any branch of goodnesse or perfection This is the first foundation of our Faith layd by his onely Sonne Aske and it shall be given unto you seeke and ye shall finde knocke and it shall be opened unto you For every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened Or what man is there of you whom if his sonne aske bread will he give him a stone Or if he aske a fish will hee give him a serpent Math. 7◠vers 7 8 9 10. Every Father that heard Him would have beene ready to have answered no yet none so ready or carefull as they should be to give or provide best things for their children because all besides him are evill Fathers If ye then being evill know how to give good gifts to your children how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that aske him ver 11. Hee is then so much more willing to give good things to his children as he is better or greater than other Parents His love to all men seeing all are his sonnes by a more peculiar reference than Abraham was Adams or Isaac Abrahams is infinitely greater than any Parents beare to the fruits of their bodies Mortall fathers love children when they have them but love to themselves or want of means to immortalize their owne persons makes them desire to have children The onely wise immortall God who is all-sufficient to all most to himselfe unacquainted with want of whatsoever can bee desired out of the abundance of his free bounty and meere loving kindnesse did first desire our being and having given it us doth much more love us after we are instamped with his Image For he sowes not wheate to reape tares nor did he inspire man with the breath of life that he might bring forth death 3 The Heathens conceived this title of Father as too narrow for fully comprehending all references of loving kindnesse betwixt their great Iupiter and other Demigods or men Iupiter omnipotens regum rex ipse Deusque Progenitor genitrixque Deum Deus unus omnis And another Poet Iupiter mas est nescia faemina mortis And because the affection of mothers especially to their young and tender Ones is most tender the true Almighty hath deigned to exemplifie his tender mercy and compassion towards Israel as David did Ionathans love towards him far surpassing the love of women yea of mothers to their children Sion had said the Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten mee But her Lord replyes Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the sonne of her wombe yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee Esay 49. ver 15. And if his love could sufficiently bee expressed by these dearest references amongst men whose naturall affection towards their tender brood in respect of meaner creatures is much abated by wrong use of reason as many mothers by greatnesse of place or curiosity of education are lesse compassionate towards their children then other silly women are he hath chosen the most affectionate female amongst reasonlesse creatures to blazon his tender care and loving protection over ill-deserving children How often would I have gathered thy children together even as a Hen gathereth her chickens under her wings Math. 23. ver 37. Finally as he gives much more to our being than our earthly Parents whom we suppose to give us being so all the sweet fruits or comforts of love whether of fathers and mothers towards their children of husbands towards their wives or of brethren to brethren sisters to sisters or one friend to another their sinfulnesse onely excepted are but distillations or infusions of his infinite love to our nature To witnesse this truth unto us the son of God was made both father and brother and husband to our nature c. Every reference or kinde office whereof reasonable creatures are mutually capable every other creature though voyd of reason so not voyd of love and naturall affection may expresse some part of our heavenly Fathers loving kindnesse but the love of all though infinitely increased in every particular and afterwards made up in one could no way equalize his love towards every particular soule created by him Feare of death or other danger hath such joynt interest with love as well in the heart of man as in other creatures that albeit they would doe more for their yong ones than they doe if they could yet they doe not usually so much as they might not so much for their model of wit or strength as God for his part though infinite in wisedome power doth for the sonnes of men He that feareth none but is feared of al he that needs no Counsellor but hath the heart of Prince and Counsellor in his hand makes protestation in his serious griefe that he hath done all for his unfruitfull vineyard that he could as much as possibly could be done for it Or if his serious protestations cannot deserve credit with deceitfull man his solemne oath is witnesse of greater love than hath beene mentioned of greater than the heart of man is able to conceive even towards such as all their life time have hated Him As I live saith the Lord I will not the death of him that dyes If besides the authority of these and infinite more sacred texts most perspicuous in themselves the interpretation of the Church be required for establishing of the doctrine delivered the whole ancient Church some peeces of Saint Austine onely excepted which may bee counterpoyzed with other parts of the same Fathers writings is ready to give joynt verdict for us And whether the restrictions which some reformed Churches have endeavoured to lay upon Gods promises be compatible with the doctrine of the English Church comes in the next place to be examined CHAP. 15. What the Church of England doth teach concerning the extent of Gods love of the distinction of singula generum and genera singulorum of the distinction of voluntas signi and voluntas beneplaciti 1_WHat middle course soever the Church of England doth hold or may take for compromising contentions betweene some other reformed Churches in points of Election and Reprobation of free wil or mans ability before the state of regeneratiō She doth not in her publike and authorized doctrine come short of any Church this day extant in the extent of Gods unspeakable love to mankind No nationall Councell though assembled for that purpose could fit their doctrine more expresly to meet with all the late restrictions of Gods love than the Church our mother even from the beginning of reformation hath done as if she had then foreseene a necessity of declaring her judgement in this point for preventing schismes or distraction in opinions amongst her sonnes First she injoynes us to beseech God to have mercy upon all men This was the practice of the Ancient Church which in
others he derives from these originalls As there be divers kindes of proceedings in managing the affaires of peace or warre with whose diversities the dispositions of men by nature or custome much different suit some with one some with another so have different times their seasons and opportunities Some times require quick dispatch others delay of businesse some businesses speedy execution others maturity of consultation and long forecast Now seeing no one man is fitted for all kindes of proceedings nor no one kinde of proceeding can befit all or most times but all have their limits which without errour or danger they cannot transgresse Hence it is that those men least erre and become most fortunate in their atchievements which have the hap to be imployed in such times and seasons as best agree with their naturall and accustomed manner of projecting Statefortune then by Machiavels conclusion is no bastard brood no fatherlesse bratt but the true and legitimate ofspring of Time fitly matched with the peculiar disposition of experienced practickes On the contrary publique misfortune or ill successe is the naturall issue of mens endeavours when they are undertaken in an unfit time The onely question then remaining is whether there bee any or if any who is the chiefe author of all fit matches or disagreements betweene the severall dispositions of men and the opportunities of times It is a point unquestionable that the prime author of such matches is the first author of all successe be it good or bad in humane affaires The greatest amongst the sonnes of men cannot command what opportunities they please but must bee content with such as time affords them nor are the wisest of men alwaies able to make choyse of the best which time presents Time likewise though thus affording opportunities cannot appoint the men that are most fit to entertain them So that neither is time the fountaine or author nor can men bee their owne Carvers of good successe Doth this office then belong to Goddesse Fortune If shee could see this she might see all things and were no longer to bee reputed Fortune wisdome and prouidence should be her titles It is That wisdome by which all things were made which disposeth their operations It is that Providence which was before all times that dispenseth the times and opportunities that are These sit supreame scrutators in consultations of state and have more casting voyces then the world takes notice off They secretly sway every election other suffragants may freely declare their opinions and vent their breath which these tune and moderate as they please 13 That we may descend to Machiavels instance The Romanes appointed no generall without publick consultation Whether Fabius Maximus were chosen generall by unanimous consent of the Senate or with difficultie and contradiction we have not observed or doe not remember Even such as were most forward or factious for him did little thinke how well his peculiar temper did sute with the opportunitie of those times wherein he was appointed to cope with Hannibal The common rumors which run of him throughout Rome argue a generall dislike of his proceedings if lingring might in their censures be called proceedings rather then cowardly delay or detrectation The best proofe he gave for a long time of his courage was his constant contempt of others censures But after the event did as farre surpasse their hopes of his slow proceedings as these had come short of their first expectations their note was changed Fabius was now the onely man and as some of them make him more then a man in common esteeme the onely Author of their Cities preservation Howbeit to such as can resolve effects into their prime and native causes children might more justly be fathered upon the woman that beares them then this joyfull issue which was brought forth by his lingring can be upon his forecast or wisedome For this cunctation of which the peculiar opportunities of these times begat good successe was to Fabius as Machiavel well observes a disposition naturall he could not have changed with the times nor fashioned himselfe to new occasions Hee had held the same byas still though on another much different ground and so might he well have lost his late purchased fame and Rome her prize unlesse there had beene more skill used in playing the game than the supposed Roman Gamesters practised As suppose Fabius had beene sent to have bid Hannibal play in Africk and Scipio appointed to keepe the goale in Italie Rome and Carthage by the misplacing of these two men might have changed Fates and Fortunes Rome in all likelihood had beene taken when Fabius saved it and Carthage inriched with Romane spoiles at the time when Scipio ransacked it Rome could not have found a surer buckler to beare off Hannibals blowes in Italy then lingring Fabius nor a fitter sword to beat him in his native soile then forward Scipio And yet was Fabius the most forward man to oppose Scipio his expedition into Africk and it may be some of Scipio his friends had bandied as earnestly against Fabius Either of them liked his owne course best if haply either liked any other besides Neither of them knew what temper was fittest for every season nor is it possible for the wisedome of man to match these alwayes aright because albeit the temper or dispositions of men did never alter yeâ— the occasions or opportunities of times are more changeable than the Moone 14 The Aphorisme which Machiavel gathers from the former discussions is not so false as imperfit and it is this Seeing different times require different manners of proceedings and state-agents cannot easily change their manner whereto they have beene most accustomed it were most expedient for States to change their agents that their severall dispositions might more exactly sute with the alterations of times and opportunities The facilitie of observing or practising this rule in Aristocratis is in his judgement one speciall cause why that kinde of government is more durable then Monarchicall For Princes will hold their wonted wayes they will not change their resolutions much lesse will they give place to others that are better fitted for entertaining the opportunities or change of times Petrus Soderinus a man for his moderation and wisedome fit to have governed an Empire did as hee thinkes overthrow himselfe and the Florentine estate by continuing his authoritie being unable to put off his wonted lenitie and patience in times requiring austere imperious reformation Whereas Pope Iulius the second plaied the Lyon all his time with the Foxes luck the more he was cursed for his impetuous insolency the stronger hee grew no thankes to him or his witt but to the times which had they changed he must have fallen But was not Septimius Afer for his native severitie aswell fitted to the impetuous disposition of the Roman Empire when he undertook it as any medicine can be to the malady for which it is by art prepared And
miscariage must be referred for breuities sake to other Treatises Onely to shut vp this exemplification of the Prophets assertion verified in peculiar sort in Hungary what example of Divine Iustice either more pregnant or more durable was ever manifested in Iudea than was to bee seene every morning for more then twenty yeares together in the fields of Moacz where the horse and his royall rider King Lewis found a miserable grave before they were quite dead but where the bones of such as were slaine in that unfortunate battaile lay unburyed in such abundance as did exhibit a wofull spectacle to every Christian passengers eye from the yeare 1526. untill the time of Busbequius his embassage to Constantinople how long after I know not which was upon the mariage betweene King Philip and Queene Mary about the yeare 1555. The Christian Hungars of those times after the losse of their late mentioned King had as just cause to insert that lamentation into their Liturgie as Ieremie had to take it up The annointed of the Lord was taken in their nets of whom we said under his shaddow we shall be preserved alive among the Heathen Lamentations 4. 20. As full an interest in that complaint of the Psalmist as the ancient Iewes had during the time of Nebuchadnezzar or Antiochus his rage The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meate unto the fowles of the heaven the flesh of thy Saints unto the beasts of the earth their blood have they shed like water there was none to burie them Ps 79. 2 3. The pittifull women of Iudea did eate their Children when Titus besieged Ierusalem The women of Hungarie no lesse mercifull as may be presumed than other Christian women are buried their Children alive lest their timorous outcryes might bewray the place of their abode or latitation when Soliman and his furious helhounds did so greedily hunt after their lives The people of Hungary would not take example from the miseries which had befallen Iudea nor breake off those sinnes which brought this miserie upon them GOD grant the Prophets and Seers of this kingdome eyes to discerne and this whole people one and other patient hearts to heare those sinnes whether of practise or opinion discovered which threaten the like judgements unto this Land as have befallen the Kingdome of Hungarie one of the most flourishing Kingdomes in the Christian world within a few yeares before its ruine FINIS * Nec dictis erit ullus bonos si cum actus ab urbe Daunius hostili Teucris urgentibus heros Vix pugna absistit similiâ— dicetur Asello Quâ—m pueri laeto pascentem pinguia in agro Ordea stipitibus duris detrudere tendunt Instantes quatiuntque sudes per terga per armos Ille autem campo vix cedere inter eundum Saepe hic atque illic avidis insistere malis Omnia conveniunt rerumque simillima imago est Credo equidem sed turpe pecus nec Turnus Asellum Turnus avia atavisque poteâ—s dignabitur heros Aptius hanc speciem referat Leo quem neque tergae Ira dare aut virtus patitur neque sufficit unus Tendere tot contra telisque obstare sequentum Hieron Vida Poet. lib. 2. * Et hic quidem omnium morbus est trium generum quae proposui eorum scilicet qui secundum corpus de Deo sapiunt eorum qui secundum spiritualem creaturam sicuti est anima eorum qui neque secundum corpus neque secunduÌ„ spiritualeÌ„ creaturaÌ„ et tamen de Deo falsa existimant eo remotiores à vero quo id quod sapiunt nec in corpore reperitur nec in facto condito spiritu nec in ipso creatore Qui enim opinatur Deum verbi gratia candidum vel rutilum fallitur sed tamen haec inventantur in corpore Rursum qui opinatur Deum nunc obliviscentem nunc recordanteÌ„ vel si quid hujusmodi est nihilominus in errore est sed tamen haec inveniuntur in animo Qui autem putant ejus esse potentiae Deum ut seipsum ipse genuerit eo plus errant quòd non solum Deus ita non est sed nec spiritualis nec corporalis creatura Nulla enim res omnino est quae seipsum gignat ut sit Aug. de Trinit lib. 1. cap. 1. * In the 5. Book Section 3. 1 * Mittamus animum ad illa quae aeterna sunt Miremur in sublimi volitantes rerum on niuÌ„ formas Deumque inter illa versantem providentem quemadmodum quae immortalia facere non potuit quia materia prohibebat defendat à morte ac ratione vitium corporis vincat Senec. ib. Whether for thus saying hee fall under the censure of Muretus in his annotations upon this place I refer it to the judicious Reader Impie stulta veterum opinio Deum voluisse quidem à primo omnia immortalia facere sed non potuisse propter materiae vitium Quasi non ut caetera omnia ita materiam condiderit ac procrearit Deus Recte Lactaâ—â—tius Idem materiae fictor est qâ—i rerum materia constantium * Qui scholas reguÌ„t ia id nobis exploratuÌ„ reliqueruÌ„t tale esse conditionalis propositionis naturam sive conditionem ut existente falso quod antecedit etiam quod subsequitur possit remanere vera conditionalis Pasq c. 1. ad RoÌ„ fol. 65 Though it were impossible for an Angell from heaven to preach any other Gospell than Paul had preached and impossible likewise for any Angell of heaven to be accursed yet S. Pauls conditionall proposition was true If an Angell from heaven should preach any other Gospell he should be accursed In like manner this supposition or conditionall If any thing could take beginning from it selfe it should be infinite is true although both these positions be false First that any thing can take beginning from it self Secondly that any thing which hath beginning can be infinite And this only is absolutely true That which truly is without all beginning is absolutely infinite * Idem absolutum quod et Deum dicimê° non cadit in numero cum omni alio ut quod Deus coelum sint plura aut duo aut alia diversa sicut nec coelum est idem absolutum ut coelum quod est aliud à terra Et quia idem absolutum est actu omnis formae formabilis forma non potest forma esse extra idem Quo enim res est eadem sibiipsi forma agit quòd autem est allerialias est quia non est idem absolutum hoc est omnis formae forma Est igitur idem absolutum principium medium finis omnis formae actus absolutus omnis potentiae Cusan de Genes dialog pag. 128. * Lib. de ente uno * Ex. 3. 14. * Cum primum ingressus Academiam sueris occurret tibi Parmenides qui unicum