perfection of it If one poore sparke of vertue be to bee loued for it selfe much more is that infinite Rocke of Orient and most shining vertue to be loued in God and it is a most reasonable purpose and resolution to loue the Higher Excellence more then the lower and to loue the lower the better if it leade to the Higher When wee find gold Oare in the top of the Earth we value it highly but wee value it the more because it leades vs to the Gold Mine it selfe Therefore the Philosophers were children in this that hauing found a Myne-stone they played with it and sought no farther but the Christians are truly wise who hauing found it follow the Veine vntill they come to enioy the very Roote and Treasurie thereof Another spot which is cast on Diuinitie by the odious comparison or preferment of Philosophie is this That the vertue of Diuines is more vulgar and that of Philosophy more rare Heere I cannot but stand still and wonder how this man came to vse speeches so flatly contrary to the speeches of Christ and hauing spoken them to propose them to Christians Eyther he thinkes himselfe herein wiser then Christ or that wee are no Christians and therefore apt to beleeue him before Christ the Author and Finisher of our Faith But it is an ancient truth The narurall man is blinde in the things of God Christ hath said The way to Heauen is narrow and few there bee that finde it and I take it that is rare which but a few doe find Israel was but a drop to the Ocean of Mankinde and Israel only had for a long time the Statutes and Iudgements of God Againe at this time when Religion is let out into the World how is it beyonded by Turcisme Atheisme Gentilisme Heresies and Epicurisme Surely a true Christian is a rare thing and if it were not so this man could not well haue hoped to bee generally beleeued that they are common And if hee meanes by vulgar besides the commonnesse to intimate that Christianitie is incident to meanenesse and so is fit for the common people as well in that they are base as in that they are many I vtterly gainsay him For if Diuinitie bee truly examined it requireth the highest vnderstandings to search it the mightiest and noblest indeauours to performe it for in Diuinitie they are Mysteries which are taught and excellent things which are commanded Therfore Christ telles things hidden and vnsearchable to the very wise of the world and enioyneth vertues excelling the ambitious holinesse of the very Scribes and Pharises Yea he wyteth his hearers that contented themselues with ordinarie vertues saying What great or excellent thing doe yee yet the truth is that to sundrie of the meane ones God imparteth the light and grace of Christianitie but not because meannesse is fitter to apprehend it but because by meannesse God best expresseth his owne excellence and shewes his power chiefly in infirmitie and his light in darknesse Therefore for his owne glorie hee chuseth them and not for their abilitie toward Religion but rather for their not-abilitie in some respect For whereas by their natural vnablenes they were altogether vncapable of Diuine Mysteries God is sure to get glorie to his Spirit which entring into men so full of darknesse and meannesse makes them lightsome wise able and truely noble For from henceforth being regenerate They vnderstand secrets performe difficult vertues aspire vnto eternitie and despise tēporall though glorious vanity Thus meane men receiu grace not by their meannesse but for their meannes receiuing it are no lōger mean but are made excellent and noble This is it which Dauid sayes Psalm 19. That God by his Word giues vnderstanding to the simple And Psal. 119. That by the feare of God hee became wiser then his Teachers And if wee looke for examples to omit those ancient Fisher-men a profession commonly most ignorant whose words and writings cannot bee matched by the world in spirituall that is in the best wisdome I wil speake of our times that in them I haue seene Men admirable in Simplicity for worldly things but miraculous in Diuine knowledge so that their speeches in the one kind haue bin contemptible and in the other haue sounded like Oracles So that a great knowledge beeing found in a great simplicitie it may not bee thought That simplicitie is the cause of Knowledge but wee must looke a higher cause euen that the Creator is the cause of a new Creation And the fountaine of Wisdome is the cause of these droppes of new and supernaturall wisedome powred into naturall simplicitie And this hits right with Christs speach vnto Peter Flesh and bloud hath not reuealed it to thee but my Father in Heauen And that Diuinitie is not a shallow knowledge fit to be waded through by dwarfish ignorance the experience of the Fathers may confirme For the chiefest of them were men of admirable wisedome great learning and vnwearied studie and yet they found in Diuinitie Wisedome beyond their Vnderstanding Learning aboue their Learning and Worke beyond their Time Therefore it shall remaine a certaine Truth That Religion ordinarily requires Wisedome and therefore though it often lights on them that lacke it yet then it brings Wisedome with it And indeed Religion brings with it the best Wisedome For that is the best Wisedome which teacheth vs the most perfect vertues and leades vs to the most perfect absolute and eternall Happinesse Lastly though God doe shew most often his strength in weakenesse yet that Grace of God is no common worke neither among the common people But surely I thinke this man deceiued himselfe thus Hee saw in the blind Religion of his Countrie the common people led with Ignorance and Superstition and out of that superstitious Ignorance to doe many seeming workes of Charitie and Pietie and on these he bestowth the title of the vertue of Diuines But it is a great errour to make Superstition the Roote and Mother of Theologicall vertue for Superstition is a Bastard begotten by an informed and ignorant feare of the Deitie Such people are as farre from true Diuinity as he is from the true commendation of it And himselfe in his chapter of Pietie hath truly shewed pietie to be of so high a Nature vniting Man to his Root the Godhead that I wonder he could here make the superstitious dotage of the ignorant vulgar to bee the high and transcendent vertue of the Diuines For let him confesse ingeniously how many of the vulgar hath hee knowne truly to returne to their originall and to knit themselues vnto it Surely it seemes he forgate at last what he had written at first or knew not at first what he would write at last But say what hee list Theologicall vertue is of no base stampe it containeth in it an vnion with God and from hence issueth an Image of God and from this Image the Loue of God Charitie to our Neighbour and Sobrietie in our selues And in
this path of vertue it leades vs to Felicitie And when hee hath magnified his Philosophie to the highest Diuinitie chalengeth all the Goodnesse it hath as her seruant and addes more vnto it Now for the other two Epithites wherewith hee decketh Philosophie and whereof he robbeth Diuinitie Pleasantnesse and Power I haue fitted seuerall discourses for them yet withall respecting other faults But the Reader may set such pieces of them together as being inlayd in his memorie iointly with this may serue for an intire Confutation of these errours And that his memorie may not trauaile farre for the doing of it I heere immediatly adioyne them CHAP. III. A healing of their Griefe that are affrighted at Christianitie and runne away from it as from some terrible and vgly thing THere are some that thinke on Religion as vpon some fearfull Apparition and accordingly receiue the Image thereof into their Mindes in the likenesse of a sowre grim and austere visage And surely some Pharisies haue giuen a Confirmation hereunto But this is an especiall deceit and fraud of the Deuill to rob vs of the greatest ioy by a false feare of the greatest sadnesse Is there any more comfortable thing then the vnion of Man with his Souereigne Good Is there any thing more pleasant then light and true Christians haue in them the beames of the vppermost Light Is there any thing more rauishing then Beautie and these are delighted with the highest Beautie of the Creatour and with the lower Beauties of iust and holy men resembling the higher What delights Man more then to loue and to bee beloued and behold a Christian is the best louer and loued of the best Vertue was glorious in the eyes of the Heathen so that in regard of her they despised all labours and sufferings yea life it selfe Yet their Vertue was but of a bounded Nature as a standing Poole whose waters are by measure But the Vertues of Christianitie are continuall streames flowing from the eternall Fountaine of the Deitie and haue an vnlimited power of daily increasing I cannot I would not say all that the ioy of Christians can afford me I haue * Arté of Happâ—nesse elsewhere saued this labour Neither let men thinke but that these are matters of Fact and not of meere Speculation for the hearts of true Christians are at this day liuing Witnesses and the Sayings of the Dead cry aloud to confirme it Reade DAVID reioycing in his Psalmes and you will thinke him a man rauished so doth euery word swell with ioy prayse and exultation See him dancing before the Arke and if you bee no wiser then a very woman you will thinke him out of his wits but if you bee so wise as a good woman you will say his soule did magnifie the Lord and his Spirit reioyced in God his Sauiour Againe reade the Song of Dauid describing the extasies of loue and delight wherein the Church almost loseth her selfe as vnable to contayne them and you cannot but say that there is a ioy entered into the heart of man which cannot get it selfe wholy into it by comprehension nor get out of it by expression All the Instruments of Musicke all the Creatures both sensible and insensible are summoned together to helpe forth the vtterance of an vnvtterable ioy And how can you blame him for his soule is in the Courts of Heauen Where to be a doore-keeper for one day is better then to bee a thousand yeares in the Courts of Princes and yet most men thinke that Courtiers haue great ioy of their places Againe Gods Words are sweeter to him then the hony and you know Sweetnesse is the God of the Epicure Yea it is more precious then fine Gold and Gold is the God of the Worldling Thus a Christians ioy surmounteth the ioyes of the Naturallist euen Honour Pleasure and Profit But if this bee true you will say how comes it that so few seeke heauenly and almost all seeke earthly ioyes and perchance thou which readest it art also of the same minde Hereunto I answere That the fault is in the Taste not in the Meate in the folly of the Iudgement not in the Pearle when a graine of Corne is preferred before it To taste spirituall ioyes a man must bee spirituall for the spirit rellisheth only the things of the spirit and like loueth his like Betweene a spirituall man and spirituall ioyes there is as mighty an appetite and enioying as betweene fleshly meate and a carnall stomack Therefore the want of this taste and apprehension condemneth the World to be carnall but magnifies the ioyes spirituall as being aboue a grosse and carnall apprehension Surely the face of this world at the first view shewes vs a plaine euidence of its vnacquaintaÌ„ce with these ioyes it is so willingly soyled with the sweat of worldly labours so defiled with wallowing in the mire of voluptuousnesse so wrinkled with the cares of this perishing life They still cry out who will shew vs any good but they would haue this good shewed them in their Corne and Wine and Oyle But on the otherside if men did fully taste the sweetnesse and rightly value the preciousnesse of heauenly ioyes the World would run so fast from the World and presse so violently into the Kingdome of God that wee should extremely neede Sermons to perswade to the labours of the six dayes whereas now all Exhortations are too little toward the sanctâ—fying of the Seuenth And indeed the Primitiue times gaue examples hereof when there was plaine need of dehortation to keepe men from too much haste toward Persecution and too much flying from the World If thou therefore be as they were thou shalt bee readie to doe as they did Doe not as Fooles do who because they cannot taste the ioyes of a Christian therefore leaue to be Christians But euen because thou canst not tast them be thou more vehemently desirous to bee a Christian that thou mayest taste them For by being a Christian thou shalt taste the ioyes of a Christian whereas else thou losest thy selfe and them and sinkest downe to the base degree of a grosse and transitory creature and so of base and transitorie ioyes yea below them againe into a bottomlesse pit of endlesse darknesse But rather striue thou by earnest Prayer to the Father of Spirits to make thee spirituall that so spirituall things may be pleasing to thee and thou pleasing to him who is the chiefe of Spirits for Conformitie and Harmonie is the Law of Pleasure and Delight Therefore also on the otherside tread downe thy flesh and the taste thereof whose exaltation is the abatement of spirituall Life Taste and Feeling and whose abatement is the exaltation of spirituall fauour and discerning Another Obiection is framed by the World that Religion cannot bee pleasant because none speak more against Mirth and good Fellowship then these forward Christians and great Religionaries To this I answere That men truely wise and holy doe not preach against Mirth
discourseth of Superstition hee strongly consutes the practicall religion of the Church of Rome and so seemes to differ from them though hee after creepe againe into their good-will vnder the couert of commanding an obseruation of Ceremonies Customes and Ordinances Secondly I haue heard it constantly affirmed in France by a Gascoigne Montagnes country-man and one that was himselfe an Author that his Doctor was a great acquaintance of Montagne and that his booke was Montagnes pieces brought into a Methode And sure I cannot much blame the Doctor for not doing an impossibilitie for it is a matter neere impossible handsomly to inlay all the â—agged pieces of Montagne â—nd to reduce his infinite wandrings into the order of a steadie path for hee seemed altogether to runne after his owne wit and to take vp whatsoeuer it did let fall but the wit â—t selfe did seldome runne after any Marke nor walke by any Rule And so might his Follower by the intricatenesse of the labour well forget the different colours of some of the pieces which hee ioyned into one Bodie And if we consider but this Chapter of Piety we may find many contradictions in it He maketh the Religion of Palestine which is the Religion of the Iewes to teach this belief that the cutting and punishing of our selues the massacring of beasts is a most precious present vnto God as if God tooke pleasure in the torment of his Creatures And yet after out of the one and fiftieth Psalme he sayth That the most acceptable Sacrifice vnto God is a pure free and humble heart And againe out of the fiftieth Psalme Non accipiam de domo tua vitulos Besides hee sayth the Iudaicall Religion retayneth many things of the a â—oseâ—â—us in his first book against Apion writes that the Egyptians and the Iewes could not agree because of the diuersitie of their Religion And Plessis in his 21. chapt of Christian Religion shewes that the Oracles of Aâ—oâ—o and the â—ibilles prefâ—rred the Iewâ—s as the best worshippers of God Egyptian Gentile which is a great blasphemie eyther in this sence That the Iewish Religion had any thing in it not deliuered by God himselfe or that God tooke his copie out of some of that Gentile-Egyptian Religion thereout to make vp a Religion for the Iewes And herein is also an implyed contradiction For hee that commendes the Christian Religion and condemnes the Iewes Religion as parcell heathen contradicts himselfe for the Iewes Religion established by God and the Christians are all one in substance of Faith and if they differ in the manner I hope that manner was not borrowed of the Heathen but the Heathen rather counterfeite the Iewes Againe hee speaketh of Religion as of some Arte or Confection saying That Religion is so fitted that it may be respected and had in admiration yet hee sayth It is composed of parts some base whereat high Spirits doe scorne and some high and mysticall whereat low Spirits are offended So politickely is Religion framed to intrap all men that it is fashioned to offend all men But yet there remains an obiection of the Heathen Martialists who may tell vs now as heretofore That Rome being Hethen raised an Empire and being Christian lost it To this I answere that it was not Romes Hethenisme that won it nor her Christianitie that lost it but rather it might bee sayd that Christianitie won it and want of Christianitie lost it There were three Empires before this and they being all Heathen arose and Heathen fell and why should wee not thinke that this would also fal if it had still beene Heathen It hath long bin obserued that Kingdomes and Empires haue * Ier. 27.7 Ages and Periods aswell as priuate men And when an Empire shall rise there comes a spirit of Valour on Armies and of Heroicall Vertue on Chieftaynes which the Empire being ripe departeth away and then are they like Samson when his Lockes are shauen and Samson is said then to bee like another man And that Christianity raysed the Empire it may be iustified in diuers senses The first is That God raised this Empire by the vniuersality thereof to spread his vniuersall and Catholike Truth The hedges and partitions of the World were broken downe that Christian Religion might haue a free walke throughout the whole World Againe this huge Kingdome was raysed iust to meet with Christs Kingdome that by the hugenesse of the opposition the greatnesse of the victorie might bee magnified The spirit of Antichrist was mounted on this Beast and fought then in the Emperors and now fights in the Popes against Christ his Church but the Dragon or the Beast or the false Prophet may not preuayle â—or the Kingdome is the Lord Christs and his is glory and honour and dominion for euermore This resisting and aduersarious Empire while it fought against Christ it serued Christ while it killed his Church it increased his Church and while it fought against Religion it became a meanes to spread and inlarge it And that it was rather Heathenisme then Christianity that lost the Empire may appeare by the Stories of the Degeneration both of the Church and of the Emperours Pride Couetousnesse contempt of Religion deseruing the remouall of the Candlesticke which long afore was threatned to the Church of Ephesus and in them to any other like parts of the whole Church The time and worke of the Empire was expired it had fought against Christ and was ouercome by it and now the sinnes and corruptions ioyntly requiring it he that hindred was to bee taken away euen the Emperour and the man of Sin was to step in his place by whom Antichrists second part was to be acted And against him also doth the Kingdome of Christ preuayle though fighting against Christ by the old weapons of the Heathen Empire euen fire and sword And now small States and Kingdomes are animated strengthened by the hand of Omnipotence so that they stand the shock of his greatest fury yea they gaine and grow vpon him A little bordering Country that is but a piece of a former state and the most despicable piece of it standing in water and therefore participating left of the actiuity of fire yet â—ow by the disposition of the Almightie partakes of the wisdome and power of a fierie Spirit and hath often consumed both the aduerse policies and forces preseruing mightily yea in larging that Religion which should haue beene taken from it by the cruell talents of the Inquisition Wherfore be wise O ye Kings and be instructed O yee Iudges of the Earth Kisse the Sonne and resist him not lest he be angrie and ye perish in the mid-way Make not your Hoasts and Nauies the vaine Bulwarkes of declining Antichrist neyther wrap your selues in the ruines of him that is appointed to fall When Christ will ouercome an Hoast is contemptible before him and the greatnesse of your opposition can only magnifie his Victory and your owne ruine And bee