is his angel Howbeit there be some which indeuour to expound the same to be Peters messenger And in the 48. chapter of Genesis Gen. 48 16. His angel hath deliuered me from all euill These things prooue that angels by the commandement of God doo seruice euen to priuate men But if we shall inquire Vnto what end serueth the gouernment of angels vnto what end angels doo gouerne kingdomes prouinces and cities and also euerie particular man and what their meaning is by so great a care and diligence we shall find that their diligence is to no other end but to bring all men to obeie their God and King to acknowledge to worship and to reuerence him as their God Which when it dooth not take place and that manie leauing the true seruice of God doo giue themselues vnto superstition and idolatrie and dishonest themselues with sundrie crimes the labour of the angels is disappointed of that end wherevnto it was a meane and so they after a sort are subiect vnto vanitie which shall cease notwithstanding The trauell of angels otherwhile destitute of the second end How angels are said to be deliuered from the bondage of corruption when they shall be discharged of these their gouernments But now we must sée how the angels at that time shall be deliuered from the bondage of corruption Albeit their nature or as the Schoole-men saie their substance be vncorrupt and immortall yet are their affaires continuallie amongst matters transitorie and mortall those things they doo continuallie vphold and sustaine or else endeuour that by the commandement of God they may be taken awaie and destroied Further that the benefit of Christ apperteineth also vnto the angels Paule declareth vnto the Ephesians and Colossians In the first chapter to the Ephesians he saith verse 10. According to the good pleasure which he had purposed in himselfe euen vnto the dispensation of the fulnesse of times to make all things anew through Christ both which are in heauen and which are in earth And in the first chapter to the Colossians verse 20. It hath well pleased the father that in him should dwell all fulnesse and by him to reconcile all things to himselfe and to set at peace through the bloud of his crosse both the things in heauen and the things in earth This Chrysostome interpreting saith that Without Christ the angels had béene offended with vs so that these two natures namelie of angels and of men were seuered and alienated the one from the other For the celestiall spirits could not otherwise doo but hate the enimies of their God but when Christ was become the mediator men were now gathered togither againe so that they haue one and the selfe-same head with the angels and are become members of the same bodie with them The benefit of Christ after some sort belongeth vnto angels wherefore Christ is rightlie said to be he by whom is made our gathering togither Also it may be that other commodities haue likewise redounded to the angels through the death of Christ which notwithstanding we doo not easilie perceiue by the scriptures neither dooth the search of the same belong to that which we haue in hand We saie therefore that Paule with great weight Paule applieth sense vnto all creatures and vehemencie of spéech applieth sense vnto all creatures as if so be they felt gréefe and sorrowe bicause they are made so common to the abuses of wicked men For the confusion of things in this state is not so obscure since the godlie are in trouble and are ill intreated euerie-where but the vngodlie doo abound with all prosperitie and all things happen to them as they would haue it In this turmoile of things the godlie ought to be of a valiant courage and patientlie wait for the end of these matters The Epâ—…ures and Atheists The Atheists opinion concerning God when they sée all things doone so confusedlie they reason by and by that God hath no care of mortall affaires as he that is not mooued with fauour nor with hatred and dooth to no man either good or euill but contrariewise A contrarie opinion of the godlie the godlie doo assure themselues that séeing God by his prouidence ruleth and gouerneth all things it will one daie come to passe that things shall not go in such sort and that the world shall after a better maner be reformed euen like as it was ordeined for the honour of God and shall be brought to that forme whereby God shall more and more be magnified And hereof riseth an incredible consolation The godlie by the example of creatures doo comfort themselues in aduersities that séeing we sée all the creatures of God to be subiect to so manie discommodities we also by the example of them may confirme our selues in patience Forsomuch as the whole world is vexed with so manie calamities it is verie méet that we should also beare with a patient mind such afflictions as fall vpon vs. 56 And there may be foure reasons alledged Foure reasons why the creatures arâ— said to mourne why we thinke creatures to be vexed mourne The first is for that they be wearied with continuall labours insomuch as they serue for our dailie vses hereof it commeth oftentimes to passe that when we sinne gréeuouslie as often we doo they suffer punishment togither with vs as may plainelie be perceiued by the floud by Sodom and by the plagues of Aegypt Moreouer there is a certeine Sympathie or mutuall compassion betwéene man and other creaturs by meanes whereof in aduersitie they sigh and mourne togither with him Last of all there is great iniurie doone vnto them in that they are compelled to serue wicked and vncleane men wherevnto the prophet Ose had respect as we haue aboue declared when he said in the person of God I will take awaie my wheate my wine Ose 2 8. and mine oile and I will send awaie my wooll and my flaxe that they shall not couer thy filthinesse Ambrose maketh for me in manie places in his epistle to Horantianus handeling this place of Paule by an induction sheweth that Euerie creature sorrowech By an ample induction it is shewed that creatures doo sorrowe for our sakes and waiteth for the appeering of the sonnes of God And he beginneth at the soule The same saith he cannot but be afflicted and mourne when it séeth it selfe to be inclosed in the bodie as in a certeine vile cotage and that not willinglie but for his sake which hath made it subiect For it was the counsell of God that the same should be ioined with the bodie that through the vse of it it might one daie atteine vnto some fruits whereof it should not repent For Paule saith in the second to the Corinthians 2. Cor. 5 10. that We shall all be set before the iudgement seate of Christ that euerie man may yeeld account of those things that he hath doone in
for the splendent and ample light for the constant motion of the circles and procéeding therof in excellent order and for the sundrie and manifold influences as also bicause from the parts aboue we haue winds clouds raine haile lightnings thunder c. Neither dooth the prophet vtterlie exclude men from heauen as though they should neuer come thither for thither they shall come which haue liued godlie but that must be at their time appointed So as the Psalmist speaketh of the time of this life as the state of things now stand But presumptuous men haue sometimes abused the words of Dauid so that some haue thought that it should be lawfull for them to doo anie thing vpon the earth to robbe and slaie to turne all vpside downe as though God dooth not marke these things as he that onelie dwelleth in heauen and walking about the limits of heauen taketh no care of our dooings Againe others haue so wickedlie wrested these words that séeing God hath heauen to himselfe and hath giuen the earth vnto the children of men there is no cause whie we should aspire to heauen but rather that euerie man prouide for himselfe as manie parts of the earth as he can get Of this mind they séeme to be which couple field to field and house to house so as they scarselie suffer a foot of land to be possessed by others Further the prophet procéedeth and saith The dead shall not praise the Lord Ibidem 17. That euen the dead do praise the Lord. nor yet all they which go downe into silence The mind of the suppliant is that God would spare the godlie men lest they being consumed there should be a want of such as would set foorth the praise of God But thou wilt saie If the senses of soules and the life of them that be departed be taken awaie will there be a want of such as should praise God True in verie déed it is that in heauen there wil be no want But he hath appointed to receiue fame and praise not onelie in another world but euen here also vpon the earth which will not come to passe if the godlie be consumed by the wicked And God hath so ordeined this as he brought foorth man for this end Otherwise he gaue also the earth vnto cattell vnto lions and also to serpents flies and créeping beasts for all these things are there brought vp and nourished but yet not so as men be For we be placed in the world that we should publish and set foorth God this cannot the dead doo héere séeing they be far from this world And therefore it is said The dead shall not praise the Lord namelie vpon the earth Indéed brute beasts and dumbe cattell haue their abiding vpon the earth and therein are fed and nourished but they were made for the behoofe of man but vnto this maner of end they are not aduanced bicause they are not so indued with reason as they can giue thanks call vpon and celebrate the name of God Hereby let vs gather that the earth is giuen vnto men not to the intent that they should rashlie abuse the same and that they should deuoure the good things thereof like vnto brute beasts but celebrate and extoll the name of God euen as they are continuallie inuited by his benefits Which being onelie doone by the godlie sort if they be oppressed by tyrants and wicked persons who shall remaine to declare and sing out the praises of God The wicked doo blaspheme the name of God so far is it off that they magnifie extoll it The repetition of the word What is ment by the repetition of the word heauen namelie Heauen of heauens dooth betoken a certeine famous and excellent region of the heauens wherein God and Christ dwell with the saints 72 But let vs come vnto Ecclesiastes where in the third chapter it is written verse 19 that Men and cattell haue one maner of end both the one and the other doo die and they haue all one maner of spirit or breath and who knoweth whether the spirit of the sonnes of Adam go vpward and the spirit of beasts go downeward He had said a little before that the successes of the godlie and of the wicked are all one and that thereby it commeth to passe that no man knoweth by the outward fortunes and euents of men who are beloued of God and who be hated But now he compareth man with cattell affirming that the conditions and qualities of them all are one and the same But these must we distinguish bicause some be generall and some speciall As to the speciall the conditions be not all one in euerie sort for cattell be foure-footed but men be two-footed the cattell are without spéech but man dooth speake cattell be not capable of vices and vertues but men are garnished with vertues and polluted with vices Wherefore Salomon in that place treateth of generall qualities as well of men as of beasts For as men be borne and bred vp so commeth it to passe with cattell as those be dissolued into ashes and elements so dooth it happen vnto men as touching the bodie as beasts be fed with meate and quench thirst with drinke and ingender their yoong ones so doo men likewise And whereas it is said that the spirit as well of the one as the other is one that must not be referred to the soule as though Salomon iudged that all men haue but one soule Auerroes and Peripateriks as Auerroës and other of the Peripatetiks did thinke But by the spirit he vnderstandeth the wind or breath for brute beasts and men doo breath all in one aire By the spirit Salomon vnderstandeth the blowing and breath Indéed the spirit of man goeth vpward and the breath of beasts downeward but who knoweth this Who is able to prooue it by strong naturall reasons It is not denied by Salomon that these things happen but he saith that the knowledge and vnderstanding of these things are scarselie or not at all extant among men as touching naturall principles And whereas he saith Who knoweth He as Ierom interpreteth dooth shew a difficultie not an vtter impossibilitie For Socrates Plato Pythagoras and some other philosophers atteined after a sort to the knowledge of immortalitie of soules by what meanes I stand not to prooue In the same book of Ecrlesiastes the ninth chapter it is written verse 10. In the graue that thou goest vnto there is neither worke cogitation knowledge not wisedome c. These things as Ierom saith perteine vnto the good works whereby it is the part of the faithfull to approoue themselues vnto God while they liue in this world In the world to come there shall be no place for good works bicause in the â—ther life they shall haue no place In this life must we beléeue the word of God that we may be iustified here repentance must be taken in hand here the sacraments must be receiued here
are spoken with an exception that exception should belong to all men For Christ said to Pilate Iohn 19 11. Thou shouldest not haue power against me vnles it were giuen thee from aboue Shall we therefore take vpon vs to saie that vnto all men was giuen power against Christ And when as it is written Iohn 5 15. That No man shall enter into the kingdome of heauen vnlesse hee be borne againe by water and the spirit shall we therefore inferre that all men are borne againe of water and the spirit And when the Lord saith Iohn 6. 53. Ye shall not haue life in you vnles ye eate the flesh of the sonne of man and drinke his bloud shall we take it that all men eate the flesh and drinke the bloud of the Lord And if this ought not so to be whie will these men when we saie No man commeth vnto me vnles my father drawe him therof inferre that all men are drawne vnto the father Verelie if a man consider the course of the text he shall sée that this sense cannot stand After that he had made mention of the eating of his flesh and of the drinking of his bloud the Iewes were by reason thereof offended and the disciples went their waie vpon occasion whereof Christ said No man commeth vnto me vnles my father drawe him which he ought in no case to haue said if he had meant to reprooue onelie them of infidelitie He should not doubtlesse haue made mention of the father as though he drew them not if he gaue that gift to all men And Augustine when he interpreteth this place saith Whie he draweth this man draweth not that other man doo not thou iudge if thou wilt not erre In which words hée declareth that all men are not drawne of God And in the selfe-same chapter it is written verse 37. All that my father giueth me shall come vnto me Wherfore if all men were drawne they should all come vnto Christ And in the same place it is written verse 45. Euerie one which hath heard of my father and hath learned commeth vnto mee Séeing then manie come not vnto Christ therby is declared that manie neither haue heard nor learned verse 11. And in the 10. chapter when Christ had said that He is the shepheard and hath his shéepe verse 28. amongst other things he saith These whom my father gaue me no man can take out of my hands But we sée that manie fall from saluation and therfore we ought to thinke that those are not giuen of the father vnto Christ A cauill 39 But héere also the aduersaries cauill that Although no man can take them awaie yet neuerthelesse men of their owne accord may go awaie A similitude As if a man had seruants béeing himselfe a lord of great might hée might doubtlesse saie No man can take awaie these seruants from me and yet they of their owne accord maie go from him But how vaine this their cauillation is the words which followe declare verse 29. For Christ addeth The father which gaue them vnto me is greater than all by which words he declareth that therfore those whom he had receiued of the father could not be taken awaie from him for that he is most mightie Wherefore if they cannot by them be taken awaie which are in Christ neither also are they able to withdrawe themselues not that they are compelled by force It is of necessitie that the predestinate abide but by the waie of persuasion it is of necessitie that they abide The verie which thing the Lord also spake touching the temptation of the latter times namelie that If it were possible the elect should be deceiued Matt. 24 24 In the selfe-same 6. chapter of Iohn Christ said ver 37 44 that No man commeth vnto him but hee vnto whom it is giuen of the father which place hath one and the selfe-same sense with that other sentence wherein he said No man commeth vnto me vnles my father drawe him And Iohn Baptist as it is written in the 3. chapter of Iohn Verse 27. when he heard of his disciples that Christ baptised manie answered that No man can receiue anie thing vnles it be giuen him from heauen And in the selfe-same chapter Verse 8. The spirit breatheth where it will Which although it be spoken of the wind yet notwithstanding it is applied vnto the holie ghost which regenerateth for to declare the force of the holie ghost the similitude is taken from the nature of the wind But this is more manifestlie set forth in Matthew when it is said Matt. 11 27. No man knoweth the father but the sonne and he to whom the sonne will reueale him Wherein we are taught The reuealing of Christ is not common to all men that the reuealing of Christ is not giuen vnto all men Which thing Christ in the same Euangelist declared when turning him vnto the father he said Ibid. ver 25. I giue thee thanks ô king of heauen and of earth for that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent men and hast reuealed them vnto babes There also is declared that the reuealing of true doctrine is not common vnto all men But if thou wilt saie A cauillation that therefore it is not reuealed vnto the wise men for that they will not receiue it the words following doo not render this cause but rather declare that the will of God hath so decréed for it followeth For so it hath pleased thee And againe when the Apostles inquired whie hée spake in parables to the people he answered Vnto you it is giuen to knowe mysteries Matt. 13 11. but vnto them it is not giuen And he said that hée so spake vnto them that they séeing should not sée Esai 6 9. and hearing should not vnderstand And he cited a prophesie out of the 6. of Esaie wherin was commanded that the people should be made blind and that their hart should be made grose least peraduenture they should be conuerted God should heale them Moreouer the apostle citeth out of the booke of Exodus Rom. 9 15. God thus speaking Exod. 33 19 I will haue mercie on whom I will haue mercie and will shew compassion on whom I will shew compassion Also that which is written of Pharao Rom. 9 17. To this end haue I raised thee vp Exod. 9 16. that I might shew my power in thee And he saith also Rom. 9 22. that Some vessels are made to honour and some to dishonour Which words most euidentlie declare that grace is not set foorth common vnto all men Peter also in the Actes of the Apostles said vnto Simon Magus Acts. 8 23. Repent if peraduenture GOD forgeue vnto thee this thought But they saie that in this place Peter doubted not but that grace is common vnto all men but he was vncerteine whether
But none which is faithfull ought in anie wise to doubt of himselfe but to beléeue that the promise is particular as touching himselfe when he perceiueth himselfe to beléeue trulie Further when promises are set foorth in a generall proposition we may most assuredlie of them gather their particular proposition And Christ saith in Iohn Iohn 6 40. This is the will of my father that euerie one that seeth the sonne and beleeueth in him should haue eternall life Wherefore we thus inferre But I beléeue in the sonne of God Therefore I haue now and shall haue that which he hath promised 73 Pighius still goeth on and to prooue that the faith of euerie other article and not that onlie which is referred vnto Christ touching remission of sinnes iustifieth he vseth the example of Noe for he saith Heb. 11 7. that He beleeued onelie those things which perteined to the safegard of his familie and to the destruction of the world and by that faith he saith he was iustified Here saith he is no mention made of Christ or of the remission of sinnes But it séemeth vnto me that this man hath not verie diligentlie read that which Peter writeth in his first epistle and third chapter for Peter saith verse 20. When once the long suffering of God expected in the daies of Noe while the arke was preparing wherein few that is eight soules were saued through the water vnto the figure whereof baptisme now agreeing maketh vs also safe whereby not the filth of the flesh is put awaie but thereby is brought to passe that a good conscience is well answering vnto God That which Peter sawe was signified by the arke and by those things which Noe did can we thinke Noe was iustified by faith in Christ that the patriarch himselfe sawe not This vndoubtedlie were too much derogation vnto him and if he sawe those things which Peter maketh mention of he beléeued not onelie those things which were then doone but also those which were looked for to be accomplished by Christ And therefore of good right it is written vnto the Hebrues that He was by such a faith made the heire of righteousnesse Heb. 11 7. But Pighius nothing passeth vpon this who so that he may be against vs is nothing afraid to fight euen against the apostles themselues for he is not afraid to affirme that our first father Adam was iustified but yet not with that faith which we speake of which concerneth the remission of sinnes through Christ for he saith that thereof he had no promise as touching that so farre as may be gathered out of the scriptures But doubtlesse this man is both farre deceiued Adam was iustified by faith wherby he beleeued the remission of sinnes through Christ Gen. 3 15. and also hath forgotten his fathers whom he would séeme to make so much of Was not the selfe-same thing said vnto Adam which was by God promised vnto Eue his wife namelie that his séed should bruise the head of the serpent Christ was that séed and he hath so broken the head and strength of the diuell that now neither sinne nor death nor hell can anie thing hurt his members This place all the fathers in a maner thus interpret But Pighius which yet is lesse to be borne withall is not afraid to saie that iustification is not giuen vnto vs by the promise In which thing doubtles he is manifestlie against Paule for he vnto the Galathians thus writeth God gaue vnto Abraham by the promise Gen. 3 18. And there is no doubt but that vnto vs it is giuen after the selfe-same maner that it was vnto Abraham But this is to be knowne that this word Promise Promise vnderstood two maner of waies is taken two maner of waies either for the thing promised and so it is not to be doubted but that we are iustified by the promise that is by Christ and by the forgiuenesse of sinnes which is promised vnto them that beléeue or else it is taken for the verie words of God in which he through Christ promiseth vnto vs remission of sinnes And in this maner also we maie be said to be iustified by the promise for although the cause of our iustification be the méere will and mercie of God yet is not the same offered or signified vnto vs but by the words of the promises and by the sacraments for these haue we as sure testimonies of the will of GOD towards vs. And so vnlesse faith be wanting whereby we apprehend the things that are offered we are iustified by the promises A place in the 5. of Genesis expounded 74 Afterward Pighius to prooue that God attributeth more vnto works than vnto faith citeth a place out of the 22. chapter of Genesis There is described that excellent worke of Abraham that he refused not to slaie his onelie sonne to offer him vnto God and therefore God said vnto him from heauen Bicause thou hast doone this thing verse 19. I haue sworne by my selfe that in blessing I will blesse thee and in multiplieng I will multiplie thy seed that it shall be as the starres of heauen and as the sand of the sea It shall possesse the gates of his enimies and in thee shall all nations be blessed Behold here saith he are promises giuen for works sake and therevnto is added a most faithfull oath but there is no mention at all made of faith wherfore saith he God hath more regard vnto works than vnto faith This speaketh he with a wide mouth but according to that prouerbe The mountaines will be brought a bed and out will spring a sielie mouse For if you aske what I thinke as touching this matter I will answer that it is a notable and most excellent historie whereout that cannot yet be gathered which this man exclaimeth First here is no mention made of iustification what serueth it then to that matter whereof we now intreat So often as anie thing is called in controuersie we must run to such certeine and assured places in which the selfe-same thing is intreated of and not vnto those places wherein it maie be answered that they intreate of another matter Of this nature is that place which Paule citeth Gene. 15 6. Rom. 4 3. as touching this thing Abraham beleeued in God and it was imputed vnto him vnto righteousnes But as concerning this historie I willinglie grant that Abraham by that worke obteined a certeine more ample benefit than he before had by faith howbeit not in substance or number or quantitie of the promises but in a sound and firme certeintie For although he doubted not but that whatsoeuer things he beleeued God would faithfullie render vnto him yet afterward when he had doone those excellent déeds he was more fullie persuaded of the veritie of his faith and constancie of the promise and strength of the righteousnes imputed vnto him I denie not but that by that excellent worke
answereth that the godlie sort liued as innocent perfect and vnblameable bicause infirmities and sinnes committed shall not be imputed vnto them by reason of their faith in Christ according to the saieng of Dauid Blessed be they Psal 32 1. whose iniquities are remitted and whose sinnes be couered blessed is the man vnto whom the Lord hath imputed no sinne Of Purgatorie the Papisticall fire 11 But now let vs speake of purgatorie In 1. Cor. 3 verse 15. Looke in Sam. 3 verse 35. What maner of place is feigned for purgatorie It is fained to be a middle place after this life betwéene euerlasting felicitie and the punishments of damned soules in such wise as they which be there are after a sort partakers of both For in so much as they be adorned with grace and be confirmed with hope that felicitie shall be giuen vnto them and doo suffer punishments with a patient mind they be counted among the number of the saints and blessed soules But in that they be tormented doo suffer gréeuous and manifold kinds of punishments in that respect they drawe néere vnto the lot condition of them that are in hell fire And they adde that purgatorie punishments haue not onlie an end and a set terme but that it maie be eased by the good works and praiers of them that be aliue The aduersaries indeuor by manie reasons to persuade that we must grant that there is such a place The first reason for purgatorie 2. Mac. 12 6 as we haue here defined Out of the old testament they cite the historie of the Machabeis where we read that Iudas a man well commended did beléeue that the praier for the dead to be deliuered from their sinnes is both comfortable and godlie The 2. reason Zach. 9 11. Further they flie vnto Zacharie the prophet where we read in the 9. chapter Thou hast loosed thy prisoners out of the pit wherein was no water The 3. reason verse 14. The 4. reason Psal 66 12. Also the 4. chapter of Ecclesiastes Otherwhile a man commeth foorth of prison and chaines and is made a king They bring also the psalme where Dauid saith We passed through fire and water and thou broughtest vs foorth into a place of refreshing The 5. reason Matt. 12 31 Moreouer they repaire vnto the new testament and saie that in the Gospell there is such a kind of sinne as shall neither be forgiuen in this world nor yet in the other world which then might not be spoken saie they vnlesse there should remaine purgings of sinnes in another life The 6. reason Matt. 5 25. And they obiect that saieng in Matthew Least the Gaoâ—er cast thee into prison verelie I saie vnto thee thou shalt not depart thence vntill thou haue paid the vttermost farthing Also they bring that which is spoken by Paule in the first to the Corinthians The 7. reason 1. Cor. 3 15. the 3. chapter But he himselfe shall be saued as it were by fire c. To this purpose also they would haue that to tend The 8. reason Luk. 16 19. The 9. reason Apoc. 21 27 which is said of beggerlie Lazarus full of botches and of the riotous rich man They pretend also that place in the Apocalypse where it is read that No vnpure thing shall be admitted into the holie citie And they thinke that to make on their side The 10. reason Phil. 2 10. which Paule writeth to wit that All knees shall bow vnto God both of things that be in heauen and things that be in earth and things that be vnder the earth Againe they cite the Apocalypse in the 5. chapter that verse 13. All creatures which are in heauen and on the earth and vnder the earth and in the sea c. shall speake praises vnto God These and such other places of scripture they thinke doo make for them Sundrie opinions touching purgatorie 12 But we must marke this that the assertion of them which would néeds haue a purgatorie is not one and the same For some will force it to be as a sure doctrine an article of faith Others doo not so resolutelie and constantlie affirme the same but onlie they suppose and haue opinion that such a thing there is First therefore it séemeth good to shew that it belongeth not to the articles of our faith Whether purgatorie be an article of our faith that it is not a thing of necessitie to be beléeued Secondlie we will make it plaine whether either the opinion or suspicion wherby purgatorie is beléeued be reasonable or iust As touching them which do affirme that the doctrine of purgatorie is of necessitie we must néeds absolutelie hold that the doctrine and articles of our faith ought to be certeine stedfast and are most plainlie to be prooued by testimonies of the scriptures The articles of the faith ought to be certeine and prooued by the scriptures For we are not of their opinion which will make the Fathers or men to be authors of beléeuing of things for we should iudge of the holie Ghost contumeliouslie if we should thinke that such scriptures were deliuered to vs in the which is not wholie and perfectlie conteined whatsoeuer belongeth to our saluation 2. Tim. 3 16. The epistle vnto Timothie doth sufficientlie reprooue these men when it saith that The scripture inspired by God is profitable to teach and confute also to correct instruct that the man of God may be perfect and sincere instructed to euerie good worke Wherefore if thou bring anie worke that thou affirmest to be good or anie thing necessarie to be beléeued which cannot be confirmed by the holy scriptures I trulie would rather not saie that the things which thou hast brought are not good or profitable than to pronounce otherwise of the scripture than the apostle hath iudged thereof For we must not admit that which they commonlie vaunt of namelie that the apostles taught not all things nor that the primitiue church commanded all whatsoeuer should be for our comfort as though it were necessarie daie by daie afterward that more things should be made manifest This perhaps we might grant as touching politike gouernement The primitiue church had all things necessarie to be beleued Tertullian of things not necessarie to saluation but as touching doctrine and the articles of faith necessarilie to be beléeued the ancient Fathers had all no lesse than we haue Tertullian in his booke De praescriptionibus saith Happie is the church vnto the which the apostles haue powred out their whole doctrine with their bloud Christ said also All those things which I haue heard of my fatherâ— Iohn 15 15. I haue made them knowen vnto you These men saie that in déed all things were insinuated by the apostles but that the apostles did not make all things knowen vnto vs. Here saie we that they although they wrote not all things yet
restored to thee in the resurrection of the iust In Iohn Iohn 12 25. He that loueth his soule in this world shall loose it and he that dooth hate the same shall preserue it vnto euerlasting life And vnder the word Soule he vnderstandeth this life of the bodie wherevnto he that is ouermuch affected and will not render it for the Gospell sake shall loose the same bicause in the resurrection it shal be iudged to perpetuall destruction But he that shall loose the same shall receiue it safe vnto eternall life In the 25. of Matthew Matt. 25 32. Before him shal be gathered all nations And in the 13. Mark 13. 27 of Marke And he shall send his angels and shall gather his elect togither from the foure winds and from the vttermost parts of the earth to the vttermost part of heauen In the 17. of the Acts Acts. 17 verse 18 31 Paule preached this resurrection to the Atheniens when there were present with him the Stoiks Epicures in the stréete of Mars who hearing of that doctrine partlie they laughed it to scorne partlie they said We wil heare thee another time of this matter And they called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is A carrier about of newes a setter foorth of strangs gods of new doctrine verse 6. In the same booke the 23 chapter when as Paule stood in the college of the Scribes Pharisies and priests and sawe himselfe to liue in great danger he cried out I am a Pharisie and the sonne of a Pharisie verse 15. and I am iudged of the resurrection of the dead And againe in the 24. chapter of the same booke when he had pleaded his cause before Felix the president he testified Acts. 26 8. that both the iust and vniust should rise againe The verie which thing he rehearseth againe when he was before Festus in the presence of king Agrippa and Bernice his wife 54 Yea and Peter in the first epistle vers 3. and first chapter saith that God according to the abundance of his mercie hath begotten vs againe vnto a liuelie hope by the resurrection of Iesus Christ from the dead And ye by the power of God are kept through faith vnto saluation which shall be shewed in the last time 2. Pet. 3 13. And in the latter epistle the third chapter he saith that In those daies there shall be new heauens and a new earth verse 2. Also Iohn in his first epistle and third chapter writeth When Christ shall appeere then we shall be like vnto him Whereof it is gathered that séeing Christ hath a bodie and is risen againe we also shall rise againe togither with our bodies verse 12. In the 20. chapter of the Apocalypse we read And I sawe the dead both great and small stand in the sight of God c. verse 4. Also in the 21. chapter And God shall wipe awaie all teares from their eies and there shall be no more death verse 14. c. In the 22. chapter also Blessed be they which keepe his commandements that their power may be in the tree of life Rom. 8 11. Paule in the eight chapter to the Romans But if his spirit that raised vp Iesus Christ from the dead dwell in you he that hath raised Iesus Christ from the dead will also quicken your mortall bodies verse 5. And in the sixt chapter For if we be planted with him to the similitude of his death euen so shall we be partakers of his resurrection verse 10. And in the 14. chapter For we shall all appeere before the tribunall seat of Christ 1. Cor. 15. Vnto the Corinthians the first epistle and 15. chapter he intreating purposelie and diligentlie of this question in such sort confirmeth the resurrection that of his iudgement and meaning therein it is not lawfull to doubt I will not drawe out words from thence bicause it should be méet to recite the whole chapter vers 13. c. Howbeit this I will rehearse out of the sixt chapter of the same epistle Our bodie is not for fornication but for the Lord and the Lord for the bodie And God hath also raised vp the Lord and shall raise vs vp by his power And in the latter epistle verse 1 c. the fift chapter mention is made of our habitation in heauen Not being made with hands and that we desire to be clothed vpon and that while we be in this tabernacle we sigh bicause we would not be vnclothed but be clothed vpon that mortalitie might be swalowed vp of life Further it is added that All we shall appeere before the iudgement seat of Christ that euerie one may receiue the things which are doone in his bodie according to that he hath doone whether it be good or euill Vnto the Ephesians verse 1. the second chapter When we were dead through sinnes he quickened vs togither in Christ and hath raised vs vp togither with him and made vs to sit in the heauenlie places verse 10. c. Vnto the Philippians the third chapter That I may knowe him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his afflictions while I am made conformable vnto his death if I may by anie meanes attaine to the resurrection of the dead Vnto the Colossians verse 12. the second chapter Ye being buried togither with him by baptisme in whom ye are also raised togither with him through the faith of the operation of God which hath raised him vp from the dead Likewise in the third chapter verse 3. Your life is hidden with Christ in God wherefore when Christ your life shall appeere then shall you be made manifest with him in glorie Vnto the Thessalonians the first epistle the 4. verse 13. chapter he admonisheth them that They should not sorrowe for them that are asleepe as others doo which haue no hope for if we beleeue that Iesus died and rose againe euen so God will bring with him those which sleepe in Iesus And strait after Ibidem 16. For the Lord himselfe shall descend from heauen with a shout and with the voice of an archangell and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first Vnto the Hebrues the second chapter verse 14. That by death he might abolish him who had power ouer death In the same epistle the eleuenth chapter Ibidem 19. when Abraham at the commandment of God would haue sacrificed his sonne Isaac of whom he had the promise of posteritie he considered with him selfe that God was able euen to raise him vp from the dead from whence also he reduced him to be a figure of the resurrection Iude verse 15. in his epistle bringeth in Enoch for a testimonie who was the seuenth from Adam and said verse 2◠Behold the Lord commeth in thousands of his saints to giue iudgement against all men and to
in his booke De bono mortis for there in the seuenth chapter verse 32. it is said that It shall come to passe at the last daie of iudgement that the dust and the graues shall restore the bodies of the dead and that the store-houses or receptacles of soules shall render them vp and so the resurrection shall be made But those store-houses or receptacles wherein soules are kept Ambrose dooth interpret to be the manie mansions Iohn 14 2. which be in the house of the father according to the saieng of Christ and also to be those places which Christ said that he went to prepare for his apostles when he ascended vp out of this world vnto the father And when as Ambrose had there disputed against the philosophers which affirmed that the soules of iust and wise men when they depart from hence doo passe into the bodies either of bées or of nightingales that there they might delight themselues either with swéet exercise or pleasant musicke he saith that they should rather haue taught that they went vnto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Vnto an inuisible place prepared for the dead Whereby it appéereth that the name of infernall place is generall as well vnto the place of torments as vnto the place of rest whereas the name of that hell belongeth onelie vnto the wicked 14 But what is the cause that led the ancient fathers into error to thinke that the soules of the faithfull doo abide in the bosome of Abraham vntill the last resurrection it is vncerteine Howbeit they séeme to haue taken hold of certeine places of the scripture which they did not rightlie vnderstand For it is said in the Apocalypse Apoc. 6 9. that The soules of the slaine are vnder the altar and crie vnto God that he would once at the last reuenge the bloud of them that be slaine But they should haue considered that the altar is not the infernall place séeing in the eight chapter of the same booke it is said to be in heauen verse 3. and in the sight of God neither dooth the altar betoken anie other thing but Christ himselfe And we are taught by that vision that the spirits of the godlie euen after this life doo remaine in the kingdome of God vnder the protection of Christ Further whereas they heard in the holie scriptures that Those which depart are called sléepers 1. The. 4 13 that also haue they referred vnto the soule when as it rather belongeth vnto the bodie For that resteth like them that be asléepe neither can it trulie and properlie be said to be dead séeing it shall returne vnto life and that there is no waie to returne from verie death indéed So as it is rightlie compared to sléepers who being deteined with heauie sléepe yet are woont at the length to be wakened againe Neither must we passe it ouer that whereas it is said of the infernall place that All men euen vnto the comming of Christ should bée brought thither and that afterward the spirits at the least-wise of the damned shall there be kept still Some there be which denie that there can be anie space found so large as may hold so manie spirits or soules And they séeme that euen as they appoint heauen to be in euerie place so they would appoint the infernall places to be euerie-where Neither doo they consider that mens soules be spirits and therefore doo not occupie a place as bodies doo Indéed they be in a place but yet definitelie as I haue alreadie said before not that they fill a place with their greatnes or quantities of measure but after the resurrection when they shall be indued with bodies God will not want places wherein they shall be punished for their ill déeds either vnder the earth or aboue the earth or in the waters or in the aire These things had I to saie as touching the diuers opinions of infernall places And by the testimonie of the most ancient fathers and also of the latter poets and likewise of the Hebrues I haue prooued that there be two kinds of them whom I affirme to haue spoken probablie yet doo I not saie that they haue rightlie and soundlie vsed the places of the scriptures 15 But now Into what place Henoch and Elias are translated if I should be asked vnto what place Henoch Elias were translated I will saie that absolutelie I knowe not bicause it is not shewed vs in the holie scripture Yet to followe the reason most likelie to be true I would saie that they were brought to the place of the fathers or bosome of Abraham that there waiting for the resurrectioÌ„ of Christ they might liue togither with the blessed fathers so that afterward with him being risen againe they might be lifted vp aboue the heauens Howbeit it may be said that this priuiledge they had before others to wit that wheras the soules of the faithfull were in the bosome of Abraham without bodies they being yet aliue had place there But as for their bodies whether they were glorified that is a thing hard to be determined yet may it be said that in the verie taking vp they were changed with that kind of changing I meane which is described in the first epistle to the Corinthians namelie 1. Co. 15 53 that Corruptible did put on incorruption and mortall immortalitie The verie which shall come to passe in our taking vp 1. The. 4 15 whereof it is written to the Thessalonians euen that we shall go to méet with Christ in the aire for it is written to the Corinthians 1. Co. 15. â—1 that Indeed we shall not all die but we shall be all changed But we said that Christ is the first fruits and therefore it ought to be affirmed Christ is the first fruits that he first of all other atteined vnto rest with his bodie Vnto this may be answered that this must be vnderstood of the highest seate of the blessed wherevnto he being raised from the dead was the first that came but we speake here of the bosome of Abraham not of the highest region of the liuing Further we might saie that the holie fathers in the bosome of Abraham in that they were at rest that they were well that they reioised that they were exempted from the punishments of the damned they had all this by Christ For the vertue of his death was not onelie profitable to vs but also to the fathers which were before his comming Wherefore in the Apocalypse the 13. chapter it is rightlie said The lambe was slaine froÌ„ the beginning of the world Neither must he be heard verse 8. which in our age hath not interpreted but peruerted that place For he translated That they were fallen that they worshipped the beast whose names were not written in the beginning of the world in the booke of life of the lambe which is slaine To what end hath he inuerted the particles of this speach What
séeing we shal be one people and shall haue one and the self-same countrie But vnto such as shal be importunate to demand what toong that shal be which the saints shall then vse I grant fréelie that I knowe it not Whereas notwithstanding I remember there be some who affirme that the Hebrue toong shall then be in vse but vpon what certeintie they affirme it let themselues take héed Of the change of all things In Rom. 8. 15 These things being declared the place it selfe séemeth to require that I should speake somewhat of the change of things that shal be in the end of the world Of the change of things at the end of world First I thinke it good to rehearse those things which the Maister of the sentences writeth as touching this matter in the fourth booke distinct 48. When the Lord shall come to iudge the sunne and moone shal be darkned not saith he bicause the light shal be taken from them but through the presence of a more plentifull light For Christ the most splendent sunne shal be present therefore the starres of heauen shal be darkened as are candles at the rising of the sunne The vertues of heauen shal be mooued which may be vnderstood as touching the powers or as some speake of the influences whereby the celestiall bodies gouerne inferiour things which then shall forsake their right and accustomed order Or else by these vertues we may vnderstand the angels which by a continuall turning turne about the spheares of the heauens Perhaps they shall then either cease from the accustomed worke or else they shall execute it after some new maner Matt. 24 29. Luke 21 25. Ioel. 2 31. After he had gathered these things out of Matthew and Luke he addeth out of Ioel that there shall be eclipses of the sunne and of the moone The sunne saith he shal be darkened and the moone shal be turned into bloud before that great and horrible daie of the Lord come And out of the 65. chapter of Esaie Behold I create a new heauen verse 17. and a new earth And straitwaie Esai 30. 26. The moone shall shine as the sunne and the light of the sun shal be seuen fold that is of seuen daies And out of the Apocalypse Acts. 21 1. There shal be a new heauen and a new earth Albeit no mention is there made of amplifieng the light either of the sunne or of the moone Ierom interpreteth that place that such shal be the light of the sunne as it was in those first seuen daies wherin the world was created For by the sinne of our first parents the light saith he both of the sunne and of the moone was diminished Which saieng some of the Schoolemen vnderstand not as touching the verie substance of the light but that as well the world as men receiue lesse fruit of those lights after the fall than they had before Howbeit all these things are obscure and vncerteine Wherevnto I ad that some of the Rabbines thinke these to be figuratiue spéeches for that in the starres there shall be no change but they saie that vnto men being in heauinesse and bewailing the vnhappie state of their things shall come so small fruit by the light of the sunne and moone as vnto them these starres may séeme to be darkened and altogither out of sight But contrarise when they beginne to be in happier state and to liue according to their owne harts desire then at the last the light of the sunne and of the moone shall séeme to be doubled vnto them and to be lighter by manie degrées than it séemed before Which exposition as I denie not so I confesse that at the end of the world shal be a great change of these things Wherefore I grant both to be true either that in this life there happen things oftentimes so sorowfull as the daies which otherwise be most cleare séeme most darke vnto vs and also that when all things shall haue an end the state of creatures shal be disturbed Yea also it happeneth that sometimes while we liue héere those lights of heauen are remooued from their naturall order as we read that it came to passe Iosua 10 12 Mat. 15 33. when Iosua fought and when Christ suffered 16 Ierom in the interpretation of that place addeth that the sunne shall then receiue the reward of his labour to wit such great augmentations of his light Zach. 14 7. Zacharie also testifieth that Then there shall be one perpetuall daie for that the light shall be so great as there shall be no difference betwéene daie and night If these things be true we may perceiue in what state the glorious bodies of the saints shall be after the resurrection Mat. 13 43. of whom Christ said The iust shall shine like the sunne They shall then haue a light seuen fold greater than this sunne which we now inioie Neither is it anie maruell saith Chrysostome if the creatures at that time shall be beautified with so great light A similitude For kings on that day wherin they will haue their sonnes to be established vnto the kingdome are woont to prouide not only that they may be set forth with excellent apparell and solemne shew but also that their seruants may be verie comlie and orderlie apparelled Wherfore when Christ shall then sit manifestlie in his throne and the iust which be the sonnes of God shall come into the kingdome and inheritance of their father God will bring to passe that all creatures shall be beautified with woonderfull ornaments and excellent brightnesse Esai 60. 19. Albeit Esaie saith that It shall come to passe that the sunne and moone shall giue no more light but that the Lord himselfe shal be an euerlasting light By which words he meaneth not that those starres shall perish but onelie that their light shall not be necessarie vnto the saints for those things peraduenture shall no more rise and go downe as they doo now But if thou aske of him what vse they shall haue after the iudgement he plainelie confesseth that he knoweth not for that he in this matter is destitute of the scriptures All these things in a maner we haue out of the Maister of the sentences 17 Now as I thinke there be foure things for me to examine First what vse we shall haue of the creatures when we shal be adorned with that glorie Secondlie whether their laboures shall continue Afterward whether the nature and substance of creatures shal be preserued and what manner of substance the same shall be Lastlie whether all the parts of the world or onelie some shall be repaired As concerning the first they which would diligentlie search out what commoditie shall come vnto the saints in the other life by the creatures renewed haue taught vs that while we liue héere we are by them holpen two maner of waies For first the nature of the bodie and the life Two
manner of helps we haue by the creatures which we presentlie lead is by them nourished and sustained Secondlie also the mind is holpen that by these visible creatures it may arise to the contemplation of God as Paule teacheth in the first chapter of the epistle to the Romans Rom. 1 19. But when we shal be once in the blessed state we shall haue no more néed of the helps of creatures for we shall then inioie immortalitie neither shall we be anie more vexed with hunger or thirst or cold or such other discommodities And as touching the knowledge of GOD we shall sée him face to face But saie they séeing the corporall eie cannot atteine to the essence of God 1. Cor. 13 2. The corporall eie cannot atteine to the essence of God as Augustine verie well teacheth in his booke De videndo Deo therefore least the eye should be destitute of a fit delectation vnto it shal be offered then a woonderfull adorning of the heauens beautie of things now renewed that it may haue not onelie wherewith to delight and reioise it selfe but also an occasion to woonder at the power and infinit wisdome of God These things I grant indéed are probable but they are not confirmed by the holie scriptures Neither dooth it sufficientlie appéere that séeing the bodie of Christ and infinite bodies of iust men more brighter than the sunne it selfe shal be looked vpon by the eies of the blessed what delectation the beholding of the creatures restored can bring ouer and besides Wherefore the plainnesse and simplicitie of the Maister of the sentences liketh me well when he saith he knoweth not that which he remembreth not that he had read in the holie scriptures I would to God that in defining of other things he would haue vsed the like modestie and faithfulnesse 18 But as touching the actions of creatures whether they shal be perpetuall or no we cannot define anie thing for a certeintie The angell indéed in the Apocalypse sweareth by him that liueth world without end Apoc. 10 6. there shall be no more time Wherevpon some doo gather that the motion of the celestiall spheres shall then cease If time haue an end whether motion shall also cease bicause time is the number of motion But this reason is not firme for it may be that the heauens shall mooue but yet by reason of that great light of the bodie of Christ and of the bodies of all the blessed and of the sunne and moone it cannot be well obserued So that motion may indure although there be no time for time is not but by obseruing and numbring of motion But they adde also an other reason that heauen shall therefore cease from motion bicause the continuall courses doo further vnto the preseruing of generation and corruption of inferiour things Wherefore séeing there shal be no more generation or corruption there shall be no néed then of the motion of heauen The reason in verie déed is probable but not necessarie for that celestiall motion although it serue not to generation and corruption yet maie it serue vnto some other purpose which we are ignorant of Howbeit this séemeth to me most certeine and which ought in anie wise to be affirmed that these natures of things shall not remaine at the last daie vnlesse they shall haue some vse For it is both against nature and common reason to appoint anie thing which is altogither idle but what works GOD will appoint vnto these things we willinglie grant our selues to be ignorant 19 Now let vs sée as touching the substance and nature of things Whether the substance and nature of things shall be changed 2 Pet. 3 7. and 11. whether the same shall be preserued after the daie of iudgement This dooth Peter in his latter epistle séeme to denie for he saith that The heauens shall suddenlie perish and like a showre and that the elements with great heate shall melt awaie But Augustine in the twentieth booke De ciuitate Dei the 16. and 24. chapters saith that Peter maketh a comparison with those heauens which perished in the time of the floud which cannot otherwise be vnderstood than of the regions of the aire wherein raine and tempests are commonlie ingendered These heauens were after the floud put againe in their places and restored by the word of God and are now reserued vnto fire Yea and Peter addeth afterward Ibidem 13. that We according to the promise shall haue a new heauen and a new earth That promise was made in the 65. chapter of Esaie verse 17. Apoc. 21 1. and repeated in the 21. chapter of the Apocalypse although it be there written of the sea that it shall haue no more being But Augustine in the 16. chapter which we now cited doubteth whether those words must be so vnderstood as though the sea should vtterlie cease to be as being now sucked and dried vp with the burnings or whether indéed it shall remaine but yet renewed and changed Augustine in the same place saith that No man so far as he can tell knoweth what burning fire that same shall be or from whence it shall come Of the burning fire at the worlds end Neuerthelesse at this daie the Schoole-men haue not doubted at all to fansie fable infinite things as touching that matter For some saie that that fire shal be elementarie fire which shall come downe by the cōmandement of God and burne althings Others dreame that the beams of the sun shall by reuerberation be multiplied that by them all things may be kindled euen as we sée it come to passe when the sunne beames doo strike vpon a glasse of stéele if a little flax be put therevnto it will be burned Augustine addeth that the elements shall then put off those qualities which were before agreable to our corrupt bodies but shall put on other bodies which may be fit for our immortall and glorified bodies that the world being renewed may be aptlie applied vnto men being made new by immortalitie But here I would gladlie demand of Augustine whether he will appoint that the bodies of saints after iudgement shall liue in the world Which thing if he affirme he shall séeme to make with the sect called Millenarije but if he denie this and doo hold which we beléeue that our bodies shall be caught vp into heauen what maner of application of the qualities of the elements shall this be vnto our immortall bodies Vnlesse perhaps he will saie that although these things shall nothing further our immortalitie yet there shall be a certeine analogie proportion betwéene them being now made immortall and our bodies glorified For if those things were as Chrysostome saith for our sinnes made subiect to corruption it is méet that we being deliuered from death they also should be deliuered from the burthen of corruption 20 Neither doubtlesse is that Gen. 8 22. A place of Genesis declared which is written in the booke of
the Leuen of the Pharesies where he manifestlie vseth a figure that such a figure as the Apostles in that place vnderstoode him amisse Moreouer in the 7. Matt. 7. 11. of Matthew he commaunded that they should beware of false Prophets for they will come vnto you saith he in sheepes clothing but inwardly they be rauening woolues In which commaundement who perceiueth not a figuratiue spéeche And in teaching of doctrine there is no doubt but figures tropes are vsed Paul saith in the new Testament 1. Cor. 10. 4 Ib. ver 18. Heb. 12. 29 The rocke was Christ We be one bread And of God it is writtē that he is a cōsuming fire 68 Afterward they affirme that the bodie of Christ may be euerie where Whether the bodie of Christ be euerywhere Look in the dialogue seuerally set out by P. Martyr concerning this maner Iohn 3. 13. and that by the wordes of Christ to Nichodemus in the 3. Chapter of Iohn where it is saide No man ascendeth into heauē but he that came down from heauen euen the sonne of man which is in heauen Beholde say they the sonne of man that is Christ spake vnto them as touching his humane nature and was also in heauen because the humane nature cannot be plucked away from the diuine Therefore what he affirmeth of one must also be spoken of the other But it is aunswered that wée will not diuide these two natures one from an other yet it followeth not therefore that that which appertaineth to the one should be giuen vnto the other Indéede wée graunt that the diuinitie of Christ is euery where but we will not attribute the same vnto his bodie and humanitie And this did Augustine vnto Dardanus most manifestly teache And that which is brought out of the third Chapter of Iohn the same Augustine enterpreteth that it must be vnderstoode that the sonne of man was in heauen as touching his diuine nature Neither did Chrysostome otherwise iudge when he expoundeth this place For he affirmeth that to be in heauen was not attributed vnto the sonne of man but in respect of his diuine nature But how féeble an argument this is These two natures are ioyned together therefore that which is graunted to the one must be attributed also to the other This may bée shewed by the like The body of the sonne and the light thereof haue betwéene them a naturall and excellent coniunction yet the light extendeth not it selfe to euery place whereunto the bodie doeth reallie attaine In like manner the bodie A similitude our eyes and sight are verie much ioyned one with an other and yet doth our sight attaine to manie things vnto which the eye of the bodie extendeth not Afterward they argue that vnto the bodie of Christ manie things must be granted besides the common course and conditions of other bodies and that for two causes partly because it is glorified and partlie because it hath the word ioyned with it We confesse that many things are to be giuen but to bée euerie where this cannot be fit for it the nature of mans bodie preserued And if wée shoulde graunt this vnto it it were not to bring renowne but ruine thereunto for then it should be extruded from his owne nature Moreouer it doeth not much further this matter because although we should graunt that the bodie of Christ hath this in it that it can be in manie places yet would it not therof follow that God would deale so in this sacrament A similitude 69 Moreouer they indeuour to prooue this corporall presence by the similitude of a teacher Who séeing he can extend his wordes vnto many hearers in them he communicateth vnto the hearers the concept of his mind so as all they vnderstand him fullie alike So saith he doth God deale in the words which bée vttered at the Sacrament Hée fouldeth his bodie in them that by them he may be shewed in all these signes and may be communicated vnto all that be receiuers Wherefore that which is graunted vnto a maister and that an earthly maister why shall it not bée graunted vnto Christ But the comparison is farre wide and as wée saide before words doe not discouer things or the concept of the minde vnlesse it bée by way of signification And that is to no purpose which afterwarde they goe about to prooue that the body of Christ is euery where out of the first chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians where it is saide Ephe. 5. 22. Christ is giuen to be the head of the bodie of the Church which as it is written in the gréeke is the fulnesse of him that filleth all in all things For the Apostle meaneth not that the bodie of Christ filleth al things and is euery where as these men inferre An exposition of a place to the Ephesians But because the signification of that verbe or participle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fulfilling is doubtfull for it may bée taken both actiuely and passiuelie séeing it is a verbe of the meane voyce if thou vnderstand it passiuely according to the gréeke expositions the sense shal be this That Christ the head of the Church is filled as touching all things in all his members not that he is accomplished in himselfe For he is both sufficientlie perfect happie Howbeit that must be vnderstoode in respect of the bodie members For as to be the head is giuen vnto him so likewise the Church is vnderstoode to be the fulnes of Christ namely for that it filleth and maketh perfect his mysticall body But if the signification therof be actiue then shal it be said that Christ is the head because he himself perfecteth al the gifts and vertues in all his members Christ as he is man is not euery where Neither is the sense that he as he is man is euery where And it is thought that this maie bée prooued by the Scriptures Ioh. 11. ver 14. 15. For Christ openlie confesseth that Lazarus was dead when hée was not there But if he wil cōtend that he had not a glorified body it maketh not much to the matter because he had neuerthelesse the godhead ioyned with it But to take away the doubt the Angell now after the resurrection saide vnto the women He is risen he is not heere Matt. 28. ver 6. 7. And againe He shall goe before you into Galile And againe Acts. 1. 9. He was taken away from their eyes as he ascended into heauen Wherfore hée filleth not all things nor is euerie where 70 They are woont also to cite a place in the 4. Chapter to the Ephesians Verse 10. He that descended is the verie same that ascended euen aboue all heauens An other place to the Ephesians expounded that hee might fill all thinges Which place notwithstanding prooueth nothing and is expounded two manner of wayes First that to fill all things is referred vnto that which is
feast daies of the Iewes 376. Whether it be lawfull to solemnize the birth daie of anie man pag. 377. chapter VIII The fift precept of the honouring of superiours pag. 377. A comparison betweene the duties of parents and magistrates Ibidem What dominion the husband hath ouer the wife pag. 379. Of ambition pag. 381. Of the desire of praise pag. 382. Of flatterie pag. 383. chapter IX The sixt precept of freendship 384. Of homicide pag. 385. Whether Elias did well in killing of the Baalites pag. 386. Of parricide pag. 390. Of sword-plaie Ibidem Whether it be lawfull for anie man to kill himselfe pag. 391. Of repelling of violence pag. 397. Of curssings imprecations and bannings Ibidem How far it may be lawfull to reioise in our enimies ouerthrowe pag. 400. Of a cursse shunning of reuenge 403. * Of the affects in generall pag. 405. * Of shamefastnesse pag. 411. * Of temperance pag. 412. Of mercie and Nemesis Ibidem Of crueltie enuie emulation and reuenge pag. 414. chapter X The seuenth precept of not coÌ„mitting adulterie pag. 418. Of matrimonie and concubins Ibid. Of polygamie pag. 420. Of barrennesse pag. 430. Whether it be lawfull for children to marrie without the consent of their parents pag. 431. Of rauine or violent taking awaie 437. Whether marriage be lawfull in persons of sundrie religions pag. 442. Of degrees forbidden in marriage pag. 447. Dispensation for marriage pag. 453. Of dowries pag. 454. Of diuorsements pag. 457. Whether matrimonie be a sacrament pag. 462. chapter XI Of whoordome fornication and adulterie pag 468. Of bastards pag. 475. Of idlenesse pag. 479. Of the punishments of adulterie 482. Whether the man or woman doo sinne more greeuouslie in adulterie pag. 489. Of reconciliation of man wife 495. Of wine and droonkennesse pag. 497. Of danses pag. 503. Of garments and apparell pag. 506. Of counterfet and false colouring 507. chapter XII The eight precept of not committing theft pag. 517. Of beneficence and hospitalitie 518. Of benefiting and vnthankfulnes 523. Of plaies and pastimes pag. 524. * Of gentlenesse and affabilitie pag. 528. chapter XIII The ninth precept of not bearing false witnesse Ibidem Of contumelie Ibidem Of suspicions pag. 533. Of mocking and taunting pag. 534. Of deceit or guile Ibidem Whether guile be lawfull for the rooting out of idolatrie and heresies 539. Of dissimulation pag. 541. Of truth and of a lie pag. 542. Whether it be lawfull to lie for preseruing the life of our neighbour pag. 546. Whether we may lie for modestie sake pag. 547. Whether faith against a promise breaker must be kept pag. 548. Of a fable and apolog pag. 550. chapter XIIII The last precept against lusting 551. Of the comparison betweene sins 553. Of charitie which is the fulfilling of the lawe pag. 556. Of salutations pag. 560. Whether the commandement of louing God with all the hart c. may bee kept in this life pag. 562. Whether the first motions should bee accounted sinnes pag. 565. Whether by rewards we ought to bee mooued to the obedience of God 573. chapter XV Of the vse and abrogating of the lawe pag. â—75 chapter XVI Of the likenesse and vnlikenesse of the old and new league or couenant pag. 582. A comparison of the sacraments of the fathers with ours pag. 586. chapter XVII Of Christ and his manifestation in the flesh and by what meanes he performed all the parts of our saluation pag. 599. chapter XVIII An exposition vpon the twelue articles pag. 612. The method and order of the Common places of the Third part AFter these things doo followe the causes and the generall meanes whereby we are both put and reteined in the possession of Christ and saluation and there be also shewed the effects of Christ remaining in vs. All which things the places following doo plainelie teach to wit the places of predestination and calling of faith and hope of adoption iustification Christian libertie of repentance of Christian life of patience in afflictions of the praiers of good men and finallie of eternall life THE CHAPTERS AND COMMON PLACES OF THE THIRD PART chapter I OF the eternall predestination of God wherein also are refelled the arguments which the aduersaries make against the same pag. 1. Whether GOD would destroie anie man pag. 42. chapter II Of the calling of God pag. 44. Of grace pag. 47. How grace and works are vnto eternall life pag. 52. chapter III Of faith and the certeintie thereof and how faith may agree with feare pag. 63. Of securitie pag. 67. Whether true faith may be separated from charitie pag. 69. How faith excelleth charitie and the contrarie pag. 75. What vnion the godlie haue with Christ pag. 77. Of the adoption of the sonnes of God pag. 79. The description of Christian hope 82. chapter IIII That iustification is of faith onelie not of works pag. 89. chapter V Of peace bondage Christian libertie of offense of conscience and of the choise of meates pag. 161. chapter VI Of vowes in generall pag. 175. Of the vow of Nazareth pag. 177. Of the vow of Ieptha pag. 182. Of the Rechabites pag. 188. Of peregrinations pag. 191. chapter VII Of marriage and sole life especiallie of ministers pag. 192. That chastitie is no common gift of God pag. 198. chapter VIII Of repentance of contrition confession and satisfaction pag. 203. chapter IX Of the works of supererogation imagined perfection of the Papists pag. 227. Of purgatorie and papisticall indulgences pag. 232. chapter X Of teares fasting there also of Lent pag. 245. Of watches pag. 256. chapter XI Of a Christian life and there of sundrie vocations pag. 257. Of freendship pag. 258. How we are to take counsel of God 260. The example of Naaman declared 263. That the possession of riches is lawfull for godlie men pag. 267. chapter XII Of liberalitie and magnificence 269. Of fortitude mortification enduring the crosse and affliction pag. 270. Of flight pag. 287. Whether Dauid did well in flieng to the Philistines for feare of Saule pag. 291. Whether the holie men were inferior to the Ethniks in abiding aduersities 296. chapter XIII Of holie praiers pag. 300. Whether praiers be the causes of the benefits of God pag. 310. How God saith he will giue that which he will not giue and contrariwise Ibid. Of the abuse of forreine language 309. Of musicke and meeter pag. 311. chapter XIIII Of death and of the consolation of the godlie against the same pag. 314. Of moorning for the dead pag. 315. Of buriall pag. 319. That soules loosed from their bodies do not sleepe pag. 323. Of wandering spirits pag. 326. chapter XV Of the resurrection pag. 327. chapter XVI Of the taking vp of Elias and Enoch and of their returne pag. 370. chapter XVII Of the end of the world pag. 385. Of the last iudgement pag. 386. That all mens glorie in heauen shall be alike pag. 389. Of the change of all things pag. 393. The method of the Common
a Christian dooth he dooth them by the impulsion of the spirit of God Those things which the philosophers doo according to morall precepts they doo them by the guide of humane reason The philosophers are stirred vp to doo those things bicause they so iudge it to be honest and right but the Christians bicause God hath so decréed Those doo thinke to profit and make perfect themselues these bicause the maiestie of God must be obeied Those doo giue credit to themselues but these giue credit to God and to the words of the lawe which he hath made Those séeke the loue of themselues these are driuen by the loue of God alone And of this manifold difference it commeth to passe that one and the same thing as touching the matter dooth please God and by his iudgement is condemned Which knowledge is preferred aboue other So now we sée that the speculatiue knowlege is preferred aboue the actiue For dooing is ordeined for contemplation and not contrariwise And no man doubteth but that that which is ordeined for another thing is lesse honorable than it But it is obiected that the contemplatiue kind dooth belong vnto action therefore indéed we behold nature that we may make much of the author thereof and therefore we séeke to knowe God to the intent we may worship him And our diuinitie is for this cause by some called actuall Howbeit these men reasoning after this maner are excéedinglie deceiued For no science is therefore called actuall bicause the worke attaineth vnto that knowledge except the selfe-same thing be performed which was first knowne When we behold nature and the heauen although we obtaine thereby a worship and loue towards God yet such a knowledge must not be called actuall bicause that is not brought to passe which we behold For there is no man that can make nature and heauen and other works which followe thereof accidentally they are said to behold them For not all men which behold these things doo loue and worship God nay rather they be oftentimes most farre from him Againe the works which folowe that knowledge and also our diuinitie haue respect vnto this that we may knowe God more and more vntill we shall behold him face to face in the kingdome of heauen And Christ our sauior confirmed this opinion saieng Iohn 17 3. This is eternall life to knowe thee the onlie true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent The third Chapter Concerning Prophesie out of the first of Samuel the 19. Chapter verse 33. SEing therfore that God would be knowne vnto men by prophesie I thought it not from the purpose to speake somewhat thereof And that I may doo it the more bréeflie and plainlie A distinguishing of this question I will first shew what is meant by this name or word prophesie then what are the causes of it next the definition and lastlie the properties and effects As touching the name of prophesie What is ment by the name prophesie A prophet is in the Hebrue toong called Naui which noune commeth of the Hebrue verbe Bo that signifieth to come And it is in the passiue coniugation Niphal Looke in the fourth part cap. 1. art 8. Khimhi dooth interpret prophesie to be a certein facultie receiued from GOD. For prophets doo suffer a certeine breathing on them and instinct from God and that word dooth signifie sometime an interpretor or messenger And a prophet is called somtimes in Hebrue Roe that is a seer sometimes Chose that is a watchman sometimes Isch Eloim that is a man of God as in the first of Sam. the 9. chapter Sam. 9 10. and first of Paralipo the 29. In the Greeke he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to foretell or as some rather will of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to shew Whervpon among the Latins temples are called Phana and as Festus Pompeius thinketh the bishops of the temples were called prophets There were also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to wit interpretors which did seruice to the greater prophets They were also called among the Gréeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Among the Latins mad men are called Fanatici yet further they were called of the Gréekes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to stir vp and driue forward They were called in Latine Vates as some suppose of speaking although there were that thought otherwise A prophet is he which being stirred vp by the spirit foretelleth things to come The causes of prophesy The matter of prophesieng Prophesie is vsed about things past present to come Acts. 5 3. 2. King 5 26. 2 Now that we may also speake somwhat of the causes a prophet is occupied about heauenlie and hidden matters Somtimes he séeth the things that be present as Peter did of Ananias and Saphira and Elizeus of Gehezi saieng Was not my spirit present with thee Somtime he séeth things that are past as Moses concerning the creation of the world For as touching things to come no man doubteth but he foreséeth them Also they which expound other mens prophesies are prophets A prophet is an interpreter of the word For so was Aaron said to be the prophet of Moses vnto Pharao and the expounders of the holie scriptures are called prophets Also it belongeth to the office of a prophet to praie vnto God wherefore Paule saith that euerie man praieng or prophesieng c. And in Genesis 1. Cor. 11 4. God answereth Abimelech concerning Abraham Gen. 20 7. when he had taken his wife from him Giue him his wife againe for he is a prophet A prophet must praie for others and shall praie for thee And Paule in the first Epistle to the Corinthians the 14. chapter setteth foorth more at large the office of a prophet When ye come together saith he euerie one hath a psalme 1. Cor. 14 27 or hath doctrine or hath reuelation or hath interpretation let all things be done to edifieng They may also make hymnes and thanks-giuing and exhort the people For Paule saith He that prophesieth speaketh doctrine Ibidem 3. exhortation and consolation Which facultie pertaineth to the mind and power of vnderstanding And a prophet differeth from a préest Wherein prophets differ from priests in that a préest should not onelie exhort teach and comfort but also minister holie seruices which thing a prophet may not doo Besides the préests were of the tribe of Leui the prophets were of other tribes Moreouer the préests might erre often did erre but the true prophets in that they were prophets could not erre Indéed they somtimes added somwhat of their owne but therein they were not prophets Lastlie the préests were chosen onlie by succession and had an ordinarie ministerie but the prophets were sent by an extraordinarie means according to the will of God 3 The forme of prophesieng is the reuelation of God
he said in the 24. chapter of Matthew Heauen and earth shall passe but my word shall not passe And it is commonlie spoken euerie where The word of God endureth for euer Esaie 40 8. 3 And although there be in a maner infinite things which may stronglie prooue the woorthinesse of the scriptures yet in this place I will measure my selfe thinking it sufficient that I haue after a sort shewed the springs or heads the rest maie easilie be found out by anie that will take paines to search diligentlie I will now likewise bréefelie declare the commodities which we receiue therby The commodities of the holie scriptures 2. Tim. 3 16. We read in the 3. chapter of the 2. to Timothie that All scripture inspired by God is profitable both to teach and to improoue to wit as touching doctrine and to correct and instruct in righteousnesse which belongeth vnto manners And least thou shouldest thinke that any thing doth want he addeth streight waie Ibidem 17. That the man of God may be perfect and readie to euerie good worke And in the 15 chapter to the Romans we reade Roman 15. For whatsoeuer things are now written they be written before hand for our learning that by patience consolation of the scriptures we may haue hope Which things séeing they are spoken of the old testament for while this was written the new testament was not published what shall we now thinke hauing the monuments both of the Apostles and of the Euangelists added therevnto Trulie we haue now euen these verie things more plentifullie in the holie scriptures The power of sauing attributed to the scriptures 1. Tim. 4 13. And the holie Ghost feareth not to attribute the power of sauing vnto them For in the first Epistle to Timothie the fourth chapter it is written Take heed to thy selfe and to thy doctrine continue therein for in so dooing thou shalt saue both thy selfe and those that heare thee Matt. 13 19. And in the parable of the gospel where it is described that the séede fell some in the waie some among stones and thornes and some in good ground We are borne anew by the word 1. Cor. 4 15. the gospell or word of God by the interpretation of Christ is vnderstood by the séede bicause thereby we are borne anew Wherefore Paule wrote boldlie vnto some I haue begotten you by the gospel And Augustine did then first arise out of his errors wherewith he had béene captiuated Augustine conuerted by reading of the scriptures when he began to reade the scriptures And at the reading of Paule as we may perceiue in his confessions the darkenesse was chased frō his eies And vnto such reding he was driuen by an oracle of God For he heard voices as if children had soong and said Take and read Take and read which voice when he had obeied had lighted vpon that place in the holie scriptures Put on the Lord Iesus Christ Rom. 13 14. c. he was conuerted wholie vnto God Decrees of faith must be confirmed only by the scriptures Constantine bad that controuersies should be decided by them who had so long before striuen against the truth These be notable tokens of the word of God Adde herewithall that the decrées of the christian faith can be confirmed by no other meanes than by authoritie of the holie scriptures Therefore as the ecclesiasticall historie declareth Constantine the great in the councell of Nice exhorted the fathers of the church that by the oracles of the holie scriptures they would appease the controuersies sproong vp in religion 4 But he that will knowe more at large the properties of the holy scripture The properties of the scripture out of the 19 psalme Psal 19 8. let him read the 19 psalme there they be described both with maruelous breuitie and great elegancie First the lawe of the Lord is called Temima that is immaculate perfect Secondly it is affirmed that it doth restore the soule and that is not to be looked for in prophane learning Thirdlie it is called a sure testimonie of the Lord whereas mans counsels are euermore variable and inconstant It teacheth the simple and ignorant whereas other knowledges doo instruct only the prudent and sharpe witted hearers Moreouer the lawe of the Lord is right and hath nothing crooked awrie or vniust as in euerie part of mans lawe is espied Also it reioiceth the hart euen with such a gladnes as is chast and holie The Lords commandement is pure but mans deuises are neuer sincerelie made séeing they be fraited with many crafts and deceits It lighteneth the eies but contrariwise the traditions of men darken them The lawe of God is cleane and is offered vndefiled vnto vs being without any falshood or wrong whereas mans ordinances are most fowlie infected with both the euils The statutes of God indure for euer but those things which be ordained by men are alwaies shifting oftentimes changed and are neuer of long continuance To conclude those things which the Lord hath prescribed are both true and iust which cannot be affirmed of mans lawes Moreouer they are to be desired aboue gold and pretious stones where as the best natures doo verie much mislike the precepts of mans lawe Finallie those things which God hath taught vs in the scriptures be more swéet than the honie and the honie combe where contrariwise men are not accustomed to teach any other than hard difficult and often times cruell things Besides these properties of the holie scriptures I purpose not to ad anie more For they that be studious may easilie of themselues find out the other fruits and commodities 5 Now must I declare another point which I promised To what iudgement we must stand for the sense of the scriptures to wit by what iudgements and abitrers we must assure our selues for vnderstanding of the scriptures Two tokens I haue alwaies obserued by which the truth of the diuine scripture may be perceiued namelie the holie ghost and the word of God it selfe Concerning the spirit Iohn writeth in the 8. chapter of his gospell The truth is knowne by the spirit and the word Iohn 8 47. that Christ thus said If ye haue God to your father why doo you not acknowledge my word And séeing it is certaine that we be not adopted to be the children of God but by the comming of the holie ghost Christ testifieth in this place that when we haue once obteined the same spirit we may so discerne betwixt his word and a strange word as the same will appeare verie euident and plaine vnto vs. According to which sense he also said in another place My sheepe knowe my voice and followe not a stranger Iohn 10 4. And there is no doubt but that we by the strength of the holie spirit are made the shéepe of Christ which followe not falshood errors and heresies which be voices of strangers but doo imitate onlie the
dissemble obedience to establish idolatrie it is no lesse liking vnto them to possesse soules than to torment bodies Augustine Augustine in his tenth booke De ciuitate Dei the 11. chapter sheweth that Purphyrius wrote vnto Anebuntes that certeine sorcerers were so accustomed to terrifie diuels with threatenings as they said that if they would not doo those things which they were commanded they would strike heauen earth togither and all to rattle them Who séeth not here the subtilties of the diuell that faineth himselfe to be afraid of foolish and ridiculous coniurations But about these things we haue béene ouer long Miracles doo verie much streÌ„gthen faith 11 It is good for vs now to returne to the examination of the last part of our definition wherin it was said that miracles are doon for the confirmation of faith And it may séeme not a little to make against this clause That we ought not lightlie to giue credit vnto miracles bicause they may giue an occasion of erring And therehence is deriued no sure kind of argument but verie dangerous and this is prooued by manie places First the Lord saith in the 24. of Matthew verse 24 that False prophets in the latter daies shall so deceiue men by working of signes and miracles that if it were possible the very elect should be deceiued 2. Thes 2 9. which sentence Paule to the Thessalonians handled more at large Also we lerne out of the booke of Exodus that we should not giue credit vnto signes For the sorcerers of Pharao did for a space the same things that Moses did In Deuteronomie also it is commanded that we must not beléeue a prophet Deut. 13 1. though he worke signes if he drawe the people to idolatrie Wherfore séeing miracles may be wrought as well for the defending of false doctrine as for the true they must not be iudged méete to confirme our faith Yea and Augustine in the 16. chapter De ciuitate Dei wrote If angels require sacrifices to be doone vnto them and doo worke signes and contrariwise if others shall testifie that we must sacrifice vnto God onlie and yet those worke no miracles we must beléeue these and not the other The same Augustine against Faustus as touching the Manicheis saith Yée worke no signes wherby we should beléeue you yea and if ye did yet should we not beléeue you Wherefore we must vnderstand that miracles in verie déed are not sufficient to confirme faith Miracles alone are not enough to confirme faith For it behooueth aboue all things to make triall of that doctrine which is brought and that by the testimonie of the holie scriptures Doctrine agreeing with the scriptures must be beleued without signes wherevnto if it agrée wée must beléeue it euen without signes But if miracles be added the beléeuers are still confirmed the more and they which haue not as yet beléeued are at the least-wise made the more attentiue and the waie to beléeue is prepared for them 12 Miracles also are after a sort like vnto sacraments Miracles haue some resemblaÌ„câ— of sacraments for both of them are added as certeine seales vnto promises And euen as miracles profit not vnlesse there be first a respect had vnto the doctrine so likewise the sacraments bring no commoditie but much hurt vnlesse they be receiued with a pure faith Both of them serue to confirme faith but none of both is sufficient by themselues They doubtles are blessed and to be praised in déed which beléeue without the helpe of miracles Iohn 20 â—9 for Blessed are they saith our Lord which haue not seene and yet doo beleeue And yet for all that the confirmation by signes must not be despised But thou wilt say perhaps Séeing they are so profitable to confirme faith why did the Lord in Matthew the ninth and 11. chapters and in manie other places Matth 9 â—… charge that they should not be published Manie causes there were He would first haue his doctrine to bée preached Why the Lord forbad his miracles to be published afterward miracles to followe But if he had permitted vnto some whom he healed straitwaie to publish abroad that which hée had doone then should not doctrine haue béene ioined with that spreading abroad of the miracle séeing they were not as yet instructed in godlines He did this also least he might séeme to bée held with a vaine desire of worldlie glorie therefore he would by his owne example drawe vs awaie from the same Moreouer none knew better than himselfe what they were whom hée healed and he would not suffer euerie one to publish and preach his miracles wherefore hée forbad diuers that they should not doo it Further he sawe that it would come to passe that the wauering and inconstant multitude would not be led by a bare and slender fame of his miracles to beléeue the true sincere faith but would rather decrée vnto him worldlie honours aduancement which he himselfe sought not for verse 15. And this is verified in the sixt of Iohn where it is written that The people bicause they had receiued of him the loaues would haue made him a king Lastlie he would not stir vp against himselfe the rage and enuie of the high préests of the scribes and pharisies more than the state of the time would suffer Wherefore in the ninth of Luke verse 36. when in the transfiguration he had shewed to his apostles a demonstration of his glorie hée commanded them not at that time to publish abroad that which they had séene Euen hée also when by asking what men thought concerning him hée had wroong froÌ„ Peter the true confession wherein hée affirmed him to be the sonne of God charged that they should not tell anie other Mat. 16 20. that Iesus was Messias For they were not then so well established as if they should haue spred abroad such things they had béene able by apt testimonies to confirme the same in disputing and so he thought méete that they should tarie till they were more fullie instructed He would not that the truth should be wholie put to silence but yet hée chose a fit time for opening of the same Wherefore it is not therby rightlie gathered that miracles are of no force to confirme faith bicause Christ sometime forbad that they should be published séeing that commandement of the Lord had respect onlie to the choosing of better occasions and not vnto perpetuall silence 13 Lastlie there is another thing which séemeth to hinder that part of the definition For it séemeth Whether faith go before or followe miracles verse 58. that faith cannot be confirmed by miracles séeing they require faith will haue it to go before them For in Matthew the 13. chapter it is written that Christ bicause of the incredulitie of his owne citizens wrought in a maner no miracles Mark 6 5. Marke addeth that he could not Wherfore it should
yet Moses intreated him to go on with them Eoxd 33 3. Wherfore to deliuer the people there came both the Father and the Sonne the holie Ghost And although those works were common vnto the thrée persons yet are they seuerallie and particularlie ascribed to the Sonne And therefore Paule saith vnto the Corinthians 1. Cor. 10. 4. and 9. that that rocke from whence the water did flowe was Christ And let vs not tempt Christ saith he as some tempted him in the desart By which words of Paule we manifestlie gather that the Iewes murmured against Christ Which being so the Arrians may be verie well confuted by that place Against the Arrians For if it were Christ as doubtlesse it was which came to redéeme the people how can Dauid saie There is no other God as thou art if the Sonne be either a creature or inferiour to the father For although this argument bind not the Iewes who receiue not Paule yet dooth it bind the Arrians which cannot refuse Paule Christs diuinitie is prooued Looke part 2. plac 17. art ◠Matt. 28 19. 4 But the testimonies whereby we prooue the diuinitie of Christ are taken as well out of the old as out of the new testament Matthew saith that We must baptise in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the holie Ghost In which words he sheweth that there be thrée persons coequal one with an other And we read in Iohn This is life euerlasting to knowe thee the onlie true God Iohn 17 3 Iohn 14 6. and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent Neither might Christ be called the first and principall good or else eternall life vnlesse he were God When the high preest had demanded of Christ with admiration Matt. 26 63. whether he were the sonne of the liuing God The Lord answered him Thou hast said The which he hearing rent his garments and vnderstood that he affirmed himselfe to be God Furthermore very firme is that saieng And God was the word Iohn 1 1 especiallie séeing it is added a little after And the word was made flesh Where thou séest that the subtile argument of the Arrians taketh no place wherby they affirme that Christ no doubt was called God but yet that he was not so indéed whereas Iohn saith most plainelie that The word was God and was made flesh Iohn 1 14. Further we read in the same Iohn that No man hath seen God at anie time Iohn 1 18. but the sonne which is in the bosome of the father he hath declared him In which place thou hearest that the son of God is exempted from the common condition of men It is said by the same Iohn All things are made by him Iohn 1. 3. Augustine Vpon which place Augustine dooth verie well infer that the sonne of God was not made for if he had béene made then all things that were made had not béene created by him at the leastwise he had beene created by another thing Thomas when he had séene the gashes where the nailes entred the open wound of Christ his side he spake foorth alowd My Lord my God Iohn 20 28. Also Christ praied to his father saieng Glorifie me ò Father with the glorie Iohn 17 5. which I had with thee before the world was made which saieng might not stand vnlesse that Christ had the diuine nature for his humane nature was not before the world was made Also the Lord said Iohn 16 15. All things that my father hath are mine and that the father hath the diuine nature it is by none called in question and so of necessitie the sonne is not without the same Besides Christ testifieth saith All things that my father dooth Iohn 5 19. I also doo but the action of them both being all one the natures of them must néeds be one and the same He said to the Iewes Iohn 8 58. Before that Abraham was I am which cannot otherwise be referred but to his diuine nature and no lesse do these saiengs prooue I am the resurrection and the life Iohn 11 25. Againe As the father hath life in himselfe so he hath granted to the sonne to haue life in himself Iohn 5 26. Hereby it is prooued that the sonne is equall to the father And the same Iohn wrote in his first epistle the fift chapter 1. Ioh. 5 20. And we are in him that is true that is in his sonne Christ which is verie God and eternall life Our sauiour said to Nichodemus Iohn 3 13. No man ascendeth into heauen but he that came downe from heauen euen the son of man which is in heauen And Christ was not in heauen while he talked with the Iewes vnlesse it were as touching his diuine nature neither did he descend out of heauen but in respect that he was God Of which comming downe he againe testifieth Iohn 6 38. when he saith I came downe from heauen not to doo mine owne will but the will of him that sent me Iohn 16 28. Againe I came out from my father and I go vnto my father 5 All these things must be referred vnto the diuine nature In the Apocalypse also he testifieth that he is α and ω Apoc. 1 8. The first and the last And in the same booke the 19. chapter it is written of Christ that there was written vpon his thigh and vpon his garments Apoc. 19 16. King of kings and Lord of lords And least thou shouldst imagine that that litle was the * Addition of name Epitheton ascribed vnto God there is mention made in the seauentéenth chapter of the lambe himselfe that He had the victorie Apoc. 17 14 bicause he was the King of kings and Lord of lords Which propertie that it belongs onlie vnto God it is manifest by the first epistle of Paule vnto Timothie where towards the end of the epistle it is written Vntill the appearing of our Lord Iesus 1. Tim. 6 15. which he shall shew in due time that is blessed and Prince onlie the King of kings and Lord of lords To the Romans he saith Rom. 9 5. Of them came the fathers of whome as touching the flesh Christ came who is God ouer all blessed for euer Besides when it is commanded Deut. 6 13. Thou shalt woorship the Lord thy God and him onlie thou shalt serue It is said by Paule vnto the Philippians In the name of Iesus Phil. 2 10. let euerie knee bow both of things in heauen of things in earth and things vnder the earth And to the Hebrues When he bringeth his sonne into the world Hebr. 1 6. he saith Let all the angels of God woorship him And in the same place Hebr. 1 10. out of the sentence of the psalme the power of creating is attributed vnto him Psalm 102. And thou Lord in the beginning didst laie the foundation of the
spirit Where you sée that the worshiping of God which the Grecians call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is doon vnto the holie Ghost which he calleth God Albeit in some place it is read in the genitiue case 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if thou shouldst saie Seruing the spirit of God I sée the place is not verie firme for some interpret it Seruing God in spirit but yet I thought it good to shew that the fathers haue vsed this argument Basil in his treatise De spiritu sancto Basil Didymus The ninth reason the 22. chap. and also Didymus De spiritu sancto declare that to be God which can be in diuers places at one time which thing is not agréeable to anie creature But that the holie Ghost was present with the apostles and prophets in sundrie parts of the world at one time no man professing the faith of Christ doubteth wherfore it followeth that he is God Also Basil against Eunomius alleadged the epistle of Iohn the fourth chapter The tenth reason Iohn 4 13. And in this we knowe that Christ dwelleth in vs and we in him bicause we haue receiued of his spirit which should not be true if we should account the holie Ghost to be of another nature than Christ is for then might the holie Ghost be communicated vnto the faithfull without Christ He addeth also another reason The eleuenth reason Iohn 8 15. By the holie Ghost we are adopted to be the children of God wherefore he himselfe is God For the scriptures doo euerie where call him The spirit of adoption But none that is not God can adopt anie to be the children of God In the Acts of the apostles we read The holie Ghost said The twelfe reason Separate me Paule and Barnabas vnto the worke of the ministerie Acts. 13 2. wherevnto I haue chosen them And there is no doubt but that it is the part of God onelie to call vnto the ministerie Athanasius The 13. reason Acts. 20 28. Which reason Athanasius vseth in disputing against Arrius There is also brought the twentie chapter of the Acts where Paule thus admonisheth Take heed vnto the whole flocke wherin the holie Ghost hath made you ouerseers to gouerne the church But it is the office of none but of God onlie to choose ministers and bishops of the churches Ambrose thoroughlie weieth of these words All things are made by him and he saith Ambrose The 14. reason that the holie Ghost spake in the Euangelist and that therefore if it had béene a creature he should haue said Iohn 1 3. All we things are made by him by that meanes he had not excluded himselfe from the number of creatures Againe he citeth that saieng of Iohn Iohn 16 14. The 15. reason He shall receiue of mine we cannot saith he vnderstand this to be spoken of the bodie no nor yet of the soule and then it must be vnderstood of the diuine nature He also taketh the testimonie of Esaie which is written in Luke The 16. reason Luke 4 18. Esai 16 1. The Spirit of the Lord hath annointed me and sent me to preach glad tidings to the poore But there is none that hath power to send Christ no not as touching his humane nature vnles it be God The 17. reason Psal 85 9. We read in the psalme I will heare what the Lord God will speake in me but when Dauid spake these words there was none spake in him but the holie Ghost wherfore he is God In the tenth chapter to the Hebrues The holie Ghost hath testified Heb. 10 15. The 18. reason This is my testament that I will make vnto them he calleth it his testament which onelie God made with his people wherefore it is manifest that the holie Ghost which did speake is God 1. Iohn 5 7. The 19. reason 10 And in the first epistle of Iohn the fift chapter There be three which beare witnes in heauen the Father the Word and the Spirit and these three be one Manie write that this testimonie is not found in the Gréeke against whom is Ierom in his preface of the canonicall epistles who saith that these words are in the Gréeke Ierom. but haue béene left out by the Latine translatours Yet Cyrillus herein agréeth not with Ierom Cyril for he reciteth in the 14. booke of his Thesaurus all this whole place and omitteth this particle Among the Latins Augustine and Beda read not these words Augustine Beda Erasmus But Erasmus in his notes vpon this place sheweth that there was found a Gréek booke in Britan A booke found in England which had these words also the Spanish edition hath them But admit that these words be not had in the Gréeke copies the strength of the argument shall not be anie thing diminished for that cause The Spanish edition for that which we affirme is prooued by the other particle of the sentence which is found extant as well among the Gréeks as among the Latins namelie There be three things 1. Iohn 5 8. which beare witnes on the earth bloud Augustine water and the spirit Augustine against Maximus the Arrian bishop in his third booke the 14. chapter vseth this place and he would that the spirit should signifie the Father The Spirit God the father bicause God is a spirit and the Father himselfe is the fountaine and beginning of the whole diuinitie Further Bloud the Sonne bloud as he saith betokens the Sonne bicause he tooke vpon him the nature of man and shed his bloud for vs. Finallie water in his iudgement Water the holie Ghost dooth manifestlie declare the holie Ghost Wherevnto the Gospell dooth verie well agrée For whereas Iesus said Riuers of liuelie water shall flowe out of his bellie Iohn 7 38. it is expounded that he spake this as touching the Spirit which they should receiue that beléeued in him Wherefore insomuch as the thrée persons are represented in these thrée names and that it is added withall that these thrée be one it is manifestly declared that the thrée diuine persons haue one and the selfe-same substance And Augustine treating vpon this place dooth speciallie vrge that particle And they three be one And he would haue it to be a stedfast and firme thing in the scriptures that when anie things are said to be one they differ not in substance Euen as when we read in the Gospell that Christ said I and the Father be one Iohn 10 30. there was ment to be one nature both of the Father and of the Sonne so saith he we must now vnderstand as touching these thrée that they be one 11 Cyrillus thus argueth vnto this matter The 20. reason Iohn saith It is the Spirit which beareth record and the Spirit is veritie bicause there be thrée which beare record vpon the earth The Father the Word and the Spirit and
conditions is looked for in vs wherefore the change must not be attributed vnto him but vnto vs. But if thou wilt aske me whether God hath knowen and decréed before what shall come to passe as touching these conditions I will grant he hath For euen at the first beginning he not onlie knew what the euents of things would be but also decréed what should be But séeing the secretnes of his will touching these things is not opened vnto vs in the holie scriptures therefore we must followe that rule which is giuen by Ieremie Ionas 3 4. euen as we haue rehearsed before Esaie 38 1. This rule the Niniuits and also Ezechias the king had respect vnto euen before the same was published For although that destruction was denounced to them in the name of God yet they escaped from it by reason of the repentance and praiers which they in the meane time vsed Neither is there anie cause whie we should suspect that God dooth lie in anie thing God lieth not when he threatneth things which come not to passe when he threatneth or promiseth those things which doo not afterward come to passe For as touching Ezechias death was vndoubtedlie to haue taken hold of him by reason of naturall causes commonlie called the second causes wherefore the sentence being pronounced according to those causes he might not be accused of a lie Also the Niniuits if God had doone by them as their sinnes deserued there had béene no other way with them but destruction And God commanded Ionas to preach vnto them according to their deserts Furthermore a lie which in talke hath a supposition or condition ioined therewith cannot be blamed in such sort as it may be in arguments which he absolute and without exception séeing the euent dependeth of the performing or violating of the condition The xiij Chapter Of the creation of all things wherein is intreated of angels of men of the essence of the soule of the image of God and of diuerse other things I Would thinke that vnder the name of heauen and earth In Gen. 1 1. What is signified vnder the name of heauen and earth Moses shewed that the foundation or ground of all things aswell of the heauens as of the elements was made and that this matter is signified by the names of things alreadie finished For séeing it cannot be knowen otherwise but by the forme and perfection it is méet that that also should be named and specified Wherefore this whole heape is signified by the name of heauen and earth wherein also come the other thrée elements fire aire water He shewed vs of the vttermost things by which he will also haue vs to knowe the things that are betwéene both But how far these things at the first were out of square and order it is shewed when of the earth it is said It was without form Gen. 1 2. wast Wherfore this rude heape was brought foorth being as yet stuffe or matter void of order the which belonged aswell to the vpper things as to the lower And so perhaps as the more noble had the vppermost place so to the lesse noble was assigned the nethermost for this cause the name of creation is verie fit for the first and vnorderlie heape The difference betweene making and creating For those things séeme onlie to be made of nothing and other things are said to be made and fashioned And yet this difference is not obserued in all things for some things are called created which are said to be deriued from some former matter Two things doubtles men haue béene accustomed to attribute vnto creation both that it should be of a sudden and that it require no matter to be before hand The Philosophers error touching the beginning of the world 2 Thus the world was not rashlie made neither is it coeternall with the maker or creator Manie of the ancient philosophers assigned the workemanship of things vnto rashnes and chance séeing diuers of them in the stead of beginnings named discord and debate or else such little small bodies as smaller cannot be Aristotle attributed eternitie vnto that whereby he maketh God not to be the working cause of the world but onelie attributed vnto him the cause of the end or if he doo he taketh from him the power of working according to his will and thinketh that the world followeth him as a shadowe dooth the bodie or as the light dooth the sunne Which the Peripatetikes will séeme to doo for diuine honour sake least they should be driuen to ascribe anie lacke of power or alteration in God But these things hurt not vs at all for we affirme not that God is borne or apt to suffer anie thing but we attribute vnto him the chéefest power to doo And although God in his eternitie minded to make the world it followeth not therefore that when he did make it there was in him anie alteration of his purpose or will Againe let vs beware of the error of them in old time A curious imagined error which thought that there was an eternall and vncreat Chaos or confused heape extant before and that God did onelie picke out those things which were there mingled togither But we saie that the same heape also was made the first daie Some there be which demand that séeing God could haue brought foorth the world long before why he did it so late This is an arrogant and malepert question wherein mans curiositie cannot be satisfied but by beating downe the follie thereof For if I should grant thée that the world was made before at anie certeine instant of time that thou couldest imagine yet thou mightest still complaine that the same was but latelie made if thou refer thy cogitation to the eternitie of God so as we must herin deale after a godlie maner and not with this malepert and rash curiositie Of Angels and their creation 3 But verelie it séemes to be a maruell why the creation of Angels is so kept in silence as there is no mention thereof in all the old testament in the old testament I saie bicause in the new testament it is spoken of In the first chapter to the Colossians there is plaine mention of their creation Colos 1 16. There be some which bring two places of the old testament namelie Who maketh his Angels spirits Psal 104 4. And in an other place Psal 33 9. when he said And they be made Howbeit these places doo not firmelie persuade it The heauens are turned about by Angels It should be rather said that they are comprehended vnder the name of heauen séeing it is generallie receiued that the heauens are turned about by them The first reason is bicause if their creation had béene first described it might haue séemed that God vsed their labour in the bringing foorth of other things But to the intent wée should attribute vnto God the whole power of creation therefore did Moses kéepe
And that which is written in Genesis Leui. 17 14. Deu. 12 23. 1. Cor. 15 verse 50. Leuiticus and Deuteron they taunt with these arguments In the first to the Corinthians the 15. chapter it is said Flesh and bloud shall not inherit the kingdome of God therefore bloud is not the soule otherwise Paule had excluded soules out of the kingdome of heauen Further Christ in the gospell saith Matt. 10 28. Feare not those which kill the bodie and haue not to doo with the soule if so be that the bloud be the soule then without controuersie the tyrants haue to doo with it they shed it they destroie it c while they kill the holie martyrs of God These arguments are two maner of waies dissolued by Augustine against Adimantus Augustine In the old testament the speaking is of the liues of brute beasts but the arguments which these men bring out of the new testament conclude as touching a reasonable and humane soule wherefore their owne argument hath reprooued them vnwares But the more throughly to confute their first argument note that when Paule in that place speaketh of the resurrection to come he by flesh and bloud meaneth that the conditions of a mortall bodie shall be taken awaie from the saints at the resurrection Which thing the words alleadged there by him doo declare It is sowne in corruption and mortalitie but it shall rise againe in contrarie conditions But thou imaginest that aswell the life of brute beasts as the soules of men are called bloud That must be a figuratiue spéech to be interpreted by the figure Metonymia as it were the signe put for the thing signified In like maner as Augustine testifieth against Adimantus the Lord doubted not to saie Matt. 26 26. This is my bodie when he gaue the signe of his bodie Seing therefore the bloud is a signe of the presence of the soule therefore it may be called the soule it selfe Againe as by the same figure the thing conteining is taken for the thing conteined For who is ignorant that the soule of man is after a sort conteined in the bloud which being spilt and consumed it cannot abide any longer in the bodie yea and it is so ioined to the same as it followeth in a maner the affections and perturbations thereof so long as we liue in this life Yea some haue thought that it was therfore decréed that men should refraine from eating of bloud least they should become of beastlie maners which they saie are easilie carried into our mind if we should eate the bloud of wild beasts which thing I haue alleadged not as though I allow this to be the cause why God gaue that commandement but to declare the coniunction euen of mans soule with the bodie 26 But how man is the image of God it is declared at the beginning of Genesis In 1. Cor. 11 7. Gene. 1 26. where it is written that God said Let vs make man after our image and likenes that hee may haue dominion ouer the foules of the aire The image of God consisteth in the rule ouer creatures the fishes of the sea and the beasts of the earth Where it appeareth that herein standeth the image of God that he should be ruler ouer all creatures euen as God is the ruler ouer all things Augustine Augustine dooth oftentimes refer this to the memorie mind and will which being faculties of one and the selfe-same soule doo represent as he saith the thrée persons in one substance Howbeit this doctrine of Augustine dooth rather shew the cause of the image For man is not set aboue other creatures to haue dominion ouer them for anie other cause but in respect that he is indued with reason which plainelie sheweth it selfe by these thrée faculties But yet this is not all that the image of God is bound vnto For it is not inough to gouerne and rule well the creatures of God with memorie mind and will except we both vnderstand remember and will those things which be pleasing vnto God For if our mind remaine infected as it is with sinne it will not lawfullie haue dominion of things but will rather exercise tyrannie against them The true image of God is the new man Wherefore the image of God is the new man which vnderstandeth the truth of God and is desirous of the righteousnes thereof as Paule hath taught vs when he writeth to the Colossians Col. 3 10 Put vpon you the new man which is shaped againe in the knowledge of God according to the image of him which created him Where we sée that the knowledge of God is true effectuall to lead vnto the image of perfection And this is more expreslie set foorth in the epistle to the Ephesians Ephes 4 24. Put you on the new man which is created according to God in righteousnes and true holines When our mind is both indued with the knowledge of God and adorned with righteousnes then dooth it trulie expresse God For righteousnes and the knowledge of diuine things are nothing else but a certeine flowing in of the diuine nature into our minds But perhaps thou wilt vrge that after this maner a woman also is the image of God We saie that if thou compare hir with the rest of the creatures she is the image of God for she hath dominion ouer them and hath the vse of them But in this place thou must compare hir vnto man and then is she not said to be the image of God bicause she dooth not beare rule ouer the man but rather obeieth him Wherefore Augustine in the 13. chapter of his booke De trinitate said If it be vnderstood of man and woman in respect that they be indued with mind and reason it is méet that they should be according vnto the image of God but the woman being compared vnto man as touching the actions and affaires of this life she is not the image of God bicause she was created to be a helper of man And in the same place he hath another exposition Augustines allegoricall exposition but the same allegoricall He saith that we be called men séeing we contemplate God and that we are of good right bare headed bicause we must there repose our selues with incessant indeuour for vnsearchable is the end of diuine things But we are called women saith he when we descend with our cogitations vnto the care of earthlie things There it is méet to haue the head couered bicause a measure must be vsed and we must take héed that we be not too much plunged in worldlie things Howbeit we must not leane vnto allegoricall interpretations The exposition which we alledged before is plaine ¶ Of the image of God looke more in the propositions out of the first second chapters of Gen. in the end of this booke In Gen. 1. verse 26. 27 The image of anie man is the forme wherby it representeth him A similitude
of vnsensiblenes of gréefe so we also doo not admit the same Yea rather Christ next the prophets the saincts did wéepe and we are commanded to sorrowe with them that sorrowe Aristotle saith that his happie man will neuer commit vile and naughtie things This doo not we pronounce of ours for Dauid fell gréeuouslie and Peter gréeuouslie Those happie men of his cannot soone be repaired but we haue the most readie medicine of repentance and that alwaies at hand In like maner our happie man of those things which are ministred vnto him is able to doo most excellent things according to the state and condition which he hath obteined Wherefore that little mite which the widowe offered was so well pleasing so gratefull and acceptable to God as it excelled the oblations of the rich men Lastlie temporall chances and misfortunes whatsoeuer they be doo the more driue godlie men vnto God and doo drawe them from the world For our men can not be blessed vnlesse they be poore in spirit The xvj Chapter Of Prouidence vpon Genesis the 28. chapter verse 16. In Gen. 28 verse 16. THe Grecians call prouidence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Hebrues deriue it from the verbe Hisgiah in the coniugation Hiphil which is To see exactlie and to discerne A definition of prouidence As touching the definition thereof Cicero saith in his booke De inuentione that it is that whereby anie thing to come is forséene before it come to passe Howbeit this definition if it be referred vnto diuine prouidence dooth not expresse it bicause this dooth onlie shew the knowledge of that which is to come and the power of foreknowing But in diuine prouidence is not onelie comprehended the knowledge of the mind of God but also his will and election whereby things are decréed and determined to come to passe rather by one way than another Further there is also a power and ablenes therein to gouerne and direct those things which it is said to foresée for in things there is not onlie found the nature substance of them but also the order wherewith they be knit one with another And the one so reacheth to the other that it helpeth it or is made perfect by it both waies things be well ordeined particularlie as touching themselues each of them are said to be good and generallie as touching order excellent good And that this order is in all things we may prooue it by the nature of order it selfe That there is an order in things Order is defined for it is defined by Augustine to be the disposition of things like and vnlike attributing to euerie one that which belongeth vnto it But no man is ignorant that the parts of the world are diuers and not alike if they be compared one with another Moreouer how conuenientlie each one of them is allotted by God to his owne place proper seate and standing both experience teacheth and the holie scriptures testifie For it is said That God hath set the seas and the waters their bounds Iere 5 22. neither may they passe the limits appointed vnto them Esai 40 12. Further He measureth the aire with his span c. And séeing that so great a benefit of his ought to be ascribed vnto him in respect of his prouidence we may thus define it A true definition of prouidence that It is the meane which God vseth in directing of things to their proper ends In which definition is not onlie comprehended the knowledge but also the will and power of dooing it Wherevpon this that we auouch Paule in the first chapter to the Ephesians hath verie well expressed when he saith Ephes 1 11. Who worketh al things according to the counsell of his will And Cicero in his oration for Milo taught by what tokens this prouidence may be knowne from naturall reason for thus he writeth Neither doubtlesse can anie man iudge otherwise vnlesse it be such a one as thinketh that there is no heauenlie power nor diuine maiestie and whom neither the sunne neither the motions of the heauens and signes thereof neither yet the order and course of all things doo mooue and so foorth The verie selfe-same demonstration Paule describeth in the first chapter to the Romans Rom. 1 â—0 Iob. 12 7. And Iob in the twelfe chapter Aske the cattell and the foules of the aire the fishes of the sea and the plants of the earth and they shall informe thee Also in the 19. psalme The heauens declare the power of God Psal 29 1. Iob. chap. 39. 40. Againe Iob in the 39. and 40. chapters Concerning the goats the harts the horse the Leuiathan and Behemoth 2 Wherefore let it thus be determined Whether al things be ruled by the prouidence of God the order of things declare that these things which be created are not made by chance and at all aduentures wherefore God worketh according to his purpose and vnto his owne prouidence as vnto a certeine generall and chéefe art all things are subiect neither is there anie thing to be found that can escape the same Which neuertheles some are bould to denie who thinke that onelie the chéefe and principall things are committed to the care of God but the residue if they be of small account they attribute to naturall causes if they be of greater importance to angels diuels Which thing a man may sée in the dialog of Plato called Protagoras where the creation of things is so described that some things are granted to Epimetheus to make and some things to Prometheus Yet to the intent that mankind might be well prouided for this only is auouched that it was doone by the works of the gods But in the Gospell we be otherwise taught by Christ Mat. 10 19. All the heares of your head are numbred And Of two sparowes not one of them lighteth vpon the ground without the will of your heauenlie father Againe The Lord himselfe hath looked downe from heauen vpon the children of men But if these men would vnderstand the matter thus as though the prouidence of God extended not it selfe vnto all things after such a sort as it dooth vnto men Prouidence seemes of sundrie respects by reason of the diuers effâ—câ—s in things we would grant it not that the prouidence which is méerelie simple in it selfe should be said to be manifold but bicause the effects which be directed by it are diuers and sundrie therefore it selfe also séemeth to haue diuers respects Wherefore we grant that the prouidence ouer godlie men surmounteth so far as in comparison of them it is said by the Lord vnto them that shall be damned to the foolish virgins I knowe you not Matt. 25 12. and so is it ouer men more than ouer vnreasonable creatures And by a liuelie faith of this prouidence The vse of prouidence we reape manie commodities and especiallie a comfort in aduersitie
to vse this method that first we consider as touching the originall and beginning of images afterward of the vse of them whether it be lawfull last of all if they haue anie vse whether they ought to be suffered in temples and holie assemblies Looke In Rom. 1 23 after the words Who is blessed c. In 1. Cor. 8 4. As concerning the name among the Hebrues an image is called Temuna Tselem and as some will Teraphim of the Gréeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Latins Imagines signa that is Images and pictures Thus much of the words But as touching the thing we must vnderstand that the thing signified by the image is no absolute thing but must be placed in those things which haue relation to another For euerie image is the image of some thing euen as the likenes is called the likenesse of another thing And those things which be compared either in quantitie or qualitie haue relation one to another And the things which be compared togither in quantitie be either equall or greater or lesser and in qualitie they are reckoned like vnlike and diuerse Séeing therefore that an image is counted as I haue said among those things which haue relation one to another it is among the number of those which apperteine vnto qualitie for it expresseth the lineaments figures and colours and such other like of a liuing creature And therefore we may thus define the same The definition of an image An image is a certeine similitude whereby some thing is represented vnto vs which may be discerned with the eies And this I therefore saie bicause we may as well read as heare manie things alike which properlie be not called images The matter of images The matter of images is not all one for sometimes they be made of stone of wood metall plaister claie and such other like And sundrie artificers doo make them of that matter which they haue in hand the potter of claie the carpenter of timber the mason of stone the founders of metall brasse siluer and gold the painters also of their colours And we must not passe it ouer that idols also are images Tertullian wherof Tertullian wrote an elegant booke which he intituled De idololatria and he examining the word idoll deriued it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a likenesse image or forme whervpon commeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may be called a little forme The forme The forme of images is the view of a similitude wherein some thing is expressed so as it may be perceiued of the beholders The end whereto images are The end séemeth to be delight for Aristotle in his Rhetorikes among other things which bréed pleasure reckoneth imitation where an image séemeth to be a certeine emulation of God For God created all things wherfore men being vnable to create the things themselues doo imitate the production of God when they make images of those things which he himselfe hath brought forth in nature Images also are made for adorning sake for they beautifie the places where they be put Furthermore they haue inuented them to the intent they might not suffer the remembrance of them which be absent or dead or of things doone to be extinguished Also they haue béene deuised for honour sake for if a man had well deserued of the Common-weale images were erected to him So did Cicero counsell that there should be an image set vp vnto Seruius Sulpitius which died in his embassage And there haue béene some among them in old time which would not onlie haue others but also themselues to be worshipped with images Dan. 2 1. For Nabuchad-nezar king of the Chaldaeans cōmanded that within his owne kingdome himselfe should be honoured by an image of gold And among the princes of the Romanes Caius Caligula would be expressed by imags with this inscription being added Caius Caligula Caesar a god And such an image he indeuoured to bring into the temple of Ierusalem wherevpon there arose verie great troubles seditions and tumults in Iudaea The which thing Nero afterward would haue to be doone and for that cause the Hebrues reuolted from the people of Rome whereof appéereth that images were also translated to the seruice of God Neither did there want some which erected images to the affects or appetites wherewith they were corrupted The droonkards caried about the banners of Bacchus the lasciuious people of Venus the gréedie and couetous of Pluto the manquellers of Mars to prosecute euerie one it would be too long Let the reader search for this in Tertullian in his booke De idololatria But the honester sort of men did frame images of vertue and honour sometimes also they erected the images of the elders to the intent that men might be stirred vp to imitate their forefathers of which matter Salust wrote in the prolog of his historie of Iugurth 2 Séeing we haue said inough touching the end The efficient cause of images it remaineth that we examine the efficient cause of images Artificers indéed were authors of them and surelie cunning workemen Wherfore from them they receiued their estimation for the honour of images consisteth not of the matter séeing they may be made vnhandsomlie euen of gold Certeinlie all their honour is of the forme that in verie déed they may in perfect similitude finelie represent that thing which they betoken Iupiter Olympius obteined honor and estimation of Phydias and the picture of Alexander the great by Apelles euen as the well grauen pots of Alcimedontes and the instruments of Salomons house by Iramus that notable artificer To these things let vs ad 1. King 7 13 that our forefathers to bring the more estimation vnto their images fained them to haue fallen from heauen Wherefore the image of Pallas of old time was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to saie Fallen from Iupiter verse 34. Wherfore we read in the 19. of the Acts that the towne clarke of Ephesus said to the people Who knoweth not that ye be worshippers of the great goddesse Diana whose image came downe from heauen And it must not be omitted that séeing the ages in times past were verie rude the images at first were not orderlie perfectlie wrought as afterward they were The images in old time For of a long time men had vnwrought stones stocks and pillers in stéed of images Yea and in Rome at the first a speare was the ensigne of Mars afterward by little and little there succéeded more cunning artificers who so greatlie preuailed in the perfecting of art that as the poet wrote they drew liuelie countenances out of the marble stone Wherefore their images in old time were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Earthlie men bicause they séemed to be like vnto men Images were made so faire and beautifull that there were found which doted in loue towards them and as it were
wiselie said The heauens declare the glorie of God The Patriarchs when they would sacrifice went vnto high places where they might behold the tall trées the heauen the flouds and the earth lieng round about and thereby lifted themselues vp to the knowledge of God the creator But contrariewise foolish men would deuise images to themselues and at length fell to that that they called stocks and stones gods Wherefore Ieremie verse 27. in his second chapter earnestlie reprooueth them which feared not to saie vnto a stocke Thou art my father and vnto a stone Thou hast begotten me And thus while these men wold haue such kind of admonishers they were drawne farre awaie from the true worshiping of God and finallie they attributed vnto images the purging of sinnes They held them also for gods which did gard the quicke and the dead euerie particular man and likewise the whole citie From thence also they indeuor to wrest oracles and they make vaunt that their praiers powred out vnto them are heard and going yet further they sacrifice dailie before them This boldnesse or rashnesse of men did excéedinglie displease God and not without cause For a prince would take it in ill part if the honour which is onelie due vnto himselfe should be giuen vnto his seruants wherefore God himselfe in the prophet Esaie saith Esai 42. 8. I will not giue mine owne honour vnto an other 6 But some man will saie that this inuention had no ill meaning but rather a good and right intent as they call it but the same right intent dooth oft times marre all Neither dooth it suffice to make mens works righteous vnlesse those things be added or put to which we haue else-where sufficientlie spoken of Athanasius wrote against idols among other things he saith They which liued in times past made images to the intent that out of them oracles might be vttered and for so much as God might not be knowne but by visible signes and therefore they iudged that God was to be called vpon in images bicause they thought heauenlie powers were present with them Arnobius And Arnobius in his sixt booke against the Gentiles reporteth that the nations said that they did not worship stones but the presence of God exhibited about these images For they thought that images through certeine dedications were so adorned and purged that the power of God came fullie vnto them And in dedicating of them they thorough a certein peruerse imitation of the old fathers applied holie vnctiōs as they called them For Iacob also annointed a stone Gen. 28 18. Exod. 40 9. and Moses was commanded to annoint in a maner all the necessarie implements about the Tabernacle Eusebius also in his ninth booke the third and 11. chapters writeth that thereto did come the inchantments of diuels and incredible sorcerie for so much as there were dailie woonders wrought at the images whereby the sillie people were in sundrie wise seduced to the great detriment of the church He declareth the historie of Theotechnus which was punished for his wickednesse Yea furthermore Theodoretus in the fift booke 22. chapter saieth that the craftinesse of inchanters came héerevnto Craftinesse and false miracles about images who erected images against walles and gaue answer through holes bored in them Wherefore the people were maruellouslie amazed when they supposed that the images spake It can hardlie be credited with how great labour and difficultie men could be brought from the worshipping of images Eusebius in his third booke of Constantinus life saith When images were subuerted in them there was found the bones of dead men drie skulles lothesome clothes and small faggots of sticks which things our men in shewing to the people said Behold I beséech ye what ye haue hitherto worshipped And he affirmeth that by those same shewes verie much was brought to passe with the people 7 Now that the causes be set forth Whether it be lawfull to represent God in images whie men indeuoured to expresse God by images it séemeth good to dispute whether it be lawfull to represent God by them And it must be determined and that fréelie without exception that the same is not lawfull For God commanded the children of Israel The first cause Deut. 4 12. that they should remember they sawe no image vpon mount Horeb and therfore forbad that they should make anie such Howbeit the place is more large if it be more diligentlie examined For there he commanded that they should not make anie images at all to doo anie worship vnto them And in the fortie chapter of Esaie he saith To whom will ye resemble God verse 18. or by what similitude wil ye expres him And in the 44. chapter he confirmeth the same verse 10. saieng Who shall be so hardie to fashion out God or to make a molten or grauen image that is profitable for nothing I maruell that among the Papists Dominicus Azotus vpon the epistle to the Romans the first chapter durst write that by that commandement it is not forbidden vnto the christians to make images resembling the shape of man séeing the lawe hath onelie made mention there of créeping things of birds and fishes whereas neuerthelesse it is there by expresse words forbidden that no images should be made either of the male or of the female Moreouer it is thus written in the psalme Mouths they haue speake not feet they haue and walke not Psal 115 4. eares they haue and yet heare not noses they haue smell not And although the rest of the members may be vnderstood touching brute beasts yet that saieng that They haue mouths and cannot speake belongeth peculiarlie vnto men forsomuch as spéech was not giuen vnto brute beasts Wherefore Lucretius called them beasts without mouths Which interpretation Augustine brought in the same place verse 15. Furthermore Esaie in the 44. chapter laugheth the Carpenter to scorne who of the one part of a trée being cut downe maketh an image of the other part kindleth fire and therewith dresseth bread and meate He carueth it saith he and maruellouslie worketh it verse 13. that he may expresse the similitude of a man By all these things it appéereth that euen the images of men which be ordeined for diuine seruice are forbidden It is prooued therefore that images which represent God himselfe be forbidden by testimonies of the holie scriptures The second cause Wherevnto we must adde that by the testimonie of them we be taught that God is a spirit Iohn 4 24. wherof it followeth that by lineaments and colours he cannot be expressed Iohn 1 18. Further it is there written that None hath seene God at anie time Wherefore if he be séene of none and Dwelleth in the light that cannot be atteined vnto how can he be set foorth in a picture or grauen image to be séene Moreouer he is infinite but those things which be painted grauen or molten be
the molten calfe Exod. 32 20 Other good princes also and Serenus the bishop of Massilia Neither haue we euer perceiued that the scripture condemned ouerthrowers of images but the workers of images The first perhaps Who first painted churches which painted the church was Paulinus the bishop of Nola which yéelded this reason for the fact When the faithfull sort met togither vpon the holie daie to celebrate the memorie of Felix the martyr they were interteined with a religious banket and when they were more giuen to féeding of their bodie than reason would that father deuised to paint vpon the wall the histories of the old testament of the new to the end that the people by beholding of them might the more soberlie behaue themselues in their banket But howsoeuer that holie and godlie father ment in other matters yet in this matter he offended double For first he should not haue banketed the people in the church séeing we know that in the church of the Corinths there were manie things found fault withall by the apostle 1. Co. 11 22 concerning those feasts Moreouer he did amisse in that he thought men were more instructed by dumbe pictures than by the liuelie word of God Wherfore did he not rather teach them by a liuelie voice that they should temperatlie and soberlie spend out the time of the holie feast This had béene the ordinarie waie and meanes and most void of all danger Prudentius Prudentius also which liued in the time of Honorius and Theodosius singing the passion of Cassianus the martyr said that The historie of him was pictured in the church And in the seuenth Synod which was holden vnder Constantius and Hiren Nilus a bishop one Nilus a bishop is brought in which counselleth him that should build a new church to garnish the wals on euerie side with images and pictures But what bishop this was it is not knowen a martyr indéed he is called in this respect that he so became for Christ in the time of Dioclesian But it can not be he bicause it was not then permitted vnto the christians to build churches publikelie Further in that second Synod of Nice we read manie feined things and those things which were cited by those fathers for the most part are not extant in the booke of those men which were of sound iudgement There also it is reported that Gregorius Nissenus wept at such time as he passed by the image of Abraham but whether that image were in the waie or in the temple it appéereth not There also it is read that the martyrdome of Euphemia the virgine was painted out in the temple of the citie of Calcedonia howbeit so farre as I can gather these pictures were in the church-porch Augustins temple had no images But that Augustine had no images in his temple it appéereth hereby that he expounding those words of the 113. psalme The images of the Gentiles be siluer and gold euen the works of mens hands he writeth The works of mens hands for they worship that which they themselues made of gold and of siluer Doubtlesse we also haue manie instruments and vessels of such kind of matter or metall for the vse of celebrating the sacraments the which vessels being consecrated to the ministerie it selfe are called holie in the honor of him whom hereby we serue for our saluation And these vessels I beséech you are they anie other thing than the works of mens hands Yet notwithstanding haue they a mouth speake not Haue they eies yet will not sée Doo we praie to them bicause through them we make supplications vnto God That is a verie mad cause of impietie Wherefore it is manifest that images were not there for otherwise he would haue confessed himselfe inexcusable 24 Moreouer in the same Synod they cite Basil in his oration of the fortie martyrs A place in an oration of Basil expounded But that which they alledge maketh nothing to the matter now in hand For Basil affirmeth not that the acts of these martyrs were described in the temple but in the commending of them in his oration he saith that he would doo rightlie and orderlie whereby others might againe and againe be strengthened in faith For painters while they paint foorth the acts of valiant men they stirre vp others vnto laudable enterprises Men began euen at the first vpon a readie good will borne vnto Christ and to his apostles to haue some of their images at home with them Afterward being not satisfied with the priuate vse of them they set them not within the temples but in the porches Againe they considered with themselues What if they should be put in churches would they not bring such and such things vnto our memorie And finallie there insued an adoration Constantine with his sonne Iustinian at the temple of Sophia made pictures the which afterward Philippicus tooke awaie for which cause there followed afterward verie fierce contentions And séeing Paule saith 2. Cor. 6 16. How agreeth the temple of God with idols Is it not a shame at this daie that churches should be fraught with images How the ancient Christians ordered themselues in praiers Tertullian expresseth in his Apologetico the 30. chapter We saith he honor GOD with our eies lifted vp to the heauens and not vnto pictures Lib. Instit 2 cap. 2. Lactantius reproouing the Ethniks saith If ye thinke that those whom the images doo represent be in heauen whie doo you not lift vp your eies vnto heauen Wherefore it is lawfull so to saie vnto our aduersaries If ye thinke that the saints be in heauen whie doo ye not lift vp your eies vnto them which ye turne vnto the images in the temples Also we may prooue by an other argument Other arguments to proue that the Christians had no images that Christians had no images in their temples For Aelius Lampridius describing the liues of the thirtie tyrants among other things saith that Adrianus the emperor had decréed to appoint churches vnto the Christians but that there was one which did dissuade him that he should not doo it For he said If thou doo this the temples and images will be forsaken and all men will become Christians For those churches which the emperor was minded to giue them he builded without images Insomuch as those churches which were afterward erected without images were called the temples of Adrian Moreouer it must be considered that those things ought not to be had in the churches which call men backe from the religion of Christ Vndoubtedlie verie manie as well of the Turks as Iewes would be content to become christians were it not that they be greatlie offended at our images Paulus Ricius a learned Hebrue Wherevpon Paulus Ricius a verie learned Hebrue which was christened at Pauia said It was verie expedient that images should be remooued out of churches bicause manie of the Hebrues by the meanes of them be called
had them to make peace with the Chananites of their owne accord but it is added Vnlesse they had demanded peace but they alone desired it This therefore is not against the commandement of God especiallie séeing they not onlie did receiue the religion of the Israelites but also were appointed for perpetuall seruice vnto the tabernacle Also the Israelites thought themselues to be deceiued by their owne fault bicause they had not taken counsell from the mouth of the Lord. The promise which Dauid made was not lawfull namelie that a wicked man should be spared Therefore it is no maruell if afterward he warned Salomon that this euill might be amended 13 But verie manie doo doubt In 1. kin 8. verse 31. Whether an oth must be giuen vnto him that is suspected of periurie whether it be lawfull to offer an oth vnto him which is suspected of periurie and by great coniectures is thought that he will be forsworne For not onelie sinnes must be auoided but also there must be no occasions of sinning offered vnto our neighbours To this I answer It is necessarie for vs to ponder that they which offer an oth be not all of one sort Wherfore if they be iudges that doo it and that the order of lawe require that an oth should be offered in obeieng of the lawe they sinne not Let them commit the matter vnto God and diligentlie warne him of his dutie vnto whom they offer the oth For as it hath béene said the lawe of God in Exodus commanded that in certeine cases an oth should be taken This if the iudge obserue it can not rightlie be said that he giueth a true occasion of periurie But if so be the oth shall be voluntarie to wit betwéene priuate persons it must not be offered to such a man as vpon iust cause is suspected of periurie For it is not lawfull to anie man for his owne aduantage sake to prouoke an other man vnto sinne As touching priuate conclusions bargains and couenants let them be omitted rather than for our sakes the name of God should be made a iesting stocke 1. kin 8 31. Wherefore that which Salomon desireth is holie and iust namelie that euill may be taken awaie from the people and that men may be terrified from taking of the name of the Lord in vaine either by denieng of a truth or affirming a falsehood by the testimonie of his name King Salomon desired nothing but that he knew God himselfe did like of For in the ten commandements it is written Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vaine for God will not account him innocent that so dooth but will gréeuouslie punish him as one that is guiltie That this might come to passe Salomon desired and especiallie vnto them that forsware themselues in that house which he had latelie builded The oths which as I said were taken were accustomed to be doone ouer against the altar of sacrifice that is in the court of those men that were cleane But the oth of prophane persons which commonlie they call the laitie was doone at the wall whereby the court of the priests was seuered from the same Whie an oth was inuented and how inuiolablie it should be kept Certeinelie an oth was inuented for the honour and glorie of the name of God and was commanded in the lawe So then it is the part of a good prince to be verie circumspect that it fall not out otherwise namelie to the contumelie and iniurie of God And therfore Salomon is to be commended when he praieth that the honour due vnto the name of GOD might remaine entire and that euerie mans owne so far foorth as is possible might be rendered vnto him and that the lawe of laieng to pledge or of stealing or of dooing harme might be kept inuiolate But at the first shew it séemeth that Salomon did not the office of a godlie king bicause he desireth iustice and damnation vnto sinners To this may be answered that he likewise on the other side desireth good things vnto those that were innocent namelie that right iudgement might be ministred vnto them and that God would defend their cause Further it must be considered that the glorie of God and publike safetie is to be preferred before the commodities of priuate men But God hath delt much more seuerelie against periurie The seuere chastisement of periurie verse 3. as it is in the sixt chapter of Leuiticus for there he not onelie condemned the periured man but also all those which being priuie of the periurie held their peace For the lawe commanded that they which for a certeintie knew that an oth was falslie taken shuld in stepping forth reueale the same that the name of God might not be had in derision Wherefore Salomon praieth God that he will heare it out of heauen The seuenth Chapter The fourth precept of sanctifieng the sabboth daie In Gen. 2 at the beginning IN the seuenth daie God finished his worke which he had made not that he created anie thing the seuenth daie but that so farre forth as our vnderstanding reacheth it might be knowne that he finished all things the seuenth daie when as we knowe that there was nothing made by him vpon that daie Some thinke that the letter Caph which is added vnto Iod dooth signifie Before and they cite the place out of the 25. chapter of Deuteronomie verse 4. Thou shalt not moosill the oxe before the treading out of the corne But it prooueth it not bicause héere we may also vnderstand it in the treading out Howbeit héere in verie déed there is no question for the same consummation perfection or finishing of cretures is not anie worke added to things created the sixt daie but that on this seuenth daie the things are noted to haue béene finished and made perfect In that he rested the seuenth daie vnderstand it not from labour but from the worke of creating For Rest may betoken two things How the word rest is to be vnderstood either the end and termination of that which is doone and so it is taken in this place or else as a refreshing after labour which thing must not be ascribed vnto God for without anie maner of labour did he create the world But as the Hebrues saie in the letter He which is vttered with a breth onelie By the word of the Lord were the heauens made and all the hoste of them with the breath of his mouth verse 6. The number of seuen Psalme 33. Let vs héere passe ouer the mysteries of the number of seuen wherewith vndoubtedlie God is delighted séeing he hath comprised in that number the great and noble things which he made and commanded And this onelie let vs note that of euerie seuen daies one must be reserued vnto God How did God cease from working Ioh. 5 17. séeing he now also worketh Yea and he is a pure and méere act neither is that most
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
that Christ was therefore come to lead vs vnto a higher philosophie The true religion he calleth philosophie to take awaie the pride of the Graecians who attributed so much vnto their philosophie Ierom. Ierom writeth héereof in diuers places to Geruntia to Eustochius and against Iouinianus And among other things he writeth that Christ was Alpha Omega Apoc. 1 8. that is The first the last And when the mater was now come to Omega that is Vnto the last the same was reuoked by Christ to Alpha that is Vnto the beginning for that it pleased God as Paule saith to the Ephesians to bring althings into one Ephe. 1. 10. restore them in Christ that such things as yet were vnperfect might be brought to perfection Vnto Eustochius he saith that the world before time was vnreplenished but when the haruest was ripe God put to his syth that is to saie he cut off such libertie The Valentinians and Martionits by reason of this fact of the old fathers accused the God of the old testament but Christ they said the sonne of the good God reuoked this sufferance of the euill god Ierom answereth We diuide not the lawe and the Gospell neither doo we set Christ against his Father but we worship one God who would haue it for that time but now hath decréed against it For that then was the time to scatter stones abroad now is the time to gather them vp then was the time of imbrasing now is the time to absteine from imbrasings Bréefelie he saith that the fathers serued their times And that that saieng Gen. 1 28. Increase and multiplie is not in the same force at this daie for in old time virginitie was reprochefull that now Paule writeth The time is but short 1. Cor. 7 29 and therefore they which haue wiues let them be as though they had none And he addeth that Christ dooth allow of them Matt. 19 12 which haue made themselues chast for the kingdome of heauens sake Also Augustine De doctrina christiana Augustine in the third booke and 13. chapter saith that Those forefathers were so chast as if they had happened to be in our daies they would haue made themselues chast for the kingdome of heauen These things among the fathers must be read with iudgement for their mind was by all meanes to extoll virginitie and single life In verie déed Paule praiseth virginitie yet so 1. Cor. 7 26. The reason of Pauls praising virginitie as if a man perceiue that by that meanes the kingdome of heauen may be enlarged or if by dooing otherwise it may be hindered He praiseth it I saie not as a thing which of his owne force and of it selfe pleaseth God but as a state wherin we may the more commodiouslie and readilie spred the Gospell Augustine saith that now we cannot haue manie wiues but with lust bicause it would be against lawes and customes which cannot be violated without vnlawfull lust Also against Faustus he saith Bicause it was then the maner it was no sinne but now bicause it is not the maner it is sinne Clemens Clemens in his Stromata which place I cited before when he had said that God in the lawe required polygamie added afterward that the same is not now lawfull And Iustine against Tryphon saith Iustine that now euerie one dooth reioise vnder his vine that is Euerie one hath his owne wife and that is but one onelie And he reprooueth the Rabbins who as yet gaue leaue to themselues to haue more than one Out of Origin we cannot learne anie thing for a certeintie Origin he so plaieth in his allegories and manie wiues he maketh manie vertues and he saith that he is most happie that hath manie By all these things it appéereth that polygamie is at this daie forbidden And to all these I also adde this that the Romane laws did neuer permit polygamie and it is the part of a good citizen to obeie good lawes Yea and Plutarch saith that There followed a most gréeuous disturbance of the publike weale and of the whole world when that lawe was broken For after that Antonie who alreadie had in marriage Octauia the sister of Octauius Caesar had also married Cleopatra the people tooke it in ill part and Augustus most of all so as they put themselues in armes one against another with all their indeuour and power 15 Now must I confute those arguments An answer vnto the reasons making for polygamie To the first reason which we brought at the beginning for polygamie Abraham saie they and other fathers were holie men and had manie wiues Here might I make answer at a word that we must liue by lawes and not by examples But I adde moreouer that God either willed it or bare with it It is therefore a paralogisme A paralogisme or false argument A secundum quid ad simpliciter that is when that which is but in some respect is put for that which is absolute God dispensed with them will he therefore with vs also Or else it was a good thing in them is it therfore good of it selfe But the prophets reprooued not that fact To the second What maruell is it For they sawe it was either licenced by God or else doubtlesse permitted Howbeit A paralogisme here there is a false argument when that which is not the cause is put for the cause séeing it was permitted them for propagation or for figure sake Now there is no néed either of so populous a propagation or else of such a figure To the third They repented not It is no maruell bicause no man can repent him of the fact which he is ignorant of For it was a tollerable ignorance or else that which I rather beléeue they sawe it was lawfull for them GOD gaue the wiues of Saule into the bosome of Dauid 2. Sam. 12 8 It was lawfull insomuch as he had dispensed with his lawe To the fourth Or if anie man will saie that God permitted that vnto Dauid onelie this is the meaning namelie that God gaue the kingdome vnto Dauid then it followed that he might marrie the wiues of Saule if he would sith no man could then let him But the first answer pleaseth me better To the fift God made no lawe against polygamie And no maruell for his will was that that people should mightilie increase Afterward by Christ he reuoked it to the first institution So that which was wanting in Moses is supplied by Christ A brother although he had a wife yet he was compelled to marrie the wife of his brother that was dead To the sixt The case is particular and prerogatiues must not be drawne vnto examples God would haue that to be doone for certeine causes not onelie in the lawe but also before the lawe as appéereth by the children of Iuda and his daughter in lawe Thamar Moreouer the Rabbins saie
no sinne to be with it for charitie is the fulfilling of the lawe Where the lawe is fulfilled and performed there is no place left for sinne But séeing while we abide héere in this life our charitie is féeble and vnperfect therfore it is easie to be prooued that the same suffereth manie defects and sinnes therewith The verie which thing we perceiue to happen in heate and other qualities of that kind which being in their perfection admit not by anie meanes anie contraries but if they be remisse and of lesse force they receiue perpetuallie something that is contrarie vnto them Howbeit in my iudgement we may easilier resolue the matter to saie that those things which are taught by the Philosophers are true concerning the morall vertues and sinnes onelie which they in their bookes intreate of but that the Christian faith dooth more narrowlie looke into the nature of sinne than they were able to discerne And those things which we admit to be sinne they would iudge not to be repugnant to their vertues and consequentlie would repute them not in the place of sinnes 7 But to returne to our purpose There séemeth a doubt to remaine against that which we haue affirmed touching sinnes namelie when as we said that they of necessitie be not ioined one with an other For Iames wrote A place of Iames expounded He that offendeth in one is become guiltie of all So as it séemeth that one sinne being committed the same draweth all other sinnes with it Howbeit it should appeare that the sentence of the apostle must be vnderstood of charitie which is violated by euerie kind of sinne the same being taken awaie all vices doo breake foorth Or else we will take his meaning thus when as a man transgresseth one commandement if he should be stirred vp by the same force of temptation against the rest of the commandements he should in like manner transgresse them Neuerthelesse the former exposition séemeth to approch more nigh the truth séeing whatsoeuer Iames saith he manifestlie referreth it vnto charitie For he that falleth into anie sinne against his neighbour he is straitwaie conuicted to be guiltie of the violating of loue Wherefore séeing it is not necessarie that he which is burthened with one sinne should be iudged to be guiltie of all the words of Paule in the first to the Corinthians the sixt chapter verse the ninth must not as we said be vnderstood as though the sinnes which he reckoned doo not exclude vs from the kingdome of heauen vnlesse that all the sinnes be ioined togither in one man at once One onelie sinne is sufficient vnto destruction And those things which are spoken by the apostle doo represse them which flatter themselues in the profession of their faith and make no reckoning to liue iustlie and godlie Augustine Verie well did Augustine in his fourth book of baptisme against the Donatists An infidell and an ill christian are both in one state of perdition write that An infidell disputeth against the faith but an ill christian liueth against the faith Séeing therefore either of them is against faith neither of them can be saued by faith Against the infidels Christ said Vnlesse a man be borne anew of water and the holie Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdome of heauen And on the other part against the vngodlie christians this is to be alledged that Vnlesse your righteousnesse exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisies ye shall not enter into the kingdome of heauen Wherefore euen as the infidels haue not wherewith to delite themselues in morall vertues no more can those that be baptised if they liue ill promise vnto themselues euerlasting felicitie especiallie if they be infected with those heinous crimes which the apostle reckoneth vp séeing how can they with these crimes be in the kingdome of God For God gouerneth his kingdome by the word and the spirit but these men doo these things neither by the word nor yet by the spirit but rather by the flesh and suggestions of the diuell In 1. â—ing 2 at the beginning 8 Our Sauiour in the 22. of Matthew Marke the twelfe and Luke the tenth chapters rehearseth the sum of the commandements on this wise The words of Christ Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God c. expounded Loue the Lord thy God with all thy hart with all thy soule with all thy mind and with all thy strength And whereas he named the mind among the rest which word is not in the Hebrue that he did in his owne right For séeing he was the lawe-maker it was lawfull for him to expound the same Augustine in his fourth booke and sixt chapter De origine animae shewed What the hart is that héere the hart ought not to be taken for that little member of the bodie which lieth hidden vnder the ribs but he will haue it vnderstood to be that power of the mind out of which the cogitations doo arise And in verie déed euen as the hart is neuer at rest so the mind dooth neuer cease from cogitations Moreouer there be others that expound the hart to be the desiring power of the soule and therefore they saie that Christ added The mind It liketh others to saie that the hart conteineth the whole desire the soule the angrie part the mind the knowing part and finallie that vnder the name of powers or strengths it comprehendeth all the other faculties of the mind Or else it is added for the more vehement expressing of all those things which were mentioned before namelie that God must not be loued for an outward fashion sake but with the whole indeuour Barnard Wherefore Barnard saith that The maner how to loue God is to loue him without measure And Augustine in his first booke chapter 22. De doctrina christiana wrote When it is said With all the hart there is now no part left vnto vs which may attend or giue place to other desires And those things which we haue a mind vnto must of necessitie haue relation to that wherein the force of our loue consisteth that is vnto God If the words of the lawe and of Dauid were examined with a right iudgement the works of supererogation would quite be ouerthrowne and the reasons alledged for our merits conuinced séeing what is there remaining vnto vs that is not bound vnto God For if we doo well we doo but that which we ought to doo 9 Paule disputing of brotherlie charitie In Rom. 12 ver 10. Be you saith he affectioned to loue one another with brotherlie loue In Gréeke it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which words is declared what maner of affect loue is namelie a brotherlie affect What 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth And it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word signifieth an affect not comming of election such as are fréendships which men enter into one with another but graffed in by nature and therefore so ioined
thought well of thâ—se things touching which he had erred in his booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which if it be true then forsomuch as in these bookes he had a most wicked iudgement of the sonne of God it may easilie be prooued that these things could not be written by him in his Commentaries to the Romans But howsoeuer it be touching Origin Origins Commentaries vpon the Romans Cyprian for his Commentaries to the Romans are not extant in the Gréeke whereby we should iudge anie thing of them this is certeine that Cyprian a most ancient writer in his second booke against the Iewes the fift chapter vseth this testimonie to prooue the diuinitie of Christ albeit that when he citeth the words of Paule he leaueth out this word God And so we perceiue to be doone by Hilarie vpon the 122. psalme Hilarie But that may séeme to haue come through the negligence of the Registers as Erasmus himselfe confesseth Neither must we omit that that particle Ouer all may be adioined to that particle Blessed which followeth so that the sense is God that is to be praised aboue all ¶ Touching the vniting of substance of the two natures into one person of Christ looke the dialog of Peter Martyr himselfe set foorth particularlie concerning that matter 5 But in that sentence of Paule In 1. Cor. 15. vers 47. which is written in the first to the Corinthians the 15. chapter The first man is of the earth earthie the second man is the Lord himselfe from heauen That to this purpose the Antithesis might be perfect manie haue thought it should be vnderstood that euen as the first man had his bodie fashioned out of the earth so the second man namelie Christ brought his bodie out of heauen Hereof it commeth that Valentinus Martion Swenkfields heresie and among the latter heretikes Swenkfeldius and his fellowes agrée not that Christ tooke flesh of the virgine but thought that hée brought his bodie with him out of heauen But it is not necessarie that the comparison should be answerable in euerie point This rather is a certeine allusion of the apostle wherein is not weighed the substance of things compared but the qualities conditions and gifts of nature are compared togither Neither meaneth the apostle anie other thing but that Adam was the figure of this our life and that the latter Adam I meane Christ is the forme of the life to come which we expect Neither dooth hée here make mention of a bodie naie rather when he had said The first man of the earth earthie hée added And the second is the Lord from heauen It is not denied of the godlie that Christ is from heauen séeing they attribute vnto him the diuine nature but yet it commeth not to passe thereby that whatsoeuer the Lord who came downe from heauen had is either of heauenlie nature or else brought from heauen For if we list after that sort to reason of the first Adam we shall not say that he is vtterlie of the earth earthie séeing beside the bodie he had also a soule which is a diuine thing and was not taken out of the slime of the earth So as according to this reason we may saie that as Adam had not onelie a bodie fashioned out of the earth but also a heauenlie mind so Christ comprehendeth not onelie the diuine nature which was out of heauen The Lord came out of heauen although he had his bodie out of the earth Augustine but a naturall bodie which he tooke out of the earth in the virgins wombe And Augustine in the 13. chapter De ciuitate Dei feareth not howsoeuer to attribute vnto the man Christ a naturall bodie otherwise if we shall grant vnto Christ a bodie brought out of heauen he shall not be a man séeing heauenlie things are furthest of all differing from earthlie things But that Christ was verie man as well the scripture euerie where testifieth as also Paule in this place expresselie calleth him a man How Christ his bodie may be said to haue come out of heauen Luke 1 35. Albeit as touching the humanitie Christ may be said to haue come out of heauen séeing his bodie had no originall from the séed of man but from the holie Ghost as the angell promised vnto the virgine when he said The spirit of the highest shall ouershadow thee Moreouer he might be said to come from heauen in respect of affections and actions of his humane conuersation when as in maners and holinesse of life he altogither behaued himselfe heauenlie and diuinelie Furthermore the apostle speaketh of Christ hauing respect vnto the state of the resurrection wherevnto we also shall be brought And it is not to be doubted but that he challenged vnto himselfe the condition of resurrection not naturallie but by his diuine power 6 But now séeing the exposition of this place is manifest there resteth yet to reprooue them which haue otherwise iudged saieng that Christ tooke not his bodie of the virgine but brought the same foorth with him out of heauen The reasons of them which saie that Christ brought his bodie out of heauen and that he passed through the virgine Marie as through a conduit But speciallie let vs consider what reasons they rest vpon First they saie that If the bodie of Christ be not diuine and heauenlie but a creature taken of the virgins wombe when as Paule saith The first reason Ephes 3 17 that Christ dwelleth in our harts as we read vnto the Ephesians we shall haue no more but halfe of him For it shall be no otherwise than according to his diuine nature But we answer them that in what sort Christ dwelleth in our harts the same apostle dooth plainlie declare for he added By faith Which faith dooth not apprehend Christ in part but wholie as well in the sacrament of the Eucharist as also in the word of God which is set foorth vnto vs for our saluation And that this must be iudged after a spirituall sort it appéereth by comparing togither of other places In the eight chapter vnto the Romans it is said verse 11. If Christ doo dwell in you God which raised him from the dead shall also quicken your mortall bodies for his spirit sake which dwelleth in you Here now we plainlie heare that Christ by his spirit dwelleth in vs. And in the third chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians verse 16. we are by no other reason affirmed to be the temple of God but bicause the holie Ghost dwelleth in vs. Neither is there required vnto that coniunction which we haue with Christ that his bodie should in verie déed penetrate our breasts or our minds By faith and by the spirit Christ is all wholie apprehended of vs as well touching his diuine nature as touching his humane nature And when we affirme the diuine nature of Christ to be euerie-where we doo not so say of the humane It must not be
said Blessed is the wombe that bare thee Luke 11 27 and 28 and the paps that gaue thee sucke Christ answered Yea rather happie are they which heare the word of God keepe the same But Christ by this answer reiected not the fréendship of his mother but he shewed which was to be counted the better degrée of felicitie Besides this they alledge The 10. reason that the angels in the old testament could take humane flesh vpon them and indue themselues with our bodies who for all that were not borne of women And what shall let saie they but that we may saie the verie same of Christ that he put on the forme of man and yet tooke not the same of Marie We answer that according to the power of God it was no hard matter for Christ to be clad with an humane bodie by anie other meanes than by the virgines wombe But the similitude of angels appéering in humane forme must not be compared with the incarnation of the Lord for they tooke no bodies vpon them to be crucified to die and to redéeme mankind but to execute the message that was committed vnto them But Christ to the intent he might redéeme men would be in verie déed a man Which had not happened if his bodie had béene brought out of heauen séeing that celestiall and terrestriall natures doo differ more than in kind Also they thinke Hilarius that Hilarius is on their side who in his treatise De trinitate wrote that Marie the virgine added nothing of hirs vnto the flesh and bodie of Christ besides the ministerie of conceiuing bearing and bringing foorth when as this sentence neuerthelesse dooth vantage them but little For Hilarius most manifestlie beareth witnesse that the bodie of Christ is a creature but he saith that the virgine Marie added nothing of hirs as touching those thrée ministeries which he mentioneth of conceiuing bearing bringing forth For the 4. ministerie had béen to haue had the companie of man to haue ioined with him and to haue admitted his séed which Marie did not of hir owne Looke par 1 place 12 art 15. Manie proofs that Christ had a true humane bodie The first reason Luke 3 28 Matth. 1 1. 9 But on the other side that he had a true humane bodie it is prooued manie waies For by the euangelists his genealogie is set foorth the which by Luke is finished in Adam In Matthew it is begon at Abraham Neither is it anie hinderance that he nameth Ioseph as the father of Christ bicause Ioseph and Marie were both of one kindred wherefore both their petigrées be ioined togither Which whether it be doone in the great grandfathers grandfather or afterward it is no néed at this present to inquire Further The second reason Matth. 8 20 9 6 and in manie other places Gen. 3 15. The third reason The fourth reason Gen. 22 18 The fift reason Rom. 1 3. The sixt reason Rom. 9 5. The seuenth reason Gal. 4 4. Gal. 3 16. The eight reason The ninth reason Christ euerie-where pronounceth himselfe to be the sonne of man And vnto Eue was promised the séed that shuld breake the serpents head And vnto Abraham was promised a séed wherin all nations should be blessed And Paule in the first to the Rom. writeth of Christ Who was made of the seed of Dauid according to the flesh And againe in the ninth chapter to the Romans Of whom are the fathers of whom concerning the flesh Christ came who is God ouer all blessed for euer Moreouer vnto the Galathians we read When the fulnesse of time was come God sent his owne sonne in the similitude of sinfull flesh made of a woman made vnder the lawe And also in the same epistle is treated of the séed of Abraham by which the blessing should afterward come And the apostle vrgeth the word Seed that it is not spoken in the plurall number Seeds as though we should vnderstand the same of manie but the scripture vseth the singular number that we should haue respect vnto one man Christ The tenth reason 2. Tim. 2 8. Vnto Timothie it is written Remember thou that the Lord Iesus Christ of the seed of Dauid according to my Gospell is risen from the dead But most euidentlie of all dooth the epistle to the Hebrues prooue this doctrine Heb. 2 16. The 11. reason where it is said that God tooke the seed of Abraham not of angels and affirmeth that Christ is like vnto vs in all things was tempted in all things and that séeing his children are partakers of flesh and bloud he also himselfe tooke part with them I meane of flesh and bloud Heb. 5 2. The 12. reason Heb. 2 11. And he is declared to be our high priest which could suffer infirmities with vs and was taken from among men And againe He that dooth sanctifie and they that are sanctified be all of one And we are called his verie brethren The 14. reason Tertullian 10 Tertullian bringeth another argument wherein he prooueth that Christ had a verie humane bodie Nothing saith he is taken out of anie matter but it reteineth some tokens and marks of the same Bicause the bodie of the first man was wrought out of claie therefore it reteined the kind of the two elements for flesh representeth the earth and bloud the water The bodie is declared to be earthie by manie tokens And manie things declare vs to be earthie in respect of our bodie In the earth thou maiest sée clods in our bodie muscles the earth hath stones our bodie hath bones in the earth there be séene riuers and flouds ouer all our bodie veines be deriued which water all the members with bloud in the earth are spred the roots of plants and trées in the bodie are placed sinewes in all the parts in the earth are found pibble stones neither is our bodie destitute of grauell-stones nailes and such other like the earth within hir bowels and secret places hath metals our bodies doo hold marowe in the hollownesse of the bones we sée mosse and herbs to spring out of the earth also vpon our bodie there doo growe haires beard and bush of haire All which things séeing they tooke place in the bodie of Christ there is no cause why the aduersaries should indeuour to make Christ of heauenlie nature séeing these be tokens of earthie matter Their opinion might séeme to be probable if they could shew in the bodie of Christ anie token of the seuen stars of Orion Lucifer or Arcturus for then after a sort they might prooue the matter thereof to be brought from heauen ¶ Of the personall vnion of the two natures into one person of Christ looke the dialog of P. Martyr speciallie set forth touching that matter 11 Iesus in Latine Seruator a sauiour An interpretation of the word Iesus and Christ In 1. Cor. 1 verse 3. Matt. 1 21. Why prophets priests and kings
vs sée what mooued these men to saie that works foreséene are the causes of predestination Vndoubtedlie that was nothing else but to satisfie mans iudgement The aduersaries haue not herein satisfied humane iudgment which yet they haue not atteined vnto For they haue nothing to answere touching an infant which being graffed into Christ dieth in his infancie for if they will haue him to be saued they must néeds confesse that he was predestinated But forsomuch as in him followeth no good works God doubtles could not foresée them yea rather this he foresawe that he should by his fréewill doo nothing But that is more absurd which they obiect that God foresawe what he would haue doone if he had happened to liue longer for mans iudgement will not so be satisfied For reason will complaine that some men are ouerhipped and reiected for those sinnes which they haue not doone and especiallie in that respect that they should haue committed those sinnes if they had liued For ciuill iudges punish not anie man for those faults which they would haue committed if he had not béene letted and that God is nothing mooued with those works which men would haue doone Christ plainelie declareth when he intreated of Corosaim and Bethsaida and Capernaum Matt. 11 21. and 22. If saith he the things which haue beene doone in thee had bin doone in Tyre and in Sidon they had doubtles repented and those cities had beene at this daie remaining Behold God foresawe that these nations would haue repented if they had séene and heard those things which were granted and preched vnto these cities Séeing therefore that they perished it is manifest that God in predestinating followeth not those works which men would haue doone if they had liued Neither yet ought anie man to gather out of this saieng of Christ that they by themselues euen by the power of frée-will could haue repented for repentance is the gift of God Vnto some God vseth not the meanes whereby they might haue beene mooued to saluation But the meaning of that place is that vnto these men God vsed not those meanes whereby they might haue béene mooued These men suppose that euen by nature it selfe there is a difference in men which the election of God followeth Neither consider they that all men are borne the sonnes of wrath so that as touching the masse or lumpe from whence they are taken there cannot be put in them anie difference at all for whatsoeuer good commeth vnto vs that same without all doubt commeth from God and from grace And that in the nature of men As touching nature there is no difference in men Rom. 9 7. is not to be put anie difference the apostle declareth for when he would shew that one of the two brethren was taken and the other reiected by the fréewill of God first he vsed an example of Isaac and Ismaël but since in these twoo it might be obiected that there was some difference for that the one was borne of a frée woman and the other of a hand-maiden afterward he brought two brethren that were twins Ibidem 10. Iacob and Esau which had not onlie one the selfe-same parents but also were brought forth both at one time and in one the selfesame birth And as touching works there was no difference at all betwéene them for as the apostle saith Ibidem 11. Before they had doone either good or euill it was said The elder shall serue the yoonger Againe Iacob haue I looued but Esau haue I hated What néed was there that Paule should so diligentlie alledge these things but to make these two brethren therein equall in all points as touching nature Which had béene to no purpose if still there had remained so much difference in works foreséene So then it followeth that whatsoeuer difference is in men the same dependeth onelie of the will of God for otherwise we are all borne vnder sinne Faith foreseene mooueth not God to predestinate vs. 21 Further if there should be anie thing of our selues which might mooue God to predestinate vs that should chéeflie be faith For Augustine also when he was yet yoong was not so well throughlie acquainted with this question thought that God in predestination reprobation hath a respect vnto faith vnto infidelitie which opinion both Ambrose and Chrysostome imbraced before By the scriptures it is prooued that faith is of God But this in verie déed cannot be attributed no not vnto faith for faith also commeth of predestination For it is not of our selues but is giuen of God and that not rashlie but by his determinate counsell which may be easilie prooued by manie places of the scriptures For Paule vnto the Ephesians writeth By grace ye are saued through faith Ephes 2 8. and that not of your selues for it is the gift of God least anie man should boast And againe in the same epistle Ephes 6 23. Charitie and faith from God the father through Iesus Christ And in the epistle vnto the Romans Rom. 12 3. As God hath diuided vnto euerie man the measure of faith And vnto the Corinthians 1. Cor. 7 25. I haue obteined mercie that I might be faithfull Vnto the Philippians Vnto you it is giuen Phil. 1 29. not onelie to beleeue in Christ but also to suffer for his sake In the Acts God opened the hart of the woman that sold purple Acts. 16 14. that she might giue heed vnto those things which were spoken of Paule Acts. 13 48. And in the 13. chapter They beleeued as manie as were ordeined vnto eternall life Christ also saith in the Gospell I confesse vnto thee Matt. 11 25. ô father of heauen and earth that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent and hast reuealed them vnto infants euen so ô father bicause it hath so pleased thee And in another place Mat. 13 13. Vnto them saith he I speake in parables that when they heare they should not heare when they see they should not see but vnto you it is giuen to vnderstand And vnto Peter he said Matt. 16 17. Blessed art thou Simon Bariâ—na for flesh and bloud hath not reuealed this vnto thee And there are manie other testimonies in the holie scriptures If faith be not the cause of predestination much lesse other works whereby is prooued that faith is giuen and distributed by God onelie so as it cannot be the cause of predestination and if faith cannot works can much lesse 22 Moreouer no man can denie but that the predestination of God is eternall for Paule to Timothie saith 2. Tim. 1 9. that God hath elected vs before the world was And vnto the Ephesians Before the foundations of the world were laid Ephes 1 4. But our works are temporall wherefore that which is eternall cannot come of them But they vse to cauill that those works in whose respect we are
3. Ye be dead and your life is hidden with Christ in God and when as Christ your life shall appeare then shall ye also appeare with him in glorie Inheritance defined Inheritance as it is defined by the Lawyers is a succession into the whole right of the man that is dead And may this appeare to be but a small matter to be made partakers of the whole right of God 2. Pet. 1 4. Certainlie Peter saith that We be made partakers of the diuine nature Here Ambrose noted that it is not in this matter as we commonlie sée it come to passe in the world for it behooueth that the testator die before the successor can come to the inheritance God dieth not and yet may we enter into his inheritance But God dieth not naie rather we that be appointed to be his heires doo die first before possession can be deliuered vnto vs. Christ also first died before he came vnto the glorie which was appointed for him An heire is counted one person with him that ordaineth him Iohn 17 21. Moreouer as touching ciuill lawes the heire is counted one and the selfe-same person with him that maketh him heire Euen so we through Christ are streictlie knit togither with God so as we are now one togither with him according as Christ praied That they may be one as thou and I are one for all things are ours We obtaine this inheritance freely and we are Christs Christ is Gods This inheritance obtaine we fréelie by the spirit of Christ Wherfore the bishops of Rome and their champions the Cardinals and false bishops doo wickedlie which haue shut vp this inheritance of remission of sinnes and accesse vnto the kingdome of God vnder their counterfet keies that they at their owne pleasure might sell the same and either thrust down to hell or send vp to heauen whom they list themselues The description of Christian Hope in the 5. chapter to the Romans verse 5. Looke In Rom. 8 25. and 1. Cor. 13 at the end A chaine Hope and faith haue one and the same propertie not to make ashamed 42 As concerning hope this is a notable chaine and an excellent connexion of christian degrées Of this chaine the first linke is fastned to the post of afflictions in this life from thence the godlie ascend to patience from patience to experience and from experience to hope which hope forsomuch as it maketh not ashamed but without doubting attaineth vnto God which is our principall felicitie is fastened vnto him as vnto the highest linke of the chaine This verie propertie of not confounding belongeth also vnto faith for None that beleeue in him shall be confounded and that for good cause for what can be of more néere a kinne vnto faith than hope The Latine interpreter turneth it Non confundit that is Confoundeth not Howbeit it might be properlie turned Non pudefacit that is Maketh not ashamed A figuratiue speech And it is a figuratiue kind of spéech for Paules mind was to signifie that the godlie cannot be frustrated of their hope for they which are frustrated namelie when things fall out farre otherwise than they hoped for are commonlie ashamed Wherefore Paule by shame vnderstandeth frustration bicause shame alwaies followeth it But the Latine interpreter had respect to that perturbation of the mind which followeth shame for To confound is nothing els but To perturbe or trouble Now if this sentence be true as in déed it is most true namelie Hope dependeth not of our works that this Hope confoundeth not it followeth that the same dependeth not of our workes for otherwise it would oftentimes faile But that it is true certaine Paule declareth not by one word onlie but by thrée and those of great efficacie For first he vseth this woord Knowing Hope is most assured which betokeneth an assured knowledge of a thing He maketh mention also of Reioising which cannot haue place among godlie and wise men but in those things which they assuredlie and firmelie possesse Last of all he addeth that Hope maketh not ashamed And it is not without cause that he oftentimes induceth persuasions of this certaintie bicause from thence chieflie is consolation to be sought for in afflictions When Christ did hang vpon the crosse the wicked railed against him saieng He hoped in God let him saue him Mat. 27 43. if he will haue him let him come downe from the crosse c. The self-same things are laid against vs not onlie by outward enimies but also by our flesh our outward senses and by humane wisdome How can we resist these but by this doctrine of the apostle Hope confoundeth not A remedie against railing speeches The hope which we haue put in the Lord will not make ashamed 43 The Sophisters labour to prooue that hope springeth of merits bicause Paule saith it springeth of patience as though we shuld thinke that hope were giuen to vs by the merit of patience Hope dependeth not of merits But in the mean time they marke not that those things which Paule here by a certaine order disposeth are not so compared the one to the other as causes effects For who will saie that afflictions are the causes of patience And if they be not so why should they more affirme that patience is the cause of hope The scripture most expresselie teacheth Ierem 17 5. that He which putteth confidence in man or in anie creature is accursed for a man of whose promise we depend and assure our selues may either die or alter his mind or els be let that he cannot faithfullie performe that which he promised and to haue confidence in him either for merit sake or by reason of good works is to settle our hope in man wherefore such hope worthilie maketh ashamed But the hope which is fixed vpon God is certeine neither can it be deceiued The Sophisters craftilie go about to auoid this sentence by twoo places of Paule Rom. 8 37. 2. Tim. 1 12. the one to the Romans and the other to Timothie The place to Timothie is thus I knowe whom I haue beleeued and am certeine And the other to the Romans is thus I am assured that neither death nor life nor angels c. By these places they thinke to ouerthrowe the proofe which we haue made bicause they thinke that these words are to be vnderstood not vniuersallie of all beléeuers but onelie of Paule and such other like who had it peculiarlie reuealed vnto them that they should atteine vnto saluation Here is intreated of the nature of hope generallie But these their enterprises are in vaine for here is now intreated of the nature and propertie of hope whereby is manifestlie prooued that all they which are indued with it are sure of their saluation so that they must néeds confesse that they which doubt of their saluation either haue not the hope which belongeth to a christian He
spake Christ to his disciples to his apostles I meane to them which were now conuerted to saluation who if they worke vnprofitable works what shall we then iudge of those which haue not yet receiued the faith of Christ But the Sophisters haue made the world such fooles that they saie that works before iustification doo after a sort deserue it and those works which followe they call most profitable of all Wherefore now men would in a maner make account with God and with beades number how manie praiers they haue said for what other thing ment they by them than that they should by a certeine number recite so manie Pater nosters or so many Aue Maries thinking by that recitall to haue GOD most assuredlie bound to them In the 15. of Iohn verse 1. Christ is compared vnto a vinetrée and we vnto the branches thereof wherefore he saith Euen as the branch cannot bring foorth fruit of it selfe vnlesse it abide in the vine no more also can ye vnlesse ye abide in me I am the vine and ye be the branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth foorth much fruit And whosoeuer shall not abide in me they are cast out of the doores euen as the branches or cuttings off from the vine and they shall gather them and cast them into the fire Now that we haue recited these words of the Lord how agréeth it that men being strangers from Christ and yet not regenerate can worke good works whereby they may be iustified séeing they are called drie branches which shall be cast into the fire And it is said that they onelie can bring foorth fruit which cleaue vnto Christ as branches cleaue to the vine And that we shuld the better vnderstand the will of Christ verse 5. there is added Without me yee can doo nothing The 54. reason Which sentence some go about to make obscure and saie that Nothing can be doone without Christ in respect the he is God forsomuch as he is the first cause of all things as though the Lord disputed then of the generall conseruation of naturall things and of that power whereby God bringeth foorth all things vniuersallie Christ came not into the world to teach this philosophie he vndoubtedlie intreated of the fruit of saluation and of eternall life and spake of those which should cleaue vnto his doctrine or else should be strangers from it The 55. reason 18 Moreouer the sonne of God commanded that the faithfull should in their praiers saie Forgiue vs our trespasses Matt. 6 12. signifieng thereby that the faithfull also haue néed of forgiuenes in those things which they doo for our works are vnperfect neither are they able to satisfie Wherfore if our works which we doo after our regeneration néed purging by the merit of Christ and we praie they may so be how can they be propitiatorie A great deale lesse can we thinke of those works which are doone before regeneration that they should be acceptable and pleasant vnto God And further no man can iustlie saie that he is not one of this number séeing God hath commanded all men to praie in that maner and his will is not that anie man should make a lie in his praier The 56. reason Yea and Iohn also writeth If we shall saie that we haue no sinne Iohn 1 10. we deceiue our selues there is no truth in vs. And I suppose there is none that will iudge it a thing méet that there should be manie mediators brought in when as There is but onelie one mediator betweene God and man namelie the man Christ Iesus But if besides him and his merits our works should also iustifie vs then should they be set betwéene God and vs neither should Christ be the onelie mediator The 57. reason Mal. 3 3. Psal 51 4. Ouer this the prophets doo euerie-where praie and Dauid also that God would wash clense purifie and purge their sinnes namelie in forgiuing and remitting them but if they could haue atteined vnto that thing by their works then néeded they not to haue requested it by praier or at the least-waie not with so great feruencie The 53. reason verse 15. verse 18. And in Iob the 15. chapter it is written that The verie heauens are not pure before God and in the fourth chapter he pronounceth the angels not to be pure In what case then shall men be The 59. reason Psa 130 3. The 60. reason Esai 55 1. before they obteine iustification Dauid also in his Psalmes crieth If thou Lord looke streictlie vpon our iniquities Lord who shall be able to abide it Esaie calleth the thirstie vnto the waters and bidden them buie without siluer But our men forsooth will merit and be iustified both by merits and by works and also by siluer Moreouer verse 6. in the fortie chapter the same prophet when he heard a voice The 61. reason wherein it was said Crie out answered What shall I crie And it was said vnto him that he should crie All flesh is grasse and Chasdo that is his pietie or religion or mercie wherewith he succoureth his neighbour is as the flower of the field that is a thing vanishing which straitwaie vadeth awaie neither can it continue The same thing also affirmeth he in the 64. chapter verse 6. where hée saith that All our righteousnes is as filthie rags The 62. reason Which sentence whether a man applie it vnto works doone after regeneration or before I passe not much for either waie will make on our side And in the selfe-same chapter he addeth O our God we are claie and thou art our creator and we are the worke of thy hands And the same similitude of the claie and potter vseth Paule to the Romans in the ninth chapter wherein is notablie declared Ibidem 8 and 20. The 63. reason that so much are we able to doo towards our iustification as can the claie towards the potter to cause him to make it after this maner or that maner We might also recite testimonies Rom. 9. 20. which are written of the maliciousnes of our harts both in Genesis and in Ieremie Gen. 6 5. and 8 21. Ier. 17 9. but I suppose I haue alreadie brought testimonies enow for the confirmation of our proposition And this now onelie will I saie that there haue béene men so rash that they haue not onelie attributed some merit of iustification vnto honest works and which are as they terme them morallie good but also vnto superstitious works which they themselues haue imagined and inuented For who is ignorant of the rimes commonlie set abroad of holie water Aqua benedicta deleantur tua delicta sit tibi laus vita that is To holie water and other trifles the aduersaries ascribe forgiuenes of sinnes By holie water let thy sinnes be blotted out and let it be vnto thee praise and life They ascribe
true faith inuiolate This saith he is it that haie wood and strawe is set on fire perisheth for euen those lusts of theirs as flames doo torment them and they vanish awaie And he added that this happeneth vnto manie while they liue here for it happeneth not seldome vnto the most part of martyrs and saints that they be spoiled of the goods of this world for the name of Christ But he saith that finallie we are all tried with this examination at the end of our life And that fire signifieth tribulations he prooueth it out of the 65. psalme where it is written We haue passed through fire and water verse 12. thou hast brought vs into a wealthie place where by fire is declared aduersitie and by water prosperitie And for the same cause in the exorcisme of baptisme he would haue as well fire as water to be vsed that we may vnderstand we be tried by these two things And he bringeth the sentence of Ecclesiasticus Thus farre of Augustines interpretation The fornace trieth the potters vessell but the temptation of trouble trieth the minds of the iust 29 Vnto this interpretation of Augustine by fire to vnderstand calamities and aduersities Gregorie agréeth Gregorie albeit that he incline vnto purgatorie But as we haue said it is most euident that Paule by buildings either good or ill Paule by building signified doctrine signified doctrines either sound or corrupt whose end is described that if they be good they haue their reward but if they be euill they vanish and come to naught Matt. 15 13. For euerie plant which my heauenlie father hath not planted shall be plucked vp Neither is it anie maruell if good buildings doo stand firme séeing the word of God abideth for euer He that hath not builded well may indéed be saued neuerthelesse by fire bicause he shall perceiue that his doctrine is both confuted and condemned He shall acknowledge that he hath wrought in vaine A similitude euen as he that escapeth through fires whose garments are so burned as yet he leapeth out naked Some expound So as it were by fire bicause men are hardlie brought that they can be caried awaie from their opinions for all men imbrace and loue their owne inuentions more than is méet Howbeit it is more sincere to say that in the examination of God they shall haue experience of shame sadnes trouble and of an vnquiet conscience And vnto this interpretation Ambrose agréed He must of necessitie be alwaies ashamed Ambrose that séeth himselfe to haue defended a false matter in stéed of a truth In this iudgement of God the fault of doctrine is discouered and foorthwith entereth great sadnes and sorrowe of repentance Chrysost 30 Chrysostome thought that this fire perteined vnto hell but bicause he sawe that to make against him which is written But he him selfe shall be saued as it were by fire he interpreteth that To be saued is nothing else but To indure not to be extinguished not to be turned into ashes or to be brought to naught that this ill builder shall remaine as touching substance but shall not as he saith be reserued vnlesse it be vnto punishment that he may be burned with fire and euerlasting flames He was not ignorant that this interpretation was somewhâ—…â—orced and therefore he indeuoured to mitigate the same and he shewed that Paule with goodlie words did sometime set foorth things which otherwise are euill and to be disallowed and againe to call things excellent and praise-woorthie by dishonorable names In the latter epistle to the Corinthians he saith that We make all our cogitatioÌ„s captiue where 2. Cor. 10 5 by the word captiue he calleth that persuasion whereby men willinglie and of their owne accord submit themselues vnto faith Also when he preacheth mortification of the flesh Col. 3 5. and members that be vpon the earth certeinlie by the word mortification he commendeth a thing allowed and perfect whereas by nature we all flie from death And on the other side when he saith vnto the Romans Rom. 6 11. Let not sinne reigne in your mortall bodies by the name of reigne he adoorneth tyrannie a thing vndoubtedlie to be detested with the name of a kingdome So now he calleth the euerlasting continuance in fire and in the paines of hell by the name of Sauing But let Chrysostome defend this interpretation of his as well as he can Chrysostome interpretation confuted it appéereth plainlie that it can not stand for two causes For séeing all things be here taken allegoricallie what néed he labour to prooue it true fire Vnlesse perhaps he will haue hell fire to be an allegorie which thing the receiued opinion in the church will not suffer Further where it is said The fire shall prooue euerie worke what it is we must as Augustine verie well aduiseth determine it to be that fire the which as well the good as euill builders shall haue experience of But I doo not thinke that he would haue the good and holie men to be tormented in hell fire And yet neuertheles haue the Gréeke Scholies brought this opinion of Chrysostome The Greeke expositions Erasmus And Erasmus a notable learned man in his annotations saith that It is a vaine thing to make mention in this place of purgatorie séeing it is here ment farre otherwise Surelie I doubt not but that he himselfe sawe the same thing that if purgatorie fire should be gathered of this place it shall be néedfull for that fire to be common both vnto the apostles and vnto all the saints although they haue builded the church with sincere and approoued doctrines And I can not sufficientlie woonder at them which affirme that this sentence is vnderstood of purgatorie when as otherwise they defend the Popes pardons and doo knowe that some of them are so granted by the Pope as a man may be absolued from all punishment when he dieth so that his soule as they speake may foorthwith flie into heauen How shall such a one be tried in the fire of purgatorie Yea and Scotus said that There may be found an action or motion of charitie so absolute and perfect or as he himselfe speaketh of such feruencie that it can wash awaie all punishments Let the same man shew how this fire of purgatorie which they would wrest out of this place can be common vnto all men Vnlesse perhaps they will place the same in the aire and will deuise that all the saints when they flie awaie vnto heauen passe through the fire As it is spoken of one Alcuinus that he inuented such a tale A deuise altogither feigned namelie that all saints before they ascend into heauen passe through the fire of purgatorie It séemeth also that this should not be vnspoken of that Paule after a sort alludeth the saieng vnto the words of Esaie in the first chapter where it is said verse 31. And their strength shall
vnto his disciples Matt. 28 20. when he said I will be with you vntill the end of the world He addeth an other comfort namelie that they shall not all vtterlie perish in those trobles but that such as are predestinate vnto life shall escape that is they shall be written in the booke of God Lastlie he comforteth the church vnder this name that there shall be a resurrection of the dead And he saith that manie of the dead shall be raised vp neither doth he saie All because manie shall be found aliue at the comming of the Lord. Wherevpon Paule saith We shall not all die 1. Co. 15 51. but we shall be all changed Neither doth she word Manie betoken a certeine small number because as Ezechiel said There stood vp a mightie great host namelie of those bones restored vnto life againe And in the booke of the Apocalypse Apoc. 7 9. the companie of the saints is described to be great in number In this place Daniel treateth of the resurrection and that of the same which shall be vniuersall for he diuideth it into a resurrection of saluatition and of reproch And there is no doubt but that Christ alluded vnto the words of the prophet when he said in Iohn Iohn 5 28. They which be in their graues shall heare the voice of the sonne of God and shall come foorth they which haue doone well into the resurrection of life but they which haue doone euill into the resurrection of iudgement As to the felicitie of the saints to be looked for after resurrection he addeth that They which instruct others shall be verie glorious and he compareth them with the brightnesse of the celestiall Spheres And them which make manie righteous he compareth to the cleare light of the starres bicause they teach the promises especiallie of Messias wherevnto they giuing their assent are iustified For the power and vertue of making righteous must not be attributed vnto men séeing that is onelie the gift of God neither can it be giuen to men otherwise than as the ministers and instruments of the word of God And that which is first spoken of the firmament of heauen and of the brightnesse of the starres I thinke it to be all one for it is an vsuall thing in the holie scriptures to repeate in the latter member of anie verse that which had béen spoken in the former 48 This prophesie of Daniel although it be verie plaine and euident yet hath it béen subiect to the cauillations of Porphyrius The cauils of Porphyrius against the writings of Daniel no meane philosopher He being verie angrie with the christians confesseth that Daniel was a most excellent man but that the prophesies which be written vnder his name doo perteine nothing vnto him but that they were written by a forgerer which liued after the times of Antiochus and Machabeus And that in his booke he prophesied not of things to come but rather he contriued into riddles the things which were alreadie past And those things he saith which in this place are péeced to belong altogither to the time of Antiochus for the Iewes were verie cruellie vsed by him First he subdued to himselfe the citie of Ierusalem robbed the temple afterward he began to compell the Iewes to depart from the rites and customs of their countrie to forsake the iust worshipping of God he forbad circumcision he obtruded vnto them the eating of swines flesh against their wils he set vp in the temple of God the signe of Iupiter Olympus to be worshipped Which doone it came afterward into his mind to go against Persia where he attempted to rob a church that was most rich and furnished with verie manie gifts from thence had repulse with great shame For which cause he conceiued so great indignation as he beganne to be sicke in his mind and he deuising with himselfe to powre out all his wrath against the Iewes returned with great hast into Syria But he fell from his chariot and was so hurt with the crushing of his bodie as partlie thereby and partlie through his vehement trouble of mind and with the newes brought him of Lysias and other his capteins put to flight and ouerthrowen by the Israelites for at his going awaie he commanded that they should most gréeuouslie afflict the Iewes he died Then saith Porphyrius the Iewes which séemd to be dead were after a sort raised vp and are risen againe but yet so as they which had constantlie behaued themselues in preseruing of their countrie became religious famous and glorious but they which shamefullie had reuolted from true godlines became verie vile and full of reproch These be the doting follies yea rather the poisons that Porphyrius scattered in this place But of vs which professe Christ A confutation of the cauils of Porphyrius the first point of his interpretation may not be receiued namelie in that he affirmeth the booke not to be written by Daniel when as Christ not onelie made mention thereof but also cited words which we read in the same As touching the other point wherein he will that these things should haue relation vnto Antiochus Hierom demandeth how that the afflictions wherewith the Hebrues were vexed vnder that tyrant were more gréeuous than euer they were before Certeinlie in the time of Nabuchad-nezar the citie of Ierusalem was ouerthrowen the temple vtterlie raced and all the people led into captiuitie and therein kept vntill the seuentie yéere More gréeuous doubtlesse were these afflictions than the other which Antiochus brought vpon them The booke of the Machabeis doth after a sort mitigate this saieng 1. Mac. 9 27 where it is said that the euils of Antiochus were more gréeuous than had happened from that time wherein the Iewes were without a prophet Esdras called the prophet Malachie that is from Esdras which was the prophet Malachie Howbeit we must consider not what is written in the booke of Machabeis but that verie thing which is conteined in the volume of Daniel Furthermore we demand why the transgressors of the lawe are said to be raised from death after that king Antiochus was dead for so Porphyrius expoundeth it since that reuolters rather fell backe than rose againe For while the tyrant yet liued they were had in estimation they occupied the chiefe priesthoods and bishopriks and the Machabeis whom perhaps he vnderstandeth to haue become famous liued in excéeding great troubles and sorrows and were almost all vtterlie extinct Ibidem 18. Ibid. 12 48. Ibid. 16. 16. Iudas fell in battell Ionathas being a captiue was slaine and Simon was beheaded in a banket Certeinlie I doo not denie but that they were verie gréeuous things which happened vnder Antiochus but not so bitter and rigorous as are those things which the prophet sheweth shall come to passe vnder Antichrist whose types and figures went before who were not onelie Antiochus but also Demetrius and other princes of Graecia which both
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
necessitie constrained him Séeing the words in the Gréeke are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Whose names be not written in the booke of life of the lambe which was slaine from the beginning of the world Iohn 3 13. 16 Neither dooth that let which is written in the gospell of Iohn No man ascended into heauen but he which descended from heauen euen the sonne of man which is in heauen For here is no speach of ascending vp aboue all heauens whither Christ was first of all carried but of the taking vp vnto the bosome of Abraham For so farre as concerneth that highest ascending we grant that none attained vnto that before Christ Wherefore Henoch and Elias went vnto the fathers and there togither with them attended for Christ who being come they accompanied him into heauen togither with the rest Neither did the bodie hinder their taking vp vnto the bosome of the fathers For that men may be taken vp togither with him Paule sheweth saieng 2. Cor. 12 2. that He was rapt into paradise and whither saith he in the bodie or out of the bodie I knowe not By which words is gathered that both might be doone Albeit a certeine Hebrue the schoolemaister of Ierom vnderstood it farre otherwise who as the same father in the prolog vpon Daniel reporteth when he mocked the apocryphall histories which are not found in the Hebrue yet are they fained to be of that prophets writing and especiallie the translating of Abacuk out of Iudaea into Babylon Hist of Bel verse 32. to bring meat vnto Daniel that was in the den of lions said Where is there anie to be found in the ancient histories that was translated with the bodie vnto places of such distance And when as a certeine man that had no great skill answered Ezech. 8 3. that Ezechiel was carried out of Babylon into Iurie the Hebrue confuted him and shewed out of the words of the prophet that that translation was doone in spirit not in bodie And he saith Euen Paule that apostle of yours being exercised in the lawe durst not saie that he was rapted into heauen with the bodie 2. Cor. 12 2. but he warilie saith Whether in the bodie or out of the bodie I knowe not But he in speaking after this maner did not rightlie wrest the words of the apostle according to his owne meaning For if Paule had thought that rapting with the bodie had béene vnpossible certeinelie he would not haue vsed a disiunctiue proposition but a simple proposition Howbeit thus he wrote bicause he thought that both might be But this I maruell at that that Hebrue remembred not the taking vp of Henoch Elias vnlesse perhaps he thought as manie other did that they died in the taking vp But there be two things that séeme to withstand the saieng which I haue affirmed The first is that it is declared by expresse words in the holie historie 2. Kin 2 11. that Elias was taken vp into heauen by a whirlewind therefore it séemeth not that he went vnto the bosome of Abraham It may be said Perhaps by heauen in that place is ment the aire through which there is no doubt but he passed for so did Elias sée him passe awaie and from thence did his mantle fall vpon the ground Or else the scripture speaketh not there of the first going vnto the fathers but of the latter wherein he ascended togither with Christ aboue all the heauens But the first exposition is more probable That moreouer which séemeth to let is this namelie that if now these two men be conuersant with their bodies in heauen now are they perfect neither doo they expect anie other thing as touching felicitie verse 13. 39 But in the epistle to the Hebrues the 11. chapter it is written that the fathers whom the apostle reckoned vp although they had the testimonie of faith Yet attained they not the promise God prouiding something better for vs that they should not be made perfect without vs. Wherein the promise is not generallie to be vnderstood bicause euen the fathers while they liued did obteine diuers things which God promised them Ibidem 33. Wherfore the said apostle somewhat before saith that They ouercame kingdomes and atteined the promise Wherefore in the place now alledged he speaketh of a certeine and speciall kind of promise which some refer to the resurrection of the dead bicause they shall not be raised from the dead before that we be risen againe But this séemeth to disagrée with the words of the apostle bicause then God had prouided nothing better for vs. For according to this sentence the resurrection shal be alike and at one time both vnto them and vs. Wherfore I thinke that this must rather be referred to the benefit that we haue in comparison of them For we are borne after the comming of Christ when the promise is fulfilled concerning his incarnation death calling of the Gentils preaching of the Gospell and we liue in a farre greater light than they liued Wherefore it is méet that we should be also indued with a greater faith than they had And thus much shall suffice touching the first part of the question which things I hauing expounded somewhat at large it may be easilie knowen by them what answer must be made to the other two parts Whether Henoch and Elias be dead 17 Moreouer it was demanded whether those two men were dead Howbeit it appéereth alreadie that I doo not thinke them to be dead For confirmation whereof are brought the words of Paule which he wrote in the eleuenth chapter to the Hebrues verse 5. Henoch pleased God or he approued himselfe vnto him and he was translated that he should not see death But they which be of the contrarie mind saie that he did not sée death after a vsuall waie and maner as other men doo which being at the point of death are perceiued to haue pangs or else are slaine while they liue vpon the earth But these men were taken awaie being aliue and euen in the verie taking vp were extinct by a new kind of death Neither doo there want such as affirme that the translation of them belongeth vnto the soule which died not with eternall damnation And they cite that which is written in the 8. Iohn 8 51. chapter of Iohn If anie man shall keepe my saieng he shall not see death And on the other side in the third chapter of Iohn it is said Iohn 3 36. He that beleeueth not the sonne shall not see life We read also in the 89. psalme What man is he that liueth verse 49. and shall not see death But certeine it is that they which be iustified doo beléeue in the sonne of God and doo kéepe his saiengs so far foorth as the state of this life will giue leaue who neuerthelesse as we all sée doo die a bodilie death But if we should vnderstand translating and death after this
Genesis anie let vnto this renewing where God said vnto Noah that All the daies of the earth shall be sowing and haruest cold and heate summer and winter daie and night for these things he saith shall come to passe in the daies of the earth but those daies shall be the daies of heauen Esaie 66 23 and as Esaie saith A sabboth of sabboths Also Ieremie in the 33. verse 20. chapter saith Can the couenant be made void which I haue made with day night As though he would saie It cannot be made void So saith he shall the couenant be established which I haue made with the house of Iuda and with the house of Dauid The couenant whereof the prophet now speaketh as touching the sending of Messias in his time appointed must not be drawne beyond the time of the present state But Christ when he saith in the Gospell that Heauen and earth shall passe awaie Matt. 24 35. but my word shall not passe awaie How the heauen and earth shall passe away meaneth not Passing awaie for destruction but foretelleth that a certeine change shall one daie come Which yet shall neuer happen vnto his words for they shall alwaies abide vnmooueable and the truth of them shall neuer be peruerted Of this interpretation Dauid is author in the 102. psalme verse 26. The heauens saith he are the works of thy hands they shall perish but thou shalt endure as a garment shalt thou change them and they shall be changed Herevnto also agréeth Peter for when he had said that The heauens shall perish 2. Pet. 3 12. and the elements shall melt awaie with heate he added that We according to the promise shall haue a new heauen and a new earth Esaie 65 17 And Ierom expounding the 65. chapter of Esaie vnto this sense alledgeth a sentence of Paule out of the first epistle to the Corinthians 1. Cor. 7 31. the seuenth chapter For he saith that The figure of this world passeth awaie as though he would not saie that the nature of things or the world it selfe shall perish but onelie the figure that is the state and forme of this time And that the same renewing which we affirme signifieth not a destroieng of nature he prooueth it by a similitude taken of the degrées of our age A similitude For when of children we are made yoong men and of yoong men men and of men old men we are not as touching the nature of man destroied but by those changes we are transferred from a lower estate vnto that which is more excellent Wherefore when that last burning shall come which the scriptures plainlie teach shall come the whole world shall be set on fire A similitude And as gold and siluer when they are melted in the fire perish not but are made more pure so the world shall not by that fire be destroied but be renewed Of this mind also were some of the Ethnike writers as Heraclitus Ephesius and Empedocles Siculus and others who peraduenture had receiued these things of their elders but had corrupted them with wicked opinions An opinion of the heretiks called Millenarij 21 There haue béene also manie of the christians in ancient time which thought that the creatures shall remaine after the comming of the Lord and that they shall serue vnto some vse for the elect For they thought that when Christ shall returne there shal be then onlie the resurrection of the godlie which also they called the first resurrection betwéene which the latter wherein the wicked shall be raised vp there shall be the space of a thousand yéeres and during this time shall Christ wholie reigne in this world togither with the saints and all this space the diuell shall be bound as it is described in the booke of the Apocalypse Apoc. 20 3. And they séeme to haue taken an occasion of their opinion not onelie out of the Reuelation of Iohn but also out of the prophets For they when they prophesie of the kingdome of Christ make mention of manie things which séeme to perteine to the kingdoms of this world and vnto pleasures and delights And they which were in this error were of the Graecians called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Latins Millenarij Neither doubtlesse were there onelie of the common sort patrones of this opinion but euen the principall and most ancient men in the church Certeine principall men of the church were of this opinion as Papias Irenaeus Iustinus Martyr Victorinus Lactantius Tertullian and manie other famous Ecclesiasticall writers Whom I ioine not with Cerynthus for he sowed manie other errors as touching our Sauiour for vnto that which we said that these fathers held he added a double impietie First that the saints shall so reigne in this life with Christ as they shall abundantlie enioie all the pleasures of the bodie which is nothing else but againe with lusts droonkennes gluttonie and such other filthines to contaminate nature being renewed by the resurrection Another error of his was that in that kingdome of Christ the ceremonies of the lawe and sacrifices of Moses should be reuoked which errors none of those fathers whom we spake of did followe 22 Neither should it be anie hard matter to confute that madnes by the scriptures but bicause we haue doon this else-where at large we will now cease to speake thereof Onelie this I will adde that Augustine in the twentieth booke De ciuitate Dei the seuenth chapter writeth If these men had said that Christ in that space of a thousand yéeres will bestowe vpon his saints some celestiall graces their saieng should haue béene the more tollerable In which place he signifieth that he also was sometime of the same mind Howbeit afterward weihing things better he iudged that place of the Apocalypse A place of the Apocalypse diuerslie expounded from whence all that suspicion séemed to flowe must be otherwise expounded namelie by these thousand yéeres to vnderstand all the time which passeth from the ascension of Christ vnto his last iudgment Neither ought the number of a thousand yéers anie thing to offend vs for it is common to the holie scriptures by a number certeine and definite to signifie another number vncerteine and not definite Which thing although it may by manie other places be prooued yet here it shall be sufficient to note onelie two Christ said vnto his apostles Matt. 19 29. He that forsaketh his house or father or mother or children or wife or brethren c. shall receiue a hundred fold where by An hundred fold we vnderstand a certeine great and in a maner infinite recompense So God promiseth in the lawe that He would doo good to them that serue him Exod. 20 6. vnto a thousand generations which signifieth nothing else but to their posteritie for a verie long time Wherefore Christ as thinketh Augustine reigneth with his saints all this time which is signified
for he testifieth the selfe same thing vnto the Colossians the first Chapter and that twise Col. 1. 6. 23. First he saith In the trueth of the Gospel which being preached throughout the world bringeth foorth fruite In the Apostles time the Gospel was very farre spread ouer the world Rom. 15. 19. And towardes the ende of the same Chapter he saith The Gospel which is preached vnto euerie creature vnder heauen Also in the fiftéenth Chapter of the Epistle to the Romanes he declareth with howe great endeuour he labored to publish abroad the Gospel in all places From Ierusalem saith he vnto Illyricum haue I filled all the countries round about with the Gospel And now seeing I haue no more place in these quarters as I goe into Spaine I will come vnto you If one Apostle did so much what doe we think that the rest of the Apostles and Euangelists did Matthew preached vnto the Ethiopians which were in the furthermost parts and Thomas vnto the Indians which euen they themselues at this day testifie And in the first Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans Rom. 1. 8. it is written that the faith of the Romans was spoken of through the whole world And this diligence of the Apostles ought to stirre vp men of our time by continuall preaching to restore Religion nowe decaied Wherefore that commaundement of the Lord which he gaue vnto the Apostles to go into the whole worlde and preach the Gospel to euerie creature ought also to be of force in our time that euerie man in his place which he is appointed vnto should by preaching not suffer sound doctrine to be abolished 6 That the Gospel in the Apostles time was caried abroade into all the parts of the world some expound it by the figure Synecdoche namelie that it was now preached in the most principall Prouinces and Dominions and that at the leastwise the fame and renowne of this doctrine went from thence vnto the Nations adioyning And of this minde was Ambrose who saith Where the person of the preacher wanted there the fame was present And this he proueth by a similitude A similitude The wonderfull workes which GOD had wrought in Egypt to preserue the Israelites were by fame knowen in Ierico as Rahab testified to those messengers or spies whom Iosua sent Iosua 2. 9. No nation as yet in the Apostles time by publike authoritie of the magistrates professed Christ No nation did publikely receiue the Gospell tâ—ll the time of Constantine For this came to passe onlie in the times of Constantine and Theodosius And hereby is easilie perceiued what they meant which wrote that certaine nations were newly conuerted vnto the gospel which doubtlesse they affirme of English men as though in Gregories time they came vnto Christ by meanes of Augustine his legate and Bishop of Canterburie and also of the Saxons that they in the time of Charles the great receiued the faith of the Gospell This indéede might be as touching the publike profession of Cities and Regions when neuerthelesse Christ was long time before preached in those places And as touching Englande England had preachers of the Gospell from the beginning it had preachers of the Gospell euen from the beginning namely in the time of Eleutherius the first and had them in such sort as those Bishoppes continued vnto the time of that Augustine which was sent by Gregorie And that Ilande as touching the feast of Easter obserued the old maner of the East Church and specially of the Church of Ephesus for they did celebrate it the 14. day of March Augustine Bishop of Canterbury brought tyrannicall subiection in to England Wherefore the same Augustine as I thinke rather brought in a Tyrannicall subiection vnder yâ— Pope than pure Christian Religion And thus must wée iudge of the Saxons and such other like nations Augustine in his booke de natura Gratia the 2. Chapter affirmeth that in his time there were some countries far off although verie few vnto whom the Gospel was not as yet preached which I thus vnderstand that the word of God was not publiklie receiued and beléeued Hée writeth also of this matter in an Epistle to Hesychius which is in number the 80. But Chrysostome most manifestlie maketh on my side in his 10. Homilie vpon Matthew and also vpon the 24. Chapter of Matthew when he interpreteth these words Mat. 24. 14. This Gospell of the kingdome shall be preached throughout the whole world for a witnesse and then shal bee the ende The consummation that Christ spake of concerned the publike weale of the Iewes No doubt but the Gospell was preached before the destruction of Ierusalem for the ende in that place must bée referred vnto the publike gouernment of the Iewes which was destroyed in the time of the Apostles for Iohn liued euen vnto the time of Traian The Gospell was preached euery where-but not euery where receiued The Gospell then was in that first time preached almost euerie where but not euerie where receiued nay rather yâ— Preachers were in euerie place gréeuously persecuted as Christ had foreshewed Mat. 10. 17. For They shal deliuer you saith hée and shall scourge you in Councels and Synagogues and ye shall be brought before Kings and Rulers 7 So as there were verie fewe or in a manner none which either heard not the preaching of the Gospell or at the leastwise heard not of the noble and excellent fame of Christ And yet it may be that in processe of time the name of Christ was by negligence and incredulitie abolished as the Portingales report of places found out by them in their iourney wherein they sailed from the Gades into India Whereupon some are woont to moue a curious question what is to be thought of those which are borne either in wilde woods out of the companie of men or in those places where Christ is not preached and his name not heard of What shall become of the people which haue not heard of Christ Vnto whom we may answere that those men if any such be found are in déede somewhat excused neither shall their damnation be so grieuous as shall theirs be which haue heard the Gospell and contemned it yet neuerthelesse they obtaine not the benefit of saluation séeing they haue in themselues the cause of their damnation namelie originall sinne and manie other sinnes the which vndoubtedly haue bin added of them That God without the outward ministerie can reueale Christ vnto them we doubt not and perhappes he sometimes of his mercie doeth so but not of desert as wicked Sophisters affirme if so be they doe what lyeth in them as though they were able to merit it as they saie of congruitie But of this thus much by the waie Howbeit that must be attentiuelie considered that it was no light myracle A myracle that Christs preaching was so soon spread yea rather it was woonderfull that in so
are continually preserued after one order as though they may in no wise be chaunged where neuerthelesse it may be and daylie commeth to passe that those things which in olde time were good doe vtterly degenerate The Church of the Hebrues in the olde time was verie acceptable vnto God 1. King 9. 2 Mat. 21. 13. Ier. 7. 11. so long as right religion florished therein but when that was afterward polluted that which was the temple of God was turned into a denne of theenes which they not considering trusted vnto it more than was méet always crying on this wise The Temple of the Lorde Verse 4. c. as though their common wealth shoulde not perish so long as the Temple remained Euen so our aduersaries thinke so that the name of the bishops church and the outward pompe and shewe of the ministerie bée at Rome there the Church is when as they haue subuerted all things which make to the nature of the Church of Christ It is a grieuous crime to depart from the Church but when that is called the Church which is not who will disallow the departing from thence The Hebrues in the time of the Apostles bosted that they had the Church but séeing they refused the Gospell of the sonne of God the Apostles vpon iust cause departed from theÌ„ And this did Ezechiel beforehand declare in the tenth Chapter Verse 18. when he saw the maiestie of God lifting it selfe vp into heauen and forsaking the Temple of Ierusalem Besides this Iosephus testifieth that when the Roman warre was at hand there were voices heard from the secret places of the Oracle who oftentimes repeted Let vs depart from hence And the ecclesiastical historie bewraieth that the Christian Church which was at Ierusalem was translated to Pella when the war was at hand Againe into Chaldea the Church of the Iewes remooued vnder Nabuchad-nazar So as ther is no cause why these men should assure themselues that the continuance of the Roman Church is vnchangeable 39 But some of them say that among the people of Israel changes were easily made but after the comming of Christ and that the seate of Peter was setled in the Citie of Rome it is not to be thought that these alterations would at any time happen But let them tell vs what assurance they haue aboue other Churches Whether the Roman Church shall neuer change his place If they goe about openly to perswade that the Churches of Constantinople Alexandria and Antioch are subuerted wherfore be they exempted from the like mutations Assuredly Paul did not so thinke For vnto the Romanes speaking vnto the nations conuerted vnto God he saith Ro. 11. 21. that they shoulde diligently take héede to themselues because God who spared not the naturall braunches would in like manner not spare them Wherefore they erre as farre as heauen is wide if they affirme that Christ and the holy ghost are so bounde to the seate of Rome as they will neuer go from thence So long they tarried there as that Church did leane vnto the true foundation But when it began to be founded vpon the sand of mans traditions it was subuerted Neither can it be saide that it is of God séeing Christ prescribed a rule that they be of God which heare the worde of God Rom. 8. 47. And afterwarde of them which boasted themselues to be the Church he boldly pronounced yee heare not those things because ye be not of God And what congregation can there be of the Church if it be not of God And the cause why the Romanists admit not the worde of God is for that they perceiue it to be woonderfully against them Furthermore what Church I pray you can that bâ— which iudgeth not it selfe to stande safely vnlesse that Christ and his word be driuen away He that beléeueth not those things let him more narrowly behold their dealings They haue transformed the Church into a court or place of iudgement for so they speake among themselues and these words they vse euerie where and moreouer a farre greater labour is vsed in the stile of Chauncerie which consisteth altogether of frauds and guiles than in any studies of diuine things Gregorie in the register the 4. booke in the epistle 251 and 55 writing of the holy ministerie faith that séeing it is fallen within it cannot long stand without This did he iudge 800. yeares past And shall we thinke that that Church hath truely stoode hitherto Malachie in the second Chapter saith Verse 8. Because ye haue gone out of the way and haue caused manie to fall therefore haue I made you to be despised Wherefore in going from the Romanists we haue not forsaken the Church but haue fledde from an intollerable yoke and from the conspiracie against the Euangelicall doctrine It is a woonder that these men would perswade Christians that it should be permitted them by God without any limit yea continually to wast the vineyard of the Lord to yéelde no fruite for it but to murder the seruants of the Lorde which are sent vnto them to demaund any fruite Vndoubtedly they be much more foolish than the Hebrues which answered Christ when he had put foorth the parable of the vineyard He will cruelly destroy those wicked men Mat. 21. 41 and wil let out his vineyearde vnto other husbandmen Why doe not these men remember that it was said of the verie trueth it selfe vnto the Iewes Ibid. ve 43 The kingdome of God shal be taken from you Séeing then they be in the same faultes séeing the cause is all one séeing he is the sonne of God I sée no cause why wée should doubt but that the power dignitie and true nature of the Church is taken away from them But to disprooue this our departure they bring a place out of the epistle of Iude which blameth the wicked because then haue separated themselues But the answere is readie A place of Iude expounded because it ought not to bée ascribed vnto vs that wee haue departed from the Pope God hath seuered vs from him as it hath béene shewed by his Oracles and precepts Acts. 4. 19. neither could we forget the saying of the Apostle that we must rather obey God than men Euen as when there is a iust diuorce for adulterie Matt. 19. 6. man diuideth not them whom God coupled together but God himselfe by his word and law seuereth man and wife in that case 40 Also they inforce against vs as they thinke a verie strong reason Whether al that hitherto haue liued vnder the Pope haue perished in demanding whether all men that were before vs and haue liued vnder the obedience of Rome are perished yee say they are nâ—we men and lately spruÌ„g vp séeing yée were scarsly to be séene 30. yeares past or thereabouts But there be aboue 900. yeares past since Boniface the 3. whom ye make author of the Popedome It were most absurde to be said
greatly deceiued this is the gift of Christ alone and therefore Iohn in pointing vnto Christ said Behold the lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world And in Exodus the 33. Verse 39. it is expressed as a thing proper vnto God that he taketh awaie iniquitie vngodlines and sinnes And Esaie in the 43. Chapter Verse 25. It is I that take awaie sinnes In the first of Iohn we reade 1. Ioh. 2. 10. He it is that is the Propitiation for our sinnes Which also Paule affirmed vnto the Romans when he saieth Rom. 3. 25. Whom he hath set foorth a Propitiation through his bloud 1. Iohn 1. 9 Also Iohn in his first Epistle and first Chapter wrote The bloud of Iesus Christ his sonne clenseth vs from all sinne Verilie the outward things doe not cleanse the conscience otherwise Christ had died in vaine Againe the soule which is a spirit and without bodie is not purged by grosse corporall things Which the Epistle to the Hebrewes the 9. Verse 9. Chapter doeth plainely teach when it saith That the giftes and sacrifices doe not purge nor make cleane but that Christ was the verie high Priest who hauing wrought eternall redemption passed into the heauens And if at anie time the holie scriptures maie séeme to attribute forgiuenesse of sinnes or saluation to outward signes that must be vnderstoode by the figure Metonymia wherby those things are giuen vnto signes which are proper vnto the things signified the things signified are expressed by the name of the signes So Peter in his first Epistle saith 1. Pet. 3. 20 that in the time of Noah viij soules were saued by the water alluding vnto baptisme Howbeit by water he vnderstandeth not the outward element but that washing which is done by the bloud of Christ And so in the outwarde signe hée comprehendeth the thing signified Which he himselfe manifestly declareth afterward when he saieth 1. Pet. 3. 21. Not in that wherein the filthes of the flesh is put awaie but in that a good conscience answereth euen to God by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ So that by the water he noted the bloud death which is expressed vnder the name of Resurrection After the same manner must that be vnderstoode Ephe. 5. 25 which wee haue to the Ephesians namely That Christ gaue himselfe for the Church that the same might be sanctified by the washing of water through the word c. The cause of sanctification is Christ himselfe who gaue himselfe for vs and for that cause gaue the washing of water that the cleansing by him might be testified by the word and by the signe Brieflie this must be held that the outward signes ioyne vs not vnto Christ but that they be giuen when we bée alreadie ioined vnto him A similitude Euen as the watch word of souldiers doth not leuie a souldier but hath bin accustomed to be giuen when he is alreadie leuied And there is none that marketh his shéepe horse and oxe vnlesse he first possesse those beastes Yea and the letters of Donation are first finished and written before the seales of the giuers be set vnto them And assuredly thus God delt with Abraham Gen. 15. 6. First he beleeued and it was imputed to him for righteousnesse Then he receiued circumcision as a seale of the righteousnesse of faith which he was indued with whē he was vncircumcised Neither did God begin to deale with Abraham in circumcision but the same circumcision followed iustification Which is also doone in baptisme The thing it self that is the couenant made with mankinde by Christ goeth before afterward followeth the outward token And that it is not otherwise with vs than with Abraham Paul declareth when he saieth Rom. 4. 23. that he was set forth vnto vs as an example of iustification Which if it were not all the Arguments of Paule concerning that matter should be weake yea rather they would be vtterly ouerthrowen 19 Yet doe I not denie Certaine signified things that follow baptisme but that there be certaine signified things of baptisme which doe not goe before but followe the eternall washing as is mortification and repentance and according to this Analogie I vnderstand that which we haue in the Epistle vnto the Romans to wit that we die with Christ Rom. 6. 4. and are buried together with him because the olde man that is the affections and lustes of the flesh must perpetuallie bee mortified which is not yet brought to passe so soone as we be baptized but it is requisite that it should afterward be doone And whereas we reade vnto the Galathians Gal. 3. 27. So manie of you as are baptized haue put on Christ I iudge it must be so expounded as if thou vnderstand To put on Christ for to be made the member of him that goeth before baptisme but if you meane it by manners and life to expresse the childe of God Two places in the Epistle to the Galathians expounded that followeth after baptisme receiued So as we must decrée as concerning the children of faithfull men that they be reckoned among the faithfull and that the children of the Saints are numbred among the Saints 1. Cor. 7. 14 as Paul testifieth in the first Epistle to the Corinthians And if that one will obiect Ib. 12. ve 13 that in the same Epistle the 12. Chapter it is written that wee bee baptized into one bodie that must not be so expounded as though we first passe by outward baptisme into the bodie of Christ An obiection touching original sin confuted séeing we were of the bodie of Christ before Then to the intent that this maie be testified and sealed we are outwardly baptized Ibidem And therfore before those words it is written By the spirit we are baptized into one bodie So that it is first wrought by the worke of the holie Ghost that we become the mēbers of Christ then baptisme is added Wherefore séeing the Infants of Christians be such there is no cause why they should be adiured or breathed vppon But we must weigh that it is not brought to passe by those things that originall sinne is vtterly taken awaie because we confesse that all men are borne the children of wrath and be depraued with originall sinne séeing that kinde of sinne commeth not by imitation as the Pelagians taught but it is the corrupting of the whole nature of man both as touching the soule as touching the bodie Againe we adde that God by Iesus Christ doeth make cleane his elect and predestinate so as the vice which in his owne nature should be mortall sinne shall not bee imputed to them vnto death Further by his spirit he renueth and adorneth them Afterward is added the sealing of outward baptisme First therfore they haue election or predestination they haue the promise and they are borne of faithfull Parents and séeing they be now in the
is said This is my bodie The Bishop of Rochester saieth in these propositions that when any thing is changed into an other thing it is not absurde that that which was before shoulde bee shewed And so he admitteth that in This is my bodie should be shewed the bread which was before and is chaunged into the bodie of Christ whyle those wordes be spoken But then saie I the proposition is not well framed For it should haue bin said This is made my bodie or This is turned into my bodie otherwise being said This is my bodie the spéech is vnproper 14 They which say that the body of Christ is really ioyned with the signes the natures I meane of bread and wine being preserued doe thus argue against Transubstantiation What dignitie or priuiledge haue Accidentes that they can be ioyned with the body of Christ which ought to be denyed to the substance and nature of bread And if the Accidentes can remaine why shall not also the substance of bread be retained Yea rather many of the fathers suppose that this may be doone And thence they take a similitude that the humane and diuine natures in Christ doe verily remaine and so remaine as one passeth not into another whose opinions we will bring in when time shall serue They fall also into an other absurditie for while they breake the Sacrament What is broken in the sacrament we demaund of them what they break there Here they stagger and some haue said as testifyeth the maister of the sentences in the 4. booke that the essence or substance of the body of Christ is broken but this opinion is by him confuted because the body of Christ is immortall and therefore it is not subiect to these things and to new chaunces There were others which said that the same is no true breaking but that it onely appeareth to be and so séemeth vnto our senses And this is also reiected least we should establish here a perpetuall illusion At length they say that they be accidents which be broken And when as they after a sort appoint a Mathematicall quantitie that is a quantitie separated from matter which if it be diuided it is onely doone by the power of the minde and by the promptnesse of the vnderstanding These men also diuide in very déede so as the partes diuided may most manifestly be séene In Ieremy we reade Iere. 11. â—9 Let vs cast wood vppon his bread which place is cited by Tertullian and Lactantius and they interpret that this was spoken of putting the wood of the crosse into the body of Christ and they will that mention was made of bread because through bread Christ was to giue himselfe vnto vs. And that which the Prophet speaketh The Transubstantiators take away the figure of the old Testament they will haue to be a figure of the bread of the Sacrament which séeing these men take away and onely leaue a figure vnto vs they affirme a figure of a figure so as no sound thing remaineth The very which may be gathered by that which is oftentimes alledged by the fathers as concerning Melchizedeck Gen. 14. 18 who brought the bread and the wine the figure whereof is not by these men obserued when they remooue away the bread and the wine And the selfe same thing followeth as touching the Shewbread 15 Againe we will bring a reason taken froÌ„ baptisme A little before we argued from thence that for the trueth of that Sacrament it was not requisite that water should be transubstantiated now we reason from the men themselues which be baptised The change of vs in Baptisme of whom the Scripture plainely saith that they lay away the olde man and are againe begotten and yet is there no Transubstantiation imagined in them neuerthelesse generation is described to be a motion whereby a new substance is gotten Iohn 3. 5. Wherefore it is no maruell that Nichodemus tooke offence at the wordes of the Lord wherein it was shewed him that he should be borne againe For while he thought with himselfe that a new generation was preached vnto man already brought foorth and well in yeares he stood in a doubt But and if we interpret that generation to be new and the natiuitie to be spiritual why doe we not vouchsafe to doe the same in the Eucharist And why doe we not transferre all thinges vnto spirituall eating I gladly ioyne together these two Sacramentes Baptisme and the Eucharist because Paul in the 1. Verse 13. Epistle to the Corinthians the 12. Chap. knitteth them together How Paul knitteth together the two Sacraments when he saith All wee by one spirit are baptised into one body and haue bin all made to drinke with one spirit Neither is it of any force if thou shalt say that we be baptised into one body to wit the mysticall body because from the mysticall body Christ is not absent séeing he is the head thereof And else where Paul most plainely saith Gal. 3. 27. that We in baptisme put on Christ We see moreouer that the holy writers bring out of the 6. Chapter of Iohn many thinges as touching the Sacrament of the Eucharist Yea rather there is none of the fathers which in the interpreting of that chapter writeth not pleÌ„tifully of the Eucharist Whereupon we conclude a reason after this manner Whether the words in the 5. of Iohn belong to the Eucharist The thinges which be there spoken either serue vnto this sacrament or they serue not if they belong not vnto this what néede is there to rite them or by those places to dispute of the Eucharist But if they haue respect vnto this séeing there is onely a spirituall eating that is by faith whereby is receaued the true body and bloud of Christ what néede is there to bring in an other new receauing and to imagin a carnal eating whereby the same thing should be receaued againe For if we graunt that there commeth some godly and faithfull man then these men shall be constrained to admit that twise he dooth receaue the body of Christ First by a spirituall eating through faith afterward by their carnall eating which they haue neuer prooued And thus thou séest that these men doe stop vp their owne way so as they cannot truely cite those testimonies which are vppon the 6. Chapter of Iohn And while they affirme TransubstaÌ„tiation they are found to be in the same error that the Capernaites were The error of the Capernaâ—…s Euen they also reuolued in their mind I know not what corporal eating of the flesh of Christ from which cogitation Christ straight way reuoked them when he said Ioh. 6. ver 36. that his wordes were spirit and life and that the flesh profiteth nothing And he obiected vnto them the memory of his ascension into heauen saying Verse 62. What if ye see the sonne of man ascend into heauen where he was at the first But these men say
the new byrth Iohn 3. 4. c. Iohn 4. 11. No lesse did that woman of Samaria erre as concerning that water which Christ promised her And the Hebrewes erred when Christ said vnto them Iohn 8. 5 6. That Abraham sawe his day and reioyced Wherefore let them not alwayes say vnto vs that this scripture This is my bodie is plaine for we will aunswere them it is playne as touching the signification of the wordes But the sense of them is not plaine as in the lyke sentences it dooth appeare Christ is the Rock 1. Cor. 10. 4 Iohn 1. 29. 1. Co. 10. 27 1. Co. 10. 7 Christ is the Lambe Ye be the bodie of Christ We that be many are one bread All these be the words of God and we may pronounce of them that they be plaine that they be manifest yet for all that none of them inferre Transubstantiation 33 Wherefore there is no cause why perspicuitie should be so much pretended A first declaration of the proposition This is my body It behooueth by other places and circumstances of the scripture to regard well what is héere meant Wherefore wee will expound this proposition in scanning of it more déepely God meant to drawe man vnto him by ample promises because he woulde blesse him and make him happie and because we haue vnbeléeuing hearts he woulde haue manie benefites to appeare towardes mankinde whereby he might allure the same vnto him Wherefore he not onely gaue vs fréely all creatures but also in the time of the floud deliuered mankind which otherwise had yll deserued from the destruction of the waters He declared himselfe verie mercifull vnto Abraham also he gaue good successe vnto the stocke of Isaac and to his séede Iacob that it should be increased in Egypt And when they were there oppressed he deliuered them he gaue them a verie happie land and he exalted them to the dignitie of a kingdome and Priesthood but yet they were alwaies vnbeléeuing men and smally perswaded themselues of the good will of God towards them Wherefore because of their infidelitie hée cast them into diuerse captiuities and afterward he deliuered them Finally that there should be no place left to doubt of his goodnesse he bestowed the chiefest of all benefites vppon vs namely his owne sonne indued with mans flesh that he should die vpon the Crosse for our saluation Which benefite was such Rom. 8. 31. that as Paule saide vnto the Romans howe could it be but that he gaue all things together with him And least it should be forgotten he would haue it renued in the memorie by the sacrament of the Eucharist that we should reuolue in our minde by faith that Christ by him was deliuered vnto death for vs and that in beléeuing we should eate his flesh and drinke his bloud Which that it might the more effectually be doone the tokens both of bread wine were added which might mooue vs more earnestly than bare wordes could doe Mat. 26. 26 Iohn 6. 35. He compareth the proposition This is my bodie with that in the 6. of Iohn I am the bread of life 34 Therefore when he saieth This is my bodie he meant no otherwise than he promised in the 6. of Iohn I am the bread of life He spake of himselfe as touching the bodie and flesh deliuered vnto death or rather to be deliuered as by his words it is manifest Neither would he any other thing but that these things shoulde be vnto vs breade and meate whereby our mindes shoulde be confirmed and cherished and by the minde the bodie and finally the whole man Wherfore in the Supper Christ did nothing else but that he transposed the proposition and as before he had said that his bodie and flesh is bread so nowe on the otherside he saieth in shewing bread that the verie same is his bodie and while he pronounced This is my bodie it was euen as if he had said My bodie being receiued by faith shall be vnto you in the stead of bread or as it were bread wherby you shall bee spiritually fed Wherefore let the sense be I giue vnto you bread to eate and in the meane time I set forth vnto you my bodie which shall be fastened vnto the Crosse that with a faithful memorie and attentiue minde ye may eate it spiritually with your selues and as ye with the bodie eate bread so with the minde ye may féede vpon my flesh What is more easie plaine than this interpretation And that doeth more better agrée with the promise which the Lord maketh vnto vs in the 6. Chapter of Iohn But and if any man will contende that that first saying of Christ I am the liuely bread is taken for the diuine nature as Chrysostome séemeth to take it first we say that this doeth not well agrée because Christ had ordered his spéech concerning the eating of his bodie in the stead of earthly bread he offered to the Capernaites his flesh to bée eaten which thing by the course of his spéech doeth plainely appeare although he say that the bread came downe from heauen because oftentimes that which is of the Godhead is also communicated with the humanitie But if this exposition of Chrysostome be of so great force with them let that also preuaile with them when he saieth afterwarde that the saying of Christ Verse 5◠The bread which I will giue is my flesh which I will giue for the lyfe of the world doeth belong vnto the Eucharist Neither hath he alone affirmed this but the rest of the Interpretors doe also consent vnto him Therefore when as the Lord saith there that The bread is his flesh he nowe testifieth the same in the supper for the bread being shewed he said This is my bodie He pronounceth both in the one place and the other that his bodie or his flesh is breade namely of the soule and of our regenerated substance which bread is spiritually eaten And so there shal be no conuersion of the proposition but it shall be vnderstoode after the selfe same manner both in the one place and in the other What figure is admitted in this proposition This is my bodie But if thou vnderstand the whole together to wit the bread and the thing offered by the bread that is the bodie of Christ we admit the figure Synecdoche for it is spoken of the whole or of the one part which is vnderstoode of the other But if thou referre the saying vnto bread which both signifieth and offereth vnto vs the bodie of Christ to be eaten it shall be the figure of Denomination to wit when the name of the thing signified is attributed vnto the signe In this interpretation also all thinges are easie absurdities are shamed and one place of the scripture is not contrarie to the other scriptures 35 They said if place be thus giuen vnto figures the Heretickes will peruert all things Vnlesse we vse figures we cannot
prophesied and written of Christ Wherefore a little before he cited the scripture Verse 8. He ascended on high he led captiuitie captiue and gaue gifts vnto men And if thou wilt referre it vnto places thou must vnderstand this of the kindes of places not of each one place particularlie according to that sentence 1. Tim. 2. 4. The Lord would haue all men to be saued So shall we say that Christ sometime occupied the middle places sometime the higher places and otherwhile the lower places as in the sepulchre The Transubstantiators say that this belonged not vnto them because they say not that the bodie of Christ is euery where but onelie where the Sacrament is yea rather it is against them For if as they iudge it be not repugnant to the bodie of Christ If the bodie of Christ may be together in many places it may also be euerie where which thing also Scotus sawe to be at one time and together in xx or fiftie places it will not be repugnant to be in an hundreth or in a thowsand and finallie in all places and so will they make the bodie of Christ to be infinite neither is there any cause why thou shouldst accuse the forme of the Argument For the selfesame did Ierom vse against Iohn Byshop of Ierusalem where he would prooue that our bodies after resurrection can remaine without meate For Elias saith he and Moses by the power of God could remaine without meate for the space of 40 dayes therefore might man for moe dayes also be sustained by the power of God And if for longer time it followeth that for euermore if it be the will of God But to returne to those men they because they sée that vppon so néere a coniunction it followeth that the Sacrament may be adored for if the Lord be corporally and really contained therein who will not woorship him The aduersaries teach it to be frée to adore or not to adore the Sacrament they teach that it is frée for thée to doe it or not doe it For they say although he be there yet is he not there to the end he should be woorshipped If thou receaue him and eate him it is enough if also thou woorship him thou errest not But we rather iudge that in woorshipping we should not conuert our minde vnto the signes But if any man while the rite of the Sacrament is exercised being well instructed in the mysterie shall turne his minde to the woorshipping of Christ reigning in heauen he dooth rightlie and his bounden duetie to woorship Christ which declareth himselfe vnto him neither is idolatrie committed therein And this Paul taught in the first Epistle to the Corinthians 1. Co. 14. 23 when he saith If a man enter into your congregation if he be vnlearned and a plaine man and heare you all speake together in tongues doubtlesse he wil say They be mad neither shall he be edified but if he shall heare you prophesie and shall perceiue that the secretes of his heart be opened then will he fall downe vppon his face and woorship God He will not woorship men in such wise prophesying but séeing the Lord is there reuealed vnto him he will turne himselfe to the woorshipping of God Reasons against the second opinion 71 The reasons in bréefe for the which their grosse iudgemēt séemeth not to be true are these to wit that this reall and corporal presence bringeth therewith no vtilitie which we receiue not aswell by the spirituall presence Verse 51. For in the 6. of Iohn the Lord promised to them that eate him eternall life further that he would dwel in them and they in him ouer and besides these thinges what is required Moreouer it might not be graūted that we and the fathers of the olde lawe had the selfesame Sacramentes 1. Cor. 10. ver 2. 3. c because it was not possible that the olde fathers could haue obtained this reall presence for that the sonne of God had not as yet taken vpon him humane flesh Further it would follow that both the godlie and the wicked doe eate the bodie of Christ Againe besides that spirituall eating which we haue in the 6. of Iohn they bring in an other carnall and corporall eating which cannot be allowed séeing this eating and that be all one sauing that in the latter are added signes for the more confirmation of the thing Finally it followeth that when they attribute so much vnto wordes they are in the same difficultie wherein the Transubstantiators be when they say This is my bodie For they cannot expresse their meaning that they may speake plainelie without contradiction what they would declare and how the wordes while they be vttered may be true if they admit not a figure They spread abroad the bodie of Christ that it may be together in manie places and euery where Neither is it of force if they say Not locallie because although he be there as Angels are said to be in a place that is not fit for the creature as it is prooued before by Didimus Basill Augustine vnto Dardanus and by Cyrill which places thou shalt finde at the end of the first disputation against Tresham The wordes of the scripture driue vs not to so grosse and corporall a presence and faith is of the word of God wherefore faith ought not to imbrace the same 72 Besides this the fathers teache otherwise for what maner of bodie is in the Eucharist Cyprian in his Sermon of the Lordes supper sheweth when he saith Who vnto this day createth sanctifieth blesseth his most true and holie bodie and diuideth it vnto the godlie receauers The proper bodie of Christ is not created or sanctified of men neither yet is it diuided Chrysostome vpon Matthew the 5. Chapter in the 11. homilie in the vnfinished worke If therefore it bée so dangerous to transferre vnto priuate vses these vessels sanctified wherein is not contained the true bodie of Christ but a mysterie of his bodie c. And how we must ascend into heauē when we communicate if we would inioy the bodie of Christ the same father declareth vppon the first Epistle to the Corinthians the 10. Chapter Homilie 24. He commaundeth vs that with great concord and charitie we come vnto him and being made Eagles in this lyfe we should fly vnto the very heauen or rather aboue heauen For where saith he the dead carkas is Mat. 24. 28. there also the Eagles be The carkas is the bodie of the Lord by reason of his death For vnlesse that he had fallen we had not risen againe And he calleth vs Eagles to shew that he which commeth vnto this bodie must mount on high must haue no communitie with the earth and must not lay holde vppon or be drawen vnto inferiour thinges but alwaies fly aloft and looke into the sonne of righteousnesse and haue a most readie eye of the minde for this is a table of Eagles and not
of Iayes Againe the same father vppon Matthew the 26. Chapter Homilie 83. They were about to iourney frō Egypt into Palestina and therefore they did weare the habit of a traueler thou from the earth must ascend into heauen And in the 3. booke De Sacerdotio Doost thou thinke to dwell among mortal men and to stay and be in the earth And doost thou not rather thinke that thou shalt foorthwith be translated into heauen And in casting away all cogitation of the flesh doest thou not with a single heart and pure minde consider those things that be in heauē 73 Augustine vnto Boniface hath all these things after the same order and sense The time of Easter being at hand hee saith As this or the next day saue one Christ dyed and on the Sonday This day Christ rose againe Baptisme is faith and the Sacrament of the bodie of Christ is the bodie of Christ And wee sée that in all the sayings which we haue reckoned The thing absent is really spoken of the thing present Acts. 9. 4. that which is absent is really pronounced of that which is present The same Father vpon the 54. Psalme The head was in heauen and he saide Why doest thou persecute mée Wee are with him in heauen by hope he is with vs in the earth by loue And in the 119. Epistle to Ianuarius Wherefore to that persecutor whom with his voyce he slue and translating him into his bodie after a sort hath eaten he sounded frō heauen Saul Saul why persecutest thou mee Vpon Iohn the 30. Treatise and we haue it in the Title de Consecratione distinction the 2. yet the first in déede The Lord is aboue but here also is the truth of the Lord For the Lords body wherin he rose againe ought to be in one place his trueth is euerywhere spread Also vpon Iohn the 50. Treatise For according to his Maiestie according to his prouidence according to this vnspeakeable inuisible grace is fulfilled that which was spokē by him Behold I wil bee with you vntill the ende of the world Mat. 28. 20 But according to the flesh which the word tooke vpon it according to that which was borne of the Virgin according to that which was taken holde of by the Iewes which was fastened to the trée which was taken downe from the crosse which was wrapped in cloathes which was buried in the sepulchre which was made manifest in the resurrection Ye shall not alwaies haue mee with you Mat. 26. 11. Wherefore after he had béene conuersant as touching his bodilie presence fourtie daies with his Disciples they leading him foorth while they saw him but not followed him he ascended into heauen and is not here for there he sitteth at the right hand of his Father and is héere for he departed not with the presence of his Maiestie we haue Christ alwaies As touching the presence of the flesh it was rightlie saide vnto the Disciples Mat. 26. 11 Me ye shal not haue alwaies For the Church had him but a fewe daies as touching the presence of the flesh Nowe it houldeth him by faith it séeth him not with the eyes And the same Father vpon the Epistle of Iohn at the end Wherefore our Lord Iesus Christ did for this cause ascend into heauen on the fortie daie hee in this respect commended his bodie because it was to be left on the earth in his members for that he sawe that many would honor him for that he ascended into heauen and perceaued that their honoring is vnprofitable if they tread downe his members vppon the earth And that none might be deceaued nor when he should woorship the head in heauen should oppresse the séete vppon the earth he tould them where his members should be For when he was about to ascend he spake the last wordes after these wordes he spake no more vppon the earth The head being about to ascend into heauen commended his members vppon the earth and so departed Thou shalt not now finde Christ to speake vppon the earth Thou findest him to speake howbeit in heauen and out of heauen it selfe Wherefore because the members were ouertrodden vppon the earth For vnto Paul the persecuter he said Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Acts. 9. 4. I ascended into heauen but I lie still vpon the earth Here I sit at the right hand of the father there I still hunger thyrst and am a straunger After what sort then commended he his bodie vpō the earth being about to ascend Acts. 1. 6. When his disciples had demaunded of him Lord if thou wilt at this time be presented when wilt thou restore the kingdome of Israel He aunswered vpon his departure It is not for you to know the time which the father hath layd vp in his owne power but ye shal receaue the power of the holy spirit comming vppon you ye shall be witnesses vnto me in Ierusalem Behold in what respect he spreadeth out his bodie behold when he wil not be trodden vppon ye shal be my witnesses in Ierusalem and ouer all Iury and Samaria and vnto the endes of the earth Behold I lie which doe ascend For I ascend because I am the head my bodie yet still lyeth In what sort dooth it lie Ouer the whole earth 74 Vnto Augustine Cyrillus dooth consent who saith vppon Iohn the 6. booke and 14. Chapter Here must we note that although he tooke from hence the presence of his bodie euen as he promised that he would be away from his disciples yet in the maiestie of his Godhead he is alwayes present Behold I am with you alwayes euen vntill the end of the world And the same father in the 9. booke vppon Iohn the 21. Chapter And Christ said that he would be with his disciples a little while not because he would vtterly depart from them for he is with vs alwayes euen vntill the end of the world but because he would not liue together with thē as he did before For the time was now at hand that he should goe euen into heauen vnto the father And the faithfull ought to beléeue that although he be absent from vs in bodie yet that we and all thinges are gouerned by his power and that he is alwaies present with all men which loue him Therfore he said Mat. 18. 20 Verilie verilie I say vnto you that wheresoeuer two or three be gathered in my name there am I in the middest of them For euen as when he was conuersant vppon the earth as man he then also filled the heauens and left not the fellowship of the Angels after the same manner now he being in the heauens filleth not the earth with his flesh and yet is with them that loue him And it must be obserued that although hee should be absent onely according to the flesh for he is alwayes present by the power of the Godhead as we haue said yet he said he would be a little while with
must pray vnto God that we may be deliuered from the necessitie of warre but not frō warre it selfe if it be necessarie Of this saying Hostiensis gathereth that he dooth ill which taketh warre in hand of will and not of necessitie And necessitie oftentimes commeth by reason that a Magistrate must manie times for duetie sake make warres least he should séeme to forsake the people Men are two wayes retained in their duetie namelie by reward and by punishment that the obseruers of lawes may be rewarded and the contemners punished Wherefore this the Magistrate may rightlie prouide and that without blame The same Augustine All things saith he are at quiet when warres be made For warres he saith are not made for pleasure sake or vppon a gréedie minde of getting or vppon crueltie but for a desire of peace that good men may be aduaunced and euill men restrained Which saying is recited by Gratian Cause 23. quest 1. the Chapter Apud pios And in the same question in the Chapter Militare To goe on warfare is no sinne but to goe to the warre for bootie sake is sinne And against Faustus the Maniche in the 22. booke of the 73. Chapter What doe we reprehend saith he in warre That men doe die who otherwise should die if that were not But this is the part of an effeminate and weake man wherefore we condemne a couetous desire a crueltie of fighting and a lusting after dominion But in that the godlie are defended and the wicked suppressed that may not be condemned 6 But I heare of a doubt obiected by some An obiection that those testimonies are out of the old Testament that the greater part of these Testimonies are auouched out of the olde Testament To what end speake they this Doe they not receaue the olde Testament Vndoubtedlie the holy Ghost in the new Testament cited very manie testimonies out of the olde Howbeit the olde Testament they reiect not neuerthelesse they say that there be thinges extant therein which are not set foorth vnto vs to be followed I graunt that But those things which be written of warre belong vnto the lawe of nature which ought to be eternall For it is an euerlasting lawe that good men should be holpen and euill men repressed Albeit in the new Testament there is no lesson giuen as touching warrefare First because the Christians in those beginninges had not either a Commonwealth or their Magistrates Secondlie because there had bin sufficient commaundement giuen of that matter in the olde Testament For immediatelie after the floud God made a lawe That bloud vniustlie shed Gen. 9. 6. should be required of the manquellers and that was to be doone by the Magistrate Wherefore it was sufficient that those thinges were confirmed in the new Testament And that did Paul in the Epistle to the Romans Rom. 13. 3. when he writeth that a Magistrate hath the right of the sword Yet did not God in those first times forsake his Church although the same had no Magistrate For in stead of the outward sword it had the woonderfull power of the holie Ghost Acts. 5. 5. Acts. 13. 11. For by it Peter fiue Ananias and Saphira and Paul made Elimas blinde So those thinges which the Church had not by an ordinarie meanes it had them then by miracles They had no languages they had no Phisitiōs they had no Schooles but they had from God the gift of tongues the gift of healinges and the wordes of wisdome But now must those thinges be gotten of vs by studie and industrie After the same sort God gaue vnto the Israelites Manna from heauen when they were in the desert and could neither till the fieldes nor yet haue graine But whē they were come to the land of promise they lacked Manna therefore they began to till and eare the land and to liue vppon their labors So was it with the Christians at the beginning yet in the meane time they vsed a ciuill Magistrate For if they had offended in anie thing or if they had bin commaunded anie thing they might not escape because they were Christians yea and they also went a warrefare with the Emperours which were Ethnickes For there is a speciall mention made of that famous Legion of Thebes And Eusebius in his first booke and fift Chapter saith that the Christians went a warrefare vnder M. Aurelius the Emperour in Germanie And that they in a great drought prayed to the Lord and obtained rayne from heauen Moreouer the Gospell as it forbiddeth not the vse of the Sunne and Moone so it forbiddeth not the iust vse of warre Whether vnto a iust warre the authoritie of a Magistrate be alwayes required 7 And whereas I say that the Authoritie of a Magistrate is required there be some which thinke that this is not generallie true Wherefore they vse this distinction that it is one warre whereby we inuade our enemies and an other whereby we defend our owne They confesse that it is not lawfull for warre to be made without commaundemēt of the Magistrate But in the defending of our goods if it be a sudden violent assault they say that oftentimes it is no safetie to expect the rule of the Magistrate For so it is lawfull to a good man and one that is a priuate person being assailed on the way by a théefe to defend himselfe with his weapon which neuerthelesse they so temper as it may be lawfull with moderation of such defence as is faultlesse It may also be say they that some Citie is suddenlie besieged by the enemie where if the assent of the Prince be expected all thinges will come into danger But he that is so oppressed by a théefe as he cannot craue the tuition of the Magistrate he is now no more a priuate man for the Magistrate himselfe armeth him and giueth him the sword in his hand to defend himselfe For he will not that a Citizen should perish without a cause The same aunswere may be made for the defending of a Citie For the lawes themselues will in such a case that Citizens should defend themselues And that they should doe that they are bound thereunto both by the lawes and by the royall authoritie of the Magistrate Therefore Hostiensis saith well That warres are vniust which are taken in hand neither by the commaundement nor by the secret consent of the Magistrate But Abraham say they although he were a priuate man yet he armed his owne familie Gen. 14. 14 Iudg. 15. 8. and deliuered Lot And Sampson a man priuate yet made he great slaughters of the Philistians Howbeit Abraham Sampson The examples of Abraham Sampson although they séemed to be priuate men yet in verie déede they were not For God had alreadie chosen them and would haue them to be princes For of Sampson it is read Iudg. 14. 6. that the spirit of the Lord came vppon him These examples none ought to followe vnlesse he be such a
of so strong and well fenced places Neuerthelesse in the Prophet Abacuk such madde building is woonderfully laughed to scorne by the spirit of God Chapter 2. The Chapter of his Prophesie And Abdia in the name of God threateneth the children of Esawe that their nest shoulde be throwen downe to the grounde howsoeuer it séemed vnto them that they had set it in heauen But what more notable example neede we séeke for thā that Tower which foorthwith after the floud men began to build Gen. 11. as though they would defend themselues against God if he should goe about againe to destroy the world with waters But God from heauen laughed to scorne their madde furiousnesse as it is largely set foorth in the Booke of Genesis GOD wanteth no excellent deuises For first from such as so much trust to munitions when they haue now a sit occasion to vse them he is accustomed to take awaie the courages and all chéerefulnesse from the hardie so to strike them with follie that he vtterly maketh them voide of wisedome Wherefore he weakeneth their heartes and their strength faileth them yea and they séeme to be made afraide and verie sore abashed euen of the verie stones beames and walles of their Castels I might here easilie shew things which haue in our age happened but that I must haue respect to be briefe Reade the 2. Chapter of Abucuk Whether it be lawfull to fence Cities and Castels What then Are not Cities and Castels to be fensed I forbid it not But I woulde haue Princes which in such sort doe builde first to be ascerteined of this to wit that no things created can defend or succour men vnlesse with them be ioyned that power of God whereby with his becke he ruleth and gouerneth the world The which when he withdraweth whatsoeuer men goe about or enterprise the contrarie altogether happeneth And euen as out of bread wine and other meates we ought not to looke for nourishment if God withdrawe to himselfe that power and operation of his which he dayly ministereth to those things so also without it there is no defence to be had by walles nor by most strong Castels For which cause before we begin any munitions we must put our confidence in God and laie the most profitable foundation of holy prayers and praie to God to kéepe vs chiefelie in true and sincere godlinesse to call vs backe from sinnes and to giue vs continuallie a sound repentaunce Lastlie we must desire that when a iust and holie man shall haue néede of defences he will vouchsafe to giue vnto him that his most mightie and healthfull power The verie which prayers wée must vse both in meate drinke apparell or any other thing when we begin to receiue them Of Spials 28 The first espiall we haue in the Booke of Numbers the 13. Chapter In Iud. 1. ver 23. Verse 2. Iosua 2. 1. Another happened vnder Iosua when those two searched the Citie of Ierico whom Rahab the harlot kept with great faithfulnesse And the thirde is that finallie which is spoken of in the Booke of Iudges the first Chapter verse 24. Howbeit I am not ignoraunt that Ioseph in the Booke of Genesis laide to his brethrens charge that they were espies Gen. 42 9. But the office or worke of spies as Chrysostome saith The office or worke of Spies expounding these wordes of Paul in the second Chapter of the Epistle to the Galathians Verse 4. That there were false brethren entred to espie out our libertie is to knowe the doings of the aduersaries that they and theirs The end of spialship may haue the easier enterance to conquer or repulse them Nowe we vnderstand that it is an Action and we sée to what ende it is ordained Moreouer it commeth from enemies and from the minde of an aduersarie but it is doone priuilie and craftilie As it is lawfull to fight with enemies by force and Armes when warre is iustly taken in hand so is it iust to vse the art and subtiltie of espials Whereupon Ierom vpon the 27. Ierom. Espialship is an indifferēt thing Chapter of Ezechiel saieth that espialship is an indifferent thing namely which a man may vse both well and ill Moses and Iosua vsed it well and also the house of Ioseph If so bée that the warre be vniust the espialship seruing thereunto must néedes be vniust also Wherefore the brethren of Ioseph when he said vnto them By the life of Pharao Gen. 42. 14 ye bee spies did put awaie that from them as an iniurie or a reproche But the punishment of spies if they be taken is all one with the punishment wherewith enemies are punished The punishment of Spies when they fall into the handes of their enemies For it forceth not whether a man fight with weapons or by subtilty and craft Wherefore they must be of a valiaunt courage which for the common profite aduenture their life in making espiall Spies must be of a valiaunt courage and skilfull Iosephus sith it is not euerie mans worke to be a good spie Iosephus writeth that the spies which were sent by Iosua were Geometricians because it behooued that they should knowe well the situation of the land of Chanaan And Homer affirmeth Vlisses and Diomedes to bée spies Homer which otherwise were noble men Paul the Apostle in the Epistle to the Galathians Verse 4. the place before alleaged in the second Chapter verie well translated the worke of an espiall to the contentions of Religion Where he writeth that there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is certaine spies among the false brethren which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 crept in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to espie out our libertie as though hée should saie They subtillie sought and searched out our minde to the intent they might ouerthrowe the same and made search with great diligence whether they that were with vs kept vncircumcision That was to espie out the libertie of the Church to wit that thereby they might ouerthrowe the Christians Of Treason In Iud. 11. verse 25. 29 This place putteth mee in minde to speake somewhat of Treason And it is a question whether it be at any time lawfull or whether it be alwaies forbidden Ierom. Ierom De optimo genere interpretandi vnto Pammachius saieth that Princes doe in very déede admit Treason but they condemne the traitours Whereunto agréeth the saying of Antigonus the king Antigonus I loue Traitours so long as they are in betraying but when they haue betrayed I hate them Plutarch Plutarch reporteth the same of Rhimotalchus king of the Thracians who fell from Anthonie to Augustus and after his victorie boasted of the same among his cuppes and that so insolently and aboue measure Augustine as Augustus turning him to his friend said of him I loue the treason but the Traitour I commend not Which sentence though it séeme plausible and iust at the
not by a perfect But by the commandements what is concluded as touching men not yet borne anew Mans strength and power cannot thereby be prooued but that they haue a will it may be prooued which being mooued by grace they shall haue some power to obeie or to doo their dutie since it is not repugnant vnto it to be renewed as being of such a nature that it may be regenerated of GOD and at the leastwise to obeie him with an obedience vnperfect Further if outward things be considered it hath some libertie but this is not to doo the law which speciallie requireth the verie inward motions that doo procéed of faith and inspiration of the spirit of God Wherefore I grant some such kind of libertie bicause experience teacheth that it is so not that I am constreined by that argument to confesse that if the lawe cannot be kept by a frée will magistrates shall punish offenders in vaine and that the lawes were giuen in vaine For if this argument were firme it should be concluded thereby that we while we are not regenerate haue also frée will vnto those supernaturall things séeing euen to those that be not regenerated God hath giuen lawes as touching these things and for them dooth punish except they haue them I grant therefore that as touching outward things we haue partlie this libertie but yet I could not be mooued by those arguments vnlesse there were another thing to mooue me A similitude For the magistrate himselfe if there should be brought vnto him an open robber or a théefe so they wittinglie and willinglie did anie naughtie act he will punish them The magistrate will not then inquire whether they had a frée will or whether they were mooued by affection in such sort as reason could not withstand Yea and men not as yet regenerate which are without faith hope and charitie if they should die GOD would punish them neither would he respect whether in that state they could haue them or not haue them And God himselfe punished originall sinne neither dooth he séeke when we are borne whether we may be without it or not without it Augustine Augustine in his booke of confessions saith that Infants also at that age haue their vices and sinnes for they are infected with enuie And sinnes they are when as neuerthelesse it lieth not otherwise in their power neither haue they reason to resist those motions 5 The powers of frée will are not to be gathered out of the lawe and commandements of God I grant indéed The which we doo we doo freelie that when anie thing is commanded frée will is commoned with séeing if we obeie or if we resist that doo we with the will For we doo not assent or dissent with our nostrils fingers or other members of the bodie but with our iudgement Howbeit it is not thereby prooued that we are able to doo so much as is commanded vs. Therefore although I be not mooued by this reason to affirme this fréedome yet I grant the same being mooued by experience not euerie experience but with the same which hath a testimonie out of the holie scriptures which doo not deceiue In the first chapter to the Romans is intreated of them Rom. 1 19. which were not renewed which are said to haue knowne the inuisible things of God I meane the Godhead and eternitie by the creatures The verie which thing Dauid affirmeth Psal 19 1. The heauens declare the glorie of God c. And in the same epistle The Gentils Rom. 2 14. which haue not the lawe doo naturallie those things which bee conteined in the lawe And as touching things to be doon they were said to haue had the knowlege of equitie For When as they should haue knowne the righteousnes of God and that they which doo such things are woorthie of death Ibidem 3. they not onlie doo those things but they also consent vnto those that doo them and so are made inexcusable For they cannot pretend ignorance sith they knew that they did not euen that same small thing that they atteined vnto Neither can they rightlie excuse the weakenesse of their strength séeing they themselues made a waie therevnto by the sinne of Adam in whom all men sinned Matth. 5 46 Also Christ said If yee onelie loue them which loue you the Publicans and harlots doo thus And no man doubteth but that generallie good maners are to be allowed and to regard fréendship is a rightfull thing for they are despised which either betraie or hurt their fréends Also the Lord in the seuenth chapter of Matthew Matt. 7 11. saith If you when ye be euill can giue good things vnto your children c. Neither thinke I that it is to be doubted but that naturall affection of parents towards their children whereby they wish well vnto them is good for they that contemne their owne children or doo verie cruellie handle them are greatlie despised Moreouer Paule when he was yet an enimie of God and persecuted the church did profit in outward iustice aboue verie manie of his fellowes Gal. 1 13. as vnto the Galathians he testifieth And to the Philippians he sheweth that he was vnreprooueable and faultlesse according to the righteousnesse of the lawe Also the histories of the Ethniks doo shew of manie things that Scipio Pompeie Caesar Cato and Cicero did singularlie well speake decrée and execute for the commodities of their countries and publike profit sake when as neuerthelesse they were strangers from Christ Hereby it appeareth as well out of the holie scriptures as out of the writings of the Ethniks that some thing must be granted to this libertie although that degrées must be appointed therein for it séemeth not to be granted vnto all men alike The varietie may be according to the temperatures of the bodie according to the instruction or education according to the places or countrie exercises and such like Neither are we to leaue it vnspoken that these notable acts which in the histories are mentioned of the infidels happened by some motion and peculiar instinct of God who would that such examples should be extant to the intent that Common-weales and kingdomes might be preserued And that all things should not run to confusion it behoued some to be adorned with excellent conditions who might doo good to others by kéeping them in their dutie Wherefore as we grant that the spirit of prophesieng and such other kind of graces are sometime giuen by God vnto wicked men so likewise without a iustifieng grace there might be giuen of God besides the common influence some spirits of fortitude or chastitie and of seueritie and such like Wherfore this is the frée will which I iudge is to be granted with the which neuerthelesse there are ioined woonderfull infirmities and bondages First in the vnderstanding there is great darkenes and blindnesse so that it scarselie at anie time vnderstandeth what is to be doone And in the
is knowne the church and the spirit I perceiue not howbeit this I knowe that the Euangelists Paule and the holie fathers whom I haue named doo testifie that here is bread and the holie scriptures doo most manifestlie speake the same And without these things which I haue rehersed there is no church neither dooth there anie good spirit make against these D. Tresham These words of Christ Doo ye this in remembrance of me be words of commandement and command vs to doo that which Christ did And he gaue his owne bodie which said that it was his bodie and looke what Christ the spouse of the church hath doone that by his commandement the church dooeth through the scriptures D. Martyr Of these words which you recite wrote Chrysostome vpon the first epistle to the Corinthians the eleuenth chapter the 27. homilie For Christ in the bread and in the cup said 1. Co. 11 24 and 25. Doo this in remembrance of me Also Cyrill vpon Iohn the 14. booke and 14. chapter He gaue them péeces of bread D. Tresham The fathers name it bread of the terme from whence it came to wit bicause of the former name it had D Martyr You doo but haste and stand vpon the terme from whence you forbid a figure and yet you alwaies defend your selfe by a figure D. Tresham I haue manie places of Chrysostome that make for me and I laie Chrysostome to Chrysostome and the doctors when they speake obscurelie must be interpreted by places more plaine But Chrysostome in the sermon of the treason of Iudas confesseth that the bread is changed D. Martyr It is not now my turne to answer When you oppose me I will answer to that which you obiect out of Chrysostome Howbeit in the meane time bicause I will not séeme to be too precise I hold with Chrysostome that the bread is changed but yet into a sacrament but that the substance of bread is doone awaie that doo I denie neither shall you euer prooue it out of Chrysostome Yea and Cyrill saith Euen in the bread we receiue his pretious bodie and in the wine his bloud D. Tresham We receiue it in the bread and wine that is to wit in the shewes of bread and wine D. Martyr What doo you call the shewes of bread and wine D. Tresham The accidentall formes of bread and wine D. Martyr Assuredlie you haue not this signification from the fathers for they by Species that is forme or kind vnderstood the verie natures of the things not the accidents Ambrose in his booke Eorum qui in tiantur mysterijs the last chapter But and if the spéech of Elias were of so great force as it could fetch downe fire from heauen shall not the saieng of Christ be forcible touching the kinds of the elements He treateth of a sacramentall change Wherefore if he should meane the kinds to be the accidents it would followe that the accidents shuld be changed in the Eucharist but that dooth the sense denie Againe this father in the same chapter Before the blessing of the heauenlie words another kind is named after consecration the bodie of Christ is signified And Augustine vpon Iohn the 26. treatise One thing did they and another thing we but yet in a visible kind which neuertheles signified all one thing And he speaketh there concerning the difference of the sacraments of the old and new lawe And euen the verie same in a maner is said by Augustine in his treatise De catechizandis rudibus the first booke and 16. chapter D. Tresham The fathers call the forme or kind sometimes the substance and sometime the accident for it is an ambiguous word and that which the scriptures call bread and the fathers also name bread we call the kinds or forms Here it seemed good vnto the Visitors that wee should dispute in the second question D. Martyr We denie the bodie and bloud of Christ to be in the bread and wine carnallie and corporallie or substantiallie and reallie as ye saie it is or vnder the shewes of bread and wine And this will I prooue out of the scriptures Mark 16 19 In the last of Marke The Lord Iesus after he had spoken vnto them was taken vp into heauen sitteth at the right hand of God In the 26. The scriptures testifie that Christ departed from vs in bodie Matt. 24 23 of Matthew The poore shall ye alwaies haue with you but me shall ye not haue In the sixt of Iohn I leaue the world and I go vnto my father Manie shall saie in those daies Behold here is Christ or there is Christ beleeue them not In the third of the Acts Whome it behooueth the heauens to hold vntill the time of the restitution of all things And vnto the Colossians the third chapter Seeke ye those things that be aboue where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God Since therefore it appéereth by these saiengs that Christ being taken vp from hence liueth in the heauens and that it is not agréeable to the nature of a true humane bodie to be in manie places at once it followeth that the bodie of Christ is not reallie in the bread or wine D. Tresham I denie that it cannot agrée to an humane bodie to be in diuers places at once for the holie scriptures teach the contrarie that Christ after the ascension was with his apostles euen according to his humanitie In the first epistle to the Corinthians the 9 chapter Paule saith Did not I see the Lord And in the 15. chapter of the same epistle And last of all he was seen of me as of one borne out of time And in the ninth of the Acts Saule Saule why doost thou persecute me And againe I am Iesus whom thou persecutest And a little after Ananias said Brother Saule the Lord hath sent me euen Iesus which appeered to thee in the waie And Barnabas said afterward vnto the apostles concerning Saule how he in the waie had séene the Lord and that he had spoken vnto him During the which time it behooueth to beléeue that Christ was in heauen at the right hand of his father bicause it is an article of the faith and yet neuerthelesse he was then vpon the earth in visible forme Wherefore you haue concluded nothing and verie well may the bodie of Christ be in the sacrament vnder an inuisible forme when he was otherwhile in the earth in a visible forme as we haue prooued Wherefore your reasons doo not conclude D. Martyr The answer dooth not suffice When Christ appeered vnto Paule he was in heauen for how knowe you that Christ appéered not vnto Paule abiding in heauen according as he was séene of Steeuen sitting at the right hand of God Yea and Augustine vpon the 54 psalme saith that the head which was in heauen cried for the bodie which was vpon the earth and said Saule Saule whie doost thou persecute me Acts. 9 4. Moreouer was not Paule rapted into the
teach that the substance is changed into an other nature and therefore Ambrose saith that the nature is changed but you denie it D. Martyr I denie not but I affirme with Ambrose that sacramentallie it is changed and I saie also with him that a sacrament is not that which it séemeth to be if we speake of that which is the chéefe part thereof for that which is signified as it is not séene so is it most speciallie sought for of the faithfull neither is it by nature either framed or fastned in this sacrament but by blessing it is annexed to the same Neither will he haue the change here to be such as shall cast awaie the former nature and this hath béene alreadie declared sufficientlie by the examples of him alledged D. Chadse Ambrose saith that This is not that which nature framed but with blessing consecrated D. Martyr This did I expound before For a sacrament is a heauenlie thing which nature hath not framed but by consecration it commeth to the bread yet not so as it should cast awaie his owne substance And this should not séeme to be otherwise than Ambrose ment who as I haue cited him in his fourth booke and fourth chapter De sacramentis saith Of how much more operation is the words of Christ that these things shuld be that they were This spéech sufficientlie sheweth that he iudgeth not that the nature of the signes must be cast awaie D. Chadse If they be as they were then be they no sacraments bicause first they were no sacraments Beside the said Ambrose in his booke which I alledged De ijs qui initiantur mysterijs affirmeth that the kinds of the elements are changed for he writeth If Elias words were of so great force as they could fetch downe fire from heauen shall not the saieng of Christ be of as great force to change the kinds of the elements D. Martyr To that which you first obiect If they be as they were then be they no sacraments I denie the consequence sith both the one and the other may verie well be For Ambrose addeth And are changed into another thing to the intent you may sée that the nature of bread remaineth and is changed into a sacrament And whereas you vrge the matter that he writeth that the kinds of the elements are changed A distinction of Species or kinds I distinguish that if by the kinds you vnderstand the accidents that is to wit the forme figure taste and colour of the bread and wine it is not changed as the sense dooth testifie But if by the kinds you meane the natures and substances of the signes to them I grant there happeneth as I haue often said a spirituall and heauenlie change For while this holie rite is in executing there is brought into the signes thorough the institution and words of the Lord a sacramentall respect And that same respect of signifieng as well the mysticall bodie as the bodie it selfe of Christ is grounded not in the accidents of bread and wine but euen in the natures of them through the comming of the holie Ghost which vseth them as instruments D. Chadse Is the bread changed as concerning the substance or as concerning the accidents D. Martyr Change according to nature two maner of waies Bicause here falleth out an ambiguitie and equiuocation I will vse a distinction If you vnderstand change according to the substance so as the substance it selfe shuld either perish or be conuerted into another substance I agrée not vnto such a change but if you meane the substance to be so changed as it should receiue another qualitie and condition than it had before I grant that the same is changed D. Chadse You speake of an accidentall change which is made according to a new decrée and condition which is to be changed into a sacrament and accidentallie but Ambrose speaketh of a change of the element and nature And therefore I demand of you what is that that is changed after consecration D. Martyr I doo not dissent from Ambrose but with him I affirme What that is which is changed in the sacrament that there is here made a change of the element and nature after such a maner as hath béene now declared And when you demand what it is that is changed after consecration I answer that the change wherof we now speake is all one in those things which now by consecration susteine another qualitie and haue obteined a greater dignitie to wit a sacramentall state the which before they had not And albeit you indeuour to extenuate such a change yet is it not small or to be contemned séeing both the power and worke of the holie Ghost commeth therevnto D. Chadse You as yet answer me of an accidentall change but what change is here in the element D. Martyr A great change vndoubtedlie whereby the element is made a sacrament in such sort as that element by this change is now called another thing than it was before And least you should doubt what I meane by elements I saie that by them nothing else is signified than the signes or tokens euen as the ceremonies and sacrifices of the old fathers are by Paule called elements And the substance of these elements that is to saie of the signes is that which abideth and susteineth this change that is brought in by consecration and the verie same haue I oftentimes confessed both in answering and in expounding When I of blacke am made white there is no néed that my substance or nature should cease and so iudge you of the bread when it is made a sacrament D. Chadse The condition which commeth therevnto dooth not change the nature and yet Ambrose saith that it is changed And the same father in his fourth booke De sacramentis the fourth chapter Therefore who is the authour of the sacraments but the Lord Iesus from heauen did these sacraments come for all counsell is from heauen And in verie déed it is a great diuine miracle that God rained downe Manna from heauen for the people and the people laboured not and yet did eate Thou perhaps wilt saie that my bread is vsuall bread Howbeit this bread is bread before the words of the sacrament but when consecration commeth it is made of bread the flesh of Christ Wherefore let vs laie this foundation Note that bread is the bodie of Christ which these men denie How can it be that that which is bread should by consecration be the bodie of Christ And againe Wherefore that I may answer you it was not the bodie of Christ before consecration but I saie vnto you that it is now the bodie of Christ Psal 33 9. Hee spake the word and it was made hee commanded and it was created D. Martyr Adde withall that which is said betwéene How much greater worke is it that they be as they were and yet be changed into an other thing D. Chadse These words make nothing against me
the contumely doone vnto him and our negligence of diuine things be gréeuous and he which is woont to be a most milde father a most louing husbande and like a tender and gentle mother when he is angrie with sinnes and wickednesse becommeth a Lion a Beare a Libarde a serpent as Ieremie Amos and Osee doe testifie Oh the vnhappy and miserable condition of men when they haue God to be their enemie The God of Sabboth is the God of hoastes All the creatures obaie him as their captayne and parent I will forbid heauen saith he that it shall not raine A gréeuous punishment truelie when heauen is shutte vp which then we sée commeth to passe when raine and faire weather are not giuen in due time when the gratious influences gathered together be kept backe and when in recompence of drith the morning dewe is withholden whereas the corne grasse and fruites shoulde be refreshed thereby But because that husbande men when the raine dewe faileth and that the heate burneth vp the thinges which growe vppon the earth are woont with great labours to carie water or to digge riuers whereby they maie water the medowes and fieldes therefore the Lorde saith I will call a drith vppon the lande whereby the want of moisture shall euerie where be felt and no lesse shall the fountaines and riuers denie their flowing than the heauen shall drawe vnto it both the dew and raine Wherefore since the Lorde is the Iudge distributer and gouernour of all these afflictions both of the earth and of heauen no industrie of husband men shall auaile but all the fruite of corne will be destroyed by the wrath of God Neither doeth Gods reuenge here staie it selfe but from the fruites of the fielde it procéedeth to the flockes and herdes and afterwarde followeth a great dearth of cattel and vnles that which hath béene doone amisse be amended a gréeuous plague will light vpon men themselues The wrath of God groweth by little and little that there maie bee giuen a time of repentaunce First of all are destroyed the fruites of the fielde then the cattell and bruite beastes are made awaie and last of all men from whome sprang the originall of the euils are destroyed by a generall plague Homer also in his Iliads saith that the plague was not at the first sent vppon men but doth fable that the same began first at the bruite beastes Nowe lastlie why the Lorde bringeth these euils let vs sée in the booke of Ieremie the 44. Verse 17. Chapter When the Iewes were reprooued by the Prophet because they sacrificed to the hoast of the Quéene of heauen they aunswered verie obstinatelie and proudly that when before time they offered sacrifices to the quéene of heauen they were filled with bread and they liued in peace and quietnesse but that when they ceased from those sacrifices all maner of euils misfortunes fell vpon them wherefore they determined to stande to their accustomed Idolatrie After the same manner the Romanes when they had nowe receaued Christianitie and perceiued the common weale to growe weake and the Empire to fall awaie they sorrowed for the losse of their former felicitie and accursed Christ And they thought that the Gods did punish the neglecting of their worshippe and the forsaking of their Altars Hereof Augustine in his booke De Ciuitate Dei was constrained to write and before him Cyprian against Demetrianus verie wel bestowed his labour in the selfe same Argument and first of all declared that it might séeme no maruell if all thinges become euerie daie worse insomuch as the worlde waxeth older and older and that the Sunne in his setting shineth not with that force that it doth at noonetide when it is mounted ouer our heade Also the Mooue is of much lesse strength when it waneth than when it sheweth his globe on euerie side filled with light In like manner a trée when it is ouer much spent with bearing it ceaseth to bring foorth fruite And fountaines otherwhile dried vp through long continuance do flowe more sparinglie than they did before And such is the condition of other things that when they be sprung vp and growen by dailie increases at the last do waxe olde be deminished and do fall awaie And it is a maruell also saith he but that olde man shoulde in like manner complaine of the Religion of Christ because they haue lesse strength by reason of it than whē they flourished in their young age In which place it is added that Christ foretolde vs that there shoulde bee great calamities when the last daie of iudgement shall come Since therefore we drawe néerer and néerer vnto him we ought not to complaine if we sée all thinges fall to the worse For since Christ shewed vs before hande that they shoulde come to passe it must of necessitie be so Last of all hee writeth that these so gréeuous thinges doe not vexe mankinde because the worshipping of Christ is brought into the worlde but because he is not receaued as he shoulde be and that Idolaters are still detained in their vnfaithfulnesse But nowe they crie out that we are commonlie afflicted because the pestiferous masse is abolished the images plucked downe pilgrimages forbidden Monasteries ouerthrowen inuocation of saintes and an infinite of such other euils taken awaie But that this is not the cause let vs heare what our Prophete saith Euerie one of you flyeth vnto your owne house my house remaineth desolate But is it so gréeuous a crime to neglect the house of God If thou shalt marke what we saide in the definition thereof at the beginning and wilt diligently weigh those things thou shalt perceiue that it excéedeth in crueltie whatsoeuer the Poetes haue feigned of Thyestes Atreus of the Cyclopes and Gentiles Oh my brethren my brethren is it not horrible to be spoken that the fieldes are tilled the Cities fortified magnificent Colleges builded chambers appeare as they were Tēples the house of the Lorde lieth forsaken O slothfull and wicked men that we be what godlie man can forbeare from wéeping and teares Princes doe sooner priuatelie build their owne houses and Magistrates doe altogether dote in building not of houses but Pallaces and Castles who oftentimes build in bloud and as Abacuck said in 2. Chapter Verse 11. The stone cryeth out of the wall and the beame out of the timber against his Maister giueth a testimonie Manie build vppon the teares of the poore with the oppression of warres and spoile of Orphans but the house of the Lord remaineth desert and in ruine and is contemned in a maner of all sortes of men The poore which ought to set their hope in God doe despise prayers they curse men they blaspheme God and doe proudlie and obstinatelie rebell they obey not the lawes and they followe idlenesse beyond measure Is this to build the house of the Lord It was the souldiers condition to defend their countrie to defend religion to be content with