before other kynde of men had the promise of saluation neither are they paste all hope when as daylye some of them although but a fewe retourne vnto Christ Blindnesse sayeth Paule to the Romanes fell partly on Israel as though he woulde say not on al. Moreouer the same Apostle addeth when the fulnesse of the Gentiles is entred then all Israell shall be saued And least thou shouldest peraduenture thinke that these wordes are to bee vnderstand allegorically Paule writeth them as a miserye and to confyrme his sentence he bryngeth the Prophecye of Esay the Prophet namely that iniquitie shal be then taken away from Iacob Furthermore they are now called enemyes vnto God for our sakes but called frends bycause of their fathers The same Augustine in hys Questions vppon the Gospell the second boke and xxxiii Question if that these bookes be of Augustine his writing when he interpreteth the parable of the prodigal sonne he sayeth that that sonne signifyeth the Gentiles For it is written that he departed into a farre countrey bycause the Ethnikes were so farre departed from God that they openly worshipped Idoles and with open profession But the elder sonne by whome was shadowed the people of the Hebrewes went not so farre And although he were not in hys Fathers house whiche is the Churche he dwelled for all that in the fielde For the Iewes are exercised in the holy Scriptures whiche they doe not ryghtlye vnderstande nor yet with that spirituall sense wherein the Churche of Christe taketh them but in an earthlye and carnall sense Wherefore they are not vnaptelye sayde to bee in the fielde Thys Elder sonne entreth not at the begynnyng into the house of hys Father but in the latter dayes he shall also bee called and come The same Father also bringeth for thys sentence that which is written in the 58. Psalme as he readeth it Do not kil them least they forget thy law but in thy power disperse them The Sonne of God sayth he prayeth vnto the father that that nation might not be destroyed but might wander euery where throughout the worlde Other prouinces when they were ouercome of the Romanes followed the lawes and rites of the Romanes The Iewes receaued not the lawes and customes of the Romanes so that at the length they were made Romanes but the Iewes although they were ouercome by the Romanes yet woulde they neuer followe their lawes rites and ceremonies they yet obserue theyr owne as muche as they maye and being dispersed they wander abroade Neither haue they vtterly forgotten the lawe of GOD not that they Godlye applye themselues to obserue it but only reade it and kepe certayne signes and institutions wherby they are discerned from other Nations Moreouer it semeth that God hath put a signe vppon them as he dyd vppon Caine bycause he had killed his brother Abell namely that euery man shoulde not kill them The dispersing of the Iewes is profitable to Christians Neyther is thys theyr dispersion through oute the worlde vnprofitable to the Christians bycause as it is written to the Romanes they are shewed vnto vs as broken bowes And for so much as we were grafted in their place when as we see that they were so miserably cut of we acknowledge the grace of god toward vs and by beholding of them we are taught to take heede that we also bee not likewyse cut of for infidelitie sake for which self cause they are broken of There is also an other commoditie whiche commeth vnto vs by theyr dispersing bycause our bookes are saued by them I meane the holy Byble whiche they euery where carye aboute with them and reade And althoughe bycause they are blynded Against those whiche burne the Bibles in Hebrewe they beleue not yet they confesse that those writynges are moste true They are in harte deadly enemyes agaynst vs but by these bookes which they haue and reuerence they are a testimonye to our religion Wherefore I can not inough meruaile at those whiche doe so much hate the Iewes tongue and Bibles in Hebrewe Augustine that they desire to haue them destroyed and burnte when as Augustine de doctrina Christiana thinketh that if we chaunce somtymes to doubt of the Greke or Latin translation we must fly vnto the truth of the Hebrue And Ierome in many places writeth the same Whether the Hebrues haue corrupted the bokes of holy scriptures Ierome But they say that the holy bookes were vitiated and corrupted by the Hebrues To thys Ierome vpon Esaye the .vi. Chapter towarde the ende aunswereth thus Eyther they dyd thys before the comming of Christ and Preachyng of the Apostles or els afterwarde If a man will saye that it was done of them before then seing Christ and his Apostles reprehended the moste greuous wicked actes of the Iewes I maruaile why they would speake nothing of that sacrilege and so detestable a wicked acte Vndoubtedly they woulde haue reproued them for viciating and corrupting the Scriptures But if thou wilt contend that there were afterward faultes brought in by them then will I say that they ought chiefly to haue corrupted those places which do testifye of Christ and his religiō and which were alledged by the Lord himself and of the Apostles in the newe Testament But they remaine vncorrupt and the same sentence remaineth stil in the Hebrue Bibles which they put For they wer not so carefull for the words Wherfore it is not likely that they as touching other places haue corrupted the holy scriptures Yea if a man diligently reade ouer their bookes he shall finde in them a great many more testimonyes and those more plaine and manifest than our common traslatiō hath Do not they read in the second Psalme Kysse ye the sonne which ours haue translated Take ye hold of discipline Which woordes vndoubtedly are referred vnto Christ But I meane not at this present to bring all such testimonies It is sufficient if with Ierome I proue that the bokes of holy Scriptures are not corrupted by the Hebrues neither assuredly if they woulde they should haue missed of their purpose For there are found many most auncient handwritten bookes which haue bene of a long time most diligently kept by Christians which came neuer in their hands to corrupt But let vs retourne to treate of that commoditye which Augustine hath declared There are very many sayeth he that would peraduenture thinke that those things which we declare of the auncient people and of the Prophets are vayne and fayned of vs vnlesse they saw the Iewes yet remaining on liue The Hebrues their bokes ar most plaine witnesses of our fayth which with their bookes maintaine our sentence euē against their will Wherfore although the Hebrues be blinded in hart are against vs as much as they maye yet are they with their bokes most plaine witnesses of our fayth And vndoubtedly of al testimonies that testimony is most of value God wil haue a church euen
obscurelye admonishe them whome he would instruct of thinges to come but he would shewe them manifestly and opēly But dreames are so obscure that for the interpretation of them we muste go vnto prophetes and southsayers These thinges are in a maner gathered all out of Aristotle wherby he vtterly transferreth the thinge from god vnto nature as though the reasons of dreames should from thence be sought for But I wyl in treat of that afterward when I come to the doctrine of the scripture Nowe will I declare his opinion as touching this thinge Dreames sayth he ar either signes or causes The Peripatetikes exposiciō of dreames or els cōpared vnto those things whych are signified rashely or by chaunce Euery one of these thre members is thus expounded dreames he sayth are signes sometimes of the affections of the body or mind For by those very often are declared Formes ar moued accordinge to the diuersity of the humors which humors do beare rule in the body abounde and offend For accordinge to the quality of nature and tēpering of humors preuaylyng in the body are formes images moued Where choler aboūdeth are sene flambes fires burning coles lightnings brawlings and other of that sorte If melancholy get the vpper hand smokes deepe darkenesse all things almost blacke filthy thinges dead bodyes such like do offer themselues But fleume stirreth vp images of showrs raynes riuers waters hayl I se and such things as haue aboundant moistnes ioyned with coldnes By blood ar moued sights that ar fayre bright white pleasaunt and are like vnto the common purenes and vsuall forme or face of things Neither do the phisiciōs contemne these things yea rather as Galene and Hipocrates teach they enquire very diligently of the sick of thē bycause therby they may vnderstand the temperāce of those humors which lye inwardly hidden Why forms ar more sene sleeping then wakyng But the cause why they which are on slepe not they which are waking do by sight fele the nature of these mocions is this bicause at the beginning they are little when we ar waking the sense of them flieth frō vs. For by strōger mocions of outward things which appear before our eyes we ar drawn an other way but being on slepe we cesse frō outward labours ar voyd from the course of grosse sensible things Wherfore the sightes and images which are by the humors continually moued are better comprehended of the fansy when we are on sleepe then when we are wakinge And that whē we slepe we far better fele smalthings then we do being waking hereby it appeareth bycause we thinke that noyses be they neuer so small are great thunders And if any swete fleame sticke peraduenture vnto the tounge or roofe of the mouth it semeth to vs that we taste hony sugar sweete wines and pleasant meates yea sometimes we thinke that we largely eate and aboundantlye drinke Wherfore those mocions of humors which are small are in slepe shewed to be as it were wonderfull greate for whiche cause Physicions do hereby know very many beginninges of diseases Dreames also are certayn signes of the affections of the minde Dreames ar also signes of the affectiōs of the minde as of couetousnes hope ioy and mirth and also of qualityes Wherfore fearfull persons do se other maner of things then they do which ar bold so do they which ar couetous se other thinges then they whych are in hope also the learned are wont to haue farre contrary dreames to the dreames of the rude people or artificers For the mynd also when we slepe is occupied aboute those thynges wherein when we are wakinge we are either daylye or els verye often busyed There is an other thynge also dilygentlye to bee obserued as Galene dooth verye well admonyshe that there are certayne kyndes of meates Galene whyche beynge naturallye cholerike melancholike or fleumatik do by theyr quality or about the phantasy of the sleepers moue images and formes which ar agreable with those humors although the temperature of bodies of them which slepe dooe not of themselues offend in these humors Which thing also the phisicion ought to obserue concernynge dreames namely to see what meat the sick man did vse Wine also as Aristotle teacheth beinge immoderatelye dronke doth in dreames engender misformed Images When a dreame is a sign it is referred vnto a cause namely vnto the humors abounding which humors it signifieth It maye also be called a signe of some euent to come bycause from the same cause that is from the humors whiche are signified may be caused eyther sicknes or health Wherefore a dreame as it is a signe of an humor so also is it a token of an effect which is produced of it For from the self same cause namely from the humor springeth both a dreame and also a discease Howbeit they are not conuerted for sicknes or health are not signes of dreames Dreames are somtimes causes of the things which we do But now let vs see how dreames may somtimes be called the causes That is then when any man by his dreame is perswaded eyther to do or to trye any thing as if a man be made whole of the sicknes of the splen for that that he was let bloud in the vtward side of his hād for so was he taught to do in hys dreame And now and then it happneth vnto the learned that they find those things wherof they are in doubt in the same bokes where in theyr dreame they thought they had found or red them Dreames sometime by chanse resemble those thinges which happen But now let vs consider the third mēber of the distinction which we brought namely when dreames do rashly or by chaunce signify those things which afterward do happē That taketh place in those things whose cause is not in vs but rather distant and far of as if a man should see a victory or a murther to happē in hostes far distant from him or any man that is absent exalted to very greate dignity These thinges say the Peripatitikes are ioyned together by chaunce neither canne they be conferred together eyther as causes or as signes Euen as if when we are talking of any body the same man paradueuture come in the mean while we say Lupus est in fabula whē as yet the same mencion making of him was neyther the cause nor signe of hys commyng So therfore these thinges are sayd to be ioyned together rashlye bycause both they come by chaunce and also they seldome haue successe for this is the nature of things comming by chaunce to happen seldome Who they be which naturally oftentimes se tru dreames Farther Aristotle hath taught who they be which aboue other foretell many things in dreames And the same be chiefly attributeth vnto idle persons such as ar euer pratling thē to such as ar melancholike phrantike which are depriued both of sences and minde He seemeth also to ascribe
in the booke of Iosua do seme altogether to pertaine to this place Farther al the Hebrue Interpreters doo agree that it was the same city Let vs therefore rather say that when as in the booke of Iosua there is described the distribution of the land and that it cōmeth vnto this city that which was done long time after is there added by an interpretacion to expound after what sort the Danites shoulde in successe of tyme obtaine that city And that particle was added not of any meane man but either of Samuel or els of Ezra or of some other Prophet And this is not to corrupt or to confound the scriptures but to put in something that is not from the purpose whereby the whole matter may be the better vnderstand so that it be done by the holy ghost And I could bring foorth a great many examples whyche are found to be spoken in the scriptures by the figure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or anticipacion But those thinges ought to be sufficient which are red in the beginning of this booke ¶ Of Security BVt bicause there is mencion made of security I wyl speake somwhat largely of it in this place how it is to be praysed or dispraysed Security semeth to be a contempt of Gods iustice whereby synnes are punished If we speake of that that can neuer be but vicious But there is founde an other also which vndoubtedly is to be allowed and is laudable Hope is a mean betwene security desperaciō But to make the thing more plaine let vs consider three thinges Security Hope and Desperacion Hope is euer the meane whiche ought alwaies to bee commended Security is excesse but Desperacion is want For as in puttyng away the mercy of God we are made desperate so in contemning his iustice we become secure Wherfore we maye conclude that Security is a certaine immoderate hope Wherof security springeth And it springeth hereof either bicause we attribute to muche to our owne strength and wisdome as though by our selues we thinke that wee are able to obtaine any thing or els though we thinke that it lieth in the mercy of God yet we suppose that he for our worthynes ought to accomplish it So do they which promise themselues remission of synnes or eternal felicity although they do no repentaunce but lyue vnpurely and wickedlye Or els it springeth hereof for that we doo not beleue that there is in God any execution of iustice And thys Security wherof we entreate The feare of God is contrarye to desperacion Bernhardus is not onely contrary vnto Desperacion but also vnto the feare of God For Desperacion springeth of to much feare of the iustice of God against synnes but Securitye thinketh of nothing at all of that iustice Wherfore Bernardus hath rightly sayd Euen as the feare of God is the begynning of wysdome so is security the ground of al impietye and the begynning of foolishnes For the feare of the Lord as the scriptures testifye of it pertayneth chefely vnto piety and religion Wherefore in the Actes the .x. chap. Cornelius is called a man religious and fearing God Wherfore iustly hath security impiety ioyned with it as it springeth of an euil beginning so also bringeth it forth euil noughty fruites as sluggishnes luskishnes slothfulnes Therfore they which trust vnto thēselues neither seke for helpe at gods hand nor yet for ayd of men These people of Lais lyued securelye What Negligence is althoughe they were ioyned in no league or fellowshyp with their next neighbours They were also infected wyth Negligence which is nothing els then a priuacion of that endeuour whych we ought to apply for the gouerning of thinges By it the wyll is weakened and the chearefulnes of the body is diminished This kinde of security hath alwaies a daunger ioyned wyth it For those thinges are not driuen away whych maye be hurtfull For how can that be done when as they are secure or careles thinking rightly neyther of theyr owne strengthes nor yet of the mercy of God yea they are vtterly vnknowen vnto them selues For if they knewe them selues they woulde not lyue so securely Augustine Augustine vpon the foure score and nynetene Psalme wryteth Where as is most security there is most daunger And he addeth that a Shyppe when it is brought into the Hauen thou thynckest it is in safety But by the same waye that the Shyppe entreth in the wynde also entreth in and oftentymes tosseth it and breaketh it vpon a rocke Where then can there be securitye Adam fell in Paradise Iudas in the fellowshyp of Christ Cain in the household of Noe manye in the Lawe and manye also in the Gospell Where then shall wee lyue securely Vndoubtedly no where Therefore Ecclesiasticus doth right wel admonish vs Sonne stand in the feare of the Lord and prepare thy soule to temptacion The Israelites sawe the Egiptians drowned in the red sea Was it then meete for them to lyue in security No surelye Yea within a whyle after they were tempted in the wyldernes Christ was baptised of Iohn was he therefore made secure No. For he was strayghtway tempted of the Deuyll Wherefore we ought then to be most of all carefull when we are receaued into the fauour of God for then the Dyuel doth most of all watche for our destruction and seeketh to make vs to fall And therefore there is no place for securitye But are we so made of God that we can in no place be secure What Securitye is good and laudable Not so vndoubtedly For there is an other good and laudable Securitye whyche as Augustine sayth consisteth in the promises of God and is taken holde of by fayth Thys engendreth not luskishnes or sluggishnes but chearefulnes and diligēce Of it Dauid hath very well soong in hys foure score and eleuen Psalme Hee which dwelleth in the helpe of the most highest shall abide in the protection of the God of heauen Where as it is wrytten in the lattine Adiutorio that is in the helpe the Hebrue woord signifieth a couer or secrete place whiche no man taketh hold of but he which hath faith in the promises of God By that buckler we are defended with that shadowe we are couered agaynst all hurt this is the Security of faith and of the spirite which cleaueth vnto the woord of God Securitye of the fleshe And therefore it cannot be but commended But the other Securitye is of the fleshe and therefore it is execrable and detestable Against it are set foorth most manyfest commaundementes of Christ namely that we should alwayes pray knock seeke and watch for the daye of the Lorde wyl come lyke a theefe If the good man of the house knewe what tyme the theefe woulde come he would vndoubtedlye watche neither would he suffer hys house to be inuaded We oughte alwayes to praye and watche bycause although the spirite be ready yet the fleshe is weake Paul admonisheth vs
236. 13.1 Let eueri soul be subiect 262 b 13.1 Powers ar ordained of God 260. b. 1. Corinth 2.15 He that is spirituall discerneth all thinges 262. 6.1 Dare anye of you hauyng a cause agaynst an other 256. b 6.13 14 The body is not for fornication 229. b 7.5 Defraud not one another except it be for a time 94. 7.11 If the womā depart let her remain vnmaried or let her bee reconciled 222. b 7.14 Els were your chyldrē vncleane but now ar they holy 182 7.15 If the vnfaithful depart 86 7.37 He dothe well c. that wyll kepe his virgin 46. 8.4 We know that an Idol is nothing in the world 69. b 10.24 Non quae sua sunt quaerētes Such as seeke not their owne 38. b 10.27 If anye that is an infidell byd you c. 44. b. 45. b 11.5 Euery woman that prayeth or prophecieth barcheaded 93 13.2 If I had al fayth 130 13.12 We shal see him face to face 121. 14.34 Let your women keepe silence c. 93 15.44 It is raysed a spiritual body 211 Galath 1.8 Though we or an angel from heauen c. 262 1.15 c. When it pleased God to reueale his sonne in me c. I communicated not with fleshe and bloud c. 265 3.19 It was ordayned by angels in the hand c. 120 Ephes 5.18 Be not dronke with wyne c. but speake in psalmes c. and songes 103 Philip. 4.8 Whatsoeuer things are honest 250 Collossi 3.16 Let the woorde of Christe abounde in you c. in psalmes c. 103 1. Thes 5.22 Ab omni specie ma la abstinete Refrain from al apparance of ill 18. b 1. Timo. 2.1 Supplications praiers intercessions and geuynge of thankes 44 2.11 I permit not a woman to teache c. 93 3.3 No striker 146. b 4.8 Bodely exercise profits lytle but. c. 140. 279 Titus 1.7 No striker 146. b 2.3 Women should be teachers of honest thinges c. 93 Hebru 7.2 Abraham payed tenthes c. 261 13.4 Hooremongers and adulterers God wyl iudge 254. b 13.16 To do good and to distribute c. 251. b Iacob 1.13 God tempteth no mā 79. b 2.10 Who so keepeth the whole law c. 53 1. Peter 4.17 Iudgement begin at the house of God 234. b Apocal. 19.10 22.8 9. I fell downe to woorshpp before the feete c. 69. b ¶ The common places contayned in this booke OF prediction or treasō 36. b Of Masse 41 Of teares 62 Of Sacrifice 63. b Of Idolatrye 68 Of a league 73. b Of truth and of a lye 87 Of dissimulacion 89. b ¶ Whether it be lawfull to lye to preserue the lyfe of oure neighbours 90 ¶ Whether it be lawfull for subiectes to rise against their princes 90 ¶ Whether it bee lawfull for the godly to haue peace with the vngodly 99 Of musicke and songes 102 Of visions or in what sorte and how much God may be knowen of men 118 Of myracles 126 Of Dreames 134. b Of the affections of enuye and emulacion 141. b Of mercy 142 Of a good intent 132 Of Matrimonye and hauing of Concubines 153. b Of ambition 157. b Of murther of Parentes or kinsfolkes called paracidium 158 Of a fable and apollogy 159 Of wyne and dronkennes 161. b Of murther 165. b ¶ How synne dependeth of God 166. b ¶ Whether we cā resist the grace of God or no. 167. b ¶ How God sayth that hee wyll not geue that which he wil giue and contrarily 174. b Of bastards and children vnlawfully borne 177. b ☞ Whether the sonne shal beare the iniquity of the father 178. b Of thinges which were taken by the right of workes 186 Of prescription 188 Of custome 189 Of the vow of Iiphtah 192 Of sedicion 197 Of the vow of the Nazarits 201 Of Sacrifice 206 Of the vision of Angels 208 ☞ Whether it be lawful for children to mary without the consent of their parentes 214 Of playes 218 Of hooredome fornication 129 Of the head of the church 241 Of Securitye 246. b Of the reconciliation of the husbande and the wyfe after that adultry hath ben cōmitted 247 Of a Magistrate 255 Of merites 272 Of fasting 274 Of Rapte 283 Of daunses 286 FINIS ⧠Faultes escaped in the printing desiring thee gentle Reader to correct the same in thy booke before thou beginnest to read this worke which shal helpe thee much in the vnderstanding of those places The order of which correction here vnder thou maiest see The letters a. and. b. which stand by the numbers signify the sides of euery leafe a. signifieng the first syde and b. the second syde Leafe Lyne Faultes Corrected 2. a 3 iudged and iudged 3. b 50 he Greeke the Greke 4. a 20 not reuenge reuenge 7. a 6 holy hylly 10. a 23 region religion 11. a 9 contamined contaminated 11. a 20 This is my This is in my 22. a 48 to vnprofita not vnprofitable 25. a 24 word wordes 25. b 20 wayling wayting 31. b 5 their maters their own mat 31. b 8 greuous suffer greuous 31. b 30 least left 32. a 34 the wel valle the valleys 35. a 2 helpe for the helpe from the 38. b 38 deceaued receaued 39. a 22 ceaseth not to ceaseth to be 40. a 13 signes synnes 43. b 28 saluation salutacion 47. b 47 stranger stronger 48. a 1 that none that to none 49. a 1 obey admoni obey their admo 52. b 25 contemne continue 53. a 10 workers workes 57. a 39 misery mistery 60. a 18 by colour by no colour 61. a 18 weyed weeded 62. a 9 offer offered 62. a 29 sacrifice sacrificer 62. b 33 nation motion 63. b 20 set setteth 63. b 48 sayth fayth 64. a 1 participacion particion 65. b 36 sawe same 68. b 21 there they 73. b 7 angry angry anger anger 77. b 14 doubt double 81. b 18 is maruayle is no maruayle 84. b 16 nothing one thyng 86. b 50 other vnderstād othe vnderstand 87. a 49 not any not least any 92. b 27 do desperate and desperate 96. b 1 by an ordinarye by no ordinary 100. a 22 decreased digressed 100. a 23 the knight the Kenite 100. b 49 Leuites Kenites 106. a 17 xl C. men xl M. men 111. b 25 decrees .23 q. 5. cha dixerit aliquis decrees causa 23. q. 5. dicat aliquis .28 d. 1 120. a 53 word world 122. b 1◠litle title 124. a 17 inuiolated violated 132. a 42 13500. men 135000. men 134. b 1 Recubites Recutites 144. a 32 mention mantion 192. b 51 dryuen drawne 201. b 4 eare heare 203. b 52 preserue obserue 223. a 15 doubting doubling 227. a 20 ententes euentes 228. b 14 pronounces prouinces 230. a 32 Sickenes Sadnes 247. a 16 Cain Cham 269. b 14 leuened leuelled 285. a 14 cōmunicate excommunicate ¶ The commentarie of Master Peter Martyr vpon the Booke of Iudges THere be some whiche deuide the holy scriptures into
foure parts Of the diuision of the holy Scriptures and ascribe some bokes as wel of the old testament as of the new to lawes some to histories some to prophecies and other some agayne to wisdome But it is not meete so to deuyde the bookes of the holye scripture one from an other bicause that in the bokes of Exodus Leuiticus Numeri and Dâ—uteromie in which they appoint lawes to be conteined are founde almoste as many histories as lawes Besides that in the bokes which they assigne to prophetes lawes of liuing vprightlye are oftentimes written and clearely expounded Neither can we properly separate the bokes of Salomon other of the kynd which they wil haue proper to wisdome from lawes and prophecies For there are in them sentences here and there written which seruing for the instruction of life haue also wtout controuersy the nature of lawes Furthermore for the that in theÌ„ are very many secretes opened vnto the church by the inspiration of the spirite of god they poure vndoubtedly into the attentife hearers oracles of thinges to come It may easily he graunted that all these things which they make mentioÌ„ of are founde in the holy bookes I meane the precepts of liuing notable hystories prophecies of thinges to come and also moste wise sentences and sayinges but in such sort that in maner in euery booke they are set forth vnto vs dispersedly neither yet would I that these holy bookes should be deuided one from an other by these endes and limittes I would rather thinke as the learned sorte doe also iudge that whatsoeuer thinges are conteyned in the holy Scriptures should be referred vnto two principall heades the lawe I meane and the gospell There be two principal pointes whereunto al the whole scriptures are referred For euery where are declared vnto vs either the precepts of god of vpright liuing or wheÌ„ we are reproued to haue strayed froÌ„ theÌ„ by reasoÌ„ of weakenes or els of malice the gospel is layd forth before vs wherin by Christ that thing wherein we haue offended is pardoned and the strength and power of the holy ghost promised vs to reforme vs againe to the image of god whiche we had loste These two thinges maye we beholde in all the bookes of Moyses in the histories Prophetes and bookes appointed to wisdome and that not onely in the olde Testamente but also in the newe and they are not separated one from an other by bookes and leaues but by that maner which is now declared What thinges are entreated of in thys boke of Iudges And this is sufficient as touching the generall matter of the holy scriptures But nowe we must peculiarly speake of this booke that we may vnderstand what things they be which are entreated of in the same And to the ende we may the more plainly vnderstande this it is nedefull to call to memory those thinges which were spoken of in the former bookes In Genesis is set forth the creation of the worlde then howe of Abraham Isaac Iacob and his twelue childreÌ„ was engendred the people of god and how they wer brought into Egipt to driue away their famine Exodus teacheth the greate encrease and incredible multiplication of the Israelites the maner also and forme wherby they were of god by Moyses deliuered from bondage and set at liberty and how they wer excelleÌ„tly adorned with lawes iudgementes and ceremonies whiche thinges are also comprehended in the bookes of Leuiticus What is coÌ„tayned in the bookes which go before the iudges The booke of Numbers conteineth very many passages of the Hebrewes and diuerse placings and orderings of their tents in the desert places also certain vsages of those rules which were prescribed before of god in the lawes And lastly of al in Deuteronomy When Moyses should depart out of this life he like a most faithfull minister of god moste learned preacher repeteth vnto the people almost the whole lawe After whose death Iosua captain of the Hebrewes led the people beyond Iordane and possessed some parte of the promised land of Chanaan and deuided it as god had commauÌ„ded to his whole natioÌ„ by tribes WheÌ„ he was dead god gouerned the Hebrewes by certain excellent meÌ„ which were called Iudges of which Iudges this booke which we haue taken in hand to enterpreate hath his name and title Why thys is called the booke of the iudges But for the better vnderstanding of the title therof we muste know that this word Shaphat in the Iewes tongue signifieth somtime to execute the law and to iudge the causes betwene theÌ„ which are at controuersie which office yet is not proper to those Iudges of whiche we nowe entreate For there were Leuites appointed which sate and gaue iudgement at the gates of euery citye and aboue all iudgementes sate Senadrim which were an assembly of 70. elders Senadrim Furthermore the word signifieth to reuenge to set at libertie which these excellent meÌ„ performed whose noble acts ar declared in this volume They by their authoritie through their might and counsell deliuered the Israelites when they were oppressed of straungers and kept them in the obseruing of the law true worshipping of God And that their office may the better be perceiued we wyll briefly expound the face and estate of that publike weale God himselfe was the true and proper king of that nation Of the common wealth estate of the Iewes for he onely had the principal power there but not as he had ouer other nations but so that he by his becke oracle and certain commaundement gouerned the estate of the Israelites which he promised to do in the .18 chap. of Exodus Wheras he said that that people should be hys chiefe kingdome But bycause he would also vse the ministery of men he prouyded al thyngs necessary for the Hebrewes fyrst by Moyses and then by Iosua as long as they liued They exercised the office of princes or captaines which men being dead god would haue the best and most excellent men to haue the rule ouer theÌ„ for such men were picked out to be of the senate whose excellent conditions are set forth as well in Exodus as in Deuteronomy for the lawes of God would not suffer euery one to be called to that office That is wheÌ„ the best men are gouernours ouer the coÌ„moÌ„ weale If thou shalt therfore consider these men then shalt thou see the forme of that gouernment which is called Aristocratia But bicause that it was not lawfull to attempt great matters without the peoples consent we may therfore iustly thinke that it was also a common wealth which endured to the tyme of Saule and Dauid the first kings That estate therfore in respect of god was a kingdome but in respect of the Senate those chiefe men it was Aristocratia Bicause in electing of theÌ„ they had no regard to their riches but to their vertue and godlines for that the weightiest
the holy oracles and wordes of god should get their credite by men which are otherwise lyers But these things they faine to the entēt that seyng they are manifestlye founde often tymes to haue decreed and ratified in the Sacraments doctrines farre otherwise than the holy scriptures will beare Whiche thing they would defend that they may do it bycause the Churche whiche doth bring authoritie and credite to the worde of God may alter things in the holy Scriptures as pleased it Wherfore we must resiste them by all meanes possible in this thyng which they take vpon them to do We may not suffre our selues to be brought to thys poynte to thincke that the Scriptures haue had their credite and authority by the Churche And yet do I not write these thynges as thoughe I woulde despise or contemne the dignitie of the Churche vnto the whiche There be three offices of the Churche touching the word of God The Churche as a witnesse kepeth the holy Bookes I do attribute thre offices and them moste excellent as touchyng the worde of GOD. The firste of them is that I do confesse that the Church as a witnesse hath kept the holy bokes But thereby it can not be proued that it is lawful for it to peruert or alter any thing in the holy bookes Experience teacheth vs that publique and priuate wrytinges are committed to scriueners whiche are commonly called notaryes to be layd vp and diligently kept of thē And yet there is none that is in his right wittes which wil say that he may alter any thing in them or wil beleue that their authoritie is of greater force than their willes were whiche desired to haue the same written The worde of God reuealed and written Neither shall it be here vnprofitable to obserue the difference betwene the worde of god as it was reuealed at the beginning to the Prophetes sainctes as it was afterwardes preached or written For we do easely acknowledge betwene these that there is onely difference of tyme and not of the authoritie or efficacie For we confesse that the worde vnwritten was more auncient than that which was afterward appointed to letters and we graunt that either cōferred together was geuen to the Churche but in suche sorte that the Churche as we haue sayd can not by any meanes wrest or chaunge it The office of the Churche is to publishe and preache the worde of God And this vndoubtedly is the second office of the Church to preach publish the wordes committed vnto it by God In which thing it is lyke a common crier who althoughe he do publishe the decrees of princes and magistrates yet he is not aboue the decrees or equal vnto them in authoritie But his whole office is faithfully to pronounce all thynges as he hath receaued them of the princes and magistrates And if he should otherwise do he should be counted altogether for a traytour Wherfore the ministers of the Churche ought to care and study for nothing so much as to be founde faithfull We acknowledge also the last office of the Churche to be The Churche discerneth the holy bokes frō counterfaite such as are Apochriphas that seyng it is endued with the spirite of God it must therfore discerne the sincere vncorrupted bookes of holy Scriptures from the counterfaite and Apocriphas whiche is not yet to be in authoritie aboue the worde as many do foolishely dreame For there are very many which can discerne the true propre writings of Plato and Aristotle from other falsely put to them yet in comparison of iudgement they are neither of greater lernyng nor yet of equall with Plato or Aristotle And euery one of vs cā easely know God from the deuill yet are we not to be coūted equal with God much lesse can we thinck that we do excel him So the Churche ought not bycause of this to preferre faith or authoritie thereof before the Scriptures Augustine But they say Augustine sayeth I would not beleue the Gospell except the authoritie of the Churche did moue me therunto But in that place is read to moue together for in very dede Faith is not poured in by the minister but by God it is the spirite of God which poureth faith into the hearers of his worde And bycause the ministers of the Churche are his instrumentes they are rather to be sayd to moue with than absolutely to moue The same Augustine writeth in his 28. booke and second chap. against Faustus that the Maniches ought so to beleue that the first chap. of Matthew was writtē by Matthew euen as they did beleue that the Epistle whiche they called Fundamentum was written by Maniche bycause vndoubtedly they were so kept by their elders from hande to hand deliuered vnto them This is it therfore that the Churche moueth withall to beleue the Gospell bycause faithfully it kepeth the holy scriptures preacheth them and discerneth them from straunge Scriptures The same father manifestly witnesseth in his 6. booke of his confessions the 4. and 5. chap. that God him selfe in very dede did geue authoritie to the holy scriptures Tertullianus Irenaeus But Tertullianus and Irenaeus hauing to do against heretikes did therfore send thē to the Apostolicall Churches bycause they did not admitte the whole scriptures Wherfore they would that they should take their iudgemēt of those Churches which were certainly knowen to be Apostolical For it was meete that those Churches should continuallye remayne both witnesses and also keapers of the holy scriptures and yet therfore they did not decree that the authoritie of the Churche should be preferred before the scriptures What is to be thought of a certayn rule of the Logiciens But the aduersaries say that they are led by the sentence whiche is cōmonly vsed among Logiciens Euery thyng is such a thyng by reason of an other VVherfore that other shal more be counted suche Wherfore they reason after this maner If by the Churche the Scripture hath hys authoritie it must nedes be that the Church much more hath that authoritie But they remēber not that this sentence put by the Logiciens taketh place onely in finall causes and is of no strength in efficient causes For althoughe our inferior worlde be made warme by the sunne and the starres yet doth it not thereby followe that they are farre more warmer And agayne when immoderate men by wyne are made droncke we can not therby conclude the wyne to be more dronken than they Yea the Logiciens teache this that this their sentence is then strong and of efficacy in efficient causes when such efficient causes are brought forth whiche are whole and perfect and not whiche are perciall and maymed whiche rule is not obserued of our aduersaries in this argument For the Churche is not the whole and perfect efficient cause of that faith and authoritie whiche the holy Scriptures haue with the faithfull For if it were
Gospell For although God haue promised that the preaching of hys woord shal be fruitful through the benefite of his spirite yet must euerye man instruct him selfe in hys vocation according to his hability Neyther ought men to bragge out of season as phanatical men are accustomed to do God according to hys promyse wyl be with vs when we shal speake He hath promised in dede and wyll surely perfourme when tyme wyl not serue or that a man can not either thincke or meditate what to speake But if libertye be geuen and leasure graunted to fynde dispose and wysely to deuise those thinges which we should speake then can we not be excused but that we tempt God when as we neglect to do these thinges Yea rather let vs plucke all thinges vnto vs what so euer they be so farrefoorth as godlynes permitteth and occasion offereth it selfe to helpe our labour to obtayne those thinges which are already promised vs. Furthermore Princes publicke weales may make leagues somtimes this coniunction of Iudah wyth Simeon doth admonishe the readers that it is lawful in those warres which ar taken in hand iustly to make a league whereby Princes or publique weales maye be ioyned together to defende honest thynges The godly ought not to ioyne them selues wyth the vngodly as Iudah now ioyned fellowshyp wyth the Symeonites to fyght against the Chananites But thys must be taken heede of that such coniunction and league be ioyned together wythout fault neyther ought the godly to ioyne them selues in league wyth the vngodlye For the scripture reproueth Iosaphat who otherwyse was a godly kyng for making league wyth wycked Achab and other kynges are often tymes reprehended by the Prophetes for ioyning them selues in league eyther wyth the Egiptians or els wyth the Assirians But surelye this Simeon was of the same region that Iudah was and both their endeauours tended to thys ende religiously to fulfyl the wyll of God I knowe there be some whych by the example of Asa kyng of Iudah beyng well praysed defende suche leagues made wyth Infidels For he beyng greuouslye oppressed of Basa kyng of the ten Tribes as it is wrytten in the fyrst booke of the Kynges sent vnto Benadab kyng of Siria as appeareth in the .xvi. chapter a certayne somme of gold and syluer and he made a couenant wyth hym of that condicion that he shoulde inuade the kyng of Israel whereby he myght bee deliuered from hys oppression But they whych affirme those thynges should consider wyth them selues two thynges Fyrst that the kyngdome of the tenne Tribes had now fallen from God and from woorshypping of hym Wherfore if an vngodlye kyng was styrred vp agaynst it the same is not for all that to be conferred wyth those whych confessing them selues to be Christians do incense Tyrannes whych are of a straunge religion agaynst other Christians Besydes that thys deede of Asa kyng of Iudah is mencioned in the holy scriptures But we cannot fynde that it was allowed to be well done Yea if we looke vpon the latter booke of Chronicles the syxtene chapter we shall see that that kyng was most greuously rebuked of God by the Prophet for suche a wycked deede For it is thus wrytten At that tyme came Hanani the Sear to Asa kyng of Iudah and sayde vnto hym bycause thou haste trusted in the kyng of Siria and not rather put thy trust in the Lorde thy God therefore is the hoste of the kyng of Siria escaped out of thyne hande Had not the Ethiopes and they of Ludim an exceadyng strong hoste wyth many Chariotes and horsemen And yet bycause thou dyddest put thy trust in the Lorde he delyuered them into thyne hand For the Lorde and hys eyes beholde al the earth to strengthen them that are of perfect hart towarde hym But thou herein hast done foolyshly and therfore from hence foorth thou shalt haue warres c. For I shewed before that we myght without daunger discommende thys example whych they bryng of thys kyng when as God doth so sharpelye chasten hym by hys Prophet But we wyll entreate of thys more largely afterward 4 And Iudah went vp and the Lorde deliuered the Chananites and Pherezites into their handes and they smote them in Bezek to the number of ten thousand men The victorie whiche the two tribes obteyned ouer the Chananites is described and accordyng to the manner of the holy Scripture the same is set forth and comprehended in fewe wordes afterward the maner howe the thyng was done is more amplye expounded Now briefly is declared that they of Iudah obteyned the victorie and slew ten thousand of their enemies Why suche as are ouercome are sayde to be deliuered of God into the handes of their ouercommers And the Lord deliuered the Chananites The holy Scripture obserueth his olde order to say that they whiche are ouercome in battaile are deliuered into their enemies handes by God and speaketh thus to adminishe vs that victory is not the worke of our owne strength but of the goodnesse and counsel of God Wherfore souldiours and emperours whē they haue the vpper hand in battailes they must bridle them selues from boasting and gloryeng which Ieremy also faithfully geueth counsell to do For he sayth let not him that is mightye glory in his owne strength Nebuchadnezar kyng of the Babilonians folishely despising this was so vexed tossed with madnesse that he was almost chaūged into a dumbe beaste Wherefore the administration of the kyngdome was taken away from him he liued in great misery of long time who out of doubt had not fallen into so great misfortune if as it was mete he had confessed that what soeuer he had gotten was geuen him by the prouidence and coūsel of God But as Daniel mencioneth he being puffed vp with the noblenesse and dignitie of his actes most presumptuously and proudly bragged of them for he sayd that in the strength and might of hys owne arme he had established the kyngdome of Babilon In the bookes of the Ethnikes thou shalte very seldome or peraduēture neuer fynde any suche kynde of speache For men whiche are destitute of faith do not ascribe those good thinges vnto god which they thinke they haue attayned vnto by any labour or industrie Yea and they ascribed the chaunces of warre not to come by the fauour of God but by strength and pollicye and sometymes by fortune Wherfore Cicero in his boke of diuination affirmeth that the victory of the Decianes whiche they gotte by vowing of them selues to the people of Rome Cicero Howe Cicero interpreteth the vowing of the Decianes was an excellent and polliticque deuise of warre So farre is he from attributing it to the prouidence of the gods They knew sayth he that the strength force of the Romayne people was such that if they sawe their captaynes either to be in extreme daungers or els to be slayne or to be taken of their enemyes that they would by no meanes suffre
fayth in Christ Whicâ— when it is done they are chaunged froÌ„ promises of the law into promises of 〈◊〉 Gospell And although they be frely graunted In euangelical promises although they be frely geuen yet must we work as though they were legal yet in atteining vnto theÌ„ we 〈◊〉 our endeuor studye no lesse than if they were promises of the law But yet 〈◊〉 touching those good thinges whiche endure but for a time and passe not maâ— strength labour and the rewardes of them are temporall it is not to be deny but that our workes are much auayleable For it is sayd that they are oftentimâ— gotteÌ„ by them Although also in obtayning them the fauor of god is nedeful thâ—â— unto which is aboundauntly bestowed on theÌ„ which worke by the word of God by faith Which thing is manifestly sene of the readers of this history for it decireth that god graunted the victory to a fewe Iewes being straungers and youâ— souldiers agaynst strong warlike men many more in number than they of monstrous stature and inhabiting most strong fenced cities and castles 8 And the children of Iudah fought against Ierusalem and tooke it smote it with the edge of the sword and set the citie on fyre 9 Afterward the children of Iudah descended to fight against the Chananites that dwelte in the mountaine and in the south and in the lowe countrey 10 And Iudah went agaynst the Chananites that dwelt in HebroÌ„ and the name of Hebron before was Kiriath Arba and they smote Sesay Ahimman and Thalmay 11 And from thence they went to the inhabiters of Debir and the name of Debir before was Kiriath Sepher The things which are now red vnto the xvii A briefe rehearsal of things in the booke of Iosua verse are most part transferred hither out of the booke of Iosua the .xv. chap and are now declared by a certain briefe rehearsall of things and it is done to this end that we might vnderstand that the tribe of Iudah had obtayned Ierusalem when Iosua was yet liuing so that it was the easier for him to lead away Adonibezek captiue thither And these be the things which are repeated in thys place out of the booke of Iosua The conquering of Ierusalem Hebron and Debir the matrimony also betwene Achsa Othoniel and the departure of the Kenites from the citie of Palmes That al these things I say are now declared by a certaine repetition it is therby manifest bicause it is written in the booke of Iosua that the king of Ierusalem was taken we read in the end of the xv chap. that the same citie of Ierusalem came into the handes of the people of God and that the children of Iudah dwelt in it with the Iebusites Besides that these things which are now rehearsed of Hebron are contayned in the x.xi and about the end of the xiiii chap. in the booke of Iosua And the historye of Achse and Othoniell is red in the xv chap. of the same boke How farre this parenthesis extendeth This repetition therfore or parentheses extendeth to these wordes And Iudah wet with hys brother Simeon c. In which place the author returneth to make mention of the actes which the tribes of Iudah and Simeon ioyned together dyd at this time performe Which thiÌ„g also by this appeareth the more manifest bycause strayghtway is declared how Gasa was taken which citie is sayd in the xi and xiii chap. of Iosua to haue yet remained in the hands of the enemies The perâ—erfect tence is expouÌ„ded by the preterplusperfecte tence is numbred among those cities which were not conquered vnder Iosua Wherfore the wordes of the preterperfect tense which are red in this repetition are to be interpreted in that time past which we call the preterplus perfecte tense that the order of the historye might be made more playne and manifeste They smote them with the mouth of the sword This is a Metaphor in this maner of speche very often tymes vsed in the holy scriptures wherin by the mouth of the sword we ought to vnderstaÌ„d the edge therof bycause it semeth to deuour and consume those thinges whych are smytten in maner lyke a mouth And wher it is said that They set the city of fyre we must vnderstand it by this figure Hypallege when the thing is cleane contrary for fire is throwne into the city and not the city into the fyre Neither ought this to be vnderstand thus as though they had then burned the whole citye For it is wrytten in the booke of Iosua and afterward it shal be expounded in this booke that that city was after that inhabited by the tribe of Iudah and Beniamin and also the Iebusites yea and the castle therof which was very wel fensed was not deliuered vp to the Israelites The city of Ierusalem was taken when Iosua was yet a lyue tyl in Dauid his time as it is declared in the latter booke of Samuel Neyther ought that to moue you bycause it appeareth not in the booke of Iosua that the city of Ierusalem was taken For although this be not plainly and manifestly spoken yet may it be vnderstand by those thinges which are there intreated of namely that the king of Ierusalem was taken and that Iudah dwelled in that city neither could he yet cast out the Iebusites from them Al these thinges I say are signes that the city was taken at that tyme although it was not yet possessed fully and in al partes It seemeth also somewhat obscure that it is wrytten that Iudah descended when he should go fight against the Chananites who dwelled on the mountaines When as we accustome in going to mountaines to ascend and not to descende But we must vnderstand that those countries wer ful of mountaines Wherefore when the host remoued from one mountaine to an other it must nedes descend first into the valley from whence it might afterward ascend vpon an other mountaine Thou wylt peraduenture aske whether Iudah at that tyme coÌ„quered the plaine or the valley which was betwene No verely He assaulted them in dede but he could not ouercome them For we shall heare in thys chap. that those which were not ouercome of Iudah in the valley had yron Chariotes so that by that meanes they were not ouercome And Iudah went against the Chananites that dwelt in Hebron These thnges are now therfore repeated that we should vnderstande that it was not of necessity that the city Hebron should be taken of Iudah then when the Israelites were in this iourney on warfare which they tooke in hand after the death of Iosua namelye at that tyme wherein the publique wealth was gouerned by elders without any certaine Iudge Iosua being yet alyue Why Hebron was called the city Arba. And the name of Hebron before time was called Kiriath-Arba and they smote Sesay Ahimman and Thalmay The reason of the name of this city is not of euery man taken a like The
cause of the diuersity is this word Arba whych in his vsuall and proper signification signifeth the number whych the Latines cal Quatuor It is not certain that Adam and his wyfe were buryed in Hebron the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is foure Now some suppose the number of foure to be referred to the foure couple of men wyth theyr wiues which they say wer buried in that city Yet the holy scriptures make mēcion but of three for in the booke of Genesis .23 chap. we reade that Abraham and Sara wer buried there also in the .35 .49 chap. of the same booke we rede of Isaac and Rebeckaes burial there And lastly in the .50 chap. we fynde that Iacob was caried thither he him selfe before that had there buried his wife Lea. But concerning Adam Eue his wife whō they haue added vnto these we can finde nothing thereof in the holye scriptures For that which they alledge out of the .14 chap. of Iosua maketh nothing to the purpose for that the word Adam in that place is not the name of the first man Wherfore they can gather nothyng out of that place but that Arba was a certaine great man among the Anakims These are the words there Ha Adam Hagadol be Anakim Hui that is he was a great man among the Enakims But our interpretour translateth it thus Adā was counted the great among the Enakims Wherby it appeareth that he thought that Adam was a proper name But he was two wayes deceaued first he dyd not marke that the article Ha is ioyned to the word Adam which is neuer ioyned with proper names Wherfore it must needes be a common name whych must be referred to that woord Arba for that name was put a litle before The other errour is bycause we reade no where that the first man was reckoned amongst the Enakims that is to say Giauntes The opinion of others is that Hebron was called the City Arba bycause it was inhabited of .4 Giauntes namely Sesay Ahimman and Thalmay vnto which three brethren they adde Annak their Parent But the opinion of these men is easely confuted bycause that in the .14 chap. of Iosua toward the end it is by manifest wordes declared that this word Arba is the proper name of a Giaunt Wherfore it is manifest enough that this woord must not be referred to the number of four And by that meanes not onely this latter sentence but the first also is confuted which would haue this name Arba to haue a respect to the foure couple of men with their wyues buried in the old tyme in that City And vndoubtedly for the same cause also the opinion of others is not to be allowed which do thinke that the City was so called bycause although it were but one City yet it consisted of foure Cities and that this woord Arba is all one wyth this greeke woorde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whiche is foure Cities Wherefore I iudge it best to thyncke that it was so named of the buylder thereof named Arba Arba had three chyldren who how he came by that surname it is vncertaine Onely this we maye gather out of the scriptures that what so euer he was he had three chyldren which are called in this place and also in the booke of Iosua Sehai Ahimman and Thalmay And it is very lykely that they were deade long tyme before Iosua And when they were now dead then was there mencion made of them bicause their families which seme to haue bene of a wonderful huge stature were destroyed by Caleb and Othoniel And this is the reason why I suppose that these three brethrē liued not in Caleb and Othoniels tyme bycause this Citye as it is written in the booke of Numbers was a most auncient city and was buylt .vii. yeares before zoham that is Thamin the kingly Citye of the Egiptians And in zoham dyd Moyses and Aaron woorke the wonders before Pharao And if so be it was the kingly and noble city then it must nedes be built long time before Wherefore if Hebron were built before it and had the name thereof of Arba how could his children be on lyue at this time It cannot be so Besides thys Abraham had a lodging in this City bought there a double caue And from that time to Iosua his time wer almost .400 yeres It is not therefore very likely that the sonnes of him which builded so auncient a city should lyue tyl Iosua his tyme vnles any man wyl fayne that the same city was built long time before called by an other name then in processe of tyme casting away the first name it should be named by this most strong and mighty Giaunt But whether it be thus or no neither skilleth it much neither semeth it curiously to be sought for But this might somwhat moue some bycause Arba wherof we now speake is called in the .15 chap. of Iosua the father of Enak For if he had .3 sōnes which were named as well here as in the same booke of Iosua it wil then he doubtfull who that same Enak was What Hanack signifieth In which thyng sauyng the iudgement of a better learned I would thinke might be answered that it was not a proper name but a cōmon wherby at that time men of huge stature but such as were noble excellently adourned wer called For this word Enak in hebrewe is to gird or to compasse and is chiefly referred to chaines which are worne about the necke for comelynes sake And thereof is this name Enak deriued in the plural number hath both the masculine feminine forme it signifieth a chaine and is transferred to noble worthy men whom thou mayst cal chained Wherfore Sesay Ahimman Thalmay may be called the sōnes of Arba who was not called the father of them onely but also the father of Enak bycause euery one of his sōnes was noble Why giauntes were called Enakim wore a chaine or was a Giaunt for Giauntes also were called Enakim either bicause they wore chaines or els bycause they were of a notable stature of body for it may be that that word was applyed to all kynde of ornaments Of them is mencion also made in the booke of Numbers .13 chapter By how many names giaūtes are called in the holy scriptures Seing we are now by chaunce in hande with giauntes and that there is often mention made of them in the holy Scriptures it shall not be vnprofitable somewhat to speake of them Fyrste we muste knowe that they are called by diuerse names in the holy Scriptures as Enakim Eimim Zemasmim Nefalim Rephaim Why they were called Enakim manifestly appeareth by those things which we haue spoken before And they were called Eimim of the terror which they draue into others by their loke They were called Zemasmim of mischiefe bicause they trusting to their owne power and might were dispisers of lawes iustice and
them which thought giaūts were not borne of men bicause they thinke it is not possible the huge giauntes can be borne of mē of vsual bignesse stature Wherfore some of thē haue gone so farre that they haue affirmed that the first mā was a giaunt and that Noah also his childrē were Giaunts bicause they beleued not that the kind of mē could be either before or after the floud except their first progenitors had bene such if it were thought they should be borne of men But Augustine proueth that to be false sayth Augustine A womā giaūt that a litle before the ouerthrow made by the Gothes there was a womā at Rome of a giauntes stature whō very many out of diuerse countreyes came to see Which womans parents neuerthelesse exceded not the cōmon accustomed stature of other men The naturall cause of the great stature of giāts But as touching the cause of this huge bignesse of giaūtes if we should loke vpō nature thē can we bring no other reason but a strong naturall heate also a moysture which abundauntly largely ministreth matter for the heate doth extende the same not only into length but also it poureth out spreadeth it both to breadth also to thicknesse Giaunts therfore begā before the floud they wer also before the accōpanieng of the sonnes of god with the daughters of men after that also continued their generation Men therfore begat them and had a naturall cause such as we haue sayd There were also some without doubt after the floud for there is mencion made of them in the booke of Num. Deut. Iosua How huge the giauntes were Iudges Samuel Paralip and other holy bookes Concerning their bignesse stature we may partly gesse and partly we haue it expressedly described The coniectures are bycause Goliah had a cote of male weing v.m. sicles and a speare like a weauers beame and the Iron or top of his speare weighed 600. sicles We coniecture also that Og kyng of Basan was of a wonderfull bignesse and that by hys bed whiche being of Iron contayned 9. cubites in length And the Israelites compared with Enachim seemed as grassehopers These he signes wherby we may iudge howe bigge these men were But the bignesse of Goliah is described properly and distinctly in the booke of Samu. For it is sayd that he was 6. cubites and a hande bredth highe A cubite with the Grecians Latines And a cubite with the Grecians is two feete but with the Latines a foote and a halfe Some alledge the cause of this difference to be bycause the measure may be extended from the elbow to the hand being some tymes closed and sometymes open or stretched forth And thus much as concerning the stature of giauntes so farre as may be gathered by the holy Scriptures But we read among the Ethnickes farre more wonderfull thinges The Ethnikes opinion of gianntes Philostratus The common stature of men in our tyme. The measure of a foote such which seeme to some incredible Philostratus writeth in his booke of noble men that he sawe the carkase of a certain giaunt which was 30. cubites long and an other 22. cubites long and certain other also 12. But the cōmon stature of men in our tyme passeth littell aboue .5 feete And the measure of a foote agreeth both with the Grecians with the Latines for they both geue to euery foote 4. hand breadthes and euery hand breadth conteineth the breadth of 4. fingers that is the length of the litle finger But if the last fingers the thombe I saye and the litle finger should be stretched abroade then euery foote cōtaineth but two hand bredthes I thincke it not amisse also to declare here what Augustine writeth in the .15 Augustine booke de ciuit Dei 9. chap. where he reproueth those whiche obstinatly contend that there were neuer any men of so wonderfull huge a stature and testifieth that he him selfe sawe vpon the coaste of Vtica a tooth so great that being deuided it might easely be iudged to be an hundred fold bigger in forme and quantitie thē vsuall teth in our tyme are Vergil he also declareth in the same place that there were in oldetyme very many such bodyes of men by the verses of Vergil whiche are written in the 7. booke of Aenedos where he sheweth how Turnus tooke vp so great a stone from the groūde and threw at Eneas that 12. such men as the earth bringeth forth now of dayes could scarsely lifte whiche place he tooke out of the 6. boke of Iliades of Homere We may adde also vnto these the verses which the same Vergil hath writtē in the first of the Georgikes he shall wonder at the great bones digged out of the graues Moreouer Augustine bringeth Pliny the second who affirmeth in his 7. Pliny booke that nature the longer it procedeth in her course the lesser bodyes doth it bryng forth dayly Cipriane Whether the bodies of men haue decreased from the floud to our tyme. And he maketh mencion also of Homere whiche made complainte sometymes in his verses To whom I might adde the testimonie of Cipriane against Demetrian But if I should be asked the question whether I thought that the bodies of men whiche were brought forth after the floud are lesse than those whiche were before the floud I would peraduenture graunt vnto it Aulus Gellius but that they haue alwayes decreased from the floud euen to our tyme I would not easely consent to that and especially bycause of Aulus Gellius wordes whiche he wrote in the third booke where he sayth that the measure of the growth of mans body is 7. feete whiche seemeth also to be the measure at this day in mē of the bigger sort But lest I should dissemble any thing we read in the Apochriphas of Esdras the 4. booke about the ende of the .5 chap. that our bodyes are lesser nowe and shal be euery daye lesse bycause nature is alwayes made more weake And the same doth Cipriane as I haue a litle before sayd seme to affirme But why I would not so easely assent thereunto this is the cause for that I can se almost nothing altered in our time from the measure whiche Gellius defineth Pliny But now to Pliny agayne who sayth in his 7. booke that in Crete when a certayn mountaine was rent by an earth quake a dead body was founde standing whiche was 46. cubites long whiche some beleued to be Orions body other some Othus It is also left in writing that the body of Orestes being digged vp by the commaundement of an oracle was 7. cubites long But that whiche Berosus affirmeth Berosus that Adam Seth his sonne were giauntes and Noah also with his children as it is put without testimony of holy scriptures so may it also be reiected Now it seemeth good to declare Why GOD woulde haue so huge giauntes some tymes for what
reason forbad fyrst al degrees euen to the seuenth which when he saw afterward was not obserued and al was ful of confusion he cut of his prohibitions to the fourth degree In which thing he is yet constant hardened if there come no money in but if money be offred wherof he must haue much brought hym to fyl his filthy cofers he setteth at libertie as pleaseth him both his own lawes and the word of god This we must also knowe that God had in his lawes an other decree whiche may lawfully be called peculiar bycause it extendeth no way to other nations neither ought it to be in force at all tymes And that was that when any husband deceased without children the brother which remained on liue or some other next of kynne should mary the first mans wife left so that the first childe which should be begotten of that mariage shoulde be counted the sonne of hym that was dead and should fully succede him as touching his inheritaunce For God would not in that publique wealth that men should altogether be extinguished and he prouided that the same distinction of landes shoulde be kepte as much as might be And seing the same is not vsed in our publique wealthes neither hath God commaunded that it shoulde it therfore pertayneth nothyng vnto vs. Wherfore we must keepe oure selues vnder the generall and common lawe She that is left of the kinnesman ought to he maryed namely that no man presume to mary the wife of his brother being dead although he dyed without children Let vs also knowe that in the beginning when onely the familie of Adam lyued on the earth brethren were not forbidden as they were afterwarde For brethren were driuen of necessity to mary their sisters But afterward wheÌ„ men were increased in number shame shewed it selfe forth and they began by the instinction of God or by nature either to abstayn from prohibited persons or at the least to know that such coniunctions were ful of ignominye But what tyme they began first to abstaine it appeareth not by the history The Gods of the Hâ—â—â—â—â—â—ried â—hâ—â—â— Systers Peraduenture the Heathen Poetes haue declared that necessity of the elders whych compelled the famyly of the first Parentes to constrayne the brother to mary the Syster when as they fable that their Gods had their Systers to wyues for the chiefe of them namelye Iupiter had Iuno whych in Virgil speaketh thus of her selfe But I whych walke the Quene of the Gods both syster and wyfe to Iupiter And although the woorde of God Causes 〈◊〉 manye degâ—â—es in mariages aâ— forbydden Augustine and instincte of nature were sufficient by them selues to make vs to abstayne from the foresayde coninunctions yet are there many good causes of prohibition alledged by diuers wryters Augustine in hys .xv. booke De ciuitate dei and .xvi. chap. writeth that the same abstinence was very profitable to dilate more amplye the bondes of humane fellowshyp For if mariages should be included wythin the walles of one family theÌ„ should there come no kynreds with others Furthermore it is not meete that one and the selfe man should occupye the persons of diuers kynredes namelye that one man should be both vncle and husband of one woman and the same woman to be both Aunt and wyfe of one man Which reason Cicero also hath touched in hys fyft booke Definibus and also Plutarch in his .108 probleme And they being both Ethnickes could not haue sene this but being illustrate by the light of nature This also is the third reason bicause these persons from whom we should abstain do dwel together often tymes in one house Wherefore if there shoulde be manye maryed folkes together they woulde not vse them selues so grauelye and seuerely as domestical shamefastnes requireth Plutarch The causes of strife betwene kinsfolk ought to be cut of Plutarch in the place before sayde hath set forth two other reasons besydes those which we haue declared One is bycause betwene kynsfolkes discordes are to be feared For they would soone complayne that the right of kynred should be taken away whych saying I doo vnderstand thus if eyther she or he which should ouerskyp the nearer degre and marry with the degree farther of she which were nearer would thinke that she had iniury done vnto her as though in ouerskipping her he would put her to shame as it is a common vse in wylles and Testamentes where they which are nyghest of kynne maye not nor oughte not to bee forgotten of hym which maketh the wyll And in the lawe for raysing vp seede to the brother already deceased the fyrst place must be geuen to the nyghest of kynne who if hee refused to vse hys right was made ashamed as that law doth more amplye declare the same Wherefore seyng discordes betwene al men are to be abhorred WomeÌ„ for that they are weake ought not to haue their patrimonies diminished but increased much more are they vtterly to be detested betwene kynsfolkes Plutarch also bryngeth an other reason bycause women are weake and therefore they haue neede of many sundry patrones wherefore when they are maryed to straunge men if they shoulde be euyll handled by their husbandes as often tymes they are they haue al their kynsfolkes easely for Patrones but if they be wyues to their own kynsfolkes and happen to be euil entreated of them they should then haue very fewe to defende their cause For other kynsfolkes woulde not bee so ready for their sakes to fall out with their own kynne which they woulde not be greued to doo wyth straungers But nowe that I am in hande wyth Plutarch I remember that whych he hath wrytten in the syxt probleme Of the matrimoni of brethreÌ„ and Systers chyldren Plutarch and I thinke it is 〈◊〉 vnprofitable to declare it although it seme to disagree from that whych Augustine wryteth in hys .xv. booke De ciuitate dei .xvi. chapter of the matrimony of Brothers and Systers chyldren For he affirmeth there that before hys tyme the same was lawfull although those kyndes of maryages semed very rare bycause men after a sorte eschewed to contracte with persons so nigh but he saith that the licence was afterward taken away Which I surely can not perceaue in the Romane lawes which were publikely receaued allowed which yet wer vsed thorough out Aphrica Wherefore it maye seme obscure to some of what lawes Augustine speaketh wherby he sayth that in his time those kindes of matrimonyes were prohibited But we must vnderstand that in his time the law of Theodosius the elder was of force who was the fyrst among the Emperoures that I know of which prohibited matrimonye of this degree Which also Aurelius Victor and Paulus Diaconus do testifye And that is found at this day writteÌ„ in the boke called Codex Theodosianus concerning incestuous mariages by these wordes Let this sentence remaine concerning them whosoeuer from henceforth shall defyle hymself with
the mariage of his cousin Germaine or of his sisters daughter or of his brothers daughter or of his wiues daughter lastly of al whose mariage is forbidden and condemned But that law is not in these dayes found in the Digestes neither in the booke of the Code nor in the Authentikes Which neuerthelesse Clother the king followed as it is red in the lawes of the Almaines entituled of vnlawfull mariages yea and it is confirmed by the ecclesiasticall Canons and decrees in Gracian 35. Question the second and third also by the counsel of Agathen in the 61. Canon And Gregorye the fyrst in the same place is found to be of the same opinion in the chap. Quaedam ex Romana c. This answereth to the sixth interrogation of Augustine Bishop of Cantorbury and affyrmeth that those which be ioyned by the degree of cousin Germaines ought to abstaine from contracting of matrimony one with an other Yea and long before Gregorye his time Ambrose hath in his 66. Epistle ad Paternum condemned the mariage of brethrens children he testifieth that it was forbiddē by the law of Theodosius which I haue also brought And if I should vse coniecture I thinke Theodosius did it by the persuasion of Ambrose who had a singular respecte to publique honestie Neither was that law so seuere at that time but that sometimes it might be released as he declareth in that Epistle to Paternus In that Ambrose affyrmeth there that such mariages were prohibited by Gods lawe It can be made probable to none which shall attentiuely consider the wordes of the law of god and doings of the fathers How the Romanes haue behaued themselues toward their cousins as concernyng matrimonyes in the old time this I haue obserued Ligustine sayth in the 2. booke and 5. decade of Liuy that his father gaue him his Vncles daughter to wife Cicero also writeth in hys oration for Cluentius that Cluentia had lawfully maryed her cousin Germaine M. Aurius And M. Anthonius the Philosopher tooke to wife Faustina his cousin Germaine as Iulius Capitolinus testifieth And before Rome was builded the mariages of Turnus and Lauinia were in hand which came of two sisters Howbeit Plutarch writeth in the place aboue mentioned that at the fyrst when Rome was builte it was forbidden by a lawe that they whiche were nighe of kinne shoulde not marrye together But yet he writeth that the lawe for brethren and sisters children was vppon thys occasion released bycause a certayne man beyng both honeste and also well beloued of the people of Rome when he was greuouslye oppressed with pouertye toke to wife his sisters daughter which was ryche and welthye for the whiche cause he was accused of inceste But the matter being decided he was quyted by the iudgemente of the people of Rome for he was greatly fauoured in the citye Then after that it was decreed by the consent of the people of Rome that from thence forth it shoulde be lawfull for brethren and sisters children to marry together These thinges I thought good to declare of this kinde of matrimonye both out of Gods lawes and the old new lawes of the Romanes and also out of the fathers and ecclesiasticall Canons Whereunto I will adde that there be very many Cities professing the gospell whiche do not admitte the mariages of brethren and sisters children as Surike Berna Basile Schapusin Sangallum Biema c. In the kingdome also of England when I was there that degree was excluded from matrimony Wherfore in places where the magistrate forbyddeth these mariages the faithful ought for those causes whiche I haue before declared to abstayne from them But now I will go to the present matter If Othoniel as I haue before sayd were cousin vnto Achsa he might mary her by the lawe of God but if he were her vnckle it was not lawful by the cōmō lawe But he maried her Wherfore we must nedes saye one of these two thinges either that it was a faulte for the fathers as we haue before sayd were not alwayes free from sinne or elles that god would haue this done by a priuilege or certain prerogatiue whiche we may not for all that take example by Neither is this to be forgottē that after the accustomed manner of Scriptures Kinsfolkes in scriptures are called brethren they whiche were any way of kinne together were called brethren as Loth is called the brother of Abraham the kinsfolkes of Iesus Christ the sonne of God are called in the history of the gospel his brethrē So may it also be in this place that Othoniel may be called the brother of Chaleb when as he was but only some other waye of kinne vnto him And the interpretours do vse this expositiō oftē times which I would not disallow but that I se this particle in the texte The yonger whiche is not wont to be added but when sisters and brethren in dede are compared together But now wil I go to other thinges whiche are to be considered in this history Chaleb had promised him which should cōquere the citie of Debir Whether Chalebs promisse were a rashe promisse his daughter to wife What if any wicked persone had performed that should he by the vertue of the promise haue ben made the sonne in law of Chaleb surely it semeth not For what other thing had this ben than to betraye his daughter Therfore it may appeare that he promised rashly For a wise man ought to foresee those thinges whiche might happen How be it we must consider that there were not at that tyme such wicked and flagitious men among the Israelites for as long as those elders lyued whiche gouerned the publicque wealth together with Iosua as it shal be declared in this hystory the people feared god Wherfore it followeth that they vsed to put those to death by the lawe whiche were guiltie of very grieuous crimes Therfore there was no daunger lest any such mā should conquere the citie to whom for that act Hacsah should be geuen to wife of duetye But if there remayned certaine smal and common faultes in him which had conquered it the same might be recompenced by his other vertues For there is is none so absolute and perfect but that some times he may fal Moreouer there were some hope of amendement of life And the conquerour might be so nighe of kynne as peraduēture this Othoniel was that he could not mary the daughter of Chaleb Wherfore it seemeth that at the least in that part it was a rashe promise But I do not thincke it can be accused of rashenesse A constant rule of all humane promises for as much as all promises ought among the godly so farre forth to be of force as they do agree with the word of god which thing if Iepthe had diligently considered he would neuer haue suffred hym selfe to haue committed so vnworthy thinges agaynst his daughter This cōdition surely in all couenaunts and promises ought to be counted
I answere that all these are so farre forth to be obserued as long as the othes and promises be not agaynst the worde of god and good lawes Which thing if it be afterward knoweÌ„ theÌ„ are they of no force yea they are theÌ„ vtterly voyde To these I adde that it manifestly appeareth by the cautions now alledged that we must neither for sweare nor lye wherby a laudable good proditioÌ„ should succede Wherfore they which sweare vnto their magistrates The prodition of the Counsel holden at Constantia promise to defeÌ„d the citie caÌ„ not be excused when their minde is to betraye to deceaue This haue the Antichrists done in the counsel holden at Constantia For that they might theÌ„ eassier allure thither Iohn Husse Ierome of Praga they promised him safety by publique fayth And therefore they can not defend their prodition admitte it were nothyng els as iust and honest But they were without doubt treacherers and wicked betrayers in swearyng promysing that by their letters whiche they would not performe But now we must returne to the history Howe the Luzite might be suffered of the Israelits to go in safety It is not certain as it is sayd whether this Luzite had faith or whether he wer an infidel If he had faith his prodition is to be commended otherwise it is to be discommended But if he beleued not neither cleaued vnto the true God why did the Israelites let hym go Forsooth bicause he of his own wil went into banishment Neither seemed this to be against the counsel of God For God woulde therefore haue those people cut of least they dwelling together with the Hebrues should haue geuen them an occasion of falling and offence Wherefore when they departed and chose wylful banishment that came to passe which God would haue to be done But thou wilt say By this meanes might al those nations haue bene sent away Why the Chanaâ—it s departed not giue place to the Israelites neither ought they to haue ben slain as god had coÌ„mauÌ„ded What might haue ben done I nede not to answer for as much as that is demaunded which coulde not be done For so manye and so great were the sinnes of those nations that they vtterly deserued death Wherfore god taking away his spirite from them dyd so harden their hartes that they endeuoured not them selues to depart but rather to resist the Israelites as much as in them lay They made many battailes therfore in which as god had ordained and as they had deserued they came to vtter destruction although a very few of them were saued in departing or els in embracing the true religion And they smote the cyty wyth the edge of the swoorde This is not to be ascribed to cruelty but rather to obedience and religion towarde the true god for so was it his wil to be done and so had he commaunded But they let the man and his houshold go free Howe they coulde discerne this mans family from the rest it is not writteÌ„ But it is most lykely that either he entred with the Israelites into the city or els he shewed vnto them his house by some token wherby they might leaue it safe and vntouched according to their purpose Rahab certainly in Iericho hong a purple corde in the window of her house to auoid the misery and sacking of the souldiours And the man went into the land of the Hithites Kimhi wryteth that these Hithites were none of those seauen nations which were commaunded to be destroyed in the land of Chanaan But he declareth not what these Hithites wer And these are the names of those nations which should haue bene destroyed of the Israelites The Chananites the Iebusites Hemorrhites Gergesites Pheresites Hithites and Hiuites These are the nations which god commaunded to be weeded out of the land promised vnto the Israelites But this is to bee noted by the way that there is a difference betwene these woordes Kethim and Chethim for that which is written by Kaph signifieth as they interprete the Italians or such as dwel in Ilandes or the Macedonians and that woorde is found in Esay Ieremy and in the booke of Num where the prophecies of Balaam are mentioned But that woord which is written with this letter Cheth signifieth either one of the seauen nations of the country of the Chananites or els those to whom it is sayd that this Luzite went And he built a City and called the name of it Luz The maner of banished meÌ„ in buildyng or adourning of citiâ—s So men that wer driuen out of their countrey wer wont to do that being moued with the loue of their country to cal the places which they did build either by the name of their country which they left or els to builde them as neare as they coulde in forme like the other So it is said that Aeneas dyd in Italy buyld Troy the city of the Pisites was in the same country built by the Graecians Like wise the Israelites leauing the land of Palestine decked vp a city graunted vnto them in Egipt like vnto Ierusalem building a temple there ordaining also Priestes and sacrifices as they had before in Ierusalem In which doing they synned most haynously although neuerthelesse they were moued thereunto by the loue of theyr countrye whych they had forsaken Vnto thys day The tyme of Samuel is by those woordes noted who is thought to be the writer of this history And by this sentence the Hebrues do gather that that City and the name therof endured to the time of Samuel 27 But Manasses did not expel Beth-Sean with her townes and Thaanach with her townes the Inhabiters of Dor wyth her townes the inhabiters of Iibleam with her townes nether the inhabiters of Megiddo with her townes And the Chananites began to dwell in the land 28 And it came to passe that as sone as Israel was waxed mighto they put the Chananites to tributes and expelled them not 29 In lyke maner Ephraim expelled not the Chananites that dwelt in Gazer and therefore the Chananites dwelt styll in Gazer among them 30 Neither dyd Zebulon expel the inhabiters of Kitron neyther the inhabiters of Nahalol wherfore the Chananites dwelt among them and became tributaries vnto them 31 Aser also dyd not cast oute the inhabiters of Acho and the inhabiters of Zidon of Achlab Achzib Helbab Aphik and Rehob 32 And the Aserites dwelt among the Chananites the inhabiters of the land for they did not driue them out 33 Neither did Nephtalim driue out the inhabiters of Beth-Semes nor the inhabiters of Bethanath but dwelt amoÌ„gest the Chananites the inhabiters of the land and the inhabiters of Beth-Semes and Beth-Anath became tributaries vnto them The synnes of the Israelites In this place the holy history setteth foorth the synne of the Israelites in that they did not cast out and destroye those peoples as God had commaunded them but made them tributaries vnto them
places of the scriptures which should be superfluous now to declare Some supposed that some certayne spirite was sent from God whiche appeared vnto the people in a visible forme and reproued them as he was commaunded And they persuade them selues that he was first sene in Gilgal and there commaunded the people to ascend from thence to a place whiche was afterward called Bochim of weapyng The Hebrew word Melach is not agaynst this interpretation and that maketh with it also bycause he speaketh as God The aungell speaketh in the person of God I haue made you sayth he to ascend out of Egypt With whiche selfe same kinde of speache the Aungell in Genesis spake to Abraham and in Exodus to Moses Where it is also written that God put his name in him But it semed vnto the auncient fathers That aungell whiche spake vnto the fathers is thought to haue ben christ that that aungell which in the olde Testament appeared spake in the name of God was Christ the sonne of God For it is writtē in Iohn No man hath sene God at any tyme the sonne which in the bosome of the father he hath declared him These wordes declare vnto vs that what soeuer thinges are sayd to haue ben spoken by God in the olde Testament the same were made open by Christ But other suppose that this messanger or legate was a minister of the Churche that is either a Priest or a Prophet whose office was to reprehend the sinnes of the people Amonge the Hebrew Rabines Leui the sonne of Gerson Leui the sonne of Gerson doth therfore thinke this to be very likely bycause it is not conuenient that an aungell should openly speake to so great a multitude But his reason is very weake for seing God whē he gaue the lawe spake in the mount Sina to the whole multitude of the Hebrues what should let but that he could teache an angell to do the same But this is of some what more strength bycause it is declared in the history that this messanger ascended from Gilgal to Bochim For if he were an angell it semeth that it should rather haue ben sayd that he discended from heauen not ascended from Gilgal to Bochim And surely it appeareth a fayned thing that they fayne that he first appeared in Gilgal and then called the people together to Bochim For he mought haue in Gilgal expressed vnto the people those thinges whiche he afterward declared in Bochim Wherfore the Hebrues affirme that this Prophet or Priest receaued in Gilgal the spirite and inspiration of God wherewith he was stirred vp and appoynted to the assembly of the people whiche then for certaine causes were assembled in Bochim Praises of Phineas the priest there to expresse the commaundementes of God to the people yea they say that that Prophet was Phineas the Priest the nephew of Aaron I meane the sonne of Eleazar for he was a very seuere man and most zelous of godlynesse and righteousnesse In the booke of Numb it is mencioned how he slew Zamri a prince of the family of Simeon namely for this bycause he cōmitted open fornicatiō with a Madianitishe harlot And the father of the harlot was a prince among the Madianites And God manifestly allowed the zeale of Phineas For he promised him the priesthode of his nation with an euerlastyng couenaunt and ceassed from destroyeng the people being mitigated with his noble acte Phineas therfore was not onely godly but also of a stoute and valiaunte courage He feared not for gods cause to entre into grieuous hatreds and to put himselfe to present daunger Wherfore Dauid in the 106. Psalme rehearsing this history commendeth him after this sorte Phineas stode vp and reuenged and the plague ceassed and it was coūted vnto him for righteousnesse from generation to generation for euer Wherfore that acte whiche by his owne nature mought haue semed cruell and horrible did not onely please God and was of him allowed for a iust acte but he also deliuered the people from a most grieuous plague wherewith they were then vexed The counte of the yeares if they be rightly counted is not agaynst this opinion now alleged Yea and it is found in this selfe same boke that he was on lyue when warre was made agaynst the tribe of Beniamin to reuenge the wicked acte perpetrated in Gabaa R. Salomoh Rabbi Salomoh also declareth that the booke which is entituled Sedar Olam testifieth the same Kimhi Likewise Dauid Kimhi the old Hebrues seme to encline to this opinion But what soeuer he was I thinke it skilleth not much This ought to be most certain and sure that the thinges declared by him were the wordes of God Where Gilgal lyeth Gilgal is a citie lyeng in the playne of Iordane not farre from the citie of Iericho And it had that name hereof bycause there Iosuah by the commaundemēt of the Lord prouided that the people of Israel whiche had wandred vncircumcised thoroughe the wildernesse celebrated a solēpne circumcision And when they had so done God aunswered that he had remoued from thē the reproche of Egypt For Gal signifieth in Hebrew to turne away and to remoue Moreouer in that place but not at that tyme but long before was the tabernacle the Arke of the couenaunt Namely in the tyme of Iosuah when the people passed ouer Iordane And by that meanes that place was counted religious Wherfore Saul the first king of the Hebrues was annoynted in Gilgal But Bochim was so called of thē whiche wept as we shall strayght waye heare And it is called so now by the figure Prolepsis bycause it was not yet named by that name And as it appeareth by the history they goyng from Gilgal ascended to Bochim Furthermore we must note that the legate speaketh not in hys owne name but in the name of God yet he vseth not those kinde of phrases which the other Prophetes did namely Thus saith the Lord. c. The word of the Lord came vnto me c. And in rehearsing the benefites bestowed on the people First of all he maketh mencion of the delyuery of their fathers out of Egypte bycause that had newly happened vnto the Hebrues The benefites of God are like wordes which testifie of hys nature goodnesse And God to the end the knowledge of him should not be blotted out vseth to put men in mynde of those benefites that he hath bestowed on thē and will haue thē to be as certain wordes expressing his nature and goodnesse vnto vs. And he alwayes begynneth his rehearsall at thinges that are latest done and of them he claymeth vnto him selfe titles or names attributed vnto him God taketh surnames by hys benefites by whiche he would be both called vpon and also knowen for at the beginning God was called vpon by that that he created heauen and earth and afterward by that that he was the God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob After that
A vehemente amplyfieng of synne is the greatnesse of the benefites of god which ought to stirre vs vp to the obseruing of the law Afterward is set forth the grieuousnesse of the punishmēts bycause the waight of the synnes cōmitted doth euidently declare the burtheu of thē Wherfore these two things are worthily alledged in the sermon to the end the Hebrues might fele the enormity of the wicked acte whiche they had committed whereas otherwise they would haue thought it but a light faulte Two Antitheses to be considered in thys oration Furthermore we must consider in this oration the contrary positions artificially ioyned together to augment the vehemency For to that benefite wherin God had brought them out of Egypt this is layde agaynst that they draue not the Chananites from the countrey geuen vnto them And to this benefite that God had geuen them an aboundant and fertile countrey this is contrary that the people suffred Idolatry to be no lesse vsed there than it was before And this was to rendre euill for good Wherfore God would not suffer that to be left vnpunished but caused it to happen otherwise vnto them than they thought For the nations whiche they for their cōmoditie had saued did them great hurte so that they are cōpared to thornes And the Gods of those nations which they had not abolished turned to a snare greuous stumbling blocke to the Hebrues Whether the people wer by this oratiō stirred vp to faith But this sermon may seme vnperfect enoughe for so muche as fayth is not set forth in it wherunto the mynde of the hearers should be erected onely the synne is declared and the punishement wherewith they should be punished is expressed And these thinges except fayth be mixed with thē breede rather desperation thā saluation so farre of is it that they should bryng a iust remedy To this I aunswere that that parte whiche semeth to wante is elegantly contayned in the sermon nowe alledged so that it be somewhat more diligently considered For when the benefites bestowed on them by God are expressed they make vs assured of the goodnesse and mercy of God whiche benefites also remayne still for the Israelites if they will repente For god is not chaunged but is perpetually of the selfe same nature and will And vnlesse he be resisted by sinnes he is towardes men very fauorable and louyng Furthermore fayth is stirred vp in the hearers when it is shewed vnto them that god would that his couenaunt made with them should abide for euer Wherefore it is manifest that this was his will that the impediment of synnes beyng by full repentaunce taken away his couenaunt whiche he had made might be of force for euer Wherfore there is no cause why we should complayne that fayth is left out when as both the promises and the couenaunt are mencioned whiche can not be conceaued and established but onely by fayth There yet remayneth a doubte whether God require the selfe same thyng of Christians whiche he woulde haue to be done of the Hebrues Wether it be required of vs that we should breake Idoles namely that they should by violence take awaye and breake in pieces the Idoles and superstitions both of the infidelles also of heretikes If thys should be demaunded as touchying Princes and Magistrates it is without controuersie that they ought to purge their dominions from such euils and to that end haue they receaued of God the sword and power But they which are priuate persons ought to abstayne from violence for so much as to them is not committed the sworde and power to constrayne Of thys thyng Augustine in the .x. tome and 6. Augustine sermon after this manner aunswereth that the Christians ought so to do as God commaunded the Hebrues in the 7. of Deut where he expressedly commaunded that these thinges ought then to be done of the Iewes when the lande was in their owne power Wherfore Christians ought also to do the same but yet in those landes cities and houses whiche they possesse namely they must there ouerthrowe Idoles and superstitious altars Howbeit it is not lawfull for them to breake into other mens houses landes and Townes and with violence to breake and ouerthrowe Idoles and altares This sayeth he is not to heale the synne of Idolatrye whiche lyeth chiefly in the hearte it ought chiefly be weyed out of the heartes of our neighbours by the worde and doctrine whiche beyng done as many as we shall wynne vnto Christ will helpe vs to take awaye outwarde Images when as they are persuaded by the worde of GOD and that by our diligence they haue first shaken away the same thinges out of their own heartes Cōsilium Eliberinum And accordyng to this meanyng the Counsell holden at Eliberium did decree in the 60. Canon By these thynges we muste note that this is the will of GOD that we should abstayne from traffickes We must haue no felloweshyp with the vngodly matrimonyes and fellowshippes with infidels and heretikes as by the lawe it was forbidden that the Iewes should make no league with the Chananites but this would I haue so to be vnderstande as I haue before and that largely declared Moreouer we are playnely taught that the commaundementes of GOD are simply to be obeyed The commaūdemēts of god are not to be mitigated by man his inuentions so that we may not go about either to mollefye or to mitigate them by mannes inuentions Seyng that GOD punished the Hebrues and that grieuously whiche peraduenture thought that they had sufficiently fulfilled hys precepte when they had made the Chananites tributaries But as touchyng their Idoles and superstitions he required nothyng elles of the Israelites but that they woulde not worshyppe them Wherefore suche interpretations are to be taken hede of whiche do either vtterly take away the worde of GOD or at the least do make it to be of small force This did the sonne of GOD sharpely reproue when he sayed that the Phariseys by their doctrine and humane inuentions did wrest the law of God as thoughe it had ben made of ware to their filthy lustes wicked desires This sermō is takē out of the holy scriptures We must also marke that this whole sermon is taken out of the holy Scriptures for there is nothing contayned in it which is not found in the bookes of Numb Deut and Iosuah Whereby we gather that preachyng is then of efficacy when it is drawen out of the worde of GOD and not of the inuention of man Sinners ar punished by the same thinges whereby they haue trāsgressed Neither is it to be passed ouer that it is a common thyng with the Iustice of God to punishe synners by the same thynges whereby they transgresse As nowe it is declared that the Israelites should incurre most great damages as well by the nations as also by the Idoles whiche they contrary to the commaundement of GOD had
they dwelled peaceably and quietly among the Chananites Thre synnes of the Hebrues and contrary to the commaundement of God made those nations tributaries vnto them Secondly bicause they contracted matrimonies with that people And that had God prohibited to be done as the law in many places witnesseth Yea and in the booke of Esdras the last chap. we reade of a grieuous complaynt bycause the Iewes in their captiustye in Babilon had taken straungers to wyues And Esdras there decreed that such wiues should be put away God forbyddeth vnlyke maryages that those matrimonies should be counted voide which wer contracted betwene persons prohibited by God And why God would not haue matrimonies so contracted this reason is chiefly alledged bicause by such vnlike matrimonies the worshipping of God is wonderfully empaired For godly husbandes or wiues are by the vngodly parties oftentimes alienated from the true god Neither doth the Scripture onely teache vs this but also experience both in the olde time and also in our time testifieth it For as much as Salomon as it is written in the first boke of the kinges the .xi. chap. was both corrupted and also builded Temples for Idoles by the entisement of straunge women whom he most inordinatelye loued and more than was cōuenient Wherfore he miserably incurred the wrath of god The Iewes also as our historye nowe declareth had experience of the same And we in our time see great hinderaunce to come vnto the beleuers bycause very many of them contract matrimony with Papistes The third synne of the Hebrewes was bicause they worshipped Idoles and that was most of all against the league which they had long before made with god for they sayd we will serue the Lord our god Further it is added And they woorshipped trees or groues Thys woorde Aschera with the Hebrues is a tree and being in the plural number Ascheroth as it is in this place it signifieth trees and of some it is translated groues For it is a most common maner among the Idolatrers Gods wer worshipped in groues to woorship their goddes in groues In Oken groues they sacrificed vnto Iupiter and the Oke of Dodome was in the old time most famous by reason of the answers which it gaue In woods of bay trees was Apollo woorshipped Daphne also is notable wher the Temple of Apollo was built Minerua also was wont to haue a temple among Oliue trees And lastly we may marke both in the Poetes and also in histories that shadowy woods most large riuers mountaines of exceding great height wer counted of the men in the old time places most apt for sacrifices to be done vnto Idoles Bicause such places driue into men no smal admiration Wherefore they thought that such notable places had the power of god present Yea and Abraham also Isaac and Iacob and the old Fathers From whence the maner of sacrificing in hy◠moūtains came offered sacrifices vnto the true god vpon the high mountaines which custome was tyll such time vsed as god by a law ordained that they should not do sacrifice euerye where but in that place onely which he himselfe had chosen 8 Therfore the Lord was angry with Israel and sold them into the handes of Chusan Riseathaim Kyng of Aram-Naharaim the children of Israel serued Chusan Riseathaim eyght yeares Now is particularly mencioned the punishment wherwith god being angry punished the Hebrewes For when they so fel from him that they forgot hym he deliuered them to Chusan King of Mesopotamia And this is the first bondage that the children of Israel were in And that which the Grecians cal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mesopotamia the Hebrues name Aram-naharaim Nahar signifieth with them a Ryuer It is therfore put in the dual number bicause that part Siria or Aram is enclosed with two riuers Euphrates I say and Tigris Of the surname of Chusan Wherfore as touching the signification of the woord the Grecians haue followed the Hebrues But why Chusan was called Riseathaim it is darke Although D. Kimhi thinketh that the surname was geuen him of some certain place as we se to chaūce to Princes of our time which receiue their surname of that places frō whēce their Elders had their beginning But other some thinke that this king was therefore so called bicause he was very wicked and vngodly For with the Hebrues Resehaha signifieth wickednes and vngodlines Wherfore they wil haue it to be as much as if one should say Chusan of vngodlines or vngodly Chusan It is the dual number to declare that he was corrupted not with any simple wickednes or vngodlines but with a doubt that is with a principal and absolute wyckednes or vngodlines And ther wer some of the Hebrues which went about to expresse the double vngodlines of the kings of Mesopotamia For they say that Balaam was hired from thence to curse the Israelites Farther and this say they was the other wickednes wherwith this Chusan oppressed the Iewes which by no right pertained to his dominion or Lordship But these ought rather to be called diuinations and coniectures than iust interpretations They serued hym eyght yeares Vndoubtedly a very long time which I suppose was so much the painfuller vnto them Why the Chaldeans and Sirians went about to gouern the Iewes bicause from their commyng out of Egipt hitherto they had serued none But vnder what pretence this Kyng subdued vnto him the Hebrues it is not declared Peraduenture he thought that the Iewes wer a part of his people sent abroade to inhabite For Abraham was called out of Chaldea and came first into Mesopotamia From whence by the commaundement of God he went into the land of Chanaan Furthermore in that place Iacobs children were borne which wer the Princes of the twelue Tribes This peraduenture wer the titles wherby the Chaldeans and Sirians endeuoured them selues often times to be Lords ouer the Hebrues which thing yet they did vniustly For ther wer no people sent from the Chaldeans or from the Sirians by the common wyll and consent of the Princes and Magistrates whyche should go and inhabite in some place of the land of Chanaan Wherfore they did wrongfullye oppresse the Iewes and were styrred vp thereunto by couetousnes and ambition to enlarge their dominions This is also vncertayn whether this Chusan did together with the Iewes oppresse the Chananites And it maye be that he was not troublesome to the Chananites as to his friendes but onely afflicted the Hebrues Neither wer it absurde to thinke that this king was called by the Chananites to oppresse the Hebrues their common enemies 9 And the children of Israel cryed vnto the Lord and the Lord styrred vp a Sauiour to the children of Israel and saued them one Othoniel the sonne of Chenez Calebs yonger sonne 10 And the spirit of the Lord was vpon him and he iudged Israel and he went out to warre and the Lord deliuered Chusan Riseathaim kyng of Aram into his
lyfe of an oother man Yea and he affirmeth that we must not lye for the saluation of anye mans soule Euery lye sayth Iohn is not of God but wee ought not to speake those thinges which are not of God What if murtherers should persecute a man to kil him thou knowest that he lyeth ther hiddē wher thou presently art they demaūd of thee if thou knowest whither he be there or no He answereth that if thou be of a valiant courage as it becōmeth a Christiā thou must say wher he is I know but I wil not vtter it do ye what ye wil. But whē the matter cōmeth to this point that for the safety of any mans life thou must make a lie know thou that thou oughtest to cōmit the thing vnto God that thou hast nothing there more to doo Either thou must answer that thou wilt not betray him or els thou must hold thy peace But by thy silence the murtherer wil suspect that he is in thy house and then thou shalt seme to haue geuen occasion of his taking But in verye deede thou hast not so done For thou canst not let him to thinke what he wil. Wherfore the matter is rather to be cōmitted vnto God than that thou shouldest make a lye Howbeit thou must very wel weigh with thy self namely to speake so that thou say not al and yet speake not falsly For in these cases I thyncke it is not forbidden yea I iudge it is most lawful to speake doubtfullye And as touching this question thys is sufficient As I deny not but that our Ehud manifestly lied so wil I also say that he was stirred vp of God so to speake Those wordes vndoubtedly although they deceiued Eglon yet without controuersy they declared that which was in very deede true namely the word of God that he had a secret thing to do with the kyng ¶ Whither it be lawful for Subiectes to ryse agaynst their Princes BVt leauing these thinges let vs come vnto the third question wherof for as much as I haue somwhat before spoken I thinke not to speake of it aboundantly in this place least I should be more ful of wordes than is needeful Let vs deuide subiects as we haue before deuided them so that some of them are mere priuate men others are in such sort inferiors that the superiour power in a maner dependeth of them as among the Lacedemonians wer the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and at Rome the Tribunes of the people Those which onely are subiect counted altogether priuate ought not to rise against their Princes Lordes to dysplace them of their dignity or degree The two Apostles Peter Paul haue commaunded the same namely that seruants should obey their Lordes how rough hard soeuer they be Farther the sword as it is written to the Romanes is geuen onely to the powers And they which resist the power are sayde to resist the ordinance of god God would that the Iewes should obey Nabuchad-nezar he was angry with Zedechias the king bicause he fell from hym Yea Ieremy by the cōmaundement of God admonished and exhorted the people to pray for the health of the king of Babilon Dauid also would not stretch forth his hād against the anointed of the Lord when he might haue done it with out any difficulty to his great cōmodity The godly soldiours of Iulianus the Apostata obeyed the same Iulianus in fighting and pitching their campes nether did they at any time being also armed rebel against that most cruel tyran Phocas whē he had slaine Mauricius possessed the Empire by great violence vniustice wrote to Rome to Gregory who obeyed him as his Prince and gaue vnto him great reuerence But ther are in publike weales other which in place dignity are lower than Princes yet in very dede they elect the superior power by certaine lawes do gouern the publike wealth as at this day we see in done by the Electors of the Empire and peraduenture the same also is done in other kingdomes To these vndoubtedly if the Prince performe not his couenants promises it is lawfull to constrain to bring him into order by force to compel him to fulfil the conditions couenants whiche he had promised and that by warre when it cā not otherwise be done By this meanes the Romanes somtimes compelled the Consul whom they themselues had created to go out of their offices The Danes in our time did put down their king held him long in prison Polidorus Virgilius Polidorus Virgilius writeth that the Englishmen somtimes cōpelled their kings to render accompt of the mony which they had noughtely consumed Neither are we ignoraunt that Tarquinius the proud Of Brutus and Cassius was by the Romanes for his ouermuch cruelty arrogancy put out of his kingdome I wil not speake of Brutus Cassius which slew Caesar but whether they did it iustly or otherwise most graue mē vary in the opinions And I in examining their enterprise by the rule of the scriptures do not allow it Bicause they gaue not vnto him the tyranny or Empire of Rome but he vsurped it himself by violence and power And God as Daniel testifieth transferreth Empires kingdoms And although it be lawful to resist tirānes which inuade a kingdome yet when they haue obtayned the Empire and that they do gouerne it semeth not to belong to priuate men to put them downe Wherfore forasmuch as the kingdome of the Iewes was suche a kingdome that in it al men depended of the king for they were not chosen by the noble men but by succession the posterity of that family gouerned which God had also cōmaūded therfore in the lawes in Deut. in the .1 booke of Sam. wherein the ryght of a king is constituted ther is no liberty graunted to any to resist them Yea somtimes it happeneth that some of them wer killed But yet we neuer reade the god allowed the murther of them yea he punished the murtherers When God at any time would trouble the kings of Iuda he did it by the Babilonians Assirians Egiptians but not the Iewes He onely armed Iehu against his Lorde whyche thing as it was peculiar so also must not wee take example by it Hee destroyed Saul also by the handes of the Philistians and not by Dauid Neither am I ignorant how manye thinges are decreed of this matter in the Code in the digest in the law Iuliā maiestatis But I studieng to be brief do of purpose ouerpasse these things And although I know right wel that the Ethniks in the old time appointed rewardes for such as killed Tirannes yet I haue answered that godlines the holy scriptures do not allow the same Vndoubtedly if it be lawful for the people to put down kings that raigne vniustly no kinges or Princes should at any time be in safety For although they raygne iustly and
godly to haue peace wyth the vngodly THis questiō is now to be discussed and defined whether it be lawful for godly mē to make peace to kepe it with vngodly And me thinketh we may saye that it is lawful especially if it be concluded for the peaceable defending keping of the bondes or borders on ether syde Paul saith as much as lyeth in you haue peace with all men So did the most Christian princes with the barbarous infidles in making peace somtimes with thē So Iacob in the old tyme made a legue with Laban So also did the children of Israel with their other neighbours excepting the seuen nations for God cōmaunded them not to make war with all those nations that dwelled about them But if thou shalte demaunde whether it be lawfull for the godlye when they take a common expedition in hand to ioyne their army and power with the vngodly An example of Iosaphat That semeth to be denied For Iosaphat had euill successe whē in making warre against Ramoth Gilead he ioyned him self with the king of Israel Neither sped the same king luckely when he sent shippes together with the king of Israels shippes into Tharsis For there arose a tempest in Aschou-Gaber wherby hapned a shipwracke and so he lost his Nauy And as it is written in the latter booke of Paralip God by the mouthe of his prophete reproued Iosaphat bycause he had ioyned himself with an vngodly king The Machabites also made league with the Romaines An example of the Machabits The questiō is confirmed by reasons Lacedemoniās but what displesure they had therby theyr history declareth But now that we haue manyfested the thinge by examples let vs confirme it also by reasōs This no mā can deny that in such hosts namely consisting of the vngodly the godly together the sincere religion and idolatry are mingled together wherbye it easelye commeth to passe suche is the weaknes of our nature that the vnpure do infecte the holy ones And it seldome happeneth but that some impiety cleaueth vnto the childrē of God Farther whē they come to handy strokes they muste call vpon God and when the victory is obtayned they muste also geue thankes vnto God And in doinge these thinges what inuocation I pray you what sacrifices what thankes geuinge shall there be The true god shal be mingled with Belial idolatrous rites with lawful rites and true piety with superstition These things vndoubtedly displease God For if he would haue thinges after this sort mingled together why chosed he a peculiar people vnto himself Vndoubtedlye he did it that the faythfull mighte liue purely by themselues and worship the true god sincerely And seing the matter is so it is not lawful cōfusedly to haue to do with the vngodly otherwise the order which god hath appoynted should be troubled Of the league of Abraham with the Chananites A man might peraduenture say that Abraham made league with Abuer Eschol and Mambre and with theyr ayd toke in hand an expedicion wherin he deliuered Loth his kinsman which was led away captiue But they which obiect this example where find they that these men wer idolatrers I vndoubtedly do not see that it can be gathered by the holy scriptures But rather I suppose that they were worshippers of the true God For God saide vnto Abraham that he would not straightway geue vnto him the lande of the Cananites bicause the sinnes of that nation were not yet full Wherfore it is not absurde to saye that these three men were yet there did worship the true God simply For asmuch as we know assuredly that Melchizedech also was in those regions who blessed Abraham and was the priest of the most high God But graunt that they wer idolatres as these men wil haue them Shall that which was by a certayn singuler progatiue lawfull vnto Abraham be strayghtway counted lawful vnto al men to do it iustly and without punishmente I thinke not Farthermore we muste mark that the common wealth of the Iewes was not yet ordained And Abraham alone could not dwel among the Cananites without some couenāts or leagues made with them Wherunto thou maiste adde that God had not yet geuen the law wherin he peculiarly forbad any thinge as touching this matter Whither it be lawful for christians to seeke for helpe of infidels But if a prince or Christian pub wealth as sometimes it chaunceth should be in daunger maye they desire helpe at infidels handes They cannot For if Paule will haue vs rather to suffer wronge and hurt than that we shoulde go to the iudgement seats of the infidels when we are in controuersy with our brethren How much lesse is it lawfull to vse the helpe of the vngodly to deliuer vs from other Christianes which vniustlye oppresse vs. I know that Asa king of Iudah sente money golde and siluer An example of Asa the kinge vnto Benhadab king of Siria to make warre against the king of Samaria that therby he mighte be deliuered from him whiche in a manner oppressed him Howebeit I doe not thinke that the acte of this kinge though it had good successe is to be followed For he was reproued of God for it And though it be not expressed in the boke of kinges yet in Paralip it is manifestly described For there we reade that the prophet was purposedly sent of God vnto Asa the king to reproue him greuouslye for this his acte An example of Amasia Yea and there is an other notable example of like sorte written in the same boke namely that Amasia did hier agaynst the Edomits C. thousād Israelites which the prophet in the name of God grieuouslye reprehended and commaunded that he should put away the Israelitish souldiours from his hoste because that the will and good pleasure of God was vtterly from thē The kinge aunswered vnto the Prophete But nowe I haue geuen them an C. talentes for theyr stipend The man of God aunswered that the Lord could aptly and easely repay him as many talentes and that for so small a losse he should not suffer Idolatrers which were hated of god to be in his campes I will not tel how often the Iewes were forbidden by the prophets that they shoulde not require helpe of the Egiptians or of the Assirians But to returne to the matter from which we haue somewhat decreased This Heber the knighte if he had peace with Iabin for his limites or borders or for some pencion agreed with him for pastor for his cattle it cannot be discommended Forasmuch as godly men seke not to dwel out of the world they ought according to the Apostles commaundement to haue peace with al men as much as in thē lieth But if he had peace to take in hand any cōmō expeditiō it was vniust neither ought it to abide ratified But the thinge whiche we haue in hande was don by Iahel and not by Hebor her husbād For he ether was not
spirite as in very dede they are there can no sinne be in them without a great faulte Wherfore let Salomon go whether he will with his fables Leade thy captiuitie captiue She exhorteth Barac to triumphe with a certaine pompe to boast of his captiues For by that meanes it semed that the honor and name of God should more and more be illustrated when all men vnderstoode that the Chananites were now captiues vnto the Hebrues who before thought that they would either vtterly destroy the Hebrues or els take them prisoners This is the punishement of the iust lawe called the law of the like that they should iustly suffer those things which they vniustly went about to do vnto others Farthermore the Rabbines haue here noted that the songe is peculiarly ascribed vnto Deborah bycause she was a Prophetesse but the triumphe was geuen vnto Barac bycause in the battayle he had fought agaynst his enemies 13 Then they that remayne haue dominion ouer the myghty of the people the Lord hath geuen me dominion ouer the string Agayne the victory is by a comparison amplified not as it was before with the euils and discommodities wherwith the Israelites were oppressed but the conquerers are very aptly copared with thē which were ouercome They which were ouercome wer vndoubtedly of great renowme valeant expert in warres noble but our men seme to be like remnants for fewe came vnto the battayle and those fewe were of fewe tribes Besides that those few whiche came were men despised and of no reputation For that commonly suche are remnātes namely to be both small in number and also vile and abiecte if it be compared with other whose remnant they are Howbeit these remnantes what maner of men so euer they were they had the dominion and were gouerners ouer the noble men The Lord hath geuē me dominion This is added by correction lest any man should thinke that any thing in this battayle is attributed vnto mans strength It is the Lord himselfe whiche ouercommeth and hath dominion Neuerthelesse hath done this by me That worde Li may be thus vnderstand as though she should say thorough me or as God would ouercome by her or the ioy approbation and pleasure is noted whiche she conceaued in mynde of thys greate honour of God 14 Out of Ephraim was there a roote of them agayne Amalek after thee Beniamin agaynst thy people out of Machir came rulers and of Zebulon they that drawe with the penne of the writer 15 And the princes of Isaschar were with Deborah and Isaschar so Barak was sent on his feete in the valley in the diuisions of Reuben were great thoughtes of heart Vergill and Homere rehearsed the order and number of the ships captaynes people which wer helpers vnto those princes whom they praised so now Deborah rehearseth those of the people of Israel which came to take in hand this warre Deborah was of the tribe of Ephraim A roote of them that is a prince of Ephraim This I thinke pertayneth to Deborah her selfe for as it semeth she was of Ephraim and iudged the people vnder the oke of Ephraim as is before sayd and without doubt this warre was taken in hand by her conduct and admonitions But this semeth somewhat darke in that it is sayd that the battayle was appointed agaynst Amalek but by a figure or figuratiue kinde of speache we must by Amalek vnderstand the Chananites also Howbeit I am not ignorant that by this roote of Ephraim some vnderstand Iosua who was both an Ephraite and also fought agaynst Amalek as it appeareth in the boke of Exodus and they suppose that in these thinges which follow therfore is made mention of the tribe of Beniamin to declare shew forth that Saul whiche should come of the tribe of Beniamin should within a while afterwarde finishe the warre agaynst the Amalekites whiche thyng we read was done in the first booke of Samuel This exposition as I do not abiect so also I do not easely allowe it bycause I do not thinke that the actes of Iosuah are now rehearsed neither can I be persuaded that Deborah by the spirite of Prophecy did Prophecy of those thinges whiche should come to passe in the tyme of Saul I will omit therfore that interpretation and returne vnto myne owne Some of the tribe of Beniamin did at the beginning ioyne themselues vnto Deborah although as I iudge they were very few of them But out of Machir which was a noble famely of the tribe of Manasses came some notable men Zabulon also was not without some Doctors Lawyers Scribes whiche were better with a pen than with weapons and that is signified in that it is sayd They whiche drawe with the penne of the writer that is whiche were exercised in drawyng the pen. And the tribe of Isaschar is wonderfully commended for from it came princes yea euen at the beginning Furthermore it is added that Isaschar was as Barac For as Barac was sent vnto mount Thabor so it semeth that Isaschar with his footemen was sent into the valley and there he thē on eche side inuaded the enemies when the battayle beyng begon the Israelites were in daunger there the Israelites behaued themselues valiantly Wherfore iustly are they in thys place excedingly praysed The complices therfore of this warre are mencioned namely Ephraim Beniamin a part of Manasses Isaschar Zabulon and Nepthalim But there is nothing spoken of Iuda Simeon Leui and Gad. Afterward are reprehended Reuben Dan Aser and peraduenture al of the tribe of Manasses as we shal hereafter see Wherfore they aboue named which ayded in the battayle were worthily called remnantes bycause they were both fewe in number and also of no reputation In the litel brookes of Reuben The tribe of Reuben is reproued bycause it detracted the battaile They dwelt beyond Iordane in the Pastors and it semeth that by reason of theyr shepe and cattell they had no regard vnto the publicque wealth The places of the Rubenites are not vnworthily called riuers for they had gotten fertile pastors by the riuer of Iordane He attributeth vnto thē greatnesse and wisedome but he accuseth them for this namely bycause they had so great a care vnto their owne thinges Such a thing semeth here to haue come passe as is that whiche is set forth in the parable of the Gospell namely that diuers which were bidden vnto the wedding refused to come bycause some would go proue a yoke of oxen some had bought a Town and other some also had maried a wife But of the remnantes which were gathered out of the stretes high wayes was the wedding fulfilled So also cōmeth it to passe in our dayes when kynges Emperours Princes Noble and mighty men of this world do therfore despise the profession of the Gospell bycause they preferre theyr owne commondities before religion and heauenly thinges 16 Why abydest thou among the shepefolds to heare the bleatings of the flockes in the diuisions
power of God whereby the blynde are made to see the dead made a lyue and the poore blessed nothyng dependeth of worldly helpes Concernyng the wordes of the historye two thynges are to be noted The firste is that the fearefull are commaunded to returne vnto Gilead whiche semeth not to be agreable vnto the place where they were For they were not on this syde Iordane where mount Gilead laye in the tribe of Manasses in the famely I saye of Machir but they were come into the lande of Chanaan beyonde Iordane Wherefore we muste saye that either there were two mountes so called or that that whiche is written of mounte Gilead is to be referred vnto the begynnyng of those whiche departed awaye as thoughe it should haue ben sayd that they were sent awaye whiche were borne in mounte Gilead These thinges doo certayne interpretors write whiche whether they be true or false it is not certayne For we are ignoraunt whether Gideon with his host passed ouer Iordane or no. Farther we must note that thys worde Tserath signifieth to purge whereby the Historye sheweth that the hoste shoulde be purged of the Souldiers that were dismissed bycause as I aboue mencioned there were none remoued from that multitude of Souldiers but suche as were vnwoorthy Wherefore they coulde not iustly complayne of the iustice of God Iosephus I very much meruayle of Iosephus whiche affirmeth that God woulde haue none to go forth with Gideon but such as were fearefull that therby the victorye myght be the more noble and referred to be receaued onely of God And he sayth that they which bowed their knees and dranke were valiant men and trusted to much in their owne strength And for that they nothing passed vpon their enemyes they kneled downe without any feare and dranke but they which stoode and reached theyr handes to theyr mouth and lapped water out of them those sayth he were of a cowardishe minde as they whiche for feare of their enemyes durst not frely euen drinke But this fayned thing very much disagreeth with the history bycause God commaunded to be proclaymed by expresse wordes that the fearefull should depart and he would haue hys precept obserued whiche he gaue in Deut. Wherefore it semeth not that he would adioyne timetous folkes vnto Gideon But Iosephus in hys narration omitteth the commaundement that the fearefull should be dismissed either bycause it was out of his memory or els for what other cause I can not tell An Allegory Here myght be annexed diuers Allegoryes concernyng the drinkyng of the waters For by those some vnderstande pleasures and some afflictions And vndoubtedly they are not apte for the kingdome of God whiche study to fill themselues with pleasures and delightes of this worlde Neither are they commended which suffer themselues altogether to be troubled with aduersities For as they are praysed whiche vse this worlde as thoughe they vsed it not so also are they commended whiche in their minde do not so greuously take sorowes and aduersityes as the Ethnikes doo whiche haue no hope and are destitute of a perfect consolation of faith The history mentioneth that the men which Gideon tooke vnto him namely the 300. had trumpettes whiche ought not to be maruelous For the summe of the souldiers at the beginning was 32000. Wherfore there might be among euery thousand souldiers .x. trumpeters And therfore it was easy to fynd .300 trumpettes there Augustine Augustine vpon this place writeth that Abrahā as it is read in the boke of Genesis armed 318. of his bondemen against the three kings which had led Lot awaye prisoner and thereby he gathereth that he had yet more ayde then Gideon Which is so much the truer bycause besides seruauntes and bondmen Abraham had Abner Mambre and Escholl to helpe him 9 And the same night the Lord sayd vnto him Arise get the down into the host for I haue deliuered it into thine hande 10 But if thou feare to go downe then go thou and Purah thy lad downe to the host 11 And thou shalt hearken what they say and afterward shall thine handes be strong and thou shalt go downe to the hoste Then went he downe and Purah his lad vnto the out side of the souldiers that were in the host 12 And Madian Amalek and all the childrē of Kedem lay in the valley like grashoppers in multitude their camels were without nomber as the sande which is by the sea side for multitude 13 Gideon I say came and beholde a man tolde a dreame vnto his neighbour and sayd Behold I dreamed a dreame And lo a cake of barley bread tombled from aboue into the hoste of Madian came euen to a tente and smote it that it fell it ouerturned it I saye and the tente fell downe 14 And his neighbour aunswered and sayde This is nothyng els saue the sword of Gideon the sonne of Ioas a man of Iscaell God hath geuen into his handes Madian and all the host 15 When Gideon heard the dreame tolde and the interpretation of the same he worshipped And he returned vnto the hoste of Israell and sayde Vp for the Lorde hath deliuered into your handes the host of Madian Gideon is also confirmed by the wordes of his aduersaryes he had withdrawē from hym humane aydes and therfore least he should be smitten with feare he prepared a confirmation for him after a certayne wonderfull sorte God whiche made vs knoweth right well the nature of mans fleshe and reason We oftentyme bragge that we put no cōfidence in prosperous things when they are present but when we are destitute of them we wonderfully waxe colde and there we fele how we deceaued our selues and other We deserue assuredly for our incōstancy I wil not say infidelity vtterly to be abiected but the heauenly father as he is good breaketh not a brused rede and quēcheth not smoking flaxe which we now see in Gideon He sendeth him to the host of his enemies to be cōfirmed and he vseth the Madianites the enemies of the Israelites for an oracle And it is not maruelous for if in the old time he vsed wood gold in the tabernacle at the arke I say mercy seate to geue answers what should let but that he may vse men also vnto that office And without doubt the beginning of the victory was The beginning of a victorye is to knowe the feare of the enemyes to manifest vnto Gideon the feare of his enemyes For in warfare nothing more profiteth then to know the feare of the enemyes and to knowe the same at the length for assured very much pertayneth to warlike pollecies And in manifestyng of it God obserueth his olde accustomed manner Longe before that by Rahab of Iericho he shewed vnto Iosuah that the hearts of the enemyes were excedingly smitten with feare now euē by the Madianites thēselues he teacheth Gideon how fearefull they were Neyther among other testimonyes as the Rhetoricians say are there
he did eate say they he dranke he was hūgry he slept he did sweate Wherfore he had a true and humane bodye Vnto these thinges might be aunswered that these selfe same thinges haue happened vnto Aungels when as yet they had not bodyes I answer That which they first say Not whatsoeeuer is fayned is a lye that it is absurde to attribute lyes vnto Angels they ought to consider that not whatsoeuer by anye meanes is fayned is straightway a lye Christ appeared vnto his Disciples as a straunger and yet he lyed not he appeared also vnto Mary lyke a Gardiner and for al that he lyed not So Aungels althoughe they semed men when as they were not men yet wer they not lyers For they came not therfore to proue them selues to be men but onely that they might come to men and talke with them To the argument of Christ touching his own body I thus answer Aungels when they semed mē lyed not First the apostles thought it had ben a gost which had appeared And Christ to refel that saith feele and see bicause a spirite hath not flesh bones By the feeling might be perceaued that it was a true and perfect bodye which was present and not a vayne fansy But thou wilt say that it was a true body in deede but yet taken for a tyme and suche a bodye as sometimes Aungels are wont to put on But how coulde it be taught that that was the same body which laye before in the sepulcher In this thing the authoritye of Christ and of the scriptures ought to be of force For the scriptures teache manifestly inough that Christ shoulde dye and afterwarde rise againe the third daye Tertulian Thomas Aquinas but nothing can rise againe but that which before fel as Tertulian hath most learnedlye written And this thing the schoolemen vnderstoode wherefore Thomas Aquinas sayth that vnles certayne other thinges were added this is no firme argument The same thing maye be answered vnto the reasons of the fathers against Marcion Many in dede of the actions before alledged may agree with Aungels or with the bodies taken but yet not all For to be borne to be nourished and to dye and to feele happen neither to Angels neither to bodies that are taken But the scripture most apertly testifieth that Christ was both borne and that he grew till he came to age that he was hungry that he dyed and was true man But of these thinges I wyll speake more largely afterwarde There are very many other thinges in the schoole deuines as touching these matters What maner of bodies the angels take vpon them but bicause they are not so profitable therfore I ouerpasse them But this thing I demaund whither Angels may take vpon thē true bodies that natural which bodies also had their being before vse them at their liberty as the Deuyl did put on the Serpent and by him deceaued Eue the Angell also spake in the Asse of Bileam Why then can not an Angel after the same maner possesse an humane body and speake in it Vndoubtedly it is written in Zachary the prophet The Angel of the Lord which spake in me Wherfore it semeth that Aungels may vse the bodies of men and beastes Augustine Augustine in his .2 booke De Trinitate the .1 chapter sayth that this is a very hard question whether Angels vnto their owne proper bodies ioyne other bodies and chaunge them into sundrye formes as we are woont to doo garmentes or also to chaunge them into verye nature as we reade that Christ chaunged water into wyne This thing he saith is not impossible For thus he writeth I confesse it passeth the strengthes of my capacity whither Angels retayning stil the spiritual quality of their own body very secretely woorking by it doo take of these more grose inferiour elementes any thing which being framed vnto them they doo chaunge as a garment and turne it into al corporal formes or shapes yea euen into the true thinges themselues as true water was turned by the Lord into wyne or whether they transforme their own proper bodies into what they wyl being framed to that which they haue in hand to doo But whether soeuer of these it be it pertayneth not to thys question But I say if the bodies of Angels were true bodies then was Christes argument firme and I wil willinglier graunt to this then to saye as some doo that Aungels deceaued the senses of men A subtiltye of the Papists cōcerning trāsubstantiacion For after this sorte they striue agaynst vs when we say that in the Eucharist remayneth bread which is both sene and touched they answer that it seemeth bread in dede but it is not as the Aungels semed men when as they were no men For I deny not but that the senses maye sometimes be deceaued A distinction of sensible things When the senses maye be deceaued when not But I affirme in the meane time that there are twoo kindes of those thinges which are perceaued by sense For there ar some things common vnto many senses and other are proper to some one sense For figure magnitude and number are perceaued of manye senses And vndoubtedlye in such thinges the sense may sometimes be deceaued as Carneades was woont to dispute of an ore in the water appearing broken and of the bygnes of the bodye of the Sunne But in sensible things proper vnto one sense the sense is neuer deceaued vnles there be some fault in the body or ouer much distaunce or some suche lyke let Wherfore seyng in the Eucharist the sense iudgeth that the bread remayneth there is no neede to fayne that the sense is therein deceaued But to appoynt a certayne compendious way of this disputacion there are three maner of wayes whereby Angels may seme to haue appeared For either they were sene in fantasy so that they were thought to haue bodies when they had them not Which reason cannot be firme for they illuded not the senses neither were they sene of any one onely but very often times of many they were so sene that Abraham washed their feete and Iacob wrastled with an Angel the whole night Or els they appeared with a true body in dede which yet was not such a body as it was thought to be Either els they had the self same body truly and in very deede which they semed to haue Tertulian Of this thirde kinde Tertulian hath written most learnedly in his booke De carne Christi Thou hast sometyme red and beleued saith he that the Aungels of the creator were turned into the shape of man and that they caryed suche a truth of a bodye that both Abraham washed their feete and also Lot was by their handes deliuered from the Sodomites an angel also wrastled with a mā and desired to be losed from the wayght of the body by whom he was holden That therefore which was lawfull vnto Angels that are inferiours vnto
God that they being turned into the body of a man not withstanding yet abode Angels doest thou take away thus from God which is more mightie as though Christ putting on man in very dede wer not able to remayne God Thus Tertulian fighteth against the Marcionites The errour of the Marcionites for they affirmed that Christ seemed to haue a humane bodye but in verye deede hee had none Tertulian obiecteth against them and if ye graunt this saith he vnto the Aungels that they had true bodies why doo ye not rather graunt it vnto the sonne of God And he addeth Or did those Angels appeare in fantesy of fleshe But thou darest not say so for if it be so that thou count the Angels of the creator as Christ then shal Christ be of the same substance as the Aungels are and the Angels shal be suche as Christ is If thou diddest not sometimes of purpose reiect and sometimes corrupt the scriptures which resist thy opinion the Gospel of Iohn shoulde haue of this confounded thee Of the Dooue wherin the holi gost appeareâ— whiche declareth that the spirite comming downe in the bodye of a Dooue sat vpon the Lorde which spirite being that he was was as truly a Dooue as he was a spirit neither the contrary substance taken destroyed the proper substance I know there are some of the schoolemen which thinke that it was not a very Doue which discended vpon the head of Christ but onely that it was an ayry thicke body which appeared to be a Dooue Augustine Yet Augustine de Agone Christiano writeth the contrary namely that it was a very Doue for to expresse the property of the holy ghost a thing sayth he serueth better then a signe euen as Christians also are better expressed in Sheepe and Lambes then in the lykenes of Sheepe and Lambes Also if Christ had a true bodye and deceaued not then tâ—e holy ghost had in very deede the body of a Dooue Tertulian addeth Thou wilt demaund where the body of the Doue became What becaâ—â— of the Doue wherin the holy goâ—â— appeared when the spirite was taken againe into heauen and likewise of the Aungels It was by the same meanes taken awaye whereby it was made If thou haddest seene when it was broughte foorth of nothyng thou shouldest also haue knowen when it was turned to nothing If the beginning was not visible no more was the ende Farther he remitteth the reader to Iohn Was he also sayth he a fantasy after his resurrection when he offred his handes and feete to be seene of his Disciples saying behold that it is I for a spirite hath not flesh and bones as ye see me haue Then Christe is brought in as a Iugler or Cuniurer And in his third booke against Marcion Wherefore his Christ that is Christe of the true God bicause he should not lye neither deceaue and by that meanes paraduenture should be counted the Christ of the creator was not that which hee appeared to be and fayned to be that thing which he was flesh and not flesh man and not man wherefore Christ is also God and not God For why shoulde he not also cary the fantasy of God Shall I beleue him as touching this inwarde substance that is ouerthrowen as touching his outward substance Howe shall he be counted true in a secrete thing that is found so false in an open thing And afterwarde It is inoughe for me to affirme that whiche is agreing vnto God namely the truth of that thing which he obiecteth to three senses to sight touching and hearing Againe in the booke de carne Christi The vertues sayth he proue the spirite of God the passions proue the flesh of man If vertues are not without spirite neither shal passions also be without flesh If the flesh with his passions be fayned the spirite also with his vertues is false Why doest thou by thy lye take but halfe Christ He is al whole truth The opinion of Apelles Apelles the heretike being in maner ouercome with these reasons graunteth that Christ had in dede true flesh but he denieth that he was borne but brought from heauen and he obiecteth that the bodies which were taken by Angels wer true bodies but they were not borne Suche a body sayth he had Christ Tertulian answereth hereunto They sayth he which set foorth the fleshe of Christ after the example of the Aungels saying that it was not borne namelye a fleshye substaunce I would haue them to compare the causes also as well of Christ as of the Aungels for which they came into the flesh No Aungel did at anye tyme therefore discende to be crucified to suffer death and to rise againe from death If there was neuer any such cause why angels should be incorporate then haste thou a cause why they tooke flesh and yet wer not borne They came not to die therefore they came not to bee borne But Christe beyng sent to dye it was necessarye that he shoulde bee borne that he might dye for none is woont to dye but hee whiche is borne He addeth moreouer And euen then also the Lorde himselfe appeared among those angels vnto Abraham without birth namelye with flesh for the same diuersity of cause Afterward he addeth That the Aungels haue their bodies rather from earth then from heauen Let them proue saith he that those angels receaued the substance of flesh of the stars If they proue it not bicause it is not written then was not the flesh of Christ thereof to whych Christ they apply the example of Angels And in his third booke against MarcioÌ„ My God saith he which hath reformed it taken of the slyme in this quality not yet of seede by mariage and yet flesh might as wel of anye matter haue framed flesh also vnto Angels which also framed the world of nothing into so manye and suche bodies Againe in his booke de carne Christi hee saith It is manifest that angels cary not flesh proper of their own as substaÌ„ces by nature spiritual and if they haue any body yet it is of their owne kinde and are transfigurable for a time into the flesh of man that they may be sene and haue fellowship with men Farther in his third booke against Marcion Know thou saith he that this is not graunted vnto thee that the flesh in Angels was putatiue or by imaginacion but of the very and sound substance of man For if it were not hard to geue vnto that putatiue flesh the true senses and actes of flesh much more easyer was it to geue a true substance of flesh to true senses and actes euen for that he is the proper authour and woorker therof For it is a harder thyng for God to make a lye then to fayne a body Last of al thus he concludeth Therfore are they truly humayne bodies bicause of the truth of God who is far from lying and deceate And bicause they can not humanelye be handled of men
the ridle of Samson signified he that is fierce he that is swere are contraryes Such a ridle was not onely put forth to quicken the wittes but also the holy ghost would by it signify things to come At that time the Philistines ruled ouer the Iewes oppressed them with tyrāny after a sort deuoured them Therfore by the ridle is signified that at the length they should be ouercome be eaten of the Iewes for as much as they were most fierce they should be at the last not hurtfull but great cōmodity vnto the Hebrues Augustine Augustine vpon the .70 Psalme referreth these things vnto an Allegory of Christ princes of the earth For when the Gospel begā first to be preached princes ran vpon Christiās like Lions withal their might to deuoure them But our sunne that is Christ was present toke away the Liōs whom yet he did not so deiect that they should not be but that for deuourers of the flocke they should be noorishers of the Church and defenders of the Gospel This is a very elegant allegory and the foundation therof is the kylling of the Lion wherby we first vnderstād what should happen in the people of the Iewes then what should come to passe in Christ Ambrose Why ridles were put forth in feastes Ambrose demaundeth the cause why Samson put out this ridle and he aunswereth bycause in feastes men are sometymes wont when they haue well dronke to be somewhat full of talke somewhat to intemperatly to rebuke others which things turneth for the most part into braulyngs chidinges And to auoyde that graue mē wer wont to put forth ridles or problemes omitting dangerous talke turning their mind to the exposition of the things put forth Whose example Samson followed set forth a reward for him which should expound his question as though the knowledge and sharpenes of the minde ought to be rewarded contraryly punishmēt is instituted for ignoraūce sluggishenes The Ethnikes also in the old tyme were wont so to do A Fable of Sphing Wherfore the Poets fable that Sphing was wont to set forth a reward namely if a mā had absolued his ridle he should haue ben let goo free But if he had failed he should haue ben throwen hedlong downe a rocke What the Poetes would by this fable signify I will not at this present declare This thing euery man may easely vnderstand that the witte of mā is so composed by nature that it is not easely stirred vp but either by setting foorth rewarde or daunger Whiche also we may easely see in children Farther let vs note that it is one thyng to put a mans money to hasard or chaunce and an other thing to contend for wyt But in this contention whiche Samson instituted there was no place for chaunce but it was a certayne kinde of play ciuily honest and laudable ¶ Of Playes ANd bycause we are fallen into mention of playe I thinke it good somwhat to speake therof Ambrose Some of the fathers seme to abhorre from all kynde of playes Ambrose in his 1. booke de officiis chapter .23 Playes sayth he and pastymes seme sweete and and pleasaunt when as yet they are contrary to the rule of a Christian For it is not founde in the holy Scriptures Chrisostome howe they ought to be vsed Chrisostome vpon Mathewe the .6 Homelye sayeth that GOD inuented not playe but the deuill For the people sat to eate and drinke and rose vp to play in the honour of a most filthy idole For when they had worshipped the calfe and incurred idolatrye they seemed to haue obtayned thys rewarde of the deuill namely to play Peraduenture Chrisostome alludeth to that which Plato wrote in Phedro that Theut the demon of the Egyptians found out Numbers Geometry Astrology Augustine letters and dyse But Augustine in hys .2 booke de Musica sayeth that it is a parte of a wyseman to reuoke the mynde from earnest matters and that is chiefely done by playe Wherefore it semeth to be lawfull But howe so great an oblectation ryseth of playe it is not heard to vnderstande Aristotle in hys .2 Aristotle booke of Rhethoriques putteth victory or hope of victorye among the causes of oblectation But when we playe either we obtayne the victory or elles we are in some hope thereof Wherefore they whiche defend playe Play is a cause of defectation doo determine with themselues that the mynde ought sometymes to bee no les refreshed then the body and as the body is renewed by rest or quietnes Why play seemeth to be lawfull so they say the mynde is recreated by playe By whiche meanes they thinke to proue that there muste some place bee lefte for playes addyng yet certayne cautions Firste that there be no filthy and vnhonest woordes vsed in playes Cautiōs to be added vnto honest player It is not seldome sene that in playing both filthy and also blasphemous wordes do happen We must also take hede that there be not vsed to muche lyghtnes and dissolution of grauity and comelynes For oftentymes it commeth to passe that men do so vtterly geue themselues to playe that afterward they are able to do nothyng grauely Farther the circumstances are diligently to be marked of the person I say the place and the tyme. It is certayn in deede that in the holy scriptures there is no rule or forme prescribed cōcerning playes The lawe of god entreateth nothynge of playes although in thē are read many kinds of playes In Genesis the aungell wrastled the whole night with Iacob Sara saw Isaac play with Ismaell which she tooke in euill parte not vndoubtedly bycause he played but bycause he played together with the sonne of a bondewoman Dauid also daunced played before the arke of the Lord. And the maydens sang in their daunces Saull hath ouercome in his thousandes Dauid in his .x. thousandes And Christ complayned that the Iewes were like vnto children playing in the streetes and saying We haue songe vnto you c. And although of these thynges there be no certayne rules manifestly wrytten in the holy Scriptures yet are they set foorth in the ciuill lawes But before I speake of them it shal be good A distinction of playes to distribute playes into his formes and kindes There are some which are vtterly referred vnto chaunce as he whiche casteth most or casteth thys chaunce or that carieth awaye the rewarde There are other whereby the powers either of the body or minde are excercised Such playes as depend vpō chaunce are vnderstand by the name of diseplay Of dyseplaye Dyseplaye is condemned by ciuile lawes are both by the ciuil lawes by the fathers condemned In the digestes de aleatoribus the Pretor sayth If a diseplayer be iniuried by his fellowe I will not geue him iudgement But if one steale or do violence to an other I will in deede
companyon Then the Philistians came vp and burnt her and her father wyth fyre 7 And Samson said vnto them If ye had done these thinges but I wyl be auenged of you and then I wyl cease This woord Lampades they haue translated firebrandes which are easelye set on fire Samson bounde the tayles of the Foxes two and twoo together wyth a strong knot and in the middest he bound a fyrebrande When the Foxes coulde not agree together in their course for the one drew this way and the other that way so that they could not hide themselues in their holes but the flame by stirring and moouing was more and more kindled they ran into the standing com And at that time was the wheate haruest and the wheate partlye reaped and partly grewe still Wherefore the Foxes running thorowe the corne dyd them very great hurt For they lost both their straw and their corne with their vineyardes and Oliues Why Samson did chuse foxes The coÌ„sideration of Samsons pollecy was this He chose a Foxe to this enterprise rather then any other beast bicause it is a craftye and subtil beast and goeth by crooked and bye passages But Samson goeth the right way to woorke otherwise he mought easelier haue bound Dogges together but he rather vsed Foxes for the cause before alledged as Dauid Kimhi affirmeth Neither would he to euery Foxe alone binde a firebrande partly bicause they would haue drawen the firebrands along the ground and so might easely haue put them out and partly bicause they would soone haue gotten them into theyr holes But wheÌ„ two and two wer by the tayles ioyned together the one drew one way the other an other way by that mocion was the fire the more kindled Origene and when they ranne into the corne they did very great hurt Origene vpon Cantica Canticorum in his .iiii. Homely as he is euery where ful of Allegories referreth al this thing also to an Allegory although he plainely confesseth that it is hard to apply an Allegorye vnto this History But I as I haue often in other places so do I also in this place omit Allegories But if a man aske how Samson got so manye Foxes he must vnderstande that as there are sundry regions so are there also in them manyfolde and sundry increase of thinges In some place there are manye horses and those fayre In some place there is great aboundaunce of Cattell In Englande there is great plentye of Conies and so is there in the Ilandes called Baleares In those Regions a man maye easelye in one daye and in a lytle grounde take three or foure hundreth Conies Siria aboundeth in Foxes which to some peraduenture myght seeme incredyble And so is it sayd that there is a very great aboundaunce of Foxes in Siria and specially in the borders of Iewry Wherefore Salamon in hys Canticles sayth Take Foxes for vs which destroye the vyneyardes Wherefore there was so great number of them that they also destroyed the vineyardes for they delight most of all in ripe grapes Yea and Dauid saith of the vngodlye They shall bee partes of Foxes that is their pray so that their karkases shall be deuoured of them And out of the .4 chap. of Nehemias is gathered that the number of them was so great that they could in a maner ouerturne the walles of the city And Samson tooke them either by his own industry or by the helpe of his friendes He sent the Foxes and destroied their corne Hereby we may gather that in iust war it is lawful to vse burninges and spoilinges to endomage their enemies The Philistians sayd who hath done this They seeke for the authour and they doo not onely fynde him but also they vnderstand the cause why he dyd it and they take vengeaunce of hys father in lawe and his wyfe that was maryed vnto an other If ye had done these thynges These are the woordes of a man that is angry and therefore cut of wherefore we must vnderstand if ye had done these thinges at the beginning when my wyfe was first taken from mee I had bene pacified But ye haue done it to late therefore I wyll yet be auenged of you For that which ye haue done ye haue not done for loue to iustice and honesty but for feare of a greater hurt If iustice had moued them they woulde at the fyrste haue punished them But they followe the common nature of men which are with no other thing more touched then by the feelyng of present euyls which we may perceaue not onely here Men are morâ— moued by â—â—râ— then bâ— anye other meanes but also in the historye whyche is found in the latter booke of Samuel Absolon had long lyued in exile Ioab obtained of the kyng that he might returne Wherefore he returned but hee was not admitted vnto the kynges syght And when Ioab woulde not wyllinglye come vnto him Absolon commaunded hys seruauntes to burne the corne of Ioab Wherefore Ioab beyng mooued with this iniurye came vnto hym at the last So also the Philistians being in a manner compelled Whi somtimes the syn oâ— a priuate man is the cause of the destruction of a whole citye or kingdome doo reuenge the iniury of Samson This also is to be noted that often times a whole City or kingdome is punished for the synne of one man or of one famely And that sawe the Poetes when they wrote that onelye the aduoultrye of Paris ouerthrewe the kingdome of Troy And vndoubtedly when a publike wealth eyther wynketh at or defendeth or punisheth not the synne of a priuate man God counteth it all one as if they had all synned together If they haue good lawes and doo followe them in punishyng wycked actes God wyll not for their sakes punyshe them all Hereby also we may see that the sentence of Salomon is most true wherein he sayth That which the vngodly feareth shall happen vnto him The maâ—den feared least her fathers house should be burnt Why the vngodlye call 〈◊〉 those euylls or which they be a feard of and she by that waye moste of all brought burning by which shee thoughte to auoyde it But why happeneth iâ— that the vngodlye doo fall into that which they feare Bicause when they fearâ— euyll thinges they go about to auoyde them by euyll meanes and not by good Iosephs brethren feared least he should be preferred before them when they saw that his father loued him so well And that they might auoyde his promocion they sold him into Egipt But by that meanes chiefly it came to passe that Ioseph was made ruler ouer them The Iewes feared least if Christ should go forward as he began the Romanes woulde come and take awaye their nacion and place And to turne awaye that they gaue vnto Iudas a price and crucified Christ whereby they the sooner threwe them selues headlong into those euyls which they feared The mayden was burned with al her fathers famely By
then be But both we our selues and al ours doinges I say sayinges thoughtes and counsels are due vnto god Wherfore our merites do vtterly perish Moreouer those workes whereby wee should merite ought to be of our selues which cannot be affirmed for as muche as it is god which worketh in vs both to wil to perform that not as we wil but according to his good wil. Augustine Wherfore Augustine was accustomed very wel to say that God which crowneth his giftes in vs. And in his .100 Epistle ad Sixtū Presbiterum Paul saith he when he had sayd The rewarde of synne is death dyd not straightway adde contrarily The rewarde of righteousnes is euerlasting lyfe But Grace sayth he is eternal life for that is not rendred to our merites but is geuen freely He might in deede haue wrytten after the same manner if he woulde For the holye Scripture sometimes so speaketh But for that he was a defender of grace hee woulde not geue occasion vnto his enemyes to impugne it Farther our woorkes how holye so euer they appeare are neuerthelesse vnpure and imperfect Wherefore they are woorthye rather of punishment then that they should deserue any good And wythout doubt they should be punished were not the redempcion and iustification whyche wee haue by Christ our Lorde There ought also to be some anallogy or proporcion betwene merites and rewardes whereof there is none betwene our workes and eternall lyfe For as Paul saith The sufferinges of this time are not woorthy of the glory to come which shal be reuealed in vs. This is to be added that in the holye scriptures is no where found the name of merite Some in deede are wont to bring the .xvi. chap. of Ecclesiasticus and there they say it is written All mercy shal make place vnto euery one according to the merites of his workes But they which obiect this thing let him looke vpon the Greeke text wherin it is thus written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is in latine Deus omni misericordiae faciet locum quisque iuxta opera sua inueniet Which in englyshe signifieth God wil make place vnto al mercy and euery man shall finde according vnto hys woorkes But in these woordes there is no mencion made of merite onely this is wrytten that whose woorkes are good they shall be in good case but yet their woorkes are not sayde to bee merites or causes of rewarde I wyll not speake howe that booke is not in the Canon bycause Paule and the Gospels vse the same forme of speaking But of that whyche is wrytten vnto the Hebrewes by suche Sacrifices God is well pleased I haue before spoken nowe wyth one woorde onely will I briefly touche the thing This woorde of deseruing is not founde in the Greeke In Greeke is read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by whyche woorde is onely signified that the good woorkes of the faythfull are gratefull and acceptable vnto God Of the woorde reward But as touching this woorde rewarde which some bicause they do not well vnderstand it do take for merite we must deuide it two maner of wayes For that is sometymes called a rewarde whiche is geuen freelye but yet is promysed by adding of some worke wherby men should be styrred vp to doo well So eternal life may be called a reward not that we deserue the same by our woorkes but bicause by a certain order appointed of God it followeth our good workes But somtimes a reward is that which is due vnto good dedes Whither eternal lyfe may be called a reward is rendred vnto them of duty After this maner eternal life cannot be called the reward of our workes Wherfore Paul to the Romanes saith Abraham beleued God it was imputed vnto him for righteousnes But vnto him which woorketh reward is not imputed according to grace but according to debt Wherefore eternal lyfe for as muche as it is not of ryght dewe cannot be a reward if the woorde be taken in that signification But when they thus reason there is a reward geuen ergo there is a merite The argument is not firme A genere ad species bicause in affirming we may not discend from the general woorde to the species Neyther doth he rightly conclude whych sayth It is a liuing creature ergo it is a man This generall word reward hath two species therfore this argument is not firme if we saye It is a reward Ergo it is plaine that it must be geuen of dewty This saying also of Ieremy is to be added Cursed be euery one that putteth his hope in man and calleth flesh his strength But all our thinges whatsoeuer they be are not without flesh Wherfore it is not lawful for vs to put confidence in them Ierome And Ierome writing vpon that place hath very well brought in manye thinges whereby may be vnderstanded that in our workes there is no regard of merite Yea and the Papists also themselues which ar the patrones of merites are sometimes compelled to confesse that our merites are nothing at all For on the 2. Sonday in the Aduēt thus they pray Be pacefied O god with the prayers of our humility and wher helpe of merites do want succor vs with the aydes of of thy mercy The fathers whē in theyr writings they oftentimes inculcate this word of meriting do by it signify nothinge els then to get to obteine and to atteine to And as manye of them as haue written purelye the same haue detested the consideration of merites whereof the papistes so much bost Wherfore the Israelites were not heard thoroughe the merite of their teares or prayers but bycause by fayth in Christ to come they obteyned forgeuenes of sins and so by his merite onely they returned into fauor againe with god They offred sacrifice What profite the sacrifices of the law had Although I haue before largely spoken of the sacrifices in the olde time yet I thinke it good here also briefly to touch what profite was of them in the old law When men are vexed with calamityes they beginne to think vpon theyr sin they loke vpon the law wher whē they behold the wrath of god kindled for sinne they are in hart deiected in which perturbatiō there remaineth no remedy but to get them vnto Christ which is the summe and end of all sacrifices Him did the fathers which wer godly embrase by faith but in the sacrifices as often as the sacrifice was slaine so often the death of Christe was after a sorte set before the eyes of those that stoode by by whose death the synnes of the world should be taken away The sacramēts of the olders ours at al one but differ in outward Simboles signes Wherfore they had after this manner a communion amonge themselues in Christ which by sundry notes and signes dayly signified to the people in the old time wherhēce they by fayth receaued vnto their saluacion both his death and the fruite
therof as we do Wherfore Paule sayth trulye vnto the Corrinthians All did eate of one and the self same spirituall meate and all dronke of one and the selfe same spirituall drinke And they dronke of the spirituall rocke following them And that rocke was Christ Wherefore the elders had theyr misteries and sacraments whereby they also embrased Christ And vndoubtedly as touching the thing they had the same that we haue the difference was onely in the Simboles But Augustine noteth in theÌ„ certaine other differences Augustine Differences betwene the Sacramentes of the elders and ours which here to rehearse shal not be vnprofitable Firste they hadde manye sacramentes and wee but few the Simboles of our sacraments are water bread and wine they had oxen calues shepe gotes doues turtle doues bread wine oyle such other like Farther the condicion of our sacramentes is diuerse from the equality of theirs for theyrs were more greuous but oures are by Christe made both easier and also lighter Moreouer those simboles that were geuen vnto them were conteined in one country onely but ours ar common to the whole world Farther in them Christ was setforth as he which should come but to vs as he which is now alredye come But as touchinge saluation there is no difference For the same saluation and the same Christ was offred vnto them which is settefoorth vnto vs. This is also to be added that our Sacraments are more manifest and excellent for asmuch as they haue more manyfest woordes of Christ and his redemption which make fayth more ful And therfore the sprite is now had more aboundaÌ„tly then it was in that time if we speake of the coÌ„mon state of men For I speake not of persons singularely neither do I thinke that Abraham had lesse faith and sprite then christian men now haue But now let vs returne vnto the history The hebrewes when they were afflicted fled vnto God by Christ who was set before them in their sacrifices and was there apprehended by fayth Therehence was all the vtility of their sacrifices to the offring or receiuinge wherof it was not lawfull to come rashly otherwise they should haue beene to their hurt and should haue kindled the wrath of God against them which thinge Paul hath very well admonished vs of saying He whiche eateth or drinketh vnworthely eateth and drinketh vnto himself damnation What the purifications of the Elders signified Wherefore in the law there were many purifications sprinkelings and washinges before they came vnto the holy seruices And these men now repent and throwe themselues downe vnto the ground wepinge before the Lorde for they were touched with the bitternes and greuousnes of their sinnes When god had heard the prayers of the Israelites and had promised to deliuer the Beniamites into theyr handes he ministred also vnto them secrete and sound counsels namely that they shoulde in a conuenient place lay an embushmeÌ„t and making as though they would flee draw away their enemies from the cities that afterwarde they mighte oppresse them both before and behinde They had among them contrary counsels The counsels of the Bâ—niamits and of the Israelites are diuerse The like poletike deuise in the boke of Iosuah The Beniamites sayd They flee let vs follow them and oppresse them as they are fleing The Israelites contrarily said Let vs geue place vnto the Beniamites hat they may follow vs more insolently and securely For we will stoppe them of their returne into the city We reade of the like pollicy of warre in the booke of Iosua when the city of Hais was assalted It is now writteÌ„ that god himself smote them For it is said And god made Beniamin to fall before the Israelits least the victory should seme to be attributed either vnto the strengthes of the Israelites or to theyr pollitique deuyse The whole suÌ„me of those which were slayn were .25 thousand The order of this history might seme somewhat trobulesome which yet if it be apart coÌ„sidered perticulerly shal be the better vnderstanded For at the first conf ict were slaine of the Beniamites 18000. then when they fled into the desert .5000 lastly when they fled to Gibea .2000 all whyche summes added together doo make the full nomber of .25000 The city ascended vp to heauen Here is the figure Hiperbole whereby is signified either that the smoke of the citye ascended vp into heauen or that els all the riches thereof which were now on fire and turned into smoke ascended vp into heauen The Beniamites being in extreme daunger loke backe vnto the city as though there they should haue found succor and ayde They recule but they fall into the handes of the Embushments and are slaine From thence they get themselues and flee vnto the woods but in the flight they are miserably killed A few whych escaped in those ouerthrowes got them to the rock Rimmon as in to a high castel and wel fensed both by nature and situation And ther a few wer saued as is afterwarde declared Whereby we gather that no mighte or power can help vs when god wil strike Whatsoeuer can be deuised or inuented of vs it nothing profiteth agaynst the Lord. In the hebrew tongue a place of fence is called a rocke So great and so populous a tribe as soone as euer god would perished in a manner wholy Ther remained only .600 men whiche got themselues into the castle of RimmoÌ„ It is called a rock bycause in the holy scritures places of fence are so called for that they are in a manner situate vpon stony rockes and high places But why the .600 men were left on lyue there is shewed a cause Why the .600 men wer saued namely least any one whole tribe should want in Israell God would not for theyr deserts but for his names sake haue a certayn few remaining that the pub wealth of the Israelites should be preserued And those same he left not whole but in a manner mained for they had no wiues neyther were there anye wemen lefte of that whole tribe for them to marry therfore they wer compelled to desire wiues of the other tribes Wherfore the tribe of Beniamin The tribe of Beniamin that remained consisted also of other tribes Whither it was lawful for the Israelites to kill the children although otherwise it remained but smal yet howsoeuer it was halfe the part therof coÌ„sisted of other tribes For the Israelites had slayne al their wyues and children and cattayle This seuerity of the Israelites was great or rather it may seme to be cruelty and also against the law of God wherin it was forbidden that the childreÌ„ should be slaine for the sinnes of the parents But it is very likely which thing the Hebrewe interpreters also affirme that the Israelites when they fasted and prayed before the lord vowed Cherim that is the vow of a curse wherby it was not lawefull to reserue any thing which thing they vsed to do in battaile
of peril and in great daunger Yea and in Deut. the .13 chapter God commaunded that if any citye of the Israelites fell vnto idolatry all the tribes shoulde go vp and ioyne theyr powers together and conquer it so that they shoulde with sword and fire destroye all thinges that they found in it But the Beniamites defended a manifest wicked act which differred not much from idolatry and it is possible that the city of Gibeah was idolatrous Wherfore nothing ought to be reserued in it In the boke of Iosuah it is written that when Acham had hidden for himself a certayn small thing of the curse of Iericho the whole host was afflicted for that cause which deceate being afterward found out not onely he himselfe was killed but also hys sonnes and daughters with his oxen his asses his shepe and his tente also and all his stuffe Which thing yet we must not thinke that it was done by the prescript of the law but by a certaine singulare counsell of God Ciuill warres more cruel thē outward wars But whither Israell exceded measure in this auengement or no wee shal afterward see We may learne also by this history what sharpenesse there is in ciulll wars for they haue farre more cruell endes then outwarde warres ¶ Of fasting NOw that we are come to the end of the chapter For asmuche as it is sayde that the Israelites fasted and afflicted themselues before the Lord I haue occasion geuen me somewhat to speake of fasting And to beginne from the Etimoligy of the word this Hebrew woorde Tsum signifieth to afflict Aben Ezra Wherefore Aben Ezra sayth that whersoeuer in the holy scripture is founde affliction of the soule there is vnderstand fasting There is a nother word namely Tsama verye ny vnto this word and it signifieth to thirst for they which fast much ar wont to thyrst bicause the humors of the body ar with hunger and fasting dried vp The Grecians cal it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this particle primatiue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is to be strong and firme bicause by fasting the strength of the body is diminished But bicause this particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rather extensiue it semeth to signify very firm and very strong bycause a man that is fasting is verye firme and constante so that he had rather suffer grief then to go from his purpose Also the Grecians cal fasting by an other word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bicause they which faste doo beriue themselues of foode For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth both corne and meate But before I define what fasting is I think it good first to vse a distinction A distinction of fastes Natural fast For forasmuche as there are sundry kindes of fastings they serue not all to our purpose For there is a certaine fast that is naturall whyche pertayneth eyther to the recouering or to the defending of the health of the body Wherfore Hipocrates sayth that they which are of a full and perfect age or also are old can verye well abide to fast in which place old men are to be vnderstande as touching the first part and beginning of age For they which are very old can no better abide fasting Ciuill fast then young men or childrē There is an other fast which is ciuil is thē taken in hand whē men are so bent to their things that by no meanes they will intermitte the affaires which they haue begonne So Saule when he pursued the Philistians and had the victorye nowe in his handes commaunded that no man should taste of any meat before euening So also certain Hebrewes vowed that they would neither eate any thinge or drinke A fast familiar vnto christiās before they had killed Saul as it is written in the actes of the Apostles This manner also of fasting pertaineth not to this present matter There is an other kinde of fasting which ought to be familiar vnto all Christans namely to take meate soberly and temperatly which thing they shal do if they neither eate to often in one day nor whē they do eate doo gorge themselues with to muche meate or seeke for delicates and fine banquetes The commodities of christiā sobriety This manner of liuing is very muche profitable to diminishe lustes neyther suffreth it the minde to bee troubled with affections It maketh the minde more chearfull and redy both to prayers and also to the actions of the life Wherfore Christ sayd let not your hartes be oppressed with surfeting or dronkēnes Peter also hath writtē Be ye sober for your enemy the deuil goeth about like a roaring lion seking whom he may deuour Paul also wrote of himselfe I chasten my body and bring it into bondage least I preaching to other should be made a reprobate Farther there is an other commodity of this fast that thereby expenses are spared not to lay them vp couetously but that that which is ouerplus vnto vs we may geue vnto the poore There is an other fast which is aboue mans strength and is sometimes geuē of god meruelously vnto some of the saints Miraculous faste to commend theyr doctrin Moses in the mountayn fasted .40 dayes for God would by a notable example shew that that law which he setforth came from himself and was not inuented of men Nether went Moses therfore vnto the mountayne to fast but to receiue the lawe of GOD and to talk with him Elias also receued bread and water of the Aungel and in the strength of that meate walked .40 daies euen vnto the mount of god Horeb that hee by this miracle shoulde bee declared to bee the true reuenger of the lawe By this kynde of fastynge our Sauioure commended the preachynge of the Gospell that it should not seeme to bee a thynge vulgare but shoulde be proued a thyng begonne by God But these wer miracles neyther pertayne they anye thinge vnto vs but onelye that wee shoulde haue them in admiracion and by suche examples bee stirred vppe with reuerence to receaue the word of God A fast cōpelled There is also an other fast which lieth not in our power As when we beinge destitute of meate haue not wherof to eat Here is nede of pacience and we must pray vnto god that he would strengthen and encourage vs. So the saints when they wandred about and preached the Gospel wer compelled somtimes to hunger And the disciples when they followed the Lorde were driuen by hunger to plucke the eares of corne and to rubbe oute the corne Elias also desired meate of the widow and wayted at the brooke for such meate as the Rauen should bringe him This kind of fasting men do not take vpon them of their own free wil but it is layd vpon them by God Religious fast But omitting all those as which nothing pertayne vnto our disputation let vs come to our fast which we may cal religious And this fast is an