especially concerneth our selues in the present matter we treate of is the state of reformed religion a thing at her comming to the Crowne euen raised as it were by miracle from the dead a thing which we so little hoped to see that euen they which behelde it done scarcely belieued their own senses at the first beholding Yet being then brought to passe thus many years it hath continued standing by no other worldly meane but that one only hand which erected it that hand which as no kinde of imminent daunger could cause at the first to withholde it selfe so neyther haue the practises so many so bloudie following since beene euer able to make wearie Nor can we say in this case so iustly that Aaron and Hur the Ecclesiasticall and Ciuill states haue sustained the hand which did lift it selfe to heauen for them as that heauen it selfe hath by this hand sustained them no ayde or helpe hauing thereunto bene ministred for performance of the worke of reformation other then such kind of helpe or ayde as the Angell in the Prophet Zacharie speaketh of saying Neither by an armie nor strength but by my spirit saith the Lord of Hostes. Which grace and fauour of diuine assistance hauing not in one thing or two shewed it self nor for some few daies or yeares appeared but in such sort so long continued our manifold sinnes transgressions striuing to the contrarie what can we lesse thereupon conclude then that God would at leastwise by tract of time teach the world that the thing which he blesseth defendeth keepeth so strangely cannot choose but be of him Wherefore if any refuse to beleeue vs disputing for the veritie of religion established let them beleeue God himselfe thus miraculouslie working for it and wish life euen for euer and euer vnto that glorious and sacred instrument whereby he worketh FINIS An Aduertisement to the Reader I Haue for some causes gentle Reader thought it at this time more fit to let goe these first foure Bookes by themselues then to stay both them and the rest til the whole might together be published Such generalities of the cause in question as here are handled it will be perhaps not amisse to consider apart as by way of introduction vnto the bookes that are to follow concerning particulars In the meane while thine helping hand must be craued for the amendment of such faultes committed in printing as omitting others of lesse moment I haue set downe Pag. line Fault Correction Pag. line Fault Correction 25 37 be ordained he ordained 138 19 still stay 31 23 if any of any 139 19 It is for nothing It is not for nothing 51 mar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 157 33 wash waste 55 mar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 162 32 pretious should pretious body should 64 mar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 180 43 meerenes neerenes 66 19 manifest reason manifest law of reasoÌ„ 183 39 vrine vaine 83 12 or that of that 184 ma. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 87 24 ase such are such 185 18 do I doubt not presume do I doubt not presume 91 44 holy worke holy word 186 mar sticke strike 130 38 seuerally seueraltie 202 3 worde world The cause and occasion of handling these things and what might be wished in them for whose sakes so much paine is taken Ia. 2.1 The first establishment of new discipline by M. Caluins industry in the Church of Geneua and the beginning of strife about it amongst our selues Epist. Cal. 24. Luc. 20.17 An. D 1541. Ep. 166. Quod eam vrbem videret omnino his frenis indigere By what meanes so many of the people are trained into the liking of that discipline 1. Cor. 10 13. 1. Cor. 1â— 13 Luc. 12.56 57. Act 17.11 Rom. 14.5 Galen de opt docen geâ— Mal 2.7 Greg. Naz. orat qua se â—â—cusat Matth. 15.14 Mal. 2.9 Iud ver 10 2. Pet. 2.12 Cal. instit li. 4. cap. 20. Sect. 8 The author of the petition directed to her Maiestie p. 3. Arist. Metaph. lib. 1. cap. 5. â— Ioh. â— â— 2. Thes. 2.11 2. Tim. 3.6 1. Iohn 4.6 1. Cor. â— 27 Act. 26.24 Sap. 5.4 VVe fooleâ— thought his life madnes Mâ—rc Tris. ad Asculap 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Lactant. de â—ustâ—t lib. â— cap. 16 August Epâ—st 50. VVhat hath câ—used so many of the lâ—arneâ—er sort to approue the same disciplinâ— T.C. lib. 1. p. 97 Euseb. 3. lib. 32 Lib. Strom. somewhat after the beginning Lib. 7. c. 11. Phil. 4 1â— a 〈…〉 ceremoniis atque fâ—niâ— tantum sanctitatis tribuere coÌ„sueuit quantum adstruxerit vetustatis Arno. p. 746. b Rom. 16.16 2. Cor 13.12 1. Thes. 5.25 1. Pet. 5.14 In their meetings to serue God their maner was in the end to salute one an other with a kisse vsing these words Peace be with you For which cause Tertull. doth call it sigâ—aculum orationis the seale of prayer lib. dâ— Orat. c Epist. Iud. vers 12. Concerning which feasts 5. Chrysost sâ—ith Statiâ— diebus mesas faciebant communeâ— peractâ— synaxi post sacramentorum coÌ„munionem inibaÌ„t conuiuium diuitiâ—us quidemcibos affereÌ„ribus pau peribus auâ—em quâ— niâ—il habebant etiam vocatiâ— in 1. Cor. 11. hom 27. Of the same feasts in like sort Tertull. Coena nostra de nâ—mine rationsui oftendit Vocatur enâ—m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—d quod est penes Graecos dâ—lectio Quantis cunq sumptibusconsteâ— lucrum est â—etatis nomine faâ—ere sumptum Apolog. c. 39. Galen Clas 2. lib. de cuiosque anim peccat notitia atque medela Petit. to the Q M.P. 14. Eccles. 10.1 Their calling for triall by disputation No end of contention without submission of both parts vnto some definitiue sentence Rom. â— 17 Deut. 17.8 Act 15. â—res tract 〈◊〉 excom presbyt Math. 23 2â— T.C. li. â— p. 17 The matter contained in these eight bookes How iust cause there is to feare the manifold dangerous euents likely to ensue vpon this intended reformation if it did take place 1. Pet. 2.2 Psal. 55.13 Pref. against D. Baner Matth. 23.3 Sap. 6.24 Eccl. 16.29 Humb. Motion to the L L. p. 50. Act. 19.19 Mumb. Mâ—t. p. 74. Counterp p. 108. Matth. 1â— 1â— Guy de Brés contre l'errent des Anabapa tistes p. 4. p. 5. p. 16. p. 1.8.119 120. p. 116. p. 124. Luc. 6.12 p. 117. p. 40. Ier. 31.34 p. 29. p. 27. 2. Tim. 3.7 p. 65 6â— p. 135. P. 25. P. 71. 124. p. 764. p. 748. p. 112. p. 518. p. 722. p. 726. p. 6â—8 p. 38. p. 122. P. 841. p. 8â—3 p. 849. p. 40. Laâ—ant de Iustit lib. 5. Cap. 19. p. 6. p. 4.20 p. 5â— p. 6 7. 7. p. 17. p. 6. P. 41. Matt. 5.5 Exod. 11.2 Matt. in his â— libel p. 28. Demonstr in the praef The conclusion of all Iob. 39.37 Greg. Naâ— in Apol. The cause of
whereunto reasonable creatures are bound but as hath bene shewed we restraine it to those onely duties which all men by force of naturall wit either do or might vnderstand to be such duties as concerne all men Certaine half waking men there are as Saint Augustine noteth who neither altogether asleepe in folly nor yet throughly awake in the light of true vnderstanding haue thought that there is not at all any thing iust and righteous in it selfe but looke wherwith nations are inured the same they take to be right and iust Wherupon their conclusion is that seeing each sort of people hath a different kind of right from other and that which is right of it owne nature must be euery where one and the same therefore in it selfe there is nothing right These good folke saith he that I may not trouble their wits with rehearsal of too many things haue not looked so far into the world as to perceiue that Do as thou wouldest be done vnto is a sentence which all nations vnder heauen are agreed vpon Refer this sentence to the loue of God it extinguisheth all heinous crimes referre it to the loue of thy neighbor and all grieuous wrongs it banisheth out of the world Wherefore as touching the law of reason this was it seemeth Saint Augustines iudgement namely that there are in it some things which stand as principles vniuersally agreed vpon and that out of those principles which are in themselues euident the greatest morall duties we owe towards God or man may without any great difficultie be concluded If then it be here demaunded by what meanes it should come to passe the greatest part of the law morall being so easie for all men to know that so many thousands of men notwithstanding haue bene ignorant euen of principall morall duties not imagining the breach of them to be sinne I deny not but lewd and wicked custome beginning perhaps at the first amongst few afterwards spreading into greater multitudes and so continuing from time to time may be of force euen in plaine things to smother the light of naturall vnderstanding because men will not bend their wits to examine whether things wherewith they haue bene accustomed be good or euill For examples sake that grosser kind of heathenish idolatrie wherby they worshipped the very workes of their owne hands was an absurdity to reason so palpable that the Prophet Dauid comparing idols and idolaters together maketh almost no ods betweene them but the one in a maner as much without wit and sense as the other They that make them are like vnto them and so are all that trust in them That wherein an idolater doth seeme so absurb and foolish is by the Wiseman thus exprest He is not ashamed to speake vnto that which hath no life he calleth on him that is weake for health he prayeth for life vnto him which is dead of him which hath no experience he requireth helpe for his iourney be sâ—â—th to him which is not able to go for gaine and worke and successe in his affaires he seeketh furtherance of him that hath no maner of power The cause of which senselesse stupidity is afterwards imputed to custome When a father mourned grieuosly for his son that was taken away suddenly he made an image for him that was once dead whom now he worshipped as a God ordeining to his seruants ceremonies sacrifices Thus by processe of time this wicked custome preuailed was kept as a law the authority of Rulers the ambition of craftsmen and such like meanes thrusting forward the ignorant and increasing their superstition Vnto this which the Wiseman hath spoken somwhat besides may be added For whatsoeuer we haue hitherto taught or shal hereafter coÌ„cerning the force of mans naturall vnderstanding this we alwayes desire withall to be vnderstood that there is no kind of faculty or power in man or any other creature which can rightly performe the functions alotted to it without perpetuall aide concurrence of that supreme cause of all things The benefit whereof as oft as we cause God in his iustice to withdraw there can no other thing follow then that which the Apostle noteth euen men indued with the light of reason to walke notwithstanding in the vanity of their mind hauing their cogitations darkned being strangers from the life of God through the ignorance which is in them because of the hardnes of their harts And this cause is meÌ„tioned by the Prophet Esay speaking of the ignorance idolaters who see not how the manifest reason condemneth their grosse iniquity and sinne They haue not in them saith he so much wit as to thinke shall I bow to the stocke of a tree All knowledge and vnderstanding is taken from them For God hath shut their eyes that they cannot see That which we say in this case of idolatry serueth for all other things wherein the like kind of generall blindnes hath preuailed against the manifest lawes of reason Within the compasse of which lawes we do not onely comprehend whatsoeuer may be easily knowne to belong to the duty of all men but euen whatsoeuer may possibly be known to be of that quality so that the same be by necessary consequence deduced out of cleere and manifest principles For if once we descend vnto probable collections what is conuenient for men we are then in the territory where free and arbitrarie determinations the territory where humane lawes take place which lawes are after to be considered 9 Now the due obseruation of this law which reason teacheth vs cannot but be effectuall vnto their great good that obserue the same For we see the whole world and each part thereof so compacted that as long as each thing performeth onely that worke which is naturall vnto it it thereby preserueth both other things and also it selfe Contrariwise let any principall thing as the Sun the Moone any one of the heaueÌ„s or elemeÌ„ts but once cease or faile or swarue and who doth not easily conceiue that the sequele thereof would be ruine both to it selfe whatsoeuer dependeth on it And is it possible that man being not only the noblest creature in the world but euen a very world in himselfe his transgressing the law of his nature should draw no maner of harme after it Yes tribulation and anguish vnto euerie soule that doth euill Good doth followe vnto all things by obseruing the course of their nature and on the contrarie side euill by not obseruing it but not vnto naturall agents that good which wee call Reward not that euill which wee properly tearme Punishment The reason whereof is because amongst creatures in this world onely mans obseruation of the lawe of his nature is Righteousnesse onely mans transgression Sinne. And the reason of this is the difference in his maner of obseruing or transgressing the lawe of his nature Hee doth not otherwise then voluntarily the one or the other What we do against our
in that one to proue not onely that we may do but that we ought to do sundry things which the Scripture commaundeth not out of that verie booke these sentences are brought to make vs belieue that Tertullian was of a cleane contrary minde We cannot therefore hereupon yeeld we cannot graunt that hereby is made manifest the argument of Scripture negatiuely to be of force not only in doctrine and ecclesiasticall discipline but euen in matters arbitrary For Tertullian doth plainely hold euen in that booke that neither the matter which he intreateth of was arbitrary but necessarie in as much as the receaued custome of the Church did tye and bind them not to weare garlands as the Heathens did yea and further also he reckoneth vp particularly a number of things whereof he expresly concludeth Harum aliarum eiusmodi disciplinarum si legem expostules scripturarum nullam inuenies which is as much as if he had sayd in expresse words Many things there are which concerne the discipline of the Church and the duties of men which to abrogate and take away the scriptures negatiuely vrged may not in any case perswade vs but they must be obserued yea although no scripture be found which requireth any such thing Tertullian therefore vndoubtedly doth not in this booke shew himselfe to be of the same mind with them by whom his name is pretended 6 But sith the sacred scriptures themselues affoord oftentimes such arguments as are taken from diuine authoritie both one way and other The Lord hath commaunded therefore it must be And againe in like sort He hath not therefore it must not be some certainty concerning this point seemeth requisite to be set downe God himselfe can neither possibly erre nor leade into error For this cause his testimonies whatsoeuer he affirmeth are alwaies truth and most infallible certainty Yea further because the things that proceed frō him are perfect without any manner of defect or maime it cannot be but that the words of his mouth are absolute lacke nothing which they should haue for performance of that thing whereunto they tend Wherupon it followeth that the end being knowne wherunto he directeth his speech the argumēt euen negatiuely is euermore strōg forcible cōcerning those things that are apparātly requisit vnto the same ende As for example God intending to set downe sundry times that which in Angels is most excellent hath not any where spoken so highly of them as he hath of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ therefore they are not in dignitie equall vnto him It is the Apostle Saint Paules argument The purpose of God was to teach his people both vnto whom they should offer sacrifice and what sacrifice was to be offered To burne their sonnes in fire vnto Baal hee did not commaund them he spake no such thing neither came it into his mind therefore this they ought not to haue done VVhich argument the Prophet Ieremie vseth more then once as being so effectuall and strong that although the thing hee reproueth were not onely not commaunded but forbidden them and that expresly yet the Prophet chooseth rather to charge them with the fault of making a lawe vnto themselues then with the crime of transgressing a lawe which God had made For when the Lord hath once himselfe precisely set downe a forme of executing that wherein we are to serue him the fault appeareth greater to do that which we are not then not to do that which we are commaunded In this we seeme to charge the Lawe of God with hardnesse onely in that with foolishnesse in this we shew our selues weake and vnapt to be doers of his will in that we take vpon vs to be controllers of his wisedome in this we faile to performe the thing which God seeth meete conuenient and good in that we presume to see what is meete and conuenient better then God himselfe In those actions therefore the whole forme whereof God hath of purpose set downe to be obserued we may not otherwise do then exactly as he hath prescribed in such things negatiue arguments are strong Againe with a negatiue argument Dauid is pressed concerning the purpose he had to build a Temple vnto the Lord Thus sayth the Lord thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in Wheresoeuer I haue walked with all Israell spake I one word to any of the Iudges of Israel whom I commaunded to feed my people saying Why haue ye not built me an house The Iewes vrged with a negatiue argument touching the ayde which they sought at the hands of the King of AEgypt Woe to those rebellious children sayth the Lord which walke forth to go downe into AEgypt and haue not asked counsell at my mouth to strengthen themselues with the strength of Pharao Finally the league of Ioshua with the Gabeonites is likewise with a negatiue argument touched It was not as it should be And why The Lord gaue them not that aduise They sought not counsell at the mouth of the Lord. By the vertue of which examples if any man should suppose the force of negatiue arguments approued when they are taken from Scripture in such sort as we in this question are pressed therewith they greatly deceiue themselues For vnto which of all these was it said that they had done amisse in purposing to do or in doing any thing at all which the Scripture commanded them not Our question is whether all be sinne which is done without direction by scripture and not whether the Israelites did at any time amisse by following their owne minds without asking counsell of God No it was that peoples singular priuiledge a fauour which God vouchfafed them aboue the rest of the world that in the affaires of their estate which were not determinable one way or other by the scripture himselfe gaue them extraordinarily direction and counsell as oft as they sought it at his hands Thus God did first by speech vnto Moses after by Vrim and Thummim vnto Priests lastly by dreames and visions vnto Prophets from whom in such cases they were to receiue the aunswere of God Concerning Iosua therefore thus spake the Lord vnto Moses saying He shall stand before Eleazar the Priest who shall aske counsell for him by the iudgement of Vrim before the Lord whereof had Iosua bene mindfull the fraud of the Gabeonites could not so smoothly haue past vnespied till there was no helpe The Iewes had Prophets to haue resolued them from the mouth of God himselfe whether Egyptian aides should profite them yea or no but they thought themselues wise enough and him vnworthy to be of their Counsell In this respect therfore was their reproofe though sharpe yet iust albeit there had bene no charge precisely geuen them that they should alwayes take heed of Egypt But as for Dauid to thinke that he did euill in determining to build God a Temple because there was in scripture no commandement that he should build it