God-head included in it a conceipt of happiest life Iupiter himselfe by whose provident care and magnificence the securitie and good estate of all the rest was procured and their necessities abundantly furnished could not in their opinions sufficiently enjoy himselfe or be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without associates Hence they imagined such a corresspondency between him and other gods or goddesses of meaner ranke as is betweene the father of every familie his wife and children and other domestickes or as is betweene the chiefe of every Tribe or Clan and his alliance or dependants or at the best such as is betweene Princes and the severall orders of their Nobilitie All the difference for the most part apprehended by them consisted rather in the diversitie of degree or order than in any difference of nature Parallel to their severall notions of felicitie whether private or publique were as well the nature and attributes of the greatest God as his manner of governement proportioned The forme of celestiall regiment was by most voyces held Monarchicall or Royall because that by consent of Nations was esteemed best Howbeit in as much as Tyrannicall abuse of Kingly authoritie had made it odious it seemed good to haue it tempered in heaven as it vsually was on earth by admixture of Aristocraticall Subpeeres by Tribunitiall inhibitions of fates or intercession of other imaginary powers supposed as absolute for some particular purposes as Ioue himselfe was for right disposing the vniversall Such as held externall feature no small part of their felicitie imagined the Gods and Goddesses to be of most rare and admirable feature But the belly had neither eyes nor eares nor can it be pleased with pleasant sonets though of feastings or with fairest pictures of daintiest meates Men pinched with hunger or ready to perish for want of looking to haue small desire of wealth or greatnesse saue onely for bettering their fare or attendāce Such smell-feasts as Homer was or rather such as he sought to please or set forth vnto vs conceived the life of their Gods to be such as themselues would haue led had they beene in their place The greatest part of heavenly joy seemed to consist in the quintessence of such delicates as they had seene or tasted or in the magnificent varietie of royall service Not much better was the degenerate Iewes conceipt of the sacrifice appointed by their God For that reproofe Thinkest thou that I will eate the flesh of Bulls or drinke the bloud of Goats seemes to argue a like faultinesse in them of measuring the Almighties delight by their owne appetite 2. Others out of a Philosophicall derision of high prized vanities or superfluities transformed the nature of the Gods into that disposition which liked them best Vacancy from care was the body innoxious merriment or recreation the soule of that happinesse which they affected as their portion in this life the whole world was to them but a stage wherein Princes and Statesmen served as Actors the alteration of States and Kingdomes but matter of Comoedie to feede their phantasies and passe the time Agreeable to this humor their opinion was that the chiefe vse or care the Gods had of men of best wit place or fashion was no other than men had of Apes or Munkeies or then great ones haue of fooles and jesters or Lords of misrules which kinde of ridiculous creatures are oft-times better kept and attended then befits their qualitie meerely for their sport that maintaine them 3. Such as had rightly valued the secret joy of contemplation in regard of all other contentments or solaces of mortalitie rested secure they had done the divine nature no wrong but grace rather in admitting it to be chiefe sharer in this kind of pure delight Aristotle thinkes that if the sweetnesse of that ioy which somtimes had raught his spirits could be continued fresh and liuely without interruption of contrary disturbances defatigation or satietie it might make vp so full a measure of felicitie as might well befit the principall mouer or supreme disposer of the heavenly Orbes that is the supreme power which he knew or did acknowledge 4. Out of the grossest speculations of heathen concerning God much matter of no vulgar consequence might be extracted Howbeit the best of their wisedome was alwayes mingled with folly and the purest truth that can be found in their writings still detained in vnrighteousnesse As in that booke De Mundo ad Alexandrum ascribed to Aristotle by greater authorities of the auncient then will easily be overswayed by noetericall Criticismes or moderne coniectures how many passages be there consonant to Christian truth about the vnitie the wisedome and glory of the God-head and yet while he seekes to surpasse himselfe in exemplifying the excellency of divine Maiestie he finally transformes it into the corrupt likenesse of the Persian Monarchie To reserue causes of principall importance to the Prince referring others of ordinary moment to the inferior Iudges was a point of wisedome apprehended by the auncient heathen yet quickly assented vnto by Moses the man of God and chiefe governour of his people This advise which he followed vpon necessitie was afterwards entertained by secular Princes as the mother of ease or nurse of pleasure by many improved to the maintenance of their Maiestie The author of the former booke could measure the Persian Monarches greatnesse by multitude of subiects and amplitude of dominions But to match these with an equall extent of provident care for the good of most particulars was to diminish his pompe or glory a great impeachment to his happinesse Glorious and happie he rather seemed in this that having the absolute commaund of so many he needed to trouble himselfe with the governance onely of some few Provinces by nature more choyse and delicate much beautified by art as so many pleasant gardens to entertaine his royall presence with varietie of delight The charge and over-sight of others affording lesse solace and more toyle was assigned to Vicegerents whose accompts if called they were at any time to account were as speedily dispatched as the briefe instructions for their proceedings were given This over-prizing the contentments of Monarchicall life whose practise could plead no warrant besides the limited perfection of humane excellency occasioned a like transfiguration of the divine Maiestie as well in the Latines as in the Graecians Magna Dij curant parva negligunt Cic. 2. de natura Deorum prope finem The Gods haue a care of great matters but neglect the smaller Non vacat exiguis rebus adesse Iovi He who had made the earth and all therein must leaue the charge and government of it and all the rest of this inferior tumultuous Globe as little beseeming so great a Maiestie vnto his Angells or Deputie-gods The super coelestiall region must be to him as was Susa or Ecbatana to the Persian Kings not onely the sole garden of his delight or totall sphere of his residence but the compleat horizon of
God What hast thou to doe to declare my statutes or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth seing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behinde thee When thou sawest a theefe then thou consentedst with him and hast beene partaker with Adulterers Thou giuest thy mouth to evill and thy tongue frameth deceit Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother thou slaunderest thine owne mothers sonne These things hast thou done and I kept silence thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thy selfe but I will reprooue thee and set them in order before thine eyes And if yee call him Father saith the Apostle which without respect of persons iudgeth according to every mans worke passe the time of your dwelling here in feare 5. Many excellent sayings much what to the same effect with the former hath Nyssene in the Treatise alledged none more homogeneall to my last observation then his censure of such as desire God to avenge their quarrells or plague their enemies This as was late said is to make him a monster or as much as in vs lies to torture him whilest we labour to worke him to be of a quite contrary disposition towards others than we desire he should beare towards our selues Doth a fountaine at the same eye or outbursting send forth sweete water and bitt◠But they which thus pray striue by one and the same breath to quench and kindle the wrath of God The issue of their prayers is That he who is Lord and maker of all to whom the destruction of many cannot be more commodious than the weale and safetie of all should be as a consuming fire or malignant starre to some but as a sweete gleaming Spring Sunne to warme and cherish others And yet much happier were this age than any before it hath beene wore not the incomprehensible goodnesse of Omnipotent power more prejudiced by some moderne Catechismes or Theologicall explications of his nature and attributes than by the vncharitable prayers of the Heathen or of rude and vncatechized Christians Their errors or vnwarrantable glosses shall by Gods assistance elswhere be severed as well from the auncient orthodoxall truth as from the sacred Texts whereon they seeke to ground their doctrine both being vsually corrupted or their puritie not discerned by reason of their commixture with mans corruption or the aspersiōs which it cast vpon them At this time we onely take opportunitie to draw the poyson of their opinions rather than their opinions themselues vnto the same head whereto the former corrupt humors haue beene gathered CHAPTER XLIIII Of misperswasions concerning Iustice and Mercie divine 1. THere is in all of vs by nature and it is the remedilesse remainder of our first Parents pride a greater desire to be great than to be good by the strength of this exorbitancy or sinister sway of inbred appetite men of higher place or estimation for the most part become more willing to do that whence their inferiors may receiue wrong than to haue the case disputed or their credit called in question whether the harme redounding to others from their peremptory resolutions be in its nature a wrong or rather a necessary effect of just authoritie The aspersion which this corruption of nature secretly casts vpon the Almightie is that he may yea doth predestinate most soules created by him to an endlesse life more miserable than this mortall life whereof some through sicknesse others through age most through one or other miseries are often wearie that he did preordaine Adams fall as an vnavoydable meanes for accomplishing this his irresistible will and that all this may be done without any impeachment to his infinite justice goodnesse or mercy so solemnly avouched and much magnified in Scriptures Peremptory positions or determinations to this purpose are in these mens judgements farre more safe than to question though but for private satisfaction or resolution whether Gods absolute dominion over all creatures may fully acquit him from all suspition of wrongfull or hard vsing these supposed sonnes of reprobation The rigor of this opinion in part occasioned by this meanes findes opportunitie of enlarging it selfe in men either more inclined or better able to effect what they purpose by strong hand then to forecast the certaine atchieuements of their purposes by multiplicitie of meanes severally sufficient and all in their kinde moderate and iust For from this preiudiciall approbation of those courses as best which breede them least trouble in dispatch of private businesses they passe over their assent without further examination to a misgrowne branch of the former doctrine That Gods absolute decree for manifesting his glory is like their peremptory resolutions for accomplishing what they intemperately affect And these know no tenor but one Thus it shall be and no otherwise Such they are as leaue no varietie of meanes no possibilitie of choyce or indifferencie for their instruments or actors Yet were the course of every secondary agent so infallibly levelled by the first cause to those determinate effects which they produce as that they could not without violation of the law whereto his absolute will hath tyed them be inclined to any other the perpetuall operation of an infinite wisedome would be superfluous to the continuall governemen◠of heaven and earth Wisedome more than ordinary perhaps greater than Aristotle required in his principall Mouer might seeme requisite for the first ordering or fixing the severall branches of the vnresistible power vpon their determined and appointed ends vnto which notwithstanding being once indissolubly chained the number of effects possible being in this opinion no more then are determinately and inevitably future the same wit or skill which serues to keepe a clocke would without further improuement abundantly suffice to order the whole course of nature to guide and moderate the everlasting revolutions of time 2. Some offend as lately hath beene debated in seeking to inlarge Gods iustice by subtracting from his mercy or contrariwise every one semblably to the suggestions of his peculiar disposition The fault properly issuing from the confluence of these humors last touched is an extension of his power beyond the circuit of his wisedome and other attributes of like infinite extent which in vndoubted consequence is to restraine and bridle that power which they would seeme aboue others to enlarge from extending so far as reason with out Scripture may rightly conceiue the force and efficacie of the first cause may reach As we may not giue his honour to men or graven Images so may we not robbe one of his attributes to enrich another Although to speake as the truth in this case requires he that minisheth any one attribute doth in conclusion maime the rest 3. The severall places or instances of Scriptures whereon the diversitie of opinions concerning Gods loue or hate to his creatures is grounded I must hereafter warily touch and examine with that humilitie which becomes every true Christian especially such a meane member of the English
heretofore we so fervently expected only by secret instinct or sympathie Then fearing lest these transient gleams might fade or vanish either we craue with olde Simeon our Nunc dimittis Lord now lettest thou thy servants depart in peace while our eyes beholde thy salvation or complaine with the Prophet How long wilt thou be as a passenger or as one that soiourneth but for a night Returne ô Lord returne vnto thy resting place thou and the Arke of thy strength And with Peter Wee proffer to build him a lasting tabernacle to allot him our hearts for a perpetuall habitation 6. What joy of heart doth vsually accompany those internall illuminatioÌ„s which breake forth from such ardent desire of acquaintance with the divine nature as hath beene secretly kindled and nourished by a touch or sympathie of his former vnapprehended presence and how incomparably they exceede the most liuely representations which others can frame of his essence or attributes whether for solid information of the vnderstanding for affecting the will or for vniting our soules and affections to him may in part be gathered from that excessiue delight which men naturally take in their owne labours in respect of others more exquisitely adorned partly from the measure of our exceeding our selues either in the right apprehension or exquisite adorning of subjects much affected in comparison of these which wee naturally fancy not or lightly esteeme The fruits of other mens labours being as it were gathered to our hands we like no farther then as they fit those moulds of our speculatiue reflectiue conceites which haue their seate in the superior part of the soule and scarce communicate with affection And our judgements are alwayes most sincere in respect of those mens workes whose persons or conversation haue given vs least occasion of any affectionate sympathie or antipathie But in the approbation of our owne inventions affection and that naturall inclination whence they spring haue swaying voyces and vnlesse these stubborne suffragants be first squared to the rules of reason taught by others they enforce our judgements to bow vnto their bent But albeit too much affection leadeth many into folly yet no man vnderstands or handles any subiect well which he doth not much affect Hence Poets as their inventions are most delicate so are they vsually most in loue with them because the same bent of affection which animates and strengthens their fancies to bring forth doth also enamour them with the beautie of their owne broode Howbeit though indignation may giue the facultie of making verses where nature hath denyed it yet to make a Poet nature it selfe is not able but by giving an extraordinary affection of like or dislike of such objects as fall within the consideratioÌ„ of the Poeticall facultie Generally as blunt yrons throughly heated peirce further into hard bodies then cold edg-tooles so witts in themselues not the acutest whilest accompanied with ardor of affection conceiue most acutely and deeply of matters much affected and will got through such difficulties as would turne the edges of the best witts living not thus backed or fortified Nor is it the nimblenesse of conceit or apprehension but the vnrelenting temper of inbred desire and vncessant sway or working of secret instinct which brings the seeds of knowledge to iust growth and maturitie as those plants prosper best not which shoote out fastest or flourish soonest but such as haue the soundest rootes and sappiest stemmes 7. As reason requires affection to backe it so much more doth affection neede the eye of reason domesticke or forraine to direct and levell it nor is it onely directed but withall refined and purified by being as it were new cast in the modells of our rationall or reflexe conceipts each act of setled contemplation diminisheth somwhat of its naturall sowrnesse as crabs or wilde apples by often transplanting or engraffing grow more milde and pleasant As there is a circular progresse of seede from trees and trees from seede so is there a reciprocall production of desire or loue by knowledge and of knowledge by desire or loue in one and the same man For mans actions of this kinde are immanent and multiply within himselfe And as the seed since the first creation doth still in order of nature go before the tree so doth knowledge alwayes presuppose instinct or desire And yet knowledge of things amiable being come vnto maturitie is alwayes laden with loue as with its naturall fruit Nor should wee so much desire to know any subject vnlesse loue to it knowne were most naturall So that knowledge properly is but our naturall desire or implanted blind loue restored to sight and nature doth as it were first grope after that which at length she comes to see and having seene desires to embrace or kisse The apparant inconstancy of yong desires never satisfied manifests their naturall blindnesse in that they secretly sollicite a guide or instructer and the originall of this inconstancie as was intimated before is but the working of the soule seeking to vnsheath the implanted notion or desire of knowledge and of true happinesse from those fleshly invorapments wherewith it was blind folded as a childe in the wombe or to deduce the originall of the error from a principle more properly Philosophicall As vnto knowledge truely speculatiue there is required a perfect abstraction of the obiect knowne or of the forme by which wee know it from all materiall conditions or sensitiue adiuncts which accompanie it so on the behalfe of the intellectiue facultie it selfe especially for the right contemplation of matters morall or practicall a correspondent extraction of the ingraffed notion or desire of good is as requisite For as those speculatiue or generall rules which haue beene taken from sensitiue experiments not rightly severed or abstracted though they holde in some yet faile in most particulars when wee come to practise so likewise all loue of goodnesse whatsoever is vnsincere and vnconstant vnlesse the ingraffed desire of happinesse whence it springs be first stript of those sensitiue desires or propensions which by the corruption of nature are either linked with it or inclose it as the Ivâ—e doth the Oake And yet the more wee enure our selues to any sensuall or externall good the greater advantage those sensuall appetites or propensions gaine as well for strengthening as for fast linking or mingling themselues with the intellectuall inclination or desire which by long custome they either quite blind or make it willing to admit them for its leader 8. This then is the Aphorisme for whose proofe thus much hath beene premised The most compendious and safest way to conceiue or speake aright of God or his goodnesse is to haue our inbred desire of happinesse right set in youth and continually held as in a baye vnto those practises whereto God hath promised the communication of his gracious presence So shall the sincere knowledge of his goodnesse and other attributes breake forth in a measure fittest for every man in
he whose health hath beene perpetuall And this advantage he hath againe that though a disease in it selfe equally grievous doe assault him yet is it lesse assisted by impatience From former experience he is better enabled to see what did him hurt and what is likely to doe him good and as it were nurtured to expect a change 5. The best dyet then to avoide this morbus fatuus whose fits come vpon vs as well by fulnesse as by vacuitie is that which Salomon hath prescribed Giue me not povertie nor riches feed me with food convenient for me lest I be full and deny thee and say Who is the Lord or least I be poore and steale and take the name of my God in vaine Yet neither can mediocritie of fortunes without moderate desires nor vicissitude of want vnlesse the soule be inwardly purged much availe Our mindes may be much set on little matters and our desires of others prosperitie especially the flourishing estate of the Weale publike wherein we liue a poore contented private life may be too stiffe and peremptory Now such is the blindnesse of our corrupted nature such is our partialitie towards our owne desires though of others welfare as will hardly suffer vs to distinguish that which is absolutely good from that which seemes best to vs as for the present we stand affected From these originals mindes by nature or education in their kinde devout but subiect withall to stiffe and setled desires of mutable and transitory good being either divorced from delights whereon they haue long doted or frustrated of those hopes for whose accomplishment they haue sollicited divine powers with great earnestnesse and importunity are most obnoxious to such impulsions as throw men into Atheisme and irreligion These diseases were scarce knowne or heard of amongst the Romanes so long as their state after recovery from many crazes and sore wounds received dailâ—â—â—crease by meanes which in their observation might haue chalenged greatest praise for their prudent care of publike good more then humane but after it once contrary to all politicke expectation began to reele and totter and threaten ruine to the best pillars it had left to support it these and the like querulous mutterings began to assay her most ingenuous and devoutest children Heu faciles dare summa Deos eademque tueri Difficiles Ah facile Gods to reare vp states to greatest height But most averse to keepe them so vprear'd vpright But much worse then these it seemes by Cottaes complaint were more frequent in corrupt mindes a little before If the gods saith he haue a care of mankinde they should in reason make all men good or if not so at least tender the hap and welfare of such as are good indeed Why then were the two noble valorous and victorious Scipioes oppressed in Spaine by the perfidious Carthaginians A great number of worthy Patriots he there reckons besides all either exiled or slaine by their turbulent and factious enemies or which was worse than death to a Romane spirit beholden to tyrants for their liues and fortunes Another Poet not long after the vttering of this complaint perhaps moved thereto by the indignitie of Tullies vntimely death ingenuously acknowledgeth the like distrust of divine providence in himselfe as Tully had vented vnder the person of Cotta Dum rapiunt mala fata bonos ignoscite fasso Sollicitor nulles esse putare Deos. What oft I thinke once let me say Whilest bad Fates take best men away I am provok'd Gods to disclaime For Gods should giue death better aime The like cogitations did worke more desperately in such as had beene more deeply interessed in Pompey's faction after they saw so many noble Senators worthie in their iudgement to haue beene honoured like gods after death deprived of all funerall rites and exequies whilest the dead reliques of meere carcasses whilest they lived of parasiticall mecanicks or devoted instruments of tyrannicall lust were graced with Princely Monuments The very sight of these did by a kinde of Antiperistasis revive and sublimate the former offences taken against their gods for the indignities done vnto their Nobles Marmoreo Licinus tumulo iacet at Cato parvo Pompeius nullo Quis putet esse Deos Base Licinus hath a pompous Tombe of gaudie marble stone Wise Cato but a foolish one the mightie Pompey none Yet all this while we dreame of Gods and dreame we doe I wis For Gods are none or if there be how can they suffer this 6. That vengeance belonged vnto God was another branch of the generall notion ingraft by nature in the hearts of Heathen And if he did not shew himselfe an awful judge and avenger of prodigious cruelties which ordinary lawes could not redresse this neglect of dutie as they tooke it made them bolder with Iupiter himselfe than the poore woman was with the Emperour that askt him Why then dost then raigne if thou be not at leasure to heare my cause They questioned whether Iupiter reigned indeed or were but a name without authority vnlesse he gaue instant proofe of his powrefull wrath or displeasure against such as displeasd them most Idem erat non esse non apparere A perfect Character of this passion hath the sweet Tragedian exprest in Vlysses led into the Cyclops den as a sheepe vnto the shambles After his orisons to his soveraigne Lady Pallas he thus concludes with Iupiter Hospitalies himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. O Ioue no Ioue nor strangers God in true esteeme Vnlesse my woefull case thou see and me redeeme 7. The Psalmists complaint is much more moderate yet such as argues his faith to haue beene assaulted though not quaild with like distrust For thy sake are we killed all the day long we are counted as sheepe for the slaughâ—er Awake why sleepest thou O Lord arise cast vs not off for ever Wherefore hidest thou thy face and forgettest our affliction and our oppression For our soule is bowed downe to the dust our belly cleaveth vnto the earth Arise for our helpe and redeeme vs for thy mercies sake O Lord God to whom vengeance belongeth O God to whom vengeance belongeth shew thy selfe Pettish desires of private hopes contrived with greatest policie and sollicited with all possible care and industry finally crost brought many Heathens as yet they doe sundry Christians vnto a point of Atheisme somewhat short of the former yet as dangerous for any professed Disciple of Christ to harbour at vsually discovered in bitter exclamations against fates ill lucke or fortune But many discontented speeches in both kindes proceed oftimes from the heat and impulsion of present passion whose frequent interposition often caused all former apprehensions of the divine providence or goodnesse to vanish as vnevennesse of ground makes travellers loose the sight of steeples or turrets which they lately beheld But as these present themselues againe vnto their view as soone as they ascend vnto the
XVI The generall fallacie by which Sathan seduced the World to acknowledge false Gods 1. THe manner how indefinite notions of the Deitie did branch themselues into Idolatrie though many haue attempted to handle at large none in my judgement haue so directly hitt as the Philosopher doth in a touch or glaunce The fallacie was in converting that Maxime or generall notion simply which was convertible onely by Accident All conceived of God as the best obiect they could conceiue whence many finding contentment to their desires beyond all measure of good distinctly knowne before forthwith collected that to be God which had given them such contentment Others more desirous to gratulate their extraordinary benefactors with more then vsuall respect then able to distinguish betweene the severall degrees or sorts of honor made bold to borrow such as was due vnto the divine power therewith to gratifie men and so by custome or bad example brought posteritie to pay that as an ordinary debt which in heate of affection or vnwildie exuitation of minde had beene mis-tendered by way of complement or lavish gratuitie In mindes not well acquainted with the severall kindes of things desireable nor with the degrees of their goodnesse it is alwayes easie for any good of higher degree or ranke then hath beene formerly tasted to intercept that respect or affection which by rule of justice belongeth onely to the best And the affection thus alienated or misguided disenables our inclinations for aspiring any higher For although the capacitie of the humane soule be in a manner infinite and all of vs infinitely desire to be happy yet our apprehensions of goodnesse or happinesse it selfe are confused and indistinct The best of vs vntill Gods spirit become our guide are no better then blind men in the choyce of things good From this natiue blindnesse of our appetites and apprehensions we infinitely desire that which first or most frequently possesseth our soules with delight though in its nature but a finite good and our desires being infinitely set on that which is but finitely good doe dull our sight dead our appetite and abate our capacities of that infinite goodnesse which we naturally long after Thus as heretofore is observed our desires of good ends which admit no bound or limit are often taken vp by the meanes whose acquaintance was onely sought for better compassing the end And many yong wits finding vnusuall refreshing in extemporary exchange of jâ—sts of pleasant discourse or in opening some veine of Poetry are in short time brought to confine themselues wholly to this kinde of dyet contented to be continually fed with froth otherwise framed for contemplation of such mysteries as might perpetually distill Nectar and Ambrosia 2. By a wittie resemblance directly subordinate to this generall occasion of error â—re intimated doth the noble Mornay expresse the manner of some Heathens seducements to worship the Hoast of Heaven This saith he so fell out as if some Rustique that thinkes a great deale better of himselfe when he hath on his holy daies suite permitted to come within the Court should mistake the first gawdie coate he mette with for his Prince or Soueraigne Heaven they conceived to be the seate or court of divine powers and the Sunne Moone and Starres being bodies glorious in themselues and sensible procurers of common benefits to men partly by reason of their place partly by that high ranke of excellency or goodnesse which they enioy amongst the partes of this visible world might easily be adored for gods by such as had small or no relish of any other good than what was sensible Some Barbarians as is said to this day thinke vs Christians but a kinde of senselesse creatures for worshipping a God whom we neither see heare nor feele neglecting the Sunne to whose comfortable beames more senses then one are beholding This report though not avouched by any authentique Relator whiles related in my hearing by some who avouched themselues eare-witnesses of such expostulations with Barbarians I could not reiect as incredible because not vnconsonant to Caesars Narration of the auncient Germanes The Germanes saith he which worshipped no Gods besides the Sunne the Moone c. of whose beneficence they were sensible Their manner of life as is well knowne was but simple without varietie of trades for supplying of necessities much more destitute of good arts or curious inventions for ornament of publique State otherwise their gods had beene more Had the mystery of Printing to omit other profitable inventions of moderne Germanes beene invented in those auncient times whereof Caesar writes Gutenberg of Ments to whom the Christian world is vnder God most beholding for this sacred Art might haue beene a God of higher esteeme throughout Germany than Mercury or Iupiter himselfe or any other God of the Germanes by Caesar mentioned For with most people of those times as Zenoes scholler had observed any profitable Invention was title sufficient to chalenge the esteeme or honor of a God even the things themselues so invented if rare or extraordinarily beneficiall were enstiled with the attributes of divine powers Thus as the wise man had observed the Heathens multiplied their gods according to the varietie of the matters which they principally desired or feared And Cotta deriding the Somnolent and sluggish gods of the Epicures doth in comparison acquite the Aegyptians from their grosse foppery in that they consecrated no beasts but for some publique benefit in their opinion received from them 3. Of publique benefits freedome from daunger was held a part whence those beasts how loathsome soever vnto whose annoyance they were most obnoxious were reverenced and feared as gods Not the Crocodile but had his peculiar rites or pacificall ceremonies howbeit his worshippers held it a point of religious policy to hold like correspondency with Iohneumon a kinde of water Rat which devoured this gods young ones To attribute divine honour vnto beasts how beneficiall soever may seeme to vs very grosse and without some other collaterall impulsiue causes scarce derivable from the former originall of this error But whatsoever the causes might be experience hath proued the effect not vnusuall amongst barbarous people in this age There be at this day in Samogithia many Idolaters which nourish a kinde of Serpents that go or creepe vpon foure short feet like Lizzards their bodies blackish and fat about some three handfulls in length and these they nourish as their houshold Gods And whilest they come or creepe vpon set daies by ceremoniall invitation vnto their meate the Master of the house with his familie attends them with feare and reverence to their repast at their repast vntill they returne vnto their place It is a strange Narration which this Author in the same place commends vnto vs vpon the credit of his Hoast Which how farre it is to be taken I referre it to such as will take paines to reade the Author himselfe or his words here quoted in
processe of time the hurtfull or profitable beasts which Princes had coÌ„secrated were adored as Trismegists father had beene and the Princes likewise which had consecrated them were coadored in their images The manner of this last errors intrusion as Vives hath well observed out of Diodorus descended in part at least from the devises or emblemes which Princes bare in their Shields or Crests Some best liking dogs others Lyons Wolues or Cats every one as sympathie of nature fancie or chance misled them The solemnitie vsed at their consecration that is whilest they were taken for armes being great did taint the spectators mindes with superstitious fancies And vnto minds thus tainted their liuelesse pictures being borne as crests or ensignes were reputed for no bystanders but for authors or coadjutors whether of victâ—tious successe in wars or of prosperous events in peace The Princes afterwards fell in loue with the names of the beasts propagated the incestuous title vnto Cities This speedie transportation of affectionate mindes from curious ceremony or solemnitie vnto grosse and formall Idolatrie the eternall Lawgiver did best know to be too naturall vnto man and therefore sought to prevent the disease by euacuating the antecedent cause To this purpose are those prohibitions of curious ceremony in mourning for friends deceased Yee shall not cut your flesh for the dead nor make any print or marke vpon you I am the Lord This remembrance I am the Lord intimates vnto vs that these prints or markes were the badges of another Master who by those curious expressions of mournfull sorrow for their dead sought to bring them vnto a never dying sorrow of body and soule The same prohibition is more particularly directed to the house of Aaron with speciall restraint from vsing such ceremonies as in other families of Israel were not vnlawfull vnlesse for parents brother or sister before marriage deceased no sonne of Aaron might mourne For want of such lawes to moderate and bridle this naturall affection of lamenting the dead both Priest and people among the heathens ranne headlong into this Idolatrie of invoking men deceased For as the wise-man obserues when a father mourned grievously for his sonne that was taken away suddainely he made an Image for him that was once dead This at the first was but to solace griefe by an imaginary or representatiue presence of him that was truely absent But that tender respect which parents beare vnto their sicke children for whose releife or ease no cost can seeme too great no attendance so it please too curious doth naturally enlarge it selfe after their death and having a picture whereon to gaze will hardly refraine to present it in more ceremonious and to 〈◊〉 sort with all those respect and services which were due to the partie liuing or like to die So the same wise man couples solemne Idolatrie as the immediate effect to such curiositie or ceremony Now he worshippeth him as a God and ordained to his seruants ceremonies and sacrifices Thus by processe of time this wicked custome prevailed and was kept as a law and Idols were worshipped by the commandement of Tyrants Wisedome 14 vers 14 1â— The first degree of this temptation observed by him every man I am perswaded may in some sort experience in himselfe The multiplication of the practise by imitation and flattery is plentifully experienced in most heathen stories But the originall of the temptation was thus 3. Impotent desires of still enioying their companies to whom wee haue fastned our dearest affections will hardly take a deniall by death But as some longing to be delivered of a well conceited argument haue set vp their cappes for Respondents and disputed with them as with liue Antagonists so we goe on still as in a waking dreame to frame a capacitie in the dead of accepting our respect and loue in greater measure then without envie of others or offence to them it could haue beene tendered whilest they were living Did not the spirit of God awake vs the Idolatrie issuing from this spring would steale vpon vs like a deluge in a slumber Many who by their preeminencie amongst men haue affected to be reputed gods haue of other mens Lords become such slaues to their own affectioÌ„ as to worship their dead fauorites with divine honour So Alexander having testified his loue to Hephestions corps with such curious signes and ceremonies of mourning as God in his Law had forbidden seekes afterward to solace his griefe by procuring Mortmaine from the Oracle for his dead friend to hold greater honours then this great Conqueror of the world could haue bestowed vpon him though he had liued to haue beene his heire To qualifie him by dispensation from Iupiter Ammon for an heroicke or halfe-god and thereby to make him capable of sacrifice could not suffice without a Temple whose curiositie and state would as the wise-man obserues thrust forward the multitude to increase their superstition The more beautifull the Temples were the better god would be seeme to the multitude easily allured through the beautie of the worke to take him now for a god who a little before was honoured but as man And good encouragement Cleomenes the Deputie or over-seer of these edifices had to see them most accurately finished having a pardon for all his faults disloyall practises or publicke wrongâ— done by him to the Egyptian Nation vpon condition there were no fault in the Temples erected for Hephesitons honour If all did follow the patterne which Cleomenes in the first sacrifice would set them few of the auncient gods were like to goe before this new halfe god or heroicke The issue of Adrians immoderate loue vnto his minion Antinous whiles he liued was after his death superstitious fopperie altogether as grosse vnlesse perhaps it were tempered as some thinke with Necromanticall impietie An Oracle was erected to speake for him who could not now speake for himselfe albeit Oracles I take it at this time were dumbe but so much the fittâ—r for a dead dog as the name of God speld backward would best befit him and others of his profession his sepulcher was according to the Egyptian fashion he had a whole Citie called by his name And to establish an opinion of the Emperours authoritie to create gods a new starre was either seene or fained as if the heavens by this apparition had ratified this earthly Monarchs graunt or charter Perhaps some Comet might at the same time be presented by the Prince of the aire to delude the inhabitants of the earth 4. But leaving these grosse fooleries That generall fallacie which opened the first gappe to heathenish Idolatrie had a peculiar efficacy in men honourably addicted to their deceased worthies From conversion of the common notion that divine nature was beneficiall and good every great benefactor was by the rude and ignorant adored as god Now the warlike and valourous were by every Nation held best deservers of the
that there is no Nation so brutish or inhumaine but is season'd with some opinion of the Gods Many conceiue amisse of them for so much bad custome in all like cases will effect yet all suppose a vertue or power divine not drawne hereto by voyces of others or debatements This is an opinion established not by civill lawes or institutions Now the free or vnsollicited consent of all Nations concerning any matter is to be esteemed as the Law of Nature 2. This observation of times more auncient is fully acquitted from the exception of moderne Atheists by the plentifull experiments of the age late past wherein diverse Countries peopled with inhabitants of different manners and education haue beene discovered the very best being more rude and barbarous then any Nation knowne but by heare-say to the Romanes And yet even in this refuse of Barbarians the very worst such as for their rudenesse and vncivilitie could hardly be discerned from brute beasts approue themselues to be of better linage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that they acknowledge Gods or superior powers whom they honour with sacrifices other rites in testimony of their gratitude for benefits received from them As if the signification of Mans obligements to an invisible power for his life his health his food and other necessaries or at least for priviledges from disasters or mischances were as naturall to him as fawnings or like dumbe signes of loue vnto their fosterers or cherishers are to dogs or other domesticke and tame creatures The civill wisedome which appeares in Lycurgus Lawes Numaes Institutions with other like amongst the more civill sort of auncient Heathens may probably argue abilitie in them of framing many particular rites of Religion as politick Sophismes to retaine the simple in awe and blind devotion to their Hests Albeit the invention of such false worships without imitation of some true patterne formerly knowne would haue beene very hard if not impossible even vnto these wise and prudent Lawgivers Nor could their artificiall inventions haue wrought so succesfully vpon their mindes that were seduced by them vnlesse they had beene naturally inclined vnto the ingrafted truth of the generalls vnder pretence of whose soveraigne right these particulars were commended But who would father the first Notion of a Deitie and Religion vpon policie rather than nature when it appeares not vniversall onely but perpetuall to the severall generations of sundry people in whom no print of any policie saue meerly naturall is now extant 3. Some scruple notwithstanding may here be ministred to yong Students from these or the like vagrant Axioms whose seate or proper subiect is not so well knowne as they are frequent 1. That the decrees or iniunctions of Nature cannot be preiudiced by Custome or education 2. That such generall principles as by her light are cleare can hardly be denied by any of her children When as the experience of later times especially presents vnto vs a great many vnto whom Nature in distribution of her other gifts hath shewed her selfe no stepmother but rather indulgent as to her darlings all mightily oppugning this truth which we that are as they deeme of duller capacitie in matters secular devoutly obey as her vndoubted Law But here we may well doubt whether bad education or evill customes haue not better enabled these men to striue against such practises as this Dictate of Nature prescribes than vtterly to disclaime all sense of her suggestions or shake off all secret notions of her summons How ever that be for we know our owne hearts not theirs nor can we beleeue them that will not beleeue there is a God albeit they would interpose an oath for our assurance one way or other this we know that nothing can be more naturall to man than reason And yet how many haue we seene in whom nature and art haue done their parts by too much studie or intemperance become so vtterly destitute of all vse of reason or discretion that such actions or demeanure as nature prescribes to all men as they are reasonable haue beene more neglected by them than by brute beasts yea oftimes furiously inverted 4. This instance amongst others may be our warrant for restrayning the former Axiome that Nature cannot be preiudiced by Custome to nature either altogether inanimate or meerely sensitiue whose inclination is single and but one way set or if appliable to the reasonable or intellectuall nature whose propensions as they are many so are they freely fashionable to diverse meanes and apt to be directed to contrary ends it is true onely of the generall facultie or remote propensions not of their actuall promptnesse vse or exercise Many there be so extreamly vicious that their mindes seeme now de facto wholly bent to doe others mischiefe This notwithstanding prooues not that nature hath sowne no seeds of vertue in their soules but rather their wilfull suffering these to be choaked and stifled by cherishing contrary desires or imbracing pleasant allurements vnto evill If such blindnesse haue by bad custome crept on some that they cannot now discerne any lineaments of Gods image in their hearts it will not hence follow that this light of nature whereby they might haue seene Him did never shine vnto them but rather that they haue smoothered it because they loued the workes of darkenesse better then the deeds of light purposely obliterating all resemblances of Him who is the avenger of evill whose pourtraiture their first parents had blurred by imprinting his enemies picture vpon it Nothing more easie than for others so they will be observant clearely to discerne the liue image not of the old man but of the old serpent in such as cannot or will not see the image of God in themselues 5. Besides this difference betweene the inclinations of nature in man and in creatures inanimate or irrationall a difference there is not much observed but worthy of diligent observation betweene common principles meerly speculatiue or abstract and others practicall or morall The latter may be in many intensiuely more cleare than the former as indeed they are more naturall in respect they are more deeply implanted in the very soule not let into the braine by externall senses albeit even for this reason they are by many lesse regarded as being more familiar then such speculatiue notions as these every whole is greater than its part twice two make foure or such like of whose certaintie no man at any time can doubt not that our nature as reasonable is of it selfe more inclined to abstract speculations than to moralities but that speculatiue notions are seated in the head or vtmost confines of the soules regiment as in an Academie or Cloyster priviledged from such tumultuous broiles as might divert our intentions from beholding them or retract our inclinations from adherence to their truth On the contrary such disturbances are most frequent in the Court or Pallace of this little Kingdome wherein morall notions of God and goodnesse haue their
former levell so is it likely many of these querulous Romanes did resume their wonted perswasions of divine powers and their favour towardes mankinde after their turbulent thoughts begun to settle and their disquietted minds recover their naturall seate or station Others more blinded by obstinacy did finally mistrust all former apprehensions being neither cleare nor perfectly observed for meere fancies as weake or dimme sights vsually suspect whether they truely did see such things as in farre distances appeared by short and sudden glymses or their eyes did but dazle 8. But all in this place we intended was to search out the originall if not of all yet of some more principall branches of habituate and obdurate Atheisme vnto which search this observation of indulgence to violent passions or pettishnesse of hopefull desires not satisfied was thus far pertinent that these do settle men otherwise by nature and education not irreligious in the very dregs of these impieties Nor is man as was lately intimated like vnto inanimate creatures whose naturall disposition or inclination cannot be preiudiced by custome Stones though they be moved a thousand times one way their aptitude notwithstanding vnto such motion is no way greater in the last course then in the first Farre otherwise it is with man who as he hath naturall apprehensions of goodnesse so hath he inclinations vnto evill no lesse imbred or naturall the strength of whose bent to burst out into all vngodlinesse is alwayes increased by their actuall motions vnlesse reason exercise her authoritie over them either by substracting their incernall nutriment or by preventing outward occasions which provoke them or by taking them at best advantage when they haue spent themselues in the retire Not thus prevented or controuled in time the habits which naturally result from frequencie of their outrage may come to be no lesse stiffe than they are violent The manner how these fits of passion grow into such grievous rooted diseases is as if we should imagine a stone by often mooving downewards every time to retaine some one or few vntill it had at length incorporated all those degrees of gravitation which naturally accrew in the motion into its permanent weight so as laid in a iust ballance the setled sway of it should be as great as the actuall force of its wonted descent perpetually able to counterpoise as heavie and massie a body as the fall of it from an high tower supposing it had fallen into the opposite scale could haue stirred or elevated Of all passions such as worke inwardly are most dangerous because their growth is insensible and vnobservable Such are fretting iealousies ambitious discontents eagernesse of revenge or other desires overmatched with impotencie of effecting them Generally all grievances which haue no vent without which humane affections like to liquors kept in close vessels or nipt glasses secretly multiply their naturall strength Strangulat inclusus dolor atque exaestuat intus Cogitur vires multiplicare suas As all passions obscure the vnderstanding for the present so the setling of them into habits brings a perpetuall blindnesse vpon the soule alwayes breeding either obdurate Atheisme pernicious Heresie or Idolatrie CHAPTER V. Of habituated or setled Atheisme Why this disease was not so Epidemicall in ancient as in latter times Of the disposition or temper from which irreligion or incogitancie of divine powers which is the first and lowest branch of Atheisme vsually springs 1. THE Pharisee though for his conversation and civill carriage precise and strict in respect of most his ancestours did yet exceed them farther in hardnesse of heart than he came short of them in outragiousnesse of passion The sight of our Saviours miracles and experience of his good life would I am perswaded sooner haue wonne the most Idolatrous or boisterous of his forefathers than him or his sober associates vnto true beliefe From consideration of this his temper besides other inducements I haue elsewhere observed people auncient whether in respect of the generall course of the world or of succession in severall kingdomes to haue beene vsually more rash and impetuous in their attempts but not so setled in resolutions which were impious as their successors in time are and haue beene The bent of their nature did sway a larger compasse and to vse the Mathematicians dialect described a greater circle by it actuall motions Hence were they more easily drawne by the peculiar inticements of those times to greater outrages than men of their ranke commonly by ordinary temptations now are Howbeit for the same reason they were more quickly reclaimed by such corrections as moue not our mindes once set amisse 2. And this in part may be the reason why Atheisme was not so habituated nor the deniall or doubt of divine providence so stiffe in them as in the irreligious of our dayes Consonant hereto are the causes before assigned of posterities mistrusting the reports of antiquitie vnto which we may adde this observation not altogether the same with them nor quite different The visible characters of this great booke of nature were of old more legible the externall significations of divine power more sensible and apter to imprint their meaning both purposely suited to the disposition of the worlds non-age which for secular cunning or artificiall observation was for the most part rude and childish in respect of those times and Countries wherein Atheisme through mans curiositie came to full height and growth 3. Those Marriners with whom Ionas sayled in calling every man vnto his God and rousing their sleepie passenger to ioyne in prayer with them did no more then many of their profession in this age vpon like exigences doe A raging sea will cause the naturall notions of God and goodnesse to worke in such as haue taken little or no notice of them by land as one vpon this experiment wittily descants Qui nescit orare discat navigare But few of our time would trouble themselues in such perplexitie with searching out the causes of sudden stormes or if they did the causes ordinarily assigned by the experimentall Weather-wizard or naturall Philosopher would content them Fewer I thinke would make enquiry for whose speciall sinne their common prayers for deliverance were not heard seeing God daily accustometh vs to like repulses in particular dangers the oftner no doubt because we examine not our hearts with like diligence in like extremities nor powre forth our soules with such fervency as these Marriners did Their resolution to find out the author of their ill successe as Iosuah did Achans by lot perswades me the observations of grace and nature did not then iarre so much as now they doe They saith the Psalmist that goe downe to the Sea in ships that doe businesse in great waters These see the workes of the Lord and his wonders in the deepe for he commandeth and raiseth the stormy winde which lifteth vp the waues thereof They mount vp to the heaven and they goe downe againe to the depths their
chiefe enemy to their greatest good Thus they fall from one mischiefe to another vntill their consciences become cauterized with the flames of lust and being past all feeling they giue themselues over vnto lasciviousnesse to worke all vncleannesse with greedinesse 3. All dissolute behaviour is dangerous and serues as fewell to this infernall fire which will excruciate that soule after death whose conscience it seares in this life but that is much worse which is matched with hautie vastnesse of minde for the most part transfused from gluttonish appetite or the Epicurean disposition As Boares and Bulls or other creatures by nature or breeding tame onely through hugenesse of body or fulnesse of plight grow often wilde fierce or mankene so men from a like disposition of body or indulgence to brutish appetites come to a gyantly temper of minde readie to proclaime warre against heaven and heavenly powers What shall wee thinke the Gyants were saith Macrobius but a wicked generation of men which denied the gods who for this reason were thought to haue attempted their deposition from their heauenly thrones He was not pacified sayth a better Writer towards the old Gyants who fell away in the strength of their foolishnesse Hence the same Author prayes ioyntly against these sister sinnes and twinns of hell O Lord father and God of my life leaue me not in their imagination neither giue me a proud looke but turne away from thy servant a Gyantly minde Take from me vaine hope and concupiscence and retaine him in obedience that desireth continually to serue thee Let not the greedinesse of the belly nor lust of the flesh hold me and giue not me thy servant over to an impudent or gyantly minde This he prayes against was the very temper of the Cyclops as Homer and Euripides haue pictured them After Vlysses and his mates had besought the Gyant to be good vnto them for Iupiters sake the supposed protector of the helplesse stranger He answered him in this or like language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. My pettie guest a foole thou art or sure thou comm'st from farre Thou hop'st with names of heavenly Gods the Cyclops stout to scarre Vnto the Gods wee owe no feare wee no observance shâ—w Our selues to be as good as they or better well wee knowe For Goate-nurst loue his loue or hate I waigh it not a whit Nor thee nor thine for him I 'le spare but as I thinke it fit His picture as Euripides hath taken it is more Gyantly vast For he paints him proclaiming his belly to be the onely or greatest God vnto whose sacrifice the fruits increase of the earth are due by title so soveraigne as neither heaven nor earth could withdraw or deteyne them Speeches altogether as vnsavoury will the belly-servers of our time belch out though not directly against God because they liue not in an Anarchie destitute of humane lawes as the Cyclops did yet against the messengers of his sacred will revealed for their salvation whiles we dehort them from these shamefull courses wherein they glory to their destruction And albeit they vse no such expresse forme of liturgie as did the Cyclops while they sacrifice to their bellies yet S. Pauls testimony is expresse that their bellie is their God And of the two Priests or grand sacrificers to this domesticke Idoll the dry Glutton me thinkes resembles the Land-serpent as his brother the beastly Drunkard doth the Water-snake This latter is more vnsightly and vgly to the eye the former more noysome and venemous to religious societie His enmitie against the Womans seed more deadly but lesse avoydable because the working of his poyson is lesse offensiue and more secret 4. Simple Atheisme consists in an equilibration of the minde brought as it were so to hang in its owne light as it cannot see whether way to encline but hoovers in the middle with Diagoras de Dijs non habeo quid dicam c. Concerning the Gods I haue nothing to say for them or against them Howbeit to men thus minded it seemes the safest course lite pendente to sacrifice onely to their owne desires and to hold Gods part by sequestratioÌ„ The curious or disputing Atheist striues to draw himselfe downe a little below this levell by matching the attractions of divine goodnesse with the motions of his owne imaginations But the malignancy of this Atheisme which ariseth from combination of the late mentioned distempers may grow so great as to turne the notions of good and evill topsie turvie transposing these inclinations which nature hath set on heaven and heavenly things towards hell As all inordinate affections more or lesse abate or countersway our propensions vnto goodnesse so the excesse of such as are most malignant bring the soule to an vtter distaste or loathing of whatsoever is truely good and to delight in doing mischiefe Now the very procurers or advancers of mischiefe much affected shall be deified with rites and titles due to God alone as it were in factious opposition to the holy spirit The same vnwildy or vast desires of sensuall pleasures or contentments which disenables men to distinguish that which is truely good from that which seemeth best to their distempers will with the same facilitie draw them blindfold to a like sinister or preposterous choyce of their patrones As the truely godly worship the true God because his greatnesse is so good to all so vnto these wicked or malignant Impes That shall be Lord That shall be God whatsoever it be which they esteeme their greatest good or vnder whose protection they may quietly possesse what they already enioy We see it too often experienced that stubborne desires of lucre honour lust or revenge draw men destitute of other meanes for accomplishing their hopes vnto expresse and wilfull compacts with Devils or performances of sacrifices to infernall powers The observant Poet makes Iuno speake as great Personages in like remedilesse crosses vsually resolue Flectere si nequeo superos Acheronta movebo nor doth the language of that other ought vary from the common practise of forlorne hopes suggested by vast desires Vos mihi manes Este boni quoniam superis aversa voluntas If these and the like prayers or wishes of heathen supplicants found gratefull successe their second edition in plaine English was thus What Heavens haue marr'd whiles Hell amends Fiends goe for Gods and Gods for Fiends 5. With many men otherwise of sober disposition onely too much wedded to the world or to their own wills a sorcerers charme will be as acceptable as a godly prayer so the event ensuing giue present content or satisfaction to their desires Yet many Atheists as Vasques counts it a point of speciall observation vpon wicked practises sometimes recoyle and come to beleeue there is a God or guide of nature by evident experience of magicke feates farre surpassing the power of man or creatures visible 6. It
popular Fame To the framing of this middle temper betweene â—elation of minde and timorous deiection was that Counsell of Cyprian directed Vt cognoscere Deum possis te ante cognosce Nothing is farther from vs saith a learned Writer than we are from our selues and naughtie men as Seneca saith are every where besides with themselues yet the farther from our selues we are the farther we are from our God Therefore saith God by the Prophet Esay Heare you that are a far of And in the language of Salomon in his purest thoughts to turne to our owne hearts and to turne to the Lord with our hearts are of equivalent signification Now to know our selues as Tully obserues binds vs as well to a modest esteeme of our owne worth or to speake more Christian-like of our place amongst Gods creatures as to a notice of our infirmities Too much deiection as S. Cyprian concludes disposeth to Idolatry as Ingenuous feare doth to the knowledge of the true God Howbeit of such devotion as the Heathens had feare it seemes was the mother hence perhaps were they so observant first to offer placatory sacrifices to such Gods as might do them harme afterward propitiatory sacrifices to those of whom they expected good Observabant Antiqui in sacrificijs vt antè adversos placarent et postea propitios invocarent Thus much if best Grammarians are to be beleeued is curiously charactarized vnto vs by the Romane Poet who as this late Writer complaines was much better seene in Heathen rites than Christian Divines are in the mysteries of sacrifices offred vnto the true God For instance to our present purpose when Aenaeas and his followers had resolved to offer sacrifice for a faire Winde and merrie passage towardes Candie they offer first to Neptune then to Apollo to the stormie winter before the sweete spring Winds Ergo agite divum ducunt quâ iussa sequamur Placemus ventos Gnosia regna petamus Nec longo distant cursu modò Iupiter adsit Tertia lux classem Cretaeis sistet in oris Sic fatus meritos aris mactauit honores Taurum Neptuno taurum tibi pulcher Apollo Nigram Hyemi pecudem zephyris felicibus albam Againe when Dido wooed the Gods with sacrifices to further her intended marriage with Aeneas though Iuno were the first in her intention and esteeme as being finally to blesse the Match yet she begins with Ceres whom she feared would be most averse as detesting all marriage for the stealth of her daughter married against her will and in the next place with Apollo who never had wife himselfe and therefore bore no great affection vnto marriage Principio delubra adeunt pacemque per aras Exquirunt mactant lectas de more bidentes Frugiferae Cereri Phoeboque patrique Lyaeo Iunoni ante omnes cui vincla iugalia curae The summe of these and like instances is That feare was the beginning of such wisedome as the Heathens had concerning divine powers Not Ignorance but Feare was the Mother of their devotion 3. There is no sinewe of carnall strength but secretly lifts vp the heart and sometimes the hand and voice against the God of our strength and health Might Caligula whensoever it thundred haue had the opportunitie of scouting into a place as well fenc't by nature as the Cyclops den he would haue thought as little or lightly as the vast Gyant did of the great God whom he never thought of but with feare whom he never feared saue when he spake to him in this terrible language which yet would haue stricken small terrour through thicke rockes into such a brawnie heart as the anatomy of the Cyclops representeth who thought so much of the noise as came to his cares might easily be counter-blasted with the like within Mindes altogether as gyantly and vast are often lodged in bodies not halfe so huge What is wanting to the supportance of such security in personall strength and greatnesse is made vp by multitude of consorts As imagine a garrison of good fellowes so qualified as Syracides prayed he never might be should meete in a nooke or sconce as well guarded against storme and tempest and as well stored with victualls as was the Cyclops caue what other note might be expected whiles good liquor lasted but let the Welkin roare The best vent we can giue to this naturall pride that makes vs thus prone to blasphemy would be to make our infirmities the chiefe matter of our glory or boasting 4. As the feare of God is the beginning of wisedome so the beginning of this feare is from a temper apprehensiue of terrors represented in his creatures Primus in orbe Deos fecit timor was a speech vttered by an audacious Hare-braine in a furious passion no marvell if it did overlash The present advice of the Oracle did contradict his foole-hardy desire of warre and to perswade his desperate companions the ominous signes related were but pretended by the Prophet He calls the originall of Religion in question as if divine powers had no true subsistence but were represented onely by gliÌ„mering feare or faint-heartednesse And faint-hearted he counted all that were not so furious as himselfe But vnto this suspition ingenuous feare had not beene lyable vnlesse common experience had taught him or the Poet which painted him in this humour that men in perplexities vnexpected troubles or feares in humane censure remedilesse are vsually most mindfull of God Extremities indeed cause the naturall notions which are ingraffed in our hearts to worke they imprint not the opinion or perswasion of Religion But it is a fallacie too familiar vnto sober thoughts even in their accurate disquisitions of natures secrets to esteeme that as the totall cause or first producer which sets nature onely a working or doth but cherish or manifest effects truely pre-existent though latent Perchance the letting out of a little hot bloud or some other more grievous print of divine punishment would haue restored the Bedlem to his right minde so as others might haue taken out that lesson from him which Plinie the yonger did from his sicke friend not much vnlike to that of our Apostle When I am weake then am I strong The languishment of a certaine friend sayth this Author hath taught me of late that we are best men when we are sickly what sicke man is tempted with avarice or lust he is not subiect to loue or greedie of honour wealth he contemnes how little soever he hath it sufficeth him being shortly to leaue it Then he remeÌ„bers there be Gods that he himselfe is but a man he envies no man he admires no man he despiseth no man maligning speeches neither winne his attention nor please his inclination his imagination runs on baths or fountaines This is the chiefe of his care the prime of his desires if it please God he may recover his former health and plight he purposeth an harmlesse and an happie life What
felicitie then a Cloud with Iuno The favorers of the former opinion would perhaps replie that the manner of the inherence of intellectuall characters in the soule might in some sort be such as hath beene said though they be often mutually diffused one through another as if two should write with the iuice of Onions vpon the same paper the one not knowing what or where the other had written or that their fashion by the soules too deepe immersion in this fluxible matter might be so soiled that they could not be read but by confused coniectures as letters written in moist paper or it may be a Platonicke would require some chimicall purification of the soule vnto the extraction of the distinct and proper idea of truth how ever it be it is an error common to him and some Divines but very inconsequent to other points of both their doctrines that the soule of Man though truly immortall should be of the same nature with angelicall substances which are neither apt physically to informe bodies nor to participate of their infirmities or to loose their first naturall light although they were imprisoned or confined within them 2. More pertinently to the point proposed it may be questioned whether every specificall nature which we vnderstand or know haue a distinct and severall character answering to it in the soule Or whether the fabricke or compositure of the vnderstanding it selfe includes onely such a vertuall similitude to the formes or essences of all things as the organ of every sensitiue facultie doe to all the proper obiects thereto belonging The perception or representation of greene colours is not I take it made vpon any one part of the eye whose constitution hath more particular affinitie with greene then with blew or red but the whole humour wherein vision is made being homogeneall hath not colour in it actually is not more inclined to one then to another framed of purpose as an Aequilibrium or indifferent receptacle of all impressions in that kinde as apt according to every part as any to receiue the shape or image of any one colour as another Nor doth the common sense perceiue sounds and colours by two Heterogeneall parts whereof the one doth better symbolize with hearing the other with sight rather the internall constitution of this facultie includes an Homogeneall aequabilitie of affinitie vnto both these senses 3. The soule of man being created after the image of God in whom are all things though of an indiuisible and immortall nature hath notwithstanding such a vertuall similitude of all things as the eye hath of colours the eare of sounds or the common sense of these other sensibles woouen by the finger of God in its essentiall constitution or internall indissoluble temper Out of mixt bodies are drawne by art Quintessences whose substances though subtile and homogeneall vertually containe the force or efficacy of many ingredients The same proportions which these Quintessences haue to their materialls hath the soule of man to all sensible creatures of which it is the pure extract or perfection in nature and essentiall qualities more resembling celestiall then subluminary substances albeit vertually including as great affinitie to sublunaries as spirits or Quintessences doe to their compounds out of which they were extracted From this vertuall similitude which our soules haue with all things springs our eager thirst after knowledge which is but a desire of intimate and intire acquaintance with their nature and properties besides which meanes there is in truth no other possible for them to come acquainted with themselues The more they vnderstand of other things the better they vnderstand themselues Hence saith the Philosopher Intellectus cum factus fuerit omnia intelligit seipsum When the vnderstanding is made all things it vnderstands it selfe Nor could we take delight in the knowledge of any thing vnlesse in knowing it the soule did know it selfe and become more intimate with it selfe It is as truely said optimus as proximus quisque sibi nothing could desire its owne preservation most vnlesse its owne entitie were to it selfe the best and most to be desired if it knew rightly how to enioy it selfe The reason why Simile gaudet simili is because the actuall sympathie which mutually ariseth from presence of like natures in creatures sensible or reasonable causeth their seuerall identities to reflect vpon themselues and each as it were to perfuse it selfe with its owne goodnesse which it liketh best but whereof without such mutuall provocations it was vnapprehensiue or vncapable nothing can rightly ioy but in the right fruition or enioyment of it selfe Sense which is the foundation of pleasure is but a redoubling of the sensitiue qualitie or temper vpon it selfe Touch is but an apprehension or feeling of its owne tactike qualities being actually moved by other of the same kinde If this motion be according to nature it is pleasant and this pleasure is but a reflection of the moâ—ue facultie vpon it selfe or motions fruition of it selfe The delight in like manner which we reape from contemplation is but a reflection of these vertuall Idaeas or internall characters which are instampt vpon the very substance of the soule as the colour of fire is in blades newly come out of the forge The divine nature hath fulnesse of ioy in himselfe and of himselfe being all-sufficient to contemplate and intirely to enioy his owne infinite goodnesse without any externalls to caule or occasion such reflection as we neede The Angelicall natures can thus likewise reflect vpon themselues and enioy as much felicitie as they contemplate of their owne entitie both which they haue from and in their Creator The soule of man in as much as it hath some reliques of Gods image in it must needes haue some seedes of morall besides transcendentall goodnesse neither of which it can of it selfe inioy because not able to reflect vpon it selfe or contemplate the seedes of truth and goodnesse imprinted in it without the helpe of some externalls sympathizing with them provoking them to make some Crisis of their owne inherence All the felicitie any nature is capable of is the entire vncumbred fruition of its totall entitie the onely meanes of mans fruition of himselfe or of his owne soule is his knowledge The full measure then of mans felicitie must consist in the mutuall penetrations embracements of entitie and knowledge when these be thus intimately and exactly commensurable according to every degree of diuisibilitie which either of them hath there can be no more addition of delight to the humane nature than of water to a vessell full to the brimme And seeing as well our entitie as knowledge doth essentially and intirely depend on God it is impossible our ioyes should be full vntill we see him and our selues in him In this life as we know so are we happie but in part or rather in spe not in re when we shall know as we are knowne we shall be wholly and fully happy In
haue the same distance from the Sunne which had beene noted by vs in two or three former Eclipses For equality of the Moones distance from the Sunne vnlesse it fall out in the Eclipticke line is not sufficient to inferre this effect if an Eclipse or deficiency may properly be tearmed an effect This is a rule most vniversall and transcendent That every Rule which holdes true in some cases and failes in others is taken from sensitiue observations or presentments not perfectly sifted or abstracted whose ingredients notwithstanding dissociate themselues in those particulars wherein they faile Thus Hippocrates Rules of Windes and Waters held true in those Regions wherein he made his observations but not in ours because the soyle which lay East West North or South of his habitation was of a different temper from those Countries which haue the like situation in respect of the Heavens from vs. Many rules againe are oftimes not acknowledged so generall as they are because we take some concurrence of circumstances or accidents or somewhat annexed vnto the latent nature whence the effect iâ— deriued as a concause or necessary condition when as it was onely present not accessary to the event Thus many people in this Land are afraid to begin a good worke vpon the same day that Innocents day fell on the yeare before because they held the circumstance of time as a necessary concurrent to prosperous proceedings And vnlesse experience did teach the contrary a meere disputant would hardly graunt hot water could quench fire because it wants that qualitie which may well seeme to be as a necessary concurrent to the destruction of the contrary forme The evidence of this event hath occasioned Philosophers to obserue a propertie in the fire distinct from heate and another in the water distinct from colde perhaps in part from moisture Which properties sense without the helpe of vnderstanding could never haue distinguished from heate or cold Thus are heate and cold for want of like abstraction taken for those qualities wherein the Medicinall vertue of hearbs or other physicall simples properly consists He that never had seene any creatures indued with sense and motion but such as with these haue reason no reasonable creatures but Ethiopians nor blacknesse in any subiect but in this kinde of men would imagine all those to be one or each to inferre others presence And if the vnderstanding should not vpon new observations correct sense these collections would presently offer themselues Whatsoever hath sense or motion or is blacke is indued with reason and discourse Whatsoever is not capable of these latter adiuncts is vncapable of the former But once observing motion or sense in many creatures wanting the vse of speech or observing many men whose complexion is farre from blacke or blacknesse in diverse subiects which neither haue life motion sense or reason the abstraction of each from other offering it selfe would manifest the folly of former inferences Generally the more in number and more different in nature the subiects be wherein we obserue any accident or propertie the more easie and evident is the abstraction of it from others with which it often hath coniunction The true reason why Mathematicall rules are so perspicuous and evident is because lines and figures are found in every matter that is subiect to sense as numbers and vnities accompany all things we can vnderstand Quantitie we may finde in many bodies without any such concomitance as it had in others For sundry substances much differing in all things else agree onely in shape or figure But where one attribute or qualitie is linked with another in all or most subiects wherein either can be found the distinction betweene them is more difficult vnlesse they belong to severall senses or so belonging we vsually confound their causes or obserue small diversitie betwixt them Seing permanent colours are not vsually seene but in mixt bodies and all mixture is wrought by heate and colde moysture and drinesse we often imagine the diversity of colours should arise from the diverse mixture of these prime qualities as they are reputed when as the diversitie indeed is from the mixture of two more simple more immateriall and more generall and prime As light and darkenesse were first created so their of-springs or propagations Opacitie and Perspicuitie haue first place in all bodies alike communicable to single or compounded to corruptible or incorruptible substances There is no mixt body without their mixture and oftimes where the one is really the other there will be by participation whether in the elements or in bodies perfectly or imperfectly mixt From the different proportions of their mixtures or combinations ariseth all diversitie of colours It skilleth not whether the fire were hot or cold or whether the coales were dry or moyst so the one be bright and the other sootie or dustie the flame at first kindling will seeme blacke afterward reddish or blewish lastly yellow and splendent The originall of reall colours as they call them is no other onely the perspicuitie and opacitie whence they spring are more permanent as being deeper incorporated into the matter and the bond of their mixture more firme 3. Most obiects as they are presented to vs by sense resemble the first Chaos or confused Masse The vnderstanding by sifting and ventilating the severall ingredients and assigning such as are of like natures sorted together to their severall and proper places imitates the great Creator of the world in extracting light out of darkenesse and distinct bodies out of confused heapes and pure celestiall substances out of earthly drosse The right constitution of every Art or Science is a kinde of Creation and their Inventors come nearest to God in wisedome yet not herein to glory or reioyce saue onely that by this cleare resolution of every effect or obiect into its simple and prime Elements the beames of the Creators wisedome and distillations of his goodnesse which lay buried in the confused Congests which sense presents become cleare and sensible if the winde be once touched with grace which should never be excluded but full implored in the search of what truth soever For no truth can be so meane or slender but being made cleare and evident it may elevate the minde to which it so appeares to contemplation of the first truth and is as a step or approach to that light which is inaccessible Nor was it the search no not the curious search of Sciences naturall Astrologicall or Politicke but the professors slouthfull readinesse to relie vpon the representations of sense not accurately sifted from which these three maine streames of Atheisme before mentioned did first issue All three with the source of Superstition or Idolatrie to be prosecuted in the next Discourse we may deriue from a further head then there we did and somewhat more particular and proper then was now intimated 4. It is a dictate of nature engraffed in all That every thing which before was not must
haue a cause of its now being And if the cause manifesteth not it selfe in the production we are ready by nature to father the effect vpon that which is represented by sense as nearest vnto it Thus the Philosopher tooke the matter the Astrologer the starres for sole or chiefe causes of all things the Politician his owne plots for principall accomplishers of all those proiects whereto they concurre as the dropping of a petty Conduit to the overflow of a mightie river out of which the whole streame which feeds it and many other was first cut And if the event be such as hath no permanent duration or fixt seate but falls out now and then without any certaine observation the time and place wherein it was brought forth are vsually supposed to be sole compartners in the begetting or conceiving of it and shall according to the goodnesse or badnesse of this their supposed broode reape the same praise or dispraise the same thankes or imprecations which Parents or Tutors haue for furnishing the Common-weale with towardly or vngracious plants 5. Nor doth sense entise vnto Atheisme or Idolatrie onely by putting that vsuall fallacie of non causa pro causa vpon the vnobservant But this error supposed seeing the linke betwixt causes and their effects is most strict the multiplicitie of the one suggests a multiplicitie of the other So doth every tearme of Relation multiplied in the Individuall occasion vs to conceiue a like number of correlatiues The same error often insinuates it selfe into the proper acts of vnderstanding For no things in Nature truely diverse can be so indivisibly or essentially continued in representations made by sense as the obiect or nature conceived by vs and our intellectiue conceit of it no things really different more apt than these to present themselues as one Now seeing our vnderstandings cannot comprehend the entire entitie of many natures in themselues most intelligible by one conceipt but must view them peece-meale as we doe many sided bodies or measure them by reiteration of the same or like acts as we doe large quantities by often application of the same palme or spanne We slide by this meanes into a common error of imagining as many distinct natures conceived as we frame conceipts of it being indeed but one and the same Thus doth error become circular for by conceiving things by nature diverse whilest represented in one heape or cluster or mutually linked together to be but one we come to imagine that which is but one to be many Sometimes we imagine a diversitie in the cause which is still one and the same from diversitie of Place and Time which intrude themselues into our conceipt of it And sometimes againe an vnitie or Identitie of causes where there is great diversitie from the vnitie of time of place of temporary or locall adherents or other correlations alwaies vnited in our conceit The manner of the Heathens error mentioned by S. Austin was the same onely different in the matter Aliquando vnum Deum res plures aliquando vnam rem Deos plures faciunt If these errors vsually obtrude themselues in matters sensible whereof we haue distinct and formall representations their insinuations must needs be more frequent in matters meerely intellectuall of which we can haue no specificall resemblance but must be enforced to mould them in some sensible conceipt Things rare and admirable though in their own nature visible yet not seene by vs but knowne onely by report or fame we cannot better apprehend then by comparing them with the best we know of the same kinde Vrbem quam Romam dicunt Meliboee putaui Stultus ego huic nostrae similem Foole that I was great Empresse Rome be crown'd with loftie Towers I ween'd t' haue beene some Market Towne not much vnlike to ours Though Mantua had beene a meaner Towne then it was yet being the fairest and best he knew his distinct conceipt of Rome vnseene could not haue surpassed the Idea of it saue onely by addition of some streets or greater store of such ornaments as he had observed in building But his error vpon the view of Rome was easily rectified albeit the manner of his misconceipt the partie in whose person he speakes could not better expresse vnto his fellow then by mistaking the damme for the suckling Sic canibus catulos similes sic matribus haedos Nôram nor the measure of it better than by comparing the Cypresse with lower shrubbes Verum haec tantum alias inter caput extulit vrbes Quantum lenta solent inter viburna Cupressi But sure this Cittie other Townes in state no lesse exceedes Then Cypresse tall wild limber vines then pleasant vines doe weeds More grosse by much will our present conceipts of the divine nature appeare when our faith shall be changed into sight The best remedie not to erre much is to hold our mindes in suspensiue admiration not presuming to be peremptory in particular representations not to content our selues with any resemblance as sufficient though some be more apt then others for bringing forth a more liuely conceite of his vnconceivable glory or a more distinct apprehension of his incomprehensible wisedome or maiestie or more determinate notice of his immensitie or infinitie but of these hereafter 6. The summe of this Discourse is to admonish every one that meditates on God or his attributes to take heede to his imaginations For besides the aforementioned puritie of heart the intention of minde or vnderstanding to ventilate sift or illuminate phantasmes borrowed from sense there is required a vigilant attention in the judicatiue facultie otherwise the same errors which happen in recalling things long forgotten to minde or dreames will surprize our waking Imaginations of God or matters divine He that would remember Timotheus Theodorus or Orosius vnlesse his apprehension of their names haue beene formerly very distinct and his present examination attentiue would easily entertaine in stead of them Theotimus Dorotheus or Osorius In men ignorant of Latine Etymologies conference will sometimes be taken for confidence offence for defence c. Now our knowledge of matters vnsensible being as I said before like vnto reminiscence in that we haue but an indefinite or vndeterminate notion of their natures and qualities and herein short of them that we never had an expresse or actuall notion wherby to examine their resemblances the substitution of any thing which hath ordinary similitude with them will hardly be avoyded without great attention The manner of many errors in this kinde differs onely in degree from such delusions as fall out in dreames wherein our apprehensions of proper sensibles are most quicke and liuely but their compositions or suggestions oftimes ridiculous and absurd Such was the temper of the Heathen in respect of this Polypragmaticall age Many effects which moue not vs made deepe impression of a Deitie which they strangely multiplied or transformed SECTION III. Of the originall of Heathenish Idolatrie and multiplicitie of Gods CHAP.
of his second proposition That Saints are not immediate Intercessors for vs with God he proues by places of Scripture so pregnant that some of them directly disprooue all mediate or secondary Intercessors or Mediators as Coloss 1. It pleased God that in him should all fulnesse dwell If all fulnesse the fulnesse of mediation or intercession and absolute fulnesse excludes all consort As there is but one God so there is but one Mediator betweene God and man no secondary God no secondary Mediator 1. Ioh. 2. He is the propitiation for our sinnes the absolute fulnesse of propitiation And Ioh. 10. he enstileth himselfe the Doore and Way such a doore and such a way as no man may come vnto the Father but by Him This restriction in our Divinitie makes him the onely doore and the onely way not so in theirs For wee must passe through other doores that we may come to this onely immediate doore that is he is the onely doore whereby the Saints are admitted into Gods presence but Saints are necessary doores for our admission vnto him Opus est Mediatore ad mediatorem Were this Divinitie which they borrow from S. Bernard true they much wrong Aristotle and Priscian in calling him Immediatus Intercessor aut Mediator and are bound to right them by this or the like alteration of his title He is vnicus vltimus aut finalis Mediator He is the onely finall or last Mediator For a Mediator is not of one whence to be an immediate Mediator essentially includes an immediate reference to two parties Christ is no Mediator but betweene God and Man and betweene them he is no immediate Mediator vnlesse men haue as immediate accesse to him as he hath to God the Father As God he best knowes the nature and qualitie of every offence against the Deitie vnto what sentence every offender is by justice liable how far capable of mercy as man he knowes the infirmities of men not by hearesay or information but by experience and is readie to sollicite their absolution from that doome whose bitternesse is best knowne vnto him not at others request or instigation but out of that exact sympathie which he had with all that truely mourned or felt the heavinesse of their burden Whiles he was onely the sonne of God the execution of deserved vengeance was deferred by his intercession Nor did he assume our nature and substance that his person might be more favourable or that his accesse to God the Father might be more free and immediate but that wee might approach vnto him with greater boldnesse and firmer assurance of immediate audience than before we could He exposed our flesh made his owne to greater sorrowes and indignities than any man in this life can haue experience of to the end he might be a more compassionate Intercessor for vs to his Father than any man or Angell can be vnto him We need the consort of their sighes and groanes which are oppressed with the same burden of mortalitie here on earth that our ioynt prayers may pierce the heavens but these once presented to his eares neede no sollicitors to beate them into his heart Surely if the intercession of Saints had beene needfull at any time most needfull it was before Christs incarnation or passion when by the Romanists confession it was not in vse The sonne of God was sole Mediator then 4. As the impietie of their practises doth grieue my spirit so the dissonancy of their doctrine doth as it were grate and torture my vnderstanding while I contemplate their Apologies Sometimes they beare vs in hand that God is a great King whose presence poore wretched sinners may not approach without meanes first made to his domestique servants The conceipt it selfe is grossely Heathenish and comes to be so censured in the next Discourse Now seeing they pretend the fashion of preferring petitions to earthly Princes to warrant the forme of their supplications to the Lord of heaven and earth let vs see how well the patterne doth fit their practise Admitting the imitation were lawfull how could it iustifie their going to God immediately with these or the like petitions Lord I beseech thee heare the intercession of this or that Saint for me through Iesus Christ our Lord. What fitter interrogatories can I propose vnto these sacrilegious supplicants then Malachy hath vnto the like delinquents in his time If I be your Lord and King as you enstyle me where is my feare where is my honour saith the Lord of Hoastes to you Priests that despise my name and yet being chalenged of disloyaltie they scornefully demand Wherein haue Wee despised thy name Yee bring polluted offrings into my Sanctuary and yet yee say wherein haue wee polluted thy Sanctuary If yee offer such blind devotions as these is it not evill Offer them now to thy Governour to thy Prince or Soveraigne Will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person saith the Lord of Hoastes He would either be thought to mock the King and come within iust censure of disloyaltie or els be mocked out of his skin by Courtiers that durst exhibite a petition in this forme vnto his Maiestie Vouchsafe I beseech you to pardon my offences against your Highnes and admit me into good place at the intercession of your Chauncellor Treasurer Chamberlaine or Controller in honor of this his birth-day for the Princes sake your sonne my good Lord and Master yet if we change onely the persons names this petition which could become none but the Princes foole to vtter differs no more from the forme of Popish prayers vpon Saints dayes then the words of Matrimony vttered by Iohn and Mary doe from themselues whilest vttered by Nicolas and Margaret The former respectlesse absurditie would be much aggravated if the Courtiers birthday whom the petitioner would haue graced with the grant of his petition should fall vpon the Kings Coronation day or when the Prince were married Of no lesse solemnitie with the Romanist is the feast of the Crosses invention it is Christs coronation or espousals and yet withall the birth-day of two or three obscure Saints whom they request God to glorifie with their owne deliverance from all perills and dangers that can betide them through Christ their Lord. This last clause must come in at the end of every prayer to no more vse than the mention of a certaine summe of mony doth in feoffements or deedes of trust onely pro formâ Praesta quoesumus omnipotens deus vt qui sanctorum tuorum Alexandri Eventij Theodoli atque 〈◊〉 â—nalis natalitia colimus a cunctis mâ—lis imminentibus eorum intercessionibus liberemur per Dominum c. Grant we beseech thee Almightie God that wee which adore the natiuitie of the Saints of Alexander Event Theod. and Iuuenal may by their intercession be delivered from all evills that hang over vs through Iesus Christ our Lord. To be delivered from evils at or by the intercession of such Saints is
Dei who cannot perceiue matters of the spirit Man by nature is of all creatures most apt to imitate and the naturall man most vnapt rightly to imitate or expresse the suggestions or motions of the Spirit which cannot be otherwise than spiritually discerned much lesse managed Now he that hath no touch or sense of the spirit must needs remaine altogether senslesse of his mistakings in imitating the spirit wherein he glories no lesse than apes doe in counterfeiting man 6. In matters of secular civilitie or moralitie many things well beseeme one man which are very vncomely in another Even in one and the same mans behaviour or deportment many things are decent and lawfull whiles they are drawne from him by speciall or rare occasions whose vsuall practise vpon dislike or no occasions becomes according to the nature of the subiect ridiculous or dishonest Now in subiects of highest nature as in the service of God or matters spirituall the least digression or declination from proposed patternes though it be not so observable to common sense is far more dangerous than a greater errour in moralitie the precipitation once continued is irrecoverable The best and most Catholicke remedie against the two fore-mentioned Catholicke mischiefes would be the serious observation of this generall rule Such actions as haue beene managed by Gods spirit suggested by secret instinct or extracted by extraordinary and speciall occasions are then onely lawful in others when they are begotten by like occasions or brought forth by like impulsions Their purposed or affected imitation is alwayes vnseasonable and preposterous and by continuall vse or custome becomes magicall or Idololatricall Ionathan did not sinne in taking an Omen whether by the spirit of prophesing or by some inferior kinde of instinct from his enemies invitations For another to attempt the like enterprise by warrant of his example vpon like speeches would be a superstitious tempting of God no better than a magicall sacrifice The same observation will fit the prognostication of Abrahams servant sent to be speake his yong Master Isaac a wife Gen. 25. An Italian in latter-times of greater spirit than meanes going out to his worke with his axe whilest a great Armie was passing by comparing the hopelesse possibilities of his present profession with the possible hopes of a martiall life out of this doubtfull distast of his present estate whose best solace was security from bodily dangers frames a presage vnto himselfe not much vnlike vnto that of Ionathans and it was to throw vp his axe into an high tree having conditioned with himselfe that if it came downe againe he would take it vp and follow his wonted trade but if it should chance to hang in the boughs he would seeke to raise himselfe and his familie by the warres as afterward he strangely did for he himselfe became so great a Commander that Sforza his sonne vpon the foundations which he had laid did advance himselfe to the Dukedome of Millaine For every repining discontented peazant to put the forsaking or following of his wonted calling vnto the like casuall devolution would be a tempting of God to prognosticate the same successe from experience of the like event albeit he had opportunitie to try the conclusion with the same axe vpon the same tree would be superstitious to rest confident in such perswasions would be to settle vpon the dregs of sorcery Charles the fift did once salute the Spanish shore whereof he was vnder God the supreame Lord in such an affectionate and prostrate manner as his meanest vassall could not ordinarily haue saluted either him or it without just imputation of grosse Idolatry And yet I should suspect him to be way wardly superstitious or superstitiously peevish that would peremptorily condemne this his strange behaviour of superstition or censure it as ill beseeming so heroicall a spirit for the present though at other times it might haue seemed not vaine or foolish onely but Apishly impious His late farewell to the warres and resignation of the Empire his longing desire to giue solemne testimony of his loue to the Spanish Nation his safe arrivall after long absence and escapes of many dangers in that soyle many of whose sonnes had spent their liues in his service and wherein he purposed to spend the rest of his life in the service of his God in that soyle vnto whose custody he then publickly bequeathed his bones did extract these significant and extraordinary expressions of his extraordinary and swelling affection from him And such expressions as are ridiculous or rather impious when they are affected or fashioned by forced affection are alwayes pardonable for the most part commendable when they proceede from an vnexpected instinct or vnmasterable impulsion All extraordinary dispositions as loue ioy sorrow or feare whether naturall or sacred naturally desire a speedie vent and that vent is fittest which first presents it selfe without seeking The suddaine motions wherewith such full passions seeke to expresse themselues are vncapable of rule or method To put the characters of ordinary complement or behaviour vpon them breeds greater violence or incumbrance than gyues or fetters to a man disposed to daunce or manicles to one provoked to boysterous fight And as the Sunne in his strength cannot directly ejaculate his beames vpon any body capable of heat and illumination but others adioyning will be secondary participants of these qualities by reflection so cannot our affections be strongly and intensiuely set vpon any object extraordinarily amiable or louely but some rayes or branches of them will redouble vpon those sensible creatures which haue speciall affinity with it though of themselues vncapable of any loue Tender and endeared respects to mens persons will alwayes leaue some touch of gratefull affection towardes the place wherein we haue enioyed any memorable fruit of their presence Thus Andromache bereft of her yong sonnes company desires his garments to rest her vnwildie affections vpon them Nor dare I censure this her desire as vnlawfull lest I should condemne the generation of the just For did not old Iacob expresse the tender affection which he bare to the sonne of his age whom he now never lookt to see againe by kissing his coate yet to haue hanged it vp about his bed or table that it might receiue such salutatiōs evening and morning or at every meale-time might haue countenanced many branches of superstition Once and vse it not in most like cases is the true rule of discretion continuall vse of that which vpon all occasions is not vnlawfull degenerates no man knowes how into abuse God in his Law permits a kinde of ceremonious mourning for the dead but prescribes a meane withall So then to mourne is naturall but to mourne continually or to feed our griefe by artificiall representions is superstitious 7. To the instance of Iacobs worshipping the stone the internall sense or touch of Gods extraordinary presence inspired his breast with extraordinary passion And to reflect or exonerate themselues vpon sensible
In this latter God himselfe is made the sworn patron of murther incest and all manner of crueltie the heavenly regiment of his Church on earth is transformed into a Machievillian tyrannie not contented to haue stained the beauty of the spouse lest her deformities being openly descried should publickly be detested they seek in latter dayes to disfigure the bridegroome and with the wicked one in the Psalmist misdeeme their Redeemer to be like vnto them because he holds his peace at these abominations impiously presuming that in the day of finall judgement Christ shall ratifie whatsoever the Pope ex cathedrâ hath determined as if your judgement for this infidelitie or their credulitie that herein beleeue you were not alreadie past as if Gods vengeance did sleepe while he were silent This point though prosecuted vpoÌ„ other occasioÌ„s more at large before I could not in this place so quickly leaue were it not that I shall haue cause to meete with it with fuller indignation hereafter For I will yet pray against this their wickednesse from which this Land can never be sufficiently purged vntill the whole seduced flocke be constrained by severe execution of wholesome lawes to doe publique penance in their Apostaticall Pastors and blasphemous seducers ashes CHAPTER XLIII Of particular transformations or misperswasions of divine goodnesse alike common to the corrupt professors of true Religion as to the zoâ—lous professors of corrupt Religion 1. GRossenesse in opinions solemnly avouched reduced to method or instamped with the publique seale of authoritie is easily discovered by all to whom long accustomance hath not made their poyson in a sort familiar or as part of daily foode Every punie rightly catechized in the points of doctrine publickely established in our Church can clearely discerne the late mentioned or other like transformations of the Deitie whether Heathenish or Romanish But did each of vs privately vse the orthodoxall forme of wholesome doctrine publiquely professed as a true glasse for discovering as well the obliquitie of our owne practicall resolutions as the errors of others knowne opinions most of vs might see just cause to thinke that we did secretly wrong the divine essence no lesse than they doe whom we condemne of open sacriledge and idolatrie No mans passions in this life can be so moderate if happily immoderate loue of his moderatenesse make him not so partiall as not to obserue them but may affoord him experimentall grounds of this conclusion There is no habituall exorbitance of desire or affection but secretly works a Parallell transfiguration of the Deitie no staine or foule deformitie in life or manners whereto wee giue indulgence and dispensation but will cast the like aspersion vpon the immaculate Maiestie To imagine him that is the best of all to be like vs in those things which we best like or most approue is an error almost inseparable from the corruption of our nature oftimes rather lopped than vtterly extirpated by infusion of grace 2. Dispositions by nature austere and rigid or otherwise by height of place emboldned to practise severitie as the supporter of awe and reverence or as an Antidote against contempt conceipt no sacrifice so acceptable vnto God as strict execution of lawes for the most part preposterously partiall and severe And if the great Moderator of heaven and earth permit the accomplishment of their designes he is apprehended as a favourer of their desires What seemes good to them the same once effected is intertained as an effect of divine goodnesse So Saul would make God the author and approver of the Ziphits kindnesse towards himselfe and bestow a blessing vpon them as presuming of the Lords consent Blessed be yee of the Lord for yee haue compassion on me when as not the least degree of compassion or kindnesse towards him but was extreme crueltie against poore David a man after Gods owne heart And it is a point very questionable Whether the deformedly zealous or hard-hearted Magistrate I meane no Atheist or the Iewes that offered their children vnto Molech do God more wrong The one mistooke the father of murther and crueltie for a God the other make the onely and true God which hath no pleasure in sacrifice or burnt offerings to be delighted in bloud not of Bulles and Goates but of poore and miserable men Every rigid exactor of his owne whether by vsing the permitted benefit of humane law or misconstrued warrant of lawes divine disfigures his Creator and makes him a God of justice onely On the other side such as are ready to kill themselues and their friends with kindnesse frame a God of mercy and bountie vtterly dismembred of justice of indignation and severitie The dissolute and wanton condemne even necessary austeritie of discipline or any set rules of life of Pharisaisme or enimitie against Christ whom by the same error they misconceiue to be much what like themselues though no consort of their riotous or dissolute courses yet one that will saue them sooner than most of such as seeme more holy For did he not open heaven gates to Publicans and open sinners when they were shut to Scribes Pharisees But alas poore soules they consider not that Publicanes and notorious sinners found mercy vnsought for to the end that succeeding ages how great soever their offences were should not despaire to finde it when they diligently sought it Though God haue mercy in as great store for vs as for these first Converts of the Gentiles yet may we not desire it by such extraordinary meanes as they had it Wee in the search of it must frame our liues to the patterne which they had set vs after it had found them They meeting with it tooke a solemne farewell of their former sinnefull courses so then mercy shewed to them when they were alients from faith and blasphemers of the truth did bring forth true repentance And all our hopes of mercy or perswasions of actuall being in the state of grace vnlesse they be mingled with a correspondent measure of true repentance are but the painted fruits of Pharisaicall and Iewish blasphemie To the former sort of these delinquents to the rigid and hard-hearted offender he will declare himselfe to be such as they secretly imagine him to be a God of judgement without mercy because they haue shewed no mercy to their brethren To the latter to the dissolute and presumptuous he will approue himselfe such as they expect not his iustice which they least feare will sodainely overtake them while his mercy with which they haue dallied shall flie from them 3. It is hard for any man seasoned with the rudiments of Christian faith to haue his heart so full stuft with malice as shall leaue no confused notion of Christian charitie in his head with whose abstract beautie or amiable aspect simply considered the most wicked are enamoured But as the naturall knowledge of God was by the Heathen so the notions of his graces are still detained in vnrighteousnesse by Christians in
to purge it selfe from corruption although a wavering and floating imagination is for the present most vncapable of the impression of Gods image 3. As corruption of nature doth sway vs both to conceiue and bring forth evill of every kinde so our acquired prouenesse to practise it being outwardly curb'd or our naturall propensions by Gods providence diverted from such objects as might entice or inlarge them the light of nature as yet not sanctified will manifest the folly of our former wayes and oft-times cause notorious malefactors to water their cheekes with teares in signe they would as perhaps for the present in part they doe wash their consciences from wonted vncleannesse if it should please God to grant them opportunitie of testifying their resolutions by reformation of life prolonged And what they thus protest may be either meerely pretended or vnfainedly purposed So may purposes for the time being vnfained be either temporary and weake easie to be defeated by future opportunities or firme and constant able to resist all ordinary or wonted inticements to commit externall mischiefes Such they may be and yet never approach the confines of true spirituall renovation 4. That hearts thus farre cleansed and mollified are more apt to admit the true stampe or character of any morall truth and may be more easily and farther poized with any wholesome admonition or reproofe needs no further proofe than that which is aboue all proofes which can be brought to the contrary common experience And although in the heate of passion or by renitency of contrary impulsions our apprehensions of truths formerly imprinted or then first represented be not so cleare or though our judgements be corrupt and partiall yet such as haue laid vp these sacred principles in their hearts giving them little or no vent except in practise will in these cases suspect their iudgement and appeale from passion to calme and sober meditations Many pleasant and gratefull fancies which secretly intrude themselues by night are often mistrusted by some even whiles they dreame though the like dreames in others which haue lesse occasion to beleeue them are exempt from all suspition The cause of difference as an exquisite Philosopher tells vs is this In the one the passages betwixt the braine and the heart are in some sort open in the other so stopt that the head which serues as an illiterate messenger or newes-carrier to the heart can haue no direction or resolution thence but takes every thing for true that hath any appearance of truths formerly experienced in waking thoughts This falls out so as if whiles grand Counsellors sleepe Post-boyes should take vpon them to determine of matters of state by vulgar rumors concerning the secrecies inclosed in their Packets The vigilant thoughts of men attentiue to worldly businesse or bent to vice can be no better in sacred matters than dreaming fancies in matters secular No morall knowledge not implanted in a purified heart but vpon intercourse of passion or new occurrence either vanisheth or varieth as strangely and quickly as nocturnall representations Nor is it possible any sacred knowledge should enter into our hearts vntill they be in some measure cleansed of their natiue rust or adventitious foulenesse 5. Not vnconsonant to as much of S. Iames divinitie as hitherto hath beene discussed is that resolution of Seneca in the beginning of his naturall or theologicall questions for God and nature were to him as one Mustum interest inter bonam valetudinem c. There is a great difference betweene health and strength Thou carriest about no counterfeit face nor framest thy speech vnto anothers minde Thy heart is not invailed thou art free from avarice which depriues it selfe of what it hath purloined from others from luxurie which repaires the wasted stocke more filthily then it was wasted Thou art not subiect to ambition which seldome brings men vnto dignitie but by base and indigne practises Thou art as yet a non-proficient and rid of all other ill guests not of thy selfe The vertue we ayme at is magnificent not that it is in it selfe a happy thing to be without vice but that want of evill doth free the minde and prepare it for the knowledge of heavenly matters and qualifie it for acquaintance with God Plotin likewise avouching the consent of the auncient makes every vertue a beame or ray of the former purification in his opinion requisite for attaining vnion with the prime light or fountaine of beautie What is temperance but abstinence from bodily pleasures as being neither pure in themselues nor fit for any affecting puritie of life to follow Wisedome and Prudence erect the minde to things supernall and keepe it aloofe from this inferior and base part of the world which pollutes it Wherefore it was truely said That the goodnesse and beautie of the humane soule consists in being like to God But by what meanes in his divinitie must our soules put on his likenesse By putting off whiles they ascend to him the vitious habits which they put on in their descent to worldly spectacles as those that enter into the sanctuaries of the Temples put off their garments and approach not the presence of the gods till they be purified And againe Our soules must be divorced from all corporall beautie before we come acquainted with the prime light or fountaine of beautie of whom all bodily perfections are but images on which who so doates or esteemes as obiects worthy of his loue shall be partaker of his folly that drowned himselfe by assaying to embrace faire shadows in the water For thus enclaspt with loue of bodily decencie that he cannot acquit himselfe from it he must needs suffer a precipitation not so much of body as of soule into a pit darke and gastly to the minde of man blinded both amongst the infernall ghosts and even whiles they liue here haunted still with ghosts or shadowes That is our Country whence we came and there is our setled place of dwelling But what is the meanes or manner of our retire Wee need neither shippe nor chariot nor horse not so much as the vse of our owne feete all these we must forsake not vouchsafing once to looke backe vpon them after wee be set on in this iourney Our bodily lights being shutt wee must provide vs another eye But what must this internall eye beholde Vpon the first opening or wakening it cannot easily fixe it selfe vpon excessiue brightnesse What remedie then The soule must be invred by degrees first to looke into honest and ingenuous studies afterwards to contemplate such actions of famous men as are fit patternes for others to follow lastly to take the true characters of these good actors minds But they shall by this meanes be enabled to take a true draught of their own forme If thou canst not see thine own latent beautie propose the statuary for thy imitation pare of superfluities and exorbitances rectifie obliquities and giue lustre to parts obscure or duskie and never