Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heaven_n	holy_a	lord_n	spirit_n	6,929	5	4.9769	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07769	A vvoorke concerning the trewnesse of the Christian religion, written in French: against atheists, Epicures, Paynims, Iewes, Mahumetists, and other infidels. By Philip of Mornay Lord of Plessie Marlie. Begunne to be translated into English by Sir Philip Sidney Knight, and at his request finished by Arthur Golding; De la verité de la religion chrestienne. English	Mornay, Philippe de, seigneur du Plessis-Marly, 1549-1623.; Sidney, Philip, Sir, 1554-1586.; Golding, Arthur, 1536-1606.	1587 (1587)	STC 18149; ESTC S112896	639,044	678

will whereby he disposeth all things wherevppon in the last Chapter I coucluded a second and a third persone Insomuch that in a certayne place he sayeth playnly that God is to be honored according to the nomber of thrée and that the same is after a sort the Lawe of Nature Now for asmuch as this doctrine is not bred of mans brayne if it bee demaunded whence all the Philosophers tooke it wee shall finde that the Greekes had it from out of AEgipt Orpheus witnesseth in his Argonawts that to seeke the Misteries that is to say the Religion of the AEgiptians he went as farre as Memphis visiting all the Cities vpon the Riuer Nyle Through out the land of AEgipt I haue gone To Memphis and the Cities euerychone That worship Apis or be seated by The Riuer Nyle whose streame doth swell so hy Also Pythagoras visited the AEgiptians Arabians and Chaldeans yea and went into Iewry also and dwelt a long tyme at Mount Carmel as Strabo sayth insomuch that the Priestes of that Countrey shewed Strabo still the iourneyes and walkes of him there Now in AEgipt he was the Disciple of one Sonchedie the chiefe Prophet of the AEgiptians and of one Nazarie an Assyrian as Alexander reporteth in his booke of Pythagorasis discourses whom some miscounting the tyme thought to bee Ezechiel And Hermippus a Pythagorist writeth that Pythagoras learned many things out of the lawe of Moyses Also the sayd AEgiptian Priest vpbrayded Solon that the Greekes were Babes and knewe nothing of Antiquitie And Solon as sayth Proclus was Disciple in Says a Citie of AEgipt to one Patanit or as Plutarke sayth to one Sonchis in Heliople to one Oeclapie and in Sebenitie to one Etimon Plato was the Disciple of one Sechnuphis of Heliople in AEgipt and Eudoxus the Guidian was the Disciple of one Conuphis all which Maysterteachers issewed out of the Schoole of the great Trismegistus aforenamed To be short Plato confesseth in many places that knowledge came to the Greekes by those whom they commonly called the barbarus people As touching Zoroastres and Trismegistus the one was an Hebrewe and the other an AEgiptian And at the same tyme the Hebrewes were conuersant with the AEgiptians as is to be séene euen in the Heathen Authors Whereby it appeareth that the originall fountayne of this doctrine was to bee found among them which is the thing that wee haue to proue as now I meane not to gather hether a great sort of Texts of the Byble wherein mention is made as well of the second person as of the third of which sort are these Thou art my Sonne this day haue I begotten thee The Lord sayth Wisedome possessed me in the beginning of his wayes afore the depths was I conceyued c. Also concerning the holy Ghost The Spirit of the Lord walked vpon the waters The Spirit of Wisedome is gentle And it is an ordinary spéech among the Prophetes to say The Spirit of the Lord was vpon me And in this next saying are two of them together or rather all three The Heauens were spred out by the word of the Lord and all the power of them by the Spirit of his mouth For they be so alledged and expounded in infinite bookes howbeit that the Iewes at this day do labour as much as they can to turne them to another sence But let vs sée what their owne Doctors haue left vs in expresse words for the most part culled by themselues out of writtē bookes afore that the cōming of our Lord Iesus Christ had made that docttrine suspected In their Zohar which is one of their Bookes of greatest authoritie Rabbi Simeon the sonne of Iohai citeth Rabbi Ibba expoūding this text of Deuteronomie Hearken ô Israel The Euerlasting our God is one God The Hebrewe standeth thus Iehouah Echad Iehouah Eloh enu By the first Iehouah which is the peculiar name of God not to bée communicated to any other Rabbi Ibba saith he meaneth the Father the Prince of al. By Eloh enu that is to say our God he meaneth the Sonne the Fountaine of all knowledge And by the second Iehouah he meaneth the holy Ghost proceeding from them both who is the measurer of the voyce And he calleth him One because he is vndiuidable and this Secret saith he shall not be reuealed afore the comming of the Messias The same Rabbi Simeon expoūding these words of Esay Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Hostes sayth Holy is the Father Holy is the Sonne Holy also is the holy Ghost In so much that this Author who is so misticall among them doth in other places call them the Three Mirrours Lights and Souerein fathers which haue neither beginning nor end and are the name and substaunce to the Roote of all Rootes And Rabbi Ionathas in many Copies of his Chaldey Paraphrase sayth the same And therefore no maruell though the Thalmudists of olde tyme commaunded men to say that Uerse twise a day and that some obserue it still at this day Upon these words of the 50. Psalme El elohim Iehouah dibber that is to say The Lord of Lords the Euerlasting hath spoken The ordinary Commentarie sayth also that by the sayd repetition the Prophet meaneth the thrée Middoth Properties wherby God created the world According whereunto Rabbi Moyses Hadarsan sayeth that hee created by his word And Rabbi Simeon sayeth he created by the breath of his mouth And this saying of the Preacher That a thréefold Corde is not so soone broken is expounded by the same glose I examine not whether filthy or no that the inisterie of the Trinitie in the one God is not easie to bee expressed Nowe these thrée Properties which the Hebrewes call Panim the Greekes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we the Latins call Persons are betokened by diuers names among the men of old tyme but yet they iumpe all in one according as they vnderstoode them some more clearely than other some Some name them the Beginning the Wisdome the Feare of Loue of God and they say that this Wisedome is Meensoph as the Cabalists tearme it that is to saye of the infinite and most inward vnderstanding of God who beholdeth hymselfe in himself for so doe they expound it Which is the selfesame thing that I spake of in the former Chapter namely that God begetteth his Sonne or Wisdome by his mynding of himselfe Othersome call him Spirit Word and Voyce as Rabbi Azariell doth in these words following The Spirit bringeth foorth the Word and the Voyce but not by opening the Lippes or by speeche of the tongue or by breathing after the maner of man And these three be one Spirit to wit one God as we reade sayeth he in the booke of the creating of man in these termes One Spirit rightly liuing blessed bee hee and his name who liueth for euer and euer Spirit Word and Voyce

Reason that is too say the néerest too not being The Plants besides being haue also life and they draw their nourishment from the Earth and their refresshing from the Ayre The Beastes haue both Béeing Life and Sence and take their foode both from the Elements and from the Plants Man hath Béeing and Life and Sence and Reason and he inioyeth the Elements liueth of the Plants commaundeth the Beastes and discourseth of all things both aboue him and beneath him Lo heere an order such from degrée too degrée that whosoeuer conceiueth not by and by some Author thereof hath neither Reason nor Sence no nor is worthie too haue either life or béeing I pray you from whence commeth this goodly proportion and this orderly procéeding of things by degrées Whence commeth the difference in their partitions Whence commeth it that the hugest and widest things are vnderlings to the least and weakest things Whereof commeth it that some things haue but a dead being and next vnto notbeing and that othersome haue a beeing that is moouing sensible and reasonable howbeit some more and some lesse Commeth it of the things themselues How can that bée For séeing that nothing doth willingly become an vnderling vnto others why bée not the heauiest masses allotted to the best shares Wherof commeth it that the liuing things which in respect of the whole Sea are but as a drop and in respect of the whole Earth are but as a grayne of dust are in degrée of preheminence aboue them And whereof commeth it that man being the fraylest of all liuing wightes is serued by the Elements by the Plants and by the Beastes yea euen by the wildest of them Then is there a deuider or distributer of these things who hauing imparted thē too others had them first himselfe and that most aboundantly and who moreouer is of necessitie almightie seeing that in so vnequall partition he holdeth them neuerthelesse in concorde I say further that all things are comprized vnder these fower that is too wit vnder Beeing Life Sence and Reason according too his diuers imparting of them vnto all things Now I demaund whether was first of Beeing or Notbeing of Liuing or Notliuing of Sensible or Notsensible of Reasonable or Notreasonable Surely it was neither Reasonable nor Sensible nor liuing for the time hath bin that wée were not But wee knowe that wee had fathers and that our fathers had forefathers and the ende of them maketh vs too beléeue that they had a beginning In like cace is it with beasts and plants for wée know the bréeding growing decaying and fading of them Much more then may wée say the same of Being For the things héere beneath which haue but onely bare beeing are farre inferiour too the other things and therefore cannot bring foorth themselues and consequently much lesse bring foorth the other things It remaineth then that Notbeeing Notliuing Notsensible and Notreasonable were afore Beeing Liuing Sensible and Reasonable And yet notwithstanding wée haue both Béeing Life Sence and Reason It followeth therefore that it is a power from without vs which hath brought vs out of Notbéeing into béeing and hath parted the said gifts among vs diuerlly according too his good pleasure For otherwise from out of that nothing which wée were If I may so terme it we should neuer haue come too be any thing at all Now betweene nothing and something how little so euer that something can bee there is an infinite space Néedes therefore must it be that the cause thereof was infinite at leastwise if it may bée called a cause and that is the very same which we call God Let vs come to the nature of the Elements whereof the whole is compated The Fyre is contrarie too the Water and the dry to the moyst and of these contraries are infinite other things produced vnder them Now the nature of contraries is too destroy one another and no twoo things euen of the least can bee coupled togither but by the working of a higher power that is able too compell them But wée see that these things doo not incroche or vsurpe one vppon another but contrariwise that they match toogither in the composing of many things and yet notwithstanding that not so much as two strings beeing of one selfesame nature can agree in one tune without the wit of a man that can skill too streine them and too slake them as he seeth it good It followeth therefore that the heauenly harmonie wherein so many contraries are made too accord both vniuersally and particularly are set toogither and guyded by a spirit Insomuch that if we will say that according too the comon opinion the aire is spread foorth as a stickler betweene the Fyre and the Water and is ioyned too the one by his moysture and too the other by his heate Yée must needes say also that there is a great and souerein Iudge aboue them which hath made them too abyde that stickler Let vs mount vp higher Wee see the Heauen how it mowweth round with a continuall mouing Also wee see there the Planets one vnder another which notwithstanding the violence of the first moueable haue euery one his seuerall course and mouing by himselfe And shall wee say that these mouings happen by aduenture But the same aduenture which made them to moue should also make them to stand still Agein as for aduenture or chaunce it is nothing els but disorder and confusion but in all these diuersities there is one vniformitie of mouing which is neuer interrupted How then Doo they moue of them selues Nay for nothing moueth it selfe and where things moue one another there is no possibilitie of infinite holding on but in the end men must be faine to mount vpto a first beginning and that is a rest As for example from the hammer of a Clocke wée come too a whéele and from that whéele too another and finally too the wit of the Clockmaker who by his cunning hath so ordered them that notwithstanding that he maketh them all too moue yet he himselfe remoueth not It remayneth then that of all these mouings wée must imagine one Mouer vnmouable and of all these so constant diuersities one vnuariable alwaies like it selfe and of all these bodies one spirite And like as from the Earth wée haue styed vp too the Ayre from the Ayre too the Skye from the Skye too the Heauen of Heauens still mounting vp from greater too greater from light too light and from subtile to subtile so let vs aduaunce our selues yet one degrée higher namely too the infinite too the light which is not too bée conceiued but in vnderstanding and too the quickening spirit in respect whereof the thing that wée woonder at héere beneath is lesse then a poynt our light is but a shadowe and our spirit is but a vapour And yet notwithstanding he hath so paynted out his glorie and instuitenesse euen in the things which wée most despise as that euen the grossest wits may easely comprehend

specially of man who knoweth how to take benefite thereof The temperatenesse of the aire serueth for him and yet the aire can not bee tempered nor the Earth lighted without the Sonne and the Moone Neither can the Sunne and the Moone giue light and temperatnesse without mouing The Moone hath no light but of the Sunne neither can the Sunne yéeld it either to the Moone or too the Earth but by the mouing of the Heauen and the great Compasse of the Heauen going about is the very thing which wée call the World not estéeming these lower parts as in respect of their matter otherwise than as the dregges of the whole And whereas the Elements serue man and the Planets serue the Elements yea and the Planets them selues serue one another doe they not shew that they be one for another And if they be one for another is not one of them in consideration afore another as the ende afore the things that tend vnto the end according to this common rule that the Mynd beginneth his work at the end thereof Now then if the turning about of the Heauen serue to shewe the Planets and they to yéeld light to the Earth and to all things thereon doth it not serue for the Earth And if it serue the Earth I pray you is that done by appoyntment of the Earth or rather by appoyntment of some one that commaundeth both Heauen and Earth Againe seeing that the ende is in consideration afore the things that tend thereto shall this consideration be in the things themselues or rather in some Spirite that ordereth them Soothly in the things themselues it cannot be for if they haue vnderstanding they haue also will and the will intendeth rather to commaund than to obey and vnto fréedome rather than bondage and if they haue no vnderstanding then knowe they neither end nor beginning Moreouer forasmuch as they bee diuers and of contrary natures they should ame at diuers ends whereas now they ame all at one end Nay which more is how should the Sunne and the Moone the Heauen and the Earth haue met euerlastingly in matching their dealings so iumpe together the one in giuing light and the other in taking it In what poynt by what couenant and vnder what date was this done seeing it dependeth altogether vppon mouing which is not to be done but in tyme It remayneth then that the sayd consideration was done by a Spirit that commaundeth al things alike and that he putteth them in subiection one to another as seemeth best to himselfe forsomuch as he is mightie to kéepe them in obedience and wise to guyde them to their peculiar ends and all their ends vnto his owne ende and he that thinketh otherwise thinketh that a Lute is in tune of it owne accord Or if he say that this Spirit is a Soule inclosed in the whole he doth fondly incorporate the Spirit of the Luteplayer in the Lute it selfe and likewise the buylder in the buylding In effect it is all one as if a Child that is borne and brought vp in a house should thinke the house to be eternall or els made of it selfe because he had not seene it made or as if a man that had bin cast out newly borne in a desert Iland and there nursed vp by a Wolfe as Romulus was should imagine himself to be bred out of the Earth in one night like a Mushrom For to beléeue that the World is eternall and that the race of Mankinde is bred of it selfe without a maker is all one thing and spring both of one error Doe not the two Sexes of Male and Female in all liuing things ouerthrowe the sayd eternitie For how should they bee euerlastingly the one for the other seeing they be so diuers Againe haue they bin euerlastingly but two or euerlastingly mo than two If but two where are those two become seeing that eternitie importeth immortalitie and a beginninglesse forebeing from euerlasting inferreth an endlesse afterbeing or cōtinuance to euerlasting And if they were many see ye not still the selfesame absurdities And if ye say they be made euerlasting by succession of tyme what I pray you is death but a token that they were borne What is life I speake of this our life but a continuance of death and what is succession but a prolonging of time Thus then ye see how that aswell by the parts of the World and by the whole World it self as also by the agréement of the whole with his parts and of the parts among themselues we be euidently taught that the fraine of the World had both a workmayster and a beginning But now some man wil aske vs when it began And that is the poynt which we haue to treate of next The viij Chapter When the World had his beginning SOothly it is not for mée to stand here disproouing the doubtes of the Accounters of tymes for the ods of some yeres yea or of some whole hundreds of yeres is not to bee accounted of betwéene eternitie and a beginning But if we haue an eye to the procéeding of this lower World we shall euidently percèyue that like a Childe it hath had his ages his chaunges and his full poynts restes or stoppes so as it hath by little and little growne bin peopled and replenished and that to be short whereas the world supposeth that it shall indure for euer it doth but resemble an old Dotarde which bee hee neuer so forworne and drooping for age yet thinkes himselfe still to haue one yere more to liue But I haue alreadie sufficiently proued that both Heauen and Earth haue had a beginning and also that séeing the one of them is for the other they had the same at one selfe same tyme and both of them from one self same ground And therfore looke what shal be declared of the earth shall also be declared of the heauen and forasmuch as the earth serueth for the vse of liuing creatures and specially of man looke what beginning we shall proue of man the like shall wee haue proued of the disposition of the earth For to what purpose were the Heauen being imbowed about these lower parts like a Uault or to what purpose were the earth being as a flowre or plancher to goe vpon if there were no inhabiter at all vpon earth Surely if the World were without beginning it should also haue bin inhabited from without beginning and no people should be of more antiquitie thā other Or at leastwise how auncient so euer it were yet should no new thing be found therein But if euen the oldest and auncientest things of all be but newe ought it not to bee a sure argument vnto vs of the newnesse thereof What thing I pray you can we picke out in this world for an example of antiquitie Let vs begin at the Liberall Sciences and we shall reade of the first commings vp of them all Philosophie which consisteth in the searching out of naturall things is of so late

but to vexe our minds in this lyfe In his bookes of the Soule hee not onely separateth the Body from the Soule but also putteth a difference betwixt the Soule it selfe the Mind terming the Soule the inworking of the body and of the bodily instruments and the mynd that reasonable substance which is in vs whereof the doings haue no fellowship with the doings of the body and whereof the Soule is as Plato saieth but the Garment This Mynd sayth he may be seuered from the body it is not in any wyse mingled with it it is of such substaunce as cannot be hurt or wrought vpon it hath being and continuance actually and of it selfe and euen when it is separated from the body then is it immortall and euerlasting To be short it hath not any thing like vnto the body For it is not any of al those things which haue being afore it vnderstād them And therefore which of all bodily things can it be And in another place he sayeth thus As concerning the Mynd and the contemplatiue powre it is not yet sufficiently apparant what it is Neuerthelesse it seemeth to bee another kind of Soule and it is that onely which can bee separated from the corruptible as the which is Ayeuerlasting To be short when as he putteth this question whether a Naturall Philosopher is to dispute of all maner of Soules or but onely of that Soule which is immateriall it followeth that he graunteth that there is such a one And againe when as he maketh this Argument Looke what God is euerlastingly that are wee in possibilitie according to our measure but hee is euerlastingly separated from bodily things therefore the time will come that wee shall bee so too He taketh it that there is an Image of God in vs yea euen of the Diuine nature which hath continuance of itselfe Uery well and rightly therfore doth Simplicius gather therof the immortalitie of the Soule For it dependeth vpon this separation vpō continuance of being of it self Besides this he sayth also that hunting of beasts is graūted to man by the lawe of Nature because that thereby man chalengeth nothing but that which naturally is his owne By what right I pray you if there be no more in himself than in them And what is there more in him than in them if they haue a soule equall vnto his Herevnto make all his commendations of Godlines of Religion of blessednes and of contemplation For too what ende serue all these which doe but cumber vs here belowe Therefore surely it is to be cōcluded that as he spake doubtfully in some one place so he both termed and also taught to speake better in many other places as appeareth by his Disciple Theophrastus who speaketh yet more euidently thereof than he The Latins as I haue sayd before fell to Philosophie somewhat later then the Gréekes And as touching their common opinion the exercises of superstition that were among them the maner of speeches which we marke in their Histories their contempt of death and their hope of another life can giue vs sufficient warrant thereof Cicero speaketh vnto vs in these words The originall of our Soules and Myndes cannot bee found in this lowe earth for there is not any mixture in them or any compounding that may seeme to bee bred or made of the earth Neither is there any moysture any wyndinesse or any firy matter in them For no such thing could haue in it the powre of memorie Vnderstanding and conceit to beate in mynd things past to foresee things to come and to consider things present which are matters altogither Diuine And his conclusion is that therefore they bee deriued from the Mynd of GOD that is to say not bred or begotten of Man but created of God not bodily but vnbodily wherevpon it followeth that the Soule cannot be corrupted by these transitorie things The same Cicero in another place sayeth that betwéene God and Man there is a kinred of reason as there is betwéene man man a kinred of blud That the fellowship betwéene man and man commeth of the mortall body but the fellowship betwéene God and man commeth of God himselfe who created the Soule in vs. By reason whereof sayth hée we may say we haue Alyance with the heauenly sort as folke that are descended of the same race and roote whereof that we may euermore be myndfull we must looke vp to heauen as to the place of our birth whether we must one day returne And therfore yet once againe he concludeth thus of himself Think not sayth he that thou thy selfe art mortall it is but thy body that is so For thou art not that which this outward shape pretendeth to be the Mynd of Man is the man in deede and not this lumpe which may bee poynted at with ones Fingar Assure thy selfe therefore that thou art a GOD For needes must that be a God which liueth perceyueth remembereth foreseeth and finally reigneth in thy body as the Great God the maker of all things doth in the vniuersall world For as the eternall God ruleth and moueth this transitory world so doth the immortall Spirit of our soule moue rule our fraile body Hereuntoo consent all the writers of his tyme as Ouid Virgill and others whose verses are in euery mans remembrance There wanted yet the wight that should all other wights exceede In loftie reach of stately Mynd who like a Lord in deede Should ouer all the resdewe reigne Then shortly came forth Man Whom eyther he that made the world and all things els began Created out of seede diuine or els the earth yet yoong And lately parted from the Skie the seede thereof vncloong Reteyned still in frutefull wombe which Iapets sonne did take And tempering it with water pure a wight thereof did make Which should resemble euen the Gods which souereine state doe hold And where all other things the ground with groueling eye behold He gaue to man a stately looke and full of Maiestie Commaunding him with stedfast looke to face the starry Skie Here a man might bring in almost all Senecaes wrytings but I will content my selfe with a fewe sayings of his Our Soules sayth he are a part of Gods Spirit and sparkes of holy things shining vpon the earth They come from another place than this lowe one Whereas they seeme to bee conuersant in the bodie yet is the better part of them in Heauen alway neere vnto him which sent them hither And how is it possible that they should be from beneath or from anywhere els thā from aboue seeing thei ouerpasse al these lower things as nothing and hold skorne of all that euer we can hope or feare Thus ye sée how he teacheth that our Soules come into our bodies from aboue But whether go they agayne when they depart hence Let vs here him what he sayes of the Lady Martiaes Sonne that was dead He is

father but by and by Will inferreth therevpon Ergo wee ought to obey him and to serue him yea and it procéedeth yet further that sith he is our father and we his children it is for our most behoof to returne vnto him O Lord saith Hermes What thankes shal we yeeld thee And byandby he answereth Lord there is but only one thanke and that is the acknowledging of thy Maiestie And agein The only way to come vnto God is godlines matched with knowledge that is to say to knowe how he wil be serued and therevpon to serue him And Pythagoras was woont to say to the same purpose forasmuch as wee be nothing without God it becommeth vs to liue vnto God Plato commendeth Religion in a thousand places whereof I will not take past two or three sayings here It is mans felicitie saith he to be like vnto God As how By being rightuous and holy How may that be By Religion towards GOD which is the greatest vertue that can be among men Aristotle by many mens report was Religious and as for Auerrhoes his interpreter he was vtterly irreligious Neuerthelesse see how nature swimmeth ouer vngodlines Aristotle sayth it is graffed in nature to doo sacrifice And Auerrhoes sayth that we be bound by nature to magnifie God with Prayers and Sacrifices What is this to say but that it is naturall to man yea euen in respect of his shape and substance to haue a Religion And why Alexander professeth himselfe to be the interpreter of Aristotle and therefore hee shall interprete him for vs here It is sayth he because our whole felicitie consisteth in deuotion towards God For wee looke for none other reward but God himselfe and him being the very souerein good we obteyne by seruing him Now when we heare these words wee may thinke it was a strong torment of conscience that wroong this trueth out of them For all men knowe that chéesly Auerrhoes vrgeth the eternitie of the world and the vniuersalitie of one onely Mynd which yet notwithstanding cannot match with godlynes Epictetus maketh not the like florishes of Philosophie but yet he playeth the Philosopher much better in deede If wee had wit sayth he what should we doe but prayse God continually and sing Psalmes of thankesgiuing vnto him euen in digging and tilling the ground and both in iourneying and in resting As how Euen saying thus Great is God which hath giuen vs these tooles to till the earth withall Great which hath giuen vs hands to woorke withall Greate which hath giuen vs too growe euen not woting it and to breath euen being a sleepe for these are things that cannot be imputed to our owne cunning Such sayth he ought to be the Songs of euery of vs. And againe If I were a Nightingale I should doe as Nightingales doe but being a reasonable Creature what shall I doe now I will euermore prayse God saith he without ceasing and I will exhort you all to do the lyke And Simplice his interpreter hauing first made many goodly discourses addeth that hee which is negligent and slothfull in seruing and honoring God cannot be diligent in any other thing how needfull so euer the same be Of all vertues saith Hierocles Religion is the guyde for it concerneth the matters of God and therfore Pythagoras beginneth his precepts thereat And the woord which he vseth there for a guyde signifieth a Queene which one word importeth very much namely that al the vertues which we make account of as Hardines Wisdome Iustice and Temperance are nothing if they be not referred vnto God and vsed in respect of him that is to say if Religion do not direct and leade them to God the principall end whereto all our doings ought to tend But what is Religion It is sayeth he the obeying of God the moother of all vertewes and the disobeying of all vyces And our obeying of God must be of such a sorte that we must rather disobey our parents yea and lose our lyues to than disobey him For our obeying of our parents must be for the loue of God and it is of his goodnesse that we possesse our lyues Iamblichus sayeth thus Let vs begin at the best and most precious namely the obseruing of Religion which is the seruing of God And in another place Thou surmisest saith he that there is some other way than Godlynes to atteyne to felicitie and thou askest of me what that way may be But surely say I if the very substance and original power of al goodnes and welfare be in the Gods onely those are happy which consecrate and vnyte themselues to God after our example For in that state are both contemplation and knowledge accomplished and besides the knowledge of the Goddes there is also the knowledge of ourselues which is gotten by casting backe our vnderstanding towards ourselues To be short Proclus as wel vppon his owne iudgment as vppon the opinions of Plato Iamblichus Porphyrius Plotin and others saieth that Religion and the calling vpon God are proper and peculiar to man after the fourth maner as Aristotle termeth it that is to say a naturall propertie which agreeth fitly to the whole kind of man and only to man and without the which he cannot bee a man Now I am not ignorant that they speake sometimes of the seruing of the Gods in the pulrall number as though there were mo Gods then one insomuch that some of the Philosophers turned aside to arte magike and all of them yeelded to the I dolatries Superstitions of their tymes For in deede to knowe that God ought to bee serued and to knowe after what sort he wil be serued and to serue him thereafter are things farre differing But it is inough for this tyme that we win thus much at their hands that of necessitie there is a Religion which thing euen the Nauigations of our tyme doe shewe to be imprinted in all the Clymates of the world and in all kinds of men as which haue discouered Nations that wander in Woods without Law without Magistrate without King but none without some kynd of seruing of God none without some shadowe of Religion Héerby then we know that there is a Religion that is to say a way to Saluation or a way whereby to come home againe vnto God But are there many wayes or but onely one It is a high question but yet easie to be decyded if we consider what Religion requireth of vs and what it is to get for vs. Religion as the men of olde time themselues haue taught vs requireth of vs in effect that we should yéeld full obedience vnto God ful obediēce say I so as we should dedicate our selues to his glorie both our thoughts words and deedes in such sort that our selues and all that euer is in vs should bee referred to his honour If Religion require this how can it be any other then one Or what diuersitie

had praysed God in these and such like verses alledged in the third Chapter There is but one perfect God the maker of all things Who cherisheth and fostereth all things c. He addeth immediatly Neuer man yet knew his incomprehensible being sauing one of the blud of the Chaldees Which saying of his some referre vnto Abraham othersome to Moyses and some of the Platonists to Zoroastres the graund-child of Noe. And Apollo himselfe being demaunded by the Gentiles what people was rightly religious from of old tyme answered him thus The Chaldees and the Hebrewes haue all wisdome twixt thē twaine And of the true God only they the worship doe maynteine Wherevnto agréeth this verse of Sibilles The Iewes are sure a heauenly race diuine and full of blisse But it will bee yet much more if wee can by their owne best Authors proue their Gods to be nothing but vanitie leazing which is as much to say as that they haue not onely allowed the God of Israell but also condemned all their owne Gods The xxij Chapter That the Gods worshipped by the heathen were men consecrated or canonyzed to posteritie I Haue sufficiently shewed heretofore in the second and third Chapters that there is but one God That both Angels and Féendes are but Creatures the one seruāts the other slaues That Nature and Philosophie consent together therein notwithstanding that ouerrooted custome haue like a waterstreame caryed folke away and that the wise of the world haue loued better to followe the course of the streame than to rowe against it Yet for all that it shall not be superfluous to see what they themselues haue written of their owne Gods both generally of them all and particulerly of euery of them Therefore to begin with Hermes whome we haue heard so highly commending the onely one GOD He writeth of them in these words Lyke as the Lord God sayth he is the maker of the Gods in Heauen so is man the maker of the Gods that are content to dwell in Temples that they might be neer vnto men Man then maketh Images after his owne likenes whereunto hee calleth Spirites by Arte Magick or els they come into them of their owne accord and foretell vnto men things to come But the tyme wil come that all this kynd of Religion of the AEgiptians shal be abolished and that all their worshippings shall vanish away And in very deede sayth he Esculapius the Graundfather of Asclepius and Mercurie myne owne Graundfather which are worshipped at Hermopolis in AEgipt were Men whose worldly men that is to say their bodyes lye the one in Lybia and the other in Hermopilis and vnder their names are worshipped certeine Diuels whome I allured and drue into their Images What more substantiall witnesse now could we produce against the Gods of AEgipt than the very partie himselfe that made them And what els were they then than either men or Diuels shrowded in the Images or in the dead Carkeses of men But I procéede with these two partes the one after the other The great Highpriest of AEgipt called Leon beeing asked secretly by Alexander concerning the originall of their Gods and fearing more his power than their wrath bewrayed vnto him that all the greate Gods yea euen those whome the Romanes termed The Gods of the greater Nations were al of them men But he prayed Alexander that he would not tell it to any body sauing his Moother Olimpias and that she should burne his Letter as soone as she had read it For as for the Beasts which the AEgiptians worshipped Plutark sayth that some of them were worshipped as Planets and signes celestiall and othersome because that when Osyris led his people to Battell hee had diuers Antesignes according to the diuersities of the Countries as in one a Dog in another an Oxe and so foorth which afterward through emulation were turned into Superstition As touching the Phenicians their next neighbours Sanchoniation their owne Chronacler wryteth that they honored such men for Gods as had bene greate among thē or had inuēted any thing profitable for the life of man and that as they were long time Lords of the Sea and conueyed many companyes of their owne countrifolke into Libya Spaine to inhabit there so they peopled them with their Gods also Concerning the Gods of the Greekes wee reade that Orphey Homer and Hesiodus were the first bringers of them in and did set downe their Pedegrees in writing giuing them names and Surnames and appoynting them honours at their pleasures Of whō Pythagoras sayth that their Soules were hanged vpon a Trée in Hell there pinched with Serpents on all sides for their so damnable deuices And what hée himselfe déemed of those Gods wee may sée in his lyfe written by Porphirius For he wrote verses vppon the Tumb of Apollo at Delphos declaring him to haue bin the Sonne of Silenus that was slayne by Pithon and buryed in a place called Tripos because the three daughters of Triopus came thither to moorne Afterward again comming into a Caue of Ida where he found a Throne set vp vnto Iupiter hee wrote this inscription vpon it Pythagoras to Iupiter Heere lyeth the great Zeus whom men call Iupiter Socrates in despite of those Gods did sweare by an Oke by a Gote and by a Dogge and was condemned to drinke poyson because he taught that there was but only one God Which is as much to say as that he déemed lesse godhead to be in those Gods than in the least creatures Yet notwithstanding he was the onely man whom Apollo auowed to bee the wysest man of all Greece wherein he had shewed himself to haue had lesse wit than those beastes if he had deemed such a one to bee wisest as had condemned the Godhead But it is the propertie of the Deuill both to abuse men and also to mocke them for their labour They cryed out against Socrates that he was a blasphemer and made him to drinke his owne death But within a while after the Athenians did set vp an Image of him in one of their Temples and in a rage did put his accusers to death which deede of theirs made notably against themselues for surely they could not better haue condemned their Gods than by their iustifying and honoring of the partie that condemned them As for his Disciple Plato this saying of his shall suffice When I write vnto you in good earnest I speake but of one God and when I meane otherwise I speake of many He imployed his Gods about vanitie because the estéemed them to be but vayn To be short one saies If they be Gods why mourne ye for them and if they be liuelesse why worship ye them Another sayes be of good chéere my Countreymen men liued afore the Gods and the Gods dye afore men And the Poets themselues who made the Gods to be such as they be take as great pleasure in the vnmaking

spirituall inheritance but only grace by the true Iesus And therefore the Saint Rabbi sayth That because Christ shall saue folke therefore he shall be called Iesus and because he shall be both God and Man therfore he shall be called Emanuell that is to say God with vs. And in another place The Gentyles sayth he shall call him Iesus And he draweth this name out of the nine and fortith Chapter of Genesis by a certeyne rule of the Cabale which they terme Notariak by taking the first letters of the wordes Iabho schilo velo which make the word Ieschu and likewise of these wordes in the 72. Psalme Ijnnur schemo veijthbarecu and also of these in the 96. Psalme iagnaloz sadai vecol all which are texts that are ment expresly of the Messias Although I force not of these their doings yet haue I alledged them against them selues because it is their custome to shewe the cunning of the arte of their Cabale And after the same maner haue the Machabies also their name that is to wit of the first Letters of the words of this their deuice Mi camocha baelim Iehouah that is to say Which of the Gods is like thee ô Iehouah That the name Iesus should bee reuealed vnto them it is no strange matter considering that in the third fourth bookes of Esdras Iesus Christ the sonne of God is named expresly and diuers tymes and the tyme of his comming precisely set downe according to Daniels wéekes For although the Iewes account those bookes for Apocriphase the Primatiue Church hath not graunted the like authoritie to them as to the other Canonicall bookes yet is it a cléere case that they were written afore the comming of Iesus Christ of whome neuerthelesse they speake by name Now the Scripture promised also a Foreronner that should come afore the manifesting of the Messias to the world For Malachie sayth Behold I send my Ambassadour to make way before him and by and by after shall the Lord whom you seeke enter into his Temple And in the next Chapter following he is called Elias by reason of the lykenesse of their offices and this text as I haue shewed afore is vnderstood by them concerning the Messias And soothly we haue certeine footestepes thereof in these words of the Gospel The Scrybes say that Elias must first come And in another place Art thou Christ or Elias or one of the Prophets A little afore that Christ disclosed himself Iohn the Baptist stoode vp in Israell and was followed by such a multitude of people that all the greate ones grudged at him and he is the same man whō by way of prerogatiue the Chronicle of the Iewes calleth Rabbi Iohanan the greate Preest Concerning this Iohn the Baptist forasmuch as they suspect our Gospel let them beléeue their owne Storywriter There was sayeth he a very good Man that exhorted the Iewes to vertue and specially to Godlynes and vpryght dealing inuiting them to a cleannesse both of body and mynd by baptim But when Herod perceyued that great multitudes of people followed him which to his seeming were at his commaundment to auoyd insurrections he put him in prison where anon after he cut of his head And therefore it was the common opinion that when Herods army was afterward ouercome and vtterly put to the swoord it was through Gods iustiudgement for putting of Iohn Baptist vniustly to death By this witnesse of Iosephus we sée what his office was namely to preache repentance and to Baptize or as Malachie sayth to turne the heartes of the Fathers to their Children and the heartes of the Children to their Fathers But the thing which we haue chiefly to note here is that hauing the people at commaundement yet when Iesus came he gaue Iesus place and humbled himselfe to him and yeelded him the glory the which thing man beeing led by affection of man would neuer haue done Insomuch that after that Iesus had once shewed himselfe the Disciples of this greate maister shewed not themselues as his disciples any more and that was because his trayning and teaching of them was not for himselfe but for Iesus And as touching the peculiar act of Baptizing it seemeth that the Leuites wayted for some speciall thing vpon it in that they asked of Iohn How happeneth it that thou Baptizest if thou bee neither Christ nor Elias the Prophet But let vs come now to treate of the lyfe of Iesus not according to our Gospells but according to such Histories as the Iewes themselues cannot denie and what els is it than the verie body of the shadowes of the old testament and the very pith and substance of the words that were spoken afore concerning the Messias Let vs call to rememberance to what end he came namely to saue Mankind and the nature of his Kingdome how it is holy and spirituall Whereof are all his Preachings but of the forgiuenesse of sinnes and of the Kingdome of Heauen his Disciples were alwayes importunate vppon him in asking him Lord when wilt thou set vp the Kingdom of Israel agein In sted of contenting their fancyes he answereth them concerning the Kingdome of Heauen They Imagined some Empyre of Cyrus or Alexander that their Nation might haue bene honored of all other nations of the earth One of them would néedes haue sit on his right hand and another on his left What answereth he to this Nay saith he whosoeuer will be greatest let him be the leaft and if I béeing your Maister be as a Seruant among you what ought you to bee Yee shal be brought before Magistrates that is farre from reigning Ye shall be persecuted imprisoned tormented and crucifyed that is farre of from triumphing I wil giue you to vnderstand how great things ye be to suffer for my names sake that is very farre from parting of Countryes Yet notwithstanding happy shall you bee when you suffer these things and he that holdeth out to the end shal be saued Who can imagine any temporall thing in this kingdome whereof the first and last Lesson is that a man to saue his lyfe must lose it and to become happy must wed himselfe to wretchednes The people followe him for the miracles which hee woorketh and the Iewes deny not but he did very greate ones But let vs see wherto they tended He fed a greate multitude of people in the wildernes with a feawe Loaues This miracle was matter enough for him to haue hild them with long talke but he preacheth vnto them of the heauenly bread which feedeth vnto euerlasting life Also hee healeth all sicke and diseased folke that come vnto him howbeit to shewe that that was but an appendant or rather an income to that for the which he came Thy sinnes sayth he be forgiuen thee To be short from Abrahams Well hee directeth the Woman of Samaria to the Fountaine of lyfe Béeing shewed the goodly buildings of Hierusalem and of the