eternal thing which hath not any other life or being than such as another eternall thing hath voutsafed to giue vnto it For let vs see I pray you what maner of thing they imagine this matter to bée They will haue it ot be a thing without shape but yet a receiuer of all shapes and they will haue shape to be without matter wherein to bee but yet as a mould wherein to fashion all matters so as the matter should haue no beeing at all but by reason of the shape or forme as of the giuer of being thereto But how can matter be without forme seeing that euen deformitie it selfe is a kynd of forme Or how can matter be alone by it selfe seeing that forme is the thing that giueth being vnto it Now then to say that matter is without forme is all one as to say that it is and is not which were the saying of a madman Yea say they but how is it possible for somewhat to be made of nothing sith there is an infinite distance betwixt somewhat and nothing Nay I say rather what is it which is not finite in respect of him that is infinite I meane in respect of him whom thou thy self affâ—rmest to haue bounded the selfesame matter which thou doest take and teach to be infinite But if thou listest to consider it thou shalt perceyue that thou confessest a thing no lesse vncredible to thyne owne sence than is the same which thou reiectest by thy sence For when thou imaginest a matter without forme and a forme without matter thou speakest things that destroy one another But whereas I say that God created the World of nothing that is to say without hauing any thing wherof to make it in déede I say a thing that is wonderfull howbeit which hath not any repâ—gnancie in it selfe Now there is great difference betwéene speaking aboue reason and against reason For trueth and mans reason are not inclosed within the like and selfesame bounds But forasmuch as thou hast graunted that God is the author and worker of Nature I would fayne knowe how thou canst be so bold to denye that he hath put life and mouing where none were afore and that he hath made both sight and light hearing and sounds spéech and vnderstanding where erst was more than death more than blindnesse more than dumbnesse and more than dulnesse that is to say more than the bare priuation or bereuing of those things â—onsidering that neither to bee nor euer to haue bene are much more waÌ„ts than simply not to be Now betwéene liuing and not liuing seeing and not seeing and so foorth there is an infinite distance as well as there is betwéene being and not being which distance can not be filled vp but by an infinite power and looke where an infinite power is it is alike mightie towards all things Therefore it followeth that sith thou attributest vnto him the making of thy sight of thy life and of thyne vnderstanding thou canst not deny him the creation of the things that haue light life and vnderstanding in them Which if thou graunt in one thing néedes must thou graunt it alike in all For to giue life and to giue béeing to giue forme or shape and to giue matter and to giue them to one thing and to giue them to all things are all workes of one selfsame power how diuers soeuer of degrées of them seeme vnto thée at the first sight He therfore that confesseth God to be the former or giuer of shape doth also confesse him to bee the creator of all things Nay I say more that when thou termest God the souereine or highest being as Aristotle doth or him that essentially and in very déede is as Plato doth thou sayst though vnwittingly that he is the Creator that is to say the author of the being of all things If we looke into nature the thing that holdeth the first place in things of order is commonly the cause of al the things that fall vnder it Among hot things some bee hotter than some but yet fire which holdeth the highest degrée in heate is the cause of heate in all things and sheadeth it selfe into all without diminishing of it selfe and by imparting it selfe to them is still increased insomuch that the striking of a Flint inforceth the castingforth of a thousand sparkes whereof euery one were enough to set the whole World on fire In light some things one light lighteth another and by imparting maketh it selfe after a sort infinite and the Sunne which is as the fountayne of light extendeth and spreadeth it selfe out infinitely without disseuering after a maner createth light where was nothing but darknesse Also in humaine affayres Kings impart their dignities to Princes Princes to their Uassalles Uassalles to their Subiects and when they giue any man a qualitie which he had not afore they terme him their Creature as hauing made him somewhat of nothing in respect of the qualitie wherewith he was indewed afore To bee short sents or sauors are shed foorth and Sciences are taught from one to another and from one to infinite yea and euen diseases which are nothing els but corruptions ingeÌ„der one of another without diminishing themselues Now as for Heate Light Sauour Science and Dignitie they be but qualities termed by the degrées of first second and third qualities yea and moreouer dead senslesse and liuelesse and yet notwithstaÌ„ding looke which of these qualities holdeth the first place the same doth naturally bring forth al the rest without diminishing it selfe And shall we then thinke it straunge that God who is the Béeing which euen by their owne confession holdeth the chiefe and first place of all Béeings or rather alonly can in very déede be sayd to be should by his being bring fooith all other beings Yea say they for wee see not any thing brought againe to nothing and therefore néedes must they haue bene created of something Nay if worldly things should returne to nothing considering how transitorie and fléeting they be alreadie how short a time could the world indure or rather how long agoe had it come to an end But it was Gods will that it should continue And therefore thou shouldest rather say thus I see that the Trées and the greatest Beastes yea and men themselues doe spring as it were of nothing and are resolued agayne into as good as nothing I see them multiplye liue and do wonders Of one selfsame seede I sée spring both flowers leaues and fruite and of another the wonderfulnesse of eyes the substantialnesse of bones and the finesse of vitall spirites Agayne I see all these things vanish away I wote not how so as there remayneth nothing of them but a handfull of dust And shall I now be so blockish as to say that he which of so little and in so little hath made so many wondrous things that were not afore could not make the little it selfe Or that he which created the life the
can make men happie To bee short what will they say to their owne companions who for the vpholding of this their surmised felicitie do vnderprop it with wealth health courage and measurable pleasure as vnsufficient to stand alone without ayde But I haue ripped vp this poynt sufficiently in the Chapter going last before What then do the Peripateticks set vs downe As the Stoiks left the Bodie to mount vp to the Soule so these mount vp from the Soule to the Mynd There are sayth Aristotle two sorts of Blessednesse The one ciuill and publike called Policie which consisteth in action and the other priuate of household called Wisedome which consisteth in Contemplation He thinkes verely that he hath sayd somewhat But how can Policie be this blessednesse considering that according to his own saying Policie is but a cunning or skill to leade things to a certeyne end and is not the end it self Or how can Wisedome be it seeing that as he himself saith our vnderstanding seeth as little in matters concerning God as the eye of an Owle doth when she commeth nere the Sunne Our vnderstanding is dull our iudgement vncerteyne and our memorie deceytfull The déepest of our knowledge sayth Socrates is ignorance and all Philosophie as Porphyrius vpholdeth is but mere coniecture easie to bee ouerthrowne with euery little push Now then how may this bee a happinesse vnlesse we will graunt that the Owle is happie in comming neere the Sunne or a blynd man happie in beholding colours His Disciples Alexander and Auerrhoes perceiuing that all our contemplation is but vexation of mynd most commonly to no purpose haue found vs out another deuyce Which is that all our happinesse consisteth in ioyning the capacitie of our mynde or rather of our imagination vnto certeyne separated substances to be informed by them in all maner of knowledge for the which deuyce they bee reproued of most Philosophers and as I beléeue in the end they laughed themselues to skorne for it But as I haue sayd alreadie what are these separated substances of theirs Or rather why did they not set our felicitie in being knit vnto GOD whom they confesse to be better than all these things Againe who is he were he neuer so fantasticall euen though it were Auerrhoes himselfe that could vaunt himselfe to haue euer atteyned to that imagined Coniunction of theirs in this life And seeing that as they beare vs on hande the knowledged of the nature of all sensible things is required to the atteynment of that felicitie of theirs how shall we atteyne to the full heyghth thereof if wee stop at the very beginning The Academikes therfore who take vpon them to weare Platoes liuery mounted vp one step higeher and considered very well that all our contemplation is but a continuall wrestling one whyle against the darknesse of the things and another whyle against the darknesse of our owne mynd And as they acknowledged our hurt to proceede of a fall whereby we brake our wings which as Plato interpreteth them were Morall vertue and contemplation so conceiued they therevpon that it were a great good turne for vs to recouer them againe But whether to bee caried by them Let vs heare that of Plato All the things in this world sayth he which we cal goods as Beautie Riches Strength Nobilitie and such other are so farre of from being goods in deede that they be rather corrupters and hinderers of good Then are they very farre of from beeing the Souerein good of man or consequently the End whereat he out to stay Againe It is vnpossible sayeth Plato that men should be happy in this lyfe doe what they can that is to be had in another lyfe where the vertuous shal receiue felicitie for a reward In vayne then doe wee seeke that here beneath by our deedes and contemplations which is not here to be found and in vayne doe we set our vtmost end heere where is not the furthest end of our lyfe But in the end what is this felicitie It is sayth Plato to be ioyned vnto GOD and to become lyke vnto him who is himselfe the highest top the furthest end and the vtmost bound of all felicitie Thus yee see that by Platoes iudgement the two things which we seeke doe meete both togither alonly in God The end of our life is to be ioyned vnto God And our Blessednes or felicitie which ought to content vs which consisteth in the full fruition of all good things is the possessing of God who is the very felicitie itselfe Yet neuerthelesse Aristotle seemeth to haue come at length to the same point in that he sayth That God is the beginning the middle and the end of all things and againe that mans felicitie consisteth in the same thing wherein the felicitie of the Gods consisteth that is to wit in perfect contemplation of that which is aboue all mooueable things Pythagoras sayde that the ende of this lyfe is Contemplation that the end of all Contemplation is God and that the felicitie of man is to be lifted vp vnto God Also he taught vs that we be but as Pilgrims in this world and as folke banished from Gods presence and what doth the banished man desire more than to be restored home into his owne Country And Mercurie sayeth that our end is to liue in Soule which in this world is as good as buryed That in this world there is not any thing that is woorthy to be sayd to bee well or good It is in another place therefore that man must liue and inioy his welfare namely as he sayth in being become one againe with God And Zoroastres saith that we must trauel with al our power towards the brightnes of the father who is the giuer of our Soule Also he hath told vs that we be falne away from this brightnesse of light into thicke darknesse and haue lost Gods fauour by going about to set our selues free from his seruice But as the world hath taught vs more and more that there is no good in the world so the later Philosophers haue discoursed yet more largely thereof than those that went afore Here therefore wee might rehearse a good part of Seneca and Cicero and others whose opinion forasmuch as I haue alledged already in the Chapter of the Immortalitie of mans Soule where it may be knowen wellynough I will content my selfe for this tyme with a fower or fâ—ue of them Surely Plutarke is wonderfull in confuting the beastlynes of the Epicures and the awk opinions of the Stoicks setting against the Epicures the pleasure that a good man receyueth in seeing God well serued here on earth and in hauing hym for his Leader from aboue and against the Stoiks the stryfe which man hath ageinst hymself which all their Philosophy is not able to appease and therefore he resolueth hymselfe in the end that as in the misteries of the men of olde tyme the looking
euerywhere The Lord our God is but one God and in the middes of all the rout that barketh and byteth at her on all sides cryeth out coragiously All your Godds are but error and vanitie Therefore without staying vppon the others which are not worthie so much as to be looked on wee will procéede to that onely one Religion which alonly in trueth professeth the true way and the knowledge of the place whereunto wee would come Now to shewe the way the end whereto it leadeth must be knowen and the end which all of vs tend vnto is a happy lyfe And to leade a happy lyfe is to liue in God who is the very happinesse it self And the same God as I haue made the heathen-men themselues to confesse is but one The Religions therefore which were not the liuery of that but of many cannot bring vs too the happynes which we séeke for it is but one and to be had at the hand of that one Which then is the one Religion that shall leade vs to the one God Shall we séeke for it among the Assyrians They worshipped as many Gods as they had Townes Among the Persians They had as many Gods as there be Starres in the Skye and Fyres on Earth Among the Greekes They had as many Gods as they had fancies Among the AEgiptians They had as many Goddes as they sowed or planted Fruites or as the Earth brought foorth fruites of it selfe To be short the Romanes in conquering the worlde got to themselues all the vanities in the Worlde and they wanted no wit to deuyse others of their owne brayne What shall it auayle vs to aske the way of these blynd Soules which go groping by the Walles sydes and haue not so much as a Child or a Dog to leade them as some blynd folk haue but catch hold vnaduisedly of euery thing that comes in their way But yet among these great Nations we spye a little Nation called the people of Israel which worshippeth the maker of al things acknowledging him for their Father calling vpon him alone in all their néedes as for al the small account that others made of them abhorring all the glistering gloriousnes of the greate kingdomes that were out of the way It is in the Religion of this people and not elsewhere that that we shall find our sayd former marke And therefore we must séeke it onely there and leaue the damnable footsteppes of the rest as being assured that wee may more safely followe one man that is cléeresighted than a thousand that are blind For what greater blindnes of mynd can be than to take the Creature for the Creator a thing of nothing for the thing that is infinite Now that the people of Israell worshipped the true GOD in such sort as I haue described him the continuance of their whole Historie sheweth well ynough All men knowe in what reuerence the Byble hath bin had in all times among the Hebrewes And if any man doubt whether it be Gods word or no that is a question to be decyded otherwise But yet for all that it is out of all doubt that the Hebrewes themselues tooke it to be so and that wee cannot better iudge of their Beléef and Religion than by the Scriptures for the which they haue willingly suffered death And what els doe those Scriptures preach from the first word of them to the last than the onely one God the maker of Heauen and of Earth As soone as you doe but open the Byble byandby ye sée there In the beginning God created the Heauen and the Earth At the very first step in at the gate of that booke it excludeth al the Godds made or deuised by man frō that people to the intent to kéepe them wholy to the true God that created man Open the booke furtherfoorth at all aduenture whersoeuer you list and frō lyne to lyne you shall méete with nothing but the prayses of that God or protestations and thunderings against the strange Gods God made man excellent who for his disobedience is become subiect to corruption Who could punish and imprison such a substance but he that made it He founded the world and peopled it which afterward was ouerwhelmed by the flud and who could let the waters loose but he that held them at commaundement The people of Israell found drye passage through the Red Sea and who prepared them that way but hee that founded the Earth vppon the déepes Also the Sunne stoode still and went backe at the speaking of a woorde and of whose word but of his whose woord is a deede I dispute not heere as yet whether these things bee true or no but I say onely that the Hebrewes beléeued them yea and that they beléeued them in all ages and that they worshipped him whom they beléeued to be the doer of those things who certesse cannot be any other than the same of whom the first lyne of the booke sayeth That he made the Heauen and the Earth Aske of Iob who it is whome he worshippeth and hee will not say it is hee whome the inuention of the Craftesman or of the Imbroyderer or of the proyner of Uynes hath deuised nor that is sponne weaued or hamered nor that hath a Tayle cut with a Razor nor an Image turned arsyuersie nor some iuggling tricke to dazle childrens eyes withall for such as we shall see more plainly hereafter are the Goddes of the heathen but he will say it is the same GOD that founded the earth and stretched out his Metlyne ouer it which hath shet vp the Sea within doores and bounded the rage of his waues which made the light and the darknes which holdeth backe the Pleyads and vnbyndeth Orion which hath created the world and giuen vnderstanding to man It is he sayth Dauid which spreadeth out the Heauens as a Curtaine and maketh him Chambers among the the Waters which hath setled the Earth vppon hir Pillers and chaced away the Sea at one only threatning of his which maketh the Windes his messengers and the Elements his seruants It is hee sayeth Esay which is the first and the last His hand hath grounded the Earth and his right hand hath measured the Heauens As soone as hee called them they appéered together before him Heauen is his Seate and the Earth is his Footestoole Yea and besides all this Moyses will tell vs that streine we our selues to say what we can of him we can say no more of him but that it is he whose name is I am that I am euen he that alonly is of whom all things that are haue their being and in comparison of whom al things are nothing whom neither words nor workes can expresse onely in effect and yet infinite therewithall Some man will say it may be that this so greate a God voutsafeth not to stoope downe vnto vs but hath left the charge both of the world and of men to some Seruants of his whom it behoueth vs to
the worke of God Also being asked whether was first of the Day or the Night he answered that the Night was sooner by one day as if he had ment to say that afore God had created the light it must néedes bee confessed that out of him there was nothing but darknesse Now this Philosopher also as well as the rest had gone to Schoole in AEgipt Timeus of Locres termeth Tyme the Image of eternitie and sayth that it tooke his beginning from the creating of Heauen and Earth and that God created the very Soule of the World afore the World it selfe both in possibilitie and in tyme. To bee short Plutarke affirmeth that all the naturall Philosophers of old time hild opinion that the begetting or creating of the World began at the Earth as at the Centre thereof and that Eâ—pedocles sayth that the finest kynd of AEr which they cal AEther was the first part thereof that was drawne vp on high And Anaxagoras is reported by Simplicius to affirme that God whom he calleth Mynd or Vnderstanding created the Heauen the Earth the Sunne and the Starres and scarsly is there any one to bee found which teacheth that tyme is without beginning Some of Platoes latter Disciples as namely Proclus writing against the Christians would néedes beare their Mayster downe that he beléeued the world to haue had no beginning But if wee may beléeue Aristotle who was a scholler of his a two and twentie yéeres he taught that the world was created and it is one of the chief Principles wherein they most disagrée Philo who was as another Plato saith that Plato had learned it of Hesiodus And Plutarch who sheweth himselfe to haue perused him throughly leafe by leafe speaketh of him in these words There are sayth he some studyers of Plato which by racking his wordes indeuer by all meanes to make him deny the creation of the World and of the Soule and to confesse the euerlastingnesse of time notwithstanding that in so doing they bereeue him of that most excellent treatise of his concerning the Goddes against the despysers and skorners of whom in his tyme he wrate And what needeth any thing to be alledged for proofe thereof seeing that his whole booke of Timeus is nothing els but an expresse treatise of the Creation of the World The same thing also doth Aphrodisius witnesse concerning Plato In his booke intytled Athlantick he termeth the world a thing Longago created In his matters of State he sayth that the world was setled and founded by God and that it coÌ„teyneth store of good things and that the trouble somenesse which it hath is but a Remnant or Remaynder of the former confusion Also Socrates in his booke of Commonweale termeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Godhead begotten or created And which of the auncient writers did euer doubt that Plato taught not the Creation of the World considering that he hath made descriptions both of all the parts thereof and of the Gods themselues And also that he sayth that the world was created corruptible of it selfe but yet abode immortall and vncorruptible through the grace of God which vpholdeth it But let vs examin the racking which Proclus offereth vnto him Plato saith he affirmeth in his Commonweale that whatsoeuer hath a beginning hath also an ende Now the World as he sayth in his Timeus shall haue no end Therefore it followeth that it had no beginning If another man should reason after that maner against Proclus Proclus would laugh him to skorne for he shifteth the termes and yet our Soules which he concludeth to be without end faile not to haue had a beginning But though we were neuer so wel contented to let him passe yet doth Plato assoyle him in one word The world saith he is corruptible of it selfe for euery thing that is compounded may also be dissolued but it is not Gods will that it should be corrupted And myne ordinance sayth the euerlasting is of more power to make thee to continue than thine owne Nature is to make thee to perish The which thing he speaketh yet more shortly in another place saying that the world hath receyued an Immortalitie at the hand of the workmayster which made it Now then seeing that by Nature it may perish surely by Nature it had a beginning and the power that hath preserued it from perishing is the very same that made it to bee Proclus addeth Plato propoundeth a Question sayth he whether the World was created after the patterne of a thing forecreated or of a thing without beginning Therefore he dowted whether it were eternall or no. What a conclusion was this for a great Philosopher I aske whether men bee bred of themselues or created of another therefore I vphold that they be bred of themselues as who would lay that in disputing it were not an ordinary matter to set down both the Contraries for the affirming of the one and the denying of the other Agayne if it were begotten or created after the example of a thing aforecreated could it be beginninglesse seeing that the patterne thereof had a beginning And if it were created after the example of a thing vncreated can it come to passe that it should be euerlasting séeing that it is not the very patterne it selfe No but as I haue sayd afore wee admit horned arguments against the trueth whereas in defence of the trueth the perfectest demonstrations suffize vs not Also in another booke intytled of a String he sayth thus Plato in his booke of Lawes sayth that Commonweales and Artes haue infinite tymes bin vtterly destroyed by Waterfluds and Burnings and therefore that men cannot certeinly say from what time men haue first growne into Commonweales Ergo he beleeued that the World had no beginning Nay he sayth these things in his Timeus which is the booke whereof thou canst not dowt but that he treateth there expressely of the Creation of the World And he repeateth the same agayne in his booke of Commonwealematters hauing sayd afore that God created Heauen Earth the Starres and Gods Now then seeing it is one selfsame Author that speaketh these things and in one selfesame place and one immediatly after another is it not certeyne that he ment not to match cleane contrary doctrines together What is to be sayd then but that he spake there after the maner of the common multitude who as Aristotle sayth doe call the things infinite which they be not able to number Or as Moyses himselfe speaketh who calleth the things eternall euerlasting or endlesse which are of very long coÌ„tinuance notwithstanding that he make a booke expressely of the Creation of all things But in déede it was a surmize of the auncientnesse of the World which Plato as it should seeme had brought home out of AEgipt accordingly as the report of Solon sufficiently declareth who telleth him that the AEgiptians had Registers of nyne thousand yeres that is to say as Plutarke interprets
we say of the Creator What shall we say of him which is not the Soule of the Plant or of the Beast or of Man but the maker of al things yea which made thē of nothing who is not as some Philosophers haue vphild the Soule of the World but rather if he may be so termed the very life and Soule of all life and Soule in the World But as we see dayly if the Counsell of a Realme can not ceasse one wéeke without confusion of the Commonweale nor the Soule of a man or a Beast forbeare woorking bee it neuer so little without the death of the partie nor the life that is in Plants stay without withering of the Plant nor the Sunne goe downe without procuring darknesse or suffer Eclips without some notable chaūge much more reason haue we to beléeue that if the world and al that is therein were not guyded vphild and cared for by the same power wisedome and goodnesse that created it and set in such order as it is it would in one moment fall from order into confusion and from confusion to nothing For to haue no care of it is to mislike of it and to mislike of it is in God to vndoe it forasmuch as Gods willing of it was the very doing of it Now if Gods Prouidence extend it selfe throughout to all things aswell in Heauen as in Earth wee cannot doubt but that it extendeth also vnto man For what thing is there of so greate excellencie either on Earth as mans body or in Heauen as mans Soule And in extending it selfe to man it must needes extend it selfe equally to all men For who is either greate or small poore or riche in respect of him which made both of nothing Or what oddes is there betwixt them sauing that whereas both of them bee but slaues to him that setteth foorth the tragedie he appareleth the one in Cloth of Gold to play the King and the other in a course Pilche to play the Begger making them to chaunge their apparell when he listeth But hehold here commeth almost an vniuersall grudge For if there be say they a Prouidence how commeth it too passe that ill men haue so much prosperitie and good men so much aduersitie that some be so long vnpunished and othersome so long vnrewarded And to be short that one for his wickednes commeth to the Gallowes and another for the same cause obteineth a Diademe or Crowne This question hath combred not onely the most vertuous among the Heathen but also euen the most Religious of all ages But it were best to take héere a little breth and to put it ouer among diuers other things which remayne to bee treated of in the next Chapter following The xij Chapter That all the euill which is doone or seemeth to be doone in the world is subiect to the prouidence of God I Sayd héeretofore concerning GOD that all things teache vs that there is but one and yet notwithstanding that all things togither cannot sufficiently teache vs what hee is Also let vs say concerning Prouidence That in all things wee see a manifest Prouidence but yet to séeke out the cause thereof in euery thing is as much as to sound a bottomlesse pit if it be not much worse séeing that the will of God is the cause of all causes Surely if a man will blame Gods prouidence because it agreeth not with his owne opinion he is a thousandfold too bee more mislyked than hee that should find fault with the maister of an household for the order of his house where hee hath not lodged aboue one night or controll the Lawes Counsell of a straunge countrie wherof he hath had no further experience than by resorting too the Tauernes and common Innes Or than the Babe that should take vpon him to giue sentence of his fathers doings or than the Uarlet that should presume to iudge of the determination of a Court of Parliament vnder pretence that he had hild some mans Male at the Palace gate or I will say more than the brute beast that should vndertake too déeme of the dooings of men For what are wee to be admitted to the Counsell of God which cannot so much as abyde the brightnesse of his face And what vnderstand we further of him than he voutsafeth too reueale vnto vs What Princis Counseler is so wyse that he can giue his Lord good aduice vnlesse his Lorde doe first make him priuie to his purpose as well present as past and to all the other circumstances perteyning thereunto Or what Husbandman comming from a farre will presume to vnderstand better what tilth what séede what compost and what time of rest such or such a péece of ground requireth than he that hath bin acquainted with it all the dayes of his lyfe And how farre greater thing is it to create than to till But forasmuch as God is reason it self and we through his grace haue some sparke thereof let vs sée whether it bee not so euident in all his dooings that in this poynt it inlighteneth euen the darknesse of our reason And if wee perceiue it not so cleerly in all things let vs acknowledge our selues to be but men betwéene whom and God there is no comparison whereas in very déede there were no difference betwixt him and vs if we could throughly conceiue all his deuices Now then whereas it is sayd that if there be a prouidence why haue good men so much euill and euill men so much good afore wée deale with the matter let vs agree vpon the words I aske of thee which men thou callest good and which thou callest euill and likewise what things thou meanest to bee properly good or euill If I should aske thée why healthy men haue so many diseases and diseased men so much health thou mightest with good reason laugh mée to skorue for health maketh healthy and sicknesse maketh sicke But whereas thou askest mée why good men haue so much euill and euill men so much good pardon me though I cause thée to expound thy meaning for naturally I cannot conceiue that either good men haue euill or euill men haue good For if by good men you meane rich men men of honour and men that are healthy and that ye take riches honour and health to bee the good things then is your question absurd For it is al one as if ye should demaund why hearded men haue heare on their chinnes and beardlesse men haue none But if as I heare thée say thou estéemest Solons pouertie to be better than the gold of Crassus and Platoes honestie better than Dennysis tyrannie and the Collick and the Stone of a wiseman with his wisedom to be better than the health and soundnesse of bodie of the foole with his follie then art thou deceyued with the fayre name of Good for it is another thing than these goodes which causeth thée to preferre them and to estéeme them the better Therfore let vs say that the
As God by his wisedome hath set for the best Not that any saying of the Deuilles owne is to bee alledged in witnesse of the trueth furtherfoorth than to shewe that he speakes it by compulsion of Gods mightie power as wicked men diuers tymes doe when they be vpon the Racke Now we bée come to the time or nere to the time that the heauenly doctrine of Iesus Christ was spred ouer the whole world vnto which tyme I haue proued the continuall succession of that doctrine which could not but bee vnseparably ioyned with the succession of men But frō this tyme foorth it came so to light among all Nations and all persons that Sainct Austin after a sort tryumphing ouer vngodlinesse cryeth out in diuers places saying Who is now so very a foole or so wicked as to doubt still of the immortalitie of the Soule Epictetus a Stoikphilosopher who was had in very great reputation among all the men of his tyme is full of goodly sayings to the same purpose May wee not bee ashamed sayth he to leade an vnhonest life and to suffer our selues to be vanquished by aduersitie we be alyed vnto God we came from thence and wee haue leaue to returne thether from whence we came One while as in respect of the Soule he termeth man the ofspring of GOD or as it were a braunch of the Godhead and another while he calleth him adiuine ympe or a spark of God by all which words howbeit that they be somewhat vnproper for what wordes can a man finde to fit that matter he sheweth the vncorruptiblenesse of the substance of mans Soule And whereas the Philosopher Simplicius hath so diligently commented vppon his bookes it doth sufficiently answer for his opiniō in that case without expressing his words here Plotinus the excellentest of al the Platonists hath made nine treatises expressely concerning the nature of the Soule besides the things which he hath written dispersedly heere and there in other places His chiefe conlusions are these That mens Soules procéede not of their bodies nor of the seede of the Parents but come from aboue and are as ye would say graffed into our bodies by the hand of God That the Soule is partly tyed to the body and to the instruments thereof and partly franke frée workfull continuing of it selfe and yet notwithstanding that it is neither a body nor the harmonie of the body but if wee consider the life and operation which it giueth to the body it is after a sort the perfection or rather the perfector of the body and if wee haue an eye to the vnderstanding whereby it guydeth the mouings and doings of the body it is as a Gouernour of the body That the further it is withdrawne from the Sences the better it discourseth of things insomuch that when it is vtterly separated from them it vnderstandeth things without discoursing reasoning or debating yea euen in a moment because this debating is but a certeyne lightening or brightnesse of the mynde which now taketh aduisement in matters whereof it doubteth and it doubteth wheresoeuer the body yéeldeth any impediments vnto it but it shall neither doubt nor séeke aduisement any more when it is once out of the body but shall conceyue the trueth without wauering That the Soule in the body is not properly there as in a place or as in a ground because it is not conteyned or comprehended therein and may also bee separated from it but rather if a man had eyes to see it withall he should see that the bodie is in the Soule as an accessary is in a principall or as a thing conteyned in a conteyner or a sheading or liquid thing in a thing that is not liquid because the Soule imbraceth the body and quickneth it and moueth it equally and alike in all parts That euery abilitie thereof is in euery part of the bodie as much in one part as in another as a whole Soule in euery parte notwithstanding that euery seuerall abilitie thereof seeme to bee seuerally in some particuler member or part because the instruments thereof are there as the sensitiue abilitie seemeth to rest in the head the yrefull in the heart and the quickning in the Liuer because the Sinewes Hartstrings and Uaynes come from those parts Whereas the reasonable power is not in any part sauing so farre foorth as it worketh and hath his operation there neither hath it any néede of place or instrument for the executing of it selfe And to be short that the Soule is a life by it selfe a life all in one vnpartable which causeth to growe and groweth not it selfe which goeth throughout the bodie and yet is not conteyned of the bodie which vniteth the Sences and is not deuided by the Sences and therfore that it is a bodilesse substance which cannot bee touched neither from within nor from without hauing no néede of the bodie eyther outwardly or inwardly consequently is immortall diuine yea and almost a very God Which things he proueth by many reasons which were too long to bee rehearsed here Yea he procéedeth so farre as to say that they which are passed into another world haue their memorie still notwithstanding that to some mens seeming it goe away with the Sences as the treasury of the Sences Howbeit he affirmeth it to be the more excellent kynd of memorie not that which calleth things agayne to mynd as alreadie past but that which holdeth and beholdeth them still as alwaies present Of which two sorts this latter he calleth Myndfulnes and the other he calleth Rememberance I will add but onely one sentence more of his for a full president of his Doctrine The Soule sayth he hath had companie with the Gods and is immortal and so would we say of it as Plato affirmeth if we sawe it fayre and cleere But forasmuch as we see it commonly troubled we thinke it not to bee eyther diuine or immortall howbeit that he which will discerne the nature of a thing perfectly must consider it in the very owne substance or being vtterly vnmingled with any other thing For whatsoeuer els is added vnto it doth hinder the perfect discerning of the same Therfore let euery man behold himself naked without any thing saue himselfe so as he looke vppon nothing els than his bare Soule and surely when he hath vewed himselfe in his owne nature merely as in respect of his Mynd he shall beleeue himselfe to bee immortall For he shall see that his Mynd ameth not properly at the sensible and mortall things but that by a certeine euerlasting power it taketh hold of the things that are euerlasting and of whatsoeuer is possible to be conceiued in vnderstanding insomuch that euen it self becommeth after a sort a very World of vnderstanding light This is against those which pretend a weakenesse of the Soule by reason of the inconueniences which it indureth very often in the bodie Of the same opinion are Numenius Iamblichus
to all men Also it is a generall rule that the receiuer of a thing hath not the thing afore he receiue it For as Aristotle saith that which is to receiue a thing must needes be first vtterly voyde of the thing which it receiueth Now afore that our Sence and Imagination had any beeing at all this vniuersall comon mynd had receiued possessed all things aforehand and not only receiued them but also kept them together For as Aristotle himself saith that maner of mynd is the place of all vnderkinds sortes of things and thereto hath no lesse power than the Imagination to reteine whatsoeuer the Sences receiue In vaine therefore should that vniuersall mynd vnderstand by our Imaginations considering that it vnderstandeth by it selfe in vaine likewise should the Imaginations imprint those things in it which were imprinted in it so long afore and in vaine is Aristotles settingdowne of a workfull vnderstanding which should bring our vnderstanding in abilitie from possibilitie into action if the sayd onely one vniuersall mynd or vnderstanding be perfect of it selfe from euerlasting as it followeth to be vppon the opinion of Auerrhoes Neither is it to be sayd that although the conceyuable vnderkinds of things haue bene imprinted euerlastingly in the sayd vniuersall mynd yet notwithstanding there needed an Imagination for the vnderstanding of them as there needeth now whensoeuer we will vse the things that we haue seene or learned afore For by that reckening to learne all maner of Sciences wee needed no more but to bethinke vs by imagination of the things that were already aforehand in the said only vniuersal one mynd as we doe the things that haue bene printed sometime in our memories and are somewhat slipped out of our remembrance and so might we our selues learne all sciences without a teacher because that in the sayd vniuersall mynde of ours wee should haue all the skill that euer any man had atteyned to in like maner as the persone that hath once had the skill of Arithmetik or Cosmographie throughly settled in his mynd needeth no teacher to teache it him ageine but onely to ouerturne his owne imagination and to search his memorie for the finding againe of that which he had layd vp there Now we knowe that whosoeuer learneth nothing knoweth nothing and that ordinarily he which most studyeth most learneth and that all the tossing and turmoyling of a mans owne imagination that can bee all his life long will neuer make him to attaine of himself to so much as the very principles of the least science that is By reason wherof it followeth That we haue not the skill of any science in vs vntill wee either be taught it or find it out by beating our wits about it and that our imagination serueth not to reuiue the Sciences in vs but to bring them into vs and to plant them in vs. And forasmuch as all the Sciences should bee in all men from the beginning if there were but one vniuersall mynd in all men which is not so it followeth that there is in euery particular persone a particular and peculiar mynd and not any one vniuersall mynd common to all men Moreouer our mynd atteyneth after a sort to the vnderstanding of itself which thing it could not doe in very deede if there were but one vniuersall mynd common to all men For too vnderstand it selfe it must needes worke vpon it selfe But if wee beleeue Auerrhoes our mynd shall but onely be wrought vppon and receiue into it from the Imagination as a Windowe receyueth light from the Sunne Ageine the capacitie of the vniuersall vnderstanding in possibilitie could not doe that For it behoued it to haue some other thing besides itself to bring it selfe into action And surely Imagination could not helpe it for it doth but offer vp the sensible things vnto it atteineth not so farre as to the things that are to be discerned by drift of reason Yet notwithstanding we vnderstand that wee vnderstand and we reason and iudge both of our Imagination and also of our reasoning and vnderstanding itselfe The thing then which doth so enter and pearce into itselfe is another maner of power than an Imagination or than an vniuersall vnderstanding in possibilitie What is to be said to this that of one selfesame Imagination one selfsame persone concludeth now after one sort and byandby after in another sort and thereoutof draweth both contrarie argumēts and contrarie determinations or that diuers persons by diuers imaginations doe close togither in one will and one mynd Is it possible that this should proceed of an euerlasting substance in one selfesame persone seeing that enerlastingnesse is not subiect to any change of tyme or place Or that it should proceede of any one selfesame substance in many men seeing that the imaginations of them be so diuers one from another at leastwise if the said substance worke not but by such instrumēts As touching the opinion of Alexander of Aphrodise who vpholdeth a certeine vniuer sal working mind that imprinteth things in the vnderstanding in possibilitie that is to say in euery mans seuerall capacitie and bringeth it foorth into action the most part of the Reasons alledged afore against Auerrhoes will also serue against him Howbeit forasmuch as by this workfull mynd hee seemeth to meane God himself there is thus much more to be added vnto it That God who is altogither good and altogither wise would not imprint in our mynde the fond and wicked conceites which we find there nor leaue so great ignoraunce and darkenesse as wee feele there but would in all men ouercomme the infection which the body bringeth and although hee inspired not all men alike with his gracious giftes according to the diuersitie of their capacities after the mauer of a planed Table yet would he not at leastwise peint the Worlde with so many false Portraytures and Traynes as euery one of vs may perceiue to bee in our selues Agayne were there any such inspiration or influence it should bee eyther continuall or but by tymes If continuall or euerlasting we should without labour and without cunning vnderstand all that euer our imagination offereth vnto vs. And if it bee but at tymes then should it not lye in vs to list or to vnderstand any thing at all though we would neuer so fayne For contrarywise we haue much a doe to vnderstand some things so as we must bee fayne to winne them from our ignorance by péecemeale and there bee some other things which we vnderstand by and by as soone as they be put vnto vs and when we list our selues There is then in vs a power of Understanding though very feeble but yet neuerthelater obedient to our will which thing cannot be fathered vpon God Also if there be but onely one Mynd working in all men there shall bee but one selfesame vnderstanding in all men I meane naturally notwithstanding that it differ in degrees For into what place soeuer
be the contemplation of things belonging to God To be short the bestestéemed interpreters of Aristotle do make him to yéeld to this poynt whether he will or nill as mē ashamed in his behalf that hauing sought so much for the true end of man he hath not set it downe more certenly Now the Philosophers of old tyme knew in all tymes not only that those which atteyne to the sayde ende for which Man was created are happie but also that those which despise it doe fall into extreme wretchednesse the one sort receyuing euerlasting felicitie the other sort being by Gods Iustice condemned to endlesse paine Also it is an article expresly set downe in the Créedes of al people as a poynt that is probable to all men at the very first sight That God is rightuous and good and that euill is accompanied with punishment and good is accompanyed with reward As for the Cabalistes of the Iewes it is no wonder though they haue handled this matter well for they haue drawne matter out of the foūtaines of the holy Scripture And therefore let vs heare but the Heathen Those sayth Hermes which haue obteyned the fauour of God are of mortall become immortall and conceyue the only Good which maketh them to fall into a misliking of these inferiour things that they may indeuer with al their power to returne to him the more speedily Orpheus speaking yet more cléerely bringeth good men into Gods presence to the seate of felicitie and to the feast of the rightuous where he maketh them dronken with the perfect and euerlasting contemplation but as for the wicked he buryeth them in a quamyre tormenting them with vayne thoughts making them to drawe water into a Siue that is to say he assureth the one sort of perfect contentation and putteth the other sort in extreme dispayre Of Pythagoras we haue these verses If reason here thou followe for thy guyde Then at thy parting hence thou shalt be sure In Heauen a God immortall to abyde No death thensforth for euer to indure And these verses were followed by all Poets who commonly represented the receiued opinion among whom Pindarus and Diphilus procéede so farre as to describe an excellent Garden replenished with all things appoynted to be a reward for good men as if they had heard speaking of the Paradise of the Iewes or els had read Sibilles verses concerning a certeyne greene Garden which she also calleth Paradise affirming it to be assighed for an heritage to such as followe the way of God that is to wit which take him for their shootanker with whom they shall haue euerlasting life and light whereas on the contrary part the wicked sayth she shall lye burning like firebrands and Torches in endlesse paynes Also Timeus of Locres hath not forgotten this poynt in his little booke where he sayth thus There is a certeyne vengeance both according to the Lawes and according to the Oracles which maketh vs to feare both heauen and earth For strange and vnintreatable punishments are prepared for the wicked in hell Asfor Plato he taketh so greate pleasure in this matter that he cannot be drawen from it and he scarsly passeth any one dialog wherein he hath not some speeche thereof meaning doutlesse to do vs to vnderstand that without that all Philosophie and all Diuinitie be maymed and it should seeme that the constancie of Socrates his teacher had confirmed him not a little therein in whose defence of himself which was as it were his last wil we reade these woords Death would be greeuous to me if I were not sure first that when I am departed hence I shal go to the wise Gods so did they terme the Angells or Created mynds and secondly to the men that are deliuered out of this life who out of dout are in better case than those that are here And vnto Cratylus ageine he sayeth when the good man departeth this world he commeth to great honor and to a greate inheritance for he becommeth a Demon according to the true signification of the word that is to say skilfull and wyse That then is the perfection of a Philosopher whose end and profession is to haue knowledge and skill And in his Theetetus hee sayeth that with the Gods there is no euill but euill walketh heere beneath among these transitorie things and therefore that we must hye vs thither and flee from hence that is to say we must become ryghtuous and wyse For sayth he such as shall haue followed the way of folly and wickednes shalnot be admitted into the restingplace of the blessed sort which are exempted from all euill but according to their leawd lyfe they shall be condemned to dwell for euer with the euill In his Gorgias he maketh mention of an auncient Lawe vnder Saturne which he affirmeth to haue bin then still in vse namely that when good men depart out of this lyfe they be sent into the fortunate Iles which Iles Pindarus also descrybeth verie curiously and the wicked into the Iayle of Uengeance which he calleth Tartar vndoutedly betokening these vnknowen places by places knowen vnto them which they toke comonly to be eyther most pleasant or most horrible lyke as the Iewes betokened the Restingplace of the blessed sort by a goodly Gardyne and Hell by the valley of Onam or Ghehinom which was an irksome place nere Ierusalem In his Phedon he bringeth in a certeyne Prophet raysed from the dead which reporteth that those which are iustified go on the right hand pure and cleane and are sent vp to Heauen and that the damned sort go on the left hand besmeared with filth and mire wéeping and gnasshing their téethe and in the end are sent into lowe deepe places Yea and he descrybeth there the blessed Countrey in such termes that some men haue taken the peynes to conferre it with that which is written there of in the Apocalips To be short in his Axiochus he calleth the place of Iudgment the féeld of truth from whence saieth he they which haue followed the inspiration of the good spirit shal bee sent into a Paradyse or pleasant Gardyn which he descrybeth there in the delyghtfullest maner that he can deuise to represent the things which he cannot conceyue by the things which we see here on earth and that they which haue bin led by wicked feends that is to say by the instinct of the deuill shal be condemned to darknes and confusion where he describeth a greate nomber of endlesse torments Neuerthelesse he sheweth that these things are not to be takē according to the letter when he saith in his Comonweale that neither the punishments nor the rewards of this world are any thing atall eyther for nomber or for greatnesse in respect of those which are prepared for eyther sort in the lyfe to come Cicero who would néedes be as a Plato in Latin followeth him as it were step by
and our so curious searching out of Pedegrees maketh vs too confesse it whether wée will or no. And if any thing in the worlde might haue any true pretence or lykelyhod to boast of an eternitie our Soules might doe it which without mouing themselues doe doe cause a thousand things to remoue They moūt vp vnto Heauen and go downe to the déepe without shifting their place They hoord vp the whole world in the storehouse of their memorie without combering of any roome there They packe vp all tymes past present and to come together without passing from one too another To be short they conceyue and conteyne all things and after a sort euen themselues also And yet shall we be so bold as too say they be eternal without beginning Nay how can that be sith we sée that they profit and learne yea and oftentimes also appayre and forget from age to age and from day to day How I say can that be sith we sée that they passe frō ignorance to knowledge from darkenesse to light from gladnesse to sadnesse and from hope to despayre and that not by yeeres but euen in minutes and moments And which more is wee sée them receyue great trouble and alteration by and for the things that are mutable and transitorie which florish in the morning and are withered and parched as in an Ouen at night Now to be altered and chaunged importeth a mouing and he that graunteth a mouing graunteth also a beginning and to be moued by things mutable sheweth an ouer great inconstancie of nature which is a thing tootoo contrarie vnto eternitie To be short how can that thing be eternall or euerlasting which cannot so much as by any imagination resemble aught that this word eternitie betokeneth And yet this soule of ours is the thing which in man ioyneth Heauen and Earth togither marketh the chaunges in things aboue and for the most part worketh them in the things beneath carying vp a handfull of dust aboue the skyes and after a sort bringing downe Heauen vnto the Earth Much more reason then is it that neither in the Heauen nor in the Earth nor in all the Harmonie of the whole world which wee so greatly wonder at there should not be any approching at al vnto eternitie Some man perchaunce will say vnto mee that in the partes of the World there is no eternitie but yet there may be in the whole Nay how can a Whole bee eternall which is composed of brittle and temporall parts And what call they the Whole but the huge frame of Heauen whose mouing proueth that it had a beginning Againe some other will perhaps say there is a beginning of moouing in the world as well in the whole as in the parts thereof but yet it doth not therefore followe that it had beginning of béeing Nay if the being thereof was euerlastingly afore the mouing therof how could it be called in Latine Mundus in Gréeke Cosmos that is to say A goodly or beautifull order seeing that for the most part Order dependeth vppon moouing For take from the Heauens their turning about and from the Sunne his course and set them fast in some place where you list and you shall make the one halfe of the Earth blynd and the whole Earth eyther scorched with his continuall presence or desert and vninhabitable by his absence and ye shall make the Sea for the most part vnsayleable and the Ayre vnfruitfull or vntemperate Therefore it will followe at the least that the World hath not bin inhabited euerlastingly nor the Plants thereof bin eternall nor the liuing Creatures no not euen Mankynd bin without beginning Surely I wote not what eyes these Philosophers had who had leuer to eternise the Stones Rocks and Mountaines than themselues for whom those things were made And againe to what purpose serued the Sunne and the Moone at that tyme Wherefore serued Ayre wherefore serued Sea when nothing did yet liue see and breathe It remayneth then that afore mouing it was but a confused heape masse or lump of things without shape and that in processe of tyme as some say a certeyne Soule wound it selfe into it and gaue shape to that bodie and afterward life mouing and fence to the partes thereof according as he had made euery of them capable to receiue insomuch that the world is nothing els but that confused heape now orderly disposed indewed with soule and life so as of that soule and confused lumpe together there is now made one perfect liuing wight A proper imagination surely and méete for a very Beast to father his so orderly essence vppon the shapelessenesse of a Chaos that is to say of confusednesse remoued away rather than vpon the wisedome power of a quickning Spirit But seeing that this Chaos could not receyue eyther shape or order but by the sayd Soule if they be both eternall how met they together in one poynt being of so contrary natures the one to shape and the other to be shaped If it were by aduenture how did that Soule by aduenture so set things in order and how happeneth it that it hath not since that tyme put them out of order againe Or if it were by aduise of whom should that aduise be but of a Superiour And who is that Superiour but God Againe eyther this Soule was tyed really and in very déede to this bodie of the world from all eternitie or els it did but onely pearce through it by his power as seemed best of the owne freewill If it were tyed specially to such a confused masse by whō but by force of a higher power And then what els could that confused Chaos be to him but an euerlasting graue And what els also were that to say than that the sayd Chaos was as a shapelesse Child yet newly begotten and scarce set together in the moothers wombe which within a few daies after by the infusion of a Soule beginneth to haue shape mouing and sence and afterward in his due tyme is borne and being growne vp decayeth agayne and so endeth as our bodies doe Or if a Soule pearced into it and went through it by a freewil and power let vs not striue about termes for a Soule is so named in respect of a bodie whereto it is tyed the same is the liuing GOD who at his pleasure gaue it both shape life and mouing But I will shew hereafter that he not only gaue the Worlde his shape but also created the very matter stuffe and substance thereof But it suffiseth mée at this tyme to wrest from them that he is the maker and shaper thereof Let vs yet more clearely set forth the originall of the World I aske what the world is of it selfe If it moue not it forgoeth both his order and his beautie as I sayd afore And if it moue it sheweth it selfe vncapable of eternitie But there is yet more These lower spaces of the world are the harbrough of liuing creatures and
specially of man who knoweth how to take benefite thereof The temperatenesse of the aire serueth for him and yet the aire can not bee tempered nor the Earth lighted without the Sonne and the Moone Neither can the Sunne and the Moone giue light and temperatnesse without mouing The Moone hath no light but of the Sunne neither can the Sunne yéeld it either to the Moone or too the Earth but by the mouing of the Heauen and the great Compasse of the Heauen going about is the very thing which wée call the World not estéeming these lower parts as in respect of their matter otherwise than as the dregges of the whole And whereas the Elements serue man and the Planets serue the Elements yea and the Planets them selues serue one another doe they not shew that they be one for another And if they be one for another is not one of them in consideration afore another as the ende afore the things that tend vnto the end according to this common rule that the Mynd beginneth his work at the end thereof Now then if the turning about of the Heauen serue to shewe the Planets and they to yéeld light to the Earth and to all things thereon doth it not serue for the Earth And if it serue the Earth I pray you is that done by appoyntment of the Earth or rather by appoyntment of some one that commaundeth both Heauen and Earth Againe seeing that the ende is in consideration afore the things that tend thereto shall this consideration be in the things themselues or rather in some Spirite that ordereth them Soothly in the things themselues it cannot be for if they haue vnderstanding they haue also will and the will intendeth rather to commaund than to obey and vnto fréedome rather than bondage and if they haue no vnderstanding then knowe they neither end nor beginning Moreouer forasmuch as they bee diuers and of contrary natures they should ame at diuers ends whereas now they ame all at one end Nay which more is how should the Sunne and the Moone the Heauen and the Earth haue met euerlastingly in matching their dealings so iumpe together the one in giuing light and the other in taking it In what poynt by what couenant and vnder what date was this done seeing it dependeth altogether vppon mouing which is not to be done but in tyme It remayneth then that the sayd consideration was done by a Spirit that commaundeth al things alike and that he putteth them in subiection one to another as seemeth best to himselfe forsomuch as he is mightie to kéepe them in obedience and wise to guyde them to their peculiar ends and all their ends vnto his owne ende and he that thinketh otherwise thinketh that a Lute is in tune of it owne accord Or if he say that this Spirit is a Soule inclosed in the whole he doth fondly incorporate the Spirit of the Luteplayer in the Lute it selfe and likewise the buylder in the buylding In effect it is all one as if a Child that is borne and brought vp in a house should thinke the house to be eternall or els made of it selfe because he had not seene it made or as if a man that had bin cast out newly borne in a desert Iland and there nursed vp by a Wolfe as Romulus was should imagine himself to be bred out of the Earth in one night like a Mushrom For to beléeue that the World is eternall and that the race of Mankinde is bred of it selfe without a maker is all one thing and spring both of one error Doe not the two Sexes of Male and Female in all liuing things ouerthrowe the sayd eternitie For how should they bee euerlastingly the one for the other seeing they be so diuers Againe haue they bin euerlastingly but two or euerlastingly mo than two If but two where are those two become seeing that eternitie importeth immortalitie and a beginninglesse forebeing from euerlasting inferreth an endlesse afterbeing or cōtinuance to euerlasting And if they were many see ye not still the selfesame absurdities And if ye say they be made euerlasting by succession of tyme what I pray you is death but a token that they were borne What is life I speake of this our life but a continuance of death and what is succession but a prolonging of time Thus then ye see how that aswell by the parts of the World and by the whole World it self as also by the agréement of the whole with his parts and of the parts among themselues we be euidently taught that the fraine of the World had both a workmayster and a beginning But now some man wil aske vs when it began And that is the poynt which we haue to treate of next The viij Chapter When the World had his beginning SOothly it is not for mée to stand here disproouing the doubtes of the Accounters of tymes for the ods of some yeres yea or of some whole hundreds of yeres is not to bee accounted of betwéene eternitie and a beginning But if we haue an eye to the procéeding of this lower World we shall euidently percèyue that like a Childe it hath had his ages his chaunges and his full poynts restes or stoppes so as it hath by little and little growne bin peopled and replenished and that to be short whereas the world supposeth that it shall indure for euer it doth but resemble an old Dotarde which bee hee neuer so forworne and drooping for age yet thinkes himselfe still to haue one yere more to liue But I haue alreadie sufficiently proued that both Heauen and Earth haue had a beginning and also that séeing the one of them is for the other they had the same at one selfe same tyme and both of them from one self same ground And therfore looke what shal be declared of the earth shall also be declared of the heauen and forasmuch as the earth serueth for the vse of liuing creatures and specially of man looke what beginning we shall proue of man the like shall wee haue proued of the disposition of the earth For to what purpose were the Heauen being imbowed about these lower parts like a Uault or to what purpose were the earth being as a flowre or plancher to goe vpon if there were no inhabiter at all vpon earth Surely if the World were without beginning it should also haue bin inhabited from without beginning and no people should be of more antiquitie thā other Or at leastwise how auncient so euer it were yet should no new thing be found therein But if euen the oldest and auncientest things of all be but newe ought it not to bee a sure argument vnto vs of the newnesse thereof What thing I pray you can we picke out in this world for an example of antiquitie Let vs begin at the Liberall Sciences and we shall reade of the first commings vp of them all Philosophie which consisteth in the searching out of naturall things is of so late