it is wonderfull In Hebrew bookes even to this day the name of God is written Iehovah which name it seemes was wrote on purpose by the Rabbins that the name of God which was written on the front of the Miter might bee hidden For Iosephus who was both a Priest and Pharisee doth testify in the sixth booke of the Iewes warres that the Name praefixed on the Miter of the Priesthood had foure vowels whereby it doth plainely appeare that this name was not Iehova but IOVA by pronouncing I and V not like Consonants but distinctly by themselves as they are Vowells which the word Iove among the Heathens doth also intimate nor much diverse from this is Diodorus the Sicilian who in the first Booke of his Historicall Library doth affirme that the God of Moses was called ΙΑΩ But Clemens Alexandrinus in the fifth Booke Stromat pag. 240 doth say that the foure-lettered name which was writ about the Sacerdotiall Tyare was ΙΑΟΤ which word consists of the same vowels as the word ΙΟΤΑ although the letters are otherwise disposed but howsoever it was they are as wide from truth as Heaven that thinke by this word or any other the Essence of God can be exprest for no name can bee given which can expresse the essence of Man nay of a stone seeing there are no names essential but names are given unto things by common institution and as pleased those who first did practise the diversity of tongues to impose upon them those names only expresse the Essence of the things they signify which doe imitate their sounds as the creaking of the Crow the lowing of the Bullocke But the Essence of God as it cannot be exprest by words so it cannot be conceiv'd by the Vnderstanding the causes of which are many for a thing infinite cannot be comprehended by a thing finite and the inaccessible light of God doth dazle the Vnderstanding Aristotle confessing in the second of his Metaphysicks that as the eyes of Owles cannot endure the beames and splendor of the Sunne so the edges of our Vnderstanding doe rebate themselves in the apprehensions of the primary Beings The same Philosopher affirmes that there is nothing in the Vnderstanding that was not first in the sense but God cannot be presented to the sense Againe as long as Vnderstanding is in the body it comprehendeth nothing but by the helpe of the Fancie and in the act of Vnderstanding it turneth to the Fancie a fancie which doth as much annoy as helpe the Vnderstanding whiles it representeth God cloath'd in the conditions of Nature as of quantities of extension of parts and many other accidents Againe every punie knowes that things are defined by their Genus and their difference or if that they bee not at hand they are then defined by their proper Accidents But of God there is no Genus no specificall difference no Accident at all since God is all substance To these Inconveniences and impediments in attayning to the Knowledge of God there is added not onely Mans slownesse and infirmity but his perversenesse and neglect For many are called from this study by the sloth and dulnesse of their wit rebating it selfe in the contemplation of heavenly things some are taken from it by publicke or private affaires which call downe to earthly things the mounting endeavours of the mind and as I may so say doe pull the wings of Meditation and many the slaves of pleasure and given to their belly misprise the study of Salvation as a thing they have no need of nay as it were some trifling importunity some light or empty Meteor And of those who apply their understandings to the knowledge of God there are but few that persevere in the right course but either they fall off from their designe or strucken with a giddinesse doe stumble on the threshold or turning aside to vaine delights doe wrap themselues in errors from hence arise those monsters of the Gods and illuding Vizards which were worshipped by the Heathen who wanting an able Master to instruct them did follow the custome of their Countrey which commanded them to adore the peculiar Gods of their countrey or their family thinking it would bee better with them if every particular man should choose him a private and particular God From this sprang up such a multitude of Gods that in Hesiods time they amounted to the number of thirty thousand Againe it is planted in Men which is their great folly to measure God by themselves to cloth him not only with mans figure but with his affections also they doe not thinke that they serue God aright unlesse they make him like a Man or Beast that they may haue before them some present object on which they might settle their eyes and their devotion This was the language of the Israelites to Aaron Make us gods which shall goe before us Exod. 32. And because God had made Man to the Image of God Man againe to require the courtesie would make God to the Image of Man By which God after they had discharged themselues of some Ceremonies to him they conceited themselues not onely safe against all sins already committed but thought for the time to come they had got a licence and a priviledge to sinne For these causes there haue not beene wanting some who turning desperation into censure haue beene of judgement that God could not be knowen and that in vaine they travaile that bestow their labours in searching out his Nature whose modesty indeed deserues to bee excused were there not too much of sloth in it and were not the diminution of his knowledge an occasion of the diminution of his loue and by the same contempt whereby the knowledge of the Divine Nature is neglected the knowledge also of the Divine Will would be despised Plato in whose tracks Cicero treads hath beene more happy in this inquiry for hee hath delivered to the world many true and excellent things concerning God as when he saith That he is the Author and Governour of all things most Good most Great who seeth and sustaineth all things and that the life of a wise man is nothing else but a returne to God and that the way to God is by the study of Piety and Iustice This and much more to this purpose wee may reade in Platoes Politicon his Philebus Theatetus and Timaeus where we may find many things taken from the Ancient Divinity which he had learned in Egypt and in Siria Aristotle more sharpe in understanding doth adde that God is the first Moover the first Being and moving Power who notwithstanding is unmoueable to whom as to their End the Caelestiall Intelligences perpetually mooue and that he is the cause of the continuall Motions of the heavens which causeth other Motions and from whom the inferiour bodies receiue their influences For although to see into the mysteries of God and to know his Essence is not granted unto any Creature no not unto the Angels because there is no
the West But that Generation and corruption doth arise from the oblique Courses of the Sun and Planets through the Zodiack whiles acording to their Situation they change their Aspects and by their accesse neerer to vs or recesse farther from vs the affections and Qualities of things differ That this Heaven is the palace of the Almighty not onely the sacred Word but the constant opinion of all Nations justifies For though the Essence of God filleth all things and is not circumscribed by any limits yet by nature it is ingrafted in man in meditation and holy excercises to remooue his mind what in him lyes from earthly things and to advance it vnto heaven Wherefore wee pray vnto God with knees humbled to the Earth but with eyes lift vp to heaven the one of which expresseth our humility the other testifieth our Hope the one abates our pride the other doth advance our thoughts Neither without good Cause hath humane Reason placed the throne of God in Heaven For what more convenient habitation can there bee for God that mooveth all things then that Body by which hee mooueth all things What fitter seate can there be for the Father of Lights then that Region illustrious of it selfe and allwayes shining with its natiue splendor what more agreeable to the Nature of God who is the God of Peace and not subject vnto change then there to haue his throne where is everlasting Peace vntroubled rest nor signe of Change Hence it is as Iustinus observes in his Exhortation to the Greekes that Iupiter in Homer tooke Ate or Discord by the haires of the head and threw her headlong downe from heaven who fell on this lower Region which is shaken with Winds with tempests and with Earthquakes where there reignes Warre Tumult and Rebellion against God himselfe By these staires as it were the mind of Man ascends to the knowledge of God by this wing shee doth mount her selfe These are those backe parts of the Almighty which it is permitted to Man to see Exod. 33. to wit the workes of God which are knowen to us onely ex posteriori by the events and the effects Or rather by this doth not the Scripture giue us to understand that God comming cannot be perceived but after that hee hath passed by and strooke us then we know him For wee are altogether ignorant what God will doe but after the execution of the Act then wee acknowledge his power either by afflicting or delivering us Neither doth our Intention levell our Discourse to proue that there is a God whom the devils themselues acknowledge whom who denies he deserues rather the Executioner to torment him then the Philosopher to instruct him but these things are brought forth to shew on what weake rods Mans reason leaning hath yet upheld it selfe and strengthned that glimmering light which it had by Nature concerning the Divinity and how although imperfectly it hath arrived to the knowledge of a God As also to expound that which Saint Paul saith Act. 14. That God never left himselfe without witnesse which may be understood not onely of outward testimonies such as are raine and fruitfull seasons but may also be extended as well to the inward testimony of every Conscience as the outward testimony of the Creatures Neither by this doe I inferre that this Assertion that THERE IS A GOD is of the number of those which are knowen by their owne Nature Aristotle in the second of the Posteriors text 6. saith that those Enuntiations are knowen by Nature which are no sooner understood but they are beleeved As who understands what the WHOLE is and what a PART is hee cannot but know and beleeue that the whole is more then the parts thereof Neither can a man perswade himselfe to beleeue the contrary but this Assertion that THERE IS A GOD is not of that Nature For after the termes are understood there are found of those that dare deny him Although I beleeue they are but few in number yet every Age hath encounterd with many others who for all they acknowledge that there is a God doe yet deny his Providence for this opinion is most flatter'd and stroakd by vices and is most apt of all to unbutton to Intemperance but of those that haue altogether denyed God you shâ—ll scarce find any one in any one Age It is manifest indeed that Diagoras Melius was accused of Atheisme not that hee denyed that there was a God but that hee despised the counterfeit Gods of the Athenians and their empty superstitions this is he that taking the wooden Statue of Hercules by the legge threw it into the fire thus upbrayding it This saith hee shall bee thy thirteenth labour and Clemens Alexandrinus in his booke intituled Protrepticon doth affirme that the same opinion is to bee had of Theodorus the Syrenian Evomerus Hippone Nicanor which were all accounted Atheists Hitherto therefore humane Reason hath not unhappily disputed for by the Conduct of Nature and assistance of Philosophy it hath come so farre as to affirme that there is a God But when they come to describe the Nature of God and endeavour themselves to satisfy the Question wherein it is demanded what God is a huge and thicke mist of ignorance doth overspread and cloud the sense and the light of God himselfe turnd into darknesse doth strike the Vnderstanding with blindnesse and astonishment Some there are as Plato Cicero and Virgil Aen. 6. who have thought that God is the Soule of the world who doth so moove and guide it as the soule doth the body Others have affirmed God to bee whatsoever is That of Euripides is well knowne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Seest thou the Aires uncompast height about Seest thou the greatnes of the Earth throughout And what she doth in watry armes inclose Count all that God and doe it Iove suppose There have beene of them who have affirmed that God is a Circle whose center is every where and Circumference no where It is commonly reported how by long procrastinations Simonides deluded the demands of Hiero who desired to know what God was craving at first the liberty of one day to resolve him then two dayes afterwards three daily augmenting the number always acknowledging his inability to answer the request and that the more hee considered what God was the more the difficulties did arise and multiply The Iewes that they might shew the Essence of God to be inexplicable they would have the name of God unutterable and which neither could nor ought to be pronounc'd by man which the Angell who is also called God who wrastled with Iacob seemes to imply for Iacob defiring him to declare his Name he refus'd it saying Wherfore is it that thou dost aske after my name So the Angel who is called God also Iud. 13. checked the curiosity of Manoah who desired to know what his name was in these words Wherefore askest thou after my name seeing
the Ocean diue What stay In summer keepes the tardy Night away Hee wonders at the perpetuall glidings of the streames the growth and vertue of the Plants at the divers formes of living creatures at their motions their inclinations and instincts Finally at the great perfection of the Vniverse that the particular parts thereof are impediments to the contemplation of the whole As in an unfeld Wood the particular hight of every tree would bee remarkable were not the whole Forrest seene to be of an equall hight There is scarce therefore any so strongly dull who observing these will not acknowledge their Author and value with himselfe the greatnesse of the Workeman by the excellence of the Worke. If any Man should behold a Library well furnisht in which the shelues are faire and well set up the books rankt in order all things are kept neate and brusht and handsome Is it credible that any man can bee so sottish as to conceiue that this came done by chance and will not rather impute it to the industry of Man for Confusion comes by chance but Order is by Industry But there is no Library so aptly digested so full so beautifull that may any wayes compare with the perfection and structure of the fabricke of the World A man may carry in the skirt of his garment a promiscuous number of Printers Characters which his garment being shaken hee may also shake and scatter on the ground but will the Characters so aptly fall or will there be so fine an industry in the Chance that some elegant verses or neate Oration may be reade Surely there is no Oration so polite no Verse composed with so much art that may any wayes parallel the Artifice and Beauty of the World This is the first way whereby God affects even barbarous men with some touch of divinity drawing even the perversest understanding to a knowledge of himselfe by these dumbe Masters Psal 19. The Heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy Workes For the invisible things of him from the creation of the World are clearely seene being understood by the things that are made even his power and divinity Adde unto these the naturall preservations and the seedes of honesty and equity and those pricks of conscience which gaule even the most obdurate with secret tortures for this is a confession of good authority whereby men professe that they acknowledge a Iudge to whom accounts are to be given and who doth looke into their manners and their actions Neither doe the Devils and malignant Spirits conduce a little to imprint in our minds a deepe perswasion that there is a God for seeing it is knowen by daily experience how great and hurtfull the power of the Devill is how they raise up tempests send forth diseases tranforme men into Wolues transport Groues and Corne which Pliny reporteth to haue happened in the PROVINCE of Marrucia how they affright men with visions and with perplexing Oracles illude those that craue their counsell and entangle them in errours Surely mankind exposed to the injuries of so many invisible enemies should haue perished nay and the fabricke of the World it selfe would haue dissolv'd did not these Spirits depend on the becke of a supreamer power who bridles their rage and barres them up in the limits of his eternall Providence These are but obvious and careles observations which fall into the vulgar even not mindfull of them But the Philosophers to the true knowledge of God haue gone the higher way for they make them bonds and links with Demonstrations by which they so chaine the understandings that they draw from them what they will Aristotle wrote eight bookes of naturall Philosophy the sixe last whereof containe no other subject but of Motion onely and the affections of it But the last doth end in the first Moover in him who is immoueable for seeing all things that haue motion are moved by some one thing and that againe by another and so forward In this chaine of things motionary wee cannot proceed to what is infinite but wee must needs stay at one first Moover who although hee moue all things is himselfe immoueable Even so in the body of Man the joynts are moved by the Arteries the arteries by the sinnewes the sinnewes by the Spirits animall the Spirits animall by the Spirits vitall the Spirits vitall by the soule which is not moved but by Accident or by Another that is by the motion of another as Wisedome walketh in a wise man or as the Governour of a ship sitting at the helme doth so rest that notwithstanding by the motion of the ship hee is moved himselfe But if there be any thing that moues it selfe it must bee compounded of parts and one part must bee moved of another But the First Being must needs be most purely simple and not composed of parts Besides it is easie to bee seene by evident demonstration that in the order of Efficient causes it is impossible to proceed unto what is infinite for if there was no chiefe and primary Cause there would be no second nor any third Cause and so of the rest so that by this meanes there would be no Cause at all besides wee should never arriue unto the last effect for before wee could travaile to it infinite Causes must be gone over now that is infinite which cannot bee gone through and of which as there is no beginning so there is no ending Neither doe the divers degrees of Goodnesse and wisedome by which Angels are better and wiser then men and men themselues differ among themselues availe a little to the knowledge of God and of divine perfection For this Axiome doth stand unshaken that qualities suppose Heate or Whitenesse are more or lesse imperfect according as they are neerer or farther off from the Soveraigne degree of perfection or are distant from the chiefe degree of Heate or Whitenesse Among creatures therefore that is the better which commeth most neere to the chiefe or primary Goodnesse But this Soveraigne Goodnesse what is it else but God who is Goodnesse it selfe For as in the order of efficient causes so in degrees of Vertue and Perfection there can be no procedencie to what is infinite but it must needs be that there must be some chiefe and primary Perfection Adde againe to this what all the World confesseth that it is impossible that any thing should make it selfe for if any thing could make it selfe wee must necessarily then conclude it to haue beene before it was for to doe doth presuppose to be since therfore the heaven could not forme it selfe it must bee formed by some one else who must truely be both of Soveraigne Power and of infinite Wisedome for to so great a worke he had neither patterne whereby to imitate no materialls ready wherewith to worke nor Iourneyman to helpe him For if these had then beene it would bee againe demanded who had created him his Matter or his Men who had
Earth the Beasts of the Forrest come out of their Dens and the young Lyons reare after their prey but as soone as the Sunne ariseth they hide themselues in their Dennes and dare not come forth but Man then goeth forth unto his worke and to his labour untill the Evening Indeed when the darke mist of Ignorance overspreads the Earth Satan and his Ministers triumph securely like unruly Beasts but as soone as the Sunne of the word of God hath begunne to shine they fly away that hate the truth then doe the godly goe forth unto their labour untill the Evening that is they labour in the service of God and the exercise of good workes untill by a happy Death they arriue to the evening of their life To come therefore to the true and saving knowledge of God wee haue need of another master and more bright instructions then those which are learned out of the workes of the Creation or borrowed from humane reason It was not enough for those Wise men to haue sought the Cradle of the Redeemer to haue had the conduct of a Star but they must further be instructed by the testimony of the Prophets did we exactly understand the greatnesse of the Stars their motions their vertues and their distance wee should never come by these directions unto God unlesse the voyce of God should withall informe us in the instructions of the Prophets and the Apostles therefore the Psalmist in the 19. Psalme after hee had said That the Heavens declare the glory of God attributing so great an eloquence to the heavenly bodies although but speechlesse that not a nation under heaven but heares them he presently passeth to the Law of God leading us by the hand to a better master to more cleare and certaine instructions the Law of God saith hee is entire converting the soule the testimony of the Lord is true giving wisedome to the Simple Neither doe these things appertaine to excuse those who being taught by the onely workes of God haue not attained to the knowledge of him for although without the instructions and the conduct of the Word of God they could not attaine to such a knowledge of him as is sufficient to salvation yet they are justly condemned because they fought against the generall notions of Nature and endeavoured to put out her light neither vsed the instructions of the creatures to that advantage which they might wherefore they are convinced by Saint Paul in the first of the Romanes For suppressing the Truth and detayning it in vnrighteousnesse and because that when they knew God they did not glorifie him as God Neither sinned they onely by their ignorance but also by their perversenesse and their pride as the same Apostle in the second of the Coloss who saith That hee who fals off from the service of God to the worshipping of Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth intrude into those things which hee hath not seene vainely putt up by his fleshly mind and in the 1. of the Rom. hee saith When they profest themselues wise they became fooles and were therefore delivered over to vile affections By this I thinke it is evidently shewed wherefore besides the instructions which wee learne out of the workes of Creation and Providence wee haue need of another doctrine to wit the word of God But wherefore God who could without the preaching of the Word convert our hearts and immediately infuse into them the knowledge of himselfe had rather leade us to the knowledge of himselfe and by this knowledge to Salvation by his Word it is not curiously to bee sought into For God who reserues the reason of his Counsailes to himselfe and is not subject unto any is not to bee called to an account neither is it for man to argue with God neverthelesse the reason of this divine Counsell is evident and it is easie enough to assigne the Cause for be cause Death entered into the World by the eare it pleased God that the doctrine of Salvation should enter in by the same way too And because that Man fell by beleeving the words of the Devill it was fitting that man should bee raised from his fall by beleeving the Word of God for it was requisite that contrary evils should be cured by contrary Remedies wherefore God sends us by Esay the Prophet to the Law and to the Prophets pronouncing that it cannot be that without these the morning Light should shine on any and in Luk. 16 Abraham teacheth us That it is in vaine to haue recourse unto the dead and to expect Revelations from thence when we haue at hand the Law and the Prophets Neither is it to be doubted but that Christ restoring sight unto the blind by annoynting his eyes with spittle did secretly therby intimate that only that which proceedeth from his mouth illuminates the understanding and scatters the darkenesse of naturall ignorance Hence it is that in the history of the old new Testament there are found examples of some holy men whom God chastised with blindnesse as Ahia the Prophet or with dumbnes as Zachary the father of Iohn Baptist but of a religious man whom hee strooke with deafenesse and from whom hee tooke the sense by which his Word should bee conveyed unto him there is not any Example in the Scriptures but the Devill is called the deafe Spirit in the Gospell because they who are possessed with him doe deafe their eares at the Word of God This Word of God was first delivered by the Oracle of his voice afterwards God so pleasing it was commended to us in writing and engraven in publicke Tables that it might neither bee raz'd by Oblivion corrupted by Errour or prophaned by reprobate Rashnesse this is the Booke which by excellence is called THE BIBLE as if other bookes valued with this did not deserue to bee called Bookes But among many and great Authorities which confirme the credit and prerogatiue of the holy Scripture that testimony is most certaine and aboue others of greatest efficacie which the Holy Ghost doth giues it unto it to wit the secret power of the Spirit with hidden stings piercing the hearts of those that heare and reade it a power aboue all reason infinite to expresse which in fitting accents all Eloquence is dull all language barren and words doe faint and faulter under the greatnesse of the thing Let Demosthenes be read or Princeps Romani Tullius Eloquij Tully the reputed Prince Of the Roman Eloquence Onely while they are read they doe affect there being a kind of soft harmony and gentle titillation that stroakes the eare but when the hearer is departed the sense of that delight departeth also as the face is seene no more in the glasse when the person is retired from it But if there bee a faithfull and attentiue hearer or reader of the Word of God it will sit deepe within him and graven in his heart bee euer present breathing forth Diuinities governing the affections cheering the
heart and finally renewing the whole Man But because this testimony is onely perceiued by those whom God hath endowed with his Spirit in whom the letter of the Word dead in it selfe is quickned and as it were sharpened by the Spirit of God in vaine with this weapon doe wee fight against the prophane who deride and reject what ever they haue not experienced and measure the power and vertue of God by their owne sottishnesse how euer besides this efficacy of the Scripture there are many things more which can stop the mouthes of Infidells and giue both authority and beliefe to the holy Scripture And first of all there is no other booke which in such a simplicity of language hath so great a Majesty speaking vnto Kings and Subjects with equall Authority for men howsoever they bee vnequall in dignity compared among themselues compared to God they bee all equall As the Mountaines and the Vallies make both one plaine in the Globe of Earth when Earth is compared vnto heaven Satan the Ape of God imitating this Simplicity whiles hee affects the roughnesse of the Stile could not attaine the Majesty if it hee fancied the Etrurian discipline and the Salian verses in a rude and rugged phrase but he forbade them to be publish'd as being ashamd of his owne doctrine nay he could not bee believed among his owne Priests to whom he did entrust his Mysteries whereupon Cato was wont to say that hee wondred how one Southsayer looking on another could refraine from laughter because acknowledging among themselues the impostures of their profession by a secret combination they would neverthelesse counterfet themselues as serious Againe it is remarkeable that every booke bee it never so ancient Compared to the antiquitie of the Bible will bee found but of a late edition the Grecians fed on Acornes yea their Names were scarce knowen in the World when Moses wrote his five bookes intituled the Pentatenche with which all the Philosophy in the World cannot compare Homer and Hesiod the most ancient of the Greeke Poets liued at least a hundred and fifty yeares after David yet Davids inspired Poems are distant as far from Homers as heaven from Earth or the fables of man from the truth of God neither doth Plato dissemble in the beginning of his Timaeus that the Aeygptians would say that the Grecians were alwayes boyes who neuer could bee men of Age as being altogether ignorant of true Antiquitie Why should I heere rehearse the most stupendious miracles and with what a Majestie the Law was pronounced what were the wonders in Aegypt and the Wildernes and those not actedin a corner or before but a few witnesses but all Aegypt both beholding and repining at it and before the eyes of sixe hundred thousand armed Men and the most mightie Nation that was fed with Manna which followed the pillar of fire conducting them and heard the voice of the trumpet who with horror did behold the burning mountaine and flames of fire whirling high as heauen invironed with waving smokes and thicke clouds of rowling darkeenesse And that no man may conceiue that this was feigned by Moses in fauour of the Israelites with most terrible threatnings he thunders against that nation and every where convinceth them of folly and pride and Rebellion against God himselfe Now with what integritie Moses wrote this it is apparent that hee conceales not his owne offences but rehearseth the chastisement wherewith God afflicted him and that hee was commanded to die on the borders of the promised land because hee beleeued not the voice of God And how farre hee was from Ambition wee may see by this that hee would not haue his sonnes succeede him in his Governement but elected Ioshua that was of another tribe And how small the dignity of Moses sonnes was among the pirests wee may learne out of Iosephus lib. 1. Orig. cap. 11. Who recites that in the distribution of sacred things which was made by Dauid the charge which Moses posteritie had was but the keeping of the treasurie and the Gifts which were offered in the temple Neither must wee leaue out the Antiquitie and Certaintie of the prohecies for by what inspiration could Esay foretell the name of Cyrus and that hee should bee a deliuerer of the Iewes 160 yeares before Cyrus was borne Or what other but the Spirit of God could foretell to Ieroboam that a King should bee borne of the Stocke of David Iosias by name who should overthrow and demolish their profaner Alters and that three hundred fiftie and sixe moneths before it was done What shall I say of Ieremie who expresselie set downe the 70 yeares of Captivitie in Babilon What of Daniell who from the restauration of Ierusalem to the death of Christ precisely numbers seventie weeks of yeares that is 490 yeares the predictions of the same Daniell of the foure Empires and of the Kings Seluci seeme rather to bee histories then prophecies Which may bee affirmed also of the prophecies of Esai of whom Saint Hierom in his Epistle to Paulinus saith that hee seemes rather to bee an Evangelist then a Prophet these things certainely could not bee suggested into the Prophets by any other then by him onely who as hee hath a foresight of all things so hee hath an insight also and knows them well because that hee will doe them The dignity therfore of holy Scripture is above all hazard or doubt of opposition and the authority of it is so great that Christ himselfe greater then the Law and who inspired the Prophets was accustomed to defend himselfe with the testimony of the Law and Prophets against the Pharisees and therefore when many in defence of the authority of the sacred Scripture have sacrificed their lives there is no man found that in defence of Platoes or Aristotles opinion yet ever ventured to encounter death Indeed I could be content to say that Cleombrotus the Ambrocian was Platoes Martyr who as Cicero in his third Tusculan doth relate having read the Booke of Plato entituled Phaedo where Socrates neere unto death disputes of the immortality of the Soule did force himselfe into a headlong death this man I say might bee called the Martyr of Plato had he done this in any hope of salvation to be attained by Platoes meanes and not through the tediousnesse of life Now the bookes of the mysteries of the Aegyptians and the Religion of the Druids are perished the Hetrurian Discipline is extinguished and the Verses of the Sybills are abolished only the holy Writ hath remained untouched as having God its Authour neither to extinguish it could prevaile the horrible insolence of Antiochus Epiphanes or the impious cunning of Iulian Caesar or the pernicious writings of Lucian and Porphyrius nay these execrable persons were the admirable examples of the Divine Iustice It is knowne how Antiochus Epiphanes constrained to raise his Siege and abandon Elemais through griefe of mind in the flower of his age and Kingdome breath'd forth
his unrighteous soule how Iulian in his very entrance into the Empire strooke through with an arrow gave up his impure spirit how if we may beleeve Suidas enraged dogs tore Lucian in pieces Neither is that an Argument of little consequence to confirme the authority of the Scripture which Iosephus writeth in the twelfth Booke of his Iewish Antiquities Chap 2. where Demetrius Phaleraeus the Keeper of the Kings Library speakes thus to Ptolomaeus Philadelphus out of Hecataeus Abderita concerning the sacred Bookes of the Iewes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as being pure and holy it was unlawfull that they should be exprest by a prophane mouth the same Demetrius Phaleraeus relates out of Aristaeus that Theopompus having wrought into his story some part taken from the sacred Word was for fourty dayes together strucken with an Apoplexy untill by some respits of releasement from his sickenesse he appeased God by his prayers and desisted from his enterprise being admonished in a dreame that these things happened to him because he intruded into holy things In the same manner Theodoctes the Poet having inserted into a Tragedie of his something taken from the Word of God being strucke with blindnesse was inforced to abandon the enterprise which so rashly he beganne Agreeable to this is that which Clemens speaketh in his first Booke of Tapist and Tertullian in his Booke of Womens habites that Ierusalem being taken and razed by the Babylonians all the Bookes of the Iewes were restored againe by Esdras their intention is not that the holy Bookes were utterly extinguisht and abollished and then againe restored by Esdras for so the holy Bookes which at this day we reade should not be the Bookes of Moses of David or of Esay but of Esdras who by new inspirations did compile them the intention of Clement and Tertullian is that the Bookes of the Old Testament during the Captivity of Babylon dispersed or but rarely and negligently transcribed were digested by Esdras into order more accurately written and restored to their native beauty And since that time these bookes with so much Religion were observed by the Iewes whom it pleased God to make the Library of the Christians that if the booke had at any time fallen to the ground they would enjoyne themselues a solemne and extraordinary fast and at the end of every booke they did use to write not onely the number of the verses but the number of the letters also in which scrupulous sedulity of theirs the true honour due unto the Scripture doth not consist but hee doth reverence it as hee ought who reads it with such eyes as the constant wife doth the contract of her marriage or the good Sonne doth his fathers Will who never heares the Scripture mentioned but his heart doth leape and his filiall affections earne who by this rule doth compose and squares all his life his deeds and words nay and his thoughts also But as young Samuel being awaked from sleepe by the voice of God lay presently downe to sleepe againe thinking it to be but the voyce of Man and not of God so the greatest part of men the word of God being heard and they awakened by it in a light feare they beginne a little to stirre stretch themselues but by and by they fall againe into a sleepe of vices because they heard this word as the word of man and not as the word of God What is contained in these bookes it would bee too tedious to describe it shall be sufficient to propose unto the eye the elements of Christian Religion that wee may see in what things the true knowledge of God consisteth The Scripture therefore teacheth that Man was first created to the Image of God endued with Holinesse and Righteousnesse and revolted from God by his owne consent and by the suggestion of the Devill whereupon came sin into the world and by sinne Death and Malediction notwithstanding the Image of God in Man is not so disfigured that there remaine not certaine traces of it to wit a certaine perceiving of Divinity and some graines of honesty and civill justice which notions that God might helpe and that no man might excuse his sinne by pretending ignorance God hath given his Law written by man which Law is reduced to these two heads To loue God with all our heart and with all our strength and to loue our neighbour as our selues which Law with great terrour hee pronounced in a voice whose accents were thunders and shining with flames of Lightning that the people might understand that their Lawgiver was armed and who so despised his commandements should not escape unpunished this dreadfull clause adjoyned to it Cursed is he that continueth not in all things which are contayned in the booke of the Law to doe them When therefore Man by nature prone unto sinne cannot fulfill these Commandements this Law were nothing else then the torment of the conscience and the ministery of Death had not God according to his mercy releeved Man in this forlorne estate Hee therefore in his appoynted time prescribed by the Prophets sent his Sonne the everlasting Word the wisedome of his Father whom hee begat from all eternity who together with the Father and the Holy Spirit is one God into the world and endued him with humane flesh so the Word was made flesh and God in vnity of person assumed humane Nature without any diminution of the Divinity or mixture of the Natures for it was requisite that the Mediator betwixt God and Man should bee God and Man and touch both extreames by the Communion of Nature In this Nature of Man this Sonne of God our Redeemer finished the worke of our Redemption perfectly fulfilling the Law by expiating our sins by his Death and triumphing over Death by his Resurrection hee is the Author of eternall life to all those that beleeue in him Wherefore as the Sinne of Adam is imputed to all his posterity so the Righteousnesse of Christ is imputed unto all those who by the Spirit of Adoption and faith in him are made the Sonnes of God By this marke Christian Religion is discerned and distinguished from all Religions which humane reason hath invented that it shewes the way by which onely we haue accesse to God by his Sonne who is the Way the Truth and the Life that is the true way to life And though God inhabites light which none can come unto yet after some manner hee hath made himselfe visible in his Sonne who is the Image of God invisible and God with us whosoever shall endeavour to come to God by any other way hee shall find him a Iudge and not a Father and the more he hasts the more hee erres and headlong fals into a certaine ruine To the finishing of this worke of our Redemption the person of the Sonne was chosen rather than the person of the Father or the Holy Ghost for if the Father had beene made Man and assumed our Fesh there had beene in
the Trinity two Sonnes one by eternall Generation and another by Generation in Time Neither was there any thing more agreeable than that hee who was the Middle in the persons of the Trinity should also be the Middle betwixt God and Man and bee the linke and tye of all affinity betwixt heaven and earth And what could bee more apt and sutable to the Wisedome of God than that we should be restored into the Right and Degree of sonnes by him who is the onely Sonne of God and that God should renew Man by the same Word by which he created him and that God should speake unto us by him who is the Eternall Word of God and by him should teach us true wisedome who is himselfe the wisedome of the Father This is that Doctrine which is called the Gospell which God hath left as a pledge in his Church that by this prerogatiue it should bee distinguished from the rest of mankind which doctrine he hath commanded to bee published throughout all the world by his Apostles and their Successors prescribing that those who joyne themselues to the Church should bee baptized In the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost and that the people should bee instructed in the faith of Christ by the preaching of the Gospell by which to the Penitent and Beleeving Remission of sinnes and everlasting life is promised and that the faithfull should attend the second comming of Christ in which hee shall raise up the dead and taking into his knowledge an Account of all Mans actions shall render unto every one according to his workes By the Church I understand not onely the Church under the new Testament which is called the Christian Church but also the whole Church in all Ages whose beginning is deduced from Adam and which shall last unto the End of the World for the Scripture testifieth that the Fathers before Christ were saved by faith in Christ Abraham rejoyced to see my day and hee saw it Iohn 8. And Moses preferred the reproach of Christ to the treasures of Egypt Heb. 11. And it pleased the Father to reconcile all things by the blood of the Crosse whether they were things in Heaven or things in Earth Col. 1. And there is no man of sober understanding that ever yet made doubt but that these words of Things in heaven did comprehend the Patriarchs and the Prophets to which purpose some of the Ancients haue not unaptly applyed an Allegory of a Branch laden with Grapes which hanging on a staffe was carried on two mens shoulders by him that went formost they understood the Church of the old Testament by him that came after the Church of the new Testament and by the branch of Grapes Christ himselfe for the old Church saw not the comming of Christ because it went before in order of Time but this latter hath Christ ever before her eyes and beholds him come Neverthelesse the Branch of Grapes is as much the food of one as of the other for Christ equally unto both Churches conveigheth life and foode spirituall These are those instructions in which the true and saving knowledge of God consisteth a knowledge which farre transcends all other Arts and Sciences The Sciences are all either contemplatiue or practicke the excellence of the Contemplatiue consists in these three things the Dignity of the Subject the Certainty of the Demonstrations and the Perspicuity of the Instructions the excellence of the Practicke consists in these the Excellence of the End the Aptnesse of the Meanes and the Rules to attaine that End In Divinity that part is contemplatiue which treateth of the nature of God and of the workes of Creation Gubernation and Redemption but that part which treateth of the offices of Piety towards God and Charity towards our Neighbour is practicall for although in this there bee great need of Contemplation yet all this Contemplation is directed to the Practicke in one as in the other Divinity doth infinitely excell all Sciences The Subject of the Part contemplatiue is God himselfe betwixt whom and the body of Man or twixt Lands and Chattles the Subiects of Law and Phisicke there is no comparison but in certainty it wonderfully transcends them all For whatsoever the Philosophers doe dispute concerning the chiefe or principall good are so different among themselues so contrary one unto another that their chiefe good seemes rather to bee grounded on opinion then on nature Augustine in the nineteenth booke of the Citty of God reckons up out of Marcus Varro a hundred and fourescore disagreeing opinions of Philosophers concerning their Summum Bonum or Chiefest Good and Physicians doe rather suspect then see the inward affections of the bodies and the causes of diseases and hereupon it often comes to passe that in pretence of curing the diseased officiously they kill them But how great the uncertainty of humane Law is the infinite diversity of customes and countries the endlesse discord of municipal Rights and of the Roman and Barbarian Lawes doth plainely testifie but the foundations of Divinity stand sure and unshaken being laid by the hand of God himselfe and are more firme then Heaven or Earth The Heaven and Earth shall passe away but my words shall not passe saith God himselfe Neither doth it any thing derogate from this certainety that Men in the busines of Religion are divided into so many Sects and dispute with such contentious heate concerning the interpretation of the Scripture for this doth not arise from the uncertainety of Gods Word but from the pravity of Man who wilfully doth blind his owne eyes and takes delight to stumble in so faire a way subjecting Religion to his belly and by depravation of the most certaine things with full Sailes doth fly to Avarice or Ambition For whosoever will not destine himselfe to a peculiar and set opinion shall find in the Holy Scripture many cleare and evident sentences wanting no Interpreter which abundantly wil suffice him both for faith maners I confesse in the Scriptures there are many things full of obscurity but if the pious student shall weigh them well hee shall find them either prophecies or figures and not foundations of faith or of the nature of those things which are necessary to Salvation for God by plaine and easie things doth instruct us to Salvation and by obscure ones doth exercise us in prayer or workes in us sobriety or pulling the wings of our curiositie doth retaine us in the bounds of modesty And this must bee a received Maxim that the least knowledge derived from the word of God is more excellent then the exactest knowledge of earthly things For a little of the knowledge of God faithfully received doth abundantly suffice to inflame our minds with the loue of God and to leade our liues both well and happily The End Remaines by which Divinity whatsoever there is of Arts or Sciences by a transcendent Distance doth excell For the Politicks onely ininforme a