thought conceiue nor his wordes include any such matter But what doeth not malice enuie and spite vtter against the most innocent person that is The bishop of Winchester hath openly more impugned the vices of this age heere in the Church of Englande then the vvhole broode of them that are of the Anabaptisticall Conuenticles and the residue of these Libellers Woe bee to them saith Esay the Prophet that speake euil of good and good of euill and put light for darkenesse and darkenesse for light sweete for sowre and sowre for sweete Dauid had great cause to crie domine libera animam meam à labijs iniquis à lingua dolosa And Salomon cogitatio stulti peccatum est abominatio hominum Detractor The deuise of a foole is sinne and all men abhorre the backbiter or Slaunderer If any man vvill reprooue the Assertion before written God vvilling he shall be ansvvered so that he rayle not This may be a sufficient answere to the vntrueth fathered vpon the B. of Winchesters words that hee is not for the same iustly tearmed Monstrous and flattering hypocrite speaking against his owne conscience But I see in these wordes the reproch not only of the bishop but much more amalicious spite against this Church of England and that so deepely setled in their hearts that their eares cannot without griefe he are any good spoken of it Therefore I thinke my selfe in Christian dutie bound somevvhat farther to follovve this matter and with some signification of thankefulnesse to acknowledge and confesse those excellēt blessings which it hath pleased God of his great mercies to bestowe vpon the same as vvell in King Edward the sixts dayes as much more in her Maiesties reigne that now is and first to beginne with that which is the principall that is the sinceritie of doctrine and all branches of true religion receiued professed taught and established in this Realme In which point I thinke it very superfluous needles for me to recite the particular branches and to make a nevv catechisme or to pen a new confession of the Church of England seeing they both are so sufficiently performed that vvithout enuy be it spoken there is none better in any refourmed Church in Europe For a Catechisme I refer them to that which was made by the learned and godly man Master Nowel Deane of Paules receiued and allovved by the Church of England and very fully grounded and established vpon the vvorde of God There may you see all the parts of true Religion receiued the difficulties expounded the trueth declared the corruptions of the Church of Rome reiected But this I like not in our Church that it is lawful to euery man to set foorth a nevve Catechisme at his pleasure I read that in the Primitiue Church that thing did great harme and corrupted the mindes of many simple persons with soule errours and heresies I see the like at this day for thereby many honest meaning hearts are caried avvay to the misliking of our manner of prayer and administration of Sacraments and other orders vvhereby it is made a principall instrument to maintaine and increase discorde and dissention in the Church For a sound and true confession acknowledged by this our church I refer them to that notable Apologie of the English Church written not many yeeres since by that Iewel of England late Bishop of Sarifburie Wherein they shal finde all parts of Christian religion confessed proued both by the testimony of the canonicall scriptures and also by the consent of all learned and godly antiquitie for the space of certain hundred yeres after Christ For the integrity and soundnes for the learning and eloquence shewed in the same Apologie they that contemne that notable learned man because hee was a Bishoppe may haue very good testimonie in a litle Epistle vvritten by Peter Martir vnto the said bishop and nowe printed and in the latter edition set before the same Apologie where they shall finde that hee speaketh not for himselfe onely but for many other learned men of the church of Tygure and other places Nowe as this learned Bishop doeth acknowledge and confesse for this Church all trueth of doctrine so doeth hee reprooue condemne and detest all corruptions brought into the same either by the church of Rome or by any other ancient or newe heretikes whome he there particularly nameth yea and to the great comfort of all them that are members of the same church and acknowledge the same confession hee prooueth and euidently sheweth that the testimonies of the Scriptures whereon that confession is grounded for the true interpretation of them haue the witnesse consent of all the learned antiquitie as I haue saide for certaine hundred yeeres Which I take to bee a very good comfort and confirmation to all honest consciences in these captious and quarelling dayes That which I meane I will declare by some particulars What is more euident certaine and firme for the article of the person of Christ in his Godhead manhood then those things that the ancient Fathers decreed out of the canonicall scriptures in the Councels of Nice Constantinople Ephesus Chalcedon some others against Arius Samosatenus Apollinaris Nestorius Eutiches and those heretikes that were termed Monotholetes c Therefore whosoeuer do teach contrary to the determination of those councels as some do in these dayes they do not iustly hold that principal article and foundation of Christian religion Moreouer as touching the grace and benefite of Christ the beginning whereof riseth from the eternall loue of God toward vs and from the free election to redemption and eternall saluation and proceedeth to our vse and benefite by the dispensation of Christ once offred vpon the Crosse by effectual calling wrought by the holy Ghost in preaching of the Gospell by our iustification sanctification and the gift of perseuerance and continuance in the faith thereby in the end to obtaine resurrection and eternall life touching I say this free grace of God another principall ground of Christian religion what coulde be or can bee more certainly or abundantly layde downe out of the holy Scriptures then was determined in the Councels of Carthage Mileuitane Aurasicane c. against the Pelagians and other enemies of the free grace of God in Christ Iesu our Sauiour Especially if you adde the writings of August and other ancient Fathers for defence of the same As to that which is necessarie to be knowen touching the true Catholique Church a matter of great importaunce euen at this day vvhat can be more copiously or with more perspicuitie declared then is by that learned father Augustine as well in other places as principally in his bookes against the Donatists Likewise for the matter of the Sacrament of the Lordes Supper if simple trueth coulde content men what is more euident then that doctrine which hath bene laid downe by the ancient Fathers Iustine Irenaeus Tertullian Cyprian Augustine Theodorete and a number
may seeme to be of great importance and such in deede as God hath had much care of in all times as before it hath beene countenanced by the Lawe and Prophets so must it nowe bee drawen also through the whole course of the nevve Testament Yea whatsoeuer is vsed eyther of Christ himselfe or of his Apostles against couetousnesse or the loue and care of this worlde and delight of this life all that either by faire meanes or foule is brought into this fort to batter and shake the lands and possessions of Bishops and other of the Cleargie And first men are willed to cal to remembrance the example of Christ our Sauiour his birth the state of his life the choise of his apostles his perpetuall doctrine exhorting to pouertie and contempt of the worlde His parents say they were poore and liued by an handie craft descended of a stocke and kinred growen altogether out of credite in the worlde in steede of a princely chamber borne in an Oxe stall wrapped in poore clothes in steede of white and fine linnen layde in a cribbe for want of a rich cradle and in place of worthie seruitours hee had the presence of an Oxe and an Asse And that hee might shewe himselfe to delight in pouertie and contempt of the world his natiuitie was first reuealed vnto poore Shepheards watching their flockes As hee was borne so was he bredde in the poore and contemptible Towne of Nazareth out of the which Nathaniel thought nothing woorthy credite coulde come in which Towne as it may bee thought by the exercise of an handie craft hee liued in obedience of Ioseph and of his Mother Such as his birth and breeding was such was the state of his liuing when the full time of his dispensation came for hee was not borne to anie Landes or possessions neyther had hee any great wealth and riches to susteine himselfe yea not so much as an house to put his heade in but was mainteyned by the almes as it were and by the charitable deuotion of certayne wealthie vvomen of Galiley and other godly persons His Apostles that he chose to follovve him and to bee the Ministers of his kingdome hee tooke not out of the state of Princes noble men or great and rich Lordes with Landes and dominions but out of the poore state and condition of fishers Tent-makers and toule-gatherers And thus may we see our Lorde and Christ altogether wrapped in pouertie and besette on euery side with the base and contemptible state of the vvorld But to what purpose is all this alleaged Forsooth that wee may vnderstande that it is not lawfull for such as bee guides of the Lordes flocke to liue in any other state then in that the Lorde gaue example of For vvhosoeuer seeketh Christ say they in other state and sort then hee gaue example of seeketh not Christ but Antichrist and the pompe of the vvorld So that the sense and effect of the reason is this Christ was borne bredde and liued in pouertie and chose vnto him Apostles of poore condition therefore bishoppes and Ministers of the church must haue no Landes or possessions but stay them selues in like poore state as Christ and his Apostles did I doe not frame this argument good Reader of purpose to cauill but to admonish thee of the principall state and that considering the proofe to bee naked in it selfe thou maiest the better iudge of the strength thereof Surely I will hencefoorth cease to marueile at the wrested and violent interpretations that Hermites Monkes and friers haue made vpon the scriptures to iustifie and set foorth their superstitious life of voluntary pouertie and forsaking the worlde seeing professors of the gospel to mainteine their new doctrines take vpon themselues the like liberty and boldenesse in abusing the holie Scriptures and worde of God And yet surely it doth grieue mee and make my heart bleede to see it What shall the aduersarie thinke of our dealing with the Scriptures Surely that wee doe in so earnest manner pull them from the interpretation of the Fathers of the Church to the ende that by applying them according to our owne fantasies we may set foorth and seeme to iustifie to the worlde what doctrine soeuer we shall thinke good our selues And so shall this bee an occasion to discredite all the particular doctrines of the Gospell which hitherto as well this Church of England as other churches reformed haue taught But to vnderstande the weight of this reason before vsed against the wealthie liuings of our Clergie wee must trie it by a right and iust balance that is by the true meaning of the holy Ghost First therefore let vs consider the causes of Christes pouertie and of the choyce of such Apostles which in mine opinion are two The one is the necessitie of our redemption the other is an example and iust instruction set foorth vnto Christians As touching the first when the certaine purpose of God had determined that his sonne shoulde come into the worlde to worke the redemption of mankinde and his deliuerance from sinne necessarie it was for him to satisfie the iustice of God in sustaining all those difficulties and punishmentes that were due to man for sinne that is to say affliction ignominie reproch contempt pouertie and all worldly troubles and miseries and last of all death This is that the Prophet Esay spake of long before Hee is despised and abhorred of men hee is such a man as hath good experience of sorowes and infirmities we reckned him so vile that we hidde our faces from him Howbeit hee onely hath taken our infirmities on him and borne our paines Yet wee did iudge him as though he were plagued and cast downe of God This is that humiliation and debasing of himselfe that Paul speaketh of when hee saith Hee beeing in the forme of God thought it no robberie to be equall with God but made him selfe of no reputation taking on him the forme of a seruant and made in the likenesse of men and founde in figure as a man hee humbled himselfe made obedient vnto death euen to the death of the Crosse These places good Christians declare vnto vs both the pouertie and contemptible state of Christ here in earth and also the very roote and principall cause thereof that is the saluation of mankinde The sonne of God became the sonne of man that he might make vs the children of God he vvas borne a weake and tender babe that he might make vs strong men in him he was tied in swadling bands that he might loose and deliuer vs from the bondes of the fraile and sinful flesh he was wrapped in poore clowtes that with the garment of his innocencie he might hide our nake dnes he was borne liued poorly that he might make vs rich plentiful in him he was a stranger in the world had not an house to put his head in that he might purchase for vs a citie heritage
now him and others in the defence of the Gospell against all the learned Papists in England For the which hee was driuen into banishment and there continued for the space of fiue or sixe yeeres visiting almost all Vniuersities in Italie and Germanie hauing great conference with the most and best learned men 〈◊〉 the last being stayed at Iany an vniuersitie erected by the dukes of Saxonie and shoulde if he had not come away had the Hebrewe lecture which Snepphinus had intertained by them to reade in their sayd vniuersitie both Greeke Latin in the company and with the good loue and liking of those famous men Flaccus Illyricus Victorius Strigellus D. Snepphinus called alter Luther vvith diuers others where belike he was not dumbe And after comming home was appoynted among the famous learned men to dispute againe with the enemies of the religion the papisticall bishops and like that if the disputations had continued to shew him not ignorant in all the three tongues as he will yet if Martin Malapert prouoke him too farre not to be dumb Is he dumbe because he vvas the onely Preacher in Leicestershire for a space as the noble Earle of Huntington can vvitnesse and by their tvvo meanes that shire God be blessed was conuerted brought to that state that it is now in which in true religion is aboue any other place because they retaine the Gospell without contention which fewe other places doe And in Lincolneshire did he nothing did he not first purge the Cathedrall Church being at that time a nest of vncleane birdes and so by preaching and executing the Commission so preuailed in the countrey God blessing his labours that not one recusant was left in the countrey at his comming away to this sea of London Is this to be dumbe howe many Sermons hath he preached at Paules crosse sometime three in a yeere yea sometime two or three together being an olde man to supply some yonger mens negligence It is omitted that Episcopomastix had a fling at the Bishoppe of London for swearing by his faith wherefore he termeth him a Swag. What he meaneth by that I will not diuine but as all the rest is lewd so surely herein he hath a lewde meaning It is to be thought that the Bishop will take profite hereby being a man that hath diligently read Plutarke De vtilitate capienda ad inimico If it bee an othe as this gentleman hath censured it it is not to be doubted but that he will amend it but if it were lawful as it may be for any thing Martin can say to aske his brotherhood what Amen signifieth or whether it be an othe then in his wicked and malicious wishes for the ouerthrow of the Clergie how oft is he to be found to say Amen for in the phrase of our speech by my faith signifieth no more but in very trueth bona fide in trueth assuredly id est Amen It is to be thought that Martin misliketh to say by his faith because a railing and slanderous spirite can haue no faith for where Charitie is away the soule of all good workes there can be no faith Read that of Paul Charitas non inuidet non est suspicax c. The contraries whereof swell in Martin as venemous humours in an infectious sore Among other their reproches they affirme of the Bishop of Rochester that hee presented him selfe to a benefice I doe not thinke it to be true for that I know it can not be good in Lawe If he hath procured a benefice in way of Commendam as they call it it is by lawe allowed and hath bene done by other The bishop of Lincolne is knowen to bee learned and zealous in religion There are few men toward her Maiestie that haue preached in the court either oftner times or with more commendation or better liking as well before he was bishop as since It is therefore maruaile that none in all this time coulde espie his inclination vnto corrupt and Papisticall doctrine vntill the chickens of the scratching kite yong Martinists got wings to flee abroad cric out vntrueths against euery man that displeaseth them If the Bishoppe of Lincolne had not euen of late shevved himselfe in the Commission Court at the examination of some of them hee had now escaped this scratch of the lewde lying kite Martin Marprelate What his words were I haue forgotten yet I heard them deliuered by a learned man that vvas present For I did not then meane to deale in this cause but they were nothing soūding to that which the Libell layeth downe And the person considered at whose funerall hee preached hee could not with comelinesse speake lesse in her commendation then hee did vnlesse they vvoulde haue had him as rash and furious as themselues and to enter into Gods secrete iudgement and openly to condemne her as a reprobate God may vvorke great matters in a moment THE bishop of Winchester is charged vvith certaine vvordes vttered in two Sermons the last Lent the one in the Queenes Chappell the other at S. Marie Oueries in Southwarke The wordes of the challeng are these Like a flattering hypocrite hee protested before God and the congregation that there was not in the worlde at this day nay there had not beene since the Apostles time such a flourishing state of a Church as nowe wee haue in Englande Surely if hee had vttered these wordes for the state of the Church appoynted by lawe and order not respecting the faultes of particular persons it might in Christian duetie bee well defended But it was not vttered in this manner nor for the matter nor for the time The first part of those wordes hee doth not acknowledge at all for they are purposely inserted to stirre enuie Thus in deede it vvas deliuered As for the trueth of doctrine according to the worde of God for the right administration of the Sacramēts for the true worship of God in our prayer laide downe in the booke of seruice since the Apostles age vnto this present age of the restoring of the gospell there was neuer Church vpon the face of the earth so nigh the sinceritie of Gods trueth as the Church of England is at this day These vvords vvith Gods helpe he vvil iustifie to be true vpon the daunger not of his liuing only but of his life also against any man that vvil withstand it and yet therein shall not shew him selfe either desperate Dicke or shamelesse impudent or wainscot faced Bishop as it pleaseth the Libeller to rayle Neither doth he thinke that any learned man that fauoureth the Gospell though he mislike some things and persons novv in present vse vvill reproue it The Papists I knovv in deede doe detest the Assertion and thinke their Synagogue blasphemed by it No refourmed Church can iustly take offence at it Where the bishop is burdened by this speeche to excuse the multitude of Thieues Drunkards Murtherers Adulterers c. that bee in our Church neither did his
not be saued by shame might haue his saluation wrought by reproch For a great thing it is to one that hath any feare of God to haue reproch in the face of the Church And to this interpretation the most of the ancient writers agree Obiection They will reply that at that time there were manie Presidents as it were and gouernours of the Church together with the chiefe Ministers in euery Congregation Answere I grant it was so But it doth not follow thereupon that it is a commaundement that for euer in all places and times it should be so I am not of that opinion nor euer was any of the auncient Writers no more are sundry learned men of great credite at this time Quòd vna semper debet esse oeconomia Ecclesiae that is that the externall gouernement of the Church should alwayes in all places be one and specially by a college or company of Elders When Christ said Tel the Church there was as yet no Christian church established but Christ took his speech according to the state of the Iewes Church that then was as in another place he â—aith If thy brother trespasse against thee leaue thine offering before the altar If they will gather by the former speech Tell the Church that of necessity they must haue a company of Elders as then was in the Iewes church why let them make like collection of the latter that of necessitie there must be altars in the church of Christ the absurditie whereof will bee greater then any good christian man will easily receiue Obiection They will say the Apostles afterward and the Primitiue Church did practise the same Answere That is not yet proued but let theÌ„ struggle while they lust theysh al neuer find a commandement in the scriptures charging that it shuld for euer be so It were to great a bridle of christiaÌ„ liberty in things external to cast vpoÌ„ the church of Christ So loÌ„g as the church of God was in persecutioÌ„ vnder tyrants might well seeme to be the best and fittest order of Gouernment But when God blessed his Churche with Christian Princes the Scriptures doe not take away that libertie that with the consent of their godlie magistrates they may haue that outwarde forme of iurisdiction deciding of Ecclesiasticall causes as to the state of the Countrey and people shall be most conuenient And that libertie haue diuers reformed churches since the restoring of the Gospell vsed Now as when other churches in their externall order of gouernment differ froÌ„ ours we neither do nor ought to mislike with them so if ours differ froÌ„ theirs retaining still the sinceritie of the gospel and trueth of doctrine I trust they will euen as charitably thinke of vs. If any desire further aunswere in this controuersie of church gouernment I refer them to the reply of D. Bridges vntill they haue with modestie and grauitie answered his booke It is obiected also against Bishops that they abuse Ecclesiasticall Discipline I take Ecclesiasticall Discipline to consist in reprouing correcting and excommunicating such as be offendors in the Church And I thinke their meaning is here that bishops their officers abuse Excommunication in punishing therewith those persons which obstinately with contempt refuse either to appeare when they bee called to aunswere their offences or when they appeare disobey those orders and decrees by Ecclesiasticall officers appoynted Howe this part of Church Discipline was abused by the Pope it is well knowen and that hee made Excommunication an instrument to bring the neckes of Emperors and Princes ynder his girdle and to make the whole world subiect to him For this was almost the onely meane whereby he became so dreadfull to all men and got to himself so great autoritie The perpetual course of the histories euen such as were written by his owne Parasites and chiefly of this Realme of England declare this to be most true For triall hereof reade the historie of Thomas Becket But I thinke no man is so caried with the misliking of our Bishops that he wil accuse them in this sort to abuse Excommunication seeing by their preaching they haue binprincipall instruments to ouerthrow the same in the Church of Rome They cannot say that any Bishop of this church euer since the restoring of the Gospell indeuoured to excommunicate the Prince and gouernours of purpose to make them subiect to their authoritie in the Church And happily that may bee a fault yea and a great fault that is founde with them in these daies that they do not so and constraine the prince and Rulers to doe that which by perswasion they will not doe But howe expedient this maner of Excommunication is for this time I leaue to the wise and godly to consider Sure I am that some of the most zealous churches reformed haue it not nor thinke it tollerable And yet such a maner of Excommunication it is that many striue at this day to haue brought into the Church vnder the name of Discipline But how easily it would grow to abuse and what danger it might bring in this state of time I thinke there is no wise man that doth not foresee vnlesse it be such as to bring their purpose to passe and to settle their deuise in the Church thinke no danger to be shunned As for the Excommunication practised in our Ecclesiasticall Courtes for contumacie in not appearing or not satisfying the iudgement of the Court if it had pleased the Prince and them that had autoritie to make Lawes for the gouernment to haue altered the same at the beginning and set some other order of processe in place thereof I am perswaded the Bishops and Clergy of this Realme woulde haue bin very wel contented therewith Gualter a learned man of the Church of Tygure writing vpon the first to the Corinthians hauing shewed the danger of this other Excommunication speaketh of a maner of ciuile discommuning vsed in that Church Which or the like good order deuised by some godlie persons if it might bee by authoritie placed in this Churche without danger of further innouation I thinke it woulde be gladly reciued to shunne the offence that is taken at the other and yet surely vnder correction the Law of alteration woulde breede some inconuenience But the perpetuall crying of many to haue a mutation of the whole state of the Clergie and a number of other thinges in the Church beside which must needes draw with it a great alteration in the state of the Realme also maketh the Prince and other Gouernours to bee afraide of any mutation For they knowe what daunger may come in these perillous dayes by innouations And if they shoulde once beginne things are so infinite shat they can see no ende of alterations Therefore eeing wee haue a Church setled in a tollerable maner of reformation and all trueth of doctrine freely taught and allowed by the authority of this realme yea and the aduersaries of trueth by lawe
priestes of God but of Antichrist Is there no more reuerence and feare of the maiestie of Gods Prince and sacred minister then by such grosse absurdities to seeke to seduce her If this be a conclusion of such necessitie then let them go further for by as good reason they may God sayeth to Aaron Thou shalt not drinke wine nor strong drinke thou nor thy sonnes that are with thee when ye goe into the Tabernacle of the Congregation least ye die Letit be a Lawe for euer throughout your generations In an other place commaundement is giuen to the Priestes That they may not eate of that which is rent of wilde beasts And in the same chapter If the Priestes daughter bee married to any of the common people shee may not eate of the hallowed offerings but if shee be a Widowe or diuorced from her husbande and haue no childe and is returned into her fathers house againe shee may eate of her fathers meate as she did in her youth but there shall no stranger eate thereof In the 21. of Leuiticus it is sayde Speake vnto the Priests the sonnes of Aaron and say Let none bee defiled by the dead among their people And a little after Let them not make baldnes vpon their head nor shaue off the lockes of their beard And againe Let him take a Virgine to wife but a widowe a diuorced woman or a polluted c. shall he not marry Now if the obseruation of the orders appoynted by God to the Priests and Leuites of the olde Law be a thing so necessary in the church of God Why then the Ministers of the Gospell may not drinke wine or strong drinke they may not suffer their daughters married forth if they come vnto their houses to eate any of the tenths and oblations whereby they liue they may not come nigh a dead body nor bury it they may marry no widowes but maydes onely And so likewise shall you bring in by as good authoritie infinite numbers mo of Leuiticall orders into the Church and make it rather like a superstitious Synagogue as the popes church was then like a sincere vndefiled Church of God as you would pretend to do But let vs descende further into this allegation and see howe they ouerthrowe themselues in their owne purpose If vpon this proofe it be so necessarie that bishops and other ministers shoulde not liue by landes then as the negatiue is necessarie in the one branch so is the affirmatiue in the other When God hath sayd Thou shalt haue no inheritance in their land he addeth Beholde I haue giuen the children of Leui all the tenth of Israel to inherite for the seruice which they doe c. Then it is of necessitie by the Lawe of God that bishops and preachers shoulde liue vpon tenths and offerings neither may this order be altered by any authoritie And here is an other errour of the Papists that tenths and offerings are in the Church Iure diuino by the lawe of God and not by any positiue Law of the Church Thus we see that these men are not able to stand to their positions but they must ioyne arme in arme with the Papists in their greatest and grossest errors And if it be of necessitie that ministers must liue by oblations and tithes and no otherwise howe can the prince by Gods Lawe take away their Landes and set them to meere pensions in money Or if princes haue libertie by the Lawe of God according to their discretions to appoynt the liuings of ministers by pensions of money contrary to the order that God hath prescribed to his priests in his Law why haue they not like authoritie by the same worde of God if they see it conuenient for the state to allot vnto them some portion of temporall Landes and much more to suffer and beare with that order being alreadie setled in the Church By this it appeareth that the assertion of the aduersaries doeth not hang together in it selfe but that the one part impugneth and ouerthroweth the other But mee thinkes these men deale not directly but seeme to hide and conceale that which maketh against them For in the same place of Iosua by which they will prooue that bishoppes and ministers may not haue any possession of Landes because hee saith To the Leuites he gaue no inheritance among them Immediatly hee addeth Sauing Cities to dwell in and the fieldes about the Cities for their beastes and cattell And in like manner The Lorde sayde to Moyses Commaunde the children of Israel that they giue vnto the Leuites of the inheritaunce of their possession Cities to dwell in And yee shall giue also vnto the Cities Suburbes hard by their Cities rounde about them the Cities they shall haue to dwell in and the Suburbes or fieldes about their cities for their cattell and all manner beastes of theirs And the Suburbes of the Cities which you shall giue to the Leuites shall reach from the wall of the Citie rounde about outward a thousande cubites c. And you shall measure on the East side two thousande cubites and on the West side two thousande cubites c. In the twentie one Chapter of Iosua The number of these Cities is mentioned And the lotte came out of the kinred of the Caathites the children of Aaron the Priest which were of the Leuites and giuen them by lot out of the tribe of Iudae Simeon and Beniamin thirteene Cities And the rest of the children of Caath had by lot of the kinreds of the tribe of Ephraim Dan and halfe the tribe of Manasses tenne cities And the children of Gerson had by lotte out of the kinred of the Cities of Isachar Aser Nepthaly and the other halfe of the tribe of Manasses in Basan thirteene cities And the children of Merari by their kinreds had out of the Tribes of Ruben Gad and Zabulon twelue cities The whole number therfore of the cities assigned to the Leuites in the lande of Iurie amounted to fortie eight Nowe I woulde demaund of indifferent Christians that vvere not obstinately set to maintaine an euill purpose Whether the state of inheritance without rent of fortie eight Cities in one Region no bigger then England with the fieldes almost a mile compasse may bee thought in trueth to bee temporall possessions or no Surely I thinke there is no man so wayward that will denie it to be most true Wherefore eyther the worde of God must bee found vntrue which is blasphemie to thinke or els that boulde assertion that is made of the contrary is found vaine and the argument to prooue it false and deceitful They that had to their portions fortie eight Cities with the fields thereof did not liue by tithes and oblations onely You see therefore good Christians howe they vnderstand the Scriptures that in such immodest and confident maner take vpon them to be masters and controllers of other and by how fleight allegations absurde arguments they seeke to