men that wittingly and willingly without all shame commit adulterie To Abimelech king of the Philiftines the Lord doth saye Loe thou shalt die because of the woman which thou hast taken away from hir husband And yet this king also had taken away Sara not knowing that shée was Abrahams wife Ioseph being prouoked to adulterie by his maisters wife doth simplie saye How should I doe this great wickednesse and sinne against God Euery word here doth beare some weight For adulterie is an heynous sinne Wherevpon in the booke of Iob we find these woords of Iob himselfe If mine heart haue bene deceiued by a woman or if I haue layde waite at my neighbours doore then let my wife bee an other mans harlot and let other men haue to doe with her For this is a wickednesse and sinne that is worthie to bee iudged to death Yea it is a fire that vtterlie should consume and roote oute all mine increase Iob sayth that hée hath not onely not committed adulterie but that hée hath not so much at any time as once giuen the attempt to defile an other mans wife Hée confesseth that adulterie is a sinne and so greeuous an offence that it doth deserue to haue the adulterers wife to be defiled with adulterie He addeth that adulterie is a fire that vtterly consumeth and deuoureth all thinges and lastly that it is a sinne to bée iudged and punished by death Moreouer Solomon the wisest of all men saith May a man take fire in his bosome and his cloathes not be brent Or can one go vppon hoat coales and his feete not be brent Euen so he that goeth in to his neighbours wife and toucheth hir cannot be vnguiltie Men doe not vtterly despise a theefe that stealeth to satisfie his soule when hee is hungrie But if he may be gotten hee restoreth againe seuen times as much or else he maketh recompence with all the substaunce of his house But whoso committeth adulterie with a woman hee lacketh vnderstanding and hee that doth it destroyeth his owne soule He getteth himselfe a plague and dishonour and his reproch shall neuer bee put out For the iealosie and wrath of the man will not be intreated neither accepteth he the person of any mediatour nor receiueth any giftes howe great soeuer they bee In these words of Solomon many thinges are to bée noted First as it cannot otherwyse bée but that fire must burne the garment wherein it is carried so no man can cōmit adulterie without damage and daunger of further punishmente Secondarilie comparison is made betwirte a théefe and an adulterer not that theft is thereby defended but because théeues although they be infamous doe seeme yet to sinne a greate deale lesse than adulterers doe For a théefe may make satisfaction by restoring the worth of the thing that hée stoale to him from whole hée stoale it away but for adulterie no amendes can bee made And what is hée that would not rather wish to haue théeues ransacke his chest and take away his substaunce than to haue his wife his dearling defiled with adulterie Moreouer Solomon calleth the adulterer madde and without vnderstanding Adulterie is iudged to be a sinne worthie of death endlesse infamie For the Lord in the lawe doth not say onely Thou shalt not commit adulterie But in an other place also goeth on addeth And he that cōmitteth adulterie with an other mans wife euē hee that cōmitteth adulterie with his neighbours wife let both the adulterer and the adultresse bee slaine Leuit 20. And this punishment of adulterie by death was not abrogated or chaunged by the very Gentiles For the Romane lawe called Lex Iulia is very well knowne how it commaunded adulterers to bee put to death Which lawe was of force in the time of S. Hierome as wée may gather by the Historie which hée wrate of an adultresse at the chopping off of whose head seuen stroakes were giuē Neither is it meruaile vndoubtedly that adulterie was amonge them of olde and is yet at this day according to the lawes to be punished by death For vppon that one many sinnes do depēd First of al the adulterer is a periured man For hée hath broaken and violated the faith which he gaue openly before God and the face of the congregation by calling to witnesse the most holie and reuerend Trinitie when the minister of Christe did solemnise the marriage and couple him to his wife by geuing hand in hand Secondarily the adulterer hath committed thefte and robberie For whē the adultresse doth make her body common to an other man then doth shée set to sale defile and marre not her owne but her husbandes body Thirdly bastardes borne in adulterie doe often times enioy an equall parte of inheritaunce with that right begottē children Which cannot be without great wrong done to the lawfull heyres and legitimate ofspring For they are against al right robbed of their due inheritance wher of an equall portion is giuen to him to whom by lawe no parcel is due Lastly beside all these innumerable mischiefes doe spring of adulterie Since therefore that it is a serpente with so many heades both the lawes of God and men do rightly punish adulterers with losse of life But some iollie fellowes there are forsooth that of adulterie do make but a sport They are persuaded that Dauids adulterie doeth make on their side and that place of scripture where wée read that the Lord was fauourable to the adultresse that was taken euen as the déede was in doing Whie doe not these merrie conceipted men cōsider how seuerely the Lord did punish Dauid for that offēce The bloudie house of Dauid was immediately after defiled with filthie inceste For Amnon doth perforce defloure his sister Thamar And streightway vppon the necke of that againe his house is defamed by most cruell parricide while Absalom in a banquet murdered his brother Amnon The verie same Absalom also Dauids sonne defileth or deflowreth his fathers wyues and that openly too laying al feare of God and shame aside Hée driueth his father out of his kingdome and hasteneth on to shorten his dayes Al which calamities Dauid confesseth that hee doth worthily susteine for the adulterie and murther by him committed Lastly many thousands of his people are slaine in the batteile Dauid himself is hardly and with much adoe restoared to his kingdome and afterward being restored hée repented his sinne all dayes of his life Nowe it is meruaile if adulterers consideringe these punishments will goe on yet to alledge the example of Dauid in defence of their naughtinesse Our sauiour did not come into the world to be a iudge but a Sauiour neither did he in any place vsurpe take to himself the right of the sword Who therfore will make any meruayle at it to sée the adultresse not to be condemned by him to be stoned to death Yet hée said Hath no man condemned thee as if he minded not to haue resisted the lawe
be conueyed ouer and giuen to the daughters or at leaste wise to those that were néerest of affinitie And thereunto belongeth the lawe of raysing séede vnto the deceased brother and the whole 26 Chapter almost of the booke of Numbers Vpon this lawe also doeth hang the right which commeth by adoption Furthermore of whoredomes adulteries and the rauishing of virgins there are many profitable honest and hoalsome lawes In the thirtéenth of Deuteronomie it is saide There shal be no whore of the daughters of Israel nor whoremonger of the sonnes of Israel And in the same placâ— he forbiddeth to bring oblations which are the price of an harlots hire In Leuiticus charge is giuen saying Set not out thy daughter for hyre to make her playe the harlot least the lande be defiled and filled with sinne Therefore in the 22 of Deuteronomie the mayde that was deflowred and yet feigned her selfe to bée a virgin still when shée was giuen to an husbande was commaunded to be stoned to death before the dores of her fathers house to the end that parents beeing terrified with so grieuous a thing might be stired vp to looke more warely vnto their children In the 22 of Exodus this lawe is giuen If a man entice a maide that is not betrothed and lye with her hee shall endowe her and take her to his wife There are moste sharp lawes against whoredomes and adulteries Deuterâ—nomie 22. For there adulterers are punished with death The same punishement was appointed for him that did by violence rauish a virgin For suspicions and ielousie there are rules giuen in the fifth Chapter of Numeri Against detestable vnlawfull and altogether diuelish lustes there are moste seuere and yet moste iust lawes expressed as against moste silthie incest abhominable Sodomie horrible and vnnaturall buggarie and such sinnes as God hath cursed and are not once worthie to be named among men Leuit 8. 20. Chapter Diuorcementes and separations were permitted by the lawe in the 24 of Deuteronomie for nothing else but for the hardnesse of the Iewishe peoples heartes and for the auoiding of some greater inconuenience to wite least peraduenture any man shoulde poyson strangle or otherwise kill the woman his wife which he hated when hee coulde by none other meanes ridde his handes of her And they that were in that maner diuorced might at their pleasures be married to others Moreouer that iustice might bée mainteined and that euery man might inioye his owne in the lawe there was charge verie diligently giuen for the diuision of thinges for the partition of the lande of promise by equall portions and for the peculiar possession of proper goods that to euery tribe possessions might bee giuen by lott and that no man should by any meanes make awaye the possessions which were giuen him For hereunto belongeth that whiche is spoken by Moses in the 32. 33. 34. Chapters of the booke of Numbers and often times in other places also And yet notwithstanding this law was nothing preiudiciall to traffique by exchaunge For there were many and verie vpright lawes published for buying and selling for letting and hiring for borrowing and lending for vsurie and thinges leafte in custodie Whosoeuer desireth to see the places in the lawe he shal haue them in the 25 of Leuiticus in the 22. of Exodus and in the fiftéenth and twentie thrée Chapter of Deuteronomium And I suppose that to this is to bée referred the lawe which is giuen coÌ„cerning pawnes or pledges If thou hast taken thy neighbours garment to pledge thou shalt restore it him againe before the Sunne be sett For that is his onely couering that is it is the garment wherewith he couereth his fleashe and wherein he sléepeth For it shal come to passe that if he crie to mee I will heare him because I am mercifull Againe Thou shalt not take the neather or vpper milstone to pledge for he hath layde that whereon he liueth to pledge to thee The lawes for thinges leaft in custodie or committed to the credite of another man and for takeinge of ohters commaundeth euery man to make true restitution of the thinge which was giuen vnto him to kéepe But if it were stolen awaye from him to whome the custodie of it was committed then he that kept it ought to purge him selfe by an othe before a Magistrate to shewe that he consented not to the conueying of the thinge away The same order is commaunded to bee obserued in thinges borrowed that are lost or otherwise broken as is to be séene in the 22 Chapter of Exodus And for because it is manifest that no small parte of the goods of the auncient Israelites did consist in the multitude of bondmen therefore the law of God doth sticke long vppon the discourse of bondage and bonomen and of the bynding and manumission of them And yet it doth diligently commaund to handle bondmen mercifully like men and euery sixte yeare to set them frée from slauerie But if it so fell out that at the sixte yeares end any bondman were desirous to staye still in his maisters house hee was permitted so to do vppon condition that his voluntarie bondage should be coÌ„firmed by the ceremonie of Mancipation to wite that the bondman beeinge brought before the Iudges shoulde there testifie that hee woulde serue in bondage voluntarily and thereuppon the nether lap of his care should be boared with an aule and fastened to the dore And that was the signe or token of faith and obedience For Dauid alluding therevnto did saye that the Lorde had boared through his eare that is that by faith hee had bound him to obedience Moreouer the Lorde did in these lawes limitt out the time of bondmeÌ„s manumission because the Lordes of bondmen shoulde not vse them ouer cruelly for their gaine and commodities sake al which are at ful set down in the 21 Chapter of Exodus we must also referre that to the clemencie that ought to be shewed to seruants wheras in the 23 Chapter of Deuterono it it saide Thou shalt not deliuer vnto his maister the seruaunt which is escaped from his maister vnto thee but let him dwell in any place wherunto he is fledd And yet manstealing is moste sharpely forbidden Now they committ the offence called Plagium the is to saye manstealing whosoeuer do entice other mennes bondmen to runne from their maisters or which do by theft or robberie steale other mennes seruaunts whom they do either kéepe to them selues or else sel to others Against such this lawe is giuen Whosoeuer stealeth a man and selleth him if he be conuinced of the crime let him dye the death And the same lawe is againe repeated in the 24 of Deuteronomium Of frée men little is saide in the lawe but they were exempted from bearing office in the common wealth which were knowen to be harlots children whose fathers no man knowe Straungers also as the Amonites Moabites were
intricate places of the holie scripturs which it is hard to coÌ„prehend or define in any certeine order both that many things are vnknowen without the perill of Christian faith and also that in some points men do erre with out any crime of hereticall doctrine But concerning the two men by the one of whoÌ„ wee are sold vnder sinne by the other redeemed from sinne by one we are cast headlong into death by the other wee are made free vnto life because that man did in himselfâ— destroye vs by doing his owne will and not the will of him that madâ— him but this man hath in himselfe saued vs by doing not his owne wil but the will of him that sent him Therfore in the coÌ„sideration of these two men Christian faith doeth properly consist For there is one God and one mediatour of God and man the man Christ Iesus Because there is none other name vnder Heauen giuen vnto men in which they must be saued in him hath God appointed all men to trust raysing him vp from death to life Therefore Christian veritie doubteth not but that without this faith that is without the faith of the only mediatour of God and man the man Christ Iesus without the beliefe I say of his resurrection whiche God hath prescribed to men whiche cannot be truly beleeued without the beleefe of his incarnation and death without the faith therefore of the incarnation death and resurrection of Christ none of the auncient iust men could be clâ—nsed and iustified of God from their sinnes whether they were in the number of those iuste men whome the holy Scripture mentioneth or in the number of those iuste men whom the Scripture nameth yet are to bee beleeued to haue beene either before the deluge or betwixte the deluge and the lawe or in the verie time of the lawe not onely among the children of Israel as the Prophets were but also without that people as Iob was For euen their harts were cleÌ„sed by the same faith of the mediatour and charitie was powred into them by the same holy spirite which breatheth where he listeth not following after merits but euen working the verie merits themselues For Gods grace will not bee by any meanes vnlesse it be free by al meanes Although therefore death reigned from Adam vnto Moses because the law giuen by Moses could not ouercome it For there was no such law giuen as could quicken but such a lawe as whose office was to shewe that the dead to the quickening of whome grace was necessarie were not only ouerthrowen by the propagation and dominion of sinne but were also condemned by the hidden transgression of the verie law it selfe not that euery one should perish that did then vnderstand it in the mercie of God but that euery one being through the dominioÌ„ of death appointed vnto punishment and detected to himselfe by the transgression of the lawe should seeke for the helpe of God that where sinne abouÌ„ded grace might more abound which alone doth deliuer from the body of this death Although therefore the lawe giuen by Moses could not ridd any maÌ„ from the kingdome of death yet in the very time of the lawe were the men of God not vnder the terrifying conuinceing punishing law but vnder the delectable sauing and deliuering grace There were among them some which said In iniquitie was I conceiued and in sinne hath my mother fedd mee in her wombe And so forth For hetherto I haue cited the very words of S. Augustine I haue thus farre spoken of originall sinne of the natiue and hereditarie corruption of our nature which is the first part in the definition of sinne here followeth nowe the latter part to witt the very Action which ariseth of that corruption the actual sinne I say which is so called Ab actu that is an acte or a déede doing For in so much as that corruption whiche is borne together with and is hereditarie in vs doeth not alwayes lye hidd but woorketh outwardly and sheweth forth it selfe doth at last bring forth an imp of her owne kinde and nature which impe is actuall sinne therefore we define actuall sinne to bee an action or woorke or fruite of oure corrupte and naughtie nature expressing it selfe in thoughts words and workes against the lawe of God and therby deseruing the wrath of God. So then by this the cause of actuall sinne is knowen to be the very corruption of mankind which sheweth forth it selfe through concupiscence and euil affections affections intice the will wil being helped with the other faculties in man that worke together with it doth finish actual sinne And that ye may more clearely perceiue that whiche I saye I wish you to note that our minde hath two partes The vnderstanding or reason or iudgement and the will or appetite In the reason are the lawes of nature whereunto must be added the preaching or reading or knowledge of Gods word And nowe as of good woorkes in man there are two especiall causes to witt sound iudgement well framed by the woord of God and a will consenting and obeying therevnto and yet notwithstanding there is principallie to be required the comming to of the holye Ghoste from heauen to illuminate the minde and moue forward the will euen so we may most properly say that actuall sinne is finished when any thinge is of set purpose with aduised iudgement and the consent of our wil committed against the lawe of god And yet to these there doe many times happen other outward causes both visible and inuisible For euill spirites moue men and euill men moue men and other infinite examples of corruption that are in the world Hope seare and weakenesse doe also moue men Augustine Quaest in Exodum 29. sayeth The beginning of vice is in the will of man but the heartes of men are moued by sundrie accidental causes now this now that sometimes the causes are all one the difference is in the manner and order according to euery ones proper qualities which doe arise of euerie seuerall will. Againe in the 79. Psalme he sayeth Two things there are that woorke all sinnes in mortall men desire and feare Consider examine aske your heartes search your consciences and see if any sinnes can be but by desiring or else by fearing Thou aâ—t promised if thou wilt sinne to haue such a reward giueÌ„ thee as thou doest delight in and for desire of the gifte thou crackest thy conscience doest commit sinne And againe on the other side though peraduenture thou wilt not be seduced with giftes yet being terrified with threatnings thou doest for dread of that whiche thou fearest coÌ„mit the iniquitie that other wise thou wouldest not As for example Some one man or other would with giftes corrupte thee to beare false witnesse Thou presently hast turned thee selfe to God and hast said in thy heart what doth it aduantage a man if hee gaine the whole world suffer the losse
the in respect therof wee were acceptable vnto God and when wée departe out of this life wée should flye straight wayes vpp into Heauen but without receiuing the Sacramente bée throwen directly downe to hell There muste also néedes arise sundrye other errours Neither is there any necessitie to constraine vs to minister the sacrament to the sick For as prisoners are absent from receiuing the Lords supper without danger of saluation so likewise are the sick those that are ready to dye For béeing neuertheles by perfect faith gathered to the body of Christe although they be absent in body yet being in minde present with the congregatiō they are also made partakers of all spirituall good things And it is sufficient for thē that as lōg as they haue bene in helth they haue bene alwayes presēt at the holy mysteries The feast of Passeouer was not celebrated euery where but at Hierusalem onely in one place But howe many were there thincke wée the by reason of their bodily health impaired with sicknes for old-age could not trauell to Hierusalem from so large and wide a kingdome And although no man brought them home a péece of the Paschal lambe in their pockets notwithstanding they did cōmunicate with the whole church of Israel And who doubteth but that by the comming of Christ the condition of the Christians is made better Our Lord Christ did not institute his mysticall supper for the dead but for the liuing onely wherefore it is not to be celebrated for the dead and to bee applied to their redēption They that die without faith immediatly fall vnder the iudgment of damnation But they that are dead in Christ are alreadie ioyned vnto the companie of the elders and stand before the Lambe singing Halleluiah for euermore For I haue declared in my sermon of the Soule that the saluation of the faithful soules which are departed by corporal death is most vndoubted And where some obiect that the auncient sathers haue made mētion of offering for the dead we suppose that it apperteineth not vnto vs We beléeue the Canonicall scriptures without contradiction we beléeue not the fathers further than they can proue their owne sayings by the Canonicall scriptures Neither would they haue thē-selues otherwise beléeued And therfore if the fathers thincke that the supper is a sacrifice that it is to be offred to procure rest to the souls departed we do not receiue that opinion as not agréeing with the Canonicall scriptures whiche teache that the Lord instituted not his supper for that purpose and therefore by such abuse of the supper God is rather displeased than pleased yea that there is no work of man be it neuer so good much lesse if it be against Gods word that can sanctifie since that prerogatiue belongeth onely to the merite of the sonne of God and moreouer that the souls departed are not in any such state in the other world that they can or ought to be holpen by any woorkes in this world But if the auncient fathers by oblation or offering doe vnderstand the sacrifice of praise or thanckesgiuing we will not striue against them but that there may be made oblations for the dead that is to say that thanks be giuen to God his goodnes praised who hath called out of this miserable world such as were indued with true faith and hath ioyned them vnto the companies of angels and all the blessed sainctes in the euerlasting kingdome of all ioye and felicitie But surely there is no truth nor godlines that willeth vs to celebrate the supper for the dead And we make a distinction in sacrifice or oblatiō For there is a sacrifice of expiation and there is a sacrifice of confession or praise The sacrifice of expiation is offered to cleanse or purge sinns and also for satisfaction for sinnes This cānot be accomplished without death and bloud as S. Paule the Apostle sheweth plainely in the 9. Cap. to the Hebrues The sacrifice of Christ was such a one the figures of whiche were all the sacrifices of all the holy fathers of the old testament who beeing both priest and sacrifice offered vp himself once to God the father while he suffered vpon the crosse and shedding his most innocent bloud there gaue vpp the Ghost The supper at this day is no such sacrifice but a commemoration of the death or of the sacrifice once offered vpon the crosse For nether ought or can Christe bee sacrificed againe who being once offered is sufficient to cleanse all the sinnes of all ages Why then should hee be sacrificed againe Neither can the sonne of God be sacrificed by any man since that for the same cause he offered vp himselfe once to God as being a priest for euer after the order of Melchisedech Therefore the minister of the Churche doeth not in the Churche sacrifice the body and bloud of Christe in the supper for the liuing but together with the whole Church doeth celebrate the remembraunce of the sacrifice which was once offered vpon the Crosse Of which as I haue said elsewhere the supper may also be called a sacrifice because it is a sacrament or signe of the sacrifice whiche was once offered by Christe as Augustine also hath lefte written The sacrifice of cōfession is of praise thankesgiuing which wée offer to God for the redemption and benefits of god fréely bestowed vpon his Church And since we offer the same alwayes vnto GOD in prayer but chiefly when wée are ioyned in the sacramēt of the Eucharist or celebrating the supper therefore the auncient fathers called it a sacrifice because in the same we giue thanckes vnto God for oure deliuerance from death and for the inheritaunce of euerlasting life which is giuen vnto vs And that this sacrifice is generally offered by the vniuersall Churche in celebrating the supper not by the minister of the church alone for those the liue in the Church we tould you before Now forasmuch as wee haue hetherto discussed certaine circūstances or questions whiche are wont to be moued about the Lords supper so farr forth as the necessitie of the matter séemed to require as muche as our smal abilitie was able to performe it remayneth that we descend further to declare for what cause the Lords supper was by the Lord instituted which place truely is not rashly reckoned among the chiefest For we made mention of the same immediatly vpon the beginning of this sermon For the lord by setting bread wine before vs in the holy banquet would haue his promise and communion testified vnto vs and his gifts represented vnto vs made manifest to our senses would also gather vs visibly into one bodie and reteine the memorie of his death in the hearts of the faithfull and finally put vs in minde of our duetie chiefly of praise thankesgiuing All these thinges haue we seuerally expounded hauing discoursed vpon them at large in the generall cōsideration