after another the younger doth alwayes build vpon the more ancient and next precedent 5 The latter are built vpon the former which from the toppe to the bottome it doth not wholly disproue condemn for then it could not be heard or take footing but it only accuseth it either of imperfection or of the end and that therfore it commeth to succeed it and to perfect it and so by little and little ouerthroweth it and inricheth it selfe with the spoiles therof as the Iudaicall which hath retained many things of the Gentile Egyptian religion the elder the Hebrewes not being easily purified of their customes the Christian built vpon the verities and promises of the Iudaicall the Turkish vpon them both retaining almost all the verities of Christ Iesus except the first and principall which is his Diuinity so that if a man will leape from Iudaisme to Mahumatisme he must passe by Christianity and such there haue beene among the Mahumatists as haue exposed themselues to torments to maintaine the trueth of Christian religion as a Christian would do to maintaine the truth of the Old Testament But yet the elder and more ancient doe wholly condemne the yonger and holde them for capitall enemies All religions haue this in them that they are strange and 6 All are strange to nature horrible to the common sense for they propose and are built and composed of parts whereof some seeme to the iudgement of man base vnworthy and vnbefitting wherewith the spirit of man somwhat strong and vigorous iesteth and sporteth it selfe others too high bright wonderfull and mysticall where he can know nothing wherewith it is offended Now the spirit of man is not capable but of indifferent things it contemneth and disdaineth the small it is astonished and confounded with the great and therefore it is no maruell if it be hardly perswaded at the first onset to receiue all religion where there is nothing indifferent and common and therefore must be drawen thereunto by some occasion for if it be strong it disdaineth and laugheth at it if it be feeble and superstitious it is astonished and scandalized praedicamus Iesum crucifixum Iudaeis scandalum gentib us stultitiam Whereof it comes to passe that there are so many mis-beleeuers and irreligious persons because they consult and hearken too much to their owne iudgements thinking to examine and iudge of the affaires of religion according to their owne capacitie and to handle it with their owne proper and naturall instruments We must be simple obedient and debonaire if we will be fit to receiue religion to beleeue and liue vnder the law by reuerence and obedience to subiect our iudgement and to suffer our selues to be led and conducted by publike authoritie Captiuantes intellectum ad obsequium fidei But it was required so to proceed otherwise religion should not be respected and had in admiration as it ought now it is necessarie that it be receiued and sworne to as well authenticallie and reuerentlie as difficultlie If it were such as were whollie pleasing to the palat and nature of man without strangenes it would be thought more easily yet lesse reuerently receiued Now the religions and beliefs being such as hath been said strange vnto the common sense very farre exceeding all the 7 Why they are not to be gottē by humane means reach and vnderstanding of man they must not nor cannot be gotten nor setled in vs by naturall and humane meanes for then among so many great minds as there haue been rare and excellent some had attained thereunto but it must needs be that they be giuen vs by extraordinarie and heauenlie reuelation gotten and receiued by diuine inspiration and as sent from heauen In this maner likewise all do affirme that they hold their religion and beleeue it not from men or any other creature but from God But to say the truth and not to flatter or disguise this is 8 And yet they are gotten by humane meanes nothing they are whatsoeuer some say held by humane hands and meanes which is true in euery respect in false religions being nothing but prayers and humane or diabolicall inuentions the true as they haue another iurisdiction so are they both receiued and held by another hand neuerthelesse we must distinguish As touching the receiuing of them the first and generall publication and installation of them hath beene domino cooperante sermonem confirmante sequentes signis diuine and wonderfull the particular is done by humane hands and meanes the nation countrie place giues the religion and that a man professeth which is in force in that place and among those persons where he is borne and where he liueth He is circumcised baptised a Iew a Christian before he knowes that he is a man for religion is not of our choyce or election but man without his knowledge is made a Iew or a Christian because he is borne in Iudaisme or Christianitie and if he had been borne elsewhere among the Gentiles or Mahumetans he had beene likewise a Gentile or a Mahumetan As touching the obseruation the true and good professors thereof besides the outward profession which is common to all yea to misbeleeuers they attribute to the gift of God the testimonie of the Holy Ghost within but this is a thing not common nor ordinarie what faire colour soeuer they giue it witnes the liues and maners of men so ill agreeing with their beleefe who for humane occasions and those very light goe against the tenor of their religion If they were held planted with a diuine hand nothing in the world could shake vs such a tye would not be so easily broken If it had any touch or ray of diuinitie it would appeare in all it would produce wonderfull effects that could not be hid as Truth it selfe hath said If you haue but as much faith as a mustard seed you should remoue mountaines But what proportion or agreement is there betwixt the perswasion of the immortalitie of the soule and a future reward so glorious and blessed or so inglorious and accursed and the life that a man leadeth The only apprehension of those things that a man saith he doth firmely beleeue wil take his senses from him The only apprehension and feare to die by iustice and in publike place or by some other shamefull and dishonorable action hath made many to lose their senses and cast them into strange trances and what is that in respect of the worth of that which religion teacheth vs is to come But is it possible in truth to beleeue to hope for that immortalitie so happie and yet to feare death a necessarie passage thereunto to feare and apprehend that infernall punishment and liue as we do These are things as incompatible as fire and water They say they beleeue it they make themselues beleeue they beleeue it and they will make others beleeue it too but it is nothing neither do they know what it is to beleeue For
a beleefe I meane such as the scripture calleth historicall is diabolicall dead informed vnprofitable and which many times doth more hurt than good Such beleeuers saith an ancient Writer are mockers and impostors and another saith that they are in one respect the most fierce and glorious in another the most loose dissolute and villanous of the world more than men in the articles of their beleefe and worse than swine in their liues Doubtlesse if we hold our selues vnto God and our religion I say not by a diuine grace as we should but only after a simple and common maner as we beleeue a historie or a friend or companion wee should place them farre aboue all other things for that infinite goodnesse that shineth in them at the least they should be put in the same ranke or degree with honour riches friends Now there are very few that doe not feare lesse to commit an offence against God and any point of his religion than against his father his master his friend his equalls All this hurteth not the dignitie puritie and height of Christianitie no more than the dunghill infecteth the beames of the Sunne which shines vpon it for as one saith Fides non à personis sed contrà But a man cannot pronounce so great a Vae against those false hypocrites whom Matth. 23. Verity it selfe so much condemneth as they belch out of their owne mouthes against themselues The better to know true pietie it is necessarie first to separate it from the false fained and counterfeite to the end wee 9 A distinction betwixt the true and false religion may not equiuocate as the most part of the world doth There is nothing that maketh a fairer shew and that taketh greater paines to resemble true pietie and religion and yet that is more contrarie and enemie thereunto than superstition like the Woulfe which doth not a little resemble the dogge but yet hath a spirit and humour quite contrarie and the flatterer who counterfetteth a zealous friend and is nothing lesse or like false coine which maketh a more glittering shew than the true Gens superstitioni obnoxia religionibus aduersae It is likewise enuious and iealous like an amorous adulteresse Tacit. who with her smooth speeches makes shew of greater affection and care of the husband than the true and lawfull wife whom she endeuoureth to make odious vnto him Now the notable differences of these two are that religion loueth and honoureth God setleth a man in peace and rest and lodgeth in a liberall free and generous soule Superstition troubleth a man and makes him wild and iniureth God himselfe teaching to feare with horror and astonishment to hide himselfe and to flie from him if it were possible it is a weake poore and base malady of the soule Superstitio error insanus August amandos timet quos colit violat morbus pusilli animi qui superstitione imbutus est quietus esse nusquam potest Varro ait Deum a religioso vereri a superstitioso timeri Let vs speake of them both apart A superstitious man suffereth neither God nor man to liue 10 Superstition described in peace Hee apprehendeth God as one anxious spitefull hardly contented easily moued with difficulty appeased examining our actions after the humane fashion of a seuere Iudge that watcheth our steps which he prooueth true by his maner of seruing him which is all after one fashion He trembleth for feare he is neuer secure fearing hee neuer doth well enough and that he hath left something vndone by the omission whereof all is worth nothing that he hath done hee doubteth whether God be well content and laboureth to flatter him to the end he may appease and winne him he importuneth him with praiers vowes offerings he faineth to himselfe miracles easily beleeueth and receiueth such as are counterfetted by others and interpreteth all things though purely naturall as expreslie sent and done by God and runneth after whatsoeuer a man saith with all the care that may be duo superstitionis propria nimius timor nimius cultus What is all this but by punishing himselfe vilely basely and vnworthily to deale with God and more mechanicallie than a man would doe with a man of honour Generally al superstion and fault in religion proceedeth from this that wee make not that account of God that we should we reuoke him and compell him into order wee iudge of him according to our selues we put vpon him our humours O what blasphemie is this Now this vice and malady is almost naturall vnto vs and 11 It is naturall we haue all a kind of inclination thereunto Plutarch deploreth the infirmity of man who neuer knoweth how to keepe a measure or to settle himselfe vpon his feet for it leaneth and degenerateth either into superstition and vanitie or into a contempt and carelesnesse of diuine things We are like to an ill aduised husband besotted and cousened with the coyning subtilties of a light woman with whom he conuerseth more by reason of hir artificiall flatteries than with his honest spouse who honoreth and serueth him with a simple and naturall shamefastnes and euen so superstition pleaseth vs more than true religion It is likewise vulgar it proceedeth from a weaknesse of the soule an ignorance or mis-knowledge of God and that very 12 Popular grosse and therefore it is most commonly found in children women old men sick and such as haue been assaulted with some violent accident To be briefe it is in barbarous natures Inclinant natura ad superstitionem barbari Of this then it is Plutarch in sectorio said and not of true religion that it is true that Plato affirmeth that the weaknesse and idlenesse of men hath brought in religion and made it preuaile whereby children women and old men should be most capable of religion more scrupulous and deuout this were to wrong true religion to giue it so poore and fraile a foundation Besides these seeds and naturall inclinations to superstition there are many that shake hands with it and fauour it 13 Nourished and maintained by humane reason greatly for the great gaine and profit they receiue by it Great men likewise and mightie though they know what it is will not trouble nor hinder it because they know it is a very fit instrument to leade a people withall and therefore they do not only enflame and nourish that which is alreadie grafted in nature but when neede requireth they forge and inuent new as Scipio Sertorius Sylla and others qui faciunt animos humiles formidine diuûm depressosque premunt ad terram Nulla res multitudinem efficaciùs regit quà m superstitio Curtius Now quitting our selues of this foule and base superstition which I would haue him to abhorre whom I desire to instruct 14 An entrance to the discourse of true religion vnto wisdome let vs learne to guide our selues to true religion and pietie whereof I will giue some grounds
is the part of wisedome to resolue to beare it to sweeten it to accommodate it vnto himselfe as much as he can doing as in a game at hazard according to the counsell of Plato wherein if the die or card fall not out to be good a man taketh it patientlie and indeuoreth to mend his ill chaunce by his good play and like Bees who from Tyme a sharp and dry herbe gather sweet hony and as the prouerb is make a vertue of necessitie CHAP. V. To studie true pietie the first office of Wisdome THe preparatiues made and the two foundations laid it is time to build and to set downe the rules of wisdome whereof the first and most noble concerneth the religion and worship of God Pietie holdeth the first place in the ranke of our duties and it is a thing of great importance wherein it is dangerous and very easie to erre and be mistaken It is necessarie therefore to be aduised and to know how he that studieth wisdome should gouerne himselfe which we purpose to do hauing a little discoursed of the state and successe of religions in the world referring the rest vnto that which I haue said in my three Verities It is first a very fearefull thing to consider the great diuersitie of religions which haue beene and are in the world and 1 Diuersitie of religions much more of the strangenes of some of them so fantasticall and exorbitant that it is a wonder that the vnderstanding of man should be so much besotted and made drunken with impostures for it seemeth that there is nothing in the world high or low which hath not been deified in some place or other and that hath not found a place wherein to be worshipped They all agree in many things and haue likewise taken their beginning in the same climat Palestina and Arabia 2 That all agree in many principles which ioyne together I meane the more renowned and famous mistris of the rest haue their principles and foundations almost alike The beliefe of one God the author of all things of his prouidence and loue towards mankinde the immortalitie of the soule reward for the good chastisement for the wicked after this life a certaine outward profession of praying inuocating honoring and seruing God To win them credit and that they may be receiued they alledge and furnish themselues whether indeed and in veritie as the true or by imposture and faire semblance with reuelations apparitions prophets miracles prodigies holie mysteries Saints All haue their fountaine and beginning small feeble humble but by little and little by the imitation and contagious acclamation of the people with some fictions as forerunners they haue taken footing and been authorised in so much that they all are held with affirmation and deuotion yea the absurdest amongst them All hold and teach that God is appeased and woon by prayers presents vowes and promises and the like All beleeue that the principall and most pleasant seruice of God and the powerfullest meane to appease him and to obtaine his grace is to punish to cut themselues to impose vpon themselues some painefull and difficult labour witnes throughout the world and almost in all religions and rather in the false than in the true in Mahumetisme than Christianitie so many orders companies hermitages and frieries destinated to certaine and diuers exercises very painefull and of a strict profession euen to the lancing and cutting of their bodies thinking thereby to merit much more than the common sort who purifie not themselues with afflictions and torments as they do and euery day they prouide new and the nature of man doth neuer cease to inuent meanes of paine and torment which proceedeth from the opinion that God taketh pleasure and is pleased with the torment and ruine of his creatures which opinion is founded vpon the sacrifices which were vniuersall throughout the world before the birth of Christianitie and exercised not only vpon innocent beasts which were masacred with the effusion of their bloud for a pretious present vnto God but a strange thing that man should be so sottish vpon infants innocents and men as well good and honest as offenders a custome practised with great religion almost in all nations As the Getae a people of Scythia who among other ceremonies and sacrifices dispatched vnto their god Zamolxis from fiue yeares to fiue a man amongst them to demaund things necessarie for them And because it was thought necessarie that one should die suddainly at an instant and that they did expose themselues vnto death after a doubtfull maner by running themselues vpon the points of three iauelins whereby it fell out that many were dispatched in their order vntill there came one that lighted vpon a mortall wound and died suddenly accounting him the fittest messenger and in greatest fauour with their god and not the rest as the Persians witnesse that fact of Amestris the mother of Xerxes who at one instant buried aliue foureteene yoong men of the best houses according to the religion of the countrey as the ancient Gawles the Carthaginians who sacrificed to Saturne their children their fathers and mothers being present the Lacedemonians who flattered their goddesse Diana by whipping their youths in fauour of her many times euen to death the Greeks witnesse the sacrifice of Iphigenia the Romans witnesse the two Decij quae fuit tanta iniquitas deorum vt placari pop Rom. non possent nisi tales viri occidissent Turks who so massacre their visage their brests their members to gratifie their Prophet the new East and West Indies and in Themistitan where they cement their idols with the blood of children What madnesse was this to thinke to flatter the Diuinitie with inhumanitie to content the Diuine Goodnes with our affliction and to satisfie the iustice of God with crueltie Iustice then thirsting after humane blood innocent blood drawen and shed with so much paine and torment Vt sic dij placentur quemadmodum ne homines quidem saeuiunt From Seneca whence can this opinion and beleefe spring that God taketh pleasure in torment and in the ruine of his works and humane nature Following this opinion of what nature should God be But all this hath beene abolished thorowout Christendome as before hath been sayd They haue also their differences their particular articles whereby they are distinguished amongst themselues and 3 They differ euery one preferres it selfe aboue the rest assuring himselfe it is the better and more true than the rest reproching the one the other with some things and so condemne and reiect one another But no man doubteth neither is it a matter of labour to know which is the truest the Christian religion hauing so 4 Christian religion aboue all many aduantages and priuileges so high and so authenticall aboue others and especially these It is the subiect of my second veritie where is shewed how farre all others are inferior vnto it Now as they spring vp one
acquired and gotten by an outward cause ex auditu Quomodo credent sine praedicante engendreth honestie which we haue shewed should proceed from nature from that law and light which God hath put into vs from our first beginning This is an inuerted order These men will that a man be an honest man because there is a Paradise and a hell so that if they did not feare God or feare to be damned for that is often their language they would make a goodly peece of worke O miserable honestie What thankes deseruest thou for that thou doest ô cowardly and idle innocencie quae nisi metu non placet Thou keepest thy selfe from wickednesse because thou darest not be wicked and thou fearest to be beaten and euen therein art thou wicked Oderunt peccare mali formidine poenae Now I will that thou dare but yet that thou wilt not though thou be neuer chidden I will that thou be an honest man not because thou wouldest goe to paradise but because nature reason God willeth it because the law and the generall policy of the world whereof thou art a part requireth it so as that thou canst not consent to be any other except thou goe against thy selfe thy essence thy end Doubtlesse such honestie occasioned by the spirit of religion besides that it is not true and essentiall but accidentall it is likewise very dangerous producing many times very base and scandalous effects as experience in all times hath taught vs vnder the faire and glorious pretext of piety What execrable wickednesses hath the zeale of religion brought foorth Is there any other subiect or occasion that hath yeelded the like It belongeth to so great and noble a subiect to worke great and wonderfull effects Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum Quae peperit saepe scelerosa atque impia facta Not to loue him yea to look vpon him with a wicked eie as a man should looke vpon a monster that beleeueth not as he beleeueth To think to be polluted by speaking or conuersing with him is one of the sweetest and most pleasing actions of these kind of people Hee that is an honest man by scruple and a religious bridle take heed of him and account of him as he is And he that hath religion without honestie I will not say he is more wicked but farre more dangerous than he that hath neither the one nor the other Omnis qui interficiet vos putabit se obsequium praestare Deo not because religion teacheth or any way fauoureth wickednesse as some very foolishly and malitiouslie from this place do obiect for the most absurd and falsest religion that is doth it not but the reason is that hauing no taste nor image nor conceit of honestie but by imitation and for the seruice of religion and thinking that to be an honest man is no other thing than to be carefull to aduance religion they beleeue all things whatsoeuer be it treason treacherie sedition rebellion or any other offence to be not onlie lawfull and sufferable being coloured with zeale and the care of religion but also commendable meritorious yea worthy canonization if it serue for the progresse and aduancement of religion and the ouerthrow of their aduersaries The Iewes were wicked and cruell to their parents vniust towards their neighbors neither lending nor paying their debts and all because they gaue vnto the temple thinking to be quit of all duties and reiecting the whole world by saying Corban Math. 15. 5. Marc. 7. 11. 6. Hierom. I will then to conclude this discourse that there be in this my wise man a true honestie and a true pietie ioyned and maried together and both of them compleat and crowned with the grace of God which he denieth none that shall aske it of him Deus dat spiritum bonum omnibus potentibus eum as hath been said in the preface article the 14. CHAP. VI. To gouerne his desires and pleasures IT is a principall dutie of a wise man to know well how to moderate and rule his desires and pleasures for wholly to renounce them I am so farre from requiring it in this my wise man that I hold this opinion to be not only fantasticall but vitious and vnnaturall First then we must confute this opinion which banisheth and whollie condemneth all pleasures and afterwards learne how to gouerne them It is a plausible opinion and studied by those that would seeme to be men of vnderstanding and professors of singular 1 The first part sanctitie generally to contemne and tread vnder-foote all sorts of pleasures and all care of the bodie retiring the spirit vnto it selfe not hauing any commerce with the bodie but eleuating An opinion of the contempt of the world it selfe to high things and so to passe this life as it were insensiblie neither tasting it nor attending it With these kind of people that ordinarie phrase of passing the time doth very well agree for it seemeth to them that well to vse and employ this life is silently to passe it ouer and as it were to escape it and rob themselues of it as if it were a miserable burthensome and tedious thing being desirous so to slide through the world as that not only recreations and pastimes are suspected yea odious vnto them but also naturall necessities which God hath seasoned with some pleasure They come not where any delight is but vnwillinglie and being where it is they hold their breath till they be gone as if they were in a place of infection and to be briefe their life is offensiue vnto them and death a solace pleasing themselues with that saying which may be as well ill taken and vnderstood as well vitam habere in patientia mortem in desiderio But the iniquitie of this opinion may many wayes be shewed First there is nothing so faire and lawfull as well and 2 Reiected duly to play the man well to know how to leade this life It is a diuine knowledge very difficult for a man to know how he should lawfully enioy his owne essence leade his life according to the common and naturall modell to his proper conditions not seeking those that are strange for all those extrauagancies all those artificiall and studied endeuors those wandring wayes from the naturall and common proceede from follie and passion these are maladies without which whilest these men would liue not by playing the men but the diuines they play the fooles they would transforme themselues into angels and they turne themselues into beasts aut deus aut bestia homo sum humani à me nihil alienum puto Man is a bodie and a soule and it is not well done to dismember this building to diuide and separate this brotherlie and naturall coniunction but contrariwise we should renue it by mutuall offices the spirit must awaken and reuiue the heauie bodie the bodie must stay the lightnes of the spirit which many times prooues but a trouble-feast the spirit must