and Apparel we ought to content our selves with so much as will suffice nature and the like Or if happily there be some points in Christianity hard to be believed yet the like also is found amongst the wisest of the Heathen themselves as before we have shewn concerning the immortality of Souls and of the Resurrection of Bodies Thus Plato as he learned from the Chaldeans distinguished the Divine nature into the Father and the mind of the Father which he calls also the branch of God the Maker of the World and the Soul or Spirit which keeps together and preserveth all things Julian as great an enemy as he was of Christians thought that the Divine Nature might be joyned to the humane and gave instance in Aesculapius whom he imagined to have descended from Heaven to the end he might teach Men the Art of Physick The Cross of Christ offendeth many But what do not the Pagan Writers tell of their Gods that some of them waited upon Kings and Princes others were Thunder-struck others cut in sunder And the wisest of them say that the more it costs us to be honest the more joy and delight it affords us To conclude Plato in the second Book of his Common-wealth as if he had been a Prophet saith for a Man to appear truly just and upright it is requisite that his vertue be bereaved of all outward ornaments so that he be by others accounted a wicked wretch and scoffed at and last of all hanged And indeed that Christ might be the Pattern of greatest Patience could no otherwise be obtained The Fifth Book OF THE TRUTH OF Christian Religion SECT I. A refutation of the Jews beginning with a speech unto them or prayer for them JUST like that glimmering between light and darkness which appears to those who by little and little are endeavouring to get out of a dark Cave or Dungeon such doth Judaism present it self to us who are stepping out of the thick mist of Paganism of which we have been discoursing as a part and beginning of Truth I request the Jews therefore not to be averse to hear us We are not ignorant that they are the off-spring of holy Men whom God was wont to visit both by his Prophets and by his Angels Of this Nation sprang our Messias and the first Doctors of Christianity It is their Tree whereinto we are ingraffed they are the keepers of God's Oracles which we do reverence as much as they and with St. Paul sigh unto God for them and pray that the day may quickly come when the Vail being taken away which hangs over their Faces they with us shall see the fulfilling of the Law And when as it is in their Prophecies every one of us that are strangers shall lay hold on the Cloak of him that is an Hebrew desiring that we may together with a pious consent worship the only true God who is the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. SECT II. The Jews ought to account the Miracles of Christ sufficiently proved FIRST of all then we must intreat them not to think that to be unjust in another Man's case which they judge to be just and equitable in their own If any Pagan demand of them why they believe that Miracles were wrought by Moses they can give no other answer save that there was always so constant a report thereof among their Nation that it could not but proceed from the testimony of such as had seen the same Thus that the Widows Oyl was increased by Elisha that Naaman the Syrian was suddenly cured of the Leprosie that the Womans Son in whose House he lodged was restored to life and other such like are believed by the Jews for no other reason than because witnesses of good credit have recorded to posterity that such things were done And they believe Elias his taking up into heaven only for the single testimony of Elisha as a Man beyond all exception But we produce twelve witnesses of unblameable life to testifie that Christ ascended up into Heaven And many more that saw him upon the Earth after his death Which things if they be true then necessarily Christs doctrine is true also and indeed nothing at all can be alledged by the Jews for themselves which by equal right or more just title may not be applyed to us also But to omit further testimonies it is the confession of the Authors of the Talmud and other Jews themselves that strange wonders were wrought by Christ which ought to suffice for this particular For God cannot any way more effectually gain authority unto a doctrine published by Man than by the working of miracles SECT III. And not believe that they were done by the help of Devils THESE Miracles of Christ some said were done by the help of Devils But this calumny hath been confuted before when we shewed that wheresoever the doctrine of Christ was taught and known there all power of the Devils was broken in pieces Others reply that Jesus learned Magick arts in Egypt but this slander hath no more nay not so much colour of truth than the like accusation by the Pagans framed against Moses whereof we read in Pliny and Apuleius For that ever Jesus was in Egypt doth not appear save only out of the Writings of his Disciples who add further that he was an Infant when he returned thence But it is certain by his own and others report that Moses lived a great part of his time after he was grown to Mans estate in Aegypt Howbeit the Law as well of Moses as of Christ frees them both from this crime plainly forbidding such arts as abominable in the sight of God And without all question if in the time of Christ and his Disciples there had been either in Egypt or any where else any such Magical art whereby Men might have been enabled to do the like marvels as are related of Christ to wit giving speech to the Dumb on a suddain making the Lame to walk and the Blind to see then would Tyberius Nero and other Emperors have found it out who spared no costs and charges in the inquiry after such like things Nay if it were true which the Jews relate how that the Senators of the great Council were skill'd in Magick arts that they might convince them that were guilty of that iniquity then surely they being so mightily incensed against Jesus as they were and envying the honour and respect which he obtained chiefly by his miracles would either themselves have done the like works by the same art or by sufficient reasons would have made it appear that the works of Christ proceeded from no other cause SECT IV. Or by the Power of Words and Syllables MOreover that is not only a meer fable but impudent lye which some of the Jews have invented concerning the Miracles done by Christ which they ascribe to a certain secret name which as they say being placed in the Temple by Solomon was preserved safe by two Lions
nature that doth communicate any thing of its own unto God neither is he capable of ought that any other thing can impart being as before we said altogether absolute and necessary of himself SECT V. That God is eternal omnipotent omniscient and absolutely good AGain forasmuch as all things that have life are said to be more perfect than those without life and those which have power of acting than those which want it and those endued with understanding superiour to such creatures as lack it and those which are good better than those that come short in goodness it followeth from that which hath been spoken that all those attributes are in God and that after an infinite manner Therefore is he infinite in life that is eternal infinite power that is omnipotent So likewise is he omniscient and altogether good without any exception SECT VI. That God is the Author and cause of all things FUrther more it follows from that which hath been spoken that what things soever subsist the same have the original of their being from God for we have proved that that which is necessary of it self can be but one whence we collect that all other things besides this had their original from somewhat different from themselves Now such things as have their beginning from another we have seen before how that either in themselves or in their causes they proceeded from him which had no beginning that is from God Neither is this manifest by reason only but also after some sort by very sense for if we consider the wonderful frame and fashion of Man's body both within and without and how that each part and parcel thereof hath its proper use without the study or industry of his Parents and yet with such art that the most accomplished Philosophers and Physitians could never sufficiently admire it this verily shows the Author of Nature to be a most excellent Mind concerning which matter Galen hath written well especially where he speaks of the use of the eye and of the hand Yea more the very bodies of mute beasts do testifie the same for their parts are not framed and composed by the power and vertue of the matter whereof they consist but by some superiour and higher cause destinating them to a certain end Neither is this plain by man and beasts alone but also by plants and herbs as hath accurately been observed by some Philosophers This further is excellently noted by Strabo concerning the scituation of the waters which if we consider the quality of their matter ought to be placed in the middle between the earth and the ayr whereas they are now included and dispersed within the earth to the end they might be no hinderance either to the fruitfulness of the ground or to the life of Man Now to propose that or any other end to any action is the peculiar property of an understanding nature Neither are all things only ordained for their peculiar ends but also for the good and benefit of the whole Vniverse as appears particularly in the water but now mentioned which against its own proper nature is moved upward lest by the interposition of a vacuity there should be a gap in the Universe which is so framed that by the continued cohesion of its parts it sustains and upholds it self Now it cannot possibly be that this common end should be thus intended together with an inclination in things thereunto but by the power and purpose of some intelligent nature whereunto the whole Vniverse is in subjection Moreover amongst the beasts there are certain actions observed to be so regular and orderly done that it is manifest enough they proceed from some kind of reason as is plain in Pismires and especially in Bees and likewise in other creatures which before they make any trial do naturally eschew such things as are hurtful and seek after such things as are profitable for them Now that this instinct or inclination of finding and judging things is not in them by their own power it is clear for that they do always operate after the same manner neither have they any vertue or efficacy at all to the doing other things which are no more weighty wherefore they must needs receive their power from some reasonable external Agent which directs them or imprints in them such efficacy as they have and this reasonable and intelligent Agent is no other than God himself In the next place consider we the Stars of Heaven and amongst the rest as most eminent the Sun and the Moon both which for the making the earth fruitful and preserving living Creatures in their health and vigour do so seasonably perform their course of motion that a better cannot be devised For when otherwise their motion through the Aequator had been much more simple we see that they have another motion by an oblique Circle to the end the benefit of their favourable aspects might be communicated to more parts of the earth Now as the earth is ordained for the use and benefit of living Creatures so are all terrestrial things appointed chiefly for the service of man who by his wit and reason can subdue the most furious creature among them whence the very Stoicks did collect that the World was made for Man's sake Howbeit since it exceeds the sphere of humane power to bring the heavenly bodies in subjection to him neither is it to be imagined that they will ever submit themselves to man of their own accord it follows therefore that there is some superior mind or spirit by whole sole appointment those fair and glorious bodies do perpetual service unto man though he be placed far below them which same mind is no other than the framer of the stars even the Maker of the whole World Also the motions of these stars which are said to be Excentrical and Epicyclical i. e. in a Circle within the Orb of another Star do plainly shew not the power of matter but the appointment of a free Agent The same do the Positions of the Stars testifie some in this part others in the other part of Heaven together with the so unequal form of the Earth and of the Seas Nor can we refer it to any thing else that the Stars move this rather than another way The most perfect form also and figure of the World viz. roundness as also the parts thereof shut up as it were in the bosom of the Heavens and disposed with a marvellous order do all expresly declare that they were not tumbled together or conjoyned as they are by chance but wisely ordained by such an understanding as is endued with super-eminent excellency For what Ninny is there so sottish as to expect any thing so accurate and exact from chance He might as well believe that Stones and Timber got casually together and put themselves into the form of a House or that out of Letters shuffled carelesly as it hapned there came forth an excellent Poem A thing so unlikely that
he ought to be acknowledg'd as King who should be our King indeed and that he was to come out of the East who should have dominion over all We read in Porphyry of the Oracle of Apollo which saith that other Gods are aerial Spirits but the God of the Hebrews is only to be worshipped which saying if the worshippers of Apollo obey then they must cease to worship him if they do not obey it then they make their God a Iyar Add further if those Spirits had respected or intended the good of Mankind above all things they would have prescribed a general Rule of life to Mankind and also given some certain assurance of a reward to them that lived accordingly neither of which was ever done by them On the other side oftentimes in their Verses we find some Kings commended which were wicked men some Champions extol'd and dignified with divine honour others allured to immodest and unlawful love or to the seeking after filthy lucre or committing of Murder as might be shown by many Examples SECT X. Paganisme decayed of its own accord so soon as humane aid ceased BESIDES all that hath hitherto been said Paganisme ministers to us a mighty argument against it self because that wheresoever it becomes destitute of humane force to support it there straightway it comes to ruine as if the foundation thereof were quite overthrown For if we take a view of all the Kingdoms and States that are among Christians or Mahumetans we shall find no memory of Paganisme but in Books Nay histories tell us that even in those times when the Emperors endeavoured to uphold the Pagan Religion either by violence and persecution as did the first of them or by learning and subtilty as did Julian it notwithstanding decayed daily not by any violent opposition nor by the brightness and splendor of lineage and descent for Jesus was accounted by the common sort only a Carpenters Son nor by the flourishes of learning which they that taught the Law of Christ used not in their Sermons nor by gifts and bribes for they were poor nor by any soothing and flattering speeches for on the contrary they taught that all worldly advantages must be despised and that all kind of adversity must be undergone for the Gospel's sake See then how weak and impotent Paganisme was which by such means came to ruine Neither did the doctrine of Christ only make the credulity of the Gentiles to vanish but even bad Spirits came out of divers bodies at the name of Christ they became dumb also and being demanded the reason of their silence they were compelled to say that they were able to do nothing where the name of Christ was called upon SECT XI Answer to the Opinion of some that think the beginning and decay of Religions depend upon the efficacy of the Stars THERE have been Philosophers that did ascribe the beginning and decay of every Religion unto the Stars But this star-gazeing Science which these Men profess to be skilled in is delivered under such different rules that one can be certain of nothing but only this that there is no certainty at all therein I do not here speak of such effects as follow from a natural necessity of causes but of those that proceed from the will of Man which of it self hath such liberty and freedom that no necessity or violence can be impressed upon it from without For if the consent of the will did necessarily follow any outward impression then the power in our soul which we may perceive it hath to consult deliberate and chuse would be given in vain Also the equity of all Laws of all rewards and punishments would be taken away seeing there can be neither fault nor merit in that which is altogether necessary and inevitable Again there are divers evil acts or effects of the will which if they proceeded of any necessity from the Heavens then the same Heavens and Celestial Bodies must needs receive such efficacy from God and so it would follow that God who is most perfectly good is the true cause of that which is morally evil And that when in his Law he professeth himself to abhor wickedness which a force inserted by him into things themselves will inevitably produce he doth will two things contrary one to the other that the same thing should be done and not be done and also that a Man offends in an action which he doth by divine instigation They speak more probably that say the influences of the Stars do first affect the Air then our Bodies with such qualities as oftentimes do excite and stir up in the mind some desires or affections answerable thereunto and the will being allured or inticed by these motions doth oftentimes yield unto them But if this should be granted it makes nothing for the question we have in hand For seeing that Christian Religion most of all withdraws Men from those things which are pleasing unto the body it cannot therefore have its beginning from the affections of the body and consequently not from the influence of the Stars which as but now we said have no power over the mind otherwise than by the mediation of those affections The most prudent among Astrologers exempt truly wise and good Men from the dominion of the Stars And such verily were they that first professed Christianity as their lives do shew Or if there be any efficacy in learning and knowledge against the infection of the body even among Christians there were ever some that were excellent in this particular Besides as the most learned do confess the effects of the Stars respect certain Climates of the World and are only for a season but this Religion hath now continued above the space of one thousand six hundred years and that not in one part only but in the most remote places of the World and such as are under a far different position of the Stars SECT XII The chief Points of Christianity are approved of by the Heathen and if there be any thing that is hard to be believed therein the like or worse is found among the Pagans BUT the Pagans have the less to object against Christian Religion because all the parts thereof are of such honesty and integrity that they convince Mens minds by their own light In so much that there have not been wanting Men among the Pagans also who have here and there said every one of those things which our Religion hath in a body all together As to give some instances true Religion consists not in Rites and Ceremonies but in the mind and Spirit he is an adulterer that hath but a desire to commit adultery we ought not to revenge injuries one Man should be the Husband of one Wife only the league or bond of Matrimony ought to be constant and perpetual Man is bound to do good unto all specially to them that are in want we must refrain from Swearing as much as may be And as for our Food
and piety And that they might confirm this to be their sense of the Divinity they bid the Jesuites observe one part of the Altar in their Temple to be void of Images and to be hid in an obscure and dark place which they said was the proper seat of the most high God the Maker of Heaven and Earth who could not be represented in any form and shape and that the Images which stood about that place were the representations of their Intercessors with Him who having great power with the most high God did obtain many gifts and blessings for those that invocated them How this differs from the notions of the Roman Church I do not see unless it be in this that they have sometimes adventured to represent God himself in a shape Otherwise the worship is the very same the dead Men who are the objects of it only changed and may very well justifie us if we say and therein we speak very moderately that their worship is an Image at least of the ancient Idolatry And moves them to make the resemblance more perfect unto the very same rage and violence which was in the Pagans against all those that differ from them and cannot consent to worship God in that way prosecuting them with all manner of cruelty as if they were utter enemies of God and of all Religion By which we may certainly know that they are so far from being the only true Christians that they are a very degenerate part of Christs Church wanting that great mark of his faithful Disciples to love one another even as Christ loved us To which they are such strangers that quite contrary they not only hate and persecute but endeavour as I said to root out those from the face of the Earth who obediently believe all that they can find our Lord and his Apostles have delivered and profess they are ready with all their hearts to receive and do whatsoever any body can further teach them to be his mind Nay are very desirous and diligent to know it sparing no pains to understand the whole Truth as it is in Christ Jesus SECT XV. Answer to what they say about Miracles THEY pretend indeed abundance of Miracles wrought in their Church as a sufficient condemnation of those who obstinately refuse to invocate Saints to worship their Images and the consecrated Hoste to believe Purgatory and all other things for the proof of which these wonders are alledged But herein also they imitate the Pagans who were guilty of the like deceit and the same answer will serve here which Grotius gives there L. iv Sect. 8. in his confutation of the old Idolatry For First the wisest Men among them have rejected many of these Miracles as not supported by the testimony of any credible witnesses nay as plain fictions Others also of them which are pretended to be of better credit hapned in some private place in the night before one or two Persons whose eyes crafty Priests as he speaks might easily delude with false shows and counterfeit appearances of things And further there are others which only raise admiration among People ignorant of the nature of things and are no true miracles I deny not but there may have things been done among them which no humane power could effect by the strength of natural causes and yet no Divine that is omnipotent Power be needful to their production For those Spirits which are interposed between God and Man are able by their nimbleness cunning activity and strength to make such strange application of things very distant one to another as shall astonish the Spectators with wonderful effects But there is too great reason to think they are not good Spirits that do these feats because they revive hereby the ancient superstition or uphold the Image of it still in the Christian World to the great dishonour of our Saviour and the indangering the Souls of his People Who have been so far misled as not only to fancy great Virtue in the Images of the Saints and to cry up also some Images particularly of our Lady of Loretto for instance as indued with some singular power and vertue which is not to be found in others but to honour them so highly as for one Miracle said to be done by a Crucifix to report a hundred to be wrought at such or such a Shrine of hers It is very considerable also to omit the rest which he notes in the V. Book out of the Law of Moses that it supposes God might permit some wonders to be done only for their trial whether the People would persist in the worship of the true God which had been confirmed by undoubted and far greater and more numerous Miracles Read Deuteron xiii 1 2 3 c. This is excellently expressed and with advantage by a great Man of our own in these words or to this effect The Doctrine which we believe that is the Bible hath been confirmed as is confessed on all sides by innumerable supernatural and truly Divine Miracles and consequently the Doctrine of the Roman Church which in many points is plainly opposite to the Bible is condemned by them I mean the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles And therefore if any strange things have been done in that Church they prove nothing but the truth of Scripture which foretold that God's Providence permitting it and the wickedness of the World deserving it strange signs and wonders should be wrought to confirm false doctrine that they which love not the Truth might be given over to strong delusions So that now we have reason rather to suspect and be afraid of pretended Miracles as signs of false Doctrine than much to regard them as certain arguments of Truth Neither is it strange that God should permit some true wonders to be done to delude those who have forged so many wonders to deceive the World SECT XVI Answer to another Objection BUT it is not likely they say that Religion should be thus depraved in the Roman Church because their Ancestors were Men of greater vertue and honesty than to suffer the least alteration Which is the very thing that is alledged by the Jews why they should not believe our Saviour was unjustly condemned and his Religion rejected by their Priests and Elders as Grotius observes in the Vth. Book Out of which I might produce several things as I have done out of the foregoing to prove the vanity of the Romish Traditions as well as of the Jewish and show also how they have brought back Judaism in a great measure by the vast burden of Rites and Ceremonies wherewith they have incumbered Christian Religion But I shall wave all this because I would make this Book as short as the rest and only observe in answer to what was now pretended that whosoever shall consider as he speaks of the Ancestors of the Jews what kind of Men for several Ages sate in the Chair of Rome and how ignorant the People generally were he
delivered from the heavy Yoke of Rites and Ceremonies that lay upon them But if they would admit of the Commandments of Christ which are full of all goodness easily permitted them to follow what course of life they pleased in matters of indifferency provided they would not impose the necessity of observing them upon others SECT XXV Conclusion of all UPON these terms we are ready to agree with them and I conclude all with this memorable Proposal which Erasmus made in a Letter to Johannes Slechta a Friend of his in Bohemia at the very beginning of the Reformation MD XIX This would reconcile People to the Church of Rome if all things were not so particularly defined and made a matter of Faith which we would have to belong to it but those only which are evidently expressed in the Holy Scriptures or without which we do not see any way to be saved To this purpose a few things are sufficient and a few things may be sooner perswaded than a great many Now out of one Article we make Six Hundred some of which are such that without indangering Piety we may either be ignorant or doubt of them And such is the nature of Mankind that what is once defined we hold tooth and nail and will by no means part with it But when all 's done the summ of Christian Philosophy lies in this That we understand all our Hope to be placed in God who freely gives us all things by his Son Jesus by whose Death we are redeemed into whose Body we are planted by Baptism that being dead to the lusts of this World we may live according to his Doctrine and Example not only abstaining from all evil but indeavouring to deserve well of every Body assd that if any adversity happen we bear it couragiously in hope of a future reward which without all doubt waits for all pious Persons at the coming of Christ and that we make such progress from vertue to vertue as notwithstanding to arrogate nothing to our selves but to ascribe all the good that is in us or that we can do unto GOD. These things chiefly are to be inculcated and beaten into the minds of Men so that they become as it were their Nature But if any will search into those things which are more abstruse about the Divine Nature the Hypostasis of Christ or the Sacraments that they may raise their minds the higher and draw them from things here below let them do so provided that every body be not compelied presently to believe what seems good to this or that Person For as out of large Deeds arise sooner Law-suits so are differences begotten by very many definitions And let us not be ashamed to answer to some things God knows how it may be done it is sufficient for me to believe that it is done I know that Christ's pure Body and Blood is to be purely received by those that are pure and that He would have this to be a most holy token and pledge both of his love to us and of our Christian concord among our selves And therefore I will examine my self and make a strict search whether there be any thing in me that ill agrees with Christ whether any discord with my Neighbour But how the Ten Predicaments are there how the Bread is Transubstantiated by the mystical words or as He explains himself in the latter end of his Book upon lxxxiv Psal how the body of Christ is there whether under the substance of Bread or under the species of Bread and Wine and such like doth not much conduce in my judgment to proficiency in piety c. By these and other such innumerable disputations in which some triumph the minds of Men are called away from those things which alone are to the purpose To conclude it will be of great moment to establish the concord of the World if all secular Princes and especially the Bishop of Rome would abstain from all appearance of Tyranny and of Covetousness For Men easily start back when they see slavery is prepared for them when they see they are not invited to piety but inveigled to be made a prey If they perceive us to be harmless to be beneficent they will most easily credit us and intrust themselves with us Thus He. It would not be very hard to make a longer Book on this Subject But this is sufficient as Grotius speaks in the beginning of this Discourse about the Truth of Christian Religion to convince those whose understandings are rightly disposed and are not pertinaciously set against all further information But no Arguments can be found of force enough to convince a froward will and perswade perverse affections which make Men uncapable of Moral Truth most of all of Divine Which will not enter as the Wise man speaks into a malicious Soul nor dwell in the Body that is subject unto sin For the Holy Spirit of Discipline will flee deceit and remove from thoughts that are without understanding and will not abide when unrighteousness cometh in THE END A RECAPITULATION OF THE Principal Things handled IN THIS WORK According to the several Sections of each Book The Contents of the first Book THe Preface shewing the occasion of this Work Sect. I. Proving there is a God p. 1 Sect. II. That there is but one God p. 5 Sect. III. That all Perfection is in God p. 7 Sect. IV. God is Infinite p. 8 Sect. V. That God is eternal omnipotent omniscient and absolutely good p. 9 Sect. VI. That God is the Author cause of all things ib. Sect. VII Answer to that Objection concerning the cause of evil p. 15 Sect. VIII Against the Opinion of two Principles or causes of things p. 16 Sect. IX That God doth govern the whole World p. 17 Sect. X. Yea sublunary things p. 18 Sect. XI This is further proved by the preservation of Empires p. 19 Sect. XII And by Miracles p. 21 Sect. XIII Specially among the Jews wherunto credit may be given by reason of the long continuance of their Religion p. 22 Sect. XIV Also by the truth and antiquity of Moses his story p. 24 Sect. XV. And by the Testimony of many Gentiles p. 25 Sect. XVI The same is proved by the Oracle and Predictions p. 34 Sect. XVII The Objection is answered why Miracles are not now to be seen p. 36 Sect. XVIII And that now there is such liberty in offending p. 37 Sect. XIX Insomuch that good Men are oppressed p. 39 Sect. XX. The same argument is retorted to prove that the Soul survives the Body p. 40 Sect. XXI Which is proved by Tradition ib. Sect. XXII Against which no contrary reason can be brought p. 41 Sect. XXIII Many reasons may be alledged for it p. 44 Sect. XXIV Whence it follows that the end of all shall be Mans happiness after this life p. 45 Sect. XXV Which to obtain men must get the true Religion ib. The Contents of the second Book Sect. I. TO Prove the