Which of all these things resembleth the thing that commeth thereof eyther in substance or in shape or in quantitie or in qualitie To be short what straungenesse is there in this Of a handfull of Earth God made thée and all the Earth of nothing and of a handfull will he make thée new ageine This body of thine which in time past was not is of his making this body which one day shall ceasse to be he wil one day make new agein Uerily this doctrine was common to all true Iewes and among all the Teachers of the Lawe who had gathered it out of the old Testament as we reade in Iosephus and in the Acts of the Apostles for they agrée fully with S. Paule in that behalf And in the Talmud there are infinite places thereof Also the Alcorane which is borrowed of their Rabbines is full of this Doctrine And as concerning the Heathen of old tyme Zoroastres sayd that one day there shal be a generall rysing ageine of all the dead Theopompus a Disciple of Aristotles doth the lyke and noman in old tyme sayeth AEnaeas of Gaza did once geynsay them The Stoiks hild opinion that after a certeine tyme there should bée an vniuersall burning of the World which wée call Doomesday and that immediatly after all things should be set in their perfect state ageine as they were at the first and it was the opinion of Crysippus in his booke of Prouidence translated by Lucane the Stoik which new state Varro calleth Palingenesian that is to say a Regeneration Rebegetting or New birth Platosaith expresly that mens Soules shall returne into their bodyes The Astrologers following Albumazar vphold that when the Starres come home ageine euery one into his first place all things shal bée sette ageine in their first originall state both men Beastes Trées and all other Creatures which opinion euen Arethmetick alone sheweth to bee absurd in Astrologie and the best learned men reiect it Neuerthelesse it bewrayeth our beastlynes which do attribute such power to the Starres to defeate the maker of them thereof As touching the iudgement which the Sonne of God shall giue after the sayd Resurection although the same were not foretold by the Prophets of old time and by so many verses of the Sibills and finally by the mouth of Iesus and his Apostles surely Gods giuing of his Lawe not to the outward man but to the inward nor to our déedes onely but also to our thoughts sheweth sufficiently without other proofe that there is another Iudge than the Magistrats of this world to iudge vs and another Iudgment than their iudgement to be lookedfor as whose iudgment here procéedeth but to the outward déede and by proofes of witnesses and therefore cannot in any wise pearce into the hart to discerne what is within Neither would our owne cōsciences sumon vs so often as they do if we were not to appeare before other than men For sith it is the Soule that cheefely receyueth the Commaundement and cheefely breaketh it it is the Soule that must come to examination and tryall which cannot be done in this world wherein there is but a shadowe of Iustice and whose Lawes and Iudges extend no further than the outter side And therefore wee see that the auncient Rabines speake very often of this General Iudgment and which more is do attribute it to the Messias saying Feare not God for your Iudge For your Iudge is your owne fellow citizen your owne kinsman and your owne brother All the auntient Gentyles haue spoken so of this Iudgement which they say shall bee giuen in another lyfe in the féeld of truthe whereuppon shall followe eyther endlesse lyfe or endlesse death as I haue shewed afore Yea and it séemeth that by the lending of their auncient Oracles which were a kynd of Cabale they passed yet further For they called their greate and souereine God by the name of Iupiter and gaue the iudging of mens Soules to his Sonne Minos the King and Lawegiuer and not vnto Apollo Mercurie or any other as who should say they ment that the Iudge of the World should be the Sonne of God and yet there withall a ryghtuouse man that is to say the Mediator God and man I hope I haue now shewed the truenesse and substantialnesse of the Christian Religion and the vanitie and wickednesse of all other Religions Of the which Christian Religion the Primitiue Churche for a Badge and comfort to the Christians hath made a Sūme which we call the Créede of the Apostles For we beleeue in God the Father Almyghty maker of Heauen and Earth c. To beléeue in him is to trust in him to trust in him is to hope for all good things at his hand but vayne were our hope if it reached no further than to this present world Now I haue declared heretofore that there is but only one God that the same God created the world for man and man for his owne glorie and both of them of nothing That he guydeth them by his Prouidence the one according to nature which is a steady and suresettled Lawe prescribed by him to the World and the other according to wit and will which he hath giuen him so that which way so euer man take he frameth him alwayes to his holy will to such end as he hath appoynted That man is immortall and created to leade an endlesse lyfe that in that lyfe is the souereine welfare or good which alonly can content mans will and satisfie his wit and therefore that he must tend and indeuer thither with all his heart and bend all the powers of his wit to that end And to be short that the meane for man to atteine thereunto is to serue the true God with al his hart with all his Soule and with all his strength that is to say to vow all his thoughts wordes and déedes to the glorie of God But I sayd also that man is falne from his Originall through the pryde and disobedience of the first man whereuppon hath followed frowardnes in his will and ignorance in his wit Ignorance making him vnable to discerne his owne welfare and frowardnes turning him away from it yea euen when it is shewed him and making him vnwoorthy to atteyne to it and finally causing him to abuse his abilities and powers to all euill and so consequently plunging him in the gulf of al miserie both according to his owne desert and according to the Iustice of God Whereuppon it insueth that man is forlorne in himself vnlesse God recouer him by his mercy blind except God inlyghten him ageine vtterly Lame to the doing of any good and to the atteynement of any good vntill Gods grace do releeue him And therefore I sayd That he hath left vs a Religion for a guyde A Religion that turneth vs from all Creatures as which are but vanitie and conuerteth vs to him the only Creator of Heauen and
Poyson for teaching that the Gods which were worshipped in his tyme were but vanitie And for that in scorne of them he was wont to sweare by an Oke by a Goate and by a Dogge as who would say there was no more Godhead in the one than in the other Yet notwithstanding he was the man whom Apollo by his Oracle déemed to bee the wisest of all Greece thereby confessing that he himselfe was no God His Disciple Plato deliuereth a rule in fewe words whereby to discerne his meaning When I write in good earnest sayth he you shall knowe it hereby that I begin my letters with onely one God and when I write otherwise I begin them with many Gods Uerely his ordinarie maner of spéeches were not If it please the Gods with the helpe of the Gods and such like but if it please God by the helpe and guyding of God God knoweth it Such a man is the cause thereof next vnto God and such other like Whereas he affirmeth al other things not to bee in very déede He calleth God the Father of the whole World the Béer that is to say he who only is or hath béeing the selfbred who also made the Heauen the Earth the Sunne the Moone the tymes and seasons and all other things both heauenly and earthly high and lowe and whatsoeuer els is In other places he calleth him the Beginning the Middle and the End by whom for whom and about whom all things are the Gouerner of all that euer is and shall be the very Goodnesse and the Paterne of all goodnesse the King of all wighte indewed with reason and mynd of whom all things haue their Béeing and which is of more excellencie then the word Béeing And the names and titles which he giueth vnto the true God are commonly giuen him vnder the name of Iupiter and he thinketh that they be not to be communicated vnto any other In déede sometymes he suffereth himselfe to be caried away to the coÌ„mon maner of speaking perhaps for feare of the like end that his Schoolemaister had he doth it expressely in his booke of Lawes which was to bee published to the people For there and in diuers other places he calleth the heauenly Spirites by the name of Gods but yet he maketh God speaking to them as to his Creatures naming them Gods begotten and made by him and him on the contrary part the Father God of Gods Also he honoreth Heauen with the same name because of the substantialnes thereof and likewise the Starres by reason of the perpetuitie of their course And it may be that in that respect the Greekes called them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods Howheit he addeth that they bee visible Gods and that the Heauen was made by the only one inuisible God That it hath none other immortalitie than such as he hath giuen vnto it and that he hath placed the Starres in the Skye for the measuring of tymes seasons and howres appoynting vnto euery of them his Circuit As touching meÌ„ he sheweth wel enough what he beléeued of them by his declaring of their Genealogie that is to say their mortalitie to wit that he acknowledged in theÌ„ some shadow of the Godhead but that the very essence or substance thereof was in the onely true God All the Platomists haue followed the sayd doctrine bringing it so much the more to light as they themselues haue drawne néerer to our tyme. Damascius sayth The one bringeth foorth all things The one ought to be honored by silence The one like the Sunne is seene dimly a farre of and the neerer the more dimly and hard at hand taketh away the sight of all things Iamblichus surnamed the Diuine acknowledged euery where a diuine cause which is the beginning end and middle of all things That there is one God the maister of all at whose hand welfare is to be sought That the end of all Contemplation is to ame at one and to withdrawe from multitude vnto vnitie And that the same one or vnitie is God the Ground and of all trueth happinesse and substaunce yea and of all other Grounds themselues He sayth in déede and his bookes are so full of it That there are both Goddes and Féeâ—des and of them he maketh diuers degrées as good and bad high and lowe and so foorth But yet for all that he alwaies acknowledgeth one chiefe whom he calleth the onely one God which hath vin afore all that is and is the Fountaine and Roote of all that first vnderstandeth or is first vnderstoode that is to say of all formes shapes or Patternes conceiued or conceiuable in mynd or imagination Suffizing to himselfe and Father of himselfe the begetter of the Soules of the other Gods according to the Patternes conceiued in his owne mynd who is not only the chiefe Being but also the superessentiall Beeing that is to say a Béeing which farre surmounteth passeth and excelleth all Béeings nor simply Good but the very Good and Goodnesse it selfe Insomuch that he calleth all the other Goddes Seuered essences Goodnesses deriued and Myndes sparkling foorth from the Godhead of the Supersubstantial God that is to say of the God whose substance surpasseth and excelleth all maner of substances which Gods vnderstand not any thing but by beholding the sayd One nor are any better than dealers foorth of certaine giftes which they haue from him And Theodore the Platomist addeth that all of them pray carnestly ot the first and drawe from him which is of himselfe and that otherwise they should goe to nought Proclus after the maner of the Platomists which was for the most part to be very Superstitious turneth himselfe ofttymes aside to many Gods but yet his resolutioÌ„ is this in expresse words Who is he sayth he that is King of all the onely God separated from all and the producer of all things out of himselfe which turneth all ends vnto himselfe and is the end of ends the first cause of operatioÌ„s the author of all that euer is good and beautifull the inlightener of all things with his light If thou beleeue Plato he can neither be vttered nor vnderstood And anon after Then is it this first simplicitie which is the King the Souereintie and Superexcellencie of all things vncomprehensible not to bee matched with any other thing vniforme going beyond al causes the Creator of the substance of the Gods which hath some forme of goodnesse All things goe after him and sticke vnto him for he produceth and perfecteth al things that are subiect to vnderstanding like as the Sunne doth to al things that are subiect to sence To be short it is the vnutterable cause which Plato teacheth vs vnder two names in his Commonweale calling it the very Goodnesse it selfe and the fountayne of trueth which vniteth the vnderstanding to the things that are vnderstood And in his Parmenides The One or Vnitie wherevpon all the
diuine Vnities are grounded and which is the Originall of all that is and of all that as yet is not In his booke of the Soule and of the Spirit he teacheth vs the way to atteyne from many multitudes to this supersubstantiall Unitie which hee calleth the Nature grounded in eteruitie the life that liueth and quickeneth the waking vnderstanding the welspring of all welfare the infinite both in continewance and in power and yet notwithstanding without quantitie and so foorth Neuerthelesse he attributeth much to Angelles and Féendes according to Art Magicke which the Platomists did greatly affect in those daies howbeit in such sort as he continually followeth this rule of his so oft repeated in his bookes That all things are from the true God who is hidden and that the second degrée of Gods that is to say the Angelles and Féendes are from the very selfsame and to bee short that to beléeue any mo Gods than one and to beléeue none at all are both one thing Simplicius sayth Whatsoeuer is beautifull commeth of the first and chiefe beautie All trueth commeth of Gods trueth And all beginnings must needes bee reduced to one beginning which must not bee a particular beginning as the rest are but a beginning surpassing al other beginnings mounting farre aboue them and gathering them all into himselfe yea and giuing the dignitie of beginning to all beginnings accordingly as is conuenient for euery of their natures Also The Good sayth he is the Welspring Originall of al things It produceth all things of it selfe both the first the middlemost and the last The one Goodnesse bringeth foorth many Goodnesses The one Vnitie many Vnities The one Beginning many Beginnings Now as for Vnitie Beginning Good and God they be all but one thing For God is the first cause of all all particular Beginnings or Grounds are fast settled and grounded in him He is the Cause of Causes the God of Gods and the Goodnesse of Goodnesses Porphyrius acknowledged the one GOD who alone is euery where and yet in no one place who filleth al places and yet is conteyned in no place by whom all things are both which are and which are not This God doth he call the Father which reigneth in all he teacheth vs to sacrifize our Soules vnto him in silence and with chast thoughts On the other side he acknowledgeth the other Gods as his Creatures and Seruants some visible some vnuisible vnto whom he alloweth a materiall seruice farre differing from the seruice of the true God As touching Plotin his Schoolemaister surnamed the Diuine whom the Oracle of Apollo as is reported by Porphyrius himselfe didregister in the number of the wise men of this world and in the number of the Gods in the other world He that would alledge the things which he hath spoken diuinely concerning the vnitie of the one God should be fayne to set downe his whole treatises vndiminished The Summe is That there is one Beginner of all things who hath all thiugs and is all things and is all things whose hauing of theÌ„ is as though he had them not because his possessing of them is not as of things that were another mans and his being them is as though he were them not because he is neither all things nor any thing among things but the power of all things That this Beginner dwelleth in himself is sufficient of himself of himselfe bringeth foorth all maner of Essences Soules and siues as being more than Essence and all life That by his Unitie he produceth multitude which could be no multitude vnlesse he abode One. As touching the vndergods he sayth that they neither bée nor can bée happie of themselues but onely by the same meane that men can become happie namely by beholding the light of vnderstanding which is GOD through their parttaking whereof they abide in blessednesse Yea he affirmeth that the Soule of the whole world surmized by the Platomists is not happie but by that meanes namely by beholding the light which created it like as the Moone shineth not but by the ouershining of the Sunne vpon her That was the very opinion of the Platonists as well old as newe coâ—cerning the onely one God notwithstanding that of all Philosophers they were most giuen to the seruing and seeking out of the bodilesse Spirites whom we call Angels and Deuils and whom they called Gods and Féeâ—ds Now let vs come to the Peripatetickes and begin at Aristotle Platoes Disciple who notwithstanding was vnreligious in many places in not yéelding vnto God his due glorie after the maner of these supersticious folke who are ouerliberal in bestowing it vpon others aud yet euen in him shall we finde this selfsame trueth Aristotle leadeth vs by many mouings vnto oue first mouer whom he declareth to bee infinite without beginning and without ende From thence a man may step further for that which is infinite can be but one because as I haue sayd afore the infinitenesse of one restreyneth the power of all others Afterward he defineth him to be Liuing Inunortall and Euerlasting And againe he nameth him he onely possessor of wisedome the Beginner of all Causes and such like None of all which things can bee attributed to any mo than onely one Yet notwithstanding he setteth certeyne Godheads in the Heauen in the Starres and in the Sunne Moone vnto which Godheads he alsotteth the gouermneÌ„t of those things and termeth them heauenly Mynds First substances vnchaungeable and vnpassible which in his opinion cannot wexe old because they be aboue the first Mouable consequently aboue tyme. Yea and Common custome with the force of Loue caried him so farre as to set vp Images vnto Iuno and Iupiter vnder the name of Sauiours for the life of Nicanor and to doe Sacrifize to a woman whom he loued as the Athenians did vnto Ceres But yet in his Abridgement of Philosophie which he dedicated in his olde age vnto Alexander his finall doctrine is this This world sayth he wherein all things are orderly disposed is mainteyned by God the highest thing that is in it is that it is Gods dwelling place No nature is sufficient of it selfe to indure if it bee not assisted by his tuition He is the Father of Gods Men the breeder and Mainteyner of all the things whereof this world is composed and yet for all that he entreth not into them but his power and prouidence ouersitting them from aboue atteyne vnto all things moue the Heauen the Sunne and the Moone Preserue the things on earth and make all and euery thing to doe according to their nature He likeneth him to the great King of Persia who from out of his priuy Chamber gouerned his whole Empyre by his power and officers sauing sayth he that the one is God infinite in power and the other a very bace and féeble wight He sayth moreouer that all the
owne indytement and willingly beare witnesse against himselfe by his owne voluntarie confession Surely that man is straungly infected with vyce it is witnessed sufficiently by the Histories of all ages which in effect are nothing els but registers of the continuall Manslaughters Whoredomes Guyles Rauishments and Warres And when I say Warres I thinke that in that worde I comprehend all the mischief that can be imagined And that these vyces were not created in mans nature but are crept into it it appeareth sufficiently by the bookes of the Ceremonies of al Nations all whose Church-seruices are nothing but Sacrifices that is to say open protestations both euening and morning that we haue offended God and ought to bee sacrifized and slayne for our offences according to our desarts in stead of the sillie Beastes that are offered vnto him for vs. Had man bene created with vyce in him he should haue had no conscience of sinne nor repentance for it For repentance presupposeth a fault and conscience misgiueth the insewing of punishment for the same And there can be neither fault nor punishment in that which is done according to creation but onely in and for our turning away from creation Now the Churchseruice and Ceremonies of all Nations doe witnesse vnto vs a certeyne forthinking and remorce of sinne against God And so they witnesse altogether a forefeeling of his wrath which cannot bee kindled against nature which he himselfe created but against the faultinesse and vnkindlynesse that are in nature Also what els are the great number of Lawes among vs but authenticall Registers of our corruption And what are the manifold Commentaries written vppon them but a very corruption of the Lawes themselues And what doe they witnesse vnto vs but as the multitude of Phisitions doth in a Citie namely the multitudes of our diseases that is to wit the sores and botches whereto our Soules are subiect euen to the marring and poysoning of the very playsters themselues Againe what doe the punishments bewray which we haue ordeyned for our selues but that wee chastise in vs not that which GOD hath made or wrought in vs but that which wee our selues haue vndone or vnwrought nor the nature it selfe but the disfiguring of nature But yet when we consider that among all Nations that Lawmaker is beléeued and followed by and by which sayth Thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steale thou shalt not beare false witnesse whereas great perswasion is required in all other lawes which are not so naturall It must néedes be concluded that the Consciences of all men are perswaded of themselues that the same is sinne and that sinne deserueth punishment that is to wit that sinne is in nature but not nature it selfe But to omit the holy Scripture which is nothing els but a Lookingglasse to shewe vs our spots and blemishes what are all the Schooles of the Philosophers but instructions of the Soule And what els is Philosophie it selfe but an arte of healing the Soule whereof the first precept is this so greatly renowmed one know thy selfe Aristotle in his Moralles sheweth that the affections must be ruled by reason and our mynd bee brought from the extremes into the meanes and from iarring into right tune Which is a token that our mynd is out of tune euen of it owne accord seeing that it néedeth so many precepts to set it in tune agayne And yet is not Aristotle so presumptuous as to say that euer he brought it to passe in his owne mynd Theophrast his Disciple was woont to say that the Soule payd wel for her dwelling in the bodie considering how much it suffered at the bodies hand And what els was this but an acknowledgement of the debate betwéene the bodie and the mynd But as sayth Plutarke he should rather haue sayd that the bodie hath good cause to complayne of the turmoyles which so irksome and troublesome a guest procureth vnto him Plato who went afore them sawe more cléerly than both of them He condemneth euerywhere the companie and fellowship of the body with the soule and yet he condemneth not the workmanship of God But he teacheth vs that the Soule is now in this bodie as in a prison or rather as in a Caue or a graue And that is because he perceiued euidently that contrarie to the order of nature the Soule is subiect to the bodie notwithstanding that naturally it should and can commaund it The same Plato sayth further that the Soule créepeth bacely vpon these lower things and that it is tyed to the matter of the bodie the cause whereof he affirmeth to be that she hath broken her wings which she had afore His meaning then is that the soule of her owne nature is winged and flyeth vpward that is to say is of a heaueÌ„ly diuine nature which wings she hath lost by meanes of some fall But to get out of these bonds and to recouer her wings the remedie that Plato giueth her is to aduaunce her selfe towards God and to the things that concerne the mynd By the remedie we may coniecture what he tooke the disease to be namely that our Soule hauing bin aduaunced by God to a notable dignitie the which it might haue kept still by sticking vnto God fell to gazing at her gay feathers till she fell headlong into these transitorie things among the which she créepeth now like a sillie woorme reteyning nothing as now of her birdlike nature saue onely a rowsing of her feathers and a vayne flapping of her wings Now he sayth that he learned all this of a secret Oracle the which he had in great reuerence And of â—â—â—cueth in this doctrine of the originall of our corruption wee haue to marke the same poynt which wee haue noted in some other things afore namely that the néerer wee come to the first world the more cléere and manifest we finde the matter Empedocles and Pythagoras taught that the Soules which had offended God wâ—â— condemned and banished into bodies here belowe And Philâ—â—â—aus the Pythagorian addeth that they receyued that opinion from the Diuines and Prophets of old tyme. Their meaning is that the body which ought to be the house of the soule is by Gods iust iudgemeÌ„t turned into a prison to it and that which was giuen it for an instrument is become Manicles and Stocks So then there is both a fault and the punishment and the fault must néedes procéede from one first man euen in the iudgement of those men of olde tyme which acknowledged the Creation of the world Also those auncient fathers seeme to haue heard what prouoked the first man to sinne For Homer speaketh of a Goddesse whom he calleth Até that is to say Waste Losse or Destruction which troubled heauen and therefore was cast downe to the earth where she hath euer since troubled Mankynd And herevpon Euripides calleth the Féendes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Falne from Heauen And the
a bodie nor to see that euen in our selues it is the onely Soule that worketh and that the bodie stirreth not but as it is moued by the Soule Others againe do reason that if there be a God he must needes be perfectly happie and if he be perfectly happie he is vertuous if vertuous he ouermaistereth his affections and if he ouermaister his affections he is tempted of his lustes a thing altogether vnbeseeming the Godhead And by these incouneniences they conclude that there is no God at all not perceiuing or rather wilfully refusing to perceiue that which Plutarke sayth very well namely that the person which ouermaistereth his affections is but halfe vertuous but the stayed person is wholly vertuous because the one doth but bridle his passions by force of reason whereas the other hath them alreadie settled according to reason But there is yet more in God for he is reason it selfe and there is nothing in him but reasou Soothly this kind of reasoning of theirs agréeth in effect with this saying of Xenophanes that if Beastes were able to paynt they would portray God like to themselues because they could not naturally conceiue any further Such and other like are the arguments of these goodly Philosophers which euen little babes might laugh to skorne but els they could not haue bene against so manifest and euident a trueth And yet dare I also well assure you that they themselues knewe the falsenesse of those arguments but that they were as it were sworne to doubt of all things and to gainsay all things Let vs then conclude with the learned and the ignoraunt the Greekes and the Barbarians Men and Beastes things sensible and sencelesse the whole and euery part thereof That there is a God And if there bee yet any folke that caste doubts thereof indeuouring to race out not onely God but also man himselfe out of their hearts let vs boldly appeale euen vnto themselues not doubting at all but that their owne Conscience which cannot be defeated will one day make them to vnderstand it The second Chapter That there is but onely one God LEt vs studie further in the booke of nature and see whether that as it hath taught vs a Godhead it teach vs not also that the same consisteth in onely one God I haue tould you already that of things some haue being some haue being and life some haue being lyfe and sence and other some haue being lyfe fence and reason These fower sortes fall into three from three into two and from two into one and that one is Beeing afore the which as I haue proued already there went a Notbeeing The residue therefore how diuers so euer they be are all conueied in the one Beeing and this one Beeing must needes rest in the power of one first Being whereof the being which we sée is but a shadowe Againe in all the things which we sée we reduce the particulars too an vnderkind the vnderkinds to an vpperkind and the vpperkind to a most generall As for example we reduce all particular humane persons vnder the terme of man All men vnder the terme of Wight all wights vnder the terme of liuing things and all liuing things vnder the terme of things that are or be alwayes referring euery diuersitie to some vnitie and the same vnitie to another vnitie which is more vniuersall It remaineth then that when we can mount no higher we must distinguish the things that are into the thing which is of it selfe and the thing which is not of it selfe That which is not of it selfe is the World and all that euer is therein as I haue proued afore That which is of it selfe is the thing which we cal God beyond whom nothing can bee imagined and by whome all things both are and haue bene as which could haue no beeing of themselues Now to produce from Notheeing into beeing requireth an infinite power For betweene nothing and something is an infinite distance and two infinites cannot be abidden no nor imagined together For the infinitenesse of the one doth incloase and bynd the power of the other and looke whatsoeuer is giuen too the one is taken away from all others Therefore like as there must néedes be one Infinite so must there be but only one yea and most simply one from whose vnitie neuerthelesse flowe all the diuersities which we sée in the whole world like as from a Pricke procéedeth a Lyne an outside and all substantiall bodies And of vnitie or one in nombering proceedeth euen and odde round and square and all the multiplicities proportions and harmonies which wee sée sauing that the Pricke and the vnitie of nomber are intermingled and interlaced with all things whereas the foresayd most single and alonly One abyding still one in it selfe bringeth foorth all the other vnities and conteineth them all Let vs examine euery sort of things seuerally by them selues and we shall learne the like still in them In the Elements wee see contrarie qualities operations And where contraries are there néede but two heads to set them at warre For they cannot dwell together neither can they match together and much lesse can they reigne together The further that any of them extendeth his power the lesse can hee away with any fellowe Now then if one reigned ouer the Heate and another ouer the Colde one ouer the Dryth and another ouer the Moysture so as there were diuers makers or gouerners of the worlde wee should also see diuersities of factions Element against Element in the whole worlde and in euery thing that is compounded and continual warre in the middes of their Bowels But now see we no such thing but euery of them imbraceth other both in the whole and in euery seuerall thing notwithstanding that naturally they displace and destroy one another Furthermore they stand not at defyance alone by them selues but the Sea becleapeth the Earth the Sea and Earth togither are lapped vp in the Ayre the Ayre is compast about with the Skye and euery of them stoopeth vnder other insomuch that of their contrarieties ye see there procéedeth a goodly vniformitie Séeing then that there are not two factions there is but one maker and seeing they yeeld all into one it cannot be but also by one In the Earth wee see Riuers which runne a very long race but yet from one head and againe many streames which yeeld themselues all into one which one is the Sea and the Sea also being vndiuidable passeth through the whole inferiour world Like as they come out of one vnitie so doe they yeeld themselues vp into one other vnitie In the Heauen wee obserue infinite diuers mouings but yet all obeying vnto one There is one light which sheadeth it selfe throughout all places but yet it procéedeth from one onely which seemeth to multiply it selfe infinitely yet cannot by any meanes be parted I meane one Sunne whose beames spreading out on all sides doe reach from the Skye
increase and preseruation of all things Now if man and all that is within man and without him doe leade vs to one alone shall he suffer himselfe to raunge out vnto many And if all the Sonnebeames of man I meane his Arts and Sciences tend too one vnitie shall only diuinitie turne vs aside to a pluralitie of Goddes Nay rather by so many vnities she will make vs stye vp to the true and perfect vnitie and that vnitie is the onely one God But let vs sée now how all things being so diuers in the whole worlde are referred one to another The Water moysteneth the Earth the Ayre maketh it fatte with his showers the Sunne inlighteneth it and heateth it according to his seasons The Earth nourisheth the Plants the Plants â—eede the Beastes the Beasts serue man Againe nothing is séene here to be made for itselfe The Sunne shineth and heateth but not for it selfe the Earth heareth and yet hath no benefite thereby the Winds blowe and yet they sayle not but all these things redound to the glory of the maker to the accomplishment of the whole and to the benefite of man To be short the noblest creatures haue néede of the bacest and the bacest are serued by the noblest and all are so linked together from the highest to the lowest that the ring thereof cannot bée broken without confusion The Sunne cannot be Eclipsed the Plantes withered or the Raine want but all things féele the hurt thereof Now then can we imagine that this woorke which consisteth of so many so diuers péeces tending all to one end so cuppled one to another making one body ful of so apparant consents of affections procéedeth from elsewhere than from the power of one alone When in a féeld we sée many Battels diuers Standerds sundry Liueries and yet all turning head with one swaye wee conceiue that there is one Generall of the field who commandeth them all Also when in a Citie or a Realme wee sée an equalitie of good behauior in an vnequality of degrees of people infinite trades which serue one another the smaller reuerensing the greater the greater seruing to the benefite of the smaller both of them made equall in Iustice and all tending in this diuersitie to the common seruice of their Countrie we doubt not but there is one Lawe and a Magistrate which by that Lawe holdeth the said diuersitie in vnion And if any man tell of many Magistrates we will by and by inquire for the soueraine Yet notwithstanding all this is but an order set among diuers men who ought euen naturally to be vnited by the communitie of their kind But when things as wel light as heauy whot as cold moyst as dry liuing as vnliuing endewed with sence as sencelesse and eche of infinite sortes doe so close in one composition as one of them cannot forbeare another nay rather to our séeming the worthiest doe seruice to the bacest the greatest to the smallest the strongest to the weakest and all of them together are disposed to the accomplishment of the worlde and to the contentment of man who alonly is able to consider it ought we not forthwith to perceiue that the whole worlde and all things conteyned therein doe by their tending vnto vs teach vs to tend vnto one alone And séeing that so many things tende vnto man shall man scatter his doings vnto diuers ends Or shall hee bee so wretched as to serue many maysters Nay further to knit vp this poynt withall séeing that all things the nobler they bee the more they doe close into one vnitie as for example wee sée that the things which haue but mere being are of infinite kynds the things that haue life are of infinite sortes the things that haue sence are of many sortes howbeit not of so many and the things that haue reason are many onely in particulars doth it not followe also that the Godhead from whence they haue their reason as nobler thaÌ„ they is also much more one than they that is to say only one as well in particularitie and nomber as also in kynd Howbeit notwithstanding all these considerations forasmuch as there is diuersitie yea and contraritie in worldly things some haue gathered vpon this diuersitie that there be diuers Gods acknowledging neuerthelesse one Almightie aboue them all And othersome in respect of the contrarietie haue set downe but twoo Gods onely The first say If onely one God had made all things there should haue bene no difference in things but there is difference and therefore it must néedes bee that there are many Gods Surely had these men wel considered the things afore alledged by mée they should haue séene that nature is wholly and altogether against this Consequence There is great diuersitie in one Plant in one Wight in one Man and yet notwithstanding the ground thereof is vniforme Yea and it is so true that onely vnitie is fruitfull that we sée how the diuersitie it selfe and that which commeth thereof is vtterly barrein both in Wights as in Mules and in Plants as in the Stergon and also in all other like things If they consider the Sunne hee maketh Plants to growe all at one tyme diuers one from another and as diuers in themselues Hee maketh some of them too shootefoorth some to rypen and some to wither At one instant he both worketh drought in the Earth and draweth vp Clowdes out of it to moysten it he giueth Sommer Daylight fayre weather to some and Winter night and fowle wether vnto othersome Hee maketh some folkes whyte some blacke some read and some Tawny and yet is hee but one selfesame Sunne and one selfesame Creature which at one selfesame instant by one selfesame course and with one selfesame qualitie of heate doth all the sayd things not onely diuers but also contrarie And hee that should say that it is any other than one selfesame Sunne that maketh the Ethyopian blacke and the Scotte yellowiâ—h were not worthy to be answered Now if a Creature doth by heate which is but a qualitie bréede so diuers effectes what shall we say of the Creator I meane the infinite Being of GOD who imparteth himselfe to all things Again if man consider himselfe he féeleth he séeth he speaketh he vnderstandeth a thousand diuers things without any alteration in himselfe Nay which more is he conceiueth he inuenteth and he performeth so diuers workes that Nations doe wonder one at another One man portrayeth out the whole worlde in a little péece of Paper peinting out all the Images of the Heauens and all the Climates of the Earth Some one other counterfeiteth all liuing wights which Créepe which Goe which Flye which Swimme And all this commeth but of one mynd which conceiueth and bréedeth all these formes because it hath no forme of it owne for had it any of it owne it could not breede them because it owne would occupie it to the full What haue we then to
difference which he maketh The Nature of the Gods sayth he is neither mightie nor excellent for it is subiect to the selfesame beit Nature or Necessitie which ruleth the Heauen the Earth and the Sea But there is not any thing so excellent as God who ruleth the World and is not subiect to Nature but commaundeth Nature it selfe And he is full of the like sentences As for Plutarke he suffereth himselfe to raunge oueroften into fables but yet in good earnest he speaketh thus Let vs not woorship the Elements the Heauen the Sunne the Moone and so foorth for they be but Lookingglasses for vs wherein to consider the cunning of him that ordeyned all things and all the World is but his Temple Againe Wherefore doth Plato call God the Father and Maker of all He calleth him the Father of the begotten Gods and of men like as Homere also doth but he calleth him the Creator of the things that haue no life nor Reason And therefore sayth he in another place he made the World as a Common house both to Men Gods Yea sayth he further Although there were many moe such Worldes as this is yet notwithstanding the one onely God should gouerne them all Now this true God whom he calleth the great God the great Workemayster the Sea of Beautie the Ground of all good things and the true Béeing of whom alone it can be said Thou art and not thou hast bin or shalt be is he whom he meaneth by the name of Iupiter saying That of the Gods one is called Liberall another Gentle and a third the Dryuer away of euill but the great Iupiter is in Heauen who hath care vniuersally of all things Thus ye see then how all the Philosophers of all tymes of all Sects and of all Nations haue agréed in one God which is the thing that the learned Varro noted very well namely that although the Teachers of the Heathen named many Gods and Goddesses yet notwithstanding they comprehended them all vnder one which was Iupiter of whom the residue were but powers and functions And this Iupiter is he whom such folk worshipped vnder another name as worshipped the only one God without Images and he sayth that so God ought to bee worshipped And to that purpose alledgeth he these verses of the right learned Poet Valerius Soranus The loue almightie is the King of Kings and God of Gods One God and all the Father both and Moother of the Gods But now it is tyme to come to the auncient Poets which were also Philosophers and who by their feynings opened the gap to the pluralitie of Gods Among these the first that wee méete with is Orpheus whom Iustine calleth the first Author of them the first giuer of names vnto them and the first blazer of their Pedegrées But yet there is a Recantation of his in his Hymne vnto Musaeus which is called his Testament that is to say his last doctrine whereunto he would haue men to sticke Lift vp thyne eyes sayth he to only maker of the World He is but one bred of himselfe and of that one are all things He is all in all he seeth all and is seene of none He onely giueth both welfare and wofull teares and warre He sitteth in Heauen gouerning all things with his feete he toucheth the Earth and with his right haÌ„d the vtmost shores of the Sea He maketh the Mountaynes Riuers and deepe Sea to quake and so foorth And in another place he calleth him the Firstborne the Great the Apparant who hath created an incorruptible house for them that are immortall Also vnder the name of Zeus or Iupiter he sayth of him as followeth Looke vp to that same only King which did the world create Who being only one selfbred all other things begate And being with them all vnseene of any mortall wight Beholdeth all things giuing Man now wealth and harts delight Now wofull warre For sure there is none other King but hee I see him not because the Clowdes a couert to him bee And in the eye of mortall man there is but mortall sight Too weake too see the lightfull Ioue that ruleth all with right For sitting in the brazen Heauen aloft in Throne of gold He makes the earth his footstoole and with either hand doth hold The vtmost of the Ocean waues and at his presens quake Both Mountaynes huge hideous Seas and eke the Siygian Lake And anon after againe The endlesse Skye and stately Heauens and all things els besyde Did once within the Thundring Ioue close hoorded vp abyde The blessed Gods and Goddesses whose beeing is for ay And all things past or yet to come within Ioues bowâ—lles lay From Ioues wyde womb did all things come Ioue is both first last Beginning Middes and End is Ioue From Ioue are all things past Ioue layd foundation of the Earth and of the starry Sky Ioue reigneth King The selfesame Ioue of all things farre and ny The Father and the Author is One power one God is hee Alonly Great one Lord of all This royall Masse which wee Behold and all the things that are conteyned in the same As Fyre and Water Earth and Ayre and Titans golden flame That shines by Day and droopy Night and euery other thing Are placed in the goodly House of Ioue the heauenly King Phocilides followeth him in these wordes There is but onely one God mightie wise and happie And againe Honor the onely God Also All of them are mortall men God reigneth ouer their soules And Theognis who is of the same tyme speaketh not any otherwise Homere whom Pythagoras reporteth to be punished in Hell for making Fables of the Gods cannot make a notabler difference betwéene the true GOD and al the rest of the Gods whome men worshipped in this time than when hee saith That if they were all hanged at a Cheyne beneath he would pull them vp spight of their téeth and also that he maketh them all too quake vnder him and that whensoeuer there is any greater déede talked of he speaketh alwaies but of one God in the singular nomber Also Hesiodus who described the pedegrees of the Gods sheweth his heléef sufficiently in this onely one verse written to his brother Both Goddes and Mortall Men from one selfe race descend That is to say All the Goddes are created by the onely one God Likewise Sophocles saith thus Certesse of Goddes there is no mo but one Who made the Heauens and eeke the earth so round The dreadfull Sea which cleaps the same about And blustring Winds which rayze the Waues aloft But we fond men through folly gone astray Euen to the hurt and damning of our soules Haue set vp Idols made of Wood and Stone Thinking lyke fooles by meanes of honoring them Toâ— giue full well too God his honor due Euripides goeth yet further saying Thou Neptune and thou Iupiter and all You other Goddes so wicked are you
specially of man who knoweth how to take benefite thereof The temperatenesse of the aire serueth for him and yet the aire can not bee tempered nor the Earth lighted without the Sonne and the Moone Neither can the Sunne and the Moone giue light and temperatnesse without mouing The Moone hath no light but of the Sunne neither can the Sunne yéeld it either to the Moone or too the Earth but by the mouing of the Heauen and the great Compasse of the Heauen going about is the very thing which wée call the World not estéeming these lower parts as in respect of their matter otherwise than as the dregges of the whole And whereas the Elements serue man and the Planets serue the Elements yea and the Planets them selues serue one another doe they not shew that they be one for another And if they be one for another is not one of them in consideration afore another as the ende afore the things that tend vnto the end according to this common rule that the Mynd beginneth his work at the end thereof Now then if the turning about of the Heauen serue to shewe the Planets and they to yéeld light to the Earth and to all things thereon doth it not serue for the Earth And if it serue the Earth I pray you is that done by appoyntment of the Earth or rather by appoyntment of some one that commaundeth both Heauen and Earth Againe seeing that the ende is in consideration afore the things that tend thereto shall this consideration be in the things themselues or rather in some Spirite that ordereth them Soothly in the things themselues it cannot be for if they haue vnderstanding they haue also will and the will intendeth rather to commaund than to obey and vnto fréedome rather than bondage and if they haue no vnderstanding then knowe they neither end nor beginning Moreouer forasmuch as they bee diuers and of contrary natures they should ame at diuers ends whereas now they ame all at one end Nay which more is how should the Sunne and the Moone the Heauen and the Earth haue met euerlastingly in matching their dealings so iumpe together the one in giuing light and the other in taking it In what poynt by what couenant and vnder what date was this done seeing it dependeth altogether vppon mouing which is not to be done but in tyme It remayneth then that the sayd consideration was done by a Spirit that commaundeth al things alike and that he putteth them in subiection one to another as seemeth best to himselfe forsomuch as he is mightie to kéepe them in obedience and wise to guyde them to their peculiar ends and all their ends vnto his owne ende and he that thinketh otherwise thinketh that a Lute is in tune of it owne accord Or if he say that this Spirit is a Soule inclosed in the whole he doth fondly incorporate the Spirit of the Luteplayer in the Lute it selfe and likewise the buylder in the buylding In effect it is all one as if a Child that is borne and brought vp in a house should thinke the house to be eternall or els made of it selfe because he had not seene it made or as if a man that had bin cast out newly borne in a desert Iland and there nursed vp by a Wolfe as Romulus was should imagine himself to be bred out of the Earth in one night like a Mushrom For to beléeue that the World is eternall and that the race of Mankinde is bred of it selfe without a maker is all one thing and spring both of one error Doe not the two Sexes of Male and Female in all liuing things ouerthrowe the sayd eternitie For how should they bee euerlastingly the one for the other seeing they be so diuers Againe haue they bin euerlastingly but two or euerlastingly mo than two If but two where are those two become seeing that eternitie importeth immortalitie and a beginninglesse forebeing from euerlasting inferreth an endlesse afterbeing or cōtinuance to euerlasting And if they were many see ye not still the selfesame absurdities And if ye say they be made euerlasting by succession of tyme what I pray you is death but a token that they were borne What is life I speake of this our life but a continuance of death and what is succession but a prolonging of time Thus then ye see how that aswell by the parts of the World and by the whole World it self as also by the agréement of the whole with his parts and of the parts among themselues we be euidently taught that the fraine of the World had both a workmayster and a beginning But now some man wil aske vs when it began And that is the poynt which we haue to treate of next The viij Chapter When the World had his beginning SOothly it is not for mée to stand here disproouing the doubtes of the Accounters of tymes for the ods of some yeres yea or of some whole hundreds of yeres is not to bee accounted of betwéene eternitie and a beginning But if we haue an eye to the procéeding of this lower World we shall euidently percèyue that like a Childe it hath had his ages his chaunges and his full poynts restes or stoppes so as it hath by little and little growne bin peopled and replenished and that to be short whereas the world supposeth that it shall indure for euer it doth but resemble an old Dotarde which bee hee neuer so forworne and drooping for age yet thinkes himselfe still to haue one yere more to liue But I haue alreadie sufficiently proued that both Heauen and Earth haue had a beginning and also that séeing the one of them is for the other they had the same at one selfe same tyme and both of them from one self same ground And therfore looke what shal be declared of the earth shall also be declared of the heauen and forasmuch as the earth serueth for the vse of liuing creatures and specially of man looke what beginning we shall proue of man the like shall wee haue proued of the disposition of the earth For to what purpose were the Heauen being imbowed about these lower parts like a Uault or to what purpose were the earth being as a flowre or plancher to goe vpon if there were no inhabiter at all vpon earth Surely if the World were without beginning it should also haue bin inhabited from without beginning and no people should be of more antiquitie thā other Or at leastwise how auncient so euer it were yet should no new thing be found therein But if euen the oldest and auncientest things of all be but newe ought it not to bee a sure argument vnto vs of the newnesse thereof What thing I pray you can we picke out in this world for an example of antiquitie Let vs begin at the Liberall Sciences and we shall reade of the first commings vp of them all Philosophie which consisteth in the searching out of naturall things is of so late
towards the North and in the temperatest Clymate of our halfe Globe that is to wit towards the 35. and 40. degréees or thereabouts of the Equinoctiall lyne which diuideth that World euen in the middest which thing I desire the Readers to mark aduisedly And truely Iseland which in old tyme was called Thule was knowne in the tyme of great Alexander notwithstanding that it be situate about 68. degrées North whereas yet for al that the greatest part of Affrick was vnknowne to them and the vttermost reach of their knowledge was the I le of Taprobane which neuerthelesse are but vnder the Equinoctiall so farre of were they from atteyning to the Southpole To be short the Coast of Affrick or Barbarie of Spayne was peopled by the Phenecians whom we reade to haue bin long tyme Lords of the Sea And the Commonweale of Carthage which was so highly renowmed and reached so farre of was an ympe of Tyrus the chiefe Citie of Phenecia which bordered vpon Iewrie For Tyrus sent thether the one halfe of their people wherevpon it was called Carthago that is to say the halfe towne And the first people that dwelled there went into that Countrey by a narrowe péece of drye land called Catabathmos which is a falling ground that ioyneth Palestine vnto AEgipt as remayned yet still to bee read in the tyme of the Hystoriographer Procopius vpon a Piller in Tingie a Citie of Affrick set there by the inhabitants of Chanaan which had fled away from the sight of Iosua And in good sooth as appeareth by many sentences of S. Austins the Punicke tongue was but a kinde of seuerall proprietie of the Hebrew Some persist yet still in demaunding from whence the South-land the Countrie of Brasilie the Land of Perow and such others could be peopled And whence I pray you was Affricke peopled for the replenishing whereof thou canst not but knowe that inhabitants were sent thether both by Sea and by Land Affrick was peopled first by the foresayd narrow péece of drye Land cassed Catabathmos and afterward refreshed agayne by the streyghts of Gibraltar And the Southland was peopled on the one side by the I le of Taprobane on the other side by the streyghts of Magellan which do butt there vpoÌ„ Brasilie And Perow likewise was peopled by the narrowe poynt of land called Darien by the which way Brasilie also was peopled At such tyme as the Spanyards entered first into that great Nesse which conteyneth both Brasilie and Perow they thought it to haue bin an Iland In like manner if the Perouians had landed in Affrick by the Athlantick Sea and had fennd so long a side as the side of Affrick is that stretcheth vnto the red Sea so as they being wearied with following it as the Romanes were had made the like question we would then haue mocked at them because we knowe the passage whereby men came thether and they haue like occasion to mock vs because they know theirs But yet agayne from whence came the people which are spred abroade from the Land that is called newe Spayne by the streyght of Daryen Procâ—ede on yet a little further and thou shalt finde Cathay and Indya ioyning to that Land and Groneland facing it on the Northside and the streyght of Anian on the West side which is almost as néere within the viewe of it as Spayne is vnto Affrick by the streyghts of Gibraltare And I pray you what more maruell is it that they should haue passed by that streyght than that the Latins passed into Sicilie by the Fare of Messana or that the Vandales passed into Affrick and the Sarzins into Spayne by the sayd streyghâ—s of Gibraltare But the mischiefe is that nothing can suffize vs for proofe of the trueth but for witnesse against it we admit both Ignorance Heresay and Doubts and the very least suspitions or surmizes that caÌ„ come in our mynd For I pray you what can bee more childish or rather as Varro sayth in his Eumenides more worthie of Hell than to say that men sprung vp in a Countrey as Béetes and Rapes doe After that maner were the Athenians called Aborigenes that is to say Homebred or bred in that place and in token thereof they wore a Grassehopper in their Cappe or Bonet insomuch that Aristides to flatter them withal told them that their Territorie was the first that euer bore men and yet for all that there had bin whole Realmes of men in Syria afore there were any meÌ„ in Greece The Latins also would vaunt themselues of the same but Dennis of Halycarnassus and Porcius Cato acknowledge them to haue come out of Achaia Aske the Sauages and they will say the very same that these Sages say for they knowe neither one thing nor other further than their owne remembrance can reach But goe to Moyses and he will tell you the Originalles of the first Nations and the Genealogie of the whole World And the names of them remayning from thence vnto vs will put the matter out of all doubt to a man of vnderstanding For of Noe by his eldest Sonne Iaphet issewed the Gomerians or Cymbryans the Medes the Ionians who were the first inhabiters of Greece the Twiscons Duchmen or Almanes the Italians and the Dodoneans namely of Gomer Maday Iauan Aschenes Elisa and Dodanim By C ham there issewed the Chananites the AEgiptians the Libyans the Sabeans and so forth who reteyned the names of his Children that is to wit of Chanaan Misraim Lud Saba and so foorth For Misraim in Hebrewe betokeneth AEgipt By Sem there descended the Elamites Persians the Assyrians the Chasdeans or Chaldees that Lydians the Aramites or Syrians the people of Ophir others that is to wit of Elam Arphaxad Lud Aram Ophir and others And these names were written and recorded by Moyses afore those Nations were of any reputation and they remayne yet still among the Hebrewes at this day Now looke in what measure these fathers of houses increased their Children so did euery of them spred out his braunches a farre of insomuch that the ofspring of that stock did couer and ouershadow the whole earth and the Arke of Noe did after a maner sayle ouer the whole world But here is an Obiection which seemeth stronger These reasons say they do bring vs vp to the Flood but as the Flud brought mankynd to that small number whereby the World was by little and little renewed agayne So may it be that there were other former Fluds that had done the like afore so as this latter Flud was rather a renewing of the World than a first beginning therof And to this purpose they will alledge this saying of Plato in his Timaeus that the ouerflowings of waters and the burnings by fire doe from tyme to tyme refresh the World and destroy the rememberance of the former ages and also of all Artes Sciences and other Inuentions This is worthie of some examination Surely of Burnings eyther
vs in his seruice and that wee contrarywise turne all things to our selues as to their proper ende yea and euen our selues to our selues which are nothing If we kept a reckoning of our life how small a part thereof do we bestowe vpon God How fewe of our steppes doe wee walke in his seruice How fewe of our thoughts are directed vnto him And if wée looke vppon our very prayers what are they but continuall offences seeing that euen in the middest of our greatest vehemencie we vanish away by and by into vayne imaginations and are caried as farre away from our prayers into wandering conceyts as heauen is distant from earth and further What Sonne will not fall out with him that speakes euill of his Father or els all that stand by will count him a coward if he passe it ouer with silence Contrarywise which of vs is moued when he heareth Gods name blasphemed or if he be moued that setteth himselfe in defence of him or if he set himselfe in defence doth not by and by forget it What then doth this argewe but that in very trueth our Soule liueth not but our Body and that our Soule hath not her mouings and actions free and liuely seeing it is not moued at the iniuries that are done to the Soule and to the father that made the Soule but at the wrongs that are done to the body and to the father of the bodie If a man breake the Scutchions of our Armes wee take it to bee a great disgrace to vs and a touching of our credite and if hée breake our Images or Pictures we fall out with him and will neuer be reconciled And if it be done to a Prince he makes it a poynt of high Treason and that we doe not the like it is not for want of pride but for want of power to reuenge it On the contrary parte which of vs is greeued at the wrong that is done to his neyghbor or rather which wrongeth not his neyghbor euery day Or which is much moued when he seeth a man slayne before his face vnlesse he be his brother or néere friend Nay which of vs our selues doth not daylie kill his brother eyther in very déede or in heart eyther with the Sword I meane or by hatred euen for the least offence that can be pretended and so teareth or breaketh not the Image of God which he hath paynted and ingraued in man euen euery hower without any regard Now what els is this but that we know not this Image of God to bee in our selues For otherwise how durst wee bee so presumptuous as to offer any hurt or harme vnto it but because the secret consent of all mankinde in such outrage confesseth it to be quite and cleane forgone or at leastwise to bee so disfigured and defaced and so straungely berayed that it can scarsly bee discerned any more And because the kindred that is betwéene all men deriued from the father of their Soules moueth vs very little but the vyle kindred of the flesh moueth vs very much which is as farre inferiour to the other as there is oddes betwixt the soule and a lump of earth or betwéene the fathers of eyther of them that is to wit betwéene GOD and Man Yet notwithstanding seeing that the wickeddest man in the world and such a one as seemeth to bee touched with nothing hauing once slayne him whom he hated most of all men doth by and by after the deede done feele a hart◠byting in his mynd and a torment in his Conscience which thing he feeleth not for the killing of a thousand beastes euery day what can we say to be the cause thereof but only the remaynder of Gods Image common to all men which putteth him in mynd of the wickednesse that he hath done and is highly offended at his owne offence and which according to this saying The good blud lyeth not maketh our indytement of it self and would fayne euen it self be reuenged of vs within vs Therfore let vs say which thing we cannot denye vnlesse wee denye our selues that God created man to be to him as a Child and that man is growne out of kynd yea straungely growne out of kynd not regarding as wee see in most men to bee knowne eyther of his father or of his brethren which thing notwithstanding the bastards of this world do seeke to their vttermost to doe but by his will going about to abolish his pedegrée and al his titles of kindred that he might be called the Sonne of the earth which was the name of Bastards in old tyme rather than the some of him that begate him and created so many things for him to inioye For proofe whereof to be true what ame we at in all our studies and indeuers but the earth and earthly things Had we continued still in our originall creation wee should according to the spirituall substaunce of our Soules haue naturally pursewed spirituall things yea and haue mounted vp aboue the very heauenly things But where seeke wee now our inheritance our welfare and our felicitie but in these transitorie things And whereof are al our suites and quarrels in this world but of Cattell of Corne and of Land Wherefore we must néedes confesse that it is a witnesse of the dishereting of Mankynd from the heritage of his father and that he is in his fathers displeasure and dissauour and that he doth but runne after Peasecoddes as the prodigall Childe did when he had wasted his inheritance licentiously But now to come to those which make most profession of godlinesse whence thinke we commeth the distrust that all of vs haue naturally of Gods goodnesse and assistance but of the feeling of our iust disherison which our conscience is greeued at within vs The sonne of a good and rich father behighteth himselfe as much reléefe as his father is able to yéeld and as he himselfe hath néede of If not but that the Child doubt thereof we presume so farre of the fathers goodnesse that we conclude that his sonne hath offended him and made himself vnworthy of his goodnesse by some great cryme Now then seeing that God is the very goodnesse and riches themselues wherof commeth it that no man can assure himself of them that no man can rest himself boldly enough vpon him that no man can trust vnto him so assuredly as his goodnesse requireth and finally that our requestes are so full of distrust and our hearts so full of vnbeléefe Surely séeing the fault cannot be in Gods goodnesse which is a fountayne that cannot be dreyned drye it must néedes be that the fault remayneth alonly in the naughtinesse and frayltie of our selues which dare not hope for good at the hand of him which is most excellently good because our whole nature telleth vs that we bee vnworthie of his grace by reason we haue offended him too gréeuously If we consider the gouernment and order of the World wee may euen there also find apparantly
that man holdeth not himself in his state but is falne from the seate of honour wherein God had placed him God had set him aloft aboue the Stones aboue the Plantes aboue the Brute beastes yea and aboue the world it selfe If he abyde still in his degree whence commeth it that so many men make themselues bondflaues to Gold and other mettals and that so many men doe leade the life of Plants and brute beastes in the bodyes of men some giuing themselues to nought els than to eating drinking and sléeping and neuer lifting themselues vp any higher and othersome consuming and wasting themselues in most beastly delights pleasures For what beast is there that would be a Plant or Plant that shooteth not vp to get out of the ground To be short what thing is there in the whole world sauing onely man which doth not very precisely kéepe the owne state and degree I pray you if a man should see one with a princely Crowne al myry on his head tilling the ground and following the Plough what would he thinke but that he were deposed from his Throne and that some mischief were befalne him And what then is to be sayd of that man which toyleth in Doonghils and skulketh into corners to wallowe himselfe in a thousand sorts of filthines and imployeth all his wit vpon such things but that he is falne from the toppe of his mynde and that by the greeuonsnes of that fall he hath so lamed and maymed all his abilities that it lyeth not in him to returne againe from whence he is falne For who can deny but he is borne to greater things than hee doeth Or who can thinke that GOD hath giuen him an immortall Soule to the intent he should imploy himselfe altogether about things which are not so much as worthy to be mortall Or a countenance which he calleth continually to the mynding of Heauen to looke groueling on the myre Or a Scepter to play the dizard with it in a Playe Or a triple Mace to rake Dounghilles withall or too digge the ground withall Againe how is the Lawe and order of gouernement which shineth forth in the whole world and in all the partes thereof turned vpside downe in man who is the Litle World by the disobedience of the Body to the Soule In Plantes in Trees and in brute beastes the soule distributeth nurrishmēt by proportion Their bodyes obeye the direction of their Soules without geynsaying and euery abilitie performeth his duetie accordingly The nurrishing abilitie followeth his appetites and goeth not beyond them The sensitiue followeth his naturall delights but it violateth them not But as for man what shall wee say of him Surely that his body commaundeth his Soule as if the Plough should drawe the Horses as they say that his will suffereth it selfe to be ruled by his appetites that his reason is an vnderling to his sences and that his very whole nature is most commonly quite out of order So must we needes confesse an ouerthrowe of nature in him for whom neuerthelesse nature it selfe was made and that man was swarued aside from his right way seeing that all other partes of the World doe followe their Nature and that Nature itselfe teacheth vs it What is to be sayd then but that man is not onely falne from the state wherein he was to be set in lower degree than he was afore but also that he is falne in himselfe and from himselfe in and from his owne peculiar nature Moreouer it is manifest that the world was created for mans vse for the world knoweth not it selfe nor the creatures that are therein And ageine as for the Angels they needed it not and as for the brute beastes they haue no skill to vse it Onely man hath vnderstanding to vse the seruice thereof and a body that hath neede of their seruice Sith it is so who can doubt that God created man with a knowledge of his creatures and also gaue him power ouer them Whereof commeth it then that the beastes doe naturally knowe their seasons the remedies of their diseases and the Herbes that haue a proprietie of nature to heale them and that only man among all other liuing things knoweth them not insomuch as he is fayne to goe to Schoole to the brute beastes to learne them Also whereof commeth it that these creatures which surely GOD made not to be snares to man for that had bene repugnant to the goodnes of the Creator but for mans benefite and seruice doe now kicke and spurne ageinst man yea euen those which haue no power or strēgth at all to withstand him Let vs omit Woolues Leopards and Lyons which seeme to haue some force to ouermatch the weakenes of man What meaneth it that wormes make vs warre within our Bowels that vermin deuoureth our Corne and that the earth yeeldeth vs not any kind of fruit which hath not a peculiar enemie in it to marre it ere it come to our hand but to driue vs to confesse that man must needes haue offended his maker right greeuously and that whereas Gods putting of his creatures in subiection to man was to the end that man should haue continued in obedience vnto GOD now because man hath rebelled against Gods Maiestie God also suffereth those to rebell against man whom he had put in subiection to man yea euen to the very off kourings of the earth For what els is this contrarietie of the earth to him that tilleth it of the Sea to him that sayleth it and of the aire to the successe of all our labours and trauels but a protestation of whole nature that it disdeineth to serue a creature that was so presumptuous as to disobey his Creator a creature I say which by doing seruice to the creatures hath forgone the authoritie which he had receiued of this Maker Now consequently let vs consider man towards man What is there more disordered or more cōtrarie to nature than is the nature of man himselfe If beastes of one kind doe kill or eate one another wee take it for an ougly thing What an ouglynesse then ought it to be vnto vs when wee see how men who alonly be indued with reason doe euery howre kill one another and roote out one another Nay rather is it not a great wonder to see good agreement and frendship not among Nations not betwéene Coūtries not among Companies but euen in households yea and betweene Chamberfellowes Wolues are cruell but yet in what race of Wolues shall wee find Caribies and Cannibals Lyons also are cruell but yet where were they euer seene in Battell one against another Now what is warre but a gathering and packing vp together of all the sorts of beastlines that are in the world And yet what is more common among men than that A Beast say some will barke or grunt ere he byte a house will cracke ere it fall downe and the Wind whistleth ere it breake things But contrariwise what is man towards man
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
The Euerlasting will be our rightuousnesse And in trueth in the booke of Sabbath where these texts are examined Rabbi Eliezer sayth plainly That warres shall not ceasse at the first comming of the Messias but only at his second comming that is to wit when he commeth in glorie to iudge the world Of the same stampe are the obiections that followe It is written say they that Mount Oliuet shall bee split asunder in the middes and the one halfe fall towards the East and the other half towards the West which thing wee sée not yet come to passe Well they cannot denye but that this text speaketh plainly of the destruction of Hierusalem and if they will néedes followe the letter they shall see in their owne Histories that when the Romanes beseeged the Citie they made their trenches on that side Againe it is sayd That the Lords hil shal be aduaunced aboue al hilles and therevppon they dreame that Hierusalem shal be hoyssed vp thrée leagues into the ayre But these people which otherwhiles delight so much in Allegories ought to vnderstand these euen by the text it selfe For sayth the Prophet folke shall say let vs goe vp to Syon and God will there teach vs his waies The Lawe shall come out of Syon and the word of the Lord from Hierusalem And I pray you when came they better out than when the Apostles of Iesus did spread them abroade from Hierusalem thorowe the whole world And therefore Rabbi Selomoh saith vpon those texts that the Lord should at that tyme be magnified in Hierusalem by a greater signeâ— than he was in Sinai Carmel Thabor And Rabbi Abraham the sonne of Ezra sayth that this Aduaunced hill is the Messias who shal be highly aduaunced among the Gentyles Also it is sayd in Esay The Woolfe shall feed with the Lambe and in Malachie The Angell of the Lord shal make the waies playne which things say they wee see not yet performed nor many other such like But yet doth Rabbi Moyses Ben Maimon their great teacher of Rightuousnesse say Let it neuer come in thy head that in the tyme of Christ the course of the world shall any whit bee chaunged but when thou readest in Esay that the Woolfe shal dwell with the Lamb call to mynd how Ieremie sayth A Woolfe of the wildernesse hath wasted them and a Leopard watcheth at their Cities to snatch â—p them that come out For the meaning thereof is that both Iewes and Gentiles shal be coÌ„uerted to the true doctrine and not hurt one another but feede both together at one Crib according to this saying of Esay in the very same place The Woolfe shall eate Hay with the Oxe And after that maner sayth he must we expound all such maner of speeches which belong to the tyme of Christ for they be parabolicall and figuratiue of the same sort also is the exposition of Rabbi Dauid Kimhi howbeit that ordinarily he followed the letter the translation of Ionathan himselfe And as touching the Angell or Ambassador that should leuell the waies mentioned in the text of Malachie The meaning thereof sayth Ramban is that a great Prince shall bee sent afore the Messias come to prepare the harts of the Israelites to the battell But Malachie expoundeth himselfe more fitly in these wordes He shall turne the hearts of the fathers to their Children that is to say he shall exhort Israell to repentance The Obiections that insewe hereafter haue a little more weight in them It is written I will destroy all the Idolles of the earth Also I will hungerstarue all the Gods of the Gentyles And againe They shall all serue mee with one shoulder Would God that the abuses which are crept into the Christians Church against Christes ordinance were not so great a Stumbling blocke to the Iewes Neuerthelesse let them consider the great nomber of Gods woorshipped by the Assyrians Persians Greekes and Romaines at what tyme euery Countrey euery Citie euery Household and euery person had his peculiar God and his Idols by himselfe and they shall finde that within a little while after the Apostles had preached the doctrine of Iesus to the world they were all gone and not so much as any rememberance of them had now remayned but that in publishing the glorie of God wee had also declared their ouerthrowe Let them reade the Histories of the Heathen and aske of them what is become of their Oracles I meane the Deuilles which hild them in with their Lyes and Dreames and would not bee pacified but with the Sacrificing of men yea and euen of their owne Children and of all those wickednesses which had taken roote all the world throughout can they now shew any print at all Euen in the tyme of Tyberius began men to aske these questions namely what was the cause that Oracles spake not any more that Deuils wrought not as they had done aforetymes And that their Priestes wanted liuing And the Heathen themselues were driuen to answer that since the tyme that Iesus had dyed and his Disciples had preached abroade Arte Magicke and the Deuils had lost their power So sodeine so vniuersall and so wonderfull to our very enemies was the chaunge in that tyme and of so great force was the onely name of Iesus in the mouth of those poore men against Kings and Emperours against their Kingdomes and Empyres and against the vpholders and worshippers both of the Deuilles and of their Idols For briefnesse sake I omit this Obiection following and such other as that all Nations haue not followed Iesus For the Prophets haue tolde vs that but a remnant shall bee saued and Iesus himselfe sayth that Many be called and fewe chosen And it suffiseth that the voyce of the Gospell hath bene heard ouer all the world and that the gate of the Church is set open to all Nations Againe to come to an issewe they knowâ— that the word Col that is to say All betokeneth not that all men without exception shall followe him but that all Nations without difference shall bee his people Againe the seede of Christ say they should be euerlasting but we see not the seede of Iesus to bee so They say very well in that by the word Seede they meane Christs Disciples and in their owne language they terme them Sonnes or Children thankes be to the Lord there are Disciples of his still euerywhere through the whole world But the principall Obiection remayneth yet behind and that is this If Iesus be the Sonne of God say they why chaungeth he the Lawe of God his father deliuered by Moyses beeing as hath bene sayd alreadie both holy and inuiolable which who so doth how can hee bee receiued for the Messias Surely in this poynt where they charge Iesus with the changing and abolishing of the Law we be flat contrarie to them affirming that he did not change it or abolish it but more plainly