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
and made to stand stil I wyll not speake howe the Poetes fable that when the walles of Thebes the Citye were built the stones of their owne motion came together with the sound of the Harpe And no man is ignoraunt what the same Poetes haue written of Arion and Orpheus And who knoweth not how much Dauid here ther in his Psalmes praiseth both Musick songes Tertulian And among Christian men Tertulian in his Apology teacheth that the faithfull did very often make suppers wherin after they had moderatly and honestly refreshed the body they recreated themselues with godly songes And in an other place when he commendeth Matrimony that is of one and the selfe same religion he sayth that Christian couples doo mutually prouoke them selues tosing prayses vnto God Whether singinge may be receaued in the Church The east churche Plini But now that we haue sene the nature beginning and vse of songes and musicke ther resteth to inquire whither it may be vsed in Churches In the East part the holy assemblies euen from the beginning vsed singing which we maye easily vnderstand by a testimony of Plini in a certain Epistle to Traian the Emperor where he writeth that Christians vsed to syng hymnes before daye vnto their Christ And this is not to be left out that these words wer written in that time that Iohn the Euangelist lyued for he was a liue vnto the time of Traian Wherfore if a man shal say that in the time of the Apostles there was syngyng in holy assemblies He shal not stray from the truth Paule who was before these times vnto the Ephesians saith Be not filled wyth wyne wherein is wantonnes but be ye filled with the spirit speaking to your selues in Psalmes Himnes and spiritual songes singing in your hart geuing thankes alwaies vnto God for all thinges in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ To wyne the Apostle setteth the spirite as contrarye and forbiddeth the pleasure of the senses when in steede of wyne he wil haue Christians filled with the spirite For in wine as he saith is wantonnes but in the spirite is both a true and a perfect ioy Drounckerdes speake more than inough but yet foolish and vayne thinges Speake ye saith he but yet spirituall thinges and that not onely in voyce but also in hart for the voyce soundeth in vaine where the minde is not affected They which be filled with wine do speake foolish filthy and blasphemous thinges but geue ye thankes to God alwaies I say and for all thinges To this ende vndoubtedly ought Ecclesiastical songes to tend vnto To the Colossians also are written certaine thinges not disagreing from these Let the woord of the Lord sayth the Apostle abound plentifully in you teache and admonish ye one another in Psalmes Hymnes and spirituall songes singing in your hartes with grace By these woordes Paule expresseth two thinges Fyrst that our songes be the woord of God which must abound plentifully in vs and they must not serue onely to geuing of thankes but also to teache and to admonish And then it is added with grace which is thus to vnderstand as though he should haue said aptly and properly both to the senses and to measure and also vnto the voyces Let them not syng rude and rusticall thinges neither let it be immoderatly as doo the Tauernhunters To the Corrinthians the firste Epistle the .xiiii. chapter where he entreateth of an holy assemblye the same Apostle writeth after this maner When ye assemble together according as euerye one of you hath a Psalme or hath doctrine or hath a toung or hath reuelacion or hath interpretation let al thinges be done vnto edifieng By which woordes is declared that Syngers of songes and Psalmes had their place in the Church The west Church Augustine But the west Churches more lately receaued the maner of singing for Augustine in his .ix. booke of Confessions testifieth that it happened in the tyme of Ambrose For when that holy man together with the people watched euen in the Church least he should haue bene betrayed vnto the Arrians he brought in singing to auoyde tediousnes and to driue away the time But as touching the measure and nature of the song which ought to be retained in Musicke in the Church these thinges are woorthy to be noted What maner of measure the ecclesiastical song ought to be Augustine Augustine in the same bookes of Confession both confesseth and also is sory that hee had sometimes fallen bicause he had geuen more attentiue heede vnto the measures and cordes of musicke than to the woordes whiche were vnder them spoken Which thing hereby he proueth to be synne bicause measures and singing were brought in for the wordes sake and not wordes for Musicke The manner of the churche of Alexandria And he so repented him of his fault that he execeedingly allowed the manner of the Church of Alexandria vsed vnder Athanasius for hee commaunded the Reader that when he sang he should but lytle alter his voyce so that he shoulde bee lyke rather vnto one that readeth than vnto one that syngeth Howbeit on the contrary when he considered how at the beginning of his conuersion he was inwardly moued with these songes namely in suche sorte that for the zeale of pietye he burst forth into teares for this cause I say he consented that Musicke should be retained in the Churche but yet in suche maner that hee saide he was readye to chaunge his sentence if a better reason could be assigned And he addeth that those do synne deadly as they wer wont to speake which geue greater hede vnto musicke than vnto the woordes of God Ierome Gregory To which sentence vndoubtedlye Ierome assenteth as he hath noted vpon the Epistle to the Ephesians Gregory also of Rome in the Synode of Rome was of the same opinion And both their wordes are wrytten in the Decrees Dist 92. in the chap. Cantantes and in the chapter In sancta Romana In which place are read in the glose two verses not in dede so eloquent but yet godly Non vox sed votum non cordula musica sed vox Non clamans sed amans cantat in aure Dei That is Not the voice but the desire not the plesantnes of musick but the voyce Not crying but louing syngeth in the eare of God And in the wordes of Gregory this is not slightlye to be passed ouer in that hee saith Whilest the swetenes of the voyce is sought for the life is neglected and when wicked maners prouoke God the people is rauished by the pleasauntnesse of the voyce The abuses of Ecclesiasticall Musicke But now let vs declare the cautions which are to bee obserued to the ende we maye lawfully and fruitfully vse singing in the Church The first is That in Musicke be not put the whole summe effect of godlines and of the worshipping of God For among the Papists they do almost euery where thinke that
dareth do thing but so much as God himselfe wyll somtime permit him as we reade was done of Iob. God sometime suffreth the sayntes to be greuously afflicted of Sathan to the ende his grace towardes them may most manifestly be declared Whither the plagues of the Egiptians wer done by good Aungels or by euyll But when Augustine expoundeth these wordes of the Psalme namelye the sending out of euyll Angels he doubteth whither the plagues of the Egiptians were done by a good Angel or by the Deuyl And at the length he sheweth that the plague and destruction of the first begotten maye be ascribed vnto the ministery of the Deuyl but the other plagues are to be attributed vnto good angels that the sentence both of the booke of Exodus and of the Psalme may stand fast Howbeit as touching that plage of the firste begotten in Exodus it is written vnder the name of God I wil this night passe through Egipt and wil smite c By these woordes that destruction semeth to be ascribed eyther vnto god or to a good Angel and not vnto the Deuil But that moueth me not much bycause although it were done by the ministery of the Deuil yet maye it be ascribed vnto the Lorde For Iob when by the woorke of the Deuil he was bereft bothe of goodes and children said neuerthelesse The Lorde hath geuen and the Lorde hath taken away and that sayd he was done by the Lorde which was done by the Deuil But some obiect If we assigne these things vnto the Deuil then shal he seme to haue fought against himself For the Sorcerers by the help of deuils withstoode Moses when they did the same thinges that he dyd And if plagues were by euyl Angels sent against the Egiptians and the Sorcerers went about to withstand them then Sathan semed to resist Sathan Neither could the Sorcerers haue trulye sayde that they fayled and testified that it was the fynger of God whych wrought But these reasons in my iudgement are not strong bycause the thinges done by the Sorcerers were done by the power of Sathan which is vnto him naturall For by it he is able to applye the seedes of thynges and woorking causes to his matter prepared and to woorke wonders as touching the sight of man But those thinges wherewith God afflicted the Egiptians were by his most mighty power wrought by the instrument of the Deuyll Wherefore it is no maruail if the Sorcerers failed and felt the most excellent power of the finger of God The place of Exodus and of the Psalme is conciliated Howbeit the booke of wysdome the .xviii. chap. semeth vtterly to ascribe these plagues vnto God wher he saith while al thinges wer stil and when the night was in the middest of her course thy almighty word c. And in the .xvii. chap. it is written that the Egiptians being among those plagues especially when they were oppressed with darknes wer with horrible vexations of minde and sights very terrible so vexed as though most doleful spirites had perpetuallye bene before their eyes and about their phantasy which vndoubtedly might be done by the sending of euyl Angels as the Psalme doth mencion Their hart also was hardened and their mindes were dayly made much more obstinate againste the Israelites And that semeth to haue pertained to the sending downe of euil angels Wherfore these two places may easely be made to agree in ascribing the plagues which ar mencioned in Exodus to good Angels and the terrible sights and hardning of the hartes to the sending of euyl Angels vpon them of whych the Psalme now alledged maketh mencion The power to work miracles maketh not mē better or woorser But forasmuch as God as it is declared for the woorking of miracles vseth both euil good angels men the godly men ought not therfore to be greued bicause oftentimes he geueth not vnto them this faculty For they are not for the cause of any worse condition then are they to whom God graunteth to woorke miracles For the Lord said vnto his Disciples when they returned from theyr embassadge Reioyce not in this bicause spirites are subiect vnto you reioyce ye rather for this bycause your names are wrytten in heauen There are some which are so desirous of such thinges that to obteine signes they are not afraid to vse euen the help of the deuill and vnder this pretence they excuse themselues To worke signes we must not vse the help of the deuill bycause god himself to worke signes vseth Sathan in following of whome they do well so farre ar they of that they can be cōdemned guilty of any crime They say also that Paul deliuered some to the deuill to be vexed and therfore they also may vse his ministerye But what manner of men are they whiche wil affirme that it is lawfull for them to do asmuche as is lawfull vnto god God is the author of all creatures wherfore it is no marueile if he vse them all But vnto vs it is by the law of god prescribed that we should not do it It is not lawfull to imitate God in all thinges And the immitation of god is so farforth commended vnto vs as by his law it is commaunded vs and no otherwise For he reuengeth his owne iniuries And who will saye that priuate men may do the same God adioyned vnto his owne burnt offring the bullocke appointed for Baal as we haue haue now hard with the wood also dedicated vnto the same idole Shall euerye one of vs therefore eate thinges dedicated vnto idoles The rule of our actiōs is the word of God Wherfore we ought not to be drawen to imitate him but so muche as the lawe suffreth That lawe hath he made not for himself but for men that they should frame theyr life after it Wherfore it was to him lawful to require of Abraham the immolation of his sonne which thing none of vs can require of our frend Paule and other Apostles had euill sprites subiect vnto them and by them it was sometimes lawfull vnto them to punish the guilty for theyr saluation Wherefore those to whome such a gift is not graunted ought to abstayne from excercising the same Wherefore the vse of the power of euil spirites is of two sortes wherof one is with authority and that belongeth chiefelye vnto god also to the Apostles and to the sayntes of the primitiue church The other by compact obedience which is vtterly forbidden mē For what participatiō cā ther be of the light with darknesse of god with Belial And for that cause the sorcerers which beleue thē can not be excused yet they ar by the law condēned guilty of superstition idolatry And it is not to be thought but that god vpō very iust causes and to vs most profitable hath forbidden these things to be done Why God forbad men to vse the helpe of the deuil to worke myracles For he prouideth that we should not
the Friday bycause on that day he was crucified But of the Sabaoth day he much doubted For they of Millane of the East parte affirmed that on the day we should not fast bycause Christ that day was at reast in the sepulchre contraryly the Romanes and Affricans and certayne other bycause Christ was deiected euen vnto the ignominy of the sepulchre therfore contended that the Sabaoth should be fasted Monica the mother of Augustine The mother of Augustine when she came out of Affrike to Millane and sawe that the men there fasted not on the Sabaoth day began to meruayle at the vnaccustomed manner Wherfore Augustine which was not yet baptised came to Ambrose asked in his mothers behalfe what was best to be done Do sayth Ambrose that which I do An aunswere of Ambrose By which words Augustine thought that he should not fast bycause Ambrose fasted not But what he ment he himselfe more manifestly expressed I sayth he when I come to Rome do fast bycause the Sabaoth day is there fasted but when I returne to Millane bicause here it is not fasted I fast not De consecratione dist 3. chap. De esu carnium it is decreed that Friday and Wensday should be fasted the Sabaoth day is left free And in the same distinct the chap. Sabbato vero Innocentius InnoceÌ„tius hath added That the Sabaoth also must be fasted But he bringeth a farre other cause then that which before we spake of For for bycause saith he the Apostles both vpon the Friday and also vpon the Sabaoth day were in great mourning and sorow therfore we must fast In the same dist chap. Ieiunium Melchiades decreed that we must not fast on the Sonday nor on the Thursday and he geueth a reason bycause the fastes of Christians ought to be on contrary dayes to the fastes both of heretikes and of Ethnikes Epiphanius Epiphanius bringeth a reason why the Wensday is to be fasted namely bycause Christ was that day taken vp to heauen for it is written that when the bridgrome is taken from theÌ„ then they shall fast and this he affirmeth to be the tradition of the Apostles when as yet at this day we beleue that the Ascension happened on the Thursday We must geue â—â—le credite to traditions wherfore let the Papistes take heede howe muche credite they will haue to be geuen vnto their traditions For there are many of them whiche euen they themselues can not deny but that they are ridiculous and vayne I know in deede there are traditions founde whiche are necessaryly gathered out of the holy scriptures and for that cause they ought not to be abrogated But other traditions whiche are indifferent are not to be augmented in number least the Churche should be oppressed neither to be thought so necessary that they can not be abolished And we must beware that in them be not put the worshipping of GOD. But as for those whiche are agaynst the woorde of god are by no meanes to be admitted In the dist 76. chapter .1 are added Imber dayes or the Fastes foure tymes in the yeare Which why they are so diuided scarsely can any man perceaue They cite Ierome vpon Zachary who maketh mention of the fourth moneth fift seuenth and tenth And they seeme to be moued with a wicked zeale to distribute these fastes into foure partes of the yeare And those fastes whiche the Iewes receaued euery yeare for the calamityes which they had suffred Why the fast of Imber dayes were inuented the same our men haue made yearely But other haue inuented an other cause namely bycause in those foure tymes of the yeare Byshops are wont to promote clarkes vnto the ministery and orders Wherfore they say that the people ought then most of all to faste and praye that GOD would graunt them good Pastors Fasting and prayers should be had in the ordering of Ministers But I would demaund of the Byshops why they institute Ministers onely at those .iiii. tymes of the yere Vndoubtedly they caÌ„ render no certayn iust reason therof Augustine Aerius an heretike Augustine in his boke de Haeresibus sayth the Aerius contemned oblatioÌ„s for the dead also such fast as were appointed bycause ChristiaÌ„s were not vnder the law but vnder grace but he would the euery maÌ„ should fast at his owne pleasure wheÌ„ he himselfe would In dede I allow not Aerius in that he was an ArriaÌ„ but as touchiÌ„g sacrifices oblations for the dead he iudged rightly godly And also concerning appointed fastes I see no cause why he ought to be reproued vnles peradueÌ„ture he thought this that fastes could not be denouÌ„ced of the Magistrate of the Church as the difficulty of times required The reason also which he vseth the ChristiaÌ„s are not vnder the law but vnder grace is weake for we are not so deliuered froÌ„ the law that we are absolued froÌ„ all order Iouinian an heretike Augustine also writeth that IouiniaÌ„ contemned abstinences fastes as things vaine vnprofitable where in if he spake of bare fastes onely such as wer appointed at certayne dayes certayne tymes of the yeare he iudged not ill For vnles they be adioyned with faith repentaÌ„ce also with vehement prayers they nothing at all profite In Esay the .58 chap. the people coÌ„playned We haue fasted thou hast not looked vpon vs which wordes shew that fastes with out circumstances requisite are not acceptable vnto God but if they be ioyned with their additions they are not vnprofitable By the decrees of Liberius who liued in the tyme of CoÌ„staÌ„tius may be knoweÌ„ Liberius how that wheÌ„ the ayre was vnteÌ„perate or that there was any famine or pestileÌ„ce or warre then they asseÌ„bled together to denouÌ„ce a fast wherby to mitigate the anger of god Augustine Augustine wheÌ„ he saw his city besieged of the Vandales gaue himself vnto fastyng prayers in that siege died as Possidonius testifieth And generally wheÌ„ we atteÌ„pt any great waighty matter as wheÌ„ we denouÌ„ce war or creat Magistrats or ordeine Ministers of the Church we haue nede most of al of ferueÌ„t prayers for the ferueÌ„tnes wherof fasting very much auayleth Christ when he should begyn his preaching went into the wildernes fasted A widow when her husband is dead is left in a perillous state Therfore prayers fastes are very conuenient for her Anna the daughter of Phanuel led her life in the temple where she gaue herself to prayer fasting Paul to Tim. sayth A widowe which is truly a widowe putteth her coÌ„fidence in the Lord day night applieth herselfe to prayers fastes Cornelius when he was not yet sufficiently instructed of Christe and was heauy and pensiue in mynde in the ninth houre was fastyng and in prayers to whom the Aungell as it is written in the Actes of the Apostles appeared But it may be demaÌ„ded when fastes are denouÌ„ced of princes
matters wer referred to the people therfore we may say it was a coÌ„mon welth Wherfore it manifestly appeareth that the administratioÌ„ of matters of the Israelits was very well teÌ„pered of three kinds of gouernments What was the cause of the raysing vp of Iudges And bicause wheras many gouerne the common wealth it is nedefull when daungerous tymes doe happen for the better successe and expedition of thinges to be done one muste be appointed which may haue both the chief rule also the chief authoritie for the which cause the Romanes created often tymes both Empeâ—ors also Dictators So god wheÌ„ the Israelites wer most greuously oppressed of their enemies iudged it mete to deliuer them and bring theÌ„ to libertie he euermore stirred vp some one man by his spirit whom he endued with noble vertues streÌ„gth of body warlike arte and other gifts mete for that purpose which shuld be brought to passe by whose industry good successe the people might be deliuered from tyrantes Betwene forrayne nations and the Israelits in this similitude The difference betwen the iudges princes of the heathen thys difference is to be marked Emperors and Dictators were appointed and chosen of men But the iudges of the Hebrues wer not declared by the voyces of meÌ„ The iudges were neither properly lords nor kinges but by the ordinance inspiratioÌ„ of god They could not be properly called capitaynes or kinges or els lordes Posteritie or succession was here of no force neither was there a regard to one perticular tribe or family neither was there required the election of maÌ„ or the coÌ„mon assent of the people In humane publique weales these vse to take place but God in thys hys publique weale preferred whom he pleased to be iudge in the gouernmeÌ„t of things Besides that they which are chosen by the coÌ„moÌ„ voyce of meÌ„ must first be endued with excellent streÌ„gth vertues but god made those whoÌ„ he decreed to be Iudges setters at libertie of the Israelites notable and most excellent vppon the sodayne though they were neuer so much rude and vnmete of nature And that this is true witnesseth the 2. chapter of this boke where it is thus written God raised them vp Iudges which deliuered them out of the handes of their oppressours c. And therunto is added when the Lord had raised them vp a iudge he was with the iudge and deliuered Israell al the dayes of his lyfe Moreouer these men in time of theyr authoritye were not in dede Lords ouer the Israelites but onely wrought with authoritye admonition counsell and exercising warlyke trauayles This is made playne by that that Gedeon as it is written in the .8 chap when he had gotten the victorye ouer the Madianites when it was offred hym to be king ouer Israell he refused it For the people sayd vnto hym Reygne thou ouer vs and thy sonne By the which wordes they dyd not geue the kingdome onely vnto him but also to hys posteritye But he would none of it yea he answered them thus I wil not reign ouer you God shal reygne ouer you And it is written in the fyrst boke of Samuel that God sayd vnto the Prophet They haue not cast thee away but me The papists do impudentlye claime vnto theÌ„ selues the title of spirituall honour that I should not reygne ouer them It appeareth therefore manifestly that these Iudges were neyther kynges nor yet Lordes of the Israelites I would to god that this kynde of authoritye were diligently marked in the popysh Church where wicked men do so impudently vsurpe vnto themselues spirituall promotion seing that Christ hymselfe as he is the true priest so also is he oure only priest for he only pacifyeth the father towardes vs and they whiche are gouernoures of the Church here on earth are to be counted only as hys ministers Wherfore they can not clayme vnto themselues that title but they muste cast away Christ and do hym iniurye Neyther is thys to bee passed ouer that the Iudges whiche were ordayned of god dyd alwayes deliuer Israell from the miserye wherwith they were oppressed but the kinges into whom the common wealth did afterwards as it were degenerate did not alwaies deliuer the people out of bondage which was coÌ„mitted vnto them The estate of the Hebrues was better vnder the Iudges than vnder the kings yea they oftentimes destroyed them and compelled them at the length to slauery Wherfore it is to be iudged that the estate of the Hebrues was farre better vnder the iudges than vnder the Kynges not the God gouerned not that people in tyme of the kyngs but bycause hys administration shewed forth it self more in the time of the iudges And in dede the people was neuer led away into captiuity vnder the iudges although they were ofteÌ„ times oppressed by outward tyrantes which they deserued by their wickednes Almost al the iudges were good and holy men That age therfore might be called as it were a golden age Let vs marke also that there wer very few good and godly kings but almost al the Iudges were good and godly For although as they were men so sometymes they fel yet we must beleue that they returned againe into the right way and repented for they are not condemned at any time by any testimony or Iudgement of the scripture as far as I can perceiue How notably Syrach iudged of them he playnly declareth in hys booke of wisdom the 46. chap. But we leauyng his testimony aside let vs see what the Epistle to the Hebrues in the xi chap. doth ascribe vnto them where as it is thus sayd The tyme wil be to short for me to tel of Gedeon of Barach Sampson and of Iephthe c. All these certeinly were iudges and they are mencioned of there together with other holy men which were notable and of an excellent and wonderful faith Thou wilt aske peraduenture If god loked so wel to hys people as long as the iudges were ouer them Why the Israelites were so oftentimes oppressed of their enemies in the time of the iudges how came it to passe then that they were so often brought into bondage by their enemies For bicause God handled with them faithfully and by a couenaunt The league that was made is written in the 30. and 31. chap. of Deut where god promised the Hebrues that all things should prosper with them so long as they kept his lawes and worshipping of him But if they should fall from hym to Idols and cast away the lawes of their god then should they be deliuered into the handes of their enemies but in such sort that if they repented and would desire ayde of their god he would streightwaies be present with them to deliuer them from al the euils wherwith they should be oppressed But we shal not nede to stand long now about this matter bicause it he proceding forward of the history we shal manifestly perceaue
such dishonor and thincking with thē selues by that meanes to stay the flight they thrust them selues into the thickest of their enemies setting before them the shewe of their vowe and religion So that by that meanes the harts of the soldiours in maner discouraged might be called agayne more fiersly to fight with their enemyes But we are taught by the holy Scriptures that when we either see or heare of any that are conquerours or els are slayne in battailes we must by and by ascribe vnto God al that whiche is or hath ben done who after the most accustomed phrase of the holy Scriptures is sayd to deliuer them whiche are ouercome into the handes of their enemies God without any iniury deliuereth some in to the hādes of their enemies The Chananites were defiled with moste detestable wicked dedes When it is sayd that any are deliuered of God into the handes of their enemyes we must thincke that that is done without any iniurye And as touchyng this place we know that those nations of the Chananites were full of most heynous wickednesse and for that cause god punished them most iustly Whiche cause is confirmed by that whiche we read in the booke of Genesis where God bringeth a reason why he held the posteritie of Abraham so lōg tyme in Egipt namely bycause the sinnes of the Chananites were not yet full God punisheth the vngodly with two kindes of punishmentes And this is not to be forgottē that God vseth according to his iustice to deliuer synners to be punished two manner of wayes or to two sortes of enemies For sometymes he doth this in geuing them ouer to be vexed with lustes and filthy affections as to certein furyes of hell Augustine God punisheth synnes with synnes And that is it which Augustine oftentimes sayth that sinnes are punished with sinnes So Pharao hys vnfaythfulnesse and cruelty was punished by hardning stubbornesse of harte And Idolaters as Paul teacheth to the Romaines were geuen ouer of god to their owne filthy lust so that they most vylie contamined thē selues with most horrible sinnes But bycause this kynde of punishement is not sene nor felte of mad men as it is mete god therfore deliuereth the vngodly into the handes of straunge enemies to be vexed and at the length vtterly to be destroyed And that this order was obserued with the Chananites the Scripture manifestly teacheth for they were not onely addicted to Idoles but as it is written in the xviii xx chap. of Leuit They miserably defiled them selues with incestes most filthy lustes They were first therfore deliuered of God into a reprobate sense and then were they deliuered to theyr enemies the Hebrues of whō they were spoyled both of their life and also of their most riche kingdome God deliuered them into their handes That is into their power This is not onely an Hebrew phrase but also a latine for we say This is my hande that is it lyeth in my power And they smote them in Bezek to the number of ten thousand men To smite is here to kill And seing that the hoste of the Chananites was great there were nowe slayne of it but onely ten thousand men we must thincke that the rest fled awaye in whiche flight as afterwarde shal be declared Adonibezek was taken But where as these two wordes Chananites and Pherezites are ioyned together in this place They are thus to be taken that if thou vnderstande the Chananites after the common signification wherin were cōprehended those 7. or 9. nations then this name Pherezites should be added bycause of interpretation that by it might be expounded that whiche before was not expressed in the word Chananites But if by this word Chananites we shall vnderstand any one especial or peculiar people of those nations then must we say that that host was gathered of both the peoples of the Chananites I say and the Pherezites 5 And they founde Adonibezek in Bezek they fought agaynste him and slewe the Chananites and Pherezites 6 And Adonibezek fled and they followed after him caught him and cut of the thombes of his handes and of his feete 7 And Adonibezek sayd 70 kynges hauing the thombes of theyr handes and feete cut of gathered their meat vnder my table As I haue done so God hath done to me agayne and they brought hym to Ierusalem and there he died c. After mencion made of the victorye it is here more expressed by partes for the place of the battaile is expressed namely Bezek Bezek but where this Bezek should lye it is not very certain For there was a certaine Bezek whiche was a city belonging to the tribe of Manasses whiche was situate 17. myle from Sichem as ye go to Bethsan Ierome And Ierome testifieth that in his tyme there were two Townes which were called by this name And it is not very likely that Iuda and Symeon would passe with their hoste to the tribe of Manasses whē their purpose was only to ridde the Chananites out of their owne lottes Vnlesse peraduenture that king whiche was called Adonibezek althoughe his kyngdome were in the tribe of Manasse claymed and vsurped by violent tyranny many places in the inheritaunce of Iudah and Simeon This kyng had prepared an hoste to go agaynst Iudah and Simeon and to let them from recouering of their own Which thing being knowen Iudah and Symeon made towarde him that he should not entre into their borders Wherfore it chaunced that they fought with him not farre frō his kingly citie Bezek or els it is to be thought that this Bezek was a certain citie either in the tribe of Iudah or els of Simeon wherof is no mencion made in any other place Malchisedech Adonisedech This kyng was called Adoni-bezek whiche is a compounde name wherin the leter Iod is placed betwene two wordes as Malchi-sedech Adoni-sedech euē as R. Selomo testifieth This king semeth to haue fled for that he sawe his hoste both slayne to the number of ten thousande men and to turne their backes and flye he would therfore saue him selfe by flight but he was brought backe agayn by the Israelites and suffred most grieuous punishement as he had iustely deserued Bohan Behonoth For they cut of the thombes both of his handes and of his feete This word Bohan signifieth in the Hebrew a thombe it is in the feminine gender wherfore it is said in the plurall nomber Behonoth Although R. Dauid Kimhi do interprete that worde into fyngers and the Chaldey paraphrast doth interprete it anckles And Adoni-bezek said 70 kings This tyranne acknowledgeth the iudgement of God but whether he spake this of true faith or pure repentaunce it can not be knowen by the wordes of our history But it is most lykely bycause he called not vpon God implored not his mercy neither shewed any tokens of true conuersion The law of rēdring lyke for lyke that rather anguish did extorte from him
70. kinges he would also haue them vnder his table to gather their meat there He did it surely to the setting forth of his victories and also whē he should eate meate he would not onely refreshe his body with meate and drinke but he would also reioyce his haulty and proude minde after a certein horrible sort he thought to him selfe that he had the fruition of no vulgare pleasure when as in his dayly banckets he renued after a sorte by that terrible sight the victoryes which he had hitherto gotten Sapor King of the Persians We read of the like example of one Sapor king of the Persians who when he had taken in warre Valerian the Emperour of the Romaines and father of Galien he bounde him with an Iron chayne and drew him with him set his feete vpō his backe as oftē as he would get vp vpō his horse Tamerlanes also king of the Scythians Tamerlanes caried about with him a tyranne of the Turckes taken by him and inclosed in an Iron cage Tirannes are infected with boasting and cruelty By these and such like examples we se that the mindes of cruel tyrannes are wonderfully sicke of the diseases of vayne glory and cruelty And hereby we gather that to much cruelty doth greatly displease god and therof I thincke it came to passe that as wel by gods lawes as by mās I speake but of those whiche are counted iust honest certain punishmētes were prescribed for crimes according to the grieuousnesse of thē whereby iudges had the lesse libertie geuen them to exercise tyranny Punishmentes are rather to be diminished thā augmented Yea the lawyers added this rule that punishmentes should rather be diminished by iudges thā augmented whiche is for all that to be vnderstād as much as the nature of the faulte cōmoditie of the publicque wealth suffereth whiche I therfore speake bycause some times those cōditions which cōmonly they call circūstaunces make the crime so terrible and horrible that the iudges must nedes there augment the punishments whiche haue ben prescribed by the lawes that to the entēt to feare away others frō so grieuous mischieuous dedes so Dauid when Nathā the prophet declared vnto him an execrable horrible thing he decreed a more grieuous punishment against him that was guiltie than the law had ordeyned for common thieues stealers of cattel Three kyndes of death in the lawe of God I haue therfore made menciō of these bycause there were in the law thre kindes of death appointed for euil doers I meane hanging stoning burning vnto which some Hebrues adde the fourth namely the punishment of the sword but bycause there is no mencion made therof in the lawe as farre as I know I haue therfore left it out We read that Adonias Ioab Agab king of Amalech many other were thrust thorough with swordes But we finde it not prescribed by any lawe or precept that the guiltie should be put to death by the sword Seing I say the matter is so The Hebrues vsed an extraordinary punyshment in their tentes we se that the children of Israel vsed nowe in their tentes a certein extraordinary kinde of punishmēt against the king Adonibezek And I beleue they did it not wtout the instinction of god For god would punish the cruelty of this tyranne with an exquisite punishmēt which was neuerthelesse of rendring like for like which kinde of wicked doing to the entent we may the caselyer auoyde it shall not be grieuous vnto vs to speake somewhat of it From whence this word cruelty is deriued This word cruelty is deriued either of this latin word Cruor which signifieth bloud wherin cruel mē like wild beastes do delite either of Crudae earnes which signifieth rawe flesh which fierce barbarous people somtimes do eate may be defined to be a vicious habite wherby we are inclined to sharpe hard things aboue reason The definition of crueltye And somtimes it happeneth the cruelty is coūted for a pleasure with which wicked affectiō or habite how tyrānes haue sometimes ben infected it is manifestly to be sene by many exāples This holy history setteth now before our eyes this Adonibezek the euāgelicall history maketh mēciō of Herode The Ethnike poetes haue made report of the cruelty of Atreus Thyestes and the most horrible wicked act of Xerxes king of the Persians is set forth by Seneca in his third booke de ira .xvii. The cruelty of Xerxes chap. which Xerxes when a certain man named Pithius who had well deserued at hys handes came vnto him and desyred him to spare him one of his fyue sonnes which he had and he bad him as though he would graunt him his request to chose him whom he lysted to abide at home from battaile And he did as he was bidden But this most cruell tyranne commaunded that the yong man whom he had chosen should be drawen one syde of him one way and an other the other waye so that at the length he was torne a sunder of the whych one part hee commaunded to be fastened in one corner of the way by the which the souldiours shoulde go and the other in an other corner saying that after this sorte he purged his hoste But not long after he was with much dishonour ouercome and beaten of the Grecians and constrayned to flie through heapes and dead carcases of his own men Silla Silla banished an infinite nomber of Citizens of Rome but at the length he was most horribly eaten vp of Lyfe Euen after the lyke sort dyed that most cruel Herode as it is manifestly declared by Iosephus Vnto this most wicked vice clemēcy is directly cōtrary which as a wonderful vertue doth maruailously wel agree with princes is a singuler ornamēt of Christian men Augustine in his boke of .83 Augustine What clemencye is Certayn foolish mercy Quest in the Quest 31. defineth it thus It is an habite wherby men styrred vp to hatred agaynst any man are through goodnes kept backe This vertue is a meane betwene cruelty and foolish mercy I cal it foolish mercy by which our mynde is so moued wyth other mens miseries that it declineth from sound counsell and iust reason And we are ouercome with this affection for this cause by reason wee woulde neuer suffer such thinges wherwith we see others afflicted iustly and worthily and because we our selues abhorre from such thinges we therfore leaue of from punishing the guilty Mercy is a profitable affectiō Mercy in dede is an affection profitably planted in our hartes of God whereby we are styrred vp to helpe and defende others But we must take heede that by it we be not made so soft and effeminate wherby we should commit any thing against the commaundementes and wyl of God Preposterous mercy is condemned in holy letters The holy scriptures reprehend Achab king of Samaria bicause he
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
cause than to deliuer men out of the mouth of the deuyl and by the preaching of the Gospel to loose them from their chaines of errours Christ also for this selfe same cause would trauail and iourney among men that by his doctrine and death he might delyuer mankind frō eternal destruction Wherfore the Kenites may be numbred with these for they also adioyned them selues companions with the Israelites to helpe thē through the deserte For as it is said they hauing good knowledge of those places might stand the Iewes in great steede These counsels are plainlye iudged good and honest for whose causes peregrinations which are taken wythout cōpulsion are honest and prayse worthy There maye be other reasons also of peregrination which as they be not alwaies to be refused yet are they nothing to be compared wyth these eyther in praise or els in worthynes Wherfore let godly men take hede when they iourney into farre coūtries that they apply them selues as much as is possible vnto these causes reasons now mētioned And as God hath not defrauded these Kenites of the fruit which they looked for but made them partakers and that plentifully of those good thinges which he had prepared for his people so seyng also he is now the same God which he was then we must beleue that he wil not suffer him selfe to depart from his accustomed maner and perpetuall goodnes so that we obserue the good and iust causes and reasons of peregrination Seneca What is chiefly to bee obserued in peregrination But in that thing we haue nede of great warenesse and diligēce namely that chiefly as Seneca hath wel admonished in his .105 epistle to Lucillas we depart from our selues that is that we laye awaye our wicked affections bycause the chaunging of places do lytle profit if we cary about together with vs the same affectiōs which we had before Yea and the chiefly helpeth to the renuing of godlynes that we bee made other from our selues For what had the good lawes honest maners and chaste religion which the Iewes professed profited the Kenites if they would haue brought their own thinges with them and continued in the same wherin they wer conuersaunt before Wherfore they which do trauaile into other countries for studye and godlynes sake ought not to haue thys purpose before them to behold the Cities buildinges riuers fieldes vineyards woods playes and qualities of men For all these thynges although they somewhat delite the beholders as chyldren which with pleasure do maruayl at euery new and straunge thing yet they do nothing or very lytle helpe The chiefe cause ought to be that they onely study aboue al other thinges to be made better as touching godlines doctrine For if they shal despise this they shal be sayd to wander rather thā iustly to iourney Let them not therfore retaine with them any longer those euyls which are to be auoided yet let them aboue all thinges iourney from the ignoraunce of God from the vnskilfulnes of the holye Scriptures from corrupt affectiōs and from wicked and pernitious examples This is the iust cause of peregrinatiō which the Kenites by their dede do declare vnto vs. If the Lacedemonians had had a regard to thys they would not by theyr lawes haue prohibited peregrinations But I suppose that they regarded thys The Lacedemonians prohibeted peregrinations which they marked so to come to passe for the most part that the citizens in trauailing into straunge countries learned of the straungers whom they went to see not their vertues and wisdom but rather their vices and errours and afterward being infected with many euyls they returned into their country where they destroied their Citizens by a certayne pestiferous contagiousnes Whych thing surely no man doubteth but that it is a grieuous euyll and discommodity to a publique wealth Why peregrinations do profyt And yet we may not therfore decree that al peregrinatiōs are hurtful For there can be found no City no people nor no publique wealth in the world which hath not many things vnperfect in maners lawes which may be amended and corrected by the sight and knowledge of others Licurgu◠Lycurgus certainly which made that law profited much in trauailing into straunge coūtries Yea and the Decemuiri of the Romanes went them selues into Graecia Decemuiri of the Romanes to the end they would know the lawes of that people and by that meanes they wonderfully prouided for their publique wealth And thus muche for peregrination And now let vs finish this history iudging that the children of Kenite were of that stocke which wer begotten of Hobab in the wildernes among the chyldren of Israel And that Hobab was the sonne of Moyses father in lawe hys wiues brother germaine Neither ought this to moue vs bycause it is saide in the .x. Aben-Esra of Num. Chothen bycause as Aben-Esra there testifieth that woorde signifieth not onely a father in law but also the brother of the wife and some haue translated the same woorde there not for a father in lawe but a kynsman But these Kenites departed out of the fielde of Iericho that they might obtayne possession with the tribe of Iudah And therfore they ar sayd to haue dwelled with the people For first they followed them in iourneyeng with them nowe by the same right they are sayd to haue dwelled with them And they ascended The situation Iericho bycause Iericho was situate in a valley and betwene it an Ierusalem was a deserte longing to Iudah which as it is very lykely had in it wooddy places and mete for pasture And that it was so it is easelye gathered out of the Gospell of Luke where Christ put foorth a parable namely that a man descended from Ierusalem to Iericho and fel into the handes of theeues And certainly if he descended it is manifest that these ascended when they followed the tribe of Iudah going toward Ierusalem And bycause the place was ful of wooddes it was an easy matter especially in the time of Christ when the common wealth of the Hebrues was very much out of frame for it to be ful of theeues There certainly as farre as can be perceaued the Kenites receaued their lot And I think I haue spoken inough as touching this hystory 17. And Iudah went wyth Symeon his brother and smote the Chananites dwelling in Zephat and vtterly destroyed it and called the name of the City Horma 18. And Iudah tooke Hazza and the borders therof and Ascalon with the borders therof and Aekron with the borders thereof Now we are come to that place where the long parenthesis which I before admonished you of endeth And whatsoeuer followeth after these woordes The children of Iudah fighting against Ierusalem tooke it Here the aforesaid parenthesis endeth c. to thys place are declared by a parenthesis For al those thinges happened not after the death of Iosua but when he was yet lyuing And now the
Howbeit I thincke it good this to be added that some iudge that prodition espiall do not much differ one from another and that it maye sometimes come to passe that one man may be both a betrayer a spye For if any Citizen be corrupted with money by the enemyes the same is both a betrayer of his countrey is also in the meane tyme a domesticall spye But this semeth not to be wisely spoken bycause the nature of these things as it appeareth by their definitions doth very much differ although sometimes they cleaue both in one mā so that the same man may be both a betrayer a spye Euen as musike Grammer differ much one frō an other yet it oftētimes happeneth the one mā is both a Grāmarian a Musitian Neuerthelesse the differēce which I haue before mencioned is for the most part obserued although not alwayes namely that espial cōmeth of enemies and prodition of them which be amongest vs whom we trust as friendes Whether prodition be at any tyme lawful Augustine But to the end we may the playnlyer know concerning prodition whether it be at any tyme lawful I thincke it best to cal to memory those wordes which Augustine writeth against the letters of Petilianus the second booke and 10. chap We may not sayth he heare the complaynts of such as suffre but seke out the mynde of them whiche are the doers This the man of God wrote agaynst the Donatistes whiche accused our men as betrayers persecutors And to them he answereth the Paul also deliuered vp some to Sathā whose saluatiō neuerthelesse semed to be committed to his charge but for all that bycause he did it of a good mynde namely to teache them not to blaspheme and that their spirit might be saued in the daye of the Lorde he could not be accused either of treason or els of deliueryng vp bycause as it is before sayd The complaintes of them whiche suffre are not to be heard What proditiō is good but we must seke out the mind of the doers Wherfore when warre or controuersy shall happen betwene any of which the one part is knowen to haue a iust good cause if the other part which defendeth the worser cause therfore doth vniustly wil by no meanes be brought to any good reasonable conditions surely good men whiche peraduenture are founde on the same syde ought in such sort to helpe to defend the other part as they may aduaunce iustice And if it be nede they ought to fall from the vniust to iust men Neither can their prodition be condēned iustly as ill although before they were neuer so much friendes very nighe vnto those which worke vniustly What cause the Israelites had against the Chananites Epiphanius Now must we speake somewhat of the Israelites cause agaynst the Chananites whiche may be considered of vs two manner of wayes namely either by common lawe and ordinary lawe of nature or elles by fayth and by the worde of GOD. Concerning the naturall or common lawe Epiphanius writeth that the lande of Palestine pertayned in very dede to the children of Sem by occasion whereof Melchisedek reygned there whiche was either Sem hym selfe or elles one of hys children But the Chananites whiche came of Cham passyng ouer the boundes of Egypte and Africa whiche were appoynted vnto them dyd caste out of Palestine the sonnes of Sem. And therefore the Hebrues whiche were the posteritie of Sem when they required to be restored to their Fathers landes semed to do it iustly and rightfully Wherefore as he sayeth GOD did both restore vnto the Israelites the countreys whiche belonged vnto their auncestors and also punished the Chananites for their wickednesse and this he did all with one and the selfe same worke Howbeit I can not easely agree to Epiphanius opinion for there was past prescription of very long time for at the least there were fyue hundreth yeares Wherefore it could not be sayde that the Chananites possessed that lande vniustly If we should go by this reason now in our tyme then should there be none in a manner counted a lawfull prince and iuste possessor when as their auncestor came to the possession of those prouinces and kingdomes by violence driuyng out botht the kings and the inhabitors that were in them before Wherfore the Israelites semed not to haue any iust causes by mans lawe by whiche they might make clayme vnto the land of Palestine as to their owne neither alledged they at any tyme any such reason And yet for al that they had good ryght therunto for as much as god testified as wel by words as by wonderfull workes that it was his wil that the Hebrues should haue the possession of those regions to whom as Dauid hath wel said both the earth and the fulnesse thereof belongeth Neither could the Chananites murmure agaynst the iudgement of God for as much as they were iustly cut of from their ryght for their sundry and manifold wicked Actes Wherfore none could in this cause iustly defend the Chananites if they wil cleaue to the true God and beleue his wordes Wherby it followeth that this Luzite which betrayed hys citizens dyd it either of faith as did Rahab in Iericho or els by some humane bargayne For the kepers or spyes sayd vnto him VVe will shewe thee mercy If he were stricken with feare howe could that as they say happen vnto a constant man for he was after a sorte a prisoner and was fallen into the handes of hys enemyes then was he brought to it by humane conuention and then did he fowly for it is not lawfull for any man to make any fylthy couenauntes agaynst hys countrey Neyther can he be excused bycause of feare It is not lawfull for any mā to make any fylthy couenātes against hys countrey for nothyng is to be done agaynste iustice and conscience althoughe what feare so euer he should be stryken with but if he were stirred vp vnto it by fayth and for that he sawe hys citezens obstinately to resiste the worde of God and his workes then he did well neither can hys treason be either disallowed or elles condemned For no lawes no vowes no couenaūtes or bondes thoughe they be neuer so strayte Feare must not cause vs to do any thyng against iustice can bynd any man to fight agaynst or to resiste the worde of God whiche worde all men must earnestly labour to haue done and fulfilled For this sentence abydeth and shall perpetually abyde That we must obey God more than men Neither can any man as Christe sayeth serue two maisters specially if they commaunde contrary thinges It is lawfull for the magistrate priuely to send inquisitors Moreouer the Magistrate is to be ayded in rooting out of vice and naughtynesse and to hym without doubte is lawfull priuely to send men to make enquiry and to deiecte wicked Actes that the offendors may be punished
and as God hath commaunded that euill maye be taken awaye from the worlde Yea and it is also lawfull for hym to offer rewardes to men confederated together for some ill purpose It is lawfull for them to offer rewardes to conspirators to open theyr conspiracye Augustine to allure them to open and detecte the conspiracye bycause that assuredly pertayneth to treason Howbeit heresy is neuer either to be dissembled or to be praysed or any wicked Acte to be committed that lawfull kynde of treason shoulde haue good successe Wherefore Augustine in hys latter booke of Retractions testifieth that he wrote hys booke de Mendatio chiefly for thys cause bycause some to the ende they woulde detecte the Priscillianistes fayned them selues to be followers of the same heresye for that the same Priscillianistes when they were accused Of the Priscillianistes affirmed with greate stoutenesse that they were farre from any suche doctrine But for all that afterwarde they disclosed them selues vnto those whome beyng deceaued by theyr dissimulation they thought they myght well haue trusted But Augustine in the same booke De mendatio teacheth that by this dissimulation of the Catholickes very many euils daungers chaunced For there they commende Priscillianus they vniustly praise his boke which is entituled Libra they allowed the heresy pronouncing many things which could not be spoken without blasphemie Moreouer that which they did was dangerous for if they whiche after this sort dissēbling were of any authoritie or estimation the heretikes might by their commendation be confirmed in their opinion those specially with whom they did so dissemble For those peraduenture were Priscillianistes before althoughe not very firme constant which after they heard their heresy to be praysed of a graue man did then sticke more more in their error Furthermore in thus dissembling and beyng conuersaunte with the Priscillianistes the dissembler also might easely fall into danger that he him selfe at length might become of a Catholicke a Priscillianiste And finally the heretikes them selues by the dissimulation of our men might easely gather that they did very well in hyding dissemblyng and denyeng their doynges But that betrayeng is sometymes lawfull in a iust cause and such a cause as is without the dangers aboue mencioned not onely the reasons whiche we haue before alledged do declare but we may also proue it by very many examples written here and there in the scriptures The Gabaonites Rahab The Gabaonites betrayed the rest of the Chananites when they fell from them to the Hebrues Rahab also betrayed her publicque wealth or kyng in receauyng hydyng and sendyng awaye them whiche were deadly enemyes vnto it who is sayed neuerthelesse in the Epistle to the Hebrues to haue done those things by faith Iahel Iahel also the wife of Aher the Kenite betrayed Sisara for she by a meruelous craft slewe him whom she had called into her and closely hidden as it shal be afterward declared in his place in this hystory of the Iudges Ionathas Yea and Ionathas the sonne of Saul betrayed vnto Dauid the wil and counsels of his father as it is written in the first booke of Samuel Husay the Arachite Besides all these Husay the Arachite betrayed Absolon the sonne of Dauid when he withstandyng the counsell of Achitophel did thrust in his owne counsell whiche was farre worse and shewed all things vnto Dauid I might bring in a great many more examples But I thinke these are sufficient for the ware reader Certein cautions are to be added to lawfull prodition The first caution Now resteth only to declare certain cautions or prouisoes wherewith lawfull treason is to be decked and adorned and not to be condemned The first is that he which betrayeth be by a certain faith assured that the cause is iust which he aduaunceth whiche can not be done excepte that he haue sure proofe of the goodnesse therof by the word of God Neither do I at this present argue whether the same word be reuealed vnto him in harte The secōd caution or whether it be opened vnto him in the holy scriptures Then must he take hede that being now well assured of the righteousnesse and honesty wherunto he is inclined he be only prouoked therunto with the loue therof and not with the hope of rewarde or gayne or for feare of any misfortune whiche he desireth to escape or to satisfy his hatred and enemities deceaued The third caution For so should he seke his owne and not iustice neither the obedience of hys fayth and of the will of God Furthermore it is very necessary that a man be not dryuen to that but then when all other kynde of remedyes wante For Rahab so did for except she had then so kept the Hebrew spyes they had bene by mans reason vndone neither was there then any other waye to saue them And certainly it oftentymes chaunceth that all other ways meanes being tryed the worse parte will not be brought to sobernesse so that there is no other remedy but onely by prodition And I would therefore haue these cautions diligently obserued bycause that men are to muche prone to proditions and that such as are both filthy and wicked Wherfore we must take hede that by the exāple of good men they flatter not thē selues as though they were innocent The fourth caution Moreouer Paul hath admonished vs not only to auoyde that which is euill it selfe but also the shew therof Howbeit we must vnderstand this doctrine of his in such sort as we may accomplishe it For it is lawfull sometymes to cōmitte a thing whiche is euill to see to but not euill in very dede whilest yet there is hope that the thing may be straight way made playn so that the which at the first sight semed euill may manifestly be knowen to be good So the Apostle hym selfe circumcised Timothe and shaued his hed whiche of them selues and in very dede were not euil although they semed to haue had a certayn shewe of euill vnto certayn of the Ethnickes which were cōuerted wer not yet wel strēgthned The fifth caution Finally periury or lyeng are not to be mingled with those proditions whiche may be allowable For as much as it is manifest by the Apostolical rule the euils are not to be cōmitted wherby good things may follow I know there be some which go about to defēd those kynd of lyes which are called officious or honest Honest and officious lyes are not to be allowed Augustine But Augustine doth not allow that Whose reasons they which are desirous to know let thē read his boke Ad Consentiū I assuredly agree vnto his opinion For though there were no other reason yet me thincketh this were sufficient bycause the lyer bringeth himself out of credite wherby nothing that he afterward speaketh cā scarcely be beleued for they which heare it wil suspect it alwaies as a lye And besides this that scripture doth
spirituall meates neyther are there any other things in the rehearsal therof spoken but such as Christ himselfe spake or dyd and what was the power of his doctrine c. Thys same manner dyd the Prophets in the old tyme vse when they were conuersaunt with an Idolatrous people And in lyke sorte dyd the Apostles when they were sent by Christ to go abroad among the Ethnikes Neyther dyd Paul disdayne when he came to Athens to vewe the temples of the Idols and there curiously subtilly to loke vpon the titles and inscriptions of the altares wherby he learned that inscription Ignoto Deo that is To the vnknowen god and therof he tooke matter to make an excellent Sermon there that he might after a sort reproue the men of Athens out of there owne proper tables I thynke these thynges are sufficiente to confyrme the sentence before alledged How we maye be conuersaunt with excommunicates But before I goe from thys matter I thoughte it good to admonyshe you of thys that the same cautions being added it is lawful for godly mē to be conuersaunt with such as are excōmunicate namely to bring them into the way so that they communicate not with them in their faulte or haue to do with them for affection sake The weake vnlearned ought not to haue to do with infidelles But let vs go forward and declare what is to be iudged of the weake and vnlearned men They although they are not cōpelled to pollute themselues with Idolatrous customes yet ought they not to dwell together with Infidels For being vnlearned they haue no pretence of teaching For if they should go about to enstruct others The ignorance of Christiās as touching fayth is to bee reproued they should by their vnskilfulnesse easly cause the true doctrine of Christ to be had in derision And surely the ignoraunce of such men is earnestly to be reproued forasmuche as among Christians there is none so very an Ideot founde but that he is bounde to be able to rendre a reason of his fayth and in a sorte able to enstructe straungers And certaynely all men moughte quickely do that if they would suffer themselues to be instructed euen meanely in the Cathechisme Neuerthelesse such as are infected with thys ignoraunce ought to seperate themselues from hauyng familiar fellowship with Infidelles as much as nede of the body and ineuitable necessities will suffer But what shall we saye of Scholemaisters they are oftentymes enemyes to pietye which yet are appoynted to teach good artes and Philosophye We maye not haue to do with vngodly scholemaisters I say that it is daungerous to vse them for as muche as they doe instille oftentymes peruerse thynges into the myndes of the hearers and when as the Schollers are wonte to haue a meruelous opinion of a learned Scholemaster it easely afterward commenth to passe Godly scholemaisters do easely aduance religion that they beginne to reuerence them and that exceedingly Wherfore when they see that they are eloquente and very well learned both in the liberall artes and also in Philosophy they can scarce persuade them selues that those Scholemasters can erre or myserablye be deceaued in the true religion Origene For on the contrarye part we see that Origene the Adamantiue being besydes the religion of Christ wherin he was instructed wonderfully indued also with good artes and Philosophy dyd in teaching disciplines of the Ethnikes bring very many of hys hearers to Christ Augustine We know also that Augustine when he willingly gaue eare vnto Ambrose for hys eloquence sake was turned from a Manichite to a Catholyke So yea and that more easlye for as muche as we are more prone to euill then to good it may oftentymes happen that they which are weake and vnlearned in religion may as touching vngodlynesse very much increase vnder vngodly Scholemaisters And vndoubtedly by thys meanes fell Iulianus the Apostata from Christ in takyng Libanius Iamblicus and Maximus to be hys Scholemaisters Wherfore for as much as suche Scholemaisters can not be had without greate daunger my iudgement is that we should altogether leaue them Thou wilt say peraduenture that Paul the Apostle in his fyrst Epistle to the Cor. hath not written these cautions or exceptions of the weake and vnlearned ones when as he plainly writeth If any that is an infidel shal cal you ye wil go c. By these words he semeth to testifye that al that is referred to our wil. Wherunto I answere that the Apostle did not permit that to be free to euery wil but to a wil that is ryghtly wel instructed For if a mā should go to these feastes to be dronke to pamper his belly or gorge or to solace himself with filthy talke without doubt he can not be excused with the permissiō of Paule but is earnestly to be reproued for his vnhonest wil and wicked purpose Likewise if a mā being cōuersaūt with infidels should doubt of his own constancie should see that he could nothyng profite them among whō he dwelleth vndoubtedly the man can not go thither with a sound conscience or an vpryght will And if he should go he should not directe that which he doth to to glory of god as he is cōmaūded Furthermore although Paule hath not in the same place by expresse wordes put thys caution alledged yet it followeth not therby that the same is not to be added forasmuch as it is both by firme reason manifest also proued by other places of the holy scripture that that is in no case lawful And that self same Apostle sayth in the same Epistle the vi chap. that he doth well which surely purposeth in his hart that he wil kepe his virgin Howbeit he addeth this condition so that he haue no nede and that he hath power ouer his own wil. For if he should otherwyse appoynt thē his daughter would or had nede then vndoubtedly he should not do well To the goodnesse of an action it is not sufficient that it be not of his own nature euill Wherby it appeareth that to the goodnesse vprightnesse of the worke it is not sufficient to see that the work it self of his nature be not euill or repugnant to the word of god But more ouer thys is required that we attempt the same with an vprighte perfecte whole mynde Wherfore euery one that is vnlearned weake ought to separate himself frō the fellowship or familiaritie of that vnfaythfull as much as naturall ciuile necessity suffreth For seing that he perceaueth that therby will come some danger to his soule he can not with a good minde sound counsel be conuersaunt with thē Howbeit he may do such duties vnto them as are cōmaunded in the law of God least he be made guiltye of the sentence of Paul where he sayth whosoeuer hath not a care of hys especially of hys houshold he hath denyed the fayth is worse
than an Infidell Yea and the same Apostle hath commaunded that seruauntes of necessitye should obey their Maisters Now resteth to shewe reasons testimonyes of the holy scriptures Testimonies of the holy scriptures for the sentence alledged for the dysalowing of this conuersation Fyrst our Sauiour feared not to say in Mathew the 5. and 18. chap. If thy hand fote or eye be an offence or let vnto thee cut him of and cast him from thee And these as the wyser interpreters do declare spake he not of the members of the body but referred theÌ„ vnto those which are our familiars most nygh of kynred vnto vs. They al are to be seperated froÌ„ oure coÌ„pany although they seme profitable and coÌ„modious when they eyther seperate vs froÌ„ God which is the euerlastyng saluation or do put lets and hynderaÌ„ces wherby we are called froÌ„ hym Chrysostome Chrysostome in a maner intreating the self same argument sayth in the 56. Homely vpon Iohn If we cut of a rotten membre froÌ„ the body least it should corrupt the other partes of the body which vndoubtedly we do not bycause we despyse that member For who at any tyme hated hys owne fleshe How much more should we do the same in those which are wickedly ioyned vnto vs not that we should despyse them but that we should prouide that our saluation be not there indaungered where we see that we can nothing at al profite them Wherfore in thys case it is muche vnprofitable to desire or to seke for familiaritie or concord To this also doth the law of Christ tend which he gaue in the 18. of Mathew that they which are in a manner past hope of saluatioÌ„ wil not heare their brethren iustly admonishing theÌ„ yea and also despise the voyce of the church correcting them let them be counted as Ethnikes and publicanes Which thing Paule also hath taught who in the fyrst of the Corrinthians the v. chap. commaunded the incestuous person to be excoÌ„municated that a litle leuen should not pollute the whole dough of the sainctes Moreouer the same Apostle taught and that in the same Epistle the 15. chap. out of a verse of Menander that Poet the euil coÌ„munications corrupt good maners And therby he shewed that the ryght fayth of the resurrection was greuously weakened among the Corinthians which were newly come vnto Christ and that for that cause bycause they had lightly geueÌ„ credite vnto the arguments prophane reasons of Philosophers or rather heretikes It is not possible to be thought how the bewitching of wicked words corrupteth the teÌ„der fayth of the weake ones Wherfore profitably and conueniently were the Corrinthians admonished with theÌ„ all such as are weake ar exhorted The couÌ„sels of Phisitions to auoyde contagiousnesse to abstayne froÌ„ the fellowship of infidels The phisitions also do counsell that when a contagious disease shal infect either a familye or the next familie vnto it that such as yet are of perfect health goe not vnto them which are sicke For that in the bodyes temperatures of men there is a certayne agrement wherby an affection easly issueth froÌ„ those which ar sicke to theÌ„ which are whole and sound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the poyson wherof though it be not byandby felt of those which take not hede vnto themselues yet for al that within a litle whyle after it deadly corrupteth Wherfore seing we are bidden so diligently to beware of the diseases of the bodye muche more ought we to prouide agaynste the vices of the mynde that we no way prouoke them vnto vs. Our nature is on euery side subiect to corruption Furthermore our nature is so framed by reason of our naturall or originall sinne that we are on euery side subiect to corruption as both the holy scriptures and also very many experiences do daily teach vs so that it is not to be doubted but that we should easly sucke in the poyson of other mens sinnes if we shoulde not with great diligence auoyde them And those synnes as they do without any laboure cleaue vnto vs before we beware so being once conceaued they can not be plucked from vs but with great paynes Chrysostome Wherfore Chrysostome in his 56. Homely vpon Iohn which I a litle before brought semeth wisely to saye If we coulde make theÌ„ the better and not hurt our selues he entreateth in the place of infidells and vngodly ones we should do all things but when we can do them no good bycause they are past amendment and that we may greuously hurt our selues then are they vtterly to be cut of And to confyrme hys sentence more strongly he bringeth in that which Paule writeth in the fyrst Epistle to the Corinth the .5 chap. which is Take away euil from among you Which wordes of the Apostle can not be vnderstand of synne forasmuche as the Greeke woorde is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is euil By which kynde of speache a wicked man is signifyed Wherfore I shall nothyng erre if I a litle bend the wordes of the Apostle to the commoditie of the weake ones saying Take away your selues from among the euill ones For if ye being weake and vnskilfull shall company with them ye must nedes both see and heare very many thynges agaynst godlynesse the religion which ye professe And bicause ye are not able neyther to confute nor to reproue them ye shall seme to be called as witnesses of blasphemies and reproche of the truth And peraduenture there shoulde remayne a styng in your myndes wherewith your conscience should be vexed longer than ye thynke for Let vs herken vnto the wyse maÌ„ who hath wel and faithfully admonished That he which toucheth pytche shal be fyled with it and that he which hath fellowship with a proude man wil proue like vnto him The vices of other men are like vnto pitch Take vpon thee no greater burthen than thou art able to beare ioyne not thy selfe vnto a mightier thaÌ„ thou thy self art Ecclesiasticus the .13 chap. These things do two wayes serue for thys present matter Fyrst in that the vices of other men are lykened vnto pytche whiche sticketh wonderfull fast to the fyngers of them which touch it We must haue a regard to our own strength and also to garments Secondly are we faythfully admonyshed to haue a regarde to our own strength Examples of the holy scriptures Let the examples of the holy scriptures in any wise teach vs. The Israelits were 70. yeres captiues in Babilon were so infected with the conuersatioÌ„ of vnfaythful natioÌ„s that afterward wheÌ„ they had leaue geueÌ„ theÌ„ fyrst of Cirus theÌ„ of Darius the most noble kings to returne home very many of theÌ„ wold not returne but being ouercome with the coÌ„moditie of houses fields marchandises they remained stil among the Chaldians Medes Persians So cold became they in the loue of godlinesse study of religioÌ„ Exodus â—2
that it myght easely come to passe that he should fal into the sinne whiche he declared vnto the holy Prophete Naaman the Syrian knewe that his deede was culpable nought And when he knewe ryght well that the same agreed not with true godlynesse he required the prayers and intercession of the man of GOD whereby he fallyng of weakenesse hys faulte myght be forgeuen hym Otherwyse there is none whiche nedeth to aske pardon for that which he thynketh is lawfull for hym to doe We make intercessions for sinnes and not for thinges permitted vs. Wherefore thys place maketh much agaynst our aduersaries and that that is sinne which they moste earnestly goe aboute to excuse is manyfestly proued by thys historye I would to God they woulde diligentlye marke in that action that which theyr Naaman selfe And if they shoulde fall as thys man feared that he shoulde fall they woulde not cloke it with a vayne defence but woulde emplore the mercye of God and prayers of holy men that that maye gentlye be forgeuen them Elizeus gaue not Naamā libertie to go vnto Idols whiche they naughtely haue committed Neyther did Elizeus as they persuade themselues geue Naaman the Sirian liberty to go vnto Idoles he sayde onely Go in peace Which was also an accustomed kinde of salutation at the time Neither may we gather any other thing out of these words then that the Prophet promised to do that which he was requested to do Namely to pray vnto God for the saluation of the man Fyrst to strengthen him that he should not fal Secondly that if he sinned his fault might be forgeuen him They vse to obiecte also certayne woordes out of the Epistle of Ieremye the Prophet which are written aboute the end of a litle booke entituled of Baruch An answer to a place of Baruch And these are the wordes In Babilon ye shall see Gods of golde and Siluer borne vppon mens shoulders to caste oute a fearefulnesse before the Heathen Take heede ye followe not the Gentiles when ye see the multitude of people worshipping behynde and before But saye in your hartes O Lorde it is thou that oughtest onely to be worshipped c. By these wordes do our Nicodemites thinke it to be sufficient that they which are presente at Idolatrous worshippings do say in their hartes O Lord it is thou that oughtest onely to be worshipped But they shoulde more attentyuely consider that the Prophet if he were a Prophet which spake these woordes which I therefore speake bycause the little booke of Baruch is Apochriphus The boke of Baruch is Apochriphus and is not founde in the Hebrewe gaue not the Iewes libertye to goe into the Temples of the Idols and to bee there present at prophane and Idolatrous rites and there to speake with the true God in themselues in theyr hart onely But he speaketh of those Images which were caryed about the citye for that was the manner among the Babilonians as the historie of Daniell testifyeth Images amōg the Babilonians wer crried about the citye which maketh mencion that an image set vp by Nabuchadnezar was openly caried about with great pompe and with Musicall instrumentes and sundry songes At the hearing whereof al men were commaunded to worship the Image which they beheld which the felowes of Daniel would not do Of those images I say it is writtē in the Epistle and the Godly are faythfully admonished that they should not as the Ethnykes did who were behinde and before thē reuerence or worship those images Yea rather in detesting their wicked worshipping they should say or at the least way in their hart O Lord it is thou only that oughtest to be worshipped These metings comming by chaunce through the citie could not be auoyded the Godly therefore were to be admonished how in suche metinges they shoulde behaue them selues But with great importunitye as they be shamelesse Why Daniell was not cast i◠to the fornace with his fellowes they yet go farther and demaund how chaunce Daniell was not cast into the burning fornace with his fellowes when as the punishment was a like appointed vnto thē which would not worship the image of Nabuchadnezar Wherfore these mē fayne with thēselues that Daniell dyd make as though he worshipped it and for that cause the Chaldeians medled not with him And they saye also that they may lawfullye do that which they thinke thys holy Prophet of God dyd They consider not that they openly fal into a false kynde of reason which commonly is called Non causa vt causa which is when that which is not a cause is put for a cause Paralogismos For there might be very many other causes why Daniell was not then punyshed Peraduenture he mette not the image which was caryed about or if at any time he met it the Chaldeians marked not what he dyd Or being founde faultye in it and marked he was not accused bycause the Kyng loued him excedinglye But we must not beleue Daniel dissimuled not the worshipping of the image that the man of god for feare of punyshment or death would dissemble the worshippyng of the image agaynst the lawe and pietie whē as it is afterwarde declared how for piety sake he was caste to the Lyons Wherefore forasmuche as there myghte be diuerse causes that he was not deliuered to be burnt in the fyre with his fellowes Why do these men thē snatch vnto thē only one cause and that such a cause as was vnworthy and ful of reproche to such a holy man and specially seing in the holy scriptures there is not so much as a suspition of so detestable an acte any way geuen vs Of Paule who toke on hym a vowe clensed hymself after the manner of the Iewes They seeme to themselues to speake much to the purpose and trimlye to defende theyr doing when as they bryng that whiche is written in the Actes of the Apostles the xxi Chapter where it is declared that Paul by the Counsell of the Elders of the Churche of Ierusalem tooke vppon hym a vowe and foure other men with hym and purifyed themselues after the manner of the Iewes If the Apostle of God saye they woulde vse the ceremonyes of the lawe alreadye abolyshed we maye also be suffred sometymes to admitte and to be present at rites and ceremonyes so long tyme receaued The sūme of the Preaching of Paule But that thys may the playnlyer be vnderstande we muste knowe that thys was the summe of the Preachyng of Paule We thynke that a man is iustifyed by fayth without workes As many as are vnder the law the same are vnder the curse The iuste man shall lyue by hys fayth How far legall ceremonies were graunted or condemned in the primatiue church Wherefore the Apostle in that fyrst tyme of the Preachyng of the Gospel dyd not condemne the ceremonyes and obseruations of the lawe towarde the Hebrues vnlesse they were retayned
as a deliuerer out of Egypte Then as a deliuerer out of the captiuitie of Babilon God beginneth the rehearsall of benefites last geuen But lastly as the father of our Lord Iesus Christ But now of the benefite lately bestowed on them he calleth him selfe the delyuerer out of Egypte Afterward he adioyneth an other benefite And I haue brought you into the lande whiche I sware vnto your fathers It was not sufficiēt that they wer deliuered out of Egypt but they had ample noble places assigned vnto them Thirdly he saith This haue I geuē you That I would haue my couenant made with you to haue cōtinued for euer if it mought haue ben by your obediēce But ye haue not suffred it These benefites whiche in this place are rehearsed are playne and manifest ynough Two principal thynges to be considered in the couenaunt But as touching the last namely of the couenaunt two thinges are to be considered in it First whiche is also the chief of all good thinges is the redemption whiche should be made by Christ Neither could this be hindered by any sinnes of mē For God is faithful as Paul testifieth to the Romanes neither departeth he from his truth for our euill desertes The second is the successe of outwarde good thinges and ciuill ornamentes Whiche kinde of couenaunte or promesse bycause it was conditionally it myght therefore sometymes be altered and vndoubtedly of this doth our preacher at this present speake And what conditions God required of the Israelites here he declareth in this sermon 2 And ye also shall make no couenaunte with the inhabiters of this lande but shal breake downe their altares Neuerthelesse ye haue not obeyed my voyce why haue ye this done 3 Wherefore I haue also determined I will not cast them out before your face but they shal be as prickes in your sydes and theyr Gods shal be a snare vnto you God by couenaunt had prescribed two thynges in especiall What god prescribed the Israelites in the couenaunt first that they should make no league with the Chananites secondly that they should plucke downe their altares and temples These are euery where written in the law especially in Exodus the 13. and 20. In the booke of Numb 33. In Deut. 7. Now after these conditions required of God is set forth the transgression of the Israelites But ye sayth he haue not hearkened vnto my voyce The Iewes were not yet fallen so farre that they committed Idolatry they are onely reproued for violating the couenaunt bycause they had saued the Idoles and altares of the Chananites The wonderfull goodnesse of God surely is shewed by these wordes VVhy haue ye this done A vehemente maner of amplifieng of synne He demaūdeth the cause as being ready to heare their excuse if they could bring any that were iust and lawfull And by this meanes also the grieuousnesse of the sinne is amplified as being so grieuous that it could by coulour be defended And vndoubtedlye thus it is God is not afeard in iudgement to contēd with synners Gods cause agaynste vs is so good that he is not affeard in Iudgement to reason with synners as the Prophetes Esay and Micheas haue playnely taught The preacher goeth forwarde and sheweth what punishement they shoulde haue for thys faulte For so much as ye haue not stande by your couenaunt I wyll also go from my promises I will not expell the Chananites out of this region as I had promised if so be that I do not expell them ye are so weake and feble that by your owne power ye can not cast them out They shal remayne therfore as ye would haue it but yet to your great discōmodity For they shal be as prickes in your sides namely as thornes where with ye shal be oftentymes sharply pricked The Hebrew worde is Letsdim And in dede Tsad signifieth a side Althoughe some thinke that worde to be deriued of this verbe Tsud whiche is to hunte or to fishe and bycause the hookes of fishermen are very sharpe therfore the worde is by a certaine Metaphore transferred to signifie thornes And after the same sorte we might say they signified nettes vsing the same Metaphore whiche we may deriue of hunters But the firste reason of the interpretation to signifye sides I sets both simple also more allowed by the commentaryes of the Hebrues And theyr Idoles shal be a snare vnto you Namely wherewith ye shal be taken and when ye shal be geuen to their Idolatry ye shal be punished with most grieuous punishementes and discommodities Augustine in his 13. Augustine questiō vpon this booke hath noted that God threatneth after his accustomed maner that at the length it shall come to passe that he will punishe synnes by synnes For the Israelites in not obeyeng the commaundement of God committed synne and he agayne threatneth that Idoles shal be a stumblyng blocke vnto them namely that they should worship them wherfore afterwarde they should be grieuously punished By whiche wordes he declareth that the first transgression should be punished and chastised with the wicked crime of Idolatry as Paul testifieth to the Romanes that the Idolatry of the Ethnikes was punished with most filthy lustes But the punishement of the Israelites as it is here set forth hath with out doubt a great emphasys For what can there happen more grieuous than to be among thornes and continuallye to fall among them Vndoubtedly hereof followe woundes almost thoroughe out al the partes of the body and new paynes and those vehement succede one an other And as thornes if they sticke in the fleshe do sharpely pricke so to dwell among enemyes and to haue them ioyned together with vs can not be but very full of troubles The punishement whiche God here threateneth is no new punishement for al that is here written was forespoken in the boke of Iosua the 23. chap. Namely that it should come to passe that if they obeyed not the preceptes of the law of God God would not then performe to destroy those natiōs before them yea he sayth they shal be vnto you a snare a stumblyng stocke a whip for your sides and thornes to your eyes vntill ye be destroyed out of this good lande whiche the Lord your God hath geuen you c. For the Israelites had afterward experience of these miseryes bycause they were oftentimes brought into bondage by their enemyes among whom they dwelled and with whom they had vngodly ioyned them selues And finally for that they would not ceasse of from Idolatry they were cast out to the Assirians and Babilonians This chidyng of God contayneth iust causes wherfore the Israelites were destitute of his helpe for a tyme. Causes why god forsoke the Israelites for a tyme. And the end of the whole sermon is that the people might be stirred vp to repentaunce and that most aptely For among those thinges whiche do vehemently amplify synne do set it playnly before our eyes
them in Moses who beyng before shepheardes horsekepers when they came to beare rule did by the power of the spirite of GOD worke maruelous thinges and proued noble men For GOD as the scripture now speaketh raysed them vp And not cōtent with this but he fully persuaded them and with inwarde feelyng made them assured that they were now elected by God to deliuer the Israelites and to set them at libertie And without doubt vnlesse they had ben fully persuaded of this it had not ben lawfull for them to haue fought agaynst their Lordes or to rebelle for so much as it is not the office of priuate men to fight with his enemies Wherfore Cato An example of Cato whose ciuile iustice is meruelously commended gaue his sonne charge that when he was dismissed from warre and no more bounde by an othe of warre he should not fight against the enemyes of the publicque wealth Knowyng this right well that it is lawful for no man to drawe weapon against any excepte it be by publicque authoritie I haue now expounded what this meaneth that God raysed vp Iugdes Now let vs see for what cause God did the same Bicause sayeth the historye he repented God is not reconciled vnto vs by the outward workes whiche we do What is the receaued exposition of these kindes of speache we haue before declared But now we must marke what this meaneth whiche followeth At their sorowinges We may not thincke that God was reconciled or made fauorable vnto them by the strength and dignitye of the worke For that do men obteyne onely by fayth in our mediatour Iesus Christ to whiche fayth in these and such lyke kynde of speaches we must continually haue a respect vnto therby to loke vpon the roote from whence the fruites of true repentaunce and also sighinges and teares are deriued Neither do we for all that denye God rewardeth good workes but that good workes springyng from faith are so acceptable vnto GOD that he rewardeth them with excellent giftes as well outward as also spirituall whiche commeth of his goodnesse So sayd Daniel vnto the kyng of Babilon By almes redeme thy sinnes That is dryue awaye the paynes and punishementes wherewith otherwise thou shalt be punished But if thou shalt demaunde what is to be thought Of morall workes done without faith of those ciuill and morall good workes whiche are done without fayth I aunswere that for so much as they procede from a viciate and corrupt nature they are therfore sinnes And for that cause they deserue dampnation and hell fyre Howbeit God to the end that the ordre and iust disposition of thinges in the worlde might be kept and to defend assemblyes of humane kinde fellowshippes and publicque wealthes causeth that such actions haue many rewardes not for the worthynes and dignitie of those actiōs but by reason of a certain connexion wherwith god would these thinges to be knitte together Wherfore it commeth to passe that when as hypocrites do worke outward workes sometymes goodly to the shew therby they obtayne notable prayse And they whiche are rulers as longe as they honestly behaue them selues in doyng iustice either in warlike affaires or elles in honest conuersation as the Romanes in the olde tyme did may obteyne a moste large Empyre For so would god haue discipline kept the world and publicque wealthes preserued God did therfore repēt at the sorrowyngs of the Israelites bycause thorough the faith from whence sorrowinges and groninges proceded he was made mercifull and fauorable vnto them But peraduenture some man will doubte whether god when he repented God doth not so repente that he is chaunged were in any poynt chaunged All the godly confesse in a maner with one mouth that god can by no meanes be chaunged for as much as that is a certaine signe both of imperfection and also of inconstancy But this variety which here happeneth is not to be ascribed vnto god but vnto vs. Of this thing I haue spokē som what before but this semeth to be added at this presente If a man will say that god without controuersy ceassed to fauour the Chananites agaynst the Israelites whom he had before so strengthened that he would haue them to oppresse the Iewes and agayne afterward to helpe the Hebrues whom before he semed that hys will was to haue them oppressed by the Chananites No man can deny but that these thinges haue variety How can we therfore defend the will of god frō chaunging Variety is the effectes not in God I answere that by the 28. chap of Ieremy it manifestly appeareth the there is a diuersitie in the effectes when as for all the god in very dede continually retayneth the selfe same will For it is thus written there in his name When as I shall speake agaynst a kyngdome or nation to destroye roote out and ouer throwe it if they shall repente I will also repente And contrarywise when as I shal speake good of a kingdome or nation to builde and to plant and that nation or kingdome shall do euill in my sight I will then also repente me of the good that I had decreed to bestowe on them These wordes declare that god in these kindes of threatninges and promises is therfore not chaunged bycause he speaketh not absolutely simply but vpon condition But the accomplishing or makyng voyde of the conditions is to be considered toward vs. And therfore the chaunge is not to be attributed vnto him but vnto vs. But if thou shalt aske me whether god doth before know and decree what shall come to passe as touching these conditions I will graunt that he doth For he euen from without begynnyng doth not only know of thyngs that shal come to passe but also hath decreed what shall be But bycause the hid priuitye of his will as touching these thinges is not opened vnto vs in the holy Scriptures therfore ought we to follow that rule whiche as we haue declared is pronounced by Ieremy This rule did the Niniuites and also Ezechias the kyng consider and beholde beyng not yet set forth God when he threateneth things whyche come not passe lyeth not For although destruction was threatned them in the name of god yet for al that by repentaunce and prayers they escaped it Neither is there any cause why we should suspect that god doth lye in any thyng when he so threatneth or promiseth any thinges whiche afterwarde come not to passe For as touching Ezechias he could no way escape death if we should looke vpon the natural causes whiche are commonly called the second causes Wherfore the sentēce beyng pronounced accordyng to those causes he coulde not be accused of a lye And the Niniuites if god had done vnto them as their sinnes deserued they should vtterly haue perished And god commaunded Ionas to preache according to their merites Furthermore a lye can not be so takē in an oration which hath a supposition or
sheweth the punishment wherwith for the same they wer punished As soone as their good Prince was dead the people fel againe to their olde wyckednes neyther did they onely commit those sinnes which before they had committed but to them they added some sinnes more grieuous The last fallinges wer for the most parte more grieuous than the first Seruitude is against the nature of man For the last falinges were for the most part greuouser than they which wer past for at the least thei added this in that they more more became ingrate for the benefites past when they againe fel from God with whom they were before reconciled into fauour Their punishment was bondage wherin they wer bound serued the Moabites Without doubt a grieuous kinde of punishment bicause it is marueylouslye agaynst the state and nature of man For al men by nature ar borne free And bondage as euen the Lawyers also do confesse Seruitude was brought in by cause of sinne was brought in by a commō law among men agreing to natural reason But it may more truly be said that it was brought in bicause of sinne Enemies when they wer ouercome in warre wer somtimes saued compelled to serue them which ouercame them and ther can be no iust warres taken in hand vnles it be to reuenge some facinorous acte Wherefore we said wel that seruitude was deriued of sinne is therfore a grieuous punishment bicause it is against the nature of man Certaine subiections are natural I graunt in deede that this is natural for the children to be obedient vnto the parentes the subiect vnto the Magistrates the vnlearned vnskilful vnto the wiser the weake ones must apply themselues to the mightier But this kinde of obedience and seruice namely toward them whych are fauourable vnto vs and seeke for our profyt is voluntary Wherefore it very much differeth from the seruitude wherof we now intreate For that voluntarye kynde of obedience myght haue bene vsed when men were in perfecte state but thys whyche was brought in for synne coulde not bee there And bondmen are compelled to serue not suche as are their friendes but straungers and enemyes and that in thynges vnprofitable vnto them Which is the more greuous bondage yea and often tymes thynges hurtfull and vnhonest Seruitude also is then far more grieuous when people are subiect vnto those enemies which once wer ouercome by them and whom before they ruled These euyls happened vnto the Israelites The Moabits were enemyes to the Iewes from the begining For the Moabites were enemies vnto the Hebrues euen from the beginning and they hired Balaam to curse them and in the wildernes they abandoned their women vnto them for the which the people was afterward grieuously plagued Farther the Iewes ouercame the Moabites by warre and punished them sore as we reade in the booke of Numbers Besides that the Moabites wer a filthy and an infamed people for their father was Moab the sonne of Loth who begat him by incest Nether would God suffer that they should be admitted into his church For these causes therfore was this bondage most hard and especially vnto the Hebrues which were alreadye before by god set at liberty both from the Egiptians and also from the Sirians and by wonderfull woorkes from them redeemed God strengthned Aeglon namely in geuing him courage and strength making him prompt and styrring him vp also by some certaine occasions And adioyned vnto hym Ammon and Amalek This may be vnderstand twoo wayes either that Eglon adioyned vnto him selfe such confederates or that god caused this league to be made betwene these nations And vndoubtedlye both significations are true for that which they dyd they coulde not haue executed without the wyll and ayde of god Let vs note in this place that the vngodly which otherwise agree not verye wel among them selues The vngodly do easilye conspire agaynst the people of god do easely conspire against the people of god Wherfore these three nations being ioyned together did easely ouercome the Israelites which wer forsaken of god And they possessed the city of Palme trees which is Iericho as it appeareth in Deut. and as it is before declared But in that it is said that they tooke possession of it it signifieth that they did not spoyle it and leaue it voyde for they claimed it vnto them selues making the landes and possessions therof proper vnto them selues Neither is it vnlykelye but that they put in it a garison of soldiors for to oppresse the Hebrues more grieuously And yet I do not thinke that they restored again the city vnto them for that came to passe afterward in the time of Achab as it is declared in the booke of Kynges Why god punisheth his people by vngodly ones But this peraduenture may seeme maruellous vnto some that god vsed to punish his people by other nations farre woorse than they wer for as muche as the Ammonites Amalekites and Moabites wer Idolatrers nations that were ouerwhelmed in all kinde of wickednes To this I wil answer that it was the prouidence of god which as I haue before declared doth in the sorte punish syns with synnes and in such maner chasten the vngodly by others that are vngodly Whi god soner punisheth his owne than he doth strangers Farther by it he declareth that these things though they be euyll yet they can not escape but that some way they shal serue his wil. But whi he differeth to punysh nations which otherwise are wicked and his own he straight ways punisheth this is the cause bicause they pertaining to god do synne against his law which they know Wherfore ther is no cause why the Turkes and Papists though they somtimes preuayle against vs to punish our sinnes should flatter them selues therby God wyll not easeli suffer his worde beynge knowen receiued to be despised as though they were much better than we are or as though their supersticions were better than our religion For if the Moabites Chananites and Assirians were not counted better than the Iewes whom they ouercame no more shall the Turkes or Papistes obtayne the same thoughe sometymes by the wyl of God they afflict the Gospellers Wherfore god doth quickly punish his for his woord sake which is among them published hee wyll not easely suffer that his woord being receaued and knowen should be despised and escape vnpunished There were vndoubtedly very many lyers and false men at Ierusalem and yet god suffered them where as he strayght waye destroyed Ananias and Saphira For he would adorne set forth the gospel holy ministery And now that the Ethnikes do see how seuerely God punisheth vs they maye easelye coniecture what hangeth ouer their heades according to the saying of Christ If this be done in the grene tree what shall be done in the drye tree And if by reason of their blindnesse they vnderstand not this we ought diligently to remember it
they seme not to thinke euill whiche referre thinges to an absolute power and not to an ordinary or definite power But how it is sayde that Sisera should be solde into the hande of a woman we shal not nede nowe by many wordes to declare and for as much as we haue before hearde this selfe same worde and howe ryghtly it agreeth with God is there expounded This onely will I adde that he was nowe solde of GOD to him to whome before God had solde the Israelites and it is sayd that he shal be solde into the hande of a woman whiche should haue power and myght to kyll him for he was killed by Iael as a litle afterward shal be declared 10 And Barac gathered together Zebulon and Nepthalim in Kedes and he went vpon his feete with ten thousand men Deborah also went vp with him 11 Nowe Heber the Kenite whiche was of the children of Hobab the Father in lawe of Moses was departed from Cain and pitched hys tente euen to Elon in Zaananuin whiche is in Kedes 12 And they shewed Sisera that Barac the sonne of Abinoam was gone vp to mount Thabor 13 And Sisera gathered together all hys chariots euen nine hundreth chariots of yron and all the people that were with hym from Harozeth of the gentles vnto the riuer Kisyn It is before shewed by what meanes Barac gathered his men together namely by an oration of much likelyhood and of muche efficacy whiche was of so great strength with these tribes The counsels of men are so efficacy as the predestinacion of God hath or deyned that there came of them ten thousand men vnto him neither would God as it appeareth by the wordes of Deborah haue any more Hereby we see that the Counsels and wordes of men are so farreforth fruitfull as the predestination or will of GOD hath before appoynted Wherefore Luke in the Actes of the Apostles feared not to write And they beleued as many as were ordeyned to euerlastyng lyfe Some translate this Hebrew worde Bergeliu footemen and others after hym But as for that matter we wyll not muche contend bycause if they followed the feete of Barac it is a token that they also were footemen neyther were the Israelites wonte to be of any great force on horsebacke for as they were by GOD forbidden to kepe any greate number of Horses And when they should go vp the mounte thoughe they had ben horsemen they could not haue ben so apte in those places Farther this also maketh with it for strayght way is vsed the same kynde of speach when Sisera lept out of his chariot would haue fled away on foote But therof we will speake in his place Deborah also went vp with hym It was before sayde that she went with Barac vnto Kades but bycause he should lede hys host from Kades to the mount it is properly sayd that she nowe also went vp together with the Souldiers that were collected And there was no small fayth both in the Captaynes and also in the Souldiers whiche durste take suche enterprises in hande beyng so weake and fewe in number But fayth seeth those thynges which appeare not to the eyes of the body Helizeus the Prophete once prayed that the eyes of the lad whiche was with hym myght be opened to see the wonderfull number of aungels whiche very valiantly fought for hym agaynst hys enemyes And therfore as many of vs as do beleue in Christ when we are in daungers ought by constant fayth to take holde of that helpe whiche God hath prepared for vs althoughe with our eyes we see it not The thynges whiche are nowe by a Parenthesis declared of the Kenite are therefore in the history by anticipation set forth that those thynges maye the easiyer be vnderstand which afterward shal be spoken of Sisara that was killed by Iahell This Heber the husband of Iahell was of the posteritie of Hobab the father in lawe of Moses of whome we haue aboundantly spoken before Why the family of Iethro were called Kenites But of this place we learne why they were called Kenites For Cain was the name of their famely but thys Heber dwelled a parte from hys kynsemen neither remayned he any longer amonge them For the rest as it is wrytten in the 1. chap of thys booke departed from the Citie of Iericho followed Othoniell and lyued in the desert together with the children of Israell Why Heber departed from his kinsfolkes But Heber of whome it is nowe written went to the borders of Zabulon and Nepthalim and pitched his tente nere to Cedes But what was the cause of hys departure from hys brethren it is not presently wrytten But we knowe that Loth and Abraham by reason of the aboundance of cattell and want of Pastor departed one from an other and seyng the same myght easly happen vnto the Kenites it is not vnlykely but that they were vpon the lyke occasion separated Thys worde Tseenim if we maye beleue the Chaldey Paraprhast signifieth ditches full of water The Rechabites were Kenites with whiche that place peraduenture abounded It is no meruayle that the family whiche that place peraduenture abounded It is no meruayle that the family of the Kenites dwelled in tentes for so muche as the Rechabites whiche came of them had no where any fyrme abydyng places and that was wont to be the manner almost of all shepeheardes to followe Pastors that be plentyfull in what place so euer they be And thys worde Acilun signifieth sometymes an oke and sometymes a playnefielde The Chaldey Paraphrast turneth it a playnefielde but it myght be that there was some notable oke or groue of okes in it It was shewed vnto Sisera onely howe Barac had gathered together an host and tolde hym that Deborah the Prophetesse of God was there bycause that all men had a respecte vnto them at whiche was the Captayne of the hoste And though a woman were theyr firste counseller of this enterprise yet there is nothyng shewed hym of her for the thynges whiche are done by women are wont for the moste parte to be referred vnto men Neither had the Ethnikes peraduenture any regarde to the gyfte of Prophesye wherewith Deborah was endewed What number of Souldiers Sisera had it is not in thys place expressed onely there is mention made of nyne hundreth Chariottes of yron Iosephus But Iosephus testifyeth as we haue before sayde that the Chananites had 300000. footemen 10000. horsemen and lastly 3000. Charlottes And in that the historye now maketh mencion onely of 900. Augustine it is to be vnderstande of hooked and yron chariots which interpretaciō Augustine in his questiōs on this place followeth Farther Iosephus addeth that this Sisera by the commaundement of Iabin hys kyng directed this host vnto mount Thabor or Ithabyrius 14 Thē Deborah said vnto Barac vp for this is the day wherin the Lord hath deliuered Sisera into thine hand Is not the Lord gone out before
at home or elles if he were at he home was sick Wherfore he could not execute this notable acte 18 And Iahell went out to mete Sisera and said vnto him Turn on my Lorde turne in to me feare not And he turned in vnto her tente And she couered hym with a coueringe 19 And he sayde vnto her geue me I praye thee a little water to drinke for I am thirstye and she opened a bottle of milke and gaue him drinke and couered him 20 Agayne he sayd vnto her stande in the dore of the tent and when anye man doth come and inquire of thee saying is anye man here thou shalt say nay 21 Then Iahel Hebers wife toke a nayle of the tente and toke an hammer in her hād and went priuely vnto him and smote the naile into his temples and fastned it vnto the grounde For he was faste on slepe and wery and so he died Iahel vsed guile and that euel guile but agaynst her enemy not her own enemy but one alredy reiected of God and an oppressor of the people of God And in what sorte it is lawful to vse euel guile against such enemies we haue before declared The couering wherwith she couered him it is vncertayne what manner of one it was and the opinions of the interpretors do muche differ therein For some affirm that it was of silk and fine and other some that it was a thick wollen garment full of heares and lockes hanging in both sides But the matter is of no greate importance and consisteth wholy in coniectures The cause of the drought of Sisera That Sisera was oppressed with thirst we ought not to merueile when as he had traueled so farre on foote and was pressed with so great grief for both they which are weary and also they that are heauy for the most parte are wonte to be thirsty For both labor and the affection of sorow haue a power of drying The woman gaue him milke Paraduenture shee didde it of purpose to cause him to fall on slepe Neither was it any hard thing for her to geue him milke to drinke for she had it in hand when as she her whole family excercised the arte of graffinge of cattle And in that it is said that she opened a bottle it declareth that she had no smal store of milke but greate aboundaunce therof But Sisera when he had wel dronke forgat not yet his owne safety but diligently admonisheth the woman what she shoulde aunswere if any body came to aske for him And that none should haue occasion to entre into the tente he willeth her to abide at the dore to aunswere such as should go by to the ende that if they soughte for him they should sone departe from thence A nayle of the tente I take to be that which they vse to fasten into the ground to cause the tente being bound vnto it to abide spreade abroade And in that the woman vsed a hammer and a nayle this I gather thereby that the Israelites whilest they serued the Chananites had theyr weapons taken away from them by the Chananites that they should haue neither sword nor dagger mete to kill a man withall This holy woman vndoubtedly was gouerned by God whiche durst accomplish so great an enterprise For the strengthe of wemen is not able to atchiue these thinges The cause of Sisaras slepe Sisera being on sleepe died The causes of his sleepe are now sufficiently expressed namely that he was weary by reason of his iourney he dronke a greate deale of milke and lay well couered He was oppressed with heauines and it is possible that he slept but a little the night before The woman came softly or priuely to se whither he were throughly on sleepe and when she saw that he was so with a stout and valiant courage she gaue him a stroke Sisera died and that with ignominy For God for this cause suffred him for a time to flye that he might not be killed in battayle amonge men but being on slepe be slayne by the hand of a woman 22 And behold Barak pursued after Sisara and Iahell came out to mete him and sayd vnto him Come I will shew thee the man whome thou seekest And he came in vnto her And beholde Sisara lay on the ground deade and the nayle in his temple 23 So god brought downe Iabin the kinge of Chanaan that daye before the children of Israell 24 And the hande of the children of Israell prospered and preuayled against Iabin the king of Chanaan vntill they had destroyed the same Iabin king of Chanaan Iahel meeteth Barak and shee therefore sheweth him his enemy killed that he shoulde no more trauayle in seekinge of him Sisera was not deceaued when he thought that Barak would come to the tent of Iahel for he came thither in dede for pursuinge the Chananites euen vnto Hazoreth of the gentiles he sawe not Sisera among them which fell wherfore he iudged he lurked somwhere and suspected that he had without any more a doe fledde vnto the tente of the Leuites bicause of the league and peace which he had with them God therfore broughte downe Iabin yea if ye maye beleue Iosephus the Israelites destroyed his citye with sword and fire Whither Iahel in violating the laws of hospitality did well or no. But it semeth that Iahel in this her enterprise and notable act did violate the lawes of hospitalitye and league and therefore nowe resteth either to condemne her or to quitte her But bicause al controuersye not a litle dependeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What maner of mē the Kenites were that is of the circumstance of the persons let vs therfore set her before our eyes and consider with our selues what maner of men the Kenites wer They assuredly in bloude wer ioyned with the Israelites For it is written that they wer the posteritye of Hobab the father in law of Moyses Farther in the study of piety and the lawe of God they most purely consented with the Hebrues Neither was theyr faythe ydle but of efficacy and working For they leauing their country followed the Israelites and God which was their guide thorowe the deserte places Wherefore at the length when the landes were distributed they obtayned inheritance together with them in the lande of Chanaan For these causes if Iahel went about to set the Iewes at libertye she did but her dutye neyther tooke she vpon her any other mans office On the contrary part let vs thus thinke of Sisera What Sisera was He was an oppresser of the people of God and nowe killed by the power of God and vtterlye confounded neyther appeared there in him any token of repentance but rather would therfore hyde himselfe that escaping this so present a daunger he might againe gather a new host against the Israelites In deede after a sorte hee was in league with Heber the Kenite but as it is to be thought not with a pure hart but onelye
the shewing of the signe And he thought not that God or an Angel was present with him Wherfore he thought to folow the example of Abraham Lot And in dede the things which he presented partained rather to a dinner thā to a sacrifice He erected no alter neither prepared he the fat to be burnt nor the shoulder and the brest to be lifted vp nor the blood to be shed The other interpretation is that he would therfore bring him a sacrifice that in that oblation he might obtayne a signe as to Abel the fauour of God was declared when he was offring sacrifice And the authors of this sētence beleue that this doth nothing let that Gideon sod the flesh Flesh in sacrifices was sometimes sod forasmuch as that kind of sething was sometimes vsed in peace offrings as the fyrst booke of Samuel testifieth Of the interpretours of this place this latter sētence seemeth to be receiued for they iudge the Gideon intended to offer sacrifices But I rather allow the first sentēce as touching the feast although I know that the Angell contrary to Gideons purpose vsed that meate to a sacrifice and in it gaue the signe which a little before was desired of him This hebrew word Mitsoth signifieth vnleauened cakes Why the Elders vsed so oftē swete cakes in their feastes But the roote of the word may be Natsa whiche is to hast or to make speede For the Elders were carefull to prepare meate for straūgers with as much speede as might be Wherfore they straightway baked new bread bicause peraduenture their houshold bread was somewhat hard and stale The measure of an Ephah Therfore to the end they might the sooner refresh the weary they vsed swete cakes which were very soone baked This measure Ephah was not a measure for liquide thinges but for thinges dry and as the Hebrues affirme it held thre peckes and a pecke contained .144 egges And ten Ephas made one Corus Certaine Rabbines fable that there is therfore mencion made of sweete breade bycause this thing was done in the time of Easter But how trifling this is hereby we may gather bicause it is wel knowen that swete bread were by the commaundement of God vsed not onelye for sacrifices at Easter but also at other times especially such as wer to be burnt at the altar of the Lord. But if we shal say that Gideon prepared not a sacrifice but rather a feast we haue alredy shewed the reason why he brought swete bread Gideon is vtterly to be quitted of ydolatry For his wil was not to do sacrifice vnto the Messanger of God bicause his purpose was eyther to set meate before the mā of God or els to sacrifice vnto the lyuing God by the hand of the Prophet whom hee counted to bee farre better than himselfe 20 And the angel of God said vnto him take the flesh the vnleuened bread lay it vpon this stone poure out the broth he did so 21 Then the Angel of the Lord put forth the ende of the staffe that he held in his hand and touched the flesh the vnleauened bread there arose vp fire out of the stone consumed the flesh the vnleauened bread so the Angel of the Lorde departed out of hys syght They which thinke that Pinhas the sonne of Eleazar was this mā of god which appeared vnto Gideon affirme that the same man was also afterward called Elias And euen as when Achab raigned in Israel he obtained fire from heauē wherby the burnt offring was consumed wherupon he had poured water and that aboundantly very many times so likewise now out of the rocke by the power of god be raised vp a flame wherby the meate which was put vpon it was burnt wherupon he had before caused the broth of the flesh to be poured I confesse in dede that ther is some similitude betwene these two actes but therwithal I see many thinges to be causes wherby the one differeth from the other Farther I vtterly reiect this fained tale wherin they faine that Pinhas was present eyther there or here Ther by reason of the great distance of times here bicause as I haue expounded Augustine the wordes of the history do manifestly testify it was eyther god himself or an angel which talked with Gideon Augustine in his booke De mirabilibus sanctae scripturae teacheth that the signe whiche is here geuen doth aptly agree vnto that which was demaūded For it was shewed that by the wōderful power of god without mans labour and fight the enemies of the people of the Iewes should be ouercome euen as by the might of god aboue the ability of nature fire came forth Ambrose wherwith without mans healpe or industry those vittailes were consumed But Ambrose very elegantlye writeth the Allegorye of this place in the Proheme of his booke de spiritu sancto which I to auoyd tediousnes do ouerpasse This one thing onely I wil admonish you of Al thinges that wee offer are to bee offred by Christ that our giftes are then acceptable vnto God when wee offer them vpon the rocke whiche is Christ There our actions are by the fire of the holy ghost purged that which otherwise of his own nature is vncleane is of God receaued as holy And the Angel of the Lord departed By this sodain departure Gideon vnderstood that it was an Angel whom he saw wherefore he was sore afraide as the wordes of the history which follow do manifestly declare 22 And when Gideon saw that it was the Angell of the Lorde he sayd Alas my Lord God shall I bycause I haue sene an Angell of the Lorde face to face This is spoken by the figure Ecliptica for when Gideon sayth The fathers by seyng of god of angels wer made alrayde Alas my Lorde God shal I bycause I haue sene an Angel of the Lord there should be added dye Thou shalt euermore perceaue that the old fathers after that they had sene god or beholdē his Angels wer very sore afraid yea so astonished that they feared present death to come vpon them And no maruail for they wer not ignoraunt what God answered Moses when he desired to see his face Man shal not see me and liue Iohn Baptist also as we reade in the first of Iohn sayth No man hath sene God at any time And Paul to Timothy hath confirmed the same writing No man hath sen God neither can he se him for he is inuisible bicause he dwelleth in the light that no man can come vnto And that also which nowe Gideon speaketh Mannah the father of Samson as we shal afterward heare shal speak Iacob likewise after he had wrastled al night thinking that he had striuen with a man when he vnderstood that he was an Angel maruailed howe he escaped a lyue and safe Haue I sene the Lord sayth he face to face and is my lyfe saued As though that
that was in a maner impossible Yea and the Hebrues when the Lord discended to mount Sina to geue the lawe were so striken with feare and dread that they sayd vnto Moses Haue thou we praye thee to doo wyth God least if he go forward so to speake before vs we dye To this serueth that also whych is written in the same booke of Exodus when the couenaunt was then made betwene God and the people and Moses recited the cōdicions and sprinkled the people with the blood of the sacrifices which wer offred he brought forth the Elders vnto the mountain wher they saw God sitting in his throne wyth chiefe glory and maiesty But after the recital of that vision it is sayd Neyther did God extende hys hande vnto them which declareth that it was a newe and vnaccustomed sight that men should se god haue their life stil whole sound Wherfore that altogether is mencioned as a thing geuen by a singular prerogatiue Ierome Ierome also testifieth that Esay was vnder this pretence killed of the Iewes bicause he said that he had sene God sitting vpon his throne as it appeareth in the .vi. chap. of his booke They caueled that he lyed forasmuch as God cānot be sene of men which yet remain stil a liue Wherfore they condemned him for a lier as though in prophecieng he had taught the people not the things which the Lord had shewed him but his own inuencions This they fained against the innocent prophet when as bysides it they had no other cause against him And there are the like examples in the new testament when our Lord manifested in mount Thabor to his Apostles a certain shew of his maiesty glory he was altogether changed before them he shined with an incredible brightnes light with whō wer Moses Elias straightway present the voice of the father sounded from heauen These thinges bicause they many waies ouerpassed the faculty of mans sight the eyes of the Apostles were not able to beare them wherfore they fel downe to the earth wer as it wer dead Peter also whē in fishing at the cōmaundement of Christ he caught an incredible number of fishes for before his woord he had long labored in vaine marueiling at the straunge sight and vnderstanding that God was in Christ he was so afeard of himself that he said vnto him Lord I pray thee depart from me bicause I am a sinfull man and cannot without daunger suffer the presence of God Paul also declaring his rauishing vnto the third heauen where he vnderstoode thinges deuine whyche in word he might not expres vnto mē writeth whither it wer in the body or without the body I cannot tel Verely he durst not affirme that those thinges happened vnto him whilest he had the vse of the body senses of this life Wherefore it manifestly appeareth that Gideon was not without a cause astonished But why the beholding of God or of the Angels seemeth to bring present destruction vnto men Platos sect we must now shew the reason Peraduenture that hapneth by reason of the grosnes of the body which as the sect of Platos affirme is to vs as it wer an obscure darke prison Wherfore forasmuch as by it we are letted so that we cānot see things deuine if peraduēture at any time we behold them by by we remember that the ioyning together of the body mind is nowe dissolued that we shal straightway dye that therfore deuine things are set before vs to behold bicause now is at hand the seperation of the soule frō the body For Aristotle in his Metaphisicis testifieth Aristotle that the powers of our vnderstanding are in such sort vnable to vnderstand things deuine which of their own nature ar most euident that iustly they may bee compared vnto the eyes of the Owles or Battes whych cannot looke vpon the brightnes of the Sunne and lyght of the day They which thus thinke doo in deede say somewhat but not so much as is sufficient to expounde the thing manyfestly The bodye remoueth vs not from the beholding of God The body from the first creation was not therfore geuen vnto men that it should be a let vnto them to know God neither that it should restraine our soules as in a certain blinde darke prison for so the goodnes of God which created the bodily nature of man should be accused And that the thing is thus the historye of Genesis proueth which testifieth that God was very familiar with our first Parentes though they had bodies for he led them into Paradise which he had planted he shewed them the trees wherof they might eate and for certaine trees hee gaue them a law that they shoulde not toutche them he set all creatures before Adam to cal them by what name he listed Wherefore the bodye was not a let wherby the first man could not be familiar with God Synne seperateth vs frō god Sinne vndoutedly remoueth vs from the sight of god Therof cōmeth our dimnes darknes blindnes ignorance as touching things deuine For this cause we ar turned into Moles Bats Owles But God of his owne nature may be sene yea he is the lyght it selfe but that the blot of synne is put betwene Peraduenture thou wylt saye that is now sufficiently declared Bycause of sinne men flye from the sight of God that sinne is the originall cause of our blyndnesse but we haue not yet shewed why mē are so afeard at the sight of god Yea by cause of sinne happeneth all this also vnto vs for men besides that by reasō of their darknesse they are oppressed with the diuine light beyng of sinne accused by their conscience do flye from the iudge who is no lesse mighty then iust For they vnderstand that God himselfe is such a one that by reason of his purenesse and iustice he will suffer no vncleane or filthy thing before hym Wherfore to haue God present they thinke nothing els then that their punishement prepared for them and the paynes whiche they haue deserued are at hande For this cause our first parentes when they had sinned straight way hid thēselues and at the voyce of God were so afeard that they determined to hide themselues among the trees of Paradise whiche vndoubtedly came of a troubled conscience for as much as God of his owne nature is both quickning and also the author of all consolatiō Wherfore it is manifest that these terrors and discommodities came not by hys defaulte but thoroughe our owne wickednesse ¶ Of Visions or in what sorte and how muche God may be knowen of men NOw the matter geueth vs occasion somwhat to speake of visions of things deuine and in what sorte and how much God may be sene of men But least our disputacion should want either methode or els an order I will first set forth certaine distinctions whiche I perceaue are nedefull First the knowledge of God
imaginacion of the Crow there is such an alteration before the rayne that he beginneth to croke Wherfore the effects in the phantasy of those which ar on slepe and also in dede come vndoubtedly of the self same cause Yet haue they great diuersity by reasō of the subiectes in which they are made And it is not to be doubted but that there is a certayne slender and hidden similitude betweene these effectes But it is verye hard to vnderstand the reason of this proporcion or analogy And if we say that the starres are the cause of such effectes or affections who can refer these signes vnto his own propre cause Why diuinatiō by dreames is hard and vncertayne that is to some certayne starres more then to other Assuredly I suppose that there are very few I will not say none whiche can do it Farther if they shuld also be referred vnto propre starres what can we iudge to come to passe by them especially as touching things comming by happe whē as iudiciall Astrology is euermore counted moste vncertayne In fyne images similituds which ar sayd to portend things to come ar so doubtful vncertain ambiguous that we can affyrm nothing for certayn of thē Wherfore this is to be added that forasmuch as dreams cannot be broght to passe of one only cause but of many as we haue declared we shall easely fal into an error if we of those many causes chuse onely one certayne cause Therefore let vs hold this that is not easely to foretel any thing by dreames for that they may easlier de iudged by the euentes then the euentes can by them be foretold Wherefore there remayneth of dreames but onely a certayne suspicion whiche also of necessity is verye sclender A gate of horn a gate of puerye The two most noble Poetes Homere I say and Virgill made twoo gates of dreames the one of horne the other of yuery That of horne as they say pertayneth vnto the true dreames and that of yuery to false and they say that the gretest part passeth through the gate of yuery and not through that of horn Wherfore in iudging naturall dreames let vs not passe the measure of suspition nor stick to much in dreames forasmuch as it is not the duty of a christiā man to cleaue more then is conueniente vnto perillous and vncertayne coniectures bicause whilest they so busily apply them selfes to those things Of dreames sent ether of god or of the deuill To fore shewe any thynge by visions or dreames twoo thinges are required they neglect other things whiche are of greater wayght And the deuil very often times mingleth himself with those thinges to this entent eyther to cal vs back from good actions or els to driue vs to actions that are euell Nowe let vs see what we oughte to affirme of dreames sente of God or moued by the deuel When any thing by the work of god or of angels is in dreams foresene twoo thyngs are required The fyrste is that certayne notes or images of things which are shewed do inform or imprint the phantasy or imagination Secondly must be adioyned iudgement to vnderstand what those things at the last do portend As touching the first we must know that these notes and images are somtimes offred vnto the senses bicause of those things which God maketh outwardly to appeare as whē Balthazar the successor of Nebuchad-Naezar saw in the wall the fyngers of a hande which wrote as it appeareth in Daniel And somtimes without any outward sight are images and formes described in the imagination or phantasy which happeneth two maner of waies For either the formes or images which are kept in the minde are called backe to such vse as God hath entended as when to Ieremy was shewed a seething pot tourned to the North Or els newe formes are shewed whyche by the senses were neuer seene as if formes of coulours and images shoulde bee shewed vnto one blynde from hys byrth And in this kinde or prophesieng images or formes are in steede of letters Formes or images ar lyke letters For as they are ordered and disposed so sundry oracles are shewed Euen as in the diuers chaunging of letters orations and sentences are made diuers Teachers which instruct their scholers may by their study and industry of teaching fashion manifold images in the mindes of the hearers although they be not able to geue the iudgement and right vnderstanding But God ministreth both God somtimes geueth not vnto one to the selfe same man formes and the vnderstandyng of them They whych haue onely images are not simply prophecies not in dede alwaies together for to some sometimes he sheweth onely the formes as to Pharao and to his Butler and Baker also to the king of Babilon al which men needed an Interpretor namely Ioseph Daniel to expound their dreames And vndoubtedly those vnto whom are shewed onely the images of thinges to come are not truely and plainly counted Prophets forasmuch as they haue but onely a certaine degree beginning and in a maner a step of prophecye euen as Caiphas also the high Priest is not to be counted a Prophet when as hee spake those thinges which he knew not But why God would sometimes by dreames manifest vnto Kinges Princes thinges to come as now he doth there are two causes The one is bycause he had a regarde vnto the people and Nations whom they gouerned For if the penury which was at hand had not ben shewed vnto Pharao Egipt had vtterly bene destroyed by famine Secondly it was the counsel of the Lorde by these expositions of dreames to manifest vnto the world his Prophetes and holy men which before were hidden which thing the holy scriptures testifye happened in Ioseph and Daniel The Ethnike Historiographers also do write verye manye thinges of dreames which Princes sometimes saw Yea Tertulian and Tertulian in hys booke de Anima maketh mencion of certayn of those dreames as the dreame of Astyages of his daughter Mandane also of Philip of Macedonia and of Iulius Octauius whom M. Cicero being yet a boy thought he saw him in his dreame and being awake as soone as he met him he straightway knewe him And the same man telleth of certayne other also of this kinde But omitting these let vs by testimonies of the holy scriptures which shall easily be done confirm that certain dreames ar sent by God Mathew testifieth that Ioseph the housbande of Mary was in dreames thrise admonished by the Angel The wyfe also of Pilate had knowledge by a dreame and sent woorde to her housband that he should not condemne Christ being an innocent Peter in the Actes of the Apostles the x. chap. saw a sheete let downe from heauen And in the .xvi. chap. a man of Macedonia appeared vnto Paule and mooued him to go into Macedonia And the Lord commaunded the same Paule in a dreame that he should not depart from Corinthe bycause
and shall Iudas syt vpon the twelue seates and iudge the twelue Tribes of Israel Dyd Christ chaunge hys sentence No sayth he but Iudas was chaunged Whiche selfe same thing wee must iudge of the Citye of Niniue and of king Ezechias whom god pronounced should dye For neither Niniue at that tyme perished nor Ezechias dyed bicause they were chaunged God sayde at the beginning that the feare of men shoulde be vpon beastes But it happeneth contrarily for men are nowe afrayde of Lyons Beares and Tigers bycause they are of them oftentymes torne But that commeth hereof bicause of the condicion of men is chaunged and not the counsell of God Wherfore those promises of god are to be vnderstande accordyng to the present state of thinges Therefore when we heare the promises of God How we must take the promises of God wee must thus thinke Either they haue some condicion adioyned or they are absolutelye put Farther either they are of force for this time onely or hereafter they shal be fulfylled And as touching the condicions of promises and threatnings we must diligently marke that some promises are of the lawe and some of the gospell what they differ one from an other I haue before aboundantlye entreated Promises of the law haue a condition annexed And this wil I now briefly say that promises of the law are those which haue a condicion annexed so that the promise is not due vnlesse the law be most perfectlye fulfylled and so those condicions may be called causes of rewardes if we coulde fulfyl them which thing seing by reason and this corruption and vice of nature we are not able to performe god is not bounde to render the rewarde Wherefore seing we cannot fulfyl the lawe as we ought to doo all cause of meryte is vtterlye taken awaye and yet are not those promyses geuen in vayne For although by reason of infirmity we cannot performe the condition yet yf we flee vnto Christ and being regenerate do begin a better lyfe the promyses which were promises of the law Promises of the Gospel are made promises of the Gospel not bycause we liuing vnder grace do fulfil those conditions but bicause by Christ they are made absolute and perfect whose righteousnes is imputed vnto vs. In this maner must we thinke of the promises of God How we must vnderstand the threatnings of God In like manner is it of threateninges bicause often tymes muste bee added this condicion Except ye repent I sayde often tymes bicause vniuersallye it is not true as it appeareth in Dauid who repented and yet suffered those thinges which Nathan threatened Moses also repented and yet came hee not into the promised land And as touching the condicion of repentaunce we must not ouer passe this that it is not perfect in vs otherwise the forgeuenes of syns should be due vnto vs as a rewarde wherefore wee must holde this for certaine that the condicion of repentaunce is Euangelicall and when there is repentaunce founde in vs it is a fruite of fayth and not a merite Of this thing ryght well wryteth Chrisostome in hys .v. Homelye to the people of Antioche Chrisostome where hee comforteth the people bicause of the threatninges of Theodosius He bringeth a place out of Ieremy the .xviii. chapter A difference betwene Princes of the worlde God and addeth that the sentence of God is farre otherwise then the sentence of Princes of this worlde For the sentence of a Prince is straightwaye as soone as it is once spoken performed and can scarcely be chaunged but the sentence of God if it haue threatened any thyng is not headlong vnto destruction nor vntreatable yea rather it maye seeme a degree and a certaine beginning vnto saluation For by this meanes God oftentimes reuoketh synners vnto the right waye and saueth them And thus much as concerning condicions But as touching time we must not alwaies looke that God should straightway performe his promises If he deferre it wee ought thus to comfort our selues he hath not yet accomplished but he will doo it in due tyme. He will in the meane time after this maner exercise our faith God seemeth many times to do nothing lesse then that which he hath promised and threatned He promised vnto Dauid a kingdome but by what tribulations did he exercise him before that he accomplished his promises For first he was poore and a Shepehearde afterward being taken into the court he began to be hated of Saul and so endaungered that there wanted very litle but that he was almost fallen into his power When our Lord and sauiour Iesus Christ should be borne of Mary the Angell promised that he should haue the throne of Dauid his father and yet till he was thirty yeares of age he lyued in a maner vnknowen And then was he odious vnto the high Priestes Phariseis and Scribes and was in that sort long tyme yll handled and at the length by them crucified Wherfore Esay very wel admonisheth that he which beleueth shoulde not make haste For God will in due time performe those thinges which hee hath promised but it is our part in the meane time not to prescribe any thing vnto him Paul in the .x. to the Hebrues writeth ye haue neede of pacience that doing the wyll of God ye maye obtaine the promise For yet a litle while and he that shall come wyll come and wyll not tarye and the iust liueth by faith But if any withdrawe himselfe my soule shal haue no pleasure in him The same thing also must we determine of threatenynges God sayde he woulde ouerthrowe the Babilonians but they floorished and triumphed yea and they led awaye the people of God captiue Wherefore God would not then accomplish his threateninges which yet afterward when he saw his time he performed Let vs apply these thinges vnto our place What sayde God I wil not helpe you that is at thys present but afterwarde when I see oportunitye I wil helpe you Yea and God oftentimes answereth vnto vs also inwardly in our hart I wil not helpe you for ye are laden with sinnes What shal we then doo shall we cease of from prayers Not so Let vs rather imitate the Hebrues they the more sharpely God answered them the more they increased their repentaunce Iohn saith If our hart accuse vs God is greater then our hart What we must aunswer to the accusation of our hart Our hart doth then accuse vs when we say vnto our selues God wil not heare bicause of our synnes God doth the more accuse vs bicause he seeth more in vs then wee our selues can see Wherefore Dauid said Clense me Lord from my secrete synnes What remedy is there then For who is he whom his hart accuseth not Let vs turne our selues vnto Christ and if that our hart shall say he will not helpe let vs say vnto it This I may wel beleue if I should looke vpon my selfe onely but I looke vpon
this .300 yeares and Balac though he were a mighty Prince and other also neuer required it againe wherfore then doest thou demaund it againe especiallye seing we haue had it so long time That which we translate Art thou better in Hebrue it is Tob tob For bicause they want the comparatiue degree they vse in steede of it a repeticion of the positiue degree Why Balac fought agaynst the Israelites Balac of whom he speaketh was he which hired Bileam to cursse the Iewes And when he fought against the Israelites he did not therefore fight bicause he would wrest from them that land this was onely his entent that they shoulde not enter into his borders Hesbon Hesbon was the kingly Citye of Sihon There dwelled Israell and in all her townes .300 yeares and now at the last demaundest thou it agayne If a man wyl count the number of the yeares euen to this time he shall not fullye finde .300 yeares but onely .270 But so vse they to doo which prescribe any thing by time to adde somwhat aboue the iust number Although the scripture also is wont in supputacions many times to follow the greater number And .270 yeares come nere vnto .300 yeares then to .200 yeares And for that cause it seemeth that the number should be put whole Wherfore Iiphtah concludeth after this maner I haue not offended thee Bicause thou art the occasion of the warre and haue shewed thee my reasons now resteth to put the matter in Gods hand he wyll iudge best Thys was the message of Iiphtah We must fyrst entreate by messengers before we go to weapons Titus Liuius This Oration as farre as it appeareth pertaineth vnto the iudicial kynde and entreateth of possession and the reasons are layde foorth But nowe let vs marke that Iiphtah before he moueth battail sendeth messengers before That is a custome verye laudable For Titus Liuius writeth in his first booke that it was the maner of Rome that before warre was proclaymed againste their enemies messengers were sent to complaine of the iniuries and to require againe the thinges taken away And if by their message they nothing profited they returned vnto the Senate who vnderstanding the matter proclaimed war by the publike assent For wise men iudged it not best rashlye and sodainlye to fall to warres So Iiphtah though he were a warlike and valiant man yet woulde he gouerne the matter wisely and moderatlye For he was not so light brained as many now adayes are who firste prepare them selues to battaile and make a bragging before any man know that there is any warre proclaimed God thus ordained in the .27 chap. of Deut. when thou shalt come to any Citye thou shalt firste offer peace So Iiphtah assayeth firste to compose the matter by woords before he goeth to hand strokes The king of Ammon alledgeth a cause in dede but it is but a fained cause for first it was not the laÌ„d of Ammon but of Moab and the Amorhites draue them out as the second chap. of Deut. testifieth For Israel had none of their landes For God had before said that he woulde geue nothing vnto the Israelites of that which pertained either to the Edomites or to the Ammonites or to the Moabites and when they offred no wrong vnto anye man Sihon the king of the Amorhites pursued them with an host and assayed to destroy them but God gaue the victory wherin both Sihon was slain and his kingdome came to the Israelites Wherfore it can not seme that they did wrong vnto the Ammonites for that land at that time longed to the Amorhites which they before had taken away from the Moabites Whither the Israelites sent messengers vnto the Moabites or no. But in this place ariseth a doubt for it is written that the Israelites sent messengers vnto the Moabites and that is not found in the .21 chap. of Numb The Hebrue interpreters say that that may be gathered out of the .2 chap. of Deutr. where it is after this sorte written I sent messengers vnto Sihon the king of the Amorhites with woordes of peace saying Let vs passe throughe thy lande and we wil go by the high way we wil not decline neither to the right hande nor to the leaft Sel vs meate for money for to eate geue vs water for money to drink Onely geue vs leaue to passe through as did the children of Esau which dwell in Seir and the Moabites which dwel in Arre Ther are three principal pointes in this message What wer the chief points of I phtahs meâ—sage for first Iiphtah answereth that he possesseth this land by the right of war secondly by gift lastlye by prescription I thinke it good to examine these thinges singularly and aparte ¶ Of things whych are taken by the ryght of warres AS touching the first we learne that it may be that some thing may be claymed by the right of warre which maye be confirmed both by mans lawes and by the lawes of God But I wyl begyn with mans lawes In the Digestes de captiuis et postliminio reuersis in the law Postliminium Postliminium a law by 〈…〉 we receaue agayn 〈◊〉 â—hichâ— we lostâ— in warres The thinges that we haue lost in war or in affaires of war if we afterward recouer the same again we shal possesse them by the law Postliminium For so long as they are not recouered they are possessed of our enemies And thys ryghte is towarde those whyche are declared to bee enemyes But suche were declared to bee enemies against whom the people of Rome publikelye proclaimed warre or they which publikely prohibited warre against the people of Rome as it is had in the same title in the law Hostes For Pirates or theues cannot by this meanes attaine to be owners or possesse any thing by the law of warre For warre ought to be made to the ende to attaine something by the right of warre And in the Digestes de acquirendo rerum dominio in the lawe Naturale paragrapho the last Such thinges as are taken from enemies by the common law of all men agreing vnto naturall reason are straightwaye made theirs which take them And thus the lawes of man as touching this thing are very manifest So is it also by the lawes of God Abraham as it manifestlye appeareth in the booke of Genesis the .14 chap. made warre against the .v. kinges whiche had led away Lot prisoner The battaile being finished theyr praye came into the handes and power of Abraham which maye easelye bee proued bicause of that pray he gaue tithes vnto Melchisedech But it had not bene lawfull for him to haue geuen tithes of an other mans goods therfore they wer his own of which he gaue Wherfore we must beleue that that pray was truelye in his possession For in that he gaue it to the king of Sodom it was of his mere liberality for he was not therunto compelled by the law I coulde make mencion what
thinges Iosua Othoniel Dauid Salomon and manye other mo possessed by the ryght of warre For when those Princes had the victory Warre is a iust woorke to attayne possessioÌ„ the thinges taken from their enemies came into their possession But it is not sufficient to make warre to clayme something by the right therof but the warre also must be iust Bycause vnles it be iust it is not warre but robbery But how shal we know when war is iust or vniust Whereby iuste war is knoweÌ„ from vniust Augustine Augustine as he is alledged in th .23 Question .2 chap. Notandum writeth that his war betwene Sihon and the Israelites was iust For they desired to passe wythout hurt through his kingdome which thing by humane fellowship should not haue bene denyed them especiall seing they had faithfully promised not to be troublesome to any man This sentence of Augustine the Gloser goeth about to defende and that by ciuill lawes In the Digestes de aqua pluuia cohercenda in the lawe in summa in the Paragraphe item varus somethyng is permitted in an other mans ground so that it be done without the hurt of the possessor And in the Code Dâ— Seruitutibus in the law per agrum Maximianus and Diocletianus doo thus ordaine That no man can prohibite thee to vse the common high waye And that thing onely did the Israelites desire wherfore being repulsed they iustly tooke warre in hand So much sayth the Gloser Whither a waâ— ought to be geueÌ„ vnto an hoâ—t whose reason doth not so fully satisfy me For that which Augustine speaketh of priuate men may easely be admitted and these thinges which are brought out of the ciuill law do seeme also to be written concerning priuate men But if a man wil leade an host through an other mans country and if they faithfully promise not to be troublesome yet whether a way ought straightway to be graunted him or whether he ought to be beleued it is not certaine They promise thou wilt say that their host shal do no harme but if they stand not to their promises then shall the lande be in theyr power Vndoubtedly Iulius Cesar would not permit the Heluecians to passe thorow his Prouince although they promised that they woulde passe without doing iniury or hurt The Israelits tought iustly against Sihon But I say that the warre which the Israelites made against Sihon was iust but not therfore bicause he denied them leaue to passe throughe his country but bicause he came out of his borders with his host and willinglye offred wrong vnto the Israelites For euery man ought to defend both himself and his against violence That which Augustine bringeth hath some shewe yet his reason is not firme For how could Sihon know certainly whither the Isralites would do him no hurt especially they being so many in number For ther were sixe hundred three score sixe thousand armed souldiours wel appoynted to the battail He might peraduenture haue permitted them to haue passed and that safely although not al of them together but by bandes But seing the first reason before alledged is sufficient wee must not muche labour for Augustines sake What maner of warre is iuste But now I wil generally declare what maner of war is counted iust Such a war is counted iust whiche is taken in hande at the commaundement of the Magistrate either to demaund things againe or els to put away iniuries or to reuenge them as it is had in the .23 question the .2 chap. iustum and they ar the woordes of Isidorus Isidorus For first we must beware that war be not taken in hande by the authority of a priuate man But the causes wherfore war may iustlye be made are these to require thinges taken away or els to repulse iniury Wherunto is agreable that which Augustine writeth in the same place in the chapter Dominus Augustine Iust war is that which is taken in hand to reueÌ„ge iniuries After this maner war is iustly proclaimed against Cities when they wyll not either render thinges taken away or amende those thinges which of theirs was vniustly done For if they wil not punish the guilty it is lawful for other to make warre against them So al Israel tooke war in hand against Beniamin that a most filthy wicked crime should not remaine vnpunished But Augustine addeth that those warres also do in especial seme iust which are taken in hande by the commaundement of God as are many which were done in the old Testament For if God commaunde once to make warre wee muste not seeke for anye other cause of iustice For God knoweth very well what is to be rendred vnto euery man For then both captaine and souldiours are not so muche to be counted authors of the warre as ministers of God of his law And therfore when the people are after this maner called to war they ought not to neglect the coÌ„maundement Augustine Wherfore the same Augustine in his .205 epistle to Bonifacius the Earle a maÌ„ of war which at that time gouerned Affrike vnder Cesar Thou oughtest not saith he to thinke that they which with weapons serue the publik wealth caÌ„ not please God This was the propositioÌ„ wherof afterward he bringeth reasoÌ„s For Dauid saith he made many wars and yet was he dearely beloued of God And vndoubtedly I could bring forth very many examples out of the old testament But the Anabaptistes cry that the old Testament pertaineth nothing vnto vs. I wil therfore make mencion of those thinges whych Augustine alledgeth out of the new Testament The Centurion came vnto Christ and desired him to heale his seruant which was sicke but Christ said he would come to hys house The CeÌ„turion said I am not worthy that thou shouldest come vnder my roofe but onely say the woord my seruant shal be healed And other woordes which are red in the .8 chapter of Mathew At the last Christ answered that he founde not so muche faith in Israel no not in those whiche seemed most holye And the same man was a Centurion and had soldiours vnder him vnto whom for all that Christ ascribeth a very good and most excellent faythe In the Actes also of the Apostles the .x. chapter it is written that Cornelius so lyued in warfare that the Angell testified of hym that hys prayers wer heard of God Yea God also so regarded hym that at Peters hande he hearde the Gospell was baptised and receaued the holye ghost And the Soldiours when they came vnto Iohn to be baptised of him as it is in the third chapter of Luke asked what they should doo Iohn aunswered ye shall doo violence vnto no man bee ye content with your wages Neyther called he them backe from warfare but rather confirmed them when he commaunded them to be content wyth their wages The same Augustine againste Faustus in his .xxii. booke and .lxxiiii. chapter saythe The Lorde was tempted of the
to sacrifice any other wher yet after the Salomon had built the tēple it was not lawful to offer out of it wherfore the highe places were to be takē away they should sacrifice no where but at Ierusalē But of al the kings onely Iosias Ezechias toke away the high places so hard a thing was it to leade the people to the true obediēce of god But Elias was moued by a certayne peculiar inspiration of God to Sacrifice other where Manoah demaundeth after the name of the Aungell neyther dyd he that so simply as hys wyfe dyd But that he should not be thought to demaund it curiously or without a cause he addeth a reason of hys request That if that come to passe whiche thou hast sayd we may honour thee that is with some reward But I cā not recōpence thee vnles I know who thou art where thou dwellest This Hebrew worde Peli is ambiguous to the Hebrues R. Salomon Aungels ar named of those things whiche they worke signifyeth both wonderful and also secrete R. Salomon sayeth that the names of aungelles are secrete so that they themselues knowe not their owne names And he addeth also that the Aungelles haue no names of their owne but onely haue surnames geuen them of those thynges whiche they are sent to take charge ouer Whiche thyng also the Epistle to the Hebrues toucheth when it calleth them ministryng spirites R. Salomon bryngeth examples out of the holy Scriptures An Aungell was sent vnto Esaye and bycause he dyd put a burnyng coale to his lyppes he was called Seraphim of this verbe Seraph whiche signifieth to burne So maye we saye of Raphaell that he was so called bycause he had healed Tobias as thoughe he were the medicine of GOD. Gabriell also after the same manner was called the strength of GOD. Also thys woorde Peli signifieth wonderfull for therefore came the Aungell to woorke a miracle And vndoubtedly it was very wonderfull to bryng fire out of a rocke whiche shoulde consume the Sacrifice And it may bee that the Aungell would not open hys name bycause menne at that tyme were prone vnto Idolatrye and they would easely when they had hearde the name of an Aungell peraduenture haue woorshypped it to muche religiously That which we haue called an oblation in Hebrew it is Minchah But what manner of oblation that was is vnderstoode by the .2 chapter of Leuit. There wer diuers kindes therof but it euer consisted of corne but yet not alwayes prepared after one manner it was so offred that some part of it was burnt vnto the Lord the other part was left for the Priestes The Papists babble that Minchah was a shadowe of their bready Sacrifice whiche thinge they haue fayned most impudently But hereof we will intreate in an other place Manoah layd the Kid and Minchah vpon the rocke Manoah myght not Sacrifice vnto the Lord by the lawe bycause he came of the tribe of Dan and not of the tribe of Leui. Wherefore he deliuered the fleshe vnto the aungell whom he thought to be a Prophete that he should sacrifice it For Prophetes had an extraordinary vocation that althoughe they were not of the famely of Aaron yet it was lawfull for them to sacrifice as we rede of Helias and Helizeus For whē religiō was decayed in the Priests god suffred others to minister their office But the aungell when the fleshe was put vpon the rocke wrought wonderfully He raysed vp fire out of the stone whiche consumed the offring Whiche thing we rede also was done in Gideon Althoughe it be not herein expressedly shewed that fire was drawen out of the rocke as it was openly sayd in Gideon yet is no mention made of fire that was brought by Manoah at the last it is sayd that the angell vanished away in the flame therfore it is credible that fire was striken out of the stone The angell ascended into heauen as though he vsed the flame for a chariot He dissolued the body whiche he bare and vanished away into the flambe whiche was a notable miracle They fell to the ground for feare for they were wonderfully amased and astonished when they sawe that it was an aungell whom before they thought to haue ben a man 22 And Manoah sayd vnto his wife We shall surely dye bycause we haue sene God 23 But hys wife sayde vnto hym If the Lorde would kill vs he woulde not haue receaued a burnt offryng and an oblation of our handes neither would he haue shewed vs all these thinges nor at this tyme told vs such thynges 24 And the wife bare a sonne and called his name Samson And the childe grewe and the Lord blessed hym 25 And the spirite of the Lord began to strengthen hym in the host of Dan betwene Zora and Esthaol In dyeng we shall dye That is we shall moste assuredly dye For the Hebrues in doublyng the woordes doo earnestly affirme Bycause we haue sene the Lord. Whereof this opinion sprang I haue tolde in the Hystory of Gideon where also I haue declared how God was sene of the fathers The opiniō of R. Leui ben Gerson Wherfore it nedeth not to repeate them in this place But this will I not ouerpasse that R. Leui ben Gerson writeth that this was not an aungell but a man of god and a Prophet namely Pinhas the sonne of Eleazar But he was called angel bycause Manoah and his wife thought hym to be so For after the same maner Ezras although he was a man yet was he called an aungell And Christ whiche is very man is called the aungell of the Testament But how he being a man vanished awaye in the flambe Leui ben Gerson declareth not But I more simply doo iudge him to haue ben an aungell in dede For Pinhas had not a secret name but a name well knowen in his tyme and the wordes of the texte do tend to this Of the name of Elohim to teache that it was an aungell VVe haue sene the Lord. In Hebrewe it is Elohim which althoughe it be the name of GOD yet is it communicated to aungelles yea and also to prynces and Prophetes accordyng to that saying I haue sayde ye are Goddes And Christe in the Gospell sayeth If they are called Goddes vnto whome is come the woorde of GOD why doo ye meruayle c This woman seemeth to be of a stouter courage them the man for she comforteth her husband Whose Oration is grounded vpon two argumentes The first is I do not thinke we shall dye bycause God would not haue accepted our sacrifice if he would haue destroyed vs. Wherfore seyng our sacrifice was acceptable vnto him he counteth not vs as enemyes But whereby knew she that that sacrifice was acceptable vnto GOD. Firste bycause the Aungell had commaunded it to be done which vndoubledly he would not haue don vnles he had vnderstoode that it should be acceptable vnto God Farther bycause the flambe had consumed the Sacrifice and
lyue by It is sayeth Paul in this lyfe but in the blessed resurrection GOD shall destroye both the meate and the belly Wherefore thou muste not so muche esteme them that for theyr cause thou shouldest offende thy brother It is not vniuersally commaunded to absteyne from all meate but from that onely wherby thy weake brother is offended But as touchyng fornications sayeth he whiche ye contemne the reason is farre otherwyse Your body is not geuen for fornication but for the Lorde And this is not to bee passed ouer that Paul with greate prudence sayeth not not for procreation but not for fornication For the body is geuen also for procreations sake Men are went oftentymes to excuse their faultes and to laye them vpon nature The nature of the body sayeth he is to bee geuen vnto the Lord. Wherfore of it is to be taken the rule of life and not of euil examples The nature of relatiues This is the nature of relatiues not onely of suche as in that thyng that they are are referred vnto other but also of those whiche are by any meanes referred vnto an other thynge as the head vnto the body and agayne the body to the head For when we see the head we straightwaye require the body and agayne when we see the body we require the head Suche relatiues as the Logitians saye are called secundum dici The Lorde is the head of the body of the Churche and it is the body of that head Wherfore Paul both wisely and pithely disputeth when he sayth The body is not made to thys end and to pollute it selfe with lustes but to bee correspondent vnto the head and to bee conformable vnto it And he addeth GOD whiche hath raysed vp Christe shall rayse vs vp also by his powre The firste argument was taken from relatiues The seconde is drawen of GOD. For if he wyll rayse vp our bodyes as he hath raysed vp Christe why doo we then defile them with ignominy He goeth on and sayeth doo ye not knowe that your bodyes are the members of Christe Shall I then take the member of Christe and make it the member of an harlot Vndoubtedly a sore conclusion whiche he concludeth Shall I take sayeth he the member of Christe As thoughe he shoulde haue sayde No without doubt for this were to teare the body of Christe And it is a thynge moste cruell to plucke awaye the members from a lyuely body and to ioyne them vnto a rotten or dead body But the strength of the reason consisteth herein Christe can not commit fornication wherefore if thou wilte commit fornication thou must firste be plucked from Christe Here is shewed that fornication is not onelye a sinne but also a deadly and moste grieuous synne whiche plucketh vs awaye from Christe Afterwarde he addeth He whiche coupleth hymselfe vnto an harlot is made one body For they shal be two in one fleshe And He whiche is ioyned with God is one spirite This place is most full of consolation for as much as it declareth that we are most nigh ioyned vnto Christ from whom we must nedes be first plucked away before we be made the members of an harlot He whiche cleaueth vnto an harlot is made one body For they shal be two in one fleshe The Apostle seemeth at the first sight to abuse the wordes of Genesis For he transferreth thē to whooredome whiche are spoken of matrimony For these wordes were spokē first of Adam and Eue bycause the fleshe of Eue was before in the flesh of Adam from whom God tooke a ribbe and made therof a woman which he agayne adioyned vnto Adam to be with hym one flesh But in very deede the Apostle abuseth not this sentence for as much as whooredome is a certayne corruption of matrimony for one thing is common to them both namely the coniunction of the fleshe For bodyes are communicated as well here as there Wherfore Paul had a respect vnto that whiche is common to them both when as yet thys difference is there betwene them that in whooredome the coniunction is agaynst the lawe of God and therfore fornicators must be plucked a sonder otherwise there is lefte no hope of saluation for them But in matrimony the coniunction is made by GOD and therfore it is made an indissoluble knot Wherefore seyng that the coniunction is in either all one and the selfe same Paul hath ryghtly applyed that sentence to whooredome He whiche cleaueth vnto God is one spirite These woordes serue muche vnto this present matter For if we be with God in spirite we muste with earnest labor flye from those thinges whiche he hath prohibited Wherfore aptly the Apostle hath added flye whooredome He sayth moreouer Euery sinne that a mā committeth is without the body but he whiche committeth whooredome sinneth agaynste hys owne body If the argumentes whiche I haue before brought do not moue you yet at the least haue a respecte vnto your owne body whiche ye seeme in committyng of fornication to hate and contemne But it maye be demaunded howe other sinnes are without the body but by fornication we sinne agaynst our owne body For we doubte not but that he whiche is very angry noorisheth and augmenteth choler whereby the body is not a litle hurte Sickenes also doth very muche weaken the body wherefore Salomon sayeth A sad spirite dryeth vp the bones Dronkennes also and glotony doo hynder health and doo in a manner vtterly destroye the body yea and enuious persons seeme also to sinne agaynst theyr owne bodyes For thou shalt see them dryed withered and in a manner kylled with leannes Howe can it be then that other sinnes are without the body Some saye that fornicators doo sinne agaynst their owne body bycause very oftentymes by hauyng fellowshyp with harlots they are infected with the pockes with leprosie But let other say what they will I rather thinke that the Apostle had a respect vnto those thynges which went before For he had sayd that the fornicator is made one body with the harlot he seemeth to sinne grieuously against the dignity of his body A Similitude which maketh it all one with the most vyle filthy body of an harlot For if a kyng or prince should mary a wife of a base and obscure stocke it would be said that he had contaminated his kinred I know that there are some which thinke that these wordes are spoken Hiperbollically bycause there are found other sinnes also whiche do hurt the body but this hurteth it most grieuously and most of all The same Paul doth still go on and sayth do ye not know that your bodyes are the tēple of the holy Ghost And assuredly he which destroyeth the tēple of God God wil destroy him As though he should haue sayd ye haue not your bodies of your selues but of god God hath made them his temple and the holy ghost dwelleth in them Ye are not your owne Wherefore ye doo not a litle violate
The custom of God in punishing A similitude Thus God vseth to doo first to punish his owne before he afflict straungers Phisitions also when a man hath taken poyson haue thys as their chiefe care to driue away the poyson from the hart from the lyuer and other principal partes of the body then they apply medicines vnto the other mēbers of the body So also the good man of the house firste enstructeth and chastiseth his chyldren and afterwarde he enstructeth other Wherfore Paul wryteth of a Bishop If he cannot wel gouerne his owne family how shall hee gouerne the church of God Wherfore it is no maruayle if god chastised Samson fyrst afterward grieuously afflicted the Philistines But in that it is writtē that his heare was growen againe we must not beleue that hys strength lay in hys heare for it was a gift of god geuen him freely The vowe of the Nazarites being violated was renewed but yet God required that for that gift he should be a Nazarite vnto which it belonged to let the heare growe and not to cut it with a rasor But if a man had transgressed he did not therfore straight way cease to be a Nazarite but ought to let his heare grow and be clensed and so begyn againe his institucion which he tooke in hand Wherefore Samson repented that he had violated his vow and returned to the rule of a Nazarite and when his heare was growen and he restored both vnto god and to his olde state and strength being assured of the helpe of god he tooke vengeaunce of hys enemyes In the meane time the Philistines ascribe their victory against Samson vnto their god Dagon What Dagon was But what this god was it is not very wel knowen Howbeit as farre as may be iudged by the Etimology of the woorde it was some god of the sea For Dag in hebrew signifieth a fyshe And that both the Grecians and the Latines worshipped gods of the sea Gods of the sea it is certayne For they had Neptune Leucothea and Triton Aboue the belly as they say it had the forme of a man downward it ended in the forme of a fyshe Suche a god woorshipped the Philistines And vndoubtedly the old Ethnikes synned grieuously therin in that they woulde rather serue the creature as Paul sayth then the creator and chaunged the glory of the immortal God and transferred it not onely into the similitude fashioned like a mortal man but also into the images of birdes fourefooted beastes What maner of thinges the Gods of heretikes are and Serpentes or creeping thinges Neither did they onely woorship those things which ar in nature but also they fained vnto thē selues Monsters which appeare no where Such gods in a maner do heretikes woorship For they doo set before them selues some shape and head of God when they confesse that they heleue in God the creator of heauen earth But when farther they adde their own thoughtes and fansies they make the inferiour part to ende in a fishe Of this Dagon there is manifest mencion made in the first booke of Samuel The Philistines extolled their Dagon bycause he had deliuered their ennemye into their handes whiche was nothing els then to blaspheme the name of the true God For they attributed his woorkes vnto an idole Neither considered they that Samson was therfore taken bicause he had sinned against God Wherfore our synnes are a cause why God is blasphemed for when by reason of them we are destitute of the helpe of God our enemies whiche get the victorye againste vs doo ascribe the same both vnto their owne strengthes and to their supersticions So happened it in the conqueryng of Constantinople Horrible examples of blasphemies where the Turkes when they had gotten the city caried about in derision the image of Christ clothed with the apparel of the Turkes throughout al the host and throughout all the wayes of the City And not many yeares ago when the Emperour Charles the fift lost a great nauy and many souldiours at Argery I remember I hearde some soldiours say that Christ our sauiour was now become a Mahomitan or Moore How holy men called vpō 〈◊〉 in tribulacions neither considered they that they them selues wer become farre woorse then the Mahomites So the name of God is mocked for our synnes Wherefore holy men were wont not without a cause thus to pray and to implore mercye that the name of God should not be euil spoken of among the Gentiles So delt Moses with God when he was angry with the people for making the golden Calfe The Prophets also sayd Be mercyful vnto vs Lord for thine own sake and for thine names sake least the nacions say wher is their God Let vs in the meane time when we heare or reade these thinges thus thincke with our selues Seing God hath for synne so grieuouslye afflicted Samson so great a man sanctified from his mothers wombe and appointed to deliuer Israel what shall become of vs if we synne So Paul to the Corrinthians in his first Epistle setteth foorth vnto vs the examples of the Israelites to consider whom God sundry wayes chastised And to the Romanes he sayth If he hath not spared the natural braunches take heede that he spare not thee Marke the goodnes and seuerity of God his seuerity on those which haue fallen and his goodnes in thee if thou abide in goodnes otherwise thou also shalt be cut of Wherefore by these cogitacions we may take fruite by the punishment of other For this vse are examples set foorth vnto the Churche What is the fruit of holy histories that we in readyng them shoulde become better Paule sayde what soeuer thinges are before wrytten are written for our learning that wee throughe pacience and consolacion of the scriptures shoulde haue hope Wherefore when we reade that holye men were so corrected we ought to tremble least we also fall into the lyke anger of God If we doo not take suche fruite by reading of the holy scriptures we then reade them in vayne The Philistines geue thankes vnto Dagon their God for the victorye So were they delyuered vp into a reprobate sense to geue thankes for those thinges for whych they ought most of all to haue bene sory For how obtayned they Samson By the artes of an harlot and by most fylthye deceate After sacrifices followeth a verye sumptuous banquet For in those holye seruices of Idoles was set foorth a certaine communion that the people in that feast shoulde reioyce together wyth a certaine common ioy So also in the olde Testament the Israelites in theyr peace offeringes feasted and reioyced together before the Lord. Neyther is it vnlykely but that the Fathers also before the law had suche holy seruices and solemnities To what ende the Supper of the Lorde was instituted Christ also our Sauiour instituted a Communion and holye Supper that wee shoulde there celebrate hys name and healthfull death But
asking counsell of the Lord pertayneth vnto vs. Why the Leuite aunswered in the name of Iehouah And in this Hystorye let vs consider as I haue before sayde that the Leuite aunswereth in the name of Iehouah that is of the Lord bycause he would signifie that he knewe well ynough that the Idole was nothyng I sayeth he aunswere in the name of the Lorde This sentence which R. Selemoh followeth seemeth plausible But to me it seemeth not so For I thinke that the younge man dyd it to get authoritye to his Religion For whiche cause he is the more grieuously to be accused for that he contaminated the name of GOD in applyeng it vnto an Idole He aunswereth your waye is in the sight of the Lorde that is God himselfe will go out before you and direct your iorney all thinges shall go well and prosperous with you when as God is with you and directeth you And so did it succede in very deede For they luckely spyed out all thynges the euent came to pas as they desired Wherfore it may well here be demaunded why God so prospered these euill workes Before I aunswere to thys question Our workes do not therfore please God bycause they haue good successe this I thinke good to put in by the waye that we ought not to take it for a sure token that our doynges do please GOD bycause sometymes they haue a prosperous successe otherwyse if we should measure thynges by the euent and successe we should allowe the wicked and most euil doers for as much as fortunate and prosperous thinges doo happen vnto them We should also prayse deuiners sorcerers southsayers and coniurers bicause they haue sometimes foretolde thinges that are true It is sometymes permitted vnto the deuill to deuine by them Let suche foretellynges be referred vnto the .13 chapter of Deuteronomye where it is thus written If a Prophet ryse vp among you or a dreamer of dreames and shall geue thee a signe or wonder and that whiche he hath foretolde thee come to passe Thou shalt not harkē vnto his voyce If he entise thee to Idolatry let hym be killed sayth he neither let hym be spared The Lord proueth his by the miracles of the vngodly Afterward is added a reason why God dealeth after this maner which thyng was at the begynnyng demaunded bycause sayth he the Lord proueth you whether ye loue him or not And therwith agreeth Paul in his .2 Epistle to the Thes the .2 chap. wher he entreateth of Antechrist His comming saith he shal be by the working of Sathan with power signes liyeng wonders withall deceatefulnes in those whiche perish bycause they receaued not the loue of the truth to that end they might be saued And therfore God shall send thē the efficacy of illusion that they should beleue lyes that all they should be iudged whiche haue not beleued the truth Wherfore althoughe we do see signes yet must we not straightwaye geue fayth vnto those by whom they are wrought but must diligently examine whether they attempt to teache any thyng contrary to the worde of God In the Papistical Masses marchādise of reliques were oftentymes wrought great miracles yet ought we not to beleue such superstitiōs to fall frō Christ the true worshipping of god How miracles profite for saluation God suffreth this kind of miracles to be wrought that ingrate men those which haue forgotten their God should be deceaued be taken as it were by these nettes that the godly should become the more vigilāt better Neither ar these things spokē to despise al miracles For they which are done in a true cause for sound doctrine are certaine praises of god trumpets of the truth But cōtrarily they which vnder the pretēce of miracles do with drawe men from the worshipping of GOD we ought to counte them cursed thoughe they worke neuer so great miracles 7 Then the fyue men went and came to Lais and sawe the people whiche were in it dwelling carelesly after the manner of the Sydonians quiet and sure And for that there was no mā in the land whiche made them ashamed in any thyng nor whiche by the inheritance receaued the kingdome and for that they were farre from the Sidonians neither had they any busines with other men 8 So they came agayne vnto theyr brethren in Zora and Esthoall and their brethren sayd What haue ye done 9 And they sayd Arise that we may go vp vnto them For we haue sene the lande and beholde it is very good and do ye sit stil Be not slouthfull to go to enter and possesse the land 10 When ye shall enter ye shal enter into a careles people farther the coūtrey is large in roome for god hath geuen it into your hāds a place whiche wanteth nothing that groweth in the earth 11 Thē there departed thēce of the family of the Danites frō Zorah frō Eshtaol sixe hundreth mē appoynted with instrumētes of warre 12 And they went vp pitched in Kiriah iearim in Iudah Wherfore they called that place Mahaneh dan vnto this day and it is behind Kiriah-iearim 13 And they went thence vnto mount Ephraim and came to the house of Michah 14 Then answered the fiue men that went to spye out the countrey of Laish and sayd vnto their brethren Knowe ye not that there are in these houses an Ephod and Theraphim and a grauen and molten Image Now therfore consider what ye haue to do 15 And they turned thetherward and came to the house of the yong man the Leuite whiche was in the house of Michah and saluted hym peaceably 16 And the sixe hundreth men appoynted with their weapons of warre whiche were of the children of Dan stoode by the enteryng of the gate 17 Then the fiue men that went to spye out the lande went in thether and tooke the grauen Image and the Ephod and the Theraphim and the molten Image and the Priest stoode in the entrynge of the gate with the sixe hundreth men that were appoynted with weapons of warre 18 And the other went into Michahs house and fet the grauen Image the Ephod and the Theraphim the molten Image Then sayd the Priest vnto them What do ye 19 And they aunswered him holde thy peace laye thyne hande vpon thy mouth and come with vs to be our father and Priest Whether is it better thou shouldest be a Priest vnto the house of one mā or that thou shouldest be a Priest vnto a tribe to a familye in Israel 20 And the Priestes hearte was glad and he tooke the Ephod and the Theraphim and the grauen Image and went in the middest of the people 21 And they turned and departed and put the children and the cattell and the substaunce before them The City of Lais is in the booke of Iosuah called Lesem And they saw the people dwelling in security This worde people is in this place ioyned with an adiectiue
norishe fede like pastors They are also called fathers Magistrates are called fathers wherfore the Senators among the Romaines were called Patres conscripti that is appointed fathers nether was ther a greter or more aunciēt honor in the publike welth thē to be called pater patrie that is the father of the country Yea also a magistrate is contayned in the law of God vnder this cōmaūdement Honor thy father thy mother Wherfore princes owe vnto their subiectes a fatherly loue And they ought alwaies to remēber that they are not rulers ouer beastes but ouer men that thēselues also are men who yet ought to be far better more excellēt thē those whom they gouern otherwise they ar not apt to gouern thē For we make not a shepe a head ouer shepe but the chief wether then the shepeheard And euē as a shepeheard excelleth the sheepe so ought they to whome the office of a magistrate is committed to excell the people But now must we consider by whome Magistrates are ordeined That sometimes is done by the cōsent of the Senate somtimes by the voices of the people By whome magistrates are ordeined God is first ordeiner of magistrates or by the will of the souldiers or els by successiō of inheritāce But these ar but instrumēts But the proper cause of Magistrates is god him self which may be by many reasōs proued First there is by god a certain light kindled in the harts of mē whereby they vnderstand that they can not liue together without a guide there hēce spronge the office of a magistrate The law of god also commaundeth to obey Magistrates And before the law geuen by Moses as it is written in Gen. god ordeined that he which shedeth mans blood his blood also should be shed not vndoubtedly rashly by euery mā for that were very absurd wherefore we may gather by those wordes that a magistrate was not obscurely instituted by god whiche shoulde punish manquellers Paule also writeth that all powers whatsoeuer they be ar ordeined of god And Christ aunswered vnto Pilate Thou shouldest haue no power against me except it had beene geuen thee frō aboue By these testimonies and reasons it followeth that god is the true proper cause of Magistrates But here some cauell saye that if all magistrates are of God then must all things be rightly gouerned but in gouerning publike welthes many things as we se are done viciously peruersly Vndoubtedly vnder Nero Domician Commodus Caracalla Heliogabalus good lawes were contēned good men killed discipline of the city was vtterly corrupted But if Magistrates were of god such thinges coulde neuer haue happened This reason neither can nor oughte any thing to moue vs bicause the office is to be seperated from the person The office is to be seperated from the persō vndoubtedly it is possible that he which hath the office may be a wicked noghty mā when as yet neuerthelesse the power is good very profitable For there is nothing so good but that men by theyr malice may vse it ill Therfore it is no meruaile if there haue bene kings Emperors which sometimes haue abused that power geuen thē which yet they were not so able to corrupt but that mē receiued by it many good things cōodities as I haue before shewed By the testimony of Daniell it is most manifest that Magistrates ar of God For he saith he geueth transferreth kingdōs as it pleaseth him Farther we se that the Monarche hath somtimes bene in the East somtimes in the South afterwarde in the Weast somtimes in the North also that there hath sometimes bene good princes and somtimes euill sometimes haue reigned noble men sometimes obscure men And we vnderstād that it oftentimes happeneth that riches or power profite not to get or kepe a kingdome and to thinke that these things are done by chaunce without the prouidence of God it is most absurd Some Astronomer will peraduenture say that these chaunges or mutaciōs are imported by the starres but Daniell the minister of the truth saith that it is God which chaūgeth times For euē as he hath in the year appointed courses of times The chaunges of the wicked ar not to be ascribed vnto the starres so hath he as it pleaseth him somtimes ordeined somtimes takē away princes He did cast down Saul he also promoted Dauid And he foretold that he woulde so do least it should seme to haue happened rashely or by chaunse Yea and kingdomes publike wealthes may be called certayne worke houses or shops of the wil of god For that is done in them which god himself hath decreed to be done although princes oftētimes vnderstād it not God called the Medes and the Assiriās to afflict the Israelits them when it semed good vnto him he repulsed toke a waye He raysed vp the Persians agaynste the Chaldeans and the Grecians agaynste the Persians and lastlye the Romaines againste all other nations Who deuided the kingdome of the Hebrewes into Iuda and Israell Vndoubtedly God Ahias the Silonite did foretell that it shoulde so come to passe and sayde that the word was come forth from the Lorde that it shoulde so be Who ouerthrew Achab Who caused Iehu to be annointed but onely God But there ar certayne Tirannes which destroy publike welthes What draweth Tirannes to Pub. welthes I graunt that But our wicked actes deserue it For there are oftentimes so greiuous wicked actes and so many that they cannot be corrected by the ordinary magistrate and by a gentle and quiet gouernance of thinges and therfore god doth then prouide tirannes to afflict the people and yet for the most part he tempreth and lenyfieth his punishment in raysinge vp good and godly princes God sendeth good Princes after tirannes After the fall of Nero he set vp Vespacian after Domician he sent Neruan and Troian after Commodus Pertinax and Seuerus after Heliogabalus Alexander But they which say The wicked actes of Tirannes are not of God yet do they range and spreade abroade in kingdomes and Empires therfore Empires and kingdomes ar not of god they I saye make a false Silogismus a secundum quid ad simpliciter that is from that which appeareth to that which is indede neither doth this rightly follow Certayne thinges in a magistrate are not of God therfore the magistrate is not of God Or tather they reason 〈◊〉 from accidences for vices and wicked acts chance to publike powers but are not knit vnto them per se that is of thēselues or by theyr nature The godly may vse Ethnike magistrates But some man will doubt If the Magistrate be an Ethnike also a tiran whither it be lawfull for a godly man to vse his helpe and ayde What els Paul appealeth vnto Cesar a most wicked tiran But it may seme that he did against his own preceptes For in his firste Epistle
haue done whom I haue driuen out of those regions which I haue now geuen vnto you for for bicause those nations haue ben polluted with so grieuous wicked actes I haue therfore so destroied them will do that like vnto you except ye shal diligently auoid those thinges which I cōmaund you as touching these euils I thinke no man wil doubt but that the Chananites whych receaued not the law by Moyses neither wer Citizens of the publike wealth of the Israelites could not by that law be condemned bicause they obeyed not the lawes of the Hebrues They wer subiect only to the law which is called morall Wherfore seing God for that cause reproueth them bicause they wer defiled with such fylthy lustes incestes affirmeth that for the same cause he depriued them both of their lande and lyfe it is manifest that these lawes must bee ioyned not to ciuil preceptes but to morall which al men are bound to obserue Neuertheles this semeth at the first sight to be against this sentence Abrahā Amram seeme to haue maryed prohibited wyues bicause Abraham a man otherwise most holy is thought to haue maried his Brothers daughter namely Sara Amram also had Iochabed his aunt to wife of whom he begat Moyses Aaron Mary And it semeth that so godly holy mē would not haue done this if the moral law as we haue saide had bene against it The law of nature was darkned by synne To thys we answer first that the law of nature was much blotted by corruption wickednes which ouerwhelmed al mankind sone after synne for the cause they whych contracted such matrimonies thought peraduenture that the same wer lawful and therfore although they cannot altogether bee excused by that ignoraunce yet it is to be thought that they committed lesse synne than those which durst do such thinges after the lawe was geuen I adde moreouer that amonge the fathers certaine thinges are now and then spoken of It is not certaine whether Abrahā Amram maried prohibited wyues which other men must not take example of whē as they are somtimes to be interpreted as prerogatiues or certain priueleges geuen to thē But how soeuer it be we may not as I think much labour to excuse the fathers in althings Although I know there be which do say that Sara was not the daughter of Abrahams brother but som other way of and therfore she might be called his sister after the auncient maner of speaking as though she were of some kinred vnto him but yet not so nere kyn but that they might mary together And in like maner they say of the kinred of Amram and Iochabed But I wyl omit these thinges seing that the whole matter may be made playne by these two kinde of answers before alledged It might also be demaunded if the preceptes of Matrimonye be morall and pertaine to the lawe of Nature why God woulde also constitute them in hys lawes The ten cōmaūdementes were blotted in the hartes of men before the law Bycause the lyght of nature was come to that poynt that it was not sufficient the brightnesse of it was daylye more and more blotted in the hartes of men which thing doth manyfestlye appeare not onelye in these but also in the tenne commaundementes where it is commaunded that men should abstayne from theft and murther and yet we reade in hystories that robbyng on the sea and also on the lande got suche dominion Plato that they were counted ful of honour and dignity Plato in hys fyft booke of lawes thought that concerning procreation of children we should abstayne from Mothers Graundmothers and the degrees aboue them Again from Daughters Niepces degrees beneath them But as for other persons he made free Ierome Hierome testifieth in his seconde booke against Iouiniane that the Scottes in his tyme had no certaine mariages but they accompanied with their women as they lusted them selues euen suche as came first to hande He sayth moreouer that the Medes Indians Ethiopes and Persians confusedly contracted Matrimonies with their mothers sisters daughters and Niepces which semeth neuerthelesse to disagree with that which Heroditus writeth of the Persians For Cambyses as he testifieth desired to marye hys sister for the which thing he asked counsel of his Lawyers and wyse men and demaunded of them whether that matrimony wer lawful or no. To whom they answered that they in dede had no law by the which it myght be lawfull for the Brother to mary the Sister but yet they had an other law among them whereby it was lawful for the king of the Persians to do what so euer him selfe lusted Surely they answered wel in their first part of their answer but in the latter part they most filthily flattered the tyranne Howbeit the thyngs whych are written by this Historiographer although sometymes he wryte fables and those thinges which Ierome writeth vary not Bycause the vulgare people being now corrupted with fylthy and wycked custome contracted suche matrimonies the wyser sorte neuerthelesse in whom the lawe of nature dyd shyne vnderstoode that the same were not lawful althoughe beyng blynded wyth couetousnes they abstained not from them Whom Paule to the Romaines hath greuously reprehended saying which men though they knowe the righheousnes of God Incestuous persons haue afterward abhorred those whō they haue poluted not onely doo suche thinges but also haue pleasure in them that do them And these matrimonies by their own nature are so well knowen to be vnlawfull that they dryue an exceading great horrour into them whych do heare that such thinges haue bene done yea and they them selues which haue commytted the same when their lust asswaged semed to abhorre those whom they haue polluted Cynara Myrrha The Poetes make mencion of Cynara and Myrrha hys daughter how after the father vnderstoode that he had accompanied wyth hys daughter yea euen vnwares so hated her that he persecuted her al that euer he might Ammō beganne so to hate hys syster Thamra whom he had defyled Incest almost haue euer had horrible endes Ptholomey that he commaunded her to bee violentlye thrust out of hys syght Thou shalt also neuer almoste fynde if thou looke in histories that incestuous mariages or carnal copulations came to good ende Ptholomey kyng of Egipt tooke to wyfe by fraude and guile hys syster Euridices Anthonius Carocalla Nero. which the Historiographers and especially Iustine haue manifestly set foorth to haue had yl successe Anthonius Caracalla who maryed hys stepmother and Nero whych committed fylthye fornication with hys mother came not onelye to a most vnhappye ende but according to their desertes they were wonderfully hated of the people and were openly called Monsters of humane nature Wherefore we graunt both that these commaundementes which do prohibite those sinnes pertayne to the law of nature and were for iust cause renued by God in his morall lawes It may also be manifestly ynough declared
by an other reason Romaine lawes forbad the mariage of the brothers daughter the incestuous mariages were forbidden by the light of nature seing that they were earnestly forbidden by the Romane lawes which were counted among the excellentest honestest lawes these by name wherby any man should marrye his niepce by the brother Although Claudius Caesar whē he would marry his brothers daughter Agrippina caused the fyrst law to be abrogated and to be decreed that euery man might haue his brothers daughter to wife But there was neuer a one at Rome except it were one or two which would follow his example And the Romaines obserued the first law which was most honest The Romaine lawes in prohibiting mariages had certaine lawes not mentioned by God Neuerthelesse we muste vnderstand the diuerse persons were prohibited by the lawes of the Romanes of whom the law of god hath made no mention and yet their prohibition was not without a reason Wherfore the Citizens of Rome were bound to obserue thē although by the light of nature they could see no cause why they should so doe which lawes were wont to be called a peculiar kinde of lawes bicause it semeth to be priuate for certain places I will make the thing more plaine by examples The tutor might not marry his pupill The Romaines would not as it is written in Codice that matrimonies shoulde be contracted betwene the tutor and pupill committed to his charge Bycause they saw that this would easely come therby that that tutor which had consumed his pupils goodes least he should be compelled after his tutorship to render accompt of those goods might sollicite the mayden to mariage which being obtained he should be free from geuing accompt of her goods This surely was a good law but yet it was not perfectly obserued Cicero otherwise a graue man Cicero was euill spoken of for the same cause for being farre in other mens debt when he had forsakē his wife Terence he maried his pupill of whose goods affayres he had charge ouer as a tutor The Romanes deceeed also A prisident myght not marry a wife of hys prouince that no president of any prouince should take to wife eyther to himselfe or to any of hys any out of the same prouince wherein he gouerned For they knew right wel that it might so happen that the Pretor Proconsul or President in a prouince cleauing to his families and kynsfolke cōming to him by his wife might make new tumultes and at length be alienated from the publique wealth They saw also a great daunger to hang theron least he should not be iuste and seuere in geuing iudgement bycause he woulde gratifie his kinsfolke more than others Lastly mariages shoulde not haue remayned at libertie in prouinces bicause Magistrates might in a manner compel thē of the prouince to contracte matrimonies either with thēselues Felix had a Iew to hys wife or with their frendes We see also this most honest law violated For Faelix which gouerned Iewrye vnder Nero as it is writtē in the xxiiii chap. of the actes of the Apostles had Drusilla a Iewe to wife But what nede I rehearse that these lawes of a small weyght were not obserued whē as that people had shaken of euen those lawes which we called morall and are knowen by the law of nature Cicero The monstrug lust of Sassia Cicero declareth in his oratiō for Cluentius the one Sassia a most wicked womā was so prouoked with filthy lust that she instigated her sonne in law Aurius Melinus to whō she had before maried her daughter to repudiate his wife wherby he shuld marry her self in stead of her daughter which thīg at the lēgth she got him to do And whē the dede was coūted ful of dishonesty yet was it not punished by the lawes neither do we rede that the matrimonye whiche Cicero cōtendeth to be cōtracted by no good grounds by no authors altogether vnluckely was dissolued by the power cōmaūdemēt of the magistrates Wherfore hereof cōmeth a good reasō also why god would againe inculcate by a law those things whiche by the light of nature were iudged honest For the bonds barres windowes of nature were brokē by the impotent lust of mē therfore it was necessary they should be boūd with an other bond For the Israelites were no more shamefast in keping of natural honestye than were the Romaines Neither is this to be left out the god had certaine proper things in his law whiche may be called peculiar thinges for all men were not bound vnto thē by the lawe of nature but the Hebrues onely For he woulde not haue them to contracte matrimony with the Chananites Hamorrites Iebusites c. And other people seme not to haue bene bounde to the law neither should we at this day if there were such nations still Matrimonyes ought not to be contracted in cōtrary religiō Augustine be letted but that we might ioyne our selues in matrimony with them Although the cause of the law ought at this day to be holden which cause is the matrimonies shoulde not be contracted with them which be of a contrary religion For it is not conuenient that the Godlye should be ioyned with the vngodly I know that Augustine writeth concerning vnlawfull mariages to Pollentius in the second booke and of the Sermon of the Lord vpon the Mountaine that there is not a place in the new Testament wherin by expresse words matrimonies with infidels are prohibited But of this matter I will not write much at this present seing that I haue largely entreated of it in the Epistle to the Corinthians This will I saye more ouer that a good man ought in contracting of matrimonyes to follow chiefly that which is honest and not lightly to depart frō cōmendable orders vsuall customes which are not agaynst the word of god And if there happen peraduenture any doubt let him not thinke it much to aske coūcell of his magistrate otherwise he shal rashly put both himselfe his wife and his children to daunger For if he be maryed in any of the degrees prohibited by the peculiar law he shal not then be counted a husband but a whoremonger and his wife a harlot their childrē bastardes Howbeit the magistrate although concerning matrimonie he maye forbid certaine other contractes besides those which God hath forbidden yet can he not neither ought he to remit any of those which God hath commaunded whiche he hath prohibited by his law yea he must most diligently see that he burthē not the people to much The pope hath grieuously sinned concerning these lawes or without an earnest cause as we see the Pope hath done who hath two wayes sinned in this thing fyrst in that he durst vsurpe the office of making of lawes in a common wealth which vndoubtedly pertaineth not vnto him Secondly bicause in his lawes he followed not the word of god but with out