by the heauenly and the baser by the excellenter and suche as be of more perfection And bicause this so worthy a meditation mighte seeme yet of little or no effect if we should not apply it to some vse therfore the frutes and commodities that flow growe as it were out of the same in ample manner be set oute Nowe in prosecuting and going throughe with all these things afore-mencioned from the beginning to the ende of my foure bokes if it seeme to any man somewhat straunge that for the most part I reherse the testimonies as wel of the scriptures as the catholik fathers of the church not in their owne language wherin they wrote but by way of translation in our mother tōg It may please them to vnderstande that I considered I had to doe with two sorts of men with some that perchaunce are ignorant know neither the Greeke nor Latine speache contrariwise with other that haue good skill and be profoundly learned in thē bothe Therefore althoughe the inculcating of muche Greeke and Latine might peraduēture haue made a good showe and very well haue serued for the enlarging and amplifying of my discourse yet the vnskilfull I knewe well inoughe coulde haue slender forderance by suche meanes to the learned it was alwayes free to haue recourse and refuge to those authors as well Greekes as Latines whiche by me there are recited By conference of whome they shall well perceiue and finde oute howe faithfully I haue dealt in my translation It remaineth nowe Christian brother that thou catche not vnto thee with the lefte hande that whiche is raughte oute with the righte I say that in no wise thou be ouer-hastie to misconstrue me in anye thing that I wryte but syncerely interpretate my doings If there be any thing which soundeth not well in thine eares at the first hearing yet doe not busilye condemne that whiche thou conceiuest not by and by Before thou giue oute thy verdict and proceede to thy rigorous censure I pray thee be well aduised ▪ Men see not alwayes vpon the sodaine but no mannes eyes are more blīded thā theirs which malice hath put out If my shoe tread not always streighte I forbidde not a brotherly admonition which is voide of bitternesse and biting gall for the which I shall heartily giue thee thankes Only this I require of thee that thou depraue me not behinde my backe This I wryte muche misdoubting the olde croked practise of some crabbed Zoilus Whose manner is rather of enuie to be nipping at other mens good endeuoures than of any charitable and godly zeale himselfe to do any thing for common profite But lette him say what he list it shall not skill For as in publishing of this my work I sought not gredily the praise of the worlde whiche by the like doing I mighte haue hunted for not a fewe yeres agoe hauing a booke redy penned for the printe in the latine tong so neither do I care a whit for the malicious dispraising of any ill disposed enuious or vaine glorious person let him plaie the Momus or the Mimus with neuer so craftie a pretence yea or else disguise himselfe how he will. Whom moreouer fully I woulde haue aduertised that I weighe more the honest testimony of three or foure godly and learned men whose sincerity of iudgement is well knowne than the cauilling of an hundred vngracious tongs Yea were it so as I dare say of the contrary I might assure meself that I shoulde finde either none or verie fewe who in a lawfull quarell would vphold my cause yet I set more by the witnesse of a good consciēce than any ill will or frendship to be had in the worlde Farewell in Christ A Table of the Chapiters of the first booke WHerefore the author wrote this woorke Cap. 1. pag. 1. The diuision of this discourse Cap. 2. pag. 6 The corrupte iudgement of some denying Gods Prouidence Cap. 3. pag. 7. As there is a God that created the vvorld I o there is a God that doth gouern it Ca. 4. pa. 11 That God vvanteth neither might nor good vvil to gouerne the vvorld Cap. 5. pag. 17. That God gouerneth the world it appereth by the cōmodities that vve receiue by the bodies that are aboue and by the four Elements Cap. 6. pag. 21. He shevveth Gods Prouidence by perusing the Anatomie of mans body Cap. 7. pag. 29 Epicures cauilling at the vvorkemanship of mannes body is confuted Cap. 8. pag. 39. Gods prouidence is proued out of scripture Cap 9. pag 44. He reciteth the fathers to the same effecte Cap. 10. pag. 58. He shevveth that the very Ethnikes approued this doctrine of gods Prouidence c. 11. p. 61 That a certain opinion of Gods Prouidence is rooted in our harts by nature vvhich stirreth vs vp to pray to him and to giue him thankes Ca. 12. pag. 66. The prodigious vvonders that come to passe in the vvorld be an argument also of Gods Prouidence Cap. 13. pag. 68 Examples out of the scripture to proue Gods Prouidence Cap. 14. pag. 73. The Chapiters of the second booke No tokēs of gods prouidence towards vs can moue vs to be thanckfull but still vve be carping and cauilling Ca. 1. pa. 105 Our vvils be not forced by Gods Prouidence vvherof c. Cap. 2. pag. 114 God is not the author of sin c. 3. pa. 126 Hovv euil is done by gods vvil the author maketh further declaratiō c. 4. p. 147 Ordinarie meanes be not excluded by Gods Prouidence Cap. 5. pa. 162. God is burdened vvith vnequall distribution first c. Cap. 6. pag. 181. An ansvver to the first part of this former obiection shevving that the poore haue no cause to complain Ca. 7. pa. 183. The state of the riche and the poore being both compared he shevveth in the ende that the poores case is the better cap. 8. pag. 195. The author doth not simply cōdemne riches but he vvold neither haue the pore discouraged nor the riche too much puffed vp Cap. 9. pag. 201. They are plainly disproued that wold haue all menne broughte to a like state Cap. 10. pag 206. An answer to the seconde parte of the obiection of vneuen dealing shevving how gentrie and bondage firste came in and how necessary rulers be in a common vveale Cap. 11. pag. 216. It standeth with good reason that subsidies taxes shuld be paid Ca. 12. pa. 225 That the seruaunte hathe no cause to complaine of his state nomote than the subiecte Cap. 13. pag 232. Thoughe Princes be not alvvayes ansvverable to our affections yet ought vve not therfore to rebell Cap. 14. pag. 239. That God suffereth euill and hurtfull things vvithoute any derogation to hys Prouidence Cap. 15. pag. 244. That the prosperitie of the vvicked the aduersitie of the godlye is no staine or blemishe to Goddes Prouidence Cap. 16. pag. 254. The Chapters of the thirde booke Making a recapitulation of the former booke he sheweth that Gods Prouidence
teacheth vs an other lesson In times paste came prophecies vnto vs sayth he not by the motion of any mans will but the holy men of God spake vnto vs in suche sorte as they were first moued and set on by the holy Ghost It was not they then so muche that spake any thing but rather God that vsed them as his instruments And dyd God warne before what he woulde doo touching the captiuitie and deliueraunce of the Iewes of Iudas his trayterous dealing towards his deare Master of the cruell conspiracie of the Rulers of his people of his Sonnes deathe of Jerusalems destruction c What differeth this I pray you from ordeyning Coulde a manne wyshe a more manyfeste proofe oute of Gods worde The .x. Chapter He reciteth the fathers to the same effecte WHereof although the authoritie be so inuiolable that of it selfe it onely should preuayle as well able to discusse al douts and to open and decide all controuersies concerning the substāce of our fayth yet séeing many menne make exceptions as though nothing but forced gloses wrested and racked textes singular and priuate inuentions were broughte in goe to let vs sée a whyle whether the auncient catholike and learned Fathers did any otherwise determine of so greate a matter And first come foorthe I pray thée godly father Clemens Alexandrinus tell vs thy learned iudgemente VVho so euer thinketh there is no Prouidence saythe he mee thynketh he is vvorthy of punishement and a very vvicked man yea not so vvorthy that we shoulde vouchsafe to dispute vvith him Doo thou also tell vs Byshoppe Gregorie thou worthy father of Nazianzene That there is a God sayth he the cause of al things bothe wrought and preserued both oure eye sighte and the very lawe of nature can teach vs. And thou also of blessed memorie right reuerend father holy Basile say thy minde we beséeche thée in lyke maner There is nothing sayth he which God doth not foresee there is nothing which he doth neglecte The eye which neuer sleepeth veweth and considereth al things with all things it is presente safegarding and preseruing euery thing Very well but let vs heare one more of the Greke Church Me thinketh Chrisostomus offereth him selfe as not vnworthy to haue concluded vpon the case Is there no foundatiō saith he and how standeth the building Is there no keele and howe holdeth the ship togither is there none that made the ship how was it made is there no builder how was the house erected Is there no Mason and who builte vp the Citie In the ende thus he knitteth vp VVhat soeuer thing in the world be done practised and put in vre they haue some body to ouersee them and to worke and shall the world onely be without a gouernour Inough nowe of the Gréeke fathers what of the Latines Certaynly as they had like iudgements so framed they also like arguments VVho would not think sayth Lactantius that this worlde so maruellously wroughte is gouerned by some Prouidence For there is nothing that can hold out without some body to guide it So the house that is forsaken of the inhabitaunt falleth to ruine the ship that is without a gouernoure goeth to wracke and the body that is giuen ouer of the soule commeth to nothing Much lesse let vs thinke that this worlde beeing so mightie and huge of quantitie coulde either be founded without a workeman or bee able to stande so long without a guide Worthily spoken out of doubte very conformable also to that lesson which S. Austine techeth vs in his third booke de trinitate affirming that nothing is done which proceedeth not out of the inward and intelligible court of the soueraigne Emperor according to his vnspekable iustice And Leo archbishop of Rome putteth the matter so farre out of al controuersie that he sticketh not to say these wordes The heartes of the faythfull do not doubt but that Gods Prouidence is alwayes present in al parts of this world and that the successe of oure worldly affayres dependeth not of any power that the Starres haue whiche is none but all thinges be ordered at the moste iuste and mercy full pleasure of oure Soueraigne Lorde The .xj. Chapter He sheweth that the very Ethnikes approued this doctrine of Gods Prouidence BVT what néede wée to speake more of the Fathers Surely it is so far off that any godly man shoulde néede to doubt of this so christianlike and sounde doctrine that the very beste and wisest of the heathen men acknowledged it for a certayne truthe Therefore Hesiodus sayth of God that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is one that hath a great brode eye and a face that can looke into euery corner Sophocles likewise affirmeth that he séeth all things and commaundeth al things to be done So true is that saying of Theophilus in the second booke ad Autolicum the Poetes and Philosophers themselues haue written of Gods iustice of his iudgemēt of eternall condemnation and moreouer of Gods prouidence As for Marcus Cicero he hath so largely intreated of this matter not onely in his seconde thirde booke de natura Deorum in his bookes de diuinatione de fato de Legibus de vniuersitate that onely constancie excepted wée coulde not greatly require any thing at his hands And that graue sentence of Clearchus mentioned by Xenophon lib. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not to be let passe teaching vs that neither swiftnesse nor darknesse nor strong bulwarke of defence can be any refuge for vs agaynst God bycause sayth he all things be in his hāds the whole world is gouerned by his diuine power Yea a greate many mighte be named besides these before mentioned and rehearsed who béeing onely brought vp in the schole of nature were yet styll of this iudgement that there is a God ruling in the heauens vnto whom it was their duetie to submitte them selues Therefore S. Austine writing contra Faustū Manicheum Touching the Prouidence of God sayth he both the Paganes be of the same mind that we be the Iewes and you and all Heretickes that by any meanes are called Christians And Lactantius yet somwhat more openly in his boke entituled de origine erroris that the world saith he should be made by gods Prouidence to say nothing of Trismegistus who professeth the same of the Sibils verses the report asmuch of the Prophets who w one spirit voyce beare witnesse that the workmanship of the worlde is Gods making euen amongst the Philosophers almost al in maner it is agréed vpō The same also the Pithagoreās the Stoikes the Peripatetickes those whiche were the chiefest Philosophers of euery secte did acknowledge till at the laste many worldes after arose doting Epicure which was so bolde as to denie that that is moste euident And forsoothe for none other cause but for that he was desirous to inuent nouelties that he might make a secte of his owne name And bicause he
could find out no new inuentiō yet that he might appeare to be singular and to disagrée from the reste he woulde fayne ouerthrowe their olde learning wherin he had all the Philosophers barking rounde about his eares and reprouing him Thus farre goeth Lactantius Ye sée then that the very heathen miscreantes how sensuall soeuer they were otherwise yet all of them do not holde agaynst vs Nay contrariwise it is a playne case that not the meanest of thē no nor the fewest neither bée of oure side And yet otherwyse questionlesse very Paganes menne that could sée no further than they were led by the drifte of their owne reason men as S. Paule calleth them that were strangers from the common weale of Israell foreyners from the couenants of promise without Christe and withoute GOD What shoulde we Christians doe then that are endued with a more especiall spirite vnto whome God hathe sente hys owne sonne as it were directly oute of hys owne bosome to reueale vnto vs al godly knowledge Shall we alwayes stumble in the open lighte Shall we haulte and goe crooked in the plaine pathway Shall we wincke wittingly and willingly when the sunne shineth so cléerely before our face For I beséeche you with the eyes of a sounde iudgemente all affection and parcialitie sette a side lette vs yet looke well about vs lette vs peise all things diligently with euen balance We haue heard Gods owne liuely voice speaking as it were nay rather thundering in his woorde We haue the testimonie of aunciente Fathers the aucthoritie of whose consent we estéeme and reuerence in due place we haue the wisdome of worldly men that is to say very nature and common sense to teach vs where against busily to contende it were a labor doubtlesse to litle purpose yea we haue heauen and earthe the mayne Sea the elementes al in order warning and admonishing vs day and night of the subiection and homage we owe to god What more I pray you coulde we desire for our farther satisfying instruction The .xij. Chapter That a certaine opinion of Gods Prouidence is rooted in oure hartes by nature vvhiche stirreth vs vp to pray to him and to giue him thankes SVrely so cléerely and manifestly all thyngs make for our purpose that were it not for this that wée knowe God gouerneth the worlde hath a care of all things whiche he hath wrought why we should flée to him by our prayer to craue the assistaunce of his ayde or wherfore wée should yéelde him thanks for any benefite receyued at his hand I sée no cause And truly were it so that oure prayer and thankesgiuing should be frustrate and of none effect then all feare and loue whiche we owe to God all faythfulnesse and truthe béetwixte man and man yea and to tell you at a woorde all godlynesse and religion shoulde fall slat to the grounde Wherof O the lyuing God what a greate disorder and confusion what an huge heape of all euilles shoulde ensue in the lyfe of man But nowe séeing all mennes breastes be enbawmed and seasoned with this lycour and séeing in all mennes myndes it is naturally as it were engrafte that God only is the protectour of the worlde no one thing in heauen or in all the earthe béeing exempted or priuiledged from the aucthoritie of his iurisdiction Therof it is as Gregorius Nyssenus writeth that being driuen to our shiftes we repayre vnto him therof it commeth that wee bothe feare him and honour him with all our heartes Wherevnto also perchance if any man be slacke as alas too many bée oute of what other fulsome pumpe doth flowe this abhominable ordure but from the weakenesse and imbecillitie of oure faithe When so euer therefore oure heartes quaile and we begin to fainte in this persuasion Sathan daily tempting vs at oure elboe it standeth vs verily muche vppon to call hartely vnto God for grace crauing this aboue all things at hys handes that he woulde vouchsafe of his greate goodnesse to encrease our faithe which if we doe vnfainedly with a true heart then may we safely say with the Prophete My soule truely vvaiteth still vpon God for of him commeth my saluation He verily is my strength and my saluation he is my defense so that I shall not greatly fall The .xiij. Chapter The prodigious vvonders that come to passe in the vvorlde be an argument also of Gods Prouidence NEuerthelesse if I should héere stay and go no further my Dysputation mighte séeme to some mē either to be ouer coldely handled or else not sufficiētly debated for the capacitie of the cōmon sorte Truthe it is the discourse of reason must in déede with all men be of greate force but yet as we be taught by oure owne triall not so muche the subtiltie of disputing as the experience of all suche things as haue bene hearde of and séene with the corporall eyes enter I wot not by what meanes a great deale more spéedily into meaner heads To the intent therefore the cause which we take in hande may be sette oute and beautifyed with more liuely coloures let vs sée how euē by dūbe signes God himself hath preached vnto vs this doctrine And héere if néed were I could be furnished to this purpose very many wayes For not onely Fritschius Laubanus hathe largely set out vnto vs the strāge wōders mōsters which haue bin in the world but also one Boaistuau surnamed Launaye and one Claude de Fesserant a Parisian in the Frenche tongue besides diuers other not a fewe But I will rest only vpon an historie rehersed by Fabricius Montanus in a booke of his the whiche hée writeth of this very same matter of Gods Prouidence An historie as he reporteth not a thing doone many worldes past but suche a thyng as chaunced aboute Zurich where hée himselfe had his abyding and the same also in freshe remembraunce as bothe hearde of and séene in his tyme And truly euen in this order he doth tell it A certayne vagabunde sayth he had myserably mangled and kylled his fellowe with whome he had turned in oner night to take his lodging in a barne and verye early in the morning when he had remoued the carkas of the body slayne as farre as he was able oute of sight he tooke his héeles towards Eglisauium a towne whyche belonged to the sayde Zurich Nowe he which was the owner of the sayde barne who before had giuen a nyghtes lodgyng bothe to the rogue and his companion whiche he kylled when he had perceiued in the mornyng certayne tokens of the murderer he forthwith vttred it and made it knowne In the meane tyme this murder was well forwarde on his way nathelesse through the crying of the rauens and Iayes as he passed by that séemed very boldly to catch at him hée was bewrayed to the reapers dispersed héere and there in the fieldes who were muche agaste at this straunge syghte The verlet notwithstanding kepte still his high way and euen nowe one
to the state of their owne nature Touching Gods administration of thinges in heauen I thinke no man will resist me in that poynt onely Epicure excepted Whose grosse fantasie is suche that he wéeneth God doth nothing else but walke vp and downe in heauen and take his pastime But for the aunswering of his vayne conceates that which hath bene sayde already mighte suffise That which foloweth hath more controuersie when I ascribe also to God a continuall gouernement of all thinges without exception whatsoeuer it be that is vnder heauen For the chiefe capitaine and ringleader of all the Peripetickes in his treatise concerning good Fortune would proue by two argumentes at the least that thinges casuall and suche as séeme to come by happe be exempted vtterly from Gods gouernement And one of his reasons is the prosperitie of the wicked of whom that God should haue any care he sayth it is an vnlikely mattier His other profe is that if God medled with these mattiers of Fortune so it pleaseth him to call the temporal commodities of this world he would rathest sende them good lucke which were men of wisedome and discretion wheras contrarywise we sée for the most parte that the veriest asses and doltes haue the best fortune Nay he is so far off from condiscending to vs that God should haue any thing to do in these variable accidentes that chaunce in the earth that as Laertius the wryter of his life sayth and S. Ambrose with other mo he restrayneth Gods Prouidence to the precinct of heauen A great aduersarie I ensure you in suche a cause and not altogither of me to be contemned But this yet toucheth me somewhat nigher that myne olde frende Tullie whome hitherto I haue counted so sure a carde should now deale with me so vnkindely in shrinking from me peraduenture when I haue moste néede For hauing tolde me so much before of Gods gouernment of the world yea and proued the matier too so substancially now commeth he me in vpon the sodayn I wot not how with his Magna dij curāt parua negligunt saying after his heathenish maner the Gods care for great matiers but these small trisles they will not looke to And in his oration made in the defense of Roscius Amerinus If the most gracious and mightie Iupiter sayth he by whose becke and arbitrement heauen and earth and the sea is gouerned oftentimes hath anoyed men with vehement winds or immoderat tēpests or excessiue heat or intolerable cold if he haue rased cities destroyed corne wherof me thinketh nothing is done by Gods counsell for any harme but by the extremitie great violēce that hath hapned wheras cōtrariwise the cōmodities which we vse the light which we enioy the breath which we draw is bestowed giuē to vs as we se by him what should we maruel at L. Sylla that when he onely gouerned the publike weale welded the rule of the whole world established with lawes the maiesty of the Empire which by his dedes of armes by his chiualry he had so wel recouered he could not to al things haue a careful eye Onlesse this be taken for a maruel that mans wit and pollicy could not compasse that which God with al his power could not atchieue But what maruell we at Tullie béeing a starke miscreant and a Paynim séeing amongest vs also that be Christians there want not patrons of this learning Surely a certayne graue father writing vpon the first chapter of Habacuk touching these little séely creatures as flyes gnattes wormes and such like teacheth that God dothe not take of them any seuerall or particular care but generally and superficially as it were looketh ouer them For these be his very wordes vppon the same place of Habacuk which I haue noted Lyke as amongest men Gods Prouidence runneth through euery seueral person so amongst other liuing creatures we can conceaue in deede a generall disposition an order and a course of the worlde as for example howe a great meanie of fishes breede and liue in the water how creeping and foure footed beastes multiplie in the earth and with what foode they be nourished But it is a fond toy to bring Gods Maiestie so lowe that he shoulde knowe how many gnattes come into the world and howe many go out what a number of fulsome wormes and of fleys and flees there be on the earth what great fishes there swimme in the water and which of the lesser sorte of them muste be deuoured of the greater Let vs not be suche foolishe flatterers of God that whyles we would make his power to goe downe to these base things we shoulde doo iniurie to oure selues saying that ouer reasonable creatures and vnreasonable Gods prouident care is all alyke Hytherto this wryter But bothe he and the reste of them mighte be soone answered For first as for Aristotle obiecting the prosperitie of these smoothe hypocrites of the worlde and the aduersitie of godly wise men albeit that mighte well inoughe suffise whiche I haue written in my former booke yet this furthermore shall be added oute of Austine De cinitate These goods and euilles which be temporall God woulde haue common both to the good and the euill to this ende and purpose that neither these goods as they are called should be coueted ouer greedily which euill menne also are seene to haue nor these euils of aduersitie should with shame and dishonour be eschewed wherewith good men also many tymes are touched Salomon sayde wisely in the firste chapiter of his Prouerbes when fooles haue prosperitie it is their vndoing What get they then I pray you by the worlds fauning vpon them On the other side sayth the Prophete with all the godly afflicted It is good for me Lorde that thou haste broughte me lowe to the intent I might learne thy statutes What harme then dothe the guiltlesse susteine that can beare Gods fatherly correction But that which Aristotle neuer knew no maruell though he neuer rightly wayed Surely if the calmnesse of this deceuable prosperitie should alwayes laugh vpon vs in this worlde neuer would mans soule desire as full well sayth S. Austine to the widdowe Proba the hauen of true and assured safetie Therefore when Aristotle hath euen vttered to vs all his phantasie let vs yet which be Christians say wyth the Prophete whome we knowe was the instrument of the holy Ghost that the very rod and staffe of Gods chastisement is our comfort Tullie though he be likewise an heathen man yet as meséemeth hath a godlyer meaning in some respecte For supposing that all goodnesse dothe proceede from God whom prophanely he nameth Iupiter yet the hurte that is done by wyndes and tempestes or by any other wayes and meanes commeth not as he thinketh from the spring and fountayne of Gods counsayle but I wotte not of what blinde sway of the worlde The like errour is mayntayned of a kinde of Heretikes whiche be called Coluthiani