in his wonted vncleanenesse This relation of Calvines serveth as a testimony to confirme the truth of Tertullians observation which serues as a Document or sure experiment of our last assertion Vultis ex operibus ipsius tot ac talibus quibus continemur quibus sustinemur quibus oblectamur etiam quibus exterremur vultis ex anim◠ipsius testimonio comprobemus Qua licet carcere corporis pressa licet institutionibus prauis circumscripta licet libidinibus et cōcupiscentijs euigorata licet falsis Dijs exancillata cum tamen resipiscit vt ex crapula vt ex somno vt ex aliqua valetudine sanitatem suam patitur Deum nominat hoc solo quia proprie verus hic vnus Deus bonus magnus Et quod Deus dederit omnium vox est Iudicem quoque contestatur illum Deus videt deo commendo Deus mihi reddet O testimonium animae naturaliter Christianae Denique pronuncians haec non ad capitolium sed ad coelum respicit Novit enim sedem Dei vivi ab illo inde descendit Shall I proue vnto you there is but one God from his manifold workes by which we are preserued and sustained with which we are refreshed yea by which we are astonished or shall I proue the same truth by the testimony of the Soule it selfe which though it be kept vnder by the prison of the body though surrounded by naughtie and dissolute education though infeebled by lust and evill concupiscence though enslaued to false Gods yet when shee returnes vnto her selfe out of distempers surfet sleepe or other infirmitie and enioyes some gleames of health shee calls on God without addition of other titles because this God which shee calls vpon is truely one truely good and truely great What God shall award is a speech rise in every mans mouth vnto this God the Soule appeales as vnto her Iudge God he sees to God I commend my cause Let God determine of me or for me A worthy testimony that the Soule is naturally Christian Finally the Soule whiles shee acts these or the like parts looketh not to the Capitoll the imagined seate of such Gods as the Romans worshipped but vp to Heaven as knowing the seate of the living God from whom and whence shee is descended Many other authorities which might here be avouched to the same purpose do sufficiently argue that the multiplicitie of Gods was a conceipt or imagination seated or hatched onely in the braine that even the very Heathens themselues which worshipped many Gods and would haue maintained their profession of such service in opposition to their adversaries vnto death being throughly pinched with calamitie or occasioned to looke seriously into their owne hearts did vsually tender their supplications vnto the Deitie or divine power it selfe which filleth all places with his presence whose tribunall is in heaven Seeing anguish of soule contrition of spirit or generally affliction cause naturall notions of God and goodnesse formerly imprisoned in the earthly or fleshly part of this old man to shoote forth and present themselues to our apprehensions in case no calamitie or affliction doe befall vs we are voluntarily to consort with others whom God hath touched with his heavie hand or as Salomon adviseth vs to visite the house of mourning more then the house of mirth Or in case the Lord vouchsafe not to send these his seuerer visitors either to vs or to our neighbours yet he alwayes giues vs libertie to inuite another guest in afflictions roome which expects no costly or curious entertainement fasting I meane now to fast according to the prescript of Gods law is to afflict our soules CHAPTER IX In what respects supernaturall grace or faith infused is necessarie to the right beliefe of these truths which may in part be certainely knowne by diligent search of naturall reason 1. BVt if to nature not blinded by vaine curiosity nor polluted with the dregs of lust if to men free from passion or chastised by the hand of God the apprehension of the Deitie be cleare and evident the habit of supernaturall assent vnto the first Article of this Creed may seeme either altogether superfluous or not very necessary Vnto this difficulty proposed in termes more generall whether faith may be of obiects otherwise evident and exactly knowne some schoole-men acutely thus reply He that by reasons demonstratiue knowes this or other like truths beleeved that there is one God and no more which hath created the world may notwithstanding the evidence of motiues necessitating his will to this assent either doubt or deeme it a truth very obscure and vnevident whether God ever revealed thus much otherwise than by the common light of Nature or helpes of Art Cōsequently to their divinity they might reduce the resolution of the difficultie proposed to fewer termes and more constant thus the habit of faith or supernaturall assent is not necessary to ascertaine vs that the matters beleeved by vs are in themselues true seeing this much as is supposed may be prooved by reasons more evident than faith which is alwayes of obiects vnevident at least wise as apprehended by vs but to assure vs that their truth was testified or avouched by God whose testimony cannot be knowne but by his expresse word written or spoken 2. But if our former assertion that our knowledge of any obiect cannot be more certaine then it is evident be orthodoxall he that could demonstrate any Article of beliefe should be more beholding to the evidence of Art or demonstration than to the supernaturall habit of vnevident faith Wherefore with better consonancy to former discussions and if we be not in both mistaken vnto the truth we may thus resolue the doubt proposed The necessary existence of a God-head or supreame cause with the possibilitie of other things beleeved may be indefinitely knowne by light of Nature or demonstration but so much of these or any Article in this Creede contain'd as every Christian must beleeue or which is all one the exact forme of any one Articles entire truth can never be knowne by Art or Nature but onely by Gods word revealed or the internall testimony of his spirit refashioning his decayed image in mens hearts according to the patterne wherein they were first created That the resurrection though this truth to corrupt nature seemes most difficult is not impossible yea that it is impossible there should not be a resurrection or iudgement after death may be demonstrated but that the wicked shall rise to torments the righteous to ioy glory everlasting is a streame of life which naturally springs not within the circuit of the heavens it must be infused from aboue 3. The naturall man left to himselfe or vsing meere spectacles of art yea though admitted to the glasse of Gods word will alwayes in one point or other conceiue amisse of the Deitie and transforme the incorruptible nature into the similitude of corruption Yet further admitting the naturall man
dazeled with contemplation of their effects that as the Sunne-beames put on the hue of coloured glasses through which they shine so doth the sweete disposition of divine providence appeare to him in the similitude of stoicall fate or star gasing coniectures The politician againe noting many which professe their stedfast relying vpon Gods providence either often to misse of what they haue sought or never attaining to that whereto he thinkes they should in reason and by example of the whole world aspire straight way collects The world hath no oeconomicall guide or over-seer but that every man may be his own carver of good hap or fortunes And seeing all things as he imagineth revolue by vncertaine chance to appropriate some part of blind fortunes store vnto themselues to such as haue wit to watch their opportunities will be as easie as for a theefe to catch a prey in a tumult or for souldiers to rifle vnguarded villages or houses which no man lookes vnto This kinde of Atheisme often participates with the two former For such events as manifest the power of God the politicke Atheist vsually ascribes to fortune fate or nature such as rightly observed set forth his wisdome he reduceth them to the mysteries of his owne act These errors incident to the Astronomer and Politician with the false inductions to perswade them shall by Gods assistance be rectified in the Article of divine providence 3 Many not overswayed by affection to any peculiar faculty whereto they were aboue others engaged became most fooles of all by curious prying into others folly By no other meanes were Protagoras Diagoras and perchance the crue of Epicures brought either to deny there was any divine power at all or els to thinke it so vncertaine as men should not trouble their wits about it than by contemplating the multitude of errors concerning the Gods or vanitie of heathen men amongst whom they liued many holding opinions about the Deitie so divers that some must needs be false and the best to an observant speculator but ridiculous The great dissention saith Tully amongst the learned in such importancies enforceth such as thinke they haue attained to some certaintie in this point to reele and stagger Tullie 1. lib de natur Deorum From the same infirmitie of Nature many Christians this day liuing are flexible to a branch of Atheisme very dangerous and much laboured by Iesuiticall disputes all addressed to evince this vniversall negatiue there can be no certaintie of private perswasions about the truth or true sense of Scriptures by representing the varietie of auncient heresies or differences amongst moderne professors The Iesuites propension to this perswasion is but a relique of the aboue-mentioned Heathen Romanes disposition more apt perchance to be impelled vnto absolute Atheisme by how much the multitude of their false Gods had beene increased For having long sought as it were in policie to winne the gods of every Nation they knew vnto their faction and amongst all finding none able to support their reeling state or prevent the working mischiefes of civill discord they first began generally to suspect there were no gods or all Religion to be vaine But the manifestation of the sonne of God and daily increase of true Religion quickly revived the dead notion of divine powers in these Heathens and enforced them to adhere to their wonted Gods in hope the truth revealed which was to evill doers very offensiue might by their helpe quickly be extinguished Nor did they want the broken inductions of Antiquaries or Philosophers to worke a preiudice or disesteeme of Christian faith The Christians sayth Celsus which adore a person comprehended and put to death do but as the barbarous Getes which worship Zamolxis or as the Cilicians doe Mopsus the Achernanians Amphilochus the Thebanes Amphiaras and the Lebadij Triphonius It was to him no doubt a point of wisedome and matter of glory to be so well seene in forraigne Antiquities as not to beleeue the new fangled devices of rude and illeterate Galileans 4. Had not Chronologers noted a greater distance of time betweene them than any one mans age since the Floud at least could fill vp I should haue thought Rabsakeh had spit Celsus out of his mouth No sonne can be more like to his father than the ones irreligious induction against the sonne of God is to the others Atheisticall collections for infringing the omnipotencie of God the Father Obey not Ezechiah sayth Rabsakeh to the besieged Inhabitants of Ierusalem when he deceiveth you saying the Lord will deliver vs. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the King of Assyria Where are the gods of Hamath and of Arpad Where are the gods of Sepharuaim Henah and Iuah haue they delivered Samaria out of my hand Who are they among all the gods of the Countries that haue delivered their Country out of mine hand that the Lord should deliver Ierusalem out of mine hand This was a common place so plausible in those times that the proud Assyrians tooke the vniversality of their prosperous successe as a sure note that the true Church if any there were was amongst them that Ezechiah and his subiects were but rebellious schismatickes and their pretended piety but stubborne folly or hypocrisie And Zenacharib himselfe when he sent the second embassage to Ezechiah hath no better argument to empeach the omnipotent power whereon he trusted than the former induction stuft onely with some few more examples of fresh memory Thus shall ye speake to Ezechiah King of Iudah saying Let not thy god in whom thou trustest deceiue thee saying Ierusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the King of Assyria behold thou hast heard what the Kings of Assyria haue done to all lands by destroying them vtterly and shalt thou be delivered Haue the gods of the nations delivered them whom my Father hath destroyed as Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the children of Eden which were in Thelassar Where is the King of Hamath c. In like manner when the old fornicator in the comedy had abused the notion of Gods providence in disposing of Lots to fortifie his hopes of good lucke in an evill cause not the Hypothesis onely but the Thesis it selfe or generall Maxime which Salomon had left registred in fitter termes The lot is cast into the lap but the disposition thereof is the Lords is disproved by his officious slaue from the multitude of experiences of men whose confident reliance on their gods had beene defeated Quid si sors aliter quam voles evenerit Benedice dis sum fretus deos superabimus Abode well and haue well on the Gods I am bold They favour such as trust them I Ken them of old saith the Master Non ego istuc verbum emsitim titi vilitio Nam omnes mortales Deis suat freti sed tamen vidi ego dis fretos soepe multos decipi Tush that 's a saw which with wast
popular Fame To the framing of this middle temper betweene â—elation of minde and timorous deiection was that Counsell of Cyprian directed Vt cognoscere Deum possis te ante cognosce Nothing is farther from vs saith a learned Writer than we are from our selues and naughtie men as Seneca saith are every where besides with themselues yet the farther from our selues we are the farther we are from our God Therefore saith God by the Prophet Esay Heare you that are a far of And in the language of Salomon in his purest thoughts to turne to our owne hearts and to turne to the Lord with our hearts are of equivalent signification Now to know our selues as Tully obserues binds vs as well to a modest esteeme of our owne worth or to speake more Christian-like of our place amongst Gods creatures as to a notice of our infirmities Too much deiection as S. Cyprian concludes disposeth to Idolatry as Ingenuous feare doth to the knowledge of the true God Howbeit of such devotion as the Heathens had feare it seemes was the mother hence perhaps were they so observant first to offer placatory sacrifices to such Gods as might do them harme afterward propitiatory sacrifices to those of whom they expected good Observabant Antiqui in sacrificijs vt antè adversos placarent et postea propitios invocarent Thus much if best Grammarians are to be beleeued is curiously charactarized vnto vs by the Romane Poet who as this late Writer complaines was much better seene in Heathen rites than Christian Divines are in the mysteries of sacrifices offred vnto the true God For instance to our present purpose when Aenaeas and his followers had resolved to offer sacrifice for a faire Winde and merrie passage towardes Candie they offer first to Neptune then to Apollo to the stormie winter before the sweete spring Winds Ergo agite divum ducunt quâ iussa sequamur Placemus ventos Gnosia regna petamus Nec longo distant cursu modò Iupiter adsit Tertia lux classem Cretaeis sistet in oris Sic fatus meritos aris mactauit honores Taurum Neptuno taurum tibi pulcher Apollo Nigram Hyemi pecudem zephyris felicibus albam Againe when Dido wooed the Gods with sacrifices to further her intended marriage with Aeneas though Iuno were the first in her intention and esteeme as being finally to blesse the Match yet she begins with Ceres whom she feared would be most averse as detesting all marriage for the stealth of her daughter married against her will and in the next place with Apollo who never had wife himselfe and therefore bore no great affection vnto marriage Principio delubra adeunt pacemque per aras Exquirunt mactant lectas de more bidentes Frugiferae Cereri Phoeboque patrique Lyaeo Iunoni ante omnes cui vincla iugalia curae The summe of these and like instances is That feare was the beginning of such wisedome as the Heathens had concerning divine powers Not Ignorance but Feare was the Mother of their devotion 3. There is no sinewe of carnall strength but secretly lifts vp the heart and sometimes the hand and voice against the God of our strength and health Might Caligula whensoever it thundred haue had the opportunitie of scouting into a place as well fenc't by nature as the Cyclops den he would haue thought as little or lightly as the vast Gyant did of the great God whom he never thought of but with feare whom he never feared saue when he spake to him in this terrible language which yet would haue stricken small terrour through thicke rockes into such a brawnie heart as the anatomy of the Cyclops representeth who thought so much of the noise as came to his cares might easily be counter-blasted with the like within Mindes altogether as gyantly and vast are often lodged in bodies not halfe so huge What is wanting to the supportance of such security in personall strength and greatnesse is made vp by multitude of consorts As imagine a garrison of good fellowes so qualified as Syracides prayed he never might be should meete in a nooke or sconce as well guarded against storme and tempest and as well stored with victualls as was the Cyclops caue what other note might be expected whiles good liquor lasted but let the Welkin roare The best vent we can giue to this naturall pride that makes vs thus prone to blasphemy would be to make our infirmities the chiefe matter of our glory or boasting 4. As the feare of God is the beginning of wisedome so the beginning of this feare is from a temper apprehensiue of terrors represented in his creatures Primus in orbe Deos fecit timor was a speech vttered by an audacious Hare-braine in a furious passion no marvell if it did overlash The present advice of the Oracle did contradict his foole-hardy desire of warre and to perswade his desperate companions the ominous signes related were but pretended by the Prophet He calls the originall of Religion in question as if divine powers had no true subsistence but were represented onely by gliÌ„mering feare or faint-heartednesse And faint-hearted he counted all that were not so furious as himselfe But vnto this suspition ingenuous feare had not beene lyable vnlesse common experience had taught him or the Poet which painted him in this humour that men in perplexities vnexpected troubles or feares in humane censure remedilesse are vsually most mindfull of God Extremities indeed cause the naturall notions which are ingraffed in our hearts to worke they imprint not the opinion or perswasion of Religion But it is a fallacie too familiar vnto sober thoughts even in their accurate disquisitions of natures secrets to esteeme that as the totall cause or first producer which sets nature onely a working or doth but cherish or manifest effects truely pre-existent though latent Perchance the letting out of a little hot bloud or some other more grievous print of divine punishment would haue restored the Bedlem to his right minde so as others might haue taken out that lesson from him which Plinie the yonger did from his sicke friend not much vnlike to that of our Apostle When I am weake then am I strong The languishment of a certaine friend sayth this Author hath taught me of late that we are best men when we are sickly what sicke man is tempted with avarice or lust he is not subiect to loue or greedie of honour wealth he contemnes how little soever he hath it sufficeth him being shortly to leaue it Then he remeÌ„bers there be Gods that he himselfe is but a man he envies no man he admires no man he despiseth no man maligning speeches neither winne his attention nor please his inclination his imagination runs on baths or fountaines This is the chiefe of his care the prime of his desires if it please God he may recover his former health and plight he purposeth an harmlesse and an happie life What
Philosophers labour to teach vs in many words yea in many volumes I can comprehend in this short precept Let vs persevere such in health as we promise to be in our sicknesse That this Heathen whiles thus well minded otherwise should be so mindfull of his God is a very pregnant proofe from the effect that the naturall ingraffed notions of the Deitie proportionably increase or wane with the notions of morall good or evill The cause hereof is more apparant from that essentiall linke or combination which is betweene the conceipt of vice and vertue and the conceipt of a Iudgement after this life wherein different estates shall be awarded to the vertuous and to the vitious hence the true apprehension of the one naturally drawes out an vndoubted apprehension of the other vnlesse the vnderstanding be vnattentiue or perverted For that any thing should be so simply good as a man might not vpon sundry respects abiure the practise of it or ought so absolutely evill as vpon no termes it might be embraced vnlesse we grant the soule to be immortall capable of miserie and happinesse in another world is an imagination vnfitting the capacitie of brutish or meere sensitiue creatures as shall be shewed by Gods assistance in the Article of finall Iudgement 5. That sicknesse and other crosses or calamities are best teachers of such good lessons as Plinies forementioned friend had learned from them Elihu long before him had observed whose observation includes thus much withall that such as will not be taught by these instructions are condemned for trewants and non-proficients in the schoole of Nature Vertue or Religion that is for Hypocrites and men vnsound at the heart For if the roote or seede of morall goodnesse remaine sound the Maxime holds alwayes true maturant aspera mentem Adversitie is like an harvest Sunne it ripeneth the minde to bring forth fruites of repentance He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous but with Kings are they on the throne yea he doth establish them for ever and they are exalted And if they be bound in fetters and be holden in cordes of affliction then he sheweth them their worke and their transgressions that they haue exceeded He openeth also their eare to discipline and commandeth that they returne from iniquitie If they obey and serue him they shall spend their dayes in prosperitie and their yeares in pleasures But if they obey not they shall perish by the sword and they shall dye without knowledge but the Hypocrites in heart heape vp wrath they cry not when he bindeth them The truth as well of Plinies as of Elihues observation is presupposed by most of Gods Prophets with whom it is vsuall to vpbraid his people with brutish stupiditie and hardnesse of heart to brand them with the note of vngracious children for not returning vnto the Lord in their distresse as if to continue in wonted sinnes or riotous courses after such sensible and reall proclamations to desist were open rebellion against God Senslesnesse of paines in extreame agonies doth not more certainly prognosticate death of body or decay of bodily life and spirits than impenitency in affliction doth a desperate estate of soule For the people turneth not vnto him that smiteth them neither doe they seeke the Lord of Hosts Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and taile branch and rush in one day And in that day did the Lord God of Hostes call to weeping and to mourning and to baldnesse and to girding with sackcloth And behold ioy and gladnesse slaying oxen and killing sheepe eating flesh and drinking wine let vs eate and drinke for to morrow wee shall dye And it was revealed in mine eares by the Lord of Hostes surely this iniquitie shall not be purged from you till ye dye sayth the Lord God of Hostes 6. The reason of this truth it selfe thus testified by three rankes of witnesses is not obscure in their Philosophy to whom I most accord who teach that the seedes of all truth are sowne by Gods hand in the humane soule and differ onely in reference or denomination from our desires of knowledge indefinitely taken As to our first parents so vnto vs when we first come vnto the vse of reason knowledge it selfe and for its owne sake seemeth sweete and welcome whether it be of things good or evill we much respect not But this desire of knowledge which in respect of actuall apprehension is indifferent neither set vpon good nor evill is vsually taken vp by actuall or experimentall knowledge of things evill or so vnprofitable that our inclinations or adherences vnto them either countersway our inclinations vnto goodnesse or choke our apprehensions of things truely good Now after our hopes of enioying such sense-pleasing obiects be by affliction or calamitie cut of the soule which hath not beene indissolubly wedded vnto them or alreadie giuen over by God vnto a reprobate sense hath more libertie than before it had to retire into it selfe and being freed from the attractiue force of allurements vnto the vanities of the world the Devill or flesh the naturall or implanted seedes of goodnesse recover life and strength and begin to sprout out into apprehensions either in loathing their former courses or in seeking after better And every least part or degree of goodnesse truely apprehended bringeth forth an apprehension of the author or fountaine whence it floweth that is of the divine nature In my prosperitie I said I shall never be moved Lord by thy favour thou hast made my mountaine to stand strong thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled I cryed to thee O Lord and vnto the Lord I made my supplication It may seeme strange to our first considerations as Calvin with some others vpon this place obserue that God should enlighten Davids eyes by hiding his face from him without the light of whose countenance even knowledge it selfe is no better than darkenesse But so it is that prosperitie doth oftentimes infatuate the best men and adversity maketh bad men wise The saying is authentique though the Author be Apocryphall Anima in angustijs spiritus anxius clamat ad te O Lord God almightie God of Israel the soule in Anguish the troubled spirit cryeth vnto thee So is that other Castigatio tua disciplina est eis Thy chastisement is their instruction Calvin hath a memorable story of a prophane Companion that in his jollitie abused these words of the Prophet The heaven even the heavens are the Lords but the earth hath he giuen to the children of men Psal 115. vers 16. The vse or application which this wretch hence made was that God had as little to doe with him here on earth as he had to doe with God in heaven But presently being taken with a suddaine gripe or pang he cryed out O God O God Yet this short affliction did not giue him perfect vnderstanding for afterwards he returned againe vnto his vomit and wallowing
did not our naturall feare of civill shame or publique infamie likely to redound for revolting from the rule of life generally acknowledged restraine our motiue faculties from acting those partes which haue beene designed vnto them by the vaine imaginations of our wicked hearts In as much as the heart of man is Gods peculiar inheritance with whose entire faculties he requires to be adored and served this inheritance being once alienated from him doth naturally draw the appurtenances after it even all such homage and services as are due vnto his sacred Maiestie bestowing them vpon those matters whatsoever they be vpon which it hath once bestowed it selfe Thus might the wanton Strumpet haue beene invested with the most glorious attributes of divine goodnesse that the lascivious Poet in heate of lust could haue invented Ilia et Egeria est do nomen quodlibet illi 8. Covetousnesse in S. Pauls Divinitie is Idolatrie With this written veritie most agreeable was the natural notion of those poore barbarous Indians which imagined the Spanyards had no other God besides gold or none so deare vnto them as this mettall was because they saw them hunt so greedily after it both by sea and land Their inordinate and excessiue coveting after it made the Barbarians to cōmit Idolatrie with it CHAPTER XVII The more speciall Fallacies by which Sathan seduced the Heathen to multiplie their gods in excessiue manner 1. ALthough it be true which hath beene said That nothing was by nature or condition so vile as not to be capable of high place amongst the Heathenish gods yet vnto that extremitie of multiplying their gods according to the number of their conceipts the Heathens did not slide but by succession and degrees The Persians as S. Austine tells vs worshipped no more gods then two one good and another evill whom they likewise accounted good so long as he did no ill to them How evill should be without a cause or how good and evill should both proceede from one cause or finally how evill being no part of nothing should come into the world seeing the worlds creation was but an effect of the almightie Creators goodnesse in communicating his being vnto all things are points so ill expressed by most Christians that the grossest errors of the Heathens concerning them may seeme very pardonable From these Persian Magies the Manichees it seemes deriue their heresies both of them as most other Heathens had a true apprehension though both failed in their iudgement or composition of those divine Oracles 1. Is there any evill done in the Cittie which I haue not caused 2. Every good gift is from aboue Before multiplicitie of businesses or artificiall curiosities be nummed the sense of nature every extraordinary or remarkeable effect was vnto men a sensible signe and witnesse of an invisibie power bringing things that were not to light Rom. 1. vers 20. 2. The first roots of that vnrighteousnesse wherein they held the truth thus in a manner desirous to manifest it selfe were 1. Carelesnesse in observing the notifications of divine power 2. Neglect to tender such dutifull service as the more evident manifestations of his goodnesse did in a sort demand The prime seede of both these roots was the imbecillitie of corrupted nature whose chiefe and supreme faculties though well instructed are alwayes apt to be over-borne with the imbred and accustomed desires of sense Of the forementioned apprehension or acknowledgement of some invisible power as chiefe author of good and evill one immediate consequence was this That the same power whether one or moe was the rewarder of such as sought to please him and a revenger of those that neglected or offended it Whence in mindes mis-led by their corrupt appetites the best and finall consequence of the former apprehensions or notions was to wooe the supposed divine powers by all meanes possible to patronize themselues and their actions though vniust dishonest or suspitious rather than to submit their wills and affections wholly to their disposalls or so to frame their liues as they might be capable of their iust favours And as vnskilfull Empyricks seeke remedy from every medicine they haue read or heard of because they know not the distinct vertue of any or how it is proportioned to the effect they ayme at So these poore-blind Heathen daily more and more ignorant in the grounds of true Religion did as it were grope after a new invisible power in every visible effect vntill at length they came to subdivide and breake the generall notion according to the distinction or number of the sensibles which they best or worst affected That every visible effect had an invisible cause was rightly proposed but from this principle they slipt into an erroneous assumption That there should be as many invisible causes as there be distinct or visible events The fallacie is easily put vpon vulgar or Somnolent wittes as if one should say he had ten brethren and every of them a sister some mens mindes would forthwith runne vpon two and twentie brothers and sisters Whether there be as many paternities or fatherhoods in the father as he hath sonnes is sometimes questioned in the Schooles and hard vniversally to determine whether in this sense Quot modis dicitur vnum Relatorum tot modis dicitur alterum Whether tearmes formally relatiue alwayes multiplie according to the number of their proper correlatiues Now to distinguish aright betweene the formall Relation and its immediate ground will in many subiects trouble greatest Artists Well then might the Heathen though ill they did in so doing imagine as many invisible powers as they observed effects produced by causes invisible or as the learned Hooker saith dreame of as many guides of nature as they saw guides of things naturall 3. After once their scattered imaginations had given admission to this erroneous representation or coniecture of many invisible powers distinct names or titles were sought for them from the effects which they had caused As in this Land before surnames continued in succession men commonly tooke their names from the places of their birth or dwelling or from events peculiar to them as strangers in some places yet if their names be hard to be pronounced or remembred are vsually called by the places from whence they came if these be famous or haue sent forth few or none besides to the coasts where they remaine So the image which Titus Tatius found because the partie whom it represented was altogether vnknowne was named Cloacina from a very homely place if it should be exprest in English Or as they framed severall gods according to the varietie of their intemperate desires so they vsually derived their titles from the matters whose avoydance or fruition they most desired As we giue extrinsecall denominations to obiects from the reference they haue to our internall faculties As some we say are intelligible others amiable Goddesses of this ranke were Volupia and Libentina c. 4. Not a
at sundry places at diverse times or with other different circumstances or contrariwise did not diverse effects oftentimes appeare in one and the same time and place or accompanied after one and the same fashion we should hardly so farre distinguish them as that the presence of the one should not represent the other or the remembrance of the one not suggest a severall notice of the other The coexistence of the one would alwayes be taken as a cause of whatsoever event had before accompanied both In events which haue no permanent existence nor obserue any certaine course to sever or abstract each circumstance from other is a matter not so easie to be effected by such as intend it as to be altogether forgotten or not intended The want notwithstanding of such abstraction or winnowing of circumstances is the essentiall root of superstition whose nature cannot be more fully notified than by a misdeeming of such circumstances or adiuncts as accompany extraordinary or vnusuall events befalling vs either for the true causes or procurers of them or for practicall associates or coe-workers fit to share with them in our loue or hate For this reason is grosse superstition most incident to mindes either great in themselues or puffe't vp with externalls but with all illiterate and rude Thus Clowis King of the then heathen Franks attributed the death of his first borne vnto the Christian Religion which his Queene professed or vnto Christ in whose name the Infant had beene baptized Quia Puer in dei vestri baptizatus est nomine Dij nostri illum praesenti luce fraudaverunt Because the poore childe was baptized in the name of your God therefore haue our Gods bereft him of his life And albeit the admirable patience and chearefull thanksgiving of his Queene vnto her God for taking her childe into a better kingdome might haue beene an vndoubted testimony of greater comfort in calamitie than Clowis his wonted Religion could affoord him yet he giues his second sonne for dead vpon his first attachment by sicknesse onely because baptized as the former had beene in Christs name Et hic propter superstitionem vestram incurrit offensam This childe also through your superstition hath incurred the displeasure of our Gods As if he had heard olde Iacob from remembrance of Iosephs miscarriage bitterly complaining of Beniamins losse I shall be robd of my childe as I haue beene But this childes recovery of his bodily health did so farre rectifie the King his fathers minde as to take Christian Baptisme for no necessary signe or forerunner of death to French Children It did not though enlighten him to see the grossenesse of wonted heathenish or his nationall superstition still apprehended by him as a true cause because a perpetuall concomitant of his former good successe in battaile But when he sawe this beginne to faile him in time of neede and victory so farre gone vnto the Almanes his enemies as there was smal hope his gods could call her back out of the memory of his beleeving consorts reverend mention of Christ and declaration of his goodnesse he burst out into this prayer O thou most powerfull God Christ whom my wife Crotilda worshippeth with a pure heart behold I vow the Trophies of my faith vnto thee so thou wilt giue me victory over these mine enemies This being said saith mine Author feare came vpon the Almanes the French were Conquerers the Almanes conquered and made tributaries This present helpe from God at the very point of perill and extreame daunger was a sure document That sincere profession of Christian Religion was no bare adiunct or concomitant but an authorized messenger of health of peace and victorie 2. The like superstition did more desperately possesse Maximinus the chiefe matter of whose accustomed glory was That his raigne had neither beene pestered with famine warre or pestilence the especiall cause of freedome from which annoyances was by him imputed to his carefull worship of other gods and zealous impugning of Christians As if the temporaneall coexistence of these two effects had sufficiently argued the ones causall dependance vpon the other But God shortly after falsifies these foolish collections by fulfilling our Saviours prophecie Cum dicunt pax tuta omnia tunc repentinum eis imminet exitium Whilest they proclaime peace and securitie sudden destruction comes vpon them very remarkeably in this boaster For all these three Pursevants of Gods wrath came vpon him and his people like Iobs messengers each treading on others heeles for hast Eusebius lib. 9. cap. 7. 3. More grossely did some late Mahumetan Moores ascribe their publique calamities vnto their lately deceased Kings bringing in of Lyons and sufferance of Wine to be brought in by Christians And whether in hope of successefull reformation intended by him or to satisfie his ignorant peoples expectation of it the Lyons were killed by his newly elected successors appointment and the Wine brought in by Christians powred out in their open streetes This superstitious iealousie of these barbarous Africans though in these latter times more grosse than credible may be exactly paralleld by the like disposition of moderne Russians It shall suffice to quote the Author the matter related by him hath such semblance with the former that the addition of discourse would rather obscure than adde luster to their mutuall representations 4. All are alike apt to search though all not alike able to finde the true or discover the colourable causes of every effect which much concerne them And as Land for want of direct heires falls oft to collateralls of the same progenie so time and place because of kinne vnto every effect are by the ignorant or misaffected reputed Lords or disposers of successe good or bad to which no cause apparant makes evident claime A liuely character of this disposition thus apt to take the impression of error wee haue in that Poeticall description of Aeacus and his people which wrongfully indited their beds and houses of the disasters which befell them ......... Fugiuntque penates Quisque suos sua cuique domus funesta videt◠Et quia causa latet locus est in crimine notus The houses deem'd to breed their bane the owners quite disclaime And since the cause they doe not knowe the knowne place beares the blame And in that other of Cadmus ..... Seriéque malorum Victus ostentis quae plurima viderat exit Conditor vrbe suâ tanquam fortuna locorum Non sua se premeret Affright with many a direfull sight the Founder leaues the Towne As if th' ill lucke which hunted him had beene its not his owne It was a blast of the same superstitious doctrine or blind perswasion which impelled the Philistines to carrie the Arke from place to place 1. Sam. 5. vers 7. vsque ad cap. 6. v. 8. 5. The confidence of a good cause would scarce so much haue animated the Princes of Germanie as the very name of the places
slaine in such a stile as were enough to cast a musing Reader into a waking dreame or imagination that the walls the houses the very soile whereon shee trod had beene animated with some peculiar Genius capable of friendship and foehood Horruit Argia dextrasque ad moenia tendens Vrbs optata prius nunc tecta hostilia Thebe Si tamen illoesas reddis mihi coniugis vmbras Nunc quoque dulce solum With griefe o'regrowne to Theban-walls her suppliant hands shee bends Oh Cittie late too dearly lou'd since loue in sorrow ends Now hostile Thebes yet so thou willest my Consorts Corps restore Still shalt thou be a Soile to me as deare as heretofore These or the like speeches of heathen Poets if by Christians they may not be vttered without reproofe Lactantius his censure of Tullie for his too lavish Rhetoricall Prosopopeia made vnto Philosophie shall saue me a labour O Philosophie the guide of life the searcher out of vertue the banisher of vice without thee not onely wee thy followers should be no bodies but even the life of mankinde could be nothing worth for thou hast beene the Foundresse of Lawes the Mistresse of manners and discipline As if forsooth saith this Author Philosophie it selfe could take any notice of his words or as if He rather were not to be praised which did bestow her He might with as good reason haue rendered the like Rhetoricall thanks to his meate and drinke for without these the life of man cannot consist howbeit these are things without sense Benefits they are but they can be no Benefactors As they are the nourishment of the bodie so is wisedome or true Philosophie of the soule 3. That the seminaries of Poetrie should be the chiefe nurses of Idolatry argues how apt the one is to bring forth the other or rather how both lay like twinnes in the wombe of the same vnpurified affection vsually begotten by one spirit Woods and fountaines as every Schoole-boy knoweth were held chiefe mansions of the Muses to whose Courts the Poets resorted to doe their homage invoking their aide as the goddesses whom they most renowned hereto allured by the opportunitie of the place The pleasant spectacle and sweete resounds which woods and shadie fountaines afford will sublimate illiterate spirits and tune or temper mindes otherwise scarce apt for any to retired contemplations They are to every noise as an organized bodie to the soule or spirit which moues it Gentle blasts diffused through them doe so well symbolize with the internall agitations of our mindes and spirits that when wee heare them we seeme desirous to vnderstand their language and learne some good lesson from them And albeit they vtter not expresly what we conceiue yet to attentiue composed thoughts they inspire a secret seede or fertilitie of invention especially sacred 4. But is or was the notion of the Deitie naturally more fresh and liuely in these seminaries of heathenish Poetry than in other places Yes every vnusuall place or spectacle whether remarkeably beautifull or gastly imprints a touch or apprehension of some latent invisible power as President of what we see Seneca's observation to this purpose will open vnto vs one maine head or source of heathenish Idolatrie which well cleansed might adde fertilitie to Christian devotion In vnoquoque virorum bonorum quis deus incertum est habitat deus To proue this conclusion that God is neare vs even within vs thus he leads vs. If thou light on a groue thicke set with trees of such vnusuall antiquitie and height as that they take away the sight of Heaven by the thicknesse of their branches ouer spreading one another the height of the wood the solitarinesse of the place and the vncouthnesse of the close and continued shade in the open aire doe ioyntly represent a kinde of Heaven on earth and exhibit a proofe vnto thee of some divine power present Or if thou chance to see a denne whose spatious concauitie hath not beene wrought by the hand-labour of men but by causes naturall which haue so deepely eaten out and consumed the stones that they haue left a hanging mountain to ouer spread it like a Canopie the sight likewise will affect the minde with some touch or apprehension of Religion We adore the heads of great Rivers c. Vide Parag. 8. 9. of this Chapter 5. And because superstition can hardly sprout but from the degenerate and corrupt seeds of devotion wicked spirits did haunt these places most which they perceived fittest for devout affections As sight of such groues and fountaines as Seneca describes would nourish affection so the affection naturally desirous to enlarge it selfe would with the helpe of these Spirits sleights and instigations incite the superstitious to make their groues more retired and sightly Thus like cunning anglers they first baite the places and then fish them and their appearance being most vsuall when mens mindes were thus tuned to devotion the eye would easily seduce the heart to fasten his affections to the place wherein they appeared as more sacred than any other And to the spirits thus appearing as to the sole Lords and owners of the delightfull soile and chiefe Patrons of these bewitching rites and customes they thought their best devotions were not too good 6. Throughout the story of the Iudges and Kinges of Israel we may obserue how groues were as the banquetting houses of false gods the trappes and ginnes of sacrilegious superstition For this cause in all suppressions of Idolatrie the commission runnes joyntly for cutting downe groues and demolishing Altars So God Deuteronomie the 5. after commandement given to destroy the Amorites addeth this iniunction withall Ye shall overthrow their Altars and breake downe their pillars and ye shall cut downe their groues and burne their graven Images with fire And vnto Gideon the first in my remembrance to whom this warrant was in particular directed Throw downe the Altar of Baal that thy Father hath made and cut downe the groue that is by it Iudg. 6. v. 25. And Ezekiah whiles he remoued the high places and brake the Idolls cut downe the groues 2. King 18. v. 4. The like did Iosias after him 2. King 23. v. 14. How availeable either this destruction of groues was to the extirpation or the cherishing of them to the growth and increase of Idolatrie the good successe of â—agello his like religious policie in winning the Lithuâ—nians his stifly Idolatrous and strangely superstitious Country men vnto Christian Religion may enforme vs. I relate the Story at large as I finde it because it conteines fresh and liuely experiments as well of this present as of diverse other observations in this Treatise And no man will easily distrust auncient reports when he sees them parallele by moderne and neighbour examples The common sort saith mine Author speaking of the Lithuanian about two hundred yeares agoe was very stiffe and would hardly indure to be intreated to relinquish their
out against him In this generall then Vasques and wee well agree that such externall worship as vpon speciall and rare occasions may be lawfully exhibited to some creatures becomes Idololatricall by vse or continuance without concurrence of like occasions The issue which wee desire to joyne with him and his fellowes from these grounds shall be this First whether the homage which they doe to Images be not in it selfe much greater and in respect of many circumstances far more solemne than Haman required of Mordecai Secondly whether the exhibition of it in Gods Temples be not more frequent and vsuall than Mordecais occasions and necessities of saluting Haman could haue beene in Assuerus Court Herein onely they truely follow Mordecais example that they seldome or never communicate Gods honour to secular Princes but on stockes or stones they vsually bestow all the signes of submission or other solemnities that can be appropriated to Gods service 2. The strict tenour of Gods commandement and that significant character whereby he expresseth his speciall observance of mens demeanour in this point evidently condemne the Romish Church of abominable Idolatry yet in my judgement it doth no way preiudice the performance of such externall respect or such testification of reverence vnto true reliques of Saints or vncouth places sometimes extraordinarily graced with Gods presence as Iacob tendered vnto the stone We ought in these cases to moderate the impulsions which their sight would procure by the analogie of that libertie which discretion and good manners grants vs in other points wherewith the occasions of Idolatrie haue most affinitie For Idolatry is but a spirituall fornication or adultery Now there is no man of discretion though otherwise more iealous than he hath iust cause but will permit his wife to salute his friends vpon speciall occasions or at first meetings after long absence But suppose a wanton vpon this libertie should presume to continue the same salutations evening and morning or most houres of the day for a moneth together and plead her excuse from the analogie of Romish Catechismes in cases of conscience concerning spirituall adulterie thus Sir I thought I might as freely kisse my friends and yours at one time as at another at all times as well as at any so long as I kisse them onely with kisses of loue and kindnesse not of lust and wantonnesse Would this distinction giue iust satisfaction to any husband no farther iealous than he hath occasion I thinke no Iesuite would relie vpon it if he should be detected to be thus over familiar with another mans wife of better spirit And yet in expresse denying the equitie of this apologie they implicitly graunt that their mother doth presume farther vpon the patience of the Almightie who in this case hath protested his especiall iealousie than any secular Strumpet dare vpon the patience of her loving or doting husband She hath done all the workes of a presumptuous whorish woman building her high places in the corner of every way and making her high places in every street and hath not bin as an harlot that despiseth a reward but as a wife that playeth the harlot and taketh others for her husband She is contrarie Other harlots receiue rewards of their lovers which for the most part repaire vnto them She compasseth sea and land and rangeth through all the Courts of the great Kings dominion with gifts in her hand to entice with the sacrifice of prayse and hymnes in her mouth to enchaunt the chast and loyall servants of her Lord vnto her lust And being deprived of their company prostrates her selfe evening and morning all the houres of the day and night vnto carved Images of both sexes with whom her Lord and husband hath so strictly forbidden her all familiaritie And yet in pride of her whorish cunning presumes shee is able to bleare that all-seeing eye vnto whose brightnesse light it selfe is in comparison but as darkenesse to whom the most secret corners of darknesse shine more clearely than the noone-light doth vnto vs if shee haue but leasure to wipe her lippes with this distinction I did kisse thy servants vnto whom I prostrated my body only with kisses of dulia not of latria The sent of dead corps cannot draw the Vultures halfe so far with such greedinesse as every vnsavoury tale or ridiculous wonder doth her children to feed their soules with the sight of counterfeit and putrified reliques The wisest of her sonnes are now become so foolish as to publish with their mouths what she had long since said in the pride of her heart Tush God was a iealous God in the dayes of the Synagogue his former wife which wanted discretion and proued vnfaithfull but this his new Spouse our holy mother the Catholicke Church is more wise and gratious in his eyes able to warrant whatsoever is done by her appointment she knows how to humor and please her loving husband who is not like man that he should be jealous of her carriage that meanes no harme cannot behaue her selfe amisse though to vnfaithfull eyes she may seeme outwardly to doe as wantons doe 3. God indeed is never jealous as men are without grounds of just occasion yet more tenderly observant of his spouses demeanour in this kinde than any husband is of his wifes because he knowes as by his law he would giue vs to vnderstand that familiaritie or dalliance with strange and wanton lovers is not so powerfull to corrupt the weaker sex as kissing or solemne salutations of graven Images is to pollute the wisest soules or to enveigle the strongest faith And vnlesse we knew he had determined to confound the wisedome of the wise it would seeme more than miraculously strange how such great schollers as are the Iesuites should be ignorant that the visible exhibition of Christ in the flesh makes all service of graven Images more abominable in the Christians than it could haue beene in the Iew. It is a truth sealed by the new Testament as well as by the Law We heard a voyce we saw no similitude besides the engraven Image of Gods substance by whom though he speake most plentifully to the world yet spake he nothing concerning Images Neither is there any instance or matter of fact in all the new Testament that can be pretended for worshipping Images or other visible creatures with such shew of probabilitie as the former instance of Iacob may be But whether Iacob did onely worship God praesente lapide or whether he did in some sort externally worship or coadore the stone with God or whether he did make vnto himselfe such sensible attestation of his solemne vow by anointing the stone and erecting it into a pillar as wee doe of our solemne oaths by kissing of the booke I leaue it to the Reader though for mine owne part I like this last forme of speech the best But however mens opiniōs may vary concerning the forme of speech the matter most to be considered by all which
as it were the swaying voice betwixt them relent or decline from the point wherat it stood and either assent vnto the suggestions of sence for the time being as true and good or at least not expressely condemne them for false nor couragiously withstand them 2. Truths or mandates divine considered in generall or without incombrances annexed to their practise many there be which affect more vehemently than their more honestly minded brethren But this fervent imbracement arising not from a cleare intellectuall apprehension of their abstract truth or liue touch of their goodnesse but rather from a generall affectionate temper Volendi valdè quicquid volunt of willing eagerly whatsoever they will at all becommeth the shop of transforming or mispicturing Gods will revealed in his word whiles they descend to actuall choyce of particulars proffered in their course of life Men of this temper saith S. Augustine Ita veritatem amant vt velint vera esse quaecunque amant Such lovers they are of truth that they wish all might be true which they loue And vehement desires often reiterated multiply themselues into perswasions Sometimes it may be they eagerly affect vnopposed truth for its owne sake but withall more eagerly affect those sensuall pleasures which most oppose it Oftimes againe some thing in its nature truly good is mixed with or included in those particulars which they strongly affect and whiles this combination lasts goodnesse it selfe is imbraced with them ex accidente But being imbraced onely vpon these tearmes when the same particulars after the combination is dissolved come accompanied with other distastfull adherents it is loathed by them according to the degrees of former liking Socrates sayth a witty Writer when he defined loue to be a desire of that which was beautifull or comely should haue given this Caveat withall That nothing almost is in it nature so vnbeautifull or vncomely but will seeme faire and louely so it might haue a lovers eye for its looking glasse But Socrates his meaning was perhaps better than this witty Writers apprehension and was if I mistake not his Dialect this That not every desire of any seeming good or comely appearances but onely that desire which is set on goodnesse beautie or comelinesse it selfe is to be graced with the title of loue Howbeit loue or desire thus set cannot secure affectionate tempers from being tossed or shaken with sense-pleasing opportunities or temptations 3. That our Saviours advise is to be followed before any contrary counsell is a point so cleare as no Christian can deny the obedience of speculatiue assent vnto it yet many men almost every man in matters of practise prejudiciall to their private interests will traverse the meaning whether of his clearest Maximes or most peremptory Mandates His reply to Martha complaining of her sister for not helping her to intertaine him Martha Martha Thou art carefull and troubled about many things but one thing is needfull And Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her Luk. chap. 10. vers 41 42. includes a Maxime of sacred vse and will warrant this Aphorisme That a life priviledged with vacancie from secular imployments for better meditation on heavenly matters is the most compendious course to that endlesse life which every Christian proposeth as the sole end of this wearisome pilgrimage Were our hearts constant in themselues and stedfastly setled vpon the former generall truth it were impossible our inclination or assent to it should not be swayed as strongly to the practises subordinate Doth then our inclination or assent remoue from the former generall whiles it beares off from these or like particular practises Yes and would draw our soules to contradictious Atheisme did they not by a nimble tricke of sophisticall inversion retire backwards by a contrary way vnto the points from which they shrinke Their recovered assent or adherence to former generalities may in some sence be rather accounted the same then altogether diverse So might the Marriners needle be more truely said to be fixed vpon the same points rather then diverted from them albeit that end which was set vpon the South-pole were instantly turned vnto the North. The naturall situation of the former generall assent was thus The true sence and meaning of our Saviours advise is alwayes best and to be followed before any contrary counsell But when free choyce of opposite particulars is presented it turnes thus That which is the best course and most to be followed is certainly such as our Saviours words truely vnderstood doe advise vnto The assent is in effect the same onely inverted But from this inversion wee vsually draw Iustifications or Apologies for our most sinister choyces The ambitious minde from the inverted generall assent thus assumes Practicall imployments for preferment my opportunities and qualifications considered are the best course I can take either for mine owne or others good wherefore our Saviours advise to Martha rightly limited or interpreted is no way adversant to my intended choyce And if he can light of other sacred passages which mention the advancement of Gods Saints to civill dignities as Daniells wearing a purple robe and furtherance of the Churches cause by his high place in the Court these he takes as sealed warrants to authorize his ambitious desires or selfe-exalting projects 4. How many vnbeneficed men in our times haue with great zeale and presumed fervencie of that spirit by which holy Scriptures were written preached damnation against pluralities of benefices afterwards allured by the sweet of one to swallow more and not so content to condemne their former opinion as conceived from schismaticall expositions of Scriptures worthy of excommunication What was the reason In want or discontent they were perswaded that if no Clergie man should haue more livings than one they might hope to haue one at least amongst their neighbours And the necessitie of this doctrine being to them as they were now affected the better was apprehended by equall strength of the same affection as the more true and warrantable by Gods word But their appetite first sharpened by want being once fed with the fat of one did inflame their desires with vndoubted hope of more good likely to redound from two or more And because their first opinions or resolutions included lesse hopefull meanes or matter of contentment to their present desires it was to be condemned as vntrue or lesse probable than this which they now embrace especially in that the former had been conceived by them when they were scarce men or men of meane place or little experience in the world worse by three hundred pound a yeare than now they are 5. To maintaine their opinions with cracking flashes of burning zeale or to overlash in commendations of mens persons is a temper in young men especially very suspitious and more truely argues abundance of ambitious humour or vnpurified affection than any degree of sincere loue to truth or goodnesse For this reason when either
to a taste not misaffected For thirst is but an appetite of cooling moysture and this appetite being intended by violent heate or drinesse the organ wherein it resideth takes no notice of any other quality besides that which best contents it for the present All others that accompany it are well-come or passe vnquestioned for its sake so the sence of cooling moysture be not abated by their presence From a cause in true Philosophie much what the same it is that if one string be stiffely bent and another slacke onely one doth sound though both be touched For the same reason violent passions intensiue desires or strong affections either straine out or sucke in onely so much of the sence of Scriptures as symbolizeth with themselues Such circumstances as in sober examination would make most against vs leaue no impression in our mindes much bent vpon any private purpose What could haue beene more offensiue to the Pharisees not moved with bitter opposition to the Sadduces then S. Pauls doctrine of Christs appearance to him after his resurrection The very mention of his appearance to him once in the way to Damascus afterwards in the Temple perswading him the second time to preach his resurrection to the Gentiles had made them ere while cry out Away with such a fellow from the earth for it is not fit that he should liue But as the Philosopher sayth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Common dread will vnite most disagreeing hearts For this reason professors of contrary opinions so both stedfastly hold the generall will joyne forces against the third that contradicts or vndermines the common foundation All inclination to exercise enmitie is rooted in a hope or possibilitie of preserving proper entitie safe entire What could it then boote the Pharisees to brangle with S. Paul about Christs resurrection or appearance whilest the Sadduces by denying all apparition of spirit or Angell or hope of resurrection from the dead did not so much oppugne him as the very foundation of their Religion Vnto this passionate and vehement distast of the Sadduces doctrine Pauls conformity with the Pharisees in birth education and generalitie of beliefe doth relish so well that his particular differences or dissentions from them no way disaffect them He avouched expresly that Christ whom they had crucified did appeare vnto him but they apprehended it to be after such a manner as Gods Angells did in times past to their fathers Now this kind of appearance witnessed the truth of the Pharisees opinions that there be spirits or Angells and Pauls seasonable proffering of this testimony doth so please their humour that the Scribes which were on the Pharisees part acquitted him by Proclamation Wee finde no evill in this man but if a spirit or Angell hath spoken vnto him let vs not fight against God Act. 23. vers 9. That thus farre they favoured him was not out of true loue either to his person or any part of the truth he taught but from loue of themselues and their opinions from jealous impatiency of contradiction in publique place by an inferior sect So likewise we reade in the Gospell when our Saviour from Gods word to Moses had most divinely proued the Resurrection I am the God of Abraham c. and fully satisfied a curious question so captiously proposed by the Sadduces as would haue puzled the greatest Rabbi amongst the Pharisees certaine of them answered Maister thou hast well said Luk. 20. ver 39. They like well he should be a witnesse of the Resurrection that being one speciall point which their credit lay vpon to make good vnto the multitude against the Sadduces but as ready they are to adjudge him to death for avouching himselfe to be the great Iudge of such as were raised from the dead howbeit his raising of himselfe from the dead did proue his words to be most true and so would the manner of his appearance vnto S. Paul which now they grant haue clearely evinced both his Resurrection and comming in glory vnto judgement whereof it was a transient but reall representation so their assent vnto S. Paul in that assembly had beene sincere and free not forced by factious opposition to the Sadduces The inconsequent issues of this generall truth acknowledged by them testifie that their approbation of our Saviour for being a witnesse of the resurrection and their condemnation of him for avouching himselfe judge of such as were raised from death did issue from one and the same corrupt fountaine from loue of authority over the people and applause of men from a stubborne and envious desire to excell their opposites and not to be excelled by any With their affections thus set our Saviours doctrine indefinitely considered sometimes had coniunction and then they mightily applaud him but oftner opposition and then Polyphoemus-like they more maligned him 2. Admit we could iustly acquit our selues from other points of Pharisaisme that spirit of contention and waiward emulation which this day raignes throughout Christendome and rageth oftimes no lesse in defence of good causes then in maintaining or abetting bad will as easily set over such as retaine the generall or publique forme of sound doctrine to concurre with heretiques or godlesse men in transforming particular places of Scripture which make for private desires as factious opposition to the Sadduces did the Pharisees to consent vnto our Saviour and to S. Paul in the points late mentioned albeit they did detest the principall Articles the very patterne of that beliefe which they propagated to the world That admonition to the Philippians as it concernes these times as much as former so doth it the maintainers of true Religion most of any The admonition was Let nothing be done through contention or vaine-glory but that in meekenesse of minde every man esteeme other better than himselfe Phil. 2.3 CHAPTER XLVII Of dreaming fancies concerning the sense of Scripture in the Romanist in the Iew in the Separatist or Enthusiast 1. IT were easie to instance in many controversie Writers which in hotte pursuite of their adversaries haue swallowed downe passages of Scripture or other authorities whose true sense if so sifted as every circumstance might make full impression vpon their composed and setled apprehensions would be more against them then for them as their authors no question agreed no better with the allegators doctrine than Paul did with the Pharisees The impertinent collections of Monkes and Fryars to proue Purgatorie from such places of Scripture as haue no other semblance with it saue onely that they mention metaphoricall fire would make an vnpartiall Reader call to minde if so he had read it the fable of the Apes which espying a Glow-worme in a winters night gathered stickes and blowed themselues breathlesse to make them burne Did not this imaginary flame produce such a reall warmth to the malignant crue as is able to hatch an extraordinary desire of having the fire by what meanes soever still maintained impudency it selfe would blush and
There is no error but hath its nutriment from truth in whose roote it is engraffed like a wilde plant in a naturall stocke no vice but hath similitude in part with one or other vertue Now where vice or bad habits doe abound no character of any morall vertue or precept divine can leaue any true stampe or compleate impression of it selfe well may it moue or tickle the predominant humour with which it symbolizeth in part The covetous and niggardly disposition will solace it selfe with precepts of frugalitie and this solace taken in a conceited conformitie to the rule of life doth stiffen him in his wonted sinne The commendations of ingenuitie or freedome of spirit sympathize well with braue resolute mindes as they doe in part with stubbornnesse or selfe-will and the applause which the stubborne or selfe-willed take in this their partiall sympathie with the temper of Saints or holy men works a delight in them to glory in their shame So the prayse of valour or courage in good causes is as a watch-word to foole-hardinesse which once started will admit no curbe or restraint from any sacred precept commending warinesse or ingenuous feare The approbation given by Gods word to excessiue zeale or indignation swelling vpon just occasions oftimes provokes malitious dispositions to vent their bitternesse in a kinde of affected imitation of Saints Now not onely all imitation of counterfeit goodnesse but all counterfeit imitation of true goodnesse will in the end bring forth true and reall naughtinesse Generally as the word of life and grace where it fructifies doth translate our naturall dispositions into goodnesse supernaturall so the opinion or presumption of having our actions warranted or our dispositions countenanced from Gods word or will revealed doth sublimate all corruptions by nature inherent or acquired by custome into a degree of evill more then naturall 3. These grosse preposterous misconstructions admit no set bounds or limits of increase or waning besides the different degrees or qualities of the humour whence they spring As excessiue intemperance breeds an hate or loathing of divine goodnesse and disposeth to an amitie with hell so in others rightly perswaded as well of the truth of the Deitie as of the veracitie of his written word indefinitely conceived some particular rootes of bitternesse may be so venemous and malignant as will cause them to cast aspersions of blasphemie vpon the salvificall sense of these sacred oracles and to deifie contrary misconstructions prompted onely by the lusts and corruptions of the flesh Choler in some men though abundant is forthwith pacified with placid behaviour or gentle language but in others is so peevish and fretfull as maketh them interpret all addressements to pacifications to be but mockerie That which at other times to them or at all times to other men would be reputed affabilitie is in the heate of present distemper flatterie what others would take for true submission or be glad to entertaine as a serious proffer of reconcilement whiles this humor is stirred is dissimulation or subtiltie to entrap them The reason of such vncharitable misconstructions is the same which was given before Whatsoever is obvious to thoughts inwardly perplexed or grieved is apprehended as evill because it reviues or exasperates the cause of griefe and being apprehended as irkesome to their present dispositions the vnderstanding or fancie must play the Parasites and make good such imputations as the predominate humor layes vpon the obiect Others words or gestures alwayes provoke some motion in vs and with the motion some humor or other is set on working Now if the humor be tart or bitter the motion of it will be vnpleasant to the partie in whom it resides For this reason men sickly or cholericke prosecute all that speake to them or whatsoever moues the fretting humor with the same dislike they haue of it or their internall grievances thus occasioned All is one whether the speech or behaviour be faire or foule so the irkesome disposition be exasperated which sometimes is more offended with the antipathie of affabilitie or proffered courtesie than with churlish or boysterous opposition of the like temper in others For being boysterously opposed it either relents or findes opportunitie to exonerate it selfe and spend its venome by vehemencie of provoked motion but gathers strength by fretting inwardly at their speech or gestures which vnseasonably endevour to allay it as the Spring-sunne by stirring humors being not able to draw them out or digest them produceth agues Some tempers of minde in like sort there be very apt to be offended with divine truth either bluntly obscurely doubtfully or vnseasonably propounded and yet as ready to be friends with it distinctly and placidly represented Others are so tainted with the sower leaven of Pharisaisme that the more evident the truth is made or more plausibly delivered vnto them the more bitterly they maligne it and the proposers of it for the inward griefe of a worme-bitten conscience doth more disquiet the soule and spirit than any choler can doe the body or animal facultie Thus the high Priest rent his cloathes at our Saviours interpretation of that place in Daniel Hereafter shall ye see the Sonne of man as if he had spoken blasphemie Albeit his manner of delivering this divine truth manifest enough to sober examinours were most placid and in tearmes mitigated below the tenour of a direct answer to the question proposed Had he prophecied to haue made them Kings or vpon opportunitie of his late triumphant entertainment interpreted the Prophets words of himselfe then comming as their Generall to outbraue the Romanes with golden shieldes or glittering armour he might haue gained that applause which they afterward gaue to Herod Non vox hominis sed Dei SECTION VI. Of qualifications requisite for conceiving aright of the divine Nature and his Attributes CHAPTER XLIX The generall qualification or first ground for preventing misconceits of the Divine Nature or Attributes is purification of heart 1. THe Heathens grossely either multiply or mis-figure the divine Nature we varnish their vnsightly pictures or conjoyne their distracted representations both misproportion or deface him in his Attributes Now as it is the corruption of nature wherein we communicate too deepely with the Heathen which maketh vs partakers of their sins so shall we proue our selues more vnexcusable by much then they were vnlesse their example excite in vs religious care and alacritie to vse those meanes which many of them by light of nature questionlesse without the internall light of grace saw to be necessary for attaining the true knowledge of the Deitie To the better sort of them it was a cleare truth and a received Maxime That as the Sunne cannot be seene without its owne light so God could not be knowne without his illuminations That by these illuminations profered to all the most part were not in any degree inlightned for want of internal preparation The preparation or disposition by them required was purification of the soule