especiall thinges which may best serue for this purpose The Scriptures foretolde long before the time that the world should be conuerted to Christian Religion all Nations should beleeue and submit themselues to the obedience of the Faith a thing in mans iudgement not to bee expected For the Prophet saide concerning the Kingdome of Christ I meane his Kingdome of the Gospell or of Grace The Heathens raged the people murmured against the Lord and his Christ but in vaine the Kinges of the earth stood vp banded them selues and the Princes assembled themselues togeather But he that sitteth in heauen shall laugh them to scorne the Lord shall haue them in derision Euen I haue set my King vpon Sion mine holie mountaine I will declare the decree that is the Lorde hath saide to me thou art my Sonne this day haue I begotten thee aske of me and I shall giue thue the Heathen for thine inheritance and the endes of the earth for thy possession There could not be a more vnlikely thing foretolde and yet it was fulfilled long since no Atheist can denie it Tertullian to this purpose saith who was able to gouerne the world but onely Christ of whome it was foretolde that his Kingdome should be extended ouer the whole world The Kingdome of Salomon saith her was confined within the Land of Iudaea from Dan to Beersheba and his territories did reach no farther Darius raigned ouer the Pabylonians and Persians but no farther Pharao ouer the Aegiptians and there his dominion ceased Nabuchodonozer was a great Monarche yet he reigned not ouer the whole worlde but onely from India vnto Aethiopia the like may bee saide of the Greekes the Romās which were called the Lords of the world and yet the whole world was not knowne vnto them much lesse subdued by them But as for the Kingdome of Christ it hath extended it selfe farre and wide the Gospell hath bin preached in al places and receaued of all Nations of the Parthians Medes Elamites the inhabitantes of Mesopotamia Armenia Phnygia Cappadocia Aegipt Pamphilla Asia Africa and the vttermost Indies Of this assertion there bee so many recordes that it cannot bee denyed As for some few things which are foretolde in the Scriptures not yet fulfilled as namely the conuersion of the Iewes and the destruction of Antichrist the time is not yet come to passe that they should be fulfilled for all thinges must be performed in that due time which God in his secret wisdome hath appointed There are other thinges also foretolde which must goe immediately before the ende of the world which are not yet performed because as you see the ende is not yet But it is a sufficient argument to induce Infidelles to beleeue that all these thinges shall come to passe because they see all other things alreadie performed in their time and order For as hee that sometimes lyeth shall not bee beleeued though hee tell the truth so hee which alwaies hath tolde the truth cannot without impietie bee suspected of fallhood God cannot deceaue or bee deceaued And which is not to bee omitted St. Peter did prophecie that at the latter end there should bee such Atheistes which should denie these thinges and the Prophecie is now verified otherwise this my labour might haue bene spared their impiety maketh it good which the Prophet hath foretolde Againe there is in Daniel an auncient Prophecie concerning the death of our Sauiour Christ euen the verie time and computation of yeares is defined when hee should be put to death Seauenty weekes saith hee are determined vpon thy people and vpon the holy Cittie to finish the wickednesse and seale vp the sinnes and reconcile the iniquitie and bring in euerlasting righteousnesse to annoynt the moste holy From the going foorth of the commaundement to bring againe the people and build Ierusalem to Messias the Prince shall bee 69. weekes and after he shall bee slaine but so that for one weeke hee shall teach but in the middle of the weeke hee shall cause the Sacrifice and oblation to cease But these weekes are annuae hebdomadae euery weeke is seauen yeares and so reckoning weekes consisting of yeares not onely of daies as for euery day in the weeke should be reckoned a yeare 70. of Daniels weekes make 490. yeares But the Temple which was the first and cheifest thing reaedified in Ierusalem began in the second yeare of Cyrus the builders were hindred 42. yeares as it appeareth out of the Gospell and in the 46. yeare it was finished because the laste 4. yeares they had quietnes Longimanus in the second yeare of his raigne giuing foorth a newe edict that they should builde without molestation and no man vnder payne of death should hinder the workemen as in times past they had done From the second year therfore of Longimanus the Emperour to Alexander the great were 145. yeares from Alexander to the natiuitye of our Sauiour 310. from his birth to his baptisme 30. these being put together make yeares 485. so the 69. weekes make 482. yeares but at his baptisme the whole 482. yeares that is 69 were fullye complete and ended In the next weeke or 7. yeares our Sauiour taught the people and in the middle thereof that is in the fourth yeare he was put to death What Iewe or Atheist can except against the truth of this Prophecye A second proofe that the bookes of the Bible are the worde of God is the generall consent and agreement of so many writers which writ at diuers times in diuers places remote one from an other in diuers languages and vpon diuers occasions all writing of one and the selfe-same subiect all agreeing in Doctrine none contradicting other that they might not so fitlie bee termed diuers writers as diuers pennes of the same writer The bookes of Moses were written in the wildernesse of Iosua Iudges and the Kinges in the land of Promise of Daniell in Babylon the workes of St. Paule some at Rome some in other places as Athens Ephesus Laodicea Nicapolis St. Iohns reuelation in Pathmos the Booke of Iob no man knoweth by whome when nor where The Bookes of Moses about 2554. yeares after the creation of the worlde the Psalmes some of them 605. yeares after Moses the bookes of Ezra after the returne from Captiuitie about 605. yeares after Dauid by whome manie of the Psalmes were made Betweene Dauid and the Captiuitie Esay and Osee vnder King Ioathan Achaz and Ezechiaz Ieremie vnder Iosias Ioachim Zedechias Ezechiel Abacuc Daniel in Captiuitie and the whole new Testament long after the olde yet all agree as the diuers thunders which haue one voyce foure Beastes which sing one song Vox tamen vna manet qualem decet esse sororum Damascen compareth them to a Garden bedecked with varyetie of hearbes of excellent vertue which are to be gathered one by one and yet to make one Garland or diuers precious stones in one brest-plate
this long peace which we haue enioyed hath increased our riches riches haue made vs to forget God and so like an vnnaturall daughter peace hath deuoured religion which bred and maintayned peace in the world The Prophecie is verifyed In these last dayes since the mountaine of the house of God hath beene prepared in the top of the mountaines and hath beene exalted aboue the hilles and all nations haue flowed vnto it and many people haue gone said Come let vs goe vp to the mountaine of the Lord to the house of the God of Iacob and he will teach vs his wayes and we will walke in his pathes our swordes haue beene broken into mattocks our speares into sythes nation hath not lifted vp a sworde against nation neither haue they learned to fight any more The Lamb dwelling with the Wolfe hath beene in safetie the Kid with the Leopard the Cow feeding with the Beare the Calfe with the Lyon the sucking Childe hath plaied vpon the hole of the Asp the weaned Childe hath put his hand into the hole of the Cockatrice without any hurt and the reason is alleaged by the Prophet Because the earth was full of the knowledge of the Lord euen as the waters that couer the sea This Prophecye you see is fulfilled But these sayings are by them mistaken For Tully doth not argue in this manner that we must holde there is a God and maintaine religion that so ciuill gouernment may be maintayned and men may liue orderly in a common wealth But his meaning is cleane contrary that we must performe all ciuill duties in a common wealth for religion sake and we must be religious for Gods sake because there is a God which hath ingraffed religion in our hearts whereby ciuill states may be the better maintayned and which will punish all such as are not religious that is which haue not a true feeling of religion And it was not the meaning of the Prophet Esay that after the knowledge of true religion had planted peace among vs and peace had brought prosperitie then we should cease to be religious so forget God but rather increase our zeale and hauing receiued such benefits at his hands whome we serue continue faithfull in his seruice A second cause of Atheisme may be the want of due right hearing of the worde preached because faith commeth by hearing and therefore where there is a want of hearing faith fayleth and by a consequent Pagisme and infidelitie increaseth For many of them doe not heare but absent them-selues or if they be present they stand not for figures but for cyphers they doe not by the worde preached as the virgin Mary did by the sayings of our Sauiour Christ which layed thē vp in her heart or as Abraham did by the Angels which receiued them into his house or as the Sunamite woman did by Elizeus or the widowe by Elias which entertayned them with willingnes The worde to them is not as the raine of heauen falling vpon the earth or the deawe of Hermon vpon mount Sion but as the Childrens bread cast before whelpes or pearls cast before swine seede sowen by the high way side the peace of the Apostles bestowed vpon vnworthye houses and therefore returneth backe againe They stop their cares with the Adder or sleep with Eutichus or make loue as the Egiptians did to Aholah and Aholibah cloathed with blewe silke and diuers suites pleasant young men that they may set Aholah and Aholibah on fire bruise the brestes of their virginitye and powre out their adulterie vpon them as the Prophet speaketh Some heare the Preacher with great attention but as the Pharisies did our Sauiour to intrappe him in his speech to take exception against his wordes as the Athenians did St. Paul to scoffe at his simplicitie they read the Bible but as Porphurye did to finde as they prophanely call them absurdities and contradictions in the worde of God not as the Bee which gathereth honye but as the Spider which sucketh poyson out of wholsome flowers A third cause of Atheisme proceedeth from the long suffring of God which doth not presently punish Atheists For he doth not onely with patience suffer them to blaspheme his holy name but also in his wisdome which no man can sound in his iudgementes whome no man can search blesseth them with worldly blessings as if he did reward their vngodlines It is not my complaint alone but it is the complaint of the Prophet Dauid which cryeth out in this manner Why standest thou so farre off ô Lord and hydest thee in due time euen in affliction the wicked hath made boast of his owne hearts desire and the couetous blesseth himselfe he contemneth the Lord he is so proud that he seeketh not for God he thinketh alwaies there is no God his wayes alwaies prosper he saith in his heart I shall neuer be moued nor be in danger Nay it may very well be said as it was of Iob that the Lord hath made an hedge about him his house and about all that he hath on euery side he hath blessed the worke of his handes and his substance is encreased in the Land The Lord suffred his owne Arke to be taken by the Philistins his enemies and his owne people the Iraēlites which fought his battle to be ouerthrowne in the battell And this cōmendation is giuen of the godly King Iosias that he read the lawe of the Lord before the people he made a couenant with the Lord that the people should walke after the Lord and keep his commandements his testimonies statutes with all their hearts all their soules all the people stood to the couenant he purged the Temple and put downe the Idols he slewe the idolatrous Priests he kept such a passeouer in honour of God as neuer the like was holden from the daies of the Iudges y t iudged Israel nor in al the daies of the Kings of Israel the Kings of Iuda he tooke away thē which had familier spirits and the sooth-sayers and the Images and the Idols and all the abhominations that were espyed in the Land of Iuda and Ierusalem that like vnto him there was no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart all his soule and all his might according to all the lawe of Moses neither after him arose there any like him And yet see how the Lord rewarded him The very next thing which followeth in the same Text is this Pharao slewe him at Megiddo Thus you see how the Lord rewarded faithfull Iosias which serued him trusted in him with death in this worlde and ouerthrowe in sighting of his owne battell and gaue the victory to Pharao an heathen King which put no trust nor considence in him Likewise Nabucodonozor burned Gods house robbed his Temple in contempt of him and his seruice yet God prospered him as if
storye is this that hereafter he doe no more denye the truth of it or make anye question how it might be but rather thus Quotiescunque legit historiam timeas ne ipse flat historia so often as he readeth the storye let him tremble at Gods iudgements leaste he become also an acter of such a Tragedye and the subiecte of the like storye that is leaste he be turned into a stone as Lots wife was or consumed with fire and brimstone as Sodome was Chapter 13. Of Christ I Haue I trust sufficiently proued that there is a God that the Atheists might be conuerted vnto the true God But because this knoweledge of God in his creatures is onely sufficient to giue them occasion to seeke further and no way in it selfe able to saue their soules they must also knowe him in his Sonne by whome onely saluation commeth When the fulnes of time was come saith the Apostle God sent his Sonne made of a womā c That I may therefore proue vnto them God in his Sonne our Sauiour Christ by humane authorityes and reasons because they will not stand to the authoritye of the Scriptures I will not alleage the testimony of the deuils out of the Gospell which sayd Iesus thou Sonne of God what haue we to doe with thee art thou come hither to tormēt vs before y e time but out of prophane historyes which sayd in effect the same thing For being silenced at his comming that their Oracles could giue no more answer and being asked a reason of their silence one of them answered as in the 4. Chapter I haue already shewed vnto you Me puer Hebraeus diuos Deus ipse gubernans Cedere sede iubet tristemque redire sub orcum Aris ergo dehinc tacitus abcedito nostris Vpon which answer by them giuen Augustus the Emperour erected an Altar in the Capitoll of Rome with this inscription ARA PRIMO-GENITI DEI An Altar dedicated to the first begotten Sonne of GOD. I cannot see how any thing can be playner then the deuils confession by the Oracle of Apollo wherein he is called Puer Hebraeus an Hebrue Childe Deus a God A childe there is his birth and humane nature like that of the Prophet Esay Natus est nobis puer a Childe is borne vnto vs and an Hebrue as the Apostle speaketh Hee descended not of Angells but of the seede of Abraham And God there is his Diuine nature God is become a childe there is Christ God and man Our Sauiour shewed himselfe many waies to the Infidels to be God yet to be borne but they vnderstood him not Tully citeth the prophecy of Sybel for proofe y t a King should be borne and that none shold be saued vnles they did imbrace him yet neither he nor the rest of the Romās had the grace to applie it rightly Tully his selfe did onely aleadge it but not beleeue it for hee thought it to be some inuentiō of man tēding to the alteration of the state of Rome Lentulus applyed it vnto himselfe hoping hee should be that King therfore ioyned in conspiracie with Cataline Virgill applyed it to Solonius the Sonne of Pollio because he was his good Patron was desirous to honour magnifie him aboue other men And it is very likely that Virgil had heard something concerning this matter of the Hebrues themselues because as Iosephus writeth when so euer Herod the King of Iudaea came to Rome he lodged at Pollio his house vnto which house Virgill often resorted But afterward Constantine the great did expound that prophecie to bee vnderstood onely of the incarnation of Christ Iosephus writeth that there was an auncient prophecie among the Romans that a King should come out of Iudaea which should be the great man of the worlde But they were so blinde that they could not apply it vnto Christ of whome it was meant but they vnderstood it of Vespacian the Emperour because hee conquered the Iewes Swetonius maketh mention of a strange accident which fell out at Rome before the birth of Christ by which it was publikely acknowledged that Nature did beeede a King which should raigne ouer the people of Rome what that wonder was Dio sheweth In the Capitoll many images were ouerthrowne from heauen writings in grauen in Marble pillers were blotted out But they had not somuch light as to vnderstand that the Kingdome of Christ his Gospell should ouerthrow idolatrie and prescribe new Christian lawes whereby his Church should be gouerned Great was the blindenes of Augustus which could erect an altar to the Sonne of God yet could not acknowledg the Sonne of God whē he was borne and published to the world and being himselfe a tipe figure of Christ yet did not see christ in his selfe of whome hee was a figure And that it may not seeme to any man absurde which I haue said that Augustus was a tipe of Christ wee finde the like in the Prophet Esay concerning Cyrus the King of Persia I haue likened thee to my selfe thogh thou hast not knowne me Cyrus was a tipe of Christ though hee knewe not Christ in that he deliuered Gods people out of Captiuitie by giuing them leaue to returne to their countrie and to builde the Temple So was Augustus a tipe of Christ in his happie peaceable gouernment of the Empire in that hee was saluted first by that name of Augustus the sixt day of Ianuarie and the same day was Christ worshipped as a God King by the wise men which came from the Easte that vnder him were burnt the recordes and specialties of the debts w t were due to the treasure house or chamber of the Empire for so by our Sauiour was cancelled the hand-writing of ordinance which was against vs and it was nayled on the Crosse when our Sauiour was borne greate quantitie of oyle did miraculously issue out of the earth what was that but the birth of the Lords annointed w t was annointed with the oyle of gladnes aboue al his fellowes vpon that miracle Augustus was so astonished y t he made proclamatiō y t after that time no mā shold call him Lord what was that but a manifest acknowledgemēt that a greater Lord was borne then Augustus was To this also I may adde the testimonye of the starces and constellations in heauen to shew the Atheist the birth of the Son of God vpon the earth The wisemen as I haue shewed before sought out our Sauiour Christ by the leading of a Starre which Staire I haue proued to bee miraculous And yet although the birth of the Sonne of God was not subiect to constellations but was farre aboue the capacitie of Astrologers and the course of the heauens yet the verie Astrologicall predictions and Aspects of other naturall Starres were enough to giue occasion to the Gentiles to seeke farther and so to come to the knowledge of the birth
he had rewarded him for so dooing Valerius Maximus citeth out of Tully the example of Dionysius the Tirant which did brag and boast of his sacrilege that when he sayled to the Temple of Proserpina which was at Locris to robbe the same the winde and weather did so much fauour him as if it had beene a pleasing thing to that Goddesse to doe her violence as if she had the rather prospered his nauigation giuen successe vnto his busines because he did robbe spoyle her Temple When the Turkes and Hungarians ioyne in battell the Hungarians armye cryeth out aloud Iesu Iesu The Turkes name their prophet Mahomet but Mahomet preuayleth against Iesus The greatest parte of the worlde are insidels and they encrease daily but the number of Christians doe decrease And this is agreeable to that which Prateolus obserueth which all eageth that among many causes of Atheisme this is not the least namely Euentus mirabiles quorum causas ignorant putant longe aliter fore si Deus existeret omnia cernens curans vt sunt faelicitas impiorum infaelicitas piorum eius Dei longanimitas qui atrocissimos peccatores statim non punit Strange euents which continually fall out contrary to the sence and reason of man the causes whereof man vnderstandeth not but thinketh that it would be otherwise if there were a God which did see and regarde humane affaires as for example the happines of the vngodly the vnhappy estate of the godlie and the long suffering of God him selfe which suffereth grieuous offenders so long to escape vnpunished whereas contrarywise if God would be pleased to shewe present examples of his iustice vpon sinners as he did when he turned Lots wife into a piller of Salt for looking back destroyed Sodom with fire brimstone for pride caused Ieroboam his hand to wither for burning Incence Eli to breake his necke for suffering his Children to abuse the Priests office the earth to swallowe vp Core Dathan Abiram for their rebellion the Beares to deuour the Children for mocking Elisaeus the dogges to eate Iosabell for oppressing Naboth the fire to burne vp Nadah and Abihu for vsing prophane fier vpon the Altar which tooke away Saul his Kingdome for disobeying Samuel stroke Zachary with dumnes for vnbeleefe Elymas with blindenes for hindering the course of the Gospell Balthasar with death for prophaning the holy vessels Ananias and Saphira for telling a lye Gehezi with Leprosie for taking bribes and shut Moses out of the Land of Canaan for trespassing at the waters of Meriba I say if God would vouchsafe to dwell with vs as he did with them and shew such examples among vs as he did among them punish whole landes as he did Egipt for not letting his people goe no dout but Atheisme would cease and vngodly men would confesse that there is a God It is a signe that our sinnes are great and God doth not loue vs as he loued them And yet the Atheists haue but mistaken all this while for these be arguments rather to proue vnto them that there is a God For this is the Lords long suffering to bring them to repentance as St. Peter teacheth saying The Lord is not slack as some men account slacknes but is pacient towards vs and would haue no man to perish but would haue all men to come to repentance And as St. Paul saith Thou ô man despisest thou the riches of his bountifulnes and patience and long suffering not knowing that the bountifulnes of God leadeth thee to repentance but thou after thine hardnes and heart that cannot repent heapest vp as a treasure vnto thy selfe wrath against the day of wrath of the declaration of the iust iudgement of God But therefore the Prophet Dauid in the Psalme aboue rehearsed where he saith The wicked hath made boast of his hearts desire his waies alwayes prosper he inserteth these wordes in the middle of the sentence Thy iudgements ô Lord are farre aboue his sight And St. Augustine doth fully satisfie this point where he saith Diuina miserecordia ad impios ingratos peruenit Primo quia Deus facit oriri Solem super bonos pariter malos pluit super iustos iniustos Secundo vt quidam ista cogitantes ab impietate se corrigant Tertio vt quidam diuitias longanimitatis eius contemnentes sibi thesaurrizentiram Quarto patientia Dei ad poenitentiam inuitat malos sicut flagellum Dei ad patientiā erudit bonos Quinto quia placuit diuinae prouidentiae praeparare imposterū bona iustis quibus mali non fruentur et mala impij quibus boni non cruciabuntur Againe Si nunc omne peccatum plecteretur poenis temporalibus nihil vltimo iudicio reseruari putaretur si nullum peccatum nunc puniretur nulla Dei prouidentia esse crederetur Gods mercy is extended to the godlesse and vnthankfull men for these causes following First because he maketh his Sun to shine aswell vpon the vniust as the iust and his raine to fall vpon the godlesse aswel as the godly Secondly that some of them considering these thinges might repent them of their sinnes Thirdly that othersome despising the riches of his longanimitye might heape vp wrath vnto themselues Fourthly the patience of God doth invite and allure the wicked to repentance euen as the scourge of God doth instruct the godly vnto patiēce Fiftly because thath seemed good to the prouidence of God to prepare in an other worlde ioyes for the righteous whereof the vnrighteous shall not be partakers and punishments for the wicked which the godlye shall not feele And last of all if all offences were now punished with temporal punishmēts it wold be thought that nothing were reserued for the day of iudgement as contrarywise if nothing were punished temporallye in this worlde men would make a dout of Gods prouidence A fourth cause of Atheisme is the malice of Sathan as the Apostle sheweth vs If saith he our Gospell be yet hidden it is hidden to them which are lost in whome the God of this world hath blinded the mindes that is of the infidels that the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should not shine in them Beholde Sathan his malice and cunning from time to time In the first two hundred yeares after the Passion of our Sauiour Christ he busied himselfe about the first Article of the Creed to ouerthrow that and therefore stirred vp the Marcionists the Gnosties the Maniches to teach that there was not one God the Father almightye maker of heauen and earth but diuers Gods But finding not his successe therein answerable to his malice ceased there and went to an other Article and so stirred vp Praxeas Noetus Paulus Saniosatanus to ouerthrowe the diuinitye of our Sauiour Christ his Sonne afterwad haeretickes to disproue his conception by the holy Ghost his birth of the Virgin Mary and the other Articles
of fayth which are to be beleued concerning him Being not able to preuaile therein he descended to the Article of the holy Ghost and so stirred vp Macedonius to deny the Godhead of the holy Ghost Being not able to preuaile therein he went to the Articles concerning the Church and so in sundrye ages hath gone from one Article to an other vntill he hath gone ouer all the Articles of the Creed Now being disproued in them all he doth not so rest but returneth againe to the first at which he began not to proue a multiplicitie of Gods as he did before endeuour but to proue a nullitie of any God by disprouing the God-head either of the Father or of the Sonne or of the holy Ghost of all three But he goeth to worke with greater violence to chop off all fayth all religion at one blowe by prouing that there is neuer a God and to this purpose hath he armed his Polititians with arguments against the Bible But to them may be applyed the wordes of Policarpus to Marcian the haereticke who being asked of him Agnoscis me ô Policarpe Dost thou acknowledge me ô Policarpus answered him Agnosco te esse primogenitum Satanae I knowe thee very well thou art the sonne and heire of the Deuill The last cause of Atheisme is the lenitye and ouer great mildnes of Princes and Gouernours which doe suffer Atheists to escape vnpunished I may iustly say it is their fault that there are Atheists that will suffer Atheists For so saith the holye Ghost concerning Azariah the King of Iudah He did vprightly in the sight of the Lord according to all that his Father Amaziah did but the high places were not taken away for the people yet offered and burned Incense in the high places And the Lord smote the King he was a leper vnto the day of his death The King him-selfe you see is commaunded to be a godly man not he but his subiects committed idolatrye yet God punisheth him for the idolatrye of his subiects But that could not stand with the iustice of God to punish the King for his subiects offences vnles it were the Kings faulte that the subiects offended Where the Spanish Inquisition is it is a very rare thing to heare of an Atheist which I speake not to that end as if I did wish that Inquisition to be brought into any Christian Kingdome but onely to shewe that it is better to liue where there is too much seueritie rather then too much loosenes and where nothing is lawfull rather then where all things are permitted as if they were lawfull The Lord of his mercy stirre vp the hearts of all his annoynted Princes inflame their Zeale that they may not onely hate Atheisme as I hope they doe with a perfecte hatred but also banish such impietye that heereafter not onely the opinions but also the verye name of Atheist may be as it were buried in hell and no more heard of in their Kingdomes Chapter 3. How Atheisme may be rooted out of all Christian landes AS prosperitie causeth many men to forget God and others to denye God so aduersitie sicknes imprisonment such like chastisements of God for sinne will make wicked men not onely to acknowledge confesse God but also to stoop downe before him and to flye for succour vnto him When Iulian the apostata was deadly wounded by a dart from heauē he could not be silent but that plague extorted out of his mouth a confession of the power of Iesus Christ whome before he had denyed he cryed out Vicisti Galilaee Iesus of Galile the conquest is thine Though Pharao in his prosperitie had said who is the Lord I knowe him not I will not let the people goe yet when his land was plagued with Frogges he called for Moses and Aaron and said Pray ye for me vnto the Lord that he may take away the Frogges from me and from my people and I will let the people goe that they may doe sacrifice to the Lord But as soone as God gaue him a little rest that the plague ceased he was hardned againe When the hand of the Lord was heauye vpon the men of Ashdod and he destroyed them and smote them with Emeroides they remoued the Arke out of the house of Dagon and said Let vs send the Arke of God vnto his owne place that he slay vs not and our people When Nabuchodonozer was depriued of his Kingdome and turned into an Asse to graze in the field for the space of seuen yeares then he began to be humble to vnderstand himselfe better to lift vp his eyes to heauen to giue thankes to the most high to praise and honour him that liueth for euer to confesse that his power is an euerlasting power that his Kingdome indureth from generation to generatiō that all the inhabitānts of the earth are reputed as nothing that according to his will he worketh in the armye of heauen and in the inhabitants of the earth that none can stay his hand nor say vnto him what dost thou Then he could make both an humble a large consession and say I Nabuchodonozer prayse and extoll and magnifie the King of heauen whose workes are all truth and his waies iudgement and those that walke in pride he is able to abase But for as much as now such miracles doe cease and it belongeth to Gods annointed Kings to be ielous of his glory if they wil abanden Atheisme out of their Kingdomes first of all they must withdrawe their countenace from all vngodly liuers For so long as the Prince dooth looke cheerfully vpon them the eyes of the people will be defixed vpon them also they will admire them and think their vices to be vertues You know what Hamon said Thus shall he be honoured whome the King doth honour and againe the argument must followe aswell on the contrary side Thus and thus shall he be dishonoured whome the King doth dishonour You are not ignorant of the saying of Salomon Indignatio Regis est nuncius mortis The displeasure of the King is but a fore-runner of death If the King giue countenance to Atheists the people will respect them by his example if he frowne vpon them the people will trample ouer them The King is like the maior preposition in a Sillogisme the people are like the conclusion But it is a most certaine rule in Logicke Conclusio sequitur deteriorem partem If the maior be negatiue or perticuler the conclusion will bee so if any thing bee worser then other in the King the people wil be sure to followe that Secondly they must be assisting vnto their Ministers For God in the Primitiue Church gaue them the gift of working miracles to credit their office and calling whereby they did chastise Gods enemies So St. Paul stroke Elymas the sorcerer with blindenes for peruerting and seducing the Deputye from the fayth And St. Peter stroke Ananias and
Saephira with present death for telling a lye to the holy Ghost And because miracles after a short time were to cease our Sauiour Christ left the sworde of excommunication in his Church to be in place of miracles and to continue vnto the end of the worlde And since the Church hath no other sword now but the ceÌ„sure of excoÌ„munication which is so greatly dispised if it would please God to put it the hearts of Princes to strengthen excommunication with their Princely authoritye to adde the sworde of the Kingdome to the keyes of the Church not to suffer any person that is noted of impietye to dwell in the lande none that is tanquam Publicanus Ethnicus as an heathen or infidell to dwell among Christians but to deliuer them ouer to the hang-man whome the Church hath deliuered ouer to Suthan vnles they he heartily openitent and speedily reformed no dout but then God would be better knowne in Iuda and his name in Ierusalem would be greater I say if any man be an Atheist let him not be honoured among the people but let him haue Micheas his entertainment which was to be fed with the bread of affliction and water of affliction or let him be banished out of the lande not by Ostracisme as Aristâ—des was for his vertues but as Ouid was for his vices and that I may vse the phrase of the holy Ghost let his house be made a Takes As Tully wished that it were written in euery mans forhead what he thought of the common-wealth of Rome that so true-hearted subiectes might be knowne from Traytours so I wish it were written in all mens forheads what they think of God and of Christian religion We can iudge no farther of them then wee heare by their blasphemy and prophane wordes which they vtter see by their loose liues and conuersations But so farre we may iudge as we heare and see and we finde there are so many that we haue good cause to crye out with the Prophet Dauid and to say Help Lord help there is not a godly man left for the faithful are fayled from among the children of men they speak deceitfully euery one with his neighbour flattering with their lippes and speake with a double heart the Lord cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaketh proud thinges Thus much I am fare there is no policye to religion no wisdome to well doing and most firme is the estate of that man be he high or of lowe degree which procureth God to be his freind Chapter 4. That there is a God THey which call them-selues the damned Crue yet doe think there is no damnation they sweare continually by the name of God and yet they think there is no God See how they are ouertaken vnawares As St. Paul might very well dispute with the Athenians in the defence of that God whome he preached vnto them and say There is a God besides all those Gods which you superstitiouslye doe worship and is yet vnknown vnto you witnes your selues and your owne Altar Doe not think it absurd that I preach vnto you such a God for if there be not why do you then erect an Altar vnto him write this superscriptioÌ„ vpon it IGNOTO DEO TO THE VNKNOWNE GOD. So I dispute against them if they be as they confesse their selues a damned crue how shall they thinke to escape damnation If they swearo by the name of God why doe they deny God for in swearing by him vnawares they doe confesse him They weare by the woundes and bloud of Christ yet deny the merits of the death of Christ The man of God calleth such men fooles and such fooles may be rebuked euen out of their owne Booke intituled THE SHIP OF FOOLES Preb scelus horrendum blasphema tricuspide telo Gent humana petit genitum Patris Altitonautis Atque illi exprobat quod nostros induit artus Languoresque tulit nostros miseratus abalto Casum insaelicen quo primus corruit Adam To them I say no more then out of their owne Booke Desine sacrilegis iterum crucifigere labris Virgineum partum poenamque horresce propinquane They were thought worthy to be put into the Ship of Fooles which are swearers but much more doe they shewe them selues to be fooles which sweare by God and yet say there is no God But I will proue to the damned Atheist by these reasons that there is a God First they read euery day in the booke of nature that there is a God I meane by the booke of nature the great frame of heauen earth For what is this whole visible world but Epistola a Deo scripta ad humanum genus A letter or Epistle written from God vnto mankind For in it we may read of the inuisible God in his workes and his name is engrauen there in hierographicall letters Lactantius proueth it out of Tully an heathen Philosopher by the same argument his wordes are these Nemo est tamrudis tam seris moribus quin oculos suos in coelum tollens tametsi nesciat cuius Dei prouidentia regatur hoc omne quod cernitur aliquam tamen esse intelligat ex ipsa rerum magnitudine moles dispositione constantia vtilitate pulchritudine temperatione nec possefieri quis id quod mirabiliratione constat consilio maiori aliquo sit instructuÌ„ No man is such a rusticke so brutish and voyde of coÌ„mon sence and reason but as often as he looketh vp to heauen if he deny this his owne eyes shall witnes against him for although this be not sufficient to bring him to the perfecte vnderstanding of that God by whose prouidence he seeth the worlde is gouerned yet what his eye hath seene his tongue may tell The very greatnes of the frame of heauen the constant motion of the starres the wonderfull temperature of the elements doth shewe there is a God which guideth these thinges and by a consequent there is a God which made these thinges Mercurius Trismegistus doth proue it Singula haec astra non similem aqualem cursum faciunt in coelo Quis est qui euique modum magnitudinem cursus terminauit vrsa haec quae circase voluitur vniuersum mundum secum circumferens quis est qui ei fabrifecit instrumentum quis est qui mariterminum imposuit quis est qui terram stabiliuit est enim aliquis ô Tati qui herum omnium factor est Dominus Impossibile enim est vellocum vel numerum vel mensuram terminari absque factore When we see the motion of the planets fixed starres contrary one to an other the celestiall spheres in continuall volubilitye the multiplicitye of their motions their diurnall or daylye course from the East to the West their retrograde and vyolent motion from the West to the East their trepidat motion from the South to the North. When we see the sea farre higher then the
earth and a fluide or liquid body yet confined within the bankes that it cannot drowne the earth the earth solid and firme vnder our feet that we cannot sinke we must confesse ô sonne Tatius that there is one which is Lord maker of these thinges for it is impossible that euery thing should continue in due place number and meeasure and so iust a preportion should be obserued without a maker and who could make these thinges but God therfore there is a God To this booke of nature agreeth the booke of the Bible who saith The heauens declare the power of God the firmament sheweth the worke of his handes one day teacheth another one night giueth knowledge to another Againe the wrath of God is reuealed from heauen against all vngodlynes and vnrighteousnes of men which detaine the truth of God in vnrrighteousnes for asmuch as that which may be knowne of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it vnto them for the inuisible thinges of him that is his eternall power and Godhead are seene by the creation of the worlde being considered in his workes to the intent that they should be without excuse Dauid saith he couereth him selfe with light as with a garment and spreadeth the heauens like a curtayne he layeth the beames of his chamber in the waters maketh the clowdes his chariots and walketh vpon the winges of the winde In which wordes I doe not presse them with the authoritye of the Scriptures because the Scriptures are not of sufficient credit with them but with the reasons which are vsed in the Scriptures which if they cannot answer they must yeild vnto and confesse that there is a God And therefore I conclude against them in this manner We see dayly effects before our eyes in all the elements continuall motions in the heauens but there can be no effecte without a cause there can be no motion without a mouer no action without an agent no worke without a workeman these be relatiues and therefore one could not be without the other Mercurius Trismegistus could say Statuam siue imaginem fieri sine statuario aut pictore nemo dicit Hoc vero opificium fine opifice factum est Ô multam cacitatem ô multam impietatem ô multam ignorantiam nunquam ô sili Tati priuaueris opifice opificia A picture cannot be made without a Painter or a grauen image without a Caruer And can such a piece of worke be made without a worke van It is blindenes it is impietye it is grosse to entertaine such a conceit So then we take these for vndouted principles in naturall Phiosophye that they may not be denyed to witte Euery effect hath his cause euery action his agent euery motion his mouer But as there be many secondary causes agents mouers so there must needes be one principall and aboue the rest There is ordo causarum qui in rerum natura non procedit in infinitum an order of causes sub-ordinate one to an other and therefore there is no infinite ascention vp in the subordination of causes but at the lēgth by ascēding we must come to the highest we must in ea consistere stay when we come there because we can goe no higher and that is God What naturall body soeuer is moued I say it is moued by some other which is higher then it selfe For example The sphere of the Moone which is the lowest of the heauens is moued by the spheare of Merc. which is higher thē it Mer. is moued by Venus which is higher then it Venus by the Sun the Sun by Mars Mars by Iupiter Iupiter by Saturne Saturne by the sphere of the fixed staries and so we ascend vntill we can goe no higher that is vnto the heauen which is called Primum mobile y t first highest body w c is subiect to motion volubility That also is moued aswell as the rest not of it selfe because no naturall bodye can moue it selfe therefore it hath motion frō some other not from any other bodye because there can be no other bodye aboue the highest therefore it must of necessitye be moued by that which is a Spirit and not a bodye not naturall but metaphisicall and that can be nothing else but God In like manner the Sunne and a man doe beget a man the Sunne putrifaction doe engender Flyes and these thinges being subiect to outward senses are therefore naturall bodyes and because they are naturall bodyes they haue foure causes two inward which are matter and forme and two outward efficient and finall and there is nature which hath his secret motion tell me therefore what is that You will say peraduenture that is nature which Aristotle defineth to be principium motus the beginning of motion you say rightly but that is inward therefore you must besides this assigne an outward cause of motion and what is that If you say the ayre that is but a middle cause and therefore you must ascend higher for if there be causa media there is also prima if there be a midde or subordinate cause there is also a principall and first cause And what is that but onely God that is causa causarum the cause of all other causes and from whence all other thinges haue their being Againe all agents doe not worke alike for one thing worketh of necessitye and that is nature an other thing worketh in these outward and indifferent thinges partly of will and partly of necessitye that is man there you see medium participationis a meane which participateth with the extremitye but there can be no meane without two extreames and there can be no one extreame without the other and therefore of necessitye there must be a third agent which worketh freely as nature worketh of necessitye and man partly of will partly of necessitye And that can be nothing else but Deus liberrimum agens euen God which worketh freelye that no power is able to withstand his worke Therefore I conclude this point with Iob Aske the beastes and they will teach thee the foules of the heauen and they will shewe thee speake to the earth and it will tell thee the fishes of the sea and they shall declare vnto thee who is ignorant of all these but the hand of the Lord hath made all these Secondly to leaue the work-manship of the whole worlde and to come to man alone which is but one little part of the same If man goe no farther then him selfe he shall see God most liuely in him selfe three manner of wayes First in his conscience and vnderstanding Secondly in his naturall inclination he hath to religion Thirdly in the excellencye of the work-manship both of his bodye and his soule Concerning the first I say there is in euery man at some time or other an inward feeling of his conscience which wil he nill he maketh him to confesse there is a God For suppose a man for
this tract my sonne in regarde of my loue to vardes man and my dutye towards God Illud vero ex mente lucidum verbīs filius Det that same pure worde which is borne of God is the sonne of God Natura diuina principium entium the diuine nature is the beginning of all thinges Deus et pater bonum eandem habent naturam quid est Deus pater bonum quam omnium esse God the Father and Goodnes haue the same nature what is God the Father and Goodnes but the very essence and being of all thinges Here is a manifest acknowledgement of the Trinitye To leaue particular men what answere the Atheists to the iudgement of the worlde the consent of nations Tully draweth his argument in this manner Deus esse non est dubitandum quoniam corum notitiam omnium animis ipsa impressit natura that there is a God it is without question because all nations doe acknowledge and confesse him by the instinct of nature But in an other place saith he Omnium consensus vox naturae est the consent of all men is the voyce of nature it selfe I haue shewed how all nations imbrace some religion or other haue their Altars their Priests their Gods as the Hebrues from Moses so the Egiptians from Mercury the Cretians from Melissus the Latins frō Ianus the Romans from Numa the Greckes frō Orpheus and Cadmus and all nations from one or other St. Augustin saith concerning miracles Non nunc necessaria sunt vt olim miracula tum facta erant necessario priusquam crederet mundus ad hoc vt crederet mundus quisquis autem adhuc vt credat prodigia requirit magnum est ipse prodigium qui mundo credente non credit Now miracles are not so necessary as in times past they were before they were necessary that so the worlde might beleeue but now he is a miracle his selfe that will not beleeue because the world beleeueth But say I as he is a wonder that will not beleeue that which the worlde beleeueth so he is a monster which will not confesse that which the world confesseth A fourth argument to proue there is a God is the great multitude of miracles which haue beene manifested to the worlde euen such things as are farre aboue the strength of nature therfore needs must proceed from some higher supernaturall cause and who is that metaphysicall cause but euen Natura naturans God him selfe For example slightly to passe ouer so many earthquakes which haue ouerthrowne whole Cityes as Eutropius sheweth how the yeare after St. Pauls death the Citye of Colossus was swallowed vp for despising St. Pauls doctine They are not vnacquainted with the Historiographers which shewe how by an earthquake the Iland of Sicily was made an Iland being before one maine continent with Italy how Europe and Africa were parted when Spaine was deuided from Barbary which before were one land And that I may speak that which mine eyes haue seene Vienna the cheife Citye of Austria is now more subiecte to earthquakes then other places in the worlde besides in so much that there is scarce one house in the Citye which hath not one rent or other in the stone wall which came onely by earthquakes And because that place hath beene more subiecte to earthquakes then other places one of the Bishops of that Sea heretofore deuised a certaine prayer continually to be said in the Churches of Vienna to this effect that God would defend that Citye from earthquakes Let the Atheist satisfie me by a natural reason concerning this poynt else let him confesse that there is a supernatural cause which if they doe that is God What can they saye to so manye strange Eclipses to so manye prodigious raines as when it rayned bloud flesh stones coles of fire of which they may read at large in Liuy Plutarch and other authors what say they to so many comets appearing in the ayre after which stil doe insue the death of so many Princes as namely the Comet which appeared in the yeare 1506. after which ensued the death of Philip King of Spayn sonne and heyre to Maximlian the Emperour Philip Prince Elector of Rhene Albert Duke of Bauaria Pope Iuly the second Iohn King of Suecia and Noruegia Lewis king of France Maximiliā the Emperour the Bish of Spire the Archbishops of Colen Magdeburg the venetiā wars the wars between the Turke and the Persian the King of Denmarke Christian driuen out of his Kingdome Hungary inuaded and Rhodes taken by the Turke Lewis King of Hungary slayne who can giue a naturall reason of this and many other like vnto this But I will stand especially vpon two things which haue troubled the wise men of the world let the Atheists yeild naturall reasons how these things could be else let thē cōfesse there is a God w c is aboue nature First the Starre which apeared at the birth of our Sauiour being neither a fixed starre nor yet a Planet for it was nothing like vnto either of them if we doe respecte the motion of it the place where and the time when it apeared and the vse whervnto it serued For it neither moued as the fixed starres from the Est to the West nor as the Planets from the West to the Est but from the Est to the South the like neuer heard of before nor since When the Sunne shined it also shone when the wise men came to Palestina it went before them when they came to Ierusalem it vanished away when they went to Bethleem it went before them againe as if it were a creature indued with reason and vnderstanding it shewed them the verye house where the Childe did lye whereas a naturall starre by reason of the great distance betweene heauen earth could not discouer vnto them the place and scituation of a great Citye much lesse of a small house when they went forward it went forward whē they stood still it stood still And as St. Augustin saith Quid erat illa stellanisi magnifica lingua coeli quae nec vnquam antea inter sidera apparuit nec postea demonstranda perntansit quid erat nisi magnifica lingua coeli quae gloriam Dei narraret quae inusitatum virginis partum inusitato fulgore clamaret cui non postea apparenti euangelium toto Orbe succederet What starre was that which was neuer seene before nor since but the wonderfull voyce of heauen which should declare the glory of God and publish to the worlde the vnvsuall Child-bearing of a Virgin by an vnvsuall brightnes which should neuer afterward apeare againe but in steed of it should be the glorious Gospell of Iesus Christ If you aske me what proofe I haue besides the Gospell that euer there apeared such a starre witnes Ignatius which sawe our Sauiour in the flesh Prudentius the Poet Macrobius a professed enemye to Christiā religion which testifieth
not confesse the same are in that poynt worsse then deuils Last of all it stan leth with good reason that it should be the safest opinion for the Atheists to holde that there is a God For if so be that there were no God there could come no hurt vnto them for thinking so because all men besides them selues holding the same there were none that would punish them for their opinion But if so be that there be a God as I haue prcued vnto them that there is surelye one day he will torment them in hell fire for their contempt because they would not belceue in him and confesse his name Therefore I conclude with the Apostle Corde creditur ad iusticiam orefit confessio ad salutem Let the heart belecue to righteousnes and the tongue consesle vnto saluation At the name of Iesus let euery knee bow both of thinges in heauen and thinges in earth thinges vnder the earth and let euery tongue confesse that Iesus Christ is the Lord vnto the glorye of God the Father Amen Chapter 5. What God is SAint Chrisostom saith Ego omne quod intelligo sinc Christo Spiritu Sancto Patre nolo intelligere nisienim intellexero in Trinitate quae me seruabit mihi dulceesse non potest quod intelligo I can vnderstand no other God when I heare the name of God mencioned but the Father the Sonne and the holy-Ghost For vnlesse I vnderstandd it to be ment by the holy and vndiuided Trinitye whereby I am saued my vnderstanding shall content me nothing So thē according to S. Auguste God is a diuine nature consisting of three persons the Father the Sonne the holy Ghost God the Lord the Cōforter He which begetteth which is begotten he which regenerateth newe begetteth Of one all things In one al things By one al things Frō whence By whome in whom are al things Life w c liueth Life of him which liueth the quickner of al things which are liuing One of him selfe One of an other One of thē both The principles of humane artes and liberall sciences are by themselues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to bee proued by the same artes An Arithmetician cannot proue by Arithmeticke that Omnis numerus est par aut impar euerye number is euen or odde The Musitian cannot proue by his owne Arte that two crotchets make a quauer because these be principles of Arithmeticke and Musicke All principles as Aristoile teacheth in his Demonstrations if they be demonstrated must be demonstrated by the Metaphysics which are of an higher nature but that the principles of the Metaphysics cannot be demonstrated because there is no higher science But forasmuch as Diuinitye is the highest it is enough for vs to belceue the principles thereof without farther serching and happy is the man which seeth not the reason how they should be so and yet belecueth that they are so No man hath seene God at any time because he is inuisible Tully saith Vtioculus it a anima sereliqua videns seipsum non videt The eye seeth not it selfe and the soule vnderstandeth other thinges better then it selfe And that this saying Nosce teipsum know thy selfe is meant in regarde of the soule of man because it is so hard to conceiue what it is But if so be that an eye cannot see it selfe no meruaile though it haue not seene God if a man cannot fullye vnderstand him selfe how should he so perfectly conceiue and define what God is which is so infinitelye aboue himselfe That which is finite him which is infinite the creature the Creator the pipkin the pipkin maker he which is made of vile claye him that hath made all thinges of nothing But as Moses when he was a mortall and sinfull man was not able to beholde the glorye of God and therfore sawe but his backe partes onelye as he passed by So let vs which haue but shallowe braynes so far demonstrate faith by reason as faith may be discerned by reason The Philosophers as S. Augustin saith seeking after the nature of God found that he could not be a body therefore concluded that he was farre more excellent then all bodyes and therfore a Spirit that he could not be subiect to change and therfore that he was aboue all bodyes and soules which are subiect to alteration that all mutable thinges haue their beginning from that which is without all shadowe of change or mutabilitye and that hee which is not thus subiect is simply of him selfe depending of nothing but all other thinges haue their dependance on him Againe they considered that al substances are other bodyes or Spirits and that a Spirit is more excellent then a bodie but that to be moste excellent which hath made both the bodie and the Spirite They considered likewise that the shape of the body is discerned by the outward sences and the spirit is perceaued by the vnderstanding but that which is onely vnderstood is better then that which is seene and that there was something more excellent then both these by so many waies God is known Therfore for asmuch as God is one simple essence not compounded of any partes not consisting of any accidents and yet subsisting and the Apostle speaketh of him in the plurall number saying the inuisible things of him are seene by the creation of the worlde because the truth of God is knowne and perceaued by many meanes through the thinges which he hath made by the continuance of his creatures is vnderstood his eternitie by the greatnes of them his omnipotencie by the excellent order wherby he hath disposed them his wisdome by his gouernment and preseruation of them in that comely and decent order his goodnes and all these thinges doe belong to the vnitie of his substance Therefore not to speake of the authoritie of the holy Bible where at the Baptisme of our Sauiour the blessed Trinitie did sencibly appeare the Father in a voice the Sonne in a man the holy Ghost in a doue how in the beginning the Father made the Son spake and the holy Ghost mooued vpon the waters Bara elohins creauit dij seu Deus Trinus a verbe of the singular number is Ioyned to a nominatiue case of the plurall to shew that these three are one how when three Angels came to Abraham his house he prostrated himselfe to them as vnto God which could not bee without the crime of idolatrie vnlesse they had bin God howe sometimes he spake to them in the plurall number as vnto three persōs sometimes in the singular as vnto one God how the Angels crie in heauen Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabaoth three times holy once Lord to show that there were three persons one God But if I come onely to shewe the backe partes of God so farre as by earthlie comparisons he may be made manifest vnto sinfull man the Atheist doth aske how it can
written worde where he saith Thou shalt not commit adulterie and againe they finde his secret will to be centrarie to that which he published and reuealed in his worde because he suffered Daniel to commit adulterie vnlesse they will blasphemously and contrarie to sence and reason say that the power of God was so weake y t he was not able to hinder Dauids adultery so indeed it might follow that there were neuer a God for vnlesse he be omnipotent he is no God Now his reuealed wil is many times contrarie to his sufferance because he suffereth that which he hath willed and commanded to the contrarie as I haue shewed you in Dauid and the reste And this will and his sufferance do differ in these pointes first in respect of our knowledge secōdly in respect of the diuers ends wherunto lie willeth and suffereth Concerning our knowledge wee know his reuealed wil euer since it was written and published in his worde but what he will suffer contrarie to that his commaundement is hidden from vs and vntil it come to passe and wee see that hee hath suffered it As for diuersitie of endes which he purposeth in his will and his sufferance I will shew you by a familiar example He willeth that no man shall steale that so no theife may excuse himselfe by pleading ignorance and yet hee suffered the Chaldaeans to steale Iobs Cattell that so hee might make open triall of Iobs patience Hee willed that Iudas should not betray him that if hee did betray him hee should not bee excusable yet secretly hee willed the contrarie and suffered the contrarie that so might he wrought the worke of our redemption And that this distinction of wills may not seeme impossible in God we finde it also in man when a earthly Prince many times maketh a publike Proclamation that this or that lawe shall bee executed and yet notwitstanding hath a secret meaning to hinder many particulars contrarie to that which he hath published and to dispense with his owne Proclamation although the people take no notice thereof Againe these thinges are sayed to differ in this manner onelye in regarde of our vnderstāding as his will his sufferāce are diuersly apprehended by vs but as they are in God himselfe they cannot differ because in him power wisdome will strength sufferance and all other thinges are all one with himselfe In God and with God there are no accidents his will is his selfe his wisdome is his selfe and his sufferance is his selfe I proue there can be no accidents with God or in him because hee is not anie vniuersall or perticular thing comprehended in the praedicament of substance which is subiecte vnto accidents And because he is a transcendent going aboue all the coordinations which are in the praedicamentall lyne actually infinite so that he cannot be included within the compasse of any praedicament there can be no kinde of differences either accidentall or essentiall in him he cannot generically or numerically or specifically differ from himselfe or in him selfe And so this question is easily answered and whatsoeuer the Atheist can alleage against vs. Chapeer 9. That the Worlde had a beginning MOses writeth that in the beginning God made heauen and earth That is in the first moment of time or when time first began then God began his worke of the creation of the worlde Which time forasmuch as it is defined to be Numerus or mensura motus the measure of the motion of all naturall bodyes and the subiect of time is the very body of heauen which is first moued and by which all other naturall bodyes are secondarily moued time was not before nor after the heauens but they were created both together and because after the end of the worlde motion shall cease euen as before the beginning so after the ending there shall be no more time So then whereas it is saide in the beginning God made heauen and earth it is all one as if he had saide that once he made them By this making is meant creation which is to make a thing of nothing hauing no matter praecedent out of which he should make it and this must necessarilye followe because if there had beene any matter before wherof he should haue made the world that matter had beene in some place so then if there were place and matter there was a worlde before the creation of the worlde and the worlde could not be the first thing that was made Creation is an action of God not intentionall but reall not inward but outward not immanent but transient by the which he giueth to thinges their being For although the will of God alone with reference to the thinges which are made were sufficient yet there is a kinde of influence of Gods power executing his will which doth afterward followe in his worke It is an action both necessarye and voluntarye necessarye because hee decreed and yet voluntarye because it was his will to create the worlde And that it was no hard thing for him to create the world of nothing neither absurd to say that God did create any thing of nothing it is apparant forasmuch as we see creat on in the Angels which are immateriall and therefore cannot be of any praecedent matter as also the soules of men which he then did and now continually doth create which are a manifest argument to proue creation Out of this doctrine also followeth an other conclusion that God onely is eternall and before time because he did once create the heauen and the earth and gaue them their beginning whereas before they were not neither was there anye thing besides him-selfe God before the worlde was made was in him selfe and vnto him selfe insteed of the worlde and he was alone because there was nothing but him selfe and yet not so alone but that he had all power wisdome and happines in him selfe He had no need of the worlde or any thing contayned in it for as much as he was eternally without it and therefore could stand without it and had not his dependance of it He was infinitely happy in him selfe and therefore the creation of it could adde no happynes vnto him and if he had needed it he could haue made it before Neither did he then make it because he was wearye of being without it or that it displeased him that he had not made it before because he did not make that which he would not but he would haue that which he made and that which he would he did make in order and therefore he made it not rashly but deliberatly not casually but wisely and in time he did all thinges and in time especially he made thee ô thou Atheist that whilst thou hast time to liue thou shouldst acknowledge and worship him The manner how he made it euen as Kings doe by his commaundement onely He said the worde and it was done If you aske how God should speake or who should heare his
voyce when there was nothing besides him selfe he spake that is he decreed with him selfe that it should be so If you aske what moued him to create it when he could be aswell without it being delighted with the reflection of his owne glorye which he sawe in him selfe made creatures because he would haue some to be partakers also of that his happines as men and Angels and for their sakes he made the worlde that they might be contayned in it Angels in heauen men vpon the superficies of the earth and all other creatures for the vse of man that so Angels and men seeing his goodnes whereof they were made partakers should prayse him As for the Philosophers and Poets and great wise men of the worlde although they enioyed not the Bible as were Mercurius Trismegistus Homer Hesiodus Aristotle Tully Ouid they all held that the world had a beginning and that God was the maker of it How then is it that now our Atheists denie the same Surely they thinke themselues wise and are become foolish as the Apostle speaketh For they thinke there may bee an effect without a cause a motion without a moouer a worke without a workeman But because disputation is not to be held with them which are ignorant but with the learned and the learned will not preiudice their knowledge so much as to be thought not able to yeild a reason of their assertions let vs examin the reasons which they alleadge why they should holde that the world wâ—â—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out beginning Aristotle say they affirmeth that there can be no motion without a mouer and there must be a due proportion inter motorem id quod mouetur betweene that which is moued and that by whome it is moued there is one Sphere which is called primum mobile the first bodye which is moued so there must be one first agent to moue the same but he did moue from eternitie there was therefore some thing which from eternitye was to be moued by him and that is the highest Sphere For say they if he did not from all eternitye moue this Sphere but began the worlde then non agens factum est agens of no agent he was made an agent which could not be without alteration but that could not be because God is not subiect to alteration for then should he also be subiect to corruption and so should be no God The argument I say doth not followe for although that God is said to be primus motor ab aeterno the first mouer from eternitye yet he did not actu mouere ab aterno this motion of his was not in action eternallye and therefore it is not rightly inferred that there should befor that cause anye change in God For God what-soeuer in his eternall fore-knowledge he intended to doe is said to doe it in the same maner as he intended it and that motion which was not in rerum natura subsistens subsisting in the nature of things as they terme it yet in God was alwayes subsisting with whome all future thinges are present which called the things that were not by their names as if they were He ordayned euery thing that it should be euen before the foundation of the worlde was layed the reason is because that eternall and diuine essence doth not acknowledge time he seeth thinges past present and future not successiuelye but all at once Therefore they haue not yet attayned to the true vnderstanding of Aristotles meaning which argue in this maner Naturally I confesse motion is without beginning because one motion cannot begin without an other precaedent motion so likewise it cannot end without alteration because in omni vere continuo physico in euerye true naturall thing whose partes haue their coherence together as this hath there is a perpetuall succession which may be diuided into infinite partes of the same proportion For euen as in time and euery part thereof there is one present moment or instant which argueth that there is an other past and an other future so in euerye motion which is measured by time there is one present mutation which argueth one motion precedent and an other subsequent because euery motion is a change either of substance or of quantitye or of qualitye or ofplace And therfore the first moment of time cannot be assigned nor the first mutation which is in motion The naturall Philosophers could not discerne by nature whether was first the Hen or the egge because one cannot be without the other therfore they supposed that eternallye the generation of one was the corruption of an other and so there should be an eternall reuolution of thinges which indeed naturally must be so but metaphisically it is not so because there is a God aboue nature by whome nature is ouer-ruled Neither is it meruayle though Philosophye and Fayth doe not speake alike concerning the beginning of the worlde wheÌ„ the Metaphysics and their principles differ so much from the Physics their principles and Aristotle dissenteth so much from Aristotle one and the selfe same man from himselfe It is one thing to affirme that the worlde simply had no beginning and an other thing to saye that nature did not make the worlde and that by the power of nature it shall haue no end for God and Nature are diuers thinges Aristotle confessed that the worlde began and shall haue an end in respect of the diuine and supernaturall power because he said that God as he is the first mouer so he is the first cause of motion and actuallye infinite a most free agent not tyed to any secondary causes instruments meanes whereby he worketh He which is eternall was before all motion can be without motion or time because he made both motion and time Aristotle denyeth that any thing which is eternall can be measured by time he denyeth God to be in time and by a consequent he denyeth him to be tyed vnto motion which is measured by time God moued eternallye but his motion was metaphysicall which was nothing else but to will to nill and to vnderstand The worlde therfore is not without beginning in respect of the first cause which is God but of the second cause which is nature for then nature should be iniurious vnto her selfe if she should doe vyolence vnto her selfe and be a cause of her owne destruction And therefore according to nature there is a reference and due proportion betweene him which mooueth and that which is mooued and the motion it selfe and so the eternitie of the mouer must argue the eternitie of the thing which by him is mooued of the motion but God hath exerciseth his metaphysical power and authoritie ouer all thinges whereby he counterchecketh and ouer ruleth these thinges The arguments therefore which the Philosophers produce to proue the eternitie of the worlde are reduced vnto these First if there were any first motion the mouer and the moâ—ued body from whence this motion
Arke it was 300. cubits in length 50 in bredth 30. in height there were 3. chambers or floores in it therefore there was roome enough to receiue all these beastes and many more and meate for them for a long time that we need not for the defence of this storye to flye to Geometricall cubits saying that Moses being learned in Geometrye and all the artes of the Egiptians did vnderstand Geometricall cubits but playne cubits Such a cubit is the length of a mans arme from his elboe to the top of his middle finger Though no dout such cubits were longer then now they are because men were of higher stature then now they are But the length therof being 300. cubits sheweth that it was 5. times the length of Salomons Temple which was but 60. cubits long the bredth of it being 50. it was twice an halfe as broad as being but 20. cubits broad But the length of it being 300. cubits and the bredth 50. being ioyned together do make of square measure by the cōmon rules of arte 15. thousand cubits Moreouer it contayned in the height of it 3. storyes as I haue shewed one being aboue the other in regard whereof it was 3. times as capable of the creatures contayning 3. times the measure of the lowest roome excepting onely the thicknesse of the boordes which made the partition betweene the floores that is in the whole 45. thousand cubits and euerye seuerall floore contayning 10. cubits in height The food of the beastes whatsoeuer it was before it might behaye hearbes and berryes for what food would not hunger cause them to eat The worke-manship though it were aboue the knowledge of man to deuise it and contriue it in such sorte and aboue his cunning and strength to guide so great a vessell on the water and to keepe it frō wrackes it was an hūdred yeares in building it needed not to be lanched out into the water as Ships are because the water of itselfe did beare it vp whē all the earth was ouerflowen From whence had God such great quantity of water to drowne the worlde There were two immediat causes the Sea beneath because the fountaynes of the deep were opened and the heauen aboue for the windowes of the heauen were also open Concerning the waters from beneath The vaynes and pores of the earth were broken vp to send forth more abundance of water the waters which were before gathered together into certayne places began to swell and being rarified ouer flowered the bankes that as before according to nature the water was to hide and couer the whole earth yet secundum naturae consilium according to the counsell and dispensation of nature for the preseruation of these creatures the water and the earth made but one globe so now againe for the destruction of these creatures the waters did hyde couer the whole earth as according to nature they ought to doe And we see by our owne experience though not in generall because God hath promised otherwise yet in particular how often the water goeth beyond the bankes maketh breaches into the land And it is in mans reason impossible how it should be otherwise but that the water being a liquid and fluid substance so farre in quantitye exceeding the earth and in place higher then the earth should presentlye drowne the earth But onely God doth supernaturally gouerne it restrayne it against the nature of the first creation The windowes of heauen were open that is as the Text doth expound it it rayned 40. dayes and 40. nights all the cloudes were melted and dissolued into rayne and wheras before God separated and diuided the waters from the waters that some were beneath in the Sea and riuers and parte of the earth some in the ayre frozen and congealed into cloudes now to make a deluge and generall ouer-flowing he brake the partition and let them be at libertye as they were before I could for their better contentment stand vpon such natural causes as are besides the Text as some Diuines Philosophers haue done which by the windowes of heauen vnderstand Cancer Pisces Heiades Pleiades and Orion among the starres Mars Venus and Luna among the planets Also I could alleadge Mechlinus the scholer of Albertus Magnus in his Cōmentaryes which writeth that before the floud there was a Coniunction of Iupiter Saturne in the end of Cancer contrary to the Ship called Argo which represented the Arke and that this Coniunction did portend an inundation although I need not to stand vpon these thinges because the naturall causes which I haue alleaged out of the Text are sufficient But they obiect that the waters couered the mountaynes 15. cubits vpward as it is in the Text and they aske how that could be seeing there were but two causes the swelling of the waters beneath and the rayne from aboue For some mountaynes are higher then the middle region of the ayre and by a consequent they are higher then the clowdes as namely Olympus in Thessaly Artas in Barbary the Alpes c My answer is that if any parte of the earth is aboue the cloudes it is naturall for the water also to be aboue that parte of the earth bee it neuer so high therefore it is not to be wondred at much lesse is it impossible or absurd Againe though the cloudes are not aboue these fewe mountaines yet the firmament or middle region of the ayre it selfe is farre aboue them and although some of these mountaynes are found to be by the plum-lyne or perpendiculer 15. surlonges ascending from the playne and the cloudes are commonly lifted vp but 10. furlonges aboue vs yet sometimes they are lifted vp 40. furlonges as Pliny sheweth Againe the very waters of the deep doe stand aboue the mountaynes You aske how that may be you say they are beneath the firmament that therfore they cannot be aboue the mountaines seeing these aboue the firmament are the clouds which are a great deale lower then the mountaynes vnlesse the waters which are beneath the firmament should be aboue the waters which are aboue the firmament To this I answer that the mistes which are in the vallyes are reckoned among the waters which are aboue the firmament and yet are sometimes dissolued into rayne before they are drawne vp so high as the mountaynes for which cause they seeme to them which be in the vallyes to be gathered together in the tops of the mountaynes and doe hyde the mountaynes with darknes in the tops of which mountaines yet Springes doe arise which are of the waters beneath the firmament For an other cauell they obiect that the floud began the 17. day of the second month that the rayne continued 40. dayes that the waters preuayled 150. dayes where-vpon they aske how it could be that the Arke rested vpon the mount of Armenia the 7. day of the 7. month which by this account was 4. dayes before the falling
After reproach by due course did follow glorie after suffering death victorie and triumph ouer death else hee could not haue deliuered vs from death And because vnderstanding creatures are in three places deuils and damned soules in hell men vppon earth Angelles and blessed soules in Heauen due course required that he should descend into hell to triumph among the Deuils damned soules arise from the dead to triumph before men and ascend vp into heauen to Triumph among the Angells blessed soules which are in heauen It was no strange thing for him to descend into hel because that descension was onely in soule therefore an easie passage Of his resurection from the dead we see manie resemblances for out of the ashes of the dead Phoenix doth arise a liue Phoenix of the Corne buried and rotted in the earth foringeth vp Corne againe in greater measure then it was sowed all these thinges being as vnlikely and as impossible as the resurection from the dead In Alcumistrie they see that when golde is brought to powder there is a speedie reduction of that same powder into golde againe so ofal other metalles the heauens yeelde no moysture to the earth but they take it vp againe And as for his ascention vp into heauen it was most naturall vnto him for where should a glorified body be but in a place of glory and where should God be but in heauen which is his throne and dwelling place Chapter 14 The end of the world THe Atheist thinketh the worlde shall haue no ende but hee alleadgeth no reasons to proue his vngodly assertion more then haue bin already answered by St. Peter Our reasons to proue an end and consummation of all things are these 1. What-soeuer had a beginning must also haue an end That the worlde had a beginning I haue alreadie proued in the 8. Chapter and the sequell followeth in natural Philosophie y t it must therefore haue and end because it had a beginning There must bee resolutio in materiam primam a resolution into that chaos wherof it was first made according to Aristotle the great Philosopher of the world 2. Man is commonly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little world and for his sake the great worlde was partly made for if hee stretcht foorth his armes at length from the endes of his two middle fingers to his head foote may be drawne a circle his head is as the North pole his feete instead of the South his armes as the expansion of heauen his handes as the East and West his Nauel as the Center In him are colde heate moysture drinesse as the foure Elemēts his heart still mouing representeth heauen which is in continuall motion his soule an immortal Spirit guiding moouing the bodie resembleth God the guider of the worlde But man which is the lesser worlde declineth it followeth therefore as a good consequent that the greater worlde also doth decline and where there is declination there is also corruption and death That man declineth it is manifest for men are of lower stature lesser bones and strength and shorter life then their fore fathers were but whatsoeuer is languishing faynting declining doth growe to an end whence commeth this but from the declining estate of the greater world The earth we see w t is the lower part of it is not so fruitefull as before it was but beginneth to bee baren like the wombe of Sara the fruites which she doth bring foorth yeeld not so much nutriment as before they did And how commeth that to passe but because the heauen also fainteth the Planets wax olde and cannot affoord so great vertue influence to these lower bodies as in times past they did as I'liny and Aulus Gellius testifie But this is a manifest proofe seeing lesse and weaker bodies are conceiued euerye age in the wombe of nature that nature waxeth olde and wearye of conceiuing cuiuscunque est senectus illius est mors whatsoeuer waxeth olde that also dyeth and hath an end 3. If a man do but behold the face of heauen the Moone looketh pale and wan Mars lesse rubicund Sol lesse orient Iupiter not of so amiable and fauourable countenance Venus more hipocriticall all the rest both of the wandring fixed stars more weake suspicious then they did before That mightye Gyant which was wōt to runne his vnwearied race now waxeth weary as if he would stand still in heauen as he did in the dayes of iosue shineth more dimly apeareth more sildome then before what is this but an argument that shortly the high Arch of heauen which is erected ouer our heads will fall dissolue it selfe 4. What do so many irregular threatning Eclipses portend such vn-vsuall aspects of the starres such fearfull Coniunctious of Planets such prodigious apparitions of Comets but that as the Apostle speaketh The feruent desire of the creature wayteth when the sonnes of God shal be reuealed euerie creature groneth with vs and trauaileth in paine together vnto this present that they may bee deliuered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sonnes of God 5. Empires and kingdomes and all estates haue their fatall periods Daniel his exposition of Nabuchodozer his dreame is now almost fulfilled the head of gold the shoulders of Siluer the belly of brasse are already worne out nothing of that image is now lefte but the very stumps of clay their dates are ended their periods determined long since how is it possible that feete of claye should continue for euer seing golde siluer brasse yron such strong mettals are consumed what now remayneth therefore but the stone cut out of the rocke without hands which bruiseth this image in peices The euerlasting kingdome of Iesus Christ in an other worlde vnto which all the temporal kingdomes in this worlde must giue place that all these being expired Christ in heauenly kingdome may rule for euer what remaineth now but that we looke dayly howerly for this kingdome that now we begin to climbe Jacob his Ladder a peccato ad poenitentiam a poenitentia ad opera ab operibus ad iudicium a iudicio ad miserccordiam a misericordia ad gloriam from sinne to repentance from repentāce to good workes from workes to iudgment from iudgement to mercye from mercy to glorye there is the glory of God standing vpon the top of the Ladder Last of all that the worlde shall haue an end be consumed with fier witnes not onely St. Peter the Apostle but also Ouid the Poet his wordes be these Esse quoque infatis reminiscitur affore tempus Quo mare quo tellus correptaque regia coeli Ardeat mundi moles operosa laboret That the worlde shall haue an end witnes Lucretius his words are these Vna dies dabit exitio multosque per annos Sustentata ruet moles machina mundi Accidet exitium Coeli terraeque
1. Cor. 15 Iob 4. 1. Sam. 3. Libro dé cuuatione GraecaruÌ„ affectionuÌ„ Eleuch alphabet C 1. Dè â—isto pretarum Dialo 6. Iudith 6. Exod 5. 2 Reg 18. Vide Suide Hist Sozom. l. 6 c 7. et 10. Tripartit hist Theodore l. 5. Hist C. 25. Phil 3. 1 Sam 17. Prou 8. 1 Iohn 4. Math 12. Hollend shed in his Cronicle Machiauell principis C 1. De natura De orum lib 1. Math 10. Rom 12 Esay 2. Esay 11 Rom 10. Luc 2. Gen 18. 2 Reg 4. 1 Reg 17. Deut 11. Psal 133. Math 7 15 Matb 13. Math 10. Act 20. Ezech 23. Math 22. Act 17. Psalm 10. Iob 1 1 Sam 4 2 Reg. 23 2 Reg 25 Lib. 1. Cap. de neglect religione De haeres Lib. 1. Gen 19 1 Reg 13 1 Sam 4 Numb 16 2 Reg 2 2 Reg 9. Leuit 10 1 Sam 15 Dan 5 Luc 1 Act. 8. Act. 5 2. Reg 5 Deut 32 Exod 8 2 Pet 3. Rom 2. Psal 10. Dè Ciui Dei Lib 1. Chap 8. 2 COL 4. 2 Reg 15 Exod 5. Exod 8. 1 Sam 5. Dan 4. Esther 6. Pro 19 20 Act. 13. Act 5. 1 Reg. 21. Dan 3. Psal 12. Act 17. Psalm 14. What haynous sin blasphemous mangainst Gods beloued Sonne Doest thou commit vp brayding him who did for vs become Our self-same flesh who bore our sin pitved froÌ„ his Throne That most vhappy state of ours froÌ„ whence Adam was throwne With such vncircumcised lippes forbeare ô wretch againe To Crucifye the Virgins soune and feare eternall paine De falsae religione L. 1. C. 2 Ad filium suuÌ„ Tatium quod manifestus Deus manifestissimus est Psalm 19. Rom 1. Psal 104. Ad filiuÌ„ TatiuÌ„ Phisic l 2. c 1 Iob 12. Gen 3. Math 14. Gen 4. Pro 28. Rom 2. Oratione pro. S. Roscio Amorine Pro 15 Esay 57. Ouidij metamorpho Gen 4. Sucoâ—â—â—â— Caâ—gul Cap 15 â—is in Nerone De natura Deâ—â—â—… Lib 1. Institut Lib 1 Iouae 1. Pro 27. Dan 9. Exod 33. Metaphy Lib 1. Cap 1. OfficioruÌ„ si 1. 〈◊〉 TatiuÌ„ Cicero in som Stip Phisico Lib 7. Cap 2. 10. Phes L 8 C 6 de coelo l 1 â— 9 Lib 2 Cap 3. Metaphy Lib 11 Cap 7. LaeÌ„rtius dé vita Aristot De pietate et Philosophia Paenander Sermo sacar Glauis De natu deoâ—â—â—… L 1. â—â—seuls quest Lab. 1. Ciuitatis Dei L. 22 Cap. 8 Vide Carcaum de meteoris Charion in his Chronicles Plutarch in â—ita Fabii Luuius l. 4. Decad. 3. et L. 3. dec 1. Math. 2. Ignatius ad Ephes Lib. 2. Saâ—…turnal Ad Ephe. Math. 26. Libello de Sphâ—ra Sermone de pasions Contra Celsum L 2. Vide de ed Fusins apud Suidam Apologiâ aduersus gentes Iudith 11 Theodo bist L 3. C. 23. Sabell anae 8. L. 2. C 11 Fulgentius lib 7 6. Mat. lac 2. Act. 19. Marci 1. Ex. 7. Ex. 8. 1. Sam Vide Ciceronem Lib. 2. de diuinat Arnobius aduersus Gentil Lib. 3. Sueton in Octau C. 94. C 70 Chap 29 Niceph. hist L 1. C 17. Susdas An Hebrus Childe his selsea God which other Gods doth quell Bids me be silent leaue my seate and get me downe to hell From this same place departe therefore This Oracle will speake no more Ro. 10. Phil. 2. In Marcum 〈◊〉 14. Meditat. Cap. 31. Poster Lib 1 C. 3. Iohn 3. Tuscul quast Lib. 1. Ro. 9. Ex 33. Magister sentent L. 1. dist 3. Ro. 1 Mat. 3 Gen 3 Gen 18 Esay 6. Saballius Anoe ad 8 L. C. 11 Heb 1 Peter Lomb dist 3 Aug de Trinitate Lib. 4 Psal 50 Gen 3. Ephe 2 Ro. 1 Exod 7 1 Sam 5. De eiuitate Dei Lib 1 C 2 Aenaad Lib 2 De ciuitate Dei L. 4. Cap. 34. Defalsa religione Lib. 1. C. 3 Gal. 4. 1. Tim 1 In. Psal 90. Ephes 2 2. Tim. 3. 2 〈◊〉 et 1 Ro. â— Psal 2. Aduersus Indaeos C. 7. 8 Act. 2. 2 Pet 3. Dan 9. Iohn 2. Apoc 4. De Fide lib 4. Psal 45 Dan 13. Math. 16 Prafat in Biblea interlinear Gen 49 28. 1 Cor 1. Aug. in Iohn chrysost hom 4. in Esaiae verba vide dominum stantem super thronum Iosephus en Aristo antique Lib. 12 C 2. Euseb Lib. 8. Peup euen C. 1. Act. 13. Iohn 3. Math. 2. Math 26. Iohn 9. Ex 4. Dan. 7. Antiqu Lib. Vide PolidoruÌ„ Virgil de mueÌ„t Vide Euseb de temporibus et 10. de praepavat euang et Lib 8. Heb 1 Lactant. Lib. 1 c. 6. Hieron cont Intuian L 1 Theophi Atio chonus ad Auto Lib 2. Clem A exstro Lib 2. Contra Celsum L. 5 De diuinat Lib. 1. Tit. 1. 1. Cor. 15. Menander in Thaide Act. 17. Strom Lib. 6 In oratione ad Autonium Pâ—um Vide Dionisium helicar hist Rom. L. 4 Lactantius L. 1 C 6 Cornelius Tacitus annal l. 〈◊〉 Eccles 1. Math 2. Numb 24. Chalesdiús commentin Timaum Platon In numeros hous 13. Mat. 2. Saturnal L 2. Cap. 4. Math 26. Iohn 9. Metamor L 1 Antiquit L 8 Cap 4. Gen 1 Iohn 1. Paemandus Ibidem Centra FaustiÌ„s Manichaeum Lib 3 Cap 19. Ioh 5. 2 Tim. 3. Numb 16. Dent. 24 Math. 19. Rom 9 Math 11 Luc 10 Exod 20 Iob 1 Exod. 33 2 Sam 16 Exod 20 Math 26 Act 1 Math 7 Gen 1. Rom. 1. 1. Sam. 17. Iudith 11. Exod. 7. Iudic. 16. DeCluit Doi Lib. 12. Ca. 17 Adoptatum epist. 157. Gen 2 Psal 18. 1. Sam. 18. Gen 40 2. Sam. 1. Act 20. Esa 26. Gal. 5. 1. Thes 5 August epist 157 Gen 2 De anima Lib 3 Ad Secun linuÌ„ epist 53. Iustitut Lib. 1 Psal 50. 1. Cor. 7. Iohn 3 Officiorum lib. â—… Metaphisicorum L. 1. C. 1. Postereorum Lib. 1. C 2 Naturalihist Cap. 10. De Animalibus Act 7. 1 Reg 6. Gen â— Gen 1. In magnas Albumasaris coniunctiones Selius Polihist Cap. 18. Herodian Herodotise in Melpoâ—â—â—â—â—… Lib 2 cap 23. Giuitat Dei Lib. 18. Anti Li ca. 4. Lib 9. de preparat Euang Metam Lib. 1. Apolog 1 Lib de industria Animalium Lib d deâ Syria Gen 19 Deut. 29. Esa 13. Math. 4. Math 8 Vide Garcaei meteora Gal. 4. Mat 8. Esay 9. Heb. 2 Symbolum Athanasis De diuina Hone. L. 2. Lucius Florus L 4. C. 1. aglog 4. Antiquit. Lib. 15. C. 13. Oratione ad sanctum caetum Belts Indeici L. 7. C. 12. In octan Aug. C. 94. Rom. hist. Lib 37 Esay 45. Mat 2. Col 2 Orasius hist L 6 C 20. Heb. 1. Mat. 2. Petrus Aliacus Card quest in Gen. 30. Inspeculo In maiori introdactorio tractatis sexta Numb 27. Exod. 3. Math 28 Luc 24 Marc 16 Ioh 20. 21 2 Pet 3 Phis L. 1. Natural hist L 7 C. 16. Nâ—ct At L. 13 C 1 Psal 19. Ro. 8 Dan. 2 Gen 28 2 Pet. 3 Metamor Lib 1. And there he shewes how 't is ordaynd of olde that time shall come when both the earth and sea With heauens Arche so glorious to beholde shall burne and all shall turne vnto decaye Lib 5. The worlde which stood so many yeares Shall in one day destroyed be Destruction likewise shall appeare for heauen and earth most sodenly Belliciuilis Lib 1. Rom 2. Tuscul quaest Lib 1. Mat. 25. Esa 66.