Concerning the Truth of Christian Religion, Chapter 25
The xxv. Chapter.
That through out the whole processe of the Byble, or old Testament, there are things which cannot proceede but from God.
WE hauehave lerned heretofore by perusing the vniuersall world, that all things tend too Godds glorie; by the examining of man, that his onelyonly and whole welfare is to cleaue vntounto GOD. Now therefore fith we sée that the Scriptures preache vntounto vsus the same thing that wee hauehave read both in the world and in ourselues; ought it not to be a good proofe to vsus, that he which made both the World and man, hath also made the Scriptures to rule them by? And that he which hath spoken to all Nations by his Creatures, hath also voutsafed too shewe himselfe more nerely too them by his Scriptures? Agein, séeing that the Scriptures commaund vsus to louelove God with all our hart, and that the Creatures hauehave heretofore declared vsus to be bound thereto; so as the Creatures teache the selfsame thing which the Scriptures commaund: what can we say but that both those bookes hauehave one selfesame author? Howbeit forasmuch as our eyes be so daseled by our fall, that the Creatures were vntounto vsus as a clasped booke, or as a thing written in Cyphers; God to apply himself to the weaknesse of our sight, hath giuen vsus his Scriptures: and that forasmuch as our wills are wholly turned from him, it behoued vsus to be comaunded our owne welfare, which (were we according to our first creation) we should couet and followe earnestly at the only sight of the first booke. But forasmuch as it may still be sayd, that these bookes are rather the woorks of good men and of such as feared God, than of God himself: let vsus sée if they hauehave not in them some proper and peculiar markes of Gods spirit. I meane such as no creature can be partaker of, but by inspiration from God. For like as in his dooings there are certeine miracles, wherein euen the wickeddest acknowledge the finger of God: So in his words or Scriptures, there may vndoubtedly bee some such thing, as cannot procéede but from God himselfe. Let vsus begin at the Style.The Style of the Scriptures. In mens affayres we hauehave two sorts of writing. The inferiour sort and men of equalitie, indeuer to perswade folke by apparant reasons; for they knowe they hauehave no authoritie to giuegive them credite. But Princes will of their mere authoritie looke to bée beléeued whatsoeuer they say: for they thinke they hauehave the world at their commaundement, and that they may speak what they list: and they suppose it to bee some derogation to them to alledge any reason. Also in humane Sciences the case is all one. For the Phisition is beléeued of his Patient without alledging why: but of an other Phisition he is not so. Likewise the Schoolemaister is beléeued of the Scholer, yea euen in things which were disputable for him with one of his fellowes. So much more therefore shall this rule take place in matters diuine, which surmount both the vnderstanding of the learner, and the skill of the Teacher himselfe. Againe, we see how the Philosophers doe mount vp from things euidently knowne to things lesse knowne, and from Grounds and Principles, to Conclusions. And therefore Aristotle intending to proue that there is a God, made a whole score of bookes of it: and Plato speaking of things diuine, will hauehave the auncient Oracles to be beleeued, and not his owne sayings: which argeweth that euen by nature men knowe well, that they deserue not to bee beléeued, further foorth than they make proof, no not euen in the least things; and therefore that they bee worthie to be laughed at, if they thinke their sayings to be authoritie in matters diuine. Now then, sith it is so that the Style is such both of all men in their common discourses, and of all the Philosophers in high matters: what shal the Author of our Byble bee, whose will and meaning is to bee beléeued vppon his bare worde, euen in the things which excéede both the naturall beléefe of such as heare them, and the vnderstanding of all men which take vponupon them to speake of them? GOD created Heauen and Earth: Man is falne from his originall state by sinne. If thou beest a man that sayest it, who will beléeue thee vnlesse thou prooue it? And yet notwithstanding it appeareth that hee wrate it to bee beléeued: for hee commaundeth it to bee beléeued. Therefore his speaking is of authoritie, and not by perswasion. Yet notwithstanding no body is beléeued vponupon his bare word, sauing in things which lye in his own power and his owne knowledge. Whosoeuer then in things surmounting man, (I meane in matters concerning GOD and mans saluation) will looke to bee beléeued of authoritie, only because he sayes it; yea and to be more beléeued without proofe, than others vponupon proof; must néedes be the Prince and Father of man and not a man. Now, who sees not this course kept throughout all the Scriptures; and yet where is there any one Syllogisme or Demonstration in them? sauing such as these which soothly be more firme than any Syllogisme, and more néedefull than any Demonstration; namely, The Lord hath sayde it, and it is doone; the Lord hath spoken it, and he will be beléeues. And what other booke find we which proceedeth after that maner, howbeit that some deceiuers hauehave long time since presumed to immitate the same?
Also we hauehave many bookes of maners written by the Heathen. How procéede they against Uice? or how deale they with Uertue? They define, they distinguish, they dispute of the generall and of the vnderkind, of the meane and of the extremes. It is spoken (say they) from one Countermatch to another. And if they offend the Lawes of Logicke, they be afrayd of reproof.The lawes and commaundements in the Scripture. The Lawes of God speake a little more plainly: He that stealeth shall pay fowerfold: He that killeth shalbe punished with death, Which is as much to say, as that the authoritie of the one dependeth vponupon their power, & the authority of ye other dependeth vponupon their proof. To be short, euen our spéeche extendeth ordinarily no further than our power: and therefore the Teacher speaketh after another maner then the Learner, the Prince than the Subiect, and the Senatour than the Orator. What maner a booke then I pray you is this, which speaketh to all men alike, to Kings as to Subiectes, to Greate as to small, to old as to yong, to learned as to vnlearned; sauing that it surmounteth the capacitie of the one as well as of the other? neyther intreating nor perswading any man, but absolutely bidding or forbidding al men. Nother (which more is) doth it say to any man, Thou shalt liue as a recluce within ye precinct of thyne owne house all thy life long, or thou shalt lye in continual prison; but thou shalt liue or dye for euer without ende. In what other booke reade wee such commaundements? Ye in what booke reade we such punishments & such rewards? And if eueryevery bodies speaking be according to the abilitie of his power; from whom is this spéech which dareth pronounce or threaten euerlasting things, but from the partie him selfe that is euerlasing? If it be a creature that speaketh it, either it is a good creature or an euill. If it be an euill creature, why forbiddeth he euill so rigorously? and commaundeth good so expresly? or (to say better) how commeth it to passe, that the mark which hee aimeth at is Gods glorie and our welfare? Or if it bee a good Creature, how happeneth it that hee chalendgeth to himselfe that which belongeth to GOD, and which cannot be imparted to any Creature, which is the very sinne that ouerthrewe both the Diuell into Hell, and man into destruction? And if it be no Creature neither good nor bad; what remayneth then, but that it must needes be the Creator? Now what leafe is there in the whole Scripture, where wee meete not with such matter? And herewithall wee see that thing in the obseruers of that Lawe, which is not read of any others: namely that they hauehave yeelded their lyues, and incurred the hatred & disdeine of the whole worlde, rather than they would breake or despise it. Uerily euen in this respect and none other, that they were sure that they serued such a Lawegiuer, as not only had power ouer the barke of man and ouer this present wretched lyfe as other common Lawgiuers hauehave; but also was of power to giuegive either euerlasting lyfe or endlesse death. The same appeareth yet more, in that the lawes which are giuen to men in the Scriptures, are not inioyned alonely to the outward man; but doe pearce euen to the heart of man. In deede they require Sacrifices; but yet they preferre obedience. They inioyne fasting; but that is from sinne. They inioyne Circumcision, but it is the Circumcision of the hart. To be short, for a Summary of al Sinnes, they forbid lusting and couering; which thing (as I hauehave sayd afore) is not to bee found in any law of the Heathen. Who I pray you knoweth the very anatomie and secret conceyts of our hearts, but he that made them? Or who can looke into Man, but the maker of Man? And who is he either Man or Deuill, that euer durst presume to inioyne a lawe to mens thoughts? But all these things come still to this poynt, that the partie which speaketh so vponupon authoritie, threatening things that excéede mans abilitie, and making a law for the things wherevnto we cannot come; must of necessitie be of more power than we.
Agein, what a number of things hauehave wee taught vsus in the Scriptures,The doctrine of the Scriptures exceedeth the reach of man. which cannot bréede of mannes brayne, nor come from elswhere than from about? And if they cannot bréede in his mind, how can they come from his hand or from his mouth? We can wel say there is one God; for if wee enter into our selues wee find him there; and if we goe neuer so little out of ourselues, we meete him eueryevery where. But that in one Essence there should be thrée persons, the Father, the woord, and the Spirit; how can it bréede in the imagination of man? Or who could euer hauehave thought of it? Also, from the Creatures wee come to the Creator; from mouing to a rest; from nouelties to a beginning: and there mannes reasoning stayes. But although the first man myght knowe when hee was created; yet how could he hauehave knowen when the world was created? And although that by the new things therein, we déeme it too be newe: who euer durst to hauehave limited the first day and the first houre thereof? Or how could that Chymera hauehave come in any mannes mynd? And yet in verie déede we hauehave dyuers Chymeras among the auncient writers, concerning the Creation of the world according to the diuersities of opinions that were among the Philosophers, and the diuersities of imaginations among the comon people. But was there euer any afore this booke of the Byble, that began his account of tymes or his historie, at the first day of the world, thought he were of opinion that the world was created? And séeing that the intent of al wryters of stories is to be beléeued; what els had this beginning of an historie at that poynt bin, but a cracking of his credit at his first enterance in, if the maiestie of the Author had not serued for a warrant? Lykewise, that man, to attayne to his appoynted end, néeded the handywoorke of God himself; It ap…eareth vntounto vsus by the weaknesse of our nature. But that for the appeasing of Gods Iustice, God himself should be fayne too come downe and to take mans flesh vntounto him; who would say it but only God? and who could bee beléeued in that case but only he? So is it also concerning the conception of the Uirgin, concerning the promises that were not to come to passe vntill fower hundred yéeres after, cōcerning the comming of the Messias, and such like things; which would neuer hauehave come in a mans head to hauehave written: so farre of are they from mans wit, I meane as of it self and without imitation. And I dare boldly say, that whosoeuer readeth ye Scriptures aduisedly and with intent to marke them; shall in eueryevery booke finde many matters, which euen by his owne iudgement had neuer come in mans mynd, notwithstanding that they be spoken by wise men, who both beléeued them firmely, and ment to bee beléeued in speaking them.
What shal we say then to the ProphesyingsProphesies sowed throughout all the Byble. or true foretellings which are sowen euerywhere in the Scriptures, that is to wit of Gods spirit which is shed foorth from the one ende to the other; I say not in scattered leaues as the Prophesies of Sybil were, but aiming al at one poynt, notwithstanding that they were vttered both at diuers tymes, by diuers persons, and in diuers places? I omit the first Prophesie concerning the womans seede that should crush the Serpents head, and such like perteyning to the redemption of man by the Messias, because that that doctrine shall hauehave his proper place hereafter; and I will alledge none other things than such as are alreadie proued and out of controuersie. Unto Abraham was giuen this promise:Gene. 15. They seede shall doe seruice in a strange Land, and bee hardly intreated there fower hundred yeeres; and then will I iudge the Nation whom they shall hauehave serued; and in the fourth generation shall they come hether againe. What Oracle did euer foretell a thing so precisely, so manifestly, and so long aforehand? And yet was that Prophesie fulfilled at the appoynted tyme: and it cannot be sayd to be a counterfet; for Moyses in leading the people of Israell through so many turnagaines, grounded himselfe vponupon none other thing. And it stood him on hand to speake of a Prophesie that was common among them, and deliuered from hand to hand, considering that he taketh it for his theam and ankerhold, both to speake vponupon and to worke vponupon. And soothly, as it was receiued by Abraham, so was it receyued by Moyses, and put in execution by Iosua. Iacob made his Testament in AEgipt; wherein there are as many Prophesies as words: not for his owne Childrē only, but also for the Trybes that should come of them. Neuerthelesse I will stand but vppon one of them. Thou Iuda (sayth he) thy brothers shall commend thee, Gene. 49.& thy fathers Children shall yeeld thee reuerence. And the Scepter shall not be taken from Iuda, nor the Law maker frō betweene his feete, vntill Silo come. The effect hereof is, that the Scepter shall remayne with Iuda, and that he shall hauehave souereine iurisdiction, vntill the tyme of Messias: and so do the Hebrewes interpret it. Yet were Ruben, Simeon, and Leuie the eldest brethren of Iacobs house; and therefore his doing was against the order of nature. And Moyses who led the people of Israell out of AEgipt, was of the Trybe of Leuie. Iosua who brought them into the Land of Canaan, was of Ephraim: The Iudges were raysed vp one while out of one Trybe and auother while out of another: and Saule the first King chosen by the people, was of the Trybe of Beniamin, which was the yoongest of all. These things therefore were a curst shaking to the Prophesie. In the meane while the Scepter passed from Saule to Dauid, from a King to a yoong Shepheard of Iuda, and there was settled for euer, notwithstanding the murmurings of the ten Trybes against it, and the falling away of Israell, & the Captiuitie of Babylon. And whereas he sayth, vntill Silo come, it sufficed vntill another tyme, that by the sapce of two thousande yéeres, the house of Iuda reigned still in Israell, and had the eldership, together with a direct obserued pedegree: which thing wee reade not of any other stocke in the world. Here they will say, who shall assure vsus that Iacob spake those things? If I should aske them as much concerning their Histories, what knowe they more of them? And what should Moyses hauehave gayned by the deuising thereof, being himselfe of the Trybe of Leuie, and giuing ouer his charge to one of the Trybe of Ephraim, which had rather bene an occasion to make Iuda (which was the strongest of al the Trybes) to grudge against him, seeing that that Trybe had bene authorised both by Iacobs last will and by answer from God? Or if he did it to greatefie Iuda, why was he not afrayd to displease Ruben, Simeon, and Leuie: or rather why made he not the Prophesie to fall vponupon Leuie to authorise himselfe? Nay, what gratefying of Iuda could it yet be, considering that Iuda was excluded from it at that tyme, and came not to it a thousand yéeres after? Surely (the foresayd circumstances being well weyed) eyther there was neuer any Prophesie vncorruptly reported, or if euer any were, this must néedes be it. And as touching these good Philosophers, which will hauehave prophesying to procéed of a coniunction of the vnderstanding which they call Possible, with an vnderstanding which they terme Separated, by meane of imagination: & that old men cannot Prophesie by reason of ye weakenesse of their imaginatiue power: what wil they say here to Iacob, who was an older man thā any of their tyme,Rabbi Moyses vpō the booke Abubacher. & yet notwithstāding saw so cléerly & so farre of? For if their doctrine be commonly true, and yet notwithstanding, olde Iacob prophesied; doeth it not followe that his prophesie is extraordinarie, and commeth from a higher power than the sayd pretensed vnderstanding; that is to wit from God? And if his prophesying was according to their rule; doth it not followe that their doctrine is false, that is to wit, that prophesying commeth not of the force of our imagination, nor of our selues, considering that it weakeneth not with vsus, but that it cometh by inspiration from God? In the blessings that Iacob gaue to his posteritie, the matter ought not to be passed ouer so lightly, where hee speaketh of the partes that should be allotted to eueryevery of his Children in the Land of Canaan, as if he had made them himselfe, assigning to one the Seacoast, to another the Cornecountrie, and to another the vynegrounds, euen after the same sort that they were diuided vntounto them certeine hundred yeeres after by lot. For how could he come to the knowledge thereof, but by him that ouerruleth all Lots? And seeing that the foretellings of Astrologie are a meane betwéene necessitie and casuall as Ptolomie teacheth; and nothing is more casual than lots, what maner of Astrologie is this, which iudgeth of lottes both so long aforehand and also so certeinly? But when as in the chapter going next afore, wee reade that Iacob in blessing the Children of Ioseph, preferred Ephraim the yonger Sonne before Manasses who was the elder, and being warned thereof by their Father, answered ageine that he was not deceiued, but that the yonger brother should bee the greater, and that his Seede should growe to a multitude of people: what arte moued Iacob to say it, or what profit moued Moyses to contriue it? If ye say Phiznomie or Iudiciarie, the good old man was blind. But what lineamēts can foreshew for a whole race, or what Constellations can shewe what shall befall to whole Nations that are yet vnborne? If it bee sayde that Moyses loued the one better than the other: The two of whom he speaketh were already dead at that time, and the people that were to come of them, were but then in comming. And yet was that prophesie fulfilled; for the Trybe of Ephraim was alwayes mightier than the Trybe of Manasses, as appeareth throughout the whole processe of their Histories, and in the end the kingdom of the Tenne Trybes was grounded chiefly vponupon that. And in confirmation of this word, as oft as Moyses, Iosua, the bookes of Kings, or the Chronicles speake of those two Children, the yongest is euer named afore the eldest: which thing vndoubtedly the Trybe of Manasses would neuer hauehave indured without taking exceptio to it, if they had not thought themselues to hauehave rested vponupon the will of GOD, and not vponupon the fancie of man. What shall we say of Moyses? Hee speaketh to the people continually of the Conquest of Chanaan, according to that promise, and therfore it must néedes he that it was a prophesie very commonly knowen among them. And in déede Ioseph picked out a long time for it afore his buriall. Nay, moreouer Moyses deuideth the Land vntounto them in mynd; appointeth them arbitrators to make their partitions; giueth them Lawes to settle themselues vponupon; appointeth them what orders they should kéepe there, setteth them doune the platformes of their Cities, Suburbes, and houses; inioyneth them the tilling of their grounds, the resting of the se…th yere, their Feastes and Solemnities, and appointest them their Cities of refuge for casuall manslaughters. A man might say that his speaking of these things was as if a Father should dispose of his goods that he had gotten, and which hee had already in his hand. What lykelyhod hereof was there, at such tyme as they burned Bricke in AEgipt? or when they lingered in the wildernes? yea or at the returne of the men that were sent to spye out the Land, when they reported nothing but hardnesse to the people? I pray you, if a man should at this day part Italy or Greece among vsus in his imagination, to eueryevery of vsus share and share lyke; would we not say accxsording to the prouerbe, that he parted his Uenison before he had caught it? And yet what a nomber of men hauehave passed the Alpes vnderunder the Standard? And sith it is so that Moyses entered into that Land, and those which wayted for it dyed in the way, and yet that at the tyme appointed, the Chananites gaue place to that people: who seeth not that of necessitie the same people were driuen by some other than man to followe Moyses, yea Moyses himself to take vponupon him the leading of them through so many distresses; both of them being grounded (say I) not vppon mans fancie, but vppon expresse promise which they by vnfallible records beléeued to be of God? But hée proceedeth yet further. For as he foresawe them in Chanaan afore they came there: so foresawe hee them there to offend God by seruing Baal after they came there. I say he saw them forget GOD, and God myndfull of them in his wrath: hee sawe them dispersed and scattered ouer the fower quarters of the World, and troden vnderunder the féete of Straungers: To be short, he sawe the Gentiles called of God into his Church in their place; yea and he sawe it so cléerly, that he foretold it to them all in his Song,Deuter. 32. which hée willed them to preserue from hand to hand, as a witnesse against them & a discharge to himself. Though from the top of Mount Nebo he could behold the land of Chanaan to speake so fitly thereof: from what mountaine could hee see the things that were yet in the reynes and heartes of men as then to come, yea which lay hidden yet many hundred yeres after; or in what booke could he hauehave seen them and read them; but in the booke of lyfe, that is to say in God himselfe? The word that was spoken by Moyses was performed word for word by Iosua, without adding or diminishing any whit, contrarie to the ambitious mynd of man which lyketh not to follow another mans lure; which thing was no small signe that Iosua did not so much obey Moyses, as God speaking by Moyses. And this curse that Iosua Iosua. 7.pronounceth in his booke, ageinst the man that should build Iericho ageine, is not to be forgotten: He shal lay the foundation thereof vponupon his firstborne (sayth he) & set vp the gates thereof vponupon his yongest sonne. That is to say, he shalbe punished with the suddein death of all his Children.1. King. 16. verse 34. For about fiuehundred yeres after, in the time of Achab, Hiel of Bethel builded vp Iericho, the which he founded vponupon Abiram his first Sonne, and hung vp the gates of it with the death of Segus his yongest sonne, and the booke of Kings sayth there, it was according as the Lord had spoken by the mouth of Iosua the Sonne of Nun, to shewe that Gods word is euerlasting, and that it neuer ouerslippeth the tyme. And in very déede it lyeth ouerthrowen at this day, and was neuer repayred since that tyme, howbeit that the beautifull situation thereof might hauehave allured eueryevery man, as we reade in the auncient Geographers. In the bookes of Iosua and of the Iudges wee sée the things performed which were foretolde by Moyses, and the comming to passe both of the promises & of the threates that were made by him. For accordingly as the people of Israell did either turne away from God or returne vntounto him; God raysed vp Tyrants in Chanaan to punish them, or deliuerers in Israell to deliuer them. And as for the bookes of Samuel, of the Kings, and of the Prophetes; either they be prophesies of effectes to come, or effectes of prophesies forepast. To be short, in all the discourse of the Byble, there is not any season to bee found without both Prophet and Prophesie, as well in prosperitie as in aduersitie: Whereby we might sée both the heauenlines and the trueth of them the more clearly, if we could set the places, persones, and state of that time before our eyes. But out of this continuall prophesying, wee will drawe some peculiar poyntes, so euident as cannot bée gaynesaid, which will vndoubtedly be of credit among all indifferent persons.1. King. 13. At such time as Ieroboam the sonnne of Nebath made the tenne Trybes to fall away from Roboam the Sonne of Salomon; to the intent they should hauehave no occasion to returne againe to their former state by resorting to Hierusalem to woorshippe there: hee réered an Alter in Bethell contrarie to the Lawe of God. Then came a man of God (sayeth the historie) to Bethel by the commaundement of the Lord, and sayd to Ieroboam; Behold, a Sonne shalbe born of the house of Dauid, whose name shalbe Iosias. He shall sacrifise vppon thee the Preestes of the Hillalters which offer incense vponupon thee: And this shalbe the signe thereof, 2. King. 22. verse. 15. 19.Thyne altar shall ryue asunder, and the asshes that are thereon shalbe powred downe. This Prophesie was fulfilled in all poynts by Iosias thrée hundred yéeres after. And when Iosias (sayeth the historie) had so done, he sawe a certeine tumbe, and asked whose it was, intending to hauehave burnt the bones of him that lay there, as he had done of the other préests in Bethel. But it was told him that it was the tumb of the man of God, which had foretold those things so long agoe: whereuppon hee forbade any man to touche it. Now they that knowe how those bookes of the Kinges were disposed, wilnot call the historie in question. For the histories of the Kings were written by the priests and Prophets, according to the measure of the time that they reigned, and were holden so holy, that it was felonie to touche them. Furthermore, séeing if this Prophesie was written afore the comming of Iosias, it could not be falsified: for who could hauehave hit vppon his proper name? And if it were written after, and deuised vppon the euent: how came the sayd Tumb to bee made at the same instant? Or was there none other deuise wherewith to hauehave disguised it, without taking any further peyne? Myght it not hauehave suffised to hauehave sayd, One Iosias shall come &c. without speaking eyther of the death of the man of God, or of his méeting with the Lyon, or of the talk which he had with the Prophet of Samaria; but that he must take peyne to be found a Lyer by the Samaritans which knew the originall of ye Tumb, or could at leastwise hauehave inquired it? But in verie déede this Prophesie which dooth so set downe the name, the place, and the circumstances in the doing; is such as cannot bee fathered but vponupon God, as vntounto whome alone things absent or to come are present. And to shewe the vncorruptnesse of the Scripture the more cléerly, it cōcealeth not that the same man of God by whose mouth God had vttered the sayd Prophesie, was slaine by a Lyon for going back ageine to eate with the Prophet of Samaria contrarie to the word of the Lord: which doth vsus to vnderstand, that men are nothing of themselues, but onelyonly so farforth as they be Gods tooles and instruments. Now then by what coniecture can we deeme that man to hauehave bin the deuiser of a lye, who to tell the trueth, sticked not to dishonor the remembrance of so great a Prophet, whose sinceritie appéered by so many circumstances?
Wonderfull is Esay in the things that hee foretelleth concerning the kingdome of the Messias and the calling of the Gentiles for he seemeth rather an Euangelist than a Prophet. Also when he threateneth Hierusalem with the captiuitie of Babylone, or chéereth them ageine with hope of their deliuerance: his maner of inditing sheweth, that he speaketh as one that sawe them both; and in that respect also were ye Prophets called Seërs. And in very trueth, he saith not, the Lord will doe, the Lord will call, the Lorde will destroy, and so foorth: but, he doth, he calleth, he destroyeth: Yea and oftentimes, he hath done, he hath called, he hath destroyed, and so foorth; as though he spake not of things that were but onelyonly néere the execution or performance; but of things already come to passe. After that maner did he foretel things, in the time that the people prospered and trusted in the allyance of the Chaldees, and that all likelihods were to the contrarie. But I aske of such as doubt of our Prophesies,Esay. 44. & 45. by what spirite could Esay say; I am the Lord that doeth things in deede, which doe say vntounto Cyrus, Thou art my Shepherd, thou shalt fulfill al my will: and which sayeth vntounto Hierusalem, Thou shalt be builded ageine; & vntounto the Temple, Thou shalt be founded agein. And ageine: Thus sayth the Lord to Cyrus his anoynted, whom I hauehave tataken by the right hand to subdue the Nations before him, & to weaken the reynes of Kings. I will goe before thee, and leuell the croked wayes. I will breake open the Brazen gates, & wring asunder the yron barres, and so foorth, that thou mayst knowe how that I am the Lord the God of Israell which calleth thee by the name. For louelove of my seruant Iacob, and for Israels sake hauehave I named thee by thy name, and called thee though thou knewest me not, &c. How many wonders shall we find in these fewe words, if wee list to examine them? At the same tyme that the people of Israel triumphed vnderunder their allyance with the Chaldees, Esay threatened them with destruction by the selfesame people. This is somewhat.
But some will say that mans wisedome may reache as farre as that. Yea, but he foretelleth, not onelyonly the captiuitie of that people, the sacking of the Cittie, and the ouerthrowe of the Temple: but also the destruction of the Chaldees by the Persians, and the building vp of Hierusalem and the Temple by them again. Well may mans skill wade into Wéekes and monethes; but considering the vncerteintie of worldly matters, it can neuer wade into yéeres, and much lesse into hundreds of yeres, and into the whole continuance of a mightie and long lasting Monarchie, as Esay doth there. In so much that hee nameth Cyrus a hundred yeeres afore hee was borne. And afore his Graundfathers were named in the world, hée calleth him by name to deliuer Israel. And in another place he summoneth the people of Cethim (that is to say of Macedonie) to the destroying of the Persians. And in his eight Chapter he taketh Vrias and Zacharias the sonnes of Iebarachias by name to be witnesses of his Prophesie, who were vnborne a hundred yeres after. Let the greatest enemies of the trueth enter into their owne consciences, and tell me what humane skill or cunning there could be in those things. They cannot say here, that these Prophesies were forged by some man vponupon the euent. For by the remouing of the Iewes vntounto Babylon, the Lawes, Prophesies and Scriptures of Israell which were cōmon among that people, were conueied into diuers places of the world; amōg the which they had this Prophesie afore Cyrus was borne: and beeing in diuers mens hands, it was vnpossible to be falsified. And in good sooth, sith we see that the Kings of Persia being conquerours, caused the Temple to be builded ageine, it ought to bee a marke vntounto vsus, that in the Idolatrie out of which they came, they had séene wonders of the God of Israell, and that according to Esaies saying, they perceiued themselues to be called by him. The same is to bee considered of vsus in Icremie and Ezechiell, who beeing in places farre one from another, the one in Ierusalem and the other in captiuitie at Babylon, foretell the selfesame things, as sure Registers of one Court. But Ieremie Jerem. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. &c.is the more wonderfull in this behalfe, in that he prophesieth expresly that the people which were caryed away prisoners, should bee brought home againe at the ende of thréescore and ten yeeres, contrary to all likelyhood, and yet with such assurednesse, as a man would verely hauehave sayd, that he had led them home againe by the hand into Hierusalem. And in very déede, at the thréescore and tenth yeeres end, the people were conueyed home againe at the forenamed instant, as though Cyrus had bene bent of set purpose to verifie the Prophesie, or as though hee had bene waged by the Prophet. And it appeareth by the nineth Chapter of Danyell, (where this prophesie is alledged,) that it was common among al the people. As for Danyell Daniel. 9.himselfe, who being borne vnderunder the first Monarchie, seemeth rather an Historiographer than a Prophet, as in respect of the Monarchies and things that insewed; (for he speaketh of the Persians, Greekes and Romaines, of the tyrannie of Antiochus, of the vnhallowing of the Temple, and of other things that were done sixe hundred yeeres after his tyme, as of things alreadie come to passe): like as he closeth vp the Prophesie from the creation of the world to the comming of Christ; so ought he to stop all mens mouthes that will speake against him. For if a man wil not beleue the Iewish Chronicles, in that they report that the Prophesie of Danyell was read vntounto Great Alexander at his comming to Hierusalem, to shewe him what was foretold of him: yet is it euident and cannot bee denyed, but that when Prolomie caused the Scriptures to be translated, the Prophesie of Danyell was then extant, and was translated with the residue; which was long tyme afore the Tyrannie of Antiochus, the which he describeth to the eye. And therefore if it could not bee falsified in that behalfe, as little could it be falsified in all the rest, considering that all of it doth equally and infinitely exceede the reach of all creatures, and cannot proceede from any moe than one Spirit. Now then, let vsus looke vponupon the things that are in this Prophet; and whence could hee hauehave them,Daniel. 5. but from him that maketh and vnmaketh Kings at his pleasure? He forewarned Balsasar the sonne of Nabugodonozor, that he should hauehave a fall, because he had not taken example at the chastisement of his father, but had aduaunced himselfe against God. It will perhaps bee sayd, that it is the saying of wise men, that when pride goes afore, shame commeth after. But when as Balsasar was slayne that same night in the middest of his iolitie; it was a marking of the thing more precisely, which had bin foretold by the former Prophets also.Esay. 13. 2…. 47 Ieremy. 50. But in that which followeth there is no shift at all. Behold, Darius was but newly entered into the Monarchie, when euen in the first yeere of his reigne Danyell sayd vntounto him, Three Kings shall stand vp yet in Persia, and the fourth shall be inriched with great riches aboue them all; and when hee is so increased, Daniel. 15hee shall stirre vp eueryevery man against Greece. These fower or fiue words conteyne the historie of seuen or eight score yéeres. We hauehave great learned men, which by reason of their long experience, hauehave made (as it were) an Anatomy of our state: but which of them I pray you durst euer take vponupon him to tell how many Kings should come after, and much lesse to foretell what should be done by the fourth King that was to come as Danyell doth here, who maketh expresse mention of Darius voyage against the Greekes? Let vsus heare him yet further. But a mightie King shall rise vp (sayth hee) and reigne with great authoritie, and do whatsoeuer he will. Who seeth not here how Alexander commeth out of Greece against Darius, and subdueth the Persians? And when he is in al his royaltie (sayth he) his kingdome shall be broken and diuided to the fower windes of the ayre, how beit not to his own race, but vntounto strangers; for his kingdome shalbe plucked vp by the roote. He could not hauehave paynted out Alexanders Monarchie more liuely, which was but as a flash of lightening that passeth from the West into the East, and tooke ende in it selfe, and was deuided into many Kingdomes, as Macedonie, Thrace, Syria, and AEgipt, among Princes that were not of his race. Whosoeuer would hauehave made an Abridgement of the whole Historie of the Monarchie of Greece in fewe words; he could not lightly hauehave done it in other than these. Neuerthelesse, it is a glauncing ouerthwart through two Monarchies & two whole hundred yeeres, whereas all the wisedome of the world put together, could not ouersee so much as two yeeres, no not euen in the commonest affayres of a household. Now, the storie of the Macedones was not the thing that he aimed at: but the chiefe thing that hee sought into, was the state of the Church to come among the Iewes; and therefore he letteth the rest of the braunches alone, and goeth on but only with the Kings of Syria and AEgipt. Therefore let vsus reade the residue of the Chapter. There he paynteth out the warres of Antiochus King of Syria against the Iewes, the resistance of the Machabees, the oppression of the righteous, and the defyling of all holy things, so liuely and manifestly, that he which were not told of it afore he reades it, should not be able to say whether it were a Prophesie or an Historie.Daniel. 7. In his eight Chapter he describeth a battell betweene a Ram and a Goate. The Ram (saith he) that had two hornes, is the King of Medes and Persians, because those two states went ioyntly together. The Goate is the King of Greece; & the great horne that he had betweene his eyes, is the greatest King, that is to wit the great Alexander: and yet none of them both liued sixe score yeeres after.Daniel. 8. In the seuenth Chapter he describeth al the fower Monarchies, but specially the Romaine; which had (sayth he) teeth of yron, wherewith it brake and deuoured all the rest. And he purseweth it so farre, that he declareth himselfe to hauehave had a sight in his mynd, both of the breeding, of the proceeding, and of the decaying therof. If we consider what Rome was at that time, it was then scarce hatched: and a great while afterwarde, Alexander hauing but a small cut ouer the Sea that is betwixt that and Greece, Daniel. 9.knewe it not. To bee short, in the nineth Chapter he foretelleth that at the end of three-score and ten wéekes, (accounting from the day that the word was vttered by Ieremie for the buylding vp of the Temple agayne,) Hierusalem should be destroyed by a prince of the people that was to come, that is to say, by an Emperour issewing from the Commonweale of Rome, which at that tyme was not in being: which thing I could shew here to hauehave come to passe at the instaut aforenamed, according to the Prophesie. But forasmuch as this poynt perteyneth properly to the comming of the Messias, wherunto we reserue many things that may confirme vsus more and more in the holy Scriptures, it shall bee treated of in his peculiar place. Now then, we hauehave here a continuance of wonderfull Prophesies, from the creation of the world euen vntounto Christ, vttered and set foorth a long while afore hand, and come to passe iust in their tymes; not generall, but marked with their circumstances; not doubtfull, but such as expresse the things and persons by their names. And therfore to knit vp this matter withall, I demaund vntounto what we may attribute them, but to the inspiration of GOD… Some in stead of holding themselues within their bounds, will néedes ouerleape them, by denying al. But besides the reasons afore alledged, séeing that at the same tyme that the Israelites worshipped their God, the Nations about them had Oracles which answered vntounto all questions; and that man is so inquisitiue of things to come, that if he cannot bee certified at home, he seeketh euerywhere abroade: I would hauehave them to answer me, whether this people were of another nature than all other Nations, whom we knowe to be yet still at this day more giuen to prophesyings than any other Nation? And how being so giuen thereunto and not hauing aught at home wherewith to satisfie their curiositie, they could in the middest of so many miseries, hold themselues to the seruing of the one GOD, who alone of all others did not speake, but alonly had kept silence to all their requestes? For if it seeme straunge and myraculous vntounto vsus to hauehave had Prophesies: much more straunge and myraculous ought it to bee, to hauehave made more account of a God that gaue no answers at all, specially in so many distresses and oppressions; than of the Gods of the Heathen which did nothing els.
But forasmuch as none of the men of olde tyme was so impudent as to deny them,Obiections. but all were inforced either to woonder at them, or to alledge causes to diminish the estimation of them, Let vsus examine the reasons which they giuegive them. One saies that they were tyed to the Starres, and yet they mocked at the diuinations of the Chaldees eueryevery where. Now then, of so many Astrologers as were among the Gentiles, and hauehave made bookes thereof, name me any one that hath foretold the doings, not of an Empire, but of some one man: not a hundred yeeres aforehand, but a yeere aforehand, sauing that the diuell now and then by Gods sufferance, hath executed the same euill which hee himselfe foretold vponupon the partie that asked counsell of him. But Ptolomie wil say, the foretellings of the Astrologers are a meane betwéene necessitie and chaunce: for they foresée not the euentes or fallings out, but ouely the inclinations or dispositions of things, & as many as promise any further, doe but abuse men. What thinke wee then that this Ptolomie would hauehave sayd, if he had read these prophesies, so particular,Ptolomie in booke of the fruite. that they séeme rather stories of things past, than foretellings of things to come. Surely he would hauehave sayd that they could not hauehave proceeded but onelyonly from God, as he setteth downe and deemeth very wel in letter things: And that they which foretell particular things must needes be inspired of God: And agein, that the iudgements of such as gaze vponupon the Starres, are doubtfull, howbeit that they which foretell the good part, approch neerer the trueth, by reason of a certeine power that beareth sway in their Soule, although that otherwile they hauehave no skill at all in the arte. And in very deede, the best Astronomers hauehave reiected Iudiciall Astrologie, as in vain and without foundation, yea euen after they hauehave well tyred themselues in it. But in Israel we reade of a Neateheard called Amos, whose Prophesies were no lesse euident for the matters they treated of, than were the Prophesies of Daniell and Esay. Auerrhoes and his followers hauehave a peculiar opinion of mans Soule, namely that we hauehave a certaine capacitie of vnderstanding, which they terme an vnderstanding in possibility, the which informeth and teacheth by the working of an vniuersall mynd, which by the particular imaginations of eueryevery man, commeth to be ioyned to the vnderstanding in possibilitie that is common to all.The same thing doth Moises of Narbon say vppon the booke of Abubacher, & Auempare. And therefore they say that Prophesying proceedeth properly of that Coniunction in men that hauehave a strong and liuely imagination. If it be so, I would hauehave the disciples of Auerrhoes (who had so goodly an imagination,) to imagine this, to shewe mee some Prophesie of their Maisters or of their owne. Also let them answere mée how it happeneth that our Prophetes for the most part hauehave commonly bent old men, seeing that (after their doctrine,) old men cannot Prophesie by reason of the féeblenes of their imagination? But forasmuch as these men doe preache vntounto vsus that the worlde is eternall; how happeneth it that Prophesying hath not bene instilled into men by the sayde coniunction, euerlastingly concerning tyme, and in all tymes, séeing that to become a Prophet, there néedeth no more but to hauehave a very strong imagination? forasmuch as the separated vnderstandings are euermore readie and disposed to the said Coniuntion? How happeneth it also that a man being come to that point, Prophesieth not of all things that he can imagine? But hereby we see manifestly that this Prophesying of theirs is not an habit, but a passion that fadeth a way like the sound of a Lute, when the player ceasseth to strike. Or if they say that a man must first get him both the actiue and the contemplatiue habits,Roger Bacon in his booke of the Sixe sciences of experience, and in his abridgement of Diuini…e. and then the said vnderstanding matcheth it selfe with our imagination, as the forme of a thing matcheth with the substance thereof, whereof commeth it that Dauid being a Shepheard and Amos a Neteheard, did prophesie so wonderfully? Some will hauehave it, that Prophesying is deriued into man by the Starres, conditionally that he be disposed to receiue it. Herevpon they prescribe him a certeine diet; whereby he must make his body equall and euenly counterpeysed by Alchimie; and afterward he must gather togither the Beames of the Skie into a mirrour, which they call Alchemusie, made according to the Rules of Catoptrik: and finally he must stellifie by Astrologie as well the man himselfe, as the foode that he vseth. And they say that Apollonius of Thianey prophesied after yt maner. These are Toyes to bee laughed at, rather then worthie to bee answered. And let eueryevery man consider, whether our Prophetes being Shepherds, Neateheards and vnlearned, were framed with such curiousnes, to Prophesie according to diet. Nay when his wittes bee somewhat well wakened, he shall perceiue that they were inspired with things which the Starres could neither doe, nor betoken, nor knowe, forasmuch as they bee still in the hand of the first cause, and are not come downe so lowe as to bee subiect to the second causes.
The Platonists therfore come somewhat nearer the truth, specially Iamblychus and Porphyrius by name. For they say that the foretelling of things farre of aforehand, cannot be done nother by art nor by nature, but only by inspiration from God. Howbeit forasmuch as they speake of many Gods, and tooke the diuels for Angells it may be obiected ageinst vsus, that our Prophesies proceeded eyther from diuells or from Angells. But if we call to mynd the Oracles of diuells, and compare them with our Prophesies, there will appeare as much difference betwixt them, as is betweene the discretion of a wise man, and the tittlecattle of a foole. Therefore let vsus heare what they say. The Gods (sayeth Porphyrius) foretel naturall things by the order of naturall causes which they marke; and they foretell things that depend vponupon our owne wil, by coniectures takē of our doings. But forasmuch as they be swifter than we, they preuent vsus and outrunne vsus, and that in such sort, that as naturall things are deceyuable, and mens cases are variable & vncerteyne; so they both, as welthe good as the bad, bee subiect to lying. What els is this to say but that they can foretell nothing of vsus furtherfoorth than they learne by our doings; nor of naturall things furtherforth than they reade them in nature, that is to say than they reade them as in a booke, howbeit with a sharper and swifter eysight than we? But nother diuell nor Angell can reade that in the Starres which is not there: nor in men, that which men themselues knowe not, specially considering that the greatest learned men doe hold opinion that they enter not so farre. In the Starres they could not reade the names of Iosias, Vrias, or Cyrus: niether in the hearts of Iosias, Vrias; and Cyrus themselues, (who were not at that tyme in the world) could they reade the déedes which they were to do certeine hundred yéeres after. For only vntounto God are those tymes present which are to come; but as for to Angells and vsus there is no more of the roll of tyme knowen, than it pleaseth God of his gracious goodnes to vnfold vntounto vsus. It followeth then by the doctrine of these Philosophers, that our Prophesies being so cléere, so particular, and so neare to things a farre of; could not be in spyred from many Gods.
Yet notwithstanding, all Prophesying (say they) procéeds either of art, or of nature, or of some Spirit, or of God himselfe. Of arte, as by Astrologie; of nature, as when mannes nature is ready to receiue the influences of the vniuersall; and of some Spirit, as by some league or couenant made with him. But of none of all these three could the Prophesies of the Hebrewes procéede, as I hauehave shewed euidently afore. It remayneth therefore that those Prophesies are of God; and consequently that their Scriptures are Gods woord; which is nothing els but eyther those Prophesies themselues, or the effects of those Prophesies. And to shut vp this Chapter, it will not be amisse to rehearse this record of Porphyrins, that the Religious sect of the Essens among the Iewes, by reason of their occupying of themselues in those Prophesies, made a profession of Prophesying, and seldom tymes missed. For in deede there is greate lykelyhod, that if we vnderstoode all the Prophesies of the Byble (which thing is vnpossible for vsus bycause we cannot lay the states of all tymes togither;) wee should find there manie things which are darke to vsus at this day, and yet were cléere, well vnderstoode, and easie, euen to the verie comon people, eueryevery one in his tyme.