Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	bring_v	death_n	wage_n	3,944	5	10.7954	5	false

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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

We haue read in the booke of Nature that Man is immortall that his happinesse is not here beneath but in the endlesse lyfe that the blessednesse of that endlesse lyfe is to inioy God aboue and that the meane to atteyne thereto is to serue and honour him here beneath with all our heart But the same booke hath taught vs also that by sinne we bée falne from our originall that we be falne from Gods fauour into his wrath that we be infinitely departed away both from seruing him and from sticking to him and cōsequently that we be gone a●tray from the happinesse which we should seeke cannot find elsewhere thā in him What remayneth then for vs but vtter despayre And whereto serueth the said endlesse lyfe but to be turned into endlesse death And the euerlasting happynesse wherevnto wee were created but to our euerlasting grief vnlesse some Boord be left vs at hand to saue vs from our shipwrecke I meane vnlesse God doo make vs some way both to appease his wrath and to come ageine into his fauour In this extremitie therefore wee méete with Religion which directeth vs to the true God But what els is that than a sending of an offender to his Iudge or a laying of Strawe to the fyre considering that God is infinitely good that is to say infinitely contrarie to euill and if contrarie to euill then also vnto vs whose thoughts sayings and dooings are altogether euill The same Religion hath set vs downe the Scriptures wherein wee reade the will of our Creator But what haue we yet found there That mankind is corrupt from his roote and as it were rotten at his Core That all the imaginations of mans heart are alwayes vtterly euill and yet notwithstanding that God commaundeth vs to loue him with all our heart and our neighbour as our selfe behighting to them that doe it euerlasting lyfe and to them that doe it not euerlasting death Which of vs feeleth not a stryuing in all his members ageinst the will of God And consequently who is hée that ought not too feele a very Hell when he entereth into himselfe and into the scriptures to reade his Arreignement and Condemnation And so what is Religion but vanitie and what is the Scripture or Gods word but a harthyting if wee find not there the Charters of grace and remission which reconcyle vs to God and knit vs ageine vnto him and by that vnyting doe restore vs the happynesse wherevnto we were created So falleth it out that God cannot be disappoynted of his purpose and that the Religion which hee hath graued so déepely in mans heart cannot be in vayn Néedes then must it be that in the true religion and in the Scriptures we must find our grace and the meane thereof which is the third and chief mark that we séeke Let vs expresse this Doctrine yet playnlier for it is the very knot and forme or inshape of all Religion The happynesse of man is to be vnited vnto God and the way to be vnited vnto him is to sticke vnto his will The first man being created free and capable of good disobeyed GOD and by his disobedience became a bondslaue to sinne So was hee farre remoued from God and from his owne welfare and had not grace stepped in he had bin in extreme miserie which we call Hell Of this Rebell are we all borne and his flesh hath begotten vs both fleshly and bondslaues of sinne as he was By Nature than we can looke for none other than the wages of sinne which is death neither can wee haue any other inheritance than our Fathers who hath left vs nothing els to inherit but damnation Now let vs see what we our selues haue brought to this decayed succession In sted of discharging our Obligation we ronne on further in arrerages and lyking well thereof we da●lie increase our debt For none of vs al dischargeth himself to God-ward of the things which he requireth of vs iustly in his Law and therefore wee continue still behind hand Nay there is none of vs which offendeth not the Lord infinite waies daily in thought word and deede by meanes whereof we plundge our selues in euer déeper and déeper Now then though we found not our succession so decayed yet doe wee our selues make it such by our excessiue debts and continuall offences which in effect is all that wee can bring thereto And against whom see wee these offences Euen against God against our father against our maker al which is a great aggrauating of our fault namely that the Child should rebell against his father or that a thing of nothing should turne away from his creator yea and which worse is take wages of the Deuill to fight against him The crime is so out of al measure great that it cannot nor ought not to bee inhaunced But were there no further matter than this that forasmuch as God is infinite the offence is multiplyed according to the person against whom it is commited our offence against GOD cannot but bee infinite and consequently so must our punishment be too Now therfore we poore wretches subiect to infinite paynes without number which by our continuall misdeedes doe daily multiply the infinitenesse of our punishments still euen to the vttermost haue néede of a remedie And what shall that remedie be Gods mercie Nay mercie may not be contrarie to his Iustice. What then Gods Iustice No wee haue neede of mercie By what meane may GOD execute his Iustice without disanulling his mercie or exercise mercie without preiudice of his Iustice so as both of them may be verified as well that God is infinitely gracious as that he infinitely hateth all euill both together If he shewe mercie absolutely to an infinite offence where is his Iustice Or where is his vniuersall gouernment whereby he yéeldeth good to the good and euill to the euill Yea and where is our owne Iustice become which is but a shadowe of Gods Againe if he execute mere Iustice what shall become of Mankynd after this life Or rather why hath he mainteyned him euer since his first fal that his Iustice hath not deuowred vs of al this while vs I say in whom is not any thing which burneth not before his wrath It remayneth then that to appease his wrath and to make way to mercie which wrath of his is nothing els but a iust intent to punish and which mercie of his is likewise but a iust intent to forgiue there must come some satisfaction betwene God and Man without the which there would bee as ye might terme it an vtter Emptinesse in the world whereunto nature it selfe cannot agree But what a depth is here yet still considering that the fault is infinite and the punishment must be proportionable to the fault and the satisfaction likewise to the punishment that is to say that satisfaction infinitely infinite is required at our hands Let man offer the whole world vnto God and what offereth he but that

it so Yet notwithstanding of all these babes which to thy seeming are but as forlorne things none dyeth for want of nurce or nourishment though there be nothing but payn and care in bringing them vp Therfore it must néedes follow that euen from the beginning a certeyne prouidence hath watched ouer them which hath ingrauen this kindly affection and carefulnesse in the mothers breast and the lesse that babes can do for themselues the more manifestly doth Gods power shine foorth in prouyding for them As for the bruite Beasts it was not requisite for them to be brought into the world in that sort forasmuch as being vnable to conceiue reason they had no interest at all in the knowledge of those things As touching diseases if thou blame the seasons of the yeere for them thou mayst as well blame the fire for burning thée which yet notwithstanding thou canst not forbeare For the fault is in thyne owne vndiscréetnesse and not in their nature and in thyne own vnrulinesse and not in their distemperance The selfsame heate wherwith thou findest fault ripeneth the Corne Wine and Fruites wherewith the most part of the world are fed And if thou thinke that any man be therby cast into an Agew he might haue forborne the to haue gone into the Sunne but he could not haue forborne the shining of the Sunne vpon the earth But if fathers of housholds haue roddes at hand to correct their children withal and that a part of their gouernment consist therein thinkest thou it straunge 〈◊〉 he which hath set vs in the World should haue meanes to 〈◊〉 vs in awe to bring vs home to him What wilt thou say 〈◊〉 a number of diseases which are as certeine fruits of some vices sinnes as one of Drunkennesse and another of Lecherie and so forth Or what wilt thou say to Hippocrates himselfe who speaking of ordinarie sores and diseases inioyneth the Phisition in any wise to consider well whether there be any peculiar stroke of God in them or no that is to say whether the sicknesse or disease bee extraordinarie so as the proper and nerest cause thereof be the hand of God vpon the party Now furthermore if there be nothing but disorder and wretchednesse in this World why blamest thou death which maketh thée to depart out of it If it bee because thou hast goodes which thou art loth to forgo thou must consider that if thy parents had not giuen place to thée by order of Nature those goodes had now bene none of thyne If it be because Death maketh cleane riddance of most things thinke also that in so doing it maketh place for other moe that are to spring vp in their place But yet if thou wouldest consider how often men goe to seeke Death where it seemeth to be doluen most déepe and yet finde it not how many méete with it at Bankets at Feastes at Mariages at Triumphes and where they would most faynest forget it how many there be which dye yoong and in good health and how many liue fore diseased euen to the depth of olde age how many returne safe from most cruell Battels to dye in their beddes and how many dye in battell or in some fray which haue shunned strife and tumult all their life long thou shalt easely perceyue that our life and our death are not in our owne hand ne yet depend vpon fortune forasmuch as we scape so many places where fortune seemeth to reigne and that much lesse doth our life and death depend vpon Nature seeing it is not with vs as it is with Trées and other liuing things to whom there is set a certeyne terme which for the most part they fulfill and ouerpasse it not but that our life and death depend vpon a higher cause whose onely will disposeth and boundeth them accordingly as is expedient for his owne glorie for the order of the whole yea and for our selues too Had it not bene better then sayst thou that man had bene made immortall rather than mortall And had it not bene much better also I say that the earth had rather bin fire than earth or that the eare had rather bene eye than eare seeing that the one is more excellent than the other and in the opinion of the Philosophers it is better to haue qualities actiue than passiue Had the earth bin fire where couldest thou haue rested And if thyne eares had bene eyes what had become of thy spéech yea of thy reason too Now therefore my friend giue this world leaue to be a world that is to wit a disposing of diuers things and an order of many degrées Euery kinde of thing hath his bounds and buttelles accordingly as God hath listed to appoynt thereto The Plant is a Plant because it doth but liue and grow if it had sence also thē should it be a Beast A Beast is a Beast because it liueth and hath sence if it procéeded so farre as to haue reason also then were it a Man Man reasoneth and discourseth because he is Man and were he therto vnchaungeable he were a God He therefore that demaundeth why the Plant hath no sence and why Man is not immortall in this World demaundeth why the Plant is a Plant and why Man is Man To be short the cause why it is so is that it hath pleased God to set as it were the diuers strings of the World in tune to make one harmonie insomuch that whosoeuer taketh away the diuersitie of things taketh away the World it selfe But this is a poynt whereon they greatly stand Well say they Admit that the diuine Prouidence haue stablished the World yea and that it haue an vniuersall care thereof Yet to toyle it self in the carke and care of so many particular things specially in this sinke here beneath I meane in this elementall world which is subiect to so many chaunges seemeth rather woorthie of dispraise than of praise Nay say I but if it be a praise vnto God to haue created all things as well beneath as aboue what discommendation can it bee vnto him to preserue them all And seeing he made them all of nothing whence procéedeth their woorthinesse or vnwoorthinesse but of his will Why should the cloth of Gold be of more account than the cloth of Hempe or the Silke of more account than the Linnen to the Paynter that paynted them both If God gouerne the Heauen why should he not also gouerne the Earth whereon doe go so infinite sorts of liuing things in euery of the which yea euen in the Flye and the Ant the greatnesse of the Creator shineth forth more than in the very Heauen as namely in their so liuely life so readie vse of sences so nimble and free mouing yea and in the very littlenesse of them which in so small roome conteyneth so many great things together For wee wonder more at the Clockmakers cunning in making a Clock which a Flye may couer with her wings than in

man the Countie of Mirandula praying them to consider at least wyse whether the greate studye and peynes which those greate Clerks haue tak●n to disprooue this destinie can by any meanes bee fathered vppon destinie Now then for a small conclusion of this whole discourse let vs say that God is a souereine Beeing and a souerein mynd and that Beeing and Mynding are all one in him and therefore that as in creating things the might and power of his Beeing extended euen to the least things or els they had not bin at all so the Prouidence forecast and direction of his mynd extend to all things or else they could not continue Let not the confusion of things which we see ●eere belowe trubble vs for the greater the same is the great●● doth Gods prouidence shewe it self therein as the skill of a Phisition doth in the intricatenesse of a disease But who is he that can limit the sight of the Euerlasting God Surely not the prosperities of the wicked for they be but visors nor the aduersities of the godly for they be but exercises nor the Deathes of the giltlesse for it is but a poudering of their vertewes to preserue them to the vse of posteritie Nay let not euen sinne it selfe which is the very euill in deede cause any grudge of mynd in vs for God Created Nature good but euill is sproong thereof He Created freedome and it is degenerated into Loocenesse But let vs prayse God for giuing vs powers and let vs condemne our selues for abusing them Let vs glorifie him for chastising vs by our owne Loocenesse for executing his Iustice by our vniust Dealings and for performing the ordinaunce of his rightfull will by our inordinate passions It we see a thing whereof we knowe not the cause let vs acknowledge our ignorance and not name it fortune The causes that are furthest a sunder are neere at hand vnto him to performe whatsoeuer he listeth If we do any vnreasonable thing let vs not alledge necessitie He can skill to vse all things without marring them the moouable according to their moouings the things indewed with will according to their passions and the things indewed with reason according to their reasonings In thinking to do our owne will we bring his to passe We be free to followe out owne Nature and our Nature is becomme euill through sinne O wretched fréedome which bringeth vs vnder such bondage And a●fore this nature of ours we can neither shun it nor driue it from vs for we be bon●●laues to it and it to sinne and there behoueth a stronger than our selues to rid vs thereof Therefore let vs pray God to bring the fréedome of our wills in bondage to his will and to frée our soules from this hard and damnable kind of fréedome and to graunt vs by his grace not as to the wicked to doe his will in béeing vnwilling to do it but as to his Children at least wise to be willing to doe it euen in not doing it The xiiij Chapter That the Soule of Man is immortall or dyeth not HIthertoo I haue treated of the world that is to be conceiued in vnderstanding and of the sensible World as the Platonists tearme them that is to say of God and of this World Now followeth the examining of the Little World as they terme it that is to say of man Concerning God we haue acknowledged him to be a Spirit and as touching the World we haue found it to be a body In man wee haue an abridgment of both namely of God in respect of Spirit and of the World in composition of body as though the Creator of purpose to set forth a mirror of his woorks intended to bring into one little compasse both the infinitenesse of his owne nature and also the hougenesse of the whole world together Wee see in mans body a Woonderfull mixture of the fower Elements the veynes spreading forth like Riuers to the vttermost members as many instruments of sence as theere be sensible natures in the world a greate nomber of sinewes Fleshstrings and knitters a Head by speciall priuiledge Directed vp too Heauen-ward Hands seruing to all maner of seruices Whatsoeuer he is that shall consider no more but onely this instrument without life without sence and without mouing cannot but think verily that it is made to verie greate purpose and he must needes krie out as Hermes or as the Sarzin Abdala doth that man is a miracle which farre surmounteth not only these Lower Elements but also the verie Heauen and all the ornaments thereof But if he could as it were out of himself behold this body receiuing life and entering into the vse of all his motions with such forewardnesse hands bestirring themselues so nimbly and after so sundrie fashions and the Senses vttering their force so farre of without stirring out of their place think you not that he would be woonderfully rauished and so much more woonder at the sayd life mouing and sence than at the body as he woondered afore at the body to behold the excellencie of the proportion thereof aboue the masse of some stone For what comparison is there betweene a Lute and a Luteplayer or betweene a dumb instrument and him that maketh it to sound What would he say then if he could afterward see how the same man being now quickned atteyneth in one moment from the one side of the earth to the other without shifting of place descending downe to the centre of the world and mounting vp aboue the outtermost circle of it both at once present in a thousand places at one instant imbracing the whole without touching it kreeping vpon the earth and yet conteyning it beholding the Heauens from beneath and beeing aboue the Heauens of Heauens both at once Should hee not be compelled to say that in this sillie body there dwelleth a greater thing than the body greater than the earth yea greater than the whole world togither Then let vs say with Plato that man is dubble outward and inward The outward man is that which we see with our eyes which forgoeth not his shape whē it is dead no more than a Lute forgoeth his shape when the Luteplaier ceasseth from making it to sound howbeit that both life mouing sence and reason be out of it The inward man is the Soule and that is properly the very man which vseth the body as an instrument whereunto though it be vnited by the power of God yet doth it not remoue when the body ronneth It seeth when the eyes be shut and sometymes seeth not when the eyes be wyde open It traueleth while the body resteth and resteth when the body traueleth that is to say it is able of it self to parforme his owne actions without the help of the outward man wheras on the contrarie part the outward without the help of the inward that is to wit the body without the presence of the Soule hath neither sence mouing life no nor continewance of

it if we thinke not on it nor passe not for it Againe let vs bend our wittes to it as stoutly as we can who is he that féeleth not him selfe to quayle when he is to think vpon God Who is he that bursteth not if hee streyne himselfe to farre And whereof commeth this but that the string of this Bowe hath falne into the Watter and is made so wet that it wil serue to no purpose any more This mynd bringeth foorth deedes and because they be somewhat slow they be done with the more aduisement But what are the best of those deedes but sinne If wée commit any cryme all our whole mynd goeth with it and our doing of the euill is for the euils sake But if we doe any good which of vs doth it not as a bywoorke for some other things sake rather than for the loue of the good itselfe as one for honour another for gaine and a third for feare And what elles is this but a seruing of vanitie and not an obeying of vertue And whereas euill is nought els than a bereuing or wanting of good who is hée on the contrarie part which thinketh not himself a man goodynough if he doe no euill As who would say that good also were nothing els but the bereuing or absence of euil And in very deede whome doe we call good and honest men but such as absteyne from dooing men wrong from stealing from extorting and from lending vppon Usurie albeit that it behoue them to procéede further and to be liberall in giuing forward in helping and diligent in seruing forasmuch as goodnes is not a defect or a notdooing of things but an effect or dooing of things and consisteth not in onely refreyning or ceassing but in woorking and performing And in effect what els is it to define an honest man to be such a one as doth nothing atal than to define a good Archer to be such a one as neuer shooteth at all This mind of ours doth also yéeldfoorth words and they passe out more swiftly than déedes yea euen from the wisest If a man would keepe a reckening of his words but for one day what should hee find at night but a heape of vanities as backebytings slaunders leasings raylings besides a thousand sortes of slipperdeuices and idle words which euen by their onely idlenesse doe well bewray our vanitie And sith i● is euident that whereas speech was giuen vs to procure and mainteyne societie we see it is commonly applyed to the breaking thereof by sowing of discord and debate who can deny but that there is a notable corruption in the mynd which vttereth forth that speeche Ageine séeing it is an vniuersal vyce ageinst which the better sort do striue with all their force and cannot ouercome it who can say it is a vice that is incident but to some peculiar persones and not to the whole kynd of man What is to be sayd then of our thoughts and witts whereof whole thousands passe through our mynd in an hower which our mynds can neither represse nor expresse O how many doe we esteeme to be good men whome we should sée to be wicked men if their thoughts lay open or if we had eyes to see into them O what a sort of wilde beastes should wee see harbered in a mans heart as in a Forest And what is then our skil but ignorance our wizdome but vanitie and our holines but hipocrisie Wherein consisteth our vertue but in concealing our vyces whenas in truth as sayth Aristotle it were both more for our behoof and more approching to rightuousnes if we layd them open Moreouer what is all our inforcing of our selues to vanquish our vices but a laboring to outronne our owne shadowe which doe we what we can will alwayes accompany vs whether wee will or no And surely we ought to be ashamed not so much for that wee bee such as for that either we knowe not our selues to be such or be not sufficiently ashamed that we be such Neither is there a stronger proof of our corruption than that in like maner as we déeme them to be filthie and stinking which are raking in Priuies and féele not the stinche of them and those to be more sick which féele not themselues sick than those which are most peyned with their disease and those too be more frantick which find not them selues to be braynsicke than those whiche seeke to the Phisition for the curing of their frenzie For had we the wit to consider our chaunges to féele the vnéeuennesse of our Pulses and to obserue the steamingvp of our humors with the impressions which they make in our brayne wée should by such discerning of our diseases become halfe sikfolke and halfe Phisitions But surely considering the state wherein wée now bée how we liue as it were by a borrowed Soule I wote not wherevnto I should compare vs except it be to certeine diseased persons of whom Hippocrates maketh this expresse Aphorisme saying When such as are very sore sicke do feele no payne but fall to playing with their Couerlet pulling out the heares and picking out the motes the case goeth very hard with them and there is small hope or lykelihod that they shall liue And what els is this life of ours but euen such We lay sticke to sticke stone to Stone and Penny to Penny no more minding the life of our Soule than if wee had no Soule at all If any man doe yet still doubt hereof I offer him a condition which if he will put in tryall I dare assure him hee will doubt thereof no more Let hym but set downe in writing all the thoughts and imaginations that come in his head by the space of one day and at night let hym reuiew them and take the account of them And I dare vndertake he shall fynd in them so many vanities so many crymes so many Hobgoblins and so many Monsters so straunge so fond so foule and so ougly that he shal be afraid of himselfe like the beast that starkleth at the sodeine sight of himself in a lookingglasse and that he shal not stand gasing enamored at his owne beautie as Narcissus did but ronne away ashamed of his foule deformitie to séeke where to wash away the myre that he hath wallowed in What a thing then were it if he considered it thus all the weeke long without putting it in writing And how much more were it if hee should doe it a whole yere and finally all his whole life To be short to set man in fewe words before our eyes we reade comonly that there are fower powres or abilities in mans Soule namely Wit Will the abilitie of béeing angrie and the abilitie of lusting and in these fower wée lodge fower vertues that is to say in Wit Wizdome in Will Rightfulnesse in the abilitie of being angrie Hardinesse and in the abilitie of Lusting Stayednesse Now Wit is maymed with ignorance Will with wrongfulnes Hardinesse with Cowardlines

cold and lesse moued then he found them And that is because that in very deede true beautie desireth no peynting but the more naked it is the more it allureth and as Iewellers and Lapidaries say the fayrer that any Precidus Stone is the lesse doth it néede both of Gold and of woorkmanship And soothly to set vp our Scriptures vpon high words is nothing els but to set vp a well proportioned tall man vpon a Scaffold which diminisheth somewhat of his naturall proportion and yet addeth not any whit to his stature Also in our Scriptures we haue Prophesies and in those Prophesies we haue threatenings exhortations and vehement spéeches And it is in such matters that the Orators are woont to thunder and to mount vp into their loftie spéeches In this kynd the Latins make greate account of Cicero But I report me to al such as haue read both of them with lyke iudgment what comparison there is betweene him and Esay betweene his flattering insinuations with chyldish excuses of ignorance and the enterances of Esay lyuely graue and ful of maiestie Betweene his long Periods too the which hee herkeneth so deuoutly and the others cutting woords which are as thounderstroks dubbled to daunt the stowtest stomacke that is But among all the Greeks Cicero himself wondereth at AEschines ageinst Demosthenes in acerteine place where he layeth open his iniuries and passions ageinst him in déede more lyke a bedlem than a man in his right witts And what eloquence what force or what percing hath that place I beséech the Readers with all my hart to reade bothe the one and the other in comparison of this beginning of Esayes Herken ye Heauens sayeth he and giue eare thou Earth for the Euerlasting hath sayd I haue norrished Children and brought them vp and they haue rebelled ageinst me The Oxe knoweth his owner and the Asse his maysters cribbe but Israell hath not knowen me my people haue no vnderstanding Ah sinfull people people loden with iniquitie too what purpose should yee bee chastysed any more sith ye heape sinne vpon sinne The whole head is sicke and all the body is ful of sores From the sole of the foote to the crowne of the head there is not any sound part What abundance of kindnes and eloquence of humilitie and haultines of reasons and affections is there in these feawe woords And how much greater should wee find them in their owne Language and in their owne accents Truly some great learned men of our tyme which thing I think not to be any abatement of their commendation haue vndertaken to make Paraphrases vpon this Prophet and others ful of goodly sentences and humane eloquēce which haue serued fitly to giue him the greater grace And if our Rhethoritians fin● fault with those similitudes as ouer homely I would haue them to tell me to what vse Similitudes serue but to make things cléere and what is the meane to make matters cléere but by taking Similitudes from things best knowen And what manner of ones were the Metaphors of the Romanes but at the first rude and homely and afterward taken from warres and in processe of tyme taken from pleading and oratorie according as they grew to be more corrupted And what els are the Similitudes of Cicero himself in his treatyse of old age but lykenings taken from husbandrie and Uynes bycause he himself delyghted in those things To be short when it commeth to the pursewing of a Similitude euidently to the setting downe of a Desolation lyuely too the reprouing of vyces sharply or to the promising of deliuerance brauely our Prophets do setfoorth euery thing so naturally so presently so forcibly and so lyuely as that it appeareth manifestly that they had the persones the places the tymes and the things themselues whereof they spake al present before their eyes yea and that maner of indyting is comon to all our Prophets vniuersally Of all these things I requyre none other witneses than our verrie despysers of God themselues whose contempt of our Scriptures which they neuer had leysure to reade entereth for the most part vnder this colour that some mayster of arte which neuer red any more than his Cicero ne can skill to discerne what beséemeth eyther others or himself hath skorned the things which he hath not the skill eyther to peyse or to prayse From such people say I springeth the contempt of our Scriptures specially in Italy who being out of their Schooles are not able to say one woord to the purpose no nor scarcely so much as simply to talke Politian sayth Viues did altogither despyse the reading of the Scriptures Therefore let vs sée what he commended He spent his whole lyfe in scanning whether a man should pronoūce Vergilius or Virgilius Carthaginenses or Carthaginienses Primus or Preimus and if he had any further leysure he spent it in making some gréeke Epigram in the commendation of Lechery and Sodomy A graue iudgment soothly for vs to set our mynds vppon Another called Domitius Calderinus turned yong men from the reading of the Scriptures but what goodly matter tooke he to occupye himself withall Forsoothe he passed his lyfe in making a Comment vpon Virgills Priapus a booke which all men that haue any péece of manhod in them are ashamed euen too speake of But what greater proofe of the prayse of our Scriptures would wee haue than that such persones doe despyse them Contrarywise Marsilius Ficinus and Iohn Erle of Mirandula the honour of Italy and of his age for skill in all sciences hauing read all the good authors in the world came at length to rest themselues in our Scriptures and were in the end out of lyking with al others but as for these they could neuer haue their fill of them If there were no more but the affirmation of the one the deniall of the other vnto which of them I pray you ought we rather to yéeld Nay I dare say and I will mainteine it among all such as knowe what it is to speake to the purpose accordingly as may best beséeme euery man that our scriptures are written in such wise as may most fitly beséeme both God the author of them and the matters that they treate of and the partyes to whom they be spoken and that a more séemely style than that cannot be imagined eyther for God for he is our Prince and it beseemeth not Princes to perswade or for the matters for they be holy and graue and graue matters as sayeth Aristotle should not be peynted or for the partyes to whom they be spoken for they were folk of all sorts without exception and lyke as all of them were bound to beléeue and obserue them so was it behooffull that al should vnderstand them But now enter they into the matter of them The Scriptures say they doe tell vs things vnpossible and vncredible more lyke the fond fables of Poets than the reportes of sound Histories I would haue them tell

prosperitie this shal be It is sayeth he that in his dayes Iuda shal be safe and Israel shal dwell without feare and the name whereby he shal be called shal be the Euerlasting our Ryghtuousenes that is to say the Iustifier of vs. For sayeth he the Lord hath sayd it Dauid shall neuer want a Successor sitting vppon his Throne neither shall there euer want a Priest of the Priests the Leuites to offer sacrifice before me Neither is it any more possible for you to breake this couenant than to breake the couenant that I haue made with day and nyght Now the Iewes cannot denie but that euen by the record of their owne Paraphrast this text is ment of Christ and yet notwithstanding that there hath not wanted a Successor both to Dauid and to Leuie and that both the Kingdome and the Preesthod are come to an end and therefore that he speaketh here of another Kingdome and of another Preesthod Likewyse sayeth Ezechiell I will set a shepherd ouer my flocke which shall feede them namely my Seruant Dauid I will bee their God and he shal be their Prince among them I wil enter into a Couenant of peace with them and make noysom beasts to ceasse from the earth I will rayse them shortly a plant of Renowne and they shall no more bee the iestingstock of the Gentyles And if we aske how They shall nomore be defiled sayeth he with their Idolles nor with their abhominations nor with their misdeedes but I will saue them from all their sinnes and make them cleane and they shal be my people and I wil be their God And that this text also is ment of the Messias the Iewes cannot deny For in their very Talmud they say that the Messias is called Dauid bycause he was too be borne of Dauids race and they alledge this present text and others for the same purpose Daniel in his second and seuenth Chapters expounding Nabugodonozors Dreame treateth of the fower greate Monarchies which should rise vp in the world euery one in his tyme the which are betokened there vnder these fower Metalls Golde Siluer Brasse and yron But when the Dreame representeth vs the stone heawen without hand which stryketh the Images yron feete and breaketh them apeeces it is as much as if it had told vs that the Kingdom of the Messias shall seeme to be of small stuffe without stay and without force of man and yet that it shall indure for euer bycause it is set vp by God And therefore whereas he addeth in another place That all People Nations and Toongs shal serue that Kingdome it is to be vnderstoode of another kynd of seruice than the ordinarie But in his fifth Chapter he sheweth wherein the same peculiarly consisteth It is sayeth he in bringing disobedience to an end and in sealing vp sinne to clense away iniquitie and to bring ryghtuousnes into the world to close vp prophesying and visions and to anoynt the holy of Holyes Yea and it is so little ment that Hierusalem should be the seate of that kingdome that it was to be destroyed anon after by the Romanes The nomber of the Children of Israel sayeth Ose shal be as the sand And where it hath bin sayd you be not my People there it shal be sayd ye be the people of the liuing God which is as much to say as that many people should become Israelytes And this shal be done sayth the Lord not by bowe nor by swoord nor by battel but bycause I will shewe mercy and saue them by their Lord God and marry them to me of my compassion Iewry sayth Ioel shal be inhabited euerlastingly and Hierusalem from generation to generation Yet had they greate ouerthrowes afterward yea euen in the Prophets owne tyme. But yet he addeth I will wype away the blud from those whom I haue not yet cleansed that is to wit the Gentiles and the Lord shall dwell in Syon Then speaketh he of another Iewrie and of another Syon that is to wit of the spirituall one which is the Church To the same end tendeth Amos when he sayth I will set vp the Tabernacle of Dauid againe and stop vp the breakes thereof and amend the decayes that he may possesse the remnant of Edom and of all other nations And Micheas sayth that many Nations shall come to the Lords Hill and talke there one with another saying as followeth namely that the name of the Lord shall bee called vpon ouer them and that the Law shall come out of Syon and the word of the Lord out of Hierusalem which shall teach them his waies And to the intent wee should not thinke that whereas Micheas sayth that the name of the Messias shall shortly bee magnified to the vttermost parts of the earth Israell shall tryumph after the maner of the world The Assyrians sayth he shall not ceasse to come into our Land and to walke vp and downe in our Palaces That is to say the good and vertuous folke shall not ceasse to be persecuted for all that but yet howsoeuer they fare Idolatrie shal be ouerthrowen as he saith afterward and the Anoynted shall reigne through the power of the Lord and he shall be our peace And Sophonie foretelleth to the same effect That God will starue all the Gods of the earth so as euery man shall worship in his owne place throughout all the Iles of the Gentiles that is to say That Hierusalem shall not bee the only place to worship in but rather that God wil haue euery place to bee a Hierusalem In Zacharie the Lorde hauing sayd I will make my seruant Braunch to come addeth immediatly and I will wipe away the wickednes of this land in one day And hauing sayd He shall reigne vpon his seate He addeth foorthwith that the Highpriest also shal sit there with him That is to say that Christ shal be both King and Priest He sayth in deede Bee glad thou daughter Sion and triumph For thy King commeth But see here with what furniture A righteous Sauiour a lowly sitting vpon an Asse euen vppon an Asses colt which is the Chariot of Ephraim and the Horse of Hierusalem the bowe of warre He shal speake myldly to all Nations and yet shal he be obeyed from the oneside of the earth to the other If there be no greater triumphe than this what néedeth so great ioy But he expoundeth himselfe in these words following Thou shalt bee saued by the blud of thy couenant and I haue let out thy prisoners from the waterlesse pit Now that this text is ment of Christ it appeareth by Rabby Samuel and Rabby Ioseph in the Talmud And Rabby Selmoh ben Iarchi as great an enemy as he is to vs expoundeth it not otherwise Agein In that day saith he a Welspring shal be opened to the house of Dauid and to the Inhabiters of Hierusalem to wash away their sinne and their filth I will roote out the names

Temple he foretelleth the ouerthrowe of them both Beeing required a sittingplace at his right hand or at his left he answereth of a Cuppe that such a petitioner is to drinke When men go about to make him King he steales away from them And whereas his Apostles looke for some greate triumphe his accomplishing of it is after the maner that the Prophet Zacharie speakes of namely by ryding vpon a shée Asse euen vpon the Colt of an Asse And yet neuerthelesse Herod the King trembleth at him in his throne the whole Counsell of the Realme are in a perplexitie and all the people are astonished And in his doings he maketh it to appeare sufficiently that he hath the hearts of all men in his hand and that if he himselfe listed hee should be obeyed both of the greatest persons and in the greatest matters Surely then wee may well say that the marke which this Iesus and the marke which the Messias leueleth at are both one namely to drawe men from the earth and to make them to plant their whole hope by his meanes in heauen It followeth that to this office which he did euidently take vppon him he brought the qualities requisite to the executing thereof that is to wit that he was both God and Man I say God as the Sonne of God and Man as borne of a woman without sinne and such in all poyntes as he was forepromised to be Of this hope we haue some footesteppes in the Gospell For some say We haue heard say that Christ endureth for euer And Nathaneel himselfe sayth Sir Art thou the Sonne of GOD and the King of Israell That is to say art thou the Sonne of GOD whom we looke for to be the King of Israell To the same purpose may wée set his two natures heere one against another Hee himselfe was hungrie and yet hee fed many thousands with a feawe Loaues He suffered thirst and yet he gaue other men liuing Waters that ouerflowed He was wéerie and yet he saide come vnto mée all yee that are weerie He payd tribute but he commaunded the Fish to pay the Tributemony for him He was dumb as a Lamb but yet was the very spéech itself He yéelded vp his spirit and dyed but he told them hee had power to take it to him againe To be short hee was condemned but he iustifieth He was slayne but he saueth He prayed but his praying was for vs and hee heareth our prayers For these countermatchings and the lyke doe wee reade of in our Euangelists in whom wee haue the dooings of both natures distinguished and yet notwithstanding ioyned togither in one persone But if they will vtterly deny our Gospels then shall wee in that poynt be more vpright than they for we will not deny al their writing Now they agree with vs that hee was man and for all their casting vp of their Foame against him in their bookes yet are they not able to charge him with any vice euen in his priuate lyfe and therefore the chiefe thing that wee haue to stand vppon is the proofe of his Godhead Iesus sayth our Gospell wrought miracles Hee healed the sicke restored Limmes to the lame gaue sight to the blind and raised the dead vnto lyfe and that not in one or twoo places but in many nor in a corner but in the open sight of the world and there are many thousands of men which will rather dye vpon the Racke than deny him yea or not preach him I aske them vpon their consciences if they will deny that he wrought any miracles If they deny it then what a mirac●e is this that so many people doe followe a poore abiect without miracles and are contented to dye for his sake euen when he himselfe is dead And if these miracles of his as namely the restoring both of sight and lyfe such others were not very great and farre surmounting all nature of man yet who would lose his lyfe but for a better and how could hee giue the better which could not giue the other And if it bee a miracle to woorke vppon a man by touching him and much more without touching him and most of all without seeing him what a miracle is it to worke in the heartes of whole Nations farre of without seeing them and to touche them without comming at them and to turne them to him without touching them And if the bones of Elias bee commended for prophesying in his Tumbe what shall this Iesus bee for ouercomming so many people and for conquering so many Nations after his death yea and which is a greater matter euen by the death of his seruants who preached nothing but his death But the Rabbines saw welly nough that the miracles of Iesus could not be denyed And truely R. Iohanan sayth in the Talmud that a Neuew of R. Iosua the sonne of Leuy had taken poyson and that beeing adiured by the name of Iesus hee was healed out of hand and this is a verifying of that which Iesus himselfe sayth namely that if they drinke any deadly thing it shall not hurt them And Rabbi Ioses sayth that when a Serpent had bitten Eleazar the sonne of Duma Iames the Disciple of Iesus would haue healed him and Rabbi Samuel would not suffer him And Iosephus their owne Storiwriter speaking of the miracles of Iesus findeth them so wonderfull that hee cannot tell whether he ought to call him Man or God And they ought not to thinke it straunge that he should woorke miracles considering that they beléeue the miracles of Moyses of Elias of Eliseus and diuers others But some of them did attribute his miracles to Magicke and some to the power of the name of God which they charged him to haue vsurped in the examining of both which poynts I beseech them to ioyne with mee without affection As touching Magicke they say that their thréescore and tenne Senators whom they call Sanhedrin were very skilfull in it and so sayth R. Selomoh also the better to conuince the Inchaunters And we reade in Iosephus that Magicke was neuer more frequented in Iewrie then it was among the Doctors at this tyme. Now if their meaning was to conuict Iesus as an euill doer why did they not put him to shame why did they not vse the rigour of the Lawe against him How happeneth it that in their accusing of him they charge him not with any Magicke at all Or if they meant to ouercome him by the arte why did not some one of them woorke the like things or greater Why did not their miracles swallowe vp his Nay contrariwise whereof commeth it that Iosephus calleth Iesus a worker of miracles and the other sort Magicians and deceitfull Cowseners And that his miracles worke still euen after his death whereas theirs vanished away afore they were dead But like as in the tyme of Moyses God suffered great Magicians to be in AEgipt that hee might make his owne power the