soule is melted because of trouble They reele to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end Then they crie vnto the Lord in their trouble and he bringeth them out of their dristresses He maketh the storme a calme so that the waues thereof are still The like good lessons had beene communicated at least to the wiser and more sober sort of Heathens such as these Marriners were by the remarkeable experiments of those times And their arrivall at their desired haven was attributed not to their Pilots skill or good structure of their ships but to the mercie of their gods as the Psalmist having so good matter to worke vpon as these and the like knowne experiments in that Psalme aboue others reiterates his patheticall invitations to ioy and sacred thankesgiving Oh that men would prayse the Lord for his goodnesse and for his wonderfull workes to the children of men Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people and prayse him in the assembly of the Elders 4. Or if the parties whose reformation I seeke distrust â—his story of these Heathen Marriners devotion and the issue because not related by any Heathenish writers Xenophons observation shall iustifie mine he thought it no disparagement to the valour but rather an argument of that noble Generals wisedome whom he had chosen as a reall patterne for posterities imitation that he had fruitfully improved those experiments of religious navigators favour with God and good successe vnto the discipline of Warre Cyrus saith this Historian made account the religion and pietie of his souldiers would be profitable vnto him herein following their resolution who vpon good reason choose rather to sayle with men knowne to be religious than with such as are suspected to haue committed some impietie The manifold deliverances of sea faring men more devout than skilfull in approach of danger publikely testified by their solemne thankesgiving and pictures consecrated to the memory of such mercie as they had found did furnish another Heathen with arguments to evince the providence of divine powers and their flexible eares vnto vnfeined prayers The quicke replie of his adversary More haue perished that haue not beene painted whether vttered by way of disputation in iest or out of former resolution or good earnest was not so wittie as sophisticall For that the supplications of as many which had perished and were no where painted were not heard this ratheir prooues their demerits had made them vncapable of that favour which others found then any way disproueth the former conclusion that these were favoured by divine providence Nor can the miscarriage of ten thousands preiudice the truth of ones confession whose escape could not be attributed to his skill or the working of second causes but vnto some latent disposer of their combinations which did appoint the limits times and opportunities of their working or ceasing And this divine disposall was more conspicuous when the interposition of mans industrie or inventions for his owne good was lesse God then supplied the defect of artificiall cunning in every kinde by such eminent and outstretched branches of his providence as we see yet over shadow children and men scarce masters of themselues whom danger often approacheth but ceazeth not on them though most enable to make resistance 5. But after the world was growne ripe in iudgement and experimentall inventions the Lord did alter those legible and conspicuous characters of the common booke of nature fitted for the vse of children or elementary schollers and set forth a newer and perfecter edition of his sacred will bâ—â— in letters lesse legible to beginners Now as his written word revealed in the Gospell especially containes a farre more exquisite modell of his incomprehensible wisedome than in former ages had beene manifested so doth it requite more mature more diligent and observant readers otherwise as many weake braines by light or confused tempering with artificiall termes which they are not able to master or disgest vtterly poyson common sense so we by negligent irreverent or carelesse hearing reading or meditating on these great mysteries of the spirit shall quite extinguish that generall light of nature which did shine vnto the heathen and by disvse forget to reade the booke of Gods visible creatures Such notwithstanding is the preposterousnesse of humane choise whereto the old serpent still enticeth vs that although it be the first rudiment of Christian Religion to renounce that worldly carefulnesse wherewith the mindes of best Heathens were overgrowne yet no age or people since the world began did wilfully trouble themselues with more matters or more impertinent to the maine point whereat all aime then we Christians of these times doe What would the Heathens say that should compare our practise with our principles surely those Christians seeke to imprison their soules in those thickets wherein man as their writings teach first lost all sight of heaven of God and goodnesse Or if Gods word did not the different faces of times and characters of men that lived in them set forth vnto vs by Heathen writers may enforme vs that Atheisme and irreligion had never growne to such maturitie as to propagaâ—â— their seed vnto posteritie but from those two principall rootes First the intricate perplexities vncessant cares wherewith the mannaging of most humane affaires was daily more and more invol'd through multiplicitie of inventions and solicitous inquisition after worldly meanes supposed as necessary for every man to make himselfe by or in one kinde or other to outstrip his neighbour the second an intemperate affectation of perfection in arts or sciences vnto which once invented or inlarged men attribute more then was besiting and more to themselues than was their due for inventing and inlarging them In both they robbe God of much honour willingly ascribed vnto him by the auncient who still acknowledged the first principles of those arts in whose propagation posterity gloried as if themselues had beene petty gods to haue proceeded from the divine powers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fortune befriendeth Art was but the solecisme of degenerate ages such rules as the auncients light vpon by chance they knew not how did so naturally imprint a feeling of the finger of God thus guiding their thoughts that they instantly sacrificed not to their owne wits but to the vnknowne suggestors of these inventions which in the first teachers of arts or experiments were indeed true revelations what latter ages called fortune or blind chance primary antiquitie instiled God and ages much declining from ancient innocency and devotion tooke blind chaunce or fortune for a Goddesse 6. The branch which issues from the former root is in respect of true beliefe of the Godhead rather defectiue than contradictory and resembles that defect or want which in Arts we terme Ignorantiam purae negationis as the other positiue contradicting or malignant Atheisme doth Ignorantiam pravae dispositionis Vnto the imputations of this Atheisme which consists
Philosophers labour to teach vs in many words yea in many volumes I can comprehend in this short precept Let vs persevere such in health as we promise to be in our sicknesse That this Heathen whiles thus well minded otherwise should be so mindfull of his God is a very pregnant proofe from the effect that the naturall ingraffed notions of the Deitie proportionably increase or wane with the notions of morall good or evill The cause hereof is more apparant from that essentiall linke or combination which is betweene the conceipt of vice and vertue and the conceipt of a Iudgement after this life wherein different estates shall be awarded to the vertuous and to the vitious hence the true apprehension of the one naturally drawes out an vndoubted apprehension of the other vnlesse the vnderstanding be vnattentiue or perverted For that any thing should be so simply good as a man might not vpon sundry respects abiure the practise of it or ought so absolutely evill as vpon no termes it might be embraced vnlesse we grant the soule to be immortall capable of miserie and happinesse in another world is an imagination vnfitting the capacitie of brutish or meere sensitiue creatures as shall be shewed by Gods assistance in the Article of finall Iudgement 5. That sicknesse and other crosses or calamities are best teachers of such good lessons as Plinies forementioned friend had learned from them Elihu long before him had observed whose observation includes thus much withall that such as will not be taught by these instructions are condemned for trewants and non-proficients in the schoole of Nature Vertue or Religion that is for Hypocrites and men vnsound at the heart For if the roote or seede of morall goodnesse remaine sound the Maxime holds alwayes true maturant aspera mentem Adversitie is like an harvest Sunne it ripeneth the minde to bring forth fruites of repentance He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous but with Kings are they on the throne yea he doth establish them for ever and they are exalted And if they be bound in fetters and be holden in cordes of affliction then he sheweth them their worke and their transgressions that they haue exceeded He openeth also their eare to discipline and commandeth that they returne from iniquitie If they obey and serue him they shall spend their dayes in prosperitie and their yeares in pleasures But if they obey not they shall perish by the sword and they shall dye without knowledge but the Hypocrites in heart heape vp wrath they cry not when he bindeth them The truth as well of Plinies as of Elihues observation is presupposed by most of Gods Prophets with whom it is vsuall to vpbraid his people with brutish stupiditie and hardnesse of heart to brand them with the note of vngracious children for not returning vnto the Lord in their distresse as if to continue in wonted sinnes or riotous courses after such sensible and reall proclamations to desist were open rebellion against God Senslesnesse of paines in extreame agonies doth not more certainly prognosticate death of body or decay of bodily life and spirits than impenitency in affliction doth a desperate estate of soule For the people turneth not vnto him that smiteth them neither doe they seeke the Lord of Hosts Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and taile branch and rush in one day And in that day did the Lord God of Hostes call to weeping and to mourning and to baldnesse and to girding with sackcloth And behold ioy and gladnesse slaying oxen and killing sheepe eating flesh and drinking wine let vs eate and drinke for to morrow wee shall dye And it was revealed in mine eares by the Lord of Hostes surely this iniquitie shall not be purged from you till ye dye sayth the Lord God of Hostes 6. The reason of this truth it selfe thus testified by three rankes of witnesses is not obscure in their Philosophy to whom I most accord who teach that the seedes of all truth are sowne by Gods hand in the humane soule and differ onely in reference or denomination from our desires of knowledge indefinitely taken As to our first parents so vnto vs when we first come vnto the vse of reason knowledge it selfe and for its owne sake seemeth sweete and welcome whether it be of things good or evill we much respect not But this desire of knowledge which in respect of actuall apprehension is indifferent neither set vpon good nor evill is vsually taken vp by actuall or experimentall knowledge of things evill or so vnprofitable that our inclinations or adherences vnto them either countersway our inclinations vnto goodnesse or choke our apprehensions of things truely good Now after our hopes of enioying such sense-pleasing obiects be by affliction or calamitie cut of the soule which hath not beene indissolubly wedded vnto them or alreadie giuen over by God vnto a reprobate sense hath more libertie than before it had to retire into it selfe and being freed from the attractiue force of allurements vnto the vanities of the world the Devill or flesh the naturall or implanted seedes of goodnesse recover life and strength and begin to sprout out into apprehensions either in loathing their former courses or in seeking after better And every least part or degree of goodnesse truely apprehended bringeth forth an apprehension of the author or fountaine whence it floweth that is of the divine nature In my prosperitie I said I shall never be moved Lord by thy favour thou hast made my mountaine to stand strong thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled I cryed to thee O Lord and vnto the Lord I made my supplication It may seeme strange to our first considerations as Calvin with some others vpon this place obserue that God should enlighten Davids eyes by hiding his face from him without the light of whose countenance even knowledge it selfe is no better than darkenesse But so it is that prosperitie doth oftentimes infatuate the best men and adversity maketh bad men wise The saying is authentique though the Author be Apocryphall Anima in angustijs spiritus anxius clamat ad te O Lord God almightie God of Israel the soule in Anguish the troubled spirit cryeth vnto thee So is that other Castigatio tua disciplina est eis Thy chastisement is their instruction Calvin hath a memorable story of a prophane Companion that in his jollitie abused these words of the Prophet The heaven even the heavens are the Lords but the earth hath he giuen to the children of men Psal 115. vers 16. The vse or application which this wretch hence made was that God had as little to doe with him here on earth as he had to doe with God in heaven But presently being taken with a suddaine gripe or pang he cryed out O God O God Yet this short affliction did not giue him perfect vnderstanding for afterwards he returned againe vnto his vomit and wallowing
at sundry places at diverse times or with other different circumstances or contrariwise did not diverse effects oftentimes appeare in one and the same time and place or accompanied after one and the same fashion we should hardly so farre distinguish them as that the presence of the one should not represent the other or the remembrance of the one not suggest a severall notice of the other The coexistence of the one would alwayes be taken as a cause of whatsoever event had before accompanied both In events which haue no permanent existence nor obserue any certaine course to sever or abstract each circumstance from other is a matter not so easie to be effected by such as intend it as to be altogether forgotten or not intended The want notwithstanding of such abstraction or winnowing of circumstances is the essentiall root of superstition whose nature cannot be more fully notified than by a misdeeming of such circumstances or adiuncts as accompany extraordinary or vnusuall events befalling vs either for the true causes or procurers of them or for practicall associates or coe-workers fit to share with them in our loue or hate For this reason is grosse superstition most incident to mindes either great in themselues or puffe't vp with externalls but with all illiterate and rude Thus Clowis King of the then heathen Franks attributed the death of his first borne vnto the Christian Religion which his Queene professed or vnto Christ in whose name the Infant had beene baptized Quia Puer in dei vestri baptizatus est nomine Dij nostri illum praesenti luce fraudaverunt Because the poore childe was baptized in the name of your God therefore haue our Gods bereft him of his life And albeit the admirable patience and chearefull thanksgiving of his Queene vnto her God for taking her childe into a better kingdome might haue beene an vndoubted testimony of greater comfort in calamitie than Clowis his wonted Religion could affoord him yet he giues his second sonne for dead vpon his first attachment by sicknesse onely because baptized as the former had beene in Christs name Et hic propter superstitionem vestram incurrit offensam This childe also through your superstition hath incurred the displeasure of our Gods As if he had heard olde Iacob from remembrance of Iosephs miscarriage bitterly complaining of Beniamins losse I shall be robd of my childe as I haue beene But this childes recovery of his bodily health did so farre rectifie the King his fathers minde as to take Christian Baptisme for no necessary signe or forerunner of death to French Children It did not though enlighten him to see the grossenesse of wonted heathenish or his nationall superstition still apprehended by him as a true cause because a perpetuall concomitant of his former good successe in battaile But when he sawe this beginne to faile him in time of neede and victory so farre gone vnto the Almanes his enemies as there was smal hope his gods could call her back out of the memory of his beleeving consorts reverend mention of Christ and declaration of his goodnesse he burst out into this prayer O thou most powerfull God Christ whom my wife Crotilda worshippeth with a pure heart behold I vow the Trophies of my faith vnto thee so thou wilt giue me victory over these mine enemies This being said saith mine Author feare came vpon the Almanes the French were Conquerers the Almanes conquered and made tributaries This present helpe from God at the very point of perill and extreame daunger was a sure document That sincere profession of Christian Religion was no bare adiunct or concomitant but an authorized messenger of health of peace and victorie 2. The like superstition did more desperately possesse Maximinus the chiefe matter of whose accustomed glory was That his raigne had neither beene pestered with famine warre or pestilence the especiall cause of freedome from which annoyances was by him imputed to his carefull worship of other gods and zealous impugning of Christians As if the temporaneall coexistence of these two effects had sufficiently argued the ones causall dependance vpon the other But God shortly after falsifies these foolish collections by fulfilling our Saviours prophecie Cum dicunt pax tuta omnia tunc repentinum eis imminet exitium Whilest they proclaime peace and securitie sudden destruction comes vpon them very remarkeably in this boaster For all these three Pursevants of Gods wrath came vpon him and his people like Iobs messengers each treading on others heeles for hast Eusebius lib. 9. cap. 7. 3. More grossely did some late Mahumetan Moores ascribe their publique calamities vnto their lately deceased Kings bringing in of Lyons and sufferance of Wine to be brought in by Christians And whether in hope of successefull reformation intended by him or to satisfie his ignorant peoples expectation of it the Lyons were killed by his newly elected successors appointment and the Wine brought in by Christians powred out in their open streetes This superstitious iealousie of these barbarous Africans though in these latter times more grosse than credible may be exactly paralleld by the like disposition of moderne Russians It shall suffice to quote the Author the matter related by him hath such semblance with the former that the addition of discourse would rather obscure than adde luster to their mutuall representations 4. All are alike apt to search though all not alike able to finde the true or discover the colourable causes of every effect which much concerne them And as Land for want of direct heires falls oft to collateralls of the same progenie so time and place because of kinne vnto every effect are by the ignorant or misaffected reputed Lords or disposers of successe good or bad to which no cause apparant makes evident claime A liuely character of this disposition thus apt to take the impression of error wee haue in that Poeticall description of Aeacus and his people which wrongfully indited their beds and houses of the disasters which befell them ......... Fugiuntque penates Quisque suos sua cuique domus funesta videt◠Et quia causa latet locus est in crimine notus The houses deem'd to breed their bane the owners quite disclaime And since the cause they doe not knowe the knowne place beares the blame And in that other of Cadmus ..... Seriéque malorum Victus ostentis quae plurima viderat exit Conditor vrbe suâ tanquam fortuna locorum Non sua se premeret Affright with many a direfull sight the Founder leaues the Towne As if th' ill lucke which hunted him had beene its not his owne It was a blast of the same superstitious doctrine or blind perswasion which impelled the Philistines to carrie the Arke from place to place 1. Sam. 5. vers 7. vsque ad cap. 6. v. 8. 5. The confidence of a good cause would scarce so much haue animated the Princes of Germanie as the very name of the places
Attribute most inseperable from the divine nature and most soveraigne title of the Godhead is his goodnesse The very names or literall elements of God and good are not in our Country dialect so neare allied as the conceipts which their mention or nomination suggests are in nature So necessarily doth goodnesse presuppose a God or Deitie from which as from a fountaine it flowes and so essentiall is it to this fountaine to send forth sweet streames of ioy and comfort that the Heathen Philosopher vpon the interview of good and evill seemes to suffer torture betweene the contrarietie of his vnsetled conceipts concerning the truth or vanitie of the Godhead Si deus non sit vnde bona Can there be any good without a God Si deus sit vnde mala If there be a God how chanceth it of things that are all are not good many evill Others not altogether heathenish from curiositie of like contemplation not guided by the rule of faith imagine two eternall indâ—fectible creatiue powers the one good and sole fountaine of all goodnesse the other evill and maine souâ—se of all evill and mischiefe in the world Of both these errours and the ignorance that occasioned them we shall haue fitter occasion to speake hereafter Both of them suppose a true notion of divine goodnesse indefinitely considered wherevnto a conceipt or apprehension of divine providence in most Heathen was subordinate Many great and famous Philosophers there be sayth Tully which ascribe the government of the world vnto the wisedome of the Gods not herewith content they further acknowledge all necessary supplies of health and welfare to be procured by their providence For corne and other increase of the earth varietie of times and seasons with those changes of the weather whereby such fruits as the earth brings forth doe grow and ripen are in the same mens opinions effects of divine goodnesse to mankinde From the perpetuitie of such visible blessings as these Heathen Philosophers deriue from the bountie of their imaginary Gods doth the Doctor of the Gentiles and his fellow Apostle seeke to winne the Inhabitants of Lystra vnto the worship of the onely true invisible God How readily experience of vncouth goodnesse brings forth an expresse conceipt of a Godhead and causeth the often mentioned ingraffed notion to bud or flourish these Heathen had openly testified by their forwardnesse to sacrifice vnto these messengers of our Lord and Saviour as vnto great Gods because strange Authors or rather instruments of vnexpected good to one of their neighbours This confused branch of pietie though misgrowne and set awry was notwithstanding flexible and pliant to these poynts of life proposed by the Apostle Sirs why doe ye these things we also are men of like passions with you and preach vnto you that you should turne from these vanities vnto the living God which made heaven and earth and the sea and all things that are therein who in times past suffred all Nations to walke in their owne wayes Neverthelesse he left not himselfe without witness in that he did good and gaue vs raine from heaven and fruitfull seasons filling our hearts with food and gladnesse From this one streame of divine goodnesse experienced in giving raine did the Heathens Christen their great God Iupiter with a Name importing his procurement of this effect the Greekes calling him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines Pluvius So effectuall a witnesse of the Godhead is the accomplishment of any much desired good that such as doubt whether the good we enioy on earth be derived from heaven are often vnwittingly enforced to thinke and speake of whatsoever doth them any extraordinary good or satisfie the vehemency of their desires as of their God 4. The more indissoluble the mutuall conceipts of God and goodnesse are the sooner we loose the one whiles we remaine without experience or apprehension of the other Two conditions of life there be alike hurtfull to this engraffed notion of the Deitie 1. Affluence or abundance of things desired without interposall of indigence 2. Perpetuall indigence or sordide want without vicissitude of ordinary competency or contentment The latter vsually starues the naturall notions or conceipts of God which must be fed with sense or taste of some goodnesse the former affluence or abundance chokes it Amongst all the Barbarians which Tacitus mentioned in his description of Germanie he blemisheth one sort onely with a glauncing touch of irreligion as being so intirely and familiarly acquainted with beggarly need that they needed not the helpe of God or Man more than the beasts of the field Yet that they were altogether Atheists or abettors of infidelitie is scarce credible but very likely that they gaue lesse signes of any Religion than others did which had oftner and better occasions to supplicate the divine powers either for protection from such evills or for collation of such benefits as these Fenni had little cause greatly either to feare or hope Houshold Gods they had none because they cared not for houses Gods or Goddesses of Corne of Wine of Oyle or the like they never sought to because never accustomed to sowe to plant or reape But whether they vsed not to pray for good successe in their huntings or in skirmishing with their rude neighbours or amongst themselues is more then can be determined from Tacitus censure interserted as it seemes rather to please the Reader than seriously to empeach them of any greater crime or more loathsome disease than vsually haunts men of their constitution or condition As of the mightie and noble so of those vile and despised creatures which continue their circular and slouthfull range from house to house liking best to liue as these late mentioned Barbarians did from hand to mouth not many there be which giue any iust proofe of their calling The sense of God and his goodnesse is in most of them stupid and dull saue onely when hunger and thirst or hope of an almes instantly craued by them in his name and vsually granted by others for his sake shall whet or quicken it But as well in life spirituall as in corporall fewer by much though to many loose their stomackes through extreame penury or long fasting then there be of such as spoile or dead their taste by continuall fulnesse As long or hard want doth sometimes sterue so the perenniall current of wealth of peace or ease with other outward blessings doth vsually drowne all sense or notion of that goodnesse whence these and all other good things flow Did that part of the Moone which is next vs alwayes shine we should haue lesse occasion to enquire and greater difficulty to determine whether the light it hath were derived from the Sunne Generally such effects as admit interruption in their existence sooner lead vs vnto the true knowledge of their first and immediate causes then if they enioyed permanent duration A body subiect to some vicissitude of sicknes better discernes what causeth health then
vpon that levell whence the right aspect of heaven and heavenly powers is taken But lest having this libertie of trying all they should come to fasten on that which is best His pollicie is to cast them so farre one wrong way or other in youth that either they shall haue no thought or inclination to retire in mature age or no strength left when they grow old to recover the miscarriages of fresh and liuely motions To sway themselues that way which nature first enclined them or grace doth call them is not easie to be attempted almost impossible to be effected by men that haue beene long fettered in some linke of sociall lust or other filthinesse by men whose mindes haue beene perpetually enwrapt in the curiosities of their proud imaginations Those are the two speciall snares whereby Gods enemy detaines stirring spirits in the dregs of contradicting Atheisme But the men of whom we now speake such as haue wedded their soules to the earth count toyling and moyling in gainefull businesses greatest pleasures are as the tempter knowes of a cleane contrary constitution apt they are not to moue many wayes either vpward or downeward but onely to waggle to and fro within a narrow compasse without whose lists should he tempt them to outray much in any notorious dissolutenesse outragious villany or open blasphemy the vncouthnesse of their distemper procured by these vnnaturall motions might happily admonish them in good time to seeke a medicine The onely meanes he hath herein to prevent them is continually to feede this their deadly disease so kindly and gently as it shall never bewray any danger vntill they be past all possibilitie of recovery They goe to Hell as in a lethargie or deepe slumber Much what to this purpose it is in other parts of these comments observed that the equable morall temper which never alters much from it selfe is most obnoxious to finall miscarriage because seldome so fiercely assaulted by the enemy as to occasion any extraordinary terror of conscience And it is the lesse assaulted because it seldome or lightly rebels against him Now men never much affrighted with the danger wherein all by nature stand nor enflamed with loue of a better Country than they enioy cannot addresse themselues to any resolute or speedy departure out of the territories of civill moralities within which if Satan hold vs he makes full reckoning of vs as of his civill or naturall subiects and this as S. Gregorie obserues is the reason why many are not molested by him CHAPTER VI. Of Disputatiue Atheisme deniall of the God-head or divine providence with the severall curiosities which occasion it 1. FOrraigne supportance is seldome reiected by deserved fame and men of no deserts alwayes seeke to vnderprop their ruinous reputation or groundlesse prayse some by the place which they hold or by the societie wherein they liue others by their auncestors birth or education many by the subiect of their thoughts or worthinesse of matters which they vnworthily handle To professe noble sciences or at the most to haue taken degree in any is ground enough for some men to raise themselues farre aboue such as but yesterday were their full equalls or to stand vpon tearmes of comparison with the best And few there be of their owne Coate that would not willingly yeeld to them what thus they challenge as their due would they shew themselues either able or willing to repay that credit and estimation to the common profession which like bankrouts or decayed Marchants they are enforced either to borrow or beg from it as from the publicke stocke For all of vs are glad to see our owne profession grac't or exalted the rather because we hold it not safe to haue our heights measured onely by our personall stature vnlesse withall we take in the advantage of the ground whereon we stand 2. A second maine stem of habituated Atheisme arose as was lately intimated from this partiall desire in professors to establish the soveraigntie of those arts or faculties wherein they were best seene or most delighted And the best meanes for advancing or establishing their soveraigntie was to extend the limits of their wonted authoritie by reducing all or most effects to their principles as great Lawyers striue to bring most causes to those Courts wherin their practise or authoritie is greatest Another principall veine serving to feed the disease whereto this partiall and intemperate appetite of curious artists ministred first matter wee may if we mistake not fitly deriue from a generall aptitude of the humane soule to take impression from those obiects with which it is most familiar and to iudge of others by their correspondency with these Hence as sollicitors seeking after meanes conducible to any end vsually interceps our desires or intentions of the end it selfe for whose sake onely the meanes in reason were to be sought so doth the curious speculation of creatures visible divert the minds of many from the invisible creator vnto whom the fight of these by nature not misleveled by inordinate or vnwildy appetites would direct all And our generall facility to beleeue with speed what we much affect or strongly desire brings forth peculiar pronesses in the professors of severall arts to frame vniversall rules whether negatiue or affirmatiue from broken and imperfect inductions Now the power and wisedome of God being especially manifested in the workes of creation in the disposition of things created and in matters manageable by humane wit or consultation Satan by his sophisticall skill to worke vpon the pride of mans hart hath erected three maine pillars of Atheisme or irreligion as so many counter sorts to oppugne our beliefe or acknowledgement of the divine providence in the three subiects mentioned Many naturall Philosophers out of a partiall desire to magnifie their owne facultie observing none brought forth without a mother nothing generated without pre-existent seede or matter forth with concludes the course of things naturall which we daily see to haue beene the same from everlasting that generation had no beginning that corruption can haue no ending The imperfection of this induction and the over-reaching inference which some in this kind haue fram'd from a Maxime most true in a sense most impertinent Ex nihilo nihil fit falls in our way againe in the Article of creation The Astronomer likewise finding the influence of starres by experience to haue great force in this inferior world seekes to extend their dominion ouer humane actions or consultations as if all matters of state or private life were by their conventicles or coniunctions authentickly predetermin'd without possibilitie of repeale And thus as the Moone eclipseth the Sunne or lower Planets sometimes hide the higher so haue the Sunne the Moone and Hoast of heaven excluded his sight from approaching vnto the Father of lights Or if through them he can discerne the truth of his existence or see some glimpses of his generall attributes yet the eyes of his minde are so
popular Fame To the framing of this middle temper betweene â—elation of minde and timorous deiection was that Counsell of Cyprian directed Vt cognoscere Deum possis te ante cognosce Nothing is farther from vs saith a learned Writer than we are from our selues and naughtie men as Seneca saith are every where besides with themselues yet the farther from our selues we are the farther we are from our God Therefore saith God by the Prophet Esay Heare you that are a far of And in the language of Salomon in his purest thoughts to turne to our owne hearts and to turne to the Lord with our hearts are of equivalent signification Now to know our selues as Tully obserues binds vs as well to a modest esteeme of our owne worth or to speake more Christian-like of our place amongst Gods creatures as to a notice of our infirmities Too much deiection as S. Cyprian concludes disposeth to Idolatry as Ingenuous feare doth to the knowledge of the true God Howbeit of such devotion as the Heathens had feare it seemes was the mother hence perhaps were they so observant first to offer placatory sacrifices to such Gods as might do them harme afterward propitiatory sacrifices to those of whom they expected good Observabant Antiqui in sacrificijs vt antè adversos placarent et postea propitios invocarent Thus much if best Grammarians are to be beleeued is curiously charactarized vnto vs by the Romane Poet who as this late Writer complaines was much better seene in Heathen rites than Christian Divines are in the mysteries of sacrifices offred vnto the true God For instance to our present purpose when Aenaeas and his followers had resolved to offer sacrifice for a faire Winde and merrie passage towardes Candie they offer first to Neptune then to Apollo to the stormie winter before the sweete spring Winds Ergo agite divum ducunt quâ iussa sequamur Placemus ventos Gnosia regna petamus Nec longo distant cursu modò Iupiter adsit Tertia lux classem Cretaeis sistet in oris Sic fatus meritos aris mactauit honores Taurum Neptuno taurum tibi pulcher Apollo Nigram Hyemi pecudem zephyris felicibus albam Againe when Dido wooed the Gods with sacrifices to further her intended marriage with Aeneas though Iuno were the first in her intention and esteeme as being finally to blesse the Match yet she begins with Ceres whom she feared would be most averse as detesting all marriage for the stealth of her daughter married against her will and in the next place with Apollo who never had wife himselfe and therefore bore no great affection vnto marriage Principio delubra adeunt pacemque per aras Exquirunt mactant lectas de more bidentes Frugiferae Cereri Phoeboque patrique Lyaeo Iunoni ante omnes cui vincla iugalia curae The summe of these and like instances is That feare was the beginning of such wisedome as the Heathens had concerning divine powers Not Ignorance but Feare was the Mother of their devotion 3. There is no sinewe of carnall strength but secretly lifts vp the heart and sometimes the hand and voice against the God of our strength and health Might Caligula whensoever it thundred haue had the opportunitie of scouting into a place as well fenc't by nature as the Cyclops den he would haue thought as little or lightly as the vast Gyant did of the great God whom he never thought of but with feare whom he never feared saue when he spake to him in this terrible language which yet would haue stricken small terrour through thicke rockes into such a brawnie heart as the anatomy of the Cyclops representeth who thought so much of the noise as came to his cares might easily be counter-blasted with the like within Mindes altogether as gyantly and vast are often lodged in bodies not halfe so huge What is wanting to the supportance of such security in personall strength and greatnesse is made vp by multitude of consorts As imagine a garrison of good fellowes so qualified as Syracides prayed he never might be should meete in a nooke or sconce as well guarded against storme and tempest and as well stored with victualls as was the Cyclops caue what other note might be expected whiles good liquor lasted but let the Welkin roare The best vent we can giue to this naturall pride that makes vs thus prone to blasphemy would be to make our infirmities the chiefe matter of our glory or boasting 4. As the feare of God is the beginning of wisedome so the beginning of this feare is from a temper apprehensiue of terrors represented in his creatures Primus in orbe Deos fecit timor was a speech vttered by an audacious Hare-braine in a furious passion no marvell if it did overlash The present advice of the Oracle did contradict his foole-hardy desire of warre and to perswade his desperate companions the ominous signes related were but pretended by the Prophet He calls the originall of Religion in question as if divine powers had no true subsistence but were represented onely by gliÌ„mering feare or faint-heartednesse And faint-hearted he counted all that were not so furious as himselfe But vnto this suspition ingenuous feare had not beene lyable vnlesse common experience had taught him or the Poet which painted him in this humour that men in perplexities vnexpected troubles or feares in humane censure remedilesse are vsually most mindfull of God Extremities indeed cause the naturall notions which are ingraffed in our hearts to worke they imprint not the opinion or perswasion of Religion But it is a fallacie too familiar vnto sober thoughts even in their accurate disquisitions of natures secrets to esteeme that as the totall cause or first producer which sets nature onely a working or doth but cherish or manifest effects truely pre-existent though latent Perchance the letting out of a little hot bloud or some other more grievous print of divine punishment would haue restored the Bedlem to his right minde so as others might haue taken out that lesson from him which Plinie the yonger did from his sicke friend not much vnlike to that of our Apostle When I am weake then am I strong The languishment of a certaine friend sayth this Author hath taught me of late that we are best men when we are sickly what sicke man is tempted with avarice or lust he is not subiect to loue or greedie of honour wealth he contemnes how little soever he hath it sufficeth him being shortly to leaue it Then he remeÌ„bers there be Gods that he himselfe is but a man he envies no man he admires no man he despiseth no man maligning speeches neither winne his attention nor please his inclination his imagination runs on baths or fountaines This is the chiefe of his care the prime of his desires if it please God he may recover his former health and plight he purposeth an harmlesse and an happie life What
the meane time to bring our soules acquainted with other of Gods workes or themselues wherein they see him darkly as in a glasse the helpe or ministery of sensitiue informations is alway or to most men necessary For as a cunning architect may contriue the exact frame of a pallace or a Geographer the proportion or fashion of a Country in his phantasie and yet cannot expresse the true conceit of either vnto others but by some visible Mappe or Modell so although the intellectiue soule beare the exact similitude of all things imprinted in its substance yet is it not able to expresse or represent it to it selfe but by sensitiue formes or phantasmes whose representation sometimes please sometimes dislike this supreame facultie as the apprentice his workmanship oftimes doth his Master because not conformable to that artificiall idaea which he hath in his phantasie Nor can it any way disparage this similitude that the architect and he to whom the representation is made are two divers parties for so the intellectual soule though but one in the worke of vnderstanding vndergoes two parts one to represent another to iudge of the representation the latter is wholly its owne In performing the former it alwayes vseth the helpe and ministery of sense We may conclude then as we began It is impossible the vnderstaÌ„ding should be displeased with any sensitiue representation or censure of their suggestions either as false or vnperfect vnlesse it had some ideall rule or copie preâ—â—xistent from which the disproued representations doe varie Although it cannot apprehend this copie distinctly or discerne the true figure of its owne idaea vntill it light vpon some phantasme or sensible modell that may exactly fit or cause it reflect vpon it selfe Thus by touching the former difficultie as neerly and closely as we could and this Treatise would permit we haue beene enforced in a manner to grate vpon the second which now presents it selfe to more particular and full discussion CHAP. XIII Of the office or service which the Phantasie performes vnto the actiue vnderstanding or contemplatiue facultie for the right apprehension or discernement of truths specially vnsensible 1. THe Aristotelian Maxime Non intelligimus nisi speculando phantasmata Wee doe not actually and distinctly vnderstand but by speculation of Phantasmes no Platonicke I take it would deny but whether the Phantasmes rowse or start the latent notions or rather be stirred or rowsed themselues by the necessary coÌ„nexion which the phantasie hath with the vnderstanding thus seeking to expresse or figure its owne indefinite conceits is questioned by some which deny all effluxions from obiects sensible or at least all permanent impressions of their formes or images vpon the organs of sense Whiles sensible obiects for example colours are present they grant a resultance of such a forme or stampe of them in the eye as the seale imprinteth in the wax which notwithstanding straight way vanisheth with the removall of the obiect onely the sensitiue facultie in their Philosophy being thus farre acquainted with them can transforme it selfe at its pleasure into the same likenesse againe as a cunning Actor can imitate any mans motions speech or gesture whom he hath heard or seene and the more he converseth with him the better will his imitation be This manner of producing phantasmes I must confesse is most agreeable to the vsuall manner of producing effects more reall which haue no sensible forme or shape Thus when one yeawnes another yeawnes and many motions begun in one excite the like in others not by impressions of their formes but by meere imitation The bloud of many beasts will rise at the sight of red colours whose formes or images cannot be imprinted vpon it because more red than they But bloud being like them it is excited by their presence or representation made in the eye and so may this forme or representation it selfe be onely excited by the presence of the reall obiect In like manner may the actuall motion or representation of the phantasme excite the intellectuall notion answering to it For the intellectuall facultie being more actiue then sense may from the vertuall similitude which it hath with all things put on the actuall shape of any which shall be represented or suggested to it The manner we may conceiue to be such as if the eye could represent any colour being once named without the presence of a reall obiect By this declaration we may conceiue how the phantasmes doe raise a conceit of an higher or different nature then they formally represent As red colours doe not onely produce their owne resemblance in the eye but withall stir or moue the bloud so attentiue inspection of sensible effects most exactly represented in the phantasie may ingender a conceit of an invisible and latent cause which we cannot distinctly figure or expresse and yet be more ravished with the consideration of it then with the exactest representations possible of that which caused it The manner of our delight in this case is wrought as it were by a secret sympathie or contract not apprehended as shall herafter be declared The like symptomaticall conceits oftimes accompany the formall representations of meere sense as sight of the Wolfe imprints with his bodily shape a terror in the silly Lambe whereof there can be no distinct or formall representation So with the shape or physiognomie of some men a secret dislike doth often insinuate it selfe into our phantasies of which we can giue no better reason than the Epigrammatist doth though that no better than the Lambe perhaps could giue why he flies the Wolfe could this silly creature speake Non amo te Sabidi nec possum dicere quare Hoc tantum possum dicere non amo te I loue thee nought Sabidius ne can I tell thee why T' is all I wote I loue thee not ne can I loue thee I. 2. It is questionable whether motion make any distinct impression or representation vpon the senses or affect them onely by concomitancie with obiects properly sensible especially with the senses of sight and touch Howsoever it be apprehension of time we haue small or none saue onely by motion nor can we limit or bound the parts of the one but by designing some definite and constant parts of the other He that neither dreames nor stirres whiles he sleepes by night thinkes he is but newly lain downe when he awakes whereas he that lies waking the same time would thinke a short night longer than a summers day How the yeare goes about we could not tell but by the motions of the heavens what a yeare is we cannot better expresse than by the Sunnes revolution from some point of the Zodiack to the same nor what a day is but by its circumvolution in a part of the Aequinoctiall or other parallel circle An houre likewise we define by the elevation of the Zodiack fifteene degrees aboue the Horizon Thus the Philosopher defineth time by motion numbred or distinguished into parts which
haue a cause of its now being And if the cause manifesteth not it selfe in the production we are ready by nature to father the effect vpon that which is represented by sense as nearest vnto it Thus the Philosopher tooke the matter the Astrologer the starres for sole or chiefe causes of all things the Politician his owne plots for principall accomplishers of all those proiects whereto they concurre as the dropping of a petty Conduit to the overflow of a mightie river out of which the whole streame which feeds it and many other was first cut And if the event be such as hath no permanent duration or fixt seate but falls out now and then without any certaine observation the time and place wherein it was brought forth are vsually supposed to be sole compartners in the begetting or conceiving of it and shall according to the goodnesse or badnesse of this their supposed broode reape the same praise or dispraise the same thankes or imprecations which Parents or Tutors haue for furnishing the Common-weale with towardly or vngracious plants 5. Nor doth sense entise vnto Atheisme or Idolatrie onely by putting that vsuall fallacie of non causa pro causa vpon the vnobservant But this error supposed seeing the linke betwixt causes and their effects is most strict the multiplicitie of the one suggests a multiplicitie of the other So doth every tearme of Relation multiplied in the Individuall occasion vs to conceiue a like number of correlatiues The same error often insinuates it selfe into the proper acts of vnderstanding For no things in Nature truely diverse can be so indivisibly or essentially continued in representations made by sense as the obiect or nature conceived by vs and our intellectiue conceit of it no things really different more apt than these to present themselues as one Now seeing our vnderstandings cannot comprehend the entire entitie of many natures in themselues most intelligible by one conceipt but must view them peece-meale as we doe many sided bodies or measure them by reiteration of the same or like acts as we doe large quantities by often application of the same palme or spanne We slide by this meanes into a common error of imagining as many distinct natures conceived as we frame conceipts of it being indeed but one and the same Thus doth error become circular for by conceiving things by nature diverse whilest represented in one heape or cluster or mutually linked together to be but one we come to imagine that which is but one to be many Sometimes we imagine a diversitie in the cause which is still one and the same from diversitie of Place and Time which intrude themselues into our conceipt of it And sometimes againe an vnitie or Identitie of causes where there is great diversitie from the vnitie of time of place of temporary or locall adherents or other correlations alwaies vnited in our conceit The manner of the Heathens error mentioned by S. Austin was the same onely different in the matter Aliquando vnum Deum res plures aliquando vnam rem Deos plures faciunt If these errors vsually obtrude themselues in matters sensible whereof we haue distinct and formall representations their insinuations must needs be more frequent in matters meerely intellectuall of which we can haue no specificall resemblance but must be enforced to mould them in some sensible conceipt Things rare and admirable though in their own nature visible yet not seene by vs but knowne onely by report or fame we cannot better apprehend then by comparing them with the best we know of the same kinde Vrbem quam Romam dicunt Meliboee putaui Stultus ego huic nostrae similem Foole that I was great Empresse Rome be crown'd with loftie Towers I ween'd t' haue beene some Market Towne not much vnlike to ours Though Mantua had beene a meaner Towne then it was yet being the fairest and best he knew his distinct conceipt of Rome vnseene could not haue surpassed the Idea of it saue onely by addition of some streets or greater store of such ornaments as he had observed in building But his error vpon the view of Rome was easily rectified albeit the manner of his misconceipt the partie in whose person he speakes could not better expresse vnto his fellow then by mistaking the damme for the suckling Sic canibus catulos similes sic matribus haedos Nôram nor the measure of it better than by comparing the Cypresse with lower shrubbes Verum haec tantum alias inter caput extulit vrbes Quantum lenta solent inter viburna Cupressi But sure this Cittie other Townes in state no lesse exceedes Then Cypresse tall wild limber vines then pleasant vines doe weeds More grosse by much will our present conceipts of the divine nature appeare when our faith shall be changed into sight The best remedie not to erre much is to hold our mindes in suspensiue admiration not presuming to be peremptory in particular representations not to content our selues with any resemblance as sufficient though some be more apt then others for bringing forth a more liuely conceite of his vnconceivable glory or a more distinct apprehension of his incomprehensible wisedome or maiestie or more determinate notice of his immensitie or infinitie but of these hereafter 6. The summe of this Discourse is to admonish every one that meditates on God or his attributes to take heede to his imaginations For besides the aforementioned puritie of heart the intention of minde or vnderstanding to ventilate sift or illuminate phantasmes borrowed from sense there is required a vigilant attention in the judicatiue facultie otherwise the same errors which happen in recalling things long forgotten to minde or dreames will surprize our waking Imaginations of God or matters divine He that would remember Timotheus Theodorus or Orosius vnlesse his apprehension of their names haue beene formerly very distinct and his present examination attentiue would easily entertaine in stead of them Theotimus Dorotheus or Osorius In men ignorant of Latine Etymologies conference will sometimes be taken for confidence offence for defence c. Now our knowledge of matters vnsensible being as I said before like vnto reminiscence in that we haue but an indefinite or vndeterminate notion of their natures and qualities and herein short of them that we never had an expresse or actuall notion wherby to examine their resemblances the substitution of any thing which hath ordinary similitude with them will hardly be avoyded without great attention The manner of many errors in this kinde differs onely in degree from such delusions as fall out in dreames wherein our apprehensions of proper sensibles are most quicke and liuely but their compositions or suggestions oftimes ridiculous and absurd Such was the temper of the Heathen in respect of this Polypragmaticall age Many effects which moue not vs made deepe impression of a Deitie which they strangely multiplied or transformed SECTION III. Of the originall of Heathenish Idolatrie and multiplicitie of Gods CHAP.
did not our naturall feare of civill shame or publique infamie likely to redound for revolting from the rule of life generally acknowledged restraine our motiue faculties from acting those partes which haue beene designed vnto them by the vaine imaginations of our wicked hearts In as much as the heart of man is Gods peculiar inheritance with whose entire faculties he requires to be adored and served this inheritance being once alienated from him doth naturally draw the appurtenances after it even all such homage and services as are due vnto his sacred Maiestie bestowing them vpon those matters whatsoever they be vpon which it hath once bestowed it selfe Thus might the wanton Strumpet haue beene invested with the most glorious attributes of divine goodnesse that the lascivious Poet in heate of lust could haue invented Ilia et Egeria est do nomen quodlibet illi 8. Covetousnesse in S. Pauls Divinitie is Idolatrie With this written veritie most agreeable was the natural notion of those poore barbarous Indians which imagined the Spanyards had no other God besides gold or none so deare vnto them as this mettall was because they saw them hunt so greedily after it both by sea and land Their inordinate and excessiue coveting after it made the Barbarians to cōmit Idolatrie with it CHAPTER XVII The more speciall Fallacies by which Sathan seduced the Heathen to multiplie their gods in excessiue manner 1. ALthough it be true which hath beene said That nothing was by nature or condition so vile as not to be capable of high place amongst the Heathenish gods yet vnto that extremitie of multiplying their gods according to the number of their conceipts the Heathens did not slide but by succession and degrees The Persians as S. Austine tells vs worshipped no more gods then two one good and another evill whom they likewise accounted good so long as he did no ill to them How evill should be without a cause or how good and evill should both proceede from one cause or finally how evill being no part of nothing should come into the world seeing the worlds creation was but an effect of the almightie Creators goodnesse in communicating his being vnto all things are points so ill expressed by most Christians that the grossest errors of the Heathens concerning them may seeme very pardonable From these Persian Magies the Manichees it seemes deriue their heresies both of them as most other Heathens had a true apprehension though both failed in their iudgement or composition of those divine Oracles 1. Is there any evill done in the Cittie which I haue not caused 2. Every good gift is from aboue Before multiplicitie of businesses or artificiall curiosities be nummed the sense of nature every extraordinary or remarkeable effect was vnto men a sensible signe and witnesse of an invisibie power bringing things that were not to light Rom. 1. vers 20. 2. The first roots of that vnrighteousnesse wherein they held the truth thus in a manner desirous to manifest it selfe were 1. Carelesnesse in observing the notifications of divine power 2. Neglect to tender such dutifull service as the more evident manifestations of his goodnesse did in a sort demand The prime seede of both these roots was the imbecillitie of corrupted nature whose chiefe and supreme faculties though well instructed are alwayes apt to be over-borne with the imbred and accustomed desires of sense Of the forementioned apprehension or acknowledgement of some invisible power as chiefe author of good and evill one immediate consequence was this That the same power whether one or moe was the rewarder of such as sought to please him and a revenger of those that neglected or offended it Whence in mindes mis-led by their corrupt appetites the best and finall consequence of the former apprehensions or notions was to wooe the supposed divine powers by all meanes possible to patronize themselues and their actions though vniust dishonest or suspitious rather than to submit their wills and affections wholly to their disposalls or so to frame their liues as they might be capable of their iust favours And as vnskilfull Empyricks seeke remedy from every medicine they haue read or heard of because they know not the distinct vertue of any or how it is proportioned to the effect they ayme at So these poore-blind Heathen daily more and more ignorant in the grounds of true Religion did as it were grope after a new invisible power in every visible effect vntill at length they came to subdivide and breake the generall notion according to the distinction or number of the sensibles which they best or worst affected That every visible effect had an invisible cause was rightly proposed but from this principle they slipt into an erroneous assumption That there should be as many invisible causes as there be distinct or visible events The fallacie is easily put vpon vulgar or Somnolent wittes as if one should say he had ten brethren and every of them a sister some mens mindes would forthwith runne vpon two and twentie brothers and sisters Whether there be as many paternities or fatherhoods in the father as he hath sonnes is sometimes questioned in the Schooles and hard vniversally to determine whether in this sense Quot modis dicitur vnum Relatorum tot modis dicitur alterum Whether tearmes formally relatiue alwayes multiplie according to the number of their proper correlatiues Now to distinguish aright betweene the formall Relation and its immediate ground will in many subiects trouble greatest Artists Well then might the Heathen though ill they did in so doing imagine as many invisible powers as they observed effects produced by causes invisible or as the learned Hooker saith dreame of as many guides of nature as they saw guides of things naturall 3. After once their scattered imaginations had given admission to this erroneous representation or coniecture of many invisible powers distinct names or titles were sought for them from the effects which they had caused As in this Land before surnames continued in succession men commonly tooke their names from the places of their birth or dwelling or from events peculiar to them as strangers in some places yet if their names be hard to be pronounced or remembred are vsually called by the places from whence they came if these be famous or haue sent forth few or none besides to the coasts where they remaine So the image which Titus Tatius found because the partie whom it represented was altogether vnknowne was named Cloacina from a very homely place if it should be exprest in English Or as they framed severall gods according to the varietie of their intemperate desires so they vsually derived their titles from the matters whose avoydance or fruition they most desired As we giue extrinsecall denominations to obiects from the reference they haue to our internall faculties As some we say are intelligible others amiable Goddesses of this ranke were Volupia and Libentina c. 4. Not a
joynt almost in a mans body but had a peculiar god among the Romanes whereby they witnessed some scattered reliques or imperfect Characters of what the Psalmist saith in other termes to haue beene written in their hearts In thy booke were all my members written when as not one of them was yet made All at least in their opinion were vnder the tuition of some divine powers by whose meanes they hoped they might be preserved sound or to haue them healed if they were amisse And not knowing vnto what peculiar God or Goddesse to tender their service or direct their prayers for this purpose they gaue names to the supposed latent powers from the place affected In ipsa terrâ aliud Terram aliud Tellurâ—m aliud Tellumonem putant Aug. de eivit Dei lib. 4. cap. 10. The varietie of transmutations conspicuous in the growth of corne brought forth a multiplicity of gods distinguished onely by names proportionate to the effects They could not finde saith S. Augustine one Segetia or Goddesse of corne vnto whose care and trust they might safely commend it from the sowing till the reaping Corne sowne whilest vnder the ground was vnder the protection of Seia after it came vp vt segetem faceret it changed the former Guardian for Segetia Not the very knottes of the straw or reede but had a protector from his office entitled Nodotus Because they feared rust or canker rightly imagining that both these vsually came as some Northerne men speake by the Seand of God they dreamed of a god of rust or canker doubtlesse a rustie god yet in their opinion to be pacified with solemne rites and ceremonies Every house-keeper saith the same father sets but one to keepe the doore and being a man but one sufficeth vnto this office notwithstanding were three gods deputed by the Romanes Forculus foribus Cardea cardini Limentina limini One Forculus to the fore doore another to the hinges or turnings and a third to the thresholdes all taking their titles from these petty places whereof they were reputed Presidents Aug. de civitate Dei lib. 4. cap. 8. 5. But many other events fell out besides or aboue mens expectations wanting permanency of being or such peculiar references or determinations of circumstances as might deriue a perpetuall name to their supposed authors Howbeit rather than these should be seised vpoÌ„ as excheats falling to men without the knowledge or direction of divine powers vnto whom they were to be accounteable for them even these were ascribed to some God though they knew not to whom So most learned Expositors probably thinke that Altar which S. Paul found at Athens had beene erected vpon occasion of some famous victory whose procurement the Athenians not knowing by any circumstance vnto what knowne God it might be ascribed and hence fearing lest by attributing it to any of those gods whom they worshipped the true author of it might be wronged or neglected they ascribed it Ignoto Deo to the vnknowne God well hoping he would make himselfe knowne by graunting more victories being thus honoured for the former With like gratifications did the Romanes striue to winne the gods of al the nations they had conquered to favour their conquests Some good perhaps they had heard done by them vnto their followers as God in opposition to Atheisme and Irreligion did reward the blind devotion of the Heathen with extraordinary temporall blessings and that any Nation should be in greater favour though with their owne gods then themselues this proud people did brooke as ill as great corporations doe to be out-vied by lesser in meriting the favour of great personages by rich presents solemne invitatioÌ„s or costly intertainments Nor is it strange the ignorant Heathen should be overtaken with this humor wherewith an vntoward branch of Davids stocke was desperately tainted In the time of his tribulation did he yet trespasse more against the Lord. This is King Ahaz so vnwilling is the spirit his name should be conceiled For he sacrificed vnto the gods of Damascus which plagued him and he sayd Because the gods of the King of Aram helped him I will sacrifice vnto them and they will helpe me These were gods which his fathers had not knowne perhaps not heard of he onely knew them from the place 6. From the former Principle That every visible effect must haue a cause did the auncient Romanes as â—eligiously as wisely collect That such events as fell â—ut besides the intention of man or any ordinary or observable course appointed by nature were even for this reason in some peculiar sort to be referred vnto the providence of some divine power And rather than the invisible author should loose his right for want of a distinct name the manner of the event was made a godfather or godmother Hence had Fortune more Temples in Rome than any god or goddesse besides And seeing of such events as haue no observable cause in nature or humane intention but fall out as we say by chance some were very good others disasterous bad Fortune had her rites and honours as well as good Fortune The one propitiatory sacrifices lest she might doe more harme the other gratulatory that she might continue her wonted favours The superstitious division of Fortune into good and bad was but a subdivision of the Persian or Manichees misconception of one God as author of good of another as the author of evill These latter fooleries of the Romanes are excellently refuted by S. Austin in his fourth booke de civitate Dei cap. 23. Si cultorem suum decernit vt profit Fortuna non est If shee can know her worshippers or deservedly respect them shee is not Fortune because not blind If shee cannot respect them nor take notice of their service it is in vaine to worship her Howsoever the cost they were at in her service had bin much better bestowed on that other female Foelicitas who if shee had bin a living Goddesse had all good things mans heart could desire at her disposall But as the same Father acutely concludes Hic enim carere non potest infoelicitate qui tanquam deam foelicitatem colit Deum datorem foelicitatis relinquit sicut carere non potest fame qui panem pictuÌ„ lingit ab homine qui veruÌ„ habet non petit He that adoreth the goddesse Foelicitie balking that God who is the donor of Foelicitie shall be as faithfully attended by misery as he whosoever he be shall be by hunger which solaceth himselfe by licking or kissing painted bread disdaining to begge or aske substantiall bread of men that haue it 7. Howbeit by this foolish service of Fortune whether good or bad the Romanes shewed themselues more wise and more religious than most such amongst vs as would be esteemed Prophets of state As they want not wit nor other meanes to doe good to the house of God so they would cease to sacrifice to their owne braines or disclaime all
that his justice is formally his mercie or that his loue is altogether the same with his iealousy or indignatioÌ„ nor are these termes whilest applied to God by vs of synonymall signification Every one hath a proper and severall notion capable of a distinct definition or notation Now if with some Schoolmen or Logicians we should argue a multitude of really distinct natures answerable to the number of definitioÌ„s really distinct or such a difference in the matter conceived as there is in our conceites of it the argument would conclude as well in the divine attributes as in any other subiect And as the evident apprehension of reall distinction betweene our expresse conceipts of any matter is alwayes apt to suggest a conceipt of reall diversitie in the matter so conceived so this diversitie betwixt the divine attributes once admitted into the vnderstanding or the coÌ„trary not excluded would cause vs to hunt after a proper phantasme or representation of every attribute and lastly internall representations of them as really distinct would be delivered of so many externall Images or Idolls answerable vnto them Iustice would be apprehended as one goddesse Clemencie as another Indignation as a third each should haue a tribunall or forme of supplication distinct from others as the parties that had occasion to implore divine assistance were affected Malefactors or dissolute liuers would be delighted with the picture of clemencie affrighted to looke vpon the visage of Iustice Such as suffer grievous wrongs without all hope of being righted or men naturally thirstie of revenge would feed their fantasies with Emblematicall representations of Nemesis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 With bridle and square I act at large my Prologue thoughts not long By vnruly hand by vnbridled tongue see no Man man doe wrong This Nemesis was in their opinion a goddesse of Iustice vnto whose cognizance belonged not every vniust speech or action but onely such as were outragious For this reason was she pictured with a bridle in one hand and a square or ruler in the other to teach moderation in speech or action 11. In the observation of best Christian Writers the wiser sort of Heathen did acknowledge but one supreme power or deitie the severall branches of whose efficacie or operations while they sought to set forth in Emblemes Hieroglyphicks or Poeticall resemblances these sluces late meÌ„tioned were opened to augment the former deluge of superstition and Idolatrie And I know not whether in our forefathers times theologicall vertues as faith and charitie came to be worshipped as Saints from such emblematicall devises or representations as are yet to be seene in the picture of S. Sunday which without the Sextons commentaries that shewed it me or sight of the tradsmens tooles that had wronged this Saint or rather violated the Sabbath I should haue taken for a character of the Iewish Synagogue in Isaiahs dayes so miserably was this Saint wounded from head to foot These two occasions of heathenish errour in multiplying gods are to my seeming at least since I made this observation briefly toucht by Tully vnto whom I referre the latine Reader Multae autem aliae naturae Deorum ex magnis beneficijs eorum non sine causa à Graeciae sapientibus à maioribus nostris constitutae nominataeque sunt Quicquid enim magnam vtilitatem generi afferret humano id non sine divina bonitate erga homines fieri arbitrabantur Itaque tum illud quod erat à Deo natum nomine ipsius Dei nuncupabant vt cum fruges Cererem appellamus vinum vero Liberum ex quo illud Terentij Sine Cerere et Libero friget venus Tum vero res ipsa in qua vis inest maior aliqua sic appellatur vt ea ipsa vis nominetur Deus vt Fides vt Mens quas in Capitolio dedicatas videmus proximè à M. Aemilio Scauro antè autem ab Attilio Catalino erat fides consecrata Vides virtutis templum vides honoris à M. Marcello renovatum quod multis ante annis erat bello Ligustico à Qu. Maximo dedicatum Quid opis quid salutis quid coxcordiae Libertatis Victoriae quarum omnium rerum quia vis erat tanta vt sine deo regi non posset ipsa res Deorum nomen obtinuit Quo ex genere Cupidinis voluntatis Lubentinae veneris vocabula consecrata sunt vitiosarum rerum neque naturalium quanquam vâ—lleâ—us aliter existimat sed tamen ea ipsa vitia naturam vehemeÌ„tius saepe pulsant Vtilitatum igitur magnitudine constituti sunt ij dij qui vtilitates quasque gignebant atque his quideÌ„ nominibus quae paulò ante nominata sunt à me quae vis sit in quoque declaratur Deo This author elsewhere thought the auncient Philosophers which held omnia esse vnum had soared much higher than the Pygmey-wits of his time could reach and multiplicitie of Rules concerning one and the same subject doth alwayes argue imbecillitie of vnderstanding either naturall or for want of art On the contrary such as by profunditie or strength of wit are able to diue into the depth of sciences alwayes reduce multiplicity to paucity and draw most particular conclusions from one or few common principles Some maximes there be which in every science hold the same into which all truths must finally be resolved without whose breach or violation nothing can iustly be impeached of falshood With greater facilitie and perspicuitie may the causes of all visible or knowne effects be resolved into one cause of causes or into that vnitie whence all multiplicitie floweth But of this hereafter CHAPTER XVIII The originall of Superstition properly so called and the preservatiues prescribed by God himselfe against this branch of Idolatrie 1. AS contrarieties in opinions oftimes agree too well in falshood so one and the same falshood may sometimes spring from contrary causes The same Idolatrous error of the Heathens which principally descended from too nice abstractions or conceiving of that vnitie or incomprehensible essence as many whose attributes they could not apprehend but vnder more conceits was much increased by confounding the abstract with the concrete or by conceiving of those things as one which indeed were many Were wooll or paper of all the subiects or bodies which we had seene onely white every white thing which we see a farre off would be taken for wooll or paper Our answer to this Question Quid est albedo What is whitenesse would perhaps be no better than Hippias made to the like Quid est pulchritudo What is beautie Mulier formosa aut equus pulcher A faire woman or a comely horse No sensible as was observed before is ever represented without a traine of circumstances or concomitants Of all circumstances time and place are necessary adherents to every passenger that approacheth the gates of sense And were not one and the same sensible often manifested
ReligioÌ„ being formerly accustomed to worship the fire for Goâ— and to adore the thunder and lightning with divine honor set groues or trees in common woods of vnusuall height had such authoritie from antiquitie for their sacred esteeme that to cut or burne them or offer them any violence was reputed a sacrilege so fearefull as would instantly provoke vengeance divine But the woods and groues being at length cut downe and wasted without the destruction or harme of any imployed in this businesse they grew more tractable and as if the woods had taught them obedience began to beleeue the Kings authoritie and command becomming at length forward professors of Christian Religion 7. The like superstitious feare had Constantines resolution in reformation expelled out of the Aegyptians who would haue perswaded him that if he tooke their sacred ell or fathom out of Serapes Temple the River Nilus which was vnder this conceited Gods patronage would cease to flow At ille Labitur labetur in omne volubilis aenum But whether Angells had not graced these nurseries of devotion by their appearance vnto Gods servants in them especially before the Law was given is easilier questioned than determined The generall observation of errors springing from ancient truths imperfectly related makes me suspect that the apparition of Angels or manifestation of Gods presence in like places vnto holy men and their demeanour vpon such manifestations was by preposterous imitation drawn to authorize the Idololatricall worship of such spirits as the heathen had seene in visible shape as also of the supersticious esteeme or reverence of the places themselues For in Constantines time as Eusebius tells vs the Heathens had erected their Altars in the oaken groue of Mambree in which the three Angells appeared to Abraham 8. But whether Constantine though much offended with the Altar did with it destroy the groue is vncertaine For albeit the title of the Chapter containing this story in our English Eusebius takes it as graunted that he did the text notwithstanding leaues it doubtfull if not more probable that he did not Nor was it necessary he should in this case follow the example of Iosias or Ezekias having that libertie which they had not to build a Temple in the same place to the Lord vnto zealous devotion in whose service the groue might afford no lesse plenty of fuell than it had done to heathenish supersticion and Idolatry For that which feedeth superstition through want of instruction onely or through licensed opportunities not naturally not of it selfe would proue best nutriment of true devotion to such as haue the spirit of grace or wisdome to disgest it especially if the practises which nourish superstition be controlled by plausible custome or authority No affection more fertile of either than the Poeticall temper according as it is well or ill imployed No place yeelds such opportunities for growth either of roote or branch as woods or groues or like shrowdes or receptacles of retired life nor could the sight or solitary frequenting any of these haue nursed such strange superstition in the heathen but onely by suggesting a liuelier notion of the Godhead than vsuall obiects could occasion And if other mens mindes be of the same constitution with mine our apprehensions of the true God as Creator haue a kinde of spring when he renewes the face of the earth Praesentemque refert quâ—elibet herba Deum The suddainâ— growth of every grasse points out the place of his presence the varietie of flowers and hâ—â—rbes suggestâ— a secret admiration of his inexpressible beautie In this respect the frequency of Sermons seemes most necessary in Citties and great Townes that their Inhabitants who as one wittily observeth see for the most part but the workes of men may daily heare God speaking vnto them whereas such as are conversant in the fields and woods continually contemplate the workes of God And nothing naturally more apt to awaken our mindes and make them feele or see his operations than the growth of vegetables or the strange motions or instincts of creatures meerely sensitiue The secret increase or fructification of vegetables without any inherent motion or motiue facultie and the experience of sensitiues accomplishing their ends more certainely without any sparkle of reason then man doth his by reasonable contriuance or artificiall policie moued some heathens to adore groues woods birds and sensitiue creatures almost of every kinde for gods who yet neither worshipped dead elements or liuing men Dead elemeÌ„ts they neglected because their qualities lesse resemble the operations of the liuing God with some notions of whose nature they were inspired Liuing men they much admired not in that the cause of every actioÌ„ which they effect and the manner of bringing their ends about was too well knowne They saw little it seemeth in their neighbours but what they knew to be in themselues whom they had no reason to take for gods and if one should haue worshipped another perhaps the rest would haue called them fooles as birds or other creatures would haue done so they had knowne what worship meant howbeit such men in every age as could either reveale secrets to come or bring things to passe beyond the observation or experience of former humane wits were even in their life accounted as gods or neare friends vnto some god 9. Others againe that would haue scorned to worship men or almost any other liue-creature otherwise then vpon these tearmes did adore the heads or first springs of Rivers whose continuall motion to feede the streames that flow from them without any visible originall whence their owne store should be supplied is by nature not stifled by art a sufficient motiue to call the invisible Creator and fountaine of all things to mans remembrance And some againe whom sight of ordinary fountaines did lesse affect were put in mind of some divine invisible cause or prime mouer by the annuall overflow of Nilus or the like experiments inscrutable by course of nature The admirable effects of Nilus overflow were the cause of that irreligious and brutish disposition which Seneca noteth in the Aegyptian husbandmen Nemo Aratorum in Aegypto Coelum aspicit No Plowman in Aegypt lookes towardes Heaven The like hath a Romane Poet Te propter nullos Tellus tua postulat imbres Aâ—ida nec plu vio supplicat herba Iove Aegyptian earth saue Nilus streames no water knowes No parched grasse or Ioue or moistned ayre there wo'es The soile being mellowed with this River seemed lesse beholden to heaven than Athens was where as some collect the art of tilling the ground was first invented amongst the Graecians Albeit I rather thinke it was the drinesse of the soile wherein that famous Cittie stood which occasioned that Idololatricall embleme whence some haue taken occasion to coniecture that the art of tillage was first manifested there Athenis vbi ratio colendi agrum primum ostensa esse Graecis dicitur simulachrum terrae extitisse suppliciter