cause of the diuersity is this word Arba whych in his vsuall and proper signification signifeth the number whych the Latines cal Quatuor It is not certain that Adam and his wyfe were buryed in Hebron the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is foure Now some suppose the number of foure to be referred to the foure couple of men wyth theyr wiues which they say wer buried in that city Yet the holy scriptures make mēcion but of three for in the booke of Genesis .23 chap. we reade that Abraham and Sara wer buried there also in the .35 .49 chap. of the same booke we rede of Isaac and Rebeckaes burial there And lastly in the .50 chap. we fynde that Iacob was caried thither he him selfe before that had there buried his wife Lea. But concerning Adam Eue his wife whō they haue added vnto these we can finde nothing thereof in the holye scriptures For that which they alledge out of the .14 chap. of Iosua maketh nothing to the purpose for that the word Adam in that place is not the name of the first man Wherfore they can gather nothyng out of that place but that Arba was a certaine great man among the Anakims These are the words there Ha Adam Hagadol be Anakim Hui that is he was a great man among the Enakims But our interpretour translateth it thus Adā was counted the great among the Enakims Wherby it appeareth that he thought that Adam was a proper name But he was two wayes deceaued first he dyd not marke that the article Ha is ioyned to the word Adam which is neuer ioyned with proper names Wherfore it must needes be a common name whych must be referred to that woord Arba for that name was put a litle before The other errour is bycause we reade no where that the first man was reckoned amongst the Enakims that is to say Giauntes The opinion of others is that Hebron was called the City Arba bycause it was inhabited of .4 Giauntes namely Sesay Ahimman and Thalmay vnto which three brethren they adde Annak their Parent But the opinion of these men is easely confuted bycause that in the .14 chap. of Iosua toward the end it is by manifest wordes declared that this word Arba is the proper name of a Giaunt Wherfore it is manifest enough that this woord must not be referred to the number of four And by that meanes not onely this latter sentence but the first also is confuted which would haue this name Arba to haue a respect to the foure couple of men with their wyues buried in the old tyme in that City And vndoubtedly for the same cause also the opinion of others is not to be allowed which do thinke that the City was so called bycause although it were but one City yet it consisted of foure Cities and that this woord Arba is all one wyth this greeke woorde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whiche is foure Cities Wherefore I iudge it best to thyncke that it was so named of the buylder thereof named Arba Arba had three chyldren who how he came by that surname it is vncertaine Onely this we maye gather out of the scriptures that what so euer he was he had three chyldren which are called in this place and also in the booke of Iosua Sehai Ahimman and Thalmay And it is very lykely that they were deade long tyme before Iosua And when they were now dead then was there mencion made of them bicause their families which seme to haue bene of a wonderful huge stature were destroyed by Caleb and Othoniel And this is the reason why I suppose that these three brethrē liued not in Caleb and Othoniels tyme bycause this Citye as it is written in the booke of Numbers was a most auncient city and was buylt .vii. yeares before zoham that is Thamin the kingly Citye of the Egiptians And in zoham dyd Moyses and Aaron woorke the wonders before Pharao And if so be it was the kingly and noble city then it must nedes be built long time before Wherefore if Hebron were built before it and had the name thereof of Arba how could his children be on lyue at this time It cannot be so Besides thys Abraham had a lodging in this City bought there a double caue And from that time to Iosua his time wer almost .400 yeres It is not therefore very likely that the sonnes of him which builded so auncient a city should lyue tyl Iosua his tyme vnles any man wyl fayne that the same city was built long time before called by an other name then in processe of tyme casting away the first name it should be named by this most strong and mighty Giaunt But whether it be thus or no neither skilleth it much neither semeth it curiously to be sought for But this might somwhat moue some bycause Arba wherof we now speake is called in the .15 chap. of Iosua the father of Enak For if he had .3 sōnes which were named as well here as in the same booke of Iosua it wil then he doubtfull who that same Enak was What Hanack signifieth In which thyng sauyng the iudgement of a better learned I would thinke might be answered that it was not a proper name but a cōmon wherby at that time men of huge stature but such as were noble excellently adourned wer called For this word Enak in hebrewe is to gird or to compasse and is chiefly referred to chaines which are worne about the necke for comelynes sake And thereof is this name Enak deriued in the plural number hath both the masculine feminine forme it signifieth a chaine and is transferred to noble worthy men whom thou mayst cal chained Wherfore Sesay Ahimman Thalmay may be called the sōnes of Arba who was not called the father of them onely but also the father of Enak bycause euery one of his sōnes was noble Why giauntes were called Enakim wore a chaine or was a Giaunt for Giauntes also were called Enakim either bicause they wore chaines or els bycause they were of a notable stature of body for it may be that that word was applyed to all kynde of ornaments Of them is mencion also made in the booke of Numbers .13 chapter By how many names giaūtes are called in the holy scriptures Seing we are now by chaunce in hande with giauntes and that there is often mention made of them in the holy Scriptures it shall not be vnprofitable somewhat to speake of them Fyrste we muste knowe that they are called by diuerse names in the holy Scriptures as Enakim Eimim Zemasmim Nefalim Rephaim Why they were called Enakim manifestly appeareth by those things which we haue spoken before And they were called Eimim of the terror which they draue into others by their loke They were called Zemasmim of mischiefe bicause they trusting to their owne power and might were dispisers of lawes iustice and
That was of al the tribes most populous and noble vnto which afterward came the kingdome They enquired not who should be the captaine of the warre but which tribe shoulde begyn the battaile first against the enemies Why thei doubted not of the victory Wherin the Israelits synned They nothing doubt of the victory neither demaund they any thing concerning it They saw that their quarrell was iust They sawe also that they were more in number and multitude and that it would be easy to ouercome so fewe wherefore they pray not vnto God to geue them the victory which was a grieuous synne as R. Leui ben Gerson affirmeth Wherefore God being offended suffred them twise to fal before their enemies and that wonderfullye For God hateth nothing more then pride and to much trust in our owne strengthes He wil also haue men knowe that victory is both to be required D. Kimhi and also to be hoped for at his handes onelye But Kimhi sayth that other thinke that this so great misfortune of warre happened bicause of the idolatry of Micha the Israelite As though God should in this maner haue delt with them Ye will auenge the iniury done vnto a man being a Leuite but ye neglect and wyncke at the contumely which I suffer at the Danites handes who publikely worship Idoles Either of these sentences is very likelye althoughe neither of them is gathered out of the text Howbeit this we may affirme that there were some certain causes wherby God was excedinglye prouoked of the Israelites But what those causes were though we know not it is no meruayle For the counsels of God are hidden and obscure Order at the length required this that the Israelites should first auenge the contumely of God himself and afterward of the Leuite But this is sufficiently declared in the text What thynges the Israelites had omitted that they at those twoo first tymes came not vnto God earnestly inough They came in deede but they neither fasted nor killed sacrifices nor made any praiers as far as the holy history declareth But at the last hauing already two ouerthrowes all of them with a lowly and humble minde come vnto God al pray together and fast These thinges seme sufficiently to declare that they were not before in the house of the Lord in suche maner as they ought to haue beene For if they had had true fayth they would haue before also proclaimed both cōmon prayers and also fasting Mourning fasting and praiers are the effectes of faith and true repentaunce These thinges for that they had not it is probable that therfore they receaued so great losse at the first and second conflict This thing also might bee a cause for that they made warre to much securely and contemptuously as they which dyd put their confidence in the number and strength of their own men Wherefore they contemned the enemy The contempt of enemies hurteth very much then the which nothing is more vnprofitable to those that shal fight For contempt of the enemies engendreth negligence in the hostes 26 Then al the children of Israel ascended and all the people and they came into the house of God and wept and abode there before the Lorde They fasted also that day vnto the euening and offered burnt offringes and peace offeringes before the Lord. 27 And the chyldren of Israel asked the Lorde for there was the Arke of the Lord in those dayes 28 And Pinhas the sonne of Eleazar the sonne of Aaron stoode before it in those dayes saying Shal I yet go any more to battayle against the children of Beniamin my brethren or shal I cease The Lord answered Go vp for to morow I wil deliuer them into your hand 29 And Israel set men to lye in wayte round about Gibea 30 And the children of Israel went vp against the children of Beniamin the thyrd day and put them selues in aray against Gibea as at other tymes 31 Then the children of Beniamin comming out to meete the people were drawen from their City and they beganne to smite and to kyl of the people as at other times euen by the wayes whereof one goeth vp to the house of God and the other to Gibea in the fielde vpon a thirty men of Israel 32 And the chyldren of Beniamin sayd They are fallen before vs as at the first But the children of Israel said Let vs flie and pluck them away from the city euen to the high wayes 33 And when al the men of Israel rose vp oute of their place and put them selues in aray in Baal-Thamar in the meane while the men of Israel that lay in wayte came forth of their place euen out of the medowes of Gibea 34 And they came ouer agaynst Gibea ten thousande chosen men of all Israel and the battayle was sore for they knewe not that the euyll was neare them 35 And the Lord smote Beniamin before Israel and the chyldren of Israel destroyed of the Beniamites the same day .xxv. thousand and one hundreth men All they coulde handle the swoord 36 So the children of Beniamin saw that they wer smitten down for the children of Israel gaue place vnto the Beniamites bycause they trusted to the men that lay in wayte whych they had layde besydes Gibea 37 And they that lay in wayte hasted and brake forth toward Gibea and the embushment drew themselues along and smote al the City wyth the edge of the swoord 38 Also the men of Israel had appointed a certayne tyme with the embushmentes that with great speede they shoulde make a great flame and smoke ryse out of the City 39 And the men of Israel retired in the battayle and Beniamin began to smyte and kyll the men of Israell about .xxx. persons for they sayd Surely they are striken downe before vs as in the fyrste battayle 40 But when the flame began to aryse out of the City as a pyller of smoke the Beniamites looked backe and beholde the flame of the City began to ascend vp to heauen 41 Then the men of Israel turned againe and the children of Beniamin were astoyned for they saw their destruction at hand 42 Therefore they fled before the men of Israel vnto the waye of the wyldernes but the battayle ouertooke them also they whyche came out of the Cities slewe them among them 43 Thus they compassed the Beniamites about and chased them at ease and ouerran them euē ouer against Gibea on the East side 44 And there fel of Beniamin .xviii. thousand men which were all men of warre 45 And they turned and fled vnto the wyldernes vnto the rocke Rimmon and the Israelites glayned of them by the way .v. thousand men and pursued after them vnto Gidehon slew two thousand men of them 46 So that al that were slayne that day of the Beniamites were 25 thousand men that drew sword which were all men of warre 47 But .vi. hundreth men turned and fled to the wyldernes vnto the rocke of
agayne to Gellius He sheweth that there were other which thought histories to be either an exposition or els a demonstration of thinges done But yerely chronicles were when things done in many yeres were compiled together obseruing the order of euery yeare c. According to which sentence this our booke cannot be called a yerely chronicle for that in the narrations thereof it oftentimes noteth not the yeres wherin things were done Moreouer the same author I meane Gellius addeth Sempronius Asellios mynde therin but this was the differēce betwene those whiche woulde leaue behinde them yearely chronicles and those which enterprised to write of thinges done by the Romaynes The yerely chronicles did declare that onely whiche was done and in what yeare it was done but that was not sufficient for an history to declare what was done but it must also shew by what counsell and after what sort they were done And a little after the same Aselio writeth in the same booke for neither can the bookes of the yerely chronicles any thing stirre vp the readers to be more quicke to defend the common wealth nor yet more slow to cōmit thinges vnaduisedly Furthermore bicause that by the knowledge of this booke men are admonished and stirred vp to the true worshippyng of god to repent to put their trust in god and to practise all dueties of lyfe cherefully It conteyneth an history and not yerely Chronicles Peraduenture I haue expounded these thinges with to many woordes but yet as I suppose with some fruicte The number of the yeares that the history of the iudges conteyneth But the space of the tyme which is comprehēded in these declarations if we may beleue Augustine in his xviii booke de ciuitate dei and 22. chap. is 329. yeares which he gathereth thus Whē Rome was builded the Hebrewes had bene in the land of Chanaan 718. yeares of which as he saith 27. perteyned vnto Iosua 329. to the Iudges 362. are referred vnto the kinges For Ezechias the king lyued in the tyme of Romulus God is the author of histories An history is not to be counted a thing of mans inuention when as god him selfe was the author therof which would haue the elders to expoūd to their children and their posteritie those thinges which he had done for Israell in Egipte in the sea and in the wildernes And he commaunded also as it is written in Exodus that the warre which was had against Amalech and the victory which the Hebrewes got of him Histories wer before Moyses time should be put in writing yea and this kind of writing began before Moyses for he maketh mencion both of the booke of the battails of the Lord as also of the booke of the iust men I will not speake of the Prophetes which with their prophecies oftētimes mixed histories I passe ouer Dauid who adourned here and there the psalmes whiche he song with histories I skip ouer our Euangelistes and the Actes which Luke wrote in which are written moste profitable histories in the new Testament If god be the author of these bookes as we must nedes beleue thē god must be counted the author of histories which is not a thing for him vnsemely for an history is a noble thīg as Cicero writeth in hys 2. The praise of an history boke de Oratore it is a witnes of times the light of truth the life of memory the maystres of life the messenger of antiquitie c. These prayses certainly are great and they agree not with euery kynde of histories but with those onely in which those rules are obserued What are requisite to a true history The Latin Historiographers are more faithful than the Grecians which the same author hath set forth in that place namely that it set forth no lies or be afraid to tel the truth that there be no suspicion of fauour or flattery Which order although the Latin Historiographers haue more faithfully accōplished than the Grecians for Quintilianus saith in his iiii chap. of his secōd boke that the greke Historiographers vsed as much licence in writing almoste as the Poets did yet Augustine in his .131 epistle to Memorius the Bishop when he amōg other liberall disciplines attributeth much to histories writing of the truth therof saieth that he cannot see how those histories whiche are written of men can wel follow the truth for that the writers are compelled to geue credite vnto men and oftentimes to gather together the brute of the vulgare people The holy histories are most true whiche writers neuerthelesse are yet excused if they kepe liberty and write nothing disceitfull but there can be nothing at al more true than the histories reuealed and written by the inspiration of god as our histories are Besides the truth whose knowledge without controuersie is most excellēt The commoditie of an historye by the reading of histories we get also other cōmodities and those very excellēt By them we attayne to matter and most aboundant plenty of moste profitable arguments For as Quintilianus writeth in the .iiii. chap. of his .12 boke Exāples and histories are iudgementes and testimonies The vse of examples is double And the profit of the examples is at the least way two fold One is that we should imitate vse allow and commend those thinges which we are taught to be done of holy mē We vnderstande by the diuyne historye that Abraham was a holye man and dearly beloued of god and also one that kepte very good hospitalitie Whereby we learne that hospitalitie is a noble vertue and very deare vnto God and againe we are taughte to auoyde those thinges which we see these godlye men to haue auoyded For when we consider howe Dauid woulde not kil Saul hys deadly enemye hauing twice libertie to doe it we gather that it is not to bee permitted that priuate men althoughe it laye in their power shoulde 〈◊〉 reuenge their priuate iniuries The other vse of examples is that of these thinges whiche are there declared perticularly when we shall perceaue that they be al like we may of them gather generally and vniuersally some one profitable sentence By the history of the Sodomites we note how greuously god punished most horrible fleshly filthines and that the tribe of Beniamin for the same cause was almost cleane put out and Ruben the first begotten son of Iacob for incest was put besides his place and dignity Dauid for committing aduoutry incurred horrible punishmentes and Ammon and Absolon for committing incest came to a most wycked end and Troy as the heathen testifye was vtterly ouerthrowen for aduoutry sake Of these things therfore in such sort considered which happened perticularly we plainly say that all these wandring and vnlawfull lustes of men are most greuously punished of god To which propositiō if we shal adde this sentence that now also throughout all Christendom such free and wādring filthy lust raigne euery where we may strongly conclude that for
so then were it very easy to persuade the Ethnickes and Turkes of the holy Scriptures and to bryng the Iewes to receaue the new Testament and how true this is the thing it selfe witnesseth And I thincke I haue spoken enough of the efficient cause of this booke and of the holy Scriptures Of the ende of this booke And now lastly order semeth to require the seyng we haue spoken of the matter forme and efficient cause of the holy bookes we shoulde also entreate somewhat to what end they were written Wherin I thincke it not nedeful to kepe the reader long for that before when I entreated many thynges of an historye I haue expounded also the profite and commodities whiche come therof whiche no doubte of it belong vnto the ende but nowe presently I will say thus much compendiously that all these thinges are mentioned by the holy ghost that we shoulde behaue our selues vprigthly both in prosperitie and also aduersitie For we learne by the examples of holy men when we are afflicted with sundry troubles and miseries stedfastly to holde our faith to put our hope in God to call vpon him only therewithall to repent vs of our sinnes whiche thinges if we do he will no lesse be presente to helpe vs than we know that he oftentimes deliuered the people of the Iewes And this Paul declared when he sayde to the Romaines whatsoeuer things are written they are written for our learning that we thorough patience and consolation of the Scriptures might haue hope Moreouer we are instructed in prosperous thinges to kepe the feare of god lest we fal into grieuous sinnes by whiche meanes we might be made guiltie both of punishement in this lyfe and also of euerlastyng damnatiō Finally we may moste manifestly gather the ende of reading of these bookes out of the Apostles doctrine whiche he deliuered to Timothe writing after this sorte in his second Epistle and third chap. All Scripture geuen by inspiration of God is profitable to doctrine to reprouing to correction and to instruction which is in righteousnesse that the man of God may be perfect and prepared to al good workes And now that as I suppose I haue spoken enough of the end and other causes of this booke I will come nygher to the exposition of the same first I wil declare whether this booke according to the sentence of the Hebrewes be the second booke of the firste Prophetes whose coniunction is so great with the history of Iosua that a man woulde easely saye that they be both one Whether the booke of Iosua ought to be reckened with the booke of Iudges And peraduenture there be some which suppose that Iosua should be reckened with the iudges to whom I will not subscribe For iudges were raised vp of god when the people were oppressed with outwarde enemies but when Iosua was proclaymed prince all the affaires of the Israelites were in good prosperitie For Sihon and Og most mightie kinges were ouercome and that office was cōmitted to Iosua wherby Moyses being dead he might leade the people ouer Iordane and take possessiō of the lande of Chanaan and deuide the promised lande by lottes vnto the children of Israell and besides that the people did set their handes to a decree whiche they had made of Iosua that he whiche obeyed not his voyce should be killed as we read it written in the first chap. of his booke But there is no mention made of suche thynges as concernyng the Iudges And yet both the bookes are so like and of such affinitie that many thinges are repeated in this our booke especially in the beginning whiche no doubte were done when Iosua was yet lyuing There resteth now to admonishe the reader somewhat of the partes of this boke The partes of the booke of Iudges There are as many principall membres in it as there were Iudges to Samuels tyme. For that in euery one of them still riseth vnto vs a new historye But the first of all was Othoniel of whom we will speake in the third chap. So that all those thinges whiche are written vnto that place do contayne the thynges done from the death of Iosua vnto Othoniel And certainly bycause the Iewes as long as Iosua liued worshipped god a right kept the lawe as muche as the weakenesse of mā coulde do god stil wrought with them accordyng to his couenaunt gaue thē a great victorye ouer their enemies so that euery tribe ouercame his enemies for the most part which were yet adioynying to their borders And then when the Israelites obteynyng the victorye did transgresse the commaundements of their god did not cleane destroy the nations which they had ouercome as god had commaunded them yea they made them tributaries vnto them god therfore grieuously admonished them by his messanger bycause they had not onely saued their enemies but also had moste filthyly honoured theyr gods So that god was not wtout a cause angry with them and deliuered them into the handes of outwarde tyrannes But when they were sorye for it and called vpon their god he had compassion of them and raysed them vp Iudges by whom they might be deliuered when they were deliuered they fell agayne to Idolatry they were afflicted againe they repented wherby in course their deliueries and oppressions are set forth But their first oppressiō worthy of memory was vnder Chusan Resanthaim from the which Othoniel the first of al the iudges reuenged them of whom we will speake in his place But now we will put here vnderneth the wordes of the holy history The first Chapter 1 IT came to passe after the death of Iosua that the childrē of Israel asked the Lord sayeng Who shall go vp for vs agaynst the Chananites to fight first agaynst them 2 And the Lorde sayd Iudah shal go vp beholde I haue deliuered the lande into his handes IT semed good vnto the children of Israel to take warre in hande for as it is writtē in the xiii chap. of Iosua they had not yet at this tyme conquered all the promised land so that in euery tribes lotte there were enemyes remayning And when they sawe there was no remedy but that they must dryue them out by force they doubted not whether they shoulde make warre agaynst them but their doubte was whiche tribe should fight before all the other The Israelites aske counsell of God The matter seemed to be of such great importaunce that they asked counsell of god whiche was the chief gouernour of their publicque weale Iosua that worthy captayne was no more a liue at whose becke and pleasure they hanged The Israelites affaires had euill successe whē they were done without God hys counsell Neither yet had they forgotten howe euill successe they had when not long before they toke weighty affaires in hand without asking counsell of God For in their settyng forth to battaill against the citie of Hai they sped very vnluckely in the
battail bycause they went to warrefare without oracle as it is written in the vii of Iosua It is also written in the same boke in the ix chap. that the Gabaonites were receaued into league without the oracle of god and it is also writtē in the boke of Numbers that the Israelites were slayne by the Amorrhites when they fought cōtrary to gods will This peoples iudgement therfore is worthy to be praysed for it is excellently well done in most weighty affaires to aske counsell of God first of all And that must be done conueniently and holyly otherwise it profiteth not For the Israelites whē they should make warre agaynst the tribe of Beniamin although they asked coūsell of God yet were they twice put to flight slayne cowardly tourned their backes to their enemies bycause they behaued not them selues well in asking counsell of god Wherfore they asked counsell of God And it is to be beleued that the Hebrues after the death of Iosua considered this with them selues that their hong a great matter in those first warres whiche should be enterprised after the death of Iosua bycause if they happened to be ouercome of those nations in one battaill or two then would those nations thincke with them selues that the good lucke of the Israelites were chaunged with the death of their captayne By whiche opinion they would easely haue ben boldened and their affaires should haue had better successe dayly But on the contrary if it happened that the Israelites gotte the vpper hand in the first battailles they sawe that the power and audacitie of the nations woulde euery daye diminishe and beyng made feable and faynter they should the easelyer be ouercome God was also asked counsell of in the tyme of Iosua They did not therfore without cause aske coūsell of God in so great a matter which also to do the cōmaundement of the law did vrge them which is writtē in the boke of Numbers Neither must it be now thought that they so required the oracle as though they did not the same whē Iosua was lyuing for they required also answers of God verye often when he was a lyue but after his death it is said that they enquired for this thing chiefly principally namely which tribe should go vp to battail before all the other in al their causes And thys is the signification of the hebrew word Lanu that is for vs. And this woord to go vp is mencioned bycause they saw that they should fyrst vanquishe the hyly places Against Chanaan This is somtimes a general name What the people of Canaā were containeth al these nations which God had decreed to destroy out of Palestine whereby all the lande was afterward called Channan And sometimes it signifieth particularly some one nation of that people And that lay chiefly about Tyre Sidon Which the Euangelical history proueth when it calleth the woman a Chananite which offered her self to the sonne of God when he was goyng to Tyre Sidon And of that nation peraduenture bicause it was mightier than the other were the rest called Chananites And I wyl not ouerskip this by the way that the people which is singularly called Chanaan when they wer driuen out of their coastes by the Israelites they departed to Aphrica where they remayned safe euen to the time of Augustine Augustine So that the father writeth in his booke of the exposition whych hee begon vpon the epistle to the Romaines thus Our rusticals beyng demaunded what they wer they answered in the Affrick tong Chananites And theyr language is very nye to the Hebrewe tong The Africans ar Chananites as the same Augustine writeth in hys booke of questions vpon the Iudges the .16 question For by Baal in the Affrick tong they seme to say Lord whereby by Baal Samen is vnderstoode as thoughe they would say Lord of heauen bicause these tonges differ not much one from an other Hierome also agreeth therw t Hierome writing vpon Esay the prophet when he enterpreteth these woords Behold a virgin shal conceaue in the Affrick tong saith he which is said to haue had his ofspring of the Hebrues Virgil. A virgin is properly called Almah Also Virgil when he called Dido an Aphrician a Sidonian the inhabitants of Carthage Tirianes hath most manifestly confirmed that Dido her people came of the Chananites Wherfore it is no maruel if they almost kept in remembraunce the Chananishe tong But these thinges I haue spoken by the way But now Chanaan signifieth no one special nation but is a cōmon word for al those nations which the Israelites should ouerthrow For the tribe of Iudah which is said to haue gone vp first of al to the war For what thing the Israelites asked councell of God had in his lot the Iebusites not the Chananites Moreouer I admonishe the Reader that the Hebrues asked not counsel of God for their Captaine neither desired they to know what man should be made chief ruler ouer the Israelites going to battail against the Chananites but which tribe should begin the battel first Othoniel the first Iudge should be of the tribe of Iudah But we entreate not of him now presently And bycause it is said that the children of Israel asked counsell of the Lorde Howe many waies that elders asked councell of God some wil aske after what sort the Iewes accustomed to aske anye thing of hym at that time It may be answered that ther wer three accustomed ordinarye waies which are rehersed in the .28 chap. of the first booke of Samuel namely by dreames by Vrim Thūmim lastly by prophets whē ther wer any to be had therfore Saul complained in the booke that God had answered hym by none of these waies when he would haue asked counsel of hym of the successe of the most daungerous battail I finde also other waies in the scriptures of asking coūsell of god but they wer extraordinary waies One is by reuelacion of angels or of god him self expressing him selfe vnder some forme An other way was when som holy men by the mouing of god did appoint to themselues certayn tokens of thinges to come which did signify before whether they happened this waye or that what should be looked for So Abraham hys seruaunt decreed with hymself that she should be his Lordes wife which only amongest many maydens comming to the well offred drinke of her owne mynde to hym and to his Camels Ionathas also the sonne of Saule had then the victory promysed him when the Philistianes shoulde say Come vp hither to vs and contrarilye if they shoulde byd him tary till they came downe thither I haue called these extraordinarye wayes bycause they were not commonly vsed neyther are they often red in the Scriptures Lottes also are of this kinde There is mention made of them in the fyrst booke of Samuel when Saule should be declared King all the tribes standing there
ouer the red sea But for thys it is woorthy to beare awaye the garland bycause of that tribe Messias should be geuen not onely to the Iewes but also to al the world Neither happened these priuileges and dignities to Iudah by order of birth For it was reckoned the fourth amōg the sonnes of Iacob Ruben in deede was fyrst borne but bycause of his vile incest wherby he abstayned not euen from his fathers bed he was throwne downe from hys proper dignity and in his steade as concerning the kyngdome Iudah was substituted But the dignity of birthright was geuen to Ioseph Wherein Iudah excelled the tribe of Ephraim Wherefore his first tribe called Ephraim was not onely valiant mighty but also was exalted to the kyngdom of ten trybes which kingdome neuerthelesse was both vnconstant and also abode not alwayes in that famyly But the principallity of Iudah is euerlasting bycause it was not taken away from it euen to Christes tyme and he comming of that family raygneth and shall raygne for euer All whych thynges Iacob hym selfe confirmed wyth hys noble prophecye wherein he fore sayde to hys children what thynges shoulde happen to them in the latter tymes Wherfore it is not to be maruelled if his Prophecies be in some parte fulfilled now For the spirite of god doth euer wel agree with it selfe as it whiche bringeth those things to passe which are agreable to his prophecyes How farre the oracle geuē to the Israelites pertaineth vnto vs. And that which is sayd here to be answered to the Israelites let vs thinke also to be answered vnto vs that if we will be sure to obtayne the victory agaynst the enemyes of mans saluatiō we must haue him to be the captaine of our battayle which by the holy Prophecye of Iacob is called the Lyon of the tribe of Iudah If by hys conductyng and name we wil fyght agaynste the deuil the fleshe the world death and hell our victorye shall not then in any poynte be doubtfull but most certayne And yet would I not haue the reader to thinke bycause I haue put thys allegorye in that therfore I will vse many allegoryes in thys historye for I will vse them rarely and very seldome Allegoryes are not alwaies to he discōmēded not that I would haue theyr pleasantnes and elegancye be vtterly dispised The old fathers certaynly delited very much in them I will not say to much Yea and we fynde them sometymes applyed in the holy Scriptures For Christ in the gospell compared hymselfe allegorically both to Salomon and to Ionas and also to the serpent which Moyses at the commaundemente of God hong vp in the wildernesse I will not speake of Paule who writing to the Galathians made Isaac and Ismaell the sonnes of Abraham two peoples and pronounced Sara and Agar to be two Testamentes applying the Hebrewes to the Mounte Sina and the Christian Church to the Citye of Ierusalem but euen as Allegoryes are not vtterly to be dispised Allegories must not be rashly vsed so are they not to much rashly to be vsed For although it be free for euery man in thys kynde of interpretation to deuise what things he lyste so that he straye not from the rules of fayth and holy Scriptures yet haue we not therby any strong or certaine argumentes for the confyrmation of the doctrine of fayth Therefore there is smal profyte by the labour taken in them Neuerthelesse I except those which are put in the holy Scriptures Whither firme argumēts may be brought frō Allegories for they are to be counted the wordes of the holy ghost Wherfore theyr authoritye is great both in prouing alledging of testimonyes But the other wherin the wits of men haue dalied although with Godlynes and in a ryght vnderstanding bicause they are the inuentions of men theyr cōclusions and argumentes are very weake For men being the authors of them myght both be deceaued and also deceaue But thys Allegorye by me broughte forth namely that the aunswere of God for the appoynting of the tribe of Iudah to be captaine of the warres doth no lesse belong to vs than to the Hebrues hath no small certaynty and scarcely pertayneth to allegoryes For whatsoeuer they were that defended the people of God in the olde time Christ was theyr hed and captayne Wherfore whatsoeuer they dyd in defendyng of hys members they did it as his ministers and vicars Wherby he which religiously reuolueth their actes in his minde and then putting them asyde doth behold the hed and chiefe captayne Howe those thinges agree with Christ which seme to be spoken of Dauid Salomon by whose conducting they obtayned the victoryes He I saye doth not straye from the marke which the holy ghost had in the holy bookes After thys maner those thyngs which are red in the holy Scriptures both of Salomon and also of Dauid and seme to be spoken of them in respecte of the historye are not allegorically applyed by the Apostles in the new Testamente to Christ seing that the holy ghost spake them purposedly of hym Wherefore I haue not absurdely sayde that the oracle geuen to the Israelites shoulde be thoughte to bee spoken vnto vs. Behold I haue geuen the land into his hands God sheweth forth in this place his liberal boūtefull goodnes He doth not only geue answer to that which he was demaūded but also addeth therunto a most notable promise He first appointeth the tribe by name which he wyll haue to make warre first before the other tribes against the Chananites Then he promised to geue them the land of the Chananites whych he dyd to their great commoditye for he made the Iewes more cherefull to fight in that he sayde that he woulde helpe them Moreouer he wold not haue the possession of those regions ascribed vnto their own strength or power but vnto him selfe Ye shall not take it saith he but I haue deliuered the land into their handes And he vseth a verbe of the preterperfect tense wherby the certainty of hys sayinges shoulde be expressed Of this place we may iustlye gather We must aske counsel of God when wee take any thinges or affaires in hād that in busines which we take in hande what so euer they be God must alwaies be asked counsel of And thys maye be proued not onely by this example but also by infinite other whych the treasures of the holye scriptures minister vnto vs to which cōmeth a most strong reason What so euer is not of faith sayth Paul is synne wherby it followeth that no man should attempt any thing without fayth And that is no fayth whych leaneth not to the woorde of God For as the same Apostle hath taught From whence the woord of God is to bee sought faith commeth of hearing and hearing commeth by the woord of God which woord we cannot haue by any other accustomed rule and ordinary way than out of Gods oracles which haue bene set foorth
them which thought giaūts were not borne of men bicause they thinke it is not possible the huge giauntes can be borne of mē of vsual bignesse stature Wherfore some of thē haue gone so farre that they haue affirmed that the first mā was a giaunt and that Noah also his childrē were Giaunts bicause they beleued not that the kind of mē could be either before or after the floud except their first progenitors had bene such if it were thought they should be borne of men But Augustine proueth that to be false sayth Augustine A womā giaūt that a litle before the ouerthrow made by the Gothes there was a womā at Rome of a giauntes stature whō very many out of diuerse countreyes came to see Which womans parents neuerthelesse exceded not the cōmon accustomed stature of other men The naturall cause of the great stature of giāts But as touching the cause of this huge bignesse of giaūtes if we should loke vpō nature thē can we bring no other reason but a strong naturall heate also a moysture which abundauntly largely ministreth matter for the heate doth extende the same not only into length but also it poureth out spreadeth it both to breadth also to thicknesse Giaunts therfore begā before the floud they wer also before the accōpanieng of the sonnes of god with the daughters of men after that also continued their generation Men therfore begat them and had a naturall cause such as we haue sayd There were also some without doubt after the floud for there is mencion made of them in the booke of Num. Deut. Iosua How huge the giauntes were Iudges Samuel Paralip and other holy bookes Concerning their bignesse stature we may partly gesse and partly we haue it expressedly described The coniectures are bycause Goliah had a cote of male weing v.m. sicles and a speare like a weauers beame and the Iron or top of his speare weighed 600. sicles We coniecture also that Og kyng of Basan was of a wonderfull bignesse and that by hys bed whiche being of Iron contayned 9. cubites in length And the Israelites compared with Enachim seemed as grassehopers These he signes wherby we may iudge howe bigge these men were But the bignesse of Goliah is described properly and distinctly in the booke of Samu. For it is sayd that he was 6. cubites and a hande bredth highe A cubite with the Grecians Latines And a cubite with the Grecians is two feete but with the Latines a foote and a halfe Some alledge the cause of this difference to be bycause the measure may be extended from the elbow to the hand being some tymes closed and sometymes open or stretched forth And thus much as concerning the stature of giauntes so farre as may be gathered by the holy Scriptures But we read among the Ethnickes farre more wonderfull thinges The Ethnikes opinion of gianntes Philostratus The common stature of men in our tyme. The measure of a foote such which seeme to some incredible Philostratus writeth in his booke of noble men that he sawe the carkase of a certain giaunt which was 30. cubites long and an other 22. cubites long and certain other also 12. But the cōmon stature of men in our tyme passeth littell aboue .5 feete And the measure of a foote agreeth both with the Grecians with the Latines for they both geue to euery foote 4. hand breadthes and euery hand breadth conteineth the breadth of 4. fingers that is the length of the litle finger But if the last fingers the thombe I saye and the litle finger should be stretched abroade then euery foote cōtaineth but two hand bredthes I thincke it not amisse also to declare here what Augustine writeth in the .15 Augustine booke de ciuit Dei 9. chap. where he reproueth those whiche obstinatly contend that there were neuer any men of so wonderfull huge a stature and testifieth that he him selfe sawe vpon the coaste of Vtica a tooth so great that being deuided it might easely be iudged to be an hundred fold bigger in forme and quantitie thē vsuall teth in our tyme are Vergil he also declareth in the same place that there were in oldetyme very many such bodyes of men by the verses of Vergil whiche are written in the 7. booke of Aenedos where he sheweth how Turnus tooke vp so great a stone from the groūde and threw at Eneas that 12. such men as the earth bringeth forth now of dayes could scarsely lifte whiche place he tooke out of the 6. boke of Iliades of Homere We may adde also vnto these the verses which the same Vergil hath writtē in the first of the Georgikes he shall wonder at the great bones digged out of the graues Moreouer Augustine bringeth Pliny the second who affirmeth in his 7. Pliny booke that nature the longer it procedeth in her course the lesser bodyes doth it bryng forth dayly Cipriane Whether the bodies of men haue decreased from the floud to our tyme. And he maketh mencion also of Homere whiche made complainte sometymes in his verses To whom I might adde the testimonie of Cipriane against Demetrian But if I should be asked the question whether I thought that the bodies of men whiche were brought forth after the floud are lesse than those whiche were before the floud I would peraduenture graunt vnto it Aulus Gellius but that they haue alwayes decreased from the floud euen to our tyme I would not easely consent to that and especially bycause of Aulus Gellius wordes whiche he wrote in the third booke where he sayth that the measure of the growth of mans body is 7. feete whiche seemeth also to be the measure at this day in mē of the bigger sort But lest I should dissemble any thing we read in the Apochriphas of Esdras the 4. booke about the ende of the .5 chap. that our bodyes are lesser nowe and shal be euery daye lesse bycause nature is alwayes made more weake And the same doth Cipriane as I haue a litle before sayd seme to affirme But why I would not so easely assent thereunto this is the cause for that I can se almost nothing altered in our time from the measure whiche Gellius defineth Pliny But now to Pliny agayne who sayth in his 7. booke that in Crete when a certayn mountaine was rent by an earth quake a dead body was founde standing whiche was 46. cubites long whiche some beleued to be Orions body other some Othus It is also left in writing that the body of Orestes being digged vp by the commaundement of an oracle was 7. cubites long But that whiche Berosus affirmeth Berosus that Adam Seth his sonne were giauntes and Noah also with his children as it is put without testimony of holy scriptures so may it also be reiected Now it seemeth good to declare Why GOD woulde haue so huge giauntes some tymes for what
haue done whom I haue driuen out of those regions which I haue now geuen vnto you for for bicause those nations haue ben polluted with so grieuous wicked actes I haue therfore so destroied them will do that like vnto you except ye shal diligently auoid those thinges which I cōmaund you as touching these euils I thinke no man wil doubt but that the Chananites whych receaued not the law by Moyses neither wer Citizens of the publike wealth of the Israelites could not by that law be condemned bicause they obeyed not the lawes of the Hebrues They wer subiect only to the law which is called morall Wherfore seing God for that cause reproueth them bicause they wer defiled with such fylthy lustes incestes affirmeth that for the same cause he depriued them both of their lande and lyfe it is manifest that these lawes must bee ioyned not to ciuil preceptes but to morall which al men are bound to obserue Neuertheles this semeth at the first sight to be against this sentence Abrahā Amram seeme to haue maryed prohibited wyues bicause Abraham a man otherwise most holy is thought to haue maried his Brothers daughter namely Sara Amram also had Iochabed his aunt to wife of whom he begat Moyses Aaron Mary And it semeth that so godly holy mē would not haue done this if the moral law as we haue saide had bene against it The law of nature was darkned by synne To thys we answer first that the law of nature was much blotted by corruption wickednes which ouerwhelmed al mankind sone after synne for the cause they whych contracted such matrimonies thought peraduenture that the same wer lawful and therfore although they cannot altogether bee excused by that ignoraunce yet it is to be thought that they committed lesse synne than those which durst do such thinges after the lawe was geuen I adde moreouer that amonge the fathers certaine thinges are now and then spoken of It is not certaine whether Abrahā Amram maried prohibited wyues which other men must not take example of whē as they are somtimes to be interpreted as prerogatiues or certain priueleges geuen to thē But how soeuer it be we may not as I think much labour to excuse the fathers in althings Although I know there be which do say that Sara was not the daughter of Abrahams brother but som other way of and therfore she might be called his sister after the auncient maner of speaking as though she were of some kinred vnto him but yet not so nere kyn but that they might mary together And in like maner they say of the kinred of Amram and Iochabed But I wyl omit these thinges seing that the whole matter may be made playne by these two kinde of answers before alledged It might also be demaunded if the preceptes of Matrimonye be morall and pertaine to the lawe of Nature why God woulde also constitute them in hys lawes The ten cōmaūdementes were blotted in the hartes of men before the law Bycause the lyght of nature was come to that poynt that it was not sufficient the brightnesse of it was daylye more and more blotted in the hartes of men which thing doth manyfestlye appeare not onelye in these but also in the tenne commaundementes where it is commaunded that men should abstayne from theft and murther and yet we reade in hystories that robbyng on the sea and also on the lande got suche dominion Plato that they were counted ful of honour and dignity Plato in hys fyft booke of lawes thought that concerning procreation of children we should abstayne from Mothers Graundmothers and the degrees aboue them Again from Daughters Niepces degrees beneath them But as for other persons he made free Ierome Hierome testifieth in his seconde booke against Iouiniane that the Scottes in his tyme had no certaine mariages but they accompanied with their women as they lusted them selues euen suche as came first to hande He sayth moreouer that the Medes Indians Ethiopes and Persians confusedly contracted Matrimonies with their mothers sisters daughters and Niepces which semeth neuerthelesse to disagree with that which Heroditus writeth of the Persians For Cambyses as he testifieth desired to marye hys sister for the which thing he asked counsel of his Lawyers and wyse men and demaunded of them whether that matrimony wer lawful or no. To whom they answered that they in dede had no law by the which it myght be lawfull for the Brother to mary the Sister but yet they had an other law among them whereby it was lawful for the king of the Persians to do what so euer him selfe lusted Surely they answered wel in their first part of their answer but in the latter part they most filthily flattered the tyranne Howbeit the thyngs whych are written by this Historiographer although sometymes he wryte fables and those thinges which Ierome writeth vary not Bycause the vulgare people being now corrupted with fylthy and wycked custome contracted suche matrimonies the wyser sorte neuerthelesse in whom the lawe of nature dyd shyne vnderstoode that the same were not lawful althoughe beyng blynded wyth couetousnes they abstained not from them Whom Paule to the Romaines hath greuously reprehended saying which men though they knowe the righheousnes of God Incestuous persons haue afterward abhorred those whō they haue poluted not onely doo suche thinges but also haue pleasure in them that do them And these matrimonies by their own nature are so well knowen to be vnlawfull that they dryue an exceading great horrour into them whych do heare that such thinges haue bene done yea and they them selues which haue commytted the same when their lust asswaged semed to abhorre those whom they haue polluted Cynara Myrrha The Poetes make mencion of Cynara and Myrrha hys daughter how after the father vnderstoode that he had accompanied wyth hys daughter yea euen vnwares so hated her that he persecuted her al that euer he might Ammō beganne so to hate hys syster Thamra whom he had defyled Incest almost haue euer had horrible endes Ptholomey that he commaunded her to bee violentlye thrust out of hys syght Thou shalt also neuer almoste fynde if thou looke in histories that incestuous mariages or carnal copulations came to good ende Ptholomey kyng of Egipt tooke to wyfe by fraude and guile hys syster Euridices Anthonius Carocalla Nero. which the Historiographers and especially Iustine haue manifestly set foorth to haue had yl successe Anthonius Caracalla who maryed hys stepmother and Nero whych committed fylthye fornication with hys mother came not onelye to a most vnhappye ende but according to their desertes they were wonderfully hated of the people and were openly called Monsters of humane nature Wherefore we graunt both that these commaundementes which do prohibite those sinnes pertayne to the law of nature and were for iust cause renued by God in his morall lawes It may also be manifestly ynough declared
reason forbad fyrst al degrees euen to the seuenth which when he saw afterward was not obserued and al was ful of confusion he cut of his prohibitions to the fourth degree In which thing he is yet constant hardened if there come no money in but if money be offred wherof he must haue much brought hym to fyl his filthy cofers he setteth at libertie as pleaseth him both his own lawes and the word of god This we must also knowe that God had in his lawes an other decree whiche may lawfully be called peculiar bycause it extendeth no way to other nations neither ought it to be in force at all tymes And that was that when any husband deceased without children the brother which remained on liue or some other next of kynne should mary the first mans wife left so that the first childe which should be begotten of that mariage shoulde be counted the sonne of hym that was dead and should fully succede him as touching his inheritaunce For God would not in that publique wealth that men should altogether be extinguished and he prouided that the same distinction of landes shoulde be kepte as much as might be And seing the same is not vsed in our publique wealthes neither hath God commaunded that it shoulde it therfore pertayneth nothyng vnto vs. Wherfore we must keepe oure selues vnder the generall and common lawe She that is left of the kinnesman ought to he maryed namely that no man presume to mary the wife of his brother being dead although he dyed without children Let vs also knowe that in the beginning when onely the familie of Adam lyued on the earth brethren were not forbidden as they were afterwarde For brethren were driuen of necessity to mary their sisters But afterward wheÌ„ men were increased in number shame shewed it selfe forth and they began by the instinction of God or by nature either to abstayn from prohibited persons or at the least to know that such coniunctions were ful of ignominye But what tyme they began first to abstaine it appeareth not by the history The Gods of the Hâ—â—â—â—â—â—ried â—hâ—â—â— Systers Peraduenture the Heathen Poetes haue declared that necessity of the elders whych compelled the famyly of the first Parentes to constrayne the brother to mary the Syster when as they fable that their Gods had their Systers to wyues for the chiefe of them namelye Iupiter had Iuno whych in Virgil speaketh thus of her selfe But I whych walke the Quene of the Gods both syster and wyfe to Iupiter And although the woorde of God Causes 〈◊〉 manye degâ—â—es in mariages aâ— forbydden Augustine and instincte of nature were sufficient by them selues to make vs to abstayne from the foresayde coninunctions yet are there many good causes of prohibition alledged by diuers wryters Augustine in hys .xv. booke De ciuitate dei and .xvi. chap. writeth that the same abstinence was very profitable to dilate more amplye the bondes of humane fellowshyp For if mariages should be included wythin the walles of one family theÌ„ should there come no kynreds with others Furthermore it is not meete that one and the selfe man should occupye the persons of diuers kynredes namelye that one man should be both vncle and husband of one woman and the same woman to be both Aunt and wyfe of one man Which reason Cicero also hath touched in hys fyft booke Definibus and also Plutarch in his .108 probleme And they being both Ethnickes could not haue sene this but being illustrate by the light of nature This also is the third reason bicause these persons from whom we should abstain do dwel together often tymes in one house Wherefore if there shoulde be manye maryed folkes together they woulde not vse them selues so grauelye and seuerely as domestical shamefastnes requireth Plutarch The causes of strife betwene kinsfolk ought to be cut of Plutarch in the place before sayde hath set forth two other reasons besydes those which we haue declared One is bycause betwene kynsfolkes discordes are to be feared For they would soone complayne that the right of kynred should be taken away whych saying I doo vnderstand thus if eyther she or he which should ouerskyp the nearer degre and marry with the degree farther of she which were nearer would thinke that she had iniury done vnto her as though in ouerskipping her he would put her to shame as it is a common vse in wylles and Testamentes where they which are nyghest of kynne maye not nor oughte not to bee forgotten of hym which maketh the wyll And in the lawe for raysing vp seede to the brother already deceased the fyrst place must be geuen to the nyghest of kynne who if hee refused to vse hys right was made ashamed as that law doth more amplye declare the same Wherefore seyng discordes betwene al men are to be abhorred WomeÌ„ for that they are weake ought not to haue their patrimonies diminished but increased much more are they vtterly to be detested betwene kynsfolkes Plutarch also bryngeth an other reason bycause women are weake and therefore they haue neede of many sundry patrones wherefore when they are maryed to straunge men if they shoulde be euyll handled by their husbandes as often tymes they are they haue al their kynsfolkes easely for Patrones but if they be wyues to their own kynsfolkes and happen to be euil entreated of them they should then haue very fewe to defende their cause For other kynsfolkes woulde not bee so ready for their sakes to fall out with their own kynne which they woulde not be greued to doo wyth straungers But nowe that I am in hande wyth Plutarch I remember that whych he hath wrytten in the syxt probleme Of the matrimoni of brethreÌ„ and Systers chyldren Plutarch and I thinke it is 〈◊〉 vnprofitable to declare it although it seme to disagree from that whych Augustine wryteth in hys .xv. booke De ciuitate dei .xvi. chapter of the matrimony of Brothers and Systers chyldren For he affirmeth there that before hys tyme the same was lawfull although those kyndes of maryages semed very rare bycause men after a sorte eschewed to contracte with persons so nigh but he saith that the licence was afterward taken away Which I surely can not perceaue in the Romane lawes which were publikely receaued allowed which yet wer vsed thorough out Aphrica Wherefore it maye seme obscure to some of what lawes Augustine speaketh wherby he sayth that in his time those kindes of matrimonyes were prohibited But we must vnderstand that in his time the law of Theodosius the elder was of force who was the fyrst among the Emperoures that I know of which prohibited matrimonye of this degree Which also Aurelius Victor and Paulus Diaconus do testifye And that is found at this day writteÌ„ in the boke called Codex Theodosianus concerning incestuous mariages by these wordes Let this sentence remaine concerning them whosoeuer from henceforth shall defyle hymself with
the mariage of his cousin Germaine or of his sisters daughter or of his brothers daughter or of his wiues daughter lastly of al whose mariage is forbidden and condemned But that law is not in these dayes found in the Digestes neither in the booke of the Code nor in the Authentikes Which neuerthelesse Clother the king followed as it is red in the lawes of the Almaines entituled of vnlawfull mariages yea and it is confirmed by the ecclesiasticall Canons and decrees in Gracian 35. Question the second and third also by the counsel of Agathen in the 61. Canon And Gregorye the fyrst in the same place is found to be of the same opinion in the chap. Quaedam ex Romana c. This answereth to the sixth interrogation of Augustine Bishop of Cantorbury and affyrmeth that those which be ioyned by the degree of cousin Germaines ought to abstaine from contracting of matrimony one with an other Yea and long before Gregorye his time Ambrose hath in his 66. Epistle ad Paternum condemned the mariage of brethrens children he testifieth that it was forbiddē by the law of Theodosius which I haue also brought And if I should vse coniecture I thinke Theodosius did it by the persuasion of Ambrose who had a singular respecte to publique honestie Neither was that law so seuere at that time but that sometimes it might be released as he declareth in that Epistle to Paternus In that Ambrose affyrmeth there that such mariages were prohibited by Gods lawe It can be made probable to none which shall attentiuely consider the wordes of the law of god and doings of the fathers How the Romanes haue behaued themselues toward their cousins as concernyng matrimonyes in the old time this I haue obserued Ligustine sayth in the 2. booke and 5. decade of Liuy that his father gaue him his Vncles daughter to wife Cicero also writeth in hys oration for Cluentius that Cluentia had lawfully maryed her cousin Germaine M. Aurius And M. Anthonius the Philosopher tooke to wife Faustina his cousin Germaine as Iulius Capitolinus testifieth And before Rome was builded the mariages of Turnus and Lauinia were in hand which came of two sisters Howbeit Plutarch writeth in the place aboue mentioned that at the fyrst when Rome was builte it was forbidden by a lawe that they whiche were nighe of kinne shoulde not marrye together But yet he writeth that the lawe for brethren and sisters children was vppon thys occasion released bycause a certayne man beyng both honeste and also well beloued of the people of Rome when he was greuouslye oppressed with pouertye toke to wife his sisters daughter which was ryche and welthye for the whiche cause he was accused of inceste But the matter being decided he was quyted by the iudgemente of the people of Rome for he was greatly fauoured in the citye Then after that it was decreed by the consent of the people of Rome that from thence forth it shoulde be lawfull for brethren and sisters children to marry together These thinges I thought good to declare of this kinde of matrimonye both out of Gods lawes and the old new lawes of the Romanes and also out of the fathers and ecclesiasticall Canons Whereunto I will adde that there be very many Cities professing the gospell whiche do not admitte the mariages of brethren and sisters children as Surike Berna Basile Schapusin Sangallum Biema c. In the kingdome also of England when I was there that degree was excluded from matrimony Wherfore in places where the magistrate forbyddeth these mariages the faithful ought for those causes whiche I haue before declared to abstayne from them But now I will go to the present matter If Othoniel as I haue before sayd were cousin vnto Achsa he might mary her by the lawe of God but if he were her vnckle it was not lawful by the cōmō lawe But he maried her Wherfore we must nedes saye one of these two thinges either that it was a faulte for the fathers as we haue before sayd were not alwayes free from sinne or elles that god would haue this done by a priuilege or certain prerogatiue whiche we may not for all that take example by Neither is this to be forgottē that after the accustomed manner of Scriptures Kinsfolkes in scriptures are called brethren they whiche were any way of kinne together were called brethren as Loth is called the brother of Abraham the kinsfolkes of Iesus Christ the sonne of God are called in the history of the gospel his brethrē So may it also be in this place that Othoniel may be called the brother of Chaleb when as he was but only some other waye of kinne vnto him And the interpretours do vse this expositiō oftē times which I would not disallow but that I se this particle in the texte The yonger whiche is not wont to be added but when sisters and brethren in dede are compared together But now wil I go to other thinges whiche are to be considered in this history Chaleb had promised him which should cōquere the citie of Debir Whether Chalebs promisse were a rashe promisse his daughter to wife What if any wicked persone had performed that should he by the vertue of the promise haue ben made the sonne in law of Chaleb surely it semeth not For what other thing had this ben than to betraye his daughter Therfore it may appeare that he promised rashly For a wise man ought to foresee those thinges whiche might happen How be it we must consider that there were not at that tyme such wicked and flagitious men among the Israelites for as long as those elders lyued whiche gouerned the publicque wealth together with Iosua as it shal be declared in this hystory the people feared god Wherfore it followeth that they vsed to put those to death by the lawe whiche were guiltie of very grieuous crimes Therfore there was no daunger lest any such mā should conquere the citie to whom for that act Hacsah should be geuen to wife of duetye But if there remayned certaine smal and common faultes in him which had conquered it the same might be recompenced by his other vertues For there is is none so absolute and perfect but that some times he may fal Moreouer there were some hope of amendement of life And the conquerour might be so nighe of kynne as peraduēture this Othoniel was that he could not mary the daughter of Chaleb Wherfore it seemeth that at the least in that part it was a rashe promise But I do not thincke it can be accused of rashenesse A constant rule of all humane promises for as much as all promises ought among the godly so farre forth to be of force as they do agree with the word of god which thing if Iepthe had diligently considered he would neuer haue suffred hym selfe to haue committed so vnworthy thinges agaynst his daughter This cōdition surely in all couenaunts and promises ought to be counted
rewardes for gods sake which he loueth not for thy sake By these words is gathered that we may loue gayne and rewardes for gods sake for it is lawfull to embrace the meane endes for the last and chief goodnesse Neither are we forbidden but that we may sometymes wishe for meat drincke and cloth and such thinges as are nedefull for this lyfe yea and Christ hath commaunded by expresse wordes that we should aske them and he hath promised them to those whiche seke for the kyngdome of God for he hath sayd first seke the kingdome of God and these thinges shal be ministred vnto you Wherfore it is true that these may be so hoped for regarded and receaued of God as gifts and rewardes and not as the principall thinges For they also are to be referred to a farther end according to Paules most wholesome admonition who hath written whether we eat or whether we drinke or whether we do any other thing let vs do it to the glory of God And finally seyng God him selfe his glory What is the foundation of earthly promises beneuolence fauour are the roote and foundation of other promises and of euery rewarde so often as we shall beholde these other thinges for as much as they are comprehended in those former thynges we must neuer suffer to haue one separated from an other but in the latter continually looke vpon those whiche are first Wherby as Augustine hath geuen vs counsell we shall loue nothyng besides God which for his sake we should not loue And thus much of this said question In latter promises the firste are continually to be beholden now we will returne to the history For as muche as it is now manifest that it was lawfull for Chaleb to set forth a rewarde to all them whiche should conquere the citie of Debir to encourage them to performe that whiche they ought otherwise of duety to haue done it was counted no sinne in Othoniel of whome we now entreate couragiously to fight for the obtayning of a wife whiche he knew otherwise to be acceptable to God 14 And it came to passe as he went she moued him to aske of her father a fielde and she lighted of her Asse and Chaleb sayde vnto her What wilt thou 15 And she aunswered him geue me a blessing for thou hast geuen me a drye lande geue me also springes of water And Chaleb gaue her springes both aboue and beneath In the xv chap. of Iosua where all these things of Achsah and Othoniel are rehearsed in maner by so many wordes Dauid kimhi onely thre differences are perceaued in the word One is that which is here Techitioth and Alioth is there Techitith Alith Moreouer there it is said Tinna here is Hicah Lastly there is Scadah here is Haschadah R.D. Kimhi hath noted these things For the interpretors of the Hebrues are most precise yea in obseruing the very prickes I would they were as quicke in sight diligēt in rendring reasons of annotatiōs Hachsah persuaded prouoked her husband to aske the field of Chaleb her father which I therfore tell you bicause the Latine trāslation is corrupted For it hath that the husbād persuaded the wife to aske the field of Chaleb The pollicy of Achsah Furthermore by this we may consider the sharpenesse of the witte of a woman She therfore moueth her husband to aske the field bycause she was persuaded with her selfe that her father would not deny him that whiche he should aske She thought moreouer that if her husband obtayned the field she should easely by her selfe afterward obtayne the waters wheras if she should haue asked them both at one time namely the field and the waters it might peraduenture be hard to obtayne both together But if the field were first geuen to her husband her father might be coūted very hard if he should deny his daughter the waters she requiring thē of him And in asking she wisely watched a fitte tyme namely when she should be brought to her husbād for then parents are wont to shewe thē selues more gētle towardes their childrē whē they se that they shal be by by taken frō thē Wherfore thoughe they were at other times hard thē yet they somwhat relent In this reason of the petitiō I haue followed Leui the sonne of Gerson Leui the sonne of Gherson who expoundeth that Hachsah would therfore haue her husbād to aske the ground first that she might the better afterward desire the waters But R. D. Kimhi in interpreting of the boke of Iosua sayth that he namely Othoniel would not aske it D. Kimhi wherfore the womā her self was constrayned by her selfe to aske her father And this semeth to be the meanyng of this interpretor Chaleb had before geuē vnto his daughter the field as lād for her dowry the soyle wherof was dry barrē wherfore the witty maydē toke occasiō to aske that it might be fertile thoroughe water But howsoeuer it be it skilleth not much let vs only deligētly marke this that Chaleb was liberal honorable For that he graunted his daughter both the waters aboue the waters beneath She lighted of her Asse She lighted to declare her due obeysaunce towardes her father and to make her peticion the more acceptable and she so lighted that she kneled on the grounde with her knees as the Hebrew word signifieth For the Hebrewes vse that worde Sanach when they will signifie a stake or wedge or any such thyng to be driuen To be shorte she asked vpon her knees those thinges whiche she desired Rebecka also as it is written in the booke of Gen. whē she sawe Isaak to whom she was brought for to be hys wife she lighted of her camele wheron she sat Neither let vs meruayle that Achsah beyng the daughter of a prince rode on an Asse Asses are very vsed in Siria seing that in Siria Asses are very muche vsed for this kynd of beast whiche is of his owne nature cold is more vsed in hotter countreys than in regions towarde the northe And as we shall heare in this historye fifty sonnes of a certain iudge road vpon fiftye Asses Mephiboseth also the nephew of Saul the kyng and Balaam the Prophete vsed this kynd of beaste Riuers fountaynes of waters are muche set by in Siria Why GOD brought hys people to drye regions Neither is it in vayne that this request for waters is so diligently described in this place for as muche as Siria hath grounde fertile enoughe but that it wāteth water here and there Wherfore it commeth to passe that riuers and fountaynes of waters are muche estemed in those places And God of purpose brought his people to these so drye regions neither would he haue them dwell in watery places that they wayling for water might continually depend vpon hym and thereby might haue the better occasion to pray the oftener to the heauenly father and the more seruently to
For there are haue bene very many which haue maried wiues cleane without any dowery yea those mē of so great honestye and authoritie that it should seme very rash to condemne their fact seing the holy scriptures are not against it neither do I iudge that matrimony should by any meanes be denied to those womē which are without dowery if thei haue nede of matrimonye Paule furthermore testifyeth the matrimonye shadoweth the coniunction of Christ with the church wherfore if we should loke vpō the truth the church had nothing which it could offer vnto Christ in the name of a dowry yea rather as Ezechiel teacheth God found it rolled in bloud and myre The fathers in the old testament seme to haue had wiues sometimes withoute dowries Wherfore it semeth to be decreed the men may and that it is lawfull to receaue doweryes when they are geuen that the same custome is honest so that the iust meane be not exceded and he which marieth be not allured to matrimony by the name of the dowery as the principall cause The manners and godlinesse of the wyfe ought chiefly to be regarded neither ought any man by and by to persuade himself If I shal marry a wife without a dowery I shall therefore haue her the better and the quieter Ierome The wyfe of Law seing as Ierome declareth in his fyrst booke against Iouinian Cato Censorius had Actoria Paula to wyfe who was borne of a base kinred who was poore also and without a dowerye and yet for all that shew as a dronckard weake and proud vnto the same Cato 16 And the children of Keni Moyses father in lawe went vp oute of the citye of the Palme trees with the children of Iudah into the wildernesse of Iudah that lieth in the south of Arad and went and dwelt among the people In the conquering the citie of Hebron and Debir there is mention made also of the children of Moyses father in law they were Ethniks in dede by kinde Of the Kenites but they wer ioyned with the Israelites in will and fayth from whō also in the fyrst ofspring of kinred they wer not straungers for as much as they came of Madian the sonne of Abraham by his wyfe Keturah And the same Kenites constantly abode with the Hebrues tyll theyr captiuitye into Babilon for as much as the Rechabites came of the Kenites as it is written in the booke of Paralipomenon But why they were called Kenites it is vncertaine But some thinke that it came of this bycause the sonne of Iethro namely Hobab the brother of Moyses wife was called Kin by an other name He therfore in the beginning with his familye dwelled together with the Beniamites in the fieldes of Iericho when the Israelites passing ouer Iordane vnder Iosua possessed the city of Iericho But after when they sawe that the tribe of Iudah possessed the cityes of Hebron Debir they went vnto thē and dwelt more cōmodiously in the plaine of Harad although they had no certayne houses but liued continually as it were in tentes The citie of Palmes Although some suspecte the citie of Palmes to haue bene Engaddi yet moste part of the expositours interprete it to be Iericho with whom Iosephus de Antiquit Hebr. agreeth and also Paraphrastes Caldaicus yea and the booke of Deut in the xxxiiii chap. testifyeth the same For as much as that citie had a notable groue of Palmes of a hundred furlongs Strabo which thing Strabo also testifyeth And yet we may not thinke that the Kenites reedifyed the citie of Iericho for it was accursed by the commaundement of Iosua who amongest other thinges published this as it is to be beleued in the name of God namely that he which should attempt to repayre it should wrappe himself vnder the curse which came to passe in very deede For in the time of Ahab the wicked king one Aiel builte it vp agayne but to his own great hurt Fo his two sonnes Abiram Segub perished whē the citie was in repayring as it is written in the first boke of kings .xvi. chap. But the countrey or ground thereof belonged by diuision vnto the tribe of Beniamin The fielde of Iericho belōged to the tribe of Beniamin And these Kenites as it semeth had pitched tentes there eyther for warfare or els for keping of shepe in which thei liued for a time eyther about the cicie or els betwene the decaied places of the city And there was a regard had vnto thē in distributing of the land in assigning of fieldes as Iosephus also testifieth according to the promise made vnto thē by Moyses which is writtē in the x. chap. of Num. And it is thought to be very lykely that their lot was in the tribe of Iudah which being not yet possessed by the children of Israel they dwelled as it is said in the land with the Beniamites in the field of Iericho This exposition semeth ful and manifest inough Kimhi But Kimhi followeth an other opinion and thinketh that the children of Israell when they after they had conquered Hebron and Debir in the time of Iosua had determined vtterly to destroy the citie of Iericho vnderstanding that the Kenites dwelte there lyke straungers as I thinke bycause they came of the stocke of Madian before they ouerthrew al the city they called them away that they might not perish with the other Chananites The same curtesie dyd Saule shewe vnto them when he should make warre agaynst Amelek as it is writtē in the fyrst booke of Samuel xv chap. For he commaunded the Kenites to depart least they shoulde be destroyed with Amelek and he shewed a cause namely bycause they were good and gentle vnto the Israelites comming vp out of Egipt Kimhi addeth moreouer that Amelek and the Kenites were of a farre contrarye affection toward the Israelites For the Kenites loued thē wonderfull wel But Amelek hated thē deadly Wherfore euē as god had bound himselfe by an othe the warre should be continually made agaynst Amelek so would he haue the Kenites recōpenced alwayes with benifites This interpretation should be very likely if this departing of the Kenites frō Iericho were not put by our history after Hebron and Debir were conquered But Iericho was conquered of Iosua fyrst of all after he had passed ouer Iordane and certainely before he had gotten Hebron Debir Besides thys oure historye entreateth eyther of the Kenites whiche remayned in Madian or ells of those which had ioyned thēselues in fellowship with the people of Israel It semeth that this can not be spoken of the first whē as Iericho is not in Madian yea it is farre distant frō thence but if we shal vnderstand this to be spoken of those which came with Israell how shuld it be vnderstand that they dwelt in Iericho before Iosua toke it Moreouer it is not found in the texte of the history that they were called forth as Kimhi writeth but it is
must alwayes loke for this when they are afflicted by the goodnesse of god that it would please him to mitigate the temptations and geue thē strength to beare them for as much as he hath promysed by his Apostle so to do For it is written to the Corinthians God is faythfull whiche wil not suffer you to be tempted aboue your power but will with the temptation make a way out But whether god doth stirre vp men to sinnes by temptation shal be afterward declared But now to the history 20 And they gaue Hebron vnto Chaleb as Moyses sayd and he expelled thence the three sonnes of Enak 21 And the children of Beniamin dyd not caste oute the Iebusites that inhabited Ierusalem Wherefore the Iebusites dwelled with the children of Beniamin in Ierusalem vnto thys day Thys sentence is therefore repeated bicause now the warres of the tribe of Iudah are declared of which warres Chaleb without doubt was the captayne Wherefore here is declared what he obteyned Namely those thynges whiche God would haue done as he had spoken by Moyses as it is written in the fyrste chap. of Deut. and .xiii. chap. of Num. and xiiii and xxv chap. of Iosuah But that which is written after it how that the children of Beniamin dyd not caste out the Iebusites that inhabited Ierusalem but dwelled together with them perteyneth to those things which the other tribes had to do with the Chananites and it beginneth with Beniamin for thys cause bycause that tribe was next to Iudah yea and that which is now written of Beniamin The citie of Ierusalem was cōmon to Beniamin Iudah is declared of the tribe of Iudah in the booke of Iosuah toward the ende of the xv chap. And I thynke that that was therfore done bicause the citye of Ierusalem was in the limite of both the tribes and was inhabited together both of them of Iudah and also of the Beniamites Yea and some affyrme that the part of the citye where the temple stoode belonged to the tribe of Beniamin and to that purpose do they wrest that which Iacob the Patriarch sayd on his death bed when he blessed hys sonne Beniamin Beniamin is a rauenyng wolfe early taking hys pray in the morning and deuiding the spoyles at euen thynkyng thys oracle to belong to the morning and euenyng sacrifices of the Temple But howe truly they so doe I will not nowe reason But yet they are not so farre oute of the waye as Augustine whiche drewe the saying of the Patriarche to Paule the Apostle bycause he was of the tribe of Beniamin A fayned tale of the Hebrues I am not ignoraunt how the Hebrues write that the Iebusites were not cast out for thys cause bycause that Iudas and Beniamin would kepe the couenaunt which as it is written in the xxi chapter of Gen. was made betwene Abraham and Abimilech King of the Gerarites where the moste holy Patriarche sware that he woulde not molest neyther the same Abimilech neyther hys children nor yet hys childrens children wherefore seing he and hys posteritye inhabited Ierusalem and hys childrens children liued euen to thys tyme they saye it was not lawfull for the Hebrues for bycause of theyr othe geuen to caste them oute But afterwarde vnder Dauid the tyme of the couenaunte was oute bycause then were the childrens children of Abimilech worne out And for that cause Dauid dyd caste out the Iebusites oute of the citye of Ierusalem as it is written in the latter booke of Samuel the v. chapter But these are but fables yea if we looke in the foresayde booke of Samuell we shall fynde that the strong fenced Castle of that citye was the cause that the Iebusites were not caste oute before For Dauid to the end be would obtayne the castle promised a noble reward to him that coulde conquere it namely that he woulde make hym Captayne of the whole hoste of Israel Two causes why the Iebusites were not expelled oute of Ierusalem whiche office Ioab obtayned bycause he fyrste of all Conquered the Castle There were two causes why they of Iudah and the Beniamites dyd not caste oute the Iebusites out of the citye One was bycause they obeyed not the worde of God as they should haue done wherfore they are muche to bee blamed The other cause was bycause by the prouidence of God and hys moste wyse dispensation the whole victorye of these nations was reserued for Dauid and Salomon For so God abuseth the synnes of men that they hynder not but set forwarde hys Counselles specially for the aduauncyng of hys electe But to retourne to the Hebrues howe shoulde they knowe that the posteritye of Abimilech dwelled in Ierusalem The Scripture testifyeth no suche thyng Neyther can they tel whether Abimilech his stocke belonged to the Iebusites Wherfore let vs leaue their fayned opinion vnto thēselues Ierusalem was in the olde time called Iebus let vs follow this sentence nowe alledged as the truer But this is not to bee ouerskipped that Ierusalem was sometymes called Iebus For as muche as the .xix. chapter of this boke testifyeth the same also the fyrst booke of Paralipomenon in the xi chap. The summe is the Iebusites possessed the castle whiche being well fensed for as much as God had iustly with drawen his helpe for the Hebrewes they could not be dryuen out of it but Beniamin and the tribe of Iudah obtayned the Citie in the meane time Why Saul Dauid triumphed in Ierusalem Vnto whiche citie Saul and Dauid went after they had gotten the victory against the Philistians and Dauid himselfe brought thether the hed of Goliah whom he had slayne Peraduenture that citie semed mete for that triumphe bicause it was cōmon to the tribe of Iudah and Beniamin vnto which tribes Dauid and Saul belonged For as Dauid was of the tribe of Iudah so was Saul a Beniamite And the Iebusites dwelled in Ierusalem vnto this day That is euen to the time of Samuel who is thought to haue written this booke For afterwarde came Dauid when he ruled ouer all Israel and expelled the Iebusites from thence as it is sayd 22 In like maner they that were of the house of Ioseph went vp to Bethel and the Lord was with them 23 And the house of Ioseph caused Bethel to be searched whiche before tyme was called Luz 24 And the spyes saw a man come out of the citie and they said vnto hym shewe vs we pray thee the way into the citie and we wil shew thee mercy 25 And when he had shewed thē the waye into the citie they smote it with the edge of the sworde But let the man and all his houshold go free 26 And the man went into the lande of the Hethites and built a citie and called the name thereof Luz whiche is the name thereof vnto this day After the tribes of Iudah and Beniamin is also declared in a certaine ordre what the other tribes did The house
much as Idolatrers do wander fro whatsoeuer they do in their rites turneth to their own destruction The other thing is that the manner of the oblations consist of the doctrine of the holy scriptures and come not of our owne inuentions and fayninges Whither the selfe same thing may be both a sacrament and a sacrifice Here ariseth a doubt bicause we haue put a difference betwene a sacrament and a sacrifice and yet if the elders in their oblations and sacrifices had the self same thing that we haue when we celebrate the supper of the Lorde whych no man doubteth but to be a sacrament How shall that be true that we said before that there is a difference betwene a sacrifice and a sacrament seing that of necessity the sacrifices of the Elders must also be Sacraments To this I answer that the reasons of these thinges ar diuers and yet that letteth not but that one thing may be both a Sacrament and a Sacrifice For no man doubteth but that philosophy and strength of the body are diuers thinges which neuertheles may be sene both in one mā So also it happeneth here that one thing may be both a sacrifice a sacrament The supper of the lord is both a sacrament a sacrifice although the reason of a sacrament and a sacrifice be diuers When the supper of the Lorde is celebrated in that the body and bloud of Christ are by faith spirit geuen vnto vs to be receaued and the promise of that coniunction which we haue with Christ is sealed so that we are the members of his bodye in this respect I say it is a sacrament and also so called bicause in that action god geueth hys gyftes vnto vs. But in that by the same action we do celebrate the memory of the death of Christ we render thankes vnto him for the giftes which we haue receaued we consecrate offer our selues vnto god it is The kylling of sacrifices were both sacramēts and also sacrifices may be called a iust sacrifice wherby we geue most acceptable oblations vnto god himself This self same thing may we se in the killing of the sacrifices which wer in the old time done before god for they wer both sacraments wher in Christ was geuen to the men in the old time to be receaued of them by faith by which they cōmunicated before the Lord in eating drinking together Al these things I say pertained to the reasō of a sacramēt And yet the same wer also sacrifices whē as ther thei did both consecrate theirs them selues vnto god But to retourne to the history when as very many kinde of sacrifices were commaunded in the law namely for synnes and for faultes peaceofferings also and burntofferings it is vncertain which of these the Israelites vsed at this present for the history declareth it not But by as much as maye be coniectured by those thinges which are spoken he should not erre in my iudgement whiche should affirme that they sacrificed for synne For to this ende pertaineth both the sermon that was preached and also the weeping of the people namelye to haue forgeuenes of their synnes and to retourne againe into fauour with god But some peraduenture wyl maruayle why they durst sacrifice there where the tabernacle of God was not fixed when as in Deuter. it was most manifestly forbidden by a law that the people should not Sacrifice in anye other place Whether it were lawfull to sacrifice there where the tabernacle of God was not But as touching that law we must vnderstand that it was not of efficacye till such time as the Arke and Tabernacle of the Lord had a fixed and firme place Which came not to passe before Salomon had built the most noble Temple at Ierusalem Wherfore before that time we reade that they sacrificed in wandering and vncertain places namely whersoeuer any occasion of religion was geuen Furthermore they which thinke that this man of God which preached this sermon was Phineas do say that it is not to be maruailed that sacrifices wer offered here at Bochim as the history teacheth For it might easely be that the selfe same man which preached the sermon offered sacrifice in the name of the whole people for synne for that he exercised the office of priesthoode For he succeeded Eleazer his parent according to the promise of God And by these things which haue ben intreated of in this place What thinges ought to be obserued in an holy assembly we may gather what thinges ought chiefly to be obserued in an holy assembly The word of god before al thinges must be preached vnto the people therby to allure the hearers to repentance namely to acknowledge the sinnes which they haue committed and to repent them therof Then must they procede to the administration of the Sacramentes wher the faithful may be made more assured that their sinnes ar by Christ forgeuen them they may also geue thankes vnto God and with many and sundry praises celebrate and cal vpon him 6 And when Iosua had sent the people away the children of Israel went euery man into his inheritance to possesse the lande 7 And the people serued the Lord al the dayes of Iosuah and all the daies of the Elders that outliued Iosua which had sene al the great woorkes of the Lord that he dyd for Israel This narration is therefore put in to declare how long the Israelites kept the sincere and true woorshipping of God And it is sayde that when they were come into the land of Chanaan they did their duty wel as long as Iosua lyued as long as the Elders wer remaining which had sene the wonderful workes of God which he had wrought for the Israelites sake And vndoubtedlye it had bene vnaptly if this history should haue declared the transgression of the Chyldren of Israel and should not haue noted the tyme wherein it happened Aptlye therfore is the death of Iosua and the Elders which lyued in his tyme repeated in this place and afterwarde is mencioned that an other age of men succeeded which knew not God neither had they sene his workes Wherefore the Israelites easely fel from the lawful worshipping of God We gather by this place that the repentaunce of the Hebrues before declared which happened after the death of Iosua The profite of the repentance before mentioned of the people when the publike wealth was gouerned by a Senate and the enemies wer by manye battailes destroyed compelled to paye tribute vnto the Israelites whiche had conquered them brydled and restrained the people a long time from falling into more grieuous synnes They had sinned in dede as we haue now heard in sparing the Chananites and not abolishing their wicked idolatry But afterward when they had desired and obtained pardon of so great a crime they abstained a long time from the woorshipping of Idols and the repentaunce now mencioned brought forth his fruit Some peraduenture will
For if GOD would teache the Israelites the arte of warrefare then iudged he not that arte vnlawfull And to thys purpose serueth that which Dauid sayd Blessed be god which teacheth my handes to warre and my fyngers to battayle But thys question whyther it be lawfull to make iuste warres is not nowe to be entreated of for as muche as it is most euident and that by the holy Scriptures that it is lawfull And we shall haue occasion in an other place to speake at large of that matter Wherfore I will declare what the Hebrewe expositours iudge of thys place R. Salamon R. Dauid Kimhi and also R. Leui ben Gerson write that God when he had tempted the Hebrewes and detected theyr vngodlinesse and Idolatrye withdrewe from them their strength and ayde Wherby when they attempted to make warres by their owne power and to fight by their owne strength they learned what it was to make warre When God fought for the Israelits they knew not what it was to make warre Whereas before when God himselfe fought for them they were ignoraunt of it For he endued them with strength he draue a feare into their enemyes dissolued their strength and gaue the Hebrewes a prosperous successe in theyr enterprises One dyd then pursue a thousand and two ten thousand It is therfore aptlye sayd that the Israelites when he had not yet broken the league and god fought for them were ignoraunte of warlyke feates How our fyrste parentes after sinne knew both good and euell Euen as the fyrst parentes of mankinde when they had eaten of the forbidden tree beganne to know both good and euill For before when they were nourished with the grace of GOD they were touched with the feeling of no euil And we commonlye say of children when their parentes are taken from them that they shall nowe fele what it is to gette theyr own liuyng which before they had not learned when they had their parentes liuing Christe also vsed the same kinde of speche when he sayd vnto the Apostles When I sent you without bagge or scrippe vndoubtedly you wanted nothyng But now bicause I shall be taken from you let him which hath no sweard bye him one for hereafter the times shall be harde and paynefull vnto you so that ye shall proue and haue experience of those thinges which hitherto ye haue not felte And this is the meaning at this present that the Hebrewes were brought of necessitye now at the length to knowe and feele God commaūded nothing in the lawe for the learning of the art of warfare what it was to make warre with enemyes stronger than themselues They had not experience of that before GOD taught them it in taking awaye their strength and ayde Neither is it founde in the whole lawe that he ordained any thyng for the learning of the arte of warrefare In Deutronomye the xx Chapiter he made certaine lawes for making of warre but they pertayne nothing to the attayning of knowledge in the arte of warrefare And I in my iudgemente doe allowe the interpretation of the Hebrewes rather than that which was fyrst assigned 3 Of those whom he left there were fyue Lordes of the Philistians and all the Chananites and Sidonites and the Heuites that dwelled in Mount Libanon euen from Mount Baal Hermon vnto the entrance of Hamath 4 Those I say remayned to proue Israell by and to wete whether they would obey the preceptes of the Lord which he commaunded their fathers by the hand of Moyses 5 The children of Israell therefore dwelt among the Chananites Hethites Amorites Pherezites Heuites and Iebusites That which is in the Hebrewe Sirni Ierome sometimes translateth rulers and sometimes Lordes And we may call them Princes or Presidentes or ells Gouernours Satrapes Those woordes the Grecians call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But yet they are deriued of the Persians yea the Latines sometimes vsed thē Terence in his comedie Heautontim Terence writeth If Satrapes that is a Lord be a louer he shal not be able to abide the charge Dauid Kimhi Dauid Kimhi thinketh these words in the text Fyue lords of the Philistians to be a figuratiue kinde of speche that by the fyue Lords The names of the Lordships of Palestine we might vnderstand those fiue places which they were lords ouer that is fiue Lordships of the Philistians And those places be named in the booke of Iosua the 13 chap. Gaza Asdod Ascalon Ackron Geth Of euery one of these cities they toke vnto thē the name of the lordship And vndoubtedly there is manifest mencion made of them in the fyrst booke of Samuell for of ech of thē there were gifts gathered wherwith the arke of the couenaunt was adorned to be sent agayne to the Israelites Howbeit this may seme to be strange how these cities should now be sayd not to be conquered by the Israelits When as in this booke the first chap. Gaza Ascalon Aekron are declared to be wonne in that battaile which was made by the tribes of Iuda and Simeon Whereunto we aunswere that in dede those cities were taken at the time when as for all that they were not fully conquered by the leading and conduct of Iosua as it is written in his boke Howbeit at this time as the history now testifyeth they were not in the power of the Iewes For by reason of the sinnes of the Hebrues the strength of the Philistians was confyrmed other nations of the land of Chanaan waxed euery day strōger stronger but the Israelites on the contrary side were feabled Wherfore it was an easye matter for these places to fall againe into the power of the Philistians For they were very skilful in feates of warre and they had yron and hooked Chariottes Neither did God fight for the Israelites Wherefore they might without any great trauaile by reason of the sinnes of the Iewes recouer againe the places which they had loste In that it is written And al the Chananites we must not vnderstand it absolutely and simplie but only of those which inhabited the places here mencioned Farther we must note that in the boke of Iosua there were also Chananites and Zidonites rehearsed which were not at that time destroyed And as touching the Mount Libanon The Mounte Libanon some write that it was so called of frankencense which the Grecians call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yea and the Hebrues call frankencense Libona And Mount Hermon as the boke of Deut. teacheth was called of the Amorrites Naschir of the Sirians Scherion Wherof peraduēture the prouince of Siria had his name 6 And they tooke the Daughters of them to be their wyues and gaue their own daughters to their sonnes and serued their Gods 7 Wherefore the children of Israel did wickedly in the sight of the Lord and forgot the Lorde their God serued Baalim groues The Israelites synned three times against God First bicause as it is already shewed
they dwelled peaceably and quietly among the Chananites Thre synnes of the Hebrues and contrary to the commaundement of God made those nations tributaries vnto them Secondly bicause they contracted matrimonies with that people And that had God prohibited to be done as the law in many places witnesseth Yea and in the booke of Esdras the last chap. we reade of a grieuous complaynt bycause the Iewes in their captiustye in Babilon had taken straungers to wyues And Esdras there decreed that such wiues should be put away God forbyddeth vnlyke maryages that those matrimonies should be counted voide which wer contracted betwene persons prohibited by God And why God would not haue matrimonies so contracted this reason is chiefly alledged bicause by such vnlike matrimonies the worshipping of God is wonderfully empaired For godly husbandes or wiues are by the vngodly parties oftentimes alienated from the true god Neither doth the Scripture onely teache vs this but also experience both in the olde time and also in our time testifieth it For as much as Salomon as it is written in the first boke of the kinges the .xi. chap. was both corrupted and also builded Temples for Idoles by the entisement of straunge women whom he most inordinatelye loued and more than was cōuenient Wherfore he miserably incurred the wrath of god The Iewes also as our historye nowe declareth had experience of the same And we in our time see great hinderaunce to come vnto the beleuers bycause very many of them contract matrimony with Papistes The third synne of the Hebrewes was bicause they worshipped Idoles and that was most of all against the league which they had long before made with god for they sayd we will serue the Lord our god Further it is added And they woorshipped trees or groues Thys woorde Aschera with the Hebrues is a tree and being in the plural number Ascheroth as it is in this place it signifieth trees and of some it is translated groues For it is a most common maner among the Idolatrers Gods wer worshipped in groues to woorship their goddes in groues In Oken groues they sacrificed vnto Iupiter and the Oke of Dodome was in the old time most famous by reason of the answers which it gaue In woods of bay trees was Apollo woorshipped Daphne also is notable wher the Temple of Apollo was built Minerua also was wont to haue a temple among Oliue trees And lastly we may marke both in the Poetes and also in histories that shadowy woods most large riuers mountaines of exceding great height wer counted of the men in the old time places most apt for sacrifices to be done vnto Idoles Bicause such places driue into men no smal admiration Wherefore they thought that such notable places had the power of god present Yea and Abraham also Isaac and Iacob and the old Fathers From whence the maner of sacrificing in hy◠moūtains came offered sacrifices vnto the true god vpon the high mountaines which custome was tyll such time vsed as god by a law ordained that they should not do sacrifice euerye where but in that place onely which he himselfe had chosen 8 Therfore the Lord was angry with Israel and sold them into the handes of Chusan Riseathaim Kyng of Aram-Naharaim the children of Israel serued Chusan Riseathaim eyght yeares Now is particularly mencioned the punishment wherwith god being angry punished the Hebrewes For when they so fel from him that they forgot hym he deliuered them to Chusan King of Mesopotamia And this is the first bondage that the children of Israel were in And that which the Grecians cal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mesopotamia the Hebrues name Aram-naharaim Nahar signifieth with them a Ryuer It is therfore put in the dual number bicause that part Siria or Aram is enclosed with two riuers Euphrates I say and Tigris Of the surname of Chusan Wherfore as touching the signification of the woord the Grecians haue followed the Hebrues But why Chusan was called Riseathaim it is darke Although D. Kimhi thinketh that the surname was geuen him of some certain place as we se to chaūce to Princes of our time which receiue their surname of that places frō whēce their Elders had their beginning But other some thinke that this king was therefore so called bicause he was very wicked and vngodly For with the Hebrues Resehaha signifieth wickednes and vngodlines Wherfore they wil haue it to be as much as if one should say Chusan of vngodlines or vngodly Chusan It is the dual number to declare that he was corrupted not with any simple wickednes or vngodlines but with a doubt that is with a principal and absolute wyckednes or vngodlines And ther wer some of the Hebrues which went about to expresse the double vngodlines of the kings of Mesopotamia For they say that Balaam was hired from thence to curse the Israelites Farther and this say they was the other wickednes wherwith this Chusan oppressed the Iewes which by no right pertained to his dominion or Lordship But these ought rather to be called diuinations and coniectures than iust interpretations They serued hym eyght yeares Vndoubtedly a very long time which I suppose was so much the painfuller vnto them Why the Chaldeans and Sirians went about to gouern the Iewes bicause from their commyng out of Egipt hitherto they had serued none But vnder what pretence this Kyng subdued vnto him the Hebrues it is not declared Peraduenture he thought that the Iewes wer a part of his people sent abroade to inhabite For Abraham was called out of Chaldea and came first into Mesopotamia From whence by the commaundement of God he went into the land of Chanaan Furthermore in that place Iacobs children were borne which wer the Princes of the twelue Tribes This peraduenture wer the titles wherby the Chaldeans and Sirians endeuoured them selues often times to be Lords ouer the Hebrues which thing yet they did vniustly For ther wer no people sent from the Chaldeans or from the Sirians by the common wyll and consent of the Princes and Magistrates whyche should go and inhabite in some place of the land of Chanaan Wherfore they did wrongfullye oppresse the Iewes and were styrred vp thereunto by couetousnes and ambition to enlarge their dominions This is also vncertayn whether this Chusan did together with the Iewes oppresse the Chananites And it maye be that he was not troublesome to the Chananites as to his friendes but onely afflicted the Hebrues Neither wer it absurde to thinke that this king was called by the Chananites to oppresse the Hebrues their common enemies 9 And the children of Israel cryed vnto the Lord and the Lord styrred vp a Sauiour to the children of Israel and saued them one Othoniel the sonne of Chenez Calebs yonger sonne 10 And the spirit of the Lord was vpon him and he iudged Israel and he went out to warre and the Lord deliuered Chusan Riseathaim kyng of Aram into his
highe priest of the old Testament Moreouer what did the high priest Aaron and his successors in the old testament whose office was both morning and euening perpetually to minister at the tabernacle For as thē wer not the courses of the priests distributed by Dauid Salomon and Ezechias Vsed they not their wiues Vndoubtedly they broughte forth children But they say that then it ought to haue bene done forasmuch as the successiō of the priest hode was by carnall propagation neither might the priestes he taken out of any other tribe then out of the tribe of Leui. But nowe that we are losed from that law and that we may euery where haue ministers of the church it is mete that they be without wiues I wil aske these men who was the author that the high priests the priests in the old time should be continued by carnal propagation It is meruelous if they graūt not that God was the author I wil therfore conclude that they make thēselues wiser then god who is most wise who also suffred willed prists to vse matrimony He might haue taken priests out of euery tribe and commaunded continency But he would not do it But these men dare do more then he hath commaunded Farther let them tel vs whether there were ministers in the primatiue church or no The ministers of the primitiue churche had wiues and vsed them Canons of the Apostles vndoubtedly there were yea and those had wyues yet for all that they perpetually both taught and ministred That they had wiues the histories declare the Canons do testifye these Canons in especiall which ar of the Apostles whervnto our aduersaries thinke we must so much leane vnto For there we reade that he is accursed which teacheth that a priest ought to despise his wife I am not ignoraunt that there are certayne wily heades whiche by triflinge wordes do so auoyde the place alledged as though it were onely to be vnderstād as touching meate and drinke and clothing for which thinges they say a prieste ought to prouide for his wife when he is seperated from her As thoughe a wyfe is not more dyspysed from whome the due beneuolence is taken awaye then if she should be neglected as touching meat and drinke and clothing The councel also of Gangrensis decreed Concilium Congrente that he is accursed which putteth difference betwen the oblation of a maried priest from others Here also least they should be counted dum they say that a maried prieste is taken for him whiche was once before maried and not he whyche is presentlye maried whiche they thinke happeneth when eyther the wife is deade or elles if they be seperated the one from the other Who maryed folkes are But graunt which of these two wayes thou wilt yet one of the clergy can not be called a maried man For they are maried folkes whiche both loue together and are not seperated one from an other And that the ministers in the primitiue church had wiues and vsed them the history of Nicolaus the Deacon sufficiently declareth And it is hereby also easely proued bicause if ministers accōpanied not with their wiues Sircius Pelagius and other Romayn Popes should not haue neded to haue made so many prohibicions that it should not frō thence forth be done for these tyrans cōplained that it was so done therfore to theire power by decrees ordināces threatnings they forbad the vse of matrimony to ecclesiastical mē which they should not nede to haue don if such matrimonies had not then bene in vse At the length they deny not but that so it was but they fly to thys that we must haue a respect vnto the times attribute somwhat to necessity For in the primityue church as they say was there a great wāt of ministers wherfore they wer fayne to chose them out of euery state of men therfore ther were very many of them which wer maried at the time But now that the church is encreased we are not vrged with that necessity wherefore iustly it is decreed that onely vnmaried folkes should be chosen The primitiue church had greate aboundance of ministers But I would haue these mē to remember with themselues that in that first tyme when the heat of the holy Ghost did so much abound there were a greate many mo whych were mete for the ministery thē now ar by reason of the great aboundance of grace spiritual giftes Besides that the church when it was extended and increased it then neded many more ministers Farther an other necessitie oppresseth vs more grieuously Men are 〈◊〉 weaker bycause men at this day are more weake than they were then which their Popes also deny not For in the dist 34. chap Fraternitatis Pelagius iudgeth that a certaine Deacon which was to be promoted whiche had cōmitted whoredome and yet hauing a wife of his own should be more gently intreated bycause in these dayes not onely bodies are febled but also vertue and maners If they be not ignoraunt of this weakenes of our times which is farre greater than it was in the olde tyme they ought not from thence to take away the remedy where they perceaue a greater necessitie Neither is it mete that they should dissemble the necessitie of this age whiche obiecting vnto vs the maner of the old Churche dare lay against vs the necessitie therof There is on either side necessitie and therfore if there be a consideration had of the one let there be also a consideration had of the other There are some amongst them which say Whether it be lawfull to mary a wife after orders receaued that ministers in the old tyme had wiues and somtimes vsed them but they deny that after they had taken orders it was at any tyme lawfull to mary wiues Vndoubtedly they erre For in the sinode of Ancyrana as it is written in the decrees the 28. dist chap. Diaconi it is decreed that if a Deacon while he is in ordering Synodus Ancyrana shal deny when the state of cōtinency is required of him and shall testifie that he wil not lyue without a wife if the same Deacon after he is ordeyned do contract matrimony he may not be hindred but may frely execute his ministery By which place we are manifestly taught that it was lawfull to cōtract matrimony after orders receaued ☜ Gratianus Which Gratianus sawe well ynough and therfore he writeth that as touching that Synode a consideration ought to be had both to the time place For it is obserued in the east Church which in promotions of ministers admitte not the promise of continency but as touching time he addeth that as yet this continency of Ministers was not then brought into the Churche but if thou shalt aske when that counsell was had we answere as it also appeareth by the same decrees vnder Syricius and Innocentius which liued in the time of Ierome and Augustine But it is a
God And this doth Augustine write in his .vi. booke of Confessions the .iii. chap. And leauing him we knowe assuredlye that Daniel prayed to come to the knowledge of the dreame of Nebuchad-Nezar And this is to bee holden for certaine that it is the dutye of godlye men to praye vnto God that euen then also when we sleepe we may be kept chaste and cleane as touching the body and spirite For which thing Augustine prayed in his booke of Confessions Augustine the .x. boke and .30 chap. For visions which come by night wherewith either the mynde is troubled or the body defiled are punishmentes of synne especiallye of originall synne For it should not haue bene so in Paradise if Adam had abidden in that truth wherin he was created as Augustine writeth in his .v. booke against Iulianus the .viii. chap. Now wil we returne againe vnto the history 16 And he deuided the .300 men into three bandes and gaue euerye man a trumpet in hys hand wyth empty pytchers and lampes wythin the pytchers 17 And he sayd vnto them Looke on me and doo lykewyse For be hold I wil come to the syde of the host then euen as I do so do ye 18 For I wil blow wyth a trumpet and al they that are wyth me Then blow ye also wyth trumpets on euery syde of the hoste and ye shal say For the Lord and for Gideon 19 So Gideon and the hundreth men that were with hym came vnto the outsyde of the hoste in the beginning of the mydle watche and they raysed vp the watchmen and they blew with their trumpets and brake the pitchers which they had in their handes Gideons industry or pollecy is here set foorth Many policies of Gideon and the fauour wherwith God prospered his successes and enterprises He deuideth his three hundreth men into three bandes that he might on sundry partes inuade the Madianites and by a sodaine feare trouble their hoste on euerye syde He vsed also another pollecye concerning the time for he set vpon them in the night For when they were in a maner in a dead sleepe they wer the easilyer by a great hurly burly astonished with feare Farther hee chused the moste commodious part in all the night for suche a purpose for he assayled the Madianites about the beginning of the second watche or garde Wherefore it is called Rosch Haticonath that is the heade or begynning of the middle watche or garde This woord Toch signifieth wythin Augustine Ther are foure watches of the night whereof euerye one containeth three houres and therof is deriued Ticonah which is a myddle Augustine in his Sermon De verbis domini the .14 Oration sayth that the Elders deuided the night into .4 partes of which euery one contained .3 houres which he confirmeth also by the testimonies of the holy scriptures For it is said that the Lord came vnto the Apostles in the .4 watch of the night when they labored so vehemētly in the sea that their shypp was very neare soonke The same father writeth the lyke thyng vpon the .79 Psalme The Glose also in the Decrees .1 question the .1 Superueniente Pascha maketh mencion of the names of those partes of the night Conticinium Intempestum Gallicinium Antelucanum that is the bed time the dead part of the night the Cocke crowing and the dawning of the day And Isidorus in hys .v. booke of Etimologies maketh .vii. partes of the nyght Isidorus for he addeth these three Vesperum Crepusculum and Matutinum that is the euentide the twylight the morning The second watch may be vnderstād the midle watch as touching our history For ther are .2 watches betwene the first and the last wherfore howsoeuer it be the second must needes occupy the midle place The inuentone of nyght watches Plinius But the inuenter of these gardes or watches in hostes as Plini wryteth in his .7 booke .56 chap. was Palamedes which by this place we see cannot be so forasmuch as the actes of the Iudges are of farre more antiquitye then was Palamedes vnles peraduenture he spake onely of the watches of the Grecians The vse of watches floorished in the olde tyme not onelye in hostes but they were had in vse also for the safe custody of manye other thinges For at Rome there were watchmen Watchmen for to geue warning of fyres which in the night time went vp and downe the Citye to geue warning of fires and therfore both in the Digest and in the Code the title is De officio praefecti vigilium This industrye also was translated vnto Shepeheardes Watches of Shepeheardes which we may see euen by the Gospel For in Luke the .ii. chap. the Angels when Christ was borne came vnto the Shepeheardes whych kept watche ouer their flocke We reade also that both Ethnikes and Christians vsed watches in holy seruices Watches vsed in holy seruices At Rome there were holy seruices vnto the Goddesse Bona which were done in the night season And in the old Testament we reade that godly women abode all night at the tabernacle for doing iniury vnto whom the children of Ely were accused Philo a Iewe as Eusebius Cesariensis in his first booke rehearseth affirmeth that the Christians which were in the Apostles time Philo. amongst other theyr laudable institutions did most chastely watche in geuing thankes vnto God applieng them selues vnto prayers Tertulian doctrines and praysinges of God Tertulian in his Apologie writeth that the Christians supped oftentimes and moderatly together bicause they knew they should woorship God in the night tyme. In the Actes Paul continued his sermon and disputation til after midnight so that Eutichus a yong man being oppressed with sleepe fel downe from a high loft Yea and Christ also abode al night vpon the mountaine praying and he reprehended the Apostles which could not watch euen one houre with him and exhorted them to watche and praye that they might not be oppressed wyth temptation Ierome vpon the .25 Ierome chap. of Mathew writeth that the Iewes had a tradition that the Messias would come at midnight in which houre in dede the first born of Egipt were slayne Wherfore he writeth that he supposeth that that tradition came from the Apostles that the Priests in the holye night of Easter shoulde not send away the people so that if peraduenture the Lord appeare he may finde them watching But this is not at this daye obserued for the watches are not kept on the night of Easter but on the night of the Natiuity Consilium Carthaginense In the Counsell of Carthage the .4 chap. 49. it is ordayned that a Priest which without any necessity of his bodye ceased from keeping night watches should both be depriued of his degree and also put out of his benefice But in the Counsel of Eliberinum Consilium Eliberinum chap .35 watchings in Church yardes are prohibited where they were wont to watch
without him Ther was a publike wealth then in Israel they had Senatours and in al places ther wer Iudges appointed wherfore the forme of the publike wealth could not by men be chaunged wtout great offence If so be thou wilt demaund when it is to be thought that God doth gouern rule in other Magistrates I answer Then when this is onely prouided for that Citizens may liue vertuously And forasmuch as piety is of al vertues the most excellent the Lord doth then raigne whē althings ar referred vnto it Farther as touching ciuil actions when to euery man is rendred his own Magistrates gouerne not for their own commodity but for the publike vtility When the thing is otherwyse shall wee saye that God raygneth or no as when Nero Domitianus Commodus Heliogabalus and suche wycked men wer gouernours A distinctiō of those thynges which are done vnder Magistrates Did God then cease from gouerning of the worlde I thynke we must make a distinction of these thinges which are done in those kingdomes of the good thinges I say from the euil forasmuch as there is no Empire so vitiate and corrupt but that it stil retaineth in it many good thinges Let vs looke vpon the gouernment of Nero we shal se ther in a maner an infinite number of wicked and mischeuous actes where yet many partes also of Iustice floorished Prouinces were gouerned by Pretors and Presidentes which execute lawes not altogether vniustly It was lawful for Paul to appeale vnto Rome neyther could the Hebrues by the lawes be permitted to iudge him as they lusted themselues And the same Paul when he had shewed that he was a Citizen of Rome escaped both from bondes and from stripes Wherefore seing in a gouernment most corrupt very many good and profitable thinges floorished the same coulde come frō none other but from God It is therfore manifest that god at that time forsooke not the care and administration of thinges But if thou go forward and aske How God ordereth himself toward the fauts of Princes whether the vices and corruptions of Empires are to be referred vnto God I wyll answer that the true cause of synne is in man but the wil of God doth neither allow those vices nor cōmaunde them in his lawes yea he prohibiteth and detesteth them But he vseth them to punish the wickednes of the people for for the synnes of the people he maketh an hipocrite to raygne and in his fury he geueth kinges For such thinges are euyl and synnes and haue in them a consideration of punishments as they are punishmentes they pertayne vnto the iustice of God But when Princes are so corrupt what is to be done We must obey Whither it bee lawfull to ryse vp against euyl Princes but vsque ad aras that is so farre as religion suffreth Maye priuate men take vpon them to alter a corrupt Prince They may do it in admonishing in geuing coūsel and reprouing but not by force of weapons Yea Citizens may fight for the defence of the publike wealth as long as it lasteth Wherfore Pompeius Cicero and Cato are not lightly to be condemned for that they resisted Cesar going about to styrre vp insurrection althoughe at that time the publike wealth was very corrupt But when he had once obtained the Empire he ought not by priuate men to be depriued with weapons Wherfore Augustus said vnto Strabo who spake euil of Cato being then dead that he was a good Citizen which contended that the present state of thinges should not be chaunged In the publyke wealth of the Hebrues which floorished in the time of Gideon God gouerned in very deede It was as I haue said Aristocratia where Elders were chosen by common voices to do iustice in which office vnles they rightly behaued themselues they were both punished and put out of their roume but if there happened any hard warre God himselfe raysed vp Iudges but they were not chosen by the people neither did the children succede the Parentes in that office After this maner did God gouerne the Hebrues The wordes of Gideon sufficientlye declare that the Iudges exercised not the office of an ordinarye Magistrate It was in the Lord to rayse vp for the time whom he would What we must consider when any thing is offred vnto vs. therfore the Lord said vnto Samuel They haue not reiected thee but me that I should not raigne ouer them Hereby we gather that when anye thing is offered vs we must alwayes weigh whither the same be good of his own nature and whither it bee lawfully geuen and may lawfully be vsed Which if it be not let vs put awaye from vs whatsoeuer is offred as Christ reiected Sathan when he promised hym all the kingdomes of the world neither receaued he the kingdome offred him by the people Thys the Pope considereth not who for his vnlawfull Supremacye or tyranny continually warreth and there is nothing which he attempteth not so farre is he of to refuse these thinges c. 24 Againe Gideon said vnto them I would desire a request of you that ye would geue me euery man the earings of his pray for they had golden earinges bicause they were Ismaelites 25 And they sayd we wyl geue them And they spread a garment and dyd cast therein euery man the earinges of hys pray 26 And the weyght of the golden earinges that he required was a thousand seuen hundreth syckels of gold besides collers pomanders and purple rayment that was on the kinges of Madian and besyde the chaynes that were about their Camels neckes 27 And Gideon made an Ephod thereof and put it in hys City in Ophra And all Israel went a whooring after it in the same place which thing was the destruction of Gideon and hys house Here is set foorth an example of a most grieuous fal very much to be lamented A man holy in miracles and notable in faith filthelye falleth Euerye man therefore is admonished not to trust vnto his former lyfe and thinges that hee hath well done Kim his opiniō of the Ismaelites and Madianites They had golden earinges bycause they were Ismaelites Kimhi thinketh that the Madianites and Ismaelites were al one which he saith is confirmed by the booke of Genesis wher it is written that the brethren of Ioseph sold him to the Madianites and straightway it is added that the Ismaelites sold hym in Egipt wherfore he gathereth that they were al one namelye which had theyr ofspring of Agara And she as some say was Ketura the handmayd of Sara afterward the wife of Abraham But the Chaldey Paraphrast interpreteth the Ismaelites Arabians and not Madianites Yea and Iosephus in his booke De antiquit by the children of the East he vnderstandeth Arabians They turne this Hebrue woorde Scheharonim lunulas that is litle Moones wherof is mēcion made before For in the Arabike toung Schehara signifieth luna that is the Moone The other
to their good Moreouer he wyll haue thē to expresse in themselues their first begottē brother Iesus Christ whiche suffred in hymselfe other mens synnes For this also is a certayne portion of the Crosse of Christ althoughe they are not so innocent as Christ was neither serueth their crosse any thing to redeme sinnes Daniel in his captiuity after this manner confessed hys sinnes We haue sinned sayth he and done vniustly c. He sayd not They haue sinned but we And Esaye sayeth All our righteousnes are as a cloth stayned with floures of a woman There is in deede in holy menne a certayne ryghteousnes but not such a righteousnes as they can boast of before the iudgement seate of God Wherfore if they suffer any thing they haue no iust cause to complayne But thou wilt saye Why is it sayd that God in thē punisheth the sinnes of other mē when as they also sinne We should say rather that he punisheth their sinnes and not the synnes of their parentes I answere Bycause when god hath much and longe tyme wayted that their father should repent and it nothing profited and in the meane tyme it is come vnto the third and fourth generation at the length he poureth out his anger vpon the children whiche therefore are sayd to suffer for their fathers bicause vnles the malice of their fathers had gone before their affliction might haue ben deferred till farther time But now bycause they haue fallen into the third and fourth generation the consideration of the iustice of god wil not suffer the punishement to be deferred any longer And althoughe they themselues also haue deserued those euils yet bycause they are so corrected in the third and fourth generation they owe that dewty vnto their parentes And so God feareth the parētes that they should temper themselues from wicked actes and thoughe they will not for gods sake or for their own yet at the least for theyr posterities sake It also maketh the children afrayde to imitate the sinnes of their fathers least the punishmēt due vnto their fathers be required of thē Neither is it vniust that the children suffer somthing for their fathers sake for by their fathers they receaue inheritances and are aboue other honored and exalted For god did not onely make fortunate Dauid but also for his sake fauored his posterity For the kyngdome perseuered in his famely the space of .400 yeares But as touching eternall life As touchyng eternall life the childrē are not punished for the sinnes of the fathers neither shall the father be punished for the sinnes of the children nor the children for the sinnes of the fathers Howbeit children obteine many spirituall giftes by good fathers For Paul in his .1 Epist to the Cor. the .7 chap. sayth Otherwise your children should be vncleane but now they are holy Wherfore the children haue of holy parentes some holynes and some spirituall gift as that place teacheth And on the contrary part Childrē obtein some spirituall giftes for their parentes sake by euil parentes many such good giftes are hindred neither are they heard of God beyng euill and not repentaunt when they desire spirituall giftes for their children Yet by the prouidence of God it oftentymes commeth to passe Euil parentes doo sometymes hinder theyr children of god spiritual gifts that of good parentes are borne noughty children and of euill good as Ezechias a good kyng had to his father Achaza a wicked kyng And contrarywise the same Ezechias beyng a very godly prince begat Manasses a very vngodly and cruell kyng The same also myght I saye of Iosias Thys therefore commeth so to passe least wickednes shoulde increase without measure Why good childrē ar borne of euil parētes euill of good if of euill parentes shoulde continually bee borne euill children God putteth to hys hande and maketh the sonne borne of an euill father a member of Christe And therewith all he sheweth that his goodnes can not be hindered by the parentes thoughe they be neuer so wicked Farthermore euill children are borne of good parentes that grace should be the better knowen And that the goodnes of the childrē should not be attributed vnto nature whiche they haue drawen of their parentes For god will haue it knowen to be his gifte that we are saued This one thyng onely is to bee added vnto the foresayde question It is not lawfull for men to punishe the sinnes of the parentes in the children That it is in dede lawfull for god as it is sayde to punishe in the children the synnes of the fathers but that is vtterly vnlawfull for men to doo For in Deut. the .24 chap. it is commaunded That the fathers should not be punished for the children nor the children for the parentes Whiche is to be vnderstande so that the father consent not vnto the sonne or the sonne vnto the father Wherefore Achan if he had bene called vnto tryall and to the iudgement seate he should be the ordinary lawe haue peryshed alone and not hys chyldren with hym But GOD hath thys hys proper law who would haue it otherwyse done although sometymes he obserueth thys also For in the booke of Numbers the 26. chap. When Core conspired agaynste Moses he was destroyed but hys chyldren were not together with hym extinguished Samuel came of the posterity of Core yea rather they were kepte for the holy ministerye and of their posteritye was Samuel borne Amasias the kynge was praysed who slewe the murtherers whiche killed his father and slewe not their children for he had a regard vnto the law of God The cause of this prohibition Augustine bringeth Augustine God sayth he may punishe the sonne for the father bycause although he afflicte hym in this worlde yet he can saue hym in the worlde to come And this can not man doo Farther god seeth that the children are not innocentes but man seeth not that Although the ciuill lawes are herein a great deale more seuere and do punishe the children for the fathers sake as it is in the digestes In treason the children are punished for the fathers and in the Code ad I. Iuliam maiestatis yet they put not the sonne to death for the father but depriue hym of all hys fathers goods dignityes and honours Howbeit they lefte some parte for the doughters whiche parte was called Falcidia to mary them withall Otherwise the ciuile lawes agree with the lawe of god For in the Code de paenis in the lawe Sancimus it is commaunded that the punishement be not transferred vnto other either to kinsfolkes by affinity or to kinsfolkes by bloud but onely to be layd vpon the author of the crime And yet as wel this law as the other before were ordeyned both of the self same Emperours Archadius and Honorius But the cause why it was so seuerely decreed agaynst treason seemeth to be this to feare men away from this kynde of wicked crime Yet the lawes of god decree
to father or mother The gyft c. they might haue prescribed vnto hym custome but it was not lawful bicause it was manifestly against the woord of God In the country of Taurus there was a custome to kyll straungers and gests The Persians had a custome neuer to deliberate of waighty matters but in feastes and when they were dronke Among the Sauromates there was a custome that when they were drinking they solde their daughters These prescribe not when as they are manifestly vicious and euyll But that custome prescribeth which is neither against the woord of God nor the law of nature nor the common law For the right of custome commeth of the approbation and secrete assent of the people Otherwise why are we bound vnto lawes but bicause they were made What differēce is betwene a lawe and a custome Aristotle the people consenting and agreing vnto them For this is the difference betwene a custome and a lawe bicause in the one is a secrete assent but in the other an open assent Wherfore such customes cannot be reuoked wythout daunger Aristotle in Politicis admonisheth that men which haue learned to doo sinister thinges ought not to be compelled to do thinges dextere Wherefore in thinges indifferent and of no great value custome is to be retayned It is an old Prouerbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Law and Country For euery region hath certaine customes of their owne which cannot easelye be chaunged But as it is sayde when they are againste the woorde of God or againste nature or the common lawe they do not prescribe For then are they not customes but beastly cruelties It is very wel read in the Digestes De legibus Senatusconsultis in the law de quibus Augustine Custome without reason hath no force And in the decrees distinction the .viii. chapter Veritate Augustine sayth The truth being founde out let custome geue place let no mā presume to preferre custome before truth and reason And in the next Canon Christ sayd I am the way the truth and the life he said not Ciprian Aquarii were they whiche in the Eucharist vsed water in steede of wyne I am the custome Ciprian against the * Aquarii Let al custome thoughe it be neuer so auncient geue place vnto the truth otherwise Peter when he was reprehended of Paul to the Galathians myght haue claymed custome but he assēted rather that custome should geue place vnto the truth Ciprian in the same Epistle agaynst the Aquarii Custome sayth he without truth is the auncientnes of error and the more it obteyneth the more grieuous it is Let the Papistes therfore cease to bragge of their customes which are altogether ful both of error and also of vngodlines Moreouer to establish a custome it is not sufficient that some men do a thyng or that a thing be often done vnles it be so done that it be receaued into a vse What establysheth custome an institucion to be obserued For many thinges are done either rashely or of necessity which yet we wil not haue drawen into a custome In the digestes de Itinere actu priuato in the law .1 and last Graunt that I go thorough the fielde once and agayne and the thyrd tyme bycause peraduenture the hyghe way is so foule that a man can not passe thoroughe it Whither bycause I sometymes go and returne thorough thy field do I therefore get vnto my selfe in it the right of dominion seruitude No for I entended not with that mynde to go thoroughe thy field but bycause I was of necessity compelled thereunto In the decrees distinction the .1 chap. Consuetudo Custome is said to be a certain right instituted by manners whiche is taken for a law when a lawe fayleth What custome is When in the first tymes of the Churche when tyrannes persecuted Christian religion godly men thorough feare were cōpelled to assemble together in houses and caues by night and in the darke thys assembly was by a certaine right maner then instituted counted lawful But if we would now that the Church is constituted worshyp God after the same maner we should both be derided laughed at also it wer not to bee suffred For they vsed not that manner to the end they would haue it drawen into a custome or that it should be an institutiō which other men should followe Ambrose beyng Catechumenus that is newly conuerted to the Christian faith and not baptised was chosen Bishop of Millan and Nectarius of Constantinople and peraduenture other Yet is it not lawfull for vs now to followe the same custome and to elect a Bishop which neither hath seene sacred seruices nor hath ben washed with the water of Baptisme But they did so They dyd so in deede but compelled by necessity bycause they had no other which were both learned endewed with authority whō they might oppose against the Arriās So is that easely confuted An answere to an example of Eusebius whiche they are wont to bryng out of the Hystory of Eusebius for the communicatyng vnder one kinde that Serapion sent a child and commaunded the bread to be dipped in the wyne I could in deede expounde that place otherwise but at this tyme it shal be sufficiēt to say that that was not therfore so done then thereby to bring in a custome which should be imitated of others Wherfore custome is not made by examples but by the assent approbation and institution of the people Otherwise ther are in many places dronkēnes and night robbynges But these things bicause they are not allowed of the people as institutions to be obserued haue not the power of a custome And that the thing may the better be vnderstand An other definitiō of custome Hostiensis I wil bring a definition of custome which I foūd in Hostiensis in the title de Consuetudine It is an vse saith he agreing with reason allowed by the cōmon institution of them that vse it whose begynnyng is tyme out of mynde or whiche is by a iust tyme prescribed and confirmed so that it is by no contrary acte interrupted but allowed with contradictory iudgement This is as he thinketh a full definition But in that he saith That that vse ought to be agreeing with reason it is not sufficient but first it is to be sayd that it ought to agree with the worde of God for that is to be counted for the chiefest reason Afterward it must be allowed by the institution of the people for as much as it is not sufficient that it be done ether rashly or of necessity or for some other cause but it ought also to be allowed by the assent and institution of the people and of whose beginnyng there is no mention or that it is prescribed by a iust tyme and appoynted by the lawes neither is interrupted by any contrary action For if the iudge or prince shal geue iudgement agaynst it the custome is broken as it
and the redemer added the fifth parte besides the pryce If a manne had vowed a fielde the estimation was taken of the seede thereof an Homer of Barly was esteemed at fifty sicles of Siluer And how much nearer the yeare of Iubile was so muche the more was there abated of the pryce A cleane beast beyng once vowed ought vtterly to be sacrificed neither mought it be redemed but if it had ben vncleane it might haue ben redemed Wherefore seyng GOD did so diligently prouide for the redeemyng of vowes howe doth Iiphtah saye that hys vowe can not be reuoked This maye bee aunswered two wayes Firste it myght bee that Iiphtah as he was a man of warre so was he ignoraunte of this manner of redeemyng of vowes Note the two manner of vowes An other waye it maye bee aunswered that he promised not the vowe of estimation but Cherem that is a curse And thys kynde of vowe neuer returned to hys owner neither could it be conuerted to a prophane vse Two kynds of the vowe Cherem A fielde after thys manner dedicated was alwayes appoynted for the tabernacle yea and asses and horses serued the Lorde neyther could they be redemed So if a man had vowed to be a Nazarite all hys lyfe tyme he was neuer redemed althoughe that were not in vse And vnto thys kynde of vowe pertayned if a man had made himselfe Cherem bycause he neuer returned into libertye With suche a vowe was the City of Iericho bounde neyther was it lawfull for the Iewes to touche any of the thyngs that were without life pertaynyng to the City whiche were vnder this vowe Therefore Achan sinned most grieuously whiche tooke to hymselfe some parte thereof But there was an other kynde of Cherem whiche was not vowed but vowed to the death vnto the Lorde and what soeuer was after this maner vowed vnto the Lord the same ought without redemption to be slayn so were the Amalekites vowed and Saul most bitterly reprehended bycause he had spared Agag their kyng and saued some of their oxen on lyue Wherfore it may be that Iiphtah vowed that whatsoeuer thing met hym firste out of hys house when he returned should be slayne But he was very much deceaued for thys kynde of vowe had not place but in wicked men and such as were declared to be the enemyes of God therefore he was not bounde by this lawe of vowes to slaye hys daughter Wherefore in that he sayeth I can not call backe if we vnderstande it generally of vowes it is not true bycause it was lawful to redeme them but if we haue a respect vnto Cherem the person vowed ought to be slaine if the vowe had ben of force whiche thing could not haue place in this mayden bycause she was not declared to be the enemy of God My father If thou hast opened thy mouth The godlynes and obedience of this doughter is very much commended she obeyeth her father and confirmeth the vowe Do sayth she as thou hast promised For this was a great obedience and therefore she is praysed of the fathers Augustine Ambrose Augustine I saye and Ambrose She mought haue iustly not obeyed seyng her father had vowed so rashely but it easely appeareth what she had a respect vnto for it is added Seyng the Lord hath auenged thee of thine enemyes She had a regard onely to the glory of GOD as thoughe she should haue sayd Seing the Lorde hath geuen thee the victory ouer thyne enemyes it is not greuous to me to dye And God seyng he hath heard thee seemeth to haue allowed the vowe But here aryseth a doubt Why God heard this vowe when as it was vnaduisedly vowed I aunswere I doubt not but that God gaue the victory but that it was geuen for the vowe it is not founde by the wordes of the Hystory otherwise we should be compelled to allowe this vowe The daughter doth in deede obey the father but in the meane tyme she requireth a litle space namely of two monethes that she might together with her fellow virgins comfort her self and bewayle her virginity But how is it sayd That she would discend to the mountaynes For we go vp to mountaynes not go downe Peraduenture Iiphtahs house was situate vpon a mountayne and the mayden desired leaue to discende to the litle hilles vnder it or peraduenture she asked leaue to go to an other moūtayne vnto whiche she should go by a valley and so we must vnderstande that she first discended What was the bewayling of virginity and then afterward ascended She bewayled her virginity Bycause that seemed a heuy and lamentable thing that a virgin should dye leauing no children behynd her For it was a certayne curse if any dyed without children God had at the begynnyng commaūded men to multiply and fill the earth Farther the Hebrues endeuored to augment the holy publique wealth They hoped also that Messias should be borne of their stocke Ambrose Two frendes of Pithagoras schoole She returned at the tyme appoynted Ambrose sayth That those two Pithagorians were muche to be praysed of whiche the one gaue hym selfe for a pledge for hys fellowe whiche was condemned to death and the other for hys friendes sake faythfully returned to death at the tyme appoynted but muche more is thys mayde to be commended whiche after two monthes returned to her father to be slayne bycause she seemed to do that onely of a zeale to godlynes and the worshippyng of God And it was a custome in Israell The Hebrewe woorde is Choke and it signifyeth a lawe not written but a custome vnwrytten From tyme to tyme. That is from yeare to yeare for it was a certayne yearely assemblye This Hebrewe woorde Littenoth signifieth to speake to mourne and to comforte The doughters of Israell went euery yeare and bewayled and seemed to lamente bycause that mayden was slayne for they would not haue so great a thing to be put in obliuion And peraduenture they did it to admonish the parentes not to binde themselues hereafter with such a vowe ¶ Of the Vowe of Iiphtah Whether Iiphtah sinned in vowyng HEre seemeth to be demaunded whether Iiphtah sinned in so vowyng and in fulfyllyng hys vowe It is a heard question bycause it pertayneth not to the lawe but to the acte We knowe that in those tymes it was lawfull to vowe but what is to be thought of this acte nothyng can be gathered by the woordes It is possible that he so vowed by the inspiration of GOD whiche being a singular example ought not to be dryuen into imitation As there are very many of this kynde in the holy Scriptures There are whiche contend that Iiphtah dyd not in very dede offer his daughter but only punished her with ciuile death namely in separating her frō the cōmon cōuersatiō so that she liued onely to god geuing her selfe to prayers onely and liuing a parte from other men And they seeme to affirme that the vow was Cherē but
said that he did this by the impulsion of the holy ghost not as though god would haue other men to imitate this act but that men might by it vnderstand that Christ should dye for their saluation It is indifferent for euery man to chose eyther of these aunsweres But I thinke rather he fell Nowe resteth to confute the argumentes of the Rabbines In that they say the mayden was not killed of her father but only punished with ciuil death namely that she should liue a part from the followship of men with out a husband and children it is not wel sayd bicause it can not be proued by the holy scriptures that there was any such kind of vow in the old time I know that there were Nazarites whiche abstained from wyne and stronge drinke and all drinke which would make one dronke but they abstained not from matrimony Samuel and Sampson beyng either of them a Nazarite had wiues and Samuel had children as the holy history declareth But departinges from the companye of men are not altogether to be disalowed so that of them come some fruite vnto the church Christ departed .40 dayes and fasted How departings from the company of men are allowed or disalowed but afterward he returned to instruct the people Iohn Baptiste went a parte but yet for certayne dayes baptised and preached So some of the fathers went sometime a part wher they gaue themselues both to prayers and godly meditations wherby they might returne the better instructed to preach But I can in no case allow the perpetuitye of solitarye life for wee are not borne to oure selues but to other also But that in the olde time there were some whiche were Nazarites for euer that was not don by the institution of man but by the commaundement of God which thing is written to haue happened to Sampson and Iohn Baptist Otherwise Nazarites vowed but onely for a time Wherfore that which the Rabbines clayme is false for there was no ciuill death by the law whereby men or women were for euer depriued of matrimonye Kimhi sayth that this letter Vau maketh somtimes a proposition disiunctiue I graunt that the same is found in certayne places of the scripture But it is not a fyrme argument if we shall say It is thus founde in some places therfore it is so also in this place But rather for the most part Vau maketh not a disiunctiue proposition but a copulatiue And vndoubtedly here it is brought in by exposicion It shal be the Lords sayth hee After what manner For I will offer it for a burnt offringe Farther they reason The mayden desyred space of time wherin to bewayle her virginity neither saith she her soule or life This argument hath a shew but no strength For if death be to be lamented vndoubtedlye then is it muche more to be lamented when it hath a bitter condicion annexed wyth it The mayden was sure to dye at some certaine time but that seemed vnto her very hard that she should dye without childrē Therfore that condicion is expressed which made the cause more miserable He sayth moreouer It is not writen that Iiphtah offred her for a burnte offringe but onelye that he dyd accordynge to hys vow I aunswere That there is sufficientelye sayde when it is sayde that he did according to his vow And it is often sene that in narrations the sharpest thinges are not expressed And althoughe the woordes be not all one yet is it sufficient if they be equall Leui Ben Gerson reasoneth of this that it is written and shee knewe no man Therfore sayth he she liued but maried not But this reason hath no force For this sentence is an exposition of the wordes that go before For why did the virgins bewayle her Because she was vnmaried and was not coupled to anye manne But Liranus sayth The sprite of the Lorde came vpon Iiphtah wherefore he vowed not his daughter for a burnt offring This reason Augustine as we haue hearde aunsweareth That spirite vndoubtedlye was the sprite of strength and warrelike knowledge Neither can al that Iiphtah afterward did be said to haue come from the same spiryte Moreouer sayth Liranus ther was twoo monethes space betwene wherin he asked counsel of the priestes and thei gaue him counsell to saue his daughter a Virgin Yea but the auncient Iewes affirme that he was so stubburne that he woulde not aske counsell of the priestes And for that cause he is reproued by the Chaldey Paraphrast Neither is it any newe thinge that men somtimes sinne because they thinke not that they haue nede of counsel and that is wont most of al to happen vnto princes For they haue a high mind and proude stomackes wherfore they think that they haue counsell inough But he is numbred among the sayntes To this Augustine aunsweareth also that other were also numbred amonge the Sayntes whiche yet greuouslye sinned Lastly he saith If he had sacrificed his doughter he should not haue fulfilled but contaminated his vow I graunt that Neither is it any maruaile that he erred seyng he was a man and might fall Now shoulde remayne to declare what I thinke of vowes in vniuersall but bycause of that matter I haue written aboundauntly in an other place namely in my Apology against Smith therefore I remitte the reader to reade ouer that booke ¶ The .xii. Chapter 1 ANd the men of Ephraim gathered themselues together and passed ouer Northward and sayd vnto Iiphtah Why haste thou passed ouer to fyghte agaynste the children of Ammon and haste not called vs to goe with the We will therfore burne thee and thyne house with fyre 2 And Iiphtah sayde vnto them I and my people were at greate strife with the children of Ammon and when I called you ye deliuered me not out of theyr handes 3 So when I sawe ye delyuered mee not I put my lyfe in myne handes and went vpon the children of Ammon And the Lord hath deliuered them into myne hande But why are ye come vpon me thys day to fight agaynst me 4 Then Iiphtah gathered all the men of Gilead and foughte agaynst Ephraim And the men of Gilead smote Ephraim bycause they sayd Ye Gileadites are abiectes among the Ephramites and among the Manassites 5 And the Gileadites tooke the passages of Iordan before the Ephramites And when the Ephramites that were escaped sayd Let me passe the men of Gilead sayd vnto him Art thou an Ephramite If he sayde Nay 6 Then sayde they vnto hym Say now Schiboleth but he sayde Siboleth for he coulde not so pronounce Then they tooke him and slewe hym at the passages of Iordan and there fell at that tyme of the Ephramites twoo and fourty thousand HEre is a sedicion set foorth vnto vs The Ephraits wer veri proud the cause whereof was the pride of the Ephramites whyche was so great that they thought there was nothyng which was not due vnto them Euen the lyke did they vnder Gideon as
thinges which are written in the booke of Genesis the .49 chapter There Iacob when he was ready to dye The prophecie of Iacob as touching SamsoÌ„ foretolde what should happen vnto his children after long time And when by order he came vnto Dan Dan sayth he shall iudge hys people and he shal be a Serpent in the way and an Adder in the pathe byting the horses heeles so that his ryder shall fall backward For Samson after a sorte did byte the foote of the horse when he ouerthrew the pyller that is the foote of the parler laid the rider on the ground that is the company of the Philistines with the fal of the wal These thinges I therfore make mencion of that it might appeare that they were no small or vulgare things when as Iacob so long time before prophecied of them Samson was of the Tribe of Dan when as the nexte Iudge before him was of the tribe of Ephraim God vsed not at the tyme any ordinary Magistrate Onely SamsoÌ„ appoynted a Iudge before hys byrth neither dyd the Children succeede the Parentes in this kynde of gouernment There was no Iudge vnto this tyme of the Tribe of Dan. And there was none of all the Iudges but onelye Samson whom God appoynted and as it were published a Iudge before he was borne And hys name was Manoah whose wyfe was barren When God decreed to sende any notable and excellent man Many excelleÌ„t meÌ„ borne of baren mothers he verye often tymes styrred hym vp out of a barren woman whiche thing also wee see came to passe in Samson lykewise in Samuel and in Iohn Baptist and in very many other that it myght manifestly appeare to be altogether the woorke of God Barrennes among the Hebrues was a thyng ignominious but God bycause he woulde declare that of thynges most contemptible he can bring foorth thinges excellent hath very often tymes done after thys manner And that faulte of barrennes was in thys place in the woman and not in the man For sometymes it may be in both but the scripture here pronounceth it of the woman and not of the man He shall beginne sayth he to saue Israel Here is signified that Samson should not fully deliuer the people for Israell did not vnder him fight in battayle against theyr enemies he alone assailed theÌ„ somtimes greuously afflicted them The Aungell appeared vnto his mother a part when her husband was awaye and shewed her of the sonne which she should beare Also the Aungell appeared vnto Mary the mother of Christ when she was a lone Iosephus in his bookes of Antiquities addeth Iosephus that thys Manoah somewhat suspected his wife and thought that it was not an aungell but some man that his wifes chastity was assaulted but eyther doubt was taken away wheÌ„ as at the last when he made sacrifice the angel vanished away in the flame So Ioseph wheÌ„ he somwhat suspected Mary herd of the Aungel Ioseph be not aferd to take Mary thy wife for that which is conceiued in her is of the holy ghost God woulde haue his not onely borne lawfullye but also cleared from all suspicion But in Samuel there could be no such suspicion for when Hanna prayed softely Heli the priest rebuked her and counted her for a dronkard who yet when he vnderstode how diligently and earnestly she prayed at the tabernacle of the Lorde he promised vnto her issue But here besides the promise of the sonne is added also a precepte For the Aungell commaundeth her to abstaine from wine and stronge drinke Why such an abstinence was commaunded the mothâ—s and all thinge that might make her dronke There is also a reason added Bicause he shal be a Nazarite vnto the Lord. Wherfore the mother also is commaunded to abstayne from wine stronge drinke and euerye vncleane thinge that the childe shoulde not be nourished with thynges vnlawefull no not in the wombe of hys mother ¶ Of the vow of the Nazarites ANd as touching the vow of the Nazarits it is manifestly set forth in the .6 of Numb But those thinges whiche are there written The summe of the vow of the Nazarites maye all be reduced to three principall poyntes The firste was that they shoulde drinke no wine nor stronge drinke nor any thinge that might make them droonke An other was that they should not pole theyr hed but all that time the Nazarite shoulde let his heare grow The third was that they should not defile themselues with mourninge for buriales no not at the death of theyr father or mother These thinges were to be obserued but not for euer but onelye for some certayne time For he vowed to bee a Nazarite but for certayne number of dayes or Monethes or yeares But why did God institute these thynges Why god gaue the institution of the Nazarites There may be many causes geuen Fyrste because menne were so prone to chuse vnto themselues certayne kindes of lyfe whereby they mighte easely fall into superstition Therfore God would after this maner bridle them as though he should haue sayd Forasmuch as ye are so prone to your own studies and to inuent newe woorshippings yet shall ye not do what ye liste your selues but what I prescribe vnto you And so geuinge vnto them the lawe of a Nazarite hee kepte them in doynge theyr dewtye But what mente these thinges They ought to keepe theyr heare growinge till the ende of theyr vow For then in offring sacrifice and burninge the fleshe in fire they did cut of the heare and burned it in the same fire And froÌ„ that time they were free and returned to theyr old manner of life which was common also vnto other Some referre these thinges vnto an Allegorye that when the heares were increased the Nazarites should consider that vertues also oughte to increase in the minde But me thinketh there may be an other cause rendred namelye that men should abstayne from to much trimming and deckinge of the body For the clipping of the eare much adorneth the body For Paule sayth in his 1. Epistle to the Corrinthians the .11 Chapter that to menne it is vncomelye if they let theyr heare growe Althoughe other reasons of other menne are not to bee contemned Cyrillus Procopius Cirillus and also Procopius vpon the booke of Numbers say that these thinges were instituted of God to reuoke men from the idolatrous worshippinges and rites of the Ethnikes that that which they gaue vnto idols the Iewes should geue vnto him So also whereas they sacrificed vnto Idols he would haue these men rather to sacrifice vnto himselfe not that god so much regardeth sacrifices but to wythdrawe them from idolatry We reade that the Ethnikes sometimes suffred theyr heare to growe that they mighte afterward consecrate it ether vnto the Nimphes or to Apollo Wherefore Apollo was by them called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a nourisher of the heare Yea and Theseus as it is
it was peculiar and aboue the common institution of others by the deede I say and not by the ryght or vowe of the parentes Samson ought to haue obeyed althoughe he had not vowed Whether it was lawful for Hanna â—o vow for her sonne bicause it was done by the word of god Howbeit of Hanna the mother of Samuel it may be doubted how it was lawfull for her to vow for her sonne For it may scarse seme iust that the sonne should be bound by the vowe of the parent It was demaunded in the tyme of Benedict whether the children offred by the parentes vnto monasteries when they came vnto mans state might mary Gregorius Gregorius Magnus to Augustine a Byshop of England aunswereth that it is vtterly vnlawful Whiche is a verye hard saying and agaynst the word of god For Paul sayth it is better to mary then to burne And he whiche can not conteyne let him mary ConciliuÌ„ Carthaginense In the counsell of Carthage the .3 wherat Augustine also was present it was decreed that childreÌ„ offred vnto the Church when they came to mans estate should either mary or els vow chastity This also was rough ynough For who shuld require this at that age being vnskilfull of thinges not certayne of his own streÌ„gth But these things I speake that we might knowe that decrees are contrary to decrees But to returne to the matter I saye that Hanna mought vowe for her sonne for as touching the performyng of the vow as longe as he was brought vp by his pareÌ„tes she might easely prouide that he should not drinke any wyne nor cut of hys heare nor be at any funerals But after he came to lawfull age it was Samuels duty to obserue these things not in dede in respect of the vow but bycause of the obedience whiche he ought vnto his parentes For children ought to obey theyr parentes in all those thinges which are not agaynst piety the word of God So the Rechabites as it is in Ieremy wheÌ„ they obeyed their father Ionadab The Rechabites who coÌ„maunded them to drinke no wine all their lyfe tyme or to dwel in Cityes were for the same cause praysed of God Howbeit Hanna vnles she had had a peculiar inspiration from God she could not haue vowed that Samuel should all his lyfe tyme haue ministred at the tabernacle of the Lord for as much as the law of god absolued meÌ„ froÌ„ the ministery at a certaine space of yeares namely in the .50 yere Magister sententiarum But that which I haue sayd that it was lawful for Hanna to vowe the vow of a Nazarite for her sonne it semeth not to be firme with the definition of a vow whiche is thus brought of the Master of the Sentences A vowe is a testificatioÌ„ of a willing promise made vnto God The definition of a vowe of things which pertayne vnto God But a vowe which is vowed by the parent for the sonne can not seme willing Yea but it is bycause the parentes vowed not being compelled but of their owne fre will farther it is mete for the children to obey the will of their parentes freely of their owne accorde especially when they commaunde no vngodly thyng or contrary to the worde of God By this place some gather that Samson was sanctified in the wombe of hys mother whiche selfe same thyng is beleued both of Ieremy and also of Iohn Baptiste How some are sayd to be sanctified froÌ„ the wombe And they will haue him so to be sanctified that afterwarde he committed no mortal sinne as they call it But this is false and vayne Neither to sanctifye in this place is anye thyng els then to appointe one to the execution of some certayn worke Samson therefore was sanctified that is appoynted of God to deliuer his people So was Ieremy ordeyned to Prophesie And Iohn to be the voyce of a crier in the wildernes Neither of this kinde of sanctification doth it follow that these holy men neuer sinned For euery maÌ„ is a lyer also there is no maÌ„ sayth Salomon whiche sinneth not Farther what shal we say of Samson Did he neuer sinne He fel vndoubtedly and that greuously Paul also who sayth to the Galathians that he was himselfe separated from his mothers wombe and yet he persecuted the Churche of God Moreouer the children also of Christians are called holy for as muche as God is not our God onely but also the God of our seede according to that saying of Paul to the Corinthians Your children are holy who yet no man doubteth but that they afterward fal and grieuously sinne If the vow be against charity it is to be broken One thinge remayneth to be spoken of and afterwarde I will returne vnto the history When the father voweth and the sonne desireth to performe the vowe of the father what if the vow be a gaynste the health of the sonne He shall peraduenture fal into some disease and he must nedes drinke wine or cut away his heare what is to be done in this case I haue in an other place admonished that the preceptes of god ar of diuers sortes so that some ar greater and some easier As touching god whiche is the commaunder all are equall and like one to an other But as touching the thinges which are coÌ„maunded there is some difference Wherfore the lesse precept must geue place vnto the greater For whiche cause Christ sayth by the wordes of the Prophet I will haue mercy and not Sacrifice not as thoughe God vtterly contemned Sacrifices which he had commaunded but bycause he more estemed mercy And Christ also admonisheth in the Gospell in the .5 chapter of Math. that if thou offer thy gift at the alter and there remeÌ„berest that thy brother hath somewhat agaynst thee thou must go first and reconcile thy selfe vnto thy brother and then returne and offer thy gifte Whereby he declareth that he altogether wil haue the les precepte geue place vnto the greater Wherfore we must thus aunswere vnto the question God commauÌ„deth the Nazarites to absteyne from wine he also commaundeth euery man to defend his life by good meanes Here when as the sicke man can not preserue both the preceptes it is necessary that he preferre the greater before the les For so dyd the Rechabites the sonnes of Ionadab behaue themselues For althoughe theyr father coÌ„maunded them that they should not dwel in Cities neither drinke any wine and were also commended of God bycause they obeyed the preceptes of theyr father yet at that tyme when Ieremy wrote these thinges of them they dwelled at Ierusalem contrary to the precept of their father For the Chaldeyans had wasted all the fieldes Wherefore they perceaued that there was then no place for their fathers precept But in monasteryes they doo contraryly For if the father be sicke the sonne is so bound by religion that he can by no meanes helpe him 6 And the
whome he dwelled they were counted legitimate For they had not the worde of God wherein it is commaunded that that should not be doone and they had wonderfully corrupted the lawe of nature Other crye What shall we thinke of our elders what also of many whiche lyue nowe and haue contracted matrimonyes without the consent of their parentes Shall we call them mariages or adulteryes And shall we counte theyr children for legitimate or for bastardes I aunswere when such mariages were had in those darkenes before the new light of the Gospell those men were not in dede excused from synne for it was not lawfull for them to be ignoraunt of the law of God but yet bycause they were done publikely the Magistrate permitting them I am persuaded that such contractes are firme and ratified If they obiect that in such mariages the consent of the parentes wanted I aunswere that it was there not there For the Magistrates had made their ciuill lawes subiect vnto the Canons whiche vndoubtedly they ought not to haue done And in this thing all mē agree And for as much as the Magistrate hath authority ouer the people if he consent to any thing there after a sorte is the publique cōsent of the people As at this day in assemblyes when they assēble that some summe of money should be payd although some priuate mā of the people do take it in euill part yet bycause it is agreed vpō by the Magistrate he ought to seme to haue cōsented So the father would not that the matrimony of his sonne should be firme without his cōsent yet bycause he hath made his owne wil subiect vnto the iudgement of the Magistrate he ought to seme after a sorte to haue consented But now the truth of the thyng beyng knowen the Magistrates ought to reuoke the errour Wherfore the matrimonyes whiche haue bene hitherto that is in darknes contracted agaynst the will of the parentes ought to bee firme and the children borne of them ought to be counted legitimate But if the lawe should afterwarde bee reuoked then should they not be matrimonyes but onely be presumption but in very deede fornications whoredomes and aduoutryes as Euaristus ryghtly iudgeth But whylest the lawes whiche are nowe of force are not abrogated I doo not dissolue the matrimonyes whiche are so contracted neyther doo I saye that the children borne of those mariages are bastardes but I declare what seemeth more agreable vnto the woord of GOD and vnto honesty But Euaristus myght iustly write so bycause in hys tyme the Romane lawes were of force whiche counted not suche coniunctions for matrimonyes Farther I adde that fathers are not to bee obeyed when they let the mariages of their children onely for religion sake bycause in that case God is to be obeyed aboue all thynges who is the chief father of all men 7 He went downe I say and talked with the woman which pleased the eyes of Samson 8 And within a fewe dayes when he returned to receaue her he went aside to see the carkase of the Lyon And beholde there was a swarme of bees and hony in the body of the Lyon 9 And he toke therof in his handes and went eatyng and came to his father to his mother and gaue vnto thē they did eate but he told not them that he had taken the hony out of the body of the Liō 10 So his father went downe vnto the woman Samson made there a feast For so vsed the yonge men to do 11 And when they sawe hym they tooke 30. companions and they were with him In this place the Lion is not called Cepher as he was before but Ariah bycause that difference whiche I haue before shewed is not alwayes obserued The matrimony of Samson is celebrated wherein the prouidence of God prepareth occasion whereby he should doo some violence vnto the Philistines And that occasion was bycause as he returned he remembred the Lyon whiche he had slayne He went a litle aside to looke vpon the carkase of the Lyon And he founde therein a swarme of bees and a combe of hony And this is such a straunge thyng as hath not bene heard of for it is in no other place that I wot of eyther shewed or red that bees haue made hony in the carkase of a Lion Pliny Virgil. Plutarche Pliny and Virgil in his .4 booke of Georgiques teache that of dead bullockes or oxen doo come bees as of a horse Waspes and of an asse Hornets Plutarche in the lyfe of Cleomenes saith euē as of a horse do engēder Waspes of an asse Hornets of an oxe bees so also of the carkase of a man and especially of the marow humor which falleth vpon the earth are brought foorth serpentes For that cause the elders wer wont to consecrate serpentes vnto noble men But we neuer rede any such thing of a Lion wherfore this ought we to iudge that this was done by the singular prouidence of God Ambrose Ambrose thinketh that the place where Samson had cast the Lion was a pleasaunt and fertile place and the bees flyed thether for flowers and made hoony in the carkase of the Lion But I as I saue sayd doo attribute all this vnto the prouidence of God Pliny in his .7 booke sayth Pliny that bees vse not to make hony excepte it be in the hyue or in a tree or in caues vnder the earth he affirmeth the aboue al things they flye frō euill sauors Farther he saith the hornets and waspes doo eate dead carkases but bees touche thē not Ambrose sayth that Samson turned aside to the Lion to take his skinne that beyng clothed with it he might come vnto the feast as a great valiant man as afterward did Hercules But bycause he sawe that that apparell was not very handsome for wedding apparell he tooke rather thereout the hoony combes of the which he myght geue part vnto his parentes and parte vnto his wyfe They tooke thirty companions Some thinke that these thirty companions were ioyned vnto Samson for to doo hym honour But some of the Hebrewe interpreters suspecte that the Philistines when they perceaued that he was a strong and valiant man brought these men to be kepers for hym least thorough the shewe of mariage he should make some commotion 12 Then Samson sayd vnto them I wil now put forth a ridle vnto you and if ye can declare it me within seuen dayes of the feast I will geue you 30. sheetes and 30. chaunge of garmentes 13 But if ye can not declare it me then shal ye geue me .30 sheetes and .30 change of garmentes And they aunswered hym put foorth thy ridle that we may heare it 14 And he sayde vnto them Out of the eater came meate and out of the stronge came sweetenes and they coulde not in three dayes expounde the rydle The elegācy of the riddell consisteth in contraryes for he which eateth he the geueth meate What
Iustice in contaminatyng an other mannes thyng Ye are bought with a greate pryce wherefore glorify God in your body These argumentes of Paul are both most pleasaunt and also most strōg which if they satisfy not some let him loke vpon our Samson He was no idolatrer no murtherer no these and yet is he taken bound his eyes put out and is compelled to grinde in a prison euen as if he had ben a foure footed beast Paul laboureth by many argumētes to proue whoredome is sinne And no maruayle bicause then he wrote vno the Corinthians whiche at that tyme abounded aboue other in fornicatiōs Wherof came the Prouerb Nō quiuis Corinthū that is It is not for euery mā to go to Corinthus And in vniuersal al the Ethnikes were in an ill opiniō touching this vice Eusebius For which cause whē the Church was yet springyng as Eusebius testifieth in his .3 booke of his hystory the .29 chap. the Nicolaites did openly manifestly commit fornication layd the custome of their wicked crime vpō Nicolaus the deacon Clemēs Alexandrinus The history of Nicolaus the deacon although Clemēs Bishop of Alexādria in Stromatis do excuse Nicolaus For he sayeth that he neither thought nor taught any such thing But hauing a very fayre woman to his wyfe and therefore beyng thought to haue ben gelous ouer her he brought her foorth before the people and said This is my wife And that ye might vnderstand that I am not gelous ouer her I am cōtēt for my part that any of you take her to wife Which thing also he mēt as farre as the law of God would suffer But they which were afterward called Nicloaites vnderstandyng his wordes peruersly supposed that he thought the wyues among Christians ought to be cōmon Of this Secte it is written in the Apocalips But this thou hast bycause thou hast hated the actes of the Nicolaites whiche I haue hated Wherfore it is no meruayle though Paul tooke so great paynes to teache that whoredome is sinne Fornicatiō cōtrary to matrimony This wicked crime is contrary vnto matrimony For they whiche haunte wandryng lustes and harlots are farre from contracting of Matrimony Wherfore Terence sayth They which loue can ill abide to haue a wife geuen thē For whiche cause Clemens sayth Clemens whoredome leadeth from one matrimony to many that is from one lawful coniunction to many vnlawfull wicked The Epistle to the Hebrues ioyneth fornicators which aduoutrers testifieth that God will iudge them And those two vices are so ioyned together that they are comprehended in the selfe same precept wherin it sayd Thou shalt not commit aduoultry Fornication is repugnat vnto Christ the publique wealch This pestilence also is repugnāt both vnto Charity to the publique wealth vnto charity vndoubtedly bycause the fornicators do iniury vnto their children whiche not beyng lawfully procreated are scarsely at any tyme brought vp honestly vertuously And they hurt the publique wealth bycause they defraud it of good Citizēs For Mamzer a bastard I say one borne in fornication is prohibited to be receaued into the Church not that he is restrayned from the holy cōmunion or from the misteryes of saluation but bycause it is not lawfull for him to gouerne the publique wealth to be numbred among Citizens Some thinke that this euill may be remedyed if a man should keepe a concubine at home So say they shall the yssue be certayn It may be peraduenture certayne but it shall not be legitimate Seing therfore this wicked crime is both agaynst matrimony and charity also the publique wealth it cā not be denied but it is a sinne most grieuous A Christiā magistrate ought not to suffer harlottes And for as much as it is so why are fornications now a dayes openly suffred in Cityes I speake not of the Ethnikes I speake of Christians and of those Christiās which wil alone seme be called the successors of Christ Whoredome or fornicatiō is most impudently mainteyned in their dominion they not onely willing therunto but also taking a commodity tribute therof That whiche is against the word of God against matrimony against charity against the publique wealth is no sinne or els it is a notable sinne If it be sinne why is it not taken away weded out Augustine But I know what they will bable they bring foorth Augustine who in his booke de Ordine wryteth thus Take awaye harlottes and all thyngs shal be filled with filthy lustes But let vs consider in what time Augustine wrote that booke Vndoubtedly when he was yet Catechumenus and not sufficiently enstructed in religion And althoughe he had not beene Catechumenus yet thys his saying agreeth not with the word of God neyther with Augustine himselfe who in an other place affirmeth that the good which commeth of euil as a recompensacion is not to be admitted Which thing also Paule hath taught to the Romaynes euen as they were wont to say of vs Let vs do euil thinges that therby may come good thinges whose damnation is iust We must neuer haue a regard to the end and euent when we are vrged by the commaundemente of god Somtimes men say vnto vs Vnles thou committe sinne this euill or that will succede But we must aunswere let vs do what god hath commaunded vs he will haue a care of the successe Neither is it meete that one onely sentence of Augustine should be of greater authority then so many reasōs which we haue brought and so many most manifest wordes of God God commaunded absolutely and by expresse wordes that there shoulde be no harlot in Israell But some go aboute to wrest this place out of our handes in sayinge that these hebrewe woordes Kadschah and Kedaschim signifieth not whores or harlots but rather the priestes of Priapus which were vowed or consecrated to thinges most filthy I contrarily thinke that Chadschah signifieth an harlot and Kedaschim vnnaturall and effeminate persons God woulde haue neyther of these suffred among his people But in that they obiect the holy seruices of Priapus it is nothing For it was sufficientlye before decreed touchinge idolatry and what nede it agayn to be repeated But that we may the more manifestly vnderstand that Kadschah signifieth a harlot let vs reade the historye of Iuda and Thamar in the booke of Genesis Certaine wordes ar taken both in the good and euill parte and there we shall see that Louah Kadschah are taken both for one and the selfe same thing For whiche cause we must note that there are certayne wordes whiche maye be taken both in the good and euil parte of which sort is this word Kadschah among the Hebrewes which signifieth both holy and also an harlot euen as among the lattines thys word sacrum that is holye Virgil. wherefore Virgill sayth Auri sacra fames that is the holy hunger of gold This Hebrew word Kadasch is to prepare or
oppressed of theyr enemies And that Iiphtah was stirred vp by the sprite to bear rule But before God aunsweareth the very sharpely For he sayd I will not helpe you bycause you alwayes returne vnto your Idoles and forsake me But rather cal vpon your gods let them helpe you Which words when the people heard they repented put away frō them their idols which they had made But this idole which is now spokē of These thinges seme to haue happened after the deathe of Samson indured to the time of Samuel Wherfore it cānot seme probable that it was done at that time The order of the holy scriptures is of most high authority with me and therfore I thinke that these things happened after the death of Sāson Forasmuch as frō that time euen to Heli there wer many yeares passed wherin the Philistians possessed the land of the Iewes neither suffred they any magistrate to be ouer thē Iosephus Iosephus agreeth with the Rabbines but he is many times deceued Wherfore it shal be best to follow that opinion which agreeth with the simple order of the holy history Howbeit ther is one thing which semeth to be a let An obiection namely if a man rekē the yeares frō Samsō vnto Saul he shal find thē to be scarse .60 or at the most .70 And whē as by reasō of filthy whoredom the tribe of Beniamin was almost brought to nothing and they which remained of it had no wiues but those which they got by violence how could it be that in so short a time it should so much encrease the Saule was out of that tribe chosen a king This argumēt hath a certain shew but it is not firme nor sound inough if a man more deligentlye examine it For although there were but a fewe remayninge of that tribe yet were they not so few but they mought very much multiply For there escaped sixe hundreth mē of warre who had wiues geuen them partly of the men of Iabes Gilead and partly by violence And sixe hundreth men wer able in the space of .60 or .70 yeares to beget a great yssue and to se theyr childrens children They could not indede be so many as to be equall with the other tribes but yet they might encrease to a sufficient numbre But that is farre more harde whyche is obiected concernynge Pinhas An other obiection namelye that hee remayned on lyue euen to the tyme of the warres of the Beniamites Whiche if it be so then muste he be at that time .300 yeares of age Therfore some thinke that it is more commodious to draw backe this historye vnto the beginninge of the Iudges But I see not what should let but that god might permit him to liue so longe For when he had slaine a prince of Israell a Madianitish woman when they were committing whoredome god graunted him not onely to succede his father in the priesthode but also gaue him very long to liue D. Kimhi But vndoubtedly I chiefely allow the order and course of the historye from which vnlesse great necessity vrge I will not depart And in this sentence I follow the iudgement of Dauid Kimhi whose authority in expounding of the texte I thinke is not to bee contemned Yea and all the Hebrewes in a manner agree in this that Pinhas liued a very long time and there are some whiche produce his age euen vnto the time of Elias the Prophete Vnto whome I doo not agree bicause no necessity compelleth me thervnto Howbeit as cōcerning this thinge I will not much striue But I leaue it free to euery willing mind to follow which opinion he will And in this history first I marke the institution of idolatry then the consecration of a priest which was twise doone For firste Micha instituted his sonne a prieste and then when by chaunce he met with a Leuite he made him a priest But wherefore was this ido le made What a vowe is For her vowes sake For the promise of the mother of Micha was not simple but with a vow And a vow as al deuines affirme is a holy promise made to God of thinges which are ours Wherefore it must nedes be that this woman was a widow with whome paraduenture her sonne dwelled For if she had beene a wife or a maiden vnmaried or a widowe in the house of her father shee coulde not haue vowed a firme vowe as it manifestly appeareth by the booke of Numb Those persons might not vowe with out the consent of their father or husbād For the law ordeined that if they wer against it the vow should then be voide Hanna did in dede vowe in the firste of Samuell but we must beleue that Helkana her husbande confirmed her vowe This woman sinned not bicause shee vowed but bicause shee vowed a thinge vngodlye namely an idole For it was at that time lawefull for anye to vowe anye thinge of his owne thinges for the adorninge of the temple of God and to amplify his honor But to institute a new and forbidden worshippinge it was vtterly vngodly The sonne had stolen from his mother that money neyther is it any maruall if he would steale whych was so redy to idolatry He which sinneth against the first table doth easely sinne against the second The mother curseth the theefe whosoeuer he were neyther doth she so greuously take the matter for the money taken away as for that she could not performe her detestable vow And she curseth as men in a manner vse to do in aduersities Yea and God himself also vsed curses in the old testament in the assembly to the mount Hebal Garizim The priest also cursedly prayed for barēnes diseases losse of children and other thinges of like sorte And in our time the Pope Women do easely fall to cursinges by what wicked zeale I know not in the day of the supper of the Lord sēdeth forth curses vpon all those whiche haue alienated themselues from his institution and sect This woman cursed the theef and no maruaile Bycause women when they fail in strength do easely fall to cursinges The sonne as soone as he heard the curse of his mother was a feard For so hath nature ordeined that children do wonderfully feare the curses of their parents But this man feared not to violate the lawe of God which thing happeneth not seldome vnto men to haue horror of small sinnes and to neglect them that ar more grieuous Ther is some fruit somtimes of curses euen as of excōmunicatiō Ther ar some somtimes so hard obdurated that they can be bowed by no other meanes then by curses although they be corrected by publike and apert reprehēsion But whither this sonne knew that his mother had by a vow dedicated that mony vnto the Lord before he tooke it away it appeareth not by the wordes of the history Neither is this to be passed ouer in that the mother sayth that she had consecrated it vnto the lord
twoo powers How the churche maye haue twssiwoordes and both of them committed vnto hym To that I aunswer that it is possible that sometymes there may be two swoordes in the Churche but there were not so alwayes in it neyther peraduenture shall bee alwayes so What outward swoord had the Church in the tyme of Christ and of the Apostles and Martyrs The Churche hath nowe almost al artes But yet now they wyll say it hath I graunt that bycause kynges and Emperours are Christians whych in the olde tyme were Ethnikes The Churche hath also husbandrye trade of marchaundise the arte of Carpenters and other suche lyke For they whyche exercise these thynges are members of the Church But that cōmeth to passe as the Schoolemen speake per accidens that is by chaunce For there might be a Churche thoughe those thynges were not So nowe bycause there are Princes in the Churche it is sayde to haue an outward swoorde But bycause Princes are in our tyme a part of the Churche it doth not therfore follow that the sword of Princes is the sword of ministers euen as although there be in the Church husbandry and trade of merchaundise and also the arte of Carpenters it cānot therby be gathered that ministers are husband men merchauntes and Carpenters Now I come to the place of the Euangelist The Apostles sayde they wanted nothing when they were sent without wallet and scryp vnto whom Christ sayd Let euery one take vnto him his scrip and wallet and he which hath none let him sell his coate and bye a swoord What woulde Christe signifye by these woordes Nothing els vndoubtedly but to shewe that the state and condicion of tymes hereafter should be far otherwise then they wer before Hitherto sayth he whylest I was wyth you ye felt no griefe neyther wanted you any thyng But now harder tymes are at hand now shall ye haue neede of coates scryps and swoordes By these woordes hee declareth that hee shoulde depart from them and that hee woulde sende them into the whole worlde to preache and teache the Gospell in which ministery they should meete with so manye aduersities that they should thinke themselues to haue neede of swoordes It is a figuratiue kinde of speeche whereby is vnderstande one thing by an other as is that in Genesis when the Lorde sayde that hee repented that he had made man For God is not in very deede touched with repentance but he doth that which men repenting vse to doo that is he chaungeth that which hee hath done And vndoubtedly then he by the flood destroyed humane kinde which hee had created So now he hath not instructed his Disciples to fight with yron but onelye by a certaine paraphrasis describeth the condicion of the tyme to come And euen as a gowne oftentimes signifieth tranquility and peace so in this place a sword sheweth troublesome and vnquiet times After this maner Chrisostome interpreteth these woordes Chrisostome expounding this place of Paule Salute Prisca and Aquila The Lorde sayth he hath not broken the lawe which before he had made saying And hee which striketh thee on the one cheeke turne vnto him the other Blesse those that curse you pray for them that persecute you How then doth he commaunde his Disciples to bye themselues swoordes He ment no such thing saith Chrisostome For it is a figuratiue kinde of speeche whereby he signified that he should be taken away from them and that they should be afflicted with many calamities These woordes are not so to be taken as they appeare at the first syght In an other place Christe sayth also That which ye haue heard in the eare preache on the house toppes And yet wee neuer reade that the Apostles stoode on the house toppes when they preached vnto the people Neither assuredly was it decent to haue left the strete and temple and to haue spokē from the house top The sense was that those thinges which they had hearde priuatelye they shoulde speake openlye and manifestlye The Lord also sayd Destroye this temple and in three dayes I wyll restore it which is also spoken figuratiuely For he commaunded not to ouerthrowe the temple of Salomon as the Euangelist himselfe interpreteth but vnderstoode that which he spake of the temple of hys owne body wherein as Paule sayth corporally dwelled all diuinity But to returne to the matter that Luke so ment Chrisostome proueth by these thinges which follow That in the sonne of man shoulde be fulfylled that which was spoken of him And he was counted with the vngodly But the Apostles vnderstoode not Christ for they thought that hee had spoken simplye and as the woordes sounded spoken of an outward sword And so did Boniface vtterly interpreate it And in that Christ addeth It is inough he vnderstoode that two swordes are sufficient in the Church so that ther ought to be nowe neyther more nor fewer But Chrisostome vnderstandeth it farre otherwise For when Christ perceiued that the Apostles vnderstode him not by that answer he declared that he would omit the thing And in dede so is a scholemaster wont to say vnto a child which yet vnderstandeth not that which is taught him It is inough Otherwise vndoubtedly two swords wer not sufficient against al the aduersaries of Christe There shoulde moreouer haue needed coates of male and shieldes Wherfore Chrisostome concludeth that the speche was figuratiue parabolical Farthermore In the times of the Apostles the church had not two swoordes if Bonifacius exposition bee receaued wee muste thincke that the Church in the time of the Apostles ought to haue had two swords which is most farre from the truth But let vs come to that which Christ said vnto Peter Put vp thy swoord into thy sheath Thy sword saith Boniface not an other mans sword But what gathereth he by those wordes Although Peter haue his sword yet if he be cōmaunded to put it vp how can he haue it drawen or to what end hath he a swoord if he maye not vse it But Boniface wil peraduenture aunswer I haue in deede a sword but I vse it not but by an other mans hande Or I vse not myne owne swoord but the sword of the Emperor other princes For they ought to draw the sword at the becke and sufferance of the Church I would gladly demaund whither Christ whē he bad Peter to put vp his sword ment this that he should in dede vse it as he listed and would himselfe Euery man is sayd to doo that himselfe whych he doth by an other man but yet by the labour of an other man Assuredly that which a man doth by an other he seemeth to do it himselfe If a man by mony or giftes get one to kil his enemy although he do it not with his own hand yet neuertheles he should be an homicide otherwise euen Princes doth not with their own hand kil the guilty but commaunde the hangmen to punish them Ther is in this
his office For there are in courtes whiche flatter in the eares of princes disprayse prayse whom they lust complayne of the good as euill and commend the euil as good So according as they wil some ar preferred to prouinces and other some ar displaced A sentence of Diocletian Wherfore Diocletian sayde A good wise wary Emperor is oftētymes solde of his subiectes The prince is at home in his palace they that are familiar with him accuse defende before him whom they will Yea and among the Romanes the fathers which were called Conscripti that is appoynted were sometymes called Circumscripti that is deceaued or abused The course of Iustice is by many deceates hindred Neither skilleth it much whether it be done by violēce or by guile bycause both wayes the publique wealth is hurte and the institution of God contemned Neither is this to be passed ouer in this place whiche hath also ben often spoken of that the Magistrate is not to be obeyed if he commaūd any thing against the worde of God For when he so doth he is no Magistrate Bycause as Paul sayth he is the Minister of God to good Wherfore if he commaund thinges contrary vnto the worde of God he is not in that parte his Minister But thou wilt say Sometymes greuous molestous and harde thinges are cōmaunded whiche yet are not agaynst the worde of God What is to be done in those cases We must obey for we are commaunded to obeye our Lordes thoughe they be hard so that they commaunde nothyng agaynst the worde of GOD whiche thing if they do we must aunswere them with this sentence of Peter whiche sayth we must rather obey God then men Nabucad-Nezar would haue had his Image worshipped the faythfull Hebrues aunswered Thy image O kyng we will not worship Antiochus cōmaunded the Hebrew woman to eate swines fleshe but she chused to dye with together her seuē childrē rather then to cōmit any thing agaynst the lawe of God Also the Martin as well in the old tyme as also in our tyme suffred most extreme punishmentes and most cruell deathes for that they would not sinne agaynst the law of God Eusebius An example of Constātius an Emperor Eusebius Casariensis writeth that Constantius the father of Constantine fayned vpon a tyme that he would put out all the Christians whiche would abyde in theyr religion from their honours and offices But they whiche were in very dede godly of theyr own free will gaue ouer their dignity and chused rather to geue place vnto dignityes then to depart frō Christ But this turned to good vnto thē for the Emperour embraced thē and those which had denyed Christ for to keepe their dignityes he vtterly remoued from hymself saying that they also would not be faythful vnto him whiche had broken thier fayth vnto God Constantius afterwarde the sonne of Constantine Constantius the second an Arrian beyng an Arrian went aboute to drawe the faithfull Byshops into hys heresy but they chused rather to be banished Iulianus Apostata then to follow that wicked purpose of the Emperour Afterward Iulianus Apostata opened the temples of Idoles and labored to dryue the Christians to the Ethnike religion worshipping but such as wer in deede godly had greater loue and regarde to Religion of Christ then to their lyfe Achilles Yea and Achilles in Homere sayth I will obey the princes but yet when they commaund things honest and iust And these thynges pertayne not onely to subiectes but also to inferior Magistrates For what Of inferior powers if the superior prince commaunde the inferior Magistrates to receaue the Masse in their Cityes Vndoubtedly they ought not obey If a manne will saye It is the superior power therefore it muste bee obeyed I will aunswere In thynges ciuile and humane let them obeye as muche as they ought but nothyng agaynste GOD. We muste alwayes runne vnto that principle Euery thyng is suche a thyng by reason of an other wherefore that other shall more bee suche Therefore if we obeye the Magistrate for goddes sake muche more is GOD hymselfe to be obeyed Wherefore the inferior Magistrates ought not in suche thynges to haue a regarde what the superior power commaundeth but what God hymselfe hath commaunded But there are some whiche saye Whether the consent of the Churche is to be taryed for in reformyng of religion A Similitude that before we departe from the obedience of the Magistrates as touchyng Religion we must tary for the consent of the Churche They whiche say these thynges must marke that Christ neuer so commaunded Euery manne for hymselfe is wholy bounde vnto the lawe of GOD whether other consent or dissent If the good man of a house haue many seruauntes whome he commaundeth to doo hys woorke in the countrey but some of them when their master is absent wil be idle Paul taryed not for consent ought the rest therfore to be idle bycause some consent not to theyr common busines Did Paul when he was called to preache Christ tary for the consent of his other brethren No vndoubtedly but as he writteth vnto the Galathians when it pleased GOD to reuele vnto me hys sonne that I should preache hym amonge the Gentiles I dyd not strayghtwaye aske counsell of fleshe and bloude neyther went I vnto the Apostles whiche were before me but I went into Arabia Wherefore he taried not for the consent of other but straightwaye obeyed his vocation So also ought we to doo after that GOD hath opened vnto vs his truth Whē we must tary for consēt we muste not tary We muste in deede tary for the consent if the thynge bee doubtfull and darke But our cause is manifest and without all obscurenes whiche if we will omitte tyll consent be had the thyng it selfe is lost An acte of Tiberius and good occasions taken awaye Tiberius woulde haue brought Christe into the number of the goddes but he thought to haue the consent of the Senate but the Senate woulde not and by that meanes it came to passe that whylest the consent was taryed for Christ coulde not bee numbred amonge the goddes wher as Tiberius was able to haue brought it to passe by himself But I pray you let them tel vs For whose cōsent they will tary For the Byshops cōsent But they no doubt wil neuer consent for they are sworne enemyes vnto the truth But let vs returne vnto the inferior Magistrate of whom we spake before We must remember what God hath commaunded chyldren concernyng theyr parentes Honour thy father and thy mother By whiche woordes vndoubtedlye is also commaunded honour and obeysaunce towarde superior powers For they haue the place of parentes towarde the inferior Magistrates But let vs see what Christe hath pronounced as touchyng thys matter He whiche loueth father sayeth he or mother more then me is not woorthy of me The same thyng without doubte muste we thynke of the Magistrate whiche
Why was Socrates condemned at Athens The Ethnike princes had a regard vnto religion I do not now demaunde how holyly or iustly for as all men in a manner beleue Anitus and Melitus lyed agaynst hym this I speake for that he was for no other cause condemned but onely for religion as thoughe he taught newe gods and led away the youth from the olde and receaued worshyppyng of the gods and he was by a prophane Magistrate condēned Socrates was for religiō sake condemned of a prophane Magistrate Wherfore the Athenienses thought that the obseruance and care of religion pertayned vnto their Magistrate The law of God commaunded that the blasphemer should be put to death not I thinke by euery priuate mā or by the Priestes but by the Magistrates The Ethnike Emperors also in those first tymes did for no other cause rage agaynst the Christians but bycause they thought that matters of religion pertayned vnto their iudgement seat And assuredly as touching this opinion they wer not deceaued for none as Chrisostome sayth either Apostle or Prophet reproued the people Chrisostome either Iewes or Ethnikes bycause they had a care ouer Religion but they were deceaued in the knowledge of Religion bycause they defended theyr owne religion as true and condemned the Christian religion as vngodly and blasphemous Constantine and Theodosius are praysed and very many other holy princes bycause they tooke awaye Idoles and either closed vp or elles ouerthrew theyr Temples But they dyd not these thynges but for that they thought that the charge of Religion pertayned vnto them otherwise they should haue bene busy fellowes and should haue put theyr sicle into an other mannes haruest The Donatistes tooke thys in very ill parte and grieuously complayned thereof in Augustines tyme bycause the Catholique Byshoppes required ayde of the Ciuile Magistrate agaynst them Augustine But Augustine confuteth them with the selfe same argumentes whiche I haue a litle before rehearsed and addeth this moreouer Why did ye accuse Cecilianus Bishop of Carthage before Constātine if it be wicked for the Emperor to determine concerning Religion Farther there is gathered by those thynges whiche the same father wrote agaynst Petilianus and agaynst Parmenianus and also in many other his Epistles howe that the Donatistes accused Cecilianus as it is sayde before Constantine the Emperour who first sent the cause to Melchiades Bishop of Rome And when by hym they were ouercome they appealed agayne vnto the Emperor neyther reiected he their appealation from him but committed the matter vnto the Bishop of Orleance by whom they were agayne condemned Neither rested they so Constātine decideth a matter of religion but again appealed vnto the Emperor who heard thē decided their cause condemned them and by hys sentence absolued Cecilianus Where are they now which so often and so impudētly cry that there is no appealyng from the Pope and that the causes of Religion pertayne not vnto the ciuile Magistrate To whom in the olde tyme pertayned the ryght of callyng generall counsels Pertayned it not vnto the Emperors Counsels were called by Emperors As for the counsell of Nice the counsell of Constātinople of Ephesus and of Chalcedonia Emperors called them Leo. 1. of that name prayed the Emperor to cal a counsell in Italy bycause he suspected the Gretians of the error of Eutiches yet could he not obteyne it and the Byshops were called together to Chalcedonia where at the Emperor also was present as was Constantine at the counsell of Nice Neither doo I thinke that they were there present to sitte idle and to do nothing but rather to put forth vnto the Bishops what they should doo and to vrge them to define rightly Theodoretus telleth that Constantine admonished the fathers to determine all thinges by the scriptures of the Euangelistes Apostles Prophetes and Canonicall scriptures Iustinian also in the Code Iustinian Augustine wrote many Ecclesiasticall lawes of Byshoppes and Priestes and other such lyke Yea and Augustine hath taught that the Magistrate ought after the same manner to punish Idolatrers heretikes as he punisheth adulterers for as much as they cōmitte whoredome against God in mynd which is much more heynous then to committe whoredome in body And looke by what lawe murtherers are put to death by the same also Idolatrers and heretikes ought to be punished for that by them are killed not the bodies but the soules although the common people be stirred vp onely agaynst homicides bycause they see the bloud of the bodyes killed but see not the death of the soules Vndoubtedly it is profitable for the Magistrate to take vpon hym this care and by his authority to compell menne to come to holy sermons and to heare the worde of God for by that meanes it commeth to passe that by often hearyng those thyngs begyn to please whiche before displeased As Hystoryes teach that God hath oftentymes with most noble victoryes illustrate godly prynces God hath prospered princes whiche had a care vnto Religion which haue had a care vnto these thinges Farther it can not be denied but that it is the dewty of the Magistrates to defend those Cities and publique wealthes ouer whiche they are gouerners and to prouide that no hurt happen vnto them wherfore for asmuch as Idolatry is the cause of captiuity pestilence famine ouerthrowing of publique wealthes shal it not pertaine vnto the Magistrate to represse it and to kepe the true sound religion Lastly Paul teacheth fathers to instruct their children in discipline in the feare of God but a good Magistrate is a father of the countrey wherfore by the rule of the Apostle he ought to prouide that subiectes be instructed as common children But kynges and princes whiche say that these thynges pertayne not vnto thē do in the meane tyme let geue and sell Bishoprikes Abbacies and benefices to whō they thinke good neither thinke they that to be none of their office onely religion they thinke they haue nothyng to doo with and they neglect to prouide that they whom they exalte to most ample dignityes should execute theyr office rightly Wherfore this thyng onely remayneth for them euen that GOD hymselfe at the length will looke vpon these thynges and with most grieuous punishement take vengeaunce of their negligence These thynges haue I spokē the more at large by occasion of our Hystory which maketh mention twise or thrise that euilles happened in Israel bycause they had not a kyng or lawfull Magistrate ¶ The .xx. Chapter 1 THen all the children of Israell went out and the congregation was gathered together as one man from Dan euen to Beerseba and from the lande of Gilead vnto the Lord in Mizpa 2 And the corners of all the people and all the tribes of Israell assembled in the Churche of the people of God foure hundreth thousand footemen that drew sword 3 And the children of Beniamin heard that the childrē of Israell wer gone vp vnto
Mizpa Then the children of Israell sayde Howe is this wickednes committed 4 And the man the Leuite the womans husband that was slayne aunswered and sayde I came vnto Gibea whiche is in Beniamin with my concubine to lodge 5 And the men of Gibea arose agaynst me and beset the house roūd aboute vpon me by nyght thynking to haue slayne mee And haue forced my concubine that she is dead 6 Then I tooke my concubine and cut her in pieces and sent her thorough out all the countrey of the inheritance of Israel For they haue committed abhomination and vilany in Israel 7 Beholde all ye children of Israell geue your aduise and Counsell herein The congregation of the Israelites was assembled together to iudge of the crime This Hebrew word Edah signifieth a Church or an assembly The end of assemblyes or meatynges together beyng deriued of this verbe Adah whiche is to testify bycause that it is the vse and ende of such assemblyes that the godly should faythfully testify before God of those thynges whiche are put forth to be consulted of From Dan euen vnto Beerseba Dan Beerseba In this kinde of Paraphrasis is comprehended the whole people of Israel For these ar the endes of that kyngdome Dan is the ende towarde the North wherby the Iewes are neyghbours vnto the Zidonians and Beerseba toward the South Euen vnto Gilead That land is beyond Iordane The borders of the region of the Hebrues where the two tribes Ruben and Gad together with halfe the tribe of Manasses dwelled Thys was the third end toward the East And ouer agaynst that toward the West lay the sea called mare Mediterraneum Within these termes and lymites was conteyned the region of the Hebrues whiche they possessed in the land of Chanaan They came into Mizpa vnto the LORDE Where Mizpa was Mizpa was a place moste apte to haue assemblyes in it was not farre frome Ierusalem in the Tribe of Iudah In the fyrste booke of the Machabites the thyrde Chapiter it is thus written When the people by reason of the tyranny of the Macedonians fled out of Ierusalem they assembled together in Mizpa vnto Iudas Machabeus And it is added that that place was a house of prayer of aūcient tyme laye situate ouer agaynst the City of Ierusalem And in this booke we haue before heard how that when Iiphtah should be ordeyned Iudge ouer the people the people assembled together in Mizpa In Samuels tyme also the people assembled together twise vnto that place once when they should leade an army agaynst the Philistines an other tyme when Saul should be created kyng Farther when all the Citye was ouerthrowen by Nebuchad-Nezar all the people fled to Godolia in Mizpa Moreouer besides the oportunity of the place was added a notable benefite of God bycause as we rede in the .10 chapter of Iosuah there assembled thether agaynst the people of Israel a very great nūber of kynges for there were not fiue or sixe but very many kinges which were neyghbours entending vtterly to destroye the name of the Iewes Yet God commaunded them to be of a good valiaunt courage bycause he would geue vnto his people the victory ouer them all And when that thyng happened contrary to all mans hope the Hebrues for a monument of so great a benefite built in that place an alter vnto God Wherfore it is probable as the Rabbines affirme that in Mizpa began to bee a house of prayer For the people went not to the tabernacle or to Ierusalem so often as they had occasion to pray Euery Citye had Synagoges but had in Cityes and Villages certayne Synagoges wherein they prayed together vnto GOD. But to doo Sacrifices it was not after that manner lawfull but onely at the tabernacle of Moses or at Ierusalem after Salomon had builte the Temple althoughe hyghe places were sometymes vsed Wherfore the people assembled thether as well for the opportunity of the place as also by reason of the auncient Religion neither thought they it lawefull to begyn any thyng without prayers Whiche institution for that the Papistes woulde somewhat resemble they firste prouide to haue a Masse of the holy Ghost songe before they make any leagues or rather conspiracyes agaynste Christe It is sayde that they assembled together vnto the Lorde to praye together vnto the Lorde D. Kimhi Although Dauid Kimhi thinketh that this was added bycause wheresoeuer is a multitude of the godly there is GOD also present And to confirme that sentence he bringeth a place put of the Psalme GOD stoode in the Synagoge of Goddes For Iudges whiche in thys place are called Goddes when they geue iudgement ought not to thinke that they haue theyr owne cause in hande but Goddes cause as Iosaphat the godly kynge shewed them I doo not dissallowe this sentence for it is both godly and also it maketh menne to vnderstande that when assemblyes are godly had then doo menne assemble vnto GOD whiche thyng if menne in these dayes woulde consider greate menne woulde handle publique causes with more feare of GOD. Howbeit thys is for certayne that the Israelites assembled not in Silo as some thinke And the corners of all the people assembled The Hebrewe woorde is Penoth whiche properly signifyeth corners but in this place it is taken for Capitaines heades ouer ten Cēturious Tribunes and gouernors of warlike affayres For they after a sort are corners strengthes and stayes of an army Wherfore the villages of the Holuetians in the Italian toungue are called Cantones Wherfore the Hebrues come and assemble in Mizpa not rashly but in their orders They had not in deede a kyng or myghty Magistrates or Senadrim as it is thought for they wer sore decayed and weakened by the Philistines Yet they retayned among themselues some order and discipline Fower hundreth thousande footemen When they went out of Epypte they were 666000. The nomber of the Israelites diminishe men It seemeth that the number was nowe diminished And no meruayle bycause they had ben afflicted with many greuous calamities Also the tribe of Beniamin was away which peraduenture had thirty thousande soldiours For that tribe was both ample and also mighty And the chyldren of Beniamin heard The Beniamites would not be present they onely heard what should be done Dauid Kimhi Kimhi admonisheth that these woordes are put in by a parenthesis for there is no cause shewed why they woulde not be among them And the children of Israel sayd Tel how this wycked act was committed Kimhi thinketh that these things are to be red in the vocatiue case as though it should haue bene sayd O ye children of Israel declare the whole matter in order as it was done in the meane time it seemeth that the Beniamites are noted bycause they would not come vnto the assembly neyther take awaye euill from among them The people assembled together to vnderstand the cause that for as much as ther was
of the tribe of Beniamin but to all Schebat in Hebrue is a tribe but here it is taken for a famely And in very dede tribes wer nothing els then famelies comming of the Patriarches namely the children of Iacob But the tribe of Beniamin had ten famelies Beniamin had ten faâ—elies R. Selomoh who toke their names of their first Parentes And those ten famelies were so notable and aboundant that R. Selomoh saith that Rachel after a sort brought forth twelue tribes that is ther came out of Beniamin ten famelies which myght bee likened vnto ten tribes Farther of Ioseph were borne Ephraim and Manasses Wherfore the Tribe of Beniamin was very populous and mighty Whereby also it came to passe that they trusted to much in their own strength and thought that they were able to resist al Israell Wherfore they would neither deliuer the guiltye nor yet punish them For they thought it ignominious vnto them if they should haue don either of them They would not geue place to sound counsels wherefore they could not deny but that warre was iustlye made against them which by honest meanes they might haue auoided But the rest of the people are to bee praysed bicause they with so great moderacion tooke in hande so great a matter Fyrst A comparyson betwene the people and the BeÌ„iamites they would know the cause then sende messengers to require that the guiltye might be put to death lastly they would assay althinges rather then they would make war against their brethren On the contrarye syde the Beniamites doo al thinges peruerslye they take no counsel they neither deny nor excuse their act they wyll not deliuer the guilty but prepare them selues to defende And so for the wickednes of a fewe they contaminate them selues all And as Paul sayth to the Romanes they do not onelye euyll them selues but also consent to them that doo euyl Neither could they excuse themselues by ignoraunce of the law which they had so often heard They acknowledge that the wycked act was most grieuous which yet they allow in defending the guilty 14 But the children of Beniamin gathered them selues together out of the Cities into Gibea to go out and fyght agaynst the chyldren of Israel 15 And the children of Beniamin were numbred at that tyme .26 thousand men that drew swoorde besides the inhabiters of Gibea whych were numbred .vi. hundreth chosen men 16 Of al this people there were .7 hundreth chosen men that were shut in their ryght hande all these coulde slyng stones at an heare breadth and not fayle 17 Also the men of Israel beside Beniamin were numbred .400 thousand men that drew sword Al these wer men of warre 18 And they arose vp and went vp to Bethel and asked of God the children of Israel sayd which of vs shal go vp firste to fyght agaynst the chyldren of Beniamin And the Lord sayde Iuda shall be fyrst 19 Then the chyldren of Israell rose vp earelye and camped agaynst Gibea 20 The men of Israel I say went out to battaile agaynst Beniamin and the men of Israel put them selues in aray to fight against them besyde Gibea 21 And the chyldren of Beniamin came oute of Gibea and slewe downe to the ground of the Israelites that day .xxii. thousand meÌ„ 22 And the people the men of Israel plucked vp their hartes and set their battayle agayne in aray in the place where they put them in a ray the fyrst day 23 And the children of Israel went vp and asked the Lord saying Shal I go agayne to battayle agaynste the chyldren of Beniamin my brethren And the Lord sayd Go vp against them 24 Then the chyldren of Israel came neare the chyldren of Beniamin the second day 25 And the second day Beniamin came forth to meete them out of Gibea and slew downe to the grounde of the chyldren of Israel agayne .xviii. thousand men Al they could handle the swoord The Beniamites assembled together to Gibea bicause they saw al the brunt of the battail bent thitherwarde They tooke out the choyce of their soldiours wherein were not comprehended the inhabiters of Gibea which were in number sixe hundreth men of warre and men picked out And it is added for a thyng wonderful that there were of the Beniamites seuen hundreth which had an impediment in their right handes but vsed slynges leuened so nye that they missed not euen an heare bredth What hande is said to be closed It is saide that they had their handes closed bycause the sinews wer bound neither could the spirites haue their mouings frely For which cause they were vnapt to draw swordes The latin translacion hath ambi dexteros bicause they could vse both handes as though either hand were the right hand Leafthanded And they which excuse this translacion do say that they so vsed the leaft hand as if they had had no right hand I thinke rather that they were leaft handed But in that it is added that they leueled so rightly that they missed not a heare bredth Hyperbole I thinke it be spoken by this figure Hiperbole wherby their cunning and industry might the more be commended In the Hebrue it is read that the Beniamites had .xxvi. thousande soldiours But in the latin interpretacioÌ„ are put onely .xxv. thousaÌ„d for this cause as I suppose bicause in that last conflict wherein the Beniamites were ouerthrowen we reade onely of .xxv. thousand that were slaine Wherfore if a man compare the first number with the latter there are a thousand ouer whom other thinke that when their host was discomfited and thinges past all hope they turned backe fled into Europe D. Kimhi But Kimhi thinketh more rightlye that they were myssing when the Beniamites got the vpper hand in those twoo first conflictes For it is not credible that they so ouercame that they lost none of their soldiours Wherfore if thou adde them vnto the .xxv. thousand which fel in the third battail then is the whole number of .xxvi. thousande explete These thinges I knowe are of smal waight which yet I thought good to note bicause the Rabbines haue written many thinges of them and the translacions do differ When the soldiours were chosen out and al thinges set in an order the Israelites send to Bethel and aske counsel of God The Arke of the Lorde was at that time in Siloh Bethel is not alwaies the proper name of a place and from thence wer geuen answers And Bethel in this place is not the name of a City but is takeÌ„ for the house of God and signifieth a place where the Arke of the couenant remained Farther Siloh was not farre from Gibea wherfore it was no hard matter for the Israelites to send thether to aske counsel of God They asked the Lord which tribe should haue the fyrst place in the battayle for some one tribe must nedes be the first Answer was made that this should be geuen vnto the tribe of Iuda
Rimmon and abode in the rocke Rimmō .4 monethes 48 Then the men of Israel returned vnto the chyldren of Beniamin and smote them with the edge of the swoord from the men of the City vnto the beastes and al that came to hand also they set on fyre all the Cities that they could come by After that the children of Israel had had the ouerthrowe they went vp vnto the house of God and wept there And assuredly somewhat they dyd that belonged vnto piety but yet not so muche as they ought for they fasted not neyther offered they Sacrifices whiche are tokens of a full fayth and conuersion Why God had thē ascend whē they shoulde be ouerthrowen How beit the Lorde byddeth them to ascende bycause he woulde not feare them away from the battaile which they had in a iust cause taken in hande He dyd not strayghtway geue the victory but styll permitted them to be afflicted of their enemyes whereby they might vnderstande their faultes and more earnestly desyre pardon There perished againe .xviii. thousand of them after which slaughter it is sayde that they came all of them humbly vnto God There they wept not counterfetlye or lightlye but bytterly and earnestlye and that all the whole daye They fasted they offered burnt offerynges and peace offeringes Burnt offeringes were they which were all whole burnt but of peace offeringes a certaine part was offered an other part was geuen vnto the Priest and an other part returned vnto him whych offered it to eate it with his frendes in the sight of the Lorde The Hebrues being now oppressed with troubles doo not onelye pray vnto God and bewayle their synnes but also fast and after fastyng institute a cōmunion among themselues In that it is said that the Arke of the Lord was there we must vnderstande that of Siloh for there it continually abode It is said that the priest stoode before the Lorde and that is nothing els then that he exercised the holy ministery They asked Shal we ascende or shal we cease This is a more ful interrogacion then the first were This is a more ful interrogaciō then the first wer for at the first time they onely demaunded which tribe should first assaile the enemies At the second time whither God wold that they should ascend against their enemies But now they demaund whither they shal go vp or whither they shal cease As though they vtterly referred the matter vnto the wil of God God answereth them more gently faith Go vp to morow I wil deliuer them into thine hand The thinges that are now done and set foorth serue to our cōmodity We ought to attempt nothing whereof we are not before certain whither it be iust or vniust For the true knowledge wherof we must seke for the answer of God out of the holy scriptures The Israelites wold not wrap the innocents with the gilty therfore they sent messengers at the beginning which thing at this day is not obserued in making of wars Our Capitains and Emperors do althinges without respect do no les rage against children olde men maydens and widowes then against those which haue chieflye offended The Beniamites are worthely to be condemned bicause they defended an vniust cause thought that it would be ignominious vnto thē if they should deliuer any of theirs to be punished which thing we see happeneth very often tymes in these dayes For maisters defend their seruantes they care not by what right or wrong For if their seruant although he be gilty be cast into prison they think that therby cōmeth a great ignominy vnto thēselues their famely and to their court But they ought to haue iustice before their eyes not to haue a regard to any thing els then that the lawes should be kept The Beniamites did put their confidence in their own strength the Israelites in their great number and also in the iustnes of their cause But both of them sinned for confidence is not to be put either in the strength of soldiours or in the number or in the iustnesse of the cause but onely in the mercy of God Although the cause be good yet doth not the thing alwaies succeede prosperously The Beniamites in a most wicked cause got the victory the fyrst time the second tyme yea and the thirde tyme yet at the last they suffered punishment and were ouerthrowen and slayne For God howsoeuer he do for a time winke at the wicked actes of men yet he suffereth them not alwayes to escape vnpunished For the vngodly as the holy prophetes admonishe vs floorishe for a short time but if thou a litle while passe by and returne he shall be no where That the Israelites wer so often ouercome Why god wold haue the Israelites ouercome it was the worke counsel of God not bicause he would help the wicked men but to allure his to true iust repentace We may also hereby learne that in all matters that wee take in hande three thinges are chiefly to be required first that the cause be iust which we will defend Three thinges required in euerye thing that we take in hād Farther that we put not the abilitye of performing the same in our owne strength but in God lastly that we put to our endeuor diligence Otherwyse to despise the meanes wherby we may attain to our purpose is nothing els thē to tēpt God It is not inough to say I haue a good cause I will cōmit the residue vnto god We must also stretch out our strengthes ad to our diligence Wherfore we may not put our affiance in any cause although it be neuer so iust Some man wil say what difference then is there betwene a iust cause and an vniust There is great difference betwene to haue a good cause to haue an euil Much vndoubtedly For in an vniust cause thou canst not cal vpon God or trust that he wil be an helper vnto thee For an vniust cause is vnder the curse of God and to cal vpon God to helpe it is euen like as if I should desire help of a man to fight against my selfe But if the cause be good euery man maye put his confidence in God cal vpon him but yet not in such maner to put hope in the equity of the cause but that thou mayest hope that God for his mercies sake wyll bee an ayde vnto thee The successe maketh not the cause eyther good or euyll If the successe bee euill the cause is not therefore straightwaye good Nebuchad-Nezar destroyed Iewrye and ledde awaye the nacions that were adioyning captiues into Babilon and yet was not his cause therefore good Gods cause in deede was iuste for hee woulde by that meanes take vengeaunce of a rebellious people But Nebuchad-Nezar thought nothing els but to exercise his tyrāny Ioseph bicause he would auoide adoultery was cast into prison and yet was not his cause therefore euer a whyt
abstinēce Definition not onely from meate and drinke but also from all other thynges whiche may delite and noorishe the body contrary to the accustomed manner as much as strength will suffer and it is done of a repentant mynd and of a true fayth by prayers to desire the clemency of God for miseryes eyther already oppressing vs or very nighe at hand The forme of this definition is abstinence An expositiō of the causes of true fasting and that aboue the accustomed manner whiche yet excedeth not strengthes of the body The matter is not onely meate and drinke but also all thynges whiche may reioyse the body The efficient cause is fayth and repentance for sinnes committed agaynst God The end is by prayers to craue the mercy of God and to turne away or to diminishe calamityes Therfore they whiche fast Exercises of those that faste truely ought to geue themselues to prayers almes visitynges of the sicke and to the holy supper When we feruently pray vnto the Lord and do from the heart truly repent vs of the sinnes which we haue cōmitted for their causes are earnestly afflicted we can not easely thinke vpon meate drinke fine delicates For whō such a griefe grieuously vrgeth it is more pleasant to thē to absteyne thē is any other delectation So Dauid in his .35 Psalme sayth of his enemyes When they were sicke I laughed not but put on sacke clothe and afflicted my soule with fasting and earnestly prayed for them They whiche deiect and humble themselues bycause they in a manner dispaire of their things are wont to contemne and loth meate and drinke and other delightes and pleasures Hereby we may vnderstād Why fastyngs please God Ierome how it commeth to passe that our fastes doo please God not assuredly that the emptines of the belly pleaseth God So Ierome derideth certayne which fasting to hardly were made to all purposes all their lyfe long vnprofitable This pleaseth God that we deiect the mynde that we returne vnto him with prayers and casting away other pleasures do put all our delectation in him onely But the fastes wherof we now intreate Fastes publike and priuate are sometymes publique and sometymes priuate Priuate fastes we take in hand when we are afflicted with proper and domesticall miseries for there is none whiche is not vexed sometymes either in himselfe or in his famely Or if it happē that peraduenture he be not greued with any calamity of his owne or any of hys We must faste sometymes for other mennes sakes yet sometymes he must mourne for other For if we be the members of one the self same body we must thinke that the discōmodityes of our brethrē pertayn vnto vs our selues So Dauid prayed for them which afterward became his enemies which reioysed in his euils So Iobs frindes whē they saw hym vexed with most grieuous plagues lay seuē dayes full in dust and ashes before they spake any thyng vnto him so much wer those men moued with his misery Wherfore before they commoned with hym they would by fasting and prayers desire God to asswage his so great misery So Dauid when Abner was slayne did not onely mourne at his buriall but also sware that he would that day taste of no meate before the sunne were set The same thing did he when he was reproued of Nathan the Prophete and when he had receaued tydinges of the death of the childe Vndoubtedlye all the whole tyme that he was sicke he neuer toke meate Nehemias in the .1 chap. whē he heard of the afflictions of the Hebrewes whiche remayned in Ierusalem afflicted himselfe with fasting and prayed vnto the Lord. Daniel also when he had red those things which Ieremy wrote of the captiuity of .70 yeares cōfessed both his owne sinnes and the sinnes of the people wept also and fasted Wherfore priuate fasting ought to be taken in hand not onely for our selues but also for others But publique fasting is two maner of wayes commaunded How publique fastes are denounced Either of God himself by the law or of the Magistrate or of the Bishop or els of a Prophet And this is to sanctify a fast which sometymes is red in the holy scriptures Of thys kind there are many examples What it is to sanctify a fast especially that fast which the Israelites in this place imposed vpon themselues In the .1 booke of Samuel when the Philistines grieuously afflicted the Iewes the whole people at the exhortation of Samuel assembled in Mizpa wept fasted and threw away their Idoles Dauid also with all his fasted when he heard of the ouerthrowe of the people and death of Saul The men also of Iabes Gilead toke the carkayses of Saul and Ionathas and wept and also fasted That also was a publique fast whiche Iosaphat commaunded in the .2 boke of Paralip the .20 chap. Esther the queene beyng in extreme daunger commaunded by Mardocheus a publique fast to be denounced The Israelites in their captiuity as it is written in the .7 chap. of Zachary had a fast both in the .5 moneth the .7 moneth bycause in the .5 moneth the spoyling of the City desolation of the tēple happened and in the .7 moneth Godolias was slayne wherby so many miseryes afterward ensewed That was also a publique fast whiche Iezabel proclaymed a woman otherwise wicked and an Hipocrite Her acte declareth that it was the manner that when any great wicked crime was committed the whole Churche should fast as it were desiryng helpe agaynst the common punishement This fast sometymes also the Prophetes required As Iohel when he sayd Sanctifie ye a fast Esdras also in his 8. chap. proclaimed a fast Wherfore fastes were by certayne godly considerations publikely denounced Why an yearely fast was instituted among the Hebrues God himself also commaunded a publique fast For he commaunded that euery yeare the feast Chephurim that is the feast of expiations should be celebrated the .10 day of September with a publique fast For the people committed many sinnes thorough out the whole yeare neither did they diligently obserue the ceremonyes Wherfore once in a yeare the tabernacle was purified and a publique fast was obserued These thinges in the old Testament signified as it wer by a certaine shadow that the sinnes of mē should be by Christ abolished of whō when we take hold by a true and lyuely faith The day of fast was a festiuall day we are losed from sinnes and therof followeth the mortification of sinnes and carnall delightes pleasures Neither is this to be passed ouer that that one daye of fast was a festiuall day For it was not lawful in the publique fast either to worke or for a man to geue hym selfe to his own busines not that on feastiual dayes we ought vtterly to be idle but that in those dayes we should do good deedes whereby we may rest in God and we are commaunded onely to absteyne from our
in warre taken in hand by common counsel to withdraw themselues by priuate counsell Metius Suffecius captaine of Albany when he forsoke Tullus Hostilius fighting against the Fidenates by the commaundement of Tullus was bound to two cartes and so drawē in peces Solon depriued him of al honour dignity Solon A decre of Pōpeius which in the time of sedicion adioyned himselfe to neyther party And Pompeius as Plutarche affirmeth when he fled from Cesar proclaymed that he woulde count all them to be enemies which abode at Rome and helped not the common cause And after this maner are the Iabenites prescribed and counted for enemies And no otherwise are they to be counted which in this our tyme when there is controuersye concerning religion doo dissemble althinges when as in the meane tyme they wyl neither stand on the Papistes syde nor on ours It is not lawful for vs in religion to be neuters They say they wyll stand in the myddest betwene both which is nothing els then that they wyll be wyth the aduersaries or enemies For they halte on either side and therfore it may be said that after a sort they fauor them Farther the cause of religion is farre greater and greuouser then the cause of the publike wealth In the Churche no man can excuse himselfe that hee is a straunger for no man which professeth himself to be a Christian can be a straunger from religion wherfore warre is iustly proclaymed against the Iabenites Althoughe I thinke that in this matter also the Isralites wer to cruel For it semeth that it should haue bene sufficient to haue slaine the men that were apt vnto warre To much crueltye against the Iabenites which had committed the crime of rebellion But to kil womē old men and children it was to much cruelty Neither could they say that they had vowed vnto the Lord the vow Cherem forasmuch as they had saued the mayden virgins And vndoubtedly so great cruelty turned them to euyl for if they had delt more gently with the Iabenites they had had more women for the Beniamites Neither coulde they haue geuen counsell to haue vsed force to get them selues wiues But it is good to vnderstand how the Israelites founde oute that the Iabenites were absent The battaile being finished they al assembled to Siloh and numbred the people among whom when they founde none of the Iabenites they easelye vnderstoode that they were absent from the warre So great was their piety and religion at that time that when they had obtained the victory al of them assembled together to geue thankes vnto God But that thing is contemned now a daies for how many are there which when they haue gotten the victory wil acknowledge the benefite of God and geue him thankes Preachers do out of the Pulpit admonish the people to pray publikely for sicke folkes of which we either se or heare of none in a maner which when they are restored to health do publikelye geue thankes vnto God for that they haue by the prayers of the Churche escaped free They proclaymed peace vnto them which were in Rimmon That is gaue them safeconduct to returne home againe in safety 14 And Beniamin returned at that tyme and they gaue them wiues whom they had made on lyue of the women of Iabes Gilead which yet were not sufficient for them 15 And the people had compassion on Beniamin bicause the Lord had made a gappe in the tribes of Israel 16 And then the Elders of the congregacion sayd what shall wee do for wiues for the rest For the womē of Beniamin are destroied 17 And they sayd There must be an inheritance for them that bee escaped of Beniamin that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel 18 For we cannot geue them of our daughters to wyues For the chyldren of Israel had sworne saying Cursed be he that geueth a wyfe to Beniamin 19 Then they sayd Behold there is a feast of a Lorde yearelye in Siloh in the place which is on the North syde of the house of God and on the East syde of the way that goeth from the house of God vnto Sechem and is South from Libanon 20 And they commaunded the chyldren of Beniamin saying Go and lye in wayte in the vyneyardes 21 And take hede For behold if the doughters of Siloh come out to daunce in a row then come ye out of the vyneyardes and catche vnto you euery man hys wyfe of the daughters of Siloh and get you into the land of Beniamin 22 And if their fathers or brethren come vnto vs to complayne we wyll say vnto them Haue pity on vs for them bicause we reserued not to eche man hys wyfe in tyme of war And bicause ye haue not geuen vnto them so that ye haue at this tyme offended 23 And the children of Beniamin did euen so and tooke them wiues of the dauncers according to their number whom they cought and went their wayes and returned euery man to hys inheritance And repairyng their cities they dwelt in them 24 And the children of Israel departed thence at that time euerye man to hys trybe and to his famelye And went out from thence euerye man to hys inheritaunce 25 In those dayes there was no kyng in Israel but euery man did that which seemed ryght in hys owne eyes They are sayd to haue made on lyue those maydens whom they had not slain for forasmuch as they had thē in their power it semed that they might iustly haue slayne them But they would preserue them on lyue Whereby they vnderstode that God wold saue the tribe of Bēiamin for that they sawe it was not the wyl of God that al the Beniamites should vtterly be destroyed and here by they vnderstoode the wil of God bicause he had caused sixe hundreth of them to escape Wherfore they gaue them safeconduct and the maydens of the Iabenites to be their wiues God made a breache in Israel That which they did themselues they ascribe vnto God A breache they cal the cutting of of one tribe Here is expressedlye set foorth the inconstancy of mans minde In that fury and hot anger they woulde haue destroyed al and they desyred of God to graunt them a ful victory when they haue obtained it and finished the matter they mourne afflict themselues If they had moderatly vsed the victory this thing had not happened vnto them After the same maner they synned against the Iabenites for if they had not slaine al the women ther they had had wiues inough for the Beniamites Now hauing slayne all they found onely .400 mayden virgins which not being sufficient they are compelled to seeke other by rapte or stelth And the Elders sayd So were the Senators or Senadrim called or els the Tribunes and Centurions which were rulers ouer the warlike affaires Let their inheritance be safe Iosua had appointed vnto euery tribe his inheritance Wherfore the Israelites could not clayme vnto
of God 250 Ciuil lawes forbid recoÌ„ciliation after adultery 249 Ciuil lawes permit guile 85 Ciuil power how it is subiect to the ecclesiasticall 258. b Ciuill power howe farre it extendeth 258. Ciuil rules end 54. b Ciuil warres more cruel then outward 274 Clemens epistles to Iames. 149. b Clemency defined 13 Clemency of God toward his enemies 112 CoactioÌ„ God inferreth not to maÌ„s wyll 167. b Cohen signifieth prince or priest 28 Comam non nutriant nec barbam 201. b Commaundementes of God are to be kept precisely without al mitigation or mollefieng wyth mans inuention 61 Commaundementes of God more to be regarded then kynsfolkes 156. b Commaundement les shall gâ—ue place to the greater 203. b Commaundementes when one is contrary to an other the waightier is to be obserued 184 Common prayer what behauior is required therat 207 Common weale of the Iewes described 1. b CoÌ„munioÌ„ hath diuers names 41 b CoÌ„munioÌ„ Masse compared 49. b Communication filthy 159. b Companieng of godly with vngodly 44. b Comparatiue decree alwaies requireth the positiue degree 39. b Competentes 42. b CoÌ„pulsion to right worshipping of God vse of the sacrameÌ„ts 54. b Conciliation of places repugnaÌ„t 93 Concilium Gangrense allowed mariage of ministers 94. b Concord in the churche dependeth not of vnity or likenes in ceremonies 279 Concubines hauing 154 Concubines of the Fathers were wyues 248. b Coniurer notable Appollonius 211 Coniurations at the Sepulchres of Saintes c 130 Conscience when it accuseth vs what we shal answer 176 Conscience euyll is called sores of the minde 247. b CoÌ„secrator whether he be greater then the consecrated 261. b Consent of the churche whether it bee to bee wayted for in reformacion 265 Consent of the children is requisite in mariage 215 Conspiracy 38 Conspiracies of the vngodly are of no long time 166. b Conspiracies communicated to many haue seldom good succes 82. b Constancy true 194 Constancy of the Iewes 265. b Constantius emperours sleight to try right christian officers 264. b Constantine decided a matter of religion 266. b Contagion is to be auoyded 46. b Contempt defined 166 Contempt of the enemy in wars engendreth negligence 270 Contencions concerning fastings 276. b CoÌ„tractes of matrimony priui 154 Contracting by woordes of the future tence 284. b Contubernium 154. b Constantius the emperor 155. b Copulation of Aungels wyth women 16 Correction or amendement oughte to begyn fyrst in our own famely and next kin 123 Corruption first after the synne of Adam whether it were deriued of God or no. 80 Couenants are of as great efficacy as othes 86 Couenant of God two wayes to be considered 59. b CouenaÌ„t of god with the Hebrues concerning the Chananites 60 Couenant old had promises of more then erthly felicity 75 Counsels of men are so far fruitfull as the predestinacion of god hath before appointed 97. b Counsels Neocesariensis 95 Counsels are neither constant nor without errour 152. b Counsell askyng at God is morall 242. b Counsel asked of God by the Israelites three wayes 7 Counsell asked of God or not asked 6. b Counsels must be directed by God els hath it no good end ve st neuer so iustly enterprised 251 Creatures made Gods 69 Crede the tradicion of the church 43 Crime wher no crime is ought no man to confes 90 Cruelty of the Israelites agaynste the Beniamites 280 Cruelty displeaseth God 12. b Cruelty defined 12. b Cubit measure 16. b Cup of the noble 110 Curiosity of Dina. 285. b Curs of Iericho 30. b Cursings commonly vsed in aduersities 237. b Cursings how thei ar lawful 109. b Custome handled 189. Custome defined 190 Customes when they prescribe not 189 b Customes defined 263 D. DAgon what it was 234. b Danes put doun their kiÌ„g 91 Danes situation 108 Danits theues sacrilegers 245. b Daniell howe hee escaped the furnace 52 Dayes end sun set 221 b Dauids dissimulation 90 Daunces handled 286 Dauncing of the youthe on feaste dayes 282 b Daungers are to be auoyded rather then nourished 286. b Daunger greatest where securitye is most 247 DauÌ„gers in humaine actions 132 b Deades sacrifices offrings 277 Death for truth edifieth 52. b Death of three sortes appointed in the law of God for yl doers 12. b Deborah was of the Tribe of Ephraim 107. b Deborah vseth the authoritye of a Prince 96 Deceit handled 84 Deceiuing is against iustice 87. b Decree of God what shal be 72. b Decrees contrary to decrees 20â— Decres beter wurs which 214. b Degrees of kinred prohibited why 22 Degrees prohibited for matrimony 19. b Delay in God why 175. b Deliueraunce begynneth of repentaunce 112 Deliuerances by the iudges c shadowes of Christes deliueraÌ„ce 2 b Deliuerance from syn shadowed by Gedions victory 141 Delectation is in the sinoes 141. b Demades answer 265. b Dens differ from caues 112 b Desperation is the want of hope one of the extremes therof 246. b Despising defined 166 Destruction of cities townes are not alway against charity 3â— Destructions of cities pertaine to the worshipping of God 30. b Deuil moueth dreames 137. b Deuil worketh miracles 69. Deuils can worke miracles 126. b Deuils helpe to worke signes may not we vse 129. Deuil wtout hope of saluacioÌ„ 208. b Dictators why they were ordayned 2 Diedes of ours must both be iust iustly done 245. b Differences betwene the old sacramentes and ours 273. Difference betwene the old league and new 74. b Diffinition faulty 84. Dignity is not to be more cared for then religion 155. b Dinaes rapte 284. b Diocletians sentence of offence against the magistrate 264. b Dionysius called Areopagite 44. Disceat God alloweth not 36. b. reade deceit Discipline of war 111. b Dispaire in Gods help not lawful though delay be much 92. b Dispensations of the Pope are for gayne 178. b Dissimulation 38. Dissimulation of two sortes 89. b Dissimulation hurtfull 52. Dissimulation in Religion hurtfull 48. b Distrust whence it commeth 125. b Diuersity of speche in one tong 199 DiuinacioÌ„ by dreames is hard and vncertayne it requireth twoo thynges 136. b Diuorcement onely aduoutry causeth difference in religioÌ„ 222. b. Diuorce neuer willed by God nor Christ but for fornication and diuersity in religion 94. Diseplay condemned 219. Doughter of Iiphtahs obedience 192. b Doughters should not mary with out coÌ„sent of their parents 280 b Doughters for litle suburbs 40. b Dominion for it men may violate right 158. Dooue wherin the holy Ghost appeared 210. 211. b Doublenes of hart grouÌ„d of gile 84. Doublenes euer ioyned with a lye 88. b Dowry defined 26. Dowry is not necessarye in matrimony 154. Dowrye out of the common treasury 27. Dowry with a womaÌ„ forbidden 26 Dowry receaued by the husbands of the wyues 25. b Drawing of God to good and euil do differ 9â— Dreames intreated of 134. b Dreames corporall spirituall and intellectuall 137. b Dreames are signes of sicknes and
publique wealth he doth in deede punishe sinnes greuously but after his fatherly correction he doth with an vnmeasurable goodnes restore the hurtes and losses wherin men oftentymes incurre by theyr owne error faulte In all these things we may see an Image of our tymes For we are infected with the same infirmityes that our fathers were neither doth the deuill and his meÌ„bers with lesse diligence at this day vexe the congregatioÌ„ of the godly then he did in the old time Wherfore let vs praye vnto God our most louyng father thoroughe his sonne Iesus Christ that euen as from the begynning he hath holpen and noorished hys Churche in most great daungers so also he would now keepe and defende it when it is almoste ouerwhelmed with euils and calamityes Let vs desyre him also that euen as he from tyme to tyme stirred vp Iudges and deliuerers vnto the Hebrues by whom he restored both liberty and health and as in our tyme he hath geuen Heroicall and most excellent men namely Luther Zuinglius Oecolampadius Phillip Melanchton and suche like setters forth of the doctrine of the Gospel so he would vouchsafe to go forwarde and in conuenient tymes stirre vp certayn lyghtes by whiche he may illustrate the mindes of hys elect and kindle their heartes to keepe amplifie the Church of Christ that at the leÌ„gth he may haue it raygning with him in heauen without spot or wrinkle Amen ¶ The ende of the Commentary vpon the Booke of the Iudges ¶ A diligent Index or table of the most notable thinges matters and wordes contayned in thys whole woorke VVhich thinges ye shall fynde by the folio which is on the fyrst syde of the leafe and b signifieth the seconde syde of the same leafe A. AAroÌ„ reproued iustly 53 b Abimeleche Gedeons sonne 153. b Abimileches tiraÌ„ni 155 b Abimileches vices 157. b Abraham maried his brothers doughter 20. Abrahams leage with the Chananites 99. b Abrahams saying Sara was hys Sister 89. Abuses of church musicke 103. b Accidences do differ 286. b Accusations violate not but helpe the lawes 255 Action one and the same maye be good and bad 79 Actions should be both iust and iustly done 245 Actions voluntary naturall 63. b Adam and Eua whether they wer buried in Hebron 14. b Adonibezek 11 Aduersity giueth occasion of profitable sermons 113. b Aduersity oght to moue vs to praise thaÌ„k god aswel as prosperiti 104 Aduersities behauiour 6 Aduoutries counted lyghte crimes with Papistes 233 Aduoutries looseth her dowry 81 Adulterers and hooremongers god wyll iudge 249 Adultry punished with adultry 254. b Adultry salued by recoÌ„ciliatioÌ„ 249 Adultry and rapt ioyned 283. b Aesopes fables 160 Aestimation is not so much to be regarded as truth 90 Affections are qualities 141. b Affections of the bodye and mynde also signified by dreames 135 Affections ar attributed to God improperly 176 Affections which are to be counted godly 194 Affections whether they bee good or euyll 142 Affections may be ioyned with obedience 195. b Afflicted persons thinke god is not with them 114. b Affliction to the afflicted of God is not to be added 235. b Affliction springeth of synne 112 Affliction of the Israelites of forty yeares 200. b Afflictions of the goodlye are not properly punishments 181. b Afflictions of this life God sendes to diuers endes 180 Afflictions great or smal is no sure argument of the heynousnesse of synnes 171. b Afflictions final causes 8 Affricanes are Chananites 7 Affricanes wer Phenitians 68 Age good what 155. Ain turned by g. 226. b Allegories vse 8. b Allegory taken out of the holy scripture 141 Alexander vnto Darius 157 Altare erected 280. b Altare is not to bee erected but to God 69 Altars vsed why 122. b Alteracion is none in God 175 Ambition handled 157. b Ambition when it hath place 183. b Ambition of kings and bishops 12 Ambrose a Neophyt when he was made bishop 184 Ambrose opinion of Iiptah disalowed 194 Ambrose first vsed singyng in the west church 103 Anabaptistes fault 132. b Anabaptistes error 264. b Anabaptistes deny that the olde testament pertaineth to vs. 186. b Anadiplosis 109. b Anathemata 30. b Anarchia is destruction of a coÌ„mon wealth 139 Ancyrana Synodus 95 Angel signifieth diuersly 59 Angels howe they haue their names 205. b angels why they fell 15. q angels cannot burn in lustes 285 Angels whyther they dyd eate and drinke 212 angels bodyes wherin they appere are true and humaine 211. b Angels what maner of bodies they take vpon them 209. b angels apparitions 208 Angels apparitions may be imagigined .3 maner of waies 209. b. 211 Angels appearing and Gods do eeuidently differ 1â—2 b Angels whether they se God 121. b angels may worke miracles 126. b Anger of God described 70 Anger defined by the matter 73. b anger asswaged by gentle aunswer 141. b anger why Christ forbad 166. b Anger an vnfit affection to punysh in 280. b Answer with the Hebrues is to begyn to talke 244 Anthropomorphites error 118 Antichrist the pope of Rome 147. b Anticipation a common figure in scriptures 246. b Antiochus begyled 86 Apelles error 210. b Apis the oxe was loÌ„g fatting 122 b Apollonius Thyaneus 211 Apology defined 159. b Apoplexia 163. b Apostles how thei ar fouÌ„dacioÌ„s 149 Apparel prescribed by lawes 111. b Apparitions of angels 208 appeale from the Pope 266. b Application of popishe sacrifice for quicke and dead 50 Aquarij heretikes 189. b Arba the builder of Hebron 15 Arguments false of Siricius 94 Arguments from the euents to the cause are not alwayes firm 271. b argument against the Pope 161 Aristocratia 1. b Aristocratia in the church 241 Aristocratia compared with a kingdome 156 Aristotle deceiued 138 Arke taken 244. b Armes of noble men 140. b Artes forbidden 283 Ascension daye whether it was on the wensday or thursday 276. b Asers situation 108 Asking at God how 272 Assamonites or Machabites 259 Assemblies exercises 65 asses vsed in Syria 106. b Asses much vsed in Syria 25. b Attilius Regulus 85. b Augustines saying I would not beleue the Gospel c. scanned 5. b Augustine vsed the latine toung to preach in 84 Augustine Ierome contend 60. b Augustine excuseth Tertullian 120 Augustine chaunged his opinioÌ„ for compelling of heretikes 55 Augustines mother 138. b Aunts why meÌ„ may not mary 19 b B. BAal-berith 155 Baal handled 123. b Baal and Baalim 68 Balaams praying was prophesying 207 Banished mens custome in buylding of Cities 40 Banishment the extremest punishmeÌ„t of the citizens of Rome 146 b Baptisme of Infanes 75. b Baren mothers haue brought forth many excellent men 200. b Baruch is Apocripha 51 Bastard defined 177 b Bastards haue no place in the congregacion of Israel 177 Bastardes proue wurs then other children 178 Bastards wer not commaunded to be banished by the law 183 Bawde who acording to the Ciuill law 249 Bawdes are the Popes 232 Bawdry 232 Beanes make
troublesome dreames 137. b Bearing with others weaknes 52 Beda liued in a corrupt time 42. b Bearfoote is Elleborus 164. b Bees of bullockes dead 218 Begging disalowed 203 Behauor in prosperiti aduersiti 6 Benefits degres worthines 198 Benefits whether they be to be wtdraweÌ„ froÌ„ vnthaÌ„ful persons 198 Benefits of god ar of .2 sorts 198 b Beniamin had .x. families 269 Beniamites worthy to be condemned 271 Beniamites how many of theÌ„ wer slayne by the Israelites 273. b Berdes of Priestes 201. b Bernhards error of angels 209 Bethabara 141 Bethel is not alwayes a propper name of a place but wher the ark of the couenant remained 269. b Bethlehem .2 of that name 239. b Betraying handled 36 b Betraying defined 37 Betraying wurs theÌ„ besieging 37 Betraying lawful 37. b Betraying examples 38. b Betrothing in woordes of the future tence 284. b Bezek situate 11 Bibles preserued by the Iewes 57 b Bishop of Rome hath nothing common with Peter 149 Bishops of Rome refused kingdom in the church at the first 147 Bishops ambicious 12 Bishops coÌ„secrating of kings whether they be therein greater then kinges 261. b Blabbing a vice moste peculiare to women 221. b Blasphemies horrible 235 Bloudshedding iustly and rightly restrayneth not from the holy ministery 146. b Boasting what 87. b Boasting against God 132. b Body what it signifieth with Tertulian 209 Body spiritual how 211 Body and bloud of Christe howe it is eaten 212. b Bodies of men after the floud whether lesse then before 17 Body humaine cannot consist with out flesh and bones 118. Body remoueth vs not from the beholding of God 117. b Bodye is ioyned to the soule for a helpe and not punishment 208. b Body is anoyed with druÌ„keÌ„nes 163. b Bodely diseases les grieuous then the mindes 247. b Bona goods 139. b Bondage first of the Israelits 77 Bondage more grieuous then losse of goods 70 Bondage is agaynste the nature of man 80 Bondage is a ciuill death 36 Bond saruants may not flye from their masters 227. b Bonifacius the right 257. Booke de Patientia none of Augustines 158. b Booke de Dogmate ecclesiastico is none of saint Augustines 121 borders of the Hebrues couÌ„tri 267 Bramble a vile plant 160. b Breade remayning in the Eucharist 205 brethreÌ„ for al maner of kinsfolks 23 Brothers children ar not forbidden to mary by Gods lawe .19 but by the law of nature 21 Brothers wyfe onelye lawfull for the Iewes to mary 21. b Bribery of Abimilech 158 Burials of the Hebrues in their own possessions 66 Burnt offringes 271 Burthens personall 263. b C. CAesar touched 153. b Caiphas the hie priest was no prophet 137 Calcedonia Synode 147. b Calfes made by Aaron IeroboaÌ„ were made of a good intent 48. b Calues of the lyps 192 Canons of the apostles allow mariage of Ministers 94. b Canons latter corrupt 215 Canons authority aboue the Ciuill lawes 217. b Cantones vilages of Heluetia â—67 Captains ouer ten Centurions c why God appointed 115. b Captaynes to haue Ministers in their campes 96. b Captaine needefull in great daungers 176. b captiues returning or escaping 85 b Carthage inhabited wyth Sidonians 243. b Cardinals hoorehunters 232 Carefulnes contrary to securitye yet not alwaies to be praised 247 case new requireth a new help 88 b Cases of lying to auoyd dauÌ„ger 90 Castels whether it bee lawfull to fence 113 Castels municions cannot defend from the anger of God 112. b Cathecumeni 42 b Cato burthened with droÌ„kennes 163 Caues described 112. b Cause of synne is not to be layd vnto God 167 Cause iust vniust differ much 271 Causes first more to be considered then the second 71 Centurions c. why God appointed 115. b Ceremonies complayned on 190. b Ceremonies neede not be all a lyke euery where 54. b Ceremonies of the law howe long they might be vsed 52 Ceremonies of the law howe farre Paule condemned them 51. b Ceremonies are not good bycause they had a good begynning but bicause they be good of theyr nature 48 Ceremonies in the Masse what they signify is vnknowen 50 Chaire of Peter 149 Chaldry paraphrast with the Hebrues is of great authority 285. b Chalebs petigree 18. b Chaleb a faythful spy 18 Chanaan nation discussed 7 ChanaaÌ„ deuided by Iosua before it was possessed by the Israelits 7. b Chananites why God woulde not by and by destroy them 8 Chananites expelled by the Israelites went into Affricke 7 Charges extraordinary 263. b Chariotes for warre described 32. they can not resist God 32 b Charity is neglected when we depart from the true God 155. b Charity not broken in destroying of Cities 31 Chaunce is not with God 172 ChauÌ„ce is not wtout gods wil 165 b Chaunge is not in God 175 Chemos god of the Amonites 185 Cherem vowes 192 Ches play 220 Children many is an excellent gyft of God 200 Children fayre of foule Parentes how 4. b Childe of a day old is not pure 180 Children are more of the father theÌ„ of the mother 156. b Children deuided for legitimacion c. 177. b Childrens obedience to their Parentes 203. b Childrens duties to their parents al one with subiects to their Magistrates 265 Children whether they may marye wtout coÌ„sent of their parents 214 Children when they maye disobeye their parentes 253 ChildreÌ„ ar not punished for theyr fathers as touching eternal life 182 Choyce of meates is not to bee followed 278 Christ is man 211. b Christ is the vniuersal head 147. b Christ the head of the church 241 Christ dissembled 89. b Christ as wee reade oft wept but neuer laught 63 Christ how he resembled Melchisedech 261 Christe is the mediator in makyng leagues 73. b Christ refused a kingdoÌ„ offred 147 Christ is our peace 122. b Christes appearing to the olde Fathers how it may be proued 119 b Christ how he is taught bi the boke of Iudges 2. b Christ had a true body after hys resurrection 209 Christes bodye howe it entred the doores shut 211. b Christ appeared to Gedion 115 Christes body bloud ar not included in the simbols or signes 212 b Chronicles howe they differ from histories 3 Chrysippus foolish answer 147 Church is gouerned of God wyth a singuler care 203 Church had not two swords in the apostles time 260. b Churche howe it maye haue twoo swordes 259. b Churche geueth not authoritye to the scriptures but contrary 5 Church hath three offices touching the word of God 5 Churches consent if it be to be waited for in reformacion of religion 265 Church ought to entreat for the reconciliation of the repentant 250 Church that payeth tythes is greater then the minister 261. b CipriaÌ„ resisted the church of Rome 148 Circumstances make much in euery matter 101 City of Palmes what 27. b Cities whether it bee lawfull to fence 113 Cities of refuge beloÌ„ged to the Leuites 18 Citizen good who 150 Ciuil lawes are to bee corrected by the woord