The Church of Christ Determineth Concerning the Sick; and of Funerals and Burials. The Tenth Sermon
THERE remain certain things, but a few truly, which are to be expounded unto you, dearly beloved; the which partly appertain to the institution of the ecclesiastical ministry and preservation thereof; there are partly certain peculiar ordinances of the church, which the church cannot want. Whereof in this last sermon of this Decade, so far as the Lord shall give me grace to speak, I intend as briefly as I can to entreat.
First of all, we must know that the Lord our God hath his not burdened his church with over many laws and institulaws. tions; but hath set down a few easily to be numbered, and those not costly, nor intricate, nor long, but profitable, simple, plain, and short. In time past, when as under the law the Lord appointed unto the people a costly and sumptuous worshipping of him, notwithstanding all things therein were certain, numerable, and moderate; neither would he have anything added to, or taken from it, at the pleasure of men, or to be otherwise used than he had appointed. Who then will
[1 Rather, he ceases not to cast it in the way and to bring it in,]
[as a kind of ball of contentions, though it is to the church a token of]
[a covenant never to be broken. ]]
ΧΙ] OF THE INSTITUTIONS OF THE CHURCH. 479 think, that, after the abrogating of the law, the Lord wou’d deliver unto the church of his new people a sumptuous and an infinite discipline? Wherefore it is partly the covetousness of the pastors and estates of the church, and partly the monstrous superstition of the common people, that hath made everything so sumptuous and infinite in the church. Let us stick unto this, that the Lord our God hath instituted in his church but very few things, and such as are necessary; and therefore we ought all to endeavour, that the church be not over-burdened with traditions and institutions which proceeded not from God himself. The church of God is gorgeously enough decked and furnished, if she retain and keep the institutions of her God and Lord.
The chief and principal points of the godliness of the church of God are, the sincere teaching of the law and the prophets, of Christ and the apostles; faithful prayer offered unto her only God through Christ alone; a religious and lawful administration and receiving of Christ’s sacraments; whereof we have entreated hitherto through five decades. Hereunto belongeth charity also, which is a communicating of riches, or well-doing; whereof we have said somewhat already in the first decade?, and will say somewhat else in this sermon. Neither doth Luke in the Acts make mention of any other things, describing what manner of church the faithful primitive church of Christ was, being founded by the apostles, and what were the principal points thereof. They were continuing,” saith he, “in the doctrine of the apostles, and in communicating, and in breaking of bread, and in prayer.” Under these few points all godliness is comprised.
Unto the ecclesiastical ministry are joined these that follow. Christian schools have the first place, which bring forth a plentiful increase of prophets or ministers of the church. All nations, unless they were altogether barbarous, have understood, that without schools no kingdoms or commonweals can happily be maintained. And therefore not only Moses in the book of Genesis3, but also Strabo in the xvii. book of his Geography, reporteth how that among the Egyptians were instituted most famous colleges for priests and philosophers.
[2 Sermon 10.] (3 Bullinger seems to refer to Gen. xlvii. 22. See his treatise De]
[~ Episcop. Instit. et Funct. cap. ur fol. 74. Tigur. 1538.]]
Histories also make mention, that the most noble men of all the world travelled into Egypt to obtain wisdom; in which number Plato also is said to be the first of the chief and principal among the philosophers!’. Neither is it unadvisedly written in the book of the Kings, that Salomon excelled the wise men of the Egyptians in wisdom. And not only the Egyptians, but also the Palestines, a nation more famous for wars than for learning, are said to have had their priests, of whom they asked counsel in matters of doubt, as writeth Samuel in his holy history. And Daniel also witnesseth, that the Babylonians had most famous schools; as also had the Medes and Persians, from whence sprang forth their Magi, I would say, wise men, notable in all parts of philosophy. I need not to speak anything of the Greeks and Romans; since there is no man but knoweth their most famous city of Athens, which is so much spoken of by all learned men, and also the goodly colleges of their priests and soothsayers. But, omitting foreign examples, let us allege our own, or such as are ecclesiastical.