Reason. As touchinge Plato, it seemeth, there was harde holde, when a Natural
Philosopher must stande foorth, to proue Christes Mysteries. This mater, within
these fewe hundred yeeres, hath benne attēpted many waies: by Logique: by Phi∣losophie:
by the Metaphysiques: & by the names of Olde Fathers. But, when none
of al these healpes woulde serue, they imagined, & brought foorth Animosam Fi∣dem,
a Faith without any woorde of God, bolde to beleeue, they knewe not what.
In the ende findinge theire wante, and weakenes herein, for that this Faith had
no grounde, they diuised Miracles, and fieres yenough, and ioined them with it:
Then was the mater sufficiently, and fully prooued.
But Plato saith, Natura est, quod Deus vult. Nature is that thinge, that God wil.
First, what if M. Hardinge vnderstande not, what Plato meante? And what if
Plato neuer vnderstoode, what M. Hardinge meaneth? Yet must Platoes name
serue to prooue al M. Hardinges fātasies? Plato saith, Nature is what so euer God wil.
Must we therefore conclude, That Colde is Hoate: White is Blacke: Accident
without Subiecte: Subiecte without Accident: a Bodie is no Bodie: a Nature Fi∣nite
is Infinite? What a strange kinde of Philosophie hath M. Hardinge founde
out? It is a simple weapon, that these menne wil refuse, to serue theire turne.
The Philosophers called Epicuraei, helde this fantasie, that God sitteth in Hea∣uen
idly, and at ease, neuer incombringe or troublinge him self with the rule of the
worlde: and that therefore Nature ruleth it self onely by chance, and at aduenture,
without any certaine direction of Goddes gouernement: and that, what so euer
is donne therein, is no parte of Goddes dooinge. Contrary wise the Philosophers
called Stoici, helde an other fantasie, that God him self is nothinge elles but na∣ture,
and that therefore al thinges are wrought by necessitie, and force of Destine,
and that God is hable to woorke no Miracle, nor to doo any thinge contrary to the
common course of Nature. Both these folies Plato reproued by this shorte an∣sweare,
Natura est, quod Deus vult. His meaninge is, that Nature is subiecte, and
obedient vnto God, and that there is, neither Chance, nor Necessitie in the course
of Nature: but al thinges are ordred by Goddes appointement, and Natural Cau∣ses
are onely the instrumentes of Goddes Wil. And therefore some compare Na∣ture
to the horse, and God to the horseman, that bridleth her, and turneth her, whi∣ther
he listeth. And for the same cause Origen saith, Anima mundi est Virtus Dei:
The Soule of the Worlde is the power of God. And S. Ba••ile saith, The Worlde is the
schoole of our soules, to leade vs to knowe God. Therefore God was hable by his power
to diuide the Sea: to pul backe, and to staye the Sonne: to open the Earth: to
make the water of Iordane to stande as a walle: to staie the Fier from burninge,
and the water from drowninge. If any man liste to knowe the cause hereof, there
is none other, but Goddes Wil. In this sense the Philosopher Simonides was
wonte to saie, Solus Deus est Metaphysicus. God alone is Supernatural. And Pindarus
for the same called God 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, The best, or skilfullest Artificer. Likewise S. Au∣gustine
saith, Quomodo est contra Naturam, quod Dei fit voluntate, cùm voluntas tanti
Conditoris sit cuiuscunque rei Natura? Howe is it against Nature, that is donne by Goddes
Wil, seeinge the Wil of so noble a Creator is the Nature of euery thinge? This vndoub∣tedly
was Platoes meaninge. Nowe let vs examine M. Hardinges reasons.
Nature is what so euer God wil: Elias, and Enoch are yet alieue in theire bodies: Abacuc was
caught, and carried to Babylon: S. Peter walkte vpon the Sea: Ergo, Christes Bodie is at one time
in a thousande places. These argumentes holde A posse, ad Esse, and might haue
stande the Heretiques Manichaeus, and Eutyches in some good steede: but in Ca∣tholique
Schooles they haue no place.
But howe is M. Hardinge so wel assuered of Goddes wil? Howe knoweth he,
that God wil haue Christes Bodie to be in a thousande places at one time: to be