scribeth, beside the bare will and authority of the law maker, in
this case a human law cannot bind us to obedience. Aquinas holdeth with
Isidore, that a human law (among other conditions of it) must both be
necessary for removing of some evil, and likewise profitable for guiding
us to some good. Gregorius Sayrus following them herein, saith, _Debet lex
homines a malo retrahere, et idio dicatur necessaria debet __ etiam
promovere in bonum, et ideo dicitur utilis_--A law ought to draw back men
from evil, and therefore is called necessary, it ought also to promove
them unto good, and therefore is called profitable. Human laws, in Mr
Hooker's judgment,(33) must teach what is good, and be made for the
benefit of men. Demosthenes(34) describeth a law to be such a thing _cui
convenit omnibus parere_ which it is convenient for every one to obey.
Camero(35) not only alloweth us to seek a reason of the church's laws
(_Non enim_ saith he, _verae ecclesiae libet leges ferre quarum non reddat
rationem_--It pleaseth not the true church to make and publish laws,
whereof she giveth not a reason), but he(36) will likewise have us, in
such things as concern the glory and honour of God, not to obey the laws
of any magistrate blindly and without a reason. "There was one (saith the
Bishop of Winchester(37)), that would not have his will stand for reason,
and was there none such among the people of God? Yes, we find, 1 Sam. ii,
one of whom it is said, Thus it must be, for Hophni will not have it so,
but thus his reason is, For he will not. And God grant none such may be
found among Christians." From Scripture we learn, that neither hath the
magistrate any power, but for our good only, Rom. xiii. 4, nor yet hath
the church any power, but for our edification only, Ephes. iv. 12. Law
makers, therefore, may not enjoin _quod libet_, that which liketh them,
nay, nor always _quod licet_, that which is in itself lawful, but only
_quod expedit_, that which is expedient and good to the use of edifying.
And to them we may well say with Tertullian,(38) _Iniquam exercetis
dominationem si ideo negatis licere quia vultis, non quia debuit non
licere_--You exercise an unjust dominion, if, therefore, you deny anything
to be free, because you will so, not because it ought not to be free.
Besides all this, there is nothing which any way pertaineth to the worship
of God left to the determination of human laws, beside the mere
circumstances, which neither have any