cause of the diuersity is this word Arba whych in his vsuall and proper signification signifeth the number whych the Latines cal Quatuor It is not certain that Adam and his wyfe were buryed in Hebron the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is foure Now some suppose the number of foure to be referred to the foure couple of men wyth theyr wiues which they say wer buried in that city Yet the holy scriptures make mēcion but of three for in the booke of Genesis .23 chap. we reade that Abraham and Sara wer buried there also in the .35 .49 chap. of the same booke we rede of Isaac and Rebeckaes burial there And lastly in the .50 chap. we fynde that Iacob was caried thither he him selfe before that had there buried his wife Lea. But concerning Adam Eue his wife whō they haue added vnto these we can finde nothing thereof in the holye scriptures For that which they alledge out of the .14 chap. of Iosua maketh nothing to the purpose for that the word Adam in that place is not the name of the first man Wherfore they can gather nothyng out of that place but that Arba was a certaine great man among the Anakims These are the words there Ha Adam Hagadol be Anakim Hui that is he was a great man among the Enakims But our interpretour translateth it thus Adā was counted the great among the Enakims Wherby it appeareth that he thought that Adam was a proper name But he was two wayes deceaued first he dyd not marke that the article Ha is ioyned to the word Adam which is neuer ioyned with proper names Wherfore it must needes be a common name whych must be referred to that woord Arba for that name was put a litle before The other errour is bycause we reade no where that the first man was reckoned amongst the Enakims that is to say Giauntes The opinion of others is that Hebron was called the City Arba bycause it was inhabited of .4 Giauntes namely Sesay Ahimman and Thalmay vnto which three brethren they adde Annak their Parent But the opinion of these men is easely confuted bycause that in the .14 chap. of Iosua toward the end it is by manifest wordes declared that this word Arba is the proper name of a Giaunt Wherfore it is manifest enough that this woord must not be referred to the number of four And by that meanes not onely this latter sentence but the first also is confuted which would haue this name Arba to haue a respect to the foure couple of men with their wyues buried in the old tyme in that City And vndoubtedly for the same cause also the opinion of others is not to be allowed which do thinke that the City was so called bycause although it were but one City yet it consisted of foure Cities and that this woord Arba is all one wyth this greeke woorde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whiche is foure Cities Wherefore I iudge it best to thyncke that it was so named of the buylder thereof named Arba Arba had three chyldren who how he came by that surname it is vncertaine Onely this we maye gather out of the scriptures that what so euer he was he had three chyldren which are called in this place and also in the booke of Iosua Sehai Ahimman and Thalmay And it is very lykely that they were deade long tyme before Iosua And when they were now dead then was there mencion made of them bicause their families which seme to haue bene of a wonderful huge stature were destroyed by Caleb and Othoniel And this is the reason why I suppose that these three brethrē liued not in Caleb and Othoniels tyme bycause this Citye as it is written in the booke of Numbers was a most auncient city and was buylt .vii. yeares before zoham that is Thamin the kingly Citye of the Egiptians And in zoham dyd Moyses and Aaron woorke the wonders before Pharao And if so be it was the kingly and noble city then it must nedes be built long time before Wherefore if Hebron were built before it and had the name thereof of Arba how could his children be on lyue at this time It cannot be so Besides thys Abraham had a lodging in this City bought there a double caue And from that time to Iosua his time wer almost .400 yeres It is not therefore very likely that the sonnes of him which builded so auncient a city should lyue tyl Iosua his tyme vnles any man wyl fayne that the same city was built long time before called by an other name then in processe of tyme casting away the first name it should be named by this most strong and mighty Giaunt But whether it be thus or no neither skilleth it much neither semeth it curiously to be sought for But this might somwhat moue some bycause Arba wherof we now speake is called in the .15 chap. of Iosua the father of Enak For if he had .3 sōnes which were named as well here as in the same booke of Iosua it wil then he doubtfull who that same Enak was What Hanack signifieth In which thyng sauyng the iudgement of a better learned I would thinke might be answered that it was not a proper name but a cōmon wherby at that time men of huge stature but such as were noble excellently adourned wer called For this word Enak in hebrewe is to gird or to compasse and is chiefly referred to chaines which are worne about the necke for comelynes sake And thereof is this name Enak deriued in the plural number hath both the masculine feminine forme it signifieth a chaine and is transferred to noble worthy men whom thou mayst cal chained Wherfore Sesay Ahimman Thalmay may be called the sōnes of Arba who was not called the father of them onely but also the father of Enak bycause euery one of his sōnes was noble Why giauntes were called Enakim wore a chaine or was a Giaunt for Giauntes also were called Enakim either bicause they wore chaines or els bycause they were of a notable stature of body for it may be that that word was applyed to all kynde of ornaments Of them is mencion also made in the booke of Numbers .13 chapter By how many names giaūtes are called in the holy scriptures Seing we are now by chaunce in hande with giauntes and that there is often mention made of them in the holy Scriptures it shall not be vnprofitable somewhat to speake of them Fyrste we muste knowe that they are called by diuerse names in the holy Scriptures as Enakim Eimim Zemasmim Nefalim Rephaim Why they were called Enakim manifestly appeareth by those things which we haue spoken before And they were called Eimim of the terror which they draue into others by their loke They were called Zemasmim of mischiefe bicause they trusting to their owne power and might were dispisers of lawes iustice and
thing agaynst it as he sayth that he is called the sonne of Iephuna Howe the Hebrues vse this worde Sonne sometymes when as in the holy scriptures it is a coÌ„mon vse that this phrase the sonne of death the sonne of perdition are all one with these he is worthy of death and a maÌ„ lost And by the same kynd of speach saith he the sonne of declination turning away is all one in this place as if he had ben called declining turning away from the counsell wicked will of the rest of the spyes I will not deny peraduenture but that this opinioÌ„ of R. S. is prety Many of the Hebrues had two names What Othoniel was but yet I thincke it maketh nothing to the purpose For other seme to speake more simply whiche say that Hesron was also called Iephuna Wherfore Chaleb was sometymes called the sonne of Iephuna and sometymes the sonne of Hesron neither is it a rare thing or vnheard of in the holy scripture that some one man should be called by two names Nowe we se what Chaleb was namely the fourth from Iudah the sonne of Iacob wherfore we must speake somewhat of Othoniel He is here written to be the sonne of Kenaz and so is he likewise in the boke of Iosua Othoniel was also called IaÌ„hes and also in the first booke of Paralip and iiii chap. where he is called Iambes also and renowmed to haue bene noble and very excellent his mother called him Iambez bycause she bare him with most bitter payne for so doth that name signifie in Hebrew whiche the father as an vnluckye name chauÌ„ged and in stead of Iambez named his sonne Othoniel We read that the same happened vnto Beniamin whoÌ„ the mother as she was dyeng named Benoni whiche name bycause it was not very pleasaunt nor luckye Iacob turned and would haue him called Beniamin for Benoni Neither was Othoniel notable only in strength and feates of warre but he was very godly and religious for in the boke of Paralip and in the place now alledged his prayers are described wherwith he most faithfully called vpoÌ„ God Three excelleÌ„t condicions in Othoniel Wherfore the scripture testifieth that his praier was heard the Hebrues haue added therunto that he was excellently wel learned in the law of the Lord. And these thre vertues in one maÌ„ are most rare namely to be a good warriour to be religious and learned But now seing his fathers name was Kenaz What kin Chaleb Othoniel wer together Chaleb had Hesron or Iephuna to his father how neere of kyn were they then Some hold opinion that Kenaz when Hesron or Iephuna was deade maryed his wife who had not onelye her with him but also kept her sonne namely Chaleb being but a litle one whoÌ„ she had by her first husband then they say he had Othoniel by her whereby they conclude that Othoniel and Chaleb came both of one mother but not of one father Wherefore Othoniel was by nature the sonne of Kenaz but Chaleb was called also the sonne of Kenaz bicause he Othoniel were brought vp together with Kenaz R. D. confuteth thys opinion R. D. â—imhi bycause it is neuer red in the holye scriptures that any Israelite tooke his surname of hys mother and much lesse of his Stepfather The surnames among the Israelites wer taken of the fathers For euery one in that publique wealth tooke alwaies their surnames of their fathers as the Gersonites Merarites Leuites And by the booke of Paralip he saith may be knowen that that maner was so styl kept obserued This reason if it be true in dede as it semeth to be probable refelleth a certaine opinion of others which say that Chaleb had a brother a great deale elder thaÌ„ him selfe who was called Kenaz with whom Chaleb was brought vp lyke a son together with Othoniel Kenaz sonne Wherfore they seming after a sorte to be both of one age being nourished vp together were easelye counted brethren namely the soÌ„nes of Kenaz wher as in dede Chaleb was Kenaz brother Wherfore it came to passe that they wer both of them called the soÌ„nes of Kenaz This I say doth R. D. Kimhi iudge absurde for if no man could attayne to any kynde of surname by the mother or stepfather then vndoubtedly coulde he not haue it by the brother But the same R. D. Kimhi thinketh that they were brethren euery way bycause they had both one father and one mother And therefore bothe of them are called the sonnes of Kenaz but not by their next Parentes but by the name of the family seyng that both brethren were borne of one and the selfe family what shal we then do The Hebrues and our meÌ„ differ among theÌ„selues of the kinred of Othoniel Chaleb We are not holpen by the history which we haue in hand we cannot dissolue the question by the places conferred euery way together Yea and the Iewes agree not in it among them selues neither doo they onely vary one from an other but our writers also write nothing like one to an other of it Lyranus doth vtterly deny that they wer brethren which neuertheles Paulus Burgensis affirmeth yea that more is Lyranus agreeth not with hym selfe for as in the interpreting of the booke of Iosua hee denyeth that they were brethren so afterward vpon the first booke of Paral. in the second fourth chap. he graunteth they wer brethren But when I more diligeÌ„tly weigh the reason why in the booke of Iosua he contendeth that they were not brethren I gather it to be this bicause he thought that if they had ben ioyned together with so neare a bond of kinred that ther could haue ben no mariage wherby Othoniel should haue had to wife Hachsah his brothers daughter seing that it was forbidden by the lawe namely the .18 .20 chap of Leuit. that no maÌ„ should mary his aunt Wherfore he thinketh it must nedes follow that the niepce by the brother is prohibited bicause that we are ioyned with the same degree of kinred to the aunt by which the vncle is ioyned to the niepce by the brother But if Hachsah Othoniel wer brothers children then shal this absurdity be wholy auoided for mariage betwene these was neuer forbidden by Gods lawes But Burgensis a man otherwise very wel learned contendeth that they wer vtterly brethren saith that the vncle might by Gods law mary his niepce by the brother that the Iewes theÌ„ selues which otherwise are most diligent obseruers of outward lawes do kepe this custome at this day He saith moreouer that it coÌ„meth to passe oftentimes as concerning mariages that in degrees either of consanguinity or affinity ther is found the like distauÌ„ce betwene persons of the which neuertheles the one is forbiddeÌ„ the other grauÌ„ted And often tymes the prerogatiue of the men and baser condicion of the wyues altereth the thing For in matrimony man
which when they geue any precepte do straight way ioyne therunto a promise When children are commaunded to obey their parentes length of life is straight waye promised Deborah also declareth that she exercised the office of a Prophet amōg the people when as she Prophecieth what shall become of Sisera and foretelleth a notable victorye whiche God had decreed vnto Barac Mount Thabor Mount Thabor is called Ithabyrius whiche is here mencioned of the Ethnike writers is called Ithabirius It is nighe vnto the Assirians Nepthalites and Sabulonites There the Lorde Iesus Christ our Sauiour was transfigured before three of his Disciples as it is declared in the history of the Gospell This mount hath by it the riuer Kyson The riuer Kison whiche by the destruction of the Baalites is made notable for there Helias the Prophete slewe the Priestes of Baal Drawe and take with thee ten thousand men This semeth to be a new kynde of speache but vnto the thing whiche is in hande it is moste propre For this Hebrew worde Maschach is not in this place to drawe by violence to but as all the Rabbines almost do interpretate with presuasion to leade that is with faire and pleasaunt wordes to allure them For without doubt it was a great and perillous worke wherunto they wer called for as much as they lyued vnder a Tyraunt their souldiers could not by publique authority be mustered or gathered together but must of necessitie by faire meanes be allured to conspire against a Tyraunt By this place we are taught that good and eloquent speaches are very profytable in warrelyke affaires Rethoricke is profitable in warlike affaires and that the arte of Rethorike by the lawe of God is not forbidden but may in hys place profitably serue for holy men Farther this is not to be left vnspoken of that those two tribes namely Nepthalim and Zabulon were not warrelike tribes but the weakest of all the tribes among the Israelites The tribes of Nepthalim Zabulon were of lesse estimation thā the other tribes And yet God commaundeth to chose out souldiers out of them wherby we learne that it is a lyke to hym to vse either weake souldiers or stronge warriers agaynst his enemies Some man peraduenture will doubte by what argumentes or reasons Barac could be persuaded to beleue the wordes of Deborah To whome we aunswere that he weyghed with hymselfe that those thinges whiche Deborah promised did very well agree with the wordes and promises of God For he as he had threatened that the Israelites when they sinned should by his commaundement and will be afflicted by outwarde nations so agayne had he promised that he would deliuer them out of the handes of their enemyes if they faythfully repented them of their wickednes committed and faythfully from the heart called vpon him He promised that he would fight for them neither should their weaknes or fewenesse in nomber be a let The wordes of Deborah were agreable with the holy Scriptures but that they shuld get the victory ouer their enemies Wherfore for as much as Deborah prophecied that those things should come to passe whiche the Lord had promised vnto the people of the Hebrues it was conuenient that Barac should receaue those wordes for true and faythfull Farther the authoritie of the speaker helped thereunto For Deborah was by God constituted in the ministery not vndoubtedly by an ordinary prerogatiue but by a certayn singular and principall prerogatiue And if we should looke vppon the Etimology of her name Deborah signifieth a bee we shall thinke that her orations were verye sweete For Deborah with the Hebrues is a bee which beast we know is a diligent artificer in makyng of hony And yet all these thinges had not ben sufficiēt to make Barac to beleue her vnles the power of the holy Ghost had persuaded in his mynde those things which were commaunded For fayth is onely the worke of the holy Ghost whiche he can worke in the heartes of men without any outward instrument but he hath decreed for the most part to vse them I meane the worde and the ministery not as though he were bound vnto them but to shew vnto vs how much we ought to make of these two instrumentes Neither do I thinke that it is to be doubted but that this holy woman was both by miracles and also by prophesieng of things to come declared to be the Minister of the true God and the most healthfull Iudge of the Israelites We therefore ought hereby to learne that we must altogether heare the Ministers of God when they set forth vnto vs his wordes promises and also threatninges out of the holy scriptures neither is there any authority in the worlde whiche ought to be preferred before the ministery of the Church and word of God They were heard thynges whiche Deborah commaunded Wherfore iustly ought Barac to beleue the thinges whiche Deborah commaunded althoughe they semed both greuous and heard For she commaunded hym to moue sedition and tumulte to rebell agaynst his prince a priuate man to gather an hoste and that a litle one agaynst a most mighty king Whether Barak were without faith And Barac sayde vnto her If thou wilte goo with me I wyll go In this place it semeth might be demaunded whether Barac were doubtful and beleued not at the beginning as he ought to haue done the wordes of Deborah And that semeth to some absurde when as in the Epistle to the Hebrues the 11. chap Barac is reckened with Sampson Gedeon Iephthe and others which by fayth ouercame kyngdomes And therefore it semeth that his fayth beyng praysed by the testimony of God ought not by our iudgement to be empared Wherfore they affirme that he would haue Deborah to go with him not bycause he beleued not the promise of God but that he myght haue a Prophetesse ready and ac hande whose Counsell he might vse in orderyng his warre in pitching hys Campes and other chaunces whiche are wonte to happen in warres And I am not ignoraunt Augustine that Augustine readeth it after this manner Bycause I can not tell in what day the Lorde will prosper his aungell with me c. As thoughe he should haue sayd I wyll therefore haue thee with me bycause thou beyng endewed with the spirite of Prophesy whiche hath not happened vnto me shalte easly knowe in what daye the aungell of the Lorde will luckely fyght for vs. But I do thinke that Barac did somewhat doubt for Deborah Prophecied in the name of God that bycause of thys aunswere he should be punished And more ouer sayeth she thy glory shal be taken awaye from thee and the Lord will sel Sysara into the hand of a woman Iosephus And as Iosephus testifyeth she spake these wordes beyng somewhat moued And a Prophetesse woulde not haue ben angry neither would GOD haue diminished the glorye of Barac without a faulte And it appeareth not that he
sometimes to call vs hys fellowe workers Bonifacius goeth on the lay power ought to be iudged of the Ecclesiasticall but by what kind of iudgement Vndoubtedly by this that in the churche he set forth the anger of God against sinners that they be admonished and corrected by the holy scriptures But the bishops may expel kings and put them out of their kingdome wher is the permitted Frō whence haue they that what writings wil they bring for it The Pope ought to be iudged of the church But that is most intollerable that the Pope sayth that he can be iudged of no man And yet Iohn .23 was in the counsel of Constance put downe and not onely by god but also by men So these men plant and replant Canons and the same they allow and disalow as often as they think good Yea and Emperors haue sometimes thrust out and put down Popes as it is before said Paul to the Gal. sayth If an Aungell from heauen preach any other gospel let him be accursed If the Pope which may come to passe and hath alredy long since come to passe obtrude wicked opinions who shall pronounce him accursed It is the dewty of the magistrate to execut the sentence of the church agaynst the pope Shall he be vtterly iudged of no man The church vndoubtedly shal geue sentence vpon him and the magistrate for that he is the chiefest part of the church shal not onely iudge together with it but also shall execute the sentence Farther it longeth vnto the magistrate to prouide that the riches of the churche be not geuen vnto the enemies of godlines Wherefore if bishoppes become enemies of the churche a faythfull magistrate ought not to suffer the goods of the church to be consumed by them The Canonists haue this oftentimes in theyr mouth That for the office sake is geuen the benefice When therfore they do not their office ought the magistrate to suffer them to enioy their benefices But let vs heare howe Bonifacius proueth that he can be iudged of no man Bycause he that is spiritual sayth he iudgeth all thinges but he himselfe is iudged of no man A godly and wel applied argument I promise you But let vs se what kind of iudgement Paul writeth of in that place He speaketh not vndoubtedly of the common kind of iudgement whereby men are either put to death or put oute of theyr roome He entreateth there onelye of the vnderstandinge of thinges deuine and which auaile vnto saluation These thinges I say properlye belong vnto the iudgement of the spiritual man but concerning common iudgementes and knowledge of ciuill causes Paule neuer thoughte of them in that place Which is easely perceaued by his wordes we haue not receiued saith he the sprite of this world but a sprite which is of God If thou wilt demaund for what vse the sprite is geuen vs He answereth that we should know those things that are geuen vs of God And bycause the sprite of this worlde cannot geue iudgemente of thinges deuine it is added The carnall man vnderstandeth not those things which ar of the sprite of god The spiritual man iudgeth al things What Doth he iudge also ciuill and common causes No vndoubtedlye but he iudgeth those thinges whiche pertayne vnto the saluation of men he himselfe is iudged of no man Without doubt both Peter and Paul were iudged by the ciuil power wherunto Paul appealed to be iudged there and yet were they both spirituall Peter Paule were iudged by the ciuil power But that place is thus to be vnderstanded He that is spirituall in that he is such a one cannot in thinges deuine and such as pertaine vnto saluation bee rightely iudged of any mā which is not endewed with the same sprite that he is The wicked and worldly ones count him oftentimes for a sedicious vnpure infamous fellow but only God and his sprite looketh vpon the hartes Note Lastly Bonifacius concludeth that there is one onely chiefe power which longeth vnto the pope least we should seme with the Maniches to make many beginninges We put this one onely beginninge and not many And he addeth That god in the beginning and not in the beginnings created the world We also abhorre from the Maniches and do put one onely beginning and pronounce one onely fountayne and ofspring of all powers namely god and his word without which can be no power either ciuil or Ecclesiasticall For the foundation of either of them dependeth of the word of god so we make but one beginning not two Farther if Bonifacius wil vrge these words of Genesis In the beginning god created c. there oughte to be in the world but one onely king For when Paul sayde One Lord one faith one baptisme he added not one Pope A Schisme of thre Popes At the length our Thraso commeth so farre that hee excludeth them from the hope of saluation which acknowledge not the Pope for the chief prince head of the church But when ther were two or three Popes al at one time which thing both happened and also endured the space of .60 yeares full it muste needes be that those were at that time Maniches and did put two beginnings which were of Bonifacius opinion Moreouer what thinke they of the Gretians of the Persiās and Christians which dwell in the East part for as much as they acknowledge not the Pope who yet neuerthelesse reade the scriptures beleue in our Lord Iesus Christ and both are also ar called christians Al them Bonifacius excludeth from the hope of saluation This is the ambicion and vnspeakeable tirannye of the Popes When we obiecte vnto the papistes these wordes of Paule let euery soule be subiect vnto the superior powers they aunswere that euery soul ought to be subiect vnto the superior power but yet to theyrs not to other mens power otherwise the frenchmen ought to be subiect vnto the Spaniardes the Spaniardes to the Germaines which thing for that it is absurd it is concluded that euery man ought to obey his own Magistrat But now the clergy acknowledge the bishops for theyr power and ought to be subiect vnto thē and the bishops acknowledge the Archbishoppes and Primates and they lastly acknowledge the Pope After this manner say they we obey the power and satisfye Paule What haue we to do with kings or ciuil magistrats But this is nothing els then most filthily to abuse the wordes of Paule The Papistes do rēt into two partes both the kingdomes and the people Doo they not see that they deuide the publike wealth into two bodies which oughte to be one body onely For when they deuide the kyngdome of the Clergye from the kingedome of the laitye they make in one kyngedome twoo peoples and doo sette ouer eyther people a Magystrate And thereby commeth to passe that the Clergy whiche are Frenchemen seeme not to be Frenchemen and the Germanes seeme not to be
the holy oracles and wordes of god should get their credite by men which are otherwise lyers But these things they faine to the entēt that seyng they are manifestlye founde often tymes to haue decreed and ratified in the Sacraments doctrines farre otherwise than the holy scriptures will beare Whiche thing they would defend that they may do it bycause the Churche whiche doth bring authoritie and credite to the worde of God may alter things in the holy Scriptures as pleased it Wherfore we must resiste them by all meanes possible in this thyng which they take vpon them to do We may not suffre our selues to be brought to thys poynte to thincke that the Scriptures haue had their credite and authority by the Churche And yet do I not write these thynges as thoughe I woulde despise or contemne the dignitie of the Churche vnto the whiche There be three offices of the Churche touching the word of God The Churche as a witnesse kepeth the holy Bookes I do attribute thre offices and them moste excellent as touchyng the worde of GOD. The firste of them is that I do confesse that the Church as a witnesse hath kept the holy bokes But thereby it can not be proued that it is lawful for it to peruert or alter any thing in the holy bookes Experience teacheth vs that publique and priuate wrytinges are committed to scriueners whiche are commonly called notaryes to be layd vp and diligently kept of thē And yet there is none that is in his right wittes which wil say that he may alter any thing in them or wil beleue that their authoritie is of greater force than their willes were whiche desired to haue the same written The worde of God reuealed and written Neither shall it be here vnprofitable to obserue the difference betwene the worde of god as it was reuealed at the beginning to the Prophetes sainctes as it was afterwardes preached or written For we do easely acknowledge betwene these that there is onely difference of tyme and not of the authoritie or efficacie For we confesse that the worde vnwritten was more auncient than that which was afterward appointed to letters and we graunt that either cōferred together was geuen to the Churche but in suche sorte that the Churche as we haue sayd can not by any meanes wrest or chaunge it The office of the Churche is to publishe and preache the worde of God And this vndoubtedly is the second office of the Church to preach publish the wordes committed vnto it by God In which thing it is lyke a common crier who althoughe he do publishe the decrees of princes and magistrates yet he is not aboue the decrees or equal vnto them in authoritie But his whole office is faithfully to pronounce all thynges as he hath receaued them of the princes and magistrates And if he should otherwise do he should be counted altogether for a traytour Wherfore the ministers of the Churche ought to care and study for nothing so much as to be founde faithfull We acknowledge also the last office of the Churche to be The Churche discerneth the holy bokes frō counterfaite such as are Apochriphas that seyng it is endued with the spirite of God it must therfore discerne the sincere vncorrupted bookes of holy Scriptures from the counterfaite and Apocriphas whiche is not yet to be in authoritie aboue the worde as many do foolishely dreame For there are very many which can discerne the true propre writings of Plato and Aristotle from other falsely put to them yet in comparison of iudgement they are neither of greater lernyng nor yet of equall with Plato or Aristotle And euery one of vs cā easely know God from the deuill yet are we not to be coūted equal with God much lesse can we thinck that we do excel him So the Churche ought not bycause of this to preferre faith or authoritie thereof before the Scriptures Augustine But they say Augustine sayeth I would not beleue the Gospell except the authoritie of the Churche did moue me therunto But in that place is read to moue together for in very dede Faith is not poured in by the minister but by God it is the spirite of God which poureth faith into the hearers of his worde And bycause the ministers of the Churche are his instrumentes they are rather to be sayd to moue with than absolutely to moue The same Augustine writeth in his 28. booke and second chap. against Faustus that the Maniches ought so to beleue that the first chap. of Matthew was writtē by Matthew euen as they did beleue that the Epistle whiche they called Fundamentum was written by Maniche bycause vndoubtedly they were so kept by their elders from hande to hand deliuered vnto them This is it therfore that the Churche moueth withall to beleue the Gospell bycause faithfully it kepeth the holy scriptures preacheth them and discerneth them from straunge Scriptures The same father manifestly witnesseth in his 6. booke of his confessions the 4. and 5. chap. that God him selfe in very dede did geue authoritie to the holy scriptures Tertullianus Irenaeus But Tertullianus and Irenaeus hauing to do against heretikes did therfore send thē to the Apostolicall Churches bycause they did not admitte the whole scriptures Wherfore they would that they should take their iudgemēt of those Churches which were certainly knowen to be Apostolical For it was meete that those Churches should continuallye remayne both witnesses and also keapers of the holy scriptures and yet therfore they did not decree that the authoritie of the Churche should be preferred before the scriptures What is to be thought of a certayn rule of the Logiciens But the aduersaries say that they are led by the sentence whiche is cōmonly vsed among Logiciens Euery thyng is such a thyng by reason of an other VVherfore that other shal more be counted suche Wherfore they reason after this maner If by the Churche the Scripture hath hys authoritie it must nedes be that the Church much more hath that authoritie But they remēber not that this sentence put by the Logiciens taketh place onely in finall causes and is of no strength in efficient causes For althoughe our inferior worlde be made warme by the sunne and the starres yet doth it not thereby followe that they are farre more warmer And agayne when immoderate men by wyne are made droncke we can not therby conclude the wyne to be more dronken than they Yea the Logiciens teache this that this their sentence is then strong and of efficacy in efficient causes when such efficient causes are brought forth whiche are whole and perfect and not whiche are perciall and maymed whiche rule is not obserued of our aduersaries in this argument For the Churche is not the whole and perfect efficient cause of that faith and authoritie whiche the holy Scriptures haue with the faithfull For if it were
battail bycause they went to warrefare without oracle as it is written in the vii of Iosua It is also written in the same boke in the ix chap. that the Gabaonites were receaued into league without the oracle of god and it is also writtē in the boke of Numbers that the Israelites were slayne by the Amorrhites when they fought cōtrary to gods will This peoples iudgement therfore is worthy to be praysed for it is excellently well done in most weighty affaires to aske counsell of God first of all And that must be done conueniently and holyly otherwise it profiteth not For the Israelites whē they should make warre agaynst the tribe of Beniamin although they asked coūsell of God yet were they twice put to flight slayne cowardly tourned their backes to their enemies bycause they behaued not them selues well in asking counsell of god Wherfore they asked counsell of God And it is to be beleued that the Hebrues after the death of Iosua considered this with them selues that their hong a great matter in those first warres whiche should be enterprised after the death of Iosua bycause if they happened to be ouercome of those nations in one battaill or two then would those nations thincke with them selues that the good lucke of the Israelites were chaunged with the death of their captayne By whiche opinion they would easely haue ben boldened and their affaires should haue had better successe dayly But on the contrary if it happened that the Israelites gotte the vpper hand in the first battailles they sawe that the power and audacitie of the nations woulde euery daye diminishe and beyng made feable and faynter they should the easelyer be ouercome God was also asked counsell of in the tyme of Iosua They did not therfore without cause aske coūsell of God in so great a matter which also to do the cōmaundement of the law did vrge them which is writtē in the boke of Numbers Neither must it be now thought that they so required the oracle as though they did not the same whē Iosua was lyuing for they required also answers of God verye often when he was a lyue but after his death it is said that they enquired for this thing chiefly principally namely which tribe should go vp to battail before all the other in al their causes And thys is the signification of the hebrew word Lanu that is for vs. And this woord to go vp is mencioned bycause they saw that they should fyrst vanquishe the hyly places Against Chanaan This is somtimes a general name What the people of Canaā were containeth al these nations which God had decreed to destroy out of Palestine whereby all the lande was afterward called Channan And sometimes it signifieth particularly some one nation of that people And that lay chiefly about Tyre Sidon Which the Euangelical history proueth when it calleth the woman a Chananite which offered her self to the sonne of God when he was goyng to Tyre Sidon And of that nation peraduenture bicause it was mightier than the other were the rest called Chananites And I wyl not ouerskip this by the way that the people which is singularly called Chanaan when they wer driuen out of their coastes by the Israelites they departed to Aphrica where they remayned safe euen to the time of Augustine Augustine So that the father writeth in his booke of the exposition whych hee begon vpon the epistle to the Romaines thus Our rusticals beyng demaunded what they wer they answered in the Affrick tong Chananites And theyr language is very nye to the Hebrewe tong The Africans ar Chananites as the same Augustine writeth in hys booke of questions vpon the Iudges the .16 question For by Baal in the Affrick tong they seme to say Lord whereby by Baal Samen is vnderstoode as thoughe they would say Lord of heauen bicause these tonges differ not much one from an other Hierome also agreeth therw t Hierome writing vpon Esay the prophet when he enterpreteth these woords Behold a virgin shal conceaue in the Affrick tong saith he which is said to haue had his ofspring of the Hebrues Virgil. A virgin is properly called Almah Also Virgil when he called Dido an Aphrician a Sidonian the inhabitants of Carthage Tirianes hath most manifestly confirmed that Dido her people came of the Chananites Wherfore it is no maruel if they almost kept in remembraunce the Chananishe tong But these thinges I haue spoken by the way But now Chanaan signifieth no one special nation but is a cōmon word for al those nations which the Israelites should ouerthrow For the tribe of Iudah which is said to haue gone vp first of al to the war For what thing the Israelites asked councell of God had in his lot the Iebusites not the Chananites Moreouer I admonishe the Reader that the Hebrues asked not counsel of God for their Captaine neither desired they to know what man should be made chief ruler ouer the Israelites going to battail against the Chananites but which tribe should begin the battel first Othoniel the first Iudge should be of the tribe of Iudah But we entreate not of him now presently And bycause it is said that the children of Israel asked counsell of the Lorde Howe many waies that elders asked councell of God some wil aske after what sort the Iewes accustomed to aske anye thing of hym at that time It may be answered that ther wer three accustomed ordinarye waies which are rehersed in the .28 chap. of the first booke of Samuel namely by dreames by Vrim Thūmim lastly by prophets whē ther wer any to be had therfore Saul complained in the booke that God had answered hym by none of these waies when he would haue asked counsel of hym of the successe of the most daungerous battail I finde also other waies in the scriptures of asking coūsell of god but they wer extraordinary waies One is by reuelacion of angels or of god him self expressing him selfe vnder some forme An other way was when som holy men by the mouing of god did appoint to themselues certayn tokens of thinges to come which did signify before whether they happened this waye or that what should be looked for So Abraham hys seruaunt decreed with hymself that she should be his Lordes wife which only amongest many maydens comming to the well offred drinke of her owne mynde to hym and to his Camels Ionathas also the sonne of Saule had then the victory promysed him when the Philistianes shoulde say Come vp hither to vs and contrarilye if they shoulde byd him tary till they came downe thither I haue called these extraordinarye wayes bycause they were not commonly vsed neyther are they often red in the Scriptures Lottes also are of this kinde There is mention made of them in the fyrst booke of Samuel when Saule should be declared King all the tribes standing there
vnto vs in the holy scriptures And it wer good to marke the difference which is found betwene the asking counsel of God in the old time and ours at this present Howe wee and the elders do diuersly aske coūsel of God They were very much carefull for the successe of thinges and they almost desyred alwayes to knowe when they tooke warres in hand or attempted anye other thyng whether they should speede wel or il in them And that was not hard for them to do for they had an oracle prepared of God for them for that purpose And God had promysed that he would answer them out of the mercy seate what soeuer they should demaunde or aske of him But we if we should aske counsel of the holye scriptures for the successe and end of our enterprises and purposes cōcerning earthly infelicities and misfortunes we should seeme and that not vnwoorthily to play the fooles For there is no place there at all which answereth anye thyng for our singular and priuate thinges But that onelye remayneth for vs to enquire for whether that which we begyn or go about be allowed to be iust holy and acceptable to God by the testimonies of the holy scriptures But why the Iewes had proper and certayne oracles geuen them for theyr matters and we haue nothing answered vs particularly Why we haue not oracles as the Iewes had I thynke there be no other cause but bycause vnto that people a certain assured publique wealth was due by the immutable coūsel of God which should endure to the time of Christ and therefore there were prepared for it certaine extraordinarye aydes aboue the power of nature whereby it should be kept and defended by God But vnto vs there is no such promise made of any certain seate or publique wealth seing that our church is dispersed throughout the whole world whereunto is no certaine seate or place promised and therefore it needed not that concernyng humaine thinges our publique wealthes should be particularly gouerned by certaine oracles answers for temporal thinges Besides this the volumes of the holy scriptures are more aboundaunt in our tyme than they were at that time with the Hebrewes when these thinges were done whych we nowe expounde They had but the law onelye we haue receaued nowe the bookes of the Prophetes and of wyse men vnto which are added also al the writinges of the new Testament And seing that those writinges are so manye so excellent it is no maruayle if we are not euery day enstructed of god by new oracles answers Neyther ought we to thinke bicause of that that God setteth lesse by vs than he dyd by the Hebrewes I wyl not speake howe hys spirite is geuen to vs thorow Christ more aboundantly and more openly than it was in the olde tyme to the Iewes Finally our publique weales dominions and kingdomes at endewed with many more artes which serue for peace and warre than the people of the Hebrewes were How we ought to behaue our selues in asking counsel of God Wherefore it is no maruel if we being heaped vp with so many other gyftes be destitute of singular oracles It shal be our part therefore aboue al thinges when we haue any affaires to take in hand diligently to consider the woord of God wherein is opened vnto vs hys commaundement or wyl afterward to embrace the same with a firme and stedfast fayth wherby we maye bee vehementlye kyndled to cal vpon our heauenlye father by the which we may be able to fulfyl that which he hath commaunded and to obtayn that which he hath promysed 3. And Iudah said vnto his brother Simeon Go vp with me into my lot that we may fight agaynst the Chananites and I wyl also go with thee into thy lot And Simeon went with hym The tribe of Iudah doth associate to it selfe the Simeonites to make warre against the Chananites which most euidentlye testifieth that the answer of God dyd not speake of any one singuler man but of the whole tribe of Iudah For neither Othoniel Why Simeon is taken into felowshyp wyth Iudah nor yet Caleb had any brother which was called Simeon and therefore there is no mencion made of them by Gods oracle but it comprehendeth the whole tribe of Iudah But the cause why Simeon is called of Iudah to be as a companion of hys warre and that they twoo ayded one an other is bycause the possession of the tribe of Simeon was mingled and scattered among the fieldes and countries belonging to the tribe of Iudah Neighbourhed therefore made them to defende and succour one the other And this coniunction of these two tribes is most manifestly gathered out of the .xv. chapter of the booke of Iosua It is not agaynst fayth to vse the ayde of men Let vs learne hereby that it is not agaynst the true fayth for vs to vse vsual aydes and mans strength when occasion serueth to obtayne the easelyer those thinges which God of his goodnes hath liberally promised vnto vs. God had promised vnto the tribe of Iudah that he would geue the land of Chanaan into their handes which althoughe they of Iudah faythfullye beleued yet were they not afeard to cal vnto them the Symeonites whych were their neighbours that they myght bee ayded of them in their fight For by that meanes they thought they should be the stronger to ouercome their enemies Christ hath no otherwyse confuted the deuyl which counselled hym to cast him selfe down hed long vnder the pretence of Gods promise wherin he sayd that he had now committed his health to the Angels whych sentence he put foorth out of the holye scriptures But the sonne of God answered that God must not be tempted but he must rather vse staires which were made for that purpose to serue to come downe by Moreouer al they are counted to tempt God which trusting to gods promises do neglect humane helpe which are already or maye be easelye prepared and gotten Dauid in the latter booke of Samuel setteth him selfe foorth vnto vs as an example who beyng wonderfullye adourned with the promises of God vsed for al that in the insurrection of Absalon not onely to flye away but also the diligence of Chusay the Arachite and of the Priestes Yea and Paul the Apostle as it is written in the Actes of the Apostels althoughe his onelye confidence was in Christ yet he appealed vnto Cesar made a discension betwene the Pharisies and Saduces and testified that he was a Citizen of Rome It is euident therfore by these manyfest examples that we must vse the helpe of nature and wysdome to obtayne those thinges which God hath promised to geue vs. Yong men are to be exhorted to good studies Wherefore the yong men of our tyme are diligently to be admonished to labour to attayne vnto languages good artes and sciences and that wyth great study Which they may when oportunity serueth vse in preaching and defending the
such dishonor and thincking with thē selues by that meanes to stay the flight they thrust them selues into the thickest of their enemies setting before them the shewe of their vowe and religion So that by that meanes the harts of the soldiours in maner discouraged might be called agayne more fiersly to fight with their enemyes But we are taught by the holy Scriptures that when we either see or heare of any that are conquerours or els are slayne in battailes we must by and by ascribe vnto God al that whiche is or hath ben done who after the most accustomed phrase of the holy Scriptures is sayd to deliuer them whiche are ouercome into the handes of their enemies God without any iniury deliuereth some in to the hādes of their enemies The Chananites were defiled with moste detestable wicked dedes When it is sayd that any are deliuered of God into the handes of their enemyes we must thincke that that is done without any iniurye And as touchyng this place we know that those nations of the Chananites were full of most heynous wickednesse and for that cause god punished them most iustly Whiche cause is confirmed by that whiche we read in the booke of Genesis where God bringeth a reason why he held the posteritie of Abraham so lōg tyme in Egipt namely bycause the sinnes of the Chananites were not yet full God punisheth the vngodly with two kindes of punishmentes And this is not to be forgottē that God vseth according to his iustice to deliuer synners to be punished two manner of wayes or to two sortes of enemies For sometymes he doth this in geuing them ouer to be vexed with lustes and filthy affections as to certein furyes of hell Augustine God punisheth synnes with synnes And that is it which Augustine oftentimes sayth that sinnes are punished with sinnes So Pharao hys vnfaythfulnesse and cruelty was punished by hardning stubbornesse of harte And Idolaters as Paul teacheth to the Romaines were geuen ouer of god to their owne filthy lust so that they most vylie contamined thē selues with most horrible sinnes But bycause this kynde of punishement is not sene nor felte of mad men as it is mete god therfore deliuereth the vngodly into the handes of straunge enemies to be vexed and at the length vtterly to be destroyed And that this order was obserued with the Chananites the Scripture manifestly teacheth for they were not onely addicted to Idoles but as it is written in the xviii xx chap. of Leuit They miserably defiled them selues with incestes most filthy lustes They were first therfore deliuered of God into a reprobate sense and then were they deliuered to theyr enemies the Hebrues of whō they were spoyled both of their life and also of their most riche kingdome God deliuered them into their handes That is into their power This is not onely an Hebrew phrase but also a latine for we say This is my hande that is it lyeth in my power And they smote them in Bezek to the number of ten thousand men To smite is here to kill And seing that the hoste of the Chananites was great there were nowe slayne of it but onely ten thousand men we must thincke that the rest fled awaye in whiche flight as afterwarde shal be declared Adonibezek was taken But where as these two wordes Chananites and Pherezites are ioyned together in this place They are thus to be taken that if thou vnderstande the Chananites after the common signification wherin were cōprehended those 7. or 9. nations then this name Pherezites should be added bycause of interpretation that by it might be expounded that whiche before was not expressed in the word Chananites But if by this word Chananites we shall vnderstand any one especial or peculiar people of those nations then must we say that that host was gathered of both the peoples of the Chananites I say and the Pherezites 5 And they founde Adonibezek in Bezek they fought agaynste him and slewe the Chananites and Pherezites 6 And Adonibezek fled and they followed after him caught him and cut of the thombes of his handes and of his feete 7 And Adonibezek sayd 70 kynges hauing the thombes of theyr handes and feete cut of gathered their meat vnder my table As I haue done so God hath done to me agayne and they brought hym to Ierusalem and there he died c. After mencion made of the victorye it is here more expressed by partes for the place of the battaile is expressed namely Bezek Bezek but where this Bezek should lye it is not very certain For there was a certaine Bezek whiche was a city belonging to the tribe of Manasses whiche was situate 17. myle from Sichem as ye go to Bethsan Ierome And Ierome testifieth that in his tyme there were two Townes which were called by this name And it is not very likely that Iuda and Symeon would passe with their hoste to the tribe of Manasses whē their purpose was only to ridde the Chananites out of their owne lottes Vnlesse peraduenture that king whiche was called Adonibezek althoughe his kyngdome were in the tribe of Manasse claymed and vsurped by violent tyranny many places in the inheritaunce of Iudah and Simeon This kyng had prepared an hoste to go agaynst Iudah and Simeon and to let them from recouering of their own Which thing being knowen Iudah and Symeon made towarde him that he should not entre into their borders Wherfore it chaunced that they fought with him not farre frō his kingly citie Bezek or els it is to be thought that this Bezek was a certain citie either in the tribe of Iudah or els of Simeon wherof is no mencion made in any other place Malchisedech Adonisedech This kyng was called Adoni-bezek whiche is a compounde name wherin the leter Iod is placed betwene two wordes as Malchi-sedech Adoni-sedech euē as R. Selomo testifieth This king semeth to haue fled for that he sawe his hoste both slayne to the number of ten thousande men and to turne their backes and flye he would therfore saue him selfe by flight but he was brought backe agayn by the Israelites and suffred most grieuous punishement as he had iustely deserued Bohan Behonoth For they cut of the thombes both of his handes and of his feete This word Bohan signifieth in the Hebrew a thombe it is in the feminine gender wherfore it is said in the plurall nomber Behonoth Although R. Dauid Kimhi do interprete that worde into fyngers and the Chaldey paraphrast doth interprete it anckles And Adoni-bezek said 70 kings This tyranne acknowledgeth the iudgement of God but whether he spake this of true faith or pure repentaunce it can not be knowen by the wordes of our history But it is most lykely bycause he called not vpon God implored not his mercy neither shewed any tokens of true conuersion The law of rēdring lyke for lyke that rather anguish did extorte from him
fayth in Christ Whicâ— when it is done they are chaunged froÌ„ promises of the law into promises of 〈◊〉 Gospell And although they be frely graunted In euangelical promises although they be frely geuen yet must we work as though they were legal yet in atteining vnto theÌ„ we 〈◊〉 our endeuor studye no lesse than if they were promises of the law But yet 〈◊〉 touching those good thinges whiche endure but for a time and passe not maâ— strength labour and the rewardes of them are temporall it is not to be deny but that our workes are much auayleable For it is sayd that they are oftentimâ— gotteÌ„ by them Although also in obtayning them the fauor of god is nedeful thâ—â— unto which is aboundauntly bestowed on theÌ„ which worke by the word of God by faith Which thing is manifestly sene of the readers of this history for it decireth that god graunted the victory to a fewe Iewes being straungers and youâ— souldiers agaynst strong warlike men many more in number than they of monstrous stature and inhabiting most strong fenced cities and castles 8 And the children of Iudah fought against Ierusalem and tooke it smote it with the edge of the sword and set the citie on fyre 9 Afterward the children of Iudah descended to fight against the Chananites that dwelte in the mountaine and in the south and in the lowe countrey 10 And Iudah went agaynst the Chananites that dwelt in HebroÌ„ and the name of Hebron before was Kiriath Arba and they smote Sesay Ahimman and Thalmay 11 And from thence they went to the inhabiters of Debir and the name of Debir before was Kiriath Sepher The things which are now red vnto the xvii A briefe rehearsal of things in the booke of Iosua verse are most part transferred hither out of the booke of Iosua the .xv. chap and are now declared by a certain briefe rehearsall of things and it is done to this end that we might vnderstand that the tribe of Iudah had obtayned Ierusalem when Iosua was yet liuing so that it was the easier for him to lead away Adonibezek captiue thither And these be the things which are repeated in thys place out of the booke of Iosua The conquering of Ierusalem Hebron and Debir the matrimony also betwene Achsa Othoniel and the departure of the Kenites from the citie of Palmes That al these things I say are now declared by a certaine repetition it is therby manifest bicause it is written in the booke of Iosua that the king of Ierusalem was taken we read in the end of the xv chap. that the same citie of Ierusalem came into the handes of the people of God and that the children of Iudah dwelt in it with the Iebusites Besides that these things which are now rehearsed of Hebron are contayned in the x.xi and about the end of the xiiii chap. in the booke of Iosua And the historye of Achse and Othoniell is red in the xv chap. of the same boke How farre this parenthesis extendeth This repetition therfore or parentheses extendeth to these wordes And Iudah wet with hys brother Simeon c. In which place the author returneth to make mention of the actes which the tribes of Iudah and Simeon ioyned together dyd at this time performe Which thiÌ„g also by this appeareth the more manifest bycause strayghtway is declared how Gasa was taken which citie is sayd in the xi and xiii chap. of Iosua to haue yet remained in the hands of the enemies The perâ—erfect tence is expouÌ„ded by the preterplusperfecte tence is numbred among those cities which were not conquered vnder Iosua Wherfore the wordes of the preterperfect tense which are red in this repetition are to be interpreted in that time past which we call the preterplus perfecte tense that the order of the historye might be made more playne and manifeste They smote them with the mouth of the sword This is a Metaphor in this maner of speche very often tymes vsed in the holy scriptures wherin by the mouth of the sword we ought to vnderstaÌ„d the edge therof bycause it semeth to deuour and consume those thinges whych are smytten in maner lyke a mouth And wher it is said that They set the city of fyre we must vnderstand it by this figure Hypallege when the thing is cleane contrary for fire is throwne into the city and not the city into the fyre Neither ought this to be vnderstand thus as though they had then burned the whole citye For it is wrytten in the booke of Iosua and afterward it shal be expounded in this booke that that city was after that inhabited by the tribe of Iudah and Beniamin and also the Iebusites yea and the castle therof which was very wel fensed was not deliuered vp to the Israelites The city of Ierusalem was taken when Iosua was yet a lyue tyl in Dauid his time as it is declared in the latter booke of Samuel Neyther ought that to moue you bycause it appeareth not in the booke of Iosua that the city of Ierusalem was taken For although this be not plainly and manifestly spoken yet may it be vnderstand by those thinges which are there intreated of namely that the king of Ierusalem was taken and that Iudah dwelled in that city neither could he yet cast out the Iebusites from them Al these thinges I say are signes that the city was taken at that tyme although it was not yet possessed fully and in al partes It seemeth also somewhat obscure that it is wrytten that Iudah descended when he should go fight against the Chananites who dwelled on the mountaines When as we accustome in going to mountaines to ascend and not to descende But we must vnderstand that those countries wer ful of mountaines Wherefore when the host remoued from one mountaine to an other it must nedes descend first into the valley from whence it might afterward ascend vpon an other mountaine Thou wylt peraduenture aske whether Iudah at that tyme coÌ„quered the plaine or the valley which was betwene No verely He assaulted them in dede but he could not ouercome them For we shall heare in thys chap. that those which were not ouercome of Iudah in the valley had yron Chariotes so that by that meanes they were not ouercome And Iudah went against the Chananites that dwelt in Hebron These thnges are now therfore repeated that we should vnderstande that it was not of necessity that the city Hebron should be taken of Iudah then when the Israelites were in this iourney on warfare which they tooke in hand after the death of Iosua namelye at that tyme wherein the publique wealth was gouerned by elders without any certaine Iudge Iosua being yet alyue Why Hebron was called the city Arba. And the name of Hebron before time was called Kiriath-Arba and they smote Sesay Ahimman and Thalmay The reason of the name of this city is not of euery man taken a like The
honesty and euer went about wicked actes For Zemah in Hebrue signifyeth mischiefe They were also named Rephaim Bycause they made men which met them to be after a sorte amased for that worde signifyeth sometimes the dead Lastly they were called Nefalim as oppressors bycause they assayled al men tyrannously of this worde Nafal which is to fall or subuerte Some thinke that they are sometimes called Geborim but bycause we vse to referre the worde to power and properly strong men are called Geborim therfore I woulde not put it among these When glaūtes began Augustine Furthermore if thou wilte demaunde when giauntes beganne to be if we may follow Augustine de ciuitate Dei the .xvi. boke and xxiii chapter We must say that they beganne before the floude And therfore we beleue him bycause he hath proued it by the testimonye of the holy Scriptures for it is written in the vi of Genesis that giauntes were at that time on the earth whose kind although it was kept after the floude yet as he beleueth they were not in so great number Whether Giauntes were begotten of mē Besides this it may be doubted concerning their procreation and parents for there are some whiche thinke that they were not begotten of men but that Aungels or deuils were their parentes And this sentence they say is confirmed by that which is written in the booke of Genesis The sonnes of God seing the daughters of men that they were fayre they tooke them to wiues and of them were borne most mightye men or giauntes Concerning this fall of the Angels many of the old writers agree that it was bicause they vsed company with women and among other is Lactantius in his second booke and xv Chapter For his opinion was as it is there written that God feared least Sathan to whom he had graunted the gouernement of the worlde shoulde vtterly haue destroyed mankinde Lactantius and therfore he gaue vnto it Angels for tutors by whose industrye care it mighte be defended But they being prouoked as well by the wilinesse of Sathan as also allured by the beauty of fayre women committed filthines with them Wherfore they were throwen downe from their dignitie and made souldiers of the deuill This was Lactantius opinion but yet he sayth not that Giauntes were borne of those copulations of Angels with women but earthly deuils which abide on the earth to our greate hurte Eusebius of Cesaria Eusebius of Cesaria in hys .v boke de preparatione euangelica doth nothing in a manner disagree from them For he also sayth that Angels which fell begat of women whom they filthilye loued those deuils which afterward troubled the world many wayes and to thē he referreth al these which the Poets and historiographers haue writtē to haue bene Gods haue eyther in Metre or in Prose made mention of their battailes discordes lustes and sundrye and grieuous tumultes Augustine But Augustine in his xv boke de ciuitate Dei xxiii Chap. thinketh that this opinion of these old men can not be gathered out of that place of Genesis Men of the stocke of Seth were called the sonnes of God For he sayth that those which are there called the sonnes of god were in very dede men namely cōming of the stock of Seth. For whē they worshipped god truely and sincerely and called vpō him holily and purely being adorned with his fauor grace they are called by the scriptures the sonnes of God What was the fal of the sonnes of God But whē at the length they began to burne in filthy lust with those women which came of the stocke of Cain and by that meanes fel into fellowship with the vngodly taking them to their wiues and cleauing also to superstitions and wicked worshippings they were chaunged from the sonnes of God not only into men but also into fleshe And thys will I say by the way Aquila Aquila translating these words out of Hebrue They wer not saith he the sōnes of God but the sonnes of Gods for thys cause so called as I suppose bycause their progenitors were holy men Simmachus but their children miserably fell from god and godlines by inordinate loue of women And Symmachus translateth it The sonnes of the mightye But nowe to Augustine againe he constantly affirmeth that there can be nothing gathered out of that place of Genesis concerning the carnall copulation of Angels with women but thinketh rather that farre contrary may be proued by the wordes of God written in the same place For whē the scripture had there sayd that there were Giaunts on the earth and that the sonnes of God as it is sayd were gone out of the right way and Giaunts were brought forth there is added And god sayd my spirite shal not abide in man for euer bicause he is flesh By this sentence he declareth that those which so sinned were called men and not only as they were by nature but also they were called flesh wherunto by their filthy luste they did to much cleaue But they which be of the contrary opinion do thinke that they do bring a strong witnesse of Enoch which was the vii from Adam of whom Iudas maketh mention in his canonicall Epistle Enochs booke Augustine For in the booke which is intituled to be Enochs booke it is writtē that giauntes had their of springs of Angels and not of mē But Augustine answereth vnto this and sayth that that booke is altogether Apocripha therefore such fables as are rehearsed in it are not to be beleued It is not to be doubted he sayth but that Enoch wrote some godly thinges when as Iudas the Apostle manifestly testifieth the same But it is not necessary that we should beleue that all thinges which are written in that Apocriphal booke shoulde be of hys writing Forasmuch as they haue no sure authoritie Neither although Iudas brought thence some one certaine sentence is it supposed that therfore he by his authoritie hath allowed the whole booke Vnlesse thou wilt saye that Paule allowed all the things which were written by Epimenides Aratus and Menander bicause he brought one or two verses out of thē Ierome Which thing Ierome in his exposition vpō the first chap. of the Epistle to Titus declareth to be a very absurde thing and worthily to be laughed at And now as concerning Enoch it semeth meruelous how he being but the vii from Adam could write of those things of the altercation betwene Michael and the deuil for the body of Moyses when as if there wer any such thing as there is no doubt but there wer they must nedes haue come to passe a thousand and almost .500 yeares after Vnlesse we wil say that those things wer reuealed at that time by some notable strength of prophecy Neyther is it to be forgotten that those whiche do thinke that giauntes had Angels to their parentes not men do therfore seme to suppose so The reason of
Glory to God on high which they wil haue to be the inuention of Telesphorus Then had they Collectes which are ascribed vnto Gelasius Moreouer certain lessons were rehearsed out of the holye scriptures either out of the old testament or els out of the Actes or Epistles of the Apostles The Epistle Whiche lessons being done there was to be rehearsed some part of the Euangelicall hystory But when the Readers had red vnto the church the fyrst lessons the deacon stoode vp in a high place or pulpit namely to be sene and to be vnderstande of al men The Gospel The graduale Halleluiah wher he distinctly pronounced that which was to be redde out of the Gospell But whylest hee went and ascended vp the stayres the people vsed to syng some verses of Psalmes which commonlye they called Graduales that is stayre songes They added also vnto them Halleluiah that is prayse the Lord as it were clapping of hands with a ioyous cry for the glad tidinges of the gospell This hebrewe woord Halleluiah semeth to be taken out of the Churche of Ierusalem whereof there is mencion made also in the Apocalipse and in the tytle of certayne Psalmes When the Deacon had red the Gospell the Byshop A Sermon or the Pastor of the Churche added thereunto an interpretation and exhortation wherin vices were reproued and deliberation taken of such as wer to be excommunicated Which thinges being thus finished The Papistes haue transposed the sendyng away of the people the Cathecumenites and others which woulde not communicatr were sent awaye But in our tyme bycause there are found very seldome any Cathecumenites and they whych do not communicate doo stande myngled with the rest yea almost none communicate except it be the Sacrificer alone The Papistes haue differred that Missio that is that sendyng awaye to the ende of their abhominations For then they vse to say with a loude voyce Ite Missa est That is Go your way Ite Missa est nowe is the departure But in the olde tyme those thinges being finished The Symbole of the fayth whyche wee haue rehearsed they which abode to be partakers of the holy Supper dyd sing the Simbole of the fayth that they might diligentlye instruct one an other in the principal heades of religion wherein they consented For in Symboles is comprehended the fumme of faith whiche comprehension or summe The Symbole is called the tradition of the Church Tertulian The counsel of Nice if a man wyll diligently reade the olde Fathers he shal finde to be called Traditio Ecclesiae that is the tradition of the Churche which is both taken out of the holy Scriptures and also necessarye to be beleued for saluation And sometimes Tertullian bringeth it agaynst the heretickes which denyed the holy Scriptures The Synode holden at Nicena made a full and perfecte Symbole but not the fyrste for as muche as there were certaine Symboles before as we may know euen of Tertullian hym selfe Then whyle they soong the Creede or Symbole such as were present offered of theyr goods suche thynges as they thought good Three vses of oblation The offering serued for three maner of vses for parte of it was spent on certayne moderate banquets whiche the Christians dyd at that tyme verye religiouslye celebrate among them selues and they were commonly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Charitable banquetes that is charitable banquets Part of that which remained was distributed vnto the poore And finally some of the bread wyne was layd vp for the vse of the holye Supper And that thys oblation of thinges was then added Offertory Collectes twoo thinges doo testefye Fyrst certayne verses which were soong by the people whilest the offering was in doing which was therfore called of theÌ„ Offertorium that is an offring The same is also knowen by those collectes which are redde in that part of the Masse Yea and Iustinus the most auncient Martyr hath made mencion of the same oblation in his Apologie or defence and Ciprian also and some of the old Fathers Sursum corda After these thinges when they came to administer the holye Supper they sayde Sursum corda that is Lyft vp your hartes as the Ethnickes vsed to cry in their holy thinges Hoc age Hoc age that is do this And surely the Christians said so verye aptlye and in conuenient time thereby to admonishe them selues to thinke at that time vpon no carnal nor earthly thing but wholy to lyft vp their myndes vnto heauen where Christ is to be sought and not in earth as thoughe he were included in the breade or wyne After that they gaue thankes when they sayd Gratias agimus tibi From whence is had the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proper words of the Supper The Lordes Prayer Sancâ—us Prefaces Canon We geue thankes O Lorde holye father almightye and euerlasting God through Christ our Lorde c. These thinges are moste auncient and are found very often in old ecclesiasticall wryters Yea and that mystery of the bodie and bloud of Christ was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is geuing of thankes bycause all the accomplishing thereof dependeth vp on thankes geuing And when the people had sayd Through our Lorde Christe he went to the proper woordes of the Supper Which being rehearsed there was said the Lordes praier But Xystus before the rehersall of it would haue the people to sing Sanctus Sanctus c. that is holy holy c. And that there might be better occasion geuen to come to that song certaine prefaces were put before And to those they peeced theyr Canon which one Scolasticus as Gregory mencioneth in his Register made whiche in deede the same Gregory alloweth not bycause he woulde put in thinges of hys owne and neglected the Lordes prayer The kysse of peace is sayd to be the inuention of Leo the seconde Kisse of peace Which seemeth not so to me for as muche as that maner was in the Churche euen in the tyme of the Apostels that Christians shoulde entertayne one another wyth the kysse of peace Yea and Paule in hys Epistles hath made mencion of that kynd of saluation Agnus dei And Iustine also the martyr in his second Apology hath mencioned of this kysse The song of Agnus dei that is the Lambe of God Distribution of the sacrament is said to haue beene brought in by one Innocentius And when all these thinges were finished they came to the distribution of the Sacrament Whych whilest it was in doing or when it was finished they song a song of thanks geuing Post coÌ„munion Praiers at the end which they called Post Communionem that is an after Communion And all these thinges beyng finished and ended the Minister sent away the people blessing them with a lucky blessing All these thinges althoughe they led awaye the Christian people from that fyrst simplicity of vsyng the Lordes Supper very manye
a thing cannot be hurt without blame And lastly euery man by lying leeseth hys own credite for being taken in a lye he shal euer after be suspected Wherefore though he would he shall not bee able by admonition or correction to helpe hys neighbour For the which cause the fault which is in a lye pertaineth not onely to the hurt and losse of our neighbour but it is in it by the general woord as by that which we haue already said manifestly appeareth But among lies What kinde of lye is most grieuous that lye semeth to be most grieuous which is cōmitted in religion doctrine and godlynes bicause in no other thing can guile be more hurtful pernicious For there if we shal erre we are thrust from the eternal felicity Augustine Wherefore Augustine in his Encheridion the .18 chap. hath very wel wrytten that they in dede doo synne grieuously which deceaue trauelyng men shewing them a contrary waye but they are much more detestable which as touching godlynes by lying doo bryng men into errours If the three kinde of lyes should be compared together I meane a pernitious lye a sportefull lye and a seruiceable lye A pernitious lye Two euyls in a pernitious lie should rightfullye be counted more detestable bicause in it are two euyls One is the abuse of signes the other is the hurt of our neighbour And that both of the minde which deceiueth which thing is common vnto all lyes and also of the thing whych is lost But as for other lyes although they are not without fault yet is that not a litle diminished by the good added vnto it either of delectacion or of helpe And in dede a sportefull lye hath in it but a smal and sclender nature of a lye A sporteful lye for as much as the falsehood is straightway founde out neither can it be long hydden from the hearers Augustine Yea Augustine wryteth that suche lyes are not to be counted for lyes But as touching a seruiceable lye the iudgement of it is more darke hard For some deny it to be synne for they say it hath a consideration to thys Whyther a seruiceable lye bee synne to helpe our neighbour whom we ought in woordes and dedes to relieue as much as we can Wherfore they thinke that therby commeth no abuse of signes for as much as al our thinges ought to haue a respect to the commodity of our brethren Neither do they thinke that in it is sinne committed against humane societie when as by this kinde of lye men are made safe and kept harmlesse Farther they say that where as it is in the holy scriptures written that God wyll destroy al those which speake lyes the same is not to be vnderstand of euery kind of lye but onely of a pernicious lye Which thing Augustine also in hys Encheridion the .18 chap. seemeth to graunt Plato They bryng also the opinion of Plato in his booke de Repub who although he feared away the people from lyes yet he gaue Magistrates libertye to lye especiallye in making of lawes But in my iudgement the thing is farre otherwyse neither wyl I easily graunt that a seruiceable lye wanteth the abuse of signes Aristotle For Aristotle in his booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 defining woordes saith that they are notes of those affections which we haue in our minde Wherby it followeth that al they abuse wordes which signify thinges to be otherwise than they thinke in their minde Farther that reason which they bring of loue is a very weake reason For we ought to help our neighbours but yet by iust and honest meanes otherwise let vs permit thefts to be bestowed in almes geuing But the sentence of the Apostle must abyde firme and stable which is that euil thinges must not be done that therby good thinges may come to passe Neither do I thinke that true that by those kinde of lyes humane fellowship is not hurt for as much as take awaye fayth and there remaineth almost no trafficke among men But as touching that sentence of the holy scriptures wherin it is said Thou shalt destroy al them that speake lyes We graunt with Augustine that that sentence is not vniuersally spoken for as long as the power and coniunction of faith abideth with Christ so long those sinnes ar not imputed which otherwise of their own nature should be our destruction And this also wil I easily graunt of seruiceable and sportful lyes bicause they are not so much against charity as are pernicious lyes But this can no man deny that in making a lye we doo against faith And we must vtterly graunt that he which lyeth looseth thereby his own credite so that afterward he cannot profitably admonishe reprooue or with fruite geue counsel as he ought to do For they which heare him will easily beleue that he seruiceably lyeth to cal them againe into the way not that the thing is so in very dede A contentiō betwene Ierome Augustine This vndoubtedlye was the cause that Augustine was against Ierome who in a maner attributed a seruiceable lye vnto the holy scriptures If this saith he should be so the authority of the holy scriptures wold soone decay For the Readers of them would easily say that the thing is not so but that it is so written An error of Plato to keepe men in doing their duty Nether ought the authority of Plato much to moue vs for as much as in that place he very much erred graunting that in thinges pertayning vnto God they might fayne fables which might serue to bring foorth and keepe a good opinion of them Wythout doubt we may not mocke in matters touching God Farther the law of God is equal and the selfe same as it wyl not haue the people to lye so also it prohibiteth the same vnto the Magistrates Who are to bee excused of a lie Howbeit they cannot iustly be accused of a lye which in their talke ar farre from doublenes For somtimes it cōmeth to passe that some speake that whych is false and yet they thought the same to be true With which men they also ar excused which haue geuen their promise to do a thing which afterward they are not able to performe Bicause at the beginning when they promised it they wer fully mynded to doo that which they had promised and therefore they haue not lyed If so be that afterward they doo not accomplish those thinges whiche they haue said the same happeneth by some other meanes And sometimes it happeneth that he which deliuereth his sword to some man to kepe falleth afterward mad wherfore he ought not to restore the swoorde vnto him which hath left it with him bicause a new case as the Lawyers say requireth a new helpe After which selfe same sort Paule is excused who sayd that he would go into Spaine when as for al that he went not thither Paule also promised the Corrinthians
lendeth to those things so also without it ther is no defence to be had out of munitions walles being otherwise neuer so strong and Castels very well fenced Wherefore before we begyn munitions we must put our confidence in God and we must lay the most profitable foundation of holy prayers and pray vnto God to keepe vs chiefly in true and sincere godlynes to cal vs backe from synnes and daylye to geue vnto vs a perfect repentance Lastly we must desire that when a iust and holy man shal haue neede to haue the vse of such munitions hee woulde vouchsafe to bestow vpon them that his most mighty and healthfull power Which selfe same cogitations and prayers we must vse both in meate drinke apparel or any other thing when we begin to receaue them And the children of Israel cryed Now shal be declared the deliuerye of the Israelites but firste is set foorth their repentance and inuocation Nowe at the length the Hebrues flie vnto the sure rockes vnto the safe dennes and vnto the true Castels For the rocke or castle best fenced as we reade in the Prouerbes is the name of the Lord. In that rocke Dauid escaped al aduersities 7 And when the children of Israel cryed vnto the Lorde bycause of Midian 8 The Lord sent vnto the children of Israel a Prophet who sayd vnto them Thus saith the Lord god of Israel I haue brought you out of Egipt I haue brought you I sai out of the house of bōdage 9 And I haue deliuered you out of the handes of the Egiptians out of the hand of al that oppressed you and haue cast them oute before you and geuen you their land The maner whereby the Israelites wer stirred vp to cal vpon God is in this place set forth They were turned vnto God by the impulsion of faythe whyche was stirred vp by the preaching of the woord of God for he had sent vnto them a man which was a Prophet not legions of Angels not a multitude of souldiours not armour neither warlike engins He directed vnto them a Preacher Minister of the woord of God And this ought not to seme absurd if this verbe Vaiischlah be interpretated in the signification of the preterpluperfect tense for as much as it is a thing very much vsed in the holy scriptures And yet I denye not that this place may be vnderstand an other way namely that the Israelites in dede cried first but yet with a certaine violence stirred vp by troubles and miseries which violence by it self could not be allowed of God nether had it obtained any thing at his handes except it had bene adorned with a true faith perfect repentaunce for the bringing to passe wherof God not forgetting his mercy sent them a Prophet or Preacher meete thereunto Howbeit the first sense which cōsisteth al the preterpluperfectnes pleaseth me very wel although I deny not but that both waies may be admitted Farther some thinke that these thinges ar to be vnderstand by Synechdoche so that it is ment that not one prophet but very many prophetes were sent of God But I iudge that it is wrytten of some one certaine prophet which was of great authority among the Hebrues And I am not ignorant that some thinke this prophet to haue ben an Angel which I allow not forasmuch as he is called both a man and a prophet And I finde in no place of the holy scriptures the Angls wer called prophets although on the contrary we rede in them sometimes that a prophet was called an Aungel Aflictiō◠make open the waye vnto profitable sermons as it most manifestly appeareth of Malachi But let vs marke this rather that oppressions and aduersities which often times happen do geue good occasion of profitable sermons for as much as the hearers by such vexation ar made much more attentiue The Hebrues thinke that this Prophet was Phineas of whom also they saye that it is written in the first booke of Paralip the .ix. chap. that he liued in the time of Dauid when as for all that the same place may otherwise bee expounded But who hee was it maketh no great matter We must rather marke the argument of the sermon whiche is in fewe woordes toutched First the benefites of God are rehearsed their deliuery I say out of Egipt wherby they were deliuered from seruitude most grieuous his defence against those which went about to oppresse them and lastly the possession of the land of Chanaan God had now faithfully performed al these thinges as hee had promysed vnto their fathers Whereby it manifestly appeareth that the couenaunt made with the fathers was on his part kept vnuiolated Let vs note in these wordes that God at that time was by this title praised namely bicause he had deliuered his people out of Egipt for his nature otherwise is most farre remoued from the mindes of men neither can it any otherway be knowen but by the effects But of this thing I haue inough spoken as much as semed sufficient Wherefore it is manifest that the Preacher which was sent from God doth beate into the Hebrues the benefite which they had receaued namelye both to stirre vp in the Israelites the knowledge of the true God and also to shewe foorth hys truth endued with constancy 10 And I sayd vnto you I the lord your God Fear not the gods of the Amorites in whose lād ye dwel but ye haue not obeied my voyce Now is added what God againe required of the Hebrues namelye that hee shoulde be their God and that they shoulde not feare the gods of the Amorites or not worship them For in this woorde feare is verye often comprehended all maner of worshipping and religion For what should they woorship straunge gods when they were the peculiar people of the true God by whom they were deliuered from the house of bondage that is out of a prison or dungeon moste hard and afterward in their iourney they were deliuered both from the Amalekites also from the Moabites from Sihon and Og the kinges Wherfore forasmuch as they had receaued these benefites of their God it was neither lawful nor meete that they should worship straunge gods Two principal synnes of the Israelites Ye haue not obeyed my voyce Two most grieuous crimes of the people are reproued wherof the latter dependeth of the first First they beleued not his word then they obeyed it not Vndoubtedly they which beleue not the thyngs that God setteth forth do not also obey his cōmaundementes And contrarywise they which do truly beleue do willingly and without compulsion obserue his commaundements Although the wicked actes of the Hebrues were sundry and manifold yet onely one is reproued namely Idolatrye bicause in it almost al the other sinnes are comprehended For if we commit synne there wher God is called vpon and if we sinne in that thing wherein we seeke to be reconciled vnto god what goodnes can ther be in any other of
that they committed thys acte nowe when they came to make thys warre or els before when euery yeare they inuaded the lande of the Israelites in the tyme of haruest Of mount Thabor we haue before spoken when we entreated of the victory of Barak and Deborah It was not lawfull to saue these kyngs on lyue As the Lorde liueth if ye had saued their lyues Gideon mought haue saued these kynges lyues if they had not slayne hys brethren but bycause they had slayne them it was not lawfull For in the booke of Numbers there is a lawe wherein it is ordayned that the nexte of kynne muste not suffer the bloude of hym that is dead vnpunished not that a priuate man shoulde kyll a murtherer but he must be brought vnto the Iudge that there the cause beyng knoweÌ„ he myght be punished And therefore Gideon beyng a Magistrate ought by that lawe to punishe them Otherwyse he myght haue let them goo for as muche as they were not Chananites whom GOD had commaunded that they shoulde not spare Wherefore Gideon sweareth nothyng contrarye to the woorde of God And he sayde vnto Iether He commaundeth hys firste borne sonne beyng then a younge manne to slaye them but he feared neyther durste he drawe hys swoorde The two kynges disdayne would not be kylled with the hande of a chylde euen as Abimelech would be slayne of hys Armor bearer least he should seeme to be kylled of a woman Farther they easely sawe that they shoulde bee longe in payne or they were dead when as the chylde by reason of want of strength coulde not rid them out of theyr lyfe quickely Why Gideon willed his soÌ„ne to kil the kings And Gideon peraduenture dyd for thys cause commaunde hys sonne to doo thys thynge to inflame hys hearte euen from hys tendâ—r yeares agaynste the enemyes of the peopl of GOD as it is written of Hannibal who from a chylde vowed hymselfe agaynst the Romaynes Or elles he dyd it to learne hym from hys tender age to obey the lawe of God wherein was commaunded that the bloud of the next of kynne beyng shed should be reuenged But might not he haue committed that office vnto a hangeman why would he so vrge hys sonne To thys maye be aunswered two wayes Firste that in the olde tyme it was not vncomely to slay the guylty Farther The Hebrues had no hangemen that it is not sene that the Hebrues had hangemen And vndoubtedly that thys was no office amonge the Hebrues this testifieth bycause in the lawe it is written that a blasphemer beyng taken was so stoned to death that the hande of the wytnesses dyd throwe the firste stone agaynste hym neyther was the puttyng to death of any body committed to any peculiar hangeman And there are many examples whiche testifye that it was not ignominious to slaye the guilty Saul when he woulde haue the Priestes slayne called not hangemen to doo it but turned to the noble men whiche were with hym and commaunded them to inuade the Priestes who reuerensyng theyr ministery and dignitye durst not obey Onely Doeg the Edomite durst execute so greate a wycked acte who was not of least estimation with the kynge Samuell also with hys owne hande slewe kynge Agag the prysoner Ioab in lyke manner when he had cought holde of the horne of the altar was slayne of Banaia the chiefe Capitayne of the hoste Wherefore it seemeth that the Hebrues in that auncient tyme hadde no hangemen But as muche as maye be gathered by the Hystoryes of the Ethnikes Lictores were ministers appointed to execute corporall punishment Plutarche Lictores began at Rome vnder Romulus who as Plutarche wryteth in hys lyfe were called so eyther of ligando that is of byndyng or bycause the Grecians callem them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bycause they executed a publique office Romulus gaue them Roddes bounde together to cary and to them was an axe ioyned They had also cordes to bynde the Citezins withall that beyng bounde they myght eyther beate them with roddes or strike them with the axe But the men of more auncient tyme wanted thys office euery man executed it without any infamy as it was by the Magistrate commaunded hym And in verye dede that woorke of punishyng malefactors hath in it no dishonestye or vncomelynesse For if it be honest for a iudge or prince to geue sentence of death agaynst euyll doers why then shall it not be iuste and honest to execute the same sentence Yea and GOD hymselfe in punishyng vseth not onely euyll spirites but good spirites But thou wilte saye Why Lictores and hangemen are of the commoÌ„ people euill spoken of why are Lictores and hangemen commonly so euyll spoken of Firste bycause the common people are afrayde of them neither would any manne be punished for hys wicked actes hereby it commeth that the syght of the hangman driueth into them a certayn horror And that the people were so affected the maner of the publique wealth of Rome declareth where wheÌ„ ambicious men flattered the people more then was meete they sent away the hangeman out of the market place and iudgement house of Rome as euen the Oration of Cicero for Rabirius testifieth The Romaynes vsed not a hangeman for their Citezins The Citezins of Rome were not beaten with roddes nor put to death Theyr extremest punishement was banishement they were caried into ylandes at the length condemned to the working of Mettalles But the latter Romayne lawes whiche are in the digestes blotted out that exemption for in very dede it was vniust For a faulte worthy of death ought not to be wynked at althoughe a Citezin of Rome were the author of it And there were two principall lawes whereby the backe and head of the Citezins were prouided for Portia lex Sempronia the lawe I saye Portia and Sempronia whose power and defence neuerthelesse Paul as we rede in the Actes vsed and so escaped both roddes and bondes This is one cause why Lictores and hangmen are so hated The irregularity of the Canonistes An other cause hereof in the Papisticall opinion of irregularity whiche as the Canonistes wyll haue it is contracted of euery murther These men thinke that a man can not so iustly kyll any man that he may be promoted to the holye Ministerye when as yet the Inquisitours of the herecticall prauity as they terme it doo dayly cause an infinite number and those innocentes to be kylled The Popes Legates also in gouernyng of Cityes and Prouinces and makyng warres althoughe they be Cardinalles and Byshoppes doo styll continually cause bloud to be shed But in the meane tyme with greate hypocrisie they take hede that the sentence be geuen by a laye Iudge as they call hym and so they wrappe themselues out of that irregularity But the holy Scriptures do not so teache Moses sayde vnto the Leuites whiche with hym had kylled so many ye haue
without an heade in it And when we speake of the head of the Churche we must keepe our selues in the Metaphore and as it should be absurde and monstrous for one man to haue two natural heades so shal it be iudged as portentous for the Churche to haue two Metaphorical that is spiritual heads We must alwaies wheÌ„ we entreate of any thing persist in the same order and kinde which thing if wee doo not obserue we shal easily be deceaued by equiuocation But let vs returne to the Pope Of the keyes foundation of the Churche who least he shoulde seme to be destitute of testimonies of the holy scriptures taketh two places out of them Whereof the one is Vpon this rocke I wil builde my Churche and wyll gyue the keyes c. But that place pertaineth to al those which confesse the verity of faith for Peter when the Lord demaunded what the Apostles beleued of him aunswered in the name of them al that he was the sonne of the liuing God Wherefore that which Christ speaketh vnto him pertaineth to all them whych together wyth him beleue and professe the same selfe thing For the keyes are geuen vnto the Church And in Iohn the Lord after his resurrection gaue them vnto all them at the last also when he should ascend vp into heauen he sent them all alike to preache throughout the world And as touching the fouÌ„dation the Church hath no other foundation but Christ For Paul vnto the Corinth sayde No man can lay any other foundation then that which is already layde How the Apostles are called foundations of the Church which is Christ Iesus And if at any time the Apostles be called foundacions of the churche that is to be vnderstand bicause they in the first time of the Churche cleaued vnto the foundation as the first and greater stones not bicause the Churche leaned vnto them as to the principal foundation The other place which they bring out of the scriptures is Not onely to Peter was the coÌ„maundement geuen to feede the flocke of Christ bicause Christ saith vnto Peter feede my Lambes But they are excedingly deceaued for it was not the office of Peter onely but also of the other Apostles to feede the flocke of the Lord. But it was so sayd peculiarly vnto Peter bicause he had denyed the Lord thrise and therefore he might haue seemed to haue fallen from the fellowship of the Apostles vnles he had of Christ bene restored by certaine woordes And that not onely he but also other ought to feede the shepe of Christ his own woordes testify which be writeth in his Epistle wher he admonisheth other Ministers to feede the flocke of the Lorde But graunt that the Lorde gaue vnto Peter anye principal thing what hath the bishop of Rome common with him Let hym declare his spirite and as Peter hath labored for the Church let hym also labour which thing if he performe then wil we acknowledge him not as an vniuersal bishop but as a good Minister of Christ The spirite of Christ is not bouÌ„d to chairs He sayth that hee hath the chaire that Peter had What seate I pray you speaketh he of The holy ghost is not bounde to seates But graunt that it were so Antioche had Peter sitting in it before Rome had For that church he planted and long whyle gouerned But they say that he was slayne at Rome But the Iewes crucified Christ himselfe at Ierusalem which is a thing of greater waight Wherfore if we should follow this argument the bishop of Ierusalem should be preferred aboue all other Yea and Peter as it is written to the Galathians was not the Apostle of the Gentiles but of circumcision as it was agreed betwene Paul Iames Iohn and Barnabas Neither do we euer reade that Peter prescribed the other Apostles any thyng or that they depended of him Yea Paul most manifestly testifieth that he receaued nothing of Peter Farther it is certaine that Peter was slain vnder Nero Iohn liued euen to the time of Traiane And they say that Cletus Linus and Clemens succeded Peter at Rome What then shal we thinke that Iohn the Apostle was subiect vnto Clemens And of necessity he should be so if the Byshop of Rome be the vniuersal head or general bishop But who wil say that this may be suffred Moreouer An Epistle of Clemens lyes may be confuted with lyes Our aduersaries bring the Epistle of Clemens which is a fained Epistle as a thing certaine We wyl gratefy theÌ„ in this thing Clemens Iacobo â—ratri domini Epis copo EpiscoruÌ„ regnanti Ecclesiam que esi Hierosolymis omnes que suÌ„t vbique Dei prouidentia and we wyll now graunt that to be true which is false Let them marke his superscription which is written after thys maner Clemens to Iames the brother of the Lord by the prouidence of God the bishop of bishops gouernour of the Church which is at Ierusalem and of al the Churches euery where What wyl they say here The bishop of Rome ascribeth his title vnto the Byshop of Ierusalem and attributeth this vniuersall charge of all Churches vnto him and not to himselfe This argument maketh verye muche agaynste those which haue vnto the Churches obtruded this Epistle for true ratefied it But that can nothing hurt vs which is takeÌ„ out of that epistle against our doctrine For we know that it is a fayned thing as that which was neuer alledged by any of the fathers And in it the same Clemens affirmeth that he hym selfe wrote the litle booke called Itenarium Perri which booke as it is said in the Decrees is counted among the Apocripha bookes But of this thing I haue spoken sufficient these thinges haue I rehearsed onely that we might vnderstand howe much Gideon is to be preferred before the Antechristes of Rome Whither the gouernment of God bee excluded by humane Magistrates Here is put forth an other question whether the rule and gouernmeÌ„t of God be therfore excluded bicause the Magistrate of a publike wealth or of Aristocratia or of a kingdome is geuen vnto a man The cause of the doubt is bicause when it was sayd vnto Gideon Thou shalt raygne ouer vs he answered I wyl not raygne ouer you but the Lord shal raign ouer you It is not hard to dissolue this question proposed forasmuch as the administration wherwith God gouerneth publike wealthes hindreth not the Magistrate which is his Vicar Minister And assuredly God raigned together with Dauid and Iosias and the Israelites at that tyme had a certaine Magistrate and one of their own with whom also God himselfe also gouerned Wherfore the wordes of Gideon do not teach this that God cannot raigne there where as is a lawfull king But this thyng onelye he regarded that the present state of thinges whiche was instituted by God When God is sayd to gouerne pub wealthes ought not to be altred
grieuously First he is accused of them bicause he went to the battail and called not them This seemeth to be the coulour of their complaint bicause people confederated together ought not to take in haÌ„d any warre before they haue called theyr fellowes and made them of counsell Iiphtah purgeth himselfe of this false accusation and sayth that they haue a false grounde bicause he called them but they denyed to come But these men when they sawe that by iuste meanes they coulde not defende that whiche they obiected they pleade not againste him at the iudgement seate neither by the order of law but make a tumult and sediciously brag of suche complaintes The saintes ar alwaies wrapped wyth newe troubles And here we see the state of holy men sufficiently expressed how they are alwayes wrapped with new troubles so that they ar almost no sooner passed out of one but an other is at hand But by the goodnes of God euen that woorketh to good in vs for we ar so corrupt and viciate that when thinges go prosperously with vs we are wonderfullye puffed vp so that by our insolency we are made intollerable which thing that it shoulde not happen God vseth agayne to exercise the elect with troubles after that he hath grauÌ„ted them some prosperity Wherfore let none of vs thinke when we haue obtained any good successe that straightway we must fight no more Yea rather wee must prouide that then chiefly we may euen weary God with prayers wherby he may bring to a perfect and absolute ende the good woorke that he hath already begone in vs. We must also marke the wysdome of Iiphtah how first he woulde proue all thinges before he woulde take weapons against his brethren First he maketh hys Apologie wherein he sayth that he did not rashlye moue warre but bycause there was a very grieuous contencion betwene him and the Ammonites and that he was muche oppressed by them and therefore he could not abstayne from weapons Farther he denyeth that he called them not I cryed vnto you sayth he but when ye saued me not I tooke in hande warre my selfe to mine own great daunger Wherefore he addeth that God delyuered the Ammonites into hys handes which myght haue bene a token that God disalowed not his act Which kynde of argument is in this place of force for as much as he attempted no vniust thing otherwyse there can bee no firme reason deriued of it bycause God sometimes fauoureth the enterprises of the vngodly by reason of his counsels which are alwayes iust but sometimes hidden from vs. Ieroboam the sonne of Nabat was by a sedicion created king ouer the ten Tribes and obtayned that which with naughty conscience he desired Nabuchad-Nezar also fought tirannously and ambiciouslye agaynst the Hebrues and obtayned the victorye when yet no man can allowe those doinges as godly bicause of the successe of them The Ephramites were not content with this Apology Wherefore Iiphtah fought against them neither ouercame he his enemies onely but also followed the victorye and that they shoulde not escape he preuented them and possessed the passages of Iordane He found out by a phrase of their speeche who were Ephramites They which would passe ouer might peraduenture be either Rabenites or Gadites or of half the tribe of Manasses Therefore least they should be deceaued Diuers properties or speche 〈◊〉 one and the 〈◊〉 same toung he tryed them by experience of their toung Neither neede we to maruayle at the diuersity of pronunciation among the Hebrues when as euery nacion althoughe they vse one common toung yet haue they some differences in diuers partes therof All the Grecians spake Greke and yet among them the Iones Attici Dores Acoles and such lyke had some difference in their speaking and that a notable difference The Prenestines also which dwelt not farre from Rome as we reade in Plautus for Ciconia sounded Konia In Italy also there are at this day very manye differences of properties of speche But it may be doubted wherof they should come From whence the diuersâ—ty 〈◊〉 the â—roperâ—â—es in spâ—â—che is Some answer that it commeth of custome which is not sufficient inoughe bycause we wil demaund againe why the firste inhabiters of these places beganne so to speake or to talke Therefore there are other which being led by naturall reason doo referre that diuersitye vnto the ayre water and sundrye aspecte of heauen But we ascribe the beginning of this thing to haue bene from the building of the Tower of Babel For in the booke of Genesis it is written that the differences of tounges sprang thereof which as they are perfect very great betwene nacion and nacion so are they found to haue begon in euery nacion They chosed this woorde Schiboleth not rashly but suche a one as made very muche for this present matter For it signifieth both an eare of corne and also a passage of a Ryuer as it is wrytten in the .xxi. chapter of Esay Wherefore when they were at the passages of Iordane they put foorth this word whereby they would proue whither the Ephramites should passe ouer which word should signifye the passage it selfe They might in deede haue tryed the same in many other woordes if they would but they proued it in a woorde whose signification was agreable wyth the place Wherfore Iiphtah made ciuill war but yet not vniust warre Al ciuil war is not vniust For he had the sword wherwith his duty was to punysh not onely the enemies but also the citizens when they offend either against the lawes of man or the lawes of God God had geuen him the victory The Ephramites contemned it God woulde haue the Galaadites pertaining to Manasses to possesse the land the Ephramites endeuoured to driue them out from thence and to destroye them They inuaded their borders they reproched them and called them the runnagates of Ephraim As though they were to be counted as certaine fugitiue bondsclaues if they were compared with the moste noble Tribe of Ephraim Or els they so called them as thoughe at some other tyme they had made warre and they as fugitiues escaped out of the battayle But in the holye Scripture there is no suche battayle founde They also violated humane ryght and the lawes for wyth weapons they inuaded those that were condemned by no ryght and they woulde take awaye the dominion ouer the Galaadites whych was geuen vnto Iiphtah The gift which was geuen vnto Iiphtah could not be reuoked But gyftes can not be reuoked by anye humane ryght vnlesse peraduenture there happen any ingratitude But that Iiphtah was not ingrate the benefites whiche he bestowed on his doo declare Yea and also in the Digestes De donacionibus in the lawe last saue one in the Paragraphe Si quis it is hadde that a gyft geuen vnto a man for that that he hath delyuered the geuer from theeues coulde not be reuoked not for ingratitude if any shoulde happen But
to sacrifice any other wher yet after the Salomon had built the tēple it was not lawful to offer out of it wherfore the highe places were to be takē away they should sacrifice no where but at Ierusalē But of al the kings onely Iosias Ezechias toke away the high places so hard a thing was it to leade the people to the true obediēce of god But Elias was moued by a certayne peculiar inspiration of God to Sacrifice other where Manoah demaundeth after the name of the Aungell neyther dyd he that so simply as hys wyfe dyd But that he should not be thought to demaund it curiously or without a cause he addeth a reason of hys request That if that come to passe whiche thou hast sayd we may honour thee that is with some reward But I cā not recōpence thee vnles I know who thou art where thou dwellest This Hebrew worde Peli is ambiguous to the Hebrues R. Salomon Aungels ar named of those things whiche they worke signifyeth both wonderful and also secrete R. Salomon sayeth that the names of aungelles are secrete so that they themselues knowe not their owne names And he addeth also that the Aungelles haue no names of their owne but onely haue surnames geuen them of those thynges whiche they are sent to take charge ouer Whiche thyng also the Epistle to the Hebrues toucheth when it calleth them ministryng spirites R. Salomon bryngeth examples out of the holy Scriptures An Aungell was sent vnto Esaye and bycause he dyd put a burnyng coale to his lyppes he was called Seraphim of this verbe Seraph whiche signifieth to burne So maye we saye of Raphaell that he was so called bycause he had healed Tobias as thoughe he were the medicine of GOD. Gabriell also after the same manner was called the strength of GOD. Also thys woorde Peli signifieth wonderfull for therefore came the Aungell to woorke a miracle And vndoubtedly it was very wonderfull to bryng fire out of a rocke whiche shoulde consume the Sacrifice And it may bee that the Aungell would not open hys name bycause menne at that tyme were prone vnto Idolatrye and they would easely when they had hearde the name of an Aungell peraduenture haue woorshypped it to muche religiously That which we haue called an oblation in Hebrew it is Minchah But what manner of oblation that was is vnderstoode by the .2 chapter of Leuit. There wer diuers kindes therof but it euer consisted of corne but yet not alwayes prepared after one manner it was so offred that some part of it was burnt vnto the Lord the other part was left for the Priestes The Papists babble that Minchah was a shadowe of their bready Sacrifice whiche thinge they haue fayned most impudently But hereof we will intreate in an other place Manoah layd the Kid and Minchah vpon the rocke Manoah myght not Sacrifice vnto the Lord by the lawe bycause he came of the tribe of Dan and not of the tribe of Leui. Wherefore he deliuered the fleshe vnto the aungell whom he thought to be a Prophete that he should sacrifice it For Prophetes had an extraordinary vocation that althoughe they were not of the famely of Aaron yet it was lawfull for them to sacrifice as we rede of Helias and Helizeus For whē religiō was decayed in the Priests god suffred others to minister their office But the aungell when the fleshe was put vpon the rocke wrought wonderfully He raysed vp fire out of the stone whiche consumed the offring Whiche thing we rede also was done in Gideon Althoughe it be not herein expressedly shewed that fire was drawen out of the rocke as it was openly sayd in Gideon yet is no mention made of fire that was brought by Manoah at the last it is sayd that the angell vanished away in the flame therfore it is credible that fire was striken out of the stone The angell ascended into heauen as though he vsed the flame for a chariot He dissolued the body whiche he bare and vanished away into the flambe whiche was a notable miracle They fell to the ground for feare for they were wonderfully amased and astonished when they sawe that it was an aungell whom before they thought to haue ben a man 22 And Manoah sayd vnto his wife We shall surely dye bycause we haue sene God 23 But hys wife sayde vnto hym If the Lorde would kill vs he woulde not haue receaued a burnt offryng and an oblation of our handes neither would he haue shewed vs all these thinges nor at this tyme told vs such thynges 24 And the wife bare a sonne and called his name Samson And the childe grewe and the Lord blessed hym 25 And the spirite of the Lord began to strengthen hym in the host of Dan betwene Zora and Esthaol In dyeng we shall dye That is we shall moste assuredly dye For the Hebrues in doublyng the woordes doo earnestly affirme Bycause we haue sene the Lord. Whereof this opinion sprang I haue tolde in the Hystory of Gideon where also I haue declared how God was sene of the fathers The opiniō of R. Leui ben Gerson Wherfore it nedeth not to repeate them in this place But this will I not ouerpasse that R. Leui ben Gerson writeth that this was not an aungell but a man of god and a Prophet namely Pinhas the sonne of Eleazar But he was called angel bycause Manoah and his wife thought hym to be so For after the same maner Ezras although he was a man yet was he called an aungell And Christ whiche is very man is called the aungell of the Testament But how he being a man vanished awaye in the flambe Leui ben Gerson declareth not But I more simply doo iudge him to haue ben an aungell in dede For Pinhas had not a secret name but a name well knowen in his tyme and the wordes of the texte do tend to this Of the name of Elohim to teache that it was an aungell VVe haue sene the Lord. In Hebrewe it is Elohim which althoughe it be the name of GOD yet is it communicated to aungelles yea and also to prynces and Prophetes accordyng to that saying I haue sayde ye are Goddes And Christe in the Gospell sayeth If they are called Goddes vnto whome is come the woorde of GOD why doo ye meruayle c This woman seemeth to be of a stouter courage them the man for she comforteth her husband Whose Oration is grounded vpon two argumentes The first is I do not thinke we shall dye bycause God would not haue accepted our sacrifice if he would haue destroyed vs. Wherfore seyng our sacrifice was acceptable vnto him he counteth not vs as enemyes But whereby knew she that that sacrifice was acceptable vnto GOD. Firste bycause the Aungell had commaunded it to be done which vndoubledly he would not haue don vnles he had vnderstoode that it should be acceptable vnto God Farther bycause the flambe had consumed the Sacrifice and
other suche lyke thinges For that for as muche as it was in their mynde or imaginatiue faculty it might well be done by formes images and visions Angels appearing in humane bodyes wer not men Nowe remayne there twoo thynges to be diligently wayghed One is whither Aungels when they after this sorte put on humane bodyes maye bee called men I thynke not For if we vnderstande humane fleshe whiche is formed and borne of a reasonable soule vndoubtedlye Aungels after that maner cannot be sayd to haue humane fleshe What then wyll some man saye Were the senses deceaued when men sawe them Not so For the senses iudge onelye outwarde thinges and suche thinges as appeare But what inwardlye impelleth or moueth those thinges which they see they iudge not That longeth to reason to seeke and searche out Thys also is to be added that Aungels dyd not continually retayne these bodies bicause they were not ioyned vnto them in one and the selfe same substaunce So that an Aungell and a bodye were made one person The holy ghost was not the Dooue nor the Doue the holye Ghost The holy ghost also although it was a true Dooue where he descended yet was not he together one substaunce with it Wherefore the Dooue was not the holye ghost nor the holy ghost the Dooue Otherwyse Aungels may as we haue before taught enter in deede into a bodye before made and whiche before had hys being as it is read of the Aungell whiche spake in the Asse of Baalam and of the Deuyll which by the Serpent talked wyth Eue. But at thys present we dispute not of that kynde but onelye saye that Aungels woorking in thys manner in the bodies of creatures are not ioyned vnto them in one and the selfe same substaunce Wherefore the Asse coulde not be called an Aungell neyther was the Aungell an Asse euen as the serpent was not in very deede the Deuyl neyther was the Deuyll the Serpent The sonne of God is God man But the Sonne of God for as much as he tooke vpon him humane nature was man and man was God bycause of one and the selfe same substaunce wherein were twoo natures But before when he appeared vnto Abraham and to the Fathers although he had true fleshe yet bycause it was not ioyned vnto hym in one and the selfe same substaunce he could not be called fleshe neither was flesh God But afterwarde when he tooke vpon hym both fleshe and soule so that there was onely one substance or person then man was God and God man Whereby it came to passe that he shoulde trulye bee borne that hee should dye and redeeme mankinde Wherefore he dyd truely call hym selfe the sonne of man and in Iohn he sayth ye seeke to kyl me a man whiche haue tolde you the truth And in the Scriptures it is sayd Made of the seede of Dauid And Peter in the Actes ye haue kylled sayth he a man appoynted you of God And Esay Behold sayth he a virgin shall conceaue and beare a Sonne These words haue great force For vnlesse Christe had bene true man a Virgin coulde not haue conceiued him neither haue brought him foorth nor called him her sonne This thing Tertulian prudently marked If he had bene a straunger sayth he Tertulian a Virgin coulde not either haue conceaued him or borne him The Aungell also saluted Mary after this maner Be not afraid sayd he thou shalt conceaue c. Elizabeth sayd How happeneth this to me that the mother of my Lorde shoulde come vnto me If she had Christ onely as a Straunger she coulde not be called hys Mother The Aungell also sayde Blessed be the fruite of thy wombe But how could it haue bene sayde the fruite of her wombe if he had brought a body wyth hym from heauen And in Esay it is wrytten A rod shall come oute of the roote of Iesse and a floure shall ascende out of his roote Iesse was the stocke Mary the braunch but Christ is the floure which tooke his body of her Mathew also thus beginneth his Gospell The booke of the generacion of Iesus Christe the sonne of Dauid the sonne of Abraham If Christ brought a bodye from heauen how was he the sonne of Abraham or Dauid Farther the promise made to Abraham of Christ is in this sorte In thy seede shall all nacions be blessed Paul intreating of these woordes to the Galathians He sayde not sayth he in seedes as though in many but in thy seede whych is Christe And in the Epistle to the Romanes wee reade Of whom is Christe according vnto the fleshe All these thynges prooue most apeartly that Christ was true man and in hym was one substaunce of God and man These thinges cannot be sayd of the Aungels neither of the Sonne of God before he was borne of the Virgin although whylest he appeared he had true fleshe as we haue before sayde but yet not ioyned vnto hym in one and the selfe same substaunce neither could it be sayde of the holy ghost that he was in very deede a Dooue althoughe that wherein he once appeared was a true Dooue And in this sense wrote Tertulian those thynges whych we haue before cited whych thinges being not wel vnderstoode might breede either error or offence vnto the Readers Now resteth the other question Whither Aungels did in very deede eate drink whē they appeared Scotus Whyther Aungels clothed wyth bodyes taken dyd in verye deede eate and drinke Of the Schoolemen some thinke that they dyd eate in verye deede and other denye it Scotus thynketh that to eate is nothyng els then to chawe meate and to conueyghe it downe into the bellye And thys thyng dyd the Aungels wherefore he gathereth that they dyd eate in very deede Other thynke that to eate is not onely to chawe the meate or to conueyghe it downe into the bellye but moreouer to conuert it into the substaunce of hys bodye by concoction thoroughe the power of vegitacion Thys for as muche as the Aungels dyd not therefore they dyd not eate in very deede The booke of Thobias The booke of Tobias is not in the Canon of the Hebrewes but yet it might be applyed vnto our purpose but that there is variaunce in the copyes For in that booke which Munster set foorth in Hebrue in the .xii. chapter Raphael the Aungell sayth I seemed to you to eate and to drinke but I dyd not eate neyther drynke The common translacion hath I seemed to you to eate and to drinke But I vse inuisible meate and drinke Neyther text denyeth but that the Aungell dyd after a certayne maner eate Augustine But whatsoeuer may be gathered of those woordes me thinketh the interpretacion of Augustine is to be receaued in his .iii. booke de Trinitate the .22 chap. where he thus writeth The Angels did eate in very dede but not for neede but to contract custome and familiarity with men Wherefore when in the one text it is said
rede that the sonne cā not be cōpelled to mary a wyfe de sponsalibus in the lawe sed ea if the doughter hold her peace she seemeth to cōsent vnto the father there are two causes ascribed wherfore the doughter may resiste her father if either the father offer her a wicked husband or a disfigured husbād Otherwise if there be none of these causes it is required of her to loue him whom the father hath chosē If she wil not assent when the husbād hath neither wicked maners nor is mishapen The punishement of ingratitude she incurreth the crime of ingratitude whiche is so great that the father may disinherite her for it And in the title de ritu nuptiarum in the law si cogente patre Although the sonne haue assented for feare of the father yet bicause he had rather assent then offend his father such a matrimony ought to be firme and ratified I would adde vnto the former cause the third if the father offer a husband whiche is of a contrary religion and I would euer counsell the parentes to gratifie their children What may bee done against to streight parēts vnles they see them to obstinate and vniust But when the parentes deale to tyrānically with their children compell them to mary wiues whom they cā not abyde the matter ought to be brought before the Magistrate whose office is to heare the cause and to delyuer the sonne from iniury if he be to cruelly oppressed Then if the sonne mary a wife by the authority of the Magistrate yea agaynst the will of the father he can not seme vtterly to haue maried without his fathers cōsent The Magistrate is the father of the coūtrey For the Magistrate is the father of the coūtrey The same thing semeth to be decreed de ritu nuptiarū in the lawe qui liberos And methinketh the schoolemen haue not well sayd that the children of the householde haue dominion ouer their owne body For as much as they owe vnto their parentes that they are They ought not to be compelled to mariages agaynst their wil but that they should mary without the consent of the parentes it can not be graunted thē And when they so often obtrude vnto vs liberty The doughters of Zalphead alledge the dominiō of their body we lay against it the answer of god as touching the daughters of Zalphead who sayth of them Let them haue heritage among their brethren but let them mary in their own tribe These wemē are compelled to mary their nyest of kynne neither had they that liberty whiche these men fayne And the brother was sometymes compelled to mary the wyfe of his brother beyng dead neither could she mary an other therfore so great liberty is not necessary in mariages as these men pretend And by the ciuill lawe It is permitted vnto the parentes to sell theyr children so great is the power of the father ouer the sonne that he may sell hym if he fall into greuous necessity And least that should seeme barbarous vnto any man the same thyng is permitted by the lawe of God in Exodus the .21 chap but yet adding certayne cautions whiche I thinke not good here to repeate Wherefore they did not rightly argue when they sayd that matrimony is a kynde of seruitude which the sonne ought not to take vpon him at the appointement of his father And in that they saye that the consent of the parentes is required for the honesty of matrimony and not for necessity it is friuolous and vayne For what greater necessity can there bee then that whiche the lawe and commaundementes of God bryng with them Children are commaunded to honour father and mother Also Paul the Apostle prescribeth them to obey their parentes in all thinges And the same thyng writeth he vnto the Phillipians the .4 chapter That whiche remayneth brethren What soeuer thynges are true whatsoeuer are honest whatsoeuer iuste whatsoeuer pure whatsoeuer profitable whatsoeuer lucky these thinges do ye c. By these woordes appeareth that the thynges whiche are honest muste not bee separated from the commaundementes of God Wherefore looke howe necessary it is to obey the commaundementes of God so necessary is it not to mary without the consent of the parentes And that whiche they adde that the consent of the parentes is in deede required but yet if they will not consent the matrimony may be firme That is nothyng elles then to deride the parentes For what contumely is it for the sonne in suche sorte to desire the consent of hys parentes that thoughe he be agaynst it and gaynesay it yet notwithstandyng will he abyde in hys purpose and execute it It were muche better not to desire it then to desire it with that mynde This also seemeth wonderfull vnto me that the master so peruerteth the woordes of Euaristus that when Euaristus sayeth that matrimonyes contracted without the consent of the parents are whooredomes and fornications and not matrimony he dare expounde that the matter is not so in deede but bycause they so assemble rogether as whooremongers and adulterers vse to doo But the sentence of Euaristus is manifest They are not sayeth he matrimonyes and he addeth what in deede they are namely fornications adulteryes and whooredomes And he sayeth not that they seeme to be these thynges but that they are There are other whiche obiecte vnto vs the booke of Genesis where it is wrytten that Esau maried Chananitishe wyues whiche his parentes tooke in very yll part for he had maryed them contrary to their cōmaundement And yet the Scripture calleth them wyues Wherefore it seemeth that matrimony may be contracted euen agaynst the parentes will I graunt in deede that in the holy Scriptures they are called wiues But yet for that cause bycause he so coūted thē bycause the nations amōg whom he dwelled counted thē for wyues But hereby is not gathered that the scriptures do confirme such matrimony The same forme of speakyng vsed Paul in the firste to the Corinthians the eyght chapter Euen as there are many gods and many Lordes He sayeth that there are many gods not the there are so in deede for there is but one God but bycause the most part so beleued and publique persuasiō thought that there was an infinite nūber of goddes Therfore he sayth many goddes but to vs that thinke rightly there is but one God The scripture so calleth thīgs as they are cōmonly called of men one Lord Iesus Christ It is no vnaccustomed or straunge thyng in the scriptures so to call thinges as men vse cōmonly to speake yet in an other place when they speake properly they call euery thing by his owne name But thou wilt say we neuer rede that the children of Esau were not legitimate I answere that Esau had in dede a greate posterity but whether it were legitimate or otherwise the Scripture declareth not Wherunto adde that with those nations among
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
Neither let any say They were not Gods that were taken awaye out of the temple of Micha but onely two images of Gods But Augustine sayth If they can not defende their owne images what hope is there that they can defende Cities or houses Virgil. But this thing is so much ridiculous that euen the Ethnicke Poetes deride it For Virgil hath soong of his Eneas He caried Troy with hym into Italy their Gods being ouercome Vndoubtedly miserable Gods which could be ouercome of men and be caryed into an other place Some wyll obiect That the Arke of the Lord was also taken once and led away after a sorte captiue of the Philistians I grauÌ„t that But how was it caried away To be kept as a prisoner No vndoubtedly For when it was put in the temple of the Philistians it threw Dagon their god to the ground Farther it strake the Philistians with so grieuous plagues and woundes that at the last they were compelled to send it home againe with honour And it was taken not bicause God can either be ouercome or taken but that the Hebrewes shoulde bee admonished of their synnes who wythout repentaunce or fayth dyd put al their confidence in an outwarde thyng They placed their children cattel and substance before Bicause they suspected that Micha would with armed soldiours pursue them to see if he could recouer the thinges which they had taken away Wherefore they woulde chieflye prouide for their children cattel and substance This woord Supplex which we turne substance is called in Hebrue Kechodah either bicause it signifieth a burthen or a packe or els a thing whereof men make their boast 22 When they wer farre of from the house of Micha the men that were in the houses neare to Michahs house gathered together and pursued after the children of Dan. 23 And cryed vnto the chyldren of Dan who turned theyr faces sayd vnto Michah what ayleth thee that thou makest an outcry 24 And he sayde ye haue taken away my Gods whyche I made and the Priest and go your wayes and what haue I more Howe then say ye vnto me what ayleth thee 25 And the children of Dan sayd vnto hym Let not thy voyce bee heard among vs least peraduenture men of a bytter mynde runne vpon thee and thou loose thy lyfe wyth the liues of thine houshold 26 So the chyldren of Dan went their wayes and when Michah saw that they were to strong for hym hee turned and went backe vnto hys house 27 And they tooke the thynges whyche Micha had made and the Priest which he had and came vnto Laish vnto a quiet people and wythout mystrust and smote them wyth the edge of the sword and burnt the City wyth fyre 28 And there was none to helpe bycause Laish was farre from Zidon and they had no busynes wyth other men also it was in the valley that lyeth by Beth-rehob After they buylte the Citye and dwelt therein 29 And called the name of the City Dan after the name of Dan their Father whych was borne vnto Israel how be it the name of the City was Laish at the beginning 30 Then the chyldren of Dan set them vp the grauen image and Ionathan the sonne of Gershom the sonne of Manasseth and hys sonnes were the Priestes in the Tribe of the Danites vntyll the day of the captiuitye of the land 31 So they set vp the grauen image whych Micha had made all the whyle the house of God was in Shiloh In that it is said that they which dwelled nigh the house of Micha were gathered together is declared that the number of the houses had increased that by reason of peregrinacions ther was in that place a village builded VVere gathered together In Hebrue it is Noecu by which verbe is signified that they were raysed vp by an outcrye For so are men gathered together when they heare an outcry on euery syde The Danites made him afearde and threatned that men of a bytter mynde would inuade him whom they so cal either bicause they were angry for choler is of his nature bitter or els bicause they were desperate as they in a maner are which seeke new dwelling places and depart from home bicause they can not there abide commodiously It is agayne repeated that they of Lais wer far from Zidon which declareth that they were in league with them But in that it is written that Ionathan and his sonnes were Priestes there euen to the day of the captiuity of the lande wee must not as farre as I iudge vnderstand it of the captiuity which the Hebrues suffred either by the Assirians or by the Chaldeians but of that whiche happened when they were plagued by the Philistians when also the Arke of the Testament was taken away I know also that there are some of the Hebrues which fable that this Ionathan was the neâ—ew of Moses by his sonne Gerson and that his Graundfather is here called Menasseh putting betwene this letter Nun for to honour Moses with all As though the holy scriptures doo not oftentimes make mencion of moste wycked children borne of excellent Parentes But this is to be marked that that is not very firme neither can it be certaine in that it was before said that this Leuite was a Gersonite bycause Gerson was the Sonne of Leui and not of Menasseh Wherefore it must nedes be vncertayne of what famely of the Leuites this man was But now let vs diligently weigh such things as are in this chapter worthy of peculiar noting Let vs chiefly consider how hurtful it is to want a Magistrate An euil Magistrate also wanteth not some vtilitye For althoughe sometimes there happen an euyl or to fauourable a Magistrate yet if the thing be wel weighed there commeth from him more good vnto the publike wealth then there would come euyl if there were in it no Magistrate at al. The Sunne and Moone although they haue sometimes aspectes not very fauorable whereby now and then ensue pestilences dearth of corne ouerflowing of waters or aultar to the ende that holy seruices shoulde bee done thereon but onelye they would haue it to be for a monument that they shoulde not bee counted straungers from their brethren but be thought to pertaine to the same people and the same God Wherfore if at that time the Israelites so hated Idolatry that they would for that cause haue made warre agaynst the Rubenites and Gadites it is not credible that they would haue suffered the impiety of Micha How this history is touched in the booke of Iosua How then could this history be mencioned of in that booke One of these twoo thinges we must answer either that there were two cities both of one name pertaining vnto the Danites which they by force conquered so that of the one is mencion made in the booke of Iosua and of the other in this historye But this seemeth to be but a fayned tale For those thinges which are written
accusation well and lawfully neyther by accusing doth he violate the law By accusinge the law is not violated but holpen yea rather he is an help vnto it as on the coÌ„trary side they which hold their peace and vtter not wicked acts ar against the lawes For eueÌ„ as of our selues we ought not to wish any mans death so must we not suffer the lawes to be openly and vilanously violated with out punishmeÌ„t This ciuil war is not to be imputed vnto the Leuite Wherefore let the bishops in the old time looke howe godly they did when they made intercession vnto magistrates for wicked men and for such as wer appointed to dy If thou wilt say ther straight way followed most ciuil warre whiche thing seemeth may be imputed vnto the Leuite But it is not so it ought rather to be ascribed vnto the Beniamits which would not punyshe so greate a wicked cryme In this history Iosephus somewhat varieth from the holy scriptures Iosephus Firste he denieth that this woman was an adultresse and that she therefore departed from her husband She was sayth he very beawtifull and when her husbande loued her excedingly and complained that she loued not him agayn she as one not able to abide his brawlinges fled vnto her parents But the holy scriptures do manifestly teache that she had played the harlot In which sentence al the interpreters agree together Farther he denieth that the Gabaonites thoughte this namely to abuse the Leuit he sayth that they being allured by the beawty of the wife desired onely to haue to do with her But that also is plainly against the holy scriptures wherin it is by expresse words written Bring forth the man that we may know him Farther he denieth that the Leuit deliuered his wife vnto them but the Gabaonites saith he toke her by violence At the last also he addeth this which I thinke also is very likely that the Leuite when he sent the peces of the body did sende messengers also to declare what was done otherwise he shoulde not much haue profited if he had sent but the peeces onely These euils did therefore happen bicause there was no magistrate or prince to iudge the Israelites In the papistical church ther is no magistrat The same thinge also happeneth when there is a magistrat or prince which doth not his office And bicause the ecclesiastical men haue at this day shaken of the yoke of the politicall Magistrate there is therefore no magistrate amonge them Whereby the Christian publike welth suffreth great discommodities ¶ Of a Magistrate THis place admonisheth me to entreat of a magistrate whome I iudge may thus be described namely to be a person elected by the institution of God to kepe the lawes as touching outward discipline in punishing traÌ„sgressors with punishment of the body and to noorish and defend the good There are vndoubtedly many persons elected by the institution of God which are not Magistrates as the ministers of churches whiche yet are keepers of the worde of God of his law but not as touching outwarde discipline onely Bycause it is the office of ministers by the word of God to pearce eueÌ„ to the inward mocioÌ„s of minds for the holyghost adioyneth his power both to the right preachinges of his word also to the sacraments which are distributed in the church But the magistrat onely exerciseth outward discipline punishment vpon transgressors The minister bindeth the guilty vnpenitent in the name of god and in his name excludeth them from the kingdome of heauen as long as they so remain The magistrate punisheth withoutward punishmentes when nede requireth vseth the sword Ether of them nourisheth the godly but after a diuerse manner the magistrate encreaseth them with riches honors and dignities the minister comforteth them with the promises of god and with the Sacramentes Wherefore the magistrate is instituted The end of a magistrate to the end that the lawes should be most diligeÌ„tly kept the guilty punished the good holpen noorished And vndoubtedly the law is a dumme magistrate againe the magistrate is a liuing and speaking law and so also is the minister of god as Paule sayth to theyr prayse which do well and contrarily he beareth the sword against the wicked as gods reuenger iudge neyther tende these thinges to any other end then to the health of men But the forme of magistrates is not one onely but manye as Monarchia Aristocratia Many formes of magistrates Policia or Tirannis Oligarchia Democratia The discriptioÌ„s and natures of which forms Plato Aristotle and other Philosophers haue elegantly taught Of all those formes the best is to be desired and all men to whome it pertayneth ought to prouide that a good or tollerable estate degenerate not into an euill one But if it happen that Tirans or wicked princes obteine the gouernment of thinges An example of the Iewes that is to be suffred asmuch as is by the word of god lawfull The Iewes were by violence oppressed of the Babilonians whome yet god admonished that they should obey to pray for the king although he were a tiran possessed the kingdome of the Hebrewes most wrongfully Cesar also held Iewry by tiranny and yet Christ sayd Geue that whiche is Cesars vnto Cesars the thinges that are of god vnto god The Apostles also haue taught that we must obey princes pray for theÌ„ Nero was a most vnpure beast whoÌ„ yet the Apostle in his Epistle to the Romains declared that he ought to be obeyed not onely for fear but also for coÌ„science sake Phocas possessed the empire of Rome by euil arts most cruelly slew Mauricius his prince also his children whom yet the Romaines acknowledged as theyr Emperor Gregory the .i. red vnto the people his coÌ„maundements writings If thou wilt demauÌ„d what form of a publike wealth that Iewes had it may easly be known by those things which we haue in an other place spokeÌ„ They had at the beginning this forme Aristocratia for god allowed the counsell of Iethro which was that ther should be choseÌ„ out wise meÌ„ strong such as fered god which should gouerne the publike welth as it is writteÌ„ in Exodus Deut. Yea god himself did so with his sprite inspire these .70 men whoÌ„ he had coÌ„maunded to be choseÌ„ as helpers of Moses that they also prophesied So were the Israelite gouerned although afterward they were gouerned by the power of a king Princes ar called Pastoâ—â— But this is not to be omitted the princes in the holy scriptures ar not only called DeacoÌ„s or ministers of god but also pastors of whoÌ„ Ezechiel coÌ„plaineth for many causes for that they cruellye peruerslye fed the people of God Homere also calleth Agamemnon the feder of the people For they ought not to beare rule as thieues or hired meÌ„ to flese to oppresse but to kepe
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
iniury done when the mayden is led away from her parents against her wil aginst their wil Consilium An reliauense in the same place he bryngeth the counsel of Orleance in the chap. de raptoribus where also he confesseth that rapte was wont to be punished with death But it is added that if the rapter come vnto the Church the punishment of death is escaped What shal there then be done If the mayden sayth he consented vnto the rapter first she shall be taken from him be restored to her parents but yet being excused that is a caution receaued that she be not slayne or disinherited But if she consented not she is by her selfe sufficientlye purged but the rapter shal be compelled to publike penaunce as it is had in the .36 q. 2. chap. Raptores But what if he wil not do penance He shal be excōmunicated Cōcilium Chal cedonense Cabilonense according to the counsel of Chalcedonia Cabilonum But if he do penance he shall be punished by the pursse And herein they say that they follow the word of God which is written in Deut. 22. chap. If a man defile a mayden he shal geue vnto her parents .50 sycles and shal take her to wife And so he condemneth the rapter to pay a certain sum of mony vnto the parent of the mayden The which sum if he wil not pay or haue not wherwithal to pay he is driuen to serue the father of the maiden for certaine yeres which the Gloser contracteth to fyue vpon this condicion that in the meane time he may redeme himselfe if he wyll It is also added If they consent together the matrimony is firme so that the father agree therunto And that these matrimonies may be firm betwene the rapter her that is rapted it also appereth by the decretals de Raptoribus et incendiariis Conciliū Mel dense in the chap. cum causa in the chap. following Which thing without dout is against the ciuill lawes the Canōs that are of the better sort But the coūsel of Meldenū hath far otherwise decreed For first it hath ordained that the rapter she that is rapted should do publike penāce afterward it permitteth matrimony but yet not betwene themselues but wyth other And it is added that if the husband or wife of either of them die he which hath cōmitted the rapte or consented vnto the Rapter cannot contract new matrimony except the bishop release him Farther it is ordained that by no meanes any such matrimony shuld be firme no though the Parentes consent therunto Yea and the same Gracian confesseth Consilium Aquisgrauense that the same thing was decreed in the Counsel which was had at Aquisgranum Yet afterward both he himselfe otherwise defineth also the decretals of the Popes What then make they of those Counsels They answer that those Counsels ment this that it should not be lawful to contract matrimony in that case vnles open penance be fyrste done and the consent of the Parentes had Ierome And to proue that sentence Gracian in the .36 q. 2. chap. Tria citeth Ierome who semeth to acknowledge three lawful kindes of matrimony One when a mayden is geuen in matrimony to a husband by her Parentes or Tutors An other if a mayden bee oppressed of a man her father afterward consent to geue her him in matrimony The third is if the father cōsent not to such mariages but geue her vnto an other mā These three matrimonies he saith are lawful in the holy scriptures But in the .27 q. 2. chap. Additur is by the testimonye of Ierome an other kynde of lawfull matrimonye added namely when a widow which is not vnder the power of the Parentes marieth in the Lord. Hereby Gracian gathereth that Ierome acknowledgeth matrimonye betwene the Rapter her that is rapted But I perceaue that in the .22 chap. of Exodus is nothing intreated of rapte onelye mencion is made of fornication and not of rapte For it is said If he shal by flatteries allure her to lye with him then hath he libertye geuen him that he may take her to his wife hauing the consent of the Parentes But if a man had rapted a mayden or man chylde then he was iudged by the lawe called Lex Plagii which is written in Deutronomy testifieth that he shoulde be punished with death whosoeuer stealeth a womā or mā in Israel Wherfore ther is nothing writtē in the holy scripture as far as I se as touching the establishing racefieng of such a matrimony But here some man wil obiect that Iacob his sonnes consented that Sechem one of the sonnes of Demor Of the rapte of Dina. should haue in matrimony Dina Iacobs daughter whō Sechem had rapted so that his subiectes would suffer thēselues to be circumcised I graūt this but it was done before the law of Moses was geuen Neither do we rede that the Patriarches had anye woorde of God concerning this thing Neither can it be denyed that before the law was published very many thinges wer cōmitted against it Iacob of whō we now intreate had the same time .2 sisters in matrimony Amrā had to wyse his Aunt of whom he had Moses Aaron Maria which matrimonies after the law was geuen wer not lawful Wherfore the example now brought proueth nothing But if hope of matrimony should be geuen vnto Rapeters there shoulde be opened a wide window for furious yong men to vse raptes For they wyll make no doubt to rapte if they may hope to mary her whom they haue rapted But all occasions of euyll are to be taken out of the publike wealth and the Church Farther forasmuche as Parentes are highly to be honored if matrimonies should against their wils he contracted betwene the Rapter and her that is rapted they should suffer great cōtumely This thing also semeth to be added that Lucius the Pope writeth to the bishop of Burgenū as it is had Extra de Raproribus et Incendiariis in the chap. Cum causa that he decreeth that if a mayden saye that before she was rapted there were woordes passed betwene them of mariage it cānot be called properly rapte What shal then be done May she agaynst her Parents wil mary the Rapter Innocentius the .3 in the chap. following decreeth If a maiden be rapted against her wil and afterward consent to mary the Rapter that mariage is also firme yea although it be agaynst the wil of her Parentes And he addeth that this is done in the honor of matrimony when as in deede it apertlye pertayneth to the reproche therof if a man do more deepely weigh the whole matter In the 27. q. 2. chap. Raptor it is had If a mayden that is rapted bee betrothed vnto an other by the woords of the future tence she must be restored vnto him so that he wil receaueher But if he wil not it is free for the maiden which
man is his castle 252. b Humours abounding in the bodye knowne by dreames 135 Hus and Ierome of Prage traiterously murdered 39. b Husay traitor 38. b Husband how he is the wyfes hed 149 Husbandry not contemned of excellent men 114 Hye way ought none to forbid 186 Hypallage 14. b Hyperbole is not alwais a lie 88. b I IAbes Gilead where 281 Iacob lyed 89 Iahel praised 110 Iahels guile in killing Sisara 100 Iahel traitor 38. b Idle persons oft see dreames 135. b Idole defined 68 Idole of the minde 69. b Idols taken away 266 Idols breakyng not lawfull for all sortes of men 61 Idolaters blindnes 244. b Idolaters cannot abide to haue vngodly worshippings taken away 124. Idolatry handled 68 Idolatry of ij sortes 49. 238 Idolatry committed to Princes 68. b Idolatry the common sinne of the Israelites 173. b Idolatrous worshippings imitate as nie as they can the true worshipping of God 239 Iebus an old name of Ierusalem 34. b Iebus is Ierusalem 250. b Iebusites why they were not driuen out of Ierusalem by Iudah and Beniamin 34 b Iehues disceit defended 85 Iehues facte againste his prince is not to be imitated vnlesse a man haue like commission 91 Ienunies family 251. b Iericho in the territory of Beniamin situate in a plaine 30. 27. b Iericho cursed why 30. b Ierome vpon the prouerbes 42 Ierome against Augustine 88. b Ieromes error 279 Ierome of Prage 39. b Ierubbaal a name of Gedeon 124. b Ierusalem called Iebus 250. b Ierusalem taken in Iosuas tyme 14. b Ierusalem commune to Iudah and Beniamin called Iebus 34. b Iewes common welth was Aristocratia 255. b Iewes suffred emonges Christians 57 It oft in scripture declareth an oth 106 Ignatius alledged for the masse 42 Ignorance of christians is to be reproued 45. b Ignorance lesse sinne thē transgression with knowledge 20 Ignorant of god who 66. b Iiphtah sonne of an harlot 176. b Iiphtah and Abimilech compared 183. b Images of saintes original 151. b Images erecting not alwaies for deuine worshippings 157. b Images worshipped in the masse 50. b Images ought to be taken awaye but not of priuate men 245 Image of the sun not vngodlye vsed 66. b Image of God consisteth holynes 111 Imber dayes 276. b Imitation of God professed of all christen men 249. b Imitation of God not lawfull in all thinges 129 Imitation of Christ fond 278. b Imitation superstitious 202. b Immunity defined 263 Impulsions are sinnes 180 Incest punished 4 Incest hath commonly ill end 20. b Incestuous seede hated of god 80. b Inconstancy of mans mynd 282 Inconstancy of scholemen 129 Indifferent thinges may bee kepte sometimes or left 51. b Indifferent thinges and necessarye 287 Infantes should not be compelled to fast 277 Infection is to be auoyded 46. b Ingratitude and commodities therof 155. b Ingratitude to defer thankes to God 104 Ingratitude of the Ephramites against Iiphtah 197 Ingratitudes degrees 198 Iniquities of fathers visited vpon their children how 73 Iniuries priuate shoulde be forgeuen 13. b Iniuries priuate we may not reuenge 4 Iniury with iniury is not to be put away 227. b Inquisitors of hereticall prauitye 146. b Instance and perseuerance in calling vpon god 175 Instilling of newe malice into vs god vseth not 97 Intent good 152 Intent godly 283 Intent ill of ii kindes 152. b Intēt habituall without any good mocion of the hart 153 Interdictious of the Pope 246 Interpretors of dreames punished by the Romain lawes 138. b Interrogatiue speache 96 Inuasion what 283 Inuentions of man to worship god are to be abiected 152 Inuentions of man are not to bee compared with ceremonies of the law 52 Inuentions of man to serue God with is Idolatry 69 Inuentions of men lacke no defenders 124 Inuocation of the dead saints 68. b Inuocation of the dead how it began 151. b Inuocation lawfull for thinges aboue mans power onely to God 129 Ioannes Cassianus 42 Ioas Gedeons father no Baalyte 115 Iobs booke 171. b Iohn the apostle whether he were subiect to Cletus Liuus or Clemens 149. b Ionathas traytor 38. b Iorneying ought not to be taken in hand without inuocation of God 251 Iosaphat had ill lucke for ioyning with the king of Israel 99. b Iosephus boke of antiquities 172. b Iosua no booke of the iudges 6 Iosua whē he should die executed the office of a good prince 65. b Iosuas death and buriall 66 Iothans apology 159. b Iorneying into far countreies 29. b Ioy moueth weeping sometimes 62. b Ioynters to wiues 26. b Irony what 88 Irony vsed by god 174. b Irregularitye of the Canonistes 146. b Isaschar the obscurest tribe 172. b Ismaelites and Madianites whether they were all one 150. b Israelites commune weale gouerned by iudges how long 3. b Israelites oppressed in tyme of the iudges why 2. b Israelites why they were so prone to Idolatry 173. b Israelites offences in their expedition against the Beniamites 288 Israelites against Beniamin ouerthrown why 271. b Israelites cruelty against the Beniamites 280 Ithabyreus is thabor 98. b Itenerarium Petri. 149. b Iudges booke is rather an historye then a chronicle 3 Iudges booke who wrote it 4. b Iudges boke why it is so called 1 b Iudges booke what thinges it entreateth of 1 Iudges booke howe it is referred vnto Christ 2. b Iudges of the Israelites chosen by God 2 Iudges how God raised vp 78 Iudges of the Israelites are an example for the papists in that they were neither kinges nor Lords 2 Iudges and kinges compared 2 Iudge is no murtherer when hee punisheth 165. b Iudging signifieth reuenging 93. b Iudgementes in gates why 106. b Iudgement rashe ii wayes 277. b Iulianus Apostata 45. b Iustification is not of the worthynes of the acte of faith but of the firme promise of god which fayth embraceth 207. b K KAyes of the church wherin they consist 262 Kayes geuen to all the Apostles alyke 149 Kenites children of Moses father in lawe 27 Kenites wer kinsfolkes by aliance to the Israelites 101 Killings of men some please God 194. b Killing by chaunce 165. b King of Denmarkes guile 85 King defined 11. b King of the Israelites coulde none appoint but God 147 Kinges ende 157 Kings letters for a wyfe 215. b Kinges and great men shoulde not kepe othes but merchaunts onelye 85. b Kings are vehemētly angry 166. b Kings that raigne vniustly are not to be put downe 91 Kinges corrected by their subiectes 91 Kinges are bound both to serue the Lord and to see that other do the same 266 Kingdom compared with Aristocratia 156 Kingdoms large not profitable 11. b Kinred is to be contemned for gods wordes sake 101. b Kinsfolkes how far they are to bee respected 156. b Kinsfolkes of all sortes called bretheren 23 Kinsfolke murtherers 157 Kiriath sepher 17. b Kison riuer 96 Knowledge the beginning of foure principal affections 141. b Knowledge of God diuers wayes 118 Knowledge of God in this lyfe is