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
manner he were assured either to liue in perpetual seruitude or els to be put to a most cruel death I aunswere that in my iudgemēt he ought to returne vnto them for as much as in this case there is no daunger but as touching goods of this world of money I say liberty life of the body whiche are not so muche to be estemed that for their sakes an othe or the name of GOD should be violated And the verse of Dauid before brought serueth aptly for this purpose And this sentence is so firme true that euen an Ethnike Attilius Regulus Marcus Attilius Regulus I say knew it For he returned to Carthago where he knew certaynly that either he should be in perpetual seruitude or els lose his life and that most cruelly Neither canst thou aunswere me that he did foolishly therin bycause the Romayne lawes as we haue before said de captiuis postliminio reuersis in lege postliminiū Paragrapho Captiuus do ordeyne and holyly decree that he should not be counted to enioy the benefite of the law postliminius which had promised to returne agayn Farther the nature of man persuadeth the selfe same thing for it is ciuile delighteth in society Wherefore next to God and godlines towarde him there is nothing whiche ought more to esteme then fayth whiche wonderfully helpeth humane fellowship For without it it is not possible for men to liue together Farther who will not say that the money liberty and life of one man is rather to be lost then the money libertyes and liues of innumerable men For if couenantes and promyses be not kept with those thieues henceforth they will geue credet to no man that they shall take they would sende home none to their owne house to fetche their raunsome but as many as they take either they will kill them or els kepe them with them in miserable and perpetuall bondage Lastly this I thinke good to admonishe you of that in othes let signes of vniuersality trouble no man As if a man promise and swere vnto hys frende that he wil be an helper vnto him in all thinges or if a man promise and sweare vnto a Scoole or vnto the Churche that he will do and obserue all thynges whiche it shall decree How it is lawfull to sweare certain thyngs vniuersally For all suche kynde of speaches as it appeareth by that whiche we haue sayde are to be vnderstande so that the obedience of the worde of God be kepte And vndoutedly althoughe that clause be by the nature of another vnderstād alwayes to be added yet for al that it is the duty of godly mē to expresse it when they are receaued into any vniuersity College office corporatiō or felowship according to the custome are cōpelled to sweare for to obserue statutes lawes decrees It is the sure way I say by expresse wordes to testifie that they wil obserue all those things vnles they shal finde that any of the same ar against the word of god And as touching this matter I think I haue spokē sufficiēt now Our Ehud vsed euill guile I graunt but yet agaynst hys enemy Neither doth the scripture make mencion of any othe that was made betwene him Eglon the kyng And though there had ben an othe yet he had ben quitte of it for as much as the stirring vp of god wherby god opened vnto him his will had abrogated it ¶ Of Truth and of a Lye NOw resteth to intreate of the second question namely Of Truth Whether it be lawfull for a good godly mā to lye But first before I entreat of a lye I thinke it good somwhat to speake of truth whiche vndoubtedly is an excellent vertue Truth as saith Tullius de Inuentione is wherby things which are Tullius whiche haue ben which shal be are spoken vnaltered Wherin we first note that it cōsisteth in wordes for saith he they are spokē not that I am ignoraūt that both dumbe men also other mē speake somtime by signes Augustine but bycause as saith Augustine in his first boke de doctrina Christiana wordes among other signes are the principall most playne Farther we are hereby taught that truth is not only to be considered as touching one difference of time but as concerning thre differēces for he saith both those thinges which are and whiche haue ben which shal be These things vndoubtedly are then spoken truly when they are set forth vnaltered that is euen as they are by speaking made neither more ample nor lesse than they are Augustine This selfe same thing almost hath Augustine sayd in his booke de vera Religione chap 36. where he writeth that the truth is whereby the whiche is is signified Truth is a vertue And it is a vertue bycause by it men are made prone redy to speake that which is true The generall worde of it is equalitie The generall of vertue is equalitie wherunto is ioyned in steade of difference this voyce namely of wordes to the thinges which are signified And as it is well knowen of all men all vertues leuel vnto the middest flye frō extremities Two faultes in speaches Wherfore in kinde of speches thou shalt find two faultes namely if thou shalt speake more than the thing is or els lesse than the thing is Neyther is vertue content with the middest only for we must adde also circumstances which vse continually to followe it Wherfore the truth is not alway to be spokē to euery man neither at all times nor yet of euery thing yet we must not lye but it is wisedome sometimes to kepe close those thinges which we wil not for iust occasiō haue knowen He which should vaunt abrode euery where vnto all mē the gifts of God geuen him he should be counted foolish vnwise as cōtrary he which should boast of a crime What truth requireth wherinto by humane weaknesse he hath fallen should rightly and worthely be reproued Truth therfore requireth this that those things which we haue within vs as touching our sense or wil be signified of vs as it is prudētly rarely Farther the vertue wherof we speake hath chiefly simplicitie ioyned vnto it it is very much contrary vnto doublenesse Besides this it is a part of iustice For it rēdreth vnto things their wordes and to a neighbour the truth which of duty longeth vnto him without whiche truth humane fellowship can not consiste For if a mā should cōtinually suspect him selfe to be deceaued by any man he would neuer beleue him in any thyng Aristotle Whē an Irony is lawfull Wherby amongest men al trades and societies perishe Aristotle in his Ethikes affirmeth that truth declineth sometimes to defection especially when any man speaketh of himselfe For the wisedome requireth that a mā boast not of himselfe Wherfore Paul in his second Epistle to the Corinthians the 12 chap. writeth
the Ephod instituted by Gideon Wherefore Augustines opinion is that Gideon would haue had God worshipped so in his country that the same thynges might ther haue bene done which were done in Silo where the Arke was Which opinion although it can not be confuted by the scriptures yet it appeareth not very lykelye For we reade not that he had Priestes with him Neither doo the Hebrue Doctors who otherwise are diligent in expressing of thinges done attribut these thinges vnto him but rather agree with the other sentence namely that he constituted it for a monument of the victory which he had obtained which afterward was an occasion of superstition Wherefore it semeth to be spoken more probably that this erected signe was had in admiration of the foolishe people so that they thought it to be a place very meete to doo sacrifice there and especiallye for the offring of peace offeringes vnto the true God which seemed not woorthy of reprouing For at that time it was lawfull to doo that in a maner euerye where but superstition dayly creeping more abroade they began to attribute more then was meete vnto that signe as to a thing deuine and which had in it some power of God and for that cause they offred sacrifices and did incense vnto it keping neuertheles a pretence of the worshipping of God and the name of God the Lorde as in the time of Ezechias they did incense and sacrifice vnto the brasen serpent Whence came the begynnyng of reliques and inuocation of the dead And in the same maner we rede happened at the beginning of the sepulchers bones and reliques of holye men The Christians buried the dead bodies of the Martirs as honorablye as they coulde and to haue the memorye of them kept they began to haue places of prayer at their tombes not vndoubtedlye where they would woorship and inuocate the Martirs but where they might heare the woord of God receaue the Sacramentes and exhorte one an other to defende the faith And in deede that place seemed not a litle commodious for such a purpose For the sepulchres of Martirs seemed to admonish inflame the myndes to enterprise the same battailes and to behaue them selues most constantly for the name of Christ Wherfore it was thought that in assembling to the Sepulchres of Martirs two commodities were gotten First bicause some honour might be geuen to so great Confessors whilest the memory of them was not suffered to be forgotten but with verye great ioy thankes were geuen vnto God for their happy victory The other was bicause men might bee stirred vp to enterprise the like The beginning of the images of Sayntes and to hope for the like gifts at Gods hand And after the same maner began the images of Christ and of the Apostles priuatelye to bee made namely that their death which semed vnto the world full of ignominye myght be made more honorable and that the memory of them might floorishe and by beholding of those images so set vp men might be prouoked to the iust and laudable imitacion of them If the thing had abidden within these bondes it might haue bene borne with al neither was there any thing there which might iustly be condemned but euen as the act of Gideon was turned at the length to idolatry so in successe of tyme folowed the inuocation of Martirs at their sepulchers and the images of saintes began to be set vp and woorshipped not onely in priuate places but also in temples The act of Gideon was a snare to him and to his house for both hee synned and his children as we shal heare were horribly slayne It brought also great misery vnto the Israelites For from this superstition they fel by litle and litle to the open worshipping of Baal wherfore they were most grieuously oppressed of their enemies howbeit as long as Gideon lyued they woorshipped not Baal Hereby we gather that al worshipping of God instituted without his woorde is to him vnacceptable and to vs most daungerous There is but one God and he wil be worshipped but one way namely as he himself hath coÌ„maunded And if to the worshipping of him ther be any thing to be added by the decree of men â—oâ— comelines sake and for a iust and ciuil order the same ought to bee but lyttle Gideon sinneth two wayes and also mutable as it shall bee thoughte good for to aduaunce edification Wherefore Gideon synneth twoo wayes both in that hee abused the Ephod which he made for a signe and also bicause when he sawe superstition to come thereby he prohibited it not The good intent of Gideon excused not his act although he had a shewe of piety Leo the first of that name Leo the fyrst in his Sermon of the Passion of the Lorde sayth that Peter when he cut of the eare of the seruant of the highe Priest was moued with a godly mocion But what godlye mocion coulde it be which Christ reproued yea and so reproued it that he affirmed that he which so drewe the swoorde should perishe with the swoorde What other thing was this then to haue a zeale of God but as Paule sayth not accordyng to knowledge Paule also the Apostle when he afflicted and destroied the Christians thought that he dyd God high seruice These thinges haue a shewe of a good intent as they call it or of godlynes but they are not in very deede that which they shewe for Euen so encreased the pompe of the Masse by no other meanes then by a shewe of a good intent For it seemed good vnto our Elders to adorne the Supper of the Lord. Wherfore this Pope added this thing and an other that thing so that at the lengthe the thyng came to thys poynte that these additions excluded the institution of Christ in such sorte that it may seme to be any other thing els then the Supper of the Lord for those thynges are obserued which men haue inuented but that which Christ willed namelye that brethren should communicate together and celebrate the memory of his death this I say is abolished But why the woorshippinges instituted by mans inuention are to bee abiected this is an assured reason Why worshippings inuented by man are to be abiected bycause in woorshipping of God we must do all thinges chiefely throughe fayth but it is of no force if it want the word of God Wherefore if rites which are retayned for the woorshipping of God lacke hys woorde faith may not be geuen vnto them and therfore ar they rather synnes then woorkes pleasing God For all that is not of fayth is synne The authority of the fathers is not sufficieÌ„t as the Apostle saith But they say that in those woorshippinges the authoritye of the Fathers which were present at Counsels ought to be sufficient neither ought we to esteeme their sentences of any lesse value then the holy scriptures But I wil turne the same to them againe and aske whither they
the enemyes of the olde Testament snatche occasion to speake euill of GOD the creator of the world For they called hym both an euyll GOD and a cruell Suche were the Maniches Valentinians Marcionites and suche lyke pestilences When he delighteth saye they in the bloude of manne howe can he not but bee cruell Augustine aunswereth God reioyseth not in bloud So farre is it of that GOD reioyseth in the bloude of man that he reioyseth not euen in the bloude of beastes onely he suffred for a tyme that sacrifices of beastes shoulde be offred by lytle and lytle to instructe men But what the Sacrifices of the Elders signified whiche serued to theyr erudition in that place What the sacrifices of the Elders signified he declareth not but I will in fewe woordes shewe it First was set foorth in those Sacrifices that the rewarde of sinne is death And that dyd he after a sorte testifie whiche brought the Sacrifice namely that he had deserued to be kylled but by the goodnes of GOD hys death was transferred to the Sacrifice By thys meanes were the Elders instructed that they should eschewe synnes Farther those Sacrifices directed the myndes of menne vnto Christe and they were certayne visible sermons of hym and taught that Christ shoulde bee that Sacrifice whiche shoulde take awaye the sinnes of the worlde and vpon whom our death and damnation should be transferred God mought haue required humane sacrifices Wherefore GOD of hymselfe delyghted not in bloude but by thys schoolyng he instructed his people Yea if he had delyghted in Sacrifices he mought haue required them of the number of menne For what should haue letted hym or what iniury shoulde he haue doone vs if he woulde haue had Sacrifices of menne offred vnto hym For manne must needes sometymes dye Wherefore to preuent the tyme one yeare or two it woulde not haue bene so grieuous neither shoulde he haue doone vs any iniurye chiefly when we shoulde vnderstande that with hym we shoulde lyue for euer Vndoubtedly in thys thyng no manne coulde haue accused GOD as cruell But nowe seyng he hath remoued all those holy seruices he manifestly teacheth that he reioyseth not neither in the bloude of menne God woulde haue the firste borne of menne redemed and not sacrificed nor in the bloude of beastes Yea the firste borne of menne when they were bounde vnto hym he woulde not haue them Sacrificed but redemed with a price whiche he woulde not haue doone if he had taken any pleasure in bloude In Deuteromy the .12 chapter he sayeth The Nation whiche I wyl expell before thee doo Sacrifice theyr sonnes and daughters but see that thou do not so Certayne kyllynges of men are acceptable vnto God But Augustine demaundeth farther whether there be any slaughter of men whiche is acceptable vnto GOD Hee aunswereth that there is But what slaughter When menne sayeth he are kylled for ryghteousnes sake not that the death of Martyrs of it self pleaseth GOD but bicause faith towardes God piety is by that Martyrdomes are lyke sacrifices both declared and also kept And the death of Christ so pleased God that it redemed the whole worlde and the death of Christians whiche they suffer in Christes name may be called after a sorte a Sacrifice Wherefore Paul in the .2 to Timo. the last chapter writeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is I sacrifice c. in whiche saying he calleth his death an immolation And to the Phil. the .2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The martirdomes of men make not satisfaction for sins but if I offre in an oblation and seruice of our fayth And yet do not such sacrifices make satisfaction for sinnes for that doth the death of Christe onely But the death of Martirs are acceptable because the cause is thankefull Augustine was baptised of Ambrose and being wōderfully affectioned toward him he followeth his opinion as his Scholemayster asmuch as he may but somwhat more warely He cōpareth Iiphtah with Abraham but he putteth a difference whyche Ambrose noted not Abraham saythe he had the woorde of god to sacrifice his sonne so had not Iiphtah yea rather he had the law against him that he shoulde not sacrifice And in Abraham not the death pleased god but the faith Farther there is great difference for a man to do any thinge of himself and to haue a will to doo those thinges that are commaunded him And Augustine doth subtilly admonish Iiphtah vowed an human◠sacrifice as Augustine thinketh that Iiphtah vowed an humane sacrifice not deceaued but willinglye Whatsoeuer sayth he shall come out of my house I will offer it for a burnte offringe c. Doo we thinke that beastes woulde come forth to meete him returninge home Men vse to go and mete such as haue the victory and to reioyse Wherfore he vowed an humane sacrifice The scripture only maketh mencyon of this acte but praiseth it not as also it is there written that Iudas had to do with his daughter in law but it is not allowed So there can nothing be gathered by these wordes The rashenes of the father is punished in the death of the children why the acte of Iiphtah should be praysed Farther Augustine thinketh with Ierome that god woulde punish the rashenes of the vow in the father by the death of hys daughter But there are two places sayth he why I cannot reprehend Iiphtah Because in the Epistle to the Hebrewes he is numbred among the saints in this place it is written that the spirite of the Lord was vpon him But those holy men which are rekoned vnto the Hebrewes did they neuer sinne Vndoubtedly their sinnes also ar set forth in the holy scriptures Gideon who is in the number a little before his deth made an Ephod which was the destructiō both of himself of his house But as touchinge the other place The sprite of the Lorde came vpon hym But this nothing letteth but that afterward he might fall But Iiphtah thou wilte saye had the victory but Gidion after that acte nothing went well with him Yea rather sayth he Gideon did before after a sort tempt God yet he had the victory So much of Augustine But I would say otherwise For I agree not with Augustine to thinke that Gidion tēpted God Therfore I would aunswere after this maner Dauid cōmitted aduoutry straightway afterward obteined the victory toke the city Rabath-Ammon in whose siege he prepared that Vrias should be slayne Saule persecuted Dauid in the meane time there were brought him messengers from the Philistians He leauing Dauid went to war and obteined the victory Moses sinned at the waters of strife the people also hadde sinned many waies and yet they obteyned the victorye agaynste Sihon and Og moste myghtye Kynges Wherefore wee will graunte that Iiphtah was numbred amonge the Sayntes and yet he mighte sinne and althoughe he synned he obteyned the victorye And we wil graunt that
then be But both we our selues and al ours doinges I say sayinges thoughtes and counsels are due vnto god Wherfore our merites do vtterly perish Moreouer those workes whereby wee should merite ought to be of our selues which cannot be affirmed for as muche as it is god which worketh in vs both to wil to perform that not as we wil but according to his good wil. Augustine Wherfore Augustine was accustomed very wel to say that God which crowneth his giftes in vs. And in his .100 Epistle ad Sixtū Presbiterum Paul saith he when he had sayd The rewarde of synne is death dyd not straightway adde contrarily The rewarde of righteousnes is euerlasting lyfe But Grace sayth he is eternal life for that is not rendred to our merites but is geuen freely He might in deede haue wrytten after the same manner if he woulde For the holye Scripture sometimes so speaketh But for that he was a defender of grace hee woulde not geue occasion vnto his enemyes to impugne it Farther our woorkes how holye so euer they appeare are neuerthelesse vnpure and imperfect Wherefore they are woorthye rather of punishment then that they should deserue any good And wythout doubt they should be punished were not the redempcion and iustification whyche wee haue by Christ our Lorde There ought also to be some anallogy or proporcion betwene merites and rewardes whereof there is none betwene our workes and eternall lyfe For as Paul saith The sufferinges of this time are not woorthy of the glory to come which shal be reuealed in vs. This is to be added that in the holye scriptures is no where found the name of merite Some in deede are wont to bring the .xvi. chap. of Ecclesiasticus and there they say it is written All mercy shal make place vnto euery one according to the merites of his workes But they which obiect this thing let him looke vpon the Greeke text wherin it is thus written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is in latine Deus omni misericordiae faciet locum quisque iuxta opera sua inueniet Which in englyshe signifieth God wil make place vnto al mercy and euery man shall finde according vnto hys woorkes But in these woordes there is no mencion made of merite onely this is wrytten that whose woorkes are good they shall be in good case but yet their woorkes are not sayde to bee merites or causes of rewarde I wyll not speake howe that booke is not in the Canon bycause Paule and the Gospels vse the same forme of speaking But of that whyche is wrytten vnto the Hebrewes by suche Sacrifices God is well pleased I haue before spoken nowe wyth one woorde onely will I briefly touche the thing This woorde of deseruing is not founde in the Greeke In Greeke is read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by whyche woorde is onely signified that the good woorkes of the faythfull are gratefull and acceptable vnto God Of the woorde reward But as touching this woorde rewarde which some bicause they do not well vnderstand it do take for merite we must deuide it two maner of wayes For that is sometymes called a rewarde whiche is geuen freelye but yet is promysed by adding of some worke wherby men should be styrred vp to doo well So eternal life may be called a reward not that we deserue the same by our woorkes but bicause by a certain order appointed of God it followeth our good workes But somtimes a reward is that which is due vnto good dedes Whither eternal lyfe may be called a reward is rendred vnto them of duty After this maner eternal life cannot be called the reward of our workes Wherfore Paul to the Romanes saith Abraham beleued God it was imputed vnto him for righteousnes But vnto him which woorketh reward is not imputed according to grace but according to debt Wherefore eternal lyfe for as muche as it is not of ryght dewe cannot be a reward if the woorde be taken in that signification But when they thus reason there is a reward geuen ergo there is a merite The argument is not firme A genere ad species bicause in affirming we may not discend from the general woorde to the species Neyther doth he rightly conclude whych sayth It is a liuing creature ergo it is a man This generall word reward hath two species therfore this argument is not firme if we saye It is a reward Ergo it is plaine that it must be geuen of dewty This saying also of Ieremy is to be added Cursed be euery one that putteth his hope in man and calleth flesh his strength But all our thinges whatsoeuer they be are not without flesh Wherfore it is not lawful for vs to put confidence in them Ierome And Ierome writing vpon that place hath very well brought in manye thinges whereby may be vnderstanded that in our workes there is no regard of merite Yea and the Papists also themselues which ar the patrones of merites are sometimes compelled to confesse that our merites are nothing at all For on the 2. Sonday in the Aduēt thus they pray Be pacefied O god with the prayers of our humility and wher helpe of merites do want succor vs with the aydes of of thy mercy The fathers whē in theyr writings they oftentimes inculcate this word of meriting do by it signify nothinge els then to get to obteine and to atteine to And as manye of them as haue written purelye the same haue detested the consideration of merites whereof the papistes so much bost Wherfore the Israelites were not heard thoroughe the merite of their teares or prayers but bycause by fayth in Christ to come they obteyned forgeuenes of sins and so by his merite onely they returned into fauor againe with god They offred sacrifice What profite the sacrifices of the law had Although I haue before largely spoken of the sacrifices in the olde time yet I thinke it good here also briefly to touch what profite was of them in the old law When men are vexed with calamityes they beginne to think vpon theyr sin they loke vpon the law wher whē they behold the wrath of god kindled for sinne they are in hart deiected in which perturbatiō there remaineth no remedy but to get them vnto Christ which is the summe and end of all sacrifices Him did the fathers which wer godly embrase by faith but in the sacrifices as often as the sacrifice was slaine so often the death of Christe was after a sorte set before the eyes of those that stoode by by whose death the synnes of the world should be taken away The sacramēts of the olders ours at al one but differ in outward Simboles signes Wherfore they had after this manner a communion amonge themselues in Christ which by sundry notes and signes dayly signified to the people in the old time wherhēce they by fayth receaued vnto their saluacion both his death and the fruite