sharpe colde that commeth from it as it were with a certaine whip kéepeth in the good iuice in the grafts and séedes to the intēt it breake not forthe out of season but lie hidden secretely in the rootes vntill the beginning of the primetide do approche Consider besides this the great number and the varietie of the birdes in the aire of whom we receaue so great pleasure that it well appeareth Gods prouidence wold not only supply our nede but also minister vnto vs things delectable I let passe to speake of the fire wherof as we féele no smal cōfort when we are pinched with the roughnesse of the winter so also it auaileth vs so many sundry other wayes that at no time of the yeare we can misse it without manifest daunger of our health Yea the earth it selfe being but a heauy grosse matter yet so commodious it is by al meanes both for man and beast y surely it is wonder to cōsider it which receiueth vs into the world as we come out of our mothers wombes and when we are once borne brought forth yéeldeth vs sustenance alwayes after till at the last when all the world besides hath forsaken vs it receaue vs tenderly into hir bosome like a mother to couer vs to kéepe vs safe from the iniurie and violence both of foule and beast Hereof especially it is worth the labor to consider the maner constitution For it is neither all euen ground nor yet all raised vp aloft but with maruellous cūning partly it is made plain and smooth and partly it is deuided into hilles and dales Therfore being brought into such a forme that both the fluds in the winter season ouerflowing the gréene pastures might haue passage and the laborer that trauaileth by the way might enter the more cōmodiously through the narow straights It were a long labour and the same in such store of other matter perchaunce not so néedefull to be tolde what Colepittes of fewell quarries of stone mines of golde siluer yron leade and other metals are digged out of the vaynes of the earth Whereby we sée not onely many necessaries suffised but goodly and sumptuous houses erected precious iewels costely plate very curiously and queintly forged And not onely these benefites afore named we scrape and gather out of the earth but therewithall pondes brookes welles riuers all salte and freshe waters all the mightie and mayne Seas doo issue and spring out of the same So that with great plentie of sauage and tame beastes wandring in the woddes and the wilde forestes we haue all kinds of fishes that our hearts could wishe Be not these great signes and tokens of a God that is carefull and tender ouer vs What and if I put to this the great vse that we haue of the water it selfe about our meates in our drinks in washings in bathings in purgings in many other things which I let passe But this in any wise must not be skipped with silence which Seneca speaketh of in the fifth booke of his naturall questions that to thintent these large and huge seas should not hinder any traffike betwixte man and man God hath giuen vs windes to helpe forwarde oure ships and sayles that euery countreyes commodities might be made common At these wonders therfore aboue specified and other moe that came to his remembraunce the prophet Dauid maruelously astonished cryeth out with great exclamation VVhat is man that thou art so mindfull of him or the sonne of man that thou so visitest him Thou haste made him little lovver than the Angels vvith glory and honour thou haste crouned him and thou hast made him to haue the dominion ouer the workes of thyne hands Thou haste put all things in subiection vnder his feete all beasts and Oxen yea and the sheepe of the field the foules of the ayre and the fishes of the sea and vvhat so euer vvalketh throughe the pathes of the Sea. O Lorde oure gouernour hovve excellente is thy name in all the vvorlde Hitherto goeth the Prophete Who first as you haue heard with great vehemencie demaūdeth repeting his question more than once of what excellencie man is or of what worthinesse the sonne of man shoulde be estéemed that God should make so muche of him or so highly and souerainely aduaunce him Wherin is diligently to be obserued the varietie shifte of wordes that the Prophet vseth VVhat is man sayth he vvhat is the sonne of man as who sayth neyther God nor Aungell but a man and the sonne of a man that is a méere mortall and sinnefull creature subiecte to vanitie and corruption And yet as though he were thine owne derling so thou makest of him béeing clothed in déede with the lothesome vesture of the fleshe but yet in the same not muche inferior to the blessed spirites sonne of Adam by deprauation of nature but thy sonne thy deare sonne by acceptation of grace image of Sathan by frowarde and péeuishe disposition but thine owne image and resemblance by his first creation Yea with so great glory and honor thou haste set him vp that as thou reignest and rulest inuisibly in the heauens so nexte and immediatly vnder thée thou haste giuen him visibly a dominion soueraintie in the earth So that there is no beast be it Oxe or shéepe or any other that can withdrawe it selfe from the subiection of man No birdes of the ayre nor fishes of the sea that can priuiledge them selues from his bondage Therefore muste I say it and say it agayne sayth the Prophete Dauid O Lorde O gracious Lorde thou that so honorably prouidest for vs so fauorably doest shielde vs so mercifully doest protecte vs O howe highe art thou magnified not in heauen onely where is the seate of thy habitation but euen thoroughout the whole earth Where the straunge woorkes of thine handes appeare so muche the more glorious as the matier that they are framed of is the more brittle The. vij Chapter He sheweth Gods Prouidence by perusing the Anatomie of mans body MVche it is out of questiō the this propheticall prince hath spoken but yet me thinketh forasmuche as wée entreate of Gods Prouidence it shoulde bothe be very incident to our purpose and also make the whole matier that he hath thus noted vnto vs the more playn if we should here vpon occasion offred notifie with asmuch breuitie as we can the making constitution and the whole nature of a man Which examination of ours béeing finished we shall haue afterwards the better oportunitie to discourse more largely of his preeminence An harde matier perchaunce it might be thought for a man not yet entred in the arte of Phisike to runne throughe as it were the Anatomie of ā mans body But nathelesse so ferfoorth as I shall thinke it requised I am the rather encoraged to take it in hande that I mighte fellow that yoldē precept which biddeth a man know him selfe so much made of as Plinie saith in times past that it
to the state of their owne nature Touching Gods administration of thinges in heauen I thinke no man will resist me in that poynt onely Epicure excepted Whose grosse fantasie is suche that he wéeneth God doth nothing else but walke vp and downe in heauen and take his pastime But for the aunswering of his vayne conceates that which hath bene sayde already mighte suffise That which foloweth hath more controuersie when I ascribe also to God a continuall gouernement of all thinges without exception whatsoeuer it be that is vnder heauen For the chiefe capitaine and ringleader of all the Peripetickes in his treatise concerning good Fortune would proue by two argumentes at the least that thinges casuall and suche as séeme to come by happe be exempted vtterly from Gods gouernement And one of his reasons is the prosperitie of the wicked of whom that God should haue any care he sayth it is an vnlikely mattier His other profe is that if God medled with these mattiers of Fortune so it pleaseth him to call the temporal commodities of this world he would rathest sende them good lucke which were men of wisedome and discretion wheras contrarywise we sée for the most parte that the veriest asses and doltes haue the best fortune Nay he is so far off from condiscending to vs that God should haue any thing to do in these variable accidentes that chaunce in the earth that as Laertius the wryter of his life sayth and S. Ambrose with other mo he restrayneth Gods Prouidence to the precinct of heauen A great aduersarie I ensure you in suche a cause and not altogither of me to be contemned But this yet toucheth me somewhat nigher that myne olde frende Tullie whome hitherto I haue counted so sure a carde should now deale with me so vnkindely in shrinking from me peraduenture when I haue moste néede For hauing tolde me so much before of Gods gouernment of the world yea and proued the matier too so substancially now commeth he me in vpon the sodayn I wot not how with his Magna dij curāt parua negligunt saying after his heathenish maner the Gods care for great matiers but these small trisles they will not looke to And in his oration made in the defense of Roscius Amerinus If the most gracious and mightie Iupiter sayth he by whose becke and arbitrement heauen and earth and the sea is gouerned oftentimes hath anoyed men with vehement winds or immoderat tēpests or excessiue heat or intolerable cold if he haue rased cities destroyed corne wherof me thinketh nothing is done by Gods counsell for any harme but by the extremitie great violēce that hath hapned wheras cōtrariwise the cōmodities which we vse the light which we enioy the breath which we draw is bestowed giuē to vs as we se by him what should we maruel at L. Sylla that when he onely gouerned the publike weale welded the rule of the whole world established with lawes the maiesty of the Empire which by his dedes of armes by his chiualry he had so wel recouered he could not to al things haue a careful eye Onlesse this be taken for a maruel that mans wit and pollicy could not compasse that which God with al his power could not atchieue But what maruell we at Tullie béeing a starke miscreant and a Paynim séeing amongest vs also that be Christians there want not patrons of this learning Surely a certayne graue father writing vpon the first chapter of Habacuk touching these little séely creatures as flyes gnattes wormes and such like teacheth that God dothe not take of them any seuerall or particular care but generally and superficially as it were looketh ouer them For these be his very wordes vppon the same place of Habacuk which I haue noted Lyke as amongest men Gods Prouidence runneth through euery seueral person so amongst other liuing creatures we can conceaue in deede a generall disposition an order and a course of the worlde as for example howe a great meanie of fishes breede and liue in the water how creeping and foure footed beastes multiplie in the earth and with what foode they be nourished But it is a fond toy to bring Gods Maiestie so lowe that he shoulde knowe how many gnattes come into the world and howe many go out what a number of fulsome wormes and of fleys and flees there be on the earth what great fishes there swimme in the water and which of the lesser sorte of them muste be deuoured of the greater Let vs not be suche foolishe flatterers of God that whyles we would make his power to goe downe to these base things we shoulde doo iniurie to oure selues saying that ouer reasonable creatures and vnreasonable Gods prouident care is all alyke Hytherto this wryter But bothe he and the reste of them mighte be soone answered For first as for Aristotle obiecting the prosperitie of these smoothe hypocrites of the worlde and the aduersitie of godly wise men albeit that mighte well inoughe suffise whiche I haue written in my former booke yet this furthermore shall be added oute of Austine De cinitate These goods and euilles which be temporall God woulde haue common both to the good and the euill to this ende and purpose that neither these goods as they are called should be coueted ouer greedily which euill menne also are seene to haue nor these euils of aduersitie should with shame and dishonour be eschewed wherewith good men also many tymes are touched Salomon sayde wisely in the firste chapiter of his Prouerbes when fooles haue prosperitie it is their vndoing What get they then I pray you by the worlds fauning vpon them On the other side sayth the Prophete with all the godly afflicted It is good for me Lorde that thou haste broughte me lowe to the intent I might learne thy statutes What harme then dothe the guiltlesse susteine that can beare Gods fatherly correction But that which Aristotle neuer knew no maruell though he neuer rightly wayed Surely if the calmnesse of this deceuable prosperitie should alwayes laugh vpon vs in this worlde neuer would mans soule desire as full well sayth S. Austine to the widdowe Proba the hauen of true and assured safetie Therefore when Aristotle hath euen vttered to vs all his phantasie let vs yet which be Christians say wyth the Prophete whome we knowe was the instrument of the holy Ghost that the very rod and staffe of Gods chastisement is our comfort Tullie though he be likewise an heathen man yet as meséemeth hath a godlyer meaning in some respecte For supposing that all goodnesse dothe proceede from God whom prophanely he nameth Iupiter yet the hurte that is done by wyndes and tempestes or by any other wayes and meanes commeth not as he thinketh from the spring and fountayne of Gods counsayle but I wotte not of what blinde sway of the worlde The like errour is mayntayned of a kinde of Heretikes whiche be called Coluthiani
vaynes and other secrete partes I passe ouer likewise the fiue senses the comely and necessarie vse of the haire with other suche lyke thinges The more curious handling whereof to them chiefly appertayneth whiche professe suche learning and kinde of knowledge For deare brother I will appeale to thine owne conscience Howe thinkest thou Dothe not thys that I haue touched already sufficiently sette oute vnto thée that cleare lyghte that shyneth of hys owne accorde Who can wander in darkenesse that hathe suche torches in the firmament to giue hym lyghte Who can pretende ignoraunce that hathe hys Scholemaister teaching him in his bosome Who so dull and blockishe of vnderstanding that can not learne so sensible and plaine a lesson looking neuer besides his booke Onlesse wée be growen to suche a desperatenesse that wée wyll wylfully beréeue our selues of both our eyes Howe can wée not perceaue and sée that which so dayly and hourely is before oure face Before oure face quod I nay I pray you howe can wée looke besides it for if thou caste vppe thy face towardes the skie the heauens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handie workes If thou looke downe vppon the earthe the very earthe it selfe is full of the Lordes goodnesse wherein thou haste so many argumentes of his Prouidence as there bée beastes in the fieldes or the wylde forestes fishes in the maine Sea â—trées hearbes flowres growing vppon the soyle if thou turne thée on the rightâ— hande or on the lefte the wynde blowing in thy face the ayre besettyng thée rounde about will caste thée in the téeth wyth Gods benefites and very heynously charge thée if thou fynde faulte Lactantius telleth vs of one Archimedes a Sicilian who with a globe of brasse which he deuysed coulde so counterfeite the making of the whole world that he resembled the rising and setting of the Sunne the waning and waxing of the Moone the mouing and remouing of the Starres and Planets in suche order as they go forward and turne in the very heauens The lyke Tullie wryteth of Posidonius his familiar friende And Patricius speaketh of a Doue that was so frained by Architas Tarentinus and according to the arte of Geometrie so cunningly measured by due proportions that the tempered ayre that was shutte into it forced it to flye Certaynely these were straunge deuises whereof no man coulde doubte that sawe them but that by great sleight and conueyaunce they were brought to passe What then mighte wée conclude of him that with a worde made heauen and all the earthe Whose power and wisedome in inuenting if we must néedes bée driuen to confesse to bée vtterly vnsearchable and paste finding out shoulde wée then mistruste hys goodnesse in protecting that sée the mightie hande of his Maiestie so playnly before vs in creating The .viij. Chapter Epicures cauilling at the vvorkemanshippe of mannes body is confuted BVt abide you whyles we stande thus reasoning of the matier was there neuer any Momus in a corner y could espye an hole to creepe oute at Yea as sayth the sect of Epicures there be too too many things out of square Goe to then let them tell vs hardely what they be O say they there is no order and many things come to passe otherwise than they should Wherein Man whom you so aduaunce is borne vtterly so weake and féeble that he hath no shifte in the world to helpe himselfe The brute beastes are armed euery one with a certayne naturall defence the buls with their hornes the Beares with their téeth the Lyons with tearing and deuouring the beast called Bonasus with his dongue casting the Cuttle fishe with an incke that he flinges about him some with flying other with hiding of them selues all one way or other can safegarde themselues But man coÌ„meth naked into the world in daunger of fire and water impotente bothe of hande foote so tender of body that in cold weather he is benummed with cold in sommer he is parched with heate néedle and sickely subiecte to all casualities that may happen griped eftsoones at the harte with inwarde gréefes of the minde passions pangs and perturbations which other liuing creatures be frée from With these and other the like words these Epicures dilate mannes misery affirming that nature to mankinde is a stepdame rather than any mother Not vntruely in déede altogether if the marke they shot at were not open blasphemie against God but their conclusion vtterly is to be detested For what if God haue not geuen a maÌ„ great clawes and talantes nor couered him with an héerie skinne like a beare which as they were nothing séemely for so gentle and milde a creature so neither were they commodious for mannes vse For howe shoulde he scale a wall or climbe vppe a ladder when he attempteth the building of an house or set sure foote when he goeth vpon brick or hard stones if he were pawed and talanted like a Lyon Man therefore being amiable louely of his shape hath not in déede any such thing but what then he hath that which by all meanes is farre better I meane reason and vnderstanding by the which we haue affinitie with God himselfe Man hathe no scales lyke a Dragon wherby he may beare off a cruel blowe But he hath arte and pollycie lodged in his tender brayne whereby hée was not onely able to inuent complet harnis for hys bodie but all engynnes and instrumentes of warfare yea not onely al engins and instrumentes of warfare but whatsoeuer else you coulde imagine eyther profitable or pleasaunt for mankynde Man is not so strong of coÌ„stitucion nor so well fensed by nature agaynst heate and colde as bée shéepe Oxen and other beastes But their wooll and skinnes be at his commaundement wherewith hée maye be clothed from top to toe For this purpose of all other creatures God hathe onely gyuen man handes to the intente he might put in execution that whyche reason willeth too bée done With them therefore hée maye make himselfe not onely all kinde of apparell but he maye tyll and sowe the grounde hée maye graffe trées and plant Vyneyardes wyth them he maye mowe the grasse and reape the corne inne it thresh it grynde it bake it and make breade of it With them hée may make conserues siropes preseruatiues and all manner of confections Wyth them hée maye write bookes and letters into farre countries and put in vre and practise all Sciences Whereof the huge numbre the greate skyll the subtyle inuention the moste profitable and holesome vse too nought else but the gifte of reason can iustly and truely bée ascribed The power whereof is so great that there is no Serpent so venemous no Lyon so fearce no Elephante so strong no birde so swifte no dumbe beaste so furious eyther by Sea or lande whyche by mannes industrie and wisedome cannot lyghtely and easely be brought vnder So true is that saying before rehearsed out of the Psalmes Thou hast made him to haue
himselfe but bothe he put in Christe and not himselfe and also he sayd we haue and not ye haue He chose rather put himself amongst the numbre of sinners that he mighte haue Christe his aduocate than put in selfe in the stede of Christe be found amongst the proude that shall be damned Brethren we haue Iesus Christe the righteous his owne selfe an aduocate with the father and he it is that is the meane to obtain pardon for our sinnes He that hath helde this hathe committed no heresie he that hathe helde this hathe made no schisme Thus farre Austine The .ix. Chapiter The profit that is to be taken by Gods Prouidence as also by all other things standeth in the due vse and application WE haue nowe almoste satisfied oure promise whiche we made in the beginniug of this discourse not only hauing proued Goddes Prouidence by diuers and sundry arguments but also hauing answered their obiectioÌ„s that barke and bite at the same doctrine not only hauing declared at large what Gods Prouidence is but so farreforthe as Gods word would beare hauing disclosed also the very maner of Gods gouernement Nowe onely this remayneth behind without the which all that euer we haue sayde hitherto is as nothing which is that we gather of the wholsome fruites that are sowen in this fruitefull garden that we reape the corne that groweth in these pleasant fieldes that we enioy the commoditie of this orcharde wherein we may safely without daunger onely the apple of curiositie set aparte taste of all the trées and graffes that we coulde desire I say that we apply this that is taught generally concerning the Prouidence of almighty God to our singulare and especiall comforte But howe then shall that be brought to passe Epictetus the Phildsopher sayd very wel that euery thing hath his handle or stouke to hold by which if we take in our hande the righte way then can it not otherwise be choseâ—â— but that rightely we may vse it to our commoditie Else surely the triall of our owne experience doth instructe and teache vs the flat contrarie to witte that nothing is more damageable or noysome Whereof euen in those thinges that be moste vsuall we sée dayly the examples before oure fate What more profitable than the water which we vse in bathing séething washing in nourishing of our bodies in carrying ouer both our selues and oure wares beyonde the seas with many other commodities which it bringeth besides Neuerthelesse if we vse it in our shoes or bootes or bathe our selues in it out of time or drinke of it immoderately without reason or fall into it desperatly ouer both the eares or washe with it when it is scalding hoate we shall truely finde by it so little ease that we shall not fayle to repente vs of our medling What more necessarie than the fire which in colde giueth heate in darknesse lighte of all cookes smithes and coliers c. a very néedefull and conuenient instrument Yet Satyrus as it is in Plutarche the first tyme that he sawe fire when he would haue taken it and kissed it Let be quod Prometheus thou roughe knaue if thou take not héede it will make thy lippes smarte For as it warmeth béeing well vsed so béeing disvsed it burneth and as it nourisheth and comforteth with his temperate heaie him that comming out of the cold slandeth not to nighe so him that will stande in the middest of it it consumeth That which I say of fire and water the same may I say eyther of Gods iustice or his mercy the same may I also wryte at this tyme of Gods Prouidence Wherein if we wyll raunge at libertie without bridle and not stay oure selues within that compasse that is limitted and assigned by God what doo we but to oure owne confusion buylde Babylon newe agayne But if moderating our sensuall appetites we be contente to heare no longer than God speaketh and renouncing our fleshly iudgements we can willingly giue place to fayth then lo that spirituall solace that no tongue or penne can well expresse streyght wayes ariseth in our hearts The .x. Chapter The comforte which we receiue by Gods Prouidence FOr if thou stande in daunger of thine enimies as it is harde for any man liuing to be without a foe caste not downe thy courage for al that nor be thou therewith dismayde For he that gaue the Israelites fauour in the sighte of the Egyptians either will stirre vp the godly in thy defense yea suche peraduenture as thou neuer yet knewest who of a Christian zele will disdayne at the malice of thy foes or else so alter their affections and turne their heartes that he thine aduersaries that forgetting all rancour of il will they will shake hands with thée againe and become thy frends At least wise if the heate of their hote passions will not be cooled yet is he able to deliuer thée diuerse wayes out of all of thy hunters snares either casting a myste as it were before their eyes that séeing thée they shall not be able to sée or else pulling away their myndes so sharpely whette to do vengeaunce by some other incident occasions or bringing them backe perforce from their cruell croked intentes with his hooke fastened in their nostrelles and his bridle in their lippes or finally working other straunge wayes that shoulde vtterly bée out of the compasse of mans wit. The example whereof both we sée in others a great meynie and very notably in the good byshop Athanasius Whose death when it was once conspired by Constantinus the Emperoure sonne to Constantine the great who was bewitched with the Heresie of Arrius he committed the execution of this hainous and bloudie fact to one Sebastian the marshal of his armie Who afterwards when he besieged the temple wherin Athanasius was at his prayers and was nowe presently in a readynesse to murther this man of God he escaped maruellously out of his handes For the Lorde guiding his passage he went foorth through the middest of this capitaynes bande and yet to no body was knowen Achab in his leude enterprise béeing sette on by false Prophets who beeing seduced them selues by lying spirites sent from God for their punishment seduced Achab him selfe was slayne in the fielde béeing striken betwéene the ioyntes of his brigandine Achitophels counsayle agaynst the annoynted king Dauid before it coulde vtterly take place came to nought The trayterous rebellion of Arbogastus Francus and Eugenius agaynst their worthy Emperour Theodosius Augustus was confounded by God him selfe that séemed to fighte agaynst them from heauen For whyles they were excéeding fierce in their outragious furie wéening to haue preuayled by mayne force suche a myghtie wynde and tempeste was sodaynely raysed in their faces that their eyes béeing almoste putte out with the smoke of the duste that was stirred vp and their weapons violently driuen backe they were fayne to recule backwardes and to flye Surely that which God did then the like