s introdua. That all thingshad their beginningfrom God. Chari.6 Seeing then timt the beginnings ,come neither from Chance nor Nature, it mull: nccefi'arily follow, that all things had their beginning fromGod, which we prove thus. i. All the Prophecies fhew, the fame which foretel things to come in plain terms: of which thingsthere was no rcafon in nature : as that of Cyrus ahundred years be- fore his birth. Of King ?ofürh three hundred years before he was born. And that of reedifying of ?ericha, five hundred years almoft before it was repaired by Hid: and all their in iifdem tcrr inis, in the fame words fet down in thofe pro- phecies, The orderly and artificial framing the Creatures at the Creation tells us plainly, that Nature was not the beginning, but God; for even them, whom neither marides nor 4- religion could move , the molt bafe and contemptible Creatures have aftonilhed and confounded,and drawn from them a confeffionofa fuprearn and fupernaturall power. Plinie was altonilhed at the lode Gnat, that by her trunckmakes fo great a noife, and faith, that without a fuprcam power abovenature that creature could not have been fo made. The like heacknowlcdgeth upon the fight of the Butterfly. And Galenafter he had blafphemoufly treated pf the molt excellent parts of man, when de tai, pairiúm he came to one part of the (raft accompt, falls into admiration of it, and is con- (trained to name and cenfefs God, and fay, that he hath lungbÿmnumDomino inde- fcribing it. , Now as we are taught by thole things which are without us, that there is a caufe a- bove,Nature, fo likewife by thethings that are within us. For firft we have a foul ( as we laid before ) indued with reafon and underltanding, immortal. ThisSoul then muff either be the caufe of it fell, Or take its being from r tome other caufe. But of it feltit is not the caufe. t. Becaule it knoweth not it felf, neither any parts of the body, but by Ana- tomy, at ennuis caufa nouit afecixm every caufe ( if it be reafonable ) knoweth its effeel, not only after it is brought forth, but before, and by What degrees it is fo pro- duced. Our Father inbegetting, and our Mother in conceiving, know not what is be- gotten, what is conceived : but, in caufa principali neceffrioreyairitur, ateegnoicat' effe inm antegsam exiflat, &dein eft inproducendu, in the principal caufe it is of necefity required , that it know the effect before it be and while it is in pro- ducing. 2. Again, after we are brought forth, we cannot command every part of us, as the arteries andpulfts that they beat not and therefore it is plain that we pro- ceed not, nor are taules of our felves, Cut we are neceffarily to leek a caufe elfe- where. For as there is none in the world that bath reafo'ti but man; fo none above reafon but God. And therefore Äriftot/e faith oil g). a. a 5iyee e7J.áapdamr.t ii4 adEundém: reafonconaeth ofabetter thing than reafon. And the Poet "Paula is quoted to this Altst7. z8. purpofe by Sain t Poni )400 troir we are his generation. 3. In our Souls are certain fparks of"the light of nature, principles of tin_ l doubted and infallible truth : as to honour our parents and fuperiours, to do as we would be done unto, to defend our felves from injuries, to keep promife, to hurt no man, and the like; without obferving whereof, no fo- ciety could be maintained, among which this k one. That there is a God, and that he 'ought to be worfhipped. And howfoever all other mayfail, yet , this never, as having taken deeper impref lon in men$ minds ( that are not !. come to the heightof Atheifine) than the refl. Infoinucli as the prideof mans na- ture which will ftoop and yield to nothingelfe, is content to fubniit to this, and will rather woríhip a pieceof red cloth, than have no religionat all. And this Is fo fait and deeply rooted in man, that it cannot be removed, unlefs you pluck out heart and all. Butthen it is objeaed, That if this Notion be fo genral, how comes it that there 0,261,e. tl are fo manyAtheifts? Towhich may be anfwered, I. With Seneca, Méntiunturfquidicunt fe non fentireoffeDeum; ìtam etfztibiof firmest interdiu,nafiuO fibi dubitant, they lie that fay, they do think there is a God, ""í; r° for though in the day time they tell thee fo, yet in the night they doubt of it within themfclvcs. ID z Bitt
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