maruayle howe chaunce Why the Isralites after their repentance â—o not breake the league maâ—e with the Chananites that they styll kept the league which was wickedlye made with the Chananites ouerthrew not their detestable worshippinges Temples and Idols Vndoubtedly if theyr repeÌ„tance had bene true and perfect they ought faythfully to haue amended that wherein they synned for among other thinges those ar counted the iust fruites of repentaunce I haue nothing els to answer here but that I thinke they dyd not thys bicause they wanted force God forgeueth sinnes but he doth not by by restore the good thinges taken away luckelye to fight against those nations For God to punish the transgression and violating of his law had nowe withdrawen theyr strength and audacity And although they repented yet he did not by and by restore vnto them their old strengthes For he vseth in deede straightwaye to receaue repentaunt synners into fauour but he doth not by and by restore those thinges which he by his iust iudgement hath for sinnes taken away This maye we easely see in the fal of our first Parentes For the euils therby comming vnto mankinde wer not taken away of God Yea and those commodities most quiet state whiche they had in Paradise men neuer afterwarde recouered although God hath reconciled vnto himselfe those that beleue in Christ For Dauid had woord brought him by Nathan the prophet that his sinne was forgeuen him yet he could not escape but that his sonne which was borne vnto him perished and he himselfe fel into grieuous miseries So God woorketh somtimes partly to keepe discipline and partly to make manifest vnto men how much he detesteth sinnes Againe more and more to stirre vp repentaunce and that an earnest repentaunce of wicked actes committed in suche as are renued But let vs returne vnto the history wherin certain thinges which happened vnder Iosua are more fully repeated Now saith he He had let the people go and euery man went into his inheritaunce Iosua sent away the people twice from hym to possesse the land The Israelites were twice thus sent away by Iosua First when the land of Chanaan was deuided by lottes For at that time euery Tribe went to possesse those places which fel vnto them by lot Iosua also sent away the people when he should dye For he had called together vnto him the whole multitude of the Israelites by his last sermon to admonish and exhort them Which he preached in such sorte as it is described in his booke the .24 chap. And as it is most likely we ought to vnderstande that sending away in this place to be the same which was done last Seing that it is written in the place now alledged that when the people had heard the words of Iosua renued the couenante of god they wer sent awaye and euerie one went to his owne possession After that is mencioned the deathe of Iosuah euen with as many wordes as it is now repeated Iosua when he should dye executed the office of a good prince Here let vs note that Iosua being almost at the poynt of death executeth the office of a good Prince in exhorting the people openly that with many words not to depart from the sincere religion In which thing he with a godly and holy study imitated Moyses whom he succeded who as we reade toward the end of Deut. behaued himselfe after the sawe sort Iacob also the most holye Patriarche euen now ready to dye called vnto him al his children and seriously and with great holines preached vnto them And that Princes and Kinges shoulde coÌ„modiously do the same it is prescribed vnto them in Deuter. that they should be most studious in the law of God For by that meanes were they made apt to admonish the people and to exhort them faithfully to obserue the commaundementes of the Lord. The Israelites when they wer sent away by Iosua ar sayd to haue gone to possesse the land bicause as yet ther remained very many places for euery Tribe not yet conquered Of which places when Iosua was dead and in the time of the Elders they obtained certain when as they got the victories in battailes as we haue heard froÌ„ the beginning After which victories the first transgression folowed vnto which succeded the repentaunce before mencioned But they abstained from idolatry as long as Iosua lyued and all the time of the Elders which wer equall with him and ouerlyued him who also had seene the wonderfull workes of the Lord. For at that time sound doctrine and the woord of the Lord testified by notable victories wer of great force That good Magistrate by whom the publike wealthe was then gouerned had had experience of the wonderfull power of the woord of God and therefore he continually laboured openly to inculcate vrge it vnto the people of Israel which thing could not want iust fruit ExperieÌ„ce declareth People frame them selues to the example of their princes that almost in euery age the people frame them selues to the example of their Magistrates For if the Princes be zelous both of religion and godlines their subiectes also wil embrace godlinesse and religion But coÌ„trarywise if Princes liue vngodly and dissolutely the people wil likewyse despise religion and lyue filthily Moreouer let the Magistrate as long as he is in authority chiefly haue a care to thys that the holy ministery be perfect and that it teache and administer sound doctrine and pure rites and that he suffer not supersticious or wycked opinions to bee thrust into the church But euen as he prouideth that other Artificers abuse not their sciences so let him diligently beware that the Ministers of the church do not either corrupt the godly rites or falsify the holy doctrine We see that somtimes it happeneth that the ministery in the Church is very laudable and pure But yf an vngodly and wicked Magistrate obtaine the chief rule of thinges It profiteth much to the Ecclesiasticall ministery to haue the magistrate a helper that holy ministery is easely despised of the people Wherfore it is made of lesse efficacy than it would haue bene if it myght haue had the Magistrate a furtherer of it Wherfore we must with most feruent praiers desire that seing the church hath now by the benefit of God in many places recouered godly doctrine and sincere Ministers that it would please God to geue vnto it Magistrates which may be most zelous of godlines and religion If a man should aske whether the people may be good and godly although the Magistrate and Minister of the Church be corrupt I answer that somtyme they may be as touching some as we see to happen in the Papacy where some godly and holy men are euery wher found which neuertheles lyue vnder wicked corrupt and vngodly ciuyl Magistrates and Ministers of the church Howbeit publike exercises of sound religion and godlynes can not vniuersally be had wythout them
Neyther dyd the Apostle say liue rightly and holily with securitye For he which is secure from himself estemeth thinges so as though they depended of himself which is not to be suffred when as it is God himselfe which worketh in vs both to will and to perfourme But peraduenture thou wilte aske seing God from the beginning noblye promysed vnto Iudah that he would deliuer the land into his handes and hath not nowe graunted the perfecte victorye Augustine Whether the wil of god may be chaunged whether he haue chaunged hys sentence Heare what Augustine writeth of the will of God in hys .22 booke De ciuitate Dei and first chap. The will of God sayth he is not chaunged but we are chaunged But he semeth after a sort to be chaunged when where as before he was gentle vnto vs he now appeareth angry and contrarilye where as before he shewed himself to be angry he now in a manner gently offereth himself vnto vs. Wherefore when we our selues are chaunged we doe finde him after a sort to be chaunged in those things which we suffer Euen as the sunne semeth to be chaūged when we our selues are halfe blind or that our eyes be greued by some disease For he which before was pleasaunt mery and swete beginneth now to be troublesome hurtfull not as touching his own nature which alwaies abideth one is vnchaūgeable but by reasō of our disease vice wherunto we are newly fallen What were the causes of the vnperfecte victorye of them of Iudah Wherefore let vs more plainely gather the causes of the vnperfect victory The nighest cause and the true cause was bicause the Chananites had Iron chariots for taking away Gods helpe the Hebrues were not like vnto thē being so wel fenced appoynted And god as Ionathas the Chaldeian testifyeth withdrewe his fauor ayde bycause they had sinned Wherfore a iuste punishment followed them that they went without the victory But God whiche is alwaies very mercifull to his electe vseth this punyshment to the commoditye of the Israelites namely fyrst to teach them the arte of warfare then the his ayde being withdrawen they might fele their own weakenesse might see with what māner of enemies they should haue to do Besides this that the earth might not be wasted of wilde beasts brought into a wildernesse Finally therby to trye thē What temptation is Temptation is nothyng ells but to take profe or triall of any thyng Wherfore the end of temptation is ryghtly called knowledge as they which wil passe ouer a water The end of temptation do trye oute the shallowe places to knowe the depth of the water woundes also are tried of Surgeons to fele the depenesse of thē In tempting therfore knowledge is sought But God nedeth not that new and freshe knowledge for such is his nature that he knoweth al thyngs most perfectly But whē he tempteth he only doth it to leade mē to the knowledge of those things which they ought to knowe To what end holy men are tempted Wherfore when he sometymes tempteth good holy mē he bryngeth into lyght and maketh open the fayth obedience strength and godlinesse which before lay hid in theyr hartes that they which see the same things might glorifie God the author of them And that they which are so tempted whē they haue gotten the victory may geue him thankes and desire of him that euen as he hath done now so he would vouchsafe to helpe thē cōtinually in tētations Moreouer therby thei do conceaue a greater hope the god wil be with thē to helpe them in time to come when as they see that he hath so louingly graūted vnto them the same helpe now Wherfore the ende of these temptations is not that God should know those things wherof he was before ignoraunt but that therby his giftes fauour and grace might not be hidden But bicause sometimes it happeneth that in temptations euen the elect are ouercome god graūteth them after their fall to rise vp againe frō sinne a great deale more modest than they were before which the holy scriptures testifie to haue bene done in Peter and Dauid The end theyfore of such temptations is that we knowing our own weakenesse might lay down our Peacockes tayle and haue a regard to God him selfe as to the fountayne of all good thinges But the reprobate do fall in temptations For what cause the reprobate are tempted and that alwayes from one euill to a worse that their iniquitye vnryghteousnesse and wickednesse might be manifested which before lay hyd in theyr harts and whilest they laye hyd they myght easely appeare vnto men good men But God will haue those thinges brought to lyght that hys iudgementes and condemnation vpon them may appeare as in very dede they are most iust And certainely after this manner were the Israelites tempted in the desert as many as were reprobate If temptations turne to good for the godly why do they praye agaynst them Whether we may pray agaynst temptations when as they pray in the Lordes prayer Lead vs not into temptation Whervnto I answere that we may not pray against the first kinde of temptatiō wherin we get the victorye except peraduenture for as muche as we are full of imfyrmitye whilest in that battayle we ouercome the enemye we also our selues are in some part wounded For godly men desyre that all fallynges though they be neuer so litle may be driuen from them Temptations wherein we ouercome are not of them selues to be prayed agaynst Howbeit we may not praye to be rid of these battayles altogether wherin we ouercome Yea holy men haue somtimes desyred to haue the same graunted vnto them For Dauid sayd Proue me God burne my raynes and my hart Iames also sayth that such temptations pertayne to our felicitye when he writeth Blessed is the man which suffereth temptatiō c. So farre is it absent that it should seme to be prayed agaynst What kinde of temptation we must pray agaynst But those are to be prayed agaynst wherin godly men slippe and are ouercome although at length they turne to them to good bycause that in euery falling both God is offended and also his law violated which we must by al meanes abhorre and deteste For although we persuade our selues that therby some good thinges will come yet must we alwayes remember that the same happeneth not by the deserte of sinne but by the goodnesse of god And it is a constant rule that sinnes are not to be wyshed for though we might get neuer so muche good thereby The thyrd kynde of temptation wherby men fall into destruction What the godly must wayte for when they are tempted with aduersitye must altogether be prayed agaynst although they which be godly in dede and the electe of god are not affeard of the kinde of temptation For as much as they stand not in doubt of theyr saluation But the godly
his owne and is readye in Gods cause valiantlye to lose his life and therfore though he be somewhat angry or vntemperate he may for al that be called iust liberal and strong A similitude of the Stoikes Moreouer the same father confuteth the similitude of the Stoikes wherin they say that he is as wel drowned in water ouer whose head the water is but an hand bredth as he which hath the water tenne or twentye cubites ouer his head This similitude saith hee is not aptly brought Wherefore wee must bring in an other more fyt to the purpose namely a similitude of light and darknes Vndoubtedly the more a man departeth from darkenes and commeth nearer to the light hee beginneth then somewhat to see Wherefore it commeth to passe that although he be couered wyth darkenes yet for al that after a sort he is somewhat partaker of the light But he which is desirous to know more of this thing let him reade ouer that .29 Epistle And these thinges haue I to this end brought to confirme that all synnes are not equal as the Stoikes iudged Let vs returne therefore to the place of Iames which I before brought The obseruation of the law is not to be receaued with an exception Hee which offendeth in one is therfore made guyltye of all bicause the obseruing of the law is not to be receaued with an exception so that we shoulde chuse vnto vs any certaine part of it to keepe and lay away and neglect an other part for a tyme as we wil and lyst our selues God hath ioyned together the commaundementes of the law And it is not our part to seperat them as we lyst Seing the coÌ„mandemeÌ„tes of the law are ioyned together it is not our part to seperate theÌ„ We must looke vpon the authority of the lawgeuer which ought to be of force as well in one commaundement as in al. This interpretation Iames hym selfe seemeth to confirme when he saith He which said Thou shalt not commit adulterye The same saith Thou shalt not kyl as though he would say God is as muche resisted in breaking one of these commaundementes as in an other But it maye be proued also by an other reason that he which synneth in one is guilty of al. For if as we should be driuen by temptation lust or occasion whereby we shoulde be styrred to any certain transgression of the law so if by the same or lyke violence we wer driuen into any other transgression we shoulde as well breake the one as the other Augustine also teacheth in the place now alledged that the senteÌ„ce of Iames is for an other cause true bicause sinne which is committed is vndoubtedly contrary vnto charity wherin the obseruation of the whole lawe dependeth In suÌ„me to this end haue I rehersed al these things to declare that sinnes which are committed are not for that cause to be diminished or extenuated bycause they are counted light for so much as the transgressions of the law ar not to be waighed onely by the waight and woorthines of their actions but rather by the strength of Gods woord and authority of the lawe of God who hath forbidden to synne The ryght obseruing of the sacramentes perteyne vnto the first table But least in this thing I should seeme to rough I am coÌ„tent that they haue some consideration euen of the acte wherin the synne is committed And surely as touching that I cannot see how to sinne against the sacramentes can be iudged a light fault when as that kinde of sinne pertaineth to the first table wherin vndoubtedly the worshipping of God is set forth Which worshipping alone kept whole and sound other thinges are easely corrected And on the contrarye that being corrupted and defiled all other thinges whatsoeuer we doo become most vnthankeful vnto God Furthermore they thinke that the fault whereof we entreate maye therefore be extenuated bicause they affirme that they slide not of minde and purpose but onely by constraint Whom if thou shouldest demaund what maner of compulsory that is which they pretende They cannot vndoubtedly geue any other answer but bicause they would not incur the losse of their goodes Aristotell Shipmen suffer wise wyth their willes not bi coÌ„straint their fame and their lyfe But these thinges make not but that the action is voluntarye For as Aristotle hath taught in his Ethikes when as shipmen in daunger do hurle their goods in to the sea to auoyde the daunger of shipwracke they are said commonly to be compelled when as in dede they willingly throw them in For they take deliberation and with knowledge they determine rather to lose their goodes than their life And as they in that worke do wisely so do our men for the loue of lyfe and body couetousnes of the goodes of this world vnwisely choose the losse of eternall life when as with a wycked dissimulation they go vnto detestable Masses Wherefore the excuse which they bring cannot be receaued as iust The Corrinthians also mought by this reason when they were reproued of Paule haue defended them selues If wee go vnto the feastes dedicated to idols we go not thether of our own affection as though we would allow such sacrifices but by iust reasons we are compelled to go thether For if we should flye from such feastes we should be couÌ„ted seditious euyl Citizens and without humanity we should lose pleasant amities and most profitable defences and also peraduenture our riches and country If thei had said these thinges to Paule would he haue heard them No trulye For he was not ignoraunt but that they might haue said so and yet for al that as it is wrytten in his Epistle he vehementlye and most sharpelye reproued them Aaron also might according to these mens opinion iustly and rightly haue defended himself in that he made a Calfe vnto the Israelites For he mought haue said I dyd it not from the hart but I was compelled so to do bicause the people except I had obeyed them would haue stoned me In dede so be answered but Moyses which knew right well that that necessitye or compulsion was not iust but came of a naughty condition or ground which neither Iustice woulde suffer to be receaued Masse is a certain toâ—eÌ„ wherby the â—â—ythful at 〈◊〉 â—en froÌ„ the superstitious nor God would by any meanes admyt therfore dyd Moyses I say sharpely reproue him They ought also to be most assured of this that the Masse is a pledge an earnest peny a token and signe whereby Papistes knowe theirs from others For whether a man geue almes or no whether he pray or not pray whether he lyue chastly or vnpurely and such like things they neglect they onely haue a regarde to this whither he come to Masse which if they perceaue that he doo by and by they count him for one of their own And againe to detest the Masse Masse is a certaine profession of popery and not to
as a deliuerer out of Egypte Then as a deliuerer out of the captiuitie of Babilon God beginneth the rehearsall of benefites last geuen But lastly as the father of our Lord Iesus Christ But now of the benefite lately bestowed on them he calleth him selfe the delyuerer out of Egypte Afterward he adioyneth an other benefite And I haue brought you into the lande whiche I sware vnto your fathers It was not sufficiēt that they wer deliuered out of Egypt but they had ample noble places assigned vnto them Thirdly he saith This haue I geuē you That I would haue my couenant made with you to haue cōtinued for euer if it mought haue ben by your obediēce But ye haue not suffred it These benefites whiche in this place are rehearsed are playne and manifest ynough Two principal thynges to be considered in the couenaunt But as touching the last namely of the couenaunt two thinges are to be considered in it First whiche is also the chief of all good thinges is the redemption whiche should be made by Christ Neither could this be hindered by any sinnes of mē For God is faithful as Paul testifieth to the Romanes neither departeth he from his truth for our euill desertes The second is the successe of outwarde good thinges and ciuill ornamentes Whiche kinde of couenaunte or promesse bycause it was conditionally it myght therefore sometymes be altered and vndoubtedly of this doth our preacher at this present speake And what conditions God required of the Israelites here he declareth in this sermon 2 And ye also shall make no couenaunte with the inhabiters of this lande but shal breake downe their altares Neuerthelesse ye haue not obeyed my voyce why haue ye this done 3 Wherefore I haue also determined I will not cast them out before your face but they shal be as prickes in your sydes and theyr Gods shal be a snare vnto you God by couenaunt had prescribed two thynges in especiall What god prescribed the Israelites in the couenaunt first that they should make no league with the Chananites secondly that they should plucke downe their altares and temples These are euery where written in the law especially in Exodus the 13. and 20. In the booke of Numb 33. In Deut. 7. Now after these conditions required of God is set forth the transgression of the Israelites But ye sayth he haue not hearkened vnto my voyce The Iewes were not yet fallen so farre that they committed Idolatry they are onely reproued for violating the couenaunt bycause they had saued the Idoles and altares of the Chananites The wonderfull goodnesse of God surely is shewed by these wordes VVhy haue ye this done A vehemente maner of amplifieng of synne He demaūdeth the cause as being ready to heare their excuse if they could bring any that were iust and lawfull And by this meanes also the grieuousnesse of the sinne is amplified as being so grieuous that it could by coulour be defended And vndoubtedlye thus it is God is not afeard in iudgement to contēd with synners Gods cause agaynste vs is so good that he is not affeard in Iudgement to reason with synners as the Prophetes Esay and Micheas haue playnely taught The preacher goeth forwarde and sheweth what punishement they shoulde haue for thys faulte For so much as ye haue not stande by your couenaunt I wyll also go from my promises I will not expell the Chananites out of this region as I had promised if so be that I do not expell them ye are so weake and feble that by your owne power ye can not cast them out They shal remayne therfore as ye would haue it but yet to your great discōmodity For they shal be as prickes in your sides namely as thornes where with ye shal be oftentymes sharply pricked The Hebrew worde is Letsdim And in dede Tsad signifieth a side Althoughe some thinke that worde to be deriued of this verbe Tsud whiche is to hunte or to fishe and bycause the hookes of fishermen are very sharpe therfore the worde is by a certaine Metaphore transferred to signifie thornes And after the same sorte we might say they signified nettes vsing the same Metaphore whiche we may deriue of hunters But the firste reason of the interpretation to signifye sides I sets both simple also more allowed by the commentaryes of the Hebrues And theyr Idoles shal be a snare vnto you Namely wherewith ye shal be taken and when ye shal be geuen to their Idolatry ye shal be punished with most grieuous punishementes and discommodities Augustine in his 13. Augustine questiō vpon this booke hath noted that God threatneth after his accustomed maner that at the length it shall come to passe that he will punishe synnes by synnes For the Israelites in not obeyeng the commaundement of God committed synne and he agayne threatneth that Idoles shal be a stumblyng blocke vnto them namely that they should worship them wherfore afterwarde they should be grieuously punished By whiche wordes he declareth that the first transgression should be punished and chastised with the wicked crime of Idolatry as Paul testifieth to the Romanes that the Idolatry of the Ethnikes was punished with most filthy lustes But the punishement of the Israelites as it is here set forth hath with out doubt a great emphasys For what can there happen more grieuous than to be among thornes and continuallye to fall among them Vndoubtedly hereof followe woundes almost thoroughe out al the partes of the body and new paynes and those vehement succede one an other And as thornes if they sticke in the fleshe do sharpely pricke so to dwell among enemyes and to haue them ioyned together with vs can not be but very full of troubles The punishement whiche God here threateneth is no new punishement for al that is here written was forespoken in the boke of Iosua the 23. chap. Namely that it should come to passe that if they obeyed not the preceptes of the law of God God would not then performe to destroy those natiōs before them yea he sayth they shal be vnto you a snare a stumblyng stocke a whip for your sides and thornes to your eyes vntill ye be destroyed out of this good lande whiche the Lord your God hath geuen you c. For the Israelites had afterward experience of these miseryes bycause they were oftentimes brought into bondage by their enemyes among whom they dwelled and with whom they had vngodly ioyned them selues And finally for that they would not ceasse of from Idolatry they were cast out to the Assirians and Babilonians This chidyng of God contayneth iust causes wherfore the Israelites were destitute of his helpe for a tyme. Causes why god forsoke the Israelites for a tyme. And the end of the whole sermon is that the people might be stirred vp to repentaunce and that most aptely For among those thinges whiche do vehemently amplify synne do set it playnly before our eyes
plaine this question at the length is called againe to the will For who soeuer can let and prohibite any thing that is euil and doth it not it is manyfest that after a sort he is willing therunto Besides that he permitteth it not against his wyll God doth not idlelye beholde those thinges whych are done o◠men but worketh together with them Esay 5. but willinglye Wherefore a wyll without doubt is contayned in that permission But now must we shew that God when sinnes are committed doth not ydely looke on yea he woorketh somwhat there For Esay in the .v. chap. saythe that God would geue a token and with his hissing cal a nation from the vtmost partes of the earth which should ouerthrow the kingdome of the Hebrues as their synnes had deserued By which it manifestly appeareth that God stirreth vp Tyrannes and outward nations to these vniust warres Esay 10. Also in the .x. chap. the same Prophet pronounceth that king to be wicked which in that expedition was in the hand of God as a saw a staffe and an axe There is no man ignoraunt but that al these thinges do so woorke and moue that they be first moued Yea and that proud king is therfore reprehended bicause he so exalted himselfe as though he wer God who had by him brought such and so great thinges to passe Gen 45. Ioseph also in the booke of Genesis said vnto his brethren which had by a wicked cōspiracy sold him It was not you but god that sent me into Egipt In the first booke of the kinges also 1. kinges 22. and the .xxii. chap Sathan who was readye to deceaue Achab was commaunded by God to do it to preuaile Which words declare that God himselfe commaundeth and also stirreth vp to deceaue Further it is written in the Prouerbes the .xxi. chap. Prouerbes 21. The hart of the king is in the hand of God he shal incline it whether soeuer he wyl The scripture saith also of Pharao Exodus 9.10.11 Rom. 9. kinges seme free from humayne lawes but God boweth them whether he wyll which place Paul alledgeth that his hart was hardened by God Neither maketh this anye thing against it Pharao was hardened both of god of hym self if thou shalt say that it is written in the .viii. chap. of Exodus that Pharao hardened himselfe for as muche as bothe sayinges are true For God doth no violence to the wyll of man seing that nothing is more contrarye vnto it than to make it to doo any thing vnwillingly or by compulsion Howbeit it is chaunged and bowed of God so softly and pleasantly that it willinglye without violence inclineth to whatsoeuer pleaseth God Augustine And it often times happeneth as Augustine in diuers places hath taught that God punisheth former sinnes by latter synnes And the holye scriptures before Augustines time testified the same especiallye Paule in his Epistle to the Roma the first chap. Wherfore God hath in his hand the affections of our hart which he loseth or restraineth as shal seeme good to his most wise prouidence turneth them whithersoeuer it shal please him And so great is his power God worketh more as touching sinnes than is expressed by the worde permission 2. Thess 2. that we must beleue that he worketh much more than may be expressed by the woord of permission For Paul feared not thus to write vnto the Thessalonians bycause they haue not receaued the loue of the truth therfore shal God send on them an error so that they shal beleue lyes al they shal be iudged which haue not beleued the truth but allowed vnrighteousnes These wordes manifestly testifye that God did cast error vpon them to punish their former sinne namelye vpon those which despised the truth offered them Dauid also semeth to tend to this when in the .2 booke of Samuel the .16 chap. he said of Simeck Suffer him 2. Sam 16. for God hath cōmaunded him to curse me Also in the same booke the .12 chap. God by Nathan the Prophet saith of Dauid which had grieuously fallen 2. Sam 12. behold I wyll stirre vp euil against thee wil take thy wiues geue them vnto thy neighbour who shal sleepe with them this diddest thou secretly but I wil do this thing openly in the eyes of the Sunne and of all Israel If the matter be so thou wilt say they which sinne shall easily be excused The sinnes of men are not excused by the working of god for they may sone say that they wer by God moued stirred vp to sin Not so For mē ar not so deliuered by God vnto sins as though they wer them selues pure innocent For they which ar so stirred vp to naughtines haue worthily deserued the same And the same men are not driuen against their wil but they wonderfully delite themselues in those transgressions and sinnes Wherefore their excuse is foolishe or rather none But this semeth to be agaynst the things before said Whither God do together both hate wil sinnes bicause in the Psalmes it is wrytten that God is such a one as willeth no iniquity and hateth synnes And vndoubtedly he is so in dede For vnles he hated sinnes why should he punish them for thinges that are allowed are not wont to be punished Farther he hath most seuerely prohibited them by his lawes But as touching this A distinction of the wyll of God thus must we decree of the wil of god that it is in nature and very dede one whych yet may be deuided for diuers and sundry respectes For as it is set foorth in the scriptures the law he condemneth sinnes he prohibiteth them and threatneth most grieuous punishments vnto them Howbeit bicause he directeth the same sinnes whithersoeuer he wil vseth them to his counsels and decrees neyther when he may letteth them it is therfore sayd that after a sort he wylleth them Neither is it meete to deny that such sundry respectes are in the wyl of god For god would before al beginninges haue his sonne sacrificed vnto him for a most swete sacrifice who yet himself said in the law Thou shalt not kil thou shalt not shed innocent bloud God also forbad that any shoulde be deceaued who for all that would haue Achab to be deceaued of Sathan Christ was killed by the will of God as we haue a lyttle before mencioned And least any man should doubt that Christ was put to death by the wyl of God we may se in the actes of the Apostles that it is most manifestly said that the Iewes did those things which God by his counsel had before ordained What then Shal we say that god is the cause of synne Not so God if we speake properli is not the cause of sinne for if we wil speake properly and that it may the more manifestly appeare we must marke that one selfe acte as it is deriued from
regenerate and of the gift of regeneration whiche should be geuen by Christ But men that are regenerate shal be iudged euery maÌ„ according to his own desertes and not accordyng to other mens synnes And so the sonne shall not beare the iniquity of the father but the soule whiche hath sinned it shall dye But before regeneration originall sinne infecteth and destroyeth all posterityes This distinction of Augustine I disalow not but I doubt whether it be sufficiently applyed vnto the meaning of Ezechiel and Ieremy Ezechiel and Ieremy wrote both the selfe same wordes in sundry places Both those Prophetes wrote these selfe same wordes The fathers haue eateÌ„ sower grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge when as yet the one was in Iewry and the other caried away into Babilone Whiche is a manifest argument that they spake both with one and the selfe same spirite But Augustine sayeth that the exposition of Ezechiel is to be sought for in the .31 chap. of Ieremy For there after the same wordes it is added Beholde the dayes will come and I will make a new couenaunt c. Wherfore that place is wholy to be applied vnto regeneration and therfore by these wordes of Ieremy the wordes of Ezechiel are to be interpreted of those that are regenerate In this manner that father thynketh this question is fully aunswered But when I more attentyuely doo weighe the chap. of Ezechiel I thinke that he speaketh of the punishmentes and afflictions of this lyfe For why complayned the people saying that the fathers had eaten sower grapes and the childreÌ„s teeth were set on edge Did they complaine of the payne of hell No vndoubtedly but bicause they were led away captiue into Babilone and lyued in seruitude They complayne that God semeth to deale to hardly with them bycause for as much as their fathers were idolaters yet they which had not sinned were punished For those punishementes the people lamented wherfore it was necessary that the Prophet should aunswere them of the same punishementes The soule of the father is myne and the soule of the sonne is myne The soule whiche hath sinned it shal dye These wordes therfore haue a respect vnto the punishmentes of this lyfe Although I do not deny but that it may also be transferred vnto spirituall punishmeÌ„tes Argumentum a minori ad maius but not vnles it be by an argumeÌ„t from the les to the great And that after this maner God doth not for an other mans sinne punishe with paynes which dure but for a tyme those whiche are vtterly innocent therfore much les will he punishe them with spirituall and eternall punishmentes Ierome Ierome when he interpreteth this place of Ezechiel hath the solution which Augustine also afterward followed as in his place we shall declare But the interpretations do vary bycause it is a thing obscure and the difficulty hereof ryseth bycause it can not be denyed but that God doth vexe some for other mens sakes For although C ham vncouered the filthines of his father yet the curse was transferred to Chanaan his sonne And when the Sodomites had grieuously sinned the children were also burnt together with the fathers And when Dauid had committed aduoutry God caused that the sonne whiche was borne of the aduoutry to dye Wherfore in a thing so obscure Ierome bringeth his owne interpretation but he declareth also other mens iudgementes as touchyng this question An Allegorical exposition of some First he sayth that there were very many which did vnderstand this place of the lawe That God will visite the iniquity of the fathers vpon the children vnto the third fourth generation allegorically of euery singular soule or man For there are in vs certayn naturall passions Foure degrees of sinnes impulsions and violences to euil or as other say first motions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then followeth deliberation when a man determineth with himselfe to do euill Thirdly is performed that whiche was determined Fourthly followeth boastyng of the wicked acte when he reioyseth and hath a pleasure in his sinnes So in a maner are numbred foure generatioÌ„s but God is so gentle that in the first and second generation that is in the first motions and in deliberation he sayth nothing and winketh at it but the third and fourth that is the perpetrating boasting he punisheth when a man both doth euill and gloryeth in his sinnes and will not repent Wherefore they say that God reuengeth vpoÌ„ the bowes and not vpon the rootes For maÌ„ as they thinke if he neither do euill nor boast of his euil may be saued althoughe otherwise he both lusteth and deliberateth to commit euill And in that maner they interprete Paul vnto Timothe when he sayth that the woman shal be saued by procreation of children so that they abyde in the fayth c. that is The soule shal be saued if it worke that which is good althoughe it haue euill motions and cogitations This interpretation do not I allowe first bycause it is Allegoricall The impulsioÌ„s and first motions of the minde are sinnes when as God especially in the law speaketh simply and manifestly moreouer bycause if the wordes of God should be applied vnto allegoryes they should be made vtterly vncertayne lastly bycause that whiche is sayd is not true For these impulsions and first motions are sinnes bycause both they are agaynst the law of God and also they are condemned of Christ when he sayth in the Gospell He whiche seeth a woman and lusteth after her hath committed fornication already in hys harte And he whiche is angry with his brother is worthy of iudgement For God doth not so regarde the â—ctes but that he much more hath a respect vnto the mynde Moses at the waters of contention sinned grieuously and yet if we diligently weighe that hystory we shall finde nothing that he committed euill outwardly But God saw the incredulity of his heart and tooke great vengeance of hym Wherfore those motions and deliberations of the minde are not onely sinnes but also are grieuously punished of God Wherfore let vs leaue this interpretation whiche Ierome also bringeth not as his owne But now to make the matter playne as touchyng punishmentes of this lyfe As touchyng punishementes which dure but for a tyme that no man suffreth whiche he hath not deserued no man can say he suffreth that which he deserueth not bicause no man is pure no not the childe that is but a day old there is none whiche hath not deserued eueÌ„ death why then should men say Our fathers haue eaten sowre grapes c. wheÌ„ as euery man shall beare his owne burthen either as touching this lyfe or as touchyng eternall lyfe But God doth not alwayes send these euils which dure but for a time as paynes and punishmentes God doth not alwayes send those euilles which dure but for a tyme as punishements but hath very oftentymes a respect vnto others endes as
then be But both we our selues and al ours doinges I say sayinges thoughtes and counsels are due vnto god Wherfore our merites do vtterly perish Moreouer those workes whereby wee should merite ought to be of our selues which cannot be affirmed for as muche as it is god which worketh in vs both to wil to perform that not as we wil but according to his good wil. Augustine Wherfore Augustine was accustomed very wel to say that God which crowneth his giftes in vs. And in his .100 Epistle ad Sixtū Presbiterum Paul saith he when he had sayd The rewarde of synne is death dyd not straightway adde contrarily The rewarde of righteousnes is euerlasting lyfe But Grace sayth he is eternal life for that is not rendred to our merites but is geuen freely He might in deede haue wrytten after the same manner if he woulde For the holye Scripture sometimes so speaketh But for that he was a defender of grace hee woulde not geue occasion vnto his enemyes to impugne it Farther our woorkes how holye so euer they appeare are neuerthelesse vnpure and imperfect Wherefore they are woorthye rather of punishment then that they should deserue any good And wythout doubt they should be punished were not the redempcion and iustification whyche wee haue by Christ our Lorde There ought also to be some anallogy or proporcion betwene merites and rewardes whereof there is none betwene our workes and eternall lyfe For as Paul saith The sufferinges of this time are not woorthy of the glory to come which shal be reuealed in vs. This is to be added that in the holye scriptures is no where found the name of merite Some in deede are wont to bring the .xvi. chap. of Ecclesiasticus and there they say it is written All mercy shal make place vnto euery one according to the merites of his workes But they which obiect this thing let him looke vpon the Greeke text wherin it is thus written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is in latine Deus omni misericordiae faciet locum quisque iuxta opera sua inueniet Which in englyshe signifieth God wil make place vnto al mercy and euery man shall finde according vnto hys woorkes But in these woordes there is no mencion made of merite onely this is wrytten that whose woorkes are good they shall be in good case but yet their woorkes are not sayde to bee merites or causes of rewarde I wyll not speake howe that booke is not in the Canon bycause Paule and the Gospels vse the same forme of speaking But of that whyche is wrytten vnto the Hebrewes by suche Sacrifices God is well pleased I haue before spoken nowe wyth one woorde onely will I briefly touche the thing This woorde of deseruing is not founde in the Greeke In Greeke is read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by whyche woorde is onely signified that the good woorkes of the faythfull are gratefull and acceptable vnto God Of the woorde reward But as touching this woorde rewarde which some bicause they do not well vnderstand it do take for merite we must deuide it two maner of wayes For that is sometymes called a rewarde whiche is geuen freelye but yet is promysed by adding of some worke wherby men should be styrred vp to doo well So eternal life may be called a reward not that we deserue the same by our woorkes but bicause by a certain order appointed of God it followeth our good workes But somtimes a reward is that which is due vnto good dedes Whither eternal lyfe may be called a reward is rendred vnto them of duty After this maner eternal life cannot be called the reward of our workes Wherfore Paul to the Romanes saith Abraham beleued God it was imputed vnto him for righteousnes But vnto him which woorketh reward is not imputed according to grace but according to debt Wherefore eternal lyfe for as muche as it is not of ryght dewe cannot be a reward if the woorde be taken in that signification But when they thus reason there is a reward geuen ergo there is a merite The argument is not firme A genere ad species bicause in affirming we may not discend from the general woorde to the species Neyther doth he rightly conclude whych sayth It is a liuing creature ergo it is a man This generall word reward hath two species therfore this argument is not firme if we saye It is a reward Ergo it is plaine that it must be geuen of dewty This saying also of Ieremy is to be added Cursed be euery one that putteth his hope in man and calleth flesh his strength But all our thinges whatsoeuer they be are not without flesh Wherfore it is not lawful for vs to put confidence in them Ierome And Ierome writing vpon that place hath very well brought in manye thinges whereby may be vnderstanded that in our workes there is no regard of merite Yea and the Papists also themselues which ar the patrones of merites are sometimes compelled to confesse that our merites are nothing at all For on the 2. Sonday in the Aduēt thus they pray Be pacefied O god with the prayers of our humility and wher helpe of merites do want succor vs with the aydes of of thy mercy The fathers whē in theyr writings they oftentimes inculcate this word of meriting do by it signify nothinge els then to get to obteine and to atteine to And as manye of them as haue written purelye the same haue detested the consideration of merites whereof the papistes so much bost Wherfore the Israelites were not heard thoroughe the merite of their teares or prayers but bycause by fayth in Christ to come they obteyned forgeuenes of sins and so by his merite onely they returned into fauor againe with god They offred sacrifice What profite the sacrifices of the law had Although I haue before largely spoken of the sacrifices in the olde time yet I thinke it good here also briefly to touch what profite was of them in the old law When men are vexed with calamityes they beginne to think vpon theyr sin they loke vpon the law wher whē they behold the wrath of god kindled for sinne they are in hart deiected in which perturbatiō there remaineth no remedy but to get them vnto Christ which is the summe and end of all sacrifices Him did the fathers which wer godly embrase by faith but in the sacrifices as often as the sacrifice was slaine so often the death of Christe was after a sorte set before the eyes of those that stoode by by whose death the synnes of the world should be taken away The sacramēts of the olders ours at al one but differ in outward Simboles signes Wherfore they had after this manner a communion amonge themselues in Christ which by sundry notes and signes dayly signified to the people in the old time wherhēce they by fayth receaued vnto their saluacion both his death and the fruite
Repentaunce consisteth in twoo poyntes 61. b Repentaunce is not perfect in vs. 175. b Repentaunce is somtimes openlye to be renued 63. b Repentaunce and amendement is geuen of God 73 Repentaunce bringeth not alwaies the former good state again 65. b Repentaunce of God how 70 Repetition of periodes in the scripture 105 Repetitions in speeche are to purpose 109 Reprobate are forsaken of God before they forsake him 33 Reprobate why they be tempted 34 Reprouing lawful 37 Resisters of Gods vocation differ 1â—5 b Reubenites trade and country 108 Reuenging of a mans owne iniuries 31. b Reward handled 272 b Rewardes may lawfully be set for good deedes 23. b Rewardes may be respected in doing well 23. b Rhetorike profitable in war 36 Riddles in feastes 218. b Right of war 186 Rites and ceremonies neede not be al alyke euery where 54. b Riualty 143. b Riuer swellyng at the battayle of Sisara 109 Rochesters false argument 148. b Rocke in the scriptures signifieth oft a castle or fortres 273. b Rome builded when 3. b Romes dignity caused the Byshop thereof to bee preferred before other 148. b Romaynes in the primatiue church communicated euery day and yet were maryed 94 Romaines neuer had peace aboue xl yeares at once 83. b Romaynes compelled their Consull 91 Romaines punished their Citizens onely by banishment 146. b Romish prouerb 85. b Romulus in Ezechias time 3. b Rule firme of inuocation 129 Rule of our actions is the woorde of God 129 Ruth the doughter of Eglon. 83 S. SAbboth day to daunce in 287 Sabboth endureth from euening to euening 277. b Sacramentes of the Elders and ours were all one and differ in outward simboles signes 273 Sacramentes all one in both testamentes 74 Sacrament and Sacrifice may be both in one thing 64 b Sacrament sacrifice differ 63. b Sacramentes and miracles are after a sort lyke 129. b Sacramentes consist by the word of God 91. b Sacrifice handled 206. b Sacrifice defined 63. b Sacrifices of the Elders what they signified 194. b Sacrificing in other places besides the Tabernacle 205. b Sacrifices of the law what profit they had 273 Sacrifices kyllyng signified c. 6â— Sacrifices of Christians 207 Sacrifice hath twoo special properties 64. b Sacrificer is more acceptable vnto God then the Sacrifice 206. b Sacrificing belonged onelye to the Leuites 123. b Sacrifices for the dead 277 Sacrifice for quicke and dead 50 Sacrifices of Ethnikes agre more with Gods sacrifices then the Masse with the CoÌ„munion 50. b Sasconduit 86. b Saintes whether they beholde all thinges in the glas of the deuine essence 68. b Sayntes sometimes not to bee followed 4 Salomons syn 54 Salt sowing 170 Saluation is the gift of God 182 Salutacion of the Hebrues 114. b Samson had fayth 235. b Samson onely appointed a Iudge before his birth 200. b Samsons mother coÌ„pared to Mary the virgin 201 Samuel of the posteritye of Chore. 182 Sanctified in the wombe .. 103. b Sangar 91 Sapor king of the Persians 12. b Sassias monstruous lust 21 Satisfaction for synnes is not by death or martyrdom of men 195 Satisfaction is not in fasting 279 Scoffing punished 144. b Schoole maysters shoulde bee godlye 45. b Schoolemaister traitor 37. 39. b Schoolemens inconstancy 119 Schismes what 197. b Scots matrimony 20. b Scriptures came from God and their authority 5 scriptures whether Iewes haue corrupt 57. b Scriptures verity 226. b scriptures diuersly deuided 1 Scriptures is rather to be beleued then miracles 131 Scriptures terme thynges sometymes according as men vse commonly to speake 217. b Scriptures neuer attribute that to God whiche in a man is of it selfe vice or of his owne nature synne 142 Sechems situation 159 Sechemites synnes 157 Secrets reueiled by droÌ„keÌ„nes 164 secretes reueiling death 37 Secretes are not rashly to be communicated to a mans wife 221. b Secundum quid ad simpliciter 256. b Security handled 246. b Security laudable 247. b Securitye of the fleshe pernicious 244 Sedicion handled 197 Sedicions springeth oft of settyng forth of true piety 124. b sedicious persons who 197. b Seyng of God or angels 117 Seing of God by men 118 Senadrim 1. b Sences cannot know God 118 Sences when they may be receaued 209. b Sences are not deceaued in seyng of angels 210. b SeÌ„sible things distinguished 209 b Sepulchres of dead men watched 139. b Sequences and fained hyms 103. b Serapions act for Communion vnder one kinde 190 Sermon of a Prophet 113. c Sermon must be taken out of the scriptures 61 Serpents of the carkas of a man 218 Seruantes sometimes wyser then their maisters 250. b Seruitude 80 Seuen a number of fulnes 179 Seuerity of God toward hys enemies 112 Seuerity to much against the Beniamites 280 Seuerity in a mans own cause not commendable but in Gods necessary 31. b Shadowes of the old law are remoued but the things shadowed remayne 47. b Shaphat interpreted 1. b Shauing of heades 201. b Shepherdes vsed watches 139. b Shew of yll how far it is to bee auoyded 38. b Shipwrack cruellye dealt with in certayn regions 235. b Shratâ—tide 279. b Sibyllas verses 58 Sicarii 166 Sicera dronke 202 Sicles valew 238 Signe desired by Manoah 204. b Signe required by Gedeon 116 Signe may be required to strengthen our fayth 126 Signes haue the names of the properties of things oft times 62 Signes are called lyes why 127 b Silence enioyned to wemen in the church 93 Silla eaten of lice 13 Siloh was in mouÌ„t Ephraim 252 Simbole or Crede is called the tradâ—tion of the Church 43 Similitudes force in reasonyng 234 Sinnes in .4 degrees 179. b Sinne entred by man and not by God 167 Sinne seperateth vs from the familiarity of God 117. b Sinnes are not equall 53 Sinnes punished by sinnes 248. b Sinnes of committing and omyttyng 63 Sinnes former by latter sins punished 79 Sinne cured with sinne 168. b Sinnes cannot be auoyded by vs. 73 Sinne is not therfore excused bycause it is publike 254. b Sinnes haue their weighte by the law 53 Sinnes are yll and good in diuers respectes 166. b Sinne is syn bycause it is againste Gods woord 233. b Sinne no synne when God commaundes it 39 Sinne whether God be the cause thereof 78 Sinnes reward is death 194. b Sinnes cause is not to be layde to God 167 Sin how it depeÌ„deth of god 166. b Sinne punished with sinne 11 Sinne is not to be committed to auoyd synne 253 Sinne is euer to be auoyded let folow what wyll 253 Sinnes of the Israelites 40. b Sinners punished by God two maner of wayes 11 Sinners punished by the same thinges wherin they transgres 61 Sinners ar not excused by the working of God 79 Sinners ought to cal vpon God 78 Sinners whether God heare 207 Single life for Ministers 94 Singuler for plural 109. b Singing in the church 102. b Singing dauncing alike 286. b Sircius a Romain forbad mariage of Ministers 94 Sisera a
236. 13.1 Let eueri soul be subiect 262 b 13.1 Powers ar ordained of God 260. b. 1. Corinth 2.15 He that is spirituall discerneth all thinges 262. 6.1 Dare anye of you hauyng a cause agaynst an other 256. b 6.13 14 The body is not for fornication 229. b 7.5 Defraud not one another except it be for a time 94. 7.11 If the womā depart let her remain vnmaried or let her bee reconciled 222. b 7.14 Els were your chyldrē vncleane but now ar they holy 182 7.15 If the vnfaithful depart 86 7.37 He dothe well c. that wyll kepe his virgin 46. 8.4 We know that an Idol is nothing in the world 69. b 10.24 Non quae sua sunt quaerētes Such as seeke not their owne 38. b 10.27 If anye that is an infidell byd you c. 44. b. 45. b 11.5 Euery woman that prayeth or prophecieth barcheaded 93 13.2 If I had al fayth 130 13.12 We shal see him face to face 121. 14.34 Let your women keepe silence c. 93 15.44 It is raysed a spiritual body 211 Galath 1.8 Though we or an angel from heauen c. 262 1.15 c. When it pleased God to reueale his sonne in me c. I communicated not with fleshe and bloud c. 265 3.19 It was ordayned by angels in the hand c. 120 Ephes 5.18 Be not dronke with wyne c. but speake in psalmes c. and songes 103 Philip. 4.8 Whatsoeuer things are honest 250 Collossi 3.16 Let the woorde of Christe abounde in you c. in psalmes c. 103 1. Thes 5.22 Ab omni specie ma la abstinete Refrain from al apparance of ill 18. b 1. Timo. 2.1 Supplications praiers intercessions and geuynge of thankes 44 2.11 I permit not a woman to teache c. 93 3.3 No striker 146. b 4.8 Bodely exercise profits lytle but. c. 140. 279 Titus 1.7 No striker 146. b 2.3 Women should be teachers of honest thinges c. 93 Hebru 7.2 Abraham payed tenthes c. 261 13.4 Hooremongers and adulterers God wyl iudge 254. b 13.16 To do good and to distribute c. 251. b Iacob 1.13 God tempteth no mā 79. b 2.10 Who so keepeth the whole law c. 53 1. Peter 4.17 Iudgement begin at the house of God 234. b Apocal. 19.10 22.8 9. I fell downe to woorshpp before the feete c. 69. b ¶ The common places contayned in this booke OF prediction or treasō 36. b Of Masse 41 Of teares 62 Of Sacrifice 63. b Of Idolatrye 68 Of a league 73. b Of truth and of a lye 87 Of dissimulacion 89. b ¶ Whether it be lawfull to lye to preserue the lyfe of oure neighbours 90 ¶ Whether it be lawfull for subiectes to rise against their princes 90 ¶ Whether it bee lawfull for the godly to haue peace with the vngodly 99 Of musicke and songes 102 Of visions or in what sorte and how much God may be knowen of men 118 Of myracles 126 Of Dreames 134. b Of the affections of enuye and emulacion 141. b Of mercy 142 Of a good intent 132 Of Matrimonye and hauing of Concubines 153. b Of ambition 157. b Of murther of Parentes or kinsfolkes called paracidium 158 Of a fable and apollogy 159 Of wyne and dronkennes 161. b Of murther 165. b ¶ How synne dependeth of God 166. b ¶ Whether we cā resist the grace of God or no. 167. b ¶ How God sayth that hee wyll not geue that which he wil giue and contrarily 174. b Of bastards and children vnlawfully borne 177. b ☞ Whether the sonne shal beare the iniquity of the father 178. b Of thinges which were taken by the right of workes 186 Of prescription 188 Of custome 189 Of the vow of Iiphtah 192 Of sedicion 197 Of the vow of the Nazarits 201 Of Sacrifice 206 Of the vision of Angels 208 ☞ Whether it be lawful for children to mary without the consent of their parentes 214 Of playes 218 Of hooredome fornication 129 Of the head of the church 241 Of Securitye 246. b Of the reconciliation of the husbande and the wyfe after that adultry hath ben cōmitted 247 Of a Magistrate 255 Of merites 272 Of fasting 274 Of Rapte 283 Of daunses 286 FINIS ⧠Faultes escaped in the printing desiring thee gentle Reader to correct the same in thy booke before thou beginnest to read this worke which shal helpe thee much in the vnderstanding of those places The order of which correction here vnder thou maiest see The letters a. and. b. which stand by the numbers signify the sides of euery leafe a. signifieng the first syde and b. the second syde Leafe Lyne Faultes Corrected 2. a 3 iudged and iudged 3. b 50 he Greeke the Greke 4. a 20 not reuenge reuenge 7. a 6 holy hylly 10. a 23 region religion 11. a 9 contamined contaminated 11. a 20 This is my This is in my 22. a 48 to vnprofita not vnprofitable 25. a 24 word wordes 25. b 20 wayling wayting 31. b 5 their maters their own mat 31. b 8 greuous suffer greuous 31. b 30 least left 32. a 34 the wel valle the valleys 35. a 2 helpe for the helpe from the 38. b 38 deceaued receaued 39. a 22 ceaseth not to ceaseth to be 40. a 13 signes synnes 43. b 28 saluation salutacion 47. b 47 stranger stronger 48. a 1 that none that to none 49. a 1 obey admoni obey their admo 52. b 25 contemne continue 53. a 10 workers workes 57. a 39 misery mistery 60. a 18 by colour by no colour 61. a 18 weyed weeded 62. a 9 offer offered 62. a 29 sacrifice sacrificer 62. b 33 nation motion 63. b 20 set setteth 63. b 48 sayth fayth 64. a 1 participacion particion 65. b 36 sawe same 68. b 21 there they 73. b 7 angry angry anger anger 77. b 14 doubt double 81. b 18 is maruayle is no maruayle 84. b 16 nothing one thyng 86. b 50 other vnderstād othe vnderstand 87. a 49 not any not least any 92. b 27 do desperate and desperate 96. b 1 by an ordinarye by no ordinary 100. a 22 decreased digressed 100. a 23 the knight the Kenite 100. b 49 Leuites Kenites 106. a 17 xl C. men xl M. men 111. b 25 decrees .23 q. 5. cha dixerit aliquis decrees causa 23. q. 5. dicat aliquis .28 d. 1 120. a 53 word world 122. b 1◠litle title 124. a 17 inuiolated violated 132. a 42 13500. men 135000. men 134. b 1 Recubites Recutites 144. a 32 mention mantion 192. b 51 dryuen drawne 201. b 4 eare heare 203. b 52 preserue obserue 223. a 15 doubting doubling 227. a 20 ententes euentes 228. b 14 pronounces prouinces 230. a 32 Sickenes Sadnes 247. a 16 Cain Cham 269. b 14 leuened leuelled 285. a 14 cōmunicate excommunicate ¶ The commentarie of Master Peter Martyr vpon the Booke of Iudges THere be some whiche deuide the holy scriptures into
spared Benadad king of Siria Of whom he said if he be on lyue he is my brother They condemne Saul also by the voyce of Samuel the prophet bicause he saued Agag kyng of Amaleck oâ— lyue And euen as it was said vnto an other by the messenger of God Whether syns are to be pardoned Seneca Thy soule shal be for his soule so Saul being a litle before placed by God in the kyngdome was depriued therof What shal we do then Shall we not forgeue synnes Seneca in his second booke of clemency and .6 chap. writeth Pardon sayth he is a remission of punishment due by which he is forgeuen which ought to haue bene punished Wherfore he thincketh it is not a wyse mans part to geue pardon bicause a wyse man wyl neuer commit any thyng whych ought not to be done or leaue any thyng vndone which ought to be done This reason of his seemeth to be very good and effectuall enough But least we should be deceiued therby we must here set a profitable distinction of persons that is of God of princes God maye forgeue synnes and of priuate men No man ought to doubt but that god may forgeue whom he wyl wheÌ„ as he is not bound to any other mans lawes Wherfore in forgeuyng he is not sayd to remit that which he ought to haue punished Besydes this he hath not so forgeuen men their faultes A Magistrate ought not to suffer faultes vnpunished but that he hath punished them in hys onely begotteÌ„ sonne Christ But we must otherwise thinke of the Magistrate to whoÌ„ it is not lawful to forgeue the punishmentes of synnes bicause he is commaunded to geue iudgement by the lawes To whom neuerthelesse it is graunted eyther to release or to aggrauate the punishmentes according to the wayght and quantity of the crimes Wherfore when he that is guilty is not wythout hope of ameÌ„dement neither hath geuously offeÌ„ded the magistrate is contented with an easier punishmeÌ„t somtimes he addeth som reprofe or som sharper admonitiâ— Wherfore let him neuer leaue synnes vnpunished the same maÌ„ in punishing is not cruel yea he rather correcteth ameÌ„deth healeth Which worke is both iust and also most milde so far is it that it should be ascribed to fiercenes or cruelty Seneca Many executions ar a dishonour to the magistrate Howe priuate men should forgeue iniuries I wyl also adde this by the way which is written of the same Seneca that to haue many executions is no lesse dishonor to the Magistrates than many corpes are to the Phisitions But now coÌ„cerning priuate men me thinketh it must be answered thus It is their duty to forgeue iniuries don to them selues neyther can Seneca his saying take place in them namely that a wise man wil leaue nothing vndone that ought to be done bycause reuengement is forbidden them by the law of almighty God And they are commaunded after a sorte to punish such as sinne against them in admonishing I meane and reprouing them And they are wylled to be content with that punishment when those which haue offended them are amended and made whole But coÌ„trarily if they perceiue that they be stubborne they by the coÌ„maundement of God ought to complain to the church by whom at the last they are excluded vnlesse they wil be obedient to it And when they are excluded out of the church they maye also be accused to the Magistrate In which thing yet is nothing coÌ„mitted against clemency bycause this is the mynde and purpose of them which accuse namely vtterlye to take away euyl according to Gods commaundement by al meanes possible And these thinges are now sufficient concerning cruelty and also clemency They whych worke of fayth obtain the promises Bycause Iudah and Simeon obtayned the victory according to the promyses of the oracle it shal be our part diligently to consider and marke that they which worke with faith by the woord of God do without doubt obtaine his promises For God hath not left those destitute of his ayde which haue endeuoured them selues to go forward faithfully in their vocation The promises of God surelye are constant and although heauen earth should at any time vary or be chaunged yet shal they alwaies be firme And therefore when as man is pronounced to be a lyer God contrary wise must bee confessed and celebrated as moste true Neither is there any thing found so hard or difficult but that by faith it maye be performed Wherfore it is very well written in the .xi. chap. to the Hebrewes that the saintes by faith haue ouercome kingdomes and obteyned the victorye That sentence certainly hath a principal respect vnto these histories of the Iudges This ought to be so manifest and playne vnto vs that for the obtaynyng of the promises of God We attayn not to the promises of God by merites we ought to attribute nothing to our own workes and merites Yea let vs rather bee assured that what so euer happeneth vnto vs that the same commeth onely of the goodnes of God which promised the same Our endeuour also and labour are required therunto by the scriptures as we see here also to be done where the victory is geuen to Iudah and Simeon when they fought and not when they ceased Not bycause God could not haue geuen them the victory ouer their enemyes although they had done nothing as sometimes he dyd but he hath decreed to bring vs by the crosse and labours after hys accustomed maner to the rewardes which he freely promised Neither yet for al that that our studies and labours are required as causes to obtayne the promyses when as God doth geue vnto vs frely and of his own mere liberality those thinges which he hath promised vs. This is principallye true in those promises which do wholy passe mans capacity as are eternal life and regeneration For they beyng the chiefe and last endes of our vocations doo farre and muche passe the dignitye and pryce of our woorkes Promises of the Gospel and of the law though they bee most perfect And there is a certayne profitable and necessary distinction whych is not to be forgotten namelye that some promyses are of the lawe and other some of the Gospell And this is the nature of promises of the Gospel to be offred vtterly frely to men But to promises of the law some worke is euer anexed And the is required to be most perfect absolute in all pointes Which bicause we can not performe 〈◊〉 altogether fal down vnder our burthen neyther can we attaine to these proâ—â—ses of the lawe in respecte they are of the law Promises of the law are not vayne Thou wilt say theÌ„ that this kinâ— of promises of the law is vaine Not so how is it the they be not geuen in vaâ— if none can attaine vnto theÌ„ They are to this end set forth the meÌ„ vtterly leauâ— the confidence of workes should hope to obtaine theÌ„ by
thys booke and toward the end lykewyse of the second There is also an other cause added namely to teach them the arte and faculty of fyghting for they whych lyued before their tyme had no skyll of these thynges And it is written in Exodus that it was done that wylde beastes shoulde not to muche abounde whych must needes haue followed if the land shoulde haue bene brought into a wyldernes before the Hebrues could haue fylled it all And of these causes I haue made mention before But the Paraphrastes Chaldaicus bringeth an other cause besydes these and sayth that the chyldren of Israell had synned Wherefore he thincketh it was done that God iustlye and woorthylye withdrewe hys ayde and gaue not vnto them when they fought the whole and full victorye And that though the scripture doo not now expresse it may euidently be gathered by other places For we are very often taught by the holy scriptures that idolatry and synnes were iust causes why the Israelites sometymes went without the victorye promysed vnto them And though there had bene no other synne we myght alledge thys that their faith and prayers were sometymes somewhat more slacke than they ought to haue bene When faith praiers waxe fainte then the victory is takē away Whych manyfestly appeareth in that warre which the Hebrues made in the wyldernesse againste Amelecke for the enemye ouercame when Moyses beganne to be faynte in prayer And agayne the victorye was restored vnto the people of God when the fayth and prayer of Moyses was more earnest and vehement Sinne therfore is not onely the cause of death but it bringeth also al infirmities weakenesse and miseries Contrarily faith is the cause of all strength myghte and victories Wherefore it is very well written in the xi Chapter to the Hebrues that the Sainctes through fayth haue wonne kingdomes Which may and oughte to be referred to the spirituall victorye Wherfore Iohn doth faythfully admonyshe vs when he sayth This is the victorye which ouercommeth the world euen our fayth By these may be gathered that God leaueth those destitute of hys ayde God forsaketh thē that forsake hym which do forsake hym And that may easely be declared by oure fyrste Father Adam Who as he was created of God before synne he had that power of strength and will that he myght if he had would haue resisted synne Adam was not altogether forsaken of God after hys synne But when he filthely fell from God God also forsooke hym but not vtterly howbeit he forsooke hym so that he lost many of hys giftes and much fauour For God would not haue taken so many good thynges awaye from hym but that he fyrste had alienated hymselfe from God through synne After the same sorte happeneth it to those whiche are nowe borne a new who although they haue not yet recouered a perfecte free will neuerthelesse for so muche as they are somewhat restored and may nowe woorke together with God if they shall despyse the gifts whiche they haue in them and will not vse them as it is meete they shoulde God will iustely forsake them seing they shrynke fyrste awaye from hym As we maye see in the parable of the Lorde wherein it is written That the maister going into a farre countrey distributed money vnto hys seruauntes to be encreased by theyr industrye and laboure whiche thyng as many of the seruauntes as dyd they were both commended of theyr maister when he retourned and also nobelly rewarded But he whiche despysed the commaundement of hys Lorde was greuously reproued and greuously punished for the money committed vnto him But if we shall speake of the fyrst generation Concernyng eternall reprobation the reprobate are forsakē of God before they forsake him whereby we are borne the children of wrath and we all are of that masse which lieth vnder the curse from which God by his election deliuereth whom he will and whom he will not he forsaketh according to hys own will and purpose which is alwayes iust though it be hidden from vs. Seing that that is not brought to passe by works foresene neither that we haue done any good or euill before we were borne it is manyfest that certayne I meane reprobates are forsaken of God as touchyng hys election before that they forsake hym by theyr propre will for so much as they had not it from the beginning But we at thys present speake not of thys matter neyther will descend into thys question But that which we haue now affirmed Augustine hath set forth in the .14 chap. of his Soliloquii animae ad deum Augustine Thou Lord saith he doest not forsake me vnles I firste forsake thee And in his booke de natura et gratia against the Pelagians in the .27 and .28 chap. he elegantlye expoundeth after what sorte God is forsaken of men before hee forsaketh them By pride god is forsaken before he forsaketh Among other vyces sayth he pryde whych is borne in vs is the head of al euils Which pryde vseth then to shewe foorth it selfe when wee are doing well and when we are in the chiefe course of the victory There the vayne hart of man is puffed vp so that euerye man thinketh hym selfe not to bee as other men are Thys is for the most parte the fyrst departure from God whereby hee agayne wythdraweth hym selfe from vs. And euen as wee doo not departe from hym by steppes but in hart and affection so is he seperated from vs not concerning place for for as muche as he is infinite he occupieth all thynges but he wythdraweth from vs hys fauour gyftes grace and helpe God vseth also to punyshe the electe to theyr saluation And when he is so departed they whych are forsaken vndoubtedly fal come to great misery which falles yet miseries as he is good he vseth as remedies toward his elect that they may learne that in the same mysery whych before they had forgotten namely that their strengthe was supported by God and that it was his mere gifte in that before they dyd any thing that was good or attayned to any prosperous things that being so admonished they myght retourne into the waye and with moste faythfull prayers to emplore of hym helpe ayde and strength as they whiche had nowe proued by theyr own ill that they had all these thinges of him when they stoode And after thys sorte is that interpreted whiche the Apostle writeth to the Phil. With feare and trembling worke your saluation For it is God whiche worketh in you both to will and also to perfourme accordyng to hys good pleasure Wherefore feare and tremblyng ought alwayes to be driuen into vs least when thinges goe wel land prosperous with vs we waxe proude and whilest we profite in our renouation and instauration Then must we alwaies with feare and trembling marke that it is God which worketh in vs both to will and to performe We must not liue in securitye
but may be chaunged for edification sake as time shall serue And Augustine to Ianuarius and to Cassulanus was also of this opinion Caution 3 The thirde condition or caution that is to be added is that Princes take heede that those infidels whom they suffer in their dominions be continuallye with diligence instructed And not as the maner commonlye is neglect them in those thinges which pertaine vnto godlines otherwise the glory of God cannot be looked for by their suffering if without teaching they may be suffered continually Caution 4 to abide in their vngodly opinion For in processe of time they becom nothing the better but farre worse then they were before Moreouer they must beware that by that mutual conuersation they infect not the people committed to Caution 5 their charge with the scab of infidelity and errours They must be cōpelled at the last to the soūde and pure outward worshippinges of God And finallye when they are wel instructed and taught they must compel them to sound and pure woorshyppings which are prescribed by the holy scriptures For the Magistrate maye not suffer his Citizens to liue without exercises of godlines For the ende of ciuyll rule is that the Citizens should lyue both vertuously happely And who seeth not but that godlines the worshipping of God is the chiefe of all vertues Whether a prince ought at the length to compell his subiectes to the right vse of the sacramentes But peraduenture some wyll say If a Prince shoulde compell those vnto the right vse of the sacramentes which are not yet persuaded of the truth he should driue them hedlong into synne so farre is it of from setting forwarde their saluation For there they should do against their conscience and what so euer they so do euen as the Apostle witnesseth is synne Wherefore I thyncke it good to make a distinction betwene that whiche is of or by it selfe and that which is at aduenture and by hap or as they are wont to speake in Schooles that whiche commeth per accidens that is by chaunce The Magistrate in this thing which we haue now in hande setteth foorth to his subiectes that thing which is of it selfe right good and iust but in that synne therby commeth that happeneth nothing at al by his default but rather by those mens incredulitye or misbeliefe whereof he is not to be accused when as he hath diligentlye laboured to haue his Citizens wel instructed Neither the Papistes which at this daye are suffered of Christian Magistrates are ignoraunt that wee oughte to haue in vse the Sacramentes instituted by the Lord. Wherfore they cannot iustlye complaine of their Magistrates if they wil haue them vprightlye and in due order ministred vnto them Moreouer they which obiect these thinges vnto vs must diligently marke this that by the same waye wee maye cauill againste God For hee hath sette foorth vnto menne his lawe whiche is most perfecte to bee kept of them Shall we say vnto him we are weake and of a corrupt and vitious nature neither can we perfourme thy commaundementes as thou commaundest wherefore whether we do against that which thou hast commaunded or whether we endeuour our selues to perfourme that which thou hast bydden wee shall euer synne bycause we shall fainte neither can we obey as we should doo Wherefore what soeuer we do we shall not auoide synne If anye manne brawlinglye shoulde speake these thinges againste God myghte not hee by good ryghte aunswere They bee iust and ryght which I haue sette foorth vnto you to bee obserued But in that ye are feable and weake it oughte not to bee counted a fault in mee For I haue excellentlye holpen your weakenes whyche for your sakes haue geuen my Sonne vnto the death If ye shall beleue onelye in hym what so euer ye shall not accomplish in perfourming my preceptes it shal not be imputed to you to euerlasting death So also may a good Prince aunswer I require of you those thinges whych are written in the woord of God and which are decent and do edefye Wherefore if your opinion or conscience bee againste it that is not to bee ascribed vnto me which haue diligently laboured that ye might not be ignorant of the truth and miserably perish For I haue diligently sene vnto that ye should be taught and instructed in the truth so wyll I styl go forward in exhorting admonishing and commaunding you but reade ye the holy Scriptures heare your Teachers and pray vnto God to open the eyes of your mynde These thinges if the Prince shall say vnto those men which doo so cauil against him I do not see by what right or by what meanes he can be reprehended And I thynke thys is not to be omitted that Augustine sayde Augustine chāged his sētence for compellinge of heretikes that hee was once of that opinion that nothing should be done by violence against heretiks but onely they should be instructed by admonitions and doctrine But hee confesseth that hee was admonished by certayne Byshoppes of more experience whych shewed hym of certayne Cities whyche before were in a manner vtterlye destroyed by the errour of the Donatistes and were by violence and lawes of the Emperours compelled to come vnto the Catholyque Churche whyche Cities beyng thus at the length syncerely couerted vnto the truthe rendered thankes vnto GOD neyther woulde they if by anye meanes they mought haue retourned agayne to so pernicious opinions Wherefore a godly Prince shall nothyng hurt suche men yea he shall proffyt them muche if after he haue instructed them he compell them to receaue the Sacramentes duelye as they be delyuered by the woorde of God But this is to bee vnderstande as touching his owne Citizens hys natiue countrey men and Denizens whiche enioye the ryght of the Citye or prouince Otherwyse I do not thinke that he ought to vse any violence towarde straungers that passe to and fro and whiche doo occupye the trade of Marchaundize either inwarde or outwarde Althoughe also as touching those men I thynke that he must diligently beware that they infect not the people with wycked doctrine An example of the Israelites which is to be obserued Wherefore I suppose that the steppes of the Israelites are to be followed who made none a Iewe or a Proselite neyther endewed any with the right of their people except first he circumcised hymselfe receaued the lawe of Moyses and communicated with their sacrifices And seing that that was so diligently obserued of them there is no cause why our Princes ought not to doo the lyke namely to suffer none to be of their City or as one of them or a straūger to be made free but first they shoulde constrayne hym to seruices and ceremonies agreing with the woord of God What is to be sayd of magistrates which are subiect to a superior power A distinction But now let vs go on and speake of those Magistrates or Lordts whyche are subiect to
from bloud wherof the greater parte turneth into vrine and that whiche remayneth is thrust forth into teares Lastly Seneca in his 100. Seneca Epistle to Lucillus thincketh that with the stroke of grief and sorrowe the whole body is almost shaken and therwithall the eyes out of whiche eyes the humour lyeng nighe vnto them is expressed But howsoeuer this matter be it littell pertayneth vnto vs. Wherfore let vs come to the causes for whiche it besemeth a godly man to weepe Augustine in his 4. Augustine Causes why we shoulde weepe sermon of the first Sonday in Lente writeth that there be two causes in true repentaunce that bryng forth weepyng one is for bycause we haue thoroughe negligence omitted many thynges whiche we ought to haue done And by ouer muche boldenesse commytted many thyngs which we ought not to haue done Synnes of cōmittyng and omittyng These are cōmonly called synnes of commyttyng and omyttyng and in the same place he interpreteth thys sentence Brynge forth worthy fruictes of repentaunce after this maner that we shoulde weepe for the synnes alreadye committed and we shoulde take hede that we do not the same agayne Chrisostome also vpon the Epistle to the Collossians Chrisostome the 12 Homely cōplayneth that the Christians abused teares and when as otherwyse teares are good creatures of God The abuse of teares they diffame them in adioynyng them to those thynges whiche deserue not weepyng Synnes onely sayeth he are to be weeped for not onely our owne synnes but other mens also Whiche Paul performed in very dede who in the 2. to the Corinthians sayde that he was affeard not to come vnto them but so that he was deiected compelled to weepe for very many which had fallen and not repented Oure owne synnes other mens also are to be wept for Yea and he exhorted the same Corinthians to weepe for other mennes synnes when in hys first Epistle he sayde ye are puffed vp and ye haue not mourned namely for a grieuous cryme of an incestuous man And Dauid in his 119 Psalme wryteth Myne eyes haue brought forth riuers of waters bycause they haue not kepte thy lawe That most holy Prophete wepte bycause of the publicque transgressions of the lawe and when he sawe the same transgressions euery where perpetrated he aboundantly poured out teares And Ezechiell in the 8. chap Godly men do easelyer weepe than laughe commended certayn whiche wepte for the wicked Actes of other men And hereof it commeth that when holy men see horrible spectacles of synnes oftentymes to happen they easelyer burste forth into teares than into laughter For so Christ vsed whom we read to haue oftentimes wepte but neuer to haue laughed Whiche selfe same thyng also we must do at thys day when as so great and euill an haruest of synnes doth on euery syde offer it selfe vnto vs. Lastly we muste knowe that all kynd of mournyng is not allowed of god That weeping is not allowed which cōmeth onely of the feelyng of the punishmentes For some there are which as I haue before said are moued only with the feeling of the punishmētes neyther are they moued any further To be sory in dede for cause of paines and punishementes is a certayne degree of true repentaunce for that ende GOD doth both punyshe and also threaten men whilest they lyue here Howebeit this sorowe is not sufficient neyther is it by it selfe allowed of god for it spryngeth of selfe loue is in a maner a thyng vnprofitable vnlesse it go further Wherfore the Lorde sayeth in Zacharie the 7. chap that the Hebrues had fasted for them selues not for his glorye so these wepe for them selues and mourne not bycause they haue violated the commaundementes of GOD. Furthermore thou mayste see other some somewhat worse than these whiche beyng moued with the sorowe of troubles do wepe Their teares are condemned whiche when they weape speake euill of God and among their teares do speake euill of GOD hymselfe beyng angry with his Iustice as thoughe he were to seuere and a harder Lord than he ought to be and suche mournyng belongeth not to repentaunce but rather to desperation An example therof we haue in the booke of Numb the 14. chap. Where the people when they heard the bytter relation of the spyes fell to weepyng and spake euill both agaynst Moyses and agaynst God and determined to returne into Egypt What mourning pleaseth God most The thirde kynde of mournyng is very acceptable vnto god and that is when we are grieuously sorye for that we haue violated hys lawe and bycause we se a great numbre of others to resiste hys moste holy will To this kynde of Lamentations did Ioel and other holy Prophetes stirre vp the people of the Hebrues Christe also persuadeth vs vnto them when he sayeth that they are blessed whiche mourne bycause consolation is layed vp for them The Churche lykewise vseth sometymes to stirre vp the people to these kynde of mournyngs when as at sometymes it set forth publicque repentaunce whiche althoughe it ought continually to cleaue in the heartes of Christians Repētaunce is sometymes openly to be renewed yet by reason of publicque calamityes and a certayne sluggishenesse grafted in vs is sometyme to be renewed by the diligence of the Pastors Wherfore god in the olde lawe once in a yeare in the 7. moneth I saye instituted a fast whereby that daye the people of Israell myght for the synnes whiche they hadde committed afflicte them selues before god And to the ende it myght the oftener be done he dayely sent hys Prophetes to rebuke the people as we see in this historye he did when he commaunded this sermon whiche we nowe expounde to be made vnto the people ¶ Of Sacrifice Oure actions are either volūtary or natural NOw riseth somewhat to speake of Sacrifice The definition wherof when we searche out first we fynde it to be a certayne action and that voluntary whiche I therefore saye bycause there are founde some actions whiche they call naturall but those for so muche as they depende not of humane election they can not therfore be called voluntary Furthermore Sacrifice ought to be referred vnto religion Some actions are religious are separated from political oeconomicall actions whiche I do for this cause adde to remoue and seperate it from oeconomicall and ciuill workes For domesticall workes are profitable to gouerne a family and ciuil workes serue for the administration of a publicque wealthe But sacrifice is a religious action bycause it pertayneth to the worshipping of god and was by hym instituted that we should offre our things vnto hym and that to this ende that he might be honoured and therby as Augustine sayeth in hys 10. Augustine booke de ciuitate Dei the 7. chap to cleaue vnto hym with an holy societye And hereby may we see in what sorte a Sacrifice if we speake of it as it is properly
diuelish madnes was this to count those gods for true goddes which could not vndoubtedly against the Lord helpe euen those whyche woorshypped them An outwarde signe of worshipping And in this hebrew woord Veiischtechou is properly noted that they threwe them selues to the ground prostrated them selues before those idoles by which outward signe is declared the adoration For as the bodye prostrateth it selfe so also the soule is declared to be subiect vnto the Idole And this woorde Bealim is expressed in the plurall nomber But the Hebrewes sometymes take it for the syngular number And althoughe by the strengthe of the woorde it shoulde bee translated Lordes yet wee muste in many places tourne it Lord. For thys woorde Baal signifieth a Lorde a Husbande a Patrone and suche like What Baal Bealim signifi Astharoth Thys woord Astharoth is lykewise spoken in the plurall number And the Idole is so called bicause it stoode to be woorshipped in fourme of a Sheepe for a Sheepe in hebrew is called Aschtor And as it appeareth by the first booke of Kynges it was an Idole of the Zidonians Iupiter Ammō was expressed by the figure of a Ramme Augustine wherunto Salomon by the instigation of his wyues buylded sometimes a Chappell But what God the Ethnikes woorshypped in the fourme of a Sheepe I do not very well knowe How be it this I am sure of that Iupiter Ammon was figured like a Ramme And Augustine who being of Affrica had the Affricke speche perfectly which as we haue taught in an other place differeth not much from the hebrew toung Virgil. What Baal Astharoth wer with the Affricians for they of Affricke are Phenitians for they came from Tyre and Sydon Wherefore Virgil called Dido a Sidonian Augustine I say writeth that the Affricians called Iupiter by the name of Baal as the Lord of all And by this name Astharoth are signified Iunos bicause that Asther in that toung signifieth Iuno But why that woorde was spoken in the plurall number he thincketh it was therefore done bicause there were very many ymages of that Goddesse And I wyll adde bicause those gods had obtayned sundry properties and reasons as well by their offices appointed vnto them as by the places where they woorshypped For Iupiter was called Ammon Stator Pheretrius and Hospitalis Iuno also was called Lucina Argiua Samia c. I thinke we may gather by this history Religiō nedeth continually to be purged that the nature of man is so frayle and weake that it can not long abyde in the sincere and pure woorshipping of God Wherby it commeth that religion hath continually nede of repairing and purging For the Israelites as soone as their good Prince and godlye Magistrate was dead fell straight way from true godlynes Moreouer the same oftentimes happened vnder their kinges yea and in our Churche it happeneth after the same sort For we haue seene and we haue with great griefe had experience that the Apostles being taken away yea and when they were yet lyuyng ther sprang foorth many and sundry errours Which vndoubtedlye is no maruaile when as Christ hath foretolde vs that after the good seede was sowen straight way the enuious man came which sowed tares therwithall ¶ Of Idolatry BVt bycause we haue now heard of the transgression of the Hebrewes how they polluted them selues with Idolatry I thinke it good to speake a fewe wordes of thys detestable synne The woord is a greeke woord and is compounded of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it is nothing els but the worshipping of Idoles The Etimologye of Idolatry What an Idol is And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is deriued of this woord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a fourme or as you woulde saye a shape But an Idole is as wee nowe speake of it euerye fourme or shape whyche menne haue inuented vnto them selues to signifye or expresse God And as there are found many and sundry matters of these fourmes so also are ther diuers kindes of Idoles Wherfore whether they be stones wood or mettals A diuision of Idoles by matters by which God is outwardly expressed there to be worshipped these are grosse and most manyfest Idoles There may be also a spiritual matter which then happeneth when those formes and images are nothing els but the conceauinges of the hart and minde which men make for them selues to represent God An Idole visible inuisible not as the Scripture declareth him but rashly and according to their own fantasy Wherfore according to the conditions of the matter an Idole is deuided into two kindes Two partes of religious worshipping the one is outward visible which runneth into the senses of man and the other is inward that is wrought in the inward partes of the mynde There are also twoo partes of religious woorshipping The one is inwarde Of what thinges inwarde woorshipping consisteth wherein wee beleue in God hymselfe wee put our confidence in him wee geue him thankes wee submyt our selues and ours vnto hym and religiouslye by prayers call vpon hym Of these actions vndoubtedly the inwarde adoration consisteth Of what thinges outward worshipping cōsisteth But the other part hath outward notes whereby we expresse our hart in prostrating the body in bowing the knee in vncouering the head in speaking and in exercising rites and ceremonies instituted by God And this is an outwarde woorshipping or adoration Outward sygnes of adoratiō are also geuen vnto Princes But wee must note that suche outwarde signes of bowing the body or knees and suche other lyke are also geuen vnto creatures to Princes I saye and Kinges which doo in earth represent vnto men the authority of God and are his Vicars in the administration of thinges And without doubt they are then to bee esteemed nothing els but certaine sure testimonies by which as many as are Subiectes doo trulye and from the hart confesse that they in the name of God wyll be subiect and obey such powers as much as shal be by godlynes and the woord of God lawfull But we must there take heede least in our inward iudgement we attribute more vnto them than is meete What we must beware of whē we geue vnto Princes signes of adoration or looke for greater thinges at theyr handes than their power and might is able to perfourme Otherwise we should not auoyde idolatrye Wherefore if a man in bowing him selfe to his Prince would testifye that his Prince coulde not erre and that it were lawfull for him to doo any thing and as he lust him selfe to commaunde whatsoeuer pleased him that man vodoubtedly should be counted an Idolatrer and should commit the same both inwardly and outwardlye The Papistes commit Idolatrye towarde their Pope And whether the hirelinges of the Pope vse this we may hereby easely gather bicause they do so throw them selues downe at his feete that there testify that they wyll be
them in Moses who beyng before shepheardes horsekepers when they came to beare rule did by the power of the spirite of GOD worke maruelous thinges and proued noble men For GOD as the scripture now speaketh raysed them vp And not cōtent with this but he fully persuaded them and with inwarde feelyng made them assured that they were now elected by God to deliuer the Israelites and to set them at libertie And without doubt vnlesse they had ben fully persuaded of this it had not ben lawfull for them to haue fought agaynst their Lordes or to rebelle for so much as it is not the office of priuate men to fight with his enemies Wherfore Cato An example of Cato whose ciuile iustice is meruelously commended gaue his sonne charge that when he was dismissed from warre and no more bounde by an othe of warre he should not fight against the enemyes of the publicque wealth Knowyng this right well that it is lawful for no man to drawe weapon against any excepte it be by publicque authoritie I haue now expounded what this meaneth that God raysed vp Iugdes Now let vs see for what cause God did the same Bicause sayeth the historye he repented God is not reconciled vnto vs by the outward workes whiche we do What is the receaued exposition of these kindes of speache we haue before declared But now we must marke what this meaneth whiche followeth At their sorowinges We may not thincke that God was reconciled or made fauorable vnto them by the strength and dignitye of the worke For that do men obteyne onely by fayth in our mediatour Iesus Christ to whiche fayth in these and such lyke kynde of speaches we must continually haue a respect vnto therby to loke vpon the roote from whence the fruites of true repentaunce and also sighinges and teares are deriued Neither do we for all that denye God rewardeth good workes but that good workes springyng from faith are so acceptable vnto GOD that he rewardeth them with excellent giftes as well outward as also spirituall whiche commeth of his goodnesse So sayd Daniel vnto the kyng of Babilon By almes redeme thy sinnes That is dryue awaye the paynes and punishementes wherewith otherwise thou shalt be punished But if thou shalt demaunde what is to be thought Of morall workes done without faith of those ciuill and morall good workes whiche are done without fayth I aunswere that for so much as they procede from a viciate and corrupt nature they are therfore sinnes And for that cause they deserue dampnation and hell fyre Howbeit God to the end that the ordre and iust disposition of thinges in the worlde might be kept and to defend assemblyes of humane kinde fellowshippes and publicque wealthes causeth that such actions haue many rewardes not for the worthynes and dignitie of those actiōs but by reason of a certain connexion wherwith god would these thinges to be knitte together Wherfore it commeth to passe that when as hypocrites do worke outward workes sometymes goodly to the shew therby they obtayne notable prayse And they whiche are rulers as longe as they honestly behaue them selues in doyng iustice either in warlike affaires or elles in honest conuersation as the Romanes in the olde tyme did may obteyne a moste large Empyre For so would god haue discipline kept the world and publicque wealthes preserued God did therfore repēt at the sorrowyngs of the Israelites bycause thorough the faith from whence sorrowinges and groninges proceded he was made mercifull and fauorable vnto them But peraduenture some man will doubte whether god when he repented God doth not so repente that he is chaunged were in any poynt chaunged All the godly confesse in a maner with one mouth that god can by no meanes be chaunged for as much as that is a certaine signe both of imperfection and also of inconstancy But this variety which here happeneth is not to be ascribed vnto god but vnto vs. Of this thing I haue spokē som what before but this semeth to be added at this presente If a man will say that god without controuersy ceassed to fauour the Chananites agaynst the Israelites whom he had before so strengthened that he would haue them to oppresse the Iewes and agayne afterward to helpe the Hebrues whom before he semed that hys will was to haue them oppressed by the Chananites No man can deny but that these thinges haue variety How can we therfore defend the will of god frō chaunging Variety is the effectes not in God I answere that by the 28. chap of Ieremy it manifestly appeareth the there is a diuersitie in the effectes when as for all the god in very dede continually retayneth the selfe same will For it is thus written there in his name When as I shall speake agaynst a kyngdome or nation to destroye roote out and ouer throwe it if they shall repente I will also repente And contrarywise when as I shal speake good of a kingdome or nation to builde and to plant and that nation or kingdome shall do euill in my sight I will then also repente me of the good that I had decreed to bestowe on them These wordes declare that god in these kindes of threatninges and promises is therfore not chaunged bycause he speaketh not absolutely simply but vpon condition But the accomplishing or makyng voyde of the conditions is to be considered toward vs. And therfore the chaunge is not to be attributed vnto him but vnto vs. But if thou shalt aske me whether god doth before know and decree what shall come to passe as touching these conditions I will graunt that he doth For he euen from without begynnyng doth not only know of thyngs that shal come to passe but also hath decreed what shall be But bycause the hid priuitye of his will as touching these thinges is not opened vnto vs in the holy Scriptures therfore ought we to follow that rule whiche as we haue declared is pronounced by Ieremy This rule did the Niniuites and also Ezechias the kyng consider and beholde beyng not yet set forth God when he threateneth things whyche come not passe lyeth not For although destruction was threatned them in the name of god yet for al that by repentaunce and prayers they escaped it Neither is there any cause why we should suspect that god doth lye in any thyng when he so threatneth or promiseth any thinges whiche afterwarde come not to passe For as touching Ezechias he could no way escape death if we should looke vpon the natural causes whiche are commonly called the second causes Wherfore the sentēce beyng pronounced accordyng to those causes he coulde not be accused of a lye And the Niniuites if god had done vnto them as their sinnes deserued they should vtterly haue perished And god commaunded Ionas to preache according to their merites Furthermore a lye can not be so takē in an oration which hath a supposition or
condition ioyned with it as it may be in absolute and simple sentences when as the successe depēdeth of the kepyng or violatyng of the condition More ouer in these wordes of the history is expressed the cause why the Israelites sorowed and sighed namely bycause they were oppressed and afflicted and that with those kindes of calamityes whiche are before mencioned namely bycause they were spoyled sold and losyng their liberty and goods they were no longer able to stande before their enemyes 19 Yet for all that as soone as the Iudge was dead they turned and did worse than their fathers in following straunge gods and in seruing them and bowing them selues vnto them and ceased not from the Actes of them and from their hard waye When the Hebrues in the tyme of the Iudge that was raysed vp had a restyng tyme and came to a tollerable estate that iudge beyng dead they fell agayne worse than they did before and committed much more grieuous things than did their elders Whereby is founde true that whiche we before haue sayde namely that the infirmitye of our nature is so great that we can not longe abyde in pure religion and sincere worshipping of God And in that it is sayde that they whiche came after were a great deale worse than their fathers is declared that GOD not without reason and iuste cause was the more prouoked vnto anger so that wheras he had longe tyme spared their elders nowe at the last he would not forgeue those that came after And this is it whiche is often sayde Howe the iniquities of the fathers are visited in the children childrēs children that he doth visite the iniquities of the fathers vpon the children euen to the third and fourth generation whiche is not so to be vnderstand as thoughe he should punishe the posteritie more than they haue deserued But bycause God as he hath spared the fathers would so also haue forgeuen the children vnlesse they had so much followed the iniquities of their fathers that also they went farther in those mischieuous Actes then did their fathers God is patient and before the poureth out hys wrath and punishementes he vseth to tary for the thirde or fourth generation But howe these of whom we intreate were more corrupt than their fathers the history manifestly declareth for they committed more wicked Actes than did their fathers And of all those whiche their fathers perpetrated they forsooke none or left none vndone But of this kynde of speache wherein it is sayde It is not in mans power to auoyde sinne Neither ceased they from their endeuours we may not conclude that it lyeth in our strength power to auoyde synnes or to wrappe our selues out of them Wherfore they greatly erre which of the preceptes of the law of GOD do gather the strength and power of our free will For by the commaundementes the Scripture testifyeth what thynges they he whiche are required of men The power of free will is not to be gathered of the commaūdementes But the same Scripture manifestlye in an other place admonisheth that it lieth not in our power to fulfill them As Paul also writeth in hys latter Epistle to Timothe that there are in a great house not onely vesselles of golde and siluer but also vesselles of wood and vesselles of claye And he whiche shall purge hym selfe from them shal be a vessell sanctified to honour profitable to the Lorde and prepared to all good workes Neither for all that can we therby conclude that it is in our owne strength to purge our selues from synnes althoughe the same be required at our handes for as much as that is to be looked for onely of God Wherefore the same Apostle in the same Epistle when he had admonished the Minister of the Churche so be gentle ready to teache pacient to suffre euilles It is GOD whiche geueth repentaunce amendement but so for all that to confute them whiche resiste addeth If peraduenture God shall geue them repentaunce to the knowledge of hys truth By these wordes we are taughte that repentaunce from synnes whiche is commaunded commeth not of our selues but is louyngly and gently geuen of God The waye of synners is rightlye and worthily called harde The waye of sinners is hard and it is a metaphor elegantly taken of roughe and stonye places for stones and rockes for that they haue thicke and vnequall partes they hurte pricke and rente the tendre fleshe of theyr feete whiche trauayle vpon them So are the manners of the wicked they wounde theyr consciences and at the laste bryng them into extreme miseries which happeneth not without the great goodnesse of God for the god at the length by that meanes calleth vnto him very many sinners And the sawe hath Hoseas the Prophete very well described in hys ii chap when he sayeth And she sayde I will go after my louers whiche haue geuen me golde siluer wooll flaxe c. But I will hedge in thy wayes with thornes and will take awaye my gold my siluer my wooll and my flaxe And she shall say I will returne vnto my first husband for then was it better with me than it is now 20 Wherfore the wrath of the Lorde was kyndled agaynst Israel and he sayd Bycause thys people hath transgressed myne appoyntment whiche I commaunded their Fathers and haue not hearkened vnto my voyce 21 I also will hence forth not cast out before them one man of the nations whiche Iosua left when he dyed 22 That thoroughe them I maye proue Israell whether they wyll kepe the waye of the Lorde and walke therein as their Fathers dyd or not 23 And so the Lord left those nations and droue them not out immediatly neither deliuered them into the handes of Iosua The cause being before declared namely the contempte wherby the Israelites contempned GOD now is set forth the effect thereof whiche is the kindlyng of the wrath of GOD. For this worde Chara in the Hebrue tongue is to waxe hotte or to be kyndeled with anger Whereby the property and nature of angry is properly and elegantely expressed For if angry should be defyned accordyng to the matter thereof it is a certayne inflamation of bloud about the hearte What is the matter of āger Neither do I speake it as thoughe that can be applied vnto GOD who vtterly is without heate and bloud But all these thynges as I haue allready oftentymes sayde are by a certaine translation applied vnto hym ¶ Of a League BVt bycause God complayneth for that the league was broken whiche he had made with them I thincke it good somewhat to speake briefly of a league whiche is in Latine called Faedus And that worde is deriued of the verbe Ferio whiche is to staye bycause that the ambassadours of eche partie kylled a hogge from whiche Etimologye peraduenture the Hebrue worde Berith differeth not much with whiche outwarde signe also they wished by prayer the destruction to that parte whiche
hande and hys hande preuayled agaynst Chusan Riseathaun 11 And the lande had rest .40 yeares And Othoniel the Sonne of Chenez dyed Israel cryed vnto the Lord bicause they wer euil vexed and most grieuously oppressed of the Sirians They acknowledged now after their great hurt that straunge Gods profited them nothing yea rather they brought vpon them the miseries wherwith they were vrged When they vnderstoode that mans helpe was on euery side cut of they conuerting them selues vnto the true God called vpon him This is the fruite of miseries as touching the elect or rather the fruit of the goodnes of God which by troubles calleth againe vnto him those which are hys Of Othoniel we haue spoken inough before Now he is called a Sauiour bicause he brought health vnto the Israelites as the other Iudges dyd Othoniel was called a sauiour and a redemer which wer also called Sauiours he was a shadow of Christ But the Chaldey paraphrast calleth him Porken that is a Redemer Which surname also rightly agreeth with Othoniel bicause before it is sayd that God sold the Israelites and when bondmen are sold they haue nede of one to redeme them For as much as before it was said the God raised vp Iudges After what maner God raised vp Iudges now is declared the maner forme how he raysed them vp For it is written And the spirite of the Lord was vpon hym For by the holy ghost wer not onelye geuen vnto hym strength political wisdome and warlyke artes but also he was made the more certain of his calling The Chaldey paraphrast vnderstandeth by the Spirit of God the power of prophecy Dauid Kimhi But Dauid Kimhi interpreteth it the gift of force strength But I thinke that either interpretacion is to be allowed For besydes the strength and power which was geuen the Iudges they had also the iudgement and feeling of the wil of God which pertained vnto prophecy He iudged Israel That is he set them at liberty and was their Gouernour as touching ciuil thinges and restored the pure worshipping of God In that it is aboue written that God sold Israel to the king of Mesopotamia And nowe again it is declared that he deliuered the same king vnto Othoniel we may gather that victories ar geuē at the pleasure of God which also we haue often noted before R. Leui ben gerson thinketh that in that supputation of .40 R. Leui ben gerischon yeares wherein the Iewes lyued peaceably vnder Othoniel were comprehended also the eyght yeares of seruitude which went before But of this thing we wil speake aboundantly in the history of Iiphtah God is also to be called vpon of synners This place teacheth that men must call vpon God though they haue synned which I therfore thought good to note bycause sinnes vse much to feare away men from the inuocation of the name of God for this is the nature of synnes to alienate vs frō God vnto whom we yet by praiers come againe Wherfore seing these thinges are contrary namely to be alienated from God and to come vnto him it is wonder how they can be applyed to one and the selfe same man Augustine And this maketh with it also which is written in the gospel God heareth not sinners Although Augustine wryte of that sentēce that it is found in dede in the holy scriptures but it was spoken by hym whych was borne blynde when his hart was not yet illustrate Wherefore he iudgeth that that sentence is not to be taken as a firme and certaine rule A distinction of synners But I would rather make a distinction betwene synners for there are some which when they cry vnto the Lord do repent and from their hartes are sory for the euils which they haue committed But ther are other which continue stil in their mynd and purpose to synne and haue a very great delite therin Farther I am not afeard to affirme that god heareth those synners which being repentant cry vnto him with faith wher as those are repulsed which being hardened in their sinnes and wāting faith do call vpon god Wherfore it appeareth that those sinners which come to god and those that depart from god are not sinners of one sort bicause they which after they haue synned cal vpon god by faith repent them of theyr synnes are deuided from those which stubbornly without repentaunce perseuer in their synnes For they although by wordes they cry vnto god yet in hart and mynde they are farre from him so farre are they for to be ioyned vnto him or to come vnto him by fayth and prayers ¶ Whether God be the cause of synne BVt in these thinges which are sayd there ariseth a question which is not to be left vnspoken of For it is writtē that god sold the Israelites to the king of Mesopotamia Wherfore it semeth that he holpe a wicked man aided hym to satisfy his tyranny and ambition For he had neither a iust cause nor yet an honest title to clayme vnto him the dominion of the Hebrues What shall wee saye therefore Shall we affirme that God is the cause of this sinne Ther happeneth in this booke and in other places of the holye Scriptures suche kynde of speeche and that often times very plaine and therefore it semeth good to be expounded once for all Whether by the word permissiō this question may be dissolued Some yea and that with no euyl minde labour to excuse God and say that he doth not these euyl thinges but onely permitteth them And they thinke that in doubtful places that interpretation is to be applied which altogether wanteth fault and daunger of vngodlines Vndoubtedly this their saying wer to be praised if that we could se their exposition to be allowed in the scriptures But there it is farre otherwise sayd It is proued by good reasons that besides permission god worketh somewhat whē sins ar cōmitted namely that God doth stirre vp wycked men to their wicked actes that he seduceth delyuereth commaundeth hardeneth and deceaueth them and bringeth to passe those sinnes which are grieuous Suche kindes of speeche do manifestly teach vs that God after a sorte woorketh euyll thinges not onely in permitting but also in doing in vs. Without doubt al we are said both to haue our being and also our mouing in him For he is in suche sort the first cause of all thinges that without him we can do nothing For how should we moue our selues vnlesse by his power we wer both moued and also driuen Farther how farre his gouernment extendeth we may reade in the .xi. chap. of Mathew for two Sparowes saith the Lord are sold for a farthing and yet one of them falleth not to the ground without the wyll of the father And that was as much to say as without the counsell of God nothing be it neuer so smal is done in the world Moreouer that permission wherby certaine go about to make
vs is verye synne but in respecte that it commeth from God it is both good iust and holy For punishment is by God imposed to wycked men And to punishe synnes no man is ignoraunt but that it partayneth to iustice Wherfore God in withdrawing his grace from the vngodly and ministring some occasions which might moue to good things if they happened to right iust mindes and which he knoweth the wicked wyll turne to euil may after a sort although not properly be said to be the cause of sinne And vndoubtedly that act A â—â—militude in that it passeth through vs is sinne but not as it coÌ„meth from God For in that it coÌ„meth froÌ„ God it is most perfect iustice It happeneth somtimes that the self same wine being poured into a corrupt vessell is lost and made paide which wine as it was brought by the husbandmaÌ„ put into the vessel is both swete and good Neither is it hard to vnderstand how one the selfe same act may as touching one be vicious in respect of an other iust For when a murtherer hangman do kill a man the act as touching the matter or subiect without doubt is al one namelye the death of a man And yet the murtherer doth it most vniustly the hangman by law and iustice Iob also did wel vnderstand that when he said The Lord gaue the Lord hath taken away as it hath pleased him so is it done He did not by those wordes praise the Chaldians Sabines the Deuil which wer vessels of iniquity most vicious but he with great godlines allowed those euils as they were gouerned ruled by the prouidence of God namely for this cause bicause they pleased God It is also written in the .2 booke of Samuel the .24 chap. of Dauid who vnaduisedly wold haue the people numbred how God was angry with Israel therfore he styrred vp Dauid to do that And in the booke of Paral. it is writteÌ„ that Sathan was the doer of it For God doth those thinges which he wil haue done by Angels as wel good as euil Wherfore that numbring of the people as it proceeded of Dauid or the Deuil was in dede vicious but in that it came from God who intended to punish the Israelites it pertayned excedingly to the setting foorth of hys iustice Howbeit Iames sayth that God tempteth none to euyll but euery one of vs is allured by our own concupiscence Augustine Whyther God tempt or no. Augustine wryting of thys thyng in hys booke de consensa Euangelistarum saith that there are two kyndes of temptacion the one of trial the other of deceite And in dede as touching tryal he denyeth not but that God tempteth for that the scriptures do confesse it But with that kinde of temptation which deceaueth whereof Iames wrote he sayth that God tempteth no man But the scriptures teache not so as we haue declared a litle before of Dauid and before him of Achab. Yea and in Ezechiel the .14 chap. god saith that he had deceaued the Prophet And the same Augustine writeth not after the same maner in other places as it manifestly appeareth in hys bookes de Praedest Sanctorum de Cerrept Gratia ad Valent. and in hys .5 booke and .3 chap. contra Iulianum Wherfore the true interpretatioÌ„ of this place is that euery man is therfore tempted of his own concupiscence bicause al men haue their natural disease which is corruption and vicious lusts which ar together borne with them do also grow and increase in them Wherefore God instylleth no malice of his for we haue inough at home Therefore he cannot bee accused for as much as the beginning of vngodlines wickednes commeth not from hym God when he wyl bringeth to lyght our frowaconesse of mynde but lieth hid in vs. He ought not therefore to bee counted to geue the cause and fault who yet when it semeth good vnto him wil for iust causes haue our lusts wickednes brought to light and rule gouerne our wicked acts therby more and more to illustrate his iustice and glorye to aduaunce the saluation of the godly Wherfore his singular goodnes and prouidence is very much to be praised which can so iustly and wisely vse so wycked meanes Whence the variety of pronenesse to synne commeth But if a man wil aske how it happeneth that some are more prone to sinnes than others if as it is sayd malice wyckednes ar rooted into vs al from our byrth neither is it nede that any new or latter malice should be instilled in vs froÌ„ God And seyng that we ar al brought forth of one the selfe same lumpe and that lumpe likewise is altogether viciated it shoulde seeme that all also ought to be of a like disposition and inclination to wickednes But thys is diligently to be weighed that besides thys disposition ther happen naturall malices maners customes wicked qualities fellowshippes temperatures of bodies sundry parentes diuers countries and manifold causes wherby some are made more or lesse prone vnto sins which pronenesse of ours God according to his iustice goodnes and wisdome vseth and stirreth it vp gouerneth and ruleth it And this is not to be forgotten that none of vs haue so in our selues the beginninges of good actes which truely please God as wee euen from the verye birth haue within vs the beginninges of sins For they ar inspired in vs by the holy ghost and we continuallye receaue them of God neither burst they foorth out of the corrupt beginninges of our nature Now resteth to see from whence after the synne of Adam that frowardnes and corruption came Whether the first corruption after the synne of Adam were deriued froÌ„ god or no. and whither it wer deriued from God to punish the wicked act which was committed I answer that we maye not so thynke for man was for the fault which he had committed allenated from god wherfore he iustly withrew from him his giftes fauour and grace And our nature being left vnto it self falleth and declineth to woorse and woorse yea it coÌ„meth to nothyng from whence it was brought forth at the beginning Wherefore we must seke for no other efficieÌ„t cause of that corruption Wherefore by that wythdrawing of giftes and grace and departure from God which is the fountain of al good thinges nature is by it self throwen headlong into vice and corruption But now let vs returne to the history 12 Againe the children of Israel dyd euill in the syght of the Lord. And the Lord strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel bicause that they had done euyl in the sight of the Lord. 13 And this Eglon gathered vnto him the Chyldren of Ammon and Amalek and went and smote Israel and they possessed the city of Palme trees 14 And the childreÌ„ of Israel serued Eglon king of Moab .18 yeres The history declareth first the sinne which the Israelites committed then it
sheweth the punishment wherwith for the same they wer punished As soone as their good Prince was dead the people fel againe to their olde wyckednes neyther did they onely commit those sinnes which before they had committed but to them they added some sinnes more grieuous The last fallinges wer for the most parte more grieuous than the first Seruitude is against the nature of man For the last falinges were for the most part greuouser than they which wer past for at the least thei added this in that they more more became ingrate for the benefites past when they againe fel from God with whom they were before reconciled into fauour Their punishment was bondage wherin they wer bound serued the Moabites Without doubt a grieuous kinde of punishment bicause it is marueylouslye agaynst the state and nature of man For al men by nature ar borne free And bondage as euen the Lawyers also do confesse Seruitude was brought in by cause of sinne was brought in by a commō law among men agreing to natural reason But it may more truly be said that it was brought in bicause of sinne Enemies when they wer ouercome in warre wer somtimes saued compelled to serue them which ouercame them and ther can be no iust warres taken in hand vnles it be to reuenge some facinorous acte Wherefore we said wel that seruitude was deriued of sinne is therfore a grieuous punishment bicause it is against the nature of man Certaine subiections are natural I graunt in deede that this is natural for the children to be obedient vnto the parentes the subiect vnto the Magistrates the vnlearned vnskilful vnto the wiser the weake ones must apply themselues to the mightier But this kinde of obedience and seruice namely toward them whych are fauourable vnto vs and seeke for our profyt is voluntary Wherefore it very much differeth from the seruitude wherof we now intreate For that voluntarye kynde of obedience myght haue bene vsed when men were in perfecte state but thys whyche was brought in for synne coulde not bee there And bondmen are compelled to serue not suche as are their friendes but straungers and enemyes and that in thynges vnprofitable vnto them Which is the more greuous bondage yea and often tymes thynges hurtfull and vnhonest Seruitude also is then far more grieuous when people are subiect vnto those enemies which once wer ouercome by them and whom before they ruled These euyls happened vnto the Israelites The Moabits were enemyes to the Iewes from the begining For the Moabites were enemies vnto the Hebrues euen from the beginning and they hired Balaam to curse them and in the wildernes they abandoned their women vnto them for the which the people was afterward grieuously plagued Farther the Iewes ouercame the Moabites by warre and punished them sore as we reade in the booke of Numbers Besides that the Moabites wer a filthy and an infamed people for their father was Moab the sonne of Loth who begat him by incest Nether would God suffer that they should be admitted into his church For these causes therfore was this bondage most hard and especially vnto the Hebrues which were alreadye before by god set at liberty both from the Egiptians and also from the Sirians and by wonderfull woorkes from them redeemed God strengthned Aeglon namely in geuing him courage and strength making him prompt and styrring him vp also by some certaine occasions And adioyned vnto hym Ammon and Amalek This may be vnderstand twoo wayes either that Eglon adioyned vnto him selfe such confederates or that god caused this league to be made betwene these nations And vndoubtedlye both significations are true for that which they dyd they coulde not haue executed without the wyll and ayde of god Let vs note in this place that the vngodly which otherwise agree not verye wel among them selues The vngodly do easilye conspire agaynst the people of god do easely conspire against the people of god Wherfore these three nations being ioyned together did easely ouercome the Israelites which wer forsaken of god And they possessed the city of Palme trees which is Iericho as it appeareth in Deut. and as it is before declared But in that it is said that they tooke possession of it it signifieth that they did not spoyle it and leaue it voyde for they claimed it vnto them selues making the landes and possessions therof proper vnto them selues Neither is it vnlykelye but that they put in it a garison of soldiors for to oppresse the Hebrues more grieuously And yet I do not thinke that they restored again the city vnto them for that came to passe afterward in the time of Achab as it is declared in the booke of Kynges Why god punisheth his people by vngodly ones But this peraduenture may seeme maruellous vnto some that god vsed to punish his people by other nations farre woorse than they wer for as muche as the Ammonites Amalekites and Moabites wer Idolatrers nations that were ouerwhelmed in all kinde of wickednes To this I wil answer that it was the prouidence of god which as I haue before declared doth in the sorte punish syns with synnes and in such maner chasten the vngodly by others that are vngodly Whi god soner punisheth his owne than he doth strangers Farther by it he declareth that these things though they be euyll yet they can not escape but that some way they shal serue his wil. But whi he differeth to punysh nations which otherwise are wicked and his own he straight ways punisheth this is the cause bicause they pertaining to god do synne against his law which they know Wherfore ther is no cause why the Turkes and Papists though they somtimes preuayle against vs to punish our sinnes should flatter them selues therby God wyll not easeli suffer his worde beynge knowen receiued to be despised as though they were much better than we are or as though their supersticions were better than our religion For if the Moabites Chananites and Assirians were not counted better than the Iewes whom they ouercame no more shall the Turkes or Papistes obtayne the same thoughe sometymes by the wyl of God they afflict the Gospellers Wherfore god doth quickly punish his for his woord sake which is among them published hee wyll not easely suffer that his woord being receaued and knowen should be despised and escape vnpunished There were vndoubtedly very many lyers and false men at Ierusalem and yet god suffered them where as he strayght waye destroyed Ananias and Saphira For he would adorne set forth the gospel holy ministery And now that the Ethnikes do see how seuerely God punisheth vs they maye easelye coniecture what hangeth ouer their heades according to the saying of Christ If this be done in the grene tree what shall be done in the drye tree And if by reason of their blindnesse they vnderstand not this we ought diligently to remember it
to our great consolation We rede in Ieremye the .xlix. Chapiter that the people of God dranke of the cup of the Lord which semed not so muche to deserue it Wherfore the Edomites ought much more to loke to be one day punished with punishmentes appointed for them In Ezechiel also the .ix. Chap. god exhorteth nations against the Hebrues to kil and spare none but fyrst they should begyn at his sanctuary Peter also in his .i. Epistle the .4 chap. The time is saith he that iudgement must begin at the house of God But why he sayth that nowe is the tyme I thinke this is the cause bicause he sawe that all those thinges which the Prophetes had forespoken of the chastising of the people of Israell before other nations should chieflye of al take place among the Christians For those thinges which happened vnto the Iewes in a figure or shadowe do chiefly belong vnto vs. Wherefore Christ being made manifeste his fayth being spred abroade throughout the worlde Peter thought that it shoulde be very soone accomplished that iudgement should beginne at the Christians whiche are the house of God Furthermore there are in the fellowship of the people of god alwaies some holy men still founde which when sharpe affliction cōmeth are proued as golde in fyer are made more bright which the heauenly father will chieflye and spedely to be done The electe also which haue fallen being admonished by chastisementes and aduersities do vse to returne againe into the right way And that the same may come to passe God who loueth them excedingly doth of his louing care prouide But such as are vncureable his wil is that they should quickly be broken least they might longer than is mete hurt and with their contagiousnesse destroy other These vndoubtedly are the causes why God doth sooner correcte his own than straungers It is not to be attributed to hatred but to most feruent loue For the deuine oracles declare vnder the person of God Whom I loue I correct and chastise Also a good housholder not regarding straungers beginneth seuere discipline at his own when they sinne The Israelites serued the Kyng of Moab .xviii. yeares Thys with out doubt was a long tyme of bondage And not without desert bicause the Hebrewes had augmented their sinne either in that they cōmitted thinges more greuous or els bycause when they were reprehended and deliuered they fel agayne to their old wickednesse This latter seruitude was twice so long as was that wherein they serued the king of Mesopotamia 15 And the children of Israell cryed vnto the Lorde and the Lord stirred them vp a Sauioure Ehud the sonne of Gera the sonne of Iemini a man hauing an impedimente in hys ryght hande and by hym the children of Israell sente a presente vnto Eglon the Kyng of Moab The kindnesse and mercy of God is farre greater than the kindnesse and mercy of men For if any through their own default fal into any miseryes The kindnesse of God is farre greater thā the mercye of men men for the moste parte haue no compassion on them Which manifestly appeareth in the Romane lawes in the Digestes de deposito vel contra In the lawe bona fides it is ordayned that a pledge shoulde not bee restored but shoulde bee geuen to the treasorye when he whiche owed the pledge doth so offende that he deserueth banishemente bycause that he suffred it thorough hys owne default and therefore is it meete that he shoulde bee punyshed with pouertye A woman also if she committe aduoutrye dyd not only loose her dowery but also she cā clayme none of her husbands goods bicause through her own default she falleth into that misery which is also written in Decretalibus title de consuetudine chap. Ex parte But god is so merciful and long suffring that he saith in Ieremy I will do that which none of you wil do No husband would receaue againe a wife which he hath repudiated especially for adultery sake But I so that thou wilte returne will take thee againe although thou hast most filthilye played the harlot with thy louers This goodnesse of god ought we also to follow not only to haue cōpassion on those It is not lawful by violence to deliuer those which ar alredy fallen into the power of the Magistrate which wtout their own fault are thrust into miseries but of those also which for their faults are chastised Wherefore we ought to be gentle towardes them but yet so farre as good lawes wil suffer which I therfore adde lest hereupon any should thinke that such as are condemned to death or are captiues for wicked actes whiche they haue committed might be deliuered against the wil of the Magistrates Christ commaunded that we should forgeue the repentant sinner not once nor seuen tymes but seuenty times seuen times this doth he himself toward his people thei fal in dede oftentimes and most filthily sinne and yet when they retourne the heauenly Father both receaueth and also deliuereth them He raysed them vp a Iudge Ehud the sonne of Gera. The cōmon translation hath Aioth Why the Latin Greke translation haue corrupted propre names But that is meruaile for both in the Greeke and also the Latin translation very many propre names are corrupted As Isaac Ezechiell Ezechias Nabuchodonosor c for both those Nations abhorring from hard kinde of speaking haue leuifyed and mitigated the Hebrue woordes after the forme of their own speche And this man of whom we entreate came as the holy history declareth of the tribe of Beniamin For the familye of Iemini whereof he was borne belonged vnto the tribe of Beniamin Hauing an impediment in hys ryght hand The common Latine edition hath turned it Ambidextrum that is one which vseth both handes a like which interpretation the Hebrewe phrase suffreth not whiche is thus Ater iad lamino Why some are lefthanded that is shut or taken in his right hande And in the Latin also we saye claudum quasi clausum that is lame And there are two causes alledged why some are lefthanded For eyther it commeth of custome from their childhode or ells by some impediment in the right part But I would thinke that the custome of vsing the left hand from a childe commeth of some impediment bycause peraduenture some pores of the body are shut or stopped by which the spirites whiche are instrumentes of mouing can not easlye haue their course to the sinowes and to the brawnes of the right hand Otherwise children should of their own accord be prone to vse the right hand for as much as in creatures by order of nature the right part is much stronger thā the left Neither do Iat this present speake of those which do of purpose practise to vse the left hand that therby whē nede requireth they may haue both handes ready For that serueth little to oure matter for the history by expresse wordes declareth that this Ehud had an impedimente
truth perceaue how the thing is in the other part they go about dissimulation disceate But in those saith he is no guile which wheÌ„ they se theÌ„selues to be sinners do also couÌ„t theÌ„ selues for such nether do they disseÌ„ble or boast of righteousnesse as did the Pharisey wheÌ„ he prayed by the publican as other hipocrites also do Nathaniel had no guile in him but not vniuersally bycause euery maÌ„ is a lyer as Paul writeth there dwelleth no good thing in our flesh for as much as it is altogether guilefull and disceatfull It could be onely sayd of Christ in vniuersall that he wanted guile But yet they are blessed as Dauid sayth to whom the Lord hath not imputed sinne and in whose spirite there is no guile For in as much as they are regenerate especially as touching the spirite that whiche they do they do it vprightly and simply and such a one Christ affirmeth Nathaniell to haue ben Augustine The same Augustine in the 10 Tome and his booke of 50. Homelies the first Homely expoundeth this whiche is writteÌ„ in the 33. Psalme of Dauid what maÌ„ is he which would lyue loueth to se good dayes Refrayne thy toÌ„gue froÌ„ euil and thy lippes that they speake no guile then saith he it is guile when nothing is close and secret in the heart and an other thing is expressed either in word or dede Flatterers as flatterers vse to do which coÌ„meÌ„d some contrary to the which they think therby either to eat their meat drinke their drinke or els to get some other benefite at their haÌ„ds And that which he speaketh of flatterers may also be vnderstaÌ„d of enemies backbyters But that it is conuenieÌ„t that men should do that which they do vprightly simply â—omere the very Ethnikes saw Wherfore Achilles in Homere saith that he doth no lesse thaÌ„ death hate those meÌ„ which speake otherwise than they thinke Wherfore we thinke that it is not ill to affirme a subtile inuention to deceaue a maÌ„ when as one thing is done and an other thyng dissembled is set for the generall worde in the definition of guile Good guile euill guile But after this definition we must adde a distinctioÌ„ For some guile is good other some is euill we call the good which is not hurtfull when as it hurteth none but somtimes profiteth But euil guile is hurtful euer hurteth somebody These meÌ„bres may easely be made playne by exaÌ„ples Nurces do coÌ„tinually vse good guile toward their litle ones therby to please still theÌ„ for with them they disseÌ„ble fayne very many thinges PhisitiaÌ„s also do after the same sorte deceaue them that are sicke bycause they would heale them Yea and Chrisostome in his first boke de Sacerdotio writeth that a certaine PhisitiaÌ„ so beguiled one that was sicke of an agew that in drinking water he thought he dronke wine And the same Chrisostome in the same place affirmeth Chrisostome that he himselfe vsed a good guile to beguile Basilius to take vpoÌ„ him a bishopricke wheÌ„ that he in no case was minded that way Dauid by this kind of guile escaped the handes of the king of the PhilistiaÌ„s For he fayned himself to be a foole so that the king iudged him vnworthy to be punished But of euil guile there are very many exaÌ„ples in the holy scriptures amoÌ„gest which this act of Ehud which we now interpret is one And that is an other also which the Hebrues did wheÌ„ they weÌ„t forth of Egipt who desired to borow both of their neighbours also of their frendes precious garmeÌ„tes goldeÌ„ siluer vessels yet they minded vtterly to robbe theÌ„ of theÌ„ To this kind also belongeth that whiche Chusai the Arachite did in deceauing Absolon This acte also may be counted among them which SimeoÌ„ and Leui perpetrated against Emor the Sichemites I could bryng a great many mo exaÌ„ples if I would nedelesse stande longe about a thing that is manifest Of the first kind of guile which is called good vnhurtful no maÌ„ wil coÌ„teÌ„d but that it is lawfull to vse it But of the other kind there is a doubt Wherof if I shuld be demaÌ„ded Euill guile is not prohibited to be vsed against enemies I wold thinke this answere shuld be made That we may not vse euil guile wyth our frendes but agaynst our enemies it is not prohibited bycause it is as it were armor Wherfore if it be lawfull to make warres against theÌ„ iustly with armor guiles also are to be admitted according to the saying of the Poete VVhether it be guile or power who can require in an enemy Howbeit this is to be obserued Who bee the true enemyes that we speake only of those enemyes which either God him selfe or the publicque wealth or a iust Magistrate declareth to be enemyes and not those whiche euery priuate man hateth Farther I doubt not but that seyng it is lawfull to repell violence by violence when there is no other waye to escape it is also lawfull to vse guiles agaynst guiles For he whiche repelleth violence by violence as the lawes do permitte the same man is not to be counted a priuate man for as muche as he is armed by the Magistrate Wherfore it is manifest that he doth not agaynst the lawe but with the lawe So he that is sodenly oppressed may lawfully escape by euill guile if he can Moreouer the Scriptures teache that this kinde of guile is iust Ierome For Ierome sayth and it is written in the decrees .22 question 2. chap Vtilem That Iehu did very well dissemble with the Priestes of Baal bycause he could not haue kylled them all if he had begon to put some of them to death Wherfore to gather them all together he fayned hymselfe to be much more studious to worship Baal than was Achab and by that meane he slewe euery one of them But this is to be taken heede of that they whiche are so destroyed by guile An acte of the king of Denmarke .. be very worthy of punishment as they are coÌ„monly called notorious offenders such as can not be punished by an ordinary waye For whiche cause the kyng of DeÌ„marke of some is coÌ„meÌ„ded which by guile destroyed most pernicious thieues which he could not take For he fayned a warre and made a proclamation that as many as would come should receaue wages of hym and promised vnto the thieues pardon for their wicked actes whiche they had hitherto committed But I as I shall afterward declare do not so fully allowe such examples Augustine as it is found in the 14. question the 5. chap Dixit Augustine it is a place in his questions vpoÌ„ Exodus sheweth that the Israelites deceaued the Egyptians when they borowed of theÌ„ golden siluer vessels yet it was not to be counted a faulte in theÌ„ when as for al the no man
that he was a wycked king neyther departed he from the woorshipping of golden Calues Wherefore it is lawfull for vs to graunt that in lying he synned A distinctiō to be noted And as I thinke and before admonished by this onely distinction we maye easily dissolue this doubt Namely that those men were styrred vp to lye either by the spirite of man or by the motion of God When they dyd it as men wee will not denye but that they synned but when they spake so by the inspiration God we will maruaile at their sayinges and doinges but let vs not take example by them or follow them ¶ Of dissimulation Dissimulacion is of two kindes BVt what shal we affirme of dissimulatiō I answer that it is of two kindes One is which hath a respect onely to deceaue And that forasmuch as it differeth not much from a lye it is vndoubtedlye synne If one being wicked doo fayne himselfe to be good and holy the same man without doubt is an hipocrite and in that he dissembleth he haynously sinneth Whosoeuer also hauing a malitious and enuious hart against anye man doth flatter the same man and dissembleth to be his friend he is not without synne yea he is infected with a detestable dissimulation But ther is an other kinde of dissimulation which tendeth not to deceaue any man but serueth onely to kepe counsels secrete that they bee not hindred And this dissimulation is not to be repudiated or to be condemned as a syn forasmuch as we haue alredy declared that it is not alwaies required that we shoulde open what soeuer truth wee knowe What Christ mēt by his dissimulation So Christe being most innocent tooke vpon him the flesh of syn hid his innocency diuine nature And that not to deceiue mortal men but that he might suffer for the saluatiō of mēt For if he had bene knowen to haue bene the Lord of glory thei would neuer as saith the Apostle haue crucified him The same Christ fained also before two of his Disciples that he would go farther He did not that to deceiue them but hee therfore a while opened not himself vnto them to reprooue them of their incredulity and to instruct them by testimonies of the scriptures Therewithall also he signified how farre he was from their hartes Or as Augustine interprereth it he shaddowed vnto them his departure into heauen Wherefore it manifestly appeareth that in those dissimulations there was no lye seing his woordes did well agree wyth the thyng signified And Dauid when hee fell into a most great daunger before Achin Kyng of Geth chaunged his countenaunce and fained himselfe a foole Of the dissimulatiō of Dauid and for that hee seemed suche a one he escaped Here some say that he cōmitted no dissimulation but that God to deliuer him strake such a feare in him that his senses might be taken from him and so did these thinges whych are rehearsed of him in the fyrst booke of Samuel Wherefore in his Psalme which beginneth Psal 34. I wyl alway geue thankes vnto the Lorde he gaue thankes vnto God for so great a benefite And therwithal in his act by the inspiratiō of God he shadowed what Christ should suffer for our sakes namely that he should be counted as a foole and a mad mā Either els we answer that Dauid is not altogether to be excused of synne if as a man being more afeard than was mete he sought for this kinde of helpe But if he by the mocion of God did it wittingly and with knowledge we wil not accuse him of synne although we may not follow his example Neither is it lawful that any man should fayne himselfe to haue committed any crime which he hath not perpetrated Gregory Augustine although Gregory saith that good myndes wyll there acknowledge a fault wher none is Augustine writeth more truly and soundly of that thing in his .29 Sermon de verbis Apostoli For he writeth In so faining if before thou wast not a sinner thou shalt be made a sinner namely in saying that thou hast cōmitted that yl which thou hast not perpetrated It is lawful in dede for euery man to confesse himself to be a synner in vniuersall But this or that crime in special no man ought to receaue in himself which he hath not in verye deede committed Farther we must note that this is true that it is not required of vs that we should open the truth euery where and in all places to speake al that we know but yet in iudgement the same is not to bee permitted For when two of vs are examined as witnesses there we are bounde to testifye that whych we know serueth for the thing whereof at that time we be demaunded ¶ Whither it be lawful to lye to preserue the lyfe of our Neyghbours BVt there ariseth a more hard doubt namely whether it be lawfull to lye for to preserue the life of our neighbour Augustine of a lye to Consentius saith Augustine If a man should be in verye great daunger of death the same man also should know that his sonne also wer in the like extreme daunger which happeneth to dye and thou knowest of his death when the Parent shal aske thee lyueth my sonne or no and thou art sure that he also wil dye if thou shalt tel him that hys sonne is deceased what wouldest thou do in this case whyther thou sayest he liueth or whither thou saiest I cannot tel thou lyest But if thou shall answer that he is dead al men wyll cry out vpon thee as though thou haddest cōmitted manslaughter and as though by thy heauy newes thou haddest bene the occasiō of the death of this father being sycke and lying at the poynt of death Augustine graunteth that it is a hard case neither denieth he but that as a man he shoulde be moued peraduenture it might so happen that affections woulde not suffer him to speake that which is iust right But al the length he concludeth that he should not lye And he addeth moreouer A similitude that if thou knowest that any vnchaste woman loueth thee inordinately which also threateneth to kyl her selfe yea and wil do it in very dede vnles thou wylt graunt to her wicked lust whether therfore thou oughtest to be entised to commit any filthye thing against chastitye I think not So also saith he thou oughtest not for the sauing of thy neighbours life to offend against the truth And moreouer what a window shuld be made open to lyes if we shoulde otherwise iudge of thys For that which one shall thincke to be lawful for life an other wil iudge that he may do the same for money an other for estimation or for defending of lands possessions And so shal it come to passe that there wil be no measure or end of lyes We maye not suffer sayth Augustine that any man should kil his own soule for the corporall
them selues as though they wer not sufficiently described and expressed in the holy scriptures haue framed vnto themselues certaine armes tending very muche to this purpose None of them in a maner doo in their armes cary vertues but Lions Woulues Tigers Beares Eagles and such lyke whereby they rather set foorth their cruelty then vertue and goodnesse 22 And when the .300 men blew with trumpets the Lord set euery mans swoord vpon hys neyghbour and vpon all the hoste So the host fled vnto Beth-Hasittah in Zererath and to the border of Abel meolah vnto Tabath 23 Then the men of Israel were gathered together out of Naphthali and out of Aser and out of al the tribe of Manasses and pursued after Madian This counsell or act of God is no new or vnaccustomed thing For so dyd he when Ionathas with his armour bearer came vnto the host of the Philistians as we reade in the first booke of Samuel And that is not vnlike whiche in the secōd booke of Paralip the .xx chap. is written of the battaile which in the time of Iehosaphat the king was fought with the Moabites and Ammonites For in those battailes also the enemies of the Israelites wounded one another And Goliah was by Dauid slayne with his own swoord And we also in these daies haue many times experience of the like benefites For when our aduersaries haue decreed by violence and force vtterly to oppresse vs by a wonderfull prouidence they haue turned their force against themselues and being letted by manye slaughters and warres they haue ceased from their enterprises most cruel 24 And Gideon sent messengers vnto al mount Ephraim saying Come downe agaynste the Madianites and take before them the waters euen vnto Beth-Bara and Iordan Then all the men of Ephraim gathered together and tooke the waters vnto Beth Bara and Iorden 25 And they tooke twoo Princes of Madian Horeb and Zeb and slewe Horeb vpon the rocke of Horeb and slewe Zeb at the wynepresse of Zeeb And they pursued the Madianites And they broughte the heades of Horeb and Zeeb vnto Gideon beyonde Iorden Now were other of the Israelites gathered together as Aser Naphthali and Manasses Gideon also sent vnto the Ephraites that the victory which he had gotten might on euery syde haue a lucky ende He enuieth not to haue a companion of his glory when as yet he with a few put himselfe in great daunger I would to God we were so conioyned in the Church that when wee haue begone anye good and profitable institution we woulde for the performance of the same desire other to helpe vs but which is to be lamented as our sinnes do deserue we oftentimes let one an other Come down against the Madianites take before them the waters As touching these waters the Interpreters do varye Kimhi thinketh that it is not Iordane his reason is bicause it is added euen vnto Iordane R. Semoloh vnderstandeth that of those waters which deuideth Palestine or the lande of Chanaan from Siria and among those waters he rekoneth Iordane But the place of Beth-Bara is to be noted bicause of the first chap. of Iohn Beth-Bara where our translation hath Bethania which in dede lyeth farre distant from Iordane neither did Iohn there baptise those that came vnto hym But the Greeke text hath Bethabara Wherfore it is thought that this place whereof we now entreate is ther ment He commaundeth that the waters should strayghtway be preuented from those which fled whilest yet they were troubled with feare before they shoulde recouer strength vnto them againe We must not slowlye followe the victory For he knew that it was very much hurtfull for Capitaines slowlye and softlye to pursue the victorye Wherefore he addeth all speede least his enemies might haue space geuen them to vnderstande theyr errour and to renue their power again And therfore he commaundeth that with speede they should meete them that the victorye begone myght at the lengthe haue a full ende And they tooke twoo Princes The Ephraites accomplished that which Gideon commaunded in preuenting those that fled and they slew the Captains of the Madianites Horeb they slewe at the rocke which was afterwarde called by his name and Zeb in the wynepresse which Kimhi expoundeth as thoughe there were there a playne countrye Whose forme or figure was lyke a wynepresse The Ephraites brought the heades of the twoo Princes vnto Gideon beyonde Iordane This is supposed to be now put in by the figure Prolepsis for it is thought that it was not done tyll suche time as Gideon had returned frō the victory being finished In the meane time let vs consider the ignominy that god put those tyrannes vnto bringing their most proude heades vnder the power of the Israelites whom they counted for people very abiect and wonderfullye oppressed them with their cruelty It is thought that the head of Pompeius which was offered vnto Cesar dyd much encrease the calamity of that man It is also declared that the heade of Cicero was brought vnto Anthonius as a thing most myserable But nowe in fewe woordes we must touche the Allegory of this act An Allegory taken oute of the holy scriptures not vndoubtedly a vayne Allegorye but which is drawen out of the fountaines of the holy scriptures Esay in the .ix. chap. intreating of the redemption by Christ writeth in this maner The yoke of his burthen the staffe of his shoulder and the rod of his oppressor hast thou ouercome as in the daye of Madian By whyche woordes is shewed that this victorye is to be referred vnto that deliuerye from synne which by Christ we haue obtayned Neyther doo these trumpets portend any other thing then the preaching of the Gospel now spread abroade throughout the whole worlde For God geueth saluation vnto the worlde by the ministery and doctrine of the Church not as though this were sufficient but the pitchers being broken burning fyrebrandes are shewed foorth bicause by the death of Christ vpon the crosse the lyght of the holye ghost shyneth in the hartes of men and the cryes of prayers are adioyned from whence saluation commeth vnto the true Israelite ¶ The .viii. Chapter 1. THen the mē of Ephraim said vnto him Why hast thou done thys vnto vs that thou calledst vs not whē thou wētest to fight with the Madianites And they chode with him sharpely 2 To whom he answered What haue I nowe done in comparison of you Is not the gleanyng of grapes of Ephraim better then the vintage of Abiezer 3 God hath delyuered into your handes the Princes of Madian Horeb and Zeeb and what was I able to do in comparisō of you And when hee had thus spoken then their spirites abated towarde hym The Ephraits nobler thē they of Manasses THe Ephraites enuied Gideon bicause great glorye redounded vnto hym by this battaile That Tribe was much more noble then the Tribe of Manasses For Iacob when he blessed the sonnes of Ioseph stretching
god is violated which commaundeth vs to loue god withall the hart withall the soule and withall the strengthes Wherfore we rather counsell that this maye bee knowleged a synne then to be counted a good woorke But bicause they perceiued that theyr sayinges haue some absurdity they added so that in the beginninge of that woorke we thinke somewhat of god and his glory and so that that which is purposed be directed vnto hym But no man doubteth but that the begynning of all those thinges whiche we do oughte to be good but afterward if fayth follow not those thinges whyche we haue well begonne and if when we are working we haue not a respect vnto god and his glory we shall runne hedlonge into sinne which may not be dissembled Farther if we should worke as we ought to do and as the law requireth yet should we as Christ sayth be still vnprofitable seruants so far is it of that we can clayme vnto our selues any merites Wherfore so long as we desist from thinkinge vpon the honor and glory of God we fall neyther are such falles to be dissembled but rather to pray that they may be turned froÌ„ vs forasmuch as of their own nature they are sinnes Fayth is not sufficient in hâ—bite but we must beleue also in acte although vnto the beleuers for Christes sake they are not imputed vnto death Wherfore let there be added to our workes a good entent But yet such an entente as is adorned with faythe and let vs performe the same not in habite but in acte Wherfore the Lord sayth in the Gospell of Mathew the .6 chap The lyght of the body is the eye And if thyne eye be symple the whole body shal be lyght But if the light which is in thee be darknes Augustine how gret shal the darknes theÌ„ be These things Augustine in his questions of the Gospels the .2 boke .15 questioÌ„ and agaynst Iulianus in the .4 boke 20. chap. iudgeth to be vnderstaÌ„ded of a good intent And in like maner writeth he in his .10 Tome the .2 Sermon where he entreateth vpon this place we must not do righteousnes before men to be seene of them The intent saith he is alwayes to be applied vnto the glory of God but the wyll to haue it knowen vnto men is to be auoyded but so much as shall seme to pertayne to the honour of God And to that tendeth that whych Christ speaketh A good tree cannot bringe forth euel frutes neither an euil tre good for as much as the tree signifieth the entent Wherfore this act of Gideon done of a good intent if those thinges be true whyche we haue sayde cannot be excused when as fayth gouerned it not 28 Thus was Madian brought low before the children of Israell so that they lift vp theyr heds no more and the lande had quietnes .40 yeares in the dayes of Gideon 29 Then Ierubbaall the son of Ioas went and dwelt in his owne house 30 And Gideon had 70. sonnes which came out of his thigh for he had many wyues 31 And his Concubine that was in Sechem bare him a sonne also whose name he called Abimelech When we heare that the earth had quietnes we maye note two metaphores The first Metaphore is whereby the land is taken for them that dwell vpon it The other is whereby silence is put for peace for that in peace the cryes of souldiers the noyse of weapons the blast of trumpets and the running to and fro of horsemen and fotemen are not harde Augustine in this place doubteth howe it could be Augustine that God suffred superstition and idolatrye so longe vnpunished And he bringeth two answeres therfore First that GideoÌ„ did indede streyghtwayes as sone as the warre was finished Why the punishmente was differed 40. yeares gather a masse of golde but he made not the Ephod by and by but longe after namely towarde the end of his life or that the Ephod was made as sone as the victory was accoÌ„plished but the people fell not to idolatrye till aboute the latter tyme of his life An other cause he addeth because in that superstition the name of God was kept neyther was the worshipping of Baal and other gods of the Gentles admitted for that as long as Gideon liued the Hebrewes came not to that mischief therfore god delt not so sharply agaynste them And it was no small benefite to geue them peace for .40 yeares of which thing seying I haue spoken before in the former iudges I shal not nede now to repeate the same agayne Ierubbaal wente and dwelte in his house He coueted not a perpetuall rule as did Cesar who after v. yeares did agayn couet to continew vnto himself the prouince of France other v. yeres But Gideon when he had obteined peace ceased from warres and dismissing his host led his life at home in his owne house in a manner like a priuate man Suche are vprighte mindes whiche indeede wante ambicion In his commeÌ„taries vpon the 1. of Samuell the 25. chap. He had .70 children for he had many wiues Of hauinge many wiues I will not nowe speake muche bycause it is to be entreated of in an other place this is sufficient to be sayd at this present that god in the old lawe permitted the same after a sort vnto the fathers VVhich came out of his thigh This is therefore written least peraduenture we should suspecte that of those .70 children some were adopted Besides the 70. whiche he had of his wiues whiche were many he had Abimeleche by hys concubyne ¶ Of Matrimony and hauing of Concubines THe place doth now admonish me somwhat to speak of hauing of coÌ„cubines wherof is often mencion made in the histories of the old testament But fyrst must we define Matrimony that therout we may gather the vse of concubines for vnlesse the nature of it be manifest Of Matrimonye Marrimonium coniungium nuptie connubium The definition of matrimony we can not se how that hauing of a concubine differeth from it Matrimony mariages wedding and wedlocke sygnify al one thing And Matrimony as it is had in the .i. boke Inst Iustin wheÌ„ meÌ„cion is made of the power of the father and in the degestes de ritu nuptiarum is defined to be a coniunction of man and womaÌ„ an inseperable conuersation of life and a communication of gods law and mans law But this diffinicion muste be perfected by the holy scriptures Wherfore we must adde that this coniunctioÌ„ of man and woman was instituted by god for the bringing forth of children for the taking away of whoredome that therby humayne life might haue helpes and commodityes In this difinicion vndoubtedlye the coniunction of man and woman holdeth place in the matter The inseperable conuersation of life pertaineth vnto the forme for with this purpose and will man and wife muste marye together For though by adultery that copulation be taken away yet when the
And it is well knowen that by contempt is prouoked anger for it is called an action whiche pertayneth to estimation opinion bycause some thing semeth to vs not worthy of estimation when peraduenture it is not so Moreouer despising consisteth chiefly in thre thinges for either we conteÌ„ne onely in mind when we despise any men their goods or when we do theÌ„ any discoÌ„modity not thereby to seeke our own gayne but onely to reioyse at theyr discommodity or lastly when we adde wordes or deedes whiche haue ignominy or contumely ioyned with them These thre things may we easely see in the Sechemites First they despised Abimelech when they receaued Gaalus a souldier as a captayne hauing Zebul appointed theyr gouerner by the kyng And vndoubtedly they so receaued Gaal that they did put their confideÌ„ce in him Wherfore it followeth that in mynde and estimation they despised Abimelech Farthermore they dammaged him when by conspiracyes they spoyled and slewe those that passed to and fro These whom they iniuried pertayned vnto Abimelech or at the least way for that that he was king Lastly they added reprochefull wordes as we shal afterward heare Christ prohibited anger as the beginning of hatred murther and destructioÌ„ for he sayd He that is angry with his brother is worthy of iudgement For anger and reuengemeÌ„t are seperate one from the other onely as the roote the fruit For he that is angry with any man if he hurt him not that chaunceth bycause either he can not Kinges are vehemeÌ„tly angry Homere or els feareth the punishmeÌ„t of the lawes He that hateth hys brother saith Iohn is a murtherer But amoÌ„g those which are counted very angry kings aboue other are numbred when they perceaue that they are despised of their subiectes Wherfore Homere sayth Great is the anger of a kyng displeased The conspiracies of the vngodly are of no long tyme. Hereby we learne that the conspiracies of the vngodly can not continew loÌ„g They are in deede oftentymes ioyned together to do euill but yet they are easely disseuered The kings of the earth stoode vp and the princes assembled together agaynst the Lord and against his Christ But the Lord whiche dwelleth in heauen shall laughe at them and the Lord shal haue them in derision Theues robbers whoremongers such as conspire against the Church publique wealthes princes do oftentimes confederate together but straightway great enemityes ryse vp amoÌ„gest them and they betray one an other yea and sometymes kill one an other Aristotle Wherfore wisely sayth Aristotle that honesty is onely the sure fouÌ„dation of amity bycause that whiche is honesty is not chaunged but pleasant and profitable thinges do not alwayes abide the same Princes of our tyme as often as they haue made league one with an other haue afterward not only ben made enemyes but they haue gone to warre one with an other Wherfore Salomon rightly writeth in the 11. chap. of the Prouerbes Although the vngodly coÌ„spire they shall not escape Wherfore their fellowshippes are to be auoyded and we must enterprise or go about nothyng hauing confidence in the amity of the vngodly ¶ How Sinne dependeth of God NOw remayneth to examine how it is written that God sent an euill spirite betwene them But bycause of that matter I haue in an other place more more fully entreated and will shortly speake more aboundauntly of it here I will but briefly teache the thing The scriptures testifie that sinnes sometymes haue a consideration of punishments wherfore when it sayd that god punisheth taketh vengeance of the vngodly by sinnes he doth nothing vnmete of him selfe For he bringeth not forth the deformity and filthynes of sinne but is the author of iust punishment For sinnes are to men euill but vnto God who vseth them good God planteth no new malice in the vngodly but yet he vseth that malice whiche is in them by reason of originall sinne and other sinnes whiche they adioyne vnto it He suffreth it not to burst forth but when it semeth good vnto him he gouerneth and directeth it whether soeuer it pleaseth him A Similitude As the Phisition comming vnto the sicke person doth by medicines drawe corrupt humors out of his body and bringeth them out either by a purgation or by a sweate or vomite or letting of bloud as he iudgeth it best yet doth he not graft in the sicke person naughty and corrupt humors So God causeth to be brought to light our malice whiche was not brought forth before but lay hid within to make manifest his iustice and to opeÌ„ our sinnes and yet he suffreth them not to breake forth by chaunce or rashely but ordereth and gouerneth them accordyng to his iudgement that euen by theÌ„ he doth fulfill the limites of his prouidence Wherfore Esay sayth that the kyng of Babilone was like an axe or staffe in hande of God for he would force hym against the Iewes rather then against other nations Wherfore the malice of sinne is wholy ours but the gouernyng successe and effectes therof ar vnder the rule of God so that they can accomplish no more then he will suffer Neither can the vngodly bring to passe those thinges whiche they go about agaynst euery man nor also at all tymes but they are gouerned accordyng to the determinations of God whiche are most holy and iust Neither is it absurde that one and the selfe same action as it is gouerned of God is both good and holy but as it commeth of vs it is vicious and corrupt And bycause we wil not go from our history the sinne of cruelty and ambitioÌ„ was vtterly Abimeleches But that it should burst forth and first destroy the famely of Ierubbaal and theÌ„ the Sechemites that is to be referred vnto the gouernment of GOD. Farthermore the disobedience and wicked desire of tumultes was altogether of the Sechemites But that it should burst forth when the famely of Gideon should be punished and that they rather chosed Abimelech to theyr kyng then an other and that their fury should rage agaynst him rather then against any other that was of the gouernement of God wherby as the holy hystory sheweth he sent betwene them an euill spirite namely the deuill by whose labour enemities and hatreds were on either side kindled and woÌ„derfully inflamed by mete occasions seruing thereunto Farthermore we must consider that God is bound vnto no man God is fee geueth hys grace not being dâ—uÌ„e to geue vnto him his grace For if it shuld be geueÌ„ of dewty then should it not be grace yet he neuer either not geueth it or els beyng geuen taketh it away but vpon iust cause He in dede created man vpright and being indewed with it but yet he by sinning spoiled both himself and his of it And for as much as we are borne vnder originall sinne and the children of wrath to whom soeuer it is not geuen it is iustly not geuen and to whom soeuer
it is geuen it is freely geuen Moreouer we dayly heape sinnes vpō sinnes wherfore god in withdrawing it is not to be accused of iniustice For he cōpelleth no man to do euill but euery man willingly sinneth wherfore the cause of sinne is not to be layd in him The cause of is not to be sayd in God For seyng he procreateth not in vs wicked desires he ought not to beare the blame if wicked actions doo spring out of a corrupt roote of wicked affections yea the goodnes of God is rather to be acknowledged whiche is present and so gouerneth the wicked affections that they can not burst forth nor be hurtefull and troublesome to any but when he hath appointed to chasten some and to call them backe to repētaunce or to punishe them Neither ought we to thinke that after the sinne of the first man Whence ou◠frowardnesse springeth God created a wicked lust and euill affection to corrupte all our whole kynde It was not so done but nature when it departed from God fell by it selfe from lyght to darkenes from the right way to vice and from integrity to corruptiō And how good so euer it was before it nowe degenerated into euill Wherefore let this be holden for certayn that sinne entred into the world by men and not by God as Paul testifieth to the Romanes And in that Christ saith Synne entred into the world by man not by God that the deuill when he lieth speaketh of his owne it is not to be vnderstand onely of himself but also of his members whiche when they lye or do euill worke not by the worde of God neither are they moued by the inspiration of the good spirite And they excedingly reioyce and haue great pleasure in those thinges whiche they do so farre is it of that they should be compelled by any violence Moreouer we must note Of permission that when either the Scriptures or fathers doo seme to affirme God to be the cause of sinne this worde permission is not then so to be added as thoughe he onely suffred men to synne and by hys prouidence or gouernement wrought nothing as concerning sinnes In dede he letteth thē not thoughe he can but vseth them and sheweth in them his myght and not onely his pacience Augustine whiche thing Augustine vnderstood right well and in disputing agaynste Iulianus he confuteth that sentence wherin it is sayd that God suffreth sinne only according vnto pacience and proueth that his might is also therunto to be added by the wordes of Paul who wrote vnto the Romaynes If God by much pacience hath suffred vessels of wrath prepared for destruction to shewe forth his anger to make knowē his might And vndoubtedly there are many things in the holy scriptures which can not alwayes be dissolued by the worde of permission or pacience For the heart of the kyng is sayd to be in the hād of the Lord so that he inclineth it whether soeuer it pleaseth him And Iob testefieth that it was so done as god would But as touching the sinne of the first man when yet nature was not viciated and corrupted Of the sinne of the first man we graunt that the cause therof came from the wil of Adam and suggestion of the deuil and we say that God permitted it bycause when he might haue withstanded and letted it he would not do it but decreed to vse that sinne to declare his iustice and goodnes ¶ Whether we can resiste the grace of God or no. BVt now ariseth an other doubt as touching our nature as it is now fallen corrupt whether it can resiste the grace of God his spirite beyng present or no There ar sundry degrees of grace of God I thinke we must cōsider that there are as it wer sundry degrees of the helpe or grace of God for his might aboūdance is sometymes so great that he wholy boweth the will of man doth not onely Counsel but also persuade And when it so commeth to passe we can not departe from the right waye but we are of Gods side and obey his sentence Wherfore it was sayd vnto Paul It is hard for thee to kycke agaynst the prycke There is no violēce or coaction inferred to mans will And yet must we not thinke that when it is so done there is any violence or coaction brought vnto the will of man for it is by a pleasaunt mouyng and conuersion altered and that willing but yet so willing that the will therof cōmeth of God for it is it which willeth but God by a stronge and most mighty persuasion maketh it to will But somtymes that power of God and spirit is more remisse which yet if we wil put therunto our endeuor apply our will we should not resiste yea we should obey his admonishmentes and inspirations and when that we do it not we are therfore sayd to resiste him and oftentymes fall And yet this is not to be vnderstand as touching the first regeneration but as concerning those whiche are regenerated whiche are now endewed with grace and spirite For the will of the vngodly is so corrupt and vitiate that except it be renewed it can not geue place vnto the inspirations of God and admonishynges of the holy ghost it in the first immutatiō of mās conuersion it onely suffreth and before the renewyng it continually as much as in it is resisteth the spirite of God But the first parentes whilest they were perfect if with the helpe of grace beyng somewhat remisse they had adioyned theyr endeuor they might haue perfectly obeyed the commaundementes of God But we although we be renewed seyng grace is more remisse remitting nothing of our endeuor we shall not be able constantly and perfectly to obey the commaundementes of God but yet we may be able to containe our selues within the boundes or limites of an obediēce begon whiche thyng bycause we do not therfore oftentymes we sinne and greuously fall Why the grace of god worketh not alyke alwayes in vs. But why God geueth not his grace alwayes to his electe after one sorte and one increase but sometymes he worketh in them more strongly and sometymes more remissedly two reasons may be assigned First least we should thinke the grace of God to be naturall strengthes which remayne alwayes after one sorte Wherfore god would most iustly alter the degree efficacy of his helpe wherby we myght vnderstand that it is gouerned by hys wil not as we lust Moreouer it oftentimes happeneth that our negligence slouthfulnes deserueth this variety Lastly let vs conclude the matter that if we wil speake properly it is not to be sayd that God either willeth or bringeth forth sinne in that it is sinne for what soeuer God willeth whatsoeuer he doth it is good But sinne in that it is sinne is euil Wherfore god neither willeth nor doeth it in that it is sinne yea he detesteth prohibiteth
and punisheth it by his lawes And if at any tyme it be sayd in the Scriptures that he either willeth or worketh sinne in men that must be referred vnto other considerations whiche I haue declared both in an other place and also now here And this is sufficient as touching this question And God sent an euil spirit By an euil spirit I vnderstād either the deuill What is vnderstād vp an euil spirite or wicked affections or cruelty stirred vp to reuenge iniuryes but the end was to take vengeaunce for the bloud of the sonnes of Ierubbaal The men of Sechem layd wayte agaynst hym The cause of the lying in wayt There may be three causes of their lying in wayte First bycause they would slay him as he passed by And an other was bicause they would not haue his souldiers to go to and fro The third was to shake of their yoke and to declare that they were free This was as much as to say as they now nothing passed vpon his kyngly power It was tolde Abimelech A short sentence cut of wherby yet we vnderstand that Abimelech passed not that way for feare of fallyng into their snares 26 Then came Gaal the sonne of Ebed his brethren they went to Sechem and the men of Sechem put their confidence in him 27 Therfore they wēt out into the field gathered in their grapes trodde them made mery And they went into the house of their God and did eate and drinke and cursed Abimelech 28 And Gaal the sonne of Ebed sayd Who is Abimelech who is Sechē that we shuld serue him Is he not the sonne of Ierubbaal and Zebul is his hed officer Serue rather the men of Hamor the father of Sechem But why shall we serue hym 29 And who will geue this people into myne hand and I wil take awaye Abimelech And he sayde vnto Abimelech increase thyne army and come out Here cōmeth an occasion of the euils one Gaal by chaunce trauailed that way the Sechemites hired him to be their ruler and captayne and therefore puttyng their confidence in him they go out into theyr vineardes gather the grapes and treade them with great security What this Gaal was it appeareth not by the Scriptures R. Salomon thinketh he was an Ethnike R. Salomon The Sechemites were so afeard of Abimelech that they durst not gather their grapes wherfore they hired this man First now they go forth into the fielde whiche thyng before they durst not doo they make great ioye and mirthe For in the olde tyme also as it semeth they vsed as they do now a dayes The wātōnes vsed at the gatheryng in of grapes great wantōnes and liberty in the gathering in of the grapes of whiche custome sprange the Comedyes and Tragedies with the Grecians And when Bacchus returned a conquerer out of India the people led daunces in honor of him at the wynepresses Yea and the Chaldey paraphrast maketh mention of daunces in this place They went into the temple It was also the manner among the Ethnikes to geue thankes vnto God of their first fruites But these men go into the temple of God and rate drinke singe and curse their kyng and whom before they had annoynted hym now they rayle vpon and teare with reproches And that in the temple wherin before they had taken counsel for to make Abimelech their ruler Such are the iudgementes of God The place might haue admonished them for out of it they gaue him money but forgettyng all thynges they curse him Although the scripture expressedly declareth not whether this tēple were that selfe same where out they tooke the money in the beginning VVho is Abimelech In the feastes of their wine gathering they mocke theyr kyng and that he beyng absent and aboue the rest Gaal much more greuously scorneth hym Let vs marke the peruersenes of mans nature if any sinne be by chaunce committed it addeth not a iust remedy but healeth mischief with mischief cureth sinne with sinne They should haue called vpon the Lord haue repented but these do far otherwise they se that they haue done noughtly yet they go farther to reproches This is the manner of the frowardnes of man yea and Dauid when he had committed aduoutry did not strayghtway repent as he should haue done but slewe Vrias Iudas whē he had betrayed Christ would not repent but went and hanged himselfe and so was author of hys owne death So in a maner when we haue sinned we go to worser sinnes They ought not in deede to haue chosen Abimelech but when he had once gotten the dominion of things they should not so haue cursed him Before the victory they sing a song of victory There is nothyng more foolishe then to contemne an enemy for an enemy is not to be contemned vnles he be ouercome But this Gaal goeth childishely to worke He exhorteth and prayseth the Sechemites bycause they had shaked of their yoke And he composeth his oration of thynges compared together A cōparatis He compareth Abimelech with Hamor the prince of that Citye whom the sonnes of Iacob slewe by guile VVho is Sechem Sechem in this place is not the name of the City but of the chief man namely the sonne of Hamor VVho is Abimelech He is the sonne of Ierubbaal He hath in vs neyther right nor iurisdiction Let hym goo and bragge amonge his owne Sechem was in the olde tyme Lorde of this Citye hym we ought to haue obeyed But we slewe hym howe then can we obeye this man This comparison is nowe manifest youghe But to increase the contempt more Zebul sayeth he is the seruaunt of Abimelech knowen well ynough vnto vs whome he hath made ruler ouer hys Citye Therefore we shall haue two Lordes And we whiche woulde not obey the Lord of Sechem shall we nowe obeye a seruaunt It is an vnworthy thyng The sēse of the oratiō of Gaal Wherefore this semeth to be the sense of hys oration If we shoulde haue serued we should rather haue serued Sechem But we haue not serued him therfore neither will we serue this Abimelech Serue the sonnes of Hamor As though he should haue sayd serue them rather whiche were the auncient Lordes of this Citye and if we haue not serued them why should we serue Abimelech c. And who wyll geue thys people into my hande The other parte of the oration contayneth an exhortation wherein he exhorteth them to make hym ruler ouer the people VVho will geue This forme of speakyng expresseth an affection of one that wisheth I sayth he if I were your ruler would easely take away Abimelech All the Sechemites were not of one opinion Hereby it appeareth that al the Sechemites were not of one opinion ▪ There were many which thē also wer on Abimeleches side Wherfore I would to God sayth he that all you were of one mynd I would thē easely take away the tyranne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Poete is not perceaued by the Prologe nor by one acte or two but we muste wayte for the ende and the conclusion of the whole fable So if a man wyll geue iudgement of an Image or of any other fayre Picture if he onely marke the Knee or Legge he shall easely be deceaued for he must consider the Armes he Shoulders the Sides and proportion of the whole body After which selfe same maner if we will vnderstand the iustice of God in his workes we muste tary tyll the ende and then shall we see the iudgementes of god full Augustine sayeth ryght well that god Augustine when he punisheth any certayne wicked acte doth signify that he hateth all wicked actes And when he differeth the punishementes of the vngodly he admonisheth vs to thinke vpon an other lyfe Wherfore if Papistes A comforte in the felicity of the vngodly if Turkes if Tyrannes are not punished in this world let vs with a patient minde wayte for the last acte and last iudgement of god for they shall not go vnpunished Dauid sayeth in his 73. Psalme My feete were almost moued and my steppes had welnye slypte bycause I freated at the wicked when I sawe the peace of synners For there are no bandes in theyr death and they are lusty and stronge They ar not in trouble as other mē c. And I sayd doth god know these things and is there knowledge in the most highest For so doth our flesh iudge when it seeth the vngodly liue in prosperity when the matter is so is there sayth he knowledge in the moste highest Wherefore I haue clensed my harte in vayne and in vayne I haue washed my handes in innocency in vayne was I punished all the day and it was paynfull to me to know this For they are moste harde to vnderstand and I began in a manner to dispayre vntill I went into the sanctuarye of God and vnderstood theyr last end For who may not easelye be deceiued in the rich man and Lazarus When as the one in mans sight semed to haue bene most blessed and the other most miserable Therfore sayth he it was paynefull vnto me vntyll I was broughte into the sanctuary of God beheld theyr last iudgement But as touching Abimelech the prophesy ought to be fulfilled whiche Iotham pronounced Let a fire come out of Abimelech and destroy his enemies God suffreth Abimelech to excercise his tiranny three yeares in which space be semed to tary for his repentance But he heaped vp vnto him self angre in the day of anger For if he had ben wise he would easly haue thoght thus with him selfe after the victory The Sechemites sinned thoroughe my perswasion if they ar now so seuerely hādled what shal be be done to me at the lēgth But he being blinded that he could not se these thynges at the last was filthily slayne So the vngodly ar dronken with prosperous fortune and god semeth to fede them vp as sacrifices which are first fed and fatted before they be killed In whiche sense Esay in the .34 chap. writeth The Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozra Wherfore Abimelech by all the things that he saw is made neuer a whit the better yea rather he was made the more insolent and attempteth other thinges more tirannical In the boke of Ecclesiasticus the 8. chap. it is writtē Bicause sentence agaynst the euill is not executed spedely the childrē of men do without any feare perpetrate euil thinges Therfore are men made so hedlong to sinne bicause they abuse the goodnes of god it is so far of that the vngodly when he seeth an other corrected should amend that he alwayes becōmeth worse worse and alwaies endeuoureth to goe on farther in wickednes Whiche thinge I woulde to God we woulde follow in vertues and good deedes Abimelech had ouercome the Sechemites neither was that sufficient for him then tooke he the holde neyther was that ynough for him he conquered the citye of Thebez and yet did not this suffice him He will go on farther yet and is most filthyly slayne As concerning the city of Thebez Kimhi sayth that it also fell from the gouernment of Abimelech Dauid Kunht 51 But there was a strong tower within the citye and thither fled all the men and wemen and all the chief of the city and shutte it to them and went vp to the top of the towre 52 And Abimelech came vnto the towre and fought against it And went hard vnto the doore of the towre to set it on fire 53 Then a woman caste a piece of a milstone vpon Abimeleches heade and brake his skull 54 Who streightwaye called his page that bare his armoure and said vnto him Draw thy sword and slay me lest men peraduenture say of me A woman slew him And his page thrust him thorow and he died 55 And when the men of Israell saw that Abimelech was deade they departed euery man to his owne place 56 Thus God rendred the euill of Abimelech whiche he did vnto his father in slayinge his brethern 57 Also all the wickednes of the men of Sechem did god bring vpon theyr heads and vpon them came the curse of Iotham the sonne of Ierubbaall The menne of Thebez closed and sensed the outwarde partes of the Tower verye well And kepte themselues within hauinge all the gates and entrances shut vp They ascended vpon the toppe This Hebrewe woorde Gag sygnifieth the toppe of the house not sharpe poynted but playne for vpon it they might walke And bycause it was dangerous leaste a manne shoulde fall from the toppe it was commaunded in Deutronomye that a cyrcuite or a stay should be added to the roofe of the houses To burne the gate Bycause he hadde so good successe before to conquere by fyre he thoughte now also to had the like fortune A woman threwe a stone Abimeleche puffed vppe with victories setteth an example before oure eyes that wee shoulde not to muche put confidence in presente felicity By his luckye successe he thoughte his cause was good and that they whome he had destroyed had theyr rewarde for theyr wickednes Such is the iudgemente of menne they thinke that accordinge to the wayghte of the punishments so are the sinnes of the afflicted and theyr euil deserts so that they whych are greuously vexed seeme to haue greiuously sinned And vndoubtedly the booke of Iob is all whole in a manner of that argumente For his friendes did therefore gather that he was an euill man The argumēt of the booke of Iob. bicause he was so grieuouslye afflicted But yet oughte wee not so to thincke For there maye be other causes why GOD wil haue the sayntes oppressed in this world Christ teacheth vs in the 13. chapter of Luke when certayne tolde him that Pilate hadde mingled the bloud of the Galileians with sacrifices they loked that Christ should haue cried out vpon the crueltye of the President howe wee oughte to take profite by the
the sōne of God who hath geuen himself for me Hereof springeth that confidence which Paul had when he said Who shall lay accusation against the elect of god It is god which iustifieth c. Wherefore if god accuseth vs not neither will our hart accuse vs when we beholde Christe For we haue now confidence towardes god and we shall obtaine And whilest wee are conuerted vnto Christ not onely accusation and sinne is abolished but repentance also is augmented as we now see is done in the Hebrues 15 And the children of Israel aunswered vnto the Lorde we haue synned doo vnto vs whatsoeuer is good in thyne eyes onelye wee pray thee delyuer vs thys day 16 Then they put awaye their straunge Gods from among them and serued the Lorde and hys soule was grieued for the miserye of Israel 17 Then the chyldren of Ammon gathered together and pytched in Gilead and the children of Israel assembled them selues and pitched in Mizpa 18 And the people and Princes of Gilead sayde euerye one to hys neyghbour whosoeuer wil begyn the battayle against the chyldren of Ammon shal be Captaine ouer al the inhabitantes of Gilead The repentaunce of the Hebrues profited god aunswered very sharpelye The propertye of true repentaunce I wyl not heare you But they crye againe Doo what seemeth good in thine eyes that is what soeuer pleaseth thee This vndoubtedly is to repent when we are not onelye repentaunt for the synnes which wee haue committed but also wee willingly suffer what soeuer pleaseth god A notable example is set foorth vnto vs in that they put away their straunge gods and woorshipped the true god It is not sufficient to take awaye euyll thynges excepte in the place of euyll thinges we substitute thinges that are good Many haue taken awaye Masses idolatries and superstitions and yet haue not woorshipped god trulye bicause he is not woorshipped by woordes but by true fayth good woorkes But ther are very fewe which embrace these thinges And hys soule was grieued Contraction ampliation of the mynde Thys Hebrew woorde Tiktsad signifieth to drawe together When we reioyce and are merye the spirites in vs are made more ample but when wee are sorye the spirites are contracted vnto the hart So it is said that God contracted hys soule Affections are improperlye attributed vnto God and was after a sorte sory for the miseries of his people This kinde of speeche is not proper of God but improper For God is not sory neither is he touched with affections Wherefore it is a speeche after the condition of men For often times those thinges are ascribed vnto god whych are noted to be in men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And often tymes thinges which happen vnto men are ascribed vnto God For men are fyrst grieued for the miserye of an other before they haue compassion of them Therfore bicause God doth that which men do that ar grieued that is bicause he helpeth it is said he his grieued which thinges happeneth in men that helpe those that are in misery Such a kinde of speche is ther in the booke of Numbers the .21 R. Moses Maimon chap. The soule of the people was faint bicause of the iourney for that wildernes grieued the people But R. Moses Maimon sayth that this woorde Catsad signifieth not onely a minde but also a wil which being before ready to reuenge did now after a sort withdraw it self Howbeit the first interpretacion seemeth to hang wel together The Ammonites on euery side grieuously oppressed al Israel but bicause Gilead was a notable City and wel fensed they determined therfore first of al to conquer it But the children of Israel pitched in Mispa so far from thence that they could not easelye succour those that were besieged Wherfore the Gileadites in so great a daunger thought they had nede of a captaine for the administration of thinges for the state consisting onely of the people there could be nothing well done vnles some one man were made ruler ouer them Euen after the same maner as the Romanes were wont in great daūgers to create a Dictator Wherfore the Giliadites saw that they needed a Captaine but who that should be they could not easely prouide VVho so euer say they wyl begyn the battayle agaynst the Chyldren of Israel let hym be our heade Peraduenture they had desired a captaine of the Lord and receaued an answer that by this token they should know who should be receaued as their captaine namely he which first shoulde begyn the battaile against the enemies Such signes God somtimes vsed without any voice or outward oracle as whan he promised the seruant of Abraham that she should be Isaacs wife which should geue drinke vnto the Camels It maye also be that the Citizens decreed so among themselues that the chiefe man of the city being stirred vp with the desire of the rewarde might the more couragiouslye and cherefully fight against their enemies In this maner Chaleb when hee besieged Hebron encouraged the mindes of his soldiours Whosoeuer said he cōquereth Hebron I wil geue him Achsa my daughter to wife With which promise Othoniel being moued cōquered the City was made the sonne in law of Chaleb So in these hard times when things wer in great daunger it was necessary to vse such coūsel But what if he which first would haue begon the battaile against the aduersaries had bene a naughty and wicked man What I say shoulde then haue bene done What also if he had bene vnmeete to gouerne the publike wealth although he had had warlike strength This obiection maketh me rather to allow the first sentence that is that the signe was offered of God and therfore they were sure that he would not geue them an euill captaine Although as touching the question we may thus answer All ciuil promises are so farforth to be kept as they may be performed by honest wayes right meanes that is so much as conscience and the woord of God wil suffer ¶ The .xi. Chapter 1 ANd Iiphtah the Galaadite was a mightye man the sonne of an harlot and Gilead begat Iiphtah 2 And Gileads wyfe bare hym sonnes whiche when they wer come to age thrust out Iiphtah and said vnto hym thou shalt not inherite in our fathers house For thou art the sonne of a straunge woman HEre is set foorth vnto vs Iiphtah a man abiect and obscure not as touching his Tribe for he was of the Tribe of Manasses but as touching his mother for he was the sonne of an harlot Wherefore his brethren thrust him out as a bastard The name of his father was Gilead who seemeth to haue bene so called by the name of the mounte and citye And that man had not onely this bastard to sonne but also he had other which wer legitimate children Wherfore though Iiphtah had a noble man to his father yet that nothing profited him bycause he was a bastard and not borne in lawful
may be absolued and so one is punished for an other mans faulte The maner of punishing the tenth souldier But GOD as it is sayde doth no manne iniurye for he whiche dyeth was subiecte vnto death and GOD directeth hys death to a good ende namely to helpe other that is that by thys meanes eyther the parentes or the prynces maye bee reuoked vnto repentaunce or to establyshe discipline But those thynges whiche we haue sayde can by no meanes bee vnderstande of spirituall and eternall paynes For as touching them euery man shall suffer for hys owne faulte Nowe lette vs expounde the woordes of the lawe I sayeth he am a Ielous God visityng the iniquity of the Fathers vpon the chyldren vnto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me Ierome Augustine These last woords Ierome vppon Ezechiel the .18 chapter diligently noteth And Augustine vpon Iosua in the question before alledged Of those sayeth GOD which hate me as though he should haue sayd I wyll not touch the innocents but will take vengeaunce of their iniquity which imitate euill Fathers and hath me After the same manner he promiseth to doo good vnto children and chyldrens chyldren euen vnto a thousande generations But to what chyldren Euen to those sayeth he that loue me Wherefore thoughe the Father bee vngodly and the sonne good the iniquitye of the father shall nothyng hurte hym But if the father bee good and the sonne wicked the godlynes of the father shall nothyng profyte hym And therefore Ierome sayeth He auengeth the iniquitye of the Fathers vpon the children not bycause they had euyll parentes but bycause they imitate theyr parentes The woordes themselues doo sufficiently declare that the lawe is not to bee vnderstande of Originall synne but of that synne whiche they call actuall For then shall the sonne beare the iniquitye of the Father when he lykewyse synneth as dyd the Father Also the wordes of Ezechiel can not bee vnderstande of Originall synne as that whiche followeth easely declareth Although thys sentence that the soule whiche sinneth it shal dye maye bee vnderstande of Originall synne Euery manne hath in himself his proper originall sinne For euery manne hath in hymselfe a corrupte nature and a prones vnto euill Wherefore euery manne beareth hys owne synne For althoughe that vice were by originall drawen of the parentes yet nowe is it made ours But thou wilte saye seyng in the lawe it is sayde Of them whiche hate me and infantes for as much as they hate not God therefore it can not pertayne vnto them I aunswer That in act in dede they hate not God but by corruption of nature and prones vnto euill So a woolfe that is at full age deuoureth a sheepe A younge woolfe whiche is but a whelpe doth it not not bycause it hath not the nature of the father but bycause it is not able And thus muche as touching the wordes of the lawe But why it is sayde vnto the thirde and fourth generation and not vnto the fyft and sixt we haue hearde what Augustine hath aunswered But in my iudgement we maye saye muche more commodiously that the parentes may lyue vnto the thirde and fourth generation GOD woulde therefore so punyshe the Fathers in the thirde and fourth generation that by that punyshement of theyr posterity some feelyng myght come vnto them they beyng yet on lyue that they myght see the miseryes of theyr neuewes childrens chyldren For thys cause the holy Scripture extendeth those generations no farther When the posteritye are euill and are punished of GOD there is no doubte but that the parentes are punyshed also in them Chrisostome vpon Genesis the. 29. Homely when he interpreteth these woordes Cursed be Chanaan c. But he synned not sayeth he but hys father Cham. That is true in deede he aunswereth but Cham was a greate deale more sharpely touched with that curse then if it had bene pronounced agaynste hymselfe Thys is the powre and fatherly affection to bee more vexed with the afflictions of theyr chyldren then with theyr owne Wherefore Cham dyd not onely see that hys sonne should be euill and subiecte vnto the curse but also he sawe that he hymselfe shoulde bee punished in hym This nowe resteth to bee declared why amonge the Proprietyes of the mercye of GOD this also was recited before Moses Visityng the iniquitye of the Fathers vpon the children when as this seemeth rather to pertayne vnto seuerity But it is not so yea rather if we looke more narrowly vpon the place we shall vnderstande that it is a pointe of mercy For where the sinne was firste committed he myght strayghtwaye if he woulde iustly bee reuenged But he is so good that he wyll defer the vengeaunce vnto the thirde and fourth generation and in the meane tyme calleth backe the father to repentaunce by admonitions of the Prophetes by sermons and benefites and many other wayes At the laste when the thirde and fourth generation is come and he made neuer a whitte the better he goeth to stripes and yet he doth not then vse affliction as the laste punishement but rather as a medecine Who seeth not that all this is a woorke of greate mercye Wherefore iustly and woorthily are these wordes numbred amonge the proprietyes of mercye And it can not bee denyed but that the Prophetes were oftentymes afflicted together with the people For Ezechiel and Daniel were led awaye into captiuity and Ieremy was caste into prison and wonderfully vexed in the tyme of the siege and afterwarde goyng with the Hebrues into Egypte he was slayne For God will haue the thyng in thys manner ordered that good men may not onely ryghtly gouerne their own lyfe but also in suffryng thynges greuous they may admonishe and bryng to amendement the euill For they are conuersant together with them in the same publique wealth and Churche and are after a sorte members of one body It profiteth the iust that they are wrapped in the same punishmentes with the wicked Wherfore the good ought thus to thinke with thēselues If God afflicte the euill we also shal be vexed together with them we shall all be wrapped with the selfe same punishement Therefore we must see that we labour for them in reprouyng and prayng for them for theyr saluation beyng neglected shall bryng euilles also vnto vs. After thys sorte we muste vnderstande Augustine when he sayeth that GOD by thys meanes establysheth discipline amonge men Bycause if the people bee afflicted for their kynges and the sonne for the father then must they labour and trauayle one for an other Neither yet do good men so lyue without sinne that God can finde nothyng in them to punishe Althoughe the afflictions whiche happen vnto the godly The afflictiōs of the godly ar not properly punishmentes can not as it is sayde be properly called afflictions but rather excercises of fayth For so God trieth theyr fayth and whatsoeuer he doth in them he turneth it
to their good Moreouer he wyll haue thē to expresse in themselues their first begottē brother Iesus Christ whiche suffred in hymselfe other mens synnes For this also is a certayne portion of the Crosse of Christ althoughe they are not so innocent as Christ was neither serueth their crosse any thing to redeme sinnes Daniel in his captiuity after this manner confessed hys sinnes We haue sinned sayth he and done vniustly c. He sayd not They haue sinned but we And Esaye sayeth All our righteousnes are as a cloth stayned with floures of a woman There is in deede in holy menne a certayne ryghteousnes but not such a righteousnes as they can boast of before the iudgement seate of God Wherfore if they suffer any thing they haue no iust cause to complayne But thou wilt saye Why is it sayd that God in thē punisheth the sinnes of other mē when as they also sinne We should say rather that he punisheth their sinnes and not the synnes of their parentes I answere Bycause when god hath much and longe tyme wayted that their father should repent and it nothing profited and in the meane tyme it is come vnto the third and fourth generation at the length he poureth out his anger vpon the children whiche therefore are sayd to suffer for their fathers bicause vnles the malice of their fathers had gone before their affliction might haue ben deferred till farther time But now bycause they haue fallen into the third and fourth generation the consideration of the iustice of god wil not suffer the punishement to be deferred any longer And althoughe they themselues also haue deserued those euils yet bycause they are so corrected in the third and fourth generation they owe that dewty vnto their parentes And so God feareth the parētes that they should temper themselues from wicked actes and thoughe they will not for gods sake or for their own yet at the least for theyr posterities sake It also maketh the children afrayde to imitate the sinnes of their fathers least the punishmēt due vnto their fathers be required of thē Neither is it vniust that the children suffer somthing for their fathers sake for by their fathers they receaue inheritances and are aboue other honored and exalted For god did not onely make fortunate Dauid but also for his sake fauored his posterity For the kyngdome perseuered in his famely the space of .400 yeares But as touching eternall life As touchyng eternall life the childrē are not punished for the sinnes of the fathers neither shall the father be punished for the sinnes of the children nor the children for the sinnes of the fathers Howbeit children obteine many spirituall giftes by good fathers For Paul in his .1 Epist to the Cor. the .7 chap. sayth Otherwise your children should be vncleane but now they are holy Wherfore the children haue of holy parentes some holynes and some spirituall gift as that place teacheth And on the contrary part Childrē obtein some spirituall giftes for their parentes sake by euil parentes many such good giftes are hindred neither are they heard of God beyng euill and not repentaunt when they desire spirituall giftes for their children Yet by the prouidence of God it oftentymes commeth to passe Euil parentes doo sometymes hinder theyr children of god spiritual gifts that of good parentes are borne noughty children and of euill good as Ezechias a good kyng had to his father Achaza a wicked kyng And contrarywise the same Ezechias beyng a very godly prince begat Manasses a very vngodly and cruell kyng The same also myght I saye of Iosias Thys therefore commeth so to passe least wickednes shoulde increase without measure Why good childrē ar borne of euil parētes euill of good if of euill parentes shoulde continually bee borne euill children God putteth to hys hande and maketh the sonne borne of an euill father a member of Christe And therewith all he sheweth that his goodnes can not be hindered by the parentes thoughe they be neuer so wicked Farthermore euill children are borne of good parentes that grace should be the better knowen And that the goodnes of the childrē should not be attributed vnto nature whiche they haue drawen of their parentes For god will haue it knowen to be his gifte that we are saued This one thyng onely is to bee added vnto the foresayde question It is not lawfull for men to punishe the sinnes of the parentes in the children That it is in dede lawfull for god as it is sayde to punishe in the children the synnes of the fathers but that is vtterly vnlawfull for men to doo For in Deut. the .24 chap. it is commaunded That the fathers should not be punished for the children nor the children for the parentes Whiche is to be vnderstande so that the father consent not vnto the sonne or the sonne vnto the father Wherefore Achan if he had bene called vnto tryall and to the iudgement seate he should be the ordinary lawe haue peryshed alone and not hys chyldren with hym But GOD hath thys hys proper law who would haue it otherwyse done although sometymes he obserueth thys also For in the booke of Numbers the 26. chap. When Core conspired agaynste Moses he was destroyed but hys chyldren were not together with hym extinguished Samuel came of the posterity of Core yea rather they were kepte for the holy ministerye and of their posteritye was Samuel borne Amasias the kynge was praysed who slewe the murtherers whiche killed his father and slewe not their children for he had a regard vnto the law of God The cause of this prohibition Augustine bringeth Augustine God sayth he may punishe the sonne for the father bycause although he afflicte hym in this worlde yet he can saue hym in the worlde to come And this can not man doo Farther god seeth that the children are not innocentes but man seeth not that Although the ciuill lawes are herein a great deale more seuere and do punishe the children for the fathers sake as it is in the digestes In treason the children are punished for the fathers and in the Code ad I. Iuliam maiestatis yet they put not the sonne to death for the father but depriue hym of all hys fathers goods dignityes and honours Howbeit they lefte some parte for the doughters whiche parte was called Falcidia to mary them withall Otherwise the ciuile lawes agree with the lawe of god For in the Code de paenis in the lawe Sancimus it is commaunded that the punishement be not transferred vnto other either to kinsfolkes by affinity or to kinsfolkes by bloud but onely to be layd vpon the author of the crime And yet as wel this law as the other before were ordeyned both of the self same Emperours Archadius and Honorius But the cause why it was so seuerely decreed agaynst treason seemeth to be this to feare men away from this kynde of wicked crime Yet the lawes of god decree
the sprite of the lord came vpon him but we haue alredy interpreted that it was the spirite of strength And although the sprite of the Lord was vpon him yet is it not of necessitye that he did all thinges by that spirite For we also which are Christians haue the sprite of Christ when as yet none of vs is renewed in all partes yea rather we all very oftentimes sinne Augustine addeth moreouer that although the fathers sometimes sinned yet if nothinge letteth but that god maye vse theyr sinnes to signifye those thinges whych myght instructe the people For god is so good that euer of sinnes he picketh out laudable commodities and maketh them alligorically to declare what semeth profitable vnto hym As in that Iudas played the whoremonger with his doughter in law it signified that god would couple vnto himself the church which before was an harlot so also maye it be that by this acte of Iiphtah he signified that god so loued mankinde that he would geue his onely begotten sonne vnto the death for it for he did not in vaine and without any cause suffer such a thing to be don by the fathers Although they greuously sinned yet god could vse their actions to the instruction of his people They were amased at the sacrifices of beasts neither did they as it was mete lift vp the eies of their minds vnto christ Wherfore god would by this meanes stirre vp the sluggish that they should be enduced by the humayne sacrifice of Iiphtahs daughter to thinke vpon Christ For he should geue his lyfe and be made a sacrifice for mankinde Farthermore Augustine toucheth a reason whereby he defendeth the acte of Iiphtah It may be said saith he that he was moued by the sprite of god to make a vow and led by the same spirite to performe it Wherfore he is the more worthy of prayse so far is it of the he shoulde be reproued But the cannot be gathered by the wordes of the history But that whych some saye as we haue before touched he wepte tare his garments and was excedingly sorye therefore he was not moued by the sprite of God God so requireth obedience that he withdraweth not affections this I saye doth not muche moue me For god so requireth of vs the duties of piety that yet he withdraweth not frō our minds humayne affections Christ himself when he should willingly go to dye for our sakes sayd for all that my soule is heauye euen to the death He prayed also father if it be possible let his cup go from me But Augustine intendeth to declare how Iiphtah might be defended which I also would gladly do if I had any part of the history to helpe me But that which followeth in Augustine is spoken to imitate Ambrose The error of Augustine For he writeth The error of Iiphtah hath some praise of faith which thinge as I haue before shewed can not be receaued For if it were an error then can it not be ascribed vnto the mocion of the holye ghoste Farther if it were sinne what praise of fayth can there be in it Because he feared not to render that which he had promised What if the vowe were not lawfull Can fayth be there praysed Moreouer he saith He declined not from the iudgemēt of God and he hoped that he would haue prohibited him frō killing of his daughter He would rather vtterly performe the will of god then contemne it These thinges were well spoken if he had bene assured of the wil of God But he was not assured of it yea rather god had otherwise prohibited it in his lawe Wherefore if it were an error it ought not to be praysed But if the spirit moued him then was there in it no error That which he afterward addeth is moste true and maketh on my syde Firste he sheweth that it was prohibited that a man shoulde kill his childrē both by the example of Abraham and by the law Farther why the maidens wept he bringeth the same reason that I brought namely both that the fathers should beware not to bynd themselues with such a vow and that so great an obedience of this mayden should not be put in obliuion These thinges wee haue out of Augustine by which woordes appeareth that he thoughte that this virgin was in very dede immolated and not compelled by the vowe of chastitye to liue alone Which sentence I my selfe also do altogether allow They which think otherwise haue not passing two or three authors but I haue many which are on my side and especially the auncient Rabbines whyche liued at that time wherin the Chaldey Paraphraste and the writinge of the Thalmut was made Reasons which confirme the interpretation For the Chaldey Paraph. affirmeth that the mayden was slayne Iosephus Ambrosius and Augustin are of the same opinion And we haue reasons not to be contemned First bicause there was no law in the old time that maydens should vow chastity yea rather it was a curse if a womā had died without children and baren Yea and god promised vnto the hebrewes if you obserue my law there shal be no barren woman among you Neyther is it very lykelye that holy men would by theyr vow hinder this promise Farther in all the scriptures reueled by god there remayneth no example of such a thinge Also by this interpretacion we should seeme after a sort to confirme monasticall vowes which ar playnly against the holy scriptures For Paule admonisheth that he which cannot containe should mary a wyfe I wil not speak how Iiphtah taried not for the consēt of the mayden before he vowed without whiche as I haue before shewed the vowe of Virginity could not be ratified I haue opened my mouth sayth he vnto the Lord and I cannot go backe Wherefore he vowed not the Virginitye of the mayden when as he asked not counsell of her To this also serueth the weeping of the Virgins and therewithall the weepinge of the mayden herselfe For she desired that shee mighte with her fellowes bewaile her Virginitye But if it were a vow why should she haue lamented it We vse to bewayle our sinnes not our vowes But the cause that moued the Rabbines Kimhi Ben Gerson was this because they wil eyther allowe or excuse the acte of Iiphtah But wee must not labor for that not that we would willinglye vncouer the defaultes of the fathers but because we see that thinges whiche are not well doone are not to be excused Moreouer also this doth not a litttle moue me bicause the Iewes at this day haue not this vowe of Virginity among them Wherefore al these reasons lead me to think that the daughter of Iiphtah was in very dede immolated But if it be demaunded whyther he sinned or no in doing this The question aunswered two wayes it may be aunswered two manner of wayes Firste bycause as he was a man so moughte hee seme as very many of the elders fel. Secōdly it may
Shewe me wherein thy strength lyeth These thynges are here set foorth simply but it is very likely that the woman dyd thus flatter Samson saying vnto hym that she muche meruayled at hys so greate strength and that she muche reioysed that she had gotten her selfe suche a louer And therefore she exceedyngly desyred to knowe thys wherein hys so greate strength consisted Samson mocked her two or three tymes And fyrste he sayeth If I bee bounde with greene roddes That is with boundes made of Osiers and newe twigges whiche haue not yet bene dryed The seconde tyme he biddeth her take newe ropes wherewith Delila afterwarde bounde hym namely when he was on sleepe Thirdly he fayneth that seuen lockes of his head should bee platted with the threades of the woufe to take away his strength He putteth a certayne nūber for an vncertayn He would in deede haue ben constant hidden the secret from the woman but on the other side his weakenes and softenes was so great that he faynted For after he dissēbled once or twise she was so much the more importunate with him And thoughe she were mocked yet she geueth not ouer neither dispaireth she to obteine that which she sought for The Hebrew interpreters thinke that these thinges were not done in one day straight after an other but at sondry tymes that the woman as occasion serued might repeate the same request Lastly it is said that the harlot was greuousome vnto Samson euen vnto the death He coulde not suffer to bee reiected of hys louer it was lyke death vnto hym to be repulsed from hys pleasures and delyghtes So Samson is taken bounde and lead awaye ¶ Of Whooredome or Fornication NOw I thinke it good somewhat to speake of whooredome or fornication For as in the olde tyme there were very many so also at this daye there are not a fewe whiche affirme that it is no sinne But I will proue by Scriptures and by most certayne reasons that it is a grieuous sinne They whiche extenuate thys wicked crime doo leane vnto sundrye argumentes Firste in the Actes of the Apostles the .15 chapter when in those firste tymes there arose a dissention amonge the Iewes and the Gretians it was by common assent decreed that the Ethnikes shoulde absteyne from bloud from that whiche was strangled from thynges offred vnto idoles and from fornication Here say they that whooredome or fornication is reckened with those thynges whiche of their owne nature are not sinnes Wherefore it appeareth that of it selfe it is not sinne for these thynges were then for a tyme decreed of the Apostles that Christians shoulde lyue peaceably together For there is no creature of GOD euill as sayth Paul to Timothe Farther they saye GOD woulde not commaunde that whiche of it selfe is sinne But he bad Hoseas the Prophet to take vnto hymselfe an harlot to beget children of whooredome or fornication Wherefore of hys owne nature it seemeth not euill Farthermore euery sinne is agaynst charity either agaynst that charity whiche we owe vnto God or that whiche we owe vnto our neyghbour But in whooredome or fornication there seemeth nothyng to be committed agaynst God for his worshyppyng and Religion is not hurt Neither also agaynst our neyghbour for there is no violence offred his wife neither is there any violent oppression Moreouer Augustine in hys booke de bono coniugali writeth Augustine that what meate is vnto the body that is accompaniyng together for procreation But if a man eate or drinke a litle more then he ought he is not accused of synne Wherfore also if a man in accompanieng together doo a litle straye he is not to be counted guilty of sinne Lastly those things which god hath prohibited as sinnes ar so playn manifest that euen by the light of nature euery man may vnderstand that they are sinnes but whooredome or fornication in mans iudgemēt is not so iudged many thinke that it is no sinne Mitio in the Comedy in Terēce saith Beleue me it is no wicked acte for a yong mā to cōmit fornication And in the Church of Corint there wāted not some which so thought also Wherfore by these reasōs the filthynes of whoredom is so extenuated that either it is not coūted for sinne or els coūted amōg the lest sins We must haue a regard not to humane reasons but vnto the word of god not what men thinke or iudge but what the holy ghost speaketh in the holy scriptures And in the Prophets in Salomon there is in euery place detestatiō of fornicatiō Fornication is prohibited by testimonyes of the scriptures But in the law they say there is nothing decreed agaynst it But for asmuch as they will reason by the law I will bring testimonies also out of it wherby it may easely be vnderstand the fornicatiō is prohibited In Leuit. in the booke of Nūb. in Deut. the Iewes are prohibited to adioyne vnto thēselues straūge womē Agayne in Deut. the .23 chap. it is cōmaūded that there shuld be nor harlot nor whore in Israel Let these places be cōpared together It was not lawful to haue harlots neither straūgers neither Israelites therfore they were al forbiddē But some will say How then had Sāson fellowship with an harlot Some of the Hebrues answere that she was not a harlot with whom Samson had fellowship but one that kept a vitling house But for asmuch as that is a weake answere me thinketh we must otherwise aunswere vnto it The publique wealth of the Hebrues was at that tyme corrupted For they lyued nowe vnder the Philistines neither is it any meruayle if they were imbrewed with any of their vices and corrupte manners Wherefore they had some harlottes but not by their lawes but by the vse and custome of the Philistines Testimonyes of the newe testament But in the new Testament whooredome or fornication is apertly manifestly prohibited To the Hebrues it is thus written Adoulterers fornicators the Lord wil iudge the Lord is not said to iudge to auenge except it be for grieuous sinnes And to the Ephesiās not onely couetous men idolaters but also fornicators are excluded from the kyngdome of God To the Corinthiās also where Paul writeth of Excommunication I doo not speake sayth he of all fornicators but if any be called a brother and is a fornicator with such ye shall not so muche as eate meate But he entreateth muche more manifestly of all this matter in the same Epistle the .6 chapter and that of purpose for many as it is sayde were of an euill opiniō as touching this kynd of wickednes First he sayth meate is ordeyned for the belly and the belly for meate but God shal destroy both this and that nowe the body is not for fornication but for the Lord. For all meate of his own nature is pure but for the offence of our neyghbour we ought sometymes to absteyne But some man myght say Meate is necessary to
Iustice in contaminatyng an other mannes thyng Ye are bought with a greate pryce wherefore glorify God in your body These argumentes of Paul are both most pleasaunt and also most strōg which if they satisfy not some let him loke vpon our Samson He was no idolatrer no murtherer no these and yet is he taken bound his eyes put out and is compelled to grinde in a prison euen as if he had ben a foure footed beast Paul laboureth by many argumētes to proue whoredome is sinne And no maruayle bicause then he wrote vno the Corinthians whiche at that tyme abounded aboue other in fornicatiōs Wherof came the Prouerb Nō quiuis Corinthū that is It is not for euery mā to go to Corinthus And in vniuersal al the Ethnikes were in an ill opiniō touching this vice Eusebius For which cause whē the Church was yet springyng as Eusebius testifieth in his .3 booke of his hystory the .29 chap. the Nicolaites did openly manifestly commit fornication layd the custome of their wicked crime vpō Nicolaus the deacon Clemēs Alexandrinus The history of Nicolaus the deacon although Clemēs Bishop of Alexādria in Stromatis do excuse Nicolaus For he sayeth that he neither thought nor taught any such thing But hauing a very fayre woman to his wyfe and therefore beyng thought to haue ben gelous ouer her he brought her foorth before the people and said This is my wife And that ye might vnderstand that I am not gelous ouer her I am cōtēt for my part that any of you take her to wife Which thing also he mēt as farre as the law of God would suffer But they which were afterward called Nicloaites vnderstandyng his wordes peruersly supposed that he thought the wyues among Christians ought to be cōmon Of this Secte it is written in the Apocalips But this thou hast bycause thou hast hated the actes of the Nicolaites whiche I haue hated Wherfore it is no meruayle though Paul tooke so great paynes to teache that whoredome is sinne Fornicatiō cōtrary to matrimony This wicked crime is contrary vnto matrimony For they whiche haunte wandryng lustes and harlots are farre from contracting of Matrimony Wherfore Terence sayth They which loue can ill abide to haue a wife geuen thē For whiche cause Clemens sayth Clemens whoredome leadeth from one matrimony to many that is from one lawful coniunction to many vnlawfull wicked The Epistle to the Hebrues ioyneth fornicators which aduoutrers testifieth that God will iudge them And those two vices are so ioyned together that they are comprehended in the selfe same precept wherin it sayd Thou shalt not commit aduoultry Fornication is repugnat vnto Christ the publique wealch This pestilence also is repugnāt both vnto Charity to the publique wealth vnto charity vndoubtedly bycause the fornicators do iniury vnto their children whiche not beyng lawfully procreated are scarsely at any tyme brought vp honestly vertuously And they hurt the publique wealth bycause they defraud it of good Citizēs For Mamzer a bastard I say one borne in fornication is prohibited to be receaued into the Church not that he is restrayned from the holy cōmunion or from the misteryes of saluation but bycause it is not lawfull for him to gouerne the publique wealth to be numbred among Citizens Some thinke that this euill may be remedyed if a man should keepe a concubine at home So say they shall the yssue be certayn It may be peraduenture certayne but it shall not be legitimate Seing therfore this wicked crime is both agaynst matrimony and charity also the publique wealth it cā not be denied but it is a sinne most grieuous A Christiā magistrate ought not to suffer harlottes And for as much as it is so why are fornications now a dayes openly suffred in Cityes I speake not of the Ethnikes I speake of Christians and of those Christiās which wil alone seme be called the successors of Christ Whoredome or fornicatiō is most impudently mainteyned in their dominion they not onely willing therunto but also taking a commodity tribute therof That whiche is against the word of God against matrimony against charity against the publique wealth is no sinne or els it is a notable sinne If it be sinne why is it not taken away weded out Augustine But I know what they will bable they bring foorth Augustine who in his booke de Ordine wryteth thus Take awaye harlottes and all thyngs shal be filled with filthy lustes But let vs consider in what time Augustine wrote that booke Vndoubtedly when he was yet Catechumenus and not sufficiently enstructed in religion And althoughe he had not beene Catechumenus yet thys his saying agreeth not with the word of God neyther with Augustine himselfe who in an other place affirmeth that the good which commeth of euil as a recompensacion is not to be admitted Which thing also Paule hath taught to the Romaynes euen as they were wont to say of vs Let vs do euil thinges that therby may come good thinges whose damnation is iust We must neuer haue a regard to the end and euent when we are vrged by the commaundemente of god Somtimes men say vnto vs Vnles thou committe sinne this euill or that will succede But we must aunswere let vs do what god hath commaunded vs he will haue a care of the successe Neither is it meete that one onely sentence of Augustine should be of greater authority then so many reasōs which we haue brought and so many most manifest wordes of God God commaunded absolutely and by expresse wordes that there shoulde be no harlot in Israell But some go aboute to wrest this place out of our handes in sayinge that these hebrewe woordes Kadschah and Kedaschim signifieth not whores or harlots but rather the priestes of Priapus which were vowed or consecrated to thinges most filthy I contrarily thinke that Chadschah signifieth an harlot and Kedaschim vnnaturall and effeminate persons God woulde haue neyther of these suffred among his people But in that they obiect the holy seruices of Priapus it is nothing For it was sufficientlye before decreed touchinge idolatry and what nede it agayn to be repeated But that we may the more manifestly vnderstand that Kadschah signifieth a harlot let vs reade the historye of Iuda and Thamar in the booke of Genesis Certaine wordes ar taken both in the good and euill parte and there we shall see that Louah Kadschah are taken both for one and the selfe same thing For whiche cause we must note that there are certayne wordes whiche maye be taken both in the good and euil parte of which sort is this word Kadschah among the Hebrewes which signifieth both holy and also an harlot euen as among the lattines thys word sacrum that is holye Virgil. wherefore Virgill sayth Auri sacra fames that is the holy hunger of gold This Hebrew word Kadasch is to prepare or
this is a weake reason for these thinges are not reckoned of the Apostles that in them shoulde be like reason of fault but bicause that all those thinges if they shoulde haue bene vsed would at the tyme haue disturbed the Churche The Iewes by the custome of their law abstained from blood and that whyche was strangled and the Ethnikes made nothing of whooredome Wherefore that peace should be had among them all they decreed that they al shoulde abstayne from these thinges wherby it followeth not that al these thinges are like sins but rather this we may inferre that all these thinges were an occasion of disturbing the Churche To the second Farther they obiected that God commaundeth not sinnes but he commaunded Hosea the Prophet to haue fellowship with an harlot I aunswer Euerye synne What is the proper nature of synne is in that respect synne bicause it is against the word of God But if God commaund any thing to be done priuately which otherwise disagreeth with the woord written the same vndoubtedly is not sinne bicause vniuersally it repugneth not with the woord of God for although it disagreeth with the word written yet it disagreeth not with the woord priuately reuealed It is synne to take away an other mans good But God when the Hebrues shoulde depart oute of Egipt commaunded that they should borowe stuffe and syluer vessels of the Egiptians and take them away with them which thing they did with out sinne No man doubteth also but that murther is synne and yet Abraham if hee had sacrificed his sonne at the commaundement of God which he was ready to doo had not synned So may we say of Hoseas the prophet If he committed whooredome at the commaundement of God his whooredome was no synne I knowe there are some which thinke that Hoseas was not cōmaunded to cōmit whoredome but to take a harlot to his wife but that agreeth not for it followeth and thou shalt beget of her children of fornication Children gotten after that maner namely of a lawful wife should not haue bene children of fornication Ierome doth better interprete these thinges Hiperbollically Ierome and saith that by this image was expressed the wickednes of the Iewes which had forsaken god their common husband and had committed fornication with the Idoles of the Gentiles and had begotten vnlawfull and bastard children as touching the woorshipping and religion of God To the thyrde Farthermore that is false which they alledge namely that whooredome is neither against religion nor charitye For we haue before declared that it is otherwise neither is it needeful here to repeate that which we haue sayd To the fourth They bryng Augustine also whiche sayth what meate is vnto the body that is accompanieng together for procreation but to eate or drinke a litle more thē needeth is not a grieuous synne therefore neither is fornication also A similitude is not takē to agree in euery part but serueth onely for that part for which it is taken And vndoubtedly he which eateth or drinketh more then he ought doth not straightway loose the health of his body but he which strayeth in carnal fellowship and committeth whoredome may easelye straightwaye beget a childe vnto whom he doth iniury bicause throughe his fault he is borne a Bastard Farther there succeedeth euyl education and so charity is hurt I myghte say also euen as euyl and hurtful meate destroyeth the bodye yea Adam by eating of the prohibited aple corrupted his posteritye so whooredome killeth the soule Lastly that which they alledged To the fyfte namely that fornication is therefore no sinne bicause it cānot be so iudged by the light of nature that I say is nothing For the preceptes of God are knowen to bee iust of nature but yet of a nature vncorrupt and perfect when as a corrupt nature doth often times allow sinnes for vertues For with the Lacedemonians theft was praised Thucydides and as Thucydides writeth among the auncient Grecians piracy was counted a vertue Farthermore it followeth that the preceptes of god may by nature be knowen to be iust and honest but yet of a nature instructed and formed by the woord of god otherwise as Paul testifieth The carnal man knoweth not the thinges whiche are of god But now let vs returne to the history 21 Therefore the Philistines tooke him and put out his eyes and brought him downe to Azzah and bound hym wyth fetters and he did grinde in the pryson house 22 And the heare of his head beganne to growe agayne after that it was shauen 23 Then the Princes of the Philistines gathered them together to offer a great sacrifice vnto Dagon their God and to reioyce For they sayd Our God hath deliuered Samson our enemye into oure handes 24 Also when the people saw him they praised their God for they sayd our God hath deliuered into our handes our enemye and destroyer of our countrey whych hath slayne many of vs. 25 And when their hartes were mery they said cal Samson that he maye make vs pastime So they called Samson out of hys pryson house and he was a laughing stocke vnto them and they sette hym betwene the pyllers 26 Then Samson sayde vnto the seruaunt that ledde hym by the hande leade me that I may touche the pyllers that the house standeth vpon and that I may leane to them 27 Now the house was full of men and women and there were al the Princes of the Philistines also vpō the roofe wer about three thousand men and women that beheld whyle Samson played 28 Then Samson called vnto the Lord and sayde O God I beseche thee strengthen me at this tyme onely that I may be at once auenged of the Philistines for my two eyes 29 And Samson layde holde on the twoo myddle pyllers wherevpon the house stoode and on whiche it was borne vppe on the one wyth hys ryght hand and on the other with hys leaft 30 Then sayd Samson Let me lose my lyfe with the Philistines and he bowed hym wyth al hys myght and the house fell vpon the Princes and vpon all the people that were therein So the deade which he slewe at hys death were mo then they whyche hee hadde slayne in hys lyfe 31 Then hys brethren and all the house of hys father came downe and tooke hym and brought hym vp and buryed hym betwene Zorah and Esthaol in the Sepulchre of Manoah hys father nowe he had iudged Israel twenty yeares When Samson was kept in prison hys heare in the meane time grew to the same length that it was before it was shauen by the harlot God at the lengthe tooke vengeaunce of the Philistines when yet he had first begone at hys owne house For Samson for his synne came into the power of hys enemyes and hys eyes being put out he was compelled to grinde in prison and was vtterly made a mocking stocke Howbeit the wicked Philistines in the meane tyme escaped not vnpunished
of Dan sought theÌ„ an inheritauÌ„ce to dwell in for vnto that tyme their inheritauÌ„ce had not fallen vnto them among the tribes of Israel 2 Therfore the childreÌ„ of Dan sent of their famely fyue men out of their coastes valiaunt men out of Zora and Eshtaol to vew the land and diligently to searche it out they sayd vnto them Go searche out the land Then they came to mount Ephraim to the house of Micha and lodged there 3 And when they were nyghe the house of Micha they knewe the voyce of the younge man the Leuite and they turned in there and sayd vnto hym who brought thee hyther What makest thou here and what hast thou to doo here 4 And he aunswered them Thus and thus doth Micha vnto me and hath hyred me to be his Priest 5 And they sayd vnto him Aske counsell I praye thee of God that we may know whither he will prosper the way wherby we walke 6 And the Priest sayd vnto them Go in peace Your waye whereby ye walke is before the Lord. In that it is sayd there was no kyng in Israell is signified that it is not to bee meruayled The Danites were left destitute of their brethren that Religion and the Publique wealth was then troubled There was no Magistrate which shuld iustly haue punished these sinnes By this place is vnderstand that the Danites wer left destitute of their brethreÌ„ when they should get their possession whiche thinge vndoubtedly should not haue bene done for they ought euery tribe one to haue helped an other in getting their inheritauÌ„ce For so had Moses Iosuah prescribed them before but the Israelites forgettyng theyr brethren studyed euery man by himselfe for his owne commodity and profite The vtility of a Magistrate Hereof sprang Idolatry and the takyng away of other mens goods bycause there was neither kynge nor Magistrate to restrayne these euilles Hereby we maye knowe howe muche a Magistrate is to be made of Who if he bee good then keepeth in he good order both the publique wealth the worshyppyng of god For he is the keeper as wel of the first table as also the latter Neither hath he a care onely for the bodyes of his Citezins but also for their soules And howe ill soeuer the Magistrate be yet to defende the common society of men he many wayes profiteth the publique wealth But now al things were decayed bycause the publique wealth was destitute both of a king also of a Magistrate They were not depriued of this good thyng by the institution of God but by theyr owne sinne whereby they were deliuered into the power of the Philistines An obiectioÌ„ touching the primitiue Churche But thou wilt say did not Christian men so in the primitiue Churche For they had not their Magistrates but were most cruelly vexed of tyrannes That is true in deede but in the meane tyme they had very excellent Ministers of the Churche and therewith all most aboundaunt and greate benefites of the holy ghost And when the Apostles wrought wonderfull miracles there seemed to be the les want of a Christian Magistrate Paul by a great power of the holy Ghost made blind Elimas the sorcerer Heresies increase vnles the Magistrate represse them Peter slewe Ananias and Saphira They deliuered vnto SathaÌ„ such as were past correction Howbeit in the meane tyme increased many heresies bycause there was no Magistrate to keepe them downe euen as now in Israel when they wanted their princes Idolatry crept in Afterward wer geuen vnto the Church both Christian princes Magistrates and therewithall there ceased such giftes of the holy Ghost bycause they seemed not so necessary when Christian Schooles Christian Phisitions and Christian Iudges happened vnto the Churche ¶ Of the head of the Churche THis place the Papistes obiect vnto vs An obiection of the Papistes thinke that it maketh very much to establish their tyraÌ„ny Se say they hereof sproÌ„g so many sectes heresies amoÌ„g you bycause ye haue not an Ecclesiastical Magistrate for that ye haue fallen froÌ„ the onely head of the Church Wherfore that the state of the Churche may be the quieter there must be one head therof in earth But we neither wil nor may suffer this bycause it is manifestly repugnant vnto the word of God We acknowledge one head of the Church that is Christ from whom we fele that both lyfe spirite floweth and spreddeth abrode into all the rest of the body But they say there must also be an other head of the Church For Christ say they is the head as touching the soule and iustification But there must be an other head also concernyng the retayning of outward rites and ceremonies for the wedyng out of heresies to vnite Churches together To this we say that it is sufficient that euery Church haue his minister or Byshop who may dispense the word of God and the Sacramentes retayne discipline as much as may be But that there should be some one man to gouerne all the rest neither is it necessary neither ought it to be suffred bycause as I haue sayd the head is from whence lyfe and spirite is deriued into all the body And such a head is Christ onely God woulde haue in the Churche not one Minister onely but many And we must marke the institution of GOD who would haue many Ministers in the Churche For so is it written vnto the Ephesians Christ hath ascended into heauen and hath led captiuity captiue and geuen gyftes vnto men And that we should vnderstande howe he hath geuen them it is added Some he hath gâ—uen Apostles some he hath geuen Prophetes some Euangelistes some Pastors and teachers for the renewyng of the saintes into the worke of administration for the edification of the body of Christ wherfore to builde the body of Christ God wil haue many and sundry gyftes of the spirite and Ministeryes retayned in the Churche Let these men euery one execute his office let them conferre together if there happen any controuersy and if neede be let them assemble together to Synodes But that euery controuersy should be referred vnto the Byshoppe of Rome and that all men shoulde obey the Pope onely it is intollerable and vtterly Tyrannicall Neither doo the Popes contayn themselues Popes do also chauÌ„ge the institutions of God to excercise power onely in outwarde thinges but also they chaunge the institutions of God and rules of religion Which thyng we haue now had experieÌ„ce of to the great hurt of the Church It is a very good saying whiche the Apostle hath vnto the Romanes in the .12 chap. Euen as in one body we haue many meÌ„bers but all meÌ„bers haue not one the selfe same office so we being many are one body in Christ euery one the members of others hauing sundry giftes according vnto the grace geueÌ„ vnto vs. And the same things in a maner are written in the .1 to the
neuer heard of the like boldnes filthy lust as was this of the Gabaonites therfore they are called the children of Belial that is without an yoke bycause they had shaken of good manners the lawe of God and of nature neither would they abyde to beare any yoke Hereby also appeareth theyr exceding cruelty for they did not onely despise a straunger but also would reprochefully haue doone him great iniury But the good old man the host of the Leuite had not onely receaued him into hys house but also afterward defended him with the daunger iniury of his house He goeth forth vnto thē exhorteth thē not to cōmit any such thing First bicause the thing was filthy horrible farther bicause the mā had entred into his house he coūted it his part by right of hospitality to defēd him frō al iniury Lastli whē he perceaued that their lust was importunate vnbrideled he offred vnto thē his own daughter the wife of the Leuite rather thē they should do him so great a reproche Howbeit they as contēners both of god mē nothing care for these things Of the fayth of Hospitality The right of hospitality was of no force with thē which the old mā obiected vnto thē Vndoubtedly faith is to be kept with an enemy and much more with a guest or strāger Wherfore in the digestes de nautis cauponis in the law .1 there is a double actiō allowed against the host if any thing be takē away out of the lodging frō the guest how much more if there be violence done against his body Among the elders the religiō of straūgers was great bycause it semed a thing acceptable vnto god to defēd saue harmeles the straūger Iupiter Hospitalis Wherfore Iupiter as he was called Stator Pheretrius so also was he named Hospitalis as it were a keper and defēder of straungers Busyris a cruell host But Busiris like a cruell bloudy Tyrant slewe his guestes But his cruelty escaped not vnpunished for Hercules slew him with his club Euery manne ought to bee sale in his own house The Gabaonites wtout al yoke rāged abrode in the night tyme beset the house threaten to breake it opē to stay them that are in it when as otherwise euery mā ought to be safe in his owne house Which thing was also decreed afterward by the Romane lawes as it is had in the title de in ius vocando in the digestes in the lawe plerique No man ought to haue hys house inuaded For the priuate house of euery man seemeth to be a certayne holy sanctuary to his possessor But with the Gabaonites there was nothyng safe or holy so much had lacke of a gouernor brought to passe The vngodly are sometymes called brethrē The olde man when he dissuaded them from their wicked crime called them brethren to see if by pleasant and gentle speech he could haue asswaged thē For if he should haue dealt more sharpely he should more vehemently haue kyndled them And yet in callyng them brethren he lyed not for as they came of the tribe of Beniamin and he discended of Ephraim they were begotten all of one father namely of Iacob Lot also in the like cause called the Sodomites brethren It was vndoubtedly wysedome in moste daungerous corrections to vse moste gentle wordes Yea and Augustine when he wrote to the Madaurenses Augustine whiche otherwise were Idolatrers called them brethren Wherfore it is to be lamented and meruayled at that the Ministers of the Churches of the Lutherians doo so abhorre from our men that they will not in any case call them brethren as though they denyed the sonne of GOD and preached not his Gospell But our Churches nothing regarde their importunity but of Christian charity counte them for brethren whether they will or no and althoughe they differ from them in the matter of the Sacrament yet haue they not broken the bande of brotherly charity towardes them But whether of vs doo behaue our selues more sincerely and faythfully in the fielde of the Lord Christ in the last day also in tyme hereafter shall declare But here commeth a question whether this olde man did well in offryng his daughter and the wife of the Leuite vnto the Gabaonites to the ende they should not violate his guest To this all men aunswere not after one manner Some say that he considered the greatenes and horriblenes of the wicked crime and preferred the lesser euill before the greater and would not breake his fayth geuē vnto his guest And by these reasons they thinke to excuse hym And after the same manner they iudge of Lot Chrisostome And amonge other Chrisostome excedyngly prayseth Lot in that thyng Ambrose whiche selfe thyng doth Ambrose also in hys booke of Abraham the Patriarche bycause he lesse estemed the contumely of hys house then so great a wicked acte But Augustine in his questions vpon Genesis Augustine considereth these things both more diligently also more depely and denyeth that to recompēse one faulte by an other is not in any case to be suffred Compensation of sinnes is not to be admitted By his sentēce it was not lawfull for hym to permitte hys daughter to the lust of the Sodomites to the ende they should not sinne more grieuously Neither is it lawfull for vs to committe the lyghter crime to auoyde a more grieuous For the Apostle hath apertly taught That euyll thynges are not to be doone that good should ensue Wherfore when the matter commeth to sinne althoughe it seeme light yet we must vtterly abstayne from it And if it should seeme that some greuouser sinne would followe if we should refuse to sinne that care is to be committed vnto GOD but we vnder that pretence ought not to committe any sinne This was Augustines opinion whiche I excedingly well allowe And not to goo from our Hystory whiche we haue in hande althoughe this olde man ought fayth vnto hys guest yet ought he fayth and defence also vnto his daughter and vnto the wife of the Leuite Neither was it lawfull for him to performe more fayth vnto hys guest then the woorde of GOD would suffer Wherfore he could not iustly humble vnto them his daughter or the wife of his guest For the father hath not the daughter so in hys power that he maye put her foorth to other men to be abused Neither ought the daughter to obey in any thyng that is sinne thoughe the father wil and commaunde her But they say The lesser euill is to be preferred before the greater How the lesser euill is to bee preferred before the greater I knowe that men are wont so to say But it must ryghtly be vnderstand namely that it taketh place in outwarde afflictions and griefes of the body and of the lyfe Bycause in such discommodityes as often as we must take deliberation what we ought to preferre the lesser
publique wealth he doth in deede punishe sinnes greuously but after his fatherly correction he doth with an vnmeasurable goodnes restore the hurtes and losses wherin men oftentymes incurre by theyr owne error faulte In all these things we may see an Image of our tymes For we are infected with the same infirmityes that our fathers were neither doth the deuill and his meÌ„bers with lesse diligence at this day vexe the congregatioÌ„ of the godly then he did in the old time Wherfore let vs praye vnto God our most louyng father thoroughe his sonne Iesus Christ that euen as from the begynning he hath holpen and noorished hys Churche in most great daungers so also he would now keepe and defende it when it is almoste ouerwhelmed with euils and calamityes Let vs desyre him also that euen as he from tyme to tyme stirred vp Iudges and deliuerers vnto the Hebrues by whom he restored both liberty and health and as in our tyme he hath geuen Heroicall and most excellent men namely Luther Zuinglius Oecolampadius Phillip Melanchton and suche like setters forth of the doctrine of the Gospel so he would vouchsafe to go forwarde and in conuenient tymes stirre vp certayn lyghtes by whiche he may illustrate the mindes of hys elect and kindle their heartes to keepe amplifie the Church of Christ that at the leÌ„gth he may haue it raygning with him in heauen without spot or wrinkle Amen ¶ The ende of the Commentary vpon the Booke of the Iudges ¶ A diligent Index or table of the most notable thinges matters and wordes contayned in thys whole woorke VVhich thinges ye shall fynde by the folio which is on the fyrst syde of the leafe and b signifieth the seconde syde of the same leafe A. AAroÌ„ reproued iustly 53 b Abimeleche Gedeons sonne 153. b Abimileches tiraÌ„ni 155 b Abimileches vices 157. b Abraham maried his brothers doughter 20. Abrahams leage with the Chananites 99. b Abrahams saying Sara was hys Sister 89. Abuses of church musicke 103. b Accidences do differ 286. b Accusations violate not but helpe the lawes 255 Action one and the same maye be good and bad 79 Actions should be both iust and iustly done 245 Actions voluntary naturall 63. b Adam and Eua whether they wer buried in Hebron 14. b Adonibezek 11 Aduersity giueth occasion of profitable sermons 113. b Aduersity oght to moue vs to praise thaÌ„k god aswel as prosperiti 104 Aduersities behauiour 6 Aduoutries counted lyghte crimes with Papistes 233 Aduoutries looseth her dowry 81 Adulterers and hooremongers god wyll iudge 249 Adultry punished with adultry 254. b Adultry salued by recoÌ„ciliatioÌ„ 249 Adultry and rapt ioyned 283. b Aesopes fables 160 Aestimation is not so much to be regarded as truth 90 Affections are qualities 141. b Affections of the bodye and mynde also signified by dreames 135 Affections ar attributed to God improperly 176 Affections which are to be counted godly 194 Affections whether they bee good or euyll 142 Affections may be ioyned with obedience 195. b Afflicted persons thinke god is not with them 114. b Affliction to the afflicted of God is not to be added 235. b Affliction springeth of synne 112 Affliction of the Israelites of forty yeares 200. b Afflictions of the goodlye are not properly punishments 181. b Afflictions of this life God sendes to diuers endes 180 Afflictions great or smal is no sure argument of the heynousnesse of synnes 171. b Afflictions final causes 8 Affricanes are Chananites 7 Affricanes wer Phenitians 68 Age good what 155. Ain turned by g. 226. b Allegories vse 8. b Allegory taken out of the holy scripture 141 Alexander vnto Darius 157 Altare erected 280. b Altare is not to bee erected but to God 69 Altars vsed why 122. b Alteracion is none in God 175 Ambition handled 157. b Ambition when it hath place 183. b Ambition of kings and bishops 12 Ambrose a Neophyt when he was made bishop 184 Ambrose opinion of Iiptah disalowed 194 Ambrose first vsed singyng in the west church 103 Anabaptistes fault 132. b Anabaptistes error 264. b Anabaptistes deny that the olde testament pertaineth to vs. 186. b Anadiplosis 109. b Anathemata 30. b Anarchia is destruction of a coÌ„mon wealth 139 Ancyrana Synodus 95 Angel signifieth diuersly 59 Angels howe they haue their names 205. b angels why they fell 15. q angels cannot burn in lustes 285 Angels whyther they dyd eate and drinke 212 angels bodyes wherin they appere are true and humaine 211. b Angels what maner of bodies they take vpon them 209. b angels apparitions 208 Angels apparitions may be imagigined .3 maner of waies 209. b. 211 Angels appearing and Gods do eeuidently differ 1â—2 b Angels whether they se God 121. b angels may worke miracles 126. b Anger of God described 70 Anger defined by the matter 73. b anger asswaged by gentle aunswer 141. b anger why Christ forbad 166. b Anger an vnfit affection to punysh in 280. b Answer with the Hebrues is to begyn to talke 244 Anthropomorphites error 118 Antichrist the pope of Rome 147. b Anticipation a common figure in scriptures 246. b Antiochus begyled 86 Apelles error 210. b Apis the oxe was loÌ„g fatting 122 b Apollonius Thyaneus 211 Apology defined 159. b Apoplexia 163. b Apostles how thei ar fouÌ„dacioÌ„s 149 Apparel prescribed by lawes 111. b Apparitions of angels 208 appeale from the Pope 266. b Application of popishe sacrifice for quicke and dead 50 Aquarij heretikes 189. b Arba the builder of Hebron 15 Arguments false of Siricius 94 Arguments from the euents to the cause are not alwayes firm 271. b argument against the Pope 161 Aristocratia 1. b Aristocratia in the church 241 Aristocratia compared with a kingdome 156 Aristotle deceiued 138 Arke taken 244. b Armes of noble men 140. b Artes forbidden 283 Ascension daye whether it was on the wensday or thursday 276. b Asers situation 108 Asking at God how 272 Assamonites or Machabites 259 Assemblies exercises 65 asses vsed in Syria 106. b Asses much vsed in Syria 25. b Attilius Regulus 85. b Augustines saying I would not beleue the Gospel c. scanned 5. b Augustine vsed the latine toung to preach in 84 Augustine Ierome contend 60. b Augustine excuseth Tertullian 120 Augustine chaunged his opinioÌ„ for compelling of heretikes 55 Augustines mother 138. b Aunts why meÌ„ may not mary 19 b B. BAal-berith 155 Baal handled 123. b Baal and Baalim 68 Balaams praying was prophesying 207 Banished mens custome in buylding of Cities 40 Banishment the extremest punishmeÌ„t of the citizens of Rome 146 b Baptisme of Infanes 75. b Baren mothers haue brought forth many excellent men 200. b Baruch is Apocripha 51 Bastard defined 177 b Bastards haue no place in the congregacion of Israel 177 Bastardes proue wurs then other children 178 Bastards wer not commaunded to be banished by the law 183 Bawde who acording to the Ciuill law 249 Bawdes are the Popes 232 Bawdry 232 Beanes make
health 135. b Dreames it is not vtterly forbidden to regard them 138. b Dreames of prophecieng geuen by God to the wicked 134. Dreames some ar sent by God 137 Drunkennes hurtes 163. b Drunkennes hath 2. sences 162. Drunkennes bringeth all vices to light 164. b Dwelling of Christians with infidels or godly with vngodly 44. b E. EAre rynges 250. b Eating defined 212. Ecclesiasticall power and Ciuill 257. b Ecclesiasticall causes pertayne to the Magistrate 266. Ecclesiasticall power is subiect to the ciuill 258. b Elect are punished to their saluation 33. Electors of Princes 90. b Elements of bread wine and water 134. b Elias was of the tribe of Beniamin 272. Elloborus is bearfoote 164. b Elohim and Iehouah 112 b Elohim whom it is attributed vnto 206. b Emaus called Nicopolis 41. Emperours why they were ordained 2. Emperour subiect to the pope 257 Emperor corrected of a bishop 145 Emperours all were not consecrated of the Pope 261. b Emulation handled 141. b Emulation described 143. b Enak defined 15. Enakim 15. b Endeuour or labour is required to be ioyned with faith 13. b Enemies described 85. Enemies god destroieth somtimes without the helpe of man 99. England 271. d Enochs booke 16. Enterprises require three things 271. b Enuy intreated of 141. b Enuy described and mother therof 143. Enuious persons described 141. b Epha measure 116. b Ephod what 150 b Ephod what 238. b Ephori 90. b Ephraites more noblethen Manasses 141. b Ephramites pride 197. Epitaphes soong 102. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reioycing at an other maÌ„s hurt 143 Errour very hurtfull 〈◊〉 the church 148. b Errours of fathers 279. Errour of Ambrose 194. Errour of Augustine 195. b Errours of Grigory 147. b Errour of Grigorye Byshoppe of Rome 56. Esay was maryed 94. Esay deth what occasioned 117. b Espials thre meÌ„cioned in the scripture 35. b Essence of God shal be knowen of vs in the lyfe euerlasting 121 Eternal life fully geuen vs is presently possessed onely in part 7. b Eternall lyfe whether it may be called a reward 272. Ethniks had better knowledge of God then the Papistes 207. b Euensong before noone 277. b Euents no good trial of lawful actions 227. Euils is not to be committed to auoyde euyl 253. Euil lesse is to bee preferred before the greater 253. Euil how it is taken away 268. b Euil not euill if God commaunde it 39 Euil in the fight of the Lord. 67. b Euil works how God may be said to worke in the wicked 7. Euill men sometymes punished by wurs 80. b Euil spirit signifieth either the deuil or wicked affections 168 Euil thinges muste not onelye bee left but good thynges also put in vre 176. Euripides sentence 158. Examples of drunkennes 163 Examples profitable 2. wayes 4 Examples of sayntes abused 4 Examples of Gods doinges is not to be reasoned of alwayes by vs. 233. b Excommunicate person 285. Excommunicate persons howe we may keepe coÌ„pany with theÌ„ 45. b Exercises of the bodi haue no great vtility but piety 140 Exodus what it entreateth of 1. b Ezechias liued in Romulus time 3. b Ezechiel was maried 94 F. FAble defined 159. b Fable of frogs in Aesop 160 Face of the mynde aswell as of the body 121 Fayning is not alwaies lying 209. Fallacy a secundum quid ad simpli citer et accidentis 256. b Faithes efficacy 98. Faith of three sortes 130. b Faith of hospitality 252. b Faith is to be kept with the ennemy 85. b Faith to heretiks is to be kept 86 Faith is not to be kept to him that breaketh faith 85. b Faithes beginning 207. b Faith obtaineth promises 13. b Faithe of no force if it want the word of God 152. Faith cannot sufficiently be confirmed by myracles 129. b Faith iustified the fathers as well as vs. 74. b Faith refuseth not humain help 125 Faithes effectes is prayer and fasting 276. Faith coÌ„meth not of miracles but is confirmed by them 127. Faith is the soul of good works 242 Faith whyther it go before miracles or miracles before faith 130 Faith directeth good intent cleaueth onely to the woord of God not to fathers or counsels 152. b Faith is the gift of God 122 Fals of godli meÌ„ churches 226 b Fathers synnes whether the sonne shall beare 178. b Fathers iustified by fayth as wee 74. b Fathers the more auÌ„cient the more sincere 216 Fathers are not to be excused in all thinges 20 Fathers are neither constant nor without errour 152. b Fathers authoritye yll compared with the scriptures 152 Fasting handled 274 Fastes of sundry kindes 278 Fasting distinguished into common and priuate 94. Fastinges abuses 279. Fastes denounced of Princes whither they are to be obeyed 277 Fastings vpon saints euens 140 Fault where none is ought none to confes 90 Feare of God contrarye to securitye 246. b Feare comprehendeth al maner religion of worshipping 113. b Feare maye not moue againste iustice 38 Feare godly driueth not a man to parricide 194. Feare of the enemies once knoweÌ„ is a good begiÌ„ning of victory 134 Feare at the sight of God or angel how it commeth 117. b Feare euil of two sortes 247. b Feastes are wont to haue ryddels 218. b Felicity of the vngodly 170. b Fellowship of the wicked is to bee fled 251. b Fellowship of godlye with vngodlye 44. b Fellowship of the godlye is profitable 29 Feeding of the flocke was not onely Peters office 149 Feete washing much vsed in Syria 252. b Figuratiue speeches ar no lies 111 Filthy burthens defined 263. b Fish counted among delicates 278 Finders of things ought to restore them 283 Flatterers vsage 84. b Flesh and bone of any man is the most coniunction that may be 156. b Flesh refreining 278 Flight for truth 52. b Foode of angels 212. b Foote measure 16. b Forbidding of things is to some an alluring to the same 158. b Forgeuenes of synnes 13 Forgiuenes of syns may be wythâ—out restitucioÌ„ of so happy state as we had before we synned 65. b Formes why they are more seene sleeping then waking 135 Fornication handled 229 Fornication is hurtful to the common wealth 130. b Forswearing is alwayes vnlawfull 39. b Fortune ruleth not things but the prouidence of God 172 Found things must be restored 283 Foundation church hath none but Christ 149 FoundatioÌ„ of the church is Christ 241. b Foule parents how they shal haue fayre children 4. b Foxes plenty in Syria 223. b Free men may chaunge their dwellings for iust causes 227. b Free will confuted 104. b Free will cannot be gathered of the commaundements 73 freÌ„dships fouÌ„datioÌ„ is honesty 166. b Frendship grounded vpon profit or pleasure is weake 26. b Frendes dreame ofte of their frendes 135. b FroÌ„wardnes of ours whence it springeth 167 G GAbaonites god fauoured 36 Gabaonites traitors â—8 b Gabaonites wickednes 252 Gaine more commonly soughte for then health 174 Garmentes of nedle worke or dyuers colours attributed onely to prynces 111. b
from ordinary power 257 Ministers are fraunchised froÌ„ personall burthens 263 Ministery ought to be well reported 248. b Minister maye rebuke a prince by gods word but not depose him 259 Minister how he may take awaye vngodlines 123. b Ministers of God are to be heard when 96. b Ministers and prophetes are an occasion but not a iuste cause of ruines 262 Ministers with captaines in theyr campes 96. b Ministers maraige 93. b Ministers admonished 144. b Ministers how they maye bee present at mariages 287. b Minister ill may be heard of God though not for his own sake yet for the peoples whom he prayeth for 207 Ministers to bee orderd at imberdayes why 277 Miracles handled 126 Miracles go before fayth in them that beleue not the preachynge which they haue heard 130 Miracles not sufficient to perswad godlynes 67 Miracles woorking makes a man neither better nor wurs 128. b Miracles of the vngodly god suffereth to proue his by 243 Miracles may be wrought to defeÌ„d false doctrine aswel as true 129 b Miracles whether godly men may desire 130. b Miracles at the bodyes of deade saintes 69 Mirth of hart allowed of god 161. b Mirth is somtimes vnconuenient 162. b Missa for missio 42. b Mishah original of masse 41 Miseries common ioyne men in amitye 252 Misery is not without fruit 78 Mizpa what place it is 183. b Mizpa where it was 267 Moabites came of Lot 80. b monarches vices in these daies 11 b Money is not so muche to be esteemed as truth 90 Monica the mother of Augustine 138. b Montanus for fasting 278. b Moral good workes 72 Moses was a ciuil magistrat 261 Moses father 284. b Motions first are synnes 180 Motherlye affection for absence of her children 111 Mother cities or churches 40. b Mourning for the dead 202 mourning somtimes necessari 162 b mournig acceptable before god 63. b Mouth of the church is the Minister 207 Munitions helpe not against gods anger 112. b Munkey 202. b Murther is not to bee let vnpunished 145. b Murtherers of kinsfolk 157 Murther of pareÌ„ts or kinsfolk 158 Murther of what sorte condemned by Gods word 165. b Murtherers without weapoÌ„s 166 Musicke handled 102 Musick delighteth both senses and mynde 102. b Musickes abuses 103. b Musicke not commauÌ„ded to be had in the church 104 N. NAamaÌ„s exaÌ„ple answered 50 b Nabals denial of vittals like them of Succoth 144. b Naboths exaÌ„ple for obedieÌ„ce 265 b Naboth excused 56. b Nathinites 36. b Nature of ours subiect to corruption 46. b Nazarites vow 201 Nazarites abstayned not from mariage 196 Negligence defyned 247 Neighbour who 31 Nemesis defyned 142. b Nepthalim 96 Newters are detestable 281 Nicolaus the Deacon 230. b Nicopolis called Emaus 41 Night traueling is daÌ„gerous 250 b Night deuided into .iiii. partes 139 Ninth houre 277. b Noah an example to auoyde dronkennes 162. b Nobility 173 Noblenes wherin it consisteth 197 NoÌ„ credereÌ„ EuaÌ„gelio c. skaÌ„ned 5. b Numa Pompilius law 158 Numbers reckening in the scripture 157 O OBedience one of our chiefe workes 64. b Obedience is the principall fruite of faith 131. b Obedience to god is to be preferred before ciuil peace 124 ObedieÌ„ce to god more then men 38 Obedience when god requireth he withdraweth not affectioÌ„s 195. b Obediences limites 55. b Obedience vowing 203 Obedience to the magistrate is due how far 264. b Obedience to the magistrate brokeÌ„ ii wayes 264. b Obedience of Iiphtahs daughter 192. b Oblations please not God but for the offerers sake 206. b Offence auoyding 52 Offerer is more acceptable vnto God then the sacrifice 206. b Offers require weying before they be taken 150 Offices of both the powers muste not be confounded 259. b Offrings are to be made by Christ 117 Offrings for the dead 277 Oyles commendacion 161. b Old test perteineth nothing to vs say the Anabaptists 186 Olde testament reiected by heretikes why 17â— Oliue tree estemed of God 161. b Ophra ii places of that name 114 Oppression geueth occasion of profitable sermons 113. b Oppression taketh his beginnyng of tyrantes 161 Oppressors shall one daye be punyshed 71. b Oracle of god neglected 6. b Oracles how they should be moued 272 Oracles answered by dreames 137 Orders whether they many be geuen to bastardes 178 Ordinary charges 263. b Origens folish opinion of Angels deuils 208. b Othes assertiue promissory 85. b Othe of execration 282 Othes are not easely to be violated 281 Othe first lawfull and afterwarde vnlawfull is not to be kept 86 Othes against the worde of god charity are of no force 288 Othes how far they are to be kept 39. b Othes caÌ„not take away the bond to the commaundements of God 86 Othe ought not to be a bond of iniquity 85. b Oth of the israelits did not bind theÌ„ to destroy al the Beniamits 280. b Oth ioyned to threatnings 71 Othoniels pedigre 18. b Outward workes without inward godlines nothing worth 74. b P. PAcieÌ„ce a necessary vertue 175 b Palamedes 139 Papistes ascribe more to creatures then is meete 69 Papistes handle all thinges supersticiously Their hipocrisy 146. b Papistes commit Idolatry to their Pope 68. b Papists impudent clayming of authoritye is the casting awaye of Christ 2 Papists subtelty of Lechem 205. Papistes compared with the Danites 246 Papists church is without a Magistrate 255 Papistes common infection Sodomitry 254. b Papists mayntain hooredom 230. b Papistes count aduoutries lyghte crimes 233 Papists more ignorant of gods wil then the Ethnikes 207. b Papists wiser then God 94. b Papists falsly accuse vs of sedicion being sedicious themselues 197. b Papists cruelty in punishing heretikes 182. b Papistes make manye lyes in the Masse 50 Papists offering of Christe in the Masse 207 Papists are scolers of Montanus 278 b Papistry more liked then the truth why 173. b Papistes how they should be ordered 61. b Pardon defined 13 Parentes duty concerning keping of their children 288 Parentes consent whether it bee nedefull in mariage of their children 214 PareÌ„ts coÌ„sent in matrimony 212. b Parents obtaine for their children some spiritual gifts 182 Parricide 158 Patres conscripti 105. b Paul whether he lyed wheÌ„ he said he knew not the hye priest 89 Pâ—x defined 122. b Peace among the Romanes neuer aboue forty yeares 83. b Peace offringes 271 Peace is not so much to be sought as obedience to God 124 Peace of the Israelites during 45 yeares 172 Penuel 145 People alwayes frame them selues to the example of their prince 66 Peregrinations causes 29 Perils are to be auoided rather theÌ„ nourished 286. b Peripatetikes exposicion of dreames 135 Peripatetikes opinion of affections 142 Periurye is diligentlye to be auoyded 288 Permission 167 Permission of God to excuse hys doinges 78. b Persecutions abrogate not the lawes of God 54 Personals burthens defined 263. b Peter slain at Rome aÌ„swered 149 Pharao was hardened both of god and of him selfe 78. b Philip the Emperour
abstinēce Definition not onely from meate and drinke but also from all other thynges whiche may delite and noorishe the body contrary to the accustomed manner as much as strength will suffer and it is done of a repentant mynd and of a true fayth by prayers to desire the clemency of God for miseryes eyther already oppressing vs or very nighe at hand The forme of this definition is abstinence An expositiō of the causes of true fasting and that aboue the accustomed manner whiche yet excedeth not strengthes of the body The matter is not onely meate and drinke but also all thynges whiche may reioyse the body The efficient cause is fayth and repentance for sinnes committed agaynst God The end is by prayers to craue the mercy of God and to turne away or to diminishe calamityes Therfore they whiche fast Exercises of those that faste truely ought to geue themselues to prayers almes visitynges of the sicke and to the holy supper When we feruently pray vnto the Lord and do from the heart truly repent vs of the sinnes which we haue cōmitted for their causes are earnestly afflicted we can not easely thinke vpon meate drinke fine delicates For whō such a griefe grieuously vrgeth it is more pleasant to thē to absteyne thē is any other delectation So Dauid in his .35 Psalme sayth of his enemyes When they were sicke I laughed not but put on sacke clothe and afflicted my soule with fasting and earnestly prayed for them They whiche deiect and humble themselues bycause they in a manner dispaire of their things are wont to contemne and loth meate and drinke and other delightes and pleasures Hereby we may vnderstād Why fastyngs please God Ierome how it commeth to passe that our fastes doo please God not assuredly that the emptines of the belly pleaseth God So Ierome derideth certayne which fasting to hardly were made to all purposes all their lyfe long vnprofitable This pleaseth God that we deiect the mynde that we returne vnto him with prayers and casting away other pleasures do put all our delectation in him onely But the fastes wherof we now intreate Fastes publike and priuate are sometymes publique and sometymes priuate Priuate fastes we take in hand when we are afflicted with proper and domesticall miseries for there is none whiche is not vexed sometymes either in himselfe or in his famely Or if it happē that peraduenture he be not greued with any calamity of his owne or any of hys We must faste sometymes for other mennes sakes yet sometymes he must mourne for other For if we be the members of one the self same body we must thinke that the discōmodityes of our brethrē pertayn vnto vs our selues So Dauid prayed for them which afterward became his enemies which reioysed in his euils So Iobs frindes whē they saw hym vexed with most grieuous plagues lay seuē dayes full in dust and ashes before they spake any thyng vnto him so much wer those men moued with his misery Wherfore before they commoned with hym they would by fasting and prayers desire God to asswage his so great misery So Dauid when Abner was slayne did not onely mourne at his buriall but also sware that he would that day taste of no meate before the sunne were set The same thing did he when he was reproued of Nathan the Prophete and when he had receaued tydinges of the death of the childe Vndoubtedlye all the whole tyme that he was sicke he neuer toke meate Nehemias in the .1 chap. whē he heard of the afflictions of the Hebrewes whiche remayned in Ierusalem afflicted himselfe with fasting and prayed vnto the Lord. Daniel also when he had red those things which Ieremy wrote of the captiuity of .70 yeares cōfessed both his owne sinnes and the sinnes of the people wept also and fasted Wherfore priuate fasting ought to be taken in hand not onely for our selues but also for others But publique fasting is two maner of wayes commaunded How publique fastes are denounced Either of God himself by the law or of the Magistrate or of the Bishop or els of a Prophet And this is to sanctify a fast which sometymes is red in the holy scriptures Of thys kind there are many examples What it is to sanctify a fast especially that fast which the Israelites in this place imposed vpon themselues In the .1 booke of Samuel when the Philistines grieuously afflicted the Iewes the whole people at the exhortation of Samuel assembled in Mizpa wept fasted and threw away their Idoles Dauid also with all his fasted when he heard of the ouerthrowe of the people and death of Saul The men also of Iabes Gilead toke the carkayses of Saul and Ionathas and wept and also fasted That also was a publique fast whiche Iosaphat commaunded in the .2 boke of Paralip the .20 chap. Esther the queene beyng in extreme daunger commaunded by Mardocheus a publique fast to be denounced The Israelites in their captiuity as it is written in the .7 chap. of Zachary had a fast both in the .5 moneth the .7 moneth bycause in the .5 moneth the spoyling of the City desolation of the tēple happened and in the .7 moneth Godolias was slayne wherby so many miseryes afterward ensewed That was also a publique fast whiche Iezabel proclaymed a woman otherwise wicked and an Hipocrite Her acte declareth that it was the manner that when any great wicked crime was committed the whole Churche should fast as it were desiryng helpe agaynst the common punishement This fast sometymes also the Prophetes required As Iohel when he sayd Sanctifie ye a fast Esdras also in his 8. chap. proclaimed a fast Wherfore fastes were by certayne godly considerations publikely denounced Why an yearely fast was instituted among the Hebrues God himself also commaunded a publique fast For he commaunded that euery yeare the feast Chephurim that is the feast of expiations should be celebrated the .10 day of September with a publique fast For the people committed many sinnes thorough out the whole yeare neither did they diligently obserue the ceremonyes Wherfore once in a yeare the tabernacle was purified and a publique fast was obserued These thinges in the old Testament signified as it wer by a certaine shadow that the sinnes of mē should be by Christ abolished of whō when we take hold by a true and lyuely faith The day of fast was a festiuall day we are losed from sinnes and therof followeth the mortification of sinnes and carnall delightes pleasures Neither is this to be passed ouer that that one daye of fast was a festiuall day For it was not lawful in the publique fast either to worke or for a man to geue hym selfe to his own busines not that on feastiual dayes we ought vtterly to be idle but that in those dayes we should do good deedes whereby we may rest in God and we are commaunded onely to absteyne from our
owne woorkes But to beleue to pray to acknowledge sinnes to bewaile them with an earnest repētāce are the woorkes of God and therfore are not forbidden on festiuall dayes but rather commaunded The Ethnikes acknowledged a Religious fast These thynges haue not onely the Hebrues learned out of the lawes of God but also the Ethnikes by the instincte of nature For when Ionas preached vnto the Niniuites that their City should within .40 dayes be ouerthrowen they dispayred not of the mercy of God but got themselues to repentaunce and euery one of them euen from the kyng vnto the lowest Citezin with their beastes also and cattell fasted And when they vehemētly and with a feruent zeale cried vnto the Lorde Augustine Porphyrius they were heard Augustine de ciuitate dei writeth that Porphyrius taught that abstinence from flesh and grosse meates doth purify the myndes of men wherby they are made the more prompt to thinges deuine and to familiarity with good spirites Plutarche Plutarche also in his litle booke de Iside Osiride sayth that the Priestes of Heliopolis vtterly absteyned from all meates whiche might noorishe and augment the wantones of the fleshe and that they neuer brought wyne into the temple of their God For they counted it a vilany to drinke wyne in the day tyme in the sight of their God other men sayd he vsed wyne but not much and they had many purifications without wyne The same Plutarche de cohibenda Iracundia sheweth Holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that among the Athenienses wer certayne holy sacrifices which were done onely with water without wyne And this is notable which is written in the same booke Empedocles Titus Liuius that Empedocles was wont to say that a mā ought most of all to fast from malice Titus Liuius maketh mention that when at Rome there happened many portentuous thyngs which seemed to foreshewe some great euill the decemuiri were sent to looke into the bookes of the Sibilles and that there was aunswere made that they should institute a publique fast in the honor of Ceres whiche fast should also be repeated agayne euery .5 yeare And that by that meanes the anger of the gods should be pacified Wherfore the Ethnikes beyng smiten with the feare of the euils whiche hoonge ouer their heades fled vnto the oracles fasted and prayed the gods to turne away their anger But Christians not onely seyng so many so great euils but also hearyng them told from all parts of the world yet turne they not vnto GOD by prayer neither are they any thyng moued in mynde But peraduenture some man will say that Fastes Fastes are commended in the new Testamēt bycause they are partly Iewishe and partly Ethnike seeme to be farre from our Religion But that it is not so may easely be proued by the new Testament In the Actes of the Apostles the .13 chap. the Church beyng admonished by an oracle that Paul and Barnabas should be chosen to visite the Cityes and Townes where the Gospell had ben preached first decreed a fast then they layd their handes vpon them And in the .14 chap. when they after they had accomplished their matters thorough Iconium Listria and Antioche returned home they instituted a fast and created ministers and Priestes in euery City Augustine in his Epistle to Cassulanus sayth Augustine When Peter should at Rome haue talke with Simon the sorcerer vpon the Son day the Churche of Rome vpon the Sabaoth day denounced a faste whiche custome was alwayes afterward retayned Ierome Ierome in his prologue vpon Mathew sayth that Iohn beyng desired of the Churches to write the Gospell agaynst Ebion and Cerinthus who denyed the deuine nature of Christ aunswered that he woulde so doo if the whole Churche woulde before indicte a publique faste Whiche thyng Eusebius also in his Ecclesiasticall Hystory testifieth Eusebius Paul also in the .1 to the Corinthians the .7 chapter admonisheth those that are ioyned together in matrimony not to separate themselues a sonder but for a tyme to geue themselues to fastyng and prayers In whiche place I thynke he vnderstādeth publique prayers and also a publique fast For fellowshyp with the wife nothyng letteth but that they may be vsed priuately but whether he vnderstood publique fastes or priuate it skilleth not much Farther Christ being asked of his Apostles why they could not heale the dōme and cast out the deuil He answered Bycause of your incredulity And he added This kynd of deuils is cast out onely by fasting and prayer That place is somewhat darke and therfore it shall not be vnprofitable briefly to expounde it Is it to be thought that by the merite of fastyng and prayers as they vse to speake deuils are cast out by vertue of the worke wrought Not so What thē signified the woordes of Christ First he said Bycause of your incredulity for if ye had fayth euen so muche as a grayne of mustard and should say vnto this mountayne Take vp thy self cast thy self into the sea it should obey you And together with a fayth is necessary a vehement and feruent prayer and also fastyng bycause a fixed and earnest prayer which draweth the mind not onely frō meate and drinke but also from all other humane cogitacions and pleasures Wherefore Christ by the effectes describeth the cause namely fayth by prayers and fasting and he speaketh of those deuils to whom god gaue more liberty as though he should haue sayd ye must not lyue easely or idely if ye will cast out this kynd of deuils Ye must haue a sure and strong fayth whiche thyng he expressed by the effectes by prayers I say and fastes By these reasons and testimonyes may fastes also be commended in the new Testament But in them are faultes to be taken heede of What vices in fasting ar to be taken heede of whiche very often are many and those greuous First bycause in the Papacy are obserued fastes vpon certayne appoynted dayes without consideration of persons or occasions Faste brought in without measure as an yearely ceremony whiche at this day is vtterly of no strength is as if it were Iewishe Moreouer euery man hath added heaped vp of his owne whatsoeuer pleased him and not that which calamity of tymes or feruent prayers required For one man brought in Septuagesima an other Sexagesima an other Quinquagesima another Quadragesima which is Lent an other Rogatiō dayes an other Imber dayes an other the euēs of the Apostles an other Friday an other Saterday an other brought in fastyng on the Wēsday But of so many fastes what vtility hath there at the length followed Many contentions and questions concernyng fastyngs A great many questions contentions For a man will scarse beleue howe many question 's the elders haue had concernyng fast Augustine ad Cassulanum writeth that therfore we must fast on the Wensday bycause Christ was sold that day and on