reason is added for that God will haue all men to be saued 1. Iohn 5 16 And yet Iohn saith that Some doo sinne vnto death and for them saith he we ought not to praie What sinne we must not praie for Which yet we ought to vnderstand when we plainelie perceiue that they haue sinned vnto the death Now then as touching that trope or figure of Augustine wherein he saith that these imprecations of the saints were predictions or foretellings as we doo not vtterlie reiect it euen so we saie that it is not necessarie Neither doo we grant that in the execrations of the prophets and of the apostles there were not earnest requests and desires For how could they but desire that which they sawe God had willed and decréed vnlesse peraduenture by request and desire he ment the sense of the flesh or of reason as it is led by mens counsels Last of all this is to be noted that it is not absurd that in one and the selfe-same will of godlie men Contrarie motions in one will of the godlie are contrarie motions sith they happen not in respect of one and the selfe-same thing but in respect of diuers For in that they looke vpon the will and decrée of God and the destruction of sinne and such like they cannot but reioise in the punishments of the wicked but as they looke vpon them being men ioined vnto them by nature of one and the selfe-same flesh and lumpe An example of Samuel toward Saule 1. Sa. 15 11. they are excéedinglie sorrie for their destruction Thus Samuel moorned for Saule being reiected by God as we haue it in the 15. chapter of the first booke of Kings How far it may be lawfull to reioise in our enimies ouerthrowe 25 Wherefore if it be demanded In 2. Sam. 8 verse 10. whether it be lawfull for a man to delite in the miserable state of an enimie first I answer this in generall that for his ruine into sinne Whether it be lawfull to reioise at the destruction of enimies verse 17. not onelie we should not reioise but also we ought earnestlie to lament As touching aduersitie some doubt there may be Salomon saith in the Prouerbes the 24. chapter Reioise not thou at the fall of thine enimie and let not thy hart be glad when he stumbleth least the Lord see it and it displease him and he take awaie his wrath from him How then wilt thou saie did Moses when Pharao was destroied and dead sing that triumphant song Sing we vnto the Lord Exod. 15. and not onelie reioised in mind but also appointed timbrels and danses Some men doo thus distinguish this question That so long as the enimie is afflicted we should not reioise bicause we are vncerteine of the will of God for that euerie man ought to remember that he also is a man and that the selfe-same may happen vnto him that happeneth to another for that no humane thing is strange frō him But when God by the slaughter and destruction of his enimie hath declared his will and purpose then wée ought to reioise Thus haue they said But I saie that when thou doost thus reioise we must sée whether thou séeke thine owne or not thine owne For there be some which onelie haue consideration to their owne and when the enimie is afflicted they thinke that their iniuries be reuenged of God But if thou withdrawe thy mind from these cogitations vnto the glorie of God and considerest that GOD dooth therefore reuenge his owne cause that thine enimie may be bettered that sinne may be hindered that the Gospell be no more disturbed or the word of God repressed then are we to reioise earnestlie and from the hart And in verie déed we must not in this matter take examples from holie men but from the lawe of God For Dauid wept at the death of Absolom 2. Sam. 1 11 2. Sa. 18 33. 2. Sam. 3 32 1. Sa. 25 39. 1. Sa. 15 35. of Abner and of Saule but at the death of Nabal he reioised Samuel moorned for Saule but not for Agag For so doo sundrie affections followe in godlie men according as they be diuerslie stirred vp by the spirit of God In these affections we must altogither séeke not what is for owne profit but what furthereth the saluation of our neighbour and the glorie of God Yea and these two affections are oftentimes ioined in one man For so farre foorth as we sée our enimie is a man humanitie it selfe causeth that we bewaile his calamitie but if on the other part we cast our eies vpon the will of GOD godlinesse requireth that we should reioise in his iudgements In Rom. 11. 26 But there is none to be found of so euill and lewd a nature but a man hauing due consideration may sée some gifts of God in him for he is either actiue or strong or learned or noble In Rom. 12 verse 14. or eloquent or wittie These things though we be prouoked by iniuries we ought not to deface or kéepe in silence if anie oportunitie be offered to speake well of our enimies Aeschines an Ethnike neither dissembled nor diminished before the Rhodians the eloquence of Demosthenes his most professed enimie but rather amplified it as much as he could and recited vnto them that most venemous oration which Demosthenes had written against him and he added that it was nothing without the action and pronuntiation of that Orator 1. Sam. 26 9. Dauid both in words and déeds reuerenced Saule being his enimie for that he was the annointed of the Lord. And the apostle therefore commandeth the same bicause the world iudgeth that man should deale farre otherwise For either it delighteth in curssed speakers and enimies of the truth or it thinketh it an honestie to requite iniuries Vespasianus Wherfore Vespasian when as there arose a contention betwéene a certeine Senator and a knight of Rome did with this sentence appease the strife Doubtlesse to reuile a Senator it is not lawfull but to reuile againe when a man is reuiled that is both lawfull and ciuill for that he which first prouoked did depriue himselfe of the prerogatiue of his honour But Paule commandeth vs farre otherwise for we must not consider what our aduersarie deserueth but what becommeth our owne selues Neither dooth the apostle require onelie that we should speake well of our enimies but also wish well vnto them for so thinke I that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blesse ye is to be taken in the second place as an Antithesis to that which followeth And cursse not Some thinke it is onelie a repetition for the greater vehemencie But I thinke it better agréeth that we are first commanded to speake well of our enimies and then to wish them good and in no wise to cursse them as men commonlie vse to doo And if this séeme a hard matter to be doone let vs remember that We are the children of him
earth There is also another psalme alledged Therefore hath God euen thy God annointed thee with oile of gladnes aboue thy fellowes Hebr. 1 9. And there is a comparison of Christ with Melchisedecke namelie that they were both without father Hebru 7 3. without mother and without genealogie which thing accordeth not with Christ but so far foorth as he is God Vnto the Colossinas we reade Coloss 2 9. that In Christ dwelleth all the fulnes of the godhead bodilie Colo. 1 16. Againe All things are made by him whether they be things visible or inuisible Titus 2 13. or thrones or dominions Vnto Titus We expecting the blessed hope and comming of the glorie of the great God Héere Christ is most plainelie called The great God And in the second to the Corinthians 2. Cor. 8 9. When he was rich he was made poore for all men It can not be meant that he was rich but in respect of his diuine nature 1. Cor. 2 8. And in the first epistle to the Corinthians If they had knowne him they would neuer haue crucified the Lord of glorie And in the eight chapter 1. Cor. 8 6. To vs neuertheles there is one God which is the father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Iesus Christ by whome are all things and we by him But if that all things are by him verelie there is no doubt but that he is God And vnto the Galathians as touching the time of infidelitie it is written Gala. 4 8. When as yee serued those which in nature be no gods c. By which words the contrarie is gathered that séeing they were conuerted vnto Christ and serued him they serued him that in nature is God But to followe the sure and more vndoubted testimonies of the old Testament Psal 110 1. out of Dauid we haue The Lord said vnto my Lord Sit on my right hand vntill I make thine enimies thy footestoole Esaie calleth him Emanuel Esaie 7 14. Esaie 9 6. And againe he saith His name shall be called Woonderfull a Counsellour God c. Ieremie in the 21. chapter saith Ierem. 21 6. that he must be called God our righteousnes he vseth the name Tetragrammaton The verie which thing thou maist sée to be done by the same Prophet in the 31. chapter Iere. 31 23. wherein though he speake of the citie I meane of the people of God or of the church yet neuertheles all that doth appertaine vnto Christ which is the head of the same yea rather by him is such a name attributed to the church people of God Also we reade in Esaie Esaie 53 8. Who shall be able to reckon his generation And in the Prophet Micheas Miche 5 2. And thou Bethleem of Iewrie art not the least among the thousands of Iuda for out of thee shall come foorth vnto me one that shall rule my people Israel whose out-going hath bin from the beginning and from euerlasting by which words both the natures of Christ are shewed Esaie 11 10. Adde againe out of the Prophet Esaie that which is cited by Paule in the 15. chapter to the Romanes Rom. 15 12. There shall be a roote of Iesse which shall arise to rule ouer the Gentiles and in him shall the Gentiles trust And certaine it is that he is to be accursed Looke In Rom. 1 and 4 25 8 verse 34 9 a 5 33 10 17 11 7 27. 1. Cor. 11 verse 3. which putteth anie hope in a creature Therefore séeing we must put our trust in Christ and that he is to be called vpon it plainelie appéereth that he is God There might be heapt vp other testimonies of this matter but these I thinke to be enough and enough againe to confute the boldnes of these men VVhether the holie Ghost be God In 1. Cor. 12. 6 Now it shall not be from the purpose to confirme by manie reasons that the holy Ghost is God The word spirit diuerslie taken This word spirit sometime signifieth a certeine motion or a nature mooueable sometimes it is taken for life or mind or the force of the mind whereby we are mooued to doo anie thing it is also transfferred to the signifieng of things Why our soules and angels and God are called spirits which be seperate from matter as be the angels which the philosophers call Intelligencies yea and it is so far drawne as it representeth our soules Which metaphor séemeth to haue respect therevnto bicause we somtimes signifie by this name the thin exhalations which breath either from the earth from the water from the bloud or from the humors of liuing creatures which exhalations although they be not easilie perceiued by the sense yet are they effectuall and of excéeding great force as it appéereth by winds earthquakes and such like things And so it commeth to passe hereby that the name of these most subtill bodies whose force is excéeding great hath béene translated to the expressing of substances without bodies Wherefore it is taken for a word generall Spirit is a generall word both vnto God vnto angels and vnto our soules And that it is attributed vnto God Christ sheweth when he saith God is a spirit Iohn 4 24. and therevpon concludeth that he must be worshipped in spirit and truth When it is so taken this name comprehendeth vnder it the Father the Sonne and the holie Ghost But somtime it is taken particularlie That the holie Ghost is a person distinct frō the Father and the Sonne for the third person of the Trinitie which is distinct from the Father and the Sonne And of this person we speake at this time wherein two things must be shewed first that he is a person distinct as well from the Father as the Sonne secondlie we will shew that the holie Ghost is by this meane described to be God The first reason Matt. 28 19. 7 As touching the first the apostles are commanded in the Gospell that they should baptise in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the holie Ghost Which place dooth most plainlie expresse the distinction of the thrée persons and dooth signifie nothing else but that we be deliuered from our sinnes by the name power and authoritie of the Father of the Sonne and of the holie Ghost And in the baptisme of Christ as Luke rehearseth The second reason Matt. 3 16. Luke 3 21. the voice of the Father was heard which said This is my beloued sonne c. Further the holie Ghost appéered vnder the forme of a dooue Here as thou séest the sonne is baptised the father speaketh and the holie Ghost sheweth himselfe in forme of a dooue In Iohn it is said Iohn 14 16. The third reason I will aske my Father and he shall giue you another Comforter Here also the Sonne praieth the Father heareth and the Comforter is
saie did not Dauid sinne when he fled vnto Achis Argumēts to proue that he sinned not There be some which defend him and saie that he might doo the same without hurt of religion and faith For why saie they is he héere to be blamed séeing he was not reprooued before when he fled into the land of the Moabites 1. Sam. 22 3 Were they lesse idolaters than were the Philistines Further he had at that time a most mightie enimie and also vngratefull and vntrustie kinsmen was it méet for him to liue alwaies in danger Besides this it behooued him to haue a regard not onelie vnto himselfe but vnto them that depended on him 1. Sam. 27 ◠for he had sixe hundred soldiers with their wiues children which led a hard life in the woods forests How had he béene able to haue mainteined them in Iudaea Should he haue vsed violence against his owne countriemen and well-willers and haue gotten meat for them by violence And what they would haue giuen them of their owne accord it sufficientlie appéereth by the historie of Nabal 1. Sam. 25. There were euen with Saule manie honest men which fauored Dauid and wished him well and for that cause they were oftentimes brought into danger Which perill séemed to haue an vtter end if Dauid should lead his life out of the Hebrue confines Wherefore he was to depart if it had béene but for their sakes onelie For it is the dutie of an honest man rather to suffer all things than others for his sake should be cast into perill Moreouer it was the part of a wise man to vse the occasion which God offered him which vnlesse he had doone he might haue séemed to haue tempted God But thou wilt saie he had promises I grant but those make not a man slothfull and dismaid What saie we to that when Iohn 4 5. Christ himselfe went vnto the Samaritans and vnto the borders of Tyre and Sidon Lastlie it behooued that some end should be appointed vnto the sinne of Saule Matt. 15 21. that he might cease to persecute the innocent man Arguments on the contrarie part 31 One the other part this fact of Dauid may also be reprooued for manie causes For first it séemeth an vnwoorthie thing that Dauid so notable a man should go as a suppliant vnto the Philistines being men which before time were not onelie ouercome by the Iewes but also by himselfe For he séemeth to contemne the benefit of God who hauing obteined victorie will submit himselfe to the verie same man whom he ouercommeth For this cause was Pompeius blamed who hauing atchieued so manie acts would afterward become an humble suiter vnto Ptolome But the stoutnesse and great courage that was in Cato is famous bicause he forbad the people of Vtica to séeke the fauour of Caesar for his sake Moreouer God forbad with verie strict words that the Iewes should not enter in league with the banished nations such as were the Philistines nor yet that they should desire helpe of them that were vngodlie Beside this Dauid whom God assigned a ruler and prince ouer his people now becommeth a fugitiue What infamie it was counted to be a fugitiue Which thing what and how great an infamie it is we are taught both by the light of nature it selfe and also by the ciuill lawes For in the Digests De captiuis postliminio in the law Postliminium in the paragraph Filius and in the paragraph Transfugae He that flieth vnto his enimie is depriued of the right in his owne citie So that by this act Dauid depriueth himselfe of the publike inheritance of the people of God And as it is declared in the same place He is a fugitiue which in the time either of warre or of truce flieth either vnto the enimies or vnto them which be neither enimies nor yet fréends and receiueth assurance of them And he hath lost the benefit of the Postliminian lawe which is debarred from the right of recouering of his owne goods and countrie Againe De capite minutis Those men are declared to be enimies vnto the common weale He which helpeth an enimie either by his trauell or by kéeping of companie with him incurreth the crime of high treason and is guiltie of betraieng either his prince or countrie And in this crime not alonlie the act it selfe is regarded but also the will so that the same be euidentlie enough knowen If anie Christian at this daie being capteine of the warres should flie on the Turks part with his soldiers he should not onelie be counted a runnagate but also incurre a greater reproch Yea and if he should doo the same but euen to an other christian prince that is an enimie vnto his owne naturall prince and countrie he should be iudged a runnagate and traitour And it is credible that some couenant was made that Dauid should beare armes against Saule and séeke his life whom he had twise alreadie spared Moreouer who is that which doubteth but that Saule did insolentlie boast of this running awaie of Dauid and told his fréends in reproch of him that he whom they attributed so much vnto was a runnagate a faithlesse man a forsaker both of his people and religion And it is verie likelie that those men when they heard those things scarselie refrained themselues from teares And albeit that Saule appéered before to behaue himselfe vniustlie when he thrust out Dauid yet might he now séeme to haue a iust cause of condemnation against him Besides this he being a Iew borne and a frée man yet called he himselfe a retainer and seruant of Achis 1. Sam. 28 2. He also so much as in him laie subuerted the counsels of God Ibid. 27 12. for God had chosen him to be a king who should defend his people howbeit he reuolted vnto the enimie and made war euen against his owne people This indéed was rather to plaie the part of a robber than the part of a king And he humbled himselfe there where he was to haue serued in perpetuall bondage and that which is a thing most gréeuous he was to doo it vnto a wicked and a barbarous king For so Achis himselfe pronounced that it should come to passe Thou shalt be saith he my seruant for euer He was constrained also to win the tyrants fauour by no honest practise for he made a lie and applied his spéech vnto his will namelie 1. Sam. 28 2. that he did somewhile inuade his owne nation the Iewes somewhile the Kenites and somewhile the Ierahmelites Howbeit there be some which saie that Dauid lied not at all when he said that he fought against the south part of Iuda 1. Sa. 27 10. for that those places apperteined to the lot of Iuda Iosua 15. as it appéereth by the description of Iosua albeit that they had not as yet entred into that whole inheritance But howsoeuer this be let it be of what
that we should imitate and vse them also that we should allow and commend those things which we perceiue haue béene doone by excellent men We know out of the diuine historie that Abraham was a holie man and in the fauour of God Gen. 18 2. and that he was a kéeper of hospitalitie whereof we may gather that hospitalitie is a verie good vertue and is acceptable to God and so we may conclude of the contrarie that such things as godly men haue eschewed we also are to take héed of For when we consider of Dauid that might two times haue killed Saule his chéefest enimie and yet would not 1. Sam. 24 7. 1. Sam. 26 7. we may gather therby that priuate persons although they may yet must not reuenge their owne proper iniuries Out of the preface vpon the 2. booke of Samuel pag 2. Gen. 19. The other vse of examples is this that out of manie things seuerallie told we vnderstanding them to be alike may gather thereby some profitable rule to applie them to things generallie As by the storie of the Sodomites we note that intollerable lusts were gréeuouslie punished wée knowe that for the same cause the whole tribe of Beniamin was almost extinguished Iudg. 19 20. Gen. 49 4. we read that for incest Ruben the eldest sonne of Iacob was put besides the inheritance that for cōmitting of adulterie Dauid suffered the indignation of the Lord that for fornication 2. Sa. 13 29. 2. Sam. 19 9. Ammon and Absolom were destroied that Troie as the Ethniks report was subuerted for adulterie Thus by the marking of these things seuerallie doone we saie it is manifest that all vnlawfull and wanton lusts of men are surelie punished by the hand of God To which proposition if we adde the next to wit that now also in these daies throughout all christendome there reigneth the like incest abhomination and wanton life we may make a certeine conclusion that most bitter punishments hang ouer our age for these horrible sinnes 24 But yet in this kind of argument we must take very great héed of a fault which might easilie arise and this commeth two waies First What faults we must beware of when we reason by examples that we take not in hand to imitate such dooings of holie men as they sometimes enterprised naughtilie For as they were men so they did manie times amisse yea and that shamefullie Wherefore the things which they did must be first examined with great iudgement before we make them our examples to followe Augustine Augustine in his second booke against the second epistle of Gaudentius writeth in this maner The falles of saints must not be imitated We must not saith he alwaie imitate allow whatsoeuer thing honest men haue doone but it is necessarie to compare the iudgement of the scriptures therwith and to marke whether they allow of those acts or no. This godlie father giues vs a good warning that as godlie men although they pleased God many waies and haue great credit giuen them through the testimonie of the scriptures yet that all their dooings must not be iudged sound and blamelesse for euerie man is a lier and sinneth manie times For who will folowe the abhominable adulterie of Dauid and the vngodlie betraieng of his faithfull souldier Or who will imitate the forswearing of Peter or his fained dissimulation None I hope that hath anie sparke of godlinesse in him Moreouer it happeneth diuers times that the worke which some haue doone well and iustlie is neuertheles forbidden in others Sometimes God will haue some men to doo things repugnant to the generall lawe Exod. 11 2. For God which made the lawe for man is not so tied thereby as it should not be lawfull for him when he thinketh good to exempt some from the generall bond It is not lawfull for anie man to steale and yet it was permitted yea commanded vnto the Hebrues to carrie awaie the goods which they had borowed of the Aegyptians vnknowne to them and against their wils What is best therefore for vs to doo in such cases Trulie this when we sée anie thing set foorth in the scriptures The doings of godlie men must be weighed by the generall rules of the lawe of God to weigh it well and diligentlie with the generall rules of Gods commandements wherevnto if we perceiue that they be consonant let vs then boldlie vse them but if they disagrée with them let vs assure our selues that they were certaine misdéeds or else speciall prerogatiues permitted to some let vs refraine from following of such examples These cautions being vsed there is great profit to be reaped of histories especiallie those histories which be in the scriptures And this did Chrysostome so well perceiue Chrysost as in his preface vpon the exposition of the epistle to Philemon he wisheth that all those things had béene committed to writing which were either said or doone by the apostles when they sate when they did eate when they wrote and such like And the same father in his 57. homilie vpon Genesis writeth that histories were giuen of the holie ghost to be followed Augustine Augustine also in his second booke De doctrina christiana the 28. chapter sheweth that Manie darke and hard places may be resolued by the knowledge of histories Moreouer whosoeuer shall exercise themselues much in perusing of the scriptures may the more fruitfullie consider the examples and dooings of our times There happened once a man to be somewhat deformed A pleasant historie who neuerthelesse was desirous of godlie children but yet he maried a foule wife and therefore euerie man laughed him to scorne A similitude But he went into the citie and bought himselfe verie faire curious pictures brought them home and placed them in his chamber and gaue his wife commandement that euerie daie for a certaine space of time she should fixe hir sight vpon those pictures which commandement she obserued therefore bare vnto him goodlie children Euen so shall it happen to vs which although for our sinnes naturallie ingraffed in vs we are most foule and vglie to behold and are led aswell by the power of the diuell as by ill conuersation of men vnto lewd and licentious life yet notwithstanding if we will earnestlie and diligentlie make a choise of examples of the godlie described and plainelie set foorth to vs in the holie scriptures will well consider of them in our minds verelie we shall yéeld foorth excellent works and such as be acceptable vnto the Lord. 25 But those things that be written In Gen. 38. Why certaine dishonest things are rehersed in scriptur◠séeme vnto men to be so vnpure and foule as they doo thinke them vnwoorthie to be read in the holie scriptures But vnderstand thou that the sum of those things which he had in the holie scripture are so distributed as some perteine onelie to be knowne others to be imitated
neither by the earth saith that he dooth not forbid vs to sweare but that we should not sweare by creatures The fourth Councell of Carthage And in the fourth Councell of Carthage which place is also cited in the 22. cause question 1. in the title Clericus it is forbidden that anie should sweare by creatures and it is added that If a clerke shall so sweare he should be excommunicated and deposed How manie waies God is called to record But we must note that God is sometime called to record not absolutelie but either with vowes praiers or else with curssings and execrations With praiers as when we saie As I would liue As God shall helpe me Thus sware Ioâ—…h By the life of Pharao as if he should saie So let Pharao liue as that which I saie is true And in times past they were woont to sweare by the angel of Caesar and by the safetie of his children Howbeit such forme of oths was taken awaie in the Code But the cursses are on this sort Ill come vnto me or Let me be confounded So Dauid in the psalme If I haue doone this saith he and if there be anie wickednes in mine hands then let mine enimie take awaie mine honour from me and tread my life in the dust In these two forms there is nothing to hinder but that the name of anie creature vnto whom we will either good or euill may be mingled with them But that name of the creature is onelie there set downe indirectlie for it is no direct and full oth On this wise it may be expounded As I would liue that is So God giue me life or else So let me be confounded that is So let GOD confound me Here the name of God is held in silence whereas in verie déed the whole efficacie and taking record in the oth is referred vnto him onelie As on the contrarie part when we saie Thus and thus God doo by me the name of God is expressed but the things themselues be kept vnder silence Wherefore these things doo not further the Papists at all for to prooue it lawfull hereby to call saints which be dead vnto an oth 12 But let vs sée how rightlie Dauid sware vnto Semei that he should not die In 2. Sam. 19 vers 16. when as afterward being at the point of death Whether Dauid sware rightlie vnto Semei he instructed Salomon concerning his affaires charged him among other things that he should put Semei to death He séemeth not to stand to his oth or else he sware not that well which he wold not haue kept If he sware he ought to haue stood to his oth if he minded not to kéepe his oth he should not haue sworne Some saie it ought thus to be ment that he should not be killed while Dauid himselfe liued if he tooke order that he should be killed after his death that then he brake not his oth But this exception was not expressed in the forme of the oth That which a man dooth by another man he séemeth to doo it himselfe He which promiseth anie thing must not alonelie performe the same but he must applie his indeuour that the promise which he hath made may be performed So as Dauid ought not to haue stirred vp his son Salomon against Semei but he should haue giuen charge that the promise made by him might not haue béene violated If a man will saie that although the condition were not expressed yet the same was in his mind when he did sweare we must consider how an oth is to be interpreted According to whose mind an oth must be interpreted whether according to the mind of him that sweareth or of him to whom the oth is made Touching this point there séemeth to be contrarie opinions Isidorus in the decrées the 22. cause question the fift the chapter Quacunque arte writeth In euerie art let men weigh the words of the oth God who is the witnesse of consciences taketh those words as he to whom they be sworne vnderstandeth them He iudgeth that the oth must be vnderstood according to the meaning of him to whom it is made Gregorie in his Moralls the 26. booke was of another mind The eares of men iudge our words to be such as they sound outwardlie but the iudgements of God doo heare such things spoken outwardlie as they be vttered from within And so he would haue it to appéere that the words of them which sweare should be vnderstood according to the mind of him that maketh the oth These two opinions are reconciled euen by the Schoole-men and among others by Thomas Aquinas Oths be made either as concerning the conscience or else in respect of outward pleadings If we speake of the conscience he which sweareth either dealeth simplie and sincerelie or else craftilie and by fraud If sincerelie then is he bound to kéepe no more but that which he meant to doo but if fraudulentlie then let him be sure that he is bound to the meaning of him whom he would haue beguiled But if an oth be made in ciuill pleadings the words of them which be sworne must be taken according to the common meaning If there happen a doubt the magistrate shall be the iudge thereof But returne we to Dauid if he delt sincerelie and had the foresaid condition in his mind he was not bound to Semei in respect of his conscience If he ment to applie himselfe to the time and by anie meanes to beguile him he sware not in truth Wherefore let vs vse this inuincible argument Either he ment to kéepe his promise or he ment it not If he ment it not he should not haue sworne If he ment it he should haue performed it if it were lawfull If an oth doo confirme an vniust thing it must not be kept Now to promise impunitie to a wicked man which hath broken the lawe of the Lord for the lawe saith Exo. 22 28. Thou shalt not curse the prince of thy people is not iust wherefore he was not to performe the oth which he made Oths made vnaduisedlie must not be performed The oths which be made vnaduisedlie ought not to be performed These be of those sort of things which alwaies haue an euill end turne which waie thou wilt If so be thou performe them not thou hast sworne naughtilie if thou doo performe them thou makest a double offense Neither here auaileth the instance of the Israelites fact with the Gabaonites Iosua 9 15. They séeme to haue sworne that which was not lawfull and yet they thought themselues bound vnto their oth In verie déed we saie that they were not bound for the Gabaonites dissembled with them When he that sweareth is deceiued he is not bound But the Israelites thought that they should blemish the name of God if they did not stand to their agréement and that the oth which they made was not contrarie vnto the word of God God would not haue
Achitophell But whether Dauid followed this counsell let Ben Gerson sée to it But the more likelihood is that Dauid when he sawe himselfe now out of danger did the more confidentlie professe there things of himselfe For whereas he was ignorant that Saule should so soone die and sawe that it might be that the Philistines should be ouercome and that he should be constrained to remaine longer in exile thought it altogither conuenient that the fauour of king Achis should be reteined The ninth Chapter Wherein is treated vpon the sixt precept and first of Friendship THis woord Amicitia In. 1. Sam. 18. verse 1. Of friendship that is Friendship is so called of Amor that is Loue as saith Augustine against an epistle of Parmenianus the first booke and first chapter And this is faithfull and continuall in Christ onelie It behooueth that the bond of friendship be stedfast and durable But it behooueth that there be a reconciler of friends to lead them vnto felicitie and that an eternall and true felicitie for other felicities are vncerteine and transitorie Howbeit these things can no man performe but Christ Now let vs sée what is properlie To loue Aristotle saith that To loue is To will well The definition of loue and if thou canst to doo well vnto anie man for his sake not for thine owne This definition although it may séeme probable yet must it be amended for we ought to will well to no man for his owne sake but for Gods But the philosophers staied vpon the second causes as if so be that they sawe a man godlie and good they said that he ought to be beloued for his owne sake But it behooueth vs to ascend higher and to place the causes of things in God A definition of friendship Cicero defineth friendship to be an agréement of diuine and humane things through good will and charitie But Aristotle in his Ethiks speaketh somewhat more distinctlie for he saith that friendship is a goodwill But it happeneth oftentimes that some man loueth an vngratefull person and is not loued againe and for that cause he addeth Mutuall Howbeit some men doo mutuallie loue one an other who neuerthelesse knowe not that they are mutuallie loued againe Wherefore it behooueth that either of them doo reueale their friendship one to an other Furthermore it is requisite The ends of true and false friendship that this good-will be stirred vp in respect of some good thing For we doo not loue without it be for some certeine cause and the good things are referred either vnto profit or vnto pleasure or vnto honestie But they which are induced to loue either of pleasure or of profit they loue vnaduisedlie and accidentallie For if the cause of pleasure or of gaine should cease the friendship would straitwaie be loosed But the friendship which vertue hath ioined togither is stedfast neuer dissolued for vertue is an habit gotten by long custome which cannot be remooued Such a constant amitie was betwéen Dauid and Ionathas Seneca A reprehension of Epicurus in his ninth epistle vnto Lucillus reprooueth Epicurus bicause he had said that A friend must be sought to the intent that if thou haue néed thou maist haue one to helpe thée if thou be sicke thou maist haue one to sit by thée For a far more swéet friendship is it saith Seneca which dooth helpe another than that which is holpen of another Wherefore saith he a friend must be sought that thou maist haue whom to help whom to sit by if thou be sicke For Apelles saith he and Praxiteles tooke greater pleasure of their owne works when they were working them and had them in hand than afterward when they had them made and finished in their chamber euen so a true friend is more delited if he himselfe doo anie good turne to another than if he receiue a benefit of another So did Ionathas not refuse anie danger that was to be taken in hand for Dauids sake Saule also loued Dauid but far otherwise than did Ionathas Neither vndoubtedlie did Ionathas loue Dauid onelie in respect of that generall commandement Dauid loued Ionathas not in respect of the generall commandement onlie Thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe but bicause of that notable indeuour which he found in him towards the Common-weale and godlinesse Further he sawe that the kingdome should be plucked awaie from Saule and be giuen to one better than he and he suspected that the same other man should be Dauid as we may gather by the historie Yet did he loue him so feruentlie as he did not for this cause hate him anie thing at all Of Homicide or Manslaughter In Iudges 9 verse 24. 2 Here will I treate of two things the first what maner of man-slaughter is condemned by the word of God and to be punished by the magistrates secondlie who are guiltie of this crime As touching the first we must vnderstand that not euerie slaughter of man is condemned For if one kill a man by chance in exercising of an honest and lawfull thing he incurreth not the punishment of man-slaughter Wherefore in the old lawe there were granted cities of refuge Numb 35 6. For in verie déed he killeth not but as it is there written God without whose will nothing is doone by chance deliuered him that he should so be killed A iudge also and a magistrate when he punisheth heinous offenders is not to be accounted a man-slear for it is not he that killeth but the lawe yea rather God himselfe who would haue it so doone and so commanded it Furthermore he that in a desolate place or where he cannot be holpen by others is set vpon by théeues or enimies if in defending himselfe according to the lawes by repelling violence by violence he slaie a robber or théefe which inuadeth him he is not guiltie of man-slaughter forsomuch as in that case he is armed both by the lawes the magistrates For the Common-weale would not that a subiect should so perish therfore it giueth him leaue to defend himselfe by weapons For this cause Cicero defended Milo Cicero bicause he had killed Clodius who first by a secret lieng in wait set vpon him 2. Sam. 14 6 Also the woman of Thecua obteined of Dauid that the magistrate should not kill hir sonne who had slaine his brother being at variance with him in the féeld They were alone saith she and therefore it is not knowne which of them first inuaded the other Soldiers also when in a iust war they slea their enimie commit no vniust thing Wherefore that man-slaughter which must be punished and is condemned by lawes is then iudged to be doone when a man of set purpose is killed by priuate men And they which are to be condemned of this crime by the Romane lawes are not called man-stears but murtherers In the lawe Cornelia the title is De sicarijs and not De homicidis Who be
Matt. 5 45. who maketh his sunne to shine vpon the good and vpon the euill and that we are his disciples who answered his apostles when they required fire from heauen to burne the Samaritans Luke 9 54 Ye knowe not of whose spirit ye be namelie his which came not to destroie but to saue his Luke 22 51 who healed them that railed vpon him his who restored vnto Malchus his eare Matt. 26. 50 who came with the other soldiers of the chéefe rulers to take Christ his which both saluted the traitor Iudas as a friend Luke 23 43 and receiued him with a kisse finallie his Luke 23 34 which forgaue the wicked théefe and promised him eternall felicitie which praied for them that crucified him Rom. 5 8. and which of his owne accord died for his enimies It shall nothing profit thée to recompense iniuries with iniuries and taunts with taunts Thou oughtest rather to commit the matter vnto God who will be a most iust iudge and by no perturbation can be led awaie from iustice 27 Furthermore thou shouldest héereby gather that it is not lawfull to speake ill of anie man nor yet to cursse anie man For if it be forbidden to doo these things against our enimies which otherwise might séeme tollerable in mans iudgement much lesse may we suffer our selues to doo it vnto others Chrysostome How manie waies our aduersaries misreports doo benefit vs. to the intent he might persuade vs to followe these words of Paule reckoneth vp the commodities which the curssings and persecutions of aduersaries commonlie bring to the godlie First saith he they verie well helpe vs to the obteinment of the kingdome of heauen for Christ saith Matt. 5. 10. Blessed are they which suffer persecution for righteousnesse sake for theirs is the kingdome of heauen And he addeth Blessed are ye verse 11. when they reuile you and persecute you speaking all manner of euill and lieng against you for my sake Be glad and reioise for your reward is great in heauen c. Besides this they are an occasion or matter of most excellent vertues for as Paule teacheth Tribulation worketh patience patience experience and experience hope Rom. 5 3. But where is the patience of the saints where is their experience where is their hope if thou take awaie the wicked enterprises of our enimies against vs Moreouer the glorie of God can by no other meanes be highlie aduanced than if we valiantlie and couragiouslie behaue our selues in those things which are to be suffred for his name sake For it is no hard matter to cleaue vnto God so long as all things go prosperouslie and quietlie with vs and as we would desire But when all maner of aduersities happen and yet we constantlie abide in his obedience this doubtlesse commeth of a manlie and stout faith And therefore I thinke Iames said that Patience hath a perfect worke Iam. 1 4. Vnlesse peraduenture a man will thus vnderstand it that perfection is not in anie worke vnlesse we perseuere in the same For when we leaue off we accomplish not the worke and so without patience it is left vnperfect Adde moreouer that by this meanes chéeflie our enimies are terrified that they procéed not to persecute vs. For when they sée that we are not mooued by their iniuries they thinke that they loose their labour and therfore they take not so great pleasure of the reproches wherewith they haue exercised vs. But if they shall perceiue vs to be vexed and to take it in ill part they will thinke that their iniuries haue taken good successe and will be afterward more bold in their wicked indeuour By this we may sée Matth. 5 11 why the Lord said Blessed are ye when men reuile you persecute you and speake all maner of euill against you falselie for my sake reioise and be glad for your reward is great in heauen This commandement of Christ the apostles executed for they returned from the presence of the Councell reioising that they were counted woorthie to be reuiled for his names sake And Paule in the first to the Corinthians saith 1. Cor. 4 12 We are euill spoken of and we blesse In Gréeke it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 28 But this persuasion Paule did not alwaies obserue for to the Galathians he saith I would to God they were cut off Gal. 5 12. which trouble you Psal 69 12. And Dauid saith Let their table be made a snare before them let their eies be made dim that they may not see and bow downe their backs alwaies All other bookes of the prophets are euerie-where full of cursses and imprecations wherewith they cursse the enimies of the people of God Whether it be lawfull alwaies to cursse enimies Here doubtlesse in my iudgement it must be said that we ought so to deale as Paule now admonisheth so long as we haue a respect vnto our owne iniuries and that wée walke the ordinarie waie and common course whereby we are bound by loue to wish well vnto our neighbours But if so be God open vnto vs his secret will and declare what shall without doubt come to passe concerning our enimies and those which persecute vs then if we sincerelie and truelie loue him we ought vndoubtedlie to staie our selues vpon his will and counsell Howbeit this caution is added first to be fullie assured whether those things which God hath opened vnto vs perteine onelie to a threatening or else wholie to declare his determinate and assured will For where we suspect that God onelie threateneth to bring vs to repentance we ought not to cease praieng euen for the wicked Exod. 32 11 Gen. 18. So did Moses when he made supplication to God for his nation so did Abraham for the Sodomites 1. Sa. 15 11. Iere. 10 24. so did Samuel for Saule and so did Ieremie for the people But when they be out of doubt that it is the certeine and fixed will of God they doo not onelie praie against the wicked by prophesieng as thinketh Augustine against Faustus in his 16. booke and 22. chapter where he thus writeth But cursses when they are vttered by the waie of prophesie procéed not of an ill desire of him that cursseth but of the foreknowing spirit of him that denounceth them but also from the hart God now consenting therevnto and wishing the same with it Dauid when as otherwise he was so mercifull to Semei to Absolom and to Saule and to other enimies yet sometimes he so cursseth and banneth the wicked as he driueth a horror into them that read them Christ also first bewailed the infelicitie of the citie of Ierusalem Luke 19 41 for that she knew not the time of hir visitation and he saith How often would I haue gathered togither thy children as a hen dooth hir chickens vnder hir wings and thou wouldest not Howbeit euen he knowing the assured and vnmooueable will of GOD
which obeied not the cursse when if was published were most gréeuouslie punished Which the holie historie of Iosua declareth to haue happened vnto Achan Iosua 7 1. bicause he vsurped vnto himselfe some of the spoiles of Ierico We knowe also 1. Sa. 15 11. that Saule was for this cause béerest of his kingdome in that he had reserued Agag the king and certeine oxen and fat cattell of the preie which were alreadie bound by the vow of the cursse 32 But touching the forme and end of the cursse we haue spoken inough The forme of the cursse For the forme is the destruction of cities men and beasts and the consecration of gold siluer iron brasse pearles pretious stones costlie things which were appointed onelie to the vse of the tabernacle The end thereof But the end was that they might be monuments of Gods goodnesse and iustice and also an exercise and triall of the Israelits Now resteth to speake somewhat of the matter and efficient cause thereof The matter of the same Certeinlie the matter was whatsoeuer was to be found aliue in those cities for all that ought to be killed And the buildings and other garnishings of the citie to be cleane destroied but as for the riches and ornaments they as it is said were consecrated vnto the worshipping of God But there was to be noted that none were vowed vnto so horrible a destruction except such as were alreadie declared and openlie vowed to be enimies of GOD. For it is not lawfull to kill innocents Wherefore they sinned most gréeuouslie which so vowed Paules death Acts. 25 14. as they would neither eate nor drinke till they had killed him And at this daie they behaue themselues more than wickedlie which confesse themselues to haue made a vow most cruellie to kill all the professors of the Gospell Yea Ieptha without doubt was deceiued Iude. 11 39. Ieptha who bicause of this kind of vowing thought that his daughter ought either to be slaine or else forced to perpetuall virginitie Agamemnon Agamemnon also is to be condemned who as Cicero in his booke of Offices reporteth vowed vnto Diana the fairest thing that should be borne in his kingdome The efficient cause of the cursie which foolish vow to performe he sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia But the efficient cause of the vow Cherem sometimes is God as it is written in the seuenth tenth chapters of Deuteronomie Deut. 7 16. For there it is commanded that places dedicated to idols altars images groues and monuments should vtterlie be destroied and that was a perpetuall cursse in the land of Chanaan and to be alwaies obserued Iosua 6 17. Sometimes the prince made such a vow as we read of Iosua and sometimes the people Num. 21 2. as we find in the 21. chapter of Numbers The prophet also sometime did this and thus did Samuel charge Saule 1. Sam. 15 3 that he should destroie all things which belonged to the Amalechits The name of this citie whereof there is mention in the first of Iudges was afterward called Horma whereas before it was not so called And it was so called of the word Cherem for such a name were they woont to giue the places that were destroied by reason of a vow or cursse In the booke of Numbers a certeine portion which the Israelits kept by force was by reason of such a vow called Horma Num. 12. 33 But it would séeme to be a question whether these destructions were against charitie I saie they were not for such enimies were chosen to be vtterlie destroied of the Iewes by the iudgement of God and not at the pleasure of men And as concerning the loue or hatred of enimies we must vnderstand Augustine that Augustine hath written toward the end of the former booke of the sermon of the Lord vpon the mount that he dooth ascend a certeine step of righteousnesse which loueth his neighbour although he as yet hate his enimie But he shall then performe goodwill and goodnesse according to the commandement of him which came to fulfill the lawe and not to breake it when he shall extend the same euen to the loue of his enimie For the other degrée although it be somewhat yet is it so small that it may be common also with Publicans Neither is that which is said in the lawe Thou shalt hate thine enimie Matt. 5 43. to be taken as a commandement vnto the iust but as a permission vnto the weake Thus much writeth he To whom if I shall saie as the truth is I doo not agrée but am certeinlie persuaded that to hate our enimies is not permitted by God no not in them which be vnperfect for it is an euerlasting precept that we should loue our neighbour as our selues And he is our neighbour Who is our neighbour vpon whom we light by anie occasion as Christ declared in the parable of the Iewes and of the Samaritane Luke 10 30 Those vndoutedlie were compared as enimies one to another wherfore the condition of enimitie when it happeneth cannot let but that such as are enimies one to another be neighbours notwithstanding Moreouer forsomuch as we sée Psal 109. that Dauid and other prophets did oftentimes cursse their enimies by what meanes can we call them weake to whom God gaue libertie to hate their enimies For they were holie men and verie perfect Neither dooth that séeme to make much to the purpose which the same Augustine saith Augustine namelie that The saiengs of these holie men were no vowes and desires but rather forspeakings and prophesies of them who liuing vnder the old testament did oftentimes prophesie the euent of things to come For the apostles are also found in the new testament not onelie to haue spoken words of curssings as Paule when he saith I would to God they were cut off that trouble you Gal. 5 12. but also to haue imposed most gréeuous punishments For so much as it is written in the Acts of the apostles that the same Paule depriued Elimas the magician of his sight Acts. 13 11 Act. 5 5. 9 and Peter slue Ananias and Saphyra Wherfore it were better to saie that these great men did not such things of hatred granted to them against vnperfect men but forced therevnto by some other maner of meanes Note a distinction And so me thinketh we must make this distinction that they sometimes had to doo for their owne causes and sometimes for Gods cause When they had to doo for their own matters they seasoned all their dooings with all modestie and gentlenesse as we sée Dauid did who sundrie times spared Saule his deadlie enimie 1. Sam. 26 9 Moses also and other holie men did verie oftentimes susteine gréeuous things both constantlie and valiantlie but when Gods busines was to be handled they behaued themselues seuerelie and noblie But this if they had doone while
thing decréed a more gréeuous punishment against him that was guiltie than the lawe had prouided against common théeues and stealers of cattell I haue therefore made mention of these Three kinds of death in the lawe of God bicause there were in the law thrée kinds of death appointed for euill dooers I meane hanging stoning and burning wherevnto some of the Hebrues adde a fourth namelie the punishment of the sword But bicause there is not as farre as I knowe anie mention thereof in the lawe I haue therefore passed it ouer We read that Adonias Ioab and Agag king of Amalech were thrust thorough with swords but we find it not prescribed by anie lawe or precept that the guiltie should be put to death Séeing therefore the matter is so yet we perceiue An extraordinarie punishment of the Hebrues that the children of Israel vsed in their tents a certeine extraordinarie kind of punishment against king Adonibezek Neither will I beléeue that they did this without the instinct of GOD for God would punish the crueltie of this tyrant with an exquisite punishment which neuerthelesse was a rendering like for like Which kind of horrible dooing to the intent we may the easilier auoid it shall not be gréeuous vnto vs to speake somewhat thereof The definition of crueltie 51 This word crueltie is deriued either of this Latine word Cruor which signifieth Bloud wherein cruell men like wild beasts doo delite or else of Crudae carnes which signifieth Rawe flesh which barbarous and beastlie people doo sometimes eate and it may be defined to be an euill habit by the which we are inclined vnto sharpe and hard things aboue reason And somtimes it happeneth that crueltie is counted for a pleasure with which wicked affection or habit how some wicked tyrants haue somtime béene infected it is euidentlie to be perceiued by manie examples For the holie historie setteth before our eies Adonibezek and the euangelicall historie maketh mention of Herod Matt. 2 16. The Ethnike poets haue made report of the crueltie of Atreus and Thiestes And the most cruell fact of Xerxes king of the Persians is set foorth by Seneca in his third booke De ira The crueltie of Xerxes the 17. chapter When a certeine man named Pythius who had well deserued at his hands came vnto him and desired of him to spare him one of his fiue sons from the wars he cōmanded him as though he would grant him his request to choose which of them he would haue to tarrie at home from the wars And he did as he was bidden But this most cruell tyrant commanded that the yoong man whom he had chosen should be drawne one side of him one waie and the other side of him another waie vntill at the length he was torne in sunder the one part whereof he commanded to be fastened in one corner of the waie by the which the soldiers should passe and the other in another corner saieng that by this meanes he purged his armie Howbeit not long after he being most shamefullie ouercome and beaten by the Graecians was constreined to flie awaie through the ouerthrowes and dead carcases of his owne soldiers The miserable end of Sylla Sylla banished an innumerable companie of the citizens of Rome but at the length he was most horriblie eaten vp of lice Euen after the like sort died that most cruell Herod as it is most manifestlie declared by Iosephus Contrarie to this excéeding great wickednes and most heinous mischéefe is clemencie which as a singular vertue dooth verie well become princes and is an excellent ornament of christian men Augustine in his third booke of Questions question 31. defineth the same after this maner Clemencie defined It is an habit whereby men being stirred vp to hatred against anie man are through goodnesse kept backe A foolish kind of mercie This vertue is a meane betwéene crueltie and foolish mercie I call it foolish mercie whereby our mind is so mooued with other mens miseries that it declineth from sound counsell and iust reason And for this cause are we ouercome of this affect bicause we would neuer suffer such things as we sée others iustlie and deseruedlie afflicted withall and bicause we our selues indeuour to auoid the same therefore we cease to punish the wicked 52 Dauid hauing ouercome his enimies In 2. Sam. 12 verse 31. did gréeuouslie punish them he led the Ammonites foorth of the citie and slue them not after a vulgar maner but he had sawes wherwith he sawed them in sunder And this is also shewed to haue happened vnto Esaie And in the eleuenth chapter to the Hebrues it is said of the saints Heb. 11 37. that they were hewen in sunder This kind of punishment perhaps was vsuall in those parts Moreouer he brought foorth chariots and sleds that they should be drawne vpon them and he also hewed them in sunder with axes and hatchets he threw them into the kils of bricke or tile all which are cruell things Whether Dauid were cruell Dauid perhaps in these punishments might séeme to haue degenerated from his owne nature for he was méeke and gentle but these séeme to be parts of excéeding great crueltie What did he become another Phalaris No but if we will iudge by things as they were doone manie of them may séeme in the holie scriptures to haue béene cruell Iudg. 1 6. For the Iewes so punished king Adonibesek as they cut off the thumbes of his hands and of his féet Iosua brought foorth the kings Iosua 10 27 which had hidden themselues in a caue and they being prostrated vpon the earth he would haue them to be troden vpon by the children of Israel in such wise that they should tread with their féet vpon euerie one of their necks and afterward he hanged them vpon fiue trées Iudg. 8 16. Gedeon in the eight chapter of the booke of Iudges slue the elders of Succoth with thornes and briers Saules sonnes 2. Sam. 21 9 by the will and commandement of the Lord were hanged vp These things séeme at the first sight to be cruell but they be not so Which that it may appéere doo but consider this that about the executing of punishments there be found in the minds of men habits of vertue and of vices Clemencie causeth minds to be bent vnto the mitigation of punishments according vnto right reason The vice that is in defect is a certeine remissenesse and slacknesse in punishing for we may sée manie which doo not once touch heinous crimes And on the other part there is a certeine habit of fiercenesse and crueltie that passeth measure Those be called cruell if we giue credit to Seneca in his second booke De clementia which excéed a measure in punishing offenders And as we bréeflie touched cruell men are so called either of Cruor that is Bloud as who should saie they be delited therewith or else of Cruditas that is Rawnesse
inquire either what is doone or what maie come to passe And suspicion is an obscure knowledge of some euill at hand from whence springeth feare And malicious men and old men and those which are often hurt and enimies are soone brought into suspicion And sometimes the causes of suspicious are iust as in the Digests De suspectis tutoribus curatoribus He is suspected who is such in manners And albeit that he be not such a one indéed yet it sufficeth if he séeme to be such a one For though that Dauid were no traitour yet by that report 1. Sam. 2 19. which commonlie went of him to wit that he was a traitour and desired the kingdome the Philistines did wiselie who thought good to beware of him In déed we cannot auoid it but but that suspicions will sometimes arise in our minds séeing they be not in our power We must not giue place to our suspicions Augustine but we must not rashlie assent vnto them or iudge by them Augustine in the 54. epistle to Macedonius Men saith he of a certeine selfe-loue are easilie lead to iudge insomuch as euerie man is a friend to his owne cogitations and thinketh that he dooth suspect wisely Yet saith he nothing must héerein be doone rashlie though the cause maie séeme neuer so probable for euen manie things are credible and yet false and againe manie things are incredible and yet true But thou wilt saie What if a man be a gouernour of a church or of the common-weale shall he not prouide in time if he suspect anie euill to be at hand What is lawfull in suspicion He ought no doubt but yet without hatred or harme of another man So iudges must beware that vpon light suspicion they disturbe no man for poore wretches being oftentimes ouercome with griefe in punishments doo confesse those things which they neuer thought The suspicions of the Philistines arose not of weightie but euen of probable causes therefore they commanded not Dauid either to be troubled or put to death but onelie to be sent awaie And this Dauid gained by fléeing vnto Achis that although he were had in honour yet he came into suspicion of treason Wherefore we must neuer depart to the enimies of the faith sith that had neuer good successe For admit thou canst persuade the prince that thou art a good man yet shalt thou neuer persuade the multitude And thus much by the waie Of mocking and tawnting In 1. kin 18 verse 17. 13 By the mocking wherewith Elias mocked the worshippers of Baal it appeareth that godlie and sincere men maie vse pleasant dissimulation What maner of mockings be lawfull Looke in 1. Sam. 22 verse 16. wittie conceits proper nips and merie speaches so they vse them not to satisfie reuenge and hatred against their enimies but for the condemning and disallowing of wicked religion The sense of these signes is perceiued rather by pronuntiation than by words The imitation of this kind did Paule vse when in the epistle to the Colossians he saith vnder the person of the false prophets Touch not taste not handle not verse 12. How pleasantlie dooth Esaie in the 44. chapter deride the idoll-maker bicause of the one halfe of a trée he maketh a fire to warme himselfe and to séeth his meate and with the rest of the blocke he frameth an image before which he afterward falleth downe giueth honour vnto it worshippeth it calleth vpon it and serueth it The whole chapter The same did Baruch the scribe of Ieremie in the sixt chapter he pleasantlie mocked the idols Elias by that wittie mirth of his taught that Baal was no god that he heard not felt not nor regarded anie maner of thing So then scornings mockings may sometimes serue verie fitlie for the prophets and ministers of the word of God For how could men be more plainlie taught that they lost their labor in worshipping of Baal Howbeit Paule in writing to the Ephestians séemeth to forbid this kind of talke in Christians Let there not be in you saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Ephe. 5 4. filthie and fowle communication 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fond foolish words and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Vrbanitie and pleasant iesting which otherwise is counted a vertue wherby those that he sad in sicknesse are some times chéered vp bicause it must not be taken for sin when it perteines to charitie But it must be vnderstood that Paule in that place by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dooth note 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is scurrilitie whereby scoffes and railing speaches be rashlie cast out against others rather with offense vnto the godlie hearers than with anie edifieng It is not lawfull for Christians to trifle vnaduisedlie Of Deceipt or Guile 14 To speake first of the word In Iudg. 3◠That which among the Latins is Dolus that is Deceipt the Graecians call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that their word and ours is almost all one but the Hebrues call it Mirmah or Remijah Further let vs vnderstand that guile is there forbidden where anie thing lieth secret which is hidden least the fraud appeare or be easilie séene Wherefore Plautus said Plautus Guiles vnlesse they be couered by craft they be no guiles Thus much as touching the name Now let vs come to the definition A definition of guilt Seruius In the Digests De dolo malo in the first lawe Seruius the lawier thus defined ill guile or collusion namelie to be a subtill inuention or deuise to deceiue another when as one thing is doone and another feigned Wheresoeuer therefore there is guile there is deceit by some dissimulation It is true in déed that Labeo an interpretor of the lawe Labeo reprooued the definition brought by Seruius and that by two reasons Whereof one is that sometime it may happen that a man shall be beguiled without dissimulation or collusion Wherfore the definition should be more strict than that which is defined But this all men account as a fault The other is bicause otherwhiles some by dissimulation doo saue and defend their owne or other mens and yet therby doo beguile no man neither doo they hurt anie man So then the definition must be applied vnto other things besides that which is defined which also is culpable For which cause he thus defineth it Another definition of guile Ill guile or collusion is all maner of craft deceit or subtiltie doone to beguile delude and deceiue others Vlpian in the same place Vlpian alloweth the opinion of Labeo But hauing the authoritie of so great a clarke I would saie that Labeo did not well in remoouing dissimulation from the nature of fraud And as touching the first argument which he hath I denie that which he affirmeth namelie that men can be circumuented without dissimulation For vnlesse they were wholie without sense they would not easilie be led to take and
sinne much more gréeuouslie than the common persons For they sit at the sterne Princes sinne more greeuouslie than the publike sort and haue in their hand the helme of the church or common-weale by reason whereof all men take example by them Some sinne also are counted the more gréeuous bicause they be not alone but they drawe manie other mischéefes with them By reason whereof the sinne of Dauid is verie much reprooued 2. Sam. 11. bicause his adulterie was ioined with the murther of a good and faithfull man namelie of Vrias besides that there happened the slaieng of manie valiant soldiers and the victorie betraied and translated vnto the enimies of Gods name Wherefore more gréeuous is that sinne iudged to be than if the fault had béene single and alone Also that crime is most condemned that bringeth most harme For vndoubtedlie he that taketh awaie a mans life dooth more harme than if hée doo but wound or else maime anie one part of the bodie And further the vehemencie and ardent desire of the will is considered wherewith men runne headlong into sinne For they that with all libertie runne into mischéefe are more to be reprooued than they that vnwillinglie and striuing there against with great fight of conscience transgresse the lawe of God Also the offense of them is lesse which after a sort be constrained to fall into sinne through great feare and want of strength to endure affliction than if they should willinglie and of their owne accord fall thereinto And wonderfull gréeuous dooth the contempt of the word of GOD make sinne to be Furthermore those things that be openlie committed bicause they giue an offense and stumbling blocke vnto others therefore are more condemned than such as are doone priuatelie and in secret And the sinnes which be committed against holie men such as are the prophets and ministers of the church be horrible bicause that iniurie and contumelie dooth more euidentlie redound vnto God Wherefore it is written Zach. 2 8. He that hurteth you dooth as if hee should touch the apple of mine owne eie Luk. 10 16. Hee that despiseth you saith Christ despiseth me also And God warned the princes of this world Psal 1 16. that they should doo no violence against his Christ that is his annointed Also euen in ciuill matters the dignitie of the person that is hurt is weiged For he dooth woorse that hurteth his owne father and the daughter that riseth against hir owne mother than if they should rage against anie other persons as the prophet Micheas in the seuenth chapter dooth testifie Againe verse 6. he is more sharplie rebuked that hurteth the magistrate and publike power than he which worketh iniurie to priuate men Wherefore by expresse words it is commanded of God Exo. 22 18. Thou shalt not speake euill of the prince of the people Likewise sinne becommeth more detestable through continuance And certeinlie God dooth more gréeuouslie punish them which doo as it were rot in their sinnes than others which once or twise doo amisse Wherefore Amos the prophet Amos. 1. in the name of GOD repeated verie often that sentence Vpon three or foure wickednesses I will not conuert him Exo. 20 4. Yea and God testified in the lawe that he would take vengeance vpon sins vnto the third and fourth generation when as they should be continued through so manie degrées Herevnto the place time and age dooth drawe a great weight with it And there might be gathered well-néere innumerable other things which either aggrauate or lighten sinnes the which both willinglie and wittinglie I ouer-passe 5 Chrysostome noted that we must not conclude that all sinnes be of equalitie Chrysost In 1. Cor 6. verse 9. All sinnes be not of like equalitie Although it be reckoned that euen the least sinnes be of so great a moment as they exclude vs from the kingdome of God This is common with them all that they bereaue men of the most happie inheritance yet shall they not be punished with the like paines Augustine in his fourth booke of baptisme against the Donatists saith that The woords of Paule are not so to be vnderstood as though none should be excluded from the kingdome of God vnlesse they be guiltie in all sins ioined togither but we must vnderstand that whosoeuer shall be defiled but euen with one of them he is to be banished out of the kingdome of Christ Indéed he granteth that it is vnpossible anie one sinne should be committed but the same is accompanied with some other Albeit it be not of necessitie that where one vice is all the rest should followe for sinnes are not linked togither as vertues be Which is declared by two reasons The first is that vnto one vertue are repugnant two vices Sinnes are not necessarilie knit togither as vertues be which are of the greatest diuersitie one from an other wherevpon he which is infected with one of them cannot alwaies be defiled with the other so as one man should all at once be both fearefull and bold Further it hapneth oftentimes that one sinne expelleth an other as ambition putteth awaie couetousnes couetousnesse droonkennesse and surfetting So then we cannot saie that vices are alwaies ioined one with an other 6 But that vertues be ioined one with an other the Philosophers make no doubt as Augustine writeth in an epistle vnto Ierom. Augustine For bicause there is no wisdome found that is vniust and intemperate and againe no temperance vnwise or slothfull But Aristotle in his fift booke of Ethiks Aristotle declareth this more plainelie to wit that we cannot appoint wisdome to be where other morall vertues be wanting bicause reason should then be troubled by naughtie desires neither could it kéepe still the right course thereof And againe the rest of the vertues without wisdome can take no place séeing euerie one of them is an habit according to right reason And the goodnesse and right course of reason hath no other being but in wisedome it selfe These things doo the Philosophers affirme But a Christian man must not verie easilie be lead to consent vnto them séeing he cannot denie but that godlie men are indued with manie most excellent vertues and yet he ought to confesse that they doo sinne verie often For Iames saith Iames. 3 2. Iohn 1 10. In manie things we sinne all And Iohn saith If we saie that we haue no sinne we deceiue our selues and there is no truth in vs. But he that hath sinnes how can he be adorned with all vertues séeing sinne is contrarie and likewise repugnant to vertues Wherefore the Christian seemeth in this matter to dissent or disagrée from the Philosopher Augustine in the same epistle Augustine goeth about to vndoo this knot on this wise to wit that the onelie vertue in Christian religion is charitie which conteineth in it selfe all other vertues and the same if it could be most perfectlie had would vtterlie suffer
Iames Haimo vpon the Gospell of crcumcision Sedulius vpon the first and second chapters vnto the Romans Thomas vpon the third to the Galathians Bruno vpon the fourth vnto the Romans Arnobius vpon the 106. Psalme Now I thinke I haue spoken inough as touching this question ¶ Osianders feigned deuise as touching essentiall righteousnes is confuted in the epistle to the Lords of Polonia The fift Chapter Of peace and Christian libertie where also is intreated of offense of the conscience and especiallie of the choise of meates In Rom. 18 verse 15. The summe of the preaching of the Gospell is peace 1. Cor. 5 19. THe summe of the preaching of the Gospell is peace especiallie with God for they which doo preach as the apostle teacheth in the latter epistle to the Corinthians bring with them the words of reconciliation Neither exhort they anie thing else but that we should be reconciled vnto God through Christ God in times past was angrie with mankind he punished and condemned them he reiected their praiers and their works and although they were notable yet did he abhorre them bicause they were the works of his enimies And on the other side men were not onelie miserable but also they hated euen God himselfe they wished that there might be no GOD they detested his iudgements and fled from him as from a tyrant and cruell executioner for that their owne conscience on euerie side accused them What is the peace of Christians Luke 2 14. But the Gospell preacheth peace and reconciliation through Christ This is it which the angels did sing at the birth of Christ Glorie on high peace on earth and good will towards men The angels aprooued this worke of God which had decréed by his sonne to redéeme mankind And this their praise and commendation is the glorie of God Moreouer forsomuch as we now through Christ be reconciled vnto God we obteine peace inwardlie as touching our mind for being renewed by grace and the spirit we lead an vpright life neither doo our wicked affections turmoile vs anie more our conscience reprooueth vs not neither are our harts by furious rages stirred vp to perturbations Further we wish well and doo good vnto our neighbours as vnto our selues and liue in peace with them and that most firmelie Neither is this anie let which Christ said I came not to send peace vpon the earth Matt. 10 34. What peace Christ came not to send for that peace is to be vnderstood as touching the peace of the flesh and of the world For with the peace of the Gospell whereof we now intreat are ioined great perils and discommodities of the flesh persecutions and losse of goods doo straitwaie assaile vs. What good is Goodnesse as the philosophers saie is that which althings desire And to declare the nature thereof more at large and plainlie all things are good so farre foorth as in them there is a certeine respect deriued towards vs that they are either profitable commodious or plesant to our vses But through the power of the Gospell we obteine this benefit that all things are made to serue vs 1. Cor. 3 22. All things saith Paule are yours whether it be life or death or Paule or Cephas and we are Christs and Christ is Gods Againe To them that loue God Rom. 8 27. all things worke to good And that which Esaie taught is to be noted to wit Esai 61 1. How we are by Christ deliuered from euils That by these messengers deliuerance must be preached For although that death misfortunes pouertie diseases and such other kind of euils doo still vexe vs yet are we said to be deliuered from them by Christ bicause they haue not anie longer the nature of punishments For all these discōmodities of the flesh God hath by his death and crosse sanctified so that they haue no more in them the respect of punishment but vnto vs are made instructions fatherlie chastisements victories triumphes and notable acts 2 But to omit nothing What peace in the Hebrue signifieth we ought not to be ignorant that in the Hebrue toong Schalom that is Peace signifieth Happines of things so that whereas the Gréeks saie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the superscription of their letters the Hebrues vse to write Schalom that is Peace And so séeing the Euangelists doo pronounce peace they preach perfect and true happinesse And if thou demand wherein consisteth such a peace goodnesse and deliuerance we answer This peace consisteth in the kingdome of God Matt. 10 7. Esai 52 7. that to speake bréeflie it consisteth in the kingdome of God Therefore Christ when he sent his disciples to preach willed them to preach that The kingdome of heauen is at hand The selfe-same dooth Esaie saie when he writeth And they shall saie vnto Sion Thy God reigneth Hitherto hath sinne reigned wherefore Paule said Rom. 6 12. Let not sinne reigne in your mortall bodie Rom. 5 14. Death also hath reigned for the same apostle saith Death hath reigned from Adam euen vnto Moses The diuell also hath reigned whom the Lord calleth The prince of this world and Paule Iohn 12 31. Ephe. 6 12. The gouernour of this world and the god of this world All these things haue hitherto miserablie exercised their tyrannie ouer vs but now the Lord reigneth For as touching outward kingdoms What maner of princes the Hebrues had the Iewes vndoubtedlie had manie iudges and manie kings few good some tollerable but a great manie most wicked tyrants And they which were good as Dauid Ezechias Iosias and such like were notwithstanding weake neither could they either defend the people from calamities or make them good Wherfore the Iewes were oftentimes oppressed of their enimies led awaie into captiuitie and from thence being deliuered were at rest for a while But after Alexander Magnus came the Macedonians gréeuouslie vexed Iurie After them came Pompeius Crassus Herod and at the last Vespasianus and Titus who vtterlie ouerthrew all Also the church of Christ had hir externall princes partlie wicked and partlie good in respect of ciuill iustice Then it goeth wel with vs when Christ reigneth in vs. Dan. 2 44. but yet verie weake Wherfore our estate can neuer be in good case vnlesse Christ reigne in vs. The kingdome of heauen as Daniel in his 2. chap. saith is that which is neuer destroied Therein is peace not for a moment of time but for euer for in the psalme it is said In his daies shall righteousnesse spring Psal 72 7. and abundance of peace so long as the moone endureth And in Esaie Esai 9 7. And of his peace there shall be no end Wherein the kingdome of God consisteth And herein consisteth this kingdome that we be directed by the word and by the spirit of God by these two waies Christ reigneth in vs. The word sheweth what is to be beléeued and what
Philistines 1. Sa. 14. 24. and had the victorie in his hands forbad that no man should taste of anie meate before euening So also certeine Hebrues vowed that they would neither eate nor drinke anie thing before they had killed Paule Acts. 23 12. as it is written in the Acts of the apostles This maner of fasting also perteineth not vnto this present matter 6 There is another kind of fasting The fasting familiar to christians which ought to be familiar to christian men namelie to take meate soberlie and temperatelie which is doon if they neither eate too often in one daie nor when they should eate doo gorge themselues with ouer-much meate or séeke for delicate meats and deintie dishes This order of liuing is verie profitable to diminish lusts What profit commeth by temperate feeding and it suffereth not the mind to be troubled with affections It maketh the mind to be more chéerefull and readie both vnto praier and vnto all the actions perteining to the life of man Wherefore Christ said Luk. 12 34. Let not your harts be oppressed with surfetting and droonkennes 1. Pet. 5 8. Peter also hath written Be ye sober for your enimie the diuell goeth about like a roring lion seeking whom he may deuoure 1. Cor. 9 27. Also Paule wrote of himselfe I chasten my bodie and bring it into bondage least I preaching vnto other should be a reprobate my selfe There is besides another commoditie by this fasting to wit that cost is spared not to be doone that we should laie vp couetouslie but that we should distribute to the poore of that which is ouer-plus vnto vs. Further there is another fast which is aboue mans strength and otherwhiles is giuen by God miraculouslie vnto some of the saints for the commending of their doctrine Moses vpon the mountaine fasted fortie daies A miraculous fasting for God ment by a notable example to shew that that lawe which he set foorth came from himselfe and was not inuented by men Neither went Moses therefore vnto the mountaine Exod. 34 28 to fast but to receiue the lawe of God and to talke with him Elias also receiued bread and water of the angell and in the strength of that meate walked fortie daies euen vnto the mount Horeb that he might be declared by this miracle to be the true reuenger of the lawe By this kind of fasting Matt. 4 2. our Sauiour commended the preaching of the gospell that it might not séeme to be a common thing but a matter of Gods owne ordinance and beginning Howbeit these fastings were miracles neither perteine they anie thing vnto vs but onlie that we should haue them in admiration by such examples be stirred vp with reuerence to receiue the word of GOD. There is also an other fast which lieth not in our power as when we being destitute of meat haue not whereof to eat Here haue we néed of patience and we must praie vnto God that he will strengthen and incourage vs. So the saints when they wandered about and preached the Gospell were sometimes pressed and straitened with hunger And the disciples Matt. 12 1. when they followed the Lord were driuen through hunger to plucke the eares of corne 1. Kin. 17. 9. Ibidem 6. and to rub out the séed Elias also desired meat of the widowe and waited at the brooke for such meat as the rauen should bring him This kind of fasting men doo not take vpon them of their owne accord but it is laid vpon them by God 7 But passing ouer all these fasts being such as perteine nothing vnto this disputation A religious fast let vs come to our fast which we may call a religious fast A definition of a religious fast And this fast is an vnaccustomed abstinence not onelie from meat and drinke so much as the strength will permit but also from all other things which may delight and nourish the bodie and it is doone of a repentant mind and of a true faith for the atteining of Gods mercie by praiers bicause of calamities which either alreadie ouercharge vs or else are verie nigh at hand The fourme of this fast The forme of this definition is abstinence such abstinence I saie as is aboue the accustomed maner and yet goeth not beyond the strength of the bodie The mater The matter is not onlie meat and drinke but all other things that may chéere vp the bodie The efficient cause The efficient cause is faith and repentance for sinnes committed against God The end is The end that by praiers we craue the mercie of God and either to turne awaie or to diminish calamities The exercises of them that fast truelie Wherefore they which fast ought to giue themselues vnto praiers almes-déeds visiting of the sicke and to the holie supper When we feruentlie praie vnto the Lord and doo from the hart trulie repent vs of the sinnes which we haue committed and by reason of them are earnestlie afflicted we cannot verie soone thinke vpon meat drinke and also fine delicates For to them which be vrged with so vehement a gréefe it is more pleasant to absteine than anie other delectation is So Dauid in the 35. psalme saith of his enimies verse 13. When they were sicke I laughed not but I put on sackcloth and afflicted my soule with fasting earnestlie praied for them And they which deiect and humble themselues bicause they in a maner despaire of their businesse are woont to contemne and loath meat and drinke and other delights and pleasures Why fastings doo please God Ierom. Hereby we may perceiue how it commeth to passe that our fastings doo please God vndoubtedlie not bicause the emptinesse of the bellie delighteth God And so Ierom derideth some which fasting ouer-much became vnprofitable all their life long to all purposes It pleaseth GOD when we humble our soule bicause we may returne vnto him with praiers and casting awaie other pleasures repose all our delight in him onelie 8 But the fastings Religious fast is publike and priuate whereof we now intreat be sometimes publike and sometimes priuate We take priuate fasts in hand when we are afflicted with our owne domesticall miseries For there is no man that is not sometimes vexed either in himselfe or in his familie Or if peraduenture it happen that he be not priuatelie gréeued with anie calamitie of his owne of them that perteine vnto him We must sometime fast for other mens causes yet must he sometime moorne for others For if we be all members of one bodie we must thinke that the discommodities of our brethren doo perteine euen vnto our selues So Dauid praied for them which afterward became his enimies and who triumphed at his harmes Iob. 2 11. So Iobs friends when they sawe him vexed with most gréeuous plagues did sitte by him full seuen daies in dust and ashes before they spake anie thing vnto
value it can Surelie these things be spoken by Dauid for to haue the fauour of the tyrant and that which may not be borne with a mind to deceiue 32 But let vs sée what euils followed after this flieng awaie That citie which Dauid had receiued as a gift from the king was sacked by the Amalekites 1. Sam 30 1. so that he was miserablie constrained to bewaile the mishap of his owne citizens I speake nothing how he was constrained to change that imperiall power strength into théeuerie Ibidem 17. 27 11. for he siue all he spared neither age nor sex least the king should haue anie suspicion of his doing Further he diuided the preie with the tyrant and this he did not once or twise onlie but so long as he was there In the meane while he was constrained to suffer the dishonestie of being at attonement with Achis and to professe himselfe openlie an enimie vnto his countrie Besides this it séemed to be no wise mans part to commit himselfe vnto a reconciled friend Indéed men are wont to vse the helpe of them with whom they are returned into amitie but that is onelie for the time that they haue néed For what else may we iudge that Achis in the meane time thought of Dauid but that he was a man rude and barbarous which could find in his hart to warre against his owne nation Augustus was woont to saie I loue treason but a traitor I loue not And what harts the Philistines had towards Dauid 1. Sam. 29 3 it sufficientlie appéereth by the historie for when they should méet togither What make these Hebrues héere said they How can they better please their owne king than by our bloud Héere dooth Dauid openlie professe himselfe to be an enimie vnto his countrie and Achis admitteth him to be the garder of his person And when Dauid through the earnest sute of the Philistines should be sent home he tooke it gréeuouslie saieng What haue I committed What shall we saie that in all this space there were heard no praiers there were written no psalmes No maruell for these things were doone by the counsell of man without the commandement of God No wilt thou saie it was not of necessitie that he should aske counsell of God Yes verelie God in the 26. chapter of Numerie verse 21. commandeth in expresse woords Dauid ought to haue asked counsell of God that in such things counsell should be asked of him Iosue saith he the sonne of Nun shall stand before Eliazer and shall receiue the oracle of him according wherevnto he should go in and out But Dauid was a capteine of the people 1. Sam. 22 5 1. Sam. 30 7 and in verie déed had before time asked counsell of the Lord and to the same intent he also returned afterward but now we sée no such thing to be doone by him He séemeth to haue changed his nature togither with his place for before that time he did nothing but that which was plaine and sincere at this time he did all things craftilie and deceitfullie and he séemeth now by warre to assaile Saule the king whom he before preserued But Achis bicause he beléeued that Dauid would imitate the dooings of them whose words he had followed did not make verie diligent inquisition of his dooings And to consider this matter more narrowlie this defection of Dauid brought great losse vnto the Iewes For as it appéereth out of the twelfe chapter of the first booke of Paralipomenon verse 22. That this act of Dauid brough◠detriment vnto the Iewes there flocked vnto him a great number of soldiers from all parts of Iudaea so that he had now a great companie of bands euen as the armie of God By meanes whereof it came to passe that Achis fought onelie with some part of the Iewes and not with their whole strength for they which should haue helped Saule were fled vnto Dauid But if so be they had remained in the borders they might haue inuaded the land of the Philistines and so either haue deliuered or else helped their owne countrie Furthermore the modestie of Saule may sufficientlie condemne the rashnes of Dauid for he when he had almost caught Dauid left him to the intent he might repell the Philistines whome he heard at the selfe-same time to haue inuaded his countrie and so he preferred the common wealth before his priuate hatred But Dauid when he sawe his countrie in danger ioined himselfe with a most cruell enimie that by a publike destruction he might reuenge priuate hatred and complained that he might not be permitted vnto that battell But thou wilt saie that he fained it may well be and I contend not for the matter but in the meane time he helped not his countrie The secret will of God excuseth not Dauid 33 But thou wilt saie that GOD by this meanes would punish Saule I grant it But we ought not to haue regard vnto the secret will of God but vnto his will as it is expressed in the lawe for vnto that must all our actions be directed Further we ought to beware that we come not into infamie by our owne default And when Dauid violated those borders of the Philistines he séemeth to haue violated the rite of ghestship for it may be that either they paid tribute or custome vnto Achis But bicause it is vncerteine in what state they stood towards him I will not speake much concerning that matter This is certeine that he would haue béene reuenged of Saule and I sée not how that can be defended For if thou wilt saie that he ment not so ill towards Saule thou shalt prooue nothing thereby For if at this daie some great professor amongst vs should as God forbid go on the Papists side although he should saie that he would neither dispute nor write against the Gospell yet what maner of man would we take such a one to be Certeinlie I am sore afraid when I heare some men saie they had rather be Papists than Zuinglians Doubtles we would neuer so speake of them But Dauid humbled himselfe not onelie vnder the rest of the Israelites but also vnder the soldiers of Saule This excuseth not for those men defend their countrie this man fighteth against it 1. Macc. 7 5. 2. Macc. 1. 7. In the historie of the Macchabeis Iason and Alcymus and such other like either for reuenge or ambition sake gathered themselues vnto the Macedonians The same thing did Dauid at this time he was euer the thunderbolt of war and to what part soeuer he inclined he caried with him a great force to the victorie yet neuertheles he would be absent when he might haue broght great profit But admit he would not fight against his owne nation The same end vndoubtedlie had followed him that happened vnto Coriolanus and Themistocles Coriolanus when he refused to fight against the Romans was slaine by the Volscians The end of fugitiues
Themistocles when he would not assaile his owne countrie dranke poison Alcibiades also was for the same cause slaine Such in a maner is the end of fugitiues vnlesse GOD take pitie vpon them A great deale the more gréeuous it is that séeing Dauid knew for certeintie that he should be king he might also haue knowne that of necessitie he should haue war with the Philistines How then suffered he himselfe now to be ouercome by their benefits so as he might not fight against them without a great blemish of ingratitude I might bring manie other things but these séeme to be sufficient at this time wherefore I conclude that I cannot in anie wise allow this fact of Dauid And I am not onelie led by reason so to iudge but by example also for if so be that our Emperors soldiers at this daie should go vnto warfare with the Turke how greatlie would that be to the hinderance of christianitie But in vaine doo I make complaint in verie déed we had experience thereof of late daies in Hungarie And I would to God that in this were she end of euils Perhaps thou wilt saie that God by a secret persuasion warned Dauid to go vnto Achis I answer first that it is more than I knowe secondlie that it is not verie probable for God warned him before hand that he should returne into Iudaea But yet howsoeuer it be this I saie that that example is not set foorth for vs to be followed Herein Dauid committed sinne although not vnto death his faith did after a sort wax féeble but it was not vtterlie extinguished An answer to the arguments by which Dauids fact is defended 34 Now must I dissolue those arguments which we obiected on the other part Wherefore saie they is he more reprooued now than he was before when he went vnto the Moabites I answer that the consideration was otherwise both of the time of Dauids mind and of the nation For first he did not then drawe so manie soldiers with him Secondlie he went not with the mind to warre on the Moabites side but that he might place among them his old father and mother Neither had he as yet receiued the word of the Lord to returne for there he was first admonished by Gad the prophet that he should returne into Iewrie Neither were the Moabites so strange vnto the Iewes as were the Philistines Gen. 19 37. for they were of the posteritie of Lot And God verse 9. in the second chapter of Deuteronomie had strictlie commanded the Iewes that they should not meddle with their féelds wherefore the reason is not alike But whether Dauid did well in going to the Moabites I doo not here dispute Certeinlie it appéereth that the same iournie pleased not GOD verie well in that he afterward willed him to be called backe by Gad. But he was vrged both by the persecution of Saule and by the treason of his owne kindred that of necessitie either he was to die or else to flie vnto the Philistines Naie rather by this flight he did not auoid danger but he changed one for another for he cast himselfe into a more dangerous state among the Philistines than if he had taried still in Iudaea But it is not the part of a wise or godlie man through feare and féeble courage to take in hand or doo those things which are not conuenient for his person Saule pursueth thée The Ziphits betraie thée but God hath bewraied their lieng in wait vnto thée so as they shall not be able to hurt thée Saule againe and againe commeth into thy danger But it is a gréeuous thing thus to liue perpetuallie Admit it be so yet God by these kind of chastisements frameth thée to be a king in time to come Bréeflie These things thou dooest either for the mistrust thou hast in God or else in hatred of the crosse If for mistrust sake refer thy selfe vnto the promises of God and consider what he hath before time doone for thy sake If in hatred of the crosse rather lament thou this infirmitie of flesh which so cleaueth to our nature as it may not be remooued no not from the most holie men As touching that argument wherein it is said that either we must flie or else suffer death it is weak and vnperfect For adde a third point namelie that thou tarrie there where the Lord hath placed thée and thou shalt hope that he will no lesse be present now with thée than he hath béen before time Thou saiest that it behooued Dauid not onelie to haue a regard vnto himselfe but also vnto the sixe hundred soldiers which he had with him The Iewes would not of their owne accord giue him anie thing to wring from them by violence it was not lawfull for him but the mind was to be eleuated vnto God he had promised that he would bring helpe and that he would stand to his couenants He shuld not in anie wise haue departed from his station wherein God had placed him Further there was no néed that either he should haue vsed violence or expected the liberalitie of his owne countriemen The Philistines were borderers being enimies vnto the name of the Iewes and alreadie condemned of God from them it was lawfull to take preies for so he did before and God did prosper his indeuours Consideration was to be had of fréends who bicause they séemed to fauour Dauid that was banished were ill intreated by Saule Certeinlie friends ought not rashlie to be contemned but we must take héed least while thou wouldst deliuer them thou bring not a greater infamie vpon them For it was a farre more gréeuous thing that Dauid fled vnto the Philistines than that he was condemned by Saule but thou must rather suffer death than that others should come in perill for thy sake But we must not alwaies respect that which is magnificall and glorious but that which is pleasing vnto God The occasion offered was not to be contemned I answere He doth those things that we may the more easilie suffer aduersities Further it had béene his part to hope that GOD will not alwaies suffer the better sort to be afflicted or that the church should be oppressed with continuall might This should a wise man thinke If he had doone otherwise it had béene to haue tempted God No verelie he should rather haue put his trust in God haue taried in that place wherevnto God had called him He had promised to helpe him But the promise of God maketh not men to be as stocks or blocks that it should not be lawfull for anie man to prouide for himselfe I grant it doth not howbeit we ought by faith to wait for the helpe of God we must not step backe through feare and mistrust If there were no suretie to liue in the court of Saule much lesse safetie was it to liue among the Philistines Christ went vnto the men of Tyre and Sidon and to the Samaritans I know he
did but that was not to take their part against the Iewes but to teach them the Gospell that he might bring them to God heale them and bestowe benefits vpon them Some end was once to be appointed vnto the sinnes of Saule but yet not so as thou shouldst cast thy selfe into greater sinnes Manie fond and miserable men will haue Masses and Dirges to be said for the soules of them that be dead But while they would deliuer them out of purgatorie let them take héed that they themselues run not headlong into hell Paule warneth that We ought not to doo euill Rom 3 8. that good may come thereof Wherefore this fact was neither godlie nor yet beséeming for the person of Dauid So that we confesse he sinned as well in this as in other things 35 But Augustine vpon the psalmes saith that Sinne is of two sorts one of necessitie Of what kind Dauids sinne was and another as he himselfe speaketh of abundance plentie If question be asked of manie wherefore they steale they will answer that necessitie constraineth them to the intent they may haue wherewith to maintaine their wife and children In déed this is some necessitie yet it is not absolute it is but onelie by supposition if a man be of that mind that he will in anie wise liue and maintaine himselfe by what means so euer it be Others there are who being rich yet they neuer cease pilling of the poore and that not of anie necessitie that they haue but of an insatiable couetousnesse The sinne of Dauid belonged vnto the former sort Neither doo I speake this to extenuate his sinne but onelie that it may be vnderstood vnto what kind his sinne ought to be referred In explaning of all the arguments we haue shewed what we are to doo if perhaps we fall into the like trouble Now let vs sée what by this fact of Dauid What by this face of Dauid may be gathered to our edifieng may be gathered for our edifieng First we ought here as in a glasse to behold our owne infirmitie for God would haue that to be knowen to vs not that we shuld the more fréelie sin but that we should bewaile our owne state and sigh towards heauen Moreouer we sée of what sinceritie the holie scriptures be for they doo not onlie set foorth vnto vs the vertues of holie men but also their errors and sinnes least we should trust in our owne selues as though we are to determine of our owne strength Augustine in his 49. sermon De tempore After we shall be come saith he to another life we shall stand firmelie for we shall sée the chéefe felicitie from the which we cannot be drawen by anie vile and mortall goods But here we onelie sée as through a glasse and in a darke saieng Wherfore when other good things are set before vs we be oftentimes drawen awaie and doo fall so that it is our part in this life to wrestle so much as we can But especiallie we must take héed that we flie not to them which be enimies to the Gospell for Heb. 6 5. He which hauing once tasted the good gift of God vertues of the spirit falleth awaie againe there remaineth vnto him no more sacrifice for sinne but a fearefull waiting for the iudgement of God And séeing the diuell is a most gréeuous enimie of God we must take héed that we flie not vnto him with our powers These things by the dooing of Dauid may be transferred vnto vs. To flie away and war on the enimies part is in no wise lawfull VVhether the Holie men were inferior to the Ethniks in abiding aduersities and in repressing of affections In 2. Sam. 13 32. 36 But some doo maruell that holie men which are accounted iust in the holie scriptures suffered aduersities with a slender courage and that they made not that shew of fortitude which manie of the Ethniks made semblance of We read that Horatius Puluillus Examples of the Ethniks which with great courage suffered aduersities when he was dedicating of a temple was not amazed to heare of the death of his sonne but held fast the post and performed his dedication Anaxagoras when he heard that his sonne was dead I knew saith he that I begat a mortall man Paulus Aemilius hauing obteined prosperous successe at the time that his sonnes died said that he was fauourablie heard of the gods immortall for that he made this petition That if anie calamitie were néere at hand the same should be turned not vpon the people of Rome but vpon his house Brutus executed his owne sonnes so did Torquatus Wherefore did not God grant these things to his saints Why doo they séeme to be of so base mind in affliction séeing they knowe it is laid vpon them by God It séemeth to be a goodlie question but I will in few words absolue it When I doo consider thereof that commeth to my remembrance which happened in the ship wherein was caried Aristippus and a certeine other hardie fellowe but vnlearned There arose a gréeuous tempest so as the ship was well néere soonke the philosopher was sore afraid When the tempest was ceased the other man said What meantst thou philosopher to be so afraid Surelie I which haue not studied philosophie was not afraid but with a valiant courage looked for shipwracke The philosopher somewhat pleasantlie answered Thou oughtest not to be carefull for the life of a varlot I sawe the life of Aristippus the philosopher in danger Euen so doo I consider that it should be no maruell if holie men and Ethniks behaue them selues after a sundrie maner for there is great difference betwéene them For the Ethniks thought The difference betweene the holie men and the Ethniks as touching aduersities that they hapned through a necessitie of nature or should be abidden without consideration and that after this life there should remaine no life They had not regard vnto the prouidence of God that gouerneth all things or else if they were of the better sort they professed the Stoicall sect they followed an * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 immoueablenes of passions and * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a lacke of paine Bicause they could not denie but that they were sometimes troubled with sudden euils they did * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things that came naturallie of themselues * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and things that came not of nature which were taken before hand euen from their childhood for that those things are laid before vs which we would desire and which at the first motion we would refuse And they said that we must wrestle not as did the Peripatetiks to moderate affections but to root them out But in that wrestling they saie that reason and affection striue for the possession of man Wherefore they did therein wholie applie themselues Howbeit our cause is farre otherwise we doo not weigh those aduersities themselues according to
pit or into the place of consuming Also hell is called Tsalmaueth that is The shadowe of death Psa 107 10. whereof it is soong in the 107. psalme They that dwell or sit in darknes and in the shadowe of death Also there is another name wherby it is called which is much more frequented by the latter Iewes Gehinnon to wit Gehinnon But why the same is so called it shall be good to vnderstand It is compounded of thrée words Gue that is A vallie Ben A sonne and Hinnon The proper name of a man So as it was a vallie possessed in old time by the sonne of Hinnon néere vnto the citie of Ierusalem there the Hebrues in ancient time had builded a notable high place for the worshipping of Moloch whom they thinke was Saturne vnto whom they sacrificed men burning their sonnes and their daughters This place was also called Topheth that is A timbrell or bell bicause in those horrible ceremonies they roong their bels excéeding lowd least the crieng and lamentation of their infants which were burned should be heard of them that stood by and of their parents Against this high place did the prophet Ieremie Iere. 19 2. in the 19. chapter prophesie that it would one daie come to passe that it should be cut downe and that the place should become shamefull and detestable so that there the dead bodies should be buried Which séeing it came afterward to passe the place of punishment of wicked men Why the place of punishing the wicked was called Ge-hinnom by a fit metaphor was called Ge-hinnom First bicause a vallie I meane a lowe vile place doth represent hell which is thought to be vnder the earth Secondlie bicause of the fire wherewith the wicked are tormented as in that place children were burned Lastlie bicause the place was vncleane and detestable wherein were cast not onlie dead carcases but also all the filth and vncleanlinesse which was throwen out of the citie of Ierusalem euen as vnpure and wicked soules are thrust foorth of the kingdom of heauen into hell Also our Sauiour called hell The vttermost darknes Matt. 22 13. that is the chéesest and extreme darknesse For euen as the spirits of the blessed doo inioie an incredible light Matt. 10 28 so the soules of the damned doo liue in extreme darknesse Matt. 13. 42. But he often vsed the word Gehenna and said that Gehenna is a fire to the intent he might exaggerate the vehemencie of the griefe and forment Esaie in the 30. Esai 30 30. chapter called that place Topheth An vnquenchable fire whose fewell should be much wood and brimstone He also saith there that it is a breath wherewith the fire is blowen that it may be a great deale the more kindled But Ezechiel in the 32. verse 18. chapter calleth it The nether parts of the earth the lake And Christ in the 9. of Marke described this place verie manifestlie verse 43. saieng It is better for thee to enter into the kingdome of heauen lame and with one eie than hauing two eies or two feet to be sent into hell And by exposition he addeth Into fire vnquenchable for their worme dooth not die the fire neuer goeth out And thus much of the name of hell The reasons of the Rabbins by which they prooue two infernall places 13 But the Rabbins appointing two infernall places doo alledge these reasons First that it is writen in the booke of Genesis the 15. chapter verse 15. how it was said to Abraham Thou shalt be put to thy fathers What saie they were not his parents and forefathers idolaters Yes trulie they were as the booke of Iosuah the 24. chapter verse 2. doth testifie But it agréeth not with the iustice of God that he would haue Abraham to be in a place of paines wherein idolaters were punished Wherefore they conclude that there were two infernall places in the one whereof Abraham was placed and in the other his ancestors Into which place also they thinke that Iacob supposed his sonne Ioseph to haue gone whither he himselfe also should depart by reason of sorrowe for he said Gen 37 3◠Moorning will I descend into the infernall place to my sonne But we are not to beléeue that he thought togither with his sonne to be cast into hell Albeit Rabbi Selomoh minding to infringe this place saith that The particle Al signifieth not To but For as though it stood in the place of Aal that is For this misfortune of my sonne I will go downe to the infernall place that is as this man thinketh vnto the graue As though there were here no mention made of the infernall places or of the spirit of Ioseph now placed there But the Chaldaean paraphrasis is against him wherein is written Luth-bari And the particle Luth signifieth To Neere or Toward wherefore he saith I will go to neere vnto or toward my sonne Nor can this be vnderstood of the graue bicause Iacob did not thinke that Ioseph was buried in a graue séeing he thought him to be torne in péeces and deuoured by a cruell wild beast The same also doo they gather by the historie of Samuel who is said to haue risen againe 1. Sa. 28 14 being raised vp by the witch who was not likelie to haue béene in torments with the wicked And they indeuor to prooue much more plainlie this distinction of the infernall places by his words wherein he foretold that the daie after Saule shuld be with him that is in the infernall place and yet not in the same part bicause Saule Ibidem 19. who would aske counsell of a witch and killed himselfe is thought to be sent among the damned spirits But Samuel is reckoned to be among the number of the godlie and blessed They procéed yet further and weigh the words of the most prudent woman Abigal who thus spake vnto Dauid 1. Sa. 25 29. Thy soule shall be bound in the bundle of life where by The bundle of life or of the liuing they vnderstand the congregation of saints resting with Abraham After that she added But the soules of thine enimies shall God cast out euen as out of the middle of a sling bicause the vngodlie are cast one from an other among the lower infernall places that is vnto diuers kinds of torments And to this purpose also some drawe a testimonie of Dauid wherein he saith Lift vp your heads ô ye gates Psal 24 7. and the king of glorie shall enter in as though that these things were spoken by the angels when the Lord should enter in vnto the fathers into the bosome of Abraham for the spoiling of principalities and powers as it is taught in the epistle to the Ephesians Eph. 4 8 c Col. 2 15. By others also is brought the 4. booke of Esdras albeit it is apocryphall and is not found in the Hebrue Yet is it alledged by Ambrose
That Princes must flie from idlenesse as though they had made an end of their labors vse to giue themselues to sportes and to pleasures For so Alexander when he had ouercome Darius was made féeble through riotousnesse But farre otherwise did Dauid behaue himselfe For he thought it not ynough to haue conquered his enemie but thought that the priuate euils and iniuries at home belonged also to his office A similitude since that a publike weale is corrupted euen as is a humane bodie not onely by outward discommodities but also by inward euils as it were by certaine noysome humors Yea and such ought to be the ende of warre that peace among Citizens and domesticall discipline maie be established Iustinian And therefore Iustinian in the Preface vppon the Institutions of the Ciuill lawe The Maiestie of the Emperour saieth he ought not onely to be adorned with armes but also armed by lawes that eache time aswell of warre as of peace may be rightly gouerned and that the Romane prince may not onely be conquerour of his enemies in battailes but also by right course expell the lewdnes of malicious detractours and that he may become aswell most religious for the lawe as triumphant ouer his enemies And the law is not mans opinion as some haue foolishly thought but an euerlasting precept procéeding from nature being the guide and from the lawe And that which is here spoken as touching nature that doe wee much more truely vnderstand of God himselfe the authour of nature For that which GOD hath set downe ought to be a lawe vnto vs. And that lawe men doe oftentimes vnderstand by some light of nature and as Cicero saieth by a long experience of affaires and gouernment of common weales For things being in such sort marked of wise men committed to writing and declared in their kinds and distributed in their parts become at the last a certaine Art or else some similitude of an Art Vlpian in the Digestes in the Title De Iure legibus saieth that Ius that is right is so called of Iusticia that is Iustice This agréeth not with the Grammarians For they affirme that the word Ius is absolute that that onely is iust which is doone Iure that is by law or right so as they think that Iusticia is deriued of Ius but not Ius of Iusticia But these things I passe ouer This is certaine that that thing is first which expresseth any thing and the next is that which executeth and worketh that which is expounded That did Aristotle cal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a remedying of iniurie Then followeth a certaine habite pronenesse of doing whatsoeuer is expressed This may hereby also be prooued In al Acts the obiect is before the science that in all Artes there is first a matter to be wrought vpon then a science For number is first before Arithmetick and song before musicke and euerie thing that may be knowen before knowledge thereof Wherefore right goeth before iustice For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is righteousnes is as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the in being of right I knowe there bee some which defend Vlpian and say that he considered not the verie nature of things in themselues but so as it is brought forth and breaketh out into Act. But how soeuer it be the matter is not of great weight A Prince ought to take speciall héede that he minister iustice and that he doe it with a good minde and iustly How iustice is to be ministred For it is not sufficient that some good thing be doone vnlesse the same also be doone well And this who so doe Vlpianus saieth they may be called Priests For they be Priests and presidents of the lawes And lawes be holy things as it is in the Code De Legibus in the lawe Legis Wherefore to giue sentence and to speake law is a holy thing That sentence which is written namely that Dauid did execute iustice and iudgemēt 2. Sam. 8. 15 some do so expound it as they vnderstand that he did not pronounce al things out of the written law but euen much according to equitie and reason sith that also is to doe iustice But for equitie and reason there is no place except where nothing is prouided for by the lawes that is where neither reward of well doing nor punishment for wicked actes is expressely appointed And it is specially to be noted which is added namely To all the people For that betokeneth that he did execute iudgement sincerely and truely without respect of persons And this is it so to beare rule as thou maiest be a helpe to the people Salomon in his prouerbes Pro. 16. 12. By iustice saieth he shall the kings seate be established for euer Contrariwise Tyrants because of their iniquitie shal soone be taken away Howbeit to execute iustice is manifolde and hath many parts The parts of right iudgement For it behooueth both paciently to heare wisely to know vprightly to giue sentence and couragiously to doe execution Considering that many doe oftentimes iudge rightly but yet for want of courage they onely haue their sentence in papers Wee must take héede that the guiltie be punished that discipline be established that good lawes doe florish that good manners may be preserued This vertue is most profitable not onely in peace but also in warre These things ought a Prince specially to doe For he should be as it were a certaine liuing lawe But contrariwise they doe wickedly which thinke that the iudgement of causes doe nothing at all pertaine vnto their office Such was Anthonius Caracalla who woulde neuer giue iudgement And vnto Adrian when he excused him selfe that he was not at leasure to helpe a poore woman it was answered Then I would not haue thee to beare rule That the charge of Religion belongeth vnto Princes 2 But thou wilt say In 1. Sam. 28. 3. Whether it be lawfull for a King to decrée as touching Religion Deu. 18. ve 10. 11. 12 Is it lawfull for Princes to determine of Religion Vndoubtedly it was lawfull for Saule to abandon Witches and Southsayers sith God commanded them to be taken away But they which saie that Prophane Princes as they call them ought not to deale in these things they prouide verie ill for the safetie of the Church Two obiections For what if a Pastor become a Wolfe who shall take him away but the Magistrate Or if the Bishops as it happeneth gouerne not according to the dignitie of the Church nor by the worde of God who shall punish them But King Ozias they say when he woulde sacrifice was striken with a leprosie 2. Par. 26. ver 19. 2. Sam. 6. 7 And Oza when he had put his hand to the Arke that was falling out of the Cart was striken to death Wherefore Princes say they ought not to intermeddle with these things What shall they then do
that be vnlike the indeuours be vnlike also Howbeit Dauid and other Princes to whom this care belonged meant to signifie nothing else saue that they allowed of the worshipping of God This also doe the Princes of the Papistes at this daie and euer haue doone and that oftentimes of goods euill gotten But Dauid caried awaie these things from the Enimies yea from those enemies whom he knew to be condemned and iudged by God that he might not séeme to haue doone any thing against the lawe of God The people for adorning of the temple brought manie vowed oblations much rather behooued it kings to doe the same The Ethnickes also consecrated their goodly spoyles vnto Iupiter Feretrius and whatsoeuer they had taken from their enemies they committed a part thereof to their goddes These things may be a sufficient argument that Dauid tooke not this warre in hande for couetousnesse sake but to augment the glory of God Euen so Christ our true Dauid when he had spoyled the house of his strong and armed enemie turned all his spoyles vnto his owne vse and of them which he had before helde captiues made some Apostles some Euangelists some teachers and good Arts as Logicke Rhetoricke and Philosophie which before had serued Diuels he imployed vnto the buildings of his Church In 1. kings 20. ver 31. That clemencie is méete for Princes 4 Doubtlesse clemencie is a goodlie commendation and woorthie for princes Which also they themselues vnderstāding doe place it almost in the first front of their Tythes and of their subiectes will be saluted by the name of Most mercifull And by thrée reasons they should be led to be gentle That Princes are Gods Vicars vpon the earth The first is because they be Gods lieftenantes vppon the earth and therefore abooue others ought to imitate him For to haue mercie and to forgiue is proper vnto God Secondlie they rule and gouerne men not wilde and brute beastes Wherefore it is méete they should deale curteouslie with them Lastlie by gentle dealing they get themselues the good-will of the people Wherefore Salomon in the 20. Chapter of the Prouerbes sayd Verse 28. That by mercie is the kinges seate established Cicero And Cicero when he praysed or flattered Caesar said that his valiant courage his artes of warre his victories his triumphes were cōmon vnto him with other souldiers but that his clemēcie his sincere and perfect goodnesse pertained to himselfe Therefore clemencie is woorthie to be praysed Clemencie must be vsed in time and place A definition of Clemencie but yet not alwayes to be vsed For there is a time which requireth seueritie Clemēcie is a certaine affection of the minde whereby we are prone to forgiue and turne aside from reuenge And the same if it be not against iustice if it doe not violate right and lawes nor yet bréedeth a confusion of thinges amongest men it is the matter of vertue but if so be that it bring in those thinges which I haue recited now is there no vertue there but it dooth degenerate into vice and is changed into slacknesse negligence 1. kings 20. 32. 1. Sam. 15. 9 and foolish pitie Thus sinned Achab that would be more pitifull than God So also sinned Saul which spared Agag the king of the Amalechites contrarie vnto that which the word of God had prescribed So then this their pitie is no vertue but a vice séeing it hath no iustice ioyned with it Dauid also was sometime infected with this vice what time as he was ouerpitifull towardes Absolon his sonne and towardes Ammon VVhether it be lavvful for Magistrates to let the guiltie passe vnpunished 5 This sentence is plainelie gathered out of the Scriptures In 1. kings 20. at the end that the Magistrate ought not to set frée those whom God hath deliuered to be punished But some man will obiect that the Moabites Ammonites and Edomites which ill vexed and betrayed the Hebrewes who fled vnto them when they were spoyled by the Chaldeans were sharplie rebuked by the Propeht Amos though notwithstanding God had brought vppon them that calamitie Amos. 1. 2. Yea and the Chaldeans themselues are reprooued by the Prophet Psal 137. 8. because they dealt ill with the Iewes I aunswere that the Iewes were not deliuered to the Moabites Ammonites and Edomites to be punished but vnto the Chaldeans as the Prophets haue prophesied Séeing then God reueiled nothing at all vnto these people as touching the destruction of the Iewes to be executed by them they were iustlie reprehended and condemned of crueltie For séeing they were their neighbours and after a sort a kin they shewed them not such curtesie and intertainement in that their calamitie as they ought to haue doone But the Chaldeans are therefore reprooued because they excéeded measure against those which were ouercome Neither became they cruell against the Hebrewes to satisfie the will of God but to fulfill their owne hatred ambition But what shall we say to Augustine who would haue those that were guiltie and condemned to be deliuered and yéelded vnto him by the presidentes of Aphrica so they would promise to amend and repent For he said that this was a part of his duetie vnlesse he obtained what he desired he was offended and complained that he could not obtaine that of authoritie which belonged to his office Macedonius who had giuen into his handes one that was guiltie wrote vnto him that he marueled how this should belong vnto the office of Byshops and he alleaged his reasons why it should not séeme so to be Wherefore séeing there be Argumentes both on the one part on the other I haue thought good to set them downe to affirme what must be determined of the question And for this end is this Treatise because the guiltie are deliuered by God vnto Magistrates to the end they should be punished by the Lawes therefore it séemeth not in their power to let them goe vnpunished But Augustine taught otherwise Reasons of Augustine for the forgiuing of offenders 6 And in the first place I purpose to alleage his reasons The first is when repentance commeth and promise of amendment sinnes as he writeth are become more veniall or pardonable wherefore somewhat of the seueritie of punishment must be forgiuen Secondlie the Magistrate in punishing ought to séeke nothing else than amendment or correction of faultes And this is the best way of amending that he which is guiltie should repent and purpose to liue better Thirdlie after this life there is no place of amendment correction and it is daungerous lest if they should straightway be put to death they might fal into euerlasting punishments which should neuer haue ende therefore life must be graunted them that they may repent and amend Fourthlie it becommeth princes to imitate God Matt. 5. 45. he destroyeth not the vngodlie but maketh his sunne to rise vppon the good and bad And he
banishments but such as were ordained by Iudges Furthermore there was some kinde of banishment dishonest A dishonest banishment but another onely miserable Whereupon Cicero in the Oration for his house A dishonest banishment saieth he it is if it shal be the punishment for sinne but if it happened through condemnation it was onelie dishonest in the opinion of men but not in verie déede because men are sometime iustly otherwhile vniustly condemned Then he added that Exile is a name not of dishonestie but of calamitie Exile a name not of dishonestie but of calamitie And to omit nothing there be founde other two not properly but Metaphorically called Exiles or banishments Two Exiles metaphoricallie so called One which the auncient Fathers in their writings oftentimes bewaile namely the state of this our life wherein we are expelled from the kingdome of heauen or perfect regeneration But the other is praise worthie whereby we are banished from our own selues the flesh and the world Howbeit if it be asked vnto what kinde of punishment their flight belongeth which leaue their natiue Countrie Exile of them that flie for Religion least they should contaminate thēselues with superstition idolatrie We answer that it is voluntarie for they fly from those mischiefs which at home would hang ouer their heades by Tyrants For if they should tarie at their owne house they must néeds enter either into the one or the other sith either it should behooue them to goe to the Masse or else to suffer grieuous torments 6 The third point of the question propounded Whether Christian magistrates may vse Exile for a punishment is whether at this day it be lawfull for Christian Magistrates to vse Exiles Which if it be graunted it is demaunded whether kinde must be chosen But that this kinde of punishment is lawful That it is lawfull manie Argumentes perswade First of all God commaunded Adam to be banished when he cast him out of paradise The same punishment he laid vppon Caine. Wherefore he saith This day doest thou cast me out from thy face Gen. 4. 14. But God therefore did not slay him because of the scarcitie of men or else for some other causes vnknowen vnto vs yet neuerthelesse cōmaunded him into Exile So that as I sayd before there were certaine Cities of refuge appointed by the lawe of God vnto which they retyred thēselues which vnwittinglie cōmitted murther Also it is manifest out of the booke of Iudges that Giphtha Iud. 11. 2. being cast out from his brethren liued in Exile in the land of Tob. And king Dauid when Absalon was returned out of Gessair banished him from the Court to his owne house Salomon also vsed banishmentes against Abiathar and Semei 2. Sa. 14. 24 And as we haue it in Amos the 7. Chapter 3. kings 2. 36. Ibid. 26. Amasias commaunded the Prophet in the kinges name that he should depart out of the boundes of Samaria Likewise in the lawe of God Amos. 7. ver 13. the leapers were banished out of the Cities frō the congregation of men vnto solitarie places Leui. 13. 40 Numb 5. 2 Yea and excommunication it selfe séemeth to be a certaine kinde of Exile Insomuch as Christians are commaunded to shunne wicked men neither is it lawfull to admit those into societie Also naturall reason admonisheth vs hereof For Cities are said to be certaine bodies and for the health of bodies Phisitiās haue bin accustomed to remooue naughtie humors and corrupt members thinking it a great deale more safe that they should be cast away than that they being kept should disturbe the whole bodie The same thing is obserued in vines which euerie yeare are pruned least the vnprofitable twigges should hurt the fruite Also the vnprofitable braunches of trées are woont at certaine times of the yeare to be shred and cut away Herewithall concurreth that all sinnes are not alike and that therefore all are not to be punished with death Wherefore it appeareth that there is place left for banishment neither is this kinde of punishment vnprofitable to them that are punished For if they should dwell among their owne Citizens aswell the fault committed as also other kinde of punishmentes would dailie be cast in their téeth 7 On the contrarie part the Arguments are as manie which diswade verie much frō this kinde of punishment That it is not lawfull for Christian Magistrates First that the law of God hath not prescribed a iust Exile séeing that which it commaundeth as touching Cities of refuge belonged not vnto a iust Exile Further it behooueth that punishmēts be such as either they should make him better that is punished or at the leastwise should terrifie others from sinnes but Exile séemeth to performe neither of both For they which are driuen out of a Citie are not therefore made anie thing the better but rather become the woorse Put the case that some man be cast foorth of a Citie which professeth the Gospell he perhaps goeth vnto a papisticall Citie and there is made an Idolater Adde that Euripedes writeth that among other discommodities of banishment there is taken away the libertie of speaking for a strāger dare not in an other countrie speake fréelie that which he thinketh Although that he will retaine the lawfull woorshipping of God yet shall he heare many things against the same and hardlie will he be bould to defend it fréelie Oftentimes did Dauid while he was in Exile lament that he lacked the holy congregation and communion of the Sacrifices Moreouer in this respect are banished men made the woorse because they become enemies to their natiue countrie and conceiue hatred against it and in such sort cōceiue it as they dare oftentimes ioyne themselues with enemies and as much as in them lyeth betray their countrie vnto thē And thus we reade that Coriolanus did when he went to the Volsi The like Plutarch noting in a booke intituled The vertue and fortune of Alexander taught that banishmentes are oftentimes certaine séedes of warres Certainlie Dauid himselfe when he liued in Exile was constrained euen against his will to come into battaile with the Philistians against the Israelites But if a man will say that Camillus a banished man deliuered his countrie and that the banished Athenians saued the Citie of Athens from 30 Tyrantes we aunswere that so notable exploytes happen not oftentimes but verie seldome but we must haue regard vnto those thinges which happen for the most part Furthermore wicked men are not made the better by banishment because they count y◠kinde of punishment most easie For they say with themselues Although I shall depart hence yet the Sunne and Moone are also séene in other Regions and that which some haue doone of a vertue they doe with dishonestie For whē it was obiected against a Philosopher that he should be banished he answered that he was a Citizen of the world Diogenes when he heard that the
destroyed by the Iewes Wherefore in sparing of them when they had brought them vnder tribute they most grieuouslie offended God as it is plainelie testified in the Booke of Iudges Iud. 1. 2. But wheras the Gabionites were forgiuen Iosua 9. 5. that happened by a certaine speciall euent There was a guile wrought secondly there was an othe made whereby although the Iewes were not bound yet for reuerence sake of the name of God GOD would haue it to be of some force Which I therefore adde because after a sort they were punished with death For the Hebrewes made them seruants and constrained them to hew wood and to drawe water and seruaunts as teach the Romane lawes are in a great sort of thinges accounted for dead men What we are to affirme concerning nations not prescribed But wee note that of the Nations which were not giuen ouer by GOD there was a sundrie consideration had to wit according to the greatnesse of their offences In so much as Dauid most seuerely punished the Ammonites because of the ingratitude and ignominie doone to his Ambassadours For when the Citie was taken he commaunded the Citizens to be destroyed with Sawes Rakes and Axes and also to be burned in Kils wherein Brickes and Chaulke were burned And on the other side the Syrians whom he had ouercome in warre he put vnder Tribute Moreouer among enemies some repent and will yéelde themselues and promise that they will make satisfaction for the iniuries doone by them and doubtlesse those must be mercifully spared But there be others which with a most stubborne mind doe resist and are readie to defende their naughtie actes by warres against such wée must decrée the more seuerelie So did the Israelites behaue themselues against the Beniamites when they had in a manner extinguished that tribe leauing verie fewe on liue By the like example also was that nation brought to destruction vnder Vespasian and Titus because the Romanes being readie to forgiue them that were besieged they verie obstinatelie resisted These two things did the Poet expresse when he said that this was a marke proper vnto the people of Rome To spare them that were subiect and to vanquish them that were proude 3 Furthermore enemies are spared when there is any hope of peace that in very deede it may be the more firme and that their mindes may be the more vnited when the Captiues being gently vsed are sent back againe into their owne country Enemies also are saued when both sides hope for to change Captiues one for another namely that eache part may receaue their owne But on the contrarie part Captiues are slaine that a terror may be put into the enemies least they should thinke that their state and lot should be easie if without yeelding of themselues they fall into the handes of their aduersaries For ouer much lenitie is often times a great prouocation vnto sinne And not seldome it is that Captiues perish because of reuenge namely by reason that the aduersaries cruelly slue the Captiues when they had taken them Also they séeme iustly to be slaine who haue bin oftentimes forgiuen and neuerthelesse returne to their kinde that is to their olde wicked actes Oftentimes did the people of Rome make as though they knew not of the trecherie of lugurth which afterwarde being eftsoones begun a fresh receiued a iust punishment They also are not spared who by iust coniecture are suspected that they will do harme againe vnto the vanquishers And surely of this sort are to bee accounted the most cruell prescriptions of Scilla and Marius For the one of these when he vnderstoode that the common sort of people woulde not be quiet he condemned them On the other side Marius perceiuing the hatred of the nobilitie to the distruction of the people condemned the nobilitie Both of them in verie déede prouided to make sure the power of their owne part But verie easily are they forgiuen of whom there is no more dammage to be feared when they be once ouercome For this cause Aurelianus when he had ouercome Zenobia Zenobia which inuaded the Empire in Syria and according to the maner had triumphed of her at Rome not onelie forgaue her her life but also permitted that she should liue conuenientlie and honestly in the Citie And they which for these causes that wée haue hitherto recited vse clemencie towards them that be ouercome perhaps they iustly of good right deserue to be praysed But there be others which are led not by a vertue of the minde but rather of a couetousnesse to forgiue captiues namely to wrest from them a verie great ransome And they oftentimes haue no consideration either of honestie or of the common weale Some also are found which spare the multitude of the Enemies and onely put to death the heads of the euill and the principalles of wicked acts to the intent they may be examples vnto the rest that they should not aduenture the like Also in the olde time among the Persians there was a law that when any man had béene conuicted of a capitall crime he should not straight way be condemned but all his whole life should bée tryed and diligently examined Whereby if his notable actes were founde to excéed his euill acts in number and greatnesse they discharged him But on the other side if the offences and euill acts had excéeded then at length they condemned him and put him to extreme punishment So it appeareth that Salomon dealt For when as Abiathar the Priest had incurred the crime of treason 1. kings 2. 26. he said vnto him Thou art the childe of death Notwithstanding because thou wast present with my father Dauid in his dayes and diddest put thy selfe in ieoperdie and hast taken paines with him therefore I will not slaie thee this day wherefore goe vnto thy fathers landes in Anathothe This lawe of Conquerours in such sort prouided against enemies The large right of conquerors restrained by certaine good Emperors iust and good Emperors are woont to restraine within certaine boundes For Cities being woonne when they shoulde bée sacked Princes are woont to sette foorth Edicts whereby they charge that no violence be doone to frée bodies They sometime also decréed that so many as flie to the Temples should be safe and inuiolate As did Alaricus the King of the Vandals when he had taken possession of the Citie of Rome And vndoubtedlie in victorie if there should be no hope of pardon to them that are ouercome the thing would be altogether cruell Wherefore it becommeth an Emperor vnlesse that the causes nowe brought or such like causes shall hinder him to be of a milde heart and more inclined to saue those whom he hath ouercome than to destroy them 4 And there is no doubt but that there be founde manie noble minded men Who notwithstanding they bee much delighted with victorie yet neuerthelesse doe verie much mislike of crueltie Aeneas who is called godlie as
we reade in the x. Booke of Aeneidos sorrowed because he had slaine Lausus the sonne of Mezentius And Marcellus hauing conquered the Syracusans who most obstinatelie did resist when he behelde the citie being set on fire to fall down on heapes did wéepe Thus did he sorrow for the ruine of a most vnfriendly Citie Some such like thing also is reported of Scipio in the destroiing of Carthage Yea and they in old time so tempered themselues from shedding the bloud of enemies as those which were ouercome they put vnder a yoke Titus Liuius as wee reade was doone at the gallowses made at Caudina But otherwhile some Princes being driuen by indignation and wrath no lesse rash than vehement not weighing well the matter haue so raged against their enemies as they haue caused to be slaine both the guiltie and the innocent one with another Which happened vnto Theodosius the great when he was vehemently inflamed with wrath against the Thessalonians which sinne of his Ambrose did most seuerely chastise They will be prouoked vnto clemencie if they forget not that themselues also are men that those things which haue happened to the ouercome may sometimes also happen to themselues Into which cogitatiō Cyrus fel who hauing taken Craesus iudged him to the fire But he that within a while after was to be burned began to crie O Solon Solon because he before his death had made aunswere vnto him when he boasted of his wealth happinesse that none might be called happy before his death With this saying Cyrus being mooued he not onely deliuered the man from death but also helde him in honour about himselfe and many times vsed his counsell and aduise Also Iustinianus when he had by Belisarius ouercome Gilimer the king of Vandals after he had triumphed of him Eccle. 1. 2. was required to decrée what he woulde haue doone with him he cried out Al is most vaine and but plaine vanitie neither did he slaie the man but he banished him farre off into Fraunce Also Iulius Caesar when he had obtained victorie was verie much inclined to forgiue them that were ouercome for which cause he is maruellouslie commended by Cicero This also ought verie much to driue princes vnto mercie that among their Titles they specially imbrace that wherein they are called most mercifull Wherefore séeing they reioyce in this Title it is méete they should in verie déede declare themselues to be such Verilie séeing the warres which are exercised among Christians who be all of one Religion although they bee iust warres be more than Ciuil our Magistrates vnlesse that iust occasions as manie such like may be gathered beside those which wee haue alleaged ought to haue their mindes so much the readier bent to shew mercie vnto them which be ouercome And thus farre concerning this matter Of things vvhich be taken by the right of vvarre In Iud. 11. 5 That it is possible that some thinges may be claimed by the right of war it may be prooued both by mens lawes and by the lawes of God But I will begin with mans lawes In the Digestes De captiuis Postliminio reuersis in the lawe Postliminium the things that we haue lost in warre or in the affaires of warre if we shall afterwarde recouer againe we shall obtaine them by the lawe Postliminium For so long as they are not recouered they are possessed by our enemies And this right is against them which are pronounced enemies But those were pronounced enemies against whō the people of Rome did publikly proclaime war or they which did proclaime war against the people of Rome as it is in the same title in the law Hostes. For pyrats or théeues cannot by this meanes attaine to be owners or possesse any thing by the law of warre For warre ought to be made to the end we may attaine somewhat by right of warre And in the Digestes De acquirendo rerum dominio in the law Naturale Paragraphe the last such things as are taken from enemies are by the common lawe of nations straightwaie become theirs which take them And thus the lawes of man as touching this matter are verie manifest So is it also by the lawes of God Abraham as it plainely appeareth in the booke of Genesis the 14. Chapter Verse 14. made warres against the fiue Kings which had led awaie Lot prisoner The battaile being finished the praie came into the handes and possession of Abraham which maie easilie be prooued because of that praie he gaue tythes vnto Melchisedeck But it had not bin lawfull for him to haue giuen Tythes of another mans goods wherefore they were his owne of which he gaue By reason whereof we must beléeue that that praie was in his possession For in that he gaue it to the king of Sodom it was of his mere liberalitie sith he was not thereunto compelled by the lawe I might rehearse what things Iosua Othoniel Dauid Salomon and manie other more possessed by the right of warre For when those Princes had the victorie the things taken from their enemies came to their possession But it is not sufficient to make warre It behooueth that warre be made for a iust cause otherwise it is theft and robberie Augustine How a iust warre may be knowen from an vniust for claiming of somewhat by the right thereof but the warre also must be iust for vnlesse it bée iust it is not warre but theft and robberie 6 But howe can wee knowe that the warre is iust or vniust Augustine as he is alleaged in the 23. Cause Question 2. in the Chapter Notandum writeth that the warre betwéene Sehon and the Israelites was iust For they desired to passe without doing any harme through his kingdome which in respect of the fellowship of man should not haue bin denied them especiallie séeing they had faithfully promised that they woulde not be troublesome vnto any man This sentence of Augustine the Glosser goeth about to defende and that by the Ciuill lawes In the Digestes De Aqua pluuia coercenda in the lawe In Summa in the Paragraphe Item varus some thing is permitted in another mās grounde so that it be doone without harme of the possessor And in the Code De Seruitutibus in the law Per Agrum Maximianus and Dioclesian doe thus decrée No man can forbid thée to vse the common high waie And that thing onelie did the Israelites desire wherefore béeing repulsed they iustlie tooke warre in hande So much saieth the Glosser whose reason doeth not so fully satisfie me For that which Augustine speaketh of priuate men may easilie be admitted and these things which are brought out of the ciuill lawe doe séeme also to bee written concerning priuate men Whether passage ought to be graunted to a straunge armie But if a man will leade an hoste through another mans Countrie although they make faithfull promise not to be troublesome yet whether a waie ought foorthwith to be graunted him and
and not in God for if we shall continue thankfull and stand to the conditions the gift would be firme and ratified Further Paul in that sentence spake of giftes and calling which come vnto men by the eternall predestination of God not of those which are giuen onely for a time 12 Dauid in the first Booke of Samuel the 20 Chapter decréed In 1. Sam. 30. ver 21. that the pray should be equally diuided among all For he iudged it to be a iust thing that they which remained with the carriage For what causes the appointment of Dauid was iust should be partakers of the praie And this for manie causes séemeth to be iust First because they taried by the common consent of all Secondlie that notwithstanding they were one from another by distance of places yet were they not seuered in fellowship Further séeing that they abode still wearie and tyred and otherwise would haue gone against the enemie their will was to be accepted for the déede it selfe Also because they set forward to the common perill for if those former had bin ouerthrowen these men could not haue bin long safe What if so be that in the meane time while Dauid was awaie with his some enemie had assailed these men at the carriages these men had bin in no lesse daunger than those which went against the Amalechites When Abraham ha◠put his men in armes for the pursuing of those fiue small kings Gen. 14. 24 and had deliuered Lot he ioined vnto him Abner and Eschol But they so farre as wee can gather by the historie did not fight Perhaps they were left at the carriages Yet when the enemie was ouerthrowen Abraham gaue part of the praie to them also And in the 31. Chapter of Numerie when warre was taken in hand against the Madianites and that out of euerie tribe a thousand were armed through out all the tribes and the rest remained in their tabernacles when the victorie was finished the praie was so distributed as the first part was yéelded vnto the Tabernacle the second vnto them that fought and the thirde vnto them that remained in the Campe. Leuit. 6. 29. Leui. 22. 10 And in Leuiticus the Priests which ministred in the Tabernacle although they did not all minister euerie daie yet were they all maintained by the oblations But good ordinances are oftentimes by mens negligence blotted out of remembrance Wherefore it is the part of godly Princes to prouide that these thinges may euer betwéene while be reuoked By reason of ill maners said he sprang vp good lawes Euen so héere by reason of the malicious importunitie of these men good ordinances are reuoked Of the distribution of a pray 13 But this question as touching the distribution of the pray must bee somewhat more deepelie considered Ambrose in his booke De Patriarcha Abrahamo which place also is cited in the Decrees the 23. Cause question the 5. in the Chapter Dicat saith that the souldiers take not the praie for themselues but for the Emperour which things must be distributed among the soldiers at the Emperours appointment And the Emperour himselfe must retaine for himselfe a part which they call the principall part séeing otherwise it appeareth scarce equal that euery man should catch for himselfe as much as he can For so might it come to passe that euerie drudge or skullian should light vpon a riche bootie and that some captaine of souldiers or well deseruing souldier should bée excluded Wherefore this ciuill and equall way Dauid followeed in diuiding of the pray suffered not himselfe to be disquieted with the importunitie and slanders of those men So me thinketh must be vnderstoode those words which be in the Digestes De Acquirendo rerum Domino in the lawe Naturalem in Paragraphe the last namelie that those things which be taken in warres are theirs that take them They be indéede but at the deuotion of the Emperour not as eache one will himselfe But in distributing a proportion must be kept not Arithmeticall but Geometricall That did Isidorus note who is cited in the Decrees distinct 1. Chapter 1. the chapter beginning Ius militare For he saith that the pray must be diuided according to euerie mans dignitie valiaunt courage and labour and that the principall portion should be set aside by it selfe Because that portion was chosen out of the whole praie which the souldiers had caried together and with great triumphe was afterwarde brought into the Treasurie Why then saith he did Dauid part the pray equallie amongst all Some aunswere that hée by that meanes would prouide for the common peace of the souldiers and to quenche enuie For they would all haue repugned saying that they had béene all alike strong and that they had imployed as great labour the one as the other so as it would haue bin hard to giue iudgement afterwarde Others thinke that to be doone because that victorie happened not by the strength of man but by the onelie benefite of God Howbeit that séemeth not to be verie likelie For although it be true that God alone gaue that victorie yet did Dauid make that lawe not for that time onelie but for euer And it is not credible that he would abolish the Geometricall proportion or if that God gaue the victorie that therefore he would exclude iust order in as much as God commaunded to retaine that euen in those things which were specially giuen by him For in the distributing of almes he would haue a consideration to be had chéefely of our housholde and of the faithfull So as in distributing of the pray Dauid was to kéepe a certaine proportion of iustice Matt. 25. 14. c. For in the Gospell the Lorde gaue more vnto him that had gained fiue talents than vnto him which had gained onely one Wherefore I thus affirme that Dauid diuided not the pray equally but had a consideration of the soldiers Nay rather wilt thou saie the letter Caph being doubled doth shew an equalitie of likenesse For saith Esaie Such as the people is such shal be the Priests Againe Such people as mine be such a people be thine And againe Such as my horsemen bee such bee thy horsemen There is in verie déede some equalitie euen in this place which hath recourse both to the one and to the other And Dauid made as well the one sort as the other partakers of the pray and that also after one manner yet so as a proportion might be kept what eche one had deserued not onelie of them which fought against the enemie but also of them which remained with the carryings Wherfore in my iudgement this is the meaning That Dauid indéed gaue of the pray vnto all but yet that he had a consideration what eche one had deserued And thus the law was iust which otherwise might haue séemed vniust The nineteenth Chapter Of a seuerall Conflict or Combate betweene twaine hand to hand In 1. Sa. 17.