specially of man who knoweth how to take benefite thereof The temperatenesse of the aire serueth for him and yet the aire can not bee tempered nor the Earth lighted without the Sonne and the Moone Neither can the Sunne and the Moone giue light and temperatnesse without mouing The Moone hath no light but of the Sunne neither can the Sunne yéeld it either to the Moone or too the Earth but by the mouing of the Heauen and the great Compasse of the Heauen going about is the very thing which wée call the World not estéeming these lower parts as in respect of their matter otherwise than as the dregges of the whole And whereas the Elements serue man and the Planets serue the Elements yea and the Planets them selues serue one another doe they not shew that they be one for another And if they be one for another is not one of them in consideration afore another as the ende afore the things that tend vnto the end according to this common rule that the Mynd beginneth his work at the end thereof Now then if the turning about of the Heauen serue to shewe the Planets and they to yéeld light to the Earth and to all things thereon doth it not serue for the Earth And if it serue the Earth I pray you is that done by appoyntment of the Earth or rather by appoyntment of some one that commaundeth both Heauen and Earth Againe seeing that the ende is in consideration afore the things that tend thereto shall this consideration be in the things themselues or rather in some Spirite that ordereth them Soothly in the things themselues it cannot be for if they haue vnderstanding they haue also will and the will intendeth rather to commaund than to obey and vnto fréedome rather than bondage and if they haue no vnderstanding then knowe they neither end nor beginning Moreouer forasmuch as they bee diuers and of contrary natures they should ame at diuers ends whereas now they ame all at one end Nay which more is how should the Sunne and the Moone the Heauen and the Earth haue met euerlastingly in matching their dealings so iumpe together the one in giuing light and the other in taking it In what poynt by what couenant and vnder what date was this done seeing it dependeth altogether vppon mouing which is not to be done but in tyme It remayneth then that the sayd consideration was done by a Spirit that commaundeth al things alike and that he putteth them in subiection one to another as seemeth best to himselfe forsomuch as he is mightie to kéepe them in obedience and wise to guyde them to their peculiar ends and all their ends vnto his owne ende and he that thinketh otherwise thinketh that a Lute is in tune of it owne accord Or if he say that this Spirit is a Soule inclosed in the whole he doth fondly incorporate the Spirit of the Luteplayer in the Lute it selfe and likewise the buylder in the buylding In effect it is all one as if a Child that is borne and brought vp in a house should thinke the house to be eternall or els made of it selfe because he had not seene it made or as if a man that had bin cast out newly borne in a desert Iland and there nursed vp by a Wolfe as Romulus was should imagine himself to be bred out of the Earth in one night like a Mushrom For to beléeue that the World is eternall and that the race of Mankinde is bred of it selfe without a maker is all one thing and spring both of one error Doe not the two Sexes of Male and Female in all liuing things ouerthrowe the sayd eternitie For how should they bee euerlastingly the one for the other seeing they be so diuers Againe haue they bin euerlastingly but two or euerlastingly mo than two If but two where are those two become seeing that eternitie importeth immortalitie and a beginninglesse forebeing from euerlasting inferreth an endlesse afterbeing or cōtinuance to euerlasting And if they were many see ye not still the selfesame absurdities And if ye say they be made euerlasting by succession of tyme what I pray you is death but a token that they were borne What is life I speake of this our life but a continuance of death and what is succession but a prolonging of time Thus then ye see how that aswell by the parts of the World and by the whole World it self as also by the agréement of the whole with his parts and of the parts among themselues we be euidently taught that the fraine of the World had both a workmayster and a beginning But now some man wil aske vs when it began And that is the poynt which we haue to treate of next The viij Chapter When the World had his beginning SOothly it is not for mée to stand here disproouing the doubtes of the Accounters of tymes for the ods of some yeres yea or of some whole hundreds of yeres is not to bee accounted of betwéene eternitie and a beginning But if we haue an eye to the procéeding of this lower World we shall euidently percèyue that like a Childe it hath had his ages his chaunges and his full poynts restes or stoppes so as it hath by little and little growne bin peopled and replenished and that to be short whereas the world supposeth that it shall indure for euer it doth but resemble an old Dotarde which bee hee neuer so forworne and drooping for age yet thinkes himselfe still to haue one yere more to liue But I haue alreadie sufficiently proued that both Heauen and Earth haue had a beginning and also that séeing the one of them is for the other they had the same at one selfe same tyme and both of them from one self same ground And therfore looke what shal be declared of the earth shall also be declared of the heauen and forasmuch as the earth serueth for the vse of liuing creatures and specially of man looke what beginning we shall proue of man the like shall wee haue proued of the disposition of the earth For to what purpose were the Heauen being imbowed about these lower parts like a Uault or to what purpose were the earth being as a flowre or plancher to goe vpon if there were no inhabiter at all vpon earth Surely if the World were without beginning it should also haue bin inhabited from without beginning and no people should be of more antiquitie thā other Or at leastwise how auncient so euer it were yet should no new thing be found therein But if euen the oldest and auncientest things of all be but newe ought it not to bee a sure argument vnto vs of the newnesse thereof What thing I pray you can we picke out in this world for an example of antiquitie Let vs begin at the Liberall Sciences and we shall reade of the first commings vp of them all Philosophie which consisteth in the searching out of naturall things is of so late
that as Iamblichus also perceyued full well their whole seeking was to deceiue vs by their comming and to go away againe when they wist not what to say more desirous to lye than wee blockish to beléeue And when they obeyed vs or pretended to obeye vs let vs see what seruice they required at our hands verely that their Images should be wel painted and well coted and that they might be worshipped prayed vnto and senced Now if they were the Images of Spirites what greater vntrueth can there be than for a Spirit to be resembled by an Image And if they were the Images of men what greater beastlines sayth Seneca can there bee than to offer Sacrifize to a stocke and to make the Caruer which made it to eate at the second table and to knéele downe before a counterfet of his own making or to make the Paynter thereof to stand bareheaded vnto it Now then what els were they but teachers of vntrueth whose intent was to turne men not onely from God to his workes but also to themselues and finally into very stockes Apollo being asked what seruice was to be yéelded to the Gods declared that Sacrifize is to bee offered to them all as well them that dwell in the Ayre and the Fire as them that dwell in the Sea and in the Earth to some with white Beastes and to some with blacke to some vppon Altars and to othersome vppon bankes of earth to some the foreparts of Beastes and to othersome the hinderparts and such other like stuffe And because they would néedes play the Apes with God in al things they required this seruice after the example of the old Testament For as sayth Porphyrius nothing delighteth them more than to be estéemed as Gods insomuch that the greatest of them all whom they call Serapis and we Beelzebub will néedes be worshipped as the souereine God But what resemblance is there betwixt them and the true God God requireth of vs the firstlings of our fruites and of our Cattell And forasmuch as he hath created them for vs is it not reason that wee should acknowledge our selues beholdē to him for our Corne and for our increase of Cattell On the contrary part these Gods require the acknowledgement of those things to bee done to themselues to their Images Gods inioyning of vs to sacrifize brute Beastes is to witnesse the death that we deserue by our sinne but they beare vs on hand that by the death of a Beast wee be discharged from all sinnes God sayth vnto vs your Sacrifizes are nothing worth I will haue obedience and not Sacrifize your Oblations loath me and your Incence stinketh the thing that I looke for is a broken and a lowly heart The false Gods speake of nothing but of the sheading of blud without telling or knowing why or wherefore without end without ground without signification and without comming any whit néere the heart Now then what are they els than slauish Roges and Rebelles indeuouring to filch away the praise of our Creator And yet for all their disguysing of themselues for a tyme they bee not able to conceale their owne leaudnesse any long while For they commaund vs to Sacrifize Men Maydes and Children vnto them Had they ordeyned such things at their first comming in who would not haue abhorred them But when they had once wound themselues into credite by some answers delightfull to our curious eares and by some Iugglingtricks which seemed wōderfull to the weaknesse of our eyes we suffered them to go by little and little whithersoeuer they them selues listed as though it had bin vnpossible that they should haue sayd otherwise than well or that wee should haue done otherwise than well in obeying them According whereunto wee reade that Children were Sacrifized to Saturne in Candy after the maner of the Curets In Rhodomene the sixth day of the moneth Geitnion In Phenice in tymes of Plague Warre and Famine and likewise in Affrick they Sacrifized men vntill the Uiceconsulship of Tyberius who caused the Priestes themselues to be crucified in the same Woodes where they were wont to doe their Sacrifizes Also they offered the like kind of Sacrifize in Cyprus to the Nimph Agrawlis and to Diomedes and in the I le of Tenedos vnto Bacchus and in Lacedaemon to Mars And all these abhominations are reported by Porphyrius who therevpon concludeth that all such Gods were of the wickeddest sort of Deuilles Moreouer wee reade that Aristomenes of Messene Sacrifized thrée hundred men at once to Iupiter Ithometes of whom Theopomp King of the Lacedemonians was one And that the Latins Sacrifized the tenth of their owne Children to Iupiter and that because they had discontinewed the doing thereof they thought themselues to bee plagued with dearth and diseases That those false Gods themselues answered the Carthaginenses that the misfortunes which lighted vpon them happened for that whereas they had vsed to sacrifize the choycest of their Children they Sacrifized none but the Rascalles Chaungelings Bastardes and Bondlings The like was done by the Druides in Gaullond by the Almanes by the Scandinauians by the Tawricanes and others insomuch that Chyron the Centaure had such Sacrifizes offered yéerely vnto him So farre and with so passing supersticious crueltie was the Deuils kingdome extended that the Deuill none other could be the foūder therof Who can now doubt after al this but that those Gods were deuils which were workers of such things as not only goodmen mislike but also euen wicked men cannot but abhorre In déede wee reade that one Diphilus King of Cyprus made the Idoll of Cyprus to bee contented with an Oxe in stead of a Man and that Amosis King of AEgipt appoynted that in stead of the thrée youg men which were woont to bee sacrificed to Iuno in Heliople there should bée offered thrée Calues and that afterward Pallas of Laodicea was contented with a Hynd and that Hercules in traueling through Italy gaue thē men of Hay to be throwen into Tyber but surely it had bene more to his commendation if he had punished those Gods thā to haue ouercome the great monsters for which he is so renowmed Yet was that custome obserued still Insomuch that euen in Rome euery yere the same day that men had bene wont to be sacrificed the Altars were washed with mans blud howbeit about a fowerscore yeres afore comming of Christ the Senate had condemned such sacrifices at Rome Now séeing that as Seneca sayth they required such a seruice as Busyris or Phalaris durst neuer to haue demaunded who will not conclude with Porphirius as greate an enemy to Christians as hee was that they were al diuels and wicked féends Or with Quintilian that such Gods could not bee but witlesse and starke mad And whereas the Senate which worshipped them did neuerthelesse condemne and abolish their Sacrifices was not their so dooing a condemning of the founders of them also I meane of the
We haue read in the booke of Nature that Man is immortall that his happinesse is not here beneath but in the endlesse lyfe that the blessednesse of that endlesse lyfe is to inioy God aboue and that the meane to atteyne thereto is to serue and honour him here beneath with all our heart But the same booke hath taught vs also that by sinne we bée falne from our originall that we be falne from Gods fauour into his wrath that we be infinitely departed away both from seruing him and from sticking to him and coÌ„sequently that we be gone aâ—tray from the happinesse which we should seeke cannot find elsewhere thaÌ„ in him What remayneth then for vs but vtter despayre And whereto serueth the said endlesse lyfe but to be turned into endlesse death And the euerlasting happynesse wherevnto wee were created but to our euerlasting grief vnlesse some Boord be left vs at hand to saue vs from our shipwrecke I meane vnlesse God doo make vs some way both to appease his wrath and to come ageine into his fauour In this extremitie therefore wee méete with Religion which directeth vs to the true God But what els is that than a sending of an offender to his Iudge or a laying of Strawe to the fyre considering that God is infinitely good that is to say infinitely contrarie to euill and if contrarie to euill then also vnto vs whose thoughts sayings and dooings are altogether euill The same Religion hath set vs downe the Scriptures wherein wee reade the will of our Creator But what haue we yet found there That mankind is corrupt from his roote and as it were rotten at his Core That all the imaginations of mans heart are alwayes vtterly euill and yet notwithstanding that God commaundeth vs to loue him with all our heart and our neighbour as our selfe behighting to them that doe it euerlasting lyfe and to them that doe it not euerlasting death Which of vs feeleth not a stryuing in all his members ageinst the will of God And consequently who is hée that ought not too feele a very Hell when he entereth into himselfe and into the scriptures to reade his Arreignement and Condemnation And so what is Religion but vanitie and what is the Scripture or Gods word but a harthyting if wee find not there the Charters of grace and remission which reconcyle vs to God and knit vs ageine vnto him and by that vnyting doe restore vs the happynesse wherevnto we were created So falleth it out that God cannot be disappoynted of his purpose and that the Religion which hee hath graued so déepely in mans heart cannot be in vayn Néedes then must it be that in the true religion and in the Scriptures we must find our grace and the meane thereof which is the third and chief mark that we séeke Let vs expresse this Doctrine yet playnlier for it is the very knot and forme or inshape of all Religion The happynesse of man is to be vnited vnto God and the way to be vnited vnto him is to sticke vnto his will The first man being created free and capable of good disobeyed GOD and by his disobedience became a bondslaue to sinne So was hee farre remoued from God and from his owne welfare and had not grace stepped in he had bin in extreme miserie which we call Hell Of this Rebell are we all borne and his flesh hath begotten vs both fleshly and bondslaues of sinne as he was By Nature than we can looke for none other than the wages of sinne which is death neither can wee haue any other inheritance than our Fathers who hath left vs nothing els to inherit but damnation Now let vs see what we our selues haue brought to this decayed succession In sted of discharging our Obligation we ronne on further in arrerages and lyking well thereof we daâ—lie increase our debt For none of vs al dischargeth himself to God-ward of the things which he requireth of vs iustly in his Law and therefore wee continue still behind hand Nay there is none of vs which offendeth not the Lord infinite waies daily in thought word and deede by meanes whereof we plundge our selues in euer déeper and déeper Now then though we found not our succession so decayed yet doe wee our selues make it such by our excessiue debts and continuall offences which in effect is all that wee can bring thereto And against whom see wee these offences Euen against God against our father against our maker al which is a great aggrauating of our fault namely that the Child should rebell against his father or that a thing of nothing should turne away from his creator yea and which worse is take wages of the Deuill to fight against him The crime is so out of al measure great that it cannot nor ought not to bee inhaunced But were there no further matter than this that forasmuch as God is infinite the offence is multiplyed according to the person against whom it is commited our offence against GOD cannot but bee infinite and consequently so must our punishment be too Now therfore we poore wretches subiect to infinite paynes without number which by our continuall misdeedes doe daily multiply the infinitenesse of our punishments still euen to the vttermost haue néede of a remedie And what shall that remedie be Gods mercie Nay mercie may not be contrarie to his Iustice. What then Gods Iustice No wee haue neede of mercie By what meane may GOD execute his Iustice without disanulling his mercie or exercise mercie without preiudice of his Iustice so as both of them may be verified as well that God is infinitely gracious as that he infinitely hateth all euill both together If he shewe mercie absolutely to an infinite offence where is his Iustice Or where is his vniuersall gouernment whereby he yéeldeth good to the good and euill to the euill Yea and where is our owne Iustice become which is but a shadowe of Gods Againe if he execute mere Iustice what shall become of Mankynd after this life Or rather why hath he mainteyned him euer since his first fal that his Iustice hath not deuowred vs of al this while vs I say in whom is not any thing which burneth not before his wrath It remayneth then that to appease his wrath and to make way to mercie which wrath of his is nothing els but a iust intent to punish and which mercie of his is likewise but a iust intent to forgiue there must come some satisfaction betwene God and Man without the which there would bee as ye might terme it an vtter Emptinesse in the world whereunto nature it selfe cannot agree But what a depth is here yet still considering that the fault is infinite and the punishment must be proportionable to the fault and the satisfaction likewise to the punishment that is to say that satisfaction infinitely infinite is required at our hands Let man offer the whole world vnto God and what offereth he but that
which he hath receiued of GOD and that which he hath lost by his disobedience And sith GOD hath created this world of nothing how should a thing of nothing multiply so infinitely as to satisfie for an infinite offence Let Man offer himselfe what offereth he but vnthankfulnesse and disobedience blasphemie and froward déedes That is to say what shall he els do but prouoke Gods wrath more and more against him Nay let the very Angels step in the Creature to pacifie the Creator the thing that is finite in goodnesse to couer an infinite euill the indebted in all respects to discharge another more indebted and what els will this be than a couering that as the Prophet sayth doth but halfe couer and a plaister infinitely too little for the sore Surely let vs say therefore that God himselfe must bée fayne to step in betwéene his Iustice and his mercie and as he created vs at the first so to create vs newe againe and as he created vs then in his fauour so to acquit vs now from his wrath and as he vttered his wisedome then in creating vs so to imploye the same now againe in repayring vs and soothly so much the more if more may bee because that in our creation nothing resisted the goodnesse of the Creator whereas in our reparation our naughtinesse withstandeth him as much as is possible Out of one bottomlesse deepe wee goe still into another but God bee praysed they bee the deepes of his grace Who then say you shall bee this Mediatour God vnto God Infinite vnto Infinite and able both to discharge the bond and to asswage the infinite punishmēt Here let vs bethinke vs againe what hath bene sayd afore in the fifth and sixth Chapters I haue declared there both by reason and by record of all antiquitie that in God there are three persons or Inbeings in vnitie of one essence and that the same are coeternall and coequall in all respects The Father as the ground and welspring the Sonne as the euerlasting word and wisedome of the Father and the holy Ghost as the bond of kyndnesse and loue whereby the Father and the Sonne are linked together and I pray the Reader that for the refreshing of his memorie he will voutsafe to reade ouer those Chapters againe vpon this poynt Needes then I assure you must one of those three persons step in betwixt Gods wrath and our infinit Fault And sith it is so which of them should rather doe it than the wisedome considering that the case standeth vppon the new creating of vs againe and that we were created by the same at the first or than the Sonne seeing wée bée to be adopted that is to say to bee admitted to an inheritance Nay moreouer it behoued this Mediatour to step in for euer For inasmuch as the world was created for man and man is falne away from God neither the world nor man now after his fall could haue abidden before God one moment of an hower Behold in the maner of this mediation there is againe another incomprehensible Misterie howbeit such a one as when it is once reuealed vnto vs wee deeme it vnpossible to haue bene otherwise We haue God infinitly iust and Man infinitely sinfull The infinite Iustice due to so infinite offence could not bee satisfied but eyther by infinite punishment or by an infinit reparation and this infinite reparation could not proceede but from him that is infinite that is to wit from God himselfe It behoueth then that our Mediatour be God and of his gracious goodnesse such a one haue we But this infinite Godhead is not to recompence our disobedience otherwise than with obedience nor our vndesert otherwise than with desert not our stubbornnesse otherwise than with lowlynesse neither againe is he to purchace vs grace but by punishment or life but by death And to the intent he may obey he must abase himselfe to deserue he must serue to become lowly he must stoope downe beneath himselfe to suffer he must become weake and to dye he must become mortall Certesse we say therefore that it is conuenient and behoofull that our Mediatour should be both God and Man Man to bee borne vnder the Lawe God to performe the Lawe Man to serue God to set free Man to humble himselfe to the vttermost God to exalt himselfe aboue all things Man to suffer God to ouercome Man to dye and God to tryumph ouer death Nay moreouer forasmuch as he submitteth himselfe willingly to such things for our sakes say I and not for his owne néedes must his obedience become a discharge for the disobedience his desert a discharge of the vndesert and his lowlinesse a satisfaction for the stubbornnesse of them that beleeue in him yea and moreouer a purchace of obedience desert and lowlynesse vnto them so that looke what is due to his obedience that is to wit loue to his desert that is to wit reward to his humilitie that is to wit honor to his sorowe that is to wit ioye to his death that is to wit life and to his victorie that is to wit Tryumph the same is purchaced and giuen by him and imputed and made due at Gods hand to all such as honor that great benefite and call vpon the father in his name From this poynt we may proceede afterward to other conditions and circumstances requisite in the Mediatour God and Man seeking him alwaies as may be most conuenient and agreeable both to Gods Iustice to the office dignitie of the Mediatour It is necessarie for our welfare say I that the Mediator should be man to beare the punishmēts of men to recōcile Mankynd And if he were not a mā then like as we should haue no part in him nor he in vs so should he not auayle vs any whitte neither in way of satisfaction nor in way of desert Méete it is therfore that he should be borne of our race and that he should be flesh of our flesh bone of our bone to the intēt that as in Adam we be al become bondseruāts to sinne so in him we may be deliuered and set frée from the reward of sinne which is death Ageine forasmuch as he was to ouercome sinne it behoued him to bee without sinne and forasmuch as it was for him to make vs cleane it behoued him to be without vncleannesse For we knowe that all of vs are conceiued in iniquitie and borne in vncleannesse and corruption and therefore it behoueth him to be such a man as is conceiued after an other maner than man is And this after so many wonders ought not to be counted a wonder for he that deriued woman out of man without helpe of woman can also deriue man out of woman without helpe of man To these particularities we shall come time enough hereafter and if suffizeth at this tyme that Gods Iustice and mans offence haue euen by humane reason directed vs to a verie necessitie of a Mediator
God and Man able to discharge mā of euerlasting death ageinst God and to purchase him the souerein felicitie of lyfe And this is it that I meant in the beginning of the chapter namely that this marke is so of the very substance and inshape of Religion that Religion without that should be vtterly vnauaylable and vayne The Heathen séeme to haue perceyued this necessitie by many examples They knewe that man was created to liue for euer and that hee could not inioy that benefite but by turning again vnto God But in this they fell short that they considered not that from vs to God the way is vnpossible to man if God himself be not our way whereby to come thither It may be that they haue heard that it behoued a man to dye for the sinnes of the world And therevpon the diuell did put in their heads to sacrifice men and so to lay the sinnes of a whole Citie or countrie vpon the backe of some one poore wretch And looke who was the greatest offender of all others and whom they had vowed to the gallowes for the multitude of his misdéedes him did they put to the pacifying of Gods wrath towards them Such are the accustomed Apish toyes of the Diuell But how shall he that is in Gods displeasure appease his displeasure And what shall the worst doo if the best can doo nothing The Emperour Iulian could not tell how to rid his hands of this necessitie in his disputations ageinst the Christians By reason whereof perceiuing that there must néedes bee a meane betwéene God and man for the cleansing of mens Soules hee bare himselfe on hand that Esculapius the Sonne of Iupiter was manifested to the world by the lyuely ingendring of the Sonne and that hee shewed him selfe first in Epidaurus and afterward in diuers other places to heale mens Bodies and to amend their Soules Which is a proof that the impossibilitie of the Incarnation of the Sonne of God which is pretended by some séemed not to him to be vnpossible forasmuch as the Iucarnation of Esculapius the sonne of Iupiter God in the opion of Iulian and the sonne of God seemed to him not onely possible but also come to passe And in verie déede why should it seeme strange that he which hath knit the Soule of man being a spirituall substance vnto his body being an earthly should bee able to vnite himselfe vnto man But I haue shewed afore that this Esculapius was a man and that the spirit which abused his name was a diuell and that both of them were wicked creatures And moreouer who euer beléeued or setfoorth this Fable of Esculapius but onely Iulian Nay verily Porphyrius hath outgone all antiquitie in this behalfe For hauing laid this foundation That the souereine welfare of the Soule is to sée God That it cannot see hym vnlesse it be first cleansed from the silth thereof and therefore that by Gods prouidence there must be some meane procured to cleanse mankind whē he commeth to the seeking of it out he saith That the Artes and Sciences doo well cleare our wits in the knowledge of things but they cannoth so cleanse vs that wee may come vnto God And wheras many men deceiued themselues in séeking this cleansing by Magik and Theurgie he sayd that imagination and common sence might well bee helped thereby in the perceyuing of bodily things but they atteyned not to the purging of the vnderstanding of the Soule neyther could they make a man to see his GOD or the trueth it selfe Againe whereas some Philosophers sought this clensing in the Misteries of the Sonne and of Iupiter that is to say in communicating as they surmised not with Deuils but with such as were estéemed to be good Gods he declareth that there was as small likelyhood thereof in their Misteries as in the Misteries of the rest and moreouer that those things extended but to very fewe men whereas this clensing ought to be vniuersall to the benefite of all mankind In the end hauing reiected all other clensings his conclusion is that the Beginnings onely and none others can worke and bee the meane to worke this vniuersall Clensing What he meaneth by the Beginnings the Platonists can tell well enough and I haue declared it by many sentences of his in my fifth and sixth Chapters that is to wit the persons or proprieties that are in God whom Porphyrius calleth expressely the Father the vnderstanding of the Father and the Soule of the World He could not almost haue come any néerer vs vnlesse he should haue met iumpe with vs and surely he seemeth to haue had this of the Chaldees from whom he acknowledgeth himselfe to haue receyued many diuine Oracles concerning this matter But it is enough for vs that wee haue gayned these poynts of him That there must of necessitie be some meane ordeyned of GOD for the clensing and sauing of mankynd That none can worke that Cleannesse except it bee some one of the Beginnings that is to say except it hee God himselfe and that he neuer met yet with any Sect in all Philosophie that setteth foorth the meane thereof Therefore it standeth vs on hand to seeke it not in Philosophie but in our Scriptures For seeing they bee of God and are reuealed for the welfare of Man they ought to direct vs to the only meane of the Saluation which we long for And like as Religion was bred and borne as soone as Man as I haue sayd afore so must it needes be that the meane of Saluation was reuealed as soone as Religion and set foorth in the holy Scriptures from tyme to tyme. And if we finde it so it will be an vnfallible testimonie both of our Religion and of our Scriptures together Let vs then begin with the Creation of man The Scripture sayeth that as soone as he was created God gaue him this Lawe If thou eate of the tree of the skill of good and euill thou shalt dye the Death That is to say If thou turne away neuer so little from the obeying of me thou shalt fall into my displeasure and from my displeasure into endlesse death Byandby after man is seduced by the Serpent that is to say by the diuel and breaketh the Lawe of his Creator by meane whereof he is in his displeasure and by sinne is become subiect to endlesse damnation Now seeing that this man was alone and that the world was made for him what should haue followed but the vtter destruction of the world out of hand and the burning of man euerlastingly in Gods wrath But see how Gods wisdome stepped in for the sauing of man and for the preseruing of his owne woorke and sinne was no sooner bred but the scripture immediatly sheweth vs the remedie thereof I will set emnitie sayeth the Lord to the diuell betweene thy seede and the womans seede Hir seede shall crush thy head and thou shalt byte it by the heele That is to say I will
cause one to be borne of the womans seede which shall subdew the diuell and the diuell shal do his indeuer to trip vp his heeles by tempting him all maner of wayes but he shall treade the diuell vnder his feete and make him to yeeld vp his weapons that is to wit Sinne and death Now who seeth not that to ouercome the diuell it behoueth him to be God and that to be borne of a Woman it behoueth him to be man that is to say both God and man as I haue sayd afore Here beginneth our controuersie ageinst the Iewes of these later tymes who hold opinion that the Messias or Chryst whom we vphold to be the Mediator betweene Gods Iustice and Mannes sinne shal be some greate Emperour that shall deliuer them from bodily oppression whereunto I haue answered at large heretofore Howbeit they cannot denie but that by the death which God threateneth to Adam for his transgression Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon vnderstandeth a spirituall death that is to wit the death of the Soule wounded with sinne and forsaken of hir lyfe which is God and that by the venoume of the Serpent he meaneth sinne it self which shall ceasse sayeth he vnder the Messias and that the same is also the Interpretation of the auncient Cabalists and lykewyse that the Sinagog of old time vnderstoode the sayd text to be ment of the Messias as the Interpretation of the thréescore and ten Interpreters and the auncient Translation of Hierusalem itself do giue vs cause to beleeue For sayeth this Latter expresly so long ô Serpent as the womans Children keepe the Lawe they kill thee and when they ceasse to doo so thou stingest them in the Heele and hast powre to hurt them much But whereas for their harm there is a sure remedy to heale it for thyne there is none For in the last dayes they shal crushe thee al to peeces with their Heeles by meanes of Christ their King Now if the death bee spirituall and the enemy spirituall and his weapons spiritnall how can it be denyed that the battell betweene him and the Messias who is to vanquish him is lykewise spiritual his power spiritual and his Kingdome spirituall Moreouer what were Adam Henoch Noe and Abraham benefited by this promise if it extend no further than to temporall things Which of vs would indure here a thousand miseries vnder pretence that certeine thousands of yeres hence we should haue an Emperour borne which should he redouted euerywhere Now lyke as the scripture beginneth with the promise of the Messias that is to say of the deliuerer of our Soules so doth it shewe euidently that it aimeth not at any other mark than that For leauing the great States of the world and the breeding of Kingdomes and Principalities which are things whereon Histories stand so curiousely it leadeth vs directly too the birth and ofspring of Abraham whereof the Messias was to be borne And vnto the same Abraham doth God repe 〈…〉 promise often times that in his seede al nations should be blessed 〈◊〉 is to say that one should be borne of his seede by whom Saluation should be profered to all nations of the Earth And age in that in Isaac the seede should be called vnto him which thing surely is not spoken of the Posteritie of his Sonne Ismael notwithstanding that GOD told him that his fleshly posteritie should be verie florishing But this preface which the Lord maketh shall I hide any thing from my seruant Abraham c. Sheweth euidently how it is a misterie that passeth al vnderstanding of man and whereunto Abraham had no lesse ryght than his seede From Abraham this promise passed by hand to Isaac from Isaac to Iacob and Iacob left it by his last will too his children with these woords The Scepter shalnot be taken from Iuda nor the lawgiuer from betweene his feete vntil Silo come and vnto him shall the Nations resort Which woords were spoken to Iuda by name bycause the sayd holy seede was to come of his stocke And that the same saying was ment of the Messias the Thargum of Hierusalem and the Onkelos which are bookes of chéef anthoritie among the Iewes do assure vs. For they translate it thus vntill Chryst or the Anoynted come whereunto is added this too whom the Kingdome belongeth And the schoole of Rabbi Sila being demaunded in the Talmud what should bee the name of the Messias answereth Silo is his name for say they it is sayd vntill Silo come Albeit now that the sayd kingdome be other than a temporall Dominion yet is the text formall in that place For the Iewes wayt that the Messias or Christ should come of the Trybe of Iuda and that at the tyme of his comming the Scepter and the Lawgiuer should both be taken from Iuda Surely the thing that Israell looked for as then was not to subdue other Nations seeing that Israell himselfe was not to reigne at that tyme. And wretched had the hope of other Nations bene which looked for him also according to this text if his comming should haue bene but to spoyle them and make hauocke of them But he was to reigne yea euen ouer all Nations yea and to the benefite of all Nations His reigning then shal be according to the first promise namely ouer mens Soules the which he shall deliuer from the bondage of Sinne and the tyrannie of the Deuill In the Lawe of Moyses the Sacrifices and Ceremonies doe represent vnto vs the satisfaction which Christ was to make for the sinnes of the people by the sacrificing of himselfe But specially the Passouer Lambe the Sacrifice of the red Cowe the sending of the Scapegoate into the Wildernesse and the raising vp of the brasen Serpent for the healiâ—â— of diseases were all of them Memorialles for the people to put them in mynd both of the comming of the Messias and to what ende hee should come For whereas wee reade that the doorepostes of the houses were besmeared with the blud of a Lamb to the intent that the destroying Angell should not touch them that the Ashes of a Cowe without spot were kept for the sinnes of the Congregation That the Highpriest laying his hand vppon a Goates head acknowledged the sinnes of the people ouer him and the Goate went away with them into a place vninhabitable to the intent as ye would say he might neuer be heard of any more and that as many as beheld the brasen Serpent were healed incontineutly of the stinging of Serpents seeing that the things which were imployed to those purposes could not of their owne nature serue there vnto we must néedes conclude that they were signes signes say I of spirituall and inward matters like the Scripture it selfe which is spirituall and serueth for the inward man That is to wit That the Deuill hath no power ouer those which are reconcyled to God by the Sacrifice of the Messias who is charged with their Sinnes and that those which
but to be a Prophet without Prophesying a Lawemaker without miracles and euen among his owne Bisshops a man without God or Religion What man of discretion would reade his Alcoran twice except it were for some greate gayne or by manifest compulsion considering the absurdities toyes contrarieties dreames and frantik deuyces that are in it besides the wicked things wherof I wilnot speake Farre of therefore is he from furnishing foorth of a Martyr that will dye eyther for the Preaching thereof or for not recaÌ„ting it To be short Mahomets miracle is to waste and spoyle the world by warre Christs is to bring the world in order by his suffring for it Mahomet was assisted by a sort of Cutthrotes like himself Christ was followed by infinite folk dying and suffering aduersitie for his sake The woorkes of Mahomet were such as euery man can do and doeth dayly the woorkes of Christ are such as neuer any man did nor durst vndertake to doo but he himself Surely therefore we may wel conclude without wearying the reader any longer about these vanities That Mahomet was a man and wrought but as man and by man and therefore is to be examined as a man and that Iesus Christ wrought by GOD and was as he hath told vs the sonne of God and therefore let vs here him and beleeue him as God At this woord behold they step vp ageine and say a man to be God What an absurditie is that How is it possible Nay rather séeing it is conuenient and agreeable both to Gods glorie and to mans saluation as I haue proued afore why should it be vnpossible God created maÌ„ by his wisdom which wisdom is his sonne Now what is more meet than he should repayre man by him ageine Also it was a man that sinned and in that man and by that maÌ„ did al his ofspring sinne likewise Now what is more rightfull than to repayre him by man Man rebelled ageinst his father who could appease this offence but God himself And who could better pacifie the father than his owne welbeloued Sonne Man say I rebelled through extreame pryde vppon desire to be equall with God Now what thing is there which ought too humble man soo much as to see his Creator submit himselfe beneath man for the fault of man Or which ought somuch to make him to consider his sinne and to be sory for it as to consider the infinite greatnesse of his Raunsum the excéeding greatnesse of his sinne and of his punishment due for the same And if thou vrge me still with how is it possible I answer it is possible bycause God lifteth it and euen in mans vnderstanding it conteyneth no contrarietie to say it Also it is possible for we see it is so and so many Profes cannot bee wyped away by a bare question It séemeth possible enough to thee O Iulian when thou listest for thou sayest that Esculapius the sonne of Iupiter tooke humane flesh to come downe vnto the earth and thyne owne Philosopher Amelius doth vnder hand approue that Gods eternall word toke flesh and clothed himself with the nature of man alledging the very words of S. Iohn for the matter To be short thou haste a spirit vnited to thy body thou caâ—st not deny it and yet thou séest it not And if thou wert lesse than man thou wouldest also deny it to be in man and yet for al that what fellowship is there betwéene a body and a spirit And what may seeme more ageinst reason than that a Spirit which occupyeth no place should not only be lodged but also imprisoned in a place But hee which made both the one and the other of nothing can do what he thinketh good with both of them And seeing that to glorifie man he voutsafed to take him vp into heaueÌ„ and to ioyne him vnto him Plotin saies so and therefore thou wilt willingly here it and allow of it why should he be lesse able too come downe if he list and too vnite and ioyne himself to man vpon earth if he list to humble himself But why did God send his deare Sonne into the world rather in that tyme than in any other Why sent hee him not soouer or later These are questions for maysters to vse to their Seruants and not for silly Creatures to vse vnto God who by his only power made vs to be borne and by his only grace hath begotten vs new ageine But as I haue sayd afore to the Iewes man liued for a tyme without the Lawe too make him too learne that hée was not a lawe to himself and a certeine tyme vnder the lawe to make him find by proofe that he was not able to performe it and afterward grace was offered vnto him as vpon a scaffold where he sawe nothing but death and so the knowing of nature corrupted made man the more able to receyue the Lawe and the Lawe made him the more ready to imbrace Gods grace Moreouer it is a woonderfull confirmation to vs when we consider that from the beginning of the World vnto his comming we haue alwayes had Prophets from tyme to tyme agréeing in one mynd and one voyce as Heraulds and Trumpettors euerychone of them to publish and proclayme the maiestie of this King which was to come into the world For had he come anon after the Creation of the World this confirmation of ours had bin greately 〈◊〉 bycause they that were the first had bin surprysed by his comming vnlookedfor and those that haue come after should haue bin in daunger to forget it or to make the lesse account of it as though his comming had not belonged to them whereas now all of vs are partakers both of ioye and of Gods admonitions both afore the Lawe for he was promised to them and vnder the Lawe for they lykewyse heard the Trumpetts and also in the tyme that he came for hee himself spake to them and finally in our tyme for his returne draweth nygh Neuerthelesse it was his will too come in the tyme when learning did moste florish and when the greatest Empyre was in the cheefest pryde to the end that all worldly wisdome should acknowledge it self to be foolishnes and all strength and power acknowledge itself to be weaknesse before him Now therefore let vs all conclude as well Iewes as Gentyles that Iesus Christ is the eternall sonne of God the Redeemer and the Mediator of mankynd And let no question or obiection withhold vs from it Iewes for he is such a one as he was promised to them borne in Bethelem of a virgin of the Trybe of Iuda at such tyme as the kingdome was gone from the house of Iuda humbled beneathe all exalted aboue all put to reproachefull death for our sinnes and raised ageine with glorie to make vs rightuouse Gentyles for he did woorks which could not proccede but from God he created things of nothing drue one contrarie out of another surmounted the nature of man and ouercame the
lyeth our fault that whether it be through ignoraunce or through negligence we consider not the incomparable worke of our creator and Recreator but by piecemeale without laying the one of them to the other like as if a man would iudge of the whole space of time by the night or by some one season of the yeare or by some one of the Elements or as if he would iudge of a building by some one quarter or of an Oration by some syllables thereof whereas notwithstanding Gods wisedome in creating thinges cannot be considered but in the vnion of the partes with the whole and of themselues among themselues nor his goodnesse in recreating or renewing them and in regenerating of mankind for whom he made the world but by the heed full conferring of all times from the first byrth of Man vnto the seconde byrth and repairing of him againe which it hath pleased God to ordaine and make for him As for the world it is sufficiently conuersant before our eyes and would God it were lesse grauen in our hartes and therefore let vs leaue the world and busie our selues in the vniuersall table of mans saluation and reparation When man had by his sinne drawne Gods wrath and the decay of the world vppon his owne head Gods euerlasting wisedome euen the same whereby God had created him stepped in and procured his fauour so as it was promised vnto the first man that Christ should come and breake the serpents head and make attonement betweene God and man That was the foundation-stone of the wonderfull building of the Church and the seede whereof men were to be regenerated new againe whome God did as it were create beget and adopt new againe in his sonne which is his euerlasting wisedome This promise was deliuered ouer from hand to hand and conueyed from Father to Sonne solemnly declared to Abraham Isaac and Iacob committed as a pawne by Moses to the people of Israell celebrated by Dauid in his songs and renewed from time to time by many excellent Prophets which pointed out the time place and manner of his comming and sette downe plainly and expresly his stocke his parents and his birth many hundred yeares yea and some thousand yeares a forehand which are such thinges as noman could know nor any creature teach or conceiue What were they else therefore but Herauldes that foreshewed the comming of the king of the world into the world and certes by another spirite than the spirite of the world After a long successe of these Herauldes came the sauiour in the selfe same manner which they had foretolde and painted out Whatsoeuer they had saide of him agreed vnto him and which more is could agree to none but him Who then can doubt that the promise is not performed and that he is not the bringer of the promised grace to the World And seing that the prophets could not tell any tidings of him but from God from whence can he be sent but from God I know well that this one thing is a stumbling blocke vnto vs namely that after the sounding of so many clarions and trumpets we see a man in outward show base and to the sight of our fleshly eies contemptible come into the world whereas notwithstanding if we opened the eies of our mind we should contrariwise espie in that wretchednesse the verie Godhead and in that humane weakenesse the selfesame infinite almightines which made both the world and man He was borne say you but of a virgin He was weake but yet with his onely voice he healed all infirmities He died but yet he raized the dead and rose himselfe from the dead too If thou beleeue that thou beleeuest that he was both sent and susteined by God Or if thou wilt doubt thereof tell mee then how he did the things after his death which are witnessed by thine owne histories As soone as he was borne say I he by and by chaunged the outward shape of the world making it to spring new again all after another sort When he was once crucified he turned the reproch of his crosse into glorie and the curse thereof into a blessing He was crowned with thornes and now Kings and Emperors doo cast downe their crownes and Diademes at his feete What a death was that which did such things as all the liuing could not doo By ignorance he subdued learning by folly wisedome by weakenesse power by miserie victorie by reproch triumphs by that which seemed not to be the things which seemed verily and chiefly for to be Twelue Fisher-men in effect did in short space subdue the whole world vnto him by suffering and by teaching to suffer yea and by dying and by teaching to die And the great Christian kingdomes which we now gaze at and which we exalt so much are but small remnants of their exploites and little pieces of their conquests If his birth offend thee looke vppon the Heraulds that went a fore him and vppon the Trumpetters that told tidings of him both in the beginning and in the chiefe state of the world from whom but from him that made the worlde And wherefore in all ages but for the welfare of the world If his crosse offend thee see how the Emperours and their Empyres the Idols whom they worshipped and the deuils whom they serued Lye altogether ouerthrowne broken in pieces fast bound and striken dumbe at the feete of this crucified man And how but by a power passing the power of man passing the power of Kings passing the power of Angels yea passing the power of all creainpes togetherâ— If the little show of the Apostles moue thee consider how the silionettes of those Fishermen dre we the pride of the world namely 〈◊〉 wise-men the Philosophers and the Orators by ignorance as thou tearmest it to beleeue and by folly to die for beleiuing And forbeleaing of what euen of things contrary to the lawe of the world and to the witte of man namely that this Iesus Christ crucified is God and that it is a blesfull thing to indure all misfortune for his sake Behold also how one of them drawes me into his nette the lesser Asia another Italye the third AEgypt And some other of them extend vnto the sâ—ythians the Ethiopians and the Indians and vnto other places whither the power of the most renowned Empyres did neuer attaine and which haue hardly come to our knowledge now within these bundred yeares and yet haue we euen there found very great conquests of theirsâ— like renowmed toâ—ens of their victories as are heere among our selues Nay which more is see how these conqueroâ—â— enriched with 〈…〉 from him and that they be nothing further foorth than they are in him and for him that is to say that he liueth and maketh thâ—m to liue yea euen for eâ—er which die in him and for him surely vppon the considering of this table we become as men rauished distraught and besides our selues â— and haue nothing to say but that hee
theirs that Nature cannot abyde any infinitenesse Or if they bee euerlasting and yet of some certeyne number going and comming into newe bodies by course is not that the opinion of Pythagoras which Aristotle doth so greatly mislike And if our Soules at their departing out of our bodies doe goe to the enioying of the blessed immortalitie doth it not followe that from after the passingouer of that reuolutiō men must moue without Soule dispute without reason and iudge without mynd yea and that euen Aristotle himselfe speaketh and reasoneth without wit To bee short what hooteth it to bee godly or religious if our Soules acknowledge no better thing than themselues What auayleth it to looke for the blessed Contemplation if they bee perfectly blessed of themselues But perfectly blessed they be if they be eternall And whereto then serueth the rewarding of them with immortall life if they haue the eternitie or immortalitie alreadie What els then is his vpholding of the world to be eternal than a turning of the whole world vpside downe But there are sayth Aristotle Godlinesse Blessednesse Immortalitie then doth it follow that our Soules are not eternall And if they be not eternall then haue they a beginning and that beginning haue they either of God or of the world Of the world they haue it not for as I haue sayd were the world eternall the Conuersions or turnings about thereof should bee eternal too and consequently so should our Soules be also as which should be bred of their power But now are all things mortall that are ingendred by those Conuersions as Aristotle himself graunteth But we put the case that they haue an originall notwithstanding that they be immortall Therfore it remayneth that the same is from God Now they could not procéede from God as beames of his substance for all of the Philosophers vphold that he is a single and vndiuided substance vnited in it selfe and most perfectly one but we be subiect to alteration to ignorance to euill affections and such other things It remayneth therefore and otherwise it cannot bée that our Soules are the worke of Gods power Now if our Soules which after a sort doe comprehend the Worlde and all things therein bee the effects of Gods power which through his goodnesse vttereth it selfe when he listeth shall not the world it selfe and the senslesse and transitorie things which serue vs yea and our bodies also which are but the Cotes or Instruments of our soules be so in likewise Now then let Aristotles Disciples choose whether they will giue ouer the eternitie of the world or the immortalitie of their Soules the euerlasting turning about of a whéele or the immortal settlednesse of blessed state for both of them together cannot stand But surely his Disciple Theophrastus seemeth to haue perceiued these inconueniences and contradictions well when he procéedeth so farre as to say that God created the world yea euen of nothing And so doth Algazel the Saracen against Auerrhois vnto whom he sayth that God for the creating of the world néeded neither stuffe nor newe aduisement but that like a most perfect workman hauing all things in a readinesse he tooke his owne leisure for the performance of his worke when it pleased him And yet it seemeth that Aristotle towards the ende of his life repented him of that doctrine insomuch that in his booke of the world he sayth that GOD is the bréeder and preseruer of all things in the world after what maner soeuer it be And euen in his Metaphisicks hauing reiected the opinions of many men concerning these things he sayth thus He that sayth that GOD or the souereyne Mynd is the Cause Author not only of liuing things but also of Nature it selfe and of the World and of all the order therein seemeth to speake discreetly and wel aduisedly and they that speake otherwise speake vnaduisedly And they that are of the former opinion haue very well set downe that Cause for the ground of all things that are as the which is such a beginning as giueth mouing to all things And in his booke of Wonders if it be his he speaketh yet more euidently saying that naturally the Sea should couer the Earth as higher than it but that God hath caused the Sea to withdraw it self that the Earth might be vncouered for the vse of man and of other liuing wights And this is in effect a commingbacke to the opinion of his predecessors from the which he would so fayne haue departed afore Howsoeuer the case stand all the auncient Philosophers doe eyther conclude the Creation of the world with vs or els yéeld vs arguments into our hands wherewith to conclude it against themselues To bee short whē Aristotle who was the first that stepped out of the high way sayth that the world is without beginning he seemeth to bee Aristotle no more he doth so often gainsay himself and offend against his owne rules And where he chaunceth to say that the world was created he seemeth to be minded to yéeld himself to vs. And where the case concerneth not at leastwise expressely the one nor the other he leaueth vs many Conclusions which doe quite ouerthrow and destroye the sayd opinion of his and make him whether he wil or no to conclude on our side The Latins fel to Philosophie somewhat later than the Greekes by reason wherof they had the more cause to ouershoote themselues in the case of Eternitie but yet wee see that the most part of them followed the opinion of Plato That man sayth Cicero that first gathered together men afore dispersed was surely a great Personage And as sayth Pythagoras so was he which did first giue names to things and which first comprised within a certeyne number of letters the sounds of mans voyce which seemed to bee infinite and which marked the Courses and proceedings of the wandring Planets and which first found out Corne Cloth building defences against wilde Beasts and the rest of the things that make our liues the more ciuill What els is this than an acknowledging of a beginning For if mē were from euerlasting did they not from euerlasting speake Did they not from euerlasting giue names to things Could they not inuent euery thing from euerlasting Yes and therfore he concludeth We be not created by haphazard but surely there was a certeyne Might or Power which had a care of Mankynde and which would not haue begotten him to fall into the mischiefe of endlesse death after hee hath outworne the great and innumerable aduersities and toyles of this world Now if we were created and that there bee a souereyne power which hath had care of Mankynd surely then hath there bene a beginning seeing that the sayd power had a care of vs eyther when as yet wee were not at al or after the tyme that we were And in another place he saith That God created and furnished man and that it was his wil that he should haue
the Mountayne for the Woods that grow thereon is all one as if ye should finde fault with the whole man for lesse than a wert or a heare when as yet notwithstanding in an old man thou honorest the same heare which the Barber cutteth off and casteth into the fire yea and thou honorest the olde man for the very same But let vs procéede with the rest of their arguments Thou complaynest of the wilde Beastes And who hath made them wild but thy selfe Nay rather thou shouldest wonder at the prouidence of God who as Apollonius hath well marked hath printed such an awe of man in them that they hurt him not vnlesse they bée assaulted or pinched with extreme hunger And therein what do they more than man would do in like extremitie But thou hast yet further cause to wonder at his prouidence in that the Beastes which might hurt thée go single alone by themselues and haunt the Couerts and Caues of the earth and make but small increase whereas the Beasts which are for thy benefite how huge and strong soeuer they be come home familiarly to thée submitting themselues in whole flockes and heards to a Childe and increasing into thousands within small tyme. Tell me in good earnest is it a worke of fortune that the Beastes which may anoy thy life doe shunne thée and that those with whose life thou maynteynest thyne owne life should come and offer themselues vnto thée But the Sea displeaseth thée for occupying so much of the Earth Wart thou a dweller in the Sea as thou art on the Land the Earth would displease thée for occupying so much of the Sea And yet what a deale thereof is still emptie which were sit to be inhabited Know thou that thou art beholden to it for the great number of liuing wights which it fostereth for thée for the great number of Townes and Cities which it inricheth for thée for the Nauigations whereby it shorteneth thy way and yéeldeth thée Trafficke and for his vapors wherwith he mainteyneth the ayre and maketh the earth fat For put the case that the Sea were dryed vp at an instant what a number of Cities thinkest thou should be seene desolate and Nations desert when men should bee in case with the drought as Fishes are that be left on drye ground at the going away of the tyde Why shouldest thou not rather commend the beneficialnes thereof the more in that not thinking it enough to lend it selfe to thée to doe thee seruice otherwise it also teacheth thée the mightie prouidence and prouident might of him that made it whē thou seest it ouerdreepe the earth and threaten it with drowning euery minute of an hower and yet is not able to passe his bounds or when thou seest it seeke to inuyron a great Countrey round about as though it were to imbrace it and yet to stay at a very narrowe balke or els to winde it selfe into the bowelles of the Land at a narrowe chanell whereas notwithstanding an infinite sort of little Iles are settled in the middest of the déepe like a sort of small motes in a Pond For seeing that thou seekest thy commoditie and profite thereby thinkest thou not that he also seeketh his glorie And though thou haddest none other profite by it were it not very much for thée to haue had it as a ground and matter wherfore to magnifie him The Windes perchaunce do make thée to hate it for thou must néedes haue a saying to them too and yet on the other side if it hold calme thou art weary of it But couldest thou without them haue knowne the tenth part of the Earth How couldest thou haue discouered the Land of Perow and the Iles of Moluckes Nay how couldest thou haue come to the nerest Iles vnto thée without thē Now if thou like of the Wind when it is fauourable to thée why should not another man that hath to doe in a contrary Coast like well of it when it is contrary to thée And if both of you finde fault with the storminesse thereof knowe ye that he which made it wil be glorifyed thereby in that he doth thée to vnderstand that he is able to méete with thée both on Sea and Land and thou art taught to call vpon him when the selfesame winde which hath caryed thée at thy pleasure is readie to dash thée against the Land But of that little of the drye ground which remaineth two parts sayst thou be vnhabitable Who tolde thee so Nay rather why doest thou not couclude therevpon that there is a Creator seeing that euen in thy tyme those parts were not inhabited Surely the Winds whom thou blamest so much haue taught vs that in those Clymates are goodly Countries people of better health and greater strength than wee more beautifull Cities and more delicate fruites and wee finde them so temperate that we forsake the temperatest Countries here to goe thether The daies and yéeres are measured otherwise in one Countrie than in another but yet in this varietie there is a constancie and the one selfesame Sunne which maketh so many diuersities doth thée to vnderstand that he which made the Sunne could well make the other things To bee short there is so great eunning in all these things that thou hast bene inforced to make an Arte for the learning of them And what els is an Arte but the setting of diuers Rules in order together And if Arte bee so néedfull for the knowing of them who will not say that there is much more Arte in the thing it selfe Thou blamest the Thornes Bryers and Bushes for couering the earth but thou considerest not into how many mischiefes ydlenesse plungeth thée Thou blamest the Frost and Snowe for hindering thy Husbandrie whereas in déede they twitch thée by the eare to put thée in mynd that the foyzon of the earth commeth of God Thou blamest the Rayne for wetting thée whereas yet notwithstanding it moysteneth thy grounds and makes them fat At a worde thou playest the babe who thinkes his Nurce does him wrong when she kembes his head or puts on his cloathes or rather when sometymes she plucks a firesticke from him or takes a knife out of his hand that is to say thou misconstrewest al the good which the bountifull prouidence of God doth vnto thée But in the end sayst thou why be we not able to help our selues assoone as we be borne Why bee wee subiect to so many diseases and in the end to death I will not now presse thée with that which I will speake of hereafter namely that for all these things none is to blame but thy selfe for euen in the same things which thou findest fault with I will shewe thée still to thy face the prouidence of God The babe is borne without abilitie to helpe himself and hath none other skill at all but to crye Contrarywise the bruite Beast is no sooner come from his Damme but he is able to goe Be
we say of the Creator What shall we say of him which is not the Soule of the Plant or of the Beast or of Man but the maker of al things yea which made thē of nothing who is not as some Philosophers haue vphild the Soule of the World but rather if he may be so termed the very life and Soule of all life and Soule in the World But as we see dayly if the Counsell of a Realme can not ceasse one wéeke without confusion of the Commonweale nor the Soule of a man or a Beast forbeare woorking bee it neuer so little without the death of the partie nor the life that is in Plants stay without withering of the Plant nor the Sunne goe downe without procuring darknesse or suffer Eclips without some notable chaūge much more reason haue we to beléeue that if the world and al that is therein were not guyded vphild and cared for by the same power wisedome and goodnesse that created it and set in such order as it is it would in one moment fall from order into confusion and from confusion to nothing For to haue no care of it is to mislike of it and to mislike of it is in God to vndoe it forasmuch as Gods willing of it was the very doing of it Now if Gods Prouidence extend it selfe throughout to all things aswell in Heauen as in Earth wee cannot doubt but that it extendeth also vnto man For what thing is there of so greate excellencie either on Earth as mans body or in Heauen as mans Soule And in extending it selfe to man it must needes extend it selfe equally to all men For who is either greate or small poore or riche in respect of him which made both of nothing Or what oddes is there betwixt them sauing that whereas both of them bee but slaues to him that setteth foorth the tragedie he appareleth the one in Cloth of Gold to play the King and the other in a course Pilche to play the Begger making them to chaunge their apparell when he listeth But hehold here commeth almost an vniuersall grudge For if there be say they a Prouidence how commeth it too passe that ill men haue so much prosperitie and good men so much aduersitie that some be so long vnpunished and othersome so long vnrewarded And to be short that one for his wickednes commeth to the Gallowes and another for the same cause obteineth a Diademe or Crowne This question hath combred not onely the most vertuous among the Heathen but also euen the most Religious of all ages But it were best to take héere a little breth and to put it ouer among diuers other things which remayne to bee treated of in the next Chapter following The xij Chapter That all the euill which is doone or seemeth to be doone in the world is subiect to the prouidence of God I Sayd héeretofore concerning GOD that all things teache vs that there is but one and yet notwithstanding that all things togither cannot sufficiently teache vs what hee is Also let vs say concerning Prouidence That in all things wee see a manifest Prouidence but yet to séeke out the cause thereof in euery thing is as much as to sound a bottomlesse pit if it be not much worse séeing that the will of God is the cause of all causes Surely if a man will blame Gods prouidence because it agreeth not with his owne opinion he is a thousandfold too bee more mislyked than hee that should find fault with the maister of an household for the order of his house where hee hath not lodged aboue one night or controll the Lawes Counsell of a straunge countrie wherof he hath had no further experience than by resorting too the Tauernes and common Innes Or than the Babe that should take vpon him to giue sentence of his fathers doings or than the Uarlet that should presume to iudge of the determination of a Court of Parliament vnder pretence that he had hild some mans Male at the Palace gate or I will say more than the brute beast that should vndertake too déeme of the dooings of men For what are wee to be admitted to the Counsell of God which cannot so much as abyde the brightnesse of his face And what vnderstand we further of him than he voutsafeth too reueale vnto vs What Princis Counseler is so wyse that he can giue his Lord good aduice vnlesse his Lorde doe first make him priuie to his purpose as well present as past and to all the other circumstances perteyning thereunto Or what Husbandman comming from a farre will presume to vnderstand better what tilth what séede what compost and what time of rest such or such a péece of ground requireth than he that hath bin acquainted with it all the dayes of his lyfe And how farre greater thing is it to create than to till But forasmuch as God is reason it self and we through his grace haue some sparke thereof let vs sée whether it bee not so euident in all his dooings that in this poynt it inlighteneth euen the darknesse of our reason And if wee perceiue it not so cleerly in all things let vs acknowledge our selues to be but men betwéene whom and God there is no comparison whereas in very déede there were no difference betwixt him and vs if we could throughly conceiue all his deuices Now then whereas it is sayd that if there be a prouidence why haue good men so much euill and euill men so much good afore wée deale with the matter let vs agree vpon the words I aske of thee which men thou callest good and which thou callest euill and likewise what things thou meanest to bee properly good or euill If I should aske thée why healthy men haue so many diseases and diseased men so much health thou mightest with good reason laugh mée to skorue for health maketh healthy and sicknesse maketh sicke But whereas thou askest mée why good men haue so much euill and euill men so much good pardon me though I cause thée to expound thy meaning for naturally I cannot conceiue that either good men haue euill or euill men haue good For if by good men you meane rich men men of honour and men that are healthy and that ye take riches honour and health to bee the good things then is your question absurd For it is al one as if ye should demaund why hearded men haue heare on their chinnes and beardlesse men haue none But if as I heare thée say thou estéemest Solons pouertie to be better than the gold of Crassus and Platoes honestie better than Dennysis tyrannie and the Collick and the Stone of a wiseman with his wisedom to be better than the health and soundnesse of bodie of the foole with his follie then art thou deceyued with the fayre name of Good for it is another thing than these goodes which causeth thée to preferre them and to estéeme them the better Therfore let vs say that the
euill meanest thou towardes him when thou weanest him from his Dugge Now then thinkest thou it straunge that GOD should cast thy goodes into the Sea which els would haue helped to drowne thée in destruction O how greatly did Platoes Shipwracke aduauntage him to make him wise Or that he should plucke the Sword of authoritie out of thy hand wherof thou art so desirous which els peraduenture had slayne thyne owne Soule Or that to prepare thée to another life better than this he should serue thee with such fit meanes as might make thée to bee in loue with it Thou wilt say that thou wouldest haue vsed them well but what a number of men haue bin seene which vnder the chastisement of pouertie were good men whom riches and honor did afterward marre corrupt Thou sufferest the Phisition to take frō thée some kynds of meates which thou louest well and to abridge thée both of thy fare and of thyne exercises and of thy pleasures because he hath seene thy water or felt sometymes thy pulse and wilt thou not suffer God who hauing created thee and shaped thee feeleth euerlastingly the pulse of thy Soule wilt thou not suffer him I say to bereue thée of some outward thing which he himselfe made and which would worke thy destruction Thou commendest the Captayne who to make his iourney the speedier against his enemie dispatcheth away all bag and baggage from his Armie that his Souldiers may go the lighter and that the breaking of a Chariot may not stay him by the way and canst thou not finde in thyne heart that he which made thee and gouerneth thée should dispose of thy baggages that is to wit of thy purchases or inheritances which thou hast gotten heere belowe to make thée the nimbler against vice and against the continuall temptations of this world But Enuie pricketh thee Why taketh he them not sayst thou aswell from this man and that man as from mée And why loueth he thée perchaunce better than them Tell mée why the Phisition appoynteth thee a greater portion of Rhewharbe than him Because such a one is more moued with one dramme than another is with three One is better purged with a single Clister than another is with a very strong Purgation One man is sooner warned of God by the losse of his cropp of Grapes or Corne than another is by the burning of his house the losse of all his goodes and the taking of his Children prisoners So Iob sawe the losse of his Cattell the burning of his houses and the death of all his Children and yet for all that he praysed God still That which was constancie in him might haue seemed blockishnesse in another But when God came once to the touching of his person he could not then forbeare to dispute with him Now then séeing that the things which thou termest euilles and mischiefes are in very déede both Medicines and Salues wilt thou not haue them ministred according to the complexion of the patient And thinkest thou thy selfe wiser in discerning the disposition of thy Soule thā he that created it thou I say which darest not trust to thyne own knowledge in the curing of thy bodie The same is to bee sayd of diuers Nations whereof some one may happen to be afflicted a longer tyme more sharply with the Plague or with Warre than another and oftentymes also euen for the selfesame causes For God knoweth both the common nature of whole Nations and the peculiar natures of euery seueral person Some nature if it should not sée the scurge alwaies at hand would become too too proude and presumptuous Another if it should see it continually would be quite out of hart and fall into dispayre If some were not kept occupyed with their owne aduersities they could not refrayne from working mischief to others Another agayne beeing more giuen to quietnesse is contented to sweate in tilling his grounds in trimming his Gardynes without coueting other mens goodes so he may keepe his owne In like case is it with Plants some require dunging some rubbing to make them cleane some proyning some new graffing againe with the same to take away the harshnesse of their fruite and some to haue their head cropped quite and cleane off One selfesame Gardyner doth all these things and a Childe of his that stands by and sees it woonders at it but he that knoweth the natures of things will count him the skilfuller in his arte Yea sayst thou but though these euilles may be Medicines and Salues how may death be so For what a number of Innocents doe wee see slayne in the world What a number of good folke doe we see put to the slaughter not onely good in the iudgement of vs but also euen in the iudgement of those that put them to death Nay rather what is death but the common passage which it behoueth vs al to passe And what great matter makes it whether thou passe it by Sea or by Land by the corruption of thyne owne humors or by the corruptnesse of thy Commonweale Agayne how often haue Iudges condemmed some man for a cryme whereof he hath bene giltlesse and in the denyall whereof he hath stoode euen vpon the Scaffold and yet hath there confessed himselfe faultie in some other cryme vnknowne both to the Iudges and to the standers by a manifest reproofe either of the ignorance or of the vniustice of the Iudges but a playne acknowledgement of the wisedome and iustice of the eternall God And if God hring them to that poynt for one fault and the Iudge for another what vniustice is in God for suffering them to bee condemned wrongfully by the Iudge yea and to be punished with death or otherwise for a cryme whereof their owne conscience cleareth them as giltlesse when as God and their owne conscience doo iustly condemne them for some other As for example The Iudge condemneth them for conspiracie against the commonweale whereas God condemneth them perchaunce for behauing themselues loosely in defending the commonweale The Iudge vnder colour of offence giuen to the Church and God for not rebuking the Churchmen freely inough For I speake as well concerning Heathenfolke as Christians in this behalfe And what a nomber doe wee see which confesse of themselues and witnesse of their familiar freends that by thy punishing of them wherewith thou being the Iudge mentest to haue put them in feare and too haue restrained them they haue taken warning to amend and bin the more quickened vp and incoraged And what els is this but that as in one selfesame deede God had one intent and thou another so also he guyded it to the end that he himselfe amed at yea and to a contrarie end to that which thou diddest purpose But what a thing were it if thou sawest the fruite that GOD draweth out of it The Childe that beholde his Father treading of goodly Grapes could find in his heart too blame him for so doing for he thinketh
the order of indyting or the antiquities which the wryter reporteth We should find the lyke prouidence of God in the chaunge of all States But I content my selfe with this one afore mentioned as the which is best knowen too all men except I were mynded to take some example of our present age to inlighten the matter withall Now then whereas Cato slewe himselfe through impatiencie thinke ye not that if he had liued still he would haue ceassed to contend with God and haue commended his Iustice and haue written bookes of his singular prouidence Yes But the mischief is that whereas we would not iudge of a Song by one note nor of a Comedie by one Scene nor of an Oration by one full Sentence we will presume to iudge of the Harmony and orderly direction of the whole world and of all that is therein by some one action alone Againe in Musik we beare with changes and breathes with pauses and discordes In Comedies with the vnmeasurable barbarous cruelties of an Atreus the wicked presumptions of an Ixîon and the lamentable outcryes of a Philoctetes and all this is if we will say the trueth because we haue so good opinion of the Musician that we think he will make al to fall into a good concord and of the Comediemaker that all his disagréements shall end in some mariage and of the Tragediewryter that ere hee leaue the Stage he will tye the wicked Ixîon to the Whéele or make the féends of Hell to torment the Atreus or contrariwise cause GOD to heare the wofull voyce and pitifull cry of the poore Philoctetes And if God seeme erewhyles to hold his peace and to suffer men to play their partes ought wee not too haue so good opinion of his wisdome as to thinke that he can tell when it is tyme to pay them their hyre And that although he let the wicked walk at large vppon the stage and the godly to lye in prison he can also prouide to end the braueries of the one sort with iust punishment and the wofull complaintes of the other sort with ioyfull triumph When a Tragedie is playd afore thée thou art not offended at any thing which thou hearest Why so Because that in two howres space thou hast shewed vnto thee the dooings of a ten or twelue yeres as the rauishing of Helen and the punishment of Paris or the miserable end of Herod vpon his murdering of Iohn Baptist. Insomuch that although thou bee not acquainted with the storie yet the arte which thou perceiuest and the end which thou expectest make thee both to beare with the matter and to commend the thing which otherwise thou wouldest thinke to be both vniust and also cruell in the gouerner of the Stage How much more oughtest thou to refreine thy mislyking if thou considerest that the world is a kind of Stageplay â—â—nueied to a certeine end by a most excellent maker And what an excellent order wouldest thou see there if thou mightest behold all the ages and alterations thereof as in a Comâ—â—â—e all in one day yea or but the successe of some one onely Nation for an hundred yeres which were lesse than the interuiewe of two Seruaunts in a Comedie Thou hast seene Pompey ouercome Loe here a discord that offendeth thine eares Thou hast seene Caesar to bring home his Sword bathed in the bloud of the Senate If thou be a Child thou weepest at it but if thou beest a man thou pacifyest the Child and attendest for the knitting vp of the matter and for the iudgement of the Poët Herevpon the Chorus singeth and then maketh a pawse All this whyle the Poet seemeth to haue forgotten Iustice and if thou depart out of the company at that poynt thou canst not tell what to make of it But tarry a whyle and hearken to the note that followeth Caesar is put to death by his owne men See here how the discord is turned into a good concord Thy Childe seeth that this prowd Peacocke which vaunted himselfe aboue all the world is in one day stabbed in with infinite wounds Whereby how little a one soeuer thy Child be he hath some perceiuerance of the forecast of the Poet. Doest thou not see then againe that wee bee like Children which would controll the Song of all ages by one Note or a long Oration by one Letter wheras notwithstanding our life as in respect of the whole world is lesse then a short Minim in comparison of a whole song If thou be a Christian thou readest the History of Ioseph When thou readest how he was sould into AEgipt thou canst not be angry inough with his brothers nor sufficiently bewayle his poore olde Father Againe when he is cast into the deepe Dungeon in recompence of his chastitie thou couldest find in thy heart to blame not only Pharao but euen God himself But when thou seest him taken out of Prison to reade the Kings Dreames and within a fewe dayes after as a King in AEgipt a succour to his father in his old age and the rayser vp agayne of his whole house at their néede then thou perswadest thy selfe that he which made him to reigne in AEgipt did suffer him to be sold to the AEgiptians that he which made him the deliuerer of his house did also make him to bee solde into bondage afore by his brethren and to bee short that the discord which offended thée and the harmonie which delighteth thee agayne proceede both from one selfesame Musition Howbeit afore wee conclude this matter see once agayne how much more vpright thou art towards thy Prince than towards God Thou seest a great number of his Armie come home wounded if thou bee a man it must needes greeue thee Anon one brings thee home thyne owne Sonne dead if thou bee a Father thou canst not forbeare teares A neighbour of thyne assureth thee that he was slayne in doing his duetie in getting victorie to his Countrie Though thou take not comfort in it at the first brunt yet at leastwise thou wilt not bee so mad as to lay the blame in thy Prince Within a while after when thou fallest to considering the fruite of the victorie then as it hath greeued thee to forgoe thy sonne so wilt thou thanke God that he dyed in defence of his Countrie and that he did his part in so noble a seruice Shall not God then haue as great preheminence in setting foorth his glorie as Kings for the obteining of their victories God ouer his Creatures as Kings ouer their Subiects Or shall not we haue as much patieÌ„ce in the death of those whom we bring vp when they dye for his seruice as when they dye for the honour of our Prince Or shall wee haue lesse trust in him as touching his imploying of them to good purpose than wee haue in Kings Princes and Captaines which knowe not the issue of their owne enterprises or at leastwise for the most parte knowe it not ne haue any care
sted of Gods Will he left his freedome and became a bondseruant vnto euill All they that are borne of this corrupted seede reteyne the faultynes of that first fault and cannot wyt it vppon any other than the first man Therfore if it be demaunded why God created man free and not vnfree seeing his freedome made him bond it is all one as if it were demaunded why hee created fyre to be light and suttle that is to say Fyre or why hee created water moyst and colde that is to say Water or the World full of so many varieties that is to say a World and to bee short euery kind of thing to be of this or that nature For to haue free mouing and capable of Reason is to be a man and if we had not had it so we would haue complayned Again to haue free moouing and such as cannot be but reasonable is to be reason it selfe that is to say to be God Now God ment not to create a God but a man to serue him lyke as when he intended to create Beastes for the seruice of man he created them Beasts and not men But wherein wilt thou more woonder at the prouidence of the euerlasting GOD than in that he not only ordereth disposeth the things that he hath created but also the thing which he created not insomuch that he draweth good out of the euill yea and compelleth the euill contrary to the nature thereof to serue vnto Good If a Captayne were of such skill as to order al things in such wise in his Armie that euery thing should serue to the atteynement of his victorie thou wouldest commend him highly it were in déede one of the rarest feates of Warre But if he could moreouer gayne some part of his enemies Hoste and make them to take his owne parte thou couldest not woonder sufficiently at his pollicie What wilt thou say then of him which could make them to fight on his side vnwitting to them selues and that euen his enemies Hargwebusses should helpe to giue themselues the foyle Soothly euen after that sort is it that God can skill to make both sinners and their sinnes to serue him Cyrus as appeareth by the Histories was an ambitious Prince and ambition as ye knowe cannot be welliked of God Now to satisfie his ambition Cyrus Ieuyes a great Hoste against the Assyrians If a man should haue told him it had bin to deliuer the Israelites and to buyld vp Gods Temple agayne as Esay had foretold what think you he would haue sayd vnto it Yet notwithstanding the end of his Warres and of his warfare fell out to be so in déede Thus ye see how an ambitious person and his ambition serued God without meaning any such thing The Emperour Titus ment to bring Iewry to due obedience and it had bin foretolde that of Hierusalem one stone should not be left standing vpon another No doubt but that Titussis owne passion caried him but yet see how God ouerruleth it The same man which persecuted the Christians at Rome goeth to reuenge Christes death at Hierusalem and as sayth Iosephus in that fact he tooke not himselfe as Emperour of the World but as the executer of Gods Iustice against the Iewes Iudas through Couetousnesse betrayed the blud of the rightuouse to death But God by the sheading of that blud if thou be a Christian redéemed thée and yet the holy Scripture saith that the Deuill being in Iudas did put that purpose into his heart Ye see then that not the Couetousnesse of Iudas only but also the Deuill himselfe serued GOD. Besides that the Stories of the Byble be full of such matter wee might marke the like examples ordinarily in the bookes of the Heathen if wee were as diligent in obseruing them as we bee in obseruing the arte of Rhetoricke or Logicke in the author's which we reade For by reason of the great corruption which reigned at those daies in Rome all men cryed out that there was not any Commonweale there appealing to God for defence against the vniustice of the Senate at the same tyme that GOD executed iust vengeance vpon them for it by the vniust couetousnesse of Caesar. Likewise when Attila entered euen into the bowelles of Europe all the Preachers of Christendome did nothing els but bewayle the wretchednesse of that tyme. Ye must thinke that when this great Robber cast lots in his Countrie of Scythia whether he should leade the third part of that Land he had another meaning than to reforme the world Yet notwithstanding all men acknowledged him to be a necessarie scurge of GOD and to haue come in due season Yea and he himselfe considering that he had conquered much more of the Countrie than euer he hoped at the first to haue séene insomuch that he had ouercome euen those which were counted the strength of the World as barbarous as he was he fell to thinke of himselfe that he was the Scurge wherby God chastised the World Not that God is not able to chastise vs himselfe whensoeuer he listeth for his Storehouse is neuer vnfurnished of roddes to scurge vs withall as of Plagues Diseases Famine and such other things but that as a Maister of a howshold holdeth skorne to whippe his Slaues himselfe causing eyther his thiefe Seruant or some other of their fellowes to doe it yea and when his owne Children offend him grieuously he voutsafeth not to beate them with his owne hands for so should he doe them too great an honour but causeth peraduenture the groome of his stable to doe it to the intent to shewe them the iustnesse of his displeasure Euen so doth God punish the wicked one by another whom he could consume all at once in one hower yea and his Children also by the wicked when not counting of them as of his Children but being readie as it were to disherite them he disoeyneth to punish them with his owne hands Thus therefore ye see how God serueth his owne turne by the wicked and their wickednesse to his owne glorie and to the welfare of those that are his And as touching the offences whereinto he suffereth good folks now and then to fall what greater poynt of prouidence can there bee than to turne them into instruments and furtherances of vertue If God should hold vs alway by the hand it is certeyne that we could neuer trippe And it is not to be doubted also but that we would think at the length that it was of our owne steadynesse and not of Gods vpholding of vs not only that we tripped not but also that wee tumbled not downe For what made vs fall but pride and what maner of pride but that we thought we would be Gods without God yea euen of our selues Now to make vs to knowe our infirmitie wherin it is his pleasure to shew his strength sometymes he letteth vs goe alone by our selues for a while and then stumble we at the next iob that we meete with
the body and that the Glasses are out of the Spectacles but the eysight is still good Why should we déeme the Soule to be forgone with the Sences If the eye be the thing that séeth and the eare the thing that heareth why doe wee not see things dubble and heare sounds dubble seeing we haue two eyes and two eares It is the Soule then that seeth and heareth and these which wee take to be our sences are but the instruments of our sences And if when our eyes bee shut or pickt out wee then beholde a thousand things in our mynd yea and that our vnderstanding is then most quicksighted when the quickest of our eysight is as good as quenched or starke dead how is it possible that the reasonable Soule should bee tyed and bound to the sences What a reason is it to say that the Soule dyeth with the sences séeing that the true sences do then growe and increase when the instruments of sence doe dye And what a thing were it to say that a Beast is dead because he hath lost his eyes when we our selues see that it liueth after it hath forgone the eyes Also I haue prooued that the Soule is neither the body nor an appertnance of the body Sith it is so why measure we that thing by the body which measureth al bodies or make that to dye with the body whereby the bodies that dyed yea many hundred yéeres agoe doe after a certeine maner liue still Or what can hurt that thing whom nothing hurteth or hindereth in the bodie Though a man lose an arme yet doth his Soule abide whole still Let him forgoe the one halfe of his body yet is his Soule as sound as afore for it is whole in it selfe and whole in euery part of it selfe vnited in it felfe and in the owne substance and by the force and power thereof it sheadeth it selfe into all parts of the body Though the body rot away by péecemeale yet abideth the Soule all one and vndiminished Let the blud dreyne out the mouing wex weake the sences fayle and the strength perish and yet abideth the mynd neuerthelesse sound and liuely euen to the ende Her house must bee pearced through on all sides ere she bee discouraged her walles must be battered doune ere she fall to fléeting and she neuer forsaketh her lodging till no roome be left her to lodge in True it is that the brute Beastes forgo both life and action with their blud But as for our Soule if wee consider the matter well it is then gathered home into it self and when our sences are quenched then doth it most of all labour to surmount it selfe woorking as goodly actions at the tyme that the body is at a poynt to fayle it yea and oftentymes farre goodlyer also than euer it did during the whole lifetyme thereof As for example it taketh order for it selfe for our houshold for the Commonweale and for a whole Kingdome and that with more vprightnesse godlynesse wisedome and moderation than euer it did afore yea and perchance in a body so forspeâ—â—â— so bare so consumed so withered without and so putrified within that whosoeuer lookes vpon him sees nothing but earth and yet to heare him speake would rauish a man vp to heauen yea and aboue heauen Now when a man sees so liuely a Soule in so weake and wretched a body may he not say as is said of the hatching of Chickens that the shell is broken but there commeth forth a Chicken Also let vs sée what is the ordinary cause that things perish Fire doth eyether goe out for want of nourishment or is quenched by his contrary which is water Water is resolued into aire by fire which is his contrary The cause why the Plant dyeth is extremitie of colde or drought or vnseasonable cutting or vyolent plucking vp Also the liuing wight dyeth through contrarietie of humours or for want of foode or by feeding vpon some thing that is against the nature of it or by outward vyolence Of all these causes which can we choose to haue any power against our Soule I say against the Soule of man which notwithstanding that it be vnited to matter and to a bodie is it selfe a substance vnbodily vnmateriall and only conceiuable in vnderstanding The contrarietie of things Nay what can be contrarie to that which lodgeth the contraries alike equally in himselfe which vnderstandeth the one of them by the other which coucheth them all vnder one skill and to bee short in whom the contrarieties themselues abandon their contrarietie so as they doe not any more pursewe but insewe one another Fire is hote and water cold Our bodies mislike these contraries and are gréeued by them but our mynd linketh them together without eyther burning or cooling it selfe and it setteth the one of them against the other to knowe them the better The things which destroy one another through the whole world do mainteine one another in our mynds Againe nothing is more contrary to peace then warre is and yet mans mynd can skill to make or mainteyne peace in preparing for warre and to lay earnestly for warre in seeking or inioying of peace Euen death it selfe which dispatcheth our life cannot bée contrary to the life of our Soule for it seeketh life by death and death by life And what can that thing méete withall in the whole world that may bee able to ouerthrowe it which can inioyne obedience to things most contrary What then Want of foode How can that want foode in the world which can skill to feede on the whole world Or how should that forsake foode which the fuller it is so much the hungryer it is and the more it hath digested the better able it is to digest The bodily wight feedeth vppon some certeyne things but our mynd feedeth vpon all things Take from it the sensible things and the things of vnderstanding abyde with it still bereaue it of earthly things and the heauenly remayne abundantly To be short abridge it of all worldly things yea and of the world it selfe and euen then doth it feede at greatest ease maketh best chéere agréeable to his owne nature Also the bodily wight filleth it selfe to a certeyne measure and delighteth in some certeyne things But what can fill our mynd Fill it as full as ye can with the knowledge of things and it is still eager and sharpe set to receyue more The more it taketh in the more it still craueth and yet for al that it neuer feeleth any rawnesse or lack of digestion What shall I say more discharge our vnderstanding from the mynding of it self and then doth it liue in him and of him in whom all things doe liue Againe fill it with the knowledge of it selfe and then doth it feele it self most emptie and sharpest set vpon desire of the other Now then can that dye or decay for want of foode which cannot be glutted with any thing which is nourished and mainteyned with
to conceiue that thy Soule should dye with the Body but euen in the selfesame tyme when it disputeth ageinst it selfe it shifteth it self I wote not how from all thy conclusions and falleth too consider in what state it shall bee and where it shal become when it is out of the body The Epicure that hath disputed of it all his lyfe long when he commeth to death bequeatheth a yerely pension for the keeping of a yéerely feast on the day of his birth I pray you to what purpose serue feastings for the birth of a Swyne séeing he estéemeth himselfe to be no better than so Nay what els is this than a crying out of his Nature against him which with one word confuteth all his vaine arguments Another laboureth by all meanes possible to blot out in himselfe the opinion of immortalitie and bicause he hath liued wickedly in this world he will néedes beare himselfe on hand that there is no Iustice in the world tocome But then is the tyme that his owne nature waketh and starteth vp as it were out of the bottome of a water and at that instant painteth againe before his eyes the selfsame thing which he tooke so much paynes to deface And in good sooth what a number haue wee seene which hauing bene despisers of all ReligioÌ„ haue at the hower of death bin glad to vow their Soules to any Sainct for releefe so cléere was then the presence of the life to come before their eyes I had leuer sayd Zeno to see an Indian burne himselfe chéerefully than to heare al the Philosophers of the world discoursing of the immortalitie of the Soule and in very déede it is a much stronger and better concluded argument Nay then let vs rather say I had leuer see an Atheist or an Epicure witnessing the immortalitie of the Soule and willingly taking an honorable farewell of nature vpon a Scaffold than to heare all the Doctors of the world discoursing of it in their Pulpits For whatsoeuer the Epicures say there they speake it aduisedly and as ye would say fresh and fasting wheras all that euer they haue spoken all their life afore is to bee accounted but as the wordes of Drunkards that is to wit of men besotted and falne asléepe in the delights and pleasures of this world where the Wine and the excesse of meate and the vapors that fumed vp of them did speake and not the men themselues What shall I say more I haue tolde you alreadie that in the inward man there are as ye would say thrée men the liuing the sensitiue and the reasonable Let vs say therefore that in the same person there are thrée liues continued from one to another namely the life of the Plant the life of the Beast and the life of the Man or of the Soule So long as a man is in his moothers wombe he doth but only liue and growe his Spirit seemeth to sléepe and his sences seeme to bee in a slumber so as he seemeth to bee no thing els than a Plant. Neuerthelesse if ye consider his eyes his eares his tongue his sences and his mouings you will easely iudge that he is not made to be for euer in that prison where he neither seeth nor heareth nor hath any roome to walke in but rather that he is made to come forth into an opener place where he may haue what to see and behold and wherewith to occupye al the powers which wee see to bee in him As soone as he is come out he beginneth to see to féele and to moue and by little and little falleth to the perfect vsing of his limbes and findeth in this world a peculiar obiect for euery of them as visible things for the eye sounds for his hearing bodily things for his feeling and so forth But besides all this we finde there a mynd which by the eyes as by windowes beholdeth the world and yet in al the world finding not any one thing woorthy to rest wholly vppon mounteth vp to him that made it which mynd like an Empresse lodgeth in the whole world and not alonly in this body which by the sences and oftentymes also without the sences mounteth aboue the sences and streyneth it self to goe out of it selfe as a child doth to get out of his mothers wombe And therefore wee ought surely to say that this Mynd or Reason ought not to bee euer in prison That one day it shall see cléerely and not by these dimme and clowdie spectacles That it shall come in place where it shall haue the true obiect of vnderstanding and that he shall haue his life free from these fetters and from all the affections of the body To be short that as man is prepared in his moothers wombe to be brought foorth into the world â—o is he also after a sort prepared in this body and in this world to liue in another world We then vnderstand it when by nature it behoueth vs to depart out of the world And what child is there which if nature did not by her cunning driue him out would of himself come out of his Couert or that commeth not out as good as forlorne and halfe dead or that if he had at that tyme knowledge spéech would not call that death which we call birth and that a departure out of life which we call the enterance into it As long as we be there we see nothing though our eyes be open Many also doe not so much as stirre except it bee at some sodaine scaring or some other like chaunce and as for those that stirre they knowe not that they haue eyther sence or mouing Why then should wee thinke it straunge that in this life our vnderstanding seeth so little that many men do neuer mynd the immortall nature vntill they be at the last cast yea and some thinke not themselues to haue any such thing howbeit that euen by so thinking they shew themselues to haue part thereof And imagine wee that the vnborne babe hath not as much adoe by nature to leaue the poore skinne that he is wrapt in as we haue hinderance in our sences and in our imprisoned reason when we be at the poynt to leaue the goods and pleasures of this world and the very flesh it selfe which holdeth vs as in a graue Or had the babe some little knowledge would he not say that no life were comparable to the life where he then is as we say there is no life to the life of this world wherein we be Or would he not account the stage of our sences for a fable as a great sort of vs account the stage that is prepared for our Soules Yes surely and therfore let vs conclude where wee began namely that man is both inward and outward In the outward man which is the bodie he resembleth the béeing and the proportion of all the parts of the world And in the inner man he resembleth whatsoeuer kyâ—nd of life is in all things
haue at al tymes bene men so shall we see also that men haue at all tymes beléeued admitted the immortalitie of the Soule I say not some one man or some one Nation but the whole world with generall consent because all men vniuersally and perticularly haue learned it in one Schoole and at the mouth of one Teacher namely euen their owne knowledge in themselues The holy Scripture which teacheth vs our saluation vseth no schoole arguments to make vs beléeue that there is a God and that is because we cannot step out of our selues neuer so little but wee must néedes finde him present to all our Sences And it seemeth to speake vnto vs the lesse expresly of the immortalitie of our soules specially in the first bookes therof because we cannot enter into our selues be it neuer so little but we must néedes perceiue it But inasmuch as from the one end thereof to the other it declareth vnto vs the will of God in so doing it doth vs to vnderstand that it is a thing wherof it is not lawfull for vs to doubt And whereas it setteth foorth so precisely from age to age the great and manifold troubles and paines which good and godly men haue susteyned in indeuering to followe that will it sheweth infallibly that their so doing was in another respect than for this present wretched life For who is he that would depart with any péece of his owne lyking in this life but in hope of better things and what were it for him to lose his life if there were not another life after this This serueth to answer in one word to such as demaund expresse texts of Scripture and are loth to finde that thing in the Byble which is cōteyned there not only in euery leafe but almost in euery sine For whereas God created man after the world was fully finished and perfected it was as much as if he had brought him into a Theatre prepared for him howbeit after another sort than all the other liuing things which were to do him seruice As for Beastes Birds Plants and such other things the Elements brought them foorth but Man receyued his Soule by inspiration from God Also the brute Beasts are put in subiection to man but man is in subiection onely vnto God And the conueying of that good man Henocke out of this life for his godlinesse was to none other end but to set him in another life voyd of all euill and full of all good But when we reade the persecutions of Noe the ouerthwartings of Abraham the banishment and wayfarings of Iacob and the distresses of Ioseph Moyses and all the residewe of the Fathers they be all of them demonstrations that they did certeynly trust and beléeue that the Soule is immortall that there is another life after this and that there is a iudgement to come For had they bene of opinion that there is none other life after this the flesh would haue perswaded them to haue hild themselues in quiet here and they would haue liked nothing better than to haue followed swéetly the cōmon trade of the world Noe among his frends Abraham among the Chaldees Moyses in Pharaos Court and so foorth So then although the Scripture seeme to conceale it yet doth it speake very loude thereof in déede considering that all the cryes of the good and godly and all the despayres of the wicked which it describeth vnto vs doe sound none other thing vnto vs if we haue eares to heare it And it may bee that in the same respect this article of the Immortalitie of the Soule was not put into the auncient Créede of the Iewes nor also peculiarly into the Créede of vs Christians because wee beléeue beyond reason and this is within the bounds of reason and whosoeuer treateth of Religion must néedes presuppose God eternall and man immortall without the which two all Religion were in vayne Also when we see that Godlinesse Iustice and vertue were commended among the Heathen of all ages it is all one as if wee should heare them preach in expresse words the Immortalitie of the Soule For their so doing is buylded euery whit vppon that as vppon a foundation without the which those things could not stand I will spend my goodes or my life for the maintenance of Iustice. What is this Iustice but a vayne name or to what end haue I so many respects if I looke for nothing out of this present world here I will sayd a man of olde tyme rather lose euen the reputation of an honest man thā behaue my selfe otherwise than honestly But why should I doe so if I looke for no good in another world seeing I haue nothing but euill here Surely if there be none other thing than this life then is vertue to be vsed no further than profite and commoditie may growe vpon it and so should it become a Chaffer and Merchandise not vertue in déede Yet notwithstanding those are the ordinary spéeches euen of such as speake doubtfully of the Immortalitie of the Soule Therefore they doe but denye the ground and yet graune the cōsequence which is all one as if a man bauing first bin burned should fall to disputing whether fire be hot or no. But now which is better for vs I will here gather together their owne spéeches one after another Hermes declareth in his Poemander how at the voyce of the euerlasting the Elements yéelded forth al reasonlesse liuing wights as it had bin out of their bosomes But when he commeth to man he sayth He made him like vnto himselfe he linked himself to him as to his Sonne for he was beautiful and made after his owne Image and gaue him al his works to vse at his pleasure Againe he exhorteth him to forsake his bodie notwithstanding that he woonder greatly at the cunning workmanship thereof as the very cause of his death and to manure his Soule which is capable of immortalitie to consider the originall roote from whence it sprang which is not earthly but heauenly and to withdraw himself euen from his Sences and from their traiterous allurements to gather himself wholly into that mynd of his which he hath from God and by the which he following Gods word may become as GOD. Discharge thy selfe sayth he of this body which thou bearest about thee for it is but a cloke of ignorance a foundation of infection a place of corruptiō a liuing death a sensible carryon a portable graue and a household theefe It flattereth thee because it hareth thee and it hateth thee because it enuieth thee As long as that liueth it bereueth thee of life and thou hast not a greater enemie than that Now to what purpose were it for him to forsake this light this dwellingplace and this life if he were not sure of a better in another world as he himselfe sayth more largely afterward On the other side what is the Soule The Soule sayth he is the
now euerlasting sayth he and in the best state berest of this earthly baggage which was none of his set free to himselfe For these bones these sinewes this coate of skin this face and these seruiceable hands are but fetters and prisons of the Soule By them the Soule is ouerwhelmed beaten downe and chased away It hath not a greater batterll than with that masse of flesh For feare of being torne in peeces it laboureth to returne from whence it came where it hath readie for it an happie and euerlasting rest And agayn This Soule cannot be made an Outlaw for it is a kin to the Gods equall to the whole world and to all tyme and the thought or conceyt thereof goeth about the whole Heauen extending it self from the beginning of al tyme to the vttermost poynt of that which is to come The wretched coarse being the Iayle setters of the Soule is tossed to and fro Vpon that are tormeÌ„ts murthers and diseases executed As for the Soule it is holy and euerlasting and cannot bee layd hand on When it is out of this body it is at libertie and set free from all bondage and is coÌ„uersant in that beautifull place wheresoeuer it be which receyueth mens Soules into the blessed rest thereof as soone as they bee deliuered from hence To bee short he seemeth to pricke very nere to the rysing againe of the dead For in a certeyne Epistle to Lucilius his words are these Death wherof we be so much afrayd doth not bereue vs of life but only discontinew it for a tyme and a day will come that shall bring vs to light agayne This may suffise to giue vs knowledge of the opinion of that great personage in whom wee see that the more he grewe in age the nerer he came still to the true birth For in his latest bookes he treateth alwaies both more assuredly and more euideÌ„tly therof Also the saying of Phauorinus is notable There is nothing great on earth sayth he but Man and nothing great in Man but his Soule If thou mount vp thether thou mouÌ„test aboue Heauen And if thou stoope downe agayne to the bodie and compare it with the Heauen it is lesse than a Flye or rather a thing of nothing At one word this is as much to say as that in this clod of clay there dwelleth a diuine and vncoruptible nature for how could it els be greater than the whole world As touching the Nations of old tyme we reade of them all that they had certeyne Religions and diuine Seruices so as they beléeued that there is a Hell and certeyne fieldes which they call the Elysian fields as we see in the Poets Pindarus Diphilus Sophocles Euripides others The more supersticious that they were the more sufficiently doe they witnesse vnto vs what was in their Conscience For true Religion and Superstition haue both one ground namely the Soule of man and there could be no Religion at all if the Soule liued not when it is gone hence Wee reade of the Indians that they burned themselues afore they came to extreme oldage terming it the letting of men loose and the fréeing of the Soule from the bodie and the sooner that a man did it the wiser was he estéemed Which custome is obserued still at this day among the people that dwell by the Riuer Niger otherwise called the people of Senega in Affricke who offer themselues willingly to be buryed quicke with their Maisters All the demonstrations of Logicke and Mathematicke sayth Zeno haue not so much force to proue the immortalitie of the soule as this only doing of theirs hath Also great Alexander hauing taken prisoners ten of their Philosophers whom they call Gimnosophists asked of one of them to trye their wisedome whether there were moâ—men aliue or dead The Philosopher answered that there were moe aliue Because sayd he there are none dead Ye may wel think they gaue a drye mocke to all the arguments of Aristotle and Callisthenes which with all their Philosophie had taught their scholer Alexander so euill Of the Thracians we reade that they sorrowed at the birth of men and reioyced at the death of them yea euen of their owne chidren And that was because they thought that which wee call death not to be a death in déede but rather a very happie birth And these be the people whom Herodotus reporteth to haue bene called the Neuerdying Getes and whom the Greekes called the Neuerdying Getes or Thracians Who were of opinion that at their departing out of this world they went to Zamolxis or Gebeleizie that is to say after the interpretation of the Getish or Gotish tongue to him that gaue them health saluation or welfare and gathered them together The like is sayd of the Galles chiefly of the inhabiters about Marsilles and of their Druydes of the Hetruscians and their Bishops and of the Scythians and their Sages of whom all the learning and wisedome was grounded vpon this poynt For looke how men did spread abroad so also did this doctrine which is so déeply printed in man that he cannot but carie it continually with him Which thing is to bee seene yet more in that which wee reade concerning the hearers of Hegesias the Cyrenian who dyed willingly after they had heard him discourse of the state of mens Soules after this life and likewise concerning Cleombrotus the Ambraciote who slewe himselfe when he had read a certeyne treatise of the immortalitie of the Soule For had it not bene a doctrine most euident to mans wit they would neuer haue bin caried so farre by it as to the hurting of their bodies And if among so many people there be perchaunce some fewe wretched caytifes that haue borne themselues on hand the contrarie which thing neuerthelesse they could neuer yet fully perswade themselues to be out of all doubt or question surely wee may beléeue that they had very much adoe and were vtterly besotted like Drunkards afore they could come to that poynt so as wee may well say of them as Hierocle the Pythagorist sayde namely That the wicked would not haue their Soules to bee immortall to the intent they might not be punished for their faults But yet that they preuent the sentence of their Iudge by condemning themselues vnto death afore hand But if they wil neither heare God nor the whole world nor themselues let them at leastwise hearken to the Deuill as well as they doe in other things who as sayth Plutark made this answer to Corax of Naxus and others in these verses It were a great wickednesse for thee to say The Soule to be mortall or for to decay And vnto Polytes he answered thus As long as the Soule to the body is tyde Though loth yet all sorowes it needes must abyde But when fro the body Death doth it remoue To heauen by and by then it styes vp aboue And there euer youthfull in blisse it doth rest
to haue a sound mynd in a sicke bodie than to bee out of his wittes hauing perfect health of bodie Soothly then it is a very cléere argument that our chiefe happinesse resteth in our mynd seeing wee can finde in our harts to redéeme it with the miseries of our bodie Let vs come too the sensitiue parte The happines thereof seemeth to consist in Uoluptuousenes or Sensualitie If that make vs happy then happy be brute beastes as who doe vse it both more freely and with more delyght than wee and vnhappy is man who cannot wholy becone a beast do what he can The beast taketh his pleasure without regard who sees him without remorse of conscience and without any argewing ageinst himselfe Contrarywise what man is hee which féeleth not a Lawe in himselfe that goes about to brydle him which feeleth not a hartbyting in the mâ—â—ds of his pleasure or whose greatest delyghts leaue him not a sting of repentance behind them And what happynes can that be whereof we be ashamed and which compelleth vs to seeke couert for the dooing thereof Also what a fond woorkman was he that framed vs so farre vnfit for such a purposeâ— insomuch that wheras al our body is lyable too aches stiches both within without and on all sides we scarsly haue aboue two or three parts vpoÌ„ vs capable of pleasure and euen those also subiect to greef and peyue Let there be a man sayeth Plutarke that hath led his whole lyfe in pleasure and sensualitie and about a two or three howers afore he drawe towards death let him be put to his choyce whether he had leuer too delight his sences by lying with his Lais or delyght his mind with deliuering his Country from some greate peril wil be think you be so very a beast as to dout which of them he shal choose who séeth not then that the pleasure of the mind is both greater than the pleasure of the body and more peculiar to man and more agreeable too his end We seeke a souereine good if it be good it will amend vs. But what doth marre vs and impayre vs more both in bodie and soule than fleshly pleasure Also we meane it should be perfect If it be so it will make vs perfect too But what consumeth vs what decayeth vs more than sensualitie Agein we seeke an end but yet an endlesse end not which maketh an end of our pleasures but which doth still feede our desires Contrarywise what is there which is sooner at an end in it selfe which sooner maketh an end of vs or which sooner wearieth vs and lesse contenteth vs than the bodily pleasures considering that as the Poet sayth the pleasure and payne goe both together Moreouer how may that be the souereine good which is not so much as a meane good For who can denye but that abstinence is taken for a vertue euen among the vicious sort And what maner of good is that which may become euill by increasing if it were not euill of it selfe afore Finally al bodily pleasures consist in the Sences and are executed by the sensitiue parts Now the Sences are oftentymes forstalled in vs eyther by diseases or by old age and the sensitiue parts are dispatched at the least by death Now albeit that a man haue a dubble life the one in this world the other in another the one dying the other immortall the first which is here tending to the second as the woorse to the better yet is not our seeking for such an end or such a felicitie as dyeth with vs but for such a one as maketh vs happye quickeneth vs 〈…〉 sheth vs euerlastingly the which surely is not to be found in mortall things Now followeth therefore the Understanding part which is occupied one whyle in itself another while in the gouernment of the world and another while in contemplation of heauenly things and of theis three operations spring three perfections namely Uertue Policie and Wisedome Let vs see yet in which of these 〈◊〉 consisteth our souereine felicitie and contentation Soothly it is not to bee doubted but that our end will bee found to consist in that part for whether can the mynd of man reach beyond the world and man and him that made them both But let vs see if we come néere it in this world I pray you what is Uertue The calâ—edesse of our affections What are these affections of ours The waues and stormes of our Soules raysed with euery little â—last of winde which doe so â—osse and turmoyle it vpside downe that euen the best Pylots are fayne to strike Sayle and reason it selfe is driuen welnere to forsake the Helue If Mâ—n were created to this end why was he created with calmenesse of mynd Or if his souereine good consist now in ouermaystering his affections what more contrarietie can there bée than to bée â—oyd of affections and to be a man Let vs put the case that some man atteyne therevnto shall he also stay there No for valiantnesse hath an eye to warre warre to peace peace to the prosperitie of the Common-weale weale and so soorth of others Now that which tendeth vnto another cannot be the vtmost end But wil man at leastwiâ—e be contented therewith Nay let vs commend Uertue as much as wee list and let vs busie our selues in making bookes of it yet if it extend no further than to the things on earth I dare well say there is not any thing I say not so happie but so wretched miserable as man Folke will say he is an honest man but yet as honest as he is they will let him starue for hunger The Prince will say he is a faithfull a sound and an vpright dealer neyther led by couetousnesse nor caryed away with ambition but yet he will not put him in trust with the managing of his affayres in this world The foulest vyce in the world shall finde a mate but if Uertue runne through the whole world she shal scarce find a husband Now then if we séeke our felicitie in this life what is Uertue but very miserie And if we séeke it in the other lyfe what shal become of this vertue where we shall haue no affections to encounter with Surely then is not Uertue our end for the end that we seeke hath not an eye to a further thing neither dooth the souereine good thereof which goes ioyntly with it come to any end What then Is Policie that end We call Pollicie the right vse of reason in the gouerning of worldly affaires Besides that it may also properly be defined to be an art or skill of guyding mens doings to a certeine end Now the skill and the end that it ameth at cannot be both one thing But to be short what is this world Strife Warre Discord Enuy Rancor Burning Sacking wasting Spoyling and destroying a miserable ground for man too buid his felicitie vpon What is the gouerning and disposing of al these things
step and so doth Plutarke also who counterfetting Plato bringeth in one Thespesius raysed from the dead and maketh him to discourse of the lyfe to come And without calling in Plotine Porphyrius Proclus Hierocles such others whome it would be ouerlong to heare only Iamblichus shall suffice whose words are these The good Soule shall dwell with GOD and walke vp and downe in Heauen where it shall haue a dwelling place But the Soule that is defiled with cursed deedes shal be sent vnder the Earth to the iudgements which are there executed vpon Soules Now what can we demaund more of the Philosophers than that which they confesse Namely that the happines and the ende of man are not in this lyfe but in the other and that the marke which man should shoote at is to imploy this in the knowing of GOD that in the other lyfe he may euerlastingly enioy all good things in him So then let vs conclude both by mans reason and by the authoritie of all Philosophie That as the body of man relyeth vpon his Soule so his mortall lyfe relyeth vpon the immortall lyfe that is to come That the end wheretoo man was created in this world is to know and serue God and to possesse him wholy aboue Howbeit for asmuch as by our fall wee bee falne from knowledge into ignorance and therfore although we haue some little glimmering sight of our end which wee ame at yet wee wote not how to shape our selues to it And again by the same fall we be falne from our souereine welfare into a bottomlesse pit of misery where we créepe so lame as it is not possible for vs to returne ageine to our former state Let vs see whether God of his mercie haue not left vs some remnants whereby to get vp ageine and to bee directed into our right way and whether hee himselfe also doe not reache vs out his fatherly hand through the cloudes of darknes wherewith we bee ouerwhelmed to pull vs backe and to call vs home ageine to him as very Bastards Rebelles and vnworthy Caytifes as we he The xx Chapter That the true Religion is the way to atteyne to the sayd end and souereine welfare and what are the markes of that Religion I Haue proued alreadie That there is but one God the father of Mankynd That he created the world for mans vse and that he gouerneth both the World and Man by his prouidence Herevppon the leaâ—t man among all will conclude by and by That â—ith he is our father we owe him obedience sith wee hold all things of him in fee wee owe him fealtie and homage sith he prouideth all things for vs we ought to call vpon him in all our doings and in all our necessities Also I haue shewed that Man is of nature immortall and therefore he must applye himself withall his heart to immortall things That by sinne he is falne from God and from himselfe and therefore he must craue forgiuenesse of him that his wrath may bee appeased That this offence was a certeyne pride and ouerwéening of himselfe and therefore he must acknowledge his frayltie and wretchednesse and humble himself before GOD. Now in one word what is all this to say but that as there is butâ— one God and one Mankynd so there ought to be but one ReligioÌ„ that is to say one ordinarie duetie seruice of man towards God For what els are all the exercises of Religion but appertenances of the Articles which we haue proued that is to wit of the creation of the world and of Gods Prouidence of the Immortalitie of the Soule and of Mans fall and of Mans souereine welfare In Religion men 〈◊〉 men knéele men haue ordinances to obserue this is done in token of obedience Againe they giue thankes 〈◊〉 praise vnto GOD and they giue him the firstfruites both of their Cattell and of their Corne that is a signe of acknowledgement that they be but as his Tennants They call vpon him in their aduersitie and they aske prosperitie of him in all their doings be they neuer sosmall It is properly a commending of themselues to his prouidence Also in Religion there is wéeping forrowing fasting putting on of sackcloth and besprinkling of themselues with duâ—t This is in token that wee ought to humble our selues beneath the very earth Againe there be Sacrifices both generall and particular and what are those but protestations that all of vs and euery of vs haue deserued death In the end of all this there commeth a promise and a pretence of euerlasting life to such as discharge their duetie towards God which is as much to say as that those Ceremonies and obseruations are not the things that wee must rest vpon but are meanes to leade vs to our right end which is to lift vs vp on high But betwéene these two last Articles namely betwéene the death which wee protest our selues to haue deserued and the euerlasting life that is behighted vs to inherit there is a maruelous waste distance to bee filled vp and yet notwithstanding eyther it must néedes bee that man is set in the world in vayne or els that there is a way or a bridge ordeyned for the passing thereof Therefore Religion which hath brought vs to the pits brim must also shewe vs this bridge that she may vnyte and linke vs againe vnto God from whom we be gone so farre and so strangely by our fall and that she may reconcyle vs as bastardly children to our father and as rebellious Subiects to our Prince without which reconciliation or according to the Latin deriuation Religion God ceasseth to be our father and wee to bee his children and all Religion how gay and glorious show soeuer it haue is vtterly vnprofitable and vayne Now the end that man should ame at in this life is to returne vnto God and it cannot be in vayne but in vayne it should be if there be no way to leade man vnto GOD or rather to bring God vnto man To the intent therefore that neither GOD be defrauded of his glorie nor man of his end and felicitie there must according to my former profes néedes bee a way that is to say a meane to reconcyle man vnto God and to vnite him againe vnto him that he may bee saued which way wee will according to the common spéech call Religion Now all the auncient men agree fully that there ought to be a Religion among all men as in déede there is not a thing that doth more necessarily followe than a GOD a Man and a Religion a Father a Sonne and an Obedience a Mayster a Seruant and a seruice a Giuer a Receyuer and a reward or rather a Lender a Detter and a Bond. And therfore full well doth one say The Philosophers ought to haue bin the first Diuines For inasmuch as we make towards GOD with two wings that is to say with Wit and Will Wit can no sooner conceyue that God is our
can it admit And if any require lesse of vs cōtented peraduenture with the outward man which is all one as if they would rob God of one halfe of a Man what is their dooing but Hipocrisie or high treason against God But now ageine séeing that Religion byndeth vs in so great a bond euen by nature that there is not any man which is not inforced to confesse the dette so witnessed by the whole worlde surely there is no man that féeleth himselfe able to pay it or which doth not willingly pleade giltie yea and which is not inforced to say that the most part of his thoughts words and déedes are not only farre of from God but also tending directly to offend GOD. Now then if Religion offer vs not as well a meane whereby to discharge and cancell the bond as it offereth vs the bond it selfe It is so farre of from being the way to welfare which it ought to bee that it is rather a definitiue sentence of death and an expresse condemning of vs. Therfore let vs see whether there be many wayes of satisfaction or but onely one What shall the deuoutest man in the world offer vnto God for his owne discharge Shall hee offer his first fruites God gaue him both the séede and the whole crop Sacrifices The Wood the Fyre and the Cattell are all of Gods gift The whole world if a man had it Hee hath lost the inheritance and the right thereof in séeking to infranchise himself from the seruice of God Nay which more is God not onely gaue the world vnto man but also man to man himself The world then and all that euer is therein cannot discharge man against God What may man himself doe Surely an acceptable Sacrifice should man be to GOD as Hierocles saith if he were such a one as he ought to be But what should the best of all men offer vp in sacrifising himself Soothly nothing but enuy hatred rayling backebyting vaine thoughts vntrue words wrongfull dealing and to go yet further faynt thanks with cold and counterfet praiers Now these are so farre of from amounting to a discharge that they turne to a huge heape of worse and more vndischargeable bonds according to the infinitenesse of the Maiestie of the Creator that is offended by them Now then if neither that world nor man can dischardge man against God what remayneth to doe it but God himselfe whom Religion must offer to man for his discharge euen God mercifull to God iust God a paymayster to God the creator Uerily that hauing shewed vs how déeply wée be indetted to GOD it may also teach vs the woonderfull meane ordeyned by God and in God wherby he and his souereine Iustice may be satisfied and our extreme iniquitie be therewith reléeued Now the dette of vs all is all of one sort and nature namely that we owe our selues all wholy vnto God and our vnabilitie to discharge it is also all alyke namely that all that euer commeth of our selues can deserue nothing but death vpon death Our common bond say I entred into of vs all by Gods benefites towards the first man is by his disobedience become forfeted both in respect of himselfe and of all mankind Besides this the creditor and the payer are both one and cannot be but both one For it is onely God that both doth and can satisfie himself It followeth then that the true Religion can be but one namely euen that only one which sheweth vs the onely one meane of saluation and that all other Religions if they abate any whit of mans debt vnto God are traiterous to his maiestie and if they set not downe a sufficient meane of discharge they be but vayne and vnauaylable ceremonies and so as well the one sort as the other vtterly vnworthy of the name of Religion Furthermore if there be diuers true Religions I meane diuers as in respect of the substance of them whereof riseth that diuersitie Of the thing which they poynt at Nay in God whom Religion looketh at there is such vnitie that all other maner of vnitie is diuersitie in respect of that And then if it bee so that one Religion relye vpon one God and another vpon another we be sure that there is but one God and that all other Gods are either Creatures or Uanities insomuch that as Proclus himselfe saith mo Gods and no God differ nothing atall And so what shal those other Religions be but either Idolatrie or Atheisme that is to say vtter Godlesnes Whereof then Of their ground Nay Man which is the ground whereon Religion worketh is but one kind of thing Also as the disease being in all men commeth of one roote so is it of one selfsame nature Likewise the remedie thereof as I haue sayd already is but only one Now where the ground is all one the disease all one and the remedie all one too who will euer say that there should bee diuersitie of Artes in the handling or ministring of them If a man bee too humble himselfe I would fayne haue them to tell me what other way there is than to know himselfe what other way to knowe himselfe than to behold himselfe what other way to behold himselfe then to looke into a faire cleare glasse And what clearer glasse is there than the Lawe of God and the perfect obedience which GOD requireth at mans hand And seeing that this lawe and the perfect obedience required by the same can be but one How may Religion be diuided into mo than one Ageine if man be to be lifted vp vnto God what other way is there than to make him knowe God as his Creator that he may honor him as his gouernour that he may call vppon him as his father that he may obey him and altogither iust that hee may seeke to appease his wrath Which thing sith hee cannot doe of himselfe what shift hath he but to haue recourse to the remedie And séeing that the remedie can bée but onely one doth it not follow that saluation lyeth in that onely Religion which sheweth it vnto vs and that to haue any mo Religions is but confusion and vanitie And to speake properly what is Religion An arte or skil if I may so terme it how to saue men And wherein consisteth this arte First in shewing men their disease secondly in shewing them that it is deadly and finally in teaching the fit and conuenient remedie In déede the very Law of Nature leadeth vs well too the first poynt For who is hee which euen of Nature accuseth not himselfe and whose conscience nippeth him not when hee hath sinned Reason also leadeth vs to the second poynt For who is hee that concludeth not with himselfe that the Creature which offendeth his creator deserueth to be rooted out that is to say that sinne ingendreth death And thus farre may all Religions come and all Ceremonies ordeyned by man as Praiers Sacrifices Wasshins Cleansings such others Bnt what is all this but
we found our second marke of Religion namely that the seruice of God which Religion is to teach vs must be grounded vppon his word and reuealed vnto vs by his ownselfe Let vs heare what the heathen say in this case who knewe very well that all the Ladders of their Philosophie were too short to reache thereunto and that it behoued men to be inlightened and instructed from aboue Diuinitie saith Plato cannot be laydforth after the maner of other kinds of seruing but hath neede of continuall mynding And then our wit is foorthwith kindled as with a fyre which afterward gathereth light more more and maynteineth it selfe Finally sayth he we know nothing of Gods matters by our owne skill If he which of all the auncient Philosophers saw most cléere confesse here that his sight faileth very much if it be not ayded from aboue what may we déeme of others And in good sooth in matters of Religion he sendeth vs euermore to the auncient Oracles that is to say according to his meaning to Gods word Aristotle in his Supernaturals rehearseth and commendeth a certeyne answere of Simonides too Hieron Kyng of Sicilie which is that it belongeth to none but onely God to haue skill of the things that are aboue nature and howe much lesse then to be skilfull in Diuinitie and to dispose of Religion that is to say to shewe the meane how to ouercome and surmount nature And whereas Cicero in his Lawes sayeth that there is not any lawe among men wherto men are bound to obey vnlesse it be ordeined by GOD and deliuered as it were with his owne mouth if he had bene well examined he would haue sayde no lesse concerning Religion It is certaine saith Iamblicus that we be bound to do the things that please God But which are those Surely sayth he they be not possible to be knowen of any man but of him that hath heard God himselfe speake or which haue learned them by some heauenly instruction And Alpharabius the Arabian agreeth thereunto in these words The things that concerne GOD and are to be beleeued through holy fayth are of a higher degree than all other things because they proceede from diuine inspiration and mans wit is too weake and his reason too short too attayne to them And therefore we reade that as they which haue ordeined and stablished any Religion in any Nation haue giuen it foorth as proceeding from God verily because nature taught them that it belongeth to none but to God alone to appoynt how hee shal be serued neither would the ordinance therof otherwise be obserued because the parties that were to obey it would make as great account of thēselues as of the partie that should inioyne it Thus by the definitiue sentence of the Philosophers our second marke standeth firme which will serue vs to discerne the true Religion from the inuentions of men so as we may well refuse for vntrueth whatsoeuer is not grounded vpon Gods word But in following our former purpose let vs consider yet further whether this will suffice or no. We haue néede of a Lawe that procéedeth from Gods mouth and what may that I pray you be but the same which proceedeth from holynesse it self namely that we should be holy as he is holy And if we cannot of our selues know God nor how he ought to be serued alas how shall we performe it when he hath declared it vnto vs The ende of Religion sayeth Plato is to knit man vnto God The way to bring this to passe is to become rightuous and holy or as saith Iamblichus to offer vnto GOD a cleane mynd voyd of all naughtines and cléere from all spot What man as euen they themselues confesse could euer vaunt therof And what els then is Religion to all of vs but a booke wherein we reade the sentence of our death that is to wit our very death in deede vnlesse that in the ende wee find some grace or forgiuenesse of our sinnes Yet notwithstanding Religion is the Pathway to life yea euen to eternall life a Pathway that hath a certeyne ende and which beguyleth vs not Therefore it must by some meanes or other fill vs vp the great gulfe that is betwéene endlesse death and endlesse life and betwéene the dwellingplace of blessednes and the horriblenes of Hell And therefore let our third marke be That Religion must put into our hands a meane to satisfie Gods Iustice without the which not onely all other Religions but also euen that which conteineth the true seruing of the true GOD were vtterly vayne and vnprofitable Now mans reason hath well perceiued that some such meane was néedefull in Religion but to knowe what that meane is was to high a thing for mans reason to atteyne vntoo In respect whereof the Platonists busied themselues very much in finding out some meane to cleanse men from their sinnes and too knit them vnto God beeing reconciled to his fauour and they set downe certeine degrées wherby to atteine therunto But yet in the end they confesse all their washings and clensings to be vtterly vnsufficient There are which say it is to bee done by abstinence by vertuous behauiour by skill or by Iupiters mysteries and some say it is to be done by al of them successiuely one after another But yet when they haue bestirred themselues on all sides Porphyrius conclusion is That they be Ceremonies without effect and yet notwithstanding that there must of necessitie néedes be a meane to purge and iustifie men and that the same must bee vniuersall and that it is not possible admitting Gods prouidence as we ought to doe that God should leaue mankind destitute of that meane And that this remedie ought to be conteyne din Religion hee sheweth sufficiently in that hee seeketh it in taking the Orders and in the Consecrations hallowings and other misteries of his owne Religion which in the end he letteth go againe But yet more apparantly doth Hierocles shewe it who sayth that Religion is a studie of Wisedome that consisteth in clensing and perfecting the life that men may be at one with God and become like vnto him and that to atteyne to that cleanesse the meane is to enter into a mans owne conscience and to consider of his sinne and to confesse it vnto God Thus farre he is very well Neuerthelesse here they stoppe ouershort euerychone of them for vppon confession inseweth but death vnlesse God who is the very Iustice it selfe and more infinitely contrary to euill than we can imagine be appeased and satisfied for our offences whereas in Religion we séeke for very life To bee short of the great nomber of Religions which are in the Worlde some haue no certeine restingpoint atall as we reade of some people of Affrik which worship that thing which they méete first in the morning and that is but a vaine Ceremonie Some haue a restingpoynt howbeit an euill one as for example all they
round about him and he shal be clothed with light as with a garment For the auncient worde of him that is is clothed with the world c. Also in Malachie where it is sayd I will send myne Ambassadour before my face Rabbi Moyses the sonne of Maimon expoundeth it Before Christ the Anoynted And in Osee where it is written Wee shall liue before his face Rabbi Moyses Hadarsan sayth it is Christ the King And in the 17. Psalme where it is sayd I shall behold thy countenance in rightuousnesse and bee satisfied at the rysing vp of thy likenesse Rabbi Nehemias sayth I shall bee satisfied with the sight of thy Messias who is thyne Image And to the same purpose might a great many moe bee alledged The thing which they say is all one in effect with that which wee say namely that the Sonne or worde of God is the image of God and the brightnesse of his countenance To bee short we say that the Sonne is light of light and they say the same of the Messias For vpon the Lamentations of Ieremie Rabbi Biba being asked the name of the Messias answereth in the ende that it is Nehira that is to say Light according to this saying in the second of Daniel Light is with him And vppon the place of Genesis where it is written Let there bee light Rabbi Moyses Hadarsan sayth that it is the Messias according to Rabbi Abba and Rabbi Iohanan vppon the 36. Psalme where it is sayd We shall see light in thy light Oftentimes say they hath the light of Israell bene quenched and kindled againe when they were one while subdewed and another while deliuered But in the end he sayth it is not to be required that flem and blud that is to say a mortall man shall inlighten vs but God himselfe in his owne substance will doe it According wherevnto it is sayd in the 18. Psalme God hath bene our light And likewise in Esay Israell shall be saued by the Euerlasting To bée short like as we say that the Sonne as in respect of the Father is as a Riuer in respect of the Spring or as Reason is in respect of the Mynd so say the Cabalists that the light of the Soule of the Messias is in respect of the liuing God as Reason is in respect of the Mynd and that the liuing God as in respect of the Messias is as a Fountaine or Welspring of liuing water in respect of the streame or riuer of life that floweth out of it Now then we haue in our Scriptures a Mediatour that is both God and Man But reason hath led vs to two circumstances moe The one is that this Man must be of our race and the other is that he must be borne after another maner than wee bee the one for our behoofe the other for his owne dignitie and therfore let vs enquire yet further of the Rabbins concerning these poynts As touching the first poynt it is euident enough of it selfe and néedeth no long proofe For Christ is promised to come of the seede of Adam Abraham Isaac Iacob Iuda and Dauid and the Iewes haue beléeued it so certeinly that euen during the tyme of their Captiuitie at Babylon they chose their Resch Caluta that is to say the chiefe Capteyne of their Banished folke out of the house of Dauid as from whence they looked for a deliuerer And as touching the second poynt Behold saith Esay a Virgin shall conceiue beare a Sonne and call his name Emanuell which is as much to say as that the Messias shal be the sonne of a Uirgin and that he shall bee begotten without fleshly copulation The late writers of the Iewes say it is not written a Virgin or mayden but a wench or yoong woman I will not vrge them that the Hebrewe word Alma is taken ordinarily for a yoong Mayden or Uirgin as in the fower and twentie of Genesis where Rebecka is so called and in the second of Exodus where it is spoken of the Sifter of Moyses And euen in this place the thréescore ten Interpreters translate it in Gréeke idou he Parthenos that is to say Behold a Virgin c. But I would haue them to tell me what the token is that is giuen here to the house of Dauid and whether a token ought not to bee some speciall and notable thing and whether it bee not a matter of earnest sith it is God that giueth it who sayth expresly Aske me a token whether it be from beneath or from aboue I beséech them what straunge signe or token is there in that a yoong woman beareth a Child What thing is more ordinarie in the world and consequently more fond to bee giuen or taken for a myracle Nay the auncient Rabbines haue well waded euen into the depth of this matter And therefore Rabbi Moyses Hadarsan writing vppon the 85. Psalme vppon these words Trueth shall bud out of the earth sayth thus Rabbi Ioden noteth here how it is not sayd here shal be borne but shall bud because the begetting and birth of the Messias shall not be after the maner of other worldly creatures but he shall bee bred without companie or copulatiō And it is certeine that no man nameth his father but he is concealed and kept secret vntill he himselfe come and reueale him And vpon Genesis You haue sayd sayth the Lord we be fatherlesse and so shall the Redeemer be whom I will giue vnto you according to that which is sayd in the 4. of Zachary Loe this is the man whose name is Braunch and according to this which is sayd in the 110. Psalme Thou art a Priest for euer after the order of Melchisedech Also he reporteth that Rabbi Berachia gathereth the like But Rabbi Simeon ben Iohai sayth yet more expresly vpon Genesis That the spirit hauing bin shut vp in a womans wombe should come foorth with great force to bee the highest Prince which is Messias the King And the holy Rabbine procéedeth so farre as to seeke out by the proportion of their Cabalie what should be the name of the Israelitish Uirgin that should beare the Messias There remayne many other things to bee treated of concerning the tyme the place the life and the death of the Messias which are reserued for another place peraduenture more conuenient for them Let it suffice vs for this tyme That in the Religion of the Israelites there was promised from tyme to tyme euen from the beginning the Mediatour betwéene Gods Iustice and Mans Sinfulnesse the Sauiour of mens Soules and the Author of the selfesame clensing which the very Heathen themselues déemed to bee so néedfull namely Iesus Christ God and Man the euerlasting Sonne of GOD borne of woman in his due tyme without sinne frée from desert of Gods wrath as in respect of himselfe and able to appease it towards others cleane in his humane nature and
more euident in Moyses so at this tyme there was great store of them in Iewrie to the intent it might appeare what difference is betwixt that which man can doe by the Diuels abusing of him and that which the fingar of God himselfe can doe in man And in good sooth I dare well say there is not any arte in the worlde that doth more clearely verifie the miracles of Iesus than Magicke doth For by Plinies report there were neuer mo Magicians than in the time of Nero which was the tyme that Christes Disciples did spread his doctrine abrode neither was the vanitie of that Arte euer more apparantly knowen as he witnesseth than at that time And euen among the Iewes of our time that science is more common at this day thaÌ„ among al other people For they make bookes thereof specially in the Eastpartes of the world But what are they els than casts of Legierdemayne or Iuggliugtrickes and toyes for Babes to play withall And as for the Magicians which the Princes of Christendome mainteine in their Courts to the shame of vs all and to their owne confusion what are the things which they doe but to speake fitly mere illusions that vanishe away out of hand as which consist in some nimble tricks in playing at Cards and Dyce or in slipper deuises of slight and vayne things Of which kind of folkes and dealings I say not who would willingly dye for them but who would not be ashamed to liue with them As for Iesus wee see it is farre otherwise with him Hee wrought very great miracles in the world and although hee was crucified yet sayth Iosephus his Disciples forsooke him not and therefore euen after hee was gone from them they wrought miracles still and what maner of Miracles Surely euen such as within the space of twentie yeres or thereaboutes filled all the world full of Christians and that miracle continueth still vnto this day The Empires which had not heard any speaking of Christ were conuerted to the Kingdome of Christe and beléeued hym for his doings afore they heard of his name The Emperours vnder whome hee had bene crucified and his Disciples diuersly persecuted are glad to doe him honour and to build Temples vnto hym Let the Iewes tell mée what Magician they euer heard of that wrought such miracles after his death If they say that Christes Apostles and Disciples also were Magicians then séeing that no man which is well aduised doeth any thing but to some end let them tell mée what gayne the Apostles could get by exercising this Magike which procured them nothing but hatred sorrowe imprisonment torments and cruell death And seeing that Magicians doe hyde themselues and conceale their arte when they be pursued for it what kind of Magicke is this which will needes be knowen and exercised euen in despite of Princes and of the world yea and of death that is to say euen in despite of the man himselfe if I may so say that doth practise it If it be further replied that some extreme vainglorie led them how happeneth it that euery of them did not cause himselfe to be worshipped alone And that they did not their workes in their owne names but referred all to Iesus yéelding vnto him the power the honour and the glory of all If they say as of force they néedes must that the power of the crucified Man wrought still in them and by them Let them say also that the same man liued still euen after his crucifying yea and a farre other lyfe than all other men considering that after this lyfe he maketh men to be more than men that is to wit a lyfe not onely free from death but also euerlasting and diuinâ— in deede and so is farre of from the punishment appointed by them to Magicians that is to wit from béeing in Iayle and vnder torture or as they themselues terme it in endlesse death But as soone as they perceyue themselues stopped on that side by and by they seeke to scape out another away Iesus say they wrought his miracles by vertue of the vnvtterable name of God which he mynded And therevpon they fall to an account which sheweth as many other in their Talmud doe that in Gods matters they wanted not only the spirit of God but also euen the humane wit and reason and God knoweth I would be ashamed to rehearse it but for their owne welfare Their saying then is that in Salomons Temple there was a certeine stone of very rare vertue wherein Salomon by his singular wisedome had ingrauen the very true name of God which it was lawfull for euery man to reade but not to cun by hart nor to write out And that at the Temple doore were two Lyons tide at two Cheynes which rored terribly that the feare of it made him to forget the name that had commited it to memorie and him to burst asunder in the mids that had put it in writing But Iesus the sonne of Mary say they regarding neither the curse annexed vnto the prohibition nor the roring of the Lyons wrate it out in a bill and went his way with it with great gladnesse And least he might be taken with the thing about him he had a little opened the skinne of his Leg and put it in there and afterward wrought his miracles by the vertue of that name Now ye must thinke that if I was ashamed to repeate this géere I am much more ashamed to stand confuting of it Neuerthelater séeing that the sumptuousnes of Salomons Temple is described so diligeâ—tly vnto vs and yet no mention is made either of that rare stone or of those Lyons that were so zealous of Gods name whence I pray them haue they this so fayre tale And how commeth it to passe that Iosephus was ignorant thereof who had so diligently perused their matters of remembrance or how come they to the first knowledge thereof so many hundred yeres after Ageine where became those Lyons at such tymes as the AEgiptians and Bahylonians spoyled Hierusalem and defyled the Temple How found they them ageine in the second Temple Or if they were immortall where became they afterward Nay further how happeneth it that Salomon that great king who consecrated and ingraued the sayde Stone wrought not the lyke miracles himselfe specially sith wée reade not that he wrought any miracle at all And what godlynes had it bene for him to haue concealed and kept secret that name which would haue cured so many diseases of body and infirmities of mind whereby folke might haue bene turned away from idolatrie and the whole world might haue bene wonne vnto the lawe of God But if I must néedes answere fooles further according to their folly then if Iesus be the seruant of the liuing God and vse his name to his glory why doe they not beléeue him Or if he serued not GOD how was it possible that the name of God should bee waged by a mortall man ageinst the glorie
Insomuch that their owne Historywriter beholding so many records of Gods wrath was in maner cōstreyned to come somewhat nye the cause thereof which he affirmeth to be that the Highpriest Ananus had vniustly and hastily caused Iames the brother of Iesus to be stoned to death and certeine others with him to the great griefe of good men and of such as loned the Lawe To the which purpose also may this saying of the notablest of their Rabbines be applyed That the second Temple was destroyed for their selling of the Rightuous and for hating him without cause according to this saying of Iesus concerning them They haue hated me without cause And whereas some Iewes at this day doe say that they bee punished because some of them receiued this Iesus for the Christ there is no likelyhood of trueth in it For considering that Gods maner is to saue a whole Citie for some ten good mens sakes if they be found in it he would much rather haue saued his own people for so many mens sakes being the chiefe and representing the state of the Realme of Iewrie which did put their hands to the accusing of Iesus and for so great a multitudes sake which cryed out Away with him away with him crucifie him And if God confirmed the Priesthood vnto Phinees for his zealousnesse in punishing a simple Israelite what thinke you your selues to haue deserued for crucifying as you beare your selues on hand an enemie of God one that named himselfe Christ the Lords Anoynted yea and which sayd he was very God himselfe Yet notwithstanding in the middes of all these calamities the Citie and Temple of this Iesus were builded vp first in Iewrie it selfe and afterward in the whole world and according to Daniels Prophesie the Couenant of Saluation was stablished among all Nations by the preaching of his Apostles and the Sacrifices of the Iewes were then put downe and neuer anywhere reuyued againe since that tyme. And within a while after the very ydolatries of the Gentyles which had possessed the whole world were likewise dasshed also as wée shall see hereafter Whereof Rabbi Hadarsan writing vpon Daniell seemeth to haue giuen some incling in that he sayth Halfe a weeke that is to say three yeeres and a half shall make an end of Sacrificing And so doth R. Iohanan in that he sayth Three yeeres and a half hath the presence of the Lord cryed out vppon Mount Oliuet saying seeke God while he may be found and call vpō him while he is nere hand And vpon the Psalmes it is sayd That by the space of three yeeres and a halfe GOD would teache his Church in his owne persone Now it is manifestly knowen that Iesus preached betwéene thrée and fower yeres about Hierusalem and that his preaching was pursewed and continued afterward by his Apostles Sothen we haue in the Prophets a Christ the sonne of God which was to be borne of a Uirgin in the end of the thréescore and and ten wéekes mention in Daniel at Bethleem in Iewrie whom being foregone by an Elias it behoued to preache the kingdome of God to dye a reprocheful death to mans Saluation and to ryse agayne with glorie shortly wherevpon should follow the destruction of Hierusalem and of the Temple And at the very selfesame tyme we haue in our Gospels in the stories of the Iewes themselues one Iesus the sonne of God borne of the Uirgin Marie at Bethleem in Iewrie who beeing foregone by Iohn the Baptist preached the kingdome of Heauen both in woord and déede was crucified at Hierusalem beléeued on by the Gentiles and reuēged by the ouerthrowe and destruction of the Temple And all these circumstances and markes are so peculiar vnto him that they can by no meanes agrée to any other Wherefore let vs conclude that this Iesus is the very same Christ that was promised from time to time in the Scriptures and exhibited in his dew time according to our Gospell For that is the thing which wee had to proue in these last two Chapters The xxxj Chapter An answere to the Obiections which the Iewes alledge ageinst Iesus why they should not receiue him for the Christ or Messias NOw let vs examine the obiections of the Iewes and sée what they can say ageinst the Testimonie of all the Prophetes which agreeth fitly to Iesus and can agree to none but him First If Iesus say they were the Christ who should haue knowen and receiued him rather than the great Sinagogue which was at that time This obiection is very old for in the Gospell the Pharisies say Doe any of the Pharisies or chiefe Rulers beleeue in him saue onely this rascall people which know not the Lawe who be accursed Here I might alledge Simeon surnamed the rightuous a Disciple of Hillels who had serued fortie yeres in the Sanctuarie how hée acknowledged Iesus for the Sauiour of Israell and the light of the Gentiles in the which Simeon the Iewes themselues confesse that Spirit of God to haue sayled which was woont to inspire the greate Sinagogue and inspired him still during all his lyfe Also I could alledge Iohn the Baptist whom they called the great Rabbi Iohanan who acknowledging Iesus to be the sonne of God sent his Disciples vnto him And likwise Gamaliel whom in the Acts of the Apostles we reade to haue sayd If this Doctrine be of God it will continew if not it will perish and in Clement to haue bene a Disciple of the Apostles and in their owne bookes to haue bene the Disciple of the sayd Simeon And finally S. Paule him selfe a disciple of the sayd Gamaliel soothly a very great man and of great fauour and authoritie among them of whom they cannot in any wyse mistrust To bee short Iosephus reporteth that this Iesus was followed among that Iewes of all such as loued the trueth and that as many as loued the Lawe did greatly blame Ananus the highpréest for causing the disciples of Iesus to be put to death Also R. Nehumia the sonne of Hacana hauing recounted the miracles of Iesus within a litle of whose tyme he was sayth expresly I am one of those which haue beleeued in him and haue bene baptized and haue walked in the right way Likewise the S. Rabbi seemeth to haue hild of Iesus and if he did not then is it yet more wonderfull than if he had knowen him considering that he séemeth to describe this Iesus by the selfsame circumstaunces that the very Christ is described by him But without any stāding vpō that poynt I say further to them That whereas the Synagogue receiued not Iesus for the Messias their so doing is a token that he was the very Messias in deede and that their receiuing of Barcozba for the Messias was a sure proofe that Barcozba was not the Messias For it is expresly sayd by the Prophetes that when the Messias came vnto them they should be so blynde as not too
looked into the consciences of those Rabbines I beléeue hee should haue seene that they made not so good account of GOD as of themselues As for the Scriptures they expound not one text of them among a hundred to the purpose no nor scarsly without blasphemie sauing where they followe or alledge the Rabbines of old time The residew are either toyes or oldwiues tales or horrible blasphemies or things either too fond for Children or to wicked for men and such as euen the Diuell himself would be ashamed of To be short I can not tell how they that wrate that booke could bee Iewes or howe the reading of it now should not make them all become Christians Yet they reply still and say What lykelyhod is there that this Iesus was the Messias comming so attyred as he did Or were not we at least wyse woorthie to be excused for not knowing him comming disguysed after that manner Nay I demaund of you after what other sort he could or should come considering that hee came to humble himself and to be crucified for vs You looked to haue had him princelyke and he was forepromised poore a Warryour and it was told you he should be beaten and wounded with a greate trayne and he is descrybed alone vppon an Asse with a companie of wyues and there was no mo spoken of but only one with tryumphing and feasting and yee were informed aforehand that his bread should be stéeped in vineger and his Cup be full of gall and bitternesse You imagin vnder him eyther the Peace of Salomon or the Conquests of greate Alexander peace to manure Iewrie at your ease and Warre to reape the riches of the Gentyles But he came to appease Gods wrath and to vanquish the Diuell and thenceforth to make Iewes and Gentyles equall Of these two commings which is most meete both for Gods glorie and for his owne Admit he had the Empyre of Cyrus and Alexander admit he had all the power and riches of all the Kingdomes that euer were in the world what were all this but a witnesse of his want and an abate 〈◊〉 of his glorie As for example Moyses led Sixhundred thousand feyghting men out of Egipt and with the stroke of his rod he passed the red Sea and drouned the Egiptians therein Now in whether had Gods glorie more appeared and the calling of Moyses bin better warranted â— by his winning of a battell ageinst the Egiptians with so greate a nomber of men or by ouerthrowing them with one stroke of a rod In reducing the King to reason by force of armes or in making him to seeke mercy by an hoste of fleas and lyce Let vs come now to Christ. He was to subdewe the world vnder his obedience Whether was it more to his glorie and more correspondent to his Godhead to haue done it by inuesting himself in an Empyre or by ridding himself of all worldly meanes by force of armes or by his only word By conquering men with shewe of pompe or by winning them with suffering reproche at their hand By tryumphing ouer them or by being crucified by them By being alyue or euen by being dead By killing his enemyes or by yéelding vnto them By ouerthrowing his foes or by sending his seruants to suffer whatsoeuer they would do vnto them For who séeth not that in the victories of Princes their men bée partakers with them of their glorie And that in battells betwéene men the Horse and the speare haue their part And that oftentimes the harnesse and the very shadowe of the Crests of their helmets as yee would say do step in for a share Surely therefore wee may well say that Iesus could not haue shewed his Godhead better than in comming like an abiect miserable man nor his strength better than in comming in feblenesse nor his myght than in infirmitie nor his glory than in despisednes nor his eternitie than in dying nor his rysing ageine than in being buryed nor his whole presence than 〈◊〉 his way hence nor finally his quickening life than in conquering the world by the death of his Diciples For had he come otherwise man had had the glory thereof the stronglyer he had come the lesse had bin his victorie and the more pomp he had pretended outwardly the lesse had he alwayes vttered his Godhead and the more excusable had both the Iewes and Gentyles bin in not receyuing him To be short wil ye sée that he was the same sonne of God which was present with God at the creating of the world God created the world without matter or stuffe whereof and without help by his only word And Iesus being destitute of all help and meane hath conquered the world with his only word euen by his 〈◊〉 death which séemeth to haue bene a cleare dispatch of him What greater maiestie or greatnesse can we imagine than this Yea but say they where bee the signes promised by the Prophets and specially the euerlasting peace which Christ was to bring vnto the world which should turne Swords into Mattocks and Speares into Coulters To this we may answer that Iesus was borne vnder the Emperour Augustus at which tyme the Histories tell vs that the Temple of Iauus at Rome was shut vpâ— and all the world was at peace throughout as who would saythat by that meane God meant to open a free way to the preaching of his Gospell But let them first of all marke here their owne contrarietie of speech in that they require of vs here a generall peace and in other places speake of battelles against Gog and Magog and of the bathing of themselues in the blud of the Gentyles insomuch as they say that their second Messias the Sonne of Ioseph shal be slayne in battell Nay as he is a spirituall King so bee his warres and peace spirituall also Esay calleth him a man of warre but of his warres he sayth They shall turne their swordes into Coulters On the contrary part he calleth him that Prince of peace but of such peace wherof it is sayd The chastisemeÌ„t of our peace was layd vpon him and by his stripes are we healed that is to wit he was wounded for our misdeedes and torne for our iniquities To be short Micheas sayth He himselfe shal be the peace Neuerthelesse to the intent ye should not thinke he meaneth of your manuring of your grounds of your dressing of your â—ine-yards yet shall not the Assyrian sayth he ceasse to come into our Land and to march in our Palaces And therefore doth Ieremie well say He shall breake the yoke from thy necke burst asunder thy bonds howbeit as he expoundeth himselfe in another place in such sort as thou shalt not serue straunge Gods any more that is to say he will both winne vs victorie and be our victorie himself against the Deuil and also both purchace vs peace and be our peace vnto God according to this which he sayth another where
such a one and to imbrace his doctrine with all our heart Howbeit to take all cause of doubt from the Heathen let vs shewe them yet further that Iesus is God the sonne of God without the testimonie of the Scriptures For it may be that although they will not beleeue Iesus to be very God by meanes of our Scriptures yet they will beléeue our Scriptures to be of GOD in very deede when they shall see that Iesus is God whose comming hath bene declared so plainly and so long aforehand in our Scriptures But to begin withall let vs call to mynd this saying of Porphyrius That Gods prouidence hath not left mankind without an vniuersall cleansing and that the same cannot be done but by one of the beginnings that is to wit by one of the three Persones or Inbeeings of Gods essence And likewise these poynts which I haue proued already namely That man is created to liue for euer That by his corruption hée is falne from Gods fauour into his displeasure and consequently excluded from that blessednes That to bring him in fauour ageine a Mediator must step in who must be man that he may susteine the death which mankind hath deserued and God that he may triumphe ouer death and decke vs with his desert And such a one doe we say the same Iesus is which was crucified by the Iewes and beleeued on among the Gentyles of olde tyme And God of his grace graunt in our tyme to inlighten all those to whom he hath not as yet giuen grace to beléeue Surely as the Mediator came for the Gentyles as well as for the Iewes that is to say for all men so it should seeme that the Gentiles had some incling thereof reuealed to them from GOD that they might prepare themselues to receiue him In the Scripture we reade of a Prophet named Balaam who prophesied plainly enough of Christ. And some auncient writers say that his Prophesie and the prophesie of one other named Seth were kept in the East partes of the world And Iob who was an Edomite sayth I am sure that my Redeemer liueth and shall stand vp last vppon the earth Also the Sibils and specially Sibill of Erithra who is so famous aboue the rest at leastwise if the bookes which wee haue vnder their names be theirs doe tell vs that he should be the sonne of God be borne of a Uirgin be named Iesus woorke miracles be crucified by the Iewes be raysed ageine to glory come in the ende to iudge both the quicke and the dead and so foorth and that which is a greater matter in such termes and with such particularities as it seemeth to be the very Gospel turned into verse as though God had meant to vtter his misteries more manifestly by them to the Gentiles than he had done to the Iewes bycause the Gentyles had not bene inured to the heauēly doctrine any long time aforehand and namely to the hope of the Redéemer And as for them which thinke those bookes to haue bene counterfetted in those Sibils names surely they may more easely say it than proue it but I passe not greatly for that For as Suetonius Tranquillus reporteth the Emperour Augustus made them to bee locked vp in two Cofers of gold at the foote of the Image of Apollo on mount Palatine in Rome where it was hard for men to haue falsifyed them And in the tyme of Origen of Clement of Alexandria and of Iustine the Martir which was not long after the preaching of the Apostles those bookes were abrode in the world as appeareth by the discourses of Celsus the Epicure who sayth in deede that they were counterfet but hee proueth it not Also the Emperour Constantine in a certeine Oration of his witnesseth that hee had séen and read them and referred the Gentiles of his time to them Well it cannot be denied but that there was at leastwise some such like thing For Cicero in his bookes of Diuination writeth these words Let vs obserue the bookes of Sibyll We must name vs some King if we will liue in safetie And yet all men knowe how hatefull a thing the name of King was both to all the Romaines and to Cicero him selfe Also he maketh mention of Sibils Acrosticke that is to say of certeyne verses of hirs whose first letters made the name of that King of which sort wee haue some in the eighth booke of the Sibyls wherevpon he concludeth that they had a sound and wel setled mynd Moreouer the Emperour Constantine affirmeth that Cicero had translated the booke Sibyll of Erithra that Antonie would haue had it abolished In these bookes it was sayd that as soone as the Romanes had set the King of AEgipt againe in his State by and by should bee borne the King of the whole worlde And therefore Cicero writing to Lentulus who sewed to haue that charge doth mention that Oracle vnto hym and the Romaines made a dout whether they might restore the King of AEgipt or no by reason of that matter whereof the Sibyls doe make some spéeche in their second booke Neuerthelesse when the Romaines had well canuased the case Gabinus conueyed home Ptolomie King of AEgipt into his Kingdome and at the same time was Iesus Christ borne Virgill who by the fauour of Augustus had accesse to those bookes made an Eglog which is but a translation of certeine of the Uerses of those Sibyls concerning the happie state which Sibyll behighted by Iesus Christ the sonne of God sauing that Virgil not looking deepely into the matter applyed it wholy to one Salonine in fauour of Augustus whō he meant to flatter After which manner the Romanes wrested this famous foresaying of Syria to the Emperour Vespasian That out of Iewrie should come the Souereine of the whole world But wee reade that one Secundian a notable man in the tyme of the Emperor Decian and one Verian a Peinter and one Marcelline an Orator became Christians vpon the onely reading and conferring of those Oracles And therefore the first writers among the Christians as Iustine Origen Clement such others doe sommon the Heathen to the bookes of the Sibyls because they would not with their good willes haue beléeued ours and also to a former prophesie of one Histaspes which spake plainly of the comming of the sonne of God into the world and of the conspiring of all kingdomes ageinst him and his And therefore all those bookes were forbidden by the Heathen Emperours vpon peyne of death But God of his wonderfull prouidence had prouided for the Saluation of the Gentyles by scattering the Iewish nations with their books and prophesies into all the fower quarters of the World howbeit that we reade not of any other Linage or Nation to haue bene so scattered without losing their tytles their bookes their name and the very knowledge of their original which prerogatiue the Iewes had to the intent they should bee
Preachers of the comming of the Mediator and witnesses of the antiquitie trueth and vncorruptnes of the Prophestes ageinst the effect whereof neuerthelesse they set themselues with all their power For what better witnesses I pray you could the Gentyles haue than the Iewes themselues namely in that they being the putters of Iesus and of his disciples to death were ready notwithstanding to dye for the trueth soundnesse of the bookes wherein he was foreshewed foretold and fore-promised vnto them at all tymes Furthermore that this King promised by the Prophetes and the Sibyls should deliuer the Law of good lyfe to the whole world Cicero séemeth to haue had some vnderstanding howsoeuer he came by it or els I caÌ„not tell wherto I should apply this goodly sentence of his in his third booke of his Commonweale Soothly the very Lawe in deede sayth he is right reason shed into all men constant euerlasting which calleth all men to their duetie by commaunding and frayeth them from fraud by forbidding which yet notwithstanding neither biddeth nor forbiddeth in vayne to the good nor by bidding or forbidding moueth the bad From this lawe may nothing be taken to it may nothing be put neither may it be wholy abrogated Neither Senate nor Pope can discharge vs of this Lawe neither needeth there any interpreter or expounder thereof to make it playne There shall not bee one Lawe at Rome and another at Athens one tooday and another toomorrowe But one selfesame Lawe being both euerlasting and vnchaungeable shall conteyne all Nations and at all tymes and there shall be but one common mayster and commaunder of all euen God He is the deuiser the discusser and the giuer of this Lawe which who will not obey shall flee from himselfe as if he disdeined to be a man which dooing of his must needes be a sore punishment vnto him though hee were sure to scape all other punishments Who seeth not here that this Heathen man espyed that all Lawes of man are but vanitie and that he looked that God himselfe should come openly into the sight of the world to giue a good lawe to Mankind Now Iesus hath manifestly giuen this Lawe causing it to be published by his Apostles and their voyce sounded to the vttermost bounds of the earth And for proof hereof what is more conuenient and meete for man in the iudgement of conscience than to loue God with all his heart and all his Soule and his neighbour as himself which yet notwithstanding doth more surmount our abilitie to performe and more bewray our corruption and more condemne whatsoeuer is in vs of our owne than doth the Lawe it selfe vniuersally in all mankind On the contrarie part what find we in all the writings of the Heathen but a Hireling vertue and a teaching to cloke vice that is to say Hipocrisie But as this Lawe is verily of God so let vs see whether the bringer thereof bee God And I beseech all worldly wise men not to hearken vnto mee by halues nor to looke vpon things at a glaunce for I come not to daly with them but to yeeld mée both their eares and to looke wistly to bend all their wits aduisedly for the néerer they looke vnto the matter the more deliberatly they consider of it the sooner will they yeeld to our doctrine as to the vndoubted trueth yea as to very nature it self Iesus therefore is borne in the little Countrie of Iewrie subdewed by the Romaines of poore parents in a sorie Uillage destitute of friends and of all worldly helpes and yet was he to be Emperour of the whole world to giue the Law to the whole world Let vs see the procéeding of this Emperour of his Empyre Amend sayth he and beleeue the Gospell for the kingdome of Heauen is at hand If we consider the maiestie of the Romaine Empyre the eloquence and learning of the great Clerks and the pride of the Sophists and Orators of that tyme what greater fondnesse could there be to all seeming than to talke after that maner Who would not haue thought folly both in Christ and in his Apostles for their preaching so But what addeth he Whosoeuer wil come into this kingdome let him forsake goodes father moother wife children yea and himselfe too And let him take vp his Crosse and followe me Let him thinke himself happie that he may suffer a thousand miseries for me and that in the end he may dye for my names sake What maner of priuiledges are these I beseech you to drawe people into that kingdome What a hope is it for them that serue him What are these promises of his but threatnings and his perswasioÌ„s but disswasions What say we to a friend whom we turne from some other man but thus eschewe that mans companie for ye shall haue nothing with him but trauell and trouble And what worse could the veriest enemies of his doctrine say than he himselfe sayd Also what a saying of his was this to S. Paule a man of reputation among the Pharisies and greatly imployed afore in following the world I wil shew thee how great things thou hast to indure for my names sake And yet notwithstanding what a sodeyne chaunge insewed from apprehending and imprisoning to bee apprehended and imprisoned from being a Iudge to be whipped and scourged from stoning of others to death to offer himselfe from Citie to Citie to bee stoned for the name of Iesus Let vs heare on the contrarie part the voyce of a worldly Conquerour Whosoeuer will followe me sayth Cyrus to the Lacedemonians if he be a footman I will make him a Horseman if he bee a Horseman I will giue him a Charyot if he haue a Manor I will giue him a Towne if he haue a Towne I wil giue him a Citie if he haue a Citie I will giue him a Countrie and as for Gold he shall haue it by weight and not by tale What â—ddes is there betwéene the spéeches of these two Monarkes and much more betwéene their Conquests And therefore what comparison can there bee betwixt the Conquerours themselues This Cyrus as great an Emperour as he was could not haue the Lacedemonians to serue him for all his great offers But Iesus being poore abiect and vnregarded did by his rigorous threats euen after his own suffering of reprochfull death and his manacing of the like to his followers drawe all people and Nations vnto him and not only Souldyers but also Emperours nor only Cities but also whole Empyres Cyrus dyed in conquering and Iesus conquered by dying The death of Cyrus decayed his owne kingdome as a bodie without a soule But the death of Iesus inlarged his kingdome euen ouer the Empyres And how could that haue bene but that the death of Iesus was the life of all Empyres and all Kingdomes Who seeth not then in the mightinesse of the one a humaine weakenesse and in the weakenesse of the other a diuine mightinesse Wee woonder
the Sunne doe shed his beames he doth both inlighten it and heate it howbeit diuersly according to the nature and condition of the places and things that receyue him some more and some lesse some brightlyer and some dimlyer But howsoeuer the case stande his light yéeldeth no darknesse nor his heate any cold So then if the diuersities of mens imaginations doe cause diuersities of effects in the inspiration or influence that floweth into the capacitie of our vnderstanding surely it must néedes bee after this maner namely that one man shall vnderstand one selfesame thing more and another man lesse but not in that any man shall take vntruth for truth vnright for right or one thing for another Now we see vnto how many errors wee bee subiect I meane not in such things as this namely that one man seeth better a farre of and another better at hand but that one man seeth white and another seeth blacke which are things contrary in one selfesame ground and at one selfesame tyme. It followeth therefore that diuers and sundries mynds doe worke in diuers persons and not one selfsame mynd in al persons By force of which reasons and of such others I say that euery mā shall finde in himselfe and of himselfe That euery man hath a particular Soule by himself that is to say a spirituall substance vnited to his body which in respect of giuing life to the body is as the forme therof and in respect of giuing reason is as the guyde of our actions That in euery man there is a certeyne Sunbeame of Reason whereby they conceyue things and debate vpon them wherethrough it commeth to passe that oftentymes they agrée both in the Reason it selfe which is one and in the manifest grounds therof and in whatsoeuer dependeth euidently vpon the same That euery man hath also a peculiar body by himselfe and likewise peculiar complexion humours imaginations education custome and trade of life whereof it commeth that euery man takes a diuers way yea and that one selfsame person swarueth diuersly from the vnitie of Reason wherof the path is but one and the waies to stray from it are infinite That this Sunbeame of reason which shineth and sheadeth it self from our mynd is properly that vnderstanding which is termed The vnderstanding in abilitie or possibilitie which is increased and augmented by all the things which it seeth heareth or lighteth vppon like fire which gathereth increase of strength by the abundance of the fewell that is put vnto it and becommeth after a sort infinite by spreading it selfe abroad Also it is the same which otherwise we call the Memorie of vnderstāding or myndfull Memorie and it is nothing els but an abundance of Reason and as it were a hoorder vp of the continuall influences of the Mynd That the Mynd from whence this floweth as from his spring is properly that which they the sayd Auerrhoes and Alexander doe terme the working or workfull Mynd which is a certeyne power or force that can skill to extend reason from one thing to another and to procéede from things sensible to things vnsensible from things mouable to things vnmouable from bodily to spirituall from effects to causes and from beginnings to ends by the meane causes This Mynd is in respect of Reason as cunning is in respect of an Instrument or toole and Reason as in respect of imagination and of the things that are sensible is as an Instrument or toole in respect of the matter or stuffe that it workes vpon Or to speake more fitly this Mynd is vnto Reason as the mouer of a thing is to the thing that is mouable and Reason is to her obiects as the mouable thing is to the thing whereunto it is moued For to reason or debate is nothing els but to procéed from a thing that is vnderstoode to a thing that is not vnderstoode of purpose to vnderstand it and the vnderstanding thereof is a resting that inseweth vppon it as a staying or resting after mouing That both of them as well the one as the other are but onely one selfesame substance and like as a man both when he moueth and whē he resteth is all one and the same man or as the power that moueth the Sinewes is one selfesame still both when it stirreth them and when it holdeth them still so the reasonable or vnderstanding Soule that is in euery man is but onely one selfesame substance bodylesse and immateriall executing his powers partly of it selfe and partly by our bodies And seeing that Auerrhoes and Alexander make so great estimation and account of the effects which are wrought in vs that they bée inforced to attribute them to some vncorruptible and euerlasting Mynd let vs take of them that in very trueth the thing which worketh so great woonders in the body can be neither sence nor body nor imagination but a diuine vncorruptible and immortall mynd as they themselues say But let vs learne the thing of mo than them which al wise men teach vs and which euery of vs can learne of himself namely that this Understanding or Mynde is not one vniuersall thing as the Sunne is that shineth into all the windowes of a Citie but rather a particular substance in euery seuerall man as a light to leade him in the darknesse of this life for surely it was no more difficultie to the euerlasting GOD to create many sundrie Soules that euery man might haue one seuerally alone by himselfe than to haue created but onely one Soule for all men together But it was farre more for his glorie to bee knowne praysed and exalted of many Soules yea and more for our welfare to prayse exalt and knowe him yea and to liue of our selues both in this life and in the life to come than if any other vniuersall Spirit Soule or Mynd whatsoeuer should haue liued and vnderstoode eyther in vs or after vs. Now then for this matter let vs conclude both by reason and by antiquitie and by the knowledge that euery of vs hath of himselfe That the Soule and the Body be things diuers That the Soule is a Spirit and not a Body That this Spirit hath in man three abilities or powers whereof two bee exercised by the body and the third worketh of it selfe without the body That these three abilities are in the one onely Soule as in their roote whereof two doe ceasse whensoeuer the body fayleth them and yet notwithstanding the Soule abideth whole without abatemēt of any of her powers as a Craftsman continueth a Craftsman though he want tooles to worke withal And finally that this Soule is a substance that continueth of it selfe and is vnmateriall and spirituall ouer the which neither death nor corruption can naturally haue any power And for a conclusion of all that euer I haue treated of hetherto in this booke let vs mainteyne That there is but only one God who by his owne goodnesse and wisedome is the Creator and gouerner of the
world and of all that is therein That in the world he created Man after his owne Image as in respect of mynd and after the Image of his other creatures as in respect of life sence and mouing mortall so farre foorth as he holdeth the likenesse of a creature and immortall so farre foorth as he beareth the Image of the Creator that is to wit in his Soule That he which goeth out of himself to see the world doth forthwith see that there is a God for his workes declare him euerywhere That he which will yet still doubt thereof néedeth but to enter into himselfe and he shall meete him there for he shall finde there a power which he seeth not That he which beléeueth there is one God beléeueth himselfe to bee immortall for such consideration could not light into a mortal nature and that he which beléeueth himselfe to be immortal beléeueth that there is a God for without the vnutterable power of the one God the mortall and immortall could neuer ioyne together That he which seeth the order of the world the proportion of man and the harmonie that is in eyther of them compounded of so many contraries cannot doubt that there is a Prouidence for the nature which hath furnished them therewith cannot bee vnfurnished thereof it selfe but as it once had a care of them so can it not shake of the same care from them Thus haue we thrée Articles which followe interchaungeably one another Insomuch that he which proueth any one of them doth proue them all thrée notwithstāding that I haue treated of euery of them seuerally by it selfe Now let vs pray the euerlasting God that wee may glorifie him in his workes in this world and he voutsafe of his mercie to glorifie vs one day in the world to come Amen The xvj Chapter That mans nature is corrupted man falne from his first originall and how YET for all this let not man bee proude of the excellencie or immortalitie of his Soule for the more he hath receyued of his maker the more is he indebted to him and the more excellent that his nature is the more lothsome and daungerous is the corruption therof The Peacocke is sayd to be proud of his gay fethers when he sets vp his tayle round about him but when he hath once stretched out his wings he falles into a dump and as soone as he lookes vpon his féete he casts mée downe his tayle and is ashamed Euen so as long as we thinke vpon the liuelinesse of our Spirit and the excellencie of our Soule as in respect of the nature thereof surely wee haue whereof to glorifie God that gaue it vnto vs and of his gracious goodnesse hath voutsafed to honor vs aboue al other creatures On the other side if wee consider how this nature of ours is straungely defiled and corrupted and how farre it is digressed from the first originall thereof surely there is no remedie but we must be ashamed of our selues and woonder to see from how great a heigth we be now falne and sunke downe Euen so the best Wine becommeth the sharpest and eagrest Uineger and of Egges which were in old tyme the delicats of Kings is made the rankest poyson For looke what degrée of goodnesse a thing holdeth while it abydeth in his nature the same degrée of euill doth it come vnto when it falleth into corruption Now then looke how much our originall generation was the better so much shall the corruption that lighteth into it be the woorser which thing according to the order which I haue vsed hetherto wee may examine towards God towards the world towards men and towards our selues Greatly in good sooth is man bound vnto God if he would consider it and very blynd is hée if he haue not the skill to perceiue it Of the great multitude of Creatures which God had created hee hath giuen to some but onely bare béeing to some both béeing and lyfe and to other some both béeing lyfe and sence But vnto man he hath giuen all these and moreouer a reasonable mynd whereby he and onely he héere beneath knoweth in all things what they haue and what they bee which thing they themselues knowe not Which is an euident proof that whatsoeuer they haue or whatsoeuer they be they haue it and are it for man not for themselues For to what purpose are all their vertues and excellent properties if they themselues knowe them not The Sonne excellent among the celestiall bodyes and the Rose among flowers The beast is a degree aboue the Trees and among the Beastes one hath some one poynt which another hath not But what skilles it what thou art or what thou hast if thou knowe it not What booteth thee the light if thou see it not what art thou the better for swéete sents if thou smell them not Or what auayleth it thee to excell in any thing if thou discerne it not Of a trueth only man of al the things in this inferior World can skill of these things and how to inioy them and therfore it must néedes be that they were made for none but him that is to wit that to speake properly GOD hath giuen vnto him whatsoeuer all other creatures either haue or be and he hath not dealt with him simply as with a Creature but rather as with a Child of his for whom he hath expresly created this worlde and giuen it him to possesse Now if the thing that is possessed bee infinitely lesse than the possessor thereof and the world is giuen to man to possesse how farre then doth man excell the world And how greatly is man bound vnto God who created him of nothing that is to say not only hath giuen the world vnto man but also giuen euen man to man himselfe Wherefore if he acknowledge not him to whom he is beholden not only for this inheritance but also euen for his owne being what shall we say but that he is an vnnaturall and bastardly Childe euen such a one as hath lost not onely his right mynd but also euen his sences But of so many men of whom all and singuler persons stand bound both ioyntly and seuerally in the whole and for the whole of that great bond for performance of the Condition thereof how fewe be there which doe once thinke of it and how much fewer be there which thinke well of it Nay how fewe bee there which knowe that there is such a bond and how much fewer doe dispose themselues to acknowledge it And if perchaunce some one or two among many doe dispose them selues thereunto yet notwithstanding who is he that euer was able to atteyne vnto it considering that it importeth a yéelding vnto God of that which is his due that is to wit the imploying of our selues and of all that he hath giuen vnto vs euen our whole being and life our Sences our Reason our doings and finally all that euer we haue both within and without