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
we found our second marke of Religion namely that the seruice of God which Religion is to teach vs must be grounded vppon his word and reuealed vnto vs by his ownselfe Let vs heare what the heathen say in this case who knewe very well that all the Ladders of their Philosophie were too short to reache thereunto and that it behoued men to be inlightened and instructed from aboue Diuinitie saith Plato cannot be laydforth after the maner of other kinds of seruing but hath neede of continuall mynding And then our wit is foorthwith kindled as with a fyre which afterward gathereth light more more and maynteineth it selfe Finally sayth he we know nothing of Gods matters by our owne skill If he which of all the auncient Philosophers saw most cléere confesse here that his sight faileth very much if it be not ayded from aboue what may we déeme of others And in good sooth in matters of Religion he sendeth vs euermore to the auncient Oracles that is to say according to his meaning to Gods word Aristotle in his Supernaturals rehearseth and commendeth a certeyne answere of Simonides too Hieron Kyng of Sicilie which is that it belongeth to none but onely God to haue skill of the things that are aboue nature and howe much lesse then to be skilfull in Diuinitie and to dispose of Religion that is to say to shewe the meane how to ouercome and surmount nature And whereas Cicero in his Lawes sayeth that there is not any lawe among men wherto men are bound to obey vnlesse it be ordeined by GOD and deliuered as it were with his owne mouth if he had bene well examined he would haue sayde no lesse concerning Religion It is certaine saith Iamblicus that we be bound to do the things that please God But which are those Surely sayth he they be not possible to be knowen of any man but of him that hath heard God himselfe speake or which haue learned them by some heauenly instruction And Alpharabius the Arabian agreeth thereunto in these words The things that concerne GOD and are to be beleeued through holy fayth are of a higher degree than all other things because they proceede from diuine inspiration and mans wit is too weake and his reason too short too attayne to them And therefore we reade that as they which haue ordeined and stablished any Religion in any Nation haue giuen it foorth as proceeding from God verily because nature taught them that it belongeth to none but to God alone to appoynt how hee shal be serued neither would the ordinance therof otherwise be obserued because the parties that were to obey it would make as great account of thēselues as of the partie that should inioyne it Thus by the definitiue sentence of the Philosophers our second marke standeth firme which will serue vs to discerne the true Religion from the inuentions of men so as we may well refuse for vntrueth whatsoeuer is not grounded vpon Gods word But in following our former purpose let vs consider yet further whether this will suffice or no. We haue néede of a Lawe that procéedeth from Gods mouth and what may that I pray you be but the same which proceedeth from holynesse it self namely that we should be holy as he is holy And if we cannot of our selues know God nor how he ought to be serued alas how shall we performe it when he hath declared it vnto vs The ende of Religion sayeth Plato is to knit man vnto God The way to bring this to passe is to become rightuous and holy or as saith Iamblichus to offer vnto GOD a cleane mynd voyd of all naughtines and cléere from all spot What man as euen they themselues confesse could euer vaunt therof And what els then is Religion to all of vs but a booke wherein we reade the sentence of our death that is to wit our very death in deede vnlesse that in the ende wee find some grace or forgiuenesse of our sinnes Yet notwithstanding Religion is the Pathway to life yea euen to eternall life a Pathway that hath a certeyne ende and which beguyleth vs not Therefore it must by some meanes or other fill vs vp the great gulfe that is betwéene endlesse death and endlesse life and betwéene the dwellingplace of blessednes and the horriblenes of Hell And therefore let our third marke be That Religion must put into our hands a meane to satisfie Gods Iustice without the which not onely all other Religions but also euen that which conteineth the true seruing of the true GOD were vtterly vayne and vnprofitable Now mans reason hath well perceiued that some such meane was néedefull in Religion but to knowe what that meane is was to high a thing for mans reason to atteyne vntoo In respect whereof the Platonists busied themselues very much in finding out some meane to cleanse men from their sinnes and too knit them vnto God beeing reconciled to his fauour and they set downe certeine degrées wherby to atteine therunto But yet in the end they confesse all their washings and clensings to be vtterly vnsufficient There are which say it is to bee done by abstinence by vertuous behauiour by skill or by Iupiters mysteries and some say it is to be done by al of them successiuely one after another But yet when they haue bestirred themselues on all sides Porphyrius conclusion is That they be Ceremonies without effect and yet notwithstanding that there must of necessitie néedes be a meane to purge and iustifie men and that the same must bee vniuersall and that it is not possible admitting Gods prouidence as we ought to doe that God should leaue mankind destitute of that meane And that this remedie ought to be conteyne din Religion hee sheweth sufficiently in that hee seeketh it in taking the Orders and in the Consecrations hallowings and other misteries of his owne Religion which in the end he letteth go againe But yet more apparantly doth Hierocles shewe it who sayth that Religion is a studie of Wisedome that consisteth in clensing and perfecting the life that men may be at one with God and become like vnto him and that to atteyne to that cleanesse the meane is to enter into a mans owne conscience and to consider of his sinne and to confesse it vnto God Thus farre he is very well Neuerthelesse here they stoppe ouershort euerychone of them for vppon confession inseweth but death vnlesse God who is the very Iustice it selfe and more infinitely contrary to euill than we can imagine be appeased and satisfied for our offences whereas in Religion we séeke for very life To bee short of the great nomber of Religions which are in the Worlde some haue no certeine restingpoint atall as we reade of some people of Affrik which worship that thing which they méete first in the morning and that is but a vaine Ceremonie Some haue a restingpoynt howbeit an euill one as for example all they
and of his neighbor than to see God redéeme him from wretched thraldome by the death of his owne Sonne God and Man and the same his own Sonne crucified and dying for the raunsome not of his brethren but of his enemies whom he voutsafeth to admit to be his brethren But forasmuch as the Iewes beléeue the Scriptures they will not refuse them in this poynt and therefore let vs examine them here together As touching Christs Lowelynesse in abacing himself I haue treated thereof heretofore and all the whole scripture teacheth it vs sufficiently At one word in the place where it is sayd The Scepter shalnot bee taken from Iuda it is added byandby Tying his Assecolt to the vyne and the foale of his sheeasse to the hedge Uppon which text Rabbi Hadarsan sayeth thus when Chryst commeth to Hierusalem he shal gird his Asse with a girt and enter into the citie very poorely and lowelely euen after the same maner that is spoken of in the nynth of Zachary But to auoyd often repetitions let vs beare in mynd what hath bin sayd afore that it may leade vs the more gently to the passion of Christ which is our only welfare and their vtter stumbling blocke Wée haue in the Lawe a great nomber of Sacraments and Sacrifices as well solemne at set feasts as continewall and ordinarie and among them the Easterlambe the Sacrifice of the red Hekfar the sending of the Scapegote into the Wildernesse and such other lyke of all the which it is sayd that their blud wassheth and clenseth away the sinne of the congregation and that the sprinkling thereof turneth away the Angell of destruction from their houses Now forasmuch as this was done with so greate solemnitie expresly commaunded to be obserued and conueyed ouer from age to age and from father to sonne I aske them vpon their consciences whether they bee signes and figures of a sacrifice too come which should clense away sinne or whether those sacrifices themselues had that vertue If they say the Sacrifices had that force in themselues what vertue is there in the blud of a Lamb or of a Hekfar ageinst Sinne And wherefore sayeth God so often vnto vs I wil none of your sacrifices I will none of the blud of your Bulles and Goates al such things are but smoke and lothlynes in my sight And at such tyme as they were prisoners at Babylon or scattered abroade in the world where they might not by their lawe offer any Sacrifice was there then no forgiuenesse of their sinnes Yes surely and therefore they were signes and figures of Christ as then to come who was to dye sor our sinnes which signes do now cease and haue ceassed now these many hundred yeres through the whole world euersince the comming of him that was betokened by them namely of the Lamb of whome it is said in Esay He was led to the slaughter as a Lamb and he hild his peace without opening his mouth as a sheepe before the Shearer which text the Rabbines also do interpret to be ment of the Messias And as concerning the red Heckefar the Cabalists do make a Cace of it aske why in the booke of Nombers the death of Marie is ioyned immediatly to the Lawe of the red Cow and thereout of they will needs drawe the death of Christ to come And in very deede Iesus the true Easterlambe was crucified on the very day of the Passouer as witnesseth Rabbi Vla in the Talmud Also as Esay had said of the Lamb Christ He is slayne for the sinne of the People so Iohn Baptist saieth of Iesus Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the Sinnes of the world Agein as they were forbidden to breake any boane of the Easterlambe so were Christs leggs left vnbroken when the leggs of the théeues that were crusified with him were broken To be short as the red Cow accompanyed with all the people was conueyed out of the Hoste and burne◠without the Campe so also was Iesus led out of the Citie accompanyed by the people and crucified without the Citie But let vs reade the Historie of the lyfe and death of Iesus whole togither out of Esay There was neither fauor sayth he nor beawty in him neither sawe we any fayrenesse in him that was to bee desired He was despysed and thrust out from among men a man full of infirmities inured to sorrow by reason whereof we accounted him so vile that we hid our faces from him Yet in very deede he bare our infirmities and was loden with our sorrowes but we thought him to be wounded and stryken of God whereas he was wounded for our misdeedes and smitten for our sinnes The punishment of our peace was layd vppon him and by his strypes are we healed Al of vs went astray lyke sheepe and turned aside euery man after his owne way and the Lord hath cast vppon him the iniquities of vs all Being misintreated and smitten hee opened not his mouth As a Lamb was he led to be slayne yet hild his peace as a Sheepe before the shearer He was lifted vp from prison and iudgement and yet who is he that can recken vp his generation He was plucked vp from the liuing vppon the earth and couered with woundes for the sinne of my people His graue was giuen him with the wicked with the Riche in his death Although hee neuer committed vnryghtuousenes nor any gwile was found in his mouth yet was it the Lords will to breake him with sorrow that when he had giuen his lyfe in sacrifice for sinne he myght see a longlasting seede Which deuyce of the Lord shall prosper in his hand and with the labour and trauel of his Soule shall he get greate Riches My ryghtuous seruant sayeth the Lord shall with the knowledge of him make many men ryghtuous and take their sinnes vppon himself I will giue him a portion among the greate ones and he shal deuide the spoyle with the mighty ones bycause he yelded his Soule vnto death and did muster himself among the transgressers and tooke vppon him the sinnes of many and prayed for the offenders Who seeth not in this text both the apprehension and the sorrowes and the wounds and the death of Iesus Yea and his meekenesse Lowelynes and innocencie His apprehension turning to our deliuerance his sorrowes to our ioye his wounds too our health his death to our lyfe his ryghtuousenes to our inrightuousing and his punishment to our obteynement of grace And when we reade He was abhorred of men and we made none account of him do we not see men spitting in his face Also when we reade these words We tooke him to be woūded of God do we not here the Iewes saying to him If thou be Christ the chosen of God saue thy self Ageine when he is outrageously delt withall and yet he openeth not his mouth do we not note his innocent holding of his peace Finally
euill meanest thou towardes him when thou weanest him from his Dugge Now then thinkest thou it straunge that GOD should cast thy goodes into the Sea which els would haue helped to drowne thée in destruction O how greatly did Platoes Shipwracke aduauntage him to make him wise Or that he should plucke the Sword of authoritie out of thy hand wherof thou art so desirous which els peraduenture had slayne thyne owne Soule Or that to prepare thée to another life better than this he should serue thee with such fit meanes as might make thée to bee in loue with it Thou wilt say that thou wouldest haue vsed them well but what a number of men haue bin seene which vnder the chastisement of pouertie were good men whom riches and honor did afterward marre corrupt Thou sufferest the Phisition to take frō thée some kynds of meates which thou louest well and to abridge thée both of thy fare and of thyne exercises and of thy pleasures because he hath seene thy water or felt sometymes thy pulse and wilt thou not suffer God who hauing created thee and shaped thee feeleth euerlastingly the pulse of thy Soule wilt thou not suffer him I say to bereue thée of some outward thing which he himselfe made and which would worke thy destruction Thou commendest the Captayne who to make his iourney the speedier against his enemie dispatcheth away all bag and baggage from his Armie that his Souldiers may go the lighter and that the breaking of a Chariot may not stay him by the way and canst thou not finde in thyne heart that he which made thee and gouerneth thée should dispose of thy baggages that is to wit of thy purchases or inheritances which thou hast gotten heere belowe to make thée the nimbler against vice and against the continuall temptations of this world But Enuie pricketh thee Why taketh he them not sayst thou aswell from this man and that man as from mée And why loueth he thée perchaunce better than them Tell mée why the Phisition appoynteth thee a greater portion of Rhewharbe than him Because such a one is more moued with one dramme than another is with three One is better purged with a single Clister than another is with a very strong Purgation One man is sooner warned of God by the losse of his cropp of Grapes or Corne than another is by the burning of his house the losse of all his goodes and the taking of his Children prisoners So Iob sawe the losse of his Cattell the burning of his houses and the death of all his Children and yet for all that he praysed God still That which was constancie in him might haue seemed blockishnesse in another But when God came once to the touching of his person he could not then forbeare to dispute with him Now then séeing that the things which thou termest euilles and mischiefes are in very déede both Medicines and Salues wilt thou not haue them ministred according to the complexion of the patient And thinkest thou thy selfe wiser in discerning the disposition of thy Soule thā he that created it thou I say which darest not trust to thyne own knowledge in the curing of thy bodie The same is to bee sayd of diuers Nations whereof some one may happen to be afflicted a longer tyme more sharply with the Plague or with Warre than another and oftentymes also euen for the selfesame causes For God knoweth both the common nature of whole Nations and the peculiar natures of euery seueral person Some nature if it should not sée the scurge alwaies at hand would become too too proude and presumptuous Another if it should see it continually would be quite out of hart and fall into dispayre If some were not kept occupyed with their owne aduersities they could not refrayne from working mischief to others Another agayne beeing more giuen to quietnesse is contented to sweate in tilling his grounds in trimming his Gardynes without coueting other mens goodes so he may keepe his owne In like case is it with Plants some require dunging some rubbing to make them cleane some proyning some new graffing againe with the same to take away the harshnesse of their fruite and some to haue their head cropped quite and cleane off One selfesame Gardyner doth all these things and a Childe of his that stands by and sees it woonders at it but he that knoweth the natures of things will count him the skilfuller in his arte Yea sayst thou but though these euilles may be Medicines and Salues how may death be so For what a number of Innocents doe wee see slayne in the world What a number of good folke doe we see put to the slaughter not onely good in the iudgement of vs but also euen in the iudgement of those that put them to death Nay rather what is death but the common passage which it behoueth vs al to passe And what great matter makes it whether thou passe it by Sea or by Land by the corruption of thyne owne humors or by the corruptnesse of thy Commonweale Agayne how often haue Iudges condemmed some man for a cryme whereof he hath bene giltlesse and in the denyall whereof he hath stoode euen vpon the Scaffold and yet hath there confessed himselfe faultie in some other cryme vnknowne both to the Iudges and to the standers by a manifest reproofe either of the ignorance or of the vniustice of the Iudges but a playne acknowledgement of the wisedome and iustice of the eternall God And if God hring them to that poynt for one fault and the Iudge for another what vniustice is in God for suffering them to bee condemned wrongfully by the Iudge yea and to be punished with death or otherwise for a cryme whereof their owne conscience cleareth them as giltlesse when as God and their owne conscience doo iustly condemne them for some other As for example The Iudge condemneth them for conspiracie against the commonweale whereas God condemneth them perchaunce for behauing themselues loosely in defending the commonweale The Iudge vnder colour of offence giuen to the Church and God for not rebuking the Churchmen freely inough For I speake as well concerning Heathenfolke as Christians in this behalfe And what a nomber doe wee see which confesse of themselues and witnesse of their familiar freends that by thy punishing of them wherewith thou being the Iudge mentest to haue put them in feare and too haue restrained them they haue taken warning to amend and bin the more quickened vp and incoraged And what els is this but that as in one selfesame deede God had one intent and thou another so also he guyded it to the end that he himselfe amed at yea and to a contrarie end to that which thou diddest purpose But what a thing were it if thou sawest the fruite that GOD draweth out of it The Childe that beholde his Father treading of goodly Grapes could find in his heart too blame him for so doing for he thinketh
of men and concerne but themselues or some others are the workes of men so these bookes which tend alonly to the glorie of God yea euen by the contempt of men are the works of God that is to say inspired by GOD As much is to be sayd of the Prophets who when they speake of any succour that was to come to the people of Israell or of any enemie that was to come sodeynly vppon them they sayd not your friends shall succour you or your enemies shall runne in vpon you but the Lord will send Cyrus to deliuer you the Lord will arme the Babylonians to scourge you Uayne are all your dealings if your trust be not in him Uayne are the threatnings of your enemies if you turne vnto him and all this is to assure you that all things are subiect vnto him insomuch that euen they which thinke themselues to make warre against him do fight for him and by him To be short if we inquire of them concerning the state of the earthly Kingdomes they answer vs of the heaueÌ„ly If a man be combered with this present life they teach vs the life to come And oftentymes a man would thinke that they spake nothing materiall to our demaunds because they answer not directly to our demaund but to that which wee ought to demaund Let vs consider somewhat nerely of what mynd the Soothsayers are both by the Oracles of the Deuilles and by such as make profession of Soothsaying The Deuilles require Sacrifices for their answering to curious questions The Astrologians are fayne to seeke out Princes The foreteller of things to come by Palmistrie or by Phisiognomie or by the inwards of Beastes or by the signes of the Skye doe the like And ordinarily who bee more vayne and more puffed vp with pride than those kynd of men What iarring is there among them what disagréement in their foresayings Nay which of them haue wee séeâ—â—â— which is not a mony man or that would rather dye than not declare Gods wrath to a Prince Or that hath not soothed a Prince in his sinnes to sucke gayne out of him Or that hath giuen the glorie vnto God and not to his owne cunning skill Or refused the honor that was offered vnto him as a notable iniurie Witnesses hereof may Apollonius Apuleius Maximus and such others be who by their foretellings neuer sought other thing than Images of themselues to be set vp in Halles of Cities and Pensions in the Courts of the most vicious and detestable Princes And what is to be sayd then of these folke who goe willingly to declare the ouerthrowe of States and the deaths of Princes Which for sake their apparant ease to goe and shew foorth Gods wrath Who of all their wonderfull knowledge yéeld none other reason but this The Lord hath sayd it vnto vs nor seeke any other reward than the glorie of GOD yea matched oftentymes with their owne death Let vs come to the Poetries of our Scriptures and let the heathen set theirs ageinst them and who wil doubt but that they shall blush for shame To omit the arte the measure and the antiquitie of them which are but the outsides of them but yet more beautifull in ours than in the Poetries of the Greekes or Romanes For what are theirs but the vauntings of men counterfetted prayses and discourses of Loue Songs not manly but vnméete for men One singeth mée the rage of Achilles another the wandrings of AEnaeas and a third the loue of Paris and Helen And so farre hath this kind of dealing passed into custome that it seemes vnpossible for man to be a Poet a Diuine and an Historiographer all togither So farre are our mirth and songs estraunged naturally from God and from trueth What shall wee say then to the Poetries specially of Dauid considering that he was afore all the Poetries of the Heathen but that those Poetries are not an imitation but a simple affection If we seeke there for songs of victorie we haue of them but they concerne the God of Hostes If for Brydesongs they bee not wanting but if they be of God and of them that feare him If for hurning loues there be songs of the very Loue itself howbeit kindled of God himselfe If for Shepeherds songs it is full of them but they concerne the Euerlasting for the Shepherd and Israell for the flocke The arte of them is so excellent that it is an excellencie euen to translate them The affections so liuely that they quench choke all others If he had written in mans behalfe had he not as good a ground as Homere had what were his combate with Golias his victories ouer the Philistines his loue of Bersabee and such others Or thinke we that he was not subiect to the same passions or made of the same mould that wee be Or that he which wakeneth vs so much was drowzie himself Or that he which speaketh of nothing but Loue and Honor was without them hymselfe No but in very deede it was another maner of Pulse that did beate in his Ueynes than beateth in ours and another maner of fire that burned in his marow Which thing no man can deny that readeth his Psalmes so lyuely so feruent and so full of affections howbeit that he directeth his loue and his vehement desires to another marke as one that behild a farre other beautie coueted a farre other honor and tasted a farre other pleasure than of the worlde For all those bookes aime at none other marke than the honor of God contrarie to mans nature which robbeth God of his honor as much as can be to cloth itselfe therewith and coueteth nothing so much as glorie But let vs come to the other marke which followeth this successiuely namely the welfare of man Forasmuch as I haue sayde that the marke whereat man shooteth in this life is his owne welfare If God haue left him any word or giuen him any reuelation to what end ought wee to aknowledge the same to be done but to light him in the way of welfare and to turne him from all crossepathes and bywayes which might leade him from the ende that he aimeth at Now let vs hardely reade all the Bookes of the Heathen and there is none of them which buzieth not our braynes about Mooneshine in the water making vs to spend night and day therein as though wee had none other resting place to seeke whereas none other booke than the Byble doth put vs in minde of our way Our welfare is our shooteanker and the welfare as well of one of vs as of another is to liue immortally vnited vnto God How shall Aristotle put vs in mynde thereof who leaueth vs in doubt whether there be any immortalitie or no and which fetteth our shooteanker in I wote not what muzings peraduenture vpon Logicke and naturall Philosophie as his own Or how shall Plato doe it who suffereth himselfe to be caried away with the comon error Or Seneca
he had gotten and which hee had already in his hand What lykelyhod hereof was there at such tyme as they burned Bricke in AEgipt or when they lingered in the wildernes yea or at the returne of the men that were sent to spye out the Land when they reported nothing but hardnesse to the people I pray you if a man should at this day part Italy or Greece among vs in his imagination to euery of vs share and share lyke would we not say accxsording to the prouerbe that he parted his Uenison before he had caught it And yet what a nomber of men haue passed the Alpes vnder the Standard And sith it is so that Moyses entered into that Land and those which wayted for it dyed in the way and yet that at the tyme appointed the Chananites gaue place to that people who seeth not that of necessitie the same people were driuen by some other than man to followe Moyses yea Moyses himself to take vpon him the leading of them through so many distresses both of them being grounded say I not vppon mans fancie but vppon expresse promise which they by vnfallible records beléeued to be of God But hée proceedeth yet further For as he foresawe them in Chanaan afore they came there so foresawe hee them there to offend God by seruing Baal after they came there I say he saw them forget GOD and God myndfull of them in his wrath hee sawe them dispersed and scattered ouer the fower quarters of the World and troden vnder the féete of Straungers To be short he sawe the Gentiles called of God into his Church in their place yea and he sawe it so cléerly that he foretold it to them all in his Song which hée willed them to preserue from hand to hand as a witnesse against them a discharge to himself Though from the top of Mount Nebo he could behold the land of Chanaan to speake so fitly thereof from what mountaine could hee see the things that were yet in the reynes and heartes of men as then to come yea which lay hidden yet many hundred yeres after or in what booke could he haue seen them and read them but in the booke of lyfe that is to say in God himselfe The word that was spoken by Moyses was performed word for word by Iosua without adding or diminishing any whit contrarie to the ambitious mynd of man which lyketh not to follow another mans lure which thing was no small signe that Iosua did not so much obey Moyses as God speaking by Moyses And this curse that Iosua pronounceth in his booke ageinst the man that should build Iericho ageine is not to be forgotten He shal lay the foundation thereof vpon his firstborne sayth he set vp the gates thereof vpon his yongest sonne That is to say he shal be punished with the suddein death of all his Children For about fiuehundred yeres after in the time of Achab Hiel of Bethel builded vp Iericho the which he founded vpon Abiram his first Sonne and hung vp the gates of it with the death of Segus his yongest sonne and the booke of Kings sayth there it was according as the Lord had spoken by the mouth of Iosua the Sonne of Nun to shewe that Gods word is euerlasting and that it neuer ouerslippeth the tyme. And in very déede it lyeth ouerthrowen at this day and was neuer repayred since that tyme howbeit that the beautifull situation thereof might haue allured euery man as we reade in the auncient Geographers In the bookes of Iosua and of the Iudges wee sée the things performed which were foretolde by Moyses and the comming to passe both of the promises of the threates that were made by him For accordingly as the people of Israell did either turne away from God or returne vnto him God raysed vp Tyrants in Chanaan to punish them or deliuerers in Israell to deliuer them And as for the bookes of Samuel of the Kings and of the Prophetes either they be prophesies of effectes to come or effectes of prophesies forepast To be short in all the discourse of the Byble there is not any season to bee found without both Prophet and Prophesie as well in prosperitie as in aduersitie Whereby we might sée both the heauenlines and the trueth of them the more clearly if we could set the places persones and state of that time before our eyes But out of this continuall prophesying wee will drawe some peculiar poyntes so euident as cannot bée gaynesaid which will vndoubtedly be of credit among all indifferent persons At such time as Ieroboam the sonnne of Nebath made the tenne Trybes to fall away from Roboam the Sonne of Salomon to the intent they should haue no occasion to returne againe to their former state by resorting to Hierusalem to woorshippe there hee réered an Alter in Bethell contrarie to the Lawe of God Then came a man of God sayeth the historie to Bethel by the commaundement of the Lord and sayd to Ieroboam Behold a Sonne shal be born of the house of Dauid whose name shal be Iosias He shall sacrifise vppon thee the Preestes of the Hillalters which offer incense vpon thee And this shal be the signe thereof Thyne altar shall ryue asunder and the asshes that are thereon shal be powred downe This Prophesie was fulfilled in all poynts by Iosias thrée hundred yéeres after And when Iosias sayeth the historie had so done he sawe a certeine tumbe and asked whose it was intending to haue burnt the bones of him that lay there as he had done of the other préests in Bethel But it was told him that it was the tumb of the man of God which had foretold those things so long agoe whereuppon hee forbade any man to touche it Now they that knowe how those bookes of the Kinges were disposed wilnot call the historie in question For the histories of the Kings were written by the priests and Prophets according to the measure of the time that they reigned and were holden so holy that it was felonie to touche them Furthermore séeing if this Prophesie was written afore the comming of Iosias it could not be falsified for who could haue hit vppon his proper name And if it were written after and deuised vppon the euent how came the sayd Tumb to bee made at the same instant Or was there none other deuise wherewith to haue disguised it without taking any further peyne Myght it not haue suffised to haue sayd One Iosias shall come c. without speaking eyther of the death of the man of God or of his méeting with the Lyon or of the talk which he had with the Prophet of Samaria but that he must take peyne to be found a Lyer by the Samaritans which knew the originall of the Tumb or could at leastwise haue inquired it But in verie déede this Prophesie which dooth so set downe the name the place and the circumstances in the doing is such as cannot
the Vrim and Thumim and the Prophesying and whatsoeuer other glorious thing the former Temple had Some say that of the newe things the stuffe was much richer than of the former Admit that the first was of Siluer and this latter of Gold What is there herein that can match the gift of Prophesying Another sayes that the fashion and workmanship thereof was more curious What is that to the presence of God who shewed himselfe so openly in the first Some because the text is flat against them haue accounted that the second Temple continued longer than the first by ten yéeres the second hauing stood fower hundred and twentie yéeres whereas the first stood but fower hundred and ten yéers What can be more vayne or more cold or lesse beseeming either for God to teach or for a man that hath any wit to heare I say for God before whom a thousand yéeres are but as one day or for Man whom one day of aduersitie in his lifetyme doth more gréeue than a thousand yéeres continuance of his buildings can pleasure him after his death Moreouer who knoweth not that this second Temple was oftentymes defiled and spoyled by Antiochus by Pompey by Crassus and by others But the Prophet speaketh shirle enough to them that list to heare As yet sayth he there remayneth a little tyme sayth the Lord and then will I remoue both Heauen and Earth I wil remoue all Nations and they shall come the desire of all Nations shall come and then will I fill this house with glorie What is this desire of all Nations We knowe it is Christ of whom it is sayd in another place that he is the hope of the Gentiles that they shall bee blessed and happie in him And the Chaldee Paraphrast hath transtated here the Anoynted Also in the Talmud Rabbi Akiba vnderstandeth that text of Christs comming howbeit that he mistake his person And the Prophet Malachie who prophesied at the same tyme expoundeth it in these wordes The Lord whom ye seeke and the Ambassador of the league which you desire shall come incontinently into his Temple The very meaning hereof is that vnder this second Temple the Church of Israell shall haue the good fortune to see Christ the Lorde whom they looked for so long tyme. Now at the same tyme that the kingdome of Israell fayled that is to wit in the reigne of Herod about a fortie yeres afore the destruction of the Temple the little beautie that was in it did vtterly ceasse For the spirit of the great Sinagogue say that Iewes which after a sort supplied the want of the Prophetes came to an ende in Simeon surnamed the Rightuous of whom mention is made in the first Chapter of Saint Luke And then also ceassed all the speciall blessings of the second Temple reckoned vp in the Talmud Yea and God shewed visibly that he abhorred them in that say they the ordinarie appearing of an Angell at the entering in of the Sanctuarie was turned into an vgly and blacke Bugge And whereas aforetymes thirtie men could scarce open the doore of the Temple now it opened of it self wherat Rabbi Iohanan Ben Zaccai one of Hillels Disciples was very sore amazed And in the end the Temple was so destroyed that one stone was not left standing vppon another And notwithstanding that the Iewes had leaue to buyld it again specially vnder the Emperour Iulian the deadly enemie of Christians who of his owne purse gaue greatly to the building thereof yet could they neuer bring it to passe but as the very Heathen writers of that tyme doe witnesse fires issewed out of the earth and thick Lightenings from the Skye and burnt vp the workmen and beate downe the workes which they had begun with so extreme pride and so excessiue cost Soothly wee may well say therefore and hardly can the Iewes geynsay it that the second Temple is destroyed long ago without hope of recouerie and that Christ was promised to come afore the destruction therof Therfore it must néedes be that Christ is already come into the world And that the hope of Israel was so it appeareth yet further For vpon the last chapter of Esay where it is sayd Afore her pangs came vpon her she brought forth a manchild Rabbi Moyses Hadarsan saith The Redeemer of Israel shal be borne afore the birth of him that shal bring Israel in bondage And Ionathas the great Disciple of Hillell saith vpō the same text Israel shall be saued afore her extremitie come the Anoynted shal be shewed openly afore the throwes of her Childbirth come Also Rabbi Moyses of Tyroll and Bioces both according to this Text and by their owne reckoning vppon Daniell doe looke for this thing towards the ende of the second Temple Likewise the booke which they call Bereschith Rabba maketh this Parable As a certeyne Iewe was at plough an Arabian passing by heard one of his Oxen lowe and herevpon willed him to vnyoke his Oxen because the destruction of the Temple was at hand and that byandby the other Oxe lowed likewise wherevpon he bad him againe vnyoke out of hand for the Messias was alreadie come And Rabbi Abon hauing repeated the same in another place saith thus What neede we to learne it of the Arabians seeing the text it selfe declareth it Surely I passe not for their Parables which haue no very good grace with them and oftentymes bewray that they wanted wit in very déede but my intent is to gather of them that it was a common opinion among them that Christ or the Messias should come into the world a little afore the destruction of the Temple Let vs heare what the Angell Gabriell sayth to Daniell for he goes néerest of all to the matter Threescore and ten weekes sayth he are determined vpon thy people and vpon thy holy Citie to make an end of the disobedience and to anoynt the Holy of Holies Knowe thou therefore and vnderstand that from the going foorth of the commaundement for the building againe of Hierusalem vnto Christ the Prince there are seuen weekes and threescore and two weekes and then shall the streates and the broken walles be repayred again in short tyme. And after threescore two weekes Christ shal be slaine and nothing shall remaine vnto him And the people of a Prince that is to come shal destroy the Citie and the Sanctuarie and the end thereof shall be as with an ouerflowing and it shall bee digged vp with desolations to the end of the warre And he shall stablish his couenant with many in one weeke and in the middes of the weeke shal he cause the Sacrifice and Oblation to ceasse and for the spreading out of abhomination he shall lay it waste c. This only one Prophesie is enough to conuince the Iewes and therefore it behoueth vs to examine it from poynt to poynt First that this text is ment of the Messias it is so
whereas he was nombered among the transgressors and yet prayed for them notwithstanding that he bare the sinnes of other men what is it els but the crucifying of Iesus betwéene the two théeues and the very spéech of the repentant théefe which sayd As for vs wee receiue worthely according to our deedes but as for this man what euill hath he done Yea the very prayer which Iesus made vpon the Crosse saying Lord forgiue them for they knowe not what they do Now that the sayd text was vnderstood of Christ by the old Rabbines the Iewes cannot denye For Ionathas the Chaldee Paraphrast the Sonne of Vziel who liued about that tyme expoundeth it of Christ by name And whereas it is sayd In very deede hee bare our infirmities Ionathas translateth it He shal be heard at Gods hand for our faults and for the loue of him our sinnes shal be forgiuen And vppon these words Wee hid our faces away from him He sayth thus as though the countenance of the Godhead had bin withdrawen from him because he seemed so to our sight and wee considered not what hee was in deede Wherevppon Rabbi Vla sayth thus in the Talmud Let him come but let not me see him and his so saying was for the extreme paynes which hee knewe that Christ should indure And therefore they feyne that he sits bynding vp of his sores at Romegate Also in a certeyne place where they inquire of the name of Christ they say hee shall bee called Whight as one couered with sores of Leprosie and they ad according to this saying of Esay In very deede he bare our infirmities and tooke our sinnes vpon him And we tooke him as a Leaper and as one wounded and cast downe of God Neuerthelesse that the Iewes notwithstanding the euidentnesse of this Prophesie should not for all that beléeue the Prophet himselfe doth prophesie in the same Chapter For afore he enter into the matter of Christes passion and death he maketh this preface saying Who hath beleeued at the hearing of vs or to whom hath the Lords arme bene discouered And on the contrary part hee sayth to the Gentyles Many men shall woonder for the loue of him and Kings shall shut their mouthes before him They that haue not bene tolde of him shall see him and they that haue not heard of him shall thinke aduisedly on him Uppon this so cléere a text let vs heare the inuentions of persons that haue imbatteled themselues against their own Saluation To turne this text from Iesus Rabbi Selomoh and Dauid Kimhi afore whom the sayde wilfulnesse of opinion was not among the Iewes haue turned away froÌ„ al the writers of former tyme whom notwithstanding they confesse to haue vnderstood it of Christ and they passe not what they say so they may stand vpon denyall This text say they is not meant of Christ but of the Iewish people afflicted by the Chaldees the Romaines And this serueth well to shewe what oddes is betwéene the iudgemeÌ„t of Reason and of Affection For I presume so much vppon their vnderstanding that if they had bene borne in the tyme of Ionathas the sonne of Vziel or at leastwise at any tyme afore the comming of Iesus they would haue bene vtterly of another mynd Then if the Prophet speake of the afflicted children of Israell when he saith He was despised of men and we hid our faces from him Of whom I beseech them is that sayd which followeth without change of person namely In very deede he bare our infirmities and wee tooke him to haue bene wounded of God That he was despised is ment say they of the people of Israell Then that he bare our infirmities must néedes say I be ment of the people of Israell too And what can bee more fond than to say that the people of Israell bare the infirmities of the people of Israell specially sith it is sayd immediatly And by his stripes are we healed which saying putteth and apparant difference betwéene the Phisition and the Patient betwéene the Sufferer and him that is eased by his suffering Againe what People or what Nation was euer benefited by the sufferings of the Israelites To what purpose serueth this outâ—ry of the Prophet Who hath beleeued our word if he haue no further meaning than that the Children of Israell bare their owne paynes All of vs sayth the Prophet foorthwith haue gone astray like Sheepe Who â—ee these Shéepe that haue gone astray but the Israelites and among them the Prophet himselfe And vpon him saith he hath the Lord cast the sinnes of vs all If hee cast them vppon Israell what cause of woonder is there in not beléeuing it For who doubteth but that euery man is woorthie to beare the blame of his owne fault But will any man gaynsay the Prophet himself who expoundeth his owne meaning so plainly afterward He was plucked vp out of the land of the liuing saith he and couered with wounds for the sinnes of my people For who seeth not here a manifest countermatching betwéene the people that are healed and the partie that suffereth for the healing of them betwéene Israell whose sores are brought to a scarre and the partie that beareth away his sores The Prophet addeth There was no vnrightuousnesse in him neither was any guyle found in his mouth Surely there is pride in men yea and euen in these men and yet I can hardly beléeue but that they would be ashamed to chalenge the verifying of this text vpon them selues And as for the people of Israell that were afflicted by the Chaldees the Rabbines affirme that their first Temple was destroyed for their Idolatrie Superfluitie and sheading of giltlesse blud And concerning the second Temple which was destroyed by the Romaines they say the cause thereof was the peoples couetousnesse their hating of their neighbours without cause and their selling of the rightuous person And whereas they reply That the people of Israel suffered so much affliction at one season as suffised to discharge their successors that liued afterward in another season surely besides that it is contrary both to the Iustice and to the mercie of God that glose cannot be verified of any one lyne of the sayd text but it appeareth by experience that the afflictions which the people of Israell indured at the hands of the Chaldees did not discharge them of Antiochus nor the afflictions layd vppon them by Antiochusâ— defend the Iewish Church against the Romaines nor the extreme outrages of the Romaines so satisfie for the sinnes of that people but that they bee more scattered and more brought in bondage as well of moe sorts of maisters as of moe sorts of slauerie at this day than euer they were afore Loe how one false and fond proposition procureth many fonder solutions But let vs here further how this text is expounded by other of the Prophetes Seuentie weekes sayth Daniell are set downe for the ending of