in all partes of decent demeanor So that the law of Angels wee cannot iudge altogether impertinent vnto the affaires of the Church of God Our largenesse of speech how men do finde out what thinges reason bindeth them of necessitie to obserue and what is guideth them to choose in things which are left as arbitrary the care we haue had to declare the different nature of lawes which seuerally concerne all men from such as belong vnto men eyther ciuilly or spiritually associated such as pertaine to the fellowship which nations or which Christian nations haue amongst themselues and in the last place such as concerning euery or any of these God himselfe hath reuealed by his holy worâ— all serueth but to make manifest that as the actions of men are of sundry distinct kindes so the lawes thereof must accordingly be distinguished There are in men operations some naturall some rationall some supernaturall some politique some finally Ecclesiasticall Which if we measure not each by his owne proper law whereas the things themselues are so different there will be in our vnderstanding and iudgement of them confusion As that first error sheweth whereon our opposites in this cause haue grounded themselues For as they rightly maintaine that God must be glorified in all thinges and that the actions of men cannot tend vnto his glory vnlesse they be framed after his law So it is their error to thinke that the only law which God hath appointed vnto men in that behalfe is the sacred Scripture By that which we worke naturally as when we breath sleepe mooue we set forth the glory of God as naturall agents doe albeit we haue no expresse purpose to make that our end nor any aduised determination therein to follow a law but doe that we doe for the most part not as much as thinking thereon In reasonable and morall actions another law taketh place a law by the obseruation whereof we glorifie God in such sort as no creature else vnder man is able to doe because other creatures haue not iudgement to examine the qualitie of that which is done by them and therfore in that they doe they neither can accuse nor approue themselues Men doe bothe as the Apostle teacheth yea those men which haue no written lawe of God to shewe what is good or euill carrie written in their hearts the vniuersall lawe of mankind the law of reason whereby they iudge as by a rule which God hath giuen vnto all men for that purpose The lawe of reason doth somewhat direct men how to honour God as their Creator but how to glorifie God in such sort as is required to the end he may be an euerlasting Sauiour this we are taught by diuine law which law both ascertaineth the truth and supplieth vnto vs the want of that other lawe So that in morall actions diuine law helpeth exceedingly the lawe of reason to guide mans life but in supernaturall it alone guideth Proceed wee further let vs place man in some publique societie with others whether Ciuill or Spirituall and in this case there is no remedie but we must adde yet a further lawe For although euen here likewise the lawes of nature and reason be of necessary vse yet somewhat ouer and besides them is necessary namely humane and positiue lawe together with that lawe which is of commerce betweene grand societies the law of nations and of nations Christian For which cause the lawe of God hath likewise said Let euery soule be subiect to the higher powers The publique power of all societies is aboue euery soule contained in the same societies And the principall vse of that power is to giue lawes vnto all that are vnder it which lawes in such case we must obey vnlesse there be reason shewed which may necessarily enforce that the lawe or reason or of God doth enioyne the contrarie Because except our owne priuate and but probable resolutions be by the lawe of publique determinations ouerruled we take away all possibilitie of sociable life in the worlde A plainer example whereof then our selues we cannot haue How commeth it to passe that wee are at this present day so rent with mutuall contentions and that the Church is so much troubled about the politie of the Church No doubt if men had bene willing to learne how many lawes their actions in this life are subiect vnto and what the true force of each lawe is all these controuersies might haue dyed the very day they were first brought forth It is both commonly said and truly that the best men otherwise are not alwayes the best in regard of societie The reason wherof is for that the law of mens actions is one if they be respected only as men and another wheÌ„ they are considered as parts of a politique body Many men there are then whom nothing is more commendable when they are singled And yet in societie with others none lesse fit to answere the duties which are looked for at their handes Yea I am perswaded that of them with whom in this cause we striue there are whose betters among men would bee hardly found if they did not liue amongst men but in some wildernesse by themselues The cause of which their disposition so vnframable vnto societies wherein they liue is for that they discerne not aright what place and force these seuerall kindes of lawes ought to haue in all their actions Is there question eyther concerning the regiment of the Church in generall or about conformitie betweene one Church and another or of ceremonies offices powers iurisdictions in our owne Church Of all these things they iudge by that râ—le which they frame to themselues with some shew of probabilitie and what seemeth in that sort conuenient the same they thinke themselues bound to practise the same by all meanes they labour mightily to vpholde whatsoeuer any law of man to the contrarie hath determined they weigh it not Thus by following the law of priuate reason where the law of publique should take place they breede disturbance For the better inuâ—ing therefore of mens mindes with the true distinction of lawes and of their seuerall force according to the diâ—ferent kind and qualitie of our actions it shal noâ— peraduenture be amisse to shew in some one example how they all take place To seeke no further let but that be considered then which there is not any thing more familiar vnto vs our foode What thinges are foode and what are not we iudge naturally by sense neither neede we any other law to be our director in that behalfe then the selfe-same which is common vnto vs with beastes But when we come to consider of foode as of a benefite which God of his bounteous goodnes hath prouided for all thinges liuing the law of reason doth here require the dutie of thankefulnesse at our handes towards him at whose hands we haue iâ— And least appetite in the vse of foode should leade vs beyond that
controuersie in this cause concerning the orders of the Church is what particulars the Church may appoint That which doth finde them out is the force of mans reason That which doth guide and direct his reason is first the generall law of nature which law of nature and the morall law of scripture are in the substance of law all one But because there are also in scripture a number of lawes particular and positiue which being in force may not by any law of man be violated we are in making lawes to haue thereunto an especiall eie As for example it might perhaps seeme reasonable vnto the Church of God following the generall laws concerning the nature of mariage to ordaine in particular that cosen germains shall not marry Which law notwithstanding ought not to be receiued in the Church if there should be in the scripture a law particular to the contrary forbidding vtterly the bonds of mariage to be so far forth abridged The same Thomas therfore whose definition of humane lawes we mentioned before doth adde thereunto his caution concerning the rule and canon whereby to make them Humane lawes are measures in respect of men whose actiōs they must direct howbeit such measures they are as haue also their higher rules to be measured by which rules are two the law of God and the law of nature So that laws humane must be made according to the generall lawes of nature without contradiction vnto any positiue lawe in scripture Otherwise they are ill made Vnto lawes thus made and receiued by a whole Church they which liue within the bosome of that Church must not think it a matter indifferēt either to yeeld or not to yeeld obedience Is it a small offence to despise the Church of God My sonne keepe thy fathers comaundement saith Salomon forget not thy mothers instruction bind thē bothe alwaies about thine hart It doth not stand with the duty which we owe to our heauenly fathers that to the ordinances of our mother the Church we should shew our selues disobedient Let vs not say we keepe the commandements of the one when we breake the law of the other For vnlesse we obserue bothe we obey neither And what doth let but that we may obserue both when they are not the one to the other in any sort repugnant For of such lawes only we speake as being made in forme and maner already declared can haue in them no contradiction vnto the lawes of almighty God Yea that which is more the lawes thus made God himselfe doth in such sort authorize that to despise them is to despise in them him It is a loose licentious opinion which the Anabaptists haue embraced holding that a Christian mans libertie is lost and the soule which Christ hath redeemed vnto himselfe iniuriously drawne into seruitude vnder the yoke of humane power if any law be now imposed besides the Gospell of Iesus Christ in obedience whereunto the spirite of God and not the constraint of men is to leade vs according to that of the blessed Apostle Such as are led by the spirits of God they are the sonnes of God and not such as liue in thraldome vnto men Their iudgement is therefore that the Church of Christ should admit no law makers but the Euangelists The author of that which causeth another thing to be is author of that thing also which thereby is caused The light of naturall vnderstanding wit and reason is from God he it is which thereby doth illuminate euery man entering into the world If there proceede from vs any thing afterwardes corrupt and naught the mother thereof is our owne darknes neither doth it proceed from any such cause whereof God is the author He is the author of all that we think or doe by vertue of that light which himselfe hath giuen And therefore the lawes which the very Heathens did gather direct their actiōs by so far forth as they proceeded from the light of nature God himselfe doth acknowledge to haue proceeded euen from himselfe and that he was the writer of them in the tables of their hearts How much more then he the author of those lawes which haue bene made by his Saints endued furder with the heauenly grace of his spirit and directed as much as might be with such instructiōs as his sacred word doth yeeld Surely if we haue vnto those lawes that dutifull regard which their dignitie doth require it will not greatly need that we should be exhorted to liue in obedience vnto them If they haue God himselfe for their author contempt which is offered vnto them cannot choose but redound vnto him The safest and vnto God the most acceptable way of framing our liues therfore is with all humilitie lowlines and singlenes of hart to studie which way our willing obedience both vnto God and man may be yeelded euen to the vtmost of that which is due 10 Touching the mutabilitie of lawes that concerne the regiment politie of the church changed they are when either altogether abrogated or in part repealed or augmented with farther additions Wherein wee are to note that this question about changing of lawes concerneth onely such lawes as are positiue and do make that now good or euill by being commanded or forbidden which otherwise of it selfe were not simply the one or the other Vnto such lawes it is expressely sometimes added how long they are to continue in force If this be no where exprest then haue we no light to direct our iudgemēts concerning the chaungeablenes or immutabilitie of them but by considering the nature and qualitie of such lawes The nature of euery lawe must be iudged of by the ende for which it was made and by the aptnes of thinges therein prescribed vnto the same end It may so fall out that the reason why some lawes of God were giuen is neither opened nor possible to be gathered by wit of man As why God should forbid Adam that one tree there was no way for Adam euer to haue certainely vnderstood And at Adams ignorance of this point Satan tooke aduantage vrging the more securely a false cause because the true was vnto Adam vnknowne Why the Iewes were forbidden to plow their ground with an oxe and an asse why to cloath themselues with mingled attire of wooll and linnen both it was vnto them vnto vs it remaineth obscure Such lawes perhaps cannot be abrogated sauing onely by whom they were made because the intent of them being knowne vnto none but the author he alone can iudge how long it is requisite they should endure But if the reason why things were instituted may be known and being knowne do appeare manifestly to be of perpetuall necessitie then are those things also perpetuall vnlesse they cease to be effectuall vnto that purpose for which they were at the first instituted Because when a thing doth cease to be auaileable vnto the end which gaue it being the
of place where On the other side the later giuen after and neither written by God himselfe nor giuen vnto the whole multitude immediatly from God but vnto Moses and from him to them both by word and writing the later tearmed Ceremonies Iudgements Ordinances but no where Couenants finally the obseruation of the later restrained vnto the land where God would establish them to inhabite The Lawes positiue are not framed without regard had to the place and persons for the which they are made If therefore Almightie God in framing their Lawes had an eye vnto the nature of that people and to the countrey where they were to dwell if these peculiar and proper considerations were respected in the making of their Lawes and must be also regarded in the Positiue Lawes of all other Nations besides then seeing that Nations are not all alike surely the giuing of one kinde of positiue Lawes vnto one onely people without anie libertie to alter them is but a slender proofe that therefore one kind should in like sort bee giuen to serue euerlastingly for all But that which most of all maketh for the cleering of this point is that the Iewes who had Lawes so particularly determining and so fully instructing them in all affaires what to do were notwithstanding continually inured with causes exorbitant and such as their lawes had not prouided for And in this point much more is graunted vs then wee aske namely that for one thing which we haue left to the order of the Church they had twentie which were vndecided by the expresse word of God and that as their ceremonies and Sacraments were multiplied aboue ours euen so grew the number of those cases which were not determined by any expresse word So that if we may deuise one lawe they by this reason might deuise twentie and if their deuising so many were not forbidden shall their example proue vs forbidden to deuise as much as one lawe for the ordering of the Church Wee might not deuise no not one if their example did proue that our Sauiour hath vtterly forbidden all alteration of his lawes in as much as there can be no lawe deuised but needs it must either take away from his or adde thereunto more or lesse and so make some kind of alteration But of this so large a graunt we are content not to take aduantage Men are oftentimes in a sudden passion more liberall then they would be if they had leysure to take aduise And therefore so bountifull words of course and franke speeches we are contented to let passe without turning them vnto aduantage with too much rigour It may be they had rather be listned vnto when they commend the Kings of Israell which attempted nothing in the gouernement of the Church without the expresse word of God and when they vrge that God left nothing in his word vndescribed whether it concerned the worship of God or outward politie nothing vnset downe and therefore charged them strictly to keepe themselues vnto that without any alteration Howbeit seeing it cannot be denied but that many thinges there did belong vnto the course of their publique affaires wherein they had no expresse word at all to shew precisely what they should do the difference betweene their condition and ours in these cases will bring some light vnto the truth of this present controuersie Before the fact of the son of Shelomith there was no law which did appoint any certaine punishment for blasphemers That wretched creature being therefore deprehended in that impiety was held in ward till the mind of the Lord were knowne concerning his case The like practise is also meÌ„tioned vpon occasion of a breach of the Sabboth day They find a poore silly creature gathering stickes in the wildernes they bring him vnto Moses and Aaron and all the congregation they lay him in hold because it was not declared what should be done with him till God hath sayd vnto Moses This man shall dye the death The Law required to keepe the Sabboth but for the breach of the Sabboth what punishmeÌ„t should be inflicted it did not appoint Such occasions as these are rare And for such things as do fal scarce once in many ages of meÌ„ it did suffice to take such order as was requisite when they fell But if the case were such as being not already determined by law were notwithstanding likely oftentimes to come in question it gaue occasion of adding lawes that were not before Thus it fell out in the case of those men polluted and of the daughters of Zelophhad whose causes Moses hauing brought before the Lord receiued lawes to serue for the like in time to come The Iewes to this end had the Oracle of God they had the Prophets And by such meanes God himselfe instructed them from heauen what to do in all things that did greatly concerne their state and were not already set downe in the Lawe Shall we then hereupon argue euen against our owne experience and knowledge Shall we seeke to perswade men that of necessity it is with vs as it was with them that because God is ours in all respects as much as theirs therefore either no such way of direction hath beene at any time or if it haue bene it doth still continue in the Church or if the same do not continue that yet it must be at the least supplied by some such meane as pleaseth vs to accompt of equall force A more dutifull and religious way for vs were to admire the wisedome of God which shineth in the beautifull variety of all things but most in the manifold and yet harmonious dissimilitude of those wayes whereby his Church vpon earth is guided from age to age throughout all generations of men The Iewes were necessarily to continue till the comming of Christ in the flesh and the gathering of nations vnto him So much the promise made vnto Abraham did import So much the prophecy of Iacob at the hower of his death did foreshewe Vpon the â—afety therefore of their very outward state and condition for so long the after-good of the whole world and the saluation of all did depend Vnto their so long safety for two things it was necessary to prouide namely the preseruation of their state against forraine resistance and the continuance of their peace within themselues Touching the one as they receiued the promise of God to be the rocke of their defence against which who so did violently rush should but bruse and batter themselues so likewise they had his commaundement in all their affaires that way to seeke direction and counsell from him Mens consultations are alwayes perilous And it falleth out many times that after long deliberation those things are by their wit euen resolued on which by tryall are found most opposite to publique safety It is no impossible thing for states be they neuer so well established yet by ouersight in some one acte or treatie betweene them
for vs so small is the ioy we take in these strifes to labour vnder the same yoke as men that looke for the same eternall reward of their labours to be ioyned with you in bands of indissoluble loue and amity to liue as if our persons being many our soules were but one rather then in such dismembred sort to spend our few and wretched daies in a tedious prosecuting of wearisome contentions the end whereof if they haue not some speedy ende will be heauie euen on both sides Brought alreadie we are euen to that estate which Gregorie Nazianzene mournefully describeth saying My minde leadeth mee sith there is no other remedie to flye and to conuey my selfe into some corner out of sight where I may scape from this cloudie tempest of malitiousnesse whereby all parts are entred into a deadly warre amongst themselues and that little remnant of loue which was is now consumed to nothing The onely godlines we glory in is to finde out somewhat whereby we may iudge others to be vngodly Each others faults we obserue as matter of exprobration and not of griefe By these meanes wee are growne hateful in the eyes of the Heathens themselues and which woundeth vs the moâ—e deeply able we are not to denie but that we haue deserued their hatred With the better sort of our owne our fame and credit is cleane lost The lesse wee are to maruell if they iudge vilely of vs who although we did well would hardly allow therof On our backs they also build that are lewd and what we obiect one against an other the same they vse to the vtter scorne and disgrace of vs all This we haue gained by our mutuall home-dissentions This we are worthily rewarded with which are more forward to striue then becommeth men of vertuous and mild disposition But our trust in the almightie is that with vs contentions are now at their highest floate and that the day will come for what cause of despaire is there when the passioÌ„s of former enmitie being allaied we shal with ten times redoubled tokens of our vnfainedly reconciled loue shewe our selues each towards other the same which Ioseph and the brethren of Ioseph were at the time of their enteruiew in Aegypt Our comfortable expectation and most thirstie desire whereof what man soeuer amongst you shall any way helpe to satisfie as we truly hope there is no one amongst you but some way or other will the blessings of the God of peace both in this world and in the world to come be vppon him moe then the starres of the firmament in number VVhat things are handled in the Bookes following THe first Booke concerning lawes in generall The second of the vse of diuine lawe conteined in scripture whether that be the onely lawe which ought to serue for our direction in all things without exception The third of lawes concerning Ecclesiasticall Politie whether the forme thereof be in scripture so set downe that no addition or change is lawfull The fourth of generall exceptions taken against the lawes of our politie as being popish and banished out of certaine reformed Churches The fift of our lawes that concerne the publike religious duties of the Church and the maner of bestowing that power of order which inableth men in sundrie degrees and callings to execute the same The sixt of the power of iurisdiction which the reformed platforme claymeth vnto lay-elders with others The seauenth of the power of iurisdiction and the honor which is annexed thereunto in Bishops The eighth of the power of ecclesiasticall dominion or supreme authoritie which with vs the highest gouernour or Prince hath as well in regard of domesticall iurisdictions as of that other forreinly claimed by the Bishop of Rome The first Booke Concerning Lawes and their seuerall kindes in generall The matter conteined in this first Booke 1 THe cause of writing this generall discourse concerning lawes 2 Of that lawe which God from before the beginning hath set for himselfe to doe all the things by 3 The law which natural agents obserue their necessary maner of keeping it 4 The lawe which the Angels of God obey 5 The lawe whereby man is in his actions directed to the imitation of God 6 Mens first beginning to vnderstand that lawe 7 Of mans will which is the first thing that lawes of action are made to guide 8 Of the naturall finding out of lawes by the light of reason to guide the will vnto that which is good 9 Of the benefit of keeping that lawe which reason teacheth 10 How reason doth lead men vnto the making of humane lawes whereby politique societies are gouerned and to agreement about lawes whereby the fellowship or communion of independent societies standeth 11 Wherefore God hath by scripture further made knowne such supernaturall lawes as do serue for mens direction 12 The cause why so many naturall or rationall lawes are set downe in holy scripture 13 The benefit of hauing diuine lawes written 14 The sufficiencie of scripture vnto the end for which it was instituted 15 Of lawes positiue conteined in scripture the mutabilitie of certaine of them and the generall vse of scripture 16 A conclusion shewing how all this belongeth to the cause in question HE that goeth about to perswade a multitude that they are not so well gouerned as they ought to be shal neuer waÌ„t attentiue fauourable hearers because they know the manifold defects whereunto euery kind of regiment is subiect but the secret lets and difficulties which in publike proceedings are innumerable ineuitable they haue not ordinarily the iudgement to consider And becâ—â—se such as openly reproue supposed disorders of state are taken for principall friendes to the common benefite of all and for men that carry singular freedome of mind vnder this faire and plausible colour whatsoeuer they vtter passeth for good and currant That which wanteth in the waight of their speech is supplyed by the aptnes of mens minds to accept and beleeue it Whereas on the other side if we maintaine thinges that are established wee haue not onely to striue with a number of heauie preiudices deepely rooted in the hearts of men who thinke that herein we serue the time and speake in fauour of the present state because thereby we eyther hold or seeke preferment but also to beare such exceptions as minds so auerted before hand vsually take against that which they are loath should be powred into them Albeit therefore much of that we are to speake in this present cause may seeme to a number perhaps tedious perhaps obscure darke and intricate for many talke of the truth which neuer sounded the depth from whence it springeth and therfore when they are led thereunto they are soone weary as men drawne from those beaten pathes wherewith they haue bene inured yet this may not so farre preuaile as to cut off that which the matter it selfe requireth howsoeuer the nice humour of some be therewith pleased or no.
whereunto reasonable creatures are bound but as hath bene shewed we restraine it to those onely duties which all men by force of naturall wit either do or might vnderstand to be such duties as concerne all men Certaine half waking men there are as Saint Augustine noteth who neither altogether asleepe in folly nor yet throughly awake in the light of true vnderstanding haue thought that there is not at all any thing iust and righteous in it selfe but looke wherwith nations are inured the same they take to be right and iust Wherupon their conclusion is that seeing each sort of people hath a different kind of right from other and that which is right of it owne nature must be euery where one and the same therefore in it selfe there is nothing right These good folke saith he that I may not trouble their wits with rehearsal of too many things haue not looked so far into the world as to perceiue that Do as thou wouldest be done vnto is a sentence which all nations vnder heauen are agreed vpon Refer this sentence to the loue of God it extinguisheth all heinous crimes referre it to the loue of thy neighbor and all grieuous wrongs it banisheth out of the world Wherefore as touching the law of reason this was it seemeth Saint Augustines iudgement namely that there are in it some things which stand as principles vniuersally agreed vpon and that out of those principles which are in themselues euident the greatest morall duties we owe towards God or man may without any great difficultie be concluded If then it be here demaunded by what meanes it should come to passe the greatest part of the law morall being so easie for all men to know that so many thousands of men notwithstanding haue bene ignorant euen of principall morall duties not imagining the breach of them to be sinne I deny not but lewd and wicked custome beginning perhaps at the first amongst few afterwards spreading into greater multitudes and so continuing from time to time may be of force euen in plaine things to smother the light of naturall vnderstanding because men will not bend their wits to examine whether things wherewith they haue bene accustomed be good or euill For examples sake that grosser kind of heathenish idolatrie wherby they worshipped the very workes of their owne hands was an absurdity to reason so palpable that the Prophet Dauid comparing idols and idolaters together maketh almost no ods betweene them but the one in a maner as much without wit and sense as the other They that make them are like vnto them and so are all that trust in them That wherein an idolater doth seeme so absurb and foolish is by the Wiseman thus exprest He is not ashamed to speake vnto that which hath no life he calleth on him that is weake for health he prayeth for life vnto him which is dead of him which hath no experience he requireth helpe for his iourney be sâ—â—th to him which is not able to go for gaine and worke and successe in his affaires he seeketh furtherance of him that hath no maner of power The cause of which senselesse stupidity is afterwards imputed to custome When a father mourned grieuosly for his son that was taken away suddenly he made an image for him that was once dead whom now he worshipped as a God ordeining to his seruants ceremonies sacrifices Thus by processe of time this wicked custome preuailed was kept as a law the authority of Rulers the ambition of craftsmen and such like meanes thrusting forward the ignorant and increasing their superstition Vnto this which the Wiseman hath spoken somwhat besides may be added For whatsoeuer we haue hitherto taught or shal hereafter coÌ„cerning the force of mans naturall vnderstanding this we alwayes desire withall to be vnderstood that there is no kind of faculty or power in man or any other creature which can rightly performe the functions alotted to it without perpetuall aide concurrence of that supreme cause of all things The benefit whereof as oft as we cause God in his iustice to withdraw there can no other thing follow then that which the Apostle noteth euen men indued with the light of reason to walke notwithstanding in the vanity of their mind hauing their cogitations darkned being strangers from the life of God through the ignorance which is in them because of the hardnes of their harts And this cause is meÌ„tioned by the Prophet Esay speaking of the ignorance idolaters who see not how the manifest reason condemneth their grosse iniquity and sinne They haue not in them saith he so much wit as to thinke shall I bow to the stocke of a tree All knowledge and vnderstanding is taken from them For God hath shut their eyes that they cannot see That which we say in this case of idolatry serueth for all other things wherein the like kind of generall blindnes hath preuailed against the manifest lawes of reason Within the compasse of which lawes we do not onely comprehend whatsoeuer may be easily knowne to belong to the duty of all men but euen whatsoeuer may possibly be known to be of that quality so that the same be by necessary consequence deduced out of cleere and manifest principles For if once we descend vnto probable collections what is conuenient for men we are then in the territory where free and arbitrarie determinations the territory where humane lawes take place which lawes are after to be considered 9 Now the due obseruation of this law which reason teacheth vs cannot but be effectuall vnto their great good that obserue the same For we see the whole world and each part thereof so compacted that as long as each thing performeth onely that worke which is naturall vnto it it thereby preserueth both other things and also it selfe Contrariwise let any principall thing as the Sun the Moone any one of the heaueÌ„s or elemeÌ„ts but once cease or faile or swarue and who doth not easily conceiue that the sequele thereof would be ruine both to it selfe whatsoeuer dependeth on it And is it possible that man being not only the noblest creature in the world but euen a very world in himselfe his transgressing the law of his nature should draw no maner of harme after it Yes tribulation and anguish vnto euerie soule that doth euill Good doth followe vnto all things by obseruing the course of their nature and on the contrarie side euill by not obseruing it but not vnto naturall agents that good which wee call Reward not that euill which wee properly tearme Punishment The reason whereof is because amongst creatures in this world onely mans obseruation of the lawe of his nature is Righteousnesse onely mans transgression Sinne. And the reason of this is the difference in his maner of obseruing or transgressing the lawe of his nature Hee doth not otherwise then voluntarily the one or the other What we do against our
cured They saw that to liue by one mans will became the cause of all mens misery This constrained them to come vnto lawes wherein all men might see their duties before hand and know the penalties of transgressing them b If things be simply good or euill and withall vniuersally so acknowledged there needs no new law to be made for such things The first kind therefore of things appointed by lawes humane containeth whatsoeuer being in it selfe naturally good or euill is notwithstanding more secret then that it can be discerned by euery mans present conceipt without some deeper discourse and iudgement In which discourse because there is difficultie and possibilitie many waies to erre vnlesse such things were set downe by lawes many would be ignorant of their duties which now are not many that know what they should do would neuerthelesse dissemble it and to excuse themselues pretend ignorance and simplicitie which now they cannot And because the greatest part of men are such as prefer their owne priuate good before all things euen that good which is sensuall before whatsoeuer is most diuine for that the labor of doing good together with the pleasure arising from the coÌ„trary doth make men for the most part slower to the one proner to the other then that dutie prescribed them by law can preuaile sufficiently with them therefore vnto lawes that men do make for the benefit of meÌ„ it hath seemed alwaies needful to ad rewards which may more allure vnto good then any hardnes deterreth from it punishments which may more deterre from euil then any sweetnes therto allureth Wherin as the generalitie is naturall Vertue rewardable and vice punishable so the particular determination of the rewarde or punishment belongeth vnto them by whom lawes are made Theft is naturally punishable but the kinde of punishment is positiue and such lawfull as men shall thinke with discretion conuenient by lawe to appoint In lawes that which is naturall bindeth vniuersally that which is positiue not so To let goe those kind of positiue lawes which men impose vpon theÌ„selues as by vow vnto God contract with men or such like somewhat it will make vnto our purpose a little more fully to coÌ„sider what things are incident into the making of the positiue lawes for the gouernment of theÌ„ that liue vnited in publique societie Lawes do not onely teach what is good but they inioyne it they haue in theÌ„ a certain coÌ„straining force And to coÌ„straine meÌ„ vnto any thing inconuenient doth seeme vnreasonable Most requisite therefore it is that to deuise lawes which all men shal be forced to obey none but wise meÌ„ be admitted Lawes are matters of principall consequence men of coÌ„mon capacitie but ordinary iudgemeÌ„t are not able for how should they to discerne what things are fittest for each kind and state of regiment Wee cannot be ignorant how much our obedience vnto lawes dependeth vpon this point Let a man though neuer so iustly oppose himselfe vnto theÌ„ that are disordered in their waies what one amongst them commonly doth not stomacke at such contradiction storme at reproofe and hate such as would reforme them Notwithstanding euen they which brooke it worst that men should tell them of their duties when they are told the same by a lawe thinke very wel reasonably of it For why They presume that the lawe doth speake with all indifferencie that the lawe hath no side respect to their persons that the law is as it were an oracle proceeded from wisedome and vnderstanding Howbeit laws do not take their constraining force froÌ„ the qualitie of such as deuise them but from that power which doth giue them the strength of lawes That which we spake before concerning the power of gouernment must here be applyed vnto the power of making lawes wherby to gouerne which power God hath ouer all and by the naturall lawe whereunto hee hath made all subiect the lawfull power of making lawes to commaund whole politique societies of men belongeth so properly vnto the same intire societies that for any Prince or potentate of what kinde soeuer vpon earth to exercise the same of himselfe and not either by expresse commission immediatly and personally receiued from God or else by authoritie deriued at the first froÌ„ their consent vpon whose persons they impose lawes it is no better then meere tyrannie Lawes they are not therefore which publique approbation hath not made so But approbation not only they giue who personally declare their assent by voice sign or act but also wheÌ„ others do it in their names by right originally at the least deriued from them As in parliaments councels the like assemblies although we be not personally our selues present notwithstanding our assent is by reasoÌ„ of others agents there in our behalfe And what we do by others no reason but that it should stand as our deede no lesse effectually to binde vs then if our selues had done it in person In many things assent is giuen they that giue it not imagining they do so because the manner of their assenting is not apparent As for example when an absolute Monark commandeth his subiects that which seemeth good in his owne discretion hath not his edict the force of a law whether they approue or dislike it Againe that which hath bene receiued long sithence and is by custome now established we keep as a law which we may not transgresse yet what consent was euer thereunto sought or required at our hands Of this point therefore we are to note that sith men naturally haue no ful perfect power to commaund whole politique mulâ—itudes of men therefore vtterly without our consent we could in such sort be at no mans commandement liuing And to be commanded we do consent when that societie wherof we are part hath at any time before consented without reuoking the same after by the like vniuersall agreement Wherfore as any mans deed past is good as long as himself continueth so the act of a publique societie of men done fiue hundred yeares sithence standeth as theirs who presently are of the same societies because corporations are immortall we were then aliue in our predecessors and they in their successors do liue stil. Lawes therefore humaine of what kinde soeuer are auaileable by consent If here it be demaunded how it commeth to passe that this being common vnto all lawes which are made there should be found euen in good lawes so great varietie as there is wee must note the reason hereof to bee the sundry particular endes whereunto the different disposition of that subiect or matter for which lawes are prouided causeth them to haue especiall respect in making lawes A lawe there is mentioned amongst the Graecians whereof Pittacus is reported to haue bene author And by that lawe it was agreed that hee which being ouercome with drinke did then strike any man should suffer punishment double as much as if hee had done the same being sober
deliuery of the same in writing is vnto vs a manifest token that the way of saluation is now sufficiently opened and that we neede no other meanes for our full instruction then God hath already furnished vs withall The maine drift of the whole newe Testament is that which Saint Iohn setteth downe as the purpose of his owne Historie These things are written that yee might beleeue that Iesus is Christ the Sonne of God and that in beleeuing yee might haue life through his name The drift of the olde that which the Apostle mentioneth to Timothie The holy Scriptures are able to make thee wise vnto saluâ—tion So that the generall ende both of olde and newe is one the difference betweene them consisting in this that the olde did make wise by teaching saluation through Christ that should come the newe by teaching that Christ the Sauiour is come and that Iesus whom the Iewes did crucifie and whom God did raise againe from the dead is he When the Apostle therefore affirmeth vnto Timothie that the old was able to make him wise to saluation it was not his meaning that the olde alone can do this vnto vs which liue sithence the publication of the newe For he speaketh with presupposall of the doctrine of Christ knowne also vnto Timothie and therefore first it is sayd Continue thou in those things which thou hast learned and art perswaded knowing of whom thou hast bene taught them Againe those Scriptures hee graunteth were able to make him wise to saluation but he addeth through the faith which is in Christ. VVherefore without the doctrine of the new Testament teaching that Christ hath wrought the redemption of the world which redemption the olde did foreshewe he should worke it is not the former alone which can on our behalfe performe so much as the Apostle doth auouch who presupposeth this when he magnifieth that so highly And as his words concerning the bookes of auncient Scripture do not take place but with presupposall of the Gospell of Christ embraced so our owne wordes also when wee extoll the complete sufficiency of the whole intire body of the Scripture must in like sorte bee vnderstood with this caution that the benefite of natures light be not thought excluded as vnnecessarie because the necessitie of a diuiner light is magnified There is in Scripture therefore no defect but that any man what place or calling soeuer he hold in the Church of God may haue thereby the light of his naturall vnderstanding so perfected that the one being relieued by the other there can want no part of needfull instruction vnto any good worke which God himselfe requireth be it naturall or supernaturall belonging simply vnto men as men or vnto men as they are vnited in whatsoeuer kinde of societie It sufficeth therefore that nature and Scripture do serue in such full sort that they both ioyntly and not seuerally either of them be so complete that vnto euerlasting felicitie we need not the knowledge of any thing more then these two may easily furnish our mindes with on all sides and therefore they which adde traditions as a part of supernaturall necessarie truth haue not the truth but are in errour For they onely pleade that whatsoeuer God reuealeth as necessary for all Christian men to do or beleeue the same we ought to embrace whether we haue receiued it by writing or otherwise which no man denieth when that which they should confirme who claime so great reuerence vnto traditions is that the same traditions are necessarily to bee acknowledged diuine and holy For wee doe not reiect them onely because they are not in the Scripture but because they are neither in Scripture nor can otherwise sufficiently by any reason be proued to be of God That which is of God and may be euidently proued to be so we deny not but it hath in his kind although vnwritten yet the selfe same force and authoritie with the written lawes of God It is by ours acknowledged that the Apostles did in euery Church institute and ordeene some â—iâ—es and customes seruing for the seemelenesse of Church regiment which rites and customes they haue not committed vnto writing Those rites and customes being knowne to be Apostolicall and hauing the nature of things changeable were no lesse to be accompted of in the Church then other things of the like degree that is to say capable in like sort of alteration although set downe in the Apostles writings For bothe being knowne to be Apostolicall it is not the manner of deliuering them vnto the Church but the author from whom they proceed which doth giue them their force and credite 15 Lawes being imposed either by each man vpon himselfe or by a publique societie vpon the particulars thereof or by all the nations of men vpon euery seuerall societie or by the Lord himselfe vpon any or euerie of these there is not amongst these foure kinds any one but containeth sundry both naturall and positiue lawes Impossible it is but that they should fall into a number of grosse errors who onely take such lawes for positiue as haue bene made or inuented of men and holding this position hold also that all positiue and none but positiue lawes are mutable Lawes naturall do alwayes bind lawes positiue not so but onely after they haue bene expresly and wittingly imposed Lawes positiue there are in euery of those kindes before mentioned As in the first kinde the promises which we haue past vnto men and the vowes we haue made vnto God for these are lawes which we tye our selues vnto and till we haue so tied our selues they bind vs not Lawes positiue in the second kind are such the ciuill constitutions peculiar vnto each particular common weale In the third kind the law of Heraldy in waâ—re is positiue and in the last all the iudicials which God gaue vnto the people of Israell to obserue And although no lawes but positiue be mutable yet all are not mutable which be positiue Positiue lawes are either permanent or else changeable according as the matter it selfe is concerning which they were first made Whether God or man be the maker of them alteration they so far forth admit as the matter doth exact Lawes that concerne supernaturall duties are all positiue and either coÌ„cerne men supernaturally as men or else as parts of a supernaturall society which society we call the Church To concerne men as men supernaturally is to concerne them as duties which belong of necessitie to all and yet could not haue bene knowne by any to belong vnto them vnlesse God had opened them himselfe in as much as they do not depend vpon any naturall ground at all out of which they may be deduced but are appoiâ—â—ed of God to supply the defect of those naturall wayes of saluation by which we are not now able to attaine thereunto The Church being a supernaturall societie doth differ from naturall societies in this that the persons
vnto whom wee associate our selues in the one are men simply considered as men but they to whom we bee ioyned in the other are God Angels and holy men Againe the Church being both a society and a society supernaturall although as it is a society it haue the selfe same originall grounds which other politique societes haue namely the naturall inclination which all men haue vnto sociable life and consent to some certaine bond of association which bond is the law that appointeth what kind of order they shall be associated in yet vnto the Church as it is a societie supernaturall this is peculiar that part of the bond of their association which belong to the Church of God must be a lawe supernaturall which God himselfe hath reuealed concerning that kind of worship which his people shall do vnto him The substance of the seruice of God therefore so farre forth as it hath in it any thing more then the lawe of reason doth teach may not be inuented of men as it is amongst the Heathens but must be receiued from God himselfe as alwaies it hath bene in the Church sauing only when the Church hath bene forgetfull of her dutie Wherefore to end with a generall rule concerning all the lawes which God hath tyed men vnto those lawes diuine that belong whether naturally or supernaturally either to men as men or to men as they liue in politique societie or to men as they are of that politique societie which is the Church without any further respect had vnto any such variable accident as the state of men and of societies of men and of the Church it selfe in this world is subiect vnto all lawes that so belong vnto men they belong for euer yea although they be positiue lawes vnlesse being positiue God himselfe which made them alter them The reason is because the subiect or matter of lawes in generall is thus farre foorth constant which matter is that for the ordering whereof lawes were instituted and being instituted are not chaungeable without cause neither can they haue cause of chaunge when that which gaue them their first institution remaineth for euer one and the same On the other side lawes that were made for men or societies or Churches in regard of their being such as they doe not alwayes continue but may perhaps bee cleane otherwise a whil◠after and so may require to bee otherwise ordered then before the lawes of God himselfe which are of this nature no man indued with common sense will euer denie to bee of a different constitution from the former in respect of the ones constancie and the mutabilitie of the other And this doth seeme to haue beene the very cause why Saint Iohn doth so peculiarly tearme the doctrine that teacheth saluation by Iesus Christ Euangelium aeternum an eternall Gospell because there can be no reason wherefore the publishing thereof should be taken away and any other in stead of it proclaimed as long as the world doth continue where as the whole lawe of rites and Ceremonies although deliuered with so great solemnitie is notwithstanding cleane abrogated in as much as it had but temporary cause of Gods ordeining it But that we may at the length conclude this first generall introduction vnto the nature and originall birth as of all other lawes so likewise of those which the sacred Scripture conteineth concerning the author wherof euen infidels haue confessed that he can neither erre nor deceiue albeit about things easie and manifest vnto all men by common sense there needeth no higher consultation because as a man whose wisedome is in waighty affaires admired would take it in some disdaine to haue his counsell solemnely asked about a toye so the meannesse of some things is such that to search the Scripture of God for the ordering of them were to derogate from the reuerend authoritie and dignitie of the Scripture no lesse then they do by whom Scriptures are in ordinarie talke very idly applyed vnto vaine and childish trifles yet better it were to bee superstitious then prophane to take from thence our direction euen in all things great or small then to wade through matters of principall waight and moment without euer caring what the lawe of God hath either for or against our disseignes Concerning the custome of the very Paynimes thus much Strab◠witnesseth Men that are ciuill do leade their liues after one common lawe appointing them what to do For that otherwise a multitude should with harmony amongest themselues concurre in the doing of one thing for this is ciuilly to liue or that they should in any sort menage communitie of life it is not possible Nowe lawes or statutes are of two sorts For they are either receiued from Gods or else from men And our auncient predecessors did surely most honor and reuerēce that which was from the Gods for which cause consultation with Oracles was a thing very vsuall and frequent in their times Did they make so much account of the voyce of their Gods which in truth were no Gods and shall we neglect the pretious benefite of conference with those Oracles of the true and liuing God whereof so great store is left to the Church and wherunto there is so free so plaine and so easie accesse for al men By the Commandements this was Dauids confession vnto God thou hast made me wiser then mine enemies Againe I haue had more vnderstanding then all my teachers because thy testimonies are my meditations What paynes would not they haue bestowed in the study of these bookes who trauailed sea and land to gaine the treasure of some fewe dayes talke with men whose wisedome the world did make any reckoning of That litle which some of the Heathens did chance to heare concerning such matter as the sacred Scripture plentifully conteineth they did in wonderfull sort affect their speeches as oft as they make mention thereof are strange and such as themselues could not vtter as they did other things but still acknowledged that their wits which did euery where else conquer hardnesse were with profoundnesse here ouer-matched Wherfore seeing that God hath indued vs with sense to the end that we might perceiue such things as this present life doth need and with reason least that which sense cannot reach vnto being both now and also in regard of a future estate hereafter necessary to be knowne should lye obscure finally with the heauenly support of d propheticall reuelation which doth open those hidden mysteries that reason could neuer haue bene able to find out or to haue knowne the necessitie of them vnto our euerlasting good vse we the pretious gifts of God vnto his glory and honour that gaue them seeking by all meanes to know what the will of our God is what righteous before him in his fight what holy perfect and good that we may truly and faithfully do it 16 Thus farre therefore we haue endeuoured in part to open of
what nature and force lawes are according vnto their seuerall kinds the lawe which God with himselfe hath eternally set downe to follow in his owne workes the law which he hath made for his creatures to keepe the law of naturall and necessarie agents the law which Angels in heauen obey the lawe whereunto by the light of reason men find themselues bound in that they are men the lawe which they make by composition for multitudes and politique societies of men to be guided by the law which belongeth vnto each nation the lawe that concerneth the fellowship of all and lastly the lawe which God himselfe hath supernaturally reuealed It might peraduenture haue beene more popular and more plausible to vulgar eares if this first discourse had beene spent in extolling the force of lawes in shewing the great necessity of them when they are good and in aggrauating their offence by whom publique lawes are iniuriously traduced But for as much as with such kind of matter the passions of men are rather stirred one way or other then their knowledge any way set forward vnto the triall of that whereof there is doubt made I haue therefore turned aside from that beaten path and chosen though a lesse easie yet a more profitable way in regard of the end we propose Least therefore any man should maruailâ— whereunto all these things tend the drift and purpose of all is this euen to shew in what manner as euery good and perfect gift so this very gift of good and perfect lawes is deriued from the father of lights to teach men a reason why iust and reasonable lawes are of so great force of so great vse in the world and to enforme their minds with some methode of reducing the lawes whereof there is present controuersie vnto their first originall causes that so it may be in euery particular ordinance thereby the better discerned whether the same be reasonable iust and righteous or no. Is there any thing which can either be throughly vnderstood or soundly iudged of till the very first causes and principles from which originally it springeth bee made manifest If all parts of knowledge haue beene thought by wise men to bee then most orderly deliuered and proceeded in when they are drawne to their first originall seeing that our whole question concerneth the qualitie of Ecclesiasticall lawes let it not seeme a labour superfluous that in the entrance thereunto all these seuerall kinds of lawes haue beene considered in as much as they all concurre as principles they all haue their forcible operations therein although not all in like apparent and manifest maner By meanes whereof it commeth to passe that the force which they haue is not obserued of many Easier a great deale it is for men by law to be taught what they ought to do then instructed how to iudge as they should do of law the one being a thing which belongeth generally vnto all the other such as none but the wiser and more iudicious sorte can performe Yea the wisest are alwayes touching this point the readiest to acknowledge that soundly to iudge of a law is the waightiest thing which any man can take vpon him But if we wil giue iudgement of the laws vnder which we liue first let that law eternall be alwayes before our eyes as being of principall force and moment to breed in religious minds a dutifull estimation of all lawes the vse and benefite whereof we see because there can be no doubt but that lawes apparently good are as it were things copied out of the very tables of that high euerlasting law euen as the booke of that law hath said concerning it selfe By me Kings raigne and by me Princes decree iustice Not as if men did behold that booke and accordingly frame their lawes but because it worketh in them because it discouereth and as it were readeth it selfe to the world by them when the lawes which they make are righteous Furthermore although we perceiue not the goodnesse of lawes made neuerthelesse sith things in themselues may haue that which we peraduenture discerne not should not this breed a feare in our harts how we speake or iudge in the worse part concerning that the vnaduised disgrace whereof may be no meane dishonour to him towards whom we professe all submission and awe Surely there must be very manifest iniquitie in lawes against which we shall be able to iustifie our contumelious inuectiues The chiefest roote whereof when we vse them without cause is ignorance how lawes inferiour are deriued from that supreme or highest lawe The first that receiue impression from thence are naturall agents The lawe of whose operations might be happily thought lesse pertinent when the question is about lawes for humane actions but that in those very actions which most spiritually and supernaturally concerne men the rules and axiomes of naturall operations haue their force What can be more immediate to our saluation then our perswasion concerning the lawe of Christ towardes his Church What greater assurance of loue towards his Church then the knowledge of that mysticall vnion whereby the Church is become as neare vnto Christ as any one part of his flesh is vnto other That the Church being in such sort his he must needes protect it what proofe more strong then if a manifest lawe so require which law it is not possible for Christ to violate And what other lawe doth the Apostle for this alleage but such as is both common vnto Christ with vs and vnto vs with other things naturall No man hateth his owne flesh but doth loue and cherish it The axiomes of that lawe therefore whereby naturall agentes are guided haue their vse in the morall yea euen in the spirituall actions of men and consequently in all lawes belonging vnto men howsoeuer Neither are the Angels themselues so farre seuered from vs in their kind and manner of working but that betweene the lawe of their heauenly operations and the actions of men in this our state of mortalitie such correspondence there is as maketh it expedient to know in some sort the one for the others more perfect direction Would Angels acknowledge themselues fellow seruants with the sonnes of men but that both hauing one Lord there must be some kinde of lawe which is one and the same to both whereunto their obedience being perfecter is to our weaker both a paterne and a spurre Or would the Apostle speaking of that which belongeth vnto Saintes as they are linked together in the bond of spirituall societie so often make mention how Angels are therewith delighted if in thinges publiquely done by the Church we are not somewhat to respect what the Angels of heauen doe Yea so farre hath the Apostle S. Paule proceeded as to signifie that euen about the outward orders of the Church which serue but for comelinesse some regard is to be had of Angels who best like vs when we are most like vnto them
therunto may we cause our faith without reason to appeare reasonable in the eyes of men This being required euen of learners in the schoole of Christ the duty of their teachers in bringing them vnto such ripenes must needes be somewhat more then only to read the sentences of scripture and then paraphrastically to scholie them to vary theÌ„ with sundry formes of speech without arguing or disputing about anything which they contain This method of teaching may coÌ„mend it selfe vnto the world by that easines facilitie which is in it but a law or a patterne it is not as some do imagine for all men to follow that will do good in the Church of Christ. Our Lord and Sauiour himselfe did hope by disputation to do some good yea by disputatioÌ„ not onely of but against the truth albeit with purpose for the truth That Christ should be the sonne of Dauid was truth yet against this truth our Lorde in the Gospell obiecteth If Christ be the son of Dauid how doth Dauid call him Lord There is as yet no way knowne how to dispute or to determine of things disputed without the vse of naturall reason If we please to adde vnto Christ their example who followed him as neere in all thinges as they could the Sermon of Paule and Barnabas set downe in the Actes where the people would haue offered vnto them sacrifice in that Sermon what is there but onely naturall reason to disproue their acte O men why doe you these thinges We are men euen subiect to the selfe same passions with you wee preach vnto you to leaue these vanities and to turne to the liuing God the God that hath not left himselfe without witnesse in that he hath done good to the world giuing raine and fruitfull seasons filling our heart with ioy and gladnesse Neither did they onely vse reason in winning such vnto Christian beleefe as were yet thereto vnconuerted but with beleeuers themselues they followed the selfesame course In that great and solemne assembly of beleeuing Iewes how doth Peter proue that the Gentiles were partakers of the grace of God as well as they but by reason drawne from those effectes which were apparently knowne amongst them God which knoweth hearts hath borne them witnesse in giuing vnto them the holy Ghost as vnto vs. The light therefore which the starre of naturall reason and wisedome casteth is too bright to be obscured by the mist of a word or two vttered to diminish that opinion which iustly hath beene receiued concerning the force and vertue thereof euen in matters that touch most nearely the principall duties of men and the glory of the eternall God In all which hitherto hath beene spoken touching the force and vse of mans reason in thinges diuine I must craue that I be not so vnderstood or coÌ„strued as if any such thing by vertue thereof could be done without the aide and assistance of Gods most blessed spirit The thing wee haue handled according to the question mooued about it which question is whether the light of reason be so pernitious that in deuising lawes for the church men oughâ— not by it to search what may be fit coÌ„uenient For this cause therfore we haue endeuoured to make it appeare how in the nature of reason it selfe there is no impedimeÌ„t but that the self-same spirit which reuealeth the things that god hath set down in his law may also be thoughâ— to aid direct men in finding out by the light of reason what lawes are expedient to be made for the guiding of his Church ouer and besides them that are in scripture Herein therfore we agree with those men by whom humane lawes are defined to be ordinances which such as haue lawfull authorisiâ— giuen them foâ— that purpose do probably draw from the lawes of nature God by discourse of reason aided with the influence of diuine grace And for that cause it is not said amisse touching Ecclesiasticall canons that by instinct of the holy Ghost they haue bin made and consecrated by the reuerend acceptation of all the world 9 Lawes for the church are not made as they should be vnles the makers follow such directioÌ„ as they ought to be guided by Wherin that scripture standeth noâ— the church of God in any stead of serueth nothing at aâ—â—o direct but may be let passe as needles to be consulted with we iudge it prophane impious and irreligious to thinke For although it were in vaine to make laws which the scripture hath already made because what we are already there coÌ„manded to do on our parts there resteth nothing but only that it be executed yet because both in that which we are commanded in concerneth the duty of the church by law to prouide that the loosenes and slacknes of men may not cause the commandements of God to be vnexecuted and a number of things there are for which the scripture hath not prouided by any law but left them vnto the carefull discretion of the Church we are to search how the Church in these cases may be well directed to make that prouision by lawes which is most conuenient c fit And what is so in these cases partly scripture and partly reason must teach to discerne Scripture comprehending examples lawes lawes some naturall and some positiue examples neither are there for al cases which require lawes to be made and wheâ— they are they can but direct as precedents onely Naturall lawes direct In such sorte that in all things wee must for euer doe according vnto them positiue so that against them in no case we may doe any thing as long as the will of God is that they should remaine in force Howbeit when scripture doth yeelde vs precedents how far forth they are to be followed when it giueth naturall lawes what particular order is thereunto most agreeable when positiue which way to make lawes vnrepugnant vnto them yea though all these should wanâ— yeâ— what kinde of ordinances would be most for that good of the Church which is aimed at al this must be by reason found out And therefore Tib refuse the conduct of the light of nature saith S. Augustine is not folly alone but accompanied with impietie The greatest amongst the Schoole diuines studying how to set downe by exact definition the nature of an humane lawe'â— of which nature all the Churches constitutions are found not which way better to do it thâ—n in these words Out of the precepâ—s of the law of nature as out of certaine coÌ„mon vndemonstrable principles mans reason doth necessarily proceede vnto certaine more particular determinations which particular determinations beeing found out according vnto the reason of man they haue the names of humane lawes so that such other conditions be therein kept as the making of lawes doth require that is if they whose authoritie is thereunto required do establish and publish them as lawes And the truth is that all our
continuance of it must then of necessitie appeare superfluous And of this we cannot be ignorant how sometimes that hath done great good which afterwardes when time hath chaunged the auncient course of thinges doth growe to be either very hurtfull or not so greatly profitable and necessary If therefore the end for which a lawe prouideth be perpetually necessary the way whereby it prouideth perpetually also most apt no doubt but that euery such law ought for euer to remain vnchangeable Whether God be the author of lawes by authorizing that power of men wherby they are made or by deliuering them made immediately from himselfe by word only or in writing also or howsoeuer notwithstaÌ„ding the authority of their maker the mutabilitie of that end for which they are made doth also make them changeable The law of ceremonies came from God Moses had commandement to commit it vnto the sacred records of scripture where it continueth euen vnto this very day and houre in force still as the Iewe surmiseth because God himselfe was author of it and for vs to abolish what hee hath established were presumptioÌ„ most intollerable But that which they in the blindnes of their obdurate hearts are not able to discerne sith the end for which that lawe was ordained is now fulfilled past and gone how should it but cease any longer to bee which hath no longer any cause of being in force as before That which necessitie of some speciall time doth cause to be inioyned bindeth no longer theÌ„ during that time but doth afterwards become free Which thing is also plain euen by that law which the Apostles assembled at the counsell of Ierusalem did froÌ„ thence deliuer vnto the Church of Christ the preface whereof to authorize it was To the holy Ghost and to vs it hath seemed good which stile they did not vse as matching theÌ„selues in power with the holy Ghost but as testifying the holy Ghost to be the author and themselues but onely vtterers of that decree This lawe therefore to haue proceeded from God as the author therof no faithful man wil denie It was of God not only because God gaue theÌ„ the power wherby they might make lawes but for that it proceeded euen froÌ„ the holy motion suggestion of that secret diuine spirit whose sentence they did but only pronounce Notwithstanding as the law of ceremonies deliuered vnto the Iews so this very law which the Gentiles receiued from the mouth of the holy Ghost is in like respect abrogated by decease of the end for which it was giuen But such as do not sticke at this point such as graunt that what hath bene instituted vpon any special cause needeth not to be obserued that cause ceasing do notwithstanding herein faile they iudge the lawes of God onely by the author and maine end for which they were made so that for vs to change that which he hath established they hold it execrable pride presumption if so be the end and purpose for which God by that meane prouideth bee permanent And vpon this they ground those ample disputes coÌ„cerning orders and offices which being by him appointed for the gouernment of his Church if it be necessary alwaies that the Church of Christ be gouerned then doth the end for which God prouided remaine still and therefore in those means which he by law did establish as being fittest vnto that end for vs to alter any thing is to lift vp our selues against God and as it were to countermaund him Wherin they marke not that laws are instruments to rule by and that instruments are not only to be framed according vnto the generall ende for which they are prouided but eueÌ„ according vnto that very particular which riseth out of the matter wheron they haue to worke The end wherefore lawes were made may be permanent and those lawes neuerthelesse require some alteration if there be any vnfitnes in the meanes which they prescribe as tending vnto that end purpose As for exaÌ„ple a law that to bridle theâ—â— doth punish the ones with a quadruple â—estitution hath an end which wil coÌ„tinue as long as the world it self coÌ„tinueth Theft will be alwayes and will alwayes need to be bridled But that the meane which this law prouideth for that end namely the punishment of quadruple restitution that this will be alwaies sufficient to bridle and restraine that kind of enormity no man can warrant Insufficiency of lawes doth somtimes come by want of iudgement in the makers Which cause cannot fall into any law termed properly and immediatly diuine as it may and doth into humaine lawes often But that which hath bene once most sufficient may wax otherwise by alteratioÌ„ of time place that punishment which hath bene somtimes forcible to bridle sinne may grow afterwards too weake and feeble In a word we plainely perceiue by the difference of those three lawes which the Iewes receiued at the hands of God the morall ceremoniall iudiciall that if the end for which and the matter according whereunto God maketh his lawes continue alwaies one and the same his laws also do the like for which cause the morall law cannot be altered secondly that whether the matter wheron lawes are made continue or coÌ„tinue not if their end haue once ceased they cease also to be of force as in the law ceremonial it fareth finally that albeit the end coÌ„tinue as in that law of theft specified and in a great part of those ancient iudicials it doth yet for as mush as there is not in all respects the same subiect or matter remaining for which they were first instituted euen this is sufficient cause of change And therefore lawes though both ordeined of God himselfe and the end for which they were ordeined continuing may notwithstanding cease if by alteration of persons or times they be fouÌ„d vnsufficieÌ„t to attain vnto that end In which respect why may we not presume that God doth eueÌ„ call for such change or alteratioÌ„ as the very coÌ„dition of things theÌ„selues doth make necessary They which do therfore plead the authority of the law-maker as an argument wherefore it should not be lawfull to change that which he hath instituted and will haue this the cause why all the ordinances of our Sauiour are immutable they which vrge the wisdome of God as a proofe that whatsoeuer laws he hath made they ought to stand â—nlesse himselfe from heauen proclaime them disanuld because it is not in man to correct the ordinaÌ„ce of God may know if it please theÌ„ to take notice therof that we are far froÌ„ presuming to think that meÌ„ can better any thing which God hath done eueÌ„ as we are from thinking that meÌ„ should presume to vndo some things of men which God doth know they cannot better God neuer ordeined any thing that could be bettered Yet many things he hath that haue bene changed and that for the better That which succeedeth as better now wheÌ„
the house of God did therin establish lawes of gouernmēt for perpetuity lawes which they that were of the houshold might not alter shall we admit into our thoughts that the sonne of God hath in prouiding for this his houshold declared himselfe lesse faithfull then Moses Moses deliuering vnto the Iewes such lawes as were durable if those be changeable which Christ hath deliuered vnto vs we are not able to auoide it but that which to thinke were heinous impiety we of necessity must confesse euen the sonne of God himselfe to haue bene lesse faithfull then Moses Which argument shall need no touchstone to try it by but some other of the like making Moses erected in the wildernes a tabernacle which was moueable from place to place Salomon a sumptuous stately Temple which was not moueable Therfore Salomon was faithfuller then Moses which no man indued with reason will thinke And yet by this reasō it doth plainly follow He that wil see how faithful the one or the other was must cōpare the things which they bothe did vnto the charge which God gaue each of them The Apostle in making comparison betweene our Sauiour and Moses attributeth faithfulnes vnto bothe and maketh this difference betweene them Moses in but Christ ouer the house of God Moses in that house which was his by charge and commission though to gouerne it yet to gouerne it as a seruant but Christ ouer this house as being his owne intire possesion Our Lord and Sauiour doth make protestation I haue giuen vnto them the words which thou gauest me Faithfull therefore he was and concealed not any part of his fathers will But did any part of that will require the immutability of lawes concerning Church-polity They answer yea For else God should lesse fauour vs then the Iewes God would not haue their Churches guided by any lawes but his owne And seeing this did so continue euen till Christ now to ease God of that care or rather to depriue the Church of his patronage what reason haue we Surely none to derogate any thing from the ancient loue which God hath borne to his Church An heathen Philosopher there is who considering how many things beasts haue which men haue not how naked in comparison of them how impotent and how much lesse able we are to shift for our selues along time after we enter into this world repiningly concluded hereupon that nature being a carefull mother for them is towards vs a hard harted Stepdame No we may not measure the affection of our gratious God towards his by such differences For euen herein shineth his wisdome that though the wayes of his prouidence be many yea the ende which he bringeth all at the length vnto is one and the selfe same But if such kind of reasoning were good might we not euen as directly conclude the very same concerning laws of secular regiment Their owne words are these In the ancient Church of the Iewes God did command and Moses commit vnto writing all things pertinent as well to the ciuil as to the Ecclesiasticall state God gaue them lawes of ciuill regiment and would not permit their common weale to be gouerned by any other lawes then his owne Doth God lesse regard our temporal estate in this world or prouide for it worse then for theirs To vs notwithstanding he hath not as to them deliuered any particular forme of temporall regiment vnlesse perhaps we thinke as some do that the grafting of the Gentiles their incorporating into Israell doth import that we ought to be subiect vnto the rites and lawes of their whole politie We see then how weake such disputes are how smally they make to this purpose That Christ did not meane to set downe particular positiue lawes for all things in such sort as Moses did the very different manner of deliuering the lawes of Moses and the lawes of Christ doth plainly shew Moses had commaundement to gather the ordinances of God together distinctly and orderly to set them downe according vnto their seuerall kinds for each publique duty and office the laws that belong thereto as appeareth in the bookes themselues written of purpose for that end Contrariwise the lawes of Christ we find rather mentioned by occasion in the writings of the Apostles then any solemne thing directly written to comprehend them in legall sort Againe the positiue lawes which Moses gaue they were giuen for the greatest part with restraint to the land of Iurie Behold sayth Moses I haue taught you ordinances and lawes as the Lord my God commaunded me that ye should do euen so within the land whither ye go to possesse it Which lawes and ordinances positiue he plainely distinguisheth afterward from the lawes of the two Tables which were morall The Lord spake vnto you out of the midst of the fire ye heard the voyce of the words but saw no similitude onely a voyce Then he declared vnto you his Couenant which he commaunded you to do the ten Commaundements and wrote them vpon two Tables of stone And the Lord commaunded me that same time that I should teach you ordinances and lawes which ye should obserue in the land whither ye go to possesse it The same difference is againe set downe in the next Chapter following For rehearsall being made of the ten Commaundements it followeth immediatly These words the Lord spake vnto all your multitude in the Mount out of the midst of the fire the cloude and the darknesse with a great voyce and added no more and wrote them vpon two Tables of stone and deliuered them vnto me But concerning other lawes the people giue their consent to receiue them at the hands of Moses Go thou neerer and heare all that the Lord our God sayth and declare thou vnto vs all that the Lord our God sayth vnto thee and we will heare it and do it The peoples alacritie herein God highly commendeth with most effectuall and heartie speech I haue heard the voyce of the wordes of this people they haue spoken well O that there were such an heart in them to feare me and to keepe all my Commaundements alwayes that it might go well with them and with their children for euer Go say vnto them Returne you to your tents But stand thou here with me and I will tell thee all the Commaundements and the Ordinances and the Lawes which thou shalt teach them that they may do them in the land which I haue giuen them to possesse From this later kind the former are plainely distinguished in many things They were not bothe at one time deliuered neither bothe after one sort nor to one end The former vttered by the voyce of God himselfe in the hearing of sixe hundred thousand men the former written with the finger of God the former tearmed by the name of a Couenant the former giuen to be kept without either mention of time how long or
and their potent opposites vtterly to cast away themselues for euer Wherefore least it should so fall out to them vpon whom so much did depend they were not permitted to enter into warre nor conclude any league of peace nor to wade through any acte of moment betweene them and forraine states vnlesse the Oracle of God or his Prophets were first consulted with And least domesticall disturbance should wash them within themselues because there was nothing vnto this purpose more effectuall then if the authority of their lawes and gouernors were such as none might presume to take exception against it or to shewe disobedience vnto it without incurring the hatred detestation of al men that had any sparke of the feare of God therefore he gaue them euen their positiue lawes from heauen and as oft as occasion required chose in like sort Rulers also to leade gouerne them Notwithstāding some desperatly impious there were which adventured to try what harme it could bring vpon them if they did attempt to be authors of confusion and to resist both Gouernours and Lawes Against such monsters God mainteined his owne by fearefull execution of extraordinarie iudgement vpon them By which meanes it came to passe that although they were a people infested and mightily hated of all others throughout the world although by nature hard harted querulous wrathful impatiēt of rest and quietnes yet was there nothing of force either one way or other to worke the ruine and subuersion of their state till the time before mentioned was expired Thus we see that there was not no cause of dissimilitude in these things betweene that one only people before Christ and the kingdomes of the world since And whereas it is further alleaged that albeit in Ciuill matters and things perteining to this present life God hath vsed a greater particularity with them then amongst vs framing lawes according to the quality of that people and Countrey yet the leauing of vs at greater liberty in things ciuill is so farre from prouing the like liberty in things pertaining to the kingdome of heauen that it rather proues a streighter bond For euen as when the Lord would haue his fauour more appeare by temporall blessings of this life towards the people vnder the Lawe then towards vs he gaue also politique lawes most exactly whereby they might both most easily come into and most stedfastly remaine in possession of those earthly benefites euen so at this time wherein he would not haue his fauour so much esteemed by those outward commodities it is required that as his care in prescribing lawes for that purpose hath somewhat fallen in leauing them to mens consultations which may be deceiued so his care for conduct and gouernement of the life to come should if it were possible rise in leauing lesse to the order of men then in times past These are but weake and feeble disputes for the inference of that conclusion which is intended For sauing only in such consideration as hath bene shewed there is no cause wherefore we should thinke God more desirous to manifest his fauour by temporall blessings towards them then towards vs. Godlinesse had vnto them and it hath also vnto vs the promises both of this life and the life to come That the care of God hath fallen in earthly things and therefore should rise as much in heauenly that more is left vnto mens consultations in the one and therefore lesse must be graunted in the other that God hauing vsed a greater particularity with them then with vs for matters perteining vnto this life is to make vs amends by the more exact deliuery of lawes for gouernment of the life to come these are proportions whereof if there be any rule we must plainely confesse that which truth is we know it not God which spake vnto them by his Prophets hath vnto vs by his onely begotten Sonne those mysteries of grace and saluation which were but darkely disclosed vnto them haue vnto vs more cleerely shined Such differences betweene them and vs the Apostles of Christ haue well acquainted vs withall But as for matter belonging to the outward cōduct or gouernment of the Church seeing that euen in sense it is manifest that our Lord Sauiour hath not by positiue lawes descended so farre into particularities with vs as Moses with them neither doth by extraordinary means oracles and Prophets direct vs as them he did in those things which rising daily by new occasions are of necessitie to be prouided for doth it not hereupon rather follow that although not to them yet to vs there should be freedome libertie graunted to make lawes Yea but the Apostle S. Paule doth fearefully charge Timothy euen In the sight of God who quickneth all of Christ Iesus who witnessed that famous confession before Pontius Pilate to keepe what was commaunded him safe and sound til the appearance of our Lord Iesus Christ. This doth exclude al liberty of changing the lawes of Christ whether by abrogation or addition or howsoeuer For in Timothy the whole Church of Christ receiueth charge concerning her duty And that charge is to keepe the Apostles commaundement And his commaundement did conteine the lawes that concerned Church gouernement And those lawes he straightly requireth to be obserued without breach or blame till the appearance of our Lord Iesus Christ. In Scripture we graunt euery one mans lesson to be the common instruction of all men so farre forth as their cases are like and that religiously to keepe the Apostles commandemēts in whatsoeuer they may concerne vs we all stand bound But touching that commandement which Timothy was charged with we swarue vndoubtedly from the Apostles precise meaning if we extend it so largely that the armes thereof shall reach vnto all things which were cōmanded him by the Apostle The very words themselues do restraine thēselues vnto some one speciall commandemēt among many And therfore it is not said Keepe the ordinances lawes constitutions which thou hast receiued but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that great cōmandement which doth principally concerne thee and thy calling that cōmandement which Christ did so often inculcate vnto Peter that cōmandement vnto the carefull discharge whereof they of Ephesus are exhorted Attend to your selues to all flock wherin the holy Ghost hath placed you Bishops to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased by his owne bloud finally that cōmandement which vnto the same Timothy is by the same Apostle euen in the same forme maner afterwards again vrged I charge thee in the sight of God the Lord Iesus Christ which will iudge the quicke dead at his appearance in his kingdom Preach the word of God When Timothy was instituted into that office then was the credit and trust of this duty committed vnto his faithfull care The doctrine of the Gospell was thē giuen him as the precious talent or treasure of Iesus Christ
it hath taught become vnrequisite sometime because we neede not vse it sometime also because wee cannot In which respect for mine owne part although I see that certaine reformed Churches the Scottish especially and French haue not that which best agreeth with the sacred scripture I meane the gouernment that is by Bishops in as much as both those churches are fallen vnder a different kinde of regiment which to remedie it is for the one altogether too late and too soone for the other during their present affliction and trouble this their defect and imperfection I had rather lament in such case then exagitate considering that men oftentimes without any fault of their owne may be driuen to want that kinde of politie or regiment which is best and to content themselues with that which either the irremediable error of former times or the necessitie of the present hath cast vpon them 5. Now because that position first mentioned which holdeth it necessarie that all thinges which the Church may lawfully doe in her owne regiment be commaunded in holy scripture hath by the latter defendors thereof beene greatly qualified who though perceiuing it to be ouer extreame are notwithstanding loth to acknowledge any ouersight therein and therefore labour what they may to salue it by construction we haue for the more perspicuitie deliuered what was thereby meant at the first 6. how iniurious a thing it were vnto all the Churches of God for men to hold it in that meaning 7. and how vnperfect their interpretations are who so much labour to helpe it eyther by diuiding commaundements of scripture into two kindes and so defending that all thinges must be commaunded if not in speciall yet in generall precepts 8. or by taking it as meant that in case the Church doe deuise any new order shee ought therein to follow the direction of scripture onely and not any starlight of mans reason 9. Bothe which euasions being cut off wee haue in the next place declared after what sort the Church may lawfully frame to her selfe lawes of politie and in what reckoning such positiue lawes both are with God and should be with men 10. Furthermore because to abridge the libertie of the Church in this behalfe it hath bene made a thing very odious that when God himselfe hath deuised some certaine lawes and committed them to sacred scripture man by abrogation addition or any way should presume to alter and change them it was of necessitie to be examined whether the authoritie of God in making or his care in committing those his lawes vnto scripture be sufficient arguments to proue that God doth in no case allow they should suffer any such kind of change 11. The last refuge for proofe that diuine lawes of Christian Church-politie may not be altered by extinguishment of any olde or addition of new in that kinde is partly a marueilous strange discourse that Christ vnlesse he would show himselfe not so faithfull as Moses or not so wise as Lycurgus and Solon must needes haue set downe in holy scripture some certaine complete and vnchangeable forme of politie and partly a coloured shewe of some euidence where change of that sort of lawes may seeme expressely forbidden although in truth nothing lesse be done I might haue added hereunto their more familiar and popular disputes as The Church is a Citie yea the Citie of the great king and the life of a Citie is politie The Church is the house of the liuing God and what house can there be without some order for the gouernment of it In the royall house of a Prince there must be officers for gouernment such as not any seruant in the house but the Prince whose the house is shall iudge cōuenient So the house of God must haue orders for the gouernment of it such as not any of the household but God himselfe hath appointed It cannot stand with the loue and wisedome of God to leaue such order vntaken as is necessary for the due gouernment of his Church The numbers degrees orders and attire of Salomons seruants did shewe his wisedome therefore he which is greater then Salomon hath not failed to leaue in his house such orders for gouernment thereof as may serue to be as a looking glasse for his prouidence care and wisedome to be seene in That little sparke of the light of nature which remaineth in vs may serue vs for the affaires of this life But as in all other matters concerning the kingdome of heauen so principally in this which concerneth the very gouernment of that kingdome needfull it is wee should be taught of God As long as men are perswaded of any order that it is only of men they presume of their owne vnderstanding and they thinke to deuise an other not only as good but better then that which they haue receiued By seueritie of punishment this presumption and curiositie may be restrained But that cannot worke such chearefull obedience as is yeelded where the conscience hath respect to God as the author of lawes and orders This was it which countenanced the laws of Moses made concerning outward politie for the administration of holy things The like some law giuers of the Heathens did pretend but falsely yet wisely discerning the vse of this perswasion For the better obedience sake therfore it was expediēt that God should be author of the politie of his church But to what issue doth all this come A man would thinke that they which hold out with such discourses were of nothing more fully perswaded thē of this that the scripture hath set downe a complete forme of Church-politie vniuersall perpetuall altogether vnchangeable For so it would follow if the premises were sound and strong to such effect as is pretended Notwithstanding they which haue thus formally maintained argument in defence of the first ouersight are by the very euidence of truth themselues constrained to make this in effect their conclusion that the Scripture of God hath many thinges concerning Church-politie that of those many some are of greater waight some of lesse that what hath beene vrged as touching immutabilitie of lawes it extendeth in truth no further then onely to lawes wherein thinges of greater moment are prescribed Now those things of greater moment what are they Forsooth Doctors Pastors Layelders Elderships compounded of these three Synods consisting of many Elderships Deacons women-church-seruants or widowes free consent of the people vnto actiōs of greatest moment after they be by Churches or Synodes orderly resolued All this forme of politie if yet wee may terme that a forme of building when men haue laide a fewe rafters together and those not all of the soundest neither but howsoeuer all this forme they conclude is prescribed in such sort that to adde to it any thing as of like importance for so I thinke they meane or to abrogate of it any thing at all is vnlawfull In which resolution if they will firmely and constantly persist I see not
other might haue But then must they shewe some commission wherby they are authorized to sit as iudges and we required to take their iudgement for good in this case Otherwise their sentences will not be greatly regarded when they oppose their Me thinketh vnto the orders of the Church of England as in the question about surplesses one of them doth If we looke to the colour blacke me thinketh is more decent if to the forme a garment downe to the foote hath a great deale more cōlinesse in it If they thinke that we ought to proue the ceremonies cōmodious which we haue reteined they do in this point very greatly deceiue themselues For in all right equity that which the Church hath receiued held so long for good that which publique approbation hath ratified must cary the benefit of presumption with it to be accompted meet and conuenient They which haue stood vp as yesterday to challenge it of defect must proue their challenge If we being defendants do answer that the ceremonies in question are godly comely decent profitable for the Church their reply is childish vnorderly to say that we demaund the thing in question shew the pouerty of our cause the goodnes wherof we are faine to begge that our aduersaries would graunt For on our part this must be the aunswere which orderly proceeding doth require The burthen of prouing doth rest on them In them it is friuolous to say we ought not to vse bad ceremonies of the Church of Rome and presume all such bad as it pleaseth themselues to dislike vnlesse we can perswade them the contrary Besides they are herin opposite also to themselues For what one thing is so common with thē as to vse the custome of the Church of Rome for an argument to proue that such such ceremonies cānot be good profitable for vs in as much as that church vseth them Which vsual kind of disputing sheweth that they do not disallow onely those Romish ceremonies which are vnprofitable but count all vnprofitable which are Romish that is to say which haue bene deuised by the Church of Rome or which are vsed in that Church and not prescribed in the word of God For this is the onely limitation which they can vse sutable vnto their other positions And therefore the cause which they yeeld why they hold it lawfull to reteine in Doctrine and in Discipline some things as good which yet are common to the Church of Rome is for that those good things are perpetual commandements in whose place no other can come but ceremonies are changeable So that their iudgement in truth is that whatsoeuer by the word of God is not changeable in the Church of Rome that Churches vsing is a cause why reformed Churches ought to change it and not to thinke it good or profitable And least we seeme to father any thing vpon them more thē is properly their owne let them reade euen their owne words where they complaine that we are thus constrained to be like vnto the Papists in Any their ceremonies yea they vrge that this cause although it were alone ought to moue them to whom that belongeth to do thē away for as much as they are their ceremonies and that the B. of Salisbury doth iustifie this their complaint The clause is vntrue which they adde concerning the B. of Salisbury but the sentence doth shew that we do them no wrōg in setting downe the state of the question betweene vs thus Whether we ought to abolish out of the Church of England all such orders rites and ceremonies as are established in the Church of Rome and are not prescribed in the word of God For the affirmatiue whereof we are now to answer such proofes of theirs as haue bene before alleaged 5 Let the Church of Rome be what it will let them that are of it be the people of God and our fathers in the Christian faith or let them be otherwise hold them for Catholiques or hold them for heretiques it is not a thing either one way or other in this present question greatly material Our conformity with thē in such things as haue bene proposed is not proued as yet vnlawfull by all this S. Augustine hath said yea and we haue allowed his saying That the custome of the people of God and the decrees of our forefathers are to be kept touching those things wherof the scripture hath neither one way nor other giuen vs any charge What then Doth it here therfore follow that they being neither the people of God nor our forefathers are for that cause in nothing to be followed This consequent were good if so be it were graunted that onely the custome of the people of God the decrees of our forefathers are in such case to be obserued But then should no other kind of later laws in the church be good which were a grosse absurdity to think S. Augustines speech therefore doth import that where we haue no diuine precept if yet we haue the custome of the people of God or a decree of our forefathers this is a law and must be kept Notwithstanding it is not denied but that we lawfully may obserue the positiue constitutions of our owne Churches although the same were but yesterday made by our selues alone Nor is there any thing in this to proue that the Church of England might not by law receiue orders rites or customes from the Church of Rome although they were neither the people of God nor yet our forefathers How much lesse when we haue receiued from them nothing but that which they did themselues receiue from such as we cannot deny to haue bene the people of God yea such as either we must acknowledge for our owne forefathers or else disdaine the race of Christ 6 The rites and orders wherein we follow the Church of Rome are of no other kind thē such as the Church of Geneua it selfe doth follow thē in We follow the church of Rome in moe things yet they in some things of the same nature about which our present controuersie is so that the difference is not in the kind but in the number of rites only wherein they and we do follow the Church of Rome The vse of wafer-cakes the custom of godfathers godmothers in baptisme are things not commanded nor forbidden in scripture things which haue bene of old are reteined in the Church of Rome euen at this very hower Is conformity with Rome in such things a blemish vnto the Church of England vnto Churches abroad an ornament Let thē if not for the reuerence they ow vnto this Church in the bowels wherof they haue receiued I trust that pretious and blessed vigor which shall quicken thē to eternall life yet at the leastwise for the singular affection which they do beare towards others take heed how they strike least they wound whom they would not For vndoubtedly it cutteth deeper thē they
sufficient way of preuention but by euacuating cleane and by emptying the Church of euerie such rite and Ceremonie as is presently called in question Till this be done their good affection towards the safety of the Church is acceptable but the way they prescribe vs to preserue it by must rest in suspense And least hereat they take occasion to turne vpon vs the speech of the Prophet Ieremie vsed against Babylon Behold we haue done our endeuour to cure the diseases of Babylon but she through her wilfulnesse doth rest vncured let them consider into what straights the Church might driue it selfe in being guided by this their counsell Their axiome is that the sound beleeuing Church of Iesus Christ may not be like Hereticall Churches in any of those indifferent things which men make choyce of and do not take by prescript appointment of the word of God In the word of God the vse of bread is prescribed as a thing without which the Eucharist may not be celebrated but as for the kind of bread it is not denied to be a thing indifferent Being indifferent of it selfe we are by this axiome of theirs to auoide the vse of vnleauened bread in their Sacrament because such bread the Church of Rome beeing Hereticall vseth But doth not the selfe same axiome barre vs euen from leauened bread also which the Church of the Grecians vseth the opinions whereof are in a number of things the same for which we condemne the Church of Rome and in some things erroneous where the Church of Rome is acknowledged to be sound as namely in the Article proceeding of the holy Ghost And least here they should say that because the Greeke Church is farther off the Church of Rome nearer we are in that respect rather to vse that which the Church of Rome vseth not let them imagine a reformed Church in the Citie of Venice where a Greeke Church and a Popish both are And when both these are equally neare let them consider what the third shall doe Without eyther leauened or vnleauened bread it can haue no sacrament the word of God doth tye it to neither and their axiome doth exclude it from both If this constraine them as it must to grant that their axiome is not to take any place saue in those things only where the Church hath larger scope it resteth that they search out some stronger reason then they haue as yet alleaged otherwise they constraine not vs to thinke that the Church is tyed vnto any such rule or axiome no not then when she hath the widest field to walke in and the greatest store of choice 11 Against such Ceremonies generally as are the same in the Church of England and of Rome we see what hath bene hetherto alleaged Albeit therefore we do not finde the one Churches hauing of such thinges to be sufficient cause why the other should not haue them neuerthelesse in case it may be proued that amongst the number of rites and orders common vnto bothe there are particulars the vse whereof is vtterly vnlawfull in regard of some speciall bad and noysome qualitie there is no doubt but we ought to relinquish such rites and orders what freedome soeuer we haue to retaine the other still As therefore wee haue heard their generall exception against all those thinges which being not commanded in the word of God were first receiued in the Church of Rome and from thence haue bene deriued into ours so it followeth thâ—t now we proceede vnto certaine kinds of them as being excepted against not only for that they are in the Church of Rome but are besides either Iewish or abused vnto Idolatry and so growne scandalous The Church of Rome they say being ashamed of the simplicitie of the Gospell did almost out of all religions take whatsoeuer had any faire gorgeous shew borrowing in that respect froÌ„ the Iewes sundry of their abolished Ceremonies Thus by foolish and ridiculous imitation all their Massing furniture almost they tooke from the law least hauing an Altar and a Priest they should want vestments for their stage so that whatsoeuer we haue in common with the church of Rome if the same be of this kind we ought to remoue it Constantine the Emperour speaking of the keeping of the feast of Easter saith That it is an vnworthy thing to haue any thing common with that most spitefull company of the Iewes And a little after he saith that it is most absurd and against reason that the Iewes should vaunt and glory that the Christians could not keepe those thinges without their doctrine And in an other place it is said after this sort It is conuenient so to order the matter that we haue nothing common with that nation The councell of Laodicea which was afterward confirmed by the sixt generall Councell decreed that the Christians should not take vnleaâ—ened bread of the Iewes or communicate with their impietie For the easier manifestation of truth in this point two things there are which must be considered namely the causes wherefore the church should decline from Iewish Ceremonies and how farre it ought so to doe One cause is that the Iewes were the deadliest and spitefullest enemies of Christianitie that were in the world and in this respect their orders so farre forth to be shunned as we haue already set downe in handling the matter of heathenish Ceremonies For no enemies being so venemous against Christ as Iewes they were of all other most odious and by that meane least to be vsed as fit Church paternes for imitation An other cause is the solemne abrogation of the Iewes ordinances which ordinances for vs to resume were to checke our Lord himselfe which hath disanulled them But how farre this second cause doth extend it is not on all sides fully agreed vpon And touching those thinges whereunto it reacheth not although there be small cause wherefore the Church should frame it selfe to the Iewes example in respect of their persons which are most hatefull yet God himselfe hauing bene the author of their lawes herein they are notwithstanding the former consideration still worthy to be honoured and to be followed aboue others as much as the state of things will beare Iewish ordinances had some things naturall and of the perpetuitie of those things no man doubteth That which was positiue wee likewise knowe to haue bene by the comming of Christ partly necessary not to bee kept and partly indifferent to be kept or not Of the former kinde Circumcision and sacrifice were For this point Stephen was accused and the euidence which his accusers brought against him in iudgement was This man ceaseth not to speake blasphemous words against this holy place and the lawe for we haue heard him say that this Iesus of Nazaret shall destroy this place and shall change the ordinances that Moses gaue vs. True it is that this doctrine was then taught which vnbeleeuers condemning for blasphemie did therein commit that
which they did condemne The Apostles notwithstanding from whom Stephen had receiued it did not so teach the abrogation no not of those things which were necessarily to cease but that euen the Iewes being Christian might for a time continue in them And therefore in Ierusalem the first Christian Bishop not Circumcised was Marke and he not Bishop till the daies of Adrian the Emperour after the ouerthrow of Ierusalem there hauing bene fifteene Bishops before him which were all of the Circumcision The Christian Iewes did thinke at the first not onely themselues but the Christian Gentiles also bound and that necessarily to obserue the whole lawe There went forth certaine of the sect of Pharises which did beleeue and they comming vnto Antioch taught that it was necessary for the Gentiles to be circumcised and to keepe the lawe of Moses Whereupon there grew dissention Paul and Barnabas disputing against them The determination of the Councell held at Ierusalem concerning this matter was finally this Touching the Gentils which beleeue we haue written determined that they obserue no such thing Their protestation by letters is For as much as we haue heard that certain which departed froÌ„ vs haue troubled you with words and combred your minds saying Ye must be circumcised and keepe the lawe knowe that we gaue them no such commandement Paule therefore continued still teaching the Gentiles not onely that they were not bound to obserue the lawes of Moses but that the obseruation of those lawes which were necessarily to be abrogated was in them altogether vnlawfull In which point his doctrine was misreported as though he had euery where preached this not only concerning the Gentiles but also touching the Iewes Wherfore comming vnto Iames and the rest of the Cleargie at Ierusalem they tolde him plainely of it saying Thou seest brother how many thousand Iewes there are which beleeue they are all zealous of the law Now they are informed of thee that thou teachest all the Iewes which are amongst the Gentiles to forsake Moses and sayest that they ought not to circumcise their children neither to liue after the customes And hereupon they gaue him counsell to make it apparent in the eyes of all men that those flying reports were vntrue and that himselfe being a Iew kept the lawe euen as they did In some thinges therefore wee see the Apostles did teach that there ought not to be conformitie betweene the Christian Iewes and Gentiles How many things this lawe of inconformitie did comprehend there is no need we should stand to examine This generall is true that the Gentiles were not made conformable vnto the Iewes in that which was necessarily to cease at the comming of Christ. Touching things positiue which might either cease or continue as occasion should require the Apostles tendering the zeale of the Iewes thought it necessary to binde euen the Gentiles for a time to abstaine as the Iewes did froÌ„ things offered vnto idols from bloud froÌ„ strangled These decrees were euery where deliuered vnto the Gentiles to bee straightly obserued and kept In the other matters where the Gentiles were free and the Iewes in their owne opinion still tied the Apostles doctrine vnto the Iewe was Condemne not the Gentile vnto the Gentile Despise not the Iewe the one sorte they warned to take heed that scrupulositie did not make them rigorous in giuing vnaduised sentence against their brethren which were free the other that they did not become scandalous by abusing their libertie freedome to the offence of their weake brethren which were scrupulous From hence therefore two conclusioÌ„s there are which may euidently be drawne the first that whatsouer conformitie of positiue lawes the Apostles did bring in betweene the Churches of Iewes and Gentiles it was in those things only which might either cease or continue a shorter or a longer time as occasion did most require the second that they did not impose vpon the Churches of the Gentiles any part of the Iewes ordinances with bond of necessary and perpetuall obseruatioÌ„ as we al both by doctrine and practise acknowledge but only in respect of the conueniencie and fitnes for the present state of the Church as theÌ„ it stood The words of the Councels decree coÌ„cerning the Gentiles are It seemed good to the holy Ghost to vs to lay vpoÌ„ you no more burden sauing only those things of necessitie abstinence froÌ„ Idoll-offrings froÌ„ strangled bloud and froÌ„ fornication So that in other things positiue which the coÌ„ming of Christ did not necessarily extinguish the Gentils were left altogether free Neither ought it to seeme vnreasonable that the Gentils should necessarily be bound tied to Iewish ordinances so far forth as that decree importeth For to the Iew who knew that their differeÌ„ce froÌ„ other nations which were aliens strangers froÌ„ God did especially consist in this that Gods people had positiue ordinaÌ„ces giuen to theÌ„ of God himself it seemed maruelous hard that the ChristiaÌ„ Gentils should be incorporated into the same common welth with Gods owne chosen people be subiect to no part of his statutes more then only the lawe of nature which heatheÌ„s count theÌ„selues bouÌ„d vnto It was an opinioÌ„ constaÌ„tly receiued amongst the Iews that God did deliuer vnto the sonnes of Noah seueÌ„ precepts namely to liue in some form of regimeÌ„t vnder 1 publique lawes 2 to serue call vpoÌ„ the name of God 3 to shun Idolatry 4 not to suffer effusioÌ„ of bloud 5 to abhor all vncleane knowledge in the flesh 6 to commit no â—apine 7 finally not to eate of any liuing creature whereof the bloud was not first let out if therefore the Gentiles would be exempt from the lawe of Moses yet it might seeme hard they should also cast off euen those things positiue which were obserued before Moses and which were not of the same kinde with lawes that were necessarily to cease And peraduenture hereupon the Councell sawe it expedient to determine that the Gentiles should according vnto the third the seuenth and the fift of those precepts abstaine from things sacrificed vnto idoles from strangled and bloud and from fornication The rest the Gentiles did of their owne accord obserue nature leading them thereunto And did not nature also teach them to abstaine from fornication No doubt it did Neither can we with reason thinke that as the former two are positiue so likewise this being meant as the Apostle doth otherwise vsually vnderstand it But very marriage within a number of degrees being not onely by the lawe of Moses but also by the lawe of the sonnes of Noah for so they tooke it an vnlawfull discouerie of nakednes this discouerie of nakednesse by vnlawfull marriages such as Moses in the lawe reckoneth vp I thinke it for mine owne part more probable to haue bene meant in the wordes of that Canon then fornication according vnto the sense of the lawe of