should once set a foote out of doores vntil the next morning By which thing it is giuen vs to vnderstand that neither Christ nor our saluation is to bee found without the church in the sects or schismes of wicked heretikes Christe the Lambe of God doth gather al the faithful into one church wherin he kéepeth them lastly doth saue them Last of al this ceremonie did put gods people in mind of their duetie of thākfulnes especially of y studie of godlinesse harmelesse innocencie They therefore did giue thanks to God for these all other his benefites they praised his name and did vtterly absteine from all leauened bread For ye shal finde nothing so seuerely forbidden in this ceremonie as the eating of leauened bread Who soeuer eateth leauened bread saith the Lord his soule shall perishe from amonge the congregation of Israel whether he be a straunger or an Israelite borne The same saying is afterward often times repeated thoroughly beaten into their braines Nowe the Apostle Paule whose cunning and learning was much in the law of Moses expounding what was meant by the leauened bread doth say Therefore let vs keepe the feast not in the olde leauen nor in the leauen of malice and vnrighteousnesse but in vnleauened bread that is in sinceritie trueth Thus muche hitherto touching y eating of y Paschal lamb To these sacraments were also added sacrifices of sundrie sorts many kindes which were not first inuēted and taught by Moses but were taken vp and vsed immediately after the world was created For Caine Abel offered burnte sacrifices to God the maker of the world the one of the fruites of the earth and the other of the cattaile that was in his flock Like wise Seth Noah Sem Abraham Isaac and Iacob with al the other patriarches are knowne to haue sacrificed vnto the Lorde Nowe since the heathenish sacrifices of the Gentiles as the verie heathen writers them selues did testifie were partely like vnto and in many pointes all one with the Iewish sacrifices it is not vnlikely but that the graunde partriarchs of the Gentiles did teach euerie one his owne nation the manner of sacrificing which they had learned of their forefathers Sem Cham Iaphet and of the holie Patriarche Noah him selfe But it is vndoubtedly certein that the holy fathers did bring in nothing of their owne inuention nor adde any thinge to the sacrifices more then they had receiued learned of God who is the author of all goodnesse although Moses did more precisely distinguish certeinly order the sortes the kindes differences betwixt sacrifice and sacrifice And yet whatsoeuer he did that did hee at the Lords appointment God instructed Moses in all that he did For the booke of Leuiticus wherein are especially described all the kindes of sacrifices doth immediatly after the verie beginning testifie that Moses was called by God and that he learned of the Lord all the ceremonies of the sacrifices which he commaunded the Israelites to kéepe And in the 7 Chap. of y booke of Numb we read And when Moses came into the Tabernacle of appointment hee heard the voice of God speakinge vnto him out of the mercie seate Now as I was about to say there were diuers sacrifices sundrily differing in many pointes amōg thēselues yet hauing many thinges cōmon general one with another It was general to al sacrifices not to be offered in any other but one apointed place alone It was general to all sacrifices that they ought of duetie to be offered by faith according as they were taught by y word of god It was general to al sacrifices to be made according to the Lords cōmandement with holy fire not with strange fire or fire prophanely kindled Nadab Abihu the sonnes of Aaron were slaine for nothing else but for because they vsed prophane or strange fire in sacrificing to the lord For when the Israelites or Leuites did first of all sacrifice as the Lord had commaunded them in the tabernacle of appointmēt then did God by sending fire from heauen giue a token that he did like of that manner of sacrifice Whereupon in the sixte of Leuiticus the priestes are charged to mainteine or kéepe the holie fire alwayes burning first in the tabernacle and then in the temple whiche thinge it is manifest that the heathen did imitate in commaunding the vestall virgins at Rome alwayes to kéep the holie fire burning By this perpetual fire is meant the perpetual working of the holie Ghost in the church of Christe which must be kept quicke stirred vp in the heartes of the faithful with feruent prayers with the sincere doctrine of the Lorde with the right vse of his holie Sacraments It was also generall to all sacrifices that in them neither wilde nor vncleane beasts were offered to y lord Moreouer this generall rule of sacrifices is giuen by Moses in the 22. Chapter of Leuiticus saying Let no deformitie bee in the thinge that thou shalt offer If it be blinde or lame or maymed if it haue pusshes or scabbes or tettar ye shall not offer it vnto the Lorde neither shall ye put ought of it vpō his altar Verily if any man had brought a deformed oblation vnto the Lorde hee shewed him selfe plainly to be a contemner vtterly vnthankfull toward his maker And therefore the Lorde in Malachie cryeth out and saith When ye bring the blinde for sacrifice do ye not sinne and when ye bring the lame and sicke do ye not sinne Offer it nowe I praye thee to thy prince or capteine wil he be content with it or wil he accept thy person saith the Lorde of hostes And so I saye my name is in contempt of no estimation among you The iust and true God therefore doth at all times require trueth liberalitie sinceritie and integritie in them that worship him and on the other side he abhorreth and vtterly detesteth vncleanenesse lying and hypocrisie There are certeine other thinges also which be generally cōmon to all sorts of sacrifices but I will not at this time make particular rehersal of euery seuerall iott or minute But what peculiarities euery sundrie sacrifice hath it wil euidently appeare in the exposition of their sundrie sorts which I wil nowe speake of in order as they lye First of all I will expound to you that kinde of sacrifice which in the scripture is called Holocaustum That sacrifice was wholly consumed with fire so that nothing but the skin or hyde of the beast was leafte for the priest The woorde is deriued of the Gréeke For it is called Holocaustū as one should saye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is wholie burnt or consumed with fire This sacrifice was of thrée kindes I meane it was made after thrée sortes to wite with greater with little and with lesse liuing creatures namely with an Oxe a bullocke or a calfe or if any mannes abilitie were not sufficient
in God nor his couenaunts Finally circumcision did put the circumcised in mind of their duetie al their life long to wite that euery man should thinke that he had taken vpon him to professe God to beare in his bodie the SacrameÌ„t of the Lorde For that is the cause why the Israelites were named or had their names giuen them in their circumcision For it is euident in Luke that Iohn Baptist and Iesus our sauiour had their names giuen them at their circumcision euen as also the first circumcised at his circumcision was called Abraham whose name before was said to be Abram It did admonish the circumcised of his duetie for so much as he had giuen his name vnto the Lord his confederate to bee inrolled in the register of God amoÌ„g the names of them that giue them selues vnto the Lord wherefore he ought by couenaunt duetie to frame his life not after his owne lust and pleasure but according to the will of God to whome he did betake him selfe For the condition of the couenaunt was that the circumcised shoulde not defile them selues with idolatrie and straunge religions that they should not pollute with vncleane lyuing the bodies and mindes that were hallowed to the Lord but that they perseuearing in true faith should ensue godlynesse shewe the workes of repentance and be obedient to God in all things For thus saith Moses in the tenth of Deuterono Circumcise the foreskinne of your hearts and harden not your neckes any longer To which words the Prophet Ieremie alludeth in his fourth Chapter saying Bee ye circumcised to the Lord and cut away the foreskinne of your hearte And the Martyr S. Stephan rebuking the vnbeléeuing Iewes sayeth Ye stiffe-necked and of vncircumcised hearte and eares ye alwayes resist the holie ghost Verie rightly therefore doth the holy Apostle Paule in his Epistle to the Romanes declare that there are two sortes of circumcision the one of the letter in the fleshe the outwarde circumcision that is made with handes the other in the heart of the Spirite the inwarde circumcision which is made by the meanes of the holy Ghost The circumcision of the heart God doth like well of in those y be his but that in the fleash he doeth vtterly mislike of if as the fleashe is the heart be not circumcised The liking and misliking of these two circumcisions is in that which went before so plainly alreadie declared that I néede not to stick any longer vpon it And here I think it not amisse before I make an ende of circumcision to reherse vnto you déerely beloued the woordes of the auncient writer Lactantius lib. Instit 4. Chap. 17. where he speaketh of circumcision in this manner The meaning of circumcision was that we should make bare our breastes to wite that wee should liue with a simple and plaine dealing heart because that parte of the bodie which is circumcised is partely like to a heart and is the fore parte of the priuitie and the cause why God commaunded to make it bare was that by that signe he might admonishe vs not to haue a couered heart that is that we should not couer within the secretes of our conscience any crime whereof wee ought to be ashamed And this is the circumcision of the heart whereof the Prophets speake which God hath translated from the mortall fleshe to the immortall soule For the Lorde being whole set and fully minded according to his eternall goodnesse to haue a care for our life and safegard did set repentance before our eyes for vs to followe as a waye to bring vs thereunto so that if wee make bare our heartes that is if by confession of our sinnes we satisfie the Lord we should obteine pardone whiche is denied to the proude and those that conceale their faultes by God who beholdeth not the face as man doeth but searcheth the secrets of the brest Thus much hitherto hath that auncient writer of the churche Lactantiê° Firmianus declared vnto vs touching the mysterie of circumcision Nowe all this whiche hitherto I haue saide touching the meaning and mysterie of circumcisioÌ„ was set forth as in a picture to be séene of all mens eyes so often as circumcision was solemnized in the church There was the league as it were renued which God did make with men There was the grace of God his sanctification and our corruption declared therein did Christ the rocke of stone appeare who with his spirite doth cutt wash away all spottes of the Churche Moreouer the worshippers of God did learne by that signe and so by all the holie ceremonie that they beeing in one ecclesiasticall bodie ought to do their indeuour by purenesse of liuing to winne the fauour of God their confederate Because by the visible circumcision there was after a sorte an open confession made of the true religion of frée consent to the true religion and of a bynding by promise vnto the same He therefore that did despise or vnaduisedly neglect that holie ceremonie was sharply punished as may be gathered by the 17. of Genesis and the fourth Chapter of Exodus And so muche hetherto touching circumcision There followeth nowe the seconde Sacrament of the auncient churche I meane the Paschal Lamb. It is an Hebrewe word not signifying a passion as it should séeme if it were deriued according to the Gréeke etymologie but it signifieth a skipping a leaping or a passing ouer For the Hebrewe *** signifieth to leape or passe ouer The cause of this worde Moses him selfe sheweth in the lawe where he saith The Lord shall go ouer to strike the Aegyptians when he shall see the bloud vppon the vpper poste and the two side postes of the doore *** the Lord wil passe ouer that doore and will not suffer the destroyer to come within your houses This sacrament is knowen also and called by other names For it is called a signe a remembraunce a solemnitie an holie assemblie the feast of the Lorde a worship an obseruation an oblation and a Sacrifice But whereas that ceremonie is called a passing ouer that is not done without a trope For the passing ouer was the verie benefite wherein the Angel of the Lorde did passe ouer the Iewes leaue their houses vntouched and saue their liues but for because the Paschall Lambe was a memoriall a renuing of that benefite therefore it tooke the name of the benefite Euen as I admonished you before that it is vsuall in Sacramentes for the signes to bee called by the names of the thinges that they signifie béecause of the likenesse and mutual proportion that is betwixt them Let vs sée nowe what the passeouer was and what kinde of ceremonie did belong vnto it The Passeouer was an holy action ordeined by God in the killing and eating of a Lambe partely to the ende that the Churche might kéepe in memorie the benefite which God did for them in the land of Aegypt to be a testimonie of Gods
the Apostles frame their exhortations Where againe the Analogie beeinge considered it hath very much light and force in it Trées are pruned and all that which is drie barren and superfluous in them is cutt away And so by circumcision they that were circuÌ„cised were put in minde to cutt away with the knife of the spirite whatsoeuer grewe vpp in the flesh against the lawe of god Herevnto had Moses respecte when he said in Dent Circumcise therfore the foreskin of your heart and bee no more stiffenecked Whome Ieremie following in the 4. Cap. sayeth Be ye circumcised in the Lord and cut away the foreskinne of your hearts c. Those thinges which the Apostle hath taught touching the celebration of y Passeouer are more plaine than that they néede héere to be rehearsed And I haue alreadie intreated of them at large in the sixte Sermon of my third Decade The verie same Apostle in his Epistle to the Romanes saith Knowe ye not that all wee which haue beene baptised into Iesus Christ haue beene baptised into his death Weare buried then with him by baptisme into his death that likewise as Christ was raised vp from the dead by the glorie of the father euen so wee should walke in newnesse of life c. So wee are put in minde by that mysterie of baptisme to renounce forsake Sathan and the world to mortifie and subdue the fleshe and to burie the old Adam that the new man may rise vp againe in vs thorough Christ Furthermore the supper of the Lord doth admonishe vs of brotherly loue charitie of the vnitie that wee haue with all the members of Christe it warneth vs also of puritie and sinceritie in faith that because wee haue openly professed that wée are vnited to Christe and to all his members wée should haue a special care and regard that we be not found faithles and vntrue to our lord Christ and his church that wee should not defile oure selues with forreigne and strange sacrifices Wée are also admonished of thanckefulnesse to magnifie the grace of God who hath redéemed vs according to that saying As often as ye shal cate of this bread and drinke of this cupp ye shal shewe forth the Lords death vntill he come Thus farre haue I intreated of the force the ende and the effecte of sacramentes vnto the which I haue as I thincke attributed no more nor no lesse than I ought that is as much as may be proued out of the scripture to be due vnto them They are the institutions of Christ therefore they care not for counterfeite and strange praises They haue praise sufficient if they haue those praises whiche hee that instituted them namely GOD and Christ Iesus the high priest of the Catholique Church vouchsafed to attribute vnto them Nowe because there is mention made verie ofte of faythe in this whole booke I will further shewe also that without faith sacraments profite nothing and againe that to those which receiue them by fayth they are not superfluous or vaine For this séemeth as yet to belong to the â—ull exposition and coÌ„sideration of Sacraments That Sacramentes without fayth profite not it is easily proued For it is sayde that SacrameÌ„ts are seales of the preaching of the Gospell and things apperteyning to the same For if the preaching of the Gospell be hearde without fayth it doth not onely profite nothing vnto life but it turneth rather vnto iudgement to him that heareth the lord him selfe bearing witnesse and saying If any man heare my wordes beleeue not I iudge him not for I came not to iudge the worlde but to saue the world the worde that I haue spoken the same shall iudge him in the last day To that saying of the Lorde agréeth this of the Apostle For vnto vs was the Gospell preached as well as vnto the fathers but the worde which they hearde did not profit theÌ„ bicause it was not coupled with fayth to them that heard Who now is such a dorhead which can not gather that sacrameÌ„ts without faith are vnprofitable especially since the same Apostle sayth Whosoeuer shal eate this breade drinke this cup of the Lord vnworthily shall be guiltie of the body and bloude of the Lord But all our worthinesse before God doth consist in fayth the same Apostle yet againe witnessing out of the prophete The iust shall liue by fayth And By faith the elders or fathers obteined a good report Wherevnto also belongeth that whiche is read in the Gospell They which were biddeÌ„ were not worthy Whervpon it followeth that worthinesse consisteth in faithfull obedience Herevnto also may be referred I thinke thoâ—e examples whereof mention hath béene made more than once already before Al our fathers were baptised and did all eate of one spirituall meate but in many of them God had no delight And Paule againe saythe Without faith it is impossible to please God therefore without faith Sacraments profite nothing The examples of Simon Magus and Iudas the traytor are verie well knowne of which one was baptised the other admitted to the Supper and yet had no fruite of the Sacramentes bicause they wanted true faith To these pithy and diuine testimonies of God we will nowe adde some places of S. Augustine out of his ninetenth booke against Faustus and twelfth chap. Peter sayth Baptisme saueth vs and least they shuld thinke the visible Sacrament were sufficieÌ„t by which they had the forme of godlinesse and through their euill manners by liuing lewdly and desperately shuld denie the power therof by by he addeth Not the putting away of the silth of the flesh but in that a good coÌ„science maketh request to god Againe Lib. 2. contra literas Petiliani cap. 7. he saith They are not therfore to be thought to be in the bodie of Christ which is the Church or congreagation bicause they are corporally partakers of his Sacraments For they in such are also holy but to them that vse and receiue them vnworthily they shal be forceable to their greater iudgement For they are not in that societie of Christes Church whiche in the members of Christe by being knit together and touching one an other doe growe into the fulnesse of god For that Church is builded on a rocke as sayth the Lorde Vpon this rocke will I builde my Church but they builde on the sande as the Lord also sayth Hee that heareth my wordes and doth them not I will liken him to a foolish man. And again in his treatise vpon Iohn 13. The syllables of Christes name and his Sacraments profite nothing where the faith of Christe is resisted For fayth in Christe and his Sacraments is to beléeue in him which iustifieth the vngodly to beléeue in the mediatour without whose intercession we are not reconciled vnto god Thus farre Augustine An obiection is made If Sacramentes doe nothing profite without our fayth then they depend on oure
167 5 Adam begat a sonne in his owne similitude c. 500 6 I will destroy all flesh wherein there is breath of life c. 715 8 I will set my raine-bowe in the cloudes that when I sée it I may remember c. 957 9 The eating of beastes or anye thinge that liueth and moueth is graunted c. 385 9 The Lord rayned vpon Sodom and Gomor brimston and fire c. 633 9 Whatsoeuer maÌ„ it be of the house of Israel or of the strangers c. 385 12 Pharao the king of Aegypt coÌ„maunded Sara Abrahams wife to be taken and caried to his palace c 231 14 Giue mée the soules and take the substance or goods to thy self c. 755 16 And she called the name of the Lord which spake vnto her Thou God lookest on me c. 743 16. Hast thée to Zoar and saue thee selfe there for I can do nothing c. 640 17 I will make my couenaunt betwéene mée and thée and thy séed after thée in their generations c. 1051 17 The vncircumcised man child in whose flesh the foreskinne is not circumcised that soule shal be cut off from his people c. 1041. 1046 18 Abraham sawe thrée but with them thrée he talked as with one worshipped one c. 633 18 Wilt thou destroy the iust with the wicked That be farre from thee c. 520 18 And shal I hide from Abraham what I minde to do c. 3 20 Loe thou shalt die because of the womaÌ„ which thou hast taken away c. 232 22 In thy séede shall all the nations of the earth be blessed c. 545 645. 687. 22 God tempted Abraham c. 485 30 Giue me children or else I die c. 658 30 Am I in Gods stéede whiche hath denied thée or withholden froÌ„ thée the fruite of the wombe c. 658 33 And hée going before them bowed himselfe seuen times to the ground c. 649 34 Sichem defiled Dina the daughter of Iacob c. 235 39 Ioseph beeing prouoked to adulterie by his maisters wife c. 232 44 Ye wil bring my gray haires with sorrow to hell or the graue c. 65 48 Leâ— my name be called vppon them c. 655 ¶ Out of Exodus 3 THus shalt thou saye to the childreÌ„ of Israel The Lord God of our fathers the God of Abraham c. 612 3 And Moses said to God Behold when I come vnto the childreÌ„ of Israel to whom thou doest nowe send me and shal say vnto them c. 608 4 Euery manchild whose foresain shall not be circumcised shal be cutt off c. 1029 4 And GOD hardened Pharaos heart c. 493 4 A bloudie husband art thou vnto mée c. 1044 6 I am Iehouah And I appeared to Abraham Isaac Iacob as God Schaddai but in my name Iehouah I was not knowen vnto them c. 611 9 I haue now sinned the Lord is iust but I and my people c. 493 12 When your children shall saye vnto you what meaneth this worship c. 160. 364 13 Sanctifie to mée al the first borne c. 160 17 Whosoeuer sacrificeth to any God c. 200 18 Looke ouer all the people consider them diligently and choose c. 175. 389. 894 19 Talke thou with vs wée will heare but let not God talke c. 870 19 Moses the holy seruant of God is commaunded to sanctifie the people c. 19 19 Sett boundes vnto the people round about the mounteine and say vnto them Take héed to your selues c. 606 20 Thou shalt not bow down nor worship them c. 650 21 Hee that curseth father or mother c. 153 21 The punishment of that kinde of thefte whiche the Lawyers call Plagium 272. 278 22 Thou shalt not haue to do with a false report c. 390 22 If any man shall giue to his neighbour a beast to kéepe c. 131 22 Restitution is flatly commanded of the Lord in the Law c. 280 22 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to liue c. 197 22 Thou shalt not afflicte the widowes nor fatherlesse children c. 158. 509. 23 Thou shalt not followe a multinide to do euill c. 194 23 Thrice in the yeare shall euery male appeare before the Lord c. 352 30 Whosoeuer shall make for him selfe a composicion or perfume of incense to smell therew c. 658 31 Ye shall kéepe my Sabbâ—â—hes because it is a signe c. 144 32 And Moses said vnto the Leuites Consecrate your handes c. 331. 33 Thou canst not sée my face For no man shall see mée and liue c. 607 616. 34. Behold I will send mine Angel before thee to kéepe thee in the way c. 741 ¶ Out of Leuiticus The chiefest Chapiters of Leuiticus are expounded in the Sermon of the Ceremoniall Lawes 6 CHarge giuen to the priests to kéepe the holy fire alwayes burning c. 368 7 Touching vowed sacrifices or sacrifices offered by couenaunt c. 379 10. Thou and thy sonnes that are with thee shall drincke neither wine nor c. 336 10 The sonnes of Aaron burnt scorâ—â—hâ— vpp with fire from heauen for offering straunge fire c 962 11 Of the cleane and vncleane creatures c. 382 12 13. 14 15. 16. Touching cleansing sacrifices for bodily deâ—ilinges 373. 13 The priestes did iudge betwixt cause and cause and betweene cleane and vncleane c. 338 17 Whosoeuer of the house of Israel shall kill an oâ—e or a sheepe c. 344. 3. 7. 17. 19. The eating of bloud and strangled is forbidden c. 385 18 The abhominable sinne of Sodomie medling with beastes also is plainely forbidden c. 236 19 Ye shall doe no vnrighteousnes in Iudgement c. 194 19 Ye shall not steale ye shall not lye no man shall deale c. 273 19. Ye shall do no vnrighteousnes in iudgement true balances true weightes c. 270 20 Of the punishment of adulterie 236 20 Of the punishment of incest 236 20 A lawe against Sodomie 236 20 The soule that worketh with a spirite or that is a Southsayer shal die c. 755 22 Let no deformitie be in the thing that thou shalt offer c. 368 24 Of the punishment of such as blasphemed Gods name c. 129 26 I wil smite you for your sinns seuen times c. 936 27 Of vowes c. 380 ¶ Out of Numerie 3 ANd thou shalt giue the Leuites vnto Aaron to his sonnes c. 232 3 The Leuits shall kepe all the instruments of the tabernacle c. 338 6 And the Lord spake vnto Moses saying speake vnto Aaron and his sonnes saying On this wise ye shal blesse the children c. 336 6 Touching the discipline of the Nazarites c. 380 10 The trumpets wherewith the congregation was called together were in the Leuites hands c. 338 11 Gather vnto me threescore and tenne men of the elders of Israel
c. 949 1 Let euery man be swift to heare slowe to speake c. 238 1 Pure religion and vndefiled before God the father c. 475. 668. 2 Abraham was not iustified by faith onely c. 465 2 Séest thou how faith was made perfect by workes c. 461 2 Let him aske in faith nothing wauering c. 922 2 Abraham and we are iustified by workes c. 28 2 If a brother or sister be naked destitute of daily foode c. 97 3 Touching the properties of the tongue c. 238 3 For the tongue is a little meÌ„ber and boasteth great things c. 319 4 Ye aske and receiue not because ye aske amisse c. 918 4 There is one law giuer which is able to saue and to destroy c. 905 5 Behold the hyre of labourers whiche haue reaped downe your fields c. 272 5 How the faithful should behaue themselues towards c. 1080 5 Confesse your sinnes one to another and pray one for another that ye may be healed c. 574. 580 5 Ye haue liued in pleasure vppon earth and beene wanton c. 299. 300. 509. 5 If any be sicke amonge you let him send for the elders c. 1139 ¶ Out of the first Epistle of S. Peter 1 YE are redéemed not with gold and siluer c. 60. 770 1 We are borne a newe not of corruptible seed c 21 827 1 The prophets did search at what moment or minute of time the spirite c. 363 1 Hope perfectly in the grace which is brought vnto you c. 305 2 Feare God honour the king 151. 2 Christ his owne selfe bare oure sinnes in his body vpon the c. 568 2 Ye are a chosen generation a royall priesthood c. 1106 2 ChristiaÌ„s are called priests 879 2 As frée and not as hauing the libertie for a cloake of maliciousnesse c. 448 2 The foundation of the church is Châ—isâ— c. 861 2 Submit your selues to all manner ordinance of man c. 107 3 The eyes of the Lord are vppon the iust c. 521 3 Touching the manner and ordering of womens apparel c. 239 3 That the Lord went in the spirit and preached vnto the spirits c. 66 3 Baptisme saueth vs not the putting away of the filth of the flesh c. 983. 989 4 Dearely beloued thincke it not straunge that ye are tryed with fire c. 294 4 Sée that none of you be punished as a murtherer c 296 4 As euery man hath receiued the gift euen so minister y same c. 905 4 The Gospâ—ll was preached also to the dead c. 765 4 Charitie couereth the multitude of sinnes c 584 4 The time is that iudgment must begin at the house of God c. 298 5 Be sober and watch for your aduersarie the diuel c. 749. 751 5 The elders that are among you I beséech c. 867 ¶ Out of the second Epistle of S. Peter 1 THe prophecie came not in old time by the will c. 10. 26. 717. 1 No prophecie in the scripture is of any priuate interpretation 907 2 God spared not the angels whiche sinned c. 745 2 The Lord knoweth how to deliuer his from temptation c. 174 2 There were false Prophetes among the people euen as c. 587 2 These are wells without water c. 449 3 In the Epistles of Paule many things are hard to be vnderstood c. 23. 24 ¶ Out of the Epistle of S. Iude. THe Angels which kept not their first estate c. 745 Iude saith that the Angel fought with Sathan the diuel c. 747 ¶ Out of the fâ—â—st Epistle of S. Iohn 1 That which we haue séene and heard we declare vnto you 81 1 The bloud of Iesus Christ clenseth vs from euery sinne c. 82. 552 2 If we say we haue no sinne wée deceiue c. 401. 496. 917 2 They went out from vs but they were none of vs c. 604. 819. 820. 2 Annoynting annoynted c. 180 2 And the annoynting whiche ye haue receiued of him c. 707. 726 2 By this we know that he dwelleth in vs by the spirit that he gaue c. 825 2 My babes these thinges write I vnto you c. 664 2 If any man loue the world the loue of the father is not in him c. 482. 483 2 Who is a lyar but hee that denieth that Iesus is Christ c. 629 3 Now are we the sonnes of god and yet it doth not appeare c. 727 3 We knowe that when he appeareth we shal be like vnto him 608 3 If we receiue y witnesse of men c. 550 3 Who so hath this worlds good séeth his brother haue c. 289. 1124 3 He that committeth sinne is of the diuel c. 485 3 My babes let vs not loue in word nor in tongue but in déede 96. 4 Beléeue not euery spirite but try the spirites c. 715. 839 4 Whosoeuer coÌ„fesseth that Iesus is the sonne of God c. 463. 825 4 Euery one that loueth him that begat c. 55. 826 4 By this we know his loue because he gaue his life c. 150. 825 4 Euery spirite that confesseth that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God c. 688 4 Little children ye are of God and haue ouercome in you c. 727 4 God is loue he that dwelleth in loue dwelleth in God c. 825 5 If any man sée his brother sinne a sinne which is vnto death c. 519 5 He that beléeueth not God maketh him a lyar c. 48 5 For all that is borne of God ouercommeth the world c. 54. 709 5 This is the loue of God that we kéepe his commaundements 409 5 And this is the confidence that we haue in him that if we aske c. 54 ¶ Out of the Apocalypse of S. Iohn 1 FEare not I am the first and the last c. 836 1 I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end c. 608 1 Iesus Christ prince of the kings of the earth loued vs c. 708 1 Iohn was banished into the Isle of 〈◊〉 c. 873 2 Remember from whence thou art fallen c. 593 2 To him that ouercometh I will giue to eate c. 863 3 These things saith he that is holy and true c. 836 4 And I saw another angel flying through the middst of heauen c. 653 6 Howe long 〈◊〉 thou Lord which art holy true c. 757. 766 7 After this I â—awe and behold a great companie c. 813 14 And I heard a voyce from heauen saying vnto me Write Blessed are the dead c. 780 17 Great Babylon the mother of whoredomes c. 869 18 Go out of her my people c 859 19 And I fell downe before the féeâ—e of the angel to worship him c 653 21 The fearefull and vnbeléeuing
and the abhominable and murtherers c. 655 22 And after I had heard and séene I fell downe to worship c. 653 22 Sée thou do it not for I am thy fellow seruaunt c. 743. 842. 890 The third and last table conteyning a short summe of such words or names and matters as are mentioned in this booke A. AAron a type or figure of Christ 332 Aaron his rod. 332 Abraham how he is iustified 3. 387. 554 Abia beléeuinge the ward of the Lord ouercommeth 5000000. men of theâ—ribe of Israel 253 Abigei what they are 279 Abrogation of the Lawe 409 Abrogation of the Iudiciall lawes 427 Abortion what it is 443 Abuse of Christian libertie 449 Alsolom 523 Abuse of the Church goods 1128 Achaz 254 AccusatioÌ„s false and wrongfull 320 Accusations that be iust 322 Actuall sinne and the cause thereof 505 Adam and â—ethusalem 649 Adoration 651 Adamonition before punishmeÌ„t 202 Adulterie spoken against 231 Adulterie and fornication 863 Adulcerie pardoned by Christ 234 Adulterie what things are in it forbidden 234 Arian heretiques condemned 775 Affinitie that the word of God hath with sacraments 291. 892 Afflictions 292 293. 298 299. 307. 310. 311. 312. 313 316. Altar 348 Altar or table of the Lord. 1070 Allthinges of God by God and in God. 494 Amasias 254 Ammon the king rebelling against the word of God after two yeares infortunate reigne was murthered of his owne household servaunts 255 Ambition worketh by priuate gifts 278 Anabaptistes and Nouations the me 〈◊〉 of Sathan 569 Angel and Angels 732. 733. 734. 735. c. vsque 745. Anthropomoâ—phites 118. 613 Antiochus Epiphanes 511 Anthemius 892 Annoynting or annoyling 1136 Apostles of Christ 11 Apostles how they bynde and loose 902 Apostles what they be 877 Apostles bâ—ptise infants 1055 Apostles authoritie very great 12 Apostles Créede 55 Apostles receiue wages 1121 Application of scripture necessarie 903 Appeale 392 Appearing of spirits 392 Article of the Christian faith 55 2 Article 59 3 Article 60 4 Article 63 5 Article 67 6 Article 69 7 Article 74 8 Article 78 9 Article 78 10 Article 81 11 Arâ—icle 84 12 Article 90 Aristocracie 169 Arcke 345. 346. 996. Assemblie 1064 Assemblies that be holy 915. 916 Ascension of Christ 69 Asturia 235 Asa 253 Ascend into heauen 1088 Auncient lawes 387 Authoritie of the Apostles very great 12 Authoritie of fathers 393 Auengment taken by the magistrate 196 Augustines opinion of the righte hand of the father 73 Augustines diuision of signes 955 Augustines sentence touching merites of Saintes 494 Auricular confession 577. 578 581 Authoritie of pastours 912 Authour of Sacraments God himselfe 962 Auncient exposition of the words of the Supper This is my bodie 1086 B. Backbiting pernicions 323 Bargaining buying selling 287 Baptisme 989. 1005. 1013. 1027. 1031. 1033. 1050. 1055. 1060. 1061. 1062. Baptising with water vnconsecrated 1039. 1040. Baptiser 1042 Baptised 824. 1055. 1060 Baâ—lards 395 Baâ—des and Curtisans haue benefices at Rome 900 Belongeth to vs to knowe what was written to theÌ„ in old time 15 Beléeue in the sonne of God. 59 Beléefe of oures the second Article thereof 58 Beléefe in the church forbidden 78 Bed in wedlocke ought to be vndefiled 226 Benâ—fits of God are to be acknowledged 952 Beginning of sinne against the holy Ghost 517 Beginning of the ministerie from whome and the worthines thereof 875 Behauiour of the godly in their calamities 300 Bearing witnesse 319 Birth of Christ 63 Bishops 878. 905. Blaspemie 516. 517 Blessing and thankesgiuing 977 Bloud and strangled forbidden by the apostles 421 Body of Christ 689 Body glorious 87. 88 Body naturall body spirituall 89 Bodies of the wicked rise againe 89 Bonauentures opinion of grace 1003 Bondage 395. 441. 442 Both kindes in the supper giuen receiued 1066 Bow downe to images what it is 122 Bread among the Hebrues what it signifyeth 947 Bread and wine remaine in their substance after consecration 984 Bread and wine are so called after consecration 985 Breaking of bread 1063 Buriall of Christ 65 Buying and selling c. 394 C. Catalogue of the bookes of the diuine Scripture 12 Cause of Christes incarnation 60 Calling to the ministerie 891. 893 Cathechising 907. Calamities 291. 293 Candlesticke golden 347 Carnall and fleshly people 404 Cure of the bodie 448 Cauills of those that attribute iustification to workes 458 Cause of sinne and euill 483 Catholique church what it is 79. 813 Carnall bondage and seruile 991 Carthage counsell for examining of bishops 895 Celebration of the supper c. 1072 Ceremonies 229. 328 329. 330. 364. 413. 415. 424. 1033. 1034. Confession of true religion 366 Charitie 92. 98 Christe as yet executeth all the dueties of a priest in the church 872 Christ what hee receynâ—th to himselfe from his ministerie and apostles 872 Christ is the naturall sonne of God 883 Christ reâ—eyneth both natures vnconfounded together 691 Christ in one person remayneth vndiuided 694 Christ is king of all 698 Christ is a Monarch 698 Christ is cotent to debate with Pilate of his kingdome 700 Christ called the onely sonne 59 Christ how he reigneth on earth in his kingdome 700 Christ Iesus the highe prest 704 Christ is annointed but with inuisible oile 705 Christ doth the office of a priest that is teacheth maketh intercession blesseth sacrificeth and sancrifieth 705 Christe his priesthood 706 Christians are kinges and priesis 709 Christ compared with Adam 49 Christ died not in vaine 50 Christ by interpretation annoynted 60 Christ is our Lord. 60 Christs conception and the maner thereof 62 Christes conception pure 63 Christ suffered vnder Pontius Pilate 64 Christ a Judge 74 Christ conueyeth himselfe awaye when the people would haue made him a king 218 Christians haue nothing to doe with the yron like Philosophie of the Stoikes 301 Christ coÌ„mandeth vs to beare his crosse 309 Christ and Paule examples to vs. 314 Christ is the rock not Christ signifieth the rocke 991 Christ the first begotten 331 Christ and his Apostles institute scholes 1115 Christ hath taken all burthens froÌ„ our shoulders 437 Christ fulfilled the lawe and is the perfectnes of the faithful 407 Christ alone is our life and saluation 543 Christ doeth fully worke our saluation 544 Christ is receiued by faith and not by workes 548 Christ how he preached the Gospel 548. 661. 862. Church Churches and CoÌ„gregation c. 667. 812. 813. 815. 816. 820. 821. 827. 831. 832. 833. 852. 860. 861. 863. 864. 866. 867. 868. 1118 1127 Circumcision 355. 357. 358. 359. 360. 361. Citie and temple of Hierusalem destroyed 413 Clearkes what they were sometime 883 CoÌ„municating of properties 696 Counsell of the priestes forsaken by king Ioas what followed 254 Conscience at quiet peace before God is the worke of the holy ghost 723. Constancie of the Apostles 723 Consecrating of pastours begun with fasting and prayer 897 Concupiscence 108. 949 Consubstantiall and coessentiall 59 Communion of sainctes 80 Confession and acknowledging of sinnes 81
S. Mathew instructinge Ioseph sayth Mary shall bring forth a sonne and thou shalt call his name Iesus For hee shall saue his people from their sinnes So then this sonne of God Iesus is the sauiour of the worlde who forgiueth sinnes and setteth vs free from al the power of our aduersary the deuil Which verily he could not do vnlesse he were very god Hee is also called Christ which is all one as if you saye Annoynted The Iewes cal him Messias Which word is a title proper to a kingdome or priesthoode For they of olde were wonte to annointe their kinges priestes they were annoynted wyth external or figuratiue oyntment or Oyle But very Christ was annoynted with the very true oyntement that is wyth the fulnes of the holy ghoste as is to be seene in the firste third Chapters after S. Iohn Moste properly therfore is this name Christ attributed to our lord For first he is both kinge and prieste of the people of god Then the holy Ghost is powred fully by all meanes and abundantlye into Iesus from whom as it were by a liuely fountayne it floweth into all the members of Christ For this is that Aaron vppon whose heade the Oyle was powred which ranne downe to his bearde and the nethermost skirts of his garment For of his fulnes we haue all receyued The last thinge that is to be noted now in this secōd Article is the we cal the sonne of God our lord The sonne of God verily is for two causes properly called our lord First in respect of the mysterie of our redēption For Christ is the Lord of all the electe whom hee hath deliuered from the power and dominion of Satan sinne and death and hath made them a people of his owne getting for himselfe This similitude is taken of Lordes which wyth theyr monye buy slaues for theyr vse or els which in warres reserue captiues whō they myght haue slaine or which deliuer men condemned from present death So then by this Lords are as it were deliuerers redéemers or sauiours Hereunto verily alludeth Paul where he sayth Ye are bought with a price become not therefore the seruauntes of men And S. Peter saith Ye are redeemed not vvith golde and siluer but with the precious bloud of the vnspotted Lambe Moreouer Christe is called Lord in respect of his Diuine power and nature by which all things are in subiectiō to the sonne of god And for because this word Lord is of a very ample signification as that which conteyneth both the diuine nature and maiestly wee see that the Apostles in theyr writinges vse it very willingly Paule to the Corinthians sayth Although there be many Lords yet haue we but one Lord Iesus Christ by whom all thinges are wee by him Now the third Article of Christian fayth is this Which vvas conceiued by the holie Ghost borne of the Virgin Marie In the seconde article wee haue confessed that wee beleeue in Iesus Christe the sonne of God oure Lorde wherein wee haue as it were in a shadow confessed that wée beléeue assuredly that God the father hath for vs our Saluation giuen to the world his sonne to be a Sauiour and redéemer For hitherto belōg those names Iesus and Lord. Now therefore in this thirde Article I haue to declare the maner and order how he came into the world to wit by Incarnation This article contayneth two things The Conception of Christe and his Natiuity Of both which I will orderly speake after that I haue brieflye declared vnto you the causes of the Lord his Incarnation Men were in a miserable takinge and all mankinde should vtterly haue perished for sinne which wée haue all drawne from the first mā Adam For the reward of sinne is death And for that cause wée that were to be caste into hell could not enter into heauen vnlesse the sonne of God had descēded vnto vs and becomming God with vs had with himself drawne vs into heauen Therefore the chiefe cause of his incarnation is to be a mediatour betwixte God and men and by intercession to ioyne or bring into one thē that were seuered For where a mediatour is there also must needes bée discord and parties The parties are God and men The cause of this discord is sinne Nowe the office of the Mediatour is to bring to agréemente the parties disagréeing which verilye cannot be done vnlesse that sinne the cause of this variaunce be takē cleane away But sinne is neyther clensed nor taken away except that bloud be shed and death do follow This witnesseth Paule in his 9. Chapter to the Hebrewes The mediatour oughte therefore to take on him our flesh and bloud that hée might both dye shead his bloud Furthermore it is needefull that this Aduocate or mediatour be indifferently common to both the parties whom he hath to reconcile wherfore our Lord Christ ought to be very God and very man If hée had béene God alone then should hée haue béene terrible to men and haue stoode them in litle stéede If hée had béen méere man then could hée not haue had accesse to God which is a consuming fyre wherfore our Lord Iesus Christ being both God and man was a fitte mediatour for both the parties Which thing the Apostle witnessing sayth One God and one mediatour of God and men the man Christ Iesus who gaue himselfe the price of redemption for all The same Apostle in the 2 and 9. Cap. to the Hebrewes speaketh many things belonging to this place And in the seconde Chapter rehearsinge an other cause of Christ his incarnatiō he saith It became him in althings to be made likevnto his bretheren that he might be merciful and a faithful high priest in thinges concerninge God for to purge the peoples sinnes For in that he himselfe was tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted An other cause wherfore our Lord was incarnate was that hée mighte instruct vs men in all Godlinesse and righteousnes finally that hée mighte be the light of the world and an ensample of holy lyfe For Paule sayth The grace of God that bringeth saluation hath appeared vnto vs teaching vs to renounce vngodlines and to liue holilie To conclude hée therfore became one wyth vs by the participation of nature that is to say it pleased him to be incarnate for this cause that hée might ioyne vs againe to God who for sinne were seperated from God receiue vs into the fellowship of himselfe and all other his goodnes beside The nexte is for vs to declare the manner of his incarnation This article of fayth standeth on two mēbers The first is He was conceiued by the holy ghoste Al wée men Christe excepted ace conceyued by the seede of man which of it selfe is vncleane and therefore wée are borne sinners and as Paule sayth Wee are borne the sonns of wrath But the body of Christ I saye our Lord was not conceiued in
elements and all creatures His people the Israelites doth he gratiously deliuer defend with sundry giftes adorne and mightily preserue euen in despight and maugre all the heades of the whole Egyptian kingdome And on the other side he doth by sundry meanes very terribly yet notwithstanding iustly punish the Egyptians and laste of all together with their king he ouerwhelmeth them in the red sea By this one myracle of the Lords the Israelites might haue gathered as God is Almightie and the mightiest of all so also that he would be their God as heretofore he had bene the God of their Fathers For by this wonder he did declare what he was then and of howe great power and goodnesse he is eueÌ„ at this day among vs and also what he will be in all ages euen vnto the end To vs that liue in these dayes the deliueraunce which we haue obtained by Iesus Christ our Lorde is farre more fresh in memorte who hath not deliuered vs from the bondage of any Egyptian kingdome nor from the tyranneus handes of any earthly Phaâ—ao but hath set vs frée from the power of darknesse of sinne death and the deuill Whereby we gather that as the eternall true excellent hyghe and holy God is most mightie so also he is our God that he wisheth well to vs and that he careth for and loueth vs according to that saying of the Apostle Who spared not his owne sonne but gaue him for vs all howe can it be but that with him he will giue vs all things Verily the mysterie of our redemption by our Lorde Iesus Christe is very manifestly conteined in the first precept of the tenne Commaundements For it is euident the the Israelites frée departure out of Egypt was a type or figure of the deliuerie of the whole compasse of the earth and of all the kingdomes of the world which shoulde be wrought by Christ our Lorde who hath nowe already set all the worlde frée from the bondage of sinne and hell But if any man dout of this let him diligently consider with him self the meaning of the Ceremonie or Sacrament of that bodily deliuerance I meane the very Passeouer For what is he that knoweth not that the Paschall lamb did in a figure represent Christe our redéemer Are Paules wordes vnknown who sayth Christ our Passeouer is offered vp Haue not all the Apostles and Iohn Baptist called our Lorde the Lambe of God which taketh away the sinnes of the world The wordes of the prophet Esai also in his 52. Chap. are apparantly knowne where he compareth the deliuerie of Israel out of Egypt with the redemption of all the worlde wrought by Christ from the slauerie of sin Wherfore in this firste precept of the tenne Commaundements is conteined the mysterie of Christ our Lorde and our saluation So that as often as those wordes of God shall be recited in our eares we ought not so much to set our eyes and myndes vpon the anncient deliuerie of Israell out of Egypt as vpon the new and latter redemption which we haue by Christ Iesus therby to quicken our hope and not to despaire but that the most excellent and mightie God both is wil be our God as heretofore he hath ben theirs The latter braunch of this first commaundement flatly forbiddeth vs and euery one of vs to haue any straunge Gods that is it taketh from vs all extraordinarie meanes to séeke the safegarde of our liues wher the working finger of God is not whatsoeuer else maye be either diuelishly deuised or vnaduisedly chosen beside the very word of god And therefore the Lorde vseth a most vehement or earnest kind of speaking For sayth he Thou shalt not haue any other Gods before me Sée he saith Thou shalt not haue thou shalt not haue before me or before my face or with me or by me We Germanes say Zu mir oder nabend mir Oder las michs nit sahen ver minen ougeÌ„ For so do fathers speak in their anger when they do earnestly forbid a wicked hainous thing Sée say thei that thou do it not before mine eies for me to sée it But now God is present euery where God séeth all thinges yea he beholdeth our harts hiddeÌ„ secretes of our hartes We must not therefore in any case either openly or priuily haue any straunge Gods that is none of vs must make account of any creature eyther in heauen or earth as of our God none of vs must attribute gods properties to his creatures nor yet the things which we of duetie do owe to God him selfe The properties of God are these to be all ouer and euery where to sée all to knowe all to be able to do all to giue lyfe to deliuer and cleanse from sinnes to saue preserue to iustifie to sanctifie and what so euer else is like to these On the other side our dutie to him is to reuerence God to call on God to feare God to worship God to hope in God to sticke to God to heare God to beléeue God and to obey God. The straunge God therfore is that which is not God properly and by nature yea it is what so euer we doe make to our selues to be our God beside the very liuing and eternal God wherein we truste wherein we hope whereon we call which we doe loue and feare whereon we scttle and fasten our myndes wherevpon we doe depend whereof we make account as of our treasure helpe and safegarde both in prosperitie and our aduersitie When Rahel asketh children of Iacob she hath this answere at his hand Am I God whiche haue made thee barren And again when Ioram king of Israell had by Naaman receyued letters from Benhadad king of Syria requesting to cleanse the leprosie he rente his cloathes for anger and cryed out saying Am I God that I can kyll and restore to life againe Let God alone therefore be our God that is our life and safegarde our helpe and refuge our protection and deliueraunce our hope and loue our feare our dread our trembling and all These if we doe attribute to others and not to God alone then shall we make other Gods to our selues Moreouer what so euer is not ordeined by God him self that is in the Scriptures many times called straunge or other In that sense it is sayde that straunge fyre was carried into the Labernacle to wit not that fyre which God had coÌ„maunded for to kindle In the Prouerbes she is called a straunge woman whose companie the Lorde hath not allowed thée to vse They therefore are straunge Gods whome we haue made to our selues to hang on and to séeke ayde of when God notwithstanding hath not appointed them to haue the charge ouer vs Wherefore the very Saintes them selues triumphant nowe in heauen with Christ our King shall be reputed for straunge Gods the Saintes them selues I say not in respect of them selues but to vs they shall be straunge Gods in respect of
vs which iudge very fondly of them and bestow on them the honour due to God in worshipping and calling vpō them as we should worship and call vpon our tutours and defenders The very deuils and deuilish men shal be straunge Gods if we for feare shall stande in awe of them more then of God to whō in déede our feare is due The starres the Planets and signes in the firmament shall be strange Gods if we being deceiued with the Mathematicals shall wholy hang on them and in all our doings euermore haue regarde to the impressions of the skie directing euery minute of oure liues to the course of the starres Likewise if we shall honour and loue money or men with honour or loue due vnto God then shal this money and men of ours be imputed to vs for straunge Gods. King Asa is blamed 2. Paral. 7. for putting too muche confidence in Physicke and Physicians Physicke and Physicians therefore may be abused and made strange Gods. The Iewes are rebuked by the Lord in Esay cap. 30. for trusting too much in the Egyptians their confederates Confederates therefore may be abused and made straunge Gods. But most of all are condemned here the leagues and couenaunts made with the deuill by witchraft to haue him at commaundement Those blessings also whiche of right ought rather to be called cursings I meane superstitious exorcismes or coniurations are vtterly to be reiected wherin also this is blame-worthy that the name of the moste high God is horribly abused and takē in vaine But what is he that can exactly reckō vp euery particular thing wherein this firste commaundement is transgressed considering that in it is taught the perfect rule of godlynesse whiche is the inward worship done to God to wit to acknowledge God to beléeue him to thinke rightly of him to call vpon him to cleaue vnto him and in all things to obey him The second precept of the ten Commaundementes is Thou shalt not make to thee selfe a grauen Image nor any likenesse of those thinges which are in heauen aboue or in the earth beneath or in the water vnder the earth thou shalt not bow downe to them nor worship them I am the Lorde thy God strong and iealous visiting the fathers sinnes in the children vnto the thirde and fourth generation of them that hate me and shewing mercy vnto thousandes to them that loue me and keepe my Commaundements In the first commaundement the Lorde did teache and drawe out before our eyes the patterne of his inwarde worship and religion nowe here in the seconde he amendeth that which might be amisse in the outward rites and ceremonies If we coulde haue rightly iudged of God and haue kept as deuouth as we shoulde the firste Commaundement then should there haue bene no néede of the seconde but bicause God knew our disposition nature he doth therfore expresly forbid the thing that otherwise we would haue done For many there are whiche thinke that God ought to be portraied in some similitude or likenesse and to be worshipped with some bodily or visible reuerence in offering golde siluer pearles yuorie and precious thinges of price Wherefore the generall ende of this commaundement is to drawe them from those grosse imaginations and carnal worshippings of God who as he is an incomprehensible power and an eternall spirit so can he not be resembled to any corruptible similitude he will be worshipped in spirite and holinesse Vnder the name of the Ivole or imagined likenesse is conteined all the outwarde reuerence done therevnto when therefore the Idols are forbidden together with them is also forbidden all outward honour irreligiously exhibited to the true and very god For whersoeuer an Idole is there muste the Idolaters set him vp a pillour place him in a seate erect him an altar and builde him a temple And all these againe require kéepers and ouerséers Ministers or Priestes sacrifices and offerings ceremonies furnitures holy dayes cost and labour that will neuer be ended In this sense did the Prophetes say that Idolatrous images were endlesse labours and infinit miseries For after images are once receiued there is no ende or measure of expences and toyle This doth experience teache to be true Nowe to procéede this commaundement standeth of thrée seuerall partes For first of all God flatly forbiddeth to make a grauen image or other kinde of Idole that is God doth vtterly forbid to set vp or hallow to him any image of what shape or substance soeuer it be For as God will not so in déede he can not be expresly represented in any manner of likenesse Nowe in this commaundement are reckoned vp in a manner al the similitudes of those things whervnto we are wont in portraying to liken our pictures Thou shalt not sayth he fashion like vnto God any shape or figure of those things which are in heauen which are I say aboue vs Aboue vs are the celestial bodies the Sunne the Moone the Planets the Starres and diuers birdes of sundry fashions In all whiche figures and shapes almost no smal number of the Gentiles did solemnly honour and reuerently worship the name of god Thou shalt not liken vnto God saith he any shape or fashion of those thinges that are in the earth In the earth are men beasts hearbes shrubbes trées and such like Nowe it is manifest that the Gentils worshipped God vnder the likenesse of men and beastes Cornelius Tacitus writing of the Germanes sayth But by the greatnesse of the visible celestiall bodyes they doe coniecture and verily thinke that the Gods are neyther inclosed in walles nor yet in fauour resembling mens visages and therefore doe they hallow woods and groues calling that hidden mysterie by the name of the Gods which with outwarde eyes they see not but with inward reuerence alone Lo here our auncestours worshipped God in the likenesse of trées and woods whiche neuerthelesse men are forbidden here to doe euen as also we are prohibited to worship our God in the likenesse of any thing that is in or vnder the water The Philistines worshipped God in the image of a fishe For Dagon their God bare the shape of a fishe Egypt honoured God in the similitude of Serpents All which and many other Paule knitteth vp together in the first to the Romanes where he argueth againste the Gentiles and saith Their foolishe heart was blinded when they counted them selues wise they became fooles and turned the glory of the incorruptible God vnto the likenesse not only of a mortall man but also of birdes and of fourefooted beastes and of creeping beastes Against this madnesse is the first part of the lawe directly giuen But nowe the cause why God wil not be represented in any visible or sensible image is this God is a spirit God is vnmeasurable incomprehensible vnspeakable all ouer and euery where filling heauen and earth eternall lyuing giuing life vnto and preseruing all things and lastly of a glorious maiestie exalted
determined the times before appointed and also the limites of their habitation that they shoulde seeke the Lord if perhaps they might haue fealte and found him though he be not farre from euery one of vs For by him we liue and moue and haue our being as certaine of your owne Poets haue sayde For we are also his ofspring For as muche then as we are the ofspring of God we ought not to thinke that the Godheade is like to golde or siluer or stone grauen by Arte or mans deuice These testimonies are so euident and do so plainely declare that which I purposed that I neede not for the further exposition of them to say any more They were great causes therfore that moued S. Augustine prâ—cisely to pronounce it to be horrible Sacrilege for any man to place in the Church the image of God the Father sitting in a throne with bended hammes Bycause it is detestable for a maÌ„ so much as to conceiue such a likenesse in his mind His very wordes I haue rehearsed in the eight Sermon of my first Decade where I had occasion to speake of the righte hande of the father and to teache you what it is to sit at the fathers righte hande Nowe touching other images also which men erect to creatures or to the heatheÌ„ gods they are no lesse forbiddeÌ„ then the pictures of God him self For if we may not hallow an image to the true and verie God much lesse shall it be lawful for vs to erect or consecrate an Idole to a strange or forreine god Man in his mynde doth choose him self a God and of his owne inuention deuiseth a shape or figure for it whiche lastly he frameth with the workmanship of his hands so that it may truly be sayd that the minde conceiueth an Idole and the hande doth bring it foorth But the Lord in the first commaundement forbad vs to haue any straunge Gods. Nowe he that neyther hath nor chooseth to him self any straunge or forreine Gods doth not in his imagination deuise any shape for them and so consequently erecteth no images For he thinketh it a detestable thing to make an image to the true and very God he is persuaded that it is a wicked thing to choose him selfe a forreine God and therefore he iudgeth it to be most abhominable to place the picture of a forreine God in the Churche or Temple of the true and very god And that is the cause that in the Church before Christe his time we doe not reade that any images were erected to any Saintes whereof at that time there were a great number suppose of patriarchs Iudges Kings Priestes Prophets whole troupes of Martyrs Matrons modest widowes The primitiue Church also of Christ his Apostles had no images either of Christe him selfe or of other Saints set vp in their places of publique prayer nor in their Churches The déede of Epiphanius is very well knowne whiche he committed at Anablacha in Syria It is written in Gréeke in an Epistle to Iohn Bishop of Ierusalem and translated into Latin by S. Hierome He rente the vaile that hong in the Temple bearing in it the image of Christ or some other Saint testifying therewithal that it is against Christian religion for the picture of a man to hang in the Church of God â–ª Saint Augustine in Catalogo haerese 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 maketh mention of one Marcella a folower of Carpocrates his sect whiche worshipped the images of Iesu Paul Homer and Pythagoras with falling downe prostrate before them and offering incense vnto them Verie well and wisely therefore did Erasmus of Roterodame being deepely séene in the workes of Ecclesiasticall writers when he had wittily spoken manye thinges touching the vse of images in Churches at the laste also adde this and say There is no decree no not so much as of men which commandeth that images shoulde be in Churches For as it is more easie so is it lesse perillous to take all images quite and cleane out of the Churches then to be able to bring to passe that in keeping them still measure should not be exceeded nor superstition couertly cloaked For admit that as some say the minde be cleane from all superstition yet notwithstanding it is not without a shewe of superstition for him that prayeth to fall downe prostrate before a wooden Idole to haue his eyes stedfastly bent vpon that alone to speake to that to kisse that not to pray at al but before an Idole And this I adde that who so euer doe imagine God to be any other than in déede he is they contrarie to this precept do worship grauen images And againe in the same Catechisme he sayeth Euen vntill the time of Hierom there were men of sounde religion which suffred not in the church any Image to stand neyther painted nor grauen nor woauen no not so much as of Christe bycause as I suppose of the Anthropomorphites But afterwarde the vse of Images by little and little crept vp and came into the Churches This hath Erasmus Furthermore for Christ our Lord and very God though he haue taken on him the nature of vs men yet that notwithstanding there ought no Image to be erected For he did not become man to that intent But he drewe vp his humanitie into heauen and therewithall gaue vs a charge that so often as we praye we shoulde lift vp the eyes of our myndes and bodyes into heauen aboue Moreouer being once ascended he sent his spirit in steede of him selfe vnto the Church wherin he hath a spiritual kingdome and néedeth not any bodily or corruptible things For he commaunded that if we would bestow any thing on him or for his sake we should bestow it on the poore and not on his picture or image And nowe since without all controuersie our Christe is the very true God and that the very true God doth forbid to hallow to him any likenesse of man that is to represent God in the shape of a man it foloweth consequently that to Christe no Image is to be dedicated bycause he is the true and very God and life euerlasting In the second part of this commandement we are taught howe farre foorth it is vnlawfull for vs to make any Image of God or else of fayned Gods and if so it be that any make or cause them to be made how and after what sorte then we ought to behaue our selues towarde them Images ought not in any case to be made for men to worship or otherwise to vse as meanes or instrumentes to worship God in But if so it happen that any man make them to the intent to haue them worshipped then must the zealous and godly disposed despise neglect not worship nor honour them nor yet by any meanes be brought to doe them seruice For in this precept are two things set downe especially to be noted The first is Thou shalt not bowe downe to them To bowe downe is to cap
and to knée to ducke with the heade and bende the body to fall downe to honour to worship and to reuerence The Saintes of olde did vse to bowe downe that is to bende the knée to vncouer the heade and to fall downe to the Magistrates the Prophets the Princes and teachers of the people and vnto all sortes of reuerend men And that they did partly by cause God had so commaunded who vseth their ministerie to common mens commoditie and partly againe by cause men are the liuely Image of God him selfe But deafe dumbe and blinde Idoles are wood and stone wherevnto we are forbidden to bend or bow downe how so euer we are made to beléeue that they doe beare the likenesse of god The latter is Thou shalt not worship them or else Thou shalt not doe any seruice vnto them In this clause is forbidden all the outwarde and vnlawfull honour done to God or to the Gods in the way of Religion nay rather in the way of superstition and diuelishe hallowing of Churches reliques holie dayes and such like trash and trumperie For to serue is to worship to reuerence to attribute some maiestie and diuine authoritie to that whiche we doe worship to haue affiaunce in to burne incense to offer giftes and to shewe our selues dutifully seruiceable to that which we worship There is no man that knoweth not what it is to serue and what is ment by seruice in matters of Religion We are forbidden therefore to runne in Pilgrimage to Idoles yea though they be the Images of God him selfe We are forbidden to do them any seruice in offering giftes or attributing vnto them any one iote of Gods preeminence thereby to binde our selues to mainteine and vpholde their vnlawfull honour in mingling such superstitions with better pointes of true religion This therefore considered since we may not attribute to Images any seruiceable honour I doe not sée how we can ascribe to them the office of teaching admonishing and exhorting which are the offices and benefites of Gods holy spirit and worde For Abacuck the Prophete of whose writings Paul did make no small account hath lefte in writing wordes worth remembring What profiteth sayth he the image for the maker of it hath made it an image and a teâ—cher of lies thogh he that made it trusteth therein when hee maketh dumbe Idoles â–ª Woe vnto him that sâ—yth to the wood awake and to the sâ—nâ—el 〈◊〉 stone arise Should that teachâ— thâ—â—â— Beholde it is couered with golde and siluer there is no breath in it But the Lorde is in his holy temple let all the earth keepe silence before him What coulde be sayde more playnely and agreeable to the trueth Images sayth he are méere and very lyes But howe can that teache the trueth which of it selfe is nought else but a lye There is no mouing there is no life there is no breath in a picture or Image But the Lord sitteth in his holie temple where he reigneth and teacheth by inspiration and the preaching of his worde the summe of godlinesse and where he liueth for euer in the hearts of all his Saintes and seruauntes Let therefore all the tongues in the whole world be stopte of them that goe about to mainteine and vpholde superstitious Idolatrie against the true and liuing God. Nowe againe in the thirde part of this commauncement the Lord doth briefly knit vp the pithy handling of sundry things For first he sheweth that men haue no iust or lawfull cause in turning from God eyther to make them straunge Gods or else to worship God otherwise then they ought to doe I am sayth he the Lord thy God a strong god If I be the Lorde then shouldest thou of duetie serue me honour me obey me and worship me so as thou dost vnderstand that I doe desire to be worshipped and honoured If I be God then am I of sufficient abilitie to minister to all men what so euer they lacke What canst thou want therefore that thou mayst not finde in me why then shouldest thou turne to straunge Gods Thou haste no cause at all vndoubtedly to turne from me I am moreouer a strong God a mightie yea an Allmightie God and Lorde Thou hast no cause to séeke a mightier or welthier prince then me by him to be deliuered out of my handes and by his liberalitie to be farther inriched then thou shalt be by my good giftes and blessings For I am that true and eternall God the inuisible and Allmightie Prince of the worlde the true and only helper and deliuerer the liberall and bountifull giuer of all good giftes or benefites I am also thy Lorde and thy God. Those goods of myne are thyne For I am thine yea I am thy helper and deliuerer out of al aduersities and afflictions Thou art mine I haue created thée I liue in thée I doe preserue thée Why then shouldest thou turne away from me and séeke after any straunge God what so euer What néedest thou any more hereafter to hunte after senselesse Idoles Thou arte the Church and Temple of god Doste thou not féele and perceiue within thy selfe that I doe dwell in thée and haue thine heart in possession And what I praye thée hath the Temple of God to doe with godlesse Images Then also he descendeth and doth very seuerely yet notwithstanding iustly threaten extreme and terrible reuengement I am sayth he a iealous god This may be taken two wayes very well and not amisse For firste the sense may be thus I will not haue thée to séeke any other Gods but me neyther will I haue thée admit or receiue any forreine or vnlawfull worshipping of me The cause is I am a iealous God enuious against my riuall not suffering myne equall nor by any meanes abyding to haue a mate I alone will be loued I alone will be worshipped and that too not after any other fashion than I my selfe haue appointed to be obserued For no man is so ignorant but that he knoweth howe God in the Scripture doth by the parable of wedlocke figuratiuely set downe the assurance and bond wherin by fayth we are bouÌ„d to God God is our husband bridegrome we are his wife chosen spouse A chaste and faithful wife giueth eare alone to her husbands voice him alone she loueth him alone she doth obey him excepted she loueth no man at al. Again on the other side a shamelesse faithlesse adultresse and whorish strumpet not worthy to be called a wife séemeth outwardly to sticke and cleaue to her husband but priuily she maketh her body common to many men and louâ—th other more then her husbande and for the most part burneth on theÌ„ being colde enough to him ward But God is a iealous God and will be loued and worshipped alone without any partener to robbe him thereof That is spirituall adulterie whore-hunting when men doe partly loue and worship God and yet notwithstanding doe therewithall giue reuerence to straunge and other
the godly lawfull othes are wisely called by the name of IusiuranduÌ„ For by 〈…〉 â—hich signifieth the law we are admonished that that kinde of othe is lâ—wfâ—ll and righteous Now this taking of Gods name to witnesse hath ioyned to it a calling on and a vowing our selues to Gods curse and vengeance For this is the maner of an oth and order of swearing I will say or do â—t truly in déed and without deceit so God may helpe me Therefore we put our selues in daunger of Gods wrath and vengeaunce vnlesse we do truly and in déede both speake and do the thing that we promised to doe or speake A very déepe and solemne promise making is this then the whiche verily there is not a greater to be fouÌ„d in the world Here also must be considered the circumstances and ceremonies in swearing For our auncesters of olde were wont to lift their hande vp vnto heauen and to sweare by the name of the lord The Lord our God dwelleth in heauen We therfore do manifestly declare that as in the iudges eyes we lifte our hand to heauen euen so in our mindes we do ascend sweare in the presence sight of God yea we giue our hand and plight our faith to God there in taking an oth by the name of god This ceremonie vsed AbrahaÌ„ the singular friend of God father of the faithfull when he was wont to sweare I néed not therfore to procéed any further for to declare whether we ought to sweare by the name of god alone or els by the names of saints or els by laying the hand vpon the holy Gospel For it is manifest that the faithful must sweare by the only eternal most high god Touching which thing we haue most euident precepts commaunding vs to sweare by the name of the Lord againe forbidding vs to sweare by the names of strange Gods. Of the first sort are these Thou shalt feare the Lorde thy God thou shalte serue him and sweare by his name Deut. 6. 10. Chapter Also the Lord him self in Esaie sayth To me shall euery knee bende and by me shall euery tongue sweare And again in the. 65. chapter the same Prophet sayth He that wil blesse him self shal blesse in the lord and he that wil sweare shal sweare by the true very God. Of the latter sort too are these testimonies of the holy Scriptures Exod. 23. All that I haue sayde keepe ye and doe ye not once so muche as thinke of the names of strange Gods neither let them be heard out of your mouth And Iosue in the. 23. chapter sayth When ye shal come in among these nations see that ye sweare not by the name of their Gods and looke that ye neyther worship nor yet bow downe vnto them In the. 5. of Ieremie the Lord sayth Thy sonnes haue forsaken mee and sworne by other Gods which are no Gods in deede I haue filled them and they haue gone a whoreing c. Moreouer the Prophet Sophonie bringeth in the Lorde speaking and saying I will cut off those that worship and sweare by the Lorde and sweare by Malchom that is by their king and defender And no maruell thoughe he doe threaten destruction to them that sweare by the names of creatures For an othe is the chiefe and especiall honour done to God which therefore can not be diuided to other For we sweare by the highest whome we beléeue to be the chiefest goodnesse the giuer of all good things and the punishing reuenger of euery euil déed But and if we sweare by the names of other Gods then verily shall we make them equall to God him selfe and attribute to them the honour due to him And for this cause the blessed martyr of Christ Polycarpus chose rather the flames of fire than to sweare by the power and estate of Caesar The storie is to be séene in the fourth booke and fiftene chapter of Eusebius Fourthly we haue to consider how we ought to sweare and what the conditions of a iust a lawfull and an honest othe are Ieremie therefore sayth Thou shalt sweare The Lord liueth in trueth in iudgement â—nd righteousnesse And the nations shal blesse them selues in him and in him shall they glory There are therfore foure conditions of a iust and a lawfull othe The first is Thou shalte sweare The Lord liueth Here now againe is repeated that which hath so many times bene beaten into oure heads that we ought to sweare by the name of the liuing god The pattern of our auncestours oth was this The Lorde liueth as it is euident by the writings of the Prophetes Let vs not sweare therfore by any other but by god The second coÌ„dition is Thou shalt sweare in truth So then it is required that not onely the tong but also the mynde should sweare leaste haply we say The tong in déede did sweare but the minde sware not at all Let vs be true and faythful therfore without deceit or guile let vs not lye nor goe about with subtiltie to shifte off the othe that once we haue made We Germanes expresse this well when we say On alle gfard Or else On gfard That is I will not vse any double dealing but will simply and in good fayth performe that I promise There is an excellent patterne of a false and a deceitfull othe in Auli Gellij lib. noct Att. 7. cap. 18. The third condition is Thou shalt sweare in or with iudgement that is aduisedly with great discretion not rashly nor lightly but with consideration of euery thing and circumstaunce in greate necessitie and cases of publique commoditie The fourth condition is thou shalte sweare in iustice or righteousnesse leaste peraduenture our othe be against right and equitie that is leaste we sinne against righteousnesse or iustice whiche attributeth that whiche is theirs both to God and man so that our othe doe not directly tende against the loue of God and our neighbour Here dearely beloued ye haue heard me expresse in few words which God him self hath also taught vs how we must sweare of what sort and fashion our lawfull and allowable othes ought to be and vnder what conditions they are conteined But nowe if we shall sweare against these conditions appointed vs by God then shall our othes and swearings be altogether vnlawfull and furthermore if we shall go about to performe those vnlawful and vnalowable othes then shall we therwithall purchase and inincurre the heauie wrath of the reuenging Lord. Nowe in these dayes it is vsually of custome demaunded whether we ought to kéepe or performe wicked or vngodly vniust or euill vowes or othes as if for example thy othe or vowe should directly tende againste God against true religion against the worde of God or the healthe of thy neighbour I will here alledge and rehearse the vsuall and accustomed aunswere which notwithstanding is very true and grounded vpon examples of holy Sâ—riptures as that that squareth not
as feare God speakers of truth and haters of couetousnes make them rulers ouer thousandes rulers of hundreds rulers of fifties and rulers of tennes to iudge the people at all seasons Foure thinges the Lord requireth in a good gouernour First that he be a man of courage of streÌ„gth or force that is which hath abilitie to doe the thing whereunto he is appointed That abilitie consisteth in mind rather than in body For it is required that hée be not a foole but wise skilfull in that which hée hath to doe because the office of a Capitaine is to know how to set his armie in order of battaile rather than to fight himself as also the duetie of a Surueyor of woorkes is to know how buildinges must be erected rather than to worke himselfe or as a Chariot man ought rather to know how to guide his Carte in driuing than to drawe it himselfe And therewithal too there is demaunded a boldnesse of stomach to dare to doe the thing that hée alreadie knoweth For constancie and sufferaunce are very néedefull in euerie Capitaine In the second place that is set downe which in déede is the first Let him feare God let him be religious and not superstitious No idolatrer preserueth the common weale but rather destroyeth it and a wicked man defendeth not truth and true Religion but persecuteth and driueth them oute of his iurisdiction Let this magistrate of ours therefore bée of the right Religion sound in fayth beléeuing the woord of GOD and knowing that God is present amonge men and doth repaye to whom hée liste according to their desartes And for that cause Iustinian the Emperour in Nouellis Constitutionib 109. doth fréely confesse that al his helpe is of God and that therefore it is conuenient that the making of all lawes should depend vppon him alone Immediately after he saith It is knowen verie well to all men that they in whose handes the Empire was before it came to vs and especially that Leo of worthie memorie and the most sacred prince Iustine our father did in their constitutions flatly forbid al heretiques to be admitted souldiers in any warfare or dealers in matters concerniÌ„g the coÌ„mon weale that the lesse occasioÌ„ might be giuen by receiuing them into the fellowship of warre or handling of publique affayres for any to thincke that they corrupt the members of Gods holy Catholique and Apostolique Church And this decree do we establish Thus saith the Emperour And the godly man verilie prayeth to God and receiueth wisedome at the Lords hand And where the Princes are Gods friends and haue often conferrence with God there is hope that those common weales shall prosper and flourish But on the other side there must néeds be feared an vnhappie end of that common weale wher the enimies of God haue the preeminence Thirdly there is required of him which must be chosen and called to be magistrate that he be true in word and déede so that hée be not found to be an hypocrite a lyar a deceiuer a turnecoate nor one which out of one mouth doth blowe both hoat and cold but faithfull simple a plaine dealer and blamelesse Hée must not be more liberal in promising than in performing Hée must not be one that setteth light by an othe not a false swearer nor a periured man Fourthly because many that are in office desyre riches â—éeke to increase their wealth by bribes the Lord remoueth such from the magistracie forbiddeth good magistrates to be couetous Yea he doth expressely charge them to hate and abhorre it As hée doth also in an other place not onely forbid them to take bribes but also commaund them to shake off and rid their hands of all rewards Couetousnes and gréedie desire of bribes are the verie plagues that choake good magistrates By couetous men and takers of bribes law iudgmeÌ„t libertie iustice and the countrie it selfe is set to sale and sould to the diuell for money And now though in this place the Lord hath named onely the most pestilent mischiefe of all other yet there is no doubt but that hée doth inclusiuely debarre all other vices and euils of that sort commaunding them to be straunge and farre off from the good magistrate and godly gouernour Those vices are Pride Enuie Anger Diceing Surfetting Dronkennesse Whoredom Adulterie and whatsoeuer else is like to these This place is made more manifest by conferring it with other places in the lawe of god Moses in Deuteronomie sayth to the people Bring men of wisedome of vnderstanding and of an honest life according to your Tribes Thrée thinges here againe doth the wise man Moses require in them that are to be appointed magistrates in his common weale First sayth hée let them be wise But the beginning of wisedome is the feare of the lord Let them therefore be ordeined magistrates that are friendes to God and true religion let them bée wise and not foolish idiots Secondarilie they must be men of vnderstaÌ„ding that is men of experience who by long and continual exercise in handling of matters are able at the first brunt to deale in all cases according to the law Lastly they must be men of honest report whose lyfe and sound conuersation are by their déedes perfectly tried and sufficiently witnessed off vnto the people and finally they must be such as may beare authoritie and not be despised as rascall and vile knaues In the booke of Numbers also Moses saith Let the God of the spirits of all flesh set a man ouer the congregation which may go in and out before them lead them in and out that the Congregation of the Lord be not as sheepe without a shepheard By these words of the holie Prophet we learne who are to be choseÌ„ how they are to be chosen into the office of magistrates Moses praied to the Lord for a fit and a conuenient man and wée therefore must pray to God who searcheth all mens hearts that he wil vouchsafe to send such men to be our magistrates as are méete for that roome calling The outward shew doth many times deceiue vs and wée iudge him to be a good and godly man who is in déede a notable hypocrite God alone doth know the mind wée must beseech him therefore that he suffer vs not in our choice to erre or chose amisse Let him be thought the best and méetest for that purpose who is instructed with the holie spirite of god Furthermore hée that is appointed to that office must stil be the first the last and alwayes at one end in all matters of weight publique affayres Some vnprofitable and idle droanes there are that driue other forward after the first onset do themselues take their ease And some wicked felowes there are which wil appoint other what to do but will themselues do nothing of that which by right belonges to their office The guide of the people must be a man of choice elected to
coÌ„mon weale Judgement and punishment therfore are in the magistrate the most excellent offices although peraduenture they séeme to be somewhat hard and cruel But vnlesse this which seemeth to be crueltie bee put in vre all ages states and sexes shal féele the smart of crueller thinges and that which is most cruel in déede For it is not crueltie but rather iust seueritie which as the Lord commaundeth is put in vre for the safegard of the guiltlesse and preseruation of peace within the realme and common weale Put case there were a common weale wel furnished with most absolute lawes for politique manners and matters of religion suppose also that in the same common weale there were no magistrate to execute and as it were to father those lawes by his authoritie to bring and reduce all the déedes and sayinges of men to the triall of those lawes and that therefore euerie man breaketh forth to what kinde of life hée list himselfe and doth what he will tell mée I pray you what good do those written lawes to the men of the countrie Belieue mée forsooth not one halfpenie worth of good The best part therfore of the magistrates duetie consisteth in vpright iudgement punishing reuengement And those two points require a man of courage and Princely stomache whom the Lord in his law deseribeth liuelie and telleth what kind of man hee would haue him to bee and what the office is whereto hée is called which description I will rehearse expound because therein the Iudges person is chieflie touched Moses at the Lords commaundement saith to the Iudges Heare the cause of your bretherne and iudge righteouslie betwixt euerie man and his brother and the straunger that is with him Ye shall haue no respect of any person in iudgement but ye shal heare the small as well as the great ye shall not feare the face of any man for the iudgement is the Lords The holie Prophete in these woords toucheth two thinges chieflie Hée declareth what the Iudges office is and what vices or diseases doe infecte the Iudge that hée cannot fulfill his office as hee ought to doe Now touching the office of a good Iudge the first point thereof is that hée repel no man but heare euery one the small the great the Citizen the stranger the knowen and vnknowen And hée must heare the parties willingly diligentlie and attentiuelie Herein there is admitted no sluggishnes of the iudge nor a mind busied about other matters Iudgement before the matter be decided is vtterly excluded because it carieth away the minde of the Iudge before the matter is knowen The thing it selfe crieth out that the matter must first be heard and wel vnderstoode before the magistrate procéede to iudgement And the common prouerbe saith Let the other partie be heard too Herie wisely said that Iudge which told one that made a complaint That with the one eare hee heard him kept the other eare for him vppon whom the complaint was made Herein wée contâ—ine the perfecte knowledge of the Iudge and say that hée must not make too much haste in cases vnknowen since hée must iudge them by the thing it selfe and not by the parties secrete tales and priuie accusations Secondarilie let him iudge saith hée yea let him iudge vprightly To iudge is to determine and pronounce truelie and iustly according to the lawes what is good what is euill what is right and what is wronge Wée Switzers saye Vrteilen oder ertetlen oder richten As if one should say to distinguishe a thinge throughlie considered and to plaine and make streighte a crooked thinge Parties blinded with affections make streight thinges crocked which the Iudge by applyinge the rule of equitie and lawe doth streighten againe So that to iudge is to streighten and to make plaine Moreouer to iudge is by defending and punishing to kéepe in libertie The magistrate doeth iudge therefore when hée defendeth the innocent and brideleth the hurtfull personne But hée must iudge iustly that is according to iustice and agreablie to the lawes which giue to euerie man that that is his The Iudge doth iudge vniustlie when of a corrupte minde hée pronounceth sentence contrarie to all lawe and equitie Now therefore wée haue to consider the vices which vsuallie are wont to reigne in iudges The vices that are in Iudges bée many and the diseases of their minds are sondrie but two especiall diseases there are and chiefe of all the rest The one of these two vices which so infecteth the mindes of Iudges that they caÌ„not execute their office as they should is the accepting of faces or respecte of personnes that is when the Iudge in geuing iudgement hath not his eye set vppon the thinges themselues or vppon the causes or circumstances of the causes as they are in déde but hath a regard either of dignitie excellencie humilitie pouertie kinred men of honours letters or some such like scuffe The Lord excludeth this euill and saith Yee shall iudge iustelie yee shall haue â–ª no respecte of any person in Iudgement Yee shall heare the small aswell as the great The other disease of these twaine is feare a verie vehement affection of the minde which disturbeth the verie best and most excellent counsells and choaketh vppe Vertue before it come to light Vnder feare wée doe conteine hope also I meane of commoditie and so by that meanes by feare wée vnderstande the corruption of bribes The Iudge that standes in feare to loose his life or goods or is afrayde to displease a noble man or is loath to loose the common peoples good will hée also that taketh bribes or is in hope to be rewarded at one of the parties handes doth peruerte equitie and aduaunce iniquitie The Lord saith therefore Yée shall not feare any mortall man yee shall not looke for any reward at any mans hand Hée addeth the reason whie Because the matter is not yours neither were yée called to doe your owne businesse but the iudgemente is the Lords The will and lawe of God therefore must bée respected For God is able to defende iuste Iudges from the vniuste hatred of any whatsoeuer they bée and against all wronge and open violence Moreouer where it is said that the iudgement is the Lords thereby are the Iudges warned that they ought to imitate the example of the moste highe god But what and of what sort that example of God is the same Moâ—es in the first of Deuteronomie expresseth and saith GOD doth accept neither personne nor giste hee doth Iustice for the fatherlesse and widdowe and loueth the straunger to giue him meate and cloathinge and therefore shal yee loue the strauÌ„ger And so must godlie Iudges doe in the iudgemente which is Gods. Iosasaphat without all doubt a verie godly Prince speakinge to them whom hee had made Iudges did say Take heede what yee doe For yee execute not the Iudgementes of manne but of God which is with you in
now depart in peace By the helpe and will of God I will within these few dayes adde the rest of the tenne commaundementes The grace of our Lord and sauiour Iesus Christ be with you all Amen THE ende of the first Tome conteining two DECADES THE THIRDE AND fourth Decade of Sermons VVRITTEN TO THE most renowmed King of England Edward the sixt by Henrie Bullinger The second Tome IESVS This is my beloued sonne in whome I am well pleased Heare him Matth. 17. TO THE MOST RENOVMED Prince Edward the sixt King of England and Fraunce Lord of Jreland Prince of Wales and Cornewall defender of the Christian faith Grace and peace from God the father through our Lord Iesus Christ YOur maiestie would I knowe righte well most royall king admitt a straunger to talke with your Grace if any newe guest should come and promise that hee would briefly out of the sentences and iudgementes of the wisest men declare the very truest causes of the felicitie and vnhappie state of euery king kingdome and therefore I hope that I shall not be excluded from the speach of your maiestie because I do assuredly promise briefly to lay downe the very causes of the felicity and lamentable calamities of kinges and their kingdomes so clearely and euidently that the hearer shall not neede to trouble himselfe with ouer busie diligence to seeke out my meaning but onely to giue attentiue eare to that which is spoken For by the helpe of God I will make this treatise not to be perceiued only by the wit and deepe iudgement of learned heades but also to be seene as it were with the eyes and handled as it were with the hands of very ideots vnlearned hearers that too not out of the doubtfull decrees and deuises of men but out of the assured word of the most true god Euen the wisest men do very often deceiue vs with their counsels and greatly endamage the followers thereof But God which is the light and eternall wisedome cannot at any time either erre or conceiue any false opinions or repugning counsells much lesse teach others any thing but trueth or seduce any man out of the right way The wisedome of the father doth in the holy Gospell crie out and say I am the light of the world hee that followeth mee shall not walke in darkenesse but shall haue the light of life This eternall wisedome of God as it doth not disorderedly wrap things vp together and make them intricate but layetb downe in order and teaceth them plainly so it doth not onely minister whoalsome counsells but bringeth them to the effect which they wish that obey her Oftentimes verily men do giue counsells that are not vnwhoalsome but yet in their counsells that is altogether omitted which should haue beene first and especially mencioned All the wise men almost of the world haue beene of opinion that kings and kingdoms should be most happie if the king of the countrie be a wise man if hee haue many wise aged faithfull and skilfull counsellours if his Captaines be valiaunt warlike and fortunate in battaile if he abound with substaunce if his kingdome bee on euery side surely fortified and lastly if his people bee of one minde and obedient All this I confesse is truly rightly and very wisely spoken but yet there is another singular and most excellent thing which is not her◠〈◊〉 â—monge these necessaries without which no true felicitie can bee attayned vnto 〈…〉 ing once gotten can safely be kept when as contrarily where that one thing is present all those other necessaries do of their owne accord fall vnto meÌ„ as they themselues can best wish or deuise The Lord our God therfore who is the onely giuer of wyse perfect counselles doth farre more briefly and better knit vpp all shortly and say in the Gospell But seeke ye first rather the kingdome of God and the righteousnesse thereof and â—ll 〈◊〉 thinges shall easily be giuen vnto you Againe Blessed are the eyes 〈…〉 that ye see For I say vnto you that many kings and Prophets haue 〈…〉 to sâ—e the thinges that ye see and to heare the thinges that ye heare 〈…〉 neither heard nor seene them And againe Nay rather blessed are they that heare the word of God and keepe it And this one thing aboue allotâ—â—r is verâ—e necessarie Marie hath chosen the good part which sâ—all not be taken from her Hauing my warrant therefore out of the worde of God I dare bouldly anowe That those kinges shal flourish and be in an happie case which whoalie giue and submit themselues and their kingdomes to Iesus Christ the onely begotten sonne of God being kinge of kinges and Lord of Lords acknowledging him to be the mightiest Prince and Monarch of all and themselues his vassalls subiectes and seruauntes which finally doe not followe in all their affaires their owne minde and iudgement the lawes of men that are contrarie to Gods commaundementes or the good intentes of mortall men but doe both themselues followe the verie lawes of the mightiest king and eternall Monarch and also cause them to be followed throughout all their kingdome reforming both themselues and all theirs at and by the rule of Gods holy word For in so doing the kingdomes shall flourish in peace and tranquillitie and the kinges thereof shall be most wealthie victorious long lyued and happie For thus speaketh the mouth of the Lord which cannot possibly lye When the king sitteth vppon the seate of his kingdome he shall take the booke of the lawe of God that hee may reade in it all dayes of his life that hee may do it and not decline froÌ„ it either to the right hand or to the left but that he may prolong the dayes in his kingdome both of his owne life of his children And againe Let not the booke of this law depart out of thy mouth Iosue or thou whatsoeuer thou art that hast a kingdome but occupie thy minde therein day and night that thou mayst obserue doe according to all that is written therin for then shalt thou make thy way prosperous and then shalt thou be happie It is assuredly true therfore confirmed by the testimonie of the most true God in expresse words pronounced that the prosperitie of kinges and kingdomes consisteth in true faith diligent hearing and faithfull obeying the word or lawe of God whereas their calamitie and vtter ouerthrowe doth followe the contrarie This wil I make as my promise is in this annexed demonstration both euident to the eyes and as it were palpable to the verie handes by the examples of most mightie kinges not taken out of Herodotus or any prophane author but out of the infallible historie of the most sacred Scriptures Saule the first king of Israell was both most fortunate victorious so long as hee did in all things followe the word of God but when hee once gaue place to his owne good intentes and meanings
being vtterly forsaken of the Lord he heareth Samuel say to his face Thou hast refused and cast off the word of the Lord therefore hath God also cast thee away that thou shalt not be king of Israell I will not here stand ouer largely to declare the miseries and calamities wherein he was wrapped from that time forward For as he himselfe was horriblie haunted and vexed with the euill spirite so did he not ceasse to vexe and torment his people and kingdome vntill hee had brought them all into extreeme daunger where hee and some of his were slaine put to the worste by the heathen their enimyes leauing nothing behind him but a perpetuall shame and endlesse ignominie Next after Saule doth Dauid succeede in the seate and kingdome who without all controuersie was the most happiest of all other kinges and Princes But what stoare he did set by the word of the Lord it is euident to bee seene by many notable actes of his and especially in that Alphabeticall Psalme which in order and number is the hundreth and nintenth For therin he setteth forth the praise of Gods word the whoalsom vertue wherof he doth at large wonderfully expound in teaching what great desire zeale we ought to haue thereto For he was scholed had learned before by priuate mishaps and shameful deeds lastly by the vnhappie seditioÌ„ of his graceles sonne Absalom what an euill it is to decline froÌ„ the word of the lord SolomoÌ„ the sonne of Dauid the wisest most coÌ„mended king of all the world did so long enioy prosperitie praise at the mouth of the Lord as he did not neglect with reuerence to obey his word But when once he had transgressed the Lords commaundement streight way the Lord did say vnto him For as much as this is done of thee and that thou hast not kept mine ordinaunces and my statutes which I commaunded thee I will rent thy kingdome from thee and will giue it to thy seruaunt And nowe marke that according to that saying immediately after Solomons death the kingdome was rent into two partes and that 10. Tribes followed Ieroboam the seruaunt of Solomon Two tribes claue still to Roboam Solomons sonne Hee for neglecting the word of the Lord following after straunge Gods is ouerwhelmed with an infinite number of wofull miseries For the Scripture testifieth that the Aegyptians came vpp against Hierusalem and did destroy the Citie Palace and temple of the lord Abia the sonne of Roboam ouercame the host of Israell and bare away a triumphant victorie when hee had wounded and slaine fiue hundred thousand men of the 10. Tribes of Israell And of this so great a victorie no other cause is mencioned but because hee beleeued the word of the lord Next after Abia did his sonne Asa a renowmed and most puissaunt king reigne in his steede of whom the holy Scripture testifieth that hee abolished all superstition and did restoare sincere religion according to the word of God whereby hee obteyned a most flourishing kingdome in peace and quietnesse by the space of fourtie yeares Againe of Iosaphat Asa his sonne wee read The Lord was with Iosaphat because he walked in the former wayes of his father Dauid sought not Baalim but sought the God of his father and walked in his commaundement And therefore for his princelike wealth and famous victories he was renowmed through all the world But to his sonne Ioram who forsooke the word of God Helias the Prophete said Because thou hast not walked in the wayes of Iosaphat thy father and in the wayes of king Asa but hast walked the wayes of the kings of Israell behold with a great plague wil the Lord smite thy folke thy children thy wiues and all thy goods And thou shalt suffer great paine euen a disease of the bowells vntill thy guttes fall out And whatsoeuer the Lord threatened to bring vppon him by the mouth of the Prophet that did the vnhappie king feele with vnspeakeable tormentes to his great reproche being made an example of wretchâ—dnesse miserie which doth light on all the pates of them that do forsake the word of god Neither was the happ of Ochosias sonne to king Ioram and Athalia in any point better For at the commaundement of Iehu hee was stabbed in and slaine wretchedly bâ—câ—usâ— hee chose rather to followe the lawes and rites of the kinges of Israell than the verie true lawes of the Lord his god Moreouer Ioas a child yet but seuen yeares old being by the labour fayth and diligence of the faithfull priest Ioiada restoared to and settled in the place of his father who was slaine before him reigned after the wicked Athalia was put to death most happilie and in a prosperous state so longe as Ioiada the priest did line But when the high priest was once departed out of this world vnto the Lord the king being immediately seduced by the malice and wilinesse of his wicked counsellours left off to follow the word of the lord And as hee ceassed to followe the lord so did felicitie and glorie forsake to followe him For the Syrians comming on with a verie small power of armed men doe destroy and put to flight an insinite hoast of Iewish people they put to the sword all Ioas his counsellours and make a spoile of all his kingdome And Ioas for reiecting the Lord deserued with excessiue griefe first to behold this miserie than to 〈◊〉 away with a long consuming sicknesse and lastly vppon his bedd to haue his throate cruellte cutt of his owne houshold scruaunts Amasias the sonne of Ioas is renoâ—med for a â—amous victorie which he obteyned vppon the Idumitâ—s for no other cause but for obeying the word of the lord But afterward when hee began to rebell against God and his Prophets he is in battaile vanquished by Ioas king of Israell by whom when be was spoyled and compelled to see the ouerthrowe of a great part of the walles of Hierusalem he was himselfe at the last by conspiratours entrâ—pped and miserablie murdered Next after him succeeded his sonne Osias who also as well as his father enioyed a singular felicitie and most happie life so longe as he gainsayed not the mouth of God but when hee would vsurpe and take vppon him that office which God had properly appointed to the Leuits alone directly opposing himselfe against the word of the Lord he was striken with a leprosie and for his vncleannesse was compelled seuerallie to dwell â—loofe in banishmeÌ„t from the companie of men euen vntil his last and dying day Iothan also the sonne of Osias is reported to haue beene wealthie and victorious in his warres the cause of this felicitie the Scripture dâ—th briefly add and say Iothan became mightie because he directed his wayes before the Lord his God. But contrarily Achaz the some of Iothan as hee was of all the Iewishe kinges almost the wickeddest so was hee in his life
farre aboue all earthly richesse Thus much haue I said hetherto touching restitution of which other men haue left very ample discourses I for my part do see that to a godly minde this worke of restitution is short and plaine enough and therefore haue I spoken of it so shortly as I haue For a godly and well disposed man doeth with al his hart desire and seeke to obey the lawe of God and therefore by calling to God for ayde he shall easilie finde a way to woorke iustice equitie As for those whose desire is rather to seme iust men than to be iust in deede and do loue this world more than it becommeth them to doe they with their ouer many questions and innumerable Perchaunces and Put cases do make the treatise of restitution so tedious and intricate that no man shall euer bee able to make it so plaine that they will vnderstand it I wil not therefore aunsweare them any more but onely warne them to examine their owne conscience see what that doth bidde them doe Now I would haue that cōscience of theirs to be settled in and be mindfull of the generall lawe which saith Whatsoeuer thou wouldest haue done to thee selfe that doe thou to another and whatsoeuer thou wouldest not haue done to the selfe that doe not thou to an other After this now I will somewhat freely discourse vppon the iust possessing vsing or disposing of well gotten earthly substance First of all no man must put any confidence in richesse which are in deede things transitorie and doe quickly decay wee must not settle our minds vpon nor be in loue with them but by all meanes take heede that they driue vs not to idolatrie nor hinder the course that we haue to passe Heauen is the goale wherat we runne Here againe we must all giue eare to the diuine and heauenly woords vttered by the Prophete Dauid who said Put your trust in God alwayes powre out your heartes before him for God is our refuge As for the children of men they be but vaine the children of mē are deceitfull vppon the weightes they are altogether lighter than vanitie it selfe Truste not in wronge and robberie giue not your selues to vanitie if riches increase set not your hartes vppon them The Apostle Paule beeing indued with the same spirite biddeth vs to vse the world and worldly thinges as though we vsed them not Againe hee calleth couetousnesse the worshipping of idolls and chargeth rich men not to put their trust in vncertaine riches but in the lyuing god who ministreth to all creatures lyuing sufficiently enough And therefore the Lord in the Gospell forbiddeth to heape vpp treasures vppon earth Now on the other side we are not bidden by the Apostles to spend oure goods prodigallie in riot and wantonnesse For wee may not abuse the wealth that the Lord hath lent vs in pride and luxurie as many doe who lash out al in dieing sumptuous building straung clothiong excessiue drinking and ouer deyntie banquetting The end and destruction of such kind of people the Lord doeth verie finely though not without terrour to them that heare it set downe in the parable of the rich glutton who after his delicate fare coastly apparell was after this life tormented in hell with vnspeakeable thirste toasted there with vnquencheable fire Therefore these temporall goods must be rightly holilie and moderately vsed without excesse Euerie man must acknowledge these terrestriall goods to be the meere and free giftes of our bountifull and heauenly father and not to be giuen for our deserts or gottē by our might For wee haue of Gods liberalitie all thinges necessarie to mainteyne oure liues It is the Lord which blesseth and doth prosper our labour Finallie they are not euil but the good gifts of God which he giueth for the maintenaunce of our liues and not to our destruction the fault is in our selues that riches are a snare to bring many men to euill ends Moreouer the Lord himselfe requireth and in his woord commaundeth vs to be thanckful vnto him for his good benefits bestowed on vs to vse them with thankes giuing to praise his name for al things and to reioyce in his fatherly goodnes shewed vnto vs For thus doth Moses the seruaunt of God in Deuteronomie charge the Israelites When thou hast eaten therefore and filled thee selfe then thancke the Lord thy God in that good land which hee hath giuen thee Beware that thou forgett not the Lord thy God that thou wouldest not keepe his commaundementes his lawes and ordinances which I commaund thee this day yea and when thou hast eaten filled thee selfe and hast built goodly houses and dwellest therein and when thy beastes and thy sheepe are waxen many and thy siluer and thy gold is multiplied and al that thou hast is increased then beware least thine heart rise and thou forgett the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Aegypt and from the house of bondage Say not then in thine heart my power and the might of mine owne hand hath prepared mee this aboundance Remember the Lord thy GOD for it is hee that giueth thee power to gett substance c. Moreouer Paule the Apostle saith that al the creatures of God are good created to the good and preseruation of vs men and biddeth vs vse them with the feare of God and giuing of thanckes And againe Whether yee eate or drincke or whatsoeuer ye do do all to the glorie of God. And in another place Let your maners bee farre from couetousnes and bee content with the thinges that yee haue For he hath said I do not forsake nor leaue thee so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper I wil not feare what man can doe vnto mee Let earthly goodes also serue our necessitie Nowe necessitie requireth a commodious dwelling place so much victualls as are sufficiente comely apparell and honeste company keeping wyth oure neighbours and equalls Let euery man measure and esteeme these circumstaunces first by his owne personne then by his familie or household For an householder must warely prouide and foresee that no necessarie thinge be wanting in his familie Of this care of the househoulder there are sundrye testimonies of Scripture extant but especiallie that of Saint Paule in the fifth Chapiter of his first Epistle to Timothie And here note that by necessitie all thinges are mente which the body or life of man doth necessarily require and stand in néede of and finally whatsoeuer the honestie and beséeming of euery man doth craue or demaunde And thus farre verily and to this ende or purpose it is lawfull for any man to lay somewhat vp in stoare against yeares to come The man whose charge is much in keping a great house hath néede of the more to maintayne it withall and hée whose familie is not so bigge néedeth so much the lesse as his house is the smaller And one
thee to prouide that they of thine owne household bee not a burden to other mens backes So then the man whose wealth is small is not compelled to spend that litle which hee hath in doing honour or shewing courtesie to other men It is enoughe for him to beare with a valiaunt hart his owne harde hap and to take héede that his pouertie procure him not to offend against right and honestie Let those who are indifferently stoared and richer menne who haue wealth at wil be courteous and liberall to enterteyne straungers wyth francke hospitalitie Let their minds be set to vse liberalitie to their owne praise and honestie and not giuen to filthie gréedinesse and vnhonest sparing of euery odd halfpenie For some thou shalt finde who thoughe they bee indifferently well stoared wyth wealth and possessions are yet not withstanding so whoalie giuen ouer to the gathering of more that neither for their owne honesties sake nor for any shewe of courtesie they will once bestowe a dodkin vppon any man whatsoeuer bee hee their owne countrieman or a stranger vnknowne These kinde of fellowes are alwayes chambered and kéepe themselues cloase in secreate counting houses their baggs are their pillowes whereon they sléepe dreame of their ruddockes they are not séene to sturre abroade least peraduenture occasion should bee offered them to giue entertainement or to shewe some ciuilitie to aliaunts and straungers The Scripture doth giue a farre better reporte of the most holie and famous Patriarchs our graund predecessours Lot sate in the gates of Sodome to wayte for straungers and wayfaring men to the ende hee might take them hoame to his house and giue them enterteynment so well as hee could And if it fell out that he mette with a straunger hee did not desire him hoame to his house for fashions sake onely that is with fainte or fayned woordes but hee vsed in earneste all the meanes hée could to compell him perforce to take vp his Inne and lodge with him that night Of oure father Abraham yée read in Genesis that in the verie heate of the day as hée sate in the doore of his tent hee espied three men that were trauellers whome at the first sight althoughe hée knewe them not hee enterteyned very louingly and badd them wellcome hartily For he stayeth not to looke when they should come and request to refreshe themselues wyth him but starteth vppe and meeteth them before they come to the doore of his tent where hee himselfe preuenteth them in speaking first vnto them and when hee had courteously after his countrie manner with obeysaunce saluted them hee biddeth them very louingly hoame to his house and sayth I beseech thee my Lord if I may finde fauour in thy sight passe not away I pray thee from thy seruaunt Loe heere hee calleth a traueller and a straunger too by the name of Lord euen as wee Germanes in the enterteyning of straungers are wont to say Sind mir Gott wol kommen lieben herren vnd gouten friind And althoughe hee were in the land where hee dwelt a man of highe authoritie and verie great name yet notwithstanding hee did as it were forget himselfe and say Passe not I pray thee away from thy seruaunt He calleth himself a seruant of strangers He goeth on moreouer sayth Let a little water be fet wash your feete refresh your selues vnder the tree And I will fet a morsell of bread to comforte your heartes and then shall yee goe on your way In these fewe woordes hee conteyneth in a manner all the pointes of ciuil courtesie Neyther did Abraham vse these woordes to make a shewe onely of bounteous liberalitie but when hee had by entreatie requested them to stay and by their graunt obteyned his desire hee bestirreth his stumpes to accomplishe in deedes the thinge that hee had promised hee maketh hast to Sara which was in the tent and sayth Make readie at once three measures of fine meale kneade it and make cakes The Scripture yet addeth further this cause And Abraham running vnto his beasts caught a calfe tender and good and gaue it to a younge man which hasted and made it readie at once And hee tooke butter and milke and the calfe which hee had prepared and sett it before them and stoode himselfe with them That is did himselfe serue them as they ate vnder the tree This is wonderfull verilie and to bee thought on deepely Those goods were well and woorthily bestowed vppon so bountifull liberall and courteous a man as Abraham was which knewe howe to vse his wealth so honestly and with so commendable courtesie Neither was hee alone in all his house so francke and liberall as his wife and familie were readilie giuen and very willing to put that holie excercise in vre and practise All thinges therefore were readie wyth a trice In making preparation also no diligence was wantinge choice was made of all thinges for riffe raffe and refuse geere was not serued to these straungers but the best and likelyeste of all that was found The good man himselfe taketh paynes like a seruaunte Hee himselfe bringeth in his countrie fare whiche farre doeth excell all costly cates and princelike dishes and setteth his guestes to meate with butter and milke and serueth the last course with veale well fedd and housewife like dressed Neither was hee contente with this courtesie and enterteynemente but humbled himselfe further yet and wayted at the Table while his guestes were at meate The table loe was serued by him which had those great ample promises made him by GOD which is the father of all the faithfull which is the roote and graundsyre of Christe oure Lord which was the friende of God and confederate to puissaunte kinges beeing himselfe the most honourable Prince in all the land as hée that had in warre ouercome and vanquished foure of the mightieste kinges of all the Easte and brought them backe againe to slauerie and bondage deliuering his people whom they had taken captiue This excellent and worthie man I say may well bée a paterne for all wealthie men to followe in bestowing honour courtesie and hospitalitie vppon straungers and men vnknowen For lastly beside his rare and seldome séene hospitalitie he shewed moreouer this point of courtesie that when they rose from meate he bare them companie some part of the way Let our wealthie pinchpence therefore at the last bee ashamed of and leaue their niggish liues and insatiable couetousnesse What pleasure I pray you haue they of their riches to whome doe they good whom doe they honour with their close kept coyne Or what honour or honestie doeth their monie procure or gett them while they liue amonge men Whie doe not the wiser sorte of wealthie men rather leaue this crue of miserable wretches and hearken to the Apostles words who saith Remember to keepe hospitalitie for by that meanes many haue lodged Angels vnwittingly and vnawares And verilie hée speaketh there of Lot and Abraham
apparel For as the man is such is his talk such is his cloathing therefore the rayment doeth note of what conuersation the priests ought to be Whereuppon it commeth that in the Scriptures wee are bidden to put on other cloathing whē the meaning of the holy Ghoste is that wee should chaunge our wicked conuersation so that the very garmentes doe partly instruct the priests what they haue to doe and what is seemely for them But nowe the time and course of this treatise inuiteth mée to speake somewhat of the priests office Their office did consist in many thinges but especially in teaching instructing For the chiefe cause whie the priestes were ordeyned of God was to instruct the Church in true pietie and to teach the people the lawe of god For thus wée read that the Lord did say vnto Aaron Thou thy sonnes that are with thee shall drincke neither wine nor stronge drinke when ye enter into the tabernacle of wittnesse least happily ye die Let it be an euerlasting ordinaunce among your posterities that ye may put disferēce both betwixt holie vnholie betwixt cleane and vncleane that ye may teach the sonnes of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken vnto them by the ministerie of Moses Leuit. 10. The same lawe doth Ezechiel in as many wordes almost rehearse in the 44. Chapiter of his Prophecie And Malachie declareth it also as it is to be seeae in the second of his Prophecie They therefore are vtterly deceyued which thincke that the Leuiticall priestes were appointed onely for to kill the sacrifices Moreouer the lord doth euery where in his lawes minister matter for the Leuitical priesies to instruct his people in and that matter was not the heathenish Philosophie the edicts of kinges or decrees of Senatours but the very woord of God deliuered to them by God himselfe And that this doctrine might be the more conunodiously vttered to the people the priestes appointed certaine holy dayes wherein the people should assemble together to heare them preach the word of God. The next point of their duetie after teaching was to blesse the people That blessing was not free for euerie priest to vse as hee listed but was bounde to a certaine forme of words very solemnly vttered which is thus expressed in the 6. of Numbers And the Lord spake vnto Moses saying Speake vnto Aaron his sonnes saying On this wise ye shall blesse the children of Israel and say vnto them The Lord blesse thee keepe thee The Lord shewe his face vnto thee and be merciful vnto thee the Lord lift vp his countenance vppon thee and giue thee peace This manner of blessing did they vse vndoubtedly in their holy assemblies esspecially at the breaking vpp of the congregation when the people did depart In an other place it is said that God did blesse but here that Aaron and his sonnes did blesie the people whereuppon wée haue to note that God doth woorke inwardly and performe in the faithful what soeuer the priestes in that forme of blessing did wishe vnto the people so that still to blesse is the onely and proper worke of God alone And therfore verie significantly after that solemne blessing vttered by the mouth of the priest God doth add And they shall call or put my name ouer or vpon the children of Israel and I will blesse them The priestes therefore do lay before the people the name of the Lord they commend vnto them the mightie power of his Godhead and shew them that all goodnesse doeth flowe from God teaching them how they may obteyne it through faith in Christ who is the blessed séed that blesseth al that call vppon his name Nowe in this solemne blessing sixe principal points are chiefly conteyned First the priest sayth The Lord blesse thee That is The Lord bestowe vpon thée whatsoeuer belongeth to the safetie of thy bodie and soule Secondarily he saith The Lord keepe thee For it is not sufficient to receiue good thinges at the hand of the Lord vnlesse they bée preserued by his power and not taken from vs by his wrathfull indignation nor lost againe by oure owne negligence Thirdly hee sayth The Lord shew thee his face or The Lord make his face shine vppon thee The Lord doth thē shew vs his louing face when after his anger hee sheweth vs his fauour and doth become good and gratious to vs And therefore in the fourth clause doeth followe a more plaine exposition where the priest sayth The Lord bee mercifull vnto thee as if hee should haue said The Lord be alwayes gentle and fauourable vnto thée in all that thou goest about either in words or déeds The fift blessing is The Lord liftvpp his countenaunce vppon thee Now the Lord lifteth vpp his countenaunce when he looketh vppon vs when hée watcheth ouer vs and doth direct and guide our wayes The last desire is Peace which is taken for the saluation and chiefe goodnesse that happeneth to mankinde although in an other sense it is put for the contrarie to warre or battel and the peace of the conscience is no smal felicitie to mortall men These were the good things that the priestes did wish to light vppon the people teaching them withal to beséech the Lord for those blessings with ardent prayers carnest supplications Euen till this day there doe remaine the Psalmes that the priestes did make for the peoples sake to singe For after that Dauid had brought musick into the temple then did the playing vppon musical instrumentes with swéete melodie and singing of Psalmes beginne to be taken for an office among the priests Touching this musicke vsed in the temple the first booke of Chronicles speaketh very much where it treateth of Dauid and his dealinges how he distributed the singers into 24. orders and that by course Moreouer the priestes were commaunded to minister the Sacraments and to sacrifice For they did circumcise the infants their office was to see the Passeouer eaten and to offer sacrifices of sundrie sorts vnto the Lord of which I will speake hereafter in place cōuenient And that they might more commodiously offer their sacrifices Dauid by the inspiration of the holy ghost diuided the two families of Eleazar and Ithamar into 24. orders For they did minister by course as is to be séen in the 24. Chapiter of the first of Chronicles All the while that their turne to minister did laste the priestes remayned still within and neuer did set a foote out of the temple For there were houses builded within the temple for the priests to dwell in when their lot did come to serue the Lord they neuer went vnto their owne houses vntill their course were expired and their time to minister were fully finished The priestes also did kéepe the holy vessells and make them cleane they kept the candels burning the holy fire that it should not goe out to be short they had the charge of all thinges which
meate offerings we may place the drinke offeringes also For in those sacrifices wine was powred out vnto the Lord as is euident in y 29 of Erodus the 6 of Leuiticus and the 28 Chapter of the booke of Numbers Nowe Christe is oure wine oure drinke ioye vnto eternall life He powreth himselfe into the mindes of the godly that he maye fill them with ioye and liue in them and they in him And therfore did he consecrate in wine the memorie of his bloud that was shead for vs to the remission of oure sinnes With these meat offeringes may be ioyned the sacrifices of the first fruites of the firste begotten of the tenths Touching all which there is much to be read in diuerse places of the lawe as in the. 13. and. 23. of Exodus in the. 18. of Leuiticus and the. 18. of the booke of Numbers Nowe Christ is the firste begotten the first fruites of al the faithfull for whose worthines and merite we are all spared and by whom we being sanctified are made the sonnes and heirs of god To him as to our maker and redéemer we owe as tenthes our very soules and whatsoeuer else is deare vnto and good in vs. Moreouer it is a poynt of thanckfulnes franckly to bestowe vpon God parte of our earthly riches which we haue at his hands to the mainteinance of his true worship and the reliefe of all that be in pouertie The third kinde of sacrifice is that which is offered for sinne and is therfore called Hattah a cleansing or Ascham a sacrifice for sinne We in one woorde may call it a cleansing sacrifice For it was offered for sinne coÌ„mitted vnwittingly or by ignorance which by the degrées of the sinners were diuided into foure sortes as if the chiefe priest did sinne if the whole churche did sinne if the Prince did sinne or if some man of the meaner sorâ—e did sinne Or else they did offer it for sinne committed willingly or of a sett purpose beeing yet a meane or excusable sinne or else for a great and heynous crime which ignorance could by no meanes excuse The ceremonie vsed in this sacrifice is verie ample and large so that I meane not presently once to touche it It is most exquisitely set downe in the fourth fifte sixte and seuenth Chapter of Leuiticus Neither is it to be doubted but that Christe was layde before their eyes as well in that sacrifice as in all their other oblations For Christe is the ende of the lawe and the marke whereto theÌ„ ceremoniall lawes did tende And Esaie in the 53 Chapter of his prophecie sayeth Whereas he neuer did vnrighteousnesse nor any deceiptfulnesse was founde in his mouth yet hath it pleased the Lorde to smite him with infirmitie that when hee had made his soule an offering for sinne for here is put **** Ascham he might see seede and might prolong his dayes and that the aduice of the Lorde might prosper in his hand To this belongeth y who le disputation of the apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrues wherein hée sheweth that Christe is the true sacrifice for sinne that cleanseth all the church and the sinnes thereof In this ceremonie were shadowed the disposition of sinnes the passions of Christ and the power and strength of death Nowe these many and sundrie sacrifices appoynted for sinnes were kepte vncerteinly because they were wonte to be offered of them that sinned at that verie time when they did commit the sinne but the certaine â—he yearely and vniuersall sacrifice was that which is at large described in the 〈◊〉 of Louitiâ—us and may be referred in this place to the number of cleansing sacrifices For in the feast of attonement vppon the tenth day of the seuenth moneth euery yeare was solemnized the sacrifice of cleansing or attonement for all the sinnes vniuersally of all the people The manner of this generall sacrifice I will not ouer busily at this time describe since it is as clearely as the light sett downe in that place of Leuiticus which euen nowe I cited and since I in expounding the mysterie thereof do meane to shewe and make plaine so many shadowes in it as are néedefull to bee marked For I will saye somewhat touchinge the meaning and mysterie thereof In that moste pleasant glasse was figured the whole passion and effect of the passion of Iesus Christ our Lorde and Sauiour which by that sacrifice was euery yere layde before the eyes and renued to the mindes of all the faithfull church of god For this maner of representing our redemption saluation did please God by sacramentes rather then by pictures colours or by stage playes which are at this daye greatly set by althoughe scarce godly by no small number of trifeling and fantasticall heads Now marke that the high priest onely did all that was to be don in this solemne sacrifice saue onely that two ministers were ioyned vnto him the one to leade away the scape goate and the other to carrie out of the hoste the bullocke and hée goate that was to be offered Yea charge is verie precisely giuen that no man should ioyne him selfe to the high priest when hee entreth into the tabernacle and maketh an attonement for the sinnes of the people Let no man saith the Lorde be in the tabernacle of appointment when he goeth in to make sacrifice in the Sanctuarie vntil he do come out againe For no man must be ioyned to Christ in finishing the woorke of our saluation and redemption For he alone is the Sauiour hee alone hath trode the presse and he alone was crucified for vs The Patriarches prophets apostles martyrs and all other creatures are vtterly excluded from hauing any thankes for our redemption and saluation Christe alone remaineth the sauiour and redéemer of the worlde To attribute our saluation to creatures to oure owne workes and our owne merites is to admitt creatures with the high prieste into the tabernacle and to incurre the indignation that is the terrible curse of the almightie true and euerliuing god For by the Iewishe high prieste is prefigured to vs Christe our Sauiour who as the Apostle Paule saith hath a priesthood which by succession cannot goe from him to any other Nowe Aaron did take a bullocke for a sinne offeringe and a ramme for a burnt offering of his owne and of the people he tooke two he goates Therefore Christ our Lorde the true and only priest of his church did offer for vs the thing that he tooke of vs to wite the substance of our fleshe There is added also that Aaron by which name wée vnderstande euery one that was the high prieste amonge the people of God when hee went about to sacrifice did cloath him selfe with the vsuall and common garmentes of the other priestes I meane such as the other priestes were wont to weare sauing onely that they were holye and without spot For although Christe the sonne of GOD did take our nature vppon
him and did become like vnto vs being cladde as it were in the vsuall garment of vs men yet notwithstanding his fleshely garment I meane his bodie that was like to ours was altogether frée from corruption and cleane without all spottes of sinne Aaron did first of all kill a stéere for him selfe and his familie whereby he declared that hee was not the verie true high Priest but the type of him that was the true Priest For Paule saith Our high priest had no neede as those high priestes had first to offer sacrifices for their owne sinnes then for the sinnes of the people For he did that once when he offered vpp him selfe Afterwardes Aaron drewe lottes at the doore of the tabernacle to trye betwixt the two goates whiche should be slaine for the sacrifice and which shoulde bee sent awaye as the scape goate into the desart The two Goates do signifie Christ our Lorde verie God and verie man in two natures vnseparated He is slaine and dyeth in his humanitie but is not slaine nor dyeth in his diuinitie Yet he being one and the same Christ vnseperated is the sauiour of the world and doth worke the redemption of vs mortall men So in the two Goates was a mysterie hidden And for because as Solomon saith the lotts are guided by the Lordes will it was not without the especiall will of the father that the sonne was sacrificed and killed on the crosse Moreouer the high Priest did take the bloud firste of the bullocke then of the slaine goate and a Censer in his hande and went within the vaile where with the incense he did make a cloude of smoke before the mercie seate and with his finger did sprincle the bloud seuen times toward the mercie seate All which the Apostle Paule expoundinge in the 9 to the Hebrewes saith that Christ entred not into the Tabernacle made with handes but into the verie heauens not with the bloud of a bullocke or a goate but with his owne bloud and found for vs a perpetuall cleansing remission of our sinnes For he is our propitiation not for our sinnes onely but also for the sinnes of all the worlde And herevnto did the Apostles allude as ofteÌ„ as they called Christ our propitiation as S. Paule did in y third to the Romans and Sainct Iohn in the seconde and fourth Chapter of his first Epistle Nowe the seuen times sprinckling of the bloud betokened the ful perfection or perfect fulnesse of the cleansinge We haue néede also to be sprinckled with the finger not of man but of Christ Iesus our Lorde and Sauiour whose finger is the holie Ghoste by whome our cleansing doth come vpon vs. To the sprinckling of the bloud is also added swéete smellinge incense For as the Apostle testifieth Christe our high priest did offer prayers for vs with teares and was heard in that which he feared Whereupon by the cloude of smoke that is by the greate quantitie of smoke was noted the greate efficacie of earnest prayers When that was don the high priest went againe into the Sanctum sett the bloud vpon the golden altar of incense For in the worke of our redeÌ„ption both innocent bloud and earnest prayer for vs must bee ioyned togeather Out of the SanctuÌ„ again he came to the altar of burnt offerings whiche stoode in the court which was called AtriuÌ„ there he gaue the other goate to a conuenient man to be carried away into the wildernesse but in the deliuering of the goate he vsed a precise manner and singular ceremonie For the high priest layed both his handes vppon the Goate and ouer his head did confesse the sinnes of the people who also did them selues confesse their sinnes following the priest clause by clause in all the confession which hée rehearsed and then so soone as all the sinnes were layde vppon the head of the Goate hee was sent awaye that by that meanes he might carie the sinnes of all the people into the desart From this ceremonie did the Gentiles vndoubtedly borrow their kind of cleansinges or purgings of the people called in Gréeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Latine Pâ—amina For their manner was in extreme periles that one should giue him selfe for all the rest whome they tooke and did either kill burne vppon the altar or cast into the water praying therewithall that al their euil lucke might go with him and that the Gods being pacified w the death of him might againe be fauourable to all the rest But the wretches erred as farre as heauen is wide For Christe the sonne of God was made sinne for vs that is hee was made a sacrifice for sinne yea hee became a cursse for vs that we by him might receiue a blessing For to this had the Prophet Esaie an eye when he saide wee all went astray like sheepe euery one turned after his owne waye But the Lorde hath throwne vpon him al our sinnes Againe He was wounded for our offences and smitten for our wickednesse And againe The paines of our punishment were laide vpon him and he bare our griefes Nowe the Goate did carrie the sinnes into the desart not that the sinnes should not be but that they should not be any more imputed vnto them For in the church verily there is sinne in the Saincts but it is not imputed vnto them Sinne is imputed to all them that are without the church in y desolate wildernesse The conuenient man that should carrie away the scape Goate can be none other than Christ him selfe who in the dayes of his fleshe did obserue the conuenient time and fitt occasion repeating often times that his houre was not yet come but at the last when time conuenient was come for him to dye he saide that then his houre was come And by dying he carried away conueniently the scape Goate I meane the sinne of all the world When this also was thus accomplished the high priest did againe wash him selfe and putting off the common garments of the inferiour priestes did againe put on his high priestes attire Nowe this often and manifolde washing in the holie ceremonie is a shadowe or type of the moste absolute remission of sinnes euen as also the chaunging of the garment is a signe or figure of glorification as is at the full to be séene in the third Chapter of Zacharies prophecie And Christe being glorified did enter into heauen there to appeare in the sight of God the onely and effectuall sacrifice for vs mortall men Therefore did Aaron sacrifice a Ramme for a burnt offering for Christ is the sacrifice which endureth alwayes and purgeth all the faithfull Moreouer Aaron sent the Bullocke the other Goate vnto the holie place without the host that there they might be burned Which thing Paule expoundeth thus saith The bodies of those beastes whose bloud is brought into the holie place by the high priest for sinne was burnt without the tents therefore Iesus also that hee
giuen by God touching the magistrate or Iudges with their office and election Of their election thus we reade Bring ye saith Moses to the people men of wisedome and of vnderstanding and expert according to your tribes and I will make them rulers ouer you Againe I will make thee rulers and Iudges to iudge the people according to thy tribes in all thy cities which the Lorde thy God giueth thee And yet againe more plainly Seeke saith Iethâ—o being inspired from aboue vnto Moses out of all the people men of courage and suche as feare God true men hating couetousnesse to wite such as hate to take money and bribes â–ª and make of them ouer the people rulers of thousands rulers of hundredes rulers of fifties and rulers of tennes and let them iudge the people at all seasons Which if thou doest thou shalt both keep the ordinances of God and the people in peace and safetie To this doth beloÌ„g that which we reade in the booke of NuÌ„bers where Moses prayed saying Let the God of the spirits of al fleashe set a man ouer this congregation which may go out and in before theÌ„ that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheepe without a shepehearde Herein Moses hath leaft an example for vs to imitate in making our prayers to God for the election of our Iudges For often times our opinions or iudgements of men do vtterly deceiue vs But the God of spirites doth behold the mindes and heartes kneweth what euery one is in thoughtes and inward meaning He therefore must be besought to giue and shewe to vs not hypocrites to be our Iudges but men of trueth and vertue In the same place doth Moses leaue to vs the description of consecrating newe chosen Iudges For they were set before the Lorde and handes were laide vpon them with making of prayers supplications Moreouer the office of Iudges is verie briefely but yet in moste effectuall and absolute sentences described of the Lord by the mouth of Moses in these wordes Heare the causes of your brethren and iudge righteousely betwixt euery man and his brother and the straunger that is with him Ye shal haue no respect of any person in iugement but heare the small and the greate alike and feare not the face of any man for the iudgement is Gods. Againe Iudge the people with iust iudgement Decline not in iudgement haue no respect of persons neither take thou any bribes for rewardes do blinde the eyes of the wise and doeth peruert iust causes Doe iudgement with iustice that thou mayst liue possesse the land which the Lorde thy God shal giue thee And againe Do no vniust thing in iudgement accept not the face of the poore neither feare thou the face of the mightie but iudge thou iustly vnto thy neighbor Againe Thou shalt not haue to doe with a false reporte thou shalt not followe a multitude to doe euil neither shalt thou speake in a matter of iustice according to the greater number for to peruert iudgement that is if thou séest an innocent to be condemned of the multitude do not thou therfore condemne him because the multitude hath condemned him but iudge thou iustly and committ not euil because of the many voices of the multitude Thou shalte not esteeme a poore man in his cause neither shalt thou hinder the poore of his right in his suite Keep thee farre from a false matter and the innocent and righteous see that thou slaye not Thou shalt not oppresse the straunger seeing ye your selues were straungers in the â—and of Aegypt And God verily when he had deliuered the people from the tyrannie of the kings of Aegypt did not putt them in subiection to kinges againe nor burden them with the tributes which kings are wont to exact of their subiects for he made them a common weale or an Aristocracie which was the moste excellent kind of regiment wherein the choicest men in all the multitude were piked out to beare that swaye and to rule the rest but yet because hee was not ignorant of his peoples foolishenesse and that they being wearie of their libertie woulde craue a king which thing he did afterward also disuade them from by his seruaunt Samuel he made lawes for a king also that hee might vnderstand that he was to liue vnder the lawes and to giue iudgement according to the lawes The discipline or institution of a king is thus expressed in the 17 Chapter of Deuteronomium WheÌ„ thou art come into the land which the lord thy God giueth thee and shalte saye I wil set a king ouer mee like as all the nations that are about me then thou shalt make him king ouer thee whome the Lord thy God shall choose One from among the middest of thy brethren shalte thou make king ouer thee and thou mayest not set a straunger ouer thee which is not of thy brethren But he shall not gather many horses vnto him selfe nor bring the people back againe into Aegypt to increase the number of horses that is to get him selfe a strong troope of horse men for as much as the Lorde hath saide ye shall hencefoorth go no more againe that waye Also let him not take many wiues to him selfe least his heart turne awaye neither let him gather too much siluer and golde And when he is sett vppon the seate of his kingdome he shall write him out a copie of this law in a booke according to the copie of the booke which the priestes the Leuites do vse and it shal bee with him he ought to reade therein all the dayes of his life that hee may learne to feare the Lorde his God and to keepe all the woordes of this lawe and these ordinaunces for to do them And let not his hart arise aboue his brethren neither let him turne from the commandement either to the right hand or to the leaft that hee may prolong his dayes in his kingdome both hee and his sonnes in the middest of Israel Thus much hitherto of the magistrates of Iudges and of kinges Nowe I suppose that in this institution of a kinge all thinges are conteined which are moste largely set out by other authors touching the discipline and education of a Prince And by the waye this is especially to bée noted that Kinges are not set as Lordes and rulers ouer the worde and lawes of God but are as subiectes to bee iudged of God by the worde as they that ought to rule and gouerne all thinges according to the rule of his worde and commaundements And here I haue to rehearsâ— vnto you some of the Iudiciall lawes I meane not all and euery seueral one but those alone which are the chiefe choicest to be noted by which ye may consider of the rest and plainly perceiue that the people of Israel were not destitute of anye lawe which was necessarie and profitable for their good state and welfare I will recite them vnto you as briefely as may bee
and in as naturall and playne an order as possibly can bée Of the holie buyldings of the not makinge awaye of such thinges as were consecrated to the Lorde and finally of the mainteining and publishinge of true religion there is large speache euery where throughout the whole Scripture Neither do I thinke it to be greatly to the purpose worde by worde to recite all the lawes nor particularly to make mencion of all the commandments touching those matters Verily of the Heathen and of the ouerthrowing of their Temples and superstitious holie toyes this commaundement is briefely giuen by the Lord him selfe When the Lorde thy God hath cast out many nations before thee thou shalt roote them out neither shalte thou make league with them nor pittie them nor ioyne affinitie with them because they will seduce thy sonnes to serue straunge Goddes and so my furie waxe hoate against thee and I destroy thee But this shalt thou do to them ye shall digge downe their altars ye shall breake their idoles ye shall cut downe their groues and burne their images with fire For an holie people arte thou vnto the Lord thy God the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people vnto him selfe The same lawe is set downe in the 23 of Exodus and is againe repeated in the twelfth of Deuteron Herevnto belong the laws that were published against idols and images In the ninetéenth of Leuiticus the Lorde saith Looke not backe to idoles neither make you moulten Gods. I am the Lord your God. Also in the 26 Chapter Ye shal make you no idols nor grauen Image neither reare you vp any piller neither shal ye set you vp any Image of stone in your lande to bow downe vnto it for I am the Lord your God. Againe in the 16 of Deuteronomie Thou shalt plant no groue of any trees nighe vnto the altar of the lord thy God neither shalt thou set thee vpp any image which the Lord thy God hateth There are beside these also many other lawes to this ende and purpose in euery place through all the volume of the Scriptures Of the well handling and entreating of the poore of widowes of orphanes and straungers the Lorde giueth this commaundement Ye shall not afflict the widowe nor the fatherlesse But if ye goe on to afflicte them without doubt they shall crye to mee and I wil assuredly heare thē and wil be angrie with you and wil slaye you with the sworde and your wiues shal bee widowes and your children fatherlesse To this beelongeth a good parte of the fiftéenth Chapter of Deuteronomie In the 24 Chapter the Lorde saith Do not peruert the iudgement of the straunger of the fatherlesse and of the widowe Remember rhat thou wast a straunger in the lande of Aegypt Of the receiuinge and refusinge of witnesses and their witnesse bearings in iudgement these fewe notes are giuen in the lawe One witnesse shall not bee of force againste a man whatsoeuer his sinne or offence shall be but in the mouth of two or three witnesses shal euery worde bee established If a false witnesse rise vp against a man to accuse him of trespas the Iudges shal make diligent inquisition and if they finde that the witnesse hath borne false witnes against his brother then shal they do to him as he had thought to haue don to his brother thou shalt put euil awaye from out of the middest of thee Nowe for the othe which the Iudges haue to exact or they that are at variance or else the witnesses haue to take that doth the Lord commaunde to be done by the calling to recorde of his holy name and that too of none other but his name alone Deuteron 10 c. Moreouer that in effect is a kinde of appeale where Moses doeth so often bidd the Iudges in an hard and doubtfull matter to haue recourse vnto the high priest and so as it were to God him self or the Oracle of God for the declaration of the same as is to be seene in the eyghtéenth Chapter of Exodus and in the firste and sixtéenth Chapter of Deuteronomie Of lawfull wedlocke against incestuous and vnprofitable marriages and also of the degrées of consanguinitie and affinitie there are exquisite precepts as well in the eyghtéenth Chapter of Leuiticus as also in other places of the bookes of Moses Verily where lawfull marriages are not there is no matrimonie therefore the children that are so borne are counted bastardes neither is there for them any dowries or inheritance The Lord in many places of his lawe doth charge parents to bring vp their children honestly and to instruct them in the feare of god Among the rest he saith The wordes which I commaunde thee this daye thou shalt shewe vnto thy children and shalt talke of them when thou arte at home in thine house and as thou walkest by the way and when thou lyest downe and when thou risest vp And thou shalt bind them for a signe vppon thine hand they shal be as frōtlets betwixt thine eyes and thou shalt write them vpon the postes of thine house and vpon thy gates c. Againe for the honouring reuerencing and nourishing of parents there are not in the morall onely but also in the Iudiciall lawes some things set downe wherein the honour and duetie to be giuen to parentes is diligently commended to all sortes of people Of which I will speake whē I come to treate of parricidie vnder which title I do comprehend the euill handling and naughtie demeanour of men to their parents Nowe howe greate the authoritie of fathers ouer their children was we may coniecture by that especially where in the 21 of Exod. it is permitted to the father that is in pouertie to sell his daughter Againe in an other place leaue is giuen to the father either to denye or else to giue his deflowred daughter in marriage to him that did defile her And againe it was in the fathers power to breake the vow which the childe had made without his knowledge or consent Numerie 30. But that to disinherite the children if the children had not deserued it but that some corrupte affection had blynded the parents laye not in the power or will of the parents that lawe doth shew which is published in the twentie one Chapter of Deuteronomie and doth forbidde the father to place the seconde in the right of his eldest or firste begotten sonne Concerning the comming to inheritance and the succession of goods or the lawfull succession by kindred there is a precise law in the 27 Chapter of the booke of Numbers There is sett downe the case of the daughters of Zelphad who did request that their fathers name should not be wiped out but that their fathers inheritaunce and name might be giuen vnto and stil remaine with them vpon that occasion was the lawe made that if the sonnes did dye the heritage should
were then forgiuen them that the people of God was set at libertie from al the burthen and yoke of the lawe Verilie when the wicked stiffenecked and disloyall people of the Iewes did after the death of Christ goe on to exercise prorogue and to obtrude to all men the Ceremonies which were finished and abrogated at the comming of Messiah then Christ sitting at the right hand of the father did by the meanes of the Romane Princes vtterly deface their citie and ouerthrow the temple wherin they boasted Which thing the prophet Daniel and Balaam many hundred yeares before Daniels time foretold and said should come to passe Neither hetherto yet by the space of 1500. yeares and more haue they had any place to restore and set vpp againe their citie and temple In Theodoretus and Ruffinus we read that in the reigne of Iuhan the Emperour the Iewes with very great hope and presumption wente about to build a newe temple and that they sought the foundation therof in the place where that temple stoode which was burnt by Titus sonne and generall to the Emperour Vespasian but Christ our Lord who in the Gospell foretold out of Daniels prophecie the desolation thereof and did amonge other speaches say And Hierusalē shal be troden vnder foote of the Gentiles till the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled did mightily represse their wicked endeuours hinder their labour for going forwarde For whē they had gathered brought together many thousand bushells of lyme and chaulk then soudeinly came a whirlewind w a wonderfull storme and blustring which scattered abrode and carried away the store of stuffe by them prouided There happened also a terrible earthquake by which all the buildinges almost of the whole place were swepte away made euen with the ground Finally when a great cōpanie which were busie in the worke did the same nighte remaine or take their rest in a certeine porch or galerie néere to the new begonne citie temple the whole building and roofe therof falling downe on a soudeine slue al the number that were within y reach thereof In the morning they whiche remained aliue ran together to séeke euery man for his frend among them that were slaine by the ruinous building and when those terrours could do no good nor turne them from their purpose then soudenly out of the trenches foundations and stoarchouses hard by where their tooles and other necessaries lay there sprange foorth a fearefull fire which burnt many that vrged the worke and compelled the rest to take their héeles For in that one day it brake forth sundry times and so at last repressed the stubborne rashenesse of that stiffnecked people And for because these thinges should not be thought to haue happened casually or at aduentures the night before and y night following there appeared in the skie a bright or glistering signe of the Crosse the garments of the Iewes were filled ouer w crosses not bright but blacke which could not be ridd away or wiped out by any paines taking or maner of meanes They therfore in spite of their téeth and full sore against their wills being compelled with those horrible terrours fearefull iudgementes and bitter plagues of Christ our Lord forsoke the place and fledd euery man to his house leauing the worke vndone and openly confessing that Iesus Christ whō their forefathers had crucified is a most mightie God howsoeuer Iulian with Pharao and the chiefe of the Iewes did perseauer still in their disloyaltie and despiteful blasphemie against him and his holy Church But howsoeuer the Iewes do euen at this day abide in their wilfull stubbornnesse the Lord did from heauen declare openly enough that hee is no longer delighted with the Ceremonial rites because he destroyed all the instruments belonging to that auncient kinde of worship and made the very shopp of that old religion I meane the temple and citie of Hierusalem leuel with the ground Touching the temple the Lord in the Gospel spake to his disciples when they with wondering did behold it and said Do ye not see al these thinges verilie I say vnto you there shal not be leaft here one stone standing vpon an other And againe weeping ouer the vnthanckful citie he said They shall not leaue in thee one stone standing vppon an other beecause thou knewest not the time of thy visitation And nowe that all this was word for word accomplished and fullie finished Iosephus an eye witnesse of the same doeth largely testifie in the 18. Chap. of his 7. booke De Bello Iudaico Euen very now I told you that from one thousand and fiue hundreth yeares agoe vnto this present time the Iewes neuer had anye place giuen them to build their temple vpp in againe whereby if they were not beside themselues they might easilye gather that the Messiah is alreadie come into the world and that hée hath abrogated all the Ceremoniall rites It is a very slender or rather no defence at all for the Iewes to alledge the woords in the lawe which are many times rehearsed where the Ceremonies are described Ye shall keepe it for an euerlasting ordinaunce For in this sense Euerlasting is taken for Longlasting and Vnchaungeable so farre foorth as it hath respecte vnto the will or authoritie of mankinde For the Lord did with threatening of gréeuous punishments forbidd that mankinds vnaduisednesse should chaunge or abrogate the holy Ceremonies And yet since hée did ordeine those Ceremonies vntil the time of amendment hée doeth neither sinne nor yet incurre the crime of vnconstancie when hée doeth chaunge or take away the Ceremonies according to the determinate purpose whiche hée intended from the beginning Moreouer so long as the thing signified doeth not decaye and that the shadowe onely or momentanie figure doeth vanish away it is assuredly certaine that the Ceremonie doth yet remaine in full effecte and substaunce The whole man doeth liue for euer and yet the thinges that are temporall or corruptible in him doe perishe in death and are abolished in his clarification But that all these thinges may appeare as cleare as the day light I will particularly runne through and touch the more notable sort of Ceremonies That the priesthood of Aaron is vtterly abrogated it is euident by the wordes whiche the Apostle citeth out of Dauid saying The Lord hath sworn and will not repent thou art a priest for euer after the order of Melchisedech Christ therefore is the one and onely high priest and that too an euerlasting priest hauing an immutable priesthood which cannot by succession passe from him to any other man or Angel. For hee now standing at the right hand of the father in heauen the very true temple which was prefigured by the Tabernacle and temple at Hierusalem doeth make intercession for vs doth all the offices of an high priest Of whom the Apostle of Christ S. Paule doeth speake very largely in his Epistle vnto the Hebrues This Christ Iesus our highe
this saying so often cited and beaten vppon in the Lawe and the Prophets Thou shalt worship the Lord thy GOD and a strange God thou shalt not worship Now a straunge God is whatsoeuer without and beside the onely liuing true and euerlasting God thou choosest vnto thée selfe to bee worshipped the onely and alone true liuing and euerlasting GOD therefore is to bée worshipped In the historie of the Gospell wée read that the diuel tempted our Lord Christe and hauing ledd him vpp into an high mounteine shewed him from thence all the kingdomes of the world and the glorie of them and said All these will I giue thee if thou falling downe wilt worship mee and that the Lord made aunswere Auoyd Sathan for it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serue And surely worshipping and seruing are lincked mutually the one with the other that they cannot bee seuered or put a sunder Wherevppon it followeth that séeing the Lord requireth onely and alone to bee serued hée will doubtlesse in like maner only and alone be worshipped And Helie the great prophete of God teaching that God can in no case abide to haue one ioyned vnto him in worship cryeth out vnto the people worshipping God and with him their God Baal How long sayth hée do you halt on both partes If the Lord be God follow him If Baal bee God goe after him As if he should haue said You cannot worship God and Baal at once No man can â—erue two maisters For the Lord our God requireth not a péece but our whole heart our whole minde and soule Hée leaueth nothing therfore for vs to bestowe vppon any other In the Epistle to the Hebrues Paule sheweth that Christ is more excellent than Angels because the Angels adore or worship Christe but they againe are not worshipped If then the Angels are not worshipped whome shall wee graunt beside the liuing true and euerlasting God that deserueth to bée worshipped God therefore onely and alone is to be worshipped For in the Reuelation of Iesus Christ made vnto the blessed Apostle and Euangeliste Iohn thus we reade written And I sawe another Angel fleeing throughe the middest of heauen haueing the euerlasting Gospel to preache vnto them that dwell vppoÌ„ the earth to all nations kinreds and tongues people saying with a lowde voyce Feare God and giue him honour beecause the houre of his iudgement iâ— come and worship him that hath made heauen and earth the sea and founteynes of waters And againe in the same booke we read And I fell downe before the feete of the Angel to worshipp him And he said vnto mee See thou doest it not I am thy fellow seruant and of thy brethren hauing the testimonie of Iesu worship God. Againe in the ende of the same booke thou dost read And after I had heard and seene I fel downe to worshippe before the feete of the Angel whiche shewed mee these thinges And hee said vnto mee See thou doest it not for I am thy fellowe seruaunt and of thy brethren the Prophets and of them that keepe the wordes of this booke With this thing the saying and doing of S. Peter doth not greatly disagrée at whose féete when Cornelius the Centurion fell downe and worshipped Peter said Arise I also mee selfe am a man and therewithall laying his hand on him which lay a long did lift him vpp and set him on his féete Right religiously therefore wrote Augustine touching True religion saying Let not religion be vnto vs the worshipping of mans handie woorke For better are the workemen themselues which make such whome notwithstanding we ought not to worship Let not religion be to vs the worshipping of mortall men beecause if they haue liued godlily they are not to be estéemed as those that would séeke such honours but their will it is that hee should bee worshipped of vs who inlightening them they reioyce that wee are made fellow partakers of his merite They are to be honoured therefore for imitation or following sake not to bee worshipped for religions sake And if they haue liued ill they are not to bée worshipped wheresoeuer they bee The same Augustine in his first booke De consensu Euangelistarum of the consent of the Euangelistes and eightéenth chap. reasoning why the Romanes neuer receiued both the God the worship of the God of the Hebrues considering that they receiued y gods almost of all the Gentiles to bee worshipped And hee aunswereth That that came to passe by none other occasion than because the God of the Hebrues would onely and alone be worshipped without a mate or partener If any require his words they are these There resteth nothing for them to say why they haue not receiued the holy rites and worshipp of this God saue onely because hee would be worshipped alone and hath forbidden them to worshipp the Gods of the Gentiles whome neuerthelesse these people did worship For the sentence or opinion of Socrates who as by Oracle it was ratified was the wisest of all men is that euery God ought in such sort to be worshipped as he himselfe hath giuen coÌ„mandement he would be worshipped Therfore were the Romans of very necessitie forced not to worship the God of the Hebrues Because if they would worship him after another fashion than he himselfe said hee would bee worshipped they should not then worshipp him but that whiche they themselues had deuised made And if they would in that maner worship him as hee himselfe prescribed than they sawe that they were debarred from worshipping other Gods whom hée forbad to be worshipped And vppon this they refused the worshipp of the onely true God to the intent they might not offend many counterfecte false Gods thincking that the anger of them would rather be more to their disprofite than the goodwill of him to their benefite Thus saith Augustine And althoughe these thinges are written concerning the worship and seruice of God and that we dispute of adoring Gods Maiestie yet notwithstanding they are not impertinent or beside our purpose For the worshipping and seruing of GOD are inseparably lincked and knitt together Of this seruing of God we will speake more hereafter But by the woordes cited before wée doe gather that onely and alone the true liuing and euerlasting God is to bée worshipped according to that commonly-knowne sentence of the lawe Thou shalt worship the Lord thy GOD him shalt thou feare and him onely shalt thou serue To him shalt thou cleaue and in his name shalt thou sweare Furthermore God from the beginning hath promised and perfourmed yea and will performe whiles this world standeth great rewards to his true woorshippers Contrarywise wée beléeue that great mischiefes or punishments are prepared for those which either doe not at all worshippe God or else in stéed of the true GOD doe worshippe straunge Gods. The Lord in his Reuelation
déed he is serued alone howbeit not after a lawefull manner Vnlawefull seruice procéedeth from the will and imagination of mē and it is contrarie to the word and ordinaunce of god For God is then lawfully serued when he is serued according to his owne wil and word In the law thus hath the Lord commaunded Beware that thou seeke not after the gods of the Gentiles saying How did these nations serue their Gods that I may do so likewise Thou shalt not do so vnto the Lord thy God c. Therfore whatsoeuer I commaund you take heede you do it Thou shalt put nothing thereto nor take ought there-from Nadab and Abihu offer straunge fire vnto the Lord therefore are they burned vpp in the presence of the Lord with fire from heauen Oza also perished because hee handled the Arcke of GOD otherwise than the Lord had commaunded in his lawe Micha in the booke of Iudges instituted vnto the true God whose name is IEHOVAH an image an altar a chappell and a seruice But it is reproued in the sacred Scripture béecause it was not onely not fetched out of the holy Scripture but was in all respectes quite contrarie and vtterly against the Lawe of god Ieroboam also ordeined passing sumptuous seruice he instituted cathedrall churches and sett vpp golden images all to the God of Israel but for that they were not agréeable to the woord of the Lord they are all one with another vtterly condemned for execrable and accursed sacrileges Yea what wée maye thincke in generall of all the seruices whiche are neither instituted of GOD nor agréeing with the woord of GOD but feigned vppon a good intent and meaning of our owne y onely testimonie of the most excellent prophet Samuel doth declare to vs which he pronounced against Saule and his sacrifices in these woords Hath the Lord as great pleasure in burnte offeringes and sacrifices as when the voice of the Lord is obeyed Behold to obey is better than sacrifice to hearken is better than the fatte of rammes For rebellion is as the sinne of witchcraft and transgression is wickednesse and idolatrie Herevnto maketh that whiche we read in Isaie He that killeth a bullock is as if he slue a man He that sacrificeth a sheepe as if hee cutt off a dogges necke He that offereth an oblation as if hee offered swines bloud He that remembreth incense as if hee blessed an idole All these thinges haue they chosē in their owne wayes and their soule is delighted in their owne abhominations Vaine therfore and abhominable are those seruices which are not reduced and framed to the pure word of god For the same Prophete sayeth In vaine doe they serue mee teachinge doctrines of men The liuing true and euerlasting God who will and ought onely and alone to bee worshipped to bee called vppon and to be serued giue vnto all men true religion and deliuer them from all vaine superstition thoroughe Iesus Christoure lord Amen A. F. ¶ That the sonne of God is vnspeakeably begotten of the father that hee is consubstantiall with the father and therefore true god That the selfe same sonne is true man consubstantiall with vs and therefore true God and man abideing in two vnconfounded natures in one vndiuided person ¶ The sixt Sermon THe thinges themselues and their order do require that after I haue spoken generally of God of his Vnitie and of his Trinitie I further entreat particularly of the persons of the reuerend Trinitie first of al of our lord Iesus Christ true God man then of the holy Ghost wherew t if our minds be indued all thinges whatsoeuer we speake and heare shal tend to the glorie of Gods name and to the saluation of our soules Let vs therefore pray c. That euerlasting father the originall and authour of all thinges begott the sonne by an euerlasting and vnspeable begetting For the whole scripture with one agréement doeth call God a father yea truely an eternall or euerlasting father But none is a father of his owne selfe but a father of his sonne and for beecause he is the euerlasting father hee must therefore necessarily haue an euerlasting sonne equall vnto himselfe in all respectes coeternall and consubstantiall with him Sainct Paule vndoubtedly for the confirmation of this catholique veritie alledgeth out of the old testament two testimonies Vnto which sayeth hee of his Angels said GOD at any time Thou art my sonne this daye haue I begotten thee And againe I will be his father and hee shal be my sonne all which wordes he applyeth vnto Christe Iesus the sonne of god Of whome also Micheas beareth witnesse saying And thou Beth-lehem Ephrata art little to bee amonge the thousandes of Iudah yet out of thee shall hee come forth vnto mee that shal be the ruler in Israel whose goeinges foorth or spreadings abroad haue beene from the beginning and from euerlasting Wherevppon the sonne of God himselfe in the Gospell after Iohn sayeth Verilie I say vnto you before Abraham was I am And Iohn sayeth In the beginning was the word the word was with God and God was the word But he doeth vnderstand by The word not the word which is spoken and so vanisheth not the counsell of God but the person of the sonne For by and by hee addeth And the woord beecame or was made slesh And wée doe knowe that the sonne of God not the determination or purpose of God as heretiques doe vainely imagine was incarnate But he which in time was incarnate was with the father from euerlasting and before all beginnings and therefore also true God with the true god For The word sayeth hee was with God God was the word beecause in the beginning namely from euerlasting he was with god These simple and plaine testimonies deliuered vnto vs out of the scriptures therefore most true concerning the euerlasting begetting of the sonne by the father are sufficient I thinke for them that are not curious For the scripture doeth not héere fulfil the vaine desires of curious men neither yet reasoneth of these poinctes subtilely but rather deliuereth and setteth downe but a fewe thinges in which it is our parts to beléeue But that which the scripture either doeth not sett downe or else in fewe woords shadoweth out either wee are ignoraunt of to oure health or else stickinge to that that is sett downe wée séeke not further for more The holy father Cyrill expounding that saying of the Euangelist Iohn In the beginning was the word sayeth Let vs not séeking thinges infinite and which cannot be conteyned within boundes busie our braines about a consideration that cannot bée expressed and neuer can haue an end For neither will wee graunt a beginning of beginning neither yet wil we yéeld that the sonne was begotten of the father in time but wee will confesse that he is with the father from euerlasting For if hee was
Heauen Daniel also in his Prophecie describeth the rysing and fallinge of all kingdomes of Antichrist also but attributeth no end to the kingdome of the Saincts or holie people but witnesseth that it shall be euerlasting The same doeth the Prophet Zacharie also in his 12. chapter For the Sainctes reigne on the Earthe by Christe and béeing translated from the Earth into Heauen they shall reigne together with theire kinge Christe for euer And the Scripture is woont oftentimes to speake of one of these kingdomes onely Of bothe these kingdomes wee vnderstande many places of Scripture first of all that which is spoken by our sautour WheÌ„ ye pray say O our father which art in heauen hallowed be thy name thy kingdome come For we pray y he would reign in vs while we liue on earth that we also may reigne ouer the world and the Prince of the worlde and that we be not ruled by Sathan neither that sinne reigne in vs but rather that we here béeing gouerned by him self may in time to come reigne with Christ in Heauen Contrariwise what manner of kingdome the kingdome of the world is it appeareth by considering the head or the king and prince therof which is the diuel the Authour of sinne of vncleannesse and of death He reigneth in the worlde the Prince doubtlesse of the kingdome of darcknesse Not that God and his Christe is not king of all things but because vnfaithful apostataes thrugh their owne proper malice reuolting from God to the diuell doe appoint him for their prince to whome euen of their owne accorde they submitt and yéelde them selues to be gouerned liueing in all vngodlynesse wickednesse and vncleannesse framing them selues like to their head the diuell with whome they shall be punished euerlastingly in the worlde to come as in this worlde they haue suffered them selues to be gouerned of him doeing his will. This prince of this worlde else where also called The GOD of this worlde hath Christe the true Kinge and Monarche of the worlde ouercome and hath destroyed his kingdome not that hee should not be as long as this worlde indureth but that he should not hurt the elect Sathan doeth liue and shall liue for euer how be it in miserie which life in very â—eâ—e is death but he hath no power against them y be redéemed by Christ the prince He hath and shal haue a kingdome euen vnto th' end of the world but in the children of vnbelief this kingdoÌ„e also in this world is in decaying as it were momeÌ„tany for a short time For the world passeth away all worldly things perish but all the elect of God are very strauÌ„gers froÌ„ this kingdoÌ„e yea they are as it were sworn enimies of this kingdome Neither can the prince of darcknes by his power pul away the partakers of the kingdome of Christ into his kingdome of iniquitie Truly he goeth about this diligently and with diuerse tentations vexeth the elect but those ouercoÌ„e through him which in time past vanquished the false King prince of théeues and taught vs that despising this filthy prince the world and the lustes of the world giuing our mindes to innocencie we shuld yéeld our selues to the good spirit to be gouerned These things haue I thus far declared as briefly as I culd touching the king Christ his onely and euerlasting kingdome And now Christ our Lord is a Prieste yea that chiefest only and euerlasting priest whom the high priestes of the olde people did prefigure shadowe out For Dauid in his song altogether diuine saith The Lord sware will not repent him thou art a Priest for euer after the order of Melchizedek Which words the blessed Apostle alledging and expounding in his Epistle to the Hebrues hath left these words written The forerunner saith he is for vs entred into heauen after the order of Melchizedek made a Prieste foreuer For this Melchizedek Kinge of SaleÌ„ priest of the most high god who met Abraham coÌ„ming froÌ„ the slaughter or kings blessed him to whome also Abraham gaue the tenthes of all things who first indeed is caled by interpretation the king of righteousnes theÌ„ also king of Salem whiche is king of peace of an vnknowen father of an vnknowen mother of vnknoweÌ„ kin neither hauing beginning of dayes nor end of life but likened to the soÌ„ne of God remaineth a prieste for euer Surely our Lord Iesus Christ is both a righteous and peaceable king and the righteousnesse and peace of the faithfull and he is that euerlasting Prieste who according to his humanitie is beléeued to be borne of the virgin without séede of man therefore of an vnknowen father and according to his diuinitie begotten of the father therefore of an vnknowen mother and vnspeakably begotten from euerlasting and therefore of vnknowen kin hauing neither beginning nor end of life For albeit according to his humanity he was dead and buried yet according to his diuinitie he remaineth God immortall euerlasting The selfe same which is a king is also acknowledged a priest not according to the order of AaroÌ„ but according to the order of Melchizedek For as the scripture remeÌ„breth this one a priest so one Christ remaineth priest for euer hauing an euerlasting priesthood But high priestes in time past were caled annointed they did not thrust theÌ„ selues into such an office by force or deceipt Wherevpon the Apostle said No man taketh the honor to him self but he that is called of god as was Aaron so also Christ took not glorie to himself to be made high Priest but is made coÌ„firmed of him who said vnto him thou art my sonne this day haue I begotten thee As he saith also in another place Thou art a priest foreuer after the order of Melchizedech But thou doest no where read that that our Priest was annointed with visible oile for hée was annointed with inuisible oile namely with the fulnesse of the holie Ghost as the prophet witnesseth Thy god hath annointed thee with the oile of gladnes aboue thy fellowes And againe The spirite of the Lord vppon me for the Lord hath annointed me sent me to preach good tidings vnto the poore Furthermore wheÌ„ we read that the office of Priests in times past was to serue in the tabernacle to teach the people to make intercession betwene God men to pray for the people and to blesse them to sacrifice also and to coÌ„secrate or sanctifie that now it is manifest that Iesus Christ is the lawful priest it is certeine y he is tied to the self same offices but indede to so much more excelleÌ„t thaÌ„ these by how much he hath obteined a more excellent priesthood Those priestes after the order of Aaron serued in the corruptible figuratiue tabernacle but our Lord béeing takeÌ„ vp into the true tabernacle heauen it selfe ministreth to all the saincts of god For
Heauen the church of Sainctes is the true tabernacle and temple of our high priest Christe our priest is the onlie and euerlasting teacher maister of his vniuersall Church For not onely that age hath so taught whiche liued in the dayes of his fleshe but the spirite of Christ was in the Prophets by whom now also he ruleth all the seates of his catholique church Christ himself as yet speaketh vnto vs and will speake euen vnto the end of the world by the mouth or writings of the holy Apostles and all teachers preaching the doctrine of the Apostles And this doctrine is sufficient for the catholique Church For it comprehendeth all those thinges fullie which perteine to a holie and happie life Christe our high priest maketh intercession for all the Sainctes in his owne Temple For hee béeing the only aduocate and patrone of all the faithful prayeth to the father for vs on the right hand of god For he ascended vnto the right hand of God the father that he should alwaies appeare there in the presence of God to followe all our suites faithfully Of whiche thinge I haue spoken more at large in my laste Sermon where I intreated of Inuocation and Intercessiō The same our Lord onlie blesseth vs For he was made a malediction and cursse for vs that we might be blessed in him according to that notable and aunciente Prophecie In thy seede shall all the nations of the worlde be blessed Moreouer Christe our Lorde sacrificeth for vs. For hee offereth incense when hée maketh supplication for vs and appeareth on the right hand of god And he offereth a sacrifice for sinnes vnto the liuing god not a sacrifice of a beast but him selfe alwayes an effectuall sacrifice to make satisfaction for all the sinnes of the people Whereof since I haue entreated aboundantlie in the treatise of Ceremonies héere of purpose I am the bréefer Againe since our lord Iesus Christ is y holy of holiest doubtlesse he sanctifieth consecrateth his catholique church annointing it with the oile of the holie ghost that we may be made both holie priests to offer spirituall sacrifices to god For we read y that holy ointmēt powred on Aarons hed ran down to his beard euen to the skirts of his clothing For Christ the highe priest of his vniuersall Churche powreth his spirit as wel vpon them that are verie farre off as vpon them that are neare at hande For hée crieth in the Gospell If any man thirst let him come vnto mee and drinke He that beleeueth on me as the scripture hath saide out of his bellie shall flowe riuers of water of life And againe For their sakes sanctifie I my selfe that they also might be sanctified in trueth To be short when we say and confesse that Iesus Christ is the priest or bishop of the faithfull people we say this that Christ is our chosen and appointed teacher and maister to gouerne and teach his vniuersal church to make intercession for vs to plead all our suites faithfully before the Father in heauen which is the onely patrone mediatour and aduocate of the faithfull with God who by the sacrifice of his bodie is the perpetuall only satisfaction absolution and iustification of all sinners throughout the whole worlde who consecrateth into priestes those that beléeue that that they also might offer to God the Father through Iesus Christ acceptable sacrifices might be the house and tabernacle of God. Out of this it shal be easie to iudge what manner of priesthoode Christs is who is our highe prieste and Bishop His priesthood is the verie office or verie function and working of the priest whereby Christ the priest him selfe executeth all thinges in heauen and in the Catholique Churche whiche beelong to his priestly office Wherefore it must néedes bee that this Priesthoode of Christe our highe Bishop is not visible and corporall but altogether spirituall For verie well sayth Paule Christe were no priest if he were on the earth where they that are of the tribe of Leuie do minister in the tabernacle or temple where there is a temple or tabernacle with manyfolde holie garmentes and vessels But Christe our Lorde is of the tribe of Iuda borne I say of a royall tribe albeit we are not ignoraunt in the meane while that the royall tribe that is the tribe of Iuda and the priestly tribe that is the tribe of Leuie were mingled together For we reade that Elizabeth which was of the daughters of Aaron was Cousen to the virgin the mother of God she being of the line of Dauid Neither is our Lord read at any time to haue vsed the temple or the holy vessels in his ministerie For although sometime he taught in the temple yet he taught not onely in the same He neuer sacrificed in the temple at the holy altars either of incense or of burnt offerings He neuer vsed priestly garments whiche were figuratiue Wherof I spake when I expounded the ceremonial lawes Therefore when he woulde sacrifice for the satisfaction of the sinnes of the whole worlde he suffered without the gate offered himselfe a liuely and most holy sacrifice according as the shadows or types prophecies and figures foreshewed in the law of Moses wherof in like maner I haue entreated in the discourse of the ceremoniall lawes And when hee had offered the sacrifice of his bodie he ascended into heauen and sitteth at the right hand of the father that from thence he may giue light vnto his Church and there appeare alwayes for vs in the presence of God the Father And therefore he doth not now corporally execute his priestly office on earth in like sort teaching vs now as in the dayes of his fleshe he taught the men of his age For nowe he doeth illuminate with his spirite the mindes of his and daily repaireth or renueth the Euangelicall doctrine of the Apostles and yet for all that hée himselfe speaketh by the mouth of thē that teache and preache the Gospell He blesseth vs from heauen that is to say he inricheth vs with all heauenly blessing Of him the Apostle speaking saith And the annoynting which ye haue receiued of him dwelleth in you and ye neede not that any man teache you but as the same annoynting teacheth you of all thinges and it is true and not lying and as it hath taught you ye shall abide in it Of him the diuine Prophet speaking sayth I wil powre water vppon the thirstie and floudes vppon the drie ground I wil powre my spirit vpon thy seede and my blessing vppon thy stocke or buddes They shall growe together like as the grasse and as the willowes by the waters side By whiche words we learne that Christ our high priest hath no néede of a bishop suffragane or vicar in his Churche For he himselfe is present with his Church and gouerneth it by his spirit The selfe same Christ at the
Antonianus calleth such scismatiques who vsurpe vnto them the office of a bishop no man giuing it them And this kinde of calling is vnproperlie called a calling Wherefore it is euident that in the churche there must néedes bee a calling and that publique and lawfull aswell for many other causes as especially for these that the ordinaunce of God bée not neglected and that the discipline of the church be reteyned and that all men in the churche maye knowe who are preferred to the ecclesiasticall ministerie Albeit therefore Paule the Apostle and doctour of the Gentiles in the beginning were not sent of mē neither by men but of God onely yet the same Paule at the commaundement of the holy Ghoste is separated by the church of Antioch together with Barnabas to the ministerie of the Gentiles After the same manner many other were sent or called of god whom neuerthelesse it behoued to be ordeyned also by men For Paul in another place sayeth And no man taketh this honour vnto himselfe but hee that is called of God as was Aaron And againe How shal they heare without a preacher And how shall they preache except they be sent c. As cōcerning that second kinde of calling whiche is common and at this day receiued in the church and yet appointed by the Lord there are thrée thinges to be considered First who they be that cal that is who haue right and authoritie to call or to ordeine ministers Secondly who or what maner of men are to be ordeined Lastlie after what manner they that be called are to bee ordeyned And first of all that the Lord hath giuen to his church power and authoritie to elect and ordeine fit ministers wee haue declared before in the secōd sermon of this Decade by the example of the auncient churches in the world Hierusalem and Antioch of whiche two the church of Hierusalem did not only ordeine 7. deacons but also Matthias the Apostle the church of Antioche separated into the ministerie the famous Apostles of Christ Paule and Barnabas Whervnto apperteineth that the churches of the Gentiles béeing instructed of Paule Barnabas ordeined them elders or gouernours of their churches by election had by voyces The chiefest in this election were the pastours thēselues For Peter gouerning the action Matthias was created Apostle by the Church This forme or order the auncient churche diligently obserued many yeres For Cyprian epist. lib. 1. epist. 4. The common people sayeth he hath especially power either to choose worthie priestes or to refuse them that be vnworthie Which thing also we see to descend from the authoritie of God that the priest bee chosen in the presence of the common people before all mens eyes and bee allowed worthie and meete by publique iudgement and wittnesse As in Num. the Lord commaunded Moses and said Take Aaron thy brother and Eleazar his sonne and bring them vp into the mount before all the congregation God commaundeth the priest to bee ordeined before the whole congregation That is hee teacheth sheweth that the ordeinīg of priests ought not to bee done without the knowledge of the people being present that in their presence either the vices of the euill might bee discouered or the deserts of the good commended and that that is a iust and lawefull ordeyning whiche shal be examined by the election and iudgement of all Thus farre hée This custome and māner indured to the time of S. Augustine For it is to be séen in his 110. epist. which witnesseth that the people giuing a shoute Augustine ordeyned Eradius for his successour In these latter times because the people made often tumults in the elections of pastours the ordination was committed to chosen men of the pastours magistrats and people These thrée kinds of men propounded or named notable mē out of whom he whiche was thought the best was chosen There is somewhat of this In Iustiniani Imperat. Nouel Constitut 123. They which thinke that all power of ordeyning ministers is in the bishops diocesans or archbishops hands doe vse these places of the scripture For this cause I left thee in Creta sayeth Paul to Titus that thou shuldest ordeine elders in euery citie And againe Lay hands soudeinly on no man. But we saye that the Apostles did not exercise tyrannie in the churches and that they themselues alone did not execute all things about election or ordination other men in the church being excluded For the Apostles of Christ ordeined bishops or elders in the churche but not without communicating their counsel with the churches yea and not without hauing the consent and approbation of the people Which may appeare by the election or ordination of Matthias whiche wee haue nowe once or twice recited Truely the Lord in the Law said to Moses Thou shalt appoint thee Iudges But in another place he saith Thou shalt seeke out among all the people whom thou mayest make rulers And againe Moses vnto the same people Bring you men of wisedome vnderstanding I will make thē rulers ouer you c. Therefore as Moses doth nothing of his own will in the election of the magistrate though it were said to him Thou shalt appoint thee Iudges but doth althinges communicating his counsel with the people So vndoubtedly Titus though it were said vnto him Ordeine elders in euerie citie yet he vnderstood that hereby nothing was permitted to him which he might do priuately as he thought good not hauing the aduise and consent of the churches Wherefore they sinne not at all that shaking off the yoke tyrānie of the bishops of Rome for good and reasonable causes doe recouer that auncient right graunted by Christ to the churches Neither makes it any great matter whether discrete men chosen of the church or the whole church it selfe do ordeine fit ministers that either by voices either by lotts or after some certeine necessarie and holy māner For in these things godly men will not moue contention so that all things be done holily and in order But I wil not here rip vp the craftes deceipts practises and greuous warrs taken in hand for this right of ordeining with sheading of much bloud spoylings lamētable burnings of countries The histories of the Acts of Hērie the 4. and 5. and also of the affaires of the Frederiches doe most euidently witnes how impudētly abhominably the Popes of Rome with their sworne friendes the bishops haue behaued themselues Peraduenture I shall haue occasion to speake of this matter elsewhere more at large Now we will declare what maner of mē it behoueth to ordeine ministers truely not whose luste but the most choicest men of sound religion furnished with all kinde of sciences exercised in the scriptures cunning in the mysterie of faith and religion strong and constant earnest painefull diligent faithfull watchfull modest of a holy and approued conuersation least thorough their corruption of life
of godlinesse and in daylie prayers though they sing not yet remaine they neuerthelesse the sonnes of god Neither yet doth all singing and in euery place edifie neither are all Churches fitt to singe Doeth not Rabanus saye in the same place that I euen nowe cited For fleshly minded mennes sake not for such as are guided by the spirite the custome of singing is instituted in the Church that they that are not moued by wordes may bee allured with the sweetnesse of the melody c. But the singing about which there is controuersie at this day is not that auncient singing but that more is both in matter and tune for the most parte it is cleane contrarie to the olde The common sort call it Gregories singing doubtlesse not of that great Gregorie who séemeth not to haue béene very fréendlie to singing as it appeareth by his constitution whiche is read in the Registre in the fifte parte thereof Cap. 44. Wee shall therefore séeme to iudge more truely if we referre it to Gregorie the fifte which is said to haue béene enthronized aboute the yéere of our Lorde 995. and moreouer to haue vsed the healpe of I knowe not who one Robertus Carnotensis Yet there are some whiche ascribe it to Vitalianus some to Gelasius It yrcâ—eth mee to rehearse what Durandus hath patcht together of this matter in his Rat. Diuin lib. 5. For I little weigh it There are manie thinges in this kinde of singing to be discommended For first of all many things yea the most are soung contrarie to true godlines neither are all thinges that are sounge taken out of the holie Scriptures but out of I knowe not what kinde of Legendes and out of the traditions of men And those things whiche are soung out of the Scriptures are for the moste parte so wrested and corrupted that there remaineth no parte of the heauenly sense or meaning Creatures and deade men are called vpon Moreouer this kinde of singinge is commaunded and they singe not of their owne accorde or good will but vpon constrainte yea they singe for money and to th' end that they may get an Ecclesiasticall benefice as they terme it Onely Clearkes hyred for that purpose doe nowe a dayes singe not the whole Churche of Christe as in time paste hath béene accustomed Neither is there any ende or measure in their singinge They singe day and night And to this foolishe and vngodly kinde of singinge as to a heauenlie or meritorious worke there is more attributed than true faith doeth allowe A man maye well say that it is that much babbling which the Lorde in Matthewe forbiddeth and condemneth as an Heathenish superstition They singe moreouer in a straunge tongue which fewe doe vnderstand and therefore without any profite at all to the church There is hearde a longe sounde quauered and streyned to and fro backewarde and forewarde whereof a man can not vnderstand one worde Often times the Singers striue amonge themselues for the excellencie of voyces whereby it commeth to passe that the whole Churche ringeth with an hoarse kinde of yellinge and through the strife that riseth about their voyces the hearers little vnderstande what is sounge I say nothing at this present of their musicke which they call Figuratiue and of their musicall instrumentes all whiche are conteined in a manner in their Organes as they terme them I saye nothinge of their Diriges or prayers for the deade Of which I haue also intreated in an other place But these and such other like so occupied the whole time of diuine seruice in the Churche that verie little or none was lefte for true prayers and for the holie and heauenlie preaching of the worde of god Therefore for moste iuste causes they that beléeue the Gospell doe neither vse such singing neither suffer it in the Church of god And they séeme to deale verie deuoutly and in like manner moste wisely whiche bestowe the beste parte of the time or euen the verie whole time of ecclestasticall assemblies in feruent and quiete prayers and in the wholesome preachinge of the worde of God omitting that singinge especially since it is a harde thinge so to limitte or restraine singinge which otherwise is tollerable leaste at some time it excéede and go beyond the appointed boundes Furthermore that our auncient predecessours had certeine and appointed houres wherein they prayed bothe priuately in their houses and publiquely in assemblies all the holie Scripture witnesseth in many places Dauid more than once in his Psalmes sayeth that he will goe vnto the Lord in the Morning and Eueninge Daniel prayed vnto the Lorde at thrée seuerall houres or times of the day Againe Dauid saith Seuen times in a day doe I praise thee But by seuen times he vnderstandeth many times For so else-where we reade written I will smite you for your sinnes seuen times And againe The iust man falleth seuen times and riseth vp againe And also If thy brother sinne seuen times in a daye and turne seuen times in a day vnto thee c. Seuen times therefore in diuerse places as also in this of Dauid is put for many times And Christe our Lorde hath tyed the priuate prayers of the faithfull as wee haue also tolde you before neither to place nor yete to time he hath not taken away publique prayers For he is the Lord not of confusion but of order But his Disciples when they were in the land of Iurie did them selues also obserue the accustomed houres of praying whiche that nation kept at libertie not of necessitie and specially for the assemblies sake For Peter Iohn goe vp into the temple at the ninth houre of prayer In the day of pentecost all the Saincts with one accorde were gathered together receiued the holy Ghost at the thirde houre of the day And it is also read that Peter priuately went vpp into the vpper parte of the house aboute the sixt houre The Temple béeing destroyed and the Iewes scattered abroade the Churches gathered out of the Gentiles did not obserue like houres of gatheringes together or of assemblies but at their owne libertie as to euery church it séemed most méete and conuenient Of which diuersitie truely the Ecclesiasticall historie also makethe mention yet for the most part there were houres in the morning and euening vsed for assemblies S. Hierome in his Epitaph vppon Paula expounding not the rite or order of the vniuersall church what it should doe in holie assemblies but what the companyes of solitarie virgins are woont to doe of their owne accorde sayeth In the morning at three sixe and nine of the clocke at euening at midnight they did sing the Psalter by order Onely vpon the Sunday they went vnto the Church neere vnto the whiche they dwelt c. So it perteineth to priuate institution which of the same sorte is read writen to Laeta touching the institution of her daughter and to Demetriades De custodienda virginitate
thinges in deede are sensible howbeit they haue altogether a spirituall vnderstanding or meaning So Baptisme is ministred vnder a sensible element namely water but that which is wrought thereby that is to say regeneration and the newe byrth doth spiritually enter into the mynde For if thou wert a bodilesse creature hee would haue deliuered vnto thee all these giftes bare naked and bodilesse according to thy nature but since thou hast a resonable soule coupled and ioyned to thy body therefore hath he deliuered vnto thee in sensible signes substāces those things which are perceyued with a spiritual vnderstāding Which I doe not alledge to this end as if I woulde take the testimonie of man for my stay but bicause I sée S. Iohn Chrysostome his speache according to the manner obserued and vsed in the Scripture For who knoweth not that the Scripture is full of parables similitudes allegories and figuratiue speaches whiche the holie Ghoste vseth not for his owne but for oure sakes The talke whiche Christe had in the Gospell with Nicodemus touching heauenly regeneration is verie well knowne where he by hidden and couert kynd of speaches of ayre winde and water c. reasoneth saying If I haue told you of earthly things and ye beleeue not howe will you beleeue if I shall tell you of heauenly thinges He calleth Earthly things that his doctrine of heauēly regeneration or new birth figured to vs vnder earthly signes of water the spirit or of aire the winde And by heauenly things he meaneth that selfe same doctrine of heauenly regeneration nakedly deliuered to Nicodemus without any imagination without similitude or sēsible signes The Lorde therefore signifieth hereby that men do more easily conceiue and vnderstand the doctrine of heauenly thinges when it is shadowed out vnder some dark and couert signe of earthly things then when it is nakedly spiritually indéede deliuered that by comparing together of thinges not much vnlike it may appeare that the sacraments were for none other cause foūd out or instituted thā for demonstratiō sake to wit that the heauenly thinges might become more familiar and plaine vnto vs In which thing we haue to mark the Analogie which is a certeine aptnesse proportion or as Cicero termeth it a conuenience or fit agréemēt of things I say knowne by their signes that if they be sleightly passed ouer without this analogie the reason of a sacrament can not be fully and perfectly vnderstoode but this analogie being diligently discussed and obserued to the full offereth to the beholder without any labor at al the verie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say the hidden and secrete meaning of a sacrament We will when we come to intreat of these things do what we can to make them manifest by examples Whosoeuer therfore shal throughly weigh the institution of sacramēts he can not choose but extol with prayses the excéeding greate goodnesse of the Lorde who doth not onely open vnto vs miserable men the mysteries of his kingdome but hath a singular care of mans infirmitie whereby he framing him selfe to oure capacitie doth after a sort stutte and stammar with vs whilest he hauing respect to oure dulnesse the weakenesse of our wit doth as it were cloath and couer heauēly mysteries with earthly symbols or signes thereby most plainely and pithily opening them vnto vs and laying them before our eyes euidētly to be beheld In this same institution of the sacraments wee haue cause to extoll and prayse the wisedome of God if so be we take in hand to compare great and small things together For this custome is receiued as a lawe throughout the world that all the wisest men when they had occasion to speake of high mysteries of wisedome they did not by words only but by signes and words together commende them to their hearers to the ende that the two most noble senses in man to wit Hearing and Seeing might be both at once vehemently moued and forceably prouoked to the consideration of the same The volumes of heathenish philosophers are ful of examples What say you to the Iewes Gods olde auncient people did not God him selfe shewe among them verie many such kind of examples Againe as in making leagues or in confirming promises in earnest and weightie matters men vse signes or tokens of truth to winne credite to their wordes and promises euen so the Lord doing after the maner of men hath added signes of his faithfulnes and truth to his euerlasting couenaunt and promises of life the sacraments I meane wherewith he sealeth his promises and the verie doctrine of his Gospell Neyther is this rare or straunge vnto him Men sweare euen by the Lorde him selfe when they would make other beléeue certeinely and in no case to mistrust the truth of their promises yea it is read in the holy Scriptures that the Lord him selfe tooke an othe sware by his owne selfe when hee ment Most aboundantly to shewe to the heires of the promises as the Apostle sayth the stablenesse of his counsel Moreouer it was the accustomed manner among them of olde as they were making their league or couenaunt to take a beast and to diuide him in péeces and ech of them to passe through and betwéen the péeces so diuided testifying by that ceremonie that they would yeald them selues so to be diuided and cut in péeces if they did not stedfastly stande to that which they promised in their league or couenaunt After the same manner the Lorde making or renuing a league with Abraham which Moses describeth at large in the 15. of Genesis he commaundeth him to take an heifer a she goate and a ramme each of thē thrée yeares olde and to diuide them in the middest and to lay euery péece one ouer against an other which whē Abraham had done the Lord himselfe in the likenesse of a smoaking fornace or firebrand went betwéene the sayd péeces that thereby Abraham might knowe that the lande of Chanaan should of a certentie be giuen to him and to his séede to possesse and that all things which he had promised in that league shoulde be brought to passe Since therfore the good and true lord is alwayes like vnto him selfe frameth himselfe after the same manner nowe to his Churche as we sayde he did then what wonder or straunge thing is it I praye you that he hath left vnto vs also at this day vnder visible thinges signes and seales of his grace and mysteries of the kingdome of God And hitherto haue we entreated of the chiefe causes of Sacraments for the which they were instituted Touching the kinde number of Sacraments which hath the nexte place to that which went before there are diuers opinions among the writers specially of later time For amoung the olde and auncient this question as an vndoubted and well knowne perfecte principle drewe quickly to an end But he which shal diligently search the Scriptures shal
soule For the thing that signifieth is wont to be called by the name of that thing whiche it signifieth as it is written The seuen eares of wheate are seuen yeares He said not doe signifie seuen yeres And seuen oxen are seueÌ„ yeres and many such like In like sort it is said The rocke was Christ Hee said not The rock signifieth Christ but as though it were so in deede whiche is not the same in substance but by signification So likewise the bloud beecause thrugh a certeine vital substaÌ„ce in it signifieth the soule in the sacraments is called the soule Thus far he The same Augustine also against Adimantus cap. 12. saith So is bloud the soule like as the rock was Christ And againe in the same place he saith I may also expouÌ„d that that precept of the bloud and soule of the beast c. consisteth in the signe For the lord douted not to say This is my body when he gaue the signe of his body Thus much Augustine There is no foole so doultish that will say that these wordes of Augustine are darcke or doubtfull Who so liste maye add here vnto that which the same authour hath plainely written concerning figuratiue spéech Libro 2. Contra Aduers Legis Cap. 9. But let vs leaue off to cite mens testimonies coÌ„cerning the proper and most auncient exposition of Christes wordes This is my bodie Let vs rather procéede to alledge sounde arguments out of the scriptures as we promised to do thereby to proue that wée must sometime of necessitie depart from the letter that Christes words are accordingly as I haue said to bée expounded by a figure First it is euident that the Lord at this present instituted a Sacrament whereby it is manifest that the Lord spake after the same manner as he is wont to speake in other places of the scripture concerning sacraments as when he saith that circumcision is the Lords couenaunt the lambe the Lords Passeouer that sacrifices are sinnes and sanctifications baptisme the water of regeneration But we declared in the sixt sermon of this Decade that all these kindes of speaches remaine to be expouÌ„ded This saying or spéech therefore is to be expounded This is my bodie This is my bloud because it is sacramentall For it receiued the common interpretation whiche most truly and for certeinty was vsed and receiued by the catholique church euer since the time of the Apostles yea and euer since the time of the Patriarches vnto this day to wit that signes do receiue the termes and names of those things that are signified so that thereby they receiue no part of their substance but do stil continue remaine in their owne proper nature For this cause it coÌ„meth to passe that our Lord Christe in the Gospell written by S. Luke did ioyne the banquet of the Passeouer with this our lordes supper in such sort that he substituted this in the place of the other that it should not séeme straunge if he said in this our supper This is my body for in the solemnizing of the feast of Passeouer it is thus said The lambe is the Lords Passeouer Which kind of speach was not darke to be vnderstoode by the Apostles who vnderstoode that this lambe was a remembrance of the passage once past By that meanes also they vnderstood that the Lords bread giuen vnto them by the Lord is a remembrance of his body For in other matters of much lesse weight they diligeÌ„tly questioned and inquired of the Lord touching the proper sense signification of the words But of these woordes they neuer once doubted or asked any question For al sacramental spéeches were to the holy fathers very wel knowen Moreouer if we continue to vnderstand the words of the supper simply according to the letter it followeth that the Lord hath deliuered vnto vs his body and bloud corporally to be receiued And I pray you to what ende should hee deliuer them but that we receiuing them corporally might liue But the vniuersal canonical scripture teacheth that our life or saluation our iustificatioÌ„ coÌ„sisteth in faith only which we repose in the body which was giuen the bloud shedd for vs which is the spiritual eating not in any work of ours much lesse in the bodily eating of Christes body whiche he sheweth in another place to be nothing auaileable Then since there is but one meanes and that most simple wherby to obteine life and iustification to wit by faith only not by the work of our eating neither is the scripture repugnant to it selfe surely the Lord hath not instituted any such worke of eating therefore the solemne words of the supper do admit some other exposition If the bread were the lords true and natural body it must néeds follow the euen the wicked being partakers of this bread shuld eate Christs body that verily his flesh shuld be meate to feed the bellie since they that eate it lack both mindes faith But all holy men abhorre that thought as absurd most vnworthie of whiche matter I will intreate more hereafter Therfore the saying of Christ This is my body admitteth an expositioÌ„ The whole vniuersal canonical scripture witnesseth that our Lord Iesus Christ toke a body of the vndefiled virgin consubstantial in al poincts vnto our bodies that is to say an humane bodie yea that hee was made like to vs in all respectes except sinne Nowe it is manifest that he spake of his true sensible bodie when he sayeth This is my body For he addeth Whiche is broken or giuen for you But the true natural sensible or humane body was deliuered and died for vs But this appeareth not in the bread or vnder the bread Wherefore the Lords words must be expounded Surely if it had béene the Lords will to make his body of bread his bloud of wine according to the power wherby he made all thinges with his word as soone â—s euer he had said This is my body the bread had béene the body of Christ and that very body whereof he spake mortall passible to be felt and séene For he spake the word and they were made he commaunded and they were created He said let ther be light and light was made and such kind of light as might be perceiued and did shine But in the supper we sée nothing in Christes hands but bread no body And therfore it was not our sauiours meaning by these words This is my bodie to create or make his body of the bread For if he had ment so to do surely it had béene done Neither is there any cause why they should here as it were casting their mistes before our eyes and applie their coloured interpretations vnto a rotten construction vsing wordes vnspeâ—keably supernaturally inuisibly not qualitiuely not quantiuely not as in a place For by these termes they intending in the meane while to bring some other thing to passe doe by the wonderfull iudgement of God quite subuert and ouerthrow
not onely the sacramentes of the bodie and bloude of Christ We answere that Paule saieth thus in plaine wordes Who soeuer eateth of this bread and drinketh of the Lords cup. c. Marke this he sayeth Who so eateth this bread drinketh of this cup vnworthily hee saith not Who so eateth the flesh and drinketh the bloud vnworthily For they whiche eate the Lorde are not without faith and Christe dwelleth in them and they in him If thou yet meruaile how the vnbeléeuers can bée guiltie of the Lordes body and bloud being eaten but sacramentally learne this out of other places of the Scripture The Lord saith in Iohn Verilie verilie I say vnto you he that receiueth whomsoeuer I shall send receiueth me and whoso receiueth me receiueth him that sent mee Wherfore whose receiueth not an apostle trespasseth not against y Apostle but against God himself although in y mene while he hath not séene god nor will not séeme to haue repelled him Wee read how y the iudge will say to them that are on his left hand Departe from me you wicked into euerlasting fire For I was hungrie and you gaue me no meat I was thirsty you gaue me no drink c. But harkeÌ„ now how the reprobate wil make exceptions againste thus sentence of the Iudge Lord when did we se thee hungrie or thirstie and ministred not vnto thee TheÌ„ heare again what the iudge wil answere Verily I say vnto you in that yee did it not vnto one of the least of these ye did it not to mee wherfore like as he that sinneth against a minister or a begger sinneth agaiÌ„st Christ himselfe although in y meane while he hath not hurt Christes person in any point so is he also giltie of the body bloud of Christ whosoeuer receiueth the sacrament of the body bloud of Christ vnworthily although in the meane seasoÌ„ he haue not receiued the very body bloud of the lord Paul saith in another place that reuolters do crucifie againe vnto them selues the sonne of god He also denieth in an other place by all manner of meanes that it is possible for Christe to be crucified or to dye any more Therefore Christ cannot be crucified againe by the Apostataes or reuolters how beit their shamefull falling away from him is so estéemed of as if they had crucified the Sonne of God. Although therefore the wicked doe not eate the Lordes verie bodie nor drinke his bloude neuerthelesse they are guiltie of betraying the Lords body and bloud as farre as in them lyeth If a rebell treade vnder his foote y seale or letters of the Prince or Magistrate although hee touche not the Magistrate him selfe nor treade him vnder his foote yet is hee sayde to haue troaden the magistrate vnder his foote and is accused not for hurting the seale or defiling the letters but hee is charged of treason and accused for treading the Prince vnder his féete What meruaile then if we heare it said that they which do eate the Lords bread vnworthily are guiltie of the body and bloud of Christ For the bread and the mysticall cup are a sacrament and seale of it Hetherto haue we disputed of the eating of the bodie of Christe and of drinking of his bloud haÌ„dling euery one point therof with asmuch breuitie as we could Now we go to knit vp the other endes of the Lords supper béeing placed in the description of the supper We said that the supper was instituted by the Lord that it might represent visibly the gifts of God vnto the Church and lay them foorth before the eyes of all men But we haue learned by the whole discourse of this matter that Christ him selfe is a most full rich treasure of all the giftes of God as namely froÌ„ whom béeing deliuered for vs vnto death we haue all things belonging to life remission of sinnes life euerlasting Since these things be inuisible gotten by faith they be also visibly that is to say by sacraments represented almost vnto all the senses to the sight to hearing to tasting and to féeling to the intent that man béeing wholy therwith moued bothe in body and soule may celebrate this moste comfortable mysterie with greate reioycing in heart Héere vnto now apperteyneth that analogie whereof I haue spoken before in the 7. Sermon of this Decade whereby I would haue these things to be better learned Furthermore we haue said that the supper was instituted of the lord that he might visibly gather together into one body all his members which were in a maÌ„ner dispersed throughout all parts of the world Whervppon we haue said that the holie men some where else did call the supper a league or confederacie We are knitt inuistbly with Christe and all his members by vnitie of faith and participation of one spirit but in the supper we are ioyned together euen by a visible coÌ„iunctioÌ„ For now not by words but by déedes also but by mysterie but by sacrament we are very néerly knit and ioyned together opening and declaring to all men by celebrating the supper that we are also of the number of them that beléeue that they are redéemed by Christ and that they are Christes members and people But we binde our selues together vnto Christe and the Church bothe that we will kéepe the sincere faith and promising that wee will vse good déedes and charitie towards all men Looke for more touching this matter in the seuenth Sermon of this Decade Héerevppon truely did S. Paule proue that it is not lawfull for them whiche receiue together at the Lords table to eate of meate offered to Idols and to take parte of prophane sacrifices Which thing if at this day many would rightely weigh and consider they would not séeme to be séene so busie in straunge and for reigne sacrifices We said also that the Lord instituted the Supper that thereby hee might kéepe his death in memorie so that it should neuer be blotted out with obliuion For Christes death is the summarie of all gods benefits He wold haue vs therfore to kéep in memorie the benefite of his inâ—arnatioÌ„ passion redemption and of his loue And although the remembrance of a thinge that is past bee celebrated to wit of his death yet the same belongeth greatly vnto vs quickneth vs. Neither most we thinke that this is the lest end For there is none so diligently expressed as this is For the Lorde repeateth this saying Doe this in the remembraunce of me But the holy rite or holy actioÌ„ béeing ioyned with the word or with the preaching of Christes death the redemption of mankind how mauelously doth it renue from time to time that benefit and suffereth it not to be forgotten Last of al we said that the supper was ordeined of the lord that therby we might be admonished of our duety praise thanksgiuing It is our dutie to be sincere in the faith of Christ to imbrace all our brethren