Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	age_n	church_n	true_a	1,952	5	4.9061	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A05370	Ravvleigh his ghost. Or a feigned apparition of Syr VValter Rawleigh to a friend of his, for the translating into English, the booke of Leonard Lessius (that most learned man) entituled, De prouidentia numinis, & animi immortalitate: written against atheists, and polititians of these dayes. Translated by A. B.; De providentia numinis, et animi immortalitate. English	Lessius, Leonardus, 1554-1623.; Knott, Edward, 1582-1656.; Raleigh, Walter, Sir, 1552?-1618.	1631 (1631)	STC 15523; ESTC S102372	201,300	468

kynds of diseases restored the dead to life effected many other such supernaturall things as appeareth from the acts of the Apostles From the Apostles tymes euer after there passed not ouer any one age which was d●stitute of miracles if we do belieue Ecclesiastical historyes Now nothing can be answerable hereto to take away the authority of these miracles but that they were not true but only forged or if true performed by the helpe of the deuill But with what colour or shew of truth can it be said that they were meere forgeryes seing this answere is not wartanted with any reason For from whence is it knowne that they are forged belyke because they are miracles and being miracles they seeme impossible to be wrought But here the Atheist is to proue that they are impossible which he cānot since the performance of them implyeth no true and reall contradiction That they are not accomplished by the force and power of nature we all grant and from thence do proue that there is a diuyne and inuisible power more potent then nature by the h●nd whe●of all these are wrought Furthermore to say that they are feigned is implicitly to take away all credit of histories all memory of antiquity and all knowledge of former ages since by this answere all ancyent historyes whatsoeuer shall be said to be forged and to be reiected as mere fables seing no historyes are written more accurately diligently with greater inuestigation search of truth then are the miracles aboue recyted especially since the Church hath bene euer most sollicitous and carefull that false miracles should not be ventilated and giuen out for true for here we speake only of those miracles which the Church acknowledgeth for certaine euident Thirdly who condemne all these miracles for fictions do charge all Christian Princes magistrates and all the Christian world of madnes and extreme simplicity in suffering innumerable fictiōs lyes to be obtruded vpon thē for so many truthes they not hauing so much perspicacity and clearnes of iudgment as to be able to discouer the deceit They also no lesse do charge all Ecclesiasticall Prelates generall Councels all Deuynes all wise men of sacrilegious imposture in that they do commēd such commentitious lying narrations for true miracles they by this meanes most egregiously deluding the whole world Fourthly diuers of these miracles are recorded by so graue authours indued with learning and sanctity and with so many particuler circumstances as that all possibility of fraud is taken away In things that are forged the forgers are accustomed purposely to declyne and auoyde the circumstances of names and especially of tymes and places for the better concealing of their lying Fiftly there was presented no iust and vrgent cause why these should be falsly inuented For why should the authours willingly stand obnoxious to so great a sacriledge Or with what hope or reward should they vndergo the aspersion of so foule a blemish No man doth any thing but there is some reason which induceth him so to do What then was the motiue that incyted so many Authors to wit Eusebius Socrates S●zomene Ruffi●●● Gregory Nissene Basil Ierome Austin Sulpitius Gregorius Turonensis Optatus Theodoret Damasus Gregory the great many others who haue written of miracles to perpetrate so heinous a wickednes Certainly no true cause hereof can be alligned for what graue and religious man had not rather suffer death then deliberately to wryte one lye especially in these things which belong to religion since thus doing he doth not only purchase an eternal infamy among men but also is most wicked hateful and abhominable in the sight of God Sixtly if the foresaid miracles were but inuented then might the authours of them be easily conuinced of forgery by the men then liuing in that age since the lyues and a●●iōs of Saints were for the most part diuulged throughout the whole world at that tyme when they were wrought for the radiant splendour and light of such extraordinary vertues cannot be obscured much lesse wholy eclipsed But there can be alledged not any one Man who either in the dayes of those Saintes or in the tymes immediatly ensuing durst charge the wryters of the said miracles with any fiction therein Seauently Mans nature is of it selfe incredulous and full of suspicion when it questioneth of any new miracles and hereupon it examineth all things concerning the same most precisely and particularly least there be some imposture latent hidden therein Besides there are neuer wanting mē which are emuious of the glory and honour of others who prying into each particuler do euer labour as much as in them lyes either wholy to call in question such miracles or at least to depresse and lessen the worth thereof Now to come to the second branch of the former answere If it be said that they are performed by the worke of the deuils then in thus answering it followeth that there are spirits or incorporeall substances which are more excellēt then these visible things and consequently it is to be granted that there is one suprem● Spirit excelling all the rest in power and wisedome this we call God as hereafter shall be proued But to proceed further against this second part of this Answeare I say that these stupendious workes cannot with any shew or protext of reason be referred to the power of the deuils for to restore sight to the blynd going to the lame to cure the paralitcks only with their word and to raise the dead to life do far transcend and exceed the power of the deuils who cure diseases only by the mediation of naturall causes to wit by applying the vertue of hearbs and other medicinable things as philosophers deuynes do teach Furthermore those holy men by the ministery of whō these miracles are performed were euer in most deadly hatred with deuils and they were so far from vsing them as a meanes as that they proclaimed open war against the Deuils for they ordinarily dispossessed mens bodyes of them ouerthrew their worship discouered their deceites confuted their doctrines scorned contemned all their prestigious artes and finally destroyed their kingdome and gouerment Such were in the beginning all the Apostles and their successours and infinit others For against these and such others no power of Deuils no Arts magicke no machinations and endeauours of wicked spirits nor any prestigyes or sleights could preuayle Besides how can we with any probability thinke that so many learned Doctours so many Prelates so many Princes finally so many wise and prudent men were become so stupid and blockish as not to be able to discerne true miracles from adulterate and forged wonders and the illusions of the deuill from the hand and worke of God Belyke only the Pharisyes the heathen persecutours prophane Atheists haue this guift of distinguishing miracles from the prestigyes and deceites of the deuill and all other men are blynd foolish and in this poynt

absurd assertion are to be weighed which indeed are found to be most friuolous weake and inconsequent as hereafter we will shew To the common iudgment of al Contriēs and nations herin we may adioyne the like sentence and iudgment of all most learned Philosophers who euer flourished in any place or tyme Since al these most cōfidētly euer maintained a Deity and Prouidence as Augustinus Eugubinus in his worke de perenni Philosophia largely sheweth Thus did the Patriarchs teach the Prophets and al the wise men among the Iewes thus the Priests among the Egyptians the Magi among the Chaldeans the Gymnasophistae amōg the Indians the Druides among the French and the chiefe sects of Philosophers among the Grecians to wit the Pithagoreans the Platonickes the Stoicks as Eugubinus proueth the very Academians I heere omit the most excellent sētences of this poynt which are frequétly found in Trismegistus Orpheus Museus Homer Hesiod Pindarus Sophocles Plato and the Platonicks Seneca Plutarch whō if any be desirous to see let him peruse the foresaid mentioned Authour This opiniō therfore of cōfessing a Deity Prouidēce is fortified with the authorities of al countries al ages all religions all rites ceremonyes of diuyne worship al Priests al Prophets al discipline of Magi and Wise men and al the more remarkable Philosophers of al nations finally it is warrāted by the force of nature which hath imprinted this truth at his very birth in mās soule Therfore what madnes and blyndnes of mynd it is for some few weake sleighty reasons to imbrace the contrary opinion Since this is nothing els but to prefer and aduance a mans owne priuate iudgment aboue the iudgment of the whole world of all tymes and to venditate himselfe for more wise as enioying a more searching and penetrating braine then any other man liuing Therfore the Atheists do herin discouer their wonderfull folly and insupportable pryde which thus hath enchanted them THE SECOND REASON DRAVVNE FROM the motion of the heauenly Orbs. CHAP. IIII. IN this next place I will alledge certaine Philosophical reasons or arguments such as are euidēt cleare to the vnderstāding pretermitting the more obscure which be taken out of the Metaphisicks First then we see the heanenly bodies to be carryed about in their Orbs with a most rapid and swift motiō Now this motion cānot haue it beginning frō any force of nature impressed in the heauens neither from any corporall cause therefore it procedeth from some intelligent and spirituall substance this substance is God That it doth not ryse frō any naturall inclination of the heauens is manifest since things which are moued by a propension of nature direct their motion vnto some one end the which end once obtained they cease from further motion and then do rest and are cōserued Thus al sublunary bodyes enioy a power and force to moue that if chance they be taken from their naturall place they striue by motion to returne therto and being returned do there rest and quietly enioy their owne being For all things which stand obnoxius subiect to corruption are preserued in their owne naturall place but being out of it they perish languishing as it were away and loosing their state of nature And there is no body which hath an inclination to motion so as it still moues without end neuer attaynes to its period and desired place of rest for as the Philosophers teach Motus est quidda●●●perfectum ●●pote via ad terminum Motion is a thing imperfect in it selfe as being but only away or passage to an end or rest But there is nothing which couereth to be euer in its way or iourney as I may cal it but all things desire to hasten to their terminus or end and there to repose and rest Wherfore we may necessarily conclude frō the premises that seing the motion of the heauēly Orbs doth not tend nor is directed to any terminus or end where it may find rest and quyet that therefore this motion floweth not from any inclinatiō of nature as the motion of all in animate things do which we see in this world This poynt is further confirmed from that that euery naturall inclinatiō to motion is directed to the good of the subiect or body which is moued to wit that the body may obtaine therby its perfection and conseruation and is not directed to the good or benefit of other bodyes for euery particuler thing hath therefore a force and propension to moue that by such a mouing it may obtayne that place which is most agreable to its nature and so may firmely place it selfe and rest there and not that by a motion it may benefit other bodies But now the motion of the heauenly Orbes bringeth no perfection at all to the Orbes or to those other heauenly bodies for what doth that continual rowling about of the Orbes profit or aduantage the Sunne or the other stars but is only beneficiall to the inferiour bodyes whiles by this motion it carryeth their vertues and influences throughout the compasse of the whole Orbes and so by distributing them causeth all things to receaue vegetation life increase perfection and conseruation Therefore it is most euident that this motion of the heauens proceedeth not from any secret inclination of nature in them for those celestiall Orbes cannot apprehend or conceaue their motiō to be profitable to this inferiour world that out of such a charitable cogitation and thought forsooth they should thus incessantly moue and turne about for so to apprehend and reflect vpon the profit of another is peculiar to a mynd and intelligence endued with reason From all which it is necessarily euicted and inferred that there is some most powerful spirit or intelligence which first conceaued this profit in its mynd and by reason of the said profit first ordained tempered this motion of which spirit it euer dependeth and is gouerned Furthermore the great variety of the heauenly motions doth sufficiently demonstrate that they proceed not from nature whose inclination is euer simple and vniforme For besides their motion from the East to the west vpon the Poles of the world which is common to all the Orbes seuerall Orbes of euery Planet enioy a proper motion frō the West to the East vpon a different Axis or Pole a different way and with different celerity The Orbe of Saturne perfecteth its course almost in 30. yeares The Orbe of Iupiter in 12 yeares of Mars about 2. yeares of the Sunue in one yeare of Venus in one yeare of Mercury almost in like space of the Moone in 27. daies and 6. houres Behold heere the great diuersity Neither is the poynt here lessened if in place of the motion of the Planets to the West we suppose their motiō to the East though somewhat slower according to the iudgement of some because euen granting this supposal yet the same variety is obserued the same difference of motion and the

supreme diuine power were not able to vndertake the charge of so great a multitude of affaires or had not sufficient power and wisedome to direct and moderate them all without any tedious molestatiō saying herein with Pliny Fraile and laborious mortality hath diuided all these thinges into parts being conscious to it self of its owne weaknes that euery one should attend to that which chiefly is needfull Now from all this it is I hope sufficiently demonstrated that there is one supreme spirit to the which all other spirits are sub●ect and at whose command they rest obedyent and of whome they are all procreated and made and this supreme spirit we call God THE TVVELFTH REASON TAKEN FROM the absurdities rising from the contrary doctrine CHAP. XIIII IF there were no diuine Power nor any Prouidence by the which mens affaires and negotiations are to be gouerned thē many absurdities and irremediable inconueniences and such as do mainly crosse all true iudgment and reason would follow which points do euidently conuince the falsity of this supposed doctrine And first supposing that there is no celestiall power or Prouidence it would from hence follow that the first supreme truth to wit that there is no such Prouidence should open the sluce to men to all impurity of life to all wickednes iniustice pryde arrogancy tyranny and briefly to all perfidy periury sacriledge and any other villany whatsoeuer For nothing is so facinorous hemous or wicked which taking away all feare of diuine power mā would not vndertake and do according to that of the psalmist Dixit insipiens c. The foole said in his hart there is no God they are corrupted and haue done abhominable wickednes c. See heere the fruite and successe of this doctrine and perswasion to wit all turpitude abhominable eno●mity of wickednes That this is true is most euident for as granting that there is a diuine power then the first and supreme truth is this That there is a God who gouerneth the world so one the contrary part supposing that there is no such power the first chiefest verity is that there is not a God which gouerneth the world For that must be acknowledged for a truth which is apprehended and taken by all mē for the first highest principle of all things Now this truth supposing it for such would extinguish and cancel in mens minds all feare and reuerence Which reuerence and feare being lost the way lyes open to all wickednes But what can be said or cōceaued more absurd then that the primitiue and supreme Truth and the chiefest secret mistery of all being acknowledged and apprehended of all men should giue passage to all nefarious and wicked courses whatsoeuer making men to exceed in all vice and impurity Secondly it followeth that that which is in it selfe false impossible and a mere Chimera or imagination should be the cause of all religion p●ety iustice temperance modesty benignity patience briefly of all vertue and honesty as also of all tranquillity in a Common wealth of all goodnes in mankynd For a perswasion that there is a God a loue feare of him produceth all these effects and by how much this perswasion and feare is greater and more vehement by so much it worketh more eminent and remarkable effects of vertue and goodnes in the soules of men and in a politicall state And hence it riseth that there was neuer common wealth well and peaceably gouerned in the which Religion and a perswasion of a diuine Prouidence was not well and soundly planted in the minds of men and the more that any one was priuatly denoted to Religion and to the reuerencing of a diuine Spirit the more illustrious and famous he became in all innocency probity of life as also on the contrary how much the more any one became irreligious by so much he also became more wicked detestable in conuersation as appeareth frō the testimonies of all sacred and prophane histories Now what madnes were it to belieue that there should be in a false impossible fiction or imagination so great a power to the procuring of all vertue and in a solid and vndoubted truth so great an incytement and prouocation to the perpetrating and performing of al flagitious outrages and wicked attempts Thirdly it followeth that the chiefest and most true Wisedome extinguisheth all vertue and maketh men most vicious that on the contrary part the chiefest Errour stirreth them to vertue and causeth them to become holy men For if there be no diuine power or deity then the greatest errour that can be is to belieue that there is a deity or Prouidence and the greatest wisedome to thinke that there is no such celestiall power at all but all what is deliuered thereof is but the fictions and figments of men In like sort it followeth from the said ground that truth and wisedome are to be concealed as being that which impoysoneth mens mynds and euery common wealth but Errour is to be aduanced by all meanes as the fountaine of all vertue and goodnes finally that the chiefest light of the vnderstanding begetteth the greatest darknes in the mynd and will touching maners the chiefest darkenes of the vnderstanding ingendreth the greatest light splendour and beauty of vertue in the wil and mind all which to affirme and maintaine were no lesse then incredible madnes Fourthly it followeth that all those who haue bene eminent and remarkable for wisedome sanctity of life prophetiall spirit and working of miracles haue bene deceaued in the chiefest matter of all as not belieuing aright touching the being or not being of a God since they al acknowledged a deity a prouidence and honoured the same but such as euer were most infamous for impiety turpitude of life all other wickednes haue only apprehended truly this mystery secret for al such haue bene euer contemners of God and his Prouidence therefore from this principle it may be inferred that the wisest men of all haue bene for manners the worst men of all the most simple ignorant and erroneous haue bene the best and the most vertuous Fiftly it followeth that to loue God to feare reuenge to honour the supreme power with due praises la●des to keepe an oath and the like are not in themselues good but vaine foolish wicked and aduerse to true reason that to do these things are indeed but to loue feare worship and adore a mere Chimera or a plaine fiction of mans braine for if all Diuinity be but a fiction as a Chimera is thē is it manifest that we ought to beare no more reuerence and respect to it then to a Chimera Sixtly it followeth that to be wicked sacrilegious blasphemous and a contemner of all diuine and supernaturall power is not euil in it selfe nor repugnant to the true vse of reason but that these things are good praise worthy as being agreable

for the preuenting of Death for Death of the body depriuing the soule supposing it to be mortal of all good should become her chiefest infelicity and euill and present life her greatest good and happynesse And therefore it followeth that the soule should feare nothing so much as Death and on the other side affect desire and defend nothing so much as present life But now daily experience teacheth the contrary for many do make so small an estimate of life though abounding with all the goods of fortune as that they willingly spend it for prayse fame liberty auoyding of reproach and dishonour and for the exercise of vertue Yea some there are who for the declyning and shuning of disgrace or griefe and affliction of mynd or for the purchasing of a very little reputation sticke not to become their owne parricides murtherers So much more do those things which belong to the soule or mind preponderate ouerballance al that which appertaines to the body THE SIXTH REASON CHAP. VII SO great is the capacity and largnesse of the soule or mind as that no riches no dignities no Kingdomes not the Empire of the whole world no pleasures briefly no finite and limitable good can quench her insatiable thirst and desire but to this end it is needfull that she enioy some one immense infinite and boundlesse good and such as containeth in it selfe by way of eminency or preheminēcy the fulnes of all good whatsoeuer This the Prophet Dauid insinuateth Psalm 16. when he saith Satiabor cum c. I shal be satisfyed and filled when thy glory shall appeare as if he would say no other thing can giue me full contentment except the manifestation of thy glory which is an infinite and illimitable good And to the same end S. Austin saith Fecisti nos c. Thou hast made vs like vnto thee and our hart is vnquyet till it rest in thee Now if the Soule were restrained to the narrownes of the body it should not be capable of an infinite good neither should her desire be extended to any thing but what were conducing and accommodated to a corporall life as it appeareth in other liuing creatures For the Body and the matter doth restraine the appetite desire and capacity of the forme From whence it proceedeth that by how much the forme of any body is more materiall by so much it is more narrow and lesse capable but the more spirituall and more eleuated the forme is the more ample and the more enlarged it is and extendeth it selfe to more things thereby the better to perfect it selfe For bodyes wanting life as stones and metals as also their formes because they are materiall and grosse in the highest degree do desire nothing out of themselues neither do they endeauour any thing to further their perfection but rest in themselnes quiet and dead But Plants because their forme is more pure and perfect do couet after their manner nourishment and do attract it from without as also they change it distributing it through the whole body and conuerting it into their owne substance Besides they send forth flowers fruits and seedes so they continue dayly working to the augmentation conseruation perfection propagation of themselues but because they haue no sense or feeling of their nourishment they therfore receaue neither pleasure nor griefe thereby Liuing Creatures in that their forme is in a higher degree do not only performe all those operations which plants do but with all they haue knowledge and sense of their nourishment yea they mooue themselues to it they seeke it from the vse of it they take pleasure and from the want of it they receaue griefe and molestation Notwithstanding all their knowledge and affection or liking is limited within certaine narrow bounds for it only extendeth it selfe to the profit or hurt of their bodyes so as they apprehend no other thing they couet and fly no other thing they are delighted and grieue at no other thing which is a manifest demonstration that their Soule depends only of their body for their soule therfore perceaues and desires nothing but what conduceth to the rest good of their corporall life because their soule dependeth of the felicity of their body Aboue all other liuing Creatures is man indued with a reasonable soule or mind whose knowledge affection is not limited to things belonging to the body but is altogeather illimitable extending it selfe to euery truth to euery kind of good as is aboue said both which beare no reference or respect to the body And from hence it followeth that the Souls capacity or ability either in knowing desiring or in taking delight is infinite no otherwise then the ability of spirits or celestiall Intelligences which is an vnanswerable argument that the soule of man is not wholly depending of the body and necessarily tyed to the same This point is further thus confirmed Substantiae separatae as they are called that is incorporeall substances do therfore enioy the force of vnderstanding and do extend themselues ad totum ens to euery thing and ad totum verum bonum to euery verity goodnes because they are simple formes eleuated aboue all matter not depending of the same as Philosophy teacheth And hence it is that there is no spirituall substance but euen in that respect it is intelligent and vnderstanding Therfore seing the Soule of man is endued with the faculty of vnderstanding and is in her selfe of that expansion and largnes as that she stretcheth her selfe to the whole latitude of Ens in generall that is to euery truth and euery thing that is good by vnderstanding what is true and affecting and louing what is good no otherwise then spirituall and separated substances do it followeth that the soule doth not depend vpon any matter or bodily substance For where there is effectus adaequatus there is also causa adaquata that is where there is a proper and peculiar effect there also is to be found a proper and peculiar cause from whence the effect riseth But in the Soule of Man the effect is found to wit the force of vnderstanding and the capacity of euery truth and euery good therefore the cause also is to be found that is a spirituall nature independent of matter or of a body THE SEAVENTH REASON CHAP. VIII THere are in the nature of things some liuing formes which are separated from all matter both in their essence and manner of existence with the Philosophers do cal Intelligences or substantias separatas separated substances and Christians tearme them Spirits or Angels There are also some others which both in their Essence and existence are altogether tyed and immersed in the matter wherin they are and such are the Soules of beasts Therfore there oughtto be some other formes betwene the former two which in regard of their Essence may not depend of their body that so they may be like vnto spirits or Angels yet for their