Concerning the Truth of Christian Religion, Chapter 12
The xij. Chapter.
That all the euill which is doone, or seemeth to be doone, in the world, is subiect to the prouidence of God.
I Sayd héeretofore concerning GOD, that all things teache vsus that there is but one, and yet notwithstanding that all things togither cannot sufficiently teache vsus what hee is. Also let vsus say concerning Prouidence, That in all things wee see a manifest Prouidence; but yet to séeke out the cause thereof in eueryevery thing, is as much as to sound a bottomlesse pit, if it be not much worse, séeing that the will of God is the cause of all causes. Surely if a man will blame Gods prouidence, because it agreeth not with his owne opinion; he is a thousandfold too bee more mislyked, than hee that should find fault with the maister of an household for the order of his house, where hee hath not lodged aboue one night; or controll the Lawes & Counsell of a straunge countrie, wherof he hath had no further experience than by resorting too the Tauernes and common Innes: Or than the Babe that should take vponupon him to giuegive sentence of his fathers doings, or than the Uarlet that should presume to iudge of the determination of a Court of Parliament, vnderunder pretence that he had hild some mans Male at the Palace gate: or (I will say more) than the brute beast that should vndertake too déeme of the dooings of men. For what are wee to be admitted to the Counsell of God, which cannot so much as abyde the brightnesse of his face? And what vnderstand we further of him, than he voutsafeth too reueale vntounto vsus? What Princis Counseler is so wyse, that he can giuegive his Lord good aduice, vnlesse his Lorde doe first make him priuie to his purpose as well present as past, and to all the other circumstances perteyning thereunto? Or what Husbandman comming from a farre, will presume to vnderstand better what tilth, what séede, what compost, and what time of rest such or such a péece of ground requireth; than he that hath bin acquainted with it all the dayes of his lyfe? And how farre greater thing is it to create, than to till? But forasmuch as God is reason it self, and we through his grace hauehave some sparke thereof: let vsus sée whether it bee not so euident in all his dooings, that in this poynt it inlighteneth euen the darknesse of our reason. And if wee perceiue it not so cleerly in all things, let vsus acknowledge our selues to be but men, betwéene whom and God there is no comparison, whereas in very déede there were no difference betwixt him and vsus, if we could throughly conceiue all his deuices.
Now then whereas it is sayd, that if there be a prouidence, why hauehave good men so much euill, and euill men so much good, afore wée deale with the matter, let vsus agree vponupon the words. I aske of thee which men thou callest good, and which thou callest euill; and likewise what things thou meanest to bee properly good or euill. If I should aske thée why healthy men hauehave so many diseases, and diseased men so much health, thou mightest with good reason laugh mée to skorue: for health maketh healthy, and sicknesse maketh sicke. But whereas thou askest mée why good men hauehave so much euill, and euill men so much good, pardon me though I cause thée to expound thy meaning: for naturally I cannot conceiue, that either good men hauehave euill, or euill men hauehave good. For if by good men you meane rich men, men of honour, and men that are healthy; and that ye take riches, honour, and health to bee the good things: then is your question absurd. For it is al one as if ye should demaund, why hearded men hauehave heare on their chinnes, and beardlesse men hauehave none. But if (as I heare thée say) thou estéemest Solons pouertie to be better than the gold of Crassus; and Platoes honestie better than Dennysis tyrannie; and the Collick and the Stone of a wiseman with his wisedom, to be better than the health and soundnesse of bodie of the foole with his follie: then art thou deceyued with the fayre name of Good: for it is another thing than these goodes, which causeth thée to preferre them and to estéeme them the better. Therfore let vsus say that the good are those which séeke after the true good things, and that the true good things are Godlinesse and Uertue: and contrarywise that the euill folkes are those which are wedded to the things that are euill in déede, that is to say, to sinne and vngodlinesse; and let vsus not confound things together, the good with the bad and the bad with the good. For what goodes soeuer a man can hauehave, or (to speake after thyne owne maner) whatsoeuer euilles he can méete with; he cannot bee good though he hauehave all the goodes in the world, so long as he himselfe is not good; neither can he be in euill case, as long as he himself is not euill. As for the goods which goe about to beguyle vsus vnderunder that attyre; let vsus say they bee outward things, common to the one sort as wel as to the other, for the which a man can no more bee termed good or bad, blesfull or wretched; than he can bee called wise or learned for wearing a rich garment: And contrarywise that as all these false goodes are instruments to the wicked to make them woorse, (as riches to corrupt both themselues and other men; authoritie, to doe vyolence; health to make them the lustier and stouter to doe mischief, and so foorth:) so the euilles which thou termest euilles, are helpes to good men to doe good, and furtherers of them in the exercise of vertue, as pouertie to bridle their lustes, bacenesse to humble them, sicknesse to méeken them, and all maner of comberances to driue them to flee vntounto GOD, and to teach them to succour their neighbours in the like, when God shal hauehave drawne them out of them: euen after the same maner that a sickly bodie turneth all things that are ministred vntounto it, into the vnsound humor which getteth the vpper hand; wheras on the other side, the sound & healthy bodie turneth to his nourishment, euen the meates that are worst of digestion.
Now then, let vsus come to the poynt. Wilt thou knowe why riches and honour are common both to good and bad?That the false goodes are comon both too good and bad. It is because that God (euen in spight of the wicked) cannot but bee good; insomuch that he maketh the showers to rayne and the light to shine vponupon the one as well as on the other, notwithstanding that the one sort doe curse him for wetting them or for making them to sweate, and the other sort doe blesse him for moystening and ripening the fruites of their labours. It is because God déemeth it not agréeable eyther to his owne honor, or to the greefes and trauelles of his seruants, to reward them with trifling things, least they should set their myndes vponupon them; like as a father that kéepeth his heritage for his sonne, thinketh it not to bee for his behoofe, to apparell him in the liuerie of his seruants and slaues. To bee short, it is because he dealeth like a Prince, who maketh his pay common to all his Souldiers: but as for the Garlond of Oke, he giueth it only to such as are the first that in scaling doe enter the breach, or get vp vponupon the wall of a Towne that is assaulted. Likewise Kings doe cast their largesse at aduenture among the people; but as for their honors and dignities, they bestow them vponupon those whom they especially fauour. It misliketh thée that this man tilleth his ground with moe Ploughes than thou: but aduise thy selfe well, whether thou couldest find in thy hart to exchaunge yt inward gifts of grace which GOD hath bestowed vppon thée, with his Oxen and his Ploughes. Another is in greater reputation and authoritie with the Prince than thou art. But consider thou therewithall the hartbytings, the enuie, the hartburnings, and such other things which he indureth; and see whether the meanest degrée in Gods house where thou seruest, being free and exempted from all those things, be not much better than the best roome about any King. The King for his seruice done by him, rewardeth him with Lands, fees, and offices: but if thou be so bacemynded and wrongfull to thy selfe, as to foster thy body with the seruices and charges of thy Soule; consider that God being liberall and iust, intendeth to reward spirituall incounters with spiritual Garlonds, and to recompence thée according to his own honor, and not according to the bacenesse of thy heart; and that so much the more, because that in very déede, he rewardeth not thy workes, but his owne workes in thée. Moreouer, the reward is giuen, not according to thy desart, but according to the worthinesse of him that bestoweth it. The recompence of one selfsame seruice, is farre other at ye hand of a King, than of a meane Lorde. If thou say thou couldest bee contented with a thousande French Crownes, Alexander would answere thée, that it might perchaunce be enough for thée to receyue, but not enough for Alexander to giuegive. And if thou wouldest hauehave GOD to giuegive thée no greater reward than plentie of Wine and Corne, if thou knewest him well, thou wouldest bee ashamed of thy selfe: for it is the foode that is common to all men, and not peculiar to those that are his. Neuerthelesse, if thou step not so farre, but art desirous to knowe what be the goodes which good men hauehave in this world, (I speake of them that seeme not to hauehave them) Seneca telles thée, that they make their life allowable to God who knoweth them; in him they repose themselues, they hauehave peace in their Consciences; if he increase not their present state, they also doe abate their desires; their enemies cōmend their vertue, all the world bemoaneth their want, and those that hauehave the distributing of goodes and honors, are blamed for leauing them vnconsidered. To bee short, the very asking of that Question (be thou a Christian or an Heathen man) is vntounto them an inestimable reward; namely, that whereas concerning the most part of other men, it is wont to be demaunded wherfore they be aduaunced to riches, honor, and authoritie, and they themselues are oftentymes ashamed to tell how they came by them; eueryevery man asketh how it happeneth that the good men are not rich, honorable, and in authoritie. Now, if thou hauehave the courage of a man, wouldest thou not choose as Cato did, that men should rather aske why thou haddest not an Image of thyne set vp in the open place, and why thou wast not admitted to that honour, than otherwise? Yes sayst thou: But if God listed not to giuegive mee them; why hauehave I at leastwise forgone those which I had? Why hath hee taken them from mée? It may be (sayth Seneca) that if thou haddest not forgone them, they would hauehave fordone thée. I tell thée that if hée had not taken them from thée; they would hauehave taken thée from him. I pray thée how often hast thou taken from thy Childe a puppet or some other toye that he played withall, to see whether he would be stubborne or no? How oft haste thou plucked the knife out of his hand, euen when he cryed to hauehave it still? And what euill meanest thou towardes him, when thou weanest him from his Dugge? Now then, thinkest thou it straunge that GOD should cast thy goodes into the Sea, which els would hauehave helped to drowne thée in destruction? O how greatly did Platoes Shipwracke aduauntage him, to make him wise? Or that he should plucke the Sword of authoritie out of thy hand wherof thou art so desirous, which els (peraduenture) had slayne thyne owne Soule? Or that to prepare thée to another life better than this, he should serue thee with such fit meanes, as might make thée to bee in louelove with it? Thou wilt say that thou wouldest hauehave vsed them well: but what a number of men hauehave bin seene, which vnderunder the chastisement of pouertie were good men, whom riches and honor did afterward marre & corrupt? Thou sufferest the Phisition to take frō thée some kynds of meates which thou louest well, and to abridge thée both of thy fare and of thyne exercises, and of thy pleasures, because he hath seene thy water or felt sometymes thy pulse: and wilt thou not suffer God (who hauing created thee and shaped thee, feeleth euerlastingly the pulse of thy Soule) wilt thou not suffer him I say, to bereue thée of some outward thing which he himselfe made, and which would worke thy destruction? Thou commendest the Captayne, who to make his iourney the speedier against his enemie, dispatcheth away all bag and baggage from his Armie, that his Souldiers may go the lighter, and that the breaking of a Chariot may not stay him by the way: and canst thou not finde in thyne heart that he which made thee and gouerneth thée, should dispose of thy baggages: that is to wit, of thy purchases or inheritances which thou hast gotten heere belowe, to make thée the nimbler against vice, and against the continuall temptations of this world?
But Enuie pricketh thee. Why taketh he them not (sayst thou) aswell from this man and that man, as from mée? And why loueth he thée perchaunce better than them? Tell mée why the Phisition appoynteth thee a greater portion of Rhewharbe, than him? Because such a one is more moued with one dramme, than another is with three. One is better purged with a single Clister, than another is with a very strong Purgation. One man is sooner warned of God by the losse of his cropp of Grapes or Corne, than another is by the burning of his house, the losse of all his goodes, and the taking of his Children prisoners. So Iob sawe the losse of his Cattell, the burning of his houses, and the death of all his Children, and yet for all that, he praysed God still. That which was constancie in him, might hauehave seemed blockishnesse in another. But when God came once to the touching of his person, he could not then forbeare to dispute with him. Now then, séeing that the things which thou termest euilles and mischiefes, are in very déede both Medicines and Salues; wilt thou not hauehave them ministred according to the complexion of the patient? And thinkest thou thy selfe wiser in discerning the disposition of thy Soule, thā he that created it, thou I say which darest not trust to thyne own knowledge in the curing of thy bodie? The same is to bee sayd of diuers Nations, whereof some one may happen to be afflicted a longer tyme & more sharply with the Plague or with Warre, than another, and oftentymes also euen for the selfesame causes. For God knoweth both the common nature of whole Nations, and the peculiar natures of eueryevery seueral person. Some nature, if it should not sée the scurge alwaies at hand, would become too too proude and presumptuous: Another, if it should see it continually, would be quite out of hart and fall into dispayre. If some were not kept occupyed with their owne aduersities, they could not refrayne from working mischief to others. Another agayne beeing more giuen to quietnesse, is contented to sweate in tilling his grounds, & in trimming his Gardynes, without coueting other mens goodes so he may keepe his owne. In like case is it with Plants: some require dunging, some rubbing to make them cleane, some proyning, some new graffing againe with the same to take away the harshnesse of their fruite, and some to hauehave their head cropped quite and cleane off. One selfesame Gardyner doth all these things, and a Childe of his that stands by and sees it, woonders at it: but he that knoweth the natures of things, will count him the skilfuller in his arte.
Yea sayst thou, but though these euilles may be Medicines and Salues, how may death be so? For what a number of InnocentsThe murthering of Innocents and giltlesse persons. doe wee see slayne in the world? What a number of good folke doe we see put to the slaughter, not onelyonly good in the iudgement of vsus, but also euen in the iudgement of those that put them to death? Nay rather, what is death but the common passage which it behoueth vsus al to passe? And what great matter makes it, whether thou passe it by Sea or by Land? by the corruption of thyne owne humors, or by the corruptnesse of thy Commonweale? Agayne, how often hauehave Iudges condemmed some man for a cryme, whereof he hath bene giltlesse, and in the denyall whereof he hath stoode euen vponupon the Scaffold, and yet hath there confessed himselfe faultie in some other cryme, vnknowne both to the Iudges and to the standers by? a manifest reproofe either of the ignorance or of the vniustice of the Iudges, but a playne acknowledgement of the wisedome and iustice of the eternall God? And if God hring them to that poynt for one fault, and the Iudge for another; what vniustice is in God for suffering them to bee condemned wrongfully by the Iudge, yea and to be punished with death or otherwise, for a cryme whereof their owne conscience cleareth them as giltlesse, when as God and their owne conscience doo iustly condemne them for some other? As for example, The Iudge condemneth them for conspiracie against the commonweale, whereas God condemneth them (perchaunce) for behauing themselues loosely in defending the commonweale. The Iudge vnderunder colour of offence giuen to the Church, and God for not rebuking the Churchmen freely inough. For I speake as well concerning Heathenfolke, as Christians in this behalfe. And what a nomber doe wee see, which confesse of themselues, and witnesse of their familiar freends, that by thy punishing of them, wherewith thou being the Iudge mentest to hauehave put them in feare and too hauehave restrained them, they hauehave taken warning to amend, and bin the more quickened vp and incoraged? And what els is this, but that as in one selfesame deede, God had one intent and thou another, so also he guyded it to the end that he himselfe amed at, yea and to a contrarie end to that which thou diddest purpose? But what a thing were it if thou sawest the fruite that GOD draweth out of it? The Childe that beholde his Father treading of goodly Grapes, could find in his heart too blame him for so doing, for he thinketh that they should bee kept still, and cannot conceiue to what vse the treading of them should serue: but the Father knowing the goodnes of the Fruite better then the Child, (for he planted them, tended them, and proyned them) considereth also that within two moonethes or little more, they would wither and dry away, and therefore to preserue the vertue of them, he maketh no account of the eating of them, but treadeth them in a Fatte to make Wyne of them. And when the Child comes afterward to discretion, he museth at his owne folly, and acknowledgeth that at that tyme he played the very Child, notwithstanding that as then he thought himselfe wyser than his Father. And after the same maner doth he when he sees him make conserue of Roses, of Uiolets, or of other flowers. He is sory to see them mard (as hee thinketh) and is ready to weepe for it, and he cannot be quieted, because he would make Nosegayes of them, which anon-after would wither, and he himself would cast them away by the next morrow. Now consider I pray thee, whither without any further inducement, thou find not thy selfe too resemble this Child. GOD who made the good men that which they be, hath no lesse consideration and louelove toward them, than those which bewayle them. Hee knoweth to what ende their lyfe serueth in this worlde, also hee knoweth when it is time to gather them, and to put to his Hooke or Sickle, to cut them downe, that they rotte not vppon the tree or vppon the ground, and how long they may be preserued in their kinde. And thinkest thou it straunge that hee should take some when they bee fresh and greene, too preserue them all the yeere long, or that hee should make Conserues of their flowers to bee kept a long time, or that hee should of their grapes make Wyns? Thinkest thou it straunge say I, that he should after a sort make their sauour, their sweete sent, and their strength, that is to say their godlines, their vprightnes, and their vertue too liue after them, which otherwise should bee buried with them? And that they which for themselues could not hauehave liued past three or fower yeres, should liue to the benefite of the Church and the commonweale, not yeres but worlds of yeeres? If thou bee a Christian take for mee example the Apostles and a great nomber of the Martyrs which hauehave suffered persecution: doest thou not euen yet still drink of that liquor of theirs? doth not their constant confession make thee also to confesse Christ, and their death helpe thee too the endlesse lyfe? Could Ignatius and Policarpus hauehave liued aboue fiue or sixe yeres more than they did? And yet what part of all their ages hath lasted so long or done so much good, as the last halfe howre wherein they dyed? Or if thou be a Heathen man, consider mee the death of Socrates or of Papinian? If Socrates had not droonke the iewce of Hemlocke without gilt, haddest thou had those goodly discourses of his concerning the immortalitie of the Soule? Or wouldest thou hauehave beleeued it so easely? and therevpon hauehave bene contented to forgo thy lyfe so freely for the defence of thy Countrie, or for the mayntenance of the trueth? And if Papinian had not shewed how honorable a thing it is to dye for doing right, and how farre the souereine magistrate is to be obeyed, should we not bee bereft of a singular goodly example of stoutnesse and rightfull dealing? What thing did they in all their whole lyfe, either so much to their owne honour, or so beneficiall to them that were to come after them, as their dying in such sort? Now therefore, let vsus say we be but babes. And forasmuch as we perceiue the wisdome of our Father t…o bee so great, whereas wee condemne him of want of skill, and forasmuch as our owne ignorance is so grosse, whereas wee boasted of wisedome, let vsus rather confesse our weakenesse in all cases, than presume to doubt of his sage prouidence in any thing.
But Cato The Goddes allowed that case which had the vpper hand. But Cato with the vanquished, ageinst the Goddes did stand.of Vtica would needes that God should yéeld him a reason, why Caesar ouercame Pompey: as who would say, that the veriest rascall in the Realme, should commaund the high Court of Parliament to yéeld him account, why his case was ouerthrowen. For all our great Quarels and Complaints are lesse before God, than the least case of a poore Uillaine is afore the greatest Monark of the world. Nay, hee should rather hauehave considered that priuate States are punished by order of Lawe, and Commonweales and publik States by ciuill warres: And that the Commonweale of Rome was (euen by his owne confession) so corrupted in maners, in gouernment, and in the very Lawes themselues; that he might hauehave had much iuster cause to hauehave doubted of Gods prouidence, if after her punishing of others for the lyke things, she her selfe had scaped vnpunished: That the Greate men, what part so euer they mainteyned, were the members most infected, in so much that the wisest men of that age said, We see what part we ought to shun, but not what part wee ought to take: And that as Caesar made warre openly against his Countrie, so Pompey couertly and vnderunder hand made his partakers too fight for the mayntenaunce of his owne ambition, which was paraduenture discountenanced too the common people, but could not be counterfetted before God, who seeth the very bottom of our hearts. Now then shall wee thinke it straunge, that to the intent to shewe the common people how greatly they bée subiect to be deceyued vnderunder pretence of good fayth; and to teache great men how fore he mistiketh that they should shrowd their leawde lustes vnderunder the Cloke of Iustice; God should suffer Pompey to fall into the hands of his enemies? And that to punish the pryde of the Senate and the whole state; hée should cause their Army to bee vanquished, and let them fall into the hands of their owne Countryman their naturall Subiect? Nay how could God hauehave shewed his prouidence more manifestly, than by ouerthrowing that State by her owne force, which thought there was not any Power in the worlde able too punish her? and by making her a bondslaue to her owne Seruant, which had brought so many Citties, Commonweales & Kings in bondage vntounto her? But it may be that Caesar himselfe scapeth vnpunished. Nay: To shewe vntounto Tyrannes that the highest step of their greatnesse is tyed to a halter, and that they be but Gods scourges which he will cast into the fyre when he hath done with them; within a whyle after, hée was slayne miserably in the Senate when it was full.Seneca in his third booke of Anger. And by whome? Euen by those in whome hee trusted, which had fought vnderunder his Standard against the Commonweale, and which presuming them selues to hauehave deserued more at his hand than they had in deede,Caesar sawe Cimbrus Tullius, who had a litle afore bin very whote in his defence, & others of his owne confederates in Armes, stād now with their Swords drawe about his Chaire of Estate, and taking part with the Pompeies after Pōpeyes decease. meant to deserue also of the Commonweale in murthering hym. Were wee now as diligent in marking the procéedings of things done in Histories, as we be in noting the maner of spéeches, the order of indyting, or the antiquities which the wryter reporteth: We should find the lyke prouidence of GodThe cause why men find fault with Gods Prouidence. in the chaunge of all States. But I content my selfe with this one afore mentioned, as the which is best knowen too all men, except I were mynded to take some example of our present age to inlighten the matter withall. Now then, whereas Cato slewe himselfe through impatiencie, thinke ye not that if he had liued still, he would hauehave ceassed to contend with God, and hauehave commended his Iustice, and hauehave written bookes of his singular prouidence? Yes: But the mischief is, that whereas we would not iudge of a Song by one note, nor of a Comedie by one Scene, nor of an Oration by one full Sentence, we will presume to iudge of the Harmony and orderly direction of the whole world, and of all that is therein, by some one action alone. Againe, in Musik we beare with changes and breathes, with pauses and discordes; In Comedies, with the vnmeasurable barbarous cruelties of an Atreus, the wicked presumptions of an Ixîon, and the lamentable outcryes of a Philoctetes: and all this is (if we will say the trueth) because we hauehave so good opinion of the Musician, that we think he will make al to fall into a good concord: and of the Comediemaker, that all his disagréements shall end in some mariage: and of the Tragediewryter, that ere hee leaue the Stage, he will tye the wicked Ixîon to the Whéele, or make the féends of Hell to torment the Atreus, or contrariwise cause GOD to heare the wofull voyce and pitifull cry of the poore Philoctetes. And if God seeme erewhyles to hold his peace, and to suffer men to play their partes; ought wee not too hauehave so good opinion of his wisdome, as to thinke that he can tell when it is tyme to pay them their hyre? And that although he let the wicked walk at large vppon the stage, and the godly to lye in prison: he can also prouide to end the braueries of the one sort with iust punishment, and the wofull complaintes of the other sort with ioyfull triumph? When a Tragedie is playd afore thée, thou art not offended at any thing which thou hearest. Why so? Because that in two howres space: thou hast shewed vntounto thee the dooings of a ten or twelue yeres, as the rauishing of Helen, and the punishment of Paris, or the miserable end of Herod vponupon his murdering of Iohn Baptist. Insomuch that although thou bee not acquainted with the storie, yet the arte which thou perceiuest, and the end which thou expectest, make thee both to beare with the matter, and to commend the thing which otherwise thou wouldest thinke to be both vniust, and also cruell in the gouerner of the Stage. How much more oughtest thou to refreine thy mislyking, if thou considerest that the world is a kind of Stageplay, …nueied to a certeine end by a most excellent maker? And what an excellent order wouldest thou see there, if thou mightest behold all the ages and alterations thereof as in a Com…e, all in one day? yea or but the successe of some one onelyonly Nation for an hundred yeres, which were lesse than the interuiewe of two Seruaunts in a Comedie? Thou hast seene Pompey ouercome. Loe here a discord that offendeth thine eares. Thou hast seene Caesar to bring home his Sword bathed in the bloud of the Senate. If thou be a Child, thou weepest at it: but if thou beest a man, thou pacifyest the Child and attendest for the knitting vp of the matter, and for the iudgement of the Poët: Herevpon the Chorus singeth, and then maketh a pawse. All this whyle the Poet seemeth to hauehave forgotten Iustice, and if thou depart out of the company at that poynt, thou canst not tell what to make of it. But tarry a whyle and hearken to the note that followeth. Caesar is put to death by his owne men. See here how the discord is turned into a good concord. Thy Childe seeth that this prowd Peacocke which vaunted himselfe aboue all the world, is in one day stabbed in with infinite wounds. Whereby, how little a one soeuer thy Child be, he hath some perceiuerance of the forecast of the Poet. Doest thou not see then againe, that wee bee like Children, which would controll the Song of all ages by one Note, or a long Oration by one Letter, wheras notwithstanding, our life as in respect of the whole world, is lesse then a short Minim in comparison of a whole song? If thou be a Christian, thou readest the History of Ioseph. When thou readest how he was sould into AEgipt, thou canst not be angry inough with his brothers, nor sufficiently bewayle his poore olde Father. Againe, when he is cast into the deepe Dungeon in recompence of his chastitie, thou couldest find in thy heart to blame, not only Pharao, but euen God himself. But when thou seest him taken out of Prison to reade the Kings Dreames, and (within a fewe dayes after) as a King in AEgipt; a succour to his father in his old age; and the rayser vp agayne of his whole house at their néede: then thou perswadest thy selfe that he which made him to reigne in AEgipt, did suffer him to be sold to the AEgiptians; that he which made him the deliuerer of his house, did also make him to bee solde into bondage afore by his brethren: and to bee short, that the discord which offended thée and the harmonie which delighteth thee agayne, proceede both from one selfesame Musition. Howbeit, afore wee conclude this matter, see once agayne how much more vpright thou art towards thy Prince, than towards God. Thou seest a great number of his Armie come home wounded: if thou bee a man, it must needes greeue thee. Anon one brings thee home thyne owne Sonne dead: if thou bee a Father, thou canst not forbeare teares. A neighbour of thyne assureth thee that he was slayne in doing his duetie, in getting victorie to his Countrie. Though thou take not comfort in it at the first brunt, yet at leastwise thou wilt not bee so mad as to lay the blame in thy Prince. Within a while after, when thou fallest to considering the fruite of the victorie; then as it hath greeued thee to forgoe thy sonne, so wilt thou thanke God that he dyed in defence of his Countrie, and that he did his part in so noble a seruice. Shall not God then hauehave as great preheminence in setting foorth his glorie, as Kings for the obteining of their victories? God ouer his Creatures, as Kings ouer their Subiects? Or shall not we hauehave as much patiēce in the death of those whom we bring vp, when they dye for his seruice, as when they dye for the honour of our Prince? Or shall wee hauehave lesse trust in him as touching his imploying of them to good purpose, than wee hauehave in Kings Princes and Captaines, which knowe not the issue of their owne enterprises, or at leastwise for the most parte knowe it not, ne hauehave any care of the life or death of them that serue them? Let this suffize for answer to such as vexe themselues either for their owne afflictions, or for the sodayne death of those whom they louelove and estéeme. And let vsus now consequently see, if we can satisfie those which are gréeued, at the prosperitie and slowe punishmentThe slowe punishment of the wicked. of the wicked.
Thou sayst that the wicked hauehave welfare at will. King Cyrus was not of that opinion, when for a punishment to the people of the Citie of Sardis, he commaunded them to spend their tyme in gaming & feasting. Nay, thou shouldest rather say, that they hauehave miserie; for all the good things which thou termest good, and which wee count neither good nor euill, doe in the hands of the wicked turne into euill, Well (sayst thou) howsoeuer they be termed, they hauehave great commodities in this world. What wilt thou say then, if their owne wicked disposition, and their owne sinne, do work them more mischiefe than all the harmes and euilles which thou bewaylest in the good men? Sith there is not a greater mischiefe than to be wicked, and that all the commodities which thou enuyest them, hauehave as little force against the euil which they harber within them, as Ueluet Pantoples hauehave against the Gowte, or Dyademes against the Headach, or Purple Robes against the Collicke; Gesse (if thou canst) what feare, and what Agewfits they susteyne in following their wicked lusts; as namely, this mā in haunting of Harlots, that man in ryding to commit a Robberie; one in poysoning his owne brother, that he may succeede him in the Kingdome; another in ridding good Commonwealemen o…t of the way, that he may mainteyne himselfe still in his tyrannie. Consider what miserie they indure, afore they can come to the performance of their euill; what they abyde in the very doing therof; and what a turmoyle their owne Conscience maketh of it, after they hauehave performed it: and thou shalt see that it is a continuall Feuer, a straunge vnquietnesse, and a sharpe sorrowe; so much alway the more daungerous, because the shamelessest of them all, dareth not bewray his disease to the Phisition. Alexander ye Tyrant of Pherey, was wont euen in the chiefe of his prosperitie, to get himselfe within a Mote and to drawe vp the Bridge after him, when he went to lye with his Concubine. Dennis of Sicilie being afrayd to put any Barber in trust with the trimming of his Beard, made his owne Daughters to supplye that office: and growing afterward in ielozie of them, he findged it off himselfe with a burning firebrand. Another, as oft as he went to bed with his wife, searched her whether she had not a knife hidden in her bosome or about her. Thinke you not that the happiest of all these Tyrants, was more miserable than the person that was most oppressed vnderunder his tyrannie? With what saw…e thinke you did Dennis eate his deynties, when he imagined himselfe to hauehave a naked Sword hanging continually by a heare with the poynt ouer his head, as he sate at his Table? And yet what a number were there at that tyme, which enuyed the Purple Robes the Dyademes and the deyntie fare of those Tyrants, and which found fault with God for the ease and prosperitie which he gaue them? Babes that we be! We would chaunge our state with a kai…ife, that in playing the King in a Tragedie sweepeth the scaffold with a long gowne of cloath of Gold, which within a fewe howers after, hee must bee fayne to deliuer home againe to the Upholster with payment for the hyre of it: and in the meane tyme we consider not what ragged clowtes, what seabbes, what vermin, and what itch and skurffe lyes hid vnderneath it, nor how that oftentymes in counterfetting the Maiestie of the King, he was fayne to s…ruh, and in manacing others, to grinde his teeth in his head. But were we clothed but one hower with yt which he beareth about him, and whereof he cannot rid himselfe; we would rather go naked than be so clothed. And whereas it spyteth thee to see Tyrants reigne,Wickednes is a punishment to it selfe. Seneca in his Thebais. Feare not: for he shalbe punished, & that right sore. He shall reigne: That is a punishment. And if thou dout thereof, beleeue his father and his graundfather. and to stout it out, and to triumph, yea and that some of them come to their Crownes by doing the same things for which othersome come to the Gallowes: doth it not greatly skill (thinke you) whether a man be tormented in a coate of Ueluet or in a coate of Cannas? whether he be manacled and fettered in gyues of gold or of yron? or whether in so short a showe, he play the great Lord or the poore Begger? How often hast thou seene the Cutpurse hanged with the purse about his necke, and the theefe hanged in the same apparell that he had stolne? Be thou of high or low degree, be thou rich or poore, be thou Prince or Peazant; assoone as thou hast giuen ouer thy selfe to vyce and wickednesse, by and by thou art become their prisoner and slaue. And if it be so, what skilles it who thou be, if thou bee not thyne owne man? Or whereto serues thee all that thou art, but to be the more wicked, which is in déed to be the more wretched? But although vyce bee a punishment to it selfe, and that (as sayth Hesiodus) it spring vp with the very misdeede it self: yet notwithstāding, many men cannot content themselues with Gods Iustice, vnlesse they see the offender led by and by to the Gibbet: that is to say, vnlesse the punishment be speedie, an open example and visible, as who would say, yt the Gibbet were but ye beginning of punishment and not rather the ende of it; or that they which are cast in prison for stealing, had not the halter about their neckes alreadie, from the very instant that they bee taken, notwithstanding that sometymes forgetting their owne miserie, they play together at Cardes and Dyce.
Nay contrarywise, whereas Epicurus doth ground his greatest argument thereupon; let vsus learne thereby to hauehave Gods prouidence in the greater admiration. I demaund therefore what is the ende of all Iudges in punishing, whether it bee not the amendment of the transgresser, if hee bee not put to death; or els that hee should be an example and warning to others by his death? If it be the amendment of the partie, why findest thou fault with it, for that he is not put to death? God is a Phisition and not an Executioner. He knoweth better than thou, what hope of recouerie there is in the disease. The partie (sayst thou) was vnruly in his youth. The Wine that is now milde and good, was a two moneths agoe both hard and sharpe, and it will growe riper yet in tyme. Moreouer, let the offender flee as farre as he list, yet is he in safe prison and vnderunder sure garde. God stands in no such doubt as thou doest: The offender can neuer scape his hands. No: but thou wouldest that God should at leastwise brond him with the broade arrowe. Where? In the forehead. Why, art thou afrayd that God could not knowe him agayne, if he had once shifted his apparell in some other priuie place? And doubtest thou that his bronding yron can not pearce euen to the heart, which thou seest not? Nay rather, the selfesame Land which for want of tillage and husbanding brought foorth Bryers and Thistles, that is to say, vyces and enormities, may by good husbanding beare good Wine and good Corne, that is to say, Godlinesse and Urtue. And haddest thou once shamed him by ye Pillorie or by Carting; might it not gréeue thee to hauehave made him past grace? If the Athenians (sayth Plutarke) had killed or dissamed Themistocles for the outrage of his youth; or Miltiades for his rebelling in Chersonesus; where had the goodly Uictories become, which they obteyned in the Playnes of Marathon, on the Coast of Artemisia, and at the Riuer Eurymedon? Or had Constantine also bene rigorously punished, for the crueltie wherewith his former yéeres were disteyned, and that thou haddest then knowen aforehand, what things he was to doe afterward for the aduauncement of Christianitie; thou wouldest hauehave bewayled him. And why sauest thou some from punishment for great crymes, in respect that one is a good buylder, another an excellent Musition, and a third a man of learning; whereas thou knowest not what they will proue afterward; & yet thinkest not that in so doing thou doest any hurt, but rather good seruice to thy Commonweale? But as for God, he knoweth which ground is euill of it selfe, and which it is that beareth Brambles and Thistles for want of husbanding. He knoweth what is in eueryevery of our mynds afore wee our selues knowe it. The things which we are to doe in tyme to come, bee as present in his sight, as the things that we hauehave done alreadie. Neither Nero with his fiue yéeres good behauiour, nor Constentine, with the wicked disorder of his yoonger tyme, could beguyle God, though thou which seest but the outwarde man, callest the one the Father of his Countrie, and the other an vnkindly Murtherer. He knoweth when the tamed Woolfe will turne agayne to his kynd, and when the churlish Dogge will put off his churlishnes. He foreknoweth mens natures in the very seede, whereas we scarce know them in the flower. Whereas wee play the blinde Barbers of the Countrie, in hauing recourse at eueryevery instant to searing, cutting, launcing, and sawing for eueryevery fore; he hath a thousand receyts to heale vyces withall, and a thousand kynds of scurges to correct offenders withall, according to eueryevery of their complexions. And thinkest thou then that he neglecteth his cure, because thou seest not the fearing yron in his hand? Or that his potentials (as the Surgions terme them) are not stronger than thyne actuals? And when thou seest the sinfull person cured after that maner without launcing, yea and without scarce; oughtest thou not to commend the curing thereof so much the more?
But there are which amend not a whit the more for the delay of their punishment. Admit it be so: Yet what a number also are there which doe amend? Nay, consider yet further, whether they bée not suffered to liue to punish thée; thée I say which hast bene scurged by them alreadie, and yet art neuer a whit amended. Thou wouldest hauehave thy father to throwe his rodde into the fire, and thou hast still a curst heart that cannot yéeld and aske forgiuenesse. Blame thyne owne stubbornnesse that he burneth not the rodde. Consider also whether it bee not a greater punishment to them to liue after they hauehave done amisse, than to hauehave dyed in the déede doing, forsomuch as they see that their slaughters hauehave not successe according to their willes, but that all the mischiefe which they hauehave wrought is in vayne, so as they hauehave but prouoked God & the whole world against themselues to no purpose, and hauehave gotten nothing therby but shame and reproach and torment of mynd; And whether God doe not by that meane compell them to crye out, Wee hauehave wearyed our selues in the way of wickednesse, vntill wee can no more? If God (say I) by his seeming to be flowe, doe both amend thee and punish the other both at once; doest thou not perceyue a woonderfull worke of Prouidence? Moreouer, what is the whole continuance of all a mans life in respect of God, but one moment? shorter than the tyme betwéene the drinking of the Hemlocke, and the death of him that drinkes it? and much shorter than betwéene the killing of a man in the morning, and the being hanged for it in the afternoone? if thou hauehave an eye to the chiefe end of punishmēts, namely the example of thē that liue still, to the benefite of the commonweale. I ask of thée whether thou thinkest not, that they were better warned by Neros killing of hymselfe a good whyle after his committing of so many slaughters & his setting of Rome on fyre, hauing neither Fréend that could saue him, nor foe that would slea him; than if he had bene burned in the foresayd fire which hee caused to be kindled? Nay, consider whether it ought not to bée yet a better warning to thée, when thou seest that the wicked man is eu…n then hild fastest by the necke, when he thinketh himselfe to hauehave escaped the hand of God; séeing there cannot bee a playner proofe, That no man can prescribe time for his wickednesse ageinst Gods Iustice? Agein, when Maximian after the committing of so many cruelties, languisheth and pyneth away by péecepeale in infinite miseries; I referre it to thine owne iudgement, whether he do not more apparantly preache Gods Iustice ageinst Tyrans and wicked Courtiers, than if he had bene slayne when hee was yoong, as Domitian and Commodus were? And whether he séeme not too thée, to hauehave bin as a cryer hyred for the nonce, to make this Proclamation publikly with lamentable and languishing voyce all his life long, Take warning by mee to doe Iustice, and not too despize God? Or whether, when Dennis the Tyran of Sicilie became a Schoolemayster at Corinth, and fell too beating of Childrens Buttocks; it was not a better beating too him, than if the people had caused his shoulders to hauehave bin rent from him vponupon a Scaffold? and whether all the youth in the Citie were not better taught what the ende of Tyrannie is, by beholding him with his Roddes in his hand in the Schoole; than they should hauehave bene by séeing him put to death incontinently in the place?
And if thou think it not ynough that Lyciscus doe rotte aboue the ground, yea and that he crye out that he rotteth for his treazon; vnlesse the same Orchomenians whom he betrayed, doe come to the beholding of it: or if thou think it not enough that Nero make a mizerable end; except Agrippina whom hee vnnaturally murthered, do feede her eyes with the sight of it: or that Herod become a forlorne creature, vnlesse the Innocents whom he flew, be called to looke vponupon him: besides that thou requirest a thing ageinst reason, thou must also vnderstand, that God punisheth not after the maner of worldly Iudges, namely to content them yt hauehave suffered wrong, or to satisfie thy mynd desirous of reuenge, or too purchace himself the report and estimation of a good Iudge at thy hand: but bycause he hateth the euill, which he intendeth to correct, and will also drawe good out thereof. And lyke as a discreete father, when his Chyld complayneth to him of some wrong doone vntounto him by one of his Seruants, doth not by and by ronne vponupon his Seruant with a cudgell, (for so should he make his Chyld cockish, and cause him not onelyonly to doo the lyke for eueryevery tryfle, but also to take the staffe in his owne hand & to lay about him, whereas he would hauehave him to bridle his passions, and to referre the redresse of his wrongs to him being his father;) but rather taketh his seruant aside, and chastyzeth him eyther before his fellowes, or before others of his children which beare him not so much grudge or ill mynd: euen so it is not to be thought straunge, if God do oftentimes chastyze the wicked farre from the view of the woorld, yea and sometymes also euen after the deceasse of them that made complaynt ageinst them. His intent is to punish their passions, but not to gratifie thine. He will teache me his Iustice, but he will not hauehave thee too think that thou shalt hauehave him at thy commaundement, to strike whensoeuer thou wouldest hauehave him. If he should stryke at thy appoyntment, then should he bee but thy Executioner, and thou shouldest bee the Iudge. But knowe thou that he executeth his owne Iustice and not thyne.
Yea (sayest thou) but what Iustice is it, that Children should be punished for their fathers? And (say I) what vniustice is it, if the Children be not considered for the good seruice of their fathers? A Prince giueth priuiledges too some Citie, for the faythfull seruice which it hath done vntounto him: and who will not blame his Successor which shall take them away ageine a hundred yeeres after? Another Prince bereueth a Citie of their Liberties and fraunchizes, for rebelling ageinst him: who will think it any rigor, that their Children which come after them should be in the same state? The Prince dooth it for feare least the Children hauing the same territory, should rebell as their fathers did. God standeth not in feare of men, but he seeth what they bee: and his knowing of them is not as we knowe the Aspworme by his stinging of vsus, or the Uiper by his byting of vsus; but he knoweth them afore they bee eyther Aspwoorme or Uiper; and may he not then by that reason sometymes punish the Children, in the same respect that hee punished their fathers? As for example, by taking away their authority if they committed tyranny, least they myght abuse their authoritie still? Or by taking away their goods which they spent in ryot and excesse, least they should set their mynds vponupon these vices still? and so forth of other things? But why doo I terme it punishing? I should rather terme it curing. For what more is all this, than wee see dayly done by Phisitions, who in caces where the fathers were diseased with the Stone, the Gout, or the Dropsie, doe forbid the Children the same things which they forbade their fathers, although the Children be not yet trubbled with the same diseases? And what els are sinnes and vices, but diseases and siknesses of the Soule? And what straungenesse is there in Gods dooing, sith that thou thy self dooest the very same? Thou Disinheritest the Children of them that hauehave attempted treason ageinst the Prince: and if the Prince may do it for the defence of his state; how much more cōmendable is the doing therof, for the preseruation of the parties themselues? But yet in this appeareth the mercifulnes of God, that if the Child of the wickeddest man in the world, refuse to be heire of his fathers sinne, and wickednes, and follow godlynes and vertue; God doth not only release him the debte due to such succession, that is to wit, the peyne and penaltie which is an vnseparable appurtenance of sinne; but also adopt him into the nomber of his owne Children, to make him partaker of his heauenly heritage. Nowthen, wh…t cause hauehave we to complayne, eyther of the prosperitie of the wicked, or of the aduersitie of those whom wee account to be good men, seeing that all these things tend, not onelyonly to Gods glorie and the benefite of the Comonweale, but also to the welfare and soulehealth of those whom we bewayle? And if we did consider yet further, how many there be whose miseries we bewayle, which foster a festered sore in their bosom; how many there be whose prosperitie we enuy, which hauehave much cleaner hearts than the other, and doe spit out all their venome outwardly; how many there bee which hauehave their nayles whole, and yet doo but little harme with scratching; how many there be which wold teare al things in peeces, if their nayles were not pared verye short; who for want of powre (I meane) or for want of corage to execute their naughtynes, seeme for the present time good men, and a thousand other such circumstances which are to be marked in eueryevery particular persone: surely they which do so lightly charge Gods prouidence, would chaunge their opinion; and where it seemeth to them most worthy of blame, there would they the more woonder thereat and commend it.
But this is yet the greatest poynt of all: That although God punish euill neuer so much; yet it can not bee denyed, but that hee l…au…th euill still in the World,How God suffereth euill in the World. séeing wee agree all in this, that sinne or vyce is euill. Now if hee be altogither good, how can he forbeare to hate it? And if hee bee Almightie, how can hee suffer it? And if hee order and dispose all things, how dooth hee permit it? This Question shall bee the clearelyer discussed, where wee prooue how euill came first into the World; namely by the fall of man. And then shall wee hauehave wherefore too woonder at Gods Prouidence, who hauing punished vsus by our owne naughtynes, coulde skill too turne the same both to his owne glorie, and too the welfare of mankynde. To glaunce at it in feawe woords; by the way, It was requisite (and otherwyse it could not bee) that there should bee some difference beetweene the Creatour and the Creature, to the intent that the Creature should acknowledge it selfe to be a Creature, and yeeld honor to his Creator who had made him of nothing. Now the Creator is the good that is infinite and vnchaungeable: and therefore the goodnesse that is in any Creature, could not but be finite and chaungeable, sauing so farre foorth as it consented to depend vppon him alone. God therefore created man good, howbeit chaungeably good; free from euill, howbeit so as he myght choose the euill; and he created him rightly mynded, howbeit in such sort as he myght also go a stray. And this man by turning away from the Welspryng of goodnesse, did thereby fall away from his owne goodnes; and by following his owne will in sted of Gods Will, he left his freedome and became a bondseruant vntounto euill. All they that are borne of this corrupted seede, reteyne the faultynes of that first fault, and cannot wyt it vppon any other than the first man. Therfore if it be demaunded why God created man free, and not vnfree, seeing his freedome made him bond, it is all one as if it were demaunded, why hee created fyre to be light and suttle, that is to say Fyre, or why hee created water moyst and colde, that is to say, Water, or the World full of so many varieties, that is to say, a World, and to bee short, eueryevery kind of thing, to be of this or that nature. For to hauehave free mouing and capable of Reason, is to be a man, and if we had not had it so, we would hauehave complayned. Again, to hauehave free moouing and such as cannot be but reasonable, is to be reason it selfe, that is to say, to be God. Now God ment not to create a God, but a man to serue him, lyke as when he intended to create Beastes for the seruice of man, he created them Beasts and not men. But wherein wilt thou more woonder at the prouidence of the euerlasting GOD, than in that he not only ordereth & disposeth the things that he hath created, but also the thing which he created not; insomuch that he draweth good out of the euill, yea and compelleth the euill (contrary to the nature thereof) to serue vntounto Good? If a Captayne were of such skill as to order al things in such wise in his Armie, that eueryevery thing should serue to the atteynement of his victorie; thou wouldest commend him highly, & it were in déede one of the rarest feates of Warre. But if he could moreouer gayne some part of his enemies Hoste, and make them to take his owne parte; thou couldest not woonder sufficiently at his pollicie. What wilt thou say then of him, which could make them to fight on his side vnwitting to them selues, and that euen his enemies Hargwebusses should helpe to giuegive themselues the foyle? Soothly euen after that sort is it that God can skill to make both sinners and their sinnes to serue him. Cyrus (as appeareth by the Histories) was an ambitious Prince; and ambition (as ye knowe) cannot be welliked of God. Now, to satisfie his ambition, Cyrus Ieuyes a great Hoste against the Assyrians. If a man should hauehave told him it had bin to deliuer the Israelites, and to buyld vp Gods Temple agayne, as Esay had foretold; what think you he would hauehave sayd vntounto it? Yet notwithstanding the end of his Warres and of his warfare, fell out to be so in déede. Thus ye see how an ambitious person and his ambition serued God, without meaning any such thing. The Emperour Titus ment to bring Iewry to due obedience: and it had bin foretolde, that of Hierusalem one stone should not be left standing vponupon another. No doubt but that Titussis owne passion caried him; but yet see how God ouerruleth it. The same man which persecuted ye Christians at Rome, goeth to reuenge Christes death at Hierusalem, and (as sayth Iosephus) in that fact he tooke not himselfe as Emperour of the World, but as the executer of Gods Iustice against the Iewes. Iudas through Couetousnesse betrayed the blud of ye rightuouse to death. But God by the sheading of that blud (if thou be a Christian) redéemed thée; and yet the holy Scripture saith, that the Deuill being in Iudas, did put that purpose into his heart. Ye see then that not the Couetousnesse of Iudas only, but also the Deuill himselfe serued GOD. Besides that, the Stories of the Byble be full of such matter, wee might marke the like examples ordinarily in the bookes of the Heathen, if wee were as diligent in obseruing them, as we bee in obseruing the arte of Rhetoricke or Logicke in the author's which we reade. For by reason of the great corruption which reigned at those daies in Rome, all men cryed out that there was not any Commonweale there, appealing to God for defence against the vniustice of the Senate, at the same tyme that GOD executed iust vengeance vponupon them for it, by the vniust couetousnesse of Caesar. Likewise when Attila entered euen into the bowelles of Europe, all the Preachers of Christendome did nothing els but bewayle the wretchednesse of that tyme.Saluian in his vii booke of Prouidence. Ye must thinke that when this great Robber cast lots in his Countrie of Scythia, whether he should leade the third part of that Land, he had another meaning than to reforme the world. Yet notwithstanding, all men acknowledged him to be a necessarie scurge of GOD, and to hauehave come in due season. Yea, and he himselfe considering that he had conquered much more of the Countrie, than euer he hoped at the first to hauehave séene, insomuch that he had ouercome euen those which were counted the strength of the World: as barbarous as he was, he fell to thinke of himselfe, that he was the Scurge wherby God chastised the World. Not that God is not able to chastise vsus himselfe whensoeuer he listeth; (for his Storehouse is neuer vnfurnished of roddes to scurge vsus withall, as of Plagues, Diseases, Famine, and such other things,) but that as a Maister of a howshold holdeth skorne to whippe his Slaues himselfe, causing eyther his thiefe Seruant or some other of their fellowes to doe it: yea and when his owne Children offend him grieuously, he voutsafeth not to beate them with his owne hands, (for so should he doe them too great an honour) but causeth (peraduenture) the groome of his stable to doe it, to the intent to shewe them the iustnesse of his displeasure: Euen so doth God punish the wicked one by another, whom he could consume all at once in one hower; yea and his Children also by the wicked, when not counting of them as of his Children, but being readie as it were to disherite them, he disoeyneth to punish them with his owne hands. Thus therefore ye see, how God serueth his owne turne by the wicked and their wickednesse, to his owne glorie and to the welfare of those that are his.
And as touching the offences whereinto he suffereth goodThe very Sinnes of good men are redressed to their benefite. folks now and then to fall: what greater poynt of prouidence can there bee, than to turne them into instruments and furtherances of vertue? If God should hold vsus alway by the hand, it is certeyne that we could neuer trippe. And it is not to be doubted also, but that we would think at the length, that it was of our owne steadynesse, and not of Gods vpholding of vsus, not only that we tripped not, but also that wee tumbled not downe. For what made vsus fall but pride? and what maner of pride, but that we thought we would be Gods without God, yea euen of our selues? Now, to make vsus to knowe our infirmitie, wherin it is his pleasure to shew his strength: sometymes he letteth vsus goe alone by our selues for a while, and then stumble we at the next iob that we meete with. Neuerthelesse, this tripping and stumbling saueth vsus from a greater fall: for it maketh vsus to call for his hand to hold vsus vp. After the same maner dealeth the Nurce with her Nurcechild that maketh haste to goe alone too soone: She suffereth him to stagger and to réele till he crye; but yet in letting him goe with the one hand, she holdeth him vp with the other; and sometymes he thinkes he goes a…alone, when as she guideth him both with her eye and with her hand. Sometymes also when wee bee ouerlustie, God suffereth vsus to fall into some sinne, both wittingly and willingly, & afterward maketh vsus to féele such grypes and hartbytings for it, that euen the vyce it selfe serueth vsus for a Schoolemaister, to driue vsus to eschewe it. So the father suffereth his Child to burne his finger in a Candle, onelyonly of purpose to make him afrayd of fire, that the little findging of his finger, may kéepe him from the burning of his face. There are examples hereof in S. Peter, in Dauid and in others, which receyued good by their trippes and falles. And I hauehave no doubt but that a great sorte euen of the Heathen, hauehave felt in thēselues how greatly their experience of vyce in themselues hath profited them to the more earnest louelove of vertue.Euilles are in the world as things set one ageinst another, after the maner as it is in the eloquence of wordes. So then, let vsus not grudge at the prosperitie of the wicked; for vntounto them it is a bane: neither let vsus complaine of the miseries of the godly; for they be to their welfare. Let vsus not reuerence the vizor of vertue in the wicked, for it is but an instrument of vice; neither let vsus disdeyne the falles of the vertuous, for they bee but quicknings vp vntounto vertue. But rather let vsus glorifie God, which maketh the euill good whether it will or no, which causeth vyce to doe seruice vntounto vertue, and which guydeth euen the most sinfull déedes, to his glorie; the most vniust, to the executing of his iustice; and the most vncerteyne, to the hitting of his marke. And notwithstanding that he doe all this, yet can he not be blamed to hauehave wrested any thing in the World, nor to hauehave mainteyned euill in any maner a wise, no more surely than the Soule or abilitie of mouingThe actions and mouings are of God; but the disorders of them and the haltings are of ourselues. that is matched with a lame legge, is too blame for that the lame man halteth, though it yéeld forth mouing into the legge, and guide the legge whether soeuer it will for all the lamenesse of the legge. What shall I say more? If any doe yet still doubt of the things afore rehearsed, I will put him but to one proofe; for his answere whereto vponupon leysure, I will beleeue him vponupon his oth. If he bée a despiser of God, let him call to mynd if he can, how much euill he hath susteyned in the hauing of his goodes, and how much euill he hath endured to doe euill. Let him remember how greatly he hath tyred himselfe with his owne wishes, tormented himselfe with his good successes, set himselfe on fire when he thought but to warme him, and wandered quite away, when he ment to hauehave brought others to the bent of his owne bowe. Or if he be one that seareth God, let him cōsider how much euill he hath left vndone, in forbearing to hauehave so great store of those false goodes: how many things he hath wished which he would hauehave eschewed, if he had foreknowen the issewe of them which he sawe afterward: how greatly he had bene dreaded and misliked of others, though he could not deuise to hauehave done better: how often his falles and slidings hauehave serued to make him to take sure footing against sinne: how oft his wā derings out of the way hauehave made him to escape the lyings in wayt and the théeueries of the world: how oft his owne wyles hauehave serued to turne him from the right: & how often his owne ouersights hauehave serued to bring him to his intended ende: and I doubt not but the héedfull marking of these things, both in others and in himself, will make him to perceyue that a certeyne euerlasting prouidence watcheth ouer our liues and all our doings. At leastwise vnlesse we will denye, that to leade the forecastes of others to another end than they purposed; to bring the vnaduised ouersights of others to better passe than they themselues could wish; and to make the wisdome of the wisest to doe seruice, not only to his owne diuine wisdome, (if a man may so terme it) but also oftentymes euen to the vndiscréetnesse of the meanest, is the worke of Prouidence.