habeant plurimum vel dignitatis vel saepe etiam venustatis And hee giueth for an instance that great beautie and varietie which we see in the world which carrieth also with it no lesse vtilitie and profit the very punctuall instance of this our present purpose But to consider the profit of this our Treatise absolutely in it selfe without any such reference vnto his varieties Can there possibly be any more profitable contemplation either to excite and stirre vp a man vnto godlinesse or to incite him vnto thankfulnesse then religiously to weigh and pondâ—r with himselfe the immensitie of Gods goodnesse who hath made both heauen and earth and all the seuerall creatures contayned in them both to serue onely for his vse This contemplation wrought in the Prophet David so strongly that it draue him almost into an holy extasie forcing him to breake out into that patheticall exclamation O Lord our Governor how excellent is thy Name in all the world Thou that hast set thy glory aboue the Heauens When I consider the Heavens the worke of thy handes the Moone and the Starres which thou hast ordayned What is man say I then that thou art so mindfull of him or the son of man that thou so visitest him And marke heere againe how the Prophet resumeth his first admiration by a Poeticall Epanalepsis or reduplication O Lord our Governour how excellent is thy Name in all the world And indeede this sensible beholding of the invisible things of God by the creation of the world if it duly be considered and weighed as it ought it will minister a more effectuall instruction vnto our eyes then any that we commonly receiue in by our eares For Segnius irritant animos demissa per aurem Quam quae sunt oculis subiecta fidelibus quae Ipse sibi tradit spectator Those things more slowly doe affect the mind Which eares doe heare then those which eyes doe find And erefore this worke as I hope will not be without his profit Fourthly as concerning the Necessity of it Looke what absolute necessity the work of the foundation hath vnto all the rest of the building the same and no lesse hath the proofe of these Propositions vnto all the other parts of Religion For let but these foure positions be substantially proued That there is a God That there is but one God That Iehovah our God is that one God And that the Scripture is the Word of that God and then all the other parts of Religion in the whole Scripture contained are soundly supported and vpheld For then it will follow of it selfe that whatsoeuer is in the whole Scripture prescribed it ought to be obeyed as the very word of God But on the other side let either all or any of these positions be disproued That either there is no God or That there is not onely one or That Iâ—hovah is not that one or That the Scripture is not his word and then all Religion must needes presently fall downe as an house that lacketh his foundation So that whether we consider the difficulty of this work in respect of the writer or the Variety Vtility and Necessity of it in respect of the Reader it will as I hope be no labour ill spent to bestow some time in the reading of it And yet I doubt not courteous Reader but this my labour and indeauour will of some men be esteemed to be needelesse and redundant that in this so cleere a light and sun-shine of the Gospell I should goe about to proue those grounded principles of Religion which so long haue beene receiued without all contradiction the very seeking to proue the vndoubted truth of them carrying with it in shew a secret doubting of them at the least wise a calling of their truth into question which hath hitherto beene questionlesse amongst all good and sound Christians I represent the whole Obiection in his true and proper forme as it formerly hath beene represented vnto me by some neither ill-learned nor ill-affected towards me Whereby I may collect that from those which are more strange or more estranged Readers I may probably expect that scomme of Theognetus Laevas didicisti o nequam Literas Everterunt tuam vitam libri Dum philosophareris cum coelo acterra es confabulatus Quibus tui sermones minime curae sunt Fond man th' ast spent thy time in vaine Much idle learning thus to gaine Thy bookishnesse hath beene thy bane With heauen and earth thou talk'st I wis And yet thy talke by that nor this Nor more nor lesse regarded is This measure and no better I but hardly shall escape from those rash and heady persons who like Sannioes subsanne all things but onely their owne follies not waighing the moment and nature of things For as Euripides very truely obserueth Indoctis nova proferens scita Videberis inutilis non sapiens esse Who broacheth ought that 's new to fooles vntaught Himselfe shall iudged be vnwise and good for naught Against whom I haue put on Galens iron-resolution as an armour of sure proofe Non ignorantes hunc librum calumnijs convitijs lacessitum iri quam saepissime cum velut infans orphanus in manus hominum â—briorum prae stultitia ruditate exciderit tamen conamur scribere gratia illorum paucorum qui dicenda audire recte iudicare poterunt And yet for the better remouing of the fore-alledged Exception and diuerse other of like nature which might minister any scruple either vnto the curious or incurious Reader I thought good to praemunite the succeeding Treatise with this praeceding Preface to exempt out of their minds all those scrupulous exceptions which by way of diuination I could forecast would trouble them touching either the matter or the manner of my writing Vsing in the meane time the same obtestation vnto my beneuolous Reader which Lucretius doth to his in the very like matter Vacuas aures mihi te Semotum a curis adhibe veram ad rationem Nemea dona tibi studio disposta fideli Intellecta prius quam sint contempta relinquas To Reason Lend me thine attentiue eares Exempt thy selfe from mind-distracting cares Lest that which I proiected for thy good By thee reiected be e're vnderstood Yea and the reason which there is alledged by him will also not vnproperly serue my turne Nam tibi de summa Coeli ratione Deumque Disserere incipiam rerum primordia pandam My purpose is to treate of Heau'ns high Nature Of All 's originall and of All 's Maker First therefore as concerning the fore-named Exception That all these foure Positions which are the subiect of this Treatise be already amongst vs sufficiently beleeued and that therefore it is superfluous to call them now to be proued Vnto this Obiection I answer three things First that the principall scope and intent of this Booke is rather to conuince those that beleeue them not then
Poets then by the holy Scriptures And therefore saith Lactantius in another place that it is satis firmum testimonium ad probandam veritatem quod ab ipsis perhibetur inimicis It is a sound argument for the prouing of the truth which is fetcht from the enemies of the truth Yea though it were but a weake one in it selfe as the Orator obserâ—â—th in the very like case Tuum testimonium quod in altenare leve est id in tua quoniam contrate est grauissimum esse debet Thy testimony saith he which is but light and friuolous in another mans cause yet is weighty in thine owne when it is against thy selfe So that as Tertullian obserueth Ex aemulis nonnunquam testimonium sumere necessarium est si non aemulis prosit Sometimes to deriue a testimony from the mouth of the aduersary is an excellent help when it makes against the Aduersarie For to confute Atheists by their owne proper Authors is to cut off Goliah's head with his owne proper sword which is of all other the most grieuous kinde of wound Whereas to confute them by the authority of Scripture were in effect no better then to cast holy things vnto Dogs and precious pearles before Hogs which tread them vnder foote And therefore I haue chosen to fight against the Atheists the â—ighters against God not with a chosen company of Apostles and Prophets who are too worthy persons to stirre their least finger for such vnworthy Aduersaries which so contemne their holy writings but rather with a company of Infidels and Heathens By whom notwithstanding I hope God assisting to cut in sunder that band of prophane and wicked Atheists which band themselues against heauen and against God himselfe For as God himselfe once compelled the wicked Aegyptians by flyes and frogs and grashoppers and other such like contemptible wormes to confesse the power of his diuine Maiestie not vouchsafing to adact them by any other of his creatures more generous and worthy so will we likewise compell these vngodly Atheists to confesse There is a God by the arguments and testimonies of the Heathen Philosophers not vouchsafing them the writings of the most holy Authors Which weighty and important reasons of my so frequent alledging of prophane and Heathen Writers I request the Christian Reader to carry along with him throughout this whole Treatise for my perpetuall defence The cause you see requireth it the Aduersary exacteth it CHAP. 3. That there is an inbred perswasion in the hearts of al men That there is a God 2. That this hath beene obserued by many learned men among the Heathens 3. That it hath also beene obserued by diuers learned Christians 4. Two notable testimonies out of Tullie asserting this perswasion both vnto all Nations and vnto all Conditions and vnto all persons among men I Haue largely vnfoulded in the two former Chapters both what manner of Arguments and what manner of Authorities are most proper to this cause and most effectual with our Aduersaries either to bend them or to break them Let vs therfore now come on to the laying of them open Now they be of two sorts they bâ— either externall or internall Arguments For as it is true one way which is obserued by Seneca that Deus et extra et intra tenâ—t opus suum that God vpholdeth all his workes both without them and within them so is it also true another way that Deus et extra et intra tenetur ab opere suo that God is beheld of all his workes not onely without them but also within them Nature her selfe lending vs light to see the God of Nature euen in the most obscure and interior parts of vs. The first Argument then to proue There is a God is an internall Argument and that is taken from a naturall and inbred conclusion which is generally ingrafted into the hearts of all men that surely There is a God This is the most ancient and generall praenotion that Nature hath begotten in the mind of a man Which naturall perswasion though it be both bred and borne together with vs yet must it needs be a syence of Gods owne planting in vs. For if it be true which is affirmed by Seneca that Insita sunt nobis omnium artium semina sed Magister ex occulto Deus producit ingenia That it is God that hath implanted in the soule of a man the first seedes and principles of other humane Arts then must hee needes much more haue implanted in him this first seede and principle of all religion which is the proper Art of Gods holy worshipping an Art of which himselfe is the true and onely Obiect For Pietas is nothing else but onely scientia Diuini cultus an arte of worshipping God aright as Zeno rightly defineth it And therefore it is not probable that hee which hath replenished the soule of a man with those notions and conceptions that are the first seedes of all other Arts and Sciences should onely leaue out that which belongeth to himselfe But howsoeuer the Atheist be perswaded in this point that this inward perswasion is implanted by God or not yet can he not deny but that there is in mans heart such an inward perswasion because all the world confesseth it euery mans experience teacheth it and all learned men both of Christians and Heathens doe both know and acknowledge it 2 Let me giue you some instance for the demonstration of it Plato in his tenth Booke De Leg. taking vpon him to prooue by force of Argument that there needes must be A God hee bringeth this as one principall probation that there is et Graecorum et Barbarorum omnium consensus Deos esse fatentium that there is in this point a generall consent both of Greekes and Barbarians that surely There is a God And Xenophon euen in this respect preferres the soule of a man before all other creatures because none of them hath any sense of their Creator none of them vnderstandeth either that there is a God or that he is the maker and Creator of the world or of those great good things which therein are contained Cuius alterius animalis animus cognoscit maximarum optimarúmque rerum conditores esse Deos Doth the soule of any other thing know God to be the maker of euery good thing but only the soule of man No saith the Aegyptian Philosopher Spiritus de animalibus cunctis humanos tantùm sensus ad diuinae rationis intelligentiaÌ„ exornat erigit atque sustollit Among all other creatures the spirit of only man is adorned erected by the spirit of God to the knowledge vnderstanding of Gods diuine wisdome And so saith the Romane Orator Ex tot generibus nullum est animal praeter hominem quod habeat notitiâ—m aliquam Dei ipsisque in hominibus nâ—lla gens est neque tam immansueta neque tam fera quae non etiam
Sterquilinum insomuch that as Clemens Romanus reporteth they did Crepitus ventris venerari pro Numinibus A filthy Dunghill of stincking gods well deseruing that reproch which is cast vpon some of them by Aristophanes that they be but Dij merdiuori For so their Cloacina may be truly sayd to be And so the Prophet Moses calleth them in expresse and plaine words Dunghill gods as the Originall is rendred by our last Translators And diuers other such absurd gods they worshipped which it is almost a shame but to haue named as Sybilla hath truly noted Haec adoratis Et alia multa vana quae sanè turpe fuerit praedicare Sunt enim Dij hominum deceptores stultorum These foolish gods and many more Like vaine Ye worship and adore Which filthy were to name in Schooles Such filthy gods deceiue but Fooles And therefore I ouerpasse them with S. Augustines transition Non omnia commemoro quia me piget quod illos non puduit These gods make me halfe ashamed to name them although they themselues were not ashamed to worship them Which seemeth to me little lesse then a wonder that the Romanes so wise and so seuere a nation yet should shew themselues so foolish in the vse of their Religion But this sedulitie of mans soule about such false gods must needs importe vnto vs that it thinkes there is a true one And thus you plainely see by all the former instances that there is no Nation so Barbarous but it will haue a God though neuer so ridiculous Which euidently proueth that this one conclusion That there is a God is a generall principle throughout the whole world wherein all kinde of people remaine still of one language euen after the generall confusion of tongues conspiring more fully in this one common principle then they doe in any other either of Art or Nature For which I referre you to the next insuing Chapter 5. Let me onely here for the Close of this present giue you but this one note That I find it obserued by diuers of the learned that beside those great and most renowned gods which were called Dij maiorum Gentium and were worshipped generally throughout the greatest part of the world euery seuerall Countrie and almost euery Citie selected to themselues their peculiar gods which they called Deos Tutelares that is the Guardians and Defendors and Patrons of their Countries of whom Tullie giueth vs some instances that the Alabandians did worship for their Patron Alabandus the Tenedians Tenes the whole Countrie of Greece Hercules AEsculapius Castor and Pollux and these he calleth nouos ascriptitios Cives in Coelum reâ—ceptos that is to say new gods taken lately into heauen as new Citizens are receiued into their new Citie So Lucian Per Regiones illos distributos colunt â—â—sque velut in ciuitatem suam receptant As the Gods haue gratified Men in receiuing some of them amongst themselues into heauen so Men haue regratiated them againe in receiuing of them into their Cities vpon earth as their proper and peculiar Gods And then he giueth some instances Apollinem Delphi Delijque Minervam Athenienses Argivi Iunonem Migdonij Rheam Venerem Paphij Cretenses Iovem And a great many other he reckoneth vp in Ioue Tragaedo Tertullian he giueth vs diuers other instances Vnicuique Prouinciae Ciuitati Deus suus est vt Syriae Astartes vt Arabiae Disares vt Norici Belenus vt Africae Coelestis vt Mauritaniae Reguli sui There is no Country no Citie but it hath his proper God the Syrians Astartes the Arabians Disares the Noricians Belenus the Affricans Coelestis and the Mauritanians their owne Kings And then he proceedeth to declare that this is not onely the generall Religion of euery Countrie but also the particular of euery Citie whereof he hath also giuen instances vnto vs. Crustuminensium Belventinus Narniâ—nsium Viridianus Asculanorum Ancaria Volsiniensium Nersia Ocriculanorum Valentia Sutrinorum Nortia Faliscorum Curis c. naming the neighbour Cities round about Rome it selfe who yet not contented with the generall Gods of their Countrie would needs haue their peculiars euery Cittie for it selfe Lactantius yet addeth other instances vnto these Summa veneratione coluerunt AEgyptij Isidem Mauri Iubam Macedones Cabyrum Paeni Vranum Latini Faunum Sabini Sancum Romani Quirinum eodem vtique modo Athenae Mineruam Samos Iunonem Paphos Venerem Lemnos Vulcanum Naxos Liberum Delphi Apollinem The AEgyptians doe worship their Cabyrus the Carthaginians their Vranus the Latines their Faunns the Sabines their Sancus the Romanes their Romulus and so the Athenians their Minerua the Samians their Iuno the Paphians their Venus the Lemni ans their Vulcane the Naxians their Bacchus the Delphians their Apollo And the like no doubt they could easily haue shewed of all the other Nations and Cities of the world if they had purposely intended a set worke vpon that point which here they haue touched but lightly by the way as wee may partly see by that rabble of them which Rabshakeh so rouled out in his luxurious and Asiaticall Oration vnto King Hezechiah Where is the God of Hamah and of Arpad Where is the God of Sepharuaim Heuah and Ivah But a great deale more plainly in that reprehension of Ieremie wherewith he perstringeth the idolatrie of the Iewes that according to the number of their Citties was the number of their Gods Whereby it appeareth that they contented not themselues with their owne God Iehovah though he were vnto them both Deus Patrius The God of their Fathers The most ancient God and Deus Tutelaris The God of their Countrie their most carefull God The Keeper of Israel Protecting and defending them and watching ouer them a great deale more vigilantly then euer any Watchman doth ouer his owne Citie as the Prophet Dauid hath expressely testified But yet for all that they would haue beside him ouer euery seuerall Citie a seuerall God else could he not haue sayd that the number of their Gods had equalled the number of their Cities Which vanitie they affected vpon an itching humor to be like vnto their neiâ—â—bour Nations as well in this as in many other things And this also may be gathered by those High Places which Salomon builded for his idolatrous Wiues wherein they worshiped the seuerall Gods of their seuerall Nations Ashtareth the Goddesse of the Sidonians and Milcom the God of the Amorites Chemosh the God of the Moabites and Molech the God of the Ammonites and so likewise for all the rest of his Out-landish Wiues which burnt incense and offered vnto their Gods Whereby it appeareth that euery seuerall Nation had a God of his owne As yet further may be seene by the practise of those Nations which Salmanezer transplanted into the Samaritane Cities of whom it is recorded that thogh they feared the Lord yet they worshipped euery one his owne peculiar God
Gods direction For as S. Peter plamlyteacheth vs There is no Prophecy in Scripture of any priuate motion neither of the will of man but the holy men of God did onely speake as they were inspired by the holy Spirit who disposed their affections to serue the Church of God with all their best indowments and endeauors and euery one of them according to that Talent which God hath giuen vnto him to helpe to build it vp in true piety and religion So that they all of them being ioynt-laborers together and all of them working in one common worke vnder one common master there could none haue any cause to insult ouer another not the Hymnographer ouer the Historiographer nor the Gnomographer ouer either nor the Prophet ouer all or any of the rest but euery one to acknowledge other as his owne fellow-labourer appoynted by God himselfe with that gift which he had to helpe forwarde the same building that he himselfe did And the very same course hath the holy Ghost obserued as well in the new Testament as he did in the old For he hath giuen vnto his Church some Apostles some Prophets some Teachers some Workers of Myracles some Helpers some Gouernours some Speakers with Tongues For the gathering together of the Saints for the worke of the Ministery and for the building vp of the body of Christ. Not all Apostles not all Prophets not all Teachers not all Gouernours but yet all fellow-labourers and all builders vp of the Church and euery one acoadiutor to the worke of all the other We together are Gods labourers and the Church his building So that as in the natur all body of a man no one member can suffice for all his need full vses but all of them stand in neede of the mutuall assistance of all their fellow-members so that the eye cannot say to the hand I haue no neede of thee no nor euen the head vnto the foote I haue no neede of thee So likewise in the mysti call body of Christ those members that are the chiefest yet doe neede the coassistance of those that are the meanest The same Prouidence still carefull for the good of the Church hath continually raysed vp throughout all succeeding ages many learned and wise and industrious Pastors to instruct and teach his Church in true piety and godlinesse some by preaching some by writing and some by both But yet in no Age hath God shed out all the riches of his blessings both of Wisedome and Learning and all his high Illuminations more graciously and plentifully than in this Age of ours For what learning or what knowledge hath God euer bestowed vpon any of all the preceding ages which he hath not greatly amplified and inlarged in this of ours Yea and that to high degrees And as he hath in this our Age bestowed vpon many men great variety of Gifts so hath hee also designed them to great variety of workes To some he hath giuen diuersitie of Tongues and those hee hath called to examine Translations to some skill in disputing and those he hath called to labour in Controuersies to some a faculty in Exhortation and Teaching and those he hath called to instruct men by Preaching And thus as God hath dispensed his gifts diuersly so hath he assigned men their Prouinces accordingly to one after one manner and to another after another appoynting vnto euery one that as he hath receiued the gift so likewise he should minister as good dispensers of the manifold graces of God So that now God be praysed the Church of Christ goeth vp on all hands euery man labouring in it with his seuerall gift to repaire all the ruines and seuerall bracks of it some as Architects and skilfull Master-builders some as Carpenters some as Smiths some as Masons yea and some other but as Temperers of Lyme and Mortar yet these also called Labourers yea and more properly then the others Whose worke though in view it be lesse honorable then therest yet is it in vse as profitable as the best yea and of so great necessity to the perfecting of the building that as in temporall building the greater Stones cannot be firmely layd without mixture of the lesse so in this spirituall building too those other Artes though superiour yet cannot either perfect or performe their owne worke without the helpe and ministery euen of those meane and inferiour Amongst whom it hath pleased the prouidence of God to call mee to make vp some decayes in the foundations which either through tract of time or through corruption of manners or through the vnder-mining of little Foxes mentioned in the Canticles are growne by degrees into the very lowest ground-works I am called to vnder-pinne those foure maine Corner-stones which vphold like foure pillars the whole frame of the Church I meane the first foure principles of all Religion namely That there is a God That there is but one God That Iehovah our God is that one God And That the holy Scripture is the word of that God These vnder-groundworks hath it pleased diuine prouidence to assigne me for my taske So that whilst other men doe so are aloft like Eagles in the ayre I must creepe heere below like a worme vpon the earth But yet let no man despise the basenesse of this worke because it is about the Basis of the Church For the worke of the foundation though it be in sight the lowest worke belonging to the building yet is it not the least but in truth the very greatest as being the whole support and stay of all the rest euen of the very highest A Worke which requireth both the skilfullest head and the cunningest hand vnto the doing of it if it be done as it ought And therefore I could haue wished that some excellent Maister-workman more plentifully abounding both in leisure and learning would haue taken it vponhim The worke is due to such yea and our Church hath store of such Gods name be praysed for it But yet no man that I see hath set his hand vnto it Many worke vpon the walls to make them firme and strong many vpon the roofe to keepe it close and tight many vpon the pillars to erect and straighten them exactly ad perpendiculum some pariete and smooth it some painte and adorne it some furnish and garnish it with beautifull pictures like apples of gold in pictures of siluer But yet no man looketh downe into the ground-worke of it that it be layd so low as to reach vnto the Rocke Whereby there is a space left for pioners and vnder-miners and such like deceitfull workers which are not able to breake through the wall yet do dig vnder the foundation and so to euert all And therefore I haue aduentured vpon this great taske though farre vnequall to it hoping that the the same Spirit which hath giuen me the will will also assist me in the worke in some measure to
they beleeue nothing The greatnesse of mens wits sharpneth many of them on to see all things prooued by arguments and demonstrated vnto sense The Scriptures with many haue lost their authority and are thought onely fit for the ignorant and idiote The World now swelling with an opinion of learning though it be indeede in such men but onely an opinion yea and that a very false one For as the Apostle S. Paul hath very truely censured them Wherein they professe themselues to be wise therein they doe shew themselues to be fooles there being nothing more foolish then either not to beleeue that there is a God who yet may visibly be seene by the creation of the world or to beleeue that the world was neuer created because we see not visibly the first creation of it This though such vaine men doe conceite and accompt to be their wisedome yet is it indeed their palpable folly yea and that not onely in the Apostle Pauls iudgement but also in the iudgement of the very Heathen Poet who calleth such mens doubting rationis egestatem the very beggery of reason Tentat enim dubiam mentem rationis egestas Ecquaenam fuerit mundi genitalis origo It 's want of reason or it's reasons want Which doubts the minde and Iudgment so doth daunt That Worlds beginning mak's men not to graunt Yea as thicke and grosse a folly as if a man looking vpon some goodly building should professe hee would not beleeue that it euer had beene made because he himselfe did not see the making of it For how differ they Therefore it is but an erroneous opinion to thinke that either amongst Christians there can be no Atheists or that secret Atheists are not to be convinced as well as the publique or that the principles of Religion are beleeued of all by whom they bee confessed or that they ought not to be prooued vnto those men of whom they bee already beleeued All these I say be very great errors but especially the first For beside the two fore-named sorts of Atheists the one both inword and heart denying God the other in word confessing him but in heart renouncing him there is yet a third sort of them yea and those euen amongst Christians who though both in word and in heart they confesse him yet doe they in their workes deny him They beleeue there is a God but they liue as if they beleeued there were none which the Apostle Paul perstringeth as a reall denying of him They professe they know God but by workes they deny him Yea and his censure is approued euen by the Heathen Poet who sentenceth all wicked and licencious liuers to bee no better then a kinde of pragmaticall Atheists Tubulus si Lucius vnquam Si Lupus aut Carbo aut Neptuni silius Putasset esse Deos tam periurus aut tam impius fuisset Lucilius ask's if any man can dreame That Lucius Lupus Carbo and their crue Or Neptun's sonne that impious Polypheme Themselues so periur'd or so vile would shâ—w If they had once a thought but that there is A God in Heau'n who plagues men for their mis Now all these sorts of Atheists are to bee convinced and drawne obtorto collo will they nill they vnto God Which I hope is performed I am sure indeauoured in this Booke Wherein the first sort of those Atheists which deny there is a God are forc't by strength of reason to confesse that they denied The second sort of them which confesse there is a God and yet beleeue it not are taught to beleeue that which they haue confessed The third sort of them which both beleeue and confesse him and yet haue no care to worship or obey him are heere taught to liue as they doe beleeue So that this Booke hath great vse towards all those sorts of Atheists which beleeue not these positions Yea and no lesse I hope likewise towards those that beleeue them For those true and sound Christians which both confesse the truth and beleeue as they confesse and liue as they beleeue it notably confirmeth both in their true faith and in their good life So that it will no way be idle or superâ—luous neither towards the Vnbeleeuers nor yet towards the Beleeuers Not to them for information not to these for confirmation But yet it may bee that some man will obiect that Treatises of Deuotion are of much greater profit and more fitting to the nature and capacity of the Vulgar and that therefore these our paines might more properly and profitably haue bene bestowed vpon such Whereunto I breifly answere That indeede there is nothing more generally wanting in the practise of our liues then is the exercise of true Deuotion nothing more defectiue in the diuersity of our writings then discourses of that kinde So that this may likewise be confessed too truly â—o be but a steril part of Diuinitie tilled by very few But yet euen this present worke which we now haue in hand if it be well considered and duly meditated doth not want his instigation vnto true deuotion For what greater motiue or incentiue can there be to inflame the godly Soule with all faithfulnesse to deuote it selfe wholy vnto Gods holy seruice then seriously to perpend and to recompte within it selfe that God hath made all his seuerall Creatures to deuote them onely vnto our vse and seruice Whosoeuer hath in him any sparckle of goodnesse he must needes by this godly and religious meditation be greatly accended vnto true deuoion Now that point in this Booke is prolixly layd open And certes how the Reader will be affected in the reaâ—ing of this Booke I cannot tell but my selfe in writing of it was no lesse affected then was Tullie in the writing of 〈◊〉 Bookâ— De Senecture being oftentimes so liuely touched that I neuer found in my selfe a more quicke apprehension both of Gods incomprehensible Maiestie and goodnesse 〈◊〉 of Mans most contemptible pusillitie 〈◊〉 then by this contemplation of God in his creatures finding in my self the verity of that obseruation of Tully that Est animorum ingeâ—â—â—â—umque naturale quasipabulum consideratio contemplatioq Naturae Erigimur latiores fieri videmur humana despicinus cogitantesq supera atque coelestia haec nostra vt exigua minima contemnimus As for the capacitie of the simpler Readers all is not written to them but the most vnto the learned who are in most danger with many Obiections vpoâ— these points to be troubled But yet there bee many passages througâ— out the whole Booke which may easily be conceiued euen of the 〈◊〉 Readers yea and that euen in the highest points which I haue 〈◊〉 indeauoured to stoop and demitte euen to the capacitie of the very lowest so farre as the nature of the things would permit So 〈…〉 may haply bee found true euen in this discourse also at the least in respect of the subiect matter handled though not in the
writing by inuocating diuine grace might haue Gods holy blessing shed out vpon our labours Without which if any man dispose himselfe to reading affying onely vpon his owne wit vnderstanding it will be the next way to frustrate and make voyd both all my paines and his For then I shall say nothing so consonant vnto reason which by the conceit of a strange reason he will not seeke to euerte yea and take a pride too in it But if in a godly humilitie and with a Christian studie he prepare himselfe to reade seeking only to edifi himselfe in the truth and following that good counsell which S. Herom prescribeth Orationi lectio lectioni succedat oratio Let reading succeed prayer prayer succeed reading then I doubt not but by this my poore labour and indeauour both he may reape great profit my selfe receiue great comfort For as Boetius obserueth in this very case Sil vltra se humanitas nequit ascendere quantum imbecillitas subtrahâ—t vota suppl bunt Since humanitie cannot possibly ascend aboue it selfe let that which is wanting in our infirmitie be supplied by our pietie 4. So that all the hope of good and prosperout successe in the proofe of this fiâ—st position dependeth especially vpon the Readers disposition It will be a worke to me either easie or difficult to proue There is a God as the Reader is prepared or vnprepared to receiue it To him that is disposed to beleeue it there is nothing more easie to be proued to him it will be Facile veritatem hanâ— ostendere Quòd Dijsunt as Plato truly noteth But to him that will deny it there is nothing more hard and difficult Seneca indeede in his Booke De Prouidentia maketh no great accompt of difficultie in this Argument Faciam reni non difficilem saith he causam Deorum agenti I shall vndertake a Worke of no difficult performance to proue that the world is ruled by Gods prouidence And it is true in very deed as the case then stood with him For to him that yeildeth that There is a God though he denie his Gouerning of the world as the Epicure doth against whom hee there writeth it is no great masterie to demonstrate Diuine Prouidence and so from that which he granteth to inforce what he denieth because Prouidence in the order of our vnderstanding is a Consequent vnto diuine essence naturally inhering in it as in his proper subiect Now Consequents are easily proued because they haue their Antecedents But to him that denyeth that There is a God as the Atheist doth against whom I doe write it is a thing not very easie but he may iustly vse a cleane contrarie Exordium Fa ciâ— m rem haud â—acilem Deorum causam agam For this is not a Conclusion but a Principle yea and that the very first of all other Principles For as God him selfe is prima veritas so this position of him is primum verum that There is a God Now Principles in all Arts are most difficult to be proued because they haue not Antecedents being Prima of themselues yea and immediate propositions which haue no Media to make them conclusions no not in the most Demonstratiue scientificall Syllogismes but shine onely by their owne light and therefore be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is truths of such dignitie estimation credit that euen for themselues they ought to be beleeued Such as in Geometrie that Tâ—tum est maius qualibet sua parte in Arithmetique that Ab aequalibus si aequalia demas remanentia erunt aequ liâ— in Christianitie that Christ Iesus came into the world onely to saue sinners Of which position Th' Apostle there affirmeth that It is both a true saying and by all meanes worthy to bee receiued It is both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both sermo fidelis and fide dignus and so a true patterne of a Theological axiome And such is also this our present position that There is a God A truth of such clearenes as is worthy to be receiued but yet euen for the clearenes the lesse able to be proued as Clemens Alexandrinus expressely affirmeth Est haec de Deo oratio omnino difficillima quoniam cuiusuis rei principium est inventu difficillimum Thâ—s our discourse of God is of all other the most difficâ—lt bâ—cause the first principle in all things is the hardest to be found out adding for this principle as concerning God that it is omnino primum antiquissimum principium et ideo difficillimum ad demonstrandum the first and most ancient principle and therefore of all other the most indemonstrable For all Principles being Prima and Notissima of themselues are thereby made in â—emonstrable because whatsoeuer can be brought to proue them must needs be obscure and posteriour vnto them And therefore for the admitting of Principles in all Arts if the learner be so dull as not to perceiue the certaine truth of them and so doe stragger in beleeuing them the Teacher yet must begge of him that he will admitt them because otherwise he cannot goe on in his teaching Whereby through the dulnesse of many learners the first principles of Arts which in themselues be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet become vnto such but onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Things graunted but vpon â—urtesie not yeelded vpon necâ—ssitie This the Orator obserueth to be true in Geometrie Solent Geometrae non omniâ— decere sed quaedam pâ—stulâ—re vt sibi concedantur quò faciliùs quae volunt explicent It is the custome of Geomâ—tricians not to teach all their doctrines but to entreate that certaine of thâ—m may be yeelded vnto them that so they may the better demonstrate the rest And th'Apostle insinuateth it likewise to be true in Diuinitie For in the Epistle to the Hebreâ—es he setteth downe these for two divinitie-Diuinitie-Principles That there is a God and That he is the rewarder of them that seeke him Which two postulata if they be not at the first presumed by the Hearer and granted to the Teacher there cannot possibly be any proceeding vnto the other grounds and rules of Religion And therefore he telleth vs that Whosoeuer will come vnto God hee first must both beleeue That God is and that he is a rewarder of those that seeke him And if these two be not graunted all is brought vnto a stand there can then be no proceeding neither in teaching nor in learning as euen Tullie sheweth most plainely in this very Case Where he is forced to begge this postulatum of Atticus That the world is â—uled and guided by Prouidence that so he may lay a ground for the following disputation which without yeelding of this could not possibly be done Dasne igitur hoc nobis Pomponi Naturam omnem diâ—initùs regi Do sanè si postulas saith he O Pomponius doe you then grant thus much vnto vs
allegation of Scriptures other the most learned Ecclesiasticall Writers euen Christians themselues will be the better confirmed in those points of Christian Faith which are by them affirmed For when they see these doctrines which are chiefly here prooued by naturall reasons and by Heathen mens authorities yet not to rest wholly and onely vpon them but to be such as haue both Scriptures Fathers to approue them it must needes much confirme them in their receiued Faith yea and that a great deale more for the simple authority of the Scriptures themselues then for the strongest reasons of all the learnedest Philosophers For this Authority alone without any reason ouer-swayeth both all their reasons authorities together though they were a thousand more becausâ— Humana dicta argumentis et testibus egent Deâ— autem sermo est ipse sibi testis as it is well obserued by Saluianus The word of a man standeth neede to be fortified both by arguments and witnesses but the word of God is a witnes to 〈◊〉 And therefore as in the same place he very truely collecteth Non necesse est vt argumentis probetur quod hoc ipso quia a Deo dicitur comprobatâ—r That needeth no other arguments to proue it which is proued sufficiently â—ecause God hath said it 4 And yet the Authority of Gods word as great as it is is the little enough with Atheists in whose foolish opinion the testimony of the holy Apostles or Prophets haue a great deale lesse credit then the testimony of the Heathen Philosophers and Poets And therefore in our disputation against them we must omit the former and onely vse these latter if we will doe good vppon them as Claudius Victor very wisely aduiseth ascribing by one instance a Rule of proceeding in euery like case Posse Deum quicquid fieri non posse putatur Ipsorum ratione proba qui credere nolunt That God can that that 's thought it cannot be Proâ—e this by their owne saw's that will not see According to which rule Eusebius fram'd his practise Suis testibus Gentes non argumentis nostris confundere instituimus I will confute the Gentils not by the Argument of Christians but by the testimony of Pagans Yea and euen the holy Ghost himselfe hath taken also the same course disputing against the Heathens by the Testimony and Authority of their owne Heathen Writers in three seuerall places Yea and in the last of them hee honoureth a Poet with the name of a Prophet Not that he thought him so but because they esteemed him so inforcing so his testimony the more strongly against them from that credit and authority which themselues ascribe vnto him 5 Then the reasons why in this our disputation against Atheists wee must vse the testimony of Heathen-Writers and not of holy Scriptures bee both many and weighty First because in euery disputation both the disputants must consent in two generall agreements else they can neuer bring the matter then in question vnto determination The first of them is this That they must both agree in certaine grounds and principles which are common vnto both For as two cannot talke together vnlesse they haue some one common language which they both vnderstand so cannot two dispute together except they haue some one common principle in which they both consent Now those principles and grounds must not be principles of Religion but of Reason Not of Religion because that is proper but vnto the one part but yet of Reason because that is common vnto them both The second generall agreement wherein they must consent is Who shall be their Iudge and vnto whom they will submit and vnto whose decision they will referre all their Question as to a man impartiall and indifferent betweene them Now that cannot be the Scripture but it must be Heathen Writers To the Scriptures the Atheist will neuer submit because then his cause is lost but to the Heathens the Christian may submit and yet his cause be gained For the truth that is spoken by the most heathenish of the Heathens yet can neuer bee repugnant to the truth of the Scriptures Two lies and vntruthes may contrary one another but two truthes can neuer So then the Heathens being made Iudges of this cause and admitted as indifferent by consent of both parties there can no other testimonies be so apt and so proper to inforce a conclusion as those that be produced from the writings of the Heathen Secondly because the writings of the Heathens beside the great credit and authority which they haue with our Aduersaries haue also greater store of artificiall Arguments to satisfie both naturall reason and sense Whereas Scripture for the most part presseth rather the Conscience by virtue of that diuine authority which it hath naturally in it then leadeth our science by argument out of it Sometimes it also argueth and that very excellently as before I haue instanced but this very rarely relying most commonly vpon his owne natiue authority Thirdly because if we seeke to conuert Atheists the testimony of their owne Writers haue with them farre greater force and power of perswasion then the Testimony of the Scriptures be they neuer so plaine And therefore saith Tertullian that De suis instrumentis secularia prâ—bari necesse est Yea and improbari too Whether we would approue or reproue the opinion of the Heathens we shall doe it most effectually out of their owne writings For firmum est genus probationis saith Nouatian quod ab ipso Aduersario sumitur vt veritas ab ipsis inimicis veritatis probetur It is a very forcible kinde of proofe which is drawne from the Aduersarie himselfe when the truth is prooued by them that oppose the truth Not that the Atheists do giue credit to the Heathens any more then to vs Christians in their direct assertion and affirmation of God for therein they hold vs both to bee equally vnequall vnto their cause and indifferently vn-indifferent vnto themselues but yet in their Axioms belonging to Philosophy and to other humane Arts they will beleeue them readily as being Maisters in those Sciences From which notwithstanding it will follow as necessarily that there needes must bee A God as if they had affirmed it in direct and expresse words as I purpose God willing to make plaine in the second of these Bookes Fourthly because if we seeke to confute the Atheists the testimonies of the Heathens are the fittest meanes that so we may eos suorum testimonijs reuincere as Lactantius aduiseth vs conuince them by their owne authorities which is the strongest conuiction that can fall vpon them as is truely obserued by S. Chrysostome Tunc illos maxime reuincimus cum suorum in eos dicta retorquemus we do most forcibly conuince them when we can retort their owne saying against them alledging this for the reason why the Apostle confuteth them rather by their owne
not the euidence of his wonderous workes was so great And this is the first reason why hee could not be an Atheist The second is this that this Law against Blasphemie being made by occasion of this Blasphemers fact and forbidding onely that which he had committed doth euidently shew that hee was not an Atheist For then the Law would haue runne against the denying of God Whosoeuer denieth God let him be stoned But because this mans sin was not a denying vnto God a being which is the sin of Atheisme but a cursing of that God whom he beleeued to be therefore the law was made not against the denying but against the cursing of God He that blasphemeth the name of God shall be stoned And therefore blaspheming doth not suppose a denying nor the blashemer vpon neccessitie to be a denyer of God Nay indeede it directly supposeth the contrary it supposeth there is a God As may plainly be collected both by the beginning the end of that irreligious passion which begetteth in them the sin of blaspheming For first from the beginning of their passion it is a sodaine anger conceiued against God vpon a supposition of either some euill receiued from him or of some good denied by him For blasphemare as Aquinas defineth it est contumeliam vel conuitium inferre in iniuriam Creatoris To blaspheme is to offer either contumelie or obloquie by way of dishonor vnto the Creator Which necessarily supposeth that he needs must haue a being Otherwise hee must needes confesse that hee is angry with Nothing and so might as iustly be derided as that foolish Polyphemus who raued for that wrong that was done to him by Nullus Againe the same may be collected from the ende of their passion which is desperately to prouoke God to be angry with them because they before haue beene angred by him and so to quitte him with his owne Which likewise must needes inferre that they thinke he hath a being For otherwise they should be as vtterly absurd as if they should endeauour to moue Nothing vnto anger spending all their rayling as foolishly against him as the Doggs doe their barking when they howle against the Moone And therefore it followeth not that though some men doe Blaspheme and raile against God that therefore they thinke that there should he none but rather that there is one Which they manifestly acknowledge euen in their very rayling vnlesse they will make themselues to be knowne for noted-fooles Who would raile vpon a thing which they thinke to haue no being Yea and diuers of the Heathens were so farre from supposing that rayling and blaspheming should inferre there is no God that they made it the essentiall worship of diuers of their gods For Nazianzene reporteth it of the Lindianes that they worshipped their Hercules onely with railings Deum illum non alio quà m conuitiorum et maledictorum honore afficientes And Plinie reporteth the same of their goddesse Fortune Conuitijs colitur Shee is worshipped with rayling and blaspheming And therefore Blasphemie doth not inferre impietie Nor that hee which blasphemeth God must of necessitie denie God For of necessitie hee granteth him though of impotencie hee blaspheme him So that neither common Swearers nor yet Blasphemers be Atheists That they be great offenders it cannot be denied but that they be Atheists it cannot be affirmed Their sinne is not Atheisme it is of another kind The Blasphemer is not Atheus but rather Antitheus as Lactantius speaketh And his fault is not Atheisme or lack of religion but outrage against the true Obiect of religion Which yet in a large acception may be called Irreligion though it bee not a priuation of all religion because it is an impugning of the true religion For as Tertullian affirmeth of the Romanes Non modò nâ—gligendo quin insuper expugnando verum Deum committitis crimen verae irreligio fitatis Not onely by neglecting but also by oppugning him that is the true God you truely incurre the crime of Irreligion 4 Let vs now come to Idolaters which is the third of our instances and see whether they can be numbred as Atheists But that indeed they cannot their very profession is against it For what can be more distant then Polytheisme and Atheisme then impietie and idolatrie I meane priuatiue impietie which depriueth men wholy of all sense of Religion Idolaters bee Polytheists and therefore not Atheists They worship many gods and therefore they cannot denie that there is a God Nay they must needs confesse one that admit many They cannot exclude one that confesse many And therefore as I sayd before of Swearers and Blasphemers so may I now of Idolaters that they are taught by their profession to denie and renounce Atheisme and by it strictly tyed to beleeue There is a God As we may euidently see in all the seuerall degrees of Idolatry For would a man euer worship either the Sunne or the Mâ—one or the Starres as did the most Nations both of Greekes and Barbarians which diuers of the Heathens haue confessed to be but Creatures but that he is perswaded that There is a God Surely he neuer would But it may be alledged that haply the glory and beauty of these Creatures preuailed more with men to occasion them to worship them then did the strength of this inward conclusion For much is insinuated in the booke of Wisdome where hee both reporteth and reproueth this opinion and yet partly excuseth those that were deceiued by them though not a toto yet a taâ—to that though it be a great fault to worship any thing but God yet that it is a lesse faulte to worship those Creatures that are of Gods making tâ—en to worshippe those Idols that are of mans making But to take away this excuse which is grounded vpon their beauty would a man euer worship the Fire the Water the Earth and the Aire as the Persians did but vpon this perswasion that There is a God These be not of such blazing beauties But it may be sayd againe that though not the beauty yet the commodity which men receiue by these things were the chiefest inducements to consecrate them for gods For that was Prodicus his opinion at the least his relation That whatsoeuer thing was profitable vnto the life of man might iustly be reckoned as his God Therefore to take away this Obiection also Would a man euer worship a Wolfe or a Crocodile as the Aegyptians did but that hee is perswaded That there is a God These be not things of profit But yet euen for these things something may be sayd namely that though it were not the hope of any profit by them yet was it the feare of receiuing hurt from them that caused men to worship them For as they had their good Gods whom they worshipped for loue so had they their euill gods whom they worshipped for feare Deos quosdam
them by the cunning of euill arte For that all diuine religion is indeed nothing else but an humaine inuention artificially excogitated to keepe men in awe that they who will not liue vertuously for the loue of iâ—stice yet might shunne to liue wickedly for the feare of vengeance This doth the Atheist make to be the true foundation of all Religion reducing it so from a diuine infusion to be in truth no better then an humane illusion And indeed this is a very sore Obiection striking at the roote and the heart of all Religion Which though it be in truth but a mere idle fiction conceiued without all ground of truth or reason yet hath it obtayned a farre greater credit with many learned men then ought to bee affoorded to so vaine a suspition Wherein the cheifest Ring-leaders are these three Euripides the Poet Tullie the Orator and Seneca the Philosopher Euripedes a secret and concealed Atheist not daring directly to vent out his Atheisme for feare of the law deuised an artificiall meane how to broache that impietie in another mans person which he durst not in his owne And so he suborned in his Tragoedie the person of Sisyphus to expresse all his vngodlinesse and to teach it from the Stage telling by him a long and a formall Tale How the life of men in old time was like the life of beasts the stronger by violence oppressing the weaker vntil at last men were forced to deuise seuere lawes for the repressing of such iniustice But when they found vpon some triall that all those lawes could doâ— small good because they could only take hold vpon such as were open and publique offences and not vpon close and secret ones there step't vp among them a subtile politique man who taught them a meane to prouide for that mischeife too and to praeuent close offences as well as open ones And that saith he is this If they will but teach the people and beate in to their heads Quòd sit perenni vita aliquis vigens Deus Quicernat ista et audiat atque intelligat An Euerliuing One there is whom God we call And he both hear's and see 's and vnderstandeth all This Tale tells Euripides by the mouth of Sisyphus Veritati tenebras mendacio offundens seeking to obscure the truth with the darkenes of his lie as Plutarch very truly censureth his bad artifice seeking so to teach the people that impietie from the Stage which he durst not from the Pulpit and that by a feyâ—ed person which he durst not in his owne An vsuall practice of all disguised Atheists as Plutarch instanceth againe in the person of Herodotus who secretly intending to blaspheme the gods he expresseth his owne impietie in the person of Solon Dijs maledicens sub persona Solonis Rayling vpon the gods vnder Solons name And so likewise doth Lucian He suborneth in one place Cyniscus a Cynick in another Damis an Epicure to dispute against God in the person of Iupiter But in this kinde hath Tullie playd his parte most artificially For hee fearing the rigour of the Lawes among the Romanes as Euripides did before among the Athenians hath imitated his policie in expressing his impietie and suborned Cotta as an Academike to dispute against God who by the libertie of that licentious profession might more safely doe it For the sect of the Academikes would determine nothing but yet did professe that they would freely dispute both for and against euerie thing And so by that occasion he divulged that impietie in the person of Cotta which he durst not haue done in the person of Cicero as euen he himselfe in a manner confesseth For being demanded An sint Dij he answereth that it is Difficile negare si in concione queratur sed in privato sermone et confessu facillimum If the Question saith he be moued Whether there be a God it would be dangerous to denie it in the praesence of the multitude but yet safe ynough among the wise and learned Whereby he insinuateth that the most part of the learned did propende to that opinion though for feare of the multitude they durst not publish their irreligion And therefore by the forenamed Cotta he insinuateth that there were not a few Qut dixerunt totam de Dijs immortalibus opinionem fictamesse ab hominibus sapientibus Reip causa vt quos ratio non posset eos ad officium Religio duceret There be diuers that haue affirmed that this whole conceite as concerning God is indeed nothing else but a witty invention deuised by wise men for the publique good to holde those men in their dutie by the awe of Religion that would not be restrayned by the rule of reason Yea and Seneca giueth countenance vnto the very same Opinion ascribing vnto them the title of wise men that were the first Authors of that inuention Ad coercendos animos imperitorum sapientissini viri indicauerunt ineuitabilem metum vt supra nos aliquid timeremus Vâ—ile erat in tanta audacia scelerum aliquid esse aduersùs quod nemo sibi satis potens videretur Ad conterrendos igitur eos quibus innocentià nisi metu non placet posuêre super caput vindicem et quidem armatum wise men haue invented for the terror of the ignorant That there is aboue their heâ—ds a power greatly to be feared and not to be avoyded For it was indeed convenient that in so huge a license and boldnesse of offending mens mindes should be possessed with a certaine perswasion That there is a Nature omnipotent which cannot be resisted And so for the terrour of those men that regarde not vertue but onely for feare they haue placed aboue them not onely a most rigorous and seuere reuenger but him also armed with lightening and thunder These be the cheifest Patrons of this impious fiction That Religion is no better then an humane inuention Let vs now proceede to answere them 2 Now that it is but a meere fiction That Religion should be a fiction hauing neither any substance nor good colour of Reason it appeareth by many Reasons as namely by these foure among diuers other to wit the Antiquitie Vniuersalitie Consent and Perpetuitie of Religion All which are Arguments of the Veritie of it and that it is not a fiction deuised First for the Antiquity of it that may be considered two seuerall wayes either particularly as it is in euery seuerall man or generally as it is in the generation of al men Both which two Antiquities do notably confute the fable of Euripides For the first of those Antiquities I haue shewed you before that there is no notion so ancient in the mind of a man as is the notion of Religion Which Arbobius affirmeth to be begotten in vs euen whilst we are in the wombe of our mothers ipsis penè in genitalibus Matris Where I am sure we could heare no such politique old Tales as
Euripides affirmeth to be the first beâ—â—tters of Religion in vs. Yea and Iamblicus an Heathen affirmeth of Religion that it is implanted into the minde of a man Etâ—am ante omnem rationis vsum Euen before hee haue any vse of reason as before I noted of him Which if it be true then could not Religion be a politique inuention to beguile the simpler sort of men For how could it then be imprinted into Children yea and that before they haue the vse of reason When as Aristotle affirmeth of politique doctrine that it is too high for the reach of any young men then much more of young Children For if Iuuenis be not idoneus auditor ciuilis Disciplinae then much lesse is Infants And therefore it hath not any colour of reason that Religion being so timely begotten in them should be first implanted by the meanes of such a fabulous instruction There is I say no colour of reason in this reasonlesse fiction Now for the generall Antiquity of Religion and that ancient possession which it hath had in the world Plutarch sayth that it is so ancient that no man can tell the first originall of it And hee applieth to this purpose those verses of Sophocles Non nunc enim neque heri sunt ista prodita Semper valuêre nec quando inierint liquet These things were not of yesterday or lately brought to passe They euer were and no man knowes when their beginning was But for the true Antiquity of it let vs but follow the stepps of it as they be expressed to vs in the word of God and we shall finde that Religion is more ancient then any fiction and the practise of piety then any deuised lye For when there were but three men in the vniuersall world we reade that two of them offered vp their sacrifices vnto God when as yet there was neither cause of the making of lawes against publique oppressions nor of diuising such fables against secret offences And therefore Religion could not grow from either of those causes Nay it appeareth euen in their examples that oppression though per accidens grew rather from religion then religion from oppression For before those two Brothers had offered vp their sacrifices there was no oppression but when they were once dispatched it presently followed the one brother violently oppressing the other yea and that meerely vpon this one emulation because he was better accepted in his religion Whereby it appeareth that religion is almost as ancient as man nay altogether as ancient For the very first man is sayd to be creâ—ted in the image of God which the Apostle Paul expoundeth to be in righteousness and holinesse which are the two essentiall parts of religion his matter and his forme Nay religion is yet more ancient It is more ancient tâ—en man It is as ancient as the Angels as is plainely insinuated in the booke of Ioâ— Where wast thou when the starres of the morning praised me together and when all the sonnes of God shouted for ioy Here was the vsâ— and practise of religion euen before the making and creation of man And therefore religion could not be an humaine inuention vnlesse either there was a man before there was a man or that man was able to inuent before he was made For as Tertullian hath very well obserued Prior anima quà m litera prior sermo quà m liber prior sensus quà m stilus prior homo quà m Philosophus Poeta There was a soule before there was a letter a speech before ther was a book a sense before ther was a stile a man before there was eâ—her a poet or philosopher And yet there was Religion before there was a Man And therefore it could not be an humaâ—ne inuention So that Time which prescribeth against all humane inuentions and which chalengeth the honour of Antiquity from them yet it selfe is prescribed against by religion and loseth the honour of priority with it because religion is as 〈…〉 latuit semper illuxit etiam ante Romulum sayth Tertullian Yea and ante Homulum too as before I haue shewed you God hath bene knowne from all beginning he neuer lay hid hee euer was manifest euen before the first King euen before tâ—e first thing And therefore if his owne Rule be true Idem esse verum quodâ—unque primum id adulterinum quodcunque postcrius That that which is the ancientest must nâ—eds be the truest then cannot Religion be an humane inuention because it is more ancient then man And consequently that Euripides his Tale whereby he seekâ—th to discredite Religion must needs be a false and an idle fâ—ctioâ— without ground of truth or reason it being but a late and a posteriour inuention Yea and such as hath â—or it not any either knowne or certaine Author to credite it So that it may more iustly be numbred among thosâ— Beâ—â—eselenas those headlesse Old-wiues Tales which Plutarch in the same place so iustly derideth then Religion it selfe can which it seeketh to deride vnder that very name But the true Antiquity of Religion doth free it from any such base imputation and declare it to bee a lesson of Gods owne first teaching bâ—cause it was practised by Adam the first man who could haue no other man to â—each him From which obseâ—ation Iustine Martyr collecteth Quòd ante errorem veritas obtinuerit That Religion is more ancient then superstition Yea and in the same place he bringeth this substantiall reason that Malum posterius est bono quiâ— nihil est aliud nist boni deprauatio That euill is posteriour vnto good because it is nothing but the corruption of good So then the Antiquity of Religion doth proue that it cannot be an humaine inuention 3 Yea and so doth likewise the Vniuersality of it For there was neuer yet any humaine inuention so generally spred as the vse of Religion no not those that seeme most necessary for the vse of men Not cloathing of our bodies which is for meere necessity nor couering of our shames which is for publique honesty For we meete with diuers nations among the west Indians which neither cloathe their bodies nor couer their shames and yet can meete with none but that they haue their gods Which sense of Religion could not possibly be implanted into euery Nation either by imitation from their neighbours because some be so wilde and sauage that they do not admit of any entercouse or commerce Nor yet by institution among themselues vnlesse we should imagine that in euery Nation there should sodainely steppe vp such a politique wise man and as it were by fate tell the same Tale of Religion or that Euripides his man had compassed the whole world about like the Sunne and read his prophane lecture in euery Nation Both which suppositions were idle and ridiculous And therefore it is apparent that Religion cannot be of humane institution but that the same
common Nature which hath giuen vnto all men their hearts hath also giuen Religion into all their hearts to be among them as common as their naturall forme For so indeed doth Lactantius esteeme it He accompteth Religion to be the most proper and essentiall difference betweene a man and a beast more then either Risus or Ratio or Oratio then either Laughing or Speaking yea or Reason it selfe All which he there proueth to be in some degree communicated vnto Beasts but Religion to bee proper and peculiar vnto Men and yet common vnto all men But that neither by domesticall instruction at home nor yet by mutuation or imitation abroad but only by that naturall instinct and disposition which God hath ingrafted into the hearts of all men as Alexander ab Alexandro hath very truly obserued Primi mortales nulla doctrinae schola Ratione aut Lege sed suo quisque ingenio numina coluerunt The first men were neither taught by any learning nor perswaded by any reason nor compelled by any law but onely of their proper and naturall inclination betooke themselues vnto the worshipping of gods Yea and that so generally throughout the whole world that there is not any nation vnder heauen excepted Which vniuersality of religion declareth that it is not an humane inuention but a diuine impression yea and a Diuinity-lesson of Gods own heauenly teaching As we may see by his schooling of the first man Adam whom he catechised vnto the obedience of God both by giuing him a commandement and by annexing to it a punishment 4. And the same may likewise bee proued by that vniformâ— consent which is among all men as concerning Religion of whatsoeuer degree or condition Which in this one thing is farre greater then it is in any other of what nature soeuer as I haue shewed before We see by experience that not only diuers Nations haue diuers fashions and diuers conceits and opinions in most things but that euen in the same Nation that diuers Cities haue diuers guises behauiours habits speeches and manners as our Country-man Sir Iohn Mandeuile well obserued in his trauell And yet in beleeuing that There is a God there is no difference at all throughout the whole world no City iarres with Citie no Country with Country but among them all an vniuersal agreement wherein both the learned and vnlearned do consent From which head Tertullian concludeth the verity of Religion For Quod apad multos vnum invenitur non est erratum sed traditum The consent of all men as concerning God doth shew it to be no erring humane inuention but a most certaine diuine tradition For if Religion were no better but a politique deuice and inuention of man it was a very marueilous felicity in lying that he had which first deuised the tale of Religion that he should tell his fable in such a fortunate howre as to beguile the whole world with it and that for euer after This was a cunning Iuggler indeed that could cast so cunning a glaucoma and such a 〈◊〉 mist before the eyes of the wisest as to dazle not only the vnlearned and simple Idiots but also the wisest and grauest Philosophers as Lactantius well obserueth Quae tanta felicitas mentiendi vt 〈…〉 indoctos sed Platonem quoque Socratem fallerent Pythagoâ—am Zenonem Aristoteleâ— Maximarum Sectarum Principes 〈◊〉 facile deluderent What a strange kind of efficacy had that man in his lying that could bewitch with one Tale not only the vnlearned but also Plato and Socrates and Pythagoas and Zeno yea and Aristotle himselfe the principallest Masters of all the learned Sects This lie was begotten in a strange constellation if it were a lie that one wise man should make fooles of all the wise men of the world and yet by all their wisedome neuer be descried Therefore we may conclude with Seneca that if Religion were a siction Non in hunc furorem omnes mortales consensissent alloquendi surda numina inefficaces Deos Surely all the whole world would neuer haue conspired in this madnes to call vpon such deafe and idle gods Beside as Lactantius truely noteth in the very same place where he doth ex professo dispute this very case He could not be a wiseman that was the Author of this so false a fiction For the end of true wisedome is to draw men out of error and not to leade them into it as this false impostor did And therefore he concludeth from this so generall a consent in Religion that it could not be possibly an humane inuention 5 And yet the same may be further declared by the perpetuall succession and propagation of Religion which hath thriuen from the beginning with such admirable prosperity that it hath not decayed in any Country or City but wheresoeuer it hath bene planted there hath it euer florished and could neuer be supplanted Which sheweth it to be a Plant both by God himselfe first planted and graciously euer since with the dew of his blessing watered For as Christ himselfe teacheth vs Euery plant which the heauenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted out And therefore if Religion had beene but a plant of mans planting and setting it would long since haue beene blasted yea and vtterly starued For no humane inuention had euer either such a prosperous increasing and such a long a firme continuing in the world as Religion hath had but all the conceits of men though for a time they may shoot-out and haue a kinde of flourishing yet doe they quickly decay againe time blasting and withering them as the grasse which growes vpon the topps of houses For as the Orator hath very truely noted Ficta omnia celeriter tanquam flosculi decidunt All fayned deuises come quickly to an ende as flowers shattered by the wynde And againe in another place vnto the same purpose Opinionum commenta delet dies Naturae iudicia confirmat Time destroyeth all those fancies which haue none other ground but only humane opinion but it strengtheneth all those iudgements which are founded vpon truth and sound naturall reason As for example The particular conceite of all the heathen gods hath time now deuoured because that was nothing else but opinionis commmentum But the generall beleefe that There is a God it hath in all places confirmed because this beleefe is Naturae iudicium And therefore Religion which thus growes stronger and stronger by time and hath continued so firmely from the very beginning without any decaying must needes haue a better ground then a meere humane opinion For as Seneca hath well obserued Falsa non durant False things continue not And therefore this thriuing of religion and this perpetuall succession of it haue euen the Heathen collected to be a true argument of the infallible truth of it and that it is vnpossible that it should be no better then a fiction deuised
iam Philosophia defloruerat when Philosophie had lost the chiefest lustre of her glory and that they themselues were accordingly but only Minuti inertes Philosophi a simple and an ignorant kind of Philosophers And Tullie passeth in effect the very same censure vpon Epicâ—rus another of their pillars For he saith he was a man without all manner of learning Homo sine arte sine literis insultans in omnes sine acumine vllo sine authoritate sine lepore A man without Art and without all good learning and yet insulting ouer all men but without any wit without any grauity and without any good conceit Yea and Lactantius saith of him that Hoc sano vigeâ—e nullus aeger ineptiùs delirauit No man euer so doated in his raging sicknesse as this man did in his florishing health deriding Lâ—cretius for bestowing such enormous commendations vpon him These were their very Principalls and the Leaders of the others Now if their chiefest were none other the rest surely were no better So that as the smalnesse of their number bringeth great disaduantage so the weakenesse of their learning bringeth but small aduantage vnto the cause of Atheists 4 But now it may be doubted yea and that not without some probability of reason whether those men whom the Heathen haue so branded for Atheists were pure Atheists indeed or no For the pure Atheist according to the propriety of that name is he which generally and constantly denieth all Diuinity and beleeueth as he saith The Prophet Dauid affirmeth in generall that the Atheist is a Foole which saith in his heart There is no God And indeede he that properly is an Atheist must both say generally There is no God and beleeue it constantly in his heart For if either he beleeue any one God though he deny all the rest or confesse God in the end whom in the beginning hee denied he cannot truely and properly be said to be an Atheist But such an Atheist was none of all those whom the Heathen haue called Atheists and whom they haue proclaimed to deny all that is called God There was none of them such pure and absolute Atheists as simply to deny all Deitie As wee may easily see if we will but looke into their causes and examine but euen by their owne records those seuerall crimes and actions that haue beene laid against them in their seuerall iudgements And first for Diagoras who was in their reckoning the most noted man of all of them and the first Antistes of their impious profession all the rest of the Atheists being counted but his followers Diagorae sectatores as Theodorâ—â— affirmeth insomuch that his name was growne prouerbiall among them For when they would note any prophane and impious person they would call him prouerbially Diagoras the Melian Diagoras Melius de prophanis perâ—idis impijs dicitur saith Suidas And yet the Action which the Athenians commenced against him was no more but this that he did eliminate and divulge the mysteries of their gods and by deriding of them auert and turne men from them as he noteth in the same place Which two crimes though very farre in nature differing yet were among the Heathen indifferently comprehended vnder the name of Atheisme as though they were both one which is a very large acception of Atheisme So that Diagoras his crime was not that he denied all Gods but that hee derided the Athenian gods For so Iosephus reports it Aduersùs Diagoram talentum decreuerunt si quis eum occideret quoniam eorum mysteria deridere ferebatur They appointed a talent to him that should kill him because he derided their Religion Now this he might iustly doe and yet not be an Atheist Hee might iustly deride the foolish Orgies of their false gods as Elias did the follies of Baals Priests and yet therein not be an Atheist as Elias was not For their Rites were so vnholy and their sacrifices so bloody that any man might euen by common reason collect that he which was delighted with such a wicked kinde of worshippe could not be possibly indeed a true God because they were Sacra Sacrilegijs omnibus tetriora Holies more vnholy then Sacriledge it selfe as Coecilius speaketh though to another purpose Of which impure Holies Lactantius hath giuen vs a notable instance in the feasts of their Floralia And therefore Plutarch in some sort excuseth those men that haue reuolted vnto this kinde of Atheisme vpon the contemplation of the filthinesse of their Ceremonies and the barbarousnesse of their Sacrifices affirming direct Atheisme to be a better religion then so lewd and prophane a kinde of worshipping Lustrâ—tiones impurae sordidae castimoniae Barbarica iniusta in Templis supplicia occasionem praebuerunt nonnullis dicendi Praestare nullos esse Deos quam qui talia probent ijsque delectentur Their impure purgations their vnchaste chastities their cruell and vniust Sacrifices haue giuen many men occasion to say that it were better That their should be no Gods then such as are delighted with such prophane worships Yea and in the same place he seemeth to allow of their sentence So that Diagoras by these meanes might easily discouer the Heathen gods to bee but false though perhaps he could not light vpon and find out the true one Which yet gaue him iust occasion to scorne and deride them as Lactantius wel obserues Impugnatae sunt a prudentioribus falsae Religiones quia sentiebant esse falsas sed non est inducta vera quia qualis aut vbi esset ignorabant Wise men haue alwayes impugned and derided false Religiòns because they perceiued them to be false but yet haue not alwayes found the true one because they neither knew it nor where they should seeke for it But that Diagoras was not a meere Atheist it euidently appeareth in the beginning of his Verses where he maketh this profession which is the foundation of all Religion Quòd a Numine summo reguntur omnia That all things are ruled by one most high God Which if it be true Diagoras could not possibly be such an absolute Atheist as he was commonly reputed Let vs therefore come from Diagoras vnto Protagoras whom the Athenians in like sort condemned for an Atheist yet not for denying God but for seeming to doubt of him Because in the beginning of his booke he propounded this probleme De Dijs quidem statuere nequeo neque an sint nec ne Adding there also this reason Sunt enim plurima quaeid scire prohibeant quippe summa rei incertitudo breuis hominis vita As concerning the gods I cannot resolutely determine neither whether they be nor whether they be not Because there be many things that let the knowledge of it namely both the vncertainty of the thing it selfe and also the breuity and shortnes of mans life This report doth Laertius make of his doubting
puto neque omninò sum absque Deo Neque in hoc iniustèago quan vis non eos quos habet ciuitas sed alios esse doceam I doe beleeue that there be Gods neither am I my selfe without a God Neither in this do I offend though I hold not those to be my gods whom the Citie holdeth to be theirs He disclaimeth the generall deniall of all Gods though hee proclaimeth his particular deniall of their gods And therefore could not iustly be numbred among Atheists For as Laertius truely noteth Impius non est qui tollit mulâ—itudinis Deos sed qui Dijs multitudinis opiniones applicat He is not an Atheist that denieth the gods whom the people doe imagine but rather he that applâ—eth the imaginations of the people vnto the gods And therefore it followeth not that Socrates did generally deny all gods because he particularly denied the Graecian gods And the same may bee likewise obserued in Damis in whose fained person prophane and impious Lucian hath vented all his Atheisme For though by him he derided all the gods of the Gentils not sparing euen Iupiter himselfe yet when Timocles obiected that he was a generall despiser of all the gods and a generall enemy to their Altars and Religions he detested that crime and protested vnto him Haud omnes aras subuerti cupio O bone Timocles I doe not desire an vtter subuersion of all Religion So that for any thing that I can finde there is none of those Philosophers whom the Heathens haue pursâ—ed with such an Hue-and-Crie for most damnable Atheists but that if their cause be indifferently examined they may probably bee thought to haue acknowledged a true God in some measure and degree howsoeuer they derided and declaimed against the false Yea and euen their renouncing of those false gods was also in some degreâ— a confessing of a true For as Tertullian collecteth Subiacet intelligi verit â—tis esse cultores qui mendacij non sunt nec errasse ampliùs in eo in quo errasse se râ—cognoscendo cessauerunt It may well be conceiued that they are followers of the truth that are not followers of lies and that they will therein erre no more wherein they haue acknowledged their former error At least as Clemens Alexandrinus collecteth euen in this very case This finding of their owne error in worshipping those false gods was non parvum semen ad excitandam scintillam intelligentie veritatis it was as it were a seed or a sparckle to kindle the knowledge of the truth Now if none of all those men that haue beene most noted and renowned for Atheisme not onely by the writings of Pagans but also of Christians yet were not truely Atheists indeed but that notwithstanding their derision of those false gods they might well beleeue that there was a true one then can none of their examples no nor all of them serue to infringe the generality of our former position that There is no man in the world but that at some time or other in some degree or other he beleeueth There is a God no not euen the Atheists themselues excepted Who as you haue partly seene here and shall more fully hereafter doe directly confesse That there is a God But here now two Questions doe come to be discussed First that if these men were no true Atheists indeed why were they so condemned and why haue they beene infamed for such if they were not such Whereunto I briefly answer that this was onely through the iealousie and tendernesse of the Heathens in defending of their Countrey-gods ouer whom they were so tender that whosoeuer denied them they held that he held none and though hee professed that he beleeued others yet they held that he reiected all if hee receiued not theirs And this we may plainely see in the iudgement of Socrates in whose very accusation they layd to his charge that he did Priscos Deos non colere novos introducere That he denied their old gods and brought them in new Where though they confesse that hee beleeued certaine new gods yet they condemned him as an Atheist for reiecting of the olde as though that had beene to reiect all And though Socrates iustly taxeth thâ—m as cleane contrary to themselues in the two maine heads of their accusation to charge him with Atheisme that is a denying of all gods in the one head whom they discharge in the other by obiecting his new gods deriding this foolish intoxication to be in effect as if they should haue said Contra leges agit Socrates Deos non putans sed Deos putans yet their zeale in their religion preuailed so farre as to worke his condemnation accounting it not much lesse impiety to assert any new gods then to deny all gods As wee may see also by their catching at the speech of S. Paule Hee seemeth to be a setter-out of strange Gods And it is like enough that if hee had stayed there it might haue cost him his head For though his new God were in truth the true God yet because he disliked their old gods they would haue held him for an Atheist as they did for the same cause the whole sect of Christians as Athenagoras reporteth Illi nobis Atheismum impingunt propterea quod non eosdem quos ipsi nôrunt arbitremur esse Deos They obiect euen to Christians the crime of Atheisme because they do not worship the same gods with them For this was their account that he which reiected their gods could not know any other and therefore reiected them all together Andâ— it may be they erred not but that diuers of those Atheists which reiected their gods did it of a prophane humour not regarding any other and therefore were iustly condemned by them of impiety and Atheisme But if there were any such as I will not obstinately contend but there might be some yet this I hold of them that they did not constantly hold out their opinion but that oftentimes they so checked themselues that they could not but inwardly beleeue there was a God though they outwardly denied it Yea and it may be likewise that diuers of them vpon vaine glory or vpon studie of singularity that they might seeme to be wiser then other men haue outwardly professed though not inwardly beleeued that There is no God But then here the second Question cometh to be resolued To what end this whole worke serueth which is written against Atheists if they be few or none such Whereunto though I haue partly answered in the preface to the Reader yet I here will adde this further That though there be but few such Atheists or rather indeed none as resolutely and constantly beleeue with their hearts that There is no God yea and not many such as professe it with their mouthes though not beleeuing it constantly Yet be there very many that beleeue it weakely and that being ouercome by sodaine
is a God yet hath fancied such a god as neede not to be feared making him to be one that neither giueth regard nor taketh accompt of the actions of men Nec quicquam alieni curans nec sui Neither regarding his owne nor any other mans businesses more negligent and supine then Aesops Incuriosus that cared for iust nothing So by denying God his Prouidence seeking vtterly to extirpe all his feare out of himselfe For he that regardeth no body needeth not himselfe to bee regarded of any But this is to be but a Semi-Atheist And therefore the perfect Atheist knowâ—â—g that if a God be granted his Prouidence cannot with any reason bee denied therefore to make all sure and to secure himselfe from feare he thinketh it the 〈◊〉 way to deny Gods essence as well as his Prouidence and simply to prâ—nounce that There is no God For then it will follow that he neâ—de not to be feared if at all he be not 2 Thus the Atheist to ridde himselfe from that inward feare which rideth on his conscience and which naturally accompanieth the opinion of God if that once be admitted he affirmeth There is none yea and striueth to beleeue it too But yet all this in vaine For as God hath ingrafted into the mindes of all men a notion of himselfe so hath he likewise a feare of himselfe as a sense of his being so a sensible feare of him As euen Lucretius himselfe confesseth He that will not confesse that There is a God yet confesseth that all men haue a feare of God in them Est mortalibus insitus horror Qui delubra Deûm nova toto suscitat orbi Terrarum â—estis cogit celebrare diebus There is an inbred feare in all mens hearts Which hath begotten this on all mens parts T' erect new Temples and new Holy-dayes Vnto their gods to celebrate their praise Making this inward feare to bee the first beginning of all piety and religion Yea and so likewise doth Saint Augustine Pietas timore inchoatur charitate perficitur True Piety is begunne by feare but perfected by charity Yea and the Psalmist in effect confesseth the same where he tells vs that The feare of God is the beginning wisdome And Lactantius confirmeth it when he sayth that Religio nulla esse potest vbi metus nullus est That there can be no Religion where there is no fearing And therefore Isidore deriueth the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth God from another Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth Feare Quòd eum colentibus sit timor because they that worship him do also â—eare him And so likewise doth Festus In which signification of the name of God they may seeme to allude vnto that appellation of the Patriarch Iacob where he calleth the true God as it were by periphrasis The feare of Isaac his Father Because as God hath imprinted into the hearts of all men a naturall perswasion That there is a God so hath he likewise implanted in them a naturall reuerence and feare of that God So that Terfullians question hath an easie solution Vndè naturalis timor animae in Deum Whence commeth this naturall feare of a God which euery man feeleth within his owne minde Surely it commeth onely from that God who ought onely to bee feared as the Prophet Ieremy hath expressely testified And therefore Statius affirmeth that by this inward feare the Heathens first were moued to beleeue and worship God Primus in orbe Deos fecit timor Feare was the first that gods begot Till feare began the gods were not And so likewise doth Dares Phrygius who calleth Feare the father of the gods Dâ—o râ—m Genitorem Quippe Dâ—ûm Genitore Metu mens caca creavit Ditem Vmbris Coelo Superos Numina Ponto Through god-begetting Feare Mans blinded minde did reare A Hell-god to the Ghosts A Heau'n-God to those Hosts Yea gods vnto the Seas Feare did create all these Whereby it appeareth that the feare of God is as naturally ingrafted into the mindes of all men as is the opinion of his being this being a true consequent vnto that and following it as naturally as the shaddow doth the body And that generally in all men without exception But yet most specially in the Atheist aboue all other men They â—aue indeed the true feare of God which begetteth Religion a great deale lesse then any other men but that seruile feare which begetteth confusion a great deale more It is not all their Atheisme that can free them from his slauish feare but it begetteth it in them rather There is no man that feareth God so much as they that would seeme to feare him least no man so basely feareth him as those men that seeme the most to contâ—mne him For it is the worke of Gods iustice that they which refuse to feare him as his Sonnes shall bee compelled to feare him as his slaues And so indeed they doe For as Eliphas teacheth in the booke of Iob There is a continuall sound of feare in his eares and a continâ—â—â— sword before his eyes the feare of Gods wrath and the sword of his iusticâ— which like Damâ—cles his sword hangeth still ouer his head Yea and not onely so for these things they haue great and iust cause to feare but as the Psalmist further teacheth They are oftentimes afraid where no feaâ—e is So that as King Solomon obserueth The wicked flieth euen when no man pursueth Omnia tuta timens being chased by the terrors of his owne guilty minde as it were by hellish furies Thus bee there no such base cowards as those lusâ—y Gallants be which would seeme so couragious as not to feare euen God himselfe whereas indeed they feare the shaking of euery little leafe For God himselfe seemeth euen in scorne and derision to sport himselfe with the Atheists his enemies and with that panick feare which he hath cast vpon them and appointed continually to infest and to chase them Vsque adeò res humanas vis abdita quaedam Obterit pulchros fasces saevásque secures Proculcare ac ludibrio sibi habere videtur saith the Poet. There is a certaine secret power vnknowne Which humaine powers treads and tramples on It Princes Scepters Crownes all State of men But scornes and spurnes and makes a sport of them For as the Psalmist plainely teacheth When the Kings of the earth and Princes of the world doe band themselues together against God He that dwelleth in the Heauen doth laugh them to scorne and the Lord hee hath them in dâ—rision And this is also confessed by another Heathen Poet Ergo Deus quicunque aspexit ridet odit God which beholds it he doth it deride Not onely so but hateth it beside So that God is not feared by any of his creatures with greater terror horror then he is by Atheists For it may truely and
his death For when hee feeleth himselfe attached with any grieuous sicknesse though hee haue not as yet the apprehension of death yet beginneth he to thinke that surely that sicknesse is sent vnto him from God to punish and to scourge him for his former blaspheming and denying of him And this point is likewise deliuered by Iuvenal as well as both the former For he there hath accumulated all the three of them together Praeterea lateris vigili cum febre dolorem Sâ—coâ—pere pati missum ad sua corpora morâ—uÌ„ Infesto credunt a Numine saxâ— Deorum Hâ—ec tela putant If they but'gin to feele an Agues fit That roughly shakes them straight they construe it A sicknesse sent them from some angry god These are Gods arrowes this say they Gods rod. For so Iob indeed calleth his sores and his sicknesse The arrowes of the Almighty are in me The venome thereof doth drinke vp my spirits and the terrors of God fight against me And so likewise doth the Psalmist Tâ—â—ne Arrowes sticke fast in me and thine hand presseth me sore There is no â—ealth in my flesh because of thy displeasure neither is there any rest in my bones 〈…〉 of my sinnes So that euen the very Atheist in the time of his 〈◊〉 hath a right conceit both of God and of his sicknes Of God that he 〈◊〉 a punisher of wickednesse and impietie Of his sicknes that God punishâ—â—â— him for it by that weakenesse and infirmitie And thus euen the very Atheist who in the time of his health and of his perfect strength groweth wanton against God and suffereth his tongue to roue through the world setting his mouth against heaueâ— and against God himselfe yet in the time of his sicknes is brought vnto a farre better temper and to thiâ—â—e more sâ—riously of Religion and pietie as euen Lucretius himselfe obsâ—ruâ—th Multâ—que in rebus aâ—erbis Acriùs advertunt animos ad Relligionemque And a little after Nam verae voces tum demùm pectore ab iâ—â—o Eijciuntur eripitur persona manet res Men insad taking bitter'd with affliction Better attend and marke and minde Religion For then true Voices issue from their hearts Then speake they what they thinke in inmost parts The truth remaynes They cast off â—ayned Arts. And so likewise Solon Nos verò mortales ita cogitamus idem valet bonus malus Quam sententiam vnusquisque tam diû retinet Donec aliquid patiatur tum rursùm luget We men imagine in our iolitie That 't is all one or good or bad to be But then anon we alterre this againe If happ'ly we feele the sense of paine For then with are turn'd into mourning straine But now if their sicknesse doe chance to bring vnto them but any little impression or apprehension of death no tongue can expresse with what a terror it striketh them not onely of their owne present death though that be terrible ynough of it selfe but also much more with a terror of God and what shall become of them after they be dead This thought is that which troubleth them This afflicteth and tormenteth them No dreame no vision no thunder no lightening doth so affright the Atheist as the thought of death doth and what will follow after death Because Lightening and Thunder doe represent vnto him but onely a present and a bodily death but the cogitation of a state after death doth strike him with a feare of an eternall death As is noted by Zaleucus in the proeme of his lawes Morituros omnes iniuriarum quas commiserunt memorâ—s poenitentia invadit vehemens cupiditas qua vellent exactam sibi vitam omnem â—uisse iustam All men when they begin to draw on vnto their death haue in them a fresh remembrance of all those wrongs and euills which they haue done in their life and there presently inuadeth them a grieuous repentance and sorrow for committing them and then they feele in their hearts an earnest with and desire that all their former life had beene vertuous and pure Yea and the same obserâ—â—â—â—â— is also confirmed by Plato Certò scias ò Socrates saith Cephalus 〈…〉 deuenit aliquis vt breuì iam moriturum se opinâ—tur incidit in 〈◊〉 timor cura quaedam eorum quae in superiori vita neglexit Etenim fabâ—â— quâ— de Inferis dicuntur quemadmodùm eos qui iniustè egerunt poenas illìc dâ—re opâ—rteat irrisaehactenùs movent tunc animum ne fortè verae sint suspicantem Know this ò Socrates for a certaine that when a man is once come so farre that besâ—eth he needs must die there rusheth a maruailous feare vpon him and 〈◊〉 anxious care of very many things which before in his former 〈…〉 For then he beginneth to doubt with himselfe whether those reports that he had often heard of Hell and of Deuills and of infernall punishments which before he was wont to deride as mere fables now may not hâ—plâ— be truths which thought doth very greatly afflict and vexe his minde So likewise Tullie Morbo graui mortifero afflictis occurrunt plerumque 〈◊〉 gines mortuorum tùmque vel maximè laudi student eosque qut secùs quà m 〈◊〉 vixerunt pâ—â—â—lorum suorum túm maximeè poenitet When they draw â—nto their death there doe walke before their eyes the images of dead men then they onely thinke of vertue and then they deepely repent of all those sinnes and offences which before they haue committed Thus they that will not feare God in the time of their life are driuen to feare the Deuill at the time of their death and to tremble at the thought of that eternall punishment which they feare to be after death decreed for them by God As we may euidently see in Bion of Boristhenes who seeing himselfe to be neere vnto his death he was so afraid of it that he would haue endured any torment rather then to haue diâ—d For as Laertius reporteth it Morbo tabescens mori pertimescens qui Deos non esse dixerat Fanum non viderat Mortalibus qui illudebat veris dùm Dijs immolarent nec Peccaui dixit cuncta tamen perpeti magis quam mori paratus erat â—is sicknes increasing and his health diminishing and â—e fearing much to die Though he had denied the Gods despised all their Temples derided all their worshippers â—nd neuer once sayd of himselfe so much as I haue sinned Yet was hâ— ready to haue suffered any kinde of grieâ—â—â—s torment rather then to haue died And why so Not so much for the fâ—are of death it selfe though it be very fearefull as because he feared that after his death he should be committed by God whom he had alwayes despiâ—â—d into the hand of the Deuill to bee tormented And therefore at his dying he put out his hand vnto him to bid him welcome seeking to leniâ—â—â— him towards him with this flattering salutation Salue Pluto salue
he could not deâ—eâ— his anger so much as for 〈◊〉 Thereby plainly confessing though in scurrâ—lous heathen fashâ—on that it was the God of the Christians that gaue that blow to Iâ—lian In which three last examples it is not vnworthy of our obseruation to note the seuerall humours wherewith they were possessed in making those confessions The first of them making it in meere sorrow and contrition The second in stomacke and indignation The third in lightnesse and derision But yet Ridentem dicere verum Quid vetat Why may not he that laughes Laugh out a truth Thus God directed all their seuerall passions yea euen the prophanest of them to draw from all of them a true confession of him Another like confession did God also inforce out of the mouth of Tullus Hostilâ—us Who succeeding to Numa in his Kingdome and being a martialminded man made a scorne and derision of all Numa's religion as tending to nothing else but only the effeminating and weakening of mens minds But he being smitten with the stroke of Gods iustice cast into a grieuous a dangerous sicknes in the end repented him of his prophanenesse renouncing his former vngodly opinion Morbo graui ac multiplici ad mutandum sententiam compulsus est Yea and as Liuie expresseth his mutation a great deale more fulâ—y Adeò fracti simul cum corpore sunt spiritus illi feroces vt qui nihil antâ— Ã ratus esset minùs regium quâ—m sacris dedere animum repentè omnibus magnis parvisque superstitionibus obnoxius degeret religionâ—búsque populum impleret The extremitie of his sicknes did so both abate his strength so abase his spirits that he who before thought nothing more vnworthy the maiestie of a King then once to stoop vnto any action of Religion now grew vpon the suddaine most seruile slauish vnto all superstition which he not onely obserued himselfe but also transfused into all his Subiects But yet he not seeking vnto the true God but changing one kinde of superstition for another was at the last destroyed by Lightning and Thunder Yea and as Eutropius reporteth it Fulmine ictus cum domo sua ar sit He was not onely himselfe consumed by Lightning but also his whole house and family with him Yet another like confession and by the like meanes did God againe extort out of Bion of Boristhenes who was so confirmed and obstinate an Atheist that all the time of his health he denied there was any God but in his age he being strucken with a most grieuous sicknesse and finding it to be the finger of God inductus est poenitentiam agere super ijs quae peccârat in Deum He was thereby induced to repent him of all his impieties against God Whose folly and madnesse Laertius in the same place very sharpely perstringeth Stultus qui mercede voluerit esse Deos. Quasi tum demum Dij essent cùm illos Bâ—on esse voluerit Was not this a foole saith he who would thinke there should bee Gods when he would haue them and none when he would none Thus all those professed and noted Atheists haue expressely confessed a God in the end though in the beginning they most obstinately denied him detesting and renouncing that impiety at their death which they practised in their life and then with all humility acknowledging their prophanenesse as Theeues vse to confesse their offences at the Gallowes For as I obserued before out of Lucretius Verae voces tum demum pectore ab imo Eijciuntur eripitur persona manet res For then true words ascend from out the deepth of heart The maske is taken off the truth then playes his part And therefore God at that time exacteth his testimony when of all other times it is most ponderous and weighty Inforcing them vnto their conâ—ession by tortures as he sometimes forced Deuils and as Magistrates vse to force Malefactors to the question by stretching them vpon the Racke Yea and euen the very Heathen themselues doe insinuate that the iustice of God so presseth the Atheists though they be his most hardned and confirmed enemies that it not onely inforceth them to confesse him vpon earth but alâ—o to proclaime him out of Hell it selfe And from thence to confesse both their owne sinne and wickednesse and Gods most iust vengeance exhorting all others to take heede by their examples This Pindarus insinuateth in the person of Ixion whom he maketh to call out in the midst of his torments To take heede of vnthankefulnesse vnto our Benefactors and to auoyde that odious vice that had brought him vnto that place Deorum mandatis Ixionem aiunt haeâ— mortalibus dicâ—re dùm in alata rota circumquâ—que volutatur Benesactorem placidis remunerationibus excipientes persolvere gratiam And this he saith the Gods compelled him to proclaime And Virgil likewise in the person of Phlegyas shaddoweth out the very same Phlegyasque miserrimus omnes Admonet magna testatur voce per vmbras Discite iustitiam moniti non temnere Divos Most mâ—serable Phlegyas warnes all men And 'mongst the gastly Ghosts thus skriching cries With hellish voyce Admonisht now ye bene Learne Iustice and the Gods not to despise Thus doth he preach both God godlines out of Hel who renounced them both while he liued vpon earth Yea and our Sauiour Christ himselfe representeth the very same point in the historicall parable of Diues who beeing tormented in Hell himselfe yet desired to haue his brethren fore-warned of that wickednesse and vngodlinesse which had worthily brought him vnto that misery and wretchednesse The meaning of all this is no more but this that God will force the tongues of those men to confesse him that haue bin most vngodly and impudent in denying him He that made the Deuils confesse him vpon the earth will make the Damned confesse him out of Hell 4 But yet we may meete with diuers other wicked ones with whom God hath taken a more milde and gracious course not inforcing them to confesse him by his iustice and iudgements as he did the former but inducing them vnto it by his mercy and goodnesse inlightning their minds with his heauenly knowledge and so bringing them to see their own former blindnesse Thus dealt he with Iethro an Idol-Priest of Midian who though hee were not in the highest degree of Atheists in denying of all Gods yet might he be numbred in an inferior degree of them in denying the true God and worshipping prophane and wicked Idols in his stead But yet hee wisely obabseruing those great plagues and iudgements which God had poured downe vpon the Aegyptians for the deliuerance of his seruants he thereby receiued instruction and openly brake forth into this notable confession Now I know that the Lord is greater then all the Gods For as they haue dealt proudly with them so are they recompenced Thus dealt hee likewise with the Apostle
Paul as furious a persecuter in his small authoritie as euer the Church had any But yet Christ in his great mercie appearing vnto him and out of heauen reprouing him he likewise receiued instruction and reforming his former error became afterwards as zealous a Preacher as euer before he had beene a persecuter In so much that it passed of him as a Prouerbe that He which persecuted them in times past now preached the faith which before he destroyed This blessed Apostle holding a diuers course from that cursed Apostata who destroyed the same faith which before hee had preached And yet in the ende was inforced againe to confesse the same faith which he sought to haue destroyed as before I haue declared The like Confessions and recantations may be here accumulated of diuerse other of the Heathens who haue plainely renounced their impieties and prophanesse and in the end acknowledged a God whom at the beginning they denied It is reported of Diagoras the most renouned of all that are called Atheists that he began his Booke of Poems with this Exordium Quòd a Numine summo reguntur omnia That all things are ruled by the highest God Which may probably be thought to haue beene the recantation of his former opinion For his Atheisme and impietie if it were truely such he had from the common opinion of his countrie the Island of Melos which held a scornefull opinion of all the Greekish gods And therefore this so direct a contradiction of his former opinion cannot otherwise be construed then as his retractation And the like may be thought as concerning Theodorus who for the opinion of his impietie was likewise named Atheos And yet Laertius affirmeth that euen hee himselfe had seene a Booke of his intituled De Dijs and that it was Liber non contemnendus Which iudgement hee would neuer haue passed vpon it if hee had handled that Argument as an Atheist For then both the Writer and the writing had beene very worthy to be contemned which Laertius denieth And therefore that Booke being censured to be a worke not worthy to be contemned yea and that by the same man who before had taxed him for his Atheisme may also probably be thought to haue contayned a retractation of his former opinion And so likewise Euemerus whatsoeuer his opinion was which among all the Heathen was so condemned for Atheisme Whether it were a generall denying of all the gods or but a particular denying of the Heathen gods yet euidently appeareth out of Plutarch that when he grew old hee grew cold in defending it A manifest Argument that he repented of his broching it Which his coldnesse in asserting it bred also a like coldnesse in the peoples assent vnto it As it euidently appeareth in those verses of Callimachus wherein he perstringeth the impietie of Euemerus Venite frequentes ante muros in fanum Vbi qui vetustum ex aere tonantem formauit Senex loquax cum libris impijs friget Come hither thronging and approach this wall Enter this Temple Where now finde you shall Th' old pratling fellow which so scornefull was And call'd the Thund'rer but a peece of Brasse For all his former fire and stately Lookes Well cooled now with all his impious Bookes Meaning those Booke saith Plutarch which before he had composed to proue There was no God Hos dicit quos composuit Non esse Deos docens Which coldnesse from the heate of his former opinion may be interpreted as in some degree a recantation For I rather apply those verses vnto his owne coldnesse in pursuing his former opinion then vnto the coldnesse of the people in following it though this might also be intended But vnto him I apply it because Theophilus Antioch nus as I haue formerly obserued reporteth it for his opinion that hee defended Dei vnitatem not Nullitatem Which euidently proueth that hee not onely beleeued that There was a God but also The vnitie of the Godhead From whence it must needes follow that either the heathen were vtterly mistaken in their conceit of his opinion and that he neuer was indeed an Atheist or if sometimes hee were one yet that at last hee recanted it For Socrates though he died for Atheisme yet that he died not an Atheist it appeareth by this that at his death he appointed that a Cock should be offered to AEsculapius Which Tertullian obserueth in him as a renouncing of all his formeâ— irreligion And so likewise Aristotle though all his life long hee had ascribed all things but onely to their inferior and secondarie causes yet lifting vp his minde much higher at his death hee implored the mercie of the highest and first cause Prime causae misericordiam intentiùs implorabat as Caelius Rhodiginus writeth It is likewise reported of Numa Pompilius that Priest-like King of the Romanes who like another Moses was the first author and institutor of all their holy Ceremonies yet that in the end hee retracted all those false religions which himselfe before had instituted writing a Booke against them and commanding it to be buried in his Sepulcher with him Which Booke was not found vntill fiue hundred and fiue and thirty yeeres after Numa was dead written onely in paper and yet no where perished Which euen Pliny himselfe ascribeth to a miracle No doubt that the confutation of that false religion might not be decayed vntill it were published And though that Booke of his was by the Commandement of the Senate in publique burned Yet as Lactantantius well obserueth the cause of the burning of it being publiquely knowne to be his disclayming of their Religion who was the first founder of it it might greatly vncertaine the mindes of the people about it and breed in them a iust suspition that they were not rightly founded in the true Religion All these notable recantations of Atheists and Idolaters disclaiming and renouncing their irreligious false religions I find in the writings of classicall Authors Which are euident demonstrations that true Religion hath far stronger rooting in the minde of a man then either hath Atheisme or Superstition For otherwise men when they drâ—w neere vnto their 〈◊〉 would neuer with such feruencie seeke after the true religion and 〈◊〉 their false But then if euer it most of al importeth them to find out the trâ—th then when if they misse it they shall neuer after find it And that before they had not found it no not in their owne perswasions they manifestly shew by their forenamed recantations Which yet may be further seene by the recantation of Orpheus which aboue all the rest is most noble and ingenuous For he hauing before bin educated in the idolatrous religion of the Gentiles accordingly expressed the same in his Poems But after he had read the writings of Moses and from them receiued some light of the truth he renounced his former errors confessing them so humbly and retracting them so
them was not to free them a toto but a tanto Not to free them vniuersally from the whole sinne of Atheisme which hath a great latitude and is a body consisting of many parts and members as I purpose God willing hereafter to make plaine but to free them from the crime of denying all gods which is the highest pitch and as it were the â—ead of it And yet euen this also not by peremptorie assertion but by probable collection onely out of those heads of their accusations which haue beene most inforced against them by their enemies Now though they were not guilty of this highest degree of Atheisme in generally obstinately denying all gods yet might they be guilty of many other inferior degrees of Atheisme for which God might iustly punish them and by their example teach others to beware of them For as it followeth not on the one side that because they denied their false gods that therefore they must needs denie the true God too so followeth it not on the other side that because they denied their false gods they must needs confesse the true For first they might denie their false gods to be Gods and yet neuer seeke further to finde out any other vpon a meere dulnesse negligence of Religion And so liue without any opinion at all of God At the least for the most part though totally they could not As those men of whom the Apostle speaketh that they were without any God in the world Which is a priuatiue kind of Atheisme â—or which God might as iustly punish those Heathens as he did his owne people whom he suffered to perish for their lack of knowledge Secondly they might deny their false gods yet therewithall deny the true God too Which is a positiue kind of Atheisme by hauing an opinion There is no God as the â—ormer was a priuatiue by hauing no opinion That there is a God Of which sort of Atheists the Prophet Dauid speaketh when he telleth vs that The Foole saith in his heart There is no God Which wicked opinion though none of them all can constantly maintaine but hold it weakly and infirmely with many interruptions yet might God euen for this impiety as iustly punish them as he did that blasphemer who offended but in passion And thogh diuers of those Atheists whom before I haue named haue both repented recanted wherby they might diuert the seuerity of Gods iudgement yet might ether their repentance be too weake to turne away the decree of their punishment as King Ahabs was or it might come too late as Antiochus his did or they might for the present submit confesse and yet afterward returne vnto their former wickednesse as King Pharaoh did All whom notwithstanding their former confessions yet he iusty punished for their former blasphemies Thirdly they might denie their false gods and seeke about for another and yet not hit vpon the right because they sought him no wthere they should that is in his owne most holy and sacred word As Athenagoras obserueth of the Poets and Philosophers Deum inquirere tanquâ—m inventuri nimia de se fiducia conati sunt non tamen illum vel reperire vel animi cogitatione complecti potuerunt Et meritò quidem Quòd Dei notitism non ab ipso peterent Deo sed intra se quisque cum disquireret The Poets and Philosophers did â—â—th of them seeke God praesuming that they could not misse him But yet indeed they could not finde him no nor vnderstand him neither Because they sought not the knowledge of God by God but onely by confidence in themselues So that as Lactantius hath very well obserued It was easier for them to discerne their owne gods to be false then it was to finde out who was the true Tullius dissoluit publicas religiones sed tamen veram quam ignorabat nec ipse nec alius quisquam introducere potuit Vt ipse testatus est Falsum quidem appâ—rere veritatem autem latere Tullie saith hee could dissolue the false religions but yet hee could not finde out the true neither hee himselfe nor yet any other of them because it was vnto them vnknowne Insomuch that be professeth That falshood still appeareth but Truth alwayes lurketh Fourthly they might in some degree finde out the true God and yet ascribe his works vnto other false gods as the Heathen did the ruling of the heauens vnto their Iupiter of the Sunne vnto Apollo of the Seas vnto their Neptune and as the Israelites themselues did their deliuerance vnto their Golden Calfe Which their dishonoring of him he punished with the death of about three thousand of them And might therefore as iustly punish the same sinne in the Heathen Fiftly they might denie their owne false gods to be gods and yet accept of others as false As we may plainely see in Socrates who openly denied the Athenian gods and yet beleeued his owne familiar spirit to be a god which was indeed but a Diuell Now this was not to renounce his false Religion but to exchange one false Religion for another wherein his latter impietie was greater then his former For which exchange of superstition euen Plutâ—rch pronounceth of Tullus Hostilius that he was iustly destroyed by lightning Sixtly they might denie their false gods for a time and yet relapse vnto them againe As Socrates againe did Who notwithstanding his former denying of all the Athenian gods yet at his death commanded a Cock to be offered for him vnto Aesculapius All these wayes and many more might those men be impious against the true God though they both denied and derided their false gods For the least of all which manifold impieties God might in his iustice take vengeance vpon them as vpon the true Enemies of his true Religion though they were not in the highest degree of Atheisme And therefore there is no wrong done neither vnto the truth in excusing them from some degree of Atheisme nor yet vnto Gods Iustice in punishing them for other some CHAP. 16. That the generall Consent of all men in agreeing so fully That there is a God is an infallible Argument That there is one indeed 2. That to this end it is alledged by those Authors that haue obserued it 3. In making it The Law of Nature 4. In making Consent a Symptome of Truth in all things 5. In making it the chiefest Argument that can be brought in this Cause THE maine purpose of this first booke is to proue There is a God yet neither by the view of his workes nor by the voyce of his word but onely by that inward praenotion and perswasion which nature hath implanted in the minde of euery man That a God surely there is A Lesson not taught from one man to another but imprinted in all of them by the same common nature It is as the Orator asseuereth in another like matter Non scripta
etiam indoctos Wee must needs confesse that therefore there is a God because both Philosophers and ignorants doe so generally agree in it Pressing still this consent as a good Argument to conclude it Yea and Velleius obseruing with how great an applause this naturall anticipation and presumption of a God was receiued and vrged by all the Philosophers hee seeketh cunningly to deriue the whole credit of the first inuention of this Argument vnto his Maister the Epicure affirming that though diuers other Philosophers had obserued that a generall consent there is in beleeuing a God yet that onely Epicurus was hee that collected that this Consent had the force of an Argument to proue it Epicurus solus vidit primùm esse Deos quòd in omnium animis eorum notionem impressisset ipsa Natura Other Philosophers do but onely report and note this Consent that we may know that such a thing there is But the Epicure notes this of it that a sound and firme conclusion may be gathered from it Which his so strong ambition to make his Maister the Epicure to be the first Author of this subtile inuention doth euidently shew his great conceite of it and how strong and inuincible an Argument hee thought it But Coâ—â—â— the Academike incountereth Velleius in that his assertion and will not suffer him to steale away the glory of this Argument onely vnto Epicurus from the rest of the Philosophers which he ascribeth vnto them as well as vnto him Commune hoc est argumentum aliorum etiam Philosophorum This is a common Argument with other Philosophers as well as with Epicures And that he spake no more then the truth in it we may euidently see in Plato who among diuers other arguments to proue There is a God nominatìm instanceth in this generalitie of Consent O amice facile est veritatem hanc ostendere Quòd Dij sint Primùm enìm Terra Sol Sydera ipsúmque Vniversum temporum quoque ornatissima varietas annis men sibusque distincta id ostendunt Graecorum praetereà Barbarorúmque omnium Consensus Deos esse fatentium It is easie my good Friend to make euident this truth That there needes must bee a God The Earth sheweth it the Sunne sheweth it the Starres sheweth it the World sheweth it the most beautifull varietie of times and of seasons of yeares and of moneths sheweth it And the generall Consent both of Greeke and Barbarians confessing a God that likewise sheweth it Where it euidently appeareth that he not onely reporteth that there is a Consent both of Greekes and Barbarians that There is a God but also from thence collecteth that therefore there is one indeede pressing this Consent as a principal Argument which proueth the truth of it And the same wee may likewise see in all those other Authors whom before I haue alledged to be the Reporters of this general Consent that al of them intend it to this only end to vrge it as an argument to proue There is a God So then the whole sum of this first book may be contracted into this short Syllogisme That which hath at all times and in all places bene beleeued of all men that cannot possibly be false but needs must be a Truth But That there is a God hath at al times and in all places bin beleeued of al men Ergo this cannot be false but must needes be a Truth The Maior is proued to be true because The Consent of all men is the Voice of Nature which is not the voice of Error The Minor hath bene proued through the tract of this whole Booke And therefore the Conclusion cannot be denied The End of the first Booke The second Booke Of the Grounds of Arts. CHAP. I. That all Arts leade to God 2. The Metaphysicks by two Arguments 3. The first is the limiting of all finite things as of naturall Bodies 4. And of their naturall faculties 5. And yet not by the Sunne which it selfe is limited 6. Both in his working 7. And in his moouing 8. By the limiting also of â—ll artificiall faculties 9. And finally by the limiting of all spirituall Graces I Haue in the former Booke instructed the Atheist out of The voyce of Nature and proued vnto him That there is a God by that naturall perswasion which is generally begotten in the hearts of all men Which like a priuate and domesticall Schoole-master teacheth the Atheist that Lesson by a secret suggestion as it were the A B C and first elements of Religion The force and power of which inward instruction the very Atheist himselfe feeleth sensibly within him For there is no Atheist in the world so obdurate and hardened but hee is oftentimes inforced to confesse There is a God Yea that not only against his will by the stroke of Gods iudgements which extort an vnwilling confession from him but also sometimes by his will and of his owne free motion without any violence or outward compulsion onely by the force of this inward perswasion Nay there is none of them all so desperately wicked but that at some time or other in some sort or other he will serue some God though he pretend to contemne all Or if he refuse to serue him yet hee cannot chuse but feare him euen because he serueth him not as being conscious vnto himselfe euen by Natures inward lessoning that his seruice is due vnto him And that therefore for his neglect of it he is subiect to due punishment which is a reall confession of him yea and that a very strong one Thus forcible an operation hath this inward voyce of Nature in the hearts of all men euen in the wickedest among them Now hauing thus in the former Booke instructed the Atheist in this first principle of Religion by the voyce of his owne Nature as of a domesticall and priuate Instructor in this Booke I intend to bring him out a little further and to send him abroad vnto the Heathen Philosophers as vnto the Schoole of more publique and expert Teachers For that which dame Nature doth but only affirme vpon her bare word that doe the Philosophers both confirme by reasons and declare by sensible Demonstrations And though none of all those Arts which they inuented doe purposely propound to intreat of God as of their proper subiect neither any of them haue this our present position That there is a God for one of their principles as Theologie hath Yet is there none of them but that it affordeth vs some matter or other from whence we may collect that there needes must be a God As we may euidently see in all the seuerall parts of Philosophie Let me giue you but a taste of some few for all the rest because the Argument is not popular And therefore it is but equall that my stay vpon it should bee the shorter The instances whereupon I will chiefely insist bee these Two out of the Metaphysicks The bounding and limiting
you take away the beginning of his being And therefore in another place hee peremptorily pronounceth That nothing can be made without his Cause Illud exploratum habeto Nihil fieri posse sine Causa Which Palingenius also expressly affirmeth sine Causa Esse potest nihil aut fieri Without a Cause nor being nor ought can haue beginning And thereupon Tully derideth it for a grosse and a palpable absurdity and a paradox against the very grounds of Philosophy to affirme that there can any thing without a Cause of it be either made or done Nihil turpius Physico quà m fieri sine Causa quicquam dicere There can be no fouler error in a naturall Philosopher then to affirme this That any thing can be done or made without a Cause And it is a very foule error indeed For to say that any thing is made without a Cause is to say it hath a being and yet no power of being For Causa is defined to be cuius vi res est A Cause is a power whereby euery thing hath his being And as Plato affirmeth directly to that purpose Causa est quâ—â— principaliter rem facit So that for the truth of this first position that euery thing in Nature hath a Cause of his being you see it to be cleerly put out of al question by the consenting testimonies of many learned men Yea the most of them no way ingaged in our Religion but following only the light and guidance of Reason 2 And therefore let vs now proceede vnto the second That nothing in nature can be the Cause of it selfe Which is a position as euidently true as that Nothing can be the Maker of it selfe For as a Christian Philosopher hath very well collected Quod facit est actu quod fit non est actu Non magis igitur potest aliquid facere seipsum quà m simul esse non esse That which maketh any thing must needes be actually in being that which is but in making hath as yet no actuall being And therefore it is as impossible for any thing to make it selfe as it is at the same time to haue both being and no being For if it be impossible as Aquinas affirmeth Vt aliquid sit simul actu potentia secundùm idem then it is much more impossible Vt aliquid sit simul actu non actu or that Aliquid simul actu sit actu non sit A necessary disconuenience where any thing is allowed to bee cause of it selfe And therefore Trismegistus sets it downe for a peremptory position that Nihil quod est genitum a se genitum est Yea and Gregory Nyssen directly subscribeth vnto him Nullam rem sui ip sius principium causam esse That nothing can be the beginning or cause of it selfe Yea and Palingenius genius also expressely confirmes it nil se gignit nil provenit a se Nilque sui causa esse potest Ther 's nothing that it selfe begets or from it selfe proceedes Ther 's nothing of it selfe is cause nor ought that causelesse breeds The Reasons wherefore nothing can be the cause of it selfe be principally two The first because euery cause is a seuerall thing in nature from his owne effect The Cause and his Effect are so by nature seuered that they cannot bee confounded For Causa cuius est Causa aliud est saith Aristotle The Cause is one thing and that whereof it is a cause is another And so likewise Palingenius in the fore-alledged place causa necesse est Vt suo ab effectu distet diuersaque res sit Needes must the cause be differing And from th' effect a diuers thing Yea and Plato likewise expressely confirmeth it not resting in the bare position but forming it into a very strong reason Aliud est causa Neque enìm causa ipsius causae causa esse potest Causam enìm efficientem esse constat Ab effeciente verò effictum fit non efficiens Aliud autem est efficiens aliud effectum Non ergò causâ— ipsius causa est sed eius quod ab ipsa efficitur The cause is of one nature and that which is of the cause is of another For the cause is not the cause of a cause but of an effect because the cause is an efficient and an efficient bringeth not forth another efficient but onely an Effect Now an effect is alwayes a thing different from his efficient Therefore a cause is not a cause of a cause but of an effect which is made by that cause This is the first reason why nothing can be the cause of it selfe because then it should differ from it selfe and should not be the same thing with it selfe The second Reason is because the cause is alwayes before his effect Causam causato dicimus esse priùs The cause before the caused we do euer asseuere to be Efficiens effectum vnita quidem sunt invicem saith Trismegistus sic tamen vt vnum praecedat alterum verò sequatur The efficient and effect are vnited together by a mutuall dependance one vpon another and yet is the one of them before the other For as Zacharias Mytilenensis obserueth Oportet effectorem antiquiorem esse effectu opificijs Opificem siquidem id quod fit secundum est ab co quod efficit The Efficient is more ancient then his owne effect and the Workeman then his worke For whatsoeuer thing is made must needes bee posteriour vnto his Maker So likewise Palingenius Causa suo effectu prior est Authòrque opere ipso The cause doth alwayes his effect fore-goe Before the Worke the Workeman is we know Yea and so Aristotle himselfe Effector opificium praecurrere debet Nihil autem scipso prius antiquius est The Workeman must needes bee more ancient then his Worke. But nothing can be more ancient then it selfe And therefore nothing can be the worke of it selfe and consequently nothing the cause of it selfe For as Aquinas from this place very truely collecteth Impossibile est vt aliquid sit causa efficiens sui ipsius quia sic esset prius seipso It is meerely impossible that any thing should be the cause of it selfe For then it should bee before it selfe Yea and Aristotle againe presseth the same Reason yea and backeth it with another not inferior that if any thing were the cause of it selfe it should not onely be before it selfe but it should also bee superior vnto it selfe For the cause is superior vnto his effect Whereupon he there inferreth that Nequaquam conuenit quòd aliquid nuncupetur vel sit causa sui vt falsum est quòd aliquid Prius quà prius sit posterius seipso superans quatenus tale sit superatum It is vtterly absurd that any thing should bee called or be the cause of it owne selfe as it is false that any
Yea and that not onely of the Holy Scriptures but also of Heathen and Secular Writers King Salomon saith in the person of God By me Kings raigne and Princes decree iustice By me Princes rule and Nobles and all the Iudges of the Earth For as Tertullian truely teacheth Indè est Imperator vndè est homo antequà m Imperator indè potestas illi vndè Spiritus By him a man is made a King by whom he was made a Man before he was a King Hee gaue him his dominion that gaue to him his breathing Now that is onely God who as the Apostle testifieth hath giuen vnto all men both life and breath and all things He it is saith the Prophet Daniel that hath power ouer the Kingdome of men and that giueth it vnto whom hee pleaseth yea euen vnto the very abiects Whom afterward if they grow proud he casteth downe againe Dij secunda elatos fortuna quâ—m celerrimè cùm velint euertere abiectos excitare facilè possunt sayth Xenophon God quickly can at his pleasure depresse those that are prided with prosperous Fortune and easily aduance those that are deiected with aduerse Yea and it was Platoes opinion as Sabellicus reporteth it Nullam posse Ciuitatâ—m sine fauore Numinis vel prosperè constitui vel constituta feliciter administrari That there cannot any Citie either at the first be happily planted or afterward be prosperously gouerned without the speciall blessing and fauour of God And this may be obserued to bee particularly affirmed of all those foure great Monarchies fore-named For the Babilonian Monarchie the Prophet Daniel expresly ascribeth that vnto God The most high God saith he gaue vnto Nebuchadnezzar both a Kingdome and Maiesty and honour and glorie For the Persian Monarchie King Cyrus himselfe ascribeth that vnto God For he saith that The Lord God of heauen had giuen him all the Kingdomes of the Earth Yea and Themistâ—cles likewise confessed it in plaine words vnto Artabanus one of the Persian Princes Ego parebo vestris legibus quandò ita visum Deo qui Persas extulit propter me plures quà m nunc sunt erunt qui vestrum Regem adorent I am ready to obey your Persian Lawes seeing God hath so ordained who hath so greatly exalted the Persians And I my selfe will bee a meane that many moe then now doe shall giue honour to your King For the Grecian Monarchie the Prophet Daniel againe ascribeth that vnto God For he saith that the third Beast which was like vnto a Leopard wherein the Grecian Monarchie was prefigured had his power and dominion giuen vnto him And therefore he had it not of himselfe as Hananias one of the seauenty two Interpreters very plainely proueth vnto King Ptolomeus by this familiar reason Non quenquam esse Regemex sese inde patet Quia omnes cupiunt consequi hanc dignitatem sed non possunt cùm Dei donum sit It appeareth that no man can make himselfe a King because all men doe desire it and yet cannot attaine it because it is Gods gift As Seneca acknowledgeth in the person of Nero Munus Deorum est ipsa quòd seruit mihi Roma Senatus It is Gods gift that the Citie and the Senate are subiect to me And for the Romane Monarchie Plutarch ascribeth that directly vnto God For hee saith of Rome that it could neuer haue growne á tam vili paruo initio ad tantam gloriam potentiam sine Numinis praesentia From so despicable and poore a beginning to so admirable a power and glorie without the presence prouidence of God And this hee there reporteth not as his owne single and particular opinion but as a vulgar and common receiued and maintained among the most of them And in another place hee affirmeth of Rome that Fundamenta Romae iecit Tempus cum Deo That the Foundation of Rome was layd by God and Time It was layd by God to continue for a long time as he wittily there expresseth by this fit deuice and fiction That Fortune quickly flew ouer both the Persians and Assyrians and Macedonians and Aegyptians and Syrians and Carthaginians but when shee came vnto the Romanes she then put off her wings as purposing to stay with them and not to fly from them So that God gaue them their beginning in laying their foundation and hee vpheld their continuing in giuen to them Time This is Plutarchs iudgement of them Yea and Tully likewise ascribeth all the Romane greatnesse vnto none other cause but onely to the bounty and goodnesse of their gods Quis est tam vecors qui cùm Deos esse intellexerit non intelligat eorum numine hoc tantum imperium esse natum auctum retentum Who is there so mad but knowing there is a God he must also vnderstand that by his speciall goodnesse the great Empire of the Romanes is both founded and increased and continued Yea and in the same place hee ascribeth the dilatation of their Empire rather vnto their religion then either vnto their valour or vnto their wisdome Nec numero Hispanos nec robore Gallos nec calliditate Poenos nec artihus Graecos nec hoc ipso huius Gentis ac Terrae domestico natiuoque sensu Italos Latinosque sed pietate Religionâ— atque hac vna sapâ—entia quòd Deorum immortalium numine omnia regi gubernarique perspeximus omnes gentes nationésque superauimus We haue not ouercom the Spaniards by our number nor the French by our power nor the Carthaginians by our pollices nor the Graecians by our Arts nor the Italians or Latines by the naturall sharpenesse and finenesse of our wits but it is only our pietie and religion and this speciall wisedome of ascribing all things to the gouernement of the gods that hath subdued vnto vs so many Countries and Nations Thereby plainely insinuating that the greatnesse of their Empire was bestowed by God vpon them onely as a reward of their pietie and religion Which Caecilius also expresly confirmeth For he saith of the Romanes that Imperium suum vltra Solis vias ipsius Oceani limites progagârunt dùm exercent in armis virtutem religiosam The exercise of vertue and of Religion was that which inlarged the Romane dominion For as he addeth a litle after Dum vniversarum Gentium sacra suscipiunt etiam Regna meruerunt While they receiue the Religions of all Nations they deserue also their Dominions This he falsly ascribeth vnto their false religion which yet may truly be ascribed vnto the true one And Camillus in his Oration recorded by Liuie expresly affirmeth that al the calamities of the Romans sprung only from ther offences against God as on the contrary all their prosperity grew only from their piety Which is true in very deed if it be rightly vnderstood and be referred as it ought vnto to the true God For as Ecclesiasticus very