yet

the

those that are converfant in them; and Hiftorians that are of any truth, began long af ter the Captivitie in Babylon; for Herodotus, that lived after Efthers time, is counted the firft that ever wrote in Profe, and he was above eight hundred yeeres after Mofes time. For conclufion of this, we will onely fay, that which one of the ancienteft of the Roman Poets, drawing this conclufion from the argument we have in hand, faith, If things were from eternitie, and had not a beginning;

Cur fupra bellum Thebanum & funera Troja Non alias alii quoque res cecinere Pòeta? Ifthings were from eternitie, what is the reason, that before the Theban and Trojan warre, all the ancient Poets, and ancient writers did not make mention of anything? Doe you thinke if things had beene from eternity, there would be no monuments of them, if you confider the vastneffe of eternity, what it is? So likewife for the beginning of Arts and Sciences; what is the reason that the originall of them is knowne? why were they no fooner found out ? why are they not fooner perfe&ed? Printing, you know, is a late invention; and fo is the invention of Letters: take all Sciences, the ancienteft, as Aftrologie and Philofophie, as well as the Mathematicks,why are their Authors yet knowne,and we fee them in the blade, and in the fruit? So for the Genealogies of men (for that I touch, because it is an argument infinuated by Paul, when hee difputed with the Heathens,

Alts 17.26. That God hath made of one blood all mankind) you fee evidently how one man begets another, and hee another, &c. and fo goe and take all the Genealogies in the Scripture,and in all other hiftoriographers,we fhall fee,that they al come to one Well-head. Now, I aske, if the world was from eternity,what is the reafon,that there is but one fountaine, one blood whereof we are all made? Why should they not be made all together? Why was not the earth peopled together, and in every Land a multitude of inhabitants together, if they had been from eternity, and had no beginning?

The second principall Head, by which wee will make this good to you, that there is a God that made heaven and earth, is the teftimony of God himfelfe. There is a double teftimony; one is the written teftimony, which wee have inthe Scripture; the other is,that teftimony,whichis written in the hearts of men.

Now,you know that all Nations doe acknowledge a God,(this we take for granted) yea, even those that have been lately difcovered,that live, as it were, disjoyned from the reft of the world, yet they all have, and worship a God; thofe Nations discovered lately by the Spaniards, in the weft Indies, and thofe that have been discovered fince; all of them, without exception, have it written in their hearts, that there is a God. Now the ftrength of the argument lies in these two things:

1 Tobferve that phrase used, Rom. 2.15. It is called

Rom. I. 15.

called a law written in their hearts. Every mans foule is but (as it were) the table or paper, upon which the writing is, the thing written is this principle that wee are now upon, that there is a God, that made heaven and earth: but now who is the Writer? furely it is God,which is evident by this,because it is a general effect in the heart of every man living, and therefore it must come from a generall caufe: from whence else shall it proceed no particular caufe can produce it; if it were, or had beene taught by fome particular man,by fome fect, in fome one Nation or Kingdome, in one age; then, knowing the cause, we fhould fee that the effect would not exceed it, but when you find it in the hearts of all men, in all nations and ages, then you must conclude,it was an univerfall effect, written by the generall Author of all things,which is God alone; and fo confequently, the Argument hath this strength in it,that it is the teftimony of God.

2 Besides, when you fee every man looking after a God, and feeking him, it is an argument that there is one,though they doe not find him: it is true,they pitch upon a falfe god,and goe the wrong way to feek him, yet it fhewes that there is fuch a Deity. For as in other things when we fee one affect that which another doth not; as to the eye of one, that is beautifull which is not to another,yet all affecting fome beauty;it is an argument that beauty is the generall object of all: & fo in taft & other fenfes. So when we fee men going different waies,one worshipping one God,

One

one another, yet all confpiring in this, to worship a God,it must needs argue that there is one: for this law ingraven in every mans heart, you will grant it is a worke of Nature atleaft, and the workes of Nature are not in vaine; even as, when you see the fire to afcend above the aire,it argues that there is a place where it would reft, though you never faw it, and as (in winter) when you fee the Swallowes flying to a place,though you never faw the place, yet you must needs ther that there is one which nature hath appoinga. ted them,and hath given them an instinct to flie unto, and there to be at reft, fo when you see in every mans foule fuch an inftigation to seek God though men never faw him,and the most go the wronge way to feeke him, and take that for God which is not, yet this argues there is a Deitie which they intend. And this is the third.

The laft argument is taken from the foule of man, the fafbon of it. and the immortalitie of it.

Firft, God is fayd to have made man after his owne Image, he doth not meane his body, for that is not made after the Image of God, neither is it only that holineffe which was created in us and now loft: for then he would not have fayd Gen.9.6. He that sheds mans bloud, by man shall his bloud bee fhed, for in the Image of God made he man. The principall intent of that place is (for ought I can fee or judge, the Scripture fpeaking of the natural fashion of things,and not of the fupernaturall graces) to expreffe that God hath given a foule to man, that carries the

D

3 The fametruth is proved by

the foule of man.

3.

Gen. 9.6.

Image of God,a likeneffe to the Effence of God. immateriall, immortall,invifible; for there is a double Image of God in the foule,one in the subftance of it, which is never loft; another is the fupernaturall grace, which is an Image of the knowledge,holineffe,and righteoufneffe of God; and this is utterly loft. But the foule is the Image of the effence of God (as I may so speake) that is,it is a spirit immateriall,immortall,invifible,as he is, hath understanding and will, as he bath, he understands all things, and wils whatfoever he pleaseth. And you fee an expreffion of him in your owne foule, which is an argument of the Deity.

Secondly, befides the immortality of the foule, which argues it came not from any thing here below, but that it hath its originall from God; it came from God, and to God it must returne; that is, it had not any beginning here, it had it from him, and to him againe it must returne.For what is this body, wherein the foule is? it is but the cafe of the foule, the shell and fheath of it; therefore the foule ufeth it but for a time, and dwels in it,as a man dwels in a house while it is habitable, but when it is growne ruinous,he departeth: the foule ufeth the body, as a man doth a veffell,when it is broken he laies it afide; or as a man doth an inftrument,whileft it will be ferviceable to him; but when it is no longer fit to play upon,he cafts it afide; fo doth the foule as it were lay afide the body: for it is but as a garment that a man ufeth, when it is worne

Out