end were both of the Father But yet were they diuided by a Fyre of vnderstanding and as it were by destinie distributed into other vnderstandings For afore the making of this sundry-shaped world God had conceyued an incorruptible patterne thereof as a world subiect only to mynd and vnderstanding In the mould whereof this present World being stamped became full of al those shapes of the which there is but one only gracious Fountaine And againe in another place he sayth as followeth That is to say The loue of God being a fyrie bond issued first from his vnderstanding and clothed it selfe with fire to temper the conueyances of the watersprings by spreading his heate vpon the same These are their accustomed obscurities wherein notwithstanding it is clerely enough vttered that there is a Father a Sonne and a Loue that linketh them together and moreouer that the sayd begotten Mynd or Understanding is he by whom God framed the World and that from him procéedeth the diuine Loue as I haue sayd heretofore In another place they say that the sayd Fatherly Mynd hath sowed and planted in our Soules a certeyne resemblance of the sayd begotten vnderstanding and that our willes be not acceptable vnto him vntill wée awake out of forgetfulnesse and bethinke our selues againe of the pure fatherly marke which is in vs. And againe that the same Understanding being of power to beget or bréede of it selfe did by considering cast a fyrie bond of Loue vpon all things wherby they be continued for euer But it is enough for vs that in the sayings afore alleadged wee haue a briefe Summe of the diuinitie of the Magies who held thrée beginnings whom as wee reade in other places they called Oromases Mitris and Ariminis that is to say God Mynd and Soule And surely wee should wonder at them much more if we had their whole bookes as we haue but péeces of them remayning Now the Magies were first in Chaldye and we reade in Moyses how highly Balaam was estéemed in that he was thought able to blesse Nations and Armies And these Chaldies are the same of whom the Oracle of Apollo answered That only they and the Hebrewes had wisedome parted betwixt them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All wisedome certesse parted is betweene The Chaldies and the Hebrewes as is seene Mercurius Trismegistus as we haue seene in the third Chapter acknowledged but only one God who cannot well bee named but by two names to wit Good and Father And because the same God is indewed with vnderstanding sometymes he calleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 howbeit that most commonly he makes a differece betwéene the Father and the Understanding which he calleth Mynd likewise Which thing appeareth in this saying of his I am Poemander the Feeder of Men the vnderstanding of the Beer which is of himself But behold here records as cléere as can bée God sayth he who is also Mynd and Life and Light Male-fâ—male begate or bred Logon the Speech or Word which is another Mynd and the workmayster of all things with that Speech another which is the fyrie God and the Spirite of the Godhead Lo here a Mynd begotteÌ„ of a Mynd Understanding of Understanding and Light of Light and besides that moreouer a Spirit And againe This Speech that proceedeth from GOD being altogether perfect and fruitfull and Workmistresse of all things lighteth vpon the water and maketh it fruitfull It is the same thing that is spoken of in Moyses where God sayth And the waters immediatly brought foorth To be short vnto this holy spéech as he termeth it he attributeth the begetting ingendring spreading foorth of al things from ofspring to ofspring as is to be seene But here is yet more I thy God sayth God am Light and Mynd of more antiquitie than the nature of moysture that is issued froÌ„ the shadow And this lightsome Speech which proceedeth from the mynd is the Sonne of God That which heareth and seeth in thee is the word of the Lord and the Mynd is God the Father these differ not one from another and as for their vnion it is the vnion of life c. And againe This Speech being the workman of God the Lord of the whole World hath chiefe power next him and is vncreated infinite proceeding from him the Commaunder of all things which he made the perfect naturall firstborne Sonne of the most perfect To be short he calleth him the myndly spéech euerlasting vnchaungeable vncorruptible vnincreasing vndecreasing alonly like him and firstbeknowne after God and moreouer his onely Sonne his welbeloued Sonne the Sonne of the most holy whose name 〈◊〉 be named by mouth of man And is not this as much as to call him Coessentiall Coeternal and the Creator of all things And what more can we say thereof Of the third parson he speaketh more dackly Al kind of things in this World saith he are quickened by a Spirit One Spirit filleth all things the World nourisheth the bodies and the Spirit the Soules and this Spirit as a toole or instrument is subiect to the will of God But here is yet somewhat more All things saith he haue neede of this Spirit it beareth them vp it nourisheth them it quickeneth them according to euery of their capacities it proceedeth from a holy fountaine and is the mainteyner of all liuing things and of all Spirits Here yee sée the reason why we call him the holy Ghoste namely because he procéedeth from the fountayne which is the very holynesse it selfe And least we should thinke him to be a Creature There was saith he an infinite shadowe in the Deepe whereon was the water and a fine vnderstanding Spirit was in that confuzed masse through the power of God From theÌ„ce there florished a certeine holy brightnesse which out of the Sand and the moyst nature brought foorth the Elements and all things els Also the Gods themselues which dwell in the Starres tooke their place by the direction appoyntment of this Spirit of God Thus then hee was present at the creation of things and it is the same spirit whereof it is sayd in the Byble That the spirit of the Lord houered vpon the outside of the déepe But in some places he matcheth all thrée persons togither O lyfe sayth he saue that life which is in mee O light and God the Spirit inlighten mee wholy O worker which bearest thy Spirit about let thy word gouerne mee Lord thou art the only one God Againe there was sayth he a light of vnderstanding afore the light of vnderstanding and there was euer a mind of the lightfull Mind and besides those there was not any thing els than the vnion of them by one Spirit vpholding all things without which there is neither God nor Angel nor other Substance For hee is Lord Father and God of all and in him and vnder him are al things And hauing said so sayth
which is the second marke of the true Religion That throughout the whole processe of the Bible or olde Testament there are things which caÌ„not proceed but froÌ„ 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 saluatioÌ„ 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 coÌ„trary to the opinioÌ„ 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 commoÌ„ 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 awhâ— These bodies direâ— 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 gouernâ—â—â— 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 ReligioÌ„ 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 â—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
With these fellowes wee our selues shall not néede to deale but only heare Porphyrius disprouing them after this maner If neither God sayth he be of Matter nor Matter of God but both of them be Beginnings alike whereof then commeth it that there is so great ods betwixt them sith we hold opinion that God is Good and the very worker or Doer and contrarywise that Matter is Euill and but only a Sufferer The cause of this difference cannot proceed from the one to the other at leastwise if our saying be true namely that the one of them is not of the other And much lesse proceedeth it of any third considering that wee acknowledge not any higher cause which beeing admitted it followeth that these two so disagreeable Beginnings met and matched together by chaunce and consequently that all things are tossed and tumbled together by Fortune Agayne If God sayth he bee apt to the beautifying and orderly disposing of Matter and Matter be apt to receiue beautie and orderlines at Gods hand I demaund froÌ„ whence this mutuall aptnesse and disposition commeth For considering that they bee so disagreeing and so full contrary one to another surely they could neuer haue agreed of themselues but must of necessitie haue had a Third to make the attonemeÌ„t betwixt them Now I am sure you will not say that there was any third to commaund them Neither wil I beleeue that they fell to greement by aduenture To bee short seeing that Matter is not sufficient of it self to be in happie state but needeth Gods helpe thereunto but God is of himself abundantly sufficient both to be and to be happie who seeth not that GOD is of more excellencie than Matter and that Matter is not of it selfe so much as able to be For were it able to bee it were also able to be happie And therefore it is not to be denyed but that he whom wee confesse to haue perfected Matter was also the very first maker and Creator of Matter But how could he make it of nothing Let vs heare once agayne what the sayd Porphyrie sayth vnto this poynt Handycrafts saith he haue need of instruments or tooles For their working is outwaâ—â—â— and they haue not their matter or stuffe at commaundment But the naturall Powers as more perfect being within things doo performe all their doings by their only being After that sorte the Soule by his essentiall life doth nourish growe ingender breathe feele and so foorth So likewise the Imagination by the only one Inworking of it selfe giueth diuers qualities and mouings to the bodie all at one instant So also the bodilesse Spirites themselues as the Diuines report doe worke wonderous things by their imaginations without instrument or action Much rather therefore shall the workemayster of the whole world who is a Mynd giue substance to the whole by his owne only being that is to wit to this diuidable world himselfe being vndiuidable For why should it be thought strauÌ„ge that a thing which is without a bodie should produce things that haue bodies considering that of a very smal seede there groweth so great a Beast composed of so many so great and so differing parts For though the seede bee little the reason of the seede cannot bee small seeing it worketh so great things neither on the other side can it be great forasmuch as it vttereth and sheweth it selfe euen in the smallest percelles Now this reason of the seede needeth matter to worke vppon but so doth not the Reason of God for he needeth not any thing but maketh and frameth all things and notwithstanding that he bring foorth and moueth all things yet abydeth he still in his owne proper nature Now when as the sorest and learneddest enemie that euer ChristiaÌ„s had acknowledgeth this doctrine in good faith and in so expresse wordes who dareth open his lippes any more against it Dare the Epicures with their motes doo it How can they alledge any reason for them selues being by their owne opinion made by haphazard at aduenture without reason Or shal the naturall Philosophers do it with their temperings and mixtures First let them examine their Maister Galene concerning the things which I haue alledged out of him in the former Chapter and if that will not suffize them they shall heare him yet agayne in this Chapter Certesse as it cannot bee denyed but that as he laboureth by all meanes possible to father the causes of all things vppon the Elements and vppon the mixture of them together so is he driuen at euery turne to acknowledge somewhat in them which he is ashamed to father vpoÌ„ them In discoursing how the babe is formed in the moothers wombe he findeth himselfe turmoyled with many opinions But yet in the end Soothly concludeth he I see so great a wisedome and so mightie a Power that I cannot thinke that the Soule which is in the child that is begotten maketh the shape thereof considering that it is altogether voyde of reason but rather that it is formed by that which we call Nature In his booke of the tempering of things a place that serued best for the exalting of the powers of the Elements to the vttermost he very sharply reproueth those which father the cause of the forming of the parts of the bodies of liuing things vpon the qualities of the Elements Notwithstanding saith he that these Qualities be but instrumeÌ„ts and that there bee another that is the framer or fashioner of things In his booke of the opinions of Plato and Hippocrates he maketh the vitall spirite to bee the excellentest of all things that haue a bodie and yet for all that he will not haue it to be eyther the substance or the dwelling place but only the instrument of the Soule And in his booke of Flesshes he procéedeth further sayth that in treating of Leachcraft he spake often according to the common opinion but that if it came to the poynt of vttering the opinioÌ„ that he himslfe hild he declared that both man and Beast haue their beginning from aboue and that their Soules are from Heauen and finally that the Soule procéedeth neither from the qualities of the Elements nor from any of all the things that wee see here beneath Now if the Soule of man or of the very Beastes procéede not of the Elements how should it possibly procéede of the Matter And if it procéede not of the Matter must it not néedes procéed of the forme or rather must it not néedes be the very forme it selfe And what els is so excellent a forme than an excellent substance And from whence is that by his owne saying but from a former fashioner or shaper And what els shal that former be than a Creator seeing that euen shaping is a creating of a substance Now therefore let vs conclude for this Chapter both by vnsoluble reasons and by the testimonies aswell of our enemies as of our friends that God both was able to create and also did
only eyther into others bodies but also eyther into others mynds so as wee comprehend eyther other by mutual vnderstanding and imbrace either other by mutual louing It followeth then that this substance which is able to receiue a bodilesse thing can bee no body and that so much the rather for that the body which seemeth to hold it conteyneth it not Nay verely this Soule of ours is so farre of from being a bodily substance and is so manifestly a Spirit that to lodge all things in it selfe it maketh them all after a sort spirituall and bereueth them of their bodies and if there were any bodylinesse in it it were vnable to enter into the knowledge of a bodie So in a Glasse a thousand shapes are seene but if the cléere of the Glasse had any peculiar shape of it owne the Glasse could yéeld none of those shapes at all Also all visible things are imprinted in the eye but if the sight of the eye had any peculiar colour of it owne it would be a blemish to the sight so as it should eyther not see at all or els all things should seeme like to that blemish Likewise whereas the Tongue is the discerner of all tastes if it be not cléere but combered with humours all things are of tast like to the humour so as if it be bitter they also be bitter and if it be watrish they be watrish too yea and if it bee bitter it can not iudge of bitternesse it self That a thing may receyue al shapes all colours and all tastes it behoueth the same to be cléere from all shapes from all colour and from all sauour of it owne And that a thing may in vnderstanding knowe and conceiue all bodies as our Soule doth it behoueth the same to bée altogether bodylesse it self for had it any bodylinesse at all it could not receiue any body into it If wée looke yet more néerely into the nature of a body wée shall finde that no body receiueth into it the substantial forme of another body without losing or altering his owne ne passeth frō one forme into another without the marring of the first as is to bee seene in wood when it receyueth fire in seedes when they spring foorth into bud and so in other things What is to be said then of mans soule which receiueth and conceyueth the formes and shapes of al things without corrupting his owne and moreouer becommeth the perfecter by the more receyuing For the more it receyueth the more it vnderstandeth and the more it vnderstandeth the more perfect is it If it bee a bodily substance from whence is it and of what mixture If it be of the fower Elements how can thei giue life hauing no life of themselues Or how can thei giue vnderstanding hauing no sence If it bee of the mixture of them how may it bee sayd that of diuers things which haue no beeing of themselues should bee made a thing that hath being Or that of diuers outsides should bee made one body or of diuers bodies one Soule or of diuers deaths one life or of diuers darknesses one light Nay rather why say wee not that he which beyond nature hath made the mixture of these bodies hath for the perfecting of our body breathed a Soule also into the body To be short the propertie of a body is to suffer and the propertie of our Soule is to doe And if the body bée not put foorth by some other thing than it selfe it is a very blocke wheras the mynd that is in our Soule ceasseth not to stirre vp and downe in it selfe though it haue nothing to moue it from without Therefore it is to bee concluded by these reasons and by the like that our Soule is a bodylesse substance notwithstanding that it is vnited to our body And herevpon it followeth also that our Soule is not any material thing forasmuch as matter receyueth not any forme or shape but according to his owne quantitie and but onely one forme at once whereas our Soule receyueth all formes without quantitie come there neuer so many at once or so great Agayne no matter admitteth two contrary formes at once but our Soule contrarywise comprehendeth and receyueth them together as fire and water heate and cold white and blacke and not only together but also the better by the matching and laying of them together To bée short seeing that the more wee depart from matter the more wée vnderstand surely nothing is more contrary to the substance of ou◠Soule than is the nature of matter Furthermore if this reasonable Soule of ours is neither a bodily nor a materiall thing nor depending vpon matter in the best actions therof then must it néedes be of it self and not procéede eyther from body or from matter For what doth a body bring foorth but a body and matter but matter and materiall but materialles And therefore it is an vnmateriall substance which hath being of it selfe But let vs see whether the same bee corruptible and mortall or no. Soothly if Plutarke bee to beléeued it is in vayne to dispute thereof For he teacheth that the doctrine of Gods prouidence and the immortalitie of our Soules are so linked together that the one is as an appendant to the other And in very déed to what purpose were the World created if there were no body to behold it Or to what ende behold wee the Creator in the world but to serue him And why should wee serue him vppon no hope And to what purpose hath he indewed vs with these rare giftes of his which for the most part doe but put vs to payne and trouble in this life if we perish like the brute Beast or the Hearbes which knowe him not Howbeit for the better satisfying of the sillie Soules which go on still like witlesse Beastes without taking so much leysure in all their life as once to enter into themselues let vs indeuer héere by liuely reasons to paynt out vnto thē againe their true shape which they labour to deface with so much filthinesse The Soule of man as I haue sayd afore is not a body neyther doth it increase or decrease with the body but contrarywise the more the body decaieth the more doth the vnderstanding increase and the néerer that the body draweth vnto death the more fréely doth the mynd vnderstand and the more that the body abateth in flesh the more woorkfull is the mynd And why then should we think that the thing which becommeth the stronger by the weakenesse of the body and which is aduaunced by the decay of the body should returne to dust with the body A mans Sences fayle because his eyes fayle and his eyes fayle because the Spirits of them fayle but the blynd mans vnderstanding increaseth because his eyes are not busied and the olde mans reason becommeth the more perfect by the losse of his sight Therfore why say we not that the body fayleth the Soule and not the Soule
all things and which liueth in very déede vppon him by whom all the things which we wonder at here beneath are vphild And what els is vyolence but a iustling of two bodies together and how can there be any such betwéene a bodie and a spiritual substance yea or of two spirits one against another seeing that oftentymes when they would destroye one another they vphold one an other And if the Soule cannot be pushed at neither inwardly nor outwardly is there any thing in nature that can naturally hurt it No but it may perchaunce bee weakened by the very force of his encounter as wee see it doth befall to our sences For the more excellent and the more sensible the thing is in his kynd which the sence receiueth so much the more also is the sence it self offended or gréeued therwith As for example the féeling by fire the taste by harshnesse the smelling by sauours the hearing by the hideousnesse of noyse whether it be of Thunderclappe or of the falling of a Riuer and the sight by looking vpon the Sunne vpon Fyre and vpon all things that haue a glistering brightnesse I omit that in the most of these things it is not properly the sence it selfe but the outward instrument of sence only that is offended or hurt But let vs see if there be the like in our reasonable Soule Nay contrarywise the more of vnderstanding and excellencie that the thing is the more doth it refresh and comfort our mynd If it bee darke so as wee vnderstand it but by halues it hurteth vs not but yet doth it not delight vs. Nay as we increase in vnderstanding it so doth it like vs the better and the higher it is the more doth it stirre vp the power of our vnderstanding and as ye would say reache vs the hande to drawe vs to the atteynement thereof As for them that are dim-sighted wee forbid them to behold the things that are ouerbright But as for them that are of rawest capacitie wee offer them the things that are most vnderstandable When the sence beginneth to perceyue most sharply then is it fayne to giue ouer as if it felt the very death of it selfe Contrarywise when the mynd beginneth to vnderstand then is it most desirous to hold on still And whereof commeth that but that our sences work by bodily instruments but our mynd worketh by a bodilesse substance which néedeth not the helpe of the body And seeing that the nature the nourishment and the actions of our Soule are so farre differing both from the nature nourishment and actions of the body and from al that euer is done or wrought by the bodie can there be any thing more childish than to déeme our Soule to be mortal by the abating and decaying of our sences or by the mortalitie of our bodies Nay contrariwise it may be most soundly and substantially concluded therevpon that mans Soule is of it owne nature immortall seeing that all death as well vyolent as naturall commeth of the bodie and by the bodie Let vs see further what death or corruption is It is say they a separating of the matter from his forme And forasmuch as in man the Soule is considered to be the forme and the bodie to be as the matter the separation of the Soule from the bodie is cōmonly called Death Now then what death can there bee of the Soule sith it is vnmaterial as I haue sayd afore and a forme that abideth of it selfe For as one sayth a man may take away the roundnesse or squarenesse from a table of Copper because they haue no abyding but in the matter but had thei such a round or square forme as might haue an abyding without matter or stuffe wherein to be out of doubt such forme or shape should continue for euer Nay which more is how can that be the corrupter of a thing which is the perfection thereof The lesse corsinesse a man hath the more hath he of reason and vnderstanding The lesse our mynds be tyed to these bodily things the more liuely and chéerefull be they At a word the full and perfect life thereof is the full and vtter withdrawing thereof from the bodie and whatsoeuer the bodie is made of All these things are so cléere as they néede no proofe Now we knowe that euery thing worketh according to the proper being therof and that the same which perfecteth the operations of a thing perfecteth the being thereof also It followeth therefore that sith the separation of the body from the Soule and of the forme from the matter perfecteth the operation or working of the Soule as I haue sayd afore it doth also make perfect and strengthen the very being thereof and therefore cannot in any wise corrupt it And what els is dying but to be corrupted And what els is corrupting but suffering And what els is suffering but receyuing And how can that which receyueth all things without suffering receyue corruption by any thing Fyre corrupteth or marreth our bodies and we suffer in receyuing it So doth also extreme colde but if wee suffered nothing by it it could not fréese vs. Our sences likewise are marred by the excessiue force of the things which they light vpon And that is because they receyue and perceyue the thing that gréeueth them and for that the maner of their behauing of themselues towards their obiects is subiect to suffering But as for the reasonable Soule which receiueth al things after one maner that is to wit by way of vnderstāding wherethrough it alway worketh is neuer wrought into how is it possible for it to corrupt or marre it selfe For what is the thing whereat our Soule suffereth aught in the substance thereof I meane whereby the substance of our Soule is any whit impayred or hurt by mynding or conceyuing the same in vnderstanding As little doth the fire hurt it as the ayre and the ayre as the fire As little hurt receiueth it by the frozen yce of Norwey as by the scorching sands of Affricke As little also doth vyce anoye it as vertue For vyce and vertue are so farre of from incombering the substance of the Soule that our mynd doth neuer conceiue or vnderstand them better than by setting them together one against another That thing therfore which doth no whit appayre it selfe but taketh the ground of perfecting it self by all things can not be marred or hurt by any thing Agein what is death The vttermost poynt of mouing and the vttermost bound of this life For euen in liuing we dye and in dying we liue and there is not that step which we set downe in this life which dooth not continewally step foreward vnto death after the maner of a Dyall or a Clocke which mounting vp by certeine degrées forgoeth his mouing in mouing from Minute to Minute Take away mouing from a body and it doth no more liue Now let vs sée if the soule also be caryed with the same mouing If it be caryed
but to vexe our minds in this lyfe In his bookes of the Soule hee not onely separateth the Body from the Soule but also putteth a difference betwixt the Soule it selfe the Mind terming the Soule the inworking of the body and of the bodily instruments and the mynd that reasonable substance which is in vs whereof the doings haue no fellowship with the doings of the body and whereof the Soule is as Plato saieth but the Garment This Mynd sayth he may be seuered from the body it is not in any wyse mingled with it it is of such substaunce as cannot be hurt or wrought vpon it hath being and continuance actually and of it selfe and euen when it is separated from the body then is it immortall and euerlasting To be short it hath not any thing like vnto the body For it is not any of al those things which haue being afore it vnderstād them And therefore which of all bodily things can it be And in another place he sayeth thus As concerning the Mynd and the contemplatiue powre it is not yet sufficiently apparant what it is Neuerthelesse it seemeth to bee another kind of Soule and it is that onely which can bee separated from the corruptible as the which is Ayeuerlasting To be short when as he putteth this question whether a Naturall Philosopher is to dispute of all maner of Soules or but onely of that Soule which is immateriall it followeth that he graunteth that there is such a one And againe when as he maketh this Argument Looke what God is euerlastingly that are wee in possibilitie according to our measure but hee is euerlastingly separated from bodily things therefore the time will come that wee shall bee so too He taketh it that there is an Image of God in vs yea euen of the Diuine nature which hath continuance of itselfe Uery well and rightly therfore doth Simplicius gather therof the immortalitie of the Soule For it dependeth vpon this separation vpō continuance of being of it self Besides this he sayth also that hunting of beasts is graūted to man by the lawe of Nature because that thereby man chalengeth nothing but that which naturally is his owne By what right I pray you if there be no more in himself than in them And what is there more in him than in them if they haue a soule equall vnto his Herevnto make all his commendations of Godlines of Religion of blessednes and of contemplation For too what ende serue all these which doe but cumber vs here belowe Therefore surely it is to be cōcluded that as he spake doubtfully in some one place so he both termed and also taught to speake better in many other places as appeareth by his Disciple Theophrastus who speaketh yet more euidently thereof than he The Latins as I haue sayd before fell to Philosophie somewhat later then the Gréekes And as touching their common opinion the exercises of superstition that were among them the maner of speeches which we marke in their Histories their contempt of death and their hope of another life can giue vs sufficient warrant thereof Cicero speaketh vnto vs in these words The originall of our Soules and Myndes cannot bee found in this lowe earth for there is not any mixture in them or any compounding that may seeme to bee bred or made of the earth Neither is there any moysture any wyndinesse or any firy matter in them For no such thing could haue in it the powre of memorie Vnderstanding and conceit to beate in mynd things past to foresee things to come and to consider things present which are matters altogither Diuine And his conclusion is that therefore they bee deriued from the Mynd of GOD that is to say not bred or begotten of Man but created of God not bodily but vnbodily wherevpon it followeth that the Soule cannot be corrupted by these transitorie things The same Cicero in another place sayeth that betwéene God and Man there is a kinred of reason as there is betwéene man man a kinred of blud That the fellowship betwéene man and man commeth of the mortall body but the fellowship betwéene God and man commeth of God himselfe who created the Soule in vs. By reason whereof sayth hée we may say we haue Alyance with the heauenly sort as folke that are descended of the same race and roote whereof that we may euermore be myndfull we must looke vp to heauen as to the place of our birth whether we must one day returne And therfore yet once againe he concludeth thus of himself Think not sayth he that thou thy selfe art mortall it is but thy body that is so For thou art not that which this outward shape pretendeth to be the Mynd of Man is the man in deede and not this lumpe which may bee poynted at with ones Fingar Assure thy selfe therefore that thou art a GOD For needes must that be a God which liueth perceyueth remembereth foreseeth and finally reigneth in thy body as the Great God the maker of all things doth in the vniuersall world For as the eternall God ruleth and moueth this transitory world so doth the immortall Spirit of our soule moue rule our fraile body Hereuntoo consent all the writers of his tyme as Ouid Virgill and others whose verses are in euery mans remembrance There wanted yet the wight that should all other wights exceede In loftie reach of stately Mynd who like a Lord in deede Should ouer all the resdewe reigne Then shortly came forth Man Whom eyther he that made the world and all things els began Created out of seede diuine or els the earth yet yoong And lately parted from the Skie the seede thereof vncloong Reteyned still in frutefull wombe which Iapets sonne did take And tempering it with water pure a wight thereof did make Which should resemble euen the Gods which souereine state doe hold And where all other things the ground with groueling eye behold He gaue to man a stately looke and full of Maiestie Commaunding him with stedfast looke to face the starry Skie Here a man might bring in almost all Senecaes wrytings but I will content my selfe with a fewe sayings of his Our Soules sayth he are a part of Gods Spirit and sparkes of holy things shining vpon the earth They come from another place than this lowe one Whereas they seeme to bee conuersant in the bodie yet is the better part of them in Heauen alway neere vnto him which sent them hither And how is it possible that they should be from beneath or from anywhere els thā from aboue seeing thei ouerpasse al these lower things as nothing and hold skorne of all that euer we can hope or feare Thus ye sée how he teacheth that our Soules come into our bodies from aboue But whether go they agayne when they depart hence Let vs here him what he sayes of the Lady Martiaes Sonne that was dead He is
Porphirius and Proclus notwithstanding that now and then they passe their bounds suffering their wits to runne royet For in their Philosophie they had none other rule than only the drift of their owne reason It was commonly thought that Alexander of Aphrodise beléeued not the immortalitie of the Soule because he defined it to be the forme of the body proceeding of the mixture temperature of the Elements Surely these words of his doe vs to vnderstand either that he ment to define but the sensitiue lyfe onely as many others doe and not the reasonable soule or els that he varieth from himselfe in other places And in very déede hee sayeth immediatly afterward that he speaketh of the things which are subiect to generation and corruption But speaking of the Soule he sayeth it is separable vnmateriall vnmixed and voyd of passions vnlesse perchaunce we may thinke as some doe that by this Soule he meane but onely God and not also the Soule that is in vs for the which thing he is sharply rebuked by Themistius who notwithstanding speaketh neuer a whit better thereof himselfe Howsoeuer he deale elsewhere these words of his following are without any doubtfulnes at all The Soule sayth he which is in vs commeth from without and is vncorruptible I say vncorruptible because the nature thereof is such and it is the very same that Aristotle affirmeth to come from without And in his second booke of Problemes searching the cause why the abilities of the Soule are oftentimes impeached If a mans brayne be hurt sayth he the reasonable soule dooth not well execute the actions that depend thereon But yet for all that it abydeth still in itselfe vnchaungeable of nature abilitie and power through the immortalitie thereof And if it recouer a sound instrument it putteth her abilities in execution as well as it did afore But I wil reason more at large hereafter against the opinion that is fathered vpon him What shall we say of Galene who fathereth the causes of all things as much as he can vpon the Elements and the mixture and agréeble concord of them if after his disputing against his owne Soule he be constreyned to yéeld that it is immortall Surely in his booke concerning the manners of the Soule he doeth the worst that he can against Plato and in another place hee doubteth whether it be immortall and whether it haue continuance of it selfe or no. Yet notwithstanding in his booke of the doctrine of Hippocrates and Plato It must needes be graunted sayeth hee that the Soule is either a sheere body and of the nature of the Skye as the Stoiks Aristotle himself are inforced to confesse or els a bodilesse substance whereof the body is as it were the Chariot and whereby it hath fellowship with other bodyes And it appeareth that hee inclyneth to this latter part For hee maketh the vitall spirit to be the excellentest of all bodily things and yet he graūteth the Soule to bee a farre more excellent thing than that What shall we then doe Let vs wey his words set downe in his booke of the conception of a Child in the Moothers Wombe The Soule of Man sayeth he is an influence of the vniuersall Soule that descendeth from the heauenly Region a substance that is capable of knowledge which aspyreth alwayes to one substance lyke vnto it selfe which leaueth all these lower things to seeke the things that are aboue which is partaker of the heauenly Godhead and which by mounting vp to the beholding of things that are aboue the heauens putteth it selfe into the presence of him that ruleth all things Were it reason then that such a substance comming from elsewhere than of the body and mounting so farre aboue the body should in the ende dye with the body because it vseth the seruice of the body Now hereuntoo I could adde infinite other sayings of the auncient authors both Greeke and Latin Philosophers Poets and Orators from age to age wherein they treate of the iudgement to come of the reward of good men of the punishment of euill men of Paradise and of Hell which are appendants to the immortalitie of the Soule but as now I will but put the reader in mynd of them by the way reseruing them to their peculiar places To bée short let vs runne at this day from East to West and from North to South I say not among the Turkes Arabians or Persians for their Alcoran teacheth them that mans Soule was breathed into him of God and consequently that it is vncorruptible but euen among the most barbarous ignorant beastly people of the Wold I meane the very Caribies and Cannibals and we shall find this beléefe receiued and imbraced of them all Which giueth vs to vnderstand that it is not a doctrine inuented by speculations of some Philosophers conueyed from Countrie to Countrie by their disciples perswaded by likelyhods of reasons or too be short entered into mans wit by his eares but a natiue knowledge which euery man findeth and readeth in himself which he carieth euerywhere about with himselfe and which is as easie to bée perswaded vnto all such as viewe themselues in themselues as it is easie to perswade a man that neuer sawe his owne face to beléeue that he hath a face by causing him to behold himselfe in a glasse There remayne yet two opinions to be confuted The one is the opinion of Auerrhoes and the other is the opinion of Alexander of Aphrodise who affirme themselues to hold both of Aristotle namely in that they vpholde that there is but one vniuersall reasonable Soule or mynd which worketh al our discourses in vs howbeit diuersly in euery seuerall person And this thing if wee beléeue Auerrhoes is done according to the diuersitie of the Phantasies or Imaginations wherewith the mynd is serued as with instruments But if we beléeue Alexander it is done according too the diuersities of the capable mind as they terme it that is to say of the abilitie or capabilitie that is in men to vnderstand things by receyuing the impression of the vniuersall mynd that worketh into euery of them which in respect thereof is called of them the woorker Soothly these opinions are such as may bee disprooued in one worde For this onely one Mynd whether in possibilitie or in action could not haue receiued or imprimted in euery man one selfesame common beléef and conceit of the immortalitie of the Soule in so great diuersitie of imaginations and in so many Nations as we sée doe beléeue it considering that the very same conceit is directly repugnant against it Nay it may well bée sayde that Auerrhoes and Alexander had very diuers conceits and imaginations one from another and very contrary to all other mens seeing they had so diuers and cōtrarie opinions imprinted either in their mind or in their imagination Howbeit forasmuch as there may be some the will make a doubt of it Let
the Sunne doe shed his beames he doth both inlighten it and heate it howbeit diuersly according to the nature and condition of the places and things that receyue him some more and some lesse some brightlyer and some dimlyer But howsoeuer the case stande his light yéeldeth no darknesse nor his heate any cold So then if the diuersities of mens imaginations doe cause diuersities of effects in the inspiration or influence that floweth into the capacitie of our vnderstanding surely it must néedes bee after this maner namely that one man shall vnderstand one selfesame thing more and another man lesse but not in that any man shall take vntruth for truth vnright for right or one thing for another Now we see vnto how many errors wee bee subiect I meane not in such things as this namely that one man seeth better a farre of and another better at hand but that one man seeth white and another seeth blacke which are things contrary in one selfesame ground and at one selfesame tyme. It followeth therefore that diuers and sundries mynds doe worke in diuers persons and not one selfsame mynd in al persons By force of which reasons and of such others I say that euery mā shall finde in himselfe and of himselfe That euery man hath a particular Soule by himself that is to say a spirituall substance vnited to his body which in respect of giuing life to the body is as the forme therof and in respect of giuing reason is as the guyde of our actions That in euery man there is a certeyne Sunbeame of Reason whereby they conceyue things and debate vpon them wherethrough it commeth to passe that oftentymes they agrée both in the Reason it selfe which is one and in the manifest grounds therof and in whatsoeuer dependeth euidently vpon the same That euery man hath also a peculiar body by himselfe and likewise peculiar complexion humours imaginations education custome and trade of life whereof it commeth that euery man takes a diuers way yea and that one selfsame person swarueth diuersly from the vnitie of Reason wherof the path is but one and the waies to stray from it are infinite That this Sunbeame of reason which shineth and sheadeth it self from our mynd is properly that vnderstanding which is termed The vnderstanding in abilitie or possibilitie which is increased and augmented by all the things which it seeth heareth or lighteth vppon like fire which gathereth increase of strength by the abundance of the fewell that is put vnto it and becommeth after a sort infinite by spreading it selfe abroad Also it is the same which otherwise we call the Memorie of vnderstāding or myndfull Memorie and it is nothing els but an abundance of Reason and as it were a hoorder vp of the continuall influences of the Mynd That the Mynd from whence this floweth as from his spring is properly that which they the sayd Auerrhoes and Alexander doe terme the working or workfull Mynd which is a certeyne power or force that can skill to extend reason from one thing to another and to procéede from things sensible to things vnsensible from things mouable to things vnmouable from bodily to spirituall from effects to causes and from beginnings to ends by the meane causes This Mynd is in respect of Reason as cunning is in respect of an Instrument or toole and Reason as in respect of imagination and of the things that are sensible is as an Instrument or toole in respect of the matter or stuffe that it workes vpon Or to speake more fitly this Mynd is vnto Reason as the mouer of a thing is to the thing that is mouable and Reason is to her obiects as the mouable thing is to the thing whereunto it is moued For to reason or debate is nothing els but to procéed from a thing that is vnderstoode to a thing that is not vnderstoode of purpose to vnderstand it and the vnderstanding thereof is a resting that inseweth vppon it as a staying or resting after mouing That both of them as well the one as the other are but onely one selfesame substance and like as a man both when he moueth and whē he resteth is all one and the same man or as the power that moueth the Sinewes is one selfesame still both when it stirreth them and when it holdeth them still so the reasonable or vnderstanding Soule that is in euery man is but onely one selfesame substance bodylesse and immateriall executing his powers partly of it selfe and partly by our bodies And seeing that Auerrhoes and Alexander make so great estimation and account of the effects which are wrought in vs that they bée inforced to attribute them to some vncorruptible and euerlasting Mynd let vs take of them that in very trueth the thing which worketh so great woonders in the body can be neither sence nor body nor imagination but a diuine vncorruptible and immortall mynd as they themselues say But let vs learne the thing of mo than them which al wise men teach vs and which euery of vs can learne of himself namely that this Understanding or Mynde is not one vniuersall thing as the Sunne is that shineth into all the windowes of a Citie but rather a particular substance in euery seuerall man as a light to leade him in the darknesse of this life for surely it was no more difficultie to the euerlasting GOD to create many sundrie Soules that euery man might haue one seuerally alone by himselfe than to haue created but onely one Soule for all men together But it was farre more for his glorie to bee knowne praysed and exalted of many Soules yea and more for our welfare to prayse exalt and knowe him yea and to liue of our selues both in this life and in the life to come than if any other vniuersall Spirit Soule or Mynd whatsoeuer should haue liued and vnderstoode eyther in vs or after vs. Now then for this matter let vs conclude both by reason and by antiquitie and by the knowledge that euery of vs hath of himselfe That the Soule and the Body be things diuers That the Soule is a Spirit and not a Body That this Spirit hath in man three abilities or powers whereof two bee exercised by the body and the third worketh of it selfe without the body That these three abilities are in the one onely Soule as in their roote whereof two doe ceasse whensoeuer the body fayleth them and yet notwithstanding the Soule abideth whole without abatemēt of any of her powers as a Craftsman continueth a Craftsman though he want tooles to worke withal And finally that this Soule is a substance that continueth of it selfe and is vnmateriall and spirituall ouer the which neither death nor corruption can naturally haue any power And for a conclusion of all that euer I haue treated of hetherto in this booke let vs mainteyne That there is but only one God who by his owne goodnesse and wisedome is the Creator and gouerner of the
of the Creator and the sentence of his iust wrath vppon his creature wherethrough it came to passe that the same was not onely bereft of all the grace wherewith it was replenished by beholding it selfe in him but also was made an vnderling to the selfesame things which were made to haue done it seruice Now what this sinne was wee cannot better vnderstand than by the punishment thereof For punishment and sinne haue a mutuall respect one to another as a sore and a salue and may after a sort be knowne the one by the other Order would that our wit should obey GOD and that all our sences and appetites should obey our reason but wee see that as now our sences and appetites hold reason vnder foote This punishment ought to set our fault before our eyes when as wee see our selues falne downe and thrust vnder our selues namely that man intended to haue mounted vp aboue God The same order would also that all the whole world and worldly things should haue serued man and man haue serued GOD that God might haue bene the marke of man as man should haue bene the marke for all other things to haue amed at But wee see that at this day man is an vnderling to the least things that are insomuch that euen those which haue neither sence nor life doe resist him and he pitcheth the ende of all his desires in earthly things as if they were of more valewe than himselfe accordingly as all of vs know that the end is alwaies better thā the things that tend to the same Séeing then that nature is reuolted from man it is certeyne that man is reuolted from God for it is the ordinary punishment of rebellious Subiects that their owne seruaunts and vnderlings also do kicke and spurne agaynst them And moreouer seeing that man not only findeth all maner of mischiefe and misfortune in himselfe but is also so blynd as to seeke his felicitie in the myre and in the durtie dunghils of this world it is a token that he sought his happinesse in himself and elswhere than in God To bee short wée bée striken in our Soules with ignorance of the things that are most néedfull for vs and in our bodies with continuall infirmities and finally with death and that is because we haue bene curious in seeking trifeling things as not contented with the lesson that GOD had giuen vs and would néedes haue made our selues immortall howbeit not by the euerlasting power of Gods quickening spirit but by the forbidden vse of transitorie things yea euen which had no life in them Thus see we now whereof the corruption of mankynd is come namely euen of our owne transgression and of the punishment that followed vpon the same But it is demaunded of vs yet further how long it is ago since this befell If wee had espyed this corruption in vs but from some certeyne hundred yéeres hence it were not for vs to seeke any further for it But let vs hold on our course vp the streame of Mankynd euen to the Riuers head and wee shall finde it still alwaies foule and muddy and we shal from age to age heare these outcryes euen among the best I loue well the good but I cannot doe it and to bee short that man is inclyned to doe euill and subiect to receyue euill which are in one word both the fault and the punishment Agayne were it but in some households or but in some Nations only men would not sticke to father the fault vppon the Clymate and the Soyle or vppon the misteaching or misexample of the Parents But when we see that in that respect all men are in one selfesame taking aswell the men of old tyme as the men of our daies sauing that sinne increaseth continually as well vnder the Equinoctiall lyne as betwéene both the Tropicks and as well on the further side as on the hether side of them sauing that some take more payne to keepe it from sight thā others and that those which haue most wit are woorst forasmuch as I haue alreadie sufficiently proued the creation of the world and of the first man wee be driuen to mount vp agayne to the same man and to say that as he is the roote of our ofspring so is he also the welspring of this corruption which reigneth in vs as in whom our whole race was both atteinted with sinne and attached with punishment In this behalfe it is not for vs to pleade against GOD but to submit our shoulders to his Iustice and to lift vp our eyes to his mercie For necessarily from poynt to poynt doth this consequence ensewe The Soule is corrupted in all mankynd Who is so corrupted that he feeleth it not This corruption cannot procéed from the Creator For when did euer purenesse yéeld forth corruptiō The other creatures could not haue defiled it For what maketh a thing vncleane but the taking of vncleannesse vnto it and what causeth the taking of vncleannesse vnto it but the touching thereof and what touching one of another can there be betwéene a Spirit and a Bodie It remayneth therefore that our Soule corrupted it self by forsaking her duetie eyther of her owne accord or by the admitting vnto it of some wicked Spirit that is to say by perswasion of that Spirit which perswasion is vnto Spirits as touching is vnto bodies And agayne this coruption is from all tyme then comes it not of trayning And in all Nations then comes it not of Constellation And in all ages both old young and middle sort then comes it not of imitation or exampletaking Therefore it must néedes procéed both from one only man and from the firstcreated man who turned away from God through pride whervpon God also did iustly turne away from him as wee reade of our first father Adam in the holy Scripture Now then what remayneth more for vs but to conclude that thing by nature which wee beléeue through Scripture namely That God created man good That he told him his will That man chose to liue after his owne lyking and would néedes become equall with God That therevpon he was banished from Gods presence and fauour That the Earth became rebellious against man and man against himselfe and to bee short that man was wrapped in the wretchednesse of this world intangled with sinne in himself driuen to liue euer dying in this life and were not Gods wrath appeased towards him sure to dye euerlastingly in the life to come The xvij Chapter That the men of old time agreed with vs concerning mans corruption and the cause thereof IT followeth that wee gather the voyces and iudgements of the wisest sort yea of all men in generall the which in myne opinion ought to beare the more sway with vs because it is a kindly thing with vs both to loue our selues and also to thinke ouerwell of our selues For what cause hath a man to complayne if being made Iudge in his owne case he frame his
Reason that is too say the néerest too not being The Plants besides being haue also life and they draw their nourishment from the Earth and their refresshing from the Ayre The Beastes haue both Béeing Life and Sence and take their foode both from the Elements and from the Plants Man hath Béeing and Life and Sence and Reason and he inioyeth the Elements liueth of the Plants commaundeth the Beastes and discourseth of all things both aboue him and beneath him Lo heere an order such from degrée too degrée that whosoeuer conceiueth not by and by some Author thereof hath neither Reason nor Sence no nor is worthie too haue either life or béeing I pray you from whence commeth this goodly proportion and this orderly procéeding of things by degrées Whence commeth the difference in their partitions Whence commeth it that the hugest and widest things are vnderlings to the least and weakest things Whereof commeth it that some things haue but a dead being and next vnto notbeing and that othersome haue a beeing that is moouing sensible and reasonable howbeit some more and some lesse Commeth it of the things themselues How can that bée For séeing that nothing doth willingly become an vnderling vnto others why bée not the heauiest masses allotted to the best shares Wherof commeth it that the liuing things which in respect of the whole Sea are but as a drop and in respect of the whole Earth are but as a grayne of dust are in degrée of preheminence aboue them And whereof commeth it that man being the fraylest of all liuing wightes is serued by the Elements by the Plants and by the Beastes yea euen by the wildest of them Then is there a deuider or distributer of these things who hauing imparted thē too others had them first himselfe and that most aboundantly and who moreouer is of necessitie almightie seeing that in so vnequall partition he holdeth them neuerthelesse in concorde I say further that all things are comprized vnder these fower that is too wit vnder Beeing Life Sence and Reason according too his diuers imparting of them vnto all things Now I demaund whether was first of Beeing or Notbeing of Liuing or Notliuing of Sensible or Notsensible of Reasonable or Notreasonable Surely it was neither Reasonable nor Sensible nor liuing for the time hath bin that wée were not But wee knowe that wee had fathers and that our fathers had forefathers and the ende of them maketh vs too beléeue that they had a beginning In like cace is it with beasts and plants for wée know the bréeding growing decaying and fading of them Much more then may wée say the same of Being For the things héere beneath which haue but onely bare beeing are farre inferiour too the other things and therefore cannot bring foorth themselues and consequently much lesse bring foorth the other things It remaineth then that Notbeeing Notliuing Notsensible and Notreasonable were afore Beeing Liuing Sensible and Reasonable And yet notwithstanding wée haue both Béeing Life Sence and Reason It followeth therefore that it is a power from without vs which hath brought vs out of Notbéeing into béeing and hath parted the said gifts among vs diuerlly according too his good pleasure For otherwise from out of that nothing which wée were If I may so terme it we should neuer haue come too be any thing at all Now betweene nothing and something how little so euer that something can bee there is an infinite space Néedes therefore must it be that the cause thereof was infinite at leastwise if it may bée called a cause and that is the very same which we call God Let vs come to the nature of the Elements whereof the whole is compated The Fyre is contrarie too the Water and the dry to the moyst and of these contraries are infinite other things produced vnder them Now the nature of contraries is too destroy one another and no twoo things euen of the least can bee coupled togither but by the working of a higher power that is able too compell them But wée see that these things doo not incroche or vsurpe one vppon another but contrariwise that they match toogither in the composing of many things and yet notwithstanding that not so much as two strings beeing of one selfesame nature can agree in one tune without the wit of a man that can skill too streine them and too slake them as he seeth it good It followeth therefore that the heauenly harmonie wherein so many contraries are made too accord both vniuersally and particularly are set toogither and guyded by a spirit Insomuch that if we will say that according too the comon opinion the aire is spread foorth as a stickler betweene the Fyre and the Water and is ioyned too the one by his moysture and too the other by his heate Yée must needes say also that there is a great and souerein Iudge aboue them which hath made them too abyde that stickler Let vs mount vp higher Wee see the Heauen how it mowweth round with a continuall mouing Also wee see there the Planets one vnder another which notwithstanding the violence of the first moueable haue euery one his seuerall course and mouing by himselfe And shall wee say that these mouings happen by aduenture But the same aduenture which made them to moue should also make them to stand still Agein as for aduenture or chaunce it is nothing els but disorder and confusion but in all these diuersities there is one vniformitie of mouing which is neuer interrupted How then Doo they moue of them selues Nay for nothing moueth it selfe and where things moue one another there is no possibilitie of infinite holding on but in the end men must be faine to mount vpto a first beginning and that is a rest As for example from the hammer of a Clocke wée come too a whéele and from that whéele too another and finally too the wit of the Clockmaker who by his cunning hath so ordered them that notwithstanding that he maketh them all too moue yet he himselfe remoueth not It remayneth then that of all these mouings wée must imagine one Mouer vnmouable and of all these so constant diuersities one vnuariable alwaies like it selfe and of all these bodies one spirite And like as from the Earth wée haue styed vp too the Ayre from the Ayre too the Skye from the Skye too the Heauen of Heauens still mounting vp from greater too greater from light too light and from subtile to subtile so let vs aduaunce our selues yet one degrée higher namely too the infinite too the light which is not too bée conceiued but in vnderstanding and too the quickening spirit in respect whereof the thing that wée woonder at héere beneath is lesse then a poynt our light is but a shadowe and our spirit is but a vapour And yet notwithstanding he hath so paynted out his glorie and instuitenesse euen in the things which wée most despise as that euen the grossest wits may easely comprehend
Caligula who threatened the Ayre if it rayned vpon his Gameplayers and yet notwithstanding he wrapped his Cape about his head or hid himselfe vnder his Bed at euery flash of lightening I beléeue saith Seneca concerning the same matter that this threatening of his did greatly hasten his death for so much as folke sawe that they were too beare such a one as could not beare euen with the Goddes Among the learned although the libertie of Sects was lawlesse yet the chiefe that men counted for Atheists were one Diagoras a Melian Poet one Theodore a Cyrenian one Ewhemere a Tegean and a very fewe others But to say truely these rather skorned the Idolles and false Goddes of their tymes then denyed the true God Accordingly as we sée many of them yet still among vs which hold themselues cōtented with the knowing of vntrueth without seeking after the trueth and with mocking of Superstitions without seeking the pure and true Religion Of the sayd Diagoras it is reported that as hee was burning an Image of Hercules in his fire he sayd Thou must now doe me seruice in this thirteenth incounter as well as thou hast done to Euristheus in the other twelue This was but a skorning of Idolles For notwithstanding this his Uerses began thus that all things are gouerned by a Godhead Also it is reported of the other that he should say to the Egiptians If they be Gods why bewayle ye them and if they be dead folkes why worship ye them This also was a disprouing of the false Gods And as for Ewhemere of Tegea men are of accorde that the cause why he was called an Atheist was for that he wrate the true Historie and Genealogie of the Heathen Gods shewing that they were Kings Princes and great Personages whose Images being kept for a remembrance of them were turned into Idolles their woorthie doings into yerely Gaming 's and their honorings into worshippings And which of vs at this day beleeueth not as much There were in deede a kinde of Philosophers called Scepticks that is to say Dowters which did rather suspend their Iudgement concerning the Godhead then call it in question But yet it ought to suffize vs that they be the selfsame which deny al Sciences yea euen those which consist in Demonstration and which professe themselues to doubt of the things which they see and feele in so much that they doubt whether they themselues haue any beeing or no. But yet for all that let vs see after what maner these kind of people doe reason Against the thing which the world preacheth which Nations worship and which wise men wonder at these folke say at a worde for all how shall wee beleeue that there is a God sith we see him not O foole and which worse is O foole by being wise in thyne owne conceyt Thou beléeuest that there is a Sunne euen when thou art in a Dongeon or in the bottome of a Prison because his beames are shed in at thy windowes and doubtest thou yet still whether there be a God or no when he sheweth himself to thee through the Sunne the Moone and the Starres in the Ayre the Earth the Sea in all things that they conteyne yea and euen in they selfe If thou haddest neuer seene Tree afore thy wit at the very first sight of it would leade thée to the roote which is vnder the Tree and the sight of a Riuer would leade thee to the welspring thereof which may peraduenture be two hundred Leagues of And whosoeuer should tell thee the contrarie thou wouldest stand at defiaunce against him O man like as the Tree leadeth thee to the roote by his braunches doth not the roote leade thee likewise to the kernell and the kernell to him that made it And as the Riuer leadeth thée to his head shal not the head leade thée to the originall spring therof seeing thou canst not doubt but it hath a beginning sith thou seest that it runneth with a streame If thou shouldest arriue among the Indians and finde but some sislie Cottage in the desolatest Countrey thereof Thou wouldest by and by conclude this I le is inhabited some man hath passed heere And why Because thou seest there some tokens of mans wit and knowest well that the Goates which thou hast seene raunging or skipping vpon the Rockes can build no such thing Now when thou beeing borne beneath seest here a hundred and a hundred thousand things which are not possible to be made by man nay which more is which it is not possible for him to knowe nor to vnderstand oughtest thou not to say immediatly Gods spirite hath passed this way needes must here haue bene some higher thing then man Mention is made of certeyne precize persons which beléeued nothing but that which they sawe and the Wizards made them to see Deuilles Wherevpon they came to beleeue also that there is a God It was a mad kinde of conuersion to beleeue in God by the ministerie of the Deuill But what a number of other things beleeuest thou which thou seest not Thou beleeuest that the Plants haue a kinde of Soule that is to say a certeyne inward power or vertue which maketh them to shoote foorth in their season Thou seest them but thou seest not it neither knowest thou whence it commeth or where it lyeth Thou beleeuest that the Beastes also haue one other kinde of Soule which maketh them to mooue and yet thou seest it as little as the other Also thou beleeuest that thou thy self besides these hast an abilitie of reasoning both vpon them and vpon thy selfe and vpon such as are like thy selfe And yet as touching the bodie thou seest not any thing altered in the partes thereof after death neither within nor without Where is that Soule then or where hast thou euer seene it If thou beleeue therof because of the effects which thou seest which cannot come from any thing els I assure thée euen by the same effects that if thou beléeue nothing thereof but that which thou seest with thyne eyes thyne eyes see not but by thy Soule and thyne eyes themselues see not thy Soule To be short thou beléeuest that thou hast a face which without a looking Glasse thou seest not And wilt thou not beléeue there is a God whose face shineth foorth in all things Othersome to shewe themselues more fineheaded haue argewed thus If there bee a GOD he must needes be a bodily liuing wight or els he should be sencelesse And if he haue sences then is he chaungeable and if he be chaungeable then may be perish that is to say he is no longer God Beasts are they in very deed which can conceiue no better then that which is common to Beasts Others haue sayd thus If he be without bodie he is also without Soule and consequently without action Or if he be a bodie he is subiect to the chaunges therof Alas that they should not be abls to conceiue a Spirite without
thinke of him whose willings are powers and whose thoughts are déedes Who is an infinite mynd in comparison of the brightnesse wherof our mynds are but a shadowe If we who to speake properly are but in outward showe doe things in outward showe so diuers do we doubt that he which is in very trueth cannot do them also in very trueth Moreouer if the diuersitie make vs to imagine diuers Gods howbeit all procéeding of one alone shall we say that he which in his vnitie bred the rest of the Gods with their so diuers powers had not the same powers in his vnitie Againe seeing the sayd diuersitie was once included within the sayd vnitie is it to be sayd that he was fayne to hatch vp diuers Gods for the bringing of that diuersitie to light Nay like as nature doth all things the shortest way so also God made all things immediatly And if they say it was his pleasure to make the high things himselfe and to leaue the lowe things to be done by the pettie Gods we must consider that High and Lowe Noble and Unnoble are but considerations of man For to make the one or the other is all one vnto God who of his infinite goodnesse and power hath drawne both twayne of them out of nothing which was no more the one than the other as wée shall see hereafter Let vs come to such as haue vphilde two beginnings the one good whom they call Oromases and the other euill whom they call Arimanius which opinion men say procéeded first from Zoroastres and afterward from the Persians and Manichies but wee shall finde no foundation thereof in nature Their meaning is that the Elements the Plants Beastes Men yea and Spirites were as yee would say parted betwixt these twoo Gods so as the one should bee the Creator of the one and the other of other the good God of the good and the euill of the euill If it be so then is there a Ciuill warre fully furnished of forces set in battelray on both sides so as there remayneth nothing but fighting and yet after so long tyme we see no such fight at all And therfore let vs conclude that this cōtrarietie of beginnings is not Unto the one they alotted Light and vnto the other Darknesse vnto the one Sommer and vnto the other Winter vnto the one Heate and vnto the other Cold. In very déede these are Contraries but yet is one selfsame Sunne the doer of them all after as he goeth further from vs or commeth neerer to vs. And his going from vs is not to forgoe his light but to shine therewith the neerlyer vnto others nor to coole himselfe but to heate other folkes Then if these contraries come of one selfsame one that is to wit of the Sunne Much more likely is it in reason that the Sunne himself should not come of two Againe why should the one of these contraries be good and the other bad Whosoeuer shall haue tryed the extremitie both of the Heate and of the Cold shall not be able to discerne which is the worser Likewise he that shall haue obserued the benefite that commeth of either of them in their seasons shall not be able to discerne which of them to take for the better The Heate ripeneth fruites but it also seareth and parcheth them The Colde starueth them but it also maketh them to bud Take away either of them both and you take away all fruites And like as both of them are needfull to one selfsame thing that is to wit to the bringing foorth of fruites so be they also procured by the course of one selfsame might which is the Sunne The same Sunne is the lightner of our eyes to our behoofe and he is also the blinder of them if wee gaze vpon him at the heyhth of the day Yet notwithstanding both in the Sunne and in our eyes is the selffame light which they call good and which by his reckoning should bee to them both good and bad and if it be so on which side shall they turne themselues They adde further Among Plants there are so many poysons and among liuing wights so many noysome Beastes that how should a good God bee author of them Sillie man that thou art The Poysons thou occupyest in Tryacles for thy health euen against the Plague And of those Beastes thou canst skill to vse the skinnes to clothe thee against the Colde And if thou hast an euill opinion of some of them because thou canst not serue thy turne with them as much wouldest thou haue sayd sometime of the Horse which as now doth thee seruice so many waies as much might the Satyre haue said of Fire when it burned him notwithstanding that as now it be so many waies necessarie Now then they might benefite thee if thou wistest how to vse them and whereas they anoy thee it is not of their nature but through thyne owne weakenesse or rather ignorance But if they be good so farre forth as thou hast skill of them shall they not bee good to him which knoweth them throughly In the Closet of a Surgion who is but a man as thou art thou shalt finde a thousand tooles and thou wilt perchaunce esteeme him so wise that thou wilt not thinke there is any one of them which serueth not to some purpose Yea and if any of them doe cut thée or race thée thou wilt not blame the toole nor the maister thereof but thy selfe which tookest it by the blade whereas thou shouldest haue taken it by the handle And as little canst thou say that the toole which did cut thee as that the toole wherewith thou diddest cut what thou wouldest had another maister or maker Now then wilt thou bring lesse regard with thée in this great shop of the Creator It is his will that some things shall serue other liuing wights which serue thée and othersome shall serue thee alone Yea and he will haue euen the harmes which thou receiuest by them to serue thée to some purpose and he serueth his owne turne better by thée then thou canst serue thyne owne And if thou which art nothing hast yet so much wit as to drawe some peculiar good to thy self out of another bodies workes yea euen out of such as thou accountest euill as out of Poyson health from the Wolfe his skinne to couer thée from the night rest and so foorth Shall not the almightie and infinitie Spirit much better dispose them for the benefite of all men yea and of all the whole world which comprehendeth so many things together They say yet againe But why should a good God take pleasure in so many néedlesse things For to what purpose serueth the Fly and such other things Tell me wouldest thou like well that thine owne Children should speake such reproach of thy workes Nay rather wherein doth the Flye anoye thée And wherfore serued the Flye that Zeuxis paynted in his Table It serued to make his greatest disdeyners
things haue their béeing howbeit that hee is not determinatly or definitely in any thing Wee haue an image hereof in our owne mynd which yet notwithstanding is but a vayne shadowe For in as much as all the things which we conceiue are lesse than we they be in the mynd without intermingling of the mynd with them and the mynd after a certeyne fashion toucheth them all although it bée not comprehended in any of them Now if all these things be in our mynd because they be entered into it by our sences how much more shall all essences be in God and he in all of them seeing that all of them procéede from him and that his onely conceyuing of them hath brought them foorth Now then let vs not imagine any intermingling in this behalfe The light of the Sunne continueth entierly throughout it cannot bee deuided intoo partes nor shet vp in any place nor seuered from the welspring thereof it sheadeth it selfe into all places it filleth all places and it is present with all things which we see I speake after the maner of the Diuines in essence in power and in presence The Ayre is lightened with the presence thereof and darkened with the absence and wee perceyue both twayne of them and yet for al that it intermingleth not it self with the Ayre ne leaueth any whit of it selfe into it And shall wee presume to thinke lesse of the light which is not to bee conceyued but in vnderstanding considering that wee see the like with our eyes Or shall wee thinke it straunge that GOD should bee both euery where and nowhere considering how wee see that from a bodie there isseweth such a bodilesse thing as without touching any of them lighteneth them all And if a light shine in all things that shine shall not the souereine essence bee in all things that are And seeing that things could not haue bin made vnlesse Gods power which is his very essence had bin present with all things with euery of them shall any thing let him from being present with all things still Now like as the light of the Sunne hath diuers effects through the disposition of mens eyes and of the shéerenesse of things and the diuersities of the substances whereon it lighteth so is Gods presence diuers too diuers things and yet is it without any diuersitie in it selfe He is sayth S. Austin in himself as the beginning and the end to the World as the Author and gouernor thereof to his Church as a father in his House to our Soules as a Bridegroome in his Chamber to the Rightuous as a Helper and defender to the Reprobates as a trembling and terror No man fleeth from him but to him from his rigor to his goodnesse and so foorth For what place shall he meete with sayth he where he shall not finde they presence The selfesame presence which was present at the making of all things is present with euery thing to preserue them all and yet is it neuerthelesse absent from all things and from euery thing as it was at the tyme that there were no things at all because none of them conteyneth it or any part of it but it conteyneth all things But we must passe yet one step further God say we is present euerywhere Then is he infinite and yet is he not conteyned in any place for he is not a bodie It followeth therefore that he is not infinite in bodie but in Spirit nor in quantitie but in goodnes and power and better if better may be sayd Wherfore let vs not imagine him to bee a huge or massie lumpe as the ignorant sorte doe The massinesse of things is that as wee see which maketh them vnable to doe things Contrariwise the more spirituall a thing is the more actiue it is He then which is the action of al powers must néedes bee a Spirit of infinite power and yet notwithstanding exempted from all quantitie which properly is but a weakenesse or want of power yea and yet in such sort infinite as all the infinitenesse thereof bee comprehended within bounds as to himselfe that is to say so as he finish or bound himselfe because he neither is nor hath any thing without himself Thus haue we by reason and we may also haue it by the Deuilles in the forealledged Oracles and likewise by all the Philosophers that GOD is vnmoouable vnchaungeable beginninglesse endlesse single bodylesse and infinite all which are termes whereby wee declare not what he is but onely what he is not not to make vs to conceyue him but to kéepe vs from deceyuing our selues by our owne vayne conceytes And of all these Negatiues we conceyue but one affirmatiue as we did at the first namely that God is his owne being as he himself faith vnto Moyses insomuch that he is of himselfe and all things are of him and he cannot be aught els than he is insomuch also that it is all one with him to be great and mightie as méerely and simply to bée which is as much to say as that we must as much as wee can conceyue him to be good without qualitie great without quantitie euerlasting without tyme euerywhere present without place and so foorth And to conclude this Chapter whereas wee cannot comprehend God in his very being wee will indeuer to come néere to the knowledge of him thrée waies by considering his effects howbeit in such sort as that we must thinke infinitely of him aboue and beyond the things which seeme greatest vnto vs in the perfections which we perceyue to be in all things as goodnesse trueth wisedome Iustice life vnitie and such like and yet conceyuing him if we can to be but one only perfection compreheÌ„ding all perfections in one and yet euery of them infinitely aboue the highest degrée of perfection that we can imagine And finally as in respect of the imperfections which are in all things as chaungeablenesse weakenesse materialnesse and such like by conceyuing them to be more infinitely farre of from his nature than wee can set them of in our vnderstanding But when wee haue or shall haue taken neuer so much paynes in that behalfe yet the vttermost that wee shall haue learned is but only not to be ignorant of our owne want of knowledge And therefore to the intent we lose not our selues in seeking him the surest way for vs is to pâ—ssesse him by louing seruing and woorshipping him the which thing hee of his loue towards vs graunt vs to doe Amen The fifth Chapter That in the onely one Essence or Substance of God there are three persons which we call the Trinitie LET vs presume yet a little further not by rash inquisitiuenes of man but by the mercifull guyding of God who hath voutsafed to vtter himselfe vnto vs in his Scriptures and let vs sée whether reason will helpe vs to mainteyne and prooue the things which she of her selfe could neuer haue found out For reason is after a
and our so curious searching out of Pedegrees maketh vs too confesse it whether wée will or no. And if any thing in the worlde might haue any true pretence or lykelyhod to boast of an eternitie our Soules might doe it which without mouing themselues doe doe cause a thousand things to remoue They moūt vp vnto Heauen and go downe to the déepe without shifting their place They hoord vp the whole world in the storehouse of their memorie without combering of any roome there They packe vp all tymes past present and to come together without passing from one too another To be short they conceyue and conteyne all things and after a sort euen themselues also And yet shall we be so bold as too say they be eternal without beginning Nay how can that be sith we sée that they profit and learne yea and oftentimes also appayre and forget from age to age and from day to day How I say can that be sith we sée that they passe frō ignorance to knowledge from darkenesse to light from gladnesse to sadnesse and from hope to despayre and that not by yeeres but euen in minutes and moments And which more is wee sée them receyue great trouble and alteration by and for the things that are mutable and transitorie which florish in the morning and are withered and parched as in an Ouen at night Now to be altered and chaunged importeth a mouing and he that graunteth a mouing graunteth also a beginning and to be moued by things mutable sheweth an ouer great inconstancie of nature which is a thing tootoo contrarie vnto eternitie To be short how can that thing be eternall or euerlasting which cannot so much as by any imagination resemble aught that this word eternitie betokeneth And yet this soule of ours is the thing which in man ioyneth Heauen and Earth togither marketh the chaunges in things aboue and for the most part worketh them in the things beneath carying vp a handfull of dust aboue the skyes and after a sort bringing downe Heauen vnto the Earth Much more reason then is it that neither in the Heauen nor in the Earth nor in all the Harmonie of the whole world which wee so greatly wonder at there should not be any approching at al vnto eternitie Some man perchaunce will say vnto mee that in the partes of the World there is no eternitie but yet there may be in the whole Nay how can a Whole bee eternall which is composed of brittle and temporall parts And what call they the Whole but the huge frame of Heauen whose mouing proueth that it had a beginning Againe some other will perhaps say there is a beginning of moouing in the world as well in the whole as in the parts thereof but yet it doth not therefore followe that it had beginning of béeing Nay if the being thereof was euerlastingly afore the mouing therof how could it be called in Latine Mundus in Gréeke Cosmos that is to say A goodly or beautifull order seeing that for the most part Order dependeth vppon moouing For take from the Heauens their turning about and from the Sunne his course and set them fast in some place where you list and you shall make the one halfe of the Earth blynd and the whole Earth eyther scorched with his continuall presence or desert and vninhabitable by his absence and ye shall make the Sea for the most part vnsayleable and the Ayre vnfruitfull or vntemperate Therefore it will followe at the least that the World hath not bin inhabited euerlastingly nor the Plants thereof bin eternall nor the liuing Creatures no not euen Mankynd bin without beginning Surely I wote not what eyes these Philosophers had who had leuer to eternise the Stones Rocks and Mountaines than themselues for whom those things were made And againe to what purpose serued the Sunne and the Moone at that tyme Wherefore serued Ayre wherefore serued Sea when nothing did yet liue see and breathe It remayneth then that afore mouing it was but a confused heape masse or lump of things without shape and that in processe of tyme as some say a certeyne Soule wound it selfe into it and gaue shape to that bodie and afterward life mouing and fence to the partes thereof according as he had made euery of them capable to receiue insomuch that the world is nothing els but that confused heape now orderly disposed indewed with soule and life so as of that soule and confused lumpe together there is now made one perfect liuing wight A proper imagination surely and méete for a very Beast to father his so orderly essence vppon the shapelessenesse of a Chaos that is to say of confusednesse remoued away rather than vpon the wisedome power of a quickning Spirit But seeing that this Chaos could not receyue eyther shape or order but by the sayd Soule if they be both eternall how met they together in one poynt being of so contrary natures the one to shape and the other to be shaped If it were by aduenture how did that Soule by aduenture so set things in order and how happeneth it that it hath not since that tyme put them out of order againe Or if it were by aduise of whom should that aduise be but of a Superiour And who is that Superiour but God Againe eyther this Soule was tyed really and in very déede to this bodie of the world from all eternitie or els it did but onely pearce through it by his power as seemed best of the owne freewill If it were tyed specially to such a confused masse by whō but by force of a higher power And then what els could that confused Chaos be to him but an euerlasting graue And what els also were that to say than that the sayd Chaos was as a shapelesse Child yet newly begotten and scarce set together in the moothers wombe which within a few daies after by the infusion of a Soule beginneth to haue shape mouing and sence and afterward in his due tyme is borne and being growne vp decayeth agayne and so endeth as our bodies doe Or if a Soule pearced into it and went through it by a freewil and power let vs not striue about termes for a Soule is so named in respect of a bodie whereto it is tyed the same is the liuing GOD who at his pleasure gaue it both shape life and mouing But I will shew hereafter that he not only gaue the Worlde his shape but also created the very matter stuffe and substance thereof But it suffiseth mée at this tyme to wrest from them that he is the maker and shaper thereof Let vs yet more clearely set forth the originall of the World I aske what the world is of it selfe If it moue not it forgoeth both his order and his beautie as I sayd afore And if it moue it sheweth it selfe vncapable of eternitie But there is yet more These lower spaces of the world are the harbrough of liuing creatures and
specially of man who knoweth how to take benefite thereof The temperatenesse of the aire serueth for him and yet the aire can not bee tempered nor the Earth lighted without the Sonne and the Moone Neither can the Sunne and the Moone giue light and temperatnesse without mouing The Moone hath no light but of the Sunne neither can the Sunne yéeld it either to the Moone or too the Earth but by the mouing of the Heauen and the great Compasse of the Heauen going about is the very thing which wée call the World not estéeming these lower parts as in respect of their matter otherwise than as the dregges of the whole And whereas the Elements serue man and the Planets serue the Elements yea and the Planets them selues serue one another doe they not shew that they be one for another And if they be one for another is not one of them in consideration afore another as the ende afore the things that tend vnto the end according to this common rule that the Mynd beginneth his work at the end thereof Now then if the turning about of the Heauen serue to shewe the Planets and they to yéeld light to the Earth and to all things thereon doth it not serue for the Earth And if it serue the Earth I pray you is that done by appoyntment of the Earth or rather by appoyntment of some one that commaundeth both Heauen and Earth Againe seeing that the ende is in consideration afore the things that tend thereto shall this consideration be in the things themselues or rather in some Spirite that ordereth them Soothly in the things themselues it cannot be for if they haue vnderstanding they haue also will and the will intendeth rather to commaund than to obey and vnto fréedome rather than bondage and if they haue no vnderstanding then knowe they neither end nor beginning Moreouer forasmuch as they bee diuers and of contrary natures they should ame at diuers ends whereas now they ame all at one end Nay which more is how should the Sunne and the Moone the Heauen and the Earth haue met euerlastingly in matching their dealings so iumpe together the one in giuing light and the other in taking it In what poynt by what couenant and vnder what date was this done seeing it dependeth altogether vppon mouing which is not to be done but in tyme It remayneth then that the sayd consideration was done by a Spirit that commaundeth al things alike and that he putteth them in subiection one to another as seemeth best to himselfe forsomuch as he is mightie to kéepe them in obedience and wise to guyde them to their peculiar ends and all their ends vnto his owne ende and he that thinketh otherwise thinketh that a Lute is in tune of it owne accord Or if he say that this Spirit is a Soule inclosed in the whole he doth fondly incorporate the Spirit of the Luteplayer in the Lute it selfe and likewise the buylder in the buylding In effect it is all one as if a Child that is borne and brought vp in a house should thinke the house to be eternall or els made of it selfe because he had not seene it made or as if a man that had bin cast out newly borne in a desert Iland and there nursed vp by a Wolfe as Romulus was should imagine himself to be bred out of the Earth in one night like a Mushrom For to beléeue that the World is eternall and that the race of Mankinde is bred of it selfe without a maker is all one thing and spring both of one error Doe not the two Sexes of Male and Female in all liuing things ouerthrowe the sayd eternitie For how should they bee euerlastingly the one for the other seeing they be so diuers Againe haue they bin euerlastingly but two or euerlastingly mo than two If but two where are those two become seeing that eternitie importeth immortalitie and a beginninglesse forebeing from euerlasting inferreth an endlesse afterbeing or cōtinuance to euerlasting And if they were many see ye not still the selfesame absurdities And if ye say they be made euerlasting by succession of tyme what I pray you is death but a token that they were borne What is life I speake of this our life but a continuance of death and what is succession but a prolonging of time Thus then ye see how that aswell by the parts of the World and by the whole World it self as also by the agréement of the whole with his parts and of the parts among themselues we be euidently taught that the fraine of the World had both a workmayster and a beginning But now some man wil aske vs when it began And that is the poynt which we haue to treate of next The viij Chapter When the World had his beginning SOothly it is not for mée to stand here disproouing the doubtes of the Accounters of tymes for the ods of some yeres yea or of some whole hundreds of yeres is not to bee accounted of betwéene eternitie and a beginning But if we haue an eye to the procéeding of this lower World we shall euidently percèyue that like a Childe it hath had his ages his chaunges and his full poynts restes or stoppes so as it hath by little and little growne bin peopled and replenished and that to be short whereas the world supposeth that it shall indure for euer it doth but resemble an old Dotarde which bee hee neuer so forworne and drooping for age yet thinkes himselfe still to haue one yere more to liue But I haue alreadie sufficiently proued that both Heauen and Earth haue had a beginning and also that séeing the one of them is for the other they had the same at one selfe same tyme and both of them from one self same ground And therfore looke what shal be declared of the earth shall also be declared of the heauen and forasmuch as the earth serueth for the vse of liuing creatures and specially of man looke what beginning we shall proue of man the like shall wee haue proued of the disposition of the earth For to what purpose were the Heauen being imbowed about these lower parts like a Uault or to what purpose were the earth being as a flowre or plancher to goe vpon if there were no inhabiter at all vpon earth Surely if the World were without beginning it should also haue bin inhabited from without beginning and no people should be of more antiquitie thā other Or at leastwise how auncient so euer it were yet should no new thing be found therein But if euen the oldest and auncientest things of all be but newe ought it not to bee a sure argument vnto vs of the newnesse thereof What thing I pray you can we picke out in this world for an example of antiquitie Let vs begin at the Liberall Sciences and we shall reade of the first commings vp of them all Philosophie which consisteth in the searching out of naturall things is of so late
making a Clocke of great compasse where the very greatnesse if selfe diminisheth the estimation thereof If thou bee afrayd least the spirit of God should soyle it selfe in these corruptible things remember that looke with what mynd Cincinnatus commaunded his men of Warre and ruled the Commonweale with the very same mynd did he both till and dung his ground and yet thou coūtest him neuer the more defiled or imbaced thereby The selfesame Sunne which giueth light in the Skye pearceth through the darke Cloudes and foggie Mistes dryeth vp drawghts and Sinks and sheadeth foorth his beames euen into the things which seeme most filthie and lothly and yet he himselfe is not blemished or defiled therewith Now then art thou afrayd least God who careth for all things without care moueth them without touching them and atteyneth to them without putting himself foorth is not able to wéeld these lower things without defyling himself by them But it were more conuenient sayth Aristotle that God should deale with the great things himself as the King of Persia doth in his priuie Chāber and that he should leaue the care of the smaller things to his Princes As who would say that the Gardyner which hath sowed both the great Cabbage and the little Turnippe both the Gourd and the Melone should make more account of the one for the greatnesse therof than of the other for the smalnes therof Or as though thou wouldest not also the more woonder at the King if without stirring out of his priuie Chamber he could appoynt all things to be done or rather doe all the things himselfe which other men doe What is the thing I pray thée which thou commendest in Mithridates but that he could call all his Souldiers euery one by his owne name Or in Phillip King of Macedonie but that he him selfe made the prouision for all his whole Hoste euen for their cariages and for fodder for their Beastes Or in the great Captaynes of our tyme but that they can skill not onely to make Warre and to order their Battelles but also to set downe what the dayly expences of their Armies will come vnto euen to euery loafe of bread and euery bottle of Hay and welnere within one or two shot how many shot of the Cannon will make a breach in such a wall or such a Bulwarke and so foorth Or finally in this Captayne or that sauing that this Captaine could skill to set the Sunne vpon the face of his enemies and another to cast the winde the dust or the smoke in their eyes and another to serue his owne turne by a Marris and some other to drawe his enemie into a myrie and dirtie Countrie And what viler or baser things can there be than these aforerehearsed Finally what is it that ye commend in the skilfullest Warriours of them al but that they could skill to serue their own turne Or in the most glorious Conquerours but that they gat the victorie in the ende And so thou must néedes graunt that whereas the Counterparties fayled to doe the like it was not for want of courage or goodwill but for want of power or skill Now whatsoeuer is in the whole World is the Armie or Hoste of God an Armie or Hoste I say not which he hath gathered of his neighbours but which he hath created with his owne hands He knoweth all the Starres by name for he made them He hath prouided foode for all liuing things and one of them is no greater to him than another for they haue no being at all any longer than he listeth If he make warre here beneath all his Armies are readie to do him seruice and to wage battell vnder his Banner yea euen the ambitiousnesse of Princes to punish themselues one by another If Nations wexe proud he armeth against them the Grashoppers and the Locusts the Horefrostes and the Blastings the Windes and the Uapors of the Earth In euery of vs he hath his inlookers to chastize vs in our flesh our corruptions in our mynde our passions and in our Soules our sinnes and disorders There is not so small a thing which serueth not him to very great purpose nor thing so vyle which serueth not his glorie nor thing so enemylike which fighteth not to get him the victorie nor thing so wrongfull which executeth not his Iustice nor thing so much against him which hitteth not the marke that he ameth at Therfore pleade not in this behalf vnaduisedly for Gods glorie For the more stirring the more chaunge the more disorder there is here beneath the more doth he shewe the vnmouable decree of his euerlasting Prouidence which will they or nill they directeth all the vncoustancies of this world to one certeyne end And if perchaunce thou be afrayd least GOD should bee tyred with the payne and trauell for he hath néede of thyne vngodlines to reléeue him consider how thyne own Soule without any toyle to it selfe and without thy priuitie doth at one selfesame instant both prouide for the susteyning of thée and make all thy parts to grow euery of them according to his peculiar portion and proportion giuing sence euen to thy nailes and the heares of thy head which are but outgrowings and not parts of thy bodie And if thou wilt know how this Prouidence is occupied without toyle consider how that thy Soule notwithstanding all the businesse which thy Soule doth without thy thinking theron forbeareth not also in the meane while to mount vp euen vnto heauen and by the discourses thereof to turmoyle the whole Earth to lay for the maintenance and defence of innumerable howsholds likewise for the decay and ouerthrow of as many others and to search into the dealings of the enemie to make them to serue his owne turne to treate both of Warre and Peace together at one tyme and with the selfesame persons both at once And darest thou now thinke that God is toyled in the things which thou thy selfe doest without toyle Or that he is tyred with the gouernments wherein thou wouldest take pleasure Or that he being a free and infinite Spirite doth not that in a limited bodie which thy Soule being finite in it selfe doth in thy bodie where it is as in a prison To bee short seeing thou presumest to doe thy will with the things wherof thou canst not make one heare shall GOD be vnable to doe his will with the things which he of his owne only wil hath made and created The vertue that is in a kernell or a Plant sheadeth it selfe from the roote to the vttermost braunches yéelding nourishment seuerally to the stocke or stalke to the pith to the barke to the flowers to the leaues and to the fruite to euery of them according to the proportion and nature thereof The Sunne it selfe in kéeping his course and without mynding any such thing yéeldeth heate to innumerable Plants and to innumerable people and yet heateth not himself one whit the more Now if a creature doe so what shal
man the Countie of Mirandula praying them to consider at least wyse whether the greate studye and peynes which those greate Clerks haue takâ—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 â—eere belowe trubble vs for the greater the same is the greatâ—â— 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 aâ—fore this nature of ours we can neither shun it nor driue it from vs for we be bonâ—â—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 wheÌ„ 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
garment of the mynd and the garment of the Soule is a certeyne Spirit whereby it is vnited to the bodie And this Mynd is the thing which wee call properly the Man that is to say a heauenly wight which is not to bee compared with Beastes but rather with the Gods of Heauen if he be not yet more than they The Heauenly can not come downe to the earth without leauing the Heauen but Man measureth the Heauen without remouing from the earth The earthly man then is as a mortall God and the heauenly God is as an immortall man To bee short his conlusion is That man is dubble mortall as touching his body and immortall as touching his Soule which Soule is the substantiall man and the very man created immediatly of God fayth he as the light is bred immediatly of the Sunne And Chalcidius sayth that at his death he spake these wordes I goe home againe into myne owne Countrie where my better forefathers and kinsfolk be Of Zoroastres who is yet of more antiquitie than Hermes we haue nothing but fragments Neuerthelesse many report this article to be one of his That mens Soules are immortall and that one day there shall be a generall rysing againe of their bodies and the answers of the Wise men of Chaldye who are the heires of his Doctrine doe answer sufficiently for him There is one that exhorteth men to returne with spéede to their heauenly father who hath sent them from aboue a Soule indewed with much vnderstanding and another that exhorteth them to seeke Paradise as the peculiar dwelling place of the Soule A third sayth that the Soule of man hath God as it were shut vp in it and that it hath not any mortalitie therein For sayth he the Soule is as it were dronken with God and sheweth foorth his â—â—â—uders in the harmonie of this mortall body And agayne another sayth It is a cléere fire procéeding from the power of the heauenly father an vncorruptible substance and the mainteyner of life conteyning almost all the whole world with the full plentie thereof in his bosome But one of them procéedeth yet further affirming that he which setteth his mynde vppon Godlinesse shall saue his body frayle though it bee And by those words he acknowledgeth the very glorifying of the bodie Now all these sayings are reported by the Platonists namely by Psellus and they refuse not to be acknowne that Pythagoras and Plato learned theÌ„ of the Chaldees insomuch that some think that the foresayd Hermes and Zoroastres and the residewe aforementioned are the same of whom Plato speaketh in his second Epistle and in his eleuenth booke of Lawes when he sayth that the auncient and holy Oracles are to be beléeued which affirme mens Soules to bee immortall and that in another life they must come before a Iudge that will require an account of al their doings The effect whereof commeth to this That the Soule of man procéedeth immediatly from God that is to say that the father of the bodie is one and the father of the Soule is another That the Soule is not a bodily substance but a Spirit and a light That at the departure thereof from hence it is to goe into a Paradise and therfore ought to make haste vnto death And that it is so farre from mortalitie that it maketh euen the body immortall What can wee say more at this day euen in the tyme of light wherein we be Pherecydes the Syrian the first that was knowne among the Greekes to haue written in prose taught the same And that which Virgill sayth in his second Eglog concerning the Drug or Spice of Assyria and the growing thereof euerywhere is interpreted of some men to bée ment of the Immortalitie of the Soule the doctrine whereof Pherecydes brought from thence into Greece namely that it should be vnderstood euerywhere throughout the whole world Also Phocylides who was at the same time speaketh therof in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to say The Soule of man immortall is and neuer weares away With any age or length of tyme but liueth fresh for ay And againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Remnants which remaine of men vnburied in the graue Become as Gods and in the Heauens a life most blessed haue For though their bodies turne to dust as dayly we doe see Their Soules liue still for euermore from all corruption free And in another place he sayes agayne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We hope that we shall come agayne Out of the earth to light more playne And if ye aske him the cause of all this he will answer you in another verse thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because the Soule Gods instrument and Image also is Which saying he seemeth to haue taken out of this verse of Sibils 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In very reason Man should bee The Image and the shape of mee Of the same opinion also are Orpheus Theognis Homer Hesiodus Pindar and all the Poets of old tyme which may answer both for themselues and their owne Countries and for the residue of their ages Likewise Pythagoras a disciple of Pherecides held opinion that the Soule is a bodylesse and immortall substance put into this body as into a Prison for sinning And whereas the fléeting of soules out of one body into another is fathered vpon him although the opinion be not directly against the immortalitie of the Soule yet doe many men thinke that hee hath wrong doone vnto him And his Disciple Timoeus of Locres reporteth otherwyse of him For what punishment were it to a voluptuous man to haue his Soule put into a beast that he might become the more voluptuous without remorse of sinne Soothly it is all one as if in punishment of Murder or theft yée would make the Murderer to cut the throtes of his owne Father and Mother or the Théef to commit trecherie ageinst God Howsoeuer the case stand he teacheth in his verses that man is of heauenly race and that as Iamblichus reporteth he is set in this world to behold God And his Disciple Architas sayth that God breathed reason and vnderstanding into him Likewise Philolaus affirmeth that the Diuines and Prophets of old time bare record that the Soule was cuppled with the body for hir sinnes and buryed in the same as in a Graue Of Epicharmus we haue this saying If thou beest a good man in thy heart Death can doe thee no harme for thy Soule shall liue happyly in heauen c. Also of Heraclides we haue this saying We liue the Death of them that is to say of the blessed his meaning is that we be not buried with our bodyes and we dye their Lyfe that is to say wee bee still after this body of ours is dead Of the like opinion are Thales Anaxagoras and Diogenes concerning this poynt yea and so is Zeno too howbeit that he thought the Soule to bee
vs examine them seuerally yet more aduisedly First Auerrhoes will néedes beare Aristotle on hand that Aristotle is of that opinion Let vs see how this surmize of his can agrée with the propositions which Aristotle hath left vs. Aristotle telleth vs that the Soule is knit to the body as the forme or shape too the matter that the Soule hath thrée chiefe powers namely of lyfe of sence and of vnderstanding and that the vnderstanding part conteineth in his power both the other two powers as a Fiuesquare conteineth both a Fowersquare and a Triangle Whereupon it followeth that if any one of the three powers of the Soule be ioyned to the body as a forme to the matter all the thrée be ioyned so to as which are all in one soule as in their roote Now Auerrhoes neither can nor will deny that the powers of growing and of perceiuing by the sences are ioyned after that maner too the body and therfore it followeth that the vnderstanding power is to ioyned also and consequently that according to Aristotle as euery body hath his forme so euery body hath his Soule The same Aristotle findeth fault with the former Philosophers for holding opinion that a Soule might passe out of one man into another because sayeth he that euery certeyne Soule must needes be apportioned and appoynted to some one certeine body Now looke by what Soule a man liueth by the same Soule doth he vnderstand for it is but one Soule indued with three diuers abilities as hee himselfe teacheth opently One vnderstauding or Mynd therefore must according to Aristotle worke but in one seuerall body and not in many bodyes Also according to Aristotle a Man a Beast agree in this that both of them haue one sensitiue power and one selfsame imagination of things perceiued by the Seuces that they differ in this that man hath yet further a mynd and reason aboue the beast which thing the beast hath not Now if this Understanding or Mynd be without the man as the Sonne is without the Chamber that it shineth into and inlighteneth then cannot he be called reasonable or indewed with vnderstanding neither doth he consequently differ from a beast For the difference must bee in nature and not in accident And so should it insue that Aristotles foresaid definition of a man is false as if he should define a Chāber by the shyning of the Sunne into it Or say that a Dog differeth not from a man in kind yea and that Beasts are eapable of vnderstanding forasmuch as they haue Imagination ready aforehand to receiue the influence thereof as well as wee But Aristotle is alwaies one in his defining both of beast of man and Auerrhoes also holdeth himself to it without doubting thereof at all This conclusion therfore cannot in anywise be vpheld by such grounds Againe if there bee not in euery seuerall man a seuerall mynd but onely one vniuersall mynd common to all men which becommeth diuers by the onely diuersitie of our imaginations Then in respect that we haue sundrie imaginations wee shall bee sundrie liuing wights and in respect that we haue al but one mynd we shall bee all but one man For man is not man in respect of the sensitiue power but in respect of the reasonable part which is the mind But Aristotle graunteth that we be not only diuers liuing wights but also diuers men And therefore he must néedes meane also that we haue not only diuers imaginations but also diuers mynds Now besides many other Reasons that might be alledged ye might add this also That otherwise Aristotles Moralles and his discourses concerning Iustice Fréewill the Immortalitie of the Soule the happie blisse the reward of the good and the paynes of the wicked were vtterly frutelesse and to no purpose For as our fancies or ymaginations did come and goe so would al those things come and go likewise and so should they haue no continuance of themselues but only be as a shadowe and vayne fantasie But let Aristotle alone for he hath wrong and let vs come to the matter it self The Philosophers doe ordinarily make a dubble mynd the one which they call possible or in possibilitie which is capable and of abilitie to vnderstand things and this they liken to a smooth table the other they call working or workfull which bringeth the abilitie into act whereas notwithstanding they be not two mynds but two seuerall abilities of only one mynd Now as for this abilitie or possibilitie of vnderstanding we affirme it to be in the Soule of euery man Contrarywise Auerrhoes affirmed onely one vniuersall capable mynd to be shed abroad euery where throughout all men and that the same is diuersly perfected and brought into act in euery seuerall man according to the diuersitie of the imaginations which the man tonceyueth euen by the helpe or influence of the sayd vniuerall workfull mynd which he sayth is also a substaunce seuered from man and in respect of the vnderstanding in possibilitie is as the Sunne is to the sight of our eyes and the vnderstāding in possibilitie is to the imaginations as the sight is vnto colours Now I demaund first of all whether these vniuersall Mynds of his bee substances created or vncreated If they bee created where becommeth then his conclusion That the world is without beginning and without ending seeing that he will haue them to be continued euerlastingly in all men that haue bene are or shall be If they bee vncreated how can so excellent substances bee made subiect to our fond imaginations to yéeld influence into them at their pleasures Or rather how happeneth it that they correct them not How happeneth it that thei leaue them in such errors yea euen in the knowledge of themselues seeing that by the erring of the imaginations the very vnderstanding and reason themselues must also néedes be so often beguyled Againe as concerning these substances which extend into so many places are they Bodies or Spirits How can they be Bodies seeing they be in infinite places at one instant and do infinite things yea and flat contraries And if they be Spirits doth it notfollow thervpō that they be wholly in al men wholly in euery man that is to say that euery man hath them whole to himselfe And therefore that if they bee deceyued by the fantasie of any one man they be consequently deceyued in all men And wherof comes it then that one man ouercommeth his imaginations and another man not Or that one man resisteth them and another suffereth himselfe to be caryed away by them Moreouer who can denye that a man willeth things whereof he hath vnderstanding and likewise that he willeth some things which he vnderstandeth not and that he vnderstandeth some things which he willeth not And also that he willeth things euen contrary to his appetites and concludeth oftentymes contrary to his imaginations as commeth to passe in Dreames and in Lookingglasses which thing the brute
world and of all that is therein That in the world he created Man after his owne Image as in respect of mynd and after the Image of his other creatures as in respect of life sence and mouing mortall so farre foorth as he holdeth the likenesse of a creature and immortall so farre foorth as he beareth the Image of the Creator that is to wit in his Soule That he which goeth out of himself to see the world doth forthwith see that there is a God for his workes declare him euerywhere That he which will yet still doubt thereof néedeth but to enter into himselfe and he shall meete him there for he shall finde there a power which he seeth not That he which beléeueth there is one God beléeueth himselfe to bee immortall for such consideration could not light into a mortal nature and that he which beléeueth himselfe to be immortal beléeueth that there is a God for without the vnutterable power of the one God the mortall and immortall could neuer ioyne together That he which seeth the order of the world the proportion of man and the harmonie that is in eyther of them compounded of so many contraries cannot doubt that there is a Prouidence for the nature which hath furnished them therewith cannot bee vnfurnished thereof it selfe but as it once had a care of them so can it not shake of the same care from them Thus haue we thrée Articles which followe interchaungeably one another Insomuch that he which proueth any one of them doth proue them all thrée notwithstāding that I haue treated of euery of them seuerally by it selfe Now let vs pray the euerlasting God that wee may glorifie him in his workes in this world and he voutsafe of his mercie to glorifie vs one day in the world to come Amen The xvj Chapter That mans nature is corrupted man falne from his first originall and how YET for all this let not man bee proude of the excellencie or immortalitie of his Soule for the more he hath receyued of his maker the more is he indebted to him and the more excellent that his nature is the more lothsome and daungerous is the corruption therof The Peacocke is sayd to be proud of his gay fethers when he sets vp his tayle round about him but when he hath once stretched out his wings he falles into a dump and as soone as he lookes vpon his féete he casts mée downe his tayle and is ashamed Euen so as long as we thinke vpon the liuelinesse of our Spirit and the excellencie of our Soule as in respect of the nature thereof surely wee haue whereof to glorifie God that gaue it vnto vs and of his gracious goodnesse hath voutsafed to honor vs aboue al other creatures On the other side if wee consider how this nature of ours is straungely defiled and corrupted and how farre it is digressed from the first originall thereof surely there is no remedie but we must be ashamed of our selues and woonder to see from how great a heigth we be now falne and sunke downe Euen so the best Wine becommeth the sharpest and eagrest Uineger and of Egges which were in old tyme the delicats of Kings is made the rankest poyson For looke what degrée of goodnesse a thing holdeth while it abydeth in his nature the same degrée of euill doth it come vnto when it falleth into corruption Now then looke how much our originall generation was the better so much shall the corruption that lighteth into it be the woorser which thing according to the order which I haue vsed hetherto wee may examine towards God towards the world towards men and towards our selues Greatly in good sooth is man bound vnto God if he would consider it and very blynd is hée if he haue not the skill to perceiue it Of the great multitude of Creatures which God had created hee hath giuen to some but onely bare béeing to some both béeing and lyfe and to other some both béeing lyfe and sence But vnto man he hath giuen all these and moreouer a reasonable mynd whereby he and onely he héere beneath knoweth in all things what they haue and what they bee which thing they themselues knowe not Which is an euident proof that whatsoeuer they haue or whatsoeuer they be they haue it and are it for man not for themselues For to what purpose are all their vertues and excellent properties if they themselues knowe them not The Sonne excellent among the celestiall bodyes and the Rose among flowers The beast is a degree aboue the Trees and among the Beastes one hath some one poynt which another hath not But what skilles it what thou art or what thou hast if thou knowe it not What booteth thee the light if thou see it not what art thou the better for swéete sents if thou smell them not Or what auayleth it thee to excell in any thing if thou discerne it not Of a trueth only man of al the things in this inferior World can skill of these things and how to inioy them and therfore it must néedes be that they were made for none but him that is to wit that to speake properly GOD hath giuen vnto him whatsoeuer all other creatures either haue or be and he hath not dealt with him simply as with a Creature but rather as with a Child of his for whom he hath expresly created this worlde and giuen it him to possesse Now if the thing that is possessed bee infinitely lesse than the possessor thereof and the world is giuen to man to possesse how farre then doth man excell the world And how greatly is man bound vnto God who created him of nothing that is to say not only hath giuen the world vnto man but also giuen euen man to man himselfe Wherefore if he acknowledge not him to whom he is beholden not only for this inheritance but also euen for his owne being what shall we say but that he is an vnnaturall and bastardly Childe euen such a one as hath lost not onely his right mynd but also euen his sences But of so many men of whom all and singuler persons stand bound both ioyntly and seuerally in the whole and for the whole of that great bond for performance of the Condition thereof how fewe be there which doe once thinke of it and how much fewer be there which thinke well of it Nay how fewe bee there which knowe that there is such a bond and how much fewer doe dispose themselues to acknowledge it And if perchaunce some one or two among many doe dispose them selues thereunto yet notwithstanding who is he that euer was able to atteyne vnto it considering that it importeth a yéelding vnto God of that which is his due that is to wit the imploying of our selues and of all that he hath giuen vnto vs euen our whole being and life our Sences our Reason our doings and finally all that euer we haue both within and without
and Stayednesse with Licentiousnes so as in this worlde they can neither be cured without skarre nor be brought to a skar Also we perceiue there are in man the outward sences Imagination and Appetite which thrée the brute beasts haue as well as he ouer and besides the which hee hath also wit and will as peculiar giftes giuen him of God And if we be men we estéeme our selues better than beastes and looke to haue them to be our vnderlings Contrariwise whereas Imagination ought to rule the Sences and Reason to rule Imagination and will to rule Appetite now the outward sence carieth away Imagination Imagination Reason and Appetite will insomuch that the onely sence being bewitched or beguyled carieth a man headlong into all euill after the maner of Phaeton whom the Poets speakeof It is a playne case therefore that man hath made himselfe an vnderling to the beast and consequently that mankind is turned strangely vpsidedowne and doubtlesse farre more monstruously than if we sawe him goe vpon his head with his heeles vpward Nowthen seeing that man is so ouerturned whereof can he brag but of offending God vncessantly in this life and of infinite punishment in another lyfe according to the infinitenesse of him whom he hath offended And to what purpose therefore shall his immortalitie serue him but to dye euerlastingly and neuer to be dead But let vs leaue this matter to another place And forasmuch as by considering man what he is to Godward to the worldward to Manward and to himselfe I haue euidently proued his corruption frowardnesse namely that he is vtterly contrary to the ende to which he was created of God to the order of the whole World to the welfare of all Mankinde and to his owne benefite Let vs henceforth coÌ„sider from whence and from what tyme this mischief may haue befalne him and what may haue bene the cause thereof Certesse if we say it came of God and that he had it of his creatioÌ„ we blaspheme God too too grossely For God is good and the very goodnesse it selfe and therfore he cannot haue made any thing euill Also it appeareth throughout the whole gouernmeÌ„t of the world that he is the mayster and mainteyner of order And therefore how is it possible that he should make the little world namely man to be a mould of confusion and disorder Agayne no other thing than his owne glorie and the welfare of man moued him to create man and yet man beeing in case as hee is forbeareth not to blaspheme Gods name and to purchase his owne destruction Néedes then must it be that Man was made a farre other creature at the beginning than he is now as in very déede the Husbandman createth not the wiuell in the Corne nor the Uintener the sowernesse in the Wine nor the Smith the rust in the yron but they come in from elswhere Neuerthelesse the man that neuer dranke other drinke than Uineger would think it to be the naturall sap and taste of the Grape And wee likewise who neuer felt other in ourselues than corruption and are bred and brought vp in darknesse like the Cimmerians would beare ourselues on hand that GOD is the cause and author thereof Now let vs which haue tasted both the Wine and the Uineger iudge what maner of creatures we may haue bin in our first creation in doing whereof there is yet notwithstanding this great difference that the paâ—at of our bodily mouth is able to discerne the swéete froÌ„ the sower but the palat or tasâ—â— of our soule is vnable to do eyther of them both the one because corruption can not iudge of cleannesse and the other because it cannot iudge well of it selfe In Wine and Uineger we discerne a liquid nature common to them both but as concerning their qualities the Wine is swéete warme and friendly to nature whereas the Uineger is sharpe cold and corrosiue yea and the very colours of them are vnlike one another Lo here two things vtterly contrary and yet notwithstanding the Uineger is nothing els but Wine altered from his nature And because we haue seene the one as wel as the other we will neuer bee made to beléeue that the Uineger was Uineger from the very Grape Let vs iudge of our Soules with like discretion We finde there a spirituall nature immateriall and immortall and that is the onely remaynder of her first originall But yet this Spirit of ours is foreward to nothing but euill nor inclyned to any other thau bace and transitorie things It clingeth to the earth and is a bondslaue to the body To be short in stead of stying vp it crauleth I wote not how contrary to the nature of a Spirit which mounteth vp on high and cannot bee shut vp in these vyle and drossie things Therefore it must néedes bee sayd that this nature of ours was not so of nature it departed not such as it now is from the hand of the workmayster but contrarywise good frée pure and indewed with farre other qualities than it hath now for now it is steyned with naughtinesse bondage of sinne and corruption Nay will some man say seeing it was created cléere from all corruptioÌ„ who was able to corrupt it as we see it to be now Sure wee be that it is a spirituall nature and therefore neyther the Elements nor any other bodie could naturally do any hurt vnto it and as little also could tyme doe any thing thereto for tyme is nothing but the mouing of bodies Moreouer it was free of it selfe and Ladie of the bodie and therefore could not receyue her first corruption from the bodie And yet notwithstanding wee see that as now it is subiect to be corrupted both of her owne flesh and of the vanities of the world which by nature had no power ouer it Néeds then must the maker of nature himselfe haue giuen a power to these things aboue their nature whereby they might preuayle agaynst the nature of the Soule the doing whereof surely could not but haue bin rightfull in him considering that he is the very rightuousnesse it selfe For Iustice layeth not any punishment but where some fault or offence hath gone afore Therefore it must néedes bee sayd that man had committed some heyâ—â—â—s crime against his maker whervpon such penaltie and bondage were appoynted iustly vnto him And therefore let vs say that the Soule of man being the first corrupter of it self did of it owne accord vanish away as Wine turneth in it selfe and of it self into Uineger whereas if the Soule had hild her selfe in awe and vnder couerture and had rested on her Lées as is sayd of Wine that is to say if she had abidden stedfast in beholding her maker without seeking her welfare in her selfe she might haue continued vtterly vncorrupted still And agayne that by turning so away from GOD to her selfe she offended her maker and forwent the gracious giftes which she had receyued of him wherevpon followed the curse
AEgiptians who bee of most antiquitie hild and taught the same in their Misteries It is a méetly cléere shadowe of that which we reade in the Scripture concerning the fall of the deuill wherevnto he drewe mankynd afterward by his temptations But when as Pherecydes the Syrian agréeing therein with Sibil telleth vs expresly that this Deuill which hath marred and destroyed the whole earth was a Serpent whom he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Snakebread or Adderbread which armeth men by whole troopes against God we by gathering al these testimonies together shall haue the whole storie of the fall of man Hermes being auncienter than all these doth plainly acknowledge the corruption of man yea and that so farre as to say that there is nothing but euill in vs that there is no way for vs to loue God but by hating our selues And to kéepe vs from accusing the Creator The workmaister sayth he to cut off all quarelling is not the procurer of the rust neyther is the Creator the author of the filth and vncleannesse that is in vs. On whom then shall wee father the cause therof God sayth he created man after his owne likenesse and gaue him all things to vse But man in stead of staying vppon the beholding of his father would needes bee medling and doing somewhat of himselfe and so fel from the heauenly contemplation into the Sphere of Elements or of Generation And because he had power ouer al things he began to fall in loue with himselfe and in gazing vpon himself to wonder at himself whereby he so intangled himselfe that he became a bondslaue to his bodie whereas he was free and at libertie afore Now he intangleth this trueth with his accustomed speculations But yet what is this in effect but that the first man being proud of the grace which he had receyued drowned him selfe in the loue of himselfe whereas he might haue liued euerlastingly by drinking still of the loue of GOD And if we mount vp yet higher to Zoroastres who as is written of him was Noes graundchild wee shall finde that in his Oracles he bewayleth the race of Mankynd in these words Alas alas the Earth mourneth euen vnto Children which words cannot be otherwise interpreted than of originall sinne which hath passed from the first man into all his ofspring after which maner the Cabalistes and namely Osias the Chaldian interpret it wherevnto Gemistus the Platonist is not repugnant And as touching the originall of this mischief he denyeth in these words that it came of creation The thing that is vnperfect sayth he cannot proceede of the Creator Now that we be come as it were vp the streame to the first man Adam by whom sinne entered into the world and by sinne death let vs see hēceforth what the opinion of the Philosophers hath bin since the comming of the second man Iesus Christ. We haue a little booke of one Hierocles a Stoick vppon the golden sayings of Pythagoras which shall answer both for the Pythagorists and for the Stoiks Man sayeth he is of his owne motion inclyned to follow the euill and to leaue the good There is a certein stryfe bred in his affections which stepping vp ageinst the will of Nature hath made it to tumble from Heauen to Hell by vndertaking to fight ageinst God He hath a free will which he abuseth bending himself wholy to incounter the Lawes of God and this freedum itself is nothing else but a willingnesse to admit that which is not good rather than otherwise What els is this but as the holy scripture saieth that al the imaginations of manes hart are altogither continewally bent to euill and which wee dayly dispute of namely that our freedome is fresh and foreward vnto euill but lame and lasie vnto dooing well If yee aske him the cause thereof Let vs not blaspheme for all that sayeth he nor say that God is the author of our sinnes but rather that man is of his owne accord become vntoward and that whensoeuer we fall into sinne we do that which is in vs but not which was in vs from God How then shall we make these propositions of his to agree namely that God created man that man is froward and corrupted and yet that God created not man such a one vnlesse we say that God created man good and that afterward man degenerated from his nature But it is the very thing whereunto he commeth of himself Ambition sayth he is our bane and this mischeefe haue wee of ourselues bycause we be gone away from God and do giue ourselues to earthly things which make vs to forget God And that this mischeef is comon to all mankynd he confesseth sufficiently in that he giueth vs an vniuersall remedie that is to wit Religion the which alonly is able sayeth he to rid vs from earthly ignorance without the riddance whereof we can neuer come agein to our former shape and to the lykenes of our kynd which was to be lyke vnto God Now if all the whole kynd be defiled as he sayeth it is surely we must resort backe to one first father frō whom it is spred out into the rest by naturall generation Plutarke wryting of Morall vertue findeth it a very hard matter to make our affection subiect to reason and the body obedient to the spirit And he is driuen to maruell greatly That our féete should be so ready to goe or too stand still whensoeuer Reason loozeneth or pulleth backe the Brydle and that on the contrarie part our affections should carry vs away so headlong for all the restreint that wee can make Also hee thinketh it strange that in our discourses of the greatest matters as of Loue of the bringing vp of our Children and of such like we be driuen to take the brute beastes for our Iudges as who woulde say that nature had stamped no Print of them in our selues And he findeth himself so sore graueled in his consideration that he preferreth the brute beastes before vs in all things sauing in the capacitie which wee haue to knowe God vndoubtedly as perceiuing a continuall following of their kind in all of them wheras in vs only there is contrariwise such an vnkindly and Bastardly Nature that not euen the best of vs haue any whit of our former nature remayning in vs sauing onely shame that we haue it no more And this very gift of knowing God which remayneth to man graueleth Plutarke more than all the rest Man saieth he is a reasonable Creature God hath set him in the world to be serued honored of him and he hath made him to be borne to common ciuill Societie Whereof commeth it then that in his doings he is more vnreasonable more contrarie to Gods will and more against the Lawe of Nature then the very brute beastes In this perplexitie one whyle he saith that man had receiued fayre and sound
Seede but that he corrupted it afterward Anotherwhile hee sayth that he delt with reason as perfumers doe with Oyles which neuer ceasse medling and mingling of them till there remayne no sent of Oyle at all And in one place perceiuing by all likelihod this corruption to be so vniuersal he saith further that at the very beginning and from their first comming into the Worlde men intangled and confounded themselues with sinne Whereby we may perceiue that had the thing bin declared vnto him in such sort as wée beléeue it surely hee would willingly haue imbraced and receiued it as the only solution of so many perplexities wherein he was intangled Let vs come to the Platonists All of them agrée in these points That the Soule of Man is a spirit and that a spirit cannot naturally receiue any affection from a body neither which may cause it to perish nor which may doe so much as once trouble it Yet notwithstanding on which side so euer they turne themselues they cannot deny but that our mynds are trubbled with infinite affections and passions in this body and that they be subiect one while to starting besides themselues through pryde anger or enuie an another while to be cast downe with Riottousnes Gluttonie and Idlenes yea and to receiue diuers impressions not only from the body but also from the aire the water and from Mistes and finally from euery little thing in the world Now how can this contrarietie be reconciled except their meaning be as ours is that naturally our Soules are not subiect to any of these things but that they bee put in subiection to them beyond the course of nature If it bee beyond the course of nature by whome is it doone but by him that commaundeth nature to whome it is as easie to put a spirit in Prison as to lodge a man in a house If it be done by him who is the rightuousnes it selfe doth it not followe that it was for some fault committed by the Soule If for some fault then seeing that the punishment thereof is in all men in whome should that first fault be but in that man which was the originall of all men as in whom all of vs say I were materially Now againe this fault cannot bee imputed to the body for it is in the will and the body of it selfe hath no will neither can it be imputed to any â—â—fection receiued first from the body for the Soule could not be wrought into by the body In the Soule therefore must the fault of mankind néedes be and for the soules offence doth the Soule itself suffer punishment and make the body also to suffer with her Howbeit that we may the better iudge of their opinions let vs heare them in the chief of them one after another Plotine hauing considered that the Soule is of nature diuine heauenly and spirituall concludeth that of itselfe it is not wrought into by the body But afterward perceiuing how it is defiled ouermaistred by sinne and by force of necessitie linked vnto lust he commeth backe to this solution That hir béeing here beneath is but a banishment too her which he termeth expresly a fall and otherwise as Pato doth a losing of hir wings That the vertue which she hath is but a Remnant of hir former nature That the vyce which she hath is taken by dealing by these bace and transitorie things and too bee short that al the vertue which is learned is but a purging of the Soule which must be fayne to be as it were newfurbished to scoure of the greate Rust that hath ouergrowen it In these Contradictions therefore hee maketh this question to himselfe What should bee the cause sayth hee that our Soules being of a diuine nature should so forget both God their father and their kinred and themselues Surely answereth he the beginning of this mischeef was a certeine rashnes ouerboldnesse wherethrough they would needes plucke their neckes out of the collar and be at their owne commaundement by which abuse turning their libertie into licentiousnes they went cleane backe and are so farre gone away from GOD that like Children which being newly weaned are byanby conueyed away from their Fathers and Moothers they knowe neither whose nor what they be nor from whence they came Now in these words he agreeth with our Diuines not only in this that corruption came in by sin but also in the kind of sinne namely Pryde wherby we be turned away froÌ„ our Maker In another place The Soule saith he which was bred for heauenly things hath plundged itselfe in these materiall things and matter of itselfe is so euill that not onely all that is of matter or matched with matter but also euen that which hath respect vnto matter is filled with euill as the eye that beholdeth darknes is filled with darknes Here ye sée not onely from whence we be turned away but also too what that is too wit from God to vanitie from the Creator to the creature from good to euill But of this inclyning to the materiall things he sometymes maketh the body to be the author as though the body had caried the Soule away by force of his imaginations and he acquitteth the mynde thereof as much as he can insomuch as hee sticketh not to affirme that notwithstanding all this marrednesse yet the Soule liueth and abideth pure and cleane in God yea euen whyle the Soule whereof the Mynd is as yee would say the very eisight or apple of the eye dwelleth in this body Howbeit besides that he is reproued for it by Porphyrius Proclus and others his owne reasons whereby he proueth that the Soule is not naturally subiect to the body be so strong that it were vnpossible for him too shift himself from them In this the great Philosopher is ouershot that he will needes seeke out the cause of sinne in Man as Man is now Where finding Reason caried away by Imagination and Imagination deceiued by the Sences he thought the fault to haue procéeded of that wheras in deede he should haue sought the cause in Man as he was first created when he had his Sences and Appetites absolutely at commaundement whose wilfull offending hath brought vppon vs the necessitie of punishment which we indure And in good sooth this saying of his in another place cannot be interpreted otherwise namely that the cause why the Soule indureth so many trubbles and passions in this body is to be taken of the life which is led afore out of the body that is to say that the subiection of the Soule to the Body is not the originall cause of the sinne therof but rather a condemnation thereof to punishment Neither also can he scape froÌ„ these conclusions of his owne namely that the Soule beeing separated from the body hath her wings sound and perfect and that the Body being ioyned to the Soule hath no power to breake her wings and yet that she findeth herself there
Altar to him dight This Cleomede was one of those that pleasured these Gods by beating one another with strokes of hand and foote of whom we reade that he slewe his aduersarie at one blowe But of such a one as Socrates Plato or Pythagoras he would neuer haue sayd so much Againe he sayth thus Archilochus is a very Saint and seruant of the Gods Yea verely of such Gods in déede for he chose the wickeddest and leaudest subiect of whom to make his verse But of Theognis or of a Phocylides which had exhorted folk to good life he would neuer haue sayd so much Of Cypselus he sayd thus A happie man is Cypselus and loued of the Gods If it bee so then what are Busyris Phalaris and al other Tyrants for there neuer was a greater Tyrant than he But the sayd Oracle sayd also that Iupiter and Apollo had prolonged the life of Phalaris for his wel handling of Cariton and Menalippus Now what fitter meane can there be to make Tyrants that is to say enemies of mankind in the world than to beare men on hande that such are beloued of the Goddes Zosimus their great Patron rehearseth an Oracle which answered That for the appeasing of an Earthquake at Athens it behoued them to honor Achilles as a God This was a playne turning away of man from God to the creature The same answered likewise to the mē of Methymnus that it behoued them to worship a woodden head of Bacchus that was found by fishing in the Sea And this was a making of them more blynd than the stocke it self And when they were demaunded concerning the maner of woorshipping and seruing these Gods they answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to say Send you the heads to Iupiter the lights vnto his Syre The dubble signification of the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fos which signifieth a man and may also signifie a Torch or a Light did cut off the liues of many folkes Which doubtfulnesse of spéech the Idoll coueted not of any intent to spare them but to haue matter of excuse against such as made conscience to doe it For being asked by the Athenians how they might make amends for their killing of Androgeus hee willed them to sende yéerely to King Minos seuen bodies of eyther sex chosen from among them all to appease the wrath of God and that kynd of Sacrifize continued still in Athens in the tyme of Socrates Now then what els is all their doctrine than a seruing of the Deuill and of Creatures yea euen with a seruice which in very déede is deuilish and horrible Al these Oracles are reported by Oenomaus a Heathen man who sought them out by Porphyrie our enemie who by them would induce vs to make great account of thē who in the beginning of his booke appealeth vnto GOD that he setteth not any thing downe of his own head by Chrysippus the Stoike in his booke of Destinie who by those Oracles goeth about to proue it and by Zosimus himself who maketh so great moane to see their mouthes stopped and their Temples shut vp And surely it is not to be marueled though the Peripateticks putting thē to tryall did vtter great griefes against those Oracles and that the Platonists which went to worke more faithfully were driuen to cōclude that not only the vncleane Spirites but also euen their Goddes whom they thought to bee pure were subiect to lying Let vs come to their Myracles In the Temple of Venus there was a Lamp that neuer went out and the Image of Serapis hung vnfastened in the ayre Diuers deceyts may be wrought in the like case and it is well knowne that the like wonders are seene euen in naturall things as a Fountaine to light a Torch and a Stone to hang by yron in the ayre And they which haue the skill to vse such things and to gather together the vertues of many into one may wonderfully bleare the eyes euen of the wisest As for example it hath bene seene that some haue found out a deuise how to burne vp one water with another and to breake open a strong Locke almost without touching it And that the Féends which know more than wee doe better serue their owne turnes with the wonders of Nature than we doe it is not to be doubted Insomuch that the Phisition which knoweth the vertues of Hearbes maketh things of them which the Gardyner that sowed them and cherished them vp would wonder at and cannot doe But loe here a strange case Accius Nauius the greate Birdgazer of Rome did cut asunder a Whetstone with a Razor in the presence of King Tarquine What a number of Witches are dayly burned which doe much more by their familiaritie with the Deuill For they stop a Tunne that is pearced full of holes they hold fast a Waterspout from running and they bynd the naturall abilities and yet notwithstanding they confesse that their so doing is by the wicked Spirites and the wicked Spirites discouer not themselues otherwise than so vnto them And in very trueth the Angelles and the Féends differ not properly in strength and power but in will and practise like as among men the good men differ not from the wicked men eyther in strength of bodie or in stoutnesse of courage but in the applying of their bodies and mynds Also it may bee that the Image of Feminine Fortune hath spoken and likewise the Image of Iuno Moneta and such others And that Castor and Pollux haue wyped away the sweat from the Horses of the Romanes as they traueled And that the Ladie Claudia drewe the Shippe wherein the Idoll of the Goddesse Bona was which so many yoong men could not once stirre Let vs admit all these things to bee true notwithstanding that Titus Liuius say that hee becommeth olde in reckoning them vp Wee stand not to dispute whither Spirites can speake by Images or no for wee doubt not thereof But I say that the Spirites which speake in them be wicked Spirites and turne vs away to the Creature to make vs offend the Creator Neither do I hold opinion that Spirites cannot take bodies vpon them nor that they bee vnable to doe feates farre passing the power of men for thereof examples are to bee seene yea moe than were requisite But the thing that I vphold is this that the Spirites which seeke to haue the praise of a victorie obteyned or of the asswaging of a Plague which is due but to the only one God or which will haue them ascribed to Fortune which is but an imagination or to a Iuno which is but a Blocke or to a good Goddesse the mother of the Gods a mother whom the veryest wretches in the worlde as I sayd afore would disclayme to be their mother are very Deuilles And in good sooth whereas the Deuill which tooke vppon him the name of that Goddesse suffered himself to be drawne by Claudia who had so ill reporte among all men It agréed very
God and Man able to discharge mā of euerlasting death ageinst God and to purchase him the souerein felicitie of lyfe And this is it that I meant in the beginning of the chapter namely that this marke is so of the very substance and inshape of Religion that Religion without that should be vtterly vnauaylable and vayne The Heathen séeme to haue perceyued this necessitie by many examples They knewe that man was created to liue for euer and that hee could not inioy that benefite but by turning again vnto God But in this they fell short that they considered not that from vs to God the way is vnpossible to man if God himself be not our way whereby to come thither It may be that they haue heard that it behoued a man to dye for the sinnes of the world And therevpon the diuell did put in their heads to sacrifice men and so to lay the sinnes of a whole Citie or countrie vpon the backe of some one poore wretch And looke who was the greatest offender of all others and whom they had vowed to the gallowes for the multitude of his misdéedes him did they put to the pacifying of Gods wrath towards them Such are the accustomed Apish toyes of the Diuell But how shall he that is in Gods displeasure appease his displeasure And what shall the worst doo if the best can doo nothing The Emperour Iulian could not tell how to rid his hands of this necessitie in his disputations ageinst the Christians By reason whereof perceiuing that there must néedes bee a meane betwéene God and man for the cleansing of mens Soules hee bare himselfe on hand that Esculapius the Sonne of Iupiter was manifested to the world by the lyuely ingendring of the Sonne and that hee shewed him selfe first in Epidaurus and afterward in diuers other places to heale mens Bodies and to amend their Soules Which is a proof that the impossibilitie of the Incarnation of the Sonne of God which is pretended by some séemed not to him to be vnpossible forasmuch as the Iucarnation of Esculapius the sonne of Iupiter God in the opion of Iulian and the sonne of God seemed to him not onely possible but also come to passe And in verie déede why should it seeme strange that he which hath knit the Soule of man being a spirituall substance vnto his body being an earthly should bee able to vnite himselfe vnto man But I haue shewed afore that this Esculapius was a man and that the spirit which abused his name was a diuell and that both of them were wicked creatures And moreouer who euer beléeued or setfoorth this Fable of Esculapius but onely Iulian Nay verily Porphyrius hath outgone all antiquitie in this behalfe For hauing laid this foundation That the souereine welfare of the Soule is to sée God That it cannot see hym vnlesse it be first cleansed from the silth thereof and therefore that by Gods prouidence there must be some meane procured to cleanse mankind whē he commeth to the seeking of it out he saith That the Artes and Sciences doo well cleare our wits in the knowledge of things but they cannoth so cleanse vs that wee may come vnto God And wheras many men deceiued themselues in séeking this cleansing by Magik and Theurgie he sayd that imagination and common sence might well bee helped thereby in the perceyuing of bodily things but they atteyned not to the purging of the vnderstanding of the Soule neyther could they make a man to see his GOD or the trueth it selfe Againe whereas some Philosophers sought this clensing in the Misteries of the Sonne and of Iupiter that is to say in communicating as they surmised not with Deuils but with such as were estéemed to be good Gods he declareth that there was as small likelyhood thereof in their Misteries as in the Misteries of the rest and moreouer that those things extended but to very fewe men whereas this clensing ought to be vniuersall to the benefite of all mankind In the end hauing reiected all other clensings his conclusion is that the Beginnings onely and none others can worke and bee the meane to worke this vniuersall Clensing What he meaneth by the Beginnings the Platonists can tell well enough and I haue declared it by many sentences of his in my fifth and sixth Chapters that is to wit the persons or proprieties that are in God whom Porphyrius calleth expressely the Father the vnderstanding of the Father and the Soule of the World He could not almost haue come any néerer vs vnlesse he should haue met iumpe with vs and surely he seemeth to haue had this of the Chaldees from whom he acknowledgeth himselfe to haue receyued many diuine Oracles concerning this matter But it is enough for vs that wee haue gayned these poynts of him That there must of necessitie be some meane ordeyned of GOD for the clensing and sauing of mankynd That none can worke that Cleannesse except it bee some one of the Beginnings that is to say except it hee God himselfe and that he neuer met yet with any Sect in all Philosophie that setteth foorth the meane thereof Therefore it standeth vs on hand to seeke it not in Philosophie but in our Scriptures For seeing they bee of God and are reuealed for the welfare of Man they ought to direct vs to the only meane of the Saluation which we long for And like as Religion was bred and borne as soone as Man as I haue sayd afore so must it needes be that the meane of Saluation was reuealed as soone as Religion and set foorth in the holy Scriptures from tyme to tyme. And if we finde it so it will be an vnfallible testimonie both of our Religion and of our Scriptures together Let vs then begin with the Creation of man The Scripture sayeth that as soone as he was created God gaue him this Lawe If thou eate of the tree of the skill of good and euill thou shalt dye the Death That is to say If thou turne away neuer so little from the obeying of me thou shalt fall into my displeasure and from my displeasure into endlesse death Byandby after man is seduced by the Serpent that is to say by the diuel and breaketh the Lawe of his Creator by meane whereof he is in his displeasure and by sinne is become subiect to endlesse damnation Now seeing that this man was alone and that the world was made for him what should haue followed but the vtter destruction of the world out of hand and the burning of man euerlastingly in Gods wrath But see how Gods wisdome stepped in for the sauing of man and for the preseruing of his owne woorke and sinne was no sooner bred but the scripture immediatly sheweth vs the remedie thereof I will set emnitie sayeth the Lord to the diuell betweene thy seede and the womans seede Hir seede shall crush thy head and thou shalt byte it by the heele That is to say I will
straunge God On the other side the Prophets of old tyme which Prophesied of him wrought miracles also howbeit by calling vppon the name of God and lykewise the Apostles that preached him howbeit in his name and all they refused the honor that was offered them and rent their garmenes when men honored them acknowledging themselues alwayes to be but his seruants and instrumeÌ„ts of his glorie And had he not bin the sonne of God surely in so saying he had not bin Gods seruant but his enemie and a rank rebell and Traytor and whatsoeuer woorse is if any can bee worse and consequently vnder the extreme wrath of the creator as a persone puffed vp with passing pryde which is the cause both of mans falling from his state and of the diuells condemnation at Gods hand Therefore let vs say that Iesus is the Sonne of God as he himself hath told vs and that we ought to here him to yeld vnto him to followe him and to woorship him as God I meane God and man the only Mediator of mankynd who dyed for our sinnes and rose ageine to make vs ryghtuouse to whom be glory for euer and euer Amen The xxxiij Chapter A Solution of the Obiections of the Heathen ageinst Iesus the Sonne of God SUrely by those feawe things which the Heathen of old time eyther listed or durst speake of Iesus euen at such tyme as it was an offence not only too speake well but also euen not too speake euill of him we sée well that he did put al the Philosophers to their Clergy so as thei wist not which way to turne them In his lyfe they could find no â—lanie of his doctrine thei knew not what to say and asfor his power they could not denie it for shame All the shift they had was but to say he was a greate man full of godlynes and vertue and woonderfull to all men but that his Disciples did him wrong to call him God séeing that neither he nor his Apostles had euer affirmed him so to be But let those that dout hereof reade S. Iohn and they shall find in dyuers places that no man hath told vs more playnly that Iesus was God than Iesus himself God say I the euerlasting sonne of God sent downe from Heauen equall with the father and all one with the father Their so saying was to auoyd the force of this argument of ours when we say he could not do such things but from GOD therefore he was not an enemy to God But he had euidently bin so if he had conueyed Gods glorie to himself and called himself God not being so in déeed Therefore it followeth that séeing he himself said he was God he is so in déede and that our worshipping of him is a worshipping of the very true God Herevpon it is that the Philosopher Longinian in an epistle of his to S. Austin sayeth that he could not wel tel what to déeme of Iesus And asfor Plotine he impugneth not so much the Christians as the Gnostiks and Manichies And Porphyrius who fell away from Christ bycause hee had bin reproued by the Churche sayeth thus It is a greate matter that the Godds themselues should witnesse with Iesus that he was a man of singular godlgnes and that for the same hee is rewarded with blessed immortalitie But in this the Christians ouershoore themselues that they call him God And Apollo being asked of one how hée myght withâ—rawe his wife from Christianiâ—te answered Thou mayst sooner fly in the ayre or wayte in water than drawe her away from that So strong was Christ in conuerting men too him to haue nothing but aduersitie in this lyfe and so far to weake were the Deuils to turne them away from him though they promised them all maner of good And here wee may not forget a subtile tricke of the Deuill worthie to bee noted in many of his Oracles alledged by Porphyrius For commonly in the wynding vp of them he euer commended the Iewes as worshippers of the only GOD and for that they continued deadly enemies to Iesus Christ against whose Godhead they made what resistance they could howbeit altogether in vayne As touching the Turkes Mahomet sayth That Gods spirit was a helpe and a witnesse to Iesus the Sonne of Marie That the Soule of God was giuen vnto him That he is the messenger the Spirit and the word of GOD That his doctrine is perfect That it inlighteneth the old Testament and that he came to confirme the same But that he should be God and specially the sonne of God that he denyeth and yet it is not possible that he should be either the Spirit or the Word of God but he must also bee God considering that in God there cannot be any thing imagined to be which is not GOD himselfe and that in the same doctrine which Mahomet himselfe doth so greatly allowe our Lord Iesus affirmeth himselfe to be God and the Sonne of God But let vs heare further of the Obiections which the Infidelles make why they should not receiue Christ for God What so great thing sayth Iulian hath your Iesus done that hee may bee compared with Socrates Lycurgus or Alexander Nay surely may we say and vpon better ground what haue they all three done and put them together that is comparable to the doings of an Apostle of Iesus Socrates sayth Iulian was an Innocent but yet an ydolater A teacher and patterne of Morall vertue but yet as his owne Porphyrie reporteth leacherous and a louer of women and so cholericke in his anger that he spared not to say any thing were it neuer so wrong Yet dyed he for the trueth of the onely God but he had serued false Gods al his life long and euen at his death he made vowes still vnto them And let not Iulian boast here that his doctrine continued after his death For the Athenians acquitted him and honored him anon after whereas open warre was mainteined against the Apostles their doctrine by the space of thrée hundred yéeres together And yet in as great reputation as Socrates was after his death his Disciple Plato durst scarce be so bold as to speake against the Gods Such therefore were their examples of good behauiour as these be One Cymon was an honest man but yet giuen to Incest Aristides was an vncorrupt man but â— robber of the common treasure and ambicious The Catoes were reformers of disorders in youths but yet adulterers and murtherers themselues But as for Iesus and his Apostles what enemie of theirs was euer so past shame as to carpe their conuersation And if the forerehearsed men were so farre of from common honestie euen by the record of them that had them in chiefe estimation how much further of were they from being Gods yea or from resembling them In Lycurgus to Iulians seeming there was some singularitie The people were so rude and headstrong that they put out one of his eyes as he
but to be a Prophet without Prophesying a Lawemaker without miracles and euen among his owne Bisshops a man without God or Religion What man of discretion would reade his Alcoran twice except it were for some greate gayne or by manifest compulsion considering the absurdities toyes contrarieties dreames and frantik deuyces that are in it besides the wicked things wherof I wilnot speake Farre of therefore is he from furnishing foorth of a Martyr that will dye eyther for the Preaching thereof or for not recaÌ„ting it To be short Mahomets miracle is to waste and spoyle the world by warre Christs is to bring the world in order by his suffring for it Mahomet was assisted by a sort of Cutthrotes like himself Christ was followed by infinite folk dying and suffering aduersitie for his sake The woorkes of Mahomet were such as euery man can do and doeth dayly the woorkes of Christ are such as neuer any man did nor durst vndertake to doo but he himself Surely therefore we may wel conclude without wearying the reader any longer about these vanities That Mahomet was a man and wrought but as man and by man and therefore is to be examined as a man and that Iesus Christ wrought by GOD and was as he hath told vs the sonne of God and therefore let vs here him and beleeue him as God At this woord behold they step vp ageine and say a man to be God What an absurditie is that How is it possible Nay rather séeing it is conuenient and agreeable both to Gods glorie and to mans saluation as I haue proued afore why should it be vnpossible God created maÌ„ by his wisdom which wisdom is his sonne Now what is more meet than he should repayre man by him ageine Also it was a man that sinned and in that man and by that maÌ„ did al his ofspring sinne likewise Now what is more rightfull than to repayre him by man Man rebelled ageinst his father who could appease this offence but God himself And who could better pacifie the father than his owne welbeloued Sonne Man say I rebelled through extreame pryde vppon desire to be equall with God Now what thing is there which ought too humble man soo much as to see his Creator submit himselfe beneath man for the fault of man Or which ought somuch to make him to consider his sinne and to be sory for it as to consider the infinite greatnesse of his Raunsum the excéeding greatnesse of his sinne and of his punishment due for the same And if thou vrge me still with how is it possible I answer it is possible bycause God lifteth it and euen in mans vnderstanding it conteyneth no contrarietie to say it Also it is possible for we see it is so and so many Profes cannot bee wyped away by a bare question It séemeth possible enough to thee O Iulian when thou listest for thou sayest that Esculapius the sonne of Iupiter tooke humane flesh to come downe vnto the earth and thyne owne Philosopher Amelius doth vnder hand approue that Gods eternall word toke flesh and clothed himself with the nature of man alledging the very words of S. Iohn for the matter To be short thou haste a spirit vnited to thy body thou caâ—st not deny it and yet thou séest it not And if thou wert lesse than man thou wouldest also deny it to be in man and yet for al that what fellowship is there betwéene a body and a spirit And what may seeme more ageinst reason than that a Spirit which occupyeth no place should not only be lodged but also imprisoned in a place But hee which made both the one and the other of nothing can do what he thinketh good with both of them And seeing that to glorifie man he voutsafed to take him vp into heaueÌ„ and to ioyne him vnto him Plotin saies so and therefore thou wilt willingly here it and allow of it why should he be lesse able too come downe if he list and too vnite and ioyne himself to man vpon earth if he list to humble himself But why did God send his deare Sonne into the world rather in that tyme than in any other Why sent hee him not soouer or later These are questions for maysters to vse to their Seruants and not for silly Creatures to vse vnto God who by his only power made vs to be borne and by his only grace hath begotten vs new ageine But as I haue sayd afore to the Iewes man liued for a tyme without the Lawe too make him too learne that hée was not a lawe to himself and a certeine tyme vnder the lawe to make him find by proofe that he was not able to performe it and afterward grace was offered vnto him as vpon a scaffold where he sawe nothing but death and so the knowing of nature corrupted made man the more able to receyue the Lawe and the Lawe made him the more ready to imbrace Gods grace Moreouer it is a woonderfull confirmation to vs when we consider that from the beginning of the World vnto his comming we haue alwayes had Prophets from tyme to tyme agréeing in one mynd and one voyce as Heraulds and Trumpettors euerychone of them to publish and proclayme the maiestie of this King which was to come into the world For had he come anon after the Creation of the World this confirmation of ours had bin greately 〈◊〉 bycause they that were the first had bin surprysed by his comming vnlookedfor and those that haue come after should haue bin in daunger to forget it or to make the lesse account of it as though his comming had not belonged to them whereas now all of vs are partakers both of ioye and of Gods admonitions both afore the Lawe for he was promised to them and vnder the Lawe for they lykewyse heard the Trumpetts and also in the tyme that he came for hee himself spake to them and finally in our tyme for his returne draweth nygh Neuerthelesse it was his will too come in the tyme when learning did moste florish and when the greatest Empyre was in the cheefest pryde to the end that all worldly wisdome should acknowledge it self to be foolishnes and all strength and power acknowledge itself to be weaknesse before him Now therefore let vs all conclude as well Iewes as Gentyles that Iesus Christ is the eternall sonne of God the Redeemer and the Mediator of mankynd And let no question or obiection withhold vs from it Iewes for he is such a one as he was promised to them borne in Bethelem of a virgin of the Trybe of Iuda at such tyme as the kingdome was gone from the house of Iuda humbled beneathe all exalted aboue all put to reproachefull death for our sinnes and raised ageine with glorie to make vs rightuouse Gentyles for he did woorks which could not proccede but from God he created things of nothing drue one contrarie out of another surmounted the nature of man and ouercame the
a bodie nor to see that euen in our selues it is the onely Soule that worketh and that the bodie stirreth not but as it is moued by the Soule Others againe do reason that if there be a God he must needes be perfectly happie and if he be perfectly happie he is vertuous if vertuous he ouermaistereth his affections and if he ouermaister his affections he is tempted of his lustes a thing altogether vnbeseeming the Godhead And by these incouneniences they conclude that there is no God at all not perceiuing or rather wilfully refusing to perceiue that which Plutarke sayth very well namely that the person which ouermaistereth his affections is but halfe vertuous but the stayed person is wholly vertuous because the one doth but bridle his passions by force of reason whereas the other hath them alreadie settled according to reason But there is yet more in God for he is reason it selfe and there is nothing in him but reasou Soothly this kind of reasoning of theirs agréeth in effect with this saying of Xenophanes that if Beastes were able to paynt they would portray God like to themselues because they could not naturally conceiue any further Such and other like are the arguments of these goodly Philosophers which euen little babes might laugh to skorne but els they could not haue bene against so manifest and euident a trueth And yet dare I also well assure you that they themselues knewe the falsenesse of those arguments but that they were as it were sworne to doubt of all things and to gainsay all things Let vs then conclude with the learned and the ignoraunt the Greekes and the Barbarians Men and Beastes things sensible and sencelesse the whole and euery part thereof That there is a God And if there bee yet any folke that caste doubts thereof indeuouring to race out not onely God but also man himselfe out of their hearts let vs boldly appeale euen vnto themselues not doubting at all but that their owne Conscience which cannot be defeated will one day make them to vnderstand it The second Chapter That there is but onely one God LEt vs studie further in the booke of nature and see whether that as it hath taught vs a Godhead it teach vs not also that the same consisteth in onely one God I haue tould you already that of things some haue being some haue being and life some haue being lyfe and sence and other some haue being lyfe fence and reason These fower sortes fall into three from three into two and from two into one and that one is Beeing afore the which as I haue proued already there went a Notbeeing The residue therefore how diuers so euer they be are all conueied in the one Beeing and this one Beeing must needes rest in the power of one first Being whereof the being which we sée is but a shadowe Againe in all the things which we sée we reduce the particulars too an vnderkind the vnderkinds to an vpperkind and the vpperkind to a most generall As for example we reduce all particular humane persons vnder the terme of man All men vnder the terme of Wight all wights vnder the terme of liuing things and all liuing things vnder the terme of things that are or be alwayes referring euery diuersitie to some vnitie and the same vnitie to another vnitie which is more vniuersall It remaineth then that when we can mount no higher we must distinguish the things that are into the thing which is of it selfe and the thing which is not of it selfe That which is not of it selfe is the World and all that euer is therein as I haue proued afore That which is of it selfe is the thing which we cal God beyond whom nothing can bee imagined and by whome all things both are and haue bene as which could haue no beeing of themselues Now to produce from Notheeing into beeing requireth an infinite power For betweene nothing and something is an infinite distance and two infinites cannot be abidden no nor imagined together For the infinitenesse of the one doth incloase and bynd the power of the other and looke whatsoeuer is giuen too the one is taken away from all others Therefore like as there must néedes be one Infinite so must there be but only one yea and most simply one from whose vnitie neuerthelesse flowe all the diuersities which we sée in the whole world like as from a Pricke procéedeth a Lyne an outside and all substantiall bodies And of vnitie or one in nombering proceedeth euen and odde round and square and all the multiplicities proportions and harmonies which wee sée sauing that the Pricke and the vnitie of nomber are intermingled and interlaced with all things whereas the foresayd most single and alonly One abyding still one in it selfe bringeth foorth all the other vnities and conteineth them all Let vs examine euery sort of things seuerally by them selues and we shall learne the like still in them In the Elements wee see contrarie qualities operations And where contraries are there néede but two heads to set them at warre For they cannot dwell together neither can they match together and much lesse can they reigne together The further that any of them extendeth his power the lesse can hee away with any fellowe Now then if one reigned ouer the Heate and another ouer the Colde one ouer the Dryth and another ouer the Moysture so as there were diuers makers or gouerners of the worlde wee should also see diuersities of factions Element against Element in the whole worlde and in euery thing that is compounded and continual warre in the middes of their Bowels But now see we no such thing but euery of them imbraceth other both in the whole and in euery seuerall thing notwithstanding that naturally they displace and destroy one another Furthermore they stand not at defyance alone by them selues but the Sea becleapeth the Earth the Sea and Earth togither are lapped vp in the Ayre the Ayre is compast about with the Skye and euery of them stoopeth vnder other insomuch that of their contrarieties ye see there procéedeth a goodly vniformitie Séeing then that there are not two factions there is but one maker and seeing they yeeld all into one it cannot be but also by one In the Earth wee see Riuers which runne a very long race but yet from one head and againe many streames which yeeld themselues all into one which one is the Sea and the Sea also being vndiuidable passeth through the whole inferiour world Like as they come out of one vnitie so doe they yeeld themselues vp into one other vnitie In the Heauen wee obserue infinite diuers mouings but yet all obeying vnto one There is one light which sheadeth it selfe throughout all places but yet it procéedeth from one onely which seemeth to multiply it selfe infinitely yet cannot by any meanes be parted I meane one Sunne whose beames spreading out on all sides doe reach from the Skye