Concerning the Truth of Christian Religion, Chapter 3
The third Chapter.
That the Wisdome of the world hath acknowledged one onelyonly God.
SOme man will say vntounto mée, if in the worlde, if in the things conteyned in the worlde, if in man himselfe, it bee so liuely painted out that there is but only one God; whereof then commeth the multitude of Gods among men, yea and among those whome the worlde counted wysest? I will not proue héere that all those Gods were either dead men or Diuels: for that shalbe handled more materially in another place. But it shall suffice for this present, to shewe the vniuersalitie of consent in this point, and that euen those which through custome did celebrate the pluralitie of Gods, did yet notwithstanding beléeue that there is but onelyonly one true God: Which thing I will first maynteyne by the wyse men which liued from age to age. Mercurius Trismegistus, who (if the bookes which are fathered vppon him bee his in déede, as in trueth they bee very auncient) is the founder of them all, teacheth euerywhere, That there is but one GOD: That one is the roote of all things, and that without that one, nothing hath bene of all things that are: That the same one is called the onelyonly good and the goodnesse it selfe, which hath vniuersall power of creating all things: That it is vnpossible that there should bee many makers: That in Heauen he hath planted immortalitie, in earth, interchaunge, and vniuersally, lyfe and mouing: That vntounto him alone belongeth the name of Father and of Good; and that without blasphemie those titles cannot be attributed either to Angels, to Féends, or to men, or to any of al those whom men do cal Gods as in respect of honor and not of nature. He calleth him father of the world, the Creator, the Beginning, the Glorie, the Nature, the Ende, the Necessitie, the Renewer of all things, the worker of all powers, and the power of all works, the onelyonly holy, the onelyonly vnbegotten, the onelyonly euerlasting, the Lord of euerlastingnesse, and the euerlastingnesse it selfe; the onelyonly one, and by whome there is but onelyonly one worlde; alone, and himselfe alonly all; namelesse, and more excellent than al names. Unto him alone will he hauehave vsus to offer vp our prayers, our Prayses, and our Sacrifices, and neuer to call vponupon any other than him.
I would faine knowe whether it bee possible for vsus to say any thing, either more, or better for the setting forth of the sayd vnitie? In déede in some places hee speaketh of Gods in the plurall nomber, as when he calleth the world a God, and the Heauen with the Planets which rule the Heauen, Gods: but that is after the same maner which he sometymes calleth man himselfe a God, notwithstanding that noman can doubt of his birth and death, which are things cleane contrarie to the true Godhead.Mercurins Trismegistus, in his Poemander. Chap. 3. 8. 10. 11. 12. And in his Asclepius. Chap. 2. 6. 8. 9. The Starres (saith he, speaking of the Creation) were nombred according to the Gods that dwell in them. And in an other place he saith, There are two sorts of Gods, the one wandring, and the other fixed. But in the tymes going before, he had sayd that God is the beginner of them, That he made them, That he is the Father and onelyonly good, vntounto whom nothing is to bee compared, either of the things beneath, or the things aboue. Also he saith further, That the world is a second God, and a sensible God: and that Man is a third God, by reason of the immortall Soule which is in him: but yet he calleth them Children, Impes and Creatures of the onelyonly one God, and most commonly Shadowes and Images of him; neither is it his meaning to attribute so much vntounto them, as only one sparke of goodnes, or power to make the least thing that is. To be short, hée setteth downe some Gods as principall, some as meane, and other some as vndergouernours: But the conclusion of his matter is, that the souereine dominion belongeth to God the souereine Lord of them all, vponupon whom alonly they depend, and from whom they proceede, who alonly is called Father and Lorde, and whatsoeuer holyer name can be giuen, who made both men and Gods, yea and men (sayth he) much better and more excellent then all the Gods. And as at the beginning of his worke he had prayed vntounto him alone; so thanketh and praiseth he him alone in the ende: which thing I thought good to set out at length, because many Philosophers hauehave drawne their skill and knowledge out of his fountayne.
Pythagoras speaketh of God in these termes:Alledged by Cicero, Plutarke, Clemens of Alexandria, and Cyrillus. God is but one; not as some thinke, without gouernment of the world, but all in all. He is the orderer of all Ages, the light of all powres, the Originall of al things, the Cresset of Heauē, the Father, Mynd, Quickener, and Mouer of all. Moreouer, he calleth him The infinite power from whence al other powers flowe; which cannot be verified but of him alone. Philolaus Philo the Iew: and Iamblichus of the Sect of Pythagoras.a disciple of his sayth, That there is but onelyonly one God, the Prince and Guyder of all things, who is alwaies singular, vnmouable, like himselfe, and vnlike all other things. Also Architas sayth, that he estéemeth no man wife, but him which reduceth all things vntounto one selfsame Originall, that is to wit, vntounto God, who is the beginning, end, and middle of all things. And Hierocles Hierocles against the Atheists.one of the same Sect, sayth, that the same is he whom they call by the name of Zena and Dia, the Father and maker of all things, because all things hauehave their life and being of him. Uerely (by the report of Eudorus as he is alledged by Simplicius Simplicius in his Phis.) they called him the founder of matter. And had we the hookes of Numenius, Numenius concerning the Good.we perceiue well by the things which we reade & hére there, that we should finde them manifest and plaine. Now, all these had this doctrine both from Nature and from the Schoole of Pherecydes the Syrian the Maister of Pythagoras, vntounto whom Aristotle Arist. 14. Metaph. Cap. 4.attributeth it in his Metaphisicks. Empedocles the successor of Pythagoras, celebrated none other but this onelyonly one, as appeareth by these Uerses of his.Aristo le alledgeth them in his first Philosophy and in his booke of the World.
All things that are, or euer were, or shall hereafter bee,
Both man & woman, Beast and Bird, Fish, Worme, Herb, Grasse, & Tree,
And eueryevery other thing, yea euen the auncient Gods each one
Whom wee so highly honor heere, come all of one alone.
Parmenides and Melissus taught the same;Aristo. 1. Phis: cap. 10. lib. 3. Simplie. lib. 1. Phis. and so did their Schoolemaister Xenophanes the Colophonian, as we bee credibly informed by the Uerses of Parmenides rehearsed by Simplicius; in the which Uerses hee calleth him the Vnbegotten, the whole, the only one, not which hath bin or shalbe, but which euerlastingly is all together and all of himselfe. To be short, of the like opinion were Thales, Anaxagoras, Timeus of Locres, Acmon, Euclide, Archoeuetus, and others of the auncientest Philosopher. And Aristotle witnesseth in many places, that it was the common Doctrine of the men of olde tyme; The which Zeno hild so streightly, that to deny the Unitie of God, and to deny the Godhead it selfe, he thought to bée all one. And the cause of so saying among the auncient Philosophers, was not their only reading therof in the writings of some that went afore them, (as we might doe now); but also their reading thereof both in the World and in themselues. But let vsus come to the chiefe Sects of the Philosophers.
Socrates the Schoolemaister of Plato, Academicks.confessed only one God, and (as Aulus Gellius and Apuleius report) was condemned to drinke Poyson, for teaching that the Gods which were worshipped in his tyme were but vanitie: And for that in scorne of them he was wont to sweare by an Oke, by a Goate, and by a Dogge; as who would say there was no more Godhead in the one than in the other. Yet notwithstanding, he was the man whom Apollo by his Oracle déemed to bee the wisest of all Greece; thereby confessing that he himselfe was no God. His Disciple Plato deliuereth a rule in fewe words,Plato in his 13. Epistle to King Denis. whereby to discerne his meaning. When I write in good earnest (sayth he) you shall knowe it hereby, that I begin my letters with onelyonly one God: and when I write otherwise, I begin them with many Gods. Uerely his ordinarie maner of spéeches were not, If it please the Gods, with the helpe of the Gods, and such like: but if it please God, by the helpe and guyding of God, God knoweth it, Such a man is the cause thereof next vntounto God, and such other like. Whereas he affirmeth al other things not to bee in very déede: He calleth God, the Father of the whole World, the Béer, that is to say, he who only is or hath béeing; the selfbred, who also made ye Heauen, the Earth, the Sunne, the Moone, the tymes and seasons, and all other things both heauenly and earthly, high and lowe, and whatsoeuer els is. In other places he calleth him the Beginning, the Middle, and the End; by whom, for whom, and about whom all things are;Plato in Timoeus, in his 10. booke of his Commonweale, and in his Epistle to Dion, Hermias, and Coricus. foreign. the Gouerner of all that euer is and shall be; the very Goodnesse, and the Paterne of all goodnesse; the King of all wighte indewed with reason and mynd; of whom all things hauehave their Béeing, and which is of more excellencie then the word Béeing. And the names and titles which he giueth vntounto the true God, are commonly giuen him vnderunder the name of Iupiter, and he thinketh that they be not to be communicated vntounto any other. In déede sometymes he suffereth himselfe to be caried away to the cōmon maner of speaking, perhaps for feare of the like end that his Schoolemaister had, & he doth it expressely in his booke of Lawes,Plato in his booke of Lawes, and in his booke intyled Epinomis. which was to bee published to the people. For there and in diuers other places, he calleth the heauenly*We call them Angelles. Spirites by the name of Gods: but yet he maketh God speaking to them as to his Creatures; naming them Gods begotten and made by him; and him on the contrary part the Father & God of Gods. Also he honoreth Heauen with the same name, because of the substantialnes thereof: and likewise the Starres, by reason of the perpetuitie of their course: And it may be yt in that respect the Greekes called them*Of the word Thein, which signifieth to Runne. foreign, Gods. Howheit, he addeth that they bee visible Gods, and that the Heauen was made by [the only one inuisible] God, That it hath none other immortalitie, than such as he hath giuen vntounto it, and that he hath placed the Starres in the Skye for the measuring of tymes, seasons and howres, appoynting vntounto eueryevery of them his Circuit.Plato in his Timoeus and Laertius in Platoes life. As touching mē, he sheweth wel enough what he beléeued of them, by his declaring of their Genealogie: that is to say, their mortalitie; to wit, that he acknowledged in thē some shadow of the Godhead, but that the very essence or substance thereof was in the onelyonly true God.
All the Platomists hauehave followed the sayd doctrine, bringing it so much the more to light, as they themselues hauehave drawne néerer to our tyme. Damascius sayth;Damascius. foreign. The one bringeth foorth all things; The one ought to be honored by silence: The one (like the Sunne) is seene dimly a farre of, and the neerer the more dimly, and hard at hand taketh away the sight of all things. Iamblichus surnamed the Diuine,Iamblichus in his booke of the Sect of Pythagoras. acknowledged eueryevery where a diuine cause, which is the beginning, end, and middle of all things: That there is one God the maister of all, at whose hand welfare is to be sought: That the end of all Contemplation is to ame at one, and to withdrawe from multitude vntounto vnitie: And that the same one or vnitie is God, the Ground and of all trueth, happinesse, and substaunce, yea and of all other Grounds themselues. He sayth in déede, (and his bookes are so full of it) That there are both Goddes and Fée…des; and of them he maketh diuers degrées, as, good and bad,Iamblichus in his booke of Mysteries. Chap 1. 3. 5. 12. 16. 17. 39. high and lowe, and so foorth. But yet for all that, he alwaies acknowledgeth one chiefe, whom he calleth the onelyonly one God, which hath vin afore all that is, and is the Fountaine and Roote of all that first vnderstandeth or is first vnderstoode, that is to say of all formes, shapes or Patternes [conceiued or conceiuable in mynd or imagination,] Suffizing to himselfe and Father of himselfe; the begetter of the Soules of the other Gods, according to the Patternes conceiued in his owne mynd; who is not only the chiefe Being, but also the superessentiall Beeing, [that is to say, a Béeing which farre surmounteth,foreign. passeth, and excelleth all Béeings:] nor simply Good, but the very Good and Goodnesse it selfe: Insomuch that he calleth all the other Goddes Seuered essences,foreign. Goodnesses deriued, and Myndes sparkling foorth from the Godhead of the Supersubstantial God, [that is to say, of the God whose substance surpasseth and excelleth all maner of substances:] which Gods vnderstand not any thing but by beholding the sayd One, nor are any better than dealers foorth of certaine giftes which they hauehave from him. And Theodore the Platomist addeth, that all of them pray carnestly ot the first, and drawe from him which is of himselfe; and that otherwise they should goe to nought.
Proclus, Proclusin Platos Diuinitie.(after the maner of the Platomists, which was for the most part to be very Superstitious) turneth himselfe ofttymes aside to many Gods: but yet his resolutiō is this in expresse words. Who is he (sayth he) that is King of all, the onelyonly God separated from all, and the producer of all things out of himselfe, which turneth all ends vntounto himselfe, and is the end of ends, the first cause of operatiōs, foreign.the author of all that euer is good and beautifull, the inlightener of all things with his light? If thou beleeue Plato, he can neither be vttered nor vnderstood. And anon after, Then is it this first simplicitie which is the King; foreign.the Souereintie and Superexcellencie of all things, vncomprehensible, not to bee matched with any other thing, vniforme, going beyond al causes, the Creator of the substance of the Gods which hath some forme of goodnesse. All things goe after him and sticke vntounto him: for he produceth and perfecteth al things that are subiect to vnderstanding, like as the Sunne doth to al things that are subiect to sence. To be short, it is the vnutterable cause which Plato teacheth vsus vnderunder two names in his Commonweale, calling it the very Goodnesse it selfe, and the fountayne of trueth, which vniteth the vnderstanding to the things that are vnderstood. foreignAnd in his Parmenides, The One or Vnitie wherevpon all the diuine Vnities are grounded, and which is the Originall of all that is, and of all that as yet is not. In his booke of the Soule and of the Spirit,Proclus in his booke of the Soule and the Spirit cap. 32. 42. 53. he teacheth vsus the way to atteyne from many multitudes to this supersubstantiall Unitie, which hee calleth the Nature grounded in eteruitie, the life that liueth and quickeneth, the waking vnderstanding, the welspring of all welfare, the infinite both in continewance and in power, and yet notwithstanding without quantitie, and so foorth. Neuerthelesse, he attributeth much to Angelles and Féendes according to Art Magicke, which the Platomists did greatly affect in those daies: howbeit in such sort, as he continually followeth this rule of his so oft repeated in his bookes, That all things are from the true God who is hidden;Many Gods (sayth Proclus) is Godlesnesse. and that the second degrée of Gods, that is to say the Angelles and Féendes, are from the very selfsame: and (to bee short) that to beléeue any mo Gods than one, and to beléeue none at all, are both one thing.
Simplicius sayth: Simplicins yp… the Epictetus of Arrian.Whatsoeuer is beautifull, commeth of the first and chiefe beautie: All trueth commeth of Gods trueth: And all beginnings must needes bee reduced to one beginning; which must not bee a particular beginning as the rest are, but a beginning surpassing al other beginnings, & mounting farre aboue them, and gathering them all into himselfe, yea, and giuing the dignitie of beginning to all beginnings, accordingly as is conuenient for eueryevery of their natures. Also, The Good (sayth he) is the Welspring & Originall of al things.foreign It produceth all things of it selfe, both the first, the middlemost, and the last. The one Goodnesse, bringeth foorth many Goodnesses; The one Vnitie, many Vnities; The one Beginning, many Beginnings. Now, as for Vnitie, Beginning, Good, and God; they be all but one thing. For God is the first cause of all, & all particular Beginnings or Grounds, are fast settled and grounded in him. He is the Cause of Causes, the God of Gods, and the Goodnesse of Goodnesses.
Porphyrius Porphyrius in his z. booke of Abstinence, & in his booke of Occasions. chap. 21.acknowledged the one GOD, who alone is eueryevery where, and yet in no one place; who filleth al places, and yet is conteyned in no place; by whom all things are, both which are and which are not. This God doth he call the Father, which reigneth in all: & he teacheth vsus to sacrifize our Soules vntounto him in silence, and with chast thoughts. On the other side, he acknowledgeth the other Gods as his Creatures and Seruants, some visible, & some vnuisible: vntounto whom he alloweth a materiall seruice, farre differing from the seruice of the true God.
As touching Plotin Porphyrius in the life of Plotin.his Schoolemaister, surnamed the Diuine, whom the Oracle of Apollo (as is reported by Porphyrius himselfe) didregister in the number of the wise men of this world, and in the number of the Gods in the other world:Plotin in his first Enneade lib. 8. Chap. 2. Enneade 6. lib. 4. cap 1 2. 3. 4. & in the whole 6. booke, and in the 3. Enne: lib. 8. He that would alledge the things which he hath spoken diuinely concerning the vnitie of the one God, should be fayne to set downe his whole treatises vndiminished. The Summe is, That there is one Beginner of all things, who hath all thiugs and is all things and is all things, whose hauing of thē is as though he had them not, because his possessing of them is not as of things that were another mans; and his being them is as though he were them not, because he is neither all things, nor any thing among things, but the power of all things. That this Beginner dwelleth in himself, is sufficient of himself, & of himselfe bringeth foorth all maner of Essences, Soules, and siues, as being more than Essence, and all life. That by his Unitie he produceth multitude, which could be no multitude, vnlesse he abode One. As touching the vndergods, he sayth that they neither bée nor can bée happie of themselues, but onelyonly by the same meane that men can become happie; namely, by beholding the light of vnderstanding, which is GOD, through their parttaking whereof they abide in blessednesse. Yea, he affirmeth that the Soule of the whole world surmized by the Platomists, is not happie but by that meanes: namely, by beholding the light which created it, like as the Moone shineth not, but by the ouershining of the Sunne vponupon her. That was the very opinion of the Platonists as well old as newe co… cerning the onelyonly one God,Augustin: de Ciuitate Dei. lib. 10. cap. 2. notwithstanding that of all Philosophers they were most giuen to the seruing and seeking out of the bodilesse Spirites, whom we call Angels and Deuils, and whom they called Gods and Fée…ds.
Now let vsus come to the Peripatetickes, The Peripateecks.and begin at Aristotle Platoes Disciple, who notwithstanding was vnreligious in many places, in not yéelding vntounto God his due glorie, after the maner of these supersticious folke, who are ouerliberal in bestowing it vponupon others: aud yet euen in him shall we finde this selfsame trueth. Aristotle leadeth vsus by many mouings,Aristotle in his Metaphisiks, and in the first booke of his Naturall Philosophy. vntounto oue first mouer, whom he declareth to bee infinite, without beginning and without ende. From thence a man may step further: for that which is infinite can be but one, because (as I hauehave sayd afore) the infinitenesse of one restreyneth the power of all others. Afterward he defineth him to be Liuing, Inunortall, and Euerlasting. And againe. [he nameth him] he onelyonly possessor of wisedome, the Beginner of all Causes, and such like: None of all which things can bee attributed to any mo than onelyonly one.Aristotle in his booke of Heauen. Yet notwithstanding, he setteth certeyne Godheads in the Heauen, in the Starres, and in the Sunne & Moone; vntounto which Godheads he alsotteth the gouermnēt of those things, and termeth them heauenly Mynds, First substances, vnchaungeable and vnpassible, which (in his opinion) cannot wexe old, because they be aboue the first Mouable, & consequently aboue tyme. Yea, and Common custome, with the force of LoueLove caried him so farre, as to set vp Images vntounto Iuno and Iupiter, vnderunder the name of Sauiours, for the life of Nicanor, and to doe Sacrifize to a woman whom he loued, as the Athenians did vntounto Ceres. But yet in his Abridgement of Philosophie, which he dedicated in his olde age vntounto Alexander, his finall doctrine is this.Aristotle in his booke of the world, which Iustine the Martir affirmeth to hauehave bin named his Abridgemeut of Philosophy. foreign. This world (sayth he) wherein all things are orderly disposed, is mainteyned by God; & the highest thing that is in it, is that it is Gods dwelling place. No nature is sufficient of it selfe to indure, if it bee not assisted by his tuition. He is the Father of Gods & Men, the breeder and Mainteyner of all the things whereof this world is composed; and yet for all that, he entreth not into them, but his power and prouidence ouersitting them from aboue, atteyne vntounto all things, moue the Heauen the Sunne and the Moone, Preserue the things on earth, and make all and eueryevery thing to doe according to their nature. He likeneth him to the great King of Persia, who from out of his priuy Chamber gouerned his whole Empyre by his power and officers; sauing (sayth he) that the one is God infinite in power, and the other a very bace and féeble wight. He sayth moreouer, that all the names which are attributed to the Gods, are but deuices to experesse the powers of the onelyonly one God the Prince and Father of all. And therefore it is more behofefull to sende the Readers to the reading of that whole treatise of his throughout, than to set in any more thereof here, because they shall there see a woonderfull eloquence matched with this goodly diuinitie.
That which the first and most diuine (saith his disciple TheophrastusTheophrastus in his Metaphisiks. foreign.) will hauehave all things to bee exceeding good; and it may be also, that he is aboue the reache of all knowledge and vnserachable, Againe, There is (saith he) One diuine beginner of all things, whereby they hauehave their beeing and continuance. But in his booke of Sauors he passeth further, and saith that God created all things of nothing. Theophrastus in his booke of Sauours.But to create of nothing, presupposeth an infinite power; and againe, that power presupposeth an vnitie.
Alexander of Aphrodise Alexander of Aphrodise in his booke of Prouidence, and Cyrill against Iulian the Apostata.in his booke of Arouidence written to the Emperour Antonine, attributeth Prouidence ouer all things vntounto one only God, which can doe whatsoeuer he listeth, as appéereth by all his whole discourse. And he was of such renowne amōg all the Aristotelians, that they called themselues Alexandrians after his name. To be short, the most part of the Interpreters and Disiciples of Aristotle, found it so néedefull to acknowledge one onelyonly Beginner, ond so absurd to maintaine any mo than one; that to the intent they might not confesse any such absurditie in their Mayster, they doe by all meanes possible excuse whatsoeuer might in his workes be construed to the contrarie.
As touching the Stoiks The Stoiks.of auncientest tyme, wee hauehave no more than is gathered into the writings of their aduersaries; who do all attribute vntounto them [the maintenance of] the vnitie & infinitenesse of GOD, according to this which Aristotle reporteth of Zeno; namely that there must néedes be but one God, for els there should be no God at all, because it behoueth him to be singularly good and also almightie, which were vtterly vnpossible if there were any mo than one.
Also Simplicius reporteth of Cleanthes, that in his Iambick verses he praied God to voutsafe to guyde him by his cause, which guideth all things in order, the which cause hée calleth destinie and the cause of cause. But the two chief among them whose doctrine we hauehave in writing, will easely make vsus to credit all the residue.
Epictetus Epictetus in Arrianus.the Stoik (whose words Proclus, Simplicius, and euen Lucian himselfe held for Oracles;) speaketh of only one God. The first thing (saith he) that is to be learned, is, that there is but one God, and that hee prouideth for all things, and that from him neither deede nor thought can be hidden. He teacheth vsus to resort vntounto him in our distresses, to acknowled him for our Master and Father, to lift vp our eyes vntounto him alone if wee will get out of the Quamyre of our sinnes, to séeke our felicitie there, and to call vponupon him in all things both great and small. Of all the Goddes that were in time past, he speaketh not a word: but surely he saith that if we call vponupon the onelyonly one God, hee will informe vsus of all things by his Angels.
As for Seneca, Seneca eueryevery where.he neuer speaketh otherwise. What doth God (saith he) to such as behold him? Hee causeth his workes not to be without witnesse. And againe, To serue God (saith he) is to Reigne. God exerciseth vsus with afflictions to trie mans nature: and he requireth no more but that wee should pray to him. These ordinary spéeches of his, shewe that he thought there was but one God.Seneca in his Booke of the happylyfe, & in his Treatise of Comfort. But he procéedeth yet f…rther. From things discouered (sayth he) wee must proceede to things vndiscouered, and seeke out him that is auncienter than the world, of whom the Starres proceede. And in the end he concludeth, that the World and all that is conteyned therein, is the worke of God. Also he casseth him the Foūder, Maker, & Creator of the World, and the Spirit which is shed foorth vponupon all things both great and small.Seneca in his naturall Questions, and in his bookes of Benefiting. And in his Questions: It is he (sayth he) whom the Hetruscanes or Tuscans meane by the names of Iupiter, Gardian, Gouernor, & Lord of the whole world. If thou call him Destinie, thou shalt not deceiue thyselfe; for al things depend vponupon him, & from him comes the causes of all causes. If thou call him Prouidence, thou sayest wel; for by his direction doth the World holde on his course without swaruing, and vtter foorth his Actions. If thou call him Nature, thou doest not amisse: for he it is of whom all things are bred, and by whose Spirite we liue. To be short, wilt thou call him the World? In very deede he is the whole which thou seest, and he is in all the parts thereof, bearing vp both the whole World and all that is thereof. By this sentence we may also shewe, that by the terme Nature the Philosophers ment none other than God himselfe, accordingly as Seneca sayth in another place, that God and Nature are both one, like as Annoeus & Seneca be both one man. And whereas he sayth that God may be called the World;Aristotle calleth him foreign that is to say, All the whole. it is all one with that which he sayth in another place: namely, GOD is whatsoeuer thou seest, and whatsoeuer thou seest not: That is to say, whereas thou canst not see him in his proper béeing, thou seest him in his works. For in other places also he defineth him to a Mynd and Wisedome without bodie, which cannot be seene but in vnderstanding. Now, of all the former things by him repeated in many places, none can bee verified of any mo than one. For he that maketh all, gouerneth all, and is all, leaueth nothing for any other to make, gouerne, or be, otherwise than from himself. But he speaketh yet more expressely, saying;Seneca in his booke of sodeine death, & in his exhortations alledged by Lactantius. lib. 1. cap. 5. Thou considrest not the authoritie & maiestie of thy Iudge, the Gouernor of the World, the God of Heauen and of all Gods. All the Godheads which we worship eueryevery man by himselfe, depend wholly vponupon him. And againe; When he had layd the foundations of this goodly Masse, although he had spred out his power throughout the bodie thereof: yet notwithstanding he made Gods to be officers of his kingdome, to the end that eueryevery thing should hauehave his guyde. Now, this is after the same maner that the holy Scripture speaketh of the Angelles. So then, he is not onelyonly God the excellentest of all Gods; but also their very Father, Author, and Maker.
Let vsus yet further adde Cicero and Plutarch, who hauehave of eueryevery Sect taken what they thought good. Both of them speake ordinarily but of one God, the author and gouerner of all things, vntounto whome they attribute all things, and in that ordinary style is their word Nature, which surmounteth the custome of their tyme; but yet doth their doctrine expresse much more héere. Cicero treating of this matter in his booke intytuled Of the nature of the Gods, acknowledgeth one souereine GOD, whom he calleth the God of Gods, & that is the difference which he maketh. The Nature of the Gods Cicero in his booke of the Nature of the Gods.(sayth he) is neither mightie nor excellent; for it is subiect to the selfesame (beit Nature or Necessitie) which ruleth the Heauen, the Earth, and the Sea. But there is not any thing so excellent as God, who ruleth the World, and is not subiect to Nature, but commaundeth Nature it selfe. And he is full of the like sentences.
As for Plutarke, Plutarke in his treatise of Isis and Osyris of Oracles that are ceassed: Of calmenesse of Mynd: Against ignorant Princes:he suffereth himselfe to raunge oueroften into fables; but yet in good earnest he speaketh thus. Let vsus not woorship the Elements, the Heauen, the Sunne, the Moone, and so foorth: for they be but Lookingglasses for vsus, wherein to consider the cunning of him that ordeyned all things; and all the World is but his Temple. Againe: Wherefore doth Plato call God, the Father and Maker of all? He calleth him the Father of the begotten Gods, and of men, like as Homere also doth: but he calleth him the Creator of the things that hauehave no life nor Reason. Of Platonicall Questions: Against the Stoiks: Against Epicures: What is ment by this Greeke word foreign. ei.And therefore (sayth he in another place) he made the World as a Common house both to Men & Gods. Yea, (sayth he further) Although there were many moe such Worldes as this is; yet notwithstanding the one onelyonly God should gouerne them all. Now this true God, whom he calleth the great God, the great Workemayster, the Sea of Beautie, the Ground of all good things, and the true Béeing, of whom alone it can be said: Thou art, and not thou hast bin or shalt be; is he whom he meaneth by the name of Iupiter, saying: That of the Gods, one is called Liberall, another Gentle, and a third the Dryuer away of euill; but the great Iupiter is in Heauen, who hath care vniuersally of all things. Thus ye see then how all the Philosophers of all tymes, of all Sects, and of all Nations hauehave agréed in one God: which is the thing that ye learned Varro Varro, as he is alledged by S. Austin in the Citie of God. lib. 4. cap. 9. 11 & lib. 7. cap. 54. 9. 23.noted very well; namely, that although the Teachers of the Heathen named many Gods and Goddesses: yet notwithstanding they comprehended them all vnderunder one, which was Iupiter, of whom the residue were but powers and functions: And this Iupiter, is he whom such folk worshipped vnderunder another name, as worshipped the only one God without Images; and he sayth that so God ought to bee worshipped. And to that purpose alledgeth he these verses of the right learned Poet Valerius Soranus.
The louelove almightie is the King of Kings and God of Gods,
One God, and all, the Father both and Moother of the Gods.
But now it is tyme to come to the auncient Poets,Poetes. which were also Philosophers, and who by their feynings opened the gap to the pluralitie of Gods. Among these the first that wee méete with is Orpheus, whom Iustine Iustin in his booke of Monarchie. Iustin to the Gentyles. Athenagoras in his Treatise concerning the Resurection. The Recantation of Orpheus who is called the Author of the pluralitie of Gods.calleth the first Author of them, the first giuer of names vntounto them, and the first blazer of their Pedegrées. But yet there is a Recantation of his in his Hymne vntounto Musaeus, which is called his Testament, that is to say, his last doctrine, whereunto he would hauehave men to sticke. Lift vp thyne eyes (sayth he) to only maker of the World; He is but one, bred of himselfe: and of that one are all things. He is all in all, he seeth all and is seene of none. He onelyonly giueth both welfare and wofull teares and warre. He sitteth in Heauen gouerning all things; with his feete he toucheth the Earth, and with his right hād the vtmost shores of the Sea He maketh the Mountaynes, Riuers and deepe Sea to quake, and so foorth. And in another place he calleth him the Firstborne, the Great, the Apparant, who hath created an incorruptible house for them that are immortall.Clemens in his Protreptik to the Gentiles. Also vnderunder the name of Zeus or Iupiter, he sayth of him as followeth.
Looke vp to that same only King, which did the world create.
Who being only one, selfbred, all other things begate.
And being with them all, vnseene of any mortall wight,
Beholdeth all things; giuing Man now wealth and harts delight,
Now wofull warre: For sure there is none other King but hee.
I see him not, because the Clowdes a couert to him bee.
And in the eye of mortall man there is but mortall sight,
Too weake too see the lightfull Ioue that ruleth all with right.
For sitting in the brazen Heauen aloft in Throne of gold,
He makes the earth his footstoole, and with either hand doth hold
The vtmost of the Ocean waues: and at his presens quake
Both Mountaynes huge, & hideous Seas, and eke the Siygian Lake.
And anon after againe.
The endlesse Skye and stately Heauens, and all things els besyde,
Did once within the Thundring Ioue close hoorded vp abyde.
The blessed Gods and Goddesses whose beeing is for ay,
And all things past or yet to come within Ioues bow…lles lay.
From Ioues wyde womb did all things come; Ioue is both first & last;
Beginning, Middes, and End is Ioue; From Ioue are all things past.
Ioue layd foundation of the Earth, and of the starry Sky.
Ioue reigneth King; The selfesame Ioue of all things farre and ny
The Father and the Author is. One power, one God is hee;
Alonly Great, one Lord of all. This royall Masse which wee
Behold, and all the things that are conteyned in the same,
As Fyre and Water, Earth and Ayre, and Titans golden flame
That shines by Day, and droopy Night, and eueryevery other thing
Are placed in the goodly House of Ioue the heauenly King.
Phocilides Phocylides,followeth him in these wordes. There is but onelyonly one God, mightie, wise and happie. And againe, Honor the onelyonly God. Also, All of them are mortall men, God reigneth ouer their soules. And Theognis (who is of the same tyme) speaketh not any otherwise. Homere Theognis. Homer.(whom Pythagoras reporteth to be punished in Hell for making Fables of the Gods) cannot make a notabler difference betwéene the true GOD and al the rest of the Gods whome men worshipped in this time; than when hee saith, That if they were all hanged at a Cheyne beneath; he would pull them vp spight of their téeth: and also that he maketh them all too quake vnderunder him: and that whensoeuer there is any greater déede talked of, he speaketh alwaies but of one God in the singular nomber. Also Hesiodus Hesiodus.who described ye pedegrees of the Gods, sheweth his heléef sufficiently in this onelyonly one verse written to his brother. Both Goddes and Mortall Men, from one selfe race descend. That is to say, All the Goddes are created by the onelyonly one God.
Likewise SophoclesSophocles in Cyrillus against Iulian the Apostaia. saith thus.
Certesse of Goddes there is no mo but one,
Who made the Heauens, and eeke the earth so round,
The dreadfull Sea which cleaps the same about,
And blustring Winds which rayze the Waues aloft.
But we fond men through folly gone astray,
Euen to the hurt and damning of our soules,
HaueHave set vp Idols made of Wood and Stone,
Thinking lyke fooles, by meanes of honoring them
To… giuegive full well too God his honor due.
EuripidesEuripides Clemeus in his goeth yet further, saying.
Thou Neptune, and thou Iupiter, and all
You other Goddes, so wicked are you all,
That if due Iustice vntounto you were doone,
Both Heauen and Temples should be emptie soone.
And yet in defacing the false Goddes, hée ceasseth not to commend the onelyonly true God in many places.
Aratus Aratus. Iouis genus sumusin the same place which is alledged by S. Paule, attributeth all to one Iupiter, whome hee would hauehave to bee honored without ceassing.
As touching the Latins, Ouid Ouid.in his Metamorphosis attributeth the Creation of the World and of all things therein, vntounto the onelyonly one God. And Virgill Virgil in his fourth booke of Husbandry & euerywhere else.doth ordinarily call him the King of Goddes and Men; and hee describeth hym sheading foorth his power to the vttermost coastes of Heauen and Earth, and with his vertue quickening the World, and all that is therein.
But forasmuch as Scoeuola Scaeuola, as he is alledged by S. Austin in the Citie of God lib. 3. Cap. 27.the Highpréest of the Romaines distinguished the Gods of old tyme into thrée sortes, that is to wit, Philosophicall, Poeticall, and Ciuill; and wee hauehave séene how the Philosophers and Poets, (notwithstanding their owne Wyndlases and fables, and the infinite superstitions of their tymes,) doe méete one another in the onelyonly one GOD: let vsus sée consequently what the Ciuill sort will say vntounto vsus, that is to say, what hath bin beléeued, not onelyonly by the learned sort of all Nations, but also by the very Nations themselues.The consent of People. Soothly so incredible hath the vanitie of men bin since their turning aside from the true way, that all Nations hauehave let them selues ronne looce after such absurdities as wee would not beléeue, if wee sawe not the like still at this day. Some worshipped the Heauen, the Plantes, and the Starres like silly soules which at their first comming into a Kings Court, doe thinke that the first gay apparelled man whome they méete with is the King. Some made Gods of the Goodes which God gaue them. Some worshipped the Beastes which were for their benefite. And finally they made Goddes, not only of themselues, but also of their Speares, Shéelds and Swoordes, and buylded Temples to their owne Passions, as vntounto Fearefulnes, Hardines and such others; yea and euen vntounto things so filthy and lothsome, as a man may bee ashamed and abashed to heare spoken of. Neuerthelesse, the costomable vse of such things made folke too hauehave no regard of them, and the most spirituall sort of them were so possessed with Ambition, that it filled all their myndes to the full. Yet notwithstanding, when they were once awaked, and fell a little to the bethinking themselues as of a thing in very déede against Nature, they were ashamed of their doings, yea and euen of themselues.In the Citie of God. lib. 4. cap. 24. Why Sir, (answered they to Sainct Austin? Thinke you that our Forefathers were so foolish and blinde, as to beleeue that Bacchus, Ceres, Pan, and such others were Goddes? It is not possible. Nay, they beleeued but in the onelyonly one GOD, whose giftes and functions they honored vnderunder diuers names; and whatsoeuer is more, is but Superstition. Truely the AEgyptians (as wee reade) did honour Diuels, Men, Beastes, Serpents, and Plants: and to bee short, eueryevery thing was to them a GOD. But as touching the true GOD, they described him in their holy Carects as a Pilot alone gouerning a Ship. And all their diuinitie (as is to be seene in Iamblichus, Iamblichus concerning the Mysteries of the Egiptians. cap. 37. 39.) was referred vntounto onelyonly one God. Insomuch that the people of I hebais in AEgipt, reiected all the said absurdities of many Goddes, saying that there was none other God but only he whom they called C…ef, which was neuer borne, nor could euer dye,Plutarke in his treatise of Isis and Osyris. that is to say the Euerlasting. Also in Say a Citie of AEgipt, the Image of Pallas, that is to say of Wisdome, had his Inscription: I am all that hath bin, is, or euer shalbe, and there was neuer yet any mortall man that vncouered my face. And Proclus addeth thereto, And the Fruites that I hauehave brought forth is the Sonne, as who would say, It is the Wisdome whereby God worketh, which is the Goddesseworker. Now if euen among the AEgiptians the opinion of the one onelyonly God was not quenched: much more reason hauehave we to deeme, that it was not quenched among other nations.
In the Lawes of the twelue Tables were written these words: Cicero in his second booke of Lawes. Deos adeunto casté: opes amouento: si secus faxint, Deus ipse vindex erit: that i… Goe to God chastly: remoue away riches: If any doe otherwise God himselfe will punish him. Tertullian in his Defence.Let Men come to the Goddes chastly. Let Pompe bee remoued away: If they doe otherwise, God himselfe (that is to say, Iupiter whom onelyonly they called the most gracious and most mightie) will reuenge it. Yet notwithstanding, it is certeyne that afterward Rome became the very Sinckpan of all the Idolatries of the world: for in winning of Nations, they wan also their Superstitions. But could all this wype out in them the print of Nature? Nay, contrarywise, Tertullian speaking of the Heathen of his tyme, sayth thus: As wholly as their Soules are brought in bondage to false Goddes, yet when they awake as a dronken man out of his sleepe, they name but one God, and the speech of eueryevery man is, as it pleaseth GOD. They call vponupon him as their Iudge, saying; God seeth it, I referre my self to God, God requite it me. O record of a Soule by nature Christian! To be short, in vttering those wordes, they looke vp to Heauen, and not to the Capitoll: for they knowe that Heauen is the Seate of the liuing God. LactantiusLactantius. lib. 2. cap. 1. who came a good while after, saith the like. When they sweare, (sayth he) when they wish, whē they giuegive thanks; they name neither Iupiter, nor Gods in the plurall number, but the onelyonly one God: so greatly doth Nature constreyne them to acknowledge the truth. If there come an Alarum, or if they be threatened with warre; they do after the same maner: But as soone as the daunger is past, by and by they runne to the Temples of many Gods, whereas notwithstanding they called but the one God to their succour. And in very trueth, if we consider the naturall motions which we hauehave in our afflictions; they part not our harts into diuers prayers at once, but doe put vsus in mynd of onelyonly one God, and to offer our prayers vp vntounto him.
Now, forasmuch as Nature, Mans wisedome, and the voyce of all people, doe in all Languages commend, woorship, and confesse one onelyonly God: It remayneth for vsus to see whether wée may not gather the like, euen by the very confession of the false Goddes thēselues,Lactantius lib. 1 Chap. 6. Iustine in his Apologie. The Cracles of the Sibylles. which hauehave gone about to deface his name by al meanes. It is a case disputed among the learned, by what Spirite the Sybilles spake, because it is not vnconuenient that God should compell the very Deuels to set soorth his prayses. Howsoeuer the case stand, they speake but of onelyonly one God, saying.
There is but onelyonly one true God, right great, and euerlasting,
Almightie, and inuisible, which seeth eueryevery thing,
But cannot bee beheld himselfe of any fleshly man.
Also they crye out against the false Goddes, and exhort men to beate downe their Altars, accounting them happie which giuegive themselues to the glorifying of the only one God. But let vsus héere Apollo himselfe. Being asked at Colophon by one Theophilus whether there was a God or no, and what he is: He answered in 21. Gréeke verses rehearsed by Lactantius, Lactan. lib. 1. cap. 6.whereof I will holde me contented with the latter thrée, which are to be englished thus.
The selfebred, bred without the helpe of Moother,
Wise of himselfe, whose name no wight can tell,
Doth dwell in fyre beyond all reach of thought:
Of whom we Angelles are the smallest part.
The rest of these Uerses commend and set foorth the Maiestie of the great God, but these suffize for this matter. Héere the Féend doth what he can to magnifie himselfe, saying that he is an Angell and a little portion of God, but yet hée acknowledgeth him as his Souereine. Porphyrius Porphyrius in his tenth book of the prayses of Philosophy.the great enemie of Christians, rehearseth many other like. The same Apollo being asked how GOD was to be worshipped, answered in 22. Uerses, calling him the euerlasting Father, the Walker vponupon the Heauen of Heauens, the Fashioner or framer of substances, the father of all things, the father of all wights both mortall and immortall. And on the other side he calleth all others his Children, his Seruants, his Messengers, and the Heraults or blazers abroad of his prayses. In another answere comprised in ten Uerses, he calleth him the burning Flame, the Welspring and Originall of all things, the author of life, and so foorth; and afterward he concludeth,
I am but Phoebus; more of mee ye get not at my hand;
It is as little in my mynd as I can vnderstand.
Being asked at another tyme by the*Pausanias. Founder of Constantinople, whether he should resist an enemie of his or no; he answered thus:
Apollo is not of that mynd; beware
How thou doest deale; he is too strong for thee.
For God it is that makes him vndertake
This enterprise, and doth the same maynteyne,
Euen God I tell thee vnderunder whom both Heauen
And Earth and Sea and eueryevery thing therein,
And Phoebus eke and Hell it selfe doth quake.
Proclus Proclus vponupon Timaeus.sayth, that the Oracles acknowledged the great God the Welspring of the fountayne of all things. And for an example he alledgeth this Oracle of fower Uerses; From God springeth the generation of all matter; from the same ground riseth the finenesse of the fyre, and the Globes of the World, and whatsoeuer els is bred, and so foorth. That is the answer of Apollo the God so greatly renowmed among the Heathen, when he was asked what God was. And being vrged to tell what he himselfe was, and how he would be called, he sayd: Call me the Feend that knoweth all and is right sage and wise. And at another tyme he sayth thus.
Wee Feends which haunt both Sea and Land through all the world so wide,
Do trēble at the whip of God which all the world doth guide.
These foresayd Oracles are reported by Porphyrius, Proclus, and other Heathen men, wherof some be rehearsed also by Lactantius: which may suffize to shewe how the very Deuils doe beléeue one God, and quake at him. But I hope I shall bee pardoned for handling this matter a little at the largest, because the consent of all men in that behalfe which I hauehave alreadie proued, is contrary to the opinion of many men. And therefore ye see heere how the World, Men, and the Deuilles themselues crye out with the holy Scripture, Hearken O Israell,Deuter. 6. Psalm. 85. the Lord thy God is but one God, the God of Gods, who onelyonly worketh wonders, & hath not his like among the Gods. And that is the thing which I hauehave gone about to proue in these last two Chapters.