voyce when there was nothing besides him selfe he spake that is he decreed with him selfe that it should be so If you aske what moued him to create it when he could be aswell without it being delighted with the reflection of his owne glorye which he sawe in him selfe made creatures because he would haue some to be partakers also of that his happines as men and Angels and for their sakes he made the worlde that they might be contayned in it Angels in heauen men vpon the superficies of the earth and all other creatures for the vse of man that so Angels and men seeing his goodnes whereof they were made partakers should prayse him As for the Philosophers and Poets and great wise men of the worlde although they enioyed not the Bible as were Mercurius Trismegistus Homer Hesiodus Aristotle Tully Ouid they all held that the world had a beginning and that God was the maker of it How then is it that now our Atheists denie the same Surely they thinke themselues wise and are become foolish as the Apostle speaketh For they thinke there may bee an effect without a cause a motion without a moouer a worke without a workeman But because disputation is not to be held with them which are ignorant but with the learned and the learned will not preiudice their knowledge so much as to be thought not able to yeild a reason of their assertions let vs examin the reasons which they alleadge why they should holde that the world wâ—â—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out beginning Aristotle say they affirmeth that there can be no motion without a mouer and there must be a due proportion inter motorem id quod mouetur betweene that which is moued and that by whome it is moued there is one Sphere which is called primum mobile the first bodye which is moued so there must be one first agent to moue the same but he did moue from eternitie there was therefore some thing which from eternitye was to be moued by him and that is the highest Sphere For say they if he did not from all eternitye moue this Sphere but began the worlde then non agens factum est agens of no agent he was made an agent which could not be without alteration but that could not be because God is not subiect to alteration for then should he also be subiect to corruption and so should be no God The argument I say doth not followe for although that God is said to be primus motor ab aeterno the first mouer from eternitye yet he did not actu mouere ab aterno this motion of his was not in action eternallye and therefore it is not rightly inferred that there should befor that cause anye change in God For God what-soeuer in his eternall fore-knowledge he intended to doe is said to doe it in the same maner as he intended it and that motion which was not in rerum natura subsistens subsisting in the nature of things as they terme it yet in God was alwayes subsisting with whome all future thinges are present which called the things that were not by their names as if they were He ordayned euery thing that it should be euen before the foundation of the worlde was layed the reason is because that eternall and diuine essence doth not acknowledge time he seeth thinges past present and future not successiuelye but all at once Therefore they haue not yet attayned to the true vnderstanding of Aristotles meaning which argue in this maner Naturally I confesse motion is without beginning because one motion cannot begin without an other precaedent motion so likewise it cannot end without alteration because in omni vere continuo physico in euerye true naturall thing whose partes haue their coherence together as this hath there is a perpetuall succession which may be diuided into infinite partes of the same proportion For euen as in time and euery part thereof there is one present moment or instant which argueth that there is an other past and an other future so in euerye motion which is measured by time there is one present mutation which argueth one motion precedent and an other subsequent because euery motion is a change either of substance or of quantitye or of qualitye or ofplace And therfore the first moment of time cannot be assigned nor the first mutation which is in motion The naturall Philosophers could not discerne by nature whether was first the Hen or the egge because one cannot be without the other therfore they supposed that eternallye the generation of one was the corruption of an other and so there should be an eternall reuolution of thinges which indeed naturally must be so but metaphisically it is not so because there is a God aboue nature by whome nature is ouer-ruled Neither is it meruayle though Philosophye and Fayth doe not speake alike concerning the beginning of the worlde wheÌ„ the Metaphysics and their principles differ so much from the Physics their principles and Aristotle dissenteth so much from Aristotle one and the selfe same man from himselfe It is one thing to affirme that the worlde simply had no beginning and an other thing to saye that nature did not make the worlde and that by the power of nature it shall haue no end for God and Nature are diuers thinges Aristotle confessed that the worlde began and shall haue an end in respect of the diuine and supernaturall power because he said that God as he is the first mouer so he is the first cause of motion and actuallye infinite a most free agent not tyed to any secondary causes instruments meanes whereby he worketh He which is eternall was before all motion can be without motion or time because he made both motion and time Aristotle denyeth that any thing which is eternall can be measured by time he denyeth God to be in time and by a consequent he denyeth him to be tyed vnto motion which is measured by time God moued eternallye but his motion was metaphysicall which was nothing else but to will to nill and to vnderstand The worlde therfore is not without beginning in respect of the first cause which is God but of the second cause which is nature for then nature should be iniurious vnto her selfe if she should doe vyolence vnto her selfe and be a cause of her owne destruction And therefore according to nature there is a reference and due proportion betweene him which mooueth and that which is mooued and the motion it selfe and so the eternitie of the mouer must argue the eternitie of the thing which by him is mooued of the motion but God hath exerciseth his metaphysical power and authoritie ouer all thinges whereby he counterchecketh and ouer ruleth these thinges The arguments therefore which the Philosophers produce to proue the eternitie of the worlde are reduced vnto these First if there were any first motion the mouer and the moâ—ued body from whence this motion
Arke it was 300. cubits in length 50 in bredth 30. in height there were 3. chambers or floores in it therefore there was roome enough to receiue all these beastes and many more and meate for them for a long time that we need not for the defence of this storye to flye to Geometricall cubits saying that Moses being learned in Geometrye and all the artes of the Egiptians did vnderstand Geometricall cubits but playne cubits Such a cubit is the length of a mans arme from his elboe to the top of his middle finger Though no dout such cubits were longer then now they are because men were of higher stature then now they are But the length therof being 300. cubits sheweth that it was 5. times the length of Salomons Temple which was but 60. cubits long the bredth of it being 50. it was twice an halfe as broad as being but 20. cubits broad But the length of it being 300. cubits and the bredth 50. being ioyned together do make of square measure by the cōmon rules of arte 15. thousand cubits Moreouer it contayned in the height of it 3. storyes as I haue shewed one being aboue the other in regard whereof it was 3. times as capable of the creatures contayning 3. times the measure of the lowest roome excepting onely the thicknesse of the boordes which made the partition betweene the floores that is in the whole 45. thousand cubits and euerye seuerall floore contayning 10. cubits in height The food of the beastes whatsoeuer it was before it might behaye hearbes and berryes for what food would not hunger cause them to eat The worke-manship though it were aboue the knowledge of man to deuise it and contriue it in such sorte and aboue his cunning and strength to guide so great a vessell on the water and to keepe it frō wrackes it was an hūdred yeares in building it needed not to be lanched out into the water as Ships are because the water of itselfe did beare it vp whē all the earth was ouerflowen From whence had God such great quantity of water to drowne the worlde There were two immediat causes the Sea beneath because the fountaynes of the deep were opened and the heauen aboue for the windowes of the heauen were also open Concerning the waters from beneath The vaynes and pores of the earth were broken vp to send forth more abundance of water the waters which were before gathered together into certayne places began to swell and being rarified ouer flowered the bankes that as before according to nature the water was to hide and couer the whole earth yet secundum naturae consilium according to the counsell and dispensation of nature for the preseruation of these creatures the water and the earth made but one globe so now againe for the destruction of these creatures the waters did hyde couer the whole earth as according to nature they ought to doe And we see by our owne experience though not in generall because God hath promised otherwise yet in particular how often the water goeth beyond the bankes maketh breaches into the land And it is in mans reason impossible how it should be otherwise but that the water being a liquid and fluid substance so farre in quantitye exceeding the earth and in place higher then the earth should presentlye drowne the earth But onely God doth supernaturally gouerne it restrayne it against the nature of the first creation The windowes of heauen were open that is as the Text doth expound it it rayned 40. dayes and 40. nights all the cloudes were melted and dissolued into rayne and wheras before God separated and diuided the waters from the waters that some were beneath in the Sea and riuers and parte of the earth some in the ayre frozen and congealed into cloudes now to make a deluge and generall ouer-flowing he brake the partition and let them be at libertye as they were before I could for their better contentment stand vpon such natural causes as are besides the Text as some Diuines Philosophers haue done which by the windowes of heauen vnderstand Cancer Pisces Heiades Pleiades and Orion among the starres Mars Venus and Luna among the planets Also I could alleadge Mechlinus the scholer of Albertus Magnus in his Cōmentaryes which writeth that before the floud there was a Coniunction of Iupiter Saturne in the end of Cancer contrary to the Ship called Argo which represented the Arke and that this Coniunction did portend an inundation although I need not to stand vpon these thinges because the naturall causes which I haue alleaged out of the Text are sufficient But they obiect that the waters couered the mountaynes 15. cubits vpward as it is in the Text and they aske how that could be seeing there were but two causes the swelling of the waters beneath and the rayne from aboue For some mountaynes are higher then the middle region of the ayre and by a consequent they are higher then the clowdes as namely Olympus in Thessaly Artas in Barbary the Alpes c My answer is that if any parte of the earth is aboue the cloudes it is naturall for the water also to be aboue that parte of the earth bee it neuer so high therefore it is not to be wondred at much lesse is it impossible or absurd Againe though the cloudes are not aboue these fewe mountaines yet the firmament or middle region of the ayre it selfe is farre aboue them and although some of these mountaynes are found to be by the plum-lyne or perpendiculer 15. surlonges ascending from the playne and the cloudes are commonly lifted vp but 10. furlonges aboue vs yet sometimes they are lifted vp 40. furlonges as Pliny sheweth Againe the very waters of the deep doe stand aboue the mountaynes You aske how that may be you say they are beneath the firmament that therfore they cannot be aboue the mountaines seeing these aboue the firmament are the clouds which are a great deale lower then the mountaynes vnlesse the waters which are beneath the firmament should be aboue the waters which are aboue the firmament To this I answer that the mistes which are in the vallyes are reckoned among the waters which are aboue the firmament and yet are sometimes dissolued into rayne before they are drawne vp so high as the mountaynes for which cause they seeme to them which be in the vallyes to be gathered together in the tops of the mountaynes and doe hyde the mountaynes with darknes in the tops of which mountaines yet Springes doe arise which are of the waters beneath the firmament For an other cauell they obiect that the floud began the 17. day of the second month that the rayne continued 40. dayes that the waters preuayled 150. dayes where-vpon they aske how it could be that the Arke rested vpon the mount of Armenia the 7. day of the 7. month which by this account was 4. dayes before the falling
this tract my sonne in regarde of my loue to vardes man and my dutye towards God Illud vero ex mente lucidum verbīs filius Det that same pure worde which is borne of God is the sonne of God Natura diuina principium entium the diuine nature is the beginning of all thinges Deus et pater bonum eandem habent naturam quid est Deus pater bonum quam omnium esse God the Father and Goodnes haue the same nature what is God the Father and Goodnes but the very essence and being of all thinges Here is a manifest acknowledgement of the Trinitye To leaue particular men what answere the Atheists to the iudgement of the worlde the consent of nations Tully draweth his argument in this manner Deus esse non est dubitandum quoniam corum notitiam omnium animis ipsa impressit natura that there is a God it is without question because all nations doe acknowledge and confesse him by the instinct of nature But in an other place saith he Omnium consensus vox naturae est the consent of all men is the voyce of nature it selfe I haue shewed how all nations imbrace some religion or other haue their Altars their Priests their Gods as the Hebrues from Moses so the Egiptians from Mercury the Cretians from Melissus the Latins frō Ianus the Romans from Numa the Greckes frō Orpheus and Cadmus and all nations from one or other St. Augustin saith concerning miracles Non nunc necessaria sunt vt olim miracula tum facta erant necessario priusquam crederet mundus ad hoc vt crederet mundus quisquis autem adhuc vt credat prodigia requirit magnum est ipse prodigium qui mundo credente non credit Now miracles are not so necessary as in times past they were before they were necessary that so the worlde might beleeue but now he is a miracle his selfe that will not beleeue because the world beleeueth But say I as he is a wonder that will not beleeue that which the worlde beleeueth so he is a monster which will not confesse that which the world confesseth A fourth argument to proue there is a God is the great multitude of miracles which haue beene manifested to the worlde euen such things as are farre aboue the strength of nature therfore needs must proceed from some higher supernaturall cause and who is that metaphysicall cause but euen Natura naturans God him selfe For example slightly to passe ouer so many earthquakes which haue ouerthrowne whole Cityes as Eutropius sheweth how the yeare after St. Pauls death the Citye of Colossus was swallowed vp for despising St. Pauls doctine They are not vnacquainted with the Historiographers which shewe how by an earthquake the Iland of Sicily was made an Iland being before one maine continent with Italy how Europe and Africa were parted when Spaine was deuided from Barbary which before were one land And that I may speak that which mine eyes haue seene Vienna the cheife Citye of Austria is now more subiecte to earthquakes then other places in the worlde besides in so much that there is scarce one house in the Citye which hath not one rent or other in the stone wall which came onely by earthquakes And because that place hath beene more subiecte to earthquakes then other places one of the Bishops of that Sea heretofore deuised a certaine prayer continually to be said in the Churches of Vienna to this effect that God would defend that Citye from earthquakes Let the Atheist satisfie me by a natural reason concerning this poynt else let him confesse that there is a supernatural cause which if they doe that is God What can they saye to so manye strange Eclipses to so manye prodigious raines as when it rayned bloud flesh stones coles of fire of which they may read at large in Liuy Plutarch and other authors what say they to so many comets appearing in the ayre after which stil doe insue the death of so many Princes as namely the Comet which appeared in the yeare 1506. after which ensued the death of Philip King of Spayn sonne and heyre to Maximlian the Emperour Philip Prince Elector of Rhene Albert Duke of Bauaria Pope Iuly the second Iohn King of Suecia and Noruegia Lewis king of France Maximiliā the Emperour the Bish of Spire the Archbishops of Colen Magdeburg the venetiā wars the wars between the Turke and the Persian the King of Denmarke Christian driuen out of his Kingdome Hungary inuaded and Rhodes taken by the Turke Lewis King of Hungary slayne who can giue a naturall reason of this and many other like vnto this But I will stand especially vpon two things which haue troubled the wise men of the world let the Atheists yeild naturall reasons how these things could be else let thē cōfesse there is a God w c is aboue nature First the Starre which apeared at the birth of our Sauiour being neither a fixed starre nor yet a Planet for it was nothing like vnto either of them if we doe respecte the motion of it the place where and the time when it apeared and the vse whervnto it serued For it neither moued as the fixed starres from the Est to the West nor as the Planets from the West to the Est but from the Est to the South the like neuer heard of before nor since When the Sunne shined it also shone when the wise men came to Palestina it went before them when they came to Ierusalem it vanished away when they went to Bethleem it went before them againe as if it were a creature indued with reason and vnderstanding it shewed them the verye house where the Childe did lye whereas a naturall starre by reason of the great distance betweene heauen earth could not discouer vnto them the place and scituation of a great Citye much lesse of a small house when they went forward it went forward whē they stood still it stood still And as St. Augustin saith Quid erat illa stellanisi magnifica lingua coeli quae nec vnquam antea inter sidera apparuit nec postea demonstranda perntansit quid erat nisi magnifica lingua coeli quae gloriam Dei narraret quae inusitatum virginis partum inusitato fulgore clamaret cui non postea apparenti euangelium toto Orbe succederet What starre was that which was neuer seene before nor since but the wonderfull voyce of heauen which should declare the glory of God and publish to the worlde the vnvsuall Child-bearing of a Virgin by an vnvsuall brightnes which should neuer afterward apeare againe but in steed of it should be the glorious Gospell of Iesus Christ If you aske me what proofe I haue besides the Gospell that euer there apeared such a starre witnes Ignatius which sawe our Sauiour in the flesh Prudentius the Poet Macrobius a professed enemye to Christiā religion which testifieth
1. Cor. 15 Iob 4. 1. Sam. 3. Libro dé cuuatione GraecaruÌ„ affectionuÌ„ Eleuch alphabet C 1. Dè â—isto pretarum Dialo 6. Iudith 6. Exod 5. 2 Reg 18. Vide Suide Hist Sozom. l. 6 c 7. et 10. Tripartit hist Theodore l. 5. Hist C. 25. Phil 3. 1 Sam 17. Prou 8. 1 Iohn 4. Math 12. Hollend shed in his Cronicle Machiauell principis C 1. De natura De orum lib 1. Math 10. Rom 12 Esay 2. Esay 11 Rom 10. Luc 2. Gen 18. 2 Reg 4. 1 Reg 17. Deut 11. Psal 133. Math 7 15 Matb 13. Math 10. Act 20. Ezech 23. Math 22. Act 17. Psalm 10. Iob 1 1 Sam 4 2 Reg. 23 2 Reg 25 Lib. 1. Cap. de neglect religione De haeres Lib. 1. Gen 19 1 Reg 13 1 Sam 4 Numb 16 2 Reg 2 2 Reg 9. Leuit 10 1 Sam 15 Dan 5 Luc 1 Act. 8. Act. 5 2. Reg 5 Deut 32 Exod 8 2 Pet 3. Rom 2. Psal 10. Dè Ciui Dei Lib 1. Chap 8. 2 COL 4. 2 Reg 15 Exod 5. Exod 8. 1 Sam 5. Dan 4. Esther 6. Pro 19 20 Act. 13. Act 5. 1 Reg. 21. Dan 3. Psal 12. Act 17. Psalm 14. What haynous sin blasphemous mangainst Gods beloued Sonne Doest thou commit vp brayding him who did for vs become Our self-same flesh who bore our sin pitved froÌ„ his Throne That most vhappy state of ours froÌ„ whence Adam was throwne With such vncircumcised lippes forbeare ô wretch againe To Crucifye the Virgins soune and feare eternall paine De falsae religione L. 1. C. 2 Ad filium suuÌ„ Tatium quod manifestus Deus manifestissimus est Psalm 19. Rom 1. Psal 104. Ad filiuÌ„ TatiuÌ„ Phisic l 2. c 1 Iob 12. Gen 3. Math 14. Gen 4. Pro 28. Rom 2. Oratione pro. S. Roscio Amorine Pro 15 Esay 57. Ouidij metamorpho Gen 4. Sucoâ—â—â—â— Caâ—gul Cap 15 â—is in Nerone De natura Deâ—â—â—… Lib 1. Institut Lib 1 Iouae 1. Pro 27. Dan 9. Exod 33. Metaphy Lib 1. Cap 1. OfficioruÌ„ si 1. 〈◊〉 TatiuÌ„ Cicero in som Stip Phisico Lib 7. Cap 2. 10. Phes L 8 C 6 de coelo l 1 â— 9 Lib 2 Cap 3. Metaphy Lib 11 Cap 7. LaeÌ„rtius dé vita Aristot De pietate et Philosophia Paenander Sermo sacar Glauis De natu deoâ—â—â—… L 1. â—â—seuls quest Lab. 1. Ciuitatis Dei L. 22 Cap. 8 Vide Carcaum de meteoris Charion in his Chronicles Plutarch in â—ita Fabii Luuius l. 4. Decad. 3. et L. 3. dec 1. Math. 2. Ignatius ad Ephes Lib. 2. Saâ—…turnal Ad Ephe. Math. 26. Libello de Sphâ—ra Sermone de pasions Contra Celsum L 2. Vide de ed Fusins apud Suidam Apologiâ aduersus gentes Iudith 11 Theodo bist L 3. C. 23. Sabell anae 8. L. 2. C 11 Fulgentius lib 7 6. Mat. lac 2. Act. 19. Marci 1. Ex. 7. Ex. 8. 1. Sam Vide Ciceronem Lib. 2. de diuinat Arnobius aduersus Gentil Lib. 3. Sueton in Octau C. 94. C 70 Chap 29 Niceph. hist L 1. C 17. Susdas An Hebrus Childe his selsea God which other Gods doth quell Bids me be silent leaue my seate and get me downe to hell From this same place departe therefore This Oracle will speake no more Ro. 10. Phil. 2. In Marcum 〈◊〉 14. Meditat. Cap. 31. Poster Lib 1 C. 3. Iohn 3. Tuscul quast Lib. 1. Ro. 9. Ex 33. Magister sentent L. 1. dist 3. Ro. 1 Mat. 3 Gen 3 Gen 18 Esay 6. Saballius Anoe ad 8 L. C. 11 Heb 1 Peter Lomb dist 3 Aug de Trinitate Lib. 4 Psal 50 Gen 3. Ephe 2 Ro. 1 Exod 7 1 Sam 5. De eiuitate Dei Lib 1 C 2 Aenaad Lib 2 De ciuitate Dei L. 4. Cap. 34. Defalsa religione Lib. 1. C. 3 Gal. 4. 1. Tim 1 In. Psal 90. Ephes 2 2. Tim. 3. 2 〈◊〉 et 1 Ro. â— Psal 2. Aduersus Indaeos C. 7. 8 Act. 2. 2 Pet 3. Dan 9. Iohn 2. Apoc 4. De Fide lib 4. Psal 45 Dan 13. Math. 16 Prafat in Biblea interlinear Gen 49 28. 1 Cor 1. Aug. in Iohn chrysost hom 4. in Esaiae verba vide dominum stantem super thronum Iosephus en Aristo antique Lib. 12 C 2. Euseb Lib. 8. Peup euen C. 1. Act. 13. Iohn 3. Math. 2. Math 26. Iohn 9. Ex 4. Dan. 7. Antiqu Lib. Vide PolidoruÌ„ Virgil de mueÌ„t Vide Euseb de temporibus et 10. de praepavat euang et Lib 8. Heb 1 Lactant. Lib. 1 c. 6. Hieron cont Intuian L 1 Theophi Atio chonus ad Auto Lib 2. Clem A exstro Lib 2. Contra Celsum L. 5 De diuinat Lib. 1. Tit. 1. 1. Cor. 15. Menander in Thaide Act. 17. Strom Lib. 6 In oratione ad Autonium Pâ—um Vide Dionisium helicar hist Rom. L. 4 Lactantius L. 1 C 6 Cornelius Tacitus annal l. 〈◊〉 Eccles 1. Math 2. Numb 24. Chalesdiús commentin Timaum Platon In numeros hous 13. Mat. 2. Saturnal L 2. Cap. 4. Math 26. Iohn 9. Metamor L 1 Antiquit L 8 Cap 4. Gen 1 Iohn 1. Paemandus Ibidem Centra FaustiÌ„s Manichaeum Lib 3 Cap 19. Ioh 5. 2 Tim. 3. Numb 16. Dent. 24 Math. 19. Rom 9 Math 11 Luc 10 Exod 20 Iob 1 Exod. 33 2 Sam 16 Exod 20 Math 26 Act 1 Math 7 Gen 1. Rom. 1. 1. Sam. 17. Iudith 11. Exod. 7. Iudic. 16. DeCluit Doi Lib. 12. Ca. 17 Adoptatum epist. 157. Gen 2 Psal 18. 1. Sam. 18. Gen 40 2. Sam. 1. Act 20. Esa 26. Gal. 5. 1. Thes 5 August epist 157 Gen 2 De anima Lib 3 Ad Secun linuÌ„ epist 53. Iustitut Lib. 1 Psal 50. 1. Cor. 7. Iohn 3 Officiorum lib. â—… Metaphisicorum L. 1. C. 1. Postereorum Lib. 1. C 2 Naturalihist Cap. 10. De Animalibus Act 7. 1 Reg 6. Gen â— Gen 1. In magnas Albumasaris coniunctiones Selius Polihist Cap. 18. Herodian Herodotise in Melpoâ—â—â—â—â—… Lib 2 cap 23. Giuitat Dei Lib. 18. Anti Li ca. 4. Lib 9. de preparat Euang Metam Lib. 1. Apolog 1 Lib de industria Animalium Lib d deâ Syria Gen 19 Deut. 29. Esa 13. Math. 4. Math 8 Vide Garcaei meteora Gal. 4. Mat 8. Esay 9. Heb. 2 Symbolum Athanasis De diuina Hone. L. 2. Lucius Florus L 4. C. 1. aglog 4. Antiquit. Lib. 15. C. 13. Oratione ad sanctum caetum Belts Indeici L. 7. C. 12. In octan Aug. C. 94. Rom. hist. Lib 37 Esay 45. Mat 2. Col 2 Orasius hist L 6 C 20. Heb. 1. Mat. 2. Petrus Aliacus Card quest in Gen. 30. Inspeculo In maiori introdactorio tractatis sexta Numb 27. Exod. 3. Math 28 Luc 24 Marc 16 Ioh 20. 21 2 Pet 3 Phis L. 1. Natural hist L 7 C. 16. Nâ—ct At L. 13 C 1 Psal 19. Ro. 8 Dan. 2 Gen 28 2 Pet. 3 Metamor Lib 1. And there he shewes how 't is ordaynd of olde that time shall come when both the earth and sea With heauens Arche so glorious to beholde shall burne and all shall turne vnto decaye Lib 5. The worlde which stood so many yeares Shall in one day destroyed be Destruction likewise shall appeare for heauen and earth most sodenly Belliciuilis Lib 1. Rom 2. Tuscul quaest Lib 1. Mat. 25. Esa 66.
Saephira with present death for telling a lye to the holy Ghost And because miracles after a short time were to cease our Sauiour Christ left the sworde of excommunication in his Church to be in place of miracles and to continue vnto the end of the worlde And since the Church hath no other sword now but the ceÌ„sure of excoÌ„munication which is so greatly dispised if it would please God to put it the hearts of Princes to strengthen excommunication with their Princely authoritye to adde the sworde of the Kingdome to the keyes of the Church not to suffer any person that is noted of impietye to dwell in the lande none that is tanquam Publicanus Ethnicus as an heathen or infidell to dwell among Christians but to deliuer them ouer to the hang-man whome the Church hath deliuered ouer to Suthan vnles they he heartily openitent and speedily reformed no dout but then God would be better knowne in Iuda and his name in Ierusalem would be greater I say if any man be an Atheist let him not be honoured among the people but let him haue Micheas his entertainment which was to be fed with the bread of affliction and water of affliction or let him be banished out of the lande not by Ostracisme as Aristâ—des was for his vertues but as Ouid was for his vices and that I may vse the phrase of the holy Ghost let his house be made a Takes As Tully wished that it were written in euery mans forhead what he thought of the common-wealth of Rome that so true-hearted subiectes might be knowne from Traytours so I wish it were written in all mens forheads what they think of God and of Christian religion We can iudge no farther of them then wee heare by their blasphemy and prophane wordes which they vtter see by their loose liues and conuersations But so farre we may iudge as we heare and see and we finde there are so many that we haue good cause to crye out with the Prophet Dauid and to say Help Lord help there is not a godly man left for the faithful are fayled from among the children of men they speak deceitfully euery one with his neighbour flattering with their lippes and speake with a double heart the Lord cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaketh proud thinges Thus much I am fare there is no policye to religion no wisdome to well doing and most firme is the estate of that man be he high or of lowe degree which procureth God to be his freind Chapter 4. That there is a God THey which call them-selues the damned Crue yet doe think there is no damnation they sweare continually by the name of God and yet they think there is no God See how they are ouertaken vnawares As St. Paul might very well dispute with the Athenians in the defence of that God whome he preached vnto them and say There is a God besides all those Gods which you superstitiouslye doe worship and is yet vnknown vnto you witnes your selues and your owne Altar Doe not think it absurd that I preach vnto you such a God for if there be not why do you then erect an Altar vnto him write this superscriptioÌ„ vpon it IGNOTO DEO TO THE VNKNOWNE GOD. So I dispute against them if they be as they confesse their selues a damned crue how shall they thinke to escape damnation If they swearo by the name of God why doe they deny God for in swearing by him vnawares they doe confesse him They weare by the woundes and bloud of Christ yet deny the merits of the death of Christ The man of God calleth such men fooles and such fooles may be rebuked euen out of their owne Booke intituled THE SHIP OF FOOLES Preb scelus horrendum blasphema tricuspide telo Gent humana petit genitum Patris Altitonautis Atque illi exprobat quod nostros induit artus Languoresque tulit nostros miseratus abalto Casum insaelicen quo primus corruit Adam To them I say no more then out of their owne Booke Desine sacrilegis iterum crucifigere labris Virgineum partum poenamque horresce propinquane They were thought worthy to be put into the Ship of Fooles which are swearers but much more doe they shewe them selues to be fooles which sweare by God and yet say there is no God But I will proue to the damned Atheist by these reasons that there is a God First they read euery day in the booke of nature that there is a God I meane by the booke of nature the great frame of heauen earth For what is this whole visible world but Epistola a Deo scripta ad humanum genus A letter or Epistle written from God vnto mankind For in it we may read of the inuisible God in his workes and his name is engrauen there in hierographicall letters Lactantius proueth it out of Tully an heathen Philosopher by the same argument his wordes are these Nemo est tamrudis tam seris moribus quin oculos suos in coelum tollens tametsi nesciat cuius Dei prouidentia regatur hoc omne quod cernitur aliquam tamen esse intelligat ex ipsa rerum magnitudine moles dispositione constantia vtilitate pulchritudine temperatione nec possefieri quis id quod mirabiliratione constat consilio maiori aliquo sit instructuÌ„ No man is such a rusticke so brutish and voyde of coÌ„mon sence and reason but as often as he looketh vp to heauen if he deny this his owne eyes shall witnes against him for although this be not sufficient to bring him to the perfecte vnderstanding of that God by whose prouidence he seeth the worlde is gouerned yet what his eye hath seene his tongue may tell The very greatnes of the frame of heauen the constant motion of the starres the wonderfull temperature of the elements doth shewe there is a God which guideth these thinges and by a consequent there is a God which made these thinges Mercurius Trismegistus doth proue it Singula haec astra non similem aqualem cursum faciunt in coelo Quis est qui euique modum magnitudinem cursus terminauit vrsa haec quae circase voluitur vniuersum mundum secum circumferens quis est qui ei fabrifecit instrumentum quis est qui mariterminum imposuit quis est qui terram stabiliuit est enim aliquis ô Tati qui herum omnium factor est Dominus Impossibile enim est vellocum vel numerum vel mensuram terminari absque factore When we see the motion of the planets fixed starres contrary one to an other the celestiall spheres in continuall volubilitye the multiplicitye of their motions their diurnall or daylye course from the East to the West their retrograde and vyolent motion from the West to the East their trepidat motion from the South to the North. When we see the sea farre higher then the
earth and a fluide or liquid body yet confined within the bankes that it cannot drowne the earth the earth solid and firme vnder our feet that we cannot sinke we must confesse ô sonne Tatius that there is one which is Lord maker of these thinges for it is impossible that euery thing should continue in due place number and meeasure and so iust a preportion should be obserued without a maker and who could make these thinges but God therfore there is a God To this booke of nature agreeth the booke of the Bible who saith The heauens declare the power of God the firmament sheweth the worke of his handes one day teacheth another one night giueth knowledge to another Againe the wrath of God is reuealed from heauen against all vngodlynes and vnrighteousnes of men which detaine the truth of God in vnrrighteousnes for asmuch as that which may be knowne of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it vnto them for the inuisible thinges of him that is his eternall power and Godhead are seene by the creation of the worlde being considered in his workes to the intent that they should be without excuse Dauid saith he couereth him selfe with light as with a garment and spreadeth the heauens like a curtayne he layeth the beames of his chamber in the waters maketh the clowdes his chariots and walketh vpon the winges of the winde In which wordes I doe not presse them with the authoritye of the Scriptures because the Scriptures are not of sufficient credit with them but with the reasons which are vsed in the Scriptures which if they cannot answer they must yeild vnto and confesse that there is a God And therefore I conclude against them in this manner We see dayly effects before our eyes in all the elements continuall motions in the heauens but there can be no effecte without a cause there can be no motion without a mouer no action without an agent no worke without a workeman these be relatiues and therefore one could not be without the other Mercurius Trismegistus could say Statuam siue imaginem fieri sine statuario aut pictore nemo dicit Hoc vero opificium fine opifice factum est Ô multam cacitatem ô multam impietatem ô multam ignorantiam nunquam ô sili Tati priuaueris opifice opificia A picture cannot be made without a Painter or a grauen image without a Caruer And can such a piece of worke be made without a worke van It is blindenes it is impietye it is grosse to entertaine such a conceit So then we take these for vndouted principles in naturall Phiosophye that they may not be denyed to witte Euery effect hath his cause euery action his agent euery motion his mouer But as there be many secondary causes agents mouers so there must needes be one principall and aboue the rest There is ordo causarum qui in rerum natura non procedit in infinitum an order of causes sub-ordinate one to an other and therefore there is no infinite ascention vp in the subordination of causes but at the lēgth by ascēding we must come to the highest we must in ea consistere stay when we come there because we can goe no higher and that is God What naturall body soeuer is moued I say it is moued by some other which is higher then it selfe For example The sphere of the Moone which is the lowest of the heauens is moued by the spheare of Merc. which is higher thē it Mer. is moued by Venus which is higher then it Venus by the Sun the Sun by Mars Mars by Iupiter Iupiter by Saturne Saturne by the sphere of the fixed staries and so we ascend vntill we can goe no higher that is vnto the heauen which is called Primum mobile y t first highest body w c is subiect to motion volubility That also is moued aswell as the rest not of it selfe because no naturall bodye can moue it selfe therefore it hath motion frō some other not from any other bodye because there can be no other bodye aboue the highest therefore it must of necessitye be moued by that which is a Spirit and not a bodye not naturall but metaphisicall and that can be nothing else but God In like manner the Sunne and a man doe beget a man the Sunne putrifaction doe engender Flyes and these thinges being subiect to outward senses are therefore naturall bodyes and because they are naturall bodyes they haue foure causes two inward which are matter and forme and two outward efficient and finall and there is nature which hath his secret motion tell me therefore what is that You will say peraduenture that is nature which Aristotle defineth to be principium motus the beginning of motion you say rightly but that is inward therefore you must besides this assigne an outward cause of motion and what is that If you say the ayre that is but a middle cause and therefore you must ascend higher for if there be causa media there is also prima if there be a midde or subordinate cause there is also a principall and first cause And what is that but onely God that is causa causarum the cause of all other causes and from whence all other thinges haue their being Againe all agents doe not worke alike for one thing worketh of necessitye and that is nature an other thing worketh in these outward and indifferent thinges partly of will and partly of necessitye that is man there you see medium participationis a meane which participateth with the extremitye but there can be no meane without two extreames and there can be no one extreame without the other and therefore of necessitye there must be a third agent which worketh freely as nature worketh of necessitye and man partly of will partly of necessitye And that can be nothing else but Deus liberrimum agens euen God which worketh freelye that no power is able to withstand his worke Therefore I conclude this point with Iob Aske the beastes and they will teach thee the foules of the heauen and they will shewe thee speake to the earth and it will tell thee the fishes of the sea and they shall declare vnto thee who is ignorant of all these but the hand of the Lord hath made all these Secondly to leaue the work-manship of the whole worlde and to come to man alone which is but one little part of the same If man goe no farther then him selfe he shall see God most liuely in him selfe three manner of wayes First in his conscience and vnderstanding Secondly in his naturall inclination he hath to religion Thirdly in the excellencye of the work-manship both of his bodye and his soule Concerning the first I say there is in euery man at some time or other an inward feeling of his conscience which wil he nill he maketh him to confesse there is a God For suppose a man for
the same And it is not vnworthy of obseruatioÌ„ that not the Maniches not Celsus not Porphuâ—y not Iulian in al their cauels against the story of the Gospel did no way so much as in a word take exceptioÌ„ against this storye of the starâ— might eleuate or extenuate the truth thereof And therfore concerning this I may say with Ignatius Hinc euanuir mundi sapientia praestigiae factae sunt nugae magia risus omnes ritus malitiae aboliti ignorantiae caligo fugata quum Deus homo apparuit homo vt Deus operabatur In this the wisdome of the worlde was preued to be but follye the wise in their wisdomeme it proued but a toy their magicke ridiculous all their superstitious rites were abolished the clowdes of ignorance dispersed when God apeared to the worlde as a man and man as if he were God And secondly what naturall cause can they alleage of that great Eclipse of the Sun which contrarye to nature lasted from the sixt houre to the ninth and darkened the face of the whole earth For first of all the Astrologers knew wel that al eclipses of the Sunne which haue beene from the beginning of the worlde that onely excepted haue beene according to the rules of Arte and the nature of an eclipse which Iohannes de sacrobusto desineth in this manner Est interpositio Lunae inter aspectum nostrum solare corpus An interposition of the Moone betweene the body of the Sunne and our sight which as he saith cannot be but quum Luna fuerit in capite vel cauda Draconis vel prope vel infra metas supradictas in coniunctione cum Sole When the Moone is in the head or tayle of the Dragon or there abouts and in coniunction with the Sunne And forasmuch therefore as the Eclipse of the Sunne which was at the time of the passion of our Sauiour Christ was when it was plenilumium a ful Moone not coniunctio siue nouilunium not a coniunction of the Sunne with the Moone or newe Moone he concludeth that it was no naturall Eclipse but cleane contrary to the rules of Astronomye and the course of nature Againe he sheweth that when the Sunne is Eclipsed all the earth is not darkened but onely one Climat because of the difference of the aspectes in diuers Chmats but this Eclipse darkned the whole earth therefore it was supernaturall and to the astonishment of the world insomuch y t Dionysius the Arcepagiâ—e at the very time of the Eclipse beholding of it cryed out on a suddaine Aut Deus naturae paetitur aut mundi machina dissoluitur Either the God of nature doth this day suffer or the frame of the worlde shall be dissolued Againe darkenes continued for the space of three howers which could not be if it had bene a naturall Eclipse therefore it was supernaturall and of it saith St. Chrisostom Non poterat ferre creatura iniuriam creatoris vnde Sol detraxit radios suos ue videret impiorum facinora The creature could not with pacienceindure the wrong done to the Creator and therefore the Sunne withdrewe his beames because he would not beholde so wicked a fact as that the Lord of glorye should so vngraciouslye be put to death But the Atheists will aske me how I can make proofe by any sauing the Euangelist that there was euer such an Eclipse I answerd forasmuch as at that time when the Eclipse was darkenes was not onely in Iudea but throgh al the whole worlde and therefore at that time not onely Dionysius the Arcopagite but also the inhabitants of the whole earth could witnes as St Origen answered But least they should thinke we are vtterly voyde of the testimoney of heathen writers Origen disputing against Celsus the Epicure an enemye to the Christian faith proueth it vnto him not by the the testimony of the Gospel but of Phlegon a famous Chronicler seruantto Adrian the Emperer as Suidas reciteth Phlegons wordes Phlegon his selfe did giue his owne iudgement of this Eclipse that it was prodigious And Tertullian disputing with the Gentiles proueth the same Eclipse out of their owne Writers saying Et eum mundi casum relatum in archiuis vestris habetis Ye haue the verye same occurrent registred in your owne recordes A fifte reason to proue there is a God is the varietye of punishments which haue been inflicted vpon the Atheists from time to time which haue denyed God Holophernes which being so great a warriour beheaded in the middle of his owne Campe by a sillye woman Lucian deuoured with dogges Iulian the Apostata strookeÌ„ dead with a darte froÌ„ heauen Arrius who died with his belly breaking his bowelles gushing out as he sate vpoÌ„ the priuye Olympius washing him selfe in a bathe and blaspheming the Trinitye while manye men looked vpon him was consumed suddenly with three fierye dartes the poyntes of all three meeting in one Let the Atheists shewe how these thinges could otherwise be done but by the extraordinary hand of Almighty God or else if they cannot let them confesse the God which did these thinges A sixt reason to proue there is a God is the confession of the deuils them selues For what one deuill confesseth is the confession of them all for regnum diuisum non potest stare the kingdome of Sathan being diuided within it selfe cannot stand Neither will I for confirmation hereof alleage the authority of St Iames which saith They beleeue and tremble of St. Luke which writeth of the deuils confession saying Christ I knowe and Paul I knowe of St. Marke where the deuill saith to our Sauiour I knowe thee that thou art euen that holy one of God neither how Moses his rodde deuoured the serpents which was made by the sorcerers of Aegipt how they could not make lyce because their power was restrayned by an higher power the finger of God how Dagon fell downe before the Arke of God could not stand in the Chappel where it stood because they snall not say I am partiall But what answer can they make to the generall silence of all Oracles that so many Oracles speaking before the time of our Sauiour Christ all were by him put to silence What answer can they make to that famous storye of the Oracle of Apollo at Delphus which when Augustus the Emperor offered sacrifice vnto him to knowe the reason of that vnwonted silence vnheard of in former times gaue this for the last answer as being neuer to speake againe Me puer Hebraeus diuos deus ipse gubernans Cedere sede iubet tristemque redire sub orcum Aris ergo dehinc tacitus abcedito nostris Which answer being giuen Augustus erected an Altar in the Capitoll of Rome with this inscription ingrauen vppon it ARA PRIMOGENITI DEI. The Altar of the first begotten Sonne of God Seeing therefore the deuils haue confessed God the Father and his Sonne Christ such men as will
especiall thinges which may best serue for this purpose The Scriptures foretolde long before the time that the world should be conuerted to Christian Religion all Nations should beleeue and submit themselues to the obedience of the Faith a thing in mans iudgement not to bee expected For the Prophet saide concerning the Kingdome of Christ I meane his Kingdome of the Gospell or of Grace The Heathens raged the people murmured against the Lord and his Christ but in vaine the Kinges of the earth stood vp banded them selues and the Princes assembled themselues togeather But he that sitteth in heauen shall laugh them to scorne the Lord shall haue them in derision Euen I haue set my King vpon Sion mine holie mountaine I will declare the decree that is the Lorde hath saide to me thou art my Sonne this day haue I begotten thee aske of me and I shall giue thue the Heathen for thine inheritance and the endes of the earth for thy possession There could not be a more vnlikely thing foretolde and yet it was fulfilled long since no Atheist can denie it Tertullian to this purpose saith who was able to gouerne the world but onely Christ of whome it was foretolde that his Kingdome should be extended ouer the whole world The Kingdome of Salomon saith her was confined within the Land of Iudaea from Dan to Beersheba and his territories did reach no farther Darius raigned ouer the Pabylonians and Persians but no farther Pharao ouer the Aegiptians and there his dominion ceased Nabuchodonozer was a great Monarche yet he reigned not ouer the whole worlde but onely from India vnto Aethiopia the like may bee saide of the Greekes the Romās which were called the Lords of the world and yet the whole world was not knowne vnto them much lesse subdued by them But as for the Kingdome of Christ it hath extended it selfe farre and wide the Gospell hath bin preached in al places and receaued of all Nations of the Parthians Medes Elamites the inhabitantes of Mesopotamia Armenia Phnygia Cappadocia Aegipt Pamphilla Asia Africa and the vttermost Indies Of this assertion there bee so many recordes that it cannot bee denyed As for some few things which are foretolde in the Scriptures not yet fulfilled as namely the conuersion of the Iewes and the destruction of Antichrist the time is not yet come to passe that they should be fulfilled for all thinges must be performed in that due time which God in his secret wisdome hath appointed There are other thinges also foretolde which must goe immediately before the ende of the world which are not yet performed because as you see the ende is not yet But it is a sufficient argument to induce Infidelles to beleeue that all these thinges shall come to passe because they see all other things alreadie performed in their time and order For as hee that sometimes lyeth shall not bee beleeued though hee tell the truth so hee which alwaies hath tolde the truth cannot without impietie bee suspected of fallhood God cannot deceaue or bee deceaued And which is not to bee omitted St. Peter did prophecie that at the latter end there should bee such Atheistes which should denie these thinges and the Prophecie is now verified otherwise this my labour might haue bene spared their impiety maketh it good which the Prophet hath foretolde Againe there is in Daniel an auncient Prophecie concerning the death of our Sauiour Christ euen the verie time and computation of yeares is defined when hee should be put to death Seauenty weekes saith hee are determined vpon thy people and vpon the holy Cittie to finish the wickednesse and seale vp the sinnes and reconcile the iniquitie and bring in euerlasting righteousnesse to annoynt the moste holy From the going foorth of the commaundement to bring againe the people and build Ierusalem to Messias the Prince shall bee 69. weekes and after he shall bee slaine but so that for one weeke hee shall teach but in the middle of the weeke hee shall cause the Sacrifice and oblation to cease But these weekes are annuae hebdomadae euery weeke is seauen yeares and so reckoning weekes consisting of yeares not onely of daies as for euery day in the weeke should be reckoned a yeare 70. of Daniels weekes make 490. yeares But the Temple which was the first and cheifest thing reaedified in Ierusalem began in the second yeare of Cyrus the builders were hindred 42. yeares as it appeareth out of the Gospell and in the 46. yeare it was finished because the laste 4. yeares they had quietnes Longimanus in the second yeare of his raigne giuing foorth a newe edict that they should builde without molestation and no man vnder payne of death should hinder the workemen as in times past they had done From the second year therfore of Longimanus the Emperour to Alexander the great were 145. yeares from Alexander to the natiuitye of our Sauiour 310. from his birth to his baptisme 30. these being put together make yeares 485. so the 69. weekes make 482. yeares but at his baptisme the whole 482. yeares that is 69 were fullye complete and ended In the next weeke or 7. yeares our Sauiour taught the people and in the middle thereof that is in the fourth yeare he was put to death What Iewe or Atheist can except against the truth of this Prophecye A second proofe that the bookes of the Bible are the worde of God is the generall consent and agreement of so many writers which writ at diuers times in diuers places remote one from an other in diuers languages and vpon diuers occasions all writing of one and the selfe-same subiect all agreeing in Doctrine none contradicting other that they might not so fitlie bee termed diuers writers as diuers pennes of the same writer The bookes of Moses were written in the wildernesse of Iosua Iudges and the Kinges in the land of Promise of Daniell in Babylon the workes of St. Paule some at Rome some in other places as Athens Ephesus Laodicea Nicapolis St. Iohns reuelation in Pathmos the Booke of Iob no man knoweth by whome when nor where The Bookes of Moses about 2554. yeares after the creation of the worlde the Psalmes some of them 605. yeares after Moses the bookes of Ezra after the returne from Captiuitie about 605. yeares after Dauid by whome manie of the Psalmes were made Betweene Dauid and the Captiuitie Esay and Osee vnder King Ioathan Achaz and Ezechiaz Ieremie vnder Iosias Ioachim Zedechias Ezechiel Abacuc Daniel in Captiuitie and the whole new Testament long after the olde yet all agree as the diuers thunders which haue one voyce foure Beastes which sing one song Vox tamen vna manet qualem decet esse sororum Damascen compareth them to a Garden bedecked with varyetie of hearbes of excellent vertue which are to be gathered one by one and yet to make one Garland or diuers precious stones in one brest-plate
written worde where he saith Thou shalt not commit adulterie and againe they finde his secret will to be centrarie to that which he published and reuealed in his worde because he suffered Daniel to commit adulterie vnlesse they will blasphemously and contrarie to sence and reason say that the power of God was so weake y t he was not able to hinder Dauids adultery so indeed it might follow that there were neuer a God for vnlesse he be omnipotent he is no God Now his reuealed wil is many times contrarie to his sufferance because he suffereth that which he hath willed and commanded to the contrarie as I haue shewed you in Dauid and the reste And this will and his sufferance do differ in these pointes first in respect of our knowledge secōdly in respect of the diuers ends wherunto lie willeth and suffereth Concerning our knowledge wee know his reuealed wil euer since it was written and published in his worde but what he will suffer contrarie to that his commaundement is hidden from vs and vntil it come to passe and wee see that hee hath suffered it As for diuersitie of endes which he purposeth in his will and his sufferance I will shew you by a familiar example He willeth that no man shall steale that so no theife may excuse himselfe by pleading ignorance and yet hee suffered the Chaldaeans to steale Iobs Cattell that so hee might make open triall of Iobs patience Hee willed that Iudas should not betray him that if hee did betray him hee should not bee excusable yet secretly hee willed the contrarie and suffered the contrarie that so might he wrought the worke of our redemption And that this distinction of wills may not seeme impossible in God we finde it also in man when a earthly Prince many times maketh a publike Proclamation that this or that lawe shall bee executed and yet notwitstanding hath a secret meaning to hinder many particulars contrarie to that which he hath published and to dispense with his owne Proclamation although the people take no notice thereof Againe these thinges are sayed to differ in this manner onelye in regarde of our vnderstāding as his will his sufferāce are diuersly apprehended by vs but as they are in God himselfe they cannot differ because in him power wisdome will strength sufferance and all other thinges are all one with himselfe In God and with God there are no accidents his will is his selfe his wisdome is his selfe and his sufferance is his selfe I proue there can be no accidents with God or in him because hee is not anie vniuersall or perticular thing comprehended in the praedicament of substance which is subiecte vnto accidents And because he is a transcendent going aboue all the coordinations which are in the praedicamentall lyne actually infinite so that he cannot be included within the compasse of any praedicament there can be no kinde of differences either accidentall or essentiall in him he cannot generically or numerically or specifically differ from himselfe or in him selfe And so this question is easily answered and whatsoeuer the Atheist can alleage against vs. Chapeer 9. That the Worlde had a beginning MOses writeth that in the beginning God made heauen and earth That is in the first moment of time or when time first began then God began his worke of the creation of the worlde Which time forasmuch as it is defined to be Numerus or mensura motus the measure of the motion of all naturall bodyes and the subiect of time is the very body of heauen which is first moued and by which all other naturall bodyes are secondarily moued time was not before nor after the heauens but they were created both together and because after the end of the worlde motion shall cease euen as before the beginning so after the ending there shall be no more time So then whereas it is saide in the beginning God made heauen and earth it is all one as if he had saide that once he made them By this making is meant creation which is to make a thing of nothing hauing no matter praecedent out of which he should make it and this must necessarilye followe because if there had beene any matter before wherof he should haue made the world that matter had beene in some place so then if there were place and matter there was a worlde before the creation of the worlde and the worlde could not be the first thing that was made Creation is an action of God not intentionall but reall not inward but outward not immanent but transient by the which he giueth to thinges their being For although the will of God alone with reference to the thinges which are made were sufficient yet there is a kinde of influence of Gods power executing his will which doth afterward followe in his worke It is an action both necessarye and voluntarye necessarye because hee decreed and yet voluntarye because it was his will to create the worlde And that it was no hard thing for him to create the world of nothing neither absurd to say that God did create any thing of nothing it is apparant forasmuch as we see creat on in the Angels which are immateriall and therefore cannot be of any praecedent matter as also the soules of men which he then did and now continually doth create which are a manifest argument to proue creation Out of this doctrine also followeth an other conclusion that God onely is eternall and before time because he did once create the heauen and the earth and gaue them their beginning whereas before they were not neither was there anye thing besides him-selfe God before the worlde was made was in him selfe and vnto him selfe insteed of the worlde and he was alone because there was nothing but him selfe and yet not so alone but that he had all power wisdome and happines in him selfe He had no need of the worlde or any thing contayned in it for as much as he was eternally without it and therefore could stand without it and had not his dependance of it He was infinitely happy in him selfe and therefore the creation of it could adde no happynes vnto him and if he had needed it he could haue made it before Neither did he then make it because he was wearye of being without it or that it displeased him that he had not made it before because he did not make that which he would not but he would haue that which he made and that which he would he did make in order and therefore he made it not rashly but deliberatly not casually but wisely and in time he did all thinges and in time especially he made thee ô thou Atheist that whilst thou hast time to liue thou shouldst acknowledge and worship him The manner how he made it euen as Kings doe by his commaundement onely He said the worde and it was done If you aske how God should speake or who should heare his
proceeded had their beginning or they were without beginning if they had a beginning they began by a precedent motion because nothing can begin but by motion and so that which is called the first motion could not be the first because another went before it But if they were without beginning it is a great absurditie to say that hee which was an eternall mouer yet did not mooue and that which was alwayes mooued notwithstanding was without motion Secondly time is eternall for it is in the definition of time that there is alwaies in it a present instant or moment which ioyneth together that which is past and that which is future and therefore the first instant of time cannot be assigned and therefore motion is also eternall because there is a iust proportion betweene the measure which is time and the thing measured w t is motion Thirdly there must be a proportion between the cause and the effect the mouer and that which is mooued because there can bee no comparison betweene that which is infinite and that which is finit that which is eternall and that which is temporall But this one answer is instead of Dauid his sling to kill Golias of Iudeth hir sworde to cut of the head of Holophernes of Sampsons Iawe bone to slay all the Phillistins and of Moses his rod to deuoure the Serpents of the Sorcerers of Aegipt to wit that these thinges holde onely in naturall mouers which are tyed vnto instrumēts meanes but not in God which is a supernaturall and free agent these arguments holde in thinges that be finit not infinit physical not metaphisicall which worke of necessitie and not of wil but otherwise they be no good consequence they doe not holde Let this therefore be the state of the question God had eternally the verie shape and Idea of the worlde which he conceaued in his minde and he eternally decreed when and how it should bee euen as when a workeman determineth to frame a peece of worke he first frameth it in his minde but doth not presently begin the same so hee decreed eternally and before all time when and how the worlde should bee in time Hee which is the eternall fountaine of goodnesse which fountaine notwithstanding did not eternally issue foorth into streames but in time did not eternally communicate vnto others this his goodnesse but was a Fountaine of water which for a long season lyeth hidden in the earth before it doth gush out But hee was not as a Carpenter which maketh an house because he hath neede of an house Therfore he did not eternally create not because he could not but because he would not and he would not because hee had eternally decreed that the world shold be in time and he so decreed that so hee might bring vs to the knowledge of himselfe for as much as when wee knowe that the worlde was not alwaies wee are forced to confesse that there is a superiour cause from whence it had his beginning whereas if it had bin created from eternitie and had had no beginning wee could not so easily haue discerned how God should haue bin the creator of it And therefore it cannot followe in this place that there was in God any mutation or mutabilitie because before the worlde was made he was not willing that it should bee made and afterward when it was made hee was willing S. Augustine sayeth Nouit Deus agens quiescore quiescens agere potest ad actionem nouam sempiternum adhibere consilium idque sine mutatione sui quoniam in infinitum non cadit mutatio God knoweth how to be an agent doing nothing and to doe nothing being an agent to bring his eternall decree to a newe action without any alteration of himselfe because that which is infinite is not subiect to alteration You cannot say properlie that God made not the worlde sooner because he wold not because with God there is nothing sooner or later for although God doth worke in time yet he cannot be apprehended by time his actions are measured by time not in respect of himselfe but onely in respect of vs that so his actions may be demonstrated made manifest vnto vs. Neither ought these things to seeme strāge vnto vs because the verie light of naturall reason giueth vs thus much to vnderstand y t there is an order of causes and that one being subordinate vnto an other we must still ascend vp vntill we come to one which is aboue all the rest which is of it selfe actually infinit and that is God And againe reason doth tell vs that because God is of an infinit nature his essence is simple not tyed to meanes by which hee worketh for according to the rules of Philosophie that agent is moste noble which needeth the fewest meanes and being not tyed to meanes he needeth no matter to worke by Also reason doth tell vs that as euerie thing is so it worketh but God is of himselfe absolute and not depending of anye and therefore worketh in the same manner that he is a free agent and therfore cannot be compelled that he is omnipotēt therefore nothing can be held or difficulte vnto him because he is infinite hee is transcendent aboue all the boundes of nature Out of all these principles I conclude The world had a beginning God which is euerlasting made it in time and hee made it of nothing that is without anie matter precedent or going before the creation of it Chapter 10. Of the Soule of man what it is whence it commeth and the immortallitie of it AN Atheist hauing heard a Preacher in his Sermon make mention of the soule the Sermon being ended asked him what the Soule was and whether it were any thing or nothing After disputation betweene them both the Atheist saide I will shewe you what it is So hee caused a candle to bee lighted and brought to the Table hee blew it out and sayd your soule is no more then the flame of that candle you see an ende of that it is blowen out and so shall it be with your soule when you die Paraduenture some cause of this vngodly assertion might bee the ambiguitie of the worde For S. Augustine in diuers places calleth the Soule by no better name then Flatus which properly signifieth no more then a breath or a blast Deus fecit omnem flatum saith hee God made euerie blast meaning euerie soule and it is written that God breathed into Adam the breath of life And in the Scriptures it is sometimes confounded with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a breath and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anima and spiritus a Soule a breath or a blast in signification are all one Therefore that I may distinguish the aequiuocation or ambiguitie of the word that nothing may be mistaken it signifieth these thinges 1. the life of any thing anima mea est in manibus meis saith
of the water to them I answer the waters preuayled on the earth 150. dayes albeit they began to be diminished before the full end of 150. dayes albeit they began to be deminished before y e ful end of 150. dayes For nothing letteth but y t they might well be saide to preuayle that is to be strong and deep vpon the earth albeit they were in parte diminished and that the Arke might drawe so deep of water as the mount being high to rest vpon it And where it is said after the Arke rested vpō the mountayne then the waters were abated that is it might then more plainly sensibly be perceiued and apeare to the eyes of Noah The heathen historyes doe mention this Deluge although after a corrupt maner which is not sufficient to strengthen the truth but yet serueth to conuince the Atheist And though S. Augustine sayth Diluuium gentium nec Latina nec Graeca nouit historia no heathenish writers doe remember it meaning without corruption yet Iosephus sayth Huius arstem diluuij arcae meminerunt omnes Barbaricae historiae scriptores that all Barbarian historiographers haue mentioned this Deluge and Arke of Noah whereof he reckoneth these namely Berosus the Chaldaean Hicronimus the Egiptian Phoenix Mnasseas Nicholaus Damascenus And Eusebius remembreth Greeke writers Alexandrum Polihistorem Molonem Empoleneum and others which haue written of it vnder the name of Deucalion as they haue receiued it from others by reporte Ouid maketh a liuely discription of this Deluge vnder the name of Deucaliō And Iustin Martyr sayth we Christians call him Noah whom the heathens call Deucalion Plutarch sayth that the Doue which was sent out of Deucalion his Arke brought to him a token of the fall of the water And Lucian an A theist yet sayth that this generation of man which now is was not from the beginning but that it wholye perished which then was and that this progenye which now is is an other which descended from Deucalion And of the generation which perished that they were cruell wicked periured they harboured not strangers they were inexorable for which cause they suffered great calamitye for suddenlye the earth poured out great store of water great quantitye of rayne fell from the skye the riuers swelled the Sea arose to such an height that the worlde was drowned and all thinges perished Of that multitude only Deucalion was left aliue who was preserued by these meanes Hee put him selfe with his wife and children in a great Arke which he had made when he had imbarqued him selfe there came vnto him Swine Horses Lyons and all other Beastes which the earth nourished two of euery sorte So God lefte not him selfe without witnes among the heathen that thereby he might stirre them vp to search out the truth which onely remayned in the Church of God Chapter 12. Of the destruction of Sodome WHen Lot had entred into Zoar the Lord rayned vpō Sodom fire brimstone burned the Cittie the plaine and all the inhabitantes and all that grewe vpon the earth And Lots wife behinde him looked backe and she was turned into a Piller of Salte This is the slorie of the Bible and what ground hath any Atheist to deny it The Christian may easily confound the Atheist because the reliques of it doe yet remayne and the place doth shew it selfe Concerning the time when it was done it is set downe in the Text that it was burned in the dayes of Abraham which arose early in the morning and beheld the smoke of it mounting vp as the smoke of a Furnace And by iust computation it is well knowne to haue beene about 392. yeares after the sloud The place is well knowne to all Cosmographers and is daylye seene by many trauaylers it is one of the three famous Lakes which are in the Land of Canaan which are commonly by the figure catachresis called seas For in that Land there are three such waters the Sea of Galilie where Peter Andrew Iames and Iohn were about their nettes when our Sauiour did call them to be Apostles The Sea of the Gaderens into which the heard of swine did run hedlong when the Deuils had entred into them by the permission of our Sauiour Christ being beyond Jorden towards Arabia and the waters are at this time venimous and as it is thought polluted by those swines The third is this which wee are now to speake of and the subiect of our discourse A greate part of it which then was land is now all water and is called Asphaltites of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth pitch because great quantitie of pitch boyleth out of it and it is also called Mare mortuum the dead Sea or mare mortuorum the sea of the dead because no fish nor other creatures can liue in it The nature of it is such that if any bordes be throwne into it they will presently sinke to the bottom if any vessell be vpon it which hath men in it so long as the men liue it will bee aboue the water but as soone as the men are dead being poysoned with the stinke of it the vessel wil presently sinke In so much that when Vespasian the Emperour had caused certaine men to haue their handes tyed behinde them that they might not be able to shift for themselues and so to be violently plunged into the botome they were presently driuen vp againe with as great a violence vnto the top and so sloted vppon the superficies of the water vntill they were dead The quātitie of this stinking lake is about 8. high Almaigne miles with in the compasse of it were scituated these fiue Citties Sodom Gomorah Adama Seboim and Segor which were destroyed with fire and brimstone of the which the cheife and principal was Sodom In this water standeth a Rocke which to them that behold it representeth the image of a woman that is Lots wife In the bankes round about it al the ground which is neare it are some reliques of these Citties yet remayning for the earth doth looke like ashes taken out of a furnace there are great stones and peeces of rockes which looke as if they had bin in the fier greate heapes of salte a smell of fire as if the place were still burning a filthye sauour of brimstone such smokes vapours continually rising out of the ground that they doe annoy the villages and inhabitants which are anye way nere that place Some Trees doe growe there and bring fruite but the fruites thereof neuer come to rypenes if a man gather one of the Apples and cut it with his knife they are full of nothing but sparkles of fire and noysome smoakes And therfore for the confirmation of this story besides the witnes of the Scriptures we need no more then the testimony of the place it selfe which doth most plainly discouer it selfe And therefore the best counsaile that I can giue the Atheist that readeth this
After reproach by due course did follow glorie after suffering death victorie and triumph ouer death else hee could not haue deliuered vs from death And because vnderstanding creatures are in three places deuils and damned soules in hell men vppon earth Angelles and blessed soules in Heauen due course required that he should descend into hell to triumph among the Deuils damned soules arise from the dead to triumph before men and ascend vp into heauen to Triumph among the Angells blessed soules which are in heauen It was no strange thing for him to descend into hel because that descension was onely in soule therefore an easie passage Of his resurection from the dead we see manie resemblances for out of the ashes of the dead Phoenix doth arise a liue Phoenix of the Corne buried and rotted in the earth foringeth vp Corne againe in greater measure then it was sowed all these thinges being as vnlikely and as impossible as the resurection from the dead In Alcumistrie they see that when golde is brought to powder there is a speedie reduction of that same powder into golde againe so ofal other metalles the heauens yeelde no moysture to the earth but they take it vp againe And as for his ascention vp into heauen it was most naturall vnto him for where should a glorified body be but in a place of glory and where should God be but in heauen which is his throne and dwelling place Chapter 14 The end of the world THe Atheist thinketh the worlde shall haue no ende but hee alleadgeth no reasons to proue his vngodly assertion more then haue bin already answered by St. Peter Our reasons to proue an end and consummation of all things are these 1. What-soeuer had a beginning must also haue an end That the worlde had a beginning I haue alreadie proued in the 8. Chapter and the sequell followeth in natural Philosophie y t it must therefore haue and end because it had a beginning There must bee resolutio in materiam primam a resolution into that chaos wherof it was first made according to Aristotle the great Philosopher of the world 2. Man is commonly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little world and for his sake the great worlde was partly made for if hee stretcht foorth his armes at length from the endes of his two middle fingers to his head foote may be drawne a circle his head is as the North pole his feete instead of the South his armes as the expansion of heauen his handes as the East and West his Nauel as the Center In him are colde heate moysture drinesse as the foure Elemēts his heart still mouing representeth heauen which is in continuall motion his soule an immortal Spirit guiding moouing the bodie resembleth God the guider of the worlde But man which is the lesser worlde declineth it followeth therefore as a good consequent that the greater worlde also doth decline and where there is declination there is also corruption and death That man declineth it is manifest for men are of lower stature lesser bones and strength and shorter life then their fore fathers were but whatsoeuer is languishing faynting declining doth growe to an end whence commeth this but from the declining estate of the greater world The earth we see w t is the lower part of it is not so fruitefull as before it was but beginneth to bee baren like the wombe of Sara the fruites which she doth bring foorth yeeld not so much nutriment as before they did And how commeth that to passe but because the heauen also fainteth the Planets wax olde and cannot affoord so great vertue influence to these lower bodies as in times past they did as I'liny and Aulus Gellius testifie But this is a manifest proofe seeing lesse and weaker bodies are conceiued euerye age in the wombe of nature that nature waxeth olde and wearye of conceiuing cuiuscunque est senectus illius est mors whatsoeuer waxeth olde that also dyeth and hath an end 3. If a man do but behold the face of heauen the Moone looketh pale and wan Mars lesse rubicund Sol lesse orient Iupiter not of so amiable and fauourable countenance Venus more hipocriticall all the rest both of the wandring fixed stars more weake suspicious then they did before That mightye Gyant which was wōt to runne his vnwearied race now waxeth weary as if he would stand still in heauen as he did in the dayes of iosue shineth more dimly apeareth more sildome then before what is this but an argument that shortly the high Arch of heauen which is erected ouer our heads will fall dissolue it selfe 4. What do so many irregular threatning Eclipses portend such vn-vsuall aspects of the starres such fearfull Coniunctious of Planets such prodigious apparitions of Comets but that as the Apostle speaketh The feruent desire of the creature wayteth when the sonnes of God shal be reuealed euerie creature groneth with vs and trauaileth in paine together vnto this present that they may bee deliuered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sonnes of God 5. Empires and kingdomes and all estates haue their fatall periods Daniel his exposition of Nabuchodozer his dreame is now almost fulfilled the head of gold the shoulders of Siluer the belly of brasse are already worne out nothing of that image is now lefte but the very stumps of clay their dates are ended their periods determined long since how is it possible that feete of claye should continue for euer seing golde siluer brasse yron such strong mettals are consumed what now remayneth therefore but the stone cut out of the rocke without hands which bruiseth this image in peices The euerlasting kingdome of Iesus Christ in an other worlde vnto which all the temporal kingdomes in this worlde must giue place that all these being expired Christ in heauenly kingdome may rule for euer what remaineth now but that we looke dayly howerly for this kingdome that now we begin to climbe Jacob his Ladder a peccato ad poenitentiam a poenitentia ad opera ab operibus ad iudicium a iudicio ad miserccordiam a misericordia ad gloriam from sinne to repentance from repentāce to good workes from workes to iudgment from iudgement to mercye from mercy to glorye there is the glory of God standing vpon the top of the Ladder Last of all that the worlde shall haue an end be consumed with fier witnes not onely St. Peter the Apostle but also Ouid the Poet his wordes be these Esse quoque infatis reminiscitur affore tempus Quo mare quo tellus correptaque regia coeli Ardeat mundi moles operosa laboret That the worlde shall haue an end witnes Lucretius his words are these Vna dies dabit exitio multosque per annos Sustentata ruet moles machina mundi Accidet exitium Coeli terraeque
futurum To this also agreeth the Poet Lucan his wordes be these Inuida fatorum series summisque negatum Stare diu nimioque graues sub pondere lapsus Nec se Roma ferens Sic cum compage soluta Secula tot mundi suprema coegerit hora Antiquum repetens iterum Chaos omnia mistis Sidera sideribus concurrent igneapontum Astrapetent tellus extendere littora nolet Excutietque fretum Fratri contraria Phoebe Ibit obliquum bigas agitare per orbem Indignata diem poscet sibi totaque discors Machina diuulsi turbabit foedera mundi The fates enuye the states of mortall men The highest seates doe not continue long Great is the fall vnder the greater burden and greatest thinges doe to them selues great'st wrong Rome was so great whome all the world did feare that Rome her selfe she could no longer beare So when this well couch't frame of worlde shall burne And the last houre so many ages end To former Chaos all thinges shall returne the enuyous fates this issue doe portend Then all the Planets shall confus'dly meete And fires Caelestiall on the flouds shall sleete The earth shall grudge to make the sea a shore And cast it off and push the fload away The Moone enrag'd shall crosse her brother sore And seeke to alter course to shine by day Thus all at oddes in strife and out of frame They shall disturbe the worlde spoyle the same Chapter 15. Of Hell fire THus you haue heard how by the course of nature the worlde shall haue an end What then foloweth I say to the Atheist with S. Paul And thinkest thou ô man that thou shalt escape the iudgement of God shall men thinke there is no punishment for wicked men after this life I wish that they would beleue S. Ambros Christus moriens in nouissimo Testamento singula singulis officia distribuebat Patri spiritum militibus vestimenta corpus Iudaeis pacem Discipulis Crucem Apostolis latroni paraedisium peccatoribus infernum When Christ dyed in his last wil Testament he bequeathed diuers Legacyes To his Father he commended his soule to the Iewes his bodye to the Soldiers his garments to his Disciples peace to his Apostles the Crosse Paradice to the good Theefe which was crucified by him but hel fire to vngodly men But to perswade these vnbeleeuers that there is an hell my reasons are these First I haue manifestly prooued that there is a God and it cannot stand with the nature of God but that he must be iust and there can be no iustice in God vnles he punish offenders they for the moste part do escape punishment in this worlde Gods iudgements doe not ouer take them in this life therefore that God may be iust their iudgement is reserued vnto another world that they may be punished in an other place and where is that but in Hell-sire Secondly whereas Tully a Philosopher Claudius Claudianus a Poet Seneca and others being so many in their description of Hell make mention of Minos Rhadamanthus the Iudges there so cruell and inexorable the furies the fier Tantalus his euerlasting thirste â—xion his wheele alwaies rolling Titius vpon whose bowels the vultures are eternally feding what is this but the same description of hel which is in the Scriptures eternal fire prepared for the deuill and his Angells and as the Prophet Esay writeth fier that shall neuer bee quenched and a worme of conscience gnawing alwaies and neuer dying Thirdly witnes the Atheist that there is a hell for wicked men For many times hauing committed heynous offences though so secret that no man can detect them he so mightie that he feareth no man that should punish him yet he is inwardly troubled vexed in his Conscience what is this his Conscience but a secret feare that God will punish him he soeth that God doth not punish in this world according to the qualitye of such an offence therfore he feareth punishment in an other world then witnes the Atheist his owne Conscience there is a hell Fourthly witnes the Atheist that there is an hell all be it hee denyeth Hell For hee knoweth and also verye well considerreth that in the time of his health he is subiect to sicknes pouertie imprisonment a whole sea of gall and bitternes nay a worlde of discontentments yet he would not dye Nay wheÌ„ he is grieuously sicke his panges intollerable his disease vncurable he would giue a great summe of money yet to prolonge his paine vpon earth to liue heere continually though in continuall sickenes And why is all this but because hee is loath to die why is that but because he feareth death But if hee thought his soule were extinguished by death that after death there should be no iudgement no hel no feeling of sorrowe then why should hee feare death Nay why should not an Atheist which is so worldly wise and which loueth his own ease so much desire to die and so to be at rest rather then to liue in continuall sicknes if he thought that death were an end of sorrowe Therefore it followeth as a necessarie consequent that he feareth death because he thinketh that a farther reckning is to be made of the thinges which he did in this life that greater panges and torments shall ensue after death then could bee incident vnto him in this life and that can bee nothing else but Hell-fier Fiftly let the Atheist for his better satisfaction concerning this point but trauaile into the Land of Canaan to beholde the lake Asphaltites where Sodom stood and he shall see the verie Image and Idea of Hell before his eyes ouen in this life When he coÌ„meth thither these thinges shall present themselues vnto him Tetrus odor aspectus horrendus lacus fietidus fumus venenosus poma quae morsu tentata in fumum et fauillam or to fatiscente vanescunt An vgly and loathsome smel of brimstone horrible dreadful prospect a stinking lake poysoning smoke Apples full of filthie vapours and sparkes of fier the thinges which hee shall see with his eyes smell with his Nostrells and taste with his tongue wil make him to confesse there is an hell To them which aske whether hell be a materiall place or no I answer it must of necessitie be so because in it are to be tormented not onely soules but also bodies It is no imaginarie thing because when they come there it shal be no imaginarie punisheÌ„t which they shall suffer If they aske where hell is surely it is in the lowest parts of the earth because they are farthest from Heauen But I wish them not to be so curious in disputing and inquiring Luc 21 2. Contrà menda Chap 6. Dè Trinitat Lib. 1. Chap 3. Apoc 2 4. 14 15. 20. Apoc 3 1. 15 16. Apoc 13. 17 2 Thes 2 39. 1 King 12 31 Mal 2. 9. Act 13 22. Ephe 2. Gal 4. Rom 1. Psalme 14. Psalme 36. Psalme 10.