this long peace which we haue enioyed hath increased our riches riches haue made vs to forget God and so like an vnnaturall daughter peace hath deuoured religion which bred and maintayned peace in the world The Prophecie is verifyed In these last dayes since the mountaine of the house of God hath beene prepared in the top of the mountaines and hath beene exalted aboue the hilles and all nations haue flowed vnto it and many people haue gone said Come let vs goe vp to the mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob and he will teach vs his wayes and we will walke in his pathes our swordes haue beene broken into mattocks our speares into sythes nation hath not lifted vp a sworde against nation neither haue they learned to fight any more The Lamb dwelling with the Wolfe hath beene in safetie the Kid with the Leopard the Cow feeding with the Beare the Calfe with the Lyon the sucking Childe hath plaied vpon the hole of the Asp the weaned Childe hath put his hand into the hole of the Cockatrice without any hurt and the reason is alleaged by the Prophet Because the earth was full of the knowledge of the Lord euen as the waters that couer the sea This Prophecye you see is fulfilled But these sayings are by them mistaken For Tully doth not argue in this manner that we must holde there is a God and maintaine religion that so ciuill gouernment may be maintayned and men may liue orderly in a common wealth But his meaning is cleane contrary that we must performe all ciuill duties in a common wealth for religion sake and we must be religious for Gods sake because there is a God which hath ingraffed religion in our hearts whereby ciuill states may be the better maintayned and which will punish all such as are not religious that is which haue not a true feeling of religion And it was not the meaning of the Prophet Esay that after the knowledge of true religion had planted peace among vs and peace had brought prosperitie then we should cease to be religious so forget God but rather increase our zeale and hauing receiued such benefits at his hands whome we serue continue faithfull in his seruice A second cause of Atheisme may be the want of due right hearing of the worde preached because faith commeth by hearing and therefore where there is a want of hearing faith fayleth and by a consequent Pagisme and infidelitie increaseth For many of them doe not heare but absent them-selues or if they be present they stand not for figures but for cyphers they doe not by the worde preached as the virgin Mary did by the sayings of our Sauiour Christ which layed thē vp in her heart or as Abraham did by the Angels which receiued them into his house or as the Sunamite woman did by Elizeus or the widowe by Elias which entertayned them with willingnes The worde to them is not as the raine of heauen falling vpon the earth or the deawe of Hermon vpon mount Sion but as the Childrens bread cast before whelpes or pearls cast before swine seede sowen by the high way side the peace of the Apostles bestowed vpon vnworthye houses and therefore returneth backe againe They stop their cares with the Adder or sleep with Eutichus or make loue as the Egiptians did to Aholah and Aholibah cloathed with blewe silke and diuers suites pleasant young men that they may set Aholah and Aholibah on fire bruise the brestes of their virginitye and powre out their adulterie vpon them as the Prophet speaketh Some heare the Preacher with great attention but as the Pharisies did our Sauiour to intrappe him in his speech to take exception against his wordes as the Athenians did St. Paul to scoffe at his simplicitie they read the Bible but as Porphurye did to finde as they prophanely call them absurdities and contradictions in the worde of God not as the Bee which gathereth honye but as the Spider which sucketh poyson out of wholsome flowers A third cause of Atheisme proceedeth from the long suffring of God which doth not presently punish Atheists For he doth not onely with patience suffer them to blaspheme his holy name but also in his wisdome which no man can sound in his iudgementes whome no man can search blesseth them with worldly blessings as if he did reward their vngodlines It is not my complaint alone but it is the complaint of the Prophet Dauid which cryeth out in this manner Why standest thou so farre off ô Lord and hydest thee in due time euen in affliction the wicked hath made boast of his owne hearts desire and the couetous blesseth himselfe he contemneth the Lord he is so proud that he seeketh not for God he thinketh alwaies there is no God his wayes alwaies prosper he saith in his heart I shall neuer be moued nor be in danger Nay it may very well be said as it was of Iob that the Lord hath made an hedge about him his house and about all that he hath on euery side he hath blessed the worke of his handes and his substance is encreased in the Land The Lord suffred his owne Arke to be taken by the Philistins his enemies and his owne people the Iraēlites which fought his battle to be ouerthrowne in the battell And this cōmendation is giuen of the godly King Iosias that he read the lawe of the Lord before the people he made a couenant with the Lord that the people should walke after the Lord and keep his commandements his testimonies statutes with all their hearts all their soules all the people stood to the couenant he purged the Temple and put downe the Idols he slewe the idolatrous Priests he kept such a passeouer in honour of God as neuer the like was holden from the daies of the Iudges y t iudged Israel nor in al the daies of the Kings of Israel the Kings of Iuda he tooke away thē which had familier spirits and the sooth-sayers and the Images and the Idols and all the abhominations that were espyed in the Land of Iuda and Ierusalem that like vnto him there was no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart all his soule and all his might according to all the lawe of Moses neither after him arose there any like him And yet see how the Lord rewarded him The very next thing which followeth in the same Text is this Pharao slewe him at Megiddo Thus you see how the Lord rewarded faithfull Iosias which serued him trusted in him with death in this worlde and ouerthrowe in sighting of his owne battell and gaue the victory to Pharao an heathen King which put no trust nor considence in him Likewise Nabucodonozor burned Gods house robbed his Temple in contempt of him and his seruice yet God prospered him as if
worship For as much therefore as the bookes of Moses are more auncient then all other bookes therefore that religion is the truest which is contayned in them and because there can be but one true Religion the onely truth is in them therefore they are the word of God And as for the other bookes of the Bible which were written long since they handle the same subiect they holde the same doctrine as the bookes of Moses and are but all partes and members which make one body of the Bible written by the same Spirit and of the same nature and therfore are also the word of God and there is no other written booke of God but the Bible In the seauenth place I could alleage for witnesse that the Bible is Gods word the great multitudes of Martyrs which haue dyed in the defence of the Bible and sealed the same with their owne bloud both before and in and after the times of the ten bloudy persecutions to whome God gaue the gift of patience to suffer death willingly for the testimony of the worde Neither could so manye of them haue suffered in such manner vnlesse God had strengthned them in so good a cause But because this argument is not so forcible to perswade Atheists as it is to exhort christians I passe it ouer Last of all the testimonye of the Gentiles proueth the Bible to be the worde of God For because God the Father had eternally decreed to send his Sonne to take flesh for the saluation both of Iewes and Gentiles and vnlesse they beleeued in him there could be no saluation purchased by his death neither for Iewe nor Gentile That he might be receiued by the consent of each people it could not seeme good vnto his heauenly wisdome vnlesse he did long before our Sauiour should come publish his comming both to the Iewes and Gentiles And therfore Christ was published to the Iewes many wayes as the Apostle speaketh by dreames visions Angels but especially by their owne Prophets Dauid Esay Ieremye Moses Daniell and the rest which were Iewes in that respecte called their owne Prophets that they might giue the more credit vnto them To the Gentiles also he was made known by the heathen Prophets and Prophetesses Baalam Mercurius Trismegistus Hidaspes and especiallye the tenne Virgins called Sybils the heathenish Prophetesses of which we may read at large in the workes not onely of the heathens but also of the Fathers and Ecclesiasticall writers of the Primatiue Church Now forasmuch as the Gentiles were vnacquainted with Moses the Iewish Prophets and not accustomed to read the Canonicall writers and destitute for the most part of the Bible and therefore would giue no credit to the testimonyes cyted out of these bookes and yet were to be conuerted to the Fayth by vertue of the Commission giuen to the Apostles Math 28. where our Sauiour said Goe Preach and baptize all Nations The Apostles and Disciples in the Primitiue Church at their first Preaching to the Gentiles prooued the Bible by the testimonye of heathen writers the Sybils Hydaspes Mercurius as St. Origin and Lactantius declare at large In such sorte did S t Paul deale with the Inhabitants of Creet alleaging for authoritie the verse of their owne Poet Epimenides which Cicero and Lacrtius doe reporte to haue beene a kinde of Prophet or Diuiner among them And therfore St. Paul saith a Prophet of their owne said of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Cretians are alwayes lyers foule beastes slowe bellyes Likewise to the Greekes he alleageth the testimonye of a Greeke Poet Menander 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euill wordes corrupt good manners And to the Scholers at Athens the testimonye of the Poet Aratus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are his generation meaning God And for this cause the heathens called the Christians Sybillistes because Christian religiō was most of all proued out of the Sybils Oracles which writ more playnly and plentifully then all other heathen writers And as Clemens Alexandrinus writeth S. Paul in one of his Sermons saide vnto the people Libros quoque Graecos sumite agnoscite Sybillam quo modo vnum Deum significet ea quae sunt futura take in hand your Greeke authors read Sybil see how she teacheth that there is one God and fore-telleth thinges to come Hydaspen sumite legite inuenietis De filium multo clarius apertius esse scriptum Doe but vouchsafe to read Hydaspes ye shall finde in him a cleare and euydent testimonye of the Sonne of God And because the Christians were so frequent in alleaging of the Sybils Oracles for confirmation of Christian Fayth vnto the Gentiles and conuerted so manye vnto Christ by these bookes as Iustin Martyr writeth Proclamation was made that vpon payn of death no man should read them any longer nor Hydaspes his writings yet the people would not refrayne from reading them And againe Gods prouidence did wonderfully appeare in the perseruation of the Sybills verses for the behoofe of the Gentiles as of the Bible for the Iewes in that they were verie faithfully kept in the Capitoll of Rome and that being once loste by a mischance when the Capitol was burned yet by publik edicte of the Senate diligent search and inquirie was made for all coppies that could be gotten that so an other booke was newly written and kept in recorde being duely examined corrected and purged of all faultes that might else haue escaped And to that purpose commission was giuen to diuers learned men fitte to bee imployed in such a seruice which was performed with all dilligence and the booke was layed vp in the capitol againe euē as the bookes of Moses were kept in the Arke of the couenant So when the Christians labored the conuersion of the Romans they were not onely furnished with proofes of their Doctrine out of the Sibilles to cōuince the Romans and their idolatrie but also they were freed from suspition of corrupting those bookes or any clause in them contayned because whatsoeuer was by them alleaged was consonant agreeable to their own Coppie which they kept in their Tower or Capitoll or treasure house which was the chiefest place of their recordes Now for as much as nihil est iam dictum quod non fuit dictum prius there can bee no newe or strange inuention now which hath not bin thought of before as the wise man speaketh I cannot finde any way to disprooue the Atheists better then that which the Apostles vsed to disproue the infidels that is by the testimonie and witnesse of heathen Authors For if they will neither stand to arguments drawen from reason neither yet to authoritie neither Diuine nor Humane then they reiect all the Topics of Aristotle and places whereby they should be confuted they renounce the lawes of Schooles and order of disputation by a consequent they shew themselues meerily ignorant and contra indoctos non
proceeded had their beginning or they were without beginning if they had a beginning they began by a precedent motion because nothing can begin but by motion and so that which is called the first motion could not be the first because another went before it But if they were without beginning it is a great absurditie to say that hee which was an eternall mouer yet did not mooue and that which was alwayes mooued notwithstanding was without motion Secondly time is eternall for it is in the definition of time that there is alwaies in it a present instant or moment which ioyneth together that which is past and that which is future and therefore the first instant of time cannot be assigned and therefore motion is also eternall because there is a iust proportion betweene the measure which is time and the thing measured w t is motion Thirdly there must be a proportion between the cause and the effect the mouer and that which is mooued because there can bee no comparison betweene that which is infinite and that which is finit that which is eternall and that which is temporall But this one answer is instead of Dauid his sling to kill Golias of Iudeth hir sworde to cut of the head of Holophernes of Sampsons Iawe bone to slay all the Phillistins and of Moses his rod to deuoure the Serpents of the Sorcerers of Aegipt to wit that these thinges holde onely in naturall mouers which are tyed vnto instrumēts meanes but not in God which is a supernaturall and free agent these arguments holde in thinges that be finit not infinit physical not metaphisicall which worke of necessitie and not of wil but otherwise they be no good consequence they doe not holde Let this therefore be the state of the question God had eternally the verie shape and Idea of the worlde which he conceaued in his minde and he eternally decreed when and how it should bee euen as when a workeman determineth to frame a peece of worke he first frameth it in his minde but doth not presently begin the same so hee decreed eternally and before all time when and how the worlde should bee in time Hee which is the eternall fountaine of goodnesse which fountaine notwithstanding did not eternally issue foorth into streames but in time did not eternally communicate vnto others this his goodnesse but was a Fountaine of water which for a long season lyeth hidden in the earth before it doth gush out But hee was not as a Carpenter which maketh an house because he hath neede of an house Therfore he did not eternally create not because he could not but because he would not and he would not because hee had eternally decreed that the world shold be in time and he so decreed that so hee might bring vs to the knowledge of himselfe for as much as when wee knowe that the worlde was not alwaies wee are forced to confesse that there is a superiour cause from whence it had his beginning whereas if it had bin created from eternitie and had had no beginning wee could not so easily haue discerned how God should haue bin the creator of it And therefore it cannot followe in this place that there was in God any mutation or mutabilitie because before the worlde was made he was not willing that it should bee made and afterward when it was made hee was willing S. Augustine sayeth Nouit Deus agens quiescore quiescens agere potest ad actionem nouam sempiternum adhibere consilium idque sine mutatione sui quoniam in infinitum non cadit mutatio God knoweth how to be an agent doing nothing and to doe nothing being an agent to bring his eternall decree to a newe action without any alteration of himselfe because that which is infinite is not subiect to alteration You cannot say properlie that God made not the worlde sooner because he wold not because with God there is nothing sooner or later for although God doth worke in time yet he cannot be apprehended by time his actions are measured by time not in respect of himselfe but onely in respect of vs that so his actions may be demonstrated made manifest vnto vs. Neither ought these things to seeme strāge vnto vs because the verie light of naturall reason giueth vs thus much to vnderstand y t there is an order of causes and that one being subordinate vnto an other we must still ascend vp vntill we come to one which is aboue all the rest which is of it selfe actually infinit and that is God And againe reason doth tell vs that because God is of an infinit nature his essence is simple not tyed to meanes by which hee worketh for according to the rules of Philosophie that agent is moste noble which needeth the fewest meanes and being not tyed to meanes he needeth no matter to worke by Also reason doth tell vs that as euerie thing is so it worketh but God is of himselfe absolute and not depending of anye and therefore worketh in the same manner that he is a free agent and therfore cannot be compelled that he is omnipotēt therefore nothing can be held or difficulte vnto him because he is infinite hee is transcendent aboue all the boundes of nature Out of all these principles I conclude The world had a beginning God which is euerlasting made it in time and hee made it of nothing that is without anie matter precedent or going before the creation of it Chapter 10. Of the Soule of man what it is whence it commeth and the immortallitie of it AN Atheist hauing heard a Preacher in his Sermon make mention of the soule the Sermon being ended asked him what the Soule was and whether it were any thing or nothing After disputation betweene them both the Atheist saide I will shewe you what it is So hee caused a candle to bee lighted and brought to the Table hee blew it out and sayd your soule is no more then the flame of that candle you see an ende of that it is blowen out and so shall it be with your soule when you die Paraduenture some cause of this vngodly assertion might bee the ambiguitie of the worde For S. Augustine in diuers places calleth the Soule by no better name then Flatus which properly signifieth no more then a breath or a blast Deus fecit omnem flatum saith hee God made euerie blast meaning euerie soule and it is written that God breathed into Adam the breath of life And in the Scriptures it is sometimes confounded with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a breath and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anima and spiritus a Soule a breath or a blast in signification are all one Therefore that I may distinguish the aequiuocation or ambiguitie of the word that nothing may be mistaken it signifieth these thinges 1. the life of any thing anima mea est in manibus meis saith