forceably consequently hath a greater power of making men not outwardly formally but really inwardly vertuous And if we should look back into Histories compare time with time we shall easily finde that where this Profession spred it selfe men haue generally beene more accomplished in all kind of morall civill vertues then before it took place It is true indeed that in processe of time thorow the ambition covetousnes luxury idlenesse ignorance of them who should haue bin lights in the Church it too much degenerated from its Originall purity therevpon manners being formed by it were generally tainted this corruption like a leprosie diffusing it selfe from the head into all the body But together with the reviving of the Arts Languages which for sundry ages lay buried in barbarisme the rust of superstition was likewise in many places scowred off from Religion which by degrees had crept vpon it fretted deepe into the face of it and the Arts being thus refined Religion restored to its primitiue brightnes manners were likewise reformed euen among them at least in part in shew who as yet admit not a full reformation in matter of Religion A foule shame then it were for vs who professe a thorow reformation in matter of doctrine to be thought to grow worse in matter of manners GOD forbid it should be so I hope it is not so I am sure it should not be so That grace of God which hath appeared more clearely to vs then to our fore-fathers teaching vs to adorne our profession with a gracious and vertuous conversation to deny vngodlinesse and worldly lusts and to liue soberly and righteously and godly in this present world soberly in regard of our selues righteously in regard of others and godly in regard of religious exercises If then we come short of our Auncestors in knowledge let vs not cast it vpon the deficiencie of our wits in regard of the Worlds decay but vpon our own sloth if we come short of them in vertue let vs not impute it to the declination of the World but to the malice and faintnesse of our owne wills if we feele the scourges of God vpon our Land by mortality famine vnseasonable weather or the like let vs not teach the people that they are occasioned by the Worlds old age and thereby call into question the prouidence or power or wisedome or iustice or goodnes of the Maker thereof but by their and our sins which is doubtles both the truer more profitable doctrine withall more consonant to the Sermons of Christ his Apostles the Prophets of God in like cases And withall let vs freely acknowledge that Almighty God hath bestowed many blessings vpon these latter ages which to the former he denyed as in sending vs vertuous and gracious Princes and by them the maintenance of piety peace plenty the like Lest thorow our ingratitude he vvithdraw them from vs and make vs know their worth by wanting them which by injoying them wee vnderstood not But I will not presume to advise where I should learne only I will vnfainedly wish and heartily pray that at leastwise your practise may still make good mine opinion maintained in this Booke refute the contrary common errour opposed therein that you may still grow in knowledge and grace and that your vertues may alwaies rise increase together with your buildings These latter without the former being but as a body without a soule Yours to doe you service to the vtmost of his poore abilitie G. H. THE PREFACE TRuth it is that this ensuing Treatise was long since in my younger yeares begunne by me for mine owne private exercise and satisfaction but afterward considering not onely the rarity of the subject and variety of the matter but withall that it made for the redeeming of a captivated truth the vindicating of Gods glory the advancement of learning the honour of the Christian reformed Religion by the advise and with the approbation and incouragement of such speciall friends whose piety learning and wisedome I well know and much reverence I resolved permissu superiorum and none otherwise to make it publique for the publique good and the encountring of a publique errour which may in some sort be equalled if not preferred before the quelling of some great monster Neither doe I take it to lye out of my profession the principall marke which I ayme at throughout the whole body of the Discourse being an Apologeticall defence of the power providence of God his wisedome his truth his justice his goodnes mercy and besides a great part of the booke it selfe is spent in pressing Theologicall reasons in clearing doubts arising from thence in producing frequent testimonies from Scriptures Fathers Schoolemen and moderne Divines in proving that Antichrist is already come from the writings of the Romanists themselues in confirming the article of our faith touching the Worlds future and totall consummation by fire and a day of finall judgement from discourse of reason and the writings of the Gentiles and lastly by concluding the whole worke with a pious meditation touching the vses which we may and should make of the consideration thereof seruing for a terrour to some for comfort to others for admonition to all And how other men may stand affected in reading I know not sure I am that in writing it often lifted vp my soule in admiring and praysing the infinite wisedome and bounty of the Crator in maintaining and managing his owne worke in the gouernment and preservation of the Vniverse which in truth is nothing else but as the Schooles speake continuata productio a continuated production often did it call to my mind those holy raptures of the Psalmist O Lord our governour how excellent is thy Name in all the world Thou Lord hast made me glad through thy workes I will reioyce in giuing praise for the operations of thy hands O Lord how glorious are thy workes thy thoughts are very deepe An vnwise man doth not well consider this a foole doth not well vnderstand it And againe The workes of the Lord are great sought out of all them that haue pleasure therein His worke is worthy to be praised had in honour his righteousnes endureth for euer And though whiles I haue laboured to free the world from old age I feele it creeping vpon my selfe yet if it shall so please the same great and gratious Lord I intend by his assistance spating mee life health hereafter to write Another Apologie of his power providence in the government of his Church which perchaunce by some may be thought both more proper for mee and for these times more necessary though he that shall narrowly obserue the prints of the Almighties footsteppes traced throughout this ensuing discourse may not vnjustly from thence collect both comfort and assurance that as the Heauens remaine vnchangeable so doth the Church triumphant
richly conferred whereas I am rather of opinion that as in holy Scripture for the most part he accepted and preferred the younger brother before the elder and as Christ our Sauiour turned the water into wine toward the end of the feast which farre excelled that in the beginning so the gifts and graces of God haue beene more plentifully powred out vpon mankinde in this latter age of the World then euer since the first Creation thereof As was foretold by the Prophet in the old Testament and remembred by the Apostle in the New And it shall come to passe in the last dayes saith God I will powre out of my Spirit vpon all flesh Lastly the reputation of his Power is thereby most of all stained and wounded as if his treasurie could at any time be emptied and drawne dry as if he had but one blessing in store or were forced to say with old Isaak when he had blessed Iacob with corne and wine haue I blessed him what shall I doe now to thee my son No no his arme is not shortned neither is his mighty power any way abated yet they who thus complaine of natures decay what doe they else but implicitly impeach and accuse his Power which in truth is nothing else but Natura Naturans as the Schooles phrase it Actiue Nature and the creature the workmanship therof Natura Naturata Nature Passiue That which the Samaritans ignorantly and blasphemously spake of Symon Magus may properly and truly bee spoken of Nature that it is the Great power of God or the power of the Great God as is divinely observed by the witty Scaliger against Cardan in that exercitation which in its front beares this inscription opposed to Cardanes assertion Non ex fatigatione mundum solutum iri that the world shall not desolue by being tired quasi natura saith hee sit asinus ad molas non autem Dei Opt. Max. potestas quae eodem nutu gubernat infinito quo creavit we may not conceiue that Nature is as an ass wasted and wearied out at the mill but the power of the Mighty God which governes all things with the same infinite coÌ„mand wherewith they were created And with him accords Valesius discoursing of the Worlds end towards the end of his booke de Sacra Philosophia Quae à Deo ipso per se ac sine causa secunda compacta sunt non possunt ab alia causa solui sed solum ab eo ipso à quo sunt coagmentata Those things which are made of God himselfe immediately by himselfe without the concurrence of secoÌ„d causes cannot be vnmade by any inferiour cause but by him alone by whome they were first made And againe Certe ita est virtutem divinam apponi necesse est vt deleatur quod Deus ipse fecit there needes no lesse then a divine power for the abolishing of that which the Diety it selfe hath wrought which he seemes to haue borrowed from Plato in Timoeo where he thus speakes of the world Ita apte cohaeret vt dissolvi nullo modo queat nisi ab eodem à quo est colligatus so proportionably doth each part answer other that it is indissoluble but onely from his hand who first framed it As then Allmighty God created all things of nothing by the power of his word So doth he still vphold them and will till the dissolution of all things in their essenses faculties and operations by the Word of his Power reaching from one end to the other mightily and disposing all things sweetely Indeed with the workes of man it is not so when he hath imployed about them all the cunning and cost and care that may be he can neither preserue them nor himselfe both they and he moulder away and returne to their dust but I know saith the Preacher that whatsoever God doth it shall be for ever nothing can be put to it nor any thing taken from it Add the sonne of Sirach Hee garnished his works for ever and in his hand are the cheife of them vnto all generations they neither labour nor are weary nor cease from their workes none of them hindreth another and they shall never disobey his word SECTIO 3. The third is for that the contrary opinion quailes the hopes and blunts the edge of vertuous endeavours MY third reason for the penning and publishing of this discourse is that the contrary opinion therevnto seemes not a little to rebate and blunt the edge of mens vertuous endeavours For being once throughly perswaded in themselves that by a fatall kind of necessity and course of times they are cast into those straites that notwithstanding all their striuing and industry it is impossible they should rise to the pitch of their noble and renowned predecessours they begin to yeeld to the times and to necessity being re solued that their endeavours are all in vaine and that they striue against the streame nay the Master himselfe of Morallitie the great Patriarch of Philosophers hath told vs that circa impossibilia non est deliberandum it is no point of wisdome for a man to beat his braines and spend his spirits about things meerely impossible to be atchiued and which are altogether out of our reach The way then to excite men to the imitation of the vertue and the exploits of their famous Ancestours is not as I conceiue to beate downe their hopes of parallelling them and so to clip the wings of their aspiring desires but rather to teach them that there wants nothing thervnto but their owne endeavour and that if they fall short the fault is not in the age but in themselues The spies that were sent by Moses to discover the land of Canaan at their returne told the people that the inhabitants the of were much stronger then themselues that they were Gyants the sonnâ—…s of Anak and themselues but as Grashoppers in comparison of them by meanes of which report the harts of the people melted within them and they were vtterly discouraged from marching forward though the discouerers reported withall that the land from whence they came flowed with milke and honey and the pomegrannats the figgs the wonderfull clusters of grapes brought from thence for a tast and evidence of the goodnesse of the soyle pleased them exceeding well Thus when our Ancestors are painted forth as Gyants not onely in stature and strength but in wit and vertue though the acts wee find recorded of them please vs marveilous well yet wee durst not venture or so much as once thinke vpon the matching of them because we are taught and made to beleeue that wee forsooth are but as pigmies and dwarfes in regard of them and that it were as possible to fit a childs shooe to Hercules foote as for vs any way to come neere them or to trace their stepps Possunt quia posse videntur They can because they seeme they can Certainely the force of imaginatioÌ„ is
shall either gaine the toppe or see many beneath vs. Non enim nos tarditatis natura damnavit sed vltra nobis quam oportebat indulsimus ita non tam ingenio illi nos superarunt quà m proposito saith thē same Author in another place Nature hath not made vs more vncapable the our Ancestours but wee haue beene too indulgent to our selues by which meanes it comes to passe that they surmount vs not so much in wit as in endeavour SECT 4. The fourth is that it makes men more carelesse as in matter of repentance so likewise both in regard of their present fortunes and in providing for posterity AS the opinion of the worlds vniversall decay quailes the hopes and blunts the edge of mens endevours so doth it likewise of our exhortations and threatnings when men are perswaded that famines and pestilences and vnseasonable weather and the like are not the scourges of God for sinne but rather the diseases of wasted decrepit Nature not procured so much by the vices and wickednesse of men as by the old age and weakenesse of the world And this opinion being once throughly rooted and setled in them they neither care much for repentance nor call vpon God for grace thereby either to prevent these heavy judgements hanging over their heads or to remoue them having seised vpon them but the Prophets of God I am sure tooke another course they told not the people that these plagues were the symptomes and characters of the worlds declining and decreasing but the markes and rods of Gods vengeance for their transgressions and rebellions and that the onely way both to prevent and remoue them was to remoue their haynous and grievous sinnes out of Gods sight the onely meanes to turne them from themselues was for themselues to returne and be reconciled to their God besides the same opinion serues to make men more carelesse both in regard of their present fortunes and in providing for posterity For when they consider how many thousand yeares nature hath now beene as it were in a fever Hectique daily consuming and wasting away by degrees they inferre that in reason shee cannot hold out long and therefore it were to as little purpose to plant trees or to erect lasting buildings either for Civill Charitable or Pious vses as to provide new apparell for a sicke man that lies at deaths dore and hath already one foote in the graue I beseech you brethren saith the Apostle by the comming of the Lord Iesus and by our gathering together vnto him that yee be not soone shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letters as from vs as though the day of Christ were at hand Let no man deceiue you by any meanes What a solemne preface doth he make vnto it and with how serious a conclusion doth he seale it vp Now among other reasons yeelded by Divines for this his earnestnes heerein one speciall one is that men might not lavish out and scatter their estates vpon a vaine supposition of the approach of that day As Phillip Camerarius a learned man counsellour to the state of Norinberg reports vpon his owne knowledge that a Parish Priest in those parts skilfull in Arithmetique presumed so farre vpon his Calculations and the numerall letters of that prediction in the Gospell Videbunt in quem pupugerunt they shall looke vpon him whom they pierced that hee confidently assured his parishoners not onely of the yeare but the very day and houre of the worlds end and our Saviours comming to judgement Wherevpon such as gaue credit to him carelessely wasted their meanes perswading themselues that they should now haue no further vse of them At the day houre prefixed they all met in a Chappell to heare their Prophet preaching and praying during which time there arose a great tempest with fearefull thunder and lightning in so much as all present looked out euery minute for the fulfilling of the prophecie but a while after the storme cleering vp and the day appearing faire the silly people finding themselues to be thus abused for very indignation they rush vpon their false prophet and would haue slaine him or vsed him shamefully as he deserved had he not slipped out of their fingers and the fury of the inraged multitude beene appeased by some of the wiser sort The like is reported by Espencaeus out of Bullinger of the Hutites a branch of the sect of Anabaptists in his Commentaries on the third chapter of the second epistle to Timothie so daungerous a thing it is to predetermine the last day or to set a period to the course of nature It is most certaine that wee are by many hundreths of yeares neerer the worlds end then was the Apostle when he wrote that exhortation to the Thessal and yet when that end shall bee is still as vncertaine to vs as it was to them Vpon which point St. Augustine I remember hath an excellent meditation comparing the severall ages of the world to the ages of man not so much as I conceiue in regard of growth or declination as in regard of progression making the infancie thereof from Adam to Noah the Childhood from Noah to Abraham the Youth from Abraham to Dauid the mans estate from Dauid to Christ the old age from Christ to the end of it And as the duration in all the other ages of man is certaine but the lasting of old age vncertaine so is it in the World And as Chrysostome well noteth we call not the end of the yeare the last houre or day or weeke thereof but the last moneth or quarter so we call this last age of the World the End thereof But how long this age shall last it is still doubtfull it being one of those secrets which the Almighty hath lockt vp in the cabinet of his owne counsell a secret which is neither possible neither profitable for vs to know as being not by God revealed vnto vs in his Word much lesse then in the booke of Nature It is agreed vpon on all sides by Diuines that at least two signes fore-running the Worlds end remaine vnaccomplisht the Subversion of Rome and the Conversion of the Iewes And when they shall be accomplisht God onely knowes as yet in mans judgment there being little appearance of the one or the other It is not for vt to know the times and seasons which the Father hath put in his owne power In his owne power they are they depend not vpon the law of Nature or chaine of second Causes but vpon his will and pleasure who as he made the World by his word so by his beck can and will vnmake it againe Sola religione mihi persuadetur mundum caepisse atque finem incendio habiturum saith Scaliger it is only faith and religion that assures man that as the World had a beginning so it shall haue an end And Divine Bartas L'immuable decret de la
bouche diuine Qui Causera sa fin Causa son origine Th'immutable diuine decree which shall Cause the Worlds end caus'd his originall Let not then the vaine shadowes of the Worlds fatall decay keepe vse ither from looking backward to the imitation of our noble Predecessors or forward inproviding for posterity but as our predecessors worthily prouided for vs so let our posterity blesse vs in providing for them it being still as vncertaine to vs what generations are yet to ensue as it was to our predecessors in their ages I will shut vp this reason with a witty Epigram made vpon one who in his writings vndertooke to foretell the very yeare of the Worlds consummation Nonaginta duos durabit mundus in annos Mundus ad arbitrium sistat obitque tuum Cur mundi sinem propiorem non facis vt ne Ante obitum mendax arguerere sapis Ninety two yeares the World as yet shall stand If it doe stand or fall at your command But say why plac'd you not the Worlds end nigher Lest ere you died you might be prou'd a lyer SECT 5. The fifth and last reason is the weake grounds which the contrary opinion is founded vpon THE fifth and last reason which moued me to the vndertaking of this Treatise was the weake grounds which the contrary opinion of the Worlds decay is founded vpon I am perswaded that the fictions of Poets was it which first gaue life vnto it Homer hath touched vpon this string with whom Virgill accords and they are both seconded by Iuvenal and Horace But aboue all that pretty invention of the foure Ages of the World compared to foure mettals Gold Siluer Brasse and Iron hath wrought such an impression in mens mindes that it can hardly bee rooted out For ancient Philosophers and Divines I finde not any that are so much as alleadged in defence of it but Pliny and Cyprian to whom some haue added Gellius and Augustine but how truly it shall appeare Godwilling when we come to speake of their testimonies in their proper places And for Scripture proofe it is both very sparing and wrested That which aboue all as I conceaue hath made way for this opinion is the morosity and crooked disposition of old men alwayes complaining of the hardnesse of the present times together with an excessiue admiration of Antiquity which is in a manner naturall and inbred in vs vetera extollimus recentium incuriosi The ancient we extoll beingcarelesse of our owne times For the former of these old men for the most part being much changed from that they were in their youth in complexion and temperature they are fill'd with sad melancholy thoughts which makes them thinke the World is changed whereas in truth the change is in themselues It fares with them in this case as with those whose taste is distempered or are troubled with the Iaundise or whose eyes are bloodshot the one imagining all things bitter or sowre which they taste and the other red or yellow which they see Terraeque Vrbesque recedunt Themselues being launched out into the deepe the trees and houses seeme to goe backward whereas in truth the motion is in themselues the houses and trees still standing where they were Seneca tels vs a pleasant tale of Harpaste his wiues foole who being become suddenly blind shee deemed the roome in which she was to be darke but could by no meanes be perswaded of her owne blindnesse Such for the most part is the case of old men themselues being altered both in disposition of body and condition of minde they make wonderfull narrations of the change of times since they remember which because they cannot bee controlled passe for currant The other pioner as I may so call it which by secret vndermining makes way for this opinion of the Worlds decay is an excessiue admiration of Antiquity together with a base and envious conceit of whatsoeuer the present age affords or possibly can afford in comparison thereof Vetulam praeferunt immortalitati they preferre the wrinkles of Antiquity before the rarest beauty of the present times the common voice euery where is and euer hath beene and will be to the Worlds end Faelix nimium prior aetas Contenta fidelibus arvis Vtinam quoque nostra redirent In mores tempora priscos Thrice happy former ages and blessed With faithfull fields content and pleased Would our times also had the grace Againe old manners to embrace yet if we will speake properly and punctually Antiquity rather consists in the old age then infancie or youth of the World But take it as commonly vnderstood I thinke it will not be denied by any that vnderstand the course of times but that in latter ages many abuses haue beene reformed many Arts perfected many profitable Inventions discouered many noble and notable acts atchieued Multa dies variusque labor mutabilis aevi Rettulit in melius Time and much toile of this vnsteddie World Hath bettered many things As truly Virgil and elegantly Claudian Rerumque remotas Ingeniosa vias paulatim explorat egestas Wittie necessity by degrees traceth out Of things the prints and windings most remote But let vs heare what the wisest man that euer liued of a meere man hath determined in this point Say not thou what is the cause that the former dayes were better then these for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this Vpon which words saith Isidorus Clarius Quia manifestum est habuisse priora tempora sicut haec nostra habent incommoda sua because it is evident that former times had their mischiefes and miseries waiting vpon them as well as ours Yet because for the most part the best of former times is recorded and the worst concealed from vs as the Sieue le ts goe the finest flower but retaines the bran or because wee are generally more sensible of the crosses then the blessings of our owne times or lastly because the sight and presence of things diminisheth that reputation which we conceiued of them Such is the disease and malignity of our nature Vitium malignitatis humanae as Tacitus cals it vt vetera semper in laude praesentia sint in fastidio Et nisi quae terris semota suisque Temporibus defuncta videt fastidit odit Sed redit ad fastos virtutem imputat annis Miraturque nihil nisi quod Libitina sacravit Saue what remoued is by place nor lacks Antiquity to warrant it he lothes and hates Vertue he counts by yeares and Almanacks Wonders at nought but what death consecrates But as the same Poet wittily speakes comparing the Graecians with the Romans the same may wee demaund comparing our selues and â—…atter ages generally with the ancients Quod si tam antiquis novitas invisa fuisset Quam nobis quid nunc esset vetus aut quid haberet Quod legeret tereretque viritim publicus vsus If ancients had envied as much as wee Things that
then I will examine the truth of this proposition whether every thing the farther it departs from its originall the more it looses of its perfection because vpon it the weight of the argument is grounded and secondly I will consider how iustly it is applied to this present purpose For the first whether wee behold the workes of Art or Nature or Grace wee shall finde that they all proceede by certaine steps from a more imperfect and vnpolished being to that which is more absolute and perfect To begin with the workes of Grace in the course of Christianity wee grow both in knowledge and vertue in illumination sanctification as the blind man in the Gospell having recovered his sight first saw men walking like trees confusedly and indistinctly but afterwards more cleerely in knowledge wee grow by leauing the principles of the doctrine of Christ and going on vnto perfection by leauing milke fitte for babes and vsing stronger meate belonging to them that are of full age who by reason of an habit haue their senses exercised to discerne both good and evill In vertue wee grow not only by adding vertue to vertue as it were linke to linke but by increasing in those vertues as it were by inlarging the links that the man of God may be made perfect thorowly furnished vnto every good worke For the workes of Arts wee see the Limmer to begin with a rude draught and the Painter to lay his grounds with shaddowes and darksome colours the weauer out of a small threed makes a rich and faire peece and the Architect vpon rubbish laies a goodly pile of building which at first consists of naked walles but at last is furnished with variety of houshold stuffe and garnished with hangings and pictures Lastly for the workes of Nature out of what a confused Chaos was the goodly frame of this world raised out of what vnworthy little seedes spring the tallest trees and most beautifull flowers nay what a base beginning at the first Creation had and still hath man himselfe the Lord of the Creatures so as himselfe euen blushes to mention it how impotent and vnable to helpe himselfe is he brought into the world how slowly doth hee come forward to the vse of his senses his strength his reason yet at length by degrees if hee liue and be of a sound constitution hee arriues vnto it By which it appeares that at leastwise individuals in the severall workes both of Grace and Art and Nature the farther they proceed from their originall the more perfect they are till they arriue to their state of perfection though heerein they differ that Art and Nature then decline but Grace is turned into Glory And for the species or kinds of things which is it that specially concernes our present question as I cannot affirme that by degrees they grow on still to greater perfection so neither can I finde that they daily grow more imperfect For Grace wee know it was more abundantly powred out by the incarnation and passion of the Sonne of God in this latter age of the world then at any time before since the first creation thereof And of Art it is commonly thought that neere about the same time the Romane empire was at the highest and Souldiers Poets Oratours Philosophers Historians Polititians never more excellent which withall should argue that Nature was at that time rather strengthned then enfeebled in as much as both Art and Grace are built vpon Nature I meane the naturall faculties of the soule which commonly follow the temper of the body the more vigorous they are the more happily are both Art and Grace exercised by them Now for the application of the proposition to the present purpose touching the worlds decay it is evident that if it were indeed of that force as is pretended it would therevpon follow that in the course of Nature Adam should haue beene the tallest and longest-liu'd man that euer breathed vpon the face of the earth whereas notwithstanding wee reade not of any Gyants till a little before the floud and Noah who liued after the floud saw twenty yeares more then Adam himselfe did the latter being nine hundred and fiftie and the former but nine hundred and thirtie yeares old when he died Nay Methusaleth the eight from Adam out stripped him by forty yeares wanting but one and wee see by daily experience that a weake or foolish father often begets a strong and a wise sonne and that the grandchild sometimes equalls the age of the father and grandfather both together If a thousand candles or torches should be successiuely lighted one from another it cannot be discerned by their dull or bright burning which was first or last lighted nay the last sometimes yeelds a brighter light then the first if it meete with matter accordingly prepared The water which runnes a thousand miles thorow cleane passages is euery whit as wholesome and sweete at its journeys end as when it first issued from the fountaine The seede that is cast into the earth seldome failes to bring forth as good as it selfe and sometimes better and if at any time it proue worse it is not because it is further distant from its originall which is the very point in controversie but because it meetes with a worse soyle or a worse season and the soile and season are worse perchance then in former times nor by reason of the revolution of so many ages since the Creation but either by reason of Gods Curse vpon sinne or some other accidentall cause which being removed they returne againe to their natiue and wonted properties For did they grow worse worse only by a farther distance from their first being then would the Creatures haue decayed in processe of time whether man had sinned or no and man himselfe should haue beene of lesse strength and stature and continuance though hee had not failed in the temperaâ—… vse of the creature or of any other meanes making for the preservation of his life and health 〈◊〉 I suppose the Patrons of the adverse part will not maintaine oâ—…ce I am sure that the common teâ—…et of Divâ—…es is that whatsoever defect or swarning is to be found in the nature either of man himselfe or the Creature made to serue him ariseth from the sin of man alone as being the only causâ—… of all the jarre and disorder in the world Now to impute it to sin and yet withall to affirme that 〈◊〉 is occasioned by â—…he â—…ll of the Creature from its 〈◊〉 exâ—…ce implies in my judgment a manifest and irreconciliable contradiction To conclude this answeare this axioâ—…e 〈◊〉 quo magis elongatur a suo principio eo magis defiâ—…it languâ—…scit Euery thing the farther it is remou'd from its originall the more faint and feeble it growes in violent motions is most true As an arrow shot out of a bow or a dart flung vpward from the hand of a man the higher they mount the slower