him hartily so often as we stād in nede when we haue receued any thing of his bestowing as no doubt al things flow frō his foūtaine beth in word déede giue him thanks Whervnto we are moued by nothing more thā by a depe examinatiō of Gods Prouidēce For were it so that god wer of such a nature that he could neither heare nor sée what is done on the earth as the image of Iupiter is set out in Créete without either eyes or eares or were it so he were restrayned of his libertie through the fatal necessitie of these second causes thē in dede in vaine should we come vnto him or haue recourse to the throne of his diuine maiestie But séeing al things depend only vpō his blessed plesure seing he is such a God that he is no lesse willing than able to do vs good therfore euen with boldenesse we may haue accesse vnto him as to our deare father and good Lorde The same cause also shoulde of righte stirre vs vp to be thankfull knowing as it is in the Actes of the Apostles that he giueth the rayne from heauen fruitefull seasons filling our hearts vvith foode and gladnesse If Sathan go about to choke vs with the cares of the worlde soliciting vs for feare of penurie to vse bryberie symonie vsurie and such other vnlauful vngodly meanes what a godly lessō and heauenly consolation is that which is proposed to vs in the Epistle to the Hebrues Let thy conuersation be far frō auarice for vvhy it is Gods ovvn saying I vvil not forsake thee nor leaue thee destitute Wherwith being strongly armed thou wilt neuer shrink for any pouertie to cast all thy care aside to lay it as it were vpō gods shoulders Who questiōlesse wil not sée the righteous left bare of necessarie priuisiō or suffer their children to go on begging Where agaynst if any body make exceptiō bringing in either Peter the denied he had golde or siluer or Paule who amongst other of his calamities reckneth hūger thirst nakednesse wherwithal he was miserably encombred or wretched Lazarus lying wrapt in his ragges ful of sores almost famished at the riche mans gate or any other such like examples he mai be assone answered as hard speake For neither are they forsaken whose heart is established with Goddes grace much better than with any worldly sustenance inasmuch as their contēted minde is in stede of a cōtinual feast nor the faithfull séede of the righteous cā be forced or driuē to any beggery either bicause they are traded vp in honest sciences or else bicause they are satisfied w that whiche God sendeth not alwayes crauing and coueting without measure like vnsaciable gredie guts vnto whom nothing can suffise Such a one was Peter and suche was Lazarus and Paule being pressed in dede euery vvay but yet not oppressed stil nedy as S. Paul confesseth but yet not vvanting that that is needefull persecuted continually but not forsakē throvvn dovvn but not perished alvvayes carying aboute vvith them the mortification of the Lorde Iesus in their body that the life of Iesus mighte be also made manifest in their body S. Paule therfore in the same Epistle painteth him self out other of his own order as right as possibly may be deuised saying that they vvere as deceiuers yet true as vnknovvne and yet famous as dying yet liuing as chastised yet not put to death as sorovving yet alvvayes reioysing as pore yet making many rich as hauing nothing and yet possessing all thing For what can they want that haue Christ in whome only is the vaine of life or with what vrgent necessity cā they be distrained that haue fruition of the euer liuing God in whose righte hand there is plentuousnesse for euermore Truly the Lions may wel hunger and thirst but they that feare the Lorde sayeth the Prophet Dauid shall not misse of any thing that is good Who so long as they walke in their holy calling marching forwarde to the lād of promisse that is to say leading that kinde of life that leadeth directly to gods kingdome sooner Manna shal come downe from heauen a freshe spring of water shall gushe in the wildernesse out of the harde rocke than any famine or dearth shall apprehend them Which doutlesse is not spokē of myne own braine but the scriptures ratifying and approuing that whiche I say Was not Elias the prophet pinched trowe ye verie nigh in the great scarsitie of victuals wher w Samaria the whole countrie was in manner famyshed in times past And yet when he fled for his refuge as God appointed to the Riuer of Carith besides Iordaine did not the verie rauens early and late bring him breade and flesh Soone after through the default of raine this ryuer decayed dryed vp yet the cleare fountaine welspring of Gods grace and liberalitie towardes his seruant still flowed as freshely as it did before For vpon this Elias when he had fled to the poore widowe of Sareptha as he was cōmaunded by God himself of hir pouertie miraculously relieued his own want that litle meale oyle left in hir cruse encreasing in the verie vse of it frō day to day The prophet Daniel into what a streight I pray you was he brought cōtinuing six days long without eyther meat or drinke in the Lions denne But God sent him by and by his holy Angel who by the ministerie of the Prophete Habacucke whome he hoysed vp by the heare of the heade from Iudea to Babylon where Daniell was in a straunge manner refreshed him Oh but this was done long ago What then Is not God the same God that he was before Be thou Elias I say liue as he did and then neuer dout of it but God wil do for thée as he did for him Be vprighte as Daniel was and haue a like zeale to promote and further Gods kingdome and then euen in the midst of the Lions den I say whē thou art now destitut of al worldly ayde the Lord himself which is carefull for thée wil sende thée his holy Angell that shal stir vp Habacuck But there is no remedie God must do al things for vs euen as we will our selfe or else we wil chafe murmur and take on as we were lords of the earth Of our own dutie in the meane while we wil scarse haue leasure once to thinke What reason I pray you is in this or how can we haue the face so to dele God opē our harts I beséech him for his great mercies giue vs a sound vnderstāding that we may the better conceiue of his woorks and yéelde vnto him more frute of good life that we may taste at length in our selues the delicious swéetenesse of the Lorde Which if it come to passe O howe holesomely should oure heartes be seasoned with the licoure of this liuely iuice howe ready would our tongues always be
Philosopher for what néede I to wade in him any further wherby he attempteth to proue that which neither Christendome nor Heathenesse can be in doubt of to wit that there is a god Which being as it is in déede a moste certaine truthe it foloweth that we ascribe vnto hym some action and doing in the worlde agréeing and conformable to the diuine power of his maiestie But what can be more agréeable for the creator of the Heauens and the round earth than to preserue by his heauenly wisedome that which he hath formed by his endlesse power than that which he hathe once made to guide euer and as well to shewe his mercy in sauing as his mighte in creating For what can be more vnsauorie than that saying of the Poete Ennius Aye as I haue saide so will I not spare In heauen of gods to say there is a race Mankinde nathelesse in earth how he fare They passe I weene a straw for his case The .v. Chapter That God vvanteth neither mighte nor good vvill to gouerne the vvorlde WHat saith he hath God no regard of his creatures why so doeth he lothe them perchaunce No he saw from their first beginning that they were very good How is it then Belike either he can not gouerne them or else he wāteth a good will. For either the one or the other he must néedes say Will he say he can not Either then God is ignorant in what order and fashion it must be done or else strengthe falleth him that he can not do it To burden God with ignorāce we may not for what else were that in effecte but to say in plaine woordes he were no God And how vnlikely matier were it y he which wroughte all things with suche vnsearchable wisedome he y teacheth man knowledge he in whom all treasures of skill remaine the déep◠riches of whose vnderstanding the Apostle considering is so amazed I say how vnlikely a matier were it that he himselfe should be ignorant Againe if thou say God is vnable to discharge such a waightie function howe then was he able at the first to create all things of nothing Howe could he knitte things togither so disagréeing amongste themselues with suche an entier bande as it were of frendship as for example the fire and the water the daye and the night and make of all these suche a consent and harmonie if he can not looke to them and prouide for them or howe is he called almightie if there be any thing exempted from his power He can therfore directe vs if it please him let no Epicure euer say against that But he will not peraduenture why will he not He enuieth not hys owne woorkmanship How should he especially séeing we depende of his goodnesse much lesse cā he hate that which he hath made Nay rather the same goodnesse y caused him to make vs when we were nothing should muche more allure him to do for vs when now by his wisedome we are brought to somewhat And howe should he I pray you which is the foūtaine and wel spring of al grace be stained with suche foule vices and enormities as he so muche detesteth in his creatures I say malice and enuie Neither is it to be thoughte that for the auoiding of paines he wil neglect vs séeing Christe oure sauioure who came downe from heauen for our sakes suffered for vs suche cruell tormentes and such terrible pangs of deathe He that loued vs so déerely what wil he not doe for vs Howbeit we haue not only to speake of that care which God taketh especially for mankinde but of this general prouidence ouer al the world The welding of the gouernement wherof can not certainly be harder to be atchéeued than the wonderfull woorkes of his creation Whereof it is sayde in the Psalmes he spake but the woord they were made he commaunded and they were created For true is that saying of the wise Pythias which Herodotus rehearseth to his commendation In God it is all one laboure to say a thing and to do it And as Aristophanes said almost with the same woordes to conceiue in minde and to expresse in déedes Séeing therfore he is not spotted with any blemish or staine of ignorance who only is the author of all wisedom Seing he is almighty and therfore hable to doe all things Againe séeing he enuyeth not his owne workmanship that setteth out his glory he himself being blotted with no malice but preserueth al things especially the faithfull séeing also that nothing is hard for him to accomplishe but he is able to doe with much ease what so euer it shall please him to take in hand No dout he careth for the whole world and leaueth nothing maysterlesse or without a guide The .vj. Chapter That God gouerneth the vvorld it appereth by the commodities that vve receaue by the bodies that are aboue and by the foure Elementes WHerin if any man be yet so frowarde that he will not heare of it or so dul the he knoweth not what it meaneth or so gracelesse that he cānot broke it or so thanklesse and vnkinde to god the he will not acknowledge it and confesse it let the vnspeakeable cōmodities that he enioyeth by the sea the lande by the fresh aire by the moone the firmamēt make him to blush to be red for starke shame For euen as kings princes take tributes subsidies of their subiects So thou of euery one of gods creatures reapest as great profite as thou couldest desire For the sunne is the original cause as wel of light as of heat ripeneth the corne and the frute wherby our weak bodies be susteined The moone w hir borowed light tēpereth as it were the darknesse of y night season and when the sunne is gone past our orizont conducteth the wayfarers in their iourney The rest of the starres w their rising and falling in their course shewe to the inhabitants of the earth the four sundry seasons of the yere the winter sommer spring and haruest And in the sea they be guides to them that saile to their earnestly wished hauen Shall we extenuate these great guifts of God or deriue their originall from a wrong foundation which we esteme as slender being of so precious and exceding valew what shall we say of this that Patricius mencioneth in his third booke de regis regni institutione For saith he so sone as we come into the worlde of the Sunne we receaue a spirite of the Mone a body of the star Mars bloud of Mercurie wit of Iupiter desire of Venus an inclination to Venereal actes for the encreasing and multiplying of mankinde Whereof euery one of them at the houre of death we seeme to make due restitution And to speake somewhat of the elements the aire being receiued by the longues assuageth the heat that is about the hart and when it is turned altered into rain it watereth the earth w swete shoures The same aire with the
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
to breake oute into the praise of God howe euill would our eares digest all blasphemons slanders against God Wherunto there is vtterly nothing the could possibly more excite vs as very wel sayth Theodorete in his first oration de Prouidentia than the cōsideration of Gods louing kindnesse his dominiō soueraintie ouer the world Pacience likewise humilitie those goodly vertues albeit that they may wel be comprised vnder the argument of cōforte in respecte of their cause originall which is ioy solace in the holy ghost w out the which ther is no christiā pacience yet bicause they pertain also to a christiā life they may well hither be referred To them therefore I say to bothe of them what a spurre is the knowledge of Gods Prouidence For if the gouernour of the world do all things iustely and in good order as we muste néedes graunt all of necessitie that will graunt at leastwise he is a God what cause can we pretende in any wise why we should not submit our selues willingly to hys yoke If we thinke it appertenaunt to our office as without all controuersie it is that we should render due homage to a worldly Prince who notwithstanding of nature is but duste and ashes as we be shal we thinke scorne to humble our selues before him who onely is our creatoure before our only true Lorde before God him selfe Shal we take any thing paciently and quietly at mans hande and shall we take scorne when we are touched with Gods Nay if we thinke it reason to beare the indignatiō of a mortal man séeing we know he is but Gods instrument of very force we must nedes take it well whatsoeuer it is that God dothe For man in déede may be tangled and wrapte in errour either bicause it is out of his reache to foresée all consequentes that may happen or bicause he is caryed away by his affections whervnto he is eftesones become thrall Whervpon he muste néedes erre in his counsayls many sundry times in his practises swarue frō iustice So is it not with God be ye wel assured who not only seeth forséeth all things but is altogither voyde of passions perturbations wherwith creatures of flesh bloud are oftentimes shaken as it were out of ioynte Wherfore in al his doings is sobrietie moderation in him is wisdome equity without all extremitie iust dealing as that kingly prophet Dauid as the innocent Iob as Mauricius the vertuous Emperour in his great anguishe and affliction full godlily soberly considered Whose storie as in a liuely mirrour bicause it layeth foorthe in effectuall maner a very patterne and presidente of a méeke spirite I pray you a little whyle let it not séeme tedious to lende our well disposed and pacient eares Mauricius the Emperour in the end of his reigne became so excéeding couetous that he refused to raunsome with a very little summe of money certen thousands of captiues taken prisoners of Caianus the king of the Auares who had offered for the said litle sum to dimisse them al without harme Whervpō Caianus séeing he was set at nought cōceiued no small indignation forthwith without sparing any one of thē caused them al to be put to the sworde In the yere following which was the 19 of Mauricius his empire a certayne religious man hauing the spirit of prophecie running bare headed and bare footed through the citie of Constātinople prophecied in all mens hearing that the Emperor should be slaine with the sword Herevpon the sayd Emperour when he had hardly escaped with his life by reason of a sedition which was raised in the citie conceyuing afterwardes a remorse he bethought him selfe what a haynous trespasse he committed in suffering so many thousandes to goe to wracke for his couetousnesse and béeing touched inwardly with repentaunce he made hys earnest prayer vnto God that he mighte suffer his deserued punishmente in this life Therfore sending his Embassadors with large guiftes not onely throughe all the churches of his Empire but also to the holy men which liued in the wyldernesse he required them to helpe hym with their hartie prayers that God hauing compassion of him would voutsafe to giue him his punishmēt in this world When the Emperour with great humilitie had thus earnestly prayed the same night after by the great mercy of God an auision was shewed vnto hym to his comforte Wherin it séemed that béeing solemnly cited to appere he heard a voyce from heauen as it were of oure Lorde Iesus Chryst saying Bring me hither Mauricius Vpon this the sergeantes and the catchpoles laying holde of him bring him before Christe his iudge who with his owne mouth speaking to him Where wouldest thou quod he that I shoulde recompence thée here or in the worlde to come The Emperour hearing this made answere O Lorde that arte a louer of mankinde and a iust iudge here rather than in an other worlde And forthwith this voyce from heauen commanded Mauricius his wife Constantina his sons and all that were of his bloud to be deliuered into the handes of the warriour Phocas Mauricius therfore so soone as he was awaked out of sléepe sent hastilie after Philippious his sonne in lawe Of whom at his comming he first asked forgiuenesse bicause alwayes before that day he had had him in a suspition and a ielousie as one that sought trayterously and maliciously not his death onely but his Empire and strayghtwais telling him of his dreame be demaunded what maner of man that Phocas was Who when he had answered agayne that he had the charge of a great bande of men and that he was a rashe yong man but yet in all his dooings very timorous Well quod the Emperour if he be timorous as you say he is thē surely it is to be thought he is a murtherer And the same night that he thus dreamed a comete that shone forth very brighte in the element confirmed this his auision to be true Yea moreouer the very same day after Magistrianus the Embassadour which had bene sent to the fathers in the wildernesse came backe to this sayd citie of Constantinople who declared to Mauricius in the name of these fathers of the deserte that God accepting his repentaunce would saue his soule and place him and al his houshold with his saincts but neuerthelesse the he should be thrust frō his empire with dishonor danger of his life Al which things so concording and agréeing vpon his destruction Mauricius fell downe vpon his knées and praysed God and committing all that he had to Gods gouernement he nowe looked for nothing else but when the date of thys dolefull day should approche Alas good Emperour for it euen pitieth mine heart to remember from what an highe type of honour yea from what a royall and flourishing estate he is throwen downe sodaynely vnder the féete within shorte time after when Mauricius had charged his souldiers to pitche their tentes in the