from a Tower which way it standeth in the darke wherin we now be to the end we may call to God for helpe and euer after make thither ward with all our whole hart Particularly against the Atheists and Epicures we will bring themselues the world the creatures therein for witnesses For those are the Recordes which they best loue and most beleeue from the which they be lothest to depart Against the false naturalists that is to say professors of the knowledge of nature and naturall things I will alledge nature it selfe the Sectes that haue sought out nature such writers in euery Sect as they hold for chiefe Disciples Interpreters and Anatomists or Decipherets of nature as Pyt hagoras Plato Aristotle the Academikes and peripatetikes both old and new and speciallie such as haue most stoutly defended their owne Philosophie and impugned our doctrine as Iamblich Plotin Porphirie Procle Simplice and such others whose depositions or rather oppositions against vs I thinke men will wonder at Against the Iewes I will produce the old Testament for that is the Scripture where to their fathers trusted and for the which they haue suffered death whereby they assure themselues of life And for the interpreting thereof I will alledge their Paraphrasts those which translated it into the Greeke and Chaldey tongues afore the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ. For they were Iewes borne of the notablest men among them chosen by publike authoritie to translate it and at that time reason was not so intangled with passions as it hath bene since Also I will alledge their ancient doctors dispersed as well in their Cabales as in their Talmud which are their bookes of greatest authoritie and most credit And diuerse times I will interlace the Commentaries of their late writers which generally haue bene most contrarie to the Christen doctrine whom notwithstanding the truth hath compelled seuerally to agree in expounding the Texts whereon the same is chiefly grounded Now in these allegations I shall sometimes be long and peraduenture tedious to the Reader whome manifest reason shall haue satisfied alreadie so as to his seeming there needed not so manie testimonies But I pray him to beleeue that in this longnesse of mine I straine my nature to apply myselfe to all men knowing that some like better of Reasons and othersome of Testimonies and that all men notwithstanding that they make more account of the one than of the other are best satisfied by both when they see both reason authorised by witnesses for that is as much to say as that many men had one selfe same reason and also Recordes declared by reason for that is as much to say as that credit is not giuen to the outward person but to the diuine thing which the person hath within him that is to wit to Reason Herewithall I thought also that all men haue not either the meane to come by all bookes or the leysure to read them whose labour I haue by that meane eased And oftentimes I am driuen to doo that in one Chapter whereof others haue made whole volumes To conclude I pray the Reader first to read this booke throughout for without mounting by degrees a man cannot attaine to high things and the breaking of a ladders steale casteth a man backe maketh the thing wearisome which was easie Secondly I desire him to bring his wit rather than his will to the reading thereof For foredeemings and foresetled opinions doo bring in bondage the reason of them that haue best wits wheras notwithstanding it belongeth not to the will to ouerrule the wit but to the wit to guide the will Thirdly and most of all I beseech him to beare alwaie in mind that I am a man and among men one of the least that is to say that if I satisfie him not in all points my reason attaineth not eueriewhere so far as truth doth to the end that mine ignorance and weakenesse preiudice not the case mine vndertaking whereof in good sooth is not vpon trust of mine owne wit or of mine owne abilitie but vpon assured trust of the cleernesse soundnesse substantialnesse and soothnesse thereof Now God vouchsafe to shead out his blessing vpon this worke and by the furtherance thereof to glad them that beleeue to confirme them that wauer to confute them which go about to shake downe his doctrine This is the onely pleasure that I desire the onely fruit which I seeke of my labour And to say the truth I feele alreadie some effect and contentment thereof in my hart But lette vs praie him also to vouchsafe in our daies to touch our stonie harts with the forceâ— of his spirit and with his owne finger to plant his doctrine so deeply in them as it may take roote and bringâ— foorth fruit For certesse it is Gods worke to perswade and win men albeit that to counsell them yea and to mooue them seemeth in some sort to lie in man The Summes of the Chapters That there is a God and that all men agree in the Godhead That there is but onely one God That the wisedome of the world acknowdelged one onely God What it is that man is able to comprehend concerning God That in the one substance of God there are three persons which we call the Trinitie That the Philosophie of olde time agreed to the doctrine of the Trinitie That the world had a beginning When the world had his beginning That the wisdome of the world acknowledged the creation of the world That God created the world of nothing that is to say without any matter substance or stuffe whereof to make it That God by his prouidence gouerneth the world and all things therein That all the euill which is or which seemeth to bee in the worlde is subiect to Gods prouidence That mans wisedome hath acknowledged Gods prouidence and howe the same wadeth betweene destinie and fortune That mans soule is immortall That the immortalitie of the soule hath bene taught by the auncient Philosophers and beleeued by all nations That mans nature is corrupted and hee himselfe fallen from his first originall by what meanes That the men of olde time are of accorde with vs concerning mans corruption and the cause thereof That God is the souereigne welfare of man therefore that the chiefe shootanker of maÌ„ ought to be to return vnto god That the wisest of all ages are of accorde that God is the chiefe shootanker and souereigne welfare of man The true Religion is the way to atteine to that shootanker souereigne welfare and what are the markes thereof That the true God was worshipped in Israel which is the 1. mark of true religionâ— That the Gods which were woâ—shipped by the heathen were men consecrated or canonized to posteritie That the Spirites which made men to woorship them vnder the names of those men were wicked spirites that is to saye fiendes or diuels That in Israel Gods worde was the Rule of his Seruice
A Woorke concerning the trewnesse of the Christian Religion written in French Against Atheists Epicures Paynims Iewes Mahumetists and other Infidels By Philip of Mornay Lord of Plessie Marlie Begunne to be translated into English by Sir Philip Sidney Knight and at his request finished by Arthur Golding ¶ Imprinted at London for Thomas Cadman 1587. To the right Honorable his singuler good Lord Robert Earle of Leycestor Baron of Denbigh Knight of the order of the Garter and of S. Michaell one of the Lords of the most Honorable priuie Counsaile and Maister of the Horse to the Queenes Maiestie Lord Generall of her Maiesties Forces in the Lowe Countries and Gouernour Generall of the vnited Prouinces and of their Associates Arthur Golding wisheth long continuance of health much increase of Honour and in the life to come in endlesse felicitie MAny causes doe fully perswade me right Honorable that this present worke which I presume to offer vnto you will in diuers respects be vnto you very acceptable For vnto such as are of greatest wisedome vertue and Nobilitie the wisest best and weightiest matters are alwaies most agreeable And whereas all men are naturally desirous of the souereine welfare highest felicitie or cheefe good howbeit that very fewe doe knowe what it is or wherein it consisteth or which is the right way that leadeth thereunto And yet not withstanding without the knowledge of that trueth all their wisedome is but mere ignorance blyndnesse and folly all their goodnesse is but mere corruption wickednesse al their brauerie tryumphe iollitie and pompe is but vtter miserie and wretchednesse This present worke treateth of the trewnesse that is to say of the perpetuall and inuariable constancie and sted fastnesse of the Christian Religion the only band that linketh God vnto man and men one to another and all vnto God the only Lampe that enlighteneth mans wit with true wisedome the onely water-spring that replenisheth his will with true goodnesse and the only mightis power that giueth strength and courage to mans spirit whereby he is enabled both perfectly to discerne and beholde his souereine welfare or felicitie which is God the very founder furtherer and finisher of trueth or rather the very trueth it selfe and constantly to hold on with ioy to the obteynement of the same than the which no greater thing can by any meanes bee imagined And in the discourse of this most graue weightie matter many deepe poynts of humaine Philosophie and many high misteries of heauenly Diuinitie be learnedly breefly and plainly discussed and layd open to the vnderstanding euen of the meanest capacities that will vout safe to reade aduisedly to conferre the parts together with diligence For the Author of this work being a man of great reading iudgement learning skill and there with addicted or rather vowed as appeareth by this and dyuers other of his excellent writings to the furthering of Gods glorie by his most faithfull and painfull imploying of himselfe in the seruice of his Church hath conueyed into this worke what soeuer he found eyther in the common reason of all Nations or in the peculiar principles of the cheefe Philosophers or in the misticall doctrine of the Iewish Rabbines or in the writings of the Historiographers and Poets that might conueniently make to the manifestation of that trueth which he taketh in hand to proue VVherby he hath so effectually brought his purpose to passe that if any Atheist Infidel or Iew hauing read this his worke with aduisemēt shall yet donye the Christian Religion to be the true and only path way to eternall felicitie all other Religions to bee mere vanitie and wickednesse must needes she we himself to be either vtterly voyd euen of humaine sence or els obstinatly and wilfully bent to impugne the manifest trueth against the continuall testimonie of his owne conscience Not without iust cause therfore hath so great loue and lyking of this worke of his bene generally conceiued that many not onely of Gentlemen in the Court and Country but also of Students in both the Vniversities haue purposed and attempted the translating therof into our English tongue as an increase of comfort and gladnesse to such as are alreadie rooted and grounded in the trueth as a stablishment to such as any way eyther by their owne infirmitie or through the wilinesse of wicked persons are made to wauer and hang in suspence and as a meane to reuoke such as of themselues or by sinister perswasions are gone away into error and also if it possible bee to reforme the malicious and stubbornhearted Among which number of weldisposed rightlyzealous Gentlemen I may not without iust desert of blame 〈◊〉 to say some what though farre lesse than is meet of that right worthie and valiant Knight your good Lordships noble kinsman Sir Philip Sidney whose rare vertue valour and courtesie matched with equall loue and care of the true Christian Religion being disappoynted of their purposed end by ouerhastie death in the very enterance of his honorable race haue left iust cause to his louing Countrie to be wayle the vntymely forgoing of so great an Ornament and the sodeyne bereuing of so hopefull a stay and defence VVhereof not withstanding this comfort remayneth That he dyed not languishing in ydlenesse ryot and excesse nor as ouercome with nyce pleasures and fond vanities but of manly wounds receiued in seruice of his Prince in defence of persons oppressed in maintenance of the only true Catholick Christian Religion among the noble valiant and wise in the open field in Martiall maner the honorablest death that could be desired and best be seeming a Christian Knight whereby he hath worthly wonne to himselfe immortall fame among the godly and left example worthie of imitation to others of his calling This honorable gentleman being delighted with the excellēcie of this present work began to put the same into our Language for the benefite of this his natiue Countrie and had proceeded certeyne Chapters therein vntill that intending a higher kind of seruice to wards God and his Prince not drawen therto by subtile deuyce of a wylie Vlysses from companie of Courtly Ladies himself being disguised in Ladies attire after the maner of Achilles nor discouered against his will by the wisedome of a Palamedes after the maner of Vlysses but aduaunced through the hardynesse of his owne knightly courage like to Prosilaus he willingly passed for a tyme from the companie of the Muses to the Campe of Mars there to make tryall as well of the Pyke as he had done of his Pen after the example of the valiant Iulius Caesar whose excellencie in all kinde of knowledge and learning could not hold him backe from seeking to inlarge his renowme by hazarding his noble person among the weapons of armed Souldyers Beeing thus determined to followe the affayres of Chiualrie it was his pleasure to commit the performāce of this peece of seruice which he had intended to the Muses or
of all And this Inbeing is more then Substantiall and the first of all the Inbeeings in the Trinitie that is to be conceyued in vnderstanding And seeing that these two namely the One and the Vnderstanding bee in the first rancke of the Trinitie the first as the Begetter the second as the Begotten the first as the Perfecter the secoÌ„d as the Perfected there must needes be a meane power betwixt them whereby and wherewith the one may yeeld being and perfection to the vnderstaÌ„ding or Beeër For this proceeding of the Beeër from the One and likewise the turning back of the Beeër vnto the One is done by a certeyn power or might and so there is a Trinitie which is the full number of things belonging to a Mynd so as this Trinitie is Vnitie or Onenesse Power or Might and Vnderstanding of Mynd The One is the Producer or yeelderforth the Vnderstanding is the thing produced or yeeldedfoorth and the Power or Might depending vppon the One is also linked to the Vnderstanding or Beeër And this Trinitie is the Vnitie or Onenesse the Beeër or Vnderstanding and the Behauiour of them both wherby the Vnitie is the Vnitie of the Vnderstanding and the Vnderstanding is the vnderstanding of the Vnitie or One. Whereby Plato sheweth that the Father is the Father of the Vnderstanding the Vnderstanding is the Sonne of the Father and that the Might or Power is couertly comprised betweene them both Now soothly considering that he was a professed enemie to vs Christians and therefore eschewed to vse our termes he could not haue spoken better nor haue sayd more plainly that the thrée Inbeings or Persones differ onely by way of relation so as there is a Father a Sonne and a Behauiour of theÌ„ both which we would haue called the Loue the Union or the kindnesse of them that is to wit the holy Ghost Amelius the Disciple of Plotine as Proclus reporteth maketh also thrée kings or thrée Understandings namely the Beeër the Hauer and the Seeër the first the reall Understanding the second the Understanding from the first and the third the UnderstaÌ„ding in the second Whom Theodorus imitating hath termed them the substantiall Vnderstanding the Vnderstandable substance and the Fountayne of Soules Neuerthelesse as great an enemie as Amelius was to the Christians yet notwithstanding after many florishes and fetches about in the ende speaking of the second Person he yéeldeth to that which S. Iohn speaketh of him in his Gospell Surely sayth he this is the Word that was from euerlasting by whom all things that are were made as Heraclitus supposed And before God sayth he it is the very same Word which that barbarus fellow for so did he terme S. Iohn auowcheth to haue bin with God at the beginning in the ordering and disposing of things when they were confused and to be God by whom all things were absolutely made and in whom they bee liuing and of whom they haue their life and beeing and that the same Word clothing it selfe with Mans flesh appeared a Man and yet left not to shewe the Maiestie of his natuâ—e Insomuch that after he had bin put to death he tooke his Godhead to him againe and was very GOD as he had bin afore ere he came downe into Bodie Flesh and Man Another Platonist speaking to the same effect sayd that the 〈◊〉 of S. Iohns Gospell was worthie to be graued euery where in letters of Gold Thus ye see that the Gréeke Philosophie as wel afore as after the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ agréeth with our Diuinitie As touching the Latins they fell to Philosophie somewhat lateâ— but yet as little as we haue of their doings they digresse not from the others Chalcidius who wrate vppon Platoes limaeus hath these words The Souereyne and 〈◊〉 God is the Originall of all things next vnto whom is his Prouidence as a second God who giueth the law aswell for the temporall as for the eternall life And furthermore there is a third substance as a second Vnderstanding which is the keeper of the sayd eternall Lawe The highest God commaundeth the second ordereth and the third vttereth or publisheth Now the Soules doe the Lawe and the Lawe is the very Destinie it selfe And a little afore he sayth that the sayd Prouidence which he setteth in the second place is the euerlasting Understanding of God which is an euerlasting act and a resembler of his goodnesse because he is alwaies turned towards him that is the very Good it self Also Macrobius sayth that Platoes opinion concerning the one chief God and the one Understanding bred and borne of him is no falile at all but a thing certeyne howbeit that he could not otherwise expresse it than by examples of the Daysonne and such other things And surely if we had the bookes of Varro and other great Clerks it is possible that we should find much more to this purpose Thus then ye see how the Platonists are all of one opinion and mynd in the doctrine of the Trinitie wherein some of them sawe more and some lesse some affirme the premisses whereof our conclusions ensewe and othersome conclude the same expressely with vs. The Aristotelians haue no voyce here because they stand all in commenting vpon Aristotle who gaue himselfe more to the liberall Artes and the searching of Nature than to looking vp to God the maker of all things Yet notwithstanding Auicen reiected it not insomuch that he sayth that the first Mynd yéeldeth foorth a second Mynd and the second a third but he waded no déeper into the matter Let vs adde here the confessions of the very Deuilles who eyther by meanes of the reuelations therof which haue bin made vnto vs or by reason of their falling froÌ„ aboue haue had some knowledge thereofâ— Soothly it is alwaies a pleasure to heare them yéeld record to the trueth euen spight of their harts Wee reade that one Thulis reigned in old tyme in AEgipt who wexing proude asked Serapis the chiefe Idoll of the AEgiptians adiuring him strongly that he should not deceiue him who he was that had reigned afors him and who should reigne after him and also who was mightier or greater than hee To whom Serapis answered in these fower Uerses First God and next the Word and then their Spright Which three be one and ioyne in one all three Their force is endlesse get thee hence fraile wight The man of life vnknowne excelleth thee Also Apollo being demaunded concerning the true Religion answered in ten Uerses thus Vnhappie Priest demaund not me the last And meanest Feend concerning that diuine Degetter and the deere and only Sonne Of that renâ—wmed King nor of his Spirit Conteyning all things plenteously throughout Hilles Brookes Sea Land Hell Ayre and lightsome Fyre Now wo is me for from this house of myne That Spirit will me driue within a while So as this Temple where mens destynies Are
woorship Nay as he is hygh and great in power so is he deepe also in wisdome and goodnes Art thou sicke It is he that both maketh helth and sendeth sicknesse thou séest how he was Ezechias Phisition Wouldest thou haue Children It is hee that openeth and shetteth the bearingplace Insomuch that he made the old age of Sara fruteful and the barrein Anne a moother and a Nurce Doth thyne enemi◠vexe thee He is the God of Hosts whom Gedeon findeth as strōg with a smal army as with a great Wouldest thou haue a prosperous wind It is he saieth Iob that sheadeth foorth the Easterne wynd vpon the earth and at whose call the northwynd commeth Doth thy Husbandrye drye away with drought It is he that dealeth foorth both the morning and the euening rayne which beget the droppes of the deawe and which maketh it to rayne vppon the ground yea euen where nobody dwells To be short art thou afrayd of famine He prepareth foode for the Rauens to pray vpon and their yong birds crye vnto none but him The Lyons whelpes rore vnto him for foode and all things that liue in the aire on the Land and in the water do wayt vppon him for the supplying of their needs And what is all this in effect but that the God whom Israell woorshipeth is the Creator and Gouerner of all things The verie true God which maynteyneth all things by his goodnes as well as he made them by his power As carefull for all things yea euen to the least as he is myghtfull and of abilitie to maynteyne them Al the whole scripture from the one end to the other that is to say the people of Israell from age to age sing nothing else but that Now if we reade ouer the old ceremonies of the Egiptians Persians and Thuscanes leafe by leaf where shall we find in them one woord of the true God but onely in renowncing and blaspheming him And what are all their Godes but caryers of Receyts like these dogleaches which professe but the curing of some one disease only or lyke these comon craftsmen which professe but the skill of some one craft or misterie But this true God as I haue said is the onely one God What other people haue bin forbidden to call vppon many Godds Nay rather what other people haue not bin comaunded to haue infinite Gods as a token of Religion He is a quickening Spirit which cannot bee counterfetted nor conceyued What other God hath sayd Whereunto will ye lyken me which do hold the Earth betweene my Fingers What house will yee build for me which make the Earth my footstoole and the Heauen my feate And to what other people hath it bin sayd Thou shalt not make any grauen Image And what other people hath chosen rather to dye a thousand tymes than to breake that commaundement Insomuch that they would not admitte eyther peynter or karuer into any of their Cities Contrarywyse which of all the Gods of the Heathen haue not requyred Images Yea and as we reade in Porphirius taught how they should bee peynted Much more vayne in good sooth than the mē that woorshipped them To be short the true God which gouerneth the whole world must also as I haue said afore gouerne both men and their witts to his glorie And to gouerne them so it behoueth him to knowe them and to knowe them it behoueth him to see them and to see into their harts it behoueth him to haue made them For the father which thinketh himself to be the begetter of a Chyld seeth not into the hart thereof nother doth the schoolemayster see into his scholers wit whereof he thinketh himself to be the framer And much lesse can an Imaginatiue God do any of those things hauing not made the one nor the other What other God shall ye reade to haue sayd Thou shalt not couet or to haue required the sacrifice of the hart or the fasting of the spirit or a hartbroken and lowly mynd Who els can forbid Couetousenes and hypocrisie but he which is able to punish it And who can punish it but he that sees it And who can see it in man but he that made man On the contrarie part who séeth not that the Lawes which are reported to haue bin inspired by the Godds at Rome in Athens and in Lacedemon extend no further than to the outward man Insomuch that none of them as sayeth Cato is found to haue sayd He that is mynded to steale but only He that stealeth shal be giltie Which is as much to say as that they be but Lawes of men who see not into folks harts Lawes of Creatures which pearce no further then the Cote or the Skinue The people of Israel therefore are the people that serued the onely true God that made man and all other people serued Gods made by men Now this silly people as we reade in Histories was strangely despysed and trampled vnder foote as though all the diuels had conspired and banded themselues against that people which alonly worshipped the true God But what are the Heathen compelled in the end to confesse Varro the best learned of the Romanes who made a beadroll of all the Gods for feare as hee sayth least they should stray away concludeth in the end that those doe worship the true God which worship the onely one without Images and which beléeue him to be the gouernor of the whole world Yea and which more is he saith that the Iewes by what other name soeuer they call him doo worship the same God truely and that if after their example all Images had bin forbidden as they were a long time in Rome men had not fallen into so many superstitions errors It is not to be doubted but that he which spake so of that whole rabble of false Gods that were in Rome would haue spoken much more of them if he had not feared men more than his Gods And whereas some of the heathen to excuse their owne sacriledge haue borne the world on hand that the Iewes worshipped the head of a wild Asse because a beast of that kind had shewed thē a fountaine in the wildernesse at a time that they were distressed with thirst Polybius Strabo and Tacitus himself the maker of that goodly report doo witnesse that in the Temple of the Iewes there was neuer yet found any Penon Pensil Relik or Image neither at the tyme that Antiochus through couetousnes sacked it nor whē Pompey for reuerēce spared it And truely the sayd Assish report of the Asses head is scarce worth the disproof But more rather because the Iewes rested vpon the Sabboth day which the Gentiles dedicated afterward vnto Saturne many men haue thought that they worshipped Saturne whereas if the heathen had asken but some Babe of the Iewes concerning that matter he would haue taught them that the GOD of Israel neuer fled away for feare of a man as Saturne did
worship a man for his knowing of some two or three of them Among other Nations of the world the AEgiptians haue vpon the lyke reasons Deified their King Apis forbidding all men vppon peyne of death to say he was a man and I am euen ready to shudder at the remembrance of his misteries Likewise the Babylonians deified their Bele the Mawres their Iuda the Macedonians their Cabyrus the Latines their Faunus the Sabines their Saâ—cus and the Romanes their Quirinus that is to wit the first founders of their Townes and Citties or the leaders of them to inhabite in forrein Countries and the eldest of these their Gods that is to say their auncientest Princes they called Saturnes their Sonnes Iupiters their Graundsonnes Herculeses and so foorth wherevpon it came to passe that in diuers Nations there were diuers Saturnes Iupiters and Herculeses Afterward the Emperours deified themselues and their fréends and some their Mynions as Alexander did Ephestion and as Arian did Antinous and some their Children and some their wiues Cicero béeing but a Citizen of Arpie was so prwd that he would néedes Deifie his daughter Tullia he sticked not to say to Atticus that he would make her to be worshipped as another Iuno or Minerua considering that she was not inferiour to them in any thing But he came in too rough a time to make Gods What more Euen in one man were a thousand Gods to be found For they made Gods of faithfulnes of constancie of wisedome and of all the other vertues and likewise of Loue of Pleasure of the instruments of pleasure and of all other vices Also of feare palenesse gastfulnes and all passions Lykewise of Agewes of the Hemerodes of the Falling siknesse and of maladies and diseases Also of Dounghils of Snow of Blastings and of the very Winds insomuch that the greate Emperour Augustus did sacrifice to the winde Circius which trobled him in Gall. The cause of these absurdities is in two things the one is Gods iust striking of men with blindnes for their turning away from him vnto man insomuch that whereas they will néedes become equall with God they fall by degrees from poynt to poynt euen to the casting of themselues downe vnto Beastes and Wormes that is to say they become inferiour to beastes The other is that Princes vnlightened by GOD are so desirous of vainglorie and their Seruants are such flatterers that the Princes perceiuing themselues to haue men at their commaundement thinke themselues to be more than men and their seruants to bée made Idols themselues doe willingly make Idols of their Princes Hereof wee reade in the very Lawes of the Christian Emperours that their answers are called Oracles their persons Godheads and their countenances diuine brightnesse Who reading this can doubt but that if such Lawiers had come in the first ages they would haue made vs good store of Gods Nay would God we sawe not still among vs greate nombers of lyuely and plaine-speaking examples of mans inclined disposition to the worshipping of creatures notwithstanding that our Lawe in euery lyne thereof doe reproue vs for it and after a sort twich vs euery howre by the Cote to pull vs from it Now therefore let the premisses be a president vnto vs both of the vanitie of the Godds and of the blockishnes of men which haue both worshipped them and made them And so let vs commit the knitting vp of this matter to Cicero himself who saith thus The conuersation and custome of men sayth he hath allowed the aduanuncing of those men into heauen both in reputation in good will by whom they had receiued any greate benefite Of that sort are Hercules Castor Pollux Esculapius Liber and such other so as Heauen is peopled with mankind And if I listed to search ransacke the Antiquities and Registers of the Greekes I should find that the same Gods whom we take for the greatest haue had their originall from among vs. And for the verifying thereof Inquire whose the Tumbes are that are shewed in Greece and consider with thy selfe what their mysteries and Ceremonies are and thou hauing accesse thither shalt vnderstand without doubt that my saying reacheth very farre The xxiij Chapter That the spirites which made themselues to be worshipped vnder the names of those men were feends that is to say Diuels or wicked Spirites NOw séeing that the sayd Gods were but men yea and not Men but Stocks and Images of men that the same slocks if they had bene any more than Stocks should rather haue worshipped men we must néedes say with Seneca that the men which worshipped them were become worse than stocks But herevnto it wil be answered that they gaue answers of things to come and that they wrought effects beyond the reache of man which shewed that there was a lyfe and power in them or els they had not seduced folke so long time This is the second part which I haue taken in hand to prooue namely that although all the auncient Philosophers agrée that there are both good Spirits and bad the one sort whom we call Angels Seruants and Messengers of God and the other sort Diuels enemies to Gods glorie and our welfare yet notwithstanding the Spirits which were serued in Stocks and Images as Hermes hath told vs were vncleane and mischeuous Spirites These Féends therefore to purchase themselues authoritie did borrowe the names of men and most commonly of the wickeddest men Yea and when they were asked what they were they sayd in their owne Oracles that they were so as for exaÌ„ple he that was worshipped at Delphos said he was the sonne of Latona Esculapius the sonne of Apollo Mercurie the sonne of Iupiter and Maia and so foorth as we reade in Oracles rehearsed by Porphyrius But what honest man will not refuse for neuer so greate gayne to take vppon him the name of a wicked man or rather abhorre both the name and the very rememberance of him And who then will not conclude that those Deuils which to winne themselues credite clothed themselues after that sort with the cases of so wicked men were worse than the men Also they were drawne sayth Hermes into Images by Arte Magicke yea and by the reporte of Porphyrius and Proclus they taught men receyts wherewith to drawe them thether and to bind them there as wee reade of Proserpyne Hecate and Apollo Of whom one commaunded to beset her Image with Wormewood to paynt a certeyne number of Rattes about it and to offer vnto her Blud Myrrhe and Storax to draw her thither Another commaunded to wype out the lines and figures to remoue the tuzzimuzzies of flowers from his féete and to take the braunch of Olife out of his hand that is to say from his images hand that he might withdrawe himselfe Who sees not that they made themselues to bee drawne in and driuen out by things that haue no force at all specially ouer Spirites That it say
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
thou shalt liue or dye for euer without ende In what other booke reade wee such commaundements Ye in what booke reade we such punishments such rewards And if euery bodies speaking be according to the abilitie of his power from whom is this spéech which dareth pronounce or threaten euerlasting things but from the partie him selfe that is euerlasing If it be a creature that speaketh it either it is a good creature or an euill If it be an euill creature why forbiddeth he euill so rigorously and commaundeth good so expresly or to say better how commeth it to passe that the mark which hee aimeth at is Gods glorie and our welfare Or if it bee a good Creature how happeneth it that hee chalendgeth to himselfe that which belongeth to GOD and which cannot be imparted to any Creature which is the very sinne that ouerthrewe both the Diuell into Hell and man into destruction And if it be no Creature neither good nor bad what remayneth then but that it must needes be the Creator Now what leafe is there in the whole Scripture where wee meete not with such matter And herewithall wee see that thing in the obseruers of that Lawe which is not read of any others namely that they haue yeelded their lyues and incurred the hatred disdeine of the whole worlde rather than they would breake or despise it Uerily euen in this respect and none other that they were sure that they serued such a Lawegiuer as not only had power ouer the barke of man and ouer this present wretched lyfe as other common Lawgiuers haue but also was of power to giue either euerlasting lyfe or endlesse death The same appeareth yet more in that the lawes which are giuen to men in the Scriptures are not inioyned alonely to the outward man but doe pearce euen to the heart of man In deede they require Sacrifices but yet they preferre obedience They inioyne fasting but that is from sinne They inioyne Circumcision but it is the Circumcision of the hart To be short for a Summary of al Sinnes they forbid lusting and couering which thing as I haue sayd afore is not to bee found in any law of the Heathen Who I pray you knoweth the very anatomie and secret conceyts of our hearts but he that made them Or who can looke into Man but the maker of Man And who is he either Man or Deuill that euer durst presume to inioyne a lawe to mens thoughts But all these things come still to this poynt that the partie which speaketh so vpon authoritie threatening things that excéede mans abilitie and making a law for the things wherevnto we cannot come must of necessitie be of more power than we Agein what a number of things haue wee taught vs in the Scriptures which cannot bréede of mannes brayne nor come from elswhere than from about And if they cannot bréede in his mind how can they come from his hand or from his mouth We can wel say there is one God for if wee enter into our selues wee find him there and if we goe neuer so little out of ourselues we meete him euery where But that in one Essence there should be thrée persons the Father the woord and the Spirit how can it bréede in the imagination of man Or who could euer haue thought of it Also from the Creatures wee come to the Creator from mouing to a rest from nouelties to a beginning and there mannes reasoning stayes But although the first man myght knowe when hee was created yet how could he haue knowen when the world was created And although that by the new things therein we déeme it too be newe who euer durst to haue limited the first day and the first houre thereof Or how could that Chymera haue come in any mannes mynd And yet in verie déede we haue dyuers Chymeras among the auncient writers concerning the Creation of the world according to the diuersities of opinions that were among the Philosophers and the diuersities of imaginations among the comon people But was there euer any afore this booke of the Byble that began his account of tymes or his historie at the first day of the world thought he were of opinion that the world was created And séeing that the intent of al wryters of stories is to be beléeued what els had this beginning of an historie at that poynt bin but a cracking of his credit at his first enterance in if the maiestie of the Author had not serued for a warrant Lykewise that man to attayne to his appoynted end néeded the handywoorke of God himself It apâ—eareth vnto vs by the weaknesse of our nature But that for the appeasing of Gods Iustice God himself should be fayne too come downe and to take mans flesh vnto him who would say it but only God and who could bee beléeued in that case but only he So is it also concerning the conception of the Uirgin concerning the promises that were not to come to passe vntill fower hundred yéeres after coÌ„cerning the comming of the Messias and such like things which would neuer haue come in a mans head to haue written so farre of are they from mans wit I meane as of it self and without imitation And I dare boldly say that whosoeuer readeth the Scriptures aduisedly and with intent to marke them shall in euery booke finde many matters which euen by his owne iudgement had neuer come in mans mynd notwithstanding that they be spoken by wise men who both beléeued them firmely and ment to bee beléeued in speaking them What shal we say then to the Prophesyings or true foretellings which are sowen euerywhere in the Scriptures that is to wit of Gods spirit which is shed foorth from the one ende to the other I say not in scattered leaues as the Prophesies of Sybil were but aiming al at one poynt notwithstanding that they were vttered both at diuers tymes by diuers persons and in diuers places I omit the first Prophesie concerning the womans seede that should crush the Serpents head and such like perteyning to the redemption of man by the Messias because that that doctrine shall haue his proper place hereafter and I will alledge none other things than such as are alreadie proued and out of controuersie Unto Abraham was giuen this promise They seede shall doe seruice in a strange Land and bee hardly intreated there fower hundred yeeres and then will I iudge the Nation whom they shall haue serued and in the fourth generation shall they come hether againe What Oracle did euer foretell a thing so precisely so manifestly and so long aforehand And yet was that Prophesie fulfilled at the appoynted tyme and it cannot be sayd to be a counterfet for Moyses in leading the people of Israell through so many turnagaines grounded himselfe vpon none other thing And it stood him on hand to speake of a Prophesie that was common among them and deliuered from hand to hand considering that he taketh
it by his only word without other helpe But let vs see yet more It is against nature to make something of nothing Here the Philosophers must stoope It is against nature to make a thing by speaking the contrarie Here the Orators are put to silence What wilt thou say then if besides all this there bée an extreame resistance in the thing it selfe if thou be a Phisition in the Complexion if thou bee a Capteyne in the Conquest if thou be an Orator in the willes of men Alexander did great things with fewe men I graunt But if men had made head against him as they might haue done in what case had he bin Let vs see contrarywise what resistance men made both generally and particulerly to shut Iesus out of the doores If ye speake of force he could scarsly preach without perill of death His Apostles could not open their lippes but thei were by and by whipped stoned racked crucyfied or burned The cruellest Emperours as Caligula Nero Domitian and such others wrought vpon them the chiefe déedes of their cruelties If any of those Emperours chaunced to bee more mield O what Iustice vsed he Forsooth If they bee not sedicious say they let them not be sought But come they once in Question wherefore soeuer it be let them not escape I would fayne learne what sect of Philosophers in all Greece would not haue ceassed at the least commaundement of a Magistrate And of what trueth doe we finde any monuments of Conquests ouer all the world but of the trueth of Iesus Christ If ye haue an eye to policie those that followed him were excluded from all promotions and offices And what a hell is that to a man of an ambicious nature Their Children were prohibited to goe to Schoole and what was that but a cutting vp of the tree by the roote if it had not growen by grace from Heauen Also certeyne counterfet Dialogs forged concerning Pylate and Christ full of wicked lyes and blasphemies were inioyned to bee read in Schooles and to be conned of Children by hart to steyne the name of Iesus and to make it odious and lothsome to all men for euer And what more pernicious policie could the Deuill himselfe haue deuised The Iewes worse than all others to whom notwithstanding he was promised were false Traytors to him and whereas they should haue preached him they did most eagerly accuse him insomuche that there scarsly came any of his Disciples into any towne but that they made Hew and crye vppon him to murder him Nay which more is in euery seuerall persone there was an inward incounter and an extreame resistance ageinst this word Yea sayd men within themselues shall I beleeue in Iesus An abiect man A crucified God Shal I beleeue his Disciples the ofscourings of the World and the outcasts of the Iewes Shall I beleeue in him for a two or three dayes to leaue behind me a wretched wyfe a reprochefull rememberance of myself and the report of a foole too my posteritie If the Emperours made so cruell warre ageinst this doctrine both by swoord and by their Lawes we may well coniecture what Warre euery man maynteyned ageinst it in himself And if we haue knowen what persecution is let vs here bethink vs of the battells betwéene the flesh and the spirit and of the lyuely and sharpe arguments which a man in that cace maketh ageinst himself Notwithstanding all this in the end whole Nations yeelded themselues to the word of those men and euen Empyres worshipped Iesus Christ crucified If weakenesse wrought this why did not force get the vpper hand If foly why did not wisdome tryumph ouer them If manhod why did not multitude preuayle No surely it was Iesus the sonne of God who repayred the world by his spirit as God had created it at the first by his word Cicero could not woonder ynough at Romulus for that sayeth he in a time which was not rude he had compassed so much as to be called a God And certesse I maruell at Cicero that he shewed himself so grosse in that behalf For if he were called a God who euer beleeued him to be so And what was Rome at that tyme and a long tyme after but a rout of ignorant and silly Shepherds But thereby wee may deeme what iudgment hee would haue giuen vppon Iesus Romulus was called a God but the Senate beleeued it not The Senate did put the people in feare and by that meanes made them to say it But all the whole Empyre of Rome could not scare one Disciple from professing of Iesus What resemblance then is there betweene them two The same may be sayd of Alexander as greate an Emperour as he was when he made men too woorship him as God For euen then did his army fall to mutinies he lost his estimation he disteyned his victories his owne howseholdseruants were contented too be beaten rather than they would knéele downe to woorship him And asfor Caligula Domitian Heliogabalus and others they were Laughed to skorne as long as they liued and they were not so soone dead but their Godheads were dragged in the myre lyke doggs and men voutsafed them not so much as a Tumb to be buryed in But what say yee to Iesus who being despysed all his lyfetyme was woorshipped as God after his death Whose Godhead 〈◊〉 Disciples preache euen vppon the racke and whom the very Emperours Tiberius and Antoninus and Alexander honored in their harts and woorshipped as God in their priuichambers And in what time Surely in the Learn eddest tyme that euer was and in the full florishing state of knowledge in all arts skills and sciences when Rhetoryk Logicke and all Philosophie were at their pryde and at such time as Magik and all maner of curious seiences had their full scope and were at their hyghest pitch If he be woorshipped for his wisdome what a nomber of graue Senators were there at that time If for Learning and Doctrine what a nomber of learned men If for Riches and parentage how would those greate men haue yeelded to such an ofcast If for his giltlesse death why not others also of so many which preached him and followed him And why was not Gabinius woorshipped so to being a Citisen of Rome a man of honour and vniustly crucified in whose behalf Cicero vttered all the goodly eloquence that he had Nay surely they sawe such a chaunge in the World so sodeine so greate and so vniuersall that they could not impute it to any other thing than to the power and operation of him that ruleth the world whose myghty power they perceyued in Iesus That this so suddein turning of Nations to woorship a man of Emperours to reuerence reproche and of wise men to haue folly as sayeth S. Paule in admiration is verie true I will take none other witnesses than themselues We reade in Suetonius and Tacitus that the name of Christ was knowen in Rome and throughout all Italy For they
Gamalielles was sent with Commission to persecute the Christians In his way sayth Luke a light shone about him and being smitten to the ground he heard this voyce Saule Saule why persecutest thou me To bee short of a Iewe he became a Christian and of a Persecuter a Martir And if thou beléeuest not S. Luke S. Paule himselfe toucheth his owne historie in diuers places What hath vnbeléefe to bring against this saue onely peraduenture a bare denyall according to common custome If Peter sawe it he is but a Fissherman say they If Paule heard it he is an Orator So then belike if God offer thee his grace in an earthen vessell thou mislykest of it and if he offet it thee in a vessell of some valewe thou suspectest it eyther the one is beguyled or the other beguyleth thee sayest thou What wilt thou haue God to doe to make thee to beleeue him Examine this case well Paule in the way to growe great he is in good reputation with the Magistrate the Priestes and sodeinly he chaungeth his Copie out of one extremitie into an other to bee skorned scourged cudgâ—led stoned and put to death Put the case that neither S. Luke nor S. Paule did tell thee the cause thereof What mayst thou imagine but that it was a very great and forcible cause that was able to chaunge a mans heart so sodeynly and so straungely Is it not daylie sâ—ene wilt thou say that men are soone changed and vpon light causes Yes fooles are But he debateth the matter he vrgeth his arguments and he driueth his conclustons to an ende The best learned of his enemies finde fault with his misapplying as they terme it of his skill and yet commend his writings Yea and he knoweth that vnto thee his preaching will seeme folly and yet that as much folly as it is it is the very wisedome of God and that by following it he shall haue nothing but aduersitie and yet for all that he doth not giue it ouer How shall he be wise that counteth himselfe a foole or rather which of the wiser sort is not rauished at his sayings and doings But if he be wise learned and weladuised as thou seest he is what followeth but that his chaunge proceedeth of some cause And seeing the chaunge was great the cause must néedes be great also and seeing it was extreame and against 〈◊〉 surely it must needes proceede of a supernaturall and souereine cause Uerely the reason that leadeth thee to this generall conclusion ought to leade thee to the speciall also that is to wit that it was a very great and supernaturall cause that moued him namely the same which Sainct Luke rehearseth and which he himselfe confirmeth in many places for the which he estéemeth himselfe right happie to â—ndure the miserie which he caused and procured vnto others and in the end after a thousand hurts and a thousand deaths he willingly spent his life Also the death of Herod striken by the Angell for not giuing glorie vnto God is reported vnto vs much more amply by Iosephus than by S. Luke Herod sayth he made showes in Caesarea and the second day of the solemnitie he came into the Theatre being full clad in robe or cloath of Siluer which by the stryking of the Sunnebeames vppon it made it the more stately Then began certeyne Clawbacks to call him God and to pray him to bee gracious vnto them But forasmuch as he did not refuse that flatterie he sawe an Owle sitting vpon his head and by and by he was taken with so straunge torments that within feawe daies after he dyed acknowledging Gods iudgement vpon him and preaching thereof to his flatterers This Historie is set out more at large by Iosephus which in effect is all one with that which is written by S. Luke who sayeth that the people cryed out It is the voyce of God and not of a man and that thervpon an Angell of God strake him and he was eaten with wormes and so dyed These bee the things which they finde scarce credible in the historie of our Euangelistes which yet notwithstanding are coÌ„firmed by the histories of the Iewes and Gentyles who report the things with words full of admiration which our Euangelistes set downe simply after their owne maner And seeing that in these things which exceede nature they bee found true what likelyhoode is there that they should not also deliuer vs Christes doctrine truely specially being as I haue shewed afore miraculously assisted with the power of his spirit according to his promisses and moreouer hauing witnessed the sinceritie of their writings by suffering so many torments and in the end death Seeing then that the new Testament conteyneth the trueth of the doctrine of Iesus and proceeded from the spirit of Iesus whom I haue shewed to be the Sonne of God what remayneth for vs but to imbrace the Scriptures as the worde of life and Soulehealth and as the will of the Father declared vnto vs by his Sonne and to liue thereafter and to dye for the same considering that by the same wee shall be raysed one day to glorie and reigne with him for euer But forasmuch as we make mention of rysing ageine from the dead that is yet one scruple more that remayneth What lykelyhod is there of that say they séeing that our bodyes rotte Woormes deuour vs yea our bodyes do turne into woormes and a nomber of other chaunges â—o passe ouer them This is a continewall stumbling alwayes at one stone namely to stand gasing at Gods power who can do all things when ye should rather rest vpon his will He will do it for he hath knit the body and Soule togither to be parttakers of good and euill togither and hee hath giuen one Lawe on them both togither so as they must suffer togither and ioy togither yea and suffer one for another and one by another in this lyfe and what Iustice then were it to separate them in another lyfe He will do it for he made the whole man who if he were but Soule alone were no man atall He will do it for to the intent toâ— saue man his Sonne hath takeÌ„ the flesh of man vnto him Now to saue the Soule it had bin inough for him too haue taken but a Soule but he that made the whole man will also saue the whole man To be short he will do it for he hath sayd it and he will doo it for he hath done it already He hath sayd it by his Sonne and he hath also done it in his Sonne and his sonne adorneth vs with his victorie and he will surely adorne vs with his glorie Looke vpon the grayne that is cast into the ground if it rotte not it springeth not vp if it spring not vp it yeldeth no foyson Agein of one graine come many Eares of Corne of a kernell a goodly Tree of a thing of nothing as yée would say a perfect liuing Creature