can it admit And if any require lesse of vs cōtented peraduenture with the outward man which is all one as if they would rob God of one halfe of a Man what is their dooing but Hipocrisie or high treason against God But now ageine séeing that Religion byndeth vs in so great a bond euen by nature that there is not any man which is not inforced to confesse the dette so witnessed by the whole worlde surely there is no man that féeleth himselfe able to pay it or which doth not willingly pleade giltie yea and which is not inforced to say that the most part of his thoughts words and déedes are not only farre of from God but also tending directly to offend GOD. Now then if Religion offer vs not as well a meane whereby to discharge and cancell the bond as it offereth vs the bond it selfe It is so farre of from being the way to welfare which it ought to bee that it is rather a definitiue sentence of death and an expresse condemning of vs. Therfore let vs see whether there be many wayes of satisfaction or but onely one What shall the deuoutest man in the world offer vnto God for his owne discharge Shall hee offer his first fruites God gaue him both the séede and the whole crop Sacrifices The Wood the Fyre and the Cattell are all of Gods gift The whole world if a man had it Hee hath lost the inheritance and the right thereof in séeking to infranchise himself from the seruice of God Nay which more is God not onely gaue the world vnto man but also man to man himself The world then and all that euer is therein cannot discharge man against God What may man himself doe Surely an acceptable Sacrifice should man be to GOD as Hierocles saith if he were such a one as he ought to be But what should the best of all men offer vp in sacrifising himself Soothly nothing but enuy hatred rayling backebyting vaine thoughts vntrue words wrongfull dealing and to go yet further faynt thanks with cold and counterfet praiers Now these are so farre of from amounting to a discharge that they turne to a huge heape of worse and more vndischargeable bonds according to the infinitenesse of the Maiestie of the Creator that is offended by them Now then if neither that world nor man can dischardge man against God what remayneth to doe it but God himselfe whom Religion must offer to man for his discharge euen God mercifull to God iust God a paymayster to God the creator Uerily that hauing shewed vs how déeply wée be indetted to GOD it may also teach vs the woonderfull meane ordeyned by God and in God wherby he and his souereine Iustice may be satisfied and our extreme iniquitie be therewith reléeued Now the dette of vs all is all of one sort and nature namely that we owe our selues all wholy vnto God and our vnabilitie to discharge it is also all alyke namely that all that euer commeth of our selues can deserue nothing but death vpon death Our common bond say I entred into of vs all by Gods benefites towards the first man is by his disobedience become forfeted both in respect of himselfe and of all mankind Besides this the creditor and the payer are both one and cannot be but both one For it is onely God that both doth and can satisfie himself It followeth then that the true Religion can be but one namely euen that only one which sheweth vs the onely one meane of saluation and that all other Religions if they abate any whit of mans debt vnto God are traiterous to his maiestie and if they set not downe a sufficient meane of discharge they be but vayne and vnauaylable ceremonies and so as well the one sort as the other vtterly vnworthy of the name of Religion Furthermore if there be diuers true Religions I meane diuers as in respect of the substance of them whereof riseth that diuersitie Of the thing which they poynt at Nay in God whom Religion looketh at there is such vnitie that all other maner of vnitie is diuersitie in respect of that And then if it bee so that one Religion relye vpon one God and another vpon another we be sure that there is but one God and that all other Gods are either Creatures or Uanities insomuch that as Proclus himselfe saith mo Gods and no God differ nothing atall And so what shal those other Religions be but either Idolatrie or Atheisme that is to say vtter Godlesnes Whereof then Of their ground Nay Man which is the ground whereon Religion worketh is but one kind of thing Also as the disease being in all men commeth of one roote so is it of one selfsame nature Likewise the remedie thereof as I haue sayd already is but only one Now where the ground is all one the disease all one and the remedie all one too who will euer say that there should bee diuersitie of Artes in the handling or ministring of them If a man bee too humble himselfe I would fayne haue them to tell me what other way there is than to know himselfe what other way to knowe himselfe than to behold himselfe what other way to behold himselfe then to looke into a faire cleare glasse And what clearer glasse is there than the Lawe of God and the perfect obedience which GOD requireth at mans hand And seeing that this lawe and the perfect obedience required by the same can be but one How may Religion be diuided into mo than one Ageine if man be to be lifted vp vnto God what other way is there than to make him knowe God as his Creator that he may honor him as his gouernour that he may call vppon him as his father that he may obey him and altogither iust that hee may seeke to appease his wrath Which thing sith hee cannot doe of himselfe what shift hath he but to haue recourse to the remedie And séeing that the remedie can bée but onely one doth it not follow that saluation lyeth in that onely Religion which sheweth it vnto vs and that to haue any mo Religions is but confusion and vanitie And to speake properly what is Religion An arte or skil if I may so terme it how to saue men And wherein consisteth this arte First in shewing men their disease secondly in shewing them that it is deadly and finally in teaching the fit and conuenient remedie In déede the very Law of Nature leadeth vs well too the first poynt For who is hee which euen of Nature accuseth not himselfe and whose conscience nippeth him not when hee hath sinned Reason also leadeth vs to the second poynt For who is hee that concludeth not with himselfe that the Creature which offendeth his creator deserueth to be rooted out that is to say that sinne ingendreth death And thus farre may all Religions come and all Ceremonies ordeyned by man as Praiers Sacrifices Wasshins Cleansings such others Bnt what is all this but
owne indytement and willingly beare witnesse against himselfe by his owne voluntarie confession Surely that man is straungly infected with vyce it is witnessed sufficiently by the Histories of all ages which in effect are nothing els but registers of the continuall Manslaughters Whoredomes Guyles Rauishments and Warres And when I say Warres I thinke that in that worde I comprehend all the mischief that can be imagined And that these vyces were not created in mans nature but are crept into it it appeareth sufficiently by the bookes of the Ceremonies of al Nations all whose Church-seruices are nothing but Sacrifices that is to say open protestations both euening and morning that we haue offended God and ought to bee sacrifized and slayne for our offences according to our desarts in stead of the sillie Beastes that are offered vnto him for vs. Had man bene created with vyce in him he should haue had no conscience of sinne nor repentance for it For repentance presupposeth a fault and conscience misgiueth the insewing of punishment for the same And there can be neither fault nor punishment in that which is done according to creation but onely in and for our turning away from creation Now the Churchseruice and Ceremonies of all Nations doe witnesse vnto vs a certeyne forthinking and remorce of sinne against God And so they witnesse altogether a forefeeling of his wrath which cannot bee kindled against nature which he himselfe created but against the faultinesse and vnkindlynesse that are in nature Also what els are the great number of Lawes among vs but authenticall Registers of our corruption And what are the manifold Commentaries written vppon them but a very corruption of the Lawes themselues And what doe they witnesse vnto vs but as the multitude of Phisitions doth in a Citie namely the multitudes of our diseases that is to wit the sores and botches whereto our Soules are subiect euen to the marring and poysoning of the very playsters themselues Againe what doe the punishments bewray which we haue ordeyned for our selues but that wee chastise in vs not that which GOD hath made or wrought in vs but that which wee our selues haue vndone or vnwrought nor the nature it selfe but the disfiguring of nature But yet when we consider that among all Nations that Lawmaker is beléeued and followed by and by which sayth Thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steale thou shalt not beare false witnesse whereas great perswasion is required in all other lawes which are not so naturall It must néedes be concluded that the Consciences of all men are perswaded of themselues that the same is sinne and that sinne deserueth punishment that is to wit that sinne is in nature but not nature it selfe But to omit the holy Scripture which is nothing els but a Lookingglasse to shewe vs our spots and blemishes what are all the Schooles of the Philosophers but instructions of the Soule And what els is Philosophie it selfe but an arte of healing the Soule whereof the first precept is this so greatly renowmed one know thy selfe Aristotle in his Moralles sheweth that the affections must be ruled by reason and our mynd bee brought from the extremes into the meanes and from iarring into right tune Which is a token that our mynd is out of tune euen of it owne accord seeing that it néedeth so many precepts to set it in tune agayne And yet is not Aristotle so presumptuous as to say that euer he brought it to passe in his owne mynd Theophrast his Disciple was woont to say that the Soule payd wel for her dwelling in the bodie considering how much it suffered at the bodies hand And what els was this but an acknowledgement of the debate betwéene the bodie and the mynd But as sayth Plutarke he should rather haue sayd that the bodie hath good cause to complayne of the turmoyles which so irksome and troublesome a guest procureth vnto him Plato who went afore them sawe more cléerly than both of them He condemneth euerywhere the companie and fellowship of the body with the soule and yet he condemneth not the workmanship of God But he teacheth vs that the Soule is now in this bodie as in a prison or rather as in a Caue or a graue And that is because he perceiued euidently that contrarie to the order of nature the Soule is subiect to the bodie notwithstanding that naturally it should and can commaund it The same Plato sayth further that the Soule créepeth bacely vpon these lower things and that it is tyed to the matter of the bodie the cause whereof he affirmeth to be that she hath broken her wings which she had afore His meaning then is that the soule of her owne nature is winged and flyeth vpward that is to say is of a heaueÌ„ly diuine nature which wings she hath lost by meanes of some fall But to get out of these bonds and to recouer her wings the remedie that Plato giueth her is to aduaunce her selfe towards God and to the things that concerne the mynd By the remedie we may coniecture what he tooke the disease to be namely that our Soule hauing bin aduaunced by God to a notable dignitie the which it might haue kept still by sticking vnto God fell to gazing at her gay feathers till she fell headlong into these transitorie things among the which she créepeth now like a sillie woorme reteyning nothing as now of her birdlike nature saue onely a rowsing of her feathers and a vayne flapping of her wings Now he sayth that he learned all this of a secret Oracle the which he had in great reuerence And of â—â—â—cueth in this doctrine of the originall of our corruption wee haue to marke the same poynt which wee haue noted in some other things afore namely that the néerer wee come to the first world the more cléere and manifest we finde the matter Empedocles and Pythagoras taught that the Soules which had offended God wâ—â— condemned and banished into bodies here belowe And Philâ—â—â—aus the Pythagorian addeth that they receyued that opinion from the Diuines and Prophets of old tyme. Their meaning is that the body which ought to be the house of the soule is by Gods iust iudgemeÌ„t turned into a prison to it and that which was giuen it for an instrument is become Manicles and Stocks So then there is both a fault and the punishment and the fault must néedes procéede from one first man euen in the iudgement of those men of olde tyme which acknowledged the Creation of the world Also those auncient fathers seeme to haue heard what prouoked the first man to sinne For Homer speaketh of a Goddesse whom he calleth Até that is to say Waste Losse or Destruction which troubled heauen and therefore was cast downe to the earth where she hath euer since troubled Mankynd And herevpon Euripides calleth the Féendes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Falne from Heauen And the
sort in like case towards God as our eye is towards the Sunne Neither the Sunne nor any thing vnder the Sunne can well bee seene without the Sunne likewise neither God nor any thing belonging to God can bee seene without God how good eyesight or myndsight so euer wee haue But when the Sunne shineth then our eye seeth the things which it sawe not afore iudgeth of them at his ease notwithstanding that the eye bée but the same it was afore and haue but the same power of sight which it had afore without receyuing any newe increase thereof Likewise when GOD voutsafeth to vtter any doctrine vnto vs the selfsame reason which otherwise could neuer haue perceyued it doth then see it and discourse it and allowe of it without receyuing any newe power abilitie or chaunge in it selfe We haue concluded by reason that God is a most single essence And we beléeue by discouery from heauen that in the same most single essence are thrée persons or Inbeings Reason of it selfe could neuer haue atteyned to the finding thereof for we cannot distinguish things vnlesse we conceyue them and yet neuerthelesse reason will serue vs to proue it First of all we haue alreadie acknowledged by Gods effects or doings that there is in him a working nature or power I must be faine to speake in the speech of man seeing that the diuine spéech is vnknowne to vs which is the beginner and mouer of al things And in euery of his workes wee see a singular cunning and in the knitting of all both great and small together wée see a wonderfull order as I haue discoursed heretofore and wee see there is neither order nor cunning where there is no vnderstanding It followeth therefore that the souereine vnderstanding is in God from whom this great order and cunning procéede Againe albeit that of the things which are in this world some vnderstand and some vnderstand not yet notwithstanding all of them are appoynted to some certeyne end and marke as the Sunne to make the day to heate the Moone to lighten the night and all the Planets and Starres to marke out the Seasons and so foorth of all other things Nâ—ne of them stumbleth in his way none steppeth aside from his endâ— and yet notwithstanding the most part of them could not prescribe it to themselues For the beginner of all ends is vnderstanding and in the most of these there is no vnderstanding Néedes must it bee therefore that God the maker of them did also appoynt them their ends and consequently that he had vnderstanding for them Now the innumerable multitude of things and the linking of their ends one to another as they now be do shewe that al of them haue their beginning from one selfsame vnderstanding Then must it néedes be that this common author of their being that is to say the souereine being must also be the souereine vnderstanding séeing he imparteth the effects of vnderstanding to so many things which haue it not Moreouer the things which haue vnderstanding are the disposers and orderers of the other things and not contrarywise Man buyldeth planteth reareth vp Cattell and maketh his commoditie of all of them together Of men themselues the skilfullest make Lawes and take vpon them to rule others To be short the things which haue no vnderstanding doe naturally serue as instruments to those which haue it and the thing which hath the lesse of it serueth that which hath the more of it and no part in nature dealeth to the contrary And as wée haue proued by all the Philosophers themselues it is God that created all things that haue vnderstanding as well those which are not tyed to bodies as those which haue bodies allotting to them their offices and ends and so consequently he is the very beginner and end of them himself Then once againe so farre foorth as we can describe this vnderstanding by the outward effects thereof it must néedes be in God a most excellent abilitie if it may bee so named by direction whereof he executeth most wisely the actiue or inworking vertue power and nature which we marke in all things in this world howbeit so as the chiefe working of them doth abide and rest still in him I haue proued heretofore that God is infinite which being so nothing can be imagined in him which is not infinite likewise for otherwise he should bee as well finite as infinite both together And infinite he were not if he could vnderstand or knowe that to day which he vnderstood not afore Néedes then must it be that he from al eternitie vnderstandeth and knoweth the things which haue bin which are and which shall be the whole and the parts the generalles the specialles and the particulars the originalles the procéedings and the aftercommings the doings sayings and thoughts of men and so foorth â—o as this vnderstanding in God is euerlastingly infinite Againe vnderstanding is an inworking which abideth and remayneth in the partie which hath it and passeth not into any outward thing For when we vnderstand the course of the Sunne we become the more skilful therof in our selues but as for the Sunne he is nothing altered thereby Also I haue told you alreadie that God is most single and that there is not any thing in him which is not his very essence or being Whervpon it followeth that God not onely hath vnderstanding but also that his vnderstanding is his very essence that is to say he is the very vnderstanding it self Now then let vs see what it is that this vnderstanding begetteth I haue told you that God is a mere doing and that whatsoeuer he doth he doth it from euerlasting and that on the other side being most single there is nothing in him which is not a dooer Wherevpon it followeth that this vnderstaÌ„ding is euerlastingly occupyed in doing And wherein then is it occupyed What is the thing that it worketh vppon Surely it can méete with nothing but it selfe God then conceyued and vnderstood himselfe and it must néedes be that he vnderstood himselfe seeing that the chiefest wisedome is to knowe ones selfe whereof he could not fayle Therefore it was of necessitie that this vnderstanding of God should yéeld a reflexion backe againe to it self as a face doth in a Lookingglasse and as our mynd doth when it setteth it self to the considering of it owne proper nature and that it should conceyue and beget in it selfe a perfect image of it owne selfe which image is the same thing which in the Trinitie we call the Sonne the Word or the Spéech namely the liuely and perfect image and wisedome of the Father Now this vnderstanding is actually euerlasting that is to say euerlasting in â—éede and euerlastingly actuall that is to say euerlastingly doing and therefore wee say that the second person which it begetteth is also euerlasting and God in his vnderstanding had not conceyued any thing that is lesse than himself for it is
will whereby he disposeth all things wherevppon in the last Chapter I coucluded a second and a third persone Insomuch that in a certayne place he sayeth playnly that God is to be honored according to the nomber of thrée and that the same is after a sort the Lawe of Nature Now for asmuch as this doctrine is not bred of mans brayne if it bee demaunded whence all the Philosophers tooke it wee shall finde that the Greekes had it from out of AEgipt Orpheus witnesseth in his Argonawts that to seeke the Misteries that is to say the Religion of the AEgiptians he went as farre as Memphis visiting all the Cities vpon the Riuer Nyle Through out the land of AEgipt I haue gone To Memphis and the Cities euerychone That worship Apis or be seated by The Riuer Nyle whose streame doth swell so hy Also Pythagoras visited the AEgiptians Arabians and Chaldeans yea and went into Iewry also and dwelt a long tyme at Mount Carmel as Strabo sayth insomuch that the Priestes of that Countrey shewed Strabo still the iourneyes and walkes of him there Now in AEgipt he was the Disciple of one Sonchedie the chiefe Prophet of the AEgiptians and of one Nazarie an Assyrian as Alexander reporteth in his booke of Pythagorasis discourses whom some miscounting the tyme thought to bee Ezechiel And Hermippus a Pythagorist writeth that Pythagoras learned many things out of the lawe of Moyses Also the sayd AEgiptian Priest vpbrayded Solon that the Greekes were Babes and knewe nothing of Antiquitie And Solon as sayth Proclus was Disciple in Says a Citie of AEgipt to one Patanit or as Plutarke sayth to one Sonchis in Heliople to one Oeclapie and in Sebenitie to one Etimon Plato was the Disciple of one Sechnuphis of Heliople in AEgipt and Eudoxus the Guidian was the Disciple of one Conuphis all which Maysterteachers issewed out of the Schoole of the great Trismegistus aforenamed To be short Plato confesseth in many places that knowledge came to the Greekes by those whom they commonly called the barbarus people As touching Zoroastres and Trismegistus the one was an Hebrewe and the other an AEgiptian And at the same tyme the Hebrewes were conuersant with the AEgiptians as is to be séene euen in the Heathen Authors Whereby it appeareth that the originall fountayne of this doctrine was to bee found among them which is the thing that wee haue to proue as now I meane not to gather hether a great sort of Texts of the Byble wherein mention is made as well of the second person as of the third of which sort are these Thou art my Sonne this day haue I begotten thee The Lord sayth Wisedome possessed me in the beginning of his wayes afore the depths was I conceyued c. Also concerning the holy Ghost The Spirit of the Lord walked vpon the waters The Spirit of Wisedome is gentle And it is an ordinary spéech among the Prophetes to say The Spirit of the Lord was vpon me And in this next saying are two of them together or rather all three The Heauens were spred out by the word of the Lord and all the power of them by the Spirit of his mouth For they be so alledged and expounded in infinite bookes howbeit that the Iewes at this day do labour as much as they can to turne them to another sence But let vs sée what their owne Doctors haue left vs in expresse words for the most part culled by themselues out of writtē bookes afore that the cōming of our Lord Iesus Christ had made that docttrine suspected In their Zohar which is one of their Bookes of greatest authoritie Rabbi Simeon the sonne of Iohai citeth Rabbi Ibba expoūding this text of Deuteronomie Hearken ô Israel The Euerlasting our God is one God The Hebrewe standeth thus Iehouah Echad Iehouah Eloh enu By the first Iehouah which is the peculiar name of God not to bée communicated to any other Rabbi Ibba saith he meaneth the Father the Prince of al. By Eloh enu that is to say our God he meaneth the Sonne the Fountaine of all knowledge And by the second Iehouah he meaneth the holy Ghost proceeding from them both who is the measurer of the voyce And he calleth him One because he is vndiuidable and this Secret saith he shall not be reuealed afore the comming of the Messias The same Rabbi Simeon expoūding these words of Esay Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hostes sayth Holy is the Father Holy is the Sonne Holy also is the holy Ghost In so much that this Author who is so misticall among them doth in other places call them the Three Mirrours Lights and Souerein fathers which haue neither beginning nor end and are the name and substaunce to the Roote of all Rootes And Rabbi Ionathas in many Copies of his Chaldey Paraphrase sayth the same And therefore no maruell though the Thalmudists of olde tyme commaunded men to say that Uerse twise a day and that some obserue it still at this day Upon these words of the 50. Psalme El elohim Iehouah dibber that is to say The Lord of Lords the Euerlasting hath spoken The ordinary Commentarie sayth also that by the sayd repetition the Prophet meaneth the thrée Middoth Properties wherby God created the world According whereunto Rabbi Moyses Hadarsan sayeth that hee created by his word And Rabbi Simeon sayeth he created by the breath of his mouth And this saying of the Preacher That a thréefold Corde is not so soone broken is expounded by the same glose I examine not whether filthy or no that the inisterie of the Trinitie in the one God is not easie to bee expressed Nowe these thrée Properties which the Hebrewes call Panim the Greekes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we the Latins call Persons are betokened by diuers names among the men of old tyme but yet they iumpe all in one according as they vnderstoode them some more clearely than other some Some name them the Beginning the Wisdome the Feare of Loue of God and they say that this Wisedome is Meensoph as the Cabalists tearme it that is to saye of the infinite and most inward vnderstanding of God who beholdeth hymselfe in himself for so doe they expound it Which is the selfesame thing that I spake of in the former Chapter namely that God begetteth his Sonne or Wisdome by his mynding of himselfe Othersome call him Spirit Word and Voyce as Rabbi Azariell doth in these words following The Spirit bringeth foorth the Word and the Voyce but not by opening the Lippes or by speeche of the tongue or by breathing after the maner of man And these three be one Spirit to wit one God as we reade sayeth he in the booke of the creating of man in these termes One Spirit rightly liuing blessed bee hee and his name who liueth for euer and euer Spirit Word and Voyce
it nine thousand Moones But let vs come to Aristotle to whom this opinion doth properly belong For although some of his Schollers being ashamed on his behalfe would fayne beare him on hand that he was of another opinion or at leastwise that he hild it as a doubtfull poynt yet notwithstanding his sentences in that case are too certeine too clere and too manifest for them to goe about to cloke his opinion But seeing he was so bold as to remoue the former bound fettled by the authoritie and beléefe of all that went afore him néedes must it bée that he had very expresse termes and very certeyne Demonstratiōs And I pray you let vs see what maner a ones they be From the mouings that are here beneath he leadeth vs to the mouings that are aboue and from them to a first mouer Hetherto he is wel But afterward he will haue this first mouer to moue euerlastingly and therefore that tyme should be euerlasting also Neyther the ground nor the consequence of this argument are aughtworth How will ye proue that the first mouer moueth eternally Nay contrariwise mouing argeweth a beginning For in mouing there is a certeyne poynt from whence the mouing is made vnto another poynt wherto it tendeth and euen according to Aristotles owne doctrine forenesse afternesse and continuance of tyme do followe forenesse afternesse and continuance of mouing and that implyeth a manifest contrarietie to the definition of mouing from place to place And that tyme should be beginninglesse what els is it to say than that tyme is not tyme and as ye would say an implying of contradiction in the very word it self For what els is tyme according to Aristotle himselfe than the number of mouing by forenesse and afternesse by past and to come And if it be a number where is the infinitenesse thereof become And if there be afore and after where is the eternitie thereof In another place he sayth that mouing is eternall because tyme is eternall and that the cause why time is so is that it is alwaies ioyned to that which is past I pray you what a childishnesse is this By the same reason I may say that the mouing of a Mill or the stirring of any liuing wight is eternall for in those cases euery instant followeth immediatly in the necke of that which is past no lesse than in the mouing of tyme and yet wee bee not ignorant that they haue a beginning But like as there is a certeyne first forthsetting in those so is there also in the mouing of the Heauen who is the bréeder of tyme. And Algazel answereth Auerrhois very well vpon this poynt That looke what a poynt or pricke is in things that hold on whole vnbroken of the same is an instant or moment in things that immediatly or continually succéede one after another and that as a poynt or pricke is the beginning of a lyne so an instant is the beginning of tyme Auerrhois could not disproue this reason otherwise than by flowring him for it He replyeth yet agayne and sayth Yea but if the World had a beginning how shall the maker thereof be voyd of alteration To such a question as this is me thinkes he himselfe should answere thus That the alledging of an incōuenience assoyleth not the question But good Sir Philosopher By your seeking to bring vs to this inconuenience you graunt at leastwise that God created Nature And is it not a straunge ouersight in you that you will néedes tye him to the lawes of Nature which is the maker of Nature and measure the power and libertie of the Clockmaker by the subiection of the Clocke vnto him Art thou not ashamed to yéeld lesse preheminence to GOD than thy King whom thou exemptest from subiection to his lawes because he is the maker of the lawes I pray thée what a thing were it if thou shouldest vndertake but only to measure Nature by thyne owne wit What a number of tymes hast thou found thy wit to stumble at the least things How often hast thou found it against thy selfe Now if Nature goe beyond the reach of thy wit how farre shall the very maker of nature outgoe it Thou canst not shift thy place without remouing and therefore thou déemest the like of God But consider at leastwise that they Soule or Mynd not being limited within any place is the place of a thousand things that a thousand things are the place thereof Againe thy Soule cannot conceiue any thing without passing from contemplation to action no nor abyde in contemplation without chaunge Now thy desire is to haue GOD like thy self in this behalf But if thou wilt not yéeld thy self to other mens reasons at leastwise yéeld thy selfe to thyne owne reasons For wheras thou sayst that beyond the Heauen there is neither emptinesse nor tyme but that whatsoeuer is there is exempted from all maner of tyme mouing chaunge and passibilitie and that in that vniuersall eteruitie all things doe leade a most happie and welcontented life darest thou say lesse of God whom thou thy selfe doest place farre aboue all those things The very brute Beastes would bable after that maner of the nature of thy Soule yea and more to the purpose too For wheras there is no comparison betwéene God and thée they yet haue a thing that doth somewhat resemble thée For thou chaungest in doing because thy doing is another thing than thy being and the thing that thou amost at is out of thy selfe which thing cannot chaunge for thée and therefore thou art fayne to chaunge for it Also thou chaungest in beholding for the thing which thou beholdest and thou which beholdest it are two and to bee short in beholding thou doest after a sort suffer at the thing which thou beholdest in doing thou sufferest at the thing which thou doest but vnto him which is the maker of al things to be and to behold to behold and to doe to doe and to will are all one thing For euen in willing a thing he hath done it and his willing thereof is after a certeyne determinate maner I vse humane wordes for the vttering of my meaning To bee short vnto him that beholdeth all things in himselfe nothing can spring vp that shall bée new Let vs now put the case that the forealledged inconuenience be most to purpose and let vs see at leastwise if thou canst skill to auoyde it in thyne owne opinion If God sayst thou do make any thing new he must néedes chaunge his mynd And yet thou sayest therewithall that in all things which are done here beneath by naturall causes there is a certeyne influence of God at leastwise of the vniuersall influence vnder the which thou puttest all things So speakest thou so speaketh Auerrhois so speaketh Proclus and the rest of you thereof Now seeing that GOD doth euery day a thousand newe things here beneath I demaund of thée whether he doth them vpon new
but to vexe our minds in this lyfe In his bookes of the Soule hee not onely separateth the Body from the Soule but also putteth a difference betwixt the Soule it selfe the Mind terming the Soule the inworking of the body and of the bodily instruments and the mynd that reasonable substance which is in vs whereof the doings haue no fellowship with the doings of the body and whereof the Soule is as Plato saieth but the Garment This Mynd sayth he may be seuered from the body it is not in any wyse mingled with it it is of such substaunce as cannot be hurt or wrought vpon it hath being and continuance actually and of it selfe and euen when it is separated from the body then is it immortall and euerlasting To be short it hath not any thing like vnto the body For it is not any of al those things which haue being afore it vnderstād them And therefore which of all bodily things can it be And in another place he sayeth thus As concerning the Mynd and the contemplatiue powre it is not yet sufficiently apparant what it is Neuerthelesse it seemeth to bee another kind of Soule and it is that onely which can bee separated from the corruptible as the which is Ayeuerlasting To be short when as he putteth this question whether a Naturall Philosopher is to dispute of all maner of Soules or but onely of that Soule which is immateriall it followeth that he graunteth that there is such a one And againe when as he maketh this Argument Looke what God is euerlastingly that are wee in possibilitie according to our measure but hee is euerlastingly separated from bodily things therefore the time will come that wee shall bee so too He taketh it that there is an Image of God in vs yea euen of the Diuine nature which hath continuance of itselfe Uery well and rightly therfore doth Simplicius gather therof the immortalitie of the Soule For it dependeth vpon this separation vpō continuance of being of it self Besides this he sayth also that hunting of beasts is graūted to man by the lawe of Nature because that thereby man chalengeth nothing but that which naturally is his owne By what right I pray you if there be no more in himself than in them And what is there more in him than in them if they haue a soule equall vnto his Herevnto make all his commendations of Godlines of Religion of blessednes and of contemplation For too what ende serue all these which doe but cumber vs here belowe Therefore surely it is to be cōcluded that as he spake doubtfully in some one place so he both termed and also taught to speake better in many other places as appeareth by his Disciple Theophrastus who speaketh yet more euidently thereof than he The Latins as I haue sayd before fell to Philosophie somewhat later then the Gréekes And as touching their common opinion the exercises of superstition that were among them the maner of speeches which we marke in their Histories their contempt of death and their hope of another life can giue vs sufficient warrant thereof Cicero speaketh vnto vs in these words The originall of our Soules and Myndes cannot bee found in this lowe earth for there is not any mixture in them or any compounding that may seeme to bee bred or made of the earth Neither is there any moysture any wyndinesse or any firy matter in them For no such thing could haue in it the powre of memorie Vnderstanding and conceit to beate in mynd things past to foresee things to come and to consider things present which are matters altogither Diuine And his conclusion is that therefore they bee deriued from the Mynd of GOD that is to say not bred or begotten of Man but created of God not bodily but vnbodily wherevpon it followeth that the Soule cannot be corrupted by these transitorie things The same Cicero in another place sayeth that betwéene God and Man there is a kinred of reason as there is betwéene man man a kinred of blud That the fellowship betwéene man and man commeth of the mortall body but the fellowship betwéene God and man commeth of God himselfe who created the Soule in vs. By reason whereof sayth hée we may say we haue Alyance with the heauenly sort as folke that are descended of the same race and roote whereof that we may euermore be myndfull we must looke vp to heauen as to the place of our birth whether we must one day returne And therfore yet once againe he concludeth thus of himself Think not sayth he that thou thy selfe art mortall it is but thy body that is so For thou art not that which this outward shape pretendeth to be the Mynd of Man is the man in deede and not this lumpe which may bee poynted at with ones Fingar Assure thy selfe therefore that thou art a GOD For needes must that be a God which liueth perceyueth remembereth foreseeth and finally reigneth in thy body as the Great God the maker of all things doth in the vniuersall world For as the eternall God ruleth and moueth this transitory world so doth the immortall Spirit of our soule moue rule our fraile body Hereuntoo consent all the writers of his tyme as Ouid Virgill and others whose verses are in euery mans remembrance There wanted yet the wight that should all other wights exceede In loftie reach of stately Mynd who like a Lord in deede Should ouer all the resdewe reigne Then shortly came forth Man Whom eyther he that made the world and all things els began Created out of seede diuine or els the earth yet yoong And lately parted from the Skie the seede thereof vncloong Reteyned still in frutefull wombe which Iapets sonne did take And tempering it with water pure a wight thereof did make Which should resemble euen the Gods which souereine state doe hold And where all other things the ground with groueling eye behold He gaue to man a stately looke and full of Maiestie Commaunding him with stedfast looke to face the starry Skie Here a man might bring in almost all Senecaes wrytings but I will content my selfe with a fewe sayings of his Our Soules sayth he are a part of Gods Spirit and sparkes of holy things shining vpon the earth They come from another place than this lowe one Whereas they seeme to bee conuersant in the bodie yet is the better part of them in Heauen alway neere vnto him which sent them hither And how is it possible that they should be from beneath or from anywhere els thā from aboue seeing thei ouerpasse al these lower things as nothing and hold skorne of all that euer we can hope or feare Thus ye sée how he teacheth that our Soules come into our bodies from aboue But whether go they agayne when they depart hence Let vs here him what he sayes of the Lady Martiaes Sonne that was dead He is
contrarywise if an honest man come in while wee bee angrie by and by our rage is repressed as who would say our vyce did hyde it selfe from him and if a man come vpon vs vnawares in taking our pleasure yea though it bee well lawfull wee blush as if our blud were desirous to hide and to couer our doings Yea and how secretly soeuer we be alone by our selues in executioÌ„ of our vyces wee incounter continually with a companyon in our selues which not only beareth witnesse of them but also condemneth and punisheth them in vs. Soothly then the motions of anger and lust against reason in man are not naturall nor originall that is to say they procéede not of his first creation but are come in afterward by corruption And therefore the remorse which happeneth vnto vs in those passions is nothing but a secrete howbeit very liuely warning of nature which is ashamed to play the brute beast which thing she would not be if those things were originally of mans nature And in very déede the vniuersall consent of mankynd in being ashamed to goe naked insomuch that they had leuer to see the skinne of a Beast or the excrement of a Woorme vppon themselues than to sée their owne flesh and the thing which Saint Austin noteth in all men namely that they will rather doe open wrong in all mens sight than haue to doe with their lawful wines openly doe euidently shewe that the beastlinesse that is to say the concupiscence or lust that is in carnall copulation is not an originall nature but a mere corruption thereof Which thing our present age but surely nothing to her prayse may better proue vnto vs than al the reasons in the world For certeynly considering the excessiue ouerflowing of vices which is to be seene the customable vse of them yea euen of such as are against nature turned almost into nature if euer voluptuousnesse could haue transformed it selfe into nature and preuayled against nature it must néedes haue bene in this our age wherein notwithstanding as strongly armed authorised and reigning as vyce seemeth to be yet is she inforced to hyde herselfe euen in the middest of her tryumphs vndoubtedly as acknowledging that she reigneth not ouer her owne but ouer another mans Agayne if ye haue an eye to friendship to charitie to the bringing vp of Children to societie in Mariage who will not say that for all our trayning vp to leade vs thereto and for all our reading to instruct vs therein yet we had néede to resort to the brute beastes to learne of them and to take example of them which is a token as I sayd afore that their nature is lesse corrupt than ours If the case concerne the turning away from the vyces of Intemperance Lecherie Drunkennesse Incest such others who would thinke that our nature being so excellent and besides the discourse of reason hauing so many Lawes Statutes Penalties Magistrates to helpe it and being brydled with so many daungers sorowes and paynes insewing the same should yet notwithstanding not bee restreyned whereas on the contrary part the brute beastes doe naturally forbeare both foode and pleasure sauing onely so farre foorth as nature requireth that is to wit for the maintenance and preseruation of them selues and of their kind And séeing their nature doth so vphold it selfe and that our nature beeing stayed so many wayes and closed in with so many barres cannot bee vpheld nor kept within compasse who can say that our nature in case as it is nowe is not in worse plyght than theirs is And yet who wil say that the Nature of the excellentest of all other Creatures hath alwayes bene such from the first originall beginning thereof All the sayd things are comon both to Man and Beast but yet moreouer Man glorieth of an excellencie of mynd inriched by God with infinite goodly gifts What is to be said then if in the thing whereby he surmounteth them he be found inferiour to them Or if in that which of it self is vncorruptible corruption be most open and euident Of so many men indewed with Reason I pray you how many be there that vse it That is to say Of so many men how many be not brute beastes Or what rarer thing is there among men than a very man in deede And of such as vse Reason how many be there that vse it well that is to say how many bee there which be not Diuels Now take mee out of mankind the beastes and the diuels and who will thinke it straunge that a Philosopher tooke a Torch at high nooneday to seeke for a Man in the middes of a multitude One sort all their life long doe set their mynd vppon nothing but this lyfe they spare not so much tyme as to consider what that power is which woorketh that thought in them What booteth it these more to haue a mynd than it booteth a man to haue eyes that doth nothing but sléepe Others imploy it about the defyling of some mans wife or the deflowring of some maiden or the glosing of some wrong or the eluding of some right or the sowing of discord in some household or the setting of fyre on the fower corners of some Realme To what purpose ageine is it for these men to haue a mynd which is bent and intended to nothing but mischief Or what els is such a mynd than the eye of the beast of AEgipt which killeth those whom it looketh vpon and it self also by the rebounding back of his owne sight Some in deede doo lift vp the eye of their mynd aloft but how farre or what see they Surely as saith Aristotle euen as much as an Owle in the bright sunne The Edge of vnderstanding rebateth at the outside of the least things that are and how then shall it be able to enter into them Our mynd is dazeled with vapors and what will it be then at the vnaprochable light for which it was created GOD created the World for man therefore his intent was that man should haue the seruice thereof and that he might haue the seruice of things it behoued him to knowe them Contrariwise what thing doe wee knowe-sufficiently What knowe wee in comparison of that wee knowe not And how can wée vse the seruice of them seeing euen the least things commannd vs not the Beastes the Herbes and the Stones only but also euen the Earth and the very drosse thereof God hath created man for his owne glory and as man is the end of the World so is GOD the end of Man And it is not to be doubted but that as God gaue man knowledge of the worlde that hee might vse it too his behoofe so hee gaue him knowledge of his Godhead that he might serue him But how many be there which ame at this marke and how shall wee hit it if wee ame not at it and how shall we ame at it if we see it not and how shall wee â—ee
AEgiptians who bee of most antiquitie hild and taught the same in their Misteries It is a méetly cléere shadowe of that which we reade in the Scripture concerning the fall of the deuill wherevnto he drewe mankynd afterward by his temptations But when as Pherecydes the Syrian agréeing therein with Sibil telleth vs expresly that this Deuill which hath marred and destroyed the whole earth was a Serpent whom he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Snakebread or Adderbread which armeth men by whole troopes against God we by gathering al these testimonies together shall haue the whole storie of the fall of man Hermes being auncienter than all these doth plainly acknowledge the corruption of man yea and that so farre as to say that there is nothing but euill in vs that there is no way for vs to loue God but by hating our selues And to kéepe vs from accusing the Creator The workmaister sayth he to cut off all quarelling is not the procurer of the rust neyther is the Creator the author of the filth and vncleannesse that is in vs. On whom then shall wee father the cause therof God sayth he created man after his owne likenesse and gaue him all things to vse But man in stead of staying vppon the beholding of his father would needes bee medling and doing somewhat of himselfe and so fel from the heauenly contemplation into the Sphere of Elements or of Generation And because he had power ouer al things he began to fall in loue with himselfe and in gazing vpon himself to wonder at himself whereby he so intangled himselfe that he became a bondslaue to his bodie whereas he was free and at libertie afore Now he intangleth this trueth with his accustomed speculations But yet what is this in effect but that the first man being proud of the grace which he had receyued drowned him selfe in the loue of himselfe whereas he might haue liued euerlastingly by drinking still of the loue of GOD And if we mount vp yet higher to Zoroastres who as is written of him was Noes graundchild wee shall finde that in his Oracles he bewayleth the race of Mankynd in these words Alas alas the Earth mourneth euen vnto Children which words cannot be otherwise interpreted than of originall sinne which hath passed from the first man into all his ofspring after which maner the Cabalistes and namely Osias the Chaldian interpret it wherevnto Gemistus the Platonist is not repugnant And as touching the originall of this mischief he denyeth in these words that it came of creation The thing that is vnperfect sayth he cannot proceede of the Creator Now that we be come as it were vp the streame to the first man Adam by whom sinne entered into the world and by sinne death let vs see hēceforth what the opinion of the Philosophers hath bin since the comming of the second man Iesus Christ. We haue a little booke of one Hierocles a Stoick vppon the golden sayings of Pythagoras which shall answer both for the Pythagorists and for the Stoiks Man sayeth he is of his owne motion inclyned to follow the euill and to leaue the good There is a certein stryfe bred in his affections which stepping vp ageinst the will of Nature hath made it to tumble from Heauen to Hell by vndertaking to fight ageinst God He hath a free will which he abuseth bending himself wholy to incounter the Lawes of God and this freedum itself is nothing else but a willingnesse to admit that which is not good rather than otherwise What els is this but as the holy scripture saieth that al the imaginations of manes hart are altogither continewally bent to euill and which wee dayly dispute of namely that our freedome is fresh and foreward vnto euill but lame and lasie vnto dooing well If yee aske him the cause thereof Let vs not blaspheme for all that sayeth he nor say that God is the author of our sinnes but rather that man is of his owne accord become vntoward and that whensoeuer we fall into sinne we do that which is in vs but not which was in vs from God How then shall we make these propositions of his to agree namely that God created man that man is froward and corrupted and yet that God created not man such a one vnlesse we say that God created man good and that afterward man degenerated from his nature But it is the very thing whereunto he commeth of himself Ambition sayth he is our bane and this mischeefe haue wee of ourselues bycause we be gone away from God and do giue ourselues to earthly things which make vs to forget God And that this mischeef is comon to all mankynd he confesseth sufficiently in that he giueth vs an vniuersall remedie that is to wit Religion the which alonly is able sayeth he to rid vs from earthly ignorance without the riddance whereof we can neuer come agein to our former shape and to the lykenes of our kynd which was to be lyke vnto God Now if all the whole kynd be defiled as he sayeth it is surely we must resort backe to one first father frō whom it is spred out into the rest by naturall generation Plutarke wryting of Morall vertue findeth it a very hard matter to make our affection subiect to reason and the body obedient to the spirit And he is driuen to maruell greatly That our féete should be so ready to goe or too stand still whensoeuer Reason loozeneth or pulleth backe the Brydle and that on the contrarie part our affections should carry vs away so headlong for all the restreint that wee can make Also hee thinketh it strange that in our discourses of the greatest matters as of Loue of the bringing vp of our Children and of such like we be driuen to take the brute beastes for our Iudges as who woulde say that nature had stamped no Print of them in our selues And he findeth himself so sore graueled in his consideration that he preferreth the brute beastes before vs in all things sauing in the capacitie which wee haue to knowe God vndoubtedly as perceiuing a continuall following of their kind in all of them wheras in vs only there is contrariwise such an vnkindly and Bastardly Nature that not euen the best of vs haue any whit of our former nature remayning in vs sauing onely shame that we haue it no more And this very gift of knowing God which remayneth to man graueleth Plutarke more than all the rest Man saieth he is a reasonable Creature God hath set him in the world to be serued honored of him and he hath made him to be borne to common ciuill Societie Whereof commeth it then that in his doings he is more vnreasonable more contrarie to Gods will and more against the Lawe of Nature then the very brute beastes In this perplexitie one whyle he saith that man had receiued fayre and sound
to be weake and without wings except he hold with vs that the Soule hath by her fall forgone her strength and that the body by the feeblenes of the Soule and the sentence of the Creator is strengthened in his weakenesse that is to wit in so much as the body as I haue sayde afore is of a House become a Prison to the Soule To be short graunting Gods Iustice as he doth hee can neuer wind himselfe out of this question which he himself maketh namely why the sinnes are imputed to the Soule seeing it doth them not but by infection of the body vnlesse he make this infection to be a punishment of the fault which the Soule had committed afore in the body But Porphyrius who perceyued these inconueniences hath spoken more distinctly of the matter than his Mayster did agréeing with him neuerthelesse in the corruption of man and in the cleansing of the Soule Which cleansing of the Soule sayth he is so needfull a thing as that it cannot possibly bee but that God hath prouided some vniuersal meane of cleansing mankynd How is it possible then sayth he that the fall of the Soule should come of Imagination which knitteth the Soule to the bodie seeing that the higher things are not drawne downe by the lower but contrarywise the lower are drawne vp by the higher Nay rather sayth he the higher substances come downe in themselues from vnderstanding into imagination from spirituall things to bodily things from high things to lowe things froÌ„ perfect things to vnperfect things And wheras by sticking fast vnto God they might haue abidden firme not so much by their owne strength as by his and might haue liued and wrought as vnder his forme they bee come to a fall of themselues by stooping to matter And therfore sayth he in the substaunces which are inclinable to such things there is befalne as men say a sinne and a certeyne vnbeleef which is condemned because they fell in loue with the Creatures and turned away to them from the Creator To be short he commeth to this poynt that the fall of mens Soules is like the fall of the Féendes that is taught by the Iewes and that through the fault of the wit and the will which he termeth vnbeleefe or vnfaithfulnesse man is falne into the folly of concupiscence that is to say from the fault into the punishment thereof from the rebellion of the Soule into the bondage thereof to the bodie And ye must not thinke wee speake contraries when wee say one while that man sinned by aduauncing himself too high and by presuming to become as it were equall with God and another while that he sinned by stooping downe to these bace and lowe things For in very déede the lifting vp of a mans selfe to Godward is the true abacing and humbling of himselfe for who is hée that can rightly looke vp to God and make account of himselfe or rather not bee abaced in himselfe And to inclyne to a mans selfe is in very trueth a presuming to make himselfe equall to God For it is a seeking of that thing in our selues which is not to bee found but in GOD namely of welfare and felicitie and what els is pride but a selfestimation or an ouerwéening of a mans selfe Proclus doth ordinarily call the inclyning of our nature vnto euill a descending or comming downe and the corruption thereof a fall because the highest that our Soule can atteyne vnto is the beholding of God and the descending stooping or comming downe thereof is to fall into estimation of our selues and the fall is to bee thrust downe in subiectioÌ„ vnder our selues like a body that falleth from some high place But as touching the cause of the corruption he fathereth it vppon our Mynd that is to wit the highest part of our Soule saying that if the same had continued sound and sticked fast vnto God as sayth Plotin it had also hild reason sound still which is the Sunbeame thereof and consequently all our actions should haue bene found so as wee should not haue bene subiect to sinne Séeing then that the punishment is come euen to the highest part of vs which we sée combered with so many passions dimmed with so much darknesse and defiled with so many vyces surely the fault procéeded onely from thence Herevnto we might ad many other sayings but wee will content our selues as now with onely Simplicius the famous interpreter of Aristotle As long as mans Soule sayth he cleaueth fast vnto God the author thereof it abydeth sound and holdeth her perfection wherwith she was created of God but fall she once to shrinking away from him by and by she withereth as hauing lost her roote and comes to nothing neyther can she recouer her former liuelynesse except she be reunited agayne to her former cause Now perceyue we euerychone of vs that our nature is withered and therefore let vs say that we be slipped from our roote And the roote leaueth not the braunches but contrarywise the braunches leaue the roote Let vs say then that we haue bereft ourselues of the gracious goodnesse of God who would haue mainteyned vs still for to nourish and quicken is the propertie and nature of the roote In one only thing doe the Philosophers differ from vs in this behalfe namely that they vphold all mens Soules to haue sinned euery one in himselfe and wee say That the onely first man sinned and thereby hath bound all his whole ofspring to the punishment But yet doe both come backe agayne to one poynt seeing that euen by their owne reasons I proued the creation of the world which of necessitie leadeth vs to one man the father of vs all whereas the Philosophers hang wauering still vnresolued in that poynt Among all people wee see there were prayers to craue pardon for sinne Sacrifices to appease Gods wrath Misticall washings and Satisfactories or Uotaries that were 〈…〉 â—he sinnes of some whole Realme Citie or 〈…〉 as I haue sayd afore are publick protestations of a publick 〈◊〉 The Philosophers were sore combered in finding a meane 〈…〉 Mankynd from his filthinesse some would haue done it by the Morals some by the Mathematicals and some by Religious Ceremonies but in the end they confesse that all these â—â—â—ngs can doe nothing in that behalf They be fooles in their remedies but wise in discerning the disease Wee reade of the people of Affricke at this day who bee giuen enough to contemplation that they fall into great conceyts of mynd and are not able to perswade themselues that all their Churchseruices are sufficient to make them cleane And that is a proofe that they féele a mischief within them whereinto neither the eye of the Phisition can see nor the medicine that he ministreth can atteyne Also the Persians were woont to hold a holyday euery yéere which they called The Death of vyces In the which Feast for a token of deuotion they killed
a bringging of vs to Hellgate or rather a shewing of Paradise vnto vs a farre of howbeit with such a horrible and infinite gulfe betwixt vs and it as man and all the whole world can neither fill vp nor passe ouer Yet must there néedes be a passage For the end of Man is to be vnited vnto God and this end is not in vaine the meane to be vnited aboue is to be reconcyled here beneath and the meane to be reconcyled here beneath is as I haue sayd alreadie but onely one which is that God himselfe acquit vs without our discharging of the debt which wee owe vnto him Onely that Religion then and none other which leadeth vs streight to the said passage and by the following whereof we find it is the true Religion as that which allonly atteineth to the ende of Religion which is the sauing of man May not men wil some say worship God diuersly some lifting vp their eyes to heauen and othersome casting their faces downe to the ground Yes for the worshipping is but one and the humbling of mens selues is but one still though there bee difference in the signes But our disputing here is not of the Ceremonies but of the substance of them Also may not men offer Sacrifice diuersly Yes But if thy Sacrifices haue no further ende then the sheading of the blud of a beast then as sayth Hierocles they be to the Fyre but a feeding thereof with fewell and vapors and to the Préestes a superfluous maintenance of butcherie It is requisite therefore that sacrifices should bee referred to somewhat namely that by them thou shouldest protest that whereas the sillie innocent beastes doo suffer death it is thou thy selfe that hast deserued it both in body and Soule Againe if thou haue nothing els in thy Religion but Sacrifices and prayers how goodly a showe soeuer they make thou hast nothing but a confession of thy fault and a sentence of death against thee for the same For if those Ceremonies aime not at a certein marke they be trifling toyes and if that be the end whereat they aime then come they short as which doe but leade thee vnto death and there leaue thee There are some that would beare vs on hand that Religion is but an obseruation of certeyne Ceremonies in euery Countrie by which reason that which is holy here should be vnholy in another place and that which is godly in one Land should be vngodly in another To be short they make it lyke the Lawes that depend vppon Custome which passe no further than the bounds of the place where they be vsed If Religion be nothing else but so what science art or trade is more vayne than that Or rather what is to be sayd of it but that in deede it is no Religion at all Leachecraft is vncerteine in many respects as of aire of water of age and of clymate but yet the which is Leachecraft in one Countrie is not manquelling in another Lawecraft hath almost as many sundry Lawes as caces and the caces that are in the world are infinite Yet notwithstanding who séeth not that all these diuersities of caces are brought vnder one vpryghtnes and reason and that they which yéeld not thereunto are not reputed for men but rather for enemies of mankynd and wyld beasts Also vertue hath the affections to woorke vpon a ground more mouable than the Sea and the wind And yet who wil say that that which is hardines betweene the too Tropiks is Cowardlines in all other Countryes or that that which is stayednesse in one half of the world is vnstayednesse in the other half To be short what thing is more subiect to rising and falling or to be cryed downe or inhaunced than coyne of siluer and gold as which séemeth to followe the willes of princes And yet notwithstanding for all their ordinances and proclamations both gold and siluer do alwayes kéepe a certeine rate and valew What shall we say then to Religion which hath a firmer and substantialler ground than all these I meane not mennes bodies goods affections or fantasies but the very soule and mynd of man who also hath such a rest to stay vppon as is settled vnmouable and the Lord of all Chaunges that is to wit God How much more wysely doth our Pythagorist Hierocles teache vs that Religion is the gouernesse of all vertewes and that all vertewes tend to her as to their certeine end as who would say they be no vertewes if they swarue from her insomuch that hardynesse being referred to any other than godlynesse becommeth rashnesse wisedome becommeth wylynes lynes and Iustice becommeth Iuggling and at a woord all vertue is but masking and hipocrisie If Religion be the end of all vertewes must it not needs be fixed and vnmouable Or if it be mouable what is there then that is iust good or vertuous And if the case stand so what thing in the world is more vnauaylable than man or to speake more ryghtly what thing is to lesse purpose in man than his mynd But there is vertue and the wickeddest man that is will auow it Therefore there is also a certeine Religion which maketh it to be vertue and whereunto vertue referreth itself and the vngodlyest man that is cannot scape from it Let vs looke yet further into the absurdities of this opinion Who can denie but that among the diuersities of Religions there were many sorts of wickednes and vngodlynes openly executed some woorshipping the creatures in Heauen yea and on earth as the Egiptians did in old time and as the Tartarians do at this day some offering vp men in Sacrifice as the Carthaginenses did in old tyme and as the Westerne Iles do yet at this day and othersome permitting things not only contrarie to all Lawes but also euen horrible and lothsome to nature If all this be good I pray you what good is there or rather what euill is there in the world But if it be euill in itself who can deny but that there were wicked and vngodly Religions in the world I vse the woord Religion after the comon maner and that a man had neede of a Rule whereby to discerne the good Religion from the bad And in verie deede it is so rooted in nature to beléeue that there is but one Religion to be had as well as to beleeue that there is but one God that as we may daily see a man will rather indure the change of a temperate aire into an extreme whot or into an extreme cold of freedom into bondage and of Iustice into Tyrannye than any alteration atall though neuer so little in the case of Religion verily as who would say it were not so naturall for a man too loue his natiue Countrie to be frée and to be at his easie as to haue some one certeine Religion to gwyde him to saluation Now my meaning hath bin to lay foorth this trueth after the mo sorts of purpose to
Lycurgus Solon Pythagoras Plato Heraclitus Democrates Thales Oenopis and the residue of them to schole as they them selues doe highly boast in their Bookes And what learned they there but Superstition as I haue shewed afore And what els then could they bring into Greece And what might their ignorance be séeing they were counted wise so good cheape Of the same date are the lawes of Solon in Athens and anon after of the twelue Tables at Rome which the Romaines sent to seeke in Greece by the aduyce of one Hermotimus an Ephesian As touching GOD and his seruice which should be the ground of all good lawes scarce was there one word of very Iustice in déede further than peculiar interest required which was very little But shall we seeke the lawe of godlines at the hand of the Greekes and Romaines who a thrée thousand and sixe hundred yéeres after the Creation of the world knew not whither there were many Gods or but only one Ne knewe any further of Religion than they had learned by their Trafficke into AEgipt Who in respect of others are of so late tyme in the world and which worse is had reigned thrée or fower hundred yéeres without inquiring after godlinesse and rightuousnesse Surely we must hold vs to this poynt that since the very first bréeding of man in the world there hath alwaies bene Religion in the world For he was not bred in vayne neither could there be any Religiō without reuealing from God For as the Philosophers say of nature God fayleth not in things néedfull And therefore where men haue bene so lateward and GOD so smally knowne there we shall not finde them For as for the Oracles that is to say the sayings of the Deuils that abused them if they were of elder tyme than the people they spake not to them and if they were bred after them then were they newe And in very trueth euen by their owne Histories the first original of the false Gods of Greece and of their miracles tooke beginning about the warres of Troy which befell about the tyme of the Iudges towards the two thousand and eight hundred yéere after the Creation of the world The great Kings of Assyria be of more antiquitie than the Greekes for they fell into the tymes of the Kings and Prophets of Israell whereas there was not any notable thing in the Storie of the Greekes afore the Captiuitie of Babylon But how will they shewe vs any law concerning the seruice of God yea or how could they haue any séeing they forsooke the true God and worshipped false Gods Nay as touching those false Gods what memoriall almost haue wee of them but in the Byble and that is of the victories which the true God had against them and of his Conquestes ouer them which are spoken of from leafe to leafe to their ouerthrowe and vtter confusion Contrarywise what be the Kings of Israell but mainteyners and the Prophets but expounders of the lawe of Moyses These as publishers thereof from tyme to tyme to the intent that folke should not forget it which thing wee see not in any other Nation and the other as compellers of men to obserue it as wherunto euen Kings them selues are bound But if we goe backe from the tyme of the setting foorth of the lawe of Moyses what haue the Heathen of that tyme to set against it I say not only in respect of Godlinesse but also for Iustice and welnere for the common societie of men The Athenians will alledge Cecrops the founder of their Citie the Thebanes their King Ogyges And of them they terme all things of antiquitie Cecropian and Ogygian And peraduenture they will tell vs that at that tyme folk bred out of the earth in the Countrie about Athens as though they spake of Mussheromes and Grashoppers And when they say so what shall wee looke for at their hands concerning the seruice of God and heauenly things sith they thinke them to haue bene bred of the earth But yet they will not denye that this Cecrops was an AEgiptian who brought them certeyne lawes for the ordering of Mariage which is a sure proofe that they were vtterly ignorant of the law of God and Man Long tyme after him came their Gods and Oracles insomuch that al the Greekish Historie is as ye would say tungtyde for many hundred yéeres after like a brooke that loseth himself within thirtie paces of his first spring Among the AEgiptians Syrians there was more forme of gouernement but as for Religion they worshipped the Heauens the Planets and the Starres which are in very déede made for man and for mans vse are put vnder certeyne lawes by God and therefore much lesse are those Gods able to make men subiect vnto them And if there were any among them that knewe more than others it was the Birdgazers and the Bowelgazers which are a kynd of Witches that turned men away from God to the Creatures and therefore in no wise directed them to Saluation But what shall wee finde among the people of Israell at that tyme A Moyses that preacheth but the onely one God and teacheth from him how he will be serued and a Lawe that setteth the bounds both of Religion and Policie and the duetie of man both towards God and his neighbour which euery seuenth day is read openly to all the people which the Kings haue before their eyes the Priestes beare about them the Fathers teach to their Children and the Maysters to their Seruants and which the very walles and forefronts of their houses doe shewe both to strangers and to their household folke At the happiest tyme that ye can choose in Rome or Athens for I am willing to omit their barbarousnesse what haue wee I say not of Religion but of Order in Iustice and state of Gouernment that commeth any thing néere to that Contrarywise what lawe was there euer set foorth among them which was not abolished againe ere it was knowne to the people Or who made account of it but the Lawyers Or who brake not the lawe afore he knewe it To be short where haue wee read that any whole Nation were all Lawyers and all skilfull in the Lawes of God and men but the people of Israell And why was that but because the same Law conteined the rule of welfare the which it was méet that all folk without exception should know and vnderstand because that naturally all men ought to tend vnto their saluation And as touching the antiquitie of Moyses the setter foorth of that Lawe among that people I will not haue ye to beléeue me but the Gentyles themselues The very ground of the antiquitie of Greece say Diodorus Denis of Halycarnassus was Inachus who liued twentie Generations that is to say about fower hundred yéeres afore the warres of Troy And Ptolomie of Mendese a Priest of AEgipt who gathered his Historie out of the holy Registers of the AEgiptians sayd
Holy Ghoste and reported to them the woords of the Angell Moreouer she told them the names of the women that came to hir labour vnlooked for vppon dew inquisition whereof when all things were found to fall out true they registred his name in the Register of the Priestes in these words IESVS THE SONNE OF THE LIVING GOD AND OF THE VIRGIN MARIE And this Register ê™ Theodosius was saued at the sacking of Hierusalem and afterward kept in the Citie Tiberias where it is preserued in secret and I haue seene it as one of the cheefe among the Iewes and as one from whom in respect of my degree nothing was restreyned And I beleeue therby that it is not ignorance that holdeth me in the Iewish Religion but the honor which I haue among my Countrymen the lyke whereof I could not haue elswhere Now there is greate lykelyhod that this should be true considering that Iesus as we see did preache in the Temple and went sometymes vp into the Pulpit which thing the pryde of the Pharisies would hardly els haue indured And the holy Rabbine also sayeth expresly that the moother of the Messias should be a virgin and that hir name should be Marie and he gathereth it after the arte of the Cabalists out of these wordes in the nineth of Esay Lemarbeh hammisrah And Rabbi Hacanas the Sonne of Nehumia sayeth that this Marie was of Bethleem the Daughter of Iehoiakin Eli of the lyne of Zorobabel of the trybe of Iuda which was the trybe whereof the Messias should come And of a trueth we reade not in the Gospell that Iesus was vpbrayded by his comming of the trybe of Iuda or of the house of Dauid but rather that he was the sonne of a Carpenter for the long continued aduersities of that house of Dauid had brought some of his posteritie to lowe degree And Rabbi Vla sayth that Iesus of Nazareth by name being of the blud royall that is to say the sonne of Dauid was crucified the day afore the Passouer And seeing the Messias was so precisely promised to be of that race let vs not doubt but that the Scribes would willingly haue verified the contrarie if they had could for then had the Goale bene wonne on their side To be short to come backe againe to the virginitie of Mary she was not a woman of such kindred alyance and wealth as might be bold to hope that her single word would bee beléeued without tryall neither were the people to whom she spake besotted with the opinion of the Heathen who forged tales of their Gods to make themselues to be the easelyer beléeued but the thing was so true that the very trueth thereof imboldened her And in very déede that is the very cause why Simon Magus to the intent he might not seeme any whit inferiour to Iesus denyed not the same poynt but rather graunting it to be true was desirous to make his Disciples beleeue that he himself also was the sonne of a Uirgin The Prophet Micheas sayeth And thou Bethleem Ephrata which art but little to bee counted among the families of Iuda out of thee shall come to me the partie that shall reigne ouer Israell and his foorthcommings are from the beginning and from the daies of eternitie Here againe we haue two births of Christ the one in tyme the other euerlastingly afore all tyme. And therevppon rise these farre differing speeches of the people in the Gospell saying one while When Christ commeth wee shall not knowe whence hee commeth and another while Is it not written that Christ shall come of the seede of Dauid and of the towne of Beâ—hleem where he dwelt Now that it was so vnderstoode by the Fathers of old tyme the Chaldee Paraphrase giueth credit where it is translated thus Out of thee shall Christ come which shall hold the souereintie ouer Israell And Ionathas the author of the sayd Paraphrase a principall Disciple of Hillels was yet aliue at the same tyme that Iesus was borne and the holy Rabbine and Rabbi Selomoh consent therevnto And that Iesus was borne in Bethleem euen after such a fashion as was not looked for I see not that any of them denyeth it Moreouer there was to bee seene the Stable wherein Christ was borne heawen out of a Rocke which place Origen reporteth to haue bin singularly reuerenced of the Infidels in his tyme. The Gospell telleth vs that Iesus certeine daies after his birth was caryed to Hierusalem to bee offered to the Lord according to the Lawe and that there a man named Simoen a man that was rightuous and feared God being certified by the holy Ghost that he should not dye vntil he had first seene Christ the Lords Anoynted tooke him in his armes praysed God saying This day haue I seene thy saluation c. Here I charge the Iewes before God to bethinke themselues well of the things which they both write and reade of this Simeon namely how that the Disciples of Hillel should neuer fayle til Christ were come That this Simeon surnamed the Rightuous and Ionathan the sonne of Vziel were two of the chiefe of those Disciples That in this Simeon the spirit of the great Synagog did vtterly fayle and ceasse That God himself did then shewe by all signes that he abhorred that Synagog and the Sanctuarie and that all should goe awry and that all things were full of darknesse there Whereof comes this chaunge which they themselues doe marke so aduisedly but of their contempt of Christ And whereas they say further that the Temple opened of it selfe and that Rabbi Ionathan Ben Zaccai fellow disciple with Simeon being astonished thereat bethought him of this saying of the Prophet Zacharie Open thy doores thou Libanus and let the fire coÌ„sume thy Cedars what is it but the same that Simeon foretold vnto Mary saying Behold this child is sent to bee the ouerthrow and the raising vp of many and to be a signe that shal be spoken against This Child is named Iesus that is to say Sauiour and the Gospell adding the cause thereof sayth For he shall saue his people from their sinnes Who ruled and directed his birth to bee of a Uirgin in Bethleem and vnthought of to make it méete iust with the Prophesies going afore and to make his name now to agree both with the Circumstances going afore and with all the whole course of his life For of so many men that had borne the name of Iesus afore as well in the tyme of the first Temple as of the second in which of them shall wee finde all these things to concurre as they do here Neither is this naming of him so in vayne For like as neither Abraham nor Moyses did bring the Israelites into the land of Canaan but Iesus the sonne of Nun so neither the lawe of Nature nor the lawe of Moyses could bring vs into our true Canaan that is to wit our
Cloke too Thou shalt not beare false witnesse not only in word either false or hurtfull but also ydle Thou shalt not commit aduoutry No for if thou doe but looke vpon a woman with a lust vnto her thou hast committed adultrie already Moreouer so little leaue hast thou to couet any mans goods that to succor him thou must dispossesse thy selfe and sell all that euer thou hast Finally Thy God is only one God and no mo but thy neighbour is euery man whom thou meetest of what Countrie state condicion or calling soeuer he or thou be To bee short worshippest thou God doe it with the knees of thy heart Doest thou fast When thou doest it annoint thy face Doest thou almes Let not thy left hand knowe it giue of thy néede and not of thine abundance I demaund now whether the exhibiting of the substance and body of the Lawe in sted of the counterfet or Portrayture thereof and the requiring of the mynd in sted of the flesh be an abolishing or defacing of the Lawe whether the stablishing thereof bee the disanulling thereof The clearing and inlightening thereof be the quenching thereof or the fulfilling therof in himself and the spreading thereof ouer all Nations of the Earth bee the breaking thereof Nay moreouer the Lawe say the Cabalistes was giuen to man for the sinne of the Serpent that is to say accordiâ—g to our doctrine not for vs to accomplish for wee cannot atteine thereto but to shew vnto vs how farre the infection of that venome hath caried vs away from that duetie which God and nature it selfe require of vs. Which end of the Lawe is greatly inlightened vnto vs by the comming of our Lord Iesus in that he teacheth vs that the Lawe is not satisfied with an outward and pharisaicall obedience that is to wit to speake fitly by hipocrisie but by the vncorrupt obedience of the Heart yea euen much more by an vnfeyned acknowledgement of our disobedience than by the greatest profession of obedience that a man can shewe If they vrge yet further why then was not this lesson of yours giuen vs at the beginning I answere that euen from the beginning foorthon Moyses and the Prophetes gaue it you in willing you to circumcise your hearts to offer vp the sacrifice of prayse and obedience to absteine from vnhalowing the Saboth day with vnrightuousnes and such otherthings And in speaking to you of the land of Canaan they haue told you lowd inough by all their dooings that it behoued you to haue a further reache of mynd namely to the things which as Esay saith neitheir eye hath séene nor eare heard nor heart of man conceiued The seruice then which God required of you is spirituall and the reward which we ought to looke for is spirituall also But you lyke Children as ye be thought not but as the most part of you doo still at this day vpon the body and the world whereas GOD spake to you concerning your Soules and the welfare of them which lyeth in him Euen so the Schoolemaister promiseth his yoong Scholer a Marchpaine or some other banketing stuffe to make him to learne not that vertue shall not like the Child much bettter and be a greater reward to him when he hath atteyned vnto it but because that if he should talke to him of vertue or of honour at that tyme he can no skill of any of them both and he would bee the negligenter to his lesson and the more vnable to conceiue a greater thing And truely ye would haue sayd vnto Moyses Let not God speake vnto vs but to thee and yet was he fayne to couer his face because ye could not abide it To the same purpose doth Esay say that ye were fayne to haue line after line and precept after precept and lisping Prophets to dallie with you like newe weaned children that they might make you to vnderstand Also S. Paule sayth in the same sence that ye were trained vp like babes vnder the discipline and tutorship of the law To bee short all Mankind after the maner of one only man hath his birth his Childhood and his youth and his spirituall nourishment proportionable to euery age as well as euery of vs hath by himselfe Nature ought to be a Lawe vnto vs. And verely GOD ment to make vs to feele how sore it is corrupted in vs and because that in those first ages wee did transgresse it and breake it so many and so sundrie waies like yoong Scholers which to speake rightly cannot write one right letter without a sample therefore God gaue vs the Law written and there remayned at leastwise so much conscience in vs all as that none of vs could say but it was most iust Neuerthelesse it was Gods will that wee should trye our strength for a tyme in the doing thereof whereby we perceyued in the end that wee could not atteyne thereto like as the Child that indeuereth to followe the Copie of a good Skriuener and cannot atteyne to the fashioning of one letter aright furtherfoorth than his maister guideth his hand At length came Gods grace brought by Iesus Christ when our accusation I meane the accusation of all Mankynd and specially of the Church was made and concluded both by Nature and by the Lawe the Interpreter of Nature and that so apparantly as none of vs can denye but that he deserueth very great punishment nor any of vs say that he deserueth any reward at the hand of the euerlasting God whose reward being proportionable if I may so terme it to the giuer cannot be but euerlasting So then Nature hath made man readie to receiue the Law the Lawe hath made him readie to imbrace grace and God as séemed conuenient to his wise prouidence hath in this last age of the world caused his grace to be brought and preached vnto vs by his Gospell euen vnto vs which were as folke standing on the Scaffold readie to bee executed to the intent that such as perish should acknowledge his Iustice such as are saued should acknowledge his onely grace in Iesus God and Man the onely Sauiour and Redéemer of Mankynd Amen The xxxij Chapter That Iesus Christ was and is GOD the Sonne of GOD against the Heathen NOw then wee haue Iesus Christ such a one as hée was promised vnto vs in the Scriptures namely God and Man the Mediatour of mans saluation as sayth S. Paule manifested in the flesh crucified by the Iewes preached to the Gentyles beléeued on in the world and taken vp into glorie And forasmuch as I haue alreadie prooued the trewnesse and diuinenesse of the Scriptures and that according to them the Mediatour was to be such a one as Iesus was here I might make an end of this work for the coÌ„clusion followeth of it self The Scriptures are of God In them we haue found Iesus to be the Messias the Mediator and the Redéemer of Mankynd therefore it followeth that we ought to receiue him for
at the Conquests of Alexander And why Because that beeing but a meane King of Macedonie he passed into Asia and conquered it with fortie thousand men and no moe Had he caryed a hundred thousand with him we would haue had the lesse estimation of his deedes But how much greater account would we haue made of him if he had done it with halfe his number And had he done it with the tenth man O how we would haue wondered And if wee made a God of him for conquering so what diuine honor would we think sufficiēt for him now At leastwise who would not haue thought him if not a God yet at the least assisted with the power and might of GOD But had these Souldiers ouercome their enemies by being beatē at their hands had they conquered by causing themselues to bee killed had they brought Kingdomes in obedience by submitting themselues to their Gibbets had it not bene a cryme to haue left them vnwoorshipped for Gods For if betwéene the able man and the vnable man the skilfull and the vnskilfull the difference bee that the vnskilfull can doe nothing vnlesse he haue very well and abundantly wherewith but the skilfull can worke much vpon little and by his cunning ouercome the awknesse of his stuffe What is the difference betwéene the skilfullest man and God but that the man can of a little make somewhat whereas God can of nothing and without helpe of any thing make great things yea and euen one contrary of another and by another Which is as much to say as that he is of infinite power able to fill vp the infinite distance that is betwéene contraries and specially betwéene nothing and something Now let vs see what Iesus hath done and let vs bring with vs the same eyes and the same reason which wee did to the iudging and discerning of the Historie of Alexander First our Lord Iesus was borne destitute of al worldly helps From ten to tenthousand and from tenthousand to ten millions men doe atteyne but who can atteyne from nothing to so huge a thing He was accompanyed by a fewe ignorant Fishermen of grosse wit And yet is it no small matter that he could cause them to giue ouer their Trade to follow him But what Instruments were they to make Preachers to the whole world being rather cleane contrary to such a purpose And to incourage them he sayes vnto them Blessed are ye when ye indure all maner of aduersities for my names sake This had bene enough to haue driuen them away and yet they followe him At length he sendeth them of Ambassage to al Nations And what was their message He that taketh not vp his Crosse and followeth me is not worthie of me What is he that would at this day take such a charge vpon him no though he were well rewarded for his labour They shall whippe you in their Synagog sayth he Who would vndertake to deale in such a case Specially vppon such a perswasion as this Hee that will saue his life shall lose it In the ende he dyeth And how Crucified betwéene two Théeues Those fewe followers of his are at their wits end He leaueth neither Children nor kinsfolke behinde him to vpholde his sillie kingdome The kingdome of Heauen that he had talked of seemeth to bee buryed in the earth What worldly kingdome had not perished in this plight How long did the throne of Alexander reigne notwithstanding that it was vphild with the hope of some Children with the policie of great Capteynes with the force of victorious Armies and with the very terrour of his name In the meane while those sillie Shéepe of Christ came together and wēt and preached to Hierusalem and afterward to all the world And what preached they That Iesus had bene crucified and that it behoued them to beléeue in him If he was a man what was more vayne If he was a God what was more absurd Yet notwithstanding if they may haue audience they teach men to suffer for him if they be shut out they will rather dye than forbeare to speake of him and if they bee accused for it they preach their cryme before their Iudges Malefactors are tormented to make them tell their fault and these are tormented to make them to conceale it Those hold their peace to saue themselues from death and these dye for speaking Their persecutors crye out what a miserie is this that we cannot ouercome an old man or a woman what a shame is it for vs to be more wearie of tormenting them than they bee of the torments Yet notwithstanding in lesse than fortie yéeres the world is filled full of this doctrine and the Countries are conquered to Iesus Christ by those fewe Disciples preaching his bludshed and sheading their owne from Hierusalem to Spayne yea and from Hierusalem to the Indyes And looke by what meanes this kingdome is founded by the same also is it stablished and from tyme to tyme increased and mainteyned What man if he knowe how farre man can extend can attribute these things vnto man Hée is God sayth a wise man which doth that which no creature can do And who euer did such things either afore Iesus or after him Also Aristotle sayth that of nothing can nothing bee made that in deede is a rule in nature But what els are these doings of Christ but a making not only of some thing but also of that greatest things of nothing And who can vyolate or ouercome the lawe of nature but only he that created nature Now God spake the word and it was done this surpasseth nature But when Iesus sayth He that doth not take vp his Crosse and followe me is not worthie of me to our fleshly vnderstanding it is as much as if he should say Flee from me and yet men followe him and seeke him The word say I which were enough to driue vs away draweth vs vnto him by disswading he perswadeth vs in turning vs away he turneth vs to him in throwing vs downe he setteth vs vp and in killing vs he maketh vs euerlasting Who can drawe one contrarie out of another as the effects of water out of fire and the effects of fire out of water but he that made both fire and water And who can drawe perswasion out of disswading and conuerting out of diuerting but he that made both the heart of the man that hearkeneth and the speech of the partie that speaketh And what is the conquering of the liuing by the dying of himselfe and his but as ye would say a working of an effect by taking away the cause What is this subduing of the world by disarming tying and deliuering of himselfe but a taking of a way contrarie to his businesse and a choosing of instruments most cōtrarie to his working And he that doth a thing by instruments contrarie thereunto nay rather by such instruments as are directly hurtfull to it and can no way further it doth he not shew that he could do
but to shewe that it was not in the power of the great Emperour of the world to make folk beléeue a man to be a God what payne or cost soeuer he put himselfe vnto Yea say they but to beléeue the myracles of Iesus we would see myracles still The tyme hath bene that they were seene the tyme hath bene that they were beléeued and tyme hath altered the course of them what a number of things doe we beléeue which we see not And what reason or what benefite should leade vs to the beléeuing of any other rather than of them But we should bée the more assured of them As much might the former ages haue sayd and as much may the ages say that are to come and so should it behoue myracles to bee wrought to all men and at all tymes And were it once so then should myracles bee no myracles forsomuch as in trueth they haue not that name but of the rare and seeldome sight of them The Sunne giueth light daylie to the world he maketh the day the yéere and the seasons of the yéere Trées hauing borne flowers and fruite become bare and afterward shoote out their buddes and florish agayne The Uyne turneth the moysture of the Earth into Wine the graine of Corne turneth it into eares of Corne and the Pipen or kernell of an Apple into an Appletrée And infinite men receyue shape and birth euery hower Al these are very greate miracles and God and none other is the doer of them nature teacheth it thée and thou caÌ„st not denie it But forasmuch as thou séest them euery day thou regardest them not and yet the leasf of them would make thée to wonder if it were rare To succour thyne infirmitie the Sunne forgoeth his lyght a drye sticke florisheth water is turned into wyne and the dead are raysed to lyfe and all this is too shewe vnto thée that the same power which wrought in creating things at the beginning woorketh now still wheÌ„soeuer it listeth and that if the effects liue the cause of them is not dead And if thou shouldest sée euery day some miracle in the Sunne in Plants and in man surely in lesse than a hundred yeres miracles would be chaunged into nature with thee and the helpes of thyne infirmitie would turne thee to vnbeleef and to make the world beleeue agein God should be faine to create a new world for the world An example whereof may bee the people of Israell who hauing their meate their drinke their trayning vp and their gouernement altogither of miracle did in lesse than forty yeres turne them al into nature and lyke folke accustomed continewally to phisick which turne their medicines into nourishment of their bodies they abused the stayes of their fayth by turning them into occasions of distrust and vnbeleef Now God created nature and hath giuen it a Lawe which Lawe he will haue it to followe Neuerthelesse sometymes for our infirmities sake he interrupteth it to the intent to make vs to knowe that he is Lord of nature But if he should do it at our appoyntment then should we be the Lords both of nature and of him and if he should do it in all caces we would make a rule of it and we would make bookes and calculations of it no lesse than of the Eclipses of the Sunne or of the Moone or rather than of the motions of the eyghth Sphere and we would impute all those interruptions and chaunges to the nature of nature itself Therefore it is both more conuenient for his glorie and more behooffull to our saluation that nature should still followe hir nature and that miracles should continue miracles still that is to say that they should be rare as necessarie helpes to the infirmities of our nature I meane not of one man or of one age but of all mankynd or at leastwise of al the Church togither which is but as one comonweale and one man Yet remayneth Mahomet and he séemeth to be a iolly fellowe for he made a great part of the world to beléeue in him He was an Arabian and tooke wages of the Emperour Heraclius to serue him in his warres anon after the declyning of the Empyre and in a mutinie among the Arabian Souldyers he was chosen by them to be their commaunder as we sée dyuers tymes in the bands of the Spanyards Whether he were a good man or no let the people of Mecha who woorshippe him at this day iudge which condemned him to death for his Robberies and murthers And he himself in his Alcoran confesseth himself to bee a sinner an Idolater an adulterer giuen to Lecherie and subiect to women and that in such words as I am ashamed to repeate But he hath inlarged his Empyre by his successors and layd his Lawe vppon many Nations What maruell is that For why Auendge your selues sayeth he with all your harts take as many wiues as ye be able to kéepe Spare not euen nature itself What is he though he were the rankest Uarlet in the world that myght not leuie men of that pryce considering the corruption that is in mankynd Hee reigned as a Lord say they but yet by worldly meanâ—â— yea and vtterly vnbeséeming a man If ye enquyre of his Doctryne say they it is holy conformable to the old and new TestameÌ„t and admitted of God But as good as yée make it yet may yée not examin it nor dispute of it vpon peyne of death And what man of iudgement would not haue some suspition of the persone though he were very honest which should say Behold ye be payed and in good monny but yée may not looke vpon it by daylyght If yée looke for his miracles In déede God sent Moyses and Christ with miracles but Mahomet comes with his naked swoord to make men beléeue and asfor other miracle he woorks none And therefore al his Alcoran is nothing els but kill the Infidells reuendge your selues he that kills most shall haue greatest share in paradise and he that feyghteth lasily shal be damned in hell How farre is this geare of from suffering and both from conquering and continewing by sufferance What wickednesse myght not bee stablished by that way of his Notwithstanding to allure the Iewes he exalteth Moyses and reteyneth Circumcision and to the intent he myght not estraunge the Christians he sayeth that Christ is the Spirit Woord and Power of God and that Mahomet is Christes seruant sent to serue him and Prophesied of by him afore Ageine to please the Heretiks called Nestorians he affirmeth that yet for all this Christ is not very God nor the Sonne of God but that he hath in déede the Soule of God Thus doe ignorance and violence in him incounter one another the one to choke the trueth and the other to inforce the falsehod What practyses what wyles what countersayings what inforcements what armyes what cruelties vseth he not too perswade men And yet what hath he wonne by all this
but to be a Prophet without Prophesying a Lawemaker without miracles and euen among his owne Bisshops a man without God or Religion What man of discretion would reade his Alcoran twice except it were for some greate gayne or by manifest compulsion considering the absurdities toyes contrarieties dreames and frantik deuyces that are in it besides the wicked things wherof I wilnot speake Farre of therefore is he from furnishing foorth of a Martyr that will dye eyther for the Preaching thereof or for not recaÌ„ting it To be short Mahomets miracle is to waste and spoyle the world by warre Christs is to bring the world in order by his suffring for it Mahomet was assisted by a sort of Cutthrotes like himself Christ was followed by infinite folk dying and suffering aduersitie for his sake The woorkes of Mahomet were such as euery man can do and doeth dayly the woorkes of Christ are such as neuer any man did nor durst vndertake to doo but he himself Surely therefore we may wel conclude without wearying the reader any longer about these vanities That Mahomet was a man and wrought but as man and by man and therefore is to be examined as a man and that Iesus Christ wrought by GOD and was as he hath told vs the sonne of God and therefore let vs here him and beleeue him as God At this woord behold they step vp ageine and say a man to be God What an absurditie is that How is it possible Nay rather séeing it is conuenient and agreeable both to Gods glorie and to mans saluation as I haue proued afore why should it be vnpossible God created maÌ„ by his wisdom which wisdom is his sonne Now what is more meet than he should repayre man by him ageine Also it was a man that sinned and in that man and by that maÌ„ did al his ofspring sinne likewise Now what is more rightfull than to repayre him by man Man rebelled ageinst his father who could appease this offence but God himself And who could better pacifie the father than his owne welbeloued Sonne Man say I rebelled through extreame pryde vppon desire to be equall with God Now what thing is there which ought too humble man soo much as to see his Creator submit himselfe beneath man for the fault of man Or which ought somuch to make him to consider his sinne and to be sory for it as to consider the infinite greatnesse of his Raunsum the excéeding greatnesse of his sinne and of his punishment due for the same And if thou vrge me still with how is it possible I answer it is possible bycause God lifteth it and euen in mans vnderstanding it conteyneth no contrarietie to say it Also it is possible for we see it is so and so many Profes cannot bee wyped away by a bare question It séemeth possible enough to thee O Iulian when thou listest for thou sayest that Esculapius the sonne of Iupiter tooke humane flesh to come downe vnto the earth and thyne owne Philosopher Amelius doth vnder hand approue that Gods eternall word toke flesh and clothed himself with the nature of man alledging the very words of S. Iohn for the matter To be short thou haste a spirit vnited to thy body thou caâ—st not deny it and yet thou séest it not And if thou wert lesse than man thou wouldest also deny it to be in man and yet for al that what fellowship is there betwéene a body and a spirit And what may seeme more ageinst reason than that a Spirit which occupyeth no place should not only be lodged but also imprisoned in a place But hee which made both the one and the other of nothing can do what he thinketh good with both of them And seeing that to glorifie man he voutsafed to take him vp into heaueÌ„ and to ioyne him vnto him Plotin saies so and therefore thou wilt willingly here it and allow of it why should he be lesse able too come downe if he list and too vnite and ioyne himself to man vpon earth if he list to humble himself But why did God send his deare Sonne into the world rather in that tyme than in any other Why sent hee him not soouer or later These are questions for maysters to vse to their Seruants and not for silly Creatures to vse vnto God who by his only power made vs to be borne and by his only grace hath begotten vs new ageine But as I haue sayd afore to the Iewes man liued for a tyme without the Lawe too make him too learne that hée was not a lawe to himself and a certeine tyme vnder the lawe to make him find by proofe that he was not able to performe it and afterward grace was offered vnto him as vpon a scaffold where he sawe nothing but death and so the knowing of nature corrupted made man the more able to receyue the Lawe and the Lawe made him the more ready to imbrace Gods grace Moreouer it is a woonderfull confirmation to vs when we consider that from the beginning of the World vnto his comming we haue alwayes had Prophets from tyme to tyme agréeing in one mynd and one voyce as Heraulds and Trumpettors euerychone of them to publish and proclayme the maiestie of this King which was to come into the world For had he come anon after the Creation of the World this confirmation of ours had bin greately 〈◊〉 bycause they that were the first had bin surprysed by his comming vnlookedfor and those that haue come after should haue bin in daunger to forget it or to make the lesse account of it as though his comming had not belonged to them whereas now all of vs are partakers both of ioye and of Gods admonitions both afore the Lawe for he was promised to them and vnder the Lawe for they lykewyse heard the Trumpetts and also in the tyme that he came for hee himself spake to them and finally in our tyme for his returne draweth nygh Neuerthelesse it was his will too come in the tyme when learning did moste florish and when the greatest Empyre was in the cheefest pryde to the end that all worldly wisdome should acknowledge it self to be foolishnes and all strength and power acknowledge itself to be weaknesse before him Now therefore let vs all conclude as well Iewes as Gentyles that Iesus Christ is the eternall sonne of God the Redeemer and the Mediator of mankynd And let no question or obiection withhold vs from it Iewes for he is such a one as he was promised to them borne in Bethelem of a virgin of the Trybe of Iuda at such tyme as the kingdome was gone from the house of Iuda humbled beneathe all exalted aboue all put to reproachefull death for our sinnes and raised ageine with glorie to make vs rightuouse Gentyles for he did woorks which could not proccede but from God he created things of nothing drue one contrarie out of another surmounted the nature of man and ouercame the
that worship the soothfast and euerlasting God shall inherit lyfe for euer time without end dwelling in Paradyse alyke euer florishing greene But of the other sort she sayth thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to say rosted coÌ„tinually with fyrebraÌ„ds of peines Socrates in defence of himself Plato in his Cratylus Plato in his Theetetus Plato in his Gorgias Plato in his Phoedon and in his tenth booke of Lawes Plato in his Axiochus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in his Common-weale Plutarke concerning the slowe punnishing of the wicked There is but one true Religion Marsilius ficinus coÌ„cerning the Christian Religion In the last cap. of his Esculapius Plato in his Epinomis and in his Thoeâ—tetus Aristotle in his fifth booke of Moralles and in his first of Heauen Auerrhoes vppon that first booke of Heauen Alexander of Aphrodyse concerning the prouidence of God cyted by Cyrillus Simplicius vppon Epictetus Hierocles in his first chapter against Atheifts Hierocles cap. 6. 19. 11. Iamblichus in his 45. Chapter of Mysteries Proclus in his booke of praying Thaâ— there is but one true Religion An obiection The first mark of the true Religion The second marke of true Religion Plato in his second Epistle and in his Parmenides Aristotle in his Supernaturals Cicero in his first booke of Lawes Iamblichus Alpharabius in his booke of Sciences The third marke of true Religion Hierocles in his 14. and 24. Chapters and in his preface An obiection Iob. 38. Pâ—alm 104. Esay 48. 61. Iob. 38. Psal. 104. Origen ageinst Celsus lib. 3. Cato in his oration for the Rhodians The Heathen acknowledged the true God to be in Israell Austin in the Citi of God lib. 8. chap. 31. Denis of Halycarnassus lib. 1. Tacitus lib. 5. or as some editions haue lib. 2. AppioÌ„ ageinst Iosephus 2. Kings 18. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hecataeus the Abderita * Moenina Alexander who vaunted himselfe as a God Iosephus in his Antiquities lib. 11 cha 8. Cicero in his oration for Flaccus Seneca in his Booke of Superstitions Seneca in his booke of Superstition Austin de Ciâ—itate Dei lib. 6. cap. 10. Origen against Celsus lib. 3. Iulian ageinst the Galileans Zosimus lib. 4. Socrates lib. 3. cap. 11. Hermes in his Esculapius translated by Apulcius Austin de Ciuitate Dei lib. 8. cap. 23. The Gods of the Egiptians Cyprian concerning the vanity of Idols Plutarke in his treatise of Isis and Osyris The Gods of the Phoenicians Sanchoniation traslated by Iosephus The Gods of the Greekes Herodotus lib. 2. Aulus Gelliuâ— lib. 3. cap. 11. li. 17. ca. 21. Pophirius in the lyfe of Pythagoras Apuleius and Aulus Gelins The Gods of the Romanes Titus Liuius Decad 4 libro â—kimo Valerius Maâ—mus lib. 1. Plinius lib. 13. cap 13. Austin lib. 7. cap. 14. Lactantius lib. 1. Austin de Ciuitate Dei lib. 7. cap. 17. Cicero concerning the Nature of the Goddes the first of his Tusculane questions Seneca lib. 2. cap. 4. and 42. The Goddes of Greater Nations Eusebius de prepar euangelica lib. 4. Euhemere as he is cited by Lactantius Hermes in his Aselepius Seneca in his Moralles The Lawe of three children Scipio Affrican in Ennius Esculapius Iulian ageinst the Galilaeans Xenophon in his Equiuocations Cicero concerning the Nature of the Godds in his booke of Lawes and in his Tusculane Questions Porphyrius in his booke of the Answeres of the Gods Eusebius de praeparat euangel lib. 3. Cap. vltimo Porphyriâ—s in his sayd booke of the Answers of the Goddes Euseb. de praepart euang lib. 5. Cap. 6. and. 7. Iamblychut concerning Mysteries cap. 27. and 31. Porphyrius in his booke of answers c. Euseb. lib. 4. Cap. 4. The Sacrifising of Men. Enseb. lib. 4. Cap. 7. Denis of Halycarnassus lib. 1. Diodorus of Sicilie lib. 20. Porphyrius in his booke of Abstinence Histrus and Manethon cited by Eusebius Tertullian in his booke of Apologie Erichtho in Lucane The godly AEnaeas in virgill Caesar in his bookes of his Warres in Gaullond Procopius lib. 2. of the warres in Gothland Euseb. lib. 4. Cap. 7. The yeere after the building of Rome 657. Plinie lib. 30. Cap. 1. Quintilian in his booke of Fanaticall things Shamefull Seruices Austin in his second booke of the Citie of God Cap. 11. Austin in his first booke of the Citie of God Cap. 32. Austin lib. 2. Cap. 4. 5. 6. 13. In infinite places in the Digests Zosimus lib. 2. The Oracles of the Gods were false vncerteine vayne and wicked Porphyrius in his bookes of the Answere of Oracles False Miracles Iupiter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Markes wherby to knowe Diuels Porphirius in his secoÌ„d book of Abstinence In his Epistle to Anebon alledged by Eusebius lib. 4. cap. 11. Iamblichus in his booke of Mysteries in many places Iamblichus in his booke of Mysteries Apulcius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Austin in his ninth booke of the Citie of God chap. 19. What and where the true Religion is Marks whereby to discerne Gods word That the Byis of more antiquitie then all other writings Cicero in his second booke of the Ends of things Aulus Gellius in his 20. book Cap. 1. Denis of Halycarnassus lib. 1. cap. 2. Plinie lib. 34. cap. 5. Pomponius ff of the originall of Lawe Denis of Halâ—carnassus Appion in the fourth booke of his Historie against the Iewes Eusebius li. 10. Cap. 3. Strabo lib. 15. Porphirius li. 4 Eusebius in his booke of preparation to the Gospell Gene. 49. 5. 7. Obiect oâ—â— The Bible tendeth altogither to the glorie of God Mans welfare Seneca in his exhortations The Style of the Scriptures The lawes and commaundements in the Scripture The doctrine of the Scriptures exceedeth the reach of man Prophesies sowed throughout all the Byble Gene. 15. Gene. 49. Rabbi Moyses vpoÌ„ the booke Abubacher Deuter. 32. Iosua 7. 1. King 16. verse 34. 1. King 13. 2. King 22. verse 15. 19. Esay 44. 45. Jerem. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. c. Daniel 9. Daniel 5. Esay 13. 2â— 47 Ieremy 50. Daniel 15 Daniel 7. Daniel 8. Daniel 9. Obiections Ptolomie in booke of the fruite The same thing doth Moises of Narbon say vppon the booke of Abubacher Auempare Roger Bacon in his booke of the Sixe sciences of experience and in his abridgement of Diuiniâ—â—e An obiection concerning the witnesse of the Greekes The Answere Aristobulus writing to Ptolomy Philoâ—netor lib. 1. Hecateus concerning the Iewes Herennius Philo concerning the Iewes Aristaeas concerning the translation of the Threescore and Ten Interpreters Eusebius in his eight booke of the preparation to the Gospell Origines in his fourth booke ageinst Celsus An Obiection concerning the style The Solution Ciâ—ero in his Tusculane Questions Osorius the Portingale Obiections concerning the vncrediblenesse of things in the Scriptures The Creation of the world and of Man The fall of Man The ege of the first men The generall Flud Alexander Polyhistor Abydemus alledged by Cyrill in his first booke against Iulian. Iosephus