mysteries of God seeme credible to such as were otherwise auerse from them for wheras the things then taught were new strange and incredible to naturall eares how should the Gentiles bee induced to beleeue them how should so great a portion of mankind emancipated as it were to Sathan be brought from their fathers traditions or diabolicall oracles to relie vpon them had not the strange works that followed their publishers made them thinke that those things were credible which were accompanied with so strange attendants Thus farre Saint Paule and Barnabas had proceeded when by a miracle wrought in Lystria Vers 7. by restoring strength and streightnesse to an impotent cripple the Lycoanians were roused vp to conceiue that something more then flesh and bloud was preach't vnto them that surely some Embassadors were come from heauen amongst them But see the malignitie of Sathan he is alreadie confined to the deepe if this Miracle lose not its true vse and by depriuing the Author of the worke the honour bee transferred vpon the instruments The Apostles before had a taske to teach the Gentiles that Iupiter was nothing Cor 8.4.1 Plaut Amphit and Mercurie nothing and now as if Amphitruo were to be re-acted they must beginne a new with them and hardly make good that Paul is Paul and not Mercurie that Barnabas is Barnabas and not Iupiter Happie Lystrians had they but attended to what was preached and not too fondly ouervalued them which preached it but I would to God that Lystria only might bee branded with this follie and that it might haue there dyed where it first began in Lyconia then should these blessed Apostles bee no more dishonoured with adoration nor so many deluded soules in these our daies be forced now againe to offer incense vnto them V. 14. 15. The Apostles themselues I am sure were molded of an other temper whether I should present them to your view renting ther clothes or running amongst the people or crying with might and maine O men why doe you these things one cannot but conceiue how these Apostles being dis-robed of their flesh and with that of their fleshly desires are now affected when as being yet clothed as it were with temptation it selfe they so greatly distasted their owne worship I were more then an Orator could I fuller expresse my Apostles Oration and it would argue no small presumption should I thinke with any paraphrase vpon their Rethorike to affect your tender eares when the substance thereof proceeding from so diuine subiects as were these Embassadors of Christ could scarcely appease or restraine a ruder Auditorie The force of their Arguments is powerfull enough to supply what is wanting That themselues were not those Gods they tooke them for they make good by two irrefragable arguments the one taken from their nature by which they professe themselues to be Men Verse 15. subiest to the like passions that the Lystrians were and therefore could bee no Gods and impatible deities the other drawne from their office and function which was so farre from giuing them authoritie to accept of any such worship that on the contrarie side they declare the end and scope of their comming to be to Preach vnto them that they should turne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the text saith from those vaine things from those Idols vnto the liuing God But that God was the Lord that hee was that Ceres which filled their garners with Corne hee that Zeus which vìuificated and made nature fertile he that Aeolus which brideled and kept the impetuous winds in subiection might seeme a point of more difficultie to make good surely the Gentiles might plead ignorance for their excuse whom for a long time God had suffered to walke in their owne waies and Philosophers themselues might complaine they saw but through a mist and that his misteries were not so plainly divulged to them as to the Iewes yet this one argument which the Apostles here vrge is sufficiēt to conuince them of this that he left not himselfe to them also without witnesse that he was the only and euerliuing God in that hee did good and gaue them raine from heauen and fruitfull seasons filling their hearts with food and gladnesse The summe is a prolepsis or taking away of all such pretences for their ignorance as the Gentiles might alleage in their owne defence in which they proceed by two gadations Viz. First by an Aphaeresis or remouing of the false opinion vpon which they grounded and laying downe the truth Neuerthelesse he left not himselfe without witnesse Viz. Secondly by an Epicurosis or cōfirmation of that truth which they laid downe which likewise they prosecute by two Mediums to wit by Gods benefits pointed out Viz. Either in 1. Generall in that he did good 2. Speciall in that hee gaue them raine from heauen and fruitfull seasons filling their hearts with food and gladnesse The errour which is here remoued may seeme to haue some dependencie vpon that question of Aristotles Aristot Ethic. 3. An ignorantia excuset peccatum whether ignorance doth excuse a fault it is not expressely set downe in the storie but tacitely imployed in that it is refuted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neuerthelesse being an Aduersatiue particle and here vsed as Destructiue so that whereas these Gentiles would perhaps haue pleaded ignorance to excuse their Idolatrie the Apostle shews them that their ignorance was crassa affectata grosse and affected such as the Pope now a dayes enioynes his subiects and such as by the tenures of Philosophie doth augment rather then diminish an offence For though the Gentiles knew not God absolutè absolutely Bellar. de grat lib. arbit c. 2. as Bellarmine in his fourth Booke De gratia lib. arbitr seemes to intimate yet limitatè with some limitation and restriction they did si non simpliciter verum Deum tamen aliquid veri Dei if not simply the true God yet something of the true God The light of Nature serued in grosse to shew them that there was a God that this God was one only that he was to be worshipped to be serued and adored though fully who this God was Nature debilitate ascended not to know humane frailty could not penitrate much like was their knowledge to that of Oedipus in the Poets Senec. Traged who knew in generall that he had a Father but not who was his Father onely to see his misfortune whom he so carefully sought he vnwillingly slue or as children sayth Aristotle Quosuis viros appellant patres Aristot 1. Phys faeminas matres call all men their fathers and all women their mothers so this purblind progenie of Adam being able to discerne no cleerer the Godhead then he in the Gospell which saw Men walking like Trees tooke oftentimes the Shadow for the Substance calling euery Creature a Creator and mistaking a corruptible Man for an incorruptible God But for our cleerer proceeding and easier accesse to our Apostles
sense and meaning when they say God left not himselfe without witnesse wee must note that the witnesse which is here vnderstood is the witnesse of Nature and the thing witnessed is God displayed by his workes of nature the mayne doubt concernes the extent of this knowledge quantum Deitatis how much of the Godhead may be knowne of vs by this witnesse of Nature To decide this controuersie wee must obserue that the knowledge of God is two-fold either of him as he is considered in himselfe or as he is considered in his workes as in himselfe so either of his essence or of his persons as in his workes so likewise it is either of his workes of Creation or his workes of Redemption As for him considered in his persons or in his workes of Redemption I take that the witnesse which is here implied in as much as it confines it selfe to the light of Nature extends not further then to yeeld limilies to illustrate them Tho. part 1. q. 32. art 1. or as Thomas sayth of these points sufficit probare non esse impossibile quod sides praedicat it is enough if wee can proue that those things are not impossible which Faith preacheth For first concerning the workes of Redemption almost all Diuines doe assent and agree in this that Quamuis homo norit Deum esse Morn de verit relig c. 27. esse optimum maximum non norit tamen patrem in filio reconciliatum though Man by nature knowes that there is a God and that this God is goodnesse it selfe yet the Father reconciled in the Sonne he knowes not It was a wonder vnto the blessed Angels much more is it a mysterie vnto naturall men And touching the doctrine of the three Persons Thomas in the place aboue cited resolues vs plainly that per rationem naturalem cognosci possint de Deo ea tantum quae pertinent ad vnitatem essentiae non autem ea quae pertinent ad distinctionem personarum by the light of nature onely those things may bee knowne of God which concerne the vnitie of his essence not those which concerne the distinction of persons Many I confesse haue ransackt Nature for Mediums to perswade this doctrine of the Trinitie Morn de verit relig c. 5. one tells vs that a Spring begets a Riuer and that from both are deriued smaller Brookes all which yet make but one Water another shewes a Roote from which rises a Bodie and from thence Branches and yet all make but one Tree some more subtile Philosophers produce a Man which in one Soule hath three faculties and yet all these if wee beleeue the Scotists doe differ but formally from the Soule no not at all if wee beleeue the Nominals But this makes not any thing to denie the defects of this witnesse of Nature in respect of this high mysterie for who knowes not that Naturall reason is one thing as it is nuda bare and naked in it selfe an other thing as it is vestita adorned and clothed with higher gifts one thing being considered sine indumento without the ornaments and perfections which the knowledge of God out of the Scripture giues vnto it another thing as it is considered cum indumento being inuested with that light which the Word written like the Sun darting his beames vpon the Moone reflect vpon it before it can shine towards vs. The former way Natures resemblances of the Trinitie are not of such power and force as that by them a man in puris naturalibus constitutus being left to the light of Nature onely should bee able to come to the knowledge of that incomprehensible depth no more sayth Philip Mornay in his fifth Chapter De veritate Religionis then cyphering Characters can shew him the summe they import which was neuer instructed in their vse though being considered cum indumento with their perfections and additions which they receiue from the light of the Scripture they make easie that doctrine being to that purpose inuented by those sayth one qui prius crediderunt quam intellexerunt who did first beleeue before they vnderstood But though these mysteries of the Trinitie and of our Redemption wrought by that incarnate Sonne of God Christ Iesus are so remote from this witnesse of Nature yet in points concerning the essence of God in generall or his workes of Creation not illustrations onely or a bare fame may be had from the light of Nature as Socinus Ostorodius and the like Samosatenian Atheists in Polonie doe affirme but also demonstrations and direct conclusions may be deduced The doctrine therefore which our Apostles in my Text doe insinuate vnto vs when they say that God left not himselfe to the Gentiles without witnesse must needs be this That so much may be knowne of God by the witnesse of Nature as is sufficient to confirme vnto vs though not his Persons or workes of Redemption yet his Godhead and also his handie-worke in creating and gouerning of the World God is in himselfe inuisible and yet The inuisible things of him sayth the Apostle Rom. 1.20 that is his eternall Power and Godhead are seene by the creation of the World being considered in his workes To resolue the members of which Verse were to propose vnto you a whole systeme of naturall Diuinitie each part being a scale sayth Beza which whosoeuer will ascend Beza in annot ad loc may by it attaine to the knowledge of Gods eternall Power and Diuinitie O God when I consider the workes of thine hands the Sun and the Moone which thou hast created and that all things which are comprised within the circumference of them doe receiue their being and perfection from thee alone how can I chuse but assent that thou thy selfe art most perfect most essentiall when I confesse that thou art the prime cause and first moouer of all things reason were no reason if from hence it concluded not that there is nothing left which can moue thee or make thee mutable when thou alone madest the fabrike of the World by thy mightie power doest now sway each iota thereof by the Scepter of thy Word it were sacriledge should I say thou wert not a Spirit and that for time eternall for place euery where for power omnipotent Now when in Nature there can bee but one most perfect one immutable one infinite and omnipotent Essence let it not be presumption if I goe a little farther and inferre that thou O God and none but thou which dost these things art that one most perfect immutable infinite and omnipotent Essence Thus you may perceiue what wings Nature hath yet affoorded Man to soare aloft if hee would but prye into that glorious Cabinet of heauenly treasure if wee looke into the foure last Chapters of Iob we shall see God himselfe as it were reading a lecture of these workes of Nature that by them he might demonstrate his wisedome and by them his power and prouidence might bee conceiued The old
alas whilest some too much neglectfull of their true scope do day and night lye digging and deluing and hewing out their wordly aduancement whiles it is too common a fault amongst men to ruffe cast and playster ouer their owne deformities that with Simon Magus they may affirme themselues to bee some body whilest not a few with liues and trauels stand either measuring others actions or else as if themselues were the Poles of the world are taking the eleuation of their owne worth how can one choose but say that here also may sit many of those Mechanickes who if I should speake with my Story doe make Bricke and burne it and carry slime and mortar to the building of this Tower Babylon beleeue it may as well be built in a Schollars braine as in the Plaines of Shinar and vaine glory may in the one be as fit an Instrument to promote the Deuils kingdom as in the other it serued for the erecting of Nimrods Monarchie Sciences and Disciplines were first inuented for vse and contayne themselues then within the bounds of Modesty but vaine glory raysing them aboue their proper Spheare made them in the end take folly for their Centre Whence grew those infernall Arts of consulting with foule spirits whence those scrupulous inspection of the higher bodies but that earth and clay knowing not it selfe which it was bound to know to get a name would needs know that which it ought not to know might I but particularize I thinke there is none ignorant in the seuerall Ages of Learning What corruptions of Arts arose from Pride What Sects arose like Locusts to deuoure the flowers of all good learning How by them Philosophy losing her profitable vses was turned to abstractiue and sophisticall speculations how Diuinitie was stuft out with curious and vnnecessary doubts how preaching it selfe through postelizing became verbal bent only as it were to delight the fancie of fond Auditors I cannot much censure therefore those Schoolemen which held Diuinitie it selfe to bee then a speculatiue Science when the Popes to build their Empire thought good to abstract it from the practice Non sic à principio it was not so from the beginning Agrip. de vanit Scient An Agrippa could supply my Meditations with Examples and tel you how all Disciplines assumed first their vanitie from the affectation of humane glory and a Viues could deriue vnto you the causes of the corruptions of Arts from aspiring cogitations Viues de causis corrupt arti Till Arrogancie beare Dominion ouer Truth the transcendencie of the Pope found no footing in the Church Till ambitious ends blinded the eyes of iudgement the doctrine of massacring Princes was not knowne Till Schoole-learning turned Aduocate to the pride of Antichrist we knew no higher Iudge of Controuersies then the Scriptures But my purpose is not to prosecute this subiect any farther I desire Beloued knowledge in you all but I would haue it vestita clothed with Humilitie for as it is in it selfe nuda it puffeth vp saith Paul 1. Cor. 8. but ioyned with loue it edifieth Let no man therefore presume to vnderstand aboue that which is meete to vnderstand but that hee vnderstand according to sobrietie as God hath dealt to euery man the measure of Faith lest striuing with these builders to get a name hee participate of their confusion which was the intention of Gods descent and commeth next to bee handled and there confound their Language Seuenthly bow dangerous a weapon the tongue of man is how liable either to vse or abuse no Author almost is silent to report With our tongue wee will preuaile say the wicked Psal 12. Death and life are in the power of it Prou. 18. And to conclude It is a fire a world of wickednesse an vnruly euill full of deadly poyson Iam. 3. No maruell therefore if the Lord when he saw that man by depriuing himselfe of his originall iustice had lost the true skil of vsing this weapon did now somewhat shorten the length of it to the end that some proportion might bee found betweene the wounded and worne Souldier and his vnweeldie blade Had Adam still continued in his first estate reason in him like a golden bridle would haue kept this member in subiection At hi iam mortui sunt those Armes which then were lusty and strong haue now lost their vigor and the tongue as an vntamed beast runnes ouer all it meetes with and tramples to the ground all such as giue it not way and passage God therefore since the Rider had not any longer the free power to restraine his beast thought good to shorten his race scantle his liberties and reduce the large Common where before it roued and went astray into seuerall inclosements Shemeis tongue may bee free in cursing but it shall boote no where now but in Iurie Athenian Demagogi may bee prompt in mouing seditions but their eloquence must end with the bounds of Greece and Caius Curio may be facundus malo publico but his Rethoricke shall be powerfull onely in Romes Territories From hence wee may obserue many points worth our consideration as first that all the punishments which it pleaseth God to inflict on the wicked in this life are no other then so many steps and staires to promote the welfare of his Church For howsoeuer the World abounded as much with wicked after as before yet men being deuided into as many factions as tongues and hauing not so free commerce as before the Church might now seeme to haue an indifferent share being compared with any one part though to all it beare no proportion Secondly wee may note the end of Gods punishments how it is to represse the ragings of sinne Greg. lib. 34 Moral Chrysost in Gen. c. 11. v. 6. and to restraine it from growing to that prodigious hight which these builders had raised it vnto For no doubt the Lord seeing the imaginations of mans heart to be euill continually and that this vnitie of speech so much serued the wicked to win them partners in their wickednesse vsed this confusion of Languages as a bridle to curbe their audacious spirits that if notwithstanding all this they should haue as much will to sinne yet should they haue lesse power to hurt and though perhaps there might bee as many wicked yet should there be fewer partakers in the same wickednesse Alas God might as hee did to Sodome haue rained downe fire and brimstone vpon them and so haue consumed their work with them but then he had not left vs the posteritie of that wicked consort as a perpetuall argument of his mercy he might with Lighthings or Earthquakes haue demolisht their worke and not them but then hee had onely deter'd them from proceeding in that mischiefe not taken away the meanes of beginning a new Wherefore hee like a prudent Iudge that this malum poenae this punishment which he would inflict vpon them might take some effect in all their Posterity
exemplifies two wayes principally Viz. First Negatiuely in declaring what hee was not I was no Prophet neither was I a Prophets Son Viz. Secondly Affirmatiuely in declaring what he was but I was an Heardman and a gatherer of Sycomore fruit In the Negatiue we may consider the termes first absolutely in themselues A Prophet a Prophets Sonne Secondly with relation to Amos I was no Prophet I was no Prophets Sonne In the Affirmatiue we may obserue likewise if the time could permit the Trades hee was of the one about Cattell I was an Heardman the other about the fruits of the earth I was a gatherer of Sycomore fruit And now haue I presented before your eyes the Inauguration or Generation rather if I may speake Physically in a Diuine subiect of a Prophet his progresse à non esse adesse his terminus à quo ad quem it is a sampler of our new birth in Christ where the Author of all Prophesie by the anoynting Oyle of his Spirit takes vs from amongst the heards whose companions wee are by imitation and the Sycomores or wild Fig-trees of whose lineage we are become by barrennesse and degeneration and enrols vs in the lists of his Prophets He which lifted Amos from an Heardsmans banke to a Prophets Chaire eleuate our earthly thoughts from such Obiects to the Chaire of Prophesie and confirme his Calling as effectually by the power of his Word as his Word by the Miracle of his Calling whilest first I treate of the termes absolutely in themselues which here are negatiuely spoken of him and come in the first place to bee handled A Prophet a Prophets Sonne Thirdly the word Prophet hath euer enioyed a sacred and religious vse and although the Heathens were guiltie of that Sacrilege that they stole it from the Church to adorne their Poets with it yet in its owne right it still contayned it selfe within the Arke of the Couenant and the Offices of the Sanctuary and in them receiued a three-fold acception For first and most vsually it noted that extraordinary Calling of those which attayned to the knowledge eyther of things to come or otherwise mysteries aboue the Spheare of mans naturall apprehension by Diuine Reuelation And in this classis or ranke sit the Prophets which were the Penmen of holy Writ Secondly It signified one which celebrated the honour of God in Hymnes and Psalmes and Musicall Iustruments and so Dauid erecting or preparing rather a Quire for the Temple is said to separate the sonnes of Asaph and of Heman and of Iedulthion who should prophesie with Harpes with Psalteries and with Cymbals 1. Chron. 25. Thirdly it pointed out any one as hee was an Expounder and Interpreter of the Law and so of Aaron it is said Exod. 7. That hee should bee Moses Prophet which Iunius and Tremelius render constitui Aaronem vt esset interpres tuus and in this sense Saint Paul opposeth Prophesie as an ordinary gift to that extraordinary gift of Tongues 1. Cor. 14. making Prophets and Doctors of the Church saith Mercer to be Synonima's and of equiualent sense Now relatiues being best knowne by their correlatiues the surest way to find out the meaning of this word Prophet in my Text will be by his sonnes quaelis filius talis pater Like son like father A Prophets sonne in the old Testament is not the sonne of a Prophet so termed for generation or adoption no this were to hold the graces of God in fee simple and to entaile them to a Stocke or Linage but for institution and education sake They are mentioned sundry times in the Bookes of Kings and by the circumstances of the places as also the concurrence of Interpreters are found to be nothing else but young Students trained vp vnder religious and learned Teachers as in Schooles and Accademies of pietie A Prophet then in this place by the nature of relatiues is the Master or Teacher and a Prophets sonne the Scholer and Auditor in a Vniuersitie Yet giue me leaue to affirme the roote of a Prophet in my Text I speake not grammatically for this is denied by many but historically to bee Prophets inspired who haue as it seemes bequeathed the name of Prophet vpon such Instructors as these because they were the Founders of the Order and their Predecessors in the Chaire For whom doe we find standing ouer the Prophets in that illustrious Schoole of Nayoth but Samuel 1. Sam. 19. whom ouer the Colledges in Bethel Ierico and Gilgal but first Elias and after him Elisha 2. Kin. 2. and fourth Chapter So that the Office and function of Teachers in Schooles being adorned with that sacred title of Prophet and the Chaire consecrated by the Prophets themselues who were the King of Heauens Professors in those most ancient Accademies of the Prophets sons warrants me to inferre the institution and erection of Schooles or to speake plainely of Vniuersities the ordination of Masters and Instructers in the same the cōcourse of Youth reduced vnder a certain prescript of Discipline therein not to be a plot as some imagine of human inuention but sacred and of Diuine institution Vide Iohan Regij Dantiscani Doruss orat 2. de comparatione Paradisi Gen. 3.8 And indeed where shal we begin not discouer some Athenian ruines What was Paradice before the fall of our first Parents but a glorious Schoole wherin magnus ille peripateticus God who was heard walking in the Garden did till that time possesse the Chaire What was the Euening Gen. 2.19 wherein Adam gaue names to creatures according to their Natures but a Phylosophicall vespers Gen. 3.1 What the conference with the Serpent but a disputation where such was the fortune of the day that the Serpent which before was but allowed to aske a Placet and dispute an argument vpon the victorie then gotten mounted the Chayre euer since opened Schooles of his owne Good cause then had the Church to be as sedulous and careful in building staire-cases for Heauen as the Deuill in digging descents to Hell And do you think it was not Ioseph antiq Iudaic. l. 3. cap. 2. Caine saith Iosephus found out the Art of Weights and Measures Iabal the Architecture of those dayes he was the Father of all such as dwell in tents saith the Scripture Iubal inuented Musick Gen. 4.20.21.22 hee was the Father of all such as handle the Harpe and Organ And Tubalcaine an instructer of euery Artificer in Brasse and Iron Thus was there a mixt Accademy of Mechanicks and Mathematicks erected within the Serpents Pale The Deuil might here bragge as much as Endemon Endaem in Causab or any Iesuite penes se esse imperium litterarum that the Empire of Learning was within his Dominion It had been no disgrace to the Church to say these were their Drudges to make Instruments and Tooles for them to imploy in the maine worke to wit in the doctrine of true Religion as it is no disgrace to a
these things Sed qui contra Episcopale officium pro lege Euangelica grammaticam populo exponebant but those which contrarie to the office of a Bishop in stead of expounding the Gospell reade a Grammar Lecture vnto the people such as for wholsome foode proposed Pepons and Onions and I know not what old ends of rotten rags to digest as if hee were no body which compiled not an whole Homers Centâ—ns or a Virgils Centons and vented them al at once to his Auditorie Otherwise who can denie that in these things an intelligent hearer may get some profit by hearing as well as an other by reading as for those of the opposite opinion I could wish them more charitie then to grudge that other men see with two eyes because they can see but with one and will leaue them with that counsell of Hierome to Magnus Ne vescentium dentibus edentuli inuideant Hieron in Epist ad Mag. oculos caprarum talpae contemnant that if they want teeth they would not enuy those which eate with them nor contemne the eyes of Goats if themselues be Wants and starke blinde And so I come from the formale of the Title the inscription to the materiale or substance of it to the vnknowne God I found an Altar with this inscription to the vnknowne God In diuers Authors I finde a diuerse reading of this Inscription Pausanias in his Atticks Pausan l. 1. remembers such a writing vpon an Altar in Athens but he puts it in the plurall number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the vnknown gods The greek Scholiast relates it otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Gods of Asia and Europe and Lybia to the vnknown and forren god And to this most of the Latine Interpreters do cleaue yet it followes not which Hierome from hence would inferre Hieron in Tit. c. 1. that S. Paul quoted but part only of this Inscription to circumuent the Athenians therewith whereas the former part mentioned more gods then one for how could they but take him tripping if with fraud as the Iesuits vse the Fathers Matth. 4. or the Deuill the Psalmes to Christ he had mis-repeated a writing so ready at the point of euery mans tongue But this seemes to haue beene his scope The Athenians more like God Almighties then men made or imagined whole armies and bands of Gods now amongst all those many whom they knew and alas how could they know any that were not there was one and he the only one indeed whom they knew not him therefore the Apostle vrgeth by himselfe because they pretended that him alone they ignorantly did worship presuming of some knowledge of the rest Conc erning the occasion which moued the Athenians to frame such an inscription Writers doe not lesse differ then vpon the words Chrysost ad locum in Ep. ad Tit. hom 3. Chrysostome thinkes that they erected this Altar lest when they had admitted a number of forraigne gods there might bee yet some left out that might take it ill or vnkindly at their hands whom they know not Laert. lib. 1. in Epimen Laertius in the life of Epimenides giues this reason of it When the Athenians saith he were afflicted with a sore pestilence Pythia gaue them this answer that they should expiate the City and appease the indignation of some higher powers against it wherupon they rig'd vp a ship and sent it by Nicias the son of Niceratus into Creete to fetch Epimenides who comming vnto them in the 46. Olympiad expiated the City and caused the pestilence to cease by this meanes First hee brought white and blacke Sheepe into the Areopage and suffering them to stray which way they listed gaue in charge to those which followed them that wheresoeuer any of them rested of his owne accord they should there sacrifice it to the vnknowne God and he reupon they say the plague ceased and the custome began amongst the Athenians of consecrating Altars with this Title Howsoeuer I can see no probabilitie Lorin in Act. c. 17. for Lorinus's dreame of God hidden in the flesh or conceal'd in Sacramentall species and as small for Baronius's conceit Baron Annal Tom. 1. that the Athenians by vnknowne meant inuisible imperceptible or vnessable the Apostle especially in the former Verse noting ignorance in them of the God-head rather then such knowledge by branding them in the forehead with a marke of too much superstition for their paines Many good obseruations may from hence bee gathered as first from the worshippers themselues we may collect the malice and cunning of Satan that alwaies would draw vs as neere his confines of darkenesse as hee can for better considers then wee doe how that the will wills no more then the vnderstanding vnderstands that ignoti nulla cupido the lesse we know God the lesse we loue him the farther he is from the reach of our apprehension the farther from the affection of desiring the more out of sight the more out of minde besides hee knowes by experience that ignorance the mother of blind deuotion is the step-mother to all Religion that on the contrary side the sunshine of the God-head dispels the mists of superstition that God is so sweet and infinitely full of delight that whosoeuer knowes him cannot chuse but affect him Lastly that knowing is the light of the soule the enemie to fraud the tamer of the affections the bridle of perturbations the rule of zeale and the Starre which must conduct vs to our heauenly Hierusalem so that the whole powers of hell seem'd to haue had a finger in this deuillish stratageme that when the Gentiles should know their Iupiter and Mars and Diana and Neptune which were no Gods but Deuils in Hell the true God which was the maker and gouernour of all things hee should not haue so much as a name afforded him hee should passe among them for the vnknowne God Note but the forme of our Apostles arguing I perceiue saith hee that in all things you are too superstitious there is the question or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the conclusion his proofe lies in the Verse following for as I passed by and beheld your deuotions I found an Altar with an inscription to the vnknowne God see an argument drawne à proprio from a proper adjunct of superstition which is ignorance of the true God All implying as much as this that deuotion which is practised without the knowledge of God or presupposing God as vnknowne the same deuotion is superstitious A perfect Touch-stone in my minde whereby a Christian may without much labour and difficultie make tryall of his Religion and giue iudgement of the faith he professeth And alas what shall wee then say of the Romane Religion will it thinke you endure the touch of this stone and not discouer it selfe to bee counterfeit Greg. in Mat cont Celsum The Scripture which Origen compares to Iacobs Well where not onely Iacob and his sonnes that
is the learned but also the Cattell and the Sheepe that is the rude and ignorant doe drinke and refresh themselues the Pope locking them vp in a tongue vnknowne that the people may not vnderstand them doth hee not what lyes in him make God to bee to the Laitie and common sort vnknowne Prayers which are the Masters of request to our heauenly Soueraigne when the Pope restraines them to Latine and commands them to be vttered in a strange tongue is not this to parlie with God as with a forraigne Prince and to present our supplications to him as to a God vnknowne Disputations whereby the falshood is winnowed from the Truth like Chaffe from Wheat and the great cause of mans saluation cleeres it selfe before the face of the world of false imputations the Pope by forbidding it to the Laytie vnder paine of Excommunication what doth hee but leaue men in suspence and doubtfulnesse of the truth and as farre as disputes can satisfie make God in many most needfull cases vnknowne Faith the hand which layes hold vpon the heauenly promises and is the very foundation of things hoped for the Pope extolling the implicit or vnfolded belief of the ignorant what doth he but by this course settle our confidence and trust and deuotions vpon the apprehension of God vnknown Much more might I adde to the same purpose but this ignorance of God is so foule a fault that if a man excell'd Salomon in all the wisedome of the world besides it would profit him little nay I may boldly say that in the maynest points of his knowledge the simplest Christian which knowes God would be able to tuter him and be his Teacher and therefore by these few instances of Popish blindnesse I hope you may see how little reputation our aduersaries doe gaine by nourishing ignorance and blinde deuotion in the minds of poore Christians Not to trauell farre for examples let vs consider the Athenians of whom my Apostle speakes in my Text famous for their wisedome and policie hauing had the most flourishing Empire of all Greece famous for their iustice and equitie hauing the renowned Areopage a Court to which Aristides attributed no lesse force in deliuering Iustice then to the Oracles in fore-telling things to come famous for their profound knowledge in Philosophie amongst whom Socrates Plato and Aristotle those great lights of Europe were admired and extolled how shallow yet they were in their professions how little they waded in many most necessary points of Philosophie and all because of this vnknowne God The Moralist wasted many a tedious night in the discussion of this one point what was summum bonum the chiefe good and felicitie of a man in this life Varro numbers in his time 288. seuerall opinions of Philosophers touching this one thing and yet scarce any of them which stumbled not at the very Threshold of his Art and all because that this God was vnknowne The Naturalists disputed as much concerning the subiect of his science the World what might be the first cause of it and yet after all their debatements and vnreconcileable contradictions hardly was any found which attained vnto it and all for that this God was to them vnknowne The Astronomers which gaze vpon the Starres slumber at the first moouer of the Spheares they which could foretell the Eclipses of the Sun and Moone to come saw not their owne Eclipse which was present and that because God was as then vnknowne The Statists and Politicians it were much to recount the seueral opinions they broached about the conuersions and period of Empires whether they were caused by numbers or destinie or coniunctions of the higher Planets or an excentricall motion of the Earth or Comets or Eclipses few or none archieued vnto the truth herein the reason whereof can bee no other then this that this God was to them vnknowne But le ts leaue Philosophie awhile and consider the Art of Arts Christianitie how God stands there in the fore-front of the Schoole and bids vs learne him first before we turne ouer a new leafe if we would bee perfect Schollers in other Precepts he is the rule wherby we are to order and conceiue of all things tending to his worship so farre is a man a good Diuine as he knowes him other subtilities are but hedges to fence the truth from the assaults of Heretikes they may scratch and teare both sides in handling but that vnum necessarium that one thing needfull needfull for thee Martha and euery good Christian is the knowledge of this God we may take a taste if we listed in those Religions which haue swarued from the truth whence is it that most of their errors haue proceeded if not from the not knowing as they should doe this God Did the Schoolè-men consider the power of God vprightly they would neuer attribute vnto him the working of contradictions in the Sacrament which argue an impotencie rather then a power in the Diuine Maiestie did the Iesuites truly estimate his truth and veritie they would not be so impudent as to make him the Patron of equiuocations and mentall reseruations did the Popish Doctors weigh but in right scales his iealousie they would not make Saints compartners with him in adoration or in the worke of our redemption nor if they knew his Prouidence would they many of them in the saluation of mens soules allow him a meere prescience onely or foreknowledge Nay we our selues would not doe many things as we doe if God were not to vs as he was to these Athenians yet vnknowne we runne to vnlawfull succours in our aduersities is not this because wee know him not to be Omnipotent we play the Hypocrites and double-dealers in his imployments is not this because we know him not to be simple we set our hearts vpon vaine pleasures and decaying treasures is not this because we know him not to be the soueraigne good we liue in sinne securely without any repentance is not this because wee know him not to bee a iust Iudge we doubt of his promises is not this because wee know him not to bee true why if we were but as learned as to know him we would admire him for his infinitnesse and perfection adore him for his vnmeasurablenesse vnchangeablenesse and eternitie seeke vnderstanding from his vnderstanding submit our selues to his will loue him for his loue trust to him for his truth feare him for his power reuerence him for his holinesse praise him for his blessednesse so that in fine hence growes our coldnesse in Religion hence our back-slidings in pietie hence our benumb'dnes in Christianitie in that our deuotions are as it were stil directed to the vnknowne God Now hee which conceal'd the truth of his God-head from the Prophets and Wise of the world and hath reuealed the same vnto the simple grant that we vsing the light aright walke not still as children of the darkenesse and by turning away from him the onely God whom we know settle our hearts and affections vpon false gods whom we know not through Iesus Christ our Lord to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost bee rendred all Praise Honour and Glory Might Maiestie and Dominion both now and for euer more Amen FINIS