teacheth vs an other lesson In times paste came prophecies vnto vs sayth he not by the motion of any mans will but the holy men of God spake vnto vs in suche sorte as they were first moued and set on by the holy Ghost It was not they then so muche that spake any thing but rather God that vsed them as his instruments And dyd God warne before what he woulde doo touching the captiuitie and deliueraunce of the Iewes of Iudas his trayterous dealing towards his deare Master of the cruell conspiracie of the Rulers of his people of his Sonnes deathe of Jerusalems destruction c What differeth this I pray you from ordeyning Coulde a manne wyshe a more manyfeste proofe oute of Gods worde The .x. Chapter He reciteth the fathers to the same effecte WHereof although the authoritie be so inuiolable that of it selfe it onely should preuayle as well able to discusse al douts and to open and decide all controuersies concerning the substāce of our fayth yet séeing many menne make exceptions as though nothing but forced gloses wrested and racked textes singular and priuate inuentions were broughte in goe to let vs sée a whyle whether the auncient catholike and learned Fathers did any otherwise determine of so greate a matter And first come foorthe I pray thée godly father Clemens Alexandrinus tell vs thy learned iudgemente VVho so euer thinketh there is no Prouidence saythe he mee thynketh he is vvorthy of punishement and a very vvicked man yea not so vvorthy that we shoulde vouchsafe to dispute vvith him Doo thou also tell vs Byshoppe Gregorie thou worthy father of Nazianzene That there is a God sayth he the cause of al things bothe wrought and preserued both oure eye sighte and the very lawe of nature can teach vs. And thou also of blessed memorie right reuerend father holy Basile say thy minde we beséeche thée in lyke maner There is nothing sayth he which God doth not foresee there is nothing which he doth neglecte The eye which neuer sleepeth veweth and considereth al things with all things it is presente safegarding and preseruing euery thing Very well but let vs heare one more of the Greke Church Me thinketh Chrisostomus offereth him selfe as not vnworthy to haue concluded vpon the case Is there no foundatiō saith he and how standeth the building Is there no keele and howe holdeth the ship togither is there none that made the ship how was it made is there no builder how was the house erected Is there no Mason and who builte vp the Citie In the ende thus he knitteth vp VVhat soeuer thing in the world be done practised and put in vre they haue some body to ouersee them and to worke and shall the world onely be without a gouernour Inough nowe of the Gréeke fathers what of the Latines Certaynly as they had like iudgements so framed they also like arguments VVho would not think sayth Lactantius that this worlde so maruellously wroughte is gouerned by some Prouidence For there is nothing that can hold out without some body to guide it So the house that is forsaken of the inhabitaunt falleth to ruine the ship that is without a gouernoure goeth to wracke and the body that is giuen ouer of the soule commeth to nothing Much lesse let vs thinke that this worlde beeing so mightie and huge of quantitie coulde either be founded without a workeman or bee able to stande so long without a guide Worthily spoken out of doubte very conformable also to that lesson which S. Austine techeth vs in his third booke de trinitate affirming that nothing is done which proceedeth not out of the inward and intelligible court of the soueraigne Emperor according to his vnspekable iustice And Leo archbishop of Rome putteth the matter so farre out of al controuersie that he sticketh not to say these wordes The heartes of the faythfull do not doubt but that Gods Prouidence is alwayes present in al parts of this world and that the successe of oure worldly affayres dependeth not of any power that the Starres haue whiche is none but all thinges be ordered at the moste iuste and mercy full pleasure of oure Soueraigne Lorde The .xj. Chapter He sheweth that the very Ethnikes approued this doctrine of Gods Prouidence BVT what néede wée to speake more of the Fathers Surely it is so far off that any godly man shoulde néede to doubt of this so christianlike and sounde doctrine that the very beste and wisest of the heathen men acknowledged it for a certayne truthe Therefore Hesiodus sayth of God that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is one that hath a great brode eye and a face that can looke into euery corner Sophocles likewise affirmeth that he séeth all things and commaundeth al things to be done So true is that saying of Theophilus in the second booke ad Autolicum the Poetes and Philosophers themselues haue written of Gods iustice of his iudgemēt of eternall condemnation and moreouer of Gods prouidence As for Marcus Cicero he hath so largely intreated of this matter not onely in his seconde thirde booke de natura Deorum in his bookes de diuinatione de fato de Legibus de vniuersitate that onely constancie excepted wée coulde not greatly require any thing at his hands And that graue sentence of Clearchus mentioned by Xenophon lib. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not to be let passe teaching vs that neither swiftnesse nor darknesse nor strong bulwarke of defence can be any refuge for vs agaynst God bycause sayth he all things be in his hāds the whole world is gouerned by his diuine power Yea a greate many mighte be named besides these before mentioned and rehearsed who béeing onely brought vp in the schole of nature were yet styll of this iudgement that there is a God ruling in the heauens vnto whom it was their duetie to submitte them selues Therefore S. Austine writing contra Faustū Manicheum Touching the Prouidence of God sayth he both the Paganes be of the same mind that we be the Iewes and you and all Heretickes that by any meanes are called Christians And Lactantius yet somwhat more openly in his boke entituled de origine erroris that the world saith he should be made by gods Prouidence to say nothing of Trismegistus who professeth the same of the Sibils verses the report asmuch of the Prophets who w one spirit voyce beare witnesse that the workmanship of the worlde is Gods making euen amongst the Philosophers almost al in maner it is agréed vpō The same also the Pithagoreās the Stoikes the Peripatetickes those whiche were the chiefest Philosophers of euery secte did acknowledge till at the laste many worldes after arose doting Epicure which was so bolde as to denie that that is moste euident And forsoothe for none other cause but for that he was desirous to inuent nouelties that he might make a secte of his owne name And bicause he
God was with him guided him to his great comfort well perceiued how much more truly his father spake than he conceiued when he made him this godly answere The Lord shal prouide And how muche better it was to be conducted by our sauiour Chryst than by the arte cunning of any mariner Chrystes disciples learned in their great danger very like had not their master ben there present to succour them to haue bene ouerwhelmed in the botome of the sea Therfore Dauid wheÌ„ he had said O let the people reioyce and be glad What reason I pray you did he giue bicause they florished in the worlde bycause they had all thinges at their commaundement he sayd no such thing but going straighte to the fountayne of all blyssednesse bicause sayth he thou shalt iudge thy people righteously and gouerne the Nations vpon the earth As who sayth our hope is not limited within the bounds of this life neither make we any great account of any thing to be obteyned in this worlde but this is the foundation of our ioy and the very ground of all our felicitie which euen then doth vs good at the harte when the worlde séemeth moste to frowne vppon vs that thou arte a righteous Iudge who both art able to deliuer the righteouse out of trouble and to reserue the vniuste dealers to the due execution of thy iuste iudgement to come This benefit with other moe out of number we obteyne by the meanes of thy gouernement Of whome we are moste assured that thou canst suffer no wrong dealing vnreuenged nor no vertue or godlinesse vnrewarded Séeing then the knowledge of Gods heauenly moste gracious Prouidence is so holsome comfortable a doctrine I haue thought good by the assistance of his only direction whom we speake of to endeuer to write of so good a matter And the rather doubtlesse I haue taken it in hand for that I sée other misteries of our religion very commendably set foorth in our mother tong touching this poynt so necessarie to be knoweÌ„ of al christiaÌ„ people no special treatise published to the behofe furtherance of our countreymen Therfore not as one the best able yet according to my poore talent not the lest willing I haue giuen the onset to the intent that they which be afflicted may behold as it were present or at the leastwise very nighe at hande in their mistie darknesse the cléere beames of the sunne of righteousnesse after grefe solace after they haue bene tossed shaken with the wilde waues of the sea the moste quiet hauen of peace rest On the other side that they which be now set a loft haue al things that their harts can desire staÌ„d not to much in their owne conceite nor ouer proudly display their Pecocks feathers knowing in whose hand it resteth to cast them downe from the pinacle of their stout and loftie imaginations The .ij. Chapter The diuision of this discourse IN doing whereof it behâ—ueth vs diligently to examine first whether there be any suche Prouidence yea or no. And afterwardes that béeing well proued and the aduersaries refuted and conuinced to declare at large what it is how farfoorth it exteÌ„deth by what instruments God putteth it in execution and the whole vse and commoditie that a true Christian man may receaue by it Which poynts béeing throughly discoursed so much as I shal think requisite for the instructioÌ„ of the godly reader my mind is hencefoorth to rest my selfe vnder that mightie hand of his protection whom in this treatise I haue sought out â–ª Neither do I feare in this mine enterprise the graue censure of Clemens AlexaÌ„drinus who condemneth vtterly as it séemeth the very mouing or naming of such questions As for example sayth he to enquire for proofes of Gods Prouidence vvhich being certaine it is a haynous matier to imagine that Prophesie came not by Gods prouidence as also to doubt of that heaueÌ„ly order of dispensatioÌ„ vvhich concerneth our Lord and sauiour Chryst For it is one matier to moue a question of infidelitie an other thing to discusse a questioÌ„ that is moued and doubted of by an Infidell Which were it not lawfull to be done not onely Theodorite Chrysostomus Augustine mighte be disallowed but the sayde Clemens also himselfe might by iuste iudgement be dysproued The .iij. Chapter The corrupt iudgement of some denying Gods Prouidence AND woulde to God this doctrine were so fired established in mens hearts that there néeded nothing to be sayde of it But now who séeth not in all ages how déepely this Atheisme hath taken roote For firste what Epicure with his secte fantasied touching Gods ordring of the worlde it is out of question Who to the intente he might safely without any remorse or any pricke or terror of a wounded conscience goe on forwarde in his wickednesse his sensuall voluptuous race went about as far foorth as he might to extinguishe vtterly and to blot out all memorie and thinking of Gods power In the laste Chore of Senecaes Tragedie called Hippolitus it is sayd Res humanas ordine nullo fertuna regit c. Fortune guides the world without any order dispearseth hir gifts with a hand that séeth not what it doth in stéede of the better sort cherishing the worse That the fruitfull soyle should yerely yeld hir encrease Cyolops in Euripides ascribeth it not at al to god but either to some lucky chaÌ„ce or else to some course of necessitie An other of theÌ„ sayth Casus fortuna in omnibus dominatur Chance fortune beare sway in al things And an other of theÌ„ almost with the same words Sed profecto fortuna in omni re dominatur But doutles Fortune in euery thing hath the vpper hand Yea what plainer testimonie can we haue of this godlesse opinion that hath poysoned the world Doth not Virgile say Fortune is almighty and Cebes in his Table set hir out like a blind goddesse that bestoweth hir gifts without discretion Well these were Heathen men you wil say I grauÌ„t it But were they trow yée only of that minde No doubte we christians also at least wise as we wold be taken how so euer we would countenance the matter otherwise yet if wée would but descend into our owne liues no doubt I say we mighte finde oure selues a great many of vs of as corrupt iudgement as they The foole said in his heart sayth the Prophet Dauid there is no god O great abhomination will some say and woorthy to be extréemely punished But abide a while yet I pray you Iwis he spake it not in your hearing that you might accuse him Nay I warrant you he was not suche a foole Howe saide he it then Marke the Prophet The foole said in his heart there is no god If you looke vpon his Angelles face you would thincke he glistered like any golde If you wil heare his goodly godly woords you woulde pitie him that he were not canonized for a saincte
them woorthy of a pardon So that the Niniuites being changed Gods will was altered neuerthemore who wel forsaw in theÌ„ both their naughty life and their conuersion Wherunto to bring them by repentaÌ„ce he ordained Ionas his preaching to be a meane that occasion might not be giuen him to subuert theÌ„ The same may be saide of king Ezechias to whom being sore sick God bad that he shoulde haue warning of his deathe And yet when he had prayed to him after he prolonged his life for many yeares Did not God signifie by this that the disease with the which the king was touched coulde not be remedied by mannes helpe but yet might be reléeued by God who commonly in such a desperate case is woonte moste effectually to shewe his power And came not this to passe by Gods owne will who disposeth things in their order and giueth them that successe that it pleaseth him For what néede I to say as some doe that God when he threatneth eyther deathe or any suche punishment due for sinne hathe a condicion which he vnderstandeth that is to say their amendement and reformation whom he so frayeth For sure we are of this whatsoeuer is done by the preacher as Goddes outward instrument wherby he woorketh whether it be by threatning or fair promisses in the behalfe of God whiles he procedeth according to Goddes reueled will in holy scripture yet God hath his secrete iudgementes and a iust manner of dealing which mannes measured capacitie can not reache Nay say they againe you muste not escape vs so For the woords of scripture be a great deale more plaine ascribing vnto God repentaunce of his former déedes which without chaunge of hys minde coulde not be In déede that such a manner of speach is in scripture I deny not for we reade that God repented him of the creation of man of making Saule king of diuers other suche like things but howe will they proue therfore that God in his prouidence is mutable For as repentance séemeth to be attributed to God so anger zele and indignation with other humaine affections be likewise giuen to him in the Bible Is God therefore subiecte to any passions Can he be inflamed with any choler or any heat procéeding of our grosse humors CaÌ„ he repent himselfe of any thing from whome nothing caÌ„ be hid either past present or to come Nay let that be holden for a certaintie whiche Samuel spake afterwardes to king Saule The strength of Israel vvill not lie nor repent For he is not a man that he should repent But how then shall we reconcile the words of the scripture Out of doubt god speaking to vs men beareth very muche with our childishe weaknesse and to the entent we might the better vnderstande him it pleaseth him of his goodnesse to lispe and stammer with vs as it were Because then when men chaunge their mindes they correcte that which was amisse and they that amende their doing are sory for it therfore by this woord Repentance is noted to vs the chaÌ„ge which God maketh in his woorckes And surely of suche manner of speaches a very handesome saying it is that S. Austine hathe in his firste booke contra aduersarium legis prophetarum Gods repentance sayth he is not after any thing mistaken Gods vvrath hath not the heate of a stiffe stomacke Gods mercy hathe not the vvretched heart of him that is moued invvardly vvith compassion vvhence the vvorde M. â— SERICORDIA is deriued and Gods zele is vvithout the disdaine of the minde But Gods repentance is saide to be a chaunge vvhich men loke not for of those things vvhiche be vnder his gouernment Gods vvrathe is the execution of his vengeance against sinne his mercy is his goodnesse vvhen he helpeth vs and Gods zele is his prouident care vvhiche maketh him not to suffer his people being in subiection to him scot free to loue that vvhich he forbiddeth In the meane neyther Goddes will nor his counsell is turned otherwise than it was before nor the which is altered by God maketh God to be altered Whose vnuariabilitie staÌ„deth in this that whatsoeuer God hath decréed to bring to effecte the same shall come to passe vnfallibly and vnuariably bothe in what time and in what order and after what sorte and with so long continuaunce as God himselfe hathe decréed The .v. Chapter Gods Prouidence alvvayes being certaine vvhether chaunce and fortune may take place BVt now whiles we haue shewed our selues very carefull for the auoyding of one perillous gulfe it standeth vs vpon to take héede least we be not mischéeued vpon the soden some otherway We haue proued that Gods prouidence is no fickle or wauering thing but a sure stay wherevpon we may safely take holde A good poynte of doctrine I trust as to God honorable and to vs mortall creatures no smal comfort But by and by in the necke of it commeth a foule stur If we make Gods decrée so certaine in the gouernment of all things in the worlde where then is chaunce and fortune and what is becomen of happe All which if they be at once set aside then howe and which way shal we loase our selues froÌ„ that fatall chaine of necessitie which before we so much abhorred Touching chaunce fortune I could giue that counsell the Basile doth wryting vpoÌ„ the. 32. Psalme Bevvare thou say not this came to pasle by chaunce this fell out by course of nature For there is nothing not ordained by God nothing not determined of before nothing chaunceth vvithout cause nothing hapneth at a venture Say not any hap vvas euill nor call any houre vnluckie For these be the sayings of vnlearned men and such as be ignoraÌ„t in the schole of Christ We know moreouer with Lactantius that Fortune is nothing And I caÌ„not but with Austin finde great fault with them who when they should say THVS GOD VVOVLD HAVE IT choose rather to saye THIS VVAS MY FORTVNE Neuerthelesse if you demaund of me whether I condemne by all meanes the meaning of these wordes I wil not say that I do at least wise being rightly vnderstand For I agrée wel to this definition of Austin who sayth Chaunce is nothing else but that vvhich hath an vnknovven reason and a cause vvhich is priuie and hidden from vs. And I thinke that Boëâ—ius wente nothing out of the waye that sayde Happe vvas an vnvvare betyding of causes comming togither in such thinges as vvere done for another ende Yea if Fortune be nothing else but that vvhich doth many things vnloked for bicause vve see not the causes that be hidden froÌ„ vs as Lactantius defineth it out of Tullie If in the stead of Fortune God had rather ben placed I say the prophane name only excepted I could find no falt Therfore in respecte of God who beholdeth worketh all things I say nothing is casuall in consideration of our selues to whome many things happen not forséene I say there be
Gregories farre auncient yet haue I reserued him to vtter vnto vs his profound iudgemeÌ„t in this place is woorthy to stande out for a moderatoure and chéefe decider of this controuersie Giue then O reuerend father thy definitiue sentence Let youre charitie sayeth he listen to me and take good hede vvho disposed in such comely order the preatie members of the fleas gnattes so that they haue their conuenient place they haue their life they haue their mouing Consider but some one litle shorte beast as thou vvilt thy selfe of as small a quantitie as can be thought of Thou vvouldest vvoonder if thou marke but his little limmes hovve euery one of them standeth in order and the quicke nimblenesse of his life that maketh him to bestirre himselfe that in his ovvne defense he may flie from deathe he loueth life he desireth pleasure he shuÌ„neth grefe he hathe the vse of diuers senses he is liuely in that mouing that is onuenyent for him VVho gaue the gnatte such a byting sting to sucke bloude vvith hovve slender a pipe is it that he supperh vvith vvho ordred this geare vvho made them Arte thou stricken vvith horroure vvhen thou thinckest of to little and small matters Prayse then that greate God vvhich vvas the authoure Therfore my brethren keepe this vvell in minde Lot no manne make you to fall from the saithe and from a catholicke and sounde doctrine He made a sille vvorme in the earth that made an Angell in heauen but an Angell in heauen for a celestiall habitation a sily vvoorme in the earthe for a terrestriall dvvelling Did he make an Angell to crepe in the mire or a poore vvoorme to be lodged in heauen Nay he appoynted the enhabitantes to their seuerall mansions he limited incorruption to vncorrupte places and corruptible things to roumes fitte for corruption Marcke it vvell euery vvhit and praise God for all Thus sayeth the good father Austine determining of Gods Prouidence yée sée after what manuer Howe skilfully doth he espie oute the very steppes and tracâ—s as ye woulde say where Gods Prouident care hathe sette foote And woondering thereat very muche not only whiles he considereth it in Goddes Angelles but no lesse also whiles it sheweth it selfe so notoriously in the fashioning of the silie gnatte with what woordes doeth he lay it before our eyes And a righte godly consideration is it oute of doubte and well woorthy to be déepely thoughte of For if God had such a curious eye in his firste framing of the poore gnattes proportion What shoulde we thincke that he will do afterwards who is alwayes moste constante in all his doings Surely as he beganne his greate Prouidence in the creation and woorckemanshippe of the poore beaste so will he holde on with the like fauoure in preseruing a creature of his owne making But yet héere stayeth not S. Austine Who truely is so farre of from depriuing any thing of Goddes gouernement that the very hayle frost and the snowe by his iudgement is not priuileged from Goddes subiection For very sone after examining and scanning these woordes Ignis grande nix and so forthe These things considering sayeth he the spirite of prophecie vvhen he had sayde fire haile snovve frost and the spirite of tempest all vvhiche things some fooles thincke to be oute of order and to be tosted as it vvere by happes aduenturous he added thereunto the clause VVHICH DOE HIS COMMAVNDEMENT Let not those things then seeme to thee to be moued at a venture vvhich neuer fall nor moue any vvay but to doe suche homage and seruice as God appoynteth The .ix. Chapiter That Gods especiall Prouidence pertaineth also to the meanest creatures he shevveth out of Plotine and Plato himself WIth what face then can it be saide of Tullie that the harme and damage which is done by tempests falleth not out by the woorcke of Gods Prouidence Howe can he say that God careth not for small things Iwis if he had hard but his owne secte the Platonickes I meane and Plato himselfe the authority of whose very name he woulde séeme so highly to aduaunce coulde he euer haue fallen into suche a foule erroure Plotine without question who estemed as much of Plato as euer Tullie did whiles he clarkly reasoneth of Gods Prouidence proueth by the beautie that is in floures and leaues that procéeding froÌ„ the highe God whose amiable and louely grace might be sooner conceaued than vttered it goeth forward reaching to these earthly and base things in the worlde All which things being in manner as cast away and tootoo soone fading and falling downe he maketh it plaine to vs by a strong argument that they coulde neuer haue suche a passing feature of their proportion ne were it not that from thence they had fetched their shape where the intelligible fourme that is vnalterable hauing all graces together in himselfe hathe his abyding Plato himself in his tenth booke which he wryteth of Lawes maketh a certain Dialoge betwixte one Clinia and hys hoste of Athens The very scope wherof directly tendeth againste Tullies Doctrine Which to this ende and purpose that it may be the better knowne I wil bring in the speakers talking with the very same woordes that they do in Plato The hoste The Physicion if he loke not to small matters appertaining to his pacients health shall it goe vvell vvith hys vvhole cure Clinia Noe it shall not The hoste No more shall gouernoures nor graunde capitaines nor suche as haue care of housholdes nor any officers or magistrates in commoÌ„ vveales nor none other suche vvithoute a fevve and small things set in order deale vvel in many and great affairs For neither say the masons can the greate stones be vvell laide in the building of an house vvithoute the small stones be vvell tempered and layed vvith morter Clinia That is true The hoste Let vs not therefore suppose that God is inferioure to these common mortall artificers but that he is bothe vvilling and able also to haue care of small matters asvvell as greate The .x. Chapiter He ansvvereth an obiection made against him out of S. Paul vvherby it vvould seme that god hath no care of oxen PLato goeth forwarde for he debateth the cause more at large But what is Tullie or any other euer able to reply against that which Plato hath already spoken Yes for soothe there coÌ„meth now somewhat to remembraunce that commonly oute of the scriptures is obiected For S. Paule wryting to the Corinthians when he had applied these woordes of the law to his purpose Thou shalt not mustell the mouthe or the oxe that treadeth out the corne he addeth Doth God take care for oxen But tooto manifest it is to them that well weighe the place that S. Paules meaning was nothing lesse than to debarre anye Oxen from the tuition of Goddes care Which if he had done how shoulde he haue agréed with that saying of the Prophet Dauid who wondering at the depth of Gods Prouidence when he