_Sect._ 2. Always, since men give us no leave to try their decrees and constitutions, that we may hold fast no more than is good, God be thanked that we have a warrant to do it (without their leave) from his own word, 1 Thess. v. 25. _Non numeranda suffragia, sed appendenda_, saith Augustine in Psal. xxxix. Our divines hold,(155) that all things which are proposed by the ministers of the church, yea, by aecumenical councils,(156) should be proved and examined; and that, when the guides of the church do institute any ceremonies as necessary for edification, yet _ecclesia liberum habet judicium approbandi aut reprobandi eas._(157) Nay, the canon law,(158) prohibiting to depart or swerve from the rules and discipline of the Roman church, yet excepteth _discretionem justitiae_ and so permitteth to do otherwise than the church prescribeth, if it be done _cum discretione justitiae_. The schoolmen also give liberty to a private man, of proving the statutes of the church, and neglecting the same, if he see cause for doing so, _Si causa fit evidens, per se ipsum licite potest homo statuti observantiam praeterire._(159) If any be not able to examine and try all such things, _debebant omnes posse, Dei jussu: Deficiunt ergo sua culpa_, saith Parcus.(160) _Si recte probandi facultate destitui nos sentimus, ab eodem spiritu qui per prophetas suos __ loquitur portenda est_, saith Calvin.(161) We will not then call any man rabbi, nor _jurare in verba magistri_, nor yet be Pythagorean disciples to the church herself, but we will believe her and obey her in so far only as she is the pillar and ground of truth. CHAPTER VII. THAT FESTIVAL DAYS TAKE AWAY OUR LIBERTY, WHICH GOD HATH GIVEN US, PROVED; AND FIRST OUT OF THE LAW. _Sect._ 1. That which hath been said against all the controverted ceremonies in general, I will now instance of festival days in particular, and prove, both out of the law and gospel, that they take away our liberty which God hath given us, and which no human power can take from us. Out of the law we frame this argument: If the law of God permit us to work all the six days of the week, the law of man cannot inhibit us. But the law of God doth permit us to work all the six days of the week, therefore our opposites deny not the assumption, which is plain from the fourth commandment, “Six days shalt thou labour,” &c. But they would have somewhat to say against the proposition, which we will hear. Hooker tells us,(162) that those things that the law of God leaves arbitrary and at liberty, are subject to the positive ordinances of men. This, I must say, is strange divinity, for if this were true, then might the laws of men prohibit marriage, because it is left arbitrary, 1 Cor. vii. 36. Then might they also have discharged the apostle Paul to take wages, because herein he was at liberty, 1 Cor. ix. 11-13.