appointment of God The third and the last of these Kings is Senaherib propounding vnto himselfe the like amplification of his power and dominion fell himselfe into the like or a greater confusion For he sending out all his warlike forces and powers to the siege of Ierusalem and there by the mouth of his grandiloquus Orator insulting ouer all the gods of the Heathen yea and not forbearing the very God of Heauen when he had euen deuoured that kingdome in hope and swallowed it downe for as good as his own God himselfe putteth his hooke into the nose of that Lion and brought him backe againe the same way that hee came destroying in one night an hundred fourescore and fiue thousands of his Soldiers and giuing him to be destroyed by the hands of his owne Sonnes Thus God who alway resisteth the proud resisted the attempts of these three proud kings curtailling their power and restrayning their ambition and thereby euidently shewing them that as No man can adde one cubite to his stature so no man can adde one ynch vnto his power be he neuer so great a King For as the Apostle Paul teacheth vs there is no power but of God and the powers that be are ordained of God Yea and this the very Heathen themselues confesse likewise Summi est potestas omnis gloria Dei as our Sauiour Christ testifieth And no man hath either kingdome or power or glory but only from him And therefore king Salomon hath giuen vnto kings a very good exhortation to remember whence their rule and power commeth Giue eare ye that rule multitudes and glorie in the number of your people For the rule is giuen you of the Lord and power by the most High adding that they be but the officers of his Kingdome 6 And as God hath limited vnto all kingdomes their powers so he hath also circumscribed their dominions reducing them into compasse and confining them within their owne bounds and limits For as hee hath giuen vnto no king or kingdome an infinite power no more hath he giuen them an infinite Dominion Infinitie is Gods owne propertie which is so peculiar vnto the diuine Nature that it is not communicable vnto any Creature whatsoeuer Much lesse to any man whose largest dominion cannot reach beyond the Circle of the Earth which is but as a prick And yet euen this Earth as small as it is was neuer yet allowed vnto any one King were hee neuer so great no nor yet a quarter of it It is true indeed that the mighty Romane Monarchie was amplified so exceedingly by certaine of the Romans as though they had gotten the whole world into their hands and as though it might truely be affirmed of them as it is of God himselfe in the Psalme that in their hands were all the corners of the Earth Tullie saith of the Romane Empire that it was Orbis Terrarum terminis definitum That it had no other limits but the limits of the world And in another place hee speaking of those notable victories which the Romanes had obtayned by Cn. Pompeius hee affirmeth of them that they were ijsdem quibus Solis cursus regionibus ac terminis contentae contained within no fewer Regions then the Sunne incompasseth in his course This seemed not ynough vnto Caecilius For he saith that the Romanes did Imperium suum vltra Solis vias propagare They inlarged their dominion beyond the course of the Sunne And Ovid hee commeth not a steppe behind them in this their exaggerated amplification For he saith that if God should looke downe from heauen vpon the earth he could see nothing there without the power of the Romanes Iupiter arce sua totum cùm spectet in Orbem Nil nisi Romanum quod tueatur habet Yea and as Egesippus recordeth there were many that thought the Romane Empire so great and so largely diffused ouer the face of the whole Earth that they called Orbem Terrarum Orbem Romanum they called the Globe of the Earth the Globe of the Romanes the whole world the Romane World And the same follie which possessed the Romanes for their power possessed also the other Monarchs for theirs Nebuchadnezzer the Monarch of the Caldeans conceited that hee had vnder him all nations and languages And Cyrus the Monarch of the Persians professed that he was the Lord of the whole world The Lord God of Heauen hath giuen me all the Kingdomes of the Earth Thus blinde and bewitching a thing is Ambition that it dazeleth the sight of common sense and reason For all this great ostentation is indeed nothing else but either the rhetoricall amplification of hyperbolizing Orators wherein there is truely audacia Tropi or the vaine imagination of those fore-named Monarchs doting vpon their owne greatnesse For the two first Monarchies of the Caldeans and Persians were both of them shut vp within the lists of Asia and scarcely touched the skirts of either Europe or Africa The Graecian Monarchie wrought Eastward into Asia too which though it stretched further then either of the former yet were there many great Countries euen in Asia it selfe both Northward Southward and Eastward where it neuer so much as touched The Romane indeed stretched furthest of all the rest as being possessed of large Kingdomes and Dominions both in Asia Europe and Africa But yet for all that they were so farre from obtaining the Empire of the whole world that they could neuer get wholy any of these three parts of it but there were in all of them diuers Regions and Countries Vbi nec Pelopidarum facta neque famam audiebant Where they neuer so much as heard either the facts or the fame of either Grecians or Ronames As Macrobius ingenuously acknowledgeth Gangem transnare aut Caucasum transcendere Romani nominis fama non valuit The fame of the Romanes as great as it was yet was neuer so great as either to be able to swim ouer the Riuer Ganges nor yet climbe ouer the mountaine Caucasus So that euen their Fame came farre short of those swelling amplifications which before you saw vsed by their Orators and Poets But their Dominion came much shorter as is expresly affirmed by the fore-alledged Author Totius Terrae quae ad Coelum puncti locum obtinet minima quaedam particula à nostri generis hominibus possidetur That though the whole Earth compared with the Heauens be no bigger then a Center in the midst of a Circle yet that scarce the least parcell of this little Earth did euer come into the hands of the Romanes Thus euen these great and mighty Monarchies which were the highest Columnes of Maiestie vpon the Earth yet haue all of them beene reduced within their bounds and limits yea and those very streight ones And therefore none of the minor and inferior Kingdomes could be left without limits As Tertullian plainely proueth by a particular enumeration
Quae copulatio rerum quasi consentiens ad mundi incolumitatem coagmentatio naturae quem non moâ—et hunc horum nihil reputasse certò scio This consent and agreement of those naturall things so greatly aduancing the good of the whole world if it doe not mooue any man it is onely from this cause That he neuer well considered them Resoluing that no man could euer obserue them but that thâ—y would make a great impression in him But Macrobius leauing all those Allegoricall allusions asserteth this Harmony vnto a true and reall melody indeede occasioned by the various motions and differing magnitudes of the Heauens Which he saith must needes produce sonum dulcem musicum non ineptum asperum A sweete and delightfull not a harsh and distastfull sound as by inuincible reasons he saith may be collected Which point hee indeede hath laboured exactly with much fiâ—enesse and subtility Vnto whom I referre them that desire a more curious discourse vpon this Theame Neither is this an idle fancy begotten onely in the heads of conceited Pâ—ilosophers but it is also entertained for a certaine truth by diuers learned Christians Bedâ— alledgeth this opinion of the Harmony of Heauen for the credit of Musicke Which hee would neuer haue done if he had not allowed of it Boetius doubteth not directly to affirme it yea and to proue it too Non potest ab hac coelesti vertigine ratus ordo modulationis absistere But aboue all Anselmus though otherwise a seuere and a very austere man yet is so sweetened and mollified with the conceite of this Musicke that hee not onely asseuereth it but also indeauoureth with great paines and labour to set out the true musicall proportion of it as Macrobius before did Now it is no lesse vnprobable that so many learned men of so many differing botâ—â—ages and nations should concurre with such an harmony in defending of this Harmony if it were merely fained then it is that there should bee such an Harmony indeede Neg enìm hunc tam certum syderum cursum atque discursum forturti impetus esse dixerim saith Seneca These so certaine both courses and recourses of the Starres cannot possibly bee the workes of blinde Fortune and Chance but must needes bee Gods owne ordinance because they doe not sine aliquo Custode stare but aeternae legis imperio procedere as hee noteth in the same place They neither keepe their stations without a Keeper nor mooue their motions without a Ruler whose aeternall law they faithfully obey And it was a thing no more hard vnto God to make the Heauens to moue with a sweete melodious harmony then to make them moue without it For if Queene Cleopatra when she came vnto Antonius could instruct the Oare-men and Rowers of her Barge to strike all their strokes in such order and number that they made a most sweete harmony and concent vpon the water as exactly agreeing with her musicall instruments as the sound of a Taber agreeth with his Pipes an Art also in practice sometimes among the Greekes as may be collected out of Maximus Tyrius then much more can God doe so who ordereth all his workes both in Number Weight and Measure It is not hard for him in such sort to moderate yea and to modulate the Heauens as to make them to send foâ—th a sweete harmony in their motions Yea and it is not incredible that hee hath also done it For seeing it is vnpossible that this so huge and vast a fabricke of the Heauens being truely materiall and sensible bodies and whirled about with such incredible swiftnes should moue without some noyse as Pythagoras well collecteth and that noyse as Macrobius truely inferreth must be of necessity either sweete and melodious or harsh and absonous aut musicum aut asperum it is far more probable that that sound which God hath chosen to sound continually in his diuine Eares should rather be tuned like the sound of sweete Musicke then harsh and confused like the creaking of a Cart. For as Macrobius in the same place obserueth Fragor turbidus inconditus offendit auditum An harsh and rude crashing of things offendeth the eare And therefore it is not likely to be found in the Heauen In which as there is Nihil fortuitum so is there Nihil tumultuarium As there is nothing done rashly so there is nothing done disorderly And it cannot in any probabilitie be thought that God who hath appointed vs in our singing vpon Earth To make a pleasant melodie and to sing vnto him with a grace in our hearts would admit into the heauens themselues any such vntuneable and incomposed noyse as hath neither any grace nor melodie in it But this I doe not affirme as a certainty but onely propose as a probabilitie leauing euery man vnto his owne liberty to beleeue it or not to beleeue it as he findeth himselfe most inclined in his mind Apologizing for my selfe as Gregory Nyssen doth in a like case That heerein I doe but Ingenium ad mâ—ntem nostram in propositis exercere non doctrinam expositricem posteris relinquere I doe but onely propound it for the exercise of wit as a probability not commend it for a sealed and infallible truth vnto all posteritie Therefore be this opinion of the Harmony of the Heauens as it may be it but Lepidè quidem musicè dictum factu autem impossibile as Aristotle censureth it that is but a pleasant and musicall conceit Yet this so excellent a concent and agreement in the heauens to keepe so constantly their seuerall rankes and orders notwithstanding the diuersitie of their courses is a work which by themselues cannot possibly be done no more then any musicall Instrument can put it selfe into tune It is God the Musitian as Plutarch before calleth him that keepeth all in tune His power keepeth them all in obedience His wisedome guideth them all in their courses and his goodnesse maketh them to produce those good effects which they worke in the earth and in these inferior Bodies And therefore euen Aristotle himselfe who derideth so much the Harmony of the Heauens in any real sounds yet in respect of this harmonicall concent in the creatures he so much admireth it that he compareth God in his working of it vnto a Praecentor in a Quire who both appointeth and moderateth all the Songs that be sung there All which things declare that God as he is delighted in order so is hee likewise delighted in number Yea and in musicall number too In which opinion Anselmus is carried so farre that he not onely affirmeth that God hath giuen to the heauens an harmonicall number in their motions but also from thence collecteth that God hath in his kind an harmonicall motion euen in himselfe Habes haec in te tuo ineffabili modo qui ea dedisti rebus a te
is a God yet hath fancied such a god as neede not to be feared making him to be one that neither giueth regard nor taketh accompt of the actions of men Nec quicquam alieni curans nec sui Neither regarding his owne nor any other mans businesses more negligent and supine then Aesops Incuriosus that cared for iust nothing So by denying God his Prouidence seeking vtterly to extirpe all his feare out of himselfe For he that regardeth no body needeth not himselfe to bee regarded of any But this is to be but a Semi-Atheist And therefore the perfect Atheist knowâ—â—g that if a God be granted his Prouidence cannot with any reason bee denied therefore to make all sure and to secure himselfe from feare he thinketh it the 〈◊〉 way to deny Gods essence as well as his Prouidence and simply to prâ—nounce that There is no God For then it will follow that he neâ—de not to be feared if at all he be not 2 Thus the Atheist to ridde himselfe from that inward feare which rideth on his conscience and which naturally accompanieth the opinion of God if that once be admitted he affirmeth There is none yea and striueth to beleeue it too But yet all this in vaine For as God hath ingrafted into the mindes of all men a notion of himselfe so hath he likewise a feare of himselfe as a sense of his being so a sensible feare of him As euen Lucretius himselfe confesseth He that will not confesse that There is a God yet confesseth that all men haue a feare of God in them Est mortalibus insitus horror Qui delubra Deûm nova toto suscitat orbi Terrarum â—estis cogit celebrare diebus There is an inbred feare in all mens hearts Which hath begotten this on all mens parts T' erect new Temples and new Holy-dayes Vnto their gods to celebrate their praise Making this inward feare to bee the first beginning of all piety and religion Yea and so likewise doth Saint Augustine Pietas timore inchoatur charitate perficitur True Piety is begunne by feare but perfected by charity Yea and the Psalmist in effect confesseth the same where he tells vs that The feare of God is the beginning wisdome And Lactantius confirmeth it when he sayth that Religio nulla esse potest vbi metus nullus est That there can be no Religion where there is no fearing And therefore Isidore deriueth the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth God from another Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth Feare Quòd eum colentibus sit timor because they that worship him do also â—eare him And so likewise doth Festus In which signification of the name of God they may seeme to allude vnto that appellation of the Patriarch Iacob where he calleth the true God as it were by periphrasis The feare of Isaac his Father Because as God hath imprinted into the hearts of all men a naturall perswasion That there is a God so hath he likewise implanted in them a naturall reuerence and feare of that God So that Terfullians question hath an easie solution Vndè naturalis timor animae in Deum Whence commeth this naturall feare of a God which euery man feeleth within his owne minde Surely it commeth onely from that God who ought onely to bee feared as the Prophet Ieremy hath expressely testified And therefore Statius affirmeth that by this inward feare the Heathens first were moued to beleeue and worship God Primus in orbe Deos fecit timor Feare was the first that gods begot Till feare began the gods were not And so likewise doth Dares Phrygius who calleth Feare the father of the gods Dâ—o râ—m Genitorem Quippe Dâ—ûm Genitore Metu mens caca creavit Ditem Vmbris Coelo Superos Numina Ponto Through god-begetting Feare Mans blinded minde did reare A Hell-god to the Ghosts A Heau'n-God to those Hosts Yea gods vnto the Seas Feare did create all these Whereby it appeareth that the feare of God is as naturally ingrafted into the mindes of all men as is the opinion of his being this being a true consequent vnto that and following it as naturally as the shaddow doth the body And that generally in all men without exception But yet most specially in the Atheist aboue all other men They â—aue indeed the true feare of God which begetteth Religion a great deale lesse then any other men but that seruile feare which begetteth confusion a great deale more It is not all their Atheisme that can free them from his slauish feare but it begetteth it in them rather There is no man that feareth God so much as they that would seeme to feare him least no man so basely feareth him as those men that seeme the most to contâ—mne him For it is the worke of Gods iustice that they which refuse to feare him as his Sonnes shall bee compelled to feare him as his slaues And so indeed they doe For as Eliphas teacheth in the booke of Iob There is a continuall sound of feare in his eares and a continâ—â—â— sword before his eyes the feare of Gods wrath and the sword of his iusticâ— which like Damâ—cles his sword hangeth still ouer his head Yea and not onely so for these things they haue great and iust cause to feare but as the Psalmist further teacheth They are oftentimes afraid where no feaâ—e is So that as King Solomon obserueth The wicked flieth euen when no man pursueth Omnia tuta timens being chased by the terrors of his owne guilty minde as it were by hellish furies Thus bee there no such base cowards as those lusâ—y Gallants be which would seeme so couragious as not to feare euen God himselfe whereas indeed they feare the shaking of euery little leafe For God himselfe seemeth euen in scorne and derision to sport himselfe with the Atheists his enemies and with that panick feare which he hath cast vpon them and appointed continually to infest and to chase them Vsque adeò res humanas vis abdita quaedam Obterit pulchros fasces saevásque secures Proculcare ac ludibrio sibi habere videtur saith the Poet. There is a certaine secret power vnknowne Which humaine powers treads and tramples on It Princes Scepters Crownes all State of men But scornes and spurnes and makes a sport of them For as the Psalmist plainely teacheth When the Kings of the earth and Princes of the world doe band themselues together against God He that dwelleth in the Heauen doth laugh them to scorne and the Lord hee hath them in dâ—rision And this is also confessed by another Heathen Poet Ergo Deus quicunque aspexit ridet odit God which beholds it he doth it deride Not onely so but hateth it beside So that God is not feared by any of his creatures with greater terror horror then he is by Atheists For it may truely and
the first Principles of all things in all kindes are two contraries as Finite and Infinite Good and Euill Life and Death Day and Night and such like Whose opinion is by Aristotle expressed more fully who setteth downe distinctly ten seuerall combinations of Contraries which the Pythagoreans defended to be the first Principles and Originals of all things As namely these following Finitum infinitum Par Impar Vnum Plura Dextrum Sinistrum Masculinum Foemininum Quiescens Motum Rectum Curvum Lumen Tenebras Bonum Malum Quadratum Longum that is Finite and Infinite Euen and Odde One and Moe Right hand and Left Male and Female Resting and Mouing Straight and Crooked Light and Darkenesse Good and Euill Square and Long. These Contraries they not onely held to be in the world but also to bee the working Principles of all things in the world And therefore their Effects must needes be contrary as well as their Causes In which opinion Alâ—meon conspired so fully with them that Aristotle doubteth whether hee borrowed his opinion from them or they theirs from him Yea and in another place hee confesseth that it is the common opinion of all the Philosophers That the first Principles of all thing must needes be meere Contraries Omnes Contraria Principia faciunt But hee himselfe handleth this point more exactly then any brings it home more properly vnto our present purpose That in this mixing of Contraries in all sorts of Creatures Nature delighteth her selfe pleasantly as with a most sweete Harmony Natura ad contraria miro fertur desiderio atque concentum ex his facit Nature is strangely carried with a strong desire of ioyning contrary things together and yet maketh of them a delightfull and most melodious tune And this hee illustrates in that place by very pregnant instances both in Ciuill and Artificiall and Naturall things For Ciuill things he giueth these instances That euery City though neuer so well composed and in neuer so great concord yet consisteth of persons of contrary conditions some poore some rich some yong some old some weake some strong some good some bad All which though they be many yet make they but one City and though in nature they bee vnlike yet make they a sweete concord in the Ciuill State In Artificiall things hee obserueth that Ars adimitationem Naturae se componens idem praestat That Art as it imitateth Nature in many other things so doth it also in this that it maketh all her workes of a mixture of contraries Whereof hee giueth these instances The Art of Painting mixeth contrary colours in her Pictures as blacke with white and red with yellow The Art of Musicke mixeth contrary sounds in her Songes as Sharps with flats and briefes with Longs And the Art of Grammar mixeth contrary letters in her words as vowells with mutes and such like In Naturall things hee giueth these instances that Vis quaedam per omnia dimanans transiens siccitatem humori calorem frigori leue gravi commistum rotundo rectum Terram omnem Mare Aethera Solem Lunam Vniversum exornavit Coelum cum Mundum frabricata esset ex diversis nullo modo immistilibus aere terra igne aqua imagine vna quae globos comprehendit There is a certaine power which pierceth and disperseth it selfe through the whole world ioyning dry things with moyst and hot things with cold light things with heauy and crooked with straite and yet by this contrary composition very excellently beautifying both the earth and sea and skie and Sun and Moone and generally all the heauen making the frame of this world of things of far vnlike nature and such as refuse to be mingled together ayre and earth and fire and water and Heauen which comprehendeth all these Spheres in his figure Now all this commixtion of things so contrary do not tend to the defacing but adorning of the world as Concords and Discords doe vnto the better tempering of the Harmony in Singing For by that very Comparison doth Aristotle expresse them Natura Coelt terrae vniversique mundi concretionem principiorum maximè contrariorum vno exornavit instruxit concentu Nature hath compounded both heauen and earth and all the whole World of contrary Principles to adorne it more beautifully with a concent-full Harmony Thus as Seneca obserueth ioyning instances of all the fore-named heads together Nuâ—ilo serena succedunt turbantur maria cùm quieverunt noctem Dies sequitur pars coeli consurgit pars mergitur Contrarijs rerum aeternitas constat After a storme there comes a calme the Seas bee troubled after they haue rested after the night there appeareth day One part of the Heauen riseth vp another goeth downe The whole frame of the Vniuerse is compounded of Contraries And thus as Trismegistus obserueth Rerum singularum ordo concentum quendam melo divino dulcisonum conficit The very naturall order of things produceth a pleasant Harmony composed in a kind of diuine and Heauenly melody Aud therefore hee affirmeth that Musicam nosse nihil aliud est quà m cunctarum rerum ordinem scire To know Musicke is nothing else but to know the naturall order of things For as Maximus Tyrius affirmeth Natura est perfectissima Harmonia There is no Harmony better then the order of Nature Thus God hath made an Harmony in all his Creatures by the ioynt obseruation both of Christians and Heathens 2 But the testimonie of neither of them no nor of them both together doth so euidence the matter as the things themselues doe by that incredible delight which all of them doe naturally take in the sweetnesse of Musick For there is nothing whatsoeuer indued with a liuing and a sensible spirit but it is rauished in a sorte and caried out of itself with the bewitching sounds of Musicke I omitt the fabulous narration of Amphion as a Poëtical fiction that the power of his Musick was so great that he could Saxa movere sono testudinis prece blanda Ducere quò vellet With Lutes alluring sound and his sweet tunes he could Moue the hard Stones and make them stirre where 're he would Which though it be but an Hyperbole and Excesse of speech yet the Poet made choise of it of set purpose thereby to expresse with a greater Emphasis the incredible power of Musick vnto vs. Which indeed is very great yea and not onely with vs men but also with euery other liuing thing both with Birds and with Beasts and with Fishes yea and euen with very Wormes As wee may see in all of them if wee will but looke vpon them First for Birds there is no man but may obserue by his daily experience with what a singular delight they vse to solace and entertaine themselues with their naturall Musick chaunting-out their sweete melodie vpon the pleasant branches of euery greene tree A thing
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
common Nature which hath giuen vnto all men their hearts hath also giuen Religion into all their hearts to be among them as common as their naturall forme For so indeed doth Lactantius esteeme it He accompteth Religion to be the most proper and essentiall difference betweene a man and a beast more then either Risus or Ratio or Oratio then either Laughing or Speaking yea or Reason it selfe All which he there proueth to be in some degree communicated vnto Beasts but Religion to bee proper and peculiar vnto Men and yet common vnto all men But that neither by domesticall instruction at home nor yet by mutuation or imitation abroad but only by that naturall instinct and disposition which God hath ingrafted into the hearts of all men as Alexander ab Alexandro hath very truly obserued Primi mortales nulla doctrinae schola Ratione aut Lege sed suo quisque ingenio numina coluerunt The first men were neither taught by any learning nor perswaded by any reason nor compelled by any law but onely of their proper and naturall inclination betooke themselues vnto the worshipping of gods Yea and that so generally throughout the whole world that there is not any nation vnder heauen excepted Which vniuersality of religion declareth that it is not an humane inuention but a diuine impression yea and a Diuinity-lesson of Gods own heauenly teaching As we may see by his schooling of the first man Adam whom he catechised vnto the obedience of God both by giuing him a commandement and by annexing to it a punishment 4. And the same may likewise bee proued by that vniformâ— consent which is among all men as concerning Religion of whatsoeuer degree or condition Which in this one thing is farre greater then it is in any other of what nature soeuer as I haue shewed before We see by experience that not only diuers Nations haue diuers fashions and diuers conceits and opinions in most things but that euen in the same Nation that diuers Cities haue diuers guises behauiours habits speeches and manners as our Country-man Sir Iohn Mandeuile well obserued in his trauell And yet in beleeuing that There is a God there is no difference at all throughout the whole world no City iarres with Citie no Country with Country but among them all an vniuersal agreement wherein both the learned and vnlearned do consent From which head Tertullian concludeth the verity of Religion For Quod apad multos vnum invenitur non est erratum sed traditum The consent of all men as concerning God doth shew it to be no erring humane inuention but a most certaine diuine tradition For if Religion were no better but a politique deuice and inuention of man it was a very marueilous felicity in lying that he had which first deuised the tale of Religion that he should tell his fable in such a fortunate howre as to beguile the whole world with it and that for euer after This was a cunning Iuggler indeed that could cast so cunning a glaucoma and such a 〈◊〉 mist before the eyes of the wisest as to dazle not only the vnlearned and simple Idiots but also the wisest and grauest Philosophers as Lactantius well obserueth Quae tanta felicitas mentiendi vt 〈…〉 indoctos sed Platonem quoque Socratem fallerent Pythagoâ—am Zenonem Aristoteleâ— Maximarum Sectarum Principes 〈◊〉 facile deluderent What a strange kind of efficacy had that man in his lying that could bewitch with one Tale not only the vnlearned but also Plato and Socrates and Pythagoas and Zeno yea and Aristotle himselfe the principallest Masters of all the learned Sects This lie was begotten in a strange constellation if it were a lie that one wise man should make fooles of all the wise men of the world and yet by all their wisedome neuer be descried Therefore we may conclude with Seneca that if Religion were a siction Non in hunc furorem omnes mortales consensissent alloquendi surda numina inefficaces Deos Surely all the whole world would neuer haue conspired in this madnes to call vpon such deafe and idle gods Beside as Lactantius truely noteth in the very same place where he doth ex professo dispute this very case He could not be a wiseman that was the Author of this so false a fiction For the end of true wisedome is to draw men out of error and not to leade them into it as this false impostor did And therefore he concludeth from this so generall a consent in Religion that it could not be possibly an humane inuention 5 And yet the same may be further declared by the perpetuall succession and propagation of Religion which hath thriuen from the beginning with such admirable prosperity that it hath not decayed in any Country or City but wheresoeuer it hath bene planted there hath it euer florished and could neuer be supplanted Which sheweth it to be a Plant both by God himselfe first planted and graciously euer since with the dew of his blessing watered For as Christ himselfe teacheth vs Euery plant which the heauenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted out And therefore if Religion had beene but a plant of mans planting and setting it would long since haue beene blasted yea and vtterly starued For no humane inuention had euer either such a prosperous increasing and such a long a firme continuing in the world as Religion hath had but all the conceits of men though for a time they may shoot-out and haue a kinde of flourishing yet doe they quickly decay againe time blasting and withering them as the grasse which growes vpon the topps of houses For as the Orator hath very truely noted Ficta omnia celeriter tanquam flosculi decidunt All fayned deuises come quickly to an ende as flowers shattered by the wynde And againe in another place vnto the same purpose Opinionum commenta delet dies Naturae iudicia confirmat Time destroyeth all those fancies which haue none other ground but only humane opinion but it strengtheneth all those iudgements which are founded vpon truth and sound naturall reason As for example The particular conceite of all the heathen gods hath time now deuoured because that was nothing else but opinionis commmentum But the generall beleefe that There is a God it hath in all places confirmed because this beleefe is Naturae iudicium And therefore Religion which thus growes stronger and stronger by time and hath continued so firmely from the very beginning without any decaying must needes haue a better ground then a meere humane opinion For as Seneca hath well obserued Falsa non durant False things continue not And therefore this thriuing of religion and this perpetuall succession of it haue euen the Heathen collected to be a true argument of the infallible truth of it and that it is vnpossible that it should be no better then a fiction deuised
percipitur We heare certaine short voices which of diuers things admonish vs Yea and sometimes certaine Spirits though not corpulent nor palpable doe compasse round about vs which though they be not visibly discerned yet may they by another kinde of sense be perceiued The like appeareth in Lucretius who numbreth these fearefull visions among the first causes which begate in mens mindes an opinion of the Gods Egregias animo facies vigilante videbant Et magis in somnis mirando corporis auctu Their waking minde in hideous dreames doth see a wondrous shape Of Bodies strange and huge in growth and of stupendous make By which appearance of God so immediately vnto the minde the best men are oftentimes much perturbed and troubled though there be none other cause but onely the Maiestie of the Creator striking a naturall feare and awe into his Creature As we may euidently see in that example of Eliphaz who confesseth his owne vision to haue bin with feare and trembling though it contayned nothing but a most gracious and milde instruction Then must it needs appeare both with terror horror vnto the Atheists when it giueth them signification of Gods wrath and iudgements Their visions must needs be such as the Orator describeth that Visa somniantium sunt perturbatiora quà m insanorum That the visions of such men in their dreames are oftentimes more perturbed then the ragings of mad-men in their fits As we may euidently see in Nebuchadnezzares dreame when hee saw the watchman comming downe vnto him and crying Hew downe that great Tree He confesseth that his dreame made him sore afrayd and troubled his thoughts vpon his bed And of this kinde are all those dreames and visions which appeare vnto Atheists They be alwayes the Messengers of Gods wrath and iudgements And therefore they are alwayes tormented with them and as it were set vpon the very rack by them As the Poet Iuuenal hath notably described them comprizing both the two fore-named causes of their feare together in one sentence namely both the guiltines of their owne corrupt conscience and the fearefull apparitions of strange sights and visions Nocte breuem si fortè indulsit cura soporem Et toto versata toro iam membra quiescunt Continuò Templum violati Numinis aras There is the torment of his terrifying conscience Now followeth the torment of his visions Et quod praecipuis mentem sudoribus vrget Te videt in somnis tua sacra maior imago Humanâ turbat pauidum cogitque fateri Here is the torment of his terrifying visions The summe of which verses is in effect thus much If once his nightly cares spare him a little sleepe If once his restles limmes their rest on bed do seeke Then straight appear's a sight of his impiety Temples and Altars of the wronged Deity And that which most affright's his soule in sweating Agony Thee God he see 's in fearefull dream 's thy sacred Maiesty A farre more glorious forme of thine then any mortall face The which such terror forceth him confesse to be thy Grace Yea and Plutarch hath likewise well expressed the same Argument instancing in the very same two causes of feare in the superstitious that I haue expressed before of the impious So that Atheisme and Superstition the two extremes of Religion are made equall in their fearing Obliuiscuntur herilium minarum serui dormientes qui in compedibus sunt ijs vincula somnus alleuat inflammationes vulnera saeuacarnis serpentia vlcera doloresque acerrimi somno mitigantur Soli huic nullae sunt per somnum induciae neque vnquà m quiescere animum patitur neque se colligere acerbis molestis de Numine opinionibus dimotis sed veluti in impiorum regione simulachra terribilia visa monstrosa feruntur All seruants in their sleeping forget their Maisters threatening Prisoners forget their shackles Diseases wounds and cancers by sleepe are greatly eased Onely vnto these men their sleepe can bring no quiet nor freedome from those feares which they conceiue of the gods But as if they inhabited in the Region of impiety fearefull visions and apparitions do infest them continually Yea and this feare which these men haue of God begetteth a feare in them of euery thing in the world as Plutarch in the same place hath truly obserued Qui Deos metuit omnia metuit terram mare aërem coelum tenebras lucem rumorem silentium somnium He that seruilely feareth God he seruilely feareth all things the earth the sea the ayre the heauens darkenesse and light noyses and silence but especially his owne dreames then which nothing is more troublesome nothing more grieuous to him partly out of the consciousnes of his owne impiety and wickednesse and partly by those fearefull apparitious and visions which God purposely sendeth him to reuoke and deterre him from that his vngodlinesse 4 Neither feareth he onely in the time of his sleeping when hee may seeme to be destitute of his reason to comfort him but also oftentimes euen whilest he is waking when he hath all his senses and reason about him especially when it happeneth to thunder and lighten Iuuenal hauing before described those notable terrors which afflict the Atheists partly out of the conscience of their owne impiety against God and partly out of their fearefull apparitions in the night he proceedeth to shew his minde to be no lesse perturbed in theâ— day especially if it beginne to thunder and lighten Hi sunt qui trepidant ad omnia fulgura pallent Cùm tonat exanimes primo quoque murmure coeli These be the men that trembling quake appall'd at euery lightning Euery flash them lifeles strikes and crack of euery thundring Yea and in the same place hee directly telleth vs that all this their feare of lightning and thunder proceedeth from none other cause but onely from their inward feare of Gods vengeance though they outwardly dissemble it and seeme to contemne it Hi sunt qui trepidant ad omnia fulgura pallent Non quasi fortuitò nec ventorum rabie sed Iratus cadat in terras vindicet ignis Lo these be those that with each Thunder-clap do shake Not so as if blinde Chance such fearefull noyse should make Nor â—s if ragefull windes should bring this ratling sound But lest to take reuenge Gods fire should fall to ground Neither is â—his the foolish feare of the simple and base people who not able to reduce things vnto their true causes are easily terrified with euery vncouth accident but it is a feare that seazeth vpon the greatest and mightiest Kings and affrighteth them as well as their meanest Subiects if they be impious Atheists As euen Lucretius himselfe confesseth For he sayth that when the Heauens do begin once to lighten Et magnum percurrunt murmura coelum Non populi gentésque tremunt Regesque superbi Corripiunt Diâ—ûm perculsi membra timore Nè
quod ob ad Missum foedè dictúmve superbè Poenâ—rum graue sit soluendi tempus adactum When ratling Thunders runne along the Cloud 's Do not both People poore and Princes proud A terror feele as strooke with feare of God Do not their trembling ioynts then dreade his Rod Lest for foule deeds and black-mouth'd Blasphemies The rufull time be come that vengeance cries Out of which sentence of Lucretius we may gather many Arguments that euen the most impious Atheists in the world do inwardly beleeue That there is a God though they outwardly dissemble it For he saith that thâ—ybe Divûm perculsi timore that they be strucken with a terror and feare of the Gods Ergò they must needs beleeue That there be Gods For no man feareth that which he beleeueth not to be Nay this testimony of Lucreâ—ius if it be well examined contayneth twelue maine Articles of the Atheists Creede which are all of them so true so Orthodoxe and Christian that no man can disclaime from any one of them Whereby it will appeare that though the Atheist would deny both God and all Religion yet that hee is inwardly inforced to beleeue them and to hoâ—d euen against his will many notable points of Christian Religion in despite of all his obstinate resolution for Atheisme All which may naturally be collected from his euident feare of lightning and thunder As namely these which follow First hee beleeueth that There is a God or else hee needed not to feare him Secondly he beleeueth that God is such an one as is to be feared or else he would not nay he could not feare him Thirdly hee beleeueth that God is not an incurious God as the Epicure conceiteth him who sitting idlely in heauen regardeth nothing that is done vpon the earth but that he is a most curious and obseruing God both seeing all that is done and hearing all that is spoken or else he neede not feare the punishment neither of his admissa nor of his superbè dicta Fourthly he beleeueth that God is present in all places or else hee could neither see his euill deedes nor heare his euill words Fiftly he beleeueth that God doth not onely looke vpon things as an idle beholder but also as a iust rewarder for else he needed not to feare his beholding if afterward he intended to doe nothing But hee feareth him as a iust Reuenger to execute iudgement vpon euery offender He beleeueth both that God is and that he is a iust rewarder as it is in the Epistle to the Hebrewes Sixtly hee beleeueth that God is of that power as is able to humble and to inflict due punishment vpon the greatest Prince and Poteâ—tate of the World Seuenthly he beleeueth that Lightning and Thunder doe not come either by Chance or by Nature but that they haue God himselfe for their maker For else though he feared them yet he needed not to feare him Eightly he beleeueth that God hath made those creatures as the instruments of his wrath to strike and to punish when hee purposeth to take vengeance Ninthly he beleeueth that Impiety and wickednesse do iustly deserue Gods heauy wrath and iudgements Tenthly he beleeueth that God is iust and therefore will pay them according to their desert Eleuenthly he beleeueth that there is a time appointed when this paiment shall be made And twelâ—ly he beleeueth that when it lightneth and thundreth then that appointed time is come and that God will certainely take vengeance vpon him All these consequents doe follow by necessary connexion vpon the Atheists fearing of thunder and lightning especially as the arrowes of Gods wrath and vengeance And thus the Atheist who denieth there is a God yet is forced to beleeue many truths concerning God He beleeueth his Essence he beleeueth his Power he beleeueth his Prouidence he beleeueth his Omnipresence and he beleueth his Iustice. All this he beâ—eeueth though not with a true faith to further his saluation yet as the diuels themselues doe with an inuincible perswasion which worketh in them both a Feare and a Trembling And this we may plainely see not onely by the testimony of these fore-alledged Poets in a generall speculation but also by the testimony of the most approoued Histories giuing particular instances Pharaoh that proud King who was as stiffe and as vntractable as a rocke against the stroke of many other plagues so that they could not make any impression into him yet when the plague of Lightning and Thunder fell vpon him which is able to breake euen the hardest stonie rocks that also brake him and pierced his stony heart diminishing his former confidence and forcing him to confesse that now he saw that the Lord was iust but that both himselfe and his people were wicked This powerfull operation had with that prophane man the feare of Thunder and Lightning And the like effect is reported by Suetonius to haue beene wrought in the Emperour Tâ—â—erius whom he censureth to haue beene Negligentior circa Dâ—os Râ—ligiâ—nes A very great neglecâ—er of the Gods and their Religions And yet that whensoeuer it hapned to thunder hee was terrified and afraid beyon◠〈◊〉 and measure In so much that he was wont to incompasse his head 〈◊〉 a Lawrell Garland to defend him from the stroke Because it is a commonly receiued opinion that the leaues of the Bay-tree cannot bee tâ—uched with Lightning But aboue all other most notable is the example of Caligula the Emperour Tâ—â—â—rius his next and immediate successor who so greatly despised all the other gods that he himselfe would needs be hoâ—oured for no lesse then a god To which end he commanded a Temple to bee erected Sacrifices appointed Câ—râ—monies ordained and all honour to bee exhibited to this new Iupiter Laâ—ialis the old Iupiter Olympius being so despised by him that hee would oftentimes scoffe and oftentimes raile at him calling him the most pernicious and 〈◊〉 of all the other gods And yet this new god when hee heaad the true God to thunder he would oftentime hide himselfe vnderneath his bed for feare Qui Deos tantoperè contemneret ad minimâ— tonitrua fulgura coâ—â—ivere caput obvoluere ad verò maiora proripere se è strato sub lâ—ctumque condâ—re solebat He that so little regarded the Gods yet feared so greâ—tly the least thunder and lightning that he would winke with his eyes and wrap vp his head so escape the terror â—f the clap But if it chanced to be a little more vehement he would rise vp from his bed â—nd hide himselfe vnderneath it Now what a miserable and a slauish feare did this wretched man endure He could not so effectually haue declared his true beleefe of a God by building vnto him a thousand Temples as hee did by thus fearing his Lightnings and Thunders 5 But yet there is another time wherein much more hee feareth him and that is in his sicknesse and at the time of
of all finite things and the extending of mens appâ—tites beyond all boundes and limits Two out of the Physickes The first Cause and The first Moouer of all naturall things Two out of Phisick Diseases and their Remedies Two out of the Politicks the growing and decaying of Kingdomes and Empires Two out of the Ethicks the way to Felicity and Felicity it selfe Foure out of the Mathematicks Punctum in geometrie Vnitas in Arithmeticke Ordo in Astronomy and Harmonia in Musick Finally there is no Art neither liberall nor illiberall but it commeth from God and leadeth to God And this is the substance and oeconomy of this second booke 2 Let vs first beginne with the Metaphysicks which Aristotle calleth The first Philosophy Primam Philosophiam and so by degrees descend downe vnto the rest It affoordeth vs two considerations from whence wee may collect euen by the light of nature that There needes must be a God The first is The bounding and limiting of all finite things The second The boundlesse and vnlimited appetite of mens soules 3 For the first of which two points look throgh the whole world throgh all the sensible bodies therein contained you shal euidently see that though many of them be great yet that none of them is infinite there is none of them so great as to be without his limit As euen Aristotle himselfe both affirmeth and proueth in his first booke De Coelo Where he plainely and categorically setteth downe this conclusion Corpus infinitum in ratione rerum esse non posse That it is a thing contrary to the nature of things that there should bee any body without his termes and limits No not euen the body of the vniuersall world it selfe as in the conclusion of the same chapter he expressely inferreth Vniuersi corpus infinituÌ„ esse non posse ex ijs quae diximus patet Then much lesse can any part of the world be infinite if the whole be not Vnlesse we should make the whole to be lesse then his owne part which were vtterly absurde And therfore all the parts of the world must needs be limited determined Let me giue you an instance or two to this purpose and that out euen of Aristotle himselfe Terra in Aqua haec in Acre Aer in Aethere Aether in Coelo est collocatus Ipsum verò Coelum nullo in alio corpore est vlteriùs collocatum The Earth that is bounded and limited with the Water the Water with the Aire the Aire with the Fire the fire with the Heauen The heauen is not bounded with any further Body How then is the Heauen bounded if it be not boundlesse Why thus Euery one of the lower heauens is bounded or limited by the concaâ—e or hollow part of his higher vntill we come to that which is the highest of all and containeth all the rest being contained of none And yet euen that is not without his bounds but is limited and determined within his owne conuexe or swelling superficies as a man is by his skinâ—e or a bubble of water by his thinne filme So that there is not in Nature any Body that is infinite nor any that is without all limit To be vnlimited and boundlesse is onely the Prerogatiue of the Maker of all things as Prosper very well and truly obserueth NÃlque adeò magnum est quod non certus modus arcet Et Coelum Terras totum denique mundum Limes habet Meta est altis meta profundis Sed nusquam non esse Dei est qui totus vbÃque Et penetrat Mundi membra omnia liber ambit Ther 's nought so vaste as to be voyd of limit Both Hâ—au'n and Earth and all the world hath bounds All heights and depths haue termes is we esteeme it Height ne're so high be Depth ne're so proâ—ound Vnlimited and no where not to be Agrees to God alone Who wholy is The whole World through and euery least part He Within doth pierce without doth compasse this So that there is not any Body in Nature so infinite but that it is preâ—â—â—ed within some bound and limit Now euery finite Body being thus bounded limited it must needs haue had those bounds prescribed vnto it by some other thing and not by it selfe For euery thing by nature being desirous of scope and seeking to inlarge it selfe as farre as it is able if it had the setting of his owne bounds and limits it would set none at all but would be as infinite as God himselfe is who hath the setting of limits vnto all things And therefore as you see hath set none vnto himselfe but is illimitable and boundlesse Nullis neque finibus neque spacijs â—oarctatus as Saint Hilarie teacheth Being no way straitned by any space or place And so would it be with all other things too if they had the assigning of their owne bounds and limits they would all of them be boundlesse Because all bounds be like bonds and like shackles vnto all things which they would neuer put vpon them if they could be without them For as Scaliger well obserueth Vnicuique enti insita est appetitio infinitatis There is in euery thing an appetite to make it selfe infinite The Sea if it could eate vp the whole Earth and make all the Globe Sea as it once was it would surely do it For the waters do desire to stand aboue the mountaines as the Prophet Dauid testifieth Againe the Earth if it could vtterly close vp the Sea and make all the Globe dry-land it would surely doe it as Esdras notable expresseth in a witty apologue I came saith he into a Forrest in the plaine where the Trees held a Councell and sayd Come let vs fight against the Sea that it may giue place to vs and that wee may make vs more woods Likewise the floods of the Sea tooke counsell and sayd Come and let vs go vp and fight against the Trees of the wood that we may get another Country for vs. But the purpose of the wood was vaine for the fire came downe and consumed it And the purpose of the Sea was also vaine for the sand stood vp and stopped it Whereby it appeareth that there is in all things a desire to dilate and to ingreat themselues And therefore would neuer shut vp themselues within bounds and limits as it were in a prison if they themselues had the setting and appointing of them Therefore as it is true that Nullum ens finitum est a se so it is likewise true that Nullum ens finitum est a se. As nothing that is finite is of it selfe so nothing that is is finite of it selfe But all the finite things in vniuersall nature haue both their being and their bounding of some other And they all doe feele within them the imperiall power of a superior Nature which hath appointed and prescribed those limits vnto them and
therefore are wel content to containe themselues within them as obeying the command of him that ruleth ouer them Nonnè vides saith Claudian operum qui se pulcherrimus ipse Mundus amore ligat nec vt connexa per aevum Conspirant Elementa sibi quî limite Phoebus Contentus medio contentus littore Pontus Et quî perpetuò terras ambÃtque vehÃtque Non premat incumbens oneri nec cesserit aër See'st not the World of Natures work 's the fayrest well I wot How it it selfe together tyes as in a true-loues knot Nor see'st how th' Elements aye combin'd maintaine one constant plâ—â— How th' midst of Heau'n content's the Sun and Shore containes the Sea And how the Ayre both compasseth and carrieth still Earths frame Yet neither pressing burthens it nor parting leaues the same This abiding of those things within their bounds and limits cleane contrary vnto their naturall Appetites doth euidently declare that those bounds were neuer set vnto them by themselues but appointed vnto all of them by some other whose prescribed law they are compelled to beare Now who can this be that thus circumscribeth all things within their set limits but onely God himselfe who is both the Maker and Ruler of all things For what other could set bounds both vnto Heauen and Earth but onely the Creator and Maker of them both who must needes be God And therefore he it is as the Prophet Dauid testifieth that hath both founded the Earth vpon the waters and bounded the Sea within his bankes and spread out the Heauen as it were a curtaine He it is as the Prophet Isay testifieth that doth Palmo coelos pugillo aquas digitis terras metiri that counteth out the heauen with his span and measureth the waters with his fist and comprehendeth the dust of the earth in a measure and weigheth the mountaines in a waite and the hills in a ballance So that the bounding and limiting of al the forenamed things is the worke of none other but of God their Creator who as Boetius truly calleth him is Principium Vector Dux Semita Terminus idem The first Beginner and the Bringer on The Guide Path Terme and all is God alone Aâ—d this is confessed not onely by Christians but also by diuers of the Heathens themselus Ovid describing the creation of the world he ascribeth it expressely vnto a God though he could not tell what God But he numbreth as his workes all the forenamed particulars Of compassing the earth about with the water that with the ayre and that with the heauen of the bounding of the Seas within their shores of the stretching out of the feilds the raysing vp of hills the pressing downe of valleyes the growing vp of woods and diuers such like All which he pronounceth to be the works of God Yea and that not onely in respect of their creation and making but also euen of their circumscribing and limiting Limitibus disâ—revit omnia certis With bounds distinguished all things are limited Insisting nominatìm vpon this point of their limiting So likewise Orpheus Tu mundi terminos habes Vniuer si Thâ—u God hast in thy hands Of all the world the bounds So likewise Pindarus Sed discriminat omnia interminata vis potentis It selfe a boundlesse power is That setteth bounds to all things else And that this was not the idle fiction of Poets we may see by the grauer sentences of the learnedest Philosophers who casting about with the best wit that they had from whence this limiting of things should proceed haue at the last beene constrayned to ascribe it vnto God Anaxagoras affirmeth that there is a certaine infinite Spirit Mens whose power and vnderstanding hath giuen bounds and limits vnto euery finite thing And of the same opinion was likewise his master Anaximenes as Tullie reporteth in the very same place Anaxagoras qui accepit ab Anaximene disciplinam primus omnium rerum descriptionem modum Mentis infinitâ—e vi ac ratione designari confici voluit And indeed Anaxagoras did so totally ascribe all the noble workes of nature vnto the working of this Mâ—ns which was his Philosophicall appellation of God that they vsed to call him Mens in derision Yet and euen Aristotle himselfe seemeth to taxe him for it and yet hee agreeeth with him in the very same point For he saith that there is Quid. dam infinitum cuius non est principium sed hoc principium caeterorum quòd continet ipsum omnia gubernat There is saith he a certaine infinite thing which is it selfe without all beginning and yet is the beginner of euery other thing yea both their maintainer and their gouernor So that this Infinitum is both the beginning from whence all things doe proceede and as it were the place wherein all things are contayned yea and the very Gouernour by whom all things are ruled And this Infinitum which doth thus finire continere omnia he calleth afterward Divinum that is a Divine thing Yea and this in the same place hee plainely affirmeth to be the common Tenet of all the Philosophers Omnes qui dignè Philosophiam tetigisse putantur de Infinito sermonem fecerunt Ac omnes ipsum vt principium quoddam eorum quae sunt posuerunt All those that haue beene worthy to handle Philosophie make mentiom of that Infinitum Yea and all of them confesse that infinite thing to be the first beginner and originall of all things And that it may appeare that he reciteth not this opinion as reprouing or disliking it hee in plaine words confirmeth it and saith that it was with great reason that they affirmed it Principium omnes infinitum ponunt cum ratione Now Aristotle was a man as greatly addicted vnto his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Anaxagoras was vnto his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ascribing all things so absolutely vnto the power of Nature as if hee had beene hired to write in her behalfe Insomuch that as he called Empedocles Naturae interpretem The interpreter of Nature so Suidas calleth him Naturae Scribam The Scriuener of Nature And therefore he would neuer haue transcribed this circumscribing power from his beloued Nature vnto any such supernaturall cause as that Infinitum Diuinum was if with the Egyptian Sorcerers hee had not beene constrayned to confesse that in this worke is the finger of God Which yet in another place hee more plainly affirmeth For he saith that God is therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id est circumscribi omnia quia nihil in rerum natura sit quod in infiniâ—tum exâ—urrat God is called Peproméne from his bounding of all things and leauing nothing vndefined without his bounds and Limits For nothing can exceed those termes and limits which Fate hath prescribed Which worke Philolaus also ascribeth directly vnto God affirming expressely Vnâ—versa
tanquam in carcere a Deo contineri That all things are shut vp by the appointment of God within their bounds and limits as it were into their prisons And this worke of thus bounding and limiting of all things doe the Greeks acknowledg to be the worke of God in calling their great God Iupiter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Limiferum or Rerum terminos afferentem as Homers Translator renders him that is The appointer of limits vnto all things And the Romanes likewise doe seeme to acknowledge the very same in calling the same God Iovem terminalem that is Iupiter the Limiter or the Bounder of all things Thus the bounding and limiting of all naturall bodies doth leade vs by the hand vnto the knowledge of a God 4 And so doth likewise the bounding of their naturall powers and faculties For in these inferior parts of the world wee may obserue a fiue-fold difference among the Creatures euery one of them hauing their proper and peculiar faculties so defined and circumscribed that none of them can exceede the bounds of his owne nature nor exalt it selfe to the state of his superior but abideth in his owne and can goe no further By which Hierarchie of the Creatures we may easily ascend and climbe vp vnto God as it were by an Ascendent consisting of fiue steppes For as the Orator truly affirmeth Si a primis inchoatÃsque naturis ad vltimas perfectâsque volumus procedere ad Deorum naturam perveniamus necesse est If wee will first beginne with the vnperfect works of Nature and by degrees ascend vnto those that are perfecter they will leade vs by the hand to know the nature of God And therefore this Argument is much insisted on both by Tullie the Orator in the forealledged place and by Plotinus the Philosopher as Theodoret recordeth and by the learned Fathers S. Augustine and S. Gregorie and yet most fully by Raymundus de Sabunde Wherein I haue obserued that euery one of them though they handle the same matter yet haue put vpon it a seuerall forme And therefore I wil not tie my selfe vnto any one of them but imitating their example will cast the Argument into a mold of mine owne Now those fiue degrees of Creatures bee these That some things haue bare essence and being allotted vnto them and yet not either life or sense as in siâ—ple bodies the Heauens and the Elements in compound bodies Stones and Metals and such like Some other things haue both Being and Liuing and yet not either sense or motion as Trees and Plants Some other things â—aue both Being and Liuing and Feeling and yet haue no proper or animal-motion as Oysters and Muscles and such other like conchylia which haue no naturall motion of their owne but are onely carried as the water driueth them And therefore Aristotle very wittily calleth them Aquatiles plantas A kind of Waterplants as he calleth earthly plants Ostreaterrena A kind of Land-Oysters because they haue no more selfe-motion then these I meane Lation or local-motion from one place to another Some things againe haue both Being and Liuing and Feeling and Mouing and yet haue no Reason nor Vnderstanding as Birds and Beasts and Fishes and such like And some things againe haue all these powers and faculties vnited in one both Essence and Life and Sense and Motion and Reason too as we see they be in Men. And these distinctions of Creatures are so obuious to all men that he which notes them not is more worthy to be numbred among beasts then among men Now if it should be demanded Why a Stone hath not life as well as a Tree or a Tree not sense as well as a Beast or a Beast not reason as well as a Man whaâ— other reason can be giuen of all this but onely that those powers are not in their owne power to take so many of them as they themselues thinke good but that they be limited and assigned vnto them by a nature farre aboue them euen the same nature that made them And that they therefore haue them not because that Nature gaue them not From whence there follow these two Conclusions First that all those forenamâ—d faculties and powers though they be in those things that haue them yet they be not of those things that haue them They haue them in themselues but they haue them not of themselues For then all would haue all of them and none would content themselues with any part were it neuer so great Would a Tree thinke you be content to sticke fast in the earth as a dead and rotten stake if it could giue it selfe motion Surely no. The blinde man in the Gospell that thought he saw men walking like vnto Trees should surely see Trees walking like vnto men if they could take vnto themselues the facultie of mouing Againe would a Beast be content to be so subiect vnto man if it could giue it selfe Reason Or would a Man be content to liue here vpon the earth if he could flee vp into heauen and make himselfe a God Surely he neuer would That which Tertullian affirmeth of the Romane Emperours is true also in all others that Si ipsi se Deos facere potuissâ—nt certè quidem homines nunquà m fuissent If they could haue made themselues Gods they would neuer haue continued Men. And so in all other things as well as in these they would all haue all those faculties if they could giue them to themselues Therefore seeing that which hath onely Being cannot giue it selfe Life and that which hath onely Life cannot giue it selfe Sense and that which hath onely Sense cannot giue it selfe Reason this euidently sheweth vnto all that haue any Reason that the ampliating or restrayning of those naturall indowments is not in their owne free disposition or election but in his onely power who freely bestoweth them This is the first conclusion The second That seeing those fore-named faculties are not in the power of the things themselues that haue them therefore they must needes proceede from some other power that gaue them and that hath in it selfe the whole power of dispensing them And that can be none other but a diuine and heauenly power For that nature must needes be supernaturall and diuine which is the fountaine and wel-spring both of Being and Liuing and Mouing and Sense and Reason and which hath the power to deriue the streames of those diuine graces vnto all other creatures in such differing degrees limiting and proportioning vnto euery seueral creature that power and faculty which standeth best with his pleasure To some of them dispensing but only one faculty to some two to some three to some foure to some fiue as the housholder in the Gospell distributed his Talents vnto his seruants This inestimable treasure of so many pretious Talents and this admirable wisedome which is vsed in dispensing them cannot in reason be ascribed but onely
being of it selfe Suprema causa est Natura per se The highest cause is such a kind of Nature as hath his being of it selfe Which as Origen teacheth is proper and peculiar vnto God Tu solus es â—ui quod es a nullo datum est Thou only hast a being who hast not thy being giuen thee by any other thing So that this title of Natura per se is the proper and peculiar title of God as Trismegistus expresly affirmeth Solus Deus meritò solus in se a se circum se totus est plenus perfectus isque sua firma est stabilitas It is God sayth he and nothing else but God that hath both in himselfe and of himselfe and about himselfe his fulnesse and perfection and it is only he that is his owne strength and stability Yea and Plato affirmeth of this Natura per se that Ab eo quod verè est non abest nec motus nec vita nec anima nec sapientia That thing which truely is and hath his being of it selfe hath also both his mouing and his liuing and his spirit and his wisedome and all of himselfe Which are the meere properties and attributes of God who as the Scripture testifieth Hath his life in himselfe This is proper and peculiar vnto God to be Natura per se. All other things are Natura per aliud There is none of all them that haue either their liuing or their mouing or their breathing or their being of themselues all which nominatìm Plato ascribeth vnto the first Cause but all these things they doe onely receiue from God as the Scripture nominatìm affirmeth of all of them In him they liue and mooue and haue their being And he it is that giueth vnto all both life and breath and all things Who as Palingenius affirmeth Est per se viuens sapìensque bonúsque Anullo accipiens quod habet verùm omnia ab illo Accipiunt igitur quod habent amittere possunt c. He by himselfe alone doth liue selfe wise selfe good he is From none receiuing what he hath but all receiue of his And therefore they whatâ—er'e they haue haue power it to lees Trismegistus giueth it another title which is likewise the proper title of God For he calleth it Vnum principium ex quo cuncta dependent And in another place as though hee had not yet spoken enough he correcteth himselfe Ex vno cuncta pendentia ex eo potiùs defluentÃa Hee sayth that there is but one principall Cause vpon which all things doe depend or rather indeed from which all things do descend Now this can bee nothing else but God For as Anselmus very well collecteth Id quod per se est per quod alia cuncta sunt summum esse omnium existentium ratio docet That which hath his being of it selfe and which giueth being vnto euery other thing must needs be euen in reason the highest and most principall thing that hath a being Now God hath his being onely of himselfe and hee likewise giueth being vnto euery other thing for there is nothing in the world which hath any being but it hath it by participation from him So that nothing indeede can primarily and properly be called Ens but onely God Euery other thing as it hath his dependence vpon this first Cause so can it bee called Ens but in an vnproper and secondarie acceptance as the Accidens which hath his whole Esse in his Substance And this euen Aristotle himselfe expresly confesseth Caetera Entia dicuntur eò quòd Entis propriè dicti quaedam sunt Quantitates quaedam Qualitates quaedam Passiones quaedam aliud aliquid tale The other Categories are called Entia Beings as being some Quantities some Qualities some Passions and the like of that Ens or Being which is properly so called And that is the prime and onely Praedicament of Substance And so it is betweene the first Cause which hath his being of it selfe and all other things which haue their being from it They be indeed but as Accidents in comparison of it And their being vnto his is no better then nothing as is plainely and directly affirmed by Origen Et quae in Coelo sunt quae in Teâ—ra quantum ad naturam Dei pertinet non sunt Neither the things in Earth nor the things in Heauen in comparison of God haue any true being And immediately aboue Nam vmbra ad comparationem corporis non est fumus ad comparationem ignis non est The shadow being compared with the body hath no being and no more hath the smoake neither being compared with his fire So that all other things in comparison of God are but Fumus Vmbra And therefore this Vnum Principium ex quo cuncta dependent is nothing else but God Whom euen the Scriptures themselues call as Dionysius Areopagita affirmeth Causam omnium Principium Essentiam Vitam The cause Beginning Being and the Life of all Ex quo suspensa sunt omnia saith Seneca Of whom all things depend Yea and in the same place he affirmeth that onely of him Sunt omnes causae causarum That God is such a cause as produceth the causes of all other things For all other causes bring forth nothing but Effects but God is such a cause as bringeth forth causes He is tale Principium quod quidem movetur vt rursus extet principium as Trismegistus affirmeth He is such a cause as by his mouing produceth another â—ause For hee is Causa Causarum and no cause could haue his operation as a cause but onely by the power of his gracious assistance It is onely Gods blessing which giueth vnto all causes their proper operation The Heauens which drop downe fatnesse vpon the Earth doe it onely by the vertue of the blessing of God For it is onely hee that sendeth a gracious raine vpon his inheritance and refresheth the same when it is weary And so likewise the Earth though it drinke in the raine yet can it bring forth no fruite vnlesse it receiue a blessing from God And so likewise the Father which begetteth his Childe receiueth all his generatiue power of God Behold children are the inheritance of the Lord and the fruite of the wombe is his reward saith the Prophet Dauid Yea and Euripides likewise vnto the same purpose A Dijs dantur liberi mortalibus Children are giuen to men It 's God that giueth them So that not onely all things in the world are the works of God but also all the Causalitie which is to be found in any of those things is onely the Effect of God the first cause Nay as Bradwardine very truely teacheth All the Effects which are wrought in things by their second causes yet are more immediatly wrought by God who is the first cause then they be by their
no prior nay no last if no first And this holdeth not onely in these relatiue denominations but also in the true existence of the very things themselues So that the motions of these inferior Bodies which we see by sense must leade vs of necessitie either to grant a first Mouer who is the Author of all the motion in the world and therefore must needs be God or else to yeeld in motion an infinite proceeding which is absurd euen to Reason and vtterly destroyeth all order in things or else to hold that There is no motion at all as Melissus did Motum non esse sed videri esse Which is the greatest absurditie of all An absurditie so grosse as is confuted euen by sense As Diogenes very wittily proued against a Philosopher maintayning that error that There was no motion Behind whom he slily comming whipt him sodainely about the Legges And then whilest hee was running he scornefully asked him Whether now hee thought there were any motion Not esteeming him worthy to be confuted by reason but onely to be derided by that sensible demonstration For as Iosephus very well obserueth to this purpose Insen satos decet non verbis sed operibus arguere or rather indeed verberibus as Diogenâ—s did The best kinde of arguing with mad men is with a word and a blow not with reason but with stripes And yet euen this grosse absurditie would follow vnlesse from these secondarie motions wee should arise vnto some first For Si primum nihil est omninò causa nulla est saith Aristotle If there be no first cause there can be no cause at all And so If there be no first motion there can be no motion Which sense sheweth to be false And if there be any second motion there must needs be a first This Reason sheweth to be true And therefore for this first point I conclude it with Aristotle that Si media sunt necesse est finem esse If there be any meane motion there must needs be an end of them And if an end then a beginning Neque enìm infinitus est aâ—â—quis motus sed cuiusque finis saith he in another place There is no motion so infinite but in the end it hath an end and consequently a beginning For as the Poet hath truly obserued Finisque ab Origine pendet This is a Rule That euery End On some Beginning must depend 2 Let vs therefore now ascend from the first step vnto the second that If there be any first motion then must there needs be a first Mouer which moueth onely of himselfe and not by any other For in euery motion there bee three things to be considered The Mouer The Motion and The thing moued And these three things are neuer confounded though they euer be conioyned But as the Motion is one thing and the Moued another so is it likewise betweene the Moued and the Mouer For as Picus Mirandula obserueth very truely In quolibet moto Motor est alius are mobili In euery motion the Mouer is distinguished from the thing that is moued Yea and Aristotle himselfe vnto the same purpose Quod mouet quod mouetur diuisum esse videtur That which moueth and that which is moued are a diuers thing and plainly diuided But yet though these three be ioyned all together yet is the Mouer in order before either of the other euen by the law of Nature The Motion cannot be before the thing moued nor yet the thing moued before the Mouer of it but alwayes the thing moued is before his motion and alwayes the Mouer before either of them For as Philo Iudaeus affirmeth of the Motion that Fieri non potest vt motus rem motam praecesserit It cannot be that any motion be before the thing moued be And so Aristotle affirmeth also of the Mouer that Motor rem mobilem praecurrere debet The Mouer must forego the thing moued Now if the Mouer be distinguished both from the motion it selfe and from the thing that is moued yea and so distinguished that it is before them both then as euery Effect doth argue his Cause so doth euery motion argue his Mouer and consequently the first motion his first Mouer Whom though we doe not see with the Eyes of the body yet may we easily collect by Reason the Eye of the minde To illustrate this point by that familiar comparison which the Orator pointeth at in explication of this Reason We see by experience in a Clocke which is as at were an Artificiall Heauen measuring out vnto vs the diuisions of time that euery Wheele is moued euery one of them by another vntill at last we be brought vnto the waight it selfe which moues them all together Whither when we be come we can proceede no further by sense and therefore must collect the rest by reason Now Reason plainely teacheth vs that though the waight doe moue all the wheeles of it selfe yet that it could not tie it selfe vnto the line but that that must needs be done by some other thing And that therefore there must needs haue beene some Author and contriuer of that cunning peece of worke who first conceiued in himselfe by a mentall Idea the whole reason and conueiance of all these seuerall motions and then accordingly disposed all the wheeles and waights into their seuerall places So that the motion of the wheeles in euery Clock doth manifestly tell vs that there must needs haue beene an Author of that curious worke whose artificiall workemanship and contriuing is that which hath giuen vnto all those wheeles their motion And as it is in a Clocke which I called before an Artificiall Heauen because it measureth vnto vs the diuisions of time so is it also in the Heauens themselues which may as fitly be called a naturall Clock for their measuring by their motions the distinction of time We see by experience in them that all these inferior and elementarie Bodies doe receiue their motions from the Heauens their superiors and so likewise euen in the Heauens themselues that the lower is still moued by his next higher vntill wee come by degrees vnto the highest of all called Primum mobile that is the first moueable body which moueth all the rest Now when wee are come thither sense can leade vs no further But yet Reason can For then we must collect that as the wheeles in a Clock could not set themselues on mouing but that this must needs be the worke of their Maker so likewise the Heauens though they moue without all ceasing yet haue not taken vnto themselues their motion but haue had it giuen them by their Author and Mouer For as Aristotle truely teacheth Si motio cietur necesse est praeesse motorem aliquem Wheresoeuer there is motion there must needes haue beene some Mouer before and some Moderator and guider of that motion from whom at the first it receiued his
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
affirming that Si inest in hominum genere Mens Fides Virtus Concordia Vnde haec in terram nisi a superis defluere potuerunt If there be among men either Wisdome or Faith or Vertue or Peace Whence could any of these come to men vpon earth but only from the God of heauen Naming Vertue among the rest And his Reason he confuteth by the instance of Metellus Maximus Marcellus Africanus Cato Scipio Laelius who were the most vertuous and the most prayse-worthy persons of the Romane Commonwealth And yet he affirmeth of them all that Horum neminem nisi iunante Deo talem fuisse credendum est That none of all these could euer haue beene such a man as he was if he had not beene helped and assisted by God So that hee ascribeth their Vertues and consequently their prayses vnto God Thereby plainly ouer-throwing the ground of his position and shewing that vertue may be praysed although it be of God Thus you see the great agreement which the Heathens Philosophers haue with the Scriptures in ascribing vnto God to be the Author of all Vertues 3 Neither is God onely the Author and giuer of growne and perfect Vertue when it is formed into an habit but also of all those good motions and affections which are as it were the praeparatiues vnto it or rather indeed the inchoations of it Those good inclinations and vertuous propensions which being adult and growne vp doe proue the true substance and bodies of our vertues are indeed not in vs any naturall dispositions as Tullie would haue them but supernaturall inspirations and Gods owne celestiall seminations as the Prophet Moses expresly affirmeth The Lord thy God wil circumcise thy heart that thou mayst loue him with all thy heart liue So that the first motions of our loue towards God are onely the motions of his loue towards vs. Hee moueth vs to loue him that we may liue with him Without whose grace thus mouing vs we could haue no motion in vs at the least not vnto good For the Apostle plainely teacheth vs that it is God that giueth vs both the will and the worke Hee both giueth vs the vertues and the feede of them too which are good affections For as the same Apostle in another place telleth vs We are not able of our selues so much as to thinke any thing but all our sufficiencie is of God So that with the Prophet Isaiah we may truely professe O Lord thou it is that hast wrought all our works for vs. And this euen the Heathen themselues doe acknowledge running through all the steppes of the Apostles former doctrine One of them telleth vs that Nil agimus nisi sponte Dei By vs there can be nothing done But by the will of God alone Another of them that wee speake nothing but by the will of God Natura humana nec rationem nec orationem de Dijs suscipere potest sine Dijs nedum divina opera perficere sine illis The nature of man can neither conceiue nor vtter any thing of the nature of God without the helpe of God much lesse can it doe any worke of God without him Another of them telleth vs that wee cannot thinke any thing without him because all our cogitations and thoughts doe come from him Talis enìm mens est terrestrium hominum Qualem quotidiè ducit pater virorúmque Deorúmque saith Homer Such thoughts Men haue on earth that liue As Men may craue but God doth giue And so likewise Archilocus vnto the same purpose Mortalium mens talem praebet identidem Sese Tonantis summa qualem Quotidie exhibuit voluntas Mans minde doth dayly such it selfe explay As Gods great Will doth frame it euery day So that all the good motions and affections of the minde the very Heathens doe professe to proceede from God And therefore Orpheus in his hymme vnto Nemesis prayeth to that Goddesse to giue a vertuous and good minde vnto men and to remooue all euill cogitations from them Da verò mentem bonam vt habeant Extinguens odiosas cogitationes profanas nimis suprebas scelestissimas Giue Nemesis ô giue a vertuous minde to men Repressing odious base and vile proud thoughts in them Acknowledging all good motions to bee Gods inspirations And so likewise on the contrarie they againe professe that all those wicked and depraued affections whereby the minde of a man is corrupted and so led headlong into all kinde of vice are indeede nothing else but the suggestions and temptations of Diuells and wicked spirits Daemon vltor saith Trismegistus ignis acumen incutiens sensus affligit ad patranda scelera armat hominem vt turpioris culpae reus acriori supplicio sit obnoxius eúmque sine vlla intermissione ad insatiabiles concupiscentias inflammat The reuenging spirit inflaming the minde with a quicke and sharpe fire afflicteth our senses and armeth a man vnto all kinde of wickednesse that so he being guilty of a greater fault may bee obnoxious to a greater punishment And therefore hee ceaseth not to kindle in our mindes vnsatiable concupiscences And againe in another place Nocentes Angeli humanitati commisti ad omnia audaciae mala miseros manu iniecta compellunt in bella in rapinas in fraudes in omnia quae sunt animorum naturae contraria The â—urtfull Angells insinuating themselues into mens mindes do hale-on poore wretches as it were by the collars into all kindes of euills into wars into robberies into frauds and into all those vices which are contrary vnto the true nature of our soules So likewise Orpheus Daemones humani saeui hostes atque maligni Qui nostris animis vacuis infanda ministrant Vt semper diram vitam cum crimine ducant The Diuells Mens fierce and cruell Enemies Obiect vnto their mindes strange vilanies To make their liâ—es curs'd with Impieties Which is largely and notably layd open by Porphyrius out of whom it is transcribed by Eusebius Thus euen the very Heathen doe both beleeue that there bee Diuells and that they bee mans most hatefull and cruell enemies and that they piâ—rce and insinuate into the mindes of men seeking there with all kind of wicked lusts to corrupt them that so they may bring them vnto vtter destruction And so on the contrarie they doe likewise beleeue not onely that there is a God but also that hee is the Author of all good both giuing vnto vs all kindes of vertues and giuing vnto vertues all their growth and increase yea and their first seedes too by inspiring into our mindes good thoughts and affections Insomuch that Hippodamus affirmeth that Homines habent virtutem propter diuinitatis commercium That men attaine vnto vertues onely by the commerce and conuersation of the Gods Who not only helpe vs vnto vertue by furthering and cherishing our good motions affections but further by extinguishing those
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
to be nothing els but god and that by the Platonists owne doctrine Animam mande dicunt esse Mentem perfectamque sapientiam quem Deum appellant So Plutarch Mens est Deus That soule is God And againe Democritus ait Deum in igne globoso esse mundi animam Democritus sayth that God in the fiery globe is the soule of the world Yea and Virgil speaking of that Mens or Spirit which giueth motion vnto the heauens he giueth such a description of it as an agree to no Spirit but to the Spirit of God Principio Coelum ae terras Campo'sque liquentes Lucentémque globum Luna Titaniaque astra Spiritus intùs alit totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem He saith the Heauens the Earth the Waters and the Stars Receiue their Motions and whate're they are From an internall Spirit which th' Eternall is That vnto all of them their Motion giu's Now what Spirit can this be in all those great Creatures but onely the Spirit of God their Creator Of whom the prophet Ieremie affirmeth that hee filleth both Heauen and Earth And the Wiseman in the Booke of Wisedom That he not onely filleth them but also maintayneth them answering to Virgils-alit This Spirit that made those Creatures doth also guide their motions And their mouing in so exact both a number measure and order doth evidently show That God himselfe is their Mouer That God himselfe is their Mouer Whom euen the Heathen imagined to be delighted which their dauncing in such an order before him Yea and that something too much as the Tragick seemes to chalenge him Cur tibi tanta est cura perennâ—s Agitare vias aetheris alti Why art thou so much taken vp oh why In those perpetuall motions of the sky Yea and euen among vs Christians that renowned Poet Bartas though hee goe not so farre yet he affirmes that sacred Harmonie And numbrie law did then accompanie Th' Almighty most When first his ordinance Appointed Earth to rest and Heauen to daunce 4 And therefore diuers of them as they ascribe a rythmicall motion vnto the Starres so doe they an harmonicall vnto the Heauens ymagining that their mouing produceth the melodie of an excellent sweete tune So that they make the Starres to be Dauncers and the Heauens to be Musitians An opinion which of old hath hung in the heads and troubled the braines of many learned men yea and that not onely among the Heathen Philosophers but also euen among our Christian Divines The first Author and inuenter of which conceited imagination was the Philosopher Pythagoras Who broched his opinion with such felicitie happinesse that he wonne vnto his part diuers of the most ancient and best leaned Philosophers as Plutarch reporteth Plato whose learning Tullie so much admireth that hee calleth him The God of all Philosophers Deum Philosophorum he affirmeth of the Heauens that Euery one of them hath sitting vpon it a Sweet-singing Syren carolling-out a most pleasant and melodious song agreeing with the motion of her owne peculier heauen Which Syren though it sing of it selfe but one single part yet all of them together being eight in number for so many Heauens were onely held by the Ancients doe make an excellent Song consisting of eight parts wherein they still modulate their Songs a greeable with the motions of the eight coelestiall Spheres Which opinion of Platoes is not only allowed by Macrobius but he also affirmeth of this Syrens Song that it is a Psalme composed in the praise of God Yea and he proueth his assertion out of the very name of a Syren which signifieth as he saith as much as Deo canens A singer unto God But Maximus Tyrius he affirmeth of the Heauens that without any such helpe of those coelestiall Syrens they make a most sweete harmonie euen by their proper motions wherein they doe Omnes symmetriae numeros implere contrarióque nisu diuinum sonum perficere They by their contrary mouing doe fill vp all the parts of a most Divine and heauenly Song Which hee affirmeth to be most pleasant vnto the eares of God though it cannot be heard by the eares of men Yea and the Sages of the Greekes insinuate also as much by placing of Orpheus his harpe in Heauen implying in the seauen strings of his well turned harpe that sweete tune and harmonie which is made in heauen by the diuers motions of the seauen planets as Lucian interprets it Vnto which his opinion there may seeme to be a kinde of allusion in the Booke of Iob as the Text in the vulgar translation is rendered Concentum Coeli quis dormire facâ—et Who shall make the Harmony of the Heauens to sleepe For so likewise the Diuines of Doway translate it Pliny indeede as concerning this Harmony doth write somewhat doubtfully whether there be in truth any such thing or no suspending his owne opinion with Non facilè dixerim So that as hee doth not defend it for a veritie so doth he not againe deny it as a falsity but leaueth it as vncertaine Whose doubting of it he being of so acute and inquiring a wit is rather a credit then a discredit vnto it But much more is Aristotles deriding of it because in the end hee was forced to retract in For though in his Booke De Coelo he confute it and make in a manner but a scoffe and scorne of it yet in his booke De Mundo he alloweth of it and confesseth it to be the proper worke of God For there hee sayth expresly that God doth In mundo rerum omnium concentum continere That hee keepeth that Harmony which is to be found in all the seuerall parts of the world And so likewise Tully although in one place hee doe scoffe at this Harmony that Mundus should ad harmoniam canere That the World should sing vnto a tune yet in another place hee not onely subscribeth vnto it but also ascribeth vnto the working of it all those benigne gracious influences which from the Heauens descend vpon these inferior bodies Stellarum tantus est concentus ex dissimilimis motibus vt cùm summa Saturni refrigeret media Martis incendat His interiecta Iouis illustret temperet infraque Martem duae Soli obediant Sol ipse mundum omnem sua luce compleat ab eoque Luna illuminata grauidates partus afferat maturitatemque gignendi There is so great an Harmony and concent of the Starres arising from the diuersity of their motions that as Saturne cooleth so Mars heateth and Iupiter which is betweene them hee tempereth them both The other two Planets which are below Mars are both of them obedient vnto the Sunne which filleth the whole world with the cheerefull light of it Wherewith it illumining the body of the Moone by it giueth power of increase and generation Concluding with these words his former obseruation
vnto Chance is an opinion not onely impious and odious but also foolish and ridiculous As the Orator maketh it plaine by two notable Examples of two Artificiall Spheres made to the imitation of the heauenly Orbs the one of them by Archimedes the other of them by Possidonius and both of them with such singular Art and cunning that they did as Varro speaketh vias stelligeras aetheris explicare aere cauo They shewed by their hollow brazen wheeles all the seuerall motions of the Starry Heauens Now saith the Orator in that place If either of these Spheres were shewed vnto the barbarous Britaines yea or vnto the very Scythians they would neither of them doubt but these workes were wrought by reason then much more must the Heauens themselues for they are much perfecter Nisi Archimedem arbitramur plus valuisse in imitandis Sphaerae conuersionibus quà m Naturam in efficiendis Vnlesse we should imâ—gine that Archimedes could shew more Art in imitating the motions of the Heauens then nature could do in making of them Which were vtterly absurd as Lactantius collecteth euen from this very instance Deus illa non potuit vera machinari effìcere quae potuit solertia hominis imitatione simulare Shall not God be able to doe that in truth which a Man is able to counterfeite by art Qûi igitur conuenit saith Tully in the last alledged place Signum aut Tabulam pictam cûm aspexeris scire adhibitam esse artem cumque procul cursum nauìgij videris non dubitare quìn id ratione arte moueatur aut cùm solarium vel descriptum vel ex a qua contemplare intelligere declarari horas arte non casu Mundum autem qui has ipses artes earum artifices cuncta amplectitur consilij rationis expertem putare What reason is there that when we looke vpon either a Statue or a Picture we should know that it must needes be ruled by art and when we looke vpon a Clocke or a Diall wee should know that that must needes be made by art and yet to thinke that the World which containeth all those Artes yea and their Artificers too should bee framed without art For as he well inferreth in another place Neminem esse opportet tam stultè arrogâ—ntem vt in se rationem mentem putet inesse in Coelo Mundo non putet There ought no man to bee so foolishly arrogant as to thinke that in himselfe there is a spirit and reason and yet that in the heauens themselues there is none Which are so farre from being made without reason that their making cannot be conceiued without great reason as the Orator well obserueth From whence hee truely concludeth that hee needes must be a mad man that ascribes them vnto Chance Haec omnis descriptio sydenum at hic tantus Coeli ornatus ex corporibus hûc illâ—c casu temere cursantibus potuisse effici cuiquam sano videri potest This whole description of the Starres and this so great beauty of the Heauens can it possibly seeme to any man that is well in his wits to bee an effect of certaine Bodies moouing vp and downe by chance and at all aduentures So that with him it is out of question that the Heauens are mooued â—â—t by Fortune but by Wisdome But yet a greater Question remaines still behind By whose wisdome it is that the Heauens and Starres be mooued For if they be mooued by Wisdome then either by their owne or by some others aboue them As Horace insinuateth in the part of his diuision Stellae sponte sua iussaenè vagentur errent The Starres all in their courses mooue they still Or by their owne or their Commanders will Yeelding that if it be not by the former then it must be by the latter But by the former it is not It is not by motion of their owne will or reason For they haue none in them They are so farre from being either the Authors or Directors of their owne proper motions as that they vnderstand not so much as that they mooue at all as euen Lucretius himselfe directly affirmeth Nam certè neque consilio primordia rerum Ordine se quaeque atque sagaci mente locârunt Nec quos quaeque darent motus pepigêre prosectò Things at the first they did not certainly Themselues dispose by counsell orderly Nor did they by a composition Appoint themselues their propper motion It was a much wiser and intelligent Author that disposed all these things in so exquisite an order which were in his hand but meerely passiue as Clay is in the hand of the Potter that neither vnderstandeth of what forme it is made nor yet for what vse it is prouided And no more doe the Stars in what manner they bee mooued For though they should make such an excellent Harmony as before I haue described yet doe not they themselues vnderstand that they make it no more then an harpe or other musicall instrument vnderstandeth the tune that is playd vpon it And though they doe produce many notable effects and benefits in the earth by that enterchange of seasons which they occasion by their motions yet do not they themselues vnderstand that they doe it no more then the wheeles in a mill doe vnderstand what manner of Corne they grind So that the Heauens doe grind for vs yea and find for vs too and yet they themselues doe not know what they doe because they doe volutatione haec non voluntate facere as Iustin Martyr well obserueth They doe this by their motion they doe it not by their meaning Dionysius exemplifieth by instance of the Sunne that Sol non cogitatione aut voluntate sed eo ipso quod est omnia illustrat The Sunne imparteth his light vnto all things but not by any will or purpose but by being a light-some substance as a Candle likewise doth Vnto which there is no man so simple as to ascribe a will Neither can they to the Sunne It is not by his owne will that it shineth vpon all things but it is onely by the Goodwill of that God which made it who hath commanded and appointed it to shine vpon the bad as well as on the good as our Sauiour Christ testifieth And this was not vnknowne euen to the very Heathen Gratuitos habemus Deos saith Seneca Nam sceleratis Sol oritur piratis patent maria The Gods are most gracious and bestow their blessings freely For the Sunne doth shine vpon the wickedest persons and the Seas are open to the cruellest Pirats Ascribing the shining of the Sun not to his owne will but to the gracious will of God as our Sauiour before did And as it is in his shining so is it likewise in his mouing His motion is by Gods will and not by his owne And though it be sayd by the Prophet
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
Creators praise And for Beasts Plinie giueth instance in the Elephants that they haue not onely a sense of Religion but also vse a kinde of Ceremonie in their practise of the same Yea and Aelian affirmeth of them as Proclus before did of the Cock that they doe Exorientem Solem venerari proboscidem tanquâ—m minum adversùs Solis radios alleuâ—ntes They worship the rising Sunne aud they lift vp their Trunck in honour vnto him Concluding there his Chapter with this notable increpation of Atheists and such like vngodly men Ergonè Deum Elephanti venerantur Homines autem rationis participes Sitne Deus necne sit dubitant tum si sit Humanasnè res curatione administratione dignâ—tur Shall an Elephant a Beast adore and worship God and shall a Man a Creature indued with reason doubt whether there be a God or whether he regardeth the doings of Men The like Religion he affirmeth Elephants to practise towards the Moone Thus euen in the opinion of the very Heathen all the Creatures of God in their seuerall kindes doe praise him And that in their opinion they be not mistaken it may euidently be seene in the 148. Psalme Where euen the Psalmist exciteth all the fore-named sorts of Creatures to offer vnto God their prayers and invocations Praise him all ye Angels his Intellectuall Creatures Praise him all ye People his Reasonable Creatures Praise him Beasts and Cattle Creeping things and flying fowles his Sensible Creatures Praise him Heauens and Starres Mountaynes and Hills Fruitfull Trees and Cedars his Natural and insensible Creatures All these he calleth vpon to praise the name of the Lord. Which he would not haue done but that all these Creatures in their seuerall kindes doe in their seuerall manners sing-out his due prayses Yea euen the very Wormes as Dragons and Creeping things whom he also calleth-vpon in the very same Psalme as he there doth aso vpon both Fire Haile and Snow meere insensible things Neither speaketh hee this only in a Rhetorical Prosopopoia as in the 98. Psalme where he calleth vpon the Earth to make a noyse the Sea to roare the Floods to clap their hands the Mountaines to reioyce and all these together to sing a song in Gods praise He vseth not in the former any such Poetical Figure but simply and plainly in the feruor of his spirit hee calleth vpon all the Creatures fore-named to sing vnto the Lord with those seuerall Harmonies which he hath giuen vnto their seuerall kinds And thus as Tertullian truly obserueth Deo etiam inanimalia incorporalia laudes canunt Not onely Angels who haue no Bodies but also other Creatures which haue no soules yet doe in their kindes sing-out Gods due praises 4 Now for Man hee hath not onely a naturall delight in Musicke as other Creatures haue and a naturall abilitie to expresse all the parts of it more then other Creatures haue by the sweetenesse of his tuneable and melodious voice farre excelling the sweetenesse of all musicall instruments But he hath also inlarged his naturall Musick with all the seuerall kindes of Artificiall Musick both Vocal and Organicall In which worke although he hath laboured and taken great paines from the very beginning yet could he neuer haue brought it vnto any perfection if God himselfe had not been a Scholemaister vnto him And this is acknowledged euen of the very Heathen who haue expresly affirmed that Musick is not the Inuention of Man but the very gift of God Plutarch affirmeth directly Non Hominem aliquem repertorem fuisse Musicae sed omnibus virtutibus ornatum Deum Apollinem That no man was the first inventer of Musick but Apollo their great and honourable God Yea and in the same place hee addeth that Musick ought to be honoured because it is the invention of a God Veneranda prorsus est Musica Deorum inventum cùm sit In which his opinion he was not alone but had diuers others of the chiefest Philosophers concurring with him Aristotle saith of Harmonie that it is Res Coelestis eiusque natura divina pulchra That Musicke is an heauenly thing and of a nature not onely pleasing but also diuine Theophrastus setteth downe three originall Causes whereby Musicke was first begotten in the mind of a Man Dolorem voluptatem instinctum divinum The allaying of his griefe the procuring of his pleasure and the inspiration of a divine and heauenly motion But he acknowledgeth this instinct to be the chiefest of the rest Yea and Plato affirmeth without all circuition Musicam esse Hominibus a Deo datam That musick was first giuen vnto men by God But Macrobius handleth this point a great deale more prolixely then any of the rest doe prouing by many Arguments that Musicke was not first inuented vpon earth but descended downe from Heauen Yea and that in the opinion of the very Heathen deliuered expresly in their mystical Theology His Reasons bee these following First that Hesiodus who writeth the generation of their Gods recording exactly from whence they first sprang calleth one of their Muses Vrania which signifieth Heauenly Insinuating thereby that there is Musicke in Heauen and that from heauen it first was brought by the Muses vnto men In whom also wee may obserue that hee maketh Harmonia to haue bene the Daughter of Mars and Venus two of the Heathen Gods thereby againe implying that Harmony was first begotten in Heauen Another of his Reasons is that Hesiodus calleth another of the Muses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 her name being giuen for the sweetensse of her voice as Vrania's was from the highnesse of the place Thereby againe implying that The sweetenesse of voice hath the highest place in Heauen Another that the Heathen called Apollo who was one of their greatest gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi Ducem Principem Musarum The Prince and Ruler of the Muses Another that euen their very Rusticks called the Muses Camoenas quasi Canenas Acanendo dictas that is Singing Damosels Now the Muses as they all confesse descended first from Heauen Another that in all their funerall pompes and solemne exequies they still carried-out their dead with musicall instruments which was likewise in practice euen among the Iewes And this he saith they did to signifie that their soules were now departed vnto the originall house of Musicke Ad originem dulcedinis Musicae idest ad Coelum in their owne interpretation And this againe hee saith is the true Cause why euery mans soule is so much delighted with Musicke vpon earth Quia in Corpus defert memoriam Musicae ciuius in Coelo fuit conscia Because it bringeth downe with it into the Body a remembrance of that Musicke whereof in Heauen it had a full fruition These and diuers such like Arguments hee congesteth in that place to proue that Musicke descended first from Heauen Of which