Concerning the Truth of Christian Religion, Chapter 11
The xj. Chapter.
That God gouerneth the World and all things therein by his Prouidence.
ARistotle was woont to say, that the diuersitie of Questions ought also to hauehave diuersitie of Answers. Some (sayth he) doe aske whether Fire bee hot: & these must be made to perceiue it by touching it; for their sence is sufficient to shape thē an answer. Some demaund whether their father & moother be to be honored; & such are not worthie to be disputed with, but rather to be rebuked right sharply. And others desire to hauehave it proued to them by apparant reasons, that there is a Prouidence which ruleth the world. Such kynd of folke (sayth he) should be answered by a whippe or a hangman, and not by a Philosopher. His meaning was in fewe words, that there is not any thing so sensible and naturall, nor any thing whereof the feeling is so fresh in our sences, or so déepely printed in our nature, as Gods prouidence ouer the world: and that wee ought to thinke it more sure, than the things which wee feele with our hands, or than the things whereof our owne Conscience conuicteth vsus. For in that he ordeyneth a greater punishment for him that doubteth of Gods prouidence, than for him that resisteth sence and nature; he doth vsus to vnderstand, that the fault is vntolerable, as ye which is eyther a manifest guyle, or at leastwise an ouergrosse ignorance,Ignorance next cosin vntounto Guyle. which the Lawyers affirme to be next …owsen to guyle. And in very déede, if the denying that there is any God, bee a belying of a mans owne sences, and of his owne nature, and of all the whole world it self, as I hauehave sayd afore: I cannot say but that the graunting that there is a God, and yet notwithstanding to denye him the gouernment of things, is more vntolerable than the other; considering how great iniurie is offered vntounto him in cōfessing him after such a sort, as to attribute vntounto him eyes without sight, eares without hearing, might without mynd, mynd without reason, will without goodnesse, yea and a Godhead without properties peculiar to a Godhead: In respect whereof the auncient Philosophers called the Godhead it self foreign, that is to …ay God or Prouidence, becaue the one cannot bee imagined without the other. And therefore in their iudgement, as much an Atheist was he that denyed Gods prouidence, as he that denyed the Godhead it self. I demaund of any man which confesseth that there is GOD, I say euen of the sauagest of them all, whereby he knoweth it? Hée will answere, by the orderly conueyance of things which he seeth both aboue and beneath; by the order which they kéepe without fayling, and by the tending of so innumerable contrarieties to one marke; the Heauen heating the Earth, the Ayre moystening it, the Earth bringing foorth Hearbes, the Beastes feeding vppon the same, and all seruing for the vse of man. It is all one therefore as if he should say, that he knoweth him by his Prouidence, and by the interlinking of all things together which he hath marked in them all. Againe, he will say he hath perceyued, in Mettalles, (as ye would say) certeyne wombes which nourish them and bring them foorth; in Plants, a certeyne vertue which draweth their nourishment frō the earth, and with very good proportion distributeth the same abroade from braunch to braunch, and from leafe to leafe; and which (as though it had a kynd of vnderstanding of the owne mortalitie) bringeth foorth a seede at such tyme as the decay therof approcheth: and in Beastes also, that one member doth for another, and eueryevery of them for the whole; a desire to increase their kynd; Doogges to giuegive sucke; and a skilfull care to nourish and preserue their young ones: And he hath considered that none of all this could bee so layd for aforehand by it selfe, and therefore that there was some other thing aboue them. Thus must it néedes be, that he is led againe by the consideration of the prouidence, to the knowing of God. Now, if the prouidence which wee hauehave marked, doe make vsus to say that there is a GOD by mounting vp from the effects to the causes of them; doth it not followe that Prouidence is the peculiar effect of God, and that he which denyeth that, denyeth the Godhead it selfe, forasmuch as the Godhead is not to be knowne but by the Prouidence?
If God hauehave no care of the world, I aske of thée whether it bée for that he cannot, or for that he will not? If he cannot, how canst thou say he is almightie? Or how canst thou say he is infinite, seeing thou knowest the bounds of his power? Agayne, how canst thou call him wise, sith it is the propertie of wisedome to guyde things to some certeyne ende, and not to leaue any thing subiect to fortune? And seeing that his power and wisdome hauehave extended to all things for the creating of them, who shall keepe them from extending to al things for the ordering and mainteyning of them? Besides this, the Plant hath no reason to guyde it selfe, nor to preserue it selfe against that which is to come, and yet notwithstanding thou seest there a mynd which furnisheth out all the partes thereof, and a wisdome which watcheth ouer it against that which is to come. The Beast also hath no more reason than the Plant, though it both feele and mooue. Yet is there an Inwit in it which the Beast knoweth not of, which Inwit concocteth, digesteth, and distributeth that which the beast hath eaten, and disperseth it foorth into his parts by iust proportion, watching for it when it sleepeth, and thinking vppon it when it thinketh not thereon. It perceiueth (I wo…e not how) that it hath need of Earth, of Ayre, or of Nest to lay the yong ones in: it prouideth aforehand for the tyme to come, and shiftety countries according to the seasons of the yeere, cho… sing them out naturally, without fayling at any time. In all these things there shineth foorth a certeyne prouidence, which yet for all that, the beast neither knoweth nor conceiueth. Thou thy selfe which art indewed with reason, hast a forecast, and by that forecast doest the things which other wights doe by nature, or rather which nature (that is to say the foreordinance of the Creator dooth for them,) the more whereof thou hast, the more also doest thou prouide aforehand. For as little a worme as thou art, thou inuentest a thousand trades and artes, which are euerichone of them so many poynts of wisdome, and consequently as many prouidences. As much as thou canst, thou makest all things to stoope to thy lur…, thou applyest the rayne and the drought, the heate and the cold, to thyne owne commoditie: thou turnest the doings of thy neighbors, of the Cittie and of thy Commonweale to thine owne profite and honor: yea and if it were possible, thou wouldest apply the heauen, the earth, the sea, and oftentymes euen God himselfe to thine own benifite. Now then who prouideth for the Plants and for the brute beastes in whom thou seest so great prouidence though they themselues hauehave none at all, but onelyonly he which made them? Or who directeth the Arrowe to the marke, the Arrowe (I say) which seeth not the marke, but the Archer who hath eyes for it? And cannot he prouide for all, which giueth prouidence to all? And he that giueth it thee in such sort as thou the… by makest al things to stoope to thy Lure, whereas yet notwithstanding thou madest them not, and of whom thou scarsly knowest the names, is not he able to gouerne eueryevery one of them according to their nature, and too direct them, yea and thee too, vntounto the end that he hath purposed, seeing he hath made them? Againe, if God be not able to prouide for things, and to direct them to their end, how say we that he surmounteth all that euer we can imagine, sith we cannot deny, but that hee which prouides aforehand is of more abilitie than he that cannot. And if wee can imagine any thing to be greater then hee, why should not wee our selues be that thing? And if euen in man, the abilitie of prouiding be better then the vnabilitie, seeing we vphold that whatsoeuer is excellent in our selues, (which yet notwithstanding is but in measure and by perticipation,) the same is infinitely and originally in God: Why doe we not graunt that God by his infinite wisdome can direct all things to his ende, as well as eueryevery thing can by their particular wisdom which he hath printed therein, prouide for the things which the nature thereof requireth? Too bee short, seeing that ProuidēceWhat Prouidence is. is nothing els but a wise guyding of things to their end, and that eueryevery reasonable mynd that woorketh, beginneth his worke for some end, and that God (as I hauehave said afore) the workemaister of all things, hath (or to say more truely) is the souereine mynd,All working of an vnderstanding mind is to some end. equall to his owne power: doth it not follow that God in creating the worlde, did purpose an end? And what other could that end bee, than himselfe and his owne glory, considering that the end wherevnto a thing tendeth, cannot be lesse good than that which tendeth vntounto it? and againe that as farre as his power extendeth in abilitie to create the world at the beginning, so farre doth his wisdome extend in abilitie to guyde aud direct it to that end? And seeing that the beginner and the end of things (the Archer (I meane) and the marke that he shootes at) are both one, that is to wit God himselfe: can any thing crosse him or incounter him by the way, to hinder his atteyning therevnto? Well then thou seest now, that thou canst not deny GOD the gouernment of the world, vnderunder pretence that he is vnable.
But you will say, that he will not voutsafe to hauehave a care thereof. How come you I pray you to be so priuie to his will? Hath nature taught you? Nay, thou seest, in the Plants a certeine inclination to nourish all their parts; in beastes, a charishnesse to bring vp their yong; in men, a desire to prouide for their children and household; and in all folkes a regard to the mayntenaunce of the things which they hauehave either made or manured. And him that doth otherwise thou estéemest to bee, not a barbarous persone or a wylde beast, but a very block or a stone. Now then shall not he which hath giuen such inclination to all things, yea euen to the very sencelesse creatures by his touching of them, shall not he himself (I say) hauehave it for them all? Darest thou beréeue him of that which thou takest to bee a prayse to thy selfe? or darest thou father that vppon him, which thou takest to bee an iniurie to thy selfe? Nay, like as this care is a sparke of goodnes, so he that is the goodnes it selfe and the welspring of all that euer is good in all things, sheadeth foorth this care into all things by his goodnes. He say I which hath voutsafed to create vsus, will not disdeyne to preserue vsus. But forasmuch as it was his will to create vsus to some purpose, (for if nature doe not any thing in vayne, how much lesse doth he that created nature?) he will also guyde vsus to that purposed end, by his wisdome.
Let vsus sée what things wickednes can alledge against so manifest a doctrine. First of all steppes me foorth Epicurus, and denyeth that he sees any prouidence at all in the world, but thinks to marke many things to the contrarie in the whole world;Obiections against Gods Prouidence. Alphonse the tenth King of Spayne sayd that if he had bin with God at the creation of the world, it should hauehave bin much better ordered thā it is: and God punished him for so saying. Roderik of Toledo in the sixth chap. of his 4. booke. whereby he will néedes gather that there is no prouidence, no nor (if he durst say it) any God at al. For if there were a prouidence (saith he) why should Mountaynes occupie any part of the Earth? why should there bée any wyld beastes? why should there be any Sea? And of that little dry ground that is, why should two parts be vninhabitable, the one for ouer great heate, and the other for ouer great cold; and the third part be in daunger to be vnhabited also, were it not that men plucked vp the Bryers and Thornes that woulde ouergrowe it? Why falleth the Snowe vponupon the Corne, and the Frost vponupon the Uines? Why blowe the winds both on Sea and Land? To bee short, why happen sicknesses and diseases according to the seasons of the yere, and finally death? And at a word, why is man borne in worse case than the least thing that creepeth on the earth, and hath néede of many things which all other wights may well forbeare?
Nay, he should rather hauehave sayd, I sée a thousand mouings in the Heauen, whereof eueryevery one hath his peculier end, and yet tend all neuerthelesse to one selfsame generall end. I see them all caryed by one vniuersall moouing, notwithstanding that eueryevery of them inforce themselues to the contrarie by their owne proper courses; and that this vniuersal motion is moued by one Moouer, which moouer so ouerruling them, must néedes be of sufficient power to rule them all, considering that euen with one twinckling of an eye, hee ruleth euen the same Heauen that caryeth all the rest about. It followeth then that there is one principall moouer, which gouerneth the Heauen and all the diuersitie conteined therein. Agayne, I see that the Globe of the Earth and of Sea togither, is in respect of the Heauen but a litle point, or (as Pythagoras said) but as one of the least Starres: that the Moone ruleth the Tydes of the Sea, and the Sunne the seasons of the Earth, and they both are disposed by the course of the heauen. Wherevpon I conclude, that he which ruleth the Heauen, ruleth both the Sunne and the Moone, and that hee which ruleth them, doth also rule both the Sea and the Earth. For how is it possible that he which ruleth the whole, should come short in ruling any part of the whole? Or howe should the force of hym be impeached by the Earth, which gouerneth those by whome the earth hath her force? Insomuch that if (to my séeming) his prouidence appere more lightsomly in the Heauen than in the Earth, (which yet notwithstanding is not so,) and I cannot yéelde a reason of all the things which I sée: I will consider with my selfe that I hauehave séene many instruments made by men as I my selfe am, whereof I sée plainly the effectes, but I conceiue not the causes of them: Also that in other some I perceyue well the vse of some partes of them, namely of the greatest and notablest parts, but as for the smaller parts, as the Uices, Nailes, Pinnes, Riuers, Buttons and such like, I hauehave thought them to be but bywoorks, and yet without them the residue could not hold togither, nor performe that which they were made for: and although they were taken all a sunder, and shewed mée seuerally one by one; yet could I hardly conceiue them. Yea and moreouer that I my selfe hauehave made some, whereof my Seruants and Children hauehave not perceiued the reason at all, but would hauehave burned them in the fire as seruing to no vse. And therefore I will prayse GOD in the things which I knowe, woonder at him in the things which I conceiue not, and rather thinke my selfe (who am as nothing) to want wit and vnderstanding, than misdéeme him that is the maker of all things too bée faultie in his prouidence. But sith fooles must be answered to their follies, least they should thinke themselues wise; and that the wisdome of these folke consisteth all togither in putting foorth questions, and in answering to nothing: let vsus examine these goodly demaunds ouer from poynt to poynt.The obiection of Moūtaines. If there be a Prouidence (say they) whereto serue the Mountaines? Nay, say rather, if all were of one sort, where were then Prouidence? For what els is Prouidence, but a disposing of many sundrie things to some one ende? And how cā any such disposing be, where there is but one selfsame thing euerywhere throughout? Bruite beast that thou art! So would an Ant speake of thée. It would aske whereto serued the rising of thy nose aboue thy face, or of thy browes aboue thyne eyes, or of thy ribbes aboue the rest of thy bodie; all which are higher aboue thy bodie, than the Mountaines are aboue the Plaines of the earth. Thou estéemest greatly of the beautie that is in thy face, and of the proportion that is in thy bodie; insomuch that thou fallest euen in louelove with them in another; and yet thou wilt finde fault with it in the whole world, as a deformitie and want of order. But thou Lucrece, durst thou (I pray thée) bee so bolde as to speake so of a Painter? Or would it not offend thée if another man should speake so grossely of thy bookes? If a man should finde fault with the shadowing of a picture in a table; it would be answered that the Shoomaker ought not to presume aboue the Pantople. For without the blacke, the white could hauehave no grace; neither could the bright bée set out, without a dimming; nor difference and proportion of parts appeare, without a medley of contrary resemblance; nor finally the …unning of the Painter be perceiued, without diuersitie of colours. Also he that should finde fault with the art of thy booke, hauing red but some péeces of it here and there; should by and by bee answered by the Lawyer, That a man cannot iudge of the Lawe, without reading it wholly throughout. And if there happen any absurditie; by and by there starts me vp a whole world of Grāmarians, which inforce their wittes to the vttermost to excuse it, and to finde some elegancie in thyne vncongruities. Alledging that that which is vnseemly in the part, beautifieth the whole worke, and the shadowe more than the perfect colour, and the dimme more than the bright, when they be fitly placed. All the commendation of these paynted things, consisteth in their diuersities. Insomuch that if thou see a Playne ouerhanged with a shadie Rocke, or a dankish denne at the head of a Riuer springing out of it; thou likest the better of the table for it, and praysest the Paynter the more for his skill. Surely it is not possible that the Playne should please thée more than the Hilles, or the Riuer more than the Rockes, but that neither without other could please thée at all. Now, if thou diddest consider the World as the worke of God, and the Mountaines and other parts which thou mislikest, not in themselues but as they be small péeces of that worke; doubtlesse thou wouldest say as much thereof. And therefore sith thou canst not at one view behold all the whole world together, to iudge of the proportion of the whole masse and of the seuerall parts thereof at one instant; learne to commend the cunning of the workmaister in the things which thou thinkest thy selfe to vnderstande, rather than to call it into question, for the things which thou vnderstandest not.
But let vsus sée further what reason thou hast to complaine. Thou wouldest shunne both Rayne, Hayle, & Frost. Behold, the Mountaynes furnish thée with wood and Timber to house thée, to shelter thée, and to make thée warme. Thou followest the commoditie of Traffick; and behold, they serue thy turne with Riuers from East, West, North, and South, making way from the middest of the Land to the Sea, and ioyning the Coastes of Sea and Land together. The ambition of thy neighbours is suspected of thée, and thyne perchaunce is noysome vntounto them: the high Mountaines are as bounds to separate Nations asunder, and to kéepe them from incroching one vponupon another. I omit the Wines and fruits which they yéeld foorth, the clere waters which they shed out, the flockes and heards of Cattel which they feede, and the pleasant dwellings which they conuey in them. If thou couldest finde as many things in thy bare Playne alone, I would giuegive thée leaue to complayne of the Mountaynes. Nay, on the contrary parte, if thou haddest felt the discommodities of the Playnes of Lybie; or but onelyonly of the Playnes of Beawsse, or of the Desert of Champayne, thou wouldest by and by wish that all were Mountaynes; and yet notwithstanding, if all were playne, or al were hilground, thou couldest not tell how to commend or discommend eyther of them both. Now then, let this stand for an answere to all those Philosophers which take vppon them to controll the parts of a worke which they conceyue not whole. For, to blame the whole World for the Mountaynes sake, or the Mountayne for the Woods that grow thereon, is all one as if ye should finde fault with the whole man for lesse than a wert or a heare; when as yet notwithstanding, in an old man thou honorest the same heare which the Barber cutteth off and casteth into the fire, yea and thou honorest the olde man for the very same.
But let vsus procéede with the rest of their arguments. Thou complaynest of the wilde Beastes;Wyld Beastes. And who hath made them wild but thy selfe? Nay rather, thou shouldest wonder at the prouidence of God, who (as Apollonius hath well marked) hath printed such an awe of man in them, that they hurt him not vnlesse they bée assaulted or pinched with extreme hunger. And therein what do they more than man would do in like extremitie? But thou hast yet further cause to wonder at his prouidence, in that the Beastes which might hurt thée, go single alone by themselues, and haunt the Couerts and Caues of the earth, and make but small increase; whereas the Beasts which are for thy benefite, how huge and strong soeuer they be, come home familiarly to thée, submitting themselues in whole flockes and heards to a Childe, and increasing into thousands within small tyme. Tell me in good earnest, is it a worke of fortune, that the Beastes which may anoy thy life doe shunne thée, and that those with whose life thou maynteynest thyne owne life, should come and offer themselues vntounto thée?
But the Sea displeaseth thée for occupying so much of ye Earth. Wart thou a dweller in the Sea as thou art on ye Land, the Earth would displease thée for occupying so much of the Sea.The Sea, Aristotle concludeth that there is a Prouidence, bycause the earth is vncouered, which the Sea as the hygher element wold else ouerwhelme. In his booke of Woonders. And yet what a deale thereof is still emptie, which were sit to be inhabited? Know thou, that thou art beholden to it for the great number of liuing wights which it fostereth for thée, for the great number of Townes and Cities which it inricheth for thée; for the Nauigations whereby it shorteneth thy way and yéeldeth thée Trafficke; and for his vapors wherwith he mainteyneth the ayre and maketh the earth fat. For put the case that the Sea were dryed vp at an instant: what a number of Cities thinkest thou should be seene desolate and Nations desert, when men should bee in case with the drought, as Fishes are that be left on drye ground at the going away of the tyde? Why shouldest thou not rather commend the beneficialnes thereof the more, in that not thinking it enough to lend it selfe to thée to doe thee seruice otherwise: it also teacheth thée the mightie prouidence and prouident might of him that made it, whē thou seest it ouerdreepe the earth, and threaten it with drowning eueryevery minute of an hower, and yet is not able to passe his bounds: or when thou seest it seeke to inuyron a great Countrey round about as though it were to imbrace it; and yet to stay at a very narrowe balke, or els to winde it selfe into the bowelles of the Land at a narrowe chanell; whereas notwithstanding an infinite sort of little Iles are settled in the middest of the déepe, like a sort of small motes in a Pond. For, seeing that thou seekest thy commoditie and profite thereby, thinkest thou not that he also seeketh his glorie? And though thou haddest none other profite by it, were it not very much for thée to hauehave had it as a ground and matter wherfore to magnifie him?
The WindesThe wynd perchaunce do make thée to hate it: for thou must néedes hauehave a saying to them too; and yet on the other side, if it hold calme, thou art weary of it. But couldest thou without them hauehave knowne the tenth part of the Earth? How couldest thou hauehave discouered the Land of Perow and the Iles of Moluckes? Nay, how couldest thou hauehave come to the nerest Iles vntounto thée, without thē? Now, if thou like of the Wind when it is fauourable to thée; why should not another man that hath to doe in a contrary Coast, like well of it when it is contrary to thée? And if both of you finde fault with the storminesse thereof; knowe ye that he which made it wilbe glorifyed thereby, in that he doth thée to vnderstand, that he is able to méete with thée both on Sea and Land, and thou art taught to call vponupon him, when the selfesame winde which hath caryed thée at thy pleasure, is readie to dash thée against the Land.
But of that little of the drye ground which remaineth, two parts (sayst thou) be vnhabitable.The Earth vnhabitable. Who tolde thee so? Nay rather, why doest thou not couclude therevpon, that there is a Creator; seeing that euen in thy tyme those parts were not inhabited? Surely the Winds whom thou blamest so much, hauehave taught vsus that in those Clymates are goodly Countries, people of better health and greater strength than wee, more beautifull Cities, and more delicate fruites; and wee finde them so temperate, that we forsake the temperatest Countries here, to goe thether. The daies and yéeres are measured otherwise in one Countrie than in another: but yet in this varietie there is a constancie: and the one selfesame Sunne which maketh so many diuersities, doth thée to vnderstand, that he which made the Sunne could well make the other things. To bee short, there is so great eunning in all these things, that thou hast bene inforced to make an Arte for the learning of them. And what els is an Arte, but the setting of diuers Rules in order together? And if Arte bee so néedfull for the knowing of them; who will not say that there is much more Arte in the thing it selfe?
Thou blamest the Thornes Bryers and Bushes for couering the earth: but thou considerest not into how many mischiefes ydlenesse plungeth thée. Thou blamest the Frost and Snowe for hindering thy Husbandrie, whereas in déede they twitch thée by the eare, to put thée in mynd that the foyzon of the earth commeth of God. Thou blamest the Rayne for wetting thée; whereas yet notwithstanding it moysteneth thy grounds and makes them fat. At a worde, thou playest the babe, who thinkes his Nurce does him wrong when she kembes his head or puts on his cloathes, or rather when sometymes she plucks a firesticke from him, or takes a knife out of his hand: that is to say, thou misconstrewest al the good which the bountifull prouidence of God doth vntounto thée.
But in the end (sayst thou) why be we not able to help our selues assoone as we be borne?The birth of Man. Why bee wee subiect to so many diseases, and in the end to death? I will not now presse thée with that which I will speake of hereafter: namely, that for all these things none is to blame but thy selfe: for euen in the same things which thou findest fault with, I will shewe thée still to thy face, the prouidence of God. The babe is borne without abilitie to helpe himself, and hath none other skill at all but to crye. Contrarywise the bruite Beast is no sooner come from his Damme, but he is able to goe. Be it so. Yet notwithstanding, of all these babes (which to thy seeming are but as forlorne things) none dyeth for want of nurce or nourishment, though there be nothing but payn and care in bringing them vp. Therfore it must néedes follow, that euen from the beginning, a certeyne prouidence hath watched ouer them, which hath ingrauen this kindly affection and carefulnesse in the mothers breast; and the lesse that babes can do for themselues, the more manifestly doth Gods power shine foorth in prouyding for them. As for the bruite Beasts, it was not requisite for them to be brought into the world in that sort, forasmuch as being vnable to conceiue reason, they had no interest at all in the knowledge of those things.
As touching diseases,Siknesses and Diseases. if thou blame the seasons of the yeere for them; thou mayst as well blame the fire for burning thée, which yet notwithstanding thou canst not forbeare: For the fault is in thyne owne vndiscréetnesse, and not in their nature; and in thyne own vnrulinesse, and not in their distemperance. The selfsame heate wherwith thou findest fault, ripeneth the Corne, Wine, and Fruites wherewith the most part of the world are fed. And if thou thinke that any man be therby cast into an Agew; he might hauehave forborne the to hauehave gone into the Sunne, but he could not hauehave forborne the shining of the Sunne vponupon the earth. But if fathers of housholds hauehave roddes at hand to correct their children withal, and that a part of their gouernment consist therein: thinkest thou it straunge … he which hath set vsus in the World, should hauehave meanes to … vsus in awe, & to bring vsus home to him? What wilt thou say … a number of diseases, which are as certeine fruits of some vices & sinnes? as one of Drunkennesse; and another of Lecherie, and so forth? Or what wilt thou say to Hippocrates himselfe, who speaking of ordinarie sores and diseases, inioyneth the Phisition in any wise to consider well, whether there be any peculiar stroke of God in them or no? that is to say, whether the sicknesse or disease bee extraordinarie, so as the proper and nerest cause thereof, be the hand of God vponupon the party? Now furthermore, if there be nothing but disorder and wretchednesse in this World; why blamest thou death, which maketh thée to depart out of it? If it bee because thou hast goodes which thou art loth to forgo: thou must consider that if thy parents had not giuen place to thée by order of Nature, those goodes had now bene none of thyne. If it be because Death maketh cleane riddance of most things; thinke also that in so doing it maketh place for other moe that are to spring vp in their place. But yet if thou wouldest consider how often men goe to seeke Death where it seemeth to be doluen most déepe, and yet finde it not; how many méete with it at Bankets, at Feastes, at Mariages, at Triumphes, and where they would most faynest forget it; how many there be which dye yoong and in good health; and how many liue fore diseased euen to the depth of olde age; how many returne safe from most cruell Battels, to dye in their beddes; and how many dye in battell or in some fray, which hauehave shunned strife and tumult all their life long: thou shalt easely perceyue that our life and our death are not in our owne hand, ne yet depend vponupon fortune, forasmuch as we scape so many places where fortune seemeth to reigne; and that much lesse doth our life and death depend vponupon Nature, seeing it is not with vsus as it is with Trées and other liuing things to whom there is set a certeyne terme, which for the most part they fulfill and ouerpasse it not: but that our life and death depend vponupon a higher cause, whose onelyonly will disposeth and boundeth them, accordingly as is expedient for his owne glorie, for the order of the whole, yea and for our selues too.
Had it not bene better then (sayst thou) that man had bene made immortall rather than mortall? And had it not bene much better also (I say) that the earth had rather bin fire than earth, or that the eare had rather bene eye than eare, seeing that the one is more excellent than the other, and in the opinion of the Philosophers it is better to hauehave qualities actiue than passiue? Had the earth bin fire, where couldest thou hauehave rested? And if thyne eares had bene eyes, what had become of thy spéech, yea & of thy reason too? Now therefore my friend, giuegive this world leaue to be a world, that is to wit a disposing of diuers things, and an order of many degrées. EueryEvery kinde of thing hath his bounds and buttelles, accordingly as God hath listed to appoynt thereto. The Plant is a Plant because it doth but liue and grow; if it had sence also, thē should it be a Beast. A Beast is a Beast, because it liueth and hath sence: if it procéeded so farre as to hauehave reason also, then were it a Man. Man reasoneth and discourseth because he is Man; and were he therto vnchaungeable, he were a God. He therefore that demaundeth why the Plant hath no sence, and why Man is not immortall in this World; demaundeth why the Plant is a Plant, and why Man is Man. To be short, the cause why it is so, is that it hath pleased God to set as it were the diuers strings of the World in tune to make one harmonie, insomuch that whosoeuer taketh away the diuersitie of things, taketh away the World it selfe.
But this is a poynt whereon they greatly stand. Well say they, Admit that the diuine Prouidence hauehave stablished the World, yea and that it hauehave an vniuersall care thereof: Yet to toyle it self in the carke and care of so many particular things,Obiection of base and vyle things. specially in this sinke here beneath, I meane in this elementall world which is subiect to so many chaunges; seemeth rather woorthie of dispraise than of praise. Nay say I, but if it be a praise vntounto God to hauehave created all things as well beneath as aboue; what discommendation can it bee vntounto him to preserue them all? And seeing he made them all of nothing, whence procéedeth their woorthinesse or vnwoorthinesse but of his will? Why should the cloth of Gold be of more account than the cloth of Hempe, or the Silke of more account than the Linnen, to the Paynter that paynted them both? If God gouerne the Heauen, why should he not also gouerne the Earth, whereon doe go so infinite sorts of liuing things, in eueryevery of the which, yea euen in the Flye and the Ant, the greatnesse of the Creator shineth forth more than in the very Heauen: as namely in their so liuely life, so readie vse of sences, so nimble and free mouing, yea and in the very littlenesse of them, which in so small roome conteyneth so many great things together? For wee wonder more at the Clockmakers cunning in making a Clock which a Flye may couer with her wings, than in making a Clocke of great compasse, where the very greatnesse if selfe diminisheth the estimation thereof. If thou bee afrayd least ye spirit of God should soyle it selfe in these corruptible things; remember that looke with what mynd Cincinnatus commaunded his men of Warre and ruled the Commonweale, with the very same mynd did he both till and dung his ground, and yet thou coū test him neuer the more defiled or imbaced thereby. The selfesame Sunne which giueth light in the Skye, pearceth through ye darke Cloudes and foggie Mistes, dryeth vp drawghts and Sinks, and sheadeth foorth his beames euen into the things which seeme most filthie and lothly; and yet he himselfe is not blemished or defiled therewith. Now then, art thou afrayd least God who careth for all things without care, moueth them without touching them, and atteyneth to them without putting himself foorth, is not able to wéeld these lower things without defyling himself by them? But it were more conuenient (sayth Aristotle) that God should deale with the great things himself, as the King of Persia doth in his priuie Chā ber, and that he should leaue the care of the smaller things to his Princes. As who would say, that the Gardyner which hath sowed both the great Cabbage and the little Turnippe, both the Gourd and the Melone, should make more account of the one for ye greatnesse therof, than of the other for the smalnes therof. Or as though thou wouldest not also the more woonder at the King, if without stirring out of his priuie Chamber, he could appoynt all things to be done, or rather doe all the things himselfe which other men doe. What is the thing (I pray thée) which thou commendest in Mithridates, but that he could call all his Souldiers eueryevery one by his owne name? Or in Phillip King of Macedonie, but that he him selfe made the prouision for all his whole Hoste, euen for their cariages and for fodder for their Beastes? Or in the great Captaynes of our tyme; but that they can skill, not onelyonly to make Warre and to order their Battelles, but also to set downe what the dayly expences of their Armies will come vntounto, euen to eueryevery loafe of bread and eueryevery bottle of Hay? and welnere within one or two shot, how many shot of the Cannon will make a breach in such a wall or such a Bulwarke, and so foorth? Or finally in this Captayne or that, sauing that this Captaine could skill to set the Sunne vponupon the face of his enemies; and another to cast the winde, the dust or the smoke in their eyes; and another to serue his owne turne by a Marris; and some other to drawe his enemie into a myrie and dirtie Countrie? And what viler or baser things can there be than these aforerehearsed? Finally what is it that ye commend in the skilfullest Warriours of them al, but that they could skill to serue their own turne? Or in the most glorious Conquerours, but that they gat the victorie in the ende? And so thou must néedes graunt that whereas the Counterparties fayled to doe the like, it was not for want of courage or goodwill, but for want of power or skill. Now, whatsoeuer is in the whole World, is the Armie or Hoste of God, an Armie or Hoste (I say) not which he hath gathered of his neighbours, but which he hath created with his owne hands? He knoweth all the Starres by name; for he made them. He hath prouided foode for all liuing things, and one of them is no greater to him than another: for they hauehave no being at all any longer than he listeth. If he make warre here beneath, all his Armies are readie to do him seruice and to wage battell vnderunder his Banner, yea euen the ambitiousnesse of Princes to punish themselues one by another. If Nations wexe proud; he armeth against them the Grashoppers, and the Locusts, the Horefrostes and the Blastings, the Windes and the Uapors of the Earth. In eueryevery of vsus he hath his inlookers to chastize vsus; in our flesh, our corruptions; in our mynde, our passions; and in our Soules, our sinnes and disorders. There is not so small a thing, which serueth not him to very great purpose; nor thing so vyle, which serueth not his glorie; nor thing so enemylike, which fighteth not to get him the victorie; nor thing so wrongfull, which executeth not his Iustice; nor thing so much against him, which hitteth not the marke that he ameth at. Therfore pleade not in this behalf vnaduisedly for Gods glorie. For, the more stirring, the more chaunge, the more disorder there is here beneath; the more doth he shewe the vnmouable decree of his euerlasting Prouidence, which (will they or nill they) directeth all the vncoustancies of this world to one certeyne end. And if perchaunce thou be afrayd least GOD should bee tyred with the payne and trauell: (for he hath néede of thyne vngodlines to reléeue him) consider how thyne own Soule, without any toyle to it selfe, and without thy priuitie, doth at one selfesame instant both prouide for the susteyning of thée, and make all thy parts to grow, eueryevery of them according to his peculiar portion and proportion, giuing sence euen to thy nailes and the heares of thy head, which are but outgrowings and not parts of thy bodie. And if thou wilt know how this Prouidence is occupied without toyle; consider how that thy Soule (notwithstanding all the businesse which thy Soule doth without thy thinking theron) forbeareth not also in the meane while to mount vp euen vntounto heauen, and by the discourses thereof to turmoyle the whole Earth; to lay for the maintenance and defence of innumerable howsholds, & likewise for the decay and ouerthrow of as many others; and to search into the dealings of the enemie, to make them to serue his owne turne; to treate both of Warre and Peace together at one tyme, and with the selfesame persons both at once. And darest thou now thinke that God is toyled in the things which thou thy selfe doest without toyle? Or that he is tyred with the gouernments wherein thou wouldest take pleasure? Or that he being a free and infinite Spirite, doth not that in a limited bodie, which thy Soule being finite in it selfe, doth in thy bodie where it is as in a prison? To bee short, seeing thou presumest to doe thy will with the things wherof thou canst not make one heare; shall GOD be vnable to doe his will with the things which he of his owne only wil hath made and created? The vertue that is in a kernell or a Plant, sheadeth it selfe from the roote to the vttermost braunches, yéelding nourishment seuerally to the stocke or stalke, to the pith, to the barke, to the flowers, to the leaues, and to the fruite, to eueryevery of them according to the proportion and nature thereof. The Sunne it selfe in kéeping his course, and without mynding any such thing, yéeldeth heate to innumerable Plants, and to innumerable people; and yet heateth not himself one whit the more. Now, if a creature doe so: what shal we say of the Creator? What shall we say of him which is not the Soule of the Plant, or of the Beast, or of Man; but the maker of al things, yea which made thē of nothing, who is not (as some Philosophers hauehave vphild) the Soule of the World; but rather (if he may be so termed) the very life and Soule of all life and Soule in the World? But as we see dayly, if the Counsell of a Realme can not ceasse one wéeke, without confusion of the Commonweale; nor the Soule of a man or a Beast, forbeare woorking bee it neuer so little, without the death of the partie; nor the life that is in Plants stay without withering of the Plant; nor the Sunne goe downe without procuring darknesse, or suffer Eclips without some notable chaūge: much more reason hauehave we to beléeue, that if the world and al that is therein were not guyded, vphild, and cared for by the same power wisedome and goodnesse that created it and set in such order as it is: it would in one moment fall from order into confusion, and from confusion to nothing. For, to hauehave no care of it, is to mislike of it: and to mislike of it, is in God to vndoe it, forasmuch as Gods willing of it, was the very doing of it. Now, if Gods Prouidence extend it selfe throughout to all things, aswell in Heauen as in Earth: wee cannot doubt but that it extendeth also vntounto man. For what thing is there of so greate excellencie, either on Earth as mans body, or in Heauen as mans Soule? And in extending it selfe to man, it must needes extend it selfe equally to all men. For who is either greate or small, poore or riche, in respect of him which made both of nothing? Or what oddes is there betwixt them, sauing that whereas both of them bee but slaues to him that setteth foorth the tragedie, he appareleth the one in Cloth of Gold to play the King, and the other in a course Pilche to play the Begger, making them to chaunge their apparell when he listeth?
But hehold, here commeth almost an vniuersall grudge. For if there be (say they) a Prouidence; how commeth it too passe that ill men hauehave so much prosperitie, and good men so much aduersitie? that some be so long vnpunished, and othersome so long vnrewarded? And to be short, that one for his wickednes commeth to the Gallowes, and another for the same cause obteineth a Diademe or Crowne?This fellowe for his leawdnes gat a Gibbet, He a Crowne. This question hath combred not onelyonly the most vertuous among the Heathen, but also euen the most Religious of all ages. But it were best to take héere a little breth, and to put it ouer among diuers other things which remayne to bee treated of in the next Chapter following.