euen so giue himselfe that he be burned of a tyrant if it be not in charitie it shall profit him nothing Yet this also did the Donatists vaunt Another argument of the Donatists that man hath frée will in his owne matters and therefore it is lawfull for anie man to kill himselfe if he will But this is ridiculous vaine sith our will must euermore be drawne backe from sin For this both the holie scriptures exhort and good magistrates and godlie parents in their subiects and children doo the same 17 But Ierom vpon Ionas saith that It is our part not violentlie to plucke death vnto vs but with a good courage to suffer it when it is offered vnlesse perhaps it be Whether selfe-selfe-death may be lawfull for keeping of chastitie where chastitie is put in danger As if he had said It is lawfull for one to kill himselfe for preseruing of chastitie Of the same opinion Ambrose séemeth to be in his third booke De virginibus for so he writeth of Pelagia the virgine that the tormentors threatened hir that vnlesse she would worship idols Examples they would rauish hir and that she to auoid as well the one as the other cast hir selfe downe headlong This act did Ambrose commend and he addeth that hir mother did escape awaie with other two daughters and that when in flieng awaie they were hindered by a riuer they of their owne accord rusht headlong into the same and by that meanes they were drowned Eusebius also in his eight booke and 15. chapter when he reckoneth vp the lewd lusts of Maxentius saith that he bearing inordinate loue vnto a certeine matrone of Rome of singular beautie priuilie sent ministers of his lewdnesse to bring hir vnto him Who hauing bound hir husband and vsed all threatenings towards him lastlie obteined of him that he yéelded his wife vnto the lust of the tyrant But she as though she would séeme to obeie when she had obteined a time to make hir selfe readie being retired into a parlor did thrust hir selfe through with a sword And that fact is not blamed but rather allowed Augustins opinion touching these examples Héere Augustine somewhat doubteth what answer to make First he saith that on the one part he séeth that lawe of God Thou shalt not kill and on the other part that they be celebrated in the church as martyrs As touching the word of God he is resolued and concerning the iudgement of the church it might be that God by some reuelation made it be knowen that their dooings pleased him and that they were stirred by the motion and instinct of the spirit and by the speciall counsell of God And like to this is that which we read to be doone by Samson Iud. 16 28. in the booke of Iudges But by Augustines leaue this comparison dooth not sufficientlie agrée for as touching Samson that he was set on by the spirit of GOD it is certeine also God restored his strength vnto him which he before had taken awaie And Samson when he died did call vpon the Lord. Heb. 11 32. And the epistle to the Hebrues giueth him a testimonie of faith and godlinesse and reckoneth him in the number of the saints Which can not be said of these virgins for they haue no testimonie out of the word of God Exod. 20 13 Augustine addeth that that lawe Thou shalt not kill is certeine and well knowen But no man must be persuaded to kill himselfe through a diuine motion vnlesse he knowe and haue a certeine triall that it is the motion of God Indéed I confesse that God sometimes dooth certeine things by extraordinarie means For he commanded the Hebrues to rob the Aegyptians Exod. 11 2. Gen. 22. 1. and Abraham to kill his sonne yet may we not hereby pronounce any thing more than we sée is euident by the holie scriptures Verelie I for my part can not allow of the facts of these virgins for whether they were doone by the motion of God I knowe not neither doo I thinke that the same can certeinlie inough be knowen of anie Yet may it be that they acknowledged their sinnes before they departed out of their life and that God forgaue them Vndoubtedlie the indeuour of defending chastitie and religion is verie laudable yet must we take héed that we defend the same by good meanes and right considerations Those virgins which did these things be praised Admit they be so But sometimes things which be doone amisse be praised also The word of God is such as in commending thereof we can not be deceiued 18 I knowe there be some of the latter writers which thus decrée that If anie man Whether for the cause of Gods glorie it be lawfull for one to kill himselfe for his owne sake bicause he can not indure either sharpenesse of punishment or reproch dooth kill himselfe he sinneth verie gréeuouslie but that if he onlie laie before his eies the glorie of God bicause he perceiueth that those things which he shall suffer will redound to his dishonor he may so be excused Iud. 16 30. For so Samson killed himselfe bicause he sawe that his miserie was a dishonor vnto God 2. Mach. 14. verse 43. And that same Razis also those other women which we now spake of did so likewise But this distinction dooth not weaken the truth which we defend for it is a stedfast and euerlasting rule Rom. 3 8. that We must not commit euill that good may come thereof Yea and the martyrs also could easilie perceiue that their death would redound to the glorie of Gods name yet was there none of them that killed himselfe 2. Sam. 1 16 Euen so might that
vnto the Corinthians 1. Co. 11 10 commandeth women to haue their head couered in the holie congregation at the least-wise bicause of the angels And euen as women ought to shadowe their face that they be not séene so on the other side men ought to temper themselues that they doo not ouer-curiouslie behold them Of which matter Tertullian wrot manie things verie well in a little booke intituled De virginibus velandis And Solomon thus wiselie admonished Lust not after hir beautie Prou. 6 25. Also Gregorie the first They saith he which abuse the outward eie be worthie to haue the inward eie shadowed Iob. 31 1. I haue made a couenant saith Iob with mine eie that I will not thinke vpon a virgine He saith not onelie that I would not looke vpon but that I would not admit into my mind an imagination of hir This séeing Dauid did not he cast himselfe into the danger which all godlie men ought to take héed of Of the punishments of Adulterie In 2. Sam. 12 14. 22 Somewhat we will declare in this place of the punishments of adulterie And this I thinke to be necessarie for me for by the gréeuousnesse of punishments we know the weightinesse of sinnes By rewards and punishments Common-weales are preserued But punishments must be applied according to the heauinesse of offenses It is verie well written in the 24. cause question 1. in the chapter Non afferamus which words be ascribed vnto Ierom but rather they are the words of Augustine The greeuousnesse of Schisme How gréeuous a sinne is Schisme or to be diuided from the church it is perceiued by the punishments laid vpon men for other gréeuous sinnes The idolatrie doone vnto the molten calfe Exo. 22 27. Iere. 36 29. God punished by a kind of death Bicause Zedechias burned the booke of the prophet God did reuenge it with captiuitie But the rebellion done against Moses and Aaron he punished more gréeuouslie Num. 16 he sent a fire wherewith those which conspired with Chore were consumed and the earth swallowed vp the seditious persons A diuision of this place We will first then consider the punishments of adulterie that we may vnderstand how heinous a sinne it is Secondlie we will sée whether the adulterer and the adulteresse should haue equall punishments and whether they be bound to like punishments and whether of them is the greater sinner Thirdlie what euils maie come by reason that these punishments are either neglected or vtterlie taken awai◠As touching the first we must search in the holie scriptures what may be found touching the punishments of adulterie after that we will descend to the reckoning vp of punishments of diuers nations then will we come to the Romane lawes and last of all vnto the ecclestiasticall and Canon lawes Of the first we must vnderstand that the diuine scriptures teach vs that The wages of sin is death Rom. 6 23. Séeing therefore that death is due vnto sinnes foorthwith after a man hath transgressed he might be put to death by the iustice of the lawe But God is not so strict an exactor he granteth as yet some space vnto life the which neuerthelesse is somtime broken off by the sword of magistrates if gréeuous crimes be committed which can by no meanes be suffered But there are other sinnes of lesse weight for which it is not lawfull to put men to death Further we will sée whether adulterie may be reckoned among those sinnes wherevnto death is due Certeinlie it was a sinne wherevnto death belonged as the holie scriptures declare vnto vs and that for good cause For by this wickednesse is hurt that societie from whence is deriued the fountaine of all friendship among men Gen. 26 11 In the booke of Genesis when Abimelech the king of Gerar had séene Isaac plaieng somewhat familiarlie with Rebecca he perceiued him to be hir husband and not hir brother Death for adulterie before the lawe Gen. 39 20. So then he charged that none vpon the paine of death should touch that woman Therefore we sée that before the law of Moses adulterie was by the Ethniks punished with death Ioseph after that it had béene laid to his charge in Aegypt that he committed adulterie with his mistresse was deliuered to the head officer of capitall crimes and was cast into prison Thamar Gen. 38 24. when she had buried two husbands and waited for the third vnto whom she was betrothed did commit adulterie and was iudged to be burnt And vndoubtedlie when a woman that is betrothed dooth abuse hir selfe she committeth adulterie For although it be not a full marriage yet is there such hope of marriage as it ought not to be polluted This did the emperour Seuerus perceiue The lawe may be read Ad legem Iuliam de adulterio in the Digests the lawe Sivxor in the Paraph Dinus In the 22. chapter of Deuteronomie Deut. 22 22 Leuit. 20 10 and in the 20. of Leuiticus by the lawe that is there giuen the adulterer adulteresse are commanded to be put to death Which sentence God in the 16. chapter of Ezechiel confirmeth verse 38. where he saith that he would bring punishment vpon the adulterous Israelits The same lawe is confirmed in the eight chapter of Iohn When the Scribes and Pharisies had brought vnto Christ a woman which was taken in adulterie they said Moses commanded vs in the lawe verse 5. that such a woman should be stoned c. So greatlie did God estéeme chastitie and vnspotted wedlocke as he would not haue so much as a suspicion to remaine betwéene them which were man and wife For in the booke of Numbers Num. 5 14. The lawe of gelousie there is ordeined a lawe touching gelousie She which was suspected of adulterie was brought vnto the priest cursses were denounced a drinke was giuen hir and straitwaie it was knowne whether she was an adulteresse or no. And if a man had married a wife and had béene able to gather and prooue by certeine signes that she was not a virgine she was punished Punishments for abusing a maid betrothed If a maiden betrothed to a husband had béene forced by anie abroad in the field the rauisher should haue béene punished with death if in the citie the damsell should also haue had the same punishment Deuteronomie 22. So then great seueritie was vsed héerein verse 13 25 Howbeit the reuenge was not committed to priuate persons the husband killed not his wife nor the father his daughter but the matter was brought before a iudge verse 27. So read we to be doone in Susanna although that historie be Apocryphall In the prophet Ieremie we read that Nabuchadne-zar rosted Zedechias and Achabus Iere. 29 22. two vnchast priests These things we haue in the holie scriptures especiallie of the old testament The Ethniks lawes for punishment of adulterie 23 The lawes of the Gentils also suffered not
this mischéefe to escape vnpunished If we giue credit to Strabo in the 16. booke of his Geographie the Arabians made it death In Arabia where spices growe the same punishment was prouided for adulterers Of the Arabians as Eusebius saith in his sixt booke eight chapter De praeparatione euangelica Of the Aegyptians The Aegyptians as Diodorus Siculus reporteth in the first booke of his Bibliotheca did cut off the nose of an adulteresse that the face of hir which was so pleasing might be deformed The adulterer was beaten with a thousand stripes euen well néere vnto death Aelianus in his historie of Varietie the 13. booke writeth Of them of Locris that Zeleucus the lawe-maker of Locris ordeined that an adulterer should haue both his eies put out The same was thought to be a hard lawe Within a while after it happened that his owne sonne was taken in adulterie the people would haue released him from punishment but the father would not And to the intent the same lawe might after some sort be kept he willed that one of his sonnes eies and another of his owne should be pulled out There were a people which Suidas calleth Laciadae Of the Laciade and others Placiadae among whom adulterers were tormented with punishments and ignominies about the secret parts Of the Germans Also the Germans if we beléeue Cornelius Tacitus were most seuere punishers of adulteries For the adulteresse being taken with the maner was set naked in the sight of hir kindred the haire of hir head was cut off and after that she was by hir husband beaten through the towne with a cudgell Of the Gortinei Plutarch in his Problems writeth that the Gortinaei when they had apprehended an adulterer they brought him foorth openlie and crowned him with wooll whereby they might shew him to be a wanton and effeminate person After which time he liued in perpetuall infamie among them Of the Cumei The people called Cumaei set an adulteresse in the market place vpon an infamous stone and there of the people was put to shame then being set vpon an asse she was carried through the citie Afterward in waie of ignominie it was said vnto hir 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saletus a citizen of Croton as Lucianus writeth of them Of the men of Croton which being hired serue for reward made a lawe that adulterers should be burned aliue Within a while after he himselfe was taken in adulterie with his brothers wife he being accused made an oration wherein he so defended himselfe that all men bent their minds to pardon him But he considering with himselfe how shamefull an offense he had committed leapt of his owne accord into the fire And among the philosophers Plato Platos lawe in his eight booke De legibus saith that Adulterie is a great horrible offense when the husband goeth to another than his owne wife and the wife vnto another than hir owne husband Further that we ought to kéepe our bodies chast and not to bestowe them vpon strumpets and harlots They saith he that shall doo that are in perpetuall infamie Aristotle in his seuenth booke of Politiks Of Aristotle in the last chapter saue one writeth thus If anie man shall haue carnall copulation with hir that is not his owne or anie woman with him that is not hir owne let that be counted among most shamefull things So as they noted adulterers both men and women to be infamous Diogenes the Cynik was of another mind For it happened that a certeine man called Didymus was taken in adulterie Of Diogenes and Diogenes being demanded what should become of him answered that according to his owne name he ought to be hanged For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Graecians be the stones of a man or of a beast In old time among the Atheniens Of the Atheniens adulterie was a capitall crime as Pausanias in his Boetiks sheweth He citeth the lawe of Draco And it was lawfull among the Atheniens to slaie an adulterer that was taken with the déed dooing And euen this dooth the oration of Lysias testifie wherin it is spoken of the death of Eratosthenes the adulterer The adulteresse was not strait waie put to death but it was not lawfull for hir to come into holie assemblies Otherwise she might haue all maner of ignominie doone vnto hir by anie person onelie the punishment of death excepted not for that they did take pitie of hir but that they might giue hir the longer torment Which may be gathered by the oration of Demosthenes against Neaera if the same be his Polybius in the second booke of his historie If an adulterer be slaine saith he let the executioner go frée He séemeth to speake this by the lawes of the Graecians for he was a Graecian borne How greatlie the Graecians were moued for the adulterie and violent taking awaie of Helene all men knowe Of the Greekes which haue anie small skill of the poets Of Mahumet Mahumet as appéereth by his owne lawes would haue adulterers to be whipped in a maner to death The Goths made a lawe of death against adulterers Of the Goths as it is read in the first booke of Procopius De bello Gothico Manie things of sundrie nations might be recited but these for this time shall suffice 24 I come now to the Romane lawes The Roman lawes touching adulteris Dionysius Halicarnassaeus commendeth Romulus the first king of the Romans for that he would haue by his lawes matrimonie to be inuiolate and yet so farre as we can find he made not adulterie to be punishable by death Diuorse was permitted for the cause of adulterie Yea and afterward for the suspicion of adulterie a putting awaie of the adulteresse was admitted And so did Caesar for he put awaie his wife Pompeia finding hir with Clodius in the house of the head bishop But he being afterward bidden to declare against hir some witnesse of adulterie he would not and being demanded wherfore he had then put hir awaie he answered that his house should not onlie be frée from the filthinesse of adulterie but also from the verie suspicion thereof The lawes of the twelue tables By the lawes of the twelue tables an adulterer was put to death But in so much as belongeth to publike punishments it séemeth that in those former ages they were more easie Tacitus in his second booke declareth Other old lawes of this thing that a certeine man was accused of treason and of adulterie in the time of Tiberius Caesar And touthing adulterie it séemed that it was warilie enough prouided for by the lawe Iulia. But Tiberius who about the beginning of his reigne was gentle did by intreatie put awaie those great punishments and said After the maner of our ancestors let the adulteresse be remooued two hundred miles from the citie and the adulterer be banished both out of Italie and Aphrica We read in
iustices hand against adulterie as if he might saie He hath small courage that thrusteth not through both the adulterer and the adulteresse But although the lawes are silent yet the iustice of God sheweth it selfe for it punisheth adulterers with madnesse with furie and with other most gréeuous punishments euen as we sée in Dauid A distribution of the punishments of adulterie These things had I to declare of ciuill punishments which if they were distributed into a certeine method were either punishable by death so as the magistrate himselfe punished them or it was appointed to be doone by priuate persons as by the husband the father of the adulteresse or else if they escaped the punishment of death they were noted with some infamie The infamie was sometime naked without outward tokens sometime it had certeine outward tokens of shame otherwhile the adulteresse was set vpon an asse and crowned with wooll Sometime there was added a chastising of the bodie The wiues were beaten with cudgels their noses were cut off Or else the punishment was of an other kind they were banished they forfeited a summe of monie they lost their dowrie they were diuorsed and might no more be married 27 Now we will speake of ecclesiasticall punishments And wheras manie things be shewed by the fathers and the councels we will vse this method that first we will declare what they haue disallowed in the ciuill lawes secondlie what ecclesiasticall punishments they themselues haue laid vpon adulterers They allowed not death for adulterie First the punishment of death liked them not In the Councell of Tribure chapter 46. it is ordeined that If an adulteresse shall flie vnto the church she may not be deliuered vnto hir husband or to the iudge or president The first councell of Orleans which was held vnder Clodouaeus in the 3. canon hath in a maner decréed the same namelie that Adulterers may be safe if they flie to the church shall not be deliuered or else if they be deliuered they shall take an oth that they will not hurt them and if so be they had not stood to their oth but violated the same they were excommunicated The bishops challenge the punishment hereof to themselues At the length it came to that passe that the bishops to saue them from death would haue the iudgement of that crime to perteine vnto their Court. And this they will haue to be the cause thereof If this examination be permitted to laie men they would be too negligent therein as who should saie that they themselues are most seuere And what I beséech you doo they by their episcopall examinations They set a fine vpon their heads and separate them from the marriage bed Hereof arise innumerable whooredomes yea and the naughtie men themselues sometimes abuse these wiues being separated They allow not the adulteresse to be slaine by hir husband Moreouer they allow not that the adulterer or the adulteresse should be slaine either by the husband or father Of this mind was Augustine in his treatise De adulterinis coniugijs ad Pollentium in manie places of the second booke He would that those priuate men should forgiue adulteries committed Reasons why the adulteresse should not be killed by hir husband verse 7. These reasons he bringeth We be all infected with sinne we haue néed of mercie Therfore vnto sinners we must shew mercie And he vseth the saieng of Christ in the eight of Iohn He which among you is free from sin let him cast the first stone against the adulteresse He that is thus vrged let him thinke with himselfe whether he be guiltie of sinne Matth. 6 12 Forgiue ye saith our Sauiour and it shall be forgiuen vnto you We praie Forgiue vs our trespasses euen as we forgiue them that trespasse against vs. With what face can we speake these things if we be so cruell in reuenge God will not the death of a sinner Ezec. 18 32 but that he shuld turne and liue Why then wouldest thou his death These reasons be not firme in all respects For if they should be vnderstood concerning ciuill magistrates no malefactor should be punished and to what end should magistrates then beare the sword As touching priuate men I agrée with Augustine that they ought not to take such power vpon them as to slaie the adulteresse and the adulterer If anie man will saie The publike lawes doo there giue authoritie vnto the husband An obiection he is no priuate person euen as when they command the soldiers to fight or the executioner to put a man to death who be priuate men But if by the commandement of the magistrate they doo that which they are comanded they be not priuate persons anie more It is lawfull for a traueller by the waie to defend himselfe against théeues if they assaile him if he slaie them he is discharged For the magistrate at such a time armeth him he cannot be sued at the common lawe the prince would not that his subiect should perish I answer that the ciuill lawes haue giuen no such authoritie to the husband and the father of the adulteresse but onlie hath pardoned their gréefe conceiued they command not that this should be doone but they command the soldiers and executioners to doo their duties Wherefore the similitude is not alike So also it may be answered of the trauelling man which is set vpon by théeues if he defend himselfe with a mind to kill the théefe he is not absolued but if he kill him by chance or as they saie by accident then he is absolued The case is not all one for he hath no time to call vpon the magistrate he cannot sue him at the lawe But the husband might shut vp the adulterer in his house he might call for witnesses and deale with him by the lawe Also the Ecclesiasticall writers and the Canonists doo not allow that when accusation is had the adulterous husbands should be heard and not the adulterous wiues Neither would they allow accepting of persons to wit that onelie the common persons and not the nobler sort should be put to death 28 Also they are against that rigour that if the adulterer or adulteresse escape there should be no reconciliation had Augustine Looke art 30. in his booke a little before alledged will haue it to be otherwise If the woman saith he repent let there be a reconciliation He alledgeth reasons thereof God must be followed his church dooth oftentimes commit fornication as we knowe was doone in the time of the Iudges and Kings yet he saith by Ieremie Ierem. 3 1. Ye will not receiue your adulterous wiues I doo otherwise The same dooth Hosea affirme in the name of God Hose 1 14. and 2 3. If examples shall beare stroke Dauid did so Michol the daughter of Saule was giuen vnto another 2. Sam. 3 14 that which was committed was adulterie for in that meane while there was no diuorse
Dauid required to haue hir againe Also Iustinian did moderate that austeritie for when the adulteresse had béene thrust into a monasterie the husband might demand hir againe within the space of two yéeres But thou wilt tell me Augustine saith She is not woorthie to be my wife she is vnpure and polluted Why doost thou cast hir vnpure which hath repented hir selfe She is restored vnto the kingdome of heauen by the keies and may she not be restored to thy bed Wouldest thou haue thy selfe to be so serued On this wise did the Councell of Arles determine which we read in the Extrauagants De adulterijs in the chapter Si vir sciens The words of the Councell be these If an adulteresse be penitent the man ought to take hir againe The glosse saith Is it the part of honestie or of necessitie He saith of honestie I infer If it be of honestie in respect of godlinesse it is also of necessitie For we must doo all things which apperteine to honestie as we haue in the fourth chapter to the Philippians Phil. 4 8. Whatsoeuer things be true whatsoeuer things be honest whatsoeuer things be iust thinke vpon them He saith that it is not of necessitie bicause he cannot be compelled thereto by an outward lawe It is added But not often That séemeth saith the Glosse to be repugnant to the Gospell when it saith Seuentie times seuen He answereth that he may forgiue hir so often as he will but the church will not often put it selfe to be a meane for the obteining of this reconciliation least it should séeme to open a windowe vnto wickednesse Moreouer the church thinketh that it should be but feigned repentance if this should be often doone He addeth Peraduenture these things are spoken for terror sake But if so be she doo not repent hir she ought not to continue in matrimonie for then the husband might séeme to be the mainteiner of adulterie And in the Councell of Arles it is said he should séeme to be a partaker of iniquitie Ierom vpon the 19. chapter of Matthew writeth She that hath diuided one flesh into an other ought not to be kept least the husband should be vnder the cursse For he that reteineth an adulteresse with him wanteth wisdome If he be vniust which accuseth an innocent he séemeth vnwise that reteineth an offender But these things must be vnderstood with this exception Whether the husband hauing dismissed his wife may accuse hir of adulterie that vnlesse repentance be had Moreouer it is demanded whether the husband shall accuse his wife of adulterie when she is dismissed Some thinke that of charitie she ought not to be accused if she repent But others saie that the crime is not to be forborne and that priuate magistrates should put to their helping hand to the rooting out of wickednesse and that publike weales cannot stand vnlesse that great offenses be punished Deut. 13. 5. also that the lawe of God would haue euill to be rid from amongst men It is certeine in déed that if adulterie should continue still the adulterer ought to be accused that at the least wise by that meanes he might be made the better if other conuenient remedies were vsed before as if he had warning giuen him by his fréends But admit that the partie which sinned doo repent ought he notwithstanding to be accused Surelie if the crime were openlie knowne and the partie innocent receiue the adulteresse into fauour by reason of repentance he shall séeme to mainteine sinne Men knowe of the adulterie but of the repentance they knowe not they will thinke that he vseth brothelrie If he accuse hir he shall at the least wise purge himselfe and auoid the blame of infamie Admit that the crime be not so commonlie knowne and that the partie in fault be repentant but she hath conceiued and is to be deliuered of a child if the husband accuse hir not the issue shall be his supposed heire it shall not be lawfull for him to disherit him there will be an iniurie doone vnto his lawfull begotten children What shall be doone in this case In these two latter cases namelie if the crime be openlie knowne and the child conceiued counsell is giuen of the more learned sort that the husband shall not go vnto the magistrate to desire the punishment to be executed on hir which is penitent but that for the auoiding of his owne infamie he shall repaire to the church and signifie the cause whereby they may vnderstand that the partie dooth repent Also if the case be shewed to certeine persons not for punishment sake but to the intent they may knowe that the fruit is conceiued by an adulterer which afterward also he might disherit there is found a remedie for these euils Ioseph Matt. 1 19 when he sawe his wife Marie to be great with child not by him was troubled he would not defame hir and yet was he a iust man On the one part he saw it belonged vnto iustice to accuse hir on the other part he was troubled in himselfe not without the speciall prouidence of God While he was in a perplexitie which waie to take GOD was at hand with him So will he likewise doo vnto the godlie in these cases he will be present with them and will comfort them These questions we fall into by reason that adulterie is not punished by death 29 Thus haue we séene what the fathers haue disallowed in the ciuill lawes Now Ecclesiasticall punishments of adulterie héereafter let vs sée what maner of ecclesiasticall punishments they haue béene accustomed to laie vpon adulterous persons Cyprian in the fourth booke and second epistle vnto Antonianus writeth that There were certeine bishops which gaue no peace vnto adulterers that is they admitted them not to the communion but would haue them perpetuallie to be excluded Others gaue them peace but yet after a certeine time Cyprian thinketh that a moderation must be vsed least they be vtterlie excluded from Christ and cast awaie all loue of religion He saith also that there must be a triall made of their repentance for a certeine time the space of time he appointeth not The Synod of Ancyra in the 19. chapter appointed seuen yeares which space of time the Eliberine Councell abbridged vnto fiue years Whereby it may appéere that it was in the choise of the prelats of the church The Councell of Neocaesaria decréed concerning Clergie men that If the wife of a Clergie man fall into adulterie he is at his choise whether he will straitwaie refuse hir or else depart from the ministerie They séeme to admit no reconciliation in the clergie I thinke the cause séemeth to be Reconciliation not admitted in the clergie for that the familie of the minister ought to be of good report Moreouer they added that a laie-man whose wife was fallen into adulterie should not be admitted into the ministerie I thinke the cause to be this for that he first
their parents they might imitate their sinnes or else reuenge their death the which in daughters is not to be feared But yet it must not therefore be concluded that there is a difference as touching the crimes Bréeflie I allow well inough that distinction of the Schoolmen that if the faith of matrimonie be considered the sinne is of like equalitie both in the adulterer and adulteresse If the state of the parties be considered the man sinneth more gréeuouslie but if we regard the harme that is doone vnto the familie it is to be laid to the womans charge And that man sinneth more gréeuouslie in respect of that which belongeth to his state and degrée it is manifest not onelie by this that he is of a greater iudgement but we may also perceiue it euen by the holie historie Nathan was not sent vnto Bethsabe but vnto Dauid Punishment of death for adulterie is not well intermitted 36 And thus much haue we said concerning the second question Now let vs come to the third namelie what we are to determine of these punishments intermitted Verelie if I should speake fréelie what I thinke it is not well ordered that the punishment of death is not in vse séeing the same agréeth with the woord of God and with diuine lawes which ought to be of great importance with vs. In Leuiticus and in Deuteronomie Leui. 20 10. Deut. 22 22 God ordeined that both the adulterer adulteresse should be slaine Secondlie I proue this by the verie order it selfe of the commandement of God Let vs laie before our eies the ten commandements As touching the worshipping of the true God it perteineth to the first commandement he that should doo otherwise was to suffer death Of taking the name of the Lord in vaine it is said If there be anie blasphemer let him die the death Of kéeping holie the sabboth daie we read that he which did gather stickes on the sabboth daie was commanded to be slaine Of the fift precept it is decréed that if any man were rebellious against his parents he should be brought to the iudges and slaine Of the sixt precept He that hath slaine an other man let him perish and let him be plucked euen from the altar Then followeth the precept of adulterie there the sword staieth his execution and procéedeth no further Vnto stealing and false-witnesse-bearing there is no punishment of death appointed Neither hath concupiscence any punishment of bloud belonging therevnto Séeing the order is on this wise I would know why the men of our time inuert the same But they saie that the Common-weale is more disturbed by théeues than by adulterers for we must haue a consideration vnto the commoditie of the Common-weale But I denie that théeues doo more disturbe the Common-weale If they robbe and slaie by the high waie in the night and lie in wait for mens liues I might easilie grant it but absolutelie of stealing I cannot say so Doubtles if our iudgement be right who had not rather loose somewhat of his goods and substance than that his wife should be dishonested Howbeit such a couetousnesse there is at this daie ingraffed in men that they make more accompt of their monie than of their wiues honestie Wherefore I saie that there is some iniurie doone vnto théeues in so much as they be hanged and adulterers who sinne more gréeuouslie are suffered to liue The fourth reason is that in suffering adulterers to liue they intricate vs with verie hard questions First there is brought in by the papists a diuorse from the marriage bed but not from the bond of matrimonie Moreouer there is disputation whether the innocent partie may contract matrimonie while the other partie liueth And there is a controuersie whether the adulteresse which suruiueth may marrie againe with an other Further they dispute of reconciliation betwéene adulterers and by this easie meanes cities are filled with vncleannesse and adulteries and men would after a sort be more pitifull than God himselfe 37 It is obiected The historie of the adulteresse in the 8. of Iohn ver 6. that Christ suffered not the adulterous woman to be stoned The eight of Iohn Wherby they gather that the Lord would not haue this to be doone in the state of the Gospell and therefore adulterers are to be spared in these daies They saie also that Ioseph being accused of this crime was not put to death To these two examples we must answer First I am not ignorant that the same storie in the eight chapter of Iohn hath béen reiected by some bicause it rather séemed to be put in of others than to be written by Iohn Ierom in his second booke against Pelagius writeth of this matter The same dooth Eusebius Caesariensis touch in his third booke who saith that he did thinke it to be taken out of the gospell of the Nazarits Augustine in his second booke De adulterinâ—s coniugijs ad Pollentium thinketh that It was the verie storie of Iohn in déed but deuised by cruell husbands to be wiped out to the intent that adulterous wiues might be put to death Héereby it commeth to passe that in some copies it is found and in some not How likelie a thing this is let other men iudge What so euer it be whether it be of Iohns writing or no the matter is not great for it conteineth nothing against the sentence which I haue proposed which thing I will somewhat more largelie declare Ye must thinke with your selues that the Pharisies did not bring the adulteresse vnto Christ as vnto a iudge or king for they neuer acknowledged him to be such a one Neither did Christ euer vsurpe such an office vnto himselfe Iohn 6. 15. he withdrue himselfe when they would haue made him a king neither would he diuide the heritage Luke 12 13 and he pronounced his kingdome not to be of this world Whie then doo they bring hir to him Iohn 18 36 Euen to laie a bait for him and as they saie to take him in a trip He was praised among the common sort for his clemencie he was loued of the people Then did these Pharisies deuise among themselues If he shall saie that she must be put to death this fauour of the people will fall from him as being one that would bring in againe the rigor of the lawe but if he saie that she must be let go he shall doo against the lawe of Moses yea of God himselfe But Christ verie well repelled their wilinesse He did neither of both which they hoped he would doo yet in the meane time he did his part verie woorthilie He was no ciuill magistrate but the minister of the church It was his office to preach the Gospell and repentance both which he did Wherefore he said to the Pharisies Hee that among you is free from sinne let him throwe the first stone at hir He said not Let hir not be put to death but Take héed what ye
a drinke or meate to be poisoned and shouldest sée anie man endeuour to eate or drinke of the same couldest thou hold thy peace and sinne not Naie verelie thou not onelie holdest thy peace but thou drinkest vnto them the poison and liquor of death and laiest it before mens eies to be droonke Further there be other such like saiengs in Cyprian which for breuitie sake I mind to passe ouer The fourth out of Ambrose Ambrose in his booke De virginibus when he reprooueth this vice saith That through counterfeting of the countenance they deuise how to corrupt their chastitie Also he reprooueth their madnesse when he addeth While they stand in feare how their husbands will iudge of them they bewraie their owne iudgement of them selues and they which indeuor to please others first displease themselues For vnlesse they had displeased themselues and had béene desirous of some thing in themselues they had not desired to better their faces with feigned colours Afterward he added me thinketh a certeine hyperbolicall spéech sith as the words sound it is not true For he saith that outward adulteries to wit of the bodie are more tollerable than adulteries of the countenance bicause chastitie is corrupted in this but nature in the other And in the sixt booke he writeth It is a painting of vice not of comelinesse of fraud not of simplicitie it beguileth and deceiueth And she that garnisheth hir selfe on this sort contenteth not hir husband who knoweth that the same is counterfet and not his wiues owne The fift out of Chrysostome 66 And Chrysostome in his 31. homilie vpon Matthew exhorteth the husband to terrifie his wife from this vice by shewing vnto hir after a courteous manner that coloured faces please not him but that he is an vtter enimie to them bicause the propertie of such kind of paintings is rather to deface the well-fauourednesse of women than to beautifie them And moreouer he saith that It is a great delight to sée the face to be such a one as GOD hath created it when as on the contrarie part a visage disordered from his owne nature with red chalke and white lead is misliked And he sheweth that that deformitie commeth by this meanes namelie when the lips be died with purple they resemble the cruell grinning of a beare if the ouerbrows be made blacke they will séeme as if they had béene rubbed against a pot in the kitchin the chéekes whited will shew like the wall of a whited sepulchre But if so be a man will saie that some women be so foule as without counterfet colours they haue no audacitie to come abroad he answereth that in vaine they doo vse those things bicause nature beareth rule ouer art And if they be foule of fauour they cannot bring to passe by painting but that they will be knowne at length what they be Furthermore deformitie it selfe is void of rebuke but counterfetted colouring being perceiued is continuallie noted with infamie It is written in the eleuenth chapter of Ecclesiasticus verse 2 Despise thou not a man in his outward appeerance neither commend thou a man in his beautie Wherefore a blemish or foulenesse of the face is not so greatlie to be abhorred For as he saith If that a faire and a foule woman were both weighed in a balance and the discommodities weighed as well of the one as of the other we should not easilie perceiue that the foule woman hath more discommodities than the faire woman Moreouer if they can teach husbands to loue women which be in such wise counterfetted they shall not allure them to themselues but rather set them forward vnto harlots who are cunninglie instructed in such arts He writeth that women A similitude which paint their faces doo euen as if they should sprinkle a gold image with mire and slime Vndoubtedlie the forme which is like vnto God cannot be expressed in counterfet paintings and outward colours which colours assuredlie are to be taken of no other thing but of the stone called Stibiuâ—s or of white lead or of the red painting called Purpurisse Séeing it is not lawfull to counterfet the wares which men buy and sell how much lesse to counterfet the visage which God hath framed And if so be that when fault is found with ware after it is bought the bargaine is broken and the seller compelled by action at lawe to take his ware againe no doubt but if anie man buy a virgine meaning if she had béene no virgine he would not haue bought hir if afterward he perceiue she was deflowred the bargaine is void and an action is granted against the seller for the taking of hir againe But doo these women thinke to scape vnpunished for deceiuing of men who being beguiled through counterfet colours thinke they marrie beautifull women when they take deformed wiues 67 Ierom against Heluid writeth The sixt out of Ierom. This woman is painted out by a glasse and to the reproch of the Creator she indeuoureth to be fairer than she was by birth And in his epistle to Laeta touching the bringing vp of hir daughter wherin he reciting the historie of a certeine woman that was sore striken for annointing hir daughter with painting colours calleth them which vse such things Violaters of the temple of Christ And in his epistle to Furia of the kéeping of widowehood he sheweth that Counterfetting of the face with colours is an enimie vnto repentance wherevnto christians ought to applie themselues all their life long And he bringeth an example of the woman being a sinner who with hir teares flowing abundantlie washed the féet of the Lord and wiped them with the haire of hir head She had them not saith he burnished with the stone called Stibium Moreouer he calleth white lead and the red painting called Purpurissa The fires of yoong men the nourishments of lusts and the tokens of an vnchast mind The seuenth out of Augustine But to Augustine I come who purposelie treated of this matter in his epistle to Possidius He had propounded a question vnto him Whether all kind of ornaments should be forbidden vnto women He answereth that he would not that he should haue too forward a iudgement touching the ornaments of gold and of pretious apparell to wit that he should forbid them vnto all women But he saith To be coloured with paintings whereby a woman may appéere either whiter or redder is an adulterous and craftie deceit whereby I doubt not but that the husbands themselues will not be deceiued Herby we easilie gather that it is not lawfull for to vse such paintings séeing they be counterfet deceits and not onelie counterfet but also pernicious bicause they be set foorth to deceiue the beholders Moreouer it must néeds be a vicious thing in a woman that she would beguile a man Thus much Augustine Wherevnto I adde by the iudgement of Paule that We must not onelie eschew euill but also the verie shew of euill But
vnproperlie according to the common prouerbe A straieng toong telleth truth He was the child of death for they were capitall faults which he had committed and he should restore eight fold that is he should paie much Trulie it séemeth verie hard to punish theft with death The lawe in some case staieth a theefe Exod. 22 2. Neuerthelesse we must consider that in that lawe of Exodus this was ordeined that if a théefe had come armed in the night with intent to steale anie thing awaie it should be lawfull to kill him and that without danger In this case when it is said that the rich man dooth take awaie from the poore man his one onlie lambe there séemeth to be a violence vsed and not a fraud It is no maruell therefore if the punishment be augmented and he iudged woorthie of death Foure fold restitution And as for the restoring of foure fold we haue not onelie a lawe but also the example of Zachaeus Luke 19 8. in the 19. of Luke If I haue taken ought from anie man by deceit he saith to Christ I restore him foure fold Seuen fold restitution He saith not I restore him double but to shew his dutie the more he chose to himselfe the straiter punishment Againe there is a place in the sixt of the Prouerbs verse 30. where Salomon saith that A theefe which is taken shall restore seuen fold In which place it may be gathered as it séemeth that it was in the power of iudges to increase the punishment for at this time théeues did restore seuen fold Some answer that it was not there meant of anie precise number in the restitution of things taken awaie but that a théefe should be compelled to make a perfect restitution In that place he compareth the sinne of theft and adulterie togither and would shew and declare adulterie to be the greater If a théefe haue no other intent but to satisfie hunger it redoundeth not to his shame If he be taken he is compelled to yéeld againe that which he hath taken awaie If he be taken in adulterie he is punished with death Whether Dauid were punished aboue foure fold 2. Sam. 16 22. 2. Sam. 12 18. 13 28. 18 14. and 1. Kin. 2 25. Touching the restitution of foure fold it maie séeme that Dauid was punished not onelie to the proportion of foure fold but of aboue eight fold For his ten concubines were defiled by Absalom And although himselfe was not slaine yet was he reserued to great afflictions For foure of his sonnes were consumed first he whom he had by Bethsaba then Amnon afterward Absalom lastlie Adonias 3 The crime of stealing awaie of seruants In Gen. 37 verse 25. The crime of stealing awaie of seruants punished by death Deut. 24 7. Exo. 21 16. Gen. 37 28. Matt. 27 5. or children and selling of them was by the ciuill lawe punished with death as it is in the 48. booke of the Digests and in Deuteronomie the 24. chapter The punishment which God appointed for the same doth yet declare the grieuousnes of the crime For this fault the Hebrues confesse that they were manie yeares togither vexed by Pharao in Aegypt Assuredlie the selling of Christ draue Iudas to hang himselfe and in the end wrought confusion both to those that bought him and to the whole kingdome In the booke Zahor wherein be praiers which the Iewes repeat in the daie of Purification when they fast for the satisfaction of their sinnes there is mention made of ten Rabbins of great name the which were slaine by Caesar Adrianus For Caesar demanded of them what punishment their lawe tooke of such as should be found guiltie of stealing frée men awaie and selling them Who wiselie answered out of Deuteronomie 24 7. that they were woorthie of death Wherevpon the Emperor put them to death laieng to their charge that they were guiltie of this crime But what frée man it was that he charged them to haue sold it is not there expressed Yet in their Thalmud to the end to slander Christ when they make a declaration of this fact they saie it was Ioseph And least they should séeme to speake against all reason or likeliehood that after so manie ages these men should be punished for a wickednesse so long before committed they speake more absurdlie that soules remooue from one to another and therefore that the soules of the ten brethren of Ioseph did remooue into these ten Rabbins and that for this cause they were punished after such a manner Of well dooing and Hospitalitie 4 There is a notable place in the first to the In 1. Cor. 16. verse 4. Corinthians The communitie of things among the Anabaptists is confited Looke in the booke De votis pag. 79. put foorth at Basil the 16. chapter wherein we be taught beneficence and liberalitie By the which and by such like the Anabaptists which declare that among christians all things ought to be common be confuted For if their opinion were true there had béene no néed to exhort the faithfull to distribute almes vnto the poore for euerie one might take from whom he would But forsomuch as the holie scriptures commend almes vnto vs they shew plainlie that euerie one is a possessor of his owne goods although he be bound to communicate with his néedie neighbour of the fruit and profit which commeth of the same We sée also in the same place that the church of Corinth resisted not Paule in saieng What tellest thou vs of the Ierosolomits Haue not we poore people of our owne with vs whom we ought to find and reléeue Suffer vs to distribute our owne goods among our owne poore But when they had heard Paule determine that it was not inough that euerie church should find their owne poore but is also bound to reléeue the brethren of other churches if their abilitie serue they were readie to giue their consent Charitie must be doone in order yet not to be too strait laced For although that charitie ought to be doone in due order yet must it not be so strait laced as it should haue respect onelie vnto them that be hir owne In déed we ought to begin with such as be our owne but we are not there to make a staie Furthermore in distributing of almes there must be a consideration had of the honestie of those that be in néed Wherefore Paule said vnto the Galathians Gal. 6 10. Let vs doo well vnto all men especiallie vnto those which be of the houshold of faith Besides this there must be a speciall consideration had of them touching whom the word of GOD hath giuen expresse commandement as are the father the mother the wife the children and the ministers of the church Thirdlie necessitie must be regarded for otherwise there happen cases sometimes wherein our helpe cannot be deferred with a safe conscience in which time both father mother and the rest vnto whom we are
whole and perfect benefit of Christ We must not weigh the gift of God as though it were but halfe a benefit When thou dooest heare that hée died for our sinnes vnderstand the same to be not onelie for the originall fault but extend thou this sentence euen vnto the ingendered and naturall lusts and also vnto those sinnes which we commit by the consent of reason Assuredlie we owe euen our selues also vnto Christ for so notable gifts The people of Rome attributed much vnto the Decii and Curtii much more must we vnto Christ Iohn 10 18. The people of Rome yéelded vnto Curtius and vnto the Decij bicause they had vowed themselues to death for the safegard of the people But these things being compared with Christ are nothing for those men otherwise should haue died Vnto which lawe Christ was not bound séeing in him it was as well to laie downe his life as to take it againe Before their eies was set present glorie and praise of men for the notable act which they tooke in hand but the death of Christ as concerning humane iudgement had shame ioined therewith on euerie side Those men for their louing countrie and déere fréends tooke their death but Christ Rom. 5 ver 6 8. 10. as we read vnto the Romans died for the weake for the wicked for sinners and for his enimies which dooth excell all maner of charitie 16 And when he saith According to the scriptures this is not to be referred vnto his death which was apparant enough Since humane reason and manie historiographers do testifie this that Iesus of Nazareth suffered death vpon the crosse but that he was made a sacrifice for our sinnes that is not proued by the sense or reason of mans iudgement He added also mention of buriall the which apperteineth vnto death for in that he was buried it gaue a more certeine declaration of his death And although here it be not added According to the scriptures yet is it commonlie admitted Touching the resurrection also he addeth that it was doone according to the scriptures Wherefore it now remaineth that we sée by what scriptures the death of Christ and his resurrection are prooued Vndoubtedlie the places are manie all which it shall not greatlie force to recite Onelie this I will admonish How we are to deale with the Rabbins that it should not much trouble vs if the Hebrues at anie time withstand these testimonies which Christ and the apostles alledge for confirmation of these articles Bicause it is not to be doubted but that the apostles and Christ did chéeflie admit the common and receiued expositions of the fathers For it was so allowed of at that time that those places should be so vnderstood of the Messias as they that were present could not for shame and conscience sake denie the same Wherefore we read not in the Gospels that they withstood bicause the scriptures which were brought were not to be vnderstood touching Messias but we rather perceiue that their mouthes were so stopped as they had not wherewith to answer But now when those receiued expositions are no longer alowed among the Hebrues we may perceiue lies to be readie with them Wherefore we when we shall heare Christ or the apostles to haue interpreted anie place let vs giue vndoubted credit vnto them Albeit there are found in the scriptures Some places touching Christ so euident in the scriptures as the Rabbins cannot denie them The whole psalme The whole chapter Acts 15 16. certeine places so manifest as the Hebrues themselues cannot resist them if they would In the 22. psalme as well the death as the resurrection of Christ are verie plainlie set foorth Vnto which psalme it séemeth that Christ of verie purpose sent vs when he died vpon the crosse And the 53. chapter of Esaie is so euident as thou mightest thinke thy selfe not to read a prophesie but an historie of the euangelist Also the apostles were accustomed for confirming of the resurrection to bring in those places of the prophets which make mention of restoring Dauids kingdome For séeing that externall kingdome is not restored nor that we ought to looke for restitution Of restoring the kingdome of Dauid we must haue respect vnto Christ who reigneth in heauen and in them which be his and shall reigne eternallie Christ alledged the type of Ionas the prophet Mat. 12 39. 16 2. Note certeine types of Christs death and resurrection concerning his death and resurrection and in manie such like places the death and resurrection of Christ were shadowed Againe it is to be noted that these things which so went before were not onelie types and shadowes of the Lords death and resurrection but after a sort also had in them the very truth it self of those things For séeing that those holie men suffered manie gréeuous things and that within a while helpe and deliuerance came by God insomuch as they were the members of Christ and had Christ for their head it followeth that Christ in them both suffered and was deliuered Wherefore we saie that the passion and resurrection of Christ beganne euen from the first times but that afterward they tooke place more manifestly in Christ himselfe and yet still become more euident vnto the church through the present death which it dailie abideth in labours and sorrowes expecting the blessed resurrection of the flesh Then indéed shall these two principall points of our religion be truelie fulfilled and become most manifest In Rom. 8 vers 3. 17 Augustine in his 14. booke against Faustus disputeth against an heretike which refused Moses as though he were contumelious against Christ Deut. 21 23 when he wrote Curssed be euerie one that hangeth vpon the tree Vnto whom Augustine answereth If thou vpon this occasion condemne Moses thou must also reiect Paule for he writeth Gal. 3 13. that Christ became accurssed for vs. And the same Paule saith that He which knew not sinne 2. Cor. 5 21. became sinne for our sakes Moreouer he citeth a place to the Romans that God sent his owne sonne in the similitude of the flesh of sinne by sinne condemned sinne He bringeth also a reason whie the flesh of Christ is called sinne namelie bicause it was mortall and tasted of death which of necessitie followeth sinne And he affirmeth this to be a figuratiue kind of spéech wherein by that which goeth before is expressed that which followeth But besides this interpretation of Augustine I remember also another which the same Augustine followeth and it séemeth he learned the same out of Origin An oblation for sinne is called sinne And that interpretation is taken out of Leuiticus where when as there be diuers kinds of sacrifices instituted mention is made of an oblation for sinne But vnto that word is oftentimes added a preposition and in the Hebrue it is written Lechataath and Leaschma that is for sinne and for trespasse So that hereby we may sée
that the sacraments as we haue often said haue the names of those things that they signifie And other toongs also both Latine Gréeke séeme to haue imitated this forme of speaking For the Latins call that Piaculum or Piacularem hostiam which is offered to turne awaie the wrath of God The same thing the Graecians call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of making cleane and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this is it which Paule sometimes calleth sinne a cursse This therefore is the meaning that Christ condemned sinne which was in our flesh by sinne that is by that oblation which was for sinne that is by his flesh which is now called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which after the Hebrue maner of speaking is the sacrifice for sinne But to condemne signifieth in this place to take away and to discharge those things which vse to followe them that are condemned And that we may the easilier vnderstand how Christ by his death condemned sinne we ought by faith to be assured that he hath obteined the holie spirit for vs by whom our sinnes be forgiuen by whom lusts which are the root of all sinnes be repressed in vs. In Rom. 4 verse 25. 18 But here ariseth a doubt by what means the apostle may séeme to seuer and plucke these things one from another namelie forgiuenesse of sinnes and iustification and on the other part the faith of the death from the faith of the resurrection when as it may séeme that by the saith of both parts I meane of the death and resurrection not onelie is giuen remission of sins but also iustification Augustine in his 16. booke against Fautus Faith is cheeflie carried vnto the resurrection of Christ séemeth to bring this interpretation that our faith is chéeflie directed vnto the resurrection of Christ That he died the Ethniks also grant but that he rose againe they vtterlie denie And therefore séeing faith is said to be the thing whereby we are iustified Paule would make mention of that thing wherin faith is most conuersant And for confirmation of his saieng he citeth a place out of the tenth chapter to the Romans verse 9. If with thy mouth thou confesse thy Lord Iesus Christ and beleeue in thy hart that he was raised from the dead thou shalt be saued By which words it appéereth that saluation and iustification are attributed vnto the faith of Christs resurrection But these things must not so be vnderstood as though our faith should not be directed euen vnto the death of the Lord. Indéed it is true Our faith is also carried euen to the Lords death that the Ethniks confesse that Christ hath béene slaine but they beléeue not the same to be doone for the sinnes of men but either for some fault of his owne or else by iniurie Whereas we assuredlie beléeue that he was crucified for the saluation and redemption of mankind So as our faith is exercised as well in the death of Christ as in his resurrection And that which he bringeth out of the tenth chapter to the Romans dooth make nothing against vs. In the faith of the resurrection is comprehended the faith of his death For who vnderstandeth not that in the faith of the resurrection of Christ is comprehended that faith also which we haue of his death and crosse Wherefore there remaine two other interpretations verie likelie to be true Whereof the first is that by she verie death of Christ the price of our redemption was performed But that this might be applied vnto vs there was néed of the holie Ghost by whom we might be led to beléeue Christ that it should be expedient for vs that he had risen from death that he had sent abroad his apostles to preach in all parts and that he is now with his father as an intercessor and high priest He is said to haue therefore risen againe that he might helpe vs to obteine iustification Chrysostome séemeth to like of this exposition Another exposition is that the faith of the death and of the resurrection bringeth iustification but that Paule disseuered these things to the intent he might aptlie declare the analogie and proportion betwéene them Vnto the death of Christ verie well answereth the forgiuenesse of sinnes for by reason of them death was due vnto vs. And as Christ concerning this corruptible life died so also we ought when we are iustified to die vnto sinne Againe bicause iustification séemeth herein to be declared in that we begin a new life therefore it is referred vnto the resurrection of Christ for that he then séemed to haue begoone an heauenlie and happie life Paule vseth in a maner the selfe-same forme of words when he saith With the hart we beleeue vnto righteousnesse and with the mouth we confesse vnto saluation For the faith of the hart both worketh righteousnesse and also bringeth saluation Howbeit bicause saluation and instauration are chéeflie declared in action therefore he ascribeth it to confession But whether of these expositions is the truer neither doo I contend nor yet willinglie will I now declare In Rom. 5 vers 8. 19 Rightlie therefore is it said that GOD commended his loue towards vs when he deliuered his owne sonne vnto the crosse for our sakes For there is nothing that men hold more déere and set more store by than their children Wherefore we read that wicked mothers when they would testifie to their adulterous louers their most feruent loue and faithfulnesse of their continuall companie slue their owne children bicause they sawe they had no other argument more sure to testifie their good will towards them The charitie of God shined most in the death of Christ So God when for our sakes he deliuered his sonne vnto the death and that vnto a most shamefull death gaue vnto vs a most sure token of his excéeding good will towards vs. In that he created the world for our sakes it was indéed a great signe of his good will towards vs although therein rather shined foorth his power and diuine might and wisedome For it is the part of liberall and frée harted lords to giue and bestowe manie things vpon their subiects Howbeit lords will neuer go so far as they will endanger themselues for their seruants sakes Why God shewed so great charitie towards vs. Wherefore when GOD gaue his owne sonne vnto the death for our sakes therein as Paule saith he most of all set foorth his loue towards vs which thing he therefore did to stir vs vp to loue him againe Deut. 6 5. God had commanded vs in the lawe that we should loue him with all our hart with all our soule and with all our strength And that we might the willinglier performe this he would first declare his good will towards vs that it might appéere that he loued and cared for vs more than for himselfe For he would die euen for our sakes which death yet we so little estéeme that we will
the Gospell which must not be receiued in part This doctrine is a part of the Gospell but fullie and wholie and thus much as touching the first part proposed in the beginning 6 In the other part we are to consider whether there be anie predestination lest we séeme to go about to set foorth and define a thing feined and imagined Neuer anie man openlie denied the predestination of God not that euer anie haue béene which openlie and of purpose durst denie the predestination of God but for that there haue béene some who haue laid such grounds as those being granted predestination cannot stand Pighius confuted For some saie and amongst them especiallie Pighius that In God is neither anie thing past or to come and therefore he presentlie that is alwaies predestinateth and fore-knoweth And he saith that We are herein deceiued that we thinke that God alreadie before and in times past hath predestinated some Whereof are gathered manie absurdities Vnto God saith he all things are present therefore he alwaies fore-knoweth and predestinateth and therevpon inferreth that it lieth in euerie man to be fore-knowne of God what maner of one he is and that it is in our power to be predestinate to be euen such as we our selues will be But this saieng straieth far from the truth Although in God be no courses of times yet the creatures which are predestinate before they begin to be want not a beginning for although in God there be no courses of times neither with him is anie thing past or to come yet that creature whom God fore-knoweth and predestinateth is not without beginning Wherefore séeing it is not coeternall with God the Creator it followeth of necessitie that God predestinated the same before it was brought foorth for predestination is of the number of those actions of God which haue respect to another thing So as we must not flie the eternitie of God for in it men haue no participation with God the Creator This may better and plainlier be vnderstood by the time past Therefore saie thus Certeine men are now dead and gone but vnto God all things are present wherefore GOD now predestinateth them and now also is it in their power how to be predestinated Here there is none so blockish but that he séeth the absurditie for they are not now predestinated Dead men are not now predestinated for they are come to their end séeing they are alreadie come to an end neither lieth it in their power either that the thing which they haue now receiued be not at all or how it ought to be And if their reason be so weake touching the time past how can it be firme of the time to come But leaue we this argument which neuertheles is most strong and let vs weigh what the scriptures saie Dooth not Paule affirme of those twins Rom. 9 11. Before they were borne or had doone either good or euill that it was said The elder shall serue the yoonger And to the Ephesians dooth he not saie that We were predestinate before the foundations of the world were laid Ephes 1 4. These places and manie other such like doo most manifestlie declare We concludeth that men are predestinate before they haue their being that these men are predestinate before they begin to haue their being which thing he that taketh frō vs dooth therewithall take awaie from vs one great comfort which we receiue of this that we knowe that we are predestinate of God vnto glorie before all eternitie But let vs consider to what end Pighius dooth thus wrest these things forsooth to this end to confute this that our dooings are determined and appointed of God before they be doone For then he thinketh that the fréedome of mans will should perish and men should be left vnder necessitie This euill he thinketh may thus be remedied if we saie Prophesies went before the things to come and yet were no let to the libertie of men Iohn 7 42. and 10 35. and 13 18. Acts. 1 16. that God dooth all things presentlie But he should haue remembred that in the prophets and other scriptures many prophesies are read wherein things were determined and appointed how they should be doone before they were doone What shall we here saie Shall we thinke that those prophesies went not before those things which were to come Christ saith that It behooueth that the scripture should be fulfilled wherefore these fond imaginations are to no purpose These men studie onlie with their lieng inuentions to make darke a thing plaine and manifest as the fish stirreth the mud to hide and saue it selfe 7 Pighius also goeth on further and saith that The prouidence of God hath not prefixed vnto men the time or kind either of life or death yea rather hée saith that there haue béene manie which as touching the prouidence of God might haue liued longer if they had not either by negligence or intemperancie shortened their life For if these things were so determinate saith he a murtherer when he killeth a man may be excused bicause he hath executed the will of God When a-murtherer killeth a man he hath no regard to the wil of God Verelie I woonder that a man being a diuine could let such an old wiues tale once come out of his mouth As though the murtherer when he slaieth a man hath respect to the pleasing of God This onlie he regardeth how he may plaie the théefe or accomplish his hatred or enimities for how could he knowe that this is the will of God séeing God hath in his lawes commanded the contrarie Dooth he thinke that Iudas can be excused of his wicked treason bicause he had heard the Lord fore-tell his mischéefous fact Iohn 13 21. Ezod 4 21. Or shall Pharao therfore be excused bicause God had fore-told that his hart shuld be hardened We may not excuse sinnes by Gods predestination Wherfore it is a foolish thing to bring in an excuse of sinnes by reason of the determination which we affirme to be in God But Pighius addeth also an other argument If our dooings saith he should in such sort be determined by God then shuld all our care diligence and indeuour be taken away for what might it profit saith he to auoid théeuish and dangerous iournies or sailings in the winter or surfettings or vnholsome meats if both the kind and time of death and such other like be alreadie certeinlie appointed of God Here commeth to my mind that which Origin hath in his second booke against Celsus where he maketh mention of a subtill argument tossed betwéene them which disputed of fate or destinie A subtill argument touching fate A certeine man gaue counsell to a sicke man not to send for the physician bicause saith he it is now alreadie appointed by destinie either that thou shalt recouer of this disease or that thou shalt not If it be thy destinie that thou shalt
wicked regard not these things and also without this doctrine liue wickedlie but the godlie for that they haue confidence that they are predestinated labour by holie works to make their calling sure By the doctrine of predestination is opened a windowe vnto good works not vnto wickednes The doctrine of the aduersaries openeth a wide gate vnto manie euils And vnto them by this doctrine is opened a windowe vnto modestie vnto patience in afflictions vnto gratitude and vnto a singular loue towards God But take awaie this doctrine there is made open not a windowe but an excéeding wide gate to pride to ignorance of the gifts of God to vncertentie and doubting of saluation in aduersities and the weakening of our loue towards God 31 But these men saie further that this maketh verie much against vs for that nothing can light vnder predestination or reprobation but that which God willeth but that God should will sinnes is to be counted for a most absurd and a blasphemous doctrine They saie moreouer that God cannot iustlie punish if we commit those things which he himselfe both willeth and worketh But this must we of necessitie saie if we affirme that not onelie our ends but also our meanes to the ends depend of the purpose of GOD. To satisfie this doubt first let them remember that it cannot be denied but that God after a sort willeth or as some other saie permitteth sinne But forsomuch as that is doone without anie coaction of our mind therfore no man when he sinneth can be excused For he willinglie and of his owne accord committeth those sinnes for which he ought to be condemned and hath the true cause of them in himselfe and therefore hath no néed to séeke it in God Further this is no good comparison which these men make betwéene good works and sinnes For God so worketh in vs good works that he ministreth vnto vs his grace and spirit whereby these works are wrought for those are the grounds of good works which grounds we haue not of our selues But sinnes he so gouerneth and after a sort willeth that yet notwithstanding the grounds of them that is the flesh and our corrupt and naughtie nature are not in God but in vs. Wherefore there is no néed that they should be powred into vs by anie outward moouer And God is said after a sort to will sinnes How God is after a sort said to will sinnes either for that when he can he prohibiteth them not or for that by his wisedome he directeth them to certeine ends or for that he suffereth them not to burst foorth but when and how and to what vses he himselfe will or finallie for that by them he will punish other sinnes But these adde that God by no means willeth sinne for so it is written in Ezechiel As trulie as I liue Ezec. 33 11. Looke in 1. Sam. 2 22 The first answere saith the Lord I will not the death of a sinner but rather that he be conuerted liue But we answere that the prophet in that place intreateth not of the mightie hidden will of God of his effectuall will for God by that will worketh all things which he will both in heauen in earth But he intreateth of that will Psal 115 3. which they call the will of the signe for no man can by those signes and tokens which are expressed in the lawe gather that God willeth his death or condemnation For the Lord commanded his lawe to be published vnto all men he hath vnto all men set foorth those things which should be profitable healthfull lastlie he vpon all men indifferentlie powreth great benefits wherfore by this will which we call the will of the signe he willeth not the death of a sinner yea rather he prouoketh them to repentance But as touching the other will which they call the will of his good pleasure if by it he would haue no man perish then doubtles no man could perish and there is no will so peruerse as Augustine saith which God if he will cannot make good Then according to this will he hath doone all things whatsoeuer he would This is a readie and plaine interpretation which if our aduersaries admit not but will néeds contend that the words of the prophet are to be vnderstood of the mightie will of God and of his will of good pleasure then will we answere The second answere that that sentence perteineth not vniuersallie vnto all sinners but onlie to those which repent And they are the elect and predestinated vnto whom God as according to his purpose he giueth faith and calling so also giueth he repentance And therefore whether sense soeuer they followe they shall neuer out of those words conclude that God vtterlie and by no meanes willeth the death of sinners or sinne 32 But they obiect certeine words out of the first chapter of the booke of Wisedome where it is written verse 13. God reioiseth not in the destruction of the liuing But if saie they he by anie maner of meanes willeth sinne or the punishment thereof he cannot be said not to reioise for he reioiseth in that which he will haue to be doone First I answer that that booke is not in the canon and therefore the authoritie thereof may be refused But admit that that booke were canonicall yet doo those words make nothing against vs for he whatsoeuer he was that was the author of that booke ment nothing else but to remooue from God that naughtines of nature whereby wicked men take pleasure in euill things God punisheth not wickednes against his will And yet was it not his meaning that God punisheth wicked facts against his will for otherwise whosoeuer be that author vnder the name of Salomon he should be against the true Salomon For he in his Prouerbs vnder the person of wisedome thus writeth of the vngodlie and vnbeléeuers Prou. 1 26. I also laugh in your destruction In which words is declared that God with this laughing that is with a chéerfull mind administreth iustice verse 11. As touching the words of Ecclesiasticus which are written in the fiftéene chapter that No man ought to saie of GOD 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Hee hath deceiued mee in which place the Latin translation hath Me implanauit Vnlesse we will haue that place to be manifestlie repugnant with manie other places of the scripture in which God is said to haue deceiued the people by false prophets Ezec. 14. 9. 1. Kin. 22 22. Esaie 6 10. and to haue cōmanded that Achab the king should be deceiued and to haue made blind the hart of the people least they should sée we must néeds after this maner expound those words How it must be vnderstood that God deceiueth no man that No man ought to laie the fault in God as though he would excuse himselfe Achab if he was deceiued iustlie deserued to be deceiued for that he
properlie as it is a motion stirred vp by meanes of some gréeuous euill that hangeth ouer vs shall haue no feare This doth Augustine confes vpon the fift psalme vpon these words I will worship in thy feare towards thy holie temple But in them can onelie be that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is obedience reuerence worshipping and pietie towards God as the 70. interpretours haue expounded the spirit of the feare of the Lord verse 8. What maner of feare Christ had and so such a gift might be found in Christ who indéed otherwise could neither feare sinne nor hell-fire nor yet fatherlie chastisements of God And if a man would saie that he feared death that must be vnderstood of naturall feare whereof we intreat not at this present And after this sort doo I vnderstand Ambrose when in his booke De spiritu sancto he affirmeth that The gifts of the holie Ghost are in the angels Out of which words the School-men gather that in them is the feare of God for doubtlesse séeing they are in blessed state that can be no otherwise vnderstood but as it hath béene alreadie shewed of me But as touching the godlie in this life The saints while they liue here are not without childlie feare we must so affirme as we thinke not that they can be without childlie feare so that that feare be so vnderstood according as I taught before that they doo not onelie flie from offending of God and are afraid of falles against his will but also are mooued with the feare of hell-fire and of the wrath of God and of his punishments vnto which feare neuertheles a quiet faith and confidence in the mercie of God are as a present comfort For we ought not to thinke that the threatenings in the holie scriptures are vaine for they are also profitable to the godlie Threatenings in the lawe are not vaine but doo profit euen the saints Luke 12 5. especiallie when they haue not as yet obteined perfect charitie absolute regeneration Christ said vnto his apostles I will shew you whom ye shall feare euen him which after he hath killed the bodie hath power also to cast the soule into hell-fire And Paule to the Corinthians bringeth foorth examples of the Hebrues in old time 1. Cor. 10 1. whereby he declareth that for their abusing the sacraments of God they were destroied in the desert By which examples he ment to warne the Corinthians to beware of the like vengeance Manie saith he are weake and manie sleepe And if we would iudge our selues we vndoubtedlie should not be iudged but now forsomuch as we are iudged we be corrected of the Lord that we should not be condemned with this world And vnto the Philippians Phil. 2 12. Worke your saluation with feare and with trembling And vnto the Romans Be not ouer wise but feare Rom. 11. 20 Hereby we sée that godlie men liue not vpon the earth without the feare of God And héere feare hath respect to manie kinds of euils for the godlie are afraid of sinne of often falling of the wrath of God of fatherlie chastisements of scourges wherewith God punisheth his people when they sinne and finallie of hell-fire which they sée they haue deserued vnlesse God by his mercie and Christ by his sacrifice which he offered vpon the crosse should helpe and succour vs. But what meaneth that which Iohn saith 1. Ioh. 4 18. A place of Iohn declared Perfect charitie casteth out feare I knowe there be some which interpret these words in this sense to wit that they which loue God trulie are not afraid to put themselues for godlinesse sake into all maner of dangers neither doo they shun persecutions but valiantlie doo stand stedfast in all maner of aduersities 2. Tim. 1 7. The verie which thing Paule in the latter epistle to Timothie wrote in other words saieng We haue not saith he receiued the spirit of fearefulnesse but of might and of loue Wherefore he exhorteth Timothie not to be ashamed of the testimonie of the Lord 2. Tim. 1 8. or of him being in bonds for the Lords sake but couragiouslie to indure labour for the Gospell sake Albeit that these things be true yet this is not that which the place of Iohn teacheth for it maketh mention there of the iudgement of the Lord of which he willeth the godlie which looue God not to be afraid and he rendreth a reason bicause feare hath disquietnes ioined with it Wherefore I willinglie assent vnto Augustine which saith that Iohn speaketh of perfect charitie the which séeing it cannot be had in this life we may not looke to haue it without feare Further we might in this place vnderstand that feare which is disseuered from confidence and therefore driueth men to desperation for they which beléeue and looue God trulie vphold their feare with a liuelie faith Of Securitie 14 Securitie séemeth to be a contempt of Gods iustice whereby sinnes are punished In Iud. 18. verse 27. If we speake of this securitie it can neuer be otherwise than wicked but there is also another found the which no doubt is to be allowed and is commendable Hope is the meane betweene securitie and desperation But to make the thing more plaine let vs consider of thrée things securitie hope desperation Hope is the meane which ought alwaies to be commended securitie is excesse but desperation is a want For as in putting awaie the mercie of God Whence securitie riseth what it is we are made desperate so in contemning his iustice we become secure Wherefore we may conclude that Securitie is a certeine immoderate hope and hereof it springeth either bicause we attribute too much to our owne strength and wisedome as though we thinke that by our selues we be able to obteine anie thing or else though we thinke that the same lieth in the mercie of God yet we suppose that he for our woorthines ought to accomplish it So doo they which promise to themselues remission of their sinnes and eternall felicitie though they vse no repentance but liue vnpurelie and wickedlie Or else it springeth hereof bicause we beléeue not that there is in God anie execution of iustice Securitie is contrarie to desperation and to the feare of God Whereof desperation proceedeth Barnard Securitie the foundation of all impietie And this securitie whereof we intreate is not onelie contrarie vnto desperation but also vnto the feare of God For desperation procéedeth of too much feare of the iustice of GOD against sinnes but securitie thinketh nothing at all of that iustice Wherefore Barnard hath rightlie said Euen as the feare of God is the beginning of wisedome so securitie is the foundation of all impietie and the beginning of foolishnes For the feare of the Lord as the scriptures testifie of it perteineth chéeflie vnto pietie and religion Wherefore in the Acts the tenth chapter verse 2. Cornelius is called a man religious and
him so greatlie were they disquieted with his miserie Wherefore before they talked with him their mind was by fasting and praier to desire God to asswage that great miserie of his So Dauid when Abner was slaine 1. Sam. 3 32. did not onelie moorne at his buriall but also sware that he would that daie eate no meate till the sunne set The selfe-same did he 2. Sa. 12 16. when he was reprooued by Nathan the prophet and when he had receiued tidings of the sicknes of the child vndoubtedlie he neuer tooke meat all the while that the child was in that case verse 4. Nehemias in the 2. chapter when he heard of the afflictions of the Hebrues which remained in Ierusalem afflicted himselfe with fasting and praied vnto the Lord. Dan. 9 2. Also Daniel when he had read those things which Ieremie wrot of the captiuitie of 70. yeares confessed both his owne sinnes and the sinnes of the people also he wept and fasted Wherefore priuate fasting ought to be taken in hand not onelie for our selues but for others also How publike fasting is proclaimed 9 But publike fasting is two maner of waies commanded either of GOD himselfe by the lawe or of the magistrate or else by the bishop or by the prophet And this is to sanctifie a fast whereof we sometime read in the holie scriptures What is to sanctifie a fast Of this kind there be manie examples namelie that fast which the children of Israel laid vpon themselues In the first booke of Samuel 1. Sam. 7 4. and 6. when the Philistines gréeuouslie afflicted the Iewes the whole people at the exhortation of Samuel assembled at Mizpah they wept fasted 2. Sam. 1 11 and threw awaie their idols Dauid also with all his fasted when he heard of the ouerthrowe of the people and of the death of Saule And the men of Iabes Gilead tooke the carcases of Saule and Ionathas 1. Sa. 13 13. and wept and also fasted That likewise was a publike fast which Iosaphat commanded in the 2. 2. Par. 20 3. booke of Chronicles the 20. chapter Hâ—ster 4 16 Quéene Hester being in extreme danger commanded by Mardochaeus that a publike fast should be proclaimed The Israelites in their captiuitie as it is written in the 7. chapter of Zacharie verse 5. had a fast both in the 5. moneth and in the 7. 2. Kin. 25 8. moneth bicause in the 5. moneth the sacking of the citie and desolation of the temple happened Ibidem 25. and in the 7. moneth Godolias was slaine whereby so manie miseries insued afterward 1. Kin. 21 9. That also was a publike fast which Iezabel proclaimed being otherwise a wicked woman and an hypocrite The act of this woman shewed it to be the custome that when anie great crime was committed the whole church should fast as it were putting awaie by praier the publike punishment And this fast the prophets required as Ioel when he said Ioel. 2 16. Esd 8 21. Why a publike yerelie fasting was commanded among the Hebrues Leuit. 16 23 Sanctifie ye a fast Esdras also in his 8. chapter proclaimed a fast Wherefore fasts for certeine godlie considerations were publikelie proclaimed God himselfe also commanded a publike fasting for he commanded that in euerie yere the feast Chephurim that is the feast of expiations or cleansing of sinnes should be celebrated the tenth daie of September with a publike fast For the people committed manie sins throughout the whole yéere neither did they diligentlie obserue the ceremonies Leuit. 23 27 So that once in a yéere the tabernacle was purified and a publike fast was obserued These things in the old testament signified as it were by a certeine shadowe that the sinnes of men should be abolished by Christ of whom when we take hold by a true and liuelie faith we are absolued from our sins And thereof followeth the mortification of sins and of carnall delights and pleasures Neither is this to be passed ouer The day of publike fast was a festiuall daie that the same one daie of fast was a festiuall daie for it was not lawfull in the publike fast either to worke or else for a man to be occupied about his owne busines And we were commanded to absteine onlie from our owne works not that on festiuall daies we ought to be altogither idle but that we should doo good déeds on those daies through which we may rest in God But to beléeue to praie to acknowledge sinnes to bewaile them with an earnest repentance are the works of God and therefore are not forbidden vpon festiuall daies but rather commanded 10 These things haue not onelie the Hebrues learned out of the lawes of God The Ethniks by the instinct of nature had a religious fast Ionas 3 4. but the Ethniks also by the instinct of nature For when Ionas preached to the Niniuits that their cities should be destroied within fortie daies they despaired not of the mercie of God but repented and euerie one of them euen from the king to the meanest citizen with their beasts also and cattell fasted and when they earnestlie and with a feruent zeale cried vnto the Lord they were heard Augustine Porphyrius Augustine De ciuitate Dei writeth that Porphyrius taught that Abstinence from flesh and grosse meats dooth purifie the minds of men whereby they are made the more prompt vnto diuine things and to familiaritie with spirits Plutarch also Plutarch in his little booke De Iside Osiride saith that The priests of Heliopolis vtterlie absteined from all meats which might nourish and augment the wantonnesse of the flesh and that they neuer brought wine into the temple of their god for they accounted it a villanie to drinke wine in the daie time in the sight of their god Other men in verie déed saith he vsed wine but not much and they had manie purifications without wine The same Plutarch Holie sacrifices doone with water without wine in his treatise De cohibenda tracundia saith that Among the Atheniens were certeine holie sacrifices which were onelie doone with water without wine And this is notable which is written in the same booke Empedocles that Empedocles was woont to saie that A man ought speciallie to fast from malice Titus Liuius maketh mention Titus Liuius that when as at Rome there had happened manie prodigious things which séemed to fore-shew some great euill the Decemuiri were sent to looke into the books of the Sibyls and that answer was made that they should ordeine a publike fast in the honour of Ceres which fast should also be renewed euerie fift yéere and that so the anger of the gods should by that meanes be pacified Wherefore the Ethniks being striken with the feare of the euils which hoong ouer their heads fled vnto the oracles fasted and praied the gods to turne awaie their anger But christians not onelie séeing so manie and so
to be with Christ And Steeuen Acts. 7 59. being at the point of death praied Lord receiue my spirit The opinion of Gregorie touching souls departed I knowe indéed that Gregorie writeth in his dialogs that There be certeine spirits of the dead appointed to serue in common baths and to practise some harder exercises abroad in the world But bicause that booke conteineth manie tales I therefore thinke it better to beléeue Chrysostome who dealeth by the scriptures Againe he also prooueth that that peruerse opinion is against reason for he saith If it should be lawfull for soules after this life to wander abroad in the world they would much more easilie returne to their owne bodies Nor is it agréeable vnto reason that wicked men for parricide should carrie awaie a benefit namelie to haue the spirits of them whom they haue cruellie slaine to be seruiceable vnto them at their owne pleasure A similitude And euen as it cannot be that the bodie of a man should be turned into the bodie of an aâ—…e so it is vnpossible that the soule of a man should be turned into the nature and substance of an ill spirit And when as euill spirits by vsing of coniurations are demanded what they be and they answer that they are the soule of this or that man who be alreadie departed he saith that there must be no credit giuen vnto them for their testimonie must not be of anie value séeing they be infamous And therefore Paule as we haue it in the Acts of the apostles the 16. chapter when an euill spirit witnessed that those men were the seruants of the liuing God and preached the saluation of men he rebuked the spirit and commanded the same to silence And Christ reiected the testimonie of the diuell who said that he knew him c. And not without cause for the diuell is a deceiuer and among true things which he somtime speaketh he mingleth manie false So as he must not be credited vpon any shew of truth seing he is not commanded by God to teach men or to preach saluation vnto them These things are written by Chrysostome in the places now alledged Whereby may be confuted the fables of those men which feigne that the soules of the saints doo stand and are present abroad in the world at their sepulchres and reliks to giue helpe vnto those which call vpon them For that father laboureth to prooue that soules seuered from theâ— bodies doo not wander abroad vpon the earth The xv Chapter Of the Resurrection THE entitle of the resurrection of the flesh is verie hardlie beléeued In 2 Kin. 4. bicause it is a thing â—atre from mans reason It comprehendeth manie principall points But a sure persuasion thereof comprehendeth manie principall points of the christian faith which be verie necessarie vnto saluation And they that are fullie and firmelie setled in their minds of the resurrection doo prouide well for themselues against the last houre For they which being at the point of death doo assure themselues of the blessed resurrectition cannot choose but depart ioifull and chéerefull out of this life But contrariewise they which wauer in this article are then in great disquietnesse they are vexed they storme and knowe not certeinelie whither to turne them Further this persuasion dooth comfort vs when by death we loose our kinsfolks and fréends So did Paule teach the Thessalonians Besides this 1. The. 4 13. we are hereby armed against persecutions and hard chances which we must suffer for the faithfull confession of the name of Christ For what is it that martyrs will not patientlie abide when they knowe for a certeintie that a most happie life shall be restored vnto them Moreouer the remembrance hereof maketh vs to haue temperance in estimation for we easilie forbeare vnlawfull pleasures when we assuredlie trust that we shall haue true and perfect pleasures giuen vs both of mind and bodie And if this article be abolished manie principall points of religion are ouerthrowne Paule faith in the first epistle to the Corinthians 1. Co. 15 16 If the dead rise not againe Christ is not risen Which is most absurd for then he should euen to this time be deteined in death which is not conuenient for God nor for the redéemer of mankind And if he be not risen neither did he trulie die otherwise he should be deteined by death Whervpon they which denie the resurrection of the dead affirme that Christ did not verelie die neither will they that he had naturall but phantasticall flesh onelie that is to saie he died in shew and outward appéerance 2 Séeing therefore a disputation of the resurrection of the flesh is so profitable and necessarie we shall for good cause stand the longer vpon it Why God did institute the resurrection First if it be demanded why GOD did institute the same two reasons may be brought first that he might trulie and perfectlie make happie his elect for true happines cannot be obteined in this life bicause no humane actions More things that we knowe not than that we knowe neither contemplatiue nor actiue can be counted exquisite and perfect For as concerning knowledges there be a great manie more things which we knowe not than which wée knowe Which Socrates perceiuing said that This one thing he knew namelie that he knew nothing Further those few small things that we knowe we haue a verie scant and slender vnderstanding of them Neither may we affirme this of naturall things onelie but of those also which are opened vnto vs by the spirit of God 1. Cor. 13 9. Wherefore Paule said Now we knowe in part and prophesie in part and we now see as through a glasse and in a darke saieng We be of weake memorie and manie times our memorie faileth vs. Who remembreth all things that he hath read that he hath learned that he hath taught and determined The knowledges which come later to mind exclude the former as one naile is driuen out with another and as in the course of waters A similitude the latter driueth awaie the former And whereas the knowledges of things doo consist either in inuention or in teaching what one of manie is found to be excellent at inuention And verie manie are vnapt and vnméet to learne Wherefore as touching things contemplatiue we are of small happinesse in this world Also in matters of practise there is great want in vs séeing either we liue vnhonestlie or else in honest actions we be verie farre wide from perfection For our vertues are maimed and vnperfect therefore we cannot drawe out of them anie perfect and absolute actions There happen moreouer perturbations or affects of the mind which drawe vs to and fro so as we cannot altogither be inclined to doo those things which be right Yea and from the bodie it selfe which is fraile and brittle as glasse manie inconueniences doo come For if it be touched with diseases which are
afflicted the Hebrues and also were aduersaries to the true worshipping of God I knowe likewise that there was a certeine other man named Polychronius The cauils of Polychronius confuted by Oecolampadius verse 4. which was bold to affirme that this place of Daniel must not be vnderstood of the resurrection of the dead but he groundeth vpon no firme reasons and he is confuted by Iohn Oecolampadius a verie learned man Further we sée that by Iohn the apostle in the 20. chapter of the Apocalypse the verie same things well-néere and in the same order are taught as they be written by Daniel where we read that there were seates placed and the iudgement appointed againe it is added that they did liue againe which suffered death for Christ Lastlie this we may saie euen that which we brought for making plaine that place of Ezechiel namelie if they will haue it metaphoricallie taken that by the resurrection of the dead is shewed the state of the people of the Iewes after the death of Antiochus it must in verie déed be determined that there is a resurrection of the dead otherwise a similitude or parable cannot be deriued from thence verse 4. Why Daniel was commanded to seale vp the booke 49 Furthermore God commandeth the prophet that he should seale vp the booke for a time which must not so be wrested as though GOD would not that these prophesies should be read and knowen séeing prophesie is giuen to the intent it should edifie and teach But the holie ghost prophesieth by Daniel that the negligence of men in reading and knowing the word of God should be great and that therfore for their incredible slouth the holie bookes should be sealed vp from them to the intent they should vnderstand nothing of spirituall things And therfore he prophesieth that the incredulitie should be great and he that beléeueth not vnderstandeth not the secret heauenlie things Yea and at this daie among christians what a verie great number maist thou find that would be counted and called by that name which neuer read the Gospels throughout We may also interpret that the bookes of God are sealed vp as touching our senses and humane reason 1. Cor. 2 14. for A naturall man dooth not perceiue those things that be of God yea not onelie they be sealed vp to him but they séeme to be foolishnes These things are open vnto them to whom the Lambe hath opened Apoc. 5 5. to whom onelie as we read in the Apocalypse it is giuen to open the sealed booke Ouer this there be manie which read the holie bookes recite them vnto others and instruct others vnto whom neuerthelesse they are sealed vp bicause they in verie déed haue no sense nor experience in themselues neither doo they tast what things they read teach R. L. Ben-Gerson thought that by this forme of spéech God commanded the prophet that from these visions he should take nothing awaie nor yet adde anie thing thereto ouer and besides At the end it is written Manie shall run into diuers parts Dan. 12 4. and shall passe by and knowledge shall be multiplied By these words let others vnderstand what they will to me it séemeth that the time of the new testament is foreshewed when as the apostles are sent to preach the Gospell ouer all the world Therefore when they had wandered among all nations the saiengs of the prophets became much more plaine than they were before as well for the great abundance of spirit that was powred out as also for that the prophesies may be a great deale better vnderstood when they be fulfilled than before when they were reuealed And these things I thinke to be sufficient for this place 50 Now I come vnto the prophet Osee A place of Osee as touching the resurrection declared God promised sundrie times that he would once destroie death whereby is manifestlie gathered that wée must beléeue the resurrection of the dead the which being taken awaie death reigneth and cannot be said to be abolished Esaie in the 25. chapter saith verse 8. I will destroie death for euer and I will wipe awaie the teares from all faces and I will take awaie the rebuke of my people for euer These things be manifest but Osee in the place now brought did more vehementlie and effectuallie speake the same From the hand of the sepulchre will I deliuer them Ose 13 14. and from death will I redeeme them O death I will be thy plague O graue I will be thy destruction verse 54 This place did Paule vse in the 15. of the first to the Corinthians as an euident testimonie Neither must it mooue vs that he followed not the Hebrue veritie but the Gréeke interpretors for albeit he change the words yet he departed not from the sense The translation of the seuentie interpretors was then better knowen and was well-néere in all mens hands and so Paule dooth sometimes vse the same that euen the Gentils might vnderstand that those things which he taught were extant in the holie scriptures But as to the meaning of the prophet thus it standeth He a little before had inueihed bitterlie against Ephraim that is against the kingdome of the ten tribes prophesieng destruction and most certeine ouerthrowe vnto them for their idolatrie and wicked life afterward he gaue the comfort which I haue rehearsed to wit that they should be deliuered and plucked out from death and from the graue But thou wilt saie How may it be that these things are not repugnant one with another namelie that they should be vtterlie cut off and that they should be deliuered But there must be a difference put betwéen the Israelits For on the one part manie of them were of a most obstinate mind cleauing vnto idolatrie and to most gréeuous sinnes to these belonged destruction bicause they repented not On the other side there were among them some good men holie men and true worshippers of God who notwithstanding that they were to be wrapped in other temporall calamities yet should they be deliuered and to them properlie belongeth the comfort which is brought But the aduersaries will yet vrge more earnestlie and saie We doo not read that the ten tribes were restored nor deliuered from the graue of their captiuitie some of them perhaps returned but they came not by great companies neither was anie more restored the kingdome of Ephraim that is of the ten tribes This indéed is true and therefore GOD in comforting them did not promise temporall redemption or the deliuerance of this life but the blessed resurrection with euerlasting felicitie And he saith that he will redéeme them from the graue and that he will deliuer them from death and saith that he will be the plague of death and the destruction of the graue A rule in reading of the prophets In reading of the prophets we must oftentimes vse this rule namelie that we should vnderstand threatenings to take place as
〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as Erasmus corrected it in his scholies to Ieronymus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is A preseruing place or séed-store of the dead And this he saith shall at the time of the last iudgement shoot foorth and bud out humane bodies but not flesh bones and bloud least in heauen we should haue néed of meat and drinke of mariages barbers and of handkerchers to wipe awaie the vncleanlines of the nose And when he denieth that the flesh shall returne he abuseth the words of Paule wherein he saith Rom. 8 8. that They which be in the flesh cannot please God For the apostle By flesh meant not in that place substance and nature but corruption viciousnesse and lewdnesse Euen as in the booke of Genesis GOD said Gen. 6 3. My spirit shall not rest vpon these men bicause they be flesh And by Paule it is written Rom. 8 9. But ye be not in the flesh but in the spirit if the spirit of Christ dwell in you Wherefore Origin iudged that the bodie of them that rise againe shall be Homogenium that is of one and the same nature Now saith he we sée with eies we heare with eares and we go with féet but then we shall sée heare and go with that whole bodie He moreouer abuseth the words of the same Paule vnto the Philippians when he said of Iesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Phil. 3 21. He shall transfigure the bodie of our humilitie For this he also vnderstandeth to be spoken of the nature substance of our bodie whereas it respecteth onelie the changing of qualities and conditions For the Gréeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence that verbe is deriued belongeth to the predicament of qualitie and so doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth Forme or Shape whereof is deriued 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to saie Conformed These things if Origin had weied he had not so foulie fallen as to saie that the bodies of them that rise againe shall be airie or elementall so as they should not be subiect either to séeing or féeling but shall be inuisible and vnpalpable Yet did he leaue them a place for he said that they should not be remooued according to the varietie of places where in the meane time they which confesse that flesh and bones shall be restored againe vnto vs doo take awaie place from them But I returne to Origin who teacheth that indéed the bodies shall rise againe but not the flesh But these are distinguished A distinction of the flesh from the bodie as the generall and the speciall kind for euerie flesh is a bodie but euerie bodie is not flesh For flesh is that whith consisteth of bloud and veines and skin and also of bones and sinews But of bodies some be airie or elementall such as Plato assigned to certeine spirits vnto our soules wherein as in a certeine chariot they should be caried and ioined to the outward bodie which is the more grosse and more earthie And those bodies which he imagined to be on this sort might not be either felt or perceiued There be also other bodies which may both be séene and felt when as yet they be no flesh as is a wall and wood which be sensible bodies and yet no flesh So as the bodie which is the generall word is drawen by the flesh into a speciall kind Which is prooued by the words of Paule vnto the Colossians Col. 1 21. who saith When ye were strangers from Christ and enimies by cogitation in euil works hath he yet now reconciled in the bodie of his flesh Col. 2 11. through death And in the same epistle With circumcision made without hands by putting off the bodie of flesh subiect to sinne This was the opinion of Origin out of the booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Ierom reporteth in his epistle against Iohn bishop of Ierusalem Origins error 63 He greatlie erred in manie things concerning this matter First he fondlie reasoneth of that séed-store of dead men remaining after death in the ashes of them that be departed For what néed is it to appoint an originall of the resurrection in the matter of our bodie The action of raising vp from the dead is all wholie in God neither are there anie powers of the bodie whereby it should spring vp againe And to note this by the waie A rule The fathers must be warilie read some of the ancient fathers must be read verie circumspectlie bicause they séeme to attribute vnto the Eucharist that which Origin hath assigned to reason and to a power ingraffed in the bodies which is not extinguished in them that be dead Of this matter did Irenaeus in his 4. Irenaeus Iustinus booke and Iustinus in his apologie vnto Antonius the emperor write and said that our bodies when they haue receiued the Eucharist Whether the Eucharist profit vnto the resurrection are no more mortall bicause that sacrament is become vnto our bodies a preseruer vnto life euerlasting If these things should properlie absolutelie be vnderstood as they séeme to be at the first sight as though they should teach that the bodie and bloud of Christ passeth into the true nourishment of bodies and so in them to be the beginning of the resurrection the opinion would be verie absurd For the verie meat of the bodie is concocted digested distributed among the parts and is also conuerted into the substance and nature of him which is nourished But the bodie of Christ being impassible cannot be changed into other bodies euen as also it cannot be buried with them Yet did those fathers trulie write so as their saiengs be fitlie vnderstood Wherefore let vs vnderstand that the faithfull in the supper of the Lord doo receiue bread and wine with the mouth of their bodie and they with their mind and spirit doo receiue the bodie bloud of Christ euen in such sort as he was giuen vpoÌ„ the crosse for our saluation and that in receiuing these things by faith we be iustified and regenerated or we be confirmed in righteousnes and spirituall birth But iustification and regeneration which be in the mind doo make the bodie it selfe capable of resurrection And in this respect we may saie that the outward elements which we receiue with our bodie are a preparatiue to the resurrection bicause they be instruments of the holie Ghost whereby he stirreth vp faith in vs which is the verie originall of resurrection 64 Herein moreouer Origin erred Corpus homogenâ—… in iudging that the bodie which he acknowledgeth in the resurrection shall be of one and the same nature so as the whole shall sée the whole shall heare and the whole shall go as though it shall not haue eies eares and féet distinct one from another Furthermore Matt. 17 2. Christ in his transfiguration when he gaue to his apostles a patterne of blessed bodies
almes must be bestowed bicause after death there is no place reserued for these actions And thus spake Christ in the Gospell of Iohn Now worke yee while it is daie otherwise the night will come wherein no man can worke Gregorius Neocaesariensis referreth the places which we haue alleged out of Ecclesiastes vnto Salomon who wrote these things of himselfe Bicause when he gaue himselfe to pleasures he in a maner felt his mind to grewe beastlie and to be infected with these cogitations namelie that the end of man and beasts should be all one that after this life in another world there remaineth not either cogitation or worke or wisedome or knowledge And assuredlie it commeth to passe that they which be occupied in such beastlie cogitations doo eftsoones euerie daie burne in the lusts of delights and doo more and more growe beastlie So as this interpretor dooth not thinke that these things were approoued by Salomon The booke Ecclesiastes is thought to be the repentance of Salomon whom he thinketh to make report of the things which he affected of old and of the which he repented bicause this booke of Ecclesiastes is accounted among the Iewes The Repentance of Salomon Wherefore the voluptuous and delicate men to confirme themselues in their beastlinesse doo saie that as well men as beasts doo die that there shall nothing remaine after this life Let vs vse therefore no measure in carnall and earthlie delights and as Paule said 1. Co. â—5 3â— Let vs eate and drinke for to morowe we shall die Also Olympiodorus an interpretor of the booke of Ecclesiastes saith The saleâ—… of Olympodorus that First these things doo belong vnto the life of the bodie wherein as it hath béene said manie qualities are common as well to men as beasts Secondlie that they which bend themselues wholie to pleasures and deligths doo rather approch to the nature of brute beasts And therefore he will haue vs here to be admonished that we should withdrawe our selues from these things least we in our maners degenerate into brute beasts whereas we be made vnto the image of God and ordeined to become one daie like vnto angels Lastlie he interpreteth them to be men which rightlie vse reason but those to be beasts which haue vtterlie addicted themselues to flesh and affections But who saith he knoweth those men which belong vnto the one sort or those which belong vnto the other séeing the conditions of men are secret and hidden So as it may be that Salomon spake these things vnder the person of voluptuous men or else as it séemed to Gregorius Neocaesariensis he had in remembrance his owne person 73 Iob in the 14. chapter verse 7 c. séemeth to make men of woorse condition than either trées cut downe the riuers and the sea For a trée cut downe springeth againe and returneth to his former state And riuers although through heat they be emptied of their waters yet are they abundantlie restored vnto them againe And the sea albeit euerie six houres it depart from the drie land yet couereth it the same againe But it fareth not so with man when he is dissolued by death bicause he returneth no more neither is he restored to his former state These things dooth Iob there lament and that trulie in verie déed if man should be considered in his owne proper nature namelie without the word of God and without Christ But if it be considered that euen he himselfe that was intangled in these things hath a baine wherein he being washed doth not onelie reuiue againe but returneth from death to life we must otherwise determine of him It is further to be noted that a time is limited wherein the dead returne not vnto life séeing it is there written Vntill that heauen shall passe awaie Ibidem 12. In which words are noted the end of the world Iob then denieth not but that men shall rise againe after heauen is passed awaie And much more doth he séeme to affirme this when in the same place he séemeth to compare death vnto sléepe and maketh mention of men that shall be wakened For sléepe is not perpetuall but herevnto is ordeined that it should be limited by watching Yea and he added in the same place Iob. 14 13. Who shall bring to passe that thou wilt hide me in the graue vntill thy wrath be ouerpast By which forme of speaking he sheweth that there will be an end of Gods wrath and that death shall once haue an end And yet more plainlie he saith Ibidem And to appoint a time wherein thou maist remember me And he afterward beareth record that he waiteth for a renewing And straitwaie he saith Thou shalt call me I will answer thee namelie I rising from the dead thou vndoubtedlie shalt stretch foorth â—…y right hand to thine owne workemanship Yea and some haue expounded the same place by an interrogatiue point as though it should be an argument from the lesse to the greater saieng Shall a tree cut downe a riuer and the sea be restored to their former state and man not attaine thereto It is not likelie seeing man is farre better than these things thou with no lesse care regardest him And vndoubtedlie Aben-Ezra granteth that the resurrection in that place is vnderstood But those things séeme to be somewhat more difficult which are spoken in the 7. chapter of the same booke Iob. 7 7. where he saith Mine eie shall not returne to see good things Howbeit this must be vnderstood as concerning the good things which perteine vnto this life For after the resurrection the dead shall not returne againe to eat to drinke to beget children as they did before while they liued here Moreouer he saith The eie shall see me no more Ibidem 8. which séemeth to be nothing else than that after this world there shall be no bargains couenants entercourse betwéene men as there was before To this he addeth verse 9. The cloud is gone and returneth no more euen so he that descendeth into the pit ascendeth not neither returneth to his owne house neither knoweth anie more his owne place 74 These things as I haue hitherto warned are spoken as touching the strength of nature and if a man be considered to be without God and Christ as he is in his owne nature corrupt and vnperfect and also if death and hell be weighed of according as they be indéed For these things cannot be ouercome by naturall strength Wherefore it is said that In hell there is no redemption bicause no man by the helpe of man or by the power of nature can be called backe from thence But if we embrace Christ with a perfect faith forsomuch as he ouercame sinne death and hell we haue thereby great redemption in him 1. Sam. 2 6. And in the booke of Samuel we read that It is God which leadeth vs downe vnto hell and bringeth vs backe againe Neither are we to
testifieth in his treatise De consolatione ad Martiam that they doo hoouer and be conuersant for a time in the aire where they should be thoroughlie cleansed and consumed whatsoeuer fowle and vnpure thing they had drawne vnto them through the vncleane contagion of their bodies and lusts and that when they be thoroughlie purified they shall be lifted vp euen vnto those spheres which are garnished with stars that they may thereby receiue most honest pleasure thorough beholding of celestiall things but yet that at the last they shall be dissolued and extinguished Againe I am not ignorant that Cicero in his booke De somno Scipionis affirmed that The soule of that excellent man Scipio was among the stars from whence he should not onelie behold celestiall things but also shuld sée the earth like a verie little point in the centre of the world should sée that men doo so greatlie busie themselues to amplifie their possession or empire in a part that is both least and lowest of all the world But these be fables and fond deuises of Ethniks And yet doo I not affirme this as though I were of the opinion that God cannot preserue human bodies either in the aire or within these visible circles of the heauens Howbeit of that which God is able to doo cannot be concluded that it is doone for he is able to doo manie things which neuerthelesse he hath decréed not to doo Whether Henoch and Elias were carried into the high seats of the blessed saints 5 Now resteth the third signification of heauen and there remaineth to be considered whether these two men when they were taken awaie from hence were carried to the high seats of the blessed saints Which séemeth not to be bicause bodies enter not in thither before they be glorified which thing the scripture hath attributed to neither of these two Christ first of all indued with immortalitie 1. Co. 15 20 Hervnto moreouer is added that Christ being raised from the dead immortalitie was first of all other attributed vnto him for he is the first fruits of the dead But when as these things were doone the sonne of GOD had not as yet taken humane flesh vpon him much lesse was he entered with his bodie into heauen And Irenaeus himselfe in his treatise against heresies attributeth so much vnto Christ in this matter as he thinketh that the soules of the christians departed doo not enter into those blessed seats before the resurrection when they shall put on their bodies anew bicause Christ also was not lifted vp thither till after the resurrection How true his iudgement was hereof I stand not to dispute but I easilie gather that it is no fit thing that these two were carried vnto the blessed places before that Christ who is the first fruits of all men had gone thither The words also of the Lord séeme to persuade this who in the Gospell of Iohn saith Iohn 3 13. No man ascendeth vp to heauen but he that hath descended from heauen euen the sonne of man which is in heauen Whereby he denieth that anie ascended into heauen before himselfe for by the verbe of ascending in that place he hath respect vnto the preterperfect tense For if it should be vnderstood in the future tense or time to come that saieng would not be true for we which beléeue in him shall ascend into heauen Neither dooth it weaken the testimonie alreadie brought if anie shall saie that Christ ascended into heauen by his owne power and strength but that Henoch and Elias were lifted vp into heauen by the power of God and not by their owne strength bicause also the bodie of Christ had not this power that he might ascend vp of himselfe that is of the nature of flesh but of the diuine nature These arguments came now vnto mind as touching the thrée significations of heauen The opinions of certeine learned men concerning the taking vp of Henoch and Elias 6 Now let vs come to recite the sundrie opinions of learned men Dauid Kimhi not the meanest interpretor of the Hebrues thinketh that In the taking vp of Elias his garments were consumed with fire except his mantle which fell from him yea and that himselfe was extinguished so that euerie one of the elements of his bodie was dissolued and returned to the element like vnto it selfe but that his spirit went into heauen vnto the societie of angels and there enioied the high felicitie Of the verie same mind Oecolampadius a man singularlie well learned séemeth to be when he expoundeth the end of the prophet Malachie And as concerning Henoch the Hebrues thinke that he died But where it is said that he was taken vp or receiued by God that commeth to passe by reason he departed before the time of nature had appointed For he liued onelie thrée hundred and thrée score yéeres when as his forefathers before the floud liued vntill eight hundred and nine hundred yéeres And they adde that he although he were well accepted with God yet that he was prone vnto sinne and that therefore God fauouring him would haue him to depart with a sharpe and vntimelie death And perhaps some would wrest vnto this purpose that which is written in the booke of Wisdome the 4. verse 11. chapter He was speedilie taken awaie that wickednes should not alter his hart But contrariwise men of our religion doo thinke that this was appointed vnto Henoch bicause he was an excellent man and that God would therefore make his end to be famous by a wonderfull taking of him awaie But if the soule so separated from the bodie ascended to the seats of the blessed doubtles it must néeds be that the bodies did penetrate the celestiall spheres séeing we affirme those seats to be aboue all the heauens But we must vnderstand that the masse and greatnes of bodies do indéed hinder bodies that they cannot passe through but spirits which be without a bodie are not hindered by them 7 Others doo saie that they were brought into a verie quiet state and to a blessed condition But if thou vrge them to define the place their mind is Earthlie paradise Looke part 1. pla 12. Art 29. that they be in earthlie paradise where Adam and his wife Eue were placed at the beginning This opinion séemeth but little to be allowed of bicause that same paradise was destroied by the floud neither is it anie more extant at this daie For the waters of the floud passed manie cubites aboue the tops of the highest hils Albeit some of the Schoole-diuines thinke that by a certeine priuiledge the waters were forbidden that they should not touch the garden of pleasures And they bring a reason that the waters of the flud were sent for the punishment of sinners but at that time there liued none in paradise but Henoch togither perhaps with some angels Wherfore they conclude that that place was not destroied by the waters And among others Scotus defendeth this
manner of helps we haue by the creatures which we presentlie lead is by them nourished and sustained Secondlie also the mind is holpen that by these visible creatures it may arise to the contemplation of God as Paule teacheth in the first chapter of the epistle to the Romans Rom. 1 19. But when we shal be once in the blessed state we shall haue no more néed of the helps of creatures for we shall then inioie immortalitie neither shall we be anie more vexed with hunger or thirst or cold or such other discommodities And as touching the knowledge of GOD we shall sée him face to face But saie they séeing the corporall eie cannot atteine to the essence of God 1. Cor. 13 2. The corporall eie cannot atteine to the essence of God as Augustine verie well teacheth in his booke De videndo Deo therefore least the eye should be destitute of a fit delectation vnto it shal be offered then a woonderfull adorning of the heauens beautie of things now renewed that it may haue not onelie wherewith to delight and reioise it selfe but also an occasion to woonder at the power and infinit wisdome of God These things I grant indéed are probable but they are not confirmed by the holie scriptures Neither dooth it sufficientlie appéere that séeing the bodie of Christ and infinite bodies of iust men more brighter than the sunne it selfe shal be looked vpon by the eies of the blessed what delectation the beholding of the creatures restored can bring ouer and besides Wherefore the plainnesse and simplicitie of the Maister of the sentences liketh me well when he saith he knoweth not that which he remembreth not that he had read in the holie scriptures I would to God that in defining of other things he would haue vsed the like modestie and faithfulnesse 18 But as touching the actions of creatures whether they shal be perpetuall or no we cannot define anie thing for a certeintie The angell indéed in the Apocalypse sweareth by him that liueth world without end Apoc. 10 6. there shall be no more time Wherevpon some doo gather that the motion of the celestiall spheres shall then cease If time haue an end whether motion shall also cease bicause time is the number of motion But this reason is not firme for it may be that the heauens shall mooue but yet by reason of that great light of the bodie of Christ and of the bodies of all the blessed and of the sunne and moone it cannot be well obserued So that motion may indure although there be no time for time is not but by obseruing and numbring of motion But they adde also an other reason that heauen shall therefore cease from motion bicause the continuall courses doo further vnto the preseruing of generation and corruption of inferiour things Wherefore séeing there shal be no more generation or corruption there shall be no néed then of the motion of heauen The reason in verie déed is probable but not necessarie for that celestiall motion although it serue not to generation and corruption yet maie it serue vnto some other purpose which we are ignorant of Howbeit this séemeth to me most certeine and which ought in anie wise to be affirmed that these natures of things shall not remaine at the last daie vnlesse they shall haue some vse For it is both against nature and common reason to appoint anie thing which is altogither idle but what works GOD will appoint vnto these things we willinglie grant our selues to be ignorant 19 Now let vs sée as touching the substance and nature of things Whether the substance and nature of things shall be changed 2 Pet. 3 7. and 11. whether the same shall be preserued after the daie of iudgement This dooth Peter in his latter epistle séeme to denie for he saith that The heauens shall suddenlie perish and like a showre and that the elements with great heate shall melt awaie But Augustine in the twentieth booke De ciuitate Dei the 16. and 24. chapters saith that Peter maketh a comparison with those heauens which perished in the time of the floud which cannot otherwise be vnderstood than of the regions of the aire wherein raine and tempests are commonlie ingendered These heauens were after the floud put againe in their places and restored by the word of God and are now reserued vnto fire Yea and Peter addeth afterward Ibidem 13. that We according to the promise shall haue a new heauen and a new earth That promise was made in the 65. chapter of Esaie verse 17. Apoc. 21 1. and repeated in the 21. chapter of the Apocalypse although it be there written of the sea that it shall haue no more being But Augustine in the 16. chapter which we now cited doubteth whether those words must be so vnderstood as though the sea should vtterlie cease to be as being now sucked and dried vp with the burnings or whether indéed it shall remaine but yet renewed and changed Augustine in the same place saith that No man so far as he can tell knoweth what burning fire that same shall be or from whence it shall come Of the burning fire at the worlds end Neuerthelesse at this daie the Schoole-men haue not doubted at all to fansie fable infinite things as touching that matter For some saie that that fire shal be elementarie fire which shall come downe by the cōmandement of God and burne althings Others dreame that the beams of the sun shall by reuerberation be multiplied that by them all things may be kindled euen as we sée it come to passe when the sunne beames doo strike vpon a glasse of stéele if a little flax be put therevnto it will be burned Augustine addeth that the elements shall then put off those qualities which were before agreable to our corrupt bodies but shall put on other bodies which may be fit for our immortall and glorified bodies that the world being renewed may be aptlie applied vnto men being made new by immortalitie But here I would gladlie demand of Augustine whether he will appoint that the bodies of saints after iudgement shall liue in the world Which thing if he affirme he shall séeme to make with the sect called Millenarije but if he denie this and doo hold which we beléeue that our bodies shall be caught vp into heauen what maner of application of the qualities of the elements shall this be vnto our immortall bodies Vnlesse perhaps he will saie that although these things shall nothing further our immortalitie yet there shall be a certeine analogie proportion betwéene them being now made immortall and our bodies glorified For if those things were as Chrysostome saith for our sinnes made subiect to corruption it is méet that we being deliuered from death they also should be deliuered from the burthen of corruption 20 Neither doubtlesse is that Gen. 8 22. A place of Genesis declared which is written in the booke of
fathers were baptised and had one and the same spirituall meate and one and the same spirituall drinke which we now haue And on the other side Col. 2. 11 to the Colossians he calleth our baptisme circumcision for he saith that we are circumcised in Christ but yet with a circumcision not made with handes by putting off the bodie of the sinnes of the flesh In which place he ascribeth vnto circumcision the putting off of sinnes But they thinke that this maketh against vs which is read in the viii Verse 13. The 3. obiection Chapter to the Hebrewes In that he saith New he hath abolished that which was before But that which is abolished and waxen olde is euen readie to vanish away Of these wordes they conclude that the olde Testament is vtterly abolished Whether the old Testament bâ— vtterlie abolished And this say they could not be possible if the substance thereof were one and the same with the substance of the new But these men ought to haue considered that the substance of the old Testament is not abolished In déede ceremonies are abolished as touching the outward signes howbeit the signification of them abideth the selfe same that it was Iudiciall preceptes also although in our dayes they be not all had in vse yet the summe and principall scope of them is still retained namely that sinnes should be punished and Iustice preserued in common wealthes But the sense and obseruation of morall preceptes remaineth still perfect and whole although they no more either accuse or condemne the conscience to the destruction of the elect 11 But they say that Augustine also is against our opinion The 4. obiection For in his Preface vpon the 73. Psalme thus he writeth That the sacraments of the olde Fathers promised a sauiour but ours giue saluation But by these wordes Augustine meant onely to put a distinction betwéene the maner whereby the Sacramentes of the olde Fathers signified Christ in one sort and ours in another sort for they so represented Christ as him that should one day come ours doe so represent him as now alreadie come For how coulde Augustine thinke that the sacraments of the olde Fathers did by no meanes giue a sauiour when as he most manifestly testifieth that the fathers in the Manna had the selfe same Christ which we now haue in the Eucharist And in his Booke De nuptijs concupiscentia ad Valerium and other places he oftentimes confesseth that the olde Fathers were by circumcision deliuered from originall sinne Bede also vppon Luke affirmeth the selfe same thing and saieth that circumcision differed nothing from Baptisme as touching remission of sinnes but onely that it opened not the gates of the kingdome of heauen for to the performaunce of that the death of Christ was looked for Touching this surely I will not much contend so that it be graunted that those fathers being dead in what place soeuer they were were in the presence and sight of God in happy state For they had without all doubt the fruition of God neither is it to be thought that they could be forsaken of him in whom they beléeued But that they were caried vp into heauen Where the Fathers were before Christs ascension before Christ ascended vp I knowe the Fathers doe denie neither doe I therein any thing contend against them But let vs returne vnto that that these fathers of their owne accord graunt namely that circumcision toke away originall sinne Howe then can they say that Christ by circumcision was not giuen at all For what remission of sinnes could there be without Christ The Maister of the sentences verie absurdly thinketh An error of the Master of the Sentences that circumcision had the power of remitting of sinnes but not of conferring of grace as though forsooth remission of sinnes can be had without grace They also feigne that the sacraments of the Gospell had their force by the death of Christ and forasmuch as this death is now accomplished therefore are they of more efficacie and of more force than the sacraments of the old Fathers as in whose time the price of the death of Christ was not yet payed But this their opinion whereby they appoint the force of the merite of the passion of Christ to be but for a time cannot be but absurde For of what more force to saue is the death of Christ nowe that it is alreadie past than it was in the old time when it was looked for to come Vndoubtedly on echeside is required faith whereby assuredly we doe no lesse comprehend things to come The death of Christ was of efficacie euen before it was performed than we do things past But if we wil say that God hath a respect vnto the sacrifice of his sonne offered vpon the Crosse vndoubtedly this was from all eternitie and before the foundations of the world were laide ratified most fully accepted of him Of Christ also it is written in the Apocalips Apoc. 13. 2. That the lambe was slaine from the beginning of the world And whereas they say The 6 obiection that circumcision had the power to take awaie originall sinne from whence I pray you had it such great power but from the death of Christ Doubtlesse our Baptisme so agréeth with circumcision that Augustine against the letters of Petelianus in his second booke and 72. Arâ—aâ—gâ—… from Circumcision to baptisme Why rebaptization shold not bâ— Chapter and in other places prooueth that the sacrament of Baptisme ought not to be renued because circumcision in the old time was not renued if a man had receaued it of the Samaritanes and did afterwarde betake himselfe to the sincere Religion of Ierusalem 12 But amongst other things this séemeth not a little to haue mooued our aduersaries Gal. 4. 9. for that it is written vnto the Galathians of the ceremonies of the old Fathers How the sacraments of the old fathers were weake and bâ—ggerlie elements of the world that they were weake beggerly elements of the world But these words of Paul are to be vnderstoode of those old sacraments which are nowe abrogated by Christ Or if this answere like not then vnderstand Paule so to speake of the sacraments of the olde fathers as he saw the Iewes at that time vsed them namelie without Christ or his promise But the first answere is both truer and plainer for that place And if a man demaund how it commeth to passe Why 〈◊〉 sacraments were in the law than in the Gospel that the sacraments of the olde Fathers were more in number than ours this question may be easily answered Namely that the Church was than beginning neither did they know so many things of Christ as are made open vnto vs nowe that he is come into the world and hath finished the sacrifice so long looked for Wherefore it was requisite that God should at that time by many ceremonies and images shadowe one and the
perceaued to be doone And if any at any time haue bin conuerted vnto Christ they perceaued that their minde and their lyfe was changed from the former conuersation But here is nothing perceiued of these miracles which they imagin Onely they be talked of but can be prooued by no reason or experience or scripture Vnto these thinges that haue béene alreadie said adde that the breaking of bread is after the same manner vnto the death and passion of Christ as bread is vnto the bodie But breaking as they themselues also affirme is a Sacrament and signe of the passion of Christ and yet for all that it is not so to be transubstantiated as it maketh the same to be truely and reallie present therefore neither shall the bread be so changed into the body as it may make the same to be present reallie And then forasmuch as this opinion hath naught else but contention of wordes and inexplicable difficulties it furthereth not vnto godlynesse 23 But now let vs consider of the Fathers whether they so iudge or no. Irenaeus against the Valentiniā hereticks Ireneus The earthly bread saith he when it hath receaued that facultie from the word of God it is no more common bread but is made the Eucharist which consisteth of two thinges to wit earthlie and heauenlie First of all he denieth not the Eucharist to be bread except thou make it cōmon bread Afterward he saith that it consisteth of two thinges whereof the one is terrestriall as bread the other celestiall as the bodie of Christ And as on the one part is retained the trueth to wit as touching the bodie of the Lorde so in the other part it is to be preserued namely as touching bread And he addeth by a similitude euen so our bodies receauing the same be no more corruptible Tertullian Tertullian in his first booke against Marcion saith that God cast not away bread being his creature séeing in it he represented his bodie And in the 4. booke against the same Marcion He receiuing bread distributing to his disciples made the same to be his bodie saying This is my body that is a figure of my body But a figure it should not be vnlesse it were a bodie of the trueth Origen vpon the booke of Numbers Origen Homilie 16. We are said to drinke the bloud of Christ not onely by the rite of the Sacramentes but also when we receaue his word The very which thing Ierom also wrote sometimes vppon Ecclesiast the 3. Chapter The same Origen vpon Matthew the 26. Chapter This bread which God being the word confesseth to be his body is a nourishing word of soules Vppon Leuiticus the 7. Homilie For there is in the Gospell also a letter that killeth not in the olde Testament onelie For if according to the letter thou followe that which is said Vnlesse ye shall eate my flesh so foorth And in the same booke homilie the 9. Doe not thou stand in a doubt in the bloud of the flesh but learne rather the bloud of the word and heare him speaking vnto thée For this is my bloud which is shed for you Origen vpon Matthew the 15. Chapter The bread sanctified as touching that which it hath materiall passeth into the bellie and is cast out into the draught And straightway after Not the matter of the bread but the word spoken ouer the same is it that profiteth yet not him that vnwoorthilie eateth it vnto the Lord. The same father against Celsus the 8. booke When as we haue giuen thankes for the benefites bestowed vppon vs we eate the loaues that be offered Cyprian 24 Cyprian in the sixt Epistle of the first booke vnto Magnus saith The Lord calleth his body breade which is kneaded together by the vniting of many graines and he calleth his bloud wine that is pressed out of clusters and many grapes And when he interpreteth the Lordes prayer he calleth the bodie of the Lorde breade And in his sermon de coena Domini he saith that we do not sharpen the téeth but onely we breake and eate that breade with a syncere faith And in his sermon de Chrismate he saith manifestly that Sacraments haue names of those thinges which they signifie Which two sayings it séemeth that Augustine borowed of him The later in his epistle to Bonifacius But when he saith the other Why preparest thou thy téeth or belly beléeue and thou hast eaten that he hath in the 25. treatise vpon Iohn But the same Cyprian in the thirde epistle and second booke vnto Coecilius In wine he saith is shewed the bloud of the Lord. And against the Aquarii he saith that the bloud of Christ cannot séeme to be present in the cup if the wine cease to be therin which by these mens transubstantiation doth come to passe And in his sermon de coena Domini he writeth that the signes are changed into the body of Christ but so as he taketh a similitude of Christ himselfe in whom the humane nature appéered and the diuine nature lay hidden By which similitude thou séest that he would that as in Christ remained the two natures so they are preserued in this sacrament And Cyprian in his third Epistle and second booke By this reason neither can the body of the Lord be in meale alone or in water alone vnlesse both of them shal be vnited and coupled together and made firme into a lumpe of one loafe wherby also in the sacrament it selfe our people is saide to be vnited And Athanasius expounding those wordes Athanasius If any man shall speake a worde against the Sonne of man it is forgiuen him but he that shal speake against the holy Ghost it shal not be forgiuen him neither in this world nor yet in the world to come he writeth And how great a body should be néedful vnto this that the world should eate of it But he inferreth that the thing must be vnderstood spiritually and that therfore the Lorde in that place against the Capernaits made mention of his ascension Basil Basil in his Liturgie calleth bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is an example of the like forme of the body of Christ and that after the wordes of consecration Dionysius Dionysius de Hierarchia Ecclesiastica the thirde chapter The Bishop openeth the bread hidden and vndiuided and cutteth it into morsels 25 Ambrose in his exposition of the first Epistle to the Corinthians Ambrose 1. Co. 11. 25 when he speaketh of doing this in remembrance of Christ and his death saith that we in eating and drinking of the flesh and bloud of Christ doe signifie the things that be offred And again about the selfe same place he saith that we take it into the mysticall cup for a figure of Christ his bloud And in the fourth booke the fourth chapter where he putteth a changing of the signes he intreateth also of our changing into Christ and yet it is not affirmed that
they which receiue the Sacrament be transubstantiated And the same Father in the same fourth booke de Sacramentis the fourth chapter This we adde moreouer How can it be that which is bread should by consecration be the body of Christ And straight way If there be so great a strength in the worde of the Lorde as things should begin to be which were not how much rather is the worde so effectuous that the things which were may remaine and yet be changed into an other thing Ierome vpon Matthew saith plainly Chrysost that in breade and wine are represented the body and bloud of the Lord. Chrysostome vpon the later Epistle vnto the Corinthians saith that not alonely that which is set before vs vpon the table is the body of Christ but also the poore people vnto whom we are bound to do good bicause euen he that saith This is my body said also by his word that he receiueth almes and is néedie in the poore In his eleuenth homily vpon Matthew in his worke which is called vnperfect he saith that in the holy vessels there is not the body of Christ and the bloud of Christ but a mysterie of the body and bloud of Christ Also vpon the twelfth chapter of the seconde Epistle to the Corinthians the 27. homilie Euen as Christ both in the breade and in the cup said Do this in the remembrance of me The same father vpon the 22. psalme vpon these wordes Thou hast prepared a table in my sight As it is shewed vnto vs that there is euery day in the sacrament breade and wine according to the order of Melchisedech vnto thē similitude of the body and blood of Christ Emisenus whom they cite de Consecratione distinct Emisenus 2. And he séemeth to put a change of the signes euen the selfesame man maketh mention of our changing into Christ Augustine 26 Augustine hath many testimonies of this matter vpon the 82. psalme This that ye sée ye shal not eate neither shall ye drinke this bloud which they wil powre out it is a mysterie that I speake vnto you which if it be spiritually vnderstood it wil quicken you De Trinitate the thirde booke and tenth chapter The breade for this purpose made is eaten vp in receiuing of the sacrament Neither is there any cause why the Bishop of Rochester should go about to draw this saying vnto the Shewbreade for we haue shewed elsewhere by diuers arguments that his interpretation is not right First bicause if thou follow the plaine sense and that sense which at the first view offereth it selfe vnto thée and which the wordes make shew of thou shalt manifestly perceiue that the spéech is of the Eucharist And Erasmus in the books of Augustine which he mended wrote in the margēt Eucharist Further a litle after in the same chapter while he treateth of the same thing he maketh so euident mention of the Eucharist as euen the aduersarie cannot deny it And of the same Eucharist he had written before in the fourth chapter of that booke when he began the same treatise Adde herewithall that expresly in these wordes which we haue in hande it is plainly called a sacrament which if he had meant that it should be vnderstoode in common it had béene no lesse agréeable vnto those things that he had reckened before namelie vnto the brasen serpent and to the stone erected by Iacob than vnto the Shewbreade But in those wordes he expressed not this worde Sacrament which afterward that we may vnderstande hee speaketh of the Eucharist hee would not suppresse Lastly he saith The breade made for this purpose is eaten vp in the sacrament which agréeth not with the Shewbreade for that was not made to this ende that it should be eaten but that they béeing set vpon the table should remaine before the Lord wherfore they be called in the Hebrew Panim Afterward it came to passe that without regarde or by hap they were eaten least happily it shold putrifie before the Lord. For therefore it was changed euery wéeke And when it had béen once dedicated vnto God he would haue this honor to be giuen vnto it that it should be eaten of the Priests But the breade of our Eucharist was verily made to this purpose that in receauing of the sacrament it should be eaten And vnto the arguments already said I ad one more strong than the rest For Augustine saith in the present tence It is eaten and not It was eaten which it behooued to haue béen if he had spoken of a figure and ceremonie of the olde testament De Fide ad Petrum the 19. chapter he calleth it a sacrament of breade and wine As touching the memory and death of Christ he aboundantly instructed the same Peter in the faith but of this transubstantiatiō which these men so greatly vrge at this day he speaketh not one worde Against Faustus in the 20. booke the 21. chapter he saith that the flesh and bloud of Christ was promised to vs in the olde testament vnder the similitude of sacrificed beasts vpon the crosse it was giuē in very déede but he saith that in the sacrament it was celebrated by a memoriall And in the 21. booke De Ciuitate dei the 25. chapter he plainely affirmeth that the wicked doe not eate the matter of the sacrament that is the bodie of Christ For he is not to be accompted saith he to eate the bodie of Christ which is not in the bodie of Christ And he in whom Christ abideth not neither doeth he abide in Christ And the like wordes he hath in the 20. treatise vpō Iohn but in the 30. treatise he saith that the body of Christ is in some certaine place in heauen but that his truth is euery where spread which he therfore speaketh bicause truth is spirituall and is alwaies present with the faithfull And communicants wheresoeuer they be do confesse Christ and beléeue that he had a true body no feined body as the heretikes thought 27 Against Adamantus the Maniche the 12. Chapter he writeth The Lord doubted not to say This is my bodie when as yet he gaue a signe of his bodie Neither maketh it any matter if thou say he gaue both the signe and the thing signified for Augustine had not respect vnto this but he would shew that the saying is figuratiue and like vnto another which he alleageth out of Deuteronomie The bloud is the life Deu. 12. 23. Therefore he said the Lord doubted not because in tropes or figures we dare doe something In his 3. Booke of Christian doctrine the 16. Chapter he shewed that it was a figuratiue kinde of spéeche which wee haue in the 6. of Iohn Verse 35. to wit Vnlesse yee shall eate the flesh of the sonne of man c. because a wicked thing séemeth to be commanded For it is more haynous to eate the flesh of man than to kil him and to drinke bloud than to shed
ouerthrowe heretikes I on the other part say that vnlesse wee vse figures as it appeareth in those things which we haue cited a little before the Heretickes haue the ouer hand For they also will vrge the proper sense that sense I meane which straightwaie offereth it selfe Onely this remaineth to shewe that such a phrase and figuratiue spéeche is verie often in the holy scriptures Such figuratiue speeches as this are most familiar in the scriptures Luke 8. 11. and this will easilie be doone Wee reade that The seede is the word of God The rocke was Christ Albeit I knowe some doe cauill 1. Cor. 10. 4 and woulde no figure to be héere also because Paul tended his spéeche vnto the spirituall rocke which they say is Christ verilie and not figuratiuelie Howbeit Augustine and Origen bee on our side who plainely say that the same outward Rocke signified Christ But least we might séeme to shift off that which is obiected wée say that if they will vnderstand The spirituall Rocke let them also in this place vnderstand spirituall and allegoricall bread and as touching the same wee shall truely and without figure confesse it to be Christ Moreouer the Lord said I haue chosen you twelue and one of you is a Diuell Iohn 6. 70. yet was not Iudas therefore transubstantiated into a diuell Of Circumcision it is written My Couenant shall be in your flesh Ioh. 17. 13. whereas the Circumcision is not the couenant but onely a signe of the Couenant Verse 20. In the 33. Chapter of Genesis it is shewed that Iacob builded an Aultar which he called the mightie God of Israel Exo. 17. 15. And Moses in Exodus after the victorie against Amaleck called the Aultar which he builded Iehouahnesi Ier. 23. 6. God my banner and Ieremie maketh mention of a Citie that was called Iehouah Zidkenu God our righteousnesse because these shoulde bee Monuments of those things which they expressed in names Iohn 5. 35. Of Iohn Baptist it is written that he was a burning and a shining Candle also Mat. 17. 12 he is Helias if ye will receiue him Christ saieth of himselfe Iohn 15. 1. I am the vine and ye bee the branches Iohn 10. 7. 1. Pet. 2. 6. I am the doore Of himselfe also it is written that Hee is a stone set for a ruine and resurrection Deu. 12. 23. In Deuteronomie The bloud is the life Whereas it is that wherewith the life is preserued and signified Gen. 37. 37 Of Ioseph his brother Iudas saide Let him not be slaine he is our flesh By which phrase of spéech was signified the naturall coniunction of kindred 1. Co. 10. 17 Paul saieth That manie be one bread which we must vnderstand figuratiuelie And Christ breathed vpon his Disciples and saide Ioh. 20. 22. Receiue ye the holie Ghost Yet is not the breathing transubstantiated into the holie Ghost In Genesis Gen. 6. 3. My spirit shall not abide in man because he is flesh And in Iohn The word became flesh Iohn 1. 14. wherein is the figure Synecdoche for the whole man is vnderstoode vnder the name of flesh And the Lorde vppon the Crosse saide Woman behold thy sonne Ioh. 19. 26. and to the Disciple Behold thy mother yet were they not transubstantiated they remained the same that they were before but there was appointed a new order a new relation and respect to be had betwéene them Of Christ it is said That he is our peace Ephe. 2. 14. whereas he is onlie the cause of our peace Againe Iohn 6. 62. My words be spirit and life whereas they only signified or brought these things vnto the beléeuers Iohn 1. 29. Iohn said of Christ Behold the lamb of God yet was not his nature changed into the nature of a Lambe 36 We reade euerie where in the holie scriptures Psal 19. 10. Psal 105. 5. 118. v. 13 that the wordes of the Lorde are iudgement trueth righteousnesse whereas these things be therein onely signified and expressed And this similitude doeth excellently well agrée with the sacraments which are said to be visible wordes Wee haue in the Apocalips I am Alpha and Omega that is Apoc. 1. ◠the beginning and ende of all things And Paul saieth of his Gospell which he preached It is the power of God to saluation vnto euerie one that beleeueth Rom. 1. 16 whereas it is onelie the instrument whereby the power of God declareth it selfe vnto men that shall be saued And as touching the Gospell of the crosse he saieth 1. Cor. 1. 21. That vnto the vngodly it is foolishnesse that is it signifieth a foolish thing vnto that kinde of men But he addeth Ibid. 24. That vnto the godlie it is the power and wisedome of God because it representeth these things vnto them And as touching the lawe it is said Deu. 30. 15 that He set before the Hebrewes life death blessing and cursing that is by signification of the lawe by the promises threatenings which were expressed in the same In the Booke of Genesis the vij Gen. 41. 26 kine and the vij eares of corne are saide to bee the vij yeares 1. Kings 11. 31. and this was as touching the signification Ahia the Prophet of Silo gaue vnto Ieroboam ten péeces of his torne mantell said that he gaue him the kingdome of the x. Tribes Ver. 10. In the first Epistle to the Corinthians the xj Chapter Paul wrote that the woman ought to haue on her head power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a couer whereby the power of the husband is signified And in the second Epistle to the Corinthians it is written 2. Cor. 5. 21 That God made Christ to bee sinne namely as touching the similitude and representation of the flesh Leuit. 7. v. 2. 7. 37. Osee 4. 8. Yea and the sacrifice which was offered for sinnes is called sinne And the Priests were saide to eate the sinnes of the people that is the sacrifices which were offered for the sinnes of the people In Ezechiel it is written Eze. 36. 25 I will poure vpon you pure water and by water he signifieth the holy Ghost The verie which thing we reade of Christ when he saieth Iohn 4. 14. He that shall drinke of this water and the rest that followeth where the Euangelist calleth to minde that he spake of the spirit which they were to receiue Exo. 12. 27. Of the Lambe we read that it was called the Passeouer although some indeuour to denie it But in the Hebrewe it is Zebah pesah hu The sacrifice is the Passouer By sacrifice cannot otherwise be vnderstoode but eyther the beast slaine for sacrifice or else the same action of offering the slaine beast Euen so we haue the bodie of Christ expressed both in the bread and in the wine and in the action aswell of eating as of
this word Missa for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For thus it is in Gréeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is that perfect thāks giuing was renued straightway after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that is It is not lawfull without the Byshop either to baptise either to offer either to make sacrifice or to end the feast And this is the Gréeke prayer of Ignatius wherein as appeareth there is no mention of Masse Leo. Also Leo is cited in the 9 Epistle to Dioscorus wherein I confesse that that father made mention of Masse but yet so as he very much repugneth priuate Masses For he was demaunded when the Church was not so great as it might containe all the people which came while the Communion was ministring An argument against priuate masses what should be doone with the rest of the multitude which taried abroad and could not be present Leo answereth when that part of the people shall be gone foorth which was presēt at the holy seruice it should be lawfull for them which succéeded to beginne againe the holy seruice But if the priuate Masses had bin in vse what néed would there haue bin to aske Leo coūsell for that matter Assuredlie this demaund is a tokē sufficient the Masse was not accustomed to be doone but once 4 They are woont also to bring Iohn Cassianus which liued in the time of Honorius Iohn Cassian and was driuen out of the Church of Ierusalem by heretikes and then he came to Massilia and was a Monke by profession He indeede maketh mention of Masse in his 3. booke the 7. and 8. Chapters but he wresteth the signification of that word far to an other purpose than to the holie communion For with him Masse is a perfection accomplishment and discharging Wherefore he saith we waite for the Masse of the congregation that is till the assemblie be discharged and dispatched And straight after Being cōtent with the sléepe which is graunted from the Masse of the watch vntill it be day Where by the Masse he vnderstandeth the time of watch wherein the watches are discharged then verilie it was lawfull for the Moonkes to sléepe vntill day light Neither are we to passe ouer that there is most manifest mention made of Masses in the exposition of the Prouerbes of Salomon the xi The exposition of the Prouerbs falselie ascribed to Ierom. Chapter which is ascribed vnto Ierom. Howbeit that booke without controuersie is none of Ieromes For Gregorie is there spoken of which liued long time after Augustine and Ierome Bruno Amerbachius in an Epistle which he put before his booke saith he saw in an olde coppy that interpretatiō to be intituled vnto Bede Which if it were it séemeth no maruell that he made mention of Masses In the time of Bede were crept in many abuses in the Church For in that age wherein Bede the Priest liued many abuses were now crept into the Church But I therefore put you in minde of this because in that place that supposed Ierome affirmeth that the soules of them that be departed are drawē out of purgatorie by the celebration of Masses Ierome is not so accustomed to speake 5 It resteth that we declare From whence Masse taketh her name from whence the name of Masse which in déede is a Latine name may seeme to bee taken The auncient fathers who so shall diligently marke their writings haue saide Remisse Remissa remissio Tertullian in stead of Remission Tertullian in his fourth Booke against Marcion page 249. We haue spoken saieth he of the Remisse of sinnes Cyprian De bono patientiae Cyprian Hee that was to giue the Remisse of sinnes in the fountaine of regeneration disdained not to be washed The same Father in the 14. Epistle the third Booke He that blasphemeth the holy Ghost hath not the Remisse of sinnes Therefore séeing in the steade of Remission they sayde Remisse they séeme also to haue vsed this worde Missa in the place of Mission And so that which was doone in the Church after the sending away of the Catechumeni Catechumeni they called Masse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to tell you that by the way is to teache and instruct especially by word of mouth and not by writings Wherfore they were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who were not yet washed with the fountaine of regeneration but were instructed as touching faith By Tertullian they were called Audients or Auditors and by Augustine Competents For before they should be Baptized at Easter they gaue their names for the space of 40. dayes before in which space of time they were instructed and by the Pastors of the Church not onely their faith but their life and manners were throughly tried But in the holie assembly when the holie Scriptures had béene recited and a sermon made the Deacon spake out with a loud voice Let the Catechumeni come foorth The Catechumeni those which would not communicate were sent away by the Deacons Cyril Gregorie and the Gretians saide 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Holie things to holie men according as it is gathered out of the ancient Liturgies and also out of Cyril vpon Iohn the 12. booke Chapter the 50. Yea and in the time of Gregorie as himselfe testifieth in the 2. booke Chapter the 23. of his dialogues it was said If any man communicate not let him giue place And that manner might haue séemed verie like to a certaine rite of the Ethnicks For in a certaine seruice of their Religion Fostus as Festus reporteth the officer saide Stand foorth thou vanquished Enimie and thou woman or virgin because in that diuine seruice it was forbidden vnto these kindes of persons to bée present Apuleius And Apuleius in his second booke saieth that the Priest when hee should begin the sacrifices was accustomed thus to say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is there Vnto whom it was aunswered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if it were saide Honest and good men when the polluted and vnworthie persons were gone foorth So was it doone in our Church for after that by the Deacon was vttered that voyce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Runnagates and penitentes went away thence Of these orders Dionysius maketh mention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were those which were vexed with ill Spirites Perhaps they were persons excommunicated séeing those at that time I meane in the primatiue Church were deliuered vnto Sathan Wherefore as it now appeareth by those things which we haue spoken the Latine Church called the celebration of the Sacrament of the Eucharist Missa Massa as it were Missio as it were Missio a sending away For somtime Ambrose also vsed this phrase Missas facere And vndoubtedlie this opinion I better allowe than the opinion of them which iudge that the name was deriued of the Hebrue worde Masse 6 But now that we haue intreated of the name of the Masse
shewe when they beate their children For by that meanes they omit not to prosecute them with fatherlie good will Torquatus put his sonne to death for the safetie of the Commonweale whome neuerthelesse he ceased not to loue as it became a father Augustine And Augustine against Faustus the 2. booke saith Exod. 32. ver 11. 25. Moses fiue manie thowsandes for the Idolatrie committed to the golden Calfe but that he kept charitie towardes them the prayers which he had before the slaughter of them doe declare If thou let them goe saith he it is well if not Ib. ver 32. wipe me out of the booke of life Yea and God himselfe which is the principall charitie punisheth his elect and chasticeth them but he ceaseth not to loue them 9 And when it is written Matt. 5. 38. You haue heard that it hath bin said An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but I say vnto you resist not euill at all We are not to beléeue that the olde lawe fauored priuate reuenge which in Leuiticus is in plaine wordes forbidden Leuit. 19. ver 18. Seeke not the reuenge of the Sonne of thy people Yea and rather charitie is commaunded towardes our enemie séeing euerie man is commaunded to take home vnto him his enemies Oxe and Asse that goeth astray Exod. 23. 4. 5. and to restore the same vnto the owner and also to helpe his enemies Asse if it should be fallen and pressed vnder his burden But in that lawe of rendring one for an other the Iudge was instructed what he should doe in the punishing of offences And Christ when he said But I say vnto you Matt. 5. 39. resist not euil amendeth the peruerse interpretation of the Scribes which taught men to come vnto iudgementes being led with a desire also of reuenge that they might craue of the Iudge An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth with the desire of reuenge Christ said The matter is not so As much as in thée is resist not euill Yet he forbiddeth not but that if thou for the benefit of an other and for the glorie of God wilt attempt the lawe it may be lawfull for thée Some obiect that God would that thou shouldest suffer the taking away of these goods to the intent that such and such might be punished If thou by iudgementes doost indeuour to withstand thou seemest now to resist the will of God Howbeit these men are grossely deceiued séeing it is no firme consequence God would that we should otherwhile be sicke therefore we must not vse Phisitions and medicines God will that both we should be sicke and that we should vse medicines because God hath prepared these thinges also and if thou apply not them thou shalt tempt him God will both that thou shouldest be sicke that through medicines thou be helped In lyke manner also he will that we should suffer some losse and that we should not turne vnto blasphemies against God but he will in like maner that we should not despise the remedies of the iudgements which he himselfe hath set foorth It is onely the minde of the vser that maketh these thinges either good or euill The Apostles who being sometime stirred vp with a desire of reuenge craued that fire might come downe from heauen against the Samaritans Luke 9. 55. were forbidden that they should so desire because they knewe not of what spirit they were But euen to the selfesame Apostles being now confirmed by the holie ghost and being voyde of perturbations of the minde it was graunted to slay by the word Acts. 5. 5. Acts. 13. 11 For Peter slew Ananias and Saphira Paul deliuered vnto Sathan and made Magus blinde The seuenteenth Chapter Of Warre or Battell In 2. Sa. 3. at the end Looke In Gen. 1◠BEcause in the holie Historie there is often mentiō made of war I thought good to speake somewhat of the matter The Etymologie of the word And as touching the Etymologie of the word it is called in the Hebrew Milchamah of Lacham which is to fall and be cut off and that either with a sword or with the téeth because in warre many slaughters are committed The Gretians betwéene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 put the same difference that the Latines haue put betwéene Bellum and Praelium that is warre and battell And it séemeth that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath taken name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is of turning because manie are the turnings and chaunces in warre Whereof perhaps came that saying Manie be the newes of Warre In Latine it is called Bellum either by the figure Antiphrasis as who would say not good or else because it is a good thing and compared vnto peace or else as Festus saieth of Belluis A distinctiō of war◠that is cruell beastes or monsters Now will we distinguish warre the subiect doubtlesse into accidentes Some warre therefore is iust and othersome vniust Howbeit to speake truely vniust warre is no warre it is rather Théeuerie A definition of iust warre And iust warre maie thus not vnaptly be defined It is an Hostile dissention whereby through the Princes edict mischiefes are repressed by force and Armes to the intent that men may peaceably and quietly liue by iustice and godlinesse The generall kindes of warre of peace The generall kinde is dissention For contrarie vnto warre is peace and as the generall kinde of peace is vnion so the generall kind of war is dissention But because dissention is manifold for men dissent among thēselues either in opinions or in kinde of life or in will therefore Hostile is added And because there may be an Hostile dissention which is not tried by weapons there is also added By Force and Armes The efficient cause The efficient cause is the commaundement of the Prince without which The end warre cannot rightly bee made The ende is that people maie quietly maintaine iustice and godlinesse Here haue we comprehended the foure kindes of causes The forme is Hostile dissention the matter are the mischiefes which ought to be repressed the efficient cause is the Magistrate the ende is that wee maie liue iustly and godly But when we say that the Edict of the Prince is required we vnderstand no difference betwéene a King the gouernment of manie good men and a Common weale but we onelie oppose a Prince against a priuate man 2 Hereof are gathered those thrée properties which commonly are ascribed vnto right warfaring First Thrée conditions of iust warre that there is required the authoritie of the Prince Secondly an honest cause to wit that peace be sought for Lastly that it be doone with a good mind I am not ignorant that Plato in Alcibiade 1. writeth that men mooue warre when as either they be deceiued or constrained or spoyled But all these things are included in that part wherein I said
bodie which Christ tooke vpon him So then a making mention of the Eucharist would be superfluous but according to my allegation it is manifestlie concluded The Eucharist as all men confesse is a figure of Christs bodie therefore the bodie of Christ is a true bodie otherwise it shuld not haue a figure D. Chadse I answer as before First that Christ as he is méere man can no more be said to be the image of his fathers substance than other creatures And as touching the participation of the natures the selfe-same Christ is both the figure and the thing which is figured And to Tertullian I saie againe it is a figure and yet not a figure onelie but the thing it selfe also the words of Christ necessarilie enforce the same D. Martyr I saie that héere is no constreint by the word of God but that both may be granted to wit as well the bread as the bodie of Christ But now will I shew bicause you saie that it is not onelie the figure The Eucharist is a signe of a thing which substantiallie corporallie and reallie is absent but the thing it selfe withall that this sacrament is a figure of a thing which in respect of substantiall and reall presence is absent Ambrose in his 4. booke De sacramentis the fourth chapter Euen as thou receiuest the similitude of death so doost thou drinke the similitude of the pretious bloud But there is no man doubteth that the death of Christ is not reallie present in this sacrament and yet neuertheles it is said that in such wise is droonke the similitude of the bloud as the similitude of the death D. Chadse I am glad you attribute so much to Ambrose he is altogither on my side as it appeareth by those bookes of the sacraments and euen by this verie chapter and by these words which you recite For he straitwaie addeth that this similitude was giuen bicause of the horrour of bloud And if so be that those things which go before which followe be weighed it shall be perceiued that he meaneth far otherwise than you alledge For the scope of Ambrose is to teach that in the Eucharist is represented the death of Christ that euen as you beléeue that Christ died for you so by his bloud your sinnes are cleansed but of a substance remaining of the signes there is no mention D. Martyr You vaunt that Ambrose is wholie yours that shall I afterward knowe in the obiections which you will make against me But as concerning this place he saith plainlie that euen as the one is a similitude of his death so the other is a similitude of his bloud And hereby you haue it sufficientlie prooued that the substance of bread remaineth when the thing which it signifieth is substantiallie and reallie absent euen as we knowe that the death of Christ is not present when we doo communicate except by shewing remembring of the same D. Chadse But he saith not that it is onlie a similitude for in other places he teacheth in plaine termes a naturall change of the bread and wine D. Martyr I weigh nothing the word onelie whether it be or be not expressed séeing it is plainelie enough conteined in the similitude alledged that the thing it selfe is shewed to be absent And the time shall serue to discusse this mutation which Ambrose maketh when I shall come to answer your obiections Augustine such that Christ gaue a signe of his bodie Howbeit that you may vnderstand how euidentlie the fathers acknowledge a figure in this place I haue thought good to cite Augustin against Adamantus the Manichei Christ doubted not to saie This is my bodie when he gaue a signe of his bodie D. Chadse I acknowledge these to be the words of Augustine and I will shew by what reason he was lead to write them All the Manicheis were enimies of the old testament And when we read in Deuteronomie The soule is the bloud Deut. 12 23 this saieng Adamantus refelled as though it had béene repugnant with the new testament And he obiected against him Feare ye not those which kill the bodie but cannot kill the soule Matt. 10 28 Adamantus said So often as the bloud is shed and troden vnder foot so often dooth the soule suffer these iniuries If it be the bloud whie should it not be rightlie said that men cannot hurt the soule Augustine answereth two maner of waies First that in Deuteronomie the bloud is called not the soule of a man but of a beast Secondlie he saith What if I should saie that this after a certeine maner of speaking is to be vnderstood euen of the soule of man as Christ doubted not to saie This is my bodie when he gaue a signe of his bodie And this ment he that euen as secretlie in this signe lieth hid the reall bodie of Christ so in the bloud is the soule and euen as the bloud is the signe of the soule hidden therein so is the forme a signe of the bodie and this signe bicause of the presence lieng hidden is called the bodie of Christ D. Martyr This hath not Augustine that the bodie of Christ forsooth lieth hid in the shewes of bread and wine this is your owne deuise You contended before that the signe and thing signified the figure and thing figured are all one But will you now saie that the bloud is all one with the soule Assuredlie will ye nill ye they be two substances neither is the one taken awaie by the other as you affirme here to be doone of the bread And besides when bloud is a signe of the soule abiding in the bodie it behooueth that it be séene and that it be foorth of the liuing creatures bodie and then dooth not the soule lie hidden therein And thereof must the saieng be touching that which the scripture forbad that it should not be eaten and that was separated from the bodie for otherwise it cannot be eaten and this is it that was then forbidden in the lawe when these things were spoken But let vs now passe ouer this howsoeeuer it be Onelie this I haue to conclude That the signe is not the thing signified that the signe in this sacrament is not the thing signified nor the figure the thing figured the which neuerthelesse you did so earnestlie affirme before For is the bloud which is put for the signe of the soule the soule it selfe Euen so is it in that which Christ gaue when as Augustine after this maner saith that it was a signe of the bodie of the Lord it is as much the bodie of the Lord as the bloud is the soule D. Chadse I answer that the similitude tendeth not to that end but rather to teach that euen as the soule lieth hidden in the bloud so is the bodie of Christ secretlie hidden in the shewes of bread and wine and that is the scope of the text it selfe For euen as in this visible thing is conteined the
men that they may see your good works and glorifie your father which is in heauen to whome be all glorie for euer and euer Amen A praier of D. Peter Martyr against false worshipping of God and all maner of superstition COme we beseech thee at the length O heauenlie father illuminate the harts and minds of all thy Christians with the spirit of Iesus Christ thy Sonne that they forsaking idols and superstitions may conuert to thee alone who oughtest to be purelie sincerelie serued honored called vpon And suffer thou no longer the honour which onelie is due vnto thee to be impiouslie and lewdlie giuen vnto bread wine images and dead mens bones Thy holie name hath now beene long enough dishonoured with reproches the purenesse of thy Gospell hath now beene long enough polluted enough a great deale too much haue men abused the institution of thy sonnes supper vnto most vnpure idolatrie Stop at the length O Lord these furies of men which are mad and doo most miserablie ouerthrowe themselues Let them not anie longer with bread and wine vnder the name of the sacrament of thy sonne so shameleslie and desperatelie vpon euerie hill vnder euerie tree in all high waies streets temples and chappels commit fornication and so horriblie and detestablie defile thy holie religion Vnlesse thou O omnipotent God by thy mightie hand doo rid and turne awaie these things there is no more hope of mans saluation and cleansing againe of thy church Helpe O God helpe thy people whom thou hast redeemed with the bloud of thy sonne And thou Iesus Christ the true and eternall God confirme this worke which thou hast begun and bring the same to a desired end or else if there be no hope of recouerie and that there shall be no more in thy church anie publike and open place for thy truth come quicklie and hasten thy iudgement and for the glorie of thy name turne awaie so shamefull contumelie from thy holie supper which thou of thine incredible mercie and singular goodnesse hast instituted who with the Father and the holie Ghost liuest and reignest world without end Amen A SERMON OF CHRISTES DEATH out of the second Chapter of Saint Paul to the Philippians THey dearely beloued in Christ which behold the powers of the minde and they which haue writtē any thing of the same do for this cause commende and extoll memorie that it is an incomparable treasure of things that be past and a most faithfull preseruer of the same Further because great héede must bée taken lest those excellent things giuen vnto men by nature be not violated through our default therefore must not euerie thing but those things which bee most excellent and most profitable be committed vnto memory And among the workes of almightie God there is nothing in the worlde that doth either profite vs more or is worthie of greater admiration Wherefore he that most of all loueth vs and all thinges belonging to vs hath often commanded vs by his lawes that we should continually without ceasing beare in minde the woonderfull acts which he hath wrought for our saluation He not onelie would haue the people to beare in mind that he euen at the beginning made the workemanship of the world for our profite but he also commaunded straitlie that by obseruation of the Sabbaoth among them Exod. 20. 8. the same should be perpetually remembred He commanded those which were brought into freedome to shewe continually how he had deliuered the Israelites from the tyrannie of Pharao Exod. 12. 1. 26. and that the remembrance might be helped by an outward signe he tooke order to renew euerie yeare the feast and sacrifice of the Passouer And he doth not take it in good part that at any time his Church shoulde forget that in the last age of the world he deliuered his onely begotten sonne to the death and to the Crosse for the redemption of the world Esa 53. 3. c. Wherefore he not only prouided that the death of Christ should bée recorded in the bookes of the holie scriptures both of the new and olde testament but also when he should goe out of the world vnto the father Matt. 26. hée left vnto his disciples an institution of the Sacrament of the Eucharist to be continuallie exercised among the faithfull Now then séeing this is the chiefe and principall benefite which euer God bestowed vpon mankinde let vs neuer suffer obliuion to blot the same out of our remembrance And that this may not happen the yearely reuolution of the dayes of the world which haue nowe passed since the time wherin we beléeue that Christ was crucified doe perswade me to expound◠vnto you in such sort as I can his infinite loue whereby he refused not for our sakes to suffer death But because there is laide before me a huge heape of thinges to speake of least my spéech through the violence of the waues and heape of the flouds should either stray from the right course or fall into the depth of confusion we must chuse some place of the scriptures which as a certaine and stedfast lodestone may direct both you in your hearing and me in my speaking And this we will take out of the second chapter to the Philippians Let the same minde be in you that was in Christ Iesu who being in the forme of God Phil. 2. 5. thought it no robbery to be equal with God but made himselfe of no reputation taking vpon him the forme of a seruant and made in the likenesse of men and was found in habite as a man He humbled himselfe being made obedient vnto the death euē the death of the crosse for the which also God exalted him and gaue him a name which is aboue euerie name that in the name of Iesus euerie knee should bowe both of things in heauen and things in earth things vnder the earth and that euerie tongue shoulde confesse that the Lord is Iesus Christ to the glorie of God the father And that God may further the purpose which we haue begun let vs according to the accustomed manner craue his assistance by prayer They which iudge of the nature of the waters A similitude doe by taste make a triall of their swéetenesse by sight do trie their clearenesse they diligently examine their weight and finally they mark from what fountaine they spring Euen so in expounding the sentences of the scriptures not onely the signification of the words the sense of the sentences the things that went before and the things which followe must be considered but also with a speciall héede taking we must sée with what minde or to what purpose are spoken those things which were set foorth Remember at the beginning of this Chapter the words of the Apostle His minde is to exhort vnto charitie and vnto vnitie one with another The two plagues of these vertues are contention and vaineglorie The two rootes of them submission and
the indeuour of helping our neighbours Hereunto he not onely exhorteth vs but setteth foorth Christ for an example vnto vs For hee is the image of God whereunto we are made Amongst men there is no fit example it must be taken out of heauen The example of the Decii is set before the eies of souldiers in whom are two warly policies They to the intent the armie might follow them were carried with a courage against their enimies and pacified God by their death The first doth Cicero in his booke de Natura Deorum graunt the other he denyeth We as touching the death of Christ doe acknowledge aswell the one as the other both that it is to be followed and also that it hath made God merciful vnto vs. Paul would that the same minde should be in vs Rom. 8. 9. for if we be lead by the spirite of Christ doe liue in him we ought to haue the selfe-same minde with him By this as by a generall thing all that followeth must be considered of When he declareth that Christ must be followed he starteth not from his commaundements Learne of me for I am meeke and lowlie of heart Mat. 11. 29. Ioh. 13. 15. Mat. 10. 24. Luke 6. 23. Matt. 5. 12. I haue giuen you an example that euen as I c. The disciple is not aboue his master So haue they doone vnto the Prophets which were before you If they haue persecuted me Mat. 15. 20. Luk. 14. 27. they will also persecute you Hee that taketh not vp his crosse and followeth mee cannot bee my disciple First therefore he sheweth who this is that we ought to follow to wit God man Secondly wherein he was obedient namely vnto death euen the death of the crosse Thirdlie what he obtained for these things Phil. 2. 9. The godhead and maiestie of Christ euen a name which is aboue euerie name He extolleth the worthinesse of Christ that since he humbled himselfe from so great a maiestie we that are but wormes should not puffe vp our selues and be proude yea let vs depart from our owne right which if we could abase our selues lower thā Christ did yet are we not to be compared vnto him which in comparisō of him are but wormes being in the forme of God that is to wit in maiestie in shewe in comlinesse in dignitie in glorie c. From these things he seuered himselfe for a time euen as a prince which bearing good will to a maide of meane calling goeth like a priuate man to her house In his kingly maiestie hee declareth his power but he concealeth his loue in the habit of a commoner he hideth his maiestie but sheweth his burning desire First did the power of the worde of God thine by his creation and prouidence nowe is his charitie shewed He that séeth not the diuinitie of Christ séeth nothing Some say that The forme dooth not signifie his nature or essence but his ornament maiestie and glorie as wee haue saide Howbeit these were no lyes nor fained things Esa 42. 8. and therefore they declare him to be God I will not giue mine honour to anie other But if hee giue vnto him his maiestie glorie comlinesse c. he is not another from him but is God Paul vseth the worde Forme both wayes aswell touching a seruant as touching God that thou maist knowe that neither nature is changed into other It is not the propertie of forme to marre but to preserue If Christ had béene a creature as Arrius would he shoulde haue béene a seruant for euerie creature serueth God and he should not haue taken the forme of a seruant We receiue not that which we haue but that which we haue not Further thou hearest a pluralitie of persons and an equalitie He thought it no robberie to be equall with God These things hath Chrysostome in his Homily De consubstātialitate Trinitatis The same father saith Arrius confesseth Christ to be verie man but there is the worde Forme He tooke vpon him the forme of a seruant therefore when he saieth The forme of God he vnderstandeth God The forme of any thing suffereth no varietie of being from that thing whose forme it is A man hath not the forme of an Angel because he cannot be an Angel a brute beast hath not the forme of a man because he can not be a man The same Chrysostome reasoneth from the ende which the Apostle maketh hee exhorted the Philippians being equall that one should giue place to the other he perswaded not that the seruants shoulde obey their masters Wherefore the argument must bee taken from equals If the sonne were vnequall to the father he would not haue vsed perswasion to these men of that thing which hee woulde hee was equall to the father and obeyed him he was equall vnto other men in nature and gaue place vnto them The sense is He was in the forme of God But there is added an other particle for the better explaning thereof he perceiued he knew and he iudged himselfe to be equall vnto God and not according to robberie and yet did he giue place to the empyre of his father He boasted not of his dignitie which he might haue doone but he humbled himselfe and tooke vppon him the forme of a seruaunt Wee be seruants and take vpon vs the forme of God Woe be vnto vs. He put not off the Godhead he cannot denie himselfe and he which is the cause that all things be ceaseth not himselfe to be onely he hidde himselfe vnder man and the same most abiect He abased himselfe as touching both the natures For hee hid his diuinitie and submitted his humanitie yet did he not so put off the diuinitie but that he shewed it after a sort The father gaue out a voice the Angels sang Luke 3. 22. Luke 2. 14. Luke 3. 21. Ibid. 22. Mat. 15. 33 Mark 4. 39. Ibidem Mat. 14. 25. Mat. 27. 51. Ibidem the heauens opened a Dooue came downe the aire was darkened the windes ceased the Sea became calme it was made firme vnder his féete and the féete of his Apostle the earth trembled the Rockes riued in sunder the vaile of the temple brake the graues opened the earth yéelded out her deade the water was turned into wine the bread and the fishes were increased Iohn 2. 9. Matt. 14. Marke 6. Luk. 21. 21. the figge trée was withered the diseases of men departed Simeon Anna the theefe and Iohn the diuell and the wife of Pilate confessed and he himselfe prophesied and saw the cogitations of the heart So much as was sufficient to those which are predestinate he shewed the glorie of the diuine nature and others had nothing to accuse him of yet did he put the vaile of humanitie betwéene whereby he was hidden So was he obscured as we sée the sunne when there is a cloud betwéene vs and it Whereupon he prayeth Iohn 17. 5. Glorifie me oh father God thou wast
words in them but rather maruell thou at the power of the crosse which Christ suffereth not to be made voide by mans eloquence Yea rather when these thinges come to minde let vs giue thanks vnto our good God who would haue these testimonies of his wil to be sealed vp that wee béeing dull of memorie shoulde not forget them and that euerie man at his owne pleasure shoulde not deuise a doctrine in the Churche but that there might be extant a publike patterne whereby the sayings of all men might be prooued and throughly tried Luke 1. ◠And therefore Luke in the Preface of his Gospell that he might acknowledge the certeintie of those thinges whereof he was taught testifieth that he therefore wrote vnto Theophilus that hée might knowe the certeintie of those thinges wherof he was instructed Whosoeuer therfore beléeueth in Christ if he turne ouer the Booke he by the meanes thereof through the holy Ghost is euerie day made more assured of those things which he professeth For as Iron is by vse purged from rust A similitude and doeth the more glister and shewe bright so the doctrines of godlinesse which are contained in the holy Scriptures the more often they be reade the more manifest and true they appeare vnto vs. Plato in his Booke of lawes thinketh méete to giue commaundement to the husbandman that he doe not water his grounde with other mens water Digge saieth he a well therein that thou maiest vse the waters thereof when néede shall require Wherefore God also woulde that in the Church which is his vineyarde shoulde flowe a perpetuall reading of the scriptures whereby the necessarie water of the worde of GOD might be ministred to our faith which oftentimes waxeth drie It was a familiar saying in the mouth of Socrates when he was vrged to say or doe any thing If my good spirit shall permit me The Demon of Socrates For he had such a one who was as his counsellour or kéeper But wee must perpetually cleane vnto the worde of God as vnto a Counsellour when any thing is set foorth to be doone or beléeued we must answere so much as by the word of God shall be lawfull and in all our affaires take Counsell thereof faithfully The holy historie teacheth that there was a laudable custome of the people of GOD that as touching euery enterprise they first tooke Counsell of God before they tooke in hand to doe the same Iud. 1. 1. In the Booke of Iudges after the death of Iosua the Israelites demaund who shoulde goe vp against the enemies In the first Booke of Samuel 1. Sam. 30. 8 Dauid asketh whether he should followe after the théeues which had destroyed and burned the Citie of Ziklag Yea and Achab 1. kings 22. 6. although he were a wicked man went not altogether from his Countrie manner nay rather when he should fight against the king of Syria he tooke Counsell of God by the Prophets Therefore wee also must not attempt any thing wherein wee haue not first perswaded our conscience by the worde of God that the worke which wée take in hande is good and shall be acceptable vnto the Maiestie of God The Poets vaunted that their harmonie songes and verses wherewith men were delighted nay rather deceiued were not made by man but were drawen from Helicon Pernassus the fountaine of Castalius Pegasus or Caballinus frō the forrest of Cythaeron the Muses recyting them which as they be false lyes so is it most true that the doctrine which we now commende is drawen out of heauen and communicated vnto the Church vpō Mount Syna in Ierusalem and vpon Mount Sion Exod. 20. Esa 2. 3. as we reade in Exodus and as Esaie hath testified Out of Sion shall come a lawe and the worde of the Lorde from Ierusalem The Oracles of the Ethnikes In olde time the Ethnicks had secrete places in temples doores vnder the grounde a Caudron for sacrifice a Trenet vnder which they put fire brasse of Dodona most auncient Okes dennes Images names written in leaues and briefely vnprofitable Temples and innumerable wayes did the Diuell mocke them But vnto vs in the stead of all those things is by the mercie and goodnesse of God set foorth the onely Oracle of the holy Scriptures Pythagoras is for this cause not a litle famous that he had conference with Oules and Eagles Pompilius talked with the Nymphe Aegeria Apollonius Thyaneus as the histories report or rather fable vnderstoode the singing and chattering of little byrdes But vnto vs doeth the true God the Creator of heauen and earth speake most manifestly in the Scriptures by Moses by the Prophetes by his onely sonne Iesus Christ and by his Apostles and doeth so speake as he changeth the soules the hearts the mindes and the whole man and of stones is able to make the sonnes of Abraham not whom he may like fabulous Amphion forcibly drawe to the walles of Thebe but whom he may builde vppon Christ because he is both the onely and sounde foundation aswell of the Apostles as Prophets Let the Poets boast as they will that Orpheus tamed the wilde beastes we in the meane time being taught by experience will not doubt but that the wordes of the Scriptures turne them into the sonnes of God which before were serpents and generations of Vypers Whereupon Paul mentioning vnto Tytus what manner of persons we were before we were regenerated in Christ saieth Matt. 3. 7. Titus 3. 3. For wee also in times past were fooles disobedient going astray seruing lustes and diuerse pleasures liuing in malitiousnesse and enuie being hated and hating one another And vnto the Corin. the first Epistle and 6. Chapter Verse 11. when he had recited many detestable crimes he added And such were you in deede but nowe are ye washed ye are sanctified ye are iustified And séeing that to the breaking of our hearts which be hard and obstinate there should be néede not of weake instrumentes but rather of most strong engines for that cause GOD reuealed vnto his Church no faint or dull manner of spéeche but such as was deliuered by many of the Prophets and in diuerse manners For it exhorteth terrifieth driueth forwarde calleth backe teacheth confuteth promiseth threateneth pronounceth sigheth prayeth beséecheth praiseth dispraiseth sheweth things past declareth things present prophesieth things to come and as most soft waxe it is bended vnto all formes to the ende it may bow the stonie hearts of the vngodly Wherefore not wtout good cause it ought to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a vanquisher of all Yea and Sathan although he be most mightie was driuen out of the wicked bodie of Saul which was appointed to vtter destruction 1. Sa. 16. 23. being not able to abide the songes of Dauid the Musitian of the holy spirit By them the olde serpent being inchaunted was after a sort burst in péeces Matth. 4. And the same Sathan was driuen
all meanes to haue me tarie here Howbeit what he shal bring to passe I know not This neuerthelesse must I shewe you that my purpose was in my iourney to goe to Geneua and to bee there for a while in your companie But the winter which is nowe at hande hath terrified me from anie further iourney doubtlesse that which I haue nowe deferred I hope the next spring I shal bring to passe And if you think that I be able to doe you anie pleasure here onelie giue we warning and it shall suffice I wish you well to fare in the Lorde and that you maie long remaine in safetie to the Church of Christ At Strasborough the 3. of Nouember 1553. To Maister Iohn Caluin ABout the feast of Easter I wrote letters vnto you right worthie sir but it was by a yong gentlemā of Hungarie who was slaine not farre from Selestade Wherfore since there happened so sorrowful a mischaunce they could not be brought vnto you And those thinges which I then knewe and wrote since I doubt not but that you had knowledge of them by some other meanes I thinke them not fit to be repeated There is a verie fearefull newes reported of out of England namelie that there the Parliament as they call it hath assented to restore vnto the Pope his most tyrannicall gouernment The popish kingdome restored in England And Philip is and is accounted king of Englande The good men on all partes flie frō thence as much as they can And I can not expresse howe great a disturbance there is of all thinges And nowe amongest vs there bee thrée excellent knightes namelie Morisin Cheeke and Cooke no lesse famous in godlinesse than in learning who I thinke within fewe daies will come vnto you These thinges I therefore write to the intent that you together with your Church will pray for that state not onelie afflicted but in a manner ouerthrowen Doubtlesse nowe are the Bishoppe of Canterburie and the rest of the Bishoppes in extreame daunger We here liue in peace and quietnesse as touching outwarde matters and nowe we perceiue we are deliuered of feare touching our French Church whereas manie before suspected that something woulde bee chaunged in doctrine and administration of the Sacramentes Which neither is nor I hope shal be doone I would to God that the cōtention of some against their pastor might be taken awaie But yet doe I trust that at length it will be quieted and as I iudge wil easilier be quenched by dissembling our iudgment than if men resist by violence and power And this euill hath also néede of prayers Finallie I would haue you vnderstande that this doeth greatlie gréeue me together with other good men that against the trueth against your good name they spread verie foule and false reports as touching the eternall election of God and that heretikes ought not to bee put to death But it maketh no matter since as wee heare in these thinges which they write they dare not confesse their names I saide as we heare because there is not one of those namelesse bookes brought hither to Strasborough Wee that be here and especiallie Zancus and I doe defende your part and the trueth so much as in vs lieth But how Maister Alasco was ill intreated through out Denmarke and the Churches of Saxonie you maie vnderstande by this man that deliuereth you my letters Fare you well and pray for vs. Zancus saluteth you verie much I in like maner pray you salute in my name Martinengus and also Galeatius the Marques and N. From Strasborough the 9. of Maie To Maister Iohn Caluin SIr I lately receiued letters from Vienna that I shoulde sende them vnto you which before I did not because I had no sooner a conuenient messenger And nowe I write partly vppon this occasion and partly because it séemeth now lōg since I saluted you Which duetie though I haue slacked for a time yet will I not suffer it wholie to cease And besides this my good wil there hath happened another thing namely that a fewe dayes past I read with great pleasure the worke which you set foorth in defence of the wholesome eternall predestination of almightie God Wherefore since I was greatly delighted with the reading thereof I thought it iust and my part to giue you thankes And I doubt not but that vnto your labour will come a iust and aboundant fruite as touching them which bee chosen and predestinate vnto eternal life by GOD vnto whose glorie it was taken in hand And I also haue gathered manie things for the confirmation of this matter in my Commentarie vppon the Epistle to the Romanes which certaine monethes past I sent vnto Basill to Peter Perne to be imprinted which Booke neuerthelesse could not at this Mart be finished which nowe I let you vnderstand to assure you that euen for good cause and with all my heart I am glad of your writing We haue here no newes but that your selfe knowe The inauguration of the newe Emperour after an vnusuall forme and manner and hitherto not heard of hath bread an incredible woonder For by this Coronation as they terme it the authoritie of the Romane Antichrist séemeth more to bee ouerthrowen than euer before And by what meanes the Archbishops which be Electors coulde bee brought to consent vnto this maner of inauguration no man in a maner can tell But howsoeuer it is we will expect the workes of God Hither came two from Vienna the one of which is a preacher but the other is an Earle young in déede of age but yet well exercised in learning and one that much fauoureth Religion He was a Counsellour to the newe Emperour but nowe he dwelleth with Maximillian the King of Bohemia hens well inclined to the Euangelicall Churches and indeuoureth to shew that the Lutherans and wee iudge one thing as touching the matter of the sacrament but yet hitherto he could not make this plaine vnto some He iourneieth to Tubinge and Hedilborough from thence to Philip into Saxony who he saith that hee for a certaintie knoweth to be now constrained to write testifie what his opinion is touching the question of the sacrament God graunt him such constancie as becommeth his learning and godlines Both of these men affirme that king Maximilian is enclined to the religion of the Gospell and wisheth that the Church of Vienna should be altogether reformed These were the things which I had to write vnto you I beséeche God the father of our Lorde Iesus Christ that he will long preserue you in health to his Church From Zuricke the 21. of Aprill I pray you salute in my name our fellowe Ministers To Maister Iohn Caluin TRuelie sir it was neither griefe nor maruell vnto mée that a fewe daies since when you sent letters to our friende Maister Bullinger by whom you would make the excuse you wrote nothing vnto mée But this was verie grieuous vnto me before to heare that you were sicke and