1 AMong all the visible Workes of God, Man hath the preceden­cie; In man that part is of grea­test excellence which is called the Soule, for a body is com­mon to us with Beasts, but a soule with Angels.

2 Now seeing there are many faculties of the Soule, that is of greatest dignity, which is called the Mind or Vnderstanding; for it gives light un­to the Will, and sitting at the Helme doth steere and guide the affections, from whence it is called of the Greekes [...] the Regent or the Em­presse.

3 The principall ornament and perfection of this Vnderstanding is the knowledge of the Truth, which is so affected to the Mind as light unto the eye.

4 But not the knowledge of every Truth makes the Vnderstanding so exact, as the knowledge of those things that are most high and perfect; among which, since it is not to be exprest by what a tran­scendent distance God excells, it evidently follow­eth that the true knowledge of God is the most ab­solute perfection of the Mind: for seeing the know­ledge of the Truth is the same to the Vnderstan­ding, as light is to the eye, it is evident that by the true knowledge of God the Vnderstanding is most accomplished, since that God is the Fountaine of Light, the Father of Illuminations, nay Light it selfe; in comparison of whom the splendor of the Sunne is neerer darkenesse.

5 But againe, not every knowledge of God doth accomplish or illustrate the Vnderstanding; but only that which revealed by God himselfe is con­tained in his Word: For as we doe not behold the Sunne in the same manner as we doe other things, for other things are discerned by the light of the Sunne, but the Sunne illustrates himselfe unto us by his owne light; So God cannnot bee knowne but by his proper Light, and unlesse he be pleased to infuse into our Soules the true knowledge of himselfe.

6 But before wee settle our Meditation on this knowledge of God which is revealed in his Word, it will bee a labour worth the observation to ex­presse how farre humane reason, having no relati­on to the Word of God, can advance it selfe; for this is no sluggish Meditation, and from hence [Page 3] great light of rectifyed Reason shines, from hence great knowledge of Divine wisedome springeth forth. Before therfore we enter into the Chancell of this Temple, it will be profitable awhile to stay in the Courts thereof, where no little splendor doth appeare, and where God hath left no obscure representations of his power and his Wisedome: for so will we ascend by method and degrees to the Doctrine of the Church, that it may appeare how much the Church doth differ from the Lycaeum, how much the Schoole of Christ doth excell the Schooles of the Philosophers, how much the Revelation of God doth overcome the relation and Capacity of Man.

7 That in all men there is inherent some appre­hension of a God, by experience and the testimony of all ages it is manifest, among whom there is none so wild or barbarous that hath not received some forme of Religion, and that established under most grievous punishments: for this is not a writ­ten but a native Law, to which we are not taught, but made, not instructed by precepts, but by the principles of Nature; from whence it comes, that in the most unreclaimed there is a remorse of Con­science, which summons their guilts, and drawes them (though unwilling) to the Tribunall of God, causing the prophanest wretch to tremble with horrour at the almighty Iudgement; Suetonius re­porteth of Caligula, that thus hee was heard to threaten Iupiter.

‘ [Page 4] [...].’

He would often also rehearse that in Homer of Me­nelaus encountring with Paris: ‘ [...].’

Yet as often as he heard it thunder, he sought out holes wherein to hide him from his feares, and wakened from security, startled at the apprehensi­on of the revenging God: for every one, as hee is most abandoned to vice, so at the shaking of a leafe, or if

Hence it is, that we observe wicked men, who in the course of prosperity had shaken off all thought that there was a God, in sudden dangers to cry out, O God, and to fly to his assistance whom prophane­ly they despised, and surely these words fall from them unpremeditate, it being an acknowledgement that in suddaine apprehension of extremities is for­ced from them by victorious Nature.

9 Nay Idolatry it selfe the more absurd it is, and the more addicted to vaine inventions, the more [Page 5] evidently it declares that there is planted in Man by Nature a knowledge of Divinitie, a knowledge that must needs sit deepe within him, and through­ly be imprinted; when Man a creature of glory, doth choose rather to debase himselfe beneath the beasts, to worship Stocks and Stones; and from his naturall hight of pride to submit himselfe to the vilest of things, then to acknowledge at all no deity; neither could they who invented those monsters of gods, haue ever found men so prone unto obedience, had they not incountred with minds already incensed with the perswasion of a God, from which perswasion there ariseth an in­clination to religion.

10 Neverthelesse, to come to the knowledge of God, the vulgar tread in one path, the Philoso­phers in another, the vulgar rowling his eyes about the Vniverse with admiration doth contemplate the fixed seasons of the yeare, the beauty and ope­ration of the Sunne, the Ebb and flowing of the Sea, the weight of the Earth hanging in the ayre, and by the becks thereof compacted into a Globe, and balanced with equall weights.

The fainting Sun, the Moone in labour oft, (aloft, The Earthquakes birth, what mounts the Deepes

11 Hee wonders at the perpetuall glidings of the streames, the growth and vertue of the Plants, at the divers formes of living creatures, at their mo­tions, their inclinations and instincts. Finally at the great perfection of the Vniverse, that the par­ticular parts thereof are impediments to the con­templation of the whole: As in an unfeld Wood, the particular hight of every tree would bee re­markable, were not the whole Forrest seene to be of an equall hight. There is scarce therefore any so strongly dull, who observing these will not acknowledge their Author, and value with himselfe the greatnesse of the Workeman by the excellence of the Worke.

12 If any Man should behold a Library well fur­nisht, in which the shelues are faire, and well set up, the books rankt in order, all things are kept neate, and brusht, and handsome. Is it credible that any man can bee so sottish, as to conceiue that this came done by chance, and will not rather im­pute it to the industry of Man: for Confusion comes by chance, but Order is by Industry. But there is no Library so aptly digested, so full, so beautifull, that may any wayes compare with the perfection and structure of the fabricke of the [Page 7] World. A man may carry in the skirt of his gar­ment a promiscuous number of Printers Cha­racters, which his garment being shaken, hee may also shake and scatter on the ground; but will the Characters so aptly fall, or will there be so fine an industry in the Chance, that some elegant verses or neate Oration may be reade? Surely there is no Oration so polite, no Verse composed with so much art, that may any wayes parallel the Artifice and Beauty of the World.

13 This is the first way, whereby God affects even barbarous men with some touch of divinity, draw­ing even the perversest understanding to a know­ledge of himselfe by these dumbe Masters, Psal. 19. The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the Firmament sheweth his handy Workes: For the invisible things of him from the creation of the World are clearely seene, being understood by the things that are made, even his power and di­vinity.

14 Adde unto these the naturall preservations and the seedes of honesty and equity, and those pricks of conscience which gaule even the most obdu­rate with secret tortures; for this is a confession of good authority, whereby men professe that they acknowledge a Iudge to whom accounts are to be given, and who doth looke into their man­ners and their actions.

15 Neither doe the Devils and malignant Spirits conduce a little to imprint in our minds a deepe perswasion that there is a God; for seeing it is [Page 8] knowen by daily experience, how great and hurt­full the power of the Devill is, how they raise up tempests, send forth diseases, tranforme men into Wolues, transport Groues and Corne (which Pli­ny reporteth to haue happened in the PRO­VINCE of Marrucia;) how they affright men with visions, and with perplexing Oracles illude those that craue their counsell, and entangle them in errours: Surely mankind exposed to the inju­ries of so many invisible enemies, should haue pe­rished; nay and the fabricke of the World it selfe would haue dissolv'd, did not these Spirits depend on the becke of a supreamer power, who bridles their rage, and barres them up in the limits of his eternall Providence.

16 These are but obvious and careles observati­ons, which fall into the vulgar, even not mindfull of them: But the Philosophers to the true know­ledge of God haue gone the higher way; for they make them bonds and links with Demonstrations, by which they so chaine the understandings, that they draw from them what they will.

17 Aristotle wrote eight bookes of naturall Philo­sophy, the sixe last whereof containe no other sub­ject but of Motion onely and the affections of it: But the last doth▪ end in the first Moover, in him who is immoueable, for seeing all things that haue motion are moved by some one thing, and that againe by another, and so forward: In this chaine of things motionary wee cannot proceed to what is infinite, but wee must needs stay at one first [Page 9] Moover, who although hee moue all things, is himselfe immoueable. Even so in the body of Man, the joynts are moved by the Arteries, the arteries by the sinnewes, the sinnewes by the Spi­rits animall, the Spirits animall by the Spirits vi­tall, the Spirits vitall by the soule, which is not moved but by Accident, or by Another, that is, by the motion of another; as Wisedome wal­keth in a wise man, or as the Governour of a ship sitting at the helme doth so rest, that notwithstan­ding by the motion of the ship hee is moved him­selfe. But if there be any thing that moues it selfe, it must bee compounded of parts, and one part must bee moved of another: But the First Being must needs be most purely simple, and not compo­sed of parts.

19 Besides it is easie to bee seene by evident de­monstration, that in the order of Efficient causes it is impossible to proceed unto what is infinite, for if there was no chiefe and primary Cause, there would be no second, nor any third Cause; and so of the rest, so that by this meanes, there would be no Cause at all; besides wee should never arriue unto the last effect, for before wee could travaile to it, infinite Causes must be gone over, now that is infinite which cannot bee gone through, and of which as there is no beginning, so there is no ending.

20 Neither doe the divers degrees of Goodnesse and wisedome (by which Angels are better and wiser then men, and men themselues differ among [Page 10] themselues) availe a little to the knowledge of God and of divine perfection: For this Axiome doth stand unshaken, that qualities (suppose Heate or Whitenesse) are more or lesse imperfect accor­ding as they are neerer or farther off from the So­veraigne degree of perfection, or are distant from the chiefe degree of Heate or Whitenesse: A­mong creatures therefore that is the better which commeth most neere to the chiefe or primary Goodnesse; But this Soveraigne Goodnesse, what is it else but God who is Goodnesse it selfe. For as in the order of efficient causes, so in degrees of Vertue and Perfection, there can be no proceden­cie to what is infinite, but it must needs be that there must be some chiefe and primary Perfection.

21 Adde againe to this, what all the World confes­seth, that it is impossible that any thing should make it selfe, for if any thing could make it selfe, wee must necessarily then conclude it, to haue beene, before it was; for to doe, doth presuppose to be: since ther­fore the heaven could not forme it selfe, it must bee formed by some one else, who must truely be both of Soveraigne Power, and of infinite Wisedome, for to so great a worke, he had neither patterne whereby to imitate, no materialls ready wherewith to worke, nor Iourneyman to helpe him. For if these had then beene, it would bee againe deman­ded who had created him, his Matter or his Men, who had indued them with abilities as to set for­ward God, and helpe him in his worke; So that of necessity we must stay at some one, who wanteth [Page 11] not the ayde of any, and from whom all things are, who seeing that of nothing hee hath made all things, cannot but bee of an Infinite Power, since from Nothing to Something, there is an infinite disproportion; for sottishly profane is that ridi­culous insolence of the Epicure Velleius, who, in the first Booke of Cicero, Of the Nature of the Gods, deriding the Creation, demandeth what was the foundation, what were the tooles, what were the Leavers, who were the Apprentices, in so great a worke.

22 Besides the Mistery of Numbers convinceth plainely, that there was a beginning of the World, and therevpon, that it was created by God, for every Number ariseth from vnity, when therefore dayes are numbred, it must needes bee that there was one first Day, and therevpon one first Con­version of the heaven, for there is no number infinite in Act, neither can there bee Dayes infinite in number, for if any number were infinite, the number of ten, would infinitely fill vp that infinite number, from whence it would follow, that five would arise no oftner then ten, and that one halfe would bee no lesse then twice as much, nay, in that infinite number there would be as many tennes as vnityes, which surely cannot stand together, and imply a contradiction.

23 Besides the terme of life and proportions of men so much contracted in respect of the vigour and the Stature of our forefathers, doe not obscure­ly testifie, that there was one first Man, and one [Page 12] primary perfection, from which by staires Genera­tions haue descended, for the Diminution of things cannot bee infinite: for should wee runne them over in the Ages past vnto Infinitie, wee should at length advance Man vnto a Stature higher then heaven it selfe.

24 The Scope of all this, is, that by Arguments borrowed from the light of humane Reason, al­though but clouded and dusky, wee may teach, that as the beames of Light shed over all the World doe flow from one beginning, namely the Sunne, and as Numbers proceede all from vnity, and in the body of Man as all the Arteryes and Vitall facultyes, proceede from one heart, so every Being doth depend and is sustained by one Chiefe and Soveraigne Beeing, who should hee withold, or but withdraw his Vertue, and his Influence, All things presently would dissolue and returne into their ancient Nothing; No otherwise than if the Sunne being taken from vs, whatsoever there is of Light would bee turned into Darkenesse.

25 Now if any should demand what moved God to put his hand vnto this Worke, the answer is ready, For God made all things for himselfe, and was mooued with no other consideration than with his owne Loue: For God is not onely the efficient Cause of all things but the finall also as the Apostle witnesseth in the second of the He­brewes, where hee alledgeth, that God is for whom and by whom all things are: All things are for God, as hee is the End of all things and most [Page 13] Good; all things are by God, as hee is the efficient Cause of all things and most great: Deseruedly therefore doe wee title God Most Good, Most Great, but first most Good, before most Great: for hee is most Good as hee is the End, for the End is alwayes the foremost in the Intention, and the Efficient Cause is but mooued by it. Seeing therefore there is no Reasonable or Intellectuall Agent which vndertaketh any thing without pro­posing to himselfe the End which ever appeareth Good▪ the most chiefe and Soveraigne AGENT could not worke; but for the last and best End, And seeing there is nothing better then God, nay, Seeing all things whatsoever are Good come from God, God could not worke for any other End but for himselfe; And seeing there is nothing that should bee rather pourtrayed or represented in a picture, then what doth seeme most beautifull, God who is the first Beauty, and the first Light, was pleas'd to draw his owne Picture, and as in Phi­dias his Minerva, the Artist himselfe hath imprinted in his worke, an vndefac'd resemblance of himselfe.

26 But seeing now of things created, part are Bodies part are Spirits and immateriall Substances, among the Spirits the Angels are most eminent, next vnto which are the Soules of Men, among the Bodyes the first Heaven is aboue all most honourable; Wherefore when God in all his creatures hath imprinted some tracks of his power and his wisedome, the Spirits by a more speciall priviledge have ingraven in them the image of himselfe, and [Page 14] that not drawne by a pencil as Painters vse, expres­sing onely Colours and proportions, but such an image, as is beheld in a Glasse, which represents euen our motions and our Actions; For God hath powred into Spirits the Light of vnderstanding, and knowledge of the Truth, which is as a certaine sparke of the Diuine Light, hee hath adorned their Wills (whose faculty it is to mooue and produce Actions) with Holinesse and Righteousnesse, hee hath conferred on them Immortality and a liberty of choyce, which are the Lineaments of the Di­uine Image, and Resemblances of God himselfe.

27 Which image of God as it is the most glori­ous ornament of the Intellctuall creature, so there is nothing more vgly than the deformation of it, which is occasioned, when the Soule, the eye of the vnderstanding beeing pulled out by Ignorance, and the lineaments of this Image beeing soiled by Vice, is turned into a Monster, and beeing hated by God hath rendred it selfe so miserable by its owne default, that it is not any wayes worthy of the Mercy of God; For as the Image of a King stampt on siluer, with much rubbing and often fret­ting against the Ground becomes defaced, so in our soules, the image of God is deformed, addicted to earthly things, and as it were wallowed in the mire, they are turn'd away from divine contemplation, and from the Love of God.

28 Nay, and in the first body too (which is heaven) God hath imprinted certaine tokens, I had almost sayd a certaine Image of him­selfe: [Page 15] For God hath turned it into a roundnesse, an imitation of his diuine infinitenesse, because this figure hath neither beginning nor ending, and in the same first Body hee hath engraven no obscure resemblances of his immobility and eternall Rest, a rest which is yet notwithstanding in continuall motion; For although the Heaven is continually mooved by Parts, while one Part doth succeede another, so it is, that the whole Body resteth, neither is it mooved from its place; Hee hath also placed in the heavens an imitation of his Power, disposing of his Worke in such a method, that the elementary bodyes are governed by the hea­venly, and superiour bodyes worke into the inferiour their powerfull influences, And indeed most true is that of Aristotle in his second Booke de Gen. Cap. 10. That the perpetuall durance and con­tinuance of things ought to be imputed to the sim­ple & daily motion of the Sun from the East into the West; But that Generation and corruption doth arise from the oblique Courses of the Sun and Pla­nets through the Zodiack, whiles acording to their Situation they change their Aspects, and by their accesse neerer to vs, or recesse farther from vs, the affections and Qualities of things differ.

29 That this Heaven is the palace of the Almighty, not onely the sacred Word, but the constant opini­on of all Nations justifies; For though the Essence of God filleth all things, and is not circumscribed by any limits, yet by nature it is ingrafted in man in meditation and holy excercises to remooue his [Page 16] mind, what in him lyes, from earthly things, and to advance it vnto heaven; Wherefore wee pray vnto God with knees humbled to the Earth, but with eyes lift vp to heaven, the one of which ex­presseth our humility, the other testifieth our Hope, the one abates our pride, the other doth ad­vance our thoughts. Neither without good Cause hath humane Reason placed the throne of God in Heaven, For what more convenient habitation can there bee for God that mooveth all things, then that Body, by which hee mooueth all things? What fitter seate can there be for the Father of Lights, then that Region illustrious of it selfe, and allwayes shining with its natiue splendor? what more agreeable to the Nature of God, who is the God of Peace, and not subject vnto change, then there to haue his throne, where is everlasting Peace, vntroubled rest, nor signe of Change; Hence it is as Iustinus observes, in his Exhortation to the Greekes, that Iupiter in Homer tooke Ate or Discord by the haires of the head, and threw her headlong downe from heaven, who fell on this lower Region, which is shaken with Winds, with tempests, and with Earthquakes, where there reignes Warre, Tumult, and Rebellion against God himselfe.

30 By these staires, as it were, the mind of Man as­cends to the knowledge of God▪ by this wing shee doth mount her selfe: These are those backe▪ parts of the Almighty which it is permitted to Man to see, Exod. 33. to wit, the workes of God [Page 17] which are knowen to us onely ex posteriori by the events and the effects: Or rather by this doth not the Scripture giue us to understand, that God com­ming cannot be perceived, but after that hee hath passed by and strooke us, then we know him: For wee are altogether ignorant what God will doe; but after the execution of the Act, then wee ac­knowledge his power either by afflicting or deli­vering us.

31 Neither doth our Intention levell our Dis­course to proue that there is a God whom the de­vils themselues acknowledge, whom who denies he deserues rather the Executioner to torment him, then the Philosopher to instruct him; but these things are brought forth to shew, on what weake rods Mans reason leaning hath yet upheld it selfe, and strengthned that glimmering light which it had by Nature concerning the Divinity; and how although imperfectly it hath arrived to the know­ledge of a God: As also to expound that which Saint Paul saith, Act. 14. That God never left him­selfe without witnesse, which may be understood not onely of outward testimonies such as are raine and fruitfull seasons, but may also be extended as well to the inward testimony of every Conscience, as the outward testimony of the Creatures.

32 Neither by this doe I inferre that this Assertion that THERE IS A GOD, is of the number of those which are knowen by their owne Nature. Aristotle in the second of the Posteriors text 6. saith, that those Enuntiations are knowen by Na­ture [Page 18] which are no sooner understood but they are beleeved: As who understands what the WHOLE is, and what a PART is, hee cannot but know and beleeue that the whole is more then the parts there­of: Neither can a man perswade himselfe to be­leeue the contrary; but this Assertion that THERE IS A GOD is not of that Nature; For after the termes are understood there are found of those that dare deny him.

33 Although I beleeue they are but few in num­ber, yet every Age hath encounterd with many others, who for all they acknowledge that there is a God, doe yet deny his Providence; for this opinion is most flatter'd and stroakd by vices, and is most apt of all to unbutton to Intemperance; but of those that haue altogether denyed God, you sh [...]ll scarce find any one in any one Age: It is ma­nifest indeed that Diagoras Melius was accused of Atheisme, not that hee denyed that there was a God, but that hee despised the counterfeit Gods of the Athenians, and their empty superstitions; this is he, that taking the wooden Statue of Hercu­les by the legge threw it into the fire, thus up­brayding it: This (saith hee) shall bee thy thirteenth labour; and Clemens Alexandrinus in his booke in­tituled Protrepticon doth affirme, that the same opi­nion is to bee had of Theodorus the Syrenian, Evo­merus, Hippone, Nicanor, which were all accounted Atheists.

34 Hitherto therefore humane Reason hath not unhappily disputed, for by the Conduct of Na­ture, [Page 19] and assistance of Philosophy it hath come so farre as to affirme that there is a God.

35 But when they come to describe the Nature of God, and endeavour themselves to satisfy the Question, wherein it is demanded what God is, a huge and thicke mist of ignorance doth over­spread and cloud the sense, and the light of God himselfe, turnd into darknesse, doth strike the Vn­derstanding with blindnesse and astonishment.

36 Some there are, as Plato, Cicero, and Virgil Aen. 6. who have thought that God is the Soule of the world, who doth so moove and guide it, as the soule doth the body; Others have affirmed God to bee whatsoever is. That of Euripides is well knowne.

37 There have beene of them who have affirmed that God is a Circle, whose center is every where, and Circumference no where: It is commonly reported how by long procrastinations Simonides deluded the demands of Hiero, who desired to know what God was, craving at first the liberty of one day to resolve him, then two dayes, after­wards three, daily augmenting the number, always acknowledging his inability to answer the request, [Page 20] and that the more hee considered what God was, the more the difficulties did arise and multiply.

38 The Iewes that they might shew the Essence of God to be inexplicable, they would have the name of God unutterable, and which neither could nor ought to be pronounc'd by man, which the Angell who is also called God, who wrastled with Iacob, seemes to imply: for Iacob defiring him to declare his Name, he refus'd it, saying, Wherfore is it that thou dost aske after my name? So the Angel who is called God also, Iud. 13. checked the curiosity of Manoah, who desired to know what his name was, in these words, Wherefore askest thou after my name, seeing it is wonderfull? In Hebrew bookes, even to this day, the name of God is written Iehovah, which name it seemes was wrote on purpose by the Rabbins, that the name of God which was writ­ten on the front of the Miter might bee hidden: For Iosephus, who was both a Priest and Pha­risee, doth testify in the sixth booke of the Iewes warres, that the Name praefixed on the Miter of the Priesthood had foure vowels, whereby it doth plainely appeare that this name was not Ie­hova, but IOVA, by pronouncing I and V not like Consonants, but distinctly by themselves as they are Vowells: which the word Iove among the Heathens doth also intimate: nor much diverse from this is Diodorus the Sicilian, who in the first Booke of his Historicall Library doth affirme that the God of Moses was called ΙΑΩ. But Clemens A­lexandrinus in the fifth Booke Stromat. pag. 240, [Page 21] doth say that the foure-lettered name which was writ about the Sacerdotiall Tyare was ΙΑΟΤ, which word consists of the same vowels, as the word ΙΟΤΑ, although the letters are otherwise disposed: but howsoever it was, they are as wide from truth as Heaven, that thinke by this word, or any other, the Essence of God can be exprest; for no name can bee given which can expresse the es­sence of Man, nay of a stone, seeing there are no names essential, but names are given unto things by common institution, and as pleased those who first did practise the diversity of tongues to impose upon them: those names only expresse the Essence of the things they signify, which doe imitate their sounds, as the creaking of the Crow, the lowing of the Bullocke.

39 But the Essence of God, as it cannot be exprest by words, so it cannot be conceiv'd by the Vnder­standing, the causes of which are many; for a thing infinite cannot be comprehended by a thing finite, and the inaccessible light of God doth dazle the Vnderstanding. Aristotle confessing in the se­cond of his Metaphysicks, that as the eyes of Owles cannot endure the beames and splendor of the Sunne, so the edges of our Vnderstanding doe rebate themselves in the apprehensions of the primary Beings: The same Philosopher affirmes, that there is nothing in the Vnderstanding that was not first in the sense: but God cannot be presen­ted to the sense. Againe, as long as Vnderstanding is in the body, it comprehendeth nothing but by [Page 22] the helpe of the Fancie, and in the act of Vnder­standing it turneth to the Fancie, a fancie which doth as much annoy, as helpe the Vnderstanding whiles it representeth God cloath'd in the conditi­ons of Nature, as of quantities, of extension of parts, and many other accidents. Againe, every punie knowes that things are defined by their Ge­nus and their difference, or if that they bee not at hand they are then defined by their proper Acci­dents: But of God there is no Genus, no specifi­call difference, no Accident at all, since God is all substance.

40 To these Inconveniences and impediments in attayning to the Knowledge of God, there is ad­ded not onely Mans slownesse and infirmity, but his perversenesse and neglect: For many are called from this study by the sloth and dulnesse of their wit, rebating it selfe in the contemplation of heavenly things; some are taken from it by pub­licke or private affaires, which call downe to earth­ly things the mounting endeavours of the mind, and (as I may so say) doe pull the wings of Me­ditation; and many, the slaves of pleasure, and gi­ven to their belly, misprise the study of Salva­tion, as a thing they have no need of; nay, as it were some trifling importunity, some light or empty Meteor.

41 And of those who apply their understandings to the knowledge of God, there are but few that persevere in the right course, but either they fall off from their designe, or strucken with a giddi­nesse, [Page 23] doe stumble on the threshold, or turning aside to vaine delights, doe wrap themselues in errors; from hence arise those monsters of the Gods, and illuding Vizards which were worship­ped by the Heathen, who wanting an able Master to instruct them did follow the custome of their Countrey, which commanded them to adore the peculiar Gods of their countrey or their family, thinking it would bee better with them if every particular man should choose him a private and particular God: From this sprang up such a mul­titude of Gods, that in Hesiods time they amounted to the number of thirty thousand: Againe it is planted in Men, which is their great folly, to mea­sure God by themselves, & to cloth him not only with mans figure but with his affections also; they doe not thinke that they serue God aright, unlesse they make him like a Man or Beast, that they may haue before them some present object, on which they might settle their eyes and their devotion; This was the language of the Israelites to Aaron, Make us gods which shall goe before us, Exod. 32. And because God had made Man to the Image of God; Man againe to require the courtesie would make God to the Image of Man: By which God after they had discharged themselues of some Ceremo­nies to him, they conceited themselues not onely safe against all sins already committed, but thought for the time to come, they had got a licence and a priviledge to sinne.

42 For these causes there haue not beene wanting [Page 24] some, who turning desperation into censure, haue beene of judgement that God could not be know­en, and that in vaine they travaile that bestow their labours in searching out his Nature, whose mo­desty indeed deserues to bee excused, were there not too much of sloth in it, and were not the di­minution of his knowledge an occasion of the di­minution of his loue, and by the same contempt whereby the knowledge of the Divine Nature is neglected, the knowledge also of the Divine Will would be despised.

43 Plato in whose tracks Cicero treads, hath beene more happy in this inquiry, for hee hath delive­red to the world many true and excellent things concerning God; as when he saith, That he is the Author and Governour of all things, most Good, most Great, who seeth and sustaineth all things, and that the life of a wise man is nothing else but a returne to God, and that the way to God is by the study of Piety and Iustice: This and much more to this purpose, wee may reade in Platoes Politicon, his Philebus, Theate­tus, and Timaeus, where we may find many things taken from the Ancient Divinity which he had learned in Egypt and in Siria.

44 Aristotle more sharpe in understanding, doth adde, that God is the first Moover, the first Being, and moving Power; who notwithstanding is unmoueable, to whom as to their End the Caelesti­all Intelligences perpetually mooue, and that he is the cause of the continuall Motions of the hea­vens, which causeth other Motions, and from [Page 25] whom the inferiour bodies receiue their influences.

45 For although to see into the mysteries of God, and to know his Essence is not granted unto any Creature, no not unto the Angels, because there is no proportion betwixt a finite faculty and an infi­nite object, yet those holy instructions are not to bee neglected, which present themselues unto the creature concerning God, or which the power of the understanding hath attained by meditation, neither are the naturall Sparkes of the knowledge of God to be smotherd in us, but to be awakened and blowen up, that from them our loue to God might be inflamed; For we loue not things un­knowne, but from the knowledge of good, the loue and desire of enjoying it doth increase.

46 And although there be no Genus of God that is Synonimall, or fully able to define him; and al­though there be no specificall difference, yet there is a Genus which is called Analogicall, and a Diffe­rence too; although but by way of Negation; as when wee say that a Beast is a creature that is not reasonable, both which Genus and which Diffe­rence being apprehended by the understanding as proper Qualities doe conduct our minds unto some knowledge of God.

47 I am of opinion, most aptly and as farre as Mans capacitie is able to conceiue that God may be thus defined, God is the first, the most chiefe, and most perfect Being, from whom there floweth and de­pendeth all Entity and Perfection: For other things which are his Attributes, as his Eternity, [Page 26] his Simplicity, his Wisedome, and of like Nature are all contayned under this word of chiefe Per­fection.

48 I say that not onely every Being proceeds from God, but every Entity doth ever and altogether depend on him: for God doth giue unto his crea­tures both their Being and their life, after the same manner as the Sun doth communicate his beames, which doe so flow from him, as they are alwayes depending on him; who, should he but a little hide his face, incontinently the Light would cease, and his beames vanish away; which the Psalmist doth imply, If thou hidest thy face they are troubled, if thou takest away their breath they dye, and returne unto their dust: Psal. 104.

49 Moreover, although wee cannot in mind con­ceiue, or in words expresse the divine perfection; neverthelesse wee may after a manner shaddow it forth.

50 This word Perfect is taken many wayes, com­monly a Worke is said to be perfect when it is fi­nished or accomplished; as a house where the Workeman hath no more worke to doe, or a booke to which the Author hath put his last hand; God is not said to be perfect in this manner, for this perfection proceeds to perfection from imper­fection, of which there never any was in God.

51 That also is said to be perfect, that wanteth no­thing by which it may attaine the end to which it was ordained: In which sense all the workes of God are in their kinds perfect; and Momus himselfe [Page 27] can find nothing in them, that he might taxe either for excesse or for default; neither is God said to be perfect after this manner, for he is not ordained to any particular end, who is himselfe the chiefe End of all things.

52 But so wee doe say God is perfect, as no per­fection is wanting to him; for every thing is said to bee imperfect which is in potentiâ passiuâ, in a passiue power to some Act; but God is a pure Act, and in him there is no power that is passiue.

53 Wherefore it must needs ensue, that whatsoe­ver perfection and vertue there is in the creatures, it must not onely flow from that primary perfecti­on which is in God, but must also bee included in it; For as the reasonable soule comprehends the vertues of the soule Sensitiue, and Vegetatiue, and all the power of inferior Magistrates is included in the power of the Prince, and as humane Discourse is contained in the Angelicall Intellect; so all the perfections of the Creatures are inclosed in the perfection of the Creator.

54 But those Perfections of the Creatures are ex­cepted which are either the remedies of euills or the Helps and Aydes of Imperfections, for to attri­bute such perfections to God is rather a reproach then Praise (as for example) The motionary facul­ty whereby the liuing Creature mooues it selfe by a locall Motion, is a perfection in the Creature which is not a perfection in God, because this per­fection is but the crutch of imperfection, for be­cause the Creature cannot bee in the same time in [Page 28] many places the motionary faculty is given to him, which in some sort doth remedy this imperfection, for by it successiuely at least, and in diuerse times, the creature may bee in diuerse places; This per­fection must not bee look'd for in God, for seeing hee is every where, there is no place for him to mooue vnto.

55 So to discourse and frame a Sillogisme is a per­fection indued by God into the mind of Man, a searcheresse out of Truth, and by things more knowen working out a Way to things vnknowne; this perfection seing it is the remedy of Ignorance and a helpe vnto our weakenesse, it would bee pro­phane to look for it in God, who disputeth not, nor makes it his labor to find out the truth, nor collect­eth one thing by another, for all things are knowen to him alike, and hee vnderstandeth all things in one pure and simple thought, there is no need that God should turn the eye of his Vnderstanding to those things which hee would know, for he but beholds himselfe and finds in his owne mind the eternall Modell of all things, and in his will the efficient Cause of all Events; And as a man that had his whole body beset with eyes, or was all one eye had no need to turne his body or his eyes to behold the things that are about him, for in one and the same point of time, whithersoever hee casts his eye, all objects round about him present themselues vnto him with an equall viewe, so see­ing that one thing cannot bee more present to God then another, there is no need that he should turne [Page 29] about the eye of his vnderstanding, or behold things in a succession of order, or should bring a new intention of the mind to attaine new know­ledge, for there is not any thing that is or can bee new vnto him.

56 So the memory of things past, and foresight of things to come are the Vertues and Perfections of a Man that is borne in time, and whose Actions and Duration are measured by time, which vertues God hath endowed him with, that hee might pre­serue the instructions receiued and eschew things hurtfull; These perfections (seeing they are the remedies of Imperfections and the aydes of our Infirmities) cannot bee attributed to God, but vn­properly; and what in this Subject wee attribute to God which belongs to man, it must bee vnder­stood in a sense most agreeable to the Majestie of God, for neither the memory of things past, nor the conjecture of things to come, can bee said to bee in God because all things are present to him; the maker of Time, is before time and above it, neither is his duration measured by it; for as the Infinitenesse of God doth not onely consist in this that hee is not circumscrib'd by limits, but most especially in this, that hee is all in every place; so his eternity likewise is not placed in this onely, that hee is without beginning and without end, but rather in this, that his life is not a Course of Motions as ours, but a perpetuall Rest, and in which there is no succession of Parts, for otherwise hee should dayly loose a part or portion of his [Page 30] life, but hee enjoyes all his life and perfection, together, and in a Moment: for Aeternity, as Boetius doth define it, is the whole, together, and the per­fect possession of a life vnlimited. And as to a Man sitting on the banke of a River, onely that Water is present to him which is observed by him in that instant Moment and point of time, but that part of the River is not presented to his eyes which is not yet come to them or but now gone from them, yet the same Man, were hee exalted into the vpper region of the ayre, might behold the whole River, and at one view obserue both the fountaine and the courses of it; So by the eye of God who is above time, together, and in a moment, is obserued the whole flux of transitory things, neither in him is there addition or subtraction, for all things that are, are present to him.

57 There is another difference and that too a re­markable one, for these perfections which are di­verse and scattered in the creatures, in God are one and the same perfection; As if there were a crea­ture which could excercise all those faculties by one sense, which wee doe by five: And as all lines drawen from the circumference to the Center of the Circle are vnited in the Centers point, and the farther they are from the Center the more they scatter and enlarge themselues; so all the ver­tues which are dispensed among the Creatures are collected in God into one Vertue, and the farther they depart from God, the more scattered & thin they doe appeare, till at length they degenerate into the vilest of vices.

58 The Cause of this difference is, that these per­fections and vertues of the creatures are Qualities and ornaments added to their Substances, but the onely perfection of God is the Essence of God himselfe, which though it be most pure, yet because it hath diverse effects, it hath diverse names; In Man indeede it is one thing to know, and another thing to Will, neither is the foreknowledge of Man the cause of the event to come, But see­ing the foreknowledge of God is the very Essence of him, it is necessary that it must bee the same perfection with his Will and Providence, and that in his foreknowledge hee hath a power not onely foreseeing but also disposing of things to come; Neither must we thinke that God foresees stormes to come, or Earthquakes, or Ecclipses, because they are to come, but wee must rather say, that they will come because that God foresees them.

59 Neither would I by this inferre, that if at any time the same perfections bee attributed to God and to the Creatures, that the same perfections are equall in the Creatures as in God, Wisedome and Righteousnesse are not attributed to the Angells as to God, in one and the same Sense, for in God they are Substances, but in Angels Qualities, nei­ther can these bee said to bee termes equivocall, that is words of the same sound, for words purely equivocall (such as the word Lupus in Latine, which signifieth the creature of prey and Rapine, as also the bitte or snaffle of a bridle) hold no intelli­gence together, neither haue they any order in Na­ture, [Page 32] neither by one doe we proceed to the know­ledge of another; but the wisdome and the Righte­ousnesse of Angells are resemblances of the diuine Righteousnesse and sparks shining from it, and the knowledge of one doth advance our spirits to the Contemplation of another; Those things there­fore may bee said to haue an Analogicall reference which are as Ens, or Being, which is in Logick called the Genus Analogum of Substances and Acci­dents, and so a foote is spoken either by the foote of a liuing creature or by the tressle of a bed or ta­ble, for in the greatest diuersity there is no little Analogy or Resemblance.

60 Whosoever therefore will exalt his thoughts without danger to the contemplation of the Diuine perfection, must runne over in his owne Mind all the perfections that are in a Creature, and abstract and sever from him whatsoever ther is of Imperfe­ction, and also those perfections which are the helps and Crutches of Imperfections, all these being sub­stracted, that which remaineth will bee GOD; As, from Man to whom God hath given, to bee, to liue, to vnderstand, take away but these things, To bee a Body, to haue a Beginning, to bee cir­cumscribed by Limits, to bee compounded of Parts, to bee the Subject of Accidents, to bee re­mooued from one place to another, to discourse, to remember, to forget, to learne, to bee ignorant, to bee able to sinne, to depend on a Superiour Beeing, and such like, these things taken away, that which remaineth will bee GOD, namely a [Page 33] liuing Beeing, vnderstanding, incorporeall, without beginning, not depending on another, infinite, simple, vnchangeable, vnmooveable, all-knowing, perfectly Iust, and perfectly Wise.

60 Moreover, although wee cannot demonstrate what God is by any thing that is precedent, for substances are not the Subjects of Demonstrations, or graunt they were, yet the Essence of God must bee exempted, because no Cause can bee rendred of it; howsoever (I speake after the manner of men) some of the divine Attributes are demon­strated by what goes before, while one Attribute is deduced from another by a necessary Conclu­sion; so, out of the Infinitenesse of God, his im­mobility is demonstrated, for whither can hee mooue himselfe who is every where? and in the same manner from the Simplicity of the Essence of God, wee may deduce his incorruptibility, for all corruption doth proceede from the dissolution of the Compound; Nay, from the same simpli­city of Gods essence, wee doe necessarily inferre that in God there are no Accidents, for hee were not most pure and Simple, if hee did consist of Substance and of Accidents; then againe, from the omniscience of God is collected the vnchange­ablenesse of his decrees, For then Men doe change their resolutions and fall off from their enterprises, when any thing doth happen vnthought of, or vnlook'd for.

61 The vnderstanding of man Mounted on these wings, can exalt her selfe to some knowledge of [Page 34] the Divine Nature, by which preexercitations the Mind being stirred vp doth more greedily receiue, and more easily digest the Instructions reveiled in the Word of God, which excellent and sublimed knowledge of the Word of God, shall bee now the Subject of our Discourse.

63 God therefore who with a courser pencill hath shaddowed himselfe in his creatures, hath exprest himselfe in his Word in more bright and liuely Colours, and that two wayes; For there is one knowledge of God which is deliuered in his law, and another which is contained in the Gospell, which two knowledges doe answer the two trees which God first planted in Paradise, whereof one gaue the knowledge of Good and Euill which is the office of the Law, the other doth beare the fruit of Life which is the benefit of the Gos­pell.

64 For wee haue three wayes of knowing God, one by the workes of God, the second by the Law, the third by the Gospell, among which the know­ledge by the Gospell is farre most excellent, for the other two knowledges present God to our vnderstandings, as a Creator, a Lord, and as the Master of our life, but this as a father and Re­deemer; The two former knowledges of God doe teach what God is in himselfe, but this latter what God will bee towards vs, the former doe strike feare and wonder into vs, the latter advan­ceth Hope and createth Love: so that without the knowledge of God by the Gospell, the knowledge [Page 35] of him by his workes is but a lazy speculation, and the presse of him by the law is terrible, and doth presse our Consciences with a burden vnsup­portable.

65 It seemed not enough therefore to God, to teach us by his creatures, who in throngs as it were and by admirable consent giue testimony of him, but hee hath unlocked his sacred mouth, that by his word hee might endue us with the knowledge of himselfe, and by that knowledge inflame our loues.

66 For by the Architecture of the world, the Power and the Wisedome of God is acknow­ledged but not his Iustice, nor his Mercy, without the knowledge of which there is no salvation; also the works of God doe witnesse the greatnesse of the Workeman, but they lay not open unto us his will, nor deliver in what manner he is to bee worshipped: Besides, when the contemplation of the creatures doth represent God unto us, as hee is armed with thunders and shaking heaven and earth but with the turning of his eye, this contempla­tion doth affect us with astonishment, with the feare and horrour of an Armed Iudge, were there not another doctrine which doth appease our con­sciences, and giue unto us assurances of the loue of God, for then doe wee with filiall eyes behold heaven as the portall of our fathers Palace, when God in his word hath given to us the evident testi­monies of his paternall loue.

67 Moreover, wee should grow darke in the very [Page 36] contemplation of the workes of God, did we not distinctly see them by the word as through specta­cles, which of themselues would hardly be discer­ned; this doth the Apostle teach us in the 11. Heb. Through faith wee understand that the worlds were fra­med by the word of God, so that things which are seene were not made of things which doe appeare; giving us to understand, that they onely beleeue, as they ought, the creation of the world to be without any praeexistent matter, which receiue the word of God with the obedience of faith; would you haue it made legible by examples? The history of the Creation is well knowen as it is related by Moses in the beginning of Genesis: It is there declared that the Sunne was created but in the fourth day; so that three dayes and as many nights were past when the Sunne was first created; this being to informe us that God did so use the Sunne to illu­strate the world, that yet without it and before it, hee shined into the world by his owne light, being no wayes obliged to second causes; And when Moses assigneth a beginning and ending to every day, in these words, And the Evening and the Mor­ning were the first day, and so of the other dayes, onely in the seventh day Moses maketh no mention of the Evening, for the Rest of the seventh day is the shadow and the figure of the heavenly and eternall Rest of which there is no End; so when the Naturalists report many things of the Raine­bow, the onely end and signification of the Raine­bow can be learned out of the word of God▪ But [Page 37] how many mysteries and instructions doth the Creation of Man and Woman containe? Surely God forming the body of Man out of clay, did conforme his mind also to humility, and a religious lowlinesse by remembring him of his discent and ignoble parentage; also when God created a Wife for the man when he was asleepe, it doth in­struct us, that a good Wife is not obtayned by a mans owne industry or wisedome, but by the Pro­vidence of God, which doth bring her to him while hee is asleepe: Againe, the creation of the Woman from the part most neere unto the heart, what doth it imply? but faith and loue: and that I may not diue into hidden mysteries, and by what meanes Adam overcome with a deepe sleepe, (which is called by Homer [...], the brother of Death) was a figure of Christ in the sleepe of Death, which sleepe God made use of to raise unto him his Spouse which is the Church.

68 And truely a Spirit that is exercised in the word of God, will receiue much fruite and pleasure from the contemplation of the creatures: For besides, that hee beholds the fields▪ the woods, and what­soever else is pleasant on earth as the possessions of his father, and doth walke in them as in his owne inheritance, and gathers those fruits which hee knowes by right are his, as being created for the use of the Sonnes of God, there is this addition more, that hee cannot bestow his eyes on any place wherein a resemblance of vertue shall not encoun­ter them, and refresh his memory with something [Page 36] [...] [Page 37] [...] [Page 38] which hee hath heard or read in the word of God: If a godly man and one that knowes God by his word, beholds a fountaine of running waters, they wil presently prompt his memory to the foun­taine of life, in Iohn 4. And to the waters springing up to everlasting life: If he beholds the Sunne he con­templates how greater farre is the Light of the Sun of Righteousnesse: If he considers the vicissi­tude of the dayes and nights he comforts himselfe in the remembrance of the assurance of the Cove­nant of God, God himselfe so speaking by the mouth of Ieremy: If you can breake my Covenant of the day and my Covenant of the night, & that there should not be Day and Night in their season, then shall you also be able to breake my Covenant with David: If he be­holds a Shepheard driving of his flocke, hee re­members presently that in the Psalme; The Lord is my Shepheard I shall not want: Finally, wheresoever hee turnes his eye hee will find an ample subject of prayse and of thankesgiving, and a wide field will be opened for holy meditation.

69 That which we speake of the workes of Crea­tion, is to be vnderstood also of the workes of Gubernation and of the divine Providence, the effects of which, man is not able to discerne, unlesse he annoynt his eyes with the salve of Gods word, and wipe the filmes from off them.

70 There are not wanting examples among the Heathens, who being opprest by calamities, have acknowledged God the revenger of their offences, or freed from evills have ascribed to him the praise [Page 39] of their deliverance. Most remarkable is that of Sethon King of Aegypt, who holding a Mouse in his hand, stood cut in stone in the Temple of Vulcan, on his Statue was inscribed.

Giving thankes to God, who by multitudes of Mice sent in among them had disbanded the army of Sennacherib the King of the Assyrians. And Phlegas in the sixt of the Aeneids, among a thousand torments, in hell is personated crying out:

From hence they feigne Nemesis and Rhamnusia hanging over the successes of the wicked, and stop­ping the courses of their prosperity; from hence in their Tragedies if any horrible crime worthy a God to revenge it, was presented, some God was then produced advancing his head from behind a frame or property: but these things were rare, and, as it were, forced by necessity, and but light compared to these which out of the Word of God wee learne concerning his providence, as of the haires of our head, which are all numbred; of the Sparrowes, not one of which falls on the ground without the will of God, of the wicked rejoycing in their follies while the hand of God [Page 40] hollowes their pitte the deeper; of God search­ing our reynes▪ and seeing the secrets of our hearts; of giving an account before the Tribunall Seat of God, not onely of evill actions, but of an idle word.

71 And as the people in the street, looking on the Dyall or the Clock, know by the hand what houre of the day it is; but are altogether ignorant of the hidden motions, and of the worke within that moves it selfe; but he that goes into the place where the Clocke is, doth with admiration behold the wheeles and poyses of it, and proceeding from the wheele which moveth first, to that which is moved last, he observeth how the motions are in­volv'd and depend on one another: So the Vul­gar seeth the events of things, as they expose themselves to the eye and observation of all; but hee who is admitted into the Sanctuary of the Word of God doth wonder at the linked order of the divine Counsells, and poyseth with himselfe the weights of providence: So David, Psal. 73, confesseth that at the beginning he envyed the suc­cesse of ungodly men, and was not a little afflicted to see them flow with blessings, not onely accor­ding to their desires, but also above them, while the righteous and they who are called the people of God in full boles drinke deep of waters ming­led with gall, which affliction of his mind was eased after hee was entred into the Sanctuary of God▪ from whence, as from a Watch-Tower, he beheld the end of the Vngodly, and acknow­ledged [Page 41] that the happinesse of men was not to be adjudged by the present condition of their state; but by the counsell of God, and the last event of things: the holy man owed this his rectifyed judgement of humane affaires to the Word of God, from which in many places hee confesseth, that hee had derived the wisedome of his know­ledge.

72 Adde to this, that, if we had no other Master, but the Creatures onely, to instruct us in the ser­vice of God, every man would frame a Religion to himselfe according to his owne pleasure, and as every Creature was most profitable to the life of man, accordingly divine honours should be ascri­bed to him; from hence it is that the Persians worshipped the Sunne, because they saw nothing more faire, they found nothing of a more quick­ning vertue then the Sunne; from hence it is that the Aegyptians worshipped an Oxe, of which creature there is a speciall use in manuring of the Earth; from hence it is, they worshipped also the Bird Ibis, who with his horned beake did destroy the Snakes, and purged Aegypt from her Serpents; whereupon as every man became more renow­ned, either by valour, or by the praise of civill pollicy, or by the invention and study of the Arts, hee was more easily exalted by posterity into heaven, and numbred in the Catalogue of the Gods.

73 But did not the light of the Word of God shine downe from heaven, it cannot be related what pro­digies [Page 42] of Religion, what vaine observations men would fancie, with what painted fables would they delude themselves and God, attributing those things unto God, which would misbecome a man but indifferently sober? This was the vanity that first brought Atheisme into the World; for a man civilly wise, that beholds Cities and Nations to be distracted by contrary opinions, and all things to be full of fables, suffers himselfe easily to be traduc'd to a beliefe, that Religion is but a meere invention, to which opinion Plutarch seemes to be more inclined, for in his booke expressely written on the same subject he endeavours to prove, that Atheisme is more tolerable then Superstition: and Cicero in his second Booke De Natura Deorum doth affirme, that they are called superstitious who whole dayes doe offer prayers and Sacrifice, that their children may survive them; and they are said to be religious, who sequester, and with care­full reverence touch those things which apper­taine to the service of the Gods; But, good man, he was altogether ignorant that this which he calls Religion is nothing else but Superstition.

74 Neither is it to bee wondred at, that they were inclouded in so thicke a darknesse, on whom the light of Gods word not shone; for as the Nations which understand not the cour­ses of the starres, or of the Sunne, confound the order of the Moneths and yeares; So the Nations to whom the Word of God was not revealed, did infinitely intangle themselves in [Page 43] many errourts concerning Religion; for they who worship not God according to the rule prescribed in his Word, are without God in the world, As the Apostle hath it in the Second of the Ephes. Al­though they worship millions of Gods, nay al­though the Samaritans came neere and next in conformity to the true Religion, acknowledging that they worshipped one onely God, the Creator of the Vniverse, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Iacob, and were signed with the signe of the Cove­nant, & acknowledged Moses too their Law-giver, yet because they revolted from the rule of the Word of God, and by a stubborne separation did divide themselves from the Israelites, our Saviour saith in the Fourth of Iohn, that the Samaritans knew not what they worshipped; So necessary it is, in the businesse of salvation, to have God to leade us, and to make his Word our Rule.

75 But when the light of Gods word hath once shined into a Nation, presently all false Religions are blowen away, and the inventions of Mans braine vanish, and the kingdome of Sathan which preserved it selfe in darkenesse, fals downe before the Light; then not unelegantly may be rehearsed that of David, in the 104. Psalme: As soone as darkenesse is spread over the Earth, the Beasts of the Forrest come out of their Dens, and the young Lyons reare after their prey: but as soone as the Sunne ariseth they hide themselues in their Dennes and dare not come forth, but Man then goeth forth unto his worke and to his labour untill the Evening: Indeed when the darke [Page 44] mist of Ignorance overspreads the Earth, Satan and his Ministers triumph securely like unruly Beasts, but as soone as the Sunne of the word of God hath begunne to shine, they fly away that hate the truth; then doe the godly goe forth unto their labour untill the Evening; that is, they labour in the service of God and the exercise of good workes, untill by a happy Death they arriue to the evening of their life.

76 To come therefore to the true and saving knowledge of God, wee haue need of another master, and more bright instructions then those which are learned out of the workes of the Crea­tion, or borrowed from humane reason: It was not enough for those Wise men to haue sought the Cradle of the Redeemer, to haue had the con­duct of a Star, but they must further be instructed by the testimony of the Prophets: did we exactly understand the greatnesse of the Stars, their moti­ons, their vertues, and their distance, wee should never come by these directions unto God, unlesse the voyce of God should withall informe us in the instructions of the Prophets and the Apostles, therefore the Psalmist in the 19. Psalme, after hee had said, That the Heavens declare the glory of God, attributing so great an eloquence to the hea­venly bodies, although but speechlesse, that not a nation under heaven but heares them, he presently passeth to the Law of God, leading us by the hand to a better master, to more cleare and certaine in­structions; the Law of God (saith hee) is entire, [Page 45] converting the soule, the testimony of the Lord is true, giving wisedome to the Simple.

77 Neither doe these things appertaine, to excuse those who being taught by the onely workes of God, haue not attained to the knowledge of him; for although, without the instructions and the conduct of the Word of God they could not attaine to such a knowledge of him, as is sufficient to salvation, yet they are justly condemned be­cause they fought against the generall notions of Nature, and endeavoured to put out her light; neither vsed the instructions of the creatures to that advantage which they might; wherefore they are convinced by Saint Paul in the first of the Romanes, For suppressing the Truth, and detayning it in vnrighteousnesse, and because that when they knew God they did not glorifie him as God.

78 Neither sinned they onely by their ignorance, but also by their perversenesse and their pride; as the same Apostle in the second of the Coloss. who saith, That hee who fals off from the service of God to the worshipping of Angels [...], doth in­trude into those things which hee hath not seene, vainely putt up by his fleshly mind; and in the 1. of the Rom. hee saith, When they profest themselues wise, they became fooles, and were therefore delivered over to vile affections.

78 By this I thinke it is evidently shewed, where­fore, besides the instructions which wee learne out of the workes of Creation and Providence, wee haue need of another doctrine, to wit the word of [Page 46] God; But wherefore God, who could without the preaching of the Word convert our hearts, and immediately infuse into them the knowledge of himselfe, had rather leade us to the knowledge of himselfe, and by this knowledge to Salvation, by his Word, it is not curiously to bee sought into: For God who reserues the reason of his Counsailes to himselfe, and is not subject unto any, is not to bee called to an account, neither is it for man to argue with God; neverthelesse the reason of this divine Counsell is evident, and it is easie enough to assigne the Cause; for be cause Death entered into the World by the eare, it pleased God that the doctrine of Salvation should enter in by the same way too; And because that Man fell by beleeving the words of the De­vill, it was fitting that man should bee raised from his fall by beleeving the Word of God; for it was requisite that contrary evils should be cured by contrary Remedies; wherefore God sends us by Esay the Prophet to the Law and to the Prophets, pronouncing that it cannot be that without these, the morning Light should shine on any; and in Luk. 16▪ Abraham teacheth us, That it is in vaine to haue recourse unto the dead, and to expect Revelations from thence, when we haue at hand the Law and the Prophets. Neither is it to be doubted, but that Christ, resto­ring sight unto the blind by annoynting his eyes with spittle, did secretly therby intimate, that, only that which proceedeth from his mouth illuminates the understanding, and scatters the darkenesse of [Page 47] naturall ignorance: Hence it is that in the history of the old & new Testament, there are found examples of some holy men whom God chastised with blind­nesse, as Ahia the Prophet, or with dumbnes, as Za­chary the father of Iohn Baptist, but of a religious man whom hee strooke with deafenesse, and from whom hee tooke the sense by which his Word should bee conveyed unto him, there is not any Example in the Scriptures; but the Devill is called the deafe Spirit in the Gospell, because they who are possessed with him doe deafe their eares at the Word of God.

80 This Word of God was first delivered by the Oracle of his voice, afterwards God so pleasing, it was commended to us in writing, and engraven in publicke Tables that it might neither bee raz'd by Oblivion, corrupted by Errour, or prophaned by reprobate Rashnesse; this is the Booke, which by excellence is called THE BIBLE, as if other bookes valued with this, did not deserue to bee called Bookes.

81 But among many and great Authorities which confirme the credit and prerogatiue of the holy Scripture, that testimony is most certaine, and aboue others of greatest efficacie which the Holy Ghost doth giues it, unto it to wit, the secret pow­er of the Spirit with hidden stings, piercing the hearts of those that heare and reade it, a power aboue all reason infinite; to expresse which in fit­ting accents all Eloquence is dull, all language barren, and words doe faint and faulter under the [Page 46] greatnesse of the thing. Let Demosthenes be read, or ‘Princeps Romani Tullius Eloquij,’

Onely while they are read they doe affect, there being a kind of soft harmony and gentle titillation that stroakes the eare, but when the hearer is de­parted, the sense of that delight departeth also, as the face is seene no more in the glasse when the person is retired from it; But if there bee a faith­full and attentiue hearer or reader of the Word of God, it will sit deepe within him, and graven in his heart bee euer present, breathing forth Diuinities, governing the affections, cheering the heart, and finally renewing the whole Man.

82 But because this testimony is onely perceiued by those whom God hath endowed with his Spirit, in whom the letter of the Word dead in it selfe is quickned, and as it were sharpened by the Spirit of God, in vaine with this weapon doe wee fight against the prophane, who deride and reject what ever they haue not experienced, and measure the power and vertue of God by their owne sottish­nesse; how euer, besides this efficacy of the Scrip­ture, there are many things more, which can stop the mouthes of Infidells, and giue both authority and beliefe to the holy Scripture.

83 And first of all, there is no other booke which in such a simplicity of language hath so great a Majesty, speaking vnto Kings and Subjects with [Page 49] equall Authority, for men howsoever they bee vnequall in dignity compared among themselues, compared to God they bee all equall; As the Mountaines and the Vallies make both one plaine in the Globe of Earth, when Earth is compared vnto heaven.

84 Satan the Ape of God imitating this Simplicity, whiles hee affects the roughnesse of the Stile could not attaine the Majesty if it; hee fancied the Etru­rian discipline and the Salian verses in a rude and rugged phrase, but he forbade them to be pub­lish'd as being ashamd of his owne doctrine, nay, he could not bee believed among his owne Priests to whom he did entrust his Mysteries, whereupon Cato was wont to say that hee wondred how one Southsayer looking on another could refraine from laughter, because acknowledging among them­selues the impostures of their profession, by a se­cret combination they would neverthelesse coun­terfet themselues as serious.

85 Againe it is remarkeable that every booke bee it never so ancient, Compared to the antiquitie of the Bible will bee found but of a late edition, the Grecians fed on Acornes, yea their Names were scarce knowen in the World when Moses wrote his five bookes intituled the Pentatenche, with which all the Philosophy in the World cannot compare.

89 Homer and Hesiod the most ancient of the Greeke Poets liued at least a hundred and fifty yeares after David, yet Davids inspired Poems are distant as far [Page 50] from Homers as heaven from Earth, or the fables of man from the truth of God, neither doth Plato dissemble in the beginning of his Timaeus that the Aeygptians would say that the Grecians were al­wayes boyes, who neuer could bee men of Age as being altogether ignorant of true Antiquitie.

86 Why should I heere rehearse the most stupendi­ous miracles and with what a Majestie the Law was pronounced, & what were the wonders in Aegypt, and the Wildernes, and those not actedin a corner, or before but a few witnesses, but all Aegypt both beholding and repining at it, and before the eyes of sixe hundred thousand armed Men, and the most mightie Nation that was fed with Manna, which followed the pillar of fire conducting them, and heard the voice of the trumpet, who with horror did behold the burning mountaine, and flames of fire whirling high as heauen, invironed with wa­ving smokes and thicke clouds of rowling darke­enesse; And that no man may conceiue that this was feigned by Moses in fauour of the Israelites, with most terrible threatnings he thunders against that nation, and every where convinceth them of folly and pride, and Rebellion against God himselfe.

87 Now with what integritie Moses wrote this, it is apparent, that hee conceales not his owne offen­ces, but rehearseth the chastisement wherewith God afflicted him, and that hee was commanded to die on the borders of the promised land because hee beleeued not the voice of God; And how farre hee was from Ambition, wee may see by [Page 51] this, that hee would not haue his sonnes succeede him in his Governement, but elected Ioshua that was of another tribe; And how small the dignity of Moses sonnes was among the pirests wee may learne out of Iosephus, lib. 1. Orig. cap. 11. Who re­cites that in the distribution of sacred things which was made by Dauid, the charge which Moses poste­ritie had, was but the keeping of the treasurie, and the Gifts which were offered in the temple.

88 Neither must wee leaue out, the Antiquitie and Certaintie of the prohecies, for by what inspira­tion could Esay foretell the name of Cyrus and that hee should bee a deliuerer of the Iewes 160 yeares before Cyrus was borne; Or what other but the Spirit of God could foretell to Ieroboam that a King should bee borne of the Stocke of David, Iosias by name, who should overthrow and demolish their profaner Alters, and that, three hundred fiftie and sixe moneths before it was done; What shall I say of Ieremie, who expresselie set downe the 70 yeares of Captivitie in Babilon; What of Daniell, who from the restauration of Ierusalem to the death of Christ, precisely numbers seventie weeks of yeares, that is 490 yeares, the predictions of the same Daniell of the foure Empires, and of the Kings Seluci, seeme rather to bee histories then prophecies; Which may bee affirmed also of the prophecies of Esai, of whom Saint Hierom in his Epistle to Paulinus saith, that hee seemes rather to bee an Evangelist then a Prophet; these things cer­tainely could not bee suggested into the Prophets [Page 52] by any other then by him onely, who as hee hath a foresight of all things so hee hath an insight also, and knows them well, because that hee will doe them.

89 The dignity therfore of holy Scripture is above all hazard or doubt of opposition, and the autho­rity of it is so great, that Christ himselfe greater then the Law, and who inspired the Prophets, was accustomed to defend himselfe with the testimony of the Law and Prophets against the Pharisees, and therefore when many in defence of the autho­rity of the sacred Scripture have sacrificed their lives, there is no man found, that in defence of Platoes or Aristotles opinion, yet ever ventured to encounter death; Indeed I could be content to say that Cleombrotus the Ambrocian was Platoes Martyr, who (as Cicero in his third Tusculan doth relate) having read the Booke of Plato entituled Phaedo, where Socrates neere unto death disputes of the immortality of the Soule, did force himselfe into a headlong death; this man, I say, might bee called the Martyr of Plato, had he done this in any hope of salvation to be attained by Platoes meanes, and not through the tediousnesse of life.

90 Now the bookes of the mysteries of the Aegyp­tians, and the Religion of the Druids are perished, the Hetrurian▪ Discipline is extinguished, and the Verses of the Sybills are abolished, only the holy Writ hath remained untouched, as having God its Authour; neither to extinguish it, could prevaile the horrible insolence of Antiochus Epiphanes, or [Page 53] the impious cunning of Iulian Caesar, or the perni­cious writings of Lucian and Porphyrius, nay, these execrable persons were the admirable examples of the Divine Iustice. It is knowne how Antiochus E­piphanes, constrained to raise his Siege, and aban­don Elemais through griefe of mind, in the flower of his age and Kingdome breath'd forth his un­righteous soule: how Iulian in his very entrance into the Empire, strooke through with an arrow, gave up his impure spirit: how (if we may beleeve Suidas) enraged dogs tore Lucian in pieces.

91 Neither is that an Argument of little conse­quence, to confirme the authority of the Scrip­ture, which Iosephus writeth in the twelfth Booke of his Iewish Antiquities, Chap: 2. where Demetrius Phaleraeus, the Keeper of the Kings Library, speakes thus to Ptolomaeus Philadelphus out of Hecataeus Abde­rita, concerning the sacred Bookes of the Iewes, [...], as being pure and holy, it was unlawfull that they should be exprest by a prophane mouth: the same Demetrius Phaleraeus relates out of Aristaeus that The­opompus having wrought into his story some part taken from the sacred Word, was for fourty dayes together strucken with an Apoplexy, untill, by some respits of releasement from his sickenesse, he appeased God by his prayers, and desisted from his enterprise, being admonished in a dreame that these things happened to him because he intruded into holy things: In the same manner Theodoctes the Poet, having inserted into a Tragedie of his [Page 54] something taken from the Word of God, being strucke with blindnesse, was inforced to abandon the enterprise which so rashly he beganne.

92 Agreeable to this is that which Clemens spea­keth in his first Booke of Tapist: and Tertullian in his Booke of Womens habites, that Ierusalem be­ing taken and razed by the Babylonians, all the Bookes of the Iewes were restored againe by Esdras; their intention is not, that the holy Bookes were utterly extinguisht and abollished, and then againe restored by Esdras; for so the ho­ly Bookes, which at this day we reade, should not be the Bookes of Moses, of David, or of Esay, but of Esdras, who by new inspirations did compile them; the intention of Clement and Tertullian is, that the Bookes of the Old Testament, during the Captivity of Babylon, dispersed, or but rarely and negligently transcribed, were digested by Esdras into order, more accurately written, and restored to their native beauty.

93 And since that time these bookes with so much Religion were observed by the Iewes, whom it pleased God to make the Library of the Christi­ans, that if the booke had at any time fallen to the ground, they would enjoyne themselues a solemne and extraordinary fast; and at the end of every booke they did use to write, not onely the number of the verses, but the number of the letters also; in which scrupulous sedulity of theirs, the true honour due unto the Scripture doth not consist, but hee doth reverence it as hee ought, who reads [Page 55] it with such eyes, as the constant wife doth the contract of her marriage, or the good Sonne doth his fathers Will, who never heares the Scripture mentioned but his heart doth leape, and his filiall affections earne, who by this rule doth compose, and squares all his life, his deeds and words, nay, and his thoughts also: But as young Samuel being awaked from sleepe by the voice of God, lay presently downe to sleepe againe, think­ing it to be but the voyce of Man, and not of God; so the greatest part of men, the word of God being heard, and they awakened by it, in a light feare they beginne a little to stirre & stretch them­selues, but by and by they fall againe into a sleepe of vices, because they heard this word as the word of man, and not as the word of God.

94 What is contained in these bookes it would bee too tedious to describe, it shall be sufficient to pro­pose unto the eye, the elements of Christian Re­ligion, that wee may see in what things the true knowledge of God consisteth.

95 The Scripture therefore teacheth, that Man was first created to the Image of God, endued with Holinesse and Righteousnesse, and revolted from God by his owne consent, and by the suggestion of the Devill, whereupon came sin into the world, and by sinne Death and Malediction; notwith­standing the Image of God in Man is not so disfigured, that there remaine not certaine traces of it; to wit, a certaine perceiving of Divinity, and some graines of honesty and civill justice, [Page 56] which notions that God might helpe, and that no man might excuse his sinne by pretending igno­rance, God hath given his Law written by man, which Law is reduced to these two heads: To loue God with all our heart, and with all our strength, and to loue our neighbour as our selues, which Law with great terrour hee pronounced in a voice, whose accents were thunders and shining with flames of Lightning, that the people might under­stand that their Lawgiver was armed, and who so despised his commandements should not escape unpunished; this dreadfull clause adjoyned to it, Cursed is he that continueth not in all things, which are contayned in the booke of the Law to doe them.

96 When therefore Man by nature prone unto sinne cannot fulfill these Commandements; this Law were nothing else then the torment of the conscience, and the ministery of Death, had not God according to his mercy releeved Man in this forlorne estate.

97 Hee therefore in his appoynted time prescribed by the Prophets, sent his Sonne the everlasting Word, the wisedome of his Father, whom hee be­gat from all eternity, who together with the Fa­ther and the Holy Spirit is one God, into the world, and endued him with humane flesh; so the Word was made flesh, and God in vnity of per­son assumed humane Nature without any diminu­tion of the Divinity, or mixture of the Natures; for it was requisite that the Mediator betwixt God and Man, should bee God and Man, and touch [Page 57] both extreames by the Communion of Nature.

98 In this Nature of Man, this Sonne of God, our Redeemer finished the worke of our Redemption, perfectly fulfilling the Law, by expiating our sins by his Death, and triumphing over Death by his Resurrection, hee is the Author of eternall life to all those that beleeue in him: Wherefore as the Sinne of Adam is imputed to all his posterity, so the Righteousnesse of Christ is imputed unto all those who by the Spirit of Adoption and faith in him are made the Sonnes of God.

99 By this marke Christian Religion is discerned, and distinguished from all Religions which hu­mane reason hath invented, that it shewes the way by which onely we haue accesse to God by his Sonne who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life; that is, the true way to life: And though God in­habites light which none can come unto, yet after some manner hee hath made himselfe visible in his Sonne, who is the Image of God invisible, and God with us, whosoever shall endeavour to come to God by any other way, hee shall find him a Iudge and not a Father, and the more he hasts, the more hee erres, and headlong fals into a certaine ruine.

100 To the finishing of this worke of our Redemp­tion, the person of the Sonne was chosen rather, than the person of the Father or the Holy Ghost, for if the Father had beene made Man, and assumed our Fesh, there had beene in the Trinity two Sonnes, one by eternall Generation, and ano­ther [Page 58] by Generation in Time: Neither was there any thing more agreeable, than that hee who was the Middle in the persons of the Trinity, should also be the Middle betwixt God and Man, and bee the linke and tye of all affinity betwixt heaven and earth; And what could bee more apt and sutable to the Wisedome of God, than that we should be restored into the Right and Degree of sonnes, by him who is the onely Sonne of God, and that God should renew Man by the same Word by which he created him, and that God should speake unto us by him, who is the Eternall Word of God, and by him should teach us true wise­dome who is himselfe the wisedome of the Fa­ther.

101 This is that Doctrine which is called the Gos­pell, which God hath left as a pledge in his Church, that by this prerogatiue it should bee distingui­shed from the rest of mankind, which doctrine he hath commanded to bee published throughout all the world, by his Apostles and their Succes­sors, prescribing, that those who joyne themselues to the Church should bee baptized In the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost, and that the people should bee instructed in the faith of Christ by the preaching of the Gospell, by which to the Penitent and Beleeving, Remis­sion of sinnes and everlasting life is promised, and that the faithfull should attend the second com­ming of Christ, in which hee shall raise up the dead, and taking into his knowledge an Account [Page 59] of all Mans actions, shall render unto every one according to his workes.

102 By the Church I understand not onely the Church under the new Testament, which is called the Christian Church, but also the whole Church in all Ages, whose beginning is deduced from Adam, and which shall last unto the End of the World; for the Scripture testifieth, that the Fa­thers before Christ were saved by faith in Christ; Abraham rejoyced to see my day and hee saw it, Iohn. 8. And Moses preferred the reproach of Christ to the treasures of Egypt, Heb. 11. And it pleased the Father to reconcile all things by the blood of the Crosse, whether they were things in Heaven, or things in Earth, Col. 1. And there is no man of sober understanding, that ever yet made doubt, but that these words of, Things in heaven, did comprehend the Patriarchs and the Prophets; to which purpose some of the Ancients haue not unaptly applyed an Allegory of a Branch laden with Grapes, which hanging on a staffe was carried on two mens shoulders, by him that went formost they understood the Church of the old Testament, by him that came after, the Church of the new Testament, and by the branch of Grapes, Christ himselfe; for the old Church saw not the comming of Christ, because it went before in order of Time, but this latter hath Christ ever before her eyes and beholds him come: Neverthelesse the Branch of Grapes is as much the food of one as of the other, for Christ equally unto both [Page 60] Churches conveigheth life and foode spirituall.

103 These are those instructions in which the true and saving knowledge of God consisteth; a know­ledge which farre transcends all other Arts and Sciences; The Sciences are all either contempla­tiue or practicke, the excellence of the Contem­platiue consists in these three things, the Dignity of the Subject, the Certainty of the Demonstrati­ons, and the Perspicuity of the Instructions; the excellence of the Practicke consists in these, the Excellence of the End, the Aptnesse of the Meanes, and the Rules to attaine that End.

104 In Divinity that part is contemplatiue, which treateth of the nature of God, and of the workes of Creation, Gubernation, and Redemption; but that part which treateth of the offices of Piety to­wards God, and Charity towards our Neighbour is practicall; for although in this there bee great need of Contemplation, yet all this Contempla­tion is directed to the Practicke, in one as in the other, Divinity doth infinitely excell all Sciences:

105 The Subject of the Part contemplatiue is God himselfe, betwixt whom and the body of Man, or twixt Lands and Chattles, the Subiects of Law and Phisicke there is no comparison, but in cer­tainty it wonderfully transcends them all: For whatsoever the Philosophers doe dispute concer­ning the chiefe or principall good, are so different among themselues, so contrary one unto another, that their chiefe good seemes rather to bee groun­ded on opinion then on nature. Augustine in the [Page 61] nineteenth booke of the Citty of God, reckons up out of Marcus Varro, a hundred and fourescore dis­agreeing opinions of Philosophers concerning their Summum Bonum, or Chiefest Good; and Physicians doe rather suspect, then see the inward affections of the bodies, and the causes of disea­ses; and hereupon it often comes to passe, that in pretence of curing the diseased, officiously they kill them: But how great the uncertainty of hu­mane Law is, the infinite diversity of customes and countries, the endlesse discord of municipal Rights, and of the Roman and Barbarian Lawes, doth plainely testifie: but the foundations of Divinity stand sure and unshaken, being laid by the hand of God himselfe, and are more firme then Heaven or Earth: The Heaven and Earth shall passe away, but my words shall not passe, saith God himselfe.

106 Neither doth it any thing derogate from this certainety, that Men in the busines of Religion are divided into so many Sects, and dispute with such contentious heate concerning the interpretation of the Scripture; for this doth not arise from the un­certainety of Gods Word, but from the pravity of Man, who wilfully doth blind his owne eyes, and takes delight to stumble in so faire a way, sub­jecting Religion to his belly, and by depravation of the most certaine things, with full Sailes doth fly to Avarice or Ambition; For whosoever will not destine himselfe to a peculiar and set opinion, shall find in the Holy Scripture many cleare and evident sentences, wanting no Interpreter which [Page 62] abundantly wil suffice him both for faith & maners.

107 I confesse in the Scriptures there are many things full of obscurity but if the pious student shall weigh them well, hee shall find them either prophecies or figures, and not foundations of faith or of the nature of those things which are necessa­ry to Salvation; for God by plaine and easie things doth instruct us to Salvation, and by obscure ones doth exercise us in prayer, or workes in us sobriety, or pulling the wings of our curiositie doth retaine us in the bounds of modesty: And this must bee a received Maxim, that the least know­ledge derived from the word of God, is more ex­cellent then the exactest knowledge of earthly things; For a little of the knowledge of God faithfully received doth abundantly suffice to in­flame our minds with the loue of God, and to leade our liues both well and happily.

108 The End Remaines by which Divinity, what­soever there is of Arts or Sciences by a transcendent Distance doth excell; For the Politicks onely in­informe a man as he is a Citizen, the Oeconomicks as hee is the master of a family, But Divinitie doth instruct him as hee is a man, and discourseth not of the parts of Life but of the Whole, neither doth it propose unto it selfe any particular or subordinat end, but the last end of all, viz. eternall blessednesse, which consisteth in an vnion with God, to which end it is requisite that other Ends and our whole eourse of Life should be obedient, vnles peradven­ture we would bee carefull of our life in some little [Page 63] portions and pieces of it, but in the whole be vn­thrifts, & so of many litles (as we thinke wisely laid together) one entire folly should bee made, and there would bee a good Lawyer, a good Physitian, a good Senator, but a bad man.

109 But the meanes which Divinitie doth vse to at­taine to this last End, which is our vnion with God, namely Faith in Christ and the studie of good Workes are so apt, so certaine, so well know­en, that no doubt is to bee made of them, vnlesse wee would make a doubt of the promises of God who is Truth himselfe.

110 Finally the knowledge of God (God himselfe recording it) is so much to be esteemed, that though to glory in other things is an extreame vanitie and the first point of folly, in this onely God would haue us with a religious pride to glory, in our selues; For thus saith he in the ninth of Ieremy, Let not the Wise man glory in his Wisedome, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not a rich Man glory in his riches, but let him that glorifieth, glory in this, that hee vnderstandeth and knoweth mee, that I am the Lord who excercise Iudgement and Righteousnesse on the Earth.

111 Now seeing there may bee gathered from the knowledge of God many and excellent fruits through the whole course of our life, this is aboue all the most principall, that we cannot master our Corruptions, or stop our desires in their Careere with a stronger reyne than with the knowledge of God; For hee that knows God, knows him to bee [Page 64] a searcher of the secrets of the heart, whose eyes cannot bee curtain'd with the flattering clouds of lying or hypocrisie, to whom Accounts are to bee given of every idle Word; wherefore the holy Scripture did assigne this the Cause, of the Wicked­nesse of the sonnes of Heli, they were wicked men, the sonnes of Belial not knowing the Lord, and Hosea the 4. Because there is no knowledge of God in the Land, perjury, and Lying, and Stealing, and commit­ting Adulterie hath broken forth, and bloud toucheth bloud; On the contrary from the knowledge of God arise all examples of Vertues; wich Esay wit­nesseth, Chap. 11. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountaine, for the Earth shall bee full of the know­ledge of the Lord; And truly a holy Man who con­siders alwaies, that God beholds him, will so liue in private as in publicke, so in publicke as in the Temple, so in the Temple, as before the eyes of God who is his Iudge, his Master and his fa­ther; Neither doth Satan open a wider window vnto all kind of vice than by perswading Men that God looks not downe on things so low; For then a deepe sleepe overwhelmes the Conscience, and the feare of the Iudge being taken off, the barres are broken and Men dare doe any thing, running headlong into all kind of Villanie, although re­strain'd a little by the power of the law or by the feare of Infamy.

112 Neither is the knowledge of God of little mo­ment in chasing from vs all restlesse Cares, in calming the troubles of our mind, and in silencing [Page 65] the tongues of Murmurers; For hee that knowes God, knowes all his workes to bee as full of Iustice as of providence, to complaine of whose provi­dence as it is vnrighteous, so to oppose it, is not onely vnprofitable, but Rash and Dangerous; And hee who is assured that God so workes that even evills themselues doe turne to Good to those that feare him, doth secure himselfe in his care and Loue.

113 The same knowledge of God is greatly profita­ble in teaching vs to obserue an honest and profita­ble vse of earthly things, lest by an vngratefull oblivion wee bury his blessings, or abuse them vnto Riot or to lust, or resemble the beasts that drinke of the River never thinking of the fountaine from whence those waters flow; For hee who knowes God, knowes him to bee the Author of all Good things, and in that title doth pay homage to him, and is industriously wary lest those things which God hath given vnto vse and matter of thanksgi­ving, be corrupted by ingratitude or abuse.

114 What shall I say more, seeing, without the knowledge of God it is impossible for vs to know our selues, for then the bubbles of our Pride sinke downe, and our plumes doe fall, when wee looke on God; For as long, as a Man lookes on himselfe or compares himselfe with inferiour things, hee takes himselfe to bee a creature of some reckoning, and applaudes the humour, overcome with a vaine and flattering opinion of his strength or Wise­dome; But whē he presents himselfe before the tri­bunall [Page 66] seate of God, hee is presently touch'd with an apprehension of his weakenesse, and his naturall pollutions and deformities present themselues be­fore him, and is invironed with so great a Light, that he is inforced to confesse that the Light of his Vnderstanding is but vtter darkenesse; In the same manner, they that onely behold the things which are before their feete, beleeue their sight is good and cleere enough, but the same Men when they behold the Sunne, haue strait their eyes so blinded that they are compelled to confesse, that the sharp­est discretion of their eye is both darke and dull, when it turnes it selfe vnto heavenly things.

115 Seeing then so great is the exellence of this divine knowledge, and the fruit thereof so abun­dant that it may bee extended into every part and portion of our life: I cannot but here lament the condition of humane vnderstanding which in tri­fling things doth expresse a most subtle and inge­nious Industry, but in the knowledge of God alone, doth languish in a drowsie sloth; For how Rare is hee that disregardeth not these sacred studies to addict himselfe toi things that tend to the advan­tage either of publcke or private dignity? How many beate their braines in curing the bodies and skinnes of others, who within their owne, haue Dropsie humours? How many sit in the seate of Iudgement to decide the Differences of others, which are themselues at discord with God, and consider not that he must iudge them? How many are expert in the Account of Numbers and Lines, [Page 67] whose owne lives are Irregular as being altogether without the knowledge of God? So strange be­sides is the garbe and Condition of humane things, that we preferre delights even aboue necessities; So the Confectmaker is valued aboue the husband man, and wee thinke the embroiderer to bee a more Substantiall fellow then the Taylor; And commonly those studies are more esteemed that make for gaine, then those that instill into our minds the elements of divine Wisedome; It falls out with these, what Aristotle reports, to haue be­falne the suiters of Penelope, who because they could not obtaine the Mistresse, enjoy'd their desires with her Maides; For the Arts are the handmaids of divine Wisedome, neither doe they deserue a place in the Ranke of honest diciplines if they pro­fesse not themselues to bee attendants on it, these are those handmaids which the Divine Wisedome sendeth forth, as it is recorded in the ninth of the Proverbs.

116 Peradventure some peremptory puny will heere step forth and to depresse Divinitie beneath other Sciences, will alleadge that it is subordinate unto them, and that it borrows of them many things, as Ornament from Rhetorick, Acutenesse from Lo­gick, the knowledge of the chiefe principles from the Metaphysicks, the nature and helpes of vertues from the Ethicks, and that the Student in Divini­tie, after hee hath received the headed speares from Divinitie, doth hurle them with greater force and certainety with the armes of Philosophy; Finally, [Page 68] that Divinitie should bee vnarmed and unnerved, should it be destitute of the helpe of the Arts.

107 But they who breath forth these empty noises, doe not distinguish Divinitie from the Divine, that is the Science from the Man; As when the Phi­sician professeth the Art of Phisicke onely for gaine, this is not the end of the Art but of the Man; The Divine indeede every where doth search and collect together, the aides and orna­ments of Eloquence, but Divinitie doth not therevpon increase either in excellence or Abun­dance, for it subsisteth of it selfe and needeth not the aide of any; Neither haue those Coryphaei in Divinitie, the Prophets and Apostles begg'd these ornaments; their Simplicity being more powerfull than all Eloquence, and their Majestie of greater vertue than all acutenesse of Logick or Philoso­phy; As the chast Matron is most adorned, that hath on no ornaments at all, leaving to the vnchast or the vnbeautiful, their false and artificiall dresses, and borrowed Complexions; What if the Iudge doth sell his purple, or the mercenary Lawyer the braver hee is cloath'd, doth esteeme his tongue at the deerer rate, must the Taylor therefore advance his needle aboue the law? One Science is subor­dinate vnto another, when it borroweth it's principles from it, or, when the Conclusions in the superiour Science, are made the principles of the inferiour, so the Opticks are subordinate to Geo­metry, and Musicke to Arithmetick; Or when the End of one Art is subordinate to the End of [Page 69] another, So the Art of making bridles, is subor­din'd to the Art of Horse-manshippe, and that Art is subordinate to Military Discipline; But no such thing is to bee found in Divinity.

118 But if the Divine doth gather some of the more graue and morall sentences out of the writings of the Philosophers, hee doth not that for want or for necessitie, but to set a blush on Christians cheekes, who by their prophane life dishonour their most holy profession, that so they who will not heare God, may heare Men, endued only with the light of Reason, and by their testimonies and accusations may bee as well convinced as ashamed.

119 But neither doe wee graunt that the Divine takes these things from the Philosopher either by intrea­ty or by loane, seeing he doth rather force them from him as from an vnlawfull owner, for whatsoe­ver sparks there are of Religion in the whole world, they ought to bee brought to the Altar of God, and whatsoever instructions there are that Con­cerne true vertue, they appertaine to his Temple, no otherwise then the vessels of Gold and Silver, taken from the Aegyptians in pretence of Loane were converted after to the building of the Taber­nacle.

120 Hither therefore being bound let vs labour with wind and oares, and to arrive to this knowledge let vs plough the Deepes of this present World, with sweating industry; For if the Philologer when from the Rubbish of Anti­quitie, hee finds out words hoary with Age and [Page 70] covered with dust, or when he expoundeth supee­annuated Customes about meates or habits, bee heard with great attention and applause, what eares and Attention should wee lend to them, who vn­fold things more Ancient than heaven it selfe, and declare the Wisedome of the Ancient of Dayes, drawen not from the defectiue Cisterne of the Critick, but from the vnfaddom'd deepes of the Oracles of God? If the Lawyer bee heard plea­ding of eaue-droppings, of tenements, or of Wills, how, with more purged eares should the Divine, not discoursing of drops of waters, but of the fountaine of Life it selfe, not of the tenure of houses, but of the liberty of the Spirit, not of the testament of dying men, but of the Will of the living God?

121 Labour after this then, you that haue all a de­sire to bee good, and that you may attaine to the true knowledge of God, endeavour that no ill affection may corrupt, or wanton saftnesse may de­generate your resolutions; for if the Heathens deferred long, and kept at the doore those that were to be instructed in the service of holy things, if they were not admitted into Ceres Temple, but after many sighs and tedious preparations by often purifyings; what manner of man ought he to be, whom God admits into the Chancell of his most sacred discipline? And if Aristotle in the first of his Ethicks, and the 3. Chap▪ would haue his hearer of civill sciences, to be neither [...], nei­ther [...], young in age or manners, how [Page 71] much more requisite is it, that all youthfull heates should be cooled in him, who is to addresse him­selfe to that Science, to which all other sciences are but servants?

122 Neverthelesse wee must take heed, lest while too much wee employ our selues in this study we offend God by our sedulity; which comes to passe, when not content with what belongs unto salvation, wee labour in things unnecessary, and by a prophane curiositie search after those things which exceed the compasse of our under­standing or sobriety: For as heretofore when the Law was published, there were bounds set round about the Mountaine, which it was death to breake thorow, so there are certaine bounds set round the doctrine of the Gospell, which it is sacriledge to transgresse: A religious ignorance is better then a curious knowledge; and as the fire giueth light to those that are a farre off, warmeth those that are neerer and in a reasonable distance, but consumeth those that approach so neere to touch it; So God illustrates all with some light, yea even the most removed from salvation, but those that are admitted neerer, he warmes them with his loue, and inspires them with his Spirit, but who with a wilfull curiositie intrude themselues, and even dare invade him, he overcomes and destroyes them with amazements, Who seeketh after Majestie shall bee consumed with the glory of it. This corrup­tion beganne in Adam, affecting that knowledge of Good and Evill which onely appertaineth unto [Page 70] [...] [Page 71] [...] [Page 72] God; wherefore as in the eating of the Paschall Lambe, the Israelites were to feed onely on the flesh and not to meddle with the bones; so in the doctrine which instructs us in the knowledge of God, wee must labour after those things which serue for the nourishment of our soule, and abstaine from those which by their hardnesse would breake our teeth, and turne the edge of our understanding: then onely in the knowledge of God shall we obserue a meane betwixt an affected negli­gence and a sawcie curiositie, when we shall referre all our knowledge and meditation to piety and manners, and to the loue of God.