make any belly so great but that he prouided sufficient meate to fill it yea euen the great belly of that great beast Behemoth which himselfe so greatly magnifieth so likewise in his wisedome would he neuer haue made a mans appetite so great but that he hath appointed some obiect that can fill it yea and euery corner of it Now that the whole world is not able to doe As may bee well vnderstood by this Hierogliphicall conceit That the world is of a circular forme but the heart of a man is of a triangular And therefore as if wee should put a circle into a Triangle we can neuer so fill it but that all the corners will be empty in it so if we should put the whole world into a mans heart yet could it neuer fill it nor reach into euery corner of it And therefore the onely obiect that is able to fill this three cornered heart cannot be any thing else but onely the Holy and vndiuided Trinitie This is an all-filling obiect that is greater then our heart and therefore is easily able to fill it and to radiate into euery corner of it Yea so to fill a mans appetite in euery chanell of it vntill like Dauids Cup it euen runne ouer For he is able to fill all our naturall appetites both of eating and drinking and sleeping and such like For He openeth his hand and filleth with his blessing euery liuing thing And He it is that giueth vnto his beloued sleepe And though the mouth of our appetite doe gape neuer so wide yet hee openeth his hand wider and filleth both the mouth and the belly with his hidden treasure And so likewise for our sensible appetites of Hearing Seeing and Tasting and the rest hee can easily fill them too For he hath prouided such excellent things for vs as neither Eye hath seene nor Eare hath heard nor yet by the heart of man can be conceiued He can fill all our intellectuall appetites both of Power and Honour and Treasure and Pleasure For he hath prouided for vs an incorruptible crowne of glorie And In his presence is the fulnesse of ioy and at his right hand are pleasures for euer more Thus as the Psalmist noteth God can Replere in bonis de siderium nostrum He can euen fill our dâ—sire with euery good thing And therefore in another place he professeth that There is nothing in heauen that he desireth but him nor any thing on earth in comparison of him He fixed his whole desire vpon God because he alone could fill the whole of it without any diminution As the Psalmist againe in another place confesseth I will behold thy face in righteousnesse and when I awake I shall be satisfied with thine image God is a fantasme that can fill the fantasie and an Obiect that can still the appetite Which nothing in the world can doe without him no not the whole world nor all that is in the world but onely God himselfe For as S. Augustine truely writeth Si cuncta quae fecit Deus dederit non sussicit nisi sâ—â—â—sum dederit Though God should giue thee all hee hath yet would all that be nâ—thing if hee gaue thee not himselfe Whereupon hee professeth in another place that Quicquid igitur mihi vult dare Dominus meus auferat totum se mihi det There is nothing in the world that vnto me seemeth pleasant but onely God And therefore if God would giue vnto me al that euer he hath let him take all that away and giue me onely himselfe For there is nothing else that can fully content vs as in his Confessions he plainly professeth Domine quia fecisti nos ad te inqutetum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te O Lord saith hee because thou hast purposely made vs for thy selfe therefore our heart can no where finde any quiet vntill it doe come to rest in thy selfe Not in all the honours not in all the riches not in all the pleasures of the world As is likewise very notable obserued by S. Bernard Ad imaginem Deifacta animarationalis caeteris omnibus occuparì potest repleri non potest Capacem Dei quicquid Deo minus est non implebit Inde est quòd naturali quidem desiderio summum quiuis probatur appetere bonum nullam nisi adepto eo requiâ—m habiturus The soule of a man being made vnto the image of God may be busied about many other things but can be filled with nothing but with him For that which is capable of God himselfe cannot be â—illed with that which is lesse then God himselfe Hence euery man naturally desires the cheifest good and can neuer rest vntill he haue found it For as Bellarmine very aptly and wittily illustrates it As the body of a man cannot rest in the ayre be it neuer so wide nor yet in the water be it neuer so deepe but still sinketh downe vntill it come vnto the earth because that is his proper and naturall place so the Soule of a man can neuer finde repose neither in the aereal stickering Honours nor in the earthly and dirty Riâ—hes nor in the watery softening Pleasures of this present world but onely in God alone who is indeed the proper place and true Center of mans Soule in whom it can onely repose it selfe securely I will lay me downe to rest and sleepe in peace saith the Psalmist for it is the Lord onely that maketh me dwell in safetie Here is the true repose and naturall rest of the Soule when it lodgeth vp it selfe vnder the shadow of Gods wings And therefore Dauid beseecheth the Lord that he would hide him vnder the shadow of his wings Professing in another place that vnder the shadow of his wings should be his refuge And in another that his trust should be vnder the shadow of his wings And in another that he will reioyce vnder the shadow of his wings Thus vnder the shadow of Gods wings the Soule findes her true reposednesse her refuge her assurance and her fulnesse of ioy so that when she is come thither she can desire no more For as a Buble saith Gregorie Nyssen vsing a contrary comparison vnto Bellarmines cannot stay it selfe below in the botome of the water but by degrees ascendeth vp vntill it come vnto the toppe and when it is come thither it then striues no longer to ascend vp any higher but there breaking his thinne filme powreth forth it selfe naturally into the open ayre so likewise a mans Soule cannot content and stay it selfe in any of these earthly and inferior things but naturally ascendeth vpward vntill it come to God Whither when it is once come it then hath no desire to ascend vp any further but there naturally resteth Yea and like the Bubble beforementioned with the Apostle Paul desireth to bee euen dissolued that it may be with God
is this that Punctum est principium omnis lineae So that all magnitudes and continuities are deduced from one originall prick And therefore Proclus calleth Punctum magnitudinis parentem authorem hee calleth a Pricke the parent of all magnitude Which position as it hath his Mathematicall truth in Geometry so hath it his Physicall truth in naturall Philosophy From whence it must needes follow that all those so largely extended lines in the greatest bodies of the world doe lineally descend from one onely prick which in it selfe is indiuisible Now what can bee this one indiuisible pricke or point which is the Author of all those huge magnitudes which are euidently seene in those vast and extended bodies of the world the heauens and the elements but onely God himselfe Can all those huge dimensions of those immense bodies such heights such bredths such depths and such thicknesses bee possibly deduced from any other pricke then onely from God who though hee be both higher then heauen deeper then hell broader then the sea and thicker then the earth yet is hee like a pricke in euery line of all of them and as vtterly vncapable of any diuision as is the very pricke of the Mathematician which cannot be diuided by the ege of very thought Vnto which Mathematicall conceit of deducing all magnitudes and all their dimensions from God as from their true Originall point the Apostle Saint Paul doth seeme to allude when hee exciteth vs to comprehend what is the bredth and length and depth and height c. 4 And indeed if wee consider of the nature and power of a point or a pricke in a line and in all other continuities whatsoeuer whether solides or plaines wee may easily perceiue that there is in a pricke a very great similitude and resemblance of God For first as a point or pricke is the very first fountaine of euery line which is indeede nothing else but only fluxus Punctotum so this whole vniuersality of things which wee call the World is indeed nothings else but a production and elongation and dilatation of the naturall goodnesse of Almighty God The goodnesse of God is the onely true point from which all created things doe proceede For as Dionysius Areopagita very truely teacheth Deus bonitate ductus omnes naturas in lucem protulit God being onely led by his owne naturall goodnesse was thereby induced to create and make all things This is the true Center of all good things which are but as the radij that bee drawne from it And this is that which the Pythagoreans aymed at in holding this position that Mathematicorum principia sunt omnium rerum principia That the Principles of the Mathematicks are the beginnings of all things Secondly as in euery line and in euery part of it wheresoeuer you cut it you shall surely finde a pricke which was a communis Terminus vnto both the diuided parts being the beginning of the one and the end of the other and which knitted and vnited them both together so in euery part of the world which soeuer you contemplate you shall find the mighty power of the Spirit of God which like a common bond knitteth all the seuerall parts of euery thing together and vniteth them all in one common nature And this is manifestly acknowledged euen by the Heathen Poet Principio Coelum ac Terras camposque liquentes Lucentemque globum Lunae Titaniaque astra Spiritus intus alit totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem magnose corpore miscet From first beginning there hath bene a certaine inward Spirit Supporting Heauen and Earth and Seas Moone Stars and all things by it Which Spirit like the Punctum is in Mathematicke body And so transfus'd in all the World through all the parts that may be That as the Soule for such it is by mouing can be proued So all the Worlds vast body is by this Soule euer moued Thirdly as a pricke is the end of euery line Linearum terminus as Aristotle speaketh the extreame point wherewith it is shut vp and determined so is God the end of all his Creatures Hee is both that Terminus à quo from which all things doe proceede and that Terminus ad quem vnto which they all are referred and that medium per quod by which they are all of them vnited And all this is confessed euen by the very Heathen who do all affirme of God with one generall consent that it is he onely which doth Et principium media finem rerum omnium tenere That God holdeth in his hands both the Beginning and Middle and End of all things Yea and this also the Apostle Paul directly affirmeth though in somewhat other termes when hee telleth vs that Of him and through him and to him are all things Of him as of their Beginning Through him as by their Middle tye and Bond and To him as to their End For so Origen expresly interpreteth those threetermes Ostendit Principium omnium ex ipso Conseruationem Per ipsum Et Finem In ipsum So that God is that Punctum in euery part of the world from whom euery Creature in the world doth proceede by whom they are preserued and vnto whom they bee destinated And this is that resemblance which Geometry affoordeth to adumbrate the nature of God vnto vs. CHAP. 10. Vnity in Arithmeticke doth leade men vnto God 2. Which is affirmed by Philosophers to bee the Originall of all things 3. Yea directly affirmed to be Gód himselfe 4. With whom it hath indeed a very great resemblance THE second of those Mathematicall Arts is Arithmeticke wherein wee doe find another paralel position vnto that which formerly wee found in Geometry For as Geometry teacheth vs that Punctum est Principium omnis lineoe so Arithmeticke teacheth vs that Vnitas est principium omnis numeri As all magnitude ariseth from one only pricke so all multitude ariseth from one only vnity For Punctum and Vnitas differ no more but thus that Punctum est Vnitas sine numero and Vnitas est punctum sine loco And therefore Zaratas the Pythagorean called Vnitatem numeri patrem Hee calleth an vnity the father of all numbers Because as Boetius very truely teacheth Omnis pluralitas est ex vnitatibus All numbers are nothing else but a coniunction of vnities Now if vnity be the parent of all multiplicitie it must needs from thence follow that all this multiplicity and variety of so infinite many things as wee see in the world doe draw their originall from onely vnity For one vnity is the beginning of all plurality as well in numero numerato in that which is numbred as in numero numerante that which numbreth as Trismegistus expresly testifieth Omnes res ab vno fuerunt iuredicatione vnius fuerunt nataeres omnes ab hacrevna aptatione All things proceeded from One by
performe it For Sorte diuinaid recte efficere quisque potest ad quod Musa quempiam incitauit And so I haue followed the aduice of the Poet Quin hortante Deo magnis insistere rebus Incipe Why then beginne sith ayde from God is sent Proceede goe on driâ—e forth thy great intent A Worke great indeede yea and that of much greater both Difficultie and Variety and Vtility and Necessity then will easily at the first bee conceiued of many of all which foure I will giue you a little taste in order The Difficulty of the worke ariseth from hence that this Argument now intended to be handled by me is the most deserted part of all Theologie and wherein the fewest Diuines haue bestowed their paines For whereas there be but two wayes to bring men vnto the knowledge and vnderstanding of God as S. Augustine hath well obserued namely Creatura and Seriptura the Creature and the Scripture the World and the Word there haue so many men laboured in this latter that for number almost they be without number but in the former part so few that they likewise in comparison be numberlesse too Some few I confesse haue written before me of this matter but none at all in this manner as I leaue it to be iudged by the wise and learned So that I may truely take vp that excuse for all incident errors which Lucretius doth euen in this very case that Auia Pieridum peragro loca nullius ante Trita solo I walke a way lesse way with vncouth pace Which yet no former Muse with foot did trace The naturall Difficulty of the Argument hath deterred the most men from writing vpon it and the paucitie of such writers hath begotten a second difficulty vnto me Those whom I haue seene to haue written vpon this Theme for I goe not beyond the compasse of mine owne Library are onely these following Aquinas contra Gentiles Raymundus de Sabunde in Theologia naturali Bradwardinus de Causa Dei and Valesius de sacra Philosophia But these foure dealing onely Scholastically by way of Logicall Arguments which doe not influere they cannot affect nor leaue any great impression in the mind of a man but as the Orator aptly censureth such short and sharpe conclusions Haec spinosiora prius vt confiteamur nos cogunt quam vt assentiamur Such thorny and prickly conclusions of Logique do rather inforce men to confesse them then induce men to beleeue them There is further Augustinus Eugubinus who in his Booke de perenni Philosophia hath laboured in this Theme with singular learning congesting out of Poets Philosophers and Orators an incredible masse of Authorities and Sentences But as the fore-named Authors delt onely by argument without any testimony so dealeth he mostly by testimony without any argument There is yet further Ludouicus Viues de veritate Fidej Christianae and Philippus Mornaeus of the same both argument and inscription Zanchius also de Operibus Dej and the Second Part of the Booke of Resolution all which haue done learnedly in their seuerall kindes But yet for those heads whervpon in this Book I doe principally insist they passe oâ—r them so sleightly and perstringe them so briefely that all of them may be truly affirmed to haue beene by those Authors rather touched then handled It hath beene mine endeauour so to temper my writing that neither Authorities should lacke their arguments nor arguments their Authorities nor the Reader store of both And yet in vsing the writings of those fore-named Authors I haue entertayned this course that whatsoeuer any of them hath prolixely handled that haue I either wholy pretermitted or at the most but lightly touched What they haue pretermitted that haue I sought out so farre as I could and more copiously inlarged Whereby neither their writings shal be preiudiced by mine nor mine thought a Plagium out of theirs and yet the Reader be inriched by the store of both of vs. And this hath also bred a third difficulty vnto me A fourth there groweth likewise from the destinate end and scope of this worke which is to compell the Heathens to preach the truth of Christians and Philosophy to proue the grounds of Diuinity yea and to inforce by strength of Argument both Infidels and Epicures and Atheists who will not beleeue God in his word yet to beleeue him without his word Which euery wise man will easily imagine to be a worke not easie to be done For as it is truely obserued by Tertullian Magna curiositate maiore longe memoria opus est ad studendâ— si quis velit ex literis receptissimis quibusque Philosophorum vel Poetarum vel quorumlibet sapientiae secularis Magistrorum testimonia excerpere Christianae veritatis It is a piece of businesse both of great curiosity and of greater memory and yet of greatest study to gleane out of the writings of Philosophers and Poets and other secular Authors fit authorities and testimonies for the proofe of ChristiaÌ„ truths Now secondly for the Variety of this Worke that is such and so great as none other could come neare it if it were handled as it should For this Worke intreateth both of God and all his Workes which containe all those varieties which God and Nature yeeldeth In God there commeth to be considered all those diuine properties which hee hath adumbrated in any of his creatures his Simplicity his Immortality his Immensity his Eternity his Strength his Wisedome his Goodnesse his Dominion his Omnipotency his Omniscience and his Omnipraesence and such like thinges incomprehensible in themselues but yet such as may in part be sufficiently vnderstood by that shadowy resemblance of them which he hath giuen vnto our soules In his Creatures there commeth to be discussed both the little World with all the faculties of his body and all the powers of his mind and the great World with all his most excellent and glorious parts the Heauens the Earth the Seas and all the seuerall creatures contained in all these yea and the admirable working of Gods diuine prouidence both in making and preseruing and in ruling of al of them Which as euery simple man may easily see be matthers of the greatest Variety that can be In all which points I haue giuen the Reader so much taste as may delight him yet not to glut him For the full handling of them would both be nauseous vnto him tedious vnto me and supersluous vnto both of vs a meere deviation from the scope of this worke and in it selfe an attempt not onely fond but also infinite Now thirdly for the Vtility and profit of this Treatise that may partly be collected from the varieties of it For it is the Orators obseruation That those things which carry with them the greatest delight doe commonly carry likewise the greatest profit Plerisque in rebus incredibiliter hoc Natura est ipsa fabricata vt ea quae maximam vtilitatem in se continent eadem
were onely mine owne and in mine owne possession not affecting to be curious either in this or in any thing else which tendeth not directly vnto the profit of my Readers Againe it may be obiected that the Sentences alleadged are not exactly translated Whereunto againe I answer that to the sense they be alwayes though to the words not alwayes For that needs not in the opinion of an excellent Criticke And the Poet telleth vs that hee may be a faithfull Translator that doth it not Nec verbum verbo curabis reddere fidus Interpres It 's not his part that is the best Translator To render word for word vnto his Author But the Orator telleth vs that hee cannot be a delightfull Translator that doth it Verbume verbo exprimere interpretis est indiserti Againe yet an other That I haue not alwayes cited them to the meaning of the Author To which I likewise answer That whensoeuer I produce them as Testimonies for the confirmation of the point then in question I cite them exactly vnto the Authors meaning But that is not alwayes my end in alledging them but sometimes to 〈◊〉 their words by way of 〈◊〉 rather then of allegation for the more commodious expressing of mine owne sense and meaning A thing very vsuall and familiar with Plutarch whose character and forme of stile I haue in that point propounded to imitate Finally it may be that some men will except against the publishing of this first part alone before the rest be ready in putting vnto me the incurious error of Curio the Orator Qui aliquoties tria cum proposuisset aut quarum adderet aut tertium quaereret Who often times propounding to speake but of three things commonly either added to them a fourth or else forgat to speak of the third But for this course of proceeding I am not without my reason as namely First the example of very many learned men whom wee dayly obserue to practice the same and to propine vnto their Readers an assay of their works to take a tast of them how themselues are tasted by them Secondly because this first part of the worke hath growne exceeding great and beyond mine expectation beeing now come vnto the measure and bignes of a Volume And thirdly it had no little moment with me that diuers of my learnedest and best affected Friends haue often importuned mee vnto the publishing of it hastening in their loue this vnperfect worke vnto the edition peraduenture as an vntimely fruit vnto his abortion but without peraduenture vnto that common condition which is obserued by Isocrates to be fatal to many Booke Vt dum adhuc in mentibus Authorum inclusi teâ—eantur magnam sui expectationem concitent sed perfecti tandem alijs oftensi longe tenuiorem quam pro concepta spe gloriam consequantur They stirre vp a greater expecâ—ation whilst they are in doing then they are able to maintaine when as they be done But yet the principall ende and intent of my writing being onely the good and profit of my Readers I should greatly wrong both their curtesie and equitie to make any doubt of their fauourable acceptance Which if they should not afforde they themselues should wrong them both For what can be more contrarie both to curtesie and equitie then either to speake or but to thinke euill of those that haue spent so much paynes onely to doe them good This were the reward of worse then a Pagan which I hope to be farre from euery good Christian. Quare habe tibi quic quid hoe Libelli est Such as it is I doe willingly permit it vnto thine equall censure desiring nothing more then that the same minde towards thine owne good may possesse thee in reading it that did me in writing it and then I shall not neede to doubt of thy profit by it Which I will accompt mine owne exceeding great Reward And therefore I conclude this preface with that prayer of Irenaeus Da Deus omni legenti hanc scripturam cognoscere te quia solus Deus es confirmari in t te absistere ab omni haeretica quae est sine Deo impia sententia Grant O Lord vnto all that shall be readers of this Booke to know thee to be the onely true God and in thee more and more to be strengthned and confirmed and to eschew all the impious opinions of Heretiks and Atheists Amen Thine in the Lord Martin Sarum The first part of this worke Proueth There is a God And is contained in eight seuerall Bookes inforcing the probation by eight seuerall Arguments The First Booke proueth it from the simple and Categorical affirmation of Nature which cryeth out in all men that There is a God The Second from certaine grounds and consequents in all manner of Arts and Sciences The Third from the structure of Mans Body The Fourth from the Nature of his Soule The Fift from the generall view of the visible world The Sixt from a particular surueigh of the most principall part 's of it viz. The Heauen The Earth The Sea The Seauenth from certaine speciall works of Prouidence obserued by Cleanthes The Eight from the Confutation of the Atheists Obiections A Table of the Chapters contained in this Booke CHAP. 1. TO beleeue there is a God is the ground of all Religion 2. The end and purpose of this booke is to prooue that Position 3. This cannot be beleeued but by the helpe of prayer 4. It cannot be proued A Priorj 5. Yet may it be shewed A Posteriorj pag. 1. CHAP. 2. What manner of Authorities be the weightiest in this case 2. That they may not here be vsed 3. How yet they bee heere vsed 4. What be the most proper in respect of the Aduersaries 5. Why they be more proper then any other pag. 8. CHAP. 3. That there is an inbred perswasion in the hearts of all men That there is a God 2. That this hath beene obserued by many learned men among the Heathens 3. That it hath also bin obserued by diuers learned Christians 4. Two notable testimonies out of Tullie asserting this perswasion both vnto all Nations and vnto al Conditions vnto all persons among men p. 15 CHAP. 4. That there is not any Nation but it hath his Religion 1. Ancient histories insinuate it 2. New histories affirme it 3. Trauellers confirme it 4. A generall surueigh of their gods declareth it 5. A particular surueigh of their tutelar gods proueth it p. 19. 20. CHAâ— 5. That all sorts of men of all degrees and orders doe beleeue There is a God is particularly declared by instance of Poets 2. Of Law-giuers 3. Of philosophers 4. And of all other seuerall Arts and professions pag. 29. CHAP. 6. That there is no particular person in the world but that in some degree he beleeueth There is a God 2. No Swearer 3. No Blasphemer 4. No Idolater p. 39. CHAP. 7. That a great discord may bee
Plague vpon the People fell It was cause Iuno was not pleased well And that destroying plague which fell againe vpon the Athenians for their condemning of Socrates is ascribed by another vnto the wrath of Iupiter Pro Iovis offensa Pestis accessit Where he calleth it expresly the Iudgment of God Eiusmodi iudicijs vtitur Deus They all of them directly reputing the Plague to be nothing else but the vengeance of God They were wrong in the particular in ascribing those sicknesses vnto their false gods who being but dead men were not able to doe them either good or harme but yet right in the generall in ascribing them to God for God indeed was he that sent them though haply hee vsed the Deuills ministerie in them For the second of them the Consumption Pausanias reporteth of Phyallus Captaine of the Phocenses that hee first was threatned by Apollo in a dreame that hee should consume as bare as a certaine brazen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was consecrated vnto him in his Temple by Hippocrates Which miserable consumption hee afterward accordingly did bring vpon him For the third of them the feuer Quintus Curtius reporteth of Alexander Magnus that he abusing the consecrated vessells of Hercules in the very same Citie yea and in the same manner as 〈◊〉 had before in his abusing of the vessells Gods holy Temple hee was sodainely strooken in the middest of his Banket euen as hee was in drinking Nondùm Herculis Scypho epoto repentè velut telo confixus ingemuit He sodainly cried out as if he had bene shot with a deadly dart Which stroke was none other but onely the sodaine blow of a feuer as Sabellicus relateth his disease And with the same disease was Titus also smitten as Suetonius reporteth Yea and that no lesse sodainly in his returning from their playes Which stroke he well perceiuing to be inflicted by God himselfe vpon him hee caâ—e his eyes vp vnto heauen most pitifully complaining that hee had most vniustly and without his desert killed him For the fourth of them the feruent heate Ouid reporteth that together with that grieuous plague which Iuno inflicted vpon the men of Aegina there was ioyned with it so feruent a heate that when they cast themselues vpon the earth to haue cooled their bodies the earth it selfe was so sodainely and so vehemetly heated by their bodies that they could receiue no benefit nor comfort at all from it Dura sed in terra ponunt praecordia nec fit Corpus humo gelidum sed humus de corpore feruet They cast their naked bodies on the ground Their bodies by the Earth not cooler found But th' earth from bodies doth with heate abound And thereupon another Poet calleth the plague Pestem flammiferam For the fifth of them Boiles and Botches Aurelius Victor reporteth that Galerius Maximianus was smitten with that disease whereby as he relateth it Defecit consumptis genitalibus But Pomponius Laetus describeth his disease more filly to the purpose Incidit in morbum vlcus inguinibus innatum virilia exedit marecescente tota illa corporis parte vermes pullulârunt remedia deerant medici desperauerunt He fell into a foule disease An vlcer bred in his secret parts did eate off his priuities and all that part of his body rotting away and full of crawling wormes perished Noremedies were present All Physitians despayred And this his greiuous sicknesse Eusebius affirmeth to bee nothing else but the stroke of Gods vengeance Vltio diuinitùs illata For the sixt of them the Emerods Caelius Rhodiginus reporteth that Philoctetes was smitten with it for his killing of Paris For the seauenth of them the Scab Volateran reporteth of the Emperour Copronymus that hee was strooken with it and died of it Perijt Elephantiae morbo And Baptista Egnatias addeth that he died of it in great extremity of torment Post infinita flagitia exquisitissimo cruciatu consumptus For the eighth of them Madnesse Pausanias reporteth that the Calidonians were strucken with it by Bacchus at the earnest prayer of his Priest Corâ—sus as the Greekes were with the Plague at the like request of Apolloes Priest Chryses And this sicknesse as the Poet Caecilius affirmeth is absolutely in Gods hand to inflict where he pleaseth Deo in manu est quem esse dementem velit Quem sâ—pere quem sanari quem in morbum inijci Sic enìm Lambinus Whom God will haue a foole or wise be found He shall be so and so or sicke or sound For the ninth of them Blindnesse Herodotus reporteth of Phero King of Egypt that hee was sodainely smitten blind as by the dart of God And for the tenth of them Astonishment and Stupiditie of minde Aelianus reporteth that the Celtish nation were so possest with it that they would not so much as runne out of an house when they euidently saw it either falling vpon their heads or burning about their eares but would rather chuse voluntarily to perish then wisely to withdraw themselues from their death Which though that Author ascribe vnto a kind of valour yet may it much more truely be reduced to Stupiditie And thus euen the Heathens as well as wee Christians and secular Histories as well as Holy Scriptures doe number all the fore-named sicknesses to be nothing else but the punishments of God Yea and so doe they also all other not named As Plutarch in the Delphians giueth an expresse instance Deum iratum hominibus omnis generis tetros mâ—rbos intulisse That their God being angry and offended with them sent all mâ—nnâ—r of greiuous diseâ—ses among thom Whereby it appeareth that diseases and sicknesses doe not come vnto men by blinde chance and fortune as the Philistims would faine imagine but as they found vnto their cost they bee sent vnto men by the ordinance of God They come not out of the dust as Iob teacheth in his booke that is Not onely from their second and inferior causes but from God their first Cause Who as sometimes hee worketh with those naturall Causes by infecting the aire and corrupting the water and blasting our fruites with vnwholesome dewes and mildewes as hee himselfe professeth so worketh hee often-times without them by his owne immediate stroke As when he sent his Angell into the host of Seneherib and in one night destroyed to the number of an hundred and fourescore and fiue thousand And therefore Saint Hierom inquiring into the true cause of all sicknesse hee flyeth aboue those inferior and naturall concauses vnto the supreme and supernaturall Cause Non dubitemus ista dicere vocem flagellorum esse Licèt nonnulle haec vel ex corrupto aere vel ex escarum corporum diuer sitate accidere dicant Let vs not doubt but that sicknesse is the lash of Gods scourge though some men do impute it vnto the corrupnes of the ayre or to the vncleannesse
plainely insinuating that Prayer vnto God is Panchrestum medicamentum as the Orator speaketh A salue for euery sore and a Cure of euery sicknesse A probatum est whereof we may see in Hezechiah who being attatched with a dangerous sicknesse some thinke it was the Plague yet did heale himselfe more soundly by his effectuall prayers then could a whole Colledge of the learnedest Phisitions And therefore the Patient he is appoined to pray My sonne faile not in thy sicknesse to pray vnto the Lord and hee will make thee whole The Phisition he is appointed to pray They shall pray vnto the Lord that he would prosper that which is giuen for thine ease and their Phisicke for the prolonging of life And the Congregation they are appointed to pray Is any man sicke among you Let him call for the Elders of the Church and let them pray for him and anoint him with oyle in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall saue the sicke and the Lord will raise him vp and if hee haue committed any sinne it shall be forgiuen him In which place is congested the whole summe of all those heades which before I haue collected both in this present Chapter and also in the former namely First that Sinne is the true cause of sicknesse vpon whose forgiuenesse there followeth a release as Mathew 9. 2. Secondly that God for this cause sendeth sicknesse vnto men Thirdly that God is not onely the sender of sicknesse but also the restorer vnto health And fourthly that the principall meanes to recouer is earnest and hearty prayer our owne our Phisitions and our faithfull Ministers So that in this Case it is not amisse though Tullie deride it as a kinde of madnesse ad aegros non Medicos adducere sed Vates Ariolos to bring vnto the Patient not a Phisition but a Prophet For so did God himselfe vnto Hezechiah in his sicknesse He sent vnto him not Medicum but Vatem the Prophet Isay to visite him by whom notwithstanding hee was both comforted and cured Thus God as I haue shewed you is both the Giuer and the Restorer of Health yea and that oftentimes immediately of himselfe without all externall meanes sending it downe sometime immediately out of heauen by the only power of prayer as he did Elias his fire Thereby plainely declaring that it was both a false impious opinion which was held by Leogorus Se fortuitò potiùs quà m Dei voluntate valetudinem recepisse That hee recouered by Fortune rather then by Gods blessing For it was not by Fortune that euen Pheraeus Iason recouered health when his Enemy smiting him chanc't to breake his impostume This was onely Gods blessing Hee was his Phisition 4 Yea and so is he likewise vnto all other men euen when they vse their best meanes because all the vertue of them is onely giuen by him He it is that hath giuen all medicinall herbes and plants vnto man He it is that hath giuen the Art of the Phisition and the skill how to vse them And hee it is that onely giueth all the efficacie vnto them by ioyning his blessing with them And all this is confessed as well by the very heathens as it is by vs Christians For the first of which three points that God is the giuer of all medicines vnto Man we see this by experience that there is a sanatiue and medicinable power giuen both vnto herbes and vnto rootes and vnto stones and vnto mineralls yea and euen vnto diuers kinds of pure simple earths called Terrae sigillatae because they be printed and sealed for diuers seuerall vses in mans sicknesses and infirmities With all which seuerall medicines the body of the earth is so euery where replenished yea and the sur-face of it so euery where ouer-strewed as if the whole earth were nothing else but a great bolus or masse of soueraigne medicines made vp by God himselfe for mans seuerall diseases Now the Question is whence this healing virtue commeth vnto all the forenamed Simples whether from the qualitie of the earth wherein they grow or from the influence of the starres whereby they grow or from some inward nature in themselues or from fate or from chance or from diuine prouidence For it needes must proceede from some one of these But that it cannot come from any one of the fiue first imaginary causes it is by diuine prouidence most euidently declared in the Booke of Genesis Where it is expresly testified as it were for the preuenting of this fond opinion that God made euery plant of the field before he put it into the Earth and euery hâ—rbe before it grew A worke of so great carefulnesse as hee hath not expressed in any other of his Creatures man himselfe alone excepted Now this place dischargeth all those forenamed causes of doing any worke in this notable effect The Earth that hath not giuen this virtue vnto plants because they all were made before they were put into the Earth The Starres they haue it not giuen vnto them because all the plants were made before them For the plants of the Earth were made the third day but the Planets of Heauen were not made before the fourth no nor the sixt Starres neither as appeareth in the Scripture Their owne power and nature hath not giuen it vnto them because they had not their very being of themselues but receiued it of another euen the Diuine Creator Fate that hath not giuen it vnto them because they alwayes possesse it not neither worke by necessity vnto their owne effect Chance that hath not giuen it vnto them because then the remedies could not haue answered so aptly vnto the diseases nor so constantly in all places Now if neither Earth nor Heauen nor Nature nor Fate nor Fortune haue giuen those qualities vnto Herbes and Plants then must Prouidence needes haue done it For as Plutarch collecteth in the very like case that Omnia quaeneque fortuitò fiunt neque necessariò neque diuinitùs res sunt naturales so may we collect from the very same diuision vsing a little inuersion that Quae neque fortuitò fiunt neque necessariò neque naturâ ea fiunt diuinitùs Those things which are neither done by Fortune nor by Fate nor by Nature they must needs be done by Prouidence And for our present instance that the virtues of herbes are giuen to them by Prouidence we may further collect by two other Obseruations The first whereof is this That the body of a man is not subiect vnto any sicknesse though neuer so dangerous but that it hath some remedie prouided for it if man were as skilfull in discerning of them as God hath beene bountifull in prouiding of them And therefore saith Bachiarius Ab sit hoc a fide mea vt aliquam dicam esse plagaâ— quâ—e non haebeat consolationem cùm mihi Propheta proclamet Nunquid
verum fateri volumus That vniuersall Parent and Creator of all things who first created those Medicines for man hath also declared the vse of them vnto him A thing most strange and miraculous if we will confesse the truth And a little before hee rendereth a reason why the knowledge of those things must needs be rather the teaching of God then the inuention of man Because if God hath only giuen those virtues vnto plants and man without God hath found them out man hath done the greater worke and God the lesse Superata hoc modo videri posset naturae ipsius munificentia si humani operis esset inuentio And therefore a little after hee concludeth that Si quis illa fortè ab homine excogitari posse credit ingratè Deorum manera intelligit If any man do thinke that such things could haue bene found by the wit and reach of man hee is an vnthankfull interpreter of the gracious gift of God Vnto whom Homer also ascribeth this blessing that for all kind of Medicines it is onely hee that possesseth them Pharmaca cunctorum Iupiter vnus habet God only hath the remedie For euery kinde of malady And thus euen the very Heathens themselues do expresly acknowledge both the plants themselues to be the workes of God and the knowledge of their vses to be the gift of God Neither stay they only heere in this particular branch of Phisicke but they acknowledge the whole Art to be the gift of God Hippocrates affirmeth it in expresse and plaine words Medicam facultatem Deorum esse munus And so Tully likewise Medicinae vtilitas Deorum immortalium inuentioni est consecrata The Art of Phisicke is of so great a profit that the inuention of it is ascribed vnto God So Plinie Dijs inuentores suos assignauit Yea and it is expresly affirmed by Homer to bee both a diuine Science and greater then any other Ast Medicum reliquis diuina scientia maior Instruit Yea and Apollo one of their chiefest gods doth boast of this inuention to be his and none others Inuentum Medicina meum est opiferque per Orbem Dicor Herbarum est subiecta scientia nobis The Art of Phisicke it is mine Inuention and an Art Diuine And I am call'd the World all o're The common Helper of their sore The Nature of all Plants is knowne Only to Me it is mine owne And therefore they called Apollo Vlion Salutiferum and Artemidem ex eo quòd integros faceret as Strabo reporteth because he made men whole But Plutarch reduceth this Art a great deale higher referring it not to Apollo but euen vnto Iupiter or if there be any God who is greater For hee condemneth it as one of the greatest absurdities of the Stoicks that they do ascribe this Art vnto any of the petty and inferior gods and not rather vnto him that is the chiefest of them Wherein hee erred not For it is indeede the gift of the greatest God It is hee saith Ecclesiasticus that hath giuen men this knowledge that he might be glorified in his wondrous workes And therefore he exhorteth vs To honour the Phisition because of necessitie Adding there this reason For the Lord hath created him He hath created him not onely as he is a man but also as he is a Phisition As it is expresly testified by Saint Augustine Illa corporis medicina â—on inuenitur vnde ad Homines manare potuerit nisi a Deo Cuirerum omnium status salusque tribuenda est It cannot bee found out from whence the Art of Phisicke should come vnto men but onely from God vnto whom the health and safetie of all things ought to be ascribed So Basil Ars medica à Deo vitam nostram moderante concessa est The Arte of Phisicke is giuen vs of God who onely ruleth our whole life So Theodoret Quia Deus qui te mortalem in hac vita condidit sciuit te morbis quoque exercendum fore simul medicam artem te docuit cuius scientiam morborum incur sionibus opposuit Because God who made man mortall in this present life foresaw that he needs must be exercised with sicknesses he therefore taught him the Arte of Phisicke opposing that knowledge against the assaults of all kindes of diseases And so likewise Ephraâ—m Syrus comprehending in one sentence both these last fore-named points Deus Herbas Terrae pharmaca Medicorum studia ad morbos corperis curandos concessit God hath giuen vs both Herbes and other wholsome Medicines and beside both the study and skill of Phisitions to cure all the maladies and diseases of our bodies So that it is onely hee which hath giuen both all medicinable plants vnto the Earth and all skill to the Phisition in what manner to vse them And thus both the Heathens and Christians agree that both the Phisicke and the Phisition are the onely gifts of God for the health and good of man 6 But yet neither of both these can doe any good vnto him if they bee not assisted with Gods speciall blessing For first for the Phisition that it is not in his power with all his skill to make any sicke-man whole we may see it in the old Testament by the example of King Asa whose too great confidence in his Phisitions and too little in his God was that which brought him vnto his end And the same we may likewise see in the new in the woman diseased with the bloody issue Of whom it is testified that though shee had suffered many things from her Phisitions and continued long with them and vsed great change of them and spent all she had vpon them yet was she neuer the better for them but rather much the worse And the like is also reported of the Emperor Adrian that hee at his death was forced to complaine that Turba Medicorum interfecit Regem The multitude of Phisitions had brought the Emperour vnto his death Whereby it appeareth that no Phisition hath power to heale any man if God do not giue a special blessing vnto him As the Philosopher Taurus insinuated to that Phisition that came to heale A Gellius Cum Dijs bene volentibus opera tua sistas hunc nobis sanum Implying that his labour and Gods blessing must worke both together before the sick-man could recouer For as Ecclesiasticus expresly testifieth Neither the Apothecary can finish his owne worke in making of the Medicine nor yet the phisition his in applying of the medicine if they be not assisted with Gods speciall blessing The Apothecarie saith he doth make a confection and yet he cannot finish his owne worke For of the Lord commeth prosperitie and wealth ouâ—r all the Earth Then he commeth from him vnto the Phisition Giue place to the Phisition for the Lord hath created him Let him not go from thee for thou hast neede of him But what can
sense in the same hight of words Nimirùm Spiritus Sanctus quum natura sua sanctus sit Deus nos homines sanctificat ac Deos reddit The Holy Ghost being by nature both holy God by sanctifying vs men maketh vs become Gods So likewise Dionysius Salus non aliter existere potest nisi ij qui salutem consequuntur Dij fiant A man cannot otherwise attaine vnto saluation then if he first be made a God Which exaggerations of those fathers and Scriptures must not be expounded according to the letter as thogh men could be made to be Gods indeed for that is a thing vnpossible But the true meaning of them is that by our imitation of Gods vertue and goodnesse we are made so like vnto him and so neerely ioyned with him that we may bee sayd in some sense to be made partakers of his diuine nature because all those vertues in him are nature And therefore we may obserue in al the forenamed places that there is a mollification vsed to reduce the fore-named Apotheosis and Deification within the compasse of this sense Dionysius Areopagita where hee saith that All they which shall attaine the saluation of God must first be made Gods addeth for explication Dei porrò effectio est Dei quoad fieri potest imitatio cum eodem coniunctio atque vt ita dicam vnio The being made a God is nothing else but the imitation of God and a coniunction with him and that I may so speake a very vnion Elias Cretensis where hee saith that the Holy Ghost doth make men Gods addeth that it is per adoptionem gratiam that this making of them Gods is but onely Gods adopting them by grace to be his Sonne So Nazianzen expoundeth His being made a God to be nothing but onely His coniunction with God Quo pacto me Deum reddit vel quo pacto me coniungit Deo Which coniunction with God as Trismegistus teacheth is onely effected by religion and godlinesse Propè Deos accedit qui mente qua Dijs iunctas est diuina religione Dijs iunxerit That man commeth neere vnto God indeed that ioyneth his soule vnto him by piety and religion So likewise Boetius where hee saith that Beatus omnis Deus Thâ—t euery one which is blessed is thereby made a God hee addeth for the qualification of that speech Sed nâ—tura quidem vnus participatione verò nihil prohibet esse quamplurimos Yet there is but one God by nature but there may be many Gods by participation Not by the true participation of his naturall deitie but of his vertue and of his felicitie Yea and euen the Apostle Peter himselfe doth vse a further modification euen of this participation For where hee telleth vs that there be great and precious promises giuen vnto vs That we should be partakers of the Godly nature lest wee should misconstrue this participation to be intended of Gods true nature or deitie hee expoundeth himselfe plainely that this participation of the diuine nature must bee gotten by flying of corruption by ioyning vertue with our faith and with vertue knowledge and with knowledge temperance and with temperance patience and with patience goodlines and with godlines brotherly kindenes and with brotherly kindnes loue Which is the bond of perfection and tyeth a man strictly vnto God And this is the first degree of our felicitie with God which is affoorded vnto vs in this present life There be two degrees more which come not vnto men before the life to come The first that vertue brings vs vp to Heauen which is the place of Gods owne dwelling and there maketh vs to liue aeternally with him A thing plainely confessed euen by the very Heathen Pythagoras affirmeth in his verses that Si relicto corpore ad purum aethera perveneris Eris immortalis Deus incorruptibilis nec ampliùs mortalis When as our Soules our Bodies shall forsake And to the Heauens they shall themselues betake Then shall we be as Gods immortall beene All incorrupt no longer mortall men For we shall then enioy God who is our very life as the Prophet Moses testifieth yea the life of our life our vita vitalis as the Orator speaketh whereas this our present life is but vita mortalis a transitory and a mortall life But this saith the Apostle Paul we know that if our earthly Tabernacle be dissolued we haue a building giuen vs of God which is an house not made with hands but aeternall in the heauens And therefore saith Musonius that Vir bonus est civis vrbis Iovis quae constat ex hominibus Dijs That he which is a good man shall bee a Citizen of the Citie of God which is a Citie common vnto Gods with men Which is a probable ayming at the Heauenly Iâ—rusâ—lem which in the Booke of the Apocalypse is described vnto vs. I saw the Holy Citie new Ierusalem come downe from God out of heauen praepared as a Bryde trimmed for her husband And I heard a great voyce out of Heauen saying Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and hee will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himselfe will be their God with them Vpon which our cohabitation with God Tullie saith that we are Deorum quasi Gentiles the Countrymen of the Gods Nay generis divini the Kinsmen of the Gods as he addeth in that place of their owne generation as Aratus speaketh And therfore Tullie in another place speaking of the state of God and vertuous men after this present life he saith that they shall liue among the Gods Qui in corporibus humanis vitam sunt imitati Deorum his ad eos a quibus sunt profecti facilis reditus patet Such as haue liued the life of a God in the body of a man shall finde an easie passage vnto God because from him they haue descended So that God calleth those men to liue with him in heauen with whom he himselfe hath liued vpon earth Now the way whereby they ascend vp into Heauen there to liue with God is by instructing themselues in the knowledge of God As some euen of the Heathens themselues haue taught vs. Trismegistus saith expresly that Vnica salus homini est cognitio Dei haec ad Olympum ascensio The happines of man is the knowledg of God and this is our way of ascending into heauen Agreeing well with that of our Sauiour Christ This is life aeternal to know thee to be the onely true God and whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ. For as Bernard truly noteth Summum bonum hominis est plena perfecta agnitio Creatoris The happines of the Creature is the knowledg of his Creator Not a naked or an idle knowledg but a knowledg which is ioyned with the practise of vertues As the Apostle Peter teacheth vs. Ioynes with vertue knowledge For if they be
as Iustine Martyr very well collecteth If the absence or priuation of both Heauinesse and Lightnes were a formall cause of circular motion then Materia prima which Aristotle maketh to bee neither light nor heauy should from all eternity haue moued circularly and so there should haue bene a motion before there was any Heauen Which hee derideth there most iustly as a grosse absurdity But if wee should grant as Palingenius would haue vs Coelestia corpora per se Atque suis formis vt terra ignisque moueri That Heauenly bodies of themselues by their owne formes do moue As doth the Earth that is below and Fire that is aboue Yet he teacheth vs in the same place that it is onely God that giueth them their formes Nempe suis res a formis tales generantur Quales praecepit qui formas condidit ipsas Yet such are things by their owne formes begotten As He that made their formes doth please t'allot them And therefore the Orator proceedeth on further vnto the other two members of his forenamed diuision of Motion That this sphericall motion of the heauens not proceeding in them from any naturall principle inhaerent in their bodies it must needes either be a violent motion put vpon them by an externall force from some others or else a voluntary motion occasioned by an internall will in themselues For other principle can be none of this circular motion But that it cannot be a motion inforced vpon them hee assumeth from this ground That there cannot bee any force without them that is strong enough to compell them there being no force that is greater then their owne Quae enim vis potest esse maior What force can bee greater And againe Quid potest esse mundo valentius quod impellat atque moueat What power can be greater then the power of the world that should bee able to mooue it Hee supposeth though falsely that there can no such power bee And therefore hee concludeth That the motion of the Heauens must be of necessity a motion meerly voluntary proceeding from nothing else but onely from their owne wills Whereupon hee there inferreth that Haec qui videt non solùm indoctè sed etiam impiè faciet si Deos esse neget That this being admitted he must not onely be vngodly but also vnlearned too if hee deny them to be Gods meaning The Heauens and Starres This is the summe of his reason from the motions of the Starres Wherein though hee leade vs neuer so farre about yet at last hee bringeth vs home vnto our Conclusion That there needs must be a God and that the Heauens by their motion do plainely proue the same An Argument largely handled by the Prophet Dauid in the 19. Psal. And though Tully in that place doe bring the whole Argument vnto a false issue building vpon a false ground That the motion of the Heauens is voluntary and of themselues and that therefore They be Gods though I say it be false in the particular That the Heauens and Stars be Gods yet it is true in the generall that it proueth most certainly that There needes must be a God and that this motion of the Heauens cannot possibly be stirred by any other cause but onely by God himselfe For if the motion of the Heauens being admitted to be voluntary doe conclude them to bee Gods then must needes the same motion being admitted to be compulsory much more conclude that he by whose force they be so violently compelled must needes be God As euen Plato himselfe hath plainely confessed from whom the former Argument of Tullies is borrowed Cogitemus saith hee quî fieri possit vt tanta magnitudo ab aliqua possit natura tanto tempore circumferri Ego igitur assero Deum causam esse nec aliter posse fieri Let vs consider saith he how it can possibly bee that the Heauens being of so great and so vast a body should by any power of nature â—e driuen so impetuously And therefore saith he I do confidently affirme that onely God himselfe can bee the mouer of them This is his determination as concerning the Heauens motion And where is now that Soule of theirs which but a little before he made the mouer of them 2 But let vs now proceede further and come from the nature of their motion to the Order Which is so great and excellent that euen Aristotle himselfe who subiecteth all other matters with a kinde of Tyranny vnto the power of his reasons yet here leauing reason he sodainely breaketh out into a passionate admiration Quid vnquà m poterit aequari coelesti ordini volubilitati Cùm sydera conuertantur exactissima norma de alio in aliud seculum What can euer be compared vnto the order of the Heauens to the motion of the Stars in their seuerall reuolutions Which mooue most exactly as it were by rule and square from one generation to another Which rule of their motion Dauid affirmeth to be Gods law that he hath set them God hath made them fast for euer he hath giuen them a law which they cannot passe And so likewise doth Plato For he saith that God when he had made the Starres he did Singulis leges fatales edicere He gaue vnto them fatall vnchangeable Lawes And indeed the very name of this Art whereof we now intreat the very name of Astronomie in exact signification importeth that the Starres obserue a law in their motion Which law is giuen vnto them by none other but onely by God himselfe who is their true Law-giuer He is both their Maker and their Law-maker Yea and this law of his they obserue so exactly that as the Orator obserueth there is in all their motion Nihil temerarium nihil varium nihil fortuitum They neither iustle rashly one vpon another nor yet decline casually one from another no nor vary in the least poynt from their prescribed order For as Macrobius likewise noteth In Coelo constat nihil fortuitum nihil tumultuarium prouenire sed vniuersa illìc diuinis legibus stata ratione procedere There is nothing done casually nothing disorderly in the heauens but all things prescribed by most exact reason and determined by order of most diuine lawes So that hee ascribeth all the order of their motion vnto that law which God hath prescribed them And so likewise doth Seneca he saith that the Starres doe aeternae legis imperio procedere They moue by the appoyntment of an eternall Law that is by the law of an eternall God Both of them agreeing with the Prophet Dauid that the onely cause of their orderly motion is that exact law which God hath prescribed them In which poynt Tullie also consenteth fully with them For he rendring a reason why certaine of the Starres be called Planets that is to say Wanderers yet affirmeth that it is not because they wander in their motion but because of that
earthly Creatures would carelesly praetermit or despise those Heauenly This is the whole summe of Aristotles reasons to proue that the Starres haue no voluntarie motions Plato indeed rendereth a reason why the Heauens haue no neede of any instruments of motion as Legges or Feete But they be such as shew plainely that their motion is not voluntarie Now to recollect the summe of this long Chapter If this regular and orderly motion of the Starres be neither naturally giuen vnto them either by their Matter or by their Forme nor accidentally fallen vpon them either by Chance or Fortune nor voluntarily composed by them out of their owne election then must it needs be imposed vpon them by diuine constitution as Plutarch truely collecteth accompting this for a sufficient enumeration But the three former branches are largely proued in three Sections of this Chapter And therefore the Author of their motions must needs be God himselfe It can be none other Whom Boetius truly calleth Terrarum Coeli satorem qui perpetua mundum ratione gubernat Earths planter and Heauens placer who Worlds vast circumference Both made and doth maintaine and rule by lasting prouidence So that for this point I conclude with Lactantius that Tanta rerum magnitudo tanta dispositio tanta in sâ—ruandis ordinibus temporibusque constantia non potuit autolìm sine prouido Artifice oriri aut constare tot seculis â—ine incola potenti aut in perpetuum gubernari sine perito sciente Rectore Quod ratio ipsa declarat Such a greatnes in the Creature such a comelines in their order such a constancie in obseruing both their courses and their seasons could neuer either at first haue beene framed without a cunning hand or so long haue beene praeserued without a powerfull inhabitant or so wisely haue beene gouerned without a skilfull Regent As euen Reason it selfe maketh it plaine and euident CHAP. 12. That God hath made all his creatures in Harmonicall proportion and in a kinde of Musicke That all creatures are naturally deloghted with it 3. That they prayse God in their kinds with their naturall Musicks 4. That Artificiall musicke is the gift of God to men 5. That the chiefest end of it is to prayse God with it WE are now at the last come vnto the last of the Mathematicall Sciences which is the Arte of Musicke of which I purpose not to discourse as a curious Musitian but as a Diuine And therefore I will not Artem Musicam in trutina examinare as Aristophanes speaketh I will not strictly examine euery crochâ—t and quauer as it were vpon the ballance but looking directly vpon mine owne marke with a stedfast eye I will onely vnfold those fiue poynts vnto you which I haue summed vp before in the contents of this Chapter And that but very lightly to auoyd all curiositie First therefore for the first of them It was Pythagoras his position Vniversi naturam Musicis fuisse rationibus fabricatam That the frame of this whole world is made in a kind of naturall Musick And the most of the old Philosophers as Plutarch reporteth concurred with him in the very same opinion A Deo omnia fuisse instituta secundùm Harmoniam That God hath made all his workes exactly vnto the due proportion of a Musicall Harmonie And we may see it plainely verified if we will take a Suruey of all the Creatures of God beginning which the highest and so by degrees descending the lowest And first for the Heauens the highest of Gods workes I haue partly shewed before in the former Chapter what an excellent Harmonie God hath bestowed into them both actually in their motions and virtually in their influences I doe leaue the former of those Harmonies to the libertie of the Readers to beleeue or not beleeue as it pleaseth themselues But this latter of them is a thing so euident of their gracious influences vpon these inferior Bodies that he must needs be destitute both of sense and reason that denieth it Neither doe the Philosophers only beleeue the body of the Heauens are made in musicall proportion but also that their soules and Intelligences from whence they haue their motion are also made by the same composition Plato describing the Creation of the Soule of the world he setteth downe exactly all the seuerall substances whereof it is compounded and nameth there praecisely both all the particular Ingredients and all their seuerall doses In which Argument Macrobius likewise hath taken great paâ—nes to expresse more plainely that which was deliuered by Plato more obscurely as concerning both the Matters and the Measures of the Soules composition which hee reduceth exactly vnto Musicall proportion Yea and further ascribeth all the Musicall Harmonie of the Heauens themselues onely vnto that musicall composition which God gaue vnto the soule of the Heauens in his first Creation Ergò Mundi anima qu ae ad motum hoc quod videmus Vniversitatis corpus impellit contexta numeris musicam dese creantibus concinnentiam necesse est vt sonos musicos de motu quem proprio impulsu praestat efficiat The soule of the World which stirreth the bodie of the World vnto motion being it selfe made of such numbers as beget in it selfe a musicall Harmonie must needs in all those motions which it selfe procureth produce a musicall Harmonie likewise Yea and a little after hee attributeth vnto this musicall Composition of that soule not onely the Harmonicall motion of the Heauens but also all that delight in Musicke which all liuing Creatures does take here vpon the earth Iure igitur Musicá capitur omne quod viuit quia coelestis anima qua animatur vniversitas Originem sumpsit ex Musica By right must euery thing that hath life be delighted with Musicke because the soule of the world which giueth them their life is it selfe compounded of a kind of Musick This is the conceit which the ancient Philosophers haue had of the Musick and Harmonie of the Heauens not onely in their Bodies but also in their Soules All of them proceeding onely from that diuine and heauenly Harmonie which Anselmus affirmeth to bee in God himselfe as I haue before obserued I censure not their opinion but onely note it to declare how strongly they were possessed that all things in the world are compounded in a kinde of Harmony by God yea euen the Soule of the world it selfe Let vs therefore now come downe from the Heauens vnto the Elements For in them also the Philosophers haue obserued diuers Harmonies Plutarch in his Booke De prìmo Frigido reporteth an old opinion that God is called by the name of a Musition Which appellation hee interpreteth to bee giuen vnto him for his skilfull proportioning of the Elements and their qualities in the mixture and temper of all compound bodies Aeris mutationes effecta quia temperat Deus Musicus appellatur God is called a Musition for his skilfull
hee was angry would goe play vpon his Harpe and being demanded for what cause hee did it hee sayd that hee found that it allayed the raging fiercenesse of his minde And the like effect it had also with King Saul in whom the raging of his furious spirit was calmed and allayed by the inticing sounds of Musick And a contrary effect it had with Elizeus in whom the drouping of the propheticall spirit was excited and stirred vp by the melodious tunes of Musicke The contemplation of which strange effect so rapt the Poet Bartas into admiration of it that it made him to breake out into this passionate exclamation of the might power of Musicke O what is it that Musicke cannot do Sith th' all inspiring Spirit it conquer's too And mak's the same downe from th' Imperiall pole Descend to Earth into a Prophets soule With diuine accents tuning rarely right Vnto the rapting Spirit the rapted spright So that the sweetnesse of Musicke as Ouid noteth of it can trahere superis sedibus arte Iovem And so is it likewise in all other affections Musicke hath a dominion ouer euery one of them So that as Macrobius truely obserueth Omnis animi habitus cantibus gubernatur All the seuerall habits and dispositions of the minde are disposed and ouer-ruled by the Imperiall power of Musicke For Musicke as Aristotle affirmeth of it hath Naturalem quandam voluptatem per quam illius vsus cunctis aetatibus cunctisque moribus est acceptus It hath in it a naturall kind of pleasure whereby the vse of it is made acceptable vnto all sorts of persons of whatsoeuer either ages or manners As wee may see by plaine experience how Countrymen doe vse to lighten their toyling oldwiues their spinning Mariners their labours Soldiers their dangers by their seuerall musicall harmonies and all other sorts of men their griefes as Ovid truely noteth Hoc est cur cantet vinctus quoque compede fossor Indocili numero cùm grave mollit opus Cantat innitens limosae pronus arenae Adverso tardam qui trahit amne ratem QuÃque ferens pariter lentos ad pectora remos In numerum pulsa brachia versat aqua Fessus vt incubuit baculo saxoque resedit Pastor arundineo carmine mulcet oves Cantantis pariter pariter data pensa trahentis Fallitur ancillae decipitâ—rque labor c. Hence 't is the Delver bound and clogd in clowted buskin sings By vntaught tunes his heavier taske to easier passe he brings So he that groveling streynes and dragg's on muddy shore his boate That comes aslugg against the streame help't-on with singing note And he that bending slowly brings his tarrying Oare to breast His winding Armes keepe stroke with songs while he the water beates The wearied Shepheard as on staffe he leanes or sitt's on Stone Doth sweetely charme his flocke with pipe which doth himselfe bemone And thus the maid that sings and spinnes and plies her distaffe fast By songs deceiues the tediousnes of her praescribed taske Yea euen sucking Infants who haue not almost any sense of their life yet haue a sense of Musicke For when they are in their strongest passion and most fiercely crying yet are they presently stilled with their Nurses singing and so charmed with it as if they were inchanted with some Circes cup. Whence Maximus Tyrius collecteth Animum esse Musicae alumnum That the soule is as it were the very Nurse-Child of Musicke So that as Plato truely noteth Rithmus Harmonia animi interiora penetrant pulsant The Harmony of Musicke doth pierce and affect the very bowells of the minde VVhereby it doth Animum plurimùm allicere vt ea meritò gaudeant qui audiunt It delighteth the minde with so strong an allurement that all which come to heare it doe reioyce and cheere at it From whence Aristotle collecteth that there is Quaedam cognatio nobis cum Harmonijs There is a kinde of Affinity betweene the Soule and Harmony Insomuch that diuers of the ancient Philosophers held strongly this opinion Animam aut esse Harmoniam aut habere Harmoniam That either the Soule is nothing else but an Harmony it selfe or else at the least hath an Harmony in it From whence Ficinus collecteth that Harmonia qui non est delectatus non est harmonicè compositus That he which is not delighted with Harmony he surely is not made according to harmony Yea and Balthasar in his Courtier passeth an harder Censure For he saith that hee is either Insensatus or that hee hath Spiritus discordes invicem repugnantes Hee is either a senselesse and a simple Foole or a man compounded of repugnant Spirits Yea and Musicke hath not onely a kindred with the Soule but also a kind of affinitie with the Body For there be diuers diseases in it which are healed and cured by the pleasant sounds of Musick As Macrobius obserueth in the fore-alledged place Corporum quoque morbis medetur Beda instanceth in the paine of the Head and the Heart Athenaeus in the Sciatica and paine of the Hippes and Aulus Gellius in the biting of vipers So that Musicke hath in it a Sanatiue vertue not only against the perturbations of the Soule but also against the diseases of the Body And therefore no meruaile if euery liuing thing doe naturally take a delight and pleasure in it 3 And as God hath created all things in a naturall Harmonie and giuen vnto all of them a naturall propertie to bee delighted with Harmonie so haue all of them also a naturall instinct to praise the same God with their naturall Musick and to spend that his good gift in the honour of him that gaue it Proclus affirmeth of all Gods Creatures that Omnia precantur Hymnósque concinunt ad ordinis sui ducem alia intellectuali modo alia rationali alia sensitivo alia naturali All creatures make their prayers and sings prayses to their Ruler some of them in a manner which is meerely intellectual some of them in a reasonable some of them in a sensible and some only in a natural By Intellectuall Singers he vnderstanding Angels by Reasonable Men by Sensible Birds and Beasts and by Naturall Trees and Plants and such insensible Creatures As it euidently appeareth euen by his owne instances Where for Byrds hee giueth an example of the Cock whose crowing hee interpreteth to be his saluting of the rising Sun and his hymne vnto Apollo For plants he giueth instance in the Heliotropium whose turning continually towards the Sunne hee interprets to be his seruice vnto him setting downe in the same place a notable hymne wherein he imagineth it to invocate and praise him As our noble Poet Bartas doth the like of the Larke in a notable fiction whose singing so constantly in the morning and euening he construeth to be her Morning and Euening Song and her dayly sacrifice in her