The Wonderful Workmanship of the World, Discourse · Chapter 10
The. x. Chapter. Whether the worlde, and the thinges that are conteined therein, bee ſound bodies, or certeine ſhadowes onelyonly.
S.
WHat things therfore, may there bee taught out of holie Scripture concernynge the world?
M.
Many thinges truelie, and thoſe all moſte woorthy too bee knowne, whiche apperteine too the praiſe and admiration of God the Creatour: wherof ſome declare the nature of the world, and otherſome the cauſes of it.
S.
Whiche bee they that declare the nature of the world, and of this whole vniuerſalitie?
M.
Thoſe queſtions for the moſt part, whiche are diuerſly toſſed, either by Heretikes, or by Philoſophers.
S.
Which is the firſt of them?
M.
Whether this world, and the thinges therein conteined bee ſubſtances, that is to ſay, certaine ſound bodies, and natures truelye and in deede ſubſiſting: or whether thei bee certeine ſhadowes onelyonly, and the repreſentations and images of thinges.
S.
How ſhould they bee ſo?
M.
Bicauſe not onelyonly Plato will hauehave all thinges that are here, to bee the images of certein ideae or patterns, and the ſhadowes onelyonly of true natures whiche are in heauen, and remaine in Gods minde: but alſo the Valentinian heretikes contend, that whatſoeuer thinges are in this world, are onelyonly the meere imagies of their Eternities, and repreſentations, and tranſitorie ſhadowes of them. In confirmation of whiche their opinion, they alleage the teſtimonie of S. Paule, the 1. Epiſtle, the 7. chap. and 31. verſe, to the Corinthians. The figure of this world (ſaith hee) paſſeth away: as though they were but vaine ſhewes, and no ſound bodies whatſoeuer thinges wee beeholde here with our eyes, what manner thing that was which the Poet deſcribed in theſe woordes:
And (but his learned guide inſtruct hym did, to let go by
Thoſe flittering tēder fourmes, & not to touch thoſe ſhapes that fly,
Whiche nothing bin but life, and ſubſtance none, but likeneſſe thin)
Hee would with them hauehave fought, and did in vaine to beate beegin.
S.
Can you anſwere vntounto this?
M.
Yea.
S.
How I praie you?
M.
Firſte, as touching Plato, let vsus bid hym farewell, for that hee is not onelyonly an Academike, and doubtfull of minde, and vncertein in eueryevery thing: but alſo an Ethnike, and nothing beelonging vntounto vsus Chriſtians: for the thinges that are without beelong not vntounto vsus, as S. Paule ſayeth. But as touching the Valentinians, who would bee called Chriſtians, they are ſufficiently confuted, and moſt ſharply reprooued by S. Ireneus in the 2. booke, and 7. chap. of his woorke whiche hee wroat againſt hereſies. But what abſurdities and inconueniences doe followe that opinion, marke. For they muſte needes confeſſe that thoſe thinges, theſe heauenly ideae and Patterns, whereof, by their Doctrine, theſe earthly thinges are ſhadowes, too bee bodies, which is an abſurd thing. Neither can a bodily thing be an image of thinges yt are meere ſpirituall. Moreouer, all this whole moſt beutifull woorke of GOD, whiche is called the worlde, ſhalbee a fantaſie, and a meere dreame, and not that thing whiche we ſuppoſe it to be: which is blaſphemous. Alſo to ſe, handle, and feele, ſhalbee nothing elſe, but to bee deceiued, and to be mocked, and after the maner of madde and drunken men too bee ſicke and to dreame: and this which wee call ſumthing, ſhalbee nothing. The meates whiche wee eate ſhalbee imaginations: the men with whom wee bee conuerſant, ſhadowes the earth whiche wee goe vponupon, a vaniſhing ſhadowe, not a ſound body, and an element. And finally, Chriſte himſelfe, who was made like vntounto vsus, was an imaginarie man only, and not a very man in deede, and therfore his paſſion imaginary alſo. And by what meaues might the madnes of the Mar…i…nites bee better called out of Hell againe? Yea, the caſe ſhould ſtande otherwiſe than hath the olde Prouerbe, to wit, that the life of man is a ſtage play, and the world the Theater.
S.
What anſwere you to S. Paule?
M.
That hee doeth not holde with the Valentinians. Neyther doth S. Paule ſpeake of the thinges themſelues and their nature, what manner it is: but onelyonly of the ſtate and condition of them howe tranſitorie and vncertayne it is, that wee ſhoulde make no accompte of it.
S.
How doe you prooue your opinion to bee true?
M.
Beeſydes the great abſurditie of theſe thinges which wee hauehave beefore declared, experience it ſelfe confirmeth the trueth: adde here vntounto alſo whiche maketh plainly for the confirmatiō of mine opinion, the ſaying of S. Peter, in the 2. Epiſtle of S. Peter, the 3. Chap. the 10. and 12. verſe: and Pſalme 102. the 25. and 26. verſe. And to bee ſhort, all thoſe places of holy Scripture in whiche the Lorde witneſſeth that hee founded the earth, & created all thinges: and not that hee hath caſt beefore our eyes vaine repreſentations, and emptie ſhadowes of thinges, to deceiue vsus with all.