touching outward iustice and ciuill conuersation which I thinke dooth most take place in them which being instructed from their youth in the christian faith doo imbrace godlines from their hart And this A praise of Edward the sixt king of England by a most manifest example did Edward the sixt king of England testifie who without doubt being a yoong man was euen in his first age most prompt to the exercise of all vertue The verie which thing also will happen to you if yée folowe the doctrine of the gospell with that indeuour which you haue begun Wherefore Aristotle ment not to exclude all yong men vniuersallie but this did he most regard to put awaie the obiections which might hurt the woorthines or estimation of this facultie And this he did least if thou shalt sée yoong men trained vp in learning to becom at anie time nothing the better thou shouldest ascribe that vnto the fault of this facultie as though it were of no estimation and serued to no vse wherefore he laieth the fault in the want of age bicause it is destitute of experience and is troobled with perturbations of the mind These he saith be the impediments for which the procéedings of doctrine and approoued fruits of the same haue no good successe And neither was Aristotle alone of this mind but Pindarus also who saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is For light wits or yoong heads want experience and Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to saie For yoong folke are alwaies rash vnstaid Moreouer Horace pronounceth thus of a yoong man that Youth vnto vice like waxe is soone applide And fierce to those that warning them doo chide And how wanton they commonlie are kindled in their affections the Comedie giueth a most euident testimonie Also the histories doo declare how Cicero was deceiued in Octauius and how little Aristotle himselfe could bring to passe towards the reformation of maners in his scholer Alexander of Macedonia who being alwaies inflamed with excéeding great ambition did most insolentlie beare himself in prosperous fortune most foolishlie desired to be a god and so gaue himselfe to wine as being droonke he sâ—ue his most louing friend and at the desire of an harlot burned the most noble populous large citie Persepolis which was the head citie of the kingdome in such sort as it was vtterlie extinct The like things dooth Plato in his dialog Gorgias speake when he said that There be two passages whereby good studies doo flowe out of our minds namelie Obliuion and Incredulitie for by Obliuion is taken awaie the skill and experience which are gathered in the memorie and by the other to wit Incredulitie it coms to passe that we giue no credit to those that admonish vs. But yoong men doo soone forget those things that they haue once or twise séene and had experience of wherefore they hardlie get to themselues generall sentences and rules For we cannot obteine those but by long and continuall obseruation which yoong men cannot gather by a short time of their life neither doo they willinglie giue credit to those that admonish them bicause they are carried awaie by the blind swaie of their affections 2 And saie not vnto me that yoong men doo protest and haue in their mouth How yoong men behaue themselues in hearing of doctrine and doo kéepe in memorie speciall and honest sentences of philosophie for although they speake manie things trulie yet doo they not thinke as they speake and sometime they perceiue are mooued with those things that be vttered not much better than Iaies doo vnderstand mens wordes which they are wont to prattle yea drunken and intemperate men doo oftentimes iangle and tell a faire tale where neuerthelesse either they iudge the contrarie or else they cannot tell what they speake and bréefelie their speach is not according to their mind but they haue one thing in their mind and another in their hart which is then most of all perceiued when they get libertie haue a full fréedome of their choise Then albeit they were first modest chast they bewraie their mind that lurked and their nature that laie hidden Who was a more commendable prince than Nero himselfe in the first yéere of his reigne while he was yet gouerned by the direction of Seneca Of whoÌ„ was there greater hope than of CoÌ„modus who as he was of an excellent wit from his youth so afterward he became a monstrous beast And doo we not remember Ioas in the holie historie which gouerned himselfe rightlie in the beginning of his dominion so long as he gouerned by the counsels of Iohiada the faithfull high préest whose authoritie when he afterward despised he became straitwaie corrupt and by the libertie which he claimed to himselfe made manifest the shameful desires of his mind But yet for all these reasons were neuer our forefathers lead Yong mens faults must be no cause to keepe them from hearing holsome doctrine nor at this daie are wise men lead but that they bring their children when they become to yoong mens state vnto philosophers to be instructed by their learning and wisedome They send them also vnto lawiers that they may vnderstand those things which be iust and honest And all this we learne out of Platos Axioms and out of the philosophers liues and we also obserue the custome of our times Which was therefore so doone in old time and is also doone at this daie for those words which Aristotle here writeth of haue not that sense as though yoong men by this philosophie shall receiue no profit but bicause they are not able to procéed so well forward as they can iudge in their mind what is here foorthwith to direct their actions according to vertue and to procure vnto themselues good and honest habits of the mind since these things require a mind fullie persuaded and trulie assenting therevnto But in perceiuing of other faculties it is enough if the wit be applied which whosoeuer shall haue it but dull and blockish shall not become skilfull But in this our philosophie two things are to be perfourmed one that the precepts should be vnderstood the other that they be put in practise As touching that first there is no let but that yoong and intemperate men which liue dissolutelie may attaine vnto For if they be anie thing prompt and wittie they will easilie vnderstand those things which be taught but to expresse the precepts of this facultie in this life they will not be brought partlie bicause they want experience as Aristotle saith and partlie for that they are caried awaie with euill affections What kind of experience is required of them that should be meet hearers Perhaps thou wilt demand what maner of experience it is that we require of them which should be fit hearers I will shew it by examples namelie by abstinence to ouercome lusts By valiant and temperate actions if they be often practised
an excellent Musician why then doost thou not suffer thy selfe to be made a good man Then in the same booke he compareth this diligence of obtaining a good life with the industrie which husbandmen vse about plants I grant indéed saith he that a husbandman cannot by his labour and industrie change a bramble and take awaie his nature or to make it beare fruit but yet vines within their owne nature are ordained to beare fruits if they be neglected if they be left onelie to the gouernement and fertilitie of the soile they will beare either woorse fruit or in a maner none at all euen so good wits though they be otherwise capable of good maners if they shall want their tilth doo soone become either wicked or slothfull But although that in yoong men this exercise of moderating their affections from their tender age may séeme a difficult thing yet in processe of time the paines will be lessened For by these laudable exercises reason will be more confirmed which being made strong it will be better obeied of the inferiour powers of the mind Plutarchs opinion of this matter And from these things dooth not Plutarch disagrée who writing of the increase of good maners dooth also confesse that there is setled in our minds a certeine infinite vnspeakable naughtines which neuertheles by accesse therevnto may be increased and by some forsaking of it be diminished And the same Plutarch treating of the education of children saith There are thrée things required to the making of a man perfect nature discipline and exercise What thou maist vnderstand by nature it hath béene alreadie shewed a temperature I saie of the bodie and a naturall inclination And there néeds no labour to expound what is exercise the doubt onlie séemes to be as touching discipline Therefore we saie What discipline is that the same is a certeine facultie which applieth the actions and choises of men vnto reason and this it worketh by doctrine corrections admonitions and when néed shall require by punishments And whatsoeuer of these things anie man wanteth he cannot be made perfect as touching ciuill maners and vertues Vnto this his doctrine he compareth husbandrie vnto the good successe whereof is required a fertile soile secondlie a painefull and conuenient husbanding of the ground lastlie good and profitable séed and if anie of these thrée things be wanting we faile of the fruits that we looke for Vnto nature answereth the soile vnto discipline the tilth and the seed vnto exercise And if the drops of water by a continuall fall doo make stones hollowe if iron brasse be they neuer so hard be worne with vse so are bodies by sloth and sluggishnes made féeble and féeble bodies by holsome diet iust exercise brought to an incredible strength A barren land well husbanded is not vtterlie without fruit and a fertile soile neglected waxeth wild and bringeth foorth thornes and wéeds both hurtfull and vnprofitable Also the most fierce wild beasts by mans labor and industrie are made tame yea and those beasts which in their owne nature would be mild and tractable if they be so let alone vse to become wild as we sée it comes to passe in horsses and buls But what shall I saie more Did not the two whelps comming both of one dam and fire which Lycurgus brought foorth into the open assemblie of the Lacedaemonians declare by their running vnto things most contrarie what the diuersitie of education is able to doo An obiection of Plato that vertues cannot be taught But what shall we say vnto Plato in his Protagoras who séemeth there to affirme that vertues cannot be taught For Pericles saith he and other excellent men although they caused their children to be instructed in learning musicke and such like good arts wherein their children did greatlie profit yet did they not make them to be adornd with vertues which vndoubtedlie we must beléeue that they would haue desired most if they could haue obtained the same by learning industrie Wherevpon it séemes to be prooued that there be some of nature so estranged from vertues as they are not able to attaine vnto them and that others shall labour in vaine when they indeuour to traine them vp to vertue Howbeit this also dooth nothing at all weaken those things which we determin bicause either their parents laboured not so much as they should in bringing of them vp or else if they did vse sufficient diligence and that the nature of the children by reason of the temperature of their bodie was not giuen to vertues yet did they by their labor and industrie bring somwhat to passe For although if they should be compared with the chéefest perfect most absolute citizens they might séeme to be vtterlie destitute of vertue yet neuertheles being compared with rude and sauage men which are altogether trained vp without discipline they might be counted ciuill gentle and adorned with some shew of vertues Wherefore we conclude that indeuour discipline and studie are not altogither in vaine euen as touching them which by naturall inclination be enimies vnto vertues 6 Now let vs sée how those things How these things agree with the holie scriptures which Aristotle hath said doo agrée or disagree with the holie scriptures Yoong and incontinent men in the holie scriptures are not excepted neither be anie remooued from hearing the word of God in this respect that they be as yet disquieted and ouercome with troubles of the mind neither for this cause that they want experience and the vse of things Thou maist sée that Publicans Matt. 9 11 and 19 11. Matt. 19 14. and harlots and also théeues were admitted by Christ vnto his discipline and that not onlie yoong men but yoong children were called And we might alledge manie out of histories which before time hauing liued shamefullie and most wickedlie were straight-waie so reformed and amended by the doctrine of Christ as afterward they not onlie attained to a singular innocencie of life but also with an incredible fortitude did suffer themselues to be put to death with great torments least they should violate the decrées of our faith and the godlines which they had attained vnto when as there was both deliuerance and great rewards offered them if they would haue forsaken their determination And we sée that not onlie men haue fallen into this kind of conflict but we are not ignorant that women being otherwise but weake yea boies girls haue with great courage indured these things Neither let anie man saie Whether sinners against the holie Ghost must be excluded from hearing the word of God that those which sinne against the holie Ghost take no profit at all by the word of God and that it may therefore séeme that they should be driuen from hearing of the same We grant indéed that they which so sin doo heare the word of God in vaine howbeit since those can by no vsuall meanes be knowne from
Howbeit Augustine desireth not that they should be wholy forgiuen but onelie that their bloud might not be shed Yet howsoeuer it were The example of Augustine the example of Augustine ought not to preiudice anie mans opinion sith we liue by lawes not by examples At this day if a man had killed a Minister or doone a robbery who would intreate for him But there was a refuge vnto the churches for such as were guiltie Admit it were so and we also doe not take away sanctuaries for God permitted them For if the cause be obscure they may better be there than in prison while the same be knowen Neuerthelesse the cause being manifest God himselfe commaunded that the wicked man should be taken from the verie altar and be slayne These be the thinges which mooue me to thinke that it is not lawfull for a prince to forgiue the punishment of offenders And assuredlie the wise men haue alwayes held that commonweale to be well ordered where verie few thinges are left to the power of the Iudges But fewe such thinges had the Commonwealth of the Israelites Yet had it some That which was defined by the lawes Deut. 13. 8. was in no wise to be remitted Let not thine eye saith God spare thine owne wife that sleepeth in thy bosome What is the office of a king in promotion of godlynesse looke the Epistles 18. and 36. at the end of this booke Of Executioners or Hangmen In Iud. 8. ver 10. Why Gideon stirred vp his son to kill the enemies 30 Moreouer Gideon did for this cause perhappes driue his sonne to slay the kings that he might inflame his heart from tender yeares against the enemies of Gods people as it is written of Hanniball who from a childe vowed himselfe against the Romans Or else he did it to learn him from his youth to obay the lawe of God Deut. 19. 17 wherein was commanded that the bloud of the next of the kin being shed should be reuenged But might not this haue bin committed to an executioner Why would he so vrge his sonne To this we may aunswere two wayes First that in the olde time it was not dishonourable to slay the guiltie The Hebrewes had no executioners Further that it cannot be perceiued that the auncient Hebrewes had executioners And that this for a certaintie was no office among the Hebrewes that which is writtē in the lawe testifieth namelie that a blasphemour being taken Deut. 13 9. 17. 7. was so stoned to death as the hand of the witnesses did throwe the first stone at him neither was putting to death committed to anie particular executioner And there are manie examples which testifie that it was not ignominious to slaie the guiltie 1. Sam. 22. ver 17. Saul when he would haue the priestes slayne did not call executioners to doe it but turned to the noble men which were with him and commaunded them to assaile the Priestes Who reuerencing their Ministerie and dignite durst not obay Onelie Doeg the Edomite was bolde to execute so horrible an acte who was not of the least estimation with the king 1. Sa. 15. 33. Also Samuel with his owne hand slewe king Agag the prisoner In like manner Ioab when he had caught hold of the horne of the Altar 1. Kings 2. 34. was slaine of Banaia the chiefe captaine of the hoste Wherefore it séemeth that the Hebrewes in those auncient times had no executioners But as much as may be gathered by the Historie of the Ethnickes the officers of punishmentes called Lictores Plutarch beganne at Rome vnder Romulus who as Plutarch writeth in the life of Romulus were called so either of Ligando that is of binding or else because the Gretians called them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that they executed a publike office Romulus gaue them roddes bound together to carrie and with them was ioyned an Axe They had also cordes therewith to binde the Citizens who being bound they might either beate them with roddes or strike them with the Axe But the men of more auncient time wanted this office euerie man executed the same according as it was commanded of the Magistrate without anie infamie vnto him And in verie déede that worke of punishing malefactors hath in it no dishonestie or vncomelinesse For if it be honest for a Iudge or Prince to giue sentence of death against euill doers why then shall it not be iust and honest to execute the same sentence Yea and God himselfe in punishing vseth not onelie euill spirites but good spirites 31 But thou wilt say Why the officers of execution haue commonlie ill report why are officers of punishment and executioners commonlie so euill spoken of First because the common people are greatlie afraid of them Neither would anie man be punished for his wicked factes Hereby it commeth that the sight of the Executioner driueth a certaine horror into them And that the people were so affected the maner of the publike weale of Rome declareth where when ambitious men flattered the people more than was méete they banished the executioner from the iudgement place from the sight of men and from the chiefe house in Rome as euen the Oration of Cicero for Rabirius dooth testifie The Citizens of Rome were not put to death for any crime The Citizens of Rome were not beaten with roddes nor put to death Their extremest punishment was banishment They were caried into Ilandes and at the length condemned to the Mines But the latter Roman lawes which are in the Digests did quite disanull this exemption For in verie deede it was vniust For a fault woorthie of death ought not to be winked at whatsoeuer Citizen of Rome were Author of it And there were two principall lawes whereby the back and the head of the Citizens were prouided for The Lawe Portia and Sempronia Acts. 22. 25 I meane the lawe Portia and Sempronia whose power and protection Paul as we haue it in the Actes vsed and by that meanes escaped both roddes and bondes This is one cause why the officers of punishment and executioners are so odious 32 An other cause hereof is the papisticall opinion of irregularitie The irregularitie of the Canonists which as the Canonistes will haue it is gathered of euerie manslaughter These men thinke that a man cannot so iustlie kill anie man but that the same will let him from being promoted to the holy Ministerie whereas neuerthelesse the Inquisitors of heretical leawdnesse as they call it doe dailie cause an infinite number and those innocentes to be killed The Popes Legates also in gouerning of Cities and prouinces and making of warres although they be Cardinals and Byshops doe still continuallie cause bloud to be shed But in the meane time with great hypocrisie they prouide that the sentence be giuen by a lay Iudge as they call him and so they wrappe themselues out of that irregularitie
euils thus lost yee your commodities on this wise haue ye your selues cast awaie the honour and noblenesse of your order And yee haue caused manie to fall in the way c. Yee that should haue drawen men vnto God ye haue both by peruerse doctrine by example of most vnpure life and also by superstitious rites called them from the right course when otherwise they were in a good forwardnesse Yee haue made voide the couenantes of Leuie saith the Lord of hoasts c. The conditions and couenauntes shoulde haue béene inuiolate on both sides Let vs consider whether of vs kept or brake the promises I as I promised vnto your Fathers gaue you peace and life for they liued a long time in great glorie and happie state Yea verilie that same Phinees with whome I made my couenant liued a verie long time For as it is in the booke of Iudges Iud. 20. hee was yet on liue when all the Tribes made war against Beniamin And if we shall giue credite to Iosephus that people had from Aaron to the building of the Temple of Salomon onely 13. highpriests and all of one and the selfe same stocke namelie of Aaron and in the meane space were welnéere fiue hundreth yeares And no man can iustlie obiect but that they were accounted as the messengers of God Wherefore let vs confesse God to be faithfull whose wordes abide euerlastinglie in most assured equitie and trueth So nowe is the synceritie of Gods promise sufficiently prooued and made manifest But on the other side saith he you haue broken the couenant to whome onelie this sufficed and this yee accounted for your chiefe and singular benefite that your superstitious ceremonies tithes and reuenues might remaine vntouched but as for trueth knowledge equitie and compassion of heart you had none So farre were you off from bringing home and raising vp them that were fallen that ye haue béene a hinderaunce euen to them that goe and stande vpright Yée shewed not your selfe my Angels that is my messengers Naie rather ye haue pleaded for the aduersarie power for the world for darkenesse and for the Pope himselfe and sooner for anie power than for mine And euen I also haue caused you to bee had in contempt Nowe is the cause plaine why the ministers of God be cast downe why they are vile contemptible and in a manner despised of all men and maie séeme of all men to be made a mocking stocke Because yee haue not kept my waies c. Your calamitie is not ascribed to the fault of your order as though such were the condition and nature thereof For all thinges which be created haue these properties which the worde of God hath giuen vnto them Wherefore séeing wee perceaue them to be most surelie kept in other things can the holie ministerie which among the ordinances of God is so excellent be iustlie accused of falling awaie either through fault of God or it selfe from the auncient most excellent properties thereof It is said here to haue happened farre otherwise For because yee haue not kept my wayes but haue beene partiall in the lawe c. I beséech you déere brethren what is to bée parciall in the lawe in the administration of the worde of God but to haue in the holie ministerie a chiefe consideration of him selfe To prouide especiallie that no harme come to his owne commodities honours and substance that he hath gotten To take héede that he offende not the rich mightie noble nor principall men To prouide with singular care that they maie still retaine the partes and superstitious opinions which they haue once taken vppon them to defende Let rather the trueth say they preuaile let the scripture bee subiect to the traditions and inuentions of men Let the worde of God serue the priestlie maiestie or rather Tyrannie And as for Religion let not the heauenlie oracles of the diuine Scriptures but rather our wils order the same Verilie this saide the Prophete or rather God in him And yee haue beene parciall in the lawe Which thing the Apostles did not and the most godlie Prelates of the Church which liued in the best times thereof And in verie déede in the time of Moses and Aaron the Leuites were armed from gate to gate of the tentes sparing neither mother nor brethren nor children and for this cause are saide to haue consecrated their handes therein Therefore I heartilie pray beséech you my brethren for Iesus Christ his sake that so manie of you as either haue alreadie taken vppon you the holie ministerie or doe looke to come thereunto ye will regarde the same not as an vnprofitable and vile thing Consider diligentlie what bee the honours commodities and couenauntes thereof stand ye to the promised conditions and doubt ye nothing of the faith of Almightie God and of our sauiour Iesus Christ For he is true stedfast and most assured in perfourming those thinges which hee hath promised Heauen and earth saith the Lord shall perish but my wordes shall not perishe And these thinges as touching the holie ministerie are spoken to you that be the Elders Nowe I thinke it good to saie somewhat vnto the younger sort and to the children An Exhortation for young men to studie the holie scriptures I Reioyce gentle Auditorie at this your diligence in comming together to heare the interpretation of the holie Scriptures And this I doe not without a cause For since that this will procéedeth not from the fleshe from the sense or from nature it is vndoubtedlie giuen from aboue it is giuen you from heauen and from Gods holie spirite inspired into your heart For séeing the lawe is spiritual Rom. 7. 12 and the commaundement holie iust and good as Paul declareth and wee on the other side euil corrupt and altogether wicked it cannot bee but that we hate the sayings of God the lawe and the Scriptures Therefore so manie as shall not be stirred vp by the spirit of Christ doe both flée vnto them and doe also hate them most gréeuouslie not for anie fault in the scriptures but for their owne corruption That same people of Israel that was but a small nation and nowe hardened in perpetuall infidelitie did not onelie hate holie Moses Numb 11. 14. 16. c. but diuerse times indeuored to stone him to death which was the greatest punishment wherewith the people punished malefactors It cannot be declared howe gréeuous troublesome and hatefull that man of God was to the whole multitude whenas in verie déede he was most quiet amiable and courteous whom God pronounced to bee most méeke and gentle A true testimonie whereof he thereby showed in that he most earnestlie praied vnto God for them Ibidem whom he saw to bee inflamed with infinite enuie and vnspeakeable hatred against him and desired that himselfe might rather be wiped out of the booke of life than that they shoulde suffer extreme punishment as they deserued Wherefore it is plaine that
feast daies of the Iewes 376. Whether it be lawfull to solemnize the birth daie of anie man pag. 377. chapter VIII The fift precept of the honouring of superiours pag. 377. A comparison betweene the duties of parents and magistrates Ibidem What dominion the husband hath ouer the wife pag. 379. Of ambition pag. 381. Of the desire of praise pag. 382. Of flatterie pag. 383. chapter IX The sixt precept of freendship 384. Of homicide pag. 385. Whether Elias did well in killing of the Baalites pag. 386. Of parricide pag. 390. Of sword-plaie Ibidem Whether it be lawfull for anie man to kill himselfe pag. 391. Of repelling of violence pag. 397. Of curssings imprecations and bannings Ibidem How far it may be lawfull to reioise in our enimies ouerthrowe pag. 400. Of a cursse shunning of reuenge 403. * Of the affects in generall pag. 405. * Of shamefastnesse pag. 411. * Of temperance pag. 412. Of mercie and Nemesis Ibidem Of crueltie enuie emulation and reuenge pag. 414. chapter X The seuenth precept of not coÌ„mitting adulterie pag. 418. Of matrimonie and concubins Ibid. Of polygamie pag. 420. Of barrennesse pag. 430. Whether it be lawfull for children to marrie without the consent of their parents pag. 431. Of rauine or violent taking awaie 437. Whether marriage be lawfull in persons of sundrie religions pag. 442. Of degrees forbidden in marriage pag. 447. Dispensation for marriage pag. 453. Of dowries pag. 454. Of diuorsements pag. 457. Whether matrimonie be a sacrament pag. 462. chapter XI Of whoordome fornication and adulterie pag 468. Of bastards pag. 475. Of idlenesse pag. 479. Of the punishments of adulterie 482. Whether the man or woman doo sinne more greeuouslie in adulterie pag. 489. Of reconciliation of man wife 495. Of wine and droonkennesse pag. 497. Of danses pag. 503. Of garments and apparell pag. 506. Of counterfet and false colouring 507. chapter XII The eight precept of not committing theft pag. 517. Of beneficence and hospitalitie 518. Of benefiting and vnthankfulnes 523. Of plaies and pastimes pag. 524. * Of gentlenesse and affabilitie pag. 528. chapter XIII The ninth precept of not bearing false witnesse Ibidem Of contumelie Ibidem Of suspicions pag. 533. Of mocking and taunting pag. 534. Of deceit or guile Ibidem Whether guile be lawfull for the rooting out of idolatrie and heresies 539. Of dissimulation pag. 541. Of truth and of a lie pag. 542. Whether it be lawfull to lie for preseruing the life of our neighbour pag. 546. Whether we may lie for modestie sake pag. 547. Whether faith against a promise breaker must be kept pag. 548. Of a fable and apolog pag. 550. chapter XIIII The last precept against lusting 551. Of the comparison betweene sins 553. Of charitie which is the fulfilling of the lawe pag. 556. Of salutations pag. 560. Whether the commandement of louing God with all the hart c. may bee kept in this life pag. 562. Whether the first motions should bee accounted sinnes pag. 565. Whether by rewards we ought to bee mooued to the obedience of God 573. chapter XV Of the vse and abrogating of the lawe pag. â—75 chapter XVI Of the likenesse and vnlikenesse of the old and new league or couenant pag. 582. A comparison of the sacraments of the fathers with ours pag. 586. chapter XVII Of Christ and his manifestation in the flesh and by what meanes he performed all the parts of our saluation pag. 599. chapter XVIII An exposition vpon the twelue articles pag. 612. The method and order of the Common places of the Third part AFter these things doo followe the causes and the generall meanes whereby we are both put and reteined in the possession of Christ and saluation and there be also shewed the effects of Christ remaining in vs. All which things the places following doo plainelie teach to wit the places of predestination and calling of faith and hope of adoption iustification Christian libertie of repentance of Christian life of patience in afflictions of the praiers of good men and finallie of eternall life THE CHAPTERS AND COMMON PLACES OF THE THIRD PART chapter I OF the eternall predestination of God wherein also are refelled the arguments which the aduersaries make against the same pag. 1. Whether GOD would destroie anie man pag. 42. chapter II Of the calling of God pag. 44. Of grace pag. 47. How grace and works are vnto eternall life pag. 52. chapter III Of faith and the certeintie thereof and how faith may agree with feare pag. 63. Of securitie pag. 67. Whether true faith may be separated from charitie pag. 69. How faith excelleth charitie and the contrarie pag. 75. What vnion the godlie haue with Christ pag. 77. Of the adoption of the sonnes of God pag. 79. The description of Christian hope 82. chapter IIII That iustification is of faith onelie not of works pag. 89. chapter V Of peace bondage Christian libertie of offense of conscience and of the choise of meates pag. 161. chapter VI Of vowes in generall pag. 175. Of the vow of Nazareth pag. 177. Of the vow of Ieptha pag. 182. Of the Rechabites pag. 188. Of peregrinations pag. 191. chapter VII Of marriage and sole life especiallie of ministers pag. 192. That chastitie is no common gift of God pag. 198. chapter VIII Of repentance of contrition confession and satisfaction pag. 203. chapter IX Of the works of supererogation imagined perfection of the Papists pag. 227. Of purgatorie and papisticall indulgences pag. 232. chapter X Of teares fasting there also of Lent pag. 245. Of watches pag. 256. chapter XI Of a Christian life and there of sundrie vocations pag. 257. Of freendship pag. 258. How we are to take counsel of God 260. The example of Naaman declared 263. That the possession of riches is lawfull for godlie men pag. 267. chapter XII Of liberalitie and magnificence 269. Of fortitude mortification enduring the crosse and affliction pag. 270. Of flight pag. 287. Whether Dauid did well in flieng to the Philistines for feare of Saule pag. 291. Whether the holie men were inferior to the Ethniks in abiding aduersities 296. chapter XIII Of holie praiers pag. 300. Whether praiers be the causes of the benefits of God pag. 310. How God saith he will giue that which he will not giue and contrariwise Ibid. Of the abuse of forreine language 309. Of musicke and meeter pag. 311. chapter XIIII Of death and of the consolation of the godlie against the same pag. 314. Of moorning for the dead pag. 315. Of buriall pag. 319. That soules loosed from their bodies do not sleepe pag. 323. Of wandering spirits pag. 326. chapter XV Of the resurrection pag. 327. chapter XVI Of the taking vp of Elias and Enoch and of their returne pag. 370. chapter XVII Of the end of the world pag. 385. Of the last iudgement pag. 386. That all mens glorie in heauen shall be alike pag. 389. Of the change of all things pag. 393. The method of the Common
oftentimes which like vnto dogs or swine contemned and trod vnder their féete the doctrine that was set foorth vnto them And yet did they not for these mens sakes withdrawe their sermons from the people Yea Christ verie often preached to the people when the Scribes Pharisies stood by whom he knew verie well to haue committed sin against the holie Ghost yet did he not for their cause cease from dooing his office Euen so at this day bicause some blasphemers and despisers cannot be let from the vse of the holie scriptures but that in a manner the whole flocke of christians must receiue damage thereby therefore it is better to licence them vnto all men one with another The rising of heresies must not hinder the reading of the scriptures But they saie that many heresies be sproong vp in these daies which should be an occasion to forbid this thing But they that so saie should consider that before Augustines time there were both Arrians and Manichies yea and that while he himselfe liued the heresie of the Pelagians and Donatists and manie other pestiferous sects were spred abroad and yet neuertheles he gaue counsell to read the scriptures as appeareth by his epistle Ad Volusianum and in his sermon of fasting where he prooueth that among the faithfull sort the reading of Gods word euen in the time of feasts bankets ought to be as an exercise in stéed of plaies games And all the fathers in a maner besides doo manie times exhort the people of Christ vnto this studie And it is a verie slender reason that good things should be quite taken awaie bicause they be abused of some For then the Eucharist it selfe should be taken awaie bicause as Paule testifieth manie abuse the same to their owne destruction To conclude what discommodities soeuer they obiect God knoweth them better than they who not onlie permitted the lawe but also the prophets to be common amongst the people yea that the same should be deliuered vnto strange nations to be read The Eunuch of the Quéene of Candace read the prophet in his chariot Acts. 8 28. when Philip stood by him What I beséech you wil they be wiser than God For whatsoeuer is necessarie to saluation as we haue often said is plaine and easie in the scriptures Wherefore in that the scriptures were predestinate to our glorie and that from the beginning we must giue infinite thanks vnto God which so timelie thought vpon our saluation 19 Moreouer Out of the preface vpon the Iudges some diuide the holie scriptures into foure parts and some bookes aswell in the old testament as in the new they ascribe vnto lawes some vnto histories some vnto prophesies and some vnto wisedome Of the diuision of the holie scriptures But it is not lawfull so to diuide the holie bookes one from another séeing that in Exodus Leuiticus Numbers and Deuteronomium wherein they appoint lawes to be contained are found almost as manie histories as lawes Moreouer in the books which they haue assigned to the prophets are oftentimes taught and plainelie expounded lawes of vpright liuing neither can we properlie separate the bookes of Salomon and others like which they would haue proper vnto wisedome from lawes or prophesies For in them are manie sentences which perteine to the instruction of a good life and without doubt haue the nature of lawes Againe séeing that in these very many secret mysteries are opened vnto the church by instinction of the spirit doubtlesse the attentiue readers of them may marke therein oracles of things to come but yet so neuerthelesse as well néere in euerie booke they be set foorth vnto vs dispersedlie and yet the holie books are not seuered one from another by such bounds or limits I would rather thinke as hath séemed good vnto the learned sort that whatsoeuer is contained in the holie scriptures All things in the scriptures referred vnto two principall points should be referred vnto two chéefe points I meane the lawe and the gospell For euerie-where either Gods commandements to liue well are set foorth vnto vs or else when we are found to swarue from them either of weakenesse or of some certeine maliciousnes the gospell is shewed whereby through Christ we are pardoned of our trespasses and are promised the power and strength of the holie spirit to restore vs againe to the image of Christ which we had lost These two things may be séene in all the bookes of Moses in the histories in the prophets and books of wisedome and throughout the whole testament old and new Surelie they be not separated one from another by bookes and leaues but by that waie which we haue now declared And thus much is said of the matter of the holie scripture in generall ¶ Of the reading of the holie scripture looke the thrée of the first sermons which are added at the end of this booke Of Historie Ibidem Looke the epistle vpon the booke of Sam. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the preface vpon the second booke of Sam. A definition of historie The difference betweene chronicles and histories 20 Let vs now declare somwhat of the historicall scriptures An historie as Quintilian defineth it in the second booke and fourth chapter of his institutions is a declaration of a thing that hath béene doone From whom Augustine dooth not much varie saieng that Historie is the declaration of anie thing doone either by God or by man comprehending within the compasse of this definition as well prophane histories as those of the Bible Howbeit all narrations of things doone are not of one sort For some are called Chronicles or Annales shewing the successe of things from yéere to yéere and time to time but others are properlie called histories Howbeit we cannot well doo this vnlesse we distinguish these two one from the other Cicero in his second booke De oratore when he touched these matters writeth on this wise The Gréeks themselues wrote so in the beginning as our Cato Pictor and Piso did For historie was nothing else but a gathering togither of things doon from yéere to yéere and for the preseruation of such things in publike memorie the chéefe prelate did put euerie yéere in writing whatsoeuer was doon woorth the registring within that yéere and so continued from the originall of the Romane state euen vnto Publius Mutius who bare the same office Which being doone he not onelie did publish it abroad but also did set it foorth in a table at home that the people might haue the perfect knowledge thereof Yea and manie of them saith he which are counted the chéefe historiographers at this daie followe much of their trade who without anie curiousnes or eloquence leaue the monuments of times persons places and things euen simplie as they were doone Wherefore as Pherecydes Hellanicus Acusilaus and manie other among the Gréekes such were our Cato Pictor and Piso among vs who haue small regard to
set foorth their matter with goodlie words and so it may be vnderstood what they saie they account breuitie a speciall praise of speaking And a little after it followeth thus The name of things doone requireth order of time to be obserued will also haue the description of countries For in matters which be great and woorthie of memorie we first looke what counsell was taken secondlie the acts that were doone and lastlie what end and successe came thereof And in counsels is signified what the writer alloweth and in the acts is declared not onelie what was doone and said but also in what maner they were executed c. By these things we may perceiue what is the nature of Annales or of historie And it séemeth we may affirme The narrations of the scriptures be rather histories than chronicles that the narrations of the holie scriptures be rather like histories than Annales For not onelie acts are there set foorth as they were doone but also the verie causes counsels and meanes are shewed Also the orations admonitions and reprehensions are otherwise set foorth with som ornaments All which rather belong vnto histories than vnto bare Chronicles 21 But since we haue heard the opinion of Cicero let vs sée also what Aulus Gellius saith Aulus Gellius opinion of chronicles and histories who in his fift booke and fift chapter writeth on this sort Some doo thinke that a historie differeth from a Chronicle in this that whereas both of them are a declaration of things that be doone yet that a historie is properlie of such things as the writer himselfe is present at the execution of those things which he intreateth of c. This distinction he himselfe dooth not followe and that for some certeine cause Which distinction neuertheles Seruius the Grammarian vsed and after him Isidorus in his first booke of Etymologies which is a maruell bicause he is not only against Tullie who said that An historie is a gathering of things doone from yéere to yéere but also contrarie to Virgil whose verse is in the first of Aeneidos And if it please you to heare the Chronicles of our labours Wherein he declareth that Chronicles also belong to such things as the writer was present at But I will speake againe of Gellius He reporteth that there were others which thought histories to be either the exposition or demonstration of things that haue béene doon and they be Annales or Chronicles when the acts of manie yéeres are afterward compiled an order of euery yéere being kept According to which iudgment the historie of the scriptures cannot be named among Chronicles séeing in the declarations of things doone in them the course of yéeres manie times is not obserued Afterward the same Gellius according to the mind of Sempronius Asellio added this much But the difference betwéene those which would leaue Chronicles behind them and others which indeuoured to discourse of the worthie acts of the Romans was this In their Chronicles they onlie shewed what déeds were doon euerie yéere but the histories not onelie shewed what was doone but also how by what order deuise and counsell the same was atchéeued And a little after the same Asellio in the same booke Chronicles can neither mooue the more couragious sort to defend the Common-weale nor yet the more cowardlie to doo amisse Wherefore since by the knowledge of the scripture men be admonished and stirred vp to the right worshipping of God to repentance of their life to put their whole confidence in God and finallie to take in hand all offices which appertaine to good life and conuersation they rather containe historie than chronicle I haue vsed manie words touching this matter but I trust not without some fâ—uit God is the authour of historie 22 But it must not be thought that historie was deuised by man séeing God himselfe is the author thereof who would that the forefathers should declare vnto their children and posteritie the maruellous things that he did in Aegypt in the red sea and in the wildernesse yea and he bad as we read in Exodus that the warre against Abimelech Exod. 17 14 the victorie which the Israelites had of him should be recorded in writing but this kind of writing began before Moses For euen he maketh mention Histories before Moses time Num. 21 15 Ios 10 13. 2. Sam. 1 18. aswell of a booke of the wars of the Lord as also of an other booke of iust men The prophets also oftentimes mingled histories with their prophesies I omit Dauid who manie times garnished his psalmes which he soong with histories of the scriptures I passe ouer our euangelists in the new testament and the Acts written by Luke wherin are large and most profitable histories Of these bookes if God be authour as we must beléeue he is euen God himselfe shal be counted the authour of historie And this is not vnbeséeming for him séeing historie is an excellent thing for as Cicero writeth in his booke De oratore it is a testimonie of times The praise of historie a light of the truth the life of memorie the maister of life and the messenger of antiquitie c. Verie singular are these commendations and not fit for euerie historie but for such onelie wherein those rules are obserued which this authour hath in the same place set downe that is to wit The rules of a true historie that there be no false thing told that there be no bashfulnes in telling the truth that there be giuen no suspicion of fauour or hatred Wherin although the Latine Historiographers were better than the Gréekes The Latine histories of more credit than the Greeke which as Quintillian saith were in these matters almost as lewd as the poets yet Augustine in his 131 epistle to one Memorius a bishop giuing no small praise to historie among other liberall disciplines and writing of the truth saith that he could not perceiue how those stories which are compiled by men can be well able to kéepe the truth séeing that writers are constrained to giue credit vnto men and oftentimes to gather rumors and reports of the multitude who neuerthelesse are to be excused if they kéepe the course that is required in a historie and write nothing of affection or set purpose to beguile men The histories of the scriptures most true But there is nothing more true than the histories reuealed and written by the inspiration of God as these histories of ours be 23 Besides the commoditie of the truth The commodities comming by histories the knowledge whereof is without doubt most excellent we obtaine other commodities also and those not small by the reading of histories By them we may gather great and abundant store and matter of most profitable arguments For as Quintillian saith histories and examples be iudgements and testimonies And the vse of examples is of two sorts at the least Two maner of vses of examples one is
saluation sake but to make a proofe or triall God is tempted And in his book De vera religione the 38. chapter hée saith that There was no cause why Christ should cast himselfe downe hedlong from the pinacle of the temple except for triall sake which had béen to tempt God But it fared not thus with Ionathas for first he wanted not faith secondlie he was led through necessitie and great profit namelie that he might vnderstand the will of God he beléeued that all those things were ruled by his mightie power and that the toongs euen of vngodlie men were stirred vp to speake by him And therfore it followeth How it happened that God tooke the Philistines word for an oracle that The Philistines voice was heard as an oracle of God For the gouernment of God is not restrained to the elect onelie but the affections saiengs and dooings euen of wicked men are directed by him to serue his glorie Doubtles the Aegyptians were naughtie people Exod. 12 3◠yet GOD wan their goodwill towards the Iewes at their departure out of Aegypt so as they were content to lend them both garments plate and iewels as well gold as siluer 1. Sa. 17 14 God turned the hart of Absolom that he should not harken vnto the most craftie counsell of Achitophel God stirred vp Roboam 1. Kin. 12 15 that he should not hearken vnto the counsell of the wise and sage men Prou. 21 1. For as Salomon saith The harts of kings are in the hand of God To conclude all our affections thoughts and spéeches are directed by his power wherein if Ionathas had not persuaded himselfe how could he haue sought or taken a signe at the mouthes of wicked men Certeinlie others knowe not to what end God will direct the saiengs and dooings of men Ionathas did vnderstand it by the inspiration of God 6 This is not that kind of diuination This kind of diuination is not forbidden Deut. 18 10 which the scripture forbiddeth when it is commanded Let there be no soothsaiers among you Ierom saith that the word diuination in the holie scripture is alwaies taken in the woorser part For whereas men be ouer gréedie to knowe things to come therefore manie guiles and illusions are ministred vnto them To diuine things comming of necessary causes is not forbidden But séeing that things to come doo depend vpon certeine and necessarie causes therefore they appertaine not vnto that kind of diuination which is forbidden For the eclipse of the moone and sunne and the traiection opposition and méeting togither of stars is knowne to learned men how they shall be manie yéeres to come by reason of the certeintie of causes going before Also things that commonlie change may be foreséene by probable signes as a disease or death may be perceiued by a physician Things contingent are foreseene onlie of God But things contingent which are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and which swaie equally as wel one waie as another are not foreséene but of God onlie For he alone knoweth to what end and purpose euerie thing tendeth wherefore they that professe such skill doo commit sacriledge Manie such deuises did the diuell teach the heathen people as to obserue matters by the entrails of beasts by the singing looking féeding of birds Wherefore they were charmers soothsaiers and obseruers of such things Moreouer they had among them from the same schoolmaster diuining vpon dreames lots prophesies and oracles Cicero in his booke of diuination Two principall sorts of superstitious diuination reduceth all these to two sorts For some he saith are naturall and some artificiall and that those be artificiall when as knowledge is gathered by the marking and obseruing of certeine things as in entrails and soothsaiengs and such like but that naturall be those which happen as vnto soothsaiers furious persons and dreamers All these things are naught bicause that part which belongeth onlie vnto God is ascribed onlie vnto men But to come againe to the matter This part of diuination Looke in 1. Kin. 20 31. which Ionathas followed is called in Latine Omen which as Festus thinketh is as it were Oremen For it is a certeine foretelling which slippeth out of a mans mouth with some furie So the Romans when they were minded to flie and leaue their citie and that the standerd-bearer had fixed their banner in the market place and had said Here will it be best for vs that spéech was taken for a signe of good luck and a forespeaking of that which should be indéed So did Ionathas by the Philistines words which they spake vnaduisedlie gather that God would giue him the victorie and deliuer them into his hands And certeinlie the Ethnikes in vsing this meanes were to be condemned but Ionathas not so for he was stirred therevnto by God but so were not they So Gedeon followed a forespéech Iudg 6 36. when he fought against the Madianites When it may be lawfull to imitate Ionathas But wée must followe neither Ionathas nor Gedeon vnlesse wée knowe for a certeintie that we be mooued with the same spirit that they were For if we will by the reasons and arts of men foretell things contingent or that may happen afterward wée shall iustlie and dulie be blamed If examples be agréeable with the common lawe they should prouoke vs to followe them but if they be not we must rather woonder at them than followe them This caution must be vsed in examples The ninth Chapter Of Miracles and what power they be of to establish faith and doctrine IN miracles two things are speciallie to be considered first In Iudges chap. 6 at the end what miracles are and secondlie how much and in what sort it is lawfull to aske them As touching the first the Hebrue word is Pala or Niphla from whence are deriued the nounes Niphlaoth or Miphleoth The etymologie of words By which words are noted Things secret from others by reason of their woorthines and excellencie Separated I meane and woonderfull The Grecians call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is To maruell The Latins call them Miracula that is Miracles bicause they are woorthie of admiration They call them also Prodigia Monstra Portenta that is Things prodigious monstrous or that are seldome seene to let vs vnderstand that by these things God ment to shew that somewhat should come to passe or bée doone aboue hope or expectation contrarie to the common order of things Wherefore Miracles greatlie extolled séeing that miracles are doone beyond the nature of things they cause admiration And certeinlie there are verie manie miracles which are made famous by writers as the temple of Diana in Ephesus the toombe of Artemisia Quéene of Caria the huge image of the sunne at Rhodes the wals of Babylon a great manie other such things Wherefore Augustine in his 16. chapter against the
angels and yet the sorcerers withstood the same then sathan séemed to resist sathan neither could the sorcerers haue trulie said that their power failed them and haue testified that it was the finger of God which wrought But in my iudgement these things haue no good ground bicause the things doone by the sorcerers were doone by the power of the diuell which vnto him is naturall For thereby he is able to applie the séeds of things and the working causes to the matter prepared and as touching the â—ight of men to worke maruellous things The diuell by naturall causes can woorke strange things But those things wherewith God afflicted the Aegyptians were doon by his owne most mightie power through the instrument of the diuell wherefore it is no maruell if the sorcerers failed and perceiued the most excellent power of the finger of God But the booke of Wisedome the 18. chapter séemeth wholie to ascribe these plagues vnto God verse 15. where hée saith While all things were in quiet silence the night was in the midst of hir course c. And in the 17. chapter it is written that the Aegyptians being among those plagues verse 14. especiallie when they were oppressed with darknes were so disquieted with horrible vexations of mind and verie terrible sights as if most ouglie and discomfortable ghosts had béene continuallie conuersant before their eies and about their phantasie which vndoubtedlie might be doone by the sending of euill angels as the psalme dooth mention Also their hart was hardened and their mind was obstinatelie bent euerie daie more and more against the Israelits and that séemeth to haue pertained to the sending downe of euill angels Wherefore these two places might be easilie made to agrée by ascribing the plagues The places of Exodus the psalm are agreed which are spoken of in Exodus to good angels and the terrible sights and hardening of the hart to the sending of the euill angels vpon them whereof the psalme now alledged maketh mention 9 But séeing that God as it hath béene shewed vseth for the working of miracles The power of dooing miracles maketh not men either better or woorse both euill and good angels and men godlie men ought not therefore to be agréeued bicause this power is not oftentimes giuen vnto them For they are not for this cause of anie woorse condition than others to whom the working of miracles is granted For the Lord said vnto his disciples when they returned from their ambassage Reioice not in this Luk. 10 20. that spirits are subiected vnto you but rather reioice bicause your names be written in heauen In obtaining of signes the diuels labour must not be vsed Some there be so desirous of these things as to worke signes they feare not to vse the helpe euen of the diuell and excuse themselues vnder this pretence that God himselfe about the working of signes vseth sathan in following of whom they saie that they doo well so far are they from confessing themselues guiltie of offense Further they saie that Paule deliuered certeine to be vexed of the diuell and that therefore they also may vse his ministerie But what maner of men I beséech you bée these which would haue it lawfull for them to doo as much as is lawfull for God God is the author of all creatures wherefore it is no maruell if he vse them all but it is prescribed vnto vs by the lawe of God that we should not doo it And to imitate God is commended vnto vs so long as wée be not contrarilie commanded by his lawe otherwise he himselfe will reuenge his owne iniuries But who will saie It is not lawfull in all things to imitate God Iudg. 6 25. that it is lawfull for priuate men to doo that which God dooth God vsed for his owne sacrifice the beast prepared vnto Baal and the wood dedicated vnto the same idoll shall euerie one of vs therefore eate things dedicated vnto idols The rule of our life is the word of God wherefore to imitate him we must not be led except so much as the lawe dooth permit He hath made the same lawe not for himselfe but for men to the intent that they should make their life agréeable vnto it Wherefore it was lawfull for him to require of Abraham the sacrificing of his sonne Gen. 22 1 which is not lawfull for anie of vs to require of our fréend Paule and other apostles had euill spirits subiect vnto them 1. Cor. 5 5. and by them it was sometime lawfull vnto them to punish the guiltie for the furtherance of their saluation wherefore they to whom such a gift is not granted ought to abstaine from exercising the same 10 Now then the vse of the power of euill spirits is of two sorts The one is with authoritie and that belongeth chéeflie vnto God also it belonged vnto the apostles and holie men of the primitiue church but the other consisteth of compact and obedience which is vtterlie forbidden vnto men 2. Cor. 6 14. For what fellowship can there be betweene light darknes betweene God and Belial For which cause the sorcerers and whosoeuer giueth credit vnto them cannot be excused naie rather they are by the lawe condemned to be guiltie of superstition idolatrie Why God forbad vs to vse the diuels help in obtaining of signes Neither is it to be thought that God hath forbidden these things but for verie iust causes and those not vnprofitable vnto vs for doubtles he prouideth that we should not be deceiued and that we should not by such waies run headlong into destruction for therto at the length tendeth felowships with sathan Iohn 8 44. For the diuell is a lier and the father of lies he is also a murtherer euen from the beginning as Christ hath taught Wherefore let this be a sure saieng which also the Schoolmen in the second booke of sentences distinction the eight and among them speciallie Thomas yea the ancient fathers confirmed that If so be wée aske anie thing which goeth beyond the power of man wée must aske it of God onlie which thing they that doo not doo fall awaie as runnagates from the faith worshipping creatures in stead of God The inconstancie of certeine of the fathers and schoolmen I would to God both the old fathers and the Schoolemen had remained constant in it who afterward forgetting themselues I knowe not how haue consented now to the inuocation of saints and haue instituted a sort of exorcists or coniurers to the carcases and relicks of dead men These being indued with no peculiar gift of miracles doo with most gréeuous comminations as much as in them lieth imperiouslie adiure diuels desiring of the saints which are alreadie dead to driue out euill spirits from such as be possessed But these spirits if they depart at anie time according as they be commanded yet they doo it not against their will but doo
These are woont to be alleadged for the reasons which may séeme to be against it First that God in that matter shall be tempted and that dooth the lawe of God vtterlie forbid Yea and our sauiour with this answere reprooued the diuell Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God And the Hebrues are expreslie blamed bicause they tempted God in the desart The sonne of God also when the Pharisies said Matth. 4 7. Psal 95 5. Matt. 16 4. Maister we will see a signe of thee said This froward and adulterous generation requireth a signe but there shall be no signe giuen them c. And Achas otherwise a wicked king Esaie 7 12. pretended a shew of righteousnesse saieng that he would not tempt God and therefore deferred the asking of a signe Vnto the question I answere that after a sort it is lawful to desire a signe and after a sort it is not lawfull The first part of the sentence is thus prooued when godlie men desire as touching anie vnaccustomed vocation to be made more assured of the will of God and are afraid least peraduenture they should be deceiued for as concerning it they haue nothing for a certeintie in the holie scriptures for neither men nor angels must in those things be verie soone beléeued séeing euill angels doo manie times transforme themselues into angels of light I saie when men are in this perplexitie the will béeing readie bent yea verie desirous to obeie the commandement of God godlie men cannot be accused either of tempting of God or of rashnes if so be thâ—y desire to be confirmed by some signe For whosoeuer in those cases desireth such things as God hath béene accustomed to offer he dooth not amisse No man is ignorant but that to Achaz was offered a signe to the intent he might be assured of the promises offered him by Esaie Esaie 7 12 wherefore to desire those things which God himselfe sometime giueth and fréelie offereth ought not to be forbidden as vnlawfull wherof there is no want of examples Exod. 16 13 and 17 6. Moses béeing in the wildernesse whensoeuer he had néed of the helpe of God he oftentimes obtained miracles for the people of God And to confirme the doctrine of truth 1. Kin. 7 22. 2. Kin. 4 34. both Helias and Helizeus desired of God that life might be restored vnto the children of their hosts And to the same end Christ said But that yee may knowe that the sonne of man hath power to forgiue sinnes Matth. 9 6. he turned to the man sicke of the palsie and said Rise take vp thy bed and walke Wherefore of godlie men miracles are desired For what causes godlie men desire miracles and that iustly to the intent that either they may be brought out of doubt as touching their vocation or that a great and vrgent necessitie may be succored or else that a testimonie may be giuen of sound doctrine And whensoeuer they desire miracles vnto these ends Cautions in the asking of miracles they desire them not of anie creatures but of God onlie and in asking they vse a measure For they declare that they will or desire nothing but that which is agréeable to the will of God When it shall not be lawfull to aske miracles 16 Now on the other side let vs consider the meanes whereby signes are vnwoorthilie and vniustlie desired First there are some which desire miracles bicause they are not well persuaded of the power goodnesse and prouidence of God nor séeke any thing else but to haue an experiment of those things neither doo they rest vpon the doctrine of the holie scriptures which manifestlie and amplie teach vs all those things Wherefore they are iustlie to be reprehended séeing they be more readie to giue credit vnto miracles than vnto the word of God Luk. 16 26. Wherefore Abraham answered vnto that rich man which was tormented in the flames of fier when he desired that Lazarus might be sent vnto his brethren least they also should be thrust foorth vnto the same punishment They haue Moses and the prophets By which words is manifestlie declared that we must rather beléeue the holie scriptures than miracles There be others also which desire miracles to the intent they might haue to serue the flesh more delicatelie and to satisfie their naughtie lusts Num. 11 10 Of which fault the Hebrues are accused for that in the desart when verie great abundance of Manna was ministred vnto them they desired flesh bicause they might liue more delicatelie in that wildernesse Finallie some desire miracles to the intent they may fulfill vaine curiositie Plinie For as Plinie saith The nature of man is most gréedie of new things and therefore it séemes that they would vse miracles as it were plaies and pastimes to sport themselues withall After this maner did Herod expect miracles of Christ Luke 23 8. For when he was brought vnto him he desired to féed and delight that curiositie of his with strange signes Now I suppose it is manifest after what sort a requiring of signes is forbidden and that sometimes it is lawfull to demand them 17 Now must we confute those things which séemed to make against vs. An answere to obiections They which craue miracles after that maner and forme which we haue described vndoubtedlie doo not tempt God What it is to tempt God Before In the 7. chap. Art 5. and part 2. cha 4. Art 54. Matth. 4 7. for as much as to tempt God is nothing else but of an vnbeléeuing heart and rashnesse to séeke for experiments of his will and power which vice certainelie is in the holie scriptures iustlie and woorthilie reprehended Wherefore the Lord Iesus Christ did not without iust cause repell the diuell when he would haue persuaded him to throwe himselfe downe headlong from the temple whereby he might be made the more assured of the fauour of God toward him whereas the reason of man might manifestlie perceiue another waie of comming downe And againe the same sonne of God did not vnwoorthilie reprehend the Iewes as a froward and adulterous generation Matth. 16 4. vnto whom he therefore denied a signe bicause they had alredie séene verie manie and yet they scoffed at them all and in such sort mocked Christ and bicause they desired not anie miracle but one from heauen as though they would not also haue derided signes from heauen Assuredlie their purpose tended to no other end but to alienate the people from the Lord although he had wrought woonderfull miracles Esaie 7 1â— But as touching Achaz the wicked king and his refusing of the signe offered I néed not much to trauell For he béeing called by the prophet feined himselfe most faithfullie to beléeue as though he néeded no miracle at all when as neuertheles he was altogither incredulous Which thing is plainlie shewed in the second booke of Kings for he sent vnto Tiglathphalazar the
are brought in by the naughtie practise of the papists yet shall those also by the helpe of God be one daie taken quite awaie but if they were gods indéed they would surelie defend themselues Aphrodisaeus Aphrodisaeus saith that There is a certeine generall power which by the properties of things such as be herbes stones and metals must be drawne vnto euerie particular thing I admit it be so yet no such thing can be brought to passe vpon the sudden for the works of nature haue their time course But Christ vpon the sudden turned water into wine Iohn 2 8. vpon the sudden restored the blind and lame Matth. 11 5. Of the Platonists 13 Indéed the Platonists grant that there be spirits but they saie that they haue bodies either waterie or aierie or fierie These things doubtlesse they speake howbeit they speake such things as will not agrée one with another For if the bodies of spirits be elementarie Whether the bodies of spirits be elementarie how commeth it to passe that they be eternall For the elements haue both cold and heate qualities both actiue and passiue and sometime they striue one with another and sometime they perish Others reason after this sort Forsomuch as there be extremities we must also grant that there is a meane but heauen is eternal and mens bodies are fraile and mortall wherefore of necessitie something must be put betwéene these two that may be partaker of both This is no necessarie argument For first we grant that certeine minds there be void of bodies such as are the angels and those intelligencies which driue the celestiall spheres further that the soules of our bodies are the other extreame Of other meane things there is no néed But they saie that as fishes be in the sea and foules in the aire so there must be spirits cōuersant in the fier This is of no necessitie For liuing creatures are not made for the elements but the elements for liuing creatures and liuing creatures were made for mans sake Now what vse can there come vnto man by those liuing creaturs which abide in the fier Howbeit if these men will vrge further concerning the vpper region of the aire we will not denie but that there be spirits there For so Paule to the Ephesians saith Ephe. 2 2. 6 12. After the prince that ruleth in the aire and afterward in the same epistle We wrestle not against flesh and bloud but against principalities powers of this aire Chrysost Also Chrysostom in his 11. homilie vpon the first epistle to the Thessalonians saith that the whole aire is full of spirits But let vs consider of the bodies of these spirits for they can be no aierie bodies séeing the aire is a bodie of one kind For euerie part of the aire is aire and there can be no reason giuen whie one part thereof should be a spirit more than another and by that meanes the whole vniuersall aire should be one continued bodie of spirits Moreouer the bodie of a liuing creature must be instrumentall and haue bones sinewes parts and seuerall members but these things cannot be made of the aire Furthermore a bodie must haue fashions forms which things cannot so much as be imagined in the aire But there be you will saie fashions and distinct formes in the clouds I grant it but they consist not of aire onelie or alone And yet this argument is not firme for spirits may take vnto them the bodies of other things Wherefore some doo rather argue on this sort Spirits haue bodies either celestiall or elementarie if celestiall then their moouing must be round or circle-wise as the moouing of the heauens is if elementarie they must of necessitie followe the motion of that element whereof they had their bodies Demons be spirits 14 But to let these things passe The scriptures doo not make Daemons to haue bodies but to be spirits onlie Now spirits bodies by an Antithesis are put as contraries For euen as a spirit is no bodie so likewise a bodie is no spirit Luk. 24 39. And Christ saith A spirit hath no flesh nor bones And that Daemons be spirits is prooued by infinit testimonies of the scriptures In the historie of Achab thus the diuell speaketh I wil be a lieng spirit in the mouth of all the prophets of Achab. 1. Kin. 22 22 And Christ cast out an vncleane spirit Matt. 12 43. the vncleane spirit wandered through drie and desert places afterward he tooke to himselfe seuen other spirits woorse than himselfe Naie verilie will you saie these spirits are but onlie certeine impulsions of the minds such as be the spirits of wisedome and the spirits of knowledge yes in verie déed they be substances Matt. 18 10. For Christ saith that They behold the face of his father and he shall pronounce at the latter daie Matt. 25 41. Go ye cursed into euerlasting fire prepared for the diuell and his angels Wherefore séeing the holie scriptures doo call Daemons by the name of spirits I sée no cause why anie should attribute bodies vnto them But I speake not here of bodies which are assumed and are come vnto them but of such as be proper to them and of their owne I knowe there be other men somewhat sharpe witted indéed which saie that Daemons be spirits in comparison of vs euen as on the other side angels in comparison of God may be said to haue bodies and after this maner they saie that Augustine affirmeth Daemons to haue bodies And they saie also that Barnard was of the same opinion both in his treatise to Eugenius and also vpon the Canticles howbeit there be some which interpret Barnard to speake of bodies assumed But séeing the holie scriptures as I said doo call Daemons spirits I sée no cause why we should imagine them to haue bodies Foure kinds of spirits For in the scriptures we sée that there are foure kinds of spirits First in verie déed GOD himselfe is a spirit for he hath no néed of a bodie either for his being or for his doing of anie maner of thing The next be angels as well good as bad neither doubtles haue they néed of bodies as touching their owne proper actions but to communicate in actions with vs they haue néed of bodies for as we read in the epistle to the Hebrues Heb. 1 14. They be administring spirits The third sort are the spirits of men which doubtles that they might haue their being haue no néed of bodies for they haue their being and doo liue euen when they are separated from their bodies yet about their owne proper actions as to haue sense or to growe they cannot be without bodies The last be the spirits of brute beasts which neither can haue their being nor doo anie thing without bodies By this diuision we sée that there is no néed at all for Daemons to haue bodies for
it is said vnto Moses when he detracted the time of dooing his message bicause he had an impediment in his spéech Exod. 4 11. Who hath giuen a mouth vnto man Or who maketh the dumbe or deafe the blind seeing Haue not I the Lord Wherfore I will be in thy mouth By which place it is shewed that it is the worke of almightie God to speake in his ministers to open their mouths to make them readie of spéech But Christ when he speaketh of this matter saith It is not you that speake but the spirit of your father whereby it séemes to be prooued Mat. 10 20. that the holie Ghost is God séeing he hath one and the selfe-same action with him Augustine in his epistle to Pascentius saith Augustine that he doth woonder how it can be that Christ whose members we are is beléeued to be God and that the holie Ghost whose temple we be should be denied to be God séeing the excellencie of the Godhead is more prooued in the latter condition than in the first The reasons which we haue brought do in part prooue of necessitie and doo plainelie shew What maner of reasons haue bin alleged that the holie Ghost is God Others indéed be not altogether of such efficacie but being ioined with other things doo confirme the minds of the faithfull in this truth neither is there anie of them which the fathers haue not some-where vsed There might also be added other arguments of this sort but with these we will hold our selues contented What may be obiected against this doctrine Rom. 8 26. 15 Now remaineth to consider what is woont to be obiected against this doctrine Some saie The holie Ghost praieth for vs and that with sighings vnspeakeable How can he then bée God séeing it is not méete for God to humble himselfe after the maner of suppliants Some answere and saie That the sonne doth make intercession for vs How the holie Ghost praieth for vs. Rom. 8 34. Looke In Rom. 8 verse 26. The holie Ghost hath not taken vpon him anie creature into the vnitie of person who neuerthelesse is God and that therefore to praie is not strange from the nature of God howbeit this is friuolous For Christ in that he was man was inferiour to the father and therefore might be a suter vnto him But the holie Ghost hath not taken vppon him the nature of anie creature into vnitie of person Wherefore the respect that must be had towards him and towards Christ is far differing and vnlike and therefore we will answere that the spirit praieth and maketh request for vs as it is written in the epistle to the Romanes bicause it driueth vs forward to doo these things and it is therefore said to sigh bicause it maketh vs to sigh Neither is this phrase strange from the scriptures God is said to doo those things which he causeth vs to doo Gen. 22 12. but it is verie often vsed For God said vnto Abraham when he would haue sacrificed his sonne Now haue I knowne that thou fearest God That vndoubtedlie was knowne before vnto the diuine maiestie and was commanded For the harts and cogitations of men are not hidden from him But I haue knowne in that place is as much to saie as I haue caused to knowe That this phrase is so to be vnderstood the Apostle testifieth to the Galathians when he saith And seeing yee be children Galath 4 6. therefore God hath sent the spirit of his son into your harts crieng Abba father In which words he séemeth to affirme that the holie Ghost himselfe doth crie vnto God But to the Romanes the same Apostle doth make it verie plaine For ye haue not receiued the spirit of bondage Rom. 8 15. to feare anie more but yee haue receiued the spirit of adoption of children whereby we crie Abba father in which place it appeareth most plainelie that it is wée which crie the holie Ghost stirring and driuing vs forward therevnto 16 Further they demand that If the spirit procéed from the father Why the holie Ghost is not said to be the son and also from the sonne what is the cause why he is not called a sonne séeing he hath not beginning of himselfe We answere Bicause that in diuine and secret things we followe both the doctrine and manner of spéech of the holie scriptures Séeing then that the scripture hath in no place said that the holie Ghost either is begotten or is the sonne why should we attempt thus to saie And doubtles vnto godlie men this answere should suffice It must be added moreouer that this issuing out of the holie Ghost is called a procéeding therefore we must call it so And albeit that betwéene the Gréeke and Latin churches A long contention betweene the Greeke and Latine Churches Looke In Rom. 3. verse 30. there was a long contention whether the holie Ghost procéeded from the sonne yet was it not of anie great importance vnlesse it had bin aggrauated with the spirit of ambition For after the time that the Grecians began to contend in the Church for primacie they easilie tooke in ill part the opinions of the Latins But the dissention was taken vp in the Councell of Florence where it was manifest The Synod of Florence that the Latins meant no other thing but that the holie Ghost had his procéeding or issuing out as well from the father as from the sonne The which séeing it may be found as we haue said that in the holie scriptures it is called a procéeding we are not to be blamed Iohn 20 22. The sonne is said to send the holie Ghost for when he breathed vpon the Apostles he said Receiue yee the holie Ghost Iohn 16 14. Againe he said He shall receiue of mine And manie of the fathers before the Councell of Florence wrote that the holie Ghost is deriued as well from the father as the sonne Augustine against the heretike Maximinus Augustine and elsewhere sheweth it verie plainelie Also Epiphanius in Ancorato confesseth Epiphanius that the holie Ghost procéedeth from both that is from the father and the sonne 17 Albeit that betwéene procéeding and generation it is hard to put a difference A difference betweene generating and proceeding and that Augustine in the place now alledged granteth that he perceiued not the difference yet he said that this he knew namelie that whatsoeuer thing groweth doth also procéed but he saith not on the other side that whatsoeur things procéed are also sproong foorth Howbeit we cannot properlie expresse the difference Wherfore the holie Ghost is not said The holie Ghost neither begotten nor vnbegotten either to be begotten or vnbegotten least by saieng vnbegotten we might séeme to affirme him to be the father or by affirming him to be begotten we may séeme to call him the sonne This we haue out of Augustine in his third tome at the beginning of the
small questions gathered out of the booke De trinitate Adde withall that if the holie Ghost should be said to be begotten then in the trinitie we should appoint two sonnes two fathers For séeing the holie Ghost is as well of the father as of the sonne he should haue them both to be his fathers if it might be said that he is begotten of them yea and if the matter be well considered he might I saie be called both the sonne and sonnes sonne of one and the selfe-same Father For in affirming him to be begotten of the Father he should be called his Sonne but in asmuch as it should be said that he is borne of the Sonne he should be nephew vnto the Father which things be absurd and wholie strange from the scriptures Since the Sonne is called the onlie begotten it may not be said that the holie Ghost is begotten Iohn 1 14. Iohn 3 16. 1. Iohn 4 9. Yea and further to saie that the holie Ghost is begotten the words of the scripture are against it which verie often doo call the Sonne The onlie begotten whereof it followeth that the holie Ghost is not begotten In the first chapter of Iohn it is said We sawe the glorie thereof as the glorie of the onlie begotten of the father And in the third chapter of the same gospell So God loued the world as he gaue his onlie begotten sonne And the same Iohn in his epistle In this the loue of God towards vs appeared that he gaue his onlie begotten sonne Christ as touching his humane nature is called the first begotten Rom. 8 29. And Christ as touching his humane nature hath béene accustomed in the scripture to be called not The onlie begotten of God but The first borne among manie brethren as it appeareth in the epistle to the Romans Howbeit doubtles as touching his diuine nature he hath no brethren There be some which cauill that in the Synod of Nice the holie Ghost was not in expresse words called God but that onlie the Godhead of the sonne was expressed Vnto which obiection Epiphanius answereth Why Epiphanius in the Synod of Nice and other fathers else where haue not expresly named the holie Ghost God that in the Synod of Nice the controuersie was as touching the sonne onlie For Arrius at the first contended onlie against this point And Councels for the most part define not anie other things but such as are called in question yet neuertheles if a man diligentlie examine the matter he shall sée that those things be there defined which doo plainelie inough declare the diuine nature of the holie Ghost For it is there said We beleeue in the holie Ghost and it is not lawfull for one to put his confidence in a creature Moreouer that which was doon in the Synod of Nice was performed in the Synod of Constantinople 18 Also they obiect that among the fathers there were some and especially of the more ancient of them which were slacke in their writings to expresse in plaine words the holie Ghost to be God Among whom Erasmus reckoneth Hilarie Erasmus Hilarie who was thought to be the first among the Latins that wrote against the Arrians This father in his booke De trinitate neuer by expresse words called the holie Ghost God Vnto this obiection we answere that the most ancient fathers in teaching diuine things vsed a singular modestie and did imitate the holie scriptures so much as they could and although they said not in expresse words that the holie Ghost is God yet in the meane time they wrote those things which manifestly prooue his Godhead And further it appeareth that they of set purpose disputed against them which denied the Godhead of the holie Ghost and equalitie of the thrée diuine persons as we sée by the strife that was about the word * Of like substance Homousion A similitude from which manie of the Catholiks at the beginning did restraine themselues bicause it séemed to bée but new and that it was not had in the holie scriptures yet they neuertheles did imbrase and most willingly admit the thing signified Howbeit we striue not about these things but grant first and chéefelie whatsoeuer is in the holie scriptures and then whatsoeuer is necessarilie and manifestlie deriued out of them Next vnto those ancienter sort of fathers did Basil and diuers others succéed which by all meanes both testifie and defend the holy Ghost to be God 19 Others cauill bicause it is written that None knoweth the Father but the Sonne Mat. 11 27. and on the other side None the Sonne but the Father in which places they saie that there is no mention of the holie Ghost and therefore it séemeth vnto them that he knoweth neither the Father nor yet the Sonne that for the same cause he is not God To these also we answer Whether the holie Ghost knoweth the Father and the Sonne that when the knowing of the Father and of the Sonne is attributed to two persons the holie Ghost must not be excluded séeing he is said to be the spirit aswell of the Father as of the Sonne wherfore that which is belonging to both is also common vnto him And if they demand a plaine testimonie hereof out of the scriptures we will bring foorth one out of the first epistle to the Corinth where it is written 1. Cor. 2 11. The things of man none knoweth but the spirit of man which is within him and euen so those things which be of God Matt. 16 17. none knoweth but the spirit of God Also it is written in the gospell Blessed art thou Simon the sonne of Iona The holie Ghost both knoweth the Father and the Sonne and also reuealeth them for flesh and bloud hath not reuealed these things vnto thee but the spirit of my father which is in heauen By these testimonies it is manifest that the holy Ghost dooth not only knowe God but dooth also reueale make him to be known vnto others But this error whereby some indeuor Origins error to rebuke the holie Ghost with an ignorance of heauenlie things tooke beginning frō Origin who affirmed a certeine degrée to be among the natures of Intelligencis so as he though that the Father knoweth himselfe onelie he said that the Sonne did not knowe the Father and that the holie Ghost knew not the Sonne Epiphanius and he would moreouer that the angels perceiue not the holie Ghost and lastlie that men sée not the angels And that this order is set downe by him Epiphanius sheweth out of the booke as he testifieth The booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which booke neuertheles so far as hitherto I remember I haue not read the matter plainlie in such sort described Which is no maruell for that booke which Ruffinus translated Ruffinus hath manie things vnperfect For he plucked out those things which hée thought
good fauour of God we may wish for due honours so are we driuen to the very same thing by that charitie wherwith we ought to loue our neighbour And this dooth Dauid verie well confirme in the 15. Psalme when he spake of him which should dwell in the house of God and in the euerlasting habitation among other his vertues this he reckoneth He that is lowlie in his owne eies glorifieth them that feare God Therefore since without controuersie eternall life is to be wished vnto our neighbours this is to be wished for with most ardent praiers that the godlie and those which feare God may be had in honour which is this kind of honour namelie to haue them in estimation to be delighted with their companie to maintaine their good name and chéerfullie to reléeue their necessities all which things since they be so coldlie doone in these daies they which be godlie cannot choose but earnestlie sorrowe and wish that at the length it may be doone euen as God hath commanded Augustine in his Soliloquijs the first booke and eleuenth chapter iudgeth that since of honours authoritie dooth increase and that authoritie dooth much further to induce men vnto honestie and to driue men as well vnto true opinions as vnto holines of life therefore honours are to be desired Yea for their sakes whom we ought by our ministerie to helpe if we sée our authoritie to be despised we ought for iust honest causes to defend the same least in verie déed it become vnprofitable To this belongeth that which Paul wrote vnto Timothie Let no man despise thy youth 1. Tim. 1 12. Wherein honors profit them that doo well And when we doo well it doth not a little further to the confirming of vs if we haue the commendation of good men For euen as we are in a maner all troubled with the disease of selfe-loue we are easilie deceiued in affaires actions and those things which we doo least commendablie wée make most account of them And bicause this doth not seldome happen it causeth the more ignorant sort to become more doubtfull and ambiguous in their dooing vnto the which men honor praise and approbation would doo much good if by outward signes the same were yéelded for by these things their mind and iudgement is established But those which be not doubtfull nay rather be assured that those things which they doo be right when they are adorned by wise and good men with a iust kind of honor they cannot choose but excéedinglie reioise and be glad in themselues that they haue gotten so good and iust iudges wherefore honors doo also profit these men Neither doo these things which we haue said differ from the opinion of Aristotle For albeit he denie honor to be the chéefest good yet doth he not exclude it from the number of good things Touching those things which I haue spoken of firme and perfect honor there is nothing so agréeable That the faithfull in the daie of iudgement shall haue the cheefest good Matt. 25 34. as that that shall be the chéefest which the faithfull in the last daie of iudgement shall haue of Christ when he shall saie vnto them Come yee blessed of my father c. For that praise shall procéed from the most wise iudge to whome all iustice is best knowne neither can our dooings anie waie be hidden from him 17 Wherefore I thinke it is now sufficientlie concluded and made apparant that the moderate desire of honors is not to be blamed yet bicause manie doo soone ouer-reach themselues héerein and that the place is slipperie therefore must we declare some things which we ought to take héed of least in séeking for vertue wée shamefullie fall into vices To this must we haue a speciall regard that euen Aristotle being an Ethnike sawe that we desire not honor for it selfe That honor for it selfe sake must not be desired for this were of a meane good to make the principall good and to enioie those things which we ought but to vse Let the same desire therefore tend both to the glorie of God and to the edifieng of our brethren Next of all let vs beware that we take not too much care for honor That wee must not be too carefull for honor for so would the mind be soone disquieted which when manie who were accounted ciuill did not auoid they with the desire of praise became in a manner mad We knowe with what a furie Alexander of Macedonia was carried in a manner through the world séeking glorie without measure and reason who at length was brought to that passe as he thought that there were other worlds to be conquered besides this One world sufficeth not for yong Pellaeus With the verie which disease Iulius Caesar being infected set vpon his countrie and rashlie violated the lawes and libertie thereof So then let this desire be moderate and let it be bounded within certeine and iust limits And in receiuing of honors let vs follow Augustines counsell Neither receiue thou saith he all that is offered nor yet refuse thou all for he that reiecteth all the honor which is yéelded vnto him for the things that he hath rightlie and verie well done séemes as it were to suppresse the gifts of God and that he would not haue them acknowledged which in verie déed is against true godlines And on the other side he that imbraceth whatsoeuer is offered him doth manie times passe the limits of modestie And héerewithall must héed be taken that the kind of honor which is brought That the honor be not greater than the worthines of the person be not greater than the dignitie of men can sustaine which when it happeneth must not be abidden for thereat is God angrie and doth seuearelie take vengeance for his honors vsurped by men Herod was most gréeuouslie punished Acts. 12 23. when the people cried vnto him with voices not fit for a man but such as were méet for God And for the same fault is Domitian Nero and manie other most insolent Emperours iustlie condemned which would not be woorshipped as princes but as God Those things which belong to God let them be rendred vnto God and let good men receiue humane honors rightlie and moderatelie when they be offered Also let there be kept a iust and right measure in obteining of honors The right waie to come by honors There is onlie one waie and meane commended and that is by well bringing of things to effect which the Grecians call * That is to saie vertuous actions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which things hypocrits doo counterfet and while by outward signes they indeuour to declare themselues godlie and holie they be had in estimation of the people But of them Christ said Matth 6 2. They haue receiued their reward And there be others which are carried so far foorth as they buie honors which vice without doubt is condemned by all
dutie is sometimes doone by contemplation and then that corrupt person hath a will not to loue his neighbour hath a will not to go to the holie assemblie Wherefore we sée here that the act of will and that same action thereof which is the action of nature dooth depend of God deformitie and priuation dooth not so But sometime they be omitted bicause a man dooth not thinke of those things I meane not of a contempt Héere saie I that although there be no action there of that kind yet is there an other which contendeth with right reason He is not mindfull of the holie congregation bicause he will walke about for his pleasure or else vse some pastime and those actions be aduersaries to right working Or if that be no action at that instant yet was it a little before For example Ouer night he would féed like a glutton afterward he could not rise earlie to be present in the holie congregation Wherefore in the sinnes of omission we shall find an action either proper to that kind or else an other striuing with the good motion of the will either which is then presentlie reteined or else that went before 21 God then is the cause of all things How sin is drawn from the nature of the second causes and inferior things according to their owne nature receiue the moouing of the first cause Wherefore if sinne be drawen it is drawen by the nature of the second causes I will make the matter plaine by a similitude A similitude In liuing creatures we haue that power which hath his name locall motion and it mooueth beasts either to walke or to runne and those creatures are mooued according as they receiue their moouing from that locall motiue power but if a legge be defectiue be out of ioint or crooked that motion hath halting in that course ioined therewith but that halting as it is a moouing commeth from the moouing power of the soule as it is faultie and lame it dependeth of the faultines of the leg which was broken And thus it is as touching that continuall moouing wherewith God stirreth his creatures There is indéed a common influence and it is receiued in things according to the qualitie of them so the subiect of deformitie or priuation is of God and the moouing of God sometime passeth through the mind corrupted whervpon the fault of the action is not of God but is drawen from the next cause But what it is that God there dooth and how he gouerneth that deformitie is declared before now we treate of the act which breaketh foorth from our will Wherefore it is rightlie said that the priuation of righteousnesse followeth not the worke of our will and the motion thereof so farre foorth as it is in the kind of nature but as it is in the kind of moouing Augustine in his seuenth booke De ciuitate Dei the 30. chapter saith that God dooth so gouerne his creatures as he permitteth them to exercise and worke togither with him their owne proper motions For God dealeth not alone but as I said before the wicked men and the diuell also doo vse their naughtie endeuor in working But when we saie How the selfesame act is produced by God and by vs. that the act it selfe which afterward through our owne fault is euill is brought foorth by the chéefest cause that is by God and by vs that is by our will how shall we vnderstand this Whether that God doo it wholie or we wholie Or whether it be partlie from him and partlie from vs And héere we drawe this producement to the verie act of our will We answere If consideration of the whole be referred vnto the cause we must speake after one sort if it be referred vnto the effect after an other sort If the whole be referred to the cause so that we vnderstand our will to be the whole cause of the action that it be able by it selfe to worke without God it is not true for vnlesse God would assent thervnto it should not be able to bring foorth action So God although by his absolute power he might performe the worke it selfe by him selfe yet as the course of things is he will not deale alone but will haue the creature to be a doer togither with him by this meanes are neither the will nor yet God said to be the whole cause But if it be referred to the effect it selfe God and the will are the full cause for God and the will make the whole effect although they be ioined togither in action I will shew the thing by an example For bringing foorth of an action A similitude we haue a will and an vnderstanding and our will maketh the whole effect and our vnderstanding is the cause of the whole effect but the one is nigh the other further off How it is that the will dooth all and God dooth all And so is it of the will and of God the will dooth all and God dooth all but one is the first cause and the other is the second 22 As touching the third point the sinne which followeth is sometimes said to be a punishment of the sinne that went before How sinne is the punishment of sinne and so God is said to punish sinnes with sinnes Then if the sinnes which followe be weighed as they be punishments they after a sort be attributed vnto God not that God dooth instill new naughtines or that he driueth men directlie vnto sinning but when he hath withdrawne his gifts then dooth sinne followe whereby the mind is destroied And those destructions those wounds of minds as they be punishments they come vnto vs by iust desart Hereof we reade in the first chapter to the Romans Rom. 1 24. that God gaue them vp vnto a reprobate sense as we haue declared before And that sinne hath the respect of punishment insomuch as it corrupteth nature it is manifest Augustine saith and it is vsuallie receiued Thou hast commanded Lord and trulie so it is that euery sinne is the punishment of him that sinneth This also doo the Ethniks acknowledge Horace saith The Sicill tyrants yet could neuer find Than enuie greater torment of the mind Those euill affections doo drie vp the bones maâ—e féeble the strength doo afflict the minds yet this is iustlie doone for God is iust and righteous in all his waies But if we be depriued of grace we haue deserued the same 23 Wherefore we conclude this question of ours A conclusion of the question and saie that To speake properlie and plainelie God is not the authour of sinne neither would he sinne to be And yet is not God said to be the vnperfecter or the weaker bicause he cannot make sinne for that is not imperfection and impotencie but perfection These things cannot God doo bicause he is the chéefe good and the chéefe perfection naie rather he establisheth lawes against sins he crieth out against them and he punisheth
holie spirit To the sixt which doo hinder sins and therefore c. This we grant but we adde that he dooth iustlie remooue his spirit Indéed the remoouing of that which letteth is a cause but yet that is not the proper cause for there doo also rest in vs inward causes of euill He giueth occasions It is true he suggesteth both outwardlie and inwardlie To the seuenth but yet good things the which men through their owne lewdnes doo vse amisse But he not onlie giueth occasions but he also gaue out his commandements 1. kin 22. 22. He said vnto the diuell To the eight God is brought in by the figure Prosopopoeia Go foorth doo this hereof will I note a few things The prophet by the figure Prosopopoeia dooth as it were bring in God to sit vpon a seate like a iudge he would that Achab should be slaine he séeketh who shall deceiue him Wherevnto tendeth this inquisition It putteth vs in mind that this should else-where be sought bicause it is not in the nature of God to deceiue The end is there set foorth by his iustice he willeth that Achab should now be slaine Diuers waies are deuised this spirit shewed one waie and that spirit another waie to the intent we may vnderstand that the prouidence of God hath innumerable waies whereby he can punish men Those waies were there propounded but not put in practise bicause the prouidence of God was not minded to vse them A spirit stept foorth who said I will deceiue him Hereby it is gathered that diuels are prompt and redie to deceiue and when they doo deceiue it is of their owne dooing In the meane time we be taught that those spirits be able to doo no more than God dooth giue them leaue and in respect that he will vse them they be executioners appointed of God Wherefore God said Go foorth this is the imperatiue mood If we respect the end it was to slaie and punish Achab. But this leaue was giuen to the intent that the diuell should exercise his naughtie will and deceiue And God vsed the sinne of the diuell and would not hinder his worke nor yet let Achab but that he should beléeue the false prophets Augustine in his booke of the 83. questions quest 53. noted thrée things The first is that that which God did against Achab he did it by iudgement secondlie that he did it by an angell and not by himselfe thirdlie he saith not by euerie maner of angell but by an euill angell readie of his owne nature to deceiue It was said that sinne is a motion To the ninth and a certeine action and that the first moouer is God nothing is concluded but that the subiect of sinne that is the act it selfe hath will to be the néerest cause and also God himselfe in respect it is a naturall thing The saieng of Augustine De gratia libero arbitrio the 21. chapter is expounded of the inclination vnto good by himselfe and vnto euill indirectlie Also the dealing of Roboam To the 10. 1. Kin. 12 15 2. Par. 21 16. and the stirring vp of the Philistines and that Amazias would not harken vnto the warnings of the king of Israels prophet apperteineth to the iustice of God God was minded to punish them To the 11. As touching the words of Ahia the Silonite for performing wherof c. These things were not doone bicause they were foretold but foretold bicause God foresawe that they should be And to the end that they might so be he appointed them for punishments of the wicked and he knew how he would vse them and his reasons were allowed of God It is written in the 14. chapter of Ezechiel Ezec. 14 9. If the prophet be deceiued To the 12. it is I that haue seduced him Here haue we nothing else but that the sinne of the false prophet may be two waies considered As it procéedeth from the will of an ill prophet so it displeaseth God and therefore he said he would punish it but if afterward the vse of it should be weighed that God by such seducing would be reuenged of the people then he did iustlie withdrawe his grace from them further he vsed that seducement which properlie and by it selfe may not be ascribed to God 31 There was brought a place out of the 21 chapter of the prouerbs where it is said Prou. 21 1. To the 13. that The hart of the king is in the hand of God and he inclineth the same which waie soeuer he will The proposition is generall Which waie soeuer he will he inclineth the same Here is no exception therefore as well vnto good things as vnto euill things In the twelfe of Iob Iob 12 24. it is said that God dooth take a waie the harts of them that be rulers of the earth and that he maketh them stagger like droonken men And how these things must be vnderstood of inclination I haue declared Wherefore I vnderstand this sentence of Salomon no otherwise than those words of saint Augustine in his booke De gratia libero arbitrio to wit that he inclineth our wils vnto good or euill according to his good pleasure To the 14. Another argument was out of the 105. psalme Psa 105 25. where it is said God turned their hart so as they hated them What maner of turning that is which he made in their harts Augustine dooth teach verie well in the same place it was no good hart that GOD made euill But such is the goodnes of God that he vseth both angels and men and when they be euill he piketh good things out of them He increased the Israelites with children and with wealth these things were good wherfore God by dooing good vnto the Hebrues turned the hart of the Aegyptians vnto hatred for hatred ariseth through other mens felicitie Wherefore God turned their hart which naturallie was euill vnto a hatred against the Hebrues not by making of their hart euill Ye sée therefore that I feined not when I said that God suggesteth either inwardlie or outwardlie such things as in their owne nature be good but through our fault doo come occasions of sinning but yet occasions taken not giuen And the occasions which be offered be not the furthest remooued causes as is the firre trée hewen vpon mount Pelion but they be immediate occasions which stir vp our desires euen as the Hebrues happines was the immediate occasion why the Aegyptians enuied them Esai 63 17. Esaie the 63. chapter Wherefore hast thou made vs to erre To the 15. Lord Which saieng Ierom interpreteth of Gods louing kindnes God did not straitwaie punish their sinnes wherefore they began to contemne his iudgements God did suggest this his mercie in them which was good but through their fault it was drawne to contempt They may also be the words of the wicked which cast vpon God the cause of their sinnes Or
else the godlie when they thinke themselues by the iust iudgement of God to be forsaken of his grace and afterward they acknowledging their sinnes speake after such a sort doubtles not in blaming of God but in maruelling at his iudgements But howsoeuer thou vnderstand it God is exempted from the fault Ierem. 4 10. It is written in the fourth of Ieremie Thou To the 16. ô Lord hast seduced thy people Ierom answereth saieng Those things which were now spoken séemed vnto the prophet to be repugnant to the other words which were spoken in the third chapter before where God declared vnto him Ierem. 3 17. that Ierusalem should be called the seate of God and that all the heathen should flocke about it But now God said that The hart of the king of the princes should quaile the preests and people should be astonished and therefore the prophet cried Thou saiedst we shall haue peace but behold the sword But the times saith Ierom must be distinguished for those things which were first spoken were to be fulfilled after the captiuitie of Babylon and that calamitie which was shewed of afterward was euen at the doores 32 Iosua saith To the 17. that God hardened the harts of those nations of the Canaanites Iosua 11 20 that they should not make peace with Israel bicause God was minded to cast them out before his people and therefore he séemeth to be the cause of sinne We answer with Augustine To harden what it is out of the eight chapter De gratia praedestinatione it is also intituled The booke De voluntate Dei What is it to harden That he will not mollifie What is it to blinden That he will not illuminate what is it to inforce or reiect That he will not call Which he speaketh not of the generall calling but of that which is effectuall God powreth not in new hardnes which is not in the hart Wherefore it may be said that God hardened those nations bicause he would not make them relent whereby they might haue made peace with the Hebrues neuertheles they were alreadie to be destroied by reason of their owne sinnes But it is further obiected that no creature is appointed to perdition God created not man to the intent he would cast him off And Ierom vpon the prophet Abacuk the second chapter is alledged Although that the soule by reason of the naughtines thereof be made an habitation for the Chaldaeans yet by nature it is the tabernacle of God And no creature indued with reason is herevnto made that it should be an habitation of the diuell Indéed these words dooth Ierom speake But if thou vnderstand him absolutelie he is against the scripture which speaketh otherwise It saith Rom. 9 17. verse 22. that The potter hath power of one lumpe to make one vessell to honour and another to dishonour And it is said of Pharao To this purpose haue I raised thee that I might shew foorth my power God suffereth the vessels prepared vnto destruction to the intent he may make his power manifest It is also said by Salomon in the 16. of Prouerbs Prou. 16 4 that The vngodlie man is made for the daie of wrath In the epistle of Iude Iude. 4. there is mention of certeine men which were before ordeined to this iudgement or to this condemnation But true it is that this decrée of God before it be put in execution hath iust cause of condemning any man For sinnes are committed in the meane time for the which they that should be condemned are condemned yet is it the decrée of God that he calleth them not effectuallie and surelie that decrée is iust But as touching Ierom himselfe I answere that the reasonable creature is not made to the end he should be compelled to sinne for he sinneth through his owne fault yet it is in the decrée of God not to hinder that fault of his I answere further with Zuinglius Zuinglius in his little booke De prouidentia Dei the sixt chapter Hereof it would followe that God dooth procure theft and such other things He saith procéed yet further and thou maist saie that this is doone for the declaration of his iustice Then we sée to what end the reasonable creature is made euen that on the one side the goodnes of God and on the other side his seueritie may be declared What wise man is there that would ordeine a thing to anie such end as he knew he could not atteine vnto God fore-knoweth all things he knoweth that the wicked shall be dammed it shall not therefore be said that he maketh those to saluation which shall be condemned To the 18. An other argument was If God would the end he also would the meanes to come by that end I grant for he would that the patience of martyrs should be therefore he would that persecutions should be He would vndoubtedlie but not after one maner for that which is good he would for it selfe sake the persecutions which be doone by tyrants he would after a sort that is for some other consideration he would suffer them not hinder them he would vse those things Where I saie that he would those things after a sort it must not bée inferred that therefore he would them falselie or like a subtill sophister Iohn saith He that is borne of God dooth not sinne that is to saie against the holie ghost and without repentance And séeing such a one dooth some waie sinne it must not be said that he dooth sinne sophisticallie and falselie for there is no such consequent for he sinneth in verie déed and not sophisticallie and falselie In like manner the lawe of it selfe is holie and yet after a sort it is the cause of wrath and damnation but yet not falselie nor sophisticallie for so Paule himselfe speaketh and that trulie Wherefore it followeth not that God would after a sort therefore he would that thing falselie and sophisticallie An obiection But if God would those things which be vnto an end and sinnes after a sort bicause he hath determined not to let them and is minded to vse them then his will being immutable there shall followe an vnauoidable necessitie I answere that there shall be a necessitie but no constraint and if our will be forsaken by the grace of God it is in the necessitie of sinning Verelie the prouidence of God as touching his decrées is as the iron the adamant For Zacharie as touching the chariots and empires Zacha. 6 1. which should succéed after him They went saith he through mountaines of iron The decrées of God are most stedfast And Christ said Iohn 10 21. Those whom my father hath giuen me none can plucke out of my hands Yet there is somwhat that may séeme to withstand this saieng It is written in the 68. psalme Psal 69 29. Let them be wiped out of the booke of the liuing wherefore if they be
wiped out who were written in before the will séemeth not to be constant Read Augustine vpon that place A man commonlie saith Quod scripsi scripsi What I haue written that haue I written and will God wipe out that which he hath written How then are they said to be wiped out The kind of spéech is according to the hope of them In verie déed they were not registred but they thought themselues to be registred But there be some which refer blindnesse and hardening of harts to foreknowledge onelie Howbeit there is not a bare prescience of these things but there is a certeine will of God whereby God cannot foreknowe things to come vnlesse they be such as shall come to passe And those things that shall be or be cannot come to passe or be vnlesse that God with some kind of will will haue them to be or to come to passe Wherefore there is some will of God that preceadeth fore-knowledge he hath a will not to let things and he hath a will to vse them according to his predestinated counsels 33 An other argument To the 19. These tyrants Nabuchadnezar Senacherib and others Esaie 10 5. and. 19 were in the hand of God as a staffe and rod and therefore God séemeth to be the cause of sinne Indéed it is true that they were as a rod and when they had executed their office they were throwne into the fire yet were they not without sense and perceiuing but were mooued forward by their owne naughtie will and therefore are iustlie punished For there is two kinds of instruments as I declared before Howbeit this is no beguiling that God will vse these things yet command that they shall not be doone These men doo them of a naughtie will but God vseth their naughtines Men also can vse well the naughtie actions of their aduersaries and manie times they doo vse them without anie craftie dealing euen to the intent they may take héed to themselues and may shew patience Sometime God vseth sinnes to punish the sinners themselues yea rather he vseth them so alwaies for bicause sinne is alwaies a punishment of the sinner And otherwhile he vseth them for the punishment of others An other argument was To the 20. that God put into the hart of Dauid to number the people Indéed 2. Sam 24 1. 1. Paâ— â—1 1. the scripture speaketh after this maner These kind of spéeches we heare not in the poets but in the word of God Plato might banish poets out of his common weale but we may not driue out scriptures which speake on this wise But how these things must be vnderstood I haue declared before God withdrew his helpe from Dauid he hindered him not he would vse that worke for punishing of the people But it is obiected If God withdrawe his grace hée dooth it iustlie I grant it yet notwithstanding he dooth the same further he vseth the diuell also Ibidem In the booke of Chronicles it is said that the diuell set on Dauid therefore God also did it insomuch as he gaue the diuell leaue But they obiect against that which we haue oftentimes spoken namelie that grace being remooued from vs sinne dooth créepe on of it selfe séeing our owne will of it selfe inclineth vnto it euen as darknes dooth naturallie come after the light is gon God saie they is euen as the sunne bicause his light shineth in euerie place but there be men which conueigh themselues into corners but if his lightening be in euerie place into what corners should men go where that light is not The diuine scripture saith otherwise for it saith of him that abused the talent Matt. 25 28 Take it awaie from him c. Dauid praieth Take not awaie thine holie spirit from me wherefore God ment to vse the sinne of Dauid for punishment of the people And Aeschylus the tragicall poet is by some vniustlie accused who saith that God if he will destroie and take awaie anie he giueth the causes and occasions séeing the scripture so speaketh which can speake against the lawes of Plato but not against the lawes of God 1. Sam. 2 25 For it saith that the sonnes of Helie did not hearken to their father bicause the will of God was to destroie them 1. Kin. 12 15 and that Roboam would not giue eare vnto the elders bicause the turning awaie was of God It was said that If the matter should be thus To the 21. then God should not be the cause of all things if he be not the cause of sinnes It followeth not for although God be not the cause of sinne yet he gouerneth the sinnes which be committed he vseth them and maketh the verie ground-worke so farre foorth as it is a naturall thing But it behooueth saie they that sinne be voluntarie If we speake of actuall sinnes it is true but of originall sinne it is not true Also the first motions which be sinnes are not voluntarie Barnard And Barnard in his treatise of frée will setteth downe certeine degrées of mans nature Men that be blessed in the heauenlie habitation cannot sinne it was in Adam not to haue sinned after sinne committed we cannot choose but sinne So be the damned so be the reprobate and wicked But the godlie regenerate are able not to giue place vnto sinne and bring to passe that sinne shall not altogither reigne in them and this they haue of the spirit of God Whereby it appéereth by this distinction that the sinne of the damned is of necessitie We cannot make choise of anie part without the spirit of God and yet sinne neuertheles For although it be a thing of necessitie yet it is voluntarie but not so voluntarie as we be able of our selues to make choise of the other part which is contrarie therevnto for we cannot haue the choise on the other part but through the same spirit of God In punishing there is no respect what wee are able or not able but what we doo against the lawe of God Sinnes are iustlie punished but there is no respect had what thou art able or not able but whether that which thou dooest be doone against the lawe of God or no. And God dooth iniurie vnto no man Wherfore this obiection is not of force if we respect God If one sée a blind man to be falling dooth not stretch foorth his hand to helpe him or setteth him not vp againe it séemeth to be crueltie To the 22. God séeth a man readie to fall he putteth not foorth his hand it séemeth to be crueltie In whom In men bicause the lawe is prescribed vnto them GOD is not subiect to these lawes Zuinglius This answer maketh Zuinglius in his booke De prouidentia and in his booke De falsa vera religione where he intreateth of merit And although God bestowe not so large gifts vpon the reprobate as he dooth vpon others yet he giueth them manie things
which God would reueale vnto vs and no further No man therefore hath said I will vnderstand those things which God himselfe knoweth These things are largelie intreated of in the first booke of sentences the 48. distinction and in Augustines Enchiridion An other discourse of the same argument I Affirme the cause of mans sinne to be the will or the frée will of our first parents who fell of their owne accord and obeied rather the suggestion of the diuell than the commandement of God from whom afterward was deriued originall sinne vnto all the posteritie wherevpon we haue vice and corruption inough in our owne selues Wherefore God instilleth not in vs a new naughtines vnto sinning neither dooth he bring in corruption and therefore I doo affirme our wils to be the causes of sinne and not God But the scripture saith in the epistle to the Romans Rom. 1 26 and 28. that God deliuered vp the Ethnikes vnto a reprobate mind and vnto vile affections And in the second of Samuel it is said that God stirred vp Dauid to number the people 2. Sam. 24 1 And in the same historie Dauid said that God commanded Semei to curse Dauid 2. Sam. 16 verse 11. In the same booke the twelfe chapter God said vnto Dauid by the prophet verse 11. I will take thy wiues and giue them to thy neighbour and he shall sleepe with them for thou didst it secretlie but I will doo this thing before all Israel and in the open sunne light It is said by others that these spéeches must be referred vnto the permission which thing I doo not absolutelie denie for God if he would might haue let these mischéefs but hée would not hinder them Howbeit I adde that such a permission must not be granted whereby some may affirme that God dealeth so idlelie and so leaueth the gouernement of things as hée dooth nothing about sinnes themselues First he taketh his gifts and his grace from certeine men bicause they abused the same which grace being remooued and that iustlie for a punishment of their former sinnes men being destitute of that helpe doo fall into more gréeuous crimes And that God dooth sometime withdrawe his grace Dauid knew well enough when he somtime said Psal 51 9. Turne not thy face from me nor take awaie thine holie spirit from me Secondlie God dooth punish sinnes with sinnes as it appéereth in the epistle to the Romans Rom. 1 24. and in the places now alledged And sinnes so far foorth as they be punishments doo belong vnto iustice and in that respect are good Wherefore it is not vnfit for God thus by sinnes to punish former sinnes Thirdlie hée ruleth and gouerneth sinnes themselues for he suffereth them not to rage so far out of measure as the euill will of man desireth he restreineth them he kéepeth them backe neither dooth he suffer them to rage against euerie man and at all times also hée directeth them to the performance of his counsels namelie to the triall of iust men and to the scourge of the wicked such like purposes Wherfore the scripture saith Esaie 10 5. that féerce and cruell tyrants are in the hand of God as staues hammers and sawes Fourthlie God sendeth in other occasions which if they should light vpon good men they would prouoke them vnto good things but bicause they light vpon euill men they are by those mens fault soone taken in euill part and are made occasions of sinne So Paule saith Rom. 7 8. that By the lawe sinne was increased And the words of God spoken vnto Pharao by Moses were an occasion to expresse out of him blasphemies and hardnes of his hart Which thing God sawe would come to passe yet did he not restreine his owne word when he knew that Pharao would become the woorse thereby who neuertheles had the naughtines in his owne selfe and tooke not the same of God Fiftlie since that the defect of sinne is onelie in humane actions the which are depriued of right gouernement the verie action of man cannot be susteined preserued and stirred vp without the common influence of GOD by which all things are gouerned and preserued for trulie is it said Acts. 17 28. In God we be we liue and are mooued Therefore the defect which properlie is sinne procéedeth not of God but the action which is a naturall thing wherein the defect sticketh cannot be drawne foorth but by the common influence of God These be the things which I said that God dooth by his prouidence and gouernement about sinnes although he be not the true and proper cause of sinnes By which interpretation we may rightlie vnderstand what those spéeches of the holie scriptures and saiengs of the fathers doo meane wherein God séemes to bée made the cause or author of sinne The xviij Chapter How it may be said that God dooth repent and dooth tempt In 1. Sam. 15 verse 11. Looke before plac 11 art 26. and In Gen. 6 6. In Iudg. 2 verse 18. THE interpretours labor earnestlie to vnderstand how repentance may happen vnto God Malac. 3 6. 1. Sa. 15 29. Num. 23 19 For GOD saith I am God and am not changed And in the first of Samuel The triumpher of Israel is not changed And Balaam in the book of Numbers saith God is not as a man that he should be changed neither as the sonne of man that he should be a lier Yet in Genesis he saith It repenteth me that I haue made man Genes 6 6. Forsomuch as these places séeme to be repugnant they must be accorded togither Some after this sort expound these places that Euen as the holie Ghost is said To call and make request for vs Rom. 8 26. with sighes that cannot be expressed so it may be said that God dooth repent But the spirit praieth not requesteth not sigheth not for he is God but bicause he stirreth vs to praie to make request and to sigh he himselfe is said to doo the same And according to this sense Paule biddeth vs Ephes 4 30. that we should not make sorrowfull the spirit of God that is to saie we should not with our wicked acts offend the saints in whom is the spirit of God Euen so God is said to repent when he stirreth repentance in others bicause the wickednes of Saule was a gréefe vnto good men and that God stirred vp that affection in them therefore God himselfe is said to be led with repentance This reason Luther followeth in his treatise vpon Genesis But Augustine in his booke of 83. questions the 52. question where of set purpose he handleth this question saith that The scripture is accustomed oftentimes to humble it selfe to our capacitie and to attribute those things vnto God which we sée doone in the life and conuersation of men for that the same cannot otherwise be vnderstood How God is said to reuenge to be angrie Therefore bicause men vse
out of all doubt is taken awaie in regeneration For by that means it coms to passe that although it be verie sin indéed yet God dooth not impute it for sin Moreouer Augustine dooth compare concupiscence with those sinnes which are called actuall by the comparison whereof it may be said to be no sinne for it is far from the gréeuousnes of them But I maruell how Pighius dare saie that Augustine determineth without testimonie of the scriptures that concupiscence is originall sin séeing he in his disputations against the Pelagians defendeth his opinion chéefelie out of the holie scriptures The cause whie originall sinne is called concupiscence And the cause whie he calleth originall sinne concupiscence is for that originall corruption dooth chéeflie declare it selfe through the vnpurer desires of the mind and of the flesh 13 Now it is expedient to sée what others haue said concerning this matter for besides this there is also another opinion of them which say that originall sin is a lacke of originall righteousnes Whether this sinne be a want of originall righteousnesse Anshelmus What the schoolemen meane by originall iustice Which thing Anshelmus affirmed in his booke De partu virginis and he drew manie other scholasticall authors into his opinion And these men meane no other thing by originall iustice or righteousnesse but the right institution of man when as the bodie obeieth the mind and the inferior parts of the mind are subiect to the superior when the mind is subiect vnto God and to his lawe In this righteousnes was Adam created and if he had so continued all we should haue liued in it but séeing he fell all we were depriued thereof And they would haue the lacke of this righteousnes to be originall sinne A similitude Entrie defect maketh not a thing euill But that they may shew their opinion the better they saie that euerie defect is not euill for although a stone doo lacke righteousnes yet it shall not be said that a stone is vnrighteous or euill but when as a thing shall be fit and méet to possesse that whereof it is destitute then such a defect is said to be euill as it happeneth in the eie when it is béereft of abilitie to sée well we doo not saie therefore that there is a fault or blame in the eie For then sinne commeth when by reason of such a lacke there followeth a contending and wrestling against the lawe of God An obiection of Pighius And this opinion is also condemned by Pighius for he saith that It is no sinne if one kéepe not the gift which he hath receiued For it may be that one which is borne in perfect health and in a good state of the bodie A similitude may fall into a disease or be maimed in some member or else become lame yet there is none that will call those defects offenses or sinnes But this similitude is not agréeable to the purpose for a disease or maime of the bodie doth not make either to the performing or violating of Gods lawe but that which they call a want of originall righteousnes dooth of necessitie bring with it the breach of Gods lawe Moreouer he laboureth to prooue that the losse of originall righteousnes in yoong children is not sinne bicause the same was not foregon by their fault but this againe is to call God to an account God is not to be called vnto an account But God is not registred among the decrées of men he is not to be brought into the order of mans lawes Let Pighius confer that opinion with this which he reasoneth against This affirmes he that God dooth condemne the faultines and vncleanes which he appointed and shewed to be in new borne babes Pighius maketh guiltie and condemnes children of that vice and sinne which is not in them but onelie is that which Adam the first parent of all committed in himselfe for otherwise he taketh those children to be most innocent But whether of these is the further from reason and dooth dissent from the lawes of men To punish an innocent for the sinne of another Or else to condemne him which hath cause in himselfe whie he should be condemned Vndoubtedlie vnto them which shall diligentlie consider of the thing it selfe The saieng of Anshelme is better than the opinion of Pighius Eccle. 7 30. the saieng of Anshelme is better in manie respects than this opinion of Pighius We knowe it to be true which Ecclesiastes saith that God made man vpright but when he had once sinned he fell by and by into wickednesse He dooth not now behold God and heauenlie things anie more but he bendeth himselfe continuallie down to earthlie and to carnall things and is subiect to the necessitie of concupiscence and this is to want originall righteousnes For actions be not plucked awaie from man but the power of well vsing them is taken awaie as we sée happen by experience A similitude in such as be taken with the palsie verelie they mooue their hand but bicause the power is hurt whereby they might rule that motion they mooue the same faintlie and deformedlie This also happeneth in vs for séeing diuine righteousnes is wanting the ground is corrupted whereby our works should be rightlie ordered and performed But saith Pighius it cannot be sinne in yoong children to be destitute of this gift for they are not bound by anie dutie or obligation to haue it But if saith he our aduersaries shall saie otherwise let them shew a lawe whereby we that are borne bée bound which saith he bicause they cannot doo let them cease to saie that this want of originall righteousnes is sin But we not onlie will shew one By what lawe they which are borne are bound to haue originall sin but thrée lawes The first is the institution of man God made man according to his owne image and likenes wherefore such it behooueth vs to be for God dooth iustlie require that which he made in our nature And the image of God dooth herein chéeflie consist that we be adorned with diuine properties namelie iustice wisedome goodnes and patience But contrariwise Pighius crieth out Wherein standeth the nature of the image of God that this is not the nature of the image of God for that he saith consisteth in vnderstanding memorie and will as Augustine is his bookes De trinitate and in manie other places hath taught These things indéed are said of the Schoole-men But we will prooue the matter to be farre otherwise both by the scriptures and saiengs of the fathers Looke part 1. place 12 verse 26. Ephes 4 24. 14 First it is thus written in the epistle to the Ephesians Put ye off the old man according to the conuersation in times past which is corrupt according to the deceiueable lusts and be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind and put yee on the new man which according to God is created
vse of light we receiue originall vnrighteousnes be conceiued in iniquitie And he saith of Christ The sanctification of Christ It was not requisite for him in whose bodie no sinne should be to féele anie naturall contagiousnesse of generation Iustlie therefore did Dauid bewaile in himselfe the fowle filthines of his nature and that infections began to be in a maner before he had life The same Ambrose in his booke De arca Noe Whom then hath he now called iust but him that is frée from these bonds whom the common bonds of nature cannot hold Also vpon the gospell of Luke Through the washing of the healthfull ministerie those infants which haue béene baptised are now clensed from wickednes Ierom. Ierom vpon the prophet Ionas saith that Yoong children are subiect to the sinne of Adam And least thou shouldest thinke he onelie spake of the * Or imputation of fault guiltines of Adams fault vpon the 18. and 41. chapters of Ezechiel he saith Not so much as the child of a daie old is without sin vrging also that sentence Iob. 14 4. Who can make that cleane which was conceiued of an vncleane seed Nazianzen Gregorie Nazianzen saith The image of God shall cleanse the blemishes of bodilie inundation And afterward Reuerence the birth by which thou art deliuered from the chaines of earthlie natiuitie And intreating of baptisme he saith By this man the spots of our natiuitie are taken awaie by the which we were conceiued in iniquitie and in sinnes our parents begat vs. Augustine defendeth Basil 22 Basilius Magnus is defended by Augustine for the Pelagians would haue had him séeme to be of their parts He writeth against the Manicheis that euill is not a substance Whether euill be an essentiall thing but a conuersation which commeth onlie of the will Which saieng he ment of those which procured the infection of conuersation by their owne proper will which conuersation saith he may easilie be seuered from the will of them that be diseased for if it could not be seuered from the same euill should be a substantiall part thereof All these things Augustine affirmeth to be rightlie spoken The opinion of the Manicheis for the Manicheis decréed that euill is a certeine substance and that the same is the beginning of worldlie affaires But contrariwise Basil saith that that euill is in a good thing and that it happened through the will of the man and of the woman that sinned Euill may be separated from vs by the mercie of God And wheras he saith that it may easily be seuered from the will he ascribeth not that vnto our strength but vnto the mercie of God And in that he saith there shal be no token thereof left we also doo hope the same though not in this life A perfect separation from euill is hoped for in the life to come yet in the life to come But that he acknowledged originall sinne his owne sermon of fasting dooth sufficientlie beare witnes for thus he saith If Eue had absteined from the trée we should not haue had anie néed of this fasting Matt. 9 12. for Sound men haue no need of the physician but sicke men We became sicke through that sinne let vs be healed by repentance but repentance without fasting is vaine By these words Basil determined that we by reason of the sinne of Adam are not sound Moreouer he citeth the twelue bishops of the east which condemned Pelagius To whom we should adde Origin Origin who interpreting that sentence of Paule which we haue spoken of Death came vpon all men he said that Abel Enoch Rom. 5 12. Methusala and Noah sinned other fathers he saith he will not recite bicause they sinned all euerie one and that none is cleane from corruption though he haue liued but one daie But vpon the sixt chapter of the epistle to the Romans he speaketh more plainlie when he saith that Baptisme was appointed by tradition from the apostles to be giuen vnto infants Baptisme appointed vnto infants by the apostolicall tradition bicause the apostles knew that the naturall corruption of sinne is in all men which ought to be washed awaie by water and the spirit And Chrysostome vpon Genesis intreating of the question Chrysost Wherefore men now a daies bée afraid of beasts and be hurt by them séeing they be created lords ouer them This saith he happens by reason of sinne and bicause we depart from our confidence and honour And thereby Augustine prooueth that the naturall gift of yoong children is fallen awaie in that the beasts doo not spare them The same Chrysostome expounding that place of the sixt to the Romans saith how that sinne which remaineth through the disobedience of Adam hath polluted all things He hath also manie other places to the same effect 23 But yet the Pelagians The Pelagians indeuoured to haue Chrysostome on their side and especiallie Iulianus were not ashamed to cite this father for a witnes as though he had made for him bicause in his sermon De baptisatis he reciting manie gifts of baptisme saith that They which be baptised doo not onelie receiue forgiuenes of their sinnes but also are made the children and heires of God the brethren of Christ and ioint-heires with him the members and temple of God and instruments of the holie Ghost He addeth at the end Doost thou sée what a sort of liberalities there be of baptisme And some doo thinke that heauenlie grace consisteth in remission of sinnes and for that cause we doo baptise yoong children when as neuertheles they be not polluted with sinne that vnto them should be giuen or added righteousnes holines adoption inheritance brotherhood of Christ that they may be his members By these words Iulian thought that Chrysostome giueth not his consent that there is originall sinne It may be said that infants be innocent as touching sinnes aduisedlie committed Rom. 9 11. But Augustine saith that his words must be vnderstood concerning sinne committed vpon their owne aduisement from which sinne assuredlie they be exempt and by this reason they may be called innocent According to which meaning Paule writeth of those two brethren Before they had doone either good or euill when neuerthelesse there is none altogither exempted from that which the apostle said By the sinne of one Rom. 5 16. condemnation came vpon all men And By one mans disobedience manie are made sinners Hereof it appéereth A great warines must be in reading of the fathers how warelie it behoueth vs to be in reading of the fathers for sometimes we read in them that yoong children haue no sinne proper of their owne when neuerthelesse they especiallie acknowledge the corruption of nature Sinnes proper are two waies to be vnderstood that is originall sinne to be in them But to haue sinnes proper may be two waies vnderstood either concerning things which they haue doone of their owne will
would remaine with the vngodlie and so they should be led from Christ But if man and wife doo liue both togither the godlie parent will alwaies powre some godlines into the children Adeodatus the sonne of Augustine But neither in verie déed dooth this make with Paules purpose for godlie education may also happen vnto them which are begotten in adulterie and fornication Some holines redoundeth vnto the children from the parents by the vertue of Gods couenant which we perceiue was doone in Adeodatus the sonne of Augustine Wherefore the apostle séemeth rather to meane that some holines dooth redound vnto the children from their parents which neuertheles cannot depend of the flesh but of the promise made in the couenant For God promised vnto Abraham Gen. 17 7. 2. Cor. 6 18. Ezec. 16 20 21. that he would not onelie be his God but also the GOD of his séed So as in the prophets God dooth name the yoong children of the prophets to be his owne and complaineth that they did sacrifice his sonnes and daughters vnto Moloch And we stricking to the hope of this promise Vnder what promise we deliuer our children to be baptised doo offer our yoong infants to be baptised in the church bicause they belong vnto God and vnto Christ that the promise which we haue now spoken of may be confirmed with some outward seale 40 But thou wilt saie thou maist be deceiued bicause perhaps thy child shall not apperteine to the number of the elect I answer that the same difficultie may happen euen to them of ripe yéeres for it may be that one professeth faith with a feigned hart or may be led onelie by the persuasion of man or may haue faith but for a time so that in verie déed he apperteineth not to the elect But the minister hath not respect vnto these things but onelie regardeth the confession which the partie to be baptised dooth professe and he will saie that Gods election is hidden vnto him and that therefore he dooth not much trouble himselfe thereabout that concerning particular things he is able to determine nothing but waiteth vpon the generall promise from the which although manie be excluded yet that it is none of his part to define which they be So Paule speaketh of the Iewes If the roote be holie the branches also shall be holie Rom. 11 16. If the first fruits be holie so is the whole batch or lumpe By which words he sheweth that Gods fauour was inclined vnto the Iewes by reason of the promise and for their fathers and that for the same cause saluation was due vnto them The promise of God is indefinit and true Although therefore this promise be indefinite and that manie be excluded from the same yet neuertheles it remaineth stable for there be alwaies some of them conuerted vnto Christ and shall be conuerted euen vnto the end Which appéereth in Isaac vnto whose séed An example in Isaac although God promised that he would be gratious yet the same promise tooke place in Iacob onelie not in Esau and yet was that no cause why Esau should not be circumcised Euen so The elect infants when they be borne are in sundrie respects both holie and the children of wrath we confesse that the children of the christians which apperteine vnto the election of God be holie but yet they be infected with originall sinne bicause they are by nature the children of wrath euen as others be But if so be God doo not put awaie the guiltines and impute it not vnto them against their saluation that haue they by the grace and frée mercie of God not of the purenes of their owne nature Séeing then they be borne of a corrupted lumpe and belong vnto the election we affirme both that they be holie and are also by nature the children of wrath Wherefore it appeareth in what sort this argument must now be discussed But they adde that in infants there is nothing spoken doone or thought against the lawe of God so they haue no sin How shamfullie they erre in this place it appéereth by those things which we haue alreadie spoken A false argument An argument from the speciall kind to the generall by a negatiue This is euen as much as if they should saie They haue no actuall sin Therfore they haue no sin for to argue from the particular to the generall by a negatiue is the woorst kind of reasoning But they be deceiued bicause they followe not the generall nature of sin which I haue before described in such sort as it comprehendeth all things which are by anie meanes repugnant to the lawe of God 41 They obiect likewise that it is not rightlie said that originall sinne is spred abroad by meanes of the séed flesh bicause those things haue a senselesse and dull nature and therefore be not capable of sinne But I haue alreadie said that sinne is not in them but by originall as in the root and then the nature of sinne is perfected when the soule is once ioined therevnto We haue declared also how we are to answer the Pelagians Against the Pelagians séeing they affirme that those things which are spoken by Paule to the Romans should be vnderstood of imitation For first of all that cannot agrée with all the saiengs of the apostle Rom. 5 19. for he saith that All men haue sinned and by the disobedience of one manie are become sinners And that which is the more firme Rom. 5 14. he hath prooued that Therfore sinne was in the world before the lawe bicause death reigned from Adam vnto Moses There were reasons which Augustine vsed against the Pelagians which now we néed not to repeate Beside these they adde that mens afflictions and death it selfe are naturall for that we haue those fountaines in vs euen of nature from whence they flowe But we answere that these fountaines were not so ordeined when mans nature was first instituted but were afterward defiled and corrupted in such sort as we now perceiue them to be The philosophers resolue those effects which they sée into those principles which be now extant but that christians doo rather referre them vnto the woord of God Rom. 5 12. Séeing therefore the scripture teacheth that death came by sinne and that man as he was created might alwaies haue liued let Pighius and those which followe him sée how trulie and godlie they affirme that death coms vnto man by nature And they adde that that ought not to be accounted sinne which cannot be auoided But this is found false for that the lawe is proposed to vs which no man is able perfectlie to performe Not contingencie or necessitie but agreement or disagreement with the law of God must be weighed of in sinnes or to auoid all offenses against it In considering of sinnes we must not inquire whether anie thing be doone casuallie or necessarilie but alonelie whether it be repugnant
motions of the mind vnto things forbidden wicked deliberations naughtie indeuours corrupt customs Wherefore the apostle vnder the name of sin comprehendeth both the root it selfe and also all the fruit of the same Neither must they be hearkened vnto which babble that these things be no sinnes for séeing the holie Ghost calleth them by this name I sée no cause why we also ought not so to speake and stand vnto his doctrine And moreouer the â—erie etymologie of the word it selfe dooth shew The etymologie of the word sinne that the first motions of the mind and corruption of nature be sinnes for this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Sinne commeth of this verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth To erre from the right scope appointed by what means soeuer the same commeth to passe The rule of our nature And séeing it is the rule of our nature and of all our actions that we should be verie conformable to God in all things surelie we being then prone vnto those things which be forbidden vs by the lawe of God and euen at the first push are carrie streight headlong vnto them without all controuersie we must be said to sinne that is to erre from the scope and from the end appointed vnto vs. The like signification there is of the Hebrue word for that which is in that toong called Chataa is deriued from the word Chata which thou shalt find in the booke of Iudges verse 16. the 20. chapter vsed in the selfe same sense wherein I declared the Gréeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be taken that is To misse the marke For it is there written of the seuen hundred children of Beniamin that they were woont so to throwe stones out of a sling as they could hit euen a heare and would not misse one whit Besides this experience it selfe teacheth how gréeuous these euils are euen in vs which be regenerate for we be so hindered by them as we cannot fulfill the lawe the which neuerthelesse we are bound to obserue in euerie poinct Exod. 12 17 We are also commanded not to lust to the which precept euerie one giueth his secret consent and is witnes to himselfe how much he dooth withstand by reason of our pronesse vnto sinnes and first motions vnto vices In what sort the law is fulfilled in men regenerated But if the Fathers doo séeme to write sometime that the lawe may be fulfilled by men regenerated in Christ they spake of an obedience begun and of such a kind of fulfilling as hath much imperfection ioined therewith For they pronounce them to be perfect They be perfect which perceiue their owne imperfection Matt. 6 12. and to performe the lawe of God which can perceiue their owne imperfection that they maie dailie saie with others Lord forgiue vs our trespasses and acknowledge with Paule that they haue a great waie further to go Also the same Fathers doo confesse that there is found none no not the holiest The most godlie man hath not performed all vertues that hath most perfectlie loued all vertues For as Ierom saith He that excelleth other in one vertue dooth oftentimes faile in another And he citeth Cicero who said that There cannot easilie be found one which is most excellent either in the knowledge of the lawe or in the art of Rhethorike but to find one that excelled in both kinds together it was neuer heard of Wherfore that the apostle maie make famous and renowmed the entire benefit of God through Christ bestowed vpon vs he not onelie toucheth originall sinne but also comprehendeth vnder one name of sinne all kinds of vices which doo flowe from thence By Adam as by the common roote and masse sinne entered 46 Now we must sée by which one man it is that Paule saith sinne had such an entrance into the world The same vndoubtedlie was the first Adam who was as a certeine common lumpe or masse wherein was conteined all mankind which lumpe béeing corrupted we cannot be brought foorth into the world but corrupted and defiled The fault is ascribed to Adam not to Eue. And although Eue transgressed before the man yet is the originall of sinning ascribed vnto Adam because the succession is accompted in men and not in women Howbeit Ambrose by One man vnderstood it to be Eue. But séeing that word One in that place is the masculine gender the signification therof cannot but hardlie and with much wrestling be applied to the woman Others doo thinke that vnder the common name of man both of them as well Adam as Eue are vnderstood so that this spéech maie not differ much froÌ„ that which is in the first chapter of the booke of Genesis Male and female created he them Gen 2 27. Neither doo they much regard this adiectiue Gen. 2 24. One because the scriptures testifie that Adam and Eue were all one flesh The first interpretation is the more sincere and easie therefore I willinglie followe the same But we must remember what Paule writeth vnto Timothie 1. Tim. 2 14. that although both those two first parents sinned yet there was not one maner of transgression in them both Paule saith that Adam was not deceiued for he saith that Adam was not deceiued Which is gathered by that which they answered God when he reprooued them for the woman being asked wherefore shée did it shée accused the serpent Gen. 3 13. The Serpent saith shée deceiued me But Adam when he was demanded the same question said not that he was deceiued but he said The woman Gen. 3 12. whom thou hast giuen me deliuered me an aple and I did eate These things must not so be vnderstood as though we affirmed that no error did happen vnto man when he transgressed An error was in Adam that transgressed for as it is plainelie taught in the Ethiks In euerie kind of sinne there alwaies happeneth some error This onlie we be taught that man was not seduced by so grose a guile as the women was And this did verie much further Paules reason for in the same place he willed the woman to kéepe silence in the church bicause she was an instrument fit to deceiue And this he confirmed by the example of the first parents for she that persuaded man to sinne it is not likelie that she can rightlie instruct him and she that could be seduced by the diuell and deceiued by the serpent it is not méete for her to beare office in the church Eccle. 25 33 saith that sinne began at the woman Yet the booke of Ecclesiasticus saith that sinne had his first beginning from the woman whch is not to be denied if we consider the historie of the booke of Genesis But Paule as we haue alreadie said dooth kéepe the vsuall maner of the scriptures which ascribeth succession and procreation vnto men and not vnto women For his purpose was not to teach at that
honour and worship the true God but an idoll the which in our mind we haue fansied And verelie to this effect we ought to vnderstand Paule where he saith in the first epistle to the Corinthians 1. Cor. 8 4. We knowe that an idoll is nothing in the world Paule teacheth not that an idoll is nothing as touching the shape and outward forme for no man douteth but that the idols themselues haue place either in the outward matter or else inwardlie in our minds By an idoll then he ment not the verie signe but the thing wherevnto the same hath relation And he vnderstood that the thing it selfe which is signified in the idols is nothing at all séeing there is no where a god which is either represented or delighted with such images VVhether it be lawfull for Christians to dwell among Infidels 9 Séeing the Israelites fell In Iudges 1 verse 36. bicause they dwelt togither among the vnbeléeuing nations and rather exacted tributes of them than according to the commandement of God wéeded them out I thinke it good to intreate whether it be lawfull for godlie men to dwell and haue conuersation with the vngodlie And surelie there be manie reasons wherby the same might séeme to be indifferent The first is The 1. reason Matth. 9 10. The 2. reason 1. Cor. 7 12. bicause Christ did not shun the feasts of the Publicans Pharisies and sinners Secondlie Paule in the first epistle to the Corinthians admitteth not that the beléeuing wife should depart from hir vnbeléeuing husband if so be that he be content to liue and dwell togither with hir Moreouer The 3. reason 1. Co. 10 27 the same apostle writeth that If anie infidell bid you to a feast and ye be willing to go then eate such things as are set before you By these his words therefore he maketh it frée Furthermore the same apostle in the same epistle saith The 4. reason 1. Cor. 5 10. that he warned the Corinthians that they shuld auoid whooremongers raueners and euill speakers and such like but not all saith he for so must ye go out of the world but if anie be called a brother c. Wherefore it is not forbidden vs to auoid the fellowship of all the vngodlie The 5. reason Gen. 12 1. Besides this Abraham was called out of Chaldaea and was commanded to dwell as a stranger among nations which were strange from true religion Gen. 13 1. The 6. reason and so he dwelt in the land of Chanaan and in Aegypt which places were fraught with idolatries The 7. reason Gen. 13 12. Yea and Lot separated himself from the conuersation and houshold of Abraham his kinsman went to dwell at Sodom Also Naaman the Syrian The 8. reason 2. Kin. 6 18. returned to the idolaters his countrimen In like maner Christ did not retaine all those with him which he had healed from diseases Luk. 8 38. but sometime he sent them home againe that they might shew there what was doone vnto them The 9. reason Finallie by ciuill lawes certeine heretiks haue had places appointed vnto them as the Nouatians in the citie of Constantinople And it is granted at this daie to the Iewes to haue euerie where libertie to dwell among Christians 10 Now this question as it is weightie so hath it also verie manie difficulties A distinction 1. Wherefore it séemeth that we shuld first make a distinction what may be lawfull vnto magistrates or what vnto priuate men Distinction 2. Then must we vnderstand that the conuersation with infidels is of two sorts one is whereby men are compelled vnto idolatrous and vnpure worshippings and an other is whereby they remaine at libertie Distinction 3. Moreouer it must be considered that they which dwell togither with the vngodlie be sometimes as concerning religion skilfull and constant and sometimes both weake and also vnlearned It séemeth good therefore They that be learned and constant may dwell with infidels that we declare as touching priuate men that if they be learned and haue stedfastnesse ioined with learning so they be not compelled to cōmunicate with vngodlie ceremonies may lawfullie haue their conuersation with infidels yet so as there be vsed certeine cautions The first caution The first caution is that they doo it with this mind to instruct those which be strangers from godlines and to induce them to true religion And therefore while they be conuersant among them they must not cease but euer busie themselues about those things for the which they dwell in those places And that their instruction and doctrine may be fruitfull it is a singular point of wisdome that they be familiar gentle and courteous toward those whom they meane to win vnto Christ For vnlesse they fullie persuade themselues that they are beloued and greatlie estéemed of those which teach and admonish them the thing well purposed shall but vnhappilie procéed The second caution Furthermore there must be héed taken that they liue godlie iustlie and honestlie for if so be that the infidels should be offended at their behauiour their ministerie would vtterlie become vnprofitable for so much as it nothing auaileth to build that with one hand which thou destroiest with the other Moreouer The third caution this must especiallie be regarded that vnder the cloke of courtesie and friendship they mingle not themselues with vngodlie vsages no not although they were persuaded that by such meanes they could with more ease allure them vnto Christ For the rule of the apostle ought to remaine inuiolate Rom. 3 8. The fourth caution that Euill things must not be committed that good things may come therof Let them also beware that they séeke not their owne commoditie while they be conuersant with them For some there be which although they make a pretence to haue the Gospell published abroad yet in verie déed doo hunt after their owne pleasures gaine or aduantages Wherefore if it be past hope of the saluation of these infidels which thing neuerthelesse can sildome iustlie happen we must no longer deale with them but so far as either their necessitie or ours dooth require That is if peraduenture they should be verie sore sicke and could not otherwise be holpen than by our trauell or else if we our selues should not be able to get such things as be necessarie for our sustentation by anie other meanes than among them Also it may be lawfull to be in the companie of them so much as naturall and ciuill courtesies require or if they shall be our princes parents our wiues our maisters and such like 11 There remaineth Proofes out of the holie scriptures that we confirme this doctrine either by testimonies or by examples of the holie scriptures So indéed Christ did which for this cause kept companie with Publicans sinners Pharisies and Scribes that he might instruct them concerning saluation and conuert them from sinnes vnto godlinesse
either they should be scorned or not tollerated Vndoubtedlie the holie fathers of old time both sorrowed and moorned when they were driuen by anie necessitie to dwell from the people of God Whereof Dauid is a witnes who sighed when he was by reason of the vniust violence of Saule forced to liue among the desert places And it appéereth in the Psalms Psal 120 5. with how gréeuous lamentation he complained that he was compelled to haue conuersation among such as were strangers and enimies vnto God Dan. 1 8. Daniel with his fellowes might haue enioied the pleasure of the kings table and delicate fare but he refused those plesures and commodities least he should contaminate himselfe with the delicate meats of the Ethniks and with the vnpure bankets of the vnbeléeuers verse 14. Moses also as it is written in the 9. chapter to the Hebrues when he might haue béene reputed the sonne of Pharaos daughter and thereby attaine to great honors contemned all this and went vnto his brethren which were pressed with miserable seruitude in working of claie and bricks They which followe not these examples surelie declare themselues to haue but small hart to the glorie of God and that they will not redéeme the same with anie losse of theirs be it neuer so small Doo we saith Paule vnto the Corinthians the first epistle prouoke God 1. Co. 10 22 Or be we stronger than he Wherefore they which be weake and vnlearned whilest they be so hardie to haue conuersation among the infidels without controuersie they tempt God and in a maner prouoke him as though they would be stronger than he Surelie there might be manie other reasons gathered to this purpose but those which I haue brought thall suffice at this time 19 Now let vs come to those which do so dwell among the infidels It is not lawfull to dwell with infidels if men be compelled to communicate with vngodlie ceremonies as they are enforced to be present at their vnlawfull rites whether they be learned or vnlearned constant or wauering What they be in this case it is no matter now for I take them one with another I saie that to none of them such an habitation or acquaintance is to be borne withall but either they must flie frō thence or rather suffer death than to commit idolatrie Paule as we haue mentioned before said Flie from idolatrie The lawe the prophets the old new testament are full of edicts 1. Co. 10 14 commandements lawes admonitions and rebukes whereby strange worship is forbidden Daniels fellowes chose rather to be cast into the fornace Dan. 3 18. than to worship the image set vp by a most mightie king Machabaea the mother 2. Mac. 7. with hir children would rather be martyred than eat of swines flesh against the lawe of GOD. There be infinite martyrs reckoned vp which most constantlie suffered death bicause they would not forsake their professed religion hauing alwaies this before their eies Feare you not them which can kill the bodies Matt. 10 28 1. Cor. 6 16 c. Paule in his first epistle to the Corinthians affirmeth the same Bicause we be the temple of God the members of Christ 1. Co. 10 20 and partakers of the Lords table vnto whom nothing may be common with the table of diuels 20 All these things are to be applied vnto our times forsomuch as in the Papasie the godlie dwelling with the vngodlie be compelled to be present at their Masses and their polluted sacrifices which is in no wise lawfull for them But some take these probations of me now alledged to be vnderstood concerning the sacrifices doone vnto idols and not touching superstitions which are now growne into vse in the Papasie But they ought to consider with themselues that there is no outward worke to be accounted for the worship of GOD vnlesse by the word of God it be ordained Which if it be not it can be nothing else but an inuention of man for we cannot without faith worship God and faith can haue no place if the word of God be withdrawne Wherefore in humane actions be they neuer so gorgeous vnlesse GOD by his word allow them ther can be no worship of him Surelie if we be minded to honour men we are first accustomed to marke wherwithall they be delighted and this being knowne vnto vs then we thinke we haue bestowed our labour verie well when we haue doon those things wherein they are wont to take delight and pleasure Whie then deale we not in like sort with God that we may serue him with that worship which he by his scriptures hath allowed Esaie 1 13. We doo heare in Esaie that he was rather wearied with oblations sacrifices incense and burnt offerings which without faith were brought to the temple than that he reioised at them He abhorreth and detesteth these kinds of sacrifices as the prophets haue taught vs. But if so be that those things were spoken concerning the sacrifies which had the word of God that onlie bicause they were doone without faith what are we then to thinke of mans inuentions and fained worshippings which séeing they be destitute of the word of God they cannot be doone with faith We may verelie saie that they apperteine vnto idolatrie And this may sufficientlie be gathered héereby bicause there is no true God that will be worshipped with those things Wherefore it resteth No true God delighteth in handiworke seruices that the vngodlie while they adioine such rites vnto their holie seruices doo worship not the true God but him whom they haue fained to themselues to delight in the same And for so much as in the whole cause of things there is no such God they worship an idoll of their owne fansie and therefore iustlie and worthilie may be called idolaters 21 But they saie that those things which be doone and said in the Masse had their beginning from the institution of Christ although they were afterward corrupted by mans default Surelie that auaileth them nothing forsomuch as in these matters we may not haue a regard or consideration to their beginning but to their nature and forme and there must be diligent héed taken whether they agrée with the word of God The brasen serpent Num. 21 8. The brasen serpent had his beginning by the commandement of God and it was also commended by miracles For the Israelits by looking vpon it were deliuered from the venemous biting yet neuerthelesse when the Iewes did worship it and offered incense to it the godlie men did so detest it as the most holie king Ezechias brake it in péeces 2. King 18 4 and vtterlie put awaie the worshipping thereof Wherefore the beginning must not be regarded but the vse must be considered and whether it be agréeable to the first institution The Hebrues when they compelled Aaron to make them a calfe to worship were not minded to fall from the true God
Iehouah séeing they confessed him to be their guide out of the land of Aegypt Onlie this was their intent to worship him vnder some signe or visible forme and they chose that forme wherein they had séene the Aegyptians worship their GOD. So the Ethniks testified The manner of the Ethniks in their idolatrie that they worshipped one God the chéefe author of all things whom they fashioned to themselues in diuers and sundrie shapes For in Pallas they said was signified his wisdome in Mars his strength and power and in Iupiter his iustice and goodnesse Wherefore rites and ceremonies are not to be estéemed according to the counsell and will of men King 12 26. The purpose of Ieroboam No otherwise must we thinke to haue happened of Ieroboam the sonne of Nabat for he professed that he would not leade the people from worshiping of the true God but bicause he stood in feare of his kingdome and sawe that it might soone come to passe that if his people should often go to the temple of Ierusalem they would fall from him returne to the familie of Dauid he said therefore What the Hebrues sought when they made themselues a golden calf that to worship the true God they néeded neither the temple of Ierusalem nor yet the arke of the couenant Forsomuch as the same God Iehouah as he was represented to the Iewes in the wodden arke and temple of Salomon in like maner might he be expressed in the signes of golden calues so as the worshiping which they should performe at Ierusalem they might commodiouslie celebrate to Iehouah in Bethel and Dan. No other thing therfore did this man but that he obtruded an outward worke which he inuented altogither without the word of GOD as if it had béene a worship of God but this word being wanting all that he did was méere superstition and idolatrie Tyrants therfore and princes when they compell men to corrupted customs although they professe they doo it vpon a good intent as they terme it and howsoeuer they pretend some certeine beginning of anciencie are not to be hard Ephe. 5 11. Paule in this maner admonisheth the Ephesians Haue no fellowship with their vnfruitfull woorks but reprooue them He called them their works for they could not be called the works of God in so much as they disagrée verie much from his word What we must doo when superstitions are obtruded vnto vs. 22 But what is then to be done when they are thrust vpon vs We ought to reproue them and with great libertie when néed requireth to reprehend them But that is dangerous saie they we shall loose our goods and dignities we shall be put to death I grant that But none of vs hath vpon this condition receiued christianitie that his life goods and dignities should remaine safe vnto himselfe Yea Christ hath by expresse words testified vnto euerie one of vs Except you renounce all that ye haue Act. 10 37. and 16 24. and take vp your crosse and followe me ye cannot be my disciples And vnlesse you loose your soules ye can not possesse them After this sort must we frame our selues The answer of Cyprian Cyprian as Augustine reporteth when he was led to execution the president being desirous that he might escape said vnto him Now I giue thée space to deliberat to choose which thou wilt whether thou wilt be thus miserablie executed or obeie and so be dismissed The man of God answered In a thing so holie deliberation hath no place They which are not affected with this mind but are ouer carefull least their life and goods should perish such doo easilie defile themselues with Masses vnpure superstitions and for the same cause suffer most gréeuous punishments First trulie their conscience dooth miserablie wrest them secondlie the light of the truth which before was kindled in their minds is by little and little extinguished Further they excéedinglie delight themselues oftentimes in that dissimulation so farre off are they from repentance thereof Yea and they go about to persuade the same vnto others and those which will not obeie their admonitions they begin to hate And lastlie as much as in them lieth they stirre vp against them the wrath forces and power of tyrants and worldlie potentates Such a most vnhappie end of manie of them my selfe haue séene 23 But while they dissemble on this sort thus they vse to defend themselues We doo not this saie they from the hart Outward actions be a certeine shew of confession we onelie behaue our selues so in bodie and outward gesture But whie consider they not that outward actions be a certeine shew of confession And as it is not lawfull for the toong to disagrée with the hart in profession of faith religion so whatsoeuer is outwardlie doone in diuine ceremonies ought to agrée with the same profession Adde thervnto this saieng of Paule Rom. 10 10 With the hart we beleeue vnto righteousnes and with the mouth is confession made vnto saluation Mark 8 38. Christ also said Whosoeuer shall be ashamed of me before men I will also be ashamed of him before my Father Furthermore I would haue these men to knowe that the same is no perfect and true faith which breaketh not out into actions agréeable vnto it Moreouer our Sauiour who most earnestlie sought the glorie of his Father after he had purged the temple of buiers and sellers said Iohn 2 17. The zeale of thy house hath eaten me vp But these fellowes shew foorth no following of that godlinesse and faith which they crake that they haue inclosed vp in their hart Neither doo they remember that euen as the inward worshipping of GOD is found to be that whereby we rightlie and reuerentlie iudge of him so the outward worshipping of him is that wherein we honor him aright and as he hath prescribed Idolatrie is of two sorts And that idolatrie likewise is of two sorts for one is whereby in our hart we faine by euill opinion such a god as we list our selues an other is whereby we transferre the outward worship not onelie vnto creatures and idols but also we pollute the same with our owne lies and inuentions We retaine in our hart saie they the right opinion Grant it be so but yet the bodie is abandoned to idols and to the diuell But Paule sheweth that Your bodie is the member of Christ 1. Cor. 6 15. whie doo you then take it and giue it vnto an harlot But they affirme that Paule wrote that touching fornication I knowe that But the prophets in the meane time teach vs that idolatrie is the fowlest fornication of all other for Ieremie Ezechiel and other holie prophets Iere. 3 6. Ezec. 6 13. so inuesh against the Iewes and their church as they resemble the same to an harlot which vnder euerie gréene trée hath laid open hir selfe vnto idols and prophane worshippings Furthermore how vaine
also As often as ye shall doo these things ye shall doo them in remembrance of me when as neuertheles they haue appointed to eat and drinke it alone And doubtlesse manie other things speake they secretlie and openlie in the Masse as though manie did communicate or should communicate when as the sacrificer meaneth to doo the same alone by himselfe Indéed a lie is shamefull alwaies but then most shamefull of all when it is committed in holie things and before the Lord. 26 But what shall we speake of their applications They protest that they may at their owne pleasure applie to the quicke and dead those sacrifices which they make Abac. 2 4. Eze. 18 26. But the scripture testifieth that euerie man is iustified by his owne faith and that all persons in their owne righteousnesse or vnrighteousnes shall either die or liue But they saie otherwise namelie that they be able to helpe with their Masses both quicke and dead If they would attribute this vnto praiers We may helpe others by our praiers to wit that they would teach it to be lawfull for them by their praiers to helpe the necessitie of others they might haue béene borne with but when they affirme that the worke it selfe namelie of the Masse hath such vertue and strength in it as it may be a helpe to all kind of men that may not in anie wise be doon Adde also that Masses be manie times celebrated to the honor of some saints which thing vndoubtedlie is most strange from the truth For Christ instituted his supper to the end it should be a remembrance of his owne death and not a commemoration of other saints I speake not how it commonlie commeth to passe that there is nothing found certeine of those saints whom there they worship The liues of manie of the saints are falslie written The liues of them are obscure and oftentimes full of fables and fainings of poets Also therin are placed certeine yea verie manie strange rites ridiculous signs and garments not vsed the signification of which things are vtterlie vnknowen not onelie to the standers by but euen the sacrificers them selues if they should be demanded what the matter meant could not tell what answer to make Wherfore either they answer nothing at all or else if they would faine saie somewhat they alledge not the same things but diuerslie disagrée one from another Whereby thou maist easilie gather that there is no truth in their words So as faith hath no place in those things which they doo in their Masse séeing it hath place there onelie where Gods word offereth it selfe to vs. 27 And that they cannot cleare themselues In the masse images are worshipped but that they offend in the crime of idolatrie the images testifie wherevnto they turning themselues doo celebrate their most vnpure seruices For in their Masses they are not satisfied by looking vpon images but they cense them knéele before them and finallie doo vnto them all maner of honor which should be shewed vnto God alone And bicause as I haue declared before they dare affirme that the Masse hath I knowe not what affinitie with the institution of Christ it shall not be from the purpose and it may easilie be doone if we consider the tokens to shew that the old Ethniks may with much better probabilitie excuse and plead for their sacrifices than these men may defend their Masses For the sacrifices of nations did lesse differ from the maner of sacrificing which the fathers had before the lawe and which God allowed in his lawe than these doo differ in their Masse from that supper which Christ appointed and the euangelists and Paule the apostle taught There on both sides was inuocation of God a temple an altar sacrifices priests killing sheding of bloud salt wine oile meale a holie banket religious garments washings fumigations continuall fire singing oracles and such like which would be too long to rehearse Let the popish sacrificers shew vs if they can in their Masse as manie things that can agrée with those which Christ did in his holie supper But if so be they cannot let them then thinke that their Masse doth no more agrée with the celebration of the Lords supper than the rites of the idolaters accorded with the legall sacrifices Let them cease therefore frō dandling that little daughter of theirs and say no more that it ought to be taken for the institution of Christ and of his apostles I will speake little of the yéerelie obits and funerals of the dead which be so often frequented whereof God gaue no commandement By it they establish purgatorie whereof the holie scriptures haue made no mention Furthermore this is most of all from pietie that in their Masse they powre out their praiers vnto saints alreadie departed out of this life Finallie all the things wherwith they there busie themselues they make a market of yea they sell them they bargaine and set them out to most shamefull gaine Wherfore we had néed to take verie great héed least while we doo desire to worship God and haue him mercifull vnto vs we by hearing of Masses prouoke him not excéedinglie vnto wrath 28 The superstitious sort procéed and by the example of Naaman the Syrian would prooue that it is permitted them to be present at most corrupt Masses 2. Kin. 6 18. Naaman praied Elizaeus the prophet that if he bowed his knée in the temple of the idoll when the king who leaned his hand on his shoulder should so doo he would earnestlie craue of God mercie forgiuenes for him To whom Elizaeus onelie answered Go in peace These fellowes ought to consider with themselues whether they onelie and alone haue read and séene the discourse of this historie I thinke not Looke par 3 pl. 11. art 8. For the holie martyrs in the old church were studious daie and night in the holie scriptures so as these examples were not hidden from them And what cause was there then that they would not followe such an example and that with the losse of their life Those ancient champions and pillers of our faith sawe no doubt that which our aduersaries make no account of among themselues namelie that the same Naaman which is obiected against vs was newlie conuerted vnto the true God and was yet a nouice who also was not yet prouided to renounce both his substance and himselfe also but after a sort desired to retaine his old place and dignitie about the king The which if he should obteine Naaman knew that fact of his to be blameable and offensiue he sawe that it might easilie be that he should fall into that sinne which he declared vnto the holie prophet But when he had verie well vnderstood that it was not agréeable to true godlines he required praiers and intercession of the true God whereby he falling through weaknes might haue his fault forgiuen him Otherwise there is none which néed to aske pardon of
that which he thinketh lawfull for him to doo We make intercessions for sinnes and not for things permitted vs. Wherefore this place maketh much against our aduersaries And that the same is sinne it is manifestlie prooued by this historie but this doo they earnestlie indeuor to excuse I would to God they would diligentlie marke in that action that which there Naaman felt And if they shall fall as he feared to fall let them not cloke it with a vaine defense but let them craue the mercie of God and the praiers of godlie men whereby that which they haue doone amisse may be fréelie forgiuen them Neither did Elizaeus as they persuade themselues giue Naaman the Syrian Elizeus gaue Naaman no accesse vnto idols libertie to go vnto the idols onelie he said Go in peace which also was an accustomed kind of salutation in those daies Neither is it lawfull to gather anie other thing by those words than that the prophet promised to doo that which was desired of him namelie to praie vnto God for the saluation of that man First to strengthen him that he should not fall secondlie that if he sinned his fault might be forgiuen him Baruch 6 2 29 Also they vse to obiect certeine words out of the epistle of the prophet Ieremie the which is written at the end of a little booke intituled Baruch The words be these In Babylon you see gods of gold and siluer borne vpon mens shoulders forcing a feare out of the heathen beware that ye followe not the Gentiles when ye shall see a heape of people worshipping as well before as behind But saie in your harts O Lord it is thou onelie that ought to be worshipped By these words doo our Nicodemites thinke it to be sufficient that they which be present at idolatrous worshippings doo saie in their harts O Lord it is thou onlie that ought to be worshipped But they should more attentiuelie ponder that the prophet if he were a prophet that spake those words which I therfore speake bicause the little booke of Baruch is not canonicall The booke of Baruch is Apocryphall nor found in the Hebrue gaue not the Iewes libertie to go into the temples of the idols so to be present at prophane and idolatrous rites that they should then talke secretlie within themselues vnto the true God But he speaketh of those images which were caried about the citie for that was the maner among the Babylonians as the historie of Daniel declareth which testifieth that the image of Nabuchad-nezar was openlie carried about in great pompe with instruments of musicke and with songs at the hearing wherof all men were commanded to worship the image that they beheld which the companions of Daniel would not doo Of those images I saie it is written in that epistle And the godlie are faithfullie admonished that they should not worship or adore those things which the Ethniks did both behind and before them Naie rather in detestation of their wicked worship let them saie at the leastwise in their hart O Lord it is thou onelie which ought to be worshipped These same méetings happening by chance in the citie could not be auoided The godlie therefore were to be admonished how they should behaue themselues in such méetings 30 But these men being shamelesse doo procéed forward importunatlie and demand how chance Daniel was not cast into the burning fornace with his fellowes when as like punishment was prouided for all which would not worship the image of Nabuchad-nezar Dan. 3 5. Wherfore these men imagine that Daniel made a shew as though he did worship it and for that cause the Chaldaeans medled not with him And they saie also that they may lawfullie doo that which they thinke this holie prophet of God did They consider not that they fall into a false kind of reason which commonlie is called Non causa vt causa which is when that which is not a cause is put for a cause Why Daniel was not cast into the fornace togither with his felows For there might be verie manie other causes whie Daniel was not then punished Peraduenture he met not the image which was carried about or if at anie time he met it the Chaldaeans marked not what he did or else being apprehended and kept was not accused bicause the king bare him incredible good will Daniell dissembled not the worshiping of of the image But we must not beléeue that the man for feare of punishment or death would dissemble the worshipping of the image against the lawe and against pietie sith it is afterward declared that for godlinesse sake he was throwne among the lions Séeing now there were manie causes to let that he was not deliuered to be burnt in the flames of fire with his fellowes whie doo these men then laie hold onelie of one cause and that such a cause as was vnworthie and full of reproch for such a holie man bicause in the holie scriptures there is not so much as a suspicion once offred vs in anie respect of such a matter 31 They thinke with themselues that they speake handsomlie to the purpose and that they cunninglie defend their dooing when they allege that which is written in the Acts of the apostles verse 23. the 21 chapter where it is declared that Paule by the counsell of the elders of the church of Ierusalem tooke vpon him a vow and foure other men with him and purified themselues after the maner of the Iewes If the apostle of God saie they would vse the ceremonies of the lawe alreadie abolished we also may be suffered sometimes to admit rites ceremonies so long time receiued and to be present at them But to make this matter more plaine we must vnderstand that this was the effect of Pauls preching Rom 3 28. We thinke that a man is iustified by faith without works Gala. 3 20. Rom. 1 17. As manie as be vnder the law be vnder the cursse The iust man shall liue by his faith Wherefore the apostle in that first time of preaching the Gospell condemned not the ceremonies lawes apperteining to the Hebrues vnlesse they were retained with such a faith and mind as if iustification should come by them And this doctrine of his hath he verie manifestlie set foorth in his epistle to the Galathians where he saith Gal. 5 2. 4. Ye which be circumcised haue fallen both from Christ and from grace for Christ is made of none effect vnto you if yee should be iustified by the lawe As though he would saie These things of Moses doo not alienate you from Christ except ye exercise them with this mind and purpose that thereby ye might be iustified Take awaie this opinion and the apostle commended good works And as for ciuill and accustomed ordinances so they were iust and not idolatrous he suffered still in their owne place Neither did he let but that the legall ceremonies might still be vsed
And this if our magistrates and bishops doo not looke vnto they cannot escape a iust accusation But it is not lawfull to grant vnto the Turks anie religious assemblies for that they haue not anie particular promise of their saluation neither would they read there either the old testament or the new but onelie their most detestable Alcoran Ouer this the Iewes should be prohibited to exercise false bargaining and vsurie among christians thereby to vex and afflict the poore christians before our face the which cannot be doone without great indignitie But our princes exact a good great tribute of them and of those gaines which come by vsurie and naughtie bargaining they obtaine great praie so farre are they from forbidding them these euill arts Furthermore a thing no lesse hurtfull they prouide not to haue them taught when as they ought to compell them to come often to godlie christian sermons otherwise while they be so negligentlie left they become dailie worse and worse Whereby either naughtie fruit or in a maner none at all can be looked for by the conuersation which they haue among christians It must also be looked diligentlie to that they corrupt not christiās in seducing them to their Iewish religion The heresie of the Marrans By reason of neglecting herof the heresie of the Marrans hath much increased speciallie in Spaine Moreouer it is méet that they may by some apparell or certeine token be knowen from christians least anie vnwittinglie should be familiar with them no lesse than with the christians And these things shall suffice concerning this sort of infidels Of Heresies What is heresie 50 Now let vs speake of heretikes The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is deriued of this verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is To elect or choose for those kind of men choose vnto themselues some certeine opinions which are against the holie scriptures and doo stubbornelie defend the same The causes of heresies But the causes of this their choise for the most part are either for that they be ignorant of the holie scriptures or else if they knowe them they despise them and being driuen of a certeine desire they applie themselues to the inuentions of som errors Augustine Wherefore Augustine in his booke De vtilitate credendi writeth An heretike is he which for the loue of gaine or bearing of rule either bréedeth or else followeth new opinions So that the definition of heresie is a choise A definition of heresie and stubborne defending of opinions which are against the holie scriptures procéeding through the ignorance or contempt of them that they may the easilier obteine their pleasures and commodities Choise and stubborne defending in this definition are in stéed of the forme But the opinions disagréeing with the holie scriptures serue for the matter Pride and couetousnesse make heresie And the obteining of dignities gaine and pleasures are appointed as ends of so great a mischéefe By this definition is manifest inough as I thinke who be heretikes I meane not now to descend vnto the kinds and particulars of heresies I hope I shall haue an other occasion and place more conuenient This will I bréeflie saie as concerning this question that we are to deale with heretikes in none otherwise than with infidels and Iewes 51 But to drawe to an end of these things In 1. Cor. 10 at the end Augustine which I haue spoken let vs heare what Augustine writeth of this matter in his 154. epistle vnto Publicola where he saith Questions of things suspected touching idolatrie If so be an idolater shall offer vnto idols anie portion of the fruits or of the wine latelie strained in the presse that maketh not but we may fréelie vse that which remaineth as well in the presse as in the barne For we be not afraid to drawe waters out of those fountains and welles from whence they tooke for the seruice of their idols But he iudgeth that he which hath the publike power the magistrate I meane by his authoritie must withstand that no part of the profits should be defalked and imploied to wicked worshippings but if this can not be hindered those things which are remaining he maketh frée He answereth also touching the common baines wherin idolaters were woont to bath themselues the which in like maner he maketh common vnto Christians For saith he we likewise take breath and breath out aire which we knowe to be infected with the euill stinke of the sacrifices of infidels Herevnto I would willinglie also adde that albeit I confes the place of the bath for the faithfull to be frée also for the vse of the beléeuers yet that we must not wash togither with vnbeléeuers bicause in that kind of action there may be noted some familiaritie assent and participation togither Iohn would not wash with Cerynthus the heretike And this we read in the ecclesiasticall historie that Iohn the euangelist did auoid who would not enter into a baine when he heard that Cerynthus the heretike did wash therein 52 Augustine added Augustine that we must vse nothing that we vnderstand dooth tend to the honour and worshipping of idols Neither dooth it auaile saith he if thou saie that thy conscience is cleare for thy neighbour dooth not sée into thy hart but beholdeth thy fact Therefore if we shall heare anie thing which is either superstitious or idolatrous we must abhor and detest it and not conuert it to our owne vse The which was expresselie commanded in Deuteronomie Deut. 7 25. when God forbad men that they should not take such things vnto themselues Of which opinion Augustine alledgeth two reasons Least thou taking anie thing awaie which serued to the superstitious worshipping they suspect that thou art mooued to abolish wicked worshipping not for religion but for couetousnesse sake namelie that thou maist wax rich and to fulfill thy couetousnes Another reason there is that if thou shalt laie vp at home these things among thy treasure it might easilie come to passe that either they should be had in honour of thy posteritie or of the vnwiser sort which be in thy houshold and so that the idolatrous worshipping by little and little should be restored Howbeit he confesseth Godlie emperours haue applied such things to godlie vses that those superstitious things may be conuerted into publike vses and to the seruices of the true and right religion euen as we haue knowne godlie emperours to haue doone who haue taken monie giuen to the theatre and to the temple of idols and haue consecrated them to the church of Christ and to the good vses of the Common-weale verse 26. And there is a place cited out of the sixt chapter of the booke of Iudges where the Lord willeth the wood of the groue dedicated to Baal the which Gedeon did cut downe to be transferred to the sacrifice which he was to offer And in the sixt chapter of Iosua we read
wiselie said The heauens declare the glorie of God The Patriarchs when they would sacrifice went vnto high places where they might behold the tall trées the heauen the flouds and the earth lieng round about and thereby lifted themselues vp to the knowledge of God the creator But contrariewise foolish men would deuise images to themselues and at length fell to that that they called stocks and stones gods Wherefore Ieremie verse 27. in his second chapter earnestlie reprooueth them which feared not to saie vnto a stocke Thou art my father and vnto a stone Thou hast begotten me And thus while these men wold haue such kind of admonishers they were drawne farre awaie from the true worshiping of God and finallie they attributed vnto images the purging of sinnes They held them also for gods which did gard the quicke and the dead euerie particular man and likewise the whole citie From thence also they indeuor to wrest oracles and they make vaunt that their praiers powred out vnto them are heard and going yet further they sacrifice dailie before them This boldnesse or rashnesse of men did excéedinglie displease God and not without cause For a prince would take it in ill part if the honour which is onelie due vnto himselfe should be giuen vnto his seruants wherefore God himselfe in the prophet Esaie saith Esai 42. 8. I will not giue mine owne honour vnto an other 6 But some man will saie that this inuention had no ill meaning but rather a good and right intent as they call it but the same right intent dooth oft times marre all Neither dooth it suffice to make mens works righteous vnlesse those things be added or put to which we haue else-where sufficientlie spoken of Athanasius wrote against idols among other things he saith They which liued in times past made images to the intent that out of them oracles might be vttered and for so much as God might not be knowne but by visible signes and therefore they iudged that God was to be called vpon in images bicause they thought heauenlie powers were present with them Arnobius And Arnobius in his sixt booke against the Gentiles reporteth that the nations said that they did not worship stones but the presence of God exhibited about these images For they thought that images through certeine dedications were so adorned and purged that the power of God came fullie vnto them And in dedicating of them they thorough a certein peruerse imitation of the old fathers applied holie vnctiōs as they called them For Iacob also annointed a stone Gen. 28 18. Exod. 40 9. and Moses was commanded to annoint in a maner all the necessarie implements about the Tabernacle Eusebius also in his ninth booke the third and 11. chapters writeth that thereto did come the inchantments of diuels and incredible sorcerie for so much as there were dailie woonders wrought at the images whereby the sillie people were in sundrie wise seduced to the great detriment of the church He declareth the historie of Theotechnus which was punished for his wickednesse Yea furthermore Theodoretus in the fift booke 22. chapter saieth that the craftinesse of inchanters came héerevnto Craftinesse and false miracles about images who erected images against walles and gaue answer through holes bored in them Wherefore the people were maruellouslie amazed when they supposed that the images spake It can hardlie be credited with how great labour and difficultie men could be brought from the worshipping of images Eusebius in his third booke of Constantinus life saith When images were subuerted in them there was found the bones of dead men drie skulles lothesome clothes and small faggots of sticks which things our men in shewing to the people said Behold I beséech ye what ye haue hitherto worshipped And he affirmeth that by those same shewes verie much was brought to passe with the people 7 Now that the causes be set forth Whether it be lawfull to represent God in images whie men indeuoured to expresse God by images it séemeth good to dispute whether it be lawfull to represent God by them And it must be determined and that fréelie without exception that the same is not lawfull For God commanded the children of Israel The first cause Deut. 4 12. that they should remember they sawe no image vpon mount Horeb and therfore forbad that they should make anie such Howbeit the place is more large if it be more diligentlie examined For there he commanded that they should not make anie images at all to doo anie worship vnto them And in the fortie chapter of Esaie he saith To whom will ye resemble God verse 18. or by what similitude wil ye expres him And in the 44. chapter he confirmeth the same verse 10. saieng Who shall be so hardie to fashion out God or to make a molten or grauen image that is profitable for nothing I maruell that among the Papists Dominicus Azotus vpon the epistle to the Romans the first chapter durst write that by that commandement it is not forbidden vnto the christians to make images resembling the shape of man séeing the lawe hath onelie made mention there of créeping things of birds and fishes whereas neuerthelesse it is there by expresse words forbidden that no images should be made either of the male or of the female Moreouer it is thus written in the psalme Mouths they haue speake not feet they haue and walke not Psal 115 4. eares they haue and yet heare not noses they haue smell not And although the rest of the members may be vnderstood touching brute beasts yet that saieng that They haue mouths and cannot speake belongeth peculiarlie vnto men forsomuch as spéech was not giuen vnto brute beasts Wherefore Lucretius called them beasts without mouths Which interpretation Augustine brought in the same place verse 15. Furthermore Esaie in the 44. chapter laugheth the Carpenter to scorne who of the one part of a trée being cut downe maketh an image of the other part kindleth fire and therewith dresseth bread and meate He carueth it saith he and maruellouslie worketh it verse 13. that he may expresse the similitude of a man By all these things it appéereth that euen the images of men which be ordeined for diuine seruice are forbidden It is prooued therefore that images which represent God himselfe be forbidden by testimonies of the holie scriptures The second cause Wherevnto we must adde that by the testimonie of them we be taught that God is a spirit Iohn 4 24. wherof it followeth that by lineaments and colours he cannot be expressed Iohn 1 18. Further it is there written that None hath seene God at anie time Wherefore if he be séene of none and Dwelleth in the light that cannot be atteined vnto how can he be set foorth in a picture or grauen image to be séene Moreouer he is infinite but those things which be painted grauen or molten be
drawne togither and limited yea rather they be circumscribed by the workmanship it selfe Besides this images for the most part be made by men to the intent that they which be absent may after a sort be present with vs. But God is euerie where nether is he absent from anie thing Wherefore it is written in the psalme Psal 139 8. If I go vp into heauen thou art there If I go downe into hell thou art there also We must not therfore make him present by images séeing he is present alwaies and in all things The third cause Herevnto adde that we must in an image expresse with apt likenes the thing which should be represented But when God by anie image is represented things which rather be vnlike and contrarie than like and agréeable are likened vnto him Moreouer God as all men must of necessitie grant hath no beginning but all images are inuented by craftes-men Wherevnto may be added that GOD what and how great an one soeuer he be is continuallie moouing or dooing and is neuer idle whereas images be senselesse and doo no maner of thing at all Ouer this The fourth cause GOD himselfe is all wholie knowledge and vnderstanding but images perceiue nothing and doo vnderstand nothing at all Besides The fift cause God not onelie consisteth of himselfe but also maketh all things to consist and stand by his word but images are not able to consist of themselues for they are staied vp of artificers by props and great posts The sixt cause Yea and further God himselfe hath no end of his nature and life whereas images wax old and in the end come to naught And séeing God is of nature inuisible as hath béene confirmed before craftes-men in picturing and painting him out doo followe their owne imaginations and not the diuine nature which they cannot sée And they be not afraid to ascribe those imaginations and conceits of their minds vnto the name of God but this is altogither wicked and vngodlie So it came to passe when the Israelites said vnto Aaron Make vs gods Exod. 32 1. which may go before vs. And he made them a molten calfe and called it by the name of Iehoua Looke In 1. Kings 12. verse 28 1. Kin. 12 28 For to morrowe saith he it is the feast of Iehoua Ieroboam also when he made the golden calues commanded them to be worshipped by the name of Iehoua Wherefore it is written in the 14. chapter of the booke of Wisedome verse 21. that they applied the holie and immutable name of God vnto idols And in the 17. of the Acts Paule saith The seuenth cause verse 29. We ought not to thinke that the Godhead is like to gold or siluer grauen by art and inuention of craftes-men If so be then that the similitude of God be not in images those which be of this kind must be vtterlie reiected The complaint of Seneca is commonlie knowne whereof Augustine maketh mention in the sixt booke De ciuitate Dei and fortie chapter out of the booke named D◠superstitione which is lost and is not anie where to be found at this daie Augustines words be these for when he intreated concerning images They dedicate saith he the holie immortall and inuiolable gods in a matter most vile and vnmooueable giuing vnto them the habits of men wild beasts and fishes and some indue them with diuers bodies of a mingled kind They call them gods which if they should receiue life and suddenlie méet one they would be taken for monsters But the holie scriptures haue laughed to scorne this presumption and foolishnesse of men especiallie Esaie in the 44. chapter as we haue alreadie heard before The eight cause To these things let vs adde that Aristotle in his second booke De physico auditu alledgeth the saieng of the philosopher Protarchus which said that Those stones be fortunate whereof images be made for they be laid vpon the altars and haue honour and reuerence doone vnto them by men whereas others not vnlike to them lie vpon the pauement are troden vpon with their féet and spit vpon The ninth cause Besides this let it come to mind that the verie works of God which be extant in the nature of things cannot perfectlie shew him Wherefore séeing the workmanships of men be a great deale more vnperfect bicause art alwaies faileth in comparison of nature how shuld we hope that God himselfe can be expressed by the industrie of craftes-men The tenth cause Neither must it be omitted that the scripture when it speaketh of images to the intent it may driue men from them it calleth them filthinesse Deut. 7 26. Ierem. 10 8 Habac. 2 18. lies things of nothing abhomination and affliction Howbeit we must grant that God would haue some signes whereby he would open himselfe vnto men Such were the arke of the couenant the tabernacle of Moses the temple of Salomon and also the piller of fire and of the cloud but it must be considered that he deuised and ordeined these signes for himselfe Neither is it lawfull for men to doo so much as it is for God Augustine The 11. cause Augustine De fide Symbolo when he expounded the article wherin is said that Christ sitteth on the right hand of his father he saith We must not imagine that God is indued with the shape of a man that Christ dooth bow his knées and sitteth on the right side of him it is a wicked thing to haue such maner of images But in the fourth booke The 12. cause the ninth and 31. chapter De ciuitate Dei he hath more manifestlie expressed the same where he commendeth Varro which wrot in his Theologie that they which first of all others made images vnto God first tooke awaie the feare of them from men namelie bicause of the vile matter whereof they were formed and bicause they mooued not of them selues and they did erre more for so much as in making of images they did not reforme their error but rather increased the same Also he praiseth Varro who alloweth of the ancient people of Rome bicause they for the space of 70. yéeres worshipped God without images neither did Varro feare to bring the people of the Iewes to be a witnesse of that thing And he added also that whiles the people of Rome worshipped God without images they honored him more purelie than afterward they did And these things be not onelie recited by Augustine Varro The 13. cause but they be also written by Plutarch in the life of