Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	worship_n	worship_v	year_n	90	3	4.2483	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

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

that direct vs to the creatures and those are nothing els but Idolatries Some doe set vnto themselues a good end in that they aime at the Creator but they will néedes worship him after their owne fancie and that is a swaruing aside to superstition or rather which worse is a seruing of their owne fancie and not of GOD. And among the residue there is one which hath an eye to the Creator and honoureth his Lawe and that is the Religion of the Iewes This againe is a way that leaueth vs in the middes of our way leading vs into the wood but not leading vs out againe But the true Religion in déede and which deserueth the name of Religion is only that which hath God for hir shooteanker his woord for warrant of hir worshipping and a meane appoynted by him to pacifie hym withal and in that onely and in none other resteth any Saluation Some tell vs that Religion is nothing els but charitie that is to say the performing of a mannes duetie towards his neighbour and those men would tell vs if they durst that Religion is but an instrument of ciuil gouernment But when they haue inlarged the commendations of charitie as farre as they can what can they at a woord say more than we say thereof namely that Charitie is of such force and weight that Religion can by no meanes stand without it Neuerthelesse to speake properly thereof Charitie is not the marke whereby to discrene the true Religion but rather to discerne who is ryghtly Religious Too the intent a man may bée happye he must returne vnto God therefore he must needs serue him That is the badge of Religion But the godly or Religious man vttereth his Religion that is to say that God hath touched him truely in his hart in that he performeth all the dewties of vnfeyned freendship and godly affection towards his neybor who is the Image of God Charitie therefore is nothing els but a rebounding of godlynes or of the loue of God backe vnto our neybour or a reflexion or sigh vpon this Image Also that a man may be happye he must be linked vnto God and that he may be linked vnto God he must be reconciled into his fauor Now this charitie which they speake of is but a linking of Man vnto Man It is not that which maketh a man happie neither doth the fault which hath destroyed vs all consist in want of charitie I meane that Charitie which they pretend but in rebelling ageinst God Therefore it booteth vs not to be at one with our neybour except we be at one with God Neuerthelesse it is a good signe that our hart is seruent in the loue of God as the child is in the loue of his father when being vnable as yet to vnite our selues vnto him we link our selues in one body and one mind to al those which beare his Image To be short the true marke of fire is not heate for there are other things which are whot as well as fire but it is a vertew that is so linked vnto it that as soone as ye heare of fire it followeth immediatly that there is heate also but not contrarywise Lykewise Charitie is not the true religion itself but a vertue which accompanieth it so of necessitie that a man can no sooner say there is Religion in this man or that man but that it must needs followe incontinently that there is charitie in him also And what maner of charitie Soothly not such as they take it to be which refreyne from misdealing for feare of mannes Lawe for that is but hipocrisie nor a desire of credit that we may haue the better spéede in our affayres for that is but a chaffaring Nor a desire of honor whereby wee be spurred to dowel for that is but a self loue But it is a certeine feare and loue of God which maketh vs to cherish and loue all those for Gods sake which are of him and hold of him Now what man is he that dareth vaunt of this perfect charitie that he loueth his neyghbor as he ought and in such respect as he ought that is to say as himself and for the loue of God For how can we haue this charitie if Religion go not afore And if our loue towards God be so short and feeble as I sayd afore what rebounding backe thereof will there be vppon our neyghbour Now therefore let vs conclude That as man hath but one end namely of returning vnto God so there is but one ryght path to leade him thether and that is Religion And that as there is but one God so there can be but one true Religion that is to say one way that leadeth to saluation which Religion hath these thrée vnfallible marks whereby to discerne it namely that it woorship the true GOD that it worship him according to his word and that it reconcyle to God the man that followeth it And now let vs consequently sée which of al the Religions in the world it is that alonly is to be discrned by these marks The xxi Chapter That the true God was worshipped in Israell which is the first marke of the true Religion THe first marke of the true Religion without the which it cannot rightly beare the name of Religion is the seruing of the true God And the true God as I haue said before is the same that created heauen earth and all things in them which gouerneth them by his wisedom which mainteineth them by his goodnes which wéeldeth them according to his wil and directeth them according to his glorie By this so notable a marke wee cannot fayle to decipher the true God from the false Gods and by the selfesame meane to discerne the true Religion which beareth our first marke from all other Religions how peinted and disguysed so euer it is possible for them to be This God which hath doone those things can bee but one For séeing he created all things all the things which wee sée heere beneath are but creatures Now then whatsoeuer Religion pointeth vs to any mo Gods then one we ought to abhorre it euen at the very first approche Again the same God is also infinite and incomprehensible For the woorke cannot conceyue the woorkmayster but contrariwise the woorkemayster conceyueth the woorke Whatsoeuer woorke therefore is made to counterfet him or too resemble him or to shewe him vnto vs can be nothing els but Idolatrie and Superstition inuented by the Diuell or by man Now let vs come néerer to the rabble of Religions and wee shall sée there throngs of hundred thousand Gods distinguished by straunge fantasticall deuyces of men of women of beastes and of monsters Yet shall wee not sée there any whit of that which wee séeke for But there is one Religion to be séene among all the rest which for all the rest beareth this marke graued in her forehead In the beginning GOD created the Heauen and Earth and soundeth out this spéech alowd

Lycurgus Solon Pythagoras Plato Heraclitus Democrates Thales Oenopis and the residue of them to schole as they them selues doe highly boast in their Bookes And what learned they there but Superstition as I haue shewed afore And what els then could they bring into Greece And what might their ignorance be séeing they were counted wise so good cheape Of the same date are the lawes of Solon in Athens and anon after of the twelue Tables at Rome which the Romaines sent to seeke in Greece by the aduyce of one Hermotimus an Ephesian As touching GOD and his seruice which should be the ground of all good lawes scarce was there one word of very Iustice in déede further than peculiar interest required which was very little But shall we seeke the lawe of godlines at the hand of the Greekes and Romaines who a thrée thousand and sixe hundred yéeres after the Creation of the world knew not whither there were many Gods or but only one Ne knewe any further of Religion than they had learned by their Trafficke into AEgipt Who in respect of others are of so late tyme in the world and which worse is had reigned thrée or fower hundred yéeres without inquiring after godlinesse and rightuousnesse Surely we must hold vs to this poynt that since the very first bréeding of man in the world there hath alwaies bene Religion in the world For he was not bred in vayne neither could there be any Religiō without reuealing from God For as the Philosophers say of nature God fayleth not in things néedfull And therefore where men haue bene so lateward and GOD so smally knowne there we shall not finde them For as for the Oracles that is to say the sayings of the Deuils that abused them if they were of elder tyme than the people they spake not to them and if they were bred after them then were they newe And in very trueth euen by their owne Histories the first original of the false Gods of Greece and of their miracles tooke beginning about the warres of Troy which befell about the tyme of the Iudges towards the two thousand and eight hundred yéere after the Creation of the world The great Kings of Assyria be of more antiquitie than the Greekes for they fell into the tymes of the Kings and Prophets of Israell whereas there was not any notable thing in the Storie of the Greekes afore the Captiuitie of Babylon But how will they shewe vs any law concerning the seruice of God yea or how could they haue any séeing they forsooke the true God and worshipped false Gods Nay as touching those false Gods what memoriall almost haue wee of them but in the Byble and that is of the victories which the true God had against them and of his Conquestes ouer them which are spoken of from leafe to leafe to their ouerthrowe and vtter confusion Contrarywise what be the Kings of Israell but mainteyners and the Prophets but expounders of the lawe of Moyses These as publishers thereof from tyme to tyme to the intent that folke should not forget it which thing wee see not in any other Nation and the other as compellers of men to obserue it as wherunto euen Kings them selues are bound But if we goe backe from the tyme of the setting foorth of the lawe of Moyses what haue the Heathen of that tyme to set against it I say not only in respect of Godlinesse but also for Iustice and welnere for the common societie of men The Athenians will alledge Cecrops the founder of their Citie the Thebanes their King Ogyges And of them they terme all things of antiquitie Cecropian and Ogygian And peraduenture they will tell vs that at that tyme folk bred out of the earth in the Countrie about Athens as though they spake of Mussheromes and Grashoppers And when they say so what shall wee looke for at their hands concerning the seruice of God and heauenly things sith they thinke them to haue bene bred of the earth But yet they will not denye that this Cecrops was an AEgiptian who brought them certeyne lawes for the ordering of Mariage which is a sure proofe that they were vtterly ignorant of the law of God and Man Long tyme after him came their Gods and Oracles insomuch that al the Greekish Historie is as ye would say tungtyde for many hundred yéeres after like a brooke that loseth himself within thirtie paces of his first spring Among the AEgiptians Syrians there was more forme of gouernement but as for Religion they worshipped the Heauens the Planets and the Starres which are in very déede made for man and for mans vse are put vnder certeyne lawes by God and therefore much lesse are those Gods able to make men subiect vnto them And if there were any among them that knewe more than others it was the Birdgazers and the Bowelgazers which are a kynd of Witches that turned men away from God to the Creatures and therefore in no wise directed them to Saluation But what shall wee finde among the people of Israell at that tyme A Moyses that preacheth but the onely one God and teacheth from him how he will be serued and a Lawe that setteth the bounds both of Religion and Policie and the duetie of man both towards God and his neighbour which euery seuenth day is read openly to all the people which the Kings haue before their eyes the Priestes beare about them the Fathers teach to their Children and the Maysters to their Seruants and which the very walles and forefronts of their houses doe shewe both to strangers and to their household folke At the happiest tyme that ye can choose in Rome or Athens for I am willing to omit their barbarousnesse what haue wee I say not of Religion but of Order in Iustice and state of Gouernment that commeth any thing néere to that Contrarywise what lawe was there euer set foorth among them which was not abolished againe ere it was knowne to the people Or who made account of it but the Lawyers Or who brake not the lawe afore he knewe it To be short where haue wee read that any whole Nation were all Lawyers and all skilfull in the Lawes of God and men but the people of Israell And why was that but because the same Law conteined the rule of welfare the which it was méet that all folk without exception should know and vnderstand because that naturally all men ought to tend vnto their saluation And as touching the antiquitie of Moyses the setter foorth of that Lawe among that people I will not haue ye to beléeue me but the Gentyles themselues The very ground of the antiquitie of Greece say Diodorus Denis of Halycarnassus was Inachus who liued twentie Generations that is to say about fower hundred yéeres afore the warres of Troy And Ptolomie of Mendese a Priest of AEgipt who gathered his Historie out of the holy Registers of the AEgiptians sayd

and it was as easie for a Christian to driue Apollo out of his Priest or Pythonesse as to driue a Deuill out of one that was possessed And Iulian himselfe as Zosimus dareth not denye found by proofe in his Magical works how weake his Gods were and how strong Christ is Moreouer some curious Princes haue by their Magicians caused Iupiter Neptune Vulcane Mercurie Apollo and Saturne himself that is to say the Deuilles that decked themselues with their names to appeare which thing they could neuer cause Christ to do with all the Coniurations that they had and that is because all those Gods of theirs were Deuilles ouer whom good men haue power by commaunding them in the name of GOD and euill men by pleasing them But as for Iesus Christ the very sonne of God he stoopeth not to any creature but is serued by Angelles and good men as by his Seruants and by Deuils and wicked men as by his Slaues Also at the same tyme that Iesus came there was scarsly any Countrie in the world where these Deuilles had not men offered ordinarily vnto them in Sacrifice as we vnderstand by Porphyrius himselfe and as I haue declared heretofore But in the reigne of Tyberius they were forbidden in Affricke and the Priests that Sacrificed them were hanged vp in their hallowed Groues And vnder the Emperour Adrian all Sacrifices and all Idolles were abolished almost euerywhere And therfore sayth S. Austin to the people of Medaure See how your Temples are partly decayed for want of reparation and partly shut vp and partly altered to another vse To worship your Idols you haue put the Christians to death the Christians by their dying haue cast your Idols downe to the ground And in another place he cryeth out where be your Gods where be your Prophets where be your Oracles your Bowelgazings and your Sacrifices And we reade not of any that reprooued him of vntrueth notwithstanding that many and among them one Zosimus bewayleth the decay of them and yet doth not any of them step foorth for him to shewe any remaynder of them And whereas Iulian sayth As our Oracles are ceassed so also be your Prophets Let him first shewe vpon what cause his Oracles are ceassed which many haue sought and none yet found As for ours they had an eye to Christ and amed at him as their marke and now that he is come the office of the messenger ceasseth in the presence of the maister and the representing of saluation by Sacrifices ceasseth because the Saluation it selfe is come Iesus therefore hath ouercome both the world and the Prince of the world by a force in outward showe cleane contrarie to all victorie and by a way contrarie to the end that he intended that is to wit by his word which to the sight of the world is folly féeblenesse Let vs see now how in his workes he passeth all the abilitie of al Creatures according to this saying of his The works which I doe doe beare witnesse of me And soothly it is a myracle that so many people haue beléeued at the preaching of the Apostles but a farre more wonder that so fewe folke in these our daies should regard it though Iesus Christ and his Apostles had neuer wrought other myracle than that as I haue often sayd afore But that they wrought very great myracles besides I see fewe of the Heathen that dare denye it and against the Iewes I haue sufficiently proued it alreadie Wee haue a Letter of Pylats wherein he witnesseth that Iesus gaue sight to the blynd cleansed Leapers healed them that were diseased with the Palsey deliuered men from Deuilles ouerruled the waters raysed the dead and rose againe himselfe after he had bene dead thrée daies Also our Diuines of olde tyme say vnto the Heathen Reade your owne Commentaries and search your Registers you shal finde there the myracles of Iesus And the Emperour Iulian speaking of him in skorne sayth thus What hath this Iesus done worthie of memorie or of any account in all his life sauing that he cured a fewe blynd and lame men and deliuered some from Deuils that possessed them in the Villages of Bethsaida and Bethania To be short as well the Turkes as the Iewes confesse and commend his myracles and the Emperours would neuer haue estéemed of him if it had not bin for his myracles Apollo himself in his Oracles called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say The wise in wonderfull workes But let vs take Iulian at his word and his confession will bee enough Put the case that he had done no more but cured the blynd and that he had cured no moe than one Who is so blynd that in this healing of the blynd seeth not this singuler power of God Is not the eyesight one of the excellentest substances in the world And what is the restoring of sight but the restoring of a substance and what is the restoring thereof but a newe creating therof euen of nothing And what can make a substance how small soeuer it bee of nothing but an infinite power The which who can haue but the only one God or who can be the instrument or disposer thereof but only he that pleaseth God To be briefe is he not without the bounds of nature which can create a substance And whence hath he then that power but from the maker of nature at leastwise if he be not the maker himself But our Lord Iesus wrought infinite myracles as the Iewes that sawe them haue witnessed and doe witnesse still and not only he but also his Apostles and not onely his Apostles but also their Disciples And in deede they haue contriued certeyne bookes vnder the name of Iesus as dedicated by him to Peter and Paule conteyning an Arte of working Myracles by likelihood because they had seene them painted together howbeit that Paule as is well knowen kept not cōpanie with Christ while hee liued in the flesh but persecuted his Disciples a good while after And S. Paule sayth expresly that he himselfe came in signes and myracles wherein if he lyed it was an easie matter to disproue him Againe Christ wrought some such myracles as Iulian being vnable to denye falleth to rayling and reuyling him calling him the greatest Magician that euer was in the world And of Saint Peter they report that by his Magick he made the Christian Religion durable for the space of thréehundred thréescore and fiue yeres and that he did it without the priuitie and consent of Iesus Whence rise these great slaunders but of the greatnesse of the workes of Christ and his Disciples And if they had not done both great and manifest myracles had not the shortest way bene to haue denyed them But let vs consider of what spirit these contrarieties procéede Iesus say they did dedicate a booke to Peter and Paule and Paule was a persecuter at that time and long time after Likewise Peter say they stablished

was proclayming his Lawes and yet notwithstanding those Lawes bare sway in Lacedemon many hundred yéeres after But Iulian must remember also that the Phrasians being next neighbours to Lycurgus and his confederates companyons in armes would not admit them and that the Lacedemonians themselues corrected them while he was yet aliue vpon the report whereof he dyed out of hand for pride greef disdeyne But what comparison is there betweene Sparta and the whole world betwéene dying for disdeyne to see his Lawes corrected and dying willingly to correct the Lawes of all the world What will he tell vs now of Alexander He had a great Hoste and power of men so much the more weaker was he of himselfe Iesus was despised and full of infirmitie so much the greater is his mightinesse and honor Alexander vanquished the Persians in Battell how much more commendable had it bene if he had done it with a blast of his mouth If he had liued he would haue conquered the whole world how much more honorable had it bene if he had tryumphed ouer the world by dying Alexander increased his kingdome by oppressing and Iesus by yéelding Alexander by killing and Iesus by dying But Alexanders Empyre decayed by his death whereas the kingdome of Iesus was both founded and stablished by the death of himself and his The difference therfore betwixt them is as great as is betwixt him that dyeth and him that quickeneth or betwéene him that of all maketh a thing of nothing and him which of nothing maketh all things To bee short if ye looke for vertue A man that excelled in vertue was in old tyme a wonder The Philosophers themselues sayth Cornelius Nepos condemned themselues in their owne teachings But after the tyme that Iesus was once preached what a number of men women and euen children in Towne and Countrie yea and in Wildernesses taught vertue to the world by their example If ye require rightuousnesse what were the first Christians but teachers of equitie of vncorruptnesse and of vprightnesse Yea what enemie of theirs doe wee finde that once openeth his mouth to accuse them If ye seeke the despising of death in déede they make a great a doe of one Zeno an Eleate for spitting out his Tongue at a Tyrant least he might confesse what the Tyrant demaunded and likewise of one Leena a woman of Athens that indured all maner of torments without vttering one word If this be so great a matter what a thing is it that in one age ye shal haue whole millions of all fexes of all ages of all states degrées and conditions go willingly and ioyfully to death insomuch that the Historiographer Arrianus makes a generall rule of it That all Christians made in effect no account of death not to conceale any fault of theirs as those others did who had leuer to haue suffered tormēts than to haue dyed but for professing the thing openly before all people which they had learned of God as folke that would haue thought themselues vnworthie to liue if they had hild their peace To bee short what Disciples what Subiects what Souldyers had Socrates Lycurgus or Alexander in all their life that came any thing nigh this these I say which were taught ruled and trayned vp by Iesus euen after he was departed hence and by his Apostles which were rude ignorant and weake as long as he was conuersant with them yea and euen at the very tyme of his death Besides this notable alteration I sayd also that at that tyme the seruing of Idols ceassed in all places at once Are they thinke you so voyd of wit as to say that the ceassing thereof in so many places in so notable maner and in so great geynstriuings happened by chaunce And must it not be that those Gods were made in great haste which had perished by so sodeine chance No say they it came to passe by a Constellation that is to say I wote not what a méeting together of the Starres in the Skye Let vs examin● this Astrologie a little They suppose and it is a cōmon opinion that according to the diuersitie of Images in the Skye there are also diuers Religions and diuers Goddes in diuers Nations and therefore they deuide the world into seauen Clymates and vn to euery Clymate they allot a seuerall Planet to haue the rule of it But how wil they answer to Bardesanes the Syrian who as they themselues cannot denye was the wisest of all the Chaldees Ye part the world sayth he into seauen Clymates euery Clymate to bee gouerned by a Planet and what a number of Nations are vnder euery Clymate In euery Nation what a number of Shyres In euery Shyre what a sort of Townes All which doe differ both in Lawes in Gods and in Religions and that not only according to the number of the twelue Signes or of the sixe and thirtie faces only but in infinite sorts In India vnder one selfesame Clymat some eate mans flesh and some eate no flesh at all some worship Idols and othersome admit none at all Againe ths Magusians carie them whether soeuer ye will are giuen to Incest after the custome of their Moothercoūtry Persia from whence they descend And the Iewes being dispersed ouer all the world alter not their Religion nor their maner of life wheresoeuer ye bestow them To be short a Nation departing out of one Clymate carieth new Goddes and newe Lawes into another Clymate and yet the Clymate neither troubleth nor hindereth the doing thereof What vertue haue the Clymats or the Signes ouer Lawes and Religions the differences whereof are made by Forrestes Riuers and Mountaynes which are the bounds of Iurisdictions rather thā by them And which they are brought into againe euen in despite of them by men by custome and by conquest And in good sooth whereof commeth it that in the Countries where Venus Mercurie and Saturne were worshipped in old time the Gods are now abolished quite and cleane yet the signes are still in the same places where they were afore And whereof commeth it that the Iewish Lawe beeing banished and vtterly rooted out of their owne Countrie continueth vnder all Clymates still How happeneth it that the Religion of Mahomet is now where the Christian Religion was in tyme past and the Christian is now where sometyme were the bluddy Altars of Saturne and Mars and in some places many and contrarie Religions together For the saluing of this absurditie they runne into another Not the Clymates in very déede say they doe make the differences in Religion but the great Cōiunctions of the Planets and yet euen about this poynt they bee at great oddes among themselues For some say that the great Coniunctions of Iupiter and Saturne and none other do dispose of Religion Others say that properly Iupiter betokeneth Religion and that after as he is accompanied so bringeth he foorth the diuersities of them as for example accompanyed with Saturne the

Iewish with Mars the Chaldee with the Sunne the AEgiptian with Venus the Mahometane with Mercurie the Christian and with Luna the Antichristian and that there cannot be aboue sixe of them If I should aske both of them a reason or an experience of their saying I doubt which of them would be most graueled But because I will shewe my selfe more indifferent I require first that they agree among themselues to tell mee which is a great Coniunction which is a meane one and which is a small one for as yet they varie vppon that poynt And likewise whether the nineth house or the seuenth house is the house of Religion Herewithall I would haue them to set me downe the beginnings of the great Coniunctions that they might iump with the originall springings vp of Religious and with the chaunges of them which thing they haue not hetherto done Thirdly if Religion depend vppon the Coniunction of the Planets let them tell me whither vpō the ceassing of those Coniunctions the Religions shall not ceasse also or at leastwise anon after as light fayleth by the going away of the Sunne and wherevppon it commeth then that the Christian the Iewish and the Heathen Religions haue continued so many hundred yéeres seeing there was neuer any Astrologer that once dreamed that a Cōiunction should last so long Fourthly what greate Con●unction bred the doctrine of Iesus Christ seeing there was neuer any chaunge in Religion so great so vniuersall so speedie nor so durable and yet euen by their owne confession there was not at that tyme nor neere about that tyme any Coniunction either great or small that could be perceiued To be short if only Iupiter Saturne be the authors of such chaunge which of them maketh the difference in Religions If Iupiter make the diuersities of them according as he is accompanyed how happeneth it that there bee so many and so sundrie sorts of Religions seeing it was sayd afore that there can bee no mo than sixe Againe what great Coniunction was there at the chaunge of Religion made by Mahomet Or at the change that was made afterward by the Arabians or Saracens in Affrick And when of two Coūtries yea and euen of two Cities that haue but a Riuer betwixt them the one sticketh stoutly and wilfully to the old Religion and the other imbraceth the newe what Coniunction may be the cause of such disiunction But too come too particulars I aske of them concerning the chaunge of Religion that was brought vp in the tyme of Iesus whether they giue their iudgment thereof by the first vprysing and originall of Idolatrie which was to fayle at that tyme as a Clew of yarne that is wound out too the end or by the Orignall of the Christen Religion which was to succéede and to smoulder the other by the force and operation of some greate Coniunction then fresh and lusty to thrust it foorth Ag●ine as touching the originall beginning or first vprysing be it of that Religion which came vp or of that which went downe whence do they take it from the first publishing thereof as they iudge of a Citie by the laying of the first stone or from the birth of the founder or inioyner thereof by lawe as if a man should iudge of the prosperitie and luckynesse of a Citie or house by the natiuitie or birth of the Maistermason or of the owner or founder that causeth it to be builded But if Idolatrie was to decay at that tyme by reason that the force of the Coniunction that caused it was then outworne did all sorts of Idolatrie being so many in nomber spring all of one selfsame Coniunction and therefore must néedes al fayle not once Who can tel when the force of a Coniunction shall vanish away but he that knoweth the first instant of the beginning thereof And where haue they euer marked or found out eyther the very instant or any tyme neare the instant wherein Idolatrie was first borne which béeing so dyuersly shaped and of so sundry sorts must néeds by their owne opinion depend vpon many great Coniunctions Or where haue they cast the natiuitie of the first founder thereof who certeinly 〈◊〉 néeds bee mo than one Or if they iudge it by the first vprysing of the Christian Religion if it depend vppon a greate Coniunction let them shewe vs one that tyme or if it proceede from the natiuitie of the setter vp thereof by Lawe let them tell vs where they haue red it For they wilnot denye● but that the birthtyme of Iesus about the casting whereof so many Astrologers haue bewrayed their owne folly is vncerteine and without ground To be short eyther the springing vp of Religion is as vpon some greate Coniunction and at that tyme there was none such too be marked or els at the springing vp thereof by the preaching of Iesus some greate Coniunction matching there withall did giue force vnto it but none such was séene about that time neither or finally both the vprysing and the force thereof depended vppon the birthtyme of Iesus and that is more vncerteine and lesse knowen vnto vs than both the other But that the birth of one man should ouerrule so many natures and so manie Nations what Astrologie will permit séeing that some one or other of euery Nation myght be borne in the self-same instant as well as he And that such a natiuitie should ouerrule not only the Nations but also the Gods or rather diuells of the Nations what theologie or what Astrologie will graunt séeing that by the iudgment of the best Astrologers the Starres inforce not the mynd of man and much lesse the separated mynds as they terme them that is to say Spirits and that euen by their owne diuinitie men ought to honor and obey the Gods Finally what order is this that the Starres should haue dominion ouer a man and by the same man tryumph ouer all the Gods But the ●anitie of these contemplations or rather gasings is playnly bewrayed by the effect thereof For by their supposed Coniunctions they gaue their iudgment that the Christen Religion should not continue aboue thrée hundred and thréescore yéeres or thereabouts and then did it manifest itself more and more to the ouerthrowe of all maner of vngodlynes and superstition Albumazar extended it afterward to the thousand fourehundred and Sixtith yere and yet GOD be thanked it lifteth itself vp ageine and shineth foorth still more and more On the otherside Abraham a Iew Prophesied that in the yéere of our Lord a thousand fowerhundred thréescore and fower the Iewish Religion should get the vpper hand the which was neuer more oppressed than at that tyme. This serueth to shewe that their iudicial Astrologie is so vayne and fond that although ye graunted them all their suppositions whereof in very déede they can make no proofe yet thei would cōfute themselues by the course of the tymes and also by their owne consents Neuerthelesse I would not haue any man

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 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 force● of his spirit and with his owne finger to plant his doctrine so deeply in them as it may take roote and bring● 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 mā 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 religion● That the Gods which were wo●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

which is the second marke of the true Religion That throughout the whole processe of the Bible or olde Testament there are things which cānot proceed but frō God That the things which seeme most wonderful in our scriptures are confirmed by the heathen themselues Also the solutions of their obiections That the meane which God hath ordeyned for mans saluatiō hath bene reuealed from time to time to the people of Israel which is the 3. mark of the true religion That the mediator or Messias is promised in the Scriptures to be both God man that is to wit the eternall Sonne of God taking mans flesh vnto him That the time whereat the mediator was promised to come is ouerpast therfore that he must needes bee come already as wel according to the Scriptures as according to the traditions of the Iewwes That resus the Son of Mary came at the time promised by the scriptures that he is the mediator and Messias A solution of the Obiections which the lews alledge against Iesus that he might not bee receiued for the true Christ or Messias That Iesus Christ was is god the son of god cōtrary to the opiniō of the Gentiles A solution of the obiections of the Gentiles against the Sonne of God That the Gospell doth in very deede conteine the historie and doctrine of Iesus Christ the Sonne of God ¶ The Conclusion of the whole booke OF THE TREWNES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION The first Chapter That there is a God and that all men agree in the Godhead SUch as make profession to teach vs doo say they neuer finde lesse what too say then when the thing which they treate of is more manifest and more knowne of 〈◊〉 selfe then all that can bee alledged for the setting foorth thereof And such are the principles of all the Sciences and specially of the certeynest as which consist in Demonstration The whole will Euclyde say is greater then his part And if from equall things ye take equall things the Remaynder shall be equall This is rather perceiued of euery man by commō sence then prooued by sharpnesse of Reason And like as they that would goe about too proue it doo shewe themselues worthie to bee laughed at as which should take vpon them to inlighten the Sunne with a Candle so they that deny it doe shewe themselues to bee wranglers and vnworthie of all conference as contenders against their owne mother wit yea and against their owne confession according to this common saying of the Schooles That there is no reazoning against those which deny the Principles Now if there bée any matter wherein this Rule is found trew it is most peculiarly in this that there is a God For it is so many waies and so liuely paynted foorth in all things and so peculiarly ingrauen in mans hart that all that euer can bée deuized sayd and written thereof is much lesse then that which is séene thereof euery where and which men feele thereof in themselues If yée looke vpward yée see there infinite bodies and infinite mouings diuers and yet not trubling one another If yée looke downeward yée see the Sea continuasly threatening the Earth and yet not passing his bounds and likewise the Earth altoogither heauie and massie and yetnotwithstanding settled or rather hanged in the Ayre so as it stirreth not awh● These bodies dire● vs incontinently too a Spirit and this orderlines too a certeine Gouerner forsomuch as it is certeine in nature that bodies haue of themselues no mouing and that euen those bodies which are quickened could not agrée stedfastly either with other bodies or with themselues but by the ordering and gouerning of a Superiour But when wée enter afterward intoo our selues and finde there an abridgement of the whole vniuersall a bodie fit for all sorts of mouings a Soule which without remouing maketh the bodies too mooue which way it listeth a Reazon therein which guydeth them euerychone in their dooings and yetnothwithstanding this Soule too bée such as wée can neither see it nor conceiue it It ought in all reazon too make vs all too vnderstand that in this great vniuersall masse there is a soueraine Spirite which maketh mooueth and gouern●●● all that wée see there by whom wée liue moue and bée who in our bodies hath framed a Counterfet of the whole world and in our Soules hath ingrauen an image of himself This is it that caused one auncient Philosopher too say that whereas our eyes cannot pearce vnto God he suffereth himselfe too bée felt with our hands And another too say that the very first vse of Reazon is imployed in conceiuing the Godhead not properly by knowing it but as it were by feeling it which is more certeine yea and that the béeing of our Soule is nothing els but the knowing of God vpon whom it dependeth And Auicen speaketh yet more boldly saying that he which acknowledgeth not the Godhead is voyd not of Reason but euen of Sence Now if these Sences from whence our first knowledge proceedeth doo witnesse the thing vnto vs and wée do firmly beléeue a thing when we feele it and that as they teach vs wée may féele GOD as well in the world as in our selues Surely vnto him that treateth of Religiō it ought too bée graunted as an vnuiolable Principle That there is a God and all men ought too bée forbidden too call it into question vpon paine of ●ot being men any more For if euery Science haue his Principles which it is not lawfull to remoue bée it neuer so little much more reason is it that it should be so with that thing which hath the ground of all Principles for his Principle Neuerthelesse let vs with the leaue of all good men bestowe this Chapter vpon the wickednesse of this our age and if there bée any which by forgetting God haue in very déede forgotten their owne shape and mistaken their owne nature let them learne heereby too reknowledge themselues againe It is a straunge cace that these men which ordinarily speake of nothing but the world will not see in the world the thing which the world sheweth and teacheth in all parts For let vs begin at the lowest mount vp too the highest and let vs consider it whole together or in his parts and wée shall not finde any thing therein either so great or so small which leadeth vs not step by step vntoo a Godhead In this world too consider it first in the whole we haue fower degrées of things to wit which haue Béeing which haue Life which haue Sence and which haue Reason Some are indewed with all these giftes and some but with some of them The Ayre the Sea and the Earth are great and haue a great scope They beare vp and susteyne all things that haue Life all things that haue Sence and all things that haue Reason And yet notwithstanding they themselues haue not any more then onely bare Béeing without Life without Sence without