from a Tower which way it standeth in the darke wherin we now be to the end we may call to God for helpe and euer after make thither ward with all our whole hart Particularly against the Atheists and Epicures we will bring themselues the world the creatures therein for witnesses For those are the Recordes which they best loue and most beleeue from the which they be lothest to depart Against the false naturalists that is to say professors of the knowledge of nature and naturall things I will alledge nature it selfe the Sectes that haue sought out nature such writers in euery Sect as they hold for chiefe Disciples Interpreters and Anatomists or Decipherets of nature as Pyt hagoras Plato Aristotle the Academikes and peripatetikes both old and new and speciallie such as haue most stoutly defended their owne Philosophie and impugned our doctrine as Iamblich Plotin Porphirie Procle Simplice and such others whose depositions or rather oppositions against vs I thinke men will wonder at Against the Iewes I will produce the old Testament for that is the Scripture where to their fathers trusted and for the which they haue suffered death whereby they assure themselues of life And for the interpreting thereof I will alledge their Paraphrasts those which translated it into the Greeke and Chaldey tongues afore the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ. For they were Iewes borne of the notablest men among them chosen by publike authoritie to translate it and at that time reason was not so intangled with passions as it hath bene since Also I will alledge their ancient doctors dispersed as well in their Cabales as in their Talmud which are their bookes of greatest authoritie and most credit And diuerse times I will interlace the Commentaries of their late writers which generally haue bene most contrarie to the Christen doctrine whom notwithstanding the truth hath compelled seuerally to agree in expounding the Texts whereon the same is chiefly grounded Now in these allegations I shall sometimes be long and peraduenture tedious to the Reader whome manifest reason shall haue satisfied alreadie so as to his seeming there needed not so manie testimonies But I pray him to beleeue that in this longnesse of mine I straine my nature to apply myselfe to all men knowing that some like better of Reasons and othersome of Testimonies and that all men notwithstanding that they make more account of the one than of the other are best satisfied by both when they see both reason authorised by witnesses for that is as much to say as that many men had one selfe same reason and also Recordes declared by reason for that is as much to say as that credit is not giuen to the outward person but to the diuine thing which the person hath within him that is to wit to Reason Herewithall I thought also that all men haue not either the meane to come by all bookes or the leysure to read them whose labour I haue by that meane eased And oftentimes I am driuen to doo that in one Chapter whereof others haue made whole volumes To conclude I pray the Reader first to read this booke throughout for without mounting by degrees a man cannot attaine to high things and the breaking of a ladders steale casteth a man backe maketh the thing wearisome which was easie Secondly I desire him to bring his wit rather than his will to the reading thereof For foredeemings and foresetled opinions doo bring in bondage the reason of them that haue best wits wheras notwithstanding it belongeth not to the will to over-ouerrule the wit but to the wit to guide the will Thirdly and most of all I beseech him to beare alwaie in mind that I am a man and among men one of the least that is to say that if I satisfie him not in all points my reason attaineth not eueriewhere so far as truth doth to the end that mine ignorance and weakenesse preiudice not the case mine vndertaking whereof in good sooth is not vpon trust of mine owne wit or of mine owne abilitie but vpon assured trust of the cleernesse soundnesse substantialnesse and soothnesse thereof Now God vouchsafe to shead out his blessing vpon this worke and by the furtherance thereof to glad them that beleeue to confirme them that wauer to confute them which go about to shake downe his doctrine This is the onely pleasure that I desire the onely fruit which I seeke of my labour And to say the truth I feele alreadie some effect and contentment thereof in my hart But lette vs praie him also to vouchsafe in our daies to touch our stonie harts with the forceâ— of his spirit and with his owne finger to plant his doctrine so deeply in them as it may take roote and bringâ— foorth fruit For certesse it is Gods worke to perswade and win men albeit that to counsell them yea and to mooue them seemeth in some sort to lie in man The Summes of the Chapters That there is a God and that all men agree in the Godhead That there is but onely one God That the wisedome of the world acknowdelged one onely God What it is that man is able to comprehend concerning God That in the one substance of God there are three persons which we call the Trinitie That the Philosophie of olde time agreed to the doctrine of the Trinitie That the world had a beginning When the world had his beginning That the wisdome of the world acknowledged the creation of the world That God created the world of nothing that is to say without any matter substance or stuffe whereof to make it That God by his prouidence gouerneth the world and all things therein That all the euill which is or which seemeth to bee in the worlde is subiect to Gods prouidence That mans wisedome hath acknowledged Gods prouidence and howe the same wadeth betweene destinie and fortune That mans soule is immortall That the immortalitie of the soule hath bene taught by the auncient Philosophers and beleeued by all nations That mans nature is corrupted and hee himselfe fallen from his first originall by what meanes That the men of olde time are of accorde with vs concerning mans corruption and the cause thereof That God is the souereigne welfare of man therefore that the chiefe shootanker of maÌ„ ought to be to return vnto god That the wisest of all ages are of accorde that God is the chiefe shootanker and souereigne welfare of man The true Religion is the way to atteine to that shootanker souereigne welfare and what are the markes thereof That the true God was worshipped in Israel which is the 1. mark of true religionâ— That the Gods which were woâ—shipped by the heathen were men consecrated or canonized to posteritie That the Spirites which made men to woorship them vnder the names of those men were wicked spirites that is to saye fiendes or diuels That in Israel Gods worde was the Rule of his Seruice
and Stayednesse with Licentiousnes so as in this worlde they can neither be cured without skarre nor be brought to a skar Also we perceiue there are in man the outward sences Imagination and Appetite which thrée the brute beasts haue as well as he ouer and besides the which hee hath also wit and will as peculiar giftes giuen him of God And if we be men we estéeme our selues better than beastes and looke to haue them to be our vnderlings Contrariwise whereas Imagination ought to rule the Sences and Reason to rule Imagination and will to rule Appetite now the outward sence carieth away Imagination Imagination Reason and Appetite will insomuch that the onely sence being bewitched or beguyled carieth a man headlong into all euill after the maner of Phaeton whom the Poets speakeof It is a playne case therefore that man hath made himselfe an vnderling to the beast and consequently that mankind is turned strangely vpsidedowne and doubtlesse farre more monstruously than if we sawe him goe vpon his head with his heeles vpward Nowthen seeing that man is so ouerturned whereof can he brag but of offending God vncessantly in this life and of infinite punishment in another lyfe according to the infinitenesse of him whom he hath offended And to what purpose therefore shall his immortalitie serue him but to dye euerlastingly and neuer to be dead But let vs leaue this matter to another place And forasmuch as by considering man what he is to Godward to the worldward to Manward and to himselfe I haue euidently proued his corruption frowardnesse namely that he is vtterly contrary to the ende to which he was created of God to the order of the whole World to the welfare of all Mankinde and to his owne benefite Let vs henceforth coÌ„sider from whence and from what tyme this mischief may haue befalne him and what may haue bene the cause thereof Certesse if we say it came of God and that he had it of his creatioÌ„ we blaspheme God too too grossely For God is good and the very goodnesse it selfe and therfore he cannot haue made any thing euill Also it appeareth throughout the whole gouernmeÌ„t of the world that he is the mayster and mainteyner of order And therefore how is it possible that he should make the little world namely man to be a mould of confusion and disorder Agayne no other thing than his owne glorie and the welfare of man moued him to create man and yet man beeing in case as hee is forbeareth not to blaspheme Gods name and to purchase his owne destruction Néedes then must it be that Man was made a farre other creature at the beginning than he is now as in very déede the Husbandman createth not the wiuell in the Corne nor the Uintener the sowernesse in the Wine nor the Smith the rust in the yron but they come in from elswhere Neuerthelesse the man that neuer dranke other drinke than Uineger would think it to be the naturall sap and taste of the Grape And wee likewise who neuer felt other in ourselues than corruption and are bred and brought vp in darknesse like the Cimmerians would beare ourselues on hand that GOD is the cause and author thereof Now let vs which haue tasted both the Wine and the Uineger iudge what maner of creatures we may haue bin in our first creation in doing whereof there is yet notwithstanding this great difference that the paâ—at of our bodily mouth is able to discerne the swéete froÌ„ the sower but the palat or tasâ—â— of our soule is vnable to do eyther of them both the one because corruption can not iudge of cleannesse and the other because it cannot iudge well of it selfe In Wine and Uineger we discerne a liquid nature common to them both but as concerning their qualities the Wine is swéete warme and friendly to nature whereas the Uineger is sharpe cold and corrosiue yea and the very colours of them are vnlike one another Lo here two things vtterly contrary and yet notwithstanding the Uineger is nothing els but Wine altered from his nature And because we haue seene the one as wel as the other we will neuer bee made to beléeue that the Uineger was Uineger from the very Grape Let vs iudge of our Soules with like discretion We finde there a spirituall nature immateriall and immortall and that is the onely remaynder of her first originall But yet this Spirit of ours is foreward to nothing but euill nor inclyned to any other thau bace and transitorie things It clingeth to the earth and is a bondslaue to the body To be short in stead of stying vp it crauleth I wote not how contrary to the nature of a Spirit which mounteth vp on high and cannot bee shut vp in these vyle and drossie things Therefore it must néedes bee sayd that this nature of ours was not so of nature it departed not such as it now is from the hand of the workmayster but contrarywise good frée pure and indewed with farre other qualities than it hath now for now it is steyned with naughtinesse bondage of sinne and corruption Nay will some man say seeing it was created cléere from all corruptioÌ„ who was able to corrupt it as we see it to be now Sure wee be that it is a spirituall nature and therefore neyther the Elements nor any other bodie could naturally do any hurt vnto it and as little also could tyme doe any thing thereto for tyme is nothing but the mouing of bodies Moreouer it was free of it selfe and Ladie of the bodie and therefore could not receyue her first corruption from the bodie And yet notwithstanding wee see that as now it is subiect to be corrupted both of her owne flesh and of the vanities of the world which by nature had no power ouer it Néeds then must the maker of nature himselfe haue giuen a power to these things aboue their nature whereby they might preuayle agaynst the nature of the Soule the doing whereof surely could not but haue bin rightfull in him considering that he is the very rightuousnesse it selfe For Iustice layeth not any punishment but where some fault or offence hath gone afore Therefore it must néedes bee sayd that man had committed some heyâ—â—â—s crime against his maker whervpon such penaltie and bondage were appoynted iustly vnto him And therefore let vs say that the Soule of man being the first corrupter of it self did of it owne accord vanish away as Wine turneth in it selfe and of it self into Uineger whereas if the Soule had hild her selfe in awe and vnder couerture and had rested on her Lées as is sayd of Wine that is to say if she had abidden stedfast in beholding her maker without seeking her welfare in her selfe she might haue continued vtterly vncorrupted still And agayne that by turning so away from GOD to her selfe she offended her maker and forwent the gracious giftes which she had receyued of him wherevpon followed the curse
intent that the voluptuous may seeke their ioy the coâ—etous their gaine and the ambitious their glorie there bending themselues with their whole hearts vnto that alone which all onely can fill their harts and satisfie their desires That is the thing which I indeuor to doo in this worke and GOD of his gratious goodnesse vouchsafe to guide my hand to his owne glorie and to the welfare of those that are his But afore I enter into the matter I haue to answere vnto two sortes of people The one are such as say that Religion cannot bee declared vnto Infidels or vnbeleeuers by reason The other sorte are those whiche vphold that although reason doo somewhat inlighten it yet it is neyther lawfull nor expedient to doo it But let vs see what reason they can haue to exclude reason from this discourse The first sort say It is to no purpose to dispute against such as denie grounded principles And by this meanes because one grounded principle is denied them they breake of quite and cleane as though all meane of conference were taken awaie Surelie this principle of theirs is very true but yet in my iudgement it is very ill vnderstood I graunt it is to no purpose to dispute against such as denie grounded principles by the same principles which they denie That is very true But there may be some other principles common to both sides by the which a man may profitably dispute with them and by those common principles oftentimes prooue and verifie his owne principles And that is the thing which I intend to doo in this worke As for example The Christian groundeth himselfe vpon the Gospell the Iew denieth it and therefore it were to no purpose to alledge it vnto him But both the Iew and the Christian haue one common principle and ground which is the old Testament By this may the Christian profitably dispute against the Iewâ—yea eueÌ„ to the verifying of the gospel as if ye should make one to call some maÌ„ to his knowledge by the draughts or descriptions of his portraiture Likewise the Iew is grounded vpon the old TestameÌ„t which the Gentile would mocke at if he should alledge it vnto him But both the Gentile and the Iew haue one common nature which furnisheth them both with one common Philosophie and with one common sort of principles as that there is one God which gouerneth all things that he is good and no author of euill That he is wise and doth not anie thing in vaine Also that man is borne to be immortall that to be happie he ought to serue God and continew in his fauour And therewithall that he is subiect to passions inclined to euill weake vnto good and so forth Of these common principles the Iew maie draw necessarie conclusions which the Gentile shall not perceiue at the first like as when a man vnderstandeth a proposition but conceiueth not yet the drift and consequence thereof He that marketh that the Adamant or Loadstone pointeth to the North perceiueth not foorthwith that by the same a man maie goe about the world although he was of capacitie to cenceiue it After the same maner by this principle He that from equall things taketh equall things leaueth the remainder equall and by a few other propositions which children learne in playing the Mathematician leadeth vs gentlie and ere we be aware of anie mounting vnto this so greatlie renowmed proposition and experiment of Pythagoras that in a Triangle the side that beareth vp the right Angle yeeldeth a square equall to the other twaine which at the first sight seemeth vnpossible and yet by degrees is found to be so of necessitie Thus shall the Iew by common principles and conclusions verifie his owne ground which is the old Testament For he shall proue vnto the Gentiles by their owne Philosophers that vnto God alone things to come are present and that vnto Spirits they be knowen but onelie by coniecture and so farre forth as they can read them in the starres And he shall proue by their Astrologers that the names of men and the circumstances of their doings cannot be betokened nor red in the starres And he shall proue by their Historiographers that the bookes of the old Testament which containe so manie and so perticular prophesies were written manie hundred yeares afore the things came to passe Now what will reasonablie insue hereof but the proofe of the principle which is in controuersie by the principles which are agreed vpo betweene them both namelâ—e that the old Testament is of God seing it cannot be from anie other And what else is all this than that which is commonlie done in Geometric and Logicke which by two lines or by two propositions that are coÌ„monlie knowen certeine do gather a third proportion that was vnknowen or a third proposition that is to saie a conclusion that was erst either doubted of or hidden and by meanes of the other two is euidentlie found out and necessarilie prooued Such are these proofes against the Atheists nothing hath mouing of it selfe It is nature that saieth so The world turneth about and the heauenlie bodies haue a mouing and that doth man himselfe see Therefore they must needs be moued by some other power and that is the Godhead which our eie seeth not and yet by means of the eie our reason conceiueth and perceiueth it in all things Against them which denie â—hristes Godhead we alledge this principle of their owne That naturally of nothing nothing is made It is the saying of Aristotle and the schooles would haue him by the eares that should denie it Iesus Christ hath of nothing made verie great things yea euen contraries by contraries The Heathen wonder at it all ages crie it out our eies do still behold it He that will denie this must denie the world he must denie all things he must denie himselfe It followeth then that Christ wrought by a powre that is mistresse of Nature Aristotle himselfe saw it not and yet Aristotle maketh vs to see it The writers of Histories tooke no heed of it and yet they themselues make vs to beleeue it The Philosopher thought but onelie vpon nature and the Histographer but onelie vpon his owne writing And yet from both twaine of them wee drawe both the Godhead of Christ and the truth of our Scriptures Certesse in like manner as by Arithmetike out of two and sixe wee draw out one continuall proportionable line hidden after a sort in either of them and yet greater than both of them togither which is Eighteene as out of two sticks chafed one against another we draw out fire which is not seene in the two the consuming of theÌ„ both out of hand To be short the marke that our faith looketh at is the Author of Nature principle of all principles The rules therefore the principles of Nature which he hath made cannot be contrarie vnto himselfe And he is also the verie reason and truth it selfe All other
With these fellowes wee our selues shall not néede to deale but only heare Porphyrius disprouing them after this maner If neither God sayth he be of Matter nor Matter of God but both of them be Beginnings alike whereof then commeth it that there is so great ods betwixt them sith we hold opinion that God is Good and the very worker or Doer and contrarywise that Matter is Euill and but only a Sufferer The cause of this difference cannot proceed from the one to the other at leastwise if our saying be true namely that the one of them is not of the other And much lesse proceedeth it of any third considering that wee acknowledge not any higher cause which beeing admitted it followeth that these two so disagreeable Beginnings met and matched together by chaunce and consequently that all things are tossed and tumbled together by Fortune Agayne If God sayth he bee apt to the beautifying and orderly disposing of Matter and Matter be apt to receiue beautie and orderlines at Gods hand I demaund froÌ„ whence this mutuall aptnesse and disposition commeth For considering that they bee so disagreeing and so full contrary one to another surely they could neuer haue agreed of themselues but must of necessitie haue had a Third to make the attonemeÌ„t betwixt them Now I am sure you will not say that there was any third to commaund them Neither wil I beleeue that they fell to greement by aduenture To bee short seeing that Matter is not sufficient of it self to be in happie state but needeth Gods helpe thereunto but God is of himself abundantly sufficient both to be and to be happie who seeth not that GOD is of more excellencie than Matter and that Matter is not of it selfe so much as able to be For were it able to bee it were also able to be happie And therefore it is not to be denyed but that he whom wee confesse to haue perfected Matter was also the very first maker and Creator of Matter But how could he make it of nothing Let vs heare once agayne what the sayd Porphyrie sayth vnto this poynt Handycrafts saith he haue need of instruments or tooles For their working is outwaâ—â—â— and they haue not their matter or stuffe at commaundment But the naturall Powers as more perfect being within things doo performe all their doings by their only being After that sorte the Soule by his essentiall life doth nourish growe ingender breathe feele and so foorth So likewise the Imagination by the only one Inworking of it selfe giueth diuers qualities and mouings to the bodie all at one instant So also the bodilesse Spirites themselues as the Diuines report doe worke wonderous things by their imaginations without instrument or action Much rather therefore shall the workemayster of the whole world who is a Mynd giue substance to the whole by his owne only being that is to wit to this diuidable world himselfe being vndiuidable For why should it be thought strauÌ„ge that a thing which is without a bodie should produce things that haue bodies considering that of a very smal seede there groweth so great a Beast composed of so many so great and so differing parts For though the seede bee little the reason of the seede cannot bee small seeing it worketh so great things neither on the other side can it be great forasmuch as it vttereth and sheweth it selfe euen in the smallest percelles Now this reason of the seede needeth matter to worke vppon but so doth not the Reason of God for he needeth not any thing but maketh and frameth all things and notwithstanding that he bring foorth and moueth all things yet abydeth he still in his owne proper nature Now when as the sorest and learneddest enemie that euer ChristiaÌ„s had acknowledgeth this doctrine in good faith and in so expresse wordes who dareth open his lippes any more against it Dare the Epicures with their motes doo it How can they alledge any reason for them selues being by their owne opinion made by haphazard at aduenture without reason Or shal the naturall Philosophers do it with their temperings and mixtures First let them examine their Maister Galene concerning the things which I haue alledged out of him in the former Chapter and if that will not suffize them they shall heare him yet agayne in this Chapter Certesse as it cannot bee denyed but that as he laboureth by all meanes possible to father the causes of all things vppon the Elements and vppon the mixture of them together so is he driuen at euery turne to acknowledge somewhat in them which he is ashamed to father vpoÌ„ them In discoursing how the babe is formed in the moothers wombe he findeth himselfe turmoyled with many opinions But yet in the end Soothly concludeth he I see so great a wisedome and so mightie a Power that I cannot thinke that the Soule which is in the child that is begotten maketh the shape thereof considering that it is altogether voyde of reason but rather that it is formed by that which we call Nature In his booke of the tempering of things a place that serued best for the exalting of the powers of the Elements to the vttermost he very sharply reproueth those which father the cause of the forming of the parts of the bodies of liuing things vpon the qualities of the Elements Notwithstanding saith he that these Qualities be but instrumeÌ„ts and that there bee another that is the framer or fashioner of things In his booke of the opinions of Plato and Hippocrates he maketh the vitall spirite to bee the excellentest of all things that haue a bodie and yet for all that he will not haue it to be eyther the substance or the dwelling place but only the instrument of the Soule And in his booke of Flesshes he procéedeth further sayth that in treating of Leachcraft he spake often according to the common opinion but that if it came to the poynt of vttering the opinioÌ„ that he himslfe hild he declared that both man and Beast haue their beginning from aboue and that their Soules are from Heauen and finally that the Soule procéedeth neither from the qualities of the Elements nor from any of all the things that wee see here beneath Now if the Soule of man or of the very Beastes procéede not of the Elements how should it possibly procéede of the Matter And if it procéede not of the Matter must it not néedes procéed of the forme or rather must it not néedes be the very forme it selfe And what els is so excellent a forme than an excellent substance And from whence is that by his owne saying but from a former fashioner or shaper And what els shal that former be than a Creator seeing that euen shaping is a creating of a substance Now therefore let vs conclude for this Chapter both by vnsoluble reasons and by the testimonies aswell of our enemies as of our friends that God both was able to create and also did
world and of the world it selfe hee sheweth sufficiently that as man tendeth to God so doth the world also but vnto that ende it should not tend vnlesse it were directed thether and who directeth it thether but he that first made it To bee short the perticular formes of all things present and to come in respect of vs but eternally present with GOD can haue no abyding without a perfect knowledge and a steadie direction of all things But if any dowt hereof remaine yet still let vs heare what the Platonistes say to that matter Surely Plotin hath made two or thrée bookes thereof wherein he teacheth prouidence by all things from the greatest to the smallest comming downe euen to the little flowers which wee see vnblowen in the morning and withered at night as though he had ment to say the same thing that wee reade in the Gospell namely Consider me the Lillies of the field and so foorth Unto the ordinarie complaynt concerning the prosperitie of the wicked and the aduersitie of the vertuous he answereth that the prosperitie of the wicked is but as a Stageplay and the aduersitie of the godly is as a gaming of exercise wherein they bee tyed to a streight dyet that they may win the prize for which they contend Unto the Question concerning euill he answereth that it is nothing els but a fayling of goodnesse which goeth on still diminishing it from degrée to degrée euē to the vttermost and that it procéedeth not from GOD but from the imperfection of the matter which he termeth nothing and that the euill which consisteth altogether in degrées and in fayling of good is so farre of from diminishing Gods Prouidence that it is rather the thing wherein Gods Prouidence sheweth it selfe the more as without the which there were no Prouidence at all to be séene and yet that therewithall God is the author of all abilities and the disposer or ouerruler of all willes Which things to auoyde long discourse are more conueniently to be seene in his owne workes His Disciple Porphyrius departed not from the same opinion howbeit that he was combered with the like perplexities that they be which dispute ageinst it Seeing that God sayth he doth by his skill over-ouerrule all things and order them by incomparable proprietie of vertue and that on the contrary part mannes Reason being very small is ignorant of most things how skilful and curiouse so euer it seeme to be of the trueth Surely we may then call it wyse when it is not curiouse in serching such doutfull and hard matters as are matched with daunger of blaspheming but rather graunteth that the things which are done are very well as they bee For what can our small Reason finde fault with or reprooue in the doings of that greate Reason to esteeme them eyther lawfull or vnlawfull seeing wee vnderstande them not And in another place If wee suffer a King saieth he to dispose of his owne affayres as he listeth shall wee deny vnto GOD the ordering and disposing of the things heere beneath which hee himselfe created And against such as founde fault with the gouerment of the world which they vnderstand not these are his very words Soothly sayth he there is not a more vniust speech than that which presumeth to teache God Iustice nor a more holy speech than that which yeeldeth to the trueth and to think otherwise is a disease of mynd a great cryme For God not only directeth all things at all tymes too the behoofe and full harmony of the whole vniuersally but also is the cherisher preseruer and repayrer of euery seuerall thing in particular I pray you hathe hee not shewed too Phisicians who haue so much prouidence as hee hathe giuen them skil the things that are too befall too the whole body of man how that some members are to be cut of some to be seared and othersome to be eaten away with Corrasiues for the health of the whole body And yet when the Nurces or Mothers see the Surgiō about to do it do they not weepe and cry out ryght strangely notwithstanding that they knowe it to be for the welfare of the childes body But what doth the Father then who is wiser than they but comfort the patient and hold the playster ready to lay to the wound God lykewyse for the curing of the whole hath ordeyned that men should dye That is the thing that Epicurus findeth fault with that they should be separated asunder as a Toe is sumtime cut of for the sauing of the whole body And could we enter into the mynd of God we should vndoutedly knowe why and to what good end hee hath from the beginning barred some things from being because he foresaw they should be to hurtfull and vnto other some hath giuen death in recompence of their godlynes The summe of all is that nothing is done but by the prouidence of God howbeit that many things seeme repugnāt to his wisdome and goodnes as the cutting off of a Leg or the searing of a member séeme repugnant both to the healing of the whole body and to the purpose of the Surgion Also as touching the aduersities of good men Sée héere what Synesius the Platonist answereth The aduersities sayth he which wee thinke wee indure without our deserts doe helpe vs too weede out our affections out of our ground which is to much inclyned too them and by that meanes the inconueniences which make fooles to doubt of Gods Prouidence doe confirme wise folke the more therein For what man would bee contented to part hence if he found no aduersitie here And therefore it is to be thought that the Rulers of the lower Regions he meaneth the Féends were the first founders of these prosperities which the comon sort maketh so great account of of purpose to bewitch men with them and to lull them a sleepe here Hierocles also hauing made a long discourse concludeth that if we fall into any aduersitie whereof wee cannot coniecture the cause it behoueth to consider that wee bee ignorant in all things and yet we must not procéede so farre as to say that God is the author of euill or that he hath not a care of vs for those sayth he were ouergreate blasphemies Aristotle speaketh not any otherwyse eyther in his greate Moralls or in his little Moralls howbeit that hee be more graueled in his Metaphysiks Howsoeuer the case stand in his booke concerning the world he graunteth vnto God the care of al greate things And thinke you it beséemeth man too set bounds too the wisdome of God who hath limited the natures of all things and to appoynt what God shall estéeme greate or small before whom nothing can be greate or small Neuerthelesse whereas he sayth that the world dependeth vpon God as the end thereof the best of his Desciples do by infallible consequence gather thereof the prouidence of God For seeing that the World dependeth vpon hym
with the same mouing then doth it vndoutedly moue therewithall Nay contrariwise whether the mynd rest or whether it be buzyed about the proper operations thereof it is not perceiued eyther by any panting of hart or by any beating of pulses or by any breathing of Lungs It is then as a Shippe that carieth vs away with it whether we walke or sit still the stickingfast whereof or the tying thereof to a poste hindereth not our going vp and downe in it still Ageine if the Soule be subiect to the finall corruption of the body then is it subiect to the alterations thereof also and if it be subiect to the alterations it is subiect to tyme also For alterations or chaunges are spices or rather consequents of mouing and moouings are not made but in tyme. Now man in respect of the body hath certeine full poynts or stoppes at the which he receiueth manifest chaunges and thereafter groweth or decayeth But commonly where the decay of the body beginneth there beginneth the cheef strength of the mynd Houbeit that in some men not only their chinnes are couered with downe but also their beards become gray whose minds for want of exercise shewe no signe at all either of rypenesse or growing Moreouer time as in respect of the body cannot be called ageyne but in respect of the mynd it is alwayes present Yea and tyme perfecteth accomplisheth and increaseth our mynd and after a sort reneweth and refressheth it from day to day whereas contrarywise it forweareth wassheth away and quight consumeth both it self and the body with the life thereof It followeth then that the reasonable Soule is not subiect to time nor consequently to any of the chaunges and corruptions that accompanye tyme. Nay we may say thus much more That nothing in the whole World is nurrished with things better than itself neither dooth any of them conteyne greater things than itself But the things that are corruptible do liue of corruptible things and cannot liue without corrupting them as for example beasts liue by herbes men by beasts and sofoorth And therefore things which liue by vncorruptible things and can so receiue and digest them as to turne them into the nurrishment of their nature and yet not corrupt them are vncorruptible them selues to Now the Soule of man I meane the reasonable soule or mynd conceiueth reason and trueth and is fed and strengthened with them And reason trueth are things vnchaungeable not subiect to tyme place or alteration but stedye vnchaungeable and euerlasting For that twice two be fower and that there is the same reason in the proportion of eight vnto six that is of fower vnto three or that in a Tryangle the three inner angles are equall with the too ryght angles and such like are truethes which neither yeeres nor thousands of yeeres can change as true at this day as they were when Euclyde first spake them And so foorth of other things It followeth then that the Soule comprehending reason and trueth which are things free from corruption cannot in any wyse be subiect to corruption Agein who is he of all men that desireth not to be immortall And how could any man desire it if he vnderstoode not what it is Or how could he be able to vnderstand it vnlesse it were possible for him to atteyne vnto it Surely none of vs coueteth to be beginninglesse for none of vs is so neither can any of vs be so And as we cannot so be so also can we not comprehend what it is For who is he that is not at his witts end but only to think vppon eternitie without beginning On the contrarie part there is not so bace a mynd which coueteth not to liue for euer insomuch that wheras we looke not for it by nature we seeke to obteyne it by skill and pollicie some by bookes some by Images and some by other deuices and euen the grossest sort can well imagine in themselues what immortalitie is and are able both to conceyue it and to beleeue it Whence comes this but that our soules beeing created cannot conceiue an euerlastingnesse without beginning and yet neuerthelesse that forasmuch as they be created immortal they doe wel conceiue an immortalitie or euerlastingnes without end And whereto serues this vniuersall desire if it be not naturall or how is it naturall if it be in vaine and not onely in vayne but also too bring vs to Hell and to Torment Let vs wade yet déeper Who can dispute or once so much as doubt whether the Soule bee immortall or no but he that is capable of immortalitie And who can vnderstand what difference is betwixt mortall and immortall but hee that is immortall Man is able to discerne the difference betwéene that which is reason and that which is not and therevpon wee terme him reasonable Whosoeuer would hold opinion that a man is not reafonable should neede none other disproofe than his owne disputing thereof for he would go about to proue it by reason Man can skill to discerne the mortall natures from the immortall And therefore we may well say he is immortall For hee that should dispute to the contrarie shal be driuen to bring such reasons as shall of themselues make him to prooue himselfe immortall Thou sayest the Soule can not be immortall and why Because sayest thou that to be so it would behoue it to woorke seuerally by it selfe froÌ„ the body When thou thinkest that in thy mynd consider what thy body dooth at the same tyme. Nay yet further who hath taught thee so much of the immortall nature if thou thy selfe be nor immortall Or what worldly wight can say what the inwoorking of a reasonable wight is but the wight which in it selfe hath the vse of reason Yet sayest thou still if the Soule be immortall it is frée from such and such passions How enterest thou so farre into the Nature that is so farre aboue thée if thou thy selfe beest mortall All the reasons which thou alledgest against the immortalitie of the soule doe feight directly to the proofe of it For if thy reason mounted no higher than to the things that are mortall thou shouldest knowe neither mortall nor immortall Now it is not some one couetous man aboue all other that desireth immortalitie nor some one man excelling all others in wisdome that comprehendeth it but al mankind without exception It is not then some one seuerall skill or some one naturall propertie that maketh such difference betwéene man and man as we sée to be betwéene many but rather one selfesame nature common to all men whereby they be all maâ—â— to differ from other liuing wights which by no deede doe shewe any desire too ouerliue themselues ne know how to liue therefore their Lyues doe vanish away with their bloud and is extinguished with their bodies If euer thou hast looked to dye consider what discourse thou madest then in thy mynd thou couldest neuer perswade thy conscience nor make thy reason
or in any thing that beareth life in the world In his moothers wombe he liueth the life of a Plant howbeit with this further that he hath a certeyne commencement of sence and moouing which excéede the Plant and doe put him in a readynesse to be indewed with Sences as a Beast is In this life he hath sence and mouing in their perfection which is that propertie of a sensitiue wight but yet besides these he hath also a beginning to reason and vnderstand which are a beginning of another life such as the sensitiue wight hath not this life is to be perfected in another place In the life to come he hath his actions free and full perfected a large ground to worke vppon able to suffise him to the full and a light to his vnderstanding in stead of a light to the eye And like as in comming into this world he came as it were out of another world so in going yet into another world he must also goe out of this world He commeth out of the first world into the second as it were fayling in nourishment but growing in strength vnto mouing and sence and he goeth out of the second into the third fayling in sences and mouing but growing in reason and vnderstāding Now seeing we call the passage out of the first world into the second a birth what reason is it that we should call the passage out of the second into the third a death To be short he that considereth how all the actions of mans mynd tend to the tyme to come without possibilitie of staying vppon the present time how pleasant and delightful soeuer it be we may well discerne by them all that his being which in euery thing as sayth Aristotle followeth the working thereof is also wholly bent towards the tyme to come as who would say this present life were vnto it but as a narrowe grindle on the further side whereof as it were on the banke of some streame or running water he were to finde his true dwelling place and very home in déede But now is it tyme to sée what is sayd to the contrarie wherein we haue to consider eftsoones that which we spake of afore namely that if all that euer is in vs were transitorie and mortall wee should not be so witty to examine the Immortalitie as we be for of Contraries the skill is all one If a man were not mortall that is to say if he had no lyfe he could not dispute of the mortall lyfe neither could he speake of the Immortal if he himself also were not Immortall Therefore let vs goe backe retryue Some man will say that the Soule dyeth with the body bycause the Soule and the body are but one thing and he beléeueth that they be both but one bycause he seeth no more but the body This argument is all one with theirs which denyed that there is any God bycause they sawe him not But yet by his dooings thou mayst perceyue that there is a God discerne lykewise by the dooings of thy soule that thou haste a Soule For in a dead body thou seest the same partes remayne but thou séest not the same dooings that were in it afore When a man is dead his eye seeth nothing at all and yet is there nothing chaunged of his eye but whyle hee is aliue it séeth infinite things that are dyuers The power then which séeth is not of the body Yet notwithstanding how lyuely and quickesighted so euer the eye be it séeth not it self Woonder not therefore though thou haue a soule and that the same soule sée not it self For if thyne eysight sawe itself it were not a power or abilitie of séeing but a visible thing lykewise if thy Soule sawe itself it were no more a Soule that is to say the woorker and quickener of the body but a verie body vnable to do any thing of it self and a massie substance subiect to suffering For we sée nothing but the body and bodily substances But in this thou perceiuest somewhat els than a body as I haue sayd afore that if thyne eye had any peculiar colour of it owne it could not discerne any other colour than that Seeing then that thou conceyuest so many dyuers bodies at once in imagination néeds must thou haue a power in thee which is not a body Be it say they that we haue a power of sence yet haue we not a power of reason for that which we call the power of reason or vnderstanding is nothing but an excellencie or rather a consequence of sence insomuch that when sence dyeth the residew dyeth therewith also Soothely in this which thou haste sayd thou haste surmounted sence which thing thou haddest not done if thou haddest nothing in thee beyond sence For whereas thou sayest if the sence dye the rest dyeth also it is a reason that proceedeth from one terme to another and it is a gathering of reasons which conclude one thing by another Now the sences do in deede perceyue their obiects but yet how lyuely so euer they be they reason not We sée a Smoake so farre extendeth the sence But if we inferre therefore there must needes be fire and thereupon seeke who was the kindler thereof that surmounteth the abilitie of sence We here a péece of Musicke that may any beast do as well as we But his hearing of it is but as of a bare sound whereas our hearing therof is as of an harmony and we discerne the cause of the concords and discords which either delight or offend our sence The thing that heareth the sound is the sence but the thing that iudgeth of that which the sence conceyueth is another thing than the sence The lyke is to be sayd of smelling tasting and feeling Our smelling of sents our tasting of sauours and our feeling of substances is in déede the woorke of our Sences But as for our iudging of the inward vertue of the thing by the outward sent thereof or of the wholsomnes or vnwholsomnes of foode by the taste thereof or of the whotnesse or vehemencie of a feuer by feeling the pulse yea and our procéeding euen into the very bowels of a man whether the eye beeing the quickest of all sences is not able to atteyne surely it is the woorke of a more mightie power than the sence is And in verie déede there are beasts which do here see smell taste and feele much better and quicklyer than man doth Yet notwithstanding none of them conferreth the contraries of colors sounds sents and sauours none sorteth them out to the seruing one of another or to the seruing of themselues Whereby it appeareth that man excelleth the Beasts by another power than the Sences and that whereas a man is a Peynter a Musician or a Phisition he hath it from elswhere than from his sences Nay I say further that oftentymes we conclude cleane contrarie to the report of our sences Our eye perchauce telleth vs that a Tower
which we see afarre of is round whereas our reason deemeth it to be square or that a thing is small which our reason telleth vs is greate or that the ends of lyues in a long walke do meete in a poynt whereas our reason certifieth vs that they runne ryghtfoorth with equall distance one from another For want of this discretion certeine Elephants sayth Vitellio which were passing ouer a long bridge turned backe beeing deceyued and yet they wanted not sight no more than we do But they that led them were not deceyued Their Leaders then besides their eysight had in them another vertue or power which corrected their sight and therefore ought to be of hygher estimation In lyke â—ase is it with the rest of the other sences For our hearing telleth vs that the thunderclappe is after the lyghtening but skill assureth vs that they be both togither For there is a certeine power in vs which can skil to discerne what proportion is betweene hearing and seeing Also the tong of him that hath an Agew beareth him on hand that euen sugre is biâ—â—er which thing he knoweth by his reason to be vntrew To be short those which haue their sences most quicke and lyâ—ely be not of the greatest wisdum and vnderstanding A man therefore differeth from a beast and excelleth men by some other power than sence For whereas it is comonly sayd that such as haue séene most are comonly of greatest skill we see that many haue traueled farre both by sea and land which haue come home as wise as they wentfoorth A horse hath as good eyes as he that rydes vpon him and yet for all his traueling neither he nor paraduenture his Ryder whom he beareth become any whit the wyser by that which they haue seene whereby it appereth that it is not enough to see things vnlesse a man do also mynd them to his benefite Now there is great difference betweene the lyuelynes of the Sence and the power that gouerneth the Sence lyke as the report of a Spye is one thing and the Spye himself is another and the wisdum of the Capteine that receyueth the report of the Spye is a third Nay who can deny that Sence and Reason are dyuers things or rather who wilnot graunt that in many things they be cleane contrarie Sence biddeth vs shun and eschew greef whereas Reason willeth vs to profer our leg sometyme to the Surgion to be cut of Sence plucketh our hand out of the fire and yet we our selues put fire to our bare skin He that should sée a Sceuola burne of his owne hand without so much as once gnashing his téeth at it would thinke he were vtterly senslesse so mightily dooth Reason over-ouerrule sence To be short Sence hath his peculiar inclination which is appetite and Reason lykewyse hath his which is will And lyke as reason doth oftentymes ouerrule sence and is contrarie to it so will correcteth the sensuall appetyte or lust that is in vs and warreth ageinst it For in an Agew we couet to drink and in an Apoplexie we couet to sleepe and in hungre we couet to eate and yet from all those things doth our will restreyne vs. The more a man followeth his lust the lesse is he led by will and the more he standeth vpon the pleasing of his Sences the lesse reason vseth he ordinarily Againe let vs consider the brute Beastes which haue this sensitiue part as well as we If we haue no more than that how commeth it to passe that a little child driueth whole flockes and heards of them whether he listeth and sometymes whether they would not Whereof commeth it that euery of them in their kynd doe all liue nestle and sing after one sorte whereas men haue their lawes Commonweales maners of buylding and formes of reasoning not only diuers but also commonly contrary Now what can harber these contrarieties together but onely that which hath not any thing contrary vnto it and wherein all contrary things doe lay away their contrarietie Surely it is not the Sence that can doe it whose proper or peculiar obiect is most contrary to the sence Besides this as I haue sayd afore whereas we conceyue wisedome skill vertue and such other things which are all bodilesse our sences haue none other thing to worke vpon than the qualities of bodily substances And whereas we make vniuersall rules of particular things the Sences atteyne no further than to the particular things themselues And wheras we conclude of the causes by their effects our Sences perceyue no more but the bare effects And whereas concerning the things that belong to vnderstanding the more vnderstandable they bee the more they refresh vs Contrarywise the stronger that the sensible things are the more do they offend the Sence To be short the selfesame thing which wee speake in behalfe of the Sences procéedeth from elswhere than from the Sences And we will easely discerne that he which denyeth that besides the common Sence there is in man a reason or vnderstanding distinct and seuered from the Sence is voyd both of vnderstanding and of Sence But see here a grosse reason of theirs This reason or power of vnderstanding say they which is in man is corruptible as well as the power of perceyuing by the Sences I thinke I haue prooued the contrary alreadie neuerthelesse let vs examine their reasons yet further The forme or shape of euery thing say they doth perish with the matter Now the Soule is as ye would say the forme or shape of the body therfore it corrupteth with the body This argument were rightly concluded if it were ment of the materiall forme But I haue proued that the Soule is vnmateriall and hath a continuance of it selfe And in déede the more it is discharged of matter the more it reteyneth his owne peculiar forme Therefore the corrupting of the matter toucheth not the Soule at all Again if mens Soules liue say they after their bodies then are they infinite for the world is without beginning and without ending and as wee knowe nature can away with no infinite thing therefore they liue not after their bodies Yes say I for I haue proued that the world had a beginning and that with so substantiall reasons as thou art not able to disproue Therefore it followeth that the inconuenience which thou alledgest can haue no place Another saith If dead mens Soules liue still why come they not to tell vs so And he thinketh he hath stumbled vpon a woonderful suttle deuise But how doth this followe in reason There hath not come any man vnto vs from the Indies of a long tyme ergo there be no Indies May not the same argument serue as well to proue that wee our selues are not because wee neuer went thether Againe what intercourse is there betwéene things that haue bodies and things that haue no bodies or betwene heauen and earth considering that there is so small intercourse euen betwéene men which liue all vnder
begotten of Man wherein hee was contrarie too himselfe To bée short scarsly were there any to be found among the men of old time saue onely Democritus and Epicurus that held the contrary way whome the Poete Lucre immitated afterward in his verses Yet notwithstanding when Epicurus should dye hée commaunded an Anniuersarie or Yéermynd to bee kept in remembrance of hym by his Disciples so greatly delighted hée in a vayne shadowe of Immortalite hauing shaken off the very thing it self And Lucrece as it is written of him made his booke béeing mad at such times as the fittes of his madnesse were off him surely more mad when he thought himselfe wysest than when the fits of his phrensie were strongest vppon him Whosoeuer readeth the goodly discourses of Socrates vpon his drinking of poyson as they bee reported by Plato and Xenophon hymselfe can not doubt of his opiniō in this case For he not only beléeued it himself but also perswaded many men to it with liuely reasons yea and by his own death much more then by all his lyfe And so ye see we be come vnto Plato and Aristotle with consent of all the wyse men of olde tyme vngeinsayd of any sauing of a two or thrée malapert wretches whom the vngraciousest of our dayes would esteeme but as dronken sottes and dizards Certesse Plato who might paraduenture haue heard speake of the bookes of Moyses doeth in his Timaeus bring in God giuing commaundement to the vndergoddes whom he created that they should make man both of mortall and of immortall substances Wherein it may be that he alluded to this saying in Genesis Let vs make man after our owne Image and lykenesse In which case the Iewes say that GOD directed his spéeche to his Angels but our Diuines say hee spake to himselfe But anon after both in the same booke and in many other places Plato as it were comming to him himselfe ageine teacheth that GOD created Man by himselfe yea and euen his Lyuer and his Brayne and all his Sences that is to say the Soule of him not onely indewed with reason and vnderstanding but also with sence and abilitie of growing and increasing and also the instruments whereby the same doe woorke Moreouer hee maketh such a manifest difference betwéene the Soule and the body as that hee matcheth them not toogither as matter and forme as Aristottle doth but as a Pilot and a Ship a Commonweale and a Magistrate an Image and him that beareth it vpon him What greater thing can there be than to be like God Now sayth Plato in his Phoedon The Soule of Man is very like the Godhead Immortall Reasonable Vniforme Vndissoluble and euermore of one sorte which are conditions saith he in his matters of State that can not agree but to things most diuine And therefore at his departing out of the world he willed his Soule to returne home too her kinred and to her first originall that is to wit as hée himselfe sayth there to the wyse and immortall Godhead the Fountaine of all goodnes as called home from banishment into her owne natiue countrie He termeth it ordinarily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say of kin vnto God and consequently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Euerlasting and of one selfesame name with the immortall ones a Heauenly Plant and not a Earthly rooted in Heauen and not in Earth begotten from aboue and not héere beneath and finally such as cannot dye heere forasmuch as it liueth still in another place To be short séeing sayeth he that it comprehendeth the things that are Diuine and immortall that is to wit the Godhead and the things that are vnchaungeable and vncorruptible as trueth is it cannot be accounted to be of any other nature than they The same opinion doth Plutarche also attribute vnto him which appeareth almost in euery leafe of his writings As touching the auncienter sort of Platonists they agree all with one accord in the immortalitie of the soule sauing that some of them deriue it from God and some from the Soule of the World some make but the Reason or mynd onely to be immortall and some the whole Soule which disagreement may well be salued if we say that the Soule all whole together is immortall in power or abilitie though the execution and performance of the actions which are to be doone by the body be forgone with the instruments or members of the body The disagréement concerning this poynt among such as a man may voutsafe to call by the name of Philosophers séemeth to haue begonne at Aristotle howbeit that his Disciples count it a commendation to him that he hath giuen occasion to doubt of his opinion in that behalfe For it is certeine that his newfound doctrine of the Eternitie or euerlastingnesse of the World hath distroubled his brayne in many other things as commonly it falleth out that one error bréedeth many other Because nature sayth he could not make euery man particularly to continue for euer by himself therefore she continueth him in the kind by matching Male and Female together This is spoken either grossely or doubtfully But whereas he sayth that if the Mynd haue any inworking of it owne without any helpe of the Sences or of the body it may also continue of it selfe concluding thereuppon that then it may also be separated from the body as an immortal thing from a thing that is transitorie and mortall It followeth consequently also that the Soule may haue continuance of it selfe as whereof he vttereth these words namely That the Soule commeth from without and not of the seede of Man as the body doth and that the Soule is the onely part in vs that is Diuine Now to be Diuine and to be Humane to be of séede and to be from without that is to say from GOD are things flat contratrie whereof the one sort is subiect to corruption and the other not In the tenth booke of his Moralls he acknowledgeth two sorts of lyfe in man the one as in respect that he is composed of Body and Soule the other as in respect of Mynd onely the one occupied in the powres which are called humane and bodily which is also accompanyed with a felicitie in this lyfe and the other occupied iu the vertues of the mynd which is accompanied also with a felictie in another lyfe This which consisteth in contemplation is better than the other and the felicitie thereto belonging is peculiarly described by him in his bookes of Heauen aboue Tyme as which consisteth in the franke and frée working of the Mynd in beholding the souereine God And in good sooth full well doeth Michael of Ephesus vppon this saying of his conclude that the Soule is immortall and so must al his morals also néedes do considering that too liue wel whether it be to a mans selfe or towards other men were els a vaine thing and to no purpose
Porphirius and Proclus notwithstanding that now and then they passe their bounds suffering their wits to runne royet For in their Philosophie they had none other rule than only the drift of their owne reason It was commonly thought that Alexander of Aphrodise beléeued not the immortalitie of the Soule because he defined it to be the forme of the body proceeding of the mixture temperature of the Elements Surely these words of his doe vs to vnderstand either that he ment to define but the sensitiue lyfe onely as many others doe and not the reasonable soule or els that he varieth from himselfe in other places And in very déede hee sayeth immediatly afterward that he speaketh of the things which are subiect to generation and corruption But speaking of the Soule he sayeth it is separable vnmateriall vnmixed and voyd of passions vnlesse perchaunce we may thinke as some doe that by this Soule he meane but onely God and not also the Soule that is in vs for the which thing he is sharply rebuked by Themistius who notwithstanding speaketh neuer a whit better thereof himselfe Howsoeuer he deale elsewhere these words of his following are without any doubtfulnes at all The Soule sayth he which is in vs commeth from without and is vncorruptible I say vncorruptible because the nature thereof is such and it is the very same that Aristotle affirmeth to come from without And in his second booke of Problemes searching the cause why the abilities of the Soule are oftentimes impeached If a mans brayne be hurt sayth he the reasonable soule dooth not well execute the actions that depend thereon But yet for all that it abydeth still in itselfe vnchaungeable of nature abilitie and power through the immortalitie thereof And if it recouer a sound instrument it putteth her abilities in execution as well as it did afore But I wil reason more at large hereafter against the opinion that is fathered vpon him What shall we say of Galene who fathereth the causes of all things as much as he can vpon the Elements and the mixture and agréeble concord of them if after his disputing against his owne Soule he be constreyned to yéeld that it is immortall Surely in his booke concerning the manners of the Soule he doeth the worst that he can against Plato and in another place hee doubteth whether it be immortall and whether it haue continuance of it selfe or no. Yet notwithstanding in his booke of the doctrine of Hippocrates and Plato It must needes be graunted sayeth hee that the Soule is either a sheere body and of the nature of the Skye as the Stoiks Aristotle himself are inforced to confesse or els a bodilesse substance whereof the body is as it were the Chariot and whereby it hath fellowship with other bodyes And it appeareth that hee inclyneth to this latter part For hee maketh the vitall spirit to be the excellentest of all bodily things and yet he graūteth the Soule to bee a farre more excellent thing than that What shall we then doe Let vs wey his words set downe in his booke of the conception of a Child in the Moothers Wombe The Soule of Man sayeth he is an influence of the vniuersall Soule that descendeth from the heauenly Region a substance that is capable of knowledge which aspyreth alwayes to one substance lyke vnto it selfe which leaueth all these lower things to seeke the things that are aboue which is partaker of the heauenly Godhead and which by mounting vp to the beholding of things that are aboue the heauens putteth it selfe into the presence of him that ruleth all things Were it reason then that such a substance comming from elsewhere than of the body and mounting so farre aboue the body should in the ende dye with the body because it vseth the seruice of the body Now hereuntoo I could adde infinite other sayings of the auncient authors both Greeke and Latin Philosophers Poets and Orators from age to age wherein they treate of the iudgement to come of the reward of good men of the punishment of euill men of Paradise and of Hell which are appendants to the immortalitie of the Soule but as now I will but put the reader in mynd of them by the way reseruing them to their peculiar places To bée short let vs runne at this day from East to West and from North to South I say not among the Turkes Arabians or Persians for their Alcoran teacheth them that mans Soule was breathed into him of God and consequently that it is vncorruptible but euen among the most barbarous ignorant beastly people of the Wold I meane the very Caribies and Cannibals and we shall find this beléefe receiued and imbraced of them all Which giueth vs to vnderstand that it is not a doctrine inuented by speculations of some Philosophers conueyed from Countrie to Countrie by their disciples perswaded by likelyhods of reasons or too be short entered into mans wit by his eares but a natiue knowledge which euery man findeth and readeth in himself which he carieth euerywhere about with himselfe and which is as easie to bée perswaded vnto all such as viewe themselues in themselues as it is easie to perswade a man that neuer sawe his owne face to beléeue that he hath a face by causing him to behold himselfe in a glasse There remayne yet two opinions to be confuted The one is the opinion of Auerrhoes and the other is the opinion of Alexander of Aphrodise who affirme themselues to hold both of Aristotle namely in that they vpholde that there is but one vniuersall reasonable Soule or mynd which worketh al our discourses in vs howbeit diuersly in euery seuerall person And this thing if wee beléeue Auerrhoes is done according to the diuersitie of the Phantasies or Imaginations wherewith the mynd is serued as with instruments But if we beléeue Alexander it is done according too the diuersities of the capable mind as they terme it that is to say of the abilitie or capabilitie that is in men to vnderstand things by receyuing the impression of the vniuersall mynd that worketh into euery of them which in respect thereof is called of them the woorker Soothly these opinions are such as may bee disprooued in one worde For this onely one Mynd whether in possibilitie or in action could not haue receiued or imprimted in euery man one selfesame common beléef and conceit of the immortalitie of the Soule in so great diuersitie of imaginations and in so many Nations as we sée doe beléeue it considering that the very same conceit is directly repugnant against it Nay it may well bée sayde that Auerrhoes and Alexander had very diuers conceits and imaginations one from another and very contrary to all other mens seeing they had so diuers and cōtrarie opinions imprinted either in their mind or in their imagination Howbeit forasmuch as there may be some the will make a doubt of it Let
the Sunne doe shed his beames he doth both inlighten it and heate it howbeit diuersly according to the nature and condition of the places and things that receyue him some more and some lesse some brightlyer and some dimlyer But howsoeuer the case stande his light yéeldeth no darknesse nor his heate any cold So then if the diuersities of mens imaginations doe cause diuersities of effects in the inspiration or influence that floweth into the capacitie of our vnderstanding surely it must néedes bee after this maner namely that one man shall vnderstand one selfesame thing more and another man lesse but not in that any man shall take vntruth for truth vnright for right or one thing for another Now we see vnto how many errors wee bee subiect I meane not in such things as this namely that one man seeth better a farre of and another better at hand but that one man seeth white and another seeth blacke which are things contrary in one selfesame ground and at one selfesame tyme. It followeth therefore that diuers and sundries mynds doe worke in diuers persons and not one selfsame mynd in al persons By force of which reasons and of such others I say that euery mā shall finde in himselfe and of himselfe That euery man hath a particular Soule by himself that is to say a spirituall substance vnited to his body which in respect of giuing life to the body is as the forme therof and in respect of giuing reason is as the guyde of our actions That in euery man there is a certeyne Sunbeame of Reason whereby they conceyue things and debate vpon them wherethrough it commeth to passe that oftentymes they agrée both in the Reason it selfe which is one and in the manifest grounds therof and in whatsoeuer dependeth euidently vpon the same That euery man hath also a peculiar body by himselfe and likewise peculiar complexion humours imaginations education custome and trade of life whereof it commeth that euery man takes a diuers way yea and that one selfsame person swarueth diuersly from the vnitie of Reason wherof the path is but one and the waies to stray from it are infinite That this Sunbeame of reason which shineth and sheadeth it self from our mynd is properly that vnderstanding which is termed The vnderstanding in abilitie or possibilitie which is increased and augmented by all the things which it seeth heareth or lighteth vppon like fire which gathereth increase of strength by the abundance of the fewell that is put vnto it and becommeth after a sort infinite by spreading it selfe abroad Also it is the same which otherwise we call the Memorie of vnderstāding or myndfull Memorie and it is nothing els but an abundance of Reason and as it were a hoorder vp of the continuall influences of the Mynd That the Mynd from whence this floweth as from his spring is properly that which they the sayd Auerrhoes and Alexander doe terme the working or workfull Mynd which is a certeyne power or force that can skill to extend reason from one thing to another and to procéede from things sensible to things vnsensible from things mouable to things vnmouable from bodily to spirituall from effects to causes and from beginnings to ends by the meane causes This Mynd is in respect of Reason as cunning is in respect of an Instrument or toole and Reason as in respect of imagination and of the things that are sensible is as an Instrument or toole in respect of the matter or stuffe that it workes vpon Or to speake more fitly this Mynd is vnto Reason as the mouer of a thing is to the thing that is mouable and Reason is to her obiects as the mouable thing is to the thing whereunto it is moued For to reason or debate is nothing els but to procéed from a thing that is vnderstoode to a thing that is not vnderstoode of purpose to vnderstand it and the vnderstanding thereof is a resting that inseweth vppon it as a staying or resting after mouing That both of them as well the one as the other are but onely one selfesame substance and like as a man both when he moueth and whē he resteth is all one and the same man or as the power that moueth the Sinewes is one selfesame still both when it stirreth them and when it holdeth them still so the reasonable or vnderstanding Soule that is in euery man is but onely one selfesame substance bodylesse and immateriall executing his powers partly of it selfe and partly by our bodies And seeing that Auerrhoes and Alexander make so great estimation and account of the effects which are wrought in vs that they bée inforced to attribute them to some vncorruptible and euerlasting Mynd let vs take of them that in very trueth the thing which worketh so great woonders in the body can be neither sence nor body nor imagination but a diuine vncorruptible and immortall mynd as they themselues say But let vs learne the thing of mo than them which al wise men teach vs and which euery of vs can learne of himself namely that this Understanding or Mynde is not one vniuersall thing as the Sunne is that shineth into all the windowes of a Citie but rather a particular substance in euery seuerall man as a light to leade him in the darknesse of this life for surely it was no more difficultie to the euerlasting GOD to create many sundrie Soules that euery man might haue one seuerally alone by himselfe than to haue created but onely one Soule for all men together But it was farre more for his glorie to bee knowne praysed and exalted of many Soules yea and more for our welfare to prayse exalt and knowe him yea and to liue of our selues both in this life and in the life to come than if any other vniuersall Spirit Soule or Mynd whatsoeuer should haue liued and vnderstoode eyther in vs or after vs. Now then for this matter let vs conclude both by reason and by antiquitie and by the knowledge that euery of vs hath of himselfe That the Soule and the Body be things diuers That the Soule is a Spirit and not a Body That this Spirit hath in man three abilities or powers whereof two bee exercised by the body and the third worketh of it selfe without the body That these three abilities are in the one onely Soule as in their roote whereof two doe ceasse whensoeuer the body fayleth them and yet notwithstanding the Soule abideth whole without abatemēt of any of her powers as a Craftsman continueth a Craftsman though he want tooles to worke withal And finally that this Soule is a substance that continueth of it selfe and is vnmateriall and spirituall ouer the which neither death nor corruption can naturally haue any power And for a conclusion of all that euer I haue treated of hetherto in this booke let vs mainteyne That there is but only one God who by his owne goodnesse and wisedome is the Creator and gouerner of the
that man holdeth not himself in his state but is falne from the seate of honour wherein God had placed him God had set him aloft aboue the Stones aboue the Plantes aboue the Brute beastes yea and aboue the world it selfe If he abyde still in his degree whence commeth it that so many men make themselues bondflaues to Gold and other mettals and that so many men doe leade the life of Plants and brute beastes in the bodyes of men some giuing themselues to nought els than to eating drinking and sléeping and neuer lifting themselues vp any higher and othersome consuming and wasting themselues in most beastly delights pleasures For what beast is there that would be a Plant or Plant that shooteth not vp to get out of the ground To be short what thing is there in the whole world sauing onely man which doth not very precisely kéepe the owne state and degree I pray you if a man should see one with a princely Crowne al myry on his head tilling the ground and following the Plough what would he thinke but that he were deposed from his Throne and that some mischief were befalne him And what then is to be sayd of that man which toyleth in Doonghils and skulketh into corners to wallowe himselfe in a thousand sorts of filthines and imployeth all his wit vpon such things but that he is falne from the toppe of his mynde and that by the greeuonsnes of that fall he hath so lamed and maymed all his abilities that it lyeth not in him to returne againe from whence he is falne For who can deny but he is borne to greater things than hee doeth Or who can thinke that GOD hath giuen him an immortall Soule to the intent he should imploy himselfe altogether about things which are not so much as worthy to be mortall Or a countenance which he calleth continually to the mynding of Heauen to looke groueling on the myre Or a Scepter to play the dizard with it in a Playe Or a triple Mace to rake Dounghilles withall or too digge the ground withall Againe how is the Lawe and order of gouernement which shineth forth in the whole world and in all the partes thereof turned vpside downe in man who is the Litle World by the disobedience of the Body to the Soule In Plantes in Trees and in brute beastes the soule distributeth nurrishmēt by proportion Their bodyes obeye the direction of their Soules without geynsaying and euery abilitie performeth his duetie accordingly The nurrishing abilitie followeth his appetites and goeth not beyond them The sensitiue followeth his naturall delights but it violateth them not But as for man what shall wee say of him Surely that his body commaundeth his Soule as if the Plough should drawe the Horses as they say that his will suffereth it selfe to be ruled by his appetites that his reason is an vnderling to his sences and that his very whole nature is most commonly quite out of order So must we needes confesse an ouerthrowe of nature in him for whom neuerthelesse nature it selfe was made and that man was swarued aside from his right way seeing that all other partes of the World doe followe their Nature and that Nature itselfe teacheth vs it What is to be sayd then but that man is not onely falne from the state wherein he was to be set in lower degree than he was afore but also that he is falne in himselfe and from himselfe in and from his owne peculiar nature Moreouer it is manifest that the world was created for mans vse for the world knoweth not it selfe nor the creatures that are therein And ageine as for the Angels they needed it not and as for the brute beastes they haue no skill to vse it Onely man hath vnderstanding to vse the seruice thereof and a body that hath neede of their seruice Sith it is so who can doubt that God created man with a knowledge of his creatures and also gaue him power ouer them Whereof commeth it then that the beastes doe naturally knowe their seasons the remedies of their diseases and the Herbes that haue a proprietie of nature to heale them and that only man among all other liuing things knoweth them not insomuch as he is fayne to goe to Schoole to the brute beastes to learne them Also whereof commeth it that these creatures which surely GOD made not to be snares to man for that had bene repugnant to the goodnes of the Creator but for mans benefite and seruice doe now kicke and spurne ageinst man yea euen those which haue no power or strēgth at all to withstand him Let vs omit Woolues Leopards and Lyons which seeme to haue some force to ouermatch the weakenes of man What meaneth it that wormes make vs warre within our Bowels that vermin deuoureth our Corne and that the earth yeeldeth vs not any kind of fruit which hath not a peculiar enemie in it to marre it ere it come to our hand but to driue vs to confesse that man must needes haue offended his maker right greeuously and that whereas Gods putting of his creatures in subiection to man was to the end that man should haue continued in obedience vnto GOD now because man hath rebelled against Gods Maiestie God also suffereth those to rebell against man whom he had put in subiection to man yea euen to the very off kourings of the earth For what els is this contrarietie of the earth to him that tilleth it of the Sea to him that sayleth it and of the aire to the successe of all our labours and trauels but a protestation of whole nature that it disdeineth to serue a creature that was so presumptuous as to disobey his Creator a creature I say which by doing seruice to the creatures hath forgone the authoritie which he had receiued of this Maker Now consequently let vs consider man towards man What is there more disordered or more cōtrarie to nature than is the nature of man himselfe If beastes of one kind doe kill or eate one another wee take it for an ougly thing What an ouglynesse then ought it to be vnto vs when wee see how men who alonly be indued with reason doe euery howre kill one another and roote out one another Nay rather is it not a great wonder to see good agreement and frendship not among Nations not betwéene Coūtries not among Companies but euen in households yea and betweene Chamberfellowes Wolues are cruell but yet in what race of Wolues shall wee find Caribies and Cannibals Lyons also are cruell but yet where were they euer seene in Battell one against another Now what is warre but a gathering and packing vp together of all the sorts of beastlines that are in the world And yet what is more common among men than that A Beast say some will barke or grunt ere he byte a house will cracke ere it fall downe and the Wind whistleth ere it breake things But contrariwise what is man towards man
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
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
euident and absolute that it is a starke shame to denye it And so is it applyed by Rabbi Saadias vpon Daniell by Rabbi Nahman of Geround and by Rabbi Hadarsan who be the notablest among them For as for Rabbi Selomoh who vnderstandeth it of Cyrus or Aben Ezra who applyed it to Nehemias or Rabbi Leui the sonne of Gerson who vnderstaÌ„deth it of Iosua the High-priest there is not that word in this text which doth not disprooue them besides that the Anoynting which is spoken of here must needes be a spirituall anoynting considering that there was not any more anoynting at all vnder the second Temple There are sayth he threescore and ten weekes Let vs see what maner of wéekes they be The Scripture telleth vs of wéekes of daies and of wéekes of yéeres and examples of them both are in Leuiticus and in diuers other places The wéekes of daies serue for ordinary matters and the wéekes of yéeres for matters of great weight and of long continuance But Daniell may bee his owne expounder For in the next Chapter hee speaketh expresly of mourning three weekes of daies whereas here in a matter of estate which passeth with slower steppes and requireth larger measure he speaketh of weekes simply without addition And in very deede Hierusalem could not bee builded agayne in seuen weekes of daies but it was to be builded agayne in many weekes of yeeres After that maner are they taken by Rabbi Saadias Rabbi Moyses and Rabbi Selomoh also vnto whom all the best of them consent and there is not any one of them to my knowledge which taketh these wéekes to be wéekes of daies But as for the yoonger Rabbines whensoeuer they bee pressed they say these weekes conteyne eyther ten yéeres a péece or fiftie yeres yea or a whole hundred yeres a péece a thing without reason in this text and without example in all the whole Scripture It followeth from the going forth of the Commaundment for the building again of Hierusalem to the anoynted Prince are seuen weekes and threescore and two weekes That is to say as the Prophet himselfe expoundeth it for the building vp of the Citie of Hierusalem and the Temple seuen weekes which make nine and fortie yéeres And from the building againe of Hierusalem vnto Christ threescore and two weekes which make fower hundred thirtie and fower yéeres all which together amount vnto fower hundred fowerscore and three yéeres And in good sooth if wee begin as the Prophet teacheth vs to account the wéekes froÌ„ the day wherein the word was spoken that Hierusalem should be builded againe that is to wit from the thréescore and tenth yere of the Captiuitie or from the first yéere of King Cyrus when Ieremie wrate to the prisoners at Babylon assiâ—ring them of their deliuerance at which tyme Cyrus gaue commaundement for the building againe of the Temple vnto the tyme of Herode King of the Iewes or of Tyberius the Emperour of Rome we shall finde that in that very tyme were fulfilled the fower hundred fowerscore and thrée yeres yea and the very thréescore and tenth weeke wherin Christ was to stablish the Couenant of God with men And it seemeth that Daniell or rather the Angell ment in these thréescore and ten wéekes to allude to the thréescore and ten yéeres spoken of by the Prophet Ieremie as if he should haue sayd At such tyme as ye were led away captiue to Babylon Ieremie assured you that you should bee deliuered from that temporall Captiuitie within thréescore and ten yéeres and ye see it is so come to passe And now I tell you that within thréescore and ten weekes of yeeres ye shall be deliuered from the spiritual captiuitie by Gods couenant made vnto you whereof the Anoynted shal be the Mediatour I am not ignorant how some writers begin the account of these weekes at the first yéere of King Cyrus and some at the second yéere of Artaxerxes othersome at the twentie yeere of the same Artaxerxes because at that tyme there went out another Proclamation in fauour of Nehemias by reason that the building of the Temple had bene stayed But which way soeuer they goe to worke the ende of these weekes falleth still vpon the tyme of Herod and Tyberius and méeteth iumpe with the prophesies that went afore And it can not bee denyed but that they were accomplished according to the circumstaunces set downe here by the Prophet For the Prince of the people that was to come destroyed the Citie that is to wit the Emperour of Rome did ouerthrow Hierusalem and beate downe the Temple and abolish their Sacrificings through the whole Land of Iewrie and bring vpon them the extreme desolation that is spoken of here by the Prophet And therefore some of the Rabbines being vnable to shift of this text haue presumed to say that Daniell had sayd well in all the rest but that he ouershot himselfe in this account The very traditions of the Iewes themselues doe bring vs to this tymer At leastwise there is not any whose date is not out long ago In the Talmud is this saying of the schoole of Elias so greatly renowned among them The world shall indure Sixthousand yeeres Two thousand yeeres emptie that is to say without Lawe Two thousand yeeres vnder the Lawe And two thousand yeres vnder Christ. And Rabbi Iacob sayth herevpon that the first two thousand yeeres ended in the tyme of Abraham the second about the destruction of the Temple which thing he proueth by an account of the tymes at the ende of which latter twoo thousand he sayth that Christ should come and deliuer Israel from captiuitie Thus farre he agreeth with vs. But he addeth for our sinnes sakes his comming is deferred This glosse marreth the text For in other places it is sayd flatly that the tyme of the comming of the Messias is past now seauen hundred and fortie yeeres ago which thing they lament in both their Talmuds And vppon this verse of Esay I will make hast to doe it in his tyme which is spoken expresly of Christ and of his Kingdome Rabbi Iosua the sonne of Leuy apposeth these words I wil make haste against these other words in his tyme. I will make haste sayth the Lord at leastwise if they be worthy addeth Rabbi Iosua In his time sayth the text that is to say euen when they would not addeth Rabbi Iosua which meaning of his he might haue expressed much more fitly in saying That Gods grace geinstandeth our sinnes in such sort as that all our iniquities cannot stop or stay the course thereof We haue another Tradition vpon the ninth Chapter of Esay where he setteth downe this excellent Prophesie coÌ„cerning Christ A Childe is borne vnto vs c. In that place are written these words lemarbeh hammisrah concerning the increasing of his kingdome with the Hebrewe Letter â— Mem closed in the mids of the word notwithstanding that the sayd Letter which as