to be with mâ— she gaue me of the tree and I did eat Eua must needs be a virgin because so soone as she was made she was maried and yet the text calles her woman at that time when there could bee no time for man to corrupt her On the right hand we must shun the rockes of Valentinus and Nestorius of Valentinus who taught Christ had not his body from Mary but that he brought it with him from heauen and passed thorow the wombe of the virgin as water thorow a conduit pipe contrary to the text here made of a woman Ex muliere non in muliere not in a woman but of a woman And the preposition ex notes the matter as an house is made of timber and stone bread is made of wheat wine of grapes and therefore Christ had the materials of his body from Mary so some copies haue it here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet Christ had not his formale principium of Mary for the holy Chost was agent in his wonderfull conception and therefore fitly said here to be borne or as we reade to be made not begotten of a woman By this also we may shun Nestorius his rocke who thought Mary might not be called the mother of the Sonne of God for the text is plaine God sent his Sonne made of a woman Ergo the Sonne of God was the sonne of Mary For the confutation of this error the famous Councell of Ephesus was assembled wherein it was concluded and that in the first canon that Mary should be called the mother of God See before the Creed Art Borne of the virgin Mary Bond to the law Though he were Lord of the law yet made he himselfe subiect to the law circumcised according to the law and presented in the Temple according to the law yea it executed vpon him all the iurisdiction it had ouer vs. It doth by good right accuse conuince condemne vs. For alas all of vs are sinners and by nature the children of 〈◊〉 but Christ did no sinne neither was there guile fâ—und in his mouth yet notwithstanding the law was no lesse cruell against this innocent and blessed lambe then it was against vs cursed and damnable sinners yea much more rigorous For it made him guilty before God of all the sinnes of the whole world It terrified and oppressed him with such an heauinesse of spirit that he sweat blood and in fine condemned him to death euen the death of the Crosse. Thus Christ was made bond vnto the law to redeeme them which were bond vnto the law for hee died for our sinnes and indured all this for our sakes and so being vnder the law conquered the law by a double right first as the Sonne of God and Lord of the law secondly in our person which is as much as if our selues had ouercome the law for his victory is ours And therefore remember alway this sweet and comfortable text in the midst of all dangers all assaults of tyrants all temptations of Satan in the houre of death especially saying to the law Thou hast no power ouer me for God the Father hath sent his Sonne to redeeme mee from thy bondage thou dost accuse terrifie condemne in vaine for I will creepe into the hole which bloudy Longinus made with his speare in my Sauiours side There will I hide my selfe from all my foes I will plunge my conscience in his wounds death victorious resurrection glorious ascension besides him I will see nothing I will heare nothing The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the law But thanks be vnto God which hath giuen vs victory through our Lord Iesus Christ. The Nouelists exception against our translating naturall sonnes is idle for our Communion booke doth not call vs naturall sonnes as Christ is Gods naturall Sonne by eternall generation but as it were naturalized by spiritual regeneration adopted through election and grace so Paul elsewhere termeth vs Coheâ—res with Christ. Neither doth this paraphrase wrong the Patriarks before the law nor the Prophets vnder the law for as I haue noted out of Martin Luther Chirst who came in the flesh once comes in the spirit daily crying Abba Father as it followeth in the text he is one yesterday and to day and shall be the same for euer Yesterday before the time of his comming in the flesh today now he is reuealed in fulnesse of time For euer the same lambe of God slaine from the beginning of the world The Fathers then had Christ in spirit which holy spirit made them free from the bondage of the law so that they and we are saued by one and the same grace by one and the same faith in one and the same Christ. How the blessed Spirit crieth in our hearts assuring our spirit that we are the children of God helping our infirmities and making request for vs with sighes which cannot be expressed see before The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ c. This Epistle doth accord with the Gospell which intimates in particular how Christ became the Sonne of man that hee might make vs the sonnes of God how Christ is Iesus and Emmanuel Both fit the time that in the midst of Christmas our soule might magnifie the Lord and our spirit reioice in God our Sauiour who was made of a woman and made bond vnto the law to redeeme those who were bound vnto the law that wee might bee sonnes and heires of God through him The Gospel MATTH 1.1 Liber generationis Iesu Christi filij Dauid filij Abraham SVmma Theologiae Scriptura summa scripturae Euangelium summa Euangelij 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 summa summarum Iesus Christus filius Dauid filius Abraham ille primus ille postremus Alpha legis Omega Euangely principium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amen Velatus in veteri Testamento reuelatus in nouo in illo praedictus in isto praedicatus Vno spiritu dicam breuissimè nihil aliud continet verbum Domini nisi verbum Dominum Innuit hoc in praesentiâ—itulo Matthaeus annuit Paulus ad Corinthios primâ— Non statui quicquam inter vos scire nisi Iesum Christum crucifixum Apertiùs ait Augustinus confessionum quinto cap. 4. Infoelix homo qui scit caetera omnia te autem nescit beatus autem quite scit etiamsi illa omnia nesciat qui verò te illa nouit non propter illa beatior sed propter te solum beatissimus Est ars artium scientia scientiarum ea legere agere quae narrantur in hoc libro generationis filij Dauid filij Abraham Cuius frontispicij duo sunt luminae Inscriptio Euangelij Descriptio Christi Inscriptionis vt ita loquar duo praecipus sunt radij respâ—cientes Euangelium 1. Quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Quòd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Descriptionis item duo
on vs his Sonne Fitly when the time was full come Freely for hee was not bought or stolne but sent Gift Christ described heere by his Diuinitie his Sonne Humanity made of a woman Humility bond to the law Effect vers 5. to redeeme them which were bound vnto the law c. The heire as long as he is a child This comparison is taken out of the Roman law by which it is ordained that a pupill albeit he be Lord of all his fathers inheritance should be kept vnder tutors and gouernours vntill hee come to full age to wit vnder tutors till fourteene yeeres vnder Curators vntill fiue and twenty Tutores dantur impubâ—ribus Curatores puberibus Tutors are guardians of the pupils person principally so called Quasituitores atque defensores but Curators are factors especially for his goods and estate Now the Ward during the time of his minority suffers much bondage differing saith Paul nothing from a seruant nothing in respect of any present possession or actuall administration of his owne estate but very much in respect of his right and proprietie being dominus habitu non vsu as hauing free hold in law though as yet not free hold in deede and so the Ward doeth differ from the slaue who was in old time no person in law but a meere chattell and as it were of the nature of cattell It was in Pauls age then a great slauery to be a pupill And Bishop Latuner complained of late that there was not a schoole for the Wards so well as a Court a schoole for their learning so well as a Court for their lands It should seeme Gardians in his daies vsed young Noble men not as Lords but as seruants as Paul here c. In like manner when wee were little children in our nonage we were heires hauing the promise of an eternall inheritance to come which should be giuen vnto vs by the seed of Abraham that is to say by Christ in whom all nations should be blessed but because the fulnesse of time was not yet come Moses our tutor and gouernor held vs in bondage The law doth threaten accuse condemne so long as we be children in vnderstanding dwarfes in faith ignorant of Christ. Saint Paul cals the law rudiments of the world not onely because it is our first schoolemaster and A B C to Christ but because it leaues a man in the world and prepares not a way for him to heauen I kill not I steale not I commit not adultery this outward honest conuersation is not the kingdome of Christ but the righteousnes of the world The law when it is in his principall vse cannot iustifie but accuse terrifie condemne Now these are things of the world which because it is the kingdome of the diuell is nothing else but a puddle of sinne death hell and of all euill and so the whole law especially the ceremoniall are beggerly rudiments of the world I speake not this to disgrace the law neither doth Paul so meane for it is holy righteous spirituall diuine but because Paul is in the matter of iustification it is as Luther obserues exceeding necessary that he should speake of the law as of a very contemptible thing Wherefore when Satan assaults thee with the terrors of the law banish that stutting and stammering Moses far from thee let him vtterly be suspected as an heretike or as an excommunicate person worse then the Pope worse then the diuell himselfe quoth Luther buâ— out of the matter of iustification and conflict of conscience reuerence Moses as a great Prophet as a man of God euen as God In the ciuill life Moses and Christ agree for our Sauiour said he came not to destroy but to fulfill the law but in the spirituall life the one cannot abide the other for no man is iustified by the la but the iust shall â—â—ue by faith And therefore when Christ is presenâ— the law must depart out of the conscience and leaue the bed which is so strait that it cannot hold two to Christ alone Let him onely raigne in righteousnesse in peace ioy life that the soule may sleepe and repose it selfe in the multitude of his mercies sweetly without any terror of the law sinne death hell And thus you see the law tyranniseth ouer our consciences as the cruell tutor doth ouer his vnfortunate Ward till God in fulnesse of time giueth vs freedome by Christ. When the time was full come Not by fatall necessitie but by Gods appointment For there is a time for all things and Almighty God doth all things in his due time he created and redeemed vs in his due time preserueth iustifieth sanctifieth in his due time and he will also glorifie vs in his due time Now the comming of Christ in the flesh is called the fulnesse of time for many respects as 1. For the fulnesse of grace receiued by his comming 2. Because Christ is the fulfilling of the promises of God as being in him yea and amen 3. Because the Law and the Prophets are fulfilled in him 4. Because the times from Christ are the ends of the world and it was fit hee should come so late when the time was full for two reasons especially 1. Because Christ is a Lord yea the Lord and therefore most meete there should be great preparation and long expectation of so puissant a person 2. Because Christ is the grand Physition of the world and therefore very requisite al sinners his patients should throughly feele their sicknesse and misery before hee came to visit and redeeme them vt conuincerentur homines de morbo vt quantum ad defectum scientiae in lege naturae quantum ad defectum virtutis in lege scripta His Sonne God is father of All men and all things by creation generally His elect by adoption specially Christ by nature singularly See before the Creed Art His onely Sonne Made of a woman In expounding this clause we must take heed of sundry wicked heresies on the left hand and on the right On the left first of Paulus Samosatenus and Fotinus affirming that Christ had his being and beginning from his mother Mary whereas the Scripture teacheth plainly that Christ was made of the seed of Dauid according to the flesh not according to his person for that is eternall In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and that Word was God Againe we must take heed of Ebion holding that Christ was not conceiued of the holy Ghost but begot of Ioseph and the reason of his madnesse is taken hence because Mary is called a woman not a virgin Our answere is that a woman in scripture doth not alway signifie the maried or one that hath knowne a man but sometime it doth onely denotate the sex as Gen. 3.12 The woman which thou gauest
in their house what doth he but teach obedience to superiours especially that children should honour father and mother albeit they be neuer so meane for this subiection is a vertue not a weaknesse If parents inioine things vnlawfull and contrary to scripture then as expositours vpon this text commonly note we must prefer our father in heauen before our fathers on earth and say with Christ How happened it that ye sought me wist ye not that I must goe about Gods businesse Otherwise we must not offend them so much as with a very looke See decalog com 5. The dutifull child shall prosper as Christ in fauour with God and men but gracelesse Cham shall be cursed rebellious Absolon disobedient Phinehas and Hophni shall not liue out halfe their daies It was Gods law that the stubborne child should be stoned to death openly that all might heare and feare By the common lawes he that murthers his parent is reputed a petty traitor By the Ciuill lawes in old time an offender in that kind was sowed in a sacke with a dog a cocke a viper and an ape and so cast into some deepe water as vnworthy to reap the benefit of any element For so Tully doth excellently glosse that law Vâ— qui eum necásset vnde ipse natus esset careret ijs rebus omnibus ex quibus omnia nata esse dicuntur Etenim quid est tam commune quà m spiritus viuis terra mortuis mare fluctuantibus littus eictis Ita viuunâ— dum possunt vt ducere animam de coelo non possint ita moriuntur vt eorum ossa terra non tangat ita iactantur fluctibiâ—â— vt nunquà m abluantur ita postremò eijciuntur vt ne ad saxa quidem mortui conquiescant It is probable that Christ submitting himselfe to Ioseph vsed his occupation but what it was I cannot shew you need not know Saint Hilary thinks he was a Smith Hugo that he was a Mason most Diuines that he was a Carpenter So Iustin Martyr and other ancient Doctors haue gathered out of Matth. 13.55 Marke 6.3 See Six Sinen bibliothâ—c lib. 6 annot 62. Baron â—nnal tom 1. an 12. Iansen concord cap. 54. Maldonat Rhemisan Matth. 13.55 Now then in that Christ exercised a mechanical trade we may learne that a poore man may serue God and often doe much good in an honest occupation the text saith Iesus prospered in wisdome and in fauour with God and men He was a lambe and therefore the bigger the better but the wicked are goates and therefore the longer they liue the worse they are Mary kept all these sayings together in her heart It was well she laid them vp better that she kept them best of all that she kept them all Let vs also lay these things vp in our secret treasury that being inwardly grafted in our hearts they may bring forth in vs the fruit of good liuing This Gospell is well fitted to the day for after the celebration of Christs birth circumcision Epiphanie what should follow but his first manifestation in the Temple and then on the next dominical his first miracle wrought in Cana of Galile The Gospell and Epistle concord for what Christ doth in the one is a paterne of that Paul saith in the other Paul doth require first that we should offer our selues a quicke sacrifice to God and then according to the measure of grace that we should become seruiceable to men euerie one among our selues one anothers members euen so Christ here did first dedicate himselfe to God in celebrating the Passeouer in hearing the Doctors in disputing about religion in neglecting his acquaintance to doe the businesse of his Father in heauen and then hee went with his parents and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them Or as other obserue the Gospell and Epistle both insinuate that two things are requisite to saluation humilitas mentis munditia carnis For the first Pauls precept is that no man stand high in his own conceit but so iudge of himselfe that he be gentle and sober as a member helping other And Christs paterne is he became subiect to Ioseph and Mary though he was Lord of all For the second Pauls precept is Offer your bodies a quicke sacrifice holy and acceptable to God And Christs paterne is hee did the businesse of God in the Temple neglecting the pleasures of the flesh among his friends and acquaintance Sweet Iesus indow vs plentifully with thy grace that we may thus preach and practise that following thee who art the way wee may come to thee which art the life Amen The Epistle ROM 12.6 Seeing that we haue diuers gifts according to the grace that is giuen vnto vs c. LVther is of opinion that this Epistle should be capite breuior sine prolixior shorter in the beginning longer at the end For the beginning appertaines vnto the conclusion of the Epistle for Sunday before and the end to be the beginning of the Epistle for Sunday following yet so that it may be both read and expounded as a text absolute in it selfe The summe whereof is that wee must imploy and improue the manifold gifts of God vnto the glory of his name and good of his people This exhortation is inferred vpon a familiar comparison vsed in the words immediatly before for as we haue many members in one body and all members haue not one office so we being many are one body in Christ and euery man among our selues one anothers members In which obserue foure instructions First as the members are not made by their owne vertue but created by Gods almighty power before they could execute any function in the body not members because working but on the contrary working because members In like sort Christians are not members of Christ through their owne good works but they doe good works because they be members and inserted into Christ as the tree brings forth the fruit and not the fruit the tree The Papists then in their works of congruitie run too much vpon the figure called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 setting the cart before the horse merit before mercy Potes à te de ficere saith Augustine sed teipsum reficere non potes ille reficit qui te fecit Secondly the members are well content with their seuerall offices and place the foote is not grieued at the heads supremacie neither doth the nose maligne the eye nor eye couet to be tongue but euery one performes his function without any faction euen so we which are members of Christs mysticall body must be content with our vocation and calling neither enuying such as are aboue nor despising such are vnder vs. Although there be diuersities of gifts yet but one spirit diuersities of administrations yet but one Lord diuersities of operations yet but one God who worketh all in all Are all
Mauritius the Emperour from heauen and lest any should imagine Priests exempted he saith in the same place to the same Prince Sacerdotes meos tuae mâ—nui commisi and epist. lib. 2. epist. 103. Christ hath appointed Mauritius to be ruler not ouer souldiers onely but ouer Priests also Iustinian who fauoured the Church and of all other Emperors inlarged most the priuiledges of Church men inacted this law Let no Bishop be brought or presented against his will before the Captaine or ciuill Iudge vnlesse the Prince shall so command Our Sauiour Christ the best Interpreter of Gods law doth shew both by precept and practise that Clergy men owe subiection and loialty to the ciuill Magistrate so Bernard writes Howsoeuer you Bishops hold your selues free yet Christ alitèr iussit aliter gessit He taught otherwise Luke 20.25 speaking vnto Priests Giue to Caesar the things which are Caesars He wrought otherwise for being a Priest and a Prophet he submitted himselfe to the Roman Magistrate confessing the Presidents power to be from heauen His Apostles did tread in their Masters steps Acts 25. Paul appealed vnto Caesar and appeared before Caesar as his lawfull gouernour Saint Iude detested them for false Prophets who despised gouernment and spake ill of those that are in authority Saint Peter exhorted all men to submit themselues vnto Gods ordinance whether it be to the King as to the superior or vnto gouernours as vnto them that are sent of him for the punishment of euill doers and for the praise of them that doe well I will not write Iliads after Homer nor dispute this point after those reuerend fathers of incomparable iudgement and industry Iewel Bilson Andrewes in dispari genere par laus Each of theÌ„ hath fought the battell of the Lord valiantly the first with a sword the two latter haue stabbed the Popes supremacie with a dagger euen to death Secondly Libertines Anabaptists are confounded by this vniuersalitie who thinke themselues free from all lawes In Germany they would haue framed a politike body like the body of Polyphemus without his eye or like the confused Chaos in old time when height and depth light and darknes were mingled together Our Apostle teacheth here that some must be subiect other soueraigne some low some high some rule some obey Popular equality is the greatest inequalitie void of all name nurture and nature of a common weale The ground on which Anabaptists haue framed their anarchie is Iames 2.1 My brethren haue not the faith of our Lord Iesus in respect of persons If no respect of persons no distinction if no distinction why should there be difference betweene bond and free Prince and people Answere is made that Saint Iames saith not Haue no respect of persons but Haue not the faith of Christ in respect of persons as he doth interpret himselfe in the verse following he speakes of grace not of place All men are fellowes in regard of the common faith and spirituall grace but all men are not fellowes in respect of authority and place for some be parents other children some masters other seruants some commoners other commanders Beasts and Diuels obserue order Rex vnus est apibus dux vnus in gregibus Among Bees there is one master among flockes of sheep one belwether The Cranes haue their Captaine Quem ordine literato sequuntur Albeit the Grashopper hath no king yet goe they forth all by bands In hell which is the kingdome of confusion there is distinction of persons and order otherwise Belzebub could not be chiefe of diuels The Libertines haue wrested also that text of Paul 1. Tim. 1.9 The law is not giuen vnto the iust or righteous man Ergo good men are exempted from obedience to lawes It is answered aptly that the iust man doth well not for feare of punishment as compelled by law but of grace and meere loue toward God and goodnesse Virtutis amore Iusto lex non est posita neque ad condemnationem neque ad coactionem Albeit there were no king nor law to command him he would be a king and a law to himselfe obeying higher powers of his owne accord with all his heart and soule Thus euery person as well Christian as heathen ecclesiasticall as laick must submit himselfe to superior powers Submit himselfe To be subiect is to suffer the Princes will to be done aut à nobis aut de nobis either of vs or on vs of vs when he commands for truth on vs when he commands against the truth either we must be patients or agents agents when he is good and godly patients when he is tyrannous and wicked Wee must vse not a sword but a buckler against a bad Prince Saint Paul heere doth not say let euery soule be subiect to Christian and vertuous gouernours but indefinitly to Potentates in that they bee Potentates as Saint Peter expresly not onely to the good and courteous but also to the froward If Peter and Paul inioined all men in their time to submit theÌ„selues vnto gouernours albeit they were worshippers of diuels and cruell persecuters of Christians how much more should we now respect and honour religious kings which are defenders of the faith and nursing fathers vnto the Church as Caesar Baronius hath well obserued against the bloody practises of turbulent statizing Iesuites I haue read and heard that the Iesuites are desirous to purge Saint Pauls Epistles especially this to the Romans as being herein more Lutheran then Catholicke This text of all othâ—r Omnis anima potestatibus sublimioribus subdita sit is so much against their humor and honour that it is neither read in their Missale nor expounded in their Postils How Pope Boniface 8. and other Papists haue wronged this Scripture both in their precepts and practices is seene of all Christian people felt of all Protestant Princes Higher powers Not highest onely for we must obey the subordinate magistrate so well as the supreame So that this proposition hath three large extensions euery soule in euery thing must submit himselfe to euery superiour Bee wise now therefore O yee Kings vnderstand yee that are Iuâ—ges of the earth how the Church of Rome doth lessen all this extent Clergy men are exempted Ergo not euery soule Causes ecclesiasticall are excepted Ergo not in euery thing The Pope may depose what higher powers he list Ergo not to euery superiour but only to those whom his Holinesse doth not curse Thus some Princes only may command some men onely in some matters onely whereas Paul here Let euery soule submit himselfe to the authority of the higher powers c. For there is no power The reason is threefold drawne from the threefold good Ab honesto which Paul shewes à bonitate ordinantis there is no power but of God ordinationis the powers are ordained or ordered vtili for to resist is euill
men slept the malitious enemy sowed tares among the wheat And it was not discerned vntill the blade was sprung vp and had brought forth fruit When I see the finger of the diall remooued from one to two shall I be so mad as to thinke it standeth still where it was because I could not perceiue the stirring of it In the forehead of the whore of Babylon is written a mystery so Paul calles the working of Antichrist a mystery of iniquity because the man of sinne doth couertly and cunningly wind his abominations into the Church of Christ. Polititians obserue that corruptions are bred in ciuill bodies as diseases in naturall bodies at the first they be not discerned easily but in their growth insensibly they proceed often till it come to passe which Liâ—e said of the Roman State Nec vitia nostra nec remedia ferre possumus We can neither indure the malady nor the medicin Was it so in the Empire of Rome and might it not be so in the Church of Rome The Rhemists acknowledge many barbarismes and incongruities in the vulgar Latine text Cardinall Caietan Sanctes Pagninus Franciscus Forerius Hieronymus Oleastrius Sixtus Senensis all learned Papists ingenuously confesse that beside solecismes in the vulgar translation of Rome there are many grosse faults additions transpositions omissions Isidorus Clauius a Spanish Monke professed that he found in it 8000. errors It is plaine they were so manifest and so manifold as that the Councell of Trent and after it Pope Sixtus Quâ—ntus aâ—d Clement 8. took order for the correcting of it I would know then of a Papist how this cockle was sowen among Gods seed in what yeere this that absurdity first crept into their text as Luke 15.8 domum eâ—ertit for domum euerrit and Exod. 34 29. Moses in stead of a bright countenance is said to haue cornutam faciem a face of horne whereupon the common painters among the Papists vsually paint Moses with two hornes as a cuckold to the great scandall of Christian religion as Augustinus Steuchus and Sixtus Senensis obserue The whole Rhemish Colledge cannot tell in what age confusus est in stead of confessus est entred in Marke 8.38 Pope Sixtus Quintus hath sundry coniectures in the preface prefixed to his Bible vel â—x â—niuriâ temporum vel ex librariorum inâ—uriá vel ex impressorum imperitiâ vel ex temerè emendantium licentiâ vel ex recentiâ—rum interpretum audaciâ vel ex haereâ—icorum scholijs ad marginem If the Pope cannot tell in whose head and hands is all the Churches treasure both for wit and wealth it is enough for the disciple to be as his Master is and the seruant as his Lord. The late Pope Clement 8. corrected the corrections of his predecessor Sixtus Quintus setting forth another Bible which one called vnhappily The new Transgression In these reformed editions of Rome there is such difference that we may say with the Prophet Egyptians are set against Egyptians and the destroier against the destroier one against another and all against the truth In the Roman Mâ—ssals and Breuiaries there were so many damnable blasphemies and superstitious errors that the late Popes euen for shame reformed them and yet they cannot tell in what yeere these corruptions first grew and therefore what need wee tell them at what time this and that popish nouelty was first sowen Is it not enough that we now discerne the tares among the wheat and prooue to the proudest of their side that there was no such darnell in Gods field for the space of six hundred yeeres after Christ I say no such stinking weeds as the single communion of the Priest halfe communion of the people worshipping of the bread creeping to the Crosse supremacie of the Pope which are the most essentiall points of all the Romish religion Secondly this parable makes against the Papists in the question of putting heretikes to death I confesse the words sinite vtraque simul crescâ—re teach not the Magistrates duty but rather shew Gods bounty towards heretikes It is the Princes office to banish imprison mulct and by all meanes possible to suppresse them and in no sort to suffer them as being so pâ—stilent as the plague For as the plague doth instantly strike the heart and by poisoning one infects many â—ic haeresis cor ipsum animae petit cùm vnum inâ—erficit centum alios inficit Heresie strikes at faith and so takes away the life of the Christian for the iust doth liue by faith and then it fretteth as a canker or gangren corrupting all other members of Christs mysticall body we may cry mors in illà as the children of the Prophets mors in â—llâ such cockle then ought to be cropt and topt but not vtterly rooted vp and burnt vntill the great haruest A murtherer and a traitor indued with faith and repentance may passe from the crosse to the crowne as the blessed theefe in the Gospell was instantly translated from his paine to Paradise but an heretike dying in his heresie cannot be saued He therefore that puts an heretike to death is a double murtherer as Luther thinks in destroying his body with death temporall in slaying his soule with death eternall Excommunication exile losse of goods imprisonment depriuation haue bin reputed euermore fit punishments for heretikes but fire and fagot is not Gods law but canon shot enacted first by Pope Lucius 3. An. 1184. and confirmed afterward by Innocentius 3. and Gregory 9. as it appeares in the Decretals and it was executed against the Waldenses and in latter times against the Protestants especially martyring the dead with the liuing the wife with the husband the new borne yea not borne infant with the mother whom they should haue cherished by all lawes and christened by their owne lawes and that not for the denying of any article of the Creed but onely for not beleeuing Transubstantiation and other new quirkes of the Schoole which the most iudicious among them as yet cannot explicate for as one wittilie Corpore de Christi lis est de sâ—nguine lis est deque modo lis est non habitura modum Scotus Cameracensis and other Papists of great note confesse plainly that transubstantiation cannot be inforced by the Gospell nor by any testimonies of the ancient Church And Bellâ—rmin Romes oracle doth acknowledge that it may well be doubted whether there be any place of scripture cleerly to proue transubstantiation otherwise then that the Church hath declared it so to be because many learned and acute men hold the contrary What hellish crueltie then was it in the Bonners of Queene Mary to make bonâ—fires of sillie women for not vnderstanding this their ineffable mystery wherein are nine miracles at the least as Ioannes de Combis affirmes If these gunpowder Priests and fagot Diuines
and Christ heere foretold the one so well as the other to strengthen his followers in affliction for as he first suffered and after entred into glorie so such as beare with him the crosse shall be sure to weare with him the crowne If we be grafted with him to the similitude of his death euen so shall we be to the similitude of his resurrection And this saying was hid from them Men hardly conceiue ill of those whom they loue well and therefore the Disciples expecting better things of Christ could not vnderstand this prophecie but the Iewes as Beda notes hating Christ and seeking how they might put him to death easily beleeued him vpon his word yea one word and that not so perspicuous as this but obscure for when he said If I were lift vp from the earth I will draw all men vnto me the Iewes answered him We haue heard out of the law that Christ bideth for euer and how saist thou that the Sonne of man must be lift vp Hence we may note that the dearest Saints of God haue their infirmities and errors and lest wee should doubt of it Saint Luke repeates it againe They perceiued not the things which were spoken Not that we should follow their ignorance but praise God for our knowledge when we conceiue these deepe mysteries of our saluation Againe we may learne from hence not to be discouraged if we do not at the first discerne Gods holy word for the blessed Apostles after Christs resurrection vnderstood all these things as S. Luke reports in his last chapter vers 45. God at his good time will open our eyes as he did the blindmans in this Gospel and open our eares as he did of the Prophet Esay 50. and open our hearts as he did of Lydia Act. 16. In that other part of this Gospell concerning the bodily blind we may behold a miserable patient and a merciful Physitian In the patient two things are regardable to wit his Outward wants Blindnes Beggerie v. 35. Inward vertues Faith Gratefulnes In his faith obserue the Beginning it came by hearing vers 36. Continuance though he was rebuked he ceased not to crie Iesus thou sonne of David haue mercie on me vers 37 38 39. End and fruite he receiued his sight vers 43. His thankfulnes appeares in two things especially 1. In following Christ. 2. In praising God And his example caused other to doe the like All the people when they saw this gaue praise to God The mercifulnes of Christ the Physitian toward this distressed patient is seene in his Gesture vers 40. He stood still and commanded the blind man to be brought vnto him Speech vers 41. What wilt thou that I doe vnto thee Workes vers 42. Receiue thy sight thy faith hath made thee whole and immediatly hee receiued his sight And it came to passe that as he was come nigh to Iericho Christs actions are our instructions as Christ then so we must doe good in all places as occasion is offered euen in the streets and high waies so well as in the Temple There is nothing in the sheepe but good his fell is good his flesh is good his entrals good his dung good so the lambes of Christ must be profitable to all hurtfull to none A certaine blind man sate by the high way side Protestant Diuines as well as the Fathers and Friers haue construed this mystically for euery man is blind by nature not discerning the things of God he sits by the way but he cannot walk in the way till Christ open his eyes direct his paths And it is most certaine that the state of the spiritually blind is more miserable then that of the other blind for to want the eyes of Angels is worse then to want the eyes of beasts as Antonius told that good blind man Didymus As the bodily blind is led either by his seruant or wife or dogge so the spiritually blind misled by the world the flesh and the diuell the bodily blind will be sure to get a seeing guide but the spiritually blinde followeth his owne lusts and the blind guides and so the blind leading the blinde both fall into the ditch The bodilie blinde feeleth and acknowledgeth his want of sight but the spiritually blinde thinkes hee sees as well as any So Christ in the Gospell If yee were blinde ye should not haue sinne but now ye say we see therefore your sinne remaineth c. The bodily blinde supplieth his want of sight oft by feeling as I sack when hee could not see Iacob said Let me feele thee my sonne but the spiritually blind though hee feele many times in his conscience the flashing yet nâ—uer auoides the flames of hell fire The bodily blinde accountâ— them happie who see but the spiritually blind doth despise the Seers and all such as walke in the right way This is hee whom wee sometime had in derision and in a parable of reproch To conclude the want of corporall eyes is to many diuinum bonum albeit humanum malum but the want of faiths eyes is the greatest euill which can befall man in this life for reason is our soules left eye faith our right eye without which it is impossible to see the way to God Come to me saith Christ credendo venimus saith Augustine yea Christ comes to vs and dwels in our heart by faith Begging The Iewes had a law that there should be no begger in Israâ—l England hath statutes also to correct impudent poore and to prouide for impotent poore but as it is obserued our lawes haue a better prologue then epilogue they be well penned but ill kept and so this good order is neglected among vs as it was about Iericho to the great scandall of Christian religion and dishonour of our English nation It is written of the Athenians that they punished idle persons as hainous offenders And the Egyptians had a law that euery man shoâ—ld bring his name to the chiefe ruler of the Prouince and shew what trade of life he did vse The Romans enacted seuere statutes against such as negligently suffered their ground vntilled Among the Chinois euery man is â—et about somewhat according to his strength and yeeres one laboureth with his hand another with his foot some with their eies some must be doing with their tongue and that which is most admirable they keepe in Cantane foure thousand blind men vnfit for other service to grinde corne and rice or the people If either the law were belieued as Gospell or the Gospell kept as law such as would not labour should not eate Loiterers and sturdie rogues should be sent either to the Gallies or prisons or Bridewell or to some like place where they might worke well and as for such as cannot labour it is fit we that are strong should help to beare the