Scripture is silent the Church is my Text where that speakes it is but my comment where there is a joynt silence of both I borrow not the rules of my Religion from Rome or Geneva but the dictates of my own reason It is an unjust scandall of our adversaries and grossâ— error in our selves to compute the Nativity of our Religion from Henry the eighth who though he rejected the Pope confuted not the faith of Rome and effected no more than what his owne Predecessours deâ—ired and assayed in ages past and was conceived the State of Venice would have attempted in our dayes It is as uncharitable a point in us to fall upon those popular scurrilities and opprobrious scoffes of the Bishop of Rome to whom as to a temporal Prince we owe the duty of a good language I confesse there is cause of passion betweene us by his sentence I stand excommunicated Heretick is the best language he affords me yet can no â—are witnesse I ever returned to him the name of Antichrist man of sin or whore of Babylon It is the method of charity to suffer without reaction those usuall Satyres invectives of the Pulpit may perchance produce a good effect on the vulgar whose eares are opener to Rhetoricke than Logicke yet doe they no wise confirme the faith of wiser beleevers who knowes that a good cause needs not to be patronized by a passion but can sustaine it selfe upon a temperate dispute I could never divide my selfe from any upon the difference of an opinion or be angry with his judgement for not agreeing with me in that from which perhaps within a few dayes I should dissent my selfe I have no Genius to disputes in Religion and have often thought it wisdome to decline them and especially upon a disadvantage or when the cause of Truth might suffer in the weaknesse of my patronage where we desire to be informed it is good to contest with men above our selves but to confirme and establish our opinions it is best to agree with judgments below our owne that the frequent spoiles and victories over their reasons may settle in our selves an esteeme and confirme opinion of our owne Every man is not a proper Champion for Truth nor fit to take up the Gantlet in the cause of Verity Many from the Ignorance of their Maximes and an inconsiderate zeale to Truth have too rashly charged the troubles of error and remaine as Trophees to the enemies of Truth A man may be in as just possession of Truth as of a City and yet be forced to surrender t is therefore farre better to enjoy with peace than to hazzard her on a battell If therefore there rise any doubts in my way I doe forget them or at least defer them till my better setled judgement and more manly reason be able to resolve them for I perceive every mans owne reason is his best Oedipus and will upon a reasonable truce find a way to loose those bonds where-with subtilties of errour have enchained our more flexible and tender judgements In Philosophy where truth seemes double forced there is no man more paradoxicall than my selfe but in Divinity I keep the road and though not in an implicite yet in an humble faith follow the great wheele of the Church by which I move not reserving any proper poles or motion from the epicycle of my owne braine by this meanes I leave no gap for Heresies Schismes or Errors of which at present I shall injure Truth to say I have no taint or tincture I must confesse my greener studies have beene polluted with two or three not any begotten in the latter Cenâ—uries but old and obsolete such as could never have been revived but by such extravagant and irregular heads as mine for indeed Heresies perish not with their Authors but like the River Arethusa though they lose their currents in one place they rise up againe in another one generall Councell is not able to extirpate one single Heresie it may be canceld for the present but revolution of time and the like aspects from heaven will restore it when it will flourish till it be condemned againe for as though there were a Mâ—teâ—pâ—uchoâ—is and the soule of one man passed into another opinions do find after-revolutions men and mindes like those that first begat them To see our selves we need not looke for Plato's yeare every man is not onely himselfe there have been many Diogâ—nes and as many Timons though but few of that name men are lived over againe the world is now as it was in the age past there was none then but there have beene some since that paralels him and is as it were his revived selfe Now the first of mine was that of the Arabians that the soules of men perished with their bodies but yet should be raised againe at the last day not that I did absolutely conceive a mortality of the soule but if that were which faith nor Philosophy can throughly disprove and that both entred the grave together yet I hold the same conceit thereof that we all doe of the body that it shall rise againe surely it is but the merits of our unworthy natures if we sleepe in darknesse untill the last alarme A serious reflex upon my own unworthines did make me backward from challenging this prerogative unto my soule so I might enjoy my Saviour at the last I would with patience be nothing almost unto eternity The second was that of the Chiliast that God would not persist in his vengeance for ever but after a definite time of his wrath he would release the damned soules from torture which error I fell into upon a serious contemplation of the great attribute of Gods mercy and did a little cherish it in my self because I found therein no malice and a ready weight to sway me from the other extreame of despaire wherunto melancholy and contemâ—lative natures are too easily disposed A â—hird there is which I did never positively maintaine or practice but have often wished it had beene consonant to Truth and not offensive to my Religion and that is the prayer for the dead whereunto I was enclined by an excesse of charity whereby I thought the number of the living too small an object of devotion I could scarce containe my prayers for a Friend at the ringing of a Bell or behold his corps without an oration for his Soule It was a good way me thought to be remembred by Posterity and far more noble than a History These opinions I never maintained with pertinacy or endeavoured to inveagle any mans beliefe to mine nor so much as ever revealed or disputed them with my dearest friends by which meanes I neither propagated them in others nor confirmed them in my selfe but suffering them to flame upon their owne substances without addition of new fuell they went out insensibly of themselves therefore those opinions though condemned by lawfull Councels were not Heresies in me but bare Errors and single Lapses
his supernaturall station did the Children of Israel the ordinary effect of nature wrought more admiration in them than in the other all his miracles surely the Heathens knew better how to joyne and reade these mysticall letters than we Christians who cast a more common eye on those Hieroglyphicks and disdaine to suck Divinity from the flowers of nature nor doe I forget God as to adore the name of Nature which I define not with the Schooles the principles of motion and rest but that streight and regular line that setled and constant course the wisdome of God hath ordained to guide the actions of his creatures according to their severall kinds to make a revolution every day is the nature of the Sun because that necessary course which God hath ordained it from which it cannot swarve by the faculty of the voyce which first did give it motion Now this course of Nature God seldome alters or perverts but like an excellent Artist hath so contrived his worke that with the selfe same instrument without a new creation he may effect his obscurest designes Thus he sweetneth the water with a wood preserveth the creatures in the Ark which the blast of his mouth might have as easily created for God is like a skilfull Geometrician who when more easily and with one stroke of his compasse he might describe or divide a right line had yet rather doe this in a circle or longer way according to the constituted and aforesaid principles of his Art yet this rule of his he doth sometimes pervert to acquaint the world with his Prerogative lest the arrogancy of our reason should question his power and conclude he could not and thus I call the effects of Nature the works of God whose hand and instrument she onely is and therefore to ascribe his actions also unto her is to devolve the honor of God the principall agent upon the instrument which if with reason we may doe then let our Hammers rise up and boast they have built our houses and our pens receive the honour of our Writings I hold there is a generall beauty in the works of God and therefore no deformity in any kind or species of creatures whatsoever I cannot tell by what Logick we call a Toad a Beare or an Elephant ugly they being created in those outward shapes and figures which best expresse the actions of their internall formes and having past that generall visitation of God who saw â—hat all that he had made was good that â—s conformable to his will which abhors deformity and is the rule of order and beauty there is no deformity but in monstruosity wherein notwithstanding there is a kind of beauty Nature so ingenuously contriving the irregular parts as they become sometimes more remarkable than the principle fabrick To speak yet more narrowly there was never yet any thing ugly or mishapen but the Chaos wherein notwithstanding to speak strictly there was no deformity because no forme by the voyce of God Now nature is not at variance with art nor art with nature they being both the servants of his providence Art is the perfection of nature Were the world now as it was the sixt day there were yet a Chaos Nature hath made one world Art another In briefe all things are artificiall for nature is the Art of God This is the ordinary and open way of his providence which art and industry have in a good part discovered whose effects we may foretell without an Oracle To foreshew these is no prophesie but Prognostication There is another way full of Meanders and Labyrinths whereof the Devill and Spirits have no exact Ephemerides that is a more particular obscure method of his providence directing the operations of individuals and single Essences this wee call Fortune that serpentine and crooked line whereby he drawes those actions that his wisedome intends in a more unknown secret way this cryptick and involved method of his providence have I ever admired nor can I relate the history of my life the occurrences of my dayes the escapes of dangers and hils of chance with a Bâ—zo los Manos to Fortune or a bare Gramercy to my starres Abraham might have thought the Ram in the thicket came thither by accident humane reason would have said that meere chance conveyed Moses into the Arke to the sight of Pharaohs daughter what a Labyrinth is there in the story of Ioseph able to convert a Stoicks surely there are in every mans life some rubs and 〈◊〉 which passe a while under 〈…〉 but at the last well 〈…〉 the meere and of God It was not a meere chance â— discover the or â—owder Treason by a miscarriage of the â—etter I like the victory of 88 the better â—r that one occurrence which our eneâ—ies imputed to our dishonour and the â—artiality of Fortune to wit the tempests â—nd contrarieties of winds King Philip did â—ot detract from the Nation though he â—aid he sent his Armado to fight with men â— not to combate with the winde Where â—here is a manifest disproportion between the powers and forces of two severall aâ—ents upon a Maxime of reason we may â—romise the victory to the superiour but when unexpected accidents slip in and unâ—hought of occurâ—ences intervene these must proceed from a power that ows no â—bedience to those axioms where as in the writing upon the wall we behold the hand â—ut see not the spring that moves it The â—uccess of that pety Province of Holland â— of which the Graâ—d Seignieur proudly â—aid That if they should trouble him as â—hey did the Spaniard he would send his men with shovels and pickaxes and throw it into the Sea I cannot altogether ascribe to the ingenuity and industry of the peoplâ— but to the mercy of God that hath dispoâ—sed them to such a thriving Genius and to the will of his providence that disposetâ— her favour to each countrey in their preâ—ordinate season All cannot be happy aâ— once because the glory of one State deâ—pends upon the ruine of another therâ— is a revolution and vicissitude of theiâ— greatnesse and must obey the swing oâ— that wheele not moved by their intelliâ—gences but by the hand of God whereby all Estates rise to their Zenith and verticalâ— points according to their predestinated periodss For the lives not onely of men but of Commonweales and the whole world run not upon an Helix that still enlargeth but on a Circle where arriving to their Meridian they decline in obscurity and fall under the Horizon again Thesâ— must not therefore be named the effects oâ— nature but in a relative way as we terme the workes of nature It was the ignorance of mans reason that begat this very name and by a carelesse terme miscalled the providence of God for there is no liberty For causes to operate in a loose and stragâ—ing way nor any effect whatsoever but hath its warrant from some universall or superiour cause It is not ridiculous
devoâ—ion to say a Prayer before a game at Tables for even in the sortilegies and matters of the greatest uncertainty there is a setled and preordered course of effects 't is we that are blind and not fortune because our eye is too dim to discover the mystery of her effects we foolishly paint her blind and hood winkt that is the providence of Almighty God I cannot justifie the contemptible Proverbe That fools onely are fortunate or that insolent Paradox That a wise man is out of the reach of fortune much â—esse those opprobrious Epithets of Poets Whore Baud and Strumpet It is I confesse the common fate of men and singular gift of mind to be destitute of fortune which doth not any way deject the spirit of wiâ—er judgements who throughly understand the justice of this proceeding and being enâ—iched with higher donatives cast a more carelesse eye on the vulgar parts of felicity It is a most unjust ambition to desire to â—ngrosse the mercies of the Almighty nor to be content with the goods of the mind without a possession of those of body or fortune and it is an errour worse than heresie to adore the complementall and circumstantiall piece of felicity and undervalue those perfections and essentiall points of happinesse wherein we resemble our Maker To wiser desires it is satisfaction enough to deserve though not to enjoy the favours of fortune let providence provide for fooles It is not partiality but equity in God who deales with us but as our naturall parents those that are able of body and minde he leaves to their deserts to those of weaker merits he imparts a larger portion and pieces out the defect of the one with the excesse of the other Thus have we no just quarrell with nature for leaving us naked or to envy the hornes hoofes skins and furres of other creatures being provided with reason that can supply them all We need not labour with so many arguments to confute judiciall Astrology for if there be a truth therein it doth not injure Divinity if to be borne under Mercury disposeth us to be witty under Iupiter to be wealthy I doe not owe a knee unto these but unto that mercifull hand that hath ordered my indifferent and uncertaine nativity unto such â—enevolous aspects Those that hold that all things were governed by fortune had not erred had they not persisted there The Romans that erected a Temple to Fortune acknowledged God therein though in a â—lind way somewhat of Divinity for in â— wise mans supputation all things begiâ— and end in the Almighty There is a neerer way to heaven then Homers chaine an eaâ—ie Logick may conjoyn heaven and earth â—n one argument and with lesse then a Soâ—ites resolve all things into God For â—hough we christen effects by their most â—ensible and nearest causes yet it is God the true and infallible cause of all whose â—oncourse though it be generall yet doth â— subdivide it selfe into the particular actiâ—ns of every thing and is that spirit by which each singular essence nor only subâ—â—â—ts but performes its operation The bad construction and perverse comment on those paire of second causes or visible hands of God have perverted the devotion of many unto Atheisme who forgetting the honest advises of faith have listened unto the conspiracy of Passion and Reason I have therefore alwayes endevoured to compose those fewds and angry dissentions betweene affection faith and reason For there is in our soule a kind of Triumvirate or triple government of three competitors which distract the peace of this our Common-wealth not lesse than did that other the State of Rome As Reason is a rebel unto Faith so Passion unto Reasoâ— As the proportions of Faith seem absurd to Reason so the Theorems of Reason unto Passion and both unto Reason yet a moderate and peaceable discretion may so state and order the matter that they may be all Kings and yet make but one Monarchy every one exercising his Soveraignty and Prerogative in a due time and place according to the restraint and limit of circumstance There is as in Philosophy so in Divinity sturdy doubts and boysterous objections wherewith the unhappinesse of our knowledge too nearely acquainteth us More of these no man hath knowne than my selfe which I confâ—sse I conquered not in a martiall posture but on my knees Neither had these ever such advantage of me as to encline me to any desperate points or positions of Atheisme for I have beene these many yeares of opinion there was never any Those that held Religion was the difference of man from beasts have spoken probably and proceed upon a proposition as inductive as the other That doctrine of Epicurâ—s that denyed the providence of God was no Atheisme but a magnificent and high-strained conceit of his Majesty which he deemed too sublime to mind the â—riviall actions of those inferior creatures That fatall necessity of Stoicks is nothing â—ut the immutable Law of his will Those that heretofore denyed the Divinity of the Holy Ghost have beene condemned but as Hereticks those that now deny our Saviour though more than Hereticks are not so much as Atheists for though they deny two persons in the Trinity they hold as we do that there is but one God That villaine and secretary of hell that composed that miscreant piece of the three Impostors though divided from all Religions and was neither Jew Turke nor Christian was not a positive Atheist I confesse every Country hath its Machiavell every age its Lucian whereof common heads must not heare nor more advanced judgements too rashly censure on it is the Rhetorick of Satan and may pervert a loose prejudicate beliefe I confesse I have perused them all and can discover nothing that may startle a discreâ—t beliefe yet are there heads carryed off with the wind and breath of such motives I remember a Doctor of Physicke in Italy who could not perfectly beleeve the immortality of the soule because Galleâ— seemed to make a doubt thereof I was familiarly acquainted in France with a Divine a man of singular parts that on the same point was so plunged and gravelled with three lines of sâ—neca that all our anâ—idotes drawne from both Scripture and Philosophy could not expell the poyson of his errour There are a set of heads that can credit the relations of Mariners yet question the restimonies of Saint Paul and peremptorily beleeve the traditions of Aelian or Pliny yet in the Histories of Scripture raise Queries and objections beleeving no more than they can parallel in humane Authors I confesse there are in Scripture stories that doe exceed the fable of Poets and to a captious Reader found like Garagantua or Bevis For search all the Legends of times past the fabulous conceits of the present and it will be hard to find one that deserves to cary the buckler unto Sampson yet is all this of an easie possibility if we conceive a divine concourse or influence