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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07769	A vvoorke concerning the trewnesse of the Christian religion, written in French: against atheists, Epicures, Paynims, Iewes, Mahumetists, and other infidels. By Philip of Mornay Lord of Plessie Marlie. Begunne to be translated into English by Sir Philip Sidney Knight, and at his request finished by Arthur Golding; De la verité de la religion chrestienne. English	Mornay, Philippe de, seigneur du Plessis-Marly, 1549-1623.; Sidney, Philip, Sir, 1554-1586.; Golding, Arthur, 1536-1606.	1587 (1587)	STC 18149; ESTC S112896	639,044	678

euident and absolute that it is a starke shame to denye it And so is it applyed by Rabbi Saadias vpon Daniell by Rabbi Nahman of Geround and by Rabbi Hadarsan who be the notablest among them For as for Rabbi Selomoh who vnderstandeth it of Cyrus or Aben Ezra who applyed it to Nehemias or Rabbi Leui the sonne of Gerson who vnderstādeth it of Iosua the High-priest there is not that word in this text which doth not disprooue them besides that the Anoynting which is spoken of here must needes be a spirituall anoynting considering that there was not any more anoynting at all vnder the second Temple There are sayth he threescore and ten weekes Let vs see what maner of wéekes they be The Scripture telleth vs of wéekes of daies and of wéekes of yéeres and examples of them both are in Leuiticus and in diuers other places The wéekes of daies serue for ordinary matters and the wéekes of yéeres for matters of great weight and of long continuance But Daniell may bee his owne expounder For in the next Chapter hee speaketh expresly of mourning three weekes of daies whereas here in a matter of estate which passeth with slower steppes and requireth larger measure he speaketh of weekes simply without addition And in very deede Hierusalem could not bee builded agayne in seuen weekes of daies but it was to be builded agayne in many weekes of yeeres After that maner are they taken by Rabbi Saadias Rabbi Moyses and Rabbi Selomoh also vnto whom all the best of them consent and there is not any one of them to my knowledge which taketh these wéekes to be wéekes of daies But as for the yoonger Rabbines whensoeuer they bee pressed they say these weekes conteyne eyther ten yéeres a péece or fiftie yeres yea or a whole hundred yeres a péece a thing without reason in this text and without example in all the whole Scripture It followeth from the going forth of the Commaundment for the building again of Hierusalem to the anoynted Prince are seuen weekes and threescore and two weekes That is to say as the Prophet himselfe expoundeth it for the building vp of the Citie of Hierusalem and the Temple seuen weekes which make nine and fortie yéeres And from the building againe of Hierusalem vnto Christ threescore and two weekes which make fower hundred thirtie and fower yéeres all which together amount vnto fower hundred fowerscore and three yéeres And in good sooth if wee begin as the Prophet teacheth vs to account the wéekes frō the day wherein the word was spoken that Hierusalem should be builded againe that is to wit from the thréescore and tenth yere of the Captiuitie or from the first yéere of King Cyrus when Ieremie wrate to the prisoners at Babylon assi●ring them of their deliuerance at which tyme Cyrus gaue commaundement for the building againe of the Temple vnto the tyme of Herode King of the Iewes or of Tyberius the Emperour of Rome we shall finde that in that very tyme were fulfilled the fower hundred fowerscore and thrée yeres yea and the very thréescore and tenth weeke wherin Christ was to stablish the Couenant of God with men And it seemeth that Daniell or rather the Angell ment in these thréescore and ten wéekes to allude to the thréescore and ten yéeres spoken of by the Prophet Ieremie as if he should haue sayd At such tyme as ye were led away captiue to Babylon Ieremie assured you that you should bee deliuered from that temporall Captiuitie within thréescore and ten yéeres and ye see it is so come to passe And now I tell you that within thréescore and ten weekes of yeeres ye shall be deliuered from the spiritual captiuitie by Gods couenant made vnto you whereof the Anoynted shal be the Mediatour I am not ignorant how some writers begin the account of these weekes at the first yéere of King Cyrus and some at the second yéere of Artaxerxes othersome at the twentie yeere of the same Artaxerxes because at that tyme there went out another Proclamation in fauour of Nehemias by reason that the building of the Temple had bene stayed But which way soeuer they goe to worke the ende of these weekes falleth still vpon the tyme of Herod and Tyberius and méeteth iumpe with the prophesies that went afore And it can not bee denyed but that they were accomplished according to the circumstaunces set downe here by the Prophet For the Prince of the people that was to come destroyed the Citie that is to wit the Emperour of Rome did ouerthrow Hierusalem and beate downe the Temple and abolish their Sacrificings through the whole Land of Iewrie and bring vpon them the extreme desolation that is spoken of here by the Prophet And therefore some of the Rabbines being vnable to shift of this text haue presumed to say that Daniell had sayd well in all the rest but that he ouershot himselfe in this account The very traditions of the Iewes themselues doe bring vs to this tymer At leastwise there is not any whose date is not out long ago In the Talmud is this saying of the schoole of Elias so greatly renowned among them The world shall indure Sixthousand yeeres Two thousand yeeres emptie that is to say without Lawe Two thousand yeeres vnder the Lawe And two thousand yeres vnder Christ. And Rabbi Iacob sayth herevpon that the first two thousand yeeres ended in the tyme of Abraham the second about the destruction of the Temple which thing he proueth by an account of the tymes at the ende of which latter twoo thousand he sayth that Christ should come and deliuer Israel from captiuitie Thus farre he agreeth with vs. But he addeth for our sinnes sakes his comming is deferred This glosse marreth the text For in other places it is sayd flatly that the tyme of the comming of the Messias is past now seauen hundred and fortie yeeres ago which thing they lament in both their Talmuds And vppon this verse of Esay I will make hast to doe it in his tyme which is spoken expresly of Christ and of his Kingdome Rabbi Iosua the sonne of Leuy apposeth these words I wil make haste against these other words in his tyme. I will make haste sayth the Lord at leastwise if they be worthy addeth Rabbi Iosua In his time sayth the text that is to say euen when they would not addeth Rabbi Iosua which meaning of his he might haue expressed much more fitly in saying That Gods grace geinstandeth our sinnes in such sort as that all our iniquities cannot stop or stay the course thereof We haue another Tradition vpon the ninth Chapter of Esay where he setteth downe this excellent Prophesie cōcerning Christ A Childe is borne vnto vs c. In that place are written these words lemarbeh hammisrah concerning the increasing of his kingdome with the Hebrewe Letter ● Mem closed in the mids of the word notwithstanding that the sayd Letter which as

one Hippocrates and certeine others made a collection of all those things and so of many mens experiences was made an arte and that Arte hath bene inriched from time to time and more peraduenture in our age than euer it was before Howsoeuer the case stand it is certeyne that the first Phisition that was séene in Rome was one Archagatus who about a sixscore yeeres afore the comming of Christ in the Consu●ship of Lucius AEmilius Paulus and Marcus Liuius was made free of the Citie after whom diuers other Greeke Phisitions came thi●her by heapes but they were by and by driuen away againe by Cato the Censor as Hangmen or Tormenters sent by the Greekes to murther the Barbarians for so did the Greekes call all other Nations besides themselues rather than Phisitions to heale the diseazed and that was bicause that in all cases without discretion they vsed launcing and searing to all Sores Now sith we see the Sciences and Artes growe after that maner from Obseruation to Obseruation and from Principle to Principle and to bee so newly come vp among the Nations of greatest renowne and learning shall we doubt to conclude that it was so among the ruder nations likewise Let vs come to Lawes for euen the barbarousest people had of them and it may bee that seeing man is borne too societie and fellowship thei had greater care to set an order among themselues by good Lawes than to marke the order of the Skyes or the disposition of their owne bodyes But doth not the Lawe written leade vs foorthwith to the Lawe vnwritten And doe not the greate volumes of Lawes which we turne ouer now adayes leade vs to the peeces of Trebonian and Trebonian to the Sceuolaes and Affricanes and these againe to the Lawes of the Twelue Tables And I pray you what els be the twelue Tables but the infancy of the Romane Lawes which being very simple rudiments of Ciuill gouernment like those which are to bee found at this day among the most barborests Nations wee through a foolish zeale of antiquitie doe wonder at in the auncient Romanes and despyse them in the auntient Almanes Thuringians Burgonions Salians and Ripuaries who notwithstanding had them farre better than the Romanes But what antiquitie can be sayd to be in them seeing their continuance hath not bin past a fower hundred yeeres afore the comming of Christ as the Romane Histories themselues informe vs Againe doe not the twelue Tables send vs backe to the Grecians And of whom had the Greekes them but of Draco and Solon as in respect of the Athenians who liued in the time of Cyrus King of Persia and of Lycurgus as in respect of the Lacedemonians who liued about the end of the Empyre of Assiria And what els is all this houge Depth of Antiquitie whereof the Greekes make so great boast but late newnesse among the Iewes Moreouer Plutarke sayth that Solon and Lycurgus had beene in AEgypt to seeke Lawes and that there for all their bragging of antiquitie they were skorned as yong Children The AEgiptians also had their Lawes of Mercury Mercury doubtlesse had them from the Paterne of Moyses whom Diodorus witnesseth to haue bin the first Lawe maker of all To be short what shall we say seeing that as Iosephus noceth against Appion the very name of Law was vnknowen amōg the Greekes in the time of Homere But it may be that there haue bene Kings tyme without mind for they were as a liuing Law and their determinations were turned into Lawes Let vs marke then that from the great Monarks we come to the Kings of seuerall Nations and from them to vnderkings of Prouinces and of Shyres and afterwards to Kings of Townes Cities and Uillages and finally to Kings of Households which were the Fathers and Maisters of houses and were the ●ldest erauncient est of them and these doe sende vs to the one comon stocke that is to say the one comon beginning of them all And whē was that Surely Iustine the History writer witnesseth that the Kings which were afore Ninus King of the Assyrians were but particular Iudges of controuersies which rose betweene folke of any one Towne or Citie or household and that the sayd Ninus was the first King of whome any Historiographers haue written And Herodotus sayth that the AEgyptians had the first Kings And he that will mount vp any higher must doe it by the holy Scripture which teacheth vs that Nembrod was the first that brake the sayd fatherly order of Houshold gouernment wherein euery father reigned ouer chose that descended of him without any other prerogatiue than of age which sort of Gouerners Manetho calleth Shepherdkings saying that they had beene a thousand yeres afore the warres of Troy For as for the Greekes and Romanes either they were not as yet at all or els surely they liued with Acornes lyke the People whome wee at this day call Sauages But let vs see if at leastwise the Gods of the Heathen haue any antiquitie for in asmuch as the essentiall shape of man is to acknowledge a certeine Godhead it is lykely that nothing should be of grerter antiquitie than that And in very deede Nations haue bene found both without Lawes and without Kings but without Gods and without some sort of Religion there was neuer any found But what shall we say if men haue bene borne afore Gods yea and also doe liue still after them Let vs not buzie our braynes about the first comming vp of the petigods as well of the Romanes as of the Greekes who had moe of them than they had of Shyres Citties Townes and Houses nor yet about their Pedegrees which are sufficiently described by their owne seruers and worshippers the Idolaters themselues but let vs go to the very roote of them What is to be sayd of the first Saturne who is called the father of them all Of what tyme is he Soothly if wee beleeue the notablest Storywriters amōg the Greekes the Epitaphe of Osyris reported by Diodorus the Sicilian Saturne I meane not the Saturne of the Greekes but the auncientest of all that Saturnes is none other thā C ham the sonne of Noe neither is Osyris any other thā Misraim the youngest sonne of Cham And those which woulde make Saturne auncientest say hee was but Noe himselfe I forbeare to say what Berosus and others of the lyke stampe report of him bicause I hold them for fabling and forged authors As touching Iupiter if ye meane him that was surnamed Belus that is to say Ball or Mayster hee was the Sonne of Nembrod which Memrod was also called Saturne which was a common name to the auncientest persons of great Houses And if he were that Iupiter which was surnamed Chammon or Hammon hee was the same Cham or Chamases the Sonne of Noe which was worshipped in Lybya for it is certeine that hee tooke his ioyrney thither For as for Iupiter of Crete

of them as little Children doe in playing with their Puppets insomuch that there is no Tragedie good which doth not baffle some one of the Gods as Euripides among the rest doth in these verses Thou Neptune and thou Iupiter and all you other Gods So wicked are you euerychone so fell so farre at oddes That if due iustice for your deedes were iustly on you doone Ye should be banisht out of Heauen and from all Temples soone You will say perchaunce that the Romanes may possibly haue some better stuffe By the originall of them which they themselues describe we may iudge what they were And let vs note that the writers of these things were no Greekes which might haue bred some suspicion but they were Romanes euen the Idolaters themselues The first that ordeyned Religion among them was King Numa who to authorize it the more feyned himselfe to haue had conference with a Goddesse called Egeria which was a witch and vnder that gay pretence he bewitched the ignorant people with a thousand superstitions A long tyme after in the Consulship of Cornelius and Bebius it happened that in the ground of a certein Scriuener named Petilius néere to the place called Ianiculum there were found two Coffins in one of the which was the body of Numa and in the other were seuen bookes in Latin concerning the Lawes of their Priesthod that is to say their Ceremonies and Churchseruices and other seauen Bookes in Greeke concerning the studie of Wisedome whereby hee ouerthrewe not onely the Gods of other Nations but also the very selfe same whome hee himselfe had instituted The Senate hearing thereof caused the Bookes to be burnt openly before the people which was as much to say as that they condemned all the Gods and all their Seruices to the Fyre Among many other Stories Varro reporteth the same too and hee concealeth not that Numa vsed Waterspelling and had communication with Diuels And as touching the Gods whom the Latins worshipped before the time of this Numa Pompilius Varro and Caius Bassus say that Faunus ordeined Sacrifices to his Graundfather Saturne to his father Picus and to his Suffer and Wife Fauna whom the good huzwiues call Fatua of Fate that is to say Destinie because she was woont to reade their Fortunes and afterward the people worshipped her by the name of Good Dame or Goddesse And surely of no better value were those whome AEneas brought thither whome Virgill termeth vanquished Gods and after a sort putteth them and little Babes both togither in one Basket Sceuola the Highpriest of the Romanes as I haue sayd afore made thrée sortes of Gods Poetical worse than the worst men Philosophical whom they taught to haue bin men howbeit that it was not good for the people to know it and Ciuill made by Princes to hold their people in awe with for the which purpose also Varro addeth that it is good for Capteynes and Gouerners to be perswaded that they bee descended of Gods that they may the more boldly vndertake and the more happely performe their enterprizes But who could answere better to the matter than the Highpriest himselfe And which are these better Gods which are no Gods at all furtherforth than it pleaseth men Varro sayth likewise that his writing of humane things afore diuine things is because there were Cities afore there were Gods made by them as the Paynter is afore his Picture How much more reasonable had it bene that the Gods should haue committed themselues to the custodie of the Cities than that the Cities should haue committed themselues to the custodie of the Gods Also he deuideth his Gods into certeynes and vncerteynes The certeyne sayth he in his second booke are as much or more subiect to vncerteyntie than the vncerteyne What certeyntie will he report of the Gods if they themselues be vncerteyn But behold the godlinesse of the man Hée sayth he will make a Register and an Inuentorie of them and wherefore for feare sayth he least they should be lost not so much by some sacking of the Citie as by the negligence of the Citizens which began sore at that time to make no account of them Soothly the Romanes had bene the more excusable if they had deified this Varro that had such a care to saue and preserue their Gods But the wise Senate thought themselues to haue prouided well for the matter by making this ordinance That no GOD should be admitted into Rome without their aduice As who would say that to bee a God it was méete that a bill of petition should first bee exhibited vnto them and men were to be sewed vnto for the obteynement of their voyces By which one argument of theirs they declared themselues to bee more diuine than their Gods And therevpon it came to passe that they receyued into their Citie all the Deuilles all the Tyrants and all the filthie Rakehelles of the world for Gods As for the onely one true God the Creator of men the founder of Cities the remouer of Empyres he had no name at al among them Concerning the nature of the Gods Cicero hath written thrée bookes which to speake properly are made to ouerthrowe all the Gods of the Romanes For he reckoneth vp their ages their garments their deckings their ofsprings their auncetors and their alliances He sayth that their Temples are their Tombes their Sacrifizes and Ceremonies representations of their liues and that from the least of them to the greatest they were all men and all their Religious Superstitions and olde wiues tales As touching the true God he speaketh farre otherwise For he sayth that he made al things that he made man that he made the very Gods themselues and to bee short that it is much easier for him to woonder at God than to vtter what he is and to declare what he is not than what he is And whereas sometymes after the maner of the Stoikes he goeth about to drawe naturall things out of the fables of the Gods he doth it but onely to kéepe the people in ignorance and according to his owne saying in the selfesame bookes where hauing condemned his owne Gods he sayth that yet for all that those things are not to bee vttered to the people and his allegories are so cold that it is to bee thought that euen he himselfe laughed at them As touching the Birdgazers he himselfe being a Birdgazer doth flatly skorne them that is to say euen his owne profession yea and all such as sought counsell at Crowes and Rauens that is to wit the whole Senate of Rome Likewise wee reade that Caesar held still the Prouince of Affricke against the forwarnings of the Birdgazers and that Cato wondered how two Birdgazers could méete one another or looke one vpon another without laughing And Seneca sayth in his booke of Questions that the Bowelgazers were inuented for nothing els but to hold the people in awe So little did the Wisemen

GOD according to which rule God will be serued and that God was serued in Israell and no where els The Rule which we seeke must néedes be found in Israell too For as it is vnpossible that it should be elsewhere because the true God was not anywhere els so is it not possible that it should not bee there forasmuch as there was one there and that the true God also was there Now therefore the people of Israell had alwaies certeine bookes which we call the Byble or old Testament which bookes they reuerenced and followed as the very word of GOD whereby he hath shewed vnto men after what maner he will bee serued and worshipped And those bookes haue bene kept continually from tyme to tyme euen since the creation of the world and they haue bene of such authoritie among the true Israelites that they beléeued not any other bookes and for the maintenauce of them haue indured warres oppressions banishments remouings deaths and slaughters which are such things as are not to bee found among other Nations notwithstanding that the Law-makers of other Nations in giuing them their lawes made them beléeue that they procéeded from the Gods because it was a thing as good as graunted among al men that the setting doune of rules for Religion and for mans Soulehealth belōged only vnto God And therefore wee might well gather this conclusion whereof the premises are proued heretofore That there is but one true God one true Religion one true Rule of seruing God reuealed by and from the true God And that this true God was not knowne and worshipped elswhere than among the people of Israell Unto Israell then was the sayd word reuealed and that word must néedes be the Byble or olde Testament whereby the Israelites were taught the seruice of God But forasmuch as wee haue to doe with folke that will sooner be driuen to silence by arguments than perswaded by reason to beléeue as though it stoode God on hand to perswade them for his honor and not them to beléeue for their own welfare I will by the Readers leaue set forth this matter at large First of all forasmuch as there is a Seruice of God to bée had and that seruice should rather bée a misseruice than a Seruice if it were not according to his will and his will cannot be conceiued of vs by coniectures but must be manifested vnto vs by his word I aske them vpon their conscience if they were to discerne that word from all others by what markes they would knowe it that they might not be deceiued This word say I is the rule of Gods seruice and the way of welfare Unto this seruice is man bound from his very creation and it is the marke whereat hee ought to shoote from his very birth Will it not then bee one good marke of this word if it be auncienter than all other Lawes and Rules than all other words than all inuentions of man And will it not be another good marke if it tend to none other end than the glorifying of God and the sauing of mankind If say I it withdrawe man from all other things to leade him to God and to turne him out of all bypathes how great pleasure so euer there be in them to leade him to saluation Nay I say yet more If we find things in the Scripture which no Creature could euer haue foretold or spoken things which could neuer haue come into any mans mind things not onely aboue but also against our nature Will any man bee so wilfull and so very an enemy to his owne welfare as not to yéeld and agrée when he seeth both the hand the signe and the Seale of God In déede I vndertake a matter beyond my abilitie but yet the higher it is the more will GOD ayde mee with his grace And first of all forasmuch as the worlde was made for man and man for God and man could neuer be without true Religion nor true Religion without the word of God I demaund of the great Nations and florishing kingdomes that haue giuen Lawes to all the world and among whom the liberall sciences artes and learning haue bene most renowmed whither any one of them is to be found that hath had a Lawe set downe in writing concerning the true Seruice of the true God Yea or one worde either right or wrong that hath bin beléeued to procéede from him I meane from the only one euerlasting GOD the maker of Heauen and Earth Also I demaund of them whither among the Assyrians Persians Greekes and Romanes a man shall find an Historie of Religion deduced from the first beginning of the world and continued so on from tyme to tyme and from age to age And on the contrarie part whether there be any Heathen man which is not driuen to confesse that the very latest writer of our Byble is of more antiquitie than the auncientest authors that are renoumed among the Gentiles And whether that little which the Gentiles haue learned concerning God be not borowed from other men and finally whether in matters of religion they haue not walked by groping without light and without any direction This matter is handled at large by diuers auncient writers Neuerthelesse for the ease of them which cannot reade them all I will gather them here together in feawe words The Byble beginning at the creation of the world of man leadeth vs from tyme to tyme and from Father to Sonne euen vnto Christ. It deliuereth vs a diuision of men into Gentiles and Israelites into Idolaters and true worshippers of the Souereine God and their comming togither ageine into one after a certeine time and by a meane appoynted euerlastingly to that end by God And the writers thereof are Moyses Iosua the Chronicles of the Iudges and Kings the Prophetes euery of them in his time Daniell Nehemias and Esdras of whome euen these latest were about thrée thousand and sixehundred yéeres after the creation and yet were they afore any Chronicles of the worlde were in the residue of the world I desire all the Antiquaries of this time which make so greate account of the antiquitie of the Greekes and Romanes or of an old Coyne or of a whetherbeaten Piller or of a halfeaten Epitaphe what find they like vnto that Esdras is the latest in the Canon of the Hebrewe writers and yet liued he afore the tyme that Socrates taught in Athens And what rule of Religion was there among the Greekes of his tyme who condemned him for speaking of the onely one GOD At the same tyme were Pythagoras Thales Xenophanes and the seuen Sages which haue borne so great fame in Greece who in their whole life tyme haue sayd some good words concerning maners and conuersation among men but as for God they haue spoken nothing of him but dreamingly nor deemed of him but ouerthwartly nor knowen aught of him but that little which they learned of the AEgiptians Thither went Orpheus Homere

that Amosis King of AEgipt reigned the same tyme that Inachus reigned in Greece and that in the tyme of the same Amosis Moyses went out of AEgipt with the people of Israell The same thing is affirmed by Appion the Grammarian the great enemie of the Iewes and also confirmed by Berosus the Babylonian Polemon Theodotus Ipsicrates and Moschus writers of the Stories of the Phenicians cyted by Eusebius and Affricanus Eupolemus in his booke of the Kings of Iewrie sayth that Moyses taught letters to the Iewes the Iewes to the Phenicians and the Phenicians to the Greekes by Cadmus And so by that reckoning Moyses should be not onely of most antiquitie in their Histories but also of more antiquitie than all Histories Numenius sayth that Plato and Pythagoras had nothing but from the AEgiptians and Syrians and namely from Moyses insomuch that he recyteth his historie almost word for word as we haue it in the Bible saying that Moyses was a great Diuine Lawmaker and Prophet Also Diodorus of Sicilie sayth that he vnderstoode by the AEgiptians who notwithstanding were enemies to Moyses and to all his race that he was the first Lawgiuer of all and moreouer a man of great courage and of very commendable life and that the Iewes estéemed him as a GOD as well for the knowledge that he had of GOD as for his authoritie and preheminence And he sayth Diodorus gaue a Lawe vnto the people of Israell which hee sayd hee had receyued of Iah for so doe they call the GOD whom they worship And who is this GGD Strabo sheweth vs sufficiently where he saith That Moyses hauing rebuked the AEgiptians for their vanities and follies and for resembling God who is to be worshipped and serued otherwise by the Images of Beastes and Men withdrew himselfe from among them that he might serue God To be short Porphirius in his fourth booke ageinst Christians beareth this record of Moyses that he had written the historie of the Iewes truely which thing he had perceyued by conferring it with Sachoniathon the Berutian who rehearseth the very same circumstances the which hee had learned out of the Registers of one Hierobaal a Priest of the God of Leuy that is to say of the God of Israell and out of the Chronicles of the cities out of the holy bookes which were woont to be dedicated to temples And this Sachoniathon saith he was somewhat after the time of Moyses about the tyme of Semiramis Now Porphirius giueth vs here more than we aske For we set Abraham in the tyme of Semiramis Moyses came certeine hundred yeeres after Now then the bookes of Moyses dooe leade vs vp from Sonne to Father vnto Abraham from Abraham to Noe from Noe to the first Man and from the first man to God the Creator beyond whome it is not possible to passe any further as I haue proued alreadie and in treating of the Creation we must alwaies néedes come backe agein And through out all this discourse Moyses telleth vs of the things that GOD hath discouered vnto men and the lawes which he hath giuen after maner of a couenant to the intent they should be his people and he should be their God The which Couenant it had surely bene both a shame folly for him to haue deuised for that hardhearted stubborne people whom hee burdeneth not with any other thing but that which was notoriously knowen vnto them and thereby they were certified of their originall natiuitie Neither is it to be suspected that he wrote these things as some list to say to get authoritie to himselfe and his for hee brondeth his Graundfather Leuy with an open marke of reproch expressed in these words of Iacobs Testament Simeon and Leuy are cruel instruments in their vanquishings c. Cursed bee their wrath for it was shamefull I will diuide them in Iacob and scatter them in Israell c. As who should say hee ment to disgrade Leuy and all his race to the saying wherof nothing compelled him Also he reprooueth Aarons idolatrie and Maries murmuriug notwithstanding that hee was his Brother and she his Suster and he repeateth oftentymes that for his owne fault God had told him that he should see the land of Canaan but not enter into it To be short hee ordeineth and leaueth Iosua to be his Successor whereas by reason of the authoritie which he had among that people he might by al likelyhod haue set vp his owne sonnes And yet we sée that naturally we conceale the faults of our Parents and corrupt their Pedegrees to make them the more vertuous and our selues the more commendable 〈…〉 and we be loth to acknowledge our owne faults 〈…〉 the homeliest men of vs all except it be among our 〈…〉 fréeds and as late as we can Much lesse can we find in our heartes to publish them to the knowledge of posteritie To bée short we be so desirous to leaue honour and estimation to our children that such as would not haue bene ambitious for themselues cannot refreyne from beeing ambitious for their posteritie Now then what may we conclude thereof but that he yéelded the honor of his auncetors and his owne too vnto Gods glorie the trueth And although wee procéede not so farre as to conclude absolutely that he wrote at that time as from God and not as from man yet notwithstanding forasmuch as in his writings he strippeth mans nature naked ought we not at leastwise to conclude that he which made lesse account of himself and his than of the trueth would not haue preferred vntrueth before it for any respect Some miserable kaytife that is quarelous against his owne welfare will say heere Admit that Moyses Iosua Dauid Esay and others were as auncient as ye list yet how shall I be sure that those bookes also were as auncient and of their writing It were inough to answere him How beléeuest thou that such bookes or such were Platoes Aristotles and Ciceroes Marry saiest thou because they haue bene conueyed vnto vs from them from hand to hand Use thou the like equitie towards the others which as great a nomber of men doe assure thee to haue come from them But if that will not perswade them yet want we not wherewith to inforce them First and formost I appeale to the conscience and iudgement of all persons which knowe what it is to indite whether the style of the Scriptures bee not such and so peculiar as it cannot by any meanes bee counterfetted or disguised And if there bee any that will néedes doubt thereof I pray him to make a triall thereof but in some one side of a leafe bee it in plainnesse of setting things downe as they were done or in feruentnesse of praying or in pitthinesse of Prophesying and he shall foorthwith perceiue that as well in the matter it selfe as in the maner of indyting there is a certeine new taste in sted of the old which is peculiar to all

the Scripture intending to succour our infirmitie the elder the world waxeth speaketh euer the more manifestly thereof vnto vs and surely after such a sort that the skilfullest among the Iewes of late tyme become most vnskilfull when they goe about to darken it First of all at the making of the promise in Genesis it is sayd that this seede that is to say this Christ shall crush the Serpents head and this Serpent as I haue said afore is the Deuill and his venome is sinne and by meanes of sinne we be all become thralles to the Deuill against whose power we know that no force of man can doe any thing It followeth then that this Christ must haue another nature than mans yea or than Angels For the Angels and the Deuils differ not in power that is to wit diuine Afterward where the promise is repeated to Abraham of what man can it be verifyed In thy seede shall all Nations be blessed Or who can blesse so effectually but only God who commaundeth his blessing sayth he diuers tymes and then doth it shead it selfe out vpon vs and our workes But as the Prophetes doe preach the Messias vnto vs so also doe they describe vs his natures and qualities so as we neede not any other Commentarie vpon that promise than the Prophets themselues Unto Dauid therfore it was renewed and in his issew was it to be accomplished See here how he speaketh of it in the 45. Psalme My heart sayth he intendeth to vtter good matter and my worke shal be to speake of the King that is to wit of the Messias and so doth the Chaldee Paraphrast himselfe interpret it Thou art more perfect than the Children of men This might be ment of a man but let vs reade further O God sayth he thy Throne is from euerlasting to euerlasting the Scepter of thy Kingdome is the Scepter of Rightuousnesse Thou louest rightuousnesse and hatest wickednesse And therefore God thy God hath annoynted thee with the oyle of gladnesse aboue thy fellowes These so expresse words cannot bee spoken specially among the Hebrewes who were not so lauish of Gods name as other people are but of one that is very God and very man both together In the hundred and tenth Psalme The Lord sayd vnto my Lord sayth Dauid sit thou at my right hand vntill I haue made thyne enemies thy footstoole And a little after Thou art a Priest for euer after the order of Melchisedeck To sit at Gods right hand and to be a Priest for euer cannot be attributed to a man Nay which more is Dauid who knewe well that there is but one Lord calleth him his Lord. And wee reade that with this selfesame text Christ stopped the mouthes of the Pharisies Now that the fathers of olde tyme vnderstood these things to be spoken of the Messias it appeareth by the translation of Ionathas cited in the booke of Collections for he translateth it The Lord sayd vnto his word and it is alledged to proue that the Messias should sit on the right hand of God Insomuch that the Iewes Commentarie vpon the second Psalm sayth expressely that the Misteries of the Messias are rehearsed in the hundred and tenth Psalme And Esay in his nineth Chapter sayth thus A Babe is borne vnto vs and a Sonne is giuen vnto vs and his kingdome shal be vpon his shoulder Ye see here the birth of a man But he sayth further His name shal be called the wonderfull the Counseller the mightie God the euerlasting Father the Prince of Peace Néedes then must this selfsame man be also God And whereas he is sayd to bee the Prince of Peace Ionathas trāslateth it the Christ or the anoynted of Peace And Rabbi Ioses the Galilaean sayth vpon the Lamentations that the Messias shal be called the father of euerlastingnesse the Prince of peace and so forth and for confirmation thereof he alledgeth this text and so doth also the Commentarie vppon Genesis And the holy Rabbi as they terme him sayth expressely that the Messias in that he should bee both God and Man should bee called Emanuell In that he was God the wonderfull and the Counseller In that he was mightie Gheuer that is to say Strong In that he was Euerlasting the Father of euerlastingnesse In respect that peace should be increased vnder him The Prince of peace In that he should deliuer mens Soules from Hell The deliuerer out of bondage and in that he should saue men Iesus that is to say The Sauiour For whereas Rabbi Selomon to conueye these titles to Ezechias interpreteth them after this maner And God the wonderfull the Counseller the euerlasting father hath called Ezechias the Prince of peace c. Besides that the Hebrewe Grammer and the phrase of that tongue are repugnant to that Construction it is well enough seene that such things cannot be verified of King Ezechias and that it is but a deuice of this late borne Iew against the opinion of al antiquitie to escape from this text which is so expresse Esay in his seuenth Chapter sayth thus Behold a Virgin shall bee with child and bring forth a Sonne Here ye see that Christ shall bee a man And thou shalt call his name Emanuell that is to say God with vs. Then shall he bee both God and Man that is to wit God dwelling among men as a man But vnto this and such like texts they answer vs that the El that is to say GOD is imparted to Princes and Iudges And therefore let vs heare further In that day sayth Esay the Lord of Hostes Iehouah tsebhoath shal be in sted of a crowne of glory and of a Diademe of honor to the residue of his people The Chaldee Paraphrast interpreteth this concerning the Messias And againe In that day shall the people that were harryed away and rent a peeces be brought for a present to the Lord of Hosts The Commentarie vpon Genesis vnderstandeth this also to be spoken of the same person This is another I will wayt for the Lord who hath hidden his face from the house of Iacob and I will attend vpon him The Disciples of Rabbi Hija applye this in the Talmud to the Messias And yet in all these places wheresoeuer is the word Lord the Hebrewe hath the word Iehouah that is to say the Bëeer or he that is which is the vnspeakable or vnutterable name of the Creator and in opinion of the Hebrewes is not to be imparted to any Creature Wherevpon it enseweth that the Messias to whom it is imparted should be the very euerlasting God and that the auncient writers who attributed those sayings to him looked that he should bee such a one In the thrée and twentie and in the thrée and thirtie of Ieremie wee reade thus Behold the daies shall come that vnto Dauid I will raise vp a rightuous braunch and he shall reigne as King These words belong to

our M is not wont to be written so but in the end of a word Here therefore according to their custome they fall to descating vpon the letters and because the ● Mem is here closed vp whereas it ought cōmonly to be written open thus ● they say there must needes bée some great misterie hidden and shut vp there and that as Rabbi Tanhuma was séeking the reason thereof a voyce from heauen answered him razi li razi li that is to say I haue a secret which by the consent of them all concerned the Messias But some of them passe further and say that this cyphred Letter importeth sixe hundred that is to wit sixe hundred yeeres which are to be reckened from this Prophesie vnto the Messias And in very deede frō the fourth yeere of the reigne of Achas at which time the Prophesie was vttered we shall find by account that they fall not out long after the time of Herod Another is read in the Talmud in these wordes Rabbi Elias sayth to Rabbi Iehudas brother of Rabbi Sala the Essene The worlde cannot haue any mo than fowerscore and fiue Iubilees that is to say Fower thousand two hundred and Fiftie yeres and in the last Iubilee shall the sonne of Dauid come without doubt but whether in the beginning therof or in the end thereof I cannot tell Rabbi Asse is of his opinion in the same case To be short R. Moyses Ben Maimon sayth in his Epistle to the Iewes of Affricke that there is an auncient Tradition that Christ should bee borne in the yeere of the Worlde fower thousand fower hundred seuentie and fower The which according to their owne account should be past now more then nyne hundred yeres ago And Rabbi Moyses of Geround and Leuy the sonne of Gerson speake of another which behighted it in the yere of the world fiue thousand one hundred and eightéene which by their owne account is expired more than two hundred yeeres since Finally after much alteration and vayne expectation to no purpose the conclusion of the greatest Rabbines commeth to this poynt That it is needeles to calculate any more for the comming of Christ That all the tymes limited by the Prophetes are already past and that there remayneth not any thing els than repentance and good woorkes Ouer and besides the tyme they doe also deliuer vs certeine tokens of Christs comming in their traditions When the Messias commeth say they there shal be fewe wise men in Israell and many Seducers Inchaunters and Wizards The wisedome of the Scribes shall stinke and the Schooles of Diuinitie shall become Brothelhouses Good men in Israell shall bee abhorred and the countenances of the men of that age shal be ful of vnshamefastnesse Is not this a liuely description of the maners of the Iewes yea euen of the Pharisies themselues in the tyme of Herod and of the destruction of the Temple Let vs hearken what Iosephus their owne History writer speaketh of them Iewry was at that time sathi he a Den and Harbour of Theeues of Murderers of Inchaunters and of Seducers of the people And doubtlesse God was offended at their extreme vngodlinesse insomuch that he abhorred both Hierusalem the Temple and brought in the Romaines thither to purge thē as it were with fire Yea and I beleeue sayth he that if the Romanes had staied neuer so little to come to destroy them either the earth would haue swallowed them vp or some great waterflud must haue drowned them or els they had bin burned vp as Sodom was For that generation was much worse than euer Sodom was Thus then aswell the writings as also the notablest Traditions of the auncient Iewes doe poynt vs to the tyme of Herod And truely Tacitus Suetonius and Iosephus himselfe witnesses voyd of suspitiō report that in that age it was bruted euery where that out of Iewrie should come a King that should reigne ouer all the whole world and that this saying was grauen in a very open and renowmed place of the Castle at Hierusalem which thing caused the Iewes to bee so readie to rebell and so loth to serue the Romaines And it appeareth by the whole Historie of that age that all the people yea and Herod himselfe had their eyes and eares euer open wayting and watching for the Messias the one to imbrace him and the other to destroye him For as in all the former tymes wee reade not that any man tooke vpon him to be the Messias much lesse that any was receiued as he so in this age there scarsly passed any one yéere but some one or other stepped vp to be he verely because that to their seeming they had the disposition of the people and the very tyme it self answerable to their intent Herod therefore who perceiued himselfe to haue bene but newly proclaymed King by the Romaines fearing to bee dispossessed of his Crowne did what he could to destroye the blud royall of Iuda defacing their Genealogies and not sparing euen his owne sonnes Yea and there stepped vp certeine Courtyerrabbins which would néedes make the world beléeue that Herod was the promised Messias whereof some will haue the Herodians to procéede which are spoken of in the Gospell And this sect was greatly furthered by the opinion of the fleshly sort which by the Messias looked for a restitution of their State that is to wit of Uineyards of gorgeous buildings of precious Stones and of all things sauing of themselues Also about the same tyme stepped vp one Iudas a Gawlonite who called the people to libertie and mainteyned with some assistence of the Pharasies that they ought not to pay tribute to the Emperour So also did another Iudas the sonne of one Ezechias a Capteyne of Cutthrotes and a certeyne Shepheard named Athrouges whose pretence was no lesse than to bee Kings and to deliuer their followers from the yoke of bondage Likewise vnder the gouernement of Faelix and in the reigne of Agrippa a certeyne AEgiptian taking vpon him to be a Prophet led certeyne people vp to Mount Oliuet and made them beléeue that from thence they should see the walles of Hierusalem fall downe and then they should goe in thither Againe vnder the President Cuspius Fadus one Thewdas vndertooke the like enterprise Al which are signes that they tooke aduauntage of the tyme and abused the hope of the people to the maintenance of their owne ambition But which more is we reade in the Talmud that in the tyme of Agrippa one Barcozba which name signifieth the Sonne of Lying stept vp among the people and pretending to be Christ was taken so to bee by the Rabbines themselues and reigned thirtie yeeres and a halfe yea and that as Ramban reporteth in his sentences of Kings they required not any signe of him insomuch that the great Rabbine Akiba the wisest of al the Talmudists became his Harnesbearer and applyed vnto him the second Chapter of