Concerning the Truth of Christian Religion, Chapter 1
The first Chapter.
That there is a God, and that all men agree in the Godhead.
SUch as make profession to teach vsus, doo say they neuer finde lesse what too say, then when the thing which they treate of is more manifest and more knowne of … selfe, then all that can bee alledged for the setting foorth thereof. And such are the principles of all the Sciences, and specially of the certeynest, as which consist in Demonstration. The whole (will Euclyde say) is greater then his part. And if from equall things ye take equall things, the Remaynder shall be equall. This is rather perceiued of eueryevery man by commō sence, then prooued by sharpnesse of Reason. And like as they that would goe about too proue it, doo shewe themselues worthie to bee laughed at, as which should take vponupon them to inlighten the Sunne with a Candle: so they that deny it, doe shewe themselues to bee wranglers and vnworthie of all conference, as contenders against their owne mother wit, yea and against their owne confession; according to this common saying of the Schooles, That there is no reazoning against those which deny the Principles. Now, if there bée any matter wherein this Rule is found trew; it is most peculiarly in this, that there is a God. For it is so many waies and so liuely paynted foorth in all things, and so peculiarly ingrauen in mans hart; that all that euer can bée deuized, sayd, and written thereof, is much lesse then that which is séene thereof eueryevery where, and which men feele thereof in themselues. If yée looke vpward, yée see there infinite bodies and infinite mouings; diuers, and yet not trubling one another. If yée looke downeward, yée see the Sea continuasly threatening the Earth, and yet not passing his bounds: and likewise the Earth altoogither heauie and massie, and yetnotwithstanding settled or rather hanged in ye Ayre, so as it stirreth not awh…. These bodies dire… vsus incontinently too a Spirit, and this orderlines too a certeine Gouerner; forsomuch as it is certeine in nature, that bodies hauehave of themselues no mouing, and that euen those bodies which are quickened, could not agrée stedfastly either with other bodies or with themselues, but by the ordering and gouerning of a Superiour. But when wée enter afterward intoo our selues, and finde there an abridgement of the whole vniuersall; a bodie fit for all sorts of mouings, a Soule which (without remouing) maketh the bodies too mooue which way it listeth; a Reazon therein which guydeth them euerychone in their dooings; and yetnothwithstanding, this Soule too bée such as wée can neither see it nor conceiue it: It ought in all reazon too make vsus all too vnderstand, that in this great vniuersall masse, there is a soueraine Spirite which maketh, mooueth, and gouern… all that wée see there; by whom wée liue, moue, and bée; who in our bodies hath framed a Counterfet of the whole world, and in our Soules hath ingrauen an image of himself.T…imegistus in Poeriandro. Iamblichus, concerning Misteryes. Chapt. 8. This is it that caused one auncient Philosopher too say, that whereas our eyes cannot pearce vntounto God; he suffereth himselfe too bée felt with our hands: And another too say, that the very first vse of Reazon, is imployed in conceiuing the Godhead; not properly by knowing it, but as it were by feeling it, which is more certeine: yea, and that the béeing of our Soule is nothing els, but the knowing of God vponupon whom it dependeth. And Auicen speaketh yet more boldly, saying that he which acknowledgeth not the Godhead, is voyd, not of Reason, but euen of Sence. Now, if these Sences from whence our first knowledge proceedeth, doo witnesse the thing vntounto vsus; and wée do firmly beléeue a thing when we feele it, and that (as they teach vsus) wée may féele GOD as well in the world as in our selues: Surely vntounto him that treateth of Religiō, it ought too bée graunted as an vnuiolable Principle, That there is a God; and all men ought too bée forbidden too call it into question, vponupon paine of …ot being men any more. For if eueryevery Science hauehave his Principles, which it is not lawfull to remoue, bée it neuer so little: much more reason is it that it should be so, with that thing which hath the ground of all Principles for his Principle. Neuerthelesse, let vsus with the leaue of all good men, bestowe this Chapter vponupon the wickednesse of this our age: and if there bée any which by forgetting God, hauehave in very déede forgotten their owne shape, and mistaken their owne nature: let them learne heereby too reknowledge themselues againe.
It is a straunge cace,The World leadeth vsus v… to God. that these men which ordinarily speake of nothing but the world, will not see in the world, the thing which the world sheweth and teacheth in all parts. For, let vsus begin at the lowest, & mount vp too the highest; and let vsus consider it whole together or in his parts; and wée shall not finde any thing therein, either so great or so small, which leadeth vsus not step by step vntoo a Godhead. In this world (too consider it first in the whole,) we hauehave fower degrées of things: to wit, which hauehave Béeing, which hauehave Life, which hauehave Sence, and which hauehave Reason: Some are indewed with all these giftes, and some but with some of them. The Ayre, the Sea, and the Earth are great, and hauehave a great scope. They beare vp and susteyne all things that hauehave Life, all things that hauehave Sence, and all things that hauehave Reason. And yet notwithstanding, they themselues hauehave not any more then onelyonly bare Béeing, without Life, without Sence, without Reason: that is too say, the néerest too not being. The Plants, besides being, hauehave also life, and they draw their nourishment from the Earth, and their refresshing from the Ayre. The Beastes hauehave 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 hauehave 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 hauehave but a dead being, and next vntounto notbeing; and that othersome hauehave 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 vntounto 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 vnderunder these fower: that is too wit, vnderunder Beeing, Life, Sence, and Reason, according too his diuers imparting of them vntounto 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 vsus 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 hauehave but onelyonly 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 hauehave both Béeing, Life, Sence, and Reason. It followeth therefore that it is a power from without vsus, which hath brought vsus out of Notbéeing into béeing, and hath parted the said gifts among vsus 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 hauehave 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 vsus 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 vnderunder 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 vsus mount vp higher. Wee see the Heauen how it mowweth round with a continuall mouing. Also wee see there the Planets one vnderunder another, which (notwithstanding the violence of the first moueable) hauehave eueryevery 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 hauehave 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 vsus 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 it.
Let vsus come downe againe too doo the like heere belowe. Wée shall see the Earth replenished with Herbes, Trees, and Fruites: both Sea and Land furnished with Beastes, Fisshes, Woormes, and Birds of al sorts; eueryevery of them so perfect in his kind, as mans vnderstanding cannot spye any want or superstuitie in thē. Whence is all this? Is it of the Elements? Nay, how shall the thing which hath neither life nor sence, giuegive life and sence too other things? Or commeth it of the Sunne? Nay, when did wée euer see him bring foorth any such like thing: Whence then is this varietie, but of a mast fruitfull & vncōsumable might? Whence commeth this perfection, but of a singular wisedome? Of Plants, some are hot, and some cold; some swéete, and some bitter; some nourishing, and some healing. And of the most daungerous, the remedie is found either in themselues or in the next vntounto them. Also as touching Beastes, the wildest and such as liue by pray, kéepe by themselues alone, because the flocking of them together would bee noysome. But the tame & such as are most for our profite, doo naturally liue in flockes and heardes, because the great numbers of them are for our commoditie. Is this also a worke of fortune? Nay, I say further: The Sunne heateth the Earth, the Starres doo limit her seazons, the Ayre moysteneth her drought; the Earth serueth the Grasse, the Grasse serueth the Beasts, and the Beasts serue Man. Each thing serueth other, and all serue one alone. Whence may this bonde come? If things bée euerlastingly, and of themselues; how hauehave they thus put themselues in subiection? By what meanes or when began they first too do so? Also how can one of them be for another, seeing that the ende wherefore things are, is euer afore the things themselues, either in nature, or els in consideration; and that the eternitie hath not any thing either afore or after it? So that if they hauehave had their beginning of themselues; did they bring foorth them selues in seed, in flower, or in kernell? in Egge, or in full life? small or great, and so foorth? Againe, seeing that the one cannot bée without the other, neither Beastes without Grasse, nor Grasse without the Earth, nor the Earth bring foorth any thing without the Heauen: which of them came afore, and which of them came after? Or if they were all bred together: whence commeth this agréement among so many diuers things; but of the same mynd which made and still gouerneth all things? Seeing then that these things are so linked together, and that they tend all to one: let vsus conclude also that that cannot come to passe but through one, who brought them foorth altogether at one instaunt and one burthen, when hee thought good. But now let vsus see whence commeth this other one wherunto they tend, that is to wit Man; and whether he also bée not for and by that one which hath made them, that is to wit, for and by God.
He that seeth but onelyonly the portrayture of a man,Man leaded… vsus to God. falleth by and by to thinke vponupon a Paynter; and the first speech that he vttereth, is to aske who made it. Now, if a dead worke doe make vsus to conceiue a liuing worker: much more reason is it, that a liuing worke as man is, should make vsus to bethinke vsus of a quickening workemaister: yea euen of such a one as may bée (at least wise) as farre aboue man, as man is aboue the portrayture of his owne making, (forsomuch as there is an infinite distaunce betwixt being and not being, liuing and not liuing;) and the same againe is God. The proportion in mans bodie, which is so well obserued, that all our Artes doe borrow from thence, doth witnesse vntounto vsus a singuler Cunning: and the parts also in that they all serue each others vse, and eueryevery of them serue the whole; betoken a great wisedome. Now, where Cunning and wisedome bee, there chaunce hath no place. For when a man loseth an eye, an arme, or a legge; wée following the common error do commonly say, it is a mischaunce. But when a member that was out of ioynt is set in againe, or a member that was lost is supplyed, though it be but with a botched one: none of vsus will say it was chaunce; because that in the iudgement euen of the grossest sort, the propertie of chaunce is to vndo and to marre things, and not to make or mend any thing at all. Againe, by our Sences which conceiue al Colours, Sounds, Sents, Sauors, and Féelings; wée may see, heare, smell, tast, and feele, that one selfsame workman made both the Sences, and the things that are subiect to the Sences. For to what purpose were the Sences without the sensible things? or the sensible things, without the Sences? And seeing that they relye one vponupon another; which of them was bred first in the world? If man made them for his Sences; why maketh he not the like still? If he made himselfe to bée borne for them; why suffereth he himselfe to bée bereft of his Sences one after another? Then is it to be sought for elswhere then in man. But when in the same man we yet further consider Spéech: must wee not needes say that he was made to communicate himselfe to many? And how are they borne one for another? Againe, when wee come to his Mynd, which in discoursing reacheth farre beyond all sensible things; shall wee not say that there are things merely to bee comprehended by vnderstanding, for the which the Mynd was made? And on the other side, if wee finde a Mynde in our selues which are but a little grayne of the whole world; dare wee say that there is no Mynd elswhere then in our selues? Moreouer, seeing that by this Mynd of ours wee vnderstand all other things; which Mynd yet for all that vnderstandeth not ne knoweth not it selfe, neither perceiue wee what or whence this Mynde is which so vnderstandeth in vsus: ought wee not to acknowledge that there is a Mynd aboue vsus, whereby wee hauehave vnderstanding of other things, and which vnderstandeth & knoweth in vsus the things which wee our selues knowe not there?
Now then, seeing we vnderstand not ne knowe not our selues, (my meaning is that we bee ignorant what we bee, and what it is from whence our noblest actions procéede:) can we bee the authors of our selues? And from whence then ought wée too acknowledge our selues too hauehave our originall? O man, it may bee that thou lookest but too thy father. But from father too father, we shall come at length too a beginning. And soothly thou art very dulheaded too thinke thy selfe too bee the author of a man, considering that neither thou in begetting him, nor his Mother in bréeding him, did once thinke vppon the fashioning of him in hir wombe: No more (say I) than the Nuttree doth when a Nutte falleth from it to the ground, which neuerthelesse without the Nuttrées thinking thereof, groweth into Roote, Sprig, Barke, and boughes; and in ye end shootefoorth intoo Leaues, Flowers and fruite: And yet notwithstanding, in peinting of an Image thou lookest vponupon it a hundred times, and diuers dayes; thou amendest it, and thou busiest all thy wits about it. If thou be the dooer of this woorke in the making of man, tell mee why thou hast not children when thou wouldest, and why thou hast them sometime when thou wouldest not? Why hast thou a Daughter, when thou wouldest hauehave a Sonne, or a Sonne when thou wouldest hauehave a Daughter? In peinting thy Pictures thou doest not so disapoint thy felfe. Also, if thou beest this good workemaister in making of thy child; tell me how thou hast fashioned it? Whence is the hardnesse of his bones? the liquor of his veynes, the spirite of his Heartstrings, and the beating of his Pulses? Seest thou this, which is also as smally in thy power, as if it were none of thine? Tell mée what is hidden in his breast, and the whole workemanship that is couched within him. If thou hast not seene it in the opening of thy like, thou knowest nothing thereof. Tell mée yet further the imaginations of his brayne, and the thoughts of his heart: nay, tell mee thine owne, which oftentimes thou wouldest fame alter or stay, and canst not. It is a bottemlesse Pit, the which thou canst not gage: and therefore it followeth that thou madest it not. Knowe thou therefore O man, that all this commeth too thee from some cause that is aboue thy selfe. And séeing that thou hast vnderstanding, needes must that cause hauehave vnderstanding too; and seeing that thou vnderstandest not thy selfe, needes must that vnderstand thee: and seeing that thou after a sort art infinite in nomber, but much more infinite in thy thoughts and deedes: needes must that bee infinite too. And that is it which we call God. What shal I say more? or rather or what remaineth not for mee too say? I say with the auncient Trismegist, Lord, shall I looke vponupon thee in the things that are here beneath, or o… the things that are aboue? Thou madest all things, and whol… …ature is nothing els but an image of thée. And I will conclude with Dauid, Blesse ye the Lord all ye workes of his; yée Heauens, yée waters, yée Winds, yee Lightenings, yee Showers, yee Seas, yee Riuers, and all that euer is, blesse yee the Lorde: yea and thou my soule also blesse thou the Lord for euer. For, to lay forth the proofes which are both in the great world and in the little world; it would stand me in hand to ransacke the whole world; as the which (with all that euer is therein,) is a plaine booke laide open to all men, yea euen vntounto Children to reade, and (as yee would say) euen to spell God therein.
Nowe like as all men may reade in this booke as well of the world as of themselues;Vniuersall Consent. so was there neuer yet any Nation vnderunder heauen, which hath not thereby learned and perceiued a certeine Godhead, notwithstanding that they hauehave conceiued it diuersly, according to the diuersitie of their owne imaginations. Let a man ronne from East to West, and from South to North: let him ransacke all ages one after another: and wheresoeuer he findeth any men, there shall he find also a kind of Religion and Seruing of God, with Prayers and Sacrifices. The diuersitie whereof is very great; but yet they hauehave alwayes consented all in this poynt, That there is a GOD. And as touching the diuersitie which is in that behalf, it beareth witnesse that it is a doctrine not deliuered alonly from people to people; but also bred and brought vp with eueryevery of them in their owne Clymate, yea and euen in their owne selues. Within these hundred yeres many Nations hauehave bene discouered, and many are daily discouered still, which were vnknowen in former ages. Among them, some hauehave bene found to liue without Lawe, without King, without House, going starke naked, and wandring abroad in the fields: but yet none without some knowledge of God, none without some spice of Religion: to shewe vntounto vsus, that it is not so natural a thing in man to louelove company, and to clad himselfe against hurts of the wether, (which things wee esteeme to be verie kindly:) as it is naturall vntounto him to knowe the author of his life, that is to say, God. Or if wee yeeld more to the iudgement of those which were counted wise among the Heathen nations, (whome afterward by a more modest name men called Philosophers:) The Brachmanes among the Indians, and the Magies among the Persians, neuer began any thing without praying vntounto God. The lessons of Pythagoras and Plato, and of their Disciples, began with prayer and ended with prayer. The auncient Poets (who were all Philosophers,) as Orphey, Homer, Hesiodus, Pherecides, and Theognis, speake of none other thing. The Schooles of the Stoikes, Academikes, and Peripatetikes, and all other schooles that florished in old time, roong of that. The very Epicures thēselues who were shamelesse in all other things, were ashamed to denie God. To be short, the men of old time (as witnesseth Plato) …hose their Priestes (which were to hauehave regard of the seruice that was to be yéelded vntounto God,) from among the Philosophers, as from among those which by their consideration of nature, had atteined to knowe God. And so (which sildome happeneth but in an apparant trueth) the opinion of the comon people and the opinion of the wise, hauehave met both iump togither in this point.
Well may there bee found in all ages some wretched kaytifes, which hauehave not acknowledged God, as there be some euen at this day. But if we looke into thē, either they were some yong fooles giuen ouer to their pleasures, which neuer had leysure to bethinke them of the matter, and yet when yeeres came vppon them, came backe againe to the knowing of themselues, and consequently of God: or els they were some persons growen quite out of kind, saped in wickednesse, and such as had defaced their own nature in thē selues; who to the intent they might practise all maner of wickednes with the lesse remorse, hauehave striued to perswade themselues by soothing their owne sinnes, that they hauehave no Soule at all, and that there is no Iudge to make inquirie of their sinnes. And yet notwithstanding, if these fall into neuer so little daunger, or be but taken vponupon the hip, they fall to quaking, they crye out vntounto heauen, they call vponupon God. And if they approch, but a farre of, vntounto death, they fall to fretting and gnashing of their téeth. And when they be well beaten; there is not any shadowe of the Godhead so soone offered vntounto them, but they imbrace it: so ready are nature and conscience (which they would hauehave restreined and imprisoned) to put them in mind thereof at all howres.Suctonius in the life of Caligula. They be loth to confesse God, for feare to stand in awe of him; and yet the feare of the least things maketh them to confesse him. Nay, because they feare not him that made all things, therefore they stand in awe of all things; as wee see in the Emperour Caligula, who threatened the Ayre if it rayned vponupon his Gameplayers; and yet notwithstanding he wrapped his Cape about his head, or hid himselfe vnderunder his Bed, at eueryevery flash of lightening. I beléeue (saith Seneca Seneca in his first booke concerning Wrath.concerning the same matter) that this threatening of his did greatly hasten his death, for so much as folke sawe that they were too beare such a one, as could not beare, euen with the Goddes.
Among the learned,Obiections concerning such as were counted Atheists. although the libertie of Sects was lawlesse: yet the chiefe that men counted for Atheists, were one Diagoras a Melian Poet, one Theodore a Cyrenian, one Ewhemere a Tegean, and a very fewe others. But to say truely, these rather skorned the Idolles and false Goddes of their tymes, then denyed the true God. Accordingly as we sée many of them yet still among vsus, which hold themselues cōtented with the knowing of vntrueth, without seeking after the trueth; and with mocking of Superstitions, without seeking the pure and true Religion. Of the sayd Diagoras it is reported, that as hee was burning an Image of Hercules in his fire; he sayd, Thou must now doe me seruice in this thirteenth incounter, as well as thou hast done to Euristheus in the other twelue. This was but a skorning of Idolles. For notwithstanding this: his Uerses began thus, that all things are gouerned by a Godhead. Also it is reported of the other, that he should say to the Egiptians; If they be Gods, why bewayle ye them? and if they be dead folkes, why worship ye them? This also was a disprouing of the false Gods. And as for Ewhemere of Tegea, men are of accorde that the cause why he was called an Atheist, was for that he wrate the true Historie and Genealogie of the Heathen Gods; shewing that they were Kings, Princes, and great Personages, whose Images being kept for a remembrance of them were turned into Idolles, their woorthie doings into yerely Gamings, and their honorings into worshippings. And which of vsus at this day beleeueth not as much? There were in deede a kinde of Philosophers called Scepticks (that is to say Dowters) which did rather suspend their Iudgement concerning the Godhead, then call it in question. But yet it ought to suffize vsus, that they be the selfsame which deny al Sciences, yea euen those which consist in Demonstration; and which professe themselues to doubt of the things which they see and feele; in so much that they doubt whether they themselues hauehave any beeing or no. But yet for all that, let vsus see after what maner these kind of people doe reason. Against the thing which the world preacheth, which Nations worship, and which wise men wonder at; these folke say at a worde for all, how shall wee beleeue that there is a God, sith we see him not? O foole, and (which worse is) O foole by being wise in thyne owne conceyt: Thou beléeuest that there is a Sunne, euen when thou art in a Dongeon or in the bottome of a Prison, because his beames are shed in at thy windowes: and doubtest thou yet still whether there be a God or no, when he sheweth himself to thee through the Sunne, the Moone, and the Starres; in the Ayre, the Earth, the Sea; in all things that they conteyne, yea and euen in they selfe? If thou haddest neuer seene Tree afore, thy wit at the very first sight of it, would leade thée to the roote which is vnderunder the Tree: and the sight of a Riuer would leade thee to the welspring thereof, which may peraduenture be two hundred Leagues of. And whosoeuer should tell thee the contrarie, thou wouldest stand at defiaunce against him. O man, like as the Tree leadeth thee to the roote by his braunches; doth not the roote leade thee likewise to the kernell, and the kernell to him that made it? And as the Riuer leadeth thée to his head; shal not the head leade thée to the originall spring therof, seeing thou canst not doubt but it hath a beginning, sith thou seest that it runneth with a streame? If thou shouldest arriue among the Indians, and finde but some sislie Cottage in the desolatest Countrey thereof; Thou wouldest by and by conclude, this Ile is inhabited, some man hath passed heere. And why? Because thou seest there some tokens of mans wit, and knowest well that the Goates which thou hast seene raunging or skipping vponupon the Rockes, can build no such thing. Now, when thou beeing borne beneath, seest here a hundred and a hundred thousand things which are not possible to be made by man: nay (which more is,) which it is not possible for him to knowe nor to vnderstand: oughtest thou not to say immediatly, Gods spirite hath passed this way, needes must here hauehave bene some higher thing then man?
Mention is made of certeyne precize persons,Plutarch in his treatise of the ceassing of Oracles, reporteth that a Ruler of Cilicia which was an Atheist, came to the beleef of a God, by an answere giuen from the Oracle of Mopsus, to a demaund of his whiche was deliuered sealed. which beléeued nothing but that which they sawe, and the Wizards made them to see Deuilles: Wherevpon they came to beleeue also that there is a God. It was a mad kinde of conuersion, to beleeue in God by the ministerie of the Deuill. But what a number of other things beleeuest thou which thou seest not? Thou beleeuest that ye Plants hauehave a kinde of Soule, that is to say, a certeyne inward power or vertue which maketh them to shoote foorth in their season. Thou seest them, but thou seest not it; neither knowest thou whence it commeth, or where it lyeth. Thou beleeuest that the Beastes also hauehave one other kinde of Soule, which maketh them to mooue: and yet thou seest it as little as the other. Also thou beleeuest that thou thy self (besides these) hast an abilitie of reasoning both vponupon them, and vponupon thy selfe, and vponupon such as are like thy selfe. And yet as touching the bodie, thou seest not any thing altered in the partes thereof after death; neither within nor without. Where is that Soule then, or where hast thou euer seene it? If thou beleeue therof because of the effects which thou seest, which cannot come from any thing els: I assure thée euen by the same effects, that if thou beléeue nothing thereof but that which thou seest with thyne eyes; thyne eyes see not but by thy Soule, and thyne eyes themselues see not thy Soule. To be short, thou beléeuest that thou hast a face, which without a looking Glasse thou seest not: And wilt thou not beléeue there is a God, whose face shineth foorth in all things?
Othersome to shewe themselues more fineheaded, hauehave argewed thus. If there bee a GOD, he must needes be a bodily liuing wight, or els he should be sencelesse. And if he hauehave sences, then is he chaungeable; and if he be chaungeable, then may be perish: that is to say, he is no longer God. Beasts are they in very deed, which can conceiue no better then that which is common to Beasts.
Others hauehave sayd thus: If he be without bodie, he is also without Soule, and consequently without action. Or if he be a bodie, he is subiect to the chaunges therof. Alas that they should not be abls to conceiue a Spirite without a bodie, nor to see that euen in our selues it is the onelyonly Soule that worketh, and that the bodie stirreth not but as it is moued by the Soule.
Others againe do reason, that if there be a God, he must needes be perfectly happie: and if he be perfectly happie, he is vertuous: if vertuous, he ouermaistereth his affections: and if he ouermaister his affections, he is tempted of his lustes; a thing altogether vnbeseeming the Godhead. And by these incouneniences they conclude, that there is no God at all: not perceiuing, or rather wilfully refusing to perceiue that which Plutarke Plutarke in his …reatise of morall vertue.sayth very well: namely, that the person which ouermaistereth his affections, is but halfe vertuous, but the stayed person is wholly vertuous, because the one doth but bridle his passions by force of reason, whereas the other hath them alreadie settled according to reason, But there is yet more in God: for he is reason it selfe, and there is nothing in him but reasou. Soothly this kind of reasoning of theirs agréeth in effect with this saying of Xenophanes, Xenophanes as he is alledged by Clement of Alexandria in his Stromats.that if Beastes were able to paynt, they would portray God like to themselues, because they could not naturally conceiue any further. Such and other like are the arguments of these goodly Philosophers, which euen little babes might laugh to skorne: but els they could not hauehave bene against so manifest and euident a trueth. And yet dare I also well assure you, that they themselues knewe the falsenesse of those arguments, but that they were as it were sworne to doubt of all things, and to gainsay all things.
Let vsus then conclude with the learned and the ignoraunt, the Greekes and the Barbarians, Men and Beastes, things sensible and sencelesse, the whole and eueryevery part thereof: That there is a God. And if there bee yet any folke that caste doubts thereof, indeuouring to race out not onelyonly God but also man himselfe out of their hearts: let vsus boldly appeale euen vntounto themselues; not doubting at all, but that their owne Conscience which cannot be defeated, will one day make them to vnderstand it.