They vnto whom we shall seeme tedious are in no wise iniuried by vs because it is in their owne hands to spare that labour which they are not willing to endure And if any complaine of obscuritie they must consider that in these matters it commeth no otherwise to passe then in sundry the workes both of art and also of nature where that which hath greatest force in the very things we see is notwithstanding it selfe oftentimes not seene The statelinesse of houses the goodlines of trees when we behold them delighteth the eye but that foundation which beareth vp the one that roote which ministreth vnto the other nourishment and life is in the bosome of the earth concealed if there be at any time occasion to search into it such labour is then more necessary then pleasant both to them which vndertake it and for the lookers on In like manner the vse and benefite of good lawes all that liue vnder them may enioy with delight and comfort albeit the groundes and first originall causes from whence they haue sprung be vnknowne as to the greatest part of men they are But when they who withdraw their obedience pretend that the lawes which they should obey are corrupt and vitious for better examination of their qualitie it behoueth the very foundation and roote the highest welspring and fountaine of them to be discouered Which because wee are not oftentimes accustomed to doe when wee doe it the paines wee take are more needefull a great deale then acceptable and the matters which wee handle seeme by reason of newnesse till the minde grow better acquainted with them darke intricate and vnfamiliar For as much helpe whereof as may be in this case I haue endeuoured throughout the body of this whole discourse that euery former part might giue strength vnto all that followe and euery later bring some light vnto all before So that if the iudgements of men doe but holde themselues in suspence as touching these first more generall meditations till in order they haue perused the rest that ensue what may seeme darke at the first will afterwardes be founde more plaine euen as the later particular decisions will appeare I doubt not more strong when the other haue beene read before The lawes of the Church whereby for so many ages together wee haue bene guided in the exercise of Christian religion and the seruice of the true God our rites customes and orders of Ecclesiasticall gouernment are called in question wee are accused as men that will not haue Christ Iesus to rule ouer them but haue wilfully cast his statutes behinde their backes hating to bee reformed and made subiect vnto the scepter of his discipline Behold therefore wee offer the lawes whereby wee liue vnto the generall triall and iudgement of the whole world hartily beseeching almightie God whome wee desire to serue according to his owne will that both wee and others all kinde of partiall affection being cleane laide aside may haue eyes to see and hearts to embrace the things that in his sight are most acceptable And because the point about which wee striue is the qualitie of our lawes our first entrance hereinto cannot better be made then with consideration of the nature of lawe in generall and of that lawe which giueth life vnto all the rest which are commendable iust and good nâ—mely the lawe whereby the Eternall himselfe doth worke Proceeding from hence to the lawe first of nature then of scripture we shall haue the easier accesse vnto those things which come after to be debated concerning the particular cause and question which wee haue in hand 2 All thinges that are haue some operation not violent or casuall Neither doth any thing euer begin to exercise the same without some foreconceiued ende for which it worketh And the ende which it worketh for is not obteined vnlesse the worke bee also fit to obteine it by For vnto euery ende euery operation will not serue That which doth assigne vnto each thing the kinde that which doth moderate the force and power that which doth appoint the forme and measure of working the same we tearme a Lawe So that no certaine ende could euer bee attained vnlesse the actions whereby it is attained were regular that is to say made suteable fit and correspondent vnto their ende by some Canon rule or lawe Which thing doth first take placâ— in the workes euen of God himselfe All thinges therefore doe worke after a sort according to lawe all other thinges according to a lawe whereof some superiours vnto whome they are subiect is author onely the workes and operations of God haue him both for their worker and for the lawe whereby they are wrought The being of God is a kinde of lawe to his working for that perfection which God is giueth perfection to that hee doth Those naturall necessary and internall operations of God the generation of the Sonne the proceeding of the Spirit are without the compasse of my present intent which is to touch onely such operations as haue their beginning and being by a voluntary purpose wherewith God hath eternally decreed when and how they should bee Which eternall decree is that wee tearme an eternall lawe Dangerous it were for the feeble braine of man to wade farre into the doings of the most High whome although to knowe bee life and ioy to make mention of his name yet our soundest knowledge is to know that wee know him not as indeede hee is neither can know him and our safest eloquence concerning him is our silence when we confesse without confession that his glory is inexplicable his greatnesse aboue our capacitie and reach Hee is aboue and wee vpon earth therefore it behoueth our wordes to bee warie and fewe Our God is one or rather very onenesse and meere vnitie hauing nothing but it selfe in it selfe and not consisting as all things doe besides God of many things In which essentiall vnitie of God a Trinitie personall neuerthelesse subsisteth after a maner far exceeding the possibilitie of mans conceipt The works which outwardly are of God they are in such sort of him being one that each person hath in them somewhat peculiar and proper For being three and they all subsisting in the essence of one deitie from the Father by the Sonne through the Spirit all things are That which the Sonne doth heare of the Father and which the Spirit doth receiue of the Father the Sonne the same we haue at the haÌ„ds of the Spirit as being the last and therfore the nearest vnto vs in order although in power the same with the second and the first The wise and learned among the very Heathens themselues haue all acknowledged some first cause whereupon originally the being of all things dependeth Neither haue they otherwise spoken of that cause then as an Agent which knowing what and why it worketh obserueth in working a most exact order or lawe Thus much is signified by that which Homer mentioneth
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus much acknowledged by Mercurius Trismegist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus much cōfest by Anaxagoras Plato terming the maker of the world an Intellectual worker Finally the Stoikes although imagining the first cause of all things to be fire held neuerthelesse that the same fire hauing arte did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They all confesse therfore in the working of that first cause that counsell is vsed reason followed a way obserued that is to say constant order and law is kept wherof it selfe must needs be author vnto it selfe Otherwise it should haue some worthier and higher to direct it and so could not it selfe be the first Being the first it can haue no other then it selfe to be the author of that law which it willingly worketh by God therefore is a law both to himselfe and to all other things besides To himselfe he is a law in all those things whereof our Sauiour speaketh saying My Father worketh as yet so I. God worketh nothing without cause All those things which are done by him haue some ende for which they are done and the ende for which they are done is a reason of his will to do them His will had not inclined to create woman but that he saw it could not be wel if she were not created Non est bonum It is not good man should be alone Therfore let vs make an helper for him That and nothing else is done by God which to leaue vndone were not so good If therfore it bee demanded why God hauing power hability infinit th' effects notwithstāding of that power are all so limited as wee see they are the reason hereof is the end which he hath proposed and the lawe whereby his wisedome hath stinted th' effects of his power in such sort that it doth not worke infinitely but correspōdently vnto that end for which it worketh euen al things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in most decent and comely sort all things in measure number waight The generall ende of Gods external working is the exercise of his most glorious and most abundant vertue Which abundance doth shew it selfe in varietie and for that cause this varietie is oftentimes in scripture exprest by the name of riches The Lord hath made all things for his owne sake Not that any thing is made to be beneficial vnto him but all things for him to shew beneficence and grace in them The particular drift of euery acte proceeding externally from God we are not able to discerne and therefore cannot alwaies giue the proper and certaine reason of his works Howbeit vndoubtedly a proper and certaine reason there is of euery finite worke of God in as much as there is a law imposed vpon it which if there were not it should be infinite euen as the worker himselfe is They erre therfore who think that of the will of God to doe this or that there is no reason besides his will Many times no reason knowne to vs but that there is no reason thereof I iudge it most vnreasonable to imagine in as much as hee worketh all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely according to his owne will but the counsell of his owne will And whatsoeuer is done with counsell or wise resolution hath of necessitie some reason why it should be done albeit that reason bee to vs in somethings so secret that it forceth the wit of man to stand as the blessed Apostle himself doth amazed therat O the depth of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of God How vnsearchable are his iudgements c That law eternall which God himself hath made to himselfe and therby worketh all things wherof he is the cause and author that law in the admirable frame wherof shineth with most perfect beautie the countenance of that wisdome which hath testified concerning her self The lord possessed me in the beginning of his way euē before his works of old I was set vp that lawe which hath bene the patterne to make and is the Carde to guide the world by that law which hath bene of God and with God euerlastingly that law the author and obseruer whereof is one only God to be blessed for euer how should either men or Angels be able perfectly to behold The booke of this law we are neither able nor worthy to open and looke into That little thereof which we darkly apprehend we admire the rest with religious ignorance we humbly meekly adore Seeing therfore that according to this law he worketh of whom through whom for whom are all things althogh there seeme vnto vs cōfusion disorder in th' affaires of this present world Tamen quon am bonus mund◠rector temperat rectè fieri cuncta ne dubites Let no man doubt but that euery thing is wel done because the world is ruled by so good a guide as transgresseth not his owne law then which nothing can be more absolute perfect iust The law wherby he worketh is eternall and therfore can haue no shew or colour of mutability for which cause a part of that law being opened in the promises which God hath made because his promises are nothing else but declarations what God will do for the good of men touching those promises the Apostle hath witnessed that God may as possibly denie himselfe and not be God as faile to performe them And cōcerning the counsel of God he termeth it likewise a thing vnchangeable the counsel of God and that law of God wherof now we speake being one Nor is the freedome of the wil of God any whit abated let or hindered by meanes of this because the impositiō of this law vpō himselfe is his own free volūtary act This law therfore we may name eternal being that order which God before al ages hath set down with himself for himself to do all things by 3 I am not ignorant that by law eternall the learned for the most part do vnderstand the order not which God hath eternally purposed himselfe in all his workes to obserue but rather that which with himselfe he hath set downe as expedient to be kept by all his creatures according to the seuerall conditiō wherwith he hath indued them They who thus are accustomed to speake apply the name of Lawe vnto that onely rule of working which superiour authority in poseth whereas we somewhat more enlarging the sense thereof terme any kind of rule or Canon whereby actions are framed a lawe Now that lawe which as it is laid vp in the bosome of God they call eternall receiueth according vnto the different kinds of things which are subiect vnto it different and sundry kinds of names That part of it which ordereth naturall agēts we call vsually natures law that which Angels doe clearely behold and without any swaruing obserue is a law coelestiall and heauenly the law of reason that which
what nature and force lawes are according vnto their seuerall kinds the lawe which God with himselfe hath eternally set downe to follow in his owne workes the law which he hath made for his creatures to keepe the law of naturall and necessarie agents the law which Angels in heauen obey the lawe whereunto by the light of reason men find themselues bound in that they are men the lawe which they make by composition for multitudes and politique societies of men to be guided by the law which belongeth vnto each nation the lawe that concerneth the fellowship of all and lastly the lawe which God himselfe hath supernaturally reuealed It might peraduenture haue beene more popular and more plausible to vulgar eares if this first discourse had beene spent in extolling the force of lawes in shewing the great necessity of them when they are good and in aggrauating their offence by whom publique lawes are iniuriously traduced But for as much as with such kind of matter the passions of men are rather stirred one way or other then their knowledge any way set forward vnto the triall of that whereof there is doubt made I haue therefore turned aside from that beaten path and chosen though a lesse easie yet a more profitable way in regard of the end we propose Least therefore any man should maruailâ— whereunto all these things tend the drift and purpose of all is this euen to shew in what manner as euery good and perfect gift so this very gift of good and perfect lawes is deriued from the father of lights to teach men a reason why iust and reasonable lawes are of so great force of so great vse in the world and to enforme their minds with some methode of reducing the lawes whereof there is present controuersie vnto their first originall causes that so it may be in euery particular ordinance thereby the better discerned whether the same be reasonable iust and righteous or no. Is there any thing which can either be throughly vnderstood or soundly iudged of till the very first causes and principles from which originally it springeth bee made manifest If all parts of knowledge haue beene thought by wise men to bee then most orderly deliuered and proceeded in when they are drawne to their first originall seeing that our whole question concerneth the qualitie of Ecclesiasticall lawes let it not seeme a labour superfluous that in the entrance thereunto all these seuerall kinds of lawes haue beene considered in as much as they all concurre as principles they all haue their forcible operations therein although not all in like apparent and manifest maner By meanes whereof it commeth to passe that the force which they haue is not obserued of many Easier a great deale it is for men by law to be taught what they ought to do then instructed how to iudge as they should do of law the one being a thing which belongeth generally vnto all the other such as none but the wiser and more iudicious sorte can performe Yea the wisest are alwayes touching this point the readiest to acknowledge that soundly to iudge of a law is the waightiest thing which any man can take vpon him But if we wil giue iudgement of the laws vnder which we liue first let that law eternall be alwayes before our eyes as being of principall force and moment to breed in religious minds a dutifull estimation of all lawes the vse and benefite whereof we see because there can be no doubt but that lawes apparently good are as it were things copied out of the very tables of that high euerlasting law euen as the booke of that law hath said concerning it selfe By me Kings raigne and by me Princes decree iustice Not as if men did behold that booke and accordingly frame their lawes but because it worketh in them because it discouereth and as it were readeth it selfe to the world by them when the lawes which they make are righteous Furthermore although we perceiue not the goodnesse of lawes made neuerthelesse sith things in themselues may haue that which we peraduenture discerne not should not this breed a feare in our harts how we speake or iudge in the worse part concerning that the vnaduised disgrace whereof may be no meane dishonour to him towards whom we professe all submission and awe Surely there must be very manifest iniquitie in lawes against which we shall be able to iustifie our contumelious inuectiues The chiefest roote whereof when we vse them without cause is ignorance how lawes inferiour are deriued from that supreme or highest lawe The first that receiue impression from thence are naturall agents The lawe of whose operations might be happily thought lesse pertinent when the question is about lawes for humane actions but that in those very actions which most spiritually and supernaturally concerne men the rules and axiomes of naturall operations haue their force What can be more immediate to our saluation then our perswasion concerning the lawe of Christ towardes his Church What greater assurance of loue towards his Church then the knowledge of that mysticall vnion whereby the Church is become as neare vnto Christ as any one part of his flesh is vnto other That the Church being in such sort his he must needes protect it what proofe more strong then if a manifest lawe so require which law it is not possible for Christ to violate And what other lawe doth the Apostle for this alleage but such as is both common vnto Christ with vs and vnto vs with other things naturall No man hateth his owne flesh but doth loue and cherish it The axiomes of that lawe therefore whereby naturall agentes are guided haue their vse in the morall yea euen in the spirituall actions of men and consequently in all lawes belonging vnto men howsoeuer Neither are the Angels themselues so farre seuered from vs in their kind and manner of working but that betweene the lawe of their heauenly operations and the actions of men in this our state of mortalitie such correspondence there is as maketh it expedient to know in some sort the one for the others more perfect direction Would Angels acknowledge themselues fellow seruants with the sonnes of men but that both hauing one Lord there must be some kinde of lawe which is one and the same to both whereunto their obedience being perfecter is to our weaker both a paterne and a spurre Or would the Apostle speaking of that which belongeth vnto Saintes as they are linked together in the bond of spirituall societie so often make mention how Angels are therewith delighted if in thinges publiquely done by the Church we are not somewhat to respect what the Angels of heauen doe Yea so farre hath the Apostle S. Paule proceeded as to signifie that euen about the outward orders of the Church which serue but for comelinesse some regard is to be had of Angels who best like vs when we are most like vnto them
all kind of furtherances vnto his cause could espie in the whole Scripture of God nothing which might breed at the least a probable opinion of likelihood that diuine authority it selfe was the same way somewhat inclinable And all which the wit euen of Caluin was able from thence to draw by sifting the very vtmost sentence and syllable is no more then that certaine speeches there are which to him did seeme to intimate that all Christian Churches ought to haue their Elderships indued with power of excommunication and that a part of those Elderships euery where should be chosen out frō amongst the laitie after that forme which himselfe had framed Geneua vnto But what argument are ye able to shew whereby it was euer prooued by Caluin that any one sentence of Scripture doth necessarily enforce these things or the rest wherein your opinion concurreth with his against the orders of your owne Church We should be iniurious vnto vertue it selfe if we did derogate from them whom their industrie hath made great Two things of principall moment there are which haue deseruedly procured him honour throughout the world the one his exceeding paynes in composing the Institutions of Christian Religion the other his no lesse industrious trauailes for exposition of holy Scripture according vnto the same institutions In which two things who soeuer they were that after him bestowed their labour he gayned the aduantage of preiudice against them if they gaine said and of glorie aboue them if they consented His writings published after the question about that discipline was once begunne omit not any the least occasion of extolling the vse and singular necessitie thereof Of what accompt the Maister of sentences was in the Church of Rome the same and more amongest the Preachers of reformed Churches Caluin had purchased so that the perfectest diuines were iudged they which were skilfullest in Caluins writings His bookes almost the very Canon to iudge both doctrine and discipline by French Churches both vnder others abroad and at home in their owne Countrey all cast according vnto that mould which Caluin had made The Church of Scotland in erecting the fabricke of their reformation tooke the selfe same paterne Till at length the discipline which was at the first so weake that without the staffe of their approbation who were not subiect vnto it themselues it had not brought others vnder subiection beganne now to challenge vniuersall obedience and to enter into open conflict with those very Churches which in desperate extremitie had bene relieuers of it To one of those Churches which liued in most peaceable sort and abounded as well with men for their learning in other professions singular as also with diuines whose equals were not elsewhere to be found a Church ordered by Gualters discipline and not by that which Geneua adoreth vnto this Church the Church of Heidelberge there commeth one who crauing leaue to dispute publiquely defendeth with open disdaine of their gouernement that To a Minister with his Eldership power is giuen by the law of God to excommunicate whomsoeuer yea euen kings and princes themselues Here were the seedes sowne of that controuersie which sprang vp betweene Beza and Erastus about the matter of excommunication whether there ought to be in all Churches an Eldership hauing power to excommunicate and a part of that Eldership to be of necessitie certaine chosen out from amongest the laity for that purpose In which disputation they haue as to me it seemeth deuided very equally the truth betweene them Beza most truly maintaining the necessitie of excommunication Erastus as truly the nonnecessitie of layelders to be ministers thereof Amongest our selues there was in King Edwards dayes some question moued by reason of a few mens scrupulositie touching certaine things And beyond Seas of them which fled in the dayes of Queene Mary some contenting themselues abroad with the vse of their owne Seruice booke at home authorised before their departure out of the Realme others liking better the Common prayer booke of the Church of Geneua translated those smaller contentions before begun were by this meane somewhat increased Vnder the happy raigne of her Maiesty which now is the greatest matter a while contended for was the wearing of the Cap and Surplesse till there came Admonitions directed vnto the high Court of Parliament by men who concealing their names thought it glory inough to discouer their minds and affections which now were vniuersally bent euen against all the orders and lawes wherein this Church is found vnconformable to the platforme of Geneua Concerning the defendor of which admonitions all that I meane to say is but this There will come a time when three words vttered with charitie and meeknesse shall receiue a farre more blessed reward then three thousand volumes written with disdainefull sharpnes of wit But the maner of mens writing must not alienate our hearts from the truth if it appeare they haue the truth as the followers of the same defendor do thinke he hath and in that perswasion they follow him no otherwise then himselfe doth Calvin Beza and others with the like perswasion that they in this cause had the truth We being as fully perswaded otherwise it resteth that some kind of tryall be vsed to find out which part is in error 3 The first meane whereby nature teacheth men to iudge good from euill as well in lawes as in other things is the force of their owne discretion Hereunto therefore Saint Paule referreth oftentimes his owne speech to be considered of by them that heard him I speake as to them which haue vnderstanding iudge ye what I say Againe afterward Iudge in your selues is it comely that a woman pray vncouered The exercise of this kind of iudgement our Sauiour requireth in the Iewes In them of Berea the Scripture commendeth it Finally whatsoeuer we do if our owne secret iudgement consent nor vnto it as fit and good to be done the doing of it to vs is sinne although the thing it selfe be allowable Saint Paules rule therefore generally is Let euery man in his owne minde be fully perswaded of that thing which he either alloweth or doth Some things are so familiar and plaine that truth from falshood and good from euill is most easily discerned in them euen by men of no deepe capacitie And of that nature for the most part are things absolutely vnto all mens saluation necessarie either to be held or denied either to be done or auoided For which cause Saint Augustine acknowledgeth that they are not onely set downe but also plainely set downe in Scripture so that he which heareth or readeth may without any great difficultie vnderstand Other things also there are belonging though in a lower degree of importance vnto the offices of Christian men which because they are more obscure more intricate and hard to be iudged of therefore God hath appointed some to spend their whole time principally in the studie of things diuine to
knowne relation which God hath vnto vs as vnto children and vnto all good thinges as vnto effectes whereof himselfe is the principall cause these axiomes and lawes naturall concerning our dutie haue arisen That in all things we go about his ayde is by prayer to be craued That he cannot haue sufficient honor done vnto him but the vttermost of that we can do to honour him we must which is in effect the same that we read Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soule and with all thy mind Which law our Sauiour doth terme the First and the great Commaundement Touching the next which as our Sauiour addeth is like vnto this he meaneth in amplitude and largenesse in as much as it is the roote out of which all laws of dutie to men-ward haue growne as out of the former all offices of religion towards God the like naturall inducement hath brought men to know that it is their duty no lesse to loue others then themselues For seeing those things which are equall must needes all haue one measure if I cannot but wish to receiue al good euen as much at euery mans hand as any man can wish vnto his owne soule how should I looke to haue any part of my desire herein satisfied vnlesse my self be careful to satisfie the like desire which is vndoubtedly in other men we all being of one and the same nature To haue any thing offered them repugnant to this desire must needs in all respects grieue them as much as me so that if I do harme I must looke to suffer there being no reason that others should shew greater measure of loue to me then they haue by me shewed vnto them My desire therefore to be loued of my equals in nature as much as possible may be imposeth vpon me a naturall dutie of bearing to them-ward fully the like affection From which relation of equalitie betweene our selues and them that are as our selues what seuerall rules and Canons naturall reason hath drawne for direction of life no man is ignorant as namely That because we would take no harme we must therefore do none That sith we would not be in any thing extreamely dealt with we must our selues auoide all extremitie in our dealings That from all violence and wrong wee are vtterly to abstaine with such like which further to wade in would bee tedious and to our present purpose not altogether so necessary seeing that on these two generall heads alreadie mentioned all other specialties are dependent Wherefore the naturall measure wherby to iudge our doings is the sentence of reason determining and setting downe what is good to be done Which sentence is either mandatory shewing what must be done or else permissiue declaring onely what may be done or thirdly admonitorie opening what is the most conuenient for vs to doe The first taketh place where the comparison doth stand altogether betweene doing and not doing of one thing which in it selfe is absolutely good or euill as it had bene for Ioseph to yeeld or not to yeeld to the impotent desire of his lewd mistresse the one euill the other good simply The second is when of diuerse things euill all being not euitable we are permitted to take one which one sauing only in case of so great vrgency were not otherwise to be taken as in the matter of diuorce amongst the Iewes The last when of diuers things good one is principall and most eminent as in their act who sould their possessions and layd the price at the Apostles feete which possessions they might haue retained vnto themselues without sinne againe in the Apostle S. Paules owne choyce to maintaine himselfe by his owne labour whereas in liuing by the Churches maintenance as others did there had bene no offence committed In goodnes therefore there is a latitude or extent whereby it commeth to passe that euen of good actions some are better then other some whereas otherwise one man could not excell another but all should be either absolutely good as hitting iumpe that indiuisible point or Center wherein goodnesse consisteth or else missing it they should be excluded out of the number of wel-doers Degrees of wel doing there could be none except perhaps in the seldomnes oftennes of doing well But the nature of goodnesse being thus ample a lawe is properly that which reason in such sort defineth to be good that it must be done And the law of reason or humaine nature is that which men by discourse of naturall reason haue rightly found out themselues to be all for euer bound vnto in their actions Lawes of reason haue these markes to be knowne by Such as keepe them resemble most liuely in their voluntarie actions that very manner of working which nature her selfe doth necessarily obserue in the course of the whole world The workes of nature are all behoouefull beautifull without superfluitie or defect euen so theirs if they be framed according to that which the law of reason teacheth Secondly those lawes are inuestigable by reason without the helpe of reuelation supernaturall and diuine Finally in such sort they are inuestigable that the knowledge of them is generall the world hath alwayes bene acquainted with them according to that which one in Sophocles obserueth corcerning a branch of this law It is no child of two dayes or yeasterdayes birth but hath bene no man knoweth how long sithence It is not agreed vpon by one or two or few but by all which we may not so vnderstand as if euery particular man in the whole world did know and confesse whatsoeuer the law of reason doth conteine but this lawe is such that being proposed no man can reiect it as vnreasonable and vniust Againe there is nothing in it but any man hauing naturall perfection of wit and ripenesse of iudgement may by labour and trauaile find out And to conclude the generall principles thereof are such as it is not easie to find men ignorant of them Law rationall therefore which men commonly vse to call the law of nature meaning thereby the law which humaine nature knoweth it selfe in reason vniuersally bound vnto which also for that cause may be termed most fitly the lawe of reason this law I say comprehendeth all those things which men by the light of their naturall vnderstanding euidently know or at least wife may know to be beseeming or vnbeseeming vertuous or vitious good or euill for them to do Now although it be true which some haue said that whatsoeuer is done amisse the law of nature and reason therby is transgrest because euen those offences which are by their speciall qualities breaches of supernaturall lawes do also for that they are generally euill violate in generall that principle of reason which willeth vniuersally to flie from euill yet do we not therfore so far extend the law of reason as to conteine in it all maner lawes
other might haue But then must they shewe some commission wherby they are authorized to sit as iudges and we required to take their iudgement for good in this case Otherwise their sentences will not be greatly regarded when they oppose their Me thinketh vnto the orders of the Church of England as in the question about surplesses one of them doth If we looke to the colour blacke me thinketh is more decent if to the forme a garment downe to the foote hath a great deale more cōlinesse in it If they thinke that we ought to proue the ceremonies cōmodious which we haue reteined they do in this point very greatly deceiue themselues For in all right equity that which the Church hath receiued held so long for good that which publique approbation hath ratified must cary the benefit of presumption with it to be accompted meet and conuenient They which haue stood vp as yesterday to challenge it of defect must proue their challenge If we being defendants do answer that the ceremonies in question are godly comely decent profitable for the Church their reply is childish vnorderly to say that we demaund the thing in question shew the pouerty of our cause the goodnes wherof we are faine to begge that our aduersaries would graunt For on our part this must be the aunswere which orderly proceeding doth require The burthen of prouing doth rest on them In them it is friuolous to say we ought not to vse bad ceremonies of the Church of Rome and presume all such bad as it pleaseth themselues to dislike vnlesse we can perswade them the contrary Besides they are herin opposite also to themselues For what one thing is so common with thē as to vse the custome of the Church of Rome for an argument to proue that such such ceremonies cānot be good profitable for vs in as much as that church vseth them Which vsual kind of disputing sheweth that they do not disallow onely those Romish ceremonies which are vnprofitable but count all vnprofitable which are Romish that is to say which haue bene deuised by the Church of Rome or which are vsed in that Church and not prescribed in the word of God For this is the onely limitation which they can vse sutable vnto their other positions And therefore the cause which they yeeld why they hold it lawfull to reteine in Doctrine and in Discipline some things as good which yet are common to the Church of Rome is for that those good things are perpetual commandements in whose place no other can come but ceremonies are changeable So that their iudgement in truth is that whatsoeuer by the word of God is not changeable in the Church of Rome that Churches vsing is a cause why reformed Churches ought to change it and not to thinke it good or profitable And least we seeme to father any thing vpon them more thē is properly their owne let them reade euen their owne words where they complaine that we are thus constrained to be like vnto the Papists in Any their ceremonies yea they vrge that this cause although it were alone ought to moue them to whom that belongeth to do thē away for as much as they are their ceremonies and that the B. of Salisbury doth iustifie this their complaint The clause is vntrue which they adde concerning the B. of Salisbury but the sentence doth shew that we do them no wrōg in setting downe the state of the question betweene vs thus Whether we ought to abolish out of the Church of England all such orders rites and ceremonies as are established in the Church of Rome and are not prescribed in the word of God For the affirmatiue whereof we are now to answer such proofes of theirs as haue bene before alleaged 5 Let the Church of Rome be what it will let them that are of it be the people of God and our fathers in the Christian faith or let them be otherwise hold them for Catholiques or hold them for heretiques it is not a thing either one way or other in this present question greatly material Our conformity with thē in such things as haue bene proposed is not proued as yet vnlawfull by all this S. Augustine hath said yea and we haue allowed his saying That the custome of the people of God and the decrees of our forefathers are to be kept touching those things wherof the scripture hath neither one way nor other giuen vs any charge What then Doth it here therfore follow that they being neither the people of God nor our forefathers are for that cause in nothing to be followed This consequent were good if so be it were graunted that onely the custome of the people of God the decrees of our forefathers are in such case to be obserued But then should no other kind of later laws in the church be good which were a grosse absurdity to think S. Augustines speech therefore doth import that where we haue no diuine precept if yet we haue the custome of the people of God or a decree of our forefathers this is a law and must be kept Notwithstanding it is not denied but that we lawfully may obserue the positiue constitutions of our owne Churches although the same were but yesterday made by our selues alone Nor is there any thing in this to proue that the Church of England might not by law receiue orders rites or customes from the Church of Rome although they were neither the people of God nor yet our forefathers How much lesse when we haue receiued from them nothing but that which they did themselues receiue from such as we cannot deny to haue bene the people of God yea such as either we must acknowledge for our owne forefathers or else disdaine the race of Christ 6 The rites and orders wherein we follow the Church of Rome are of no other kind thē such as the Church of Geneua it selfe doth follow thē in We follow the church of Rome in moe things yet they in some things of the same nature about which our present controuersie is so that the difference is not in the kind but in the number of rites only wherein they and we do follow the Church of Rome The vse of wafer-cakes the custom of godfathers godmothers in baptisme are things not commanded nor forbidden in scripture things which haue bene of old are reteined in the Church of Rome euen at this very hower Is conformity with Rome in such things a blemish vnto the Church of England vnto Churches abroad an ornament Let thē if not for the reuerence they ow vnto this Church in the bowels wherof they haue receiued I trust that pretious and blessed vigor which shall quicken thē to eternall life yet at the leastwise for the singular affection which they do beare towards others take heed how they strike least they wound whom they would not For vndoubtedly it cutteth deeper thē they
simple men who knowing the time of their owne Presidentship to bee but short would alwayes stand in feare of their ministers perpetuall authoritie and among the ministers themselues one being so farre in estimation aboue the rest the voyces of the rest were likely to be giuen for the most part respectiuely with a kinde of secret dependencie and awe so that in shewe a maruellous indifferently composed Senate Ecclesiasticall was to gouerne but in effect one onely man should as the Spirite and soule of the residue doe all in all But what did these vaine surmises boote Brought they were now to so straight an issue that of two thinges they must choose one namely whether they would to their endlesse disgrace with ridiculous lightnes dismisse him whose restitution they had in so impotent maner desired or else condescende vnto that demaund wherein hee was resolute eyther to haue it or to leaue them They thought it better to be somewhat hardly yoked at home then for euer abroad discredited Wherefore in the ende those orders were on all sides assented vnto with no lesse alacritie of minde then Cities vnable to holde out longer are wont to shewe when they take conditions such as it liketh him to offer them which hath them in the narrow streightes of aduantage Not many yeares were ouerpassed before these twice sworne men aduentured to giue their last and hotest assault to the fortresse of the same discipline childishly graunting by comon consent of their whole Senate that vnder their towne seale a relaxation to one Bertelier whom the Eldership had excommunicated further also decreeing with strange absurditie that to the same Senate it should belong to giue finall iudgemēt in matter of excōmunication and to absolue whom it pleased them cleane contrary to their owne former deedes and oaths The report of which decree being forth with brought vnto Caluin Before sayth he this decree take place either my bloud or banishment shall signe it Againe two dayes before the Cōmunion should be celebrated his speech was publiquely to like effect Kill me if euer this hand do reach forth the things that are holy to thē whom THE CHVRCH hath iudged despisers Whereupon for feare of tumult the forenamed Bertelier was by his friends aduised for that time not to vse the liberty granted him by the Senate nor to present himselfe in the Church till they saw somewhat further what would ensue After the Communion quietly ministred and some likelihood of peaceable ending these troubles without any more ado that very day in the afternoone besides all mens expectation concluding his ordinary sermon he telleth them that because he neither had learned nor taught to striue with such as are in authority therefore sayth he the case so standing as now it doth let me vse these words of the Apostle vnto you I commend you vnto God the word of his grace and so bad them hartily all A dew It sometimes commeth to passe that the readiest way which a wise man hath to conquer is to flie This voluntarie and vnexpected mention of sudden departure caused presently the Senate for according to their woonted maner they still continued onely constant in vnconstancy to gather themselues together and for a time to suspend their own decree leauing things to proceed as before till they had heard the iudgement of foure Heluetian Cities concerning the matter which was in strife This to haue done at the first before they gaue assēt vnto any order had shewed some wit discretion in thē but now to do it was as much as to say in effect that they would play their parts on stage Caluin therfore dispatcheth with all expedition his letters vnto some principall pastor in euery of those cities crauing earnestly at their hands to respect this cause as a thing whereupō the whole state of religion piety in that church did so much depend that God all good men were now ineuitably certaine to be trampled vnder foot vnlesse those foure Cities by their good means might be brought to giue sentence with the ministers of Geneua when the cause should be brought before them yea so to giue it that two things it might effectually containe the one an absolute approbation of the discipline of Geneua as consonant vnto the word of God without any cautions qualifications ifs or ands the other an earnest admonition not to innouate or change the same His vehemēt request herein as touching both points was satisfied For albeit the sayd Heluetian Churches did neuer as yet obserue that discipline neuerthelesse the Senate of Geneua hauing required their iudgement concerning these three questions First after what manner by Gods commaundement according to the Scripture and vnspotted religion excommunication is to be exercised Secondly whether it may not be exercised some other way then by the Consistorie Thirdly what the vse of their Churches was to do in this case answer was returned from the sayd Churches That they had heard already of those consistoriall lawes and did acknowledge them to be godly ordinances drawing towards the prescript of the word of God for which cause that they did not thinke it good for the Church of Geneua by innouation to change the same but rather to keepe them as they were Which aunswer although not aunswering vnto the former demaunds but respecting what Maister Caluin had iudged requisite for them to aunswere was notwithstanding accepted without any further reply in as much as they plainely saw that when stomacke doth striue with wit the match is not equall And so the heat of their former contentions began to flake The present inhabitants of Geneua J hope will not take it in euill part that the faltinesse of their people heretofore is by vs so farre forth layd open as their owne learned guides and Pastors haue thought necessarie to discouer it vnto the world For out of their bookes and writings it is that I haue collected this whole narration to the end it might thereby appeare in what sort amongst them that discipline was planted for which so much contention is raised amongst our selues The reasons which mooued Caluin herein to be so earnest was as Beza himselfe testifieth for that he saw how needfull these bridles were to be put in the iawes of that Citie That which by wisedome he saw to be requisite for that people was by as great wisedome compassed But wise men are men and the truth is truth That which Caluin did for establishment of his discipline seemeth more commendable then that which he taught for the countenancing of it established Nature worketh in vs all a loue to our owne counsels The contradiction of others is a fanne to inflame that loue Our loue set on fire to maintaine that which once we haue done sharpeneth the wit to dispute to argue and by all meanes to reason for it Wherefore a maruaile it were if a man of so great capacitie hauing such incitements to make him desirous of
the end that in these more doubtfull cases their vnderstanding might be a light to direct others If the vnderstanding power or facultie of the soule be sayth the grand Phisitian like vnto bodily sight not of equall sharpnesse in all what can be more conuenient then that euen as the darke-sighted man is directed by the cleare about things visible so likewise in matters of deeper discourse the wise in heart do shew the simple where his way lyeth In our doubtfull cases of law what man is there who seeth not how requisite it is that professors of skill in that facultie be our directors So it is in all other kinds of knowledge And euen in this kind likewise the Lord hath himselfe appointed that the Priests lips should preserue knowledge and that other men should seeke the truth at his mouth because he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts Gregory Nazianzene offended at the peoples too great presumption in controlling the iudgement of them to whom in such cases they should haue rather submitted their owne seeketh by earnest intreatie to stay them within their bounds Presume not ye that are sheepe to make your selues guides of them that should guide you neither seeke ye to ouerskip the fold which they about you haue pitched It sufficeth for your part if ye can well frame your selues to be ordered Take not vpon you to iudge your selues nor to make them subiect to your lawes who should be a law to you For God is not a God of sedition and confusion but of order and of peace But ye will say that if the guides of the people be blind the common sort of men must not close vp their owne eyes and be led by the conduct of such if the Priest be partiall in the law the flocke must not therefore depart from the wayes of sincere truth and in simplicitie yeeld to be followers of him for his place sake and office ouer them Which thing though in it selfe most true is in your defence notwithstanding weake because the matter wherein ye thinke that yee see and imagine that your wayes are sincere is of farre deeper consideration then any one amongest fiue hundred of you conceiueth Let the vulgar sort amongst you know that there is not the least branch of the cause wherin they are so resolute but to the triall of it a great deale more appertaineth then their conceipt doth reach vnto I write not this in disgrace of the simplest that way giuen but I would gladly they knewe the nature of that cause wherein they thinke themselues throughly instructed and are not by meanes whereof they daily run themselues without feeling their owne hazard vppon the dâ—nt of the Apostles sentence against euill speakers as touching things wherein they are ignorant If it be graunted a thing vnlawfull for priuate men not called vnto publique consultation to dispute which is the best state of ciuill Policie with a desire of bringing in some other kind then that vnder which they already liue for of such disputes I take it his meaning was if it be a thing confest that of such questions they cannot determine without rashnesse in as much as a great part of them consisteth in speciall circumstances and for one kind as many reasons may be brought as for another is there any reason in the world why they should better iudge what kind of regiment Ecclesiasticall is the fittest For in the Ciuill state more insight and in those affaires more experience a great deale must needes be graunted them then in this they can possibly haue When they which write in defence of your discipline and commend it vnto the Highest not in the least cunning manner are forced notwithstanding to acknowledge that with whom the truth is they knowe not they are not certaine what certainty or knowledge can the multitude haue thereof Waigh what doth mooue the common sort so much to fauour this innouation and it shall soone appeare vnto you that the force of particular reasons which for your seuerall opinions are alleaged is a thing whereof the multitude neuer did nor could so consider as to be there with wholly caried but certaine generall inducements are vsed to make saleable your Cause in grosse and when once men haue cast a phancie towards it any slight declaration of specialties will serue to lead forward mens inclinable and prepared minds The methode of winning the peoples affection vnto a generall liking of the Cause for so ye terme it hath bene this First in the hearing of the multitude the faults especially of higher callings are ripped vp with maruellous exceeding seuerity and sharpnesse of reproofe which being oftentimes done begetteth a great good opinion of integritie zeale holinesse to such coÌ„stant reproouers of sinne as by likelihood would neuer be so much offended at that which is euill vnlesse themselues were singularly good The next thing hereunto is to impute all faults and corruptions wherewith the world aboundeth vnto the kind of Ecclesiasticall gouernement established Wherin as before by reprouing faults they purchased vnto themselues with the multitude a name to be vertuous so by finding out this kind of cause they obtaine to be iudged wise aboue others whereas in truth vnto the forme euen of Iewish gouernement which the Lord himselfe they all confesse did establish with like shew of reason they might impute those faults which the Prophets condemne in the gouernors of that common wealth as to the English kind of regiment Ecclesiasticall whereof also God himselfe though in other sort is author the staines and blemishes found in our State which springing from the root of humaine frailty and corruption not only are but haue bene alwaies more or lesse yea and for any thing we know to the contrary will be till the worlds end complained of what forme of gouernement soeuer take place Hauing gotten thus much sway in the hearts of men a third step is to propose their owne forme of Church gouernement as the onely soueraigne remedy of all euils and to adorne it with all the glorious titles that may be And the nature as of men that haue sicke bodies so likewise of the people in the crazednes of their minds possest with dislike and discontentment at things present is to imagine that any thing the vertue wherof they here commended would helpe them but that most which they least haue tried The fourth degree of inducements is by fashioning the very notions conceipts of mens minds in such sort that when they read the Scripture they may thinke that euery thing soundeth towards the aduancement of that discipline and to the vtter disgrace of the contrary Pythagoras by bringing vp his Schollers in the speculatiue knowledge of numbers made their conceipts therein so strong that when they came to the contemplation of things naturall they imagined that in euery particular thing they euen beheld as it were with their eyes how the elements of
number gaue essence and being to the workes of nature A thing in reason impossible which notwithstanding through their misfashioned preconceipt appeared vnto them no lesse certaine then if nature had written it in the very foreheads of all the creatures of God When they of the family of loue haue it once in their heads that Christ doth not signifie any one person but a qualitie whereof many are partakers that to be raised is nothing else but to be regenerated or indued with the said quality and that when separation of them which haue it from them which haue it not is here made this is iudgement how plainely do they imagine that the Scripture euery where speaketh in the fauour of that sect And assuredly the very cause which maketh the simple and ignorant to thinke they euen see how the word of God runneth currantly on your side is that their minds are forestalled and their conceits peruerted before hand by being taught that an Elder doth signifie a lay man admitted onely to the office of rule or gouernement in the Church a Doctor one which may only teach and neither preach nor administer the Sacraments a Deacon one which hath charge of the almes boxe and of nothing else that the Scepter the rod the throne kingdome of Christ are a forme of regiment onely by Pastors Elders Doctors and Deacons that by mysticall resemblance mount Sion and Jerusalem are the Churches which admit Samaria and Babylon the Churches which oppugne the said forme of regimeÌ„t And in like sort they are taught to apply al things spoken of repairing the wals and decayed parts of the city temple of God by Esdras Nehemias the rest as if purposely the holy Ghost had therein ment to foresignifie what the authors of admonitions to the Parliament of supplications to the Councell of petitions to her Maiesty and of such other like writs should either do or suffer in behalfe of this their cause From hence they proceed to an higher point which is the perswading of men credulous ouer capable of such pleasing errors that it is the speciall illumination of the holy Ghost whereby they discerne those things in the word which others reading yet discerne them not Dearly beloued saith S. Iohn Giue not credit vnto euery Spirit There are but two wayes whereby the spirit leadeth men into 〈◊〉 truth the one extraordinarie the other common the one belonging but vnto some few the other extending it selfe vnto all that are of God the one that which we call by a speciall diuine excellency Reuelation the other Reason If the Spirit by such reuelation haue discouered vnto theÌ„ the secrets of that discipline out of Scripture they must professe themselues to be all euen men women and children Prophets Or if reason be the hand which the Spirit hath led them by for as much as perswasions grounded vpon reason are either weaker or stronger according to the force of those reasons whereupon the same are grounded they must euery of them from the greatest to the least be able for euery seuerall article to shewe some special reason as strong as their perswasion therin is earnest Otherwise how can it be but that some other sinewes there are from which that ouerplus of strength in perswasion doth arise Most sure it is that when mens affections do frame their opinions they are in defence of error more earnest a great deale then for the most part sound belieuers in the maintenance of truth apprehended according to the nature of that euidence which Scripture yeeldeth which being in some things plaine as in the principles of Christian doctrine in some things as in these matters of discipline more darke and doubtfull frameth correspondently that inward assent which Gods most gracious Spirit worketh by it as by his effectuall instrument It is not therefore the feruent earnestnes of their perswasion but the soundnes of those reasons whereupon the same is built which must declare their opinions in these things to haue bene wrought by the holy Ghost and not by the fraud of that euill Spirit which is euen in his illusions strong After that the phancie of the common sort hath once throughly apprehended the Spirit to be author of their perswasion concerning discipline then is instilled into their hearts that the same Spirit leading men into this opinion doth thereby seale them to be Gods children and that as the state of the times now standeth the most speciall token to know them that are Gods owne from others is an earnest affection that way This hath bred high termes of separation betweene such and the rest of the world whereby the one sort are named Theâ—rethren â—rethren The godly and so forth the other worldlings timeseruers pleasers of men not of God with such like From hence they are easily drawne on to thinke it exceeding necessarie for feare of quenching that good Spirit to vse all meanes whereby the same may be both strengthned in themselues and made manifest vnto others This maketh them diligent hearers of such as are knowne that way to incline this maketh them eager to take and to seeke all occasions of secret conference with such this maketh them glad to vse such as Counsellors and directors in all their dealings which are of waight as contracts testaments and the like this maketh them through an vnweariable desire of receiuing instruction from the maisters of that companie to cast off the care of those verie affaires which do most concerne their estate and to thinke that then they are like vnto Marie commendable for making choyce of the better part Finally this is it which maketh them willing to charge yea oftentimes euen to ouercharge themselues for such mens sustenance and reliefe least their zeale to the cause should any way be vnwitnessed For what is it which poore beguiled soules will not do through so powerfull incitements In which respect it is also noted that most labour hath bene bestowed to win and retaine towards this cause them whose iudgements are commonly weakest by reason of their sex And although not women loden with sinnes as the Apostle S. Paul speaketh but as we verily esteeme of them for the most part women propense and inclinable to holines be otherwise edified in good things rather then caried away as captiues into any kind of sinne and euill by such as enter into their houses with purpose to plant there a zeale and a loue towards this kind of discipline yet some occasion is hereby ministred for men to thinke that if the cause which is thus furthered did gaine by the soundnes of proofe wherupon it doth build it selfe it would not most busily endeuor to preuaile where least hability of iudgement is and therefore that this so eminent industry in making proselytes more of that sex then of the other groweth for that they are deemed apter to serue as instruments and helps in the cause Apter they are through the eagernes of their affection
Church staÌ„deth bound by the law of God to put downe Bishops and in their roomes to erect an eldership so authorized as you would haue it for the gouernmeÌ„t of each parish Deceiued greatly they are therfore who think that all they whose names are cited amongst the fauourers of this cause are on any such verdict agreed Yet touching some materiall points of your discipline a kind of agreement we grant there is amongst many diuines of reformed Churches abroad For first to do as the Church of Geneua did the learned in some other churches must needs be the more willing who hauing vsed in like maner not the slow tedious help of proceeding by publike authoritie but the peoples more quick endeuor for alteratioÌ„ in such an exigent I see not well how they could haue staied to deliberat about any other regimeÌ„t theÌ„ that which already was deuised to their hands that which in like case had bene takeÌ„ that which was easiest to be established without delay that which was likeliest to content the people by reason of some kind of sway which it giueth them When therfore the example of one Church was thus at the first almost through a kind of coÌ„straint or necessitie followed by many their concurrence in perswasion about some materiall points belonging to the same policie is not strange For we are not to maruell greatly if they which haue all done the same thing do easily embrace the same opinion as coÌ„cerning their owne doings Besides mark I beseech you that which Galen in matter of philosophie noteth for the like falleth out euen in questions of higher knowledge It fareth many times with mens opinioÌ„s as with rumors reports That which a credible person telleth is easily thought probable by such as are well perswaded of him But if two or three or foure agree all in the same tale they iudge it then to be out of controuersie and so are many times ouertaken for want of due consideration eyther some common cause leading them all inâ—â— error or one mans ouersight deceiuing many through their too much credulitie and easinesse of beliefe Though ten persons be brought to giue testimony in any cause yet if the knowledge they haue of the thing whereunto they come as witnesses appeare to haue growne from some one amongst them and to haue spred it selfe from hand to hand they all are in force but as one testimony Nor is it otherwise here where the daughter Churches do speake their mothers dialect here where so many sing one song by reason that hee is the guide of the quier concerning whose deserued authoritie amongst euen the grauest diuines we haue already spoken at large Will ye aske what should moue those many learned to be followers of one mans iudgement no necessitie of argument forcing them thereunto your demaund is answered by your selues Loath ye are to thinke that they whom ye iudge to haue attained as sound knowledge in all points of doctrine as any since the Apostles time should mistake in discipline Such is naturally our affection that whom in great things we mightily admire in them we are not perswaded willingly that any thing should be amisse The reason whereof is for that as dead flies putrifie the oyntment of the Apothecarie so a little folly him that is in estimation for wisedome This in euery profession hath too much authorized the iudgement of a few This with Germans hath caused Luther and with many other Churches Caluin to preuaile in all things Yet are we not able to define whether the wisedome of that God who setteth before vs in holy Scripture so many admirable paternes of vertue and no one of them without somewhat noted wherin they were culpable to the end that to him alone it might alwayes be acknowledged Thou onely art holy thou onely art iust might not permit those worthy vessels of his glory to be in some thinges blemished with the staine of humaine frailtie euen for this cause least wee should esteeme of any man aboue that which behoueth 5. Notwithstanding as though ye were able to say a great deale more then hitherto your bookes haue reuealed to the world earnest chalengers ye are of triall by some publique disputation Wherein if the thing ye craue bee no more then onely leaue to dispute openly about those matters that are in question the schooles in Vniuersities for any thing I know are open vnto you they haue their yearely Acts and Commencements besides other disputations both ordinary and vpon occasion wherein the seuerall parts of our owne Ecclesiasticall discipline are oftentimes offered vnto that kind of examination the learnedest of you haue bene of late yeares noted seldome or neuer absent from thence at the time of those greater assemblies and the fauour of proposing there in conuenient sort whatsoeuer ye can obiect which thing my selfe haue knowne them to graunt of Scholasticall courtesie vnto straungers neither hath as I thinke nor euer will I presume be denied you If your suite be to haue some great extraordinary confluence in expectation whereof the lawes that already are should sleepe and haue no power ouer you till in the hearing of thousands ye all did acknowledge your error and renounce the further prosecutioÌ„ of your cause happily they whose authority is required vnto the satisfying of your demaund do think it both dangerous to admit such coÌ„course of deuided minds vnmeet that laws which being once solemnly established are to exact obedience of all men and to constraine therunto should so far stoup as to hold theÌ„selues in suspeÌ„se froÌ„ taking any effect vpoÌ„ you till some disputer can perswade you to be obedient A law is the deed of the whole body politike wherof if ye iudge your selues to be any part theÌ„ is the law eueÌ„ your deed also And were it reasoÌ„ in things of this qualitie to giue meÌ„ audience pleading for the ouerthrow of that which their own very deed hath ratified Laws that haue bin approued may be no man doubteth again repealed to that end also disputed against by the authors thereof theÌ„selues But this is wheÌ„ the whole doth deliberate what laws each part shal obserue not when a part refuseth the laws which the whole hath orderly agreed vpon NotwithstaÌ„ding for as much as the cause we maintain is God be thanked such as needeth not to shun any triall might it please theÌ„ on whose approbatioÌ„ the matter dependeth to coÌ„descend so far vnto you in this behalf I wish hartily that proofe were made euen by solemne confereÌ„ce in orderly quiet sort whether you would your selues be satisfied or else could by satisfying others draw theÌ„ to your part Prouided alwaies first in asmuch as ye go about to destroy a thing which is in force to draw in that which hath not as yet bin receiued to impose on vs that which we think not our selues bound vnto to ouerthrow those things whereof we are possessed that therefore
rashnes God was not ignorant that the Priests and Iudges whose sentence in matters of controuersie 〈◊〉 ordained should stand both might and oftentimes would be deceiued in their iudgement Howbeit better it was in the eye of his vnderstanding that sometime an erroneous sentence definitiue should preuaile till the same authoritie perceiuing such ouersight might afterwardes correct or reuerse it then that strifes should haue respit to growe and not come speedily vnto some end Neither wish we that men should do any thing which in their hearts they are perswaded they ought not to doe but this perswasion ought we say to be fully setled in their harts that in litigious and controuersed causes of such qualitie the will of God is to haue them to do whatsoeuer the sentence of iudiciall and finall decision shall determine yea though it seeme in their priuate opinioÌ„ to swarue vtterly from that which is right as no doubt many times the sentence amongst the Iewes did seeme vnto one part or other contending and yet in this case God did then allow them to doe that which in their priuate iudgement it seemed yea and perhaps truly seemed that the lawe did disallow For if God be not the author of confusion but of peace then can he not be the author of our refusall but of our contentment to stand vnto some definitiue sentence without which almost impossible it is that eyther wee should auoyd confusion or euer hope to attaine peace To small purpose had the Councell of Ierusalem bene assembled if once their determination being set downe men might afterwards haue defended their former opinions When therefore they had giuen their definitiue sentence all controuersie was at an ende Things were disputed before they came to be determined men afterwardes were not to dispute any longer but to obey The sentence of iudgement finished their strife which their disputes before iudgement could not doe This was ground sufficient for any reasonable mans conscience to build the dutie of obedience vpon whatsoeuer his owne opinion were as touching the matter before in question So full of wilfulnes and selfeliking is our nature that without some definitiue sentence which being giuen may stand and a necessitie of silence on both sides afterward imposed small hope there is that strifes thus far prosecuted will in short time quietly end Now it were in vaine to aske you whether ye could be content that the sentence of any Court already erected should bee so farre authorized as that among the Iewes established by God himselfe for the determining of all controuersies That man which wil do presumptuously not harkning vnto the Priest that standeth before the Lord to minister there nor vnto the Iudge let him dye Ye haue giuen vs already to vnderstand what your opinioÌ„ is in part concerning her sacred Maiesties Court of high Commission the nature whereof is the same with that amongst the Iewes albeit the power be not so great The other way happily may like you better because Maister Beza in his last booke saue one written about these matters professeth himselfe to be now weary of such combats and encounters whether by word or writing in as much as he findeth that controuersies therby are made but braules therfore wisheth that in some common lawfull assembly of Churches all these strifes may at once be decided Shall there be then in the meane while no doings Yes There are the waightier matters of the lawe iudgement and mercie and fidelitie These things we ought to do and these things while we contend about lesse we leaue vndone Happier are they whom the Lord when he commeth shall finde doing in these things then disputing about Doctors Elders Deacons Or if there be no remedie but somewhat needs ye must do which may tend to the setting forward of your discipline do that which wise men who thinke some Statute of the realme more fit to be repealed then to stand in force are accustomed to do before they come to Parliament where the place of enacting is that is to say spend the time in reexamining more duly your cause and in more throughly considering of that which ye labour to ouerthrow As for the orders which are established sith equitie and reason the law of nature God and man do all fauour that which is in being till orderly iudgement of decision be giuen against it it is but iustice to exact of you and peruersnes in you it should be to denie thereunto your willing obedience Not that I iudge it a thing allowable for men to obserue those lawes which in their hearts they are stedfastly perswaded to be against the law of God but your perswasion in this case ye are all bound for the time to suspend and in otherwise doing ye offend against God by troubling his church without any iust or necessary cause Be it that there are some reasons inducing you to think hardly of our lawes Are those reasons demonstratiue are they necessary or but meere probabilities only An argument necessary demonstratiue is such as being proposed vnto any mâ— vnderstood the mind cannot choose but inwardly assent Any one such reason dischargeth J graunt the conscience and setteth it at full libertie For the publike approbatioÌ„ giuen by the body this whole Church vnto those things which are established doth make it but probable that they are good And therefore vnto a necessary proofe that they are not good it must be giue place But if the skilfullest amongst you can shew that all the bookes ye haue hitherto written be able to afford any one argument of this nature let the instance be giuen As for probabilities what thing was there euer set downe so agreeable with soâ—â—â—d reason but some probable shewe against it might be made Is it meete that when publikely things are receiued and haue taken place generall obedience thereunto should cease to bee exacted in case this or that priuate person led with some probable conceipt shoulde make open protestation I Peter or Iohn disallow them and pronounce them nought In which case your answere will be that concerning the lawes of our Church they are not onely condemned in the opinion of a priuate man but of thousands yea and euen of those amongst which dâ—uers are in publique charge and authoritie As though when publique consent of the whole hath established anything euery mans iudgement being thereunto compared were not priuate howsoeuer his calling be to some kind of publique charge So that of peace and quietnes there is not any way possible vnlesse the probable voice of euery intier societie or body politique ouerrule all priuate of like nature in the same body Which thing effectually proueth that God being author of peace and not of confusion in the Church must needs be author of those mens peaceable resolutions who concerning these thinges haue determined with themselues to thinke and do as the Church they are of decreeth till they see necessary cause enforcing
them to the contrary 7. Nor is mine owne intent any other in these seuerall bookes of discourse then to make it appeare vnto you that for the ecclesiasticall lawes of this land we are led by great reason to obserue them and ye by no necessitie bound to impugne them It is no part of my secret meaning to draw you hereby into hatred or to set vpoÌ„ the face of this cause any fairer glasse then the naked truth doth afford but my whole endeuour is to resolue the conscience and to shew as neare as I can what in this controuersie the hart is to thinke if it will follow the light of sound and sincere iudgement without either clowd of preiudice or mist of passionate affection Wherefore seeing that lawes and ordinances in particular whether such as we obserue or such as your selues would haue established when the minde doth sift and examine them it must needes haue often recourse to a number of doubts and questions about the nature kindes and qualities of lawes in generall whereof vnlesse it be throughly enformed there will appeare no certaintie to stay our perswasion vpon I haue for that cause set downe in the first place an introduction on both sides needfull to bee considered Declaring therein what law is how different kindes of lawes there are and what force they are of according vnto each kind This done because ye suppose the lawes for which ye striue are found in scripture but those not against which we striue vpon this surmise are drawne to hold it as the very maine pillar of your whole cause that scripture ought to be the onely rule of all our actions and consequently that the Church-orders which wee obserue being not commaunded in scripture are offensiue and displeasant vnto God I haue spent the second booke in sifting of this point which standeth with you for the first and chiefest principle whereon ye build Wherevnto the next in degree is that as God will haue alwayes a Church vpon earth while the worlde doth continue and that Church stand in neede of gouernment of which gouernment it behoueth himselfe to bee both the author and teacher so it cannot stand with dutie that man should euer presume in any wise to chaunge and alter the same and therefore That in Scripture there must of necessitie be found some particular forme of politie Ecclesiasticall the lawes whereof admit not any kinde of alteration The first three bookes being thus ended the fourth proceedeth from the generall grounds and foundations of your cause vnto your generall accusations against vs as hauing in the orders of our Church for so you pretend corrupted the right forme of Church politie with manifolde popish rites and ceremonies which certaine reformed Churches haue banished from amongst them and haue thereby giuen vs such examples as you thinke wee ought to follow This your assertion hath herein drawne vs to make search whether these bee iust exceptions against the customes of our Church when ye pleade that they are the same which the Church of Rome hath or that they are not the same which some other reformed Churches haue deuised Of those foure bookes which remaine and are bestowed about the specialties of that cause which lyeth in controuersie the first examineth the causes by you alleaged wherefore the publique duties of Christian religion as our prayers our Sacramants and the rest should not be ordered in such sort as with vs they are nor that power whereby the persons of men are consecrated vnto the ministerie be disposed of in such maner as the lawes of this Church doe allow The second and third are concerning the power of iurisdiction the one whether laâ— men such as your gouerning Elders are ought in all congregations for euer to bee inuested with that power the other whether Bishops may haue that power ouer other Pastors and there withall that honour which with vs they haue And because besides the power of order which all consecrated persons haue and the power of iurisdiction which neither they all nor they only haue there is a third power a power of Ecclesiasticall Dominion communicable as wee thinke vnto persons not Ecclesiasticall and most fit to be restrained vnto the Prince or Soueraigne commaunder ouer the whole body politique the eight booke we haue allotted vnto this question and haue sifted therein your obiections against those preeminences royall which thereunto appertâ—ine Thus haue J layd before you the briefe of these my trauailes and presented vnder your view the limmes of that cause litigious betweene vs the whole intier body whereof being thus compact it shall be no troublesome thing for any man to find each particular controuersies resting place and the coherence it hath with those things either on which it dependeth or which depend on it 8. The case so standing therefore my brethren as it doth the wisdome of gouernors ye must not blame in that they further also forecasting the manifold strange dangerous innouations which are more then likely to follow if your discipline should take place haue for that cause thought it hitherto a part of their dutie to withstand your endeuors that way The rather for that they haue seene alreadie some small beginninges of the fruits thereof in them who concurring with you in iudgement aboute the necessitie of that discipline haue aduentured without more adoe to separate themselues from the rest of the Church and to put your speculations in execution These mens hastines the warier sort of you doth not commend yee wish they had held themselues longer in and not so dangerously flowne abroad before the fethers of the cause had beene growne their errour with mercifull terms ye reproue naming them in great commiseration of mind your poore brethren They oâ— the contrary side more bitterly accuse you as their false brethreÌ„ against you they plead saying From your breasts it is that we haue sucked those thinges which when ye deliuered vnto vs ye termed that heauenly sincere and wholesome milke of Gods word howsoeuer yee now abhorre as poyson that which the vertue thereof hath wrought and brought forth in vs. Ye sometime our companions guides and familiars with whome we haue had most sweete consultations are now become our professed aduersaries because wee thinke the statute-congregations in Englande to bee no true Christian Churches because wee haue seuered our selues from them and because without their leaue or licence that are in Ciuill authoritie wee haue secretly framed our owne Churches according to the platforme of the worde of God For of that point betweene you and vs there is no controuersie Alas what would ye haue vs to doe At such time as ye were content to accept vs in the number of your owne your teachinges we heard we read your writinges and though wee would yet able wee are not to forget with what zeale yee haue euer profest that in the English congregations for so many of them as bee ordered according
by your lawes taken away your selues who haue sought them ye so excuse as that ye would haue men to thinke ye iudge them not allowable but tollerable only and to be borne with for some helpe which ye find in them vnto the furtherance of your purposes till the corrupt estate of the Churâ—h may be better reformed Your lawes forbidding Ecclesiasticall persons vtterly the exercise of Ciuill power must needs depriue the Heads and Maisters in the same Colledges of all such authoritie as now they exercise either at home by punishing the faults of those who not as children to their parents by the law of Nature but altogether by ciuill authority are subiect vnto them or abroad by keeping Courts amongst their tenants Your lawes making permanent inequalitie amongst Ministers a thing repugnant to the word of God enforce those Colledges the Seniors whereof are all or any part of them Ministers vnder the gouernment of a maister in the same vocation to choose as oft as they meet together a new president For if so ye iudge it necessary to do in Synods for the auoyding of permanent inequality amongst Ministers the same cause must needs euen in these Collegiate assemblies enforce the like Except per aduenture ye meane to auoid all such absurdities by dissoluing those Corporations and by bringing the Vniuersities vnto the forme of the Schoole of Geneua Which thing men the rather are inclined to looke for in as much as the Ministery whereinto their founders with singular prouidence haue by the same statutes appointed them necessarily to enter at a certaine time your lawes bind them much more necessarily to forbeare till some parish abroad call for them Your opinion concerning the law Ciuill is that the knowledge thereof might be spared as a thing which this land doth not need Professors in that kind being few ye are the bolder to spurne at them and not to dissemble your minds as concerning their remoouall in whose studies although my selfe haue not much bene conuersant neuerthelesse exceeding great cause I see there is to wish that thereunto more encouragement were giuen as well for the singular treasures of wisedome therein conteined as also for the great vse we haue thereof both in decision of certaine kinds of causes arising daily within our selues and especially for commerce with Nations abroad whereunto that knowledge is most requisite The reasons wherewith ye would perswade that Scripture is the onely rule to frame all our actions by are in euery respect as effectuall for proofe that the same is the onely law whereby to determine all our Ciuill controuersies And then what doth let but that as those men may haue their desire who frankely broch it already that the worke of reformation will neuer be perfect till the law of Iesus Christ be receiued alone so pleaders and Counsellors may bring their bookes of the Common law and bestow them as the students of curious needlesse arts did theirs in the Apostles time J leave them to scanne how farre those words of yours may reach wherein ye declare that whereas now many houses lye waste through inordinate suites of law This one thing will showe the excellencie of Discipline for the wealth of the Realme and quiet of Subiects that the Church is to censure such a party who is apparantly troublesome and contentious and without REASONABLE CAVSE vpon a meere will and stomacke doth vexe and molest his brother troble the Country For mine owne part I do not see but that it might verie well agree with your principles if your discipline were fully planted euen to send out your writs of surcease vnto all Courts of England besides for the most things handled in them A great deale further I might proceed and descend lower But for as much as against all these and the like difficulties your answer is that we ought to search what things are consonant to Gods will not which be most for our owne ease and therefore that your discipline being for such is your errour the absolute commaundement of Almightie God it must be receiued although the world by receiuing it should be cleane turned vpside downe herein lyeth the greatest danger of all For whereas the name of diuine authority is vsed to countenance these things which are not the commaundements of God but your owne erronious collections on him ye must father whatsoeuer ye shall afterwards be led either to do in withstanding the aduersaries of your cause or to thinke in maintenance of your doings And what this may be God doth know In such kinds of error the mind once imagining it selfe to seeke the execution of Gods will laboureth foorthwith to remoue both things and persons which any way hinder it from taking place and in such cases if any strange or new thing seeme requisite to be done a strange and new opinion concerning the lawfulnesse therof is withall receiued and broched vnder countenance of diuine authoritie One example herein may serue for many to shew that false opinions touching the will of God to haue things done are wont to bring forth mightie and violent practises against the hinderances of them and those practises new opinions more pernitious then the first yea most extremely sometimes opposite to that which the first did seeme to intend Where the people tooke vpon them the reformation of the Church by casting out popish superstition they hauing receiued from their Pastors a generall instruction that whatsoeuer the heauenly father hath not planted must be rooted out proceeded in some forrein places so far that down went oratories the very teÌ„ples of God theÌ„selues For as they chanced to take the compasse of their coÌ„mission stricter or larger so their dealings were accordingly more or lesse moderate Amongst others there sprang vp presently one kind of meÌ„ with whose zeale forwardnesse the rest being compared were thought to be maruelous cold dull These grounding theÌ„selues on rules more generall that whatsoeuer the law of Christ commandeth not thereof Antichrist is the author and that whatsoeuer Antichrist or his adherents did in the world the true professors of Christ are to vndoe found out many things more then others had done the extirpation whereof was in their conceipt as necessary as of any thing before remoued Hereupon they secretly made their dolefull complaints euery where as they went that albeit the world did begin to professe some dislike of that which was euill in the kingdome of darknesse yet fruits worthy of a true repentance were not seene that if men did repent as they ought they must endeuour to purge the earth of all maner euill to the end there might follow a new world afterward wherein righteousnesse only should dwell Priuate repentance they sayd must appeare by euery mans fashioning his owne life contrary vnto the custome and orders of this present world both in greater things and in lesse To this purpose they had alwayes in their mouthes those greater
whose mouthes at the first sounded nothing but onely mortification of the flesh were come at the length to thinke they might lawfully haue their sixe or seuen wiues apeece they which at the first thought iudgement and iustice it selfe to be mercilesse cruelty accompted at the length their owne hands sanctified with being imbâ—ued in Christan bloud they who at the first were wont to beate downe all dominion and to vrge against poore Constables Kings of Nations had at the length both Consuls and Kings of their owne erection amongst themselues finally they which could not brooke at the first that any man should seeke no not by law the recouery of goods iniuriously taken or withheld from him were growne at the last to thinke they could not offer vnto God more acceptable sacrifice then by turning their aduersaries cleane out of house home and by inriching theÌ„selues with al kind of spoile and pillage which thing being laid to their charge they had in a readinesse their answer that now the time was come when according to our Sauiours promise The meeke ones must inherite the earth and that their title hereunto was the same which the righteous Israelites had vnto the goods of the wicked Aegyptians Wherefore sith the world hath had in these men so fresh experience how dangerous such actiue errors are it must not offend you though touching the sequell of your present misperswasions much more be doubted then your owne intents and purposes do happily aime at And yet your words already are somewhat when ye affirme that your pastors Doctors Elders and Deacons ought to be in this Church of England whether hir Maiestie and our state will or no when for the animating of your consederates ye publish the musters which ye haue made of your owne bands and proclaime them to amount I know not to how many thousands when ye threaten that sith neither your suites to the Parliament nor supplications to our Conuocation house neither your defences by writing nor chalenges of disputation in behalfe of that cause are able to preuaile we must blame our selues if to bring in discipline some such meanes hereafter be vsed as shall cause all our harts to ake That things doubtfull are to be constered in the better part is a principle not safe to be followed in matters concerning the publique state of a common weale But howsoever these and the like speeches be accompted as arrowes idly shot at randon without either eye had to any marke or regard to their lighting place hath not your longing desire for the practise of your discipline brought the matter already vnto this demurrer amongst you whether the people and their godly pastors that way affected ought not to make separation from the rest and to begin the exercise of discipline without the licence of Ciuill powers which licence they haue sought for and are not heard Vpon which question as ye haue now deuided your selues the warier sort of you taking the one part and the forwarder in zeale the other so in case these earnest ones should preuaile what other sequell can any wise man imagine but this that hauing first resolued that attempts for discipline without superiors are lawfull it will follow in the next place to be disputed what may be attempted against superiors which will not haue the scepter of that discipline to rule ouer them Yea euen by you which haue stayed your selues from running headlong with the other sort somewhat notwithstanding there hath bene done without the leaue or liking of your lawfull superiors for the exercise of a part of your discipline amongst the Cleargy thereunto addicted And least examination of principall parties therein should bring those things to light which might hinder and let your proceedings behold for a barre against that impediment one opinion ye haue newly added vnto the rest euen vpon this occasion an opinion to exempt you from taking oathes which may turne to the molestation of your brethren in that cause The next neighbour opinion whereunto when occasion requireth may follow for dispensation with oathes already taken if they afterwards be found to import a necessity of detecting ought which may bring such good men into trouble or damage whatsoeuer the cause be O mercifull God what mans wit is there able to found the depth of those daungerous and fearefull euils whereinto our weake and impotent nature is inclinable to sinke itselfe rather then to shew an acknowledgement of error in that which once we haue vnaduisedly taken vpon vs to defend against the streame as it were of a contrary publique resolution Wherefore if we anie thing respect their error who being perswaded euen as ye are haue gone further vpon that perswasion then ye allow if we regard the present state of the highest gouernour placed ouer vs if the quality and disposition of our Nobles if the orders and lawes of our famous Vniuersities it the profession of the Civil or the practise of the Common law amongst vs if the mischiefes whereinto euen before our eyes so many others haue fallen headlong from no lesse plausible and faire beginnings then yours are there is in euery of these considerations most iust cause to feare least our hastines to embrace a thing of so perilous consequence should cause posterity to feele those euils which as yet are more easie for vs to preuent then they would be for them to remedy 9. The best and safest way for you therefore my deere brethren is to call your deeds past to a new reckening to reexamine the cause ye haue taken in hand and to try it euen point by point argument by argument with all the diligent exactnesse ye can to lay aside the gall of that bitternesse wherein your minds haue hitherto ouer abounded and with meeknesse to search the truth Thinke ye are men deeme it not impossible for you to erre sift vnpartially your owne hearts whether it be force of reason or vehemency of affection which hath bred and still doth feed these opinions in you If truth do any where manifest it selfe seeke not to smother it with glosing delusions acknowledge the greatnesse thereof and thinke it your best victory when the same doth preuaile ouer you That ye haue bene earnest in speaking or writing againe and againe the contrary way should be no blemish or discredit at all vnto you Amongst so many so huge volumes as the infinite paines of Saint Augustine haue brought foorth what one hath gotten him greater loue commendation and honour then the booke wherein he carefully collecteth his owne ouersights and sincerely condemneth them Many speeches there are of Iobes whereby his wisedome and other vertues may appeare but the glory of an ingenuous mind he hath purchased by these words onely Behold I will lay mine hand on my mouth I haue spoken once yet will I not therefore maintaine argument yea twice howbeit for that cause further I will not proceed Farre more comfort it were
for vs so small is the ioy we take in these strifes to labour vnder the same yoke as men that looke for the same eternall reward of their labours to be ioyned with you in bands of indissoluble loue and amity to liue as if our persons being many our soules were but one rather then in such dismembred sort to spend our few and wretched daies in a tedious prosecuting of wearisome contentions the end whereof if they haue not some speedy ende will be heauie euen on both sides Brought alreadie we are euen to that estate which Gregorie Nazianzene mournefully describeth saying My minde leadeth mee sith there is no other remedie to flye and to conuey my selfe into some corner out of sight where I may scape from this cloudie tempest of malitiousnesse whereby all parts are entred into a deadly warre amongst themselues and that little remnant of loue which was is now consumed to nothing The onely godlines we glory in is to finde out somewhat whereby we may iudge others to be vngodly Each others faults we obserue as matter of exprobration and not of griefe By these meanes wee are growne hateful in the eyes of the Heathens themselues and which woundeth vs the moâ—e deeply able we are not to denie but that we haue deserued their hatred With the better sort of our owne our fame and credit is cleane lost The lesse wee are to maruell if they iudge vilely of vs who although we did well would hardly allow therof On our backs they also build that are lewd and what we obiect one against an other the same they vse to the vtter scorne and disgrace of vs all This we haue gained by our mutuall home-dissentions This we are worthily rewarded with which are more forward to striue then becommeth men of vertuous and mild disposition But our trust in the almightie is that with vs contentions are now at their highest floate and that the day will come for what cause of despaire is there when the passioÌ„s of former enmitie being allaied we shal with ten times redoubled tokens of our vnfainedly reconciled loue shewe our selues each towards other the same which Ioseph and the brethren of Ioseph were at the time of their enteruiew in Aegypt Our comfortable expectation and most thirstie desire whereof what man soeuer amongst you shall any way helpe to satisfie as we truly hope there is no one amongst you but some way or other will the blessings of the God of peace both in this world and in the world to come be vppon him moe then the starres of the firmament in number VVhat things are handled in the Bookes following THe first Booke concerning lawes in generall The second of the vse of diuine lawe conteined in scripture whether that be the onely lawe which ought to serue for our direction in all things without exception The third of lawes concerning Ecclesiasticall Politie whether the forme thereof be in scripture so set downe that no addition or change is lawfull The fourth of generall exceptions taken against the lawes of our politie as being popish and banished out of certaine reformed Churches The fift of our lawes that concerne the publike religious duties of the Church and the maner of bestowing that power of order which inableth men in sundrie degrees and callings to execute the same The sixt of the power of iurisdiction which the reformed platforme claymeth vnto lay-elders with others The seauenth of the power of iurisdiction and the honor which is annexed thereunto in Bishops The eighth of the power of ecclesiasticall dominion or supreme authoritie which with vs the highest gouernour or Prince hath as well in regard of domesticall iurisdictions as of that other forreinly claimed by the Bishop of Rome The first Booke Concerning Lawes and their seuerall kindes in generall The matter conteined in this first Booke 1 THe cause of writing this generall discourse concerning lawes 2 Of that lawe which God from before the beginning hath set for himselfe to doe all the things by 3 The law which natural agents obserue their necessary maner of keeping it 4 The lawe which the Angels of God obey 5 The lawe whereby man is in his actions directed to the imitation of God 6 Mens first beginning to vnderstand that lawe 7 Of mans will which is the first thing that lawes of action are made to guide 8 Of the naturall finding out of lawes by the light of reason to guide the will vnto that which is good 9 Of the benefit of keeping that lawe which reason teacheth 10 How reason doth lead men vnto the making of humane lawes whereby politique societies are gouerned and to agreement about lawes whereby the fellowship or communion of independent societies standeth 11 Wherefore God hath by scripture further made knowne such supernaturall lawes as do serue for mens direction 12 The cause why so many naturall or rationall lawes are set downe in holy scripture 13 The benefit of hauing diuine lawes written 14 The sufficiencie of scripture vnto the end for which it was instituted 15 Of lawes positiue conteined in scripture the mutabilitie of certaine of them and the generall vse of scripture 16 A conclusion shewing how all this belongeth to the cause in question HE that goeth about to perswade a multitude that they are not so well gouerned as they ought to be shal neuer waÌ„t attentiue fauourable hearers because they know the manifold defects whereunto euery kind of regiment is subiect but the secret lets and difficulties which in publike proceedings are innumerable ineuitable they haue not ordinarily the iudgement to consider And becâ—â—se such as openly reproue supposed disorders of state are taken for principall friendes to the common benefite of all and for men that carry singular freedome of mind vnder this faire and plausible colour whatsoeuer they vtter passeth for good and currant That which wanteth in the waight of their speech is supplyed by the aptnes of mens minds to accept and beleeue it Whereas on the other side if we maintaine thinges that are established wee haue not onely to striue with a number of heauie preiudices deepely rooted in the hearts of men who thinke that herein we serue the time and speake in fauour of the present state because thereby we eyther hold or seeke preferment but also to beare such exceptions as minds so auerted before hand vsually take against that which they are loath should be powred into them Albeit therefore much of that we are to speake in this present cause may seeme to a number perhaps tedious perhaps obscure darke and intricate for many talke of the truth which neuer sounded the depth from whence it springeth and therfore when they are led thereunto they are soone weary as men drawne from those beaten pathes wherewith they haue bene inured yet this may not so farre preuaile as to cut off that which the matter it selfe requireth howsoeuer the nice humour of some be therewith pleased or no.
euen as vpwarde in God beneath whom themselues are they see that character which is no where but in themselues and vs resembled Thus farre euen the Painims haue approched thus farre they haue seene into the doings of the Angels of God Orpheus confessing that the fiery throne of God is attended on by those most industrious Angels carefull how all things are performed amongst men and the mirror of humaine wisedome plainely teaching that God mooueth Angels euen as that thing doth stirre mans heart which is thereunto presented amiable Angelicall actions may therefore be reduced vnto these three generall kindes first most delectable loue arising from the visible apprehension of the puritie glory and beautie of God inuisible sauing onely vnto Spirites that are pure secondly adoration grounded vpon the euidence of the greatnes of God on whom they see how all things depende thirdly imitation bred by the presence of his exemplary goodnes who ceaseth not before them daily to fill heauen and earth with the rich treasures of most free and vndeserued grace Of Angels wee are not to consider onely what they are and doe in regard of their owne being but that also which concerneth them as they are lincked into a kinde of corporation amongst themselues and of societie or fellowship with men Consider Angels each of them seuerally in himself and their law is that which the Prophet Dauid mentioneth All ye his Angels praise him Consider the Angels of God associated and their lawe is that which disposeth them as an Army one in order and degree aboue an other Consider finally the Angels as hauing with vs that communion which the Apostle to the Hebrewes noteth and in regard whereof Angels haue not disdained to professe themselues our fellowseruants from hence there springeth vp a third law which bindeth them to workes of ministeriall imployment Euery of which their seuerall functions are by them performed with ioy A part of the Angels of God notwithstanding we know haue fallen and that their fall hath beene through the voluntary breach of that lawe which did require at their hands continuance in the exercise of their high and admirable vertue Impossible it was that euer their will should chaunge or incline to remit any part of their dutie without some obiect hauing force to auert their conceit from God and to draw it an other way and that before they attained that high perfection of blisse wherein now the elect Angels are without possibilitie of falling Of any thing more then of God they could not by any meanes like as long as whatsoeuer they knew besides God they apprehended it not in it selfe without dependencie vpon God because so long God must needes seeme infinitely better then any thing which they so could apprehend Thinges beneath them could not in such sort be presented vnto their eyes but that therein they must needs see alwayes how those things did depend on God It seemeth therefore that there was no other way for Angels to sinne but by reflex of their vnderstanding vpon themselues when being held with admiration of their owne sublimitie and honor the memorie of their subordination vnto God and their dependencie on him was drowned in this conceipt whereupon their adoration loue and imitation of God could not choose but be also interrupted The fall of Angels therefore was pride Since their fall their practises haue beene the cleane contrary vnto those before mentioned For being dispersed some in the ayre some on the earth some in the water some amongest the minerals dennes and caues that are vnder the earth they haue by all meanes laboured to effect an vniuersall rebellion against the lawes and as farre as in them lyeth vtter destruction of the workes of God These wicked Spirites the Heathens honoured in stead of Gods both generally vnder the name of Dii inferi Gods infernall and particularly some in Oracles some in Idoles some as household Gods some as Nymphes in a word no foule and wicked spirite which was not one way or other honored of men as God till such time as light appeared in the world and dissolued the workes of the diuell Thus much therefore may suffice for Angels the next vnto whom in degree are men 5 God alone excepted who actually and euerlastingly is whatsoeuer he may be and which cannot hereafter be that which now he is not all other things besides are somewhat in possibilitie which as yet they are not in act And for this cause there is in all things an appetite or desire whereby they incline to something which they may be and when they are it they shall be perfecteâ— then now they are All which perfections are contained vnder the generall name of Goodnesse And because there is not in the world any thing wherby another may not some way be made the perfecter therefore all things that are are good Againe sith there can be no goodnesse desired which proceedeth not from God himselfe as from the supreme cause of all things and euerie effect doth after a sort conteine at least wise resemble the cause from which it proceedeth all things in the world are sayd in some sort to seeke the highest and to couet more or lesse the participation of God himselfe Yet this doth no where so much appeare as it doth in man because there are so many kindes of perfections which man seeketh The first degree of goodnesse is that generall perfection which all things do seeke in desiring the continuance of their beeing All thinges therefore coueting as much as may be to be like vnto God in being euer that which cannot hereunto attaine personally doth seeke to continue it selfe another way that is by ofspring and propagation The next degree of goodnesse is that which each thing coueteth by affecting resemblance with God in the constancy and excellencie of those operations which belong vnto their kind The immutabilitie of God they striue vnto by working either alwayes or for the most part after one and the same manner his absolute exactnes they imitate by tending vnto that which is most exquisite in euery particular Hence haue risen a number of axiomes in Philosophie shewing how The workes of nature do alwayes ayme at that which cannot be bettered These two kinds of goodnesse reheâ—rsed are so neerely vnited to the things themselues which desiâ—e them that we scarcely perceiue the appetite to stirre in reaching foorth her hand towards them But the desire of those perfections which grow externally is more apparent especially of such as are not expressely desired vnlesse they be first knowne or such as are not for any other cause then for knowledge it selfe desired Concerning perfections in this kind that by proceeding in the knowledge of truth and by growing in the exercise of vertue man amongst the creatures of this inferiour world aspireth to the greatest conformity with God this is not only knowne vnto vs
lesse good was not preferred before a greater that wilfully which caÌ„not be done without the singular disgrace of nature the vtter disturbance of that diuine order wherby the preeminence of chiefest acceptation is by the best things worthily chalenged There is not that good which coÌ„cerneth vs but it hath euidence â—nough for it selfe if reason were diligent to search it out Through neglect thereof abused we are with the shew of that which is not somtimes the subtilty of Satan inueagling vs as it did Eue sometimes the hastinesse of our wils preuenting the more considerate aduice of fouÌ„d reasoÌ„ as in the Apostles wheÌ„ they no sooner saw what they liked not but they forthwith were desirous of fit froÌ„ heauen sometimes the very custome of euil making the hart obdurate against whatsoeuer instructions to the coÌ„trary as in theÌ„ ouer whoÌ„ our Sauior spake weeping O IerusaleÌ„ how often thou wouldst not Still therfore that wherwâ—th we stand blameable can no way excuse it is In doing euill we prefer a lesse good before a greater the greatnes whereof is by reasoÌ„ inuestigable may be known The search of knowledge is a thing painful the painfulnes of knowledge is that which maketh the will so hardly inclinable thereunto The root hereof diuine maledictioÌ„ wherby the instrumeÌ„ts being weakned wherwithall the soule especially in reasoning doth worke it preferreth rest in ignorance before wearisome labour to know For a spurre of diligence therefore we haue a naturall thirst after knowledge ingrafted in vs. But by reason of that originall weaknesse in the instruments without which the vnderstanding part is not able in this world by discourse to worke the very conceipt of painefulnesse is as a bridle to stay vs. For which cause the Apostle who knew right well that the wearines of the flesh is an heauy clog to the will striketh mightily vpon this key Awake thou that sleepest Cast off all which presseth downe Watch Labour striue to go forward and to grow in knowledge 8 Wherefore to returne to our former intent of discouering the naturall way whereby rules haue bene found out concerning that goodnes wherewith the wil of man ought to be moued in humaine actions As euery thing naturally and necessarily doth desire the vtmost good and greatest perfection whereof nature hath made it capable euen so man Our felicitie therefore being the obiect and accomplishment of our desire we cannot choose but wish and couet it All particular things which are subiect vnto action the will doth so farre foorth incline vnto as reason iudgeth them the better for vs and consequently the more auaileable to our blisse If reason erre we fall into euill and are so farre forth depriued of the generall perfection we seeke Seeing therefore that for the framing of mens actions the knowledge of good from euill is necessarie it onely resteth that we search how this may be had Neither must we suppose that there needeth one rule to know the good and another the euill by For he that knoweth what is straight doth euen thereby discerne what is crooked because the absence of straightnesse in bodies capable thereof is crookednesse Goodnesse in actions is like vnto straitnesse wherfore that which is done well we terme right For as the straight way is most acceptable to him that trauaileth because by it he commeth soonest to his iourneys end so in action that which doth lye the euenest betweene vs and the end we desire must needes be the fittest for our vse Besides which fitnes for vse there is also in rectitude beauty as contrariwise in obliquity deformity And that which is good in the actions of men doth not onely delight as profitable but as amiable also In which consideration the Grecians most diuinely haue giuen to the actiue perfection of men a name expressing both beauty and goodnesse because goodnesse in ordinary speech is for the most part applied onely to that which is beneficiall But we in the name of goodnesse do here imploy both And of discerning goodnes there are but these two wayes the one the knowledge of the causes whereby it is made such the other the obseruation of those signes and tokens which being annexed alwaies vnto goodnes argue that where they are found there also goodnes is although we know not the cause by force whereof it is there The former of these is the most sure infallible way but so hard that all shunne it and had rather walke as men do in the darke by hap hazard then tread so long and intricate mazes for knowledge sake As therefore Physitians are many times forced to leaue such methods of curing as themselues know to be the fittest and being ouerruled by their patients impatiency are fame to try the best they can in taking that way of cure which the cured will yeeld vnto in like sort coÌ„sidering how the case doth staÌ„d with this present age full of tongue weake of braine behold we yeeld to the streame thereof into the causes of goodnes we will not make any curious or deepe inquiry to touch them now then it shal be sufficient when they are so neere at hand that easily they may be conceiued without any farre remoued discourse that way we are contented to proue which being the worse in it selfe is notwithstanding now by reason of common imbecillity the fitter likelier to be brookt Signes and tokens to know good by are of sundry kinds some more certaine and some lesse The most certaine token of euident goodnesse is if the generall perswasion of all men do so account it And therefore a common receiued error is neuer vtterly ouerthrowne till such time as we go from signes vnto causes and shew some manifest root or fountaine thereof common vnto all whereby it may clearly appeare how it hath come to passe that so many haue bene ouerseene In which case surmises and sleight probabilities will not serue because the vniuersall consent of men is the perfectest and strongest in this kind which comprehendeth onely the signes and tokens of goodnesse Things casuall do varie and that which a man doth but chaunce to thinke well of cannot still haue the like hap Wherefore although we know not the cause yet thus much we may know that some necessary cause there is whensoeuer the iudgements of all men generally or for the most part run one the same way especially in matters of naturall discourse For of things necessarily naturally done there is no more affirmed but this They keepe either alwaies or for the most part one tenure The generall and perpetuall voyce of men is as the sentence of God himselfe For that which all men haue at all times learned nature her selfe must needes haue taught and God being the author of nature her voyce is but his instrument By her from him we receiue whatsoeuer in such sort we learne Infinite duties there are the goodnes
wils or constrainedly we are not properly said to do it because the moâ—iue cause of doing it is not in our selues but carrieth vs as if the winde should driue a feather in the aire wee no whit furthering that whereby we are driuen In such cases therefore the euill which is done moueth compassion men are piâ—â—ied for it as being rather miserable in such respect theiâ— culpable Some things are likewise done by man though not through outward force and impulsion though not against yet without their wils as in alienation of minde or any the like ineuitable vtter absence of wit and iudgement For which cause no man did euer thinke the hurtfull actions of furious men and innocents to be punishable Againe some things wee doe neither against nor without and yet not simply and meerely with our wils but with our wils in such sorâ— moued that albeit there bâ— no impossibilitie but that wee might neuerthelesse we are not so easily able to doe otherwise In this consideration one euill deede is made more pardonable then an other Finally that which we do being euill is notwithstanding by so much more paâ—donable by how much the exigence of so doing or the difficultie of doing otherwise is greater vnlesse this necessitie or difficultie haue originally risen from our selues It is no excuse therefore vnto him who being drunke committeth incest and alleageth that his wits were not his owne in as much as himselfe might haue chosen whether his wits should by that meane haue been taken from him Now rewards and punishments do alwaies presuppose some thing willingly done well or ill without which respect though we may sometimes receiue good or harme yet then the one is only a benefite and not a reward the other simply an hurt not a punishment From the sundry dispositions of mans will which is the roote of all his actions there groweth varietie in the sequeie of rewards and punishments which are by these and the like rules measured Take away the will and all actes are equall That which we doe not and would doe is commonly accepted as done By these and the like rules mens actions are determined of and iudged whether they bee in their owne nature rewardable or punishable Rewards and punishments are not receiued but at the handes of such as being aboue vs haue power to examine and iudge our deedes How men come to haue this authoritie one ouer an other in externall actions wee shall more diligently examine in that which followeth But for this present so much all do acknowledge that sith euery mans hart and conscience doth in good or euill euen secretly committed and knowne to none but it selfe either like or disallow it selfe and accordingly eyther reioyce very nature exulting as it were in certain hope of reward or else grieue as it were in a sense of future punishment neither of which can in this case bee looked for from any other sauing only from him who discerneth and iudgeth the very secrets of all hearts therefore he is the onely rewarder and reuenger of all such actions although not of such actions onely but of all whereby the lawe of nature is broken whereof himselfe is author For which causeâ— the Romane lawes called the lawes of the twelue tables requiring offices of inward affection which the eye of man cannot reach vnto threaten the neglecters of them with none but diuine punishment 10 That which hitherto wee haue set downe is I hope sufficient to shew their brutishnes which imagine that religion and vertue are only as men wil accompt of them that we might make as much accompt if we would of the contrarie without any harme vnto our selues and that in nature they are as indifferent one as the other Wee see then how nature it selfe teacheth lawes and statutes to liue by The lawes which haue bene hitherto mentioned doe bind men absolutely euen as they are meÌ„ although they haue neuer any setled fellowship neuer any solemne agreemeÌ„t amongst themselues what to doe or not to do But for as much as we are not by our selues sufficient to furnish our selues with competent store of thinges needfull for such a life as our nature doth desire a life fit for the dignitie of man therefore to supply those defectes and imperfections which are in vs liuing single and solely by our selues wee are naturally induced to seeke communion and fellowship with others This was the cause of mens vniting themselues at the first in politique societies which societies could not bee without gouernment nor gouernment without a distinct kind of law from that which hath bene alreadie declared Two foundations there are which beare vp publique societies the one a naturall inclination wherby al men desire sociable life fellowship the other an order expresly or secretly agreed vpon touching the manner of their vnion in liuing together The later is that which wee call the law of a common weale the very soule of a politique body the parts whereof are by law animated held together and set on worke in such actions as the common good requireth Lawes politique ordained for externall order and regiment amongst men are neuer framed as they should be vnlesse presuming the will of man to be inwardly obstinate rebellious and auerse from all obedieÌ„ce vnto the sacred lawes of his natureâ— in a word vnlesse presuming man to be in regard of his depraued minde little better then a wild beast they do accordingly prouide notwithstanding so to frame his outward actions that they bee no hinderance vnto the common good for which societies are instituted vnlesse they doe this they are not perfect It resteth therefore that we consider how nature findeth out such lawes of gouernmeÌ„t as serue to direct euen nature depraued to a right end All men desire to lead in this world an happie life That life is led most happily wherein all vertue is exercised without impedimeÌ„t or let The Apostle in exhorting men to contentment although they haue in this world no more then very bare food and raiment giueth vs thereby to vnderstand that those are euen the lowest of thinges necessary that if we should be stripped of al those things without which we might possibly be yet these must be left that destitution in these is such an impedimeÌ„t as till it be remoued suffereth not the mind of man to admit any other care For this cause first God assigned Adam maintenance of life and then appointed him a law to obserue For this cause after meÌ„ began to grow to a number the first thing we reade they gaue theÌ„selues vnto was the tilling of the earth and the feeding of cattle Hauing by this meane whereon to liue the principall actions of their life afterward are noted by the exercise of their religion True it is that the kingdome of God must be the first thing in our purposes desires But in as much as righteous life presupposeth life in as much
as to liue vertuously it is impossible except we liue therefore the first impediment which naturally we endeuor to remoue is penurie and want of thinges without which we cannot liue Vnto life many implements are necessary moe if we seeke as all men naturally doe such a life as hath in it ioy comfort delight and pleasure To this end we see how quickly sundry artes Mechanical were found out in the very prime of the world As things of greatest necessitie are alwaies first prouided for so things of greatest dignitie are most accounted of by all such as iudge rightly Although therefore riches be a thing which euery man wisheth yet no man of iudgement can esteeme it better to be rich then wise vertuous religious If we be both or either of these it is not because we are so borne For into the world we come as emptie of the one as of the other as naked in minde as we are in body Both which necessities of man had at the first no other helpes and supplies then only domesticall such as that which the prophet implieth saying Can a mother forget her child such as that which the Apostle mentioneth saying He that careth not for his owne is worse then an Infidell such as that concerning Abraham Abraham will commaund his sonnes and his household after him that they keepe the way of the Lord. But neither that which we learne of our selues nor that which others teach vs can preuaile where wickednes and malice haue takē deepe roote If therefore when there was but as yet one only family in the world no meanes of instruction humane or diuine could preuent effusion of bloud how could it be chosen but that when families were multiplied and increased vpon earth after seperation each prouiding for it selfe enuy strife cōtention violence must grow amongst thē for hath not nature furnisht man with wit valor as it were with armor which may be vsed as well vnto extreame euill as good yea were they not vsed by the rest of the world vnto euill vnto the contrary only by Seth Enoch and those few the rest in that line We all make complaint of the iniquitie of our times not vniustly for the dayes are euill But compare them with those times wherein there were no ciuil societies with those times wherein there was as yet no maner of publique regimēt established with those times wherin there were not aboue 8. persons righteous liuing vpon the face of the earth and wee haue surely good cause to thinke that God hath blessed vs exceedingly and hath made vs behold most happie daies To take away all such mutuall greeuances iniuries wrongs there was no way but only by growing vnto compositiō and agreement amongst thēselues by ordaining some kind of gouernment publike and by yeelding themselues subiect thereunto that vnto whom they graunted authoritie to rule gouerne by them the peace tranquilitie happy estate of the rest might be procured Men alwaies knew that when force and iniurie was offered they might be defendors of themselues they knew that howsoeuer men may seeke their owne cōmoditie yet if this were done with iniury vnto others it was not to be suffered but by all men and by all good means to be withstood finally they knew that no man might in reason take vpon him to determine his owne right and according to his owne determination proceed in maintenance therof in as much as euery man is towards himselfe and them whom he greatly affecteth partiall and therfore that strifes troubles would bee endlesse except they gaue their common consent all to be ordered by some whom they should agree vpon without which consent there were no reason that one man should take vpon him to be Lord or Iudge ouer an other because although there be according to the opinion of some very great and iudicious men a kind of naturall right in the noble wise and vertuous to gouerne them which are of seruile disposition neuerthelesse for manifestation of this their right mens more peaceable contentment on both sides the assent of them who are to be gouerned seemeth necessarie To fathers within their priuate families nature hath giuen a supreme power for which cause we see throughout the world euen from the first foundation therof all men haue euer bene taken as lords lawfull kings in their own houses Howbeit ouer a whole grand multitude hauing no such dependēcie vpon any one consisting of so many families as euery politique societie in the world doth impossible it is that any should haue complet lawful power but by consent of men or immediate appointment of God because not hauing the naturall superioritie of fathers their power must needs be either vsurped then vnlawfull or if lawfull then either graunted or consented vnto by them ouer whom they exercise the same or else giuen extraordinarily frō God vnto whom all the world is subiect It is no improbable opinion therefore which the Arch-philosopher was of that as the chiefest person in euery houshold was alwaies as it were a king so when numbers of housholds ioyned themselues in ciuill societie together kings were the first kind of gouernors amongst them Which is also as it seemeth the reason why the name of Father continued still in them who of fathers were made rulers as also the ancient custome of gouernors to do as Melchisedec and being kings to exercise the office of priests which fathers did at the first grew perhaps by the same occasion Howbeit not this the only kind of regiment that hath bene receiued in the world The inconueniences of one kinde haue caused sundry other to be deuised So that in a word all publike regimēt of what kind soeuer seemeth euidently to haue risen from deliberate aduice consultation compositiō betweene men iudging it cōuenient behoueful there being no impossibilitie in nature considered by it self but that men might haue liued without any publike regiment Howbeit the corruption of our nature being presupposed we may not deny but that the lawe of nature doth now require of necessitie some kinde of regiment so that to bring things vnto the first course they were in vtterly to take away all kind of publike gouernmēt in the world were apparantly to ouerturn the whole world The case of mans nature standing therfore as it doth some kind of regiment the law of nature doth require yet the kinds therof being many nature tieth not to any one but leaueth the choice as a thing arbitrarie At the first when some certaine kinde of regiment was once approued it may be that nothing was then further thought vpon for the maner of gouerning but all permitted vnto their wisedome and discretion which were to rule till by experience they found this for all parts very inconuenient so as the thing which they had deuised for a remedie did indeede but increase the soare which it should haue
cured They saw that to liue by one mans will became the cause of all mens misery This constrained them to come vnto lawes wherein all men might see their duties before hand and know the penalties of transgressing them b If things be simply good or euill and withall vniuersally so acknowledged there needs no new law to be made for such things The first kind therefore of things appointed by lawes humane containeth whatsoeuer being in it selfe naturally good or euill is notwithstanding more secret then that it can be discerned by euery mans present conceipt without some deeper discourse and iudgement In which discourse because there is difficultie and possibilitie many waies to erre vnlesse such things were set downe by lawes many would be ignorant of their duties which now are not many that know what they should do would neuerthelesse dissemble it and to excuse themselues pretend ignorance and simplicitie which now they cannot And because the greatest part of men are such as prefer their owne priuate good before all things euen that good which is sensuall before whatsoeuer is most diuine for that the labor of doing good together with the pleasure arising from the coÌ„trary doth make men for the most part slower to the one proner to the other then that dutie prescribed them by law can preuaile sufficiently with them therefore vnto lawes that men do make for the benefit of meÌ„ it hath seemed alwaies needful to ad rewards which may more allure vnto good then any hardnes deterreth from it punishments which may more deterre from euil then any sweetnes therto allureth Wherin as the generalitie is naturall Vertue rewardable and vice punishable so the particular determination of the rewarde or punishment belongeth vnto them by whom lawes are made Theft is naturally punishable but the kinde of punishment is positiue and such lawfull as men shall thinke with discretion conuenient by lawe to appoint In lawes that which is naturall bindeth vniuersally that which is positiue not so To let goe those kind of positiue lawes which men impose vpon theÌ„selues as by vow vnto God contract with men or such like somewhat it will make vnto our purpose a little more fully to coÌ„sider what things are incident into the making of the positiue lawes for the gouernment of theÌ„ that liue vnited in publique societie Lawes do not onely teach what is good but they inioyne it they haue in theÌ„ a certain coÌ„straining force And to coÌ„straine meÌ„ vnto any thing inconuenient doth seeme vnreasonable Most requisite therefore it is that to deuise lawes which all men shal be forced to obey none but wise meÌ„ be admitted Lawes are matters of principall consequence men of coÌ„mon capacitie but ordinary iudgemeÌ„t are not able for how should they to discerne what things are fittest for each kind and state of regiment Wee cannot be ignorant how much our obedience vnto lawes dependeth vpon this point Let a man though neuer so iustly oppose himselfe vnto theÌ„ that are disordered in their waies what one amongst them commonly doth not stomacke at such contradiction storme at reproofe and hate such as would reforme them Notwithstanding euen they which brooke it worst that men should tell them of their duties when they are told the same by a lawe thinke very wel reasonably of it For why They presume that the lawe doth speake with all indifferencie that the lawe hath no side respect to their persons that the law is as it were an oracle proceeded from wisedome and vnderstanding Howbeit laws do not take their constraining force froÌ„ the qualitie of such as deuise them but from that power which doth giue them the strength of lawes That which we spake before concerning the power of gouernment must here be applyed vnto the power of making lawes wherby to gouerne which power God hath ouer all and by the naturall lawe whereunto hee hath made all subiect the lawfull power of making lawes to commaund whole politique societies of men belongeth so properly vnto the same intire societies that for any Prince or potentate of what kinde soeuer vpon earth to exercise the same of himselfe and not either by expresse commission immediatly and personally receiued from God or else by authoritie deriued at the first froÌ„ their consent vpon whose persons they impose lawes it is no better then meere tyrannie Lawes they are not therefore which publique approbation hath not made so But approbation not only they giue who personally declare their assent by voice sign or act but also wheÌ„ others do it in their names by right originally at the least deriued from them As in parliaments councels the like assemblies although we be not personally our selues present notwithstanding our assent is by reasoÌ„ of others agents there in our behalfe And what we do by others no reason but that it should stand as our deede no lesse effectually to binde vs then if our selues had done it in person In many things assent is giuen they that giue it not imagining they do so because the manner of their assenting is not apparent As for example when an absolute Monark commandeth his subiects that which seemeth good in his owne discretion hath not his edict the force of a law whether they approue or dislike it Againe that which hath bene receiued long sithence and is by custome now established we keep as a law which we may not transgresse yet what consent was euer thereunto sought or required at our hands Of this point therefore we are to note that sith men naturally haue no ful perfect power to commaund whole politique mulâ—itudes of men therefore vtterly without our consent we could in such sort be at no mans commandement liuing And to be commanded we do consent when that societie wherof we are part hath at any time before consented without reuoking the same after by the like vniuersall agreement Wherfore as any mans deed past is good as long as himself continueth so the act of a publique societie of men done fiue hundred yeares sithence standeth as theirs who presently are of the same societies because corporations are immortall we were then aliue in our predecessors and they in their successors do liue stil. Lawes therefore humaine of what kinde soeuer are auaileable by consent If here it be demaunded how it commeth to passe that this being common vnto all lawes which are made there should be found euen in good lawes so great varietie as there is wee must note the reason hereof to bee the sundry particular endes whereunto the different disposition of that subiect or matter for which lawes are prouided causeth them to haue especiall respect in making lawes A lawe there is mentioned amongst the Graecians whereof Pittacus is reported to haue bene author And by that lawe it was agreed that hee which being ouercome with drinke did then strike any man should suffer punishment double as much as if hee had done the same being sober
No man coulde euer haue thought this reasonable that had intended thereby onely to punish the iniury committed according to the grauitie of the fact For who knoweth not that harme aduisedly done is naturally lesse pardonable and therefore worthy of the sharper punishment But for as much as none did so vsually this way offende as men in that case which they wittingly fell into euen because they would bee so much the more freely outragious it was for their publique good where such disorder was growne to frame a positiue lawe for remedie thereof accordingly To this appertaine those knowne lawes of making lawes as that lawemakers must haue an eye to the place where and to the men amongst whome that one kinde of lawes cannot serue for all kindes of regiment that where the multitude beareth sway lawes that shall tend vnto the preseruation of that state must make common smaller offices to go by lot for feare of strife and deuision likely to arise by reason that ordinary qualities sufficing for discharge of such offices they could not but by many bee desired and so with daunger contended for and not missed without grudge and discontentment whereas at an vncertaine lot none can find themselues grieued on whomsoeuer it lighteth contrariwise the greatest whereof but few are capable to passe by popular election that neither the people may enuie such as haue those honours in as much as themselues bestow them and that the chiefest may bee kindled with desire to exercise all partes of rare and beneficiall vertue knowing they shal not loose their labour by growing in same and estimation amongst the people if the helme of chiefe gouernment bee in the handes of a few of the wealthiest that then lawes prouiding for continuance thereof must make the punishment of contumelie and wrong offered vnto any of the common sorte sharpe and grieuous that so the euill may be preuented whereby the rich are most likely to bring themselues into hatred with the people who are not wonte to take so great offence when they are excluded from honors and offices as wheÌ„ their persons are contumeliously troden vpon In other kindes of regiment the like is obserued concerning the difference of positiue lawes which to be euerie where the same is impossible and against their nature Now as the learned in the lawes of this land obserue that our statutes sometimes are onely the affirmation or ratification of that which by common law was held before so heere it is not to be omitted that generally all lawes humaine which are made for the ordering of politike societies bee either such as establish some dutie whereunto all men by the law of reason did before stand bound or else such as make that a dutie now which before was none The one sort wee may for distinctions sake call mixedly and the other meerely humane That which plaine or necessary reason bindeth men vnto may be in sundrie considerations expedient to be ratified by humane law For example if confusion of blood in marriage the libertie of hauing many wiues at once or any other the like corrupt and vnreasonable custome doth happen to haue preuailed far and to haue gotten the vpper hand of right reason with the greatest part so that no way is left to rectifie such soule disorder without prescribing by law the same thinges which reason necessarilie doth enforce but is not perceiued that so it doth or if many be grown vnto that which thapostle did lament in some concerning whom he writeth saying that Euen what things they naturally know in those very things as beasts void of reason they corrupted themselues or if there be no such speciall accident yet for as much as the common sort are led by the sway of their sensuall desires and therefore doe more shun sinne for the sensible euils which follow it amongst men then for any kinde of sentence which reason doth pronounce against it this very thing is cause sufficient why duties belonging vnto each kinde of vertue albeit the law of reason teach them should notwithstanding be prescribed euen by humane law Which law in this case we terme mixt because the matâ—er whereunto it bindeth is the same which reason necessarily doth require at our handes and from the law of reason it differeth in the maner of binding onely For whereas men before stoode bound in conscience to doe as the law of reason teacheth they are now by vertue of humane law become constrainable and if they outwardly transgresse punishable As for lawes which are meerely humane the matter of them is any thing which reason doth but probably â—each to bee fit and conuenient so that till such time as law hath passed amongst men about it of it selfe it bindeth no man One example whereof may be this Landes are by humane law in some places after the owners decease diuided vnto all his children in some all descendeth to the eldest sonne If the lawe of reason did necessarily require but the one of these two to be done they which by lawe haue receiued the other should be subiect to that heauy sentence which denounceth against all that decree wicked vniust vnreasonable things woe Whereas now which soeuer be receiued there is no law of reason transgrest because there is probable reason why eyther of them may be expedient and for eyther of them more then probable reason there is not to bee found Lawes whether mixtly or meerely humane are made by politique societies some onely as those societies are ciuilly vnited some as they are spiritually ioyned and make such a body as wee call the Church Of lawes humane in this later kinde wee are to speake in the third booke following Let it therefore suffice thus far to haue touched the force wherewith almightie God hath gratiously endued our nature and thereby inabled the same to finde out both those lawes which all men generally are for euer bound to obserue and also such as are most fit for their behoofe who leade their liues in any ordered state of gouernment Now besides that lawe which simply concerneth men as men and that which belongeth vnto them as they are men linked with others in some forme of politique societie there is a third kinde of lawe which toucheth all such seuerall bodies politique so farre forth as one of them hath publique commerce with another And this third is the Lawe of nations Betweene men and beastes there is no possibilitie of sociable communion because the wâ—lspring of that communion is a naturall delight which man hath to transfuse from himselfe into others and to receiue from others into himselfe especially those things wherein the excellencie of his kinde doth most consist The chiefest instrument of humane communion therefore is speech because thereby we impart mutually one to another the conceiptes of our reasonable vnderstanding And for that cause seeing beasts are not hereof capable for as much as with them wee can vse no such conference they being in
degree although aboue other creatures on earth to whom nature hath denied sense yet lower then to be sociable companions of man to whome nature hath giuen reason it is of Adam said that amongst the beastes Hee found not for himselfe any meete companion Ciuill societie doth more content the nature of man then any priuate kinde of solitary liuing because in societie this good of mutuall participation is so much larger then otherwise Herewith notwithstanding wee are not satisfied but we couet if it might be to haue a kinde of societie fellowship euen withal maÌ„kind Which thing Socrates intending to signifie professed himselfe a Citizen not of this or that coÌ„mon-welth but of the world And an effect of that very natural desire in vs a manifestâ—token that we wish after a sort an vniuersall fellowship with all men appeareth by the wonderfull delight men haue some to visit forrein countries some to discouer natioÌ„s not heard of in former ages we all to know the affaires dealings of other people yea to be in league of amitie with them this not onely for traffiques sake or to the end that when many are coÌ„federated each may make other the more strong but for such cause also as moued the Queene of Saba to visit Salomon in a word because nature doth presume that how many meÌ„ there are in the world so many Gods as it were ther are or at least wise such they should be towardes men Touching lawes which are to serue men in this behalfe euen as those lawes of reason which man retaining his original integritie had bin sufficient to direct each particular person in all his affaires duties are not sufficient but require the accesse of other lawes now that man and his offspring are growne thus corrupt sinfull againe as those lawes of politie regiment which would haue serued men liuing in publique societie together with that harmlesse disposition which then they should haue had are not able now to serue when mens iniquitie is so hardly restrained within any tolerable bounds in like maner the nationall lawes of mutuall commerce beâ—weene societies of that former and better qualitie might haue bene other then now when nations are so prone to offer violence iniurie and wrong Here upon hath growne in euery of these three kinds that distinction between Primarie Secundarie lawes the one grounded vpon sincere the other built vpon depraued nature Primarie lawes of nations are such as concerne embassage such as belong to the courteous entertainment of forreiners and strangers such as serue for commodious traffique and the like Secundary lawes in the same kinde are such as this present vnquiet world is most familiarly acquainted with I meane lawes of armes which yet are much better known then kept But what matter the law of nations doth containe I omit to search The strength and vertue of that law is such that no particular natioÌ„ can lawfully preiudicâ— the same by any their seueral laws ordinances more then a man by his priuate resolutions the law of the whole coÌ„mon-welth or state wherin he liueth For as ciuill law being the act of a whole body politique doth therfore ouerrule each seuerall part of the same body so there is no reason that any one commoÌ„-welth of it self should to the preiudice of another annihilate that whereupon the whole world hath agreed For which cause the Lacedemonians forbidding all accesse of strangers into their coasts are in yâ— respect both by Iosephus Theodoret deseruedly blamed as being enimies to that hospitality which for coÌ„mon humanities sake al the nations on earth should embrace Now as there is great cause of coÌ„munioÌ„ consequently of laws for the maintenance of coÌ„munion amongst nations So amongst nations Christian the like in regard euen of Christianitie hath bene aâ—waies iudged needfull And in this kinde of correspondence amongst natioÌ„s the force of general councels doth stand For as one the same law diuine wherof in the next place we are to speak is vnto al ChristiaÌ„ churches a rule for the chiefest things by meanes whereof they al in that respect make one Church as hauing all but One Lord one faith and one baptisme So the vrgent necessitie of mutual communion for preseruation of our vnitie in these things as also for order in some other things coÌ„uenient to be euery where vniformly kept maketh it requisit that the church of God here on earth haue her lawes of spirituall commerce betweene Christian nations lawes by vertue wherof all Churches may enioy freely the vse of those reuerend religious and sacred consultations which are termed councels generall A thing whereof Gods owne blessed spirit was the author a thing practised by the holy Apostles themselues a thing alwaies afterwardes kept and obserued throughout the world a thing neuer otherwise then most highly esteemed of till pride ambition and â—yranny began by factious and vile endeuors to abuse that diuine inuention vnto the funherance of wicked purposes But as the iust authoritie of ciuill courtes and Parliaments is not therefore to be abolished because sometime there is cunning vsed to frame them according to the priuate intents of men ouer-potent in the common-welth So thâ— grieuous abuse which hath bene of councels should rather cause men to studie how so gratious a thing may againe be reduced to that first perfection then in regard of staines and blemishes sithens growing be held for euer in extreame disgrace To speake of this matter as the cause requireth would require very long discourse All I will presently say is this Whether it be for the finding out of any thing whereunto diuine lawe bindeth vs but yet in such sort that men are not thereof on all sides resolued or for the setting downe of some vniforme iudgement to stand touching such thinges as being neither way matters of necessitie are notwithstanding offensiue and scandalous when there is open opposition about them be it for the ending of strifes touching matters of Christian beliefe wherein the one part may seeme to haue probable cause of dissenting from the other or be it concerning matters of politie order and regiment in the Church I nothing doubt but that ChristiaÌ„ men should much better frame themselues to those heauenly precepts which our Lord and Sauiour with so great instancie gaue as concerning peace and vnitie if we did all concurre in desire to haue the vse of auncient councels againe renued rather then these proceedings continued which eyther make all contentions endlesse or bring them to one onely determination and that of all other the worst which is by sword It followeth therefore that a new foundation being laid wee now adioyne hereunto that which commeth in the next place to be spoken of namely wherefore God hath himselfe by scripture made knowne such lawes as serue for direction of men 11 Al things God only excepted besides the nature which they haue in
as humaine felicitie doth import in as much as the dignity of this exceedeth so far the others value But be it that God of his great liberality had determined in lieu of mans endeuors to bestow the same by the rule of that iustice which best beseemeth him namely the iustice of one that requiteth nothing mincingly but all with pressed and heaped and euen ouer-inlarged measure yet could it neuer hereupon necessarily bee gathered that such iustice should adde to the nature of that reward the property of euerlasting continuance sith possession of blisse though it should be but for a moment were an aboundant retribution But we are not now to enter into this consideration how gratious and bountifull our good God might still appeare in so rewarding the sonnes of men albeit they should exactly performe whatsoeuer duty their nature bindeth theÌ„ vnto Howsoeuer God did propose this reward we that were to be rewarded must haue done that which is required at our hands we failing in the one it were in nature an impossibility that the other should be looked for The light of nature is neuer able to find out any way of obtaining the reward of blisse but by performing exactly the duties and works of righteousnes From saluation therefore and life all flesh being excluded this way behold how the wisedome of God hath reuealed a way mysticall and supernaturall a way directing vnto the same end of life by a course which groundeth it selfe vpon the guiltinesse of sinne and through sinne desert of condemnation and death For in this way the first thing is the tender compassion of God respecting vs drowned and swallowed vp in miserie the next is redemption out of the same by the pretious death and merite of a mighty Sauiour which hath witnessed of himselfe saying I am the way the way that leadeth vs from miserie into blisse This supernaturall way had God in himselfe prepared before all worlds The way of supernaturall dutie which to vs he hath prescribed our Sauiour in the Gospell of Saint Iohn doth note terming it by an excellency the worke of God This is the worke of God that ye beleeue in him whom he hath sent Not that God doth require nothing vnto happinesse at the hands of men sauing onely a naked beliefe for hope and Charity we may not exclude but that without beliefe all other things are as nothing it the ground of those other diuine vertues Concerning faith the principall obiect whereof is that eternall veritie which hath discouered the treasures of hidden wisedome in Christ concerning hope the highest obiect wherof is that euerlasting goodnesse which in Christ doth quicken the dead concerning charity the finall obiect whereof is that incomprehensible beauty which shineth in the countenance of Christ the sonne of the liuing God concerning these vertues the first of which beginning here with a weake apprehensioÌ„ of things not seene endeth with the intuitiue vision of God in the world to come the second beginning here with a trembling expectation of things far remoued and as yet but onely heard of endeth with reall and actuall fruition of that which no tongue can expresse the third beginning here with a weake inclination of heart towards him vnto whom we are not able to approch endeth with endlesse vnion the mistery wherof is higher then the reach of the thoughts of men concerning that faith hope charity without which there can be no saluation was there euer any mention made sauing only in that law which God himselfe hath from heauen reuealed There is not in the world a syllable muttered with certaine truth coÌ„cerning any of these three more then hath bene supernaturally receiued from the mouth of the eternall God Lawes therefore concerning these things are supernaturall both in respect of the maner of deliuering them which is diuine and also in regard of the things deliuered which are such as haue not in nature any cause from which they flow but were by the voluntary appointment of God ordeined besides the course of nature to rectifie natures obliquity withall 12 When supernaturall duties are necessarily exacted naturall are not reiected as needlesse The law of God therefore is though principally deliuered for instruction in the one yet fraught with precepts of the other also The scripture is fraught euen with lawes of nature In so much that Gratian defining naturall right whereby is meant the right which exacteth those generall duties that concerne men naturally euen as they are men termeth naturall right that which the bookes of the Lawe and the Gospell do containe Neither is it vaine that the Scripture aboundeth with so great store of lawes in this kind For they are either such as we of our selues could not easily haue found out and then the benefit is not small to haue them readily set downe to our hands or if they be so cleere manifest that no man indued with reason can lightly be ignorant of them yet the spirite as it were borrowing them from the schoole of nature as seruing to proue things lesse manifest and to induce a perswasion of somewhat which were in it selfe more hard and darke vnlesse it should in such sort be cleared the very applying of them vnto cases particular is not without most singular vse and profite many wayes for mens instruction Besides be they plaine of themselues or obscure the euidence of Gods owne testimonie added vnto the naturall assent of reason concerning the certaintie of them doth not a little comfort and confirme the same Wherefore in as much as our actions are conuersant about things beset with many circumstances which cause men of sundry wits to be also of sundry iudgements concerning that which ought to be done requisite it caÌ„not but seeme the rule of diuine law should herein helpe our imbecillity that we might the more infallibly vnderstand what is good what euill The first principles of the law of nature are easie hard it were to find men ignorant of them but concerning the duty which natures law doth require at the hands of men in a number of things particular so farre hath the naturall vnderstanding euen of sundry whole nations bene darkned that they haue not discerned no not grosse iniquity to bee sinne Againe being so prone as we are to fawne vpon our selues and to be ignorant as much as may be of our owne deformities without the feeling sense whereof we are most wretched euen so much the more because not knowing theÌ„ we cannot as much as desire to haue them taken away how should our festâ—ed sores be cured but that God hath deliuered a law as sharpe as the two edged sword pearcing the very closest and most vnsearchable corners of the heart which the law of nature can hardly humaine lawes by no meanes possible reach vnto Hereby we know euen secret concupiscence to be sinne and are made fearefull to offend though it be but in a wandering cogitation Finally of
those things which are for direction of all the parts of our life needfull and not impossible to be discerned by the light of nature it selfe are there not many which few mens naturall capacitie and some which no mans hath bene able to find out They are sayth Saint Augustine but a few and they indued with great ripenes of wit and iudgement free from all such affaires as might trouble their meditations instructed in the sharpest and the subtlest points of learning who haue and that very hardly bene able to find out but onely the immortality of the soule The resurrection of the flesh what man did euer at any time dreame of hauing not heard it otherwise then from the schoole of nature Whereby it appeareth how much we are bound to yeeld vnto our creator the father of all mercy eternall thankes for that he hath deliuered his law vnto the world a law wherein so many things are laid open cleere and manifest as a light which otherwise would haue bene buried in darknesse not without the hazard or rather not with the hazard but with the certaine losse of infinite thousands of soules most vndoubtedly now saued We see therefore that our soueraigne good is desired naturally that God the author of that naturall desire had appointed naturall meanes whereby to fulfill it that man hauing vtterly disabled his nature vnto those meanes hath had other reuealed from God and hath receaued from heauen a law to teach him how that which is desired naturally must now supernaturally be attained finally we see that because those later exclude not the former quite and cleane as vnnecessary therefore together with such supernaturall duties as could not possibly haue beene otherwise knowne to the world the same lawe that teacheth them teacheth also with them such naturall duties as could not by light of nature easily haue bene knowne 13. In the first age of the world God gaue lawes vnto our fathers and by reason of the number of their daies their memories serued in steed of books wherof the manifold imperfections and defects being knowne to God he mercifully relieued the same by often putting them in mind of that whereof it behoued them to be specially mindfull In which respect we see how many times one thing hath bene iterated vnto sundry euen of the best and wisest amongst them After that the liues of men were shortned meanes more durable to preserue the lawes of God from obliuion and corruption grew in vse not without precise direction from God himselfe First therefore of Moyses it is sayd that he wrote all the words of God not by his owne priuate motion and deuise for God taketh this act to himselfe I haue written Furthermore were not the Prophets following commanded also to do the like Vnto the holy Euangelist Saint Iohn how often expresse charge is giuen Scribe write these things Concerning the rest of our Lords Disciples the words of Saint Augustine are Quic quid ille de suis factis dictis nos legere voluit hoc scribenduÌ„ illis tanquaÌ„ suis manibus imperauit Now although we do not deny it to be a matter meerely accidentall vnto the law of God to be written although writing be not that which addeth authority and strength thereunto finally though his lawes do require at our hands the same obedience howsoeuer they be deliuered his prouideÌ„ce notwithstanding which hath made principall choice of this way to deliuer them who seeth not what cause we haue to admire and magnifie The singular benefit that hath growne vnto the world by receiuing the lawes of God euen by his owne appointment committed vnto writing we are not able to esteeme as the value thereof deserueth When the question therefore is whether we be now to seeke for any reuealed law of God other where then onely in the sacred Scripture whether we do now stand bound in the sight of God to yeeld to traditions-vrged by the Church of Rome the same obedience and reuerence we do to his written lawe honouring equally and adoring both as Diuine our answer is no. They that so earnestly pleade for the authority of Tradition as if nothing were more safely conueyed then that which spreadeth it selfe by report and descendeth by relation of former generations vnto the ages that succeed are not all of the them surely a miracle it were if they should be so simple as thus to perswade themselues howsoeuer if the simple were so perswaded they could be content perhaps very well to enioy the benefit as they accompt it of that common error What hazard the truth is in when it passeth through the hands of report how maymed and deformed it becommeth they are not they cannot possibly be ignorant Let them that are indeed of this mind consider but onely that litle of things Diuine which the Heathen haue in such sort receiued How miserable had the state of the Church of God beene long ere this if wanting the sacred Scripture we had no record of his lawes but onely the memory of man receiuing the same by report and relation from his predecessors By Scripture it hath in the wisedome of God seemed meete to deliuer vnto the world much but personally expedient to be practised of certaine men many deepe and profound points of doctrine as being the maine originall ground whereupon the precepts of duty depend many prophecies the cleere performance whereof might confirme the world in beliefe of things vnseene many histories to serue as looking glasses to behold the mercy the truth the righteousnesse of God towards all that faithfully serue obey and honor him yea many intire meditations of pietie to be as patternes and presidents in cases of like nature many things needfull for â—â—plication many for applicatioÌ„ vnto particular occasions such as the prouidence of God from time to time hath taken to haue the seuerall bookes of his holy ordinance written Be it them that together with the principall necessary lawes of God there are sundry other things written whereof we might happily be ignorant and yet be saued VVhat shall we hereupon thinke them needlesse shall we esteeme them as riotous branches wherewith we sometimes behold most pleasant vines ouergrown Surely no more then we iudge our hands on our eies â—â—perfluouâ— or what part soeuer which if our bodies did want we might notwithstaÌ„ding any such defect reteine still the complete being of men As therfore a complete man is neither destitute of any part necessary and hath some partes wherof though the want could not depriue him of his essence yet to haue â—hem standeth him in singular stead in respect of the special vses for which they serues in 〈…〉 all those writings which conteine in them the law of God all those â—â—nâ—râ—ble bookes of Scripture all those sacred tomes and volumes of holy wriâ— â—â—ey are with such absolute perfection framed that in them there neither 〈◊〉 any thing the lacke whereof might depriue vs of life
vnto whom wee associate our selues in the one are men simply considered as men but they to whom we bee ioyned in the other are God Angels and holy men Againe the Church being both a society and a society supernaturall although as it is a society it haue the selfe same originall grounds which other politique societes haue namely the naturall inclination which all men haue vnto sociable life and consent to some certaine bond of association which bond is the law that appointeth what kind of order they shall be associated in yet vnto the Church as it is a societie supernaturall this is peculiar that part of the bond of their association which belong to the Church of God must be a lawe supernaturall which God himselfe hath reuealed concerning that kind of worship which his people shall do vnto him The substance of the seruice of God therefore so farre forth as it hath in it any thing more then the lawe of reason doth teach may not be inuented of men as it is amongst the Heathens but must be receiued from God himselfe as alwaies it hath bene in the Church sauing only when the Church hath bene forgetfull of her dutie Wherefore to end with a generall rule concerning all the lawes which God hath tyed men vnto those lawes diuine that belong whether naturally or supernaturally either to men as men or to men as they liue in politique societie or to men as they are of that politique societie which is the Church without any further respect had vnto any such variable accident as the state of men and of societies of men and of the Church it selfe in this world is subiect vnto all lawes that so belong vnto men they belong for euer yea although they be positiue lawes vnlesse being positiue God himselfe which made them alter them The reason is because the subiect or matter of lawes in generall is thus farre foorth constant which matter is that for the ordering whereof lawes were instituted and being instituted are not chaungeable without cause neither can they haue cause of chaunge when that which gaue them their first institution remaineth for euer one and the same On the other side lawes that were made for men or societies or Churches in regard of their being such as they doe not alwayes continue but may perhaps bee cleane otherwise a whil◠after and so may require to bee otherwise ordered then before the lawes of God himselfe which are of this nature no man indued with common sense will euer denie to bee of a different constitution from the former in respect of the ones constancie and the mutabilitie of the other And this doth seeme to haue beene the very cause why Saint Iohn doth so peculiarly tearme the doctrine that teacheth saluation by Iesus Christ Euangelium aeternum an eternall Gospell because there can be no reason wherefore the publishing thereof should be taken away and any other in stead of it proclaimed as long as the world doth continue where as the whole lawe of rites and Ceremonies although deliuered with so great solemnitie is notwithstanding cleane abrogated in as much as it had but temporary cause of Gods ordeining it But that we may at the length conclude this first generall introduction vnto the nature and originall birth as of all other lawes so likewise of those which the sacred Scripture conteineth concerning the author wherof euen infidels haue confessed that he can neither erre nor deceiue albeit about things easie and manifest vnto all men by common sense there needeth no higher consultation because as a man whose wisedome is in waighty affaires admired would take it in some disdaine to haue his counsell solemnely asked about a toye so the meannesse of some things is such that to search the Scripture of God for the ordering of them were to derogate from the reuerend authoritie and dignitie of the Scripture no lesse then they do by whom Scriptures are in ordinarie talke very idly applyed vnto vaine and childish trifles yet better it were to bee superstitious then prophane to take from thence our direction euen in all things great or small then to wade through matters of principall waight and moment without euer caring what the lawe of God hath either for or against our disseignes Concerning the custome of the very Paynimes thus much Strab◠witnesseth Men that are ciuill do leade their liues after one common lawe appointing them what to do For that otherwise a multitude should with harmony amongest themselues concurre in the doing of one thing for this is ciuilly to liue or that they should in any sort menage communitie of life it is not possible Nowe lawes or statutes are of two sorts For they are either receiued from Gods or else from men And our auncient predecessors did surely most honor and reuerēce that which was from the Gods for which cause consultation with Oracles was a thing very vsuall and frequent in their times Did they make so much account of the voyce of their Gods which in truth were no Gods and shall we neglect the pretious benefite of conference with those Oracles of the true and liuing God whereof so great store is left to the Church and wherunto there is so free so plaine and so easie accesse for al men By the Commandements this was Dauids confession vnto God thou hast made me wiser then mine enemies Againe I haue had more vnderstanding then all my teachers because thy testimonies are my meditations What paynes would not they haue bestowed in the study of these bookes who trauailed sea and land to gaine the treasure of some fewe dayes talke with men whose wisedome the world did make any reckoning of That litle which some of the Heathens did chance to heare concerning such matter as the sacred Scripture plentifully conteineth they did in wonderfull sort affect their speeches as oft as they make mention thereof are strange and such as themselues could not vtter as they did other things but still acknowledged that their wits which did euery where else conquer hardnesse were with profoundnesse here ouer-matched Wherfore seeing that God hath indued vs with sense to the end that we might perceiue such things as this present life doth need and with reason least that which sense cannot reach vnto being both now and also in regard of a future estate hereafter necessary to be knowne should lye obscure finally with the heauenly support of d propheticall reuelation which doth open those hidden mysteries that reason could neuer haue bene able to find out or to haue knowne the necessitie of them vnto our euerlasting good vse we the pretious gifts of God vnto his glory and honour that gaue them seeking by all meanes to know what the will of our God is what righteous before him in his fight what holy perfect and good that we may truly and faithfully do it 16 Thus farre therefore we haue endeuoured in part to open of
in all partes of decent demeanor So that the law of Angels wee cannot iudge altogether impertinent vnto the affaires of the Church of God Our largenesse of speech how men do finde out what thinges reason bindeth them of necessitie to obserue and what is guideth them to choose in things which are left as arbitrary the care we haue had to declare the different nature of lawes which seuerally concerne all men from such as belong vnto men eyther ciuilly or spiritually associated such as pertaine to the fellowship which nations or which Christian nations haue amongst themselues and in the last place such as concerning euery or any of these God himselfe hath reuealed by his holy worâ— all serueth but to make manifest that as the actions of men are of sundry distinct kindes so the lawes thereof must accordingly be distinguished There are in men operations some naturall some rationall some supernaturall some politique some finally Ecclesiasticall Which if we measure not each by his owne proper law whereas the things themselues are so different there will be in our vnderstanding and iudgement of them confusion As that first error sheweth whereon our opposites in this cause haue grounded themselues For as they rightly maintaine that God must be glorified in all thinges and that the actions of men cannot tend vnto his glory vnlesse they be framed after his law So it is their error to thinke that the only law which God hath appointed vnto men in that behalfe is the sacred Scripture By that which we worke naturally as when we breath sleepe mooue we set forth the glory of God as naturall agents doe albeit we haue no expresse purpose to make that our end nor any aduised determination therein to follow a law but doe that we doe for the most part not as much as thinking thereon In reasonable and morall actions another law taketh place a law by the obseruation whereof we glorifie God in such sort as no creature else vnder man is able to doe because other creatures haue not iudgement to examine the qualitie of that which is done by them and therfore in that they doe they neither can accuse nor approue themselues Men doe bothe as the Apostle teacheth yea those men which haue no written lawe of God to shewe what is good or euill carrie written in their hearts the vniuersall lawe of mankind the law of reason whereby they iudge as by a rule which God hath giuen vnto all men for that purpose The lawe of reason doth somewhat direct men how to honour God as their Creator but how to glorifie God in such sort as is required to the end he may be an euerlasting Sauiour this we are taught by diuine law which law both ascertaineth the truth and supplieth vnto vs the want of that other lawe So that in morall actions diuine law helpeth exceedingly the lawe of reason to guide mans life but in supernaturall it alone guideth Proceed wee further let vs place man in some publique societie with others whether Ciuill or Spirituall and in this case there is no remedie but we must adde yet a further lawe For although euen here likewise the lawes of nature and reason be of necessary vse yet somewhat ouer and besides them is necessary namely humane and positiue lawe together with that lawe which is of commerce betweene grand societies the law of nations and of nations Christian For which cause the lawe of God hath likewise said Let euery soule be subiect to the higher powers The publique power of all societies is aboue euery soule contained in the same societies And the principall vse of that power is to giue lawes vnto all that are vnder it which lawes in such case we must obey vnlesse there be reason shewed which may necessarily enforce that the lawe or reason or of God doth enioyne the contrarie Because except our owne priuate and but probable resolutions be by the lawe of publique determinations ouerruled we take away all possibilitie of sociable life in the worlde A plainer example whereof then our selues we cannot haue How commeth it to passe that wee are at this present day so rent with mutuall contentions and that the Church is so much troubled about the politie of the Church No doubt if men had bene willing to learne how many lawes their actions in this life are subiect vnto and what the true force of each lawe is all these controuersies might haue dyed the very day they were first brought forth It is both commonly said and truly that the best men otherwise are not alwayes the best in regard of societie The reason wherof is for that the law of mens actions is one if they be respected only as men and another wheÌ„ they are considered as parts of a politique body Many men there are then whom nothing is more commendable when they are singled And yet in societie with others none lesse fit to answere the duties which are looked for at their handes Yea I am perswaded that of them with whom in this cause we striue there are whose betters among men would bee hardly found if they did not liue amongst men but in some wildernesse by themselues The cause of which their disposition so vnframable vnto societies wherein they liue is for that they discerne not aright what place and force these seuerall kindes of lawes ought to haue in all their actions Is there question eyther concerning the regiment of the Church in generall or about conformitie betweene one Church and another or of ceremonies offices powers iurisdictions in our owne Church Of all these things they iudge by that râ—le which they frame to themselues with some shew of probabilitie and what seemeth in that sort conuenient the same they thinke themselues bound to practise the same by all meanes they labour mightily to vpholde whatsoeuer any law of man to the contrarie hath determined they weigh it not Thus by following the law of priuate reason where the law of publique should take place they breede disturbance For the better inuâ—ing therefore of mens mindes with the true distinction of lawes and of their seuerall force according to the diâ—ferent kind and qualitie of our actions it shal noâ— peraduenture be amisse to shew in some one example how they all take place To seeke no further let but that be considered then which there is not any thing more familiar vnto vs our foode What thinges are foode and what are not we iudge naturally by sense neither neede we any other law to be our director in that behalfe then the selfe-same which is common vnto vs with beastes But when we come to consider of foode as of a benefite which God of his bounteous goodnes hath prouided for all thinges liuing the law of reason doth here require the dutie of thankefulnesse at our handes towards him at whose hands we haue iâ— And least appetite in the vse of foode should leade vs beyond that
We may not giue our selues this liberty to bring in any thing of our will nor choose any thing that other men bring in of their will we haue the Apostles themselues for authors which themselues brought nothing of their owne wil but the discipline which they receiued of Christ they deliuered faithfully vnto the people In which place the name of discipline importeth not as they who alleage it would faine haue it construed but as any man who noteth the circumstance of the place and the occasion of vttering the words will easily acknowledge euen the selfe same thing it signifieth which the name of doctrine doth and as well might the one as the other there haue bene vsed To helpe them farther doth not Saint Ierome after the selfe same maner dispute We beleeue it not because we reade it not Yea We ought not so much as to knowe the things which the booke of the Lawe containeth not sayth Saint Hilarie Shall we hereupon then conclude that we may not take knowledge of or giue credit vnto any thing which sense or experience or report or art doth propose vnlesse we find the same in scripture No it is too plaine that so farre to extend their speeches is to wrest them against their true intent and meaning To vrge any thing vpon the Church requiring thereunto that religious assent of Christian beliefe wherewith the words of the holy Prophets are receiued to vrge any thing as part of that supernaturall and Celestially reuealed truth which God hath taught and not to shewe it in Scripture this did the auncient Fathers euermore thinke vnlawfull impious execrable And thus as their speeches were meant so by vs they must be restrained As for those alleaged words of Cyprian The christian religion shall find that out of this scripture rules of all doctrines haue sprâ—ng and that from hence doth spring and hether doth returne whatsoeuer the Ecclesiasticall discipline doth coÌ„teine surely this place would neuer haue bin brought forth in this cause if it had bene but once read ouer in the author himselfe out of whom it is cited For the words are vttered concerning that one principall commaundement of loue in the honour whereof he speaketh after this sort Surely this commaundement containeth the Law and the Prophets and in this one word is the abridgement of al the volumes of scripture This nature and reason and the authority of thy word O Lord doth proclaime this we haue heard out of thy mouth herein the perfection of all religion doth consist This is the first commandement and the last thing being written in the booke of life is as it were an euerlasting lesson both to men and Angels Let Christian religion reade this one word and meditate vpon this commaundement and out of this scripture it shall find the rules of all learning to haue sprung and from hence to haue risen and hither to returne whatsoeuer the Ecclesiasticall discipline containeth and that in all things it is vaine and bootelesse which charity confirmeth not Was this a sentence trow you of so great force to proue that Scripture is the onely rule of all the actions of men Might they not hereby euen as well proue that one commandement of Scripture is the onely rule of all things and so exclude the rest of the Scripture as now they do all meanes besides Scripture But thus it fareth when too much desire of contradiction causeth our speech rather to passe by number then to stay for waight Well but Tertullian doth in this case speake yet more plainely The scripture sayth he denieth what it noteth not which are indeed the words of Tertullian But what the scripture reckoneth vp the Kings of Israell and amongst those Kings Dauid the scripture reckoneth vp the sonnes of Dauid and amongst those sonnes Salomon To proue that amongst the Kings of Israell there was no Dauid but only one no Salomon but one in the sonnes of Dauid Tertullians argument will fitly proue For in as much as the scripture did propose to recken vp all if there were moe it would haue named them In this case the scripture doth deny the thing it noteth not Howbeit I could not but thinke that man to do me some peece of manifest iniury which would hereby fasten vpon me a generall opinion as if I did thinke the scripture to deny the very raigne of King Henry the eight because it no where noteth that any such King did raigne Tertullians speech is probable concerning such matter as he there speaketh of There was saith Tertullian no second Lamech like to him that had two wiues the scripture denieth what it noteth not As therefore it noteth one such to haue bene in that age of the world so had there beene moe it would by likelihood as well haue noted many as one What infer we now hereupon There was no second Lamech the scripture denieth what it noteth not Were it consonant vnto reason to diuorce these two sentences the former of which doth shew how the later is restrained and not marking the former to conclude by the later of them that simply whatsoeuer any man at this day doth thinke true is by the scripture denied vnlesse it be there affirmed to be true I wonder that a cause so weake and feeble hath bene so much persisted in But to come vnto those their sentences wherein matters of action are more apparantly touched the name of Tertullian is as before so here againe pretended who writing vnto his wife two bookes and exhorting her in the one to liue a widdow in case God before her should take him vnto his mercy and in the other if she did marry yet not to ioyne her selfe to an infidel as in those times some widowes Christian had done for the aduancement of their estate in this present world he vrgeth very earnestly Saint Paules words onely in the Lord whereupon he demaundeth of them that thinke they may do the contrary what Scripture they can shew where God hath dispensed and graunted licence to do against that which the blessed Apostle so strictly doth inioyne And because in defence it might perhaps be replied seeing God doth will that couples which are maried when bothe are infidels if either party chaunce to be after conuerted vnto Christianity this should not make separation betweene them as long as the vnconuerted was willing to reteine the other on whom the grace of Christ had shined wherefore then should that let the making of mariage which doth not dissolue mariage being made after great reasons shewed why God doth in Conuerts being maried allow continuance with infidels and yet disallow that the faithfull when they are free should enter into bonds of wedlocke with such concludeth in the end concerning those women that so mary They that please not the Lord do euen thereby offend the Lord they do euen thereby throw themselues into euill that is to say while they please him not by
narrow roome as that it should bee able to direct vs but in principall points of our Religion or as though the substance of Religion or some rude and vnfashioned matter of building the Church were vttered in them and those things left out that should pertaine to the forme and fashion of it let the cause of the accused bee referred to the accusers owne conscience and let that iudge whether this accusation be deserued where it hath bene layd 5 But so easie it is for euery man liuing to erre and so hard to wrest from any mans mouth the plaine acknowledgement of error that what hath beene once inconsiderately defended the same is commonly persisted in as long as wit by whetting it selfe is able to finde out any shift bee it neuer so sleight whereby to escape out of the handes of present contradiction So that it commeth here in to passe with men vnaduisedly fallen into errour as with them whose state hath no ground to vphold it but onely the helpe which by subtle conueyance they drawe out of casuall euents arising from day to day till at length they be cleane spent They which first gaue out that Nothing ought to be established in the Church which is not commanded by the word of God thought this principle plainely warranted by the manifest words of the lawe Ye shall put nothing vnto the word which I commaund you neither shall ye take ought therefrom that ye may keepe the commaundements of the Lord your God which I commaund you Wherefore hauing an eye to a number of rites and orders in the Church of England as marrying with a ring crossing in the one Sacrament kneeling at the other obseruing of festiuall dayes moe then onely that which is called the Lords day inioyning abstinence at certaine times from some kindes of meate churching of women after Child birth degrees taken by diuines in Vniuersities sundry Church-offices dignities and callings for which they found no commaundement in the holy Scripture they thought by the one onely stroke of that axiome to haue cut them off But that which they tooke for an Oracle being sifted was repeld True it is concerning the word of God whether it be by misconstruction of the sense or by falsification of the words wittingly to endeuour that any thing may seeme diuine which is not or any thing not seeme which is were plainely to abuse and euen to falsifie diuine euidence which iniury offered but vnto men is most worthily counted haâ—nous Which point I wish they did well obserue with whom nothing is more familiar then to plead in these causes The law of God The word of the Lord who notwithstanding when they come to alleage what word and what lawe they meane their common ordinarie practise is to quote by-speeches in some historicall narration or other and to vrge them as if they were written in most exact forme of law What is to adde to the lawe of God if this bee not When that which the word of God doth but deliuer historically we conster without any warrant as if it were legally meant and so vrge it further then we can proue that it was intended do we not adde to the lawes of God and make them in number seeme moe then they are It standeth vs vpon to be carefull in this case For the sentence of God is heauy against them that wittingly shall presume thus to vse the Scripture 6 But let that which they doe hereby intend bee graunted them let it once stand as consonant to reason that because wee are forbidden to adde to the lawe of God any thing or to take ought from it therefore wee may not for matters of the Church make any lawe more then is already set downe in Scripture who seeth not what sentence it shall enforce vs to giue against all Churches in the world in as much as there is not one but hath had many things established in it which though the Scripture did neuer commaund yet for vs to condemne were rashnesse Let the Church of God euen in the time of our Sauior Christ serue for example vnto all the rest In their domesticall celebration of the passeouer which supper they deuided as it were into two courses what Scripture did giue commaundement that betweene the first and the second he that was Chiefe should put off the residue of his garments and keeping on his feast-robe onely wash the feete of them that were with him What Scripture did command them neuer to lift vp their hands vnwasht in prayer vnto God which custome Aristaeus be the credite of the author more or lesse sheweth wherefore they did so religiously obserue What Scripture did commaund the Iewes euery festiuall day to fast till the sixt houre The custome both mentioned by Iosephus in the history of his owne life and by the words of Peter signified Tedious it were to rip vp all such things as were in that Church established yea by Christ himselfe and by his Apostles obserued though not commaunded any where in Scripture 7 Well yet a glosse there is to colour that paradoxe and notwithstanding all this still to make it appeare in shew not to be altogether vnreasonable And therefore till further reply come the cause is held by a feeble distinction that the commandements of God being either generall or speciall although there be no expresse word for euery thing in specialtie yet there are generall commaundements for all things to the end that euen such cases as are not in Scripture particularly mentioned might not be left to any to order at their pleasure onely with caution that nothing be done against the word of God and that for this cause the Apostle hath set downe in scripture foure generall rules requiring such things alone to be receiued in the Church as do best and neerest agree with the same rules that so all things in the Church may be appointed not onely not against but by and according to the word of God The rules are these Nothing scandalous or offensiue vnto any especially vnto the Church of God All things in order and with seemelinesse All vnto edification finally All to the glory of God Of which kind how many might be gathered out of the Scripture if it were necessary to take so much paines Which rules they that vrge minding thereby to proue that nothing may be done in the Church but what Scripture commaundeth must needs hold that they tye the Church of Christ no otherwise then onely because we find them there set downe by the finger of the holy Ghost So that vnlesse the Apostle by writing had deliuered those rules to the Church we should by obseruing them haue sinned as now by not obseruing them In the Church of the Iewes is it not graunted that the appointment of the hower for daily sacrifices the building of Synagogues throughout the land to heare the word of God and to pray in when they came not vp
therunto may we cause our faith without reason to appeare reasonable in the eyes of men This being required euen of learners in the schoole of Christ the duty of their teachers in bringing them vnto such ripenes must needes be somewhat more then only to read the sentences of scripture and then paraphrastically to scholie them to vary theÌ„ with sundry formes of speech without arguing or disputing about anything which they contain This method of teaching may coÌ„mend it selfe vnto the world by that easines facilitie which is in it but a law or a patterne it is not as some do imagine for all men to follow that will do good in the Church of Christ. Our Lord and Sauiour himselfe did hope by disputation to do some good yea by disputatioÌ„ not onely of but against the truth albeit with purpose for the truth That Christ should be the sonne of Dauid was truth yet against this truth our Lorde in the Gospell obiecteth If Christ be the son of Dauid how doth Dauid call him Lord There is as yet no way knowne how to dispute or to determine of things disputed without the vse of naturall reason If we please to adde vnto Christ their example who followed him as neere in all thinges as they could the Sermon of Paule and Barnabas set downe in the Actes where the people would haue offered vnto them sacrifice in that Sermon what is there but onely naturall reason to disproue their acte O men why doe you these thinges We are men euen subiect to the selfe same passions with you wee preach vnto you to leaue these vanities and to turne to the liuing God the God that hath not left himselfe without witnesse in that he hath done good to the world giuing raine and fruitfull seasons filling our heart with ioy and gladnesse Neither did they onely vse reason in winning such vnto Christian beleefe as were yet thereto vnconuerted but with beleeuers themselues they followed the selfesame course In that great and solemne assembly of beleeuing Iewes how doth Peter proue that the Gentiles were partakers of the grace of God as well as they but by reason drawne from those effectes which were apparently knowne amongst them God which knoweth hearts hath borne them witnesse in giuing vnto them the holy Ghost as vnto vs. The light therefore which the starre of naturall reason and wisedome casteth is too bright to be obscured by the mist of a word or two vttered to diminish that opinion which iustly hath beene receiued concerning the force and vertue thereof euen in matters that touch most nearely the principall duties of men and the glory of the eternall God In all which hitherto hath beene spoken touching the force and vse of mans reason in thinges diuine I must craue that I be not so vnderstood or coÌ„strued as if any such thing by vertue thereof could be done without the aide and assistance of Gods most blessed spirit The thing wee haue handled according to the question mooued about it which question is whether the light of reason be so pernitious that in deuising lawes for the church men oughâ— not by it to search what may be fit coÌ„uenient For this cause therfore we haue endeuoured to make it appeare how in the nature of reason it selfe there is no impedimeÌ„t but that the self-same spirit which reuealeth the things that god hath set down in his law may also be thoughâ— to aid direct men in finding out by the light of reason what lawes are expedient to be made for the guiding of his Church ouer and besides them that are in scripture Herein therfore we agree with those men by whom humane lawes are defined to be ordinances which such as haue lawfull authorisiâ— giuen them foâ— that purpose do probably draw from the lawes of nature God by discourse of reason aided with the influence of diuine grace And for that cause it is not said amisse touching Ecclesiasticall canons that by instinct of the holy Ghost they haue bin made and consecrated by the reuerend acceptation of all the world 9 Lawes for the church are not made as they should be vnles the makers follow such directioÌ„ as they ought to be guided by Wherin that scripture standeth noâ— the church of God in any stead of serueth nothing at aâ—â—o direct but may be let passe as needles to be consulted with we iudge it prophane impious and irreligious to thinke For although it were in vaine to make laws which the scripture hath already made because what we are already there coÌ„manded to do on our parts there resteth nothing but only that it be executed yet because both in that which we are commanded in concerneth the duty of the church by law to prouide that the loosenes and slacknes of men may not cause the commandements of God to be vnexecuted and a number of things there are for which the scripture hath not prouided by any law but left them vnto the carefull discretion of the Church we are to search how the Church in these cases may be well directed to make that prouision by lawes which is most conuenient c fit And what is so in these cases partly scripture and partly reason must teach to discerne Scripture comprehending examples lawes lawes some naturall and some positiue examples neither are there for al cases which require lawes to be made and wheâ— they are they can but direct as precedents onely Naturall lawes direct In such sorte that in all things wee must for euer doe according vnto them positiue so that against them in no case we may doe any thing as long as the will of God is that they should remaine in force Howbeit when scripture doth yeelde vs precedents how far forth they are to be followed when it giueth naturall lawes what particular order is thereunto most agreeable when positiue which way to make lawes vnrepugnant vnto them yea though all these should wanâ— yeâ— what kinde of ordinances would be most for that good of the Church which is aimed at al this must be by reason found out And therefore Tib refuse the conduct of the light of nature saith S. Augustine is not folly alone but accompanied with impietie The greatest amongst the Schoole diuines studying how to set downe by exact definition the nature of an humane lawe'â— of which nature all the Churches constitutions are found not which way better to do it thâ—n in these words Out of the precepâ—s of the law of nature as out of certaine coÌ„mon vndemonstrable principles mans reason doth necessarily proceede vnto certaine more particular determinations which particular determinations beeing found out according vnto the reason of man they haue the names of humane lawes so that such other conditions be therein kept as the making of lawes doth require that is if they whose authoritie is thereunto required do establish and publish them as lawes And the truth is that all our
controuersie in this cause concerning the orders of the Church is what particulars the Church may appoint That which doth finde them out is the force of mans reason That which doth guide and direct his reason is first the generall law of nature which law of nature and the morall law of scripture are in the substance of law all one But because there are also in scripture a number of lawes particular and positiue which being in force may not by any law of man be violated we are in making lawes to haue thereunto an especiall eie As for example it might perhaps seeme reasonable vnto the Church of God following the generall laws concerning the nature of mariage to ordaine in particular that cosen germains shall not marry Which law notwithstanding ought not to be receiued in the Church if there should be in the scripture a law particular to the contrary forbidding vtterly the bonds of mariage to be so far forth abridged The same Thomas therfore whose definition of humane lawes we mentioned before doth adde thereunto his caution concerning the rule and canon whereby to make them Humane lawes are measures in respect of men whose actiōs they must direct howbeit such measures they are as haue also their higher rules to be measured by which rules are two the law of God and the law of nature So that laws humane must be made according to the generall lawes of nature without contradiction vnto any positiue lawe in scripture Otherwise they are ill made Vnto lawes thus made and receiued by a whole Church they which liue within the bosome of that Church must not think it a matter indifferēt either to yeeld or not to yeeld obedience Is it a small offence to despise the Church of God My sonne keepe thy fathers comaundement saith Salomon forget not thy mothers instruction bind thē bothe alwaies about thine hart It doth not stand with the duty which we owe to our heauenly fathers that to the ordinances of our mother the Church we should shew our selues disobedient Let vs not say we keepe the commandements of the one when we breake the law of the other For vnlesse we obserue bothe we obey neither And what doth let but that we may obserue both when they are not the one to the other in any sort repugnant For of such lawes only we speake as being made in forme and maner already declared can haue in them no contradiction vnto the lawes of almighty God Yea that which is more the lawes thus made God himselfe doth in such sort authorize that to despise them is to despise in them him It is a loose licentious opinion which the Anabaptists haue embraced holding that a Christian mans libertie is lost and the soule which Christ hath redeemed vnto himselfe iniuriously drawne into seruitude vnder the yoke of humane power if any law be now imposed besides the Gospell of Iesus Christ in obedience whereunto the spirite of God and not the constraint of men is to leade vs according to that of the blessed Apostle Such as are led by the spirits of God they are the sonnes of God and not such as liue in thraldome vnto men Their iudgement is therefore that the Church of Christ should admit no law makers but the Euangelists The author of that which causeth another thing to be is author of that thing also which thereby is caused The light of naturall vnderstanding wit and reason is from God he it is which thereby doth illuminate euery man entering into the world If there proceede from vs any thing afterwardes corrupt and naught the mother thereof is our owne darknes neither doth it proceed from any such cause whereof God is the author He is the author of all that we think or doe by vertue of that light which himselfe hath giuen And therefore the lawes which the very Heathens did gather direct their actiōs by so far forth as they proceeded from the light of nature God himselfe doth acknowledge to haue proceeded euen from himselfe and that he was the writer of them in the tables of their hearts How much more then he the author of those lawes which haue bene made by his Saints endued furder with the heauenly grace of his spirit and directed as much as might be with such instructiōs as his sacred word doth yeeld Surely if we haue vnto those lawes that dutifull regard which their dignitie doth require it will not greatly need that we should be exhorted to liue in obedience vnto them If they haue God himselfe for their author contempt which is offered vnto them cannot choose but redound vnto him The safest and vnto God the most acceptable way of framing our liues therfore is with all humilitie lowlines and singlenes of hart to studie which way our willing obedience both vnto God and man may be yeelded euen to the vtmost of that which is due 10 Touching the mutabilitie of lawes that concerne the regiment politie of the church changed they are when either altogether abrogated or in part repealed or augmented with farther additions Wherein wee are to note that this question about changing of lawes concerneth onely such lawes as are positiue and do make that now good or euill by being commanded or forbidden which otherwise of it selfe were not simply the one or the other Vnto such lawes it is expressely sometimes added how long they are to continue in force If this be no where exprest then haue we no light to direct our iudgemēts concerning the chaungeablenes or immutabilitie of them but by considering the nature and qualitie of such lawes The nature of euery lawe must be iudged of by the ende for which it was made and by the aptnes of thinges therein prescribed vnto the same end It may so fall out that the reason why some lawes of God were giuen is neither opened nor possible to be gathered by wit of man As why God should forbid Adam that one tree there was no way for Adam euer to haue certainely vnderstood And at Adams ignorance of this point Satan tooke aduantage vrging the more securely a false cause because the true was vnto Adam vnknowne Why the Iewes were forbidden to plow their ground with an oxe and an asse why to cloath themselues with mingled attire of wooll and linnen both it was vnto them vnto vs it remaineth obscure Such lawes perhaps cannot be abrogated sauing onely by whom they were made because the intent of them being knowne vnto none but the author he alone can iudge how long it is requisite they should endure But if the reason why things were instituted may be known and being knowne do appeare manifestly to be of perpetuall necessitie then are those things also perpetuall vnlesse they cease to be effectuall vnto that purpose for which they were at the first instituted Because when a thing doth cease to be auaileable vnto the end which gaue it being the
continuance of it must then of necessitie appeare superfluous And of this we cannot be ignorant how sometimes that hath done great good which afterwardes when time hath chaunged the auncient course of thinges doth growe to be either very hurtfull or not so greatly profitable and necessary If therefore the end for which a lawe prouideth be perpetually necessary the way whereby it prouideth perpetually also most apt no doubt but that euery such law ought for euer to remain vnchangeable Whether God be the author of lawes by authorizing that power of men wherby they are made or by deliuering them made immediately from himselfe by word only or in writing also or howsoeuer notwithstaÌ„ding the authority of their maker the mutabilitie of that end for which they are made doth also make them changeable The law of ceremonies came from God Moses had commandement to commit it vnto the sacred records of scripture where it continueth euen vnto this very day and houre in force still as the Iewe surmiseth because God himselfe was author of it and for vs to abolish what hee hath established were presumptioÌ„ most intollerable But that which they in the blindnes of their obdurate hearts are not able to discerne sith the end for which that lawe was ordained is now fulfilled past and gone how should it but cease any longer to bee which hath no longer any cause of being in force as before That which necessitie of some speciall time doth cause to be inioyned bindeth no longer theÌ„ during that time but doth afterwards become free Which thing is also plain euen by that law which the Apostles assembled at the counsell of Ierusalem did froÌ„ thence deliuer vnto the Church of Christ the preface whereof to authorize it was To the holy Ghost and to vs it hath seemed good which stile they did not vse as matching theÌ„selues in power with the holy Ghost but as testifying the holy Ghost to be the author and themselues but onely vtterers of that decree This lawe therefore to haue proceeded from God as the author therof no faithful man wil denie It was of God not only because God gaue theÌ„ the power wherby they might make lawes but for that it proceeded euen froÌ„ the holy motion suggestion of that secret diuine spirit whose sentence they did but only pronounce Notwithstanding as the law of ceremonies deliuered vnto the Iews so this very law which the Gentiles receiued from the mouth of the holy Ghost is in like respect abrogated by decease of the end for which it was giuen But such as do not sticke at this point such as graunt that what hath bene instituted vpon any special cause needeth not to be obserued that cause ceasing do notwithstanding herein faile they iudge the lawes of God onely by the author and maine end for which they were made so that for vs to change that which he hath established they hold it execrable pride presumption if so be the end and purpose for which God by that meane prouideth bee permanent And vpon this they ground those ample disputes coÌ„cerning orders and offices which being by him appointed for the gouernment of his Church if it be necessary alwaies that the Church of Christ be gouerned then doth the end for which God prouided remaine still and therefore in those means which he by law did establish as being fittest vnto that end for vs to alter any thing is to lift vp our selues against God and as it were to countermaund him Wherin they marke not that laws are instruments to rule by and that instruments are not only to be framed according vnto the generall ende for which they are prouided but eueÌ„ according vnto that very particular which riseth out of the matter wheron they haue to worke The end wherefore lawes were made may be permanent and those lawes neuerthelesse require some alteration if there be any vnfitnes in the meanes which they prescribe as tending vnto that end purpose As for exaÌ„ple a law that to bridle theâ—â— doth punish the ones with a quadruple â—estitution hath an end which wil coÌ„tinue as long as the world it self coÌ„tinueth Theft will be alwayes and will alwayes need to be bridled But that the meane which this law prouideth for that end namely the punishment of quadruple restitution that this will be alwaies sufficient to bridle and restraine that kind of enormity no man can warrant Insufficiency of lawes doth somtimes come by want of iudgement in the makers Which cause cannot fall into any law termed properly and immediatly diuine as it may and doth into humaine lawes often But that which hath bene once most sufficient may wax otherwise by alteratioÌ„ of time place that punishment which hath bene somtimes forcible to bridle sinne may grow afterwards too weake and feeble In a word we plainely perceiue by the difference of those three lawes which the Iewes receiued at the hands of God the morall ceremoniall iudiciall that if the end for which and the matter according whereunto God maketh his lawes continue alwaies one and the same his laws also do the like for which cause the morall law cannot be altered secondly that whether the matter wheron lawes are made continue or coÌ„tinue not if their end haue once ceased they cease also to be of force as in the law ceremonial it fareth finally that albeit the end coÌ„tinue as in that law of theft specified and in a great part of those ancient iudicials it doth yet for as mush as there is not in all respects the same subiect or matter remaining for which they were first instituted euen this is sufficient cause of change And therefore lawes though both ordeined of God himselfe and the end for which they were ordeined continuing may notwithstanding cease if by alteration of persons or times they be fouÌ„d vnsufficieÌ„t to attain vnto that end In which respect why may we not presume that God doth eueÌ„ call for such change or alteratioÌ„ as the very coÌ„dition of things theÌ„selues doth make necessary They which do therfore plead the authority of the law-maker as an argument wherefore it should not be lawfull to change that which he hath instituted and will haue this the cause why all the ordinances of our Sauiour are immutable they which vrge the wisdome of God as a proofe that whatsoeuer laws he hath made they ought to stand â—nlesse himselfe from heauen proclaime them disanuld because it is not in man to correct the ordinaÌ„ce of God may know if it please theÌ„ to take notice therof that we are far froÌ„ presuming to think that meÌ„ can better any thing which God hath done eueÌ„ as we are from thinking that meÌ„ should presume to vndo some things of men which God doth know they cannot better God neuer ordeined any thing that could be bettered Yet many things he hath that haue bene changed and that for the better That which succeedeth as better now wheÌ„
change is requisite had bin worse when that which now is changed was instituted Otherwise God had not then left this to choose that neither would now reiect that to choose this were it not for some new grown occasion making that which hath bene better worse In this case therefore 〈…〉 not presume to change Gods ordinance but they yeeld thereunto requiring it selfe to be chaunged Against this it is obiected that to abrogate or innouate the gospel of Christ if mē do Angels should attempt it were most heynous and cursed sacriledge And the Gospell as they say containeth not only doctrine instructing men how they should beleeue but also precepts concerning the regiment of the Church Discipline therefore is a part of the Gospell and God being the author of the whole Gospel as well of discipline as of doctrine it cānot be but that both of them haue a common cause So that as we are to beleeue for euer the articles of euangelicall doctrine so the precepts of discipline we are in like sort bound for euer to obserue Touching points of doctrine as for example the vnity of God the trinitie of persons saluation by Christ the resurrection of the body life euerlasting the iudgement to come and such like they haue bene since the first houre that there was a Church in the world and till the last they must be beleeued But as for matters of regiment they are for the most part of another nature To make new articles of faith and doctrine no man thinketh it lawfull new lawes of gouernment what common wealth or Church is there which maketh not either at one time or another The rule of faith saith Tertullian is but one and that alone immoueable and impossible to be framed or cast anew The law of outward order polity not so There is no reason in the world wherfore we should esteeme it as necessary alwayes to do as alwayes to beleeue the same things seeing euery man knoweth that the matter of faith is constant the matter contrariwise of action daily changeable especially the matter of action belonging vnto Church polity Neither than I find that men of soundest iudgement haue any otherwise taught then that articles of beliefe and things which all men must of necessity do to the end they may be saued are either expresly set downe in Scripture or else plainly thereby to be gathered But touching things which belong to discipline outward politie the Church hath authority to make canons laws decrees euen as we reade that in the Apostles times it did Which kind of lawes for as much as they are not in themselues necessary to saluation may after they are made be also changed as the difference of times or places shall require Yea it is not denied I am sure by themselues that certaine things in discipline are of that nature as they may be varied by times places persons and other the like circumstances Whereupon I demaund are those changeable points of discipline commaunded in the word of God or no If they be not commanded and yet may be receiued in the Church how can their former position stand cōdemning all things in the Church which in the word are not commanded If they be commaunded and yet may suffer change how can this later stand affirming all things immutable which are commanded of God Their distinction touching matters of substance and of circumstance though true will not serue For be they great things or be they small if God haue commaunded them in the Gospell and his commanding them in the Gospell do make them vnchangeable there is no reason we should more change the one then we may the other If the authority of the maker do proue vnchangeablenesse in the lawes which God hath made then must al laws which he hath made be necessarily for euer permanēt though they be but of circumstance only and not of substance I therfore conclude that neither Gods being author of lawes for gouernment of his Church nor his cōmitting them vnto Scripture is any reason sufficient wherefore all Churches should for euer be bound to keepe them without chaunge But of one thing we are here to giue them warning by the way For whereas in this discourse we haue oftentimes profest that many parts of discipline or Church politie are deliuered in Scripture they may perhaps imagine that we are driuē to cōfesse their discipline to be deliuered in scripture and that hauing no other meanes to auoid it we are faine to argue for the changeablenesse of lawes ordained euen by God himselfe as if otherwise theirs of necessitie should take place and that vnder which we liue be abandoned There is no remedie therefore but to abate this error in them and directly to let them know that if they fall into any such conceit they do but a little flatter their owne cause As for vs we thinke in no respect so highly of it Our perswasion is that no age euer had knowledged of it but onely ours that they which defend it deuised it that neither Christ nor his Apostles at any time taught it but the contrary If therefore we did seeke to maintaine that which most aduantageth our owne cause the very best way for vs and the strongest against them were to hold euen as they do that in Scripture there must needs be foūd some particular forme of Church-polity which God hath instituted and which for that very cause belongeth to all Churches to all times But with any such partiall eye to respect our selues and by cunning to make those things seeme the truest which are the fittest to serue our purpose is a thing which we neither like nor meane to follow Wherefore that which we take to be generally true concerning the mutability of lawes the same we haue plainely deliuered as being perswaded of nothing more then we are of this that whether it be in matter of speculation or of practise no vntruth can possibly auaile the patrone and defendor long and that things most truly are likewise most behoouefully spoken 11. This we hold and graunt for truth that those very lawes which of their own nature are changeable be notwithstāding vncapable of change if he which gaue them being of authority so to do forbid absolutely to change thē neither may they admit alteratiō against the will of such a law maker Albeit therfore we do not find any cause why of right there should be necessarily an immutable forme set downe in holy scripture neuerthelesse if indeed there haue bene at any time a Church-politie so set downe the change whereof the sacred scripture doth forbid surely for mē to alter those lawes which God for perpetuity hath established were presumption most intollerable To proue therfore that the wil of Christ was to establish laws so permanent and immutable that in any sort to alter them cannot but highly offend God thus they reason First if Moses being but a seruant in
of place where On the other side the later giuen after and neither written by God himselfe nor giuen vnto the whole multitude immediatly from God but vnto Moses and from him to them both by word and writing the later tearmed Ceremonies Iudgements Ordinances but no where Couenants finally the obseruation of the later restrained vnto the land where God would establish them to inhabite The Lawes positiue are not framed without regard had to the place and persons for the which they are made If therefore Almightie God in framing their Lawes had an eye vnto the nature of that people and to the countrey where they were to dwell if these peculiar and proper considerations were respected in the making of their Lawes and must be also regarded in the Positiue Lawes of all other Nations besides then seeing that Nations are not all alike surely the giuing of one kinde of positiue Lawes vnto one onely people without anie libertie to alter them is but a slender proofe that therefore one kind should in like sort bee giuen to serue euerlastingly for all But that which most of all maketh for the cleering of this point is that the Iewes who had Lawes so particularly determining and so fully instructing them in all affaires what to do were notwithstanding continually inured with causes exorbitant and such as their lawes had not prouided for And in this point much more is graunted vs then wee aske namely that for one thing which we haue left to the order of the Church they had twentie which were vndecided by the expresse word of God and that as their ceremonies and Sacraments were multiplied aboue ours euen so grew the number of those cases which were not determined by any expresse word So that if we may deuise one lawe they by this reason might deuise twentie and if their deuising so many were not forbidden shall their example proue vs forbidden to deuise as much as one lawe for the ordering of the Church Wee might not deuise no not one if their example did proue that our Sauiour hath vtterly forbidden all alteration of his lawes in as much as there can be no lawe deuised but needs it must either take away from his or adde thereunto more or lesse and so make some kind of alteration But of this so large a graunt we are content not to take aduantage Men are oftentimes in a sudden passion more liberall then they would be if they had leysure to take aduise And therefore so bountifull words of course and franke speeches we are contented to let passe without turning them vnto aduantage with too much rigour It may be they had rather be listned vnto when they commend the Kings of Israell which attempted nothing in the gouernement of the Church without the expresse word of God and when they vrge that God left nothing in his word vndescribed whether it concerned the worship of God or outward politie nothing vnset downe and therefore charged them strictly to keepe themselues vnto that without any alteration Howbeit seeing it cannot be denied but that many thinges there did belong vnto the course of their publique affaires wherein they had no expresse word at all to shew precisely what they should do the difference betweene their condition and ours in these cases will bring some light vnto the truth of this present controuersie Before the fact of the son of Shelomith there was no law which did appoint any certaine punishment for blasphemers That wretched creature being therefore deprehended in that impiety was held in ward till the mind of the Lord were knowne concerning his case The like practise is also meÌ„tioned vpon occasion of a breach of the Sabboth day They find a poore silly creature gathering stickes in the wildernes they bring him vnto Moses and Aaron and all the congregation they lay him in hold because it was not declared what should be done with him till God hath sayd vnto Moses This man shall dye the death The Law required to keepe the Sabboth but for the breach of the Sabboth what punishmeÌ„t should be inflicted it did not appoint Such occasions as these are rare And for such things as do fal scarce once in many ages of meÌ„ it did suffice to take such order as was requisite when they fell But if the case were such as being not already determined by law were notwithstanding likely oftentimes to come in question it gaue occasion of adding lawes that were not before Thus it fell out in the case of those men polluted and of the daughters of Zelophhad whose causes Moses hauing brought before the Lord receiued lawes to serue for the like in time to come The Iewes to this end had the Oracle of God they had the Prophets And by such meanes God himselfe instructed them from heauen what to do in all things that did greatly concerne their state and were not already set downe in the Lawe Shall we then hereupon argue euen against our owne experience and knowledge Shall we seeke to perswade men that of necessity it is with vs as it was with them that because God is ours in all respects as much as theirs therefore either no such way of direction hath beene at any time or if it haue bene it doth still continue in the Church or if the same do not continue that yet it must be at the least supplied by some such meane as pleaseth vs to accompt of equall force A more dutifull and religious way for vs were to admire the wisedome of God which shineth in the beautifull variety of all things but most in the manifold and yet harmonious dissimilitude of those wayes whereby his Church vpon earth is guided from age to age throughout all generations of men The Iewes were necessarily to continue till the comming of Christ in the flesh and the gathering of nations vnto him So much the promise made vnto Abraham did import So much the prophecy of Iacob at the hower of his death did foreshewe Vpon the â—afety therefore of their very outward state and condition for so long the after-good of the whole world and the saluation of all did depend Vnto their so long safety for two things it was necessary to prouide namely the preseruation of their state against forraine resistance and the continuance of their peace within themselues Touching the one as they receiued the promise of God to be the rocke of their defence against which who so did violently rush should but bruse and batter themselues so likewise they had his commaundement in all their affaires that way to seeke direction and counsell from him Mens consultations are alwayes perilous And it falleth out many times that after long deliberation those things are by their wit euen resolued on which by tryall are found most opposite to publique safety It is no impossible thing for states be they neuer so well established yet by ouersight in some one acte or treatie betweene them
and their potent opposites vtterly to cast away themselues for euer Wherefore least it should so fall out to them vpon whom so much did depend they were not permitted to enter into warre nor conclude any league of peace nor to wade through any acte of moment betweene them and forraine states vnlesse the Oracle of God or his Prophets were first consulted with And least domesticall disturbance should wash them within themselues because there was nothing vnto this purpose more effectuall then if the authority of their lawes and gouernors were such as none might presume to take exception against it or to shewe disobedience vnto it without incurring the hatred detestation of al men that had any sparke of the feare of God therefore he gaue them euen their positiue lawes from heauen and as oft as occasion required chose in like sort Rulers also to leade gouerne them Notwithstāding some desperatly impious there were which adventured to try what harme it could bring vpon them if they did attempt to be authors of confusion and to resist both Gouernours and Lawes Against such monsters God mainteined his owne by fearefull execution of extraordinarie iudgement vpon them By which meanes it came to passe that although they were a people infested and mightily hated of all others throughout the world although by nature hard harted querulous wrathful impatiēt of rest and quietnes yet was there nothing of force either one way or other to worke the ruine and subuersion of their state till the time before mentioned was expired Thus we see that there was not no cause of dissimilitude in these things betweene that one only people before Christ and the kingdomes of the world since And whereas it is further alleaged that albeit in Ciuill matters and things perteining to this present life God hath vsed a greater particularity with them then amongst vs framing lawes according to the quality of that people and Countrey yet the leauing of vs at greater liberty in things ciuill is so farre from prouing the like liberty in things pertaining to the kingdome of heauen that it rather proues a streighter bond For euen as when the Lord would haue his fauour more appeare by temporall blessings of this life towards the people vnder the Lawe then towards vs he gaue also politique lawes most exactly whereby they might both most easily come into and most stedfastly remaine in possession of those earthly benefites euen so at this time wherein he would not haue his fauour so much esteemed by those outward commodities it is required that as his care in prescribing lawes for that purpose hath somewhat fallen in leauing them to mens consultations which may be deceiued so his care for conduct and gouernement of the life to come should if it were possible rise in leauing lesse to the order of men then in times past These are but weake and feeble disputes for the inference of that conclusion which is intended For sauing only in such consideration as hath bene shewed there is no cause wherefore we should thinke God more desirous to manifest his fauour by temporall blessings towards them then towards vs. Godlinesse had vnto them and it hath also vnto vs the promises both of this life and the life to come That the care of God hath fallen in earthly things and therefore should rise as much in heauenly that more is left vnto mens consultations in the one and therefore lesse must be graunted in the other that God hauing vsed a greater particularity with them then with vs for matters perteining vnto this life is to make vs amends by the more exact deliuery of lawes for gouernment of the life to come these are proportions whereof if there be any rule we must plainely confesse that which truth is we know it not God which spake vnto them by his Prophets hath vnto vs by his onely begotten Sonne those mysteries of grace and saluation which were but darkely disclosed vnto them haue vnto vs more cleerely shined Such differences betweene them and vs the Apostles of Christ haue well acquainted vs withall But as for matter belonging to the outward cōduct or gouernment of the Church seeing that euen in sense it is manifest that our Lord Sauiour hath not by positiue lawes descended so farre into particularities with vs as Moses with them neither doth by extraordinary means oracles and Prophets direct vs as them he did in those things which rising daily by new occasions are of necessitie to be prouided for doth it not hereupon rather follow that although not to them yet to vs there should be freedome libertie graunted to make lawes Yea but the Apostle S. Paule doth fearefully charge Timothy euen In the sight of God who quickneth all of Christ Iesus who witnessed that famous confession before Pontius Pilate to keepe what was commaunded him safe and sound til the appearance of our Lord Iesus Christ. This doth exclude al liberty of changing the lawes of Christ whether by abrogation or addition or howsoeuer For in Timothy the whole Church of Christ receiueth charge concerning her duty And that charge is to keepe the Apostles commaundement And his commaundement did conteine the lawes that concerned Church gouernement And those lawes he straightly requireth to be obserued without breach or blame till the appearance of our Lord Iesus Christ. In Scripture we graunt euery one mans lesson to be the common instruction of all men so farre forth as their cases are like and that religiously to keepe the Apostles commandemēts in whatsoeuer they may concerne vs we all stand bound But touching that commandement which Timothy was charged with we swarue vndoubtedly from the Apostles precise meaning if we extend it so largely that the armes thereof shall reach vnto all things which were cōmanded him by the Apostle The very words themselues do restraine thēselues vnto some one speciall commandemēt among many And therfore it is not said Keepe the ordinances lawes constitutions which thou hast receiued but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that great cōmandement which doth principally concerne thee and thy calling that cōmandement which Christ did so often inculcate vnto Peter that cōmandement vnto the carefull discharge whereof they of Ephesus are exhorted Attend to your selues to all flock wherin the holy Ghost hath placed you Bishops to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased by his owne bloud finally that cōmandement which vnto the same Timothy is by the same Apostle euen in the same forme maner afterwards again vrged I charge thee in the sight of God the Lord Iesus Christ which will iudge the quicke dead at his appearance in his kingdom Preach the word of God When Timothy was instituted into that office then was the credit and trust of this duty committed vnto his faithfull care The doctrine of the Gospell was thē giuen him as the precious talent or treasure of Iesus Christ
vs to cōforme our indifferent ceremonies to the Turkes which are farre off then to the Papists which are so neare Touching the example of the eldest Churches of God in one councell it was decreed that Christians should not decke their houses with baye leaues and greene boughes because the Pagans did vse so to doe and that they should not rest from their labours those daies that the Pagans did that they should not keepe the first day of euery month as they did Another councell decreed that Christians should not celebrate feastes on the birth daies of the Martyrs because it was the manner of the heathē O saith Tertullian better is the religion of the Heathen for they vse no solemnitie of the Christians neither the Lordes daye neither the Pentecost and if they knew them they would haue nothing to doe with them for they would be afraide least they should seeme Christians but we are not afraid to be called heathen The same Tertullian would not haue Christians to sit after they had prayed because the Idolaters did so Whereby it appeareth that both of particular men and of councels in making or abolishing of ceremonies heed hath bene taken that the Christians should not be like the Idolaters no not in those thinges which of themselues are most indifferent to b◠vsed or not vsed The same cōformitie is not lesse opposite vnto reason first in as much as Contraries must be cured by their contraries and therefore Poperie being Antichristianitie is not healed but by establishment of orders thereunto opposite The way to bring a drunken mā to sobrietie is to carry him as far frō excesse of drink as may be To rectifie a crooked sticke we bend it on the contrary side as farre as it was at the first on that side from whence we drawe it and so it commeth in the ende to a middle betweene both which is perfect straightnes Vtter Inconformitie therefore with the Church of Rome in these thinges is the best and surest policie which the Church can vse While we vse their ceremonies they take occasion to blaspheme saying that our religion cannot stand by it selfe vnlesse it leane vpon the staffe of their ceremonies They hereby conceiue great hope of hauing the rest of their popery in the end which hope causeth them to be more frozen in their wickednesse Neither is it without cause that they haue this hope cōsidering that which maister Bucer noteth vpō the 18. of Saint Mathew that where these thinges haue bene left Popery hath returned but on the other part in places which haue bene cleansed of these thinges it hath not yet bene seene that it hath had any entrance None make such clamors for these ceremonies as the Papists and those whom they suborne a manifest token how much they triumph and ioy in these thinges They breede griefe of minde in a number that are godly minded and haue Antichristianitie in such detestation that their mindes are martyred with the very sight of them in the Church Such godly brethren we ought not thus to grieue with vnprofitable ceremonies yea ceremonies wherein there is not onely no profit but also daunger of great hurt that may growe to the Church by infection which popish ceremonies are meanes to breede This in effect is the summe and substance of that which they bring by way of oppositiō against those orders which we haue commō with the church of Rome these are the reasons wherewith they would proue our ceremonies in that respect worthy of blame 4 Before we answere vnto these thinges we are to cut off that wherunto they from whom these obiections proceed do oftentimes flie for defence and succor when the force and strength of their argumēts is elided For the ceremonies in vse amōgst vs being in no other respect retained sauing onely for that to retaine thē is to our seeming good and profitable yea so profitable and so good that if we had either simply taken them cleane away or els remoued them so as to place in their stead others we had done worse the plaine direct way against vs herein had bin only to proue that all such ceremonies as they require to be abolished are retained by vs with the hurt of the Church or with lesse benefit thē the abolishmēt of thē would bring But for as much as they saw how hardly they should be able to perform this they took a more compendious way traducing the ceremonies of our church vnder the name of being popish The cause why this way seemed better vnto them was for that the name of Popery is more odious then very Paganisme amongst diuers of the more simple sorte so as whatsoeuer they heare named popish they presently conceiue deepe hatred against it imagining there cā be nothing cōtained in that name but needs it must be exceeding detestable The eares of the people they haue therfore filled with strong clamor The church of Englād is fraught with popish ceremonies They that fauour the cause of reformatiō maintaine nothing but the sinceritie of the Gospel of Iesus Christ All such as withstand them fight for the lawes of his sworne enemie vphold the filthy reliques of Antichrist and are defenders of that which is popish These are the notes wherewith are drawn from the harts of the multitude so many sighs with these tunes their mindes are exasperated against the lawfull guides and gouernours of their souls these are the voices that fil thē with general discōtentment as though the bosome of that famous Church wherin they liue were more noysome then any dungeon But when the authors of so scandalous incantations are examined and called to account how they can iustifie such their dealings when they are vrged directly to answere whether it be lawfull for vs to vse any such ceremonies as the Church of Rome vseth although the same be not cōmanded in the word of God being driuen to see that the vse of some such ceremonies must of necessitie be granted lawfull they go about to make vs beleeue that they are iust of the same opinion and that they only think such ceremonies are not to be vsed when they are vnprofitable or when as good or better may be established Which answer is both idle in regard of vs and also repugnant to themselues It is in regard of vs very vaine to make this answere because they know that what ceremonies we retaine common vnto the Church of Rome wee therefore retaine them for that we iudge them to be profitable and to be such that others in stead of them would be worse So that when they say that we ought to abrogate such Romish ceremonies as are vnprofitable or els might haue other more profitable in their stead they trifle and they beat the aire about nothing which toucheth vs vnlesse they meane that wee ought to abrogate all Romish ceremonies which in their iudgement haue either no vse or lesse vse then some
boughes or send New yeares-gifts vnto our friends or feast on those dayes which the Gentiles then did or sit after prayer as they were accustomed For so they inferre vpon the premises that as great difference as commodiously may be there should be in all outward ceremonies betweene the people of God and them which are not his people Againe they teach as hath bene declared that there is not as great a difference as may be betweene them except the one do auoide whatsoeuer rites and ceremonies vncommanded of God the other doth embrace So that generally they teach that the very difference of spirituall condition it selfe betweene the seruants of Christ and others requireth such difference in ceremonies betweene them although the one be neuer so farre disioyned in time or place from the other But in case the people of God and Belial do chaunce to be neighbours then as the daunger of infection is greater so the same difference they say is thereby made more necessary In this respect as the Iewes were seuered from the Heathen so most especially from the Heathen neerest them And in the same respect we which ought to differ howsoeuer from the Church of Rome are now they say by reason of our meerenesse more bound to differ from them in ceremonies then from Turkes A straunge kind of speech vnto Christian eares and such as I hope they themselues do acknowledge vnaduisedly vttered We are not so much to feare infection from Turkes as from Papists What of that we must remember that by conforming rather our selues in that respect to Turkes we should be spreaders of a worse infection into others then any we are likely to draw from Papists by our conformity with them in ceremonies If they did hate as Turkes do the Christians or as Cananites of old did the Iewish religion euen in grosse the circumstance of locall neernes in them vnto vs might happily enforce in vs a duty of greater separation from them then from those other mentioned But for as much as Papists are so much in Christ neerer vnto vs then Turkes is there any reasonable man trow you but will iudge it meeter that our ceremonies of Christian religion should be Popish then Turkish or Heathenish Especially considering that we were not brought to dwell amongst them as Israell in Canaan hauing not bene of them For euen a very part of them we were And when God did by his good Spirit put it into our hearts first to reforme our selues whence grew our separation and then by all good meanes to seeke also their reformation had we not onely cut off their corruptions but also estranged our selues from them in things indifferent who seeth not how greatly preiudiciall this might haue bene to so good a cause and what occasion it had giuen them to thinke to their greater obduration in euill that through a froward or wanton desire of innouation wee did vnconstrainedly those thinges for which conscience was pretended Howsoeuer the case doth stand as Iuda had beene rather to choose conformity in things indifferent with Israell when they were neerest opposites then with the farthest remoued Pagans So we in like case much rather with Papists then with Turkes I might adde further for more full and complete answere so much concerning the large oddes betweene the case of the eldest Churches in regard of those Heathens and ours in respect of the Church of Rome that very cauillation it selfe should be satisfied and haue no shift to flye vnto 8 But that no one thing may deteine vs ouer long I returne to their reasons against our conformity with that Church That extreme dissimilitude which they vrge vpon vs is now commended as our best safest policie for establishment of sound religion The ground of which politique position is that Euils must be cured by their contraries therfore the cure of the Church infected with the poyson of Antichristianity must be done by that which is therunto as cōtrary as may be A medled estate of the orders of the Gospell the ceremonies of popery is not the best way to banish popery We are cōtrarywise of opiniō that he which will perfectly recouer a sicke and restore a diseased body vnto health must not endeuor so much to bring it to a state of simple cōtrariety as of fit proportion in contrariety vnto those euils which are to be cured He that will take away extreme heat by setting the body in extremity of cold shall vndoubtedly remoue the disease but together with it the diseased too The first thing therefore in skilfull cures is the knowledge of the part affected the next is of the euill which do affect it the last is not onely of the kind but also of the measure of contrary things whereby to remoue it They which measure religion by dislike of the Church of Rome thinke euery man so much the more sound by how much he can make the corruptions thereof to seeme more large And therefore some there are namely the Arrians in reformed Churches of Poland which imagine the cancre to haue eaten so far into the very bones and marrow of the Church of Rome as if it had not so much as a sound beliefe no not cōcerning God himselfe but that the very beliefe of the Trinity were a part of Antichristian corruption and that the wonderfull prouidence of God did bring to passe that the Bishop of the Sea of Rome should be famous for his triple crowne a sensible marke whereby the world might know him to be that mysticall beast spoken of in the Reuelation to be that great and notorious Antichrist in no one respect so much as in this that he maintaineth the doctrine of the Trinity Wisdome therefore and skill is requisite to knowe what parts are sound in that Church and what corrupted Neither is it to all men apparant which complaine of vnsound parts with what kind of vnsoundnesse euery such part is possessed They can say that in Doctrine in Discipline in Prayers in Sacraments the Church of Rome hath as it hath in deede very foule and grosse corruptions the nature whereof notwithstanding because they haue not for the most part exact skill and knowledge to discerne they thinke that amisse many times which is not and the salue of reformation they mightily call for but where and what the sores are which need it as they wote full little so they thinke it not greatly materiall to search Such mens contentment must be wrought by stratageme the vsuall methode of art is not for them But with those that professe more then ordinary common knowledge of good from euill with them that are able to put a difference betweene things naught things indifferent in the Church of Rome we are yet at controuersie about the maner of remouing that which is naught whether it may not be perfectly helpt vnlesse that also which is indifferent be cut off with it so farre till no rite or ceremony remaine which
they be glad we are not to enuie them this their solace we do not thinke it a duty of ours to be in euery such thing their tormentors And whereas it is said that Popery for want of this vtter extirpation hath in some places taken roote and florished againe but hath not beene able to reestablish it selfe in any place after prouision made against it by vtter euacuation of all Romish ceremonies and therefore as long as we hold any thing like vnto them we put them in some more hope then if all were taken away as we deny not but this may be true so being of two euils to chuse the lesse we hold it better that the friends and fauorers of the Church of Rome should be in some kind of hope to haue a corrupt religion restored then both we and they conceiue iust feare least vnder colour of rooting out Popery the most effectuall meanes to beare vp the state of religion be remooued and so a way made either for Paganisme or for extreme barbāritie to enter If desire of weakening the hope of others should turne vs away from the course we haue taken how much more the care of preuenting our owne feare withhold vs from that wee are vrged vnto Especially seeing that our owne feare we knowe but wee are not so certaine what hope the rites and orders of our Church haue bred in the hearts of others For it is no sufficient argument thereof to say that in maintaining and vrging these ceremonies none are so clamorous as Papists and they whom Papists suborne this speech being more hard to iustifie then the former and so their proofe more doubtfull then the thing it selfe which they proue He that were certaine that this is true must haue marked who they be that speake for Ceremonies he must haue noted who amongst them doth speake oftnest or is most earnest he must haue bene both acquainted throughly with the religion of such and also priuy what conferences or compacts are passed in secret betweene them and others which kinds of notice are not wont to be vulgar and common Yet they which alleage this would haue it taken as a thing that needeth no proofe a thing which all men know and see And if so be it were graunted them as true what gaine they by it Sundry of them that be Popish are eger in maintenance of Ceremonies Is it so strange a matter to find a good thing furthered by ill men of a sinister intent and purpose whose forwardnesse is not therefore a bridle to such as fauour the same cause with a better and sincerer meaning They that seeke as they say the remouing of all Popish orders out of the Church and reckon the state of Bishop in the number of those orders do I doubt not presume that the cause which they prosecute is holy Notwithstanding it is their owne ingenuous acknowledgement that euen this very cause which they terme so often by an excellency The Lords cause is gratissima most acceptable vnto some which hope for pray and spoile by it and that our age hath store of such and that such are the very sectaries of Dionysius the famous Atheist Now if hereupon we should vpbraide them with irreligious as they do vs with superstitious fauourers if we should follow them in their owne kind of pleading and say that the most clamorous for this pretended reformation are either Atheists or else proctors suborned by Atheists the answer which herein they would make vnto vs let them apply vnto themselues and there an end For they must not forbid vs to presume or cause in defence of our Church-orders to be as good as theirs against them till the contrary be made manifest to the world 10 In the meane while sory we are that any good and godly mind should be grieued with that which is done But to remedy their griefe lieth not so much in vs as in themselues They do not wish to be made glad with the hurt of the Church and to remoue all out of the Church whereat they shew themselues to be sorrowfull would be as we are perswaded hurtfull if not pernitious thereunto Till they be able to perswade the contrary they must and will I doubt not find out some other good meanes to cheere vp themselues Amongst which meanes the example of Geneua may serue for one Haue not they the old Popish custome of vsing Godfathers and Godmothers in Baptisme the old Popish custome of administring the blessed Sacrament of the holy Eucharist with Wafer cakes Those thing◠the godly there can digest Wherefore should not the godly here learne to do the like both in them and in the rest of the like nature Some further meane peraduenture it might be to asswage their griefe if so be they did cōsider the reuenge they take on them which haue bene as they interpret it the workers of their continuance in so great griefe so long For if the maintenance of Ceremonies be a corrosiue to such as oppugne them vndoubtedly to such as mainteine them it can be no great pleasure when they behold how that which they reuerence is oppugned And therefore they that iudge themselues Martyrs when they are grieued should thinke withall what they are when they grieue For we are still to put them in mind that the cause doth make no difference for that it must be presumed as good at the least on our part as on theirs till it be in the end decided who haue stood for truth and who for error So that till then the most effectuall medicine and withall the most sound to ease their griefe must not be in our opinion the taking away of those things whereat they are grieued but the altering of that perswasion which they haue concerning the same For this we therefore both pray and labour the more because we are also perswaded that it is but conceipt in them to thinke that those Romish Ceremonies whereof we haue hetherto spoken are like leprous clothes infectious vnto the Church or like soft and gentle poysons the venome whereof being insensibly pernicious worketh death and yet is neuer felt working Thus they say but because they say it onely and the world hath not as yet had so great experience of their art in curing the diseases of the Church that the bare authoritie of their word should perswade in a cause so waightie they may not thinke much if it be required at their hands to shewe first by what meanes so deadly infection can growe from similitude betweene vs and the Church of Rome in these thinges indifferent Secondly for that it were infinite if the Church should prouide against euery such euill as may come to passe it is not sufficient that they shewe possibilitie of dangerous euent vnlesse there appeare some likelihood also of the same to follow in vs except we preuent it Nor is this inough vnlesse it be moreouer made plaine that there is no good and
sufficient way of preuention but by euacuating cleane and by emptying the Church of euerie such rite and Ceremonie as is presently called in question Till this be done their good affection towards the safety of the Church is acceptable but the way they prescribe vs to preserue it by must rest in suspense And least hereat they take occasion to turne vpon vs the speech of the Prophet Ieremie vsed against Babylon Behold we haue done our endeuour to cure the diseases of Babylon but she through her wilfulnesse doth rest vncured let them consider into what straights the Church might driue it selfe in being guided by this their counsell Their axiome is that the sound beleeuing Church of Iesus Christ may not be like Hereticall Churches in any of those indifferent things which men make choyce of and do not take by prescript appointment of the word of God In the word of God the vse of bread is prescribed as a thing without which the Eucharist may not be celebrated but as for the kind of bread it is not denied to be a thing indifferent Being indifferent of it selfe we are by this axiome of theirs to auoide the vse of vnleauened bread in their Sacrament because such bread the Church of Rome beeing Hereticall vseth But doth not the selfe same axiome barre vs euen from leauened bread also which the Church of the Grecians vseth the opinions whereof are in a number of things the same for which we condemne the Church of Rome and in some things erroneous where the Church of Rome is acknowledged to be sound as namely in the Article proceeding of the holy Ghost And least here they should say that because the Greeke Church is farther off the Church of Rome nearer we are in that respect rather to vse that which the Church of Rome vseth not let them imagine a reformed Church in the Citie of Venice where a Greeke Church and a Popish both are And when both these are equally neare let them consider what the third shall doe Without eyther leauened or vnleauened bread it can haue no sacrament the word of God doth tye it to neither and their axiome doth exclude it from both If this constraine them as it must to grant that their axiome is not to take any place saue in those things only where the Church hath larger scope it resteth that they search out some stronger reason then they haue as yet alleaged otherwise they constraine not vs to thinke that the Church is tyed vnto any such rule or axiome no not then when she hath the widest field to walke in and the greatest store of choice 11 Against such Ceremonies generally as are the same in the Church of England and of Rome we see what hath bene hetherto alleaged Albeit therefore we do not finde the one Churches hauing of such thinges to be sufficient cause why the other should not haue them neuerthelesse in case it may be proued that amongst the number of rites and orders common vnto bothe there are particulars the vse whereof is vtterly vnlawfull in regard of some speciall bad and noysome qualitie there is no doubt but we ought to relinquish such rites and orders what freedome soeuer we haue to retaine the other still As therefore wee haue heard their generall exception against all those thinges which being not commanded in the word of God were first receiued in the Church of Rome and from thence haue bene deriued into ours so it followeth thâ—t now we proceede vnto certaine kinds of them as being excepted against not only for that they are in the Church of Rome but are besides either Iewish or abused vnto Idolatry and so growne scandalous The Church of Rome they say being ashamed of the simplicitie of the Gospell did almost out of all religions take whatsoeuer had any faire gorgeous shew borrowing in that respect froÌ„ the Iewes sundry of their abolished Ceremonies Thus by foolish and ridiculous imitation all their Massing furniture almost they tooke from the law least hauing an Altar and a Priest they should want vestments for their stage so that whatsoeuer we haue in common with the church of Rome if the same be of this kind we ought to remoue it Constantine the Emperour speaking of the keeping of the feast of Easter saith That it is an vnworthy thing to haue any thing common with that most spitefull company of the Iewes And a little after he saith that it is most absurd and against reason that the Iewes should vaunt and glory that the Christians could not keepe those thinges without their doctrine And in an other place it is said after this sort It is conuenient so to order the matter that we haue nothing common with that nation The councell of Laodicea which was afterward confirmed by the sixt generall Councell decreed that the Christians should not take vnleaâ—ened bread of the Iewes or communicate with their impietie For the easier manifestation of truth in this point two things there are which must be considered namely the causes wherefore the church should decline from Iewish Ceremonies and how farre it ought so to doe One cause is that the Iewes were the deadliest and spitefullest enemies of Christianitie that were in the world and in this respect their orders so farre forth to be shunned as we haue already set downe in handling the matter of heathenish Ceremonies For no enemies being so venemous against Christ as Iewes they were of all other most odious and by that meane least to be vsed as fit Church paternes for imitation An other cause is the solemne abrogation of the Iewes ordinances which ordinances for vs to resume were to checke our Lord himselfe which hath disanulled them But how farre this second cause doth extend it is not on all sides fully agreed vpon And touching those thinges whereunto it reacheth not although there be small cause wherefore the Church should frame it selfe to the Iewes example in respect of their persons which are most hatefull yet God himselfe hauing bene the author of their lawes herein they are notwithstanding the former consideration still worthy to be honoured and to be followed aboue others as much as the state of things will beare Iewish ordinances had some things naturall and of the perpetuitie of those things no man doubteth That which was positiue wee likewise knowe to haue bene by the comming of Christ partly necessary not to bee kept and partly indifferent to be kept or not Of the former kinde Circumcision and sacrifice were For this point Stephen was accused and the euidence which his accusers brought against him in iudgement was This man ceaseth not to speake blasphemous words against this holy place and the lawe for we haue heard him say that this Iesus of Nazaret shall destroy this place and shall change the ordinances that Moses gaue vs. True it is that this doctrine was then taught which vnbeleeuers condemning for blasphemie did therein commit that
in attire to the example of their elder sisters wherein there is iust as much strength of reason as in the liuery coates before mentioned S. Paul they say noteth it for a marke of speciall honor that Epaenetus was the first man in all Achaia which did embrace the Christian faith after the same sort he toucheth it also as a speciall preeminence of Iunias and Andronicus that in Christianity they were his auncients the Corinthians he pincheth with this demaund Hath the word of God gone out from you or hath it lighted on you alone But what of all this If any man should thinke that alacrity forwardnes in good things doth adde nothing vnto mens commendation the two former speeches of S. Paule might leade him to reforme his iudgement In like sort to take downe the stomacke of proud conceited men that glorie as though they were able to set all others to schoole there can be nothing more fit then some such words as the Apostles third sentence doth containe wherein he teacheth the Church of Corinth to know that there was no such great oddes betweene them and the rest of their brethren that they should thinke themselues to be gold and the rest to be but copper He therefore vseth speech vnto them to this effect Men instructed in the knowledge of Iesus Christ there both were before you and are besides you in the word ye neither are the fountaine from which first nor yet the riuer into which alone the word hath flowed But although as Epaenetus was the first man in all Achaia so Corinth had bene the first Church in the whole world that receiued Christ the Apostle doth not shew that in any kind of things in different whatsoeuer this should haue made their example a law vnto all others Indeed the example of sundry Churches for approbation of one thing doth sway much but yet still as hauing the force of an example onely and not of a lawe They are effectuall to moue any Church vnlesse some greater thing do hinder but they bind none no not though they be many sauing onely when they are the maior part of a generall assembly and then their voyces being moe in number must ouersway their iudgements who are fewer because in such cases the greater halfe is the whole But as they stand out single each of them by it selfe their number can purchase them no such authority that the rest of the Churches being fewer should be therefore bound to follow them and to relinquish as good ceremonies as theirs for theirs Whereas therefore it is concluded out of these so weake premisses that the reteining of diuerse things in the Church of England which other reformed Churches haue cast out must needs argue that we do not well vnlesse we can shewe that they haue done ill what needed this wrest to draw out from vs an accusation of forraine Churches It is not proued as yet that if they haue done well our duty is to followe them and to forsake our owne course because it different from theirs although indeed it be as well for vs euery way as theirs for them And if the proofes alleaged for conformation hereof had bene â—ound yet seeing they leade no further then onely to shew that where we can haue no better ceremonies theirs must be taken as they cannot with modesty thinke themselues to haue found out absolutely the best which the wit of men may deuise so liking their owne somewhat better then other mens euen because they are their owne they must in equitie allow vs to be like vnto them in this affection which if they do they case vs of that vncourteouâ— burden whereby we are charged either to condemne them or else to followe them They graunt we need not followe them if our owne wayes already be better And if our owne be but equall the law of common indulgence alloweth vs to thinke them at the least halfe a thought the better because they are our owne which we may very well do and neuer drawe any inditement at all against theirs but thinke commendably euen of them also 14 To leaue reformed Churches therefore their actions for him to iudge of in whose sight they are as they are and our desire is that they may euen in his sight be found such as we ought to endeuour by all meanes that our owne may likewise be somewhat we are inforced to speake by way of simple declaration concerning the proceedings of the Church of England in these affaires to the end that men whose minds are free from those partiall coÌ„structions wherby the only name of difference froÌ„ some other Churches is thought cause sufficient to condeÌ„ne ours may the better discerne whether that we haue done be reasonable yea or no. The Church of EnglaÌ„d being to alter her receiued laws coÌ„cerning such orders rites and ceremonies as had bene in former times an hinderance vnto pietie and Religious seruice of God was to enter into consideration first that the change of lawes especially concerning matter of Religion must be warily proceeded in Lawes as all other things humaine are many times full of imperfection and that which is supposed behoofefull vnto men proueth often-times most pernicious The wisedome which is learned by tract of time findeth the lawes that haue bene in former ages establisht needfull in later to be abrogated Besides that which sometime is expedient doth not alwaies so continue and the number of needlesse lawes vnabolisht doth weaken the force of them that are necessarie But true withall it is that alteration though it be from worse to better hath in it inconueniences and those waighty vnlesse it be in such laws as haue bene made vpon special occasions which occasions ceasing laws of that kind do abrogate themselues But when we abrogate a law as being ill made the whole cause for which it was made still remaining do we not herein reuoke our very owne deed and vpbraid our selues with folly yea all that were makers of it with ouer sight and with error Further if it be a law which the custome continuall practise of many ages or yeares hath confirmed in the minds of men to alter it must needs be troublesome and scandalous It amazeth them it causeth theÌ„ to stand in doubt whether any thing be in it selfe by nature either good or euil not al things rather such as men at this or that time agree to accoÌ„pt of them wheÌ„ they behold euen those things disproued disanulled reiected which vse had made in a maner naturall What haue we to induce meÌ„ vnto the willing obedience obseruation of lawes but the waight of so many meÌ„s iudgement as haue with deliberate aduise assented thereunto the waight of that long experience which the world hath had thereof with consent good liking So that to change any such law must needs with the common sort impaire and weaken the force of those grounds whereby all lawes are made effectual
Notwithstanding we do not deny alteration of laws to be sometimes a thing necessary as when they are vnnatural or impious or otherwise hurtfull vnto the publique community of mē and against that good for which humaine societies were instituted When the Apostles of our Lord Sauiour were ordained to alter the lawes of Heathnish Religion receiued throughout the whole world chosen I grant they were Paule excepted the rest ignorant poore simple vnschooled altogether and vnlettered men howbeit extraordinarilie indued with ghostly wisedome from aboue before they euer vndertooke this enterprise yea their authoritie confirmed by miracle to the end it might plainely appeare that they were the Lords Ambassadours vnto whose Soueraigne power for all flesh to stoope for all the kingdomes of the earth to yeeld themselues willingly conformable in whatsoeuer should be required it was their duty In this case therefore their oppositions in maintenance of publique superstition against Apostolique endeuours as that they might not condemne the wayes of their ancient predecessors that they must keepe Religiones traditas the rites which frō age to age had descended that the ceremonies of Religion had beene euer accompted by so much holier as elder these and the like allegations in this case were vaine friuolous Not to stay longer therefore in speech concerning this point we will conclude that as the change of such lawes as haue bene specified is necessary so the euidence that they are such must be great If we haue neither voice frō heauen that so pronounceth of them neither sentence of men grounded vpon such manifest and cleare proofe that they in whose hands it is to alter them may likewise infallibly euen in hart conscience iudge them so vpon necessitie to vrge alteration is to trouble and disturbe without necessitie As for arbitrary alterations when laws in themselues not simply bad or vnmeet are changed for better and more expedient if the benefit of that which is newly better deuised be but small sith the custome of easinesse to alter and change is so euill no doubt but to beare a tolerable soare is better then to venter on a dangerous remedy Which being generally thought vpon as a matter that touched neerly their whole enterprise whereas change was notwithstanding concluded necessary in regard of the great hurt which the Church did receiue by a number of things then in vse whereupon a great deale of that which had bene was now to be taken away and remoued out of the Church yeat sith there are diuerse waies of abrogating things established they saw it best to cut off presently such things as might in that sort be extinguished without danger leauing the rest to be abolished by disusage through tract of time And as this was done for the manner of abrogation so touching the stint or measure thereof rites ceremonies and other externall things of like nature being hurtfull vnto the Church either in respect of their quality or in regard of their nūber in the former there could be no doubt or difficulty what should be done their deliberation in the later was more hard And therefore in as much as they did resolue to remoue only such things of that kind as the Church might best spare reteining the residue their whole counsell is in this point vtterly cōdemned as hauing either proceeded from the blindnes of those times or from negligence or from desire of honour and glory or from an erroneous opinion that such things might be tollerated for a while or if it did proceed as they which would seeme most fauourable are content to thinke it possible from a purpose partly the easilier to draw Papists vnto the Gospell by keeping so many orders stil the same with theirs and partly to redeeme peace therby the breach wherof they might feare would insue vpon more thorow alteration or howsoeuer it came to passe the thing they did is iudged euill But such is the lot of all that deale in publique affaires whether of Church or cōmonwealth that which men list to surmise of their doings be it good or ill they must before hand patiently arme their minds to indure Wherefore to let go priuate surmises whereby the thing in it selfe is not made either better or worse if iust and allowable reasons might leade thē to do as they did then are these censures al frustrate Touching ceremonies harmelesse therfore in thēselues hurtful onely in respect of number was it amisse to decree that those things which were least needfull newliest come should be the first that were taken away as in the abrogating of a nūber of saints daies and of other the like customes it appeareth they did till afterwards the forme of common prayer being perfited articles of sound Religion and discipline agreed vpon Catechismes framed for the needfull instruction of youth Churches purged of things that indeed were burthensome to the people or to the simple offensiue and scandalous all was brought at the length vnto that wherein now we stand Or was it amisse that hauing this way eased the Church as they thought of superfluitie they went not on till they had pluckt vp euen those things also which had taken a great deale stronger and deeper roote those things which to abrogate without constraint of manifest harme thereby arising had bene to alter vnnecessarily in their iudgements the auncient receiued custome of the whole Church the vniuersall practise of the people of God and those very decrees of our fathers which were not only set downe by agreement of generall councels but had accordingly bin put in vre and so continued in vse till that very time present True it is that neither councels nor customes be they neuer so ancient and so generall can let the Church from taking away that thing which is hurtfull to be retained Where things haue bene instituted which being conuenient and good at the first do afterwards in processe of time waxe otherwise we make no doubt but they may be altered yea though councels or customes generall haue receiued them And therfore it is but a needles kind of opposition which they make who thus dispute If in those things which are not expressed in the Scripture that is to be obserued of the Church which is the custome of the people of God and decree of our forefathers then how can these things at any time be varied which heretofore haue bene once ordained in such sort Whereto we say that things so ordained are to be kept howbeit not necessarily any longer then till there grow some vrgent cause to ordaine the contrary For there is not any positiue law of men whether it be generall or particular receiued by formall expresse consent as in councels or by secret approbation as in customes it commeth to passe but the same may be taken away it occasion serue Euen as we all know that many things generally kept heretofore are now in like sort generally vnkept and abolished euery where Notwithstanding
legibus a Cum premeretur initio multitudo ab lis qui maiores opes habebaÌ„t ad vnum aliquem confugiebant virtute praestantem qui cum prohiberet iniuriâ tenuiores aequitate constituendâ summos cum infimis pari iu re retinebat Cum id minus contingeret leges sunt inuentae Cic. off lib. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. Rhet. ad Alex. Tanta est enim vis voluptatum vt ignorantiam pro telet in occasionem conscientiam corrumpat in dissimulationem Tertul. lib. de Spectacul Arist. polit lib. â— c. vâ—t Staundf pref to the pleas of the Crowne Epis. Iud. v. 10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. Ethi lib. 10 cap. 10. Esa. 10.1 Arist. pol. 1. c. Gen. 2.20 Cic. Tusc. 5. 1. de legib 1. Reg. 10.1 2. Chr. 9.1 Math. 13.42 Luk. 11.31 Iose. lib. 2. contra Applou Theod. lib. 9. de Sanand 〈◊〉 affecâ— Eph. 4. â— Act. 1â— â—9 Ioh. 14 27â— Wherfore God hath by scripture further made knowne such supernaturall lawes as do serue for mens direction a Gal. 6.8 Hee that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reape life euerlasting Vide Arist Eth 10. cap. 10. Metaph. 12. ca 6. cap. 4. cap. 30. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mercur. Trismeg Aug. de trin lib. 9. ca. vlâ— Math. 25. The iust shall goe into life euerlasting Math. 22. They shal be aâ— the Angels of God â— Tim. 4. â— 1. Pet. 1.4 Psal. â— Comment in proaem 2. Meâ—â—ph Phil. 3 1â— a Math. â— 1â— Reioyce and be glad for great is your reward in heauen Aug. de doct Christ. cap. 6. Summa merces est vt ipso perâ—ruâ—mur b Ambros. contra Sym. c Magno excellenti ingenio viri cum se doctrinae penitus dedidissent quicquid laborit poterat impendi contemptis omnibus priuatis publicis actionibus ad inquirendae veritatis studiâ— contulerunt existimentes multo esse praeclarius humanarum diuinarumque rerum inuestigare ac scire rationem quà m strueÌ„diâ— oâ—ibus aut cuâ—nulandis honoribus in haerere Sed nequâ— adepti sunt id quod volebant operam simul atque industriam peâ— diderunt quia veritas id est arcanum summi Dei qui fecit omnia ingenio ac propriis sensibuâ— non potest coÌ„prehendi Alioqui nihil inter deum hominémque distaret si consilia dispositiones illius maiestatis aeternae cogitatio assequeretur huâ—lana Quod quia fieri non potuit vt homini per seipsum ratio diuina notesceret non est passus hominem Deus lumen sapientiae requirentem diutiùs a berrare ac sine vllo laboris effectu vagari pertenebras inextricabiles A peruit oculoâ— eius aliquando notiâ—nem veritatiâ— munus suum fecit vt humanam sapientiam nullam esse monstraret erranti ac vago â—â—am consequendae immortalitatis ostenderet Lactan. lib. 1. cap. 1. a Scot. lib. 4. Sent. dict 49.6 Loquendo de strictâ iustitiâ Deus nulli nostrum propter quaecunâ— que merita est debitor perfectionis reddendae tam intensae propter immoderatuÌ„ excessum illius perfectionis vltra illa merita Sed esto quod ex liberalitate suâ determinasset meritis conserre actum tam perfectum tanquam praemium tali quidem iustitiâ qualis decet cum scilicet supererogantis in praemus tamen non sequitur ex hoc necessatiò quòd perillam iuâ—titiam sit reddenda perfectio perennis tanquam praemium imo abundans fieret retributio in beatitudine vnius momenti b Iohn 14.6 c Iohn 6.29 a The cause why so many naturall or rational laws are â—et downe in hol Scripture b Ius naturale est quod in lege EuaÌ„gelio continetur p. 1. d. 1. c Iosephus lib. secuÌ„do contra Appio Lacedae monii quomodo noÌ„ sunt ob inhospitalitateÌ„ reprehendeÌ„di â—aedúmque neglectum nuptiarum Elienâ—eâ— verò Thâ—bani ob coituÌ„ cum malculis planè impudenteÌ„ contra naturam quem recte vtiliter exercere puâ—abant Cumque haeâ— Comninò perpetrareÌ„t etiam luis legibus miscu ere vide Th. 12. q. 49.4.5.6 Lex naturae 〈◊〉 corruptâ— suit apud 〈◊〉 manos ve 〈◊〉 trocinium tiâ—â—â— reputareÌ„t peccatum August aut quisquis author est lib. de quaest non vet test quis nesciaâ— quid bonae vitae coÌ„ueniat aut ignorâ—t quia quod 〈◊〉 sien non vultaliâ—s minime debâ—at facere At verò vbi naturaliâ— lex qua nâ—st oppressa consuetudine delinquendi tunc oportuit manifestari scriptis vt dei iudicium omnes audirenâ— non quod penitus oblitera ta est sed quiâ— maxima eius authoritate carebat idololatriae studebatur timor dei in terris noÌ„ erat fornicatio operabatur circa rem proximi auida erat concupiscentia Data ergo lex est vt quae sciebantur authoritatem haberent quae latere caeperant manifestarentur The benefit of hauing diuine lawes written Exod. 24.4 Ose. 8 1â— Apoc. 1â— 11. 14.13 Aug. lib. 1. de cons. Euang. cap. vâ—c a I mean those historical matters coÌ„cerning the ancieÌ„t state of the first world the deluge the sons of Noah the children of Israels deliuerance out of Aegypt the life and doings of Moses their Captaine with such like the certaine truth whereof deliuered in holy Scripture is of the Heathen which had theÌ„ onely by report so intermingled with fabulous vanities that the most which remaineth in them to bee seene is the shew of darké and obscure steps where some part of the truth hath gone The sufficiency of Scripture vnto the end for which it was instituted Vâ—rum cognitio supernaturalis necessaria viatori sit sufficienter tradita in sacrâ scripturâ This question proposed by Scotus iâ— affirmatiuely concluded a Eph. 5.29 b 2. Tim. 3.8 c Tit. 1.12 d 2. Pet. 2.4 Iohn â—0 31 2. Tim. â— 15 2. Tim. 3.14 Verse 15. VVhitakeâ—us aduersu Bâ—llarmin quaest 6. cap. 6. Of laweâ— positiue conteined in scripture the mutability of certaine of them and the generall vse of scripture Esa. 29.13 Their feare towards me was taught by the precept of men Apoc. 14.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plat. in sine 2. Polit. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stra. Geogr. lib. 16. b Psal. â—19 98 c Vide Orphei carmina 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo de Mos. A conclusion shewing how all this belongeth to the cause in question Iam. 117. Arist. Phys. II. 1. cap. 1. Arist. Eth. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Intelligit de legum qualitate iudicium Prou. 8.15 Eph. 5.29 Apoc. 19.10 1. Pet. 1.12 Eph. 3.10 1. Tim. 5.21 1. Cor. 11.10 Ps. 148.7 8 9. Rom. 1.21 Rom. 2.15 Rom. 13.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. Eth. 5. cap. 3. Iob. 34.3 Ps. 14â— 15.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zonarin can Apoâ—t 66. Act. 15.20 T.C. l. 1. p. 59. 60. The first pretended proofe of the first position out of scripture Pro. 2.9 T. C .l.
theÌ„ are the same which the Church of Rome vseth Eccles. discipl fol. 12. T.C. lib. 1. p. 131. T.C. lib. 1. p. 20. T.C. lib. 1. p. 25 T.C. l. 1. p. 13â— T.C. l. 1. p. 30. T.C. l. 1. p. 131. T.C. l. 1. p. 132 Tom. 2. Brâ—â— 73. Con. Africa cap. 27. Lib. de Idololatria He seemeth to mean the feast of Easter day celebrated in the memory of our Sauiours resurrection and for that cause termed the Lords day Lib. de Anima T.C. l. 3. p. 178. T.C. l. 3. p. 17â— T.C. l. 3. p. 180. That wheras they who blame vs in this behalfe wheÌ„ reason euicteth that all such ceremonies are not to be abolished make answere that when they condemne popish ceremonies their meaning is of ceremonies vnprofitable or ceremonies in stead wherof as good or better may be deuised they cannot hereby get out of the briers but contradict and gainesay themselues in as much as their vsuall maner is to proue that ceremonies vncommaunded of God and yet vsed in the Church of Rome are for this very cause vnprofitable to vs and not so good as others in their place would be T.C. lib. p. 171. What an open vntruth is it that this is one of our principles not to be lawful to vse the same ceremonies which the Papists did when as I haue both before declared the contrary and euen here haue expressely added that they are not to be vsed when as good or better way be established Ecclesi discipl fol. 100. T.C. l. 3. p. 176. As for your oftâ—Ì„ repeating thaâ— the ceremonies in question are godly comely decent it is your old wont of demaunding the thing in question and an vndoubted argument of your extreme pouerty T.C. l. p. 174. T.C. l. 3. p. 177. And that this complaint of â—urs is iust in that we are thus constrained to be like vnto thâ— Papists in any their ceremonies and that this cause only ought to moue â—hem to whom that belongeth to do theirs away for as much 〈◊〉 they are their ceremonies the Reader may further seâ— in the B. of Salisbury who brings diuerse proofes thereof That our allowing the customes of our fathers to be followed is no proofe that we may not allow some customes which the Church of Rome hath although we do not accoÌ„pt of them as of our fathers That the course which the wisedome of God doth teach maketh not against our conformitie with the Church of Rome in such things T.C. lib. 1. p. 89. 131. Leuit. 18.3 Leuit. 19.27 Leuit. 19.19 Deut. 22.11 Deut. 14.7 Leuit. 11. Ephes. 2.14 Leuit. 18.3 Leuit. 19.27 Leuit. 21.5 Deut. 14.1 1. Thes. 4.13 Leuit. 19.19 Deut. 22.11 Deut. 14.7 Leuit. 11. Leuit. 19.19 Deut. 14. Leuit. 11. Eph. 2.14 That the exaÌ„ple of the eldest Churches is not herein against vs. T.C. l. 1. p. 132. The Councels although they did not obserue themselues alwaies in making of decrees this rule yet haue kept this consideration continually in making of their lawes that they would haue the Christians differ from others in their ceremonies To. 6. cont Faust. Mâ—nich lib. 20. cap. 4. T.C. l. 1. p. 132. Also it was decreed in â—nother Councell that they should not decke their houses with bay leaues greene boughes because the Pagans did vsesâ— and that they should not rest from their laâ—or those daies that the Pagans did that they should not keepe the first day of euery moneth as they did T.C. l. 3. p. 132 Tertul. saith O sayth he better is the religion of the Heathen for they vse no solemnitie of the Christians neither the Lords day neither c but we are not afraid to be called Heathen T.C. l. 1. p. 133. But hauing shewed this in generall to be the politie of God first and of hâ—â— people afterwards to put as much difference as can be commodiously betweene the people of God and others which are not I shall not c. That it is not our best policy for the establishment of sound religion to haue in these thinges no agreement with the Church of Rome being vnsound T.C. l. 1. p. 132 Common reason also doth teach that contraries are cured by their contraries Now Christianity and Antichristianity the Gospell and Popery be contraâ—ies and therefore Antichristianitie must be cured not by itselfe but by that which is as much as may be contrary vnto it T.C. l. 1. p. 132 If a man would bring a drunken man to sobrietie the best and nearest way is to carry him as farre from his excesse in drinke as may be and if a man could not keepe a meane it were better to fault in prescribing lesse them he should drinke theÌ„ to fault in giuing him more then he ought As we see to bring a sticke which is crooked to be straight we do not only how it so farre vntill it come to be straight but we bend it so farre vntill we make it so crooked of the other side as it was before of the first side to this end that at the last it may stand straight and as it were in the midway betweene both the crookes That we are not to abolish our Ceremonies either because Papists vpbraide vs as hauing taken from them or for that they are sayd hereby to conceiue I know not what great hopes T.C. l. 3. p. 178. By vsing of these Ceremonies the Papists take occasion to blaspheme saying that our religion cannot stand by it selfe vnlesse it lâ—â—ue vpon the staffe of their Ceremonies T.C. l. 1. p. 179. To proue the Papists triumph and ioy in these things I alleaged further that there are â—oâ—e which make such clamors for these ceremonies as the Papists and those which they suborne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 T.C. l. 3. p. 179. Thus they conceiuing hope of hauing the rest of their poperie in the end it causeth them to be more frozen in their wickednesse c. For not the cause but the occasion also ought to be taken away c. Although let the reader iudge whether they haue cause giuen to hope that the tails of Popery yet remaining they shall the easilier hale in the whole body after considering also that Maister Bucer noteth that where these things haue bene left there Popery hath returned but on the other part in places which haue bene clensed of these dregs it hath not bin seene that it hath had any entrance Ecclesi disâ— fol. 94. T.C. l. 3. p. 180. There be numbers which haue Antichristianitie in such detestation that they câ—â—not without griefe of mind behold them And afterwards such godly brethren are not easily to be grieued which they seeme to be when they are thus martyred in their minds for ceremonies which to speake the best of them are vnprofitable The griefe which they say godly brethren conceiue in regard of such Ceremonies as we haue common with the Church of Rome T.C. l. 3. p. 171 Although the corruptions in them sticke not straight to the heart yet as gentle
especially concerneth our selues in the present matter we treate of is the state of reformed religion a thing at her comming to the Crowne euen raised as it were by miracle from the dead a thing which we so little hoped to see that euen they which behelde it done scarcely belieued their own senses at the first beholding Yet being then brought to passe thus many years it hath continued standing by no other worldly meane but that one only hand which erected it that hand which as no kinde of imminent daunger could cause at the first to withholde it selfe so neyther haue the practises so many so bloudie following since beene euer able to make wearie Nor can we say in this case so iustly that Aaron and Hur the Ecclesiasticall and Ciuill states haue sustained the hand which did lift it selfe to heauen for them as that heauen it selfe hath by this hand sustained them no ayde or helpe hauing thereunto bene ministred for performance of the worke of reformation other then such kind of helpe or ayde as the Angell in the Prophet Zacharie speaketh of saying Neither by an armie nor strength but by my spirit saith the Lord of Hostes. Which grace and fauour of diuine assistance hauing not in one thing or two shewed it self nor for some few daies or yeares appeared but in such sort so long continued our manifold sinnes transgressions striuing to the contrarie what can we lesse thereupon conclude then that God would at leastwise by tract of time teach the world that the thing which he blesseth defendeth keepeth so strangely cannot choose but be of him Wherefore if any refuse to beleeue vs disputing for the veritie of religion established let them beleeue God himselfe thus miraculouslie working for it and wish life euen for euer and euer vnto that glorious and sacred instrument whereby he worketh FINIS An Aduertisement to the Reader I Haue for some causes gentle Reader thought it at this time more fit to let goe these first foure Bookes by themselues then to stay both them and the rest til the whole might together be published Such generalities of the cause in question as here are handled it will be perhaps not amisse to consider apart as by way of introduction vnto the bookes that are to follow concerning particulars In the meane while thine helping hand must be craued for the amendment of such faultes committed in printing as omitting others of lesse moment I haue set downe Pag. line Fault Correction Pag. line Fault Correction 25 37 be ordained he ordained 138 19 still stay 31 23 if any of any 139 19 It is for nothing It is not for nothing 51 mar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 157 33 wash waste 55 mar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 162 32 pretious should pretious body should 64 mar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 180 43 meerenes neerenes 66 19 manifest reason manifest law of reasoÌ„ 183 39 vrine vaine 83 12 or that of that 184 ma. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 87 24 ase such are such 185 18 do I doubt not presume do I doubt not presume 91 44 holy worke holy word 186 mar sticke strike 130 38 seuerally seueraltie 202 3 worde world The cause and occasion of handling these things and what might be wished in them for whose sakes so much paine is taken Ia. 2.1 The first establishment of new discipline by M. Caluins industry in the Church of Geneua and the beginning of strife about it amongst our selues Epist. Cal. 24. Luc. 20.17 An. D 1541. Ep. 166. Quod eam vrbem videret omnino his frenis indigere By what meanes so many of the people are trained into the liking of that discipline 1. Cor. 10 13. 1. Cor. 1â— 13 Luc. 12.56 57. Act 17.11 Rom. 14.5 Galen de opt docen geâ— Mal 2.7 Greg. Naz. orat qua se â—â—cusat Matth. 15.14 Mal. 2.9 Iud ver 10 2. Pet. 2.12 Cal. instit li. 4. cap. 20. Sect. 8 The author of the petition directed to her Maiestie p. 3. Arist. Metaph. lib. 1. cap. 5. â— Ioh. â— â— 2. Thes. 2.11 2. Tim. 3.6 1. Iohn 4.6 1. Cor. â— 27 Act. 26.24 Sap. 5.4 VVe fooleâ— thought his life madnes Mâ—rc Tris. ad Asculap 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Lactant. de â—ustâ—t lib. â— cap. 16 August Epâ—st 50. VVhat hath câ—used so many of the lâ—arneâ—er sort to approue the same disciplinâ— T.C. lib. 1. p. 97 Euseb. 3. lib. 32 Lib. Strom. somewhat after the beginning Lib. 7. c. 11. Phil. 4 1â— a 〈…〉 ceremoniis atque fâ—niâ— tantum sanctitatis tribuere coÌ„sueuit quantum adstruxerit vetustatis Arno. p. 746. b Rom. 16.16 2. Cor 13.12 1. Thes. 5.25 1. Pet. 5.14 In their meetings to serue God their maner was in the end to salute one an other with a kisse vsing these words Peace be with you For which cause Tertull. doth call it sigâ—aculum orationis the seale of prayer lib. dâ— Orat. c Epist. Iud. vers 12. Concerning which feasts 5. Chrysost sâ—ith Statiâ— diebus mesas faciebant communeâ— peractâ— synaxi post sacramentorum coÌ„munionem inibaÌ„t conuiuium diuitiâ—us quidemcibos affereÌ„ribus pau peribus auâ—em quâ— niâ—il habebant etiam vocatiâ— in 1. Cor. 11. hom 27. Of the same feasts in like sort Tertull. Coena nostra de nâ—mine rationsui oftendit Vocatur enâ—m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—d quod est penes Graecos dâ—lectio Quantis cunq sumptibusconsteâ— lucrum est â—etatis nomine faâ—ere sumptum Apolog. c. 39. Galen Clas 2. lib. de cuiosque anim peccat notitia atque medela Petit. to the Q M.P. 14. Eccles. 10.1 Their calling for triall by disputation No end of contention without submission of both parts vnto some definitiue sentence Rom. â— 17 Deut. 17.8 Act 15. â—res tract 〈◊〉 excom presbyt Math. 23 2â— T.C. li. â— p. 17 The matter contained in these eight bookes How iust cause there is to feare the manifold dangerous euents likely to ensue vpon this intended reformation if it did take place 1. Pet. 2.2 Psal. 55.13 Pref. against D. Baner Matth. 23.3 Sap. 6.24 Eccl. 16.29 Humb. Motion to the L L. p. 50. Act. 19.19 Mumb. Mâ—t. p. 74. Counterp p. 108. Matth. 1â— 1â— Guy de Brés contre l'errent des Anabapa tistes p. 4. p. 5. p. 16. p. 1.8.119 120. p. 116. p. 124. Luc. 6.12 p. 117. p. 40. Ier. 31.34 p. 29. p. 27. 2. Tim. 3.7 p. 65 6â— p. 135. P. 25. P. 71. 124. p. 764. p. 748. p. 112. p. 518. p. 722. p. 726. p. 6â—8 p. 38. p. 122. P. 841. p. 8â—3 p. 849. p. 40. Laâ—ant de Iustit lib. 5. Cap. 19. p. 6. p. 4.20 p. 5â— p. 6 7. 7. p. 17. p. 6. P. 41. Matt. 5.5 Exod. 11.2 Matt. in his â— libel p. 28. Demonstr in the praef The conclusion of all Iob. 39.37 Greg. Naâ— in Apol. The cause of
writing this generall discourse Of that lawe which God from before the beginning hath set for himselfe to do all things by Ioh. 1â— 13.14.15 a Iupiterâ— Counsell was accomplished b The creator made the whole world not with hands but by Reason Stob in eclog. phys c Proceed by a certaine and a 〈◊〉 Waie in the making of the world Ioh. 5.17 Gen. 2.18 Sap. 8.1 Sap. 11.17 Eph. 1.7 Phil. 4.19 Col. â— 3 prou 16.6 Ephe. 1.13 Rom. 11.33 prou â— 23 Rom. 11.10 Borâ— lib. 4 des Consol. philoâ— 2. Tim. 2.13 Heb. 6.17 The lawe which natural agâ—nts haue giuen tâ—em to obserue and their necessary maner of keeping it a Id omne quod in rebus creatis fit est materia legis oeternae Th 1.2 q 93. art 4 â— 6 Nullo modo aliquid legibus summi creato ris ordinationique subtrahitur a quo pax vniuersitatis administratur August de ciu deâ— lib. 19. c. 22. Immo peceâ—tum quatenus â— Deo â—ustè permittituâ— cadit â—n legemaeterâ—am Eâ—â—aâ—legâ—aeternâ— subâ—icitur peccatum quatenus Voluntaria legis transgressio poenale quoddâ— incommodum animae â—â—serâ—t â—uxta illâ—d Augustini Iusâ—isti Dâ—mine sic est vt poeâ—ia su â—sibâ— sit omnis animus inordinâ—tus Coâ—feâ— lib 1. c. 1â— Nec male scâ—olaâ—tâ—ci Quemadmodum inquiunt videmus res naturales contingentes hoc ipso quod à fine particularâ— suo atque adeu à lege aeternâ exorâ—itant in candem legem ae ernam incidere quâ—tâ—nuconsâ—q iuâ—tur alium fine â— Ã lege â—riam aeternâ ipsis in casu particulari constiâ—utum sic verisimile eâ—t homines etiam cù n peccant desciscunt à lege aeternâ â—â—praecipiente re neidere in ordineÌ„ aeternae legisvt punientis psal 19.5 Pheophr in Metaph. Arist. Rhet. 1. cap. 39. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 17 2â— a Forme in other creatures is a thing proportionable vnto the soule in liuing creatures Sensible it is not nor otherwise discernable then only by effects According to the diuersitie of inward formes things of the world are distinguished into their kindes Vide Thom. in Compend theol cap. 3. Omne quod mouetur ab aliquo est quasi instrumentum quoddam primi mouentis Ridiculum est autem eâ—am apud indoctos ponere instrumentum moueri non ab aliquo principale agente The law which Angels doe worke by Psal. 104.4 Heb. 1.7 Eph. 3.10 Dan. 7.10 Matth. 26.53 Heb. 12.22 Luc. 2.13 Matth. 6.10 Matth. 18.10 Psal. 91.11.12 Luc. 15.7 Heb. 1.14 Act. 10.3 Dan. 9.23 Matth. 1â— â—0 Dan. 4.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. Metaph. 12. cap. 7. Iob. 38.7 Math. 18.10 psal 148.2 Heb. 1.6 Esa. 6.3 This is intimated wheresoeuer we finde them termed the sonnes of God as Iob. 1.6 38.7 â— pet 2.4 Ep. Iud. ver 6. psal 148.2 Luk. 2.13 Matth 26.53 psal 148.2 Heb. 12.22 Apoc 22.9 Ioh. 8.44 1. pet 5.8 Apoc. 9.11 Gen. 3.15 1. Chr. 21 1 Iob. 1.7 2 5 Ioh. 13 27 Act. 5 3 Apoc. â—0 8. The law wherby man is in his actions directed to the imitation of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. de an lib. 2. cap. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ari. 2. de cael ca. 5. Matth. 5.48 Sap. 7.27 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mens first beginning to grow to the knowledge of that law which theâ— are to obserue vide Isa. 7.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Merc. Trism Aristotâ—liâ—all demonstration Aâ—misty Of mans will which is the thing that lawes of action are made to guide Eph. 4.23 Salust Matth. 6.2 Deut. 30.19 O mihi praeterâ—tos referat si Iupiter annos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paulo post 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A cin de doge maâ— Plaâ— a 2. Cor. 11.3 coâ—ruptible body is heauy vnto the soule and the earthly mansion keepeth down the minâ— that is ful of cares And hardly can we discern the things that are vpoÌ„ earth with great labor find we out the things which are before vs. VVho can then seeke out the things that are in heauen b Luc. 9. â—4 c Math. 23.37 d Sap 9.15 Eph. 5.14 Heb. 1â— 1.12 1. Cor. 16 13. Prou 2.4 Luc. 13. â—4 Of the natural way of finding out laws by reason â—o guide â—he will vnto that which is good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aâ—â—st de an L. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. Rhet. 1. cap. 39. b Non potest error contingere vbi omnes idem opinantur Monticat in 1. Polit. Quicquid in omnibus indiuiduis vniuâ—â—peciei communiter inest id causeâ— coÌ„munem habeat opoâ—tet quaest eorum indiuiduorum species natura Idem Quod à tâ—ta aliqua specie fit vniuersaliâ— particularisque naturae fit instinctu Ficin de Christ relig Si proâ—icerâ— cupis primo firmé id veâ—um puta quod sanmenâ— omniuÌ„ hominum attestatur Cusa in compend cap. 1. Non liâ—er naturalé vniuersaléque hominum iudicium falsum van umque existimaâ—e Teles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aâ—ist Eth. 10. cap. 2. c Rom. 2.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theoph. iâ— Metaph. â— Cor. 4.17 Matth. 16.26 Arist. Polit. â— cap. 5. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plat. in Theaet b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Metop lib. 1. cap. 2. c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plat. in Tim. d Arist. Ethi â— lib. 8. ca. vlt. e Deut. 6.5 f Math. 22 2â— g Quod quis in se approbat in alio reprobare noÌ„ posse â—an arenam C. de inoâ— test Quod quisque iuris in alium staâ—uâ—â—it ipsum quoque codem vti debere l. quod quisque Ab omni penituâ— iniuâ—â—â atque vi abstinenduÌ„ l. 1 § 1. quod vi autclam Matth. 22.40 On these two commandements hangeth the whole law Gen. 39.9 Mar. 10.4 Act. 4.37 Act. 5.4 â— Thes. 3.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soph. Anti. Th. 1.2 q. 94. art 3. Omnia peccata sunt in vniuersum contra rationem naturae legem Aug. de ciu dei lib. 12. â—ap 1. Omne vitium naturae nocâ—t ac per hoc contra naturam est De doctr Christ. lib. 3. cap. 14. Psal. 35.18 Sapi. 13.17 Sâ—pi 1â— 12 Eph. 4.17 Esay 44.19.18 The benefit of keeping that law which reason teacheth Voluntate sublaâ—â omnem actum parem esse l. â—oedissimam C. de adult Bonam voluntatem plerunâ— que pro facto reputari l. si quis in testamen Diuoâ— castâ— adeunto piâ—tatent adhiâ—bento Qui secus faxir Deus ipsi â—inâ— dex crit How reason doth leade men vnto the making of humane lawes whereby politique societies are gouerned and to agreement about lawes whereby the fellowship or communion of independent societies staÌ„deth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. Rhet. 1 1. Tim. 6.8 Gen. 1.29 Gen. 2.17 Gen. 4.2 Gen. 4.26 Mat. 6.33 Gen. 4.20.21 â—2 Esay 49.15 1. Tim. 5.8 Gen. 18.19 Gen. 4.8 Gen. 6.5 Gen. 5. 2. Pet. 2.5 Arist. Pol. l â— 4. Arist. polit lib. 1. cap. 3. Vide platonem in 3. de