this tract my sonne in regarde of my loue to vardes man and my dutye towards God Illud vero ex mente lucidum verbīs filius Det that same pure worde which is borne of God is the sonne of God Natura diuina principium entium the diuine nature is the beginning of all thinges Deus et pater bonum eandem habent naturam quid est Deus pater bonum quam omnium esse God the Father and Goodnes haue the same nature what is God the Father and Goodnes but the very essence and being of all thinges Here is a manifest acknowledgement of the Trinitye To leaue particular men what answere the Atheists to the iudgement of the worlde the consent of nations Tully draweth his argument in this manner Deus esse non est dubitandum quoniam corum notitiam omnium animis ipsa impressit natura that there is a God it is without question because all nations doe acknowledge and confesse him by the instinct of nature But in an other place saith he Omnium consensus vox naturae est the consent of all men is the voyce of nature it selfe I haue shewed how all nations imbrace some religion or other haue their Altars their Priests their Gods as the Hebrues from Moses so the Egiptians from Mercury the Cretians from Melissus the Latins frō Ianus the Romans from Numa the Greckes frō Orpheus and Cadmus and all nations from one or other St. Augustin saith concerning miracles Non nunc necessaria sunt vt olim miracula tum facta erant necessario priusquam crederet mundus ad hoc vt crederet mundus quisquis autem adhuc vt credat prodigia requirit magnum est ipse prodigium qui mundo credente non credit Now miracles are not so necessary as in times past they were before they were necessary that so the worlde might beleeue but now he is a miracle his selfe that will not beleeue because the world beleeueth But say I as he is a wonder that will not beleeue that which the worlde beleeueth so he is a monster which will not confesse that which the world confesseth A fourth argument to proue there is a God is the great multitude of miracles which haue beene manifested to the worlde euen such things as are farre aboue the strength of nature therfore needs must proceed from some higher supernaturall cause and who is that metaphysicall cause but euen Natura naturans God him selfe For example slightly to passe ouer so many earthquakes which haue ouerthrowne whole Cityes as Eutropius sheweth how the yeare after St. Pauls death the Citye of Colossus was swallowed vp for despising St. Pauls doctine They are not vnacquainted with the Historiographers which shewe how by an earthquake the Iland of Sicily was made an Iland being before one maine continent with Italy how Europe and Africa were parted when Spaine was deuided from Barbary which before were one land And that I may speak that which mine eyes haue seene Vienna the cheife Citye of Austria is now more subiecte to earthquakes then other places in the worlde besides in so much that there is scarce one house in the Citye which hath not one rent or other in the stone wall which came onely by earthquakes And because that place hath beene more subiecte to earthquakes then other places one of the Bishops of that Sea heretofore deuised a certaine prayer continually to be said in the Churches of Vienna to this effect that God would defend that Citye from earthquakes Let the Atheist satisfie me by a natural reason concerning this poynt else let him confesse that there is a supernatural cause which if they doe that is God What can they saye to so manye strange Eclipses to so manye prodigious raines as when it rayned bloud flesh stones coles of fire of which they may read at large in Liuy Plutarch and other authors what say they to so many comets appearing in the ayre after which stil doe insue the death of so many Princes as namely the Comet which appeared in the yeare 1506. after which ensued the death of Philip King of Spayn sonne and heyre to Maximlian the Emperour Philip Prince Elector of Rhene Albert Duke of Bauaria Pope Iuly the second Iohn King of Suecia and Noruegia Lewis king of France Maximiliā the Emperour the Bish of Spire the Archbishops of Colen Magdeburg the venetiā wars the wars between the Turke and the Persian the King of Denmarke Christian driuen out of his Kingdome Hungary inuaded and Rhodes taken by the Turke Lewis King of Hungary slayne who can giue a naturall reason of this and many other like vnto this But I will stand especially vpon two things which haue troubled the wise men of the world let the Atheists yeild naturall reasons how these things could be else let thē cōfesse there is a God w c is aboue nature First the Starre which apeared at the birth of our Sauiour being neither a fixed starre nor yet a Planet for it was nothing like vnto either of them if we doe respecte the motion of it the place where and the time when it apeared and the vse whervnto it serued For it neither moued as the fixed starres from the Est to the West nor as the Planets from the West to the Est but from the Est to the South the like neuer heard of before nor since When the Sunne shined it also shone when the wise men came to Palestina it went before them when they came to Ierusalem it vanished away when they went to Bethleem it went before them againe as if it were a creature indued with reason and vnderstanding it shewed them the verye house where the Childe did lye whereas a naturall starre by reason of the great distance betweene heauen earth could not discouer vnto them the place and scituation of a great Citye much lesse of a small house when they went forward it went forward whē they stood still it stood still And as St. Augustin saith Quid erat illa stellanisi magnifica lingua coeli quae nec vnquam antea inter sidera apparuit nec postea demonstranda perntansit quid erat nisi magnifica lingua coeli quae gloriam Dei narraret quae inusitatum virginis partum inusitato fulgore clamaret cui non postea apparenti euangelium toto Orbe succederet What starre was that which was neuer seene before nor since but the wonderfull voyce of heauen which should declare the glory of God and publish to the worlde the vnvsuall Child-bearing of a Virgin by an vnvsuall brightnes which should neuer afterward apeare againe but in steed of it should be the glorious Gospell of Iesus Christ If you aske me what proofe I haue besides the Gospell that euer there apeared such a starre witnes Ignatius which sawe our Sauiour in the flesh Prudentius the Poet Macrobius a professed enemye to Christiā religion which testifieth
this long peace which we haue enioyed hath increased our riches riches haue made vs to forget God and so like an vnnaturall daughter peace hath deuoured religion which bred and maintayned peace in the world The Prophecie is verifyed In these last dayes since the mountaine of the house of God hath beene prepared in the top of the mountaines and hath beene exalted aboue the hilles and all nations haue flowed vnto it and many people haue gone said Come let vs goe vp to the mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob and he will teach vs his wayes and we will walke in his pathes our swordes haue beene broken into mattocks our speares into sythes nation hath not lifted vp a sworde against nation neither haue they learned to fight any more The Lamb dwelling with the Wolfe hath beene in safetie the Kid with the Leopard the Cow feeding with the Beare the Calfe with the Lyon the sucking Childe hath plaied vpon the hole of the Asp the weaned Childe hath put his hand into the hole of the Cockatrice without any hurt and the reason is alleaged by the Prophet Because the earth was full of the knowledge of the Lord euen as the waters that couer the sea This Prophecye you see is fulfilled But these sayings are by them mistaken For Tully doth not argue in this manner that we must holde there is a God and maintaine religion that so ciuill gouernment may be maintayned and men may liue orderly in a common wealth But his meaning is cleane contrary that we must performe all ciuill duties in a common wealth for religion sake and we must be religious for Gods sake because there is a God which hath ingraffed religion in our hearts whereby ciuill states may be the better maintayned and which will punish all such as are not religious that is which haue not a true feeling of religion And it was not the meaning of the Prophet Esay that after the knowledge of true religion had planted peace among vs and peace had brought prosperitie then we should cease to be religious so forget God but rather increase our zeale and hauing receiued such benefits at his hands whome we serue continue faithfull in his seruice A second cause of Atheisme may be the want of due right hearing of the worde preached because faith commeth by hearing and therefore where there is a want of hearing faith fayleth and by a consequent Pagisme and infidelitie increaseth For many of them doe not heare but absent them-selues or if they be present they stand not for figures but for cyphers they doe not by the worde preached as the virgin Mary did by the sayings of our Sauiour Christ which layed thē vp in her heart or as Abraham did by the Angels which receiued them into his house or as the Sunamite woman did by Elizeus or the widowe by Elias which entertayned them with willingnes The worde to them is not as the raine of heauen falling vpon the earth or the deawe of Hermon vpon mount Sion but as the Childrens bread cast before whelpes or pearls cast before swine seede sowen by the high way side the peace of the Apostles bestowed vpon vnworthye houses and therefore returneth backe againe They stop their cares with the Adder or sleep with Eutichus or make loue as the Egiptians did to Aholah and Aholibah cloathed with blewe silke and diuers suites pleasant young men that they may set Aholah and Aholibah on fire bruise the brestes of their virginitye and powre out their adulterie vpon them as the Prophet speaketh Some heare the Preacher with great attention but as the Pharisies did our Sauiour to intrappe him in his speech to take exception against his wordes as the Athenians did St. Paul to scoffe at his simplicitie they read the Bible but as Porphurye did to finde as they prophanely call them absurdities and contradictions in the worde of God not as the Bee which gathereth honye but as the Spider which sucketh poyson out of wholsome flowers A third cause of Atheisme proceedeth from the long suffring of God which doth not presently punish Atheists For he doth not onely with patience suffer them to blaspheme his holy name but also in his wisdome which no man can sound in his iudgementes whome no man can search blesseth them with worldly blessings as if he did reward their vngodlines It is not my complaint alone but it is the complaint of the Prophet Dauid which cryeth out in this manner Why standest thou so farre off ô Lord and hydest thee in due time euen in affliction the wicked hath made boast of his owne hearts desire and the couetous blesseth himselfe he contemneth the Lord he is so proud that he seeketh not for God he thinketh alwaies there is no God his wayes alwaies prosper he saith in his heart I shall neuer be moued nor be in danger Nay it may very well be said as it was of Iob that the Lord hath made an hedge about him his house and about all that he hath on euery side he hath blessed the worke of his handes and his substance is encreased in the Land The Lord suffred his owne Arke to be taken by the Philistins his enemies and his owne people the Iraēlites which fought his battle to be ouerthrowne in the battell And this cōmendation is giuen of the godly King Iosias that he read the lawe of the Lord before the people he made a couenant with the Lord that the people should walke after the Lord and keep his commandements his testimonies statutes with all their hearts all their soules all the people stood to the couenant he purged the Temple and put downe the Idols he slewe the idolatrous Priests he kept such a passeouer in honour of God as neuer the like was holden from the daies of the Iudges y t iudged Israel nor in al the daies of the Kings of Israel the Kings of Iuda he tooke away thē which had familier spirits and the sooth-sayers and the Images and the Idols and all the abhominations that were espyed in the Land of Iuda and Ierusalem that like vnto him there was no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart all his soule and all his might according to all the lawe of Moses neither after him arose there any like him And yet see how the Lord rewarded him The very next thing which followeth in the same Text is this Pharao slewe him at Megiddo Thus you see how the Lord rewarded faithfull Iosias which serued him trusted in him with death in this worlde and ouerthrowe in sighting of his owne battell and gaue the victory to Pharao an heathen King which put no trust nor considence in him Likewise Nabucodonozor burned Gods house robbed his Temple in contempt of him and his seruice yet God prospered him as if
of fayth which are to be beleued concerning him Being not able to preuaile therein he descended to the Article of the holy Ghost and so stirred vp Macedonius to deny the Godhead of the holy Ghost Being not able to preuaile therein he went to the Articles concerning the Church and so in sundrye ages hath gone from one Article to an other vntill he hath gone ouer all the Articles of the Creed Now being disproued in them all he doth not so rest but returneth againe to the first at which he began not to proue a multiplicitie of Gods as he did before endeuour but to proue a nullitie of any God by disprouing the God-head either of the Father or of the Sonne or of the holy Ghost of all three But he goeth to worke with greater violence to chop off all fayth all religion at one blowe by prouing that there is neuer a God and to this purpose hath he armed his Polititians with arguments against the Bible But to them may be applyed the wordes of Policarpus to Marcian the haereticke who being asked of him Agnoscis me ô Policarpe Dost thou acknowledge me ô Policarpus answered him Agnosco te esse primogenitum Satanae I knowe thee very well thou art the sonne and heire of the Deuill The last cause of Atheisme is the lenitye and ouer great mildnes of Princes and Gouernours which doe suffer Atheists to escape vnpunished I may iustly say it is their fault that there are Atheists that will suffer Atheists For so saith the holye Ghost concerning Azariah the King of Iudah He did vprightly in the sight of the Lord according to all that his Father Amaziah did but the high places were not taken away for the people yet offered and burned Incense in the high places And the Lord smote the King he was a leper vnto the day of his death The King him-selfe you see is commaunded to be a godly man not he but his subiects committed idolatrye yet God punisheth him for the idolatrye of his subiects But that could not stand with the iustice of God to punish the King for his subiects offences vnles it were the Kings faulte that the subiects offended Where the Spanish Inquisition is it is a very rare thing to heare of an Atheist which I speake not to that end as if I did wish that Inquisition to be brought into any Christian Kingdome but onely to shewe that it is better to liue where there is too much seueritie rather then too much loosenes and where nothing is lawfull rather then where all things are permitted as if they were lawfull The Lord of his mercy stirre vp the hearts of all his annoynted Princes inflame their Zeale that they may not onely hate Atheisme as I hope they doe with a perfecte hatred but also banish such impietye that heereafter not onely the opinions but also the verye name of Atheist may be as it were buried in hell and no more heard of in their Kingdomes Chapter 3. How Atheisme may be rooted out of all Christian landes AS prosperitie causeth many men to forget God and others to denye God so aduersitie sicknes imprisonment such like chastisements of God for sinne will make wicked men not onely to acknowledge confesse God but also to stoop downe before him and to flye for succour vnto him When Iulian the apostata was deadly wounded by a dart from heauē he could not be silent but that plague extorted out of his mouth a confession of the power of Iesus Christ whome before he had denyed he cryed out Vicisti Galilaee Iesus of Galile the conquest is thine Though Pharao in his prosperitie had said who is the Lord I knowe him not I will not let the people goe yet when his land was plagued with Frogges he called for Moses and Aaron and said Pray ye for me vnto the Lord that he may take away the Frogges from me and from my people and I will let the people goe that they may doe sacrifice to the Lord But as soone as God gaue him a little rest that the plague ceased he was hardned againe When the hand of the Lord was heauye vpon the men of Ashdod and he destroyed them and smote them with Emeroides they remoued the Arke out of the house of Dagon and said Let vs send the Arke of God vnto his owne place that he slay vs not and our people When Nabuchodonozer was depriued of his Kingdome and turned into an Asse to graze in the field for the space of seuen yeares then he began to be humble to vnderstand himselfe better to lift vp his eyes to heauen to giue thankes to the most high to praise and honour him that liueth for euer to confesse that his power is an euerlasting power that his Kingdome indureth from generation to generatiō that all the inhabitānts of the earth are reputed as nothing that according to his will he worketh in the armye of heauen and in the inhabitants of the earth that none can stay his hand nor say vnto him what dost thou Then he could make both an humble a large consession and say I Nabuchodonozer prayse and extoll and magnifie the King of heauen whose workes are all truth and his waies iudgement and those that walke in pride he is able to abase But for as much as now such miracles doe cease and it belongeth to Gods annointed Kings to be ielous of his glory if they wil abanden Atheisme out of their Kingdomes first of all they must withdrawe their countenace from all vngodly liuers For so long as the Prince dooth looke cheerfully vpon them the eyes of the people will be defixed vpon them also they will admire them and think their vices to be vertues You know what Hamon said Thus shall he be honoured whome the King doth honour and againe the argument must followe aswell on the contrary side Thus and thus shall he be dishonoured whome the King doth dishonour You are not ignorant of the saying of Salomon Indignatio Regis est nuncius mortis The displeasure of the King is but a fore-runner of death If the King giue countenance to Atheists the people will respect them by his example if he frowne vpon them the people will trample ouer them The King is like the maior preposition in a Sillogisme the people are like the conclusion But it is a most certaine rule in Logicke Conclusio sequitur deteriorem partem If the maior be negatiue or perticuler the conclusion will bee so if any thing bee worser then other in the King the people wil be sure to followe that Secondly they must be assisting vnto their Ministers For God in the Primitiue Church gaue them the gift of working miracles to credit their office and calling whereby they did chastise Gods enemies So St. Paul stroke Elymas the sorcerer with blindenes for peruerting and seducing the Deputye from the fayth And St. Peter stroke Ananias and