Earth and that the same is the Religion of the Israelytes and that in al other places there was nothing but the seruice of Diuells and Idolatrie That the Religion of Israell had the kéeping and custodie of his word his reuelations and his promises giuing vs his Lawe for a Rule to liue by whereby it conuicteth vs of our naughtynesse and inuyteth vs to call to God for grace That the old Testament is the Lawe of Moyses and the Prophets which I haue proued to haue proceeded from God and to haue bin inspyred by him that in the end hauing condemned vs he offereth vs his grace and hauing giuen iudgement vpon vs he sendeth vs pardon and steadeth vs of a Surety that is able to pay our depts that this Surety is the Messias promised to the Iewes for the saluation of the whole world the Mediator of mankynd God and man exhibited to the world in his due tyme to bee the Sauyour of the Iewes and the lyght of the Gentyles euen Iesus Christ the Sonne of God in whom we beleeue according to this percell of the Créede And in Iesus Christ his Sonne our Lord conceyued by the Holy Ghoste borne of the Virgin Mary crucified Dead and rizen agein and so foorth Al which poynts we haue proued ageinst both Iewes Gentyles ageinst the Iewes by the Scriptures and ageinst the Gentyles by reason which they themselues say they take for their guyde and by their owne Records Our Créede addeth I beleeue in the Holy Ghoste And I also haue shewed how there bee thrée Inbeings in one Essence or Being acknowledged by the Iewes and 〈◊〉 by the Gentyles namely the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghoste which are termed by them the One the word and the Loue in the name of whom we be Baptysed And finally we beleeue that God by the deseâ— of his sonne in the power of his holy Spirit maynteyneth his Church spred ouer the whole world knitteth vs in one Communion of fellowship togither pardoneth our sinnes and will one day rayse vs vp ageine to make vs inioy euerlasting lyfe To that end hath the Father created vs the Soâ—ne redeemed vs the holy Ghost inspired vs. And therefore let vs looke vp with sighes and with sighes trauell vp towards the Kingdome whose King is the Trinitie whose Lawe is Charitie and whose measure is eternitie And vnto him who hath graunted me both to begin and to end this woorke whom I beséeche with all my heart to blesse it to his glorie and to the saluation and welfare of those that are his be honour glorie and praise for euer and euer Amen FINIS Imprinted at London by George Robinson for Thomas Cadman dwelling at the great North-doore of S. Paules Church at the signe of the Byble 1587. Psalme 14 Auicen the Arabian Euclid lib. 1. prop. 45. How farre matters of faith are to bee dealt with by reason Tâ—imegistus in Poeriandro Iamblichus concerning Misteryes Chapt. 8. The World leadeth vs vâ—to God Man leadedâ— vs to God Vniuersall Consent Suctonius in the life of Caligula Seneca in his first booke concerning Wrath. Obiections concerning such as were counted Atheists Plutarch in his treatise of the ceassing of Oracles reporteth that a Ruler of Cilicia which was an Atheist came to the beleef of a God by an answere giuen from the Oracle of Mopsus to a demaund of his whiche was deliuered sealed Plutarke in his â—reatise of morall vertue Xenophanes as he is alledged by Clement of Alexandria in his Stromats The World leadeth to one onely God Man leadeth vs to one God The linking in of things together The obiectioÌ„s of such as mainteyne mo Gods thaÌ„ one Iulian the Apostata in Cyrillus Stergon is an herbe which groweth of an Onyon stuffed with Linseede or seede of Flax. Against two beginnings Plutark in the lyfe of Osyris and Isis. Nothing being â— negatiue canseth nothing which is the priuatiue Plato in his Timaeus Plotin in Enn. 1. lib. 8. Trisinegist in Asclepio Simplicius vppon Epictetus Mercurins Trismegistus in his Poemander Chap. 3. 8. 10. 11. 12. And in his Asclepius Chap. 2. 6. 8. 9. Alledged by Cicero Plutarke Clemens of Alexandria and Cyrillus Philo the Iew and Iamblichus of the Sect of Pythagoras Hierocles against the Atheists Simplicius in his Phis. Numenius concerning the Good Arist. 14. Metaph Cap. 4. Aristo le alledgeth them in his first Philosophy and in his booke of the World Aristo 1. Phis cap. 10. lib. 3. Simplie lib. 1. Phis. Academicks Plato in his 13. Epistle to King Denis Plato in Timoeus in his 10. booke of his Common-weale and in his Epistle to Dion Hermias and Coricus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in his booke of Lawes and in his booke intyled Epinomis * We call them Angelles * Of the word Thein which signifieth to Runne Plato in his Timoeus and Laertius in Platoes life Damascius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iamblichus in his booke of the Sect of Pythagoras Iamblichus in his booke of Mysteries Chap 1. 3. 5. 12. 16. 17. 39. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proclusin Platos Diuinitie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proclus in his booke of the Soule and the Spirit cap. 32. 42. 53. Many Gods sayth Proclus is Godlesnesse Simplicins ypâ— the Epictetus of Arrian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Porphyrius in his z. booke of Abstinence in his booke of Occasions chap. 21. Porphyrius in the life of Plotin Plotin in his first Enneade lib. 8. Chap. 2. Enneade 6. lib. 4. cap 1 2. 3. 4. in the whole 6. booke and in the 3. Enne lib. 8. Augustin de Ciuitate Dei lib. 10. cap. 2. The Peripateecks Aristotle in his Metaphisiks and in the first booke of his Naturall Philosophy Aristotle in his booke of Heauen Aristotle in his booke of the world which Iustine the Martir affirmeth to haue bin named his Abridgemeut of Philosophy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophrastus in his Metaphisiks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophrastus in his booke of Sauours Alexander of Aphrodise in his booke of Prouidence and Cyrill against Iulian the Apostata The Stoiks Epictetus in Arrianus Seneca euery where Seneca in his Booke of the happylyfe in his Treatise of Comfort Seneca in his naturall Questions and in his bookes of Benefiting Aristotle calleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say All the whole Seneca in his booke of sodeine death in his exhortations alledged by Lactantius lib. 1. cap. 5. Cicero in his booke of the Nature of the Gods Plutarke in his treatise of Isis and Osyris of Oracles that are ceassed Of calmenesse of Mynd Against ignorant Princes Of Platonicall Questions Against the Stoiks Against Epicures What is ment by this Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ei Varro as he is alledged by S. Austin in the Citie of God lib. 4. cap. 9. 11 lib. 7. cap. 54. 9. 23. Poetes Iustin in his
were out of the bowelles of the moyst nature and likewise an ayre casting it selfe betwéene the water and the elementarie fire which is nothing els but a more cléere and suttle ayre The Sea and Land sayth Moyses were mingled together vntill God had spoken and then by and by eyther of them tooke his place by himselfe After the same maner Mercurie sayth that those two Elements lying erst mingled together seuered themselues asunder at the speaking of the spirituall word which inuyroned them about What more God say both of them created the Starres and the Planets At the voyce of his word the Earth the Ayre and the Water brought foorth Beasts Birdes and Fishes Last of all God created man after his owne Image and deliuered all his workes into his hand to vse them Is not this a setting downe nor only of one selfsame sence but also of the selfesame termes and words But when as Mercurie addeth afterward that God cryeth out vnto his works by his holy word saying Bring ye foorth fruite grow and increase may it not séeme vnto vs that we heare Moyses himselfe speaking And as for the small differences which are in him concerning the seuen Circles the Zones and such other things they serue greatly to the manifestation of the trueth namely that this maner of Mercuries writing is not a bare borrowing or translating out of Moyses but rather a tradition conueyed to the AEgiptians from the Father to the Sonne In another place he sayth that God by his holy spirituall and mightie working word commaunded the day sonne to bee and it was done that the Sea and Land should bee seuered asunder that the Starres should be created and that Herbes should growe vp euery one with his seede by force of the same worde Also that the World is but an alteration a mouing a generating and a corrupting of things and that it cannot be called good These are conclusions cleane contrary to eternitie or euerlastingnesse But forasmuch as if I should set downe all his sayings which he hath to that purpose I should be fayne to copie him almost whole out it is better for me to desire the Readers to go to the very place it self Orpheus the auncientest of the Greekes had bin in AEgipt as he himselfe skyth and there he learned That there is but one God and that The Ayre the Heauen the Sea the Earth and Hell With all the tâ—â—â—gs that in them all doe dwell were harberd in his â—reast from all eternitie And also that The running streames the Ocean Gods and Men Things present things to come lay all at ease In that wide lap of his and that within His belly large the bond lay lapped vp Which holdeth all this great huge worke together And afterward he addeth further These things which yet lay hidden all Within the treasure of his brest He into open light did call Creating as he deemed best This stately stage whereon to showe His noble doings on a rowe And what els is this than that God did euerlastingly hold the world hiddeny as the Apostle sayth in the Treasurie of his infinite wisedome Or as Dennis sayth in the Closet of his purpose and will and afterward brought it foorth in tyme when it pleased him And in another place I sing sayth he of the darke confusion I meane the confusion that was in the beginning how it was disfigured in diuers natures and how the Heauen the Sea and the Land were made And what more I sing sayth he of Loue euen of the Loue that is perfect of it selfe of more antiquitie than all these things and of all things which the same hath brought foorth and set in order yea of tyme it selfe I haue alreadie heretofore declared what he meaneth by this Loue namely the goodwill of GOD and that also doe euen some of the Hebrewes meane by the Spirit which Moyses speaketh of To be short he sayth that he himselfe made a booke of the Creation of the world which was a common argument among the Poets of that tyme as Empedocles Hesiodus Parmenides and such others which were all Philosophers And in many places he reduceth all things to Water and to a certeyne Mud as to their original which thing agréeth well enough to the déepe of Moyses The like is done by Homer and Hesiodus which came after him For Hesiodus maketh description not only of the Creating of â— world and of the parts thereof but also of the Chaos or confusion and of the Gods themselues And wheÌ„ Homer intendeth to curse a man I would sayth he that thou mightest returne to Water and Earth that is to say I would thou wert not any more as the time hath bene that thou wast not To be short Sophocles AEschylus and the very Comedywriters speake after the same maner and for proofe of them all Ewripides shall suffize who was the least religious of them all The tyme hath bene sayth he that Heauen and Earth were but a lumpe but after that they were separated they ingendred all things brought to light the Trees the Birds the Beastes of the field the Fishes and Men them selues For as for others they speake more to the purpose as Aratus who sayth that God hath set the Starres in the Skye to distinguish the Seasons of the yeare that he created all things that men are his ofspring that by the signes of Heauen he ment to giue them warning of the chaunges of the Aire and of Tempests And the voyce of these Poets is to bee considered as the opinion of the people to whom they sung their uerses Now let vs go on with the auncient Philosophers Pythagoras by the report of Plutarke saith that the World was begotten of God of it owne nature corruptible because it was sensible and bodily but yet that it is not corrupted because it is vphild and mainteyned by his prouidence The same thing doth also Diogenes Laertius witnesse And whereas Varro sayth that Pythagoras acknowledged not any beginning of liuing Wights Architas his Disciple shall mainteyne the contrary for his Maister For his wordes are these Of all liuing Wights man is bred most wise of capacitie to consider things and to atteyne to knowledge and to iudge of them all For GOD hath printed in him the fulnesse of all Reason And like as God hath made him the instrument of all Voyces Sounds Names and vtterances so also hath he made him the instrument of all vnderstandings and conceyts which is the workmanship of wisedome And euen for that cause saith he doe I thinke that man is of Gods creating and hath receyued his instruments and abilities at his hand Thales one of the seuen Sages hild opinion that all things had their beginning of Water and that GOD created all things therof who is alonly vnbegotten and hath not any end or any beginning And againe The World sayth he is most excellently beautiful for it is
from a Tower which way it standeth in the darke wherin we now be to the end we may call to God for helpe and euer after make thither ward with all our whole hart Particularly against the Atheists and Epicures we will bring themselues the world the creatures therein for witnesses For those are the Recordes which they best loue and most beleeue from the which they be lothest to depart Against the false naturalists that is to say professors of the knowledge of nature and naturall things I will alledge nature it selfe the Sectes that haue sought out nature such writers in euery Sect as they hold for chiefe Disciples Interpreters and Anatomists or Decipherets of nature as Pyt hagoras Plato Aristotle the Academikes and peripatetikes both old and new and speciallie such as haue most stoutly defended their owne Philosophie and impugned our doctrine as Iamblich Plotin Porphirie Procle Simplice and such others whose depositions or rather oppositions against vs I thinke men will wonder at Against the Iewes I will produce the old Testament for that is the Scripture where to their fathers trusted and for the which they haue suffered death whereby they assure themselues of life And for the interpreting thereof I will alledge their Paraphrasts those which translated it into the Greeke and Chaldey tongues afore the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ. For they were Iewes borne of the notablest men among them chosen by publike authoritie to translate it and at that time reason was not so intangled with passions as it hath bene since Also I will alledge their ancient doctors dispersed as well in their Cabales as in their Talmud which are their bookes of greatest authoritie and most credit And diuerse times I will interlace the Commentaries of their late writers which generally haue bene most contrarie to the Christen doctrine whom notwithstanding the truth hath compelled seuerally to agree in expounding the Texts whereon the same is chiefly grounded Now in these allegations I shall sometimes be long and peraduenture tedious to the Reader whome manifest reason shall haue satisfied alreadie so as to his seeming there needed not so manie testimonies But I pray him to beleeue that in this longnesse of mine I straine my nature to apply myselfe to all men knowing that some like better of Reasons and othersome of Testimonies and that all men notwithstanding that they make more account of the one than of the other are best satisfied by both when they see both reason authorised by witnesses for that is as much to say as that many men had one selfe same reason and also Recordes declared by reason for that is as much to say as that credit is not giuen to the outward person but to the diuine thing which the person hath within him that is to wit to Reason Herewithall I thought also that all men haue not either the meane to come by all bookes or the leysure to read them whose labour I haue by that meane eased And oftentimes I am driuen to doo that in one Chapter whereof others haue made whole volumes To conclude I pray the Reader first to read this booke throughout for without mounting by degrees a man cannot attaine to high things and the breaking of a ladders steale casteth a man backe maketh the thing wearisome which was easie Secondly I desire him to bring his wit rather than his will to the reading thereof For foredeemings and foresetled opinions doo bring in bondage the reason of them that haue best wits wheras notwithstanding it belongeth not to the will to ouerrule the wit but to the wit to guide the will Thirdly and most of all I beseech him to beare alwaie in mind that I am a man and among men one of the least that is to say that if I satisfie him not in all points my reason attaineth not eueriewhere so far as truth doth to the end that mine ignorance and weakenesse preiudice not the case mine vndertaking whereof in good sooth is not vpon trust of mine owne wit or of mine owne abilitie but vpon assured trust of the cleernesse soundnesse substantialnesse and soothnesse thereof Now God vouchsafe to shead out his blessing vpon this worke and by the furtherance thereof to glad them that beleeue to confirme them that wauer to confute them which go about to shake downe his doctrine This is the onely pleasure that I desire the onely fruit which I seeke of my labour And to say the truth I feele alreadie some effect and contentment thereof in my hart But lette vs praie him also to vouchsafe in our daies to touch our stonie harts with the forceâ— of his spirit and with his owne finger to plant his doctrine so deeply in them as it may take roote and bringâ— foorth fruit For certesse it is Gods worke to perswade and win men albeit that to counsell them yea and to mooue them seemeth in some sort to lie in man The Summes of the Chapters That there is a God and that all men agree in the Godhead That there is but onely one God That the wisedome of the world acknowdelged one onely God What it is that man is able to comprehend concerning God That in the one substance of God there are three persons which we call the Trinitie That the Philosophie of olde time agreed to the doctrine of the Trinitie That the world had a beginning When the world had his beginning That the wisdome of the world acknowledged the creation of the world That God created the world of nothing that is to say without any matter substance or stuffe whereof to make it That God by his prouidence gouerneth the world and all things therein That all the euill which is or which seemeth to bee in the worlde is subiect to Gods prouidence That mans wisedome hath acknowledged Gods prouidence and howe the same wadeth betweene destinie and fortune That mans soule is immortall That the immortalitie of the soule hath bene taught by the auncient Philosophers and beleeued by all nations That mans nature is corrupted and hee himselfe fallen from his first originall by what meanes That the men of olde time are of accorde with vs concerning mans corruption and the cause thereof That God is the souereigne welfare of man therefore that the chiefe shootanker of maÌ„ ought to be to return vnto god That the wisest of all ages are of accorde that God is the chiefe shootanker and souereigne welfare of man The true Religion is the way to atteine to that shootanker souereigne welfare and what are the markes thereof That the true God was worshipped in Israel which is the 1. mark of true religionâ— That the Gods which were woâ—shipped by the heathen were men consecrated or canonized to posteritie That the Spirites which made men to woorship them vnder the names of those men were wicked spirites that is to saye fiendes or diuels That in Israel Gods worde was the Rule of his Seruice
dead men or Diuels for that shal be handled more materially in another place But it shall suffice for this present to shewe the vniuersalitie of consent in this point and that euen those which through custome did celebrate the pluralitie of Gods did yet notwithstanding beléeue that there is but onely one true God Which thing I will first maynteyne by the wyse men which liued from age to age Mercurius Trismegistus who if the bookes which are fathered vppon him bee his in déede as in trueth they bee very auncient is the founder of them all teacheth euerywhere That there is but one GOD That one is the roote of all things and that without that one nothing hath bene of all things that are That the same one is called the onely good and the goodnesse it selfe which hath vniuersall power of creating all things That it is vnpossible that there should bee many makers That in Heauen he hath planted immortalitie in earth interchaunge and vniuersally lyfe and mouing That vnto him alone belongeth the name of Father and of Good and that without blasphemie those titles cannot be attributed either to Angels to Féends or to men or to any of al those whom men do cal Gods as in respect of honor and not of nature He calleth him father of the world the Creator the Beginning the Glorie the Nature the Ende the Necessitie the Renewer of all things the worker of all powers and the power of all works the onely holy the onely vnbegotten the onely euerlasting the Lord of euerlastingnesse and the euerlastingnesse it selfe the onely one and by whome there is but onely one worlde alone and himselfe alonly all namelesse and more excellent than al names Unto him alone will he haue vs to offer vp our prayers our Prayses and our Sacrifices and neuer to call vpon any other than him I would faine knowe whether it bee possible for vs to say any thing either more or better for the setting forth of the sayd vnitie In déede in some places hee speaketh of Gods in the plurall nomber as when he calleth the world a God and the Heauen with the Planets which rule the Heauen Gods but that is after the same maner which he sometymes calleth man himselfe a God notwithstanding that noman can doubt of his birth and death which are things cleane contrarie to the true Godhead The Starres saith he speaking of the Creation were nombred according to the Gods that dwell in them And in an other place he saith There are two sorts of Gods the one wandring and the other fixed But in the tymes going before he had sayd that God is the beginner of them That he made them That he is the Father and onely good vnto whom nothing is to bee compared either of the things beneath or the things aboue Also he saith further That the world is a second God and a sensible God and that Man is a third God by reason of the immortall Soule which is in him but yet he calleth them Children Impes and Creatures of the onely one God and most commonly Shadowes and Images of him neither is it his meaning to attribute so much vnto them as only one sparke of goodnes or power to make the least thing that is To be short hée setteth downe some Gods as principall some as meane and other some as vndergouernours But the conclusion of his matter is that the souereine dominion belongeth to God the souereine Lord of them all vpon whom alonly they depend and from whom they proceede who alonly is called Father and Lorde and whatsoeuer holyer name can be giuen who made both men and Gods yea and men sayth he much better and more excellent then all the Gods And as at the beginning of his worke he had prayed vnto him alone so thanketh and praiseth he him alone in the ende which thing I thought good to set out at length because many Philosophers haue drawne their skill and knowledge out of his fountayne Pythagoras speaketh of God in these termes God is but one not as some thinke without gouernment of the world but all in all He is the orderer of all Ages the light of all powres the Originall of al things the Cresset of Heauē the Father Mynd Quickener and Mouer of all Moreouer he calleth him The infinite power from whence al other powers flowe which cannot be verified but of him alone Philolaus a disciple of his sayth That there is but onely one God the Prince and Guyder of all things who is alwaies singular vnmouable like himselfe and vnlike all other things Also Architas sayth that he estéemeth no man wife but him which reduceth all things vnto one selfsame Originall that is to wit vnto God who is the beginning end and middle of all things And Hierocles one of the same Sect sayth that the same is he whom they call by the name of Zena and Dia the Father and maker of all things because all things haue their life and being of him Uerely by the report of Eudorus as he is alledged by Simplicius they called him the founder of matter And had we the hookes of Numenius we perceiue well by the things which we reade hére there that we should finde them manifest and plaine Now all these had this doctrine both from Nature and from the Schoole of Pherecydes the Syrian the Maister of Pythagoras vnto whom Aristotle attributeth it in his Metaphisicks Empedocles the successor of Pythagoras celebrated none other but this onely one as appeareth by these Uerses of his All things that are or euer were or shall hereafter bee Both man woman Beast and Bird Fish Worme Herb Grasse Tree And euery other thing yea euen the auncient Gods each one Whom wee so highly honor heere come all of one alone Parmenides and Melissus taught the same and so did their Schoolemaister Xenophanes the Colophonian as we bee credibly informed by the Uerses of Parmenides rehearsed by Simplicius in the which Uerses hee calleth him the Vnbegotten the whole the only one not which hath bin or shal be but which euerlastingly is all together and all of himselfe To be short of the like opinion were Thales Anaxagoras Timeus of Locres Acmon Euclide Archoeuetus and others of the auncientest Philosopher And Aristotle witnesseth in many places that it was the common Doctrine of the men of olde tyme The which Zeno hild so streightly that to deny the Unitie of God and to deny the Godhead it selfe he thought to bée all one And the cause of so saying among the auncient Philosophers was not their only reading therof in the writings of some that went afore them as we might doe now but also their reading thereof both in the World and in themselues But let vs come to the chiefe Sects of the Philosophers Socrates the Schoolemaister of Plato confessed only one God and as Aulus Gellius and Apuleius report was condemned to drinke
end were both of the Father But yet were they diuided by a Fyre of vnderstanding and as it were by destinie distributed into other vnderstandings For afore the making of this sundry-shaped world God had conceyued an incorruptible patterne thereof as a world subiect only to mynd and vnderstanding In the mould whereof this present World being stamped became full of al those shapes of the which there is but one only gracious Fountaine And againe in another place he sayth as followeth That is to say The loue of God being a fyrie bond issued first from his vnderstanding and clothed it selfe with fire to temper the conueyances of the watersprings by spreading his heate vpon the same These are their accustomed obscurities wherein notwithstanding it is clerely enough vttered that there is a Father a Sonne and a Loue that linketh them together and moreouer that the sayd begotten Mynd or Understanding is he by whom God framed the World and that from him procéedeth the diuine Loue as I haue sayd heretofore In another place they say that the sayd Fatherly Mynd hath sowed and planted in our Soules a certeyne resemblance of the sayd begotten vnderstanding and that our willes be not acceptable vnto him vntill wée awake out of forgetfulnesse and bethinke our selues againe of the pure fatherly marke which is in vs. And againe that the same Understanding being of power to beget or bréede of it selfe did by considering cast a fyrie bond of Loue vpon all things wherby they be continued for euer But it is enough for vs that in the sayings afore alleadged wee haue a briefe Summe of the diuinitie of the Magies who held thrée beginnings whom as wee reade in other places they called Oromases Mitris and Ariminis that is to say God Mynd and Soule And surely wee should wonder at them much more if we had their whole bookes as we haue but péeces of them remayning Now the Magies were first in Chaldye and we reade in Moyses how highly Balaam was estéemed in that he was thought able to blesse Nations and Armies And these Chaldies are the same of whom the Oracle of Apollo answered That only they and the Hebrewes had wisedome parted betwixt them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All wisedome certesse parted is betweene The Chaldies and the Hebrewes as is seene Mercurius Trismegistus as we haue seene in the third Chapter acknowledged but only one God who cannot well bee named but by two names to wit Good and Father And because the same God is indewed with vnderstanding sometymes he calleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 howbeit that most commonly he makes a differece betwéene the Father and the Understanding which he calleth Mynd likewise Which thing appeareth in this saying of his I am Poemander the Feeder of Men the vnderstanding of the Beer which is of himself But behold here records as cléere as can bée God sayth he who is also Mynd and Life and Light Male-fâ—male begate or bred Logon the Speech or Word which is another Mynd and the workmayster of all things with that Speech another which is the fyrie God and the Spirite of the Godhead Lo here a Mynd begotteÌ„ of a Mynd Understanding of Understanding and Light of Light and besides that moreouer a Spirit And againe This Speech that proceedeth from GOD being altogether perfect and fruitfull and Workmistresse of all things lighteth vpon the water and maketh it fruitfull It is the same thing that is spoken of in Moyses where God sayth And the waters immediatly brought foorth To be short vnto this holy spéech as he termeth it he attributeth the begetting ingendring spreading foorth of al things from ofspring to ofspring as is to be seene But here is yet more I thy God sayth God am Light and Mynd of more antiquitie than the nature of moysture that is issued froÌ„ the shadow And this lightsome Speech which proceedeth from the mynd is the Sonne of God That which heareth and seeth in thee is the word of the Lord and the Mynd is God the Father these differ not one from another and as for their vnion it is the vnion of life c. And againe This Speech being the workman of God the Lord of the whole World hath chiefe power next him and is vncreated infinite proceeding from him the Commaunder of all things which he made the perfect naturall firstborne Sonne of the most perfect To be short he calleth him the myndly spéech euerlasting vnchaungeable vncorruptible vnincreasing vndecreasing alonly like him and firstbeknowne after God and moreouer his onely Sonne his welbeloued Sonne the Sonne of the most holy whose name 〈◊〉 be named by mouth of man And is not this as much as to call him Coessentiall Coeternal and the Creator of all things And what more can we say thereof Of the third parson he speaketh more dackly Al kind of things in this World saith he are quickened by a Spirit One Spirit filleth all things the World nourisheth the bodies and the Spirit the Soules and this Spirit as a toole or instrument is subiect to the will of God But here is yet somewhat more All things saith he haue neede of this Spirit it beareth them vp it nourisheth them it quickeneth them according to euery of their capacities it proceedeth from a holy fountaine and is the mainteyner of all liuing things and of all Spirits Here yee sée the reason why we call him the holy Ghoste namely because he procéedeth from the fountayne which is the very holynesse it selfe And least we should thinke him to be a Creature There was saith he an infinite shadowe in the Deepe whereon was the water and a fine vnderstanding Spirit was in that confuzed masse through the power of God From theÌ„ce there florished a certeine holy brightnesse which out of the Sand and the moyst nature brought foorth the Elements and all things els Also the Gods themselues which dwell in the Starres tooke their place by the direction appoyntment of this Spirit of God Thus then hee was present at the creation of things and it is the same spirit whereof it is sayd in the Byble That the spirit of the Lord houered vpon the outside of the déepe But in some places he matcheth all thrée persons togither O lyfe sayth he saue that life which is in mee O light and God the Spirit inlighten mee wholy O worker which bearest thy Spirit about let thy word gouerne mee Lord thou art the only one God Againe there was sayth he a light of vnderstanding afore the light of vnderstanding and there was euer a mind of the lightfull Mind and besides those there was not any thing els than the vnion of them by one Spirit vpholding all things without which there is neither God nor Angel nor other Substance For hee is Lord Father and God of all and in him and vnder him are al things And hauing said so sayth
how high soeuer he sore with his Wings who will haue the wyseman to play the foole the harebraind and the Lechor and to giue ouer himselfe to all maner of vices for the bringing of his affayres to passe yea euen to his owne harme and to the blaspheming of God himselfe But if we hearken to the holy Scriptures we shall perceiue from tyme to tyme that they bee no vntrustie guides of our waies neyther such as stand douting at that first fower wayléete whither a man should take on the right hand or on the left but they be sure guydes such as are able to drawe vs out of the myre and to conuey vs through the wyld Forests of the world not onely by leading vs by the hand but also by seruing our turnes both for a guyde and for a Cresset and for a path all togither Therfore at the very first enterance they tell vs that God hauing created the world made man of the dust of the earth and that hee made him after his owne Image and likenesse and gaue him power ouer al the things that he had made héere below And what els is this but a teaching of man at the first word that he is indetted to God for all things that his felicitie coÌ„sisteth in seruing God that he is made to another end than other liuing wights namely for God him selfe From hence it leadeth vs to our disobedience to the punishment that insewed therevpon to wit that by seeking our welfare elsewhere than in God wee fell into all mischiefe As touching the immortalitie of our Soules and the Prouidence of God forasmuch as they be Schoolepoints to brawle vpon but vndoubtedâ—â— grounds to as many as conceiue that there is a GOD which thing all men doe and such as men ought not to doubt of or to be taught but to practise and exercise all their lyfe long we sée no disputing there as is among the Philosophers Henoch therefore indured many hard things in that froward generation for seruing God and by speciall priuiledge was soone taken out of this lyfe And to what intent but to haue a better Abraham Isaac and Iacob wayfared from place to place vpoÌ„ the earth And did they so in that hope of the land of Chanaan Nay who would haue indured so much hardnesse for his Posterities sake Or for a promise that should not bee performed till fower hundred yeeres after Then was it because they grounded themselues vppon a better inheritance and that is the selfesame which God meant when he sayd to Abraham I am thy great reward Moyses came somewhat néerer this promesse for he sawe the Land howbeit but from the top of a high mountayne And wherefore languished he fortie yeres in the wildernesse among a thousand grudgings at the poynt to bee stoned euery howre by his own countrimen yet was faine to dye at the instant of obteining his hope Soothly he had séene another countrie néerer him whervnto he aspired farre better which he was to possesse in the lyfe to come then he forewent in this present life The like is to be said of Iosua of the Iudges of Samuell of Dauid of the Prophets whose whole life was not a schoolediuinitie like vnto the Philosophers but a continuall practise of this faith namely that mans shootanker is not in this world nor our welfare to be sought héere but that it behoueth vs to seeke it in God and to turne againe to him that we may inioye it To that end tend these precepts which are giuen to men in the Lawe Thou shalt loue God with all thyne heart with all thy Soule and with all thy strength To what end To bee oppressed by Pharao turmoyled vp and downe in the Desert beaten by the Philistines ouerthrowne by the Assyrians caryed away by the Babylonians and troden vnder foote by all Nations If the loue of God bring vs no better reward than so what gayne wee by being his people Nay it is to shewe vs that our welfare dwelleth not heere belowe that these Hosts which welcome vs into our Inne with smyling countenaÌ„ce doe cut our throtes in our beddes that the reward of such as serue God is not the world nor any worldly thing but the very maker both of man and of the world Then followeth there another precept namely Thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe What would Carneades haue sayd or rather what would hee not haue sayd if he had examined this Commaundement This Philosopher being sent Ambassadour on a tyme from Athens to Rome made an Oration of Iustice before Cato the Censor whereof he spake wonders The next day he made another wherein he proued that it was but folly and fondnesse or that the Romaines should be fayne to come backe againe to their Cotages and that all trafficke and whatsoeuer els it be whereby Cities are made to florish would come to nought What is to be sayd then of this law which extendeth so farre as to say not only doe not that to others which you would not haue done to your selues but also doe that for others which you would haue done for your selues And surely if our welfare consist in this world what goodlier lawe can there bée than for a man to loue himselfe and his owne and to wrest all his neighbours affayres to his owne profite And contrarywise what greater fondnesse than to be another mans Baylie that is to say to procure oftentymes a mans owne losse But the Philosopher was ignorant that godlinesse is the roote of Iustice and that Charitie is nothing els but a rebounding backe of the loue which wee owe vnto God vpon Mankind which is his Image And the ayming poynt of this Commaundement which beeing restreyned within one worde spreadeth it selfe throughout the whole lawe of Israell is none other than to shewe vs that our chiefe dwelling place is elsewhere than heere and that whereas we loue all things here for our own sakes we ought to loue other men as our selues and our selues for Gods sake who is our sole and onely welfare Hereunto doe all the Scriptures guyde vs bee it by authoritie of the lawe or by example of holy persons or by the exhortations of the Prophetes and there is not that lyne which twitcheth vs not by the eare to waken vs out of the sléepe of this world and which plucketh vs not from the stoole and the table and from the glewing vanities that sticke so fast to vs to bring vs backe to glorie and to the inioying of God who is our welfare Seeing then that naturally we thinke so little vppon this glorie of God what a booke is that which speaketh of nothing els Séeing we be pluÌ„ged so déepe in the world and the world in vs what a booke is that which withdraweth vs from it euery hower And what would become of man if he had not another spirit than the spirit of man and of the world which biddeth battell both to man
reach of all creatures and cannot proceede from any moe than one Spirit Now then let vs looke vpon the things that are in this Prophet and whence could hee haue them but from him that maketh and vnmaketh Kings at his pleasure He forewarned Balsasar the sonne of Nabugodonozor that he should haue a fall because he had not taken example at the chastisement of his father but had aduaunced himselfe against God It will perhaps bee sayd that it is the saying of wise men that when pride goes afore shame commeth after But when as Balsasar was slayne that same night in the middest of his iolitie it was a marking of the thing more precisely which had bin foretold by the former Prophets also But in that which followeth there is no shift at all Behold Darius was but newly entered into the Monarchie when euen in the first yeere of his reigne Danyell sayd vnto him Three Kings shall stand vp yet in Persia and the fourth shall be inriched with great riches aboue them all and when hee is so increased hee shall stirre vp euery man against Greece These fower or fiue words conteyne the historie of seuen or eight score yéeres We haue great learned men which by reason of their long experience haue made as it were an Anatomy of our state but which of them I pray you durst euer take vpon him to tell how many Kings should come after and much lesse to foretell what should be done by the fourth King that was to come as Danyell doth here who maketh expresse mention of Darius voyage against the Greekes Let vs heare him yet further But a mightie King shall rise vp sayth hee and reigne with great authoritie and do whatsoeuer he will Who seeth not here how Alexander commeth out of Greece against Darius and subdueth the Persians And when he is in al his royaltie sayth he his kingdome shall be broken and diuided to the fower windes of the ayre how beit not to his own race but vnto strangers for his kingdome shal be plucked vp by the roote He could not haue paynted out Alexanders Monarchie more liuely which was but as a flash of lightening that passeth from the West into the East and tooke ende in it selfe and was deuided into many Kingdomes as Macedonie Thrace Syria and AEgipt among Princes that were not of his race Whosoeuer would haue made an Abridgement of the whole Historie of the Monarchie of Greece in fewe words he could not lightly haue done it in other than these Neuerthelesse it is a glauncing ouerthwart through two Monarchies two whole hundred yeeres whereas all the wisedome of the world put together could not ouersee so much as two yeeres no not euen in the commonest affayres of a household Now the storie of the Macedones was not the thing that he aimed at but the chiefe thing that hee sought into was the state of the Church to come among the Iewes and therefore he letteth the rest of the braunches alone and goeth on but only with the Kings of Syria and AEgipt Therefore let vs reade the residue of the Chapter There he paynteth out the warres of Antiochus King of Syria against the Iewes the resistance of the Machabees the oppression of the righteous and the defyling of all holy things so liuely and manifestly that he which were not told of it afore he reades it should not be able to say whether it were a Prophesie or an Historie In his eight Chapter he describeth a battell betweene a Ram and a Goate The Ram saith he that had two hornes is the King of Medes and Persians because those two states went ioyntly together The Goate is the King of Greece the great horne that he had betweene his eyes is the greatest King that is to wit the great Alexander and yet none of them both liued sixe score yeeres after In the seuenth Chapter he describeth al the fower Monarchies but specially the Romaine which had sayth he teeth of yron wherewith it brake and deuoured all the rest And he purseweth it so farre that he declareth himselfe to haue had a sight in his mynd both of the breeding of the proceeding and of the decaying therof If we consider what Rome was at that time it was then scarce hatched and a great while afterwarde Alexander hauing but a small cut ouer the Sea that is betwixt that and Greece knewe it not To bee short in the nineth Chapter he foretelleth that at the end of three-score and ten wéekes accounting from the day that the word was vttered by Ieremie for the buylding vp of the Temple agayne Hierusalem should be destroyed by a prince of the people that was to come that is to say by an Emperour issewing from the Commonweale of Rome which at that tyme was not in being which thing I could shew here to haue come to passe at the instaut aforenamed according to the Prophesie But forasmuch as this poynt perteyneth properly to the comming of the Messias wherunto we reserue many things that may confirme vs more and more in the holy Scriptures it shall bee treated of in his peculiar place Now then we haue here a continuance of wonderfull Prophesies from the creation of the world euen vnto Christ vttered and set foorth a long while afore hand and come to passe iust in their tymes not generall but marked with their circumstances not doubtfull but such as expresse the things and persons by their names And therfore to knit vp this matter withall I demaund vnto what we may attribute them but to the inspiration of GOD◠Some in stead of holding themselues within their bounds will néedes ouerleape them by denying al. But besides the reasons afore alledged séeing that at the same tyme that the Israelites worshipped their God the Nations about them had Oracles which answered vnto all questions and that man is so inquisitiue of things to come that if he cannot bee certified at home he seeketh euerywhere abroade I would haue them to answer me whether this people were of another nature than all other Nations whom we knowe to be yet still at this day more giuen to prophesyings than any other Nation And how being so giuen thereunto and not hauing aught at home wherewith to satisfie their curiositie they could in the middest of so many miseries hold themselues to the seruing of the one GOD who alone of all others did not speake but alonly had kept silence to all their requestes For if it seeme straunge and myraculous vnto vs to haue had Prophesies much more straunge and myraculous ought it to bee to haue made more account of a God that gaue no answers at all specially in so many distresses and oppressions than of the Gods of the Heathen which did nothing els But forasmuch as none of the men of olde tyme was so impudent as to deny them but all were inforced either to woonder at them or to alledge causes to diminish the
Christes Manhood But by and by after he sayth And in his daies Iuda shall bee saued and behold the name whereby he shal be called shal be Iehouah the Euerlasting our Rightuousnesse Heere againe is the foresayd vncommunicable name of God which the Iewes doe so greatly reuerence Yet notwithstanding the thréescore and ten Interpreters who were all Iewes vnderstood it so And Ionathas interpreteth it of Christ in both respects As touching the latter Rabbines who will needes correct the text and in stead of ijkreo doe set downe ijkra to the intent that the sence might be He that calleth him shall bee the Euerlasting I report me to all their owne Grammarians whether it be not both a corrupting and a racking of the text And truely in the thrée and thirtie Chapter the Prophet sayth the same thing in diuers words wherevnto this forgerie cannot be applyed That is the cause why Rabbi Abba vppon the Lamentations of Ieremie demaundeth what shal be the name of the Messias and afterward answereth Iehouah schemo the Euerlasting is his name And to that purpose alledgeth he the selfesame texts of Ieremies And the Commentarie vpon the Psalmes sayth Seeing that none of the Subiects of a King of flesh and blud that is to say of a temporall King is called by his name that is to say King How happeneth it that God imparteth his owne name to the Messias and what name is that Soothly Iehouah is his name according to this saying The man of warre Iehouah that is to say the Euerlasting is his name And Rabbi Moyses Hadarsan expounding this saying of Sophonie to call vppon the name of the Euerlasting saith thus Here Iehouah is nothing els but the King the Messias or the anoynted King And the same thing is repeated in the selfesame words in the Thalmud And wheras some to disappoynt vs of the consequence of these texts doe say that in Ezechiel Hierusalem is called by that name where it is sayd thus Iehouah schammah that is to say the Euerlasting is there that is to say the Euerlasting hath chosen his dwelling place in Hierusalem They by chaunging the Hebrew vowels doe make him to say Iehouah schemo that is to say the Euerlasting is his name But besides the consent of all Copies repugning to this vnshamefastnesse Ionathas can assoyle the case who translateth it expresly God hath placed his Godhead there Now besides the sayd texts which shewe that the Iewes of old tyme wayted for a Messias that should be both God and Man we haue also great tokens thereof in those fewe writings of theirs which remayne dispersed here there notwithstanding that the Iewes hide theÌ„ from vs or els corrupt them as much as they can The Commentarie vppon the Psalmes sayth Because the Gentyles ceasse not to aske of vs where is our God the time shal come that God wil sit among the Righteous so as they shal be able to point him out with their fingar And whereas it is so often sayd I will walke among you it is all one say they as if a King should go walke in his Gardyne with his Gardiner his Gardiner should alwaies shrink behind him and the King should say shrinke not backe for â—o I am lyke thee euen so will GOD walke among vs in his Gardyne of pleasure in tyme to come And therefore another sayth that the Euerlasting shall one day bee as a brother of Iacob that is to say in the tyme of the Messias according to this saying of the Ballet I would fayne that thou wast to me as a brother And the Commentarie vppon the Ballet sayth in another place That God himself who is the Husband of the Church should come in his owne persone to marrie her Uppon the xxv of Leuiticus where mention is made of one brother that redéemeth out another in the yéere of Iubilee many make an Allegorie that that brother is Christ. And the Commentarie affirming the same sayth that Israell shal be redeemed of God who shall come in his owne beeing and that Israell shall no more bee brought in bondage And vppon Genesis Rabbi Moyses Hadarsan alledging this saying of the Psalme I will shew him the Saluation of God sayth thus This is one of the Texts of Scripture of greatest weight that the Saluation of Israel is the Saluation of God For God wil be the pryce and payment of Israels Raunsom lyke as if man hauing but a little Corne of the second Croppe should redeeme the same Hereof came this Tradition that God left some portion vnperfect on the Northside to the intent that if any reported himselfe to be God hee should fill vp that want and that thereby his Godhead should be knowen And all men knowe that ordinarily by the North they ment the Euill which should be remedied by the Messias But the Cabilists were farre more spirituall in this behalfe than the Thalmudists And first of all Rabbi Simeon ben Iohai in his Commentaries vpon Genesis in the language of Hierusalem saith that the feare or mercie of the Lord should take a body in the Wombe of a Woman and be Crowned King the auncient of dayes for euer And that it was decreed that a holy body and a woman should be incorporated togither and for proof whereof he alledgeth an auncient booke whereof he tooke it the same should bée accomplished in the third age that is to say in the third Period of the Church and that then the higher world should by the said holy body be vnited to the inferiour world so as God should bee sanctified beneath as well as aboue and the holy Ghost should come as out of a sheathe that is to say should be shewed foorth openly and that all this is but one namely the Euerlasting himself And to be short that the Woman of whom the holy word should take his body and out of whom the sayd faythfull was to come should be holy and blessed aboue all other women Now it appeareth that hereby he ment the Incarnation of the Messias For in the Talmud the Schoole of Rabbi Hamina being demaunded the name of the Messias answered Hamina that is to say Mercy is his name And in the Prophetes they betoken the Messias by the name of mercie Another Cabilist sayth That sinne shal be brought to ende by the Messias who shal be the power of God euen by the spirit of wisedome wherewith he shal be filled And another sayth that the misterie of Messias the King is that his operation coÌ„sisteth wholly in he vau and iod he which is the misterie of the seuenth day that is to say in calmenesse of mynd without force and that his name whole together shal be composed of these letters to wit Iehouah the Euerlasting But the holy Rabbi vpon the 9. Chapter of Esay where Christ is called the euerlasting father playeth the Philosopher yet further
God to the doing of our duetie towards our neighbours and to euery mans owne saluation and welfare By the way this doctrine is not a declaiming nor an exercise of Philosophers who as Seneca affirmeth pretended slaues by their tytles and conteyned poyson and venome in their boxes but it is expressed in his life and read in his Disciples whom neither Iewe nor Gentyle haue euer blamed but for their simplicitie and innocencie Insomuch that Philo the Iewe made a booke expresly thereof for a woonder For whereas Celsus the Epicure obiecteth that Iesus chose Publicanes and men of wicked conuersation to be his Disciples euen therein peculiarly hath he shewed the effectualnes of his doctrine in the curing of mens soules as a Phisition doth in healing those that are sorest sicke and furthest past hope of recouerie in a Citie To be short at his word the Nations that worshipped Deuilles Men Planets Stockes and Stones turned to the only true God The Deuils that had abused them hid themselues away and their Oracles lost their voyces as shal be sayd hereafter But as for the lawe of God and the holy Scriptures I meane euen those ye Iewes which you your selues beléeue reuerence they come to be read imbraced and expounded through all the world and in all Languages If this doctrine then bee of the Deuill by what marke shall we know the doctrine of God And if to giue authoritie to the Byble ouer all the world be the destruction thereof what shal we call the stablishing thereof And if Iesus haue by his doctrine stablished the seruice of the true God authorised the Law of Moyses and rooted vp the seruice of the Deuill by the bottome how can it be sayd that the Deuill hath eyther inspyred him or assisted him in his myracles and Prophesyings both for the kingdome of God and against the Deuils owne Tyrannie Yea say you but he professed himselfe to be the Sonne of God So much the rather say I ought you to imbrace him seeing that by the record of your auncetors the Messias ought so to be And in reporting himselfe to be so if you reade your owne Doctors well ye shal finde that he turneth you not away to diuers Gods nor yet to straunge Gods For according to your owne Scriptures and Traditions these three namely the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost are but one God I would knowe but this one thing of you whether you take him for a true Prophet or for a false Prophet for the seruant of God or for the seruant of the Deuill You haue sayd heretofore that he vsed the power of the name of God in his myracles whereby ye haue graunted me very much and I also haue proued vnto you that such particuler and speciall Prophesies as these cannot procéede but from God himselfe But what a seruant is he to the Deuill which ouerthroweth his maister How is hee not an ouerthrower of him which saueth vs How is he a false accuser of vs which iustifieth vs How is he a deadly enemie which setteth vs againe in life For what els hath the doctrine of Iesus done throughout the whole world but destroyed the Altars of the Deuils beaten downe their Temples broken their Images in peeces abolished their gaming 's their feastes their Sacrifices and moreouer withdrawne the rest of men from Murder Whoredome Theft all other abhominations wherein they were plunged and from the vaine seruices whereabouts they occupied them selues and wherewith they deceyued their owne Consciences If ye say he was the seruant of GOD the very Turkes confesse as much Therefore procéede yet further and graunt that sith he is the Prophet and seruant of God he is to be beléeued For God the Creator being altogether good and wise would not lende him his spirit to deceiue vs. And if we ought to beléeue him we ought also to heare him and if wee heare him he telleth vs that he is Christ the Anoynted that he is the trueth that he is the way that he came from God his father and that the father and he are but one And in déede one while to shewe that he was sent of his father he prayeth vnto him and anotherwhile to shewe that he is equall with him he commaundeth absolutely and of himselfe Surely therfore we may well say that this Prophet Iesus being assisted by Gods spirit both in his Prophesyings and in his Myracles and in his Doctrine and beeing borne of a Uirgin in Bethleem and at the tyme appoynted afore hand by the Prophets is Christ the Lords anoynted GOD and Man euen such as he was declared and behighted vs in the holy Scriptures as I haue shewed alreadie But lo here the stumblingblock of the Pharisies and the Iewes What likelyhood is there say they that our Christ by whom wee looke that Israell should be so renowmed should be so bace and abiect a person Nay moreouer if he be both God and Man as you Christians say he is what can bee imagined more against all reason than that he should bee buffeted whipped crucified accounted among théeues and in the end reprochfully killed as your Iesus was Soothly to folke that haue imagined and reckoned vppon a Monarchie of the whole world and behighted themselues places among the chiefe in the same it must néedes bee a great corsie and greefe to bee defeated of that hope But had they well chewed and digested this text of Zacharie Behold thy King commeth vnto thee rightuous Sauiourlike and lowlie ryding vpon an Asse euen the Colt of an Asse which text their Rabbines expound of the Messias and wee reade it to haue bene fulfilled in Iesus at his comming into Hierusalem they would not thinke it so straunge that in the same person also should be performed this saying of the same Prophet in another place I will powre out the spirit of grace and mercie vpon the house of Dauid and vpon the inhabiters of Hierusalem and they shall looke vppon me whom they haue pearced which text likewise the Rabbines expound of the Messias as well as the other Now I haue shewed heretofore that the Messias should reconcile vs vnto God by the satisfaction and amends which he should make vnto him for vs and also how agreeable the sayd amends was both to Gods Iustice and mercie which cannot bee contrarie one to another and also to the order of dealing that is among men For in asmuch as man would néedes through his pride become equal with God and by his disobedience bee as God it was méete that his Suretie should be abaced euen beneath man and yéeld perfect obedience euen to the most reprochfull death that could bee Againe to turne man againe and to restreyne him from sinne nothing could bee more effectuall than to make him knowe the horriblenesse of his sinne by the greatnesse of the penaltie and satisfaction thereof neither could any thing bee more forcible to allure him to the loue of God
caÌ„not be ment of Dauid for he is dead and rotten in his graue yea and he shal be raysed againe within the third day for it is written He will quicken vs after two dayes and in the third day will he rayse vs vp ageine Also he shall go vp into Heauen to sit at the right hand of God for it is written The Lord hath sayd to my Lord sit thou on my right hand And all these Texts are so expounded by Rabbi Moyses Hadarsan by R. Hacadoseh by R. Ionathan the Sonne of Vziell and others and they be all accomplished in Iesus For their owne writer Iosephus sayth In the tyme of Tyberius there was one Iesus a wise man at leastwise if he was to be called a man who was a worker of great miracles and a teacher of such as loue the trueth and had a greate trayne as well of Iewes as of Gentyles Neuerthelesse being accused vnto Pilate by the cheefe of the Iewes he was crucified But yet for all that those which had loued him from the beginning ceassed not to continue still For he shewed himself alyue vnto theÌ„ a three dayes after his death as the Prophetes had foretold of him both this and diuers other things And euen vnto this day doe those continue still which after his name are called Christians Certesse then let vs conclude as this Iewe doth in the selfesame place and in his owne words This Iesus was in very deede the Christ. For as for the goodly tale That Christes Disciples stole him out of his Graue and that for feare they did cast hym downe in a Gardyne where he was found afterward the fondnesse and fabulousenesse thereof appéereth in this that whereas because hee had sayd in his lyfetyme Destroy this Temple and in three dayes I will rayse it vp ageine And also There shall none other signe be giuen vnto you but the signe of the Prophet Ionas and so foorth therevpon the Iewes caused Pylate to set a sure gard about the Sepulchre Yet notwithstanding Pylate writing afterward to the Emperour Claudius aduertised him of the resurrection of Iesus so as the greater and surer the gard was that Pylate did set the mo and the stronger were the witnesses to proue the Iewes lyars in that behalf Also the high Priestes béeing so inraged against Iesus as they were would not haue sticked to haue hanged vp the sayd found Carkesse openly in the Marketplace whereby they might haue abolished all the reputation of Iesus out of hand Ageine on the other side the Apostles were men so afrayd of death so weakeharted so féeble in faith and so vtterly without credit that there is not any lykelihod that they durst take the matter in hand Nay which more is what benefite could they haue had by his dead Carkesse what should it haue booted them to haue forgone their Children their Wyues yea and themselues too for such a one Should they not rather haue had cause to haue bene offended at his cowsmage and therevpon bene the readier to haue condemned the remembraunce of him them selues and to haue turned all men away from him Contrariwise they preach nothing but his resurrection for that are they contented to dye for that doe they teache other men to dye alonly by that doe they hope too liue and dye most blessedly and of all the whole noÌ„ber of them there was not so much as one that could be brought to say otherwise nay rather which could bee made to conceale it and not to speake of it though they were let alone yea or for any promise or threatning that the greatest personages in the worlde could make vnto them Surely therefore if euer any deede were true we must needes say that this is it Finally Daniell sayth After that the Anoynted is slaine The Prince of a people to come that is to say the Emperour of Rome shall destroye the Citie and the Sanctuarie and his end shal be in destruction and vnto the end of the warre be desolations ordeyned But he shall stablish his couenant with many in one weeke and in halfe a weeke shall he cause the Sacrificing and Offering to ceasse And to the same effect Iesus himselfe sayth Weepe for your selues and for your Children and let them which are in Iewrie flee into the Mountaines Abhomination shall abide in the holy place and of the Temple one stone shall not be left vpon another And yet neuerthelesse this Gospell sayth he shall be preached ouer all the world for a witnesse to al Nations Who can say that this was not accomplished within a while after the death of Iesus And who seeth not yet still the remnants of this desolation vpon Hierusalem and vppon all that people Yea and moreouer that this their vtter ruine and ouerthrowe is not to bee fathered vpon any other thing than vpon their putting of Iesus to death Iesus was apprehended in Mount Oliuet and from Mount Oliuet was Hierusalem beseeged He was crucified on the day of the Passouer and on that day was the Citie entered into Hee was whipped in the Romaine Emperours Pauilion by Pylat and in the Emperours Pauilion were the Iewes whipped by the Romaines for their pleasure He was deliuered by them into the hands of the Gentyles and they themselues were scattered abroade into the whole world to bée a skorning stocke to all Nations Of these things and many other like doe the Rabbines complaine in their Histories and the more they speake of them the more doe they confesse Gods Iudgement vpon themselues For what els are all these things but the execution of this their owne sentence giuen vpon themselues his blud be vpon vs vpon our Children Insomuch that as Iosephus reporteth when Tytus sawe the sayd extremities he lifted vp his eyes to heauen and sayd Lord thou knowest that my hands are cleere from all this blud that is shed And afterward when vpon the taking of the Citie he had considered the force and strength of the place and the people he sayd In very deede God hath fought on our side in the taking of this Citie for otherwise what power could euer haue woÌ„ne it Also the TeÌ„ple was burnt doune though he did what he could to haue saued it because sayth Iosephus the vneschewable day of the destruction thereof was come Likewise the Citie was rased cast vp vppon heapes and made leuell with the ground as if neuer man had dwelt there and ten hundred thousand men were put to the sword within it which thing wee reade not to haue bene done to any otâ—er Citie taken by the Romaines To bee short the signes that went afore and the voyce that gaue warning from heauen the opening of the Temple of it own accord seemed to be forefeelings of Gods wrath that was to light vpon them Again the Fountayne of Silo which was dryed vp afore swelled vp to giue water to the Romaine Hoste
booke of Monarchie Iustin to the Gentyles Athenagoras in his Treatise concerning the Resurection The Recantation of Orpheus who is called the Author of the pluralitie of Gods Clemens in his Protreptik to the Gentiles Phocylides Theognis Homer Hesiodus Sophocles in Cyrillus against Iulian the Apostaia Euripides Clemeus in his Aratus Iouis genus sumus Ouid. Virgil in his fourth booke of Husbandry euerywhere else Scaeuola as he is alledged by S. Austin in the Citie of God lib. 3. Cap. 27. The consent of People In the Citie of God lib. 4. cap. 24. Iamblichus concerning the Mysteries of the Egiptians cap. 37. 39. Plutarke in his treatise of Isis and Osyris Cicero in his second booke of Lawes Deos adeunto casté opes amouento si secus faxint Deus ipse vindex erit that iâ— Goe to God chastly remoue away riches If any doe otherwise God himselfe will punish him Tertullian in his Defence Lactantius lib. 2. cap. 1. Lactantius lib. 1 Chap. 6. Iustine in his Apologie The Cracles of the Sibylles Lactan. lib. 1. cap. 6. Porphyrius in his tenth book of the prayses of Philosophy * Pausanias Proclus vpon Timaeus Deuter. 6. Psalm 85. Man cannot comprehend God Cicero in his booke of the Nature of the Gods Plotinus Enn. 6. lib. 8. cap 11 Galen in his 9. booke vpon the Decrees of Hippocrates Although it appeare by certeine demonstration that it is a diuine workmayster that hath procreated vs yet can we not by any wit or reason conceyue neither what his substance is nor how he made vs. For we must consider that it is a farre other thing to shew that a certeyne Prouidence made vs than to knowe the substance eyther of our owne Soule or of him that made vs. * Pesuit tenebras latibulum suum Defecâ— in Aâ—rijs tuis Domine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mercurius Trismegistus in his Poemander cap. 2. 6. Ehjch asher ehjeh Plotiri Ennead 7. lib. 7. cap. 38. Mercurius in his PoemaÌ„der Prouer. 30. v. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayth Porph. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayth Porph. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in praepositionibus Dennis in his booke of the names of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tibi silentium laus What God is not Vnmouable 1. Phisik 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Out of the verses of Parmenides reported by Simplicius Vnchaungeable Euerlasting Mere Act. Erom Possibilitie into deed A grayne may become an herbe and a kernell a tree which they be not so long as they continue a grayne and a kernell Vnmateriall God is single and vncompounded Bodylesse Numenius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Place is to be considered eyther as a thing created or as a conteyner of a thing placed This way God is nowhere the other way he is euery where So is he both euery where and no where No where by limitation or poynting downe of place euery where by filling all places S. Austin vpon the Psalmes 1. Phisic 2. c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Infinite Infinite not by stretching or streyning out but by sheading in The begetting of the Sonne or of the second Person Why the second Person is called the Son the Worde Speech Wisedome c. Looke in the 12. Chapter of Mercurius trimegistus Poemander Rapidâ— quadam Coruscaâ—ione perfundit animum that is to say it sheadeth through the mynd with a certeyne swift glistering Vox prâ—fâ—rt Animus ratiocinatur Mentis 〈…〉 is to sayâ— the voyce vttereth the mynd reasoneth or debaâ—eth and so Reason is the very word or 〈…〉 Mynd The proceeding of the holy Ghost or third person Why the holy Ghost is called Loue. c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of whom by whom and in whom Three Persons and no mo Traces of the Trinitie in the World and in Man The welhead the Spring the streame Plato in his Philebus Plato lib. 3. of his Common-weale and lib. 10. 12. of Lawes Aristo lib. 1. of Heauen lib. 12. of his Metaphisiks Plotin often c. The Chaldies heard speake of the Trinite Zoroastâ—es Plutarke in his treatise of Isis and Osyris Plinie and Aristotle beare witnesse that he wrote many bookes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pletho Gemistus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proclus lib. 2. 3. vpon Platoes Parmenides ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mercurie The Egiptians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of the selfebeing in his Poemander cap. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mercury alledged by Cyrillus lib. 1. against Iulian. in his Poemander cap. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Merc. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Austin in the Prayer of Fiue Heresies Mercurie in his Esculapius Chap. 3. 7. Mercurie in his holy Sermon in his Poemander cap. 3. Gen. 1. Mercurie in his Poemander cap. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyrillus against Tulgentius Suidas in his Mercurie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iamblichus in his 39. Chap. of Mysteries Plato in his Phedon and Philebus Eusebius of Demonstration Iamblichus Chapt. 1. Produs vpon Plato Damascius the Platonist The auncient Greekes Orpheus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And agayne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Clemens lib. 5 Strom. Orph. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pherecydes in Proclus Orph. in Argonaut Aristotle in his first booke of Heauen Parmenides in his Cosmogoniâ— ailedged by Plutarke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plotin Ennead 4. lib. 1. Chap. 8. Zeno the stoik Aleinous concerning the Doctrine of Plato Plato in his Epinomis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in his sixt booke of Common-weale 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in his Epistle to Hermias Erastus and Coriscus Plato vnto Dennis the Tyrant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Origen in his 6. booke against Câ—lsus In his first booke of Philosophy Also in his booke of the World In his first booke of Heauen Orpheus in hâ—â— Argonawts Cicero Iamblichus Porphyrius Clemens in the first booke of his Stromars Out of Alexander Hermippus Plato in his Timaeus Proclus vpon Timaeus Plutarke in his Treatise of Isis and Osyris Plato in his Epinomis Cratylus and Phil. Iustine Manethon alledged by Iosephus against Appion Psalm 2. Prouerb 8. Gen. 1. Esay 53. Esay 61. Psalm 33. The Iewes themselues do proue the Trinitie R. Simeon ben Iohai expounding the 6. of Esay Psalm 50. and the Midraâ—ch vpoÌ„ the same R. Moyses Hadarsan vpon the 42. of Gen. Midrasch Cobeleth chap. 4. Rabbi Ishaâ— ben Schola vppon the last verses of the 111. and 112. Psalmes R. Azariel in his Commentarie or treatise of Holinesse Iepher haijeâ—sirab R. Hamay in his Treatise of Speculation Hagnij â—n R. Ishaac vpon the booke of the Creation Cether chochnah binah Rabbi Assee In his booke intytled Schaguar orah that is to say The Gate of Light The Epistle of the Secretes of R Nehumia the Sonne of Hacana * This is to bee seene euen in Sainct Math. chap. 1. ver 20. where the Angell sayth to Ioseph that Mary
was with child by the holy Ghost for otherwise it had bin to no purpose to haue spoken of the holy Ghost of whoÌ„ they had not heard any speaking afore The same is also in the Preaching of Iohn the Baptist Chapter 3. verse 20. He shall baptise ye with the holy Ghost with Fyre And in diuers other places And in very deede the name of the holy Ghost is rife among all the Rabbines Philo in his Treatise vpon the sixe Daies In his treatise That Dreames are of God In his booke of the World In his booke of the remouings of Abraham Philo in the Allegories of the law in his Bookes of of Dreames of Tyllage of the firy sword of the Heire of HeaueÌ„ly thiÌ„gs of the euil that layeth snares for the good c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo in his bookes concerning the Heyre of Heauenly things of the moâ—esty of Women and of the word c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say as a print printed in Waxe The later Pythagorians Academiks Numenius in his booke of the Good Looke Eusebius and Cyrillus lib. 8. The Reader must vnderstand that by three gods thei meane three Inbeeings as they theÌ„selues do declare it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Plotinus liued vnder the Emperour Galien about the yere of on Lord 25 or Plotin Enn. 5 lib. 1. Of the three souerein or cheefe persons or Inbeings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the intent the Reader think not any obscuritie in this or other that follow he must remember that to the first Inbeeing that is to say Persone the Philosophers giue the names of the One The Mind the Good the Father and the Begetter vnto the second persone the names of Beeër or he that is wit or vnderstanding the Beautifull and sometimes Speech word Reason wisdom Sonne and the begotten and vnto the third persone the names of Loue Will Power and the Soule of the World sometimes the second world c. In respect of this Third thei call the First the Amiable and in respect of the Second they call him the Mynd as shall be seene by examples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Another persone and not another thing Plotin Enn. 5. lib. 2. lib. 3. Chap. 85. Ernead 3. lib. 9. Cap. vlt. The vnderstanding of the Good Plotinus Enn. 5. lib. 2. lib. 3 Chap. 5. 6. 7. 12. lib 4. Chap. 2. Plotin Enn. 5. lib. 5. Ch. 3. lib. 6. Ch. 1. lib. 8. ch 12. Enn. 3. lib. 8. cap. 7. 8. 10. Plotin Enn. 5. lib. 9. Chap. 1. Plotin Enn. 6. lib. 7. ch 39. lib. 7. The same in one respect another in another respect or all one in one respect diuers in another respect Plotin Enn. 5. lib. 5. cap. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plotin Enn. 5. lib. 8. Chap. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plotin in his booke of Inshapes Enn. 3. lib. 9. Chap. 2. Plotin Enn. 6. lib. 8. 8. Chap. 13. 15. 27. Plotin Enn. 3. lib. 8. Chap. 10. Plotin Enn. 3. lib. 9. Chap. 1. Cyril against Iulian lib 8. Porphyrius in the lyfe of Plotâ—â—us Plotinus agaiÌ„st the Gnostiks Enn. 2. lib. 9. Chap. 1. Iamblicus of the sect of the Pythagorists and in his booke of the Mysteries of the Egyptians Chap. 37. and 39. Porphirie in his 4. booke of 〈◊〉 Philosophers Cyrill against Iulian. lib. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyrill against Iulian. lib. 1. Porphyrius in his booke of the chiefe fathers alledged by Proclus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proclus in Platoes Diuinitie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amelius a Platonist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril against Iulian. lib. 8. Austin in the Citie of God lib. 10. The Latin Philosophers Chalcidius vppon Platoes Timeus Macrobius vppon the Dreame of Scipio God Mynd begotten of God Auicen The Oracles of Diuelles Sybill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suidas in the lyfe of Thulis Porphirius as he is alledged by S. Austin in his ninth book of the Citie of God Cha. 23. The world it selfe telleth vs that it had a beginning An obiection Man had a beginning An obiection The linking of things togither The inwoorking of the Mynd beginneth at the end The Originall of Sciences Lucr Carus This nature reason of thiÌ„gs was lately foâ—d out and I mâ—y selfe was one of the first that did stumble vpon it am able to turne it into my natiue language â—â—d Persius sayth It came hither after the time that my Countrymen began to taste of Pepper and Dates Austin lib. 18. of the Citie of God Cha. 37. Cicero Iamblicus Porphyrius Orpheus in his Argonauts Proclus vpon Timeus Plutark in his Isis and Osiris Iamblicus in his booke of Mysteries Chap. 1. Clemens Alexandrin in his booke of Stromats alledging Alexander Hermippus Clearchus Porphyrius alledged by Ensebius lib. 11. Laertius in the lyfe of Thales Thales in his Epistle to Pherecydes in Clemens AlexaÌ„d Plinie lib. 5. 6. Plinie lib. 2. Plutark in the lyfe of Niceas Quintilian lib. 1. Censorius coÌ„cerning Christes birthday Cap. 9. Varro Arithmetik Geometry Plato in his Epinomis The Originall of Crafts Trades and Artes. Varro in his fifth booke first Chapter of Husbandry Leachecraft which comprehendeth Phisik and Surgerie Cicero in his booke of the nature of the Gods He o lotus lib. 1. The originall or gouernmeÌ„t 〈…〉 Cap. 21. Pomponius of of the first coÌ„ming vp of the Lawe Plutark in the lyues of Solon and Lycurgus and in his treatise of his and Osyris Iustine the Martyr alledgeth Diodorus in his exhortation Iosephus against Appion Iustine in his first booke Plini lib. 7. Merodotus lib. 2. 〈…〉 The originall oâ— the HeatheÌ„ Goddes Traffik of Merchandyse and bargayning buying and selling Nauigation Plinie lib. 7. Strabo lib. 16. Tibullus Eleâ—ia 7. * That is to say the Land of Canaan Berosus alledged by Iosephus against Appion Feeding Plinie lib. 7. Diodorus lib. 1. 2. 6. The first comming vp of Histories Plinie lib. 7. Apuleius in his Florishes Plutark in the lâ—fe of Theseus Censorinus Varro in his third booke of Husbandry vnto Pto Diodorus lib. 3. Clemens Alexandr in his first booke of Sâ—om Lucretius the Romane Poet. Diodorus lib. 8. 1. Plinie lib. 7. Herodotus lib. 5. Varro in his first booke of Analogie Crates the Greeke Philosopher demauÌ„ding why the Greekes declined not the names of their letters saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as wel as thei said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was answered by the Greekes themselues that it was bycause those names of their letters are not Greeke but barbarus Lucane lib. 3. Eupolemus in his booke of the Kings of Iuda alledged by Clemens of Alexandria in his fowrth booke Obiections The World scarce knowen in old time Reade the Nauigations of the Portingales and Spaniards Thucidides in his first booke