are brought in by the naughtie practise of the papists yet shall those also by the helpe of God be one daie taken quite awaie but if they were gods indéed they would surelie defend themselues Aphrodisaeus Aphrodisaeus saith that There is a certeine generall power which by the properties of things such as be herbes stones and metals must be drawne vnto euerie particular thing I admit it be so yet no such thing can be brought to passe vpon the sudden for the works of nature haue their time course But Christ vpon the sudden turned water into wine Iohn 2 8. vpon the sudden restored the blind and lame Matth. 11 5. Of the Platonists 13 Indéed the Platonists grant that there be spirits but they saie that they haue bodies either waterie or aierie or fierie These things doubtlesse they speake howbeit they speake such things as will not agrée one with another For if the bodies of spirits be elementarie Whether the bodies of spirits be elementarie how commeth it to passe that they be eternall For the elements haue both cold and heate qualities both actiue and passiue and sometime they striue one with another and sometime they perish Others reason after this sort Forsomuch as there be extremities we must also grant that there is a meane but heauen is eternal and mens bodies are fraile and mortall wherefore of necessitie something must be put betwéene these two that may be partaker of both This is no necessarie argument For first we grant that certeine minds there be void of bodies such as are the angels and those intelligencies which driue the celestiall spheres further that the soules of our bodies are the other extreame Of other meane things there is no néed But they saie that as fishes be in the sea and foules in the aire so there must be spirits cōuersant in the fier This is of no necessitie For liuing creatures are not made for the elements but the elements for liuing creatures and liuing creatures were made for mans sake Now what vse can there come vnto man by those liuing creaturs which abide in the fier Howbeit if these men will vrge further concerning the vpper region of the aire we will not denie but that there be spirits there For so Paule to the Ephesians saith Ephe. 2 2. 6 12. After the prince that ruleth in the aire and afterward in the same epistle We wrestle not against flesh and bloud but against principalities powers of this aire Chrysost Also Chrysostom in his 11. homilie vpon the first epistle to the Thessalonians saith that the whole aire is full of spirits But let vs consider of the bodies of these spirits for they can be no aierie bodies séeing the aire is a bodie of one kind For euerie part of the aire is aire and there can be no reason giuen whie one part thereof should be a spirit more than another and by that meanes the whole vniuersall aire should be one continued bodie of spirits Moreouer the bodie of a liuing creature must be instrumentall and haue bones sinewes parts and seuerall members but these things cannot be made of the aire Furthermore a bodie must haue fashions forms which things cannot so much as be imagined in the aire But there be you will saie fashions and distinct formes in the clouds I grant it but they consist not of aire onelie or alone And yet this argument is not firme for spirits may take vnto them the bodies of other things Wherefore some doo rather argue on this sort Spirits haue bodies either celestiall or elementarie if celestiall then their moouing must be round or circle-wise as the moouing of the heauens is if elementarie they must of necessitie followe the motion of that element whereof they had their bodies Demons be spirits 14 But to let these things passe The scriptures doo not make Daemons to haue bodies but to be spirits onlie Now spirits bodies by an Antithesis are put as contraries For euen as a spirit is no bodie so likewise a bodie is no spirit Luk. 24 39. And Christ saith A spirit hath no flesh nor bones And that Daemons be spirits is prooued by infinit testimonies of the scriptures In the historie of Achab thus the diuell speaketh I wil be a lieng spirit in the mouth of all the prophets of Achab. 1. Kin. 22 22 And Christ cast out an vncleane spirit Matt. 12 43. the vncleane spirit wandered through drie and desert places afterward he tooke to himselfe seuen other spirits woorse than himselfe Naie verilie will you saie these spirits are but onlie certeine impulsions of the minds such as be the spirits of wisedome and the spirits of knowledge yes in verie déed they be substances Matt. 18 10. For Christ saith that They behold the face of his father and he shall pronounce at the latter daie Matt. 25 41. Go ye cursed into euerlasting fire prepared for the diuell and his angels Wherefore séeing the holie scriptures doo call Daemons by the name of spirits I sée no cause why anie should attribute bodies vnto them But I speake not here of bodies which are assumed and are come vnto them but of such as be proper to them and of their owne I knowe there be other men somewhat sharpe witted indéed which saie that Daemons be spirits in comparison of vs euen as on the other side angels in comparison of God may be said to haue bodies and after this maner they saie that Augustine affirmeth Daemons to haue bodies And they saie also that Barnard was of the same opinion both in his treatise to Eugenius and also vpon the Canticles howbeit there be some which interpret Barnard to speake of bodies assumed But séeing the holie scriptures as I said doo call Daemons spirits I sée no cause why we should imagine them to haue bodies Foure kinds of spirits For in the scriptures we sée that there are foure kinds of spirits First in verie déed GOD himselfe is a spirit for he hath no néed of a bodie either for his being or for his doing of anie maner of thing The next be angels as well good as bad neither doubtles haue they néed of bodies as touching their owne proper actions but to communicate in actions with vs they haue néed of bodies for as we read in the epistle to the Hebrues Heb. 1 14. They be administring spirits The third sort are the spirits of men which doubtles that they might haue their being haue no néed of bodies for they haue their being and doo liue euen when they are separated from their bodies yet about their owne proper actions as to haue sense or to growe they cannot be without bodies The last be the spirits of brute beasts which neither can haue their being nor doo anie thing without bodies By this diuision we sée that there is no néed at all for Daemons to haue bodies for
instruction of Angels was not vsed or néedfull vnto diuine things as commonlie it had bin in the old Testament euen so in the euerlasting kingdome where we shall haue Christ reuealed and the father euidentlie knowne vnto vs certeinlie we shall enioie the fellowship of Angels but not vse the ministerie of them But as touching the substance and nature of Angels and of men we cannot certeinelie knowe in what degrée we and they shall be placed in the heauenlie habitation but yet if we respect nature we doubt not but that they are more excellent than we be But who can boldlie either affirme or denie whether the grace and spirit of God shall more abound in some certeine men than in them Neuerthelesse as concerning the place of S. Paule in the second chapter to the Ephesians Ephes 2 6. it sufficeth that his words be true namelie that we as we be and are conteined in our head may be said to sit at the right hand of the father aboue all creatures But afterwards if one would infer thereby that we shall doo the same as touching our owne proper nature or person that cannot be prooued by anie firme argument And Paule vseth things past for things to come to wit that we are alreadie taken vp and sit in heauenlie places and that not without reason that he might make the same more certeine euen as those things be which are past alreadie Or else if we haue respect to the will and decrée of God these things be alreadie done But in the epistle to Timothie the selfe-same things are assigned vnto the time to come when the Apostle saith If we be dead together with Christ 2. Tim. 2 1â— we shall liue together with him If we suffer with him we shall also reigne with him Yet neuerthelesse we must not accuse him of a lie in that he vseth those times that be past in stead of the times to come For whatsoeuer is come to passe in our head we confesse it to be done in vs in so much verelie as we are growne vp together with him Wherefore let none saie If Christ be risen from death if he be carried vp into heauen if he sit at the right hand of God what belongeth this vnto mée Yes doubtles verie much for whatsoeuer hath hapned vnto him thou maiest of good right estéeme that it hath happened to thy selfe Those shall not greatlie trouble vs which by thrones principalities powers and dominions will haue to be vnderstood such princes monarchs magistrates For Paule when he maketh mention of these speaketh manifestlie of Angels of spirits that be aboue whom in the second to the Ephesians Ephe. 2 2. Colo. 2 15. he calleth rulers or guiders of the world and to the Colossians he saith Christ hath spoiled principalities and powers hath led them as it were in open triumph In which place who séeth not that these words doo signifie vnto vs the spirits which be aduersaries vnto God In 1. Cor. 15 verse 14. 20 But whereas it is said in the first to the Corinthians the 15. chapter When he hath put downe all principalitie 1. Cor. 15 verse 14. Chrysost and rule and power these things aswell Chrysostome as diuers other interpretors refer vnto the diuell other wicked spirits being souldiers of his band which I mislike not Albeit if anie will vnderstand them as concerning magistrates and principalities of this world I will not be against it For kings and princes haue the sword to the intent that sinne may be kept in subiection and that innocent subiects may be defended from violence and iniuries which things shall take no place when things shall be set at peace and quietnes by Christ We might also vnder these names comprehend the good Angels which be assigned as ministers and helpers vnto vs while we be here in this miserable life as we read in the epistle to the Hebrues and as Daniel testifieth Heb. 1 14. Dan. 10 13. and 12. 1. Angels be gouernours of kingdoms and gardians of men Mat. 18 10. The cause of the motion of the planets they be set ouer kingdoms and they be the gardians of men séeing Christ said as touching the yoong children Their Angels doo alwaie behold the face of the Father But when the kingdome of Christ shall be fullie appeased then these ministeries shall be superfluous and therfore it is said that they shall be taken awaie Yea and the labours of the sunne moone stars and celestiall bodies shall not be néedfull for therefore are they mooued and kéepe their circuite in the world that they may driue awaie darkenes and cold and bicause that fruits also may be brought foorth for the defense of our infirmitie which béeing perfectlie healed these helps and supportations shall be at rest Wherefore we read in the Reuelation of Iohn that an Angel sware by him that liueth for euer Apoca. 1 5. that hereafter there should be no time anie more which cannot be taken awaie vnles the motions of the heauens be at rest And therefore it is said that all these things shall be abolished if not as touching their substance In what respecâ—s the celestiall bodies shal be abolished yet as touching their gifts and offices which they exercise towards men The same thing also may be said of ecclesiasticall dignities and functions which now indéed further vnto edification but when all things shall be perfect absolute in the elect they shall cease and haue an end Manie things hath Dionysius concerning the signification of the words Principalitie power and dominion but yet such as are spoken onlie of him for among the rest of the fathers there is verie little extant as touching these things and that for good cause for the holie scriptures teach not these things bicause they further not to our saluation Wherefore they A iudgment of bookes ascribed to Dionysius which be of the greatest iudgment in ascribing of bookes to the true authours of them doo not thinke that Dionysius which wrote of these things is that Areopagita the scholer of Paule but some later Dionysius Neither is it likelie to be true that that worke was in estimation long ago séeing that Gregorie except Gregorie who was a Latin man none of the ancient fathers cited those writings I haue heard sometimes diuers saie that these surnames of Angels were commonlie translated by a metaphor taken of the powers of this world and therfore they would that Paule when he happened to make mention of Angels remembred these names as if he should saie Whether they be principalities or dominions And they alleadge the place vnto the Ephesians where it is said Ephe. 1 21. that Christ is set aboue euerie name that is named whether it be in this life or in the life to come But I doo not much allow this iudgement bicause not onlie the Rabbins Orders of Angels Among the celestiall spirits there be orders and offices In Rom
8. toward the end but also the holie scripture hath the name of Archangel or Seraphim and of Cherubim which things declare that among the celestiall spirits there be certeine orders and diuers offices 21 Perhaps therefore the scripture by the name of principalitie vnderstands the higher spirits vnto whom is committed nothing but the charge of prouinces empires kingdoms This ment Daniel when he wrote of the prince of the Grecians and of the Persians Dan. 10 13. Dani. 12 1. brought in Michaël the prince of Gods people Power called in Gréeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken of Paule for that power which is giuen of God to worke miracles Power and the gift of healing are opposed one against the other Acts. 5 5. Acts. 13 11. whereby the wicked may be restrained wherevnto answereth on the other side 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth The gift of healing For euen as by that power wicked men were chastined so by this the vexed were made whole By this power Peter slew Ananias Zaphira Paule made blind Elimas the sorcerer and deliuered diuers which had sinned into the hands of sathan Angels sent to punish sinne And those Angels in the eight chapter to the Romans are called by this name which be sent by God to punish the wicked Such were they that destroied Sodom and Gomorrha and such was that Angel Gene. 18 2. which went betwéene the host of the Aegyptians and the people of God 2. Sam. 24 verse 16. and which drowned Pharao with all his in the sea and whom Dauid sawe vpon the threshold of Areuna destroieng the people of God 2. Kin. 19 35 and which consumed the host of Senacherib with fire Albeit God dooth somtime the selfe same things by euill Angels For so Dauid writeth in the psalme Psal 78 49. that God sent plages among the Aegyptians by the hands of euill Angels Paule in that place to the Romans nameth the orders of the Angels by their ministeries and offices And it is a thing woorthie to be noted that in the holie scriptures there be verie few things mentioned of Angels for subtilie and earnestlie to search after them declareth rather our curiositie than furthereth our saluation But those things which serue to edifieng are most diligentlie set foorth in the scriptures which thing I would to God that the Schoolmen had obserued for then they had not left behind them so manie intricate and vnprofitable things which at this daie are to no purpose and with great offense disputed of It is profitable for vs to vnderstand that there be certeine Angels appointed about our affaires for by that meanes we perceiue the goodnes of God towards vs. And on the other side also it is profitable to knowe that there be some euill spirits by whom we be continuallie assalted both that we may beware of them and that we may implore the helpe of God against them And these things indéed bicause they be profitable to be knowne the holie scripture hath not kept them in silence Of the estate of man Jn Gen. 2 verse 7. In Gen. 2 7 22 When thou hearest that God did shape man In the creation what is to be considered thinke not onlie vpon these outward parts or lineaments but consider the inward parts namelie the vppermost skin the veines and sinewes the powers and passages the bones marowe and these instruments of our life which lie hidden within But I consider thrée principall things in the creation of man First consultation Let vs make man Secondlie God formed him of the dust Thirdlie that He breathed in his face the breath of life Thou shalt not read that it was so doone in other liuing creatures And yet thou maist find the verbe of making or forming in other places attributed vnto the heauens Of forming and to other things namelie in the 95. psalme Psal 95 5. Esaie 45 7. His hands haue formed the drie land In the 45. of Esaie It is I that formed the light Amos. 7 1. In the seuenth of Amos He formed grashoppers But it is not the last or least dignitie of mans bodie that the same is of an vpright stature Whereof Ouid VVhere stooping vnto earth each beast doth downeward bend A face vpright to man he gaue to heauen for to tend And he formed him out of the earth Wherefore the name of Adam was of earth as if thou shouldest saie sproong of the earth Albeit some saie that it was of Adom that is Red bicause that earth was red First therefore is formed the instrument that is to wit the bodie next was added the moouer that is the soule which should vse the same He breathed in his face or nostrils For Appaijm first signifieth the nostrils then by the figure Synecdoche by a part the whole is taken for the countenance and face Here it may signifie both first the nostrils bicause those by drawing of breath doo chéeflie shew life secondlie if thou vnderstand it for the face therin appéere excellent tokens of the soule and of the life Some would the metaphor to be taken from the forming of glasses A similitude For by blowing thorough certeine instruments they shape cups boules and diuers sorts of vessels Howbeit consider thou that here there is a metaphor séeing God neither hath mouth nor yet dooth breath euen as he also hath no hands by which he might frame mens bodies But in these things it behooueth that thou vnderstand the mightie power of God his commandement and most present strength As touching the words Neschama and Nephesch they both of them somtime signifie a blast of wind or a breath and otherwhile they be taken for substance and for the soule bicause the life is chéeflie reteined and shewed by drawing of breath Yea the Latine word Anima that is the soule Whereof the soule is called Anima is so called of wind and blast In Gréek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is also called of the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of refrigeration or cooling So as all these proper spéeches may séeme to haue conspired togither about the naming of the soule that it should be so called of breathing out Héerevpon by reason of a double signification of the foresaid word bicause it signifieth both the soule and a blast there ariseth a double exposition The first saith What is ment by the breathing of God By the commandement of God was the nostrils or face of mans bodie breathed into and so he receiued life and soule not that that blast was the soule but a certeine signe that the same should be planted in man by an outward beginning and that the works of nature should not be expected as the rest of the liues are had of other liuing creatures And so we reade in the Gospell that Christ breathed vpon the Apostles and said Iohn 20. 22. Receiue yee the holie Ghost And yet was not
is his angel Howbeit there be some which indeuour to expound the same to be Peters messenger And in the 48. chapter of Genesis Gen. 48 16. His angel hath deliuered me from all euill These things prooue that angels by the commandement of God doo seruice euen to priuate men But if we shall inquire Vnto what end serueth the gouernment of angels vnto what end angels doo gouerne kingdomes prouinces and cities and also euerie particular man and what their meaning is by so great a care and diligence we shall find that their diligence is to no other end but to bring all men to obeie their God and King to acknowledge to worship and to reuerence him as their God Which when it dooth not take place and that manie leauing the true seruice of God doo giue themselues vnto superstition and idolatrie and dishonest themselues with sundrie crimes the labour of the angels is disappointed of that end wherevnto it was a meane and so they after a sort are subiect vnto vanitie which shall cease notwithstanding The trauell of angels otherwhile destitute of the second end How angels are said to be deliuered from the bondage of corruption when they shall be discharged of these their gouernments But now we must sée how the angels at that time shall be deliuered from the bondage of corruption Albeit their nature or as the Schoole-men saie their substance be vncorrupt and immortall yet are their affaires continuallie amongst matters transitorie and mortall those things they doo continuallie vphold and sustaine or else endeuour that by the commandement of God they may be taken awaie and destroied Further that the benefit of Christ apperteineth also vnto the angels Paule declareth vnto the Ephesians and Colossians In the first chapter to the Ephesians he saith verse 10. According to the good pleasure which he had purposed in himselfe euen vnto the dispensation of the fulnesse of times to make all things anew through Christ both which are in heauen and which are in earth And in the first chapter to the Colossians verse 20. It hath well pleased the father that in him should dwell all fulnesse and by him to reconcile all things to himselfe and to set at peace through the bloud of his crosse both the things in heauen and the things in earth This Chrysostome interpreting saith that Without Christ the angels had béene offended with vs so that these two natures namelie of angels and of men were seuered and alienated the one from the other For the celestiall spirits could not otherwise doo but hate the enimies of their God but when Christ was become the mediator men were now gathered togither againe so that they haue one and the selfe-same head with the angels and are become members of the same bodie with them The benefit of Christ after some sort belongeth vnto angels wherefore Christ is rightlie said to be he by whom is made our gathering togither Also it may be that other commodities haue likewise redounded to the angels through the death of Christ which notwithstanding we doo not easilie perceiue by the scriptures neither dooth the search of the same belong to that which we haue in hand We saie therefore that Paule with great weight Paule applieth sense vnto all creatures and vehemencie of spéech applieth sense vnto all creatures as if so be they felt gréefe and sorrowe bicause they are made so common to the abuses of wicked men For the confusion of things in this state is not so obscure since the godlie are in trouble and are ill intreated euerie-where but the vngodlie doo abound with all prosperitie and all things happen to them as they would haue it In this turmoile of things the godlie ought to be of a valiant courage and patientlie wait for the end of these matters The Epâ—…ures and Atheists The Atheists opinion concerning God when they sée all things doone so confusedlie they reason by and by that God hath no care of mortall affaires as he that is not mooued with fauour nor with hatred and dooth to no man either good or euill but contrariewise A contrarie opinion of the godlie the godlie doo assure themselues that séeing God by his prouidence ruleth and gouerneth all things it will one daie come to passe that things shall not go in such sort and that the world shall after a better maner be reformed euen like as it was ordeined for the honour of God and shall be brought to that forme whereby God shall more and more be magnified And hereof riseth an incredible consolation The godlie by the example of creatures doo comfort themselues in aduersities that séeing we sée all the creatures of God to be subiect to so manie discommodities we also by the example of them may confirme our selues in patience Forsomuch as the whole world is vexed with so manie calamities it is verie méet that we should also beare with a patient mind such afflictions as fall vpon vs. 56 And there may be foure reasons alledged Foure reasons why the creatures arâ— said to mourne why we thinke creatures to be vexed mourne The first is for that they be wearied with continuall labours insomuch as they serue for our dailie vses hereof it commeth oftentimes to passe that when we sinne gréeuouslie as often we doo they suffer punishment togither with vs as may plainelie be perceiued by the floud by Sodom and by the plagues of Aegypt Moreouer there is a certeine Sympathie or mutuall compassion betwéene man and other creaturs by meanes whereof in aduersitie they sigh and mourne togither with him Last of all there is great iniurie doone vnto them in that they are compelled to serue wicked and vncleane men wherevnto the prophet Ose had respect as we haue aboue declared when he said in the person of God I will take awaie my wheate my wine Ose 2 8. and mine oile and I will send awaie my wooll and my flaxe that they shall not couer thy filthinesse Ambrose maketh for me in manie places in his epistle to Horantianus handeling this place of Paule by an induction sheweth that Euerie creature sorrowech By an ample induction it is shewed that creatures doo sorrowe for our sakes and waiteth for the appeering of the sonnes of God And he beginneth at the soule The same saith he cannot but be afflicted and mourne when it séeth it selfe to be inclosed in the bodie as in a certeine vile cotage and that not willinglie but for his sake which hath made it subiect For it was the counsell of God that the same should be ioined with the bodie that through the vse of it it might one daie atteine vnto some fruits whereof it should not repent For Paule saith in the second to the Corinthians 2. Cor. 5 10. that We shall all be set before the iudgement seate of Christ that euerie man may yeeld account of those things that he hath doone in
treateth of contemplation and teacheth that the same without doubt is a great part of mans felicitie Wherefore this distinction shall séeme to be maimed when the third part is omitted But herevnto we will answere that vnder the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contemplation it selfe is contained And it is diligentlie to be noted that Aristotle said not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bicause vnder the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he had not comprehended contemplation so as the diuision is not vnperfect neither Aristotle contrarie to himselfe nor yet is he against Quintilian for although these thrée are rehearsed in the end yet is there two of them comprehended vnder one word 7 But the holie scriptures are herin more excellent than Philosophie The end of man of two sorts according to the scriptures that of men they appoint two sorts of ends whereof the one may be obtained while we liue here but the other is waited for when we shall at the length be loosed from hence which bicause it is the more perfect we will declare the same in the first place And such it is as we shall sée God present and shall fullie and most perfectlie enioie his sight which Paule writing to the Philippians did most earnestlie wish to obtaine Phil. 1 23. I desire to be loosed from hence and to bee with Christ And the same Apostle said 1. Co. 13 12 Now we see as through a glasse and in a darke speech then shall we see face to face Againe Ibid. vers 9 and 10. Now wee knowe in part and prophesie in part but when that which is perfect shall come then that which is in part shall be abolished And this excellent reward doo the gospels set foorth vnto vs which after manie labours and miseries of this life we shall haue laid before vs in heauen The cheefe good of this life But the chéefe end and principall good of this life is that we be iustified by Christ that we be receiued into grace by the eternall Father vnto whose wrath we were thrall from our natiuitie Wherefore iustlie said Dauid Psal 32 1. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiuen and whose sins are couered blessed is the man vnto whom the Lord hath not imputed sinne Which place did Paule for good cause cite so diligentlie vnto the Romans And to conclude those are here blessed which haue Iehouah for their God and doo trust and beléeue in him with all their hart those not in vaine did Paule call blessed Neither is the blessednes of this life altogether distant from the end and principall good which with a constant faith and inuincible hope we looke for in the world to come For euen the chéefe good of this life is none other thing but the selfe-same which at the length wée shall haue Onelie a difference of degrées and perfection passeth betwéene them 8 It is demanded moreouer that bicause we brought a reason why the worke is more excellent than that workmanship whereby it is brought to passe to wit bicause it is ordained to the worke whether this be generallie true Whether that which is ordained to an end be baser than the end that whatsoeuer is directed to another thing as to an end is of lesse estimation than the same which as it may séeme is not to be granted For it is the dutie of a shepheard to looke to his shéepe that they may be in good plight This he endeuoureth to bring to passe by his cunning where neuertheles he far excelleth his shéepe For who doubteth whither a man ought to be preferred aboue shéepe Yea the angels as it is said vnto the Hebrues are ministring spirits for the saluation of the elect whereas neuertheles their woorthines and nature excelleth men And finallie Aristotle writing of generation and corruption said that the end of the celestiall bodies is that men should be begotten whereas yet none of the Peripateticks doubt but that the heauens are of more excellent nature than men Some thought to haue escaped the doubt by saieng that the ends are mentioned to be onlie of actions but not of those actions that are efficient to wit of heauen of angels and of a shepherd Howbeit this auaileth nothing For things efficient attaine not to their ends but by actions wherefore the selfe-same end is to be assigned vnto the thing efficient and to the worke thereof But we must vnderstand that as it is in Aristotles 2. booke De anima the 35. and 37. chapters there is two sorts of ends one end called that for whose cause the thing is doone and the other end is called that to the which a thing is directed The Grecians thus describe them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to saie whereof and to which As for example The end wherefore and the end whereto a creature which dooth ingender hath the end Wherfore to wit that eternall and diuine end namelie perpetuitie which it would attaine which since it cannot absolutelie haue yet at the leastwise it claimeth the same by generation The end Wherevnto is the thing which is begotten the end of nature which is in plants is to bring foorth fruits flowers and this is the end Wherefore But the vse of men is the end Wherevnto It may then well be that the end Whervnto is of lesse honor so is referred vnto that end which is Wherefore And the end which is Wherefore is the more woorthie as matter which is directed to the forme And no man is ignorant of this that the forme is better than the matter But it happeneth otherwise when a thing is directed vnto that which is the end Wherevnto not that it should be made perfect thereby but that the same should make it perfect For then the end Wherevnto is lesse woorthie bicause it is vnto such an end So of the angels and of heauen The end of heauen Wherefore is to be resembled vnto God and to make other things perfect which is the better end For heauen in the dooing of these things is better than if it did them not Likewise in angels the end is to obtaine God and to kéepe vs in dooing wherof they be more woorthie than themselues if so be they did it not And the shepheard hath an end Wherefore euen his owne wealth and increase wherewith he is better than if he were destitute thereof and of the wealth of his familie and citie But the end Whervnto are the shéepe themselues ouer whom he is ordained to kéepe them safe and sound And that one thing is ordeined for another How the more worthie thing is sometime ordeined for the lesse worthie that it should preserue the same and withall be more woorthie than it we haue an example When as by kings and monarchs some are appointed to be chéefe rulers or deputies and are directed vnto the people that they should gouerne
of the Gospell Therefore prophesie at this daie is not so verie necessarie neither yet the gift of healing the church hauing now plentie of physicians neither the gifts of toongs séeing the church is spred ouer all nations and the studie of languages flourisheth among all christians nor yet the power of deliuering the wicked vnto satan since the church hath christian magistrates readie to punish malefactors with the sword Yet in mine opinion it is not to be denied Prophets at this daie but that there be still prophets in the church although not so famous as in times past And it should séeme Teachers in stead of prophets that in the stéed of them there succéed most learned teachers of the holie scriptures plentifullie at this daie giuen vs of God Teachers be no prophets Neuertheles it cannot be prooued by the scriptures that such be called prophets vnles they by the inspiration of God foreshew some secret mysteries without the earnest indeuor of mans eloquence Except thou wilt wrest the words of Paule in the first to the Corinthians to that purpose 1. Cor. 14. and yet thou canst not prooue it necessarilie Mark 16 17. And although that Christ said that there should be such gifts in his church yet he did not warrant that they should continue still for euer neither haue we anie promises that Christ would perpetuallie adorne his church with such gifts The fourth Chapter Of Visions and how and how much God may bee knowne of men Out of the booke of Iudges the 6. chapter vers 22. Looke before cha 3. art 6. NOw the place it selfe putteth vs in remembrance to speake some thing of visions and in what sort and how much God may be séen of men But least that this place should be passed ouer without either method or order I will set foorth certeine distinctions which I thinke to be néedfull And first it is supposed Distinctions seruing to the question proposed The nature of God is not knowē by the sense that the knowledge of God is offered vnto the senses or vnderstanding or else we thinke that it is granted by nature either else by some prerogatiue and reuelation beyond the course of nature And besides this the knowledge of the substance nature and as I may saie the verie essence or being of God differeth from that which consisteth of tokens arguments testimonies signes of the presence of God Lastlie we are to speake either of that knowledge of God which is expedient for this life or else of that onlie which is looked for in the world to come Wherfore I will begin with the outward senses as touching the knowledge of them thus I affirme that the nature substance The nature of God can not be knowen by the senses and essence of God cannot be reached vnto by the senses Forsomuch as those things which be perceiuable by the senses haue no affinitie with God but are a maruellous distance from him and to saie the verie truth the qualities which be of a certeine kind and are numbered among things accidentall doo stir vp the knowledge of the senses wherevnto since that God who is most pure is not subiect it is not possible that he should be knowne by the senses And that this is true it is vnderstood by the certeine experience that euerie man taketh of his owne mind For it is most certeinlie true The error of the Anthropomorphites that no man hitherto hath by his senses perceiued him and yet the Anthropomorphites persuaded themselues that God might be knowne by the senses for they attributed vnto God a terrestriall bodie but their opinion is vtterlie reiected For the scripture beareth record Iohn 4 24. that God is a spirit and it maketh a manifest difference betwéene a spirit and a bodie when our Sauiour saith Feele and see for a spirit hath neither flesh nor bones Luk. 24 39. And there is no man but knoweth that a mans bodie and the parts thereof cannot consist or be without flesh and bones Further the foolishnes of these men herby appéereth in that there is not a bodie to be found that is absolutelie pure simple and vncompounded For be it of as equal a temperature as may be yet it hath parts whereof it is cōpounded that euerie composition is contrarie to the nature of God the verie Ethnicke philosophers haue perceiued 2 But let vs leaue these Anthropomorphites and speake of others whom Augustine maketh mention of in his epistle De videndo Deo Augustine to Paulinus These men as the scriptures beare record and the true catholike faith confesseth beléeue that GOD is altogither most pure simple and without bodie but yet denie not but that in that blessed state which we hope for the saints departed doo behold him with their eies and therefore they saie that we are deceiued in that we wholie measure the state of the life to come by those things that we sée commonlie doone and exercised here Wherefore saie they although the dull eies of our bodie cannot discerne God nor the angels nor spirits yet being once strengthened with that felicitie they shall sée them not by their owne proper nature or power but they shall haue the brightnes of their sight so lightened that they shall be able to reach to the verie essence of God These men perhaps are lesse deceiued than the Anthropomorphites but yet deceiued For howsoeuer our eies are to be confirmed when we shall be in our owne countrie in heauen yet they shall euen there remaine eies yea bodilie eies shall they be and therfore shall not go beyond the kind largenes of their owne obiects Indéed they shall then easilie indure a more persing and greater light than now they are able to abide with their eies The eies of the bodie shall not attaine to the essence of God neither here nor in the life to com neither shall the sight of those colours hurt them which now offend them yet shall they not reach vnto the essence of God For none of our bodies shall in that blessed resurrection be so disguised that they shall either become spirits or else surcease to be bodies anie longer Wherefore there is not so much granted no not to the bodie of Christ that after his resurrection it should passe into a spirit For that had not béene to haue the bodie rise againe but to haue it abolished Therefore they that thinke our sight shall be made so perfect that it shall be able to perceiue the substance of God doo nothing to the cōmendation therof but doo in verie déed destroy it The Anthropomorphites offend against the nature of God bicause they cloth it with a bodie but the other doo iniurie to the nature of man in that they persuade themselues that it shall not continue in the blessed resurrection And so our opinion abideth true and in force as well concerning this present life that we liue as
Moses besought GOD as we read in the same booke of Exodus Exod. 33 18. that he might sée his face whose request God for the incredible fauour he had vnto him would not vtterlie gainesaie when as he neuertheles would not grant him wholie that which he desired Therefore he answered Verelie thou shalt not see my face bicause men cannot behold the same and liue Ibidem 20. but my hinder parts euen my back shalt thou see What plainer testimonie than this can there be Surelie God dooth here bind himselfe in plaine terms to appéere vnto Moses in mans likenes of which forme or image Moses should sée not the face but the backe and that he performed faithfullie For as God passed by Moses sawe the backe of his image néere vnto the rock and he heard the great and mightie names of God pronounced with an excéeding cléere voice which when as he perceiued he cast himselfe prostrate vpon the earth and worshipped And it is not to be doubted but that he gaue that worship vnto him which is due vnto God alone For séeing he beléeued him to be present according to his promise there can be no controuersie but that he worshipped him as being there trulie present And doubtles had not God béene verelie present at the arke and propitiatorie 2. Chr. 7 1â— but had onelie willed the angels to answere such as had asked counsell of him since he had commanded the Israelits to worship call vpon him in that place he should haue driuen them hedlong into idolatrie To these examples let vs ad that historie which in the booke of Kings is mentioned of Micheas the prophet 1. Kin. 22 19 which prophesied before Achab the king of Israel and said that he sawe God and an host of angels present with him and that he heard God aske which of them would deceiue Achab and that one offered himselfe readie to becom a lieng spirit in the mouth of the prophets of king Achab. By this vision it is vnderstood that there was a plaine and notable difference betwéene God and the angels which appéered altogither vnto the prophet Wherfore that gift which God gaue vnto the fathers must not be extenuated or made lesse than it was and it must be granted that he was present in verie déed when he appéered séeing we read that so it was done and there is nothing to the contrarie so far as can be gathered out of the holie scriptures neither is the nature of God anie thing against it but that it might be so And it were not safe for vs to attribute vnto angels all those things that we read in the scriptures of such kind of visions For so we might easilie slip into that error to beléeue that the world was not made immediately by God but by the angels at his commandement God was trulie present so often as the scriptures testifie that he appeered Let vs therefore confesse that God was trulie present in those things and that he shewed himselfe vnder diuers similitudes as often as we heare the scripture either testifie or shew so much 8 It remaineth that we answere to the places before alledged As touching the place in the epistle to the Galathians Galat. 3 19. I grant that the ministerie of angels was vsed in the giuing of the lawe When God gaue the lawe the angels ministred For they were with God when he spake They brought foorth darknes thunder flames of fire and lightenings they prepared the tables of stone and were manie waies diligent about God while he was present and talked with the people Neither is it denied by the words of the apostle that God spake or gaue the lawe as the words of the scripture doo testifie Yea rather there haue béene that expounded The hand of a mediator not to be Moses but the sonne of God himselfe whether trulie or no I am not presentlie to discusse Acts. 7 30. The angel that spake to Moses in the bush was the sonne of God And as for that which S. Steeuen saith as it is in the Acts of the apostles that an angel appéered vnto Moses in a bush and spake vnto him long answere néedeth not For if by the angel the sonne of GOD be vnderstood all scruple is remooued 9 But to the intent that those things which I haue spoken of concerning this matter may the more certeinlie and plainlie be vnderstood me thinketh it is good to confirme them by the testimonie of some of the fathers Chrysost Chrysostom in the 14. Homilie vpon Iohn saith that Whatsoeuer the fathers of old time sawe it was of permission but not of that pure and simple substance of God And he addeth If they had séene that substance they should haue séene euery part like an other for as much as it is pure simple and not to be described wherfore it neither standeth lieth nor sitteth in such wise as was sometimes shewed vnto the prophets Moreouer he addeth that GOD before the comming of his sonne into flesh exercised the fathers in such kind of visions similitudes And in that place granteth that which we affirmed a little before that the spirits created of God such as be the angels and soules of men cannot be séene with our bodilie eies Wherefore it is much lesse to be beléeued that we are able by our outward senses to attaine to the knowledge of God And least anie should thinke that it is onelie proper to God the father to be inuisible and not to the sonne he alledgeth that saieng of Paule that He is the image of the inuisible God Colos 1 15. And surelie he should faile in the propertie of an image vnlesse he were inuisible as is he whose image he is said to be Augustine Augustine also in his third treatise vpon Iohn saith concerning Moses Although it be said that he talked with God face to face yet when he made sute to God that he might sée his face that is to wit his verie substance he could not obtaine it And in the same place he addeth He saw a cloud and fires which were figures And a little after If they saie that the sonne was visible before he was incarnated they doo but dote Manie other things besides these dooth Augustine gather to the same purpose in his Epistle to Fortunatus out of Nazianzen Ierom and other of the fathers which were ouerlong here to recite 10 But yet will I here bring foorth a couple of arguments which are woont to be obiected against those things that I haue defined We said at the beginning that the essence of GOD cannot therefore be comprehended by sense bicause his nature is not corporall but all the ancient fathers séeme not to haue beléeued this for Tertullian against Praxias writeth Tertullian that God is a bodie and diuers times he affirmeth â—he same in other places yea and in his little booke De anima he saith that our soules are bodies and which
For Aristotle in his Problems the 30 sextion saith that the Sibyls and the excellent Emperours and famous philosophers were melancholike and that there were some which béeing affected with that humour spake suddenlie manie languages Some spake in manie toongs vpon the sudden which they had neuer learned and that they afterward béeing healed by physicians left off speaking in that manner Thus much for their part But forsomuch as they sée that by the most learned men there is mention made of spirits and that they cannot denie it without blushing while they would confesse somewhat they are diuided into twoo sundrie sects Som thinke that soules become demons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For they which thinke that mans soule is immortall doo saie that those which die after they haue liued well and honestlie are made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but euill and wicked liuers become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so perpetuallie remaine For séeing they cannot now worke contrarie actions it must néeds be that those habits which they carried with them Som would that demons are onelie in this life should indure for euer But they which would haue the soule to be mortall doo allow of spirits but onelie in this life So that they which applie all their senses as much as in them lieth to vnderstanding be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and good spirits but they which turne vnderstanding into sensualitie be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and disturbe all things So the former opinion dooth affirme that one kind passeth into another which séemes no more possible to bée brought to passe than that a man should be changed into a woolfe But if there be anie certeine nature of spirits no doubt the same must be firme and stedfast But if the latter opinion were true then man bicause he is mutable might be sometimes a spirit and sometimes an angel But these men would haue angels and spirits to be nothing else but mens affections The opinion of Trismegistus Mercurius Trismegistus as Augustine saith in his eight booke De ciuitate Dei the 23. chapter denieth that there be indéed anie spirits at all For he saith that God made gods Intelligences separated from all matter by which the spheres of the world are mooued further that men also did make to themselues gods Asclepius answereth I thinke thou speakest of images Indéed so I doo saith Mercurius but I meane such images as be so applied to certeine aspects of the stars that they can speake and heale men and afflict with sicknes and worke miracles and which be indued with mind sense and spirit Aphrodysaeus Alexander Aphrodysaeus saith that there is a certeine diuine power spred through the whole world which can worke all things but that it is requisite the same should be wiselie drawne to particular effects A similitude For euen as we sée it commeth to passe in the sunne that although the heate thereof be the generall life of all things yet out of it being diuerslie applied there are brought foorth diuers and sundrie things for out of the vine it bringeth foorth grapes and out of the trée apples so if that power which is so spred vniuersallie be fitlie drawn by wise men through herbs and stones there doo followe maruellous effects And thus much hitherto as touching those which vtterlie denie that there is anie certeine nature of Daemons or spirits 9 The Platonists grant The opinion of the Platonists that spirits be certeine substances betwéene gods and men and that of them some be earthie som waterie som airie some fierie and some starrie and to euerie one of the spheres seuerallie there be attributed seuerall spirits as some be of Saturne some of Iupiter and some of the Sunne And they were led thus to saie chéeflie by this reason That betwéene two extreames there must of necessitie be placed a meane for that heauenlie bodies are eternall and incorruptible but ours are mortall and fraile and therefore betwéene both must be the bodies of spirits as certeine meane things which may somewhat communicate with both the extreames For they notwithstanding that in time they be eternall yet are stirred with affects and motions And further that as there be birds in the aire and fishes in the water euen so in the highest region of the aire and in the fire there be spirits And least we should thinke them altogither idle partlie they are tutors of men and partlie rulers of prouinces that they both bring mens praiers vnto God and also carrie the benefits of God vnto men that of som they be called Meane-gods of some Natiuitie-spirits and of other some House-gods Apuleius Apuleius not the least among the Platonists defineth spirits on this wise He saith that by nature they are liuing creatures by wit reasonable by bodie airie by time eternall and by mind passiue for that they be affected euen as men be Howbeit all they doo not séeme to agrée in this that the bodies of spirits are eternall For Plutarch writing of oracles saith it was reported that Pan the great god once died The opinion of the diuines But the diuines fathers of sound religion doo affirme that there be spirits and not onelie those by whom the celestiall spheres are driuen about but others also And some of them saie that they haue no bodies proper I meane and of their owne whervnto they be so ioined as they can quicken them and yet they may ioine vnto themselues bodies which be none of their owne 10 So all these men doo confesse The summe of all these opinions that woonderfull things are doone by spirits The Peripateticks by celestiall bodies the Platonists by bodies proper vnto spirits and our diuines by spirits sometime taking bodies to them and sometimes without bodies These thrée opinions confesse that there be magicians But the first vnderstand by magicians good and wise men which fitlie can applie things that worke vnto things that suffer such as are philosophers and physicians The Platonists doo not alwaies take the name of magicians in euill part but such as haue familiaritie with spirits And christians and the true professors vnderstand them onelie to be magicians which haue made anie league with diuels and conspire with them against God For there be some spirits good and some bad for some fell at the beginning some remained as they were which thing Homer séemeth to signifie in Ate and others in Ophionaeus And it may be that these things came vnto them by tradition from the fathers although darkened with shadowes and fables A proofe of spirits by the scriptures Wherefore we affirme out of the holie scriptures that there be spirits and a few places of the scriptures I will rehearse For it would be infinite and troublesome to recite all Iob. 1 2. The diuell vexed Iob ouerthrew his houses and destroied his cattell and seruants In the historie of Achab 1. kin 22 22. a lieng spirit
was in the mouths of the prophets Satan put into Dauids hart to number the people 1. Para. 21 1 And Dauid himselfe in the psalme saith that God plagued the Aegyptians by euill spirits Psal 78 49. In the prophet Zacharie Zachar. 3 1. sathan stood to let Iesus the préest that the people might not returne out of captiuitie God forbiddeth sacrifices to be doone vnto diuels Leuit. 17 7. which he would not forbid if there were no diuels at all Matth. 4 1. and 13 19. Sathan tempted Christ hée plucketh the good séed out of mens harts had bound the daughter of Abraham for manie yéeres Luk. 13 16. The diuell praied Christ that he might go into the herd of swine Matth. 8 31 Christ at the latter daie shall saie vnto the vngodlie Go ye cursed into euerlasting fire Matt. 25 41. prepared for the diuell and his angels by which words the diuels are most plainlie distinguished from men Iude the apostle saith Iude. 9. that Michaël stroue against the diuell for the bodie of Moses And Iames saith that The diuels beleeue and tremble Iam. 2 19. Christ saith that He sawe sathan falling downe from heauen Luke 10 18 and that he stood not fast in the truth Of good spirits Of good spirits also I will onelie speake a word They be the ministers of God For as it is written to the Galathians The lawe was giuen by the ministration of angels Galat. 3 19. And as it is in the epistle to the Thessalonians In the sound of a trumpet Thes 4 16. and voice of an archangel the dead bodies shall arise And Christ saith that God wil send his angels Matt. 24 31. to gather togither his elect from the foure quarters of the earth And therefore we rightlie and trulie affirme that there be spirits A confutation of contrarie opinions of the Peripatetikes 11 But now we must confute those reasons which are woont to be alledged by others These things saie they may be doone by naturall causes I grant indéed that naturall causes are oftentimes great and secret and doo bring manie woonderfull things to passe But these effects which we speake of as images to speake and giue answers and to vtter the distinct voices of men also to foretell things to come and those not common but hidden and secret matters an ignorant man to haue suddenlie learned arts sciences and he to speake Gréeke Hebrue and the Syrian toong and to recite the sentences of philosophers and poets which neuer learned those toongs nor euer handled poets or philosophers a man to walke inuisiblie to stir things that are a farre off to put out a torch far distant from vs an oxe or an asse to speake like a man these things I saie doo far excéed all force of nature The magicians also which worke these things doo ioine therewithall praiers inchantments coniurings commandements wherein certeinlie there is no naturall power of working at all Herevnto they ad also their lines characters and circles which things be within the compas of quantitie But quantities be neuer reckoned of the philosophers among things that worke The temperature of mans bodie I grant hath great force but yet not so great and besides it must néeds worke by touching Imagination can doo much True it is but euerie one in his owne bodie Howbeit no man no not in his owne proper bodie how stronglie soeuer he imagine can worke all things For if a man haue a withered arme and so stopt as the pores cannot haue their passage let him vse as great imagination as he will he shall not cure the same As for bewitching it is not so great a maruell for in old women the humors are corrupted and being drawne into the eies doo easilie infect especiallie children and infants whose bodies be as it were of waxe But there be other things which go beyond all power of bewitchings as that was when Christ fed fiue thousand men with fiue loaues Matt. 14 2◠when Iosua commanded the sunne to stand still Iosua 10 13 whereas Aristotle in his eight booke of physicks and in his treatise De coelo mundo saith that Those intelligencies which mooue the spheres cannot cease at anie time from their worke and that they should mooue the spheres more slowelie if but one star more should be added therevnto when Esaie called backe the sunne Esaie 38 8. when at the death of Christ the Sunne suffered an eclipse the moone being then in opposition Luk. 23 44. Of which thing Dionysius writeth in an epistle vnto Apollophanes and saith that he had consideratelie beheld the same while he was in Aegypt and that it is extant in the historie of Phlegon Aphricanus Hervnto adde that the shadowe of Peter healed the sicke Acts. 5 15. that Elias shut vp the heauens 1. Kin. 17 1. so that it did not raine for the space of thrée yéeres and an halfe 12 But humors in mans bodie can doo much I grant But yet Christ saith The works which I doo Iohn 15 24. no man can doo and he must sooner be beléeued than all the sort of Peripatetikes Others saie that these things are onlie terrifiengs deuised by prudent men to containe the people in their dutie But we doo knowe that nothing in the scriptures is feigned or deuised for They be the pillers and sure foundation of the truth 1. Tim. 3 15. And whereas they saie that the soules of men doo passe and be changed into spirits that was sufficientlie confuted before when the same was obiected Trismegistus Trismegistus saith that Men doo make vnto themselues gods namelie images made and applied vnto certeine aspects of the heauen that they can speake and giue out oracles But a foolish thing it is to thinke that men can make themselues gods and yet if they can why doo they submit humble themselues vnto them whie doo they worship them whom they themselues made For it is a ridiculous thing to imagine that the cause of anie thing is inferiour to the effect thereof This dooth Esaie verie well deride and taunt Esaie 44 12. A man saith he taketh a peece of wood with the one part he warmeth himselfe and baketh him bread and with the other part he frameth himselfe a god But they can speake and giue out oracles Naie rather Dauid saith much more trulie They haue eies and see not they haue eares Psal 115 5. and heare not they haue mouthes and yet speake not And if they be able to make gods why doo they not rather make themselues to be gods For doubtles they shuld be much better aduised if they would make gods of their owne selues than to make them of stones and stocks Further if they be gods whie doo they not defend themselues For those idols were a good while a go throwen downe and abolished And although other idols
miraculouslie put himselfe betwéene them and their destruction and did hinder the cause but this could not the diuell foresée For God sometime preserueth those that be his and sometime he leaueth them so that they die and so doth it oftentimes come to passe in things that may happen either this waie or that waie For although the experience of spirits be verie great yet is it not so great but that they maie be deceiued Vndoubtedlie the nimblenes of spirits is verie great so that they can easilie perceiue and report what is doone in regions verie farre distant one from another God reuoketh decred purposes but yet oftentimes God reuoketh his purposed decrées And if perhaps God command the diuell to wast and destroie some region and the people in the meane time doo repent if the diuell foretell that the destruction shall come vpon them it must néeds be that he maketh a lie for oftentimes when men begin to repent from their hart God forgetteth all his threatenings These spirits doubtlesse doo sée and knowe the predictions of the prophets but yet those purposes which God doth reueale by his prophets may sometimes be mitigated or changed Esaie prophesied that Ezechias should die Esai 38 1 and 5. but yet when he humbled himselfe and earnestlie repented his life was prolonged for 15. yéeres but that this should come to passe the diuell could neuer haue suspected Wherefore they may be deceiued partlie bicause they knowe not the will of God and partlie also bicause they cannot throughlie looke into our minds But the good angels are not deceiued bicause they referre all things to the will of God The diuell deceiued by ambition Besides this also the diuell is oftentimes deceiued through ambition for he will séeme to be ignorant of nothing therefore he doubteth not to foreshew those things which are far beyond his reach For which cause he mingleth therewith colorable deceits wiles that whatsoeuer should happen he might séeme to haue spoken the truth For he is a craftie and double dealing fellowe as appeareth by these two oracles of his The diuels double meaning I saie that thou Aeacides the Romans conquer may Againe Craesus being past ouer Halis floud shall bring great riches vnto naught Rightlie therefore said Esaie in the 41. chapter Let them tell vs what shall happen we will saie that they be gods not as though they tell not the truth sometimes but bicause they are oftentimes deceiued Wherefore this doth Esaie saie Let them answere vs certeinelie and truelie and alwaies and without error what shall come to passe and we will account them for gods But how fowlie the diuell may be deceiued it chéefelie appeareth in Christ our sauiour Augustine in the ninth booke De ciuitate Dei The knowledge that the diuell had of Christ the 21. chapter saith that The diuell knew and sawe manie things to be woondered at in Christ but he knew not with that holsome and quickening light wherewith reasonable spirits are clensed but onlie by certeine experiments and temporall signes yet did he know him far better than men did For he sawe better and more néerelie than any sight of man can discerne how much the acts of Christ did surpasse the power of nature And yet that knowledge in the diuell did God represse and darken when it pleased him And therefore the diuell doubted not to tempt Christ which certeinlie he would not haue doone Matth. 4 3. if he had knowne Christ indéed For that knowledge depended vpon certeine temporall signes which oftentimes may trouble a man 1. Cor. 2 8. Therefore Paule said If they had knowne the Lord of glorie they would neuer haue crucified him But these words you will saie were spoken of Pilate and of the chéefe préests But that maketh no matter for they were the organs and instruments of the diuell And Iohn saith that The diuell put into Iudas hart to betraie Christ Luke 22 3. But what did let him you wil say that he might not perceiue the Godhead of Christ I will tell you Euen manie things which in Christ séemed to be but poore abiect and vile For he suspected that he which suffered such infamous things could not be God and so it was but a suspicion and not a knowledge But wherefore then did he persecute Christ vnto death Bicause he did not think that his kingdome should by that meanes haue a fall yet on the other side when he saw that his tyrannie began to decline that his ouerthrowe was at hand he thought to preuent it in time and for that cause he sent those dreames vnto Pilats wife Mat. 27 19. The dreams of Pilats wife bicause he now suspected that it was Christ I might shew by other examples how the diuell is woont to be deceiued but I thought this one to be sufficient for our purpose at this time In déed he knoweth naturall things redilie inough vnlesse perhaps God will sometimes blind him and turne him awaie For though he be stubborne and rebellious yet is he in the hand and power of God Moreouer he is manie times let The diuell deceiued through his owne malice and pride through hatred enuie malice and pride And we haue experience in our owne selues how much reason is woont to be obscured by such troublesom affections Herevnto also may be added the greatnes of torments and the sharpenes of punishments wherwith he is vexed wherefore the angels are lesse deceiued bicause they sée al things with a quiet mind 18 But you will demand Whether the spirits see the cogitations of men whether they sée the thoughts and cogitations of men Here they that answere are woont to make a double distinction If we vnderstand the mind to be as it sheweth it selfe by signes and by some moouing gesture of the bodie so diuels can sée the minds of men For they which be in an anger are hot they which are afraid are cold and pale And Augustine saith that All the cogitations of the mind haue some impressions in the bodie by them the diuell can make his cōiecture what we cast in our mind Now our eies are not so sharp sighted that they can sée these things yet the same Augustine in his booke of retractations dooth after a sort moderate this sentence and denieth that anie impressions arise in the bodie by quiet cogitations But if we vnderstand the verie mind as it is of it selfe the diuel cannot reach so far as that he can vnderstand what we desire or thinke But you will saie Séeing mans vnderstanding dependeth of phantasies and forms cannot the diuell perceiue them Yes verelie but whether our vnderstanding be occupied in them that he cannot sée much lesse can he sée what the will dooth determine of them For the will dooth not followe those forms figures but it followeth the vnderstanding Now if we will aske counsell of the holie scriptures they answere most
was not a man but a spirit For if thou wert a man saith he how diddest thou knowe that the wind came from the wildernesse Or if thou wert there how happeneth it that thou wert not destroied with the rest They take to themselues airie bodies A good part of the writers thinke that the spirits doo frame themselues bodies of the aire for that there must be a certeine Sympathia or mutuall agréement betwéene the place and the inhabitants thereof and that the diuels as wée haue said before haue their habitation in the aire wherfore it is credible that they applie vnto themselues fit bodies of the aire Further they adde that it behooueth that the bodies of them should be light and nimble for spirits as Tertullian saith be as it were fowles and doo most swiftlie flie ouer all places Besides this they adde that experience teacheth that those bodies be airie for that there had béene some men which indeuoured sometime to cut and wound them but yet they could not preuaile for they gaue place to the blowes and straitway came togither againe Wherefore the poet Virgil trimlie pronounced of Anchyses which missing his wife in the flight of Troie séeming to him that he sawe hir spirit said Three times about hir necke I sought mine armes to set and thrise In vaine hir likenes fast I held for through my hands she flies Like wauering wind or like to dreames that men full swift espies Moreouer these bodies doo soone vanish from the sight but and if they were earthie there would remaine some massie substance if they were waterie they would run abroad if they were of fire they would burne and might not be handeled But the spirits doo thicken and engrosse these bodies by strait trussing of the parts togither for otherwise they might not be séene or touched Abraham sawe angels Gen. 18 2. and washed their féete set meate before them and they also did eate 26 Howbeit Whether they be bodies or but imaginations some thinke that those are no bodies but are onlie certeine imaginations in the minds of men But others answer that that cannot generallie be true for that they which be mocked by such visions are depriued of their senses But neither is this certeine for they that haue the phrensie are so deceiued manie times and yet they can vse their senses For they feare they run awaie they be troubled in spirit and they crie out Others saie that they be no phantasies bicause they be séene of a great multitude of men togither now it is hard to deceiue a great manie togither For angels were séene of the whole housholds of Lot and Abraham Gen. 19 1. But the holie scriptures prooue That they were true bodies without all doubt that these were not vaine imaginations onlie for the diuell did in verie déed enter into the serpent to the intent he might entice Eue to be deceiued Which thing the curse Gen. 3 1. Ibid. 14. wherewith the serpent was cursed dooth sufficientlie declare Vpon thy bellie shalt thou crall and the seed of the woman shall tread downe thy head For that is true not onlie as touching Christ and the diuell but also as touching men and the serpent And further as I said before the angels offered themselues to be séene of Abraham and of Lot Neither were these anie phantasies for the angels were handled with the hands and when Lot made some delaie of departing out of Sodom Gen. 13 21. they in a manner drew him out of the citie by force The Iewes in the daie-time sawe a smoke and in the night-time a flame So often as they were to take their iournie there entred in a spirit which moued those things For as the light of the sunne doth pearse the water the clouds and the aire so a spirit pearseth through all things Exo. 19 16. When the lawe was giuen vpon Sina there were séene both lightenings smokes vapours and fires also the land was shaken with earthquakes When Christ ascended into heauen the angels accompanied him for they both offered themselues to be séene and spake also vnto the disciples Acts. 1 10. Yee men of Galile why stand yee gazing vp vnto heauen Wherefore it were an impudent part to saie that all these things were onlie imaginations and deceiuings of the mind Yea and the Peripatetiks did neuer so saie that these are onlie vaine images and fained shewes in mans imagination They rather inuented other reasons namelie that they be humors secret powers of nature and celestiall bodies An obiection 2. Thess 2 9. Why then thou wilt alledge doth Paule saie to the Thessalonians that Antichrist shall come in power in woonders and signes of lieng For if they be true things how commeth it to passe then that they be signes of lieng I answere that they may be called lies either of the cause for the diuell being authour of them is a lier Ibidem 10 and 11. or else of the end for he shall make them to the end he may deceiue men And assuredlie the wicked are woorthie so to be deceiued and mocked The wicked are worthie to be deceiued For euen as Paule saith Bicause they receiued not the loue of the truth God shall send them strong delusions Euen so in the apostles time 1. Cor. 5 5. men were deliuered to sathan But sometimes these things be done to shew the mightie power of God for séeing the power of the diuell is so great it is requisit that the power of God whereby he is brideled and ruled should be much greater But it is our part to giue God continuall thanks by whose onlie benefit we are defended from the diuell Wherefore these bodies which the spirits doo applie vnto themselues be airie For euen as water is congealed into yse and sometime hardneth till it become christall euen so the aire wherwith spirits doo cloth themselues is thickned so that it becommeth a visible bodie but if it may séeme that the aire alone is not sufficient they can also mingle some vapour or water withall whereof colours may be had For this we sée to be done in the rainbowe as saith Virgil The rainebowe downe did come with siluer wings of dropping showers Whose face a thousand sundrie hewes against the sunne deuoures 27 There is no néed at all to attribute vnto diuels and angels those vitall parts namelie the lungs hart and liuer for they doo not therefore put on bodies to the end they may quicken them but onlie that they may be séene and therefore they vse them as instruments How the angels and spirits doo eate Luke 24 43. But thou wilt saie that they doo eate and that Christ when he was risen from death did eate with his disciples Augustine in his 94 epistle Ad Deo gratias quaest 1. saith that In Christ that eating was of no necessitie but of power and he vseth this similitude For in one sort saith he doth the earth
sucke vp waters and in another sort the sunne-beames A similitude the earth of necessitie but the sunne by a certaine strength and power euen so saith he the bodies raised vp from death if they could not take meate they should not be perfectlie happie Againe also if they should haue néed of it they should be vnperfect wherefore in that Christ did eate it was not of necessitie but of power and he did eate with his disciples least they should haue thought that their eies were deceiued and so we saie that the angels also and spirits do eate Yea but thou wilt saie euen this is a deceipt when as they will séeme to be men being no men I answere Good spirits doo not deceiue for they come not to prooue themselues to be men but to declare the commandements of God * Note A lie is alwaies ioined with a mind to deceiue Now a lie is alwaies ioined with a mind to deceiue but in the end they sufficientlie shew themselues by some token to be angels for they vanish awaie and suddenlie withdrawe themselues out of sight Wherefore they instruct men two manner of waies first in that they shew the commandements of God secondlie bicause they declare their owne nature And this we knowe was done by those angels which were séene of Gedeon and Manoah Iud. 6. But euill spirits first doo teach false things and doo leade vs from God secondlie they will also séeme to be terrible and of far greater power than they be indéed and promise that they will either giue or doo manie things neither doo they onelie change themselues into men 2. Cor. 11 14 but also into angels of light And thus haue we spoken sufficientlie of these thrée parts cōcerning the power of spirits 28 Now fourthlie there remaineth to speake of the illusion of the senses Spirits begile the outward senses And the senses may be deceiued many waies first by a certeine nimblenes and dexteritie which we sée to be doone of them whom we commonlie call iugglers For they find the meanes that one thing séemes to be an other thing and that without anie helpe of spirits Secondlie they deceiue also by vsing of certeine natural things as metals or perfumes wherby it is brought to passe that a parlour may séeme to be strowed ouer with serpents or that men séeme to haue dogs heads or asses heads Of these waies or means of illusions we doo not speake now in this place But the diuell to beguile the senses The diuell vseth to beguile by things consisting in nature sometime vseth things consisting in nature namelie to mingle colours or forms and to alter the quantities of things for so things doo séeme far otherwise than they be Otherwhile he putteth some bodie vpon him and so setteth himselfe before mens eies Otherwhile he darkeneth the meane so that a thing may séeme greater than it is or else he putteth a cloud or mist betwéene that it may not be séene at all And such a like thing that séemeth to be which Plato mentioneth of Gyges and Virgil of Aeneas Sometime he altereth the instrument of the senses casting ouer the eies bloudie humors A similitude that all things may séeme bloudie So in sick men when choler aboundeth in the toong all things séeme bitter Sometime he dazeleth the eiesight and striketh men with such blindnes that they cannot sée one whit as once he did by the Sodomits Gen. 19 11. when they would haue broken perforce into the house of Lot So Elizeus blinded the aduersaries host when he led the same into Samaria 2. king 6 18. Also he can beguile the senses after another sort which that we may vnderstand we must know that of those things which by sense are conceiued He laieth images before the sense or phantasie there arise certeine images and doo come vnto the senses afterward are receiued vnto the common sense then after that vnto the phantasie last of all vnto the memorie and there are preserued and that they be imprinted and grauen in euerie of these parts as it were in waxe Wherefore when these images are called backe from the memorie vnto the phantasie or vnto the senses they beare backe with them the verie same seales and doo so stronglie strike mooue affection that those things séeme euen now to be sensible perceiued and to be present For so great may the power of the phantasie be as Aristotle teacheth in his booke De somno vigilia that those things which be far off a man may thinke that he dooth most certeinlie sée and touch them By the power of the phantasie a man may thinke he seeth that which he seeth not These things doo sometime happen vnto men that be awake as for example vnto men possessed and vnto the frantike and somtimes also vnto men that be asléepe Wherefore that which is doone by naturall meanes the same also may be doone by the diuell For he can call backe the images of things from the memorie vnto the phantasie The diuell and angels can call things back from the memorie to the sense or vnto the sense and so deceiue the eies of men And this thing not onlie can the euill spirits doo but also the good angels For it is likelie that they did ingraue in the phantasies of the prophets those things which God would reueale But betwéene the good angels and the bad there is much difference The difference in this matter betweene the good angels and the bad For when as anie thing is imprinted by good angels the light of nature is confirmed but if it be doone by euill spirits it is troubled and confounded The difference is partlie in the end partlie in the things themselues For as touching the end a good angel wil rightlie instruct men and propoundeth things that be pure and vncorrupt but euil angels doo not teach but deceiue and doo laie before vs counterfeit vnpure and corrupt things These things we sée happened in the historie of Saule 1 Sam. 28 13. and 14. For the diuell by his art called backe the humors from the memorie to the phantasie and sense so that the séelie witch thought she saw Samuel himselfe Saule thought that he had heard him speake For that action was not naturall neither was it directed either by temeritie or by chance For there was no reason at all whie Samuel rather than anie other man should fall into the imaginatiō of that witch He must néeds be his crafts-maister or verie cunning that framed these things in hir phantasie and senses And vndoubtedlie there is no néed whie we should thinke that there be brought in by the diuell or by an angell fresh and new forms They bring in no new forms for they vse such as be present While we sléepe we fall into dreames which sometime the good angels sometime the bad doo ioine and couple one with another that something may be
earth There is also another psalme alledged Therefore hath God euen thy God annointed thee with oile of gladnes aboue thy fellowes Hebr. 1 9. And there is a comparison of Christ with Melchisedecke namelie that they were both without father Hebru 7 3. without mother and without genealogie which thing accordeth not with Christ but so far foorth as he is God Vnto the Colossinas we reade Coloss 2 9. that In Christ dwelleth all the fulnes of the godhead bodilie Colo. 1 16. Againe All things are made by him whether they be things visible or inuisible Titus 2 13. or thrones or dominions Vnto Titus We expecting the blessed hope and comming of the glorie of the great God Héere Christ is most plainelie called The great God And in the second to the Corinthians 2. Cor. 8 9. When he was rich he was made poore for all men It can not be meant that he was rich but in respect of his diuine nature 1. Cor. 2 8. And in the first epistle to the Corinthians If they had knowne him they would neuer haue crucified the Lord of glorie And in the eight chapter 1. Cor. 8 6. To vs neuertheles there is one God which is the father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Iesus Christ by whome are all things and we by him But if that all things are by him verelie there is no doubt but that he is God And vnto the Galathians as touching the time of infidelitie it is written Gala. 4 8. When as yee serued those which in nature be no gods c. By which words the contrarie is gathered that séeing they were conuerted vnto Christ and serued him they serued him that in nature is God But to followe the sure and more vndoubted testimonies of the old Testament Psal 110 1. out of Dauid we haue The Lord said vnto my Lord Sit on my right hand vntill I make thine enimies thy footestoole Esaie calleth him Emanuel Esaie 7 14. Esaie 9 6. And againe he saith His name shall be called Woonderfull a Counsellour God c. Ieremie in the 21. chapter saith Ierem. 21 6. that he must be called God our righteousnes he vseth the name Tetragrammaton The verie which thing thou maist sée to be done by the same Prophet in the 31. chapter Iere. 31 23. wherein though he speake of the citie I meane of the people of God or of the church yet neuertheles all that doth appertaine vnto Christ which is the head of the same yea rather by him is such a name attributed to the church people of God Also we reade in Esaie Esaie 53 8. Who shall be able to reckon his generation And in the Prophet Micheas Miche 5 2. And thou Bethleem of Iewrie art not the least among the thousands of Iuda for out of thee shall come foorth vnto me one that shall rule my people Israel whose out-going hath bin from the beginning and from euerlasting by which words both the natures of Christ are shewed Esaie 11 10. Adde againe out of the Prophet Esaie that which is cited by Paule in the 15. chapter to the Romanes Rom. 15 12. There shall be a roote of Iesse which shall arise to rule ouer the Gentiles and in him shall the Gentiles trust And certaine it is that he is to be accursed Looke In Rom. 1 and 4 25 8 verse 34 9 a 5 33 10 17 11 7 27. 1. Cor. 11 verse 3. which putteth anie hope in a creature Therefore séeing we must put our trust in Christ and that he is to be called vpon it plainelie appéereth that he is God There might be heapt vp other testimonies of this matter but these I thinke to be enough and enough againe to confute the boldnes of these men VVhether the holie Ghost be God In 1. Cor. 12. 6 Now it shall not be from the purpose to confirme by manie reasons that the holy Ghost is God The word spirit diuerslie taken This word spirit sometime signifieth a certeine motion or a nature mooueable sometimes it is taken for life or mind or the force of the mind whereby we are mooued to doo anie thing it is also transfferred to the signifieng of things Why our soules and angels and God are called spirits which be seperate from matter as be the angels which the philosophers call Intelligencies yea and it is so far drawne as it representeth our soules Which metaphor séemeth to haue respect therevnto bicause we somtimes signifie by this name the thin exhalations which breath either from the earth from the water from the bloud or from the humors of liuing creatures which exhalations although they be not easilie perceiued by the sense yet are they effectuall and of excéeding great force as it appéereth by winds earthquakes and such like things And so it commeth to passe hereby that the name of these most subtill bodies whose force is excéeding great hath béene translated to the expressing of substances without bodies Wherefore it is taken for a word generall Spirit is a generall word both vnto God vnto angels and vnto our soules And that it is attributed vnto God Christ sheweth when he saith God is a spirit Iohn 4 24. and therevpon concludeth that he must be worshipped in spirit and truth When it is so taken this name comprehendeth vnder it the Father the Sonne and the holie Ghost But somtime it is taken particularlie That the holie Ghost is a person distinct frō the Father and the Sonne for the third person of the Trinitie which is distinct from the Father and the Sonne And of this person we speake at this time wherein two things must be shewed first that he is a person distinct as well from the Father as the Sonne secondlie we will shew that the holie Ghost is by this meane described to be God The first reason Matt. 28 19. 7 As touching the first the apostles are commanded in the Gospell that they should baptise in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the holie Ghost Which place dooth most plainlie expresse the distinction of the thrée persons and dooth signifie nothing else but that we be deliuered from our sinnes by the name power and authoritie of the Father of the Sonne and of the holie Ghost And in the baptisme of Christ as Luke rehearseth The second reason Matt. 3 16. Luke 3 21. the voice of the Father was heard which said This is my beloued sonne c. Further the holie Ghost appéered vnder the forme of a dooue Here as thou séest the sonne is baptised the father speaketh and the holie Ghost sheweth himselfe in forme of a dooue In Iohn it is said Iohn 14 16. The third reason I will aske my Father and he shall giue you another Comforter Here also the Sonne praieth the Father heareth and the Comforter is
conditions is looked for in vs wherefore the change must not be attributed vnto him but vnto vs. But if thou wilt aske me whether God hath knowen and decréed before what shall come to passe as touching these conditions I will grant he hath For euen at the first beginning he not onlie knew what the euents of things would be but also decréed what should be But séeing the secretnes of his will touching these things is not opened vnto vs in the holie scriptures therefore we must followe that rule which is giuen by Ieremie Ionas 3 4. euen as we haue rehearsed before Esaie 38 1. This rule the Niniuits and also Ezechias the king had respect vnto euen before the same was published For although that destruction was denounced to them in the name of God yet they escaped from it by reason of the repentance and praiers which they in the meane time vsed Neither is there anie cause whie we should suspect that God dooth lie in anie thing God lieth not when he threatneth things which come not to passe when he threatneth or promiseth those things which doo not afterward come to passe For as touching Ezechias death was vndoubtedlie to haue taken hold of him by reason of naturall causes commonlie called the second causes wherefore the sentence being pronounced according to those causes he might not be accused of a lie Also the Niniuits if God had doone by them as their sinnes deserued there had béene no other way with them but destruction And God commanded Ionas to preach vnto them according to their deserts Furthermore a lie which in talke hath a supposition or condition ioined therewith cannot be blamed in such sort as it may be in arguments which he absolute and without exception séeing the euent dependeth of the performing or violating of the condition The xiij Chapter Of the creation of all things wherein is intreated of angels of men of the essence of the soule of the image of God and of diuerse other things I Would thinke that vnder the name of heauen and earth In Gen. 1 1. What is signified vnder the name of heauen and earth Moses shewed that the foundation or ground of all things aswell of the heauens as of the elements was made and that this matter is signified by the names of things alreadie finished For séeing it cannot be knowen otherwise but by the forme and perfection it is méet that that also should be named and specified Wherefore this whole heape is signified by the name of heauen and earth wherein also come the other thrée elements fire aire water He shewed vs of the vttermost things by which he will also haue vs to knowe the things that are betwéene both But how far these things at the first were out of square and order it is shewed when of the earth it is said It was without form Gen. 1 2. wast Wherfore this rude heape was brought foorth being as yet stuffe or matter void of order the which belonged aswell to the vpper things as to the lower And so perhaps as the more noble had the vppermost place so to the lesse noble was assigned the nethermost for this cause the name of creation is verie fit for the first and vnorderlie heape The difference betweene making and creating For those things séeme onlie to be made of nothing and other things are said to be made and fashioned And yet this difference is not obserued in all things for some things are called created which are said to be deriued from some former matter Two things doubtles men haue béene accustomed to attribute vnto creation both that it should be of a sudden and that it require no matter to be before hand The Philosophers error touching the beginning of the world 2 Thus the world was not rashlie made neither is it coeternall with the maker or creator Manie of the ancient philosophers assigned the workemanship of things vnto rashnes and chance séeing diuers of them in the stead of beginnings named discord and debate or else such little small bodies as smaller cannot be Aristotle attributed eternitie vnto that whereby he maketh God not to be the working cause of the world but onelie attributed vnto him the cause of the end or if he doo he taketh from him the power of working according to his will and thinketh that the world followeth him as a shadowe dooth the bodie or as the light dooth the sunne Which the Peripatetikes will séeme to doo for diuine honour sake least they should be driuen to ascribe anie lacke of power or alteration in God But these things hurt not vs at all for we affirme not that God is borne or apt to suffer anie thing but we attribute vnto him the chéefest power to doo And although God in his eternitie minded to make the world it followeth not therefore that when he did make it there was in him anie alteration of his purpose or will Againe let vs beware of the error of them in old time A curious imagined error which thought that there was an eternall and vncreat Chaos or confused heape extant before and that God did onelie picke out those things which were there mingled togither But we saie that the same heape also was made the first daie Some there be which demand that séeing God could haue brought foorth the world long before why he did it so late This is an arrogant and malepert question wherein mans curiositie cannot be satisfied but by beating downe the follie thereof For if I should grant thée that the world was made before at anie certeine instant of time that thou couldest imagine yet thou mightest still complaine that the same was but latelie made if thou refer thy cogitation to the eternitie of God so as we must herin deale after a godlie maner and not with this malepert and rash curiositie Of Angels and their creation 3 But verelie it séemes to be a maruell why the creation of Angels is so kept in silence as there is no mention thereof in all the old testament in the old testament I saie bicause in the new testament it is spoken of In the first chapter to the Colossians there is plaine mention of their creation Colos 1 16. There be some which bring two places of the old testament namelie Who maketh his Angels spirits Psal 104 4. And in an other place Psal 33 9. when he said And they be made Howbeit these places doo not firmelie persuade it The heauens are turned about by Angels It should be rather said that they are comprehended vnder the name of heauen séeing it is generallie receiued that the heauens are turned about by them The first reason is bicause if their creation had béene first described it might haue séemed that God vsed their labour in the bringing foorth of other things But to the intent wée should attribute vnto God the whole power of creation therefore did Moses kéepe
it in silence least perhaps wée might suspect our selues to be their workmanship And euen as our redemption is onelie attributed vnto Christ the sonne of God and not to the Angels so was it méet to be as touching our creation The second reason bicause of the pronesse of men vnto idolatrie for if they haue worshipped heauen stars foure-footed beasts serpents and birds what would they haue doone if Moses had described that spirituall creature in his colours and had said that they were made to doo vs seruice to be presidents ouer countries and to be at hand with euerie man What would not men haue doone They would haue run a madding to the worshipping of them The first mention of them was at paradise with the sword of the cherubims Gen. 3 24. Also in Abrahams time Gen. 18 2. when there was present an excéeding strong deliuerer For euen then are dangers permitted by God when most strong remedies are also vsed by him And as touching this superstitious worshipping of Angels Paule speaketh in the second to the Colossians Col. 2 23. 4 Rabbi Selomoh saith that the names of Angels are secret so as they euen themselues In Iudg. 13 ver 17. doo not knowe their owne names yea and he addeth that they haue not names of their owne Angels take their names of those things which they doo but that onlie surnames are appointed them of those things vnto which they are sent to take charge of Wherevnto the epistle to the Hebrues assenteth when it calleth them Administring spirits Heb. 7 14. Rabbi Selomoh bringeth examples out of the holie scriptures An Angel was sent vnto Esaie Esaie 6 6. and bicause he put vnto his lips a burning cole he was called Seraphim Seraphim of the Hebrue verbe Saraph which signifieth To burne So of Raphael we may saie that he which cured Tobias was so called as who shuld saie He was the medicine of God Tob. 12 15. Luke 1 26. And Gabriel by the same reason is called The strength of God Also the word Peli which the Angel attributed to himselfe in the 13. of Iudges signifieth Woonderfull for he came Iudg. 13 18. to the intent he might doo a miracle And surelie it was verie woonderfull to bring out a flame out of a rock which consumed the sacrifice And it may be that the Angel would not open his name bicause men in those daies were prone vnto idolatrie and perhaps when they had heard the name of the Angel they would soone haue béene induced to worship it more than right religion requireth But Cherubims be Angels In Gen. 3. at the end Cherubim whose name is deriued of a figure Aben-ezra saith that Keruf signifieth A forme or figure be it either of man or of brute beasts it maketh no matter which séeing either of both is so called Angels haue these names bicause they appeare vnto men in figure or forme of a liuing creature as it appeareth in the tenth of Ezechiel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Others thinke that the name is compounded of the Hebrue letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a marke of similitude and of Raui which in the Chaldean spéech signifieth Boies or Yoong men bicause Angels appéered in the fourme of men and that of yoong men And to that similitude those in the tabernacle were made hauing wings put to them Which peraduenture Dionysius and other followed when they saie that they are signified by the fulnes of knowledge séeing a man whose figure they beare differeth in vnderstanding and knowledge from brute beasts In 2. Sam. 22 verse 11. Wherefore Cherub is a certaine figure giuen and betokeneth vnto vs The messengers of God which with great celeritie doo all those things which God commandeth He vseth them and rideth as it were vpon the winds Psal 18 10. which are gouerned by those Angels bicause by those things that which God would is brought to passe â—ings attributed vnto Angels Exod. 37 9. Esaie 6 2. Ezech. 10 5. Dan. 9 21. Also the Ethnicks made Mercurie with wings and attributed wings vnto the winds The Angels likewise are often-times put with wings In Exodus the Cherubims are made with wings Esaie saith that Seraphim came flieng vnto him Ezechiel Daniel sawe Angels flieng vnto them These things declare that the ministerie of Angels is excéeding swift In the 104. Psalme Psal 104 4. Who maketh his Angels spirits We must not héere imagine with the Saduces as though the Angels were but a bare seruice of no substance seuered from matter They are not onlie mooued with the moouing that brute creatures haue but they vnderstand they speake and they instruct vs. An Angel came vnto the virgin Marie Luke 1 26. and 11. and vnto Zacharie Their Angels as it is in the Gospell doo alwaies behold the face of their heauenlie father Matt. 18 10. Vnto the Hebrues they are called Administring spirits Hebr. 1 14. Dan. 10 13. and 12 1. Finallie they gouerne kingdoms and prâ—uinces In Iud. chap. 13. Looke before psal 9. art 25. 5 It followeth that I speake somwhat of the visions of Angels For an Angel appeared vnto Manoah and oftentimes in other places as the scriptures declare Angels haue bin séen of men But it may be demanded how they did appeare whether with anie bodie or onlie in phantasie and if with a bodie whether with their owne bodie or with a strange bodie and whether the bodie were taken for a time or for euer Of these things there be diuers opinions of men The Platonists saie that The minds that is The opinion of the Platonists the Intelligencis are so framed that certeine of them haue celestiall bodies and some haue firie bodies some airie some watrie and some earthie bodies and some they affirme to be darke spirits which doo continuallie dwell in darkenes and mist Of these things Marsilius Ficinus hath gathered manie things in his tenth booke De legibus and in his Argument of Epinomis The Peripatetikes affirme The Peripatetikes that there be certaine Intelligencies which guide and turne about the celestiall circles neither make they mention of anie other The schoole diuines Also the schoole diuines haue decréed that those minds and Intelligencies are altogither spirituall and that they haue no bodies And they were led thus to thinke by reason that these Intelligencies must néeds excell the soules of men whose perfectest facultie consisteth in vnderstanding Wherefore as they thinke it is méete that in this worke the Intelligencies should much excéed them and that this commeth to passe bicause those heauenlie minds haue no néed of images or of senses the which being so it should be superfluous for them to haue bodies 6 But amoÌ„g the Fathers The fathers Origin some haue affirmed far otherwise Origin in his bookes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Ierom hath noted in his epistle Ad Pammachium de erroribus Iohannis Hierosolymitani
saith that Those spirituall minds so often as they offend doo fall and are thrust into bodies but yet not immediatelie into the vilest bodies but first into starrie bodies then into firie and airie afterward into watrie and last of all into humane and earthie bodies and if then also they behaue not themselues well they become diuels And further that if they will yet then repent they may come againe by the selfe-same degrées vnto their former state And this he saith we should vnderstand by that ladder Gen. 28 12. vpon which Iacob saw the Angels ascending and descending But Ierom to make the matter more plaine Ierom. giueth a similitude If a tribune saith he do not rightlie execute his office he is put from that degrée and is made a principall secretarie afterward a senator a captaine ouer two hundreth a ruler ouer fewer a constable of a watch afterward a man at armes and after that a souldier of the meanest degrée And although a tribune were once a common souldier yet of a tribune he is not made a yoong souldier but a principall secretarie Howbeit these things be absurd and woorthie to be laughed at And certeinlie héerein Origin speaketh more like a Platonist than a Christian That which he first affirmeth Against Origins opiniō of thrusting soules into bodies as vnto punishments namelie that soules are thrust into bodies as vnto punishments is manifestlie false forsomuch as God hath ioined the bodie to the soule for a helpe not for a punishment Neither doth he well to put the diuell into anie hope of saluation in time to come séeing Christ hath taught the contrarie saieng Matt. 25 41. Go yee cursed into eternall fire prepared for the diuell and his angels Neither can we in that place vnderstand Eternall to be onlie a long space of time For Christ most plainlie expoundeth his meaning when he saith Their woorme shall not die and their fire shall not be quenched Mark 9 44. Esaie 66 24. Neither did he truly affirme that the soules first sinned before they came into bodies Rom. 9 11. séeing Paule writeth of Iacob and Esau that before they were borne and had doon neither good nor euill it was said Iacob haue I looued and Esau haue I hated the greater shall serue the lesser Vpon iust cause therefore is this opinion of Origin reiected by all men Augustine 7 Augustine in manie places séemeth to attribute bodies vnto Angels and namelie in his second booke De trinitate the seuenth chapter in the third booke the first chapter Which the schoole men perceiuing excused him saieng that he spake not there after his owne iudgement but according to the iudgment of others Which thing I also might allow for so much as I sée that that father in his eight booke and 16. chapter De ciuitate Dei after the opinion of Apuleius Madaurensis and Porphyrius defineth that Angels be in kind sensible creatures in soule passiue in mind reasonable in bodie airie in time eternall Doubtlesse herein he followeth the doctrine of the Platonists but in the places before alleadged he séemeth to speake altogither of himselfe Barnard Yea and Barnard also vpon the song of the thrée children as it appeareth is of the same opinion Wherefore the schoolemen be compelled to deuise an other shift and they saie that Angels if they be compared with men are spirits but if with God they haue bodies bicause they are destitute of the single and pure nature of God Tertullian Tertullian De carne Christi affirmeth that Angels haue bodies but that is the lesse maruell in him for he attributeth a bodie euen to God himselfe But he calleth a bodie whatsoeuer is for he delt with vnlearned and rude men which thinke that whatsoeuer is not a bodie is nothing But the schoolemen saie that Angels in verie déed are spirits but that when they come vnto men they take vpon them airie bodies which they thicken and make verie grosse whereby they can both be séene touched and perceiued beyond the nature of aire There be some also which saie that some earthie or waterish thing is mixed with them but in no wise will grant the same to be anie perfect mixture least they should be compelled there to appoint a generation There haue béene also which thought that Angels tooke vpon them dead carcases but this to the more part séemeth an vnwoorthie thing to be thought of the holie Angels Whether it be conuenient for Angels to take vpon them the similitude of men 8 Here will some man saie that it is an absurd thing to charge the celestiall Angels with feigning and lieng as they to feigne themselues to be men and yet are none indéed Yea and this séemeth to weaken the argument of Christ which he vsed after his resurrection to declare that he had a verie bodie indéed Feele saith he and see Luk. 24 38. for a spirit hath no flesh and bones as ye see mee haue For the apostles being dismaid thought that they had séene a spirit and therefore to bring them out of doubt Christ bad them to handle and féele his bodie But the apostles might haue said That which we féele is a phantasie it séemeth indéed to be Christ but perhaps it is not For Angels also séeme to haue bodies and to be touched felt whereas yet they haue no bodies indéed Also this opinion may weaken the argument of the fathers against Marcion as touching the flesh of Christ For he did eate saie they he dranke he was hungrie he slept he did sweate and such like and therefore had a true and humane bodie Vnto these things might be answered that the selfe-same things haue happened vnto Angels whereas notwithstanding they had no bodies I answere that which they first saie that it is absurd to charge the Angels with lies they should vnderstand that euerie thing howsoeuer it be feigned is not straightwaie a lie Euerie thing that is feigned is not a lie Luk. 24 15. Christ appeared vnto his disciples as a stranger and yet he lied not euen he was séene vnto Marie in likenes of a gardener yet he lied not so the Angels although they appéered to be men when they were no men Iohn 15 20. The Angels while they seeme◠to be men lied not yet were they no liers For they came not of purpose to prooue themselues men but onelie that they might conuerse and haue communication with men To the argument of Christ as touching his owne bodie thus I answere first the apostles thought that it had béene a ghost which appeared and therefore Christ to refell that saith Handle and see for a spirit hath neither flesh nor bones By the handling it selfe it might be perceiued that the same which was present was a verie true and perfect bodie not a vaine phantasie But thou wilt saie It was a true bodie indéed but yet taken for a time and such a bodie as
Angels sometime are woont to put on But how could it be prooued that it was the same bodie which laie before in the sepulchre Herein the authoritie of Christ and of the scriptures must be of force for the scriptures teach plainelie inough that Christ should die and afterward rise againe the third daie but nothing can rise againe except that which fell before as Tertullian doth verie learnedlie write And this did the Schoolmen perceiue Tertullian Thomas Aquinas whervpon Thomas Aquinas saith that vnlesse something else can be added this is no good argument The same may be answered vnto the reasons of the fathers against Marcion Indéed manie of the actions before alledged may be fit for Angels or bodies assumed but yet not all For to be borne and nourished to die and to féele happen neither vnto Angels nor yet vnto bodies assumed But the scripture dooth most plainlie testifie that Christ was borne that he sorrowed that he was hungrie that he suffered death and that he was verie true man But of these things more at large hereafter What maner of bodies the Angels take vpon them 9 There be manie other things in the schoole Diuines as touching these matters but bicause they are not so profitable I will omit them and will demand this Whether Angels may take verie bodies vpon them and those naturall which were bodies before and may vse them at their libertie as the diuell did put on the serpent Gen. 3 1. and thereby deceiued Eue An Angel also spake in Balaams asse Num. 22 28 wherefore then cannot an Angel after the same maner possesse a humane bodie and speake therein Doubtles it is written in the prophet Zacharie The Angel of the Lord which spake in mee Wherfore it appéereth Zach. 1 19. that Angels may vse the bodies of men and beasts Augustine Augustine in his third booke De trinitate the first chapter saith that This is a verie hard question whether Angels may adioine bodies to their owne proper bodies and change them into diuers formes as we vse to doo garments or also to change them into verie nature as we read that Christ did Iohn 2 9. when he turned water into wine this he saith is not vnpossible to be doone For thus he writeth I confesse it passeth the strength of my capacitie whether that Angels reteining the spirituall qualitie of their owne bodie may in working more secretlie by it take to them som thing of the more grosse inferiour elements which being framed fit to themselues may alter and turne the same as it were a garment into all bodilie forms or shapes yea euen into the true things themselues as true water was turned into true wine by the Lord or else whether they can transforme their owne proper bodies into what they will being applied to that thing which they go about to doo But whether of thes◠be true it belongeth not to the present question But I saie that if there were verie bodies of Angels then was Christs argument firme And I will more willinglie grant vnto this than to saie as some doo that Angels deceiued the senses of men For after this maner they will striue against vs when we saie that in the Eucharist remaineth bread which is both séene and touched The Papists subtile shift as touching transubstantiation as they may answere that indéed it séemeth bread but yet it is none euen as Angels séemed to be men when as yet they were no men Trulie I denie not but that somtimes the senses may be deceiued but yet I affirme that there be two kinds of those things which are perceiued by the sense A distinction of sensible things For some things are common vnto manie senses and others are proper vnto some one sense alone For figure quantitie and number are perceiued of manie senses Wherin the senses may be deceiued and wherein not doubtles in such things the senses may be deceiued As Carneades was woont to dispute of bending an ore in the water and of the bignes of the bodie of the sunne But in things which properlie be sensible the sense is neuer deceiued vnlesse it be long of some impediment of the bodie or ouermuch distance or some such like let Wherefore séeing that in the Eucharist our sense dooth shew vs that bread remaineth there is no néed to feigne that the sense is therein deceiued 10 But to appoint a certeine compendious waie of this disputation Three maner of apperings of Angels thrée waies come to mind by which it may séeme that the Angels appéered For either they were séene in phantasie so as they were thought to haue bodies when they had not which waie cannot be approoued for they did not beguile the senses and they were not séene onlie of one person but of manie and at manie and sundrie times and were in such sort séene Gen. 18 4. Gen. 32 24. as Abraham washed some of their féet and Iacob wrestled a whole night with an Angel or else they verelie appéered with a true bodie which notwithstanding was not such a bodie as it was thought to be or else they had the verie selfe-same bodie trulie and in verie déed which they séemed to haue Tertullian Tertullian De carne Christi hath written most learnedlie of this third sort Thou hast somtimes saith he both read and beléeued that the Angels of the Creator were turned into the shape of a man Note that they were turned and that they carried such a truth of a bodie as both Abraham washed their féet and Lot by their hands was plucked from the Sodomites An Angel also wrestled with a man and desired to be loosed from the weight of the bodie of him by whom he was held That therfore which was lawfull vnto Angels which be inferiour vnto God namelie that they being turned into the corpulencie of men and yet neuertheles remained Angels this doost thou take awaie from God which is more mightie as though Christ taking true manhood vpon him were not able to remaine God Thus Tertullian disputeth against the Marcionites The errour of the Marcionites for they affirmed that Christ did séeme to haue but yet indéed had not the bodie of a man Tertullian obiecteth against them And if ye grant this saith he vnto the Angels that they haue had bodies why doo ye not much rather yéeld the same vnto the sonne of God And he addeth Or did these Angels also appéere in phantasie of flesh but thou darest not saie so For if thou account so of the Angels of the Creator as thou doost of Christ Christ shall be of the same substance that Angels be of and the Angels shall be such as Christ is If thou haddest not of set purpose reiected the scriptures which are contrarie to thy opinion and corrupted others the Gospell of Iohn would héerein haue abashed thée which declareth that The spirit comming downe in the bodie of a doue
Augustine in his 13. book De trinitate the 22. chapter is to be receiued where he wrote on this wise The Angels did trulie eate yet not for néed but to procure conuersation and familiaritie with men Wherefore when as in another text it is said that Raphael did not eate it must not so be vnderstood as though he did not eate at all but that he did not eate after the maner of men But this is speciallie to be noted there What maner of meat was that of Angels that when the Angel answereth that he dooth féed vpon inuisible meate and drinke that spirituall food was nothing else but a perfect and manifest knowledge of the true God and an execution of his diuine will As Christ also said Iohn 4 32. that His meate was to doo the will of his father The verie which also is our meate although not after the same maner for they sée God manifestlie but we by a glasse and in a darke spéech 1. Co. 13 12. 17 We may call Angels both according to the Gréeke and Hebrue name messengers or legats In Gen. 32. at the beginning verelie not as though they should teach God as concerning the affaires of men or any other busines naie rather to the intent that they themselues may be instructed what they ought to minister and shew tidings of Tob. 12 12. Whether Angels do offer our praiers vnto God If so be thou read in the scriptures that they offer vp our praiers this is not doone of them to instruct or teach God in like maner as wée when we praie feruentlie doo not therfore laie before God our calamities as though he were ignorant of them séeing the Lord testifieth of that matter Matth. 6 33 that He knoweth wherof we haue need euen before we aske But by discouering and laieng them open we our selues be the more earnestlie bent to craue the helpe of God And what discommoditie should arise if wée affirme this selfe-same thing to come to passe in Angels These things did Augustine write in his 15. booke De trinitate the 13. chapter And in Enchiridio ad Laurentium the 58. chapter he saith the same thing when he intreateth of the names of Angels which are recited in the first chapter of the epistle to the Colossians Colos 1 16. Let them saie what they can what be thrones dominions principalities and powers so they be able to prooue that they saie And against the Priscillianists and Originists the 11. chapter Archangels saith he perhaps are powers and we denie not but that there is some difference betwéene these To be ignorant of the estate of Angels is no harme to vs. but to be ignorant of such a thing will bring no great danger vnto vs. For there certeinlie are we in danger where we despise the commandements of God or neglect the obedience of him But if thou wilt aske me why the scriptures make mention of these things if the knowing or not knowing of them be of so smal importance He addeth a fit answere namelie that If these things haue béene reuealed to some excellent men they may then knowe that there is nothing prooued for a certeintie which is not found written in the scriptures To which answere I adde also this other Bicause we may be the more humble and not to puffe vp our selues as though we were able to sound vnto the deapth of all that we reade in the canonicall scriptures Gen. 32 1. 18 The Iewes haue noted in the historie of Iacob that the scripture saith not that he went and met with the Angels Whether godlie men be better than Angels but contrariwise that the Angels met with him and that they saie was done for honor sake And thereof they argue further that Iacob and euerie godlie man is more woorthie than Angels Psal 91 11. forsomuch as the person that is met is more honorable than hée that goeth foorth to méete Also he is better which is borne of anie man than he which beareth him But the scripture saith that the Angels doo beare the godlie in their hands least they should hurt their feet against the stones Who so euer is appointed to haue the custodie of another séemeth to be inferiour to him which is kept By which reasons they make Angels inferiour vnto holie men who are called The freends of God But all men doo easilie sée how these reasons of theirs doo prooue For the father and the mother doo beare in their armes their yoong children doo they therfore beare more woorthie than themselues It is said that Christ doth beare all things by the word of his power Hebr. 1 3. but who is so far beside himselfe or deceiued as to iudge that things created be more excellent than the Sonne of God The shepheard when he findeth his shéepe beareth it vpon his shoulders doth he beare a better than himselfe A father a maister and a fréend go foorth vpon the waie to méete with their sonne scholer or fréend returning from perill out of a strange countrie doo they this therefore as vnto their better Men be euerie-where set ouer flocks of shéepe to kéepe them yet are they much better than the shéepe In verie déed the Angels doo all these things not that they are bound to vs but to the intent they may be thankefull vnto God Wherefore the arguments of the Rabbins are vaine and friuolous 19 But vnto this selfe-same purpose there be reasons gathered out of the new Testament For the Apostle saith in the first chapter to the Ephesians Christ being raised vp by his father from death Ephes 1 21. is lifted vp on high far aboue all principalitie and power and dominion and aboue euerie name that is named not onlie in this world but also in the world to come Further in the second chapter he testifieth Ephes 2 6. that God hath taken vs vp togither with him and hath alreadie made vs to sit on the right hand with him whereby it commeth Whether we shall be indued with greater glorie than the Angels that wée are accounted greater than the Angels For if we sit hard by Christ and he no doubt hath ascended aboue all creatures the highest degrée giueth also place vnto vs. Howbeit this is yet a blunt argument for it may be that we shall sit with Christ in glorie taking the saieng generallie It is sufficient that we be partakers of that glorie And it followeth not necessarilie thereof that we shall be superiours vnto the Angels vnlesse that thou wilt vnderstand that the state of men shall then be so absolute perfect as they shall haue no more néed of the helpe of Angels When they shall haue God and Christ present and saluation atteined to what purpose shall there be néed of the ministerie of holie spirits whereof vnderstand this reason If so be that when Christ came and powred out his spirit plentifullie among the faithfull that same
therefore haue perished with others and by that meanes sorrowe had béene added vnto a righteous father which thing God would not if they had béene good and they also had begotten others and perhaps Noah himselfe others also all which if God would haue saued for Noahs sake the arke should haue béen made much bigger Whereby Noah had béene more wearied in the building of it than reason would This séemeth to be a pleasant deuise But as I haue said before it shall appeare sufficientlie to a christian man that either these were not the first among his children or else that children were denied him so long as it pleased the Lord. Neither is it méet to cleaue vnto fables so curiouslie inuented But what shall we saie as concerning the great number of yéeres wherein they are said to haue liued Shall we be so hardie to affirme that those were not so long as these yéeres of ours but that they were of two or thrée moneths long And Plinie séemeth to report in the 7. booke of his naturall historie that diuers countries made their computation of yéeres otherwise than we doo and that thereby it came to passe that some may séeme to haue liued longer than the common course This cannot possiblie be prooued by this argument bicause in the description of the arke and of the floud Gen. 7 12. there is mention made of the second and tenth moneth wherefore the same maner of yéeres was then that are now Gen. 8 5. An addition Yea and by the whole course of the historie ye may plainelie perceiue that the full number of daies and moneths which we vse in our age or at the least wise within verie few more or lesse were compleated at that time For in the 17. daie of the second moneth at what time as the fountaines of the great deepe did breake vp Noah entered into the arke The 17. daie of the second moneth the arke rested vpon the tops of Armenia In the first daie of the tenth moneth the tops of the mountaines were seene then followed fortie daies before Noah opened the windowe of the arke wherevnto adde 14. daies more which were spent in sending foorth of the dooue Which being in all 54. daies or two moneths make vp the ful number of twelue moneths the very same reckoning which we at this daie obserue So we haue it sufficientlie prooued that seeing as well the yeres as moneths of old time were the verie same that ours be or little differing the time of their life in those daies was no les than the scriptures declare ¶ Looke the propositions out of the fourth chapter of Gen. at the end of this booke Of Giants In Iud. 1. verse 10. 32 Now séeing that in the holie scriptures there is mention made oftentimes of giants Looke in Gen. 6 4. it shall not be vnprofitable if we speake somewhat of them First we must vnderstand By how manie names the giants are called in the holie scriptures What signifieth Hanak that they be called by diuers names in the scriptures as Rephaim Nephilim Emim and Hanakim The Hebrue verbe Hanak is to inuiron or compasse about and from thence is deriued the nowne Hanak and in the plurall number it is both the masculine and feminine gender and signifieth a chaine and it is transferred vnto notable famous men as if thou shouldest saie Knight and chainemen But they were called Emim by reason of a terror which they brought vpon others with their looke They were called Zamzumim of wickednes for they hauing confidence in their owne power and strength contemned both lawes iustice and honestie and they alwaies wrought wickednesse For doubtles the hebrue word Zimma signifieth wickednes or mischéefe Also they were named Rephaim bicause men méeting with them became in a maner astonished for that word otherwhile signifieth dead men Finallie they be called Nephilim as one may say oppressors of the verbe Naphal which is To fall or to rush vpon bicause they did violentlie run vpon all men Som thought that they were sometime called Gibborim but bicause we vse to refer that word vnto power and Gibborim are properlie called strong men therfore I would not put it among these Further What time giants began to be Augustine if thou wilt demand when giants began to be to follow the opinion of Augustine in the 16. booke De ciuitate Dei the 23. chapter we may saie that they were before the floud Wherein we beléeue him bicause he prooueth it by the testimonie of the holie scriptures for we haue it in the sixt of Genesis Gen. 6 4. that in those daies there were giants vpon the earth whose stocke although it were preserued after the floud yet he thinketh that it was not in anie great number 33 Besides this Whether giants were begotten by men there is a doubt as touching procreation and parents For some thinke that they were not begotten of men but that angels or spirits were their parents and this they saie is speciallie confirmed by that which is written in the booke of Genesis Gen. 6 1. The sonnes of God seeing the daughters of men that they were faire tooke them to wiues and of them were borne most mightie men or giants Of this fall of angels bicause they were conuersant with women manie of the ancient fathers are of one mind and among the rest Lactantius in the second booke the 15. chapter Lactantius For as we read there he thought that God feared least that sathan to whom he had granted dominion of the world would vtterlie haue destroied mankind and therefore he gaue vnto mankind angels for tutors by whose industrie and care they might be defended But they being as well prouoked by the craft of sathan as allured by the beautie of faire women cōmitted vncleannes with them wherefore he saith that both they were cast from their dignitie and were made souldiers of the diuell This indéed did Lactantius thinke yet he said not that through those méetings of the angels with women were borne giants but earthlie Daemons or spirits which walke about the earth to our great harme Eusebius Caesariensis Eusebius Caesariensis in his fift booke De praeparatione euangelica is in a maner of the same opinion For he saith also that the angels which fell begat of women whom they lewdlie loued those Daemons or spirits which afterward in sundrie wise brought great troubles to the world And to the verie same sort he referreth all those which the poets and historiographers taught to be gods whose battels contentions lusts sundrie and great tumults they haue mentioned either in verse or in prose Augustine But Augustine De ciuitate Dei the 15. booke and 23. chapter thinketh not that the opinion of these ancient fathers can be gathered out of that place of Genesis For he saith that such as be there called The sonnes of God were verie men Men of the stocke of Seth were
which before laie hidden in our minds Let the wicked doo what they will yet can they doo nothing more than is the will of God So said Peter in the Acts as touching Pilat and Herod Acts. 4 24. They agreed togither that they might doo whatsoeuer thy will and thy counsell had decreed to doo 10 But thou wilt saie Whether things of necessitie be vnder prouidence Some things be of necessitie which cannot otherwise be than they are doo those fall vnder the prouidence of God Yea trulie there is nothing created of such necessitie but if it be referred vnto God it hath the nature of a thing that commeth by chance For as we said God reacheth from end to end and ordereth all things What thing is of more necessitie than the course of the sâ—nne And yet Iosua made the sunne to stand still Iosua 10 1â— What thing is of more necessitie than that the fire should burne if fuell be applied therevnto Therefore it hath béene an old saieng If actiue things be applied to things passiue the action must follow of necessitie Yet neuertheles God brought to passe that those thrée yoong men walked safelie in the flaming fornace Dan. 3 93. What is of more necessitie than that the shadowe should followe the sunne shining And yet God brought to passe that when the sunne did shine Esaie 38 8. the shadowe went backward But man séemed to haue béene made and to be left in the hand of his owne counsell Ecclesiasticus 15 14. Thou shalt keepe those things saith Ecclesiasticus they shall keepe thee I grant that man as concerning the inward causes was so made at the beginning as nothing could be to him of anie necessitie but we doo not therefore exclude the grace of God and prouidence Let vs heare the holie scriptures as touching that matter For Ecclesiasticus is not among the number of the canonicall books Prou. 16. 1. The kings hart saith Salomon is in the hand of God Ezec. 20. 11. But God saith I haue giuen them precepts Ezec. 36. 26. But he also saith I will make you to walke in my commandements Againe I will giue you a new hart Man is not exempted from the prouidence of God and a new spirit Wherefore man is not to be exempted from the prouidence of God 11 But much lesse are those things to be excluded which séeme to be doone by chance Things by chance are vnder the prouidence of God For although we can not perceiue the reason of the second causes yet God séeth it yea the Philosophers teach vs that euerie cause which they call Per accidens that is Comming by chance must be reuoked vnto that which is a cause by it selfe for that which is Per accidens can not be anie cause Wherfore Aristotle in his litle booke De bona fortuna when he demanded for what cause some were fortunate and some not He answered that it is doone by a certeine violent motion and impulsion whereof neuerthelesse he that is driuen can not yéeld a cause hereby it commeth to passe saith he that some are fortunate Why some be fortunate and some not and some not Furthermore he saith that this euent if it be referred to our will knowledge happeneth by chance but that inforcement is a cause by it selfe But the question is not thus dissolued For how commeth it to passe that this fortune is giuen to one man and not to another The Astrologers would supplie that which they thought Aristotle wanted Ptolome in his booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 referreth this vnto the starres by which he saith men being diuerslie borne are carried some to prosperitie and some to aduersitie And this some called A power DaemoniuÌ„ hath relation aswell to ill fortune as to good some Constellation and other some Particular destinie Socrates called it DaemoniuÌ„ But whie it happeneth more to one man than to another more at one time than at another none other cause can be assigned but the prouidence of God which vndoubtedlie is that all things should be referred to the glorie of God Gen. 45. 8. It is not you saith Ioseph to his brethren that sould me into Aegypt but God sent me hither before you So God said that he sent Saule vnto Samuel 1. Sa. 9. 16. although it séemed as if he had turned out of the waie to him by chance So Christ said vnto his Apostles Mar. 14. 13. There shall one meete you bearing a pitcher of water These things were certeine vnto the prouidence of God although otherwise in the sight of men they might séeme but things comming by chance But thou wilt saie Be there then no second causes Dooth God nothing by his angels We take not awaie the second causes but we make them instruments of the prouidence of God for Angels be administring spirits Heb. 1. 14. Psal 102. And Dauid saith Who doo execute his will But although God send his angels yet he him selfe is present and principall ouer all things If I shall ascend saith Dauid into heauen Psal 139. 8. thou art there if I go downe into hell thou art there also For he dooth not so giue his angels charge as though he him selfe were absent Which thing the poets feigne of Apollo that he placed Pâ—aëton in his chariot and by that meanes all the heauens in his absence were set on fire But sinnes will some man saie depend not on prouidence How sinnes doo depend of Gods prouidence How sinnes be ruled by God shall be shewed afterward In the meane time this I saie The cause of sinne vndoubtedlie commeth from vs but at what time and against whom it should breake foorth that is in the power of God It was wholie determined by Nabuchadnezar Ezec. 21. 21. that he would oppresse some people but that he should oppresse the Iewes more than others that was prouided by God 12 The next question is Whether prouidence be vnchangeable Mala. 3. 6. Whether this prouidence be immutable Whie should it not For it is the rule of all things that be doone It is written in the third of Malachie I am the Lord am not changed In the first of Iames With him there is no variablenes Iames. 1. 17. nor shadowing by turning And in the 19. of Prouerbs There be manie cogitations in the hart of man Prou. 19. 12 but the counsell of the Lord continueth stedfast In the 46. of Esaie It is I that speake Esai 46. 10. and my counsell abideth surelie and I doo what so euer pleaseth me For séeing prouidence is both the knowledge and will of God and that those things belong to the verie essence of God it can not be changed except God him selfe be changed therewithall The second causes indéed séeing they be diuerse and sundrie they oftentimes hinder themselues A similitude which thing we sée come to passe in the influences of
least forsooth it should be troden vnder féet or spet vpon But Petrus Crinitus saith that he sawe that lawe written absolutelie whereby is commanded that the image of Christ should not be made of anie matter But that he cannot be counterfeited as touching his humane nature there are no firme reasons brought 11 The angels as touching their substance and nature séeing they be spirits cannot be expressed yet is it lawfull sometimes to picture them in such wise as they haue shewed themselues vnto men for they be not as God is infinite but are bounded and limited Neither dooth the commandement of God forbid this vnlesse their pictures were made to the intent they should be religiouslie and deuoutlie worshipped That men may be pictured Also men may be pictured and counterfeited séeing the same is not repugnant either to the thing either to art or else to the commandement of God So is it lawfull also to forme and picture foorth the crosse of the Lord The image of the crosse of Christ trées fruits and other sensible or visible bodies for the arts of painting and counterfeiting be the verie gifts of God wherefore they must serue to some vse And by this I gather that they be the gifts of God bicause he indued the builders of Moses tabernacle with his spirit Bezeleel I meane and Aholiba Exod. 31 2 and 6. Neither is it lawfull to saie that God dooth inspire euill things with his spirit and such things as be against his lawe Moreouer the power it selfe of imitating séeing it is naturall vnto man verelie he had the same of God and not of himselfe And it followeth of right that some vse shuld be therof bicause God hath bestowed no gifts vpon his creatures especiallie vpon men which should not be lawfull for them sometime to vse Neither dooth he take awaie the vse of those gifts bicause manie doo abuse them and this is easilie confirmed by manie similitudes The power of procreation is giuen vnto men although some doo shamefullie abuse the same vnto lusts So the sight is granted which they doo peruerselie vse who for lust sake doo behold women which be none of their owne And so it might be said of the rest Againe we knowe that Salomon would haue images to be made for his roiall throne 1. Kin. 10 19 which should haue the forms of yoong lions neither was he for that matter reprehended by anie prophet Wherefore in a prophane thing it is lawfull to haue pictures and grauen images I am not ignorant that the ancient fathers and speciallie Clement and Tertullian detested the acts of painters and image-makers But I vnderstand this in respect that these workmen did professe Christ and yet they made images pictures which might easilie be worshipped and peraduenture they diuided them among the idolaters thinking it sufficient to their owne saluation if they themselues did not worship them The opinion of the Turke touching images But the Turks be of the opinion that there should be no images made at all wherevpon in their coines they onlie haue letters which be written in the Arabian toong and vpon their tapestrie they also vse to weaue certeine knots The vse of images may be good for the kéeping of things in memorie for the garnishing of houses especiallie of kings and noble personages and also to serue for some honest pleasure wherewith men sometime may both delite and recreate themselues Howbeit in such light commodities there are oftentimes manie faults for false images are sundrie times thrust in in stéed of true As if so be a nation or people be described to be ouercome by their enimies which neuerthelesse was the vanquisher that must néeds be reprooued séeing it dooth iniurie vnto others Also if one be pictured to haue doone some heinous act which in verie déed he did not Neither must they be borne with which doo paint false miracles whereby idolatrie may win credit And doubtlesse in our time there haue not wanted such as haue indeuoured to paint the miracles of Christs infancie which things are no where found written and séeme to be altogither fabulous So some likewise doo paint out in manie places Christopher and George rather monstruouslie than trulie We must therfore take héed least men be perniciouslie seduced by false images I haue added perniciouslie bicause the Gentaures other things of like sort may for garnishing sake be expressed without anie harme vnto them which are beholders Others attempt to paint out vertues which haue no bodies Images of vertues but doo belong vnto the mind which is a spirit Also they painted or fashioned them like to virgins and matrones and therein I thinke is no deceipt whereby the beholders can be deceiued Howbeit this séemeth the safest waie of all other that if things should be painted the profitable and holie histories should chéeflie be painted whereby the beholders may receiue some edifieng Further we must beware of lauishing out of monie for there be some which in procuring of pictures and images are starke mad These costs must not be preferred before the necessities of the poore How greatlie herein it hath béene offended A superstitious vse of images the temples from our forefathers which be yet extant doo euidentlie declare Besides this we must take verie diligent héed that there be no filthie things painted Against shamefull picturings for we are otherwise of our owne vilenesse and corruption of nature sufficientlie kindled vnto lust If it be trulie said 1. Co. 15 33 that Euill speaking corrupteth good maners no lesse doo filthie images corrupt the beholders Tertullian writeth Tertullian in his apologetico that the Ethniks painted the image of Christ with asses eares in despite of our Sauiour Christ Wherfore such an image ought to be accounted blasphemous Lastlie from them must be remooued all religious worship the which that it be not giuen them it must be alwaies prouided that they be not placed in the churches 12 Séeing therefore it is now declared what things it is lawfull to picture after this we must diligentlie examine whether it may be lawfull to vse anie adoration or worshipping in images In the disputation whereof we will first recite what our aduersaries haue thought What a holie worshipping is what kind of worship shall be spoken of Holie worshipping the Gréekes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Latins Pietas Looke In Rom. 1. vpon these words Whom I serue that is Godlinesse which neuerthelesse is extended both vnto the parents and vnto the countrie But we now talke onlie of religious worshipping inquire whether the same may be attributed vnto images Diuine worship or honor is expressed of the Hebrue in two words A distinction of diuine worship of the verbe Iare which is To feare and Auad which is To serue And vndoubtedlie vnder the name of feare is comprehended all religion which is placed in the mind By Auad is declared an
Neither is there anie doubt but the fiue cities were destroied with fire by the ministerie of angels But otherwhiles angels doo serue God in the defending of men For an angell set himselfe betwéene the camps of the Aegyptians and Israelites Exo. 14 19. in the same verie night when the Israelites should passe through the red sea Gen. 19 16. Lot also was preserued Acts. 12 ◠Matth. 4 1. and Peter brought out of prison by the diligence of angels And angels were present with Christ when he was tempted by the diuell in the wildernesse Moreouer Dan. 12 1. they defend kingdoms and prouinces as it is written in Daniel And it is declared that by the hands of them the spirit of Lazarus was brought to the bosome of Abraham And in the psalme it is soong Luk. 16 18. Psal 19 11. He hath giuen his angels charge of thee and they shall keepe thee in all thy waies Also they were séene stand for the defense of Elizaeus against his enimies 2. King 6 17 as the holie historie reporteth and testifieth Furthermore God vseth them for instructing of men Dan. 10 5. Zach. 1 14. Matth. 1 20. as we read in Daniel and Zacharie Marie was instructed by Gabriel that she should bring foorth the fruit of saluation So was Ioseph Matth. 2 13 concerning the taking of his wife vnto him from whom he was determined to depart and so was he likewise as touching his flight into Aegypt Luk. 1 26. and returning againe What shall I saie more They be messengers of God for to reueale his will Heb. 1 14. 34 Yea and the ministers of the church be called angels Apoc. 2 1. and are represented by them for they aduance the holie word of God amongst men Ezec. 10 1. Wherfore Ezechiel sawe an engin wherein Cherubims were carried whereby as the wise and learned doo interpret are ment the prophets apostles and ministers of the church of whom God that is Iesus Christ our Sauior is caried by his word into all parts of the world and wheresoeuer they come they celebrate the praises of God amongst men euen as did the Seraphims of Esaie Esaie 6 3. Manie things besides these may be brought whereby the allegorie betwéene ministers and angels might be amplified but with these few we will content our selues I returne therefore vnto the angels themselues by whole ministerie also I affirme that God gouerneth naturall things For there is no doubt but that the celestiall spheres by their labour are turned about and the maruellous things of nature are brought foorth For which cause it is verie elegantlie written Psal 18. 12. that God himselfe is carried vpon the Cherubims And the scriptures testifie these diuine spirits to be of such woorthinesse and excellencie Ezec. 1 18. that it setteth them out vnto vs not onelie with wings but also full of eies that is to saie that they execute the office committed to them by God both wiselie and spéedilie which two things are most woorthilie commended in ministers and ambassadors For then they rightlie execute their office if they ioine celeritie with wisedome And thus much shall suffice of Cherubims In Gen. 13 verse 19. 35 But now let vs sée somewhat concerning this word Teraphim Some will haue it that they were instruments for marking out of times What is ment by Teraphim or else of regions stations and degrées of stars whereby afterward by the science of Astrologie men might prognosticate of the euents to come But this is not much allowed for they were rather images as in the historie of Dauid is manifestlie séene when as Michol the daughter of Saule 1. Sa. 19 13. placed a Teraphim in the bed and feined Dauid to be there laid whom notwithstanding she had priuilie sent awaie But it had béene no likelie waie for the deuising of a lie vnles Teraphims had béene of humane shape Wherefore it is said by others that they be images so made by the obseruation of the stars as they be able to make answer and giue out oracles when they are consulted withall Of which opinion among others is Aben-Ezra But against this opinion it séemeth that that may be obiected which is pronounced in the psalme concerning idols A mouth they haue Psal 115 7. and speake not But if so be they answer How shall this take place In the verie same psalme the question is answered They speake not in their throte bicause in verie déed men do speake by a naturall power of life through an arterie procéeding from the lights The diuell speaketh in idols But in these kind of images not the life but the diuell speaketh Wherefore the Iewes otherwise ouerwhelmed or drowned in these kind of superstitions doo shew that the witches did sacrifice some child whom they knew to be a first borne whose head being cut off they imbalme with salt and spices that it may remaine vncorrupt vnder whose toong they put a plate of gold whereon they set the name of an vncleane spirit which they inuocate setting vp lights they worship this mischéeuous head and aske counsell of it and from thence haue answers the diuell moouing the toong thereof In Zacharie it is said Zacha. 10 2 Teraphim in the scriptures taken in ill part Ose 5 14. that the Teraphims did speake lies And maruell not that it is written in Osea that the people séeme to be left without Ephod and Teraphim as thought it perteined vnto God that Teraphim should be worshipped euen as the Ephod was For this is not true for Teraphim in the holie scriptures is alwaies taken in the woorse part But there the meaning is that the people of God should be scattered and afflicted so as neither they might reteine the true worshipping of God neither should they be at leisure to worship idols Ephod in that place may be referred to good religion and Teraphim vnto wicked neither of which two those that be in captiuitie and affliction will reteine But I maruell how some dare be so bold to saie that Laban did not worship such kind of Teraphim or images Gen. 31 30. when as he plainlie saith that they were his gods I am of the mind that he worshipped togither both God and idols For it is verie likelie that he had recourse to the idolatrie of the inhabitants of Mesopotamia and he reteined somewhat of those things which perhaps his father Nachor taught as touching the true God Although that Nachor also was an idolater as it is thought of the Iewes not vnlike to be true Num. 23 4. as was Balaam the soothsaier which saith that he was called by Balac out of the verie same countrie But this onelie will I saie as touching idolatrie and the indeuour about images and idols whereby things to come might be knowne that these things began of a curiositie Curiositie of knowing things to come was the cause of idolatrie
thought well of thâ—se things touching which he had erred in his booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which if it be true then forsomuch as in these bookes he had a most wicked iudgement of the sonne of God it may easilie be prooued that these things could not be written by him in his Commentaries to the Romans But howsoeuer it be touching Origin Origins Commentaries vpon the Romans Cyprian for his Commentaries to the Romans are not extant in the Gréeke whereby we should iudge anie thing of them this is certeine that Cyprian a most ancient writer in his second booke against the Iewes the fift chapter vseth this testimonie to prooue the diuinitie of Christ albeit that when he citeth the words of Paule he leaueth out this word God And so we perceiue to be doone by Hilarie vpon the 122. psalme Hilarie But that may séeme to haue come through the negligence of the Registers as Erasmus himselfe confesseth Neither must we omit that that particle Ouer all may be adioined to that particle Blessed which followeth so that the sense is God that is to be praised aboue all ¶ Touching the vniting of substance of the two natures into one person of Christ looke the dialog of Peter Martyr himselfe set foorth particularlie concerning that matter 5 But in that sentence of Paule In 1. Cor. 15. vers 47. which is written in the first to the Corinthians the 15. chapter The first man is of the earth earthie the second man is the Lord himselfe from heauen That to this purpose the Antithesis might be perfect manie haue thought it should be vnderstood that euen as the first man had his bodie fashioned out of the earth so the second man namelie Christ brought his bodie out of heauen Hereof it commeth that Valentinus Martion Swenkfields heresie and among the latter heretikes Swenkfeldius and his fellowes agrée not that Christ tooke flesh of the virgine but thought that hée brought his bodie with him out of heauen But it is not necessarie that the comparison should be answerable in euerie point This rather is a certeine allusion of the apostle wherein is not weighed the substance of things compared but the qualities conditions and gifts of nature are compared togither Neither meaneth the apostle anie other thing but that Adam was the figure of this our life and that the latter Adam I meane Christ is the forme of the life to come which we expect Neither dooth hée here make mention of a bodie naie rather when he had said The first man of the earth earthie hée added And the second is the Lord from heauen It is not denied of the godlie that Christ is from heauen séeing they attribute vnto him the diuine nature but yet it commeth not to passe thereby that whatsoeuer the Lord who came downe from heauen had is either of heauenlie nature or else brought from heauen For if we list after that sort to reason of the first Adam we shall not say that he is vtterlie of the earth earthie séeing beside the bodie he had also a soule which is a diuine thing and was not taken out of the slime of the earth So as according to this reason we may saie that as Adam had not onelie a bodie fashioned out of the earth but also a heauenlie mind so Christ comprehendeth not onelie the diuine nature which was out of heauen The Lord came out of heauen although he had his bodie out of the earth Augustine but a naturall bodie which he tooke out of the earth in the virgins wombe And Augustine in the 13. chapter De ciuitate Dei feareth not howsoeuer to attribute vnto the man Christ a naturall bodie otherwise if we shall grant vnto Christ a bodie brought out of heauen he shall not be a man séeing heauenlie things are furthest of all differing from earthlie things But that Christ was verie man as well the scripture euerie where testifieth as also Paule in this place expresselie calleth him a man How Christ his bodie may be said to haue come out of heauen Luke 1 35. Albeit as touching the humanitie Christ may be said to haue come out of heauen séeing his bodie had no originall from the séed of man but from the holie Ghost as the angell promised vnto the virgine when he said The spirit of the highest shall ouershadow thee Moreouer he might be said to come from heauen in respect of affections and actions of his humane conuersation when as in maners and holinesse of life he altogither behaued himselfe heauenlie and diuinelie Furthermore the apostle speaketh of Christ hauing respect vnto the state of the resurrection wherevnto we also shall be brought And it is not to be doubted but that he challenged vnto himselfe the condition of resurrection not naturallie but by his diuine power 6 But now séeing the exposition of this place is manifest there resteth yet to reprooue them which haue otherwise iudged saieng that Christ tooke not his bodie of the virgine but brought the same foorth with him out of heauen The reasons of them which saie that Christ brought his bodie out of heauen and that he passed through the virgine Marie as through a conduit But speciallie let vs consider what reasons they rest vpon First they saie that If the bodie of Christ be not diuine and heauenlie but a creature taken of the virgins wombe when as Paule saith The first reason Ephes 3 17 that Christ dwelleth in our harts as we read vnto the Ephesians we shall haue no more but halfe of him For it shall be no otherwise than according to his diuine nature But we answer them that in what sort Christ dwelleth in our harts the same apostle dooth plainlie declare for he added By faith Which faith dooth not apprehend Christ in part but wholie as well in the sacrament of the Eucharist as also in the word of God which is set foorth vnto vs for our saluation And that this must be iudged after a spirituall sort it appéereth by comparing togither of other places In the eight chapter vnto the Romans it is said verse 11. If Christ doo dwell in you God which raised him from the dead shall also quicken your mortall bodies for his spirit sake which dwelleth in you Here now we plainlie heare that Christ by his spirit dwelleth in vs. And in the third chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians verse 16. we are by no other reason affirmed to be the temple of God but bicause the holie Ghost dwelleth in vs. Neither is there required vnto that coniunction which we haue with Christ that his bodie should in verie déed penetrate our breasts or our minds By faith and by the spirit Christ is all wholie apprehended of vs as well touching his diuine nature as touching his humane nature And when we affirme the diuine nature of Christ to be euerie-where we doo not so say of the humane It must not be
spirituall man and to him which is renewed by Christ as Christ himselfe testifieth who speaking vnto his disciples said Feare ye not them which kill the bodie Matt. 10 28 but are not able to kill the soule But I will shew you whom ye ought rather to feare namelie God who after he hath killed the bodie is able to destroie the soule in hell fire Which of vs therefore déerelie beloued brethren in Christ will not so prepare himselfe as he may receiue with a chéerefull mind such a iudge through whose sentence an end shall be appointed vnto all the iniuries that are doone vnto vs Luke 12 35. This is that most high good man of the house which at the length shall make all his seruants to be knowne and shall demand an account of them touching such affaires as he hath committed vnto them This is that mightie rich merchant Matt. 25 14. that will returne to call for gaines of his great summe of monie deliuered into banke Matth. 25 1. This is that new bridegroome that by a iust choise shall seuer the wise virgins from the foolish This is that wise and expert steward Matt. 25 32. that knoweth how to laie vp the pure wheate in his barne and to burne the chafte with fire and who like a good shéepheard can seuer the shéepe from the goates and like a warie fisher the good fishes from the bad and finallie Matt 13 49. Ibid. 37. who like a wise husbandman will throwe the cockle into the fire but wiselie will saue the profitable and pretious séed Whosoeuer therefore thirsteth after the pure church or the sincere kingdome of Christ and after the sound and perfect fellowship of the chosen or that dooth long to sée that most excellent and immaculate spouse cannot but be pearsed in mind with the remembrance of that most swéet and acceptable daie that it is no maruell if the same be therefore called by Paule Blessed hope And in Luke Titus 2 13. after that he had reckoned vp diuerse tokens of the comming of that daie he added Luke 21 28 When ye shall see these tokens then looke vp and lift vp your heads for your redemption draweth neere 29 But least the ioie conceiued of that latter comming should be disturbed through the mistrust of saluation which might enter into your mind while ye vnderstand that the same most high iudge will be inquisitiue of mens works and this I saie bicause if thou wilt beléeue me there shall be no man how much honestie soeuer he be indued with that standing vpon the consideration of his owne works is able to hold fast this confidence and so if these things be not rightlie vnderstood by you in that blessed daie there would séeme to be an argument presented before your eies of nothing else but horrible excéeding feare of euerlasting death we must throughlie consider Who shall come to be examined at the iudgement of Christ and diligentlie weigh what shall come into triall and examination at the latter daie Wherein I first affirme that there shall be no néed of examination at all against the infidels as they that for their infidelitie be alreadie condemned Iohn 3 18. So Christ plainlie teacheth in Iohn Whosoeuer saith he beleeueth not is alreadie condemned But bicause this doubting might créepe into the minds of manie how it should come to passe that of them which are equallie intituled by the name title of christians some are adiudged to saluation and other some to eternall damnation for this cause our most iust iudge Christ will haue the reason of this difference to appeare to all the world séeing as he will neuer hereafter suffer his iustice to be hidden to the world in such wise as it was when he came first into the world to be conuersant among vs he will I saie at that second comming of his make his iustice knowne vnto all persons that it may manifestlie appeare who hath trulie taken vpon him his name and titles or who hath doone the same fainedlie and by hypocrisie 30 At the length also we may be warned hereby that not onelie the dead but also the liuing must come vnder the iudgement of Christ Which must be vnderstood as Paule teacheth in his epistle to the Corinths that vndoutedlie We shall not all die but we shall be all changed 1. Co. 15 51 And to the Thessal We which shall liue and shall be remaining 1. The. 4 17. shall be caught vp togither with them into the clouds to meete with the Lord in the aire and so we shall euer be with the Lord. Hereby it is gathered that of them which shall stand before that high iudgement seate some shall be raised from death and dust and others in verie déed shall not die but it will come to passe by the grace of GOD that they shall be translated vnto a better state the same not subiect to anie infirmities They shall be those elect which then shall be found aliue for there will be no néed for them to put off their bodies but their bodilie masse shall atteine vnto glorie so that death shall not take the same awaie from them Among them Paule did wish to be numbred as it is written in the epistle to the Corinthians 1. Cor. 15 32. and we also with him expect the same with great desire Howbeit in this matter as in all other things also let vs so behaue our selues that all may tend vnto the glorie of GOD. I beleeue in the holie Ghost Touching the signification of the word Spirit 31 Séeing the word Spirit signifieth manie things to the end we may the more easilie perceiue that which we beléeue it shal be verie good first to seuer and distinguish into diuers parts whatsoeuer is signified to vs vnder that name Out of which significations we will choose that which is agréeable vnto our purpose and will prosecute the same more at large That word spirit in generall dooth alwaies expresse a certeine secret strength or power which is able both to mooue and to driue forward Wherefore the winds togither with those organs whereby the life dooth gouerne mooue and stir the bodie are called the spirit And although this power be included and mixed with corporall nature yet séeing the bodies wherein it is conuersant be so subtile that they cannot for the most part be séene this word is also deriued to this point that it signifieth natures and essences which be simple and of diuers sorts such as is God the companie of angels togither also with the souls of men now separated from their bodies and therefore the diuine nature is called a spirit This dooth Christ manifestlie declare in Iohn Iohn 4 24. Bicause God is a spirit hee will be worshipped in spirit Neither is there in this respect anie difference betwéene the father the sonne and the holie Ghost To conclude that word of the spirit signifieth not onelie the
christian without the same Neuerthelesse Paule in his epistle to the Romans dooth boldlie affirme that He which hath not the spirit Rom. 8 9. the same is no sonne Wherefore let such men go and by the same infidelitie whereby they mistrust of the hauing of Gods spirit let them stand in doubt whether they be christians The holie Ghost in vs and how And if so be anie man aske how we haue him I answer that the most excellent father for Christ his sake sendeth him vnto vs according as Christ promised to vs in the person of his apostles Iohn 14 26. The comforter saith he which is the holie Ghost whom my father will send in my name c. Yea and this I may boldlie adde that Christ himselfe sendeth him vnto vs from the father euen as in an other place he saith The spirit Iohn 16 14 and 14 16. which I will send from the father vnto you Neither is he giuen vnto vs either from the father or from the sonne for anie other end but to inrich vs abundantlie with those gifts and verie excellent riches But yet the scripture sheweth that his cheefest worke dooth speciallie consist in teaching Christ promised to his disciples Ioh. 16 13. that he would send the holie Ghost which should teach them and lead them into all truth which he had shewed vnto them He warned them also Matt. 10 19 that when they should be brought before princes they should take no care bicause it should not be they that should speake but the spirit of their father that should speake in them And certeinlie the apostles were not dispersed abroad in the world for preaching of the Gospell before they were indued from aboue with that heauenlie power by the helpe whereof they not onlie preached the Gospell mightilie for bringing of men vnto the obedience of Christ but they also established the truth of their doctrine with woonderfull signes and miracles And that maner of teaching by which that spirit is performed towards vs must be inwardlie considered in the mind the which he not onelie replenisheth with his light but also dooth gentlie allure and persuade the same and maketh those things acceptable from which otherwise by reason of our corrupt nature we doo vtterlie flie Thus dooth he worke a maruelous transforming in the minds of the elect while he stirreth them vp vnto the indeuour of good works and godlie actions which by the guide of nature they might not be able to performe 34 And yet dooth he not by force constraine them vnto those works but rather with effect persuade them inwardlie And this is that happie libertie wherewith the chosen of Christ be indued who by the power and persuasion of the same spirit doo imploie their whole indeuour vnto such actions which by the onelie guide of nature could neither be doone by them nor yet would be acceptable vnto God Further also from that spirituall doctrine which flourisheth inwardlie there springeth afterward an assured mortification as well in the mind as in the flesh as Paule testifieth in his epistle to the Romans whom he warned Rom. 8 13. that If they would by the spirit mortifie the deeds of the flesh they should liue To these things adde if you will that the comfort which springeth by the assurance of our saluation is so great as euen in the middest of troubles miseries calamities and sorrowes of this world we may lead a chéerefull and merrie life And that not without cause séeing we féele in vs that singular and noble gift which Paule to the Ephesians calleth The pledge of our saluation Ephes 1 14. I sée not now how anie man vpon iust cause can doubt of his comming one daie into that state of Christ when he perceiueth alreadie that his soule liueth by the same spirit of Christ But if a man will demand how we knowe that our soule is quickened by the same spirit Answer may be made by the words of Paule I liue not anie longer saith Paule to the Galathians but Christ liueth in me Gal. 2 20. And vnto the Philippians Phil. 1 21. Christ vnto me is life Which saiengs declare no other thing but that the godlie doo liue in Christ and Christ in them and that by his spirit It is also written in the epistle to the Romans Rom. 8 16. that The same spirit dooth testifie with our spirit that we be the sonnes of GOD. And it is not fit by anie meanes to refuse so certeine a testimonie But whosoeuer hath not this testimonie inwardlie in himselfe is vnwoorthie to be called a christian But if any man obiect Paules assurance of his faith that although Paule were indued with this assured persuasion and that he felt inwardlie this inward testimonie in himselfe it followeth not that the selfe-same thing must be granted to be in others I answer that Paule wrote all these things vnto the Romans who as yet were farre off from perfection neither had they profited so much as Paule And that doo their own contentions suspicions and rash iudgments and also their verie féeble weake consciences beare witnesse all which things the apostle dooth oftentimes reprehend in these his writings And yet neuerthelesse when the Romans were such he wrote vnto them of that adoption whereby God had determined to make them his children when they should imbrace christian religion Wherefore beloued brethren let vs put off the spirit that miserable doubteth of our saluation séeing there is nothing that is more enimie to our faith which is the liuelie and most sure foundation of all our felicitie Who dooth not sufficientlie vnderstand how great contraries are beléeuing and doubting and how much they are repugnant the one to the other I certeinlie for my part doo not sée how these things may agrée To beléeue trulie in Christ my onlie and true sauiour and To stand likewise in doubt of him whether he will saue me or no séeing he hath receiued me into his faith and so greatlie testifieth by his spirit vnto my mind that swéet and bountifull affection of his towards me And if we admit the testimonies of men who naturallie are liers proue to deceit that we in like maner should cleaue to them how much rather ought we to repose our selues in all those things which that good true spirit of God dooth confirme by his testimonie Vnlesse peraduenture we suffer our selues to be persuaded that there is more truth and fidelitie in men than there is in God Which if anie be so hardie to saie he shall in this point alone most plainelie bewraie himselfe to be such a one as he is Wherefore let vs yéeld vnto the most benigne and mercifull God as great and manie thanks as we can who hath not by the ministerie of angels or of anie other creature whatsoeuer but by the power of his owne spirit ingraffed vs in Christ his true and naturall sonne and by him hath renewed
Iames Haimo vpon the Gospell of crcumcision Sedulius vpon the first and second chapters vnto the Romans Thomas vpon the third to the Galathians Bruno vpon the fourth vnto the Romans Arnobius vpon the 106. Psalme Now I thinke I haue spoken inough as touching this question ¶ Osianders feigned deuise as touching essentiall righteousnes is confuted in the epistle to the Lords of Polonia The fift Chapter Of peace and Christian libertie where also is intreated of offense of the conscience and especiallie of the choise of meates In Rom. 18 verse 15. The summe of the preaching of the Gospell is peace 1. Cor. 5 19. THe summe of the preaching of the Gospell is peace especiallie with God for they which doo preach as the apostle teacheth in the latter epistle to the Corinthians bring with them the words of reconciliation Neither exhort they anie thing else but that we should be reconciled vnto God through Christ God in times past was angrie with mankind he punished and condemned them he reiected their praiers and their works and although they were notable yet did he abhorre them bicause they were the works of his enimies And on the other side men were not onelie miserable but also they hated euen God himselfe they wished that there might be no GOD they detested his iudgements and fled from him as from a tyrant and cruell executioner for that their owne conscience on euerie side accused them What is the peace of Christians Luke 2 14. But the Gospell preacheth peace and reconciliation through Christ This is it which the angels did sing at the birth of Christ Glorie on high peace on earth and good will towards men The angels aprooued this worke of God which had decréed by his sonne to redéeme mankind And this their praise and commendation is the glorie of God Moreouer forsomuch as we now through Christ be reconciled vnto God we obteine peace inwardlie as touching our mind for being renewed by grace and the spirit we lead an vpright life neither doo our wicked affections turmoile vs anie more our conscience reprooueth vs not neither are our harts by furious rages stirred vp to perturbations Further we wish well and doo good vnto our neighbours as vnto our selues and liue in peace with them and that most firmelie Neither is this anie let which Christ said I came not to send peace vpon the earth Matt. 10 34. What peace Christ came not to send for that peace is to be vnderstood as touching the peace of the flesh and of the world For with the peace of the Gospell whereof we now intreat are ioined great perils and discommodities of the flesh persecutions and losse of goods doo straitwaie assaile vs. What good is Goodnesse as the philosophers saie is that which althings desire And to declare the nature thereof more at large and plainlie all things are good so farre foorth as in them there is a certeine respect deriued towards vs that they are either profitable commodious or plesant to our vses But through the power of the Gospell we obteine this benefit that all things are made to serue vs 1. Cor. 3 22. All things saith Paule are yours whether it be life or death or Paule or Cephas and we are Christs and Christ is Gods Againe To them that loue God Rom. 8 27. all things worke to good And that which Esaie taught is to be noted to wit Esai 61 1. How we are by Christ deliuered from euils That by these messengers deliuerance must be preached For although that death misfortunes pouertie diseases and such other kind of euils doo still vexe vs yet are we said to be deliuered from them by Christ bicause they haue not anie longer the nature of punishments For all these discōmodities of the flesh God hath by his death and crosse sanctified so that they haue no more in them the respect of punishment but vnto vs are made instructions fatherlie chastisements victories triumphes and notable acts 2 But to omit nothing What peace in the Hebrue signifieth we ought not to be ignorant that in the Hebrue toong Schalom that is Peace signifieth Happines of things so that whereas the Gréeks saie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the superscription of their letters the Hebrues vse to write Schalom that is Peace And so séeing the Euangelists doo pronounce peace they preach perfect and true happinesse And if thou demand wherein consisteth such a peace goodnesse and deliuerance we answer This peace consisteth in the kingdome of God Matt. 10 7. Esai 52 7. that to speake bréeflie it consisteth in the kingdome of God Therefore Christ when he sent his disciples to preach willed them to preach that The kingdome of heauen is at hand The selfe-same dooth Esaie saie when he writeth And they shall saie vnto Sion Thy God reigneth Hitherto hath sinne reigned wherefore Paule said Rom. 6 12. Let not sinne reigne in your mortall bodie Rom. 5 14. Death also hath reigned for the same apostle saith Death hath reigned from Adam euen vnto Moses The diuell also hath reigned whom the Lord calleth The prince of this world and Paule Iohn 12 31. Ephe. 6 12. The gouernour of this world and the god of this world All these things haue hitherto miserablie exercised their tyrannie ouer vs but now the Lord reigneth For as touching outward kingdoms What maner of princes the Hebrues had the Iewes vndoubtedlie had manie iudges and manie kings few good some tollerable but a great manie most wicked tyrants And they which were good as Dauid Ezechias Iosias and such like were notwithstanding weake neither could they either defend the people from calamities or make them good Wherfore the Iewes were oftentimes oppressed of their enimies led awaie into captiuitie and from thence being deliuered were at rest for a while But after Alexander Magnus came the Macedonians gréeuouslie vexed Iurie After them came Pompeius Crassus Herod and at the last Vespasianus and Titus who vtterlie ouerthrew all Also the church of Christ had hir externall princes partlie wicked and partlie good in respect of ciuill iustice Then it goeth wel with vs when Christ reigneth in vs. Dan. 2 44. but yet verie weake Wherfore our estate can neuer be in good case vnlesse Christ reigne in vs. The kingdome of heauen as Daniel in his 2. chap. saith is that which is neuer destroied Therein is peace not for a moment of time but for euer for in the psalme it is said In his daies shall righteousnesse spring Psal 72 7. and abundance of peace so long as the moone endureth And in Esaie Esai 9 7. And of his peace there shall be no end Wherein the kingdome of God consisteth And herein consisteth this kingdome that we be directed by the word and by the spirit of God by these two waies Christ reigneth in vs. The word sheweth what is to be beléeued and what
this last state doo we confesse our soules to be after this life doo aptlie interprete the saiengs of the elder fathers to wit that the saints haue not as yet full felicitie and perfect reward for they desire the resurrection Which desire notwithstanding of theirs séeing it is in them without trouble it is no hindrance to their tranquillitie Neither is the argument which they sometime vse of anie weight Matt. 25 34. namelie that the elect shall in the daie of iudgement be called to the possession of the kingdome of God for it is not thereby prooued that they are now altogether without the same for they haue it now begun but they shall haue it then fullie perfect and manifest vnto all men 1. Co. 15 24 And shall not God the father be said at the last daie to receiue the kingdome of the sonne Who will affirme for this cause that he dooth not now reigne He reigneth vndoubtedlie although he haue manie enimies against him neither is his kingdome euident and famous vnto all men These be principall and plaine testimonies which we haue brought against this same error The 4. reason Eccle. 12 7. 22 Whereto we may adde that which Salomon hath at the end of Ecclesiastes The dust shal be turned againe into the earth from whence it came and the spirit shall returne vnto God who made it The 5. reason If it returne vnto God it is not to be sent awaie by him And Christ said that It is the will of the father Iohn 6. 39. that he which beleeueth in the sonne should haue life euerlasting and I saith he will raise him vp at the last daie Two things are here promised vnto vs one is eternall life the which séemeth not to be staid in the meane time by so long a sléepe the other is resurrection which shal be giuen vs at the time appointed The 6. reason And Polycarpus which florished in the time of the apostles as it is declared in the fourth booke of the ecclesiasticall historie The ecclesiasticall historie when he was to be burned for the confession of the faith testified that he should the verie same daie be present in spirit before the Lord whereby we see what iudgement the primitiue church had hereof The 7. reason Rom. 8 14. Yea and Paule vnto the Romans writeth that They be the sonnes of God which are led by the spirit of God But we are not mooued by the spirit of God to sléepe but both to vnderstand God The 8. reason Psal 84 8. and also to loue him earnestlie And it is a woonder that séeing we ought to go forward vnto Sion for to sée and from vertue to vertue or as we find in the Hebrue from abundance to abundance how it cōmeth to passe that these men doo by sléepe so long interrupt this course The 9. reason Verelie while we here liue and vnderstand and loue God although the bodie be burdensome to the soule and this earthlie mansion presse downe the vnderstanding and that the spirit must néeds euermore wrestle against the flesh while the soule is kept within the bodie as in a doongeon doubtlesse these burdens being laid awaie it séemeth to be beléeued that we shall more loue God and better know him and that especiallie séeing the apostle hath promised The 10. reason Phil. 1 6. that God which hath begoone his woorke in vs will finish the same euen vntill the daie of Christ And if so be that he finish it he will not haue it broken off as these men saie And that last of all The 11. reason Matt. 22 32. must be considered of which Christ said was written of Abraham Isaake and Iacob to wit that God was their God and he added that He was not the God of the dead but of the liuing Now if they liue it behooueth them to doo some thing séeing to liue is to doo Neither dooth anie other action agrée with a spirit frée from the flesh I meane with a christian man than to vnderstand his GOD and to imbrace him by loue Io. 11 11. 1. Thes 4 13 Neither dooth the scripture fauour their opinion when as it saith euerie where that The dead doo sleepe for all that is ment as touching the bodie which after death is affected after the manner of sléepers Whie the holie ghost saith that the dead do sleepe And the holie Ghost vsed that forme of speaking chéeflie that the resurrection of the bodie might come to our remembrance for we know that they which sléepe shall after a while be raised vp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this forme of speaking the ancient fathers called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Places appointed for sepulchres as if so be thou shouldst saie Dorters or Sléeping places But we doo not thinke that the soules are buried but the bodies onelie so as these phrases of the scriptures doo not defend them Of wandering Spirits 23 Furthermore In 1. Kin. 12 the spirits of them that be dead wander not here and there vpon the earth as Chrysostome verie well taught in his second homilie of Lazarus Chrysost and vpon the eight chapter of Matthew the 29. homilie where he demandeth the cause whie those possessed with the diuell which are there spoken of are said to haue dwelt in the graues And he testifieth that in his time there was an ill opinion by which the spirits of them that died of a violent death were thought to be turned into wicked spirits and were seruiceable and obedient vnto them which had béene authors of the murther And he saith that the diuell feigned these things first that he might obscure the glorie of the martyrs as though that their soules after death became diuels Further by this persuasion he brought the coniurers and soothesaiers cruellie to kill children and yong men as if they should haue their soules for bondslaues Howbeit these things as that verie learned father testifieth are altogether repugnant to the holie scriptures which saie Wisd 3 1. that The soules of the righteous are in the hand of God And vndoubtedlie Christ said vnto the théefe Luk. 23 43. This daie shalt thou be with me in paradise And of the rich man who inlarged wide his barns Luk. 16 22. This daie shall they take thy soule frō thee And of the soule of Lazarus it is written That by the angels it was carried into the bosome of Abraham and contrariewise the soule of the rich man is described to haue béene tormented with flames in hell who when he desired to haue some man to be sent vnto his brethren might not obteine the same But if it were lawfull for soules seuered from their bodies to wander about in the world either he himselfe might haue come to his brethren or else he could haue obteined the same of some other spirit Phil. 1 23. Ouer this Paule said that He desired to be loosed and
the church in these last times being indued with the spirit of Henoch and Elias who should sharplie fight against the Romane antichrist and idolatrie of the beast and with diuerse torments be slaine but the returne of these men is not there in verie déed set foorth But they are said to be two bicause they shall be manie and not one onelie and yet of no large number if they be compared with the wicked and idolaters Neither is it anie rare thing in the scriptures that a number certeine is put for an indefinit number The verie which thing is doone there also séeing the certeine and definite number of daies of their preaching is appointed 21 But there is a place obiected as touching Elias Of Helias comming hauing in outward shew some likenesse of truth For on this wise it is written in the booke of Malachie in the end of the last chapter Mala. 4 5. Behold I send vnto you the prophet Elias before that great and terrible daie of Iehoua shall come and he shall conuert the hart of the fathers vnto their children and the hart of the children vnto their fathers least perhaps I should come and smite the earth with a cursse These words persuaded the Hebrues that Elias should come before that Messias should be giuen But we interpret this Elias to be Iohn Baptist hauing learned the same of Christ who made mention of this thing in the 11. and 17. Matt. 11 10 Matt. 17 11 chapters of Matthew He verelie in the eleuenth chapter in praising of Iohn saith This is that Elias And in the 17. chapter after his transforming vpon mount Thabor when the disciples had said vnto him Whie doo the Scribes and Pharisies saie Elias must first come As if they should saie For this cause they receiue not thée as Messias sent from God bicause Elias is not yet come Christ answered them Elias indéed shall come according as they iudge by the words of the prophet Malachie Mal. 4 6. but I saie vnto you that he is alreadie come howbeit they knew him not and haue doone vnto him whatsoeuer they would Then his disciples vnderstood that he spake those things of Iohn Baptist Séeing therefore that we haue Christ to be the interpretour of the propheticall sentence we must rest vpon him Neither is that which is spoken by Malachie to wit that The fathers harts shal be conuerted vnto the children and againe the childrens harts vnto the fathers to be referred as manie doo vnto the conuersion of the Hebrues in the end of the world Rom. 11 25 whereof it séemeth that Paule in his epistle to the Romans hath written But we must rather saie that these things haue respect vnto Iohn Baptist séeing the angell did so interpret them When he had foreshewed vnto Zacharie manie things of Iohn Baptist as we read in the first chapter of Luke Luke 1 16. He shall saith he conuert manie of the Israelits vnto the Lord his God and shall conuert the harts of fathers to the children and the disobedient vnto the wisdome of the iust that he maie make readie a perfect people vnto the Lord. Now by these things we vnderstand after what maner both Christ and the angell haue referred the words of Malachie vnto Iohn Yea and Tertullian in his treatise of the resurrection of the flesh saith This vndoubtedlie is doone in such sort as the spirit and vertue of the one is communicated vnto the other Num. 11 17 for of Moses spirit was giuen vnto seuentie elders 2. Kings 2. 9. and of the spirit of Elias there befell a double portion vnto Elizaeus Howbeit it commeth not to passe that the person substance and flesh of one should be communicated with an other and be powred through into him But yet not to dissemble anie thing I will shew how Iustine Martyr hath interpreted the words of Christ In his dialog with Triphon he saith verse 11. that Christ in the 17. chap. of Matthew answered the apostles that Elias indéed shall come as the Scribes and Pharisies saie at the last time that is at my latter comming But in the meane time so soone as I was now come I am not without mine Elias for euen Iohn is Elias whom I haue now in the spirit and power of Elias but in my second comming I will haue Elias himselfe present in his owne person These things dooth Iustine wrest out of the words of Christ and he séemeth to ground vpon that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is He shall come as though Christ by his saieng affirmed that Elias shall yet come séeing he said He will come in the same maner of spéech which the Scribes and Pharisies vsed 22 Also A place of Malachie touching the comming of Elias expounded by the words of Malachie himselfe it is vnderstood that those things which be spoken belong to the first and not vnto the latter comming for it is said Least perhaps I strike the earth with a cursse For at the last time albeit that the Iewes be conuerted yet shall the earth be smitten with a cursse séeing all things shal be burned But it séemeth to be somwhat against the interpretation of Christ and the angell in that Iohn being demanded whether he were Elias he in plaine words denied it saieng Iohn 1 21. I am not as we read in the first chapter of the Gospell of Iohn But it must be considered that he answered according to the mind of them which demanded of him for they inquired as touching the person and substance of Elias as they which thought that his soule should returne into an other bodie This dotage of theirs Iohn confuted yet did he not denie but that he came in the spirit and power of Elias This also séemeth to be a let bicause he denied himselfe to be a prophet when as yet the Lord said in Malachie Mala. 4 5 Behold I send vnto you my prophet Elias To this I answer two waies First that Iohn had not respect vnto euerie prophet but vnto that excellent prophet which was expected of all men namelie vnto Messias that prophet he denied himselfe to be Also we maie saie that he did not denie the verie thing indéed but onelie tooke from him selfe the name of being called so and was content with the title of a forerunner and of a voice of a crier in the wildernesse And this he did that the people should not followe him as the prophet of God but should followe Christ the true and onelie Messias He auoided schisme or drawing the people into sundrie opinions he indeuored to set forward all men vnto Christ and to reuiue authoritie vnto him 23 But that which Malachie said Ibidem Before that great and terrible daie of Iehoua shall come it séemeth not to agrée with the first comming of Christ for then he came altogither mercifull peaceable and benigne It is true indéed that Christ came benigne and mercifull
thing Also Christ promised to his apostles The 6. reason Matt 19 29 that they should sit vpon 12. seats as iudges of Israell But hath not Paule obteined the same reward although he be accounted the thirtéenth in the same fellowship 1. Co. 15 10 The 7. reason 1. Cor. 6 3. whereas neuerthelesse he laboured more than the rest Yea rather he hath also made the Corinthians partakers of the same reward and with them all beléeuers when he saith But doo you not knowe that we shall iudge the world and the angels And in the last chapter to the Romans it is written Rom. 8 18. that The passions of this life are not to be compared to the glorie to come which shall be reuealed vnto vs. But if so be that God in giuing of eternall life hath not respect to the worthinesse of our works how shall we prooue these degrées of rewards We shall obteine felicitie by the méere liberalitie of God wherefore we should séeke for a diuersitie of rewards at his mercie and not of our owne works But we sée that those men which defend the contrarie opinion doo chéeflie cleaue vnto this ground as if so be we should deserue euerlasting life by our works and that as they speake of condignitie Which thing if we should affirme vndoubtedlie GOD might séeme to be vniust if he would not assigne greater rewards to them which haue deserued them aboue others An expending of the former arguments Rom. 2 5. To the first 10 But now let vs come to the weighing of those arguments wherby they indeuor to shew that this difference of rewards is necessarie First they obiected that There shall be giuen to euerie man according to his works Which we saie must be generallie vnderstood as touching glorie and damnation And this interpretation we haue out of the scripture in the epistle to the Romans the 2. chapter And Christ by the last sentence of iudgement Matt. 2 5. that To euerie one shall be giuen his owne proper reward thus expoundeth it to wit when he calleth those that be on the right hand into the kingdom casteth those on the left hand into destruction Brieflie he whose labors haue béene godlie and iust shall be saued but he that hath laboured ill shall fall to ruine To the second Dan. 12 2. Those verie words which Daniel hath in the 12. chapter to wit that Manie which slept in the dust shall be raised vp some doubtles vnto glorie but others vnto shame and that they which haue taught others shall be like the firmament and they which haue instructed others to righteousnes shall be as the starres doo prooue nothing necessarilie bicause the selfe-same things which had béene spoken before as it is often vsed in the scripture are repeated in the clause in the second place The difference which séemeth to be assigned is of the firmament and of the starres But whereas they which teach and those which instruct others vnto righteousnesse be euen thoroughlie all one and are conteined in one and the selfe-same degrée there shall not euen according to our aduersaries iudgement be due vnto them sundrie rewards séeing they laboured all alike Wherefore it appéereth that the same thing is spoken afterward which was affirmed before howbeit more euidentlie But if thou shalt aske why Daniel rather made mention of them which teach than of others The answer is readie to wit that these men were rather to be confirmed bicause they were more abandoned vnto persecutions than others were Therefore had they néed of consolation for it behooueth them to be of a good courage Yet thereby is not prooued that the selfe-same promises should not be made vnto the rest séeing Christ plainlie said Matt. 13 43. Ierom. The righteous shall shine like the sunne in the kingdome of God Furthermore Ierom in expounding of this place when he had plainelie treated of that sentence added that Some did demand whether the godlie vnlearned man and godlie learned man should haue all one glorie And he saith that we may answer according to the translation of Theodosius The translation of Theodosius that one shall be as the firmament another as the starres Howbeit I haue alreadie shewed that it is all one thing that is spoken on both parts 11 As touching the argument which they doo bring in of contraries To the third we should not much passe For we grant it to be a probable reason but yet not necessarie for this maner of argument oftentimes faileth as if so be a man will saie that he can kill himselfe therefore he can quicken himselfe and manie other instances might be brought but for breuitie sake I omit them Wherefore I grant that in punishments there is some diuersitie which neuerthelesse followeth not to be in rewards for by our works we deserue punishment but on the other side we deserue not felicitie by them So that the argument or reason in these contraries are differing or vnlike It is true that Christ said To the fourth Iohn 14 2. In my fathers house there be manie mansions but he saith not Sundrie mansions As if so be I should saie In Oxford there be manie Innes A similitude but if the ghests be intertained in them all after one maner the Innes shall not be altogither diuers but of equalitie if so be that in euerie one of them the selfe-same dinners and the same suppers and wholie the same commodities be set before the ghests As touching angels we saie To the fift that the scripture granteth that they haue among them sundrie orders and iurisdictions bicause God vseth the ministerie of them for the gouerning of the world but at the end Dan. 10 1 3. 1. Ihâ—s 4 16 Iude. vers 9. all principalities and powers as we haue said shal be abolished Neither doo we knowe whether there shall be anie more a diuersitie of orders or degrées as touching felicitie Further they that affirme sundrie orders to be in angels their mind is that they differ in speciall kind and perhaps in the next generall kind which cannot be affirmed as touching blessed men or our spirits Wherefore the similitude betwéene vs and angels agréeth not as touching all things For then should we take all angels to be of one forme or one order whether they haue all a like or equall happinesse or no. But these matters no man can define by testimonies of the holie scriptures séeing verie few things are taught vs concerning the affairs of angels bicause they were not necessarie vnto our saluation to be known He that shal obserue teach the coÌ„mandements shal be called great in the kingdom of heauen To the sixt Matth. 5 19 We answer that vnder the name of the kingdome of heauen is vnderstood the church wherin they are greatlie to be estéemed which teach rightlie doo those things which they shall teach and in the elections of the churches they must be preferred before
word of God is sinne And in a certain oration of the confession of faith It is a fall saith he from faith and a crime of excéeding great pride either to start backe from that which is written or to admit that which is not written Iohn 10. 17 And he addeth a proofe Because my sheepe heare my voyce Neither are we bound saith he to heare others than the shéepheard And that he might affirme his saying the more he brought a place vnto the Galathians Gal. 3. 15. No man altereth a mans Testament or addeth thereunto And if so great honour saith he be done to the testament of a man howe much greater must bee done to the Testament of God And in the exposition of the Créede which is attributed vnto Cyprian after the recitall of the Canonicall Scriptures By these things saith he are gathered what soeuer is necessarie to saluation And against the Aquarians he alwaies appealeth from custome vnto the holie Scriptures and vnto those thinges which Christ himselfe did And in an Epistle vnto Pompeius he hath manie things to the same purpose Ierom. Ierom also vppon Ieremie the 9. Chapter The Elders saith he must not be followed as touching errors but faith must be sought for out of the holie scriptures Chrysostome vppon the 7. Chrysost Chapter to the Hebrewes Euen as they which giue rules haue no néede to teach a thousand verses but a certaine fewe by which the rest maie bée vnderstoode euen so if we would onelie hold fast the Scriptures of God not onelie wée should not fall our selues but we should also call them backe which be falne And this he prooueth by that which Christ said Iohn 5. 39. Search ye the Scriptures in which ye thinke there is eternall life Againe Yee erre Mat. 22. 29 not knowing the Scriptures And he citeth the place of Paul Whatsoeuer things are written Rom. 15. 4. are written for our learning that by patience and consolation of the Scriptures we may haue hope Lastlie he bringeth al those places the which are cited by me a little before and in his oration de profectu Euangelij vppon the place of Paul vnto the Philippians Phil. 1. 18. Whether by occasion or by enuie c. If ye would holde fast these words saith he ye may encounter with heretikes But vpon the Epistle to the Galathians de Diuite Lazaro he hath manie things much more euident Abraham aunswereth They haue Moses and the Prophets Luk. 16. 29. Here Chrysostome sheweth saith he that greater credite ought to be giuen to the scriptures than if a man should rise againe from the dead And he addeth that we ought not onelie to giue more credite to the worde of God than vnto dead men but also more than vnto the Angels as Paul hath admonished Gal. 1. 8. Also if an Angel from heauen shall teach you an other Gospell than that which wee haue taught let him be accursed 16 Furthermore it is certaine The Church iudgeth by the word and by the spirit that the libertie of the Church must not be taken awaie But the Church hath alwaies iudged by the word and the spirite Therefore it is now méete also that it should iudge as it list For what did those most auncient writers when as yet there were no fathers If then the Church iudged by the word and the spirite why maie it not now also iudge in the same sort For the Fathers vndoubtedlie meant to helpe the Church not to depriue the same of her libertie But they are woont to saie that in the Apostles times was onlie an infancie of the Church and that afterward the same grew more and more to perfection These things are not to be confuted but to bee laughed at For woulde to GOD that wee could attaine to the lowest steppe of the Church which was in the Apostles time Howbeit admit that the same were the infancie of the Church as ye affirme but if so bee that they were then able to aduaunce the Church by the word and the spirit why can not wee now also promote it after the same sort For there bee manie thinges alwayes in the Church which ought either to be renewed or taken awaie iudging by the spirit and holie scriptures those thinges which the fathers ordained either by giuing consent vnto them or dissent from them according as we are now in a riper age of the Church than they were But how do these men estéeme of the Fathers If for age sake we also shall one day become fathers and those schoolemen which were fiue or six hundreth yeares past shall now bee fathers And so there will neuer bee anie certaine number of the fathers But they saie that the Scriptures are obscure and therefore that there is néede of Fathers to bee interpretours But the fathers were also obscure and therefore there was néede of the Master of Sentences But séeing the Master of sentences himselfe might séeme to be obscure there was néede in a manner of infinite commentaries And hereof arose verie manie sectes disagréeing in opinions one from an other so that some were called Scotistes others Thomistes others Occamistes others were called by other names Neither certeinlie can it be denied The fathers Councels Traditiōs erre and are sometimes one against an other but that the fathers erred often times Cyprian erred as concerning the baptisme of Heretikes Tertullian as touching Monogamia that is the Mariage of one wife and others after another sort Councels also did oftentimes erre as we haue aboue declared at large Lastly the traditions do other while erre are repugnant in them selues The tradition of Ephesus was that the Christians should celebrate Easter vppon the 14. daie of the moneth as the Iewes did and they ascribed the same vnto Iohn the Apostle and Euangelist But contrariewise the Romane tradition was that the Christians should not celebrate Easter but after the 14. daie of the moneth least they might séeme to agrée with the Iewes And of this tradition they make Peter and Paul to be authours Either of both is Apostolicall yet both of them maie not be allowed Panormitanus But Panormitanus de electionibus in the Chapter Significasti saith that the vnlearned if they bring the Scriptures must be more beléeued than the Pope the whole Councel if they deale without the scriptures A man that was a Canonist although hée oftentimes erred in manie other things yet could he sée this Paul saith 1. Cor. 14. 29. When anie man prophesieth let the rest sit still and iudge The fathers when they interprete the scriptures doe not they Prophesie Wherefore we must as it were sit and iudge of their sayings 17 But they saie that then at the leastwise the Fathers are to be allowed The fathers are not to be allowed in all things wherein they agrée together when they agrée among themselues No verilie not then alwayes For the consent of
Ciuill trouble was that the King would haue had his dominion to inioy the commodities of life and to florish in wealth and abundance but those good things were maruelouslie diminished and extenuated through want of Raine and dryth of thrée yeares space So as the common wealth was troubled both as touching Religion and also the necessarie helpes of this life This in effect is the chyding of Ahab the King against Elias But now must we consider how Elias behaued himselfe with the King Doubtlesse he committed nothing vnworthie of a Prophet and legate of God He dealt constantlie Elias defended the dignitie of his office and with valiant courage defended he the ministerie of Gods worde He humbled not himselfe at the Kings féete he craued no pardon neither did he promise that he would amende if he had doone any thing vnacceptable vnto him not that he was proud or arrogant but because hee sawe that this accusation did directly assaile the word of God as though the disturbance had risen thereby If hée had béene to deale in his owne priuate businesse I doubt not but that he would haue vsed modestie méete for a godlie man but to haue the estimation and dignitie of the high God to be impaired he might not abide Wherefore he aunswered It is not I that trouble Israell but thou and thy fathers house 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He vseth a contrarie accusation and returneth the crime vppon the accuser that is vpon the wicked King Neither must he be accused of insolencie because as Paule hath declared to the Galathians the 1. Gal. 1. 8. Chapter Hee must bee taken accursed whosoeuer although it shall bee an Angell that teacheth otherwise than the gospell or truth of God sheweth it selfe And if Angelles are not exempted Kings also must not be exempted Doubtlesse it behooued Elias to haue a great spirit that hée should aduenture to oppose himselfe against a furious King The selfe same thing also did Iohn Baptist shew Matt. 14. 4. who set himselfe against Herod otherwise a most cruell King Helias addeth a cause why Achab his ancestors troubled Israel namely for that they forsooke the true God and who was the GOD of their Fathers and contemned his commaundementes and lawes seruing strange Gods This he saith was the originall fountaine and roote of disturbance And for because this is a great matter and that the knowledge thereof serueth verie much for these times wherein the Papistes say that we be the disturbers of the Church and the authors of sedition and we in like manner returne vpon them that these euils haue sprung vp from themselues it shall be verie necessarie for determining of the cause Of trouble or sedition to speake somewhat herein as touching trouble or sedition And what the worde of troubling signifieth and from whence the translation was deriued I haue expressed a little before Now let vs come to a iust definition of the thing The Etymologie of trouble or sedition Vlpianus But first I thought it good to shew the Etymologie of that worde namely Trouble Vlpianus according to the opinion of Labeo in the Digestes in the Title Vi fractorum bonorum saieth in generall that this worde Tumultus is deriued 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Cicero Tumultuari Cicero in the 6. Booke De Republica as it is reported wrote that sedition is a disagréement of men among themselues when one draweth one waie and another another waie The Gréekes call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the Authors of sedition and trouble the Hebrewes call Hakerim the Gréekes cal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is troublers And thus much as touching the word 3 But as concerning the true nature or definition Sedition defined Sedition or trouble belong to the predicament of Action For they which make any trouble doe it either by iudging of contrarie and diuerse things or by vttering of the same or else by perfourming of them by the worke it selfe It is an Action I say not naturall but voluntarie which is referred vnto vice The next generall worde thereof is contention Séeing in euerie trouble men contend one against another Vnder this generall worde there may be reckened foure kindes The kinde◠of sedition For the same happeneth either amongst many or else betwéene one or two If there be many that contend those either bee kinsfolkes and néere friendes or else they be forreiners and straungers Plato in the 5. Dialogue De Republica saieth that the Gréekes be kinsfolkes and friendes and the straungers he calleth Barbarous If wee shall contende with such men he thinketh it to be warre but when the Grecians fought among themselues that he said belonged vnto sedition But and if the contention be about holie and religious things that is commonly called Schisme When a contention is named Schisme but if a contention be stirred vp betweene one or two then it is a braule as the same Vlpian affirmed according to the opinion of Labeo in the Lawe before alleaged Neither will they haue it to be a trouble or Sedition if two or thrée or foure contend among themselues but as they say there must be a good manie These be the chiefe kindes of contention Howbeit of warre brawling I will not now treate But trouble Schisme that is sedition aswell in religious things as in ciuill things I will comprehend in one 4 And forsomuch as Actions are woont to be knowen by the obiectes that is by the matter about which they bee occupied as sight is knowen because it consisteth in the apprehending of light and discerning of colours also hearing because it admitteth soundes and wordes therefore must wee consider what doeth sedition or trouble and about what things it is conuersant We say that the same argueth a Priuation of two most excellent things to wit of Order and of vnitie What is Order Order if we credite Augustine is a disposing of things like and vnlike giuing to euerie thing their owne places All things in the world be not equall and after one sort But then are they said to be in order when they be well disposed obtaine places fit for themselues And mens actions haue then an order when they are tempered to things according to their owne state and dignitie Whereuppon Chrysostom excellentlie well wrote in the 23. Homilie vppon the Epistle to the Romanes That God appointed amongst men manie differences of Rule and subiection For we finde there be Maisters and seruants Parentes and children man and wife Magistrate and subiects Olde men and young men but the Actions of men will not be set in order vnlesse they be made agréeable vnto these and such like degrées But this cannot be doone vnlesse things be ordered according to the rule of the lawe Wherefore séeing trouble is said to take away order we perceiue that the same taketh away the lawe which
the diuell are rehearsed whereby we may be easilie brought to beware of him proposition 4 By the names which were giuen to the wife of the first man to his first begotten sonne and to manie other in the old testament we are taught to giue those names vnto them that be of our familie whereby we may be often admonished of the benefits of God towards vs. proposition 5 In the casting foorth of Adam out of paradise we may perceiue a shadowe of the accurssed and excommunicates out of the church Propositions out of the fourth fift and sixt chapters of Genesis Necessarie proposition 1 HE that refuseth himselfe to be a kéeper of his neighbour as Caine did he sheweth himselfe to be vncharitable proposition 2 So long as GOD suffereth the wicked to remaine aliue a priuate mans sword must not arise against them proposition 3 Since that GOD can defend those whom he loueth and yet suffereth them to be oppressed it is euident that the same oppression is profitable for them proposition 4 Insomuch as we beléeue that God is iust and that now his fréends are oftentimes ill intreated it followeth that his iudgement must be looked for afterward whereby these things may be recompensed proposition 5 Albeit that the finding out of munition came of an ill occasion yet is the vse thereof lawfull proposition 6 The vtilitie is not small that commeth by the description of genealogies which be in the holie scriptures proposition 7 Euen as the maner of godlie men is to inuent titles and names for things which may set foorth the praises of God so contrariwise the vngodlie séeke by them to establish their owne memorie not a memorie of the Lord. proposition 8 How manie soeuer as are now borne amongst men are marked not onelie with the image of God but also with the image of the first Adam Probable proposition 1 IT is verie likelie that the old fathers which were before the flood came more latelie to the time of generation than men of our age doo proposition 2 They which be reckoned in this genealogie it may well be that they were not all the first borne proposition 3 The huge host of the children of Israel which of a few men were multiplied within a short time in Aegypt prooueth that mankind was soone increased in number proposition 4 Whether the angels or the spirits or the godlie men or the sonnes of princes are said to be those sonnes of God which went into the daughters of men it cannot by the holie scriptures be defined proposition 5 The hundreth and twentie yeares which are said to be giuen vnto men before the flood were the space granted them to repentance Propositions out of the sixt seuenth and eight chapters of Genesis Necessarie proposition 1 GOD did not onelie by speciall words prouide that his prophets should warne men concerning their commoditie but he would that the same should also be doone of them by certeine outward actions proposition 2 Albeit that God knew that some would not returne to him yet dooth he not in vaine call them manie waies proposition 3 Sometimes it may be that holie men praie not for certeine persons not led therevnto by their owne fault but by the commandement of God proposition 4 When God maketh a couenant with men all things there depend of his mercie proposition 5 God sometimes giueth manie things to certeine men for their forefathers and posterities sake proposition 6 In a church well ordered euen this among other things must be taken héed of that there be no want of bodilie sustenance to the members of Christ proposition 7 Good works are not causes of saluation but we verie well grant it to be requisit that to whom GOD hath giuen them to those he also gaue saluation proposition 8 Manie things which are commanded in Moses lawe touching ceremonies are found also to haue béene kept before the lawe proposition 9 God is said to remember not that he at anie time forgetteth but bicause he hath the effects of man who remembreth some thing proposition 10 We read that God hath sometime repented him not that he is troubled with this perturbation but bicause he dooth that which repentants are accustomed to doo proposition 11 When we affirme that he repenteth himselfe of some thing the change must not be placed in himselfe but in man proposition 12 It must not be attributed vnto punishment it selfe that it hath the power to purge sinne proposition 13 Outward sacrifices are acceptable to God if they be ioined with inward sacrifice proposition 14 Outward sacrifices doo excéedinglie displease God if the mind be void of inward sacrifice Probable proposition 1 THat some liuing creatures be cleane and vncleane it commeth rather to passe by our estimation than by the nature of them proposition 2 The flood is a figure of the last iudgement proposition 3 The arke was a figure of the church Propositions out of the eight and ninth chapters of Genesis Necessarie proposition 1 THe Lords supper may be called a sacrifice howbeit not that it purgeth the soules of the dead and that it iustifieth as they saie for the worke sake that is wrought proposition 2 Whosoeuer are borne altogither of Adam are guiltie of originall sinne proposition 3 The saints are absolued from this vice by repentance and faith wherewith they haue béene indued the corruption of nature is not taken awaie proposition 4 They which are punished for originall sinne suffer punishment not for another mans sinne but for their owne proposition 5 No morall vertues or mans industrie can take awaie this disease of nature proposition 6 We affirme that in this originall corruption is folden vp togither both sinne and guiltinesse proposition 7 Guiltinesse and originall sinne be not the selfe-same one with an other proposition 8 Originall sinne is a corruption of the whole man from the image of GOD brought in after the fall of the first man proposition 9 This bringing in is not admitted this thing is not in our power therefore it is no sinne proposition 10 Originall sinne is forgiuen through faith by Christ proposition 11 It is not forgiuen in baptisme for the worke wrought as they speake but by the power of faith proposition 12 God did not so greatlie addict the remission of sinnes to the sacrament of baptisme as without it he dooth not otherwhile giue the same proposition 13 Vnto them which belong not vnto Christ originall sinne bréedeth damnation vnto hell fier proposition 14 The promises of God doo come to an indeuor of praieng Probable proposition 1 THrough the excéeding great coniunction of the soule with the flesh the same flesh after the fall of Adam being defiled the soule also it selfe is contaminated with originall sinne proposition 2 The ceremonie whereby it was commanded that men should absteine from bloud dooth in part shadowe out the sacrifice of Christ and partlie dooth admonish vs of inconstancie proposition 3 When the soule as well of brute beasts as of
should it be doone to Images 2 346 b A shift of the aduersaries for the auouching of the woorshipping of them 2 347 b They are Gods Ministers and of their seuerall offices 2 357 b 558 a Appearing in mens bodies they were not men 1 117 a They did eate not for néede but to procure conuersation and familiaritie with men saith Augustin 1 118 ab Why they were worshipped in the old testament of holie men and the same not admitted in the newe 2 347a What manner of meat it is that they do eat 1 118b Why there is no mention of the creation of them in the olde testament 1 111 ab Tertullians iudgement that they are verie bodies 1 28 b Proued by examples that they haue sometimes appeared 1 27 ab God by their ministerie gouerneth natural things 2 â—58 a They represent the ministers of Churches 2 358 a The may be pictured how farfoorth 2 341 a How they did assume bodies 2 604 b They are not predestinate 3 8 b Defined out of them our of Augustine 1 113 a They doe seruice vnto men and of their gouernement 2 249 b Orders of them and their seueral offices 1 1â—0 b It is a thing worthie to be noted that in the holie Scriptures verie fewe things are mentioned of them 1 121a How they and spirites doe eate which proueth them to haue bodies consisting of vitall paâ—tes 1 88 a They can call things backe from the memorie to the sense 1 89 a Whether teares are beseeming for them 3 284 a While they appeared and seemed to bee men and were not they did not lie 1 113 b Whether we ought to offer prayers vnto theÌ„ 3 284 a 308 b Proofes that there be Angels 3 383 a Howe it is meant that Enoch was a Legat vnto them 3 148 b 149 a Why they are called spirites 1 103 a The heauens turned about by them 1 111a b Bernard and the schoolemens opinions that they haue bodies 1 113 a Whether they be bodies or but méere phantasies 1 87 b 88 a ¶ Looke Spirites Archangels Betwéene Archangels and Angels there is a difference saith Augustine 1 118b Anger Aristotles opinion of Anger and how he defineth it 1 109 b How the power thereof doth resist the desiring part 2 410 a It is a cause of confirmelie 2 529 b It is no simple but a compounded afteer 2 406 a It is a wherstone to fortitude 2 408 a 3 296 b It is the roote of murder 2 517 a Whether the power of desire and of it bee all one 2 409 b 410 a How contrarie it is to desire 2 4â—0 a The Philosophers say it maketh the actions of men not voluntarie 2 289 b A definition thereof and that to Achilles it was like honie melting vnder his tongue 2 290 b Things done therein do not excuse the dooer 2 292 b The scripture commendeth it in whome and in what cases 2 293 b It doth seruice vnto Fortitude 3 272 a It hath sorrowe and pleasure ioyned with it 3 â—46 a It commeth néerer vnto reason than desire doth 2 410 a It pertaineth not to choise sayth Aristotle and why 2 295 b In what cases and against whome Aristotle admitteth it in men 2 290 b What Heraclitus Plato and other say of it and that it is not subduable 2 289 b No refuge against Gods Anger 4 295 b 296 a ¶ Looke Affects Angrie Why the Scriptures say that GOD when he doeth reuenge is angrie 1 207 a How we must vnderstand God to be angrie and to repent 1 109 a Annoynted Why we are sayde to be annointed 2 606 b Some called so who receiued not the outward vnction 4 14 ab Annoynting The signe of outward Annoynting 4 14a Vnder what pretence it was brought into the Church 4 15b To what end it serued 2 577 b It hath not beene long in the Christian Church 4 14 b 15 a.b The originall thereof about Princes 4 236 b What is signified thereby being done to the Byshops heade 4 â—5 a Why it was proper to Prophets Priests and Kings 2 605 b Whether it be rightlie transferred vnto Christian Princes 4 14 b 15 a.b Whether it be necessarie that it be obserued still 2 606a 6. The twise annoynting of all Christians 4 15 a Of the papisticall and superstitious rite thereof 2 â—06 a What the worde signifieth 4 4 b Or the sicke and that it is no Sacrament 3 211 a Of men readie to die 4 15 b The carcases of dead 3 244 a Interpreted to be an aboundance of the Spirit 2 605 b 606a Reckened among traditions 4. 99 b ¶ Looke Oyle and Vnction Antichrist Of Antichrist prophesied by Daniell 3 351 b The Pope prooued to be the same 4 36 b In Gods Temple 4 92 a Of the myracles doone by him and that they be méerelies 1 65 a Antiquitie No Antiquitie can prescribe against Gods worde 3 244 a Of the Scriptures and howe the Papists and Protestants dissent about the same 1 99a Ap. Apostles The Apostles gaue more Epistles to the Church than we haue at this day 1 52 b They are to the Byshops as the Prophets were to the hie Priestes 4 4a Both Christ and they may be foundations of the Church 4 83 b 84 a Difference betwéene their Gospell and the Papists 4 87a They liued at the charges of the godlie 4 29b Forged Canons ascribed to them 4 55 ab 56 a Whether they were Byshops any where 4 79a To what end they were chosen 4 3 b Whether Peter were chiefe of them 4 80 a Difference betwéene them and Byshops 4 3 b 4 a They were not alwayes able by their auctoritie to cast our diuels 4 130 a Their diligence in preaching the Gospell 4 5b In their time the Church had not two swords 4 234 b Whether they were Priestes 4 212 b By what instruments they vsed outward punishments 4 233 a Apostleship The office of Apostleship was but temporall 4 78 b A difference betwéene the Apostleship of Peter and the apostleship of Paul 4 79 b Apparell Of the costlie and sumptuous Apparell of women 2 507 ab Whether Apparel be any impeachment to the ministerie 4 16 b A fonde imitation of Elias and Iohn Baptist in Apparell 1 20b Touching Apparell reade diuerse points page 506 b 507 a ¶ Looke Garments Appeale To whom the libertie of Appeale is denied by the ciuill lawes 2 438 b Paules Appeale from the luietenant of Iurie to Cesar 4 276 a Appeales Of Appeales made to the Romane sea by inferiour byshops and what is thereby prooued 4 39. 40. From Councels and fathers to the scriptures 4 47 a From the Pope to the Emperour in matters of religion 4 244 b None from Scriptures to the fathers admitted 4 48 b 49 ab Appearing Gods Appearing vnto men in the likenesse of straungers denyed by Plato and what the Scripture saith of the same 1 200 a Of the Appearing of Samuel when he was deade reade the iudgement
bodie 2 605 b What Earth that is which ought to be worshipped 4 177 b Howe Heauen and Earth shall passe away 3 395 b 396 a What is signified vnto vs vnder the name of Heauen Earth 1 110 b Of an Earth of Iron prophesied by Moses and when the same came to passe 2 251 b Easter Of the feast of Easter celebrated among the Iewes 2 376 a Offenders then released 4 263 b What the Canons decree touching the keeping therof 4 55 b Dissension about the keeping of Easter 3 255 a 4 50 a Of watching in Easter night 3 256 b Traditions touching that feast 3 45 ab Obserued in England 4 5 a Eate What Scotus thinketh it is to Fate and how he concludeth that Angels doe eate indeede 1 118 a Of two kindes of Eating the one of power the other of necessitie and which of them is proper to Spirits 1 88 ab Eclipse Of the Eclipse of the Sunne at Christs death and what Dionysius saith of the same 1 79 b Ed. Education Godlie Education may happen vnto bastards example of Adeodatus the sonne of Augustine 2 238 a The daunger of euill Education of children 4 16 a What the diuersitie of Education and bringing vp is able to doe 1 57 a Eff. Effects Effects which in no case can followe of naturall causes 1 79 b Whether they bee necessarie or contingent 1 175 b Whether contrarie may rise of one and the same cause 3 289 b Excellent cannot but proceed of noble causes as howe 1 156 b Noble causes may sometimes bring foorth vile as howe â—1 156 b Betweene causes and them there is a circuite and howe 2 578 a Some be hidden in their causes 3 40 b 41 a Efficient causes working vpon things couer to bring forth Effects like to themselues in nature as howe 1 176 b The coniunction of causes and Effects is hard to change 4 330 a ¶ Looke Causes El. Elders The office of Elders in the Church 4 8 a Two sortes of them in the Church 4 8 b Elect. The Elect by meanes of their corruptioÌ„ are inuited vnto Christ 2 232 b ¶ Looke Faithfull Election Gods Loue Election and Predestination ioyned together 3 9 a It dependeth not of workes foreseène 3 14 b 18. all 19 b 20 a What things make it certaine 3 48 a It cannot bee deceiued 4 117 b The reasons thereof are vnsearchable reade 3 21 b Wee are willed to giue thankes for the same 3 3 b Why it is extended but to a few 3 21 a Temporall eternall 3 1 b Election of Saul king of Israel doone by lots 1 59 a 60 b 61 a Of Matthias the Apostle 1 60 b Elections The Elections of God are sundrie reade howe 3 1 b ¶ Looke Vocation Elements Elementes are contrarie and that they perish 1 80 b Whethey shall continue alwaies vnappaired 3 397 ab Their nature briefelie described 1 181 b 182 a Elie the Priest Elie is blamed for being so milde vnto his children 2 378 a ¶ Looke Parents Elias the Prophet Of Elias his comming 3 382 b 383 ab 384 b Whether he were pâ—esent with Christ vpon Mount Thabor 3 385 a Whether Enoch and he bee dead 3 380 ab 381 a Of the likenesse betweene him and Iohn Baptist 3 384 b Whether Iohn Baptist were hee who was saide should first come 3 383 ab Howe Enoch and he are sent in these dayes 3 382 b To what ende Enoch and hee were caught vp 3 381 ab Whither he was caught vp 3 371a 378 b 372 b 373 a 370. Opinions touching his returne 3 382 ab Whether hee did well in killing the Baalites 2 386 ab c. 388 a 389 a He defended the dignitie of his office 4 319 b 320 a Whether he remained in the aer 3 371 b Elizeus Elizeus called for a Musician to the ende hee might recouer his right minde 1 22 b He gaue not Naaman libertie to goe to idols as the Papists say he did 2 319 a Howe his bones did prophesie 1 22 b Eloquence A definition of Eloquence out of Augustine 4 27 a The gift of God and vsed of the holy Ghost 3 281 ab Whether it be meete for the Gospell 4 26 b A caueat concerning the same 4 28 a The Eloquence of Paul 4 27 a Em. Ember dayes Why the Ember dayes were inuented 3 251 b ¶ Looke fast and Lent Empusae Of the Empusae which were a kinde of diuelish delusions 1 89 b 90 a ¶ Looke Spirites Emulation Of Emulation what it is and whereof it springeth 2 417 a It hath hope ioyned with it 2 417 b Reckoned among laudable affectes 2 417 b betwixt wooers 2 417 b In things good bad and how it degenerateth into enuie 2 417 b En. End The definition of this worde End out of Aristotle 1 5 a The End of celestiall bodies 1 6 a Of fortitude 1 2 a Of prophesie 1 28 b Of temperancie 1 1 b Of Philosophie Christian godlinesse 1 17 a Of wisedome 1 1 b Of iustice 1 1 b Of good men and of vertues 1 381 b Of good and euill things and what the same is 1 1a 2 a Of humane things manifold 1 4 a In what sense and how diuersely this word End is taken 1 5 a The etymologie of the word 1 5 a Of the End of the first table of the lawe that it is nobler than the second and why 1 8b What End is to be preferred before other endes 2 574a Euerie thing requireth his owne proper End 1 2 b Of what thing riches are the End according to Aristotle 1 5 a How Artes are in power to attaine or not to attaine their End 1 3 a The holy scriptures decree and appoint that there is a principall End whereto men direct all their actions 1 6 b Some certaine End set before all humane things and why 1 2 b How it is prooued that one End is better than another 1 4 a There is the End where the motion and action is finished as how 1 2 b 3 a Whether the End of Phisicke be health 1 7 a Whether that which is ordained to an End be baser than the end 1 5 b The reason why the principall End is to be sought for according to Aristotle 1 9a Why some haue thought good and End to be all one 1 2b It cannot be that there shoulde be some certaine End of al things and why 1 2 b He that would an End seemeth to will those things which serue vnto the ende and is concluded thereby 1 179 ab Of the chiefe End and principal gard of this life 1 5 b Of the most excellent End of maÌ„ in the life to come 1 5 b ¶ Looke Cheefe Good and Felicitie Endes The excellencie of Endes and faculties is as well towards the one as the other 1 8a What order the Endes of Christian actions haue 1 8 b Diuersitie of Endes in humane things and some more excellent than others
b In such thinges God doth not alwaies graunt that which wee thinke good for our selues 3 201 b Of exceptions in them 3 164 b Of offence by them in the Church 3 164 a.b 165 a In them an intent maie be of some force 2 388 b Of certaine to bee vsed at the communion 2 324 b The vse of them sometime to be obserued sometimes to be discontinued 2 320 b In them magistrates must bee obeyed 4 323 b 324 a Ecclesiasticall lawes touching thinges indifferent 4 42 b Incredulitie The nature of incredulitie 3 93 a An Antithesis betwéene it faith 3 127 b The rewarde thereof most miserable 2 621 a Platos opinion thereof and the inconuenience thereof 1 53 b Of Zacharie and Moses gréeuously punished 2 364 a 3 61 b ¶ Looke Infidelitie Incubi Of the Incubi and what Augustine saith of them 1 90 a ¶ Looke Spirites Indignation Of the affect called Nemesis of some Indignation and howe it is in the godlie 2 413 ab ¶ Looke Nemesis Infamie The infamie of Lot perpetuall so long as the worlde lasteth 2 500 a The infamie that adulterers susteyned by the ciuill lawes 2 486 b Infantes Whether the infantes of Christians dying vnbaptisid bee saued 4 â—20 b 121 ab 110 ab 136 ab 119 a 2 233 b How they belong to the Church 4 114 b 115 a 120 b Dying not regenerate adiudged to hell fire by Augustine 2 233 b Howe they may be called though infected with originall sinne 4 117 a Whether all belong to the couenaunt 4 136 ab Whether they maie receiue the Eucharist 4 51 ab 45 a Whether they may be indued with the holie ghost 4 120 a Of necessitie subiect vnto sin 4 115 b 111 b 2 244 a Not exempted froÌ„ damnation 3 96b They perish vnlesse they bee renewed by Christ 3 25 a What holinesse is in them of Christian parentes 4 115 ab Baptisme of them no newe thing in the Church 4 114 b 115 a It may bee saide that they bee innocent as touching sinnes aduisedly committed 2 228 b Whether they haue faith 4 119 b 120 a ¶ Looke Children Infidelitie Infidelitie comprehendeth all other sinnes 3 153 b The cause of the Iewes reiection and what wee are taught thereby 2 329 a Achaz to his infidelitie ioyned hypocrisie and how 1 70 b 71 a ¶ Looke Incredulitie and vnbeleefe Infidels Whether it be lawfull for Christians to dwell or haue conuersation with Infidels 2 309 b The argumentes brought to prooue it 2 327 b 328. Reasons out of holie scripture to disallowe it 2 312 ab 313 a Certaine cautions to be vsed of Princes for the suffering of the faithfull to haue conuersation with Infidels 2 32â— ab 325 a It is a let to the saluation of the godlie 2 313 b The weake and vnlearned must not dwell with such 2 311 a It is not lawfull to dwell with such if men bee forced to communicate with vngodly ceremonies 2 314 b The Israelites corrupted by conuersation with them 2 313 a Forbidden and taught by signes to haue no dealing with them but in case of necessitie 2 3â—4 a Examples of holy men that had dealing with such 2 309 b 310 b The complaint of Dauid when hee was forced to dwell among them 2 314 b CommandemeÌ„t of God forbidding vs to haue companie with them 4 86 b Whether it bee lawfull for Christians to haue peace with them 4 294b 195 a Whether Christians may desire helpe of them 4 295 b Who are in worse state than Infidels 3 105 b Whether their workes be sinnes 3 106 a 243 b 244a They and al Christians are both in one state of perdition 2 556 a Certeine illuminations giuen vnto them 3 â—07b Whether they haue faith or no. 3 106 ab Whether they can doe a woâ—ke pleasing God 3 118 a Whether their chastitie be true chastitie 3 119 a They that be learned and constant may dwell with them 2 310 a Why we pray to God for their conuersion 3 29a Foure cautions to be vsed in hauing conuersation with them 2 310 ab They shall not be examined at Christes iudgement 2 626b ¶ Looke Vnbeleeuers Ingratitude Of the crime of Ingratitude and a punishment for the same 1 435 b Inheritance temporall Howe the lawyers define Inheritance 3 82 b What the Romane lawes decréed touching the children of concubines in the case of Inheritance 2 419 ab Bastards secluded from Inheritance 2 476 b 477 a The children of concubines not vtterly excluded among the Iewes an instance of Ismael 2 476 ab Of alienating the same and in what cases it was lawfull and not lawfull among the Iewes 4 243 a Inheritance eternall The nature of the heauenly Inheritance 3 79 b 80 a By what meanes we come to the same 3 274. 81 b 82 a Who obteine it 2 612 b 613 a And who haue it shut vp against men 3 82 a Iniquitie Whether the children shal be punished for the parents iniquitie 2 362 a ¶ Looke Sinne Vnrighteousnesse Innouations Against innouations specially concerning religion 1 99 ab Iniuries Whether all iniuries are to bee suffered 2 530 ab Howe farre they must be forgiuen 4 285 b Christ teacheth vs how they are to be forborne 4 289 ab Iniustice A likely reason of iniustice in God 3 286 a Inspiration Heauenly inspiration was not communicated to all the Prophets alike 1 19 b Instrument One instrument for one worke 4 18 a Instruments A distinction of instruments 3 335 a How they be affected to the efficient cause 1 164 a Wherein they and the matter doe differ 1 164b Creatures be the instruments of God but not all after one sort 1 182 b Intelligences What the schoole diuines and others haue thought of the intelligences 1 112 b â—08 b 109 a They be things separated from matter 1 103 a 78 a Of the intelligences which driue about the spheres 1 77 a Howe their worke should be hindered 1 79 b ¶ Looke Angels Spirites Intent Of the word intent and what the same signifieth 1 92 b 93 a A good intent maketh not an euill worke to be good 2 388 b It maketh a worke good if faith guide that intent 2 259 a It is not sufficient to make a worke good 1 95 a 2 539b What is chiefely required thereto 1 93 a Condemned and in what cases 2 336 a Our workes thereby cannot bee meritorious 1 93 b It must bee ioyned with faith and action or else it is nought worth 1 93 b 94 a An intent is euill two manner of wayes how 1 93 a Of an habitual intent which maketh a worke good as the schoolemen say 1 93 b The act of Gedeon done of a good intent condemned and why 1 93a 94 a The reason of the Nicodemites drawen from Naaman the Syrian for the approuing of a good intent disabled 1 94b The mischeefes that insue the papisticall doctrine of a good intent 3 311 a The Intent