light vnto other and cause them to lift vp the eyes of theyr mindes vnto God the chiefe fountayne head and beginning of al good things and to honour him with prayses and most vpright religion Wherfore I gather and that truly as I am most fully perswaded that I my self and the rest of the Ministers of the doctrine of the sonne of God ought aboue al other to liue most iustly But when I considered that the office of this vertue Iustice whiche shyneth among mortall men like the bright starre Lucifer consisteth wholy in this to render to euery man that which is his I desired verely to performe the same not maymed nor diminished nor shortened but consisting of all his partes so much as humane weakenes would suffer me And among other excellent parts or kindes therof a thankfull minde and mindfull of a benefite receaued is not to be numbred among the least whose property is not onely to acknowledge benefites receaued but also earnestlye to bee desirous to geue thankes for them This thing when I weigh with my selfe for I thinke on it oftentimes I wyll not say continually there cōmeth into my remembrāce very many great benefites which your publike welth churche schoole haue heretofore bestowed vpō me And assuredly when I recken them more depely weigh them they appere vnto me so many so great that I am excedingly afrayd least I should happen to depart out of this life vngrateful which thing vndoutedly should be more bitter vnto me thē death it self Ye when I came out of Italy for religiō sake with most incredible humanity receaued me ye gaue me the fredome of your most ample city ye placed me in that Schoole which ye not long before with great praise of wyse godly men had erected ther ye appoynted me a Professor of holy scriptures wheras I liued a fellow with most learned and excellent men more then fiue yeares All which time ye mayntained me with a very liberal stipend Ye when I was called into England decreed that I should go thither where certayne yeares I was teaching the Gospel in the Vniuersity of Oxford namelye vntil such time as Edward the sixt of that name that most woorthye King and which can neuer be praysed inough was taken away by vntimely death which brought vnto all the godly griefe mourning and sundrye and hard vexacions Ye exceding louingly receued me when I returned thence to Argentine placed me in the same roume wherin I was with you before Also when the most noble Senate of Tigure called me into the place of Pellicanus which was ther a Professor of Diuinity ye although both to your great griefe and also to mine did yet most louinglye let me go The cause of my departure I wyll not nowe speake of bicause it is to all men knowen wel inough Thus much onely wil I say that I do both vehemently desyre and also hope that this stop or let may be taken away out of the field of the Lord. These your benefits which are of them selues ample and noble I do nothing encrease nor amplify But this one thing I testify that they neuer slipped out of minde neither is it possible but that they being layd vp in the bottom of my hart shal there abide for euer Howbeit bicause the remembrance and thinking on the benefites which I haue receaued of you doth not satisfy me I haue alwayes desired to make open vnto al men my good will and gratefull hart towardes you which haue bene so wonderfull beneficial towardes me wherefore I haue very often times determined with my selfe one tyme at the length to declare by some signification or monument my singular affection and ardent loue towardes your publike wealth Church and Schoole But for as muche as touchynge ryches of thys worlde I haue nothing wherwithal to performe the same least I should dye frustrate of my so honest and vehement a desire being about now to set forth a Comentary vpon the holy history of the Iudges As I haue taught it in your Schoole I haue determined to dedicate it to your name where as otherwise I would haue offred vnto you thinges much greater and better if strength ability had answered vnto my minde Neither was I hereunto perswaded onely by the reason now alledged namely by some maner of meanes to shew my good wyl towards you and not to geue any man occasion of suspicion that in chaunging my place I should haue shaken of my endeuour and study towardes you which thing vndoubtedly is not so For I haue not laid aside these things but they most firmly sticke in my mind daily more more But this also did driue me to do this for that this boke was writtē in your city And therfore I thought it meete that in the possession therof no man should be preferred before you Farther this did not a lytle moue me for that the argumēt of this history most aptly agreeth with you For euen as God at sundry times stirred vp Iudges vnto the Hebrewes to deliuer them when they were oppressed with the tiranny of their enemies So wer you not amonge the last stirred vp by his goodnes and grace to bring to lyght the Gospell of the sonne of God when it was held captiue in darknes by the dominion and violence of hipocrites and when the mindes of Christiās as touchyng godlynes were euery where in a maner baren and vnfruitfull Here assuredlye I could make mencion of very many your actes both godly and honorable but I ouerpasse them for that you haue manye eloquent and notable publishers abroade of your doinges which most aboundantly and elegantly haue set foorth your valiantnes of minde your constancy in embracing and spreading abroade of the Gospel of Christ and your liberality in maintaining your notable moste learned and famous Schoole Neyther vndoubtedly can the praises which they haue geuen you bee reproued of anye lye for as muche as you haue with great seruentnes of fayth receaued the doctrine of the sonne of God and ye are made vnto other a notable example of renuing of piety And afterward when by reason of iniquity of times thinges which wer wel ordered semed somwhat to slide and fall to decaye ye hauing firme confidence of the ayde of God verye godlys and wisely tooke courage vnto you and euen now in this time ye stoutly and luckely did driue out the remnantes of the Amorrihites and Chananites out of the inheritance of the Lord which pertayned to your lot Which your act hath wyth al the godly gotten you great grace prayse glory and fauour Wherefore I as which vehemently desyre honor fame and dignity vnto the City of Argentine do excedingly reioyce for your most excellent and holy act And I do desyre god the father of mercy that ye being inflamed and kindled with his spirit may alwaies go forward to better thinges For so long as we wander here on earth as straungers from our country which is
hande and hys hande preuayled agaynst Chusan Riseathaun 11 And the lande had rest .40 yeares And Othoniel the Sonne of Chenez dyed Israel cryed vnto the Lord bicause they wer euil vexed and most grieuously oppressed of the Sirians They acknowledged now after their great hurt that straunge Gods profited them nothing yea rather they brought vpon them the miseries wherwith they were vrged When they vnderstoode that mans helpe was on euery side cut of they conuerting them selues vnto the true God called vpon him This is the fruite of miseries as touching the elect or rather the fruit of the goodnes of God which by troubles calleth againe vnto him those which are hys Of Othoniel we haue spoken inough before Now he is called a Sauiour bicause he brought health vnto the Israelites as the other Iudges dyd Othoniel was called a sauiour and a redemer which wer also called Sauiours he was a shadow of Christ But the Chaldey paraphrast calleth him Porken that is a Redemer Which surname also rightly agreeth with Othoniel bicause before it is sayd that God sold the Israelites and when bondmen are sold they haue nede of one to redeme them For as much as before it was said the God raised vp Iudges After what maner God raised vp Iudges now is declared the maner forme how he raysed them vp For it is written And the spirite of the Lord was vpon hym For by the holy ghost wer not onelye geuen vnto hym strength political wisdome and warlyke artes but also he was made the more certain of his calling The Chaldey paraphrast vnderstandeth by the Spirit of God the power of prophecy Dauid Kimhi But Dauid Kimhi interpreteth it the gift of force strength But I thinke that either interpretacion is to be allowed For besydes the strength and power which was geuen the Iudges they had also the iudgement and feeling of the wil of God which pertained vnto prophecy He iudged Israel That is he set them at liberty and was their Gouernour as touching ciuil thinges and restored the pure worshipping of God In that it is aboue written that God sold Israel to the king of Mesopotamia And nowe again it is declared that he deliuered the same king vnto Othoniel we may gather that victories ar geuē at the pleasure of God which also we haue often noted before R. Leui ben gerson thinketh that in that supputation of .40 R. Leui ben gerischon yeares wherein the Iewes lyued peaceably vnder Othoniel were comprehended also the eyght yeares of seruitude which went before But of this thing we wil speake aboundantly in the history of Iiphtah God is also to be called vpon of synners This place teacheth that men must call vpon God though they haue synned which I therfore thought good to note bycause sinnes vse much to feare away men from the inuocation of the name of God for this is the nature of synnes to alienate vs frō God vnto whom we yet by praiers come againe Wherfore seing these thinges are contrary namely to be alienated from God and to come vnto him it is wonder how they can be applyed to one and the selfe same man Augustine And this maketh with it also which is written in the gospel God heareth not sinners Although Augustine wryte of that sentēce that it is found in dede in the holy scriptures but it was spoken by hym whych was borne blynde when his hart was not yet illustrate Wherefore he iudgeth that that sentence is not to be taken as a firme and certaine rule A distinction of synners But I would rather make a distinction betwene synners for there are some which when they cry vnto the Lord do repent and from their hartes are sory for the euils which they haue committed But ther are other which continue stil in their mynd and purpose to synne and haue a very great delite therin Farther I am not afeard to affirme that god heareth those synners which being repentant cry vnto him with faith wher as those are repulsed which being hardened in their sinnes and wāting faith do call vpon god Wherfore it appeareth that those sinners which come to god and those that depart from god are not sinners of one sort bicause they which after they haue synned cal vpon god by faith repent them of theyr synnes are deuided from those which stubbornly without repentaunce perseuer in their synnes For they although by wordes they cry vnto god yet in hart and mynde they are farre from him so farre are they for to be ioyned vnto him or to come vnto him by fayth and prayers ¶ Whether God be the cause of synne BVt in these thinges which are sayd there ariseth a question which is not to be left vnspoken of For it is writtē that god sold the Israelites to the king of Mesopotamia Wherfore it semeth that he holpe a wicked man aided hym to satisfy his tyranny and ambition For he had neither a iust cause nor yet an honest title to clayme vnto him the dominion of the Hebrues What shall wee saye therefore Shall we affirme that God is the cause of this sinne Ther happeneth in this booke and in other places of the holye Scriptures suche kynde of speeche and that often times very plaine and therefore it semeth good to be expounded once for all Whether by the word permissiō this question may be dissolued Some yea and that with no euyl minde labour to excuse God and say that he doth not these euyl thinges but onely permitteth them And they thinke that in doubtful places that interpretation is to be applied which altogether wanteth fault and daunger of vngodlines Vndoubtedly this their saying wer to be praised if that we could se their exposition to be allowed in the scriptures But there it is farre otherwise sayd It is proued by good reasons that besides permission god worketh somewhat whē sins ar cōmitted namely that God doth stirre vp wycked men to their wicked actes that he seduceth delyuereth commaundeth hardeneth and deceaueth them and bringeth to passe those sinnes which are grieuous Suche kindes of speeche do manifestly teach vs that God after a sorte woorketh euyll thinges not onely in permitting but also in doing in vs. Without doubt al we are said both to haue our being and also our mouing in him For he is in suche sort the first cause of all thinges that without him we can do nothing For how should we moue our selues vnlesse by his power we wer both moued and also driuen Farther how farre his gouernment extendeth we may reade in the .xi. chap. of Mathew for two Sparowes saith the Lord are sold for a farthing and yet one of them falleth not to the ground without the wyll of the father And that was as much to say as without the counsell of God nothing be it neuer so smal is done in the world Moreouer that permission wherby certaine go about to make
also happeneth in prescriptioÌ„ when a maÌ„ is cast out of his possessioÌ„ or the matter is called into law the matter is in plead the prescription is broken Also the allowyng of the contradictory iudgement ought to be had that is that when one part alledgeth the custome and an other part denyeth it if it be pronouÌ„ced on the custome side that doth confirme it But all these thynges as I haue before sayde must be reuoked vnto the rule of the woorde of God A custome that is burdenous to the Church is not to be suffred Augustine Now this onely is to be added whiche is had Extra de Consuet chap. 1. that a custome can not be suffred if it be burdenous to the Church Augustine also coÌ„playned that in his tyme were so many new ceremonyes rites brought in that the Church was greuously burdened and the state of Christians at the tyme was nothing at all more tollerable then in the old tyme the state of the Iewes was That also we laye agaynst our aduersaryes that the Churche should not be burdened This is their owne lawe Why do they not acknowledge their owne wordes These things haue I therfore mencioned that we might vnderstand how firme an argument Iiphtah vsed of Prescription namely that the Israelites possessed that land .300 yeares whiche is much more firme and of greater force then if they had possessed it but .30 or .40 yeares Now let vs go to the other part of the chap. wherin Iyphtahs victory agaynst the Ammonites is described 29 Then the spirite of the Lord came vpon Iiphtah and he passed ouer to Gilead to Manasseh he passed ouer also Mizpa Gilead from Mizpa Gilead he went to the children of Ammon 30 And Iiphtah vowed a vowe vnto the Lorde and sayd If thou shalt deliuer the children of Ammon into myne hand 31 Then that thing that commeth out of the dores of my house to meete me when I returne in peace from the children of Ammon shall be the Lordes or I will offer it for a burnt offring 32 And so Iiphtah went vnto the children of Ammon to fight agaynst them and the Lord deliuered them into his handes 33 And he smote them from Aroer euen till thou come to Minnith twenty Cityes and eueÌ„ to Abel a very great region of vineyardes Thus the children of Ammon were humbled before the chyldren of Israell Two Mizpas Mizpa Gilead is an other City differyng from that Mizpa whiche lay in the tribe of Iudah The spirite of the Lord which is sayd to haue come vpon Iiphtah was the spirite of strength For there are sundry gifts of the spirite as of Wisedome of Vnderstandyng of Counsell c. Among which also is reckened the spirite of strength Wherfore the Lord gaue vnto Iiphtah this spirite that is all warlike might as well of the minde as of the body that he might valiantly execute that warre But we knowe that those giftes whiche in schooles are called gratuita that is free giftes Fre gifts iustify not do not iustifie for they happen as well to the euill as to the good But the spirit of god is three maner of wayes in men First in that he is god for so he is infinite is euery where SecoÌ„dly he is in men by fre gifts namely of miracles The holy ghost is thrâ—â— maner of wayes in meÌ„ wisedome strength c. And these two wayes he is as wel in the euill as in the good But the third way he is men by sanctification and renouation And this dwellyng of the spirite of God is to be wished for of all the godly God had before ordeyned Iiphtah to he head ouer al the people of Israell but that was vnknowen vnto the people And the Gileadites when they made Iiphtah theyr captayne thought nothyng of a Iudge whiche should gouerne all Israell Here God sheweth his iudgement when he inspired hym with the gift of strength that all men might vnderstand that God had chosen him to be captayne Neither yet do I thus say that Iiphtah had the spirite of strength as thoughe he had not also the spirit of sanctification for as much as he might haue both But being moued with this spirite of strength he went out with a great courage and finished the thing valiantly Captaines wâ—r wont to vowe But before he went to handstrokes he vowed a vow vnto god as the History declareth It was the maner of Captaines that when they should make any great warre they vowed something to God so that they got the victory In Leui we rede ofteÌ„tymes that the Romayne Captaynes vowed riche spoiles prayes temples and such like either vnto Iupiter or vnto Apollo or to other Gods So the people of god as it is written in the boke of Numbers when king Adar inuaded them they vowed to make his land Cherem Nowe also Iiphtah voweth but his vowe is confused and defineth no certayne thing VVhat soeuer saith he shall come forth that shal be the Lordes and shal be sacrificed There are some expositors whiche thinke this letter Vau otherwise a copulatiue to make in thys place a disiunction as thoughe he should haue sayd Either it shal be sacrified vnto the Lord if it be of that kynd that it may be sacrificed or if it be not yet it shal be the Lordes that is it shal be dedicated vnto the Lord. And in deede D. Kimhi is of that opinion Kimhi The like manner of speakyng is there in these wordes If a man strike father and mother he shall dye the death for there also Vau is a disiunctiue And the meanyng is If a man strike either father or mother c. Herein what I thinke I do not declare I will afterward intreate more largely of this matter It is not gathered by these wordes Iiphtah vowed not by the inspiration of the holy ghost the Iiphtah made this vowe by the inspiration of the holy ghost The spirite in deede moued hym valiantly to atchieue the enterprise yet we rede not that it moued hym to make a vowe The Latine translation hath That whiche shall first come forth but the worde first is not in the Hebrew but must nedes be vnderstand otherwise he had bound all thinges that should come forth of his house But as I haue said it is an ambigous confused vowe For what if such a thyng should haue met him as myght neither haue ben sacrificed nor dedicated to the Lorde What if a dogge had met Iiphtah at his returne as it is a louing beast and oftentymes meeteth his Lord returnyng home But it is an vncleane beast neither may it be sacrificed nor redemed with any price It is wonderfull that so great a Captayne was so ignoraÌ„t of the law of God that he vowed not more distinctly It may be sayd that the Israelites had so longe tyme worshipped Baal vnder the Ammonites and other nations that they had forgotten the worshipping of the
that it myght easely come to passe that he should fal into the sinne whiche he declared vnto the holy Prophete Naaman the Syrian knewe that his deede was culpable nought And when he knewe ryght well that the same agreed not with true godlynesse he required the prayers and intercession of the man of GOD whereby he fallyng of weakenesse hys faulte myght be forgeuen hym Otherwyse there is none whiche nedeth to aske pardon for that which he thynketh is lawfull for hym to doe We make intercessions for sinnes and not for thinges permitted vs. Wherefore thys place maketh much agaynst our aduersaries and that that is sinne which they moste earnestly goe aboute to excuse is manyfestly proued by thys historye I would to God they woulde diligentlye marke in that action that which theyr Naaman selfe And if they shoulde fall as thys man feared that he shoulde fall they woulde not cloke it with a vayne defence but woulde emplore the mercye of God and prayers of holy men that that maye gentlye be forgeuen them Elizeus gaue not Naamā libertie to go vnto Idols whiche they naughtely haue committed Neyther did Elizeus as they persuade themselues geue Naaman the Sirian liberty to go vnto Idoles he sayde onely Go in peace Which was also an accustomed kinde of salutation at the time Neither may we gather any other thing out of these words then that the Prophet promised to do that which he was requested to do Namely to pray vnto God for the saluation of the man Fyrst to strengthen him that he should not fal Secondly that if he sinned his fault might be forgeuen him They vse to obiecte also certayne woordes out of the Epistle of Ieremye the Prophet which are written aboute the end of a litle booke entituled of Baruch An answer to a place of Baruch And these are the wordes In Babilon ye shall see Gods of golde and Siluer borne vppon mens shoulders to caste oute a fearefulnesse before the Heathen Take heede ye followe not the Gentiles when ye see the multitude of people worshipping behynde and before But saye in your hartes O Lorde it is thou that oughtest onely to be worshipped c. By these wordes do our Nicodemites thinke it to be sufficient that they which are presente at Idolatrous worshippings do say in their hartes O Lord it is thou that oughtest onely to be worshipped But they shoulde more attentyuely consider that the Prophet if he were a Prophet which spake these woordes which I therefore speake bycause the little booke of Baruch is Apochriphus The boke of Baruch is Apochriphus and is not founde in the Hebrewe gaue not the Iewes libertye to goe into the Temples of the Idols and to bee there present at prophane and Idolatrous rites and there to speake with the true God in themselues in theyr hart onely But he speaketh of those Images which were caryed about the citye for that was the manner among the Babilonians as the historie of Daniell testifyeth Images amōg the Babilonians wer crried about the citye which maketh mencion that an image set vp by Nabuchadnezar was openly caried about with great pompe and with Musicall instrumentes and sundry songes At the hearing whereof al men were commaunded to worship the Image which they beheld which the felowes of Daniel would not do Of those images I say it is writtē in the Epistle and the Godly are faythfully admonished that they should not as the Ethnykes did who were behinde and before thē reuerence or worship those images Yea rather in detesting their wicked worshipping they should say or at the least way in their hart O Lord it is thou only that oughtest to be worshipped These metings comming by chaunce through the citie could not be auoyded the Godly therefore were to be admonished how in suche metinges they shoulde behaue them selues But with great importunitye as they be shamelesse Why Daniell was not cast i◠to the fornace with his fellowes they yet go farther and demaund how chaunce Daniell was not cast into the burning fornace with his fellowes when as the punishment was a like appointed vnto thē which would not worship the image of Nabuchadnezar Wherfore these mē fayne with thēselues that Daniell dyd make as though he worshipped it and for that cause the Chaldeians medled not with him And they saye also that they may lawfullye do that which they thinke thys holy Prophet of God dyd They consider not that they openly fal into a false kynde of reason which commonly is called Non causa vt causa which is when that which is not a cause is put for a cause Paralogismos For there might be very many other causes why Daniell was not then punyshed Peraduenture he mette not the image which was caryed about or if at any time he met it the Chaldeians marked not what he dyd Or being founde faultye in it and marked he was not accused bycause the Kyng loued him excedinglye But we must not beleue Daniel dissimuled not the worshipping of the image that the man of god for feare of punyshment or death would dissemble the worshippyng of the image agaynst the lawe and pietie whē as it is afterwarde declared how for piety sake he was caste to the Lyons Wherefore forasmuche as there myghte be diuerse causes that he was not deliuered to be burnt in the fyre with his fellowes Why do these men thē snatch vnto thē only one cause and that such a cause as was vnworthy and ful of reproche to such a holy man and specially seing in the holy scriptures there is not so much as a suspition of so detestable an acte any way geuen vs Of Paule who toke on hym a vowe clensed hymself after the manner of the Iewes They seeme to themselues to speake much to the purpose and trimlye to defende theyr doing when as they bryng that whiche is written in the Actes of the Apostles the xxi Chapter where it is declared that Paul by the Counsell of the Elders of the Churche of Ierusalem tooke vppon hym a vowe and foure other men with hym and purifyed themselues after the manner of the Iewes If the Apostle of God saye they woulde vse the ceremonyes of the lawe alreadye abolyshed we maye also be suffred sometymes to admitte and to be present at rites and ceremonyes so long tyme receaued The sūme of the Preaching of Paule But that thys may the playnlyer be vnderstande we muste knowe that thys was the summe of the Preachyng of Paule We thynke that a man is iustifyed by fayth without workes As many as are vnder the law the same are vnder the curse The iuste man shall lyue by hys fayth How far legall ceremonies were graunted or condemned in the primatiue church Wherefore the Apostle in that fyrst tyme of the Preachyng of the Gospel dyd not condemne the ceremonyes and obseruations of the lawe towarde the Hebrues vnlesse they were retayned
much as Idolatrers do wander fro whatsoeuer they do in their rites turneth to their own destruction The other thing is that the manner of the oblations consist of the doctrine of the holy scriptures and come not of our owne inuentions and fayninges Whither the selfe same thing may be both a sacrament and a sacrifice Here ariseth a doubt bicause we haue put a difference betwene a sacrament and a sacrifice and yet if the elders in their oblations and sacrifices had the self same thing that we haue when we celebrate the supper of the Lorde whych no man doubteth but to be a sacrament How shall that be true that we said before that there is a difference betwene a sacrifice and a sacrament seing that of necessity the sacrifices of the Elders must also be Sacraments To this I answer that the reasons of these thinges ar diuers and yet that letteth not but that one thing may be both a Sacrament and a Sacrifice For no man doubteth but that philosophy and strength of the body are diuers thinges which neuertheles may be sene both in one mā So also it happeneth here that one thing may be both a sacrifice a sacrament The supper of the lord is both a sacrament a sacrifice although the reason of a sacrament and a sacrifice be diuers When the supper of the Lorde is celebrated in that the body and bloud of Christ are by faith spirit geuen vnto vs to be receaued and the promise of that coniunction which we haue with Christ is sealed so that we are the members of his bodye in this respect I say it is a sacrament and also so called bicause in that action god geueth hys gyftes vnto vs. But in that by the same action we do celebrate the memory of the death of Christ we render thankes vnto him for the giftes which we haue receaued we consecrate offer our selues vnto god it is The kylling of sacrifices were both sacramēts and also sacrifices may be called a iust sacrifice wherby we geue most acceptable oblations vnto god himself This self same thing may we se in the killing of the sacrifices which wer in the old time done before god for they wer both sacraments wher in Christ was geuen to the men in the old time to be receaued of them by faith by which they cōmunicated before the Lord in eating drinking together Al these things I say pertained to the reasō of a sacramēt And yet the same wer also sacrifices whē as ther thei did both consecrate theirs them selues vnto god But to retourne to the history when as very many kinde of sacrifices were commaunded in the law namely for synnes and for faultes peaceofferings also and burntofferings it is vncertain which of these the Israelites vsed at this present for the history declareth it not But by as much as maye be coniectured by those thinges which are spoken he should not erre in my iudgement whiche should affirme that they sacrificed for synne For to this ende pertaineth both the sermon that was preached and also the weeping of the people namelye to haue forgeuenes of their synnes and to retourne againe into fauour with god But some peraduenture wyl maruayle why they durst sacrifice there where the tabernacle of God was not fixed when as in Deuter. it was most manifestly forbidden by a law that the people should not Sacrifice in anye other place Whether it were lawfull to sacrifice there where the tabernacle of God was not But as touching that law we must vnderstand that it was not of efficacye till such time as the Arke and Tabernacle of the Lord had a fixed and firme place Which came not to passe before Salomon had built the most noble Temple at Ierusalem Wherfore before that time we reade that they sacrificed in wandering and vncertain places namely whersoeuer any occasion of religion was geuen Furthermore they which thinke that this man of God which preached this sermon was Phineas do say that it is not to be maruailed that sacrifices wer offered here at Bochim as the history teacheth For it might easely be that the selfe same man which preached the sermon offered sacrifice in the name of the whole people for synne for that he exercised the office of priesthoode For he succeeded Eleazer his parent according to the promise of God And by these things which haue ben intreated of in this place What thinges ought to be obserued in an holy assembly we may gather what thinges ought chiefly to be obserued in an holy assembly The word of god before al thinges must be preached vnto the people therby to allure the hearers to repentance namely to acknowledge the sinnes which they haue committed and to repent them therof Then must they procede to the administration of the Sacramentes wher the faithful may be made more assured that their sinnes ar by Christ forgeuen them they may also geue thankes vnto God and with many and sundry praises celebrate and cal vpon him 6 And when Iosua had sent the people away the children of Israel went euery man into his inheritance to possesse the lande 7 And the people serued the Lord al the dayes of Iosuah and all the daies of the Elders that outliued Iosua which had sene al the great woorkes of the Lord that he dyd for Israel This narration is therefore put in to declare how long the Israelites kept the sincere and true woorshipping of God And it is sayde that when they were come into the land of Chanaan they did their duty wel as long as Iosua lyued as long as the Elders wer remaining which had sene the wonderful workes of God which he had wrought for the Israelites sake And vndoubtedlye it had bene vnaptly if this history should haue declared the transgression of the Chyldren of Israel and should not haue noted the tyme wherein it happened Aptlye therfore is the death of Iosua and the Elders which lyued in his tyme repeated in this place and afterwarde is mencioned that an other age of men succeeded which knew not God neither had they sene his workes Wherefore the Israelites easely fel from the lawful worshipping of God We gather by this place that the repentaunce of the Hebrues before declared which happened after the death of Iosua The profite of the repentance before mentioned of the people when the publike wealth was gouerned by a Senate and the enemies wer by manye battailes destroyed compelled to paye tribute vnto the Israelites whiche had conquered them brydled and restrained the people a long time from falling into more grieuous synnes They had sinned in dede as we haue now heard in sparing the Chananites and not abolishing their wicked idolatry But afterward when they had desired and obtained pardon of so great a crime they abstained a long time from the woorshipping of Idols and the repentaunce now mencioned brought forth his fruit Some peraduenture will
maruayle howe chaunce Why the Isralites after their repentance â—o not breake the league maâ—e with the Chananites that they styll kept the league which was wickedlye made with the Chananites ouerthrew not their detestable worshippinges Temples and Idols Vndoubtedly if theyr repeÌ„tance had bene true and perfect they ought faythfully to haue amended that wherein they synned for among other thinges those ar counted the iust fruites of repentaunce I haue nothing els to answer here but that I thinke they dyd not thys bicause they wanted force God forgeueth sinnes but he doth not by by restore the good thinges taken away luckelye to fight against those nations For God to punish the transgression and violating of his law had nowe withdrawen theyr strength and audacity And although they repented yet he did not by and by restore vnto them their old strengthes For he vseth in deede straightwaye to receaue repentaunt synners into fauour but he doth not by and by restore those thinges which he by his iust iudgement hath for sinnes taken away This maye we easely see in the fal of our first Parentes For the euils therby comming vnto mankinde wer not taken away of God Yea and those commodities most quiet state whiche they had in Paradise men neuer afterwarde recouered although God hath reconciled vnto himselfe those that beleue in Christ For Dauid had woord brought him by Nathan the prophet that his sinne was forgeuen him yet he could not escape but that his sonne which was borne vnto him perished and he himselfe fel into grieuous miseries So God woorketh somtimes partly to keepe discipline and partly to make manifest vnto men how much he detesteth sinnes Againe more and more to stirre vp repentaunce and that an earnest repentaunce of wicked actes committed in suche as are renued But let vs returne vnto the history wherin certain thinges which happened vnder Iosua are more fully repeated Now saith he He had let the people go and euery man went into his inheritaunce Iosua sent away the people twice from hym to possesse the land The Israelites were twice thus sent away by Iosua First when the land of Chanaan was deuided by lottes For at that time euery Tribe went to possesse those places which fel vnto them by lot Iosua also sent away the people when he should dye For he had called together vnto him the whole multitude of the Israelites by his last sermon to admonish and exhort them Which he preached in such sorte as it is described in his booke the .24 chap. And as it is most likely we ought to vnderstande that sending away in this place to be the same which was done last Seing that it is written in the place now alledged that when the people had heard the words of Iosua renued the couenante of god they wer sent awaye and euerie one went to his owne possession After that is mencioned the deathe of Iosuah euen with as many wordes as it is now repeated Iosua when he should dye executed the office of a good prince Here let vs note that Iosua being almost at the poynt of death executeth the office of a good Prince in exhorting the people openly that with many words not to depart from the sincere religion In which thing he with a godly and holy study imitated Moyses whom he succeded who as we reade toward the end of Deut. behaued himselfe after the sawe sort Iacob also the most holye Patriarche euen now ready to dye called vnto him al his children and seriously and with great holines preached vnto them And that Princes and Kinges shoulde coÌ„modiously do the same it is prescribed vnto them in Deuter. that they should be most studious in the law of God For by that meanes were they made apt to admonish the people and to exhort them faithfully to obserue the commaundementes of the Lord. The Israelites when they wer sent away by Iosua ar sayd to haue gone to possesse the land bicause as yet ther remained very many places for euery Tribe not yet conquered Of which places when Iosua was dead and in the time of the Elders they obtained certain when as they got the victories in battailes as we haue heard froÌ„ the beginning After which victories the first transgression folowed vnto which succeded the repentaunce before mencioned But they abstained from idolatry as long as Iosua lyued and all the time of the Elders which wer equall with him and ouerlyued him who also had seene the wonderfull workes of the Lord. For at that time sound doctrine and the woord of the Lord testified by notable victories wer of great force That good Magistrate by whom the publike wealthe was then gouerned had had experience of the wonderfull power of the woord of God and therefore he continually laboured openly to inculcate vrge it vnto the people of Israel which thing could not want iust fruit ExperieÌ„ce declareth People frame them selues to the example of their princes that almost in euery age the people frame them selues to the example of their Magistrates For if the Princes be zelous both of religion and godlines their subiectes also wil embrace godlinesse and religion But coÌ„trarywise if Princes liue vngodly and dissolutely the people wil likewyse despise religion and lyue filthily Moreouer let the Magistrate as long as he is in authority chiefly haue a care to thys that the holy ministery be perfect and that it teache and administer sound doctrine and pure rites and that he suffer not supersticious or wycked opinions to bee thrust into the church But euen as he prouideth that other Artificers abuse not their sciences so let him diligently beware that the Ministers of the church do not either corrupt the godly rites or falsify the holy doctrine We see that somtimes it happeneth that the ministery in the Church is very laudable and pure But yf an vngodly and wicked Magistrate obtaine the chief rule of thinges It profiteth much to the Ecclesiasticall ministery to haue the magistrate a helper that holy ministery is easely despised of the people Wherfore it is made of lesse efficacy than it would haue bene if it myght haue had the Magistrate a furtherer of it Wherfore we must with most feruent praiers desire that seing the church hath now by the benefit of God in many places recouered godly doctrine and sincere Ministers that it would please God to geue vnto it Magistrates which may be most zelous of godlines and religion If a man should aske whether the people may be good and godly although the Magistrate and Minister of the Church be corrupt I answer that somtyme they may be as touching some as we see to happen in the Papacy where some godly and holy men are euery wher found which neuertheles lyue vnder wicked corrupt and vngodly ciuyl Magistrates and Ministers of the church Howbeit publike exercises of sound religion and godlynes can not vniuersally be had wythout them
land of Egipt followed straunge Gods euen the Gods of the nations that wer round about them bowed them selues vnto them Wherefore they angred the Lord. 13 They forsooke I say the Lorde and serued Baal Astharoth Vnder those vngodlye Princes which succeeded the good the people grieuously fell Not bicause that they before had not also transgressed for that as we haue shewed they grieuously synned in sparing of the Chananites but nowe they began to contaminate and defile them selues with the superstitions and idolatry of those Nations R. Leui demaundeth in this place how it could be that none of those should be on lyue which had sene the woorkes of God which hee hadde done for Israel when as from their comming out of Egipt to this present time there were but 67. yeares passed He answereth that there might easely be some found which had sene those woorkes yea all men confesse that Phinches lyued at that tyme but there were but fewe suche and there were not many wise men and whych could rightly and with authority instruct the young of those things All the Israelites became not idolatrers which they had sene And it might be that the scripture spake not these woordes of al the people but onely of the new Magistrates which succeded Neither ought we hereby to vnderstand that all the Israelites were become Idolatrers but the moste part of them and which was more haynous they openly professed wicked worshippinges when as neuerthelesse some although but few and peraduenture secretly claue vnto the true God Neither maye wee gather hereby Miracles are not sufficient to persuade godlines that myracles of them selues haue the power to be sufficient either to bring in or to retaine godlynes For Chore Dathan and Abiram Zimri Achan and the ten spies were without dout at the doing of the myracles which were done as well in Egipt as in the wildernes and yet neuerthelesse they fell from God and defiled them selues wyth moste grieuous wicked actes Moreouer they whiche when Moyses was absent woorshypped the golden Calfe and were consecrated to Baal-Peor the God of the Moabites they I say vndoubtedly beheld the wonders whereby God defended the people from their enemies and helped them in diuers necessities and yet for al that they became Idolatrers committed wicked worshippings Euen so came it to passe of the Scribes and Phariseys for the history of the gospell declareth that they saw the wonderful workes of Christ They which sawe not the miracles in the old tyme are not therfore excused from infidelitie and yet they wonderfullye contemned and maliciouslye despised him Wherefore we must thinke that this is not now rehersed of our history as a lawful excuse of the transgressiō which afterward happened For if by that meanes the act of the Hebrewes coulde be defended then might the superstitious Idolatrers of our time defend their cause for they might say miracles haue now ceased and those thinges which Christe or his Apostels did are not in our time sene But we in this sort answer to them which doo thus excuse their infidelitye The miracles which wer don in the old tyme profite vs also namely that the miracles of Christ the Apostles which were done once ought also to suffice vs for for our sakes were they put in writing that wee readyng them myght receaue fruite by them beyng assured that they were ministred not onely to them which lyued at that tyme but also vnto vs. So might it be aunswered to the Hebrewes of whom we nowe entreate what though ye haue not sene the miracles which wer done in the time of your Fathers Haue not Moyses and Iosua faithfullye written all those thinges whych God hath done for your nations sake Yea and your Fathers which were present and saw them haue trulye declared them vnto you when ye were yet lytle ones The scripture therfore doth not so speake at this presēt to excuse that new generation But to declare what pretence they made when they departed from the woorshipping of the God of their Fathers and what occasion they tooke and also to set foorth that they were of a corrupt and naughtye nature which when their good Maisters and Magistrates were dead became vnmindfull of all true godlynes For it is very likely that they as they were impudent so also openly they boasted abroade those or such lyke woordes We ar in doubt neither do we easely beleue that the Lord did so many miracles as our Fathers haue both written and also shewed vs. Who can tell whether they were so or no we vndoubtedlye know not whether the Lorde or anye other God hath for our saluation sake caused such or so great thinges to be done And so they leauing faith and forsaking the true God dyd euyll in the syght of the Lorde How thinges in the scripture ar called good or euell in the sight of the lord By this hebrewe phrase it is declared that God was maruellouslye offended wyth thys their transgression As contrarywise they are called good thinges in the sight of the Lord which doo excedingly please him This is the common and receaued exposition Howbeit if we more narrowly marke this kinde of speeche we shall easylye perceaue that it declareth some other thing vnto vs. Namely that those thinges which the Iewes dyd were allowed by mans iudgement and peraduenture had a goodly shew but yet in Gods iudgement they were most detestable And withoute doubte that people synned a great deale more haynouslye in thys last transgression than they did in the first For there they onelye omitted the ouerthrowing of ymages and aultares but here they woorship straunge Gods Neither durst they do this onely but they forsooke also the worshipping of the true God Wherein vndoubtedly they were to be counted muche more corrupt than were the Samaritanes For they although they woorshipped their Idoles yet therwithall they ioyned the worshipping of the true God as it is declared in the second booke of Kinges And in how euyll part God taketh it thus to bee reiected he hath expressed by Ieremy the Prophet in the .2 chapter Where hee commaunded the Hebrewes to go and looke vpon other Nations An amplifieng of the idolatrye of the Hebrewes and see whether they haue so vnconstantly chaunged the Gods of their Fathers Whiche Nations if they were knowen constantlye to haue retayned their old woorshippings although they were vngodly Israel might thereby learne not to abiect their old rites and customes of their Fathers This wycked acte moreouer was for thys cause much more detestable bicause they had newly receaued the benefit of their deliuery out of Egipt and had also made a couenaunt with god first by Moses and afterward by Iosua when he was euen at the point of death Furthermore bicause they began to worship the gods of those nations which they had nowe eyther driuen oute of the lande of Chanaan or els made tributaries vnto them selues What a
vs is verye synne but in respecte that it commeth from God it is both good iust and holy For punishment is by God imposed to wycked men And to punishe synnes no man is ignoraunt but that it partayneth to iustice Wherfore God in withdrawing his grace from the vngodly and ministring some occasions which might moue to good things if they happened to right iust mindes and which he knoweth the wicked wyll turne to euil may after a sort although not properly be said to be the cause of sinne And vndoubtedly that act A â—â—militude in that it passeth through vs is sinne but not as it coÌ„meth from God For in that it coÌ„meth froÌ„ God it is most perfect iustice It happeneth somtimes that the self same wine being poured into a corrupt vessell is lost and made paide which wine as it was brought by the husbandmaÌ„ put into the vessel is both swete and good Neither is it hard to vnderstand how one the selfe same act may as touching one be vicious in respect of an other iust For when a murtherer hangman do kill a man the act as touching the matter or subiect without doubt is al one namelye the death of a man And yet the murtherer doth it most vniustly the hangman by law and iustice Iob also did wel vnderstand that when he said The Lord gaue the Lord hath taken away as it hath pleased him so is it done He did not by those wordes praise the Chaldians Sabines the Deuil which wer vessels of iniquity most vicious but he with great godlines allowed those euils as they were gouerned ruled by the prouidence of God namely for this cause bicause they pleased God It is also written in the .2 booke of Samuel the .24 chap. of Dauid who vnaduisedly wold haue the people numbred how God was angry with Israel therfore he styrred vp Dauid to do that And in the booke of Paral. it is writteÌ„ that Sathan was the doer of it For God doth those thinges which he wil haue done by Angels as wel good as euil Wherfore that numbring of the people as it proceeded of Dauid or the Deuil was in dede vicious but in that it came from God who intended to punish the Israelites it pertayned excedingly to the setting foorth of hys iustice Howbeit Iames sayth that God tempteth none to euyll but euery one of vs is allured by our own concupiscence Augustine Whyther God tempt or no. Augustine wryting of thys thyng in hys booke de consensa Euangelistarum saith that there are two kyndes of temptacion the one of trial the other of deceite And in dede as touching tryal he denyeth not but that God tempteth for that the scriptures do confesse it But with that kinde of temptation which deceaueth whereof Iames wrote he sayth that God tempteth no man But the scriptures teache not so as we haue declared a litle before of Dauid and before him of Achab. Yea and in Ezechiel the .14 chap. god saith that he had deceaued the Prophet And the same Augustine writeth not after the same maner in other places as it manifestly appeareth in hys bookes de Praedest Sanctorum de Cerrept Gratia ad Valent. and in hys .5 booke and .3 chap. contra Iulianum Wherfore the true interpretatioÌ„ of this place is that euery man is therfore tempted of his own concupiscence bicause al men haue their natural disease which is corruption and vicious lusts which ar together borne with them do also grow and increase in them Wherefore God instylleth no malice of his for we haue inough at home Therefore he cannot bee accused for as much as the beginning of vngodlines wickednes commeth not from hym God when he wyl bringeth to lyght our frowaconesse of mynde but lieth hid in vs. He ought not therefore to bee counted to geue the cause and fault who yet when it semeth good vnto him wil for iust causes haue our lusts wickednes brought to light and rule gouerne our wicked acts therby more and more to illustrate his iustice and glorye to aduaunce the saluation of the godly Wherfore his singular goodnes and prouidence is very much to be praised which can so iustly and wisely vse so wycked meanes Whence the variety of pronenesse to synne commeth But if a man wil aske how it happeneth that some are more prone to sinnes than others if as it is sayd malice wyckednes ar rooted into vs al from our byrth neither is it nede that any new or latter malice should be instilled in vs froÌ„ God And seyng that we ar al brought forth of one the selfe same lumpe and that lumpe likewise is altogether viciated it shoulde seeme that all also ought to be of a like disposition and inclination to wickednes But thys is diligently to be weighed that besides thys disposition ther happen naturall malices maners customes wicked qualities fellowshippes temperatures of bodies sundry parentes diuers countries and manifold causes wherby some are made more or lesse prone vnto sins which pronenesse of ours God according to his iustice goodnes and wisdome vseth and stirreth it vp gouerneth and ruleth it And this is not to be forgotten that none of vs haue so in our selues the beginninges of good actes which truely please God as wee euen from the verye birth haue within vs the beginninges of sins For they ar inspired in vs by the holy ghost and we continuallye receaue them of God neither burst they foorth out of the corrupt beginninges of our nature Now resteth to see from whence after the synne of Adam that frowardnes and corruption came Whether the first corruption after the synne of Adam were deriued froÌ„ god or no. and whither it wer deriued from God to punish the wicked act which was committed I answer that we maye not so thynke for man was for the fault which he had committed allenated from god wherfore he iustly withrew from him his giftes fauour and grace And our nature being left vnto it self falleth and declineth to woorse and woorse yea it coÌ„meth to nothyng from whence it was brought forth at the beginning Wherefore we must seke for no other efficieÌ„t cause of that corruption Wherefore by that wythdrawing of giftes and grace and departure from God which is the fountain of al good thinges nature is by it self throwen headlong into vice and corruption But now let vs returne to the history 12 Againe the children of Israel dyd euill in the syght of the Lord. And the Lord strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel bicause that they had done euyl in the sight of the Lord. 13 And this Eglon gathered vnto him the Chyldren of Ammon and Amalek and went and smote Israel and they possessed the city of Palme trees 14 And the childreÌ„ of Israel serued Eglon king of Moab .18 yeres The history declareth first the sinne which the Israelites committed then it
to our great consolation We rede in Ieremye the .xlix. Chapiter that the people of God dranke of the cup of the Lord which semed not so muche to deserue it Wherfore the Edomites ought much more to loke to be one day punished with punishmentes appointed for them In Ezechiel also the .ix. Chap. god exhorteth nations against the Hebrues to kil and spare none but fyrst they should begyn at his sanctuary Peter also in his .i. Epistle the .4 chap. The time is saith he that iudgement must begin at the house of God But why he sayth that nowe is the tyme I thinke this is the cause bicause he sawe that all those thinges which the Prophetes had forespoken of the chastising of the people of Israell before other nations should chieflye of al take place among the Christians For those thinges which happened vnto the Iewes in a figure or shadowe do chiefly belong vnto vs. Wherefore Christ being made manifeste his fayth being spred abroade throughout the worlde Peter thought that it shoulde be very soone accomplished that iudgement should beginne at the Christians whiche are the house of God Furthermore there are in the fellowship of the people of god alwaies some holy men still founde which when sharpe affliction cōmeth are proued as golde in fyer are made more bright which the heauenly father will chieflye and spedely to be done The electe also which haue fallen being admonished by chastisementes and aduersities do vse to returne againe into the right way And that the same may come to passe God who loueth them excedingly doth of his louing care prouide But such as are vncureable his wil is that they should quickly be broken least they might longer than is mete hurt and with their contagiousnesse destroy other These vndoubtedly are the causes why God doth sooner correcte his own than straungers It is not to be attributed to hatred but to most feruent loue For the deuine oracles declare vnder the person of God Whom I loue I correct and chastise Also a good housholder not regarding straungers beginneth seuere discipline at his own when they sinne The Israelites serued the Kyng of Moab .xviii. yeares Thys with out doubt was a long tyme of bondage And not without desert bicause the Hebrewes had augmented their sinne either in that they cōmitted thinges more greuous or els bycause when they were reprehended and deliuered they fel agayne to their old wickednesse This latter seruitude was twice so long as was that wherein they serued the king of Mesopotamia 15 And the children of Israell cryed vnto the Lorde and the Lord stirred them vp a Sauioure Ehud the sonne of Gera the sonne of Iemini a man hauing an impedimente in hys ryght hande and by hym the children of Israell sente a presente vnto Eglon the Kyng of Moab The kindnesse and mercy of God is farre greater than the kindnesse and mercy of men For if any through their own default fal into any miseryes The kindnesse of God is farre greater thā the mercye of men men for the moste parte haue no compassion on them Which manifestly appeareth in the Romane lawes in the Digestes de deposito vel contra In the lawe bona fides it is ordayned that a pledge shoulde not bee restored but shoulde bee geuen to the treasorye when he whiche owed the pledge doth so offende that he deserueth banishemente bycause that he suffred it thorough hys owne default and therefore is it meete that he shoulde bee punyshed with pouertye A woman also if she committe aduoutrye dyd not only loose her dowery but also she cā clayme none of her husbands goods bicause through her own default she falleth into that misery which is also written in Decretalibus title de consuetudine chap. Ex parte But god is so merciful and long suffring that he saith in Ieremy I will do that which none of you wil do No husband would receaue againe a wife which he hath repudiated especially for adultery sake But I so that thou wilte returne will take thee againe although thou hast most filthilye played the harlot with thy louers This goodnesse of god ought we also to follow not only to haue cōpassion on those It is not lawful by violence to deliuer those which ar alredy fallen into the power of the Magistrate which wtout their own fault are thrust into miseries but of those also which for their faults are chastised Wherefore we ought to be gentle towardes them but yet so farre as good lawes wil suffer which I therfore adde lest hereupon any should thinke that such as are condemned to death or are captiues for wicked actes whiche they haue committed might be deliuered against the wil of the Magistrates Christ commaunded that we should forgeue the repentant sinner not once nor seuen tymes but seuenty times seuen times this doth he himself toward his people thei fal in dede oftentimes and most filthily sinne and yet when they retourne the heauenly Father both receaueth and also deliuereth them He raysed them vp a Iudge Ehud the sonne of Gera. The cōmon translation hath Aioth Why the Latin Greke translation haue corrupted propre names But that is meruaile for both in the Greeke and also the Latin translation very many propre names are corrupted As Isaac Ezechiell Ezechias Nabuchodonosor c for both those Nations abhorring from hard kinde of speaking haue leuifyed and mitigated the Hebrue woordes after the forme of their own speche And this man of whom we entreate came as the holy history declareth of the tribe of Beniamin For the familye of Iemini whereof he was borne belonged vnto the tribe of Beniamin Hauing an impediment in hys ryght hand The common Latine edition hath turned it Ambidextrum that is one which vseth both handes a like which interpretation the Hebrewe phrase suffreth not whiche is thus Ater iad lamino Why some are lefthanded that is shut or taken in his right hande And in the Latin also we saye claudum quasi clausum that is lame And there are two causes alledged why some are lefthanded For eyther it commeth of custome from their childhode or ells by some impediment in the right part But I would thinke that the custome of vsing the left hand from a childe commeth of some impediment bycause peraduenture some pores of the body are shut or stopped by which the spirites whiche are instrumentes of mouing can not easlye haue their course to the sinowes and to the brawnes of the right hand Otherwise children should of their own accord be prone to vse the right hand for as much as in creatures by order of nature the right part is much stronger thā the left Neither do Iat this present speake of those which do of purpose practise to vse the left hand that therby whē nede requireth they may haue both handes ready For that serueth little to oure matter for the history by expresse wordes declareth that this Ehud had an impedimente
that he was a wycked king neyther departed he from the woorshipping of golden Calues Wherefore it is lawfull for vs to graunt that in lying he synned A distinctiō to be noted And as I thinke and before admonished by this onely distinction we maye easily dissolue this doubt Namely that those men were styrred vp to lye either by the spirite of man or by the motion of God When they dyd it as men wee will not denye but that they synned but when they spake so by the inspiration God we will maruaile at their sayinges and doinges but let vs not take example by them or follow them ¶ Of dissimulation Dissimulacion is of two kindes BVt what shal we affirme of dissimulatiō I answer that it is of two kindes One is which hath a respect onely to deceaue And that forasmuch as it differeth not much from a lye it is vndoubtedlye synne If one being wicked doo fayne himselfe to be good and holy the same man without doubt is an hipocrite and in that he dissembleth he haynously sinneth Whosoeuer also hauing a malitious and enuious hart against anye man doth flatter the same man and dissembleth to be his friend he is not without synne yea he is infected with a detestable dissimulation But ther is an other kinde of dissimulation which tendeth not to deceaue any man but serueth onely to kepe counsels secrete that they bee not hindred And this dissimulation is not to be repudiated or to be condemned as a syn forasmuch as we haue alredy declared that it is not alwaies required that we shoulde open what soeuer truth wee knowe What Christ mēt by his dissimulation So Christe being most innocent tooke vpon him the flesh of syn hid his innocency diuine nature And that not to deceiue mortal men but that he might suffer for the saluatiō of mēt For if he had bene knowen to haue bene the Lord of glory thei would neuer as saith the Apostle haue crucified him The same Christ fained also before two of his Disciples that he would go farther He did not that to deceiue them but hee therfore a while opened not himself vnto them to reprooue them of their incredulity and to instruct them by testimonies of the scriptures Therewithall also he signified how farre he was from their hartes Or as Augustine interprereth it he shaddowed vnto them his departure into heauen Wherefore it manifestly appeareth that in those dissimulations there was no lye seing his woordes did well agree wyth the thyng signified And Dauid when hee fell into a most great daunger before Achin Kyng of Geth chaunged his countenaunce and fained himselfe a foole Of the dissimulatiō of Dauid and for that hee seemed suche a one he escaped Here some say that he cōmitted no dissimulation but that God to deliuer him strake such a feare in him that his senses might be taken from him and so did these thinges whych are rehearsed of him in the fyrst booke of Samuel Wherefore in his Psalme which beginneth Psal 34. I wyl alway geue thankes vnto the Lorde he gaue thankes vnto God for so great a benefite And therwithal in his act by the inspiratiō of God he shadowed what Christ should suffer for our sakes namely that he should be counted as a foole and a mad mā Either els we answer that Dauid is not altogether to be excused of synne if as a man being more afeard than was mete he sought for this kinde of helpe But if he by the mocion of God did it wittingly and with knowledge we wil not accuse him of synne although we may not follow his example Neither is it lawful that any man should fayne himselfe to haue committed any crime which he hath not perpetrated Gregory Augustine although Gregory saith that good myndes wyll there acknowledge a fault wher none is Augustine writeth more truly and soundly of that thing in his .29 Sermon de verbis Apostoli For he writeth In so faining if before thou wast not a sinner thou shalt be made a sinner namely in saying that thou hast cōmitted that yl which thou hast not perpetrated It is lawful in dede for euery man to confesse himself to be a synner in vniuersall But this or that crime in special no man ought to receaue in himself which he hath not in verye deede committed Farther we must note that this is true that it is not required of vs that we should open the truth euery where and in all places to speake al that we know but yet in iudgement the same is not to bee permitted For when two of vs are examined as witnesses there we are bounde to testifye that whych we know serueth for the thing whereof at that time we be demaunded ¶ Whither it be lawful to lye to preserue the lyfe of our Neyghbours BVt there ariseth a more hard doubt namely whether it be lawfull to lye for to preserue the life of our neighbour Augustine of a lye to Consentius saith Augustine If a man should be in verye great daunger of death the same man also should know that his sonne also wer in the like extreme daunger which happeneth to dye and thou knowest of his death when the Parent shal aske thee lyueth my sonne or no and thou art sure that he also wil dye if thou shalt tel him that hys sonne is deceased what wouldest thou do in this case whyther thou sayest he liueth or whither thou saiest I cannot tel thou lyest But if thou shall answer that he is dead al men wyll cry out vpon thee as though thou haddest cōmitted manslaughter and as though by thy heauy newes thou haddest bene the occasiō of the death of this father being sycke and lying at the poynt of death Augustine graunteth that it is a hard case neither denieth he but that as a man he shoulde be moued peraduenture it might so happen that affections woulde not suffer him to speake that which is iust right But al the length he concludeth that he should not lye And he addeth moreouer A similitude that if thou knowest that any vnchaste woman loueth thee inordinately which also threateneth to kyl her selfe yea and wil do it in very dede vnles thou wylt graunt to her wicked lust whether therfore thou oughtest to be entised to commit any filthye thing against chastitye I think not So also saith he thou oughtest not for the sauing of thy neighbours life to offend against the truth And moreouer what a window shuld be made open to lyes if we shoulde otherwise iudge of thys For that which one shall thincke to be lawful for life an other wil iudge that he may do the same for money an other for estimation or for defending of lands possessions And so shal it come to passe that there wil be no measure or end of lyes We maye not suffer sayth Augustine that any man should kil his own soule for the corporall
lyfe of an oother man Yea and he affirmeth that we must not lye for the saluation of anye mans soule Euery lye sayth Iohn is not of God but wee ought not to speake those thinges which are not of God What if murtherers should persecute a man to kil him thou knowest that he lyeth ther hiddē wher thou presently art they demaūd of thee if thou knowest whither he be there or no He answereth that if thou be of a valiant courage as it becōmeth a Christiā thou must say wher he is I know but I wil not vtter it do ye what ye wil. But whē the matter cōmeth to this point that for the safety of any mans life thou must make a lie know thou that thou oughtest to cōmit the thing vnto God that thou hast nothing there more to doo Either thou must answer that thou wilt not betray him or els thou must hold thy peace But by thy silence the murtherer wil suspect that he is in thy house and then thou shalt seme to haue geuen occasion of his taking But in verye deede thou hast not so done For thou canst not let him to thinke what he wil. Wherfore the matter is rather to be cōmitted vnto God than that thou shouldest make a lye Howbeit thou must very wel weigh with thy self namely to speake so that thou say not al and yet speake not falsly For in these cases I thyncke it is not forbidden yea I iudge it is most lawful to speake doubtfullye And as touching this question thys is sufficient As I deny not but that our Ehud manifestly lied so wil I also say that he was stirred vp of God so to speake Those wordes vndoubtedly although they deceiued Eglon yet without controuersy they declared that which was in very deede true namely the word of God that he had a secret thing to do with the kyng ¶ Whither it be lawful for Subiectes to ryse agaynst their Princes BVt leauing these thinges let vs come vnto the third question wherof for as much as I haue somwhat before spoken I thinke not to speake of it aboundantly in this place least I should be more ful of wordes than is needeful Let vs deuide subiects as we haue before deuided them so that some of them are mere priuate men others are in such sort inferiors that the superiour power in a maner dependeth of them as among the Lacedemonians wer the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and at Rome the Tribunes of the people Those which onely are subiect counted altogether priuate ought not to rise against their Princes Lordes to dysplace them of their dignity or degree The two Apostles Peter Paul haue commaunded the same namely that seruants should obey their Lordes how rough hard soeuer they be Farther the sword as it is written to the Romanes is geuen onely to the powers And they which resist the power are sayde to resist the ordinance of god God would that the Iewes should obey Nabuchad-nezar he was angry with Zedechias the king bicause he fell from hym Yea Ieremy by the cōmaundement of God admonished and exhorted the people to pray for the health of the king of Babilon Dauid also would not stretch forth his hād against the anointed of the Lord when he might haue done it with out any difficulty to his great cōmodity The godly soldiours of Iulianus the Apostata obeyed the same Iulianus in fighting and pitching their campes nether did they at any time being also armed rebel against that most cruel tyran Phocas whē he had slaine Mauricius possessed the Empire by great violence vniustice wrote to Rome to Gregory who obeyed him as his Prince and gaue vnto him great reuerence But ther are in publike weales other which in place dignity are lower than Princes yet in very dede they elect the superior power by certaine lawes do gouern the publike wealth as at this day we see in done by the Electors of the Empire and peraduenture the same also is done in other kingdomes To these vndoubtedly if the Prince performe not his couenants promises it is lawfull to constrain to bring him into order by force to compel him to fulfil the conditions couenants whiche he had promised and that by warre when it cā not otherwise be done By this meanes the Romanes somtimes compelled the Consul whom they themselues had created to go out of their offices The Danes in our time did put down their king held him long in prison Polidorus Virgilius Polidorus Virgilius writeth that the Englishmen somtimes cōpelled their kings to render accompt of the mony which they had noughtely consumed Neither are we ignoraunt that Tarquinius the proud Of Brutus and Cassius was by the Romanes for his ouermuch cruelty arrogancy put out of his kingdome I wil not speake of Brutus Cassius which slew Caesar but whether they did it iustly or otherwise most graue mē vary in the opinions And I in examining their enterprise by the rule of the scriptures do not allow it Bicause they gaue not vnto him the tyranny or Empire of Rome but he vsurped it himself by violence and power And God as Daniel testifieth transferreth Empires kingdoms And although it be lawful to resist tirānes which inuade a kingdome yet when they haue obtayned the Empire and that they do gouerne it semeth not to belong to priuate men to put them downe Wherfore forasmuch as the kingdome of the Iewes was suche a kingdome that in it al men depended of the king for they were not chosen by the noble men but by succession the posterity of that family gouerned which God had also cōmaūded therfore in the lawes in Deut. in the .1 booke of Sam. wherein the ryght of a king is constituted ther is no liberty graunted to any to resist them Yea somtimes it happeneth that some of them wer killed But yet we neuer reade the god allowed the murther of them yea he punished the murtherers When God at any time would trouble the kings of Iuda he did it by the Babilonians Assirians Egiptians but not the Iewes He onely armed Iehu against his Lorde whyche thing as it was peculiar so also must not wee take example by it Hee destroyed Saul also by the handes of the Philistians and not by Dauid Neither am I ignorant how manye thinges are decreed of this matter in the Code in the digest in the law Iuliā maiestatis But I studieng to be brief do of purpose ouerpasse these things And although I know right wel that the Ethniks in the old time appointed rewardes for such as killed Tirannes yet I haue answered that godlines the holy scriptures do not allow the same Vndoubtedly if it be lawful for the people to put down kings that raigne vniustly no kinges or Princes should at any time be in safety For although they raygne iustly and
spirite as in very dede they are there can no sinne be in them without a great faulte Wherfore let Salomon go whether he will with his fables Leade thy captiuitie captiue She exhorteth Barac to triumphe with a certaine pompe to boast of his captiues For by that meanes it semed that the honor and name of God should more and more be illustrated when all men vnderstoode that the Chananites were now captiues vnto the Hebrues who before thought that they would either vtterly destroy the Hebrues or els take them prisoners This is the punishement of the iust lawe called the law of the like that they should iustly suffer those things which they vniustly went about to do vnto others Farthermore the Rabbines haue here noted that the songe is peculiarly ascribed vnto Deborah bycause she was a Prophetesse but the triumphe was geuen vnto Barac bycause in the battayle he had fought agaynst his enemies 13 Then they that remayne haue dominion ouer the myghty of the people the Lord hath geuen me dominion ouer the string Agayne the victory is by a comparison amplified not as it was before with the euils and discommodities wherwith the Israelites were oppressed but the conquerers are very aptly copared with thē which were ouercome They which were ouercome wer vndoubtedly of great renowme valeant expert in warres noble but our men seme to be like remnants for fewe came vnto the battayle and those fewe were of fewe tribes Besides that those few whiche came were men despised and of no reputation For that commonly suche are remnātes namely to be both small in number and also vile and abiecte if it be compared with other whose remnant they are Howbeit these remnantes what maner of men so euer they were they had the dominion and were gouerners ouer the noble men The Lord hath geuē me dominion This is added by correction lest any man should thinke that any thing in this battayle is attributed vnto mans strength It is the Lord himselfe whiche ouercommeth and hath dominion Neuerthelesse hath done this by me That worde Li may be thus vnderstand as though she should say thorough me or as God would ouercome by her or the ioy approbation and pleasure is noted whiche she conceaued in mynde of thys greate honour of God 14 Out of Ephraim was there a roote of them agayne Amalek after thee Beniamin agaynst thy people out of Machir came rulers and of Zebulon they that drawe with the penne of the writer 15 And the princes of Isaschar were with Deborah and Isaschar so Barak was sent on his feete in the valley in the diuisions of Reuben were great thoughtes of heart Vergill and Homere rehearsed the order and number of the ships captaynes people which wer helpers vnto those princes whom they praised so now Deborah rehearseth those of the people of Israel which came to take in hand this warre Deborah was of the tribe of Ephraim A roote of them that is a prince of Ephraim This I thinke pertayneth to Deborah her selfe for as it semeth she was of Ephraim and iudged the people vnder the oke of Ephraim as is before sayd and without doubt this warre was taken in hand by her conduct and admonitions But this semeth somewhat darke in that it is sayd that the battayle was appointed agaynst Amalek but by a figure or figuratiue kinde of speache we must by Amalek vnderstand the Chananites also Howbeit I am not ignorant that by this roote of Ephraim some vnderstand Iosua who was both an Ephraite and also fought agaynst Amalek as it appeareth in the boke of Exodus and they suppose that in these thinges which follow therfore is made mention of the tribe of Beniamin to declare shew forth that Saul whiche should come of the tribe of Beniamin should within a while afterwarde finishe the warre agaynst the Amalekites whiche thyng we read was done in the first booke of Samuel This exposition as I do not abiect so also I do not easely allowe it bycause I do not thinke that the actes of Iosuah are now rehearsed neither can I be persuaded that Deborah by the spirite of Prophecy did Prophecy of those thinges whiche should come to passe in the tyme of Saul I will omit therfore that interpretation and returne vnto myne owne Some of the tribe of Beniamin did at the beginning ioyne themselues vnto Deborah although as I iudge they were very few of them But out of Machir which was a noble famely of the tribe of Manasses came some notable men Zabulon also was not without some Doctors Lawyers Scribes whiche were better with a pen than with weapons and that is signified in that it is sayd They whiche drawe with the penne of the writer that is whiche were exercised in drawyng the pen. And the tribe of Isaschar is wonderfully commended for from it came princes yea euen at the beginning Furthermore it is added that Isaschar was as Barac For as Barac was sent vnto mount Thabor so it semeth that Isaschar with his footemen was sent into the valley and there he thē on eche side inuaded the enemies when the battayle beyng begon the Israelites were in daunger there the Israelites behaued themselues valiantly Wherfore iustly are they in thys place excedingly praysed The complices therfore of this warre are mencioned namely Ephraim Beniamin a part of Manasses Isaschar Zabulon and Nepthalim But there is nothing spoken of Iuda Simeon Leui and Gad. Afterward are reprehended Reuben Dan Aser and peraduenture al of the tribe of Manasses as we shal hereafter see Wherfore they aboue named which ayded in the battayle were worthily called remnantes bycause they were both fewe in number and also of no reputation In the litel brookes of Reuben The tribe of Reuben is reproued bycause it detracted the battaile They dwelt beyond Iordane in the Pastors and it semeth that by reason of theyr shepe and cattell they had no regard vnto the publicque wealth The places of the Rubenites are not vnworthily called riuers for they had gotten fertile pastors by the riuer of Iordane He attributeth vnto thē greatnesse and wisedome but he accuseth them for this namely bycause they had so great a care vnto their owne thinges Such a thing semeth here to haue come passe as is that whiche is set forth in the parable of the Gospell namely that diuers which were bidden vnto the wedding refused to come bycause some would go proue a yoke of oxen some had bought a Town and other some also had maried a wife But of the remnantes which were gathered out of the stretes high wayes was the wedding fulfilled So also cōmeth it to passe in our dayes when kynges Emperours Princes Noble and mighty men of this world do therfore despise the profession of the Gospell bycause they preferre theyr owne commondities before religion and heauenly thinges 16 Why abydest thou among the shepefolds to heare the bleatings of the flockes in the diuisions
and not myne and vndoubtedly it is a most noble acte but not myne as I haue sayd but yours They receaued no gayne of money This may we thus vnderstand they came to enriche thēselues with the spoyles of their enemies but that came not to passe according to their expectation But others interprete these wordes more subtelly saying that the enemies so deadly hated the Israelites that they had no regard to the gayne of the praye but they would fight vnder Sisera agaynst the Israelites euen without wages that is as it is sayd without meate and drynke harnesse Some referre it to this that they thinke those enemyes of the people of God were such bloudsuckers that if in the battayle they had gotten any of the Hebrues they would take no raunsome of them but strayght way sley them being such as desired not the pray but onely thursted for theyr bloud 20 They fought from heauē the starres from theyr courses fought agaynst Sisera She maketh mencion of the helpe that came from heauen from the starres by the will and gouernment of God But how that came to passe is not expressed But it might be that fire was sent among the enemyes or that hailestones thundring and lightninges as Iosephus affirmeth afflicted the Chananites Peraduenture also the winde so stirred vp the dust in the face of the Chananites as Leui writeth happened vnto the Romanes in the battayle of Cannensis that they could vtterly see nothing at all Liuius The starres from their courses fought That is from their degrees and stations least any man should thinke that they descended from heauen or departed from their course 21 The riuer Kison swepte them away the riuer of auncientes the riuer Kison O my soule thou hast marched valiauntly To the helpe of the heauen and of the starres the riuer fauorably ioyned it selfe for it swelled when as otherwyse it was wont to be but small Wherfore it was so encreased that it both choked and swept away many of the enemyes But this worde Goth signifieth not by any meanes to sweepe but as it happeneth when a house is sweapte or made cleane with broomes for then what soeuer is vncleane it is together with the dust cast forth So in this destruction they whiche were counted noble were in the same sorte sweapte awaye as if they had bene dust and filthe This word Riuer is often repeated in this verse whiche vndoubtedly is pleasaunt when it is in due place done whiche I therfore speake least any should thinke these repetitions to be to no purpose Yea and Cicero also writeth in solute oration Cicero When I shall come agayne into fauor with Appius Claudius and shall come agayne by Cu. Pompeius I therfore when I shall come agayne c. And this Kyson is called Kedumim as thoughe it had two names and were called by both the names or els bycause there peraduenture was some other riuer so called which riuer bicause it ran into Kyson gaue it also his name But some translate that word of Ancientnesse namely of Counsels bycause God hymselfe had before the foundacions of the worlde were layd created and appoynted that riuer to this purpose to be an ayde vnto hym in this victory in tyme to come It chaunsed not so that the whole host of Sisera was drowned in that riuer For how could that be when there was an incredible number of souldiers and the riuer of so narrowe a bredth But as it is to be thought the chiefrulers captaynes which entred into the water with their horses chariots wer drowned which thing whē the other souldiers saw their courage was both dawnted also they turned themselues to flight And we see this to come to passe oftentimes in cāpes that those thinges whiche of their owne nature seme to be of no great value do much profit either this party or the part in the victory This acte without doubt hath some affinity with the drowning of Pharao but that the sea is not so well cōpared with a litle riuer neyther did a part of Pharaos host perish in the Sea but the whole host was ouerwhelmed in it But all these men as we haue sayd wer not drowned in Kison Farther the rashnes of the Egiptians semed greater then these mens when as it is much more foolishe to enterprise to passe ouer the sea then to wade ouer a riuer 22 Then were the houfes of the horses broken with the oft beating together of the mighty men Here is set forth the third calamitye namely that theyr horses hoofes were broken By nature in dede the horse houfes are myghty and strong neither are they easely clouen but the spurryng of them forwarde to ruine was so great in thys conflict that they were worne awaye This worde Sos that is a horse is spoken in the singular number And that number is also vsed of our men both Poetes and Orators in steade of the plurall number For we saye that Fraunce hath ouercome Spaine Virgil. and Virgill sayeth The stoute Romane was no lesse valiant then his fathers When the houses of the horses were broken and torne the horsemen could neither inuade the Hebrues neither yet were they able to saue themselues by flieng away The Hebrues bycause they wante a superlatiue degree therefore to expresse it they double both nownes and verbes as it is here sayd Miūharoth Deharoth that is of great and very often leapynges Wherfore the repetition of one selfe same worde serueth not onely for the adornyng of the sentence but also to expresse the vehemency of the signification There are therfore thre discōmodities now rehearsed which came vnto the Chananites namely one from heauen an other from the riuer and the thirde of the houfes of the horses beyng broken 23 Curse ye Meroz sayd the aungell of the Lord in cursing curse the inhabiters thereof bycause they came not to helpe the Lorde to helpe the Lord agaynst the myghty She curseth the Citie of Meroz whiche was great and nyghe vnto the place where the battayle was fought bycause they would not ayde them whiche labored beyng also desired of them thereunto Deborah curseth not the Cities and tribes which dwelt farre of bycause they although they had no true excuses yet had they some suche as they were But these men whiche dwelt nere at hande saw the thing it selfe and were called for as much as they would not heare they iustly and worthily fell vnder these sharpe and sore curses Said the aungell of the Lord. This she therefore putteth in least she should seme to speake of anger as though she should haue sayd Euen God himself hath commaunded me thus to sing Other vnderstand by the aungell Barac and that peraduēture not ill for it might be that he went to the Citie to stir it vp to fight who when he sawe the citizens to be so wilful obstinate by the impulsion of the spirite of God he in this maner cursed it As touching
euery man shal be geuen a mayde or two that is the praye of the rascall souldiours shal be bondmen or bonde women be geuen But to our Sisera shal be geuen the most worthiest thinges garmentes I say of diuers colours and nedle worke Plini in his 8. booke the .48 chap writeth that the men in the old time vsed to dye their wolle and garmentes with such sundry and pleasaunt colours Plinius bicause they would imitate the most beautifull coloures of floures and herbes And the same writer attributeth vnto the Babilonians the inuention of diuers coloures in garmentes and euen as garmentes of siluer which were found out in Asia vnder Attalus the king were called Attalical so those garmentes whiche were by the Phrigians wroughte with the nedle beinge set out with golde and sundry coloures and pictures wer called Phrigionical And for that these workmanshippes wer in the old time had in estimation god would haue the holy tabernacle and the high priestes garmentes wrought with nedle worke And this is not to be passed ouer that by the ciuile lawes it was not lawefull for euerye man to weare such precious garmentes Wherfore it is sayd now in this song that garmentes of sundry coloures and such as were wrought with the nedle ar attributed only to the prince In the Code de vestibus oloberis lege Auratas It is prohibited vpon great punishmente that any other men shoulde were precious garmēts Lawes for apparell And it is no doubt but that in the old time there wer lawes for apparel which at this day lye vtterly voide These womē spake as they knew the maner then vsed for they were not ignorant of the custome in war wherby princely garmentes wer not distributed to priuate men but vnto captaynes and emperors Discipline of warre amonge the elders Farthermore we muste consider that the elders vsed greater discipline in their camps than at this day our men do For when a town or city was sacked euery man had not that which he by violence tooke al thinges wer brought vnto the king or Emperour and not vndoubtedly that he only should haue them but that he should part them according to the labor dignity and quality of the souldiors which manifestlye appeareth in the decrees 23. question the .5 chapter Dixerit aliquis They are the woordes of Ambrose in his booke of Abraham the Patriarche And the same thing is most playnly taught Dist the .1 chap. Ius militare This hebrew word Tsoari signifieth properly a necke or neckes in the plurall number but in this place by translation it signifieth a captayne or prince 31 So let al thine enemies perish O Lord But they that loue thee let them be as the Sunne when he riseth in his strength And the land had rest .40 yeares The thinges which are now mencioned the holy Ghost doth therfore speake them by Deborah to expresse with a great emphasis and signification that those thinges do happen vnto the vngodly which they be afeard of the things which they hope happen cleane contrarye Therefore the songe is nowe concluded with an elegant exclamacion and consisteth of thinges contrary So let all thine enemies perish O Lord as Sisera hath fallen This her Apostrophe or turning to God stirreth vs vp that we shuld with a singular affectiō embrace God the author of so great notable acts Deborah also in this speaking declareth that she setteth not forth her own cause for she sayth not let my enemyes perish but thine But they that loue thee let them continually encrease in al kind of good things as the sunne increaseth from his rising vntil it be none wherin he is most strong ether from the spring time to the highest of sommer She addeth not Let them that loue him be saued as the Antithesis or cōtrary position required For these two are contraries namely to be saued and to perish But let them be encreased saith she strengthened as the sunne increaseth from his rising vnto his strength By thys conclusion the vse of example is taught vnder the forme of a prayer Sisera is ouerthrowne but the people of Israel is encreased with a notable victory so therfore shall it come to passe and happē vnto vs. We shal be deliuered if we be godly they which do persecute vs for Christs cause shal perish Wherfore it is profitable by exāples to gather out rules of the gouernmēt of God which rules with frute let vs apply vnto our own things This performed Dauid as touching this selfe same historye in his psalme where he sayth do vnto them as vnto Middian as vnto Sisera Iabin at the riuer Kyson Wherfore the some of this hystory is to set before vs the seuerity of god toward his enemies again his clemēcy towards the godly And therfore it behoueth that the seuerity of his iudgements breath in vs a fear and that by fayth we take hold of his goodnes and clemency The syxt Chapter ANd the children of Israell did euill in the syghte of the Lorde and the Lorde deliuered them into the hands of Middian seuen yeres 2 Wherfore the hand of Middian preuailed against Israel frō the face of Middiā the children of Israel made them dennes in the mountaines and caues and stronge holdes 3 For when Israell had sowen Middian came vp and Amaleke and the sonnes of Kedem came vp agaynst them 4 And camped against them and destroyed the fruite of the earth euen till thou come to Haza neyther lefte they anye foode in Israell neither cattell nor oxen nor asses 5 For they went vp and theyr cattell and came with theyr tents as greshoppers in multitude so that they and theyr camels wer without number they came I say into the land to destroy it Deborah and Barac were deade by the authority of whiche princes the people of the Hebrewes were kepte in their dutye and religion But after theyr death they fell agayne vnto sinnes and especially vnto idolatry But yet they are not counted to haue turned so heynously from God as they did before for it is not written And they added to do euil Farther their punishment was not so long for they serued the Madianites onely seuen yeares Moreouer it is not sayde that God sold them as he did before but that he deliuered them I confesse that these coniectures are but small but yet not so small that they shoulde seeme vtterly to be despised Two thinges are principally entreated of in this hystorye The principall pointes of thys history The ordre of thinges to be spoken of the affliction of the Hebrewes and theyr deliuery by Gidion But bicause eche of these partes haue their causes therfore we must also entreate of them For euen as affliction springeth of sinne and deliuery beginneth of repentance so was it mete that first it should be declared that the Israelites had sinned before mention be made that they were deliuered vnto the Madianites and theyr repentaunce must
to the fathers when things deuine wer shewed vnto them who talked with them when sondry formes and images appeared vnto them in the name of god Iohn 12. and wrought with them Straight way it is aunswered The sonne which is in the bosome of the father he hath reueled him he was to man the most true interpretor of the father An other place is in the gospell the 12. chap where it is thus word for word writtē Therfore they could not beleue bycause agayn sayd Esay He hath blinded their eyes hardened their hart that they should not see with their eyes nor vnderstād with their hart and should be conuerted and I should heale them These thinges sayd Esay when he saw his glory and spake of hym Vndoubtedly these two pronounes His and of Him do without cōtrouersy signify Christ for a litle before the Euāgelist had sayd Though he namely Christ had done so many signes before thē yet beleued they not in hym that the saying of Esay the Prophet might be fulfilled that he sayd c. And to this sentence which in very dede is natural do agree Chrisostome Ierome Cirillus Augustine Farthermore the wordes of Hosea the Prophet which he hath in the 12. Hose 12 chap are diligently to be weighed And thus speaketh the Lord there I haue spoken vnto the Prophetes and I haue multiplied visions and vsed similitudes by the hand of the Prophetes c. Hereby we vnderstand that similitudes were not geuen vnto the Prophetes from the beginning but god himselfe spake vnto them By examples it is declared both that God himselfe also that āgels somtymes appered But now must we by examples and such as are most euident confirme that the appearynges of god are vtterly distinct from the visions of aungels First it is declared vnto vs in the boke of Genesis that Iacob saw a ladder which reached from earth euen to heauen and by it the aungels both ascended and discended And at the top of the ladder namely in heauen stode the Lord from whom Iacob heard noble and large promises Hereby is gathered vnlesse we wil stil be blind that aungels shewed themselues in one kind of images and god himself appeared in an other forme This selfe same thing may we see in Esay when he sawe the Lord sitting in his throne and with him two Seraphins whiche cried mutually the one to the other Holy holy holy And with so great reuerence they worshipped God which was in the middest that with their two vpper winges they couered their face and with the two neither wings their feete Who seeth not here a great difference betwene god and the aungels which appeared I will not speake of Ezechiell which saw aungels in the formes of creatures namely of an Oxe an Egle and a Lion by whom wheles were turned but God himselfe sat in the hyghest parte in the forme of the sonne of man Of Daniell also was sene the auncient of dayes vnto whom came the sonne of man And he addeth that thrones were there put bookes opened and a certain forme of a iudgement appoynted then he maketh mencion of aungels of which he sayth were present ten thousand and ten hundreth thousand whiche ministred vnto hym And here we heare what great difference there is betwene God and the angels which ministred Farther there is a place most manifest in Exodus when God beyng angry with the people denied that he would go any farther with them thorough the desert least being prouoked with theyr sinnes he shuld at once vtterly destroy them But he promised to send his aungell with which promise Moses was not content and sayd that he would by no meanes go with the people except god himself would go together with thē And vndoubtedly by prayer and constantly abiding in his sentence at the length he ouercame and as he desired had god for the guide of their iorney How can these men therfore say that god himselfe was not present vnder those formes but only angels were sene in such images Moreouer let vs remember that Moses as it is writtē in the same boke of Exodus desired of God to see his face which his request god for that he loued him excedingly would not vtterly deny but yet he would not graunt him all that he required Wherfore he aunswered My face thou shalt by no meanes see bycause man shall not see me lyue but thou shalt looke vpon my hinder parts namely my backe What is more manifest than this testimony Surely god by certayne wordes here promiseth to appeare vnto Moses in the shape of a man of whose forme or image Moses should see not the face but the backe And the same he faythfully performed vnto Moses for as god passed by Moses sawe the backe of his image by the rocke and heard the wonderfull and noble names of god rehearsed with a most loude voyce Which when he saw he fell prostrate to the earth and worshipped and it is not to be doubted but that he gaue vnto hym that adoration which is onely due vnto the onely god For forasmuch as he beleued that he was there present according vnto his promise it is not to be had in controuersy but that he worshipped him as being present in very dede And vndoubtedly god except he had shewed himselfe present in very dede at the arke mercy seat should haue throwen the Israelites hedlōg into idolatry if he would haue had onely aungels to aunswere such as came to aske counsell for that he commaunded them to cal vpon him and to worship him there To these may be added that history whiche is written in the booke of kinges of Micheas the Prophet whiche prophecied before Achab king of Israell and sayd that he sawe god with whō was present an host of aungels he heard him aske who shal deceaue Achab and that one offred himself to be a lying spirite in the mouth of the Prophetes of the king Achab. By this vision also we vnderstand that there was an assured and notable difference betwene god and the aungels whiche appeared all together vnto the Prophet Wherfore the gift of god which he gaue vnto the fathers is not to be diminished or to be extenuated we must cōfesse that he was in very dede presēt whē he appeared forasmuch as we reade that it was so done and there is nothing that letteth as farre as can be gathered out of the holy scriptures neither is the very nature of god any thing against it that it could not be done It were not sound to attribute vnto aungels all those things which in the scripture are read of such visiōs For so might we easely slip so farre that at the last we should beleue that the word was not immediatly created by god but by angels at his commaundement Wherfore let vs confesse that god was present in very dede God was present in verye dede whē it is sayd that he appeared vnder diuers
hauing waxe candles lighted which I suppose was inuented not that by that obseruation they might deliuer the soules of the dead from purgatorye Watches at the Sepulchres of the deade Ierome but rather in honour of them For as euerye man helde deare his friendes which were deade that the memory of them shoulde not bee forgotten they watched at the place where they were buryed one daye in the yeare which we manifestly perceaue in the life of Hilarion written by Ierome where he telleth that a certaine Deacon sayd that he should watch at the tombe of blessed Antony within a day or two bicause now a yeare or certayne yeares were passed since he died The Elders watched also at the Sepulchres of Martirs therby to shew vnto them honor applieng themselues to doctrine exhortations geuing of thankes praiers especially in these perilous times whē they might not easily in the day time assemble together Farther peraduenture piety was by the meanes the better obserued For in the day time men wer occupied with sundry labours workes Wherfore that the worshipping of God might not lye vtterly neglected they appointed certaine houres in the night for it Ierome against Vigilantius maruelously cōmendeth the institutiō of the church for watching he thinketh that we shuld not cease frō this obseruation although by occasion of these watches some filthy things wer cōmitted For saith he the errors of yong men and light women which can synne also in an other place and play filthy partes at home ought not to reuoke vs from so holye a custome But we see that at this day contrary to the sentence of Ierome watches ar abolished not onely of Martirs but also those which were done in the honour of the Lord as it manifestly appeareth in the Counsell of Antisiodorensis chap. the .v. Consilium Antisiodorense although in some places there remaine some remnants of watches as at Mantua vpon the feast of Bartlemew and at Versellis on the night of Saint Eusebius But al men know how vnreasonably and immoderatly mē behaue themselues in those watches Watches turned vnto fastinges Wherfore they haue conuerted the obseruation of watchings into fastinges But what maner of fastinges I pray you Suche which they vse now adayes in abstayning from eating of fleshe But whatsoeuer it be the sentence of the Apostle is firme and constant that the exercises of the body haue no great vtility but piety is of force to al thinges We must in dede fast and watch as much as reason requireth and strength of the body wil beare And I doo not thinke that in this thing we ought with to much zeale to imitate Basilius Nazianzenus and such like which with outward obseruations so brake their bodies that at the length they became vnprofitable both to them selues and also to other The golden mediocritye is to be kept wherein wee must keepe the laudable measure of frugalitye and temperaunce And thus muche by the waye of watches 20 And the three bandes blew with trumpets when they had broken their pitchers and they tooke their lampes in their leaft hande and the trumpets in their right hand to blow withal and they cryed the swoord of the Lord and of Gideon 21 And they stoode euery man in his place rounde about the host and al the host brake theyr aray and cryed and fled The blowing of the trumpets with the wonderful great cry of men on euery syde and the sodaine light which the burning firebrandes gaue when the pytchers were broken did not onely astonish the Madianites but they beyng yet oppressed with sleepe were so troubled that they could not tel what to do Wherfore they supposed that there were many and sundry hostes there and had nowe inuaded their host and God filled them with such a certaine disines madnes that they counted their fellowsoldiours in stede of enemies and miserably slew one another The holy ghost suggested thys warlike polecy This warlike pollecy was not found out and inuented by Gideon himself onely but as it is to be beleued he did it by the suggestion of the holy gost And how God fauoured his enterprises the holy history declareth whereby we might learne that God must prosper our enterprises otherwise they are easely made vayne and of no force For trumpets fyrebrandes and empty pitchers of their own disposition and nature haue smal force to obtaine a victory especially if euery one of thē be taken a part although being ioyned together they seme that they can do somwhat yet if God had not added his power they wold haue bene but laughed at And they cried The swoord of God and of Gideon God is mencioned as the true principall efficient cause Gideon is added vnto him The victorye must not be parted betweene God Gideon as a fellow worker and instrument appointed to this worke And it is not therfore so written bicause the victory should after a sort be parted and the one halfe geuen vnto God the other part to Gideon whych thing also we must obserue as touching eternal saluatiō For we must count the obtaining of it to be wholy receaued of God and not by free wyl as the Pelagians do Not vndoubtedlye to the ende we should lyue ydlely or cease frō good workes when as Paul to the Philip expressedly commaundeth that we should worke our own saluaciō but that we might vnderstand that all that we do is of him euē as in the same place it is added For it is he which worketh in vs both to wil to perform according to his good pleasure Of this victory the .83 Psalme maketh mencion Doo vnto them as thou diddest vnto Madian as vnto Horeb Zeb Zebah Zalmona Which sheweth vnto vs that the order of this history is diligentlye to be kept in remembraunce of vs that wee maye hope for the like by praiers desire them of God and haue a confidence to obtaine them And not onely Dauid maketh mencion of this narration but also Esay in his .x. chap. where he entreateth of Senacherib God saith he wil raise vp a whip like the destruction of Madian And in very dede it so happened as the Prophet prophesied for the whole hoste of that king was by God destroyed as was this host of the Madianites The names of the Captaynes of the Madianites do expres the nature of tirannes And as touching the names of these Captaines they doo verye well signifye their tiranny Aareb is a waster Zaab is a woulfe Sabchah is killing and Salmona is prohibiting shadowe and refreshing So do tirannes behaue themselues they wast and rauen all thinges they kil lyke woolues and take awaye all refreshing and commodity from their subiectes when as yet if they were Princes in deede they should do farre otherwise But God so punisheth them that he wil haue their wicked affectiōs of their myndes manifested not onely in dedes but also in their names Yea and they
he would not labour in the publike wealth What the Popes oughte to haue before theyr eyes but bicause he vnderstode that it was no lawful vocatioÌ„ which the Popes also ought to regard He had before his eyes the law in Deut. now alledged The Pope ought also to loke vpon the words of Christ Kinges of the nations sayth the Lord bear rule ouer theyr subiectes but ye shal not do so and being demaunded who should be greatest he aunsweared that he which was lowest and which more serued others This is to gouern the church not to commaund but to serue Peter himselfe also taught ministers not to beare dominion ouer their flocke Who are in the church to â—â—uerenced aboue other And Paule hath written that Christ is set the hed of the church not men although in it they are aboue other to be much made of to be honored whych more then other profet the faythfull and are more largely endewed with good gracious giftes and as Christe required of Peter doo more depely loue him and which ar more aboundantly endewed with those qualities which Paule to Timothe and Titus requireth in bishops If we highlier honor such men in the church aboue other not as lords not as vniuersal bishops not as heads of the church but as excellent ministers thereof the authority and obedience of the word of god should therby be nothing diminished An error verye hurtful in the church But they do not so They haue fixed the exellency and dignity of the ministers of the church vnto chayres places and cities howsoeuer he be in greater price honor which sytteth in those chayres or places and what manner of man so eueâ— he be in lyfe and manners And so is there no regarde had to the graces and giftes of God but onely to the place and seate This vndoubtedly was the fountayne ofpring and beginning of al euils and superstitions Our elders thought it good that in cities which were more famous where marchandises were traded and were assemblies of men where Proconsuls or Presidentes gouerned there also the bishops should be of greater authority and iurisdiction Whereby custome obteined that those Churches and chayres were had in greater honor But as it commeth to passe ambicion crepte in and in those places byshoppes were ordeyned not alwaye suche as were more worthye but such as were better fauored of Princes And oftentimes the better learned and more holy were geuen ouer to small and abiecte bishoprikes When Augustine was Bishop of Hippouerhegium one called Aurelius gouerned the most honorable church of Carthago And who knoweth not that Augustine in doctrine maners and authoritye farre excelled Aurelius The same thinge happened vnto Gregorius Nazianzenus who was byshop in an abiect place namelye in Sassimis when as many other not to be compared with him obtayned the chief chayres After this way maner the bishop of Rome began to be preferred aboue other namelye bycause of the moste ample dignitye of the citye The cause why the bishop of Rome was preferred before other whyche cause neuerthelesse he vnderstanding that it was no firme groundsele of the honor which he had obteyned he hath fained other causes of his excellency And first he pretendeth that he had this priueledge by the councel of Nice which yet he could not proue before the fathers of Africa bicause in that Sinode the charge onelye of suburbe churches was committed vnto hym Not a charge to beare dominion but to geue counsel to admonish and if there wer any things of more waight to referre the same to the counsell As to the bishop of Alexandria the suburbe churches of Egipt and to the byshop of Antioch of the suburbe churches of the east parties And it was not geuen the bishop of Rome to be the vniuersall pastor Neyther is it possible that a weake and mortall man should feede the flocke of Christe in all countries Farthermore the bishop of Rome boasted that he was set to be the head of the church The bishop of Rome canot be hed of the whol church whych cannot be meete for any man For from the heade ar deriued mouinge and sense by the sinewes into al members as Paule very well teacheth to the Ephesians and Colossians But no man can performe that as of himselfe by closures ioynts to quickeÌ„ the meÌ„bers of the church with the sprite of god It loÌ„geth onely to christe Magistrates princes may be called heads of the people to destribute vnto his meÌ„bers spiritual mocions illustracion of the minde and eternall life Indede kings and magistrates may be called heads of the people bicause they gouerne ciuily and from them we may looke for good lawes and ciuyle mouinges but in the church men entreat not of ciuile life but of spiritual and eternall life which we cannot loke for but at gods hand neyther can any mortall men quicken the members of the church Kinges magistrates when they are godlye in my iudgemente oughte to haue the chiefe place in the church and to them it pertaineth if religion be il administred to correcte the defaultes For therfore they beare the sword to maintayne Gods honor But they cannot be heades of the churche Paule to the Romaines and to the Corinthians where he maketh rehearsal of the members of the churche putteth some to be eyes some noses eares hands and feete but he adorneth none with the dignity of the heade who yet to the Ephesians sayth this of Christe that god had geuen hym to be the head of the body of the church We must not make the church two headed Let the papistes shew writen in any other places of the holy scriptures that Christ gaue an other hed vnto the church they shall haue the victory But I know assuredly they caÌ„not For if that could haue bene done the church should be a two hedded monster But it is a sporte to heare what Iohn sometimes B. of Rochester in defendyng the Pope auÌ„swered to this To graunt two heads of the Church sayth he is not absurd for the Apostle writeth the man is the head of the womaÌ„ neuertheles euery wife hath byside her husband which is the head an other head also Wherfore he concluded that we may thus affirme of the church namely that it hath both Christ and the Pope to be head But this man faileth by a false Sillogismus of equiuocatioÌ„ For speaking now of a head as it is attributed vnto the Church he falleth to a natural head In matrimony the husband is the head of the wife not the natural hed How the husband is the hed of the wyfe but as touching aeconomical life But the natural head of the woman is the beginning of her natural life And vndoubtedly if we looke vpon the natural head in the church we shal finde that it is not one head but looke howe manye men there be in it so many heades shal there be for there is none
woord Netiphoth is deriued of Nataph which signifieth to drop For that woord signifieth a drop namely that is odoriferous That was enclosed in smal vessels either of gold or of syluer that with them both the necke might be adorned and the nose fylled with a most swete smel Of the vse of carynges But the ornament of earinges was most auncient and vsed in the time of Abraham For his seruant gaue vnto Rebecca bracelets when he desired to haue her for a wyfe for Isaac his Maisters Sonne The Romanes also sometimes vsed them as we may gather out of Platus in Epidico Doest thou not remember sayth he that I brought thee an earing on thy byrth day The Egiptians also vsed them for it is written of Cleopatra that she tooke from her eare a most precious pearle and dissolued it in vineger wheÌ„ she contended with Antonius for a sumptuous preparation of a banket The Carthaginenses also wer decked with bracelets as Plautus in Penulo testifieth For thus he writeth And as I suppose they haue no fingers on their hands bicause they go with ringed eares Gideon tooke also purple garmentes but whither he vsed them to his purpose Ephod it appeareth not He made an Ephod The Hebrewe woord Aphad is to binde or to gird whereof this nowne is deriued signifieng a garment which compassed the shoulders and then it was bound together and it after a sorte girded together the inward coate Gideon did therfore make this ornament to be a monument of the victory which he had gotten as some write in which thing if he sought his own glory he cannot but be blamed But if this were onely his desyre to keepe in perpetual memory the benefite of God he is not to be accused for as much as oftentimes such monumentes were erected as the holy scriptures testify Iacob erected a stone wheÌ„ he went in to Mesopotamia and whilest he fled from Laban in Gilead he builded a great heape of stones together And it were to long to rehearse all the monumentes or tokens whiche were in the old time set among the people of God that the memory of the benefites of God should not be forgotten Gideon made an Ephod and vsed a sygne not so apt and conuenient Wherin Gideon synned He mought haue written a song as Barac and Deborah did or erected a pyller or some suche like thyng God had not commaunded in the law to make an Ephod to this vse but onely that the Priestes should put it on when they should doo sacrifice Neyther is it needeful now to describe the forme of this garment for as much as in Exodus it is most manifestly set forth this thing onely I wil admonish you of Twoo kynde of Ephodes that there were two kindes of it as the holy scriptures declare as Ierome both to Marcella to Fabiola against Iouinianus the first booke testifieth There was one which onely the high Priest vsed It was made of purple violet coulour sylke scarlet it had gold wrought in it suÌ„dry kindes of most precious stones There was also an other which was called Ephod bad that is a linnen Ephod whyche the Leuites also vsed in holy seruices Wherfore in the .1 of Samuel the .2 chap. we reade that Hanna made euery yeare for Samuel a litle coate and an Ephod when she had then offred him vnto the Lord to minister at the tabernacle Yea and Dauid being girt with an Ephod daunced before the Arke of the Lord. The children also of Dauid were girt with an Ephod But Gideon made his a pontifical and precious Ephod for the other kinde was simple of linneÌ„ wherefore he should not haue neded so great cost to make such a one For there wer gathered as the history teacheth a thousand seuen hundreth as manye expound theÌ„ sicles of gold Some suppose that Gideon did therfore make an Ephod that eueÌ„ as Micha durst take vpoÌ„ him to haue a holy ministry at home in his own house so did Gideon now attempt the same But of this sentence we wyll afterwarde speake when we declare Augustines minde of this thing But nowe following the interpretation which we haue alreadye begon which is of those which say that Gideon made this to remaine as a signe and monument of the benefite of God geuen vnto the Hebrues this I iudge is to be added that the vulgare men began to haue in admiration the signe which was set vp and as they wer prone to superstitions they iorneyed thither and offred peace offringes there whych thing was a ruine and snare vnto them for by title and litle they fel into idolatry Neither was Gideon without blame For he erected the monument abused the signe when he saw how the people fel yet tooke he not away that monument but rather winked at it Ezechias afterward did more rightly who when he saw the people offer insence vnto the brasen serpent he brake it downe Certaine Rabbines labour to excuse Gideon bycause wyth a good mynde he caused the Ephod or monument of the benefite of God to bee made but the Israelites misused it But they go about that in vaine for as much as the scripture sayth that it turned to the destruction of Gideon and his house Augustine intreating of this place Augustine thinketh that the figure of Synechdoche is here to be vnderstand so that by this word Ephod al priestly ornamentes may be noted as though Gideon would in his Citye haue an holye ministery which was plainly against the wil of God who had appointed to be worshipped at the Arke of the couenant That was no other thing then to plucke away men from the tabernacle of God after a sort to deuide the church Gideon the people did not saith Augustine sacrifice vnto idols but with these garmentes they constituted a worshipping vnto the true God in Gideon his house that is in Ophra But forasmuch as they did otherwise then God had prescribed they fell therfore into a certaine kinde of Idolatry And that Gideon worshipped not idols it doth not onely hereby appeare in that he ouerthrew the altar of Baal cut downe his groue and offred vpon the alter of God the bullocke consecrated vnto Baal but also bicause the people al his life time as we shal straightwaye heare are sayde not to haue woorshipped Baal This woord whooring is to be vnderstand Methaphorically The Methaphore of whoâ—tyng which is a thing very coÌ„mon in the scriptures For the Church is the Spouse of God and therefore it ought to worship him onely and to depend onely of him Wherfore euen as a maried woman if she leauing her own husband follow other men is counted an harlot and vnchaste euen so also the Churche when it forsaketh the worshipping of the true God and geueth place to supersticions is iustlye called a harlot and an adultresse And this is it whiche is nowe wrytten that the chyldren of Israel went a whooryng after
god is violated which commaundeth vs to loue god withall the hart withall the soule and withall the strengthes Wherfore we rather counsell that this maye bee knowleged a synne then to be counted a good woorke But bicause they perceiued that theyr sayinges haue some absurdity they added so that in the beginninge of that woorke we thinke somewhat of god and his glory and so that that which is purposed be directed vnto hym But no man doubteth but that the begynning of all those thinges whiche we do oughte to be good but afterward if fayth follow not those thinges whyche we haue well begonne and if when we are working we haue not a respect vnto god and his glory we shall runne hedlonge into sinne which may not be dissembled Farther if we should worke as we ought to do and as the law requireth yet should we as Christ sayth be still vnprofitable seruants so far is it of that we can clayme vnto our selues any merites Wherfore so long as we desist from thinkinge vpon the honor and glory of God we fall neyther are such falles to be dissembled but rather to pray that they may be turned froÌ„ vs forasmuch as of their own nature they are sinnes Fayth is not sufficient in hâ—bite but we must beleue also in acte although vnto the beleuers for Christes sake they are not imputed vnto death Wherfore let there be added to our workes a good entent But yet such an entente as is adorned with faythe and let vs performe the same not in habite but in acte Wherfore the Lord sayth in the Gospell of Mathew the .6 chap The lyght of the body is the eye And if thyne eye be symple the whole body shal be lyght But if the light which is in thee be darknes Augustine how gret shal the darknes theÌ„ be These things Augustine in his questions of the Gospels the .2 boke .15 questioÌ„ and agaynst Iulianus in the .4 boke 20. chap. iudgeth to be vnderstaÌ„ded of a good intent And in like maner writeth he in his .10 Tome the .2 Sermon where he entreateth vpon this place we must not do righteousnes before men to be seene of them The intent saith he is alwayes to be applied vnto the glory of God but the wyll to haue it knowen vnto men is to be auoyded but so much as shall seme to pertayne to the honour of God And to that tendeth that whych Christ speaketh A good tree cannot bringe forth euel frutes neither an euil tre good for as much as the tree signifieth the entent Wherfore this act of Gideon done of a good intent if those thinges be true whyche we haue sayde cannot be excused when as fayth gouerned it not 28 Thus was Madian brought low before the children of Israell so that they lift vp theyr heds no more and the lande had quietnes .40 yeares in the dayes of Gideon 29 Then Ierubbaall the son of Ioas went and dwelt in his owne house 30 And Gideon had 70. sonnes which came out of his thigh for he had many wyues 31 And his Concubine that was in Sechem bare him a sonne also whose name he called Abimelech When we heare that the earth had quietnes we maye note two metaphores The first Metaphore is whereby the land is taken for them that dwell vpon it The other is whereby silence is put for peace for that in peace the cryes of souldiers the noyse of weapons the blast of trumpets and the running to and fro of horsemen and fotemen are not harde Augustine in this place doubteth howe it could be Augustine that God suffred superstition and idolatrye so longe vnpunished And he bringeth two answeres therfore First that GideoÌ„ did indede streyghtwayes as sone as the warre was finished Why the punishmente was differed 40. yeares gather a masse of golde but he made not the Ephod by and by but longe after namely towarde the end of his life or that the Ephod was made as sone as the victory was accoÌ„plished but the people fell not to idolatrye till aboute the latter tyme of his life An other cause he addeth because in that superstition the name of God was kept neyther was the worshipping of Baal and other gods of the Gentles admitted for that as long as Gideon liued the Hebrewes came not to that mischief therfore god delt not so sharply agaynste them And it was no small benefite to geue them peace for .40 yeares of which thing seying I haue spoken before in the former iudges I shal not nede now to repeate the same agayne Ierubbaal wente and dwelte in his house He coueted not a perpetuall rule as did Cesar who after v. yeares did agayn couet to continew vnto himself the prouince of France other v. yeres But Gideon when he had obteined peace ceased from warres and dismissing his host led his life at home in his owne house in a manner like a priuate man Suche are vprighte mindes whiche indeede wante ambicion In his commeÌ„taries vpon the 1. of Samuell the 25. chap. He had .70 children for he had many wiues Of hauinge many wiues I will not nowe speake muche bycause it is to be entreated of in an other place this is sufficient to be sayd at this present that god in the old lawe permitted the same after a sort vnto the fathers VVhich came out of his thigh This is therefore written least peraduenture we should suspecte that of those .70 children some were adopted Besides the 70. whiche he had of his wiues whiche were many he had Abimeleche by hys concubyne ¶ Of Matrimony and hauing of Concubines THe place doth now admonish me somwhat to speak of hauing of coÌ„cubines wherof is often mencion made in the histories of the old testament But fyrst must we define Matrimony that therout we may gather the vse of concubines for vnlesse the nature of it be manifest Of Matrimonye Marrimonium coniungium nuptie connubium The definition of matrimony we can not se how that hauing of a concubine differeth from it Matrimony mariages wedding and wedlocke sygnify al one thing And Matrimony as it is had in the .i. boke Inst Iustin wheÌ„ meÌ„cion is made of the power of the father and in the degestes de ritu nuptiarum is defined to be a coniunction of man and womaÌ„ an inseperable conuersation of life and a communication of gods law and mans law But this diffinicion muste be perfected by the holy scriptures Wherfore we must adde that this coniunctioÌ„ of man and woman was instituted by god for the bringing forth of children for the taking away of whoredome that therby humayne life might haue helpes and commodityes In this difinicion vndoubtedlye the coniunction of man and woman holdeth place in the matter The inseperable conuersation of life pertaineth vnto the forme for with this purpose and will man and wife muste marye together For though by adultery that copulation be taken away yet when the
there is no true God whiche wil be worshipped that way Or els this is the sense of it that the Israelites did wonderfully fal from the true God bycause they did not onely worship Baal but they so worshipped him that they vtterly forgot the god of their fathers and grandfathers altogether abiected the worshipping of hym Which thing they vsed not alwayes to do for many tymes they so allowed outward gods that yet in the meane tyme they retayned some part of the olde worshipping Neither shewed they mercy on the house of Gideon That happened vnto theÌ„ which must nedes come to passe When we departe from the true God the offices of charity are neglected for he whiche is euill agaynst God can not be good to men An example of ConstaÌ„tius the Emperor This vnderstoode the Emperor Constantius the father of Constantine who thought that they would not be faithfull vnto him whiche for to kepe still their dignity departed from the worshipping of Christ Gideon in dede deserued so to be punished but they ought not so to haue dealt against hym especially seing they behaued not themselues so for the reuenging of religion To shewe mercy is a phrase much vsed of the Hebrues and it is read in many places in the holy Scriptures neither signifieth it any thing els then to do good and to be of a gentle louing and ready minde to helpe those whiche haue nede And that whiche is nowe spoken by a certayne anticipation comprehendeth the narration whiche we shall heare in the chap. following of the calamity and destruction of the house of Gideon In the meane tyme let vs consider the nature of the worlde it is wonderfully infected with the vice of ingratitude we see in a maner no notable or excellent gifte bestowed vpon any man whiche by the children of this worlde is not recompensed with great ingratitude We must not besiste froÌ„ wel doyng bycause of ingratitude And yet for this occasion we must not suffer our selues to be withdraweÌ„ from doyng good least when as other are euill we imitate them in departing from our office Let vs go forward to do good vnto our neighbours and brethren who if they be thankful let vs chiefly reioyse for theÌ„ Why God permitteth ingratitude in the worlde and afterward for our selues But if they be otherwise let vs turne our selues vnto God himselfe for whose cause we do rightly decreing with our selues that we must not haue a regard what the sinnes of meÌ„ deserue but what God requireth of vs or what is decent for vs remembryng the God very often permitteth the vice of ingratitude in the worlde wherby our mindes may be the more erected vnto him for whose cause all our thinges are to be instituted and let vs so direct vnto him those things which we do that we require nothing of this world to be reÌ„dred vnto vs as a reward Farther wheÌ„ we see that meÌ„ do for the most part after this maner reward those with great euils whiche haue done them much good we may cal to remeÌ„braunce the life to come where shal be rendred vnto euery man according to his workes Whiche thing if we had not a coÌ„fidence that it shall one day come to passe we should vtterly take away the prouidence of God ¶ The .ix. Chapter 1 THen Abimelech the sonne of Ierubbaal went to Sechem vnto his mothers brethren and spake vnto them and to all the famely of the house of his mothers father saying 2 Say I pray you in the audieÌ„ce of all the men of Sechem whether is better for you that all the sonnes of Ierubbaal whiche are 70. persons either that one man reigne ouer you Remember that I am your bone and your fleshe 3 Then his mothers brethren spake of him in the audience of al the men of Sechem all these wordes and their hartes were moued to follow Abimelech for sayd they He is our brother 4 And they gaue him .70 peces of siluer out of the house of Baal berith wherewith Abimelech hired vayne and light fellowes whiche followed him 5 And he went vnto his fathers house in Ophra and slew his brethren the sonnes of Ierubbaal seuenty persons vpon one stone Yet Iothan the yongest sonne of Ierubbaal was lefte for he hid himselfe 6 And all the men of Sechem gathered together with al the house of Millowe and came and made Abimelech king by the playne of the image whiche was in Sechem The destruction of the house of Gideon is declared the detestable vsurpation of tyranny Abimelech went as I suppose from his fathers house for he vnderstoode that he could not there easely go about that whiche in his minde he purposed He was minded to bring into Israell the power of a king and being otherwise a priuate man went about to alter the state of the publique wealth Which thing was vtterly vnlawfull For that forme of gouernement whiche the Hebrues then vsed was instituted allowed by God euen as it is written in Exodus and Deuteronomy Wherby is also gathered that if at any time the people would haue a king he ought to be created whom the Lord appointed Farther if they should haue appointed a kyng by humane reason so great a dignity pertayned not vnto him whiche was borne of a concubine It semeth that it should rather haue bene geuen vnto the other sonnes of Gideon and to the first begotten before the rest It is good to marke by what guile he worketh He accuseth his brethren Abimelech accuseth his brethren vniustly as though they affected the kingdome VVhether saith he is it better that I or they reigne As though he would say one of these two thinges must nedes come to passe and except I obteyne the kyngdome they will clayme it vnto themselues which was vtterly false For they weÌ„t about no such matter yea it is rather to be thought but they followed their fathers steppes who when the kingdome was offred him refused it Therfore it is very likely that they as legitimate children would follow the example of their father He goeth to those men chiefly whom he hoped would soone be wonne to come vnto him namely vnto the kinsfolkes of his mothers He vseth glorious reasoÌ„s First he declareth that the rule of one alone is better theÌ„ the dominon of many And that is most easy to persuade humane reason Wherfore Homere sayth It is not good the many raigne let there be one Lord. Homerus Aristotle Whether a kingdome be better then â—ristocratia or no. Which verse Aristotle bringeth in his Metaphisikes Whiche thing in dede might be grauÌ„ted as touching the institution perfection of the nature of man For in a kingdome occasions in deliberatyng are not ouerpassed and corrupted and the execution of things decreed is not delayed and slacked as we see often happeneth where many beare rule But in this corruption of nature it semeth to be otherwise for as much as in it hangeth a daunger
And it is well knowen that by contempt is prouoked anger for it is called an action whiche pertayneth to estimation opinion bycause some thing semeth to vs not worthy of estimation when peraduenture it is not so Moreouer despising consisteth chiefly in thre thinges for either we conteÌ„ne onely in mind when we despise any men their goods or when we do theÌ„ any discoÌ„modity not thereby to seeke our own gayne but onely to reioyse at theyr discommodity or lastly when we adde wordes or deedes whiche haue ignominy or contumely ioyned with them These thre things may we easely see in the Sechemites First they despised Abimelech when they receaued Gaalus a souldier as a captayne hauing Zebul appointed theyr gouerner by the kyng And vndoubtedly they so receaued Gaal that they did put their confideÌ„ce in him Wherfore it followeth that in mynde and estimation they despised Abimelech Farthermore they dammaged him when by conspiracyes they spoyled and slewe those that passed to and fro These whom they iniuried pertayned vnto Abimelech or at the least way for that that he was king Lastly they added reprochefull wordes as we shal afterward heare Christ prohibited anger as the beginning of hatred murther and destructioÌ„ for he sayd He that is angry with his brother is worthy of iudgement For anger and reuengemeÌ„t are seperate one from the other onely as the roote the fruit For he that is angry with any man if he hurt him not that chaunceth bycause either he can not Kinges are vehemeÌ„tly angry Homere or els feareth the punishmeÌ„t of the lawes He that hateth hys brother saith Iohn is a murtherer But amoÌ„g those which are counted very angry kings aboue other are numbred when they perceaue that they are despised of their subiectes Wherfore Homere sayth Great is the anger of a kyng displeased The conspiracies of the vngodly are of no long tyme. Hereby we learne that the conspiracies of the vngodly can not continew loÌ„g They are in deede oftentymes ioyned together to do euill but yet they are easely disseuered The kings of the earth stoode vp and the princes assembled together agaynst the Lord and against his Christ But the Lord whiche dwelleth in heauen shall laughe at them and the Lord shal haue them in derision Theues robbers whoremongers such as conspire against the Church publique wealthes princes do oftentimes confederate together but straightway great enemityes ryse vp amoÌ„gest them and they betray one an other yea and sometymes kill one an other Aristotle Wherfore wisely sayth Aristotle that honesty is onely the sure fouÌ„dation of amity bycause that whiche is honesty is not chaunged but pleasant and profitable thinges do not alwayes abide the same Princes of our tyme as often as they haue made league one with an other haue afterward not only ben made enemyes but they haue gone to warre one with an other Wherfore Salomon rightly writeth in the 11. chap. of the Prouerbes Although the vngodly coÌ„spire they shall not escape Wherfore their fellowshippes are to be auoyded and we must enterprise or go about nothyng hauing confidence in the amity of the vngodly ¶ How Sinne dependeth of God NOw remayneth to examine how it is written that God sent an euill spirite betwene them But bycause of that matter I haue in an other place more more fully entreated and will shortly speake more aboundauntly of it here I will but briefly teache the thing The scriptures testifie that sinnes sometymes haue a consideration of punishments wherfore when it sayd that god punisheth taketh vengeance of the vngodly by sinnes he doth nothing vnmete of him selfe For he bringeth not forth the deformity and filthynes of sinne but is the author of iust punishment For sinnes are to men euill but vnto God who vseth them good God planteth no new malice in the vngodly but yet he vseth that malice whiche is in them by reason of originall sinne and other sinnes whiche they adioyne vnto it He suffreth it not to burst forth but when it semeth good vnto him he gouerneth and directeth it whether soeuer it pleaseth him A Similitude As the Phisition comming vnto the sicke person doth by medicines drawe corrupt humors out of his body and bringeth them out either by a purgation or by a sweate or vomite or letting of bloud as he iudgeth it best yet doth he not graft in the sicke person naughty and corrupt humors So God causeth to be brought to light our malice whiche was not brought forth before but lay hid within to make manifest his iustice and to opeÌ„ our sinnes and yet he suffreth them not to breake forth by chaunce or rashely but ordereth and gouerneth them accordyng to his iudgement that euen by theÌ„ he doth fulfill the limites of his prouidence Wherfore Esay sayth that the kyng of Babilone was like an axe or staffe in hande of God for he would force hym against the Iewes rather then against other nations Wherfore the malice of sinne is wholy ours but the gouernyng successe and effectes therof ar vnder the rule of God so that they can accomplish no more then he will suffer Neither can the vngodly bring to passe those thinges whiche they go about agaynst euery man nor also at all tymes but they are gouerned accordyng to the determinations of God whiche are most holy and iust Neither is it absurde that one and the selfe same action as it is gouerned of God is both good and holy but as it commeth of vs it is vicious and corrupt And bycause we wil not go from our history the sinne of cruelty and ambitioÌ„ was vtterly Abimeleches But that it should burst forth and first destroy the famely of Ierubbaal and theÌ„ the Sechemites that is to be referred vnto the gouernment of GOD. Farthermore the disobedience and wicked desire of tumultes was altogether of the Sechemites But that it should burst forth when the famely of Gideon should be punished and that they rather chosed Abimelech to theyr kyng then an other and that their fury should rage agaynst him rather then against any other that was of the gouernement of God wherby as the holy hystory sheweth he sent betwene them an euill spirite namely the deuill by whose labour enemities and hatreds were on either side kindled and woÌ„derfully inflamed by mete occasions seruing thereunto Farthermore we must consider that God is bound vnto no man God is fee geueth hys grace not being dâ—uÌ„e to geue vnto him his grace For if it shuld be geueÌ„ of dewty then should it not be grace yet he neuer either not geueth it or els beyng geuen taketh it away but vpon iust cause He in dede created man vpright and being indewed with it but yet he by sinning spoiled both himself and his of it And for as much as we are borne vnder originall sinne and the children of wrath to whom soeuer it is not geuen it is iustly not geuen and to whom soeuer
true God But especially Iiphtah which was both a bastard and a banished man and also a man of warre which kinde of men do not so much thinke vpō the lawes Wherfore he voweth but not according to the prescript of the lawe It was lawful to vowe mē also vnto God But we must knowe that it was lawfull for the Iewes to vowe menne also vnto GOD and to dedicate them vnto hym Yea and the redemption of manne is seased in the lawe by the variety of kynd and age Hanna the mother of Samuel dedicated him from a childe to the deuine worshyppyng and it is very likely that Helkana her husbande allowed the vowe But that which Interpreters say of the virginity of the daughter of Iiphtah it cannot be gathered by the woordes of the history Yea rather it is not true although some Rabines were of that opinion but yet without example and testimony of the woord of God I know that that Hanna of whom Luke maketh mēcion was dayly in prayers and other women for praiers sake watched continually at the Tabernacle and that the sonnes of Hely accompanied with diuers of them but the scripture testifieth not of any that vowed chastity neither did God in the olde Testament euer speake anye thing of thys kynde of vowe Wherfore this sentence And I wyl offer it for a burnt offring is an interpretacion for it expoundeth and contracteth the first part of the Oration It shal be the Lordes How shal it be the Lordes He declareth howe when hee addeth And I wil offer it for a burnt offring Other make Vau a disiunctiue The vowe of Iiphtah was vnwarly made as I haue before touched But that is not certayne Neither is the vow therfore excused but that it was vnwarely made For there mought easely haue met him a dogge as I before admonished whiche could neither be sacrificed vnto GOD nor dedicated vnto hym He went forth and smote The victory is not here onely described but also amplified namely that there fell many in that battayle and that he ouerthrewe twenty Cityes and subdewed vnder him the Ammonites 34 Then Iiphtah commyng to Mizpa to hys house beholde hys daughter came out to mete him with timbrels and daunces which was his onely child and of hym selfe he had neither other sonne nor other daughter 35 And when he sawe her he rent his garmentes and sayd Alas Alas my daughter thou hast brought me lowe and thou art amōg them that trouble me For I haue opened my mouth vnto the Lord and can not go backe 36 And she aunswered hym My father if thou hast opened thy mouth vnto the Lord do vnto me as thou hast promised seyng that the Lord hath auenged thee of thine enemies the childrē of Ammon 37 And she sayd more ouer vnto her father Do thus much for me suffer me two monethes that I may go downe to the mountaynes and bewayle my virginity I and my friendes 38 And he sayd Go And he sent her away two monethes So she went with her frendes and lamented her virginity vpon the mountaynes 39 But after the ende of two monethes she returned to her father who did to her accordyng to the vowe whiche he had vowed Wherfore she had knowē no man and it was a custome in Israel 40 The daughters of Israell went frō tyme to tyme to lament the daughter of Iiphtah the Gileadite fower dayes in a yeare When he had gotten the victory agaynst his enemyes he returned home to Mizpa for there he dwelled And therfore we heard before how he made the couenant with the Gileadites before the Lord in Mizpa Here let vs note with howe great a moderation godly princes in those tymes made warres they prolonged them no longer then necessity required but as soone as their enemyes wer tamed they strayghtway returned home So also the dictator among the Romaynes his enemyes beyng vanquished and all thinges accomplished accordyng to his minde he straight way forsooke his office of a Magistrate Iiphtah is sayd not to haue had other children of himselfe bycause peraduenture he had by his wyfe children in lawe Yea and he might haue children whiche were adopted Of him selfe he had begotten onely this daughter And this is put in that we might vnderstande howe hearde and bitter it was vnto hym to slaye hys onely daughter Things nobly done of princes wer publiquely songe She went out to mete her father by the waye with timbrelles and daunces to reioyse for hys victory and to singe a songe of victorye for so were the thynges that were nobly done by prynces wonte to be celebrated with daunces and songes The mayden also when Saul returned came and met hym with reioysing And vndoubtedly suche reioysinges were nothyng elles then publique geuyng of thankes In that it is sayd thou hast brought me lowe In Hebrew it is expressed by this verbe Caraa as thoughe it should haue ben sayd thou hast thrust me done or thou hast humbled me of late I was puffed vp with the victory whiche I obteyned agaynst myne enemyes but thou hast thrust me downe yea rather thou hast vtterly destroyed me and brought me to nothyng for as muche as my posterity is vndone myne enemyes did grieuously vexe me and now thou my daughter also art one of them whiche trouble and afflicte me I haue opened my mouth This is a circumscription or description of the vowe He tare hys garmentes after the manner of the Hebrues when they sawe that they were ouerwhelmed with any greuous calamity vnlooked for What the fearyng of garmētes signifieth they tare theyr garmentes signifyeng that they were now subiect vnto the anger of God and not worthy to be couered with garmentes I haue opened my mouth sayth he The lawe of God in the booke of Numbers the .30 chapter intreatynge of Vowes vseth such a forme of speakyng whereby myght be vnderstande What to open the mouth in vowyng signifieth that the vowe was conceaued not onely in mynde and purpose but also outwardly expressed by wordes Wherefore they were called calfes of the lippes whiche a man had promised to God not onely in mynde but also in voyce And I can not go backe sayeth he It is meruelous why he should say so For in the last chapter of Leuiticus are many thynges wrytten of the redeemyng of vowes whiche I wyll thus gather into a fewe If any had vowed a man it was lawfull to redeme hym with a pryce and there was an estimation set And therefore it was called the vowe of estimation For they vowed either themselues or theyr seruauntes or theyr children and it was lawfull for euery manne to vowe them which he had in hys power From twenty yeares vpwarde to sixty they payd for the male fifty sicles for the female .30 From fyue yeares vpwarde to twenty for the male they payd twenty sicles and for the female tenne If a manne had vowed a house vnto GOD and would redeme it the house was estemed
said that he did this by the impulsion of the holy ghost not as though god would haue other men to imitate this act but that men might by it vnderstand that Christ should dye for their saluation It is indifferent for euery man to chose eyther of these aunsweres But I thinke rather he fell Nowe resteth to confute the argumentes of the Rabbines In that they say the mayden was not killed of her father but only punished with ciuil death namely that she should liue a part from the followship of men with out a husband and children it is not wel sayd bicause it can not be proued by the holy scriptures that there was any such kind of vow in the old time I know that there were Nazarites whiche abstained from wyne and stronge drinke and all drinke which would make one dronke but they abstained not from matrimony Samuel and Sampson beyng either of them a Nazarite had wiues and Samuel had children as the holy history declareth But departinges from the companye of men are not altogether to be disalowed so that of them come some fruite vnto the church Christ departed .40 dayes and fasted How departings from the company of men are allowed or disalowed but afterward he returned to instruct the people Iohn Baptiste went a parte but yet for certayne dayes baptised and preached So some of the fathers went sometime a part wher they gaue themselues both to prayers and godly meditations wherby they might returne the better instructed to preach But I can in no case allow the perpetuitye of solitarye life for wee are not borne to oure selues but to other also But that in the olde time there were some whiche were Nazarites for euer that was not don by the institution of man but by the commaundement of God which thing is written to haue happened to Sampson and Iohn Baptist Otherwise Nazarites vowed but onely for a time Wherfore that which the Rabbines clayme is false for there was no ciuill death by the law whereby men or women were for euer depriued of matrimonye Kimhi sayth that this letter Vau maketh somtimes a proposition disiunctiue I graunt that the same is found in certayne places of the scripture But it is not a fyrme argument if we shall say It is thus founde in some places therfore it is so also in this place But rather for the most part Vau maketh not a disiunctiue proposition but a copulatiue And vndoubtedly here it is brought in by exposicion It shal be the Lords sayth hee After what manner For I will offer it for a burnt offringe Farther they reason The mayden desyred space of time wherin to bewayle her virginity neither saith she her soule or life This argument hath a shew but no strength For if death be to be lamented vndoubtedlye then is it muche more to be lamented when it hath a bitter condicion annexed wyth it The mayden was sure to dye at some certaine time but that seemed vnto her very hard that she should dye without childrē Therfore that condicion is expressed which made the cause more miserable He sayth moreouer It is not writen that Iiphtah offred her for a burnte offringe but onelye that he dyd accordynge to hys vow I aunswere That there is sufficientelye sayde when it is sayde that he did according to his vow And it is often sene that in narrations the sharpest thinges are not expressed And althoughe the woordes be not all one yet is it sufficient if they be equall Leui Ben Gerson reasoneth of this that it is written and shee knewe no man Therfore sayth he she liued but maried not But this reason hath no force For this sentence is an exposition of the wordes that go before For why did the virgins bewayle her Because she was vnmaried and was not coupled to anye manne But Liranus sayth The sprite of the Lorde came vpon Iiphtah wherefore he vowed not his daughter for a burnt offring This reason Augustine as we haue hearde aunsweareth That spirite vndoubtedlye was the sprite of strength and warrelike knowledge Neither can al that Iiphtah afterward did be said to haue come from the same spiryte Moreouer sayth Liranus ther was twoo monethes space betwene wherin he asked counsel of the priestes and thei gaue him counsell to saue his daughter a Virgin Yea but the auncient Iewes affirme that he was so stubburne that he woulde not aske counsell of the priestes And for that cause he is reproued by the Chaldey Paraphrast Neither is it any newe thinge that men somtimes sinne because they thinke not that they haue nede of counsel and that is wont most of al to happen vnto princes For they haue a high mind and proude stomackes wherfore they think that they haue counsell inough But he is numbred among the sayntes To this Augustine aunsweareth also that other were also numbred amonge the Sayntes whiche yet greuouslye sinned Lastly he saith If he had sacrificed his doughter he should not haue fulfilled but contaminated his vow I graunt that Neither is it any maruaile that he erred seyng he was a man and might fall Now shoulde remayne to declare what I thinke of vowes in vniuersall but bycause of that matter I haue written aboundauntly in an other place namely in my Apology against Smith therefore I remitte the reader to reade ouer that booke ¶ The .xii. Chapter 1 ANd the men of Ephraim gathered themselues together and passed ouer Northward and sayd vnto Iiphtah Why haste thou passed ouer to fyghte agaynste the children of Ammon and haste not called vs to goe with the We will therfore burne thee and thyne house with fyre 2 And Iiphtah sayde vnto them I and my people were at greate strife with the children of Ammon and when I called you ye deliuered me not out of theyr handes 3 So when I sawe ye delyuered mee not I put my lyfe in myne handes and went vpon the children of Ammon And the Lord hath deliuered them into myne hande But why are ye come vpon me thys day to fight agaynst me 4 Then Iiphtah gathered all the men of Gilead and foughte agaynst Ephraim And the men of Gilead smote Ephraim bycause they sayd Ye Gileadites are abiectes among the Ephramites and among the Manassites 5 And the Gileadites tooke the passages of Iordan before the Ephramites And when the Ephramites that were escaped sayd Let me passe the men of Gilead sayd vnto him Art thou an Ephramite If he sayde Nay 6 Then sayde they vnto hym Say now Schiboleth but he sayde Siboleth for he coulde not so pronounce Then they tooke him and slewe hym at the passages of Iordan and there fell at that tyme of the Ephramites twoo and fourty thousand HEre is a sedicion set foorth vnto vs The Ephraits wer veri proud the cause whereof was the pride of the Ephramites whyche was so great that they thought there was nothyng which was not due vnto them Euen the lyke did they vnder Gideon as
sundrye interpretacions For Chamor signifieth both an asse and also a heap or gathering together Wherefore some following the signification of this woord heape do thus interprete it there was made heapes vpon heapes of dead bodies namely of mē which he had slaine Or I haue made heape vpon heape And the sense is that Samson sayth that he had made so greate a slaughter of his enemies that he gathered greate heapes of them together But other hauing a respecte vnto this woorde asse do thus enterpretate it of an asse of asses that it should not be here vnderstand in a metaphore And they thinke that a sword which is called by the name had the form of an asse He saith therfore that it was the iaw bone of an asse of an asse I say of asses as in other places of the scripture we reade a kidde of goates and a bullock of Oxen. The Rabbines for the most part interprete this place for heapes and gatheringes together of enemies When the slaughter was finished then first the place was named Ramath-Lechi Ramam in Hebrew is highe Wherefore Ramah signifieth a high place And Ramah-Lechi is nothing els then a hill or toppe of a iaw bone There may also be geuen an other Etimologye so that the naminge of it may be deriued of this verbe Ramah which is to cast away bicause Samson in that place threw away the iaw bone when he had fynished the slaughter 18 And he was sore a thirste and called on the Lorde and sayde Thou hast geuen this great deliuerance by the hand of thy seruant and nowe shall I dye for thirste and fall into the handes of the vncircumcised 19 Then god brake the cheke tooth that was in the iawe and water came thereout and when he had dronke his sprite came agayn and he was reuiued Wherefore he called the name therof Ain Hakorah which is the fountaine of him that calleth vpon which is in Lechi vnto this day 20 And he iudged Israell in the dayes of the Philistians twentye yeares Whereas it is written that god opened the cheeke tooth whiche was in the iaw bone it is in the Hebrewe Aschar Belchi Hamachtich wherefore the place is darke for this woorde Machtisch signifieth ether that holownes wherein the teth are fixed or els by a Metaphore it signifieth a stone or rocke wherein is a hole cut Out of what thing god brought foorth water Iosephus R. Leui Ben Gerson like vnto the holes of the cheke tethe And in fine it is that which commonly we call a morter And this latter interpretation Iosephus R. Leui Ben Gerson do follow And they thinke that god brought not forth water out of the iaw bone but out of a rocke being holow like a iaw bone But others say that water came forthe of that iaw bone wherewith he had slayne his enemies The place was called the fountayne of him that prayeth bicause God at the prayers of Samson opened the rocke or iawe bone And this woorde Aim Leui expoundeth for an eye for in very deede it signifieth eyther namelye bothe a fountaine an eye And the sense that be gathereth is that the eye of the Lorde was vpon him which called vpon him that is God had a regarde vnto the prayers of hym that called vpon him It is added that Samson iudged Israell in the dayes of the Philistianes whiche is therfore written bicause in his time the Hebrewes were not yet fully deliuered from the tirranny of the Philistianes Samson beganne to deliuer them but he finished not In this latter history are certayne thinges which we oughte to obserue The first is that Samson was bound with two cordes and those new that the miracle mighte be the more wonderfull New cordes are stronge For newe cordes are more hardly broken then old And it is eligantly described how they brake namely as flaxe burnt with fire The cordes might be broken two waies eyther bicause the strength of Samsons body was encreased or els because the cordes were weakned by god and eyther way is apt inough Farther when he being naked and vnarmed was cast forth vnto his enemies god ministred weapons vnto him of a thing most vile so can he vse all thinges to setforth his glory the iawe bone was made onely to chawe and cutte small meate but God woulde vse it to committe a slaughter So althoughe sometimes we seeme to be vnarmed agaynste our enemies yet are we sufficiently armed when god will Some to make the thinge more probable do imagine that that iaw bone of the asse was a great one bicause that in Siria are so great asses that in greatenes they may be compared with our horses Which thing I do not disproue The Philistians shoute and reioyce as thoughe a moste deadlye enemye had fallen into theyr handes But the sprite of the Lord came vpon Sampsō and there was a greate slaughter made of them And the songe which he sang was a geuing of thankes for the victorye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a songe of victorye But some doubte whither the whole songe be here written or onely the beginninge thereof I thinke here is but the beginning onely the rest paraduenture was knowen among the Iewes and soong thorough And he was sore a thirst Iosephus and Ambrose thinke that god strake Samson with thirst bycause he attributed the victory vnto himselfe and not vnto God I sayth hee with the iaw of an asse haue slaine a thousande men He sayth not Iosephus Ambrose Why Samson was vexed with thirste God hath slayne neyther erecteth he an altare or monumente vnto God nor maketh anye sacrifice and therfore is he afflicted with thirste For god would haue him to vnderstand that he was a mā would also haue him to know by whose benefite he had obteined the victory This say they but bicause those thinges which they alledge are not of the holy Scriptures therefore I do not geue credite vnto them Moreouer let vs note that in the old Testament very manye places haue theyr names geuen them of the benefites of God For they would haue the goodnes of God kept in memory for thē that should come after that they also should hope that by the same meanes they should be holpen as they fee theyr fathers in times past were holpen of God For whych selfe same cause the hebrewes were commaunded to enstructe and teache theyr children of the benefites bestowed on them by god Wherefore they instructed theyr posterity not onely by words but also by such tokens and monumentes as by some certayne sacramentes Wherefore the thirste of Samson as farre as I iudge was not a punishment for sinne which he had committed but a certain caution or prohibition that he should not sinne He might in deede by reason of ouermuch labour naturally thirste but god woulde haue him remember that in so greate fortune he was mortal He had slayne many but herin was the daunger least he also should haue
died together with thē for thirst Or it was done that the power and beneuolence of God towardes his people should be made the more notable which had not onely deliuered Samson from his enemyes but also had quenched his thyrst by a wonderfull meanes Wherefore Samson turneth himself vnto prayers whiche God maketh him to expresse both by his spirite and also by this present necessitye We are not able to thinke how much God delighteth in our submission Thou sayth he Lord God hast geuen me this victory and wilt thou now forsake me Hereby we vnderstand that the remembrance of the benefites past do excedingly stir vp our prayers for they encrease fayth whereby we hope that we may obteyne the like and also greater things Neither is this a thing to be passedouer that he calleth him self the seruāt of God I am sayth he thy seruāt For I haue not slayn these mē at myne owne lust and motion I haue done thy busines and I haue executed thy warre And wilt thou now suffer me to dye for thurst And by that meanes to fal into the handes of mine enemies And which is most greuous into the handes of the vncicumcised For I vndoubtedlye whatsoeuer I am am thine and I haue set abrode the glory of thyne name Thou hast promised that I should be a iudge vnto thy people suffer me not therfore to come into the power of mine enemies contrary to that promise which thou hast promised me ¶ The .xvi. Chapter 1 THen went Samson to Azzah and he sawe there a harlot and went into her 2 And it was told to the Azzathites Sāson is comhither And they went about and layde waite for him all night in the gate of the city and wer quiet al the night saying Abide til the morning early and we shal kill him 3 And Samson slept till midnight and rose at midnight and toke the dores of the gate of the city and the two postes and lift them away with the barres and put them vpon his shoulders and caried them vp to the top of the mountaine that is before Hebron It is no rare or vnaccustomed thinge that excellent men when they haue accomplished thinges after theyr minde There happen sometimes greuous falles of godly men of churches doe slacke good studies and honest entenprises as though they had done with labors are nowe in that place that they can not fall God suffreth them sometimes so to fal that they shoulde acknowledge thē selues be called back to repentance But that is not done by the merite of the sinners but by the goodnes and mercy of god So God suffred Dauid to fal so Salomon contaminated hymselfe with a most greuous wicked crime so Iudas the sonne of Iacob being in good estimation among his bretherne yet committed incest with Thamar Neyther do these things happē only vnto singuler mē but also vnto the church as well the new as the old In the time of Byleam whē the Israelites could not be won by any other meanes they wer cōquered by harlots And the church of the Corrinthians was at the firste so contaminated with whoredomes that Paule was compelled to shewe by arguments and testimonies of the word of god that foricatiō was sin Yet did not god straightway depart from those which I haue mencioned God doth not straightway after sinne take a way from men hys free gratious giftes nor from Samson as touching his free gracious giftes as are strength gifte of tongues prophesies and suche like bicause they are geuen not for theire sakes whiche possesse them but for other Bileam though he was an euill man yet had he still the gift of prophesy yea and he prophesied most excellently of Christ The Lord also sayth many shall say vnto me in that day Haue not we cast out deuils in thy name And in thy name haue we prophesied it shal be sayd vnto them verely I say vnto you I know you not Howbeit for discipline sake free gracious giftes are also sometimes taken away sometimes I saye not alwayes And Samson did not strayghtewaye at the first time when he sinned lose those giftes of God yet afterwarde he loste them But seyng these ar not alwaies taken away Whither the giftes which follow iustification are firme what shal we affirm of other gifts which of necessity follow iustification Those vndoubtedly ar takē away in sins that ar most heinous For he which hath committed any greuous sinne agaynst himselfe holdeth not peace of conscience neyther the zeale to call vpon God nor hope towardes God Fayth also for that time either sleepeth and lieth still or as some think is taken away although it be afterward restored vnto the elect and those that are predestinate when they repent Suche fals of excellente men are setforth How great the verity of the holy scriptures is How the countrey of the Philistians was deuided that we by them should haue an example that if at any time we fal we should not dispayre And hereby we vnderstand how greate the veritye of the holy scriptures is For they dissemble not errors and vices in the greatest mē in those specially which they haue taken in hand to prayse Azza was one of the head cities of the Philistians For that coūtry was deuided into prouinces and Lordshippes of which in euery one of them there was some one excellent and notable city Our interpretors haue translated Azza into Gaza for it is written by this letter Ain whiche our men turne by g And so the Ammorhites they call Gomorhites But why went Samson downe hither bycause now hauing obteined so manye victories he contemned his enemies and peraduenture he sought occasion to inuade them But in this citye he fell for he had there to doe with a harlot This woorde Zonah signifieth in Hebrewe a harlot of whiche thinge wee haue spoken in an other place Some thinke that Samson did nothing here offend but onely turned into a woman that kept a vitling house For by that word is also signified a woman that kepeth a vitling house bycause she prepareth meate and other necessarye thinges for gestes So some thinke that Rahab in the booke of Iosua whiche receaued the spies was not an harlot but onely one that kept a vitling house But I thinke that Rahab was an harlot For so is she called in the Epistle to the Hebrewes which had doone her iniury now being deade How women that kept vitling houses are called by the Romain lawes if it called her beinge a chaste woman an harlotte The Romaine lawes called such women as kepte vitlinge houses stabulariae as it is had in the title de furtis stabulariorum Ambrose sayth that Helena the mother of Cōstātine the gret was a stabularia after this sort he calleth her a good stabularia He entred into her This Hebrew forme of speaking signifieth carnall fellowship namely that he had to do with her Other think as I haue said that he
onely lodged in her house But the Philistines whē they heard of it did secretly enuirō the city in the night season for they would make no noyse for waking of Samson beyng on sleepe for they durst not set vpon hym in the darke for that they knew him to be most strong They taried till it was day neither doubted they that he could escape being so on euery side enclosed and besieged Liranus thinketh Lyrauus that the Philistines drew not Samson out of his lodging bycause peraduēture in that region it was a law that men should be safe in their lodgyngs But I meruayle that Ambrose sayth that the Philistines besieged the house where Samson was Ambrose when as in the Hebrew we manifestly rede that they besieged the City Samson came and tooke the doores caried them away with him So he despised his enemies neither was there any that durst withstand hym Neither yet must we thinke that that was the strength of a man Things are to be iudged by the worde of God and not by the successe but of the spirit of God But we must not therfore affirme that God fauored whooredome bycause in iudging of thinges we must not haue a regard to the successe Dauid also filthily cōmitted aduoutry and at the same tyme wherin he grieuously sinned he conquered Rabbah the City of the Ammonites Salomon had fellowship with idolatrous women and yet all thinges in a maner went with hym as he would desire Wherfore as touchyng actions we must not iudge of them by ententes Wherfore in Ecclesiastes it is rightly sayd that the selfe same thinges happē vnto the euill that do happen vnto the good therfore of thē the loue or hatred of God toward vs is not knowen Neither by the euentes may we iudge who is godly or who is vngodly We must iudge by the worde of God The things that agree with it are good the thinges that disagree are vngodly But in that God doth not strayghtway take vengeance he therefore doth it to call vs backe to repentaunce Wherfore it is our part to see that we heape not vnto our selues anger in the day of anger as Paul sayth vnto the Romaines Samson escaped the daunger caried away the gates of the City vnto a montayne that they might be a wonder and that the Philistines might see how great strength there was in the God of Israel yea that the Iewes also might beholde so notable an acte of God For that montayne was in the middest betwene Gaza Hebron whiche the Hebrues inhabited By that spectacle it came to passe that the courages of the Philistines were daunted but the Hebrues wer boldned We may not as I haue often admonished thinke of Samson as of a priuate man for he was a Magistrate appointed by God and not by men For if he had ben a priuate man his actes could not be allowed for it is wicked to violate the walles gates of Cities Which thing was also prohibited by the Romaine lawes In the digestes de rerum diuisione in the lawe sanctum and in the law sacrum it is had that some thinges are sacred some thinges religious and some thinges holy Thinges sacred as the alters and temples of the gods Religious as the sepulchers of the dead holy as those things which are by lawes defended from the iniuryes of men as gates walles In the same title also it is red Gates walls of cities are by the lawes coūted as holy These thynges are holy which are neither sacred nor prophane but confirmed and defended by lawes that they should not be violated As if a man should do this thing or that thing he should suffer this or that In the same title in the law Si quis the violating of the walles is made death Wherfore Remus was put to death Why Remus was killed of Romulus bycause he went ouer the walles of his brother Which selfe same thing is decreed of prisons as it is written in the title de Effractoribus in the law .1 And in the title de custodia Exhibitione in the lawe in cos Prisons ar not to be violated Howbeit if the doore were but slenderly shut and any manne had fled he was more lightely punished but yet in suche sorte that he shoulde be counted for a condemned person althoughe otherwyse he were innocent Socrates when he was in prison mought haue escaped he would not An example of Socrates least he should seme to haue violated the lawes It was obiected vnto hym Thou art wrongfully held in prison But he aunswered we must not by iniury put away iniury bycause to do iniury is alwayes euill He also tooke an argument of an exāple For wise men ought not to open this window vnto other Which other would easely imitate if they should flye out of prisō Farther if all mā should by thēselues remedy iniuryes breakes prisons what manner of publique wealth would there be at the length Moreouer hereby we should seme to feare death more then is mete But we must not so be afeard of death to violate lawes and rightes Lastly we must not doubt but that good men fall into the handes of tyrannes by the will of God Wherfore they ought not by an vniust way to deliuer themselues thereout Neither ought any man to obiect vnto vs Peter for he fled not but was by an angell brought foorth by the will and commaundement of God Let vs rather see what Paul and Silas did in pryson they would not flye when they might It is not lawfull for bounde seruauntes to flye from their masters It is not lawfull also for bondeseruants to fly from their masters And vndoubtedly Paul sent home agayn Onesimus vnto Philemon What if the bondeseruant feared fornication or murther at his masters hand It was lawfull for him to flye vnto sanctuary or to the image of the prince there was he holpen by the lawes and the vniust Lord was compelled to sell his bondseruāt But a Citizen for as much as he is free Free men may chaunge theyr abydynges for iust causes neither is held in prison bycause by the lawes he may dwell where he will for him it is lawfull to chaunge his abyding go whether he please But that whiche Samson did must not be followed neither drawen into an example For he as we haue often sayde was appoynted a Magistrate by God and was most certayne of his vocation 4 And afterwarde he loued a woman by the brooke Sorek whose name was Delila 5 And the Lordes of the Philistines came vp vnto her and said vnto her Deceaue him and see wherin his great strength lyeth and by what meanes we may preuayle agaynste hym that when we haue bound him we may afflicte him And we will euery one of vs geue thee a thousand one hundreth peces of Siluer 6 And Delila sayd to Samson tell me I praye thee wherein thy greate strength
lyue by It is sayeth Paul in this lyfe but in the blessed resurrection GOD shall destroye both the meate and the belly Wherefore thou muste not so muche esteme them that for theyr cause thou shouldest offende thy brother It is not vniuersally commaunded to absteyne from all meate but from that onely wherby thy weake brother is offended But as touchyng fornications sayeth he whiche ye contemne the reason is farre otherwyse Your body is not geuen for fornication but for the Lorde And this is not to bee passed ouer that Paul with greate prudence sayeth not not for procreation but not for fornication For the body is geuen also for procreations sake Men are went oftentymes to excuse their faultes and to laye them vpon nature The nature of the body sayeth he is to bee geuen vnto the Lord. Wherfore of it is to be taken the rule of life and not of euil examples The nature of relatiues This is the nature of relatiues not onely of suche as in that thyng that they are are referred vnto other but also of those whiche are by any meanes referred vnto an other thynge as the head vnto the body and agayne the body to the head For when we see the head we straightwaye require the body and agayne when we see the body we require the head Suche relatiues as the Logitians saye are called secundum dici The Lorde is the head of the body of the Churche and it is the body of that head Wherfore Paul both wisely and pithely disputeth when he sayth The body is not made to thys end and to pollute it selfe with lustes but to bee correspondent vnto the head and to bee conformable vnto it And he addeth GOD whiche hath raysed vp Christe shall rayse vs vp also by his powre The firste argument was taken from relatiues The seconde is drawen of GOD. For if he wyll rayse vp our bodyes as he hath raysed vp Christe why doo we then defile them with ignominy He goeth on and sayeth doo ye not knowe that your bodyes are the members of Christe Shall I then take the member of Christe and make it the member of an harlot Vndoubtedly a sore conclusion whiche he concludeth Shall I take sayeth he the member of Christe As thoughe he shoulde haue sayde No without doubt for this were to teare the body of Christe And it is a thynge moste cruell to plucke awaye the members from a lyuely body and to ioyne them vnto a rotten or dead body But the strength of the reason consisteth herein Christe can not commit fornication wherefore if thou wilte commit fornication thou must firste be plucked from Christe Here is shewed that fornication is not onelye a sinne but also a deadly and moste grieuous synne whiche plucketh vs awaye from Christe Afterwarde he addeth He whiche coupleth hymselfe vnto an harlot is made one body For they shal be two in one fleshe And He whiche is ioyned with God is one spirite This place is most full of consolation for as much as it declareth that we are most nigh ioyned vnto Christ from whom we must nedes be first plucked away before we be made the members of an harlot He whiche cleaueth vnto an harlot is made one body For they shal be two in one fleshe The Apostle seemeth at the first sight to abuse the wordes of Genesis For he transferreth thē to whooredome whiche are spoken of matrimony For these wordes were spokē first of Adam and Eue bycause the fleshe of Eue was before in the flesh of Adam from whom God tooke a ribbe and made therof a woman which he agayne adioyned vnto Adam to be with hym one flesh But in very deede the Apostle abuseth not this sentence for as much as whooredome is a certayne corruption of matrimony for one thing is common to them both namely the coniunction of the fleshe For bodyes are communicated as well here as there Wherfore Paul had a respect vnto that whiche is common to them both when as yet thys difference is there betwene them that in whooredome the coniunction is agaynst the lawe of God and therfore fornicators must be plucked a sonder otherwise there is lefte no hope of saluation for them But in matrimony the coniunction is made by GOD and therfore it is made an indissoluble knot Wherefore seyng that the coniunction is in either all one and the selfe same Paul hath ryghtly applyed that sentence to whooredome He whiche cleaueth vnto God is one spirite These woordes serue muche vnto this present matter For if we be with God in spirite we muste with earnest labor flye from those thinges whiche he hath prohibited Wherfore aptly the Apostle hath added flye whooredome He sayth moreouer Euery sinne that a mā committeth is without the body but he whiche committeth whooredome sinneth agaynste hys owne body If the argumentes whiche I haue before brought do not moue you yet at the least haue a respecte vnto your owne body whiche ye seeme in committyng of fornication to hate and contemne But it maye be demaunded howe other sinnes are without the body but by fornication we sinne agaynst our owne body For we doubte not but that he whiche is very angry noorisheth and augmenteth choler whereby the body is not a litle hurte Sickenes also doth very muche weaken the body wherefore Salomon sayeth A sad spirite dryeth vp the bones Dronkennes also and glotony doo hynder health and doo in a manner vtterly destroye the body yea and enuious persons seeme also to sinne agaynst theyr owne bodyes For thou shalt see them dryed withered and in a manner kylled with leannes Howe can it be then that other sinnes are without the body Some saye that fornicators doo sinne agaynst their owne body bycause very oftentymes by hauyng fellowshyp with harlots they are infected with the pockes with leprosie But let other say what they will I rather thinke that the Apostle had a respect vnto those thynges which went before For he had sayd that the fornicator is made one body with the harlot he seemeth to sinne grieuously against the dignity of his body A Similitude which maketh it all one with the most vyle filthy body of an harlot For if a kyng or prince should mary a wife of a base and obscure stocke it would be said that he had contaminated his kinred I know that there are some which thinke that these wordes are spoken Hiperbollically bycause there are found other sinnes also whiche do hurt the body but this hurteth it most grieuously and most of all The same Paul doth still go on and sayth do ye not know that your bodyes are the tēple of the holy Ghost And assuredly he which destroyeth the tēple of God God wil destroy him As though he should haue sayd ye haue not your bodies of your selues but of god God hath made them his temple and the holy ghost dwelleth in them Ye are not your owne Wherefore ye doo not a litle violate
to be prepared Wherof is deriued that word which signifieth an harlot bycause such women are redy and setforth vnto all men or els bicause they are wont to go trimly docked and paynted Wherefore Clemens sayth Clemens that the Lacedemonians permitted harlots to weare wroughte garmentes fine apparel and golde whiche thinges were not lawfull for matrones to vse Now let vs see what followeth in Deut. And the hire of a whore shall not be brought into the sanctuary Here again the law calleth her Zanah which before is called Kadschah But thou wilt say If the law would not haue harlots suffred what neded it to haue forbiddeÌ„ their oblactes What neded this law they which say this do seme indede to speake wittely but yet they speake not sufficientlye For outwarde nacions also sente giftes for ornamentes and vses of the temple The Eunuch of the quene of Ethiope came to Ierusalem to offer in the temple The Macedonians and Romaines gaue yearelye oblations and sacrifices in the temple Wherfore the law forbiddeth that if any thing be offred by straungers that is gotten by the gayn of a harlot the same should not be admitted into the sanctuary Farther god had commaunded that there shoulde not be harlots in Israell but he knew that they would not obserue that law For when the Philistians Macedonians and Romaines raygned ouer them they had harlots Yea Christe maketh mention of harlottes and publicanes together Wherefore god doth rightwell first forbid that ther should be no whores among the Hebrewes And afterward he ordeineth that if by any chaunce there were any theyr gayn should not be admited in to the sanctuarye Whiche thing vndoubtedly he commaunded bicause of the vilenes and filthinesse of the gaine In the same place he addeth The price also of a dogge shall not be broughte into the sanctuarye bycause that beast is filthy and vncleane Caligula otherwise a filthy monster commaunded as Suetonius writeth that harlotes and baudes should be openly punished Suetonius Hostiensis Of this thing Hostiensis writeth ridiculously Harlots indede sayth he ar bound to pay and to offer but the church can not nor ought not to receaue them Yet the Glose doth much better decre in the decretals dist 90. chap. Oblationis namely that nothing at al should be offred in the church that is of the gain of an harlot But priests and monkes when they feared leaste some of their profite shoulde departe haue inuented an other reason For althoughe saye they the gaine of harlotes cannot be receaued for an oblacion The Pope doth vniustlye get gaine of harlottes yet nothing letteth but that it maye bee receaued for almes But by what meanes doth the Pope receaue the money of harlots Not vndoubtedly as an oblation because he caÌ„not not as almes bicause he is not poore Wherfore theÌ„ must he nedes receaue it as a prynce The lord would not haue this kind of money in his sanctuary but the pope will haue it in hys treasury hath it getteth a wonderfull greate gaine by it Whose vicar then is the Pope Gods vicar God refused such a gayn What is he Christs vicar Christ neuer departed from the will of his father Then must it consequently follow that he is Antichrist when as he both teacheth and doth those thinges which are expressedlye of purpose against the word of god and of Christ But he wil say that he exacteth this mony as a prince Let him then be prince But I wil demaund whither he be an euil prince or a good For a good prince it is not lawful to depart from the lawes of God Let him then be an euill prince let him also be euen Caligula Paraduenture he will aunswere that in respect he is a prince he doth according to the ciuil lawes which do not take away harlots out of the dominioÌ„ of the Romaynes yet rather they disdayne not to decree somethinge touchinge theyr price or reward In the Digestes de Condictione ob turpem causam in the law idem etsi it is decreed that there can be no requiring againe if thou geue anye thing vnto an harlot And there is a reason added bycause although a harlot do filthily in that she is a harlot yet she receaueth not filthily in that she is a harlot These wordes are darke so that they may seme to be a riddle Farther in the digests in the title de donacionibus in the law affectionis gratia it is decreed that it is lawful to geueas wel vnhonestly as honestly It is not lawfull to geue vnhonestly It is lawful honestly to geue as vnto parents kinsefolks friends c. Vnhonestly as to harlots But I would know by what license that is lawful Hath god geuen goodes vnto men to cast them vpon harlots But here they confesse there is some filthinesse for although it be lawefull to geue yet if thou haste promised anye thinge vnto an harlotte thy oblygatyon byndeth thee not neyther canne the harlotte require thy promes as it is had in the glose in the title de donacionibus in the â—awe ea quae But there is a doubt if she receaue not filthily why is it not lawfull without filthines to require it They aunswere that that followeth not bicause many thinges are taken honestly which are not required honestly And to that purpose there is cited the law .1 de variis extraordinariis cognationibus Wherfore the Pope will by the cyuill lawes not take a waye harlots but receaue monye of them which he seeth can not be suffred by the lawes of god But here I will a little reason with him Vndoubtedly he professeth that he is ruler ouer the ciuill lawes and in very dede he hath altered manye of them as thoughe he woulde amend them when as yet he hath taken away the good and for the most part hath set euill in theyr place Why hath he not amended these lawes for the suffringe of harlots when as they ar against the law of God Vndoubtedly the true cause why he hath not taken away the lawes of harlottes is this bicause it should be to muche hurtefull vnto the Popes treasorye For at Rome they measure their lawes by profite and not by honestye But by what ciuill law do they receaue mony of harlots They aunswer for tribute But why do they not rather say for baudry Assuredly What the lawes decre of baudry if we wil speake truely Popes are not as touching this thing otherwise then bawdes Let them diligently marke the ciuil lawes whereby they now go about to defende themselues and ouer which they boast that they are rulers and let them looke what they iudge of bawdry In the Digestes de ritu nuptiarum in the law palam it is thus written He which hath bondewomen for gayne and filthilye setteth them out is partaker of the gaine the same committeth bawdry Now I demaunde of these men in what condicion they count the harlottes of Rome For citizens Nothing lesse
The custom of God in punishing A similitude Thus God vseth to doo first to punish his owne before he afflict straungers Phisitions also when a man hath taken poyson haue thys as their chiefe care to driue away the poyson from the hart from the lyuer and other principal partes of the body then they apply medicines vnto the other mēbers of the body So also the good man of the house firste enstructeth and chastiseth his chyldren and afterwarde he enstructeth other Wherfore Paul wryteth of a Bishop If he cannot wel gouerne his owne family how shall hee gouerne the church of God Wherfore it is no maruayle if god chastised Samson fyrst afterward grieuously afflicted the Philistines But in that it is writtē that his heare was growen againe we must not beleue that hys strength lay in hys heare for it was a gift of god geuen him freely The vowe of the Nazarites being violated was renewed but yet God required that for that gift he should be a Nazarite vnto which it belonged to let the heare growe and not to cut it with a rasor But if a man had transgressed he did not therfore straight way cease to be a Nazarite but ought to let his heare grow and be clensed and so begyn againe his institucion which he tooke in hand Wherefore Samson repented that he had violated his vow and returned to the rule of a Nazarite and when his heare was growen and he restored both vnto god and to his olde state and strength being assured of the helpe of god he tooke vengeaunce of hys enemyes In the meane time the Philistines ascribe their victory against Samson vnto their god Dagon What Dagon was But what this god was it is not very wel knowen Howbeit as farre as may be iudged by the Etimology of the woorde it was some god of the sea For Dag in hebrew signifieth a fyshe And that both the Grecians and the Latines worshipped gods of the sea Gods of the sea it is certayne For they had Neptune Leucothea and Triton Aboue the belly as they say it had the forme of a man downward it ended in the forme of a fyshe Suche a god woorshipped the Philistines And vndoubtedly the old Ethnikes synned grieuously therin in that they woulde rather serue the creature as Paul sayth then the creator and chaunged the glory of the immortal God and transferred it not onely into the similitude fashioned like a mortal man but also into the images of birdes fourefooted beastes What maner of thinges the Gods of heretikes are and Serpentes or creeping thinges Neither did they onely woorship those things which ar in nature but also they fained vnto thē selues Monsters which appeare no where Such gods in a maner do heretikes woorship For they doo set before them selues some shape and head of God when they confesse that they heleue in God the creator of heauen earth But when farther they adde their own thoughtes and fansies they make the inferiour part to ende in a fishe Of this Dagon there is manifest mencion made in the first booke of Samuel The Philistines extolled their Dagon bycause he had deliuered their ennemye into their handes whiche was nothing els then to blaspheme the name of the true God For they attributed his woorkes vnto an idole Neither considered they that Samson was therfore taken bicause he had sinned against God Wherfore our synnes are a cause why God is blasphemed for when by reason of them we are destitute of the helpe of God our enemies whiche get the victorye againste vs doo ascribe the same both vnto their owne strengthes and to their supersticions So happened it in the conqueryng of Constantinople Horrible examples of blasphemies where the Turkes when they had gotten the city caried about in derision the image of Christ clothed with the apparel of the Turkes throughout al the host and throughout all the wayes of the City And not many yeares ago when the Emperour Charles the fift lost a great nauy and many souldiours at Argery I remember I hearde some soldiours say that Christ our sauiour was now become a Mahomitan or Moore How holy men called vpō 〈◊〉 in tribulacions neither considered they that they them selues wer become farre woorse then the Mahomites So the name of God is mocked for our synnes Wherefore holy men were wont not without a cause thus to pray and to implore mercye that the name of God should not be euil spoken of among the Gentiles So delt Moses with God when he was angry with the people for making the golden Calfe The Prophets also sayd Be mercyful vnto vs Lord for thine own sake and for thine names sake least the nacions say wher is their God Let vs in the meane time when we heare or reade these thinges thus thincke with our selues Seing God hath for synne so grieuouslye afflicted Samson so great a man sanctified from his mothers wombe and appointed to deliuer Israel what shall become of vs if we synne So Paul to the Corrinthians in his first Epistle setteth foorth vnto vs the examples of the Israelites to consider whom God sundry wayes chastised And to the Romanes he sayth If he hath not spared the natural braunches take heede that he spare not thee Marke the goodnes and seuerity of God his seuerity on those which haue fallen and his goodnes in thee if thou abide in goodnes otherwise thou also shalt be cut of Wherefore by these cogitacions we may take fruite by the punishment of other For this vse are examples set foorth vnto the Churche What is the fruit of holy histories that we in readyng them shoulde become better Paule sayde what soeuer thinges are before wrytten are written for our learning that wee throughe pacience and consolacion of the scriptures shoulde haue hope Wherefore when we reade that holye men were so corrected we ought to tremble least we also fall into the lyke anger of God If we doo not take suche fruite by reading of the holy scriptures we then reade them in vayne The Philistines geue thankes vnto Dagon their God for the victorye So were they delyuered vp into a reprobate sense to geue thankes for those thinges for whych they ought most of all to haue bene sory For how obtayned they Samson By the artes of an harlot and by most fylthye deceate After sacrifices followeth a verye sumptuous banquet For in those holye seruices of Idoles was set foorth a certaine communion that the people in that feast shoulde reioyce together wyth a certaine common ioy So also in the olde Testament the Israelites in theyr peace offeringes feasted and reioyced together before the Lord. Neyther is it vnlykely but that the Fathers also before the law had suche holy seruices and solemnities To what ende the Supper of the Lorde was instituted Christ also our Sauiour instituted a Communion and holye Supper that wee shoulde there celebrate hys name and healthfull death But
this any new or vnaccustomed thinge that seruantes ar somtimes wiser thē their masters although it oftētimes happeneth that counsel hath authority of the geuer as we vnderstand happened here wher counsel although it were profitable Aristotle is despised peraduēture bycause it came frō a seruāt Aristotle in his Politikes saith they which excel in mind coūsel ought to beare rule and they which are strong of body must obey But that cōmeth not alwayes to passe yea rather it oftentymes happeneth that masters which are not of the wisest but yet strong in body haue seruaunts far wiser then themselues although they be not very strong in body Farther we must not deny The giftes of God are not bound vnto the estates or cōditions of men but the prudence and counsels whiche are the giftes of God are not bounde vnto the conditions or estates of Lordshyp and seruitude nor also to the temperatures of bodyes God geueth them to them whom he thinketh good that most freely somtymes to seruauntes and sometymes to Lordes sometymes to poore men and sometymes to riche men GOD ministred vnto a man beyng a seruaunt good counsell whiche yet the Leuite would not fellowe to his great hurt For if he had turned into the City of the Iebusites peraduenture he had not fallen into that calamity whiche followed These thinges are spoken concernyng the counsell of the seruaunt if we consider the vtility therof but yet a thing is not to be iudged by the euent The Leuite is excused Neither is the Leuite in this place rashely to be accused bycause it seemeth that he had a shewe of honesty piety For he thought that if it were possible he should not go vnto the vngodly Idolatrers such as wer the Iebusites and he had a great deale better opinion of the Hebrues then of straungers Yea and the seruaunt for that he so earnestly desired to turne into the Iebusites may be accused either of sluggishnes for that he being weary of the waye would take no paynes to go any further or els he may be accused of vnaduisednes bycause he considered not with himselfe that the Iebusites wer enemyes vnto the Hebrues or els of an vngodly mind for that he litle passed to turne vnto Idolatrers Wherfore it seemeth that the Leuite did rightly and wisely if we looke vpon the ordinary way and law of piety and not vpon the end But all thynges happened contraryly For in Gibaa as we shall heare his wife was by violence oppressed and so died and ciuile warre stirred vp wherin many thousandes of men died What we ought in counsell to counte doubtful and what certayn Wherfore we ought alwayes to suspect our counsels as touching the ende but yet not as touchyng iustice not that we should feare least god shuld cast vs away but least for our sinnes there might happē some miserable end Wherfore whē we haue determined to do any thing we must with most feruent prayers pray vnto God to turne to good the counsell whiche we haue taken and to direct our purpose For vnles he build the house What is to be doone after we haue taken coūsell they labour in vayne whiche build it And except he prosper our enterprises all thynges are in vayne taken in hand And yet in the meane tyme we must vse a very great diligence But now we rede not that the Leuite called vpon God when as yet he was in some daunger Iacob when he should iorney into Mesopotamia called vpon God with a great fayth The counsell or purpose of the Leuite was to turne into Cities which the Hebrues inhabited especially either vnto Gibaa or vnto Rama These Cityes were not farre from Ierusalem He entred into Gibaa where no man bad hym to hys house That City longed to the tribe of Beniamin It may seeme that he would rather haue gone to Rama but as it is written the sunne went downe vpon him nyghe vnto Gibaa wherfore he entred into a City of men vncurteous For whē the man being a straunger stoode in the streetes in the night tyme no man receaued him into his house But where as barbarous inhospitality reigneth there also are more grieuous wicked vices wont not to be wantyng Why no man bad the Leuite to his house But why no mā receaued him into his house the cause was for that in a great number of euil Citezins there were very few good men if there were any the same wer afrayed to receaue him into their house least for his sake some euill should happen vnto them For they knewe the wantōnes and the filthy lustes of those men And so whilest the straunger was despised the law of God was in that City had in contempt For it commaunded that gentlenes should be shewed vnto straungers yea and God called himselfe the tutor and reuenger of straungers neither could those Citezins seeme any longer to be the people of God seyng they had cast awaye hys lawe A praise of hospitality And euen as to contemne straungers is a most grieuous vice so is Hospitality a vertue most excellent Wherfore in the Epistle to the Hebrues it is writtē Forget not liberality and Hospitality Although not to dissemble in Greeke it be somewhat otherwise written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What is the general worde of hospitality But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the general word of Hospitality Then it followeth For with such sacrifices God is wel pleased Out of which place the Papistes go about to defende merites as though he whiche sheweth himselfe liberall towardes the poore shall deserue something at Gods hand But in the Greke is rede 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whiche signifieth not shal be wonne by deserte but receaueth with a glad and chearefull minde which is to be referred vnto God and not to those whiche shew liberality vnto the poore The sense therfore is this that god doth reioyse in such sacrifices doth accept them with a glad mynde yea and Christ himselfe also shall say in the last iudgement I was a straunger and ye lodged me for he that receaueth a straunger receaueth Christ in him So Abraham Lot when they thought that they had had straungers in their house receaued the sonne of God aungels The Gabaonites being voyde of this vertue contemned the Leuite beyng a straunger walkyng in the streete But there was in that City a certayne other straūger whiche was borne in mount Ephraim who being moued with mercy receaued the Leuite into hys house And so in Gabaa a straunger was better then the Citezins This man peraduenture was a husband man and in the euenyng returned out of the field frō his rusticall worke The Leuite telleth him that he hath prouendre for his Asses and also that he wanted not bread and wine that he might the easelier and willinglier be receaued As thoughe he should haue sayd we shall not be burdenous vnto any man for we haue all things
therof as we do Wherfore Paule sayth trulye vnto the Corrinthians All did eate of one and the self same spirituall meate and all dronke of one and the selfe same spirituall drinke And they dronke of the spirituall rocke following them And that rocke was Christ Wherefore the elders had theyr misteries and sacraments whereby they also embrased Christ And vndoubtedly as touching the thing they had the same that we haue the difference was onely in the Simboles But Augustine noteth in theÌ„ certaine other differences Augustine Differences betwene the Sacramentes of the elders and ours which here to rehearse shal not be vnprofitable Firste they hadde manye sacramentes and wee but few the Simboles of our sacraments are water bread and wine they had oxen calues shepe gotes doues turtle doues bread wine oyle such other like Farther the condicion of our sacramentes is diuerse from the equality of theirs for theyrs were more greuous but oures are by Christe made both easier and also lighter Moreouer those simboles that were geuen vnto them were conteined in one country onely but ours ar common to the whole world Farther in them Christ was setforth as he which should come but to vs as he which is now alredye come But as touchinge saluation there is no difference For the same saluation and the same Christ was offred vnto them which is settefoorth vnto vs. This is also to be added that our Sacraments are more manifest and excellent for asmuch as they haue more manyfest woordes of Christ and his redemption which make fayth more ful And therfore the sprite is now had more aboundaÌ„tly then it was in that time if we speake of the coÌ„mon state of men For I speake not of persons singularely neither do I thinke that Abraham had lesse faith and sprite then christian men now haue But now let vs returne vnto the history The hebrewes when they were afflicted fled vnto God by Christ who was set before them in their sacrifices and was there apprehended by fayth Therehence was all the vtility of their sacrifices to the offring or receiuinge wherof it was not lawfull to come rashly otherwise they should haue beene to their hurt and should haue kindled the wrath of God against them which thinge Paul hath very well admonished vs of saying He whiche eateth or drinketh vnworthely eateth and drinketh vnto himself damnation What the purifications of the Elders signified Wherefore in the law there were many purifications sprinkelings and washinges before they came vnto the holy seruices And these men now repent and throwe themselues downe vnto the ground wepinge before the Lorde for they were touched with the bitternes and greuousnes of their sinnes When god had heard the prayers of the Israelites and had promised to deliuer the Beniamites into theyr handes he ministred also vnto them secrete and sound counsels namely that they shoulde in a conuenient place lay an embushmeÌ„t and making as though they would flee draw away their enemies from the cities that afterwarde they mighte oppresse them both before and behinde They had among them contrary counsels The counsels of the Bâ—niamits and of the Israelites are diuerse The like poletike deuise in the boke of Iosuah The Beniamites sayd They flee let vs follow them and oppresse them as they are fleing The Israelites contrarily said Let vs geue place vnto the Beniamites hat they may follow vs more insolently and securely For we will stoppe them of their returne into the city We reade of the like pollicy of warre in the booke of Iosua when the city of Hais was assalted It is now writteÌ„ that god himself smote them For it is said And god made Beniamin to fall before the Israelits least the victory should seme to be attributed either vnto the strengthes of the Israelites or to theyr pollitique deuyse The whole suÌ„me of those which were slayn were .25 thousand The order of this history might seme somewhat trobulesome which yet if it be apart coÌ„sidered perticulerly shal be the better vnderstanded For at the first conf ict were slaine of the Beniamites 18000. then when they fled into the desert .5000 lastly when they fled to Gibea .2000 all whyche summes added together doo make the full nomber of .25000 The city ascended vp to heauen Here is the figure Hiperbole whereby is signified either that the smoke of the citye ascended vp into heauen or that els all the riches thereof which were now on fire and turned into smoke ascended vp into heauen The Beniamites being in extreme daunger loke backe vnto the city as though there they should haue found succor and ayde They recule but they fall into the handes of the Embushments and are slaine From thence they get themselues and flee vnto the woods but in the flight they are miserably killed A few whych escaped in those ouerthrowes got them to the rock Rimmon as in to a high castel and wel fensed both by nature and situation And ther a few wer saued as is afterwarde declared Whereby we gather that no mighte or power can help vs when god wil strike Whatsoeuer can be deuised or inuented of vs it nothing profiteth agaynst the Lord. In the hebrew tongue a place of fence is called a rocke So great and so populous a tribe as soone as euer god would perished in a manner wholy Ther remained only .600 men whiche got themselues into the castle of RimmoÌ„ It is called a rock bycause in the holy scritures places of fence are so called for that they are in a manner situate vpon stony rockes and high places But why the .600 men were left on lyue there is shewed a cause Why the .600 men wer saued namely least any one whole tribe should want in Israell God would not for theyr deserts but for his names sake haue a certayn few remaining that the pub wealth of the Israelites should be preserued And those same he left not whole but in a manner mained for they had no wiues neyther were there anye wemen lefte of that whole tribe for them to marry therfore they wer compelled to desire wiues of the other tribes Wherfore the tribe of Beniamin The tribe of Beniamin that remained consisted also of other tribes Whither it was lawful for the Israelites to kill the children although otherwise it remained but smal yet howsoeuer it was halfe the part therof coÌ„sisted of other tribes For the Israelites had slayne al their wyues and children and cattayle This seuerity of the Israelites was great or rather it may seme to be cruelty and also against the law of God wherin it was forbidden that the childreÌ„ should be slaine for the sinnes of the parents But it is very likely which thing the Hebrewe interpreters also affirme that the Israelites when they fasted and prayed before the lord vowed Cherim that is the vow of a curse wherby it was not lawefull to reserue any thing which thing they vsed to do in battaile
Liberius the Pope decreed that al the lent we must abstein from pleadinges in the lawe Liberius This is not verye wiselye decreed for the publike wealth cannot consiste if it be so longe or euer matters be heard or iudgemente geuen If fasting should for a weighty cause be denounced for a day or two ther mought for that space of time be commaunded intermission of iudgement But that lawes shoulde cease so longe as Liberius will haue them it is againste the Publike wealth Farther the same Liberius saith that the vse of matrimony polluteth the fast of Lent wherefore they would haue men all that time to abstain from theyr wiues But Paule exhorteth man and wife more soundly namely to departe for a time and that by theyr mutual consent and to return to the same least they should be tempted of Sathan An abuse of shrouetide There is also an other abuse in that euery where before Lent all that time which they call Srouetide men do most vntemperately geue themselues to glotonye excesse dronkennes and filthye lustes and that vnder this pretence that they may the easelier fast as though it were lawful to do euill that good may ensew Neither is this a new kind of vice For Basill in his homely of fastyng and Chrisostome vpon Gen. do in many places greuouslye complaine of that thing Basile Chrisostome Some fast for delicatenes For when they know that they shal not suppe at dinner they lade theyr filthy sinke with many and heauy burdēs so that they make themselues vtterly vnprofitable for the whole day Other on the contrary part do vtterly wast themselues with fasting It is not lawefull for a man to consume him selfe with to much fastinge yea and in a māner kil themselues as Basilius and Nazianzenus did who being men excellently wel learned yet by abstinences and fastinges were made vtterly vnprofitable vnto the Church They wer compelled to kepe theyr bed sometimes halfe a yeare and somtimes a whole yeare Lastly there ar some which for that they fast haue a wōderful delight in themselues ar proud also dispise other mē as that Pharesy which said I am not as other men I fast twise in the weeke c. I could reckē a great many more of these abuses but for this time me thinketh these ar sufficient This one thing onely wil I adde that in fasting we see two extremities The Papists in a maner retaine theyr superstitious fastes but we vtterly neglect those fastes that ar lawfull and good Wherefore it seemeth that on eyther side the thing is to be amended And thus farre concerning these thinges ¶ The .xxi. Chapter 1 ANd the men of Israel sware in Mizpa saying Ther shal not a man of vs geue his doughter to any of Beniamin to wyfe 2 And the people came into the house of god abode there til euen before god lifted vp theyr voice wept sore 3 And they sayd O Lorde God of Israel why is this chaunced in Israel that there should be this day one tribe lacking in Israell 4 And on the morowe the people rose vp and made there an altar and offred burnt offringes and peace offringes 5 And the children of Israell sayde Who are they amonge all the tribes of Israel that came not with the congregatiō vnto the lord For they had made a great othe concerning them that came not vp to the lord in Mizpah saying that they should surely dye 6 And the children of Israell had pity on theyr brother Beniamin and sayd There is one tribe cut of from Israell this day 7 What shall wee doo vnto the remnant of them for to get them wiues for asmuch as we haue sworne by the Lord that we will not geue them of our daughters to wiues 8 They sayd I say What ar they of the tribes of Israel that came not vp to Mizpah vnto the lord And behold there came none of the inhabiters of Iabes-Gilead vnto the congregation 9 For the people was numbred and beholde there was not one of the inhabiters of Iabes-Gilead there 10 And the congregation sent thither .12 thousande men of the strōgest of thē commaunded thē sayinge Go and smite the inhabiters of Iabes-Gilead with the edge of the sword both women childrē 11 And this is that ye shall do vtterly destroy all the males and all the women that haue lien by men 12 And they found among the inhabiters of Iabes-Gilead .400 mayden virgins that had knowen no man be lying with any male And they brought them to the host in Siloh which was in the land of Chanaan 13 And the whole congregatiō sent spake vnto the childrē of Beniamin that were in the rocke Rimmon called peaceably vnto thē The Israelites as farre as may be gathered by this history had bound themselues with a double othe First that no man should geue his doughter to wyfe to the Beniamites which was nothing els but that they were minded vtterlye to destroy the tribe of Beniamin Farther they sware that if any of the Israelites had not put to his help agaynst the Beniamites he should be slain Here are very many things worthy to be noted First we must consider that the Isralites wer to seuere against the Beniamits For they did not onely slay the men but also the wiues and maydens wherefore there were no women left on liue for those .600 menne whiche were remaininge to engender yssue of But afterwarde when the same Israelites more diligentlye considered their acte they iudged it not wel done that a whole tribe should be cleane destroyed Of which they nothing thought when they were in their great iury and rage Wherfore they now accuse theyr cruelty and detest theyr rigorousnes which they had vsed But that they bound themselues with an othe that they woulde not geue their doughters in matrimony to the Beniamites it is not in this history mencioned but yet it is most likely that it thē happened whē they were in Mizpah the Beniamites would not deliuer the guilty Wherfore the Beniamites wer oppressed with great miseries For ether they must take to wiues foren straūge wemē which thing was prohibited thē by the law or els they must perpetually lead a sole life without wiues and so that tribe should vtterly perish The Israelites were to cruel agaynst the Bēiamites The Israelites in that they mourn do suffer punishments for theyr cruelty For it should haue ben inough for them to haue punished the men What nede was there to slay women maidens which had nothing offēded Vnles peraduenture they had vowed the vow Cherem But such a vow it was not lawfull for them to vow but by the authority and commaundement of God whych appeareth not to haue beene doone in this historye In reuenginge we muste keepe a meane for all are not to be slaine which come into the power of them that ouercome It is sufficient to punish the guilty
in warre taken in hand by common counsel to withdraw themselues by priuate counsell Metius Suffecius captaine of Albany when he forsoke Tullus Hostilius fighting against the Fidenates by the commaundement of Tullus was bound to two cartes and so drawē in peces Solon depriued him of al honour dignity Solon A decre of Pōpeius which in the time of sedicion adioyned himselfe to neyther party And Pompeius as Plutarche affirmeth when he fled from Cesar proclaymed that he woulde count all them to be enemies which abode at Rome and helped not the common cause And after this maner are the Iabenites prescribed and counted for enemies And no otherwise are they to be counted which in this our tyme when there is controuersye concerning religion doo dissemble althinges when as in the meane tyme they wyl neither stand on the Papistes syde nor on ours It is not lawful for vs in religion to be neuters They say they wyll stand in the myddest betwene both which is nothing els then that they wyll be wyth the aduersaries or enemies For they halte on either side and therfore it may be said that after a sort they fauor them Farther the cause of religion is farre greater and greuouser then the cause of the publike wealth In the Churche no man can excuse himselfe that hee is a straunger for no man which professeth himself to be a Christian can be a straunger from religion wherfore warre is iustly proclaymed against the Iabenites Althoughe I thinke that in this matter also the Isralites wer to cruel For it semeth that it should haue bene sufficient to haue slaine the men that were apt vnto warre To much crueltye against the Iabenites which had committed the crime of rebellion But to kil womē old men and children it was to much cruelty Neither could they say that they had vowed vnto the Lord the vow Cherem forasmuch as they had saued the mayden virgins And vndoubtedly so great cruelty turned them to euyl for if they had delt more gently with the Iabenites they had had more women for the Beniamites Neither coulde they haue geuen counsell to haue vsed force to get them selues wiues But it is good to vnderstand how the Israelites founde oute that the Iabenites were absent The battaile being finished they al assembled to Siloh and numbred the people among whom when they founde none of the Iabenites they easelye vnderstoode that they were absent from the warre So great was their piety and religion at that time that when they had obtained the victory al of them assembled together to geue thankes vnto God But that thing is contemned now a daies for how many are there which when they haue gotten the victory wil acknowledge the benefite of God and geue him thankes Preachers do out of the Pulpit admonish the people to pray publikely for sicke folkes of which we either se or heare of none in a maner which when they are restored to health do publikelye geue thankes vnto God for that they haue by the prayers of the Churche escaped free They proclaymed peace vnto them which were in Rimmon That is gaue them safeconduct to returne home againe in safety 14 And Beniamin returned at that tyme and they gaue them wiues whom they had made on lyue of the women of Iabes Gilead which yet were not sufficient for them 15 And the people had compassion on Beniamin bicause the Lord had made a gappe in the tribes of Israel 16 And then the Elders of the congregacion sayd what shall wee do for wiues for the rest For the womē of Beniamin are destroied 17 And they sayd There must be an inheritance for them that bee escaped of Beniamin that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel 18 For we cannot geue them of our daughters to wyues For the chyldren of Israel had sworne saying Cursed be he that geueth a wyfe to Beniamin 19 Then they sayd Behold there is a feast of a Lorde yearelye in Siloh in the place which is on the North syde of the house of God and on the East syde of the way that goeth from the house of God vnto Sechem and is South from Libanon 20 And they commaunded the chyldren of Beniamin saying Go and lye in wayte in the vyneyardes 21 And take hede For behold if the doughters of Siloh come out to daunce in a row then come ye out of the vyneyardes and catche vnto you euery man hys wyfe of the daughters of Siloh and get you into the land of Beniamin 22 And if their fathers or brethren come vnto vs to complayne we wyll say vnto them Haue pity on vs for them bicause we reserued not to eche man hys wyfe in tyme of war And bicause ye haue not geuen vnto them so that ye haue at this tyme offended 23 And the children of Beniamin did euen so and tooke them wiues of the dauncers according to their number whom they cought and went their wayes and returned euery man to hys inheritance And repairyng their cities they dwelt in them 24 And the children of Israel departed thence at that time euerye man to hys trybe and to his famelye And went out from thence euerye man to hys inheritaunce 25 In those dayes there was no kyng in Israel but euery man did that which seemed ryght in hys owne eyes They are sayd to haue made on lyue those maydens whom they had not slain for forasmuch as they had thē in their power it semed that they might iustly haue slayne them But they would preserue them on lyue Whereby they vnderstode that God wold saue the tribe of Bēiamin for that they sawe it was not the wyl of God that al the Beniamites should vtterly be destroyed and here by they vnderstoode the wil of God bicause he had caused sixe hundreth of them to escape Wherfore they gaue them safeconduct and the maydens of the Iabenites to be their wiues God made a breache in Israel That which they did themselues they ascribe vnto God A breache they cal the cutting of of one tribe Here is expressedlye set foorth the inconstancy of mans minde In that fury and hot anger they woulde haue destroyed al and they desyred of God to graunt them a ful victory when they haue obtained it and finished the matter they mourne afflict themselues If they had moderatly vsed the victory this thing had not happened vnto them After the same maner they synned against the Iabenites for if they had not slaine al the women ther they had had wiues inough for the Beniamites Now hauing slayne all they found onely .400 mayden virgins which not being sufficient they are compelled to seeke other by rapte or stelth And the Elders sayd So were the Senators or Senadrim called or els the Tribunes and Centurions which were rulers ouer the warlike affaires Let their inheritance be safe Iosua had appointed vnto euery tribe his inheritance Wherfore the Israelites could not clayme vnto
imaginacion of the Crow there is such an alteration before the rayne that he beginneth to croke Wherfore the effects in the phantasy of those which ar on slepe and also in dede come vndoubtedly of the self same cause Yet haue they great diuersity by reasō of the subiectes in which they are made And it is not to be doubted but that there is a certayne slender and hidden similitude betweene these effectes But it is verye hard to vnderstand the reason of this proporcion or analogy And if we say that the starres are the cause of such effectes or affections who can refer these signes vnto his own propre cause Why diuinatiō by dreames is hard and vncertayne that is to some certayne starres more then to other Assuredly I suppose that there are very few I will not say none whiche can do it Farther if they shuld also be referred vnto propre starres what can we iudge to come to passe by them especially as touching things comming by happe whē as iudiciall Astrology is euermore counted moste vncertayne In fyne images similituds which ar sayd to portend things to come ar so doubtful vncertain ambiguous that we can affyrm nothing for certayn of thē Wherfore this is to be added that forasmuch as dreams cannot be broght to passe of one only cause but of many as we haue declared we shall easely fal into an error if we of those many causes chuse onely one certayne cause Therefore let vs hold this that is not easely to foretel any thing by dreames for that they may easlier de iudged by the euentes then the euentes can by them be foretold Wherefore there remayneth of dreames but onely a certayne suspicion whiche also of necessity is verye sclender A gate of horn a gate of puerye The two most noble Poetes Homere I say and Virgill made twoo gates of dreames the one of horne the other of yuery That of horne as they say pertayneth vnto the true dreames and that of yuery to false and they say that the gretest part passeth through the gate of yuery and not through that of horn Wherfore in iudging naturall dreames let vs not passe the measure of suspition nor stick to much in dreames forasmuch as it is not the duty of a christiā man to cleaue more then is conueniente vnto perillous and vncertayne coniectures bicause whilest they so busily apply them selfes to those things Of dreames sent ether of god or of the deuill To fore shewe any thynge by visions or dreames twoo thinges are required they neglect other things whiche are of greater wayght And the deuil very often times mingleth himself with those thinges to this entent eyther to cal vs back from good actions or els to driue vs to actions that are euell Nowe let vs see what we oughte to affirme of dreames sente of God or moued by the deuel When any thing by the work of god or of angels is in dreams foresene twoo thyngs are required The fyrste is that certayne notes or images of things which are shewed do inform or imprint the phantasy or imagination Secondly must be adioyned iudgement to vnderstand what those things at the last do portend As touching the first we must know that these notes and images are somtimes offred vnto the senses bicause of those things which God maketh outwardly to appeare as whē Balthazar the successor of Nebuchad-Naezar saw in the wall the fyngers of a hande which wrote as it appeareth in Daniel And somtimes without any outward sight are images and formes described in the imagination or phantasy which happeneth two maner of waies For either the formes or images which are kept in the minde are called backe to such vse as God hath entended as when to Ieremy was shewed a seething pot tourned to the North Or els newe formes are shewed whyche by the senses were neuer seene as if formes of coulours and images shoulde bee shewed vnto one blynde from hys byrth And in this kinde or prophesieng images or formes are in steede of letters Formes or images ar lyke letters For as they are ordered and disposed so sundry oracles are shewed Euen as in the diuers chaunging of letters orations and sentences are made diuers Teachers which instruct their scholers may by their study and industry of teaching fashion manifold images in the mindes of the hearers although they be not able to geue the iudgement and right vnderstanding But God ministreth both God somtimes geueth not vnto one to the selfe same man formes and the vnderstandyng of them They whych haue onely images are not simply prophecies not in dede alwaies together for to some sometimes he sheweth onely the formes as to Pharao and to his Butler and Baker also to the king of Babilon al which men needed an Interpretor namely Ioseph Daniel to expound their dreames And vndoubtedly those vnto whom are shewed onely the images of thinges to come are not truely and plainly counted Prophets forasmuch as they haue but onely a certaine degree beginning and in a maner a step of prophecye euen as Caiphas also the high Priest is not to be counted a Prophet when as hee spake those thinges which he knew not But why God would sometimes by dreames manifest vnto Kinges Princes thinges to come as now he doth there are two causes The one is bycause he had a regarde vnto the people and Nations whom they gouerned For if the penury which was at hand had not ben shewed vnto Pharao Egipt had vtterly bene destroyed by famine Secondly it was the counsel of the Lorde by these expositions of dreames to manifest vnto the world his Prophetes and holy men which before were hidden which thing the holy scriptures testifye happened in Ioseph and Daniel The Ethnike Historiographers also do write verye manye thinges of dreames which Princes sometimes saw Yea Tertulian and Tertulian in hys booke de Anima maketh mencion of certayn of those dreames as the dreame of Astyages of his daughter Mandane also of Philip of Macedonia and of Iulius Octauius whom M. Cicero being yet a boy thought he saw him in his dreame and being awake as soone as he met him he straightway knewe him And the same man telleth of certayne other also of this kinde But omitting these let vs by testimonies of the holy scriptures which shall easily be done confirm that certain dreames ar sent by God Mathew testifieth that Ioseph the housbande of Mary was in dreames thrise admonished by the Angel The wyfe also of Pilate had knowledge by a dreame and sent woorde to her housband that he should not condemne Christ being an innocent Peter in the Actes of the Apostles the x. chap. saw a sheete let downe from heauen And in the .xvi. chap. a man of Macedonia appeared vnto Paule and mooued him to go into Macedonia And the Lord commaunded the same Paule in a dreame that he should not depart from Corinthe bycause
he had a wonderfull great number of people in that City I might rehearse a great many other places both out of the old Testament and out of the newe but that I wil not be tedious Philo a Iewe. Philo a Iew as Ierome in his booke de viris illustribus saith wrote fyue bookes of Dreames which are sent by God Ciprian also telleth Ciprian that in his tyme wer certain things sene by dreames which serued for the edification of the Churche he doth geue not a litle Augustine Thre kindes of dreames but very much authority vnto them And Augustine in his .xii. booke de Genisi ad litteram the .3 chap. sayth That there are three kindes of dreames The first saith he pertaine vnto the outward senses which he calleth corporal Againe other some he calleth Spirituall which consyst of images haue place about the phantasy or power of imagination The last he nameth Intellectual bicause they are comprehended onelye by reason and iudgement of the mynde And those which consist by imagination namely those that are put in the secoÌ„d place as we haue a litle before taught saith he make not Prophets affirmeth that Ioseph was much more truly a Prophet then Pharao And bicause we wyl not go from our history we may affirme the same thing of the soldiour which in the hearing of Gideon expouÌ„ded the dreame of his fellow soldiour namely that he rather was a Prophet then he which had the vision But in this order or degree of Prophetes Daniel excelleth the rest For he dyd not onelye interpreate the dreames of the king but when he had forgotten those thinges which he saw in his sleepe he could reuoke them into his memory againe Farther he did not onely interpreate the dreames of other men but also he was by God instructed of his owne visions By the Deuil also are dreames sometimes moued for Augustine in the place alredy alledged de Genisi ad literam writeth that one possessed wyth a Deuil by dreames declared in what houre a priest would come vnto him through what places he would passe Oracles answered sometymes by dreames and visions And we are not ignorant that the Ethnikes had oracles where men were al night to obtaine visions and dreames Suche a one was the oracle of Amphiarus Amphilochus Trophonius and of Esculapius In those places the Deuil shewed vnto those whiche slept remedies and medicines to heale suche as were sycke and therwithal also he gaue answer of other matters And to obtaine such visions and dreames there were commaunded vnto those which came to enquire of any thing I cannot tel what choise of meates and separate lodginges Pithagorians and certain pure and chaste daies It is said also that the Scholers of Pithagoras eschewed beanes bicause they make troublesome dreames But our God to declare that he is not bounde to those thynges shewed vnto Daniel the kinges dreame when he and his fellowes by prayers had vehemently desired it of him And it is not to be doubted but that the deuil can mingle him selfe with dreames Augustine when as through his diligence there haue bene and also are now many false Prophetes wherefore Augustine in his booke before alledged the .xix. chap. If an euyl spirite saith he possesse men he maketh them either diuelish or mad or els false prophetes And contrarywise a good spirit maketh faithful prophetes speaking misteries to the edification of other He also demaundeth in the same booke the .xi. chap. by what meanes the reuelations of euyl and good spirites may be discerned one from an other Augustine Howe dreames ar to be knoweÌ„ whiche are of a good spâ—â—â—â— and which are of an euyll And he answereth That that can not be done except a man haue the gifte of discerning of spirites But he addeth that an euyl spirite doth alwaies at the last leade meÌ„ to wicked opinions and peruers maners althoughe at the beginning the difference can not be knowen with out the gift of the holye ghost In his Epistle to Euodius which is the .100 epistle inquiring of the same matter he sayth I would to God I could discerne betwene dreames which ar geuen to errour and those which are to saluation neuerthelesse we ought to bee of good courage bycause God suffreth his children somtimes to be tempted but not to perysh Aristotle But what shal we answer vnto Aristotle who denieth that dreames ar sent of God and that for this cause in special bicause God would geue this faculty of diuination to wyse and good men and not to the foolish and wicked We answer that for the most part it is true that true Prophetes which are by God illustrate with dreames and visions Why God somtimes vseth euyl Prophetes and vnwyse are both good and godlye Howbeit leaste it should be thought that the power of God is bound vnto the wysedome or maners of men God wyl sometimes vse the woorke of euyl men in those things to declare and shew forth the great and wonderful power of his prouideÌ„ce Tertulian as one which can vse all kinde of instrumentes Farther as Tertulian writeth in hys booke de Anima seing that he distributeth his Sunne and rayne both to the iust and to the vniust it ought not to be marueilous if he bestowe also these gyftes which serue especially to the instruction of men both to the good and to the euil And that we should not be ignorant of his doing the holy history declareth that the Ethnikes were by God verye oftentimes admonished and corrected in theyr sleepe So Pharao king of Egipt was commaunded to restore vnto Abraham his wife and Abimelech king of Gerar was in like maner admonished And Tertulian saith moreouer that euen as God when hee instructed the wycked in theyr sleepe doth it that they might become good so contrariwise the Deuil inuadeth the godly when they are a sleepe by dreames to seduce them oute of the ryghte way Aristotle thought the God in distributing his giftes ought to haue a regard to wise men and especially to Philosophers God reuealeth misteries rather vnto the litle ones then to the wyse when as Christ hath taughte altogether otherwise I thanke thee saith he O heauenlye father that thou hydyng these thinges from the learned and wise hast reuealed them to lyttle ones c. Paul also sayth that the vocation of God chiefly pertayneth to the vnnoble vnlearned and weake An other argument was that beastes also when they sleepe do dreame when yet no man wil say that God ministreth and disposeth their dreames That Philosopher is deceaued bicause he supposeth that if God do send some dreames vnto men he ought therefore to be made author of al dreames which vndoubtedly to farre froÌ„ our meaning For we referre not vnto God himselfe al those things which ar natural as certain peculiar effectes by which immediatly as to speake with Scholemen men should be instructed of thinges to
of peril and in great daunger Yea and in Deut. the .13 chapter God commaunded that if any citye of the Israelites fell vnto idolatry all the tribes shoulde go vp and ioyne theyr powers together and conquer it so that they shoulde with sword and fire destroye all thinges that they found in it But the Beniamites defended a manifest wicked act which differred not much from idolatry and it is possible that the city of Gibeah was idolatrous Wherfore nothing ought to be reserued in it In the boke of Iosuah it is written that when Acham had hidden for himself a certayn small thing of the curse of Iericho the whole host was afflicted for that cause which deceate being afterward found out not onely he himselfe was killed but also hys sonnes and daughters with his oxen his asses his shepe and his tente also and all his stuffe Which thing yet we must not thinke that it was done by the prescript of the law but by a certaine singulare counsell of God Ciuill warres more cruel thē outward wars But whither Israell exceded measure in this auengement or no wee shal afterward see We may learne also by this history what sharpenesse there is in ciulll wars for they haue farre more cruell endes then outwarde warres ¶ Of fasting NOw that we are come to the end of the chapter For asmuche as it is sayde that the Israelites fasted and afflicted themselues before the Lord I haue occasion geuen me somewhat to speake of fasting And to beginne from the Etimoligy of the word this Hebrew woorde Tsum signifieth to afflict Aben Ezra Wherefore Aben Ezra sayth that whersoeuer in the holy scripture is founde affliction of the soule there is vnderstand fasting There is a nother word namely Tsama verye ny vnto this word and it signifieth to thirst for they which fast much ar wont to thyrst bicause the humors of the body ar with hunger and fasting dried vp The Grecians cal it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this particle primatiue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is to be strong and firme bicause by fasting the strength of the body is diminished But bicause this particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rather extensiue it semeth to signify very firm and very strong bycause a man that is fasting is verye firme and constante so that he had rather suffer grief then to go from his purpose Also the Grecians cal fasting by an other word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bicause they which faste doo beriue themselues of foode For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth both corne and meate But before I define what fasting is I think it good first to vse a distinction A distinction of fastes Natural fast For forasmuche as there are sundry kindes of fastings they serue not all to our purpose For there is a certaine fast that is naturall whyche pertayneth eyther to the recouering or to the defending of the health of the body Wherfore Hipocrates sayth that they which are of a full and perfect age or also are old can verye well abide to fast in which place old men are to be vnderstande as touching the first part and beginning of age For they which are very old can no better abide fasting Ciuill fast then young men or childrē There is an other fast which is ciuil is thē taken in hand whē men are so bent to their things that by no meanes they will intermitte the affaires which they haue begonne So Saule when he pursued the Philistians and had the victorye nowe in his handes commaunded that no man should taste of any meat before euening So also certain Hebrewes vowed that they would neither eate any thinge or drinke A fast familiar vnto christiās before they had killed Saul as it is written in the actes of the Apostles This manner also of fasting pertaineth not to this present matter There is an other kinde of fasting which ought to be familiar vnto all Christans namely to take meate soberly and temperatly which thing they shal do if they neither eate to often in one day nor whē they do eate doo gorge themselues with to muche meate or seeke for delicates and fine banquetes The commodities of christiā sobriety This manner of liuing is very muche profitable to diminishe lustes neyther suffreth it the minde to bee troubled with affections It maketh the minde more chearfull and redy both to prayers and also to the actions of the life Wherfore Christ sayd let not your hartes be oppressed with surfeting or dronkēnes Peter also hath writtē Be ye sober for your enemy the deuil goeth about like a roaring lion seking whom he may deuour Paul also wrote of himselfe I chasten my body and bring it into bondage least I preaching to other should be made a reprobate Farther there is an other commodity of this fast that thereby expenses are spared not to lay them vp couetously but that that which is ouerplus vnto vs we may geue vnto the poore There is an other fast which is aboue mans strength and is sometimes geuē of god meruelously vnto some of the saints Miraculous faste to commend theyr doctrin Moses in the mountayn fasted .40 dayes for God would by a notable example shew that that law which he setforth came from himself and was not inuented of men Nether went Moses therfore vnto the mountayne to fast but to receiue the lawe of GOD and to talk with him Elias also receued bread and water of the Aungel and in the strength of that meate walked .40 daies euen vnto the mount of god Horeb that hee by this miracle shoulde bee declared to bee the true reuenger of the lawe By this kynde of fastynge our Sauioure commended the preachynge of the Gospell that it should not seeme to bee a thynge vulgare but shoulde be proued a thyng begonne by God But these wer miracles neyther pertayne they anye thinge vnto vs but onelye that wee shoulde haue them in admiracion and by suche examples bee stirred vppe with reuerence to receaue the word of God A fast cōpelled There is also an other fast which lieth not in our power As when we beinge destitute of meate haue not wherof to eat Here is nede of pacience and we must pray vnto god that he would strengthen and encourage vs. So the saints when they wandred about and preached the Gospel wer compelled somtimes to hunger And the disciples when they followed the Lorde were driuen by hunger to plucke the eares of corne and to rubbe oute the corne Elias also desired meate of the widow and wayted at the brooke for such meate as the Rauen should bringe him This kind of fasting men do not take vpon them of their own free wil but it is layd vpon them by God Religious fast But omitting all those as which nothing pertayne vnto our disputation let vs come to our fast which we may cal religious And this fast is an