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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02484	An apologie of the povver and prouidence of God in the gouernment of the world. Or An examination and censure of the common errour touching natures perpetuall and vniuersall decay diuided into foure bookes: whereof the first treates of this pretended decay in generall, together with some preparatiues thereunto. The second of the pretended decay of the heauens and elements, together with that of the elementary bodies, man only excepted. The third of the pretended decay of mankinde in regard of age and duration, of strength and stature, of arts and wits. The fourth of this pretended decay in matter of manners, together with a large proofe of the future consummation of the world from the testimony of the gentiles, and the vses which we are to draw from the consideration thereof. By G.H. D.D.	Hakewill, George, 1578-1649.	1627 (1627)	STC 12611; ESTC S120599	534,451	516

or begotten in old age are alwayes weaker then those in youth Whereas Isaak borne of Sarah when shee was now so old that shee was thought both by others and her selfe to be past conceiving and begotten of Abraham when his body was now dead was for any thing wee finde to the contrary of as strong healthfull a constitution as Iaacob borne in the strength of Isaack and Rebecca And Ioseph or Benjamin as able men as Reuben though Iaacob in his blessing call him The beginning of his strength and the excellencie of power as being his first begotten Nay often wee see that the youngest borne in age not equalls onely but excells both in wit and spirit and strength and stature the Eldest borne in youth So vnsure and sandie is this ground and for his inference drawne from thence it is no lesse vnwarrantable and insufficient There being in the resemblance betwixt a woman and the world as large a difference as is the dissimilitude betweene the fruite of the one and the generations of the other The one taking her beginning by the course of nature in weakenesse so growing to perfection and ripenesse shee quickely declines and hastens to dissolution Shee must necessarily expect the tearme of certaine yeares before she can conceiue her fruite and then againe at the end of certaine yeares shee leaues to conceiue Whereas the other being created immediatly by a supernaturall power was made in the very first moment that it was fully made in full perfection which except it bee for the sinne of man it never lost nor by any force of subordinate causes possiblely could or can loose The quickening efficacy of that word Crescite multiplicamini though deliuered many thousand yeares since is now as powerfull in beasts in plants in birds in fishes in men as at first it was And thus much this false Prophet seemes himselfe to acknowledge in the chapter following where he thus brings in the Lord speaking vnto him All these things were made by me alone and by none other by mee also they shall be ended and by none other And if they shall be ended immediatly by the hand of the Almighty as immediatly by it they were made then doubtles there is no such naturall decay in them which would at last without the concurrence of any such supernaturall power bring them to a naturall d●…ssolution no more then there was any naturall forerunning preparation to their Creation And thus wee see how this Goliah hath his head stricken off with his owne sword and this lying Prophet condemned out of his owne mouth I haue dwelt the longer vpon this examination because I finde that the testimony drawne from this Counterfeite was it that in appearance misledde Cyprian both their testimonies togeather that which hath yeelded the principall both confidence and countenance to the Adverse part SECT 6. The last obiection answered pretended to bee taken from the authority of holy Scriptures AS the testimony taken frō Esdras wants authority so those which re drawn frō authority of sacred Canonicall Scriptures want right explicatiō applicatiō Whereof the first that I haue met with are those misconstrued words of the Prophet Isaiah The world languisheth and fadeth away or as some other translations reade it The world is feebled decayed Which by Iunius Tremelius are rendred in the future tence Languebit Concidet orbis habitabilis and are vndoubtedly to be referred to the destruction desolation of those Nations against which he had in some chapters precedent denounced the heauy judgements of God As the Moabites Egyptians Tyrians Syrians Assyrians Ethiopians Babylonians and the Isralites themselues Iunius thus rightly summing the chapter Propheta summam contrahit judiciorum quae supra denunciauerat The Prophet recapitulates or drawes into one head or summe the judgements which before hee had denounced at large and in particular which comming from the justice and immediate hand of God for sin vpon a part of the world can in no sort be referred to the ordinary course of Nature in regard of the Vniversall That which carries with it some more colour of Reason is that by St. Paul The Crearure is said to be subiect to vanity to the bondage of corruption to groaning and to travelling in paine All which seeme to imply a decay and declination in it But in the judgement of the soundest Interpreters the Apostle by vanity and bondage of corruption meanes first that impurity infirmity and deformity which the Creature hath contracted by the fall of man Secondly the daily alteration and change nay declination and decay of the Individuals and particulars of every kind vnder heaven Thirdly the designation hasting of the kindes or species themselues to a finall totall dissolution by fire And lastly the abuse of them tending to the dishonour of the Creator or the hurt of his servants or the service of his enimies All these may not improperly be tearmed vanity and a bondage of corruption vnder which the Creature groaneth and travelleth wishing and waiting to be delivered from it But that of S. Peter is it which is most of all stood vpon where he brings in the prophane scoffers at Religion and especially at the article of the worlds Consummation thus questioning the matter where is the promise of his comming For since the fathers fell asleepe all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation But in truth that place if it bee well weighed rather makes against the worlds supposed decay then for it in as much as if the Apostle had known or acknowledged any such decay in it it is to be presumed that being invited and in a manner forced therevnto by so faire and fit an occasion hee would haue pressed it against those scoffers or in some sort haue expressed himselfe therein But since hee onely vrges the Creation of the world and the overwhelming of it with water to proue that the same God who wasthe Authour of both those is as able at his pleasure to vnmake it with fire it should seeme hee had learned no such divinity as the worlds decay or at least-wise had no such assurance of it and warrant for it as to teach it the Church Nay in the 7 verse of the same chapter hee tells vs that the heavens and earth which are now are by the same word by which they were Created kept in store and reserved to fire It was not then their auerring that things continued as they were that made them scoffers but their irreligious inference from thence that the world neither had beginning neither should haue ending but all things should alwaies continue as formerly they alwayes had done And thus much may suffice for the consideration of the worlds decay in Generall it rests now that wee descend to a distinct view of the particulars amongst which the Heavens first present themselues vpon the Theatre as being the most glorious

waues to shoreward roll And againe Omnia ventorum concurrere praelia vidi I saw the windes all combating together Such a winde it seemes was that which smote at once all the foure corners of the house of Iobs eldest sonne Let any who is desirous to inquire into and compare things of this nature but reade what is recorded in the Turkish history of two wonderfull great stormes the one by land in Sultania set downe in the entrance of Solymans life the other at Algiers not farre from the mi'dst of the same life at Charles the 5th his comming thither as also at his parting from thence and I presume hee will admire nothing in this kinde that hath falne out in these latter times Vidi ego saith Bellarmine quòd nisi vidissem non crederem à vehementissimo vento effossam ingentem terrae molem eamque delatam super pagum quendam vt fovea altissima conspiceretur vnde terra eruta fuerat pagus totus coopertus quasi sepultus manserit ad quem terra illa deuenerat I my selfe haue seene which if I had not seene I should not haue beleeued a very great quantity of earth digged out and taken vp by the force of a strong winde and carried vpon a village thereby so that there remained to be seene a great empty hollownes in the place from whence it was lifted and the village vpon which it lighted was in a manner all couered ouer buried in it This example I confess●… could not be long since since Bellarmine professes that himselfe saw it Yet it might well be some skores of yeares before our last great windes which notwithstanding by some for want of reading and experience are thought to bee vnmatchable And I know not whether that outragious winde which happened in London in the yeare 1096. during the reigne of William Rufus might not well bee thought to paralell at least this recorded by Bellarmine It bore downe in that City alone six hundred houses blew off the roofe of Bow Church which with the beames were borne into the aire a great heigth six whereof being 27 foote long with their fall were driuen 23 foote deepe into the ground the streetes of the citty lying then vnpaued And in the fourth yeare of the same King so vehement a lightning which as hath beene said is of the same matter with the winde pierced the steeple of the Abbay of Winscomb in Glostershire that it rent the beames of the roofe cast downe the Crucisixe brake off his right legge and withall ouerthrew the image of our Lady standing hard by leauing such a stench in the Church that neither incense holy-water nor the singing of the Monkes could allay it But it is now more then time I should descend a steppe lower from the aire to the water CAP. 8. Touching the pretended decay of the waters and the fish the inhabiters thereof SECT 1. That the sea and riuers and bathes are the same at this present as they were for many ages past or what they loose in one place or time they recouer in another THough the Psalmist tell vs that the Lord hath founded the earth vpon the Seas and established it vpon the flouds because for the more commodious liuing of man and beasts hee hath made a part of it higher then the seas or at least-wise restrained them from incursion vpon it so as now they make but one intire Globe yet because the waters in the first Creation couered the face of the earth I will first begin with them The mother of waters the great deepe hath vndoubtedly lost nothing of her ancient bounds or depth but what is impaired in one place is againe restored to her in another The riuers which the Earth sucked from her by secret veines it renders backe againe with full mouth the vapours which the Sunne drawes vp empty themselues againe into her bosome The purest humour in the Sea the Sun Exhales in th' Aire which there resolu'd anon Returnes to water descends againe By sundry wayes into his mother maine Her motions of ebbing flowing of high springs and dead Neapes are still as certaine constant as the changes of the Moone and course of the Sunne Her natiue saltnes by reason thereof her strength for the better supporting of navigable vessells is still the same And as the Sea the mother of waters so likewise the rivers the daughters thereof ●…ither hold on their wonted courses and currents or what they haue diminished in one age or place they haue againe recompenced and repayed in another as Sr●…bo hath well expressed it both of the sea and rivers Quoniam omnia moventur transmutantur aliter talia ac tanta administrari non possent existimandum est nec terram ita semper permanere vt semper tanta sit nec quicquam sibi addatur aut adimatur sed nec aquam nec candem sedem semper ab istis obtineri presertim cum transmutatio ejus cognata sit ac naruralis quini●…ò terrae multum in aquam convertitur aquae multum in terram transmutatur Quare minime mirandum est si eas terrae partes quae nunc habitantur olim mare occupabat quae pelagus sunt prius habitabantur Quemadmodum de fontibus alios deficere contingit alios relaxari item flumina lacus Because thnigs moue and are changed without which such and so great matters could not well be disposed we are to thinke that the earth doth not remaine alwayes in the same state without addition or diminution neither yet the water as if they were alwayes bounded within the same lists specially seeing their mutuall chang is naturall kindly but rather that much earth is turned into water cōtrarywise no lesse water in to earth it is not thē to be wondered at if that part of the earth which is now habitable was formerly overflowed with water and that againe which now is sea was sometimes habitable as among fountaines some are dried vp and some spring forth afresh which may also be verified of rivers and lakes wherewith accordes that of the Poet. Vidi ego quod fuerat quondam solidissima tellus Esse fretum vidi factas ex aequore terras Et procul à pelago Chonchae jacuere marinae Et vetus inventa est in montibus anchora summis Quodque fuit campus vallem decursus aquarum Fecit eluvie mons est deductus in aequor Eque paludosa siccis humus aret arenis Quaeque sitim tulerant stagnata paludibus hument Hic fontes natura nouos emisit et illic Clausit antiquis tam multa tremoribus orbis Flumina prosiliunt aut exsiccata residunt What was firme land sometimes that haue I seen Made sea and what was sea made land againe On mountaine tops old anchours found haue been And sea fish shells to lie farre from the maine Plaines turne to vales by

because he knoweth that he hath but a short time but the time there spoken of as the soundest Interpreters expound it is not called short in respect of the end of the World which to the divell is vtterly vnknowne but of his binding vp for a thousand yeares whereof he was fore-warned and besides though the shorter his time bee his rage be the fiercer yet is not his intended and desired successe alwayes answereable to the fiercenesse of his rage the Lord holding him as it were in a teather or chaine and setting him bounds as hee doth to the raging waues of the sea hither to shalt thou goe and no farther SECT 4. The last doubt touching the comming of Antichrist answered THE last doubt is concerning Antichrist who many thinke shall come neere toward the end of the World and consequently it shall then be filled with all kinde of impiety impurity and misery the attendants of his comming and that much beyond all former times But if Antichrist be already come and that long since then will the validity of this argument proue vtterly ineffectuall And certainely such hath beene the wickednesse and calamity of all ages that as Bellarmine speakes Omnes veteres animadvertentes suorum temporum malitiam suspicati sunt tempora Antichristi imminere All the Ancients considering the malice of their times suspected that Antichrist was at hand Thus S. Cyprian of his time Scire debetis pro certo credere tenere pressurae diem super caput esse caepisse occasumsaeculi atque Antichristi tempus appropinquasse Yee ought to know and for certaine to hold and beleeue that the day of pressure is euen ouer our heads and that the consummation of all things the comming of Antichrist doth approach Lactantius of his omnis expectatio non amplius quam ducentorum videtur annorum the end of our expectation seemes not to extend beyond the space of two hundred yeares at farthest S. Hierome of his Qui tenebat de medio fit non intelligimus Antichristum appropinquare he which held or with-held is remoued out of the way and doe we not vnderstand that Antichrist is at hand S. Gregory of his omnia quae praedicta sunt fiunt rex superbiae prope est all things that were foretold are accomplished the King of Pride cannot be farre off And lastly S. Bernard of his Superest vt reveletur homo peccati silius perditionis What remaines but that the man of sinne the sonne of perdition bee revealed From which two things for our present purpose may be gathered the one that extreame prophanesse hath raigned in the world almost in all ages aswell as in the present such as they who then liued thought could not well be exceeded The other that if they looked out for the comming of Antichrist so long since by all likelyhood he is already come into the world and that long agone S. Iohn tells vs that in his time there were many Antichrists fore-runners no doubt and harbengers as it were to the great Antichrist that was to come And S. Paul 〈◊〉 euen then the mystery of iniquity began to worke if he were then conceiued in all likelyhood he should be born ere now if the egge were then layed shall wee imagine that the Cocatric●…s not yet hatched was the seed then cast into the ground and this cursed weed not yet sprung vp Credat Iudaeus Apella Non ego Beleeu't who list for me indeed It ne'r shall come into my creed SECT 5. The argument of greatest weight to proue that Antichrist is already come BVt among so many and strong arguments as haue beene justly may be brought to proue that Antichrist is already come there is one which to me hath euer seemed of greatest weight You know sayth the Apostle speaking of the man of sin the sonne of perdition what with-holdeth that he might be revealed in his time And againe onely he who now letteth will let vntill he be taken out of the way So as vpon the removing of that obstacle which hindered his comming he was then to bee revealed as the wordes plainly import Now what that hinderance should be the vnanimous consent of the Ancients both Greeke Latins is that it was the Roman Empire that then flourished So Chrysostome Theophylact Oecumenius Ambrose Primasius Sedulius and the Greeke Scholiast in their severall expositions vpon the place Tertullian in his booke de resurrectione carnis and the thirty second Chapter of his Apologie Cyrillus Hyerosolymitanus in Catech●…si 15. Hierome in his eleventh question to Algasia in his Commentaries vpon the 25 of the Prophet Ierimy in his Treatise to Gaudentius Gerontia and lastly S. Augustine in his 20 booke de civitate Dei 19. cap. And with the Ancients heerein agree the latter writ●…rs on both sides aswell Romish as Reformed being warranted by the like Prophesies both of Daniell and Saint Iohn in his Revelation And in truth the Apostles warinesse in not naming it expressely least thereby he should incurre hatred against the Christian Professours and Religion shewes as much That then which remaines to be inquired into is whether that obstacle which by the Apostle is said to haue hindred the revealing of Antichrist be taken out of the way or no that is whether that Roman Empire which then flourished be now dissolved It is then most certaine that that Empire for the west ended in Augustulus and the Emperour which now is is the successour of Charlemaigne an Emperour of a new erection Neither hath he the dominions or the power of the former Emperours but only the name and title Stat magni nominis vmbra Of a great name he but the shadow is He hath not the city of Rome which should denominate the Roman Emperour nor any part of Italy no nor somuch as a Castle or an house or a foot of land as Emperour We may then rather call him the German Emperour then the Roman and yet surely his commaund in Germany is very small too The Romanists then in this case seeme to me to deale with him as the Iewes did with Christ they giue him the title but take and keepe his rights from him Or they call him Roman Emperour perchaunce because he takes or as they pretend should take his Oath of allegiance to the Bishop of Rome And that the Empire which was in being in the Apostles time is indeed dissolved some of the Romanists themselues though happily vnawares confesse Ante adventum Antichristi facienda erat discessio vt Gentes discedant à Romano Imperio sicut jam factum cernimus sayth Anselme before the comming of Antichrist there was to be a falling away of the Nations from the Romane Empire as we see it already done And Thomas Quid hoc est quod jam diu gentes recesserunt à Romano imperio tamen nondum venit Antichristus what shall we say to this that long since

cannot be knowne or vnderstood If therefore they would haue the Almans Persians Scythians subdued because Christians did dwell liue among these Nations Why did they giue the Romans the victory seeing Christians dwelt liued among their Nations also If it were their pleasure that mice locusts should therefore swarme in Asia Syria because in like manner Christians dwelt in those Nations why did they not at the same time swarme in Spaine France seeing innumerable Christians liued in these Provinces also If for this very cause they send drought vpon the corne barrennesse among the Getulians them of Aquitaine why did they the same yeare giue such plentifull harvests to the Moores Numidians the like Religion being setled in these Countries also If in any one Citty they haue caused through the hatred of our name very many to perish with famine why in the same place haue they through the dearenes of all provision made not only those that are not of our body but even true Christians also much more the richer wealthier It behoued therefore that either none should haue had any thing that was comfortable if we be the cause of Euils for we are in all Nations or seeing yee see that things profitable are mingled with those that are incommodious leaue off at length to ascribe that vnto vs which impeacheth your estates since we be no hindrance at all to your wealth and prosperity SECT 5. The fourth objection answered which is borrowed from the authority of Esdras THat which yet farther disables the validity of this testimony of Cyprian is that in the opinion of Sixtus Senensis a learned Writer he borrowed it from the Apocryphall Esdras For Canonicall Scripture he seemes indeed to glance at the name thereof by the way but alleadges none And if Senensis had thought that any booke of the Canon had favoured this opinion of Cyprian hee would neuer haue sent vs to Esdras but since the appeale is made to Esdras to Esdras let vs goe Hee then in his fourth booke and fifth Chapter v. 51 52 53 54 and 55 thus speakes of this matrer He answered me and said aske a woman that beareth children and she shall tell thee say vnto her wherefore are not they whom thou hast now brought forth like those that were before but lesse of stature she shall answer thee They that be borne in the strength of youth be of one fashion and they that be borne in the time of age when the womb faileth are otherwise Consider thou therefore also how that ye are lesse of stature then they that were before you and so are they that come after you lesse then ye as the creatures which now begin to be old and haue passed ouer the strength of youth Now as others depend vpon the authority of Cyprian so Cyprian himselfe depending vpon this of Esdras it will not I hope be thought either vnseasonable or impertinent if we a little examine the weight thereof First then it is certaine that this book is not to be found either in Hebrew or Greeke neither is it by the Tridentine Counsell admitted into the Canon no doubt but vpon very sufficient reason is it excluded both by them and vs in regard of the doctrines which it teacheth manifestly repugnant to the rules of orthodoxe faith as in the fourth and seuenth Chapters it teacheth that the soules of the Saints departed this life are detained as it were imprisoned in certain cels vauts of the Earth vntill the number of the Elect be accomplished and that then they shall receiue their Crowns of glory altogether and not before In the sixt Chapter he tels vs a most ridiculous vnsavory tale of two vaste Creatures made vpon the fifth day of the Creation the one called Enoch or Behemoth and the other Leviathan In the seventh he deriues his pedegree from Aaron by nineteene generations whereas the true Esdras or Esras deriues his but by fifteene And to bring it home somewhat neerer to our purpose In the fourteenth chapter hee shewes himselfe manifestly a false Prophet touching the Consummation of the world which saith hee hath lost his youth and the times begin to wax old for the world is divided into twelue parts and tenne parts of it are gone already and halfe of a tenth part and there remaineth that which is after the halfe of the tenth part So that by his computation diuiding the whole time of the worlds duration into twelue equall portions onely one and a halfe were then remaining which had it beene true the world should haue ended almost fifteene hundred yeares agoe For the time from the worlds Creation to Esdras according to the Scriptures calculation containe about three thousand foure hundred and seventy yeares and this summe of yeares containe ten parts and an halfe of of the twelue alotted for the whole duration of the world whence it consequently followes that the residue of the time from Esdras to the worlds end could not exceede the number of fiue hundred yeares and yet from Esdras to this present yeare of the Lord one thousand six hundred twenty six wee finde there are passed almost two thousand yeares Heerevnto may bee added the sharpe but well deserved Censure of Iunius in his preface to the Apochryphall bookes Nihil habet Esdrae quam falfo emendicatum nomen injuriâ maximâ Authorem enim quem puduit sui operis longè amplius debuerat puduisse cum suis somnijs nomen tanti viri praefigeret impudenter Ecclesiam vellet fallere Hee hath nothing in him worthy of Esdras but only a borrowed name and that most injuriously assumed Hee was ashamed of his owne name but hee should rather haue shamed to prefixe the name of so worthy a man before his dreames and thereby attempt the deceiving of the Church And againe in his annotations on the first chapter of that booke Quis vero huic libro tantam fidem deinceps arroget quae in ipsa fronte naeuos tam immanes in re tam euidenti mendacia tam puerilia ne quid gravius dicam animadvertit Quisquis es qui hunc librum legis sume authoritatem probandi atque judicandi sermones ejus Non enim obstringit fidem tuam illius authoritas si qua est in tam crassis erroribus Who will heereafter giue credit to this booke who obserues in the very forehead of it so notorious blemishes and in a matter so evident not to say worse of it so childish lies Whosoever thou art that readest this booke take to thy selfe authoritie of trying and judging his speeches For his authority cannot binde thy Credence if there be any in such grosse errours It shall not bee amisse then to follow this advise of Iunius and to bring this counterfeite to the touch-stone whereby wee shall easily discerne that both the ground hee assumes is vnsound and his illation from thence deduced inconsequent His ground is that children borne