Crosse the piercing of his side the nayling of his handes and feete His descending as a Conqueror into hell his victorius rysing from death tryumphant ascending to heauen and the verie time and place by markes infallible and other matters that passed either about his natiuitie life death or after as the chusing of Matthias to supplie the place of Iudas the miraculous comming of the holy Ghost in the feaste of Pentecoste and the rest Howe all these and many others foretolde by the Hebrewe Prophets so long before of their Messias were verified and fulfilled in Iesus the Sonne of the blessed virgne Mary I neede not to set downe the newe Testament where they are recorded by the Euangelists and Apostles beeing in the handes of euery Englishe Reader in his owne language and not onlie written by Christians but remembred by Gentiles in their wrightinges recorded in Libraries and Monumentes of Pagan Prynces and Emperours Confirmed by the verye testymonie of Pylate himselfe that put him to death Witnessed of our greatest enemies Mahumet in his Alcaron the Iewes in their Thalmud and by so manye Historians both of Iewes Pagans and Christians and could not possible either bee deuised of our friendes or denied of our enemies chauncing for the most part before thousandes of witnesses in or about Hierusalem a place so famous where the President was resident and whether resorted Proselytes and others of all knowne Nations in the worlde Therefore we conclude against the Iewes by theyr owne Prophets and foundation of theyr Religion againste Pagans by their Prophets and Oracles and against Mahumetanes by theyr Mahument and Alcaron and all Infidelles by the cheife Rules and Proposers of theyr Religion that Iesus Christ is the true mesias and Redeemer of the world that only the Religion of Christians is true haueing such a Peace-maker and Mediator betwene God vs as was able to make the atonemente beeinge both God and Man as a Redeemer must needs be and such as both his owne workes and operations and the predictions of those holy Prophets foretolde and described by the attributes and properties of both natures diuine and humane His diuine nature by his Eternitie Omnipotencie Impossibillity Infinitnes Power ouer all creatures and to produce all supernaturall effects to alter and establish religion to saue to condemne to be honored with diuine adoration and al names and titles due and belonging to God as appeareth in theyr description I haue recited confirmed and be expounded generallie by the auncyent Rabines beefore Christ As likewise his humane nature is decyphered by the same prophets by all properties and qualities of man sin excepted Therefore seeing by no possibilitie the wisdome of god can bee deceaued or his bonity and goodnes leade others into error and infidelltie and he had appointed those properties to be the notes signes and tokens to knowe the Mesias by and they were performed onelie in Iesus our Sauiour and no other hee must needes be the Redeemer of the world onlie christian Religion true and all other Infidelles Iewes Pagans and Mahumetanes seduced and deceaued For that which is onelye proper to one cannot belong vnto more for so it should not bee a proper and priuate but a common and vulgar thinge THE 2. ARGVM Howe all externall and most notorious Notes and Signes giuen by God to knowe the Messias by were onlie verefied of Iesus Christ and cannot possibly bee performed in any other BVT besides these personall and internall priuiledges and distinctions of the Messias because the redemption of mankinde to be effected by him concerned all people and nations in that all had offended so the infinite mercy and goodnes of God that no man should be ignorant of that which concerned him so much as the receauing of the Redeemer and working his owne saluation doeth had appointed many other most knowne and famous extrinsecal thinges to be the signes tokens of his comming whereof many were notorious in all the world and the rest at the least renowned to that nation of the Iewes from whome hee was to descende and other neighbouring countries to the Israelites all which were euidently verified in Christ Iesus cannot be effected in any other For breuity I will exemplifie but in fewe particulers the matter beeing manifest before First the Temple in Hierusalem was not only the most renowned thing in Iury but famous in all the worlde by reporte of Proselites and such as resorted thither especially when Iury was ruled by the Romanes as it was at the cōming of Christ Therefore when God gaue for a distinctiue signe to know the Messias by as not only the auncient Iewes and Rabbines but the Thalmudists themselues acknowledge that both in the time of his life he shoulde to that Temple then shall come the desired of all nations and I will fill this house or Temple with glory saith the Lorde of hostes And streight after shall come to his temple the Lord or Ruler whom you seeke the messenger of the testament whom you desire as the Prophets expreslie foretold as Iesus oftē did as the Iewes al Infidels acknowledge And further that soone after his death that Temple should be destroyed and left desolate neuer to bee builded againe as Daniell witnessed in these wordes Christ shall be slayne and a people with theyr Captaine to come shall destroie the Citie and the Sanctuary and the ende thereof shall bee vastity And after the warre ended there shall ensue the appointed Desolation And further expresse the verie time when this should be iust agreeing with the death of Christ And it is manifest that no other in those daies and with those circumstances is honoured for the MESSIAS eyther of Christyans Iewes Pagans or Mahumetans but only Iesus Christ and that the Temple was then destroyed as is moste euydent and not onely the temple in Hierusalem but that in Egipt called Onion as Iosephus recordeth it was hee that was to be distinguished by this signe For no power of God can cause that any pretended Messias to bee hereafter was hee that came to that Temple beefore it was destroyed or that the destruction of that Temple compleated aboue 1500. yeares agoe should bee done after the death of him that is not yet borne For things to be and not to be are vnpossible to be true Therefore against all Iewes and Infidelles only Iesus Christ was and no other can bee the Messias by that siigne Secondly as the Iews thēselues agree the holy Prophets giue for a like distructiue signe that he was to discend of the line of Iuda king Dauid and to be born in Bethlem his City This family was the linage of the kings most honorable in Israel And had endured in honour and gouernment aboue 1000. yeares without interuption And the towne of Bethlem was notable in all Iury being the cheefe city of the Tribe of Iuda but the Iewes themselues confesse in theyr
THE FIRST PART OF THE RESOLVTION OF RELIGION DEVIDED INTO TWO BOOKES CONtayning a Demonstration of the Necessity of a Diuine and Supernaturall Worshippe * ⎠* IN THE FIRST AGAINST ALL Atheists and Epicures In the second that Christian Catholicke Religion is the same in particuler and more certaine in euery Article thereof then any humane or experimented knowledge against Iewes Mahumetans Pagans and other externall enemies of Christ MANIFESTLY CONVINCING ALL their Sects and Professions of intollerable errors and irreligious abuses PRINTED WITH LICENCE 1603. THE EPISTLE OF THE AVTHOR TO THE READER AS amonge all dutyes and offices of Man deare Reader there is none by infinite inequality either so excellent or deserued as that Reuerence and Homage hee oweth to God his moste Soueraygne and Omnipotent Prince in whom all pre-eminences and dignities are contemed and from whom all benefittes and created prerogatiues are deriued So among all other sciences and knowledges of this worlde none can bee in any degree so certayne and vndoubted as that worshippe taught and reuealed of the same infinite wisedome and goodnesse which can neyther bee deceaued in him selfe or bring others into error Yet the corrupt malice and vngratitude of man hath growen great that at this present our meanest Function and Obligation is not more neglected and the very base and contemptible things of this life preferred before that Supreame Honour to which wee are bounde by so manie Titles And the wilfull blindnes of prophane people reiecting the infallible Rule of Religious causes and measuring secret supernaturall misteries by their owne shallow and depraued Iudgments doe esteeme that moste certaine and vnchaungeable veritie of diuine Adoration more doubtfull and vncertaine then recanted conceits of humane affairs Thus hath Man by negligence and malice shewed vndutifull disobedience to his Creator and abused his owne vnderstanding and will so excellent powers of his intellectuall and immortall Soule feeding the first with errors and making vnlawfull appetites the obiect of the other in such order that no sentence is so certayne but one or other hath called it into question no paradoxe so incredulous but some embrace it nothing so good but it hath beene refused nothing so lewd impious but some men haue approued it The manyfold euen hundreds of false Religions that haue inuaded and now beare dominion in the world and the irreuerent and irreligious liues of men and practise of al offences Atheisme and Epicurisme them selues wil beare me witnes Some wauering and staggering in fayth others by this number of errors vncertayne what to beleeue and those which make aduantage of such times to procure excuse to their own impieties either in opinion the dutie of Religion or in desire wish there were none at all no God no Heauen no Hell no Immortallitie after death no pleasure but in filthinesse Wherefore fullie to satisfie all English Subiects I haue made demonstration not onlye of the necessitie of a supernaturall Religion in generall against all Atheists and Epicures but by diuers Arguments by which true Reuerence may be prooued or error impugned and confuted and farre both greater in number and more forcible then can be alleadged to establish anie error that onlie Catholike Christian worshippe is the same in particuler against all enemies as well Iewes Mahumetanes Pagans and other externall aduersaryes which I will performe with so much more breuitye by how much I may hope there is lesse need thereof in a Christian Nation as also against all Heretickes and internall enemies more at large by aboue an hundred vnanswerable Reasons as the present occasion more requireth in which the former Infidels will likewise bee more plainly cōfuted manifestly conuincing all theyr Sects and Professions of intollerable errors and vnsufferable abuses even by the light of Nature and without all shew or apparaunce of true Reuerence hauing no groūde either natural or aboue nature of such doctrynes being onelie resolued into the lying manifest deceitfull and false inuentions of the deuill and licentious deceauers and contrariewise euerie Article of that worshippe I defend by Arguments diuyne and humane supernaturall and by nature Testymonies of God and Creatures Attributes Properties Offices Prerogatiues Endes Effects Name Nature and signes of true Relygion and priuiledges of truth to be the moste certayne knowledge in the worlde as certaine to vse S. Augustines example or more vndoubted then that a man liuing is a liue or any other manyfest veritie in nature and resolued vnto the moste faithfull and vndeceaueable trueth of God whereupon not onlie the whole substance but euery priuate question thereof is builded For which cause amongst others I haue named it a Resolution of Religion because it is resolued into that first and vnfallible veritie which by no possibilitie can be deceaued By which proportion in naturall Sciences Philosophers affyrme those conclusions and arguments to be moste true which can be resolued to the first principles which cannot be false And as in practicall and compounded thinges that composition and potion of Phisicke to giue example which as it is composed of diuers simples in it selfe is not perfectlie to be discerned what vertue and operation it hath but if it be resolued to those parciculer things of which it is made and theyr natures and effects declared the operation of the whole confection is euydentlie prooued euen so it is in that great and noble Composition of spirituall preseruatyues in Religious causes as I haue declared So that no particle or least question of diuine worshippe though neuer so secrette in it felfe can haue the least suspition of doubt beeing resolued into that infinite wisedome And as all errors that can be deuised concernyng Religion are defended by one of these three kindes of people Atheists Epicures and Nullifidyans which denie all worshippe or by externall Infidelles Iewes Pagans and Mahumetanes which although they professe a worshippe yet they both disalow the true Reuerence and Christ the author thereof or by internall enemyes and hereticks which though they acknowledge Christ for a true Messias which lykewise Mahumetes did and that hee deliuered true Religion yet they doe erre in the manner of worshippinge in particular So will I prooue these three conclusions that there is a Religion to be vsed against the first that the Religion which Christ deliuered is true against the second and to the third that Christian Catholike Religion is the same In proofe of which Propositions not onlie the true worshippe shall bee inuinciblie prooued but all doubtes difficulties and obiections of these misbeleeuers solued and resolued For which cause also I haue intituled this worke a Resolution And so I end humblie desirynge all Readers of these books which by them shall eyther be confirmed in truth or reclaymed from error sometimes to vouthsafe to remember in theyr deuoutest prayers the poore Author hereof Their Catholike Countrieman R. B. THE FIRST BOOKE OF THE FIRST PART OF THE RESOLVTION OF RELIGION PROOVING THE NECESSITY of a
holy Prophesy of the Messias which being set downe in scripture must by al rules be expounded by such coÌ„putatioÌ„s as we find in Scriptures otherwise if any man at plesure might Imagin other strange accomptes neuer harde of before all things wold be vncertayne And yet if we should alow that wanton liberty to any brainsick maÌ„ this prophesye could neuer be applied or verified of any other which wil be euideÌ„t if any idle person wil frame to himselfe a weke of weks or a weke of months which were twelue times sooner expired hundreds of yeares before Christ was borne wheÌ„ none claimed to be the Messias Therfore where some Iews are so rediculous to make conceits of years of decads or centures of yeares that is euery weke to consist of 70. wekes or 700. wekes as some are not ashamed to doe they make them selues a mockery to al the world For first the Scripture speaketh of such weeks Secondly it ouerthroweth al certainty in this case of so greate importance Thirdly it is one impossibility in their owne religion for in their Thalmud which whosoeuer with them denieth as they say denieth god him self It is recorded not onlye that the Messias should rule 2000. years but that the world was onelye to continue for 6000. years 2000. before the lawe of Moyses 2000. vnder the same law 2000. after that vnder the Messias By which account not onlye Christ is the true Messias coÌ„ming about that time but these weeks of the Iews by their decads and centures cannot be compleated in thowsands of yeares after by their Thalmud the world is ended such be the fooleries of this people Therefore by all reckonings accounts only Iesus christ is the Messias Redeemer of the worlde all other Religions false erronious THE 4. ARGVM Howe all particuler articles of christian Catholicke Religion for which Iewes Mahumetanes Pagans deny it are demonstrated to be true by their own groundes and professions BVT because no Infidell shall denie any one point of Catholicke Religion but by their owne groundes confesse euery article thereof to bee most true and holy Therfore as I haue prooued before by the highest authority of their own professions that in general Christian catholicke religion is only true so in this present reason I will dâ—monstrat out of the chiefest groundes of those misbeleeuers al particuler articles of Catholicke Christianity namely the mistery of the B. Trinity the incarnation and death of Christ the Messias for the redemption of the worlde the continuall and daylie sacrifice of the Masse Christes reall presence therein transubstantiation changing of the former elements of bread wine into his most holy body and bloud and the rest for which these Infidelles denie our faith and which many heretickes in these and more auncient times haue disallowed The sacred misteries of the incarnation and death of Iesus our Sauior his diuine and humane nature the distinction of persons in diuinity are prooued already by the true Prophets of god which the Iewes receaue by the confession of the Sybils so reuereÌ„ced of the Gentiles and excepting the death of Christ which Mahumet for honor vnto him denieth by the lawe-maker of the Mahumetanes as is conuinced in the 1. ArgumeÌ„t and therfore neede lesse probation in this Chapter But to make euident to al people that these most sacred doctrines are not the only collectioÌ„s of Christians out of those vndouted aproued scriptures in the lawe of Moyses but the same exposition which the holy Rabbins that liued before Christ which the Iewes receaue with honour and which the Sybils and most auncient Philosophers among the Gentiles for many thinges approoue I will onlie vse their owne wordes for witnesse in this cause And to begin with that most vnscrutable secret of the nature of God and trinity of persons in him which we defend against all those blasphemous Infidelles which with one consent in impiety make him an vnperfect mutable changeable corporeous defectiue thing to which no honor or Religion can be belonging it is manifest that the holy Prophets Isayas Hieremias Zacharias Baruch Micheas Dauid and others doe assigne a distinction and trinity of persons giuing al attributes and properties belonging vnto God to euery one to be omnipoteÌ„t God by essence infinite illimited without beginning or end cause of all thinges equall one with an oâ—â—er and the like in which manner as Christian Catholickes expounde those sacred writinges and beleeue of that vnspeakable mistery at this day So they were euer interpreted of the auncient and learned Rabbines before Christ Rabbi Ibba Rabbi Abb Rabbi Haccadas Rabbi Ionathas Abinuziel and others which euer agreed with our catholicke doctrine Rabbi Ibba as Rabbi Simeon writeth vpon these wordes of Deuteronomy God our Lorde is one God vseth this speech By the first worde God or his first tetragramaton name in this sentence our Lorde is signified God the sonne that is fountaine of all sciences and by the second tetragramaton name of God is signified God the holy Ghost proceeding of them both to all which there is added the worde one to signifie that these 3. are indiuisible And Rabbi Simeon himselfe vpon these words of Esay holy holy holy Lorde God of Sabaoth writeth thus Esay by repeating three times holy doth as much as if he had saide holy Father holy Sonne and holy Spirit which three holies doe make but one onlie Lorde of Sabaoth The wordes Rabbi Abinuziell Author of the Caldey Paraphrase known in the world before Christ and highly honoured among the Iewes vpon this prophesy of Dauid in his second Psalme where God the Father speaketh thus to Christ thou art my Sonne to day I haue begotten thee are these Thes Etohim the diuine persons expressed in the plurall number the Father and the sonne are three in one third person the holy Ghost and these three are one I saie one substance one essence one God And as the same Rabbine in that place is further witnesse when he was writing this sentence a voice spake vnto him from heauen saying Who is this that dareth reueale my secrets to the Gentiles to which Rabbi Ionathas answered O Lorde it is I which for the reuerence and glory of thy name haue presumed to doe it For in all religions there were some thinges concealed for secrets and thereby called misteries of which the auncient Rabbines acknowledge this mistery of misteries to bee chiefest and that it shoulde bee plainly reuealed at the comming of the Messias as nowe it is and not before as Rabbi Simeon is witnes not being lawfull for the Iewish people before christ to pronounce that tetragramaton name of god for the Maiesty and greatnesse of him that was ineffable as that name only coÌ„pounded of quiescent insonant letters as Hebritians call them do witnes And yet this secret was not so concealed of the auncient Rabbines but from them it was
supernaturall Worship OF THE NAME AND NAture of Religion ¶ CHAP. I. RELIGION amonge other names is so tearmed of the Latines either a Relegendo of often reading repeating and rumynating thinges appertayning to diuine Reuerence or a Reeligendo of chusing to please God againe by submission whome by want thereof we had forsaken or lastlie of Religando in that we are bounde vnto him by many Obligations both in respecte of excellencies conteyned in himselfe as benefits bestowed vpon vs And after the same proportion is tearmed of the Greekes Thresthia or Eusebia a pleasing oâ— God pietie and dutie vnto him And was charactered of the Hieroglyphycall Egiptyans in the same sence and of the true Religious Hebrewes named Zebach a Sacrifice which is the supreame worship of God or Chucath bolam an eternall and euer during statute or Chucath hatorah a statute of the lawe ordeyned by the lawe of God and euer due to him And by generall consent and conceit of all men of whatsoever profession and estate Infidels or true beleeuers Heretickes or Catholickes vnlearned or Philosophers alwaies vsed for that honour and reuerence we owe to God our maker and preseruer OF THE ABSOLVTE NECESsitie of God and a first cause most excellent and deseruing Worship and Religion ¶ CHAP. II. WHerefore vsing this worde Religion in the same sence and acceptance there neuer was or can be any nation people or particuler person so impious in gratefull or irreligious but if they acknowledged or confessed a God supreame gouernour and cause of thinges from whome they had their being and preseruation as both Lactantius and other learned Authors witnesse and experience prooueth all Atheists haue done when they come to die and see their owne defects but they yelded vnto him â—â—e religion or other For although many or most by their owne demerits and wickednesse were ignorant of the true felicitie of man what it was humane reason not able to clime so high yet knowing which by no possibility they coulde not but knowe themselues to be creatures and so dependant must of necessitie acknowledge all their perfections how many and excellent soeuer to be communicated and deriued vnto them from a former and independing cause so that for gifts and benefits already receâ—ued thankes and gratuity for those that shoulde afterwardes want submission prayer and obsecration and in regarde of his exceeding dignity and prehemmence all worshippe and reuerence were due and to be rendred For seeing he from whome all these thinges were imparted vnto man must needes be the first originall greatest most perfecte and without dependance of any other and all graces dignities and perfections that be or coulde be produced in all creatures that are haue beene or by possibility could be created for such also shoulde be his workes were to bee obtayned of him in him also they were to be sounde in a far more eminent and excellent degree for nothing can giue thay vnto an other which it hath not in it self either in the same or a better manner which must needes be most true in the first and principall cause for if this shoulde want the perfections and excellencies which be and were to be made by it it coulde neither giue them to others because it selfe should want them neither obtaine them for it selfe of any other because it is the first and can haue no former cause from whome to receaue them Then seing all those dignities and prerogatiues of wisdome bonity iustice mercy knowledge prouidence immutability eternity and the rest for which faith hope loue reuerence feare obedience sacrifice adoration or any kinde of honour and worship is required are connected vnited togither in that one eternal vnchangeable essence not after that limited and participated manner as they be in creatures but in such an infinite and incomprehensible sort that the least perfection we can imagine and conceaue in him is infinitely greater then all creatures and their perfections for euery thing in God that is but one most simple and vndeuided essence is also God infinite and vnmeasurable all true reuerence and religion muste needes be due and belonging vnto him though any man or creature of vnderstanding coulde be so mad to thinke him selfe a creature not to be dependant of that most perfect and infinite diuine nature For excellency of it selfe is cause worthy of honour though there be no farther obligation or band of reuerence But let no man thinke that I intende in this place to make a formall dispute to prooue that there is a God of which my confidence is no reasonable creature can be doubtfull For all Argumentes will be testimony and the meanest of so many millions of creatures as bee in the worlde giue demonstration in this case and that was euer so vndoubted and euident to all kingdomes countries and particuler persons in all places times and generations from the first creation that neuer any nation neuer any priuate man except mad or franticke with passions and beastlie pleasures to excuse his filthinesse in so many thousandes of yeares hitherto made it a question and whereof euery Argument of this worke will be a witnesse But I chieflie contende at this time to vpbrayde the Irreligious people of these daies how vnnaturall a thinge it is for anie reasonable creature such as euery man by nature is to neglect this dutie to his soueraigne King and maker which is not onely to proclaime himselfe an irreligious and disobedient traytor and rebbell vnto his Creator but by the least deniall thereof falsely to affirme there were neyther Creature or Creator God man or any thing else in the worlde For since nothing can be made but of some cause and in causes an infinite number maie not be graunted either this first cause of thinges and religious dutie to him must be confessed or else wee must say that nothing is or can be made when wee thinke we see the heauens elements and so many glorious creatures in this world we are deceaued because no such thing is or can be framed that we our selues which conceaue such variety are not neither doe wee imagine any such thing at all For if we take that reuerentiall originall and absolutely independing cause away nothing either alreadie is or by possibility can be hereafter For although some haue defended that the power of creation and producing some thinge of nothing may be communicated of God to a secondary cause yet they say that in such case this second agent shoulde onely be an instrumentall cause which euer remayneth a principall worker and they alwaies suppose such an one to be communicating that property to the other for where a principall and communicating cause is wanting an instrumentall cause to which such power is deligated cannot bee neither by anie power is imaginable For euery receauer receaueth of some and there cannot be any thing produced where there is no power deligate or indeligate instrumentall or principall
St. Paule in the lighte of nature speaketh in these wordes when the Gentiles which haue not the lawe of Moyses Christ naturally doe those thinges that are of the lawe the same not hauinge the lawe themselues are a lawe to themselues whoe shewe the worke of the lawe written in their hearts their conscience giuing testimony to them and amonge themselues their thoughts accusing or also defending And although the vnderstandinge in diuers first operations craueth aide from the imagination yet in many other noble acts thereof it is independing as in the iudgement of spirituall thinges and the vse of free will which no sence corporall organe or facultie was euer able to produce For betweene euery operation produced the cause which produceth it and the obiect and matter that is considered there must bee a due and correspondent proportion No vegetatiue power hath sence no sensitiue faculty can argue or conceaue immateriall thinges And yet we see that the vnderstanding of man is so farre from beeing wholy assisted of the body in these operations or to be hindred by separation from it that experience teacheth when it is vnited to this corruptible body the actes of the reasonable parts of the soule be more perfect by how much they are more abstracted and independing of the body as is euident in the exercises of all studyous and contemplatiue men and in some aged and decayed bodies when the soule hath lesse dependance when the vegetiue and sensitiue Organes are enfeebeled and not able so well to exercise theyr naturall operations when neyther Generation Augementation Heareinge Seeing or other such powers remaine yet often times when these thinges are nearest corruption or corrupted the Vnderstandynge and Immorrtall powers of the soule are moste perfecte expectinge a future ende and felicitie So lykewise it appeareth when wee consider that exellencye of the vnderstandinge aboue all Sensitiue Creatures howe it is ennabled not onelye to vnderstande all other things how eleuated soeuer aboue sence and imagination but to reflecte and ponder vpon it selfe and the other powers of the soule will ond memory and those also ouer themselues For not only the vnderstanding vnderstandeth and knoweth it selfe to knowe and vnderstand or that the will doth wish and desire or the memory remembreth but the will it selfe is reflected vpon it selfe willing it selfe to will and the memory aboue it selfe remembring that it did remember which is impossible for any corporall or sensible and corruptible power to doe The hearing heareth not it self to heare the foote cannot set it selfe and treade vpon it selfe and so of others The continuall combats and disagreements which the reasonable parte maintaineth against the sensible and corporall motions which is not in brute and sensitiue thinges For where all is like there can be no dislike and contention which groweth from vnlikenes and contrarietie those so often and vrgent feares of spirytuall domages belonginge to the soule and to happen after death and the hope of eternall pleasures then to be enioyed which euery man prooueth to exceede his corporall feares and bodely delights giue euidence in this case Then those so manie and Immortall Powers of the soule must haue their end and seeing the natures of thinges and their powers properties must agree be of the same order that substance of the soule which hath immortall and euer during properties and operations must be immortall for by no possibility where the subiect or substance is mortall the properties and qualities of that substance can be immortall for properties and accidents must haue some thing wherein to be subiected and receaued and those properties that be immortall an immortall subiect For properties and qualities be euer the properties of some thing to which they are belonging Therefore as those operations which the soule exerciseth only by dependance of the bodie and corporall organes as to eate to walke to growe to heare to smell and such other vegetatiue and sensible workes are an argument that soule which onely hath these works to perish with the body as the liues of Plants Herbes Birdes Beastes and Fishes doe because they wholy depend of that body which doth perish euen so the operations of the soule of man which are independing of the bodily helpe demonstratiuelie argue the separabilitie thereof and so duration for euer For that vvhich is intellectuall and spirituall cannot bee corrupted of anie corporall or naturall agent Neither hath it originall of decaye in it selfe but is altogither without contrarietie and repugnance And beeinge one simple spirituall and incompounded substance it must needes bee immortall after death and haue an euerlasting felicitie For the infinite wisedome of GOD vvhich coulde not constitute the leaste creature or doe anie thinge but to some ende hath assigned a certaine state and place vvherein euerye creature findeth center and rest where they enioye and preserue their perfection as the Element of Fire aboue the vppermost Region of the Ayre because it is highest the Ayre in his Regions as the Nature thereof requireth the heauier thinges Water and Earth in their lower elementary places and so of all other creatures and yet hitherto neuer anie man howe much soeuer beholdinge vnto nature couldâ— finde in earthly thinges a center and place of rest for the immortall appetites and faculties of his soule wherefore by no possibility his beatitude can bee in this vvorlde For although wee admitte in other creatures that all of euerye kinde obtayne not their ende yet to saie that none of anye sorte doe finde it is euidentlye vntrue Then to affirme that amonge so many millions of men so excellent creatures not one shoulde haue his ende and happinesse were to take all wisdome goodnesse and prouidence from GOD and argue him of ignorance and iniustice especially when wee often see wicked men in this worlde not onely to liue vnpunished but to bee exaulted with honor and passe their time in pleasures and the most holy and vertuous to liue in misery and to be afflicted with all aduersities which the infinite goodnesse of God woulde not doe except after death he had appointed punishment for the one and a beatificall rewarde for the other for of it owne nature vertue is honourable and sinne deserueth punishment For if there be no religion due to God but the soule of man is mortall and dieth with the body his end must be assigned in this life as it is in beastes other creatures must consist in corporal and temporal delightes Then cannot humilitie sobriety temperance abstinence patience virginity chastitie pennance prayer contemplation and other confessed vertues which be opposite enemies and a full priuation of bodely and sensuall pleasures be accounted vertues leading to a mans felicity when they directly depriue him of his supreame beatitude Or how could pride ambition oppression couetousnesse drunkennnesse theft rapine adultery and all vncleane wantonnesse of sensuality and other voluptuous sinnes bee so esteemed when they
did eate dunge thonges girdles of leather shooes haie and other thinges not to be named and the nobility themselues abstayned not from killing and eating their owne children And at the time their city was taken although Titus had giuen expresse commandement by publike edicte that the Temple shoulde bee preserued and nothing therein spoyled yet it was set on fire in such outragious manner that by no possibility Titus labouring what hee coulde it coulde be quenched but was consumed vpon the very same day the tenth of August that it was burned before of the King of Babylon And sixe thousand Iewes that were fled thither by the counsaile of a false Prophet were vtterly consumed For as the same Iosephus witnesseth there were manye seducers then among them that promised helpe from God vtterly forbidding them to yeelde Eleauen hundred thousandes deade in those fewe weekes of the siedge 97. thousand taken prisoners some condemned for slaues and sent into Egypt Those that were strong kept in all countries to fight with wilde beastes in theaters and publique spectacles All woemen and men vnder 17. yeares of age solde for slaues at a most vile price the nūber of those which were solde being so great And after in the time of Adrian the Emperour the finall desolation and exilement of that people forth of that countrey was contriued Iulius Seuerus his Captaine by his commandement destroying Townes and Villages leauing not one stone vpon an other in all that vaste building of Hierusalem that the prophesie of Christ might bee fulfilled And in one daie put to death 500. and fourescore thousande not one Iewe remayning in all Iury and an imperiall edict promulged against them that they should neuer returne thither any more and that they should not remember Hierusalem that they might not looke towardes the place What other illusions and offlictions haue they had and still endure in minde not onlie concerning horrible and filthy errours against God and nature of which I wil mention in the Argument of the errrors of our enemies but vvhat illusions of Diuels and wicked spirits haue they suffered especially about a Messias for refusinge CHRIST perswadinge them sometimes that hee is in the Caspian Hilles sometimes at Rome in Italy where in our memory they were so illuded that they fullie beleeued an Harlot of their linage fornicatiouslie begotten vvith childe as was prooued was to bring their MESSIAS forth vntill to the common laughter of all shee brought forth a wench Sometimes at Vlissipone in Portugall sometimes in the wildernesse sometimes in the Sea sometimes and all times no where Howe sottishly were they seduced by the Diuell and worthely and miraculouslie punnished of GOD in the time of Iulian the Apostata as Saint Chrisostome Ruffinus and others are witnesses when they went aboute to builde their Hierusalem and Temple againe When they had digged theyr trenches and beganne to laye and forme their foundation sodainely such an earth-quake chaunced that it did not only throwe dovvne the stones and buildinges which they had begunne but other places where the Iewes resorted and as many as were in them were slayne And in the morning following those that had escaped assemblinge togither to drawe awaye the dead bodies a terrible fire sodainely issued out running vp and downe burning and consuming as many of them as it mette after the same order often times issuing forth consumed that incredulous people Whereby those which were left aliue were conuerted to Christ And that it might bee euident this punnishment to haue bin inflicted for him the next night after the signe of the Crosse appeared in all theit garments and remayned so firme and manifest that with no arte or cunning it coulde either be hidden or taken away And in the yeare of Christ 450. a Cretensian Iewe or rather a Diuell feigned himselfe to bee Moyses and sent from heauen to bringe all the Iewishe inhabitants of that country which were many thousands into Iury through the Sea as Moyses had donne out of Egipt whereupon they all presently followed him leauing all thinges and comming to a greate rocke hanging ouer the Sea bad them throwe themselues into the waters and they shoulde swimme thither like fishes which they which went before desperatly attempted and were pittifully drowned in the sight of those which followed and their Moyses vanished awaie appearing no more And in this manner in all times and places euer since the death of Christ they haue beene deluded and afflicted Therefore no man can say that they are the true worshippers of God excepte the same blasphemor will affirme that God is vnmercifull mutable vniuste and irreligious to punnish sinne vltra condignum more then it deserueth or to inflict punnishment and vengeance where none is due THE 6. ARGVM Manifesting the Errors of all other Religions euen against the light of nature such as by possibility true worship cannot admit AND although I doe not contende to prooue this to be a demonstration in naturall reason yet I doe affirme for euident euen in the light of nature that all worships and Religions in the worlde which doe not acknowledge the Incarnation of God and veritie of Christian Religion either Pagans Iewes or Mahumetanes are ignorant of the diuine nature essence and attributes of the diuine maiestie and fallen into most impious and irreligious errors concerning him so that by no possibility they can worship him as they should and are further drowned in other errours which neyther any supernaturall lyght and reuelation of GOD or light of reason can allowe so that where the Incarnation of GOD is not admitted all other benefyttes whether naturall as to the Pagans and all people or supernaturall graces and so many extraordinarye fauours to the Iewes before the comming of CHRIST are forgotten and not of force to procure gratitude in men and all other effectes of GOD not able to cause them to knowe and honour him as they should And this shal be an other argument against all Infidelles euidentlye demonstrating them to haue no religion for super-naturall illuminations cannot bee contrary to the lyghte of Nature neyther GOD Author of them both contrary to himselfe And to begynne with the miserable estate of the Pagan gentiles whoe canne endure to heare for one onlye eternall immorrall immaculate omnipotent and spitituall GOD Creatour of all thinges so many incesteous violent lecherous and moste wicked men and woemen to bee so worshipped such as vvere the children of men as Sybilla Eritherea doth scorne them in these and baser wordes A GOD cannot bee made and formed of a man and a woman So Hercules the Bastarde of Alcmena that poluted all places with lecherye incest rapine and oppression vvas honoured for an immortall and eternall GOD. So Esculapius the Bastarde of Apollo So Iuppiter Saturne Mars Apollo and the rest What miserable and moste vvicked oblations were vsed in that Religion What innocent men murthered and offered in Sacrifice