For as all works do show forth the
power and skill of the workman, and not his image, so it is of the
works of God, which do show the omnipotency and wisdom of the Maker,
but not His image. And therefore therein the heathen opinion
differeth from the sacred truth: for they supposed the world to be
the image of God, and man to be an extract or compendious image of
the world; but the Scriptures never vouchsafe to attribute to the
world that honour, as to be the image of God, but only THE WORK OF
HIS HANDS; neither do they speak of any other image of God but man.
Wherefore by the contemplation of nature to induce and enforce the
acknowledgment of God, and to demonstrate His power, providence, and
goodness, is an excellent argument, and hath been excellently
handled by divers, but on the other side, out of the contemplation
of nature, or ground of human knowledges, to induce any verity or
persuasion concerning the points of faith, is in my judgment not
safe; Da fidei quae fidei sunt. For the heathen themselves conclude
as much in that excellent and divine fable of the golden chain,
"That men and gods were not able to draw Jupiter down to the earth;
but, contrariwise, Jupiter was able to draw them up to heaven.
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