were out of the bowelles of the moyst nature and likewise an ayre casting it selfe betwéene the water and the elementarie fire which is nothing els but a more cléere and suttle ayre The Sea and Land sayth Moyses were mingled together vntill God had spoken and then by and by eyther of them tooke his place by himselfe After the same maner Mercurie sayth that those two Elements lying erst mingled together seuered themselues asunder at the speaking of the spirituall word which inuyroned them about What more God say both of them created the Starres and the Planets At the voyce of his word the Earth the Ayre and the Water brought foorth Beasts Birdes and Fishes Last of all God created man after his owne Image and deliuered all his workes into his hand to vse them Is not this a setting downe nor only of one selfsame sence but also of the selfesame termes and words But when as Mercurie addeth afterward that God cryeth out vnto his works by his holy word saying Bring ye foorth fruite grow and increase may it not séeme vnto vs that we heare Moyses himselfe speaking And as for the small differences which are in him concerning the seuen Circles the Zones and such other things they serue greatly to the manifestation of the trueth namely that this maner of Mercuries writing is not a bare borrowing or translating out of Moyses but rather a tradition conueyed to the AEgiptians from the Father to the Sonne In another place he sayth that God by his holy spirituall and mightie working word commaunded the day sonne to bee and it was done that the Sea and Land should bee seuered asunder that the Starres should be created and that Herbes should growe vp euery one with his seede by force of the same worde Also that the World is but an alteration a mouing a generating and a corrupting of things and that it cannot be called good These are conclusions cleane contrary to eternitie or euerlastingnesse But forasmuch as if I should set downe all his sayings which he hath to that purpose I should be fayne to copie him almost whole out it is better for me to desire the Readers to go to the very place it self Orpheus the auncientest of the Greekes had bin in AEgipt as he himselfe skyth and there he learned That there is but one God and that The Ayre the Heauen the Sea the Earth and Hell With all the tâ—â—â—gs that in them all doe dwell were harberd in his â—reast from all eternitie And also that The running streames the Ocean Gods and Men Things present things to come lay all at ease In that wide lap of his and that within His belly large the bond lay lapped vp Which holdeth all this great huge worke together And afterward he addeth further These things which yet lay hidden all Within the treasure of his brest He into open light did call Creating as he deemed best This stately stage whereon to showe His noble doings on a rowe And what els is this than that God did euerlastingly hold the world hiddeny as the Apostle sayth in the Treasurie of his infinite wisedome Or as Dennis sayth in the Closet of his purpose and will and afterward brought it foorth in tyme when it pleased him And in another place I sing sayth he of the darke confusion I meane the confusion that was in the beginning how it was disfigured in diuers natures and how the Heauen the Sea and the Land were made And what more I sing sayth he of Loue euen of the Loue that is perfect of it selfe of more antiquitie than all these things and of all things which the same hath brought foorth and set in order yea of tyme it selfe I haue alreadie heretofore declared what he meaneth by this Loue namely the goodwill of GOD and that also doe euen some of the Hebrewes meane by the Spirit which Moyses speaketh of To be short he sayth that he himselfe made a booke of the Creation of the world which was a common argument among the Poets of that tyme as Empedocles Hesiodus Parmenides and such others which were all Philosophers And in many places he reduceth all things to Water and to a certeyne Mud as to their original which thing agréeth well enough to the déepe of Moyses The like is done by Homer and Hesiodus which came after him For Hesiodus maketh description not only of the Creating of â— world and of the parts thereof but also of the Chaos or confusion and of the Gods themselues And wheÌ„ Homer intendeth to curse a man I would sayth he that thou mightest returne to Water and Earth that is to say I would thou wert not any more as the time hath bene that thou wast not To be short Sophocles AEschylus and the very Comedywriters speake after the same maner and for proofe of them all Ewripides shall suffize who was the least religious of them all The tyme hath bene sayth he that Heauen and Earth were but a lumpe but after that they were separated they ingendred all things brought to light the Trees the Birds the Beastes of the field the Fishes and Men them selues For as for others they speake more to the purpose as Aratus who sayth that God hath set the Starres in the Skye to distinguish the Seasons of the yeare that he created all things that men are his ofspring that by the signes of Heauen he ment to giue them warning of the chaunges of the Aire and of Tempests And the voyce of these Poets is to bee considered as the opinion of the people to whom they sung their uerses Now let vs go on with the auncient Philosophers Pythagoras by the report of Plutarke saith that the World was begotten of God of it owne nature corruptible because it was sensible and bodily but yet that it is not corrupted because it is vphild and mainteyned by his prouidence The same thing doth also Diogenes Laertius witnesse And whereas Varro sayth that Pythagoras acknowledged not any beginning of liuing Wights Architas his Disciple shall mainteyne the contrary for his Maister For his wordes are these Of all liuing Wights man is bred most wise of capacitie to consider things and to atteyne to knowledge and to iudge of them all For GOD hath printed in him the fulnesse of all Reason And like as God hath made him the instrument of all Voyces Sounds Names and vtterances so also hath he made him the instrument of all vnderstandings and conceyts which is the workmanship of wisedome And euen for that cause saith he doe I thinke that man is of Gods creating and hath receyued his instruments and abilities at his hand Thales one of the seuen Sages hild opinion that all things had their beginning of Water and that GOD created all things therof who is alonly vnbegotten and hath not any end or any beginning And againe The World sayth he is most excellently beautiful for it is
now foretold shall stand all desolate Being asked another tyme as sayth Porphirius whether was the better of the Word or the Lawe he answered likewise in verse That men ought to beléeue in God the begetter and in the King that was afore all things vnder whom quaketh both Heauen and Earth Sea and Hell yea and the very Gods themselues whose Lawe is the Father that is honored by the Hebrewes And these Oracles were wont to be sung in Uerse to the intent that all men should remember them the better as Plutarch reporteth Now I haue bin the longer in this Chapter because most men thinke this doctrine so repugnant to mans Reason that Philosophie could neuer allowe of it not considering that it is another matter to conceyue a thing than to prooue or allow it when it is conceyued And therefore aswell for this Chapter as for that which went afore let vs conclude both by reason added to Gods reuealing and by the traces thereof in the World and by the Image thereof shining foorth in our selues and by the Confession of all the auncient Diuines and by the very depositious of the Deuilles themselues that in the onely one Essence or substance of God there is a Father a Sonne and a holy Ghost the Father euerlastingly begetting the Sonne and the Spirit euerlastingly procéeding from them both◠the Sonne begotten by the Mynd and the Spirit procéeding by the Will which is the thing that we had here to declare And let this handling of that matter concerning Gods essence bee taken as done by way of preuention howbeit that it depend most properly vppon the reuelation of our Scriptures which being proued will consequently yéeld proofe to this poynt also There may bee some perchaunce which will desire yet more apparant proofes but let them consider that wee speake of things which surmount both the arguments of Logike and also Demonstration For inasmuch as Demonstrations are made by the Causes the Cause of all Causes can haue no Demonstration But if any be so wilful as to stand in their owne opinion against the trueth which all the World prooueth al Ages acknowledge let them take the payne to set doune their Reasons in writing and men shall see how they be but eyther bare Denyalles or Gesses or simple distrusts or misbeleefs of the things which they vnderstand not and that they be vnable to wey against so graue and large Reasons and Recordes as I haue set downe heretofore And therefore the glorie thereof be vnto God Amen The vij Chapter That the World had a beginning LEt vs now retyre backe againe from this bottomlesse gulfe for the thing that is vnpossible to be sounded is vnpossible to be knowen And séeing that our eysight cānot abyde the brightnesse of so great a light let it content vs to beholde it in the shadowe Now this sensible world wherein we dwell is as the Platonists terme it the shadow of the world that is subiect to vnderstanding for certesse it cannot be called an Image thereof no more than the buylding of a Maystermason is the Image of his mynd And yet for all the greatnesse beautie and light which wee see therein I cannot tell whether the woord shadowe doe throughly fit it or no considering that shadowes haue some measure in respect of their bodies but betwéene finite and infinite is no proportionable resemblance at all We that are héere in the world doe woonder at it and we would thinke wee did amisse if we should beléeue that any thing is better or more beautifull than that For our flesh and complexions are proportioned after the Elements thereof and to the things which it bringeth foorth as our eyes vnto the light thereof and all our sences too the sensible nature thereof and those which are of the world seeke but onely to content the sensualitie that is in them But as we haue a Mynd so also let vs beléeue that the same is not without his obiect or matter to rest vpon And as the sencelesse things serue the things that haue sence so let vs make the sensible things to serue the Mynd and the Mynd it selfe to serue him by whom it is and vnderstandeth My meaning is that wee should not wonder at the world for the worlds sake it selfe but rather at the woorkemaister and author of the world For it were too manifest a childishnes to woonder at a portraiture made by a Peinter and not to woonder much more at the Peynter himselfe Now the first consideration that offereth it selfe to the beholder of this woorke is whether it hath had a beginning or no a question which were perchaunce vnnecessarie in this behalfe if euery man would consult with his owne Reason whereunto nothing is more repuguant than to thinke an eternitie to bee in things which wee not onely perceiue with our sences but also doe sée to perish Howbeit forasmuch as the world speaketh sayth the Psalmist both in all Languages and to all Nations let vs examine it both whole together and according to the seuerall parts thereof For it may be that the worldlings if they distrust their owne record will at leastwise admit that which the world it selfe shall depose thereof Let vs then examine the Elements all together they passe from one into another the Earth into Water the Water into Ayre and Ayre into Water againe and so foorth Now this intercourse cannot be made but in tyme and tyme is a measuring of mouing and where measure is there can be no eternitie Let vs examine thē seuerally The Earth hath his seasons after Springtime commeth Sommer after Sommer succeedeth Haruest and after Haruest followeth Winter The Sea hath his continuall ebbing and flowing which goeth increasing and decreasing by certeyne measures Diuers Riuers and especially Nyle haue their increasings at certeyne seasons and to a certeyne measure of Cubits The Ayre also hath his Windes which doe one while cléere it and another while trubble it and the same Windes doe reigne by turnes blowing sometime from the East and sometime from the West sometime from the North and sometime from the South And vppon them dependeth Rayne and faire wether Stormes and Calmes These interchaunges which are wrought by turnes cannot bee without beginning For where order is there is a formernesse and an afternesse and all chaunge is a kind of mouing insomuch that the alterations which are made successiuely one after another must of necessitie haue had a beginning at some poynt or other on the Land by some one of the Seasons on the Sea by ebbing and flowing and in the Ayre by North or by South and so foorth For if they began not at any one poynt then could they not hold out vnto an other poynt The Land then by his Seasons the Ayre by his chaunges and the Sea by his Tydes ceasse not to crye out and to preach vnto all that haue eares to heare that there is no euerlastingnesse in them but that they
Reason that is too say the néerest too not being The Plants besides being haue also life and they draw their nourishment from the Earth and their refresshing from the Ayre The Beastes haue both Béeing Life and Sence and take their foode both from the Elements and from the Plants Man hath Béeing and Life and Sence and Reason and he inioyeth the Elements liueth of the Plants commaundeth the Beastes and discourseth of all things both aboue him and beneath him Lo heere an order such from degrée too degrée that whosoeuer conceiueth not by and by some Author thereof hath neither Reason nor Sence no nor is worthie too haue either life or béeing I pray you from whence commeth this goodly proportion and this orderly procéeding of things by degrées Whence commeth the difference in their partitions Whence commeth it that the hugest and widest things are vnderlings to the least and weakest things Whereof commeth it that some things haue but a dead being and next vnto notbeing and that othersome haue a beeing that is moouing sensible and reasonable howbeit some more and some lesse Commeth it of the things themselues How can that bée For séeing that nothing doth willingly become an vnderling vnto others why bée not the heauiest masses allotted to the best shares Wherof commeth it that the liuing things which in respect of the whole Sea are but as a drop and in respect of the whole Earth are but as a grayne of dust are in degrée of preheminence aboue them And whereof commeth it that man being the fraylest of all liuing wightes is serued by the Elements by the Plants and by the Beastes yea euen by the wildest of them Then is there a deuider or distributer of these things who hauing imparted thē too others had them first himselfe and that most aboundantly and who moreouer is of necessitie almightie seeing that in so vnequall partition he holdeth them neuerthelesse in concorde I say further that all things are comprized vnder these fower that is too wit vnder Beeing Life Sence and Reason according too his diuers imparting of them vnto all things Now I demaund whether was first of Beeing or Notbeing of Liuing or Notliuing of Sensible or Notsensible of Reasonable or Notreasonable Surely it was neither Reasonable nor Sensible nor liuing for the time hath bin that wée were not But wee knowe that wee had fathers and that our fathers had forefathers and the ende of them maketh vs too beléeue that they had a beginning In like cace is it with beasts and plants for wée know the bréeding growing decaying and fading of them Much more then may wée say the same of Being For the things héere beneath which haue but onely bare beeing are farre inferiour too the other things and therefore cannot bring foorth themselues and consequently much lesse bring foorth the other things It remaineth then that Notbeeing Notliuing Notsensible and Notreasonable were afore Beeing Liuing Sensible and Reasonable And yet notwithstanding wée haue both Béeing Life Sence and Reason It followeth therefore that it is a power from without vs which hath brought vs out of Notbéeing into béeing and hath parted the said gifts among vs diuerlly according too his good pleasure For otherwise from out of that nothing which wée were If I may so terme it we should neuer haue come too be any thing at all Now betweene nothing and something how little so euer that something can bee there is an infinite space Néedes therefore must it be that the cause thereof was infinite at leastwise if it may bée called a cause and that is the very same which we call God Let vs come to the nature of the Elements whereof the whole is compated The Fyre is contrarie too the Water and the dry to the moyst and of these contraries are infinite other things produced vnder them Now the nature of contraries is too destroy one another and no twoo things euen of the least can bee coupled togither but by the working of a higher power that is able too compell them But wée see that these things doo not incroche or vsurpe one vppon another but contrariwise that they match toogither in the composing of many things and yet notwithstanding that not so much as two strings beeing of one selfesame nature can agree in one tune without the wit of a man that can skill too streine them and too slake them as he seeth it good It followeth therefore that the heauenly harmonie wherein so many contraries are made too accord both vniuersally and particularly are set toogither and guyded by a spirit Insomuch that if we will say that according too the comon opinion the aire is spread foorth as a stickler betweene the Fyre and the Water and is ioyned too the one by his moysture and too the other by his heate Yée must needes say also that there is a great and souerein Iudge aboue them which hath made them too abyde that stickler Let vs mount vp higher Wee see the Heauen how it mowweth round with a continuall mouing Also wee see there the Planets one vnder another which notwithstanding the violence of the first moueable haue euery one his seuerall course and mouing by himselfe And shall wee say that these mouings happen by aduenture But the same aduenture which made them to moue should also make them to stand still Agein as for aduenture or chaunce it is nothing els but disorder and confusion but in all these diuersities there is one vniformitie of mouing which is neuer interrupted How then Doo they moue of them selues Nay for nothing moueth it selfe and where things moue one another there is no possibilitie of infinite holding on but in the end men must be faine to mount vpto a first beginning and that is a rest As for example from the hammer of a Clocke wée come too a whéele and from that whéele too another and finally too the wit of the Clockmaker who by his cunning hath so ordered them that notwithstanding that he maketh them all too moue yet he himselfe remoueth not It remayneth then that of all these mouings wée must imagine one Mouer vnmouable and of all these so constant diuersities one vnuariable alwaies like it selfe and of all these bodies one spirite And like as from the Earth wée haue styed vp too the Ayre from the Ayre too the Skye from the Skye too the Heauen of Heauens still mounting vp from greater too greater from light too light and from subtile to subtile so let vs aduaunce our selues yet one degrée higher namely too the infinite too the light which is not too bée conceiued but in vnderstanding and too the quickening spirit in respect whereof the thing that wée woonder at héere beneath is lesse then a poynt our light is but a shadowe and our spirit is but a vapour And yet notwithstanding he hath so paynted out his glorie and instuitenesse euen in the things which wée most despise as that euen the grossest wits may easely comprehend
is by his Sonne as we shall see hereafter and moreouer it is an action that passeth into the thing saued and abydeth not in God alone Therefore it maketh not to the stablishing of a fourth person or inbeing for then it ought to be Coessentiall To be short all Gods operations doe eyther procéede from within him and abyde still in the worker and in their first ground or els they procéed from without and passe into the outward effect That worke or action which procéedeth from within can bee of none other essence than the thiug from whence it commeth for in GOD there is nothing but essence and in that esseuce can nothing abyde but the essence it selfe That which procéedeth from without is alwaies of a sundrie essence as are the Creatures and workes of God which come nothing nere the essence of the Creator The thing which doth the worke without is Gods power howbeit accompanyed with his vnderstanding and will And the thing that doth the work within is his vnderstanding and will and nothing els as wee may discerne in our selues who are but a very slender image thereof And like as in beholding a paynted Table or in reading the verses of a Poet we imagine not therefore that there was a peculiar and immediate abilitie of paynting or versifying in the mynd or souereyne part of their Soule but we referre those skilles and al other like vnto Wit and Will euen so and much more according to reason of all the workes and doings which we see done by Gods power we cannot gather any other persons or inbeings in him than those which procéede immediatly of his Understanding and Will and alonly those and none other can be Coessentiall in him Now Understanding and Will in GOD are essence and his essence is merely one and most single And moreouer the Word or Spéech conceyueth not another Spéech but turneth wholly vnto the Father neither doth the Spirit conceyue another loue than the loue of those two but resteth and reposeth it selfe altogether in them So then there can but one onely word or spéech procéede by the vnderstanding nor but only one Loue procéede by the Will neither can any other procéede of that Word and that Loue. And so there remayne vnto vs the onely thrée persons of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost by the which two the Father gouerneth and loueth all things because he himself alone is all things Now as we haue read in nature that there is but one God as a thing which we finde written euen in the least creatures so may we now perceyue the euident footsteps of the chrée inbeings or persons in one eâ—sence as a marke of the worker that made them in some more and in some lesse according to their dignitie which yet notwithstanding are such as we could not well perceine them vntill the doctrine thereof was reuealed vnto vs no more than we can vnderstand the letters of Cyphering which wee can neither reade nor decypher vnlesse we haue some knowledge of the matter which they import from other folkes hands or by coniecture or by some other way Wee finde an Unitie in all things yea euen in those which haue but only being For all things are inasmuch as they be one and whensoeuer they ceasse to bee that one they consequently ceasse also to be Againe we see in them a forme or shape and that is the marke of that witfull action that is to say of the euerlasting Word or Conceyt whereby God made them which hath bred vs the essentiall forme or shape and all other maner of formes and shapes Also we see an inclination or disposition in some more apparant than in othersome in some to mount aloft as in fire in some to sincke downe towards the Center as in a Stone and in all to hold themselues vnited in their matter forme This is the marke of the workfull Will wherein God hath voutsafed to stoope vnto them and of the vnion which procéedeth therof wherein he loueth vpholdeth preserueth all things But euen in some of the things of this bacest sort there appeareth not onely a trace but almost an image thereof For the Sunne breedeth or begetteth his owne beames which the Poets doe call the very sonne of the Sunne and from them two proceedeth the light which imparteth it selfe to all things here beneath and yet is not the one of them afore the other for neither is the Sunne afore his beames nor the Sunne or his beames afore the light otherwise than in consideration of order and relation that is to wit as in respect that the beames are begotten and the light is proceeding which is an apparant image of the Coeternitie Likewise in Waters we haue the head of them in the earth the Spring boyling out of it the streame which is made of them both and sheadeth it self out farre of from thence It is but one selfesame continuall and vnseparable essence which hath neither forenesse nor afternesse saue only in order and not in tyme that is to say according to our considering of it hauing respect to causes and not according to trueth For the Welhead is not a head but in respect of the Spring nor the Spring a Spring but in respect of the Welhead nor the Streame a Streame but in respect of them both and so all three be but one Water and cannot almost be considered one without another howbeit that the one is not the other It is an expresse mark of the originall relations and persoâ—s Coessentiall in the only one essence of God The like is to bee sayd of Fire which ingendreth fire and hath in it both heate and brightnesse vnseparable Also there are other examples to bee found of such as list to seeke them out In Hearbes and Plants there is a roote which yeeldeth a slippe stocke or ympe and the same ympe groweth afterward into a Tree It cannot well be named or deemed to be a roote but that therewith it hath also ingendred an ympe or stocke for in that respect is it called a roote and so is the one as soone as the other Also there is a sappe which passeth from the one to the other ioyning knitting and vniting them together by one common life without the which life neither the roote should bee a roote nor the slip a slip and so in effect they bee altogether the one as soone as the other Moreouer among all liuing wights euery of them ingendreth after his owne kind and forme of whom one is an ingendrer and another is ingendred among men a father and a sonne and by and by through knowledge there procéedeth a naturall loue and affection from the one to the other which knitteth and linketh them together All these are traces footsteps and images howbeit with the grossest of that high misterie and also I haue told you afore that no effect doth fully resemble his cause and much lesse that cause which in
towards the North and in the temperatest Clymate of our halfe Globe that is to wit towards the 35. and 40. degréees or thereabouts of the Equinoctiall lyne which diuideth that World euen in the middest which thing I desire the Readers to mark aduisedly And truely Iseland which in old tyme was called Thule was knowne in the tyme of great Alexander notwithstanding that it be situate about 68. degrées North whereas yet for al that the greatest part of Affrick was vnknowne to them and the vttermost reach of their knowledge was the I le of Taprobane which neuerthelesse are but vnder the Equinoctiall so farre of were they from atteyning to the Southpole To be short the Coast of Affrick or Barbarie of Spayne was peopled by the Phenecians whom we reade to haue bin long tyme Lords of the Sea And the Commonweale of Carthage which was so highly renowmed and reached so farre of was an ympe of Tyrus the chiefe Citie of Phenecia which bordered vpon Iewrie For Tyrus sent thether the one halfe of their people wherevpon it was called Carthago that is to say the halfe towne And the first people that dwelled there went into that Countrey by a narrowe péece of drye land called Catabathmos which is a falling ground that ioyneth Palestine vnto AEgipt as remayned yet still to bee read in the tyme of the Hystoriographer Procopius vpon a Piller in Tingie a Citie of Affrick set there by the inhabitants of Chanaan which had fled away from the sight of Iosua And in good sooth as appeareth by many sentences of S. Austins the Punicke tongue was but a kinde of seuerall proprietie of the Hebrew Some persist yet still in demaunding from whence the South-land the Countrie of Brasilie the Land of Perow and such others could be peopled And whence I pray you was Affricke peopled for the replenishing whereof thou canst not but knowe that inhabitants were sent thether both by Sea and by Land Affrick was peopled first by the foresayd narrow péece of drye Land cassed Catabathmos and afterward refreshed agayne by the streyghts of Gibraltar And the Southland was peopled on the one side by the I le of Taprobane on the other side by the streyghts of Magellan which do butt there vpoÌ„ Brasilie And Perow likewise was peopled by the narrowe poynt of land called Darien by the which way Brasilie also was peopled At such tyme as the Spanyards entered first into that great Nesse which conteyneth both Brasilie and Perow they thought it to haue bin an Iland In like manner if the Perouians had landed in Affrick by the Athlantick Sea and had fennd so long a side as the side of Affrick is that stretcheth vnto the red Sea so as they being wearied with following it as the Romanes were had made the like question we would then haue mocked at them because we knowe the passage whereby men came thether and they haue like occasion to mock vs because they know theirs But yet agayne from whence came the people which are spred abroade from the Land that is called newe Spayne by the streyght of Daryen Procâ—ede on yet a little further and thou shalt finde Cathay and Indya ioyning to that Land and Groneland facing it on the Northside and the streyght of Anian on the West side which is almost as néere within the viewe of it as Spayne is vnto Affrick by the streyghts of Gibraltare And I pray you what more maruell is it that they should haue passed by that streyght than that the Latins passed into Sicilie by the Fare of Messana or that the Vandales passed into Affrick and the Sarzins into Spayne by the sayd streyghâ—s of Gibraltare But the mischiefe is that nothing can suffize vs for proofe of the trueth but for witnesse against it we admit both Ignorance Heresay and Doubts and the very least suspitions or surmizes that caÌ„ come in our mynd For I pray you what can bee more childish or rather as Varro sayth in his Eumenides more worthie of Hell than to say that men sprung vp in a Countrey as Béetes and Rapes doe After that maner were the Athenians called Aborigenes that is to say Homebred or bred in that place and in token thereof they wore a Grassehopper in their Cappe or Bonet insomuch that Aristides to flatter them withal told them that their Territorie was the first that euer bore men and yet for all that there had bin whole Realmes of men in Syria afore there were any meÌ„ in Greece The Latins also would vaunt themselues of the same but Dennis of Halycarnassus and Porcius Cato acknowledge them to haue come out of Achaia Aske the Sauages and they will say the very same that these Sages say for they knowe neither one thing nor other further than their owne remembrance can reach But goe to Moyses and he will tell you the Originalles of the first Nations and the Genealogie of the whole World And the names of them remayning from thence vnto vs will put the matter out of all doubt to a man of vnderstanding For of Noe by his eldest Sonne Iaphet issewed the Gomerians or Cymbryans the Medes the Ionians who were the first inhabiters of Greece the Twiscons Duchmen or Almanes the Italians and the Dodoneans namely of Gomer Maday Iauan Aschenes Elisa and Dodanim By C ham there issewed the Chananites the AEgiptians the Libyans the Sabeans and so forth who reteyned the names of his Children that is to wit of Chanaan Misraim Lud Saba and so foorth For Misraim in Hebrewe betokeneth AEgipt By Sem there descended the Elamites Persians the Assyrians the Chasdeans or Chaldees that Lydians the Aramites or Syrians the people of Ophir others that is to wit of Elam Arphaxad Lud Aram Ophir and others And these names were written and recorded by Moyses afore those Nations were of any reputation and they remayne yet still among the Hebrewes at this day Now looke in what measure these fathers of houses increased their Children so did euery of them spred out his braunches a farre of insomuch that the ofspring of that stock did couer and ouershadow the whole earth and the Arke of Noe did after a maner sayle ouer the whole world But here is an Obiection which seemeth stronger These reasons say they do bring vs vp to the Flood but as the Flud brought mankynd to that small number whereby the World was by little and little renewed agayne So may it be that there were other former Fluds that had done the like afore so as this latter Flud was rather a renewing of the World than a first beginning therof And to this purpose they will alledge this saying of Plato in his Timaeus that the ouerflowings of waters and the burnings by fire doe from tyme to tyme refresh the World and destroy the rememberance of the former ages and also of all Artes Sciences and other Inuentions This is worthie of some examination Surely of Burnings eyther
the body and that the Glasses are out of the Spectacles but the eysight is still good Why should we déeme the Soule to be forgone with the Sences If the eye be the thing that séeth and the eare the thing that heareth why doe wee not see things dubble and heare sounds dubble seeing we haue two eyes and two eares It is the Soule then that seeth and heareth and these which wee take to be our sences are but the instruments of our sences And if when our eyes bee shut or pickt out wee then beholde a thousand things in our mynd yea and that our vnderstanding is then most quicksighted when the quickest of our eysight is as good as quenched or starke dead how is it possible that the reasonable Soule should bee tyed and bound to the sences What a reason is it to say that the Soule dyeth with the sences séeing that the true sences do then growe and increase when the instruments of sence doe dye And what a thing were it to say that a Beast is dead because he hath lost his eyes when we our selues see that it liueth after it hath forgone the eyes Also I haue prooued that the Soule is neither the body nor an appertnance of the body Sith it is so why measure we that thing by the body which measureth al bodies or make that to dye with the body whereby the bodies that dyed yea many hundred yéeres agoe doe after a certeine maner liue still Or what can hurt that thing whom nothing hurteth or hindereth in the bodie Though a man lose an arme yet doth his Soule abide whole still Let him forgoe the one halfe of his body yet is his Soule as sound as afore for it is whole in it selfe and whole in euery part of it selfe vnited in it felfe and in the owne substance and by the force and power thereof it sheadeth it selfe into all parts of the body Though the body rot away by péecemeale yet abideth the Soule all one and vndiminished Let the blud dreyne out the mouing wex weake the sences fayle and the strength perish and yet abideth the mynd neuerthelesse sound and liuely euen to the ende Her house must bee pearced through on all sides ere she bee discouraged her walles must be battered doune ere she fall to fléeting and she neuer forsaketh her lodging till no roome be left her to lodge in True it is that the brute Beastes forgo both life and action with their blud But as for our Soule if wee consider the matter well it is then gathered home into it self and when our sences are quenched then doth it most of all labour to surmount it selfe woorking as goodly actions at the tyme that the body is at a poynt to fayle it yea and oftentymes farre goodlyer also than euer it did during the whole lifetyme thereof As for example it taketh order for it selfe for our houshold for the Commonweale and for a whole Kingdome and that with more vprightnesse godlynesse wisedome and moderation than euer it did afore yea and perchance in a body so forspeâ—â—â— so bare so consumed so withered without and so putrified within that whosoeuer lookes vpon him sees nothing but earth and yet to heare him speake would rauish a man vp to heauen yea and aboue heauen Now when a man sees so liuely a Soule in so weake and wretched a body may he not say as is said of the hatching of Chickens that the shell is broken but there commeth forth a Chicken Also let vs sée what is the ordinary cause that things perish Fire doth eyether goe out for want of nourishment or is quenched by his contrary which is water Water is resolued into aire by fire which is his contrary The cause why the Plant dyeth is extremitie of colde or drought or vnseasonable cutting or vyolent plucking vp Also the liuing wight dyeth through contrarietie of humours or for want of foode or by feeding vpon some thing that is against the nature of it or by outward vyolence Of all these causes which can we choose to haue any power against our Soule I say against the Soule of man which notwithstanding that it be vnited to matter and to a bodie is it selfe a substance vnbodily vnmateriall and only conceiuable in vnderstanding The contrarietie of things Nay what can be contrarie to that which lodgeth the contraries alike equally in himselfe which vnderstandeth the one of them by the other which coucheth them all vnder one skill and to bee short in whom the contrarieties themselues abandon their contrarietie so as they doe not any more pursewe but insewe one another Fire is hote and water cold Our bodies mislike these contraries and are gréeued by them but our mynd linketh them together without eyther burning or cooling it selfe and it setteth the one of them against the other to knowe them the better The things which destroy one another through the whole world do mainteine one another in our mynds Againe nothing is more contrary to peace then warre is and yet mans mynd can skill to make or mainteyne peace in preparing for warre and to lay earnestly for warre in seeking or inioying of peace Euen death it selfe which dispatcheth our life cannot bée contrary to the life of our Soule for it seeketh life by death and death by life And what can that thing méete withall in the whole world that may bee able to ouerthrowe it which can inioyne obedience to things most contrary What then Want of foode How can that want foode in the world which can skill to feede on the whole world Or how should that forsake foode which the fuller it is so much the hungryer it is and the more it hath digested the better able it is to digest The bodily wight feedeth vppon some certeyne things but our mynd feedeth vpon all things Take from it the sensible things and the things of vnderstanding abyde with it still bereaue it of earthly things and the heauenly remayne abundantly To be short abridge it of all worldly things yea and of the world it selfe and euen then doth it feede at greatest ease maketh best chéere agréeable to his owne nature Also the bodily wight filleth it selfe to a certeyne measure and delighteth in some certeyne things But what can fill our mynd Fill it as full as ye can with the knowledge of things and it is still eager and sharpe set to receyue more The more it taketh in the more it still craueth and yet for al that it neuer feeleth any rawnesse or lack of digestion What shall I say more discharge our vnderstanding from the mynding of it self and then doth it liue in him and of him in whom all things doe liue Againe fill it with the knowledge of it selfe and then doth it feele it self most emptie and sharpest set vpon desire of the other Now then can that dye or decay for want of foode which cannot be glutted with any thing which is nourished and mainteyned with
Seede but that he corrupted it afterward Anotherwhile hee sayth that he delt with reason as perfumers doe with Oyles which neuer ceasse medling and mingling of them till there remayne no sent of Oyle at all And in one place perceiuing by all likelihod this corruption to be so vniuersal he saith further that at the very beginning and from their first comming into the Worlde men intangled and confounded themselues with sinne Whereby we may perceiue that had the thing bin declared vnto him in such sort as wée beléeue it surely hee would willingly haue imbraced and receiued it as the only solution of so many perplexities wherein he was intangled Let vs come to the Platonists All of them agrée in these points That the Soule of Man is a spirit and that a spirit cannot naturally receiue any affection from a body neither which may cause it to perish nor which may doe so much as once trouble it Yet notwithstanding on which side so euer they turne themselues they cannot deny but that our mynds are trubbled with infinite affections and passions in this body and that they be subiect one while to starting besides themselues through pryde anger or enuie an another while to be cast downe with Riottousnes Gluttonie and Idlenes yea and to receiue diuers impressions not only from the body but also from the aire the water and from Mistes and finally from euery little thing in the world Now how can this contrarietie be reconciled except their meaning be as ours is that naturally our Soules are not subiect to any of these things but that they bee put in subiection to them beyond the course of nature If it bee beyond the course of nature by whome is it doone but by him that commaundeth nature to whome it is as easie to put a spirit in Prison as to lodge a man in a house If it be done by him who is the rightuousnes it selfe doth it not followe that it was for some fault committed by the Soule If for some fault then seeing that the punishment thereof is in all men in whome should that first fault be but in that man which was the originall of all men as in whom all of vs say I were materially Now againe this fault cannot bee imputed to the body for it is in the will and the body of it selfe hath no will neither can it be imputed to any â—â—fection receiued first from the body for the Soule could not be wrought into by the body In the Soule therefore must the fault of mankind néedes be and for the soules offence doth the Soule itself suffer punishment and make the body also to suffer with her Howbeit that we may the better iudge of their opinions let vs heare them in the chief of them one after another Plotine hauing considered that the Soule is of nature diuine heauenly and spirituall concludeth that of itselfe it is not wrought into by the body But afterward perceiuing how it is defiled ouermaistred by sinne and by force of necessitie linked vnto lust he commeth backe to this solution That hir béeing here beneath is but a banishment too her which he termeth expresly a fall and otherwise as Pato doth a losing of hir wings That the vertue which she hath is but a Remnant of hir former nature That the vyce which she hath is taken by dealing by these bace and transitorie things and too bee short that al the vertue which is learned is but a purging of the Soule which must be fayne to be as it were newfurbished to scoure of the greate Rust that hath ouergrowen it In these Contradictions therefore hee maketh this question to himselfe What should bee the cause sayth hee that our Soules being of a diuine nature should so forget both God their father and their kinred and themselues Surely answereth he the beginning of this mischeef was a certeine rashnes ouerboldnesse wherethrough they would needes plucke their neckes out of the collar and be at their owne commaundement by which abuse turning their libertie into licentiousnes they went cleane backe and are so farre gone away from GOD that like Children which being newly weaned are byanby conueyed away from their Fathers and Moothers they knowe neither whose nor what they be nor from whence they came Now in these words he agreeth with our Diuines not only in this that corruption came in by sin but also in the kind of sinne namely Pryde wherby we be turned away froÌ„ our Maker In another place The Soule saith he which was bred for heauenly things hath plundged itselfe in these materiall things and matter of itselfe is so euill that not onely all that is of matter or matched with matter but also euen that which hath respect vnto matter is filled with euill as the eye that beholdeth darknes is filled with darknes Here ye sée not onely from whence we be turned away but also too what that is too wit from God to vanitie from the Creator to the creature from good to euill But of this inclyning to the materiall things he sometymes maketh the body to be the author as though the body had caried the Soule away by force of his imaginations and he acquitteth the mynde thereof as much as he can insomuch as hee sticketh not to affirme that notwithstanding all this marrednesse yet the Soule liueth and abideth pure and cleane in God yea euen whyle the Soule whereof the Mynd is as yee would say the very eisight or apple of the eye dwelleth in this body Howbeit besides that he is reproued for it by Porphyrius Proclus and others his owne reasons whereby he proueth that the Soule is not naturally subiect to the body be so strong that it were vnpossible for him too shift himself from them In this the great Philosopher is ouershot that he will needes seeke out the cause of sinne in Man as Man is now Where finding Reason caried away by Imagination and Imagination deceiued by the Sences he thought the fault to haue procéeded of that wheras in deede he should haue sought the cause in Man as he was first created when he had his Sences and Appetites absolutely at commaundement whose wilfull offending hath brought vppon vs the necessitie of punishment which we indure And in good sooth this saying of his in another place cannot be interpreted otherwise namely that the cause why the Soule indureth so many trubbles and passions in this body is to be taken of the life which is led afore out of the body that is to say that the subiection of the Soule to the Body is not the originall cause of the sinne therof but rather a condemnation thereof to punishment Neither also can he scape froÌ„ these conclusions of his owne namely that the Soule beeing separated from the body hath her wings sound and perfect and that the Body being ioyned to the Soule hath no power to breake her wings and yet that she findeth herself there
a bringging of vs to Hellgate or rather a shewing of Paradise vnto vs a farre of howbeit with such a horrible and infinite gulfe betwixt vs and it as man and all the whole world can neither fill vp nor passe ouer Yet must there néedes be a passage For the end of Man is to be vnited vnto God and this end is not in vaine the meane to be vnited aboue is to be reconcyled here beneath and the meane to be reconcyled here beneath is as I haue sayd alreadie but onely one which is that God himselfe acquit vs without our discharging of the debt which wee owe vnto him Onely that Religion then and none other which leadeth vs streight to the said passage and by the following whereof we find it is the true Religion as that which allonly atteineth to the ende of Religion which is the sauing of man May not men wil some say worship God diuersly some lifting vp their eyes to heauen and othersome casting their faces downe to the ground Yes for the worshipping is but one and the humbling of mens selues is but one still though there bee difference in the signes But our disputing here is not of the Ceremonies but of the substance of them Also may not men offer Sacrifice diuersly Yes But if thy Sacrifices haue no further ende then the sheading of the blud of a beast then as sayth Hierocles they be to the Fyre but a feeding thereof with fewell and vapors and to the Préestes a superfluous maintenance of butcherie It is requisite therefore that sacrifices should bee referred to somewhat namely that by them thou shouldest protest that whereas the sillie innocent beastes doo suffer death it is thou thy selfe that hast deserued it both in body and Soule Againe if thou haue nothing els in thy Religion but Sacrifices and prayers how goodly a showe soeuer they make thou hast nothing but a confession of thy fault and a sentence of death against thee for the same For if those Ceremonies aime not at a certein marke they be trifling toyes and if that be the end whereat they aime then come they short as which doe but leade thee vnto death and there leaue thee There are some that would beare vs on hand that Religion is but an obseruation of certeyne Ceremonies in euery Countrie by which reason that which is holy here should be vnholy in another place and that which is godly in one Land should be vngodly in another To be short they make it lyke the Lawes that depend vppon Custome which passe no further than the bounds of the place where they be vsed If Religion be nothing else but so what science art or trade is more vayne than that Or rather what is to be sayd of it but that in deede it is no Religion at all Leachecraft is vncerteine in many respects as of aire of water of age and of clymate but yet the which is Leachecraft in one Countrie is not manquelling in another Lawecraft hath almost as many sundry Lawes as caces and the caces that are in the world are infinite Yet notwithstanding who séeth not that all these diuersities of caces are brought vnder one vpryghtnes and reason and that they which yéeld not thereunto are not reputed for men but rather for enemies of mankynd and wyld beasts Also vertue hath the affections to woorke vpon a ground more mouable than the Sea and the wind And yet who wil say that that which is hardines betweene the too Tropiks is Cowardlines in all other Countryes or that that which is stayednesse in one half of the world is vnstayednesse in the other half To be short what thing is more subiect to rising and falling or to be cryed downe or inhaunced than coyne of siluer and gold as which séemeth to followe the willes of princes And yet notwithstanding for all their ordinances and proclamations both gold and siluer do alwayes kéepe a certeine rate and valew What shall we say then to Religion which hath a firmer and substantialler ground than all these I meane not mennes bodies goods affections or fantasies but the very soule and mynd of man who also hath such a rest to stay vppon as is settled vnmouable and the Lord of all Chaunges that is to wit God How much more wysely doth our Pythagorist Hierocles teache vs that Religion is the gouernesse of all vertewes and that all vertewes tend to her as to their certeine end as who would say they be no vertewes if they swarue from her insomuch that hardynesse being referred to any other than godlynesse becommeth rashnesse wisedome becommeth wylynes lynes and Iustice becommeth Iuggling and at a woord all vertue is but masking and hipocrisie If Religion be the end of all vertewes must it not needs be fixed and vnmouable Or if it be mouable what is there then that is iust good or vertuous And if the case stand so what thing in the world is more vnauaylable than man or to speake more ryghtly what thing is to lesse purpose in man than his mynd But there is vertue and the wickeddest man that is will auow it Therefore there is also a certeine Religion which maketh it to be vertue and whereunto vertue referreth itself and the vngodlyest man that is cannot scape from it Let vs looke yet further into the absurdities of this opinion Who can denie but that among the diuersities of Religions there were many sorts of wickednes and vngodlynes openly executed some woorshipping the creatures in Heauen yea and on earth as the Egiptians did in old time and as the Tartarians do at this day some offering vp men in Sacrifice as the Carthaginenses did in old tyme and as the Westerne Iles do yet at this day and othersome permitting things not only contrarie to all Lawes but also euen horrible and lothsome to nature If all this be good I pray you what good is there or rather what euill is there in the world But if it be euill in itself who can deny but that there were wicked and vngodly Religions in the world I vse the woord Religion after the comon maner and that a man had neede of a Rule whereby to discerne the good Religion from the bad And in verie deede it is so rooted in nature to beléeue that there is but one Religion to be had as well as to beleeue that there is but one God that as we may daily see a man will rather indure the change of a temperate aire into an extreme whot or into an extreme cold of freedom into bondage and of Iustice into Tyrannye than any alteration atall though neuer so little in the case of Religion verily as who would say it were not so naturall for a man too loue his natiue Countrie to be frée and to be at his easie as to haue some one certeine Religion to gwyde him to saluation Now my meaning hath bin to lay foorth this trueth after the mo sorts of purpose to
woorship Nay as he is hygh and great in power so is he deepe also in wisdome and goodnes Art thou sicke It is he that both maketh helth and sendeth sicknesse thou séest how he was Ezechias Phisition Wouldest thou haue Children It is hee that openeth and shetteth the bearingplace Insomuch that he made the old age of Sara fruteful and the barrein Anne a moother and a Nurce Doth thyne enemi◠vexe thee He is the God of Hosts whom Gedeon findeth as strōg with a smal army as with a great Wouldest thou haue a prosperous wind It is he saieth Iob that sheadeth foorth the Easterne wynd vpon the earth and at whose call the northwynd commeth Doth thy Husbandrye drye away with drought It is he that dealeth foorth both the morning and the euening rayne which beget the droppes of the deawe and which maketh it to rayne vppon the ground yea euen where nobody dwells To be short art thou afrayd of famine He prepareth foode for the Rauens to pray vpon and their yong birds crye vnto none but him The Lyons whelpes rore vnto him for foode and all things that liue in the aire on the Land and in the water do wayt vppon him for the supplying of their needs And what is all this in effect but that the God whom Israell woorshipeth is the Creator and Gouerner of all things The verie true God which maynteyneth all things by his goodnes as well as he made them by his power As carefull for all things yea euen to the least as he is myghtfull and of abilitie to maynteyne them Al the whole scripture from the one end to the other that is to say the people of Israell from age to age sing nothing else but that Now if we reade ouer the old ceremonies of the Egiptians Persians and Thuscanes leafe by leaf where shall we find in them one woord of the true God but onely in renowncing and blaspheming him And what are all their Godes but caryers of Receyts like these dogleaches which professe but the curing of some one disease only or lyke these comon craftsmen which professe but the skill of some one craft or misterie But this true God as I haue said is the onely one God What other people haue bin forbidden to call vppon many Godds Nay rather what other people haue not bin comaunded to haue infinite Gods as a token of Religion He is a quickening Spirit which cannot bee counterfetted nor conceyued What other God hath sayd Whereunto will ye lyken me which do hold the Earth betweene my Fingers What house will yee build for me which make the Earth my footstoole and the Heauen my feate And to what other people hath it bin sayd Thou shalt not make any grauen Image And what other people hath chosen rather to dye a thousand tymes than to breake that commaundement Insomuch that they would not admitte eyther peynter or karuer into any of their Cities Contrarywyse which of all the Gods of the Heathen haue not requyred Images Yea and as we reade in Porphirius taught how they should bee peynted Much more vayne in good sooth than the mē that woorshipped them To be short the true God which gouerneth the whole world must also as I haue said afore gouerne both men and their witts to his glorie And to gouerne them so it behoueth him to knowe them and to knowe them it behoueth him to see them and to see into their harts it behoueth him to haue made them For the father which thinketh himself to be the begetter of a Chyld seeth not into the hart thereof nother doth the schoolemayster see into his scholers wit whereof he thinketh himself to be the framer And much lesse can an Imaginatiue God do any of those things hauing not made the one nor the other What other God shall ye reade to haue sayd Thou shalt not couet or to haue required the sacrifice of the hart or the fasting of the spirit or a hartbroken and lowly mynd Who els can forbid Couetousenes and hypocrisie but he which is able to punish it And who can punish it but he that sees it And who can see it in man but he that made man On the contrarie part who séeth not that the Lawes which are reported to haue bin inspired by the Godds at Rome in Athens and in Lacedemon extend no further than to the outward man Insomuch that none of them as sayeth Cato is found to haue sayd He that is mynded to steale but only He that stealeth shal be giltie Which is as much to say as that they be but Lawes of men who see not into folks harts Lawes of Creatures which pearce no further then the Cote or the Skinue The people of Israel therefore are the people that serued the onely true God that made man and all other people serued Gods made by men Now this silly people as we reade in Histories was strangely despysed and trampled vnder foote as though all the diuels had conspired and banded themselues against that people which alonly worshipped the true God But what are the Heathen compelled in the end to confesse Varro the best learned of the Romanes who made a beadroll of all the Gods for feare as hee sayth least they should stray away concludeth in the end that those doe worship the true God which worship the onely one without Images and which beléeue him to be the gouernor of the whole world Yea and which more is he saith that the Iewes by what other name soeuer they call him doo worship the same God truely and that if after their example all Images had bin forbidden as they were a long time in Rome men had not fallen into so many superstitions errors It is not to be doubted but that he which spake so of that whole rabble of false Gods that were in Rome would haue spoken much more of them if he had not feared men more than his Gods And whereas some of the heathen to excuse their owne sacriledge haue borne the world on hand that the Iewes worshipped the head of a wild Asse because a beast of that kind had shewed thē a fountaine in the wildernesse at a time that they were distressed with thirst Polybius Strabo and Tacitus himself the maker of that goodly report doo witnesse that in the Temple of the Iewes there was neuer yet found any Penon Pensil Relik or Image neither at the tyme that Antiochus through couetousnes sacked it nor whē Pompey for reuerēce spared it And truely the sayd Assish report of the Asses head is scarce worth the disproof But more rather because the Iewes rested vpon the Sabboth day which the Gentiles dedicated afterward vnto Saturne many men haue thought that they worshipped Saturne whereas if the heathen had asken but some Babe of the Iewes concerning that matter he would haue taught them that the GOD of Israel neuer fled away for feare of a man as Saturne did
Altar to him dight This Cleomede was one of those that pleasured these Gods by beating one another with strokes of hand and foote of whom we reade that he slewe his aduersarie at one blowe But of such a one as Socrates Plato or Pythagoras he would neuer haue sayd so much Againe he sayth thus Archilochus is a very Saint and seruant of the Gods Yea verely of such Gods in déede for he chose the wickeddest and leaudest subiect of whom to make his verse But of Theognis or of a Phocylides which had exhorted folk to good life he would neuer haue sayd so much Of Cypselus he sayd thus A happie man is Cypselus and loued of the Gods If it bee so then what are Busyris Phalaris and al other Tyrants for there neuer was a greater Tyrant than he But the sayd Oracle sayd also that Iupiter and Apollo had prolonged the life of Phalaris for his wel handling of Cariton and Menalippus Now what fitter meane can there be to make Tyrants that is to say enemies of mankind in the world than to beare men on hande that such are beloued of the Goddes Zosimus their great Patron rehearseth an Oracle which answered That for the appeasing of an Earthquake at Athens it behoued them to honor Achilles as a God This was a playne turning away of man from God to the creature The same answered likewise to the mē of Methymnus that it behoued them to worship a woodden head of Bacchus that was found by fishing in the Sea And this was a making of them more blynd than the stocke it self And when they were demaunded concerning the maner of woorshipping and seruing these Gods they answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to say Send you the heads to Iupiter the lights vnto his Syre The dubble signification of the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fos which signifieth a man and may also signifie a Torch or a Light did cut off the liues of many folkes Which doubtfulnesse of spéech the Idoll coueted not of any intent to spare them but to haue matter of excuse against such as made conscience to doe it For being asked by the Athenians how they might make amends for their killing of Androgeus hee willed them to sende yéerely to King Minos seuen bodies of eyther sex chosen from among them all to appease the wrath of God and that kynd of Sacrifize continued still in Athens in the tyme of Socrates Now then what els is all their doctrine than a seruing of the Deuill and of Creatures yea euen with a seruice which in very déede is deuilish and horrible Al these Oracles are reported by Oenomaus a Heathen man who sought them out by Porphyrie our enemie who by them would induce vs to make great account of thē who in the beginning of his booke appealeth vnto GOD that he setteth not any thing downe of his own head by Chrysippus the Stoike in his booke of Destinie who by those Oracles goeth about to proue it and by Zosimus himself who maketh so great moane to see their mouthes stopped and their Temples shut vp And surely it is not to be marueled though the Peripateticks putting thē to tryall did vtter great griefes against those Oracles and that the Platonists which went to worke more faithfully were driuen to cōclude that not only the vncleane Spirites but also euen their Goddes whom they thought to bee pure were subiect to lying Let vs come to their Myracles In the Temple of Venus there was a Lamp that neuer went out and the Image of Serapis hung vnfastened in the ayre Diuers deceyts may be wrought in the like case and it is well knowne that the like wonders are seene euen in naturall things as a Fountaine to light a Torch and a Stone to hang by yron in the ayre And they which haue the skill to vse such things and to gather together the vertues of many into one may wonderfully bleare the eyes euen of the wisest As for example it hath bene seene that some haue found out a deuise how to burne vp one water with another and to breake open a strong Locke almost without touching it And that the Féends which know more than wee doe better serue their owne turnes with the wonders of Nature than we doe it is not to be doubted Insomuch that the Phisition which knoweth the vertues of Hearbes maketh things of them which the Gardyner that sowed them and cherished them vp would wonder at and cannot doe But loe here a strange case Accius Nauius the greate Birdgazer of Rome did cut asunder a Whetstone with a Razor in the presence of King Tarquine What a number of Witches are dayly burned which doe much more by their familiaritie with the Deuill For they stop a Tunne that is pearced full of holes they hold fast a Waterspout from running and they bynd the naturall abilities and yet notwithstanding they confesse that their so doing is by the wicked Spirites and the wicked Spirites discouer not themselues otherwise than so vnto them And in very trueth the Angelles and the Féends differ not properly in strength and power but in will and practise like as among men the good men differ not from the wicked men eyther in strength of bodie or in stoutnesse of courage but in the applying of their bodies and mynds Also it may bee that the Image of Feminine Fortune hath spoken and likewise the Image of Iuno Moneta and such others And that Castor and Pollux haue wyped away the sweat from the Horses of the Romanes as they traueled And that the Ladie Claudia drewe the Shippe wherein the Idoll of the Goddesse Bona was which so many yoong men could not once stirre Let vs admit all these things to bee true notwithstanding that Titus Liuius say that hee becommeth olde in reckoning them vp Wee stand not to dispute whither Spirites can speake by Images or no for wee doubt not thereof But I say that the Spirites which speake in them be wicked Spirites and turne vs away to the Creature to make vs offend the Creator Neither do I hold opinion that Spirites cannot take bodies vpon them nor that they bee vnable to doe feates farre passing the power of men for thereof examples are to bee seene yea moe than were requisite But the thing that I vphold is this that the Spirites which seeke to haue the praise of a victorie obteyned or of the asswaging of a Plague which is due but to the only one God or which will haue them ascribed to Fortune which is but an imagination or to a Iuno which is but a Blocke or to a good Goddesse the mother of the Gods a mother whom the veryest wretches in the worlde as I sayd afore would disclayme to be their mother are very Deuilles And in good sooth whereas the Deuill which tooke vppon him the name of that Goddesse suffered himself to be drawne by Claudia who had so ill reporte among all men It agréed very
at the Conquests of Alexander And why Because that beeing but a meane King of Macedonie he passed into Asia and conquered it with fortie thousand men and no moe Had he caryed a hundred thousand with him we would haue had the lesse estimation of his deedes But how much greater account would we haue made of him if he had done it with halfe his number And had he done it with the tenth man O how we would haue wondered And if wee made a God of him for conquering so what diuine honor would we think sufficiēt for him now At leastwise who would not haue thought him if not a God yet at the least assisted with the power and might of GOD But had these Souldiers ouercome their enemies by being beatē at their hands had they conquered by causing themselues to bee killed had they brought Kingdomes in obedience by submitting themselues to their Gibbets had it not bene a cryme to haue left them vnwoorshipped for Gods For if betwéene the able man and the vnable man the skilfull and the vnskilfull the difference bee that the vnskilfull can doe nothing vnlesse he haue very well and abundantly wherewith but the skilfull can worke much vpon little and by his cunning ouercome the awknesse of his stuffe What is the difference betwéene the skilfullest man and God but that the man can of a little make somewhat whereas God can of nothing and without helpe of any thing make great things yea and euen one contrary of another and by another Which is as much to say as that he is of infinite power able to fill vp the infinite distance that is betwéene contraries and specially betwéene nothing and something Now let vs see what Iesus hath done and let vs bring with vs the same eyes and the same reason which wee did to the iudging and discerning of the Historie of Alexander First our Lord Iesus was borne destitute of al worldly helps From ten to tenthousand and from tenthousand to ten millions men doe atteyne but who can atteyne from nothing to so huge a thing He was accompanyed by a fewe ignorant Fishermen of grosse wit And yet is it no small matter that he could cause them to giue ouer their Trade to follow him But what Instruments were they to make Preachers to the whole world being rather cleane contrary to such a purpose And to incourage them he sayes vnto them Blessed are ye when ye indure all maner of aduersities for my names sake This had bene enough to haue driuen them away and yet they followe him At length he sendeth them of Ambassage to al Nations And what was their message He that taketh not vp his Crosse and followeth me is not worthie of me What is he that would at this day take such a charge vpon him no though he were well rewarded for his labour They shall whippe you in their Synagog sayth he Who would vndertake to deale in such a case Specially vppon such a perswasion as this Hee that will saue his life shall lose it In the ende he dyeth And how Crucified betwéene two Théeues Those fewe followers of his are at their wits end He leaueth neither Children nor kinsfolke behinde him to vpholde his sillie kingdome The kingdome of Heauen that he had talked of seemeth to bee buryed in the earth What worldly kingdome had not perished in this plight How long did the throne of Alexander reigne notwithstanding that it was vphild with the hope of some Children with the policie of great Capteynes with the force of victorious Armies and with the very terrour of his name In the meane while those sillie Shéepe of Christ came together and wēt and preached to Hierusalem and afterward to all the world And what preached they That Iesus had bene crucified and that it behoued them to beléeue in him If he was a man what was more vayne If he was a God what was more absurd Yet notwithstanding if they may haue audience they teach men to suffer for him if they be shut out they will rather dye than forbeare to speake of him and if they bee accused for it they preach their cryme before their Iudges Malefactors are tormented to make them tell their fault and these are tormented to make them to conceale it Those hold their peace to saue themselues from death and these dye for speaking Their persecutors crye out what a miserie is this that we cannot ouercome an old man or a woman what a shame is it for vs to be more wearie of tormenting them than they bee of the torments Yet notwithstanding in lesse than fortie yéeres the world is filled full of this doctrine and the Countries are conquered to Iesus Christ by those fewe Disciples preaching his bludshed and sheading their owne from Hierusalem to Spayne yea and from Hierusalem to the Indyes And looke by what meanes this kingdome is founded by the same also is it stablished and from tyme to tyme increased and mainteyned What man if he knowe how farre man can extend can attribute these things vnto man Hée is God sayth a wise man which doth that which no creature can do And who euer did such things either afore Iesus or after him Also Aristotle sayth that of nothing can nothing bee made that in deede is a rule in nature But what els are these doings of Christ but a making not only of some thing but also of that greatest things of nothing And who can vyolate or ouercome the lawe of nature but only he that created nature Now God spake the word and it was done this surpasseth nature But when Iesus sayth He that doth not take vp his Crosse and followe me is not worthie of me to our fleshly vnderstanding it is as much as if he should say Flee from me and yet men followe him and seeke him The word say I which were enough to driue vs away draweth vs vnto him by disswading he perswadeth vs in turning vs away he turneth vs to him in throwing vs downe he setteth vs vp and in killing vs he maketh vs euerlasting Who can drawe one contrarie out of another as the effects of water out of fire and the effects of fire out of water but he that made both fire and water And who can drawe perswasion out of disswading and conuerting out of diuerting but he that made both the heart of the man that hearkeneth and the speech of the partie that speaketh And what is the conquering of the liuing by the dying of himselfe and his but as ye would say a working of an effect by taking away the cause What is this subduing of the world by disarming tying and deliuering of himselfe but a taking of a way contrarie to his businesse and a choosing of instruments most cōtrarie to his working And he that doth a thing by instruments contrarie thereunto nay rather by such instruments as are directly hurtfull to it and can no way further it doth he not shew that he could do
straunge God On the other side the Prophets of old tyme which Prophesied of him wrought miracles also howbeit by calling vppon the name of God and lykewise the Apostles that preached him howbeit in his name and all they refused the honor that was offered them and rent their garmenes when men honored them acknowledging themselues alwayes to be but his seruants and instrumeÌ„ts of his glorie And had he not bin the sonne of God surely in so saying he had not bin Gods seruant but his enemie and a rank rebell and Traytor and whatsoeuer woorse is if any can bee worse and consequently vnder the extreme wrath of the creator as a persone puffed vp with passing pryde which is the cause both of mans falling from his state and of the diuells condemnation at Gods hand Therefore let vs say that Iesus is the Sonne of God as he himself hath told vs and that we ought to here him to yeld vnto him to followe him and to woorship him as God I meane God and man the only Mediator of mankynd who dyed for our sinnes and rose ageine to make vs ryghtuouse to whom be glory for euer and euer Amen The xxxiij Chapter A Solution of the Obiections of the Heathen ageinst Iesus the Sonne of God SUrely by those feawe things which the Heathen of old time eyther listed or durst speake of Iesus euen at such tyme as it was an offence not only too speake well but also euen not too speake euill of him we sée well that he did put al the Philosophers to their Clergy so as thei wist not which way to turne them In his lyfe they could find no â—lanie of his doctrine thei knew not what to say and asfor his power they could not denie it for shame All the shift they had was but to say he was a greate man full of godlynes and vertue and woonderfull to all men but that his Disciples did him wrong to call him God séeing that neither he nor his Apostles had euer affirmed him so to be But let those that dout hereof reade S. Iohn and they shall find in dyuers places that no man hath told vs more playnly that Iesus was God than Iesus himself God say I the euerlasting sonne of God sent downe from Heauen equall with the father and all one with the father Their so saying was to auoyd the force of this argument of ours when we say he could not do such things but from GOD therefore he was not an enemy to God But he had euidently bin so if he had conueyed Gods glorie to himself and called himself God not being so in déeed Therefore it followeth that séeing he himself said he was God he is so in déede and that our worshipping of him is a worshipping of the very true God Herevpon it is that the Philosopher Longinian in an epistle of his to S. Austin sayeth that he could not wel tel what to déeme of Iesus And asfor Plotine he impugneth not so much the Christians as the Gnostiks and Manichies And Porphyrius who fell away from Christ bycause hee had bin reproued by the Churche sayeth thus It is a greate matter that the Godds themselues should witnesse with Iesus that he was a man of singular godlgnes and that for the same hee is rewarded with blessed immortalitie But in this the Christians ouershoore themselues that they call him God And Apollo being asked of one how hée myght withâ—rawe his wife from Christianiâ—te answered Thou mayst sooner fly in the ayre or wayte in water than drawe her away from that So strong was Christ in conuerting men too him to haue nothing but aduersitie in this lyfe and so far to weake were the Deuils to turne them away from him though they promised them all maner of good And here wee may not forget a subtile tricke of the Deuill worthie to bee noted in many of his Oracles alledged by Porphyrius For commonly in the wynding vp of them he euer commended the Iewes as worshippers of the only GOD and for that they continued deadly enemies to Iesus Christ against whose Godhead they made what resistance they could howbeit altogether in vayne As touching the Turkes Mahomet sayth That Gods spirit was a helpe and a witnesse to Iesus the Sonne of Marie That the Soule of God was giuen vnto him That he is the messenger the Spirit and the word of GOD That his doctrine is perfect That it inlighteneth the old Testament and that he came to confirme the same But that he should be God and specially the sonne of God that he denyeth and yet it is not possible that he should be either the Spirit or the Word of God but he must also bee God considering that in God there cannot be any thing imagined to be which is not GOD himselfe and that in the same doctrine which Mahomet himselfe doth so greatly allowe our Lord Iesus affirmeth himselfe to be God and the Sonne of God But let vs heare further of the Obiections which the Infidelles make why they should not receiue Christ for God What so great thing sayth Iulian hath your Iesus done that hee may bee compared with Socrates Lycurgus or Alexander Nay surely may we say and vpon better ground what haue they all three done and put them together that is comparable to the doings of an Apostle of Iesus Socrates sayth Iulian was an Innocent but yet an ydolater A teacher and patterne of Morall vertue but yet as his owne Porphyrie reporteth leacherous and a louer of women and so cholericke in his anger that he spared not to say any thing were it neuer so wrong Yet dyed he for the trueth of the onely God but he had serued false Gods al his life long and euen at his death he made vowes still vnto them And let not Iulian boast here that his doctrine continued after his death For the Athenians acquitted him and honored him anon after whereas open warre was mainteined against the Apostles their doctrine by the space of thrée hundred yéeres together And yet in as great reputation as Socrates was after his death his Disciple Plato durst scarce be so bold as to speake against the Gods Such therefore were their examples of good behauiour as these be One Cymon was an honest man but yet giuen to Incest Aristides was an vncorrupt man but â— robber of the common treasure and ambicious The Catoes were reformers of disorders in youths but yet adulterers and murtherers themselues But as for Iesus and his Apostles what enemie of theirs was euer so past shame as to carpe their conuersation And if the forerehearsed men were so farre of from common honestie euen by the record of them that had them in chiefe estimation how much further of were they from being Gods yea or from resembling them In Lycurgus to Iulians seeming there was some singularitie The people were so rude and headstrong that they put out one of his eyes as he