AEgiptians who bee of most antiquitie hild and taught the same in their Misteries It is a méetly cléere shadowe of that which we reade in the Scripture concerning the fall of the deuill wherevnto he drewe mankynd afterward by his temptations But when as Pherecydes the Syrian agréeing therein with Sibil telleth vs expresly that this Deuill which hath marred and destroyed the whole earth was a Serpent whom he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Snakebread or Adderbread which armeth men by whole troopes against God we by gathering al these testimonies together shall haue the whole storie of the fall of man Hermes being auncienter than all these doth plainly acknowledge the corruption of man yea and that so farre as to say that there is nothing but euill in vs that there is no way for vs to loue God but by hating our selues And to kéepe vs from accusing the Creator The workmaister sayth he to cut off all quarelling is not the procurer of the rust neyther is the Creator the author of the filth and vncleannesse that is in vs. On whom then shall wee father the cause therof God sayth he created man after his owne likenesse and gaue him all things to vse But man in stead of staying vppon the beholding of his father would needes bee medling and doing somewhat of himselfe and so fel from the heauenly contemplation into the Sphere of Elements or of Generation And because he had power ouer al things he began to fall in loue with himselfe and in gazing vpon himself to wonder at himself whereby he so intangled himselfe that he became a bondslaue to his bodie whereas he was free and at libertie afore Now he intangleth this trueth with his accustomed speculations But yet what is this in effect but that the first man being proud of the grace which he had receyued drowned him selfe in the loue of himselfe whereas he might haue liued euerlastingly by drinking still of the loue of GOD And if we mount vp yet higher to Zoroastres who as is written of him was Noes graundchild wee shall finde that in his Oracles he bewayleth the race of Mankynd in these words Alas alas the Earth mourneth euen vnto Children which words cannot be otherwise interpreted than of originall sinne which hath passed from the first man into all his ofspring after which maner the Cabalistes and namely Osias the Chaldian interpret it wherevnto Gemistus the Platonist is not repugnant And as touching the originall of this mischief he denyeth in these words that it came of creation The thing that is vnperfect sayth he cannot proceede of the Creator Now that we be come as it were vp the streame to the first man Adam by whom sinne entered into the world and by sinne death let vs see hēceforth what the opinion of the Philosophers hath bin since the comming of the second man Iesus Christ. We haue a little booke of one Hierocles a Stoick vppon the golden sayings of Pythagoras which shall answer both for the Pythagorists and for the Stoiks Man sayeth he is of his owne motion inclyned to follow the euill and to leaue the good There is a certein stryfe bred in his affections which stepping vp ageinst the will of Nature hath made it to tumble from Heauen to Hell by vndertaking to fight ageinst God He hath a free will which he abuseth bending himself wholy to incounter the Lawes of God and this freedum itself is nothing else but a willingnesse to admit that which is not good rather than otherwise What els is this but as the holy scripture saieth that al the imaginations of manes hart are altogither continewally bent to euill and which wee dayly dispute of namely that our freedome is fresh and foreward vnto euill but lame and lasie vnto dooing well If yee aske him the cause thereof Let vs not blaspheme for all that sayeth he nor say that God is the author of our sinnes but rather that man is of his owne accord become vntoward and that whensoeuer we fall into sinne we do that which is in vs but not which was in vs from God How then shall we make these propositions of his to agree namely that God created man that man is froward and corrupted and yet that God created not man such a one vnlesse we say that God created man good and that afterward man degenerated from his nature But it is the very thing whereunto he commeth of himself Ambition sayth he is our bane and this mischeefe haue wee of ourselues bycause we be gone away from God and do giue ourselues to earthly things which make vs to forget God And that this mischeef is comon to all mankynd he confesseth sufficiently in that he giueth vs an vniuersall remedie that is to wit Religion the which alonly is able sayeth he to rid vs from earthly ignorance without the riddance whereof we can neuer come agein to our former shape and to the lykenes of our kynd which was to be lyke vnto God Now if all the whole kynd be defiled as he sayeth it is surely we must resort backe to one first father frō whom it is spred out into the rest by naturall generation Plutarke wryting of Morall vertue findeth it a very hard matter to make our affection subiect to reason and the body obedient to the spirit And he is driuen to maruell greatly That our féete should be so ready to goe or too stand still whensoeuer Reason loozeneth or pulleth backe the Brydle and that on the contrarie part our affections should carry vs away so headlong for all the restreint that wee can make Also hee thinketh it strange that in our discourses of the greatest matters as of Loue of the bringing vp of our Children and of such like we be driuen to take the brute beastes for our Iudges as who woulde say that nature had stamped no Print of them in our selues And he findeth himself so sore graueled in his consideration that he preferreth the brute beastes before vs in all things sauing in the capacitie which wee haue to knowe God vndoubtedly as perceiuing a continuall following of their kind in all of them wheras in vs only there is contrariwise such an vnkindly and Bastardly Nature that not euen the best of vs haue any whit of our former nature remayning in vs sauing onely shame that we haue it no more And this very gift of knowing God which remayneth to man graueleth Plutarke more than all the rest Man saieth he is a reasonable Creature God hath set him in the world to be serued honored of him and he hath made him to be borne to common ciuill Societie Whereof commeth it then that in his doings he is more vnreasonable more contrarie to Gods will and more against the Lawe of Nature then the very brute beastes In this perplexitie one whyle he saith that man had receiued fayre and sound
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
of all And this Inbeing is more then Substantiall and the first of all the Inbeeings in the Trinitie that is to be conceyued in vnderstanding And seeing that these two namely the One and the Vnderstanding bee in the first rancke of the Trinitie the first as the Begetter the second as the Begotten the first as the Perfecter the secoÌ„d as the Perfected there must needes be a meane power betwixt them whereby and wherewith the one may yeeld being and perfection to the vnderstaÌ„ding or Beeër For this proceeding of the Beeër from the One and likewise the turning back of the Beeër vnto the One is done by a certeyn power or might and so there is a Trinitie which is the full number of things belonging to a Mynd so as this Trinitie is Vnitie or Onenesse Power or Might and Vnderstanding of Mynd The One is the Producer or yeelderforth the Vnderstanding is the thing produced or yeeldedfoorth and the Power or Might depending vppon the One is also linked to the Vnderstanding or Beeër And this Trinitie is the Vnitie or Onenesse the Beeër or Vnderstanding and the Behauiour of them both wherby the Vnitie is the Vnitie of the Vnderstanding and the Vnderstanding is the vnderstanding of the Vnitie or One. Whereby Plato sheweth that the Father is the Father of the Vnderstanding the Vnderstanding is the Sonne of the Father and that the Might or Power is couertly comprised betweene them both Now soothly considering that he was a professed enemie to vs Christians and therefore eschewed to vse our termes he could not haue spoken better nor haue sayd more plainly that the thrée Inbeings or Persones differ onely by way of relation so as there is a Father a Sonne and a Behauiour of theÌ„ both which we would haue called the Loue the Union or the kindnesse of them that is to wit the holy Ghost Amelius the Disciple of Plotine as Proclus reporteth maketh also thrée kings or thrée Understandings namely the Beeër the Hauer and the Seeër the first the reall Understanding the second the Understanding from the first and the third the UnderstaÌ„ding in the second Whom Theodorus imitating hath termed them the substantiall Vnderstanding the Vnderstandable substance and the Fountayne of Soules Neuerthelesse as great an enemie as Amelius was to the Christians yet notwithstanding after many florishes and fetches about in the ende speaking of the second Person he yéeldeth to that which S. Iohn speaketh of him in his Gospell Surely sayth he this is the Word that was from euerlasting by whom all things that are were made as Heraclitus supposed And before God sayth he it is the very same Word which that barbarus fellow for so did he terme S. Iohn auowcheth to haue bin with God at the beginning in the ordering and disposing of things when they were confused and to be God by whom all things were absolutely made and in whom they bee liuing and of whom they haue their life and beeing and that the same Word clothing it selfe with Mans flesh appeared a Man and yet left not to shewe the Maiestie of his natuâ—e Insomuch that after he had bin put to death he tooke his Godhead to him againe and was very GOD as he had bin afore ere he came downe into Bodie Flesh and Man Another Platonist speaking to the same effect sayd that the 〈◊〉 of S. Iohns Gospell was worthie to be graued euery where in letters of Gold Thus ye see that the Gréeke Philosophie as wel afore as after the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ agréeth with our Diuinitie As touching the Latins they fell to Philosophie somewhat lateâ— but yet as little as we haue of their doings they digresse not from the others Chalcidius who wrate vppon Platoes limaeus hath these words The Souereyne and 〈◊〉 God is the Originall of all things next vnto whom is his Prouidence as a second God who giueth the law aswell for the temporall as for the eternall life And furthermore there is a third substance as a second Vnderstanding which is the keeper of the sayd eternall Lawe The highest God commaundeth the second ordereth and the third vttereth or publisheth Now the Soules doe the Lawe and the Lawe is the very Destinie it selfe And a little afore he sayth that the sayd Prouidence which he setteth in the second place is the euerlasting Understanding of God which is an euerlasting act and a resembler of his goodnesse because he is alwaies turned towards him that is the very Good it self Also Macrobius sayth that Platoes opinion concerning the one chief God and the one Understanding bred and borne of him is no falile at all but a thing certeyne howbeit that he could not otherwise expresse it than by examples of the Daysonne and such other things And surely if we had the bookes of Varro and other great Clerks it is possible that we should find much more to this purpose Thus then ye see how the Platonists are all of one opinion and mynd in the doctrine of the Trinitie wherein some of them sawe more and some lesse some affirme the premisses whereof our conclusions ensewe and othersome conclude the same expressely with vs. The Aristotelians haue no voyce here because they stand all in commenting vpon Aristotle who gaue himselfe more to the liberall Artes and the searching of Nature than to looking vp to God the maker of all things Yet notwithstanding Auicen reiected it not insomuch that he sayth that the first Mynd yéeldeth foorth a second Mynd and the second a third but he waded no déeper into the matter Let vs adde here the confessions of the very Deuilles who eyther by meanes of the reuelations therof which haue bin made vnto vs or by reason of their falling froÌ„ aboue haue had some knowledge thereofâ— Soothly it is alwaies a pleasure to heare them yéeld record to the trueth euen spight of their harts Wee reade that one Thulis reigned in old tyme in AEgipt who wexing proude asked Serapis the chiefe Idoll of the AEgiptians adiuring him strongly that he should not deceiue him who he was that had reigned afors him and who should reigne after him and also who was mightier or greater than hee To whom Serapis answered in these fower Uerses First God and next the Word and then their Spright Which three be one and ioyne in one all three Their force is endlesse get thee hence fraile wight The man of life vnknowne excelleth thee Also Apollo being demaunded concerning the true Religion answered in ten Uerses thus Vnhappie Priest demaund not me the last And meanest Feend concerning that diuine Degetter and the deere and only Sonne Of that renâ—wmed King nor of his Spirit Conteyning all things plenteously throughout Hilles Brookes Sea Land Hell Ayre and lightsome Fyre Now wo is me for from this house of myne That Spirit will me driue within a while So as this Temple where mens destynies Are
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
be the contemplation of things belonging to God To be short the bestestéemed interpreters of Aristotle do make him to yéeld to this poynt whether he will or nill as mē ashamed in his behalf that hauing sought so much for the true end of man he hath not set it downe more certenly Now the Philosophers of old tyme knew in all tymes not only that those which atteyne to the sayde ende for which Man was created are happie but also that those which despise it doe fall into extreme wretchednesse the one sort receyuing euerlasting felicitie the other sort being by Gods Iustice condemned to endlesse paine Also it is an article expresly set downe in the Créedes of al people as a poynt that is probable to all men at the very first sight That God is rightuous and good and that euill is accompanied with punishment and good is accompanyed with reward As for the Cabalistes of the Iewes it is no wonder though they haue handled this matter well for they haue drawne matter out of the foūtaines of the holy Scripture And therefore let vs heare but the Heathen Those sayth Hermes which haue obteyned the fauour of God are of mortall become immortall and conceyue the only Good which maketh them to fall into a misliking of these inferiour things that they may indeuer with al their power to returne to him the more speedily Orpheus speaking yet more cléerely bringeth good men into Gods presence to the seate of felicitie and to the feast of the rightuous where he maketh them dronken with the perfect and euerlasting contemplation but as for the wicked he buryeth them in a quamyre tormenting them with vayne thoughts making them to drawe water into a Siue that is to say he assureth the one sort of perfect contentation and putteth the other sort in extreme dispayre Of Pythagoras we haue these verses If reason here thou followe for thy guyde Then at thy parting hence thou shalt be sure In Heauen a God immortall to abyde No death thensforth for euer to indure And these verses were followed by all Poets who commonly represented the receiued opinion among whom Pindarus and Diphilus procéede so farre as to describe an excellent Garden replenished with all things appoynted to be a reward for good men as if they had heard speaking of the Paradise of the Iewes or els had read Sibilles verses concerning a certeyne greene Garden which she also calleth Paradise affirming it to be assighed for an heritage to such as followe the way of God that is to wit which take him for their shootanker with whom they shall haue euerlasting life and light whereas on the contrary part the wicked sayth she shall lye burning like firebrands and Torches in endlesse paynes Also Timeus of Locres hath not forgotten this poynt in his little booke where he sayth thus There is a certeyne vengeance both according to the Lawes and according to the Oracles which maketh vs to feare both heauen and earth For strange and vnintreatable punishments are prepared for the wicked in hell Asfor Plato he taketh so greate pleasure in this matter that he cannot be drawen from it and he scarsly passeth any one dialog wherein he hath not some speeche thereof meaning doutlesse to do vs to vnderstand that without that all Philosophie and all Diuinitie be maymed and it should seeme that the constancie of Socrates his teacher had confirmed him not a little therein in whose defence of himself which was as it were his last wil we reade these woords Death would be greeuous to me if I were not sure first that when I am departed hence I shal go to the wise Gods so did they terme the Angells or Created mynds and secondly to the men that are deliuered out of this life who out of dout are in better case than those that are here And vnto Cratylus ageine he sayeth when the good man departeth this world he commeth to great honor and to a greate inheritance for he becommeth a Demon according to the true signification of the word that is to say skilfull and wyse That then is the perfection of a Philosopher whose end and profession is to haue knowledge and skill And in his Theetetus hee sayeth that with the Gods there is no euill but euill walketh heere beneath among these transitorie things and therefore that we must hye vs thither and flee from hence that is to say we must become ryghtuous and wyse For sayth he such as shall haue followed the way of folly and wickednes shalnot be admitted into the restingplace of the blessed sort which are exempted from all euill but according to their leawd lyfe they shall be condemned to dwell for euer with the euill In his Gorgias he maketh mention of an auncient Lawe vnder Saturne which he affirmeth to haue bin then still in vse namely that when good men depart out of this lyfe they be sent into the fortunate Iles which Iles Pindarus also descrybeth verie curiously and the wicked into the Iayle of Uengeance which he calleth Tartar vndoutedly betokening these vnknowen places by places knowen vnto them which they toke comonly to be eyther most pleasant or most horrible lyke as the Iewes betokened the Restingplace of the blessed sort by a goodly Gardyne and Hell by the valley of Onam or Ghehinom which was an irksome place nere Ierusalem In his Phedon he bringeth in a certeyne Prophet raysed from the dead which reporteth that those which are iustified go on the right hand pure and cleane and are sent vp to Heauen and that the damned sort go on the left hand besmeared with filth and mire wéeping and gnasshing their téethe and in the end are sent into lowe deepe places Yea and he descrybeth there the blessed Countrey in such termes that some men haue taken the peynes to conferre it with that which is written there of in the Apocalips To be short in his Axiochus he calleth the place of Iudgment the féeld of truth from whence saieth he they which haue followed the inspiration of the good spirit shal bee sent into a Paradyse or pleasant Gardyn which he descrybeth there in the delyghtfullest maner that he can deuise to represent the things which he cannot conceyue by the things which we see here on earth and that they which haue bin led by wicked feends that is to say by the instinct of the deuill shal be condemned to darknes and confusion where he describeth a greate nomber of endlesse torments Neuerthelesse he sheweth that these things are not to be takē according to the letter when he saith in his Comonweale that neither the punishments nor the rewards of this world are any thing atall eyther for nomber or for greatnesse in respect of those which are prepared for eyther sort in the lyfe to come Cicero who would néedes be as a Plato in Latin followeth him as it were step by
more is why was it more yea farre more carefully repeated to those which were not at the tyme when he should come than to those which were to be borne in his time if the Messias be not certeinly more than simply a good King and the prosperitie another maner of prosperitie than any is on earth and the ioy another maner a ioy than is conceiued by the sences And yet for all that vnto a Iewe it is an Article of fayth and of the necessitie of saluation We say therfore that the Messias is not a King of temporall delightes but the King of Saluation and welfare Agein they beleeue that the Scriptures are of God and that they teache them the way to Saluation Now the ordinarie voyce of them is ageinst the Pompe the brauery and the vanitie of the world saying that God will turne them into sorrowe mourning and dung Herewithall the same Scriptures turne vs away from all other delights to talke of that and from all honor and reputation to the atteynement of that kingdome Who seeth not therefore that this ioy which the Scriptures doe so much commend is of another kind than the ioy which they discommend and that the kingdom which they make vs to couet is to be possessed in heauen and not on earth Be glad O Daughter Sion say the Prophets reioyce thou Hierusalem sing ye nations aâ—d peoples And wherfore For certeine thousand yeres hence there shall rise vp a great King in Israell What greater fondnesse can there bee than this He shall make a good peace say they what passe I for that if I my selfe be in Warre He shall open the Prisons what is that to mee if I in the meane whyle doe rotte there He shall triumph ouer al the Nations in the word What am I the better for that if in the meane season other Nations trample me vnder their féete and leade mee in triumphe ouer all the worlde with my hands bound behind mee The father say they reioyceth for his Sonnes welfare yet is that but a light and flightfull ioy and who is hee that wil be moued for the afterspring of his children that are long hence to come And who would not count him a foole for reioycing thereat and much more for beléeuing it Surely then doth this ioy extend farther so as euen the foretellers thereof doe feele it themselues and are cheered therewith and the hearers thereof doe taste of it and finde themselues comforted and both of them in their Soules inioy the Fraunchises and Freedomes of that kingdome aforehand ere the sayde King whom they looke for he borne into this world Let vs put the case farther that they which shall attend vpon the Messias shal be rewarded abundantly with all the pleasures of this lyfe what shall become of him in the ende Hee shall dye say they and his generation with him and therevppon they keepe a sore contention how many yeeres hee shall liue How farre of is this geere from that which the Prophetes speake of concerning a ioy that shall neuer haue end What if they passe a hundred yeres in all ioy what is it but a long feast which as soone as a man sleepeth is quite and cleane forgotten And if ye dye altogether what remayneth of it any more And if ye liue out of the world what remayneth thereof but greef And what reason haue the Fathers to reioyce so much at that flash of Lightening which passeth away in a momeÌ„t Soothly much lesse thaÌ„ for a Mariage-feast at leastwise which is accompanied with the birth of some children In very deede these things are toyes to laugh at but yet among the Iewes they bee earnest matters and they rest vppon them at this day lyke silly soules as they be as though there were none other lyfe for man than this or as though they should euer be babes still in this life But some to shunne this absurditie haue falne into another namely that all they which haue hoped for the Messias shal come to lyfe agayne as they were afore yea and euen the wicked sort too that they may burst for spight and sorrowe They that be in the glorie of God shall come backe again to see the glorie of that man They that are free from this Prison of sinne shal be shut vp againe in it to see this licentiousnes They that liue euerlastingly in all felicitie aboue shall come downe to eate of fat beastes What is this but a tittletattle of Children which in their conferences can go no higher than Tartes and Iunkets nor conceiue any higher pleasures than those And what els in effect is all this than to ryse from Bed to Boord and from Boorde to Bed ageine to sléepe But if all this must be done in Palestine so as all that are spoken of afore shall come thither How will Palestine or Iewrie suffice to receiue them or what Leuiathan wil suffice to féede them And if the Gentiles also shabe admitted thither as they say what maner a Temple shall there be And if all men shall bring their Sacrifices thither what shall Hierusalem be but a continuall slaughterhouse of beastes and all Iewrie an vniuersall streame of blud Who seeth not then that as the Prophetes declare vnto vs the Gentiles shall not in very deede bee gathered in Hierusalem but Hierusalem shall be spred out among the Gentyles And that they shall not come ronning from a farre to the Temple but that they themselues shal be the Temple I meane their heartes where God shal be serued and worshipped And seeing that GOD so greatly refuseth our sheadings of blud our fat Muttons and our perfumes who can thinke that those shal be the feast which he will prepare to chere vs withall The xxviij Chapter That the Mediatour or Messias is promised in the Scriptures to be both God and Man that is to wit the euerlasting Sonne of God taking mans flesh vnto him _â—Ow then let it stand for a poynt concluded That the Christ our Messias promised in the holy Scriptures is a Redéemer from spiritual bondage But forasmuch as I haue proued that he ought not to fetch vs out of prison without Raunsome nor could pay the Raunsome being infinite vnlesse he were God and Man Man to suffer and God to ouercome it followeth that I must shew that Gods word hath promised vs that he shal be such a one and that shall serue as well against the Gentyles as against the Iewes Now if wee had none other proofe thereof than this that Christes office is to vndoe sinne and death and to appease Gods wrath against mankynd as I haue sayd seeing that these things are such as no creature can doe nor ought to presume to doe as oft as we reade that his office is such wee must needes conclude that the Messias must needes then bee God For as the Gymnosophist of India sayd vnto Alexander he is God in very déede which doth that which no creature can do But
vpoÌ„ the letters of that name Like as the letter he sayth he is made of daleth and vau as appeareth by the shapes of those letters so shall the Messias be of the nature of Man and of the nature of God And like as the double he coÌ„sisteth of a double daleth and two vaus so bee there two Sonships in the Messias that is to say two sorts of beeing Sonne the one in respect that he is the Sonne of GOD the other in respect that he is the Sonne of a Prophetisse as it is sayd in Esay 8. And as those shapes are distinct in one selfesame letter and yet are both one letter so shal the natures of Christ or the Messias be distinct and yet shall make but one Christ. I stand not vppon the foundation which he taketh of the letters which I make none account of but the onely thing which I meane to gather both by this text and by the former texts and by all others that may bee gotten together is that the expectation of the Iewes in old tyme was of a Messias that should bee both God and Man and that they haue not bin able to race it out of their bookes to this day for all the diligence that they could vse in that behalfe And for asmuch as I haue sayd that in God there bee three persones in one substance the Father the Sunne and the holy Ghost it followeth that wee must sée which of these thrée the Churche of Israell wayted that the Messias should be And as we haue found it méete that hee by whom God created vs to wit the sonne or the woord should be the meane to create vs now agein so also shall we find by the Scripture that the same second person is he that was promised In Genesis the Messias is called Silo and promised to be of the stocke of Iuda Now the woord Silo sayeth Kimhi signifieth the Sonne of him and is deryued of a woord which signifieth a womans Afterbirth as they terme it which thing is not to be passed ouer lyghtly And therefore Dauid repeateth and expoundeth the same promise in these woords I wil be his Father sayeth the Lord and he shal be my Sonne And in the lxxxix Psalme he addeth I will make him my firstbegotten and souereine of al the Kings of the earth which word Rabbi Nathan expoundeth concerning the Messias and thus doth Dauid himself expound it in the second Psalme The Lord hath sayd vnto me thou art my Sonne this day haue I begotten thee And ageine Kisse the Sonne ô ye Kings Rulers of the Earth and happy be they which put their trust in him Surely it appeareth that in all that text he speaketh of the Sonne of God and not of the sonne of a man For otherwise he that hath sayd vnto vs Cuâ—sed be hee that trusteth in man and a foole is he that leaneth vppon the Princes of the earth would not say vnto vs Blessed are thei that put their trust in him But yet further Rabbi Selomoh the sonne of Iarchi and Aben Esra as much enemyes as they be vnto vs also do witnesse that the sayd Psalme was vnderstoode in old time to concerne the Messias neither do they themselues expound it otherwise Insomuch that Aben Esra sayeth expresly that Bar signifieth a Sonne in that place as well as in the xxxj Chapter of the Prouerbes And the exposition of the Iewes vppon that Psalme is that there God resembleth a King that would destroy a â—oune in his anger if he were not pacified by his sonne In the lxxij Psalme where the reigning of the Messias is manifestly descrybed His name sayeth he shall continew for euer his name shal be euerlasting as long as the Sonne indureth Am the Hebrew woord Ijnnon which he vseth commeth of the woord Nin. Which signifieth a Sonne as if a man would say Sonned or Sunnified In the Commentarie vpon the fowerscore and thirtéenth Psalme these woords Thy throne is from euerlasting to euerlasting are expounded to concerne the Messias And the paraphrast which is reported to be Rabbi Ioseph the blynd agreeth thereunto And in the Talmud the Schoole of Rabbi Ianai being asked the name of the Messias answereth Innon is his name for it is sayd in the Psalme before the Sonne was in the sky Innon is his name Esay Ieremie and Zacharie in the texts aforealledged do call him Impe and in all those places the Caldee paraphrast translateth it the Lords Anoynted and Iosua the sonne of Leuie sayeth that Impe is his name But least wee should thinke that this Impe were but an Impe of Dauid he is called there the Lords Impe the Impe of the Euerlasting and the Euerlasting himself Now there is not a nearer nor a properer metaphor thaÌ„ to terme a sonne an Impe or an Impe a sonne This sonne we call moreouer the woord wherein the Iewes dissent not from vs. In the xlv of Esay it is sayd Israell shal be saued by Iehouah that is to say by the Euerlasting with endlesse saluation which saying Ionathas translateth by the woord of the Lorde In Ose I will saue the house of Israel sayeth the Lord by the Lord their God which saying the sayd Ionathas translateth By the woord of the Lord their God and so foorth ordinarily in all other lyke texts And it is not to be douted but that by the sayd woord they ment the Messias For in the Hundred and tenth Psalme which as they themselues affirme conteyneth the misteries of the Messias vpon these words the Lord sayd vnto my Lord c. Ionathas saieth The Lord said vnto his woord sit thou on my ryght hand And Rabbi Isaac Arama vppon Genesis expounding this text of the Hundred and seuen and fortith Psalme The Lord sent foorth his woord and they were settled or as others translate it were healed sayeth eâ—mesâ—â— that this woord is the Messias Yea and Rabbi Simeon the sonne of Iohai the cheef of the Cabalists wryting vppon Genesis and by the way expouÌ„ding there these words of Iob yet notwithstanding I shall see my God in my flesh sayeth that the mercie which proceedeth from the highest wisdome of God shal be crowned by the woord and take flesh of a woman But let vs heare Philo the Iewe vpon this point Hardly can I say sayeth he what tyme is appoynted for the returne of the banished Iewes For men hold opinion that it shal be at the death of a hygh preest which as some think is at hande and as othersome thinke is farre hence â—â—t my opinion is that this high preest shal be the word or speâ—â—h of God cleere from sinne aswell willing as vnwilling who to his father hath GOD the father of all and to his mother hath the wisedome wherby al things in the world were created And therefore his head shall be anoynted with Oyle his Maiestie shall shead forth beames of light
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
expounded it and fulfilled it Nay say they Circumcision was expressely commaunded by God vnto Abraham and afterward to Moyses and why thâ—â— hath Iesus abolished it In déede that is the thing which doth alwaies deceiue them namely that they take the signe for the thing signified and the shadowe for the substance and trueth of the promises But wée say that Circumcision was a signe or seale of the Couenant and not the Couenant it selfe and the best of the Iewes denye it not themselues And yet Moyses sayth When the Lord shall haue cast thee out to the vttermost partes of the earth yet will he bring thee home againe into the land which thy fathers possessed and hee will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy Children that thou mayst loue the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy Soule and that thou mayst liue And in another place he sayth Circumcise the foreskin of your hearts and harden not your neckes any more And wheÌ„ the Prophets rebuke vs they call vs not simply vncircumcised but vncircumcised of heart or of lippes The which ought to aduertise you that the signe is fleshly but the thing signified that is to wit the Couenant is spirituall and that it would behoue you to enter into the Marée of the Lawe and not to byte about the barke of it To bee short the Cabale it selfe giueth vs to vnderstand that Christ shall cure the venome of the Serpent make a new Couenant and take away the necessitie of Circumcision As touching Sacrifices I haue declared alreadie heretofore that they were signes It is sayd that they shall cleanse away the sinnes of the Congregation How may that be if we go no further than to the blud of a Lamb or to the sprinckling of the ashes of a Cowe And therefore Dauid sayth Thou desirest not Sacrifice for sinne and therefore will I not giue thee any And God himself sayth I blame thee not for that thou hast giuen me no burntofferings Also in Esay Who required these things of you As for these Sacrifices these new Moones these Sabbats and these solemne Feastes they lothe me they burden me and I cannot wel away with them Moreouer Micheas sayth If thou gauest thousands of thy Sheepe and Riuers of Oyle yea thyne eldest sonne euen the sonne of thyne own bodie begotten for thy sinne all this is nothing before the Lord. Nay sayth Esay the offering of an Oxe is as the murthering of a man and the offering vp of a Sheepe is as the snetching of a Dog and the burning of Incense is as the blessing of an Idoll All which sayings doe vs to vnderstand that the Sacrifices were not the very things themselues but onely signes of things that is to wit partly of the lustes and affections which wee feele in our hearts and partly of the Saluation which wee looke for by the Messias and that if wee passe no further than the bare Sacrifices thei be vtterly vnprofitable But Dauid saith The Sacrifice of the Lord is a broken and lowly heart And Esay sayth Wash your selues scoure away the naughtinesse of your hearts doe right to the fatherlesse and the widowe Also Micheas sayth Deale vprightly shewe mercie These bée the Sacrifices which God requireth at euery of our hands and which were betokened in the particuler Sacrifices by the Bowels Kidneyes Liuer and such other parts which were wont to be burned vpon the Altar And as touching the generall Sacrifices and such as were more solemne they betokened that vniuersall Sacrifice for the sinne of Mankynd which God had ordeyned euerlastingly that is to wit the death of the Messias For that those Sacrifices should haue an end namely the signe by the presence of the thing signified the figure by the presence of the substance and the shadowe by the presence of the bodie wee perceiue by these wordes of Daniell From the tyme that the continuall Sacrifice is taken away there shall bee a thousand two hundred fowerscore and ten daies And that it should be done by the death of Christ it appeareth by this which he had sayd afore After threescore two weekes Christ shal be killed and in halfe a weeke he shall cause the Sacrifice and Offering to ceasse and for the outreaching of abhominations there shal be desolation vnto the end And whereas Malachie hauing reproued Sacrifices very sharply saith From the Sunnerysing to the Sunnegoingdowne my name shal be great among the Gentyles and Incense and pure Oblations shall be offered euerywhere in my name it cannot bee vnderstood of the Sacrifices ordeyned by the Iewish Law but rather of the abolishing of them and of all other signes by the Messias For if the Gentyles must Sacrifice vnto him according to the law then must they come to Hierusalem to the Temple there And if it be so what Court will bee large enough to hold the Sacrifices What shall al Hierusalem be but a very Slaughterhouse and Butcherie Nay moreouer the Prophet sayth that they shall offer euerywhere which thing bewrayeth an euident chaunge and a pure or cleane Oblation which putteth a difference betwéene their Offerings and the bloodie Sacrifices of the Lawe And after that the Prophet hath sayd My name shall bee great among the Gentyles Hee addeth immediatly But yee haue vnhalowed it Which is as much to say as that the Gentyles shal be these Priests euery man in his owne place and they shall not neede to coâ—â—â— to you Iewes for the matter To bee short as touching the Sacrifices some of the Rabbines say They shall all ceasse sauing the Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiuing And as touching the Sabbath He that bringeth the Commaundement from God say they may also breake it wherevnto our Lord Iesus agréeing sayth The Sonne of Man is Lord of the Sabboth And as touching the difference betwéene Beastes cleane and vncleane All Beastes say they which are counted vncleane in this age shall bee counted cleane by the vertue of God in the age to come that is to wit vnder the Messias as they were to the Children of Noe. And thereof they ad this reason That Gods inioyning thereof for a tyme was but to trye who they were that would obey his word The same doth Rabbi Hadarsan affirme saying There is not a more expresse Lawe than that which concerneth the monethly disease of women and yet shall that ceasse in the reigne of him that is to say of the Messias And it is not for them to alledge here that concerning the Circumcision the Sabboth the feast of Easter and such others it is sayd that thy shal be legnolam that is to say by their interpretation for euer For wee haue learned of them that the word legnolam signifieth not for euer but a long tyme and a tyme of long continuance without intermission or breaking of rather than a continuance of tyme without end And in that sence doe we
was proclayming his Lawes and yet notwithstanding those Lawes bare sway in Lacedemon many hundred yéeres after But Iulian must remember also that the Phrasians being next neighbours to Lycurgus and his confederates companyons in armes would not admit them and that the Lacedemonians themselues corrected them while he was yet aliue vpon the report whereof he dyed out of hand for pride greef disdeyne But what comparison is there betweene Sparta and the whole world betwéene dying for disdeyne to see his Lawes corrected and dying willingly to correct the Lawes of all the world What will he tell vs now of Alexander He had a great Hoste and power of men so much the more weaker was he of himselfe Iesus was despised and full of infirmitie so much the greater is his mightinesse and honor Alexander vanquished the Persians in Battell how much more commendable had it bene if he had done it with a blast of his mouth If he had liued he would haue conquered the whole world how much more honorable had it bene if he had tryumphed ouer the world by dying Alexander increased his kingdome by oppressing and Iesus by yéelding Alexander by killing and Iesus by dying But Alexanders Empyre decayed by his death whereas the kingdome of Iesus was both founded and stablished by the death of himself and his The difference therfore betwixt them is as great as is betwixt him that dyeth and him that quickeneth or betwéene him that of all maketh a thing of nothing and him which of nothing maketh all things To bee short if ye looke for vertue A man that excelled in vertue was in old tyme a wonder The Philosophers themselues sayth Cornelius Nepos condemned themselues in their owne teachings But after the tyme that Iesus was once preached what a number of men women and euen children in Towne and Countrie yea and in Wildernesses taught vertue to the world by their example If ye require rightuousnesse what were the first Christians but teachers of equitie of vncorruptnesse and of vprightnesse Yea what enemie of theirs doe wee finde that once openeth his mouth to accuse them If ye seeke the despising of death in déede they make a great a doe of one Zeno an Eleate for spitting out his Tongue at a Tyrant least he might confesse what the Tyrant demaunded and likewise of one Leena a woman of Athens that indured all maner of torments without vttering one word If this be so great a matter what a thing is it that in one age ye shal haue whole millions of all fexes of all ages of all states degrées and conditions go willingly and ioyfully to death insomuch that the Historiographer Arrianus makes a generall rule of it That all Christians made in effect no account of death not to conceale any fault of theirs as those others did who had leuer to haue suffered tormēts than to haue dyed but for professing the thing openly before all people which they had learned of God as folke that would haue thought themselues vnworthie to liue if they had hild their peace To bee short what Disciples what Subiects what Souldyers had Socrates Lycurgus or Alexander in all their life that came any thing nigh this these I say which were taught ruled and trayned vp by Iesus euen after he was departed hence and by his Apostles which were rude ignorant and weake as long as he was conuersant with them yea and euen at the very tyme of his death Besides this notable alteration I sayd also that at that tyme the seruing of Idols ceassed in all places at once Are they thinke you so voyd of wit as to say that the ceassing thereof in so many places in so notable maner and in so great geynstriuings happened by chaunce And must it not be that those Gods were made in great haste which had perished by so sodeine chance No say they it came to passe by a Constellation that is to say I wote not what a méeting together of the Starres in the Skye Let vs examin◠this Astrologie a little They suppose and it is a cōmon opinion that according to the diuersitie of Images in the Skye there are also diuers Religions and diuers Goddes in diuers Nations and therefore they deuide the world into seauen Clymates and vn to euery Clymate they allot a seuerall Planet to haue the rule of it But how wil they answer to Bardesanes the Syrian who as they themselues cannot denye was the wisest of all the Chaldees Ye part the world sayth he into seauen Clymates euery Clymate to bee gouerned by a Planet and what a number of Nations are vnder euery Clymate In euery Nation what a number of Shyres In euery Shyre what a sort of Townes All which doe differ both in Lawes in Gods and in Religions and that not only according to the number of the twelue Signes or of the sixe and thirtie faces only but in infinite sorts In India vnder one selfesame Clymat some eate mans flesh and some eate no flesh at all some worship Idols and othersome admit none at all Againe ths Magusians carie them whether soeuer ye will are giuen to Incest after the custome of their Moothercoūtry Persia from whence they descend And the Iewes being dispersed ouer all the world alter not their Religion nor their maner of life wheresoeuer ye bestow them To be short a Nation departing out of one Clymate carieth new Goddes and newe Lawes into another Clymate and yet the Clymate neither troubleth nor hindereth the doing thereof What vertue haue the Clymats or the Signes ouer Lawes and Religions the differences whereof are made by Forrestes Riuers and Mountaynes which are the bounds of Iurisdictions rather thā by them And which they are brought into againe euen in despite of them by men by custome and by conquest And in good sooth whereof commeth it that in the Countries where Venus Mercurie and Saturne were worshipped in old time the Gods are now abolished quite and cleane yet the signes are still in the same places where they were afore And whereof commeth it that the Iewish Lawe beeing banished and vtterly rooted out of their owne Countrie continueth vnder all Clymates still How happeneth it that the Religion of Mahomet is now where the Christian Religion was in tyme past and the Christian is now where sometyme were the bluddy Altars of Saturne and Mars and in some places many and contrarie Religions together For the saluing of this absurditie they runne into another Not the Clymates in very déede say they doe make the differences in Religion but the great Cōiunctions of the Planets and yet euen about this poynt they bee at great oddes among themselues For some say that the great Coniunctions of Iupiter and Saturne and none other do dispose of Religion Others say that properly Iupiter betokeneth Religion and that after as he is accompanied so bringeth he foorth the diuersities of them as for example accompanyed with Saturne the
think that my speaking hereof is bycause I haue not matter where with to aduantage myself in their Astrologie For I could alledge here how they say that Iesus in his natiuitie had for his ascendent the signe of Virgo in hir first face as they terme it in which place of the Heauen Albumazar the Arabian sayeth that the Indians and Egiptians haue marked a virgin bearing two eares of Corne in hir hand and a Child sucking on her breast whom a certeine Nation sayth he call Iesus and that the Starre which the Greekes and Latines in their languages cal an Eare of Corne is called by the Arabians The signe of the foode that susteyneth as if ye would say The substantiall bread or foode And that vpon the Starre which the wise men sawe in the East in the tyme of the Emperour Augustus the Astrologers deliuer matter enough But in these earnest matters I am loth to alledge any thing which is not substantiall or which I take not to be so After Astrologie Magik biddeth vs battell I sayd that Iesus in his miracles surmounted the abilitie of all Creatures Hereuppon they set ageinst vs Simon the Sorcerer Apollonius of Thyanie Apuleus of Medaure and such others And soothly all these doo yeld vs so much the greater record of the miracles of Iesus in that for to diminish the estimation of them they haue had recourse to false miracles and giuen credit to such as were woorkers of them Simon therfore reported himself to be a GOD to haue giuen the Lawe to Moyses vpon Mount Sinay to haue appeared afterwärd in the persone of Christ and finally too haue shed out the gifts of toongues vpon the Apostles in the persone of the holy Ghost wherein he confesseth aforehand the myghtynesse of Christes name and that he would haue men beléeue that he was Christ and beautifie himself with his woorks To this end doth he apply the grounds of Magicke whereby he maketh the people to woonder at him Now Iesus had bin crucified but vnto this man the Romanes did set vp a standing Image vppon the Bridge of Tybris with this tytle To Simon the holy God The Disciples of Iesus suffered and taught men to suffer and were extreamely persecuted of all Iudges Contrariwise he and his folowers were much made of among the greatest personages But he did yet more for he taught his Disciples that Idolatrie is an indifferent thing and that men should not néede to suffer for his Doctrine and what could be more delyghtfull and more entycing than this géere Yet notwithstanding in the end both he and his Lady Selene were quyte shaken of at all mens hands and all the cunning he had could not make him to take footing ageine in the world neither hath the rememberance of him had any continewance here but to the glorie of the Lord Iesus and to his owne shame And what els doth this giue vs to vnderstand but that it is in vaine for Princes to cherish a wicked wâ—ede when Heauen is bent ageinst it and that they labour in vayne to plucke vp the good herb which God intendeth to prosper They make greate braggs of one Apollonius of Thyanie How feawe at leastwise among our learned men haue not heard of him This man did call vp the Ghost of Achilles that is to say a diuell What a nomber of Sorcerers can do as much as that He asketh him whether he had not a Tombe Whether Polixena were killed for his sake or no Whether the things which the Poets report of him be true What good hap should come vnto the world and what good fortune was to befall to the Necromancer himself He tooke a Lucksigne at the sight of a Lyonesse and what a Superstition was that He wore Rings made by the constellations of Planets and what a vanitie was that When a Plague was begun he gaue warning of it and when it grewe strong he floonke away He fetched a yoong wench to life againe but yet his counterfet Euangelist Philostratus durst not auowe that she was starke dead What is there in all these that is eyther good or great But now come wee to the poynt Iesus dyed for the saluation of the world and Apollonius to driue a certeyne disease out of a Citie caused a straunger to be stoned to death as he passed by in the open Marketsted The Disciples of Iesus were slayne in all Cities and Apollonius had Images set vp vnto him and was worshipped in many Temples for a God The sayd Disciples did in the end ouerthrow both the Temples the Idols and his Images too Contrarywise Apollonius liued till he sawe himselfe bereft of all honor and his Images consumed into smoke neither did the fame of him ouerliue him thrée daies insomuch that euen the booke which he had written of his consultations with the Deuils in the den of Trophonius rotted and perished together with the Ceremonies of the same Caue What are the Myracles of this Apollonius but proofes of the Godhead of Iesus For seeing that hauing atteyned to the vttermost that man and nature could come vnto he vanished away so soone euen of himselfe and Iesus euen in despite of man and of the world and of nature went through and gate the vpper hand of him and of all others how could this haue come to passe if the working of Iesus had not bene by a higher power than the power of the world of man and of nature Apuleius of Madaure hath shewed sufficiently in his bookes that he knewe al the trickes of Magicke but what was he the better for them He was of an honorable house but did he euer atteine to the least degrée of dignitie Some will say perchaunce that he made no reckoning of it what shall we say then to his pleading against the men of Choa from whence neuerthelesse he had maried his wife for that they would not receiue an Image of him But the Emperour Vespasian sayst thou cured a blynd man at Alexandria and those sayth Tacitus doe beare witnesse of it which had no gayne by saying it And why then deléeuelye not the myracles of Iesus witnessed by so many men which are content to forgoe all that euer they haue yea and their liues also for saying it And had Vespasian done so who knoweth not the vaingloriousnes of the Romaines O how well would it haue matched with this Oracle applyed vnto him by his flatterers namely That the Monarke of the whole world should come out of Iewrie and also with this other That to bee saued it behoued them to haue a King And as small a miracle as it was what a couÌ„tenance would it haue caried being vphild by so many Legions soothed by so many learned flatterers mainteyned by the state of the Empyre and confirmed by so many hangers on For as for Antinous the Emperour Adrians Minion whom the Emperour endowed with Temples and Sacrifices to what purpose serued he