praise in them 2 264 b 265 a The metaphor of a good and euill tree inferred for the proofe of them in the not regenerate explaned 2 267 ab Two Works in man first to vnderstand and then to practise 2 301 a Three kindes in vs to bee noted 2 253 ab All euill cannot be made good by an intent 2 388 b Whereof it commeth that they so bee 3 55 b When they shal be actuallie perfect 2 566 b Working Of Working together with good 3 51 a Howe and in what sort 1 207 b 208 a Howe wee are made able to Worke togither with the holie Ghost and with grace 2 â—70 ab 271 a World How the world shall perish and not perish 3 381 a Nothing found therein so vile and base but giueth a testimonie of God 1 12 b How Christ is said to haue left it c. 4 156 b 157 a Of the change of all things at the ende of the same 3 393 a The Philosophers errour touching the beginning of it 110 b 111 a How long as some say it shoulde endure 3 386 ab Two principall conditions of the renewing thereof 3 397 a Of praying and not praying for the ende thereof 2 398 a Of comprehending the creatioÌ„ of it by faith 1 16 b No certeintie of the continuance of it in the scriptures 3 385 b Whether it shal vtterly perish 3 397 a Of the fire which shall consume and burne it 3 395 ab 396 a Worship One manner of Worship giuen vnto God another vnto men 2 342 b A difference is to be obserued betweene ciuill and diuine 2 309 a With what God must be serued and of the Papisticall 2 315 a. Of the inward and outward and wherein they both consist 2 316 b To worshippe God otherwise than he hath appointed is idolatrie 2 309 b After what maner wee shoulde Worship the flesh of Christ 4 177 b The Turkes Worship not the true God though they be zealous in their worship 4 96a The true Worship of GOD where and how 4 67 b In what thinges it doeth consist 3 305 ab 2 385a It must not bee done to holy men 2 345 a Done to Christ prooueth his diuinitie 2 601 a We must Worship God in that he is felicitie 2 574 b What earth that is which ought iustly to haue Worship done to it 4 177 b The nature and propertie of such Worship as consisteth in outwarde signes doone to Princes and states c. 2 307 b What P. Martyr concludeth of that which the Centurion did to Peter and Iohn to the Angell and whether it were idolatrous 2 309 a If to Worship angels bee not lawfull why were they worshipped in the olde Testament 2 347 a What Worship that is which we must do vnto saints 2 348 a What the Papists alleage for the maintenance of their idolatrous Worship 2 315 b Of being present thereat 3 265 ab What it is to Worship images 2 344b Ieroboams purpose of establishing an idolatrous Worship to God 2 315 b False Worship of God is not to be suffered in a kingdome howe God punished it 2 324. 325. Of such as allowed images but not their Worship 2 344 b Peresius attributeth a kind of Worship to the Crosse 2 343 b 344 a Who Worship their owne phansies 1 612 b Worshipping Two kindes of religious Worshipping the one inward the other outward and wherein they consist 2 307 ab ¶ Looke seruice Worthie Howe the more Worthie thing is sometime ordained for the lesse worthie 1 6 b VVr Wrath. Wrath taken in Scripture foâ— vengeance 3 388 b Gods is not stirred vp but vpon iust cause 2 218 a Pighius interpretation howe wee bee the children of Wrath by nature 2 217 b 218 a What things doe make vs so 2 218 a What and when the day of Wrath is 3 388 b Wrestling Two sorts of Wrestling 3 234 a Of Iacobs Wrestling with the Angell 3 283 b 284 a Wrong What we must doe in cases of Wrong 2 557b ¶ Looke Iniurie Ye Yeare Of the reuolution of the great Yeare 3 328 b 329 a Yeares When dayes are to be takeÌ„ for Yeares the scripture teacheth 3 324 b 325 a The same manner of them were at the beginning that bee nowe though Plinie say the contrarie 1 128 a What the thousand Yeares that Christ shal reigne with his saints doe signifie 3 358 ab Yesterday Christ Yesterday and to day how it is expounded 3 325a Yo. Youth What things Youth are not to be admitted to heare or reade 2 550 b The testimonies of diuers writers touching their vntowardnes 1 53 ab Their faults must be no cause to keepe theÌ„ froÌ„ hearing of wholsome doctrine 1 54 a How they behaue theÌ„selues in hearing 1 53 b May heare good doctrine with profit why reade the proofes 1 53 a Not excepted from hearing the worde of God 1 57 b Ze. Zeale Of Zeale and what the etymon of the worde teacheth 1 94 a Fond in the Apostles to imitate Elias 2 387 a Wherein they agree and wherein they differ is taught by a proper similitude 1 95 a It must first be well tried before we giue place vnto it and why 1 95 b A verie euill and blinde Zeale noted in some which is ioyned with selfeloue 1 95 b The Zeale of Iehu was not iust 2 572 b A Zeale without knowledge in the Iewes 2 560 a 1 94 b 95 a 96 a FINIS propositi laus Christo nescia FINIS A breefe Table Collected out of the additions shewing effectuallie such matters as are therein conteined Where also the Reader for his further resolution may turne backe to the former Table ABrahams fact in defending Saraes chastitie 149 a What we haue to note in his seruant prescribing himselfe a signe to knowe Isaacs wife by 152 a His faith in respect of that of the new testament 248 a.b Whether his bowing to the angels were idolatrie 150 b What the promises of God vnto him doo teach vs. 149 b Whether he sinned when he laie with his handmaid 150 b. Accidents and whether they may be in manie places or in two subiects at one time 192 a That our bodies are not nourished by them 196 a Actions and how they are iudged iust and vniust 161 a A distinction of them and their subiects 131 b Of the good morall ones of infidels 104 a The will commandeth them 105 b Thrée kinds of them handled in the ten commandements 164 b Adam and to what end he was created c. 37 a Diuers things concerning him spoken 145 a Aduersities and what we are to consider in them 159 b 157 a How Christ by his afflictions did sanctifie them all 3 b 4 a Adulterie and that it ought to be punished with death 167 a Affections that are faultie and not faultie 68 b 69 a Diuersitie of them by turnes in mans will 105 b We must not be void of them and why 66 b Touching their vse
also promises of him both to be and to be performed Wherefore that name of Iehoua is properlie attributed vnto God of the similitude of which word Iupiter being desirous to be reputed for a God commanded himselfe to be called Ioue The Rabbins saie that those letters wherof that word consisteth are spirituall What the word spirit signifieth And vndoubtedlie God is a spirit and a spirit first signifieth things that be without bodies or that haue light bodies as vapors and exhalations the which in shew are light and thin but yet they are of excéeding great strength For by them earthquakes are stirred vp the huge seas are troubled the storms of wind are blowne abroad Wherefore that word began afterward to be applied to the soule of man to angels and to God himselfe for these things which otherwise séeme but slender doo bring great things to passe Others saie that those letters whereof the word Iehoua is written be resting letters and that is verie agréeable vnto God No waie to find quietnes but in God onlie For séeing we doo all séeke for rest and felicitie there is no waie to find the same but in God onelie thus much hitherto of the word Iehoua signifieth the chéefe being wherevpon Plato had that his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or essence And that this may be the more manifest some of the names of God are deriued from his substance Names deriued from Gods substance and other from some propertie Substantiall names be Iehoua Ehi that word signifieth I will be For there is no creature that may saie I will be For if God drawe backe his power all things doo straitwaie perish God doubtlesse may trulie saie so bicause he cannot faile nor forsake himselfe Names referred vnto his properties Other names are referred to some propertie of God as El vnto might Cadoseh vnto holines Schaddai vnto sufficiencie howbeit these things in God be no accidents but onlie as we comprehend them in our cogitations For whereas God is infinite and we cannot wholie comprehend him yet by certeine tokens and effects we doo in some part vnderstand of him thereof are those names which signifie some propertie of God The Iewes being led of a certeine superstition pronounce not that holie name Tetragrammaton but in the place thereof they put Adonai or Elohim and so thinke that they worship the name of God more purelie and reuerentlie but God requireth no such kind of worship And hereby it commeth to passe that in translating of the holie scriptures the Grecians for Iehoua haue made Lord as in stead of Iehoua liueth they haue said The Lord liueth And whereas in the new testament Christ is so oftentimes called Lord his Godhead is nothing atall excluded by that word as some vnpure men doo babble but is rather established Vndoubtedlie Thomas ioined both togither Iohn 20 28. My Lord saith he and my God Finallie God In Iudg. 2 verse 1. to the intent that the knowledge of him might not be forgotten hath accustomed to put men in mind of those benefits which he hath bestowed vpon them and would that those should be as certeine words expressing vnto vs his nature and goodnes And hée beginneth alwaies the rehersall at his latter benefits and of them he claimeth to himselfe titles or names attributed vnto him vnder which he may both be called vpon and acknowledged For euen at the beginning God was called vpon as he which had made heauen and earth afterward as he that was the God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob after that as the deliuerer out of Aegypt then a deliuerer out of the captiuitie of Babylon but lastlie as the father of our Lord Iesus Christ ¶ Of the omnipotencie of God looke Peter Martyr in his Treastise Of both natures in Christ set foorth at Tygure 1563. pag. 4. 3 The words which be in the second booke of Samuel the seuenth chapter In 2. Sam. 7 verse 23. Looke In Gen. 18. at the beginning And In 2. Sam. 23 verse 2. verse the 23. namelie The gods came that he might redéeme vnto himselfe a people are a sharpe corsie vnto the Hebrues which will not acknowledge thrée persons in the diuine nature Som bicause it is said Gods refer it to the opinion of men Such is that saieng of Paule There be manie gods and manie lords 1. Cor. 8 5. For neither can they admit or alow of a multitude of gods But forsomuch as the intreating here is of a singular or particular fact this place must in anie wise be vnderstood of the true God Kimhi thinketh that Dauid said Gods for honor sake euen as men also to speake the more pleasinglie and ciuilie doo oftentimes vse the plurall number in stead of the singular But if it be so what new religion entered straitwaie into Dauid Why did he straitwaie adde Thou Lord in the singular number For we must heape vpon God all the honours that we can Others had rather refer this saieng vnto Moses and Aaron who were sent to deliuer the people out of Aegypt but this cannot be for in the booke of Chronicles all these things are spoken of God himselfe by name 1. Chro. 17 verse 11. For so Dauid speaketh Thou camest to redeeme thy people Wherefore we shall much more rightlie and trulie vnderstand the thrée persons in one diuine nature The Trinitie namelie the Father the Sonne and the holie Ghost which being thrée persons yet are they shut vp vnder one substance This opinion is true sound and catholike whether the Hebrues will or no. But those words which be added And might doo great things for you some would by Apostrophe or conuersion of speach refer them to the Iewes which me thinke is not probable For Dauid talked not of these things with the people but secretlie with God Wherefore I had rather thus to vnderstand them of God himselfe and to ascribe these maruellous things to one God in thrée persons But God came to deliuer his people when he sent Moses Aaron vnto them for when he appointed Moses to that message he added withall And I will be with thee God doubtlesse is in euerie place at all times Exod. 3 12. but then he is said to come How God is said to come Exo. 12 12. when he dooth some great or new thing And so he was said to be among the Iewes when he smote the Aegyptians and their first borne Againe when Pharao followed the Iewes going foorth of Aegypt and that they began to murmur thinking that they should euen then haue perished Moses on this wise recomforted them God shall fight for you and ye shall be still Exo. 14 14. yea the Aegyptians themselues also did perceiue the same For they said Let vs flie awaie Ibidem 25. for God himselfe dooth fight for them Yea and afterward when the people had worshipped the golden calfe and that God was angrie he would not go foorth with them
it if sentence be giuen on the behalfe of custome custome is confirmed But all these things as I said before must be reduced to the rule of Gods word Onlie this séemeth now méet to be added which is in the Extrauagants De consuetudine A custome burdensom vnto the church must be reiected chapter 1. that A custome cannot be suffered if it be burdensome vnto the church Also Augustine complained that in his time there were such a number of new rites and ceremonies sprong vp that the church was gréeuouslie burdened and that the state of christians at that time was nothing at all more tollerable than in old time the state of the Iewes The same exception doo we also take against our aduersaries that the church should not be ouerburdened This is their owne lawe why doo they not acknowledge their owne words In Rom. 3 verse 21. Rom. 1 2. 12 Paule disputing in the third chapter of the epistle to the Romanes of the righteousnes of faith added that the same hath testimonie both of the lawe and of the prophets which he therefore saith bicause that the doctrine which he set foorth might séeme to be new and latelie sproong vp Newnes must be remooued from the Gospell But in the Gospell newnes must speciallie be shunned and therefore he testifieth in euerie place that the Gospell is ancient and was ordeined of God from the beginning And at the beginning of the epistle he wrote that God promised the same by his prophets in the holie scriptures And at this daie the controuersie betwéen vs our aduersaries is as touching doctrine while they affirme that we bring in new things and that themselues doo cleaue fast to the ancient doctrine But we learne of the Apostle how this coÌ„trouersie may be determined * What doctrine is old and what is new Assuredlie that doctrine is old and ancient which hath testimonie from the lawe and the prophets that is of the holie scriptures but that shall be iudged new whereof there is no mention in them They erect the Masse The popish is new for that it hath no testimonie of the scriptures where onlie one man doth communicate for others that doo stand by This hath no testimonie in all the whole scriptures We affirme that the supper of the Lord ought to be common vnto the faithfull which is most manifestlie shewed by the institution thereof as we haue it in the Gospels and in Paule These men deliuer vnto the laitie the sacrament of Christes bodie Matt. 24 26. 1. Cor. 11 verse 24. halfe maimed and vnperfect This doubtles they not onlie haue not out of the holie scriptures but plainelie against the scriptures They mainteine inuocations of the dead which they are not able to confirme by the scriptures They driue the cleargie from matrimonie They defend purgatorie They reteine images They vse strange toongs in the diuine seruice choise of meates and garments shauings annointings and an infinite number of such like things they obtrude vpon vs as necessarie to the woorship of God and that altogither without testimonie of the scriptures Let them learne out of Paule which minding to teach the righteousnes that commeth by Christ saith that It hath testimonie of the law and the prophets and not that it was deuised by himselfe But the doctrine of these men aduanceth impietie for they bring in the inuentions of men in stead of necessarie woorshipping of God which hauing no testimonie out of the scriptures The reason why newnes in religion must be auoided Deut. 12 32. must of necessitie be new And the reason why it behoueth in religion to beware of newnes is for that God commandeth in Deuteronomie that none should either adde too or take awaie anie thing from his customes and commandements Yea and Plato himselfe in his lawes and common-weale forbad that nothing should be made new in things which belonged vnto religion No doubt Mens laws may bee changed but the lawes of men may be altered bicause the fourme of a common-weale is sometimes altered Neither doo those lawes which serue for a kingdome serue also for the gouernement of a Signiorie a Common-weale of the vulgar people Moreouer séeing lawe-makers are but men they cannot perceiue all things that should be done And manie chances doo happen euer among for the which it behooueth both to amend and change lawes And as in arts something hapneth in euerie age for the more perfecting of them so lawes likewise now and then by successe of times are amended and reduced to a better fourme But none of these things takes place in the lawes of God For as touching the Church she altereth not hir fourme The outward gouernment of the church altereth not the fourme It is alwaies one manner of common-weale and nothing is hidden from the vnderstanding of God the author of the lawes he foreséeth all things neither is his knowledge augmented by the successe of time Wherefore there is no cause why men should attempt to alter anie thing in his word The twelfe Chapter Of sundrie things attributed vnto God and the holie Trinitie where his godhead is prooued to be in the Sonne and in the holie Ghost THE nature of God is infinite In 1. Sam. 17 verse 45. so as it cannot be comprehended vnder one title to knowe him by wherefore his name is verâ—e large By effects and works we gather of the nature of God yet neuerthelesse by effects works are gathered his singular properties whereby we may vnderstand all the diuine nature and power that séeing we cannot comprehend the whole we may at the leastwise come vnto the knowledge of him by parts This similitude was of strange and foren coines and could not be englished properlie If there were anie so rude and vnskilfull as he knew not the value of a double sufferant we would saie that the same conteineth in it pence grotes testers shillings crownes nobles roials and lastlie the sum of twentie shillings By these parts and small portions vnlesse he were excéeding blockish he might vnderstand how much a double sufferant is woorth Euen so men after a sort doo perceiue the nature and infinite substance of God by these parts and titles to knowe him by not that there be anie parts in God but bicause that we onlie by such effects parts may gather of his power infinit greatnes Diuers and manifold are the titles whereby he is knowne as when he is called Pitifull Mercifull Constant Iust Good The God of Sabaoth and such like In 1. Sam. 29 verse 6. 2 And that this may be the better vnderstood he is called Iehoua of Haia that is To be and that name agréeth properlie vnto God For God is so an essence or being Whereof God is called Iehoua as the same floweth from him vnto all other things Whatsoeuer things are doo depend of him neither can they be without his power helpe Lastlie they haue
am not ignorant that they alledge for themselues that which is said in the 81. psalme Psal 81 13 I permitted them to their owne harts lust But if we confer with the true Hebrue text it will appéere more féeble of lesse proofe than they be aware of For the verbe Schillach in the Hebrue is in the coniugation Piel which by the force of the coniugation signifieth A vehement action neither is it conuenient that we should abate the force thereof through expounding of it by the word Permission Nay rather How the word of permitting is vnderstood in the scriptures Rom. 1 24. it agrées with the phrase of Paule wherein it is said in the epistle to the Romans that God deliuered the wicked to a reprobate sense and it is rather shewed that God cast awaie the wicked than permitted them But whereto did he permit them or cast them off Verelie to their own wicked desires as who saith they should be wholie possessed and gouerned by them And in this sense is that Hebrue word oftentimes vsed in the scriptures In Genesis it is shewed Gen. 3 24 that God cast man out of Paradise and who would there interpret the word Cast out by the word Permitted seing he rather draue and thrust them out from thence Moreouer in the 19. chapter the angels saie And the Lord hath sent vs out to destroie Sodom in which place Gen. 19 13. To send foorth cannot be the selfe same that is to Permit And it is written in Ezechiel It brought foorth the branch Ezec. 17 6 while notwithstanding a vine dooth not permit the branch to come foorth of it but dooth rather inforce it to bud out Wherfore let the interpretour beware least in that place he interpret the Hebrue verbe Schillach by the verbe of permitting 42 Neither must we passe it ouer The scriptures attribute the permission of God as well to good things as to bad Hebru 6 30 that the holie scriptures no lesse attribute the permission of God vnto good things than vnto euill For the apostle in the sixt chapter to the Hebrues when he intreated of good things saith If God shall permit Iulian the Pelagian as appéereth out of Augustine in the third chapter of the fift booke which he wrote against him was of the opinion that when it is said in the scriptures that God deliuereth or blindeth it must onelie be vnderstood that he leaueth or permitteth But contrariwise Augustine saith that God dooth not onlie permit but as the apostle taught He declareth his wrath and power Furthermore Iulian writeth that such spéeches are hyperbolicall or excessiue spéeches Augustines opinion of permission Rom. 9 22. but Augustine affirmeth that they be proper Iulian interpreteth that these which are said to be deliuered to their owne lusts were infected before with these diseases wherfore he addeth What néed was it Whether to haue lusts and to be deliuered to them is all one that they should be deliuered to them It was enough that they were suffered to wallowe and rest in them Vnto this Augustine saith Dooest thou thinke it all one to haue desires and to be giuen ouer vnto them For the vngodlie be giuen ouer vnto their naughtie luss not onelie that they may haue them but that they may be altogither had and possessed of them Wherefore the same father added Euen as God dealeth in the bodies of wicked men by vexing punishing them euen so he worketh in the minds of them by driuing of them vnto sinnes And in the same place he intreateth of the historie of Semei 2 Sam. 16 verse 10. where Dauid saith The Lord commanded him to curse me The Lord saith Augustine iustlie inclined the will of Semei being euill through his owne fault to raile vpon Dauid and the cause is shewed For the Lord shall reward me good for this rebuke The same Augustine also in his booke De gratia libero arbitrio writeth that God dooth worke in mens minds inclining them as well vnto good as vnto euill oftentimes by his secret iudgement yet somtimes by his manifest iudgement but euermore by his iust iudgement Wherevnto adde that how and for what cause he dooth these things it is excéeding hard to expresse But yet this is most certeinlie to be determined that these euils so far foorth as they come of God be not sinnes but are things iust and good but in that they procéed either from the diuell or from men of good right they ought to be accounted sinnes The Manicheis The Manicheis when they could not vnwrap themselues out of this doubt did feigne that there were two beginnings of things whereof the one should be good but the other euill But we teach that there is one God the author of all good things wée saie that sinnes sprang vp by the departing of Adam from God and yet that those sinnes are tempered and ruled by the will and pleasure of God Wherevpon we conclude that the verie actions themselues that is the subiects of sins be of God and that he when he thinketh it meet dooth withdrawe his grace and succour and that afterward he ruleth bendeth the naughtie lusts of men which waie soeuer it shall please him and that séeing he vseth the sinnes of men to the punishment of other sinnes it cannot be said that he by no meanes at all would them Of the sinne of Adam But of the sinne of Adam the question is the more difficult bicause there was no fall of his went before which should be punished by God with a latter sinne Yet vnto this we answer that the action of his that is the subiect of deformitie and vnrighteousnes was of God but the priuation or defect came of the frée will of Adam whom God created vncorrupt frée and perfect but yet not so that he might not reuolt and doo amisse Neither was the grace of God whereby he should be kept backe from falling so great as it did firmelie establish him And it cannot be doubted but that God would that Adam should fall otherwise he had not fallen and he would haue him fall doubtlesse not in respect of sinne but that he might vse that fall to make manifest his power and the vnmeasurable riches of his goodnes and that he might shew himselfe able not onelie to make man pure and perfect but to restore him also being fallen and perished And for that cause he sent his sonne to die for mankind vpon the crosse Wherefore Gregorie cried out O happie fault Gregorie which deserued to haue such a redéemer 43 But this must be diligentlie marked that God dooth somtimes allow those things In 1. Kin. ◠verse 16. How God sometimes alloweth those things that he would not to be whereas yet it pleaseth him not that they should be doone Not as though there be two wils in him for he hath but one will onelie whereof notwithstanding there be diuers obiects for he
either they should be scorned or not tollerated Vndoubtedlie the holie fathers of old time both sorrowed and moorned when they were driuen by anie necessitie to dwell from the people of God Whereof Dauid is a witnes who sighed when he was by reason of the vniust violence of Saule forced to liue among the desert places And it appéereth in the Psalms Psal 120 5. with how gréeuous lamentation he complained that he was compelled to haue conuersation among such as were strangers and enimies vnto God Dan. 1 8. Daniel with his fellowes might haue enioied the pleasure of the kings table and delicate fare but he refused those plesures and commodities least he should contaminate himselfe with the delicate meats of the Ethniks and with the vnpure bankets of the vnbeléeuers verse 14. Moses also as it is written in the 9. chapter to the Hebrues when he might haue béene reputed the sonne of Pharaos daughter and thereby attaine to great honors contemned all this and went vnto his brethren which were pressed with miserable seruitude in working of claie and bricks They which followe not these examples surelie declare themselues to haue but small hart to the glorie of God and that they will not redéeme the same with anie losse of theirs be it neuer so small Doo we saith Paule vnto the Corinthians the first epistle prouoke God 1. Co. 10 22 Or be we stronger than he Wherefore they which be weake and vnlearned whilest they be so hardie to haue conuersation among the infidels without controuersie they tempt God and in a maner prouoke him as though they would be stronger than he Surelie there might be manie other reasons gathered to this purpose but those which I haue brought thall suffice at this time 19 Now let vs come to those which do so dwell among the infidels It is not lawfull to dwell with infidels if men be compelled to communicate with vngodlie ceremonies as they are enforced to be present at their vnlawfull rites whether they be learned or vnlearned constant or wauering What they be in this case it is no matter now for I take them one with another I saie that to none of them such an habitation or acquaintance is to be borne withall but either they must flie frō thence or rather suffer death than to commit idolatrie Paule as we haue mentioned before said Flie from idolatrie The lawe the prophets the old new testament are full of edicts 1. Co. 10 14 commandements lawes admonitions and rebukes whereby strange worship is forbidden Daniels fellowes chose rather to be cast into the fornace Dan. 3 18. than to worship the image set vp by a most mightie king Machabaea the mother 2. Mac. 7. with hir children would rather be martyred than eat of swines flesh against the lawe of GOD. There be infinite martyrs reckoned vp which most constantlie suffered death bicause they would not forsake their professed religion hauing alwaies this before their eies Feare you not them which can kill the bodies Matt. 10 28 1. Cor. 6 16 c. Paule in his first epistle to the Corinthians affirmeth the same Bicause we be the temple of God the members of Christ 1. Co. 10 20 and partakers of the Lords table vnto whom nothing may be common with the table of diuels 20 All these things are to be applied vnto our times forsomuch as in the Papasie the godlie dwelling with the vngodlie be compelled to be present at their Masses and their polluted sacrifices which is in no wise lawfull for them But some take these probations of me now alledged to be vnderstood concerning the sacrifices doone vnto idols and not touching superstitions which are now growne into vse in the Papasie But they ought to consider with themselues that there is no outward worke to be accounted for the worship of GOD vnlesse by the word of God it be ordained Which if it be not it can be nothing else but an inuention of man for we cannot without faith worship God and faith can haue no place if the word of God be withdrawne Wherefore in humane actions be they neuer so gorgeous vnlesse GOD by his word allow them ther can be no worship of him Surelie if we be minded to honour men we are first accustomed to marke wherwithall they be delighted and this being knowne vnto vs then we thinke we haue bestowed our labour verie well when we haue doon those things wherein they are wont to take delight and pleasure Whie then deale we not in like sort with God that we may serue him with that worship which he by his scriptures hath allowed Esaie 1 13. We doo heare in Esaie that he was rather wearied with oblations sacrifices incense and burnt offerings which without faith were brought to the temple than that he reioised at them He abhorreth and detesteth these kinds of sacrifices as the prophets haue taught vs. But if so be that those things were spoken concerning the sacrifies which had the word of God that onlie bicause they were doone without faith what are we then to thinke of mans inuentions and fained worshippings which séeing they be destitute of the word of God they cannot be doone with faith We may verelie saie that they apperteine vnto idolatrie And this may sufficientlie be gathered héereby bicause there is no true God that will be worshipped with those things Wherefore it resteth No true God delighteth in handiworke seruices that the vngodlie while they adioine such rites vnto their holie seruices doo worship not the true God but him whom they haue fained to themselues to delight in the same And for so much as in the whole cause of things there is no such God they worship an idoll of their owne fansie and therefore iustlie and worthilie may be called idolaters 21 But they saie that those things which be doone and said in the Masse had their beginning from the institution of Christ although they were afterward corrupted by mans default Surelie that auaileth them nothing forsomuch as in these matters we may not haue a regard or consideration to their beginning but to their nature and forme and there must be diligent héed taken whether they agrée with the word of God The brasen serpent Num. 21 8. The brasen serpent had his beginning by the commandement of God and it was also commended by miracles For the Israelits by looking vpon it were deliuered from the venemous biting yet neuerthelesse when the Iewes did worship it and offered incense to it the godlie men did so detest it as the most holie king Ezechias brake it in péeces 2. King 18 4 and vtterlie put awaie the worshipping thereof Wherefore the beginning must not be regarded but the vse must be considered and whether it be agréeable to the first institution The Hebrues when they compelled Aaron to make them a calfe to worship were not minded to fall from the true God
brought into the citie Which act Augustine dooth maruellouslie mislike of who most euidentlie sheweth that it is not lawfull to counterfeit God by images And in his eight booke De ciuitate Dei 23. and 24. chapters he sharplie reproueth Hermes Trismegistus who presumed to saie that Men doo well in making of images that euen as God made heauenlie gods so he gaue power vnto men to make earthlie gods 8 But at this daie in Christendome there be such kind of images suffered whereby God himselfe may be represented For An image of the trinitie to expresse the blessed Trinitie thou maist sée euerie-where in the churches a man painted with thrée heads In an other place they put a tall old man for God the father who hath standing before him a yoong man that is to saie the sonne and betwéene both they place the picture of a dooue and that is in stead of the holie Ghost Neither do the rulers of the churches take awaie these things but allow of them howbeit with such fond arguments as be necessarie to repeate least we should séeme to dissemble anie thing The seuenth Synod which was held at Nice The 7. Synod of Nice in the reigne of Constantinus and Iren thus concluded For it is God which the image teacheth but it selfe is not God looke vpon this but worship with thy mind that which thou beholdest in the same image But what is to be iudged of this Synod we shall sée in due place In the meane time let vs heare the obiections of the aduersaries First of all they saie that the holie scriptures haue giuen occasion to forme images The obiections of them which would haue images of God for séeing they haue attributed vnto God the parts of a man namelie eies eares head nostrels féet c. There séemeth no cause whie but that the painters and grauers may forme the verie same vnto him Also it is written in Ose Ose 12 10. I am likened by hands of the prophets And in the seuenth of Daniel verse 9. The ancient of daies was shewed vnto the prophets which had the heares of his head white like wooll Ezech. 1 26 Esaie 6 1. Exo. 24 10. and 33 23. Also there was shewed vnto Ezechiel the similitude of a man Yea Esaie saith that He sawe the Lord sitting vpon a throne c. And Moses also with the elders sawe God sitting vpon a throne vpon the mountaine he beheld his hinder parts like vnto a man going awaie Wherefore they saie that séeing those things haue béene shewed and haue béene séene by the prophets whie shall it be thought a wicked part to plant out the selfe-same things in colours and engrauings The first answer to those obiections Of some it is answered that the diuersitie of members which is attributed vnto God in the holie scriptures did shew by a certeine mysterie that the diuine nature should in time to come take vpon it a humane nature But I let passe this answer for this time affirming that we ought héere to haue regard to the goodnes of God whereby it did so humble it selfe vnto our infirmitie that séeing we can not vnderstand his nature he would vnder the name of members or parts open or rather shadowe vnto vs certeine of his properties For by the eie he describeth his prouidence by the arme his might by hands his workmanshippe by nostrels his wrath and the rest of like sort Where it is afterward said that it is lawfull for vs to vse the same lineaments colours and engrauings it followeth not for there is no lawe giuen vnto God All things which he dooth rightlie and iustlie are not lawfull for men to doo for God taketh reuenge of his enimies he commanded the father to kill his sonne and willed the Hebrues to take away the goods of the Aegyptians the which neuerthelesse is wicked for men either to doo or command Deut. 32 35 Gen 22 1. Exod. 11 2. for he appointed lawes for men and not for himselfe And for so much as he is the author of the lawe he may otherwhiles except some things from it Wherefore we must assure our selues that what he did he did not without consideration In déed he expressed himselfe some times by certeine apparitions but in them there was no danger of idolatrie for who is there that worshippeth words either spoken or written else offereth sacrifices vnto them For words passe awaie knowledge also and conceits of the mind are put out of remembrance but if so be things themselues be painted or ingrauen outwardlie men will readilie adore them burne incense to them and praie vnto them Further let vs consider that the prophets which had such kind of formes in their mind did neuer picture them nor yet made images of them for they did knowe that God forbad such things to be doone Neither did they dispute with themselues in this maner God hath thus declared himselfe vnto vs therefore it is lawfull so to expresse him out in images Besides this God commanded that there shuld be a propitiatorie vpon the arke Exo. 25 17. as though his seat should be there but the same was an emptie seat neither was there anie image of God therein Moreouer the scriptures which doo shadowe God manie waies if they be attentiuelie read will teach vs that God is a spirit and without a bodie and so doo they méet with that error which might arise in our minds But a picture or image although we behold the same a thousand times doth signifie none other thing than that which was shewed at the first sight Wherefore there is neither waie the like reason And it is trulie prooued that God is not to be expressed by images But they make their mone saie What shall we then doo Shall not God be some maner of waies counterfeited that our minds thereby may be caried or lifted vp to the consideration of heauenlie things We answer that of his images there be enow alreadie extant for Christ is the liuelie image of him let vs therefore behold him his acts and in him we shall know God abundantlie Furthermore we haue in the holie scripture which most perfectlie painteth out God to vs so much as is requisite to the painting out of him What néed haue we either of wood brasse gold siluer or other sensible matter Againe if it delite vs to behold the liuelie images of him let vs looke vpon godlie men which now be and sometime haue béene in the church for they vndoubtedlie were from the beginning created and afterward were restored to the image of GOD. We haue moreouer as it is aboue declared all the works of nature wherein the printed steps of Gods power doo appeare Further we haue the visible sacraments wherewith the word of God is ioined Surelie these things may suffice and ought to be inough to lift vp mens minds to the beholding of God and his properties But curious and
chapter where he saith The first image of brasse was made vnto Ceres at the proper costs and charges of Spurius Cassius Here we sée that this writer calleth the idoll of Ceres Simulachrum Vitruuius in his second booke and eleuenth chapter where he intreateth of the hewing of stuffe calleth the image of Diana Simulachrum The seuentie interpretors where it is in Hebrue Atsabbim there they translate it in Gréeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the Latine text hath Simulachra Yea and Iohn in the place a little before alledged saith Defend your selues from images 1. Ioh. 5 21 We read it in the Latine translation Fugite simulachra Ierom vpon the eleuenth chapter of Esaie declareth that Idols be the images of them which be dead Wherefore it appéereth that these men deuise distinctions which be fond and ridiculous Againe it must be considered Frō whence the worshipping of idols came into the church of Christ that this worshipping of images which is outwardlie of them vsed hath béene fetched as well from the Hebrues as also from the Gentils For in the tabernacle of Moses there was the candlesticke and the altar and also the incense such as these men doo set before their images Albeit Christ is now come and hath abrogated the ceremonies of Moses Cicero in his third booke of offices saith that Perfumes and wax candles were set before images Wherefore such rites or ceremonies were deriued aswell from the Gentils as from the Hebrues But at the last the matter came to such passe which is more intollerable as it is now thought of them which be called christians that some diuine power is in those images In which point I sée not what they differ from Ethniks They vndoubtedlie did thinke that such as vsed the image of Alexander were more fortunate than other men Wherefore Augustus which had before vsed the image of the Sphynx did afterward vse the image of Alexander Marius was delighted with a siluer eagle the which came afterward to the hands of Cateline who also worshipped the same himselfe and praied victorie of it Euen so doo they at this daie attribute sundrie vertues vnto images they make sacrifice vnto them and doo aske manie things of them Ierom vpon the 57. chapter of Esaie declareth that in his time at Rome the image of Tutela was worshipped in the entries of houses The image of Tutela worshipped at Rome in the time of Ierom. with tapers and lights But for vs if we be true christians it is no decent thing to take rites and ceremonies either from the Iewes or from other nations but we must onelie vse those things which are commanded vs in the word of God 1. Co. 11 23 Wherevpon Paule being desirous to commend the vse of the Lords supper saith that He deliuered vnto the Corinthians that which he had receiued of the Lord. 17 Wherefore séeing we haue it manifest out of the word of God that we must not worship images we ought to obeie suffering our selues to be gouerned by the lawe of God and not by the inuentions of men Moreouer we knowe Iohn 4 23. that God must be worshipped in spirit and in truth but no man is ignorant that images be not spirit and truth for so much as they be things which may be séene 2. Co. 5 16. And Paule saith that We knowe Christ no more after the flesh therefore much lesse after an image I beséech you let vs conferre the state of the primitiue church where vnto the seruice of God images were not vsed at all with the latter state wherin they be allowed and it will most manifestlie appéere that all things are become more corrupt Moreouer Augustine in his booke De quantitate animae most wiselie wrote that It behoueth him that is worshipped to be much better than he that dooth yéeld the worship but all men vnderstand that images be not better than men Further if they might be indued with life and reason they would honor their makers by whose hands they were made When men sinne in this kind of worshipping they doo nothing else but as S. Paule taught the Romans They change the glorie of God into the similitude of a mortall man of birds Rom. 1 23. of foure footed beasts and of serpents Those which defend and mainteine such worshippings doo drawe awaie men from the true worshipping of God For 1. kin 12 28 when as Ieroboam went about to drawe awaie the children of Israel from the worshipping of the true God he erected two images of calues one in Bethel and the other in Dan. Furthermore in this matter we knowe the forwardnes of men for whereas Christ hath commanded that we should beare his crosse we had rather worship the same and all to becrosse our head and forehead therewith which thing he commanded vs not Neither can we but grant that the Christians as we may learne by Tertullian began euen at the first to fortifie themselues with the signe of the crosse Matt. 13 25. For the diuell began foorthwith to sowe cockle vpon the good séed of the church Also Paule putteth the Corinthians in remembrance 1. Cor. 12 2. that they were sometime carried awaie vnto dumbe images the which verie thing we sée doone at this day in euerie place We read not anie where in the time of the primitiue church that faithfull and godlie men did direct their praiers vnto pictures and images But now this is vsed euerie where and it is come to that passe that men giue more honor vnto images than they doo vnto the word of God For there is not a man found at this daie that dooth worship and honor the holie scriptures Christ when he was vpon the earth Iohn 15 7. bicause he was now readie to depart comforted his apostles saieng that Vnlesse he departed the spirit of the Comforter should not be sent vnto them Which the interpretors expound to be said bicause that the presence of Christ as concerning his flesh would hinder them that they should not be fit to receiue the spirit Which thing if it be trulie said as touching the flesh of the Lord how much rather shall it be affirmed of his images and pictures Neither doo we doubt that Peter would not be worshipped of Cornelius the Centurion If Peter would not be worshipped himselfe much lesse his image who was not to be thought that he would doo diuine honor vnto him With what mind thinke we dooth he beare that his images and pictures should now be worshipped among men But if they will saie We doo not honor them with the chéefest honor let them vnderstand that neither Cornelius minded so to worship Peter 18 Neither must we be ignorant Apo. 19 10. and 22 9. that the angell in the Apocalypse did twise reprooue Iohn for that he would haue worshipped him Then if so be that neither angels nor men must be worshipped much lesse their images and pictures And
predestinated are so to be taken as they are foreséene of God and by this meanes they cannot séeme to be temporall Be it so That which is the latter cannot bee the efficient cause of that which went before take them in that maner yet can it not be denied but that they are after predestination for they depend of it and are the effects thereof as wée haue before taught Wherefore after these mens doctrine that which commeth after should be the efficient cause of that which went before which how absurd it is euerie man may easilie vnderstand Further the efficient cause is of his owne nature more woorthie and of more excellencie than the effect speciallie in respect it is such a cause So then Our works cannot be of more woorthines than predestination if works be the causes of predestination they are also more woorthie and of more excellencie than predestination Ouer this predestination is sure constant and infallible how then shall we appoint that it dependeth vpon works of frée will which are vncerteine and vnconstant Things constant and certeine depend not of things vnconstant and vnterteine and may be wrested to and fro if a man consider them particularlie For men are alike prone vnto this or that kind of sinne as occasions are offered for otherwise if we will speake generallie frée will before regeneration can doo nothing else but sinne by reason of the corruption that commeth by our first parents So as according to the mind of these men it must néeds followe that the predestination of God which is certeine dependeth of the works of men which are not onelie vncerteine but sinnes also Neither can they saie that they meane as touching those works which followe regeneration for those as we haue taught spring of grace and of predestination We must not so defend mans libertie that wee spoile God of his libertie Neither doo these men consider that they to satisfie mans reason and to attribute a libertie I knowe not what to men doo rob God of his due power and libertie in election which power and libertie yet the apostle setteth foorth and saith that God hath no lesse power ouer men than hath the potter ouer the vessels which hée maketh But after these mens opinion God cannot elect but him onelie whom he knoweth shall behaue himselfe well neither can he reiect anie man but whome he séeth shall be euill But this is to go about to ouer-rule God and to make him subiect vnto the lawes of our reason As for Erasmus he in vaine speaketh against this reason for he saith that It is not absurd to take awaie from God that power which he himselfe will not haue attributed vnto him namelie to doo anie thing vniustlie For we saie that Paule hath in vaine yea rather falselie set foorth this libertie of God if hée neither haue it We must attributed vnto God that libertie which the scripture sheweth of him nor will that it should be attributed vnto him But how Paule hath prooued this libertie of God that place which we haue cited most manifestlie declareth They also to no purpose obiect vnto vs the iustice of God for héere is intreated onlie of his mercie Neither can they denie but that they by this their opinion doo derogate much the loue and good will of God towards men For the holie scripture when it would commend vnto vs the fatherlie loue of God Rom. 5 8. affirmeth that He gaue his son and that vnto the death and at that time when we were yet sinners enimies and children of wrath But they will haue no man to be predestinated which hath not good works foreséene in the mind of God And so euerie man may saie with himselfe If I be predestinated the cause thereof dependeth of my selfe But another which féeleth trulie in his hart Loue towards God is kindled by the true feele of predestination that he is fréelie elected of God for Christ sake when as he of himselfe was all maner of waies vnworthie of so great loue will without all doubt be woonderfullie inflamed to loue God againe 23 It is also profitable vnto vs that our saluation should not depend of our works For we oftentimes wauer and in liuing vprightlie are not constant Doubtles if we should put confidence in our owne strength we should vtterlie despaire but if we beléeue that our saluation abideth in God fixed and assured for Christ sake we cannot but be of good comfort Further if predestination should come vnto vs by our works foreséene the beginning of our saluation should be of our selues against which opinion the scriptures euerie-where crie out for that were to raise vp an idoll in our selues Moreouer the iustice of God should then haue néed of the externall rule of our works But Christ saith Ye haue not chosen me Iohn 15 16. but I haue chosen you Neither is that consideration in God which is in men The same consideration is not of Gods choise that is of mans choise when they begin to fauour a man or to loue a fréend for men are mooued by excellent gifts wherewith they sée a man adorned but God can find nothing good in vs which first procéedeth not from him And Cyprian saith as Augustine oftentimes citeth him that we therefore can not glorie for that we haue nothing that is our owne and therefore Augustine concludeth that we ought not to part stakes betwéene God and vs to giue one part to him and to kéepe another vnto our selues to obteine saluation Touching saluation the whole must be ascribed vnto God for all wholie is without doubt to be ascribed vnto him The Apostle when he writeth of predestination hath alwaies this end before him to confirme our confidence and especiallie in afflictions out of which he saith that God will deliuer vs. If predestination should depend of works it wold make vs not to hope but to despaire But if the reason of Gods purpose should be referred vnto our works as vnto causes then could we by no meanes conceiue anie such confidence for we oftentimes fall and the righteousnes of our works is so small as it can not stand before the iudgement seate of God And that the Apostle for this cause chéefelie made mention of predestination we may vnderstand by the eight chapter of the Epistle to the Romanes Rom. 8 1. and 8 c. For when he described the effects of iustification amongst other things he saith that we by it haue obteined the adoption of children and that we are mooued by the spirit of God as the sons of God and therefore with a valiant mind we suffer aduersities and for that cause euerie creature groneth and earnestlie desireth that we at the length be deliuered and the spirit it selfe maketh intercession for vs. And at the last he addeth Ibidem 27. That vnto them that loue God all things worke to good And who they be that loue God
the holie scriptures The elder fathers had but two sacraments The elder fathers had but two sacraments Sometimes they make mention of repentance These things Augustine wrote vnto Ianuarius in his third booke De doctrina christiana the 16. chapter Ambrose in his booke De sacramentis intreateth of these two Wherefore of necessitie these men must either confesse that they haue forgotten the sacraments or else that there was not receiued so great a number in that age That they forgat it we cannot saie séeing they compiled a whole treatise of that matter Therefore this multitude of sacraments was not receiued at that time Pighius definition of a sacrament 11 But let vs come to the defining of it Pighius also defineth a sacrament and saith that it is an effectuall signe ordeined by God whereby is signified vnto vs a certeine kind of effect of the helpe and grace of God which is present at all times so there be not some thing to let in them that vse the same Whereas he saith to begin withall that it is a signe or rite instituted by God that is true for it is not in the power of man to ordeine sacraments they be testimonies That it is in God not in man to institute sacraments Mat. 21 1◠and as one maie saie seales of the will of God and it is not the part of man to counterfet seales Furthermore this we learne out of the holie scriptures Christ asked the Scribes Pharisies from whence the baptisme of Iohn was If they had said Of men it had séemed friuolous for séeing sacraments belong to the nature of faith it is méet they should be drawne out of the holie scriptures from whence faith it selfe is taken And men which of their owne authoritie go about to institute sacraments doo make themselues to be gods To deale after this sort in religion were to worship God with commandements and traditions of men which Christ hath forbidden Lastlie séeing that Man is a lier and so is declared in the holie scriptures to be the things which are instituted by him haue in them no perfect truth wherefore sacraments must not be instituted by men He saith moreouer Psal 116 Rom. 3 4. that by this signe is signified to vs some sure effect bicause he will comprehend manie sacraments he will not restraine it to one effect namelie to the remission of sinnes He saith that the effects are diuers as the remission of sinnes offered which is offered in baptisme and in the Eucharist but besides he sheweth other effects of the worke of God that in matrimonie should be an inseparable coupling togither in the holie order should be a power of gouerning the church and so of other things vnlesse there be some let in them that vse those things This he saith to shew the efficacie of sacraments For in that some doo receiue the sacraments and obteine not the effects that happeneth bicause they come vnto them without religion and faith If he follow his definition he thinketh that he is able to comprehend manie sacraments But on the other side they which saie that the grace of the forgiuenes of sinnes is signified by the same doo tie themselues onelie to these two namelie baptisme and the supper of the Lord. 12 To define a sacrament we may saie Another definition of a sacrament that A sacrament is a promise of God touching the remission of sinnes through Christ signified and sealed by the institution of God with an outward or visible signe to the end that our faith should be lifted vp in vs and we to be more and more knit vnto God This séemeth vnto me to be a full definition Two things it conteineth namelie an outward signe and a thing signified Bicause the thing signified holdeth the chéefe place therefore I placed it first and said that It is the promise of God and is conuersant about the remission of sinnes thorough Christ For the sacraments which be in the holie scriptures doo chéeflie make mention thereof Furthermore this promise is sealed which thing the scripture sheweth calling circumcision a seale for the sacraments be certeine tokens and seales of the promises of God But forsomuch as these outward instruments be elements they cannot of themselues haue wherewith to signifie and seale therefore it is added By the institution of God The end is that our faith may be stirred vp by the holie Ghost which power the outward things haue not in them to shew the holie Ghost vseth these instruments and faith tendeth vnto that end that we should be the more knit vnto God The causes ye haue The formall cause is the signification and sealing The matter which is sealed and whereabout it is conuersant is the promise of God touching the remission of sinnes The efficient cause is the institution of God The finall cause is the stirring vp of our faith whereby we may be ioined vnto God And I allow of that which is commonlie said Sacraments be visible words they stir vp men by the sight other senses Rightlie dooth Chrysostome saie If we were spirits we should not haue néed of those instruments but we be compounded of a spirit and a bodie the senses of the bodie doo stir vp the mind 13 But if we prosecute this definition we exclude marriage Why we contend with the aduersaries touching the number of sacraments repentance orders confirmation and annoiling as I will particularlie declare after I haue said this one word that some will here saie Why doo ye séeke for a knot in a rush or make a doubt of a thing that is plaine These men would cote these seuen with the name of sacraments what haue ye to doo therewith It is not the name that we much stand vpon but it is the matter it selfe Wée knowe that it is lawfull for christians to vse the name so that there be no vngodlines hidden vnder it but let vs sée what they would haue to be signified by this word They saie that a sacrament is a visible forme of an inuisible grace and they adde it to be the cause so that they make these sacraments of theirs to be the instruments of saluation Then if they will receiue anie rites and cloke them vnder this kind of spéech it is vngodlie By men there can be no visible elements ordeined which may be seales of the promises wherfore let them either change this phrase of spéech and saie that a sacrament dooth not signifie these things and then we will grant vnto them or else if they will still vse this kind of spéech let them absteine from the name of sacrament The Maister of the sentences saith that The sacraments of the old fathers were not properlie sacraments bicause they brought no grace It is a detestable thing to take awaie this propertie from the institutions of God and to attribute the same vnto the inuentions of men What things be required in a sacrament To make the matter
he must ascend by staiers when as neuerthelesse the staiers are no cause vnto him that he commeth for the finall cause of his going is to teach and the efficient cause is the powers of the mind and the strength of the bodie After the selfe-same maner must we iudge of praiers But if thou shalt saie But cannot GOD giue those things that he will euen without praiers Yes verelie he can and oftentimes he dooth it After what maner God must be praied vnto Neither will he be ouer-curiouslie praied vnto as tyrants vse as though he may not be intreated without our faire spéeches neither will he be praied for his owne cause but for ours For if anie man might be long and much conuersant with a man indued with vertues and knowledge there is no doubt but that he should become the better and also the learneder But how much more and excellenter a thing is it to be conuersant and to talke with the most excellent God The philosophers doo thinke that it is a great perfection of man for to knowe himselfe next to vnderstand what is wanting to himselfe lastlie to knowe that God is the chéefe and onelie good that is to be wished for and of whom all things must be desired Wherefore God commanded praiers as a certeine meane wherby we should atteine to those things which we desire So then they are fond and foolish which saie If God haue predestinated me to saluation he will giue me the same euen without praiers for God hath togither with the end predestinated also the meanes whereby we must prepare our selues to the same And finallie we praie not in anie case to the intent we may change God which thing we should attempt in vaine séeing he is immutable but rather that we our selues should be changed forsomuch as in praieng we are made capable of the benefits of God How God saith that he will not giue that which he will giue and so contrariewise 3 But the Lord saith in the tenth of Iudges In Iudg. 10 verse 13. that he will not be a helpe vnto the Israelites when as afterward notwithstanding he did helpe them Did God lie No in no wise But the repentance of the people was not as yet come to that passe that he would haue had it In such state and condition as they were then in he said he would not be a helpe vnto them for God knoweth the moments of times A similitude So dooth the physician vse to handle a sicke man when he desireth wine in the heate and feruentnes of his ague I will giue none saith he not bicause he will neuer giue him anie but for that he knoweth when it will be profitable for him to giue it Againe the sicke man desireth a medicine the physician denieth it bicause he will first haue the humors to be ripe that they may be the more easilie brought foorth Euen so God dooth now deale with his people Neither is this a rare forme of speaking in the scriptures The Lord said vnto Moses Exod. 32 10 Suffer that my wrath may be kindled and I will destroie them at once This he said when he was minded neuerthelesse to spare his people but the praiers of Moses pleased God therefore he would haue him to be inflamed and his desire and faith to be increased In Matthew the woman of Chanaan cried vnto Christ but he passed by in silence as though he heard hir not Afterward she being instant in praier he said I am not sent Matt. 15 23. but vnto the lost sheepe of the house of Israel and when as she ceased not he called hir dog It is not good saith he to take the bread and giue it vnto dogs And yet was he minded euen at the first to helpe hir but first he would haue hir faith to come to light that it might be knowen by all meanes And in an other place vnder the parable of him that asked bread Luk. 11 7. he saith Vnto whom the goodman of the house that was within said I and my children be laid in bed And when the other had made earnest suit by his importunacie he obteined as manie loaues as he would So in this place GOD made answer that he would not helpe namelie that people being in such state as then they were for euen at that time the repentance of them was not full God changeth not his purpose but he would haue men to be changed more and more Iere. 18 18. 4 Ieremie in the 18. chapter saith If I shall speake euill against anie nation and that nation shall repent It shall also repent me of that euill which I said I would doo And that Ieremie might the more plainlie vnderstand those things which were spoken he bad him go into the house of the potter where he sawe the workeman make a vessell of claie Ibidem 1. the which was broken in the hands of him that made it but the potter fashioned an other vessell of the same claie So the Lord saith If they shall repent them I also will repent me I now deuise euill for them but in steed of euill I will deuise good things Neither for all this as I haue said dooth he change his mind bicause such threatenings and promises depend vpon the condition which sometimes is changed whereas God remaineth one and the same Chrysost Of this matter dooth Chrysostome verie well write vpon Genesis the 25. homilie The Lord had commanded Gen. 6 14. that Noah should build the arke and he threatned that after a hundred and twentie yéeres Ibidem 3. he would vtterlie destroie all mankind with a flood but when he sawe no amendement in the meane time he abated twentie of the yéeres and sent the flood in the hundred yéere yet was not God altered but the condition of men was changed The same father also vpon Matthew the 65. homilie Matt. 19 28 when he interpreteth that saieng Verelie I saie vnto you ye that haue left all things c. he demandeth whether Iudas was not one of those twelue and whether Iudas shall sit vpon the twelue seats and iudge the twelue tribes of Israel Hath Christ therefore changed his mind No saith he but the same Iudas was changed The verie which thing we must iudge of the citie of Niniue Iona. 3 4. Esai 38 1. and of king Ezechias whom God had threatned to die for neither did Niniue perish at that time neither yet did Ezechias die at the time prescribed bicause both were changed Gen. 9 2. God pronounced at the beginning that the feare of men should be vpon the beasts But the contrarie happeneth for men doo now feare lions beares and tigres bicause of them they be oftentimes torne in péeces Which commeth to passe by reason that the condition of men is changed and not the counsell of God 5 Wherefore How the promises of God must be vnderstood those promises of God must be
all things by the same The Rabbins among the Iewes A fable of the Rabbins concerning the coniunction of the soule with the bodie for the testifieng héereof deuised a fable saieng that A certeine mightie and rich man planted himselfe a garden of most noble kinds of trées which did beare verie excellent fruits and lest it shuld be robbed he appointed kéepers for the same And bicause it behooued to take héed vnto the kéepers themselues he appointed two which were so made as the one did perfectlie sée but yet so lame as he might not in anie wise be able to go the other was in déed able to go but was blind When the Lord of the orchard was gone the ill kéepers began to consult among themselues about eating of the fruits The blind man said I in verie déed lust after them but I sée not the criple said I sée them but I am not able to come at them After long talke they agréed that the blind man should stoope downe and receiue the criple vpon his backe who hauing his sight directed the blind man with his hand wherefore they being both ioined togither came vnto the trées and fulfilled their lusts with those fruits according to their owne desire The lord of the garden returned and espieng the harme that was doone blamed the kéepers The lame man excused himselfe that he could not come to the trée and the blind man said that he might not sée the fruits Then the owner when he knew their sleight and shift Ye haue saith he ioined your labours togither wherefore I also will ioine you againe and will punish you togither Therefore he bound them togither againe and by beating and striking them punished them both togither So saie they dooth the case stand in a man the soule in déed knoweth vnderstandeth perceiueth but it can not take anie outward worke in hand by it selfe Certeinlie the bodie of it selfe is a senselesse thing neither dooth it perceiue The which neuerthelesse being mooued stirred vp by the mind is a fit instrument of th outward actions Which being so both reason iustice requireth that they should be againe ioined togither after death for receiuing of punishments rewards 6 These things are spoken generallie And now comming to the matter we will diuide this treatise into certeine principall points First we will bring the reasons which séeme to hinder and gainsaie the resurrection of the flesh Secondlie we will search out what is the nature thereof Thirdlie whether by humane reasons and that by such reasons as are probable it may be prooued and confirmed Moreouer we will bring testimonies out of the holie scriptures as well of the old as of the new testament whereby it shall be prooued that the same must in anie wise be looked for Afterward we will intreat of the causes thereof Ouer this some things shall be spoken of the conditions and qualities of them that shall rise againe And last of all shall be confuted the arguments of them which séeme to persuade that there shall be no resurrection And those arguments will I first of all recite yet not all but those onelie which I shall iudge to be of most importance by the confutation whereof others may easilie be dissolued Arguments of them which denie the resurretion 7 First Porphyrius said that All bodies must be auoided for atteining to the felicitie of the soule bicause they hinder and further not the contemplation and knowledge of God wherein consisteth our felicitie By which there séemeth to be affirmed that soules can not perfectlie be made blessed if they should be coupled againe to their bodies Further this can not be that when the bodies are alreadie dissolued and are gone into ashes they should returne to their first elements or to the first substance of their nature Besides it happeneth sometimes that a man is eaten of a woolfe a woolfe of a lion a lion of the fowles of the aire which afterward become the meat of other men therefore the flesh of the first man might not be discerned from the flesh of the latter men Moreouer this will the more plainlie appéere if we consider of those Anthropophagi being men that féed vpon mans flesh whereby it commeth to passe that the substances of humane bodies by that kind of meanes are mingled Wherefore if there shall be a resurrection of the dead vnto which men shall those fleshes be attributed To them that eat or to them that be eaten We sée also in nature that it is taken for an impossibilitie that one and the same indiuisible thing should be restored to number when it hath perished And therefore was generation appointed that at the leastwise by procreating like things in kind order might be continued To this in death when the soule is taken awaie from the bodie not onelie the things accident therevnto are destroied but the essentiall beginnings also wherby a man is made namelie the bodie and also certeine parts of the mind as is the power of nourishing and féeling which can not be had without the bodie Besides this if anie quantitie be sundred it is no more one in number but they be two quantities And a motion that surceaseth if it be begun againe it may be in kind the same that it was but in number it shall be distinguished from the first For who is it that when he shall haue walked a mile if he stand at rest for a while and afterward returneth can affirme that his latter walke is the verie same that was before And this is not onelie perceiued in quantitie and motion and in things that happen but also in qualities and formes For if a man inioie health and doo fall into a sicknesse the first health doubtles is gone but if so be he afterward recouer the health that happeneth is not altogither the same that the first was In like maner if bodies with all the things belonging vnto them are to be restored all the humors haires and nailes shall be giuen againe and the heape will be monstrous But if all these things shall not be restored but a certeine of them there can be no reason made whie rather one sort than an other shall be giuen againe 8 There be moreouer in the holie scriptures manie places which are against resurrection if they should be weied as they appéere at the first sight In the 78. psalme it is written verse 39. that God did after a sort chasten the Iewes in the wildernesse but that he would not vtterlie powre out his wrath vpon them bicause he remembred saith Dauid that they were but flesh and as a spirit that passeth awaie and commeth not againe But if so be that the soules returne not againe there is no resurrection Also it is said in the 114. psalme The dead shall not praise thee Psal 114 17 ô Lord. And if the spirits of them that be dead doo not celebrate the praises of God and that they which be
manie doo imagine that there is a measure of punishments prescribed vnto God as though it were not lawfull for him to punish one and the selfe-same man more than once If this should be granted Exod. 14 3◠Gen. 6. and 19. we must saie that the Aegyptians for so much as they were punished in the red sea are now frée from hell fire and they which were destroied in Sodome and in the floud now at length be at rest Which saiengs vndoubtedlie are most absurd for as some in this life doo receiue the holie Ghost and grace as an earnest penie of the happinesse to come being those which both in this life and in the life to come shall haue reward so on the other side it may be that the punishments of some begin in this life which shall be augmented in an other life As it is to be thought that Nero Herod and Saule doo now féele punishments farre more gréeuous than those which they here tasted of Yet in the meane while I denie not but that God as touching his elect is content with those gréefes and punishments wherwith he punished them in this life As Paule said to the Corinths 1. Cor. 15 5 that One among them should be deliuered vp vnto satan to the end his spirit might be saued in the daie of the Lord. And againe he saith 1. Co. 11. 32 that Some are here corrected of the Lord least they should not be condemned with this world 5 But when God will deale after this sort or vse this seueritie to punish both here and afterward that is not put vnder our knowledge Wherefore according to the commandement of Christ he is alwaies to be feared forsomuch as He hath power both to kill the bodie Matt. 10 28 and also to cast the soule into hell fire Howbeit this we may affirme that they which perish in affliction and trouble and repent not shall be more gréeuouslie tormented againe and they on the other side which being warned by afflictions doo returne vnto Christ shall after sufficient chastising with the punishments of this life obteine euerlasting saluation Wherefore according to that which we haue said Rom. 2 5. Paule admonisheth wicked men that howsoeuer they haue béene punished yet vnlesse they shall repent greater punishments remaine against the daie of iudgement And his meaning is Ibidem that the patience of God whereby he suffereth them The patient forbearing of God dooth not portend impunitie to sinners dooth not foretoken impunitie but giueth them an occasion of beginning true repentance God is declared to be both mercifull and good but yet so as his forbearing and clemencie hath ends and limits And by reason of this deferring of punishments which happen in this life the apostle is compelled to make mention of the last iudgement Otherwise séeing manie are spared in this life from punishment others are verie seuerelie handled God might be thought to deale vniustlie Wherefore he vrgeth them with the feare of the last iudgement and affirmeth that the deferring of vengeance bringeth the greater punishments Which thing Valerius Maximus an Ethnike writer speaketh of namelie that God by the gréeuousnes of punishments recompenseth the long delaie of punishing Whereby it is plaine that Paule disputing against the Ethniks which knew not the holie scriptures reprooued them by those things which might be knowen by the light of nature So then there is a certeine naturall knowledge graffed in the harts of men A certeine foreknowledge of the iudgement to come is naturallie planted in men concerning the iudgement of God which is to come after this life And this doo euen the fables of the Poets declare which haue placed Minos Rhadamanthus Aeacus as iudges in hell Wherfore they shall be the more gréeuouslie punished which haue béene the longer borne withall bicause the contemning of God addeth no small weight vnto their sinnes which contempt séemeth to haue crept vpon them while they in such sort neglected a long time his gentlenesse and patience Paule addeth But thou according to thy hardnesse and vnrepentant hart heapest to thy selfe wrath In whom is a hard hart in the daie of wrath It is a hard hart that is not mollified by the benefits of God nor yet is broken by his threatnings or feare of punishments Whence the rebellion against God is deriued And this rebellion against God we drawe vnto vs partlie by originall sinne and partlie by a custome of sinning so that we are now in a maner without anie féeling To beléeue well séeing it belongeth vnto vertue it hath two extremities On the one side there is so great facilitie that some will beléeue anie thing whether it be an inuention of man or a superstition or else the word of God that thou set foorth vnto them this vndoubtedlie is a fault On the other side there is so great difficultie to beléeue as they will not admit no not that which is manifestlie appointed by the word of God vnlesse their owne reason be satisfied therin Betwéene these two dangerous extremities there is a certeine meane to wit that we should easilie beléeue those things which are to be beléeued when they are sincerelie offered vnto vs making a godlie triall of them by the holie scriptures for by that rule all things must be examined Paule vseth this Gréeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth To laie aside or to laie vp in store for we commonlie vse to laie vp in our treasuries those things which we will not presentlie vse but will afterward occupie them at some other time And this accordeth iust with those vngodlie persons for they did not then féele the wrath of God which afterward they shall féele and that so much the more abundantlie as riches are greater which are euerie daie heaped togither He prudentlie saith that These men heaped vnto themselues wrath bicause they should not impute these punishments vnto the crueltie of God By this kind of spéech he teacheth that it was their owne selues which brought this mischéefe vpon themselues And this word of Heaping vp treasure is oftentimes vsed in the holie scriptures In Deuteronomie the 32. chapter verse 34. God saith of the transgressions of the Israelits that they were sealed vp in his treasures verse 25. Ieremie also in the 50. chapter thretneth that God would powre out the treasure of his wrath and of his indignation 6 And whereas Paule to the Romans added Rom. 2 5. The daie of wrath what it is Against the daie of wrath it dooth sometimes happen in this life when God séemeth that he will not suffer anie longer and sheweth foorth some tokens of his seueritie Which thing we perceiue did happen in the captiuitie of Babylon Iere. 7 14. Ibid. 14. 11. Gen. 19 c Exod. 14 Esai 13 13. Lament of Iere. 1 12. Sop. 1 5. c in the destruction of Sodom and the ouerthrowe of the Aegyptians And the prophets
tokens to the meditation of diuine and heauenlie thinges And it is a woonder that these men who so diligentlie examine places of the Fathers bring not that foorth which is in the 61. Homilie vnto the people of Antioch That they are both impudent and obstinate Against those which stand by coÌ„municatâ—… not which stand by at the administration of the Sacraments and doe not communicate Wherein he affirmeth that they doe manyfest iniurie vnto Christ But least we should swarue from that which is propounded in the Argument namelie in the Homilie in Encaeniis as touching the waxe which in the fyre runneth all abroad we aunswere that Chrysostom eftsoones in that place hath this verbe Thinke thou that we may vnderstand that these thinges must not be vnderstood but as touching our faith and cogitation whereby in communicating we comprehend not bread and wine by themselues The similitude of waxe vsed by Chrysostome and Cyril but we seeke the thinges which by a signification and that effectuall are ioyned hereunto We moreouer bring foorth a lyke similitude out of Cyrill the 10. booke the 13. Chapter vppon Iohn where he saith that waxe being molten and mingled with other waxe so that of two is altogether made one dooth resemble that which is doone in the receauing of this Sacrament which is that we should in very déede be made one with Christ The selfesame he hath in the 4. booke and 17. chapter And if so be that this similitude of waxe betwéene Christ and vs haue place without transubstantiation of our bodie the very same may be affirmed of the similitude of Chrysostom which he putteth betwéene waxe and the signes or mysteries Further our aduersaries should be demaunded whether they will haue these similitudes to be made alike in all respects Which if they wil graunt they must also take away the accidents out of this Sacrament For the waxe which is applyed to the fyre is not onlie destroyed as touching the substance but as touching the accidentes But if they will not haue the similitude to take place in this behalfe then shal it also be frée vnto vs to vnderstand all this as touching our cogitations of the minde comprehension of faith and we will confesse that as touching the thing it selfe the nature of bread wine goeth away and that our minde onely cleaueth vnto the things signified to that which by the signes is offered vnto vs that is vnto the bodie bloud of Christ And of Chrysostom thus much hath bin said wherein we may sée how truelie those things haue place which we spake before of the fathers To Augustine 49 Augustine was afterward obiected who should say vppon the 33. Psalme that Christ bare himselfe in his owne hands and that verilie in the last supper when he distributed the Sacrament to his Apostles And this doe not we denie Howe Christ bare himselfe in his owne hands For what should let Christ to beare his bodie in his owne handes if by Bodie thou vnderstande the Sacrament of his bodie And this is it that Augustine addeth in the end of this place After a certaine manner as if he should say He did not absolutelie beare himselfe but after a sort he is vndoubtedlie the verie same whoÌ„ we nowe saide him to be They oppose vnto vs the same Augustine in the third booke De Trinitate where he saith the bread is brought vnto this visible forme by the hands of men but that it cannot be made so great a Sacrament without the inuisible working of the holie Ghost It is much to be maruelled at why these men acknowledge not in this sacrament anie other worke of the holy Ghost besides transubstantiation For the name of the working of the holie Ghost in this sacrament being heard they straightway inferre transubstantiation whenas notwithstanding these signes cannot be aduanced or translated to the state and condition of Sacramentes but by the helpe of God to wit by the institution of the Lord by holy wordes and by strength of the holy Ghost Because these holie thinges doe no longer possesse our minde after an ordinarie and common manner There is néede of the holie Ghost to make these Elements to be sacraments but by an effectuall and most vehement force of the spirite and by the strength and operation of the selfesame holie spirit our mindes and soules are furthered to imbrace the matter of the Sacramentes Nowe come we to Augustine who vppon the 99. Psalme vppon that saying Worshippe ye his footestoole Psal 99. 5. dooth inquire diligentlie what manner of footestoole that shoulde bee And at the length he findeth that it is saide in the Scriptures that the earth is his footstoole Esay 66. 1. But howe saith hée shall we worshippe the earth Is it not written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serue And is it not commaunded that we should not worshippe those thinges which be in heauen or vpon the earth or in the waters or vnder the earth But he saith afterwarde that there is a certaine earth which iustlie maie and ought to be worshipped For the sonne of God saith he tooke the nature of man vppon him that is fleshe of the virgine and that in the holie Scriptures is called earth forsomuch as our bodie is taken out of the earth But that the flesh of Christ ought to be worshipped hereby it appeareth because when he gaue the same to be eaten none did eate it but he first worshipped These words of Augustine can make nothing against vs because we denie not but that the flesh of Christ must be worshipped by reason of the coniunction that it hath with the diuine nature Here the contention is whether the same fleshe lie close hidden vnder the Accidents not whether it shoulde be worshipped But they say if it were not there in the Sacrament and that breade should be there it would be Idolatrie Vnto which we aunswere that they fall into as great a perill for they ought to remooue the accidentes least those should be worshipped and to transubstantiate the verie cup it selfe But in a Sacrament wee distinguishe the signes from the things To the signes is some honor giuen but without adoration and vnto the signes we giue some honor to wit that they should be decentlie handled and shoulde not be despised For they be holy things once dedicated vnto GOD. And as concerning the things signified namelie the bodie bloud of Christ we graunt that those should bee readily and chéerefully worshipped For Augustine in this place saith We sinne not in worshipping the flesh of Christ but we sinne in not worshipping of the same After what maner we should worship the flesh of Christ But he aduiseth in the meane time that we should not cleaue vnto the fleshe of Christ but lift vp our minde vnto the diuine nature whereunto the fleshe is ioyned by a knot not possible to be vndoone
renowmed Quéene is a schoole or a certain place of warfare of the Almercifull and Almightie God where he through sundrie laboursome exercises God exerciseth the godlie with diuerse afflictions sometimes by afflictions and sometimes by diuerse perils teacheth and instructeth them that be his I suppose that of Godly men it is iudged most certaine and vndoubted Yet for all this the heauenly father doth not so deale as he hath determined that those whom he leaueth shal perpetually be troubled with afflictions and bée pressed with euerlasting griefes but sometimes helpeth to ouercome euils and at such oportunitie as he hath determined with himselfe suffereth them to escape out of the flouds and whilepittes of daungers to the intent he may declare that it is he that leadeth them to the gates of death and bringeth them backe againe 1. Sam. 2. 6. while hee taketh care that in his adopted children may shine the image whom he naturally begate vnto himselfe before all eternitie Rom. 8. 28. For the same our first begotten brother Iesus Christ dyed first before hée should be raised vp by his owne and his fathers power Therefore it behooueth that we also which are appointed to be made like his image shoulde first die before we rise againe After this sort the Israelites were in a manner deade while they were pressed vnder the most gréeuous tyrannie of Pharao in Egypt but they being deliuered by Moses and Aaron were after a sort plucked away from death Moreouer they séemed againe to haue perished in the manifold daungers and sundrie mischances of the wast wildernesse who afterward reuiued by entering into the lande of Chanaan To conclude they being ledde into captiuitie were thought vtterly consumed who neuerthelesse returning after 70. yeares florished againe and were then restored vnto life The verie which thing O most mightie Quéene Elyzabeth séeing God hath doone vnto you he hath not departed from that his olde manner of custome but hath rather confirmed the same and made it more manifest For while his workes are executed in the meaner and baser sort of men they indéed appeare the lesse But on the otherside when they be shewed in men woemen of noblest and highest estate then are they made in a manner famous in the eye of al mē Wherfore since you most noble Quéene Elizabeth are aduanced to the kingdome not in verie déede by a gentle Quéene Elyzabeth easie and pleasāt way but for certain yeares now passed you haue appeared to be scarse a foote frō death For so great déepe haue bin the daungers as the ship of your life was now welnéere loonke you are preserued by the power of God not by the helpe of man are promoted as we nowe sée to the possession of that famous kingdome Wherefore by the mercie and goodnesse of the sonne of God in whom only you did put your trust you are reuiued by the good helpe of God do inioy the kingdome of your father and grandfather and that to the safetie of the Church of Christ and to the restitution of the common weale of England falling in decay Therefore fitlie doth that saying sounde in the mouthes of all Godlie men at this time which is most ioyfully pronounced in the Psalme Psal 118. 28. This is the Lords doing and it is marueilous in our eyes The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner I confesse indéede that these wordes appertaine vnto Christ But séeing Godly men are accounted for his members I iudge they may be applied vnto them also For that the other members of the bodie are both garnished and haue profite by the ornaments and honour of the head Ephe. 5. 27. Paul the Apostle of Christ doth aboundantly testifie which in verie déede must be specially vnderstood of those members which are so eminent in the Lords bodie as it pleased God that your maiestie should at length excellently appeare among his people Now this is so great a benefite of God as it cannot be shut vp in you onely but through your own selfe is deriued vnto a great number of the faithfull For so manie as either are borne subiects in the kingdome or wish well thereunto and which séeke nothing else but the glorie of Christ all these séeme to themselues to be raised together with you from death Amongst whom because I neither am nor wil be the last euen as I perceiued my selfe by these welcome newes to be made excéeding and marueilous ioyfull so I thought it méete that first of all we should giue thanks vnto our most mighty and mercifull God secondly that we shoulde reioyce on the behalfe of your maiestie and also of the Church and Realme of England Wherfore let vs praise God and the father of our Lorde Iesu Christ which hath visited his people being almost deade and hath opened the way which a long time was shut vp from preaching of the Gospel of the sonne of God Beholde nowe againe is the horne of saluation lifted vp in the kingdome of Englande whereby the chosen of God by the inuincible power of our Sauiour Iesus Christ are deliuered out of the hand of their enemies and doe most syncerelie woorship the blessed GOD according to the prescript rule of the holie Scriptures Glorie be nowe to GOD on high Peace in the Church and the good will of God towardes the people of England that by the guide and good gouernement of this godlie Quéene her subiects being adorned with righteousnesse and holinesse may walke alwaies and innocentlie before him and that hee will so lighten them from aboue as they which through the night that went before were againe fallen into darkenesse and into the shadowe welnéere of death now the daies of peace being sprung vp may walke their waies safelie without any offence And that this may be done most mightie Quéene it is in your hand next vnto God Neither doe I doubt but for your auncient faith sake your godlinesse and fauour of God which hath protected defended and gouerned you from your childehood vnto this daie you wil giue the due honour vnto God and to his worde God kéepe from your syncere and religious heart the blemish of an vngratefull minde which though in euery sort of man it be most fowle in you which by the benefite of Christ are in this place it would be altogether intollerable Howbeit I am whollie perswaded that your Maiestie is both of a readie minde and will to restore the Euangelicall Religion And albeit that you are sufficientlie prepared and learned of your selfe this to doe and that you haue no want of the holie counsels godlie exhortations of others which daily sound in your eares Yet haue I also thought good for the verie great bounden duety that I owe vnto your Maiestie with no lesse breuitie than modestie to put you in minde of some things which principallie belong hereunto Which thinges I humblie beséeche you may bee no otherwise
Martin Bucer I Consider deare sister in Christ that vnfortunate is the state of the children of Adam for they cannot become happie vnlesse they leaue in most bitter teares and incredible sorrowe those whom in their life time they helde more deare than life it selfe Your husband Bucer my singular friende and most deare vnto all them which giue their studie and minde vnto the Gospell of Christ might not by death goe vnto his God whō he entirely loued aboue all things without an vnestimable sorrow of you and mée and of all godly persons Who will not say that death is cruell which diuideth betwéene friendes and brethren and whereby most néere friendships and most deare societies are seuered Nothing can be more néere ioyned than is the knot of man and wife among true friendes all things are friendly and faithfully communicated one with another and therefore whosoeuer is a man woulde haue these friendships to be perpetuall and neuer broken But cruell death the iust scourge of God most iustly doeth let this our will and wée that by sinne haue disseuered our selues from God are vnwillingly plucked awaie from them whom we most earnestly loued Verilie I was minded in so great a sorrowe to comfort you somewhat by my letters if comfort might any manner of way be expressed by a sorrowfull and most afflicted man but since that might not be by reason of my excéeding great sorrowe onelie this one thing remaineth that I should together with you lament our common losse Euen as if I did oftentimes reioyce with them that reioyced when Bucer your husband was aliue nowe in like manner Ro. 12. 15. as Paul commaundeth I wil also wéepe with his wife that wéepeth For whereas one member of the bodie doeth suffer whyle another member doeth suffer therewithall it is woont to become somewhat more easie and tollerable not that it is by it selfe pleasant or to be wished for that sorrowe and affliction should be more largely extended séeing they bee euils in this respect the more grieuous in that they créepe by contagion and doe declare the force of the calamitie by manie which are infected through them but for this cause doeth the doubled sorrowe of manie lighten a sadde and heauie minde because there is perceiued a most swéete fellowship of charitie Furthermore when the griefe is but newly begun the voyces of them that bewaile are sooner admitted than their counsels obeyed which perswade that teares ought to bee measured and ended This haue I of mine owne selfe learned of late For the more that some exhorted mée not to disquiet my selfe the more was my sorrow renewed and mine eyes against my will more abundantly filled with teares Neither are the Christians forbidden to moorne for their friends whose valiant courage tendeth not to that ende that it shoulde make them as harde as yron or stone but the faith which they haue learned out of the scriptures teacheth them that death is the paine and punishment of sinne whereupon the féele thereof and of the wrath of God admonisheth and sheweth that sinne is more and more horrible and to be detested Iohn 11. 31 35. In the Gospell the two sisters of Lazarus wept although that neither of them was ignorant that he should at the leastwise be raised vp in the last day of iudgement Ibidem 35. Also Christ wept who neuertheles knew right wel that he woulde restore him backe vnto the life which seuē dayes before he had for gone Paul in like manner who knewe that to die is an aduantage and that it is reckened for an abundant and great benefite to be loosed from hence vnto Christ yet in the Epistle to the Philippians he giueth thanks vnto God Phil. 1. 21. Phil. 2. 27. who graunted vnto Epaphroditus the recouery of his health least vnto his afflictions through the heape whereof he was excéedingly pressed there might also come another affliction Wherefore séeing God our good father doeth well interpret the moorning of his children for the losse of their friendes I cannot forbeare but I must grieuously lament that from the Church is taken away so good a pastour so faithfull a teacher of the schoole so Godly an husband to you so incomparable a friende to mée and a most diligent and excellent gouernour of your houshold I haue often in my time béene holpen and refreshed of him Whatsoeuer trouble I suffered I was woont straightwayes to declare it vnto him I can neuer forget how ready his sound and faithfull counsels haue alwayes béene vnto me And now this doth specially gréeue me that I was not present at his death and that I did not heare together with others his last words which I doubt not but were full of Godlinesse and that I which so long time haue béene most familiar with him might not be present at his buriall I was fully minded after Easter to come vnto you this had I alreadie written vnto him Hee wrote vnto me againe that he well allowed of my purpose and he declared by most earnest words how welcome I should be vnto him His last letters were vnto me a verie swannes song Cygnea Cantio He saide that he hoped well of his disease therfore I miserable man conceiued a vaine hope that in short space he would recouer and that I should finde him whole and safe at Cambridge O minde of mine vncertaine of things to come and so light of beliefe My Bucer hath withdrawen himselfe into heauen without saluting or expecting of his Martyr What shal I do therfore Whither shall I turne my selfe I cannot goe from hence into heauen vnlesse I be called To liue alone and pulled away from him I cannot I beséech thée O Christ that thou for thy goodnesse sake taking pitie of my sorrowe wilt not long suffer me wretch to bée separated from him Nowe I féele my selfe to liue a banished man Now I perceiue my selfe to be out of my countrie those things which I counted no discommodities before while he liued nowe when I am left alone I finde a griefe and disquietnesse of them Nowe is he once deade that he might cease to die dayly now doth he liue safely we are to be sorrowed for who doe stand in battaile and doe alwayes receiue wounds Wherefore I bewaile our chance not Bucers which is gone because that he the earthen pot of his bodie being broken is returned vnto God which had sent him into the world and although he hath héere left vs that be his most déere friendes hee is receiued of other friends far more woorthie than we be And now how in my mind I doe sée you afflicted sadde I dare not write vnto you for that by the rememberance thereof sorrow would begin a fresh and sadnesse would be renewed But it may easily be vnderstood by those thinges which I shewe as touching mine owne selfe what I may iudge of you being somtime his most déere wife but now a desolate widowe Howbeit séeing