They haue found out a thousand wayes to die Then came the Brasen Age worse than the two former yet not altogether so wicked as the last of which Ovid Met. lib. 1. makes mention Tertia post illas successit ahaenea proles Saevior ingenijs c. The third succeeds the Brasen Issue stil'd More cruell in their natures and more vild More apt to horrid Armes than those forepast And yet not all so wicked as the last The Iron Age is the last of which the soâ—e Poâ—t in the selfe same booke makes this description de Duro est vltimâ— Ferro c. The fourth of Iron into whose veines are crept All those grand mischiefes that beforeâ— time slept Truth Modestie and Faith together fled As banisht from the earth into whose sted Came Craft Deceit Fraud Iniurre and Force And that than which there 's nothing can be worse Base Auarice for not the Earth could breed Out of her plenteous crop enough to feed Insatiate Mankinde but that they must dare To rip her reuerend bowels vp nor spare To teare her brest and in the Stigian shade What she had long hid boldly to inuade And dig vp wealth the root of all things bad By this means wounding Iron at first was had Made to destroy they then discouer'd Gold More hurtfull far though of a purer mold Then War strengthned by both doth armed stand Shaking a weapon in each bloudy hand All liue on spoile the guest is not secure In his Hosts house nor is the Father fure Protected by the Son ev'n Brothers â—arre True loue and friendship is amongst them rare The husband doth insidiate the wife And she againe seekes to supplant his life The rough brow'd Step-dame her yong Step-son hugs Temp'ring for him meane time mortiferous drugs The Sonne after his Fathers yeares enquires And long before the Day his death desires Goodnesse lies vanquisht Piety betray'd Vertue is trod on and the heav'nly Maid Astraea now a better place hath found And left the Earth in bloud and slaughter drown'd So much for the Ages of the World It will be no great deuiation to speake a word or two concerning the Age of Man Servius Tullius King of the Romans called those Pueri i. Laddes or Youths who were vnder seuenteene yeares and from thence to forty six Iuniâ—res as those that were fit to be exercised in warre and from the six and fortieth yeare they were called Seniores and then exempted from Armes Varro diuided Mans Age into Infancie Adolescencie the strength of Youth and Old-Age and them retracted into their parts the first Viridis i. Greene the second Adulta i. Growne the third Praecepti i. Stooping It was also diuided into fiue Sections and euerie one contained fifteene yeares the first were called Pueri ex Puritate Children by reason of their puritie and innocence of life the second to thirty Adolescentes from their growth and encrease the third Section gaue them the title of Iuviues ab adiumenta because they were able then to assist in the wars vntill the forty fifth yeare At threescore yeares they were stiled Seniores i. Elder men And in the fift and last Section all their life time after they were called Senes Hippocrates as Censorinus Lib. de Die Natal affirmeth maketh seuen degrees of the Age of man the first endeth in the seuenth yere the second in the fourteenth the third in the one and twentieth the fourth in the fiue and thirtieth the fift in the two and fortieth the sixth in sixty and the seuenth to the end of his life c. Galen in his booke De Deâ—â—nit Medic. will allow but foure Iuvenum Vigentium Mediorum Senum And these are not vnaptly compared with the seasons of the yeare as Ovid with great elegancie doth thus set it downe Quod non in species secedere quatuor Annum Aspicis AEtatis per agentem imit amina nostrae The Yeare thou seest into foure seasons castâ— Suting our Age which is to come or past Infancie and Childehood is represented in the Spring Youth in Sommer the middle or intermediate betwixt Strength and Weaknesse to Autumne and Old-Age to cold and feeble Winter Concerning which we thus reade the before-named Author Nam tener lacteus Puerique similimus aevâ— c. The new Spring comes to which we may compare Children that feed on milke and tender are The yong and springing grasse the season tells For weake and without strength it growes and swells Sweetning the Farmers hopes all things are greene The fields looke pleasant floures are each where seene And decke the Meads in a discoloured suit The branches only bud but beare no fruit Spring into Sommer passeth now the yeare More strong and potent doth like Youth appeare No Season of more vigor and abilitie More ardent or abounding with fertilitie Youths feruor being somewhat now allay'de Ripe Autumne in his course begins to'inuade And mildely doth 'twixt Youth and Age beare sway His head part blacke but somewhat mixt with gray Then comes old Winter with a palsied pace His haire or white or none his head to grace You may also trace him thus Met. lib. 2. Verque novum stabat cinctum florente corona c. Now Spring stood there a fresh wreath girt his braine And Sommer naked in a crowne of graine Autumne from treading grapes in torne attyre And rugged Winter new come from the fire I will conclude this with Pliny lib. 10. cap. 23. As no man saith he knoweth when the Storkes come till they be come and no man can tell when they remoue and depart till they be vtterly gone because they come and goe priuately in the dead of night when no man can take notice or be aware of either so no man can perceiue his age to come till it be vpon him nor his youth going till it be quite gone And as hee that hath sung much is not to be approued but he that hath sung skilfully so he is not to be commended that hath liued long but he onely that liued well I conclude the premisses with Plato's Yeare The yeare is called Annus which Festus would deriue from the Greeke word Enos But others would haue it a meere Latine word as Atteius Capito so Macrobius lib. 1. Saturn witnesseth of him who thinkes it so called of the circle or compasse of Time of An which is Circum and Nonus which signifieth the Nones Which word may for the vnderstanding of some need a little explanation They are called Nones of Novenus as Denus quasi decimus of the number nine Rutilius writeth That thereupon the Romanes called their Faires Nondinae because that for eight dayes together the Husbandmen were employed in ploughing tilling sowing or reaping but euery ninth day was a day of intermission either for conuerse in the City or hearing of their Lawes read and expounded They are called the Nones of euery month because from
they Should so agree being 'mongst themselues at strife To giue to others what they haue not Life Haue they then from the Sun their generation Resolue me then what Countrey or what Nation Can shew his issue Haue they power innate As in themselues themselues to procreate If any of them tell me mongst them all Of what extension are they great or small In new discov'ries if after somewhile We touch vpon an vnfrequented Isle If there we sheds or cottages espy Though thatcht with Reed or Straw we by and by Say Sure men here inhabit 't doth appeare The props and rafters plac'd not themselues there Nor of their owne accord the reed or straw Themselues into that close integument draw Nor could the sauage beasts themselues inure Vnto a worke so formal and secure And you ô Fooles or rather Mad-men when You view these glorious Works which Beasts and Men So far from framing are that their dull sence Can neuer apprehend their eminence And do not with bent knees hearts strook with terror And eyes bedew'd with teares lament their error Submissiuely acknowledge their impiety And blasphemies 'gainst that inuisible Diety If but to what you see you would be loth To giue faith to In Plants a daily growth You all confesse but of you I would know When any of your eyes perceiv'd them grow In Animals we may obserue increase And euery member waxing without cease But when did euer your acutest eye Distinguish this augmenting qualitie Force vegetiue and sensatiue in Man There is with Intellect by which he can Discerne himselfe and others to this houre Tell me Who euer hath beheld that Power We with our outward sences cannot measure The depth of Truth nor rifle her rich treasure Let that Truths spirit then be our Director To bow vnto the worlds great Architector Or will you better with your selues aduise And beleeue those the antient Times held wise And not the least 'mongst these Th' AEgyptian Mages The Indian Brachmans and the Grecian Sages Ev'n these approv'd a God before Time liuing Maker Preseruer and all good things giuing The Poets and Philosophers no lesse In all their works ingeniously professe Theoginis Homer Hesiod Orpheus All Vpon this great Power inuocate and call To their Assistants In the selfe same line Rank't Plato and Pythagoras both Diuine Held for their reuerence done it Let these passe To speake of your great man Diagoras The Prince of Fooles of Atheisme the chiefe Master As was of Magicke the learn'd Zoroaster Peruse his Booke you in the Front shall reade These very words From a sole soueraigne Head All things receiue their Being and Dispose What more could he confesse Which the most knowes He on whose shrinking columes you erect The whole frame of your irreligious sect Holding the statue of Alcides then Numb'red amongst the deified men It being of wood To take away the glory From Idols in a frequent auditorie Of his owne Scholers cast it in the fire Thus speaking Now god Hercules expire In this thy thirteenth Labour 't is one more Than by thy stepdame was enioyn'd before To her being man thou all thy seruice gaue Thou now being god I make thee thus my slaue The Atheist Lucian held Gods Sonne in scorne And walking late by dogs was piece-meale torne Yet for the loue I to his learning owe This funerall Farewell I on him bestow Vnhappy Lucian what sad passionate Verse Shall I bestow vpon the marble stone That couers thee How shall I deck thy Herse With Bayes or Cypresse I do not bemone Thy death but that thou dy'dst thus Had thy Creed As firme been as thy wit fluent and high All that haue read thy Works would haue agreed To haue transfer'd thy Soule aboue the sky And Sainted thee But ô 't is to be doubted The God thou didst despise will thee expell From his blest place since thou Heav'n hast flouted Confine thy Soule into thine owne made Hell But if thou euer knew'st so great a Dietie A Sauiour who created Heauen and thee And against him durst barke thy rude impietie He iudge thy cause for it concernes not me But for thy Body 't is most iust say I If all that so dare barke by Dogs should dy Thus saith the Atheist Lo our time is short Therefore our few dayes let vs spend in sport From Death which threatneth vs no Power can saue And there is no returning from the graue Borne are we by meere chance a small time seen And we shall be as we had neuer been Our breath is short our words a sparke of fire Rais'd from the heart which quickly doth expire And then our bodies must to dust repaire Whilest life and spirit vanish into aire We shall be like the moving Cloud that 's past And we must come to nothing at the last Like Dew exhal'd our names to ruine runne And none shall call to mind what we haue done Our Time is as a shadow which doth fade And after death which no man can euade The graue is seal'd so fast that we in vaine Shall hope thence euer to returne againe Come then the present pleasures let vs tast And vse the Creatures as in time forepast Now let vs glut our selues with costly wine And let sweet ointments in our faces shine Let not the floure of life passe stealing by But crowne our selues with Roses e're they dy Our wantonnesse be counted as a treasure And in each place leaue tokens of our pleasure For that 's our portion we desire no more Let vs next study to oppresse the Poore If they be righteous nor the Widow spare Deride the Ag'd and mocke his reuerend haire Our strength make Law to do what is iniust For in things feeble't is in vaine to trust Therefore the good man let 's defraud for he We know can neuer for our profit be Our actions in his eies gets no applause He checks vs for offending 'gainst the Lawes Blames vs and saith We Discipline oppose Further he makes his boasts That God he knowes And calls himselfe his Sonne Hee 's one that 's made To contradict our thoughts quite retrograde From all our courses and withall so crosse We cannot looke vpon him without losse He reckons vs as Bastards and withdrawes Himselfe from vs nor will he like our Lawes But counts of them as filthinesse The ends Of the iust men he mightily commends And boasts God is his father Let 's then see If any truth in these his words can be And what end he shall haue For if th' Vpright Be Sonnes of God hee 'l aid them by his might With harsh rebukes and torments let vs then Sift and examine this strange kinde of Men To know what meeknesse we in them can spy And by this means their vtmost patience try Put them to shamefull death bee 't any way For they shall be preserv'd as themselues say Thus do they go
AEgyptians Arabians and Graecians as Lincolniensis reporteth in a Treatise of the World which he wrote to Pope Clement As likewise of Vincentius in his Historicall Myrrhor Grounded vpon the Text whose power is great That God made all things perfect and compleat Others there be who would begin the yeare And say In Cancer it did first appeare Others say Leo grounding their opinion Because in that Signe it hath most dominion As Iulius Firmicus an antient and approued Author and of great iudgement in Astrologie in his third booke De Creatione being induced to that beleefe because Leo is called the House of the Sunne But that which hath the greatest approbation Is That the Sun had first illumination In the Signe Aries for as Authors say Summer in midst of March claimes her first day Of this opinion were S. Hierome S. Ambrose S. Basil and diuers other Authors Christian and Ethnycke c. And though perhaps amongst the Learn'd and Wise In circumstance some difference may arise And some of them would haue the World begin In March others in Aprill 't is no sinne To beleeue either since they all agree That in the AEquinoctiall it must be Which is vncertaine since by proofe we finde It is not to one certaine day assign'd The AEquinoctiall is not permanent and fixt to one day but oft-times varieth for we reade That our Sauiour Christ suffered in the AEquinoctiall which was then the fiue and twentieth day of March and now it is the eleuenth of the same moneth Whereby it may be presumed That heretofore in the revolution of Times and Seasons it hath hapned in Aprill c. Hence likewise may another doubt appeare Namely In what moneth to begin the yeare Some say in March some Aprill To decide That question let the Scripture be our Guide Which saith and credit ought with vs to win In the moneth Nisan let your Yeare begin Nisan is March with vs And Vincentius in his first Chapter of the Historicall Myrrhor saith That the Hebrewes began their yeare in March because in that moneth was the AEquinoctial when the World was created This opinion was also approued by some Naturalists as amongst others Elpacus in his Historicall Tractate who affirmeth that the Chaldaeans being great Astrologers were confident That the first day of the Creation the Sunne entred into the first point or degree of Aries The Romanes yeare beginneth the first day of Ianuarie in regard of the superstitious deuotion which the Gentiles had to their God Ianus According to Macrobius Marcus Varro lib. 9. Ovid in Fastis and others The Christians likewise begin theirs from the Natiuitie of our blessed Lord and Sauiour It likewise is coniectur'd by the best Of all that haue Astrologie profest Both Iewes and Christian Authors That the Sun At it's Creation in that Signe begun In which the Sonne of God for Mankinde dy'de Was nail'd vpon the Crosse and crucifi'de And that apparantly is knowne to all Was in the Sommers AEquinoctiall So that the same day that it first shone bright And the same houre his death eclip'st it's light Another reason 's giuen For the same day That the Sunne enters Aries say they There 's no part of the Earth but from the Sky He lookes vpon with his All-seeing eye But when his course Diurnal he doth take In any place else of the Zodiack There are some parts as hid behinde a Skreene In which his glorious lustre is not seene Most probable it is He the first day He enters his great Progresse should suruey All places and all Creatures such to cheare Which He till then beheld not halfe the yeare Besides Christs Passion did on that day fall When it appear'd most visible to All That all Gods Creatures hauing sence and breath Might note th' Eclipse that hapned at his death About the Moone too Authors disagree Some when she was created say That she Was in her plenitude and full Againe Some hold she was defectiue in her Waine Such as she now appeares vnto our view Thin and two-horn'd and as we call her New There were two opinions concerning the Moone Saint Augustine in Genes Cap. 5. saith That it were very inconuenient to beleeue that God in her Creation should make her any way defectiue Yet diuers haue argued the contrary and say it is more probable that she began her first day in Conjunction increasing in her age answerable to our account but their opinions are neither held Authenticke nor Orthodoxall for amongst others Rabbanus commenting vpon the twelfth Chapter of Exodus agreeth with Saint Augustine as holding conformity with the sacred text which saith Gen. 1.16 God made two great Lights the greater Light to gouerne the Day the lesser to illuminate the Night To leaue their Arguments and come more neere Vnto the point this doubt we soone shall cleere In the same instant that God made the Sun With it this glorious Light we see begun Which luster'd halfe the Earth and we may say Truly In that part of the world was day But th' other moity not yet disclos'd To his bright eye by th' Earth was interpos'd And there was night to which no doubt the Moone Entring into her office full as soone Display'd her splendor As both were created At one selfe instant both at once instated In seueral Orbs by the great Power Diuine Euen so at once they both began to shine And still in the same offices abide The Sun the Day the Moone the Night to guide Who did at first without defect appeare And with a perfect Iustre fill'd her Spheare Here I cannot omit a remarkable note borrowed from a learned Gentleman much practised in the Holy tongue That Shemesh in the Hebrew being the Sun it properly signifieth a Seruant and so the very name reproues all such as adore it for a god We shall not deviate much nor order breake If something we of Stars and Planets speake Not far from the North-pole Starre doth appeare Vnto our view the great and lesser Beare Those Arcti call'd The Vrsa Maior she Whom Iove held once the Fair'st on earth to be And when her Father slaine she did professe Her selfe to be a Virgin Votaresse The Amorous god like one of Dian's maides Is soone trans-shap'd and so the Nymph inuades Whether by force or faire means know I not But 'tweene them two yong Arcas was begot Who proues an Archer and to strength being growne Ready to shoot his mother then vnknowne Iove stay'd his hand and by his power Diuine Made them two Stars and next the Pole to shine Some that he Archâ—s was will not endure But rather to be Ioves Nurse Cynosure 'Twixt these the mighty Serpent is confin'd Her head and taile about both Arcti twin'd Th' Hesperian golden Apples said to keepe So wakefull it was neuer knowne to sleepe But after slaine by Hercules nought bars Iuno but
Dreame is a phantasie begotten in the sleepe Chrisippus the Philosopher after this manner It is a discerning or explaining force signified by the gods vnto men in their sleepes for so saith Cicero Lib. de Divinat Erasmus Lib. 3. Apotheg thus derideth such mens superstitions as are inquisitiue after the expositions of their Dreames Those things saith hee which you do waking you regard not but after your dreams you solicitously enquire But to the felicitie or infelicitie of Man it is not so much auaileable what you suffer in your sleepe as that which you do being awake for what euill you then commit you are to feare the wrath and anger of the gods and some sad punishment ensuing but for the other not Thales being asked How far a Lie differed from a Truth made answer Iust so far as the eye differeth from the eare Intimating That all those were of an vndoubted faith which we see with our eyes but many things fabulous reported heard with our eares come short of credit Something alluding to that Homericall fiction of Dreames Of which saith he those which fly in at the Horny port are true but those which enter at the Ivorie gate are false By the Horny port meaning the eyes by reason of the resemblance of their colour with horne by the Ivory way the mouth alluding to the whitenesse of the teeth Seneca in Hercul Furent calls Sleepe The better part of mans life Tu ô Domitor Summe malorum requies animi Pars humanae melior vitae c. Of Euils thou the chiefe and best Releaser of the minde the rest The better part of humane life Asswaging griefe compounding strife Aristotle saith That Sleepe is the Medium betwixt life and death And in his Booke de Som. Vigil If Dreams come from the gods wise men should find the euent of them in the day neither can they come Divinitus or from aboue because Dreames are as frequent with other Creatures as with Men. Eccles. cap. 34. As he that would take hold of a shadow or pursueth the winde so he that is intentiue after Dreames There are some define them the sleepie agitations of the waking minde According to Seneca in Octav. Quaecunque mentis agitat infestus vigor c. Such things as trouble and disturbe the mind Are when we be to drowsie sleepe inclin'd Then tost and canvast this way that againe Within the priuat chamber of the braine Ovid lib. 2. Eligiar thus speaketh of them Tu levis es multóque tuis ventosior alis Gaudiaque ambigua dasque negasque fide Thou' art light and much more windy than thy wings Ioyes with ambiguous Faith thou tak'st and brings And Tibull lib. 3. Eleg. 4. Somnia fallaci ludunt temeraria nocte Et pavidas mentes falsa timere facit Rash Dreames deride vs in the doubtfull night And timerous mindes perplex with false affright But these are more perspicuously set downe by the excellent Poet Claudian in Praefat. lib. 6. de Consol. Honor. Omnia quae sensu volvuntur vota diurno Tempore nocturno reddit amica quies All things we muse on in the day to keepe The friendly rest returnes vs in our sleepe The Huntsman when his weary limbes he throwes Vpon his bed his minde a hunting goes Vnto the Chace he shouts and hollowes there As if the present Game before him were The Iudge is troubled Discord to compound The Charioter to measure out the ground In which to try his Coach-Steeds Louers dreame Of their stolne pleasures And with thirst extreame The dry-sicke man th' imaginarie cup Lifts to his head and thinkes to quaffe all vp And me the Muses Study doth accite To a new trouble in the silent night Ev'n in the middle of Ioves starry Towre Before his feet my Numbers forth to powre I cannot forget for the excellencie thereof here to insert one of Sr Thomas Mores Epigrams thus exprest Non es dum in somno es dum nec te vivere sentis c. Thou art not whilest thou art asleepe thou then Dost not perceiue thy selfe aliue but when Thou art awake Dreame thou art rich or wise Yet thou a poore man or a foole may'st rise He then that thinkes himselfe most happy and Proud of his fortunes doth on tip-toes stand So oft as night comes ceaseth to be blest Is so oft wretched as he lies to rest From Poetry I come to History Aristotle writeth of one Eudemus of Cyprus his familiar friend who trauelling to Macedonia came to the noble City Phaecas in Thessaly then groaning vnder the immanitie of the barbarous Tyrant Alexander In which place falling sicke and being forsaken of all the Physitions as one desperat of recouerie a yong man appeared vnto him in a vision who told him That in a short space hee should be restored to his former health Next That within a few dayes the Tyrant should be remoued by death And lastly That at the end of fiue yeares he himselfe should returne home into his country The two first predictions happened accordingly he being restored to his former strength and Alexander the Tyrant perishing being slaine by the brothers of his wife But in the fifth yeare when encouraged by his vision he had hope to returne from Sicilie into Cyprus he was ingaged by the way in a battell fought against the Syracusians and slaine His Vision therefore was thus interpreted That when the Soule of Eudemus was departed from his body it was said to returne againe into it's owne Countrey or into his hands againe who first leant it The father of Galen the excellent Physition was in a Dreame admonished to educate and tutor his sonne being then a Childe in the study and practise of Physicke which he accordingly did In which to what eminence and admiration his industry brought him his learned Workes euen to this day testifie of him Quintus Catulus a noble Romane saw as hee thought in his depth of rest Iupiter deliuering into the hand of a Childe the Ensigne of the Roman People and the next night after hee saw the same child hugged in the bosome of the god Whom Catulus offering to pull thence Iupiter charged him to lay no violent hands on him who was borne for the weale and preseruation of the Roman Empire The very next morning when Q. Catulus espied by chance in the street Octavianus Augustus then a childe and perceiuing him to be the same he suddenly ran vnto him and with a loud acclamation said Yes this is he whom the last night I beheld hugg'd in the bosome of Iupiter A rich Vessell of Gold being stollen out of the Temple of Hercules Sophocles by his Genius was shewed the Theefe in his sleepe which for the first and second apparition hee neglected but being troubled the third night he went to the Areopagus or hill of Mars which is a village neere vnto Athens and there causing the Areopagitae i. the Optimates of the City to
be assembled he told them the whole circumstance before related Who vpon no other euidence summoned the party to make his appearance who after strict examination confessed the fact and made restitution of the Vessell For which discouery the Temple was euer after called Templum Herculis Indicis Alexander the Philosopher a man knowne to be free from all superstition reporteth of himselfe That sleeping one night hee saw his mothers funeralls solemnised being then a dayes journey distant thence and waking in great sorrow and many teares hee told this apparition to diuers of his Familiars and Friends The time being punctually obserued certaine word was brought him the next day after That at the same houre of his Dreame his mother expired Iovius reporteth That Sfortia Anno 1525 in a mornings slumber dreamed That falling into a Riuer he was in great danger of drowning and calling for succour to a man of extraordinary stature and presence such as Saint Christopher is pourtrayed who was on the farther shore he was by him sleighted and neglected This Dreame he told to his wife and seruants but no farther regarded it The same day spying a child fall into the water neere vnto the Castle Pescara thinking to saue the childe leaped into the Riuer but ouer-burthened with the weight of his Armor he was choked in the mud and so perished The like Fulgentius lib. 1. cap. 5. reporteth of Marcus Antonius Torellus Earle of Cynastall who admonished of the like danger in his sleep but contemning it the next day swimming in which exercise he much delighted though many were neere him yet he sunke in the midst of them and was drowned not any one being at that time able to helpe him Alcibiades Probus Iustine and Plutarch relate of him That a little before his death which happened by the immanitie of Tismenius and Bagâ—as sent from Critia dreamed That he was cloathed in his mistresses Petticoat or Kirtle Whose body after his murther being throwne out of the city naked and denied both buriall and couerture his Mistresse in the silence of the night stole out of the gates and couered him with her garment as well as she was able to shadow his dead Corps from the derision and scorne of his barbarous enemie No lesse strange was the Dreame of Croesus remembred by Herodotus and Valerius Max. Lib. 1. Cap. 7. Who of Atis the eldest and most excellent of his two sonnes dreamed That he saw him wounded and trans-pierced with steele And therefore with a fatherly indulgence sought to preuent all things that might haue the least reflection vpon so bad a disaster And thereupon where the youthfull Prince was before employed in the wars hee is now altogether detained at home in peace He had of his owne a rich and faire Arcenall or Armorie furnished with all manner of weapons in which hee much delighted which is shut vp and hee quite debarred both the pleasure and vse thereof His Seruants and Attendants are admitted into his presence but they are first vnarmed Yet could not all this care preuent Destiny for when a Bore of extraordinarie stature and fiercenesse had made great spoile and slaughter in the adiacent Region insomuch that the king was petitioned to take some order how he might be destroied the noble Prince by much importunitie and intercession obtained leaue of his father to haue the honour of this aduenture but with a strict imposition that he should expose his person vnto no seeming danger But whilst all the Gallantry that day assembled were intentiue on the pursuit of the Beast one Adrastus aiming his Bore-speare at him by an vnfortunate glance it turned vpon the Prince and slew him Valerius Maximus telleth vs of one Aterius Ruffus a Knight of Rome who when a great Sword-play was to be performed by the Gladiators of Syracusa dreamed the night before That one of those kinde of Fencers called Rhetiarij which vsed to bring Nets into the Theatre and by cunning cast them so to intangle their aduersaries to disable them either for offence or defence gaue him a mortal wound Which dream he told to such of his friends as fate next him It happened presently after That one of those Rhetiarij was brought by a certaine Gladiator being then Challenger into a Gallery next vnto the place where Aterius and his friends were seated as spectator Whose face hee no sooner beheld but hee started and told his Friends that hee was the man from whose hands he dream'd he had receiued his deadly wound When suddenly rising with his Friends to depart thence as not willing to tempt that Omen in thrusting hastily to get out of the throng there grew a sudden quarrell in which tumult Aterius was transpierced by the same mans sword and was taken vp dead in the place being by no euasion able to preuent his fate Cambyses King of Persia saw in a Vision his brother Smerdis sitting vpon an Imperiall Throne and his head touching the clouds And taking this as a forewarning that his brother had an aspiring purpose to supplant him and vsurpe the Crowne he wrought so far with Praxaspes a Nobleman and then the most potent in the Kingdome that by his practise he was murthered Yet did not all this avert the fate before threatned for another Smerdis a Magition and base fellow pretending to be the former Smerdis and the sonne of Cyrus after enioyed the Kingdome and Cambyses mounting his Steed was wounded with a knife in his hip or thigh of which hurt he miserably died Many Histories to the like purpose I could cite from Aristotle Plato Hippocrates Galen Pliny Socrates Diogines Laertius Themistocles Alexander Aphrodiensis Livy AElianus and others As of Ptolomeus besieging Alexandria Of Galen himselfe Lib. de venae Sectione Of two Arcadians trauelling to Megara Of Aspatia the daughter of Hermilinus Phocensis who after was the Wife of two mighty Kings Cyrus of Persia and Artaxes whose history Elianus de Varia Historia lib. 12. writeth at large As also that of Titus Atimius remembred by Cicero Lib. de Divinat 1. By Valer. Maxim Lib. 1. Cap. 7. By Livy lib. 2. By Macrâ—b Saturn 1. with infinite others To the further confirmation that there are Spirits I hold it not amisse to introduce some few Histories concerning Predictions The Emperor Nero asking counsel of the Diuell How long his empire and dominion should last Answer was returned him from that crafty and equivocating Pannurgist To beware of 64. Nero being then in youth and strength was wondrous ioyful in his heart to heare so desired a solution of his doubt and demand presuming that his principalitie should vndoubtedly continue to that prefixed yeare if not longer But soone after â—alba who was threescore and foure yeares of age being chosen to the Imperiall Purple deposed and depriued him both of his Crowne and life The like we reade of Philip King of Macedon and Father to
Hee answered That hee had a naturall inclination to it and therefore no persuasion could diuert him from it The other replied vpon him I pray where died your Father he answered At Sea Again he asked him Where his Grandfather died Who told him At sea And are not you then said he sor that cause afraid to go to sea The Captaine made answer Before I resolue you fully of your demand let me also be satisfied in one thing from you I pray you where died your father He answered In his bed And where saith he died your Grandfather Hee likewise answered In his bed He then replied Why are you not then for that cause onely afraid to go to bed It is a true saying No man dieth more willingly than such as haue liued most honestly And wherefore should we be afraid to meet with that which wee know it is not possible for vs to shun Heraclitus calleth it the Law of Nature the Tribute of the Flesh the Remedie of Euils and the Path either to heauenly Felicitie or eternall Miserie Claudian lib. 2. de Raptu Proserp speaking of Death writeth after this manner Sub tua purpurei venient vestigiareges Deposito luxu turbaque cum paupere mixti Omniamors equat c. Purple-rob'd Kings their glory layd aside And pompous state beneath thy steps shall fall Mixt with the poorer throng that 's void of pride And vaine excesse 'T is Death which equalls all And Ovid speaking of the vnpartialitie of the fatall Sisters Metam lib. 10. saith Omnia debentur vobis paulumque morati Serius aut citius c. All things to you are due after small stay Sooner or later we must walke one way There 's but one common path to vs assign'd To that all tend as there to be confin'd It is a great and weighty thing saith the Philosopher and not soone learned When that inevitable houre shall come to entertaine it with patience Thou canst not fly the necessitie thereof ouercome it thou maist namely if thou dost not first yeeld vnto it if quietly thou expectest it if vnmoued thou receiuest it if thou dost persist certaine against incertaintie and fearelesse against that which most men feare then maist thou be said truly to conquer and ouercome it There is nothing so bitter but an equall and constant spirit can easily digest for many in their patient sufferings seeme to despise the most exquisite torments Mutius the Fire Regulus the Crosse Anaxarchus the contusion of all his members Theramenes and Socrates Poyson and when sentence of death was deliuered to Canius from the Tyrant hee then playing at Chesse seemed so little daunted at the message that without change of countenance he played out his game And so of others Now whence grew this magnanimitie but from a sound and cleare conscience assiduate practise of Vertue and a courage armed against all disasters Nothing is more calamitous than a minde doubtfull of what is to come To be alwayes troubled is to be miserable before miserie happen for there is nothing more foolishly wretched than to be still in feare especially of death which if nothing else the very necessitie thereof and the common equalitie with all Mankind ought to make tollerable First diligently thinke with thy selfe That before thou diest all thy vices die in thee And next That thou makest a consummation of thy life before thy death O! when thou shalt see that time in which thou shalt perceiue no time to belong vnto thee in which thou shalt be temperate and calme and in thy saâ—ietie carelesse of the morrow Then that day which now thou fearest as thy last shall appeare to thee thy birth day to eternitie Dost thou weepe and lament These things belong to those which are new borne Dost thou thinke those things to be lost which thou leauest Why shouldst thou dote vpon that which was not thine own but leant Who is it that would set a price vpon Time or at a deare rate estimate the Day who truly vnderstandeth that hee is euery houre dying In this we much deceiue our selues That we see not Death afarre off nor apprehend it neere That part of our age which is past is free that which is behinde is in the power of Death neither do we fall vpon Death suddenly but step by step we meet it by degrees we daily die for euery day a part of our life is taken from vs and euen at that time when we increase our life decreaseth we lose our Infancie first our Childehood next then our Youth and euery one of these when it arriueth to the full period perisheth for yesterdayes life is this day wanting and tomorrow this dayes being hath ceased to be nay euen this day which wee breath wee diuide with Death for it is the very moment and point of time in which we can be said to liue yea lesse if lesse can be imagined neither of that little or lesse space can we assure our selues Saint Chrisostome super Math. calleth Death The necessarie gift of corrupt Nature which ought not fearefully to be auoided but rather chearefully embraced for by making that voluntarie which is compulsiue that which is to God a due debt we offer vnto him as a free gift Moreouer a foolish and ridiculous thing it is for men to delight in sleepe and feare death when sleepe is nothing else but the imitation of Death Saint Augustine lib. de Natura Gracia vseth these words If thou boastest thy selfe of Nobilitie Riches or Honour of thy Countrey or the applause giuen vnto thee by the People looke into thy selfe and consider That thou camest from the earth and into it againe thou must returne Looke about and behold all those which in times past haue flourished in the like splendours Where be the insuperable Emperors Where be those that frequented Meetings Musicke and Feasts and delighted in the braue breed of Horses Where be their Robes of state their rich and gorgeous Vesture Where their troupes of Followers and large traine of Attendants Where their sportings and Reuellings Where be the Captains of Armies Champions Iudges Tyrants are not all Earth Dust and Ashes and their magnificence and memorie in a small Tombe and short Epitaph contained Looke into their gorgeous and glittering Sepulchres and see how much the Lord differs from the Seruant Tell me which is the Rich man and which the Poore Distinguish if thou canst the Captiue from the Conqueror the Valiant from the Timerous or the Faire from the Deformed Therefore remember thy selfe ô Man of thy fraile and weake nature least thou beest any way tumor'd with Pride Arrogance or Vain-glory. Bernard in one of his Sermons saith Novissima sunt quatuor c. The foure last things are Death Iudgement Hell and Glorie Than Death what more horrible Than Iudgement what more terrible Than Hell what more intollerable Than Glory what more delectable It will not I hope appeare much impertinent to introduce one of Lucians Dialogues because the
doth deuise Touching the Angels First saith he the Deuill Was made of Fire pestiferous and euill The glorious Spirits Attendants on the Throne And faithfull Ministers to God alone For euer seated in that blessed Bowre Haue Wings some two some three and others foure Making of this as confident relation As had he present been at the Creation And of these Two attending on the Throne Of the great God Almighty Maroth one Haroth another were from Heav'n downe sent With full Commission to haue gouernment Or'e all Mankinde not onely to conduct them In their affaires but tutor and instruct them With these prouiso's neuer to incline Either to Kill Iudge rashly or Drinke Wine All which of long time hauing strictly kept In the plainerode and to no by-path stept It chanc'd in processe an offending Wife Did with her peruerse husband fall at strife A day of hearing bee'ng appointed she Inuites vnto a banquet cunningly These two impartiall Iudges ' sore them plac'd Right costly Cates made both for shew and taste But sauc'd with wine which was vnknowne to them And by this close and crafty stratagem Spurring them on with courteous welcome still Their pallats being pleas'd they bad her fill In plenteous cups to them till both in fine Were much distemper'd and or'come with Wine And in this heate lust breaking into fire They then to'adulterate her bed desire To which she yeelds vpon condition they Will teach her Characters by which she may Be lifted to those heav'ns aboue the Sun And without let behold what 's therein done And after that she may haue free transmission Downe to the earth and that with expedition They grant to her and she to them applies The words no sooner spoke but vp she flies Where seene and question'd how she thither came She opens the whole matter just the same As was before related but for feare She should disclose on earth the Glories there Shee soone was chang'd into a fulgent Star In light excelling others ev'n as far As when in life below she did remaine Her lustre did inferior Beauties staine Now after this the Angels were conuented Who waking from their drowsinesse repented Of their vaine folly and with terror great Were brought to answer at the Iudgement Seat The fault confest the processe and the ground With euery circumstance this grace they found To haue after discussion in the close What punishment they would themselues impose Betwixt this World and th' other to endure Who made choice in iron chaines to be bound sure And haue both heads and bodies drown'd in mudâ— In a most putrid Lake call'd Bebel floud One grosse thing more to these I 'le adde and than To his perdition leaue this brain-sicke Man Further he saithâ— In the last dreadfull day Th'Angell of Death that 's Adriel call'd shall slay All Soules then liuing And that slaughter past Fall on his owne sword and so die the last And when all liuing creatures are destroy'd The world shall forty yearesâ— stand after void Infinite are his most blasphemous Fictions And eachwhere interlac't with contradictions As in feign'd Miracles the generall Doome The dissolution that is yet to come Concerning these a question may arise Whether these sottish and most fabulous Lies More fondly by this Iugler were conceated Or by Mad-folke beleev'd and thereby cheated Now something touching the arch-Heresies Of the Priscillians and the Manechies Of whom thus briefely They nor blush nor feare To write and teach That two Beginnings were Of vniuersall Nature Good and Bad The one of cherefull Light the other sad Darkenesse the Author Of which they retaine Th' essence within themselues and from these faâ—gne A God and Diuell And that all things made From these Materials their condition had Of Good and Euill Both the Sects agreeing That from the better Good the World had Being Yet they say further That the mixture knit Of Good and Bad insep'rable in it From these two opposit Natures doth arise And therefore in their fancies they deuise Fiue Elements to either There 's assign'd Smoke Darkenesse Fire the Water and the Winde To the Bad Nature out of Smoke they bring All two leg'd Creatures and thence Man to spring They further fable and from Darkenesse breed Dragons and Serpents with all Reptile seed Foure-footed Beasts from Fire they procreate From Water Fish Fowles from Winde generate The number of the Elements are fiue Which from the Better Nature they deriue Oppos'd to these Aire from the Smoke they draw Light out of Darknesse by the selfe same law Fire needfull from Fire hurtfull Water thus Vsefull from what 's Disaduantagious From Windes contagious Windes of healthfull vse And betwixt these there can be made no Truce They likewise trifle That all difficultie To'attaine vnto the true Felicitie Consists in separating th' Ills contagion From the Goods purer nature Which persuasion Yet leads them further That since these two first Pow'rfull Beginnings term'd the Best and Worst Are at perpetuall discord hence should breed Of War that natiue and intestine seed Betwixt the Flesh and Spirit in which Strife None 's capable of euerlasting life But such as the Good Nature can diuide From that contagion which the Bad doth guide They say That to the Light pur'd and refin'd Two shapes from Gods pure nature are assign'd Namely the Sun and Moone and these conuey That perfect splendor which enlights for aye The heav'nly Kingdome and most glorious Seat Of High Iehovah who 's the onely Great And Pow'rfull hauing the sole domination His Mansion being their blest habitation They feigne Our Grandfire and great-Grandame Eve Which none of common Reading can beleeue Of Sacla Prince of Smoke were form'd and made That by the Serpent he who first betrayd Those our first Parents Christ himselfe was meant Who bad them taste the Apple to th' intent That they the Good from what was Ill might know And that his body meerely was in show Phantasticall not Reall That the Trine Sent him to saue the Soule that was Diuine But not the Flesh and Body because they Were made of impure stuffe Dust Earth and Clay Of which Absurds I 'le make no more narration Vnworthy mention much more confutation ¶ Tribus modis in veritate peccatur 1. Veritatem prae timore tacendo 2. Veritatem in mendatium comutando 3. Veritatem non defendendo Chrisost. Explicit Metrum Tractatus quinti. Theologicall Philosphicall Poeticall Historicall Apothegmaticall Hierogliphicall and Emblematicall Obseruations touching the further illustration of the former Tractat. TThe Consimilitudes and Concordances betweene the seuerall degrees of Angels and the Heauens and Planets I doubt not but is sufficiently manifested Whosoeuer desireth to be further more fully instructed in the Motions and courses of the Spheres I refer him to peruse Iun. Higinus Libertus his Poëticon Astronomicon where hee discourseth learnedly of the World the Spheres the Centre the Axis the Zodiacke Circle Earth Sea c. of Arâ—tos Maior
three Presents bring Myrrhe to a Man and Gold vnto a King Incense to'a God To proue himselfe Diuine In Cana he turn'd Water into Wine Fiue Loaues two Fishes haue fiue thousand fed When surplusage remain'd of meat and bread To the borne-Blinde he shew'd the Suns bright rayes Who on th' vnknowne light did with wonder gaze He caus'd the light on Lazarus to shine After he foure dayes in the graue had ly'ne With his right hand he fainting Peter stay'd But with his word his faith more constant made She that the bloudy Issue had endur'd For many Winters by her Faith was cur'd The palsied man who had been bedrid long Took vp his bed and walkt thence whole and strong He cast out Diuels by his Word sincere He made the Dumbe to speake and Deafe to heare He it was of whom some thinke Virgil prophecied Eclog 4. in these words Vltima Cumaei venit iam Carminis atas The last day 's come of the Cumaean Ryme A great One's now borne from the first of Time The Virgin is return'd with Saturnes Crowne And now a new Birth is from Heav'n let downe He was miraculous in his death Of whom elegant S. Bernard thus speakes How sweetly Lord Iesus didst thou conuerse with men how aboundantly didst thou bestow many blessings vpon man how valiantly didst thou suffer many bitter hard and intollerable things for man hard words hard strokes more hard afflictions O hard hardned and obdure Sonnes of Adam whom so great sufferings so great benignitie so immense an ardour of loue cannot mollifie Againe God loued vs sweetly wisely valiantly sweetly in assuming our Flesh wisely in auoyding sin valiantly in suffering death but aboue all in that Cup which he vouchsafed to taste which was the great worke of our Redemption for that more than all challenges our loue it gently insinuateth our deuotion more iustly exacts it more strictly binds it more vehemently commands it And in another place In the Passion of our Sauiour it behoueth vs three things more especially to consider the Worke the Manner the Cause In the Worke his Patience in the Manner his Humilitie in the Cause his Charitie Patience singular Humilitie admirable and Charitie vnspeakeable And now me-thinks I heare the Redeemer and Sauiour of the World thus speake from the Crosse. Huc me sidereo discendere fecit Olympo His me crudeli vulnere fixit Amor c. Loue drew me hither from the starry Round And here hath pierc'd me with a cruell wound I mourne yet none hath of my griefe remorse Whom Deaths dire Lawes in vaine intend to force Loue brought me to insufferable scorne And platted on my head a crowne of Thorne It was meere loue thy wounded Soule to cure Made me these wounds vpon my flesh t' endure It was my Loue which triumphs ouer all That quencht my thirst with Vineger and Call The loue which I to Mankinde could not hide With a sharpe Speare launcht bloud out of my side Or'e me Loue onely me of Kings the King Doth now insult who hither did me bring For others gaine to suffer this great losse To haue my hands and feet nayl'd to the Crosse. Now what do I for all this loue implore Loue me againe and I desire no more Thinke saith Thomas de Kempis of the dignitie of the Person and greatly lament because God in the Flesh was so contumeliously handled Ecce Altissimus supra omnes infra omnes deprimitur Nobilissmus dehonestatur Speciocissimus sputo inquinatur c. Behold how the most-High aboue all is depressed below all The most Noble is vilified The most Faire spit vpon The most Wise derided The most Mighty bound The most Innocent scourged The most Holy crowned with Thornes The most Gentle buffetted The most Rich impouerished The most Bountifull despoyled The most Worthy blasphemed The most Good despised The most Louing hated The most Knowing reputed foolish The most True not beleeued The most Innocent condemned The most skilfull Physitian wounded The Sonne of God crucified The Immortall subiect to death and slaine The Lord of heauen and earth dying for the redemption of wretched and ingratefull seruants Sic de Cruce suo Christus loquitur Vide Homo qua pro te patior Vide Claâ—es quibus confâ—diâ—r Vide poenas quibus afficior Cum sit tantuâ— dolor exterior Interior planctus est gravior Dum ingratum te sic experior See what I for thee endure Nail'd to the Crosse by hands impure Behold the paines I suffer here Since outward griefe doth such appeare How great then is my griefe within Whilest thou ingrate abid'st in sin Briefely The whole Passion of Christ according to the sentence of Dionysius was for imitation compassion admiration contemplation inflammation and thanksgiuing According to that of Thomas à Kempis It is of diuine Loue the Incendiarie of Patience the Doctrine in tribulation the Comfort It is the solace of dissolution the substance of holy compunction the exercise of internall deuotion the exclusion of desperation the certaine hope of remission the support of sharpe reprehension the expulsion of peruerse cogitation the repression of carnall temptation the consolation of corporall imperfections the contempt of temporall aboundance the abdication of our proper affections the restraint of superfluous necessitie the exercise of honest conuersation the inflammation to amendment of life the induction to coelestial consolation the approbation of brotherly compassion the reparation of diuine contemplation the argumentation of future blessednesse the mitigation of paines present the purgation from the fire future and the great satisfaction for all our sinnes and offences whatsoeuer Briefely the Passion of Christ is of a godly and religious Soule the Mirrhor of our life the Director of the way to heauen the Load-starre of all tempests the shadow and protector and of all Soules in the houre of death the comfort and supporter The Passion of Christ saith Rabanus de laude Crucis sustaines heauen gouerneth the world pierceth hell in the first the Angels are confirmed in the second the people redeemed in the third the Enemie subdued Saint Augustine in his Sermon De Natali Domini saith That the Maker of man was made Man that he which gouerned the Stars should sucke the breast that the Bread should be hungry the Fountaine thirsty the Light should be darkned the Way should be weary the Truth should suffer by false witnesse the Iudge of the liuing and dead should by a mortall man be iudged that Iustice by injust men should be condemned that Discipline it selfe should be scourged the prime Branch crowned with thornes he that made the Tree be hanged on the Tree Strength weakned Health wounded and Life made subiect vnto death Saint Bernard in his first sermon De Nativit Christi vseth these words Vt in Paradiso terrestri quatuor fuere fontes c. As in the earthly Paradise there were foure Riuers which watered the whole earth so in Christ who is our Paradise wee may finde
shooes could water tred And neuer hasard drowning The like fame Another that Othimius had to name Behinde him left Hadingus King of Danes Mounted vpon a good Steed by the raines Th' Inchanter tooke and crosse the main sea brought him Safe whilest in vaine the hot pursuer sought him Oddo the Danish Pyrat by the aid Of the like Sp'rits whole Nauies durst inuade And with his Magicke Charmes could when he please Raise mighty stormes and drowne thâ—m in the seas At length by one of greater practise found Aiming at others Wracke himselfe was drown'd Some Authors vnto this accursed Tribe Of watry Daemons Deluges ascribe And flux of waters Such we reade were knowne Whilest Damasus was Pope when ouerthrowne Were many cities in Sicilia And By Historiographers we vnderstand The like chanc'd in Pope Alexanders dayes In Italy afflicting diuers wayes Both losse of beasts and great depopulation In Charles the fifts time by an Inundation Happend in Holland Zeeland Friseland these Had their maritime shores drown'd by the seas In Poland neere Cracovia chanc'd the same And in one yeare if we may credit Fame In Europ besides Townes and Cities then Perisht aboue fiue hundred thousand men To these belong what we call Hydromantia Gastromantia Lacomantia Pagomantia Touching the Spirits of the Earth there bee Of diuers sorts each knowne in his degree As Genij the Domesticke gods and those They Lares call Spectars Alastores Larvae Noone-Diuels Syluanes Satyrs Fawnes And they frequâ—nt the Forrests Groues and Lawnes Others th' Italians F'oletti call Paredrij there are too yet these not all Now what these Genij are Philostratus Eunapius Athenaeus Maximus With all the other Platonicks profest Them to be Sp'rits of men before deceast Who had they liv'd a good life and vnstain'd By licence of th' Infernall Pow'rs obtain'd In their owne houses to inhabit still And their posteritie to guard from ill Such they call'd Lares But all those that lead Liues wicked and debosht they being dead Wandred about the earth as Ghosts exil'd Doing all mischiefe such they Larvae stil'd And of this kinde that Spirit we may guesse Remembred in the booke of Socrates Who in the shape oâ— Moses did appeare The space togetheâ— of one compleat yeare I' th Isle of Creet persuading with the Iewes There liuing That he such a meanes would vse That if they met at a fixt day with ease He would traject them dry-foot through the seas To which they trusting by appointment meet All who that time were resident in Creet And follow their false Captaine lesse and more Ev'n to the very margent of the shore Then turning tow'rds them in a short oration Bespeakes them thus O you the chosen nation Behold as great a wonder from my hand As your fore-fathers did from Moses Wand Then with his finger points vnto a place 'Twixt them and which a Creeke ran no great space And seeming shallow All of you now fling Your selues saith he and follow me your King Into this sea swim but to yonder strand And you shall then arriue vpon a land From whence I will conduct you ev'ry man Dry-foot into a second Canaan He plungeth first they follow with one minde In hope a second Palestine to finde But hauing past their depths the rough windes blew When this Seducer straight himselfe withdrew Leaues them to ruin most of them bee'ng drown'd Some few by fish-boats sav'd he no wherâ— found With these the Spectars in some points assent Bee'ng tow'rds Mankinde alike maleuolent Whose in-nate malice nothing can asswage Authors of death depopulation strage By Origen they are Alastares nam'd By Zoroaster bloudy and vntam'd Concerning which the learned mens opinion Is That Abaddon hath of them dominion What time Iustinian did the Empire sway Many of these did shew themselues by day To sundry men both of good braine and sence After which follow'd a great Pestilence For to all such those Spectars did appeare It was a certaine signe their death drew neare King Alexander of that name the third That reign'd in Scotland if Boethius word May be beleev'd by match himselfe ally'de With England tooke Ioanna to his Bride Sister to the third Henry She bee'ng dead And issuelesse he after married Marg'ret his daughter Did on her beget Prince Alexander David Margaret These dying in their nonage and she too With sorrow as most thinke the King doth woo Iolanta the faire daughter as some say Vnto the great Earle of Campania Being as 't seemes most ardently inclin'd After his death to leaue some heire behind In the mid Reuels the first ominous night Of their espousals when the roome shone bright With lighted tapers the King and the Queene leading The curious Measures Lords and Ladies treading The selfe same straines the King looks backe by chance And spies a strange intruder fill the dance Namely a meere Anatomy quite bare His naked limbes both without flesh and haire As we decipher Death who stalks about Keeping true measure till the dance was out The King with all the rest afrighted stand The Spectar vanisht and then strict command Was giv'n to breake vp reuels each 'gan feare This Omen and presage disaster neere If any aske What did of this succeed The King soone â—fter falling from his Steed Vnhappily dy'de After whose death ensuing Was to the land sedition wracke and ruin The Syluanes Fawnes and Satyrs are the same The Greekes Paredrij call the Latines name Familiar Spirits who though in outward shew They threat no harme but seeme all good to owe Poore ambusht mankinde though their crafty Mines And snares do not appeare by ev'dent signes Yet with malicious hate they are infected And all their deeds and counsels are directed To make a faire and flatt'ring preparation Vnto the bodies death and soules damnation And of these Spirits as Macrobius saith The mount Pernassus in aboundance hath Neere to mount Hecta And Olaus writes The like appeare most frequently by nights And verbally deliuer kinde commends To men from their deceast and shipwrackt friends Vsing their helpe one Iohn Teutonicus By Acromaticke Magicke sported thus This Iohn was knowne a bastard and yet had Great fame for learning who in Halberstad Had for his worth admittance to a place Where none but the Nobilitie had grace To be in Commons yet it seemes so great Was his repute with them he sate and eat But yet with small content the yong men proud Of their high noble births much disallow'd His company and tooke it in great scorne To sit with one though learn'd yet basely borne And whether they were serv'd with flesh or fish His bastardy was sauce still in his dish But skil'd in hidden Arts I will thought he Some sudden means deuice henceforth to free My selfe from all their scoffes and taunts Hee then Inuites vnto his chamber those yong men Who most seem'd to oppose him feasts
his next expedition gaine an assured and most remarkable victorie Satisfied with this their liberall promise hee tooke his leaue recollected his dispersed Troupes and tooke the field The night before the battell being vigilant to suruey his Enemies Tents and see what watch they kept he espied three Damosels carying vp three dishes of meaâ— into one of the Tents whom following apace for he might easily trace them by their steps in the dew and hauing a Citharon about him on which he played most curiously he receiued meat for his musick and returning the same way he came the next day he gaue them a strong battell in which the enemies were slaine almost to one manâ— Pertinax as Sabellicus witnesseth a little before his death saw one of these Spectars in a fish-poole threatning him with a naked sword Of the like nature was that Bore which Zonarus speaketh of who meeting with Isaaccius Comnenes who was hunting neere vnto Naples and being pursued from a promontorie cast himselfe headlong into the sea leauing the Emperor almost exanimate and without life In Finland which is vnder the dominion of the King of Sweden there is a castle which is called the New Rock moted about with a riuer of an vnsounded depth the water blacke and the fish therein very distastefull to the palat In this are Spectars often seene which fore-shew either the death of the Gouernor or some prime Officer belonging to the place and most commonly it appeareth in the shape of an Harper sweetly singing and dallying and playing vnder the water There is a Lake neere Cracovia in Poland which in the yeare 1378 was much troubled with these Spirits but at length by the prayers of some deuout Priests the place was freed from their impostures The Fishermen casting their nets there drew vp a Fish with a Goats head and hornes and the eyes flaming and sparkling like fire with whose aspect and filthy stench that it brought with it being terrified they fled and the Monster making a fearefull noise like the houling of a wolfe troubling the water vanished Alexander ab Alexandro maketh mention of one Thomas a Monke who in an euening seeking an horse and comming neere vnto the brinke of a Riueâ— he espied a countrey fellow who of his voluntarie free-will offered to traject him ouer on his shoulders The Monke is glad of the motion and mounts vpon his backe but when they were in the midst of the floud Thomas casting his eye downe hee perceiued his legs not to be humane but goatish and his feet clouen Therefore suspecting him to be one of these watry Diuels hee commended himselfe to God in his prayers The Spirit then forsakes him and leaues him well washed in the middle of the Riuer to get vnto the shore with no small difficultie Sabellicus hath left recorded That when Iulius Caesar with his army was to passe the riuer Rubicon to come into Italy and to meet with Pompey one of these Spirits in the shape of a man but greater than ordiâ—arie sate piping vpon the banke of the Riuer Which one of Caesars soldiers seeing snatched away his pipe and broke it when the Spirit presently swimming the Riuer beeing on the other side sounded a shrill and terrible blast from a trumpet which Caesar interpreted to be a good and happy omen of his succeeding victorie Of the Spirits of the earth there are diuers sorts and they haue diuers names as Genij Lares Dij domestici Spectra Alastores Daemonia meridiana as likewise Fauni Sylvani Satyri folletti Fatuelli Paredrij Spiritus Familiares c. Of some of these I haue spoken in the preceding Tractat. Servius Honoratus and Sabinus are of opinion That Man consisteth of three parts but most ignorantly and aduerse to truth of a Soule a Body and a Shadow and at his dissolution the Soule ascends to heanen the Bodie inclines to the earth and the Shadow descends ad Inferos to hell They hold the Shadow is not a true body but a corporeall Species which cannot be touched or taken hold of no more than the winde and that this aswell as the Soule doth oft times appeare vnto men liuing and the soule after it hath left the body is called Genius and the Shadow Larva or the Shadow infernall These Genij are malicious Spirits of the earth who when they most promise health and safety vnto mankinde do then most endeauour their vtter ruine and destruction Constantine the Emperor marching from Antiochia said That he often saw his own Genius and had conference with it and when he at any time saw it pale and troubled which he held to be the preseruer and protectour of health and liuelyhood hee himselfe would much grieue and sorrow By the Spirits called Lares or Houshold gods many men haue been driuen into strange melancholies Amongst others I will cite you one least common A young man had a strong imagination that he was dead and did not onely abstaine from meat and drinke but importuned his parents that he might be caried vnto his graue and buried before his flesh was quite putrified By the counsell of Physitions he was wrapped in a winding sheet laid vpon a Beere and so carried toward the Church vpon mens shoulders But by the way two or three pleasant fellowes suborned to that purpose meeting the Herse demanded aloud of them that followed it Whose body it was there coffined and carried to buriall They said it was such a yong mans and told them his name Surely replied one of them the world is very well rid of him for he was a man of a very bad and vitious life and his friends may reioyce he hath rather ended his dayes thus than at the gallowes Which the yong man hearing and vexed to be so injured rowsed himselfe vp vpon the Beere and told them That they were wicked men to do him that wrong which he had neuer deserued and told them That if hee were aliue as hee was not hee would teach them to speake better of the Dead But they proceeding to depraue him and giue him much more disgraceful and contemptible language he not able to endure it leapt from the Herse and fell about their eares with such rage and fury that hee ceased not buffetting with them till quite wearied and by his violent agitation the humors of his body altered hee awakened as out of a sleepe or trance and being brought home and comforted with wholesome dyet he within few dayes recouered both his pristine health strength and vnderstanding But to returne to our seuerall kindes of Terrestriall Spirits There are those that are called Spectra meridiana or Noon-diuels In the Easterne parts of Russia about haruest time a Spirit was seen to walke at mid-day like a sad mourning Widow and whosoeuer she met if they did not instantly fall on their knees to adore her they could not part from her without a leg or
an arme broken or some other as great a mischiefe Wherein may be obserued That these Spirits of what condition soeuer aboue all things aime at Diuine worship which is onely due vnto the Creator Not that they are ignorant that it belongs solely to him but that in their inexpressible malice knowing themselues to be Rebels and quite excluded from Grace they would likewise draw Man to accompany them in eternall perdition Therefore all the Saints of God since Christ established his Church here amongst the Gentiles haue endeauoured to draw the Nations from Idolatry It is read of Saint Iames That when many Diuels were sent vnto him by one Hermogenes to assault him hee returned them bound and disarmed That Saint Bartholmew destroied the Idol of Asteroth who was worshipped in India and shewed moreouer that their great Alexikakon was a meere figment and imposture So the Apostles Simon and Iude strooke dumbe those Spirits that spake in the Oracle to Varada chiefe Generall ouer Xerxes his Armie and after restoring to them their liberty of speech they caused that their deceit and vanitie did easily appeare For Vâ—rada demanding of them What the euent of the war would proue they answered him That it would be long and dangerous and not onely vnprofitable but full of dammage and great losse to both parties On the contrary the Apostles deriding the vanitie of the Idoll informed him That the Indian Embassadors were vpon the way humbly to desire peace of him vpon any conditions whatsoeuer Which finding â—o be true Varada commanded those lying and deceitfull Images to be immediatly cast into the fire and burned and had then slaine an hundred and twenty of those idolatrous Priests had not the Apostles earnestly interceded for them I could here cite many examples to the like purpose but let these suffice for the present The Alastores are called by Origen Contra Celsum Azazel by Zoroaster Carnifices or Butchers and Alastares No mischiefe is hid or concealed from them and these are neuer seene but they portend some strange disaster As in the time of the Emperour Iustinian such Spirits were seene openly in humane shape to intrude into the society of men after which a most fearefull pestilence followed and whosoeuer was touched by any of them most assuredly died By which contagious Pest the great city Constantinople was almost vnpeopled and as Paulus Diacon witnesseth the people saw an Angell in the dead of the night go along with them compassing the city and walking from street to street and from dore to dore and so many knocks as the Spectar by the Angels command gaue at the doore of any house so many persons of that family were vndoubtedly found dead in the next morning Cardanus reporteth That there is an antient family in Parma named Torrelli to whom an old Seat or Castle belongs which for the space of an hâ—ndred yeres together was haunred with one of these Alastores who so oft as any of the houshold were to depart the world would shew it selfe in a chimny of the great hall A noble and illustrious Lady of the same Family reported That a yong virgin lying dangerously sicke in the same house the Spectar according to custome appeared and when euery one expected hourely the death of the Virgin shee presently beyond all hope recouered and a seruant who was at that time sound and in health fell sicke vpon the sudden and died Some few dayes before the death of Henry the seuenth Emperor he being feasted in a castle at Mediolanum belonging to one Viscont Mathaeus at mid-day there appeared before them a man armed of a mighty gyantly size to the great amasement of them all and three days after in the same place and at the same houre two armed champions on horse-backe who performed a braue combat for the space of an entire houre and then suddenly disappeared to the wonder and terror of all the Spectators To Cassius Parmensis lying in his bed appeared a man of an vnusuall stature with staring haire and a rough and disordered beard terrible in aspect at the presence of which being strangely troubled he started out of his bed and asked him who he was Who answered I am thy Malus Genius and so vanished Cassius knockes calls to his seruants that attended without asks them if they saw any to go in or come out of his chamber They protest Not any He museth to himselfe and lyeth downe againe The Daemon appeares the second time but with a countenance much more horrible Againe hee knockes and commands his seruants to bring lights They enter nothing appeares The rest of the night hee spends in doubtfull and sollicitous cogitations The dawning of the day scarse appeared when Lictors were sent from Caesar to apprehend him and take away his life Of the Lamiae or Larvae I ghesse that to be one which appeared to Dion of Syracuâ—a who looking out at his chamber window in the night by reason of a noise he heard spied an old hag habited and lookt as the Poets describe the Eumenides or Furies with a great broom sweeping the Court. At which being wonder-strook he called vp some of his houshold and told them of the Vision desiring them to accompanie him in his chamber the remainder of the night which they did and neither saw nor heard any thing afterward But ere the morning one of Dions sonnes cast himself out of a window into the same court who was so sore bruised that he died of the fall and hee himselfe within few dayes after was slaine by Callippus Drusus being Consull and making war in Germany a seeming woman of extraordinary aspect met him one day vpon his march and saluted him with these words O insatiate Drusus whither art thou now going and when dost thou thinke thou shalt returne since thou art now at the period both of thy life and glory Which fell out accordingly for within few dayes after Brutus expired of an incurable disease Iacobus Donatus a Patrician of Venice as Cardanus reporteth from whose mouth he receiued this discourse sleeping one night with his wife in an vpper bed where two Nurses lay with a yong childe his sole heire in the lower which was not a full yeare old he perceiued the chamber doore by degrees first to be vnlocked then vnbolted and after vnhatcht one thrust in his head and was plainly seene of them all himselfe his wife and the Nurses but not knowne to any of them Donatus with the rest being terrified at this sight arose from his bed and snatching vp a sword and a round buckler caused the Nurses to light either of them a taper and searcht narrowly all the roomes and lodgings neere which he found to be barred and shut and he could not discouer where any such intruder should haue entrance At which not a little wonder-strooke they all retyred to their rests letting the lights still burne in the chamber The
her sonne Itis begot by her husband Tereus The Daiedes or Danaes daughters of Danaus for cutting the throats of their husbands and kinsmen the sonnes of AEgiptus The Lemniades or women of Lemnos who in the same Island most cruelly slew their sonnes and fathers Harpalice the daughter of Climenus who killed the childe which her incestuous father begot on her owne body Tullia the daughter of Servius King of the Romans who caused her chariot to be drawne ouer the body of her dead father for the horridnesse of which fact the street in the citie Rome where this was done was called Vicus sceleratus Of those abhorred for Incestuous congresse the most remarkable were Iocasta who had issue by her sonne Oëdipus and Pelopaea by her father Thiestes Harpalice with her Sire Climenus c. Some are to this day made infamous for killing their husbands As Clitemnestra the daughter of Thestius for conspiring with Egistus in the murder of her Lord Agamemnon the son of Atreus Iliona the daughter of Priam for killing her husband Polymnestor K. of Thrace Semyramis Queen of Babylon for the death of Ninus King of Assyria Helena after the death of Paris Deiphebus the sonne of Priam. Agave her husband Lycothersis in Illyria and Deianeira for sending the poysonous Shirt to her Lord Hercules of Lybia c. Others for killing their wiues As the same Hercules his wife Megara the daughter of Creon King of Thebes Theseus Antiopa the Amazon and daughter of Mars Cephalus the son of Deionis or of Mercury Procris the daughter of Pandion by his vaine jelousie c. Fathers for killing their daughters As Agamemnon the great General of the Grecian Army in their famous expedition against Troy who sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddesse Diana Climenus the sonne of Oeneus slew his daughter Harpalice because she killed her child and serued it in vnto him at a banquet Hyacinthus his daughter Spariantides vpon an answer returned from the Athenians Erichthaeus the sonne of Pandion his daughter Colophonia vpon the like occasion Cercyon the sonne of Vulcan his daughter Alopes for committing incest with Neptune AEolus his daughter Canace for the like done with her brother Mallaraeus c. Of mothers that most cruelly and vnnaturally haue murthered their owne children we reade That Medea the daughter of Oâ—tes King of Colchos slew her two sonnes Machareus Pherelus begot by Iason Progne the daughter of Pandion killed her son It is which she had by Tereus Ino the daughter of Cadmus yong Melicertes begat by Athamas the sonne of AEolus Althaea the daughter of Thestius Meleager by Oeneus the sonne of Parthaâ—n Themisto the daughter of Hypseus Plinthius and Orchomenes her two sonnes by Athamas Tyros the daughter of Salmoneus two sonnes begot by Sisiphus the sonne of Eolus Agave the daughter of Cadmus Penthaus the sonne of Echion at the imposition of Liber Pater c. So likewise of Selfe-murtherers Egeus the sonne of Neptune and father of Theseus cast himselfe headlong into the sea from whose death it still retaines the name of Mare Egeum i. the Egean sea Euhemus the sonne of Hercules precipitated himselfe into the riuer Lycorma which is now called Chrysorroas Aiax the sonne of Telamon slew himselfe for the losse of Achilles his armor Lycurgus the sonne of Briantus being strooke with madnesse by Liber Pater laid violent hands vpon himselfe Agrius the son of Parthaon being expulsed from his kingdome by Diomedes King of AEtolia slew himselfe So Ceneus the sonne of Elatus Menicus the father of Iocasta or as some call him Menaetis precipitated himselfe from the walls of Athens Nisus the son of Mars hauing lost his purple locke cast himselfe vpon his sword and so died As likewise Climenus the sonne of Coeneus King of Arcadia after he had committed incest with his daughter Cyniras the sonne of Paphus King of Assyria after hee had committed the like with his owne naturall childe Hercules cast himselfe into the fire and so perished Adrastus with his sonne Hipponous did the like Pyramus the Babylonian slew himselfe for the loue of Thisbe And Oedipus the sonne of Laius destroyed his owne life for hauing incestuous Issue by his mother whose name was Iocasta c. Of Women that so dispairingly died these Hecuba the wife of Priam cast her selfe into the sea as Ino the daughter of Cadmus did the like with her sonne Melicertus Anticlia the mother of Vlysses and daughter of Antolychus strangled her selfe because she heard a false rumour of her sonnes death The like did Stoenobaea the daughter of Iobates and wife of King Praetus for the loue of Bellerephon Evadne the daughter of Philacus because her husband Capaneus was slaine at Thebes cast her selfe into the same funeral fire in which his body was burned AEthra the daughter of Pythaus for the death of her children Iliona for the death of her parents Themisto for her children Erigone for her father Phedra for the incestuous loue borne to her step-sonne Hyppolitus Phyllis for Demophoon Calypso daughter to Atlas for the loue of Vlysses Dido the daughter of Belus for AEneas c. Time would sooner faile me than Historie yet these I haue introduced to this purpose to shew That Atheisme and want of the true knowledge of God hath bin the cause of so many Murthers and Incests hath made so many Parracides and Fratricides and indeed hath beene the ground of all prodigious acts and inhumanities whatsoeuer Something is requisit to be spoken of Idolatry The word is deriued from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Cultus and Colo The definition thereof is Cultus Deo debitus Creaturae exhibitus i. The worship that is due onely to God conferre vpon the Creature An Idol is when any Statue or Image in which either some Deitie or any other thing shall stand for a Power a Patron Protector or Sauiour is represented and worshipped Of which kind was the golden Calfe Basil saith vpon the third of Esay What thing can appeare more vain and ridiculous than for a man to professe himselfe to be the workeman of his God and Maker To shew how abhominable Idolatry was in the eyes of the Almighty I will only quote you one place out of many in the holy Text Take therefore good heed vnto your selues for you saw no Image in the day that the Lord spake to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire that you corrupt not your selues nor make you a grauen Image or representation of any figure whether it be likenesse of male or female the likenesse of any beast that is on the earth or of any feathered fowle that flieth in the aire or of any thing that creepeth on the earth or of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth And lest thou lift vp thine eyes to heauen and when thou seest the Sunne the
said The Lord our God's one Lord In which word One the Vnitie is meant Of the three Persons solely Omnipotent In which by One 't is well observ'd That he The second Person in the Trinitie Meant in the second word who hath the name To be Our God 'T is because we may claime Iust int'rest in him And though all the Three May be call'd ours more in particular He. One reason is Because he Heav'n forsooke And on himselfe our humane nature tooke In all things like so did his Grace abound Saue only that in him no sinne was found Next That he bore our sinnes freed our transgression And last For vs in Heaven makes intercession Two natures in one person so ally'd Some hold in Mans creation tipify'd From Earth his body Adam had 't is said His Soule from Heauen both these but one Man made Christs humane nature had with man affinitie Being very Man and from God his Diuinitie Being very God In both so to subsist Godhood and Manhood make vp but one Christ. In Iacob's Ladder figur'd this we see Which Ladder Christ himselfe profest to be Of which the foot being fixt vpon the ground The top to heauen thus much to vs doth sonnd That in this Scale at such large distance set The Heauen and Earth at once together met So Christs Humanitie from Earth was giuen But his Diuinitie he tooke from Heauen As from Earth Earthy as from Heauen Diuine Two Natures in one Person thus combine The choicest things about the Arke were fram'd Of Gold and Wood Wood worthlesse to be nam'd If with Gold valu'd for the Cedar's base Compar'd with th' Ophir Mine yet had it grace With it's rich tincture to be ouerspred In this respect the Godhood may be sed To be the Gold the Manhood baser wood And yet both these as truly vnderstood Made but one Arke So the two Natures raise Betwixt them but one Christ. He forty daies Fasted i' th Desart and did after grow Hungry by which the Text would haue vs know Hee 's God because of his miraculous fast Hee 's Man because he hungry grew at last He slept at sea when the great tempest rose This shew'd him Man as needfull of repose When he rebuk'd the Windes and Surges tam'd He his great Godhood to the World proclaim'd He wept o're Lazarus as he was man But foure dayes buried when he rais'd him than He appear'd God He dy'de vpon the Crosse As he was Man to redeeme Mankindes losse But at his death when th' Earth with terror shooke And that the Sun affrighted durst not looke On that sad obiect but his light withdrew By strange Eclipse this shew'd him to be true And perfect God since to confirme this wonder The Temples Vaile was seene to rend asunder The Earth sent forth her Dead who had abode Long in the earth All these proclaim'd him God The tenth of the seuenth moneth the Hebrew Nation Did solemnise their Feast of Expiation So call'd because the High-Priest then confest How He with all the People had transgrest His and Their sinnes Obserue how thence ensu'th A faire agreement 'twixt the Type and Truth Aaron the High-Priest went into the place Call'd Holiest of Holies Christ by ' his grace Made our High-Priest into the Holiest went Namely the Heauen aboue the Firmament Aaron but once a yeare He once for all To make way for Mankinde in generall He by the bloud of Goats and Calues but Christ By his owne bloud the blessed Eucharist Aaron went single in and Christ alone Hath trod the Wine-presse and besides him none He with his Priestly robes pontifically Christ to his Office seal'd eternally From God the Father Aaron tooke two Goats Which ceremoniall Type to vs denotes That Christ assum'd two Natures that which fled The Scape-Goat call'd to vs deciphered His Godhoods imp'assibilitie And compris'd In th' other on the Altar sacrifis'd His Manhoods suffering since that Goat did beare The Peoples sinnes Which in the Text is cleare Saint Paul in his Epistle we reade thus That Christ without sinne was made Sinne for vs. Hence growes that most inscrutable Diuinitie Of the three sacred Persons the blest Trinitie Which holy Mysterie hath an extension Aboue Mans braine or shallow apprehension Nor can it further in our brests take place Than we' are inlightned by the Spirit of Grace How should we then Finite and Mortall grow By meditation or deepe search to know Or dare ambitiously to speake or write Of what Immortall is and Infinite And yet 'mongst many other deuout men Heare something from the learned Nazianzen The Monady or number One we see In this great Godhood doth arise to three And then this mysticall Trine sacred alone Retyres it selfe into the number One Nor can this Diuine Nature be dissect Or separated in the least respect Three Persons in this Trias we do name But yet the Godhood still One and the same Each of the Three by right a God we call Yet is there but one God amongst them all When Cicero with graue and learned Phrase Had labour'd long the Godhood to emblaze He doth conclude it of that absolute kinde No way to be decipher'd or defin'd Because ' boue all things Hee 's superior knowne And so immense to be contain'd in none A prime and simple Essence vncompounded And though that many labouring to haue sounded This Diuine Essence and to'haue giuen it name They were not able yet to expresse the same As 't were afar off Epithites deuis'd And words in such strange circumstance disguis'd Nothing but quarrels and contentions breeding As Natures strength and Reasons much exceeding The Martyr Attalus when he was brought Before a Tyrant who esteemed nought Of God or goodnesse being askt in scorne What name God had A space from him did turne And after some small pause made this reply As th' Author doth of him historifie Your many gods haue names by which th' are knowne But our God being but One hath need of none Wise Socrates forbad men to enquire Of what shape God was Let no man aspire Saith Plato what God is to apprehend Whose Maiesties immensenesse doth extend So far and is so'vnimitably Great Beyond all vtterance or the hearts conceit Why then is it so difficult and rare Him to define It is because we are Of such streight Intellect narrow and rude Vncapable of his great Magnitude Our infirme sight is so obtuse and dull And His bright fulgence is so beautifull Hence comes it by no other names we may Call this great God than such as best display His Excellence Infinitie and all Wherein He'appeares solely Majesticall According to his Essence Him to know Belongs vnto Himselfe the Angels go By meere Similitude Man by a Glasse And Shape of things and can no further passe For he by contemplation
Vertent comes we shall againe Be borne as heretofore on earth remaine Iust the same time and leade the selfe same liues Haue the same Neighbours marry the same Wiues Get the same children haue that house that land We now enioy liue vnder the command Of the same Soueraigne see iust iudgement done On Malefactors who shall after run Into like forfeit by that Iudge be try'de And dye againe where they before-time dy'de To buy to sell to build all that we see Here done once was and shall hereafter be And to reduce all parcels to one summe So the past Cataclisme must againe come Yet these most fabulous assertions tho They sweetned Plato with a many mo Reputed wise were by them that respected Reason ' boue Will exploded and reiected In that reputing the Professors Fooles And their Positions hist out of the Schooles The Iewish Rabbins likewise held them vaine And I leaue this to touch an higher straine Nihil notum in Terra Nihil Ignotum in Coelo Bern. Theologicall Philosphicall Poeticall Historicall Apothegmaticall Hierogriphicall and Emblematicall Obseruations touching the further illustration of the former Tractate COncerning the three diuisions of the World Sublunarie Coelestiall and Super-Coelestiall as also what a true correspondence the Arke of Tabernacle of Moses had vnto them being a small yet a most curious model of the greater and most admirable Fabricke hath beene sufficiently discoursed And therefore as well to auoyd prolixitie as other impertinent circumstances I purpose with no iterations to trouble or tempt the patience of the Reader but rather proceed to the illustrating and inlarging of such things as haue been meerely epitomised and little more than mentioned in the premisses and first to define vnto you what the Wold is Mundus or the World is in the Hebrew Language Holam which implyeth thus much Quod iam per aliquot secula subsistat In quo rerum ortus interitus sitâ—ed Which is to subsist and continue for certaine Ages and in which shall be the birth and destruction of things The word in the Originall directly reprouing all such as are of opinion That it hath alwaies beene and shall euer last The Greekes call it Cosmos which signifieth Ornament Which the Latines for the perfect and absolute elegancie thereof call Mundus i. Cleane because than it there is nothing more neatly polished or more rarely beautified for so saith Pliny Possidonius in Meteor calleth that Mundus or the World which consisteth of Heauen and Earth Coelestiall and Terrestrial natures or of gods and men and of those things which were created for their vse Some call it Muudus quasi Ornatus Muliebris a Womans Ornament or Munitus i. Defenced Others à Mouendo i. Mouing because Mundus is that kind of Ornament which women carefully put on in the morning and carelesly throw aside at night Mundus Muliebris as Vlpian will haue it is per quod Mulier mundior fit That by which a woman is made more faire and spectable Amongst which necessaries he reckoneth vp her Myrrhor her Matula her Vnguents boxes of Ointments c. Of this vaine World which men so much doat on heare what Gregorie in one of his Homilies saith Ecce Mundus qui diligitur fugit i. Behold the World of which they are so much besotted passeth away from vs. The Saints whose memories are only remaining vnto vs did scorne it when it was most flourishing they had long life constant health riches in plenty fertilitie in Issue tranquilitie in peace yet when in it selfe it most flourished in their hearts it most withered But now when the World begins to grow old and barren in our hearts it is still greene and burgeoning Death mourning and desolation beguirts vs on all sides yet we hood-wink'd by the blinde will of Concupiscence are in loue with the bitternesse thereof we follow it flying vs we leane vnto it shrinking from vs we catch hold vpon it falling with vs. Chrisostome wee may reade thus As when wee see a very aged man we presently coniecture that his end is neere but yet we cannot presume of the day of his death when that shall be so when we truly consider the World and from how long it hath been we know the end thereof cannot be far off yet of the time when this dissolution shall be wee are altogether ignorant Againe in another place As all men assuredly know that they shall die by seeing others daily to depart the world yet thinke not of their owne ends nor how soone they shall follow them so wee certainely know that the World shall one day bee consumed yet scarcely will we giue beleefe to our knowledge Elsewhere he vseth these words As it is a much easier thing and sooner done by man to pull downe than to build to ruin than to erect as in all structures it is commonly seene it is not so with God for he with more facilitie maketh than marreth buildeth than casteth downe sooner iustifieth than destroyeth For he made the whole frame of the World with all the Creatures therein in six dayes and yet that onely city Iericho he was seuen dayes in destroying You may finde it thus in Lactantius Who can be so foolish or idle to make any thing friuolous and for no vse by which hee can neither receiue pleasure nor profit He that buildeth a house doth not build it only to be a house and to be called so but hee hath a further purpose to make it habitable for some or other to dwell therein The Ship-wright that maketh a ship doth not spend all that labour and art that it may onely be called a Ship but his intent is to make it fit for nauigation So he that models or fashions any Cup or Vessell doth not doe it onely to the end that it shall retain the name of such a thing but to be imployed in those necessarie vses for which the like things are framed So of all other things there is nothing made for shew only but some seruice Euen so the World was created by the Almightie not onely to be meerely called so and retaine the name neither did he frame his Creatures for the World it selfe as if it either needed the heate or light of the Sunne the breath of the windes the moisture of the clouds or nourishment from those things which it selfe yearely produceth but he made all those things for the vse of man and that man in it should magnifie and glorifie his Name I conclude these with that remarkable saying of S. Chrisostome vpon Mathew Habemus pro Mare Mundum c. We haue for the Sea the World for the Ship the Church for our Mast the Crosse for the Sailes Repentance for our Pilot Christ for the Winde the Holy-Ghost c. Diuers of our antient Poets made no question of the dissolution of the World but that as it had a beginning so consequently it must haue an end Though
others were of a contrary opinion as shall be made plaine vnto you in the sequell Lucan lib 7. de Bell. Civil vseth these words Communis mundi superest rogus ossibus astra Mixturus Id est There is a common fire yet to come which with our bones shall mix the Stars As likewise Seneca in Hercule Octas Mundo conueniet dies Australis Polus corruet c. Vpon the World a Day shall call When as the Australl Pole must fall And whatsoe're by Lybia lyes What Spartan Garamas espyes The shrinking Northerne Pole shall flat And vtterly subuert Nay what Is at that season found to be Plac't beneath either Axle-tree What the North winde hath blowne vpon Shall all be in that ruine gone The Sun shall then cast off the day The Heav'n it selfe shall quite decay And haue a sure and certaine end The gods shall not themselues defend But either Death or Chaos shall To former Nothing turne them all No face shall be of Earth or Skye And Death must be the last shall dye Ovid agreeth with Seneca in this for you reade him thus in his Metamorphosis Esse quoque in fatis reminiscitur adfore tempus c. Amongst the Fates there 's registred a Time When Sea and Earth and all the Heav'ns sublime Shall burne at once and all this goodly Frame Must be consum'd and cease to haue a name Lucretius you may likewise heare to the same purpose Principio Maria Terras Coelumque tuere First looke ô Memmius on the Sea the Land And Heav'n whose triple nature vnderstand Three bodies three formes so vnlike yet such As cannot for their shape be admir'd too much Yet this great Mole and Machine of the world Shall in one day be into ruine hurl'd Seneca in his Tragedie of Octavia thus speakes Nunc adest Mundo Dies c. Now to the World a Day drawes neare And that the last that shall appeare Which by Heav'ns ruine shall make immolation Of this most wicked Generation That a new Stocke may thence arise Of better Natures much more wise With a condition like sincere As in the Worlds first Age they were Hither may that speech of Tindarus in Plautus morally and not altogether vnproperly be applied Hic ille est Dies cum nulla vitae salus Sperabilis est mecum Neque exilium exitio est c. This is the Day in which no hope Or health of life can be by me expected Exile can be to me no end All helpe all comfort I haue now reiected Vnto my crafty fraudulencies Which were vnlimited and kept no bound For all my cunning sycophancies No shelter no euasion can be found Neither for my perfidiousnesse Can intercession any way preuaile For my apparant wickednesse There is no purchase of reprieue or baile For all my craft fraud and deceit There is no way by which I can euade It now too late is fauour to entreat All that I kept conceal'd is open laid My juglings are made manifest Bootlesse it is my punishment to fly And since I haue so far transgrest Doubtlesse that I an euill death shall dye All these may serue to expresse the Worlds dissolution Now concerning the Creation heare Claudian in Laudem Stellicon speaking of the great power and strength of Clemencie Principio magni custos Clementia mundi c. She that Clemencie is styl'd Was first who on the great World smyl'd She is the Zone that Iove embrac't And still she dwells about his wast The middle Firmament she swayes And both the heate and cold allayes And she is to be vnderstood The eldest of the Heav'nly Brood For Clemencie did first vnty As pittying the deformity Of the rude Chaos all that Heape And caus'd the Light from thence to leape Dispersing Darknesse Shee 's the prime That with cleere lookes made Age and Time Hauing heard the Poets let vs now heare what the Philosophers say Aristotle vseth these words Non plures Mundi sunt c. There are no more Worlds nor more can be if this consist of the vniuersall Matter as of necessitie it must And again Lib. Phys. 4. All things that are vnder heauen in time grow old corruptible and vile As concerning the multiplicitie of Worlds diuers Philosophers held with Many and of these some to be greater some lesse of which certaine of them to be enlightned with Sunne Moone and the rest of the Planets others to haue no illumination from any Star or Coelestial body and others againe to haue the benefit and vse of far more of these heauenly Lights than we in this inferior world enioy Moreouer that some of these worlds daily encrease and grow greater others of the contrary are obnoxious to contraction and diminution of which sundry of them are quite destitute of Plants Creatures and Inhabitants c. But which appeares most childish and ridiculous to all that are apprehensiue of any humane reason they maintaine That these worlds by mutuall wearing and ruine according to our plaine English Phrase fall foule one vpon another and are interchangeably shattered and broken life so many glasses or earthen vessells Metrodorus was of such madnesse that hee blushed not to attest That it was as preposterous to all true Iudgements to thinke that in so infinite a Vacuum there should be but one world as in a large and spatious field there to be but one spike or blade of grasse But these delirements and imaginarie Chimaera's haue been opposed by the better experienced Sophists as Pythagoras Samius Thales Milesius Anaxagoras Anaximander Melissus Heraclitus Zeno Citicus c. as is more amply expressed by Aristotle the Prince of Philosophers Aboue the rest Plato with his Scholler Aristotle conclude vpon one World namely this in which we now liue and reside To make this plaine let ys go no farther than the definition of the World according to Aristotle The World saith hee is that in which all things are contained and without which there is nothing that is or can be found So by consequence if there were any thing without the world then the world could not containe all things and therefore no world But to omit as many arguments and those too vnanswerable as would swell this single leaued Pagin into a many-sheeted Volume in these few words this question may be fully determined There is but one world and that perfect as there is but one most perfect Creator the absolute Prince and Gouernor thereof without which world there is neither Place Vacuitie nor Time Place there is not because there can be no Place without a Body if there be no Body then no Motion if no Motion all Time is excluded Nam Tempus est mensura motus i. For Time is the measure of all motion Let vs leaue then these wrangling and selfe-opinioned Sophists to their errors and for our own satisfaction as an vnfailing refuge sanctuarie our selues in that which the Holy-Ghost speaketh by the
Man within moderate bounds and keepe in awe Th' Irregular that would transgresse the Law Else to our dull capacities conuey By naming such things that our weakenesse may The better vnderstand Therefore they blame Plato who Spirits doth so often name And Socrates with all the Stoicke Crew Who to foole men and make them thinke they knew Things hid from others in ambitious pride Deuis'd such â—oyes neuer exemplify'de Besides if there be Spirits it implies They must be either Friends or Enemies If Friends they would continue vs in health Bestow vpon vs Wisedome Empire Wealth But these we see are otherwise obtain'd Knowledge and Arts by Industry are gain'd Empire by Vertue Riches purchac'd are By Labour Health by keeping temperate Fâ—â—e If Enemies they hourely would extend Their Powers malevolent Mankinde to'offend Especially those that themselues assure There are none such and that 's the Epicure And Sadduce yet these they hate in vaine None are from Rocks precipitate few slaine But they with others in like safety stand As well secur'd by water as by land But in opinion contrary to these Plato Plotinus Proclus Socrates Iamblicus Porphirius Biton were The first of whom thinke you thus speaking heare The Nature that 's Intelligible growes To nine distinct degrees which he thus showes The first is God Idea's haue next place Soules of Coelestiall Bodies haue the grace To be third nam'd Intelligences they Are styl'd Arch-Angels in the fourth beare sway The fift the Angels the sixt Daemons claime Heroes the seuenth the Principates haue name In the eighth forme to Princes doth belong The ninth and lastâ— Mens Soules are not among This Catalogue for these as they incline To Vertue or to Vice he doth confine Either vnto those Angels that be good Or the bad Daemons so hee 's vnderstood Being accordingly in that regard Subiect to sence of torment or reward I'insist on these too long and now proceed To proofes more pregnant such as we shall need As God's eternall void of all dimension Not subiect vnto humane apprehension And as of all things th' Vniuersall Cause Them gouerning not gouern'd by the Lawes Of ought which is aboue him And we finde Men Beasts and Plants each Creature in his kinde Is gouern'd but it selfe doth beare no sway Reason to Truth thus points vs out the way That in so distant and remote a state Needs must be Creatures intermediate And as we see in Nature bodies be As Mettals Stones and of like qualitie Which haue no life others againe there are As Men and Brutes that haue in either share So betwixt these must be by consequence Vnbodied things that haue both life and sence And these the Spirits Dreames will teach vs plaine By their euents that such about vs raine To warne vs of the future Thus we read Simonides finding a body dead Gaue it due rights of buriall with intent Next day to take leaue of the Continent And to be shipt to sea But the same night This body without terror or affright Appear'd to him and warn'd him to refraine His purpos'd voyage for if he the Maine Prov'd the next day in that Barke he did hire He should by Shipwracke perish and expire Forewarn'd he left his passage and 't was found The Ship was that day sunke the people drown'd Now whence can any guesse this Vision came Vnlesse't were from a Spirit for what name Can they else giue it Sylla in a dreame Was told his death was neere in feare extreame He wakes he rises calls his friends his state In order sets yet all this while no Fate Did seeme to threat him neither sence of paine Had he that time either in breast or braine Which his Friends seeing did his dreame deride Yet he that day was apoplext and dy'de Brutus and Cassius in a battell set With great Augustus at Philippi met The night before the conflict Caesar cras'd Kept both his tent and bed which much amas'd The generall Host. Marcus Aâ—torius then His chiefe Physition of all other men Most chary of his person in his sleepe Was by Minerva warn'd The Prince should keepe His bed no longer but in any case Be in the battels front the Foe t' outface For of this done or not done was ensuing His future safety or his present ruin Augustus was persuaded left his tent And mounted on his steed Obserue th' euent The toile and labour that he tooke that day Did not alone his Feuer driue away Restoring him to health but as it hap'd Was cause that he a greater danger scap'd For Brutus souldiers thinking him still weake Did with maine force into the Battell breake Seising his Tent his Bed away they beare Presuming still they had Augustus there 'T is noted how Calphurnia did complaine The very night before her Lord was slaine Beseeching him with sighs and many a teare That he the next dayes Senat would forbeare Because of her sad dreame which told his fate But he in his ambition obstinate Holding such vaine predictions of no force With poniards stab'd was made a liuelesse Corse Nay he himselfe not many dayes before Dream'd He was snatcht away from earth and bore Aboue the Clouds where with Majesticke looke To welcome him Iove by the hand him tooke Amilcar who the Carthaginians led Besieging Syracusa in his bed Him thought That in his depth of sleepe he saw A souldier arm'd inuiting him to draw His Army neerer for his fame to crowne He the next night should sup within the Towne Encourag'd thus he early rose next day His Carthaginian Ensignes to display And gaue a braue assault and yet he found But a false Omen being tooke and bound Was to the City led Fate to fulfill Where he both supp'd and lodg'd against his will Wise Socrates the night which did precode The day that Plato came to heare him reade Dream'd That he saw into his bosome fly A milke-white Swan that sung sweet melody This at the instant though he did neglect Yet on the morrow pleas'd with his aspect He tooke him in his armes and with extreame Rapture of ioy he call'd to minde his dreame And though the childe was then of tender age Th' euent did aptly fiâ— with his presage Nor do I these from prophane Authors cull As if the sacred Scriptures were not full Of like examples Stories manifold Are in the Testaments both New and Old Ioseph from his owne Visions did diuine And so from Pharaoh's of the Eares and Kine The Baker and the Butler dreamd it fell To both of them as Ioseph did foretell Nabuchadnezzars Image and his Tree Were of such things predictions as should bee God call'd to Samuel in his sleepe and told What should betide to Ely being old Like Visions too haue been conferr'd vpon Good David and his sonne King Salomon And in the Gospell Ioseph in his rest Was bid to take to wife the euer-blest and holy Virgin
much happier were that man On whom the prouidence of Heav'n would daine A gracious looke These words were spoke so plaine The Prince o're-heard them and commanded both To come to Court The silly men were loth Fearing they 'had spoke some treason Brought they were Into a stately roome and placed there In two rich chaires and iust before them spread A table with two bak'd meats furnished Both without difference seeming alike faire One cram'd with Gold other nought saue Aire For these they two cast lots To him that said He that trusts Heav'n that man is only made Hapned the Gold To the other that said Well Shall he thriue that trusts man th' empty fell The Emperor made this vse on 't Lords you see What a great Traine hourely depends on me I looke on all but cannot all preferre That in my seruice merit Nor do I erre 'T is their fate not my fault such onely rise By me on whom Heav'n bids me cast mine eyes How comes it that a Poet shall contriue A most elaborate Worke to make suruiue Forgotten Dust when no King shall expire But he brings fuell to his funerall fire No Optimate falls from the Noble throng But he records his Elegeicke Song In mourning papers and when all decayes Herse Shewes and Pompe yet That resounds his praise Of euery Match and Royall Combination His Pen is ready to make publication When all proue ag'd forgotten and blowne o're His Verse is still as youthfull as before And sounds as sweetly though it now seeme dead To after-Times it shall be euer read What 's Gentry then Or Noblesse Greatnesse what The Ciuill Purple or the Clergy Hat The Coronet or Mitre Nay the Crowne Imperiall What 's Potencie Renowne Ovations Triumphs with victorious Bayes Wisedome or Wealth Can these adde to thy dayes Inquire of Roman Brutus syrnam'd Iust Or Salomon the Wise they both are Dust. Learn'd Aristotle Plato the Diuine From Earth they came and Earth they now are thine Where are the Worthies where the Rich or Faire All in one common bed involved are Mans Life 's a Goale and Death end of the race And thousand sundry wayes point to the place From East the West the North the South all come Some slow some swift-pac'd to this generall Doome Some by the Wars fall some the Seas deuoure Certaine is Death vncertaine though the Houre Some die of Loue others through Griefe expire Beneath cold Arctos these they by the Fire The Torrid Zone casts forth forc'd to endure The scorching and contagious Calenture Some the Spring takes away and some the Fall Winter and Sommer others and Death All. Consider well the miserie of Man And weigh it truly since there 's none but can Take from his owne and others thousand wayes But yet not adde one minute to their dayes For now the Conqueror with the Captiue's spread On one bare Earth as on the common Bed The all-commanding Generall hath no span Of ground allow'd more than the Priuat man Folly with Wisedome hath an equall share The Foule and Faire to like Dust changed are This is of all Mortalitie the end Thersites now with Nereus dares contend And with Achilles He hath equall place Who liuing durst not looke him in the face The Seruant with the Master and the Maid Stretcht by her Mistresse both their heads are laid Vpon an equall pillow Subiects keepe Courts with Kings equall and as soft they sleepe Lodging their heads vpon a turfe of grasse As they on Marble or on figur'd Brasse Blinde Homer in the graue lies doubly darke Against him now base Zoylus dares not barke To him what attributes may we then giue And other Poets by whom all these liue Who as their putrid flesh is long since rotten So in their Sepulchres had lay'n forgotten Like common men had not their Muse high-flying Kept both these Worthies and themselues from dying How in these dayes is such a man regarded No not so much as Oile or Inke rewarded Yet shall a Sycophant or ballading Knaue If he but impudence and gay cloathes haue Can harpe vpon some scurrilous Iest or Tale Though fifteene times told and i th' City stale Command a Great mans eare perhaps be able To prefer Sutes and elbow at his table Weare speaking pockets boast Whom he doth serue When meriting men may either beg or starue Past Ages did the antient Poets grace And to their swelling stiles the very place Where they were borne denomination leant Publius Ovidius Naso had th' ostent Of Sulmonensis added and did giue The Dorpe a name by which it still doth liue Publius Virgilius likewise had th' addition Of Maro to expresse his full condition Marcus Annaeus Lucanus Seneca Bore title from his city Corduba Caius Pedo was styl'd Albinovanus Aurelius Olympius Nemesianus Some from the nature of their Poëms Thus Caius Lucilius was call'd Satyrus So Livius Andronicus Epicus And Lucius Accius syrnamed Tragicus c. Some from their seuerall Countries because they Were forrein borne Terens from Africa Is Publius Terentius Afer read Titus Calphurnius Siculus as bred In Sicily So many others had And that for sundry causes meanes to add Vnto their first for with their worth encreast Their stiles the most grac'd with three names at least◠Our moderne Poets to that passe are driuen Those names are curtal'd which they first had giuen And as we wisht to haue their memories drown'd We scarcely can afford them halfe their sound Greene who had in both Academies ta'ne Degree of Master yet could neuer gaine To be call'd more than Robin who had he Profest ought saue the Muse Serv'd and been Free After a seuen yeares Prentiseship might haue With credit too gone Robert to his graue Marlo renown'd for his rare art and wit Could ne're attaine beyond the name of Kit Although his Hero and Leander did Merit addition rather Famous Kid Was call'd but Tom. Tom. Watson though he wrote Able to make Apollo's selfe to dote Vpon his Muse for all that he could striue Yet neuer could to his full name arriue Tom. Nash in his time of no small esteeme Could not a second syllable redeeme Excellent Bewmont in the formost ranke Of the rar'st Wits was neuer more than Franck. Mellifluous Shake-speare whose inchanting Quill Commanded Mirth or Passion was but Will. And famous Iohnson though his learned Pen Be dipt in Castaly is still but Ben. Fletcher and Webster of that learned packe None of the mean'st yet neither was but Iacke Deckers but Tom nor May nor Middleton And hee 's now but Iacke Foord that once were Iohn Nor speake I this that any here exprest Should thinke themselues lesse worthy than the rest Whose names haue their full syllable and sound Or that Franck Kit or Iacke are the least wound Vnto their fame and merit I for my part Thinke others what they please accept that heart Which courts my loue
Alexander the Great Who sending to the Oracle of Delphos to know what should futurely betide him Answer was returned that his life should continue for a long season if it were not endangered by a Chariot Whereupon the King gaue strict and expresse commandement That all the Chariots within his kingdome should be pluckt in pieces and no further vse to be made of them and that no new ones should be after made neither would hee come neere vnto places that had any reference or relation to such a name Notwithstanding all his preuention hee was soone after slaine by Pausonias who wore at that time a sword which had a Chariot grauen vpon the pommell Dioclesian a man of a base and obscure parentage in Dalmatia serued as a common soldier in France and elsewhere vnder diuers and sundry Emperors Vpon a time reckoning with his Hostesse of the house wherein he was billited who was one of the sooth-saying Druides she told him that he was too penurious and did not beare the noble minde of a Souldier To whom he made answer That hee then reckoned with her according to his poore meanes and allowance and merrily added That if euer hee came to be made Emperor of Rome he would then shew himself much more bountifull To whom first looking stedfastly in his face she replied Souldier thou hast spoken truer than thou art aware of for after thou hast killed one Aper which signifieth a Boare thou shalt be made Caesar semper Augustus and weare the Imperiall Purple Dioclesian smiled and receiued it from her as a deliâ—ement or scoffe because hee had before bated her of her reckoning Yet after that time hee tooke great delight in the hunting and killing of Boares But diuers Emperors succeeding one another and he finding little alteration in his fortune hee was frequently wont to say I still kill the Boares but there be others that eat the flesh Yet in processe of time it happened that a potent man called Aper hauing married the sister of the Emperour Numerianus layd violent hands vpon his brother in law and most traiterously slew him For which facinerous act being apprehended by the souldiers and brought into that part of the Army where Dioclesian was who by reason of his long seruice was had in reputation with the prime Commanders the souldiers now demanding what should be done with the Traitor it was concluded amongst them that he should be at Dioclesians dispose who presently demanding of him his name and he answering Aper without further pause he drew his sword vttering these words And this Aper or Boare shall be added to the rest presently ranne him through the body and slew him Which done the soldiers commending it for an act of justice without further deliberation saluted him by the name of Emperor I haue read in the Chronicle of France concerning one of the French Henries That Gonvarus an Italian Astrologer hauing calculated his Natiuitie wrote vnto him about fiue yeares before the strange disaster of his death happened That the Starres and Planets threatned him in the one and fortieth yeare of his age with a dangerous wound in the head by which he should be strooke either blinde or dead and therefore aduised him to beware of tilts tourneys or any the like violent exercises for the space of that yeare Notwithstanding which in the predicted yeare at the solemne and pompous celebration of his Sisters mariage with the young King of Spaine after hee had three dayes together with great successe and generall applause demeaned himselfe in those Chiualrous exercises of Tilt and Barriers though hee was much persuaded by the Queene and entreated by the Lords after the breaking of many staues to giue ouer yet nothing could preuaile with him insomuch that in the very later end of the day when most of the Spectators were risen and departed out of the Tilt-yard he called to the Count Montgomerie Captain of his Guard earnestly importuning that he would runne one course more with him Which when hee sought by all meanes possible to excuse pretending many vnwilling delayes he tooke a speare and thrust it into his hand compelling him to another encounter in which he was most vnfortunately slaine by a splinter of the staffe that entring at the sight of his beauer pierced his braine and so concluded the great solemnitie with his owne lamentable Tragedie Before this accident happened in the beginning of the triumph one Nostrodanus told vnto diuers of the Kings seruants in secret that the King would be in great danger of death before the Tournament was fully finished And which is most remarkable a Merchants sonne of Paris a childe of about six yeares old not fully seuen being brought thither that day by his father and mother to see the Tilting at euery course the King ranne hee was heard to cry out aloud They will kill the King ô they will kill the King Plato was of opinion That children are no sooner born but they haue one of those Spirits to attend them which doth first copulate and conioyne the soule vnto the body and after being grown vnto some maturitie teach instruct and gouerne them The Academiques held That Spirits behold all mens actions and assist them that they know all our apprehensions and cogitations and when the Soule is deliuered from the Body they bring it before the high Iudge That they are questioned about our good or bad actions their testimonie being much preualent either to excuse or aggrauate That also they are vigilant ouer vs either sicke or in health waking or sleeping and especially in the very article and point of death oftentimes inspiring the parting Soule with a diuination surpassing all humane knowledge For instance Pheceredes Cyrus being vpon his death bed predicted victorie against the Magnesians which fell out accordingly And Possidonius telleth vs That a Rhodian dying nominated six men and told who should die first who second who third and so in order till he came to the last Neither did he any way faile in his prediction Porphirius was of opinion That not one onely but many Spirits or Genij had the charge of one and euery man one hauing care ouer his health another indulgent ouer his beauty and feature another to infuse into him courage and constancie c. But Iamblicus was of a contrarie assertion affirming That many needed not when one being of so pure and refined a nature was sufficient Some haue affirmed Spirits to be of diuers qualities therefore to worke in men according to their owne dispositions diuers effects Affirming That those AEthereall or Fierie stirre vp men to contemplation the Airy to the businesse and common affaires of this life the Waterie to pleasure the Earthy to base and gripple auarice So likewise the Martiall Spirits incite vs to fortitude the Ioviall to prudence the Venereall to lust the Mercuriall to policie and wisedome the Lunarie to fertilitie and plenty
of issue the Saturnine to dissuade from all things that be euill Such was that Socraticum Daemonium or Genius of Socrates which still continued and encouraged him in the studie an practise of Vertue whose condition was to dissuade him from many things but to persuade him to nothing Of this Daemonium strange things are reported in Historie as that it was euer at his elbow to diuert him from doing euill and to aduise him to shun and auoid danger to remember him of things past to explaine vnto him things present and reueale vnto him things future Socrates himselfe confessed that hee saw it sometimes but seldome yet heard it often He dissuaded Charmiades the sonne of Glaucus from going to the Groues of Nemaea and to excuse himselfe from that journey who despising his counsell perished in the aduenture Vpon a time sitting at the table of Timarchus where a great banquet was serued in Timarchus offered twice to rise from the boord but was held by Socrates Yet watching his opportunitie while the other was in serious discourse hee stole away priuately and met with Nyceus whom he slew For which fact being condemned and led to death he confessed vnto his brother Clitimachus That if he had been swayed by the double aduertisement of Socrates hee had not vndergone so sad a disaster The same Socrates in a great defeate which the Athenians had flying from the victorious Enemie with Lachetes the Praetor and comming to a place where three wayes met he chose one path to himselfe contrarie to the aduice and counsell of all the rest And being demanded the reason wherefore he did so he made answer That his Genius so persuaded him Which they deriding tooke a contrarie course and left him abandoned to himselfe Now when the Horsemen of the Enemie made hot pursuit after them they tooke that path which Lachetes and all his people had taken who were all put to the sword and onely those few which followed Socrates escaped He presaged the great strage and messacre which after hapned in Sicilia As also of the deaths of Neon and Thrasillus in their Expedition against those of Ionia and Ephesus Saint Augustine in his booke De Cognitione verae vitae is persuaded That Spirits by Gods permission can raise stormes and tempests and command raine haile snow thunder and lightning at their pleasures As also That by the instigation of Spirits wild Beasts become either rebellious or seruiceable to mans vse In another place hee ascribeth the operation of all things seasonable or vnseasonable vnto them but not as Authors and Makers but Ministers and Seruants to the Diuine Will and command According with that in Ecclesiasticus Cap. 39. vers 28. There be Spirits that are created for vengeance which in their rigour lay on sure strokes in the time of destruction they shew forth their power and accomplish the wrath of him that made them Fire Haile Famine and Death all these are created for vengeance the teeth of the wilde Beasts and the Scorpions and the Serpents and the Sword execute vengeance for the destruction of the Wicked They shall be glad to do his commandements and when need is they shall be ready vpon earth and when their houre is come they shall not ouerpasse the commandements c. To this strict rule of Gods commandement both the good and bad Spirits are limited and beyond that they haue power or abilitie to do nothing Otherwise those that are malignant euill would in their rabies and fury destroy all Gods creatures in a moment Moreouer as the same Author affirmeth the Diuell hath power to tempt and entice man to sinne and wickednesse but he cannot compell him These be his words Serm. de Temp. Potest Diabolus ad malum invitare non potest trahere Delectationem infert non potestatem c. Rabbi Avot Nathan a learned Iew affirmeth That Spirits haue three things common with men namely Procreation Food and Death Porphirius as Proclus witnesseth of him held all Spirits to be mortall and that he amongst them who was the longest liued did not exceed the number of a thousand yeares Plutarch in his booke De Oraculorum defectu reciteth a story That about the Islands called Echinades newes was brought to one Thamus being then a ship boord that god Pan was dead and this happened iust at the birth of our Sauiour Christ. But because I haue made vse of this Historie heretofore in a booke commonly entituled The History of Women to insert the same here likewise might be tasted as Cibus bis coctus But to answer that learned Rabbi and Porphyrius like him opinionated Not possible it is That Spirits created by God immortall and incorporeall should be any way obnoxious to extinction or death More credible it is that these were meere phantasies and illusions of the Diuell by such prestigious sorceries persuading vs that Spirits are mortall to make man distrust the immorralitie of the Soule and so possesse him with an heresie grosse impious and damnable Here likewise a most necessarie consideration may be inserted to giue answer to the Sadduces and others who obstinately affirme That Moses in his Booke of the Creation made no mention at all of Spirits or Angels When as Saint Augustine contrarie to them in beleefe saith That vnder the words of Heauen aud Light though not by their proper and peculiar names they were specified and intended And that Moses writing to a People whose obstinacie and stupidity was such that they were not capable of their incorporeall Essence he was the more chary to giue them plaine and manifest expression Moreouer it may be supposed That if the discreet Law-giuer had told them of their Diuine nature it might haue opened a wide gap to their idolatry to which he knew they were too prone of themselues For if they were so easily induced to worship a golden Calfe and a brasen Serpent both of them molten and made with hands how could so excellent and diuine a Nature haue escaped their adoration Yet doe the words of Moses allow of Spirits though couertly where it is said Genes 3.1 Now the Serpent was more subtill than any Beast of the field which the Lord God had made c. By whom was meant the Diuell as appears Wisd. 2.24 As Satan can change himselfe into an Angell of light so did he vse the wisedome of the Serpent to abuse Man c. I had occasion to speake in my discourse of Dreames of the one brother Sleepe something shall not be amisse to be discoursed of the other Death and to amplifie that in the Prose which in the Verse was onely mentioned Cicero calleth Death the yonger brother of Sleepe which being a thing that cannot be auoided it ought therefore the lesse to be feated One demanding of a noble Sea Captaine Why hauing meanes sufficient to liue on land hee would endanger his person to the perills and frequent casualties of the Ocean
now the bus'nesse weepst thou wicked man As fearing to be tortur'd enter than Stay Stay beneath his arme-pits lies obscur'd What in the barge will neuer be endur'd Menippus what Smooth oily Flattery such As in his life time did auaile him much 'T is fit then thou Menippus shouldst lay by Freenesse of speech and too much liberty Thy boldnesse mirth and laughterâ— for is't fit To mocke vs thus thou in that place shouldst sit All that he is possest of let him still About him keepe for they are light and will Rather than hinder helpe our navigation As burdenlesse and fit for transportation And thou ô Rhetorician cast away Thy contradicting Phrases there 's no stay Similitudes Anti-positions too Periods and Barbarismes This thou must do All thy light-seeming words must be throwne by For in the Hold most heauy they will ly I throw them off The fastned cords vnbinde Plucke vp the Ladder 'bout the Cap-stone winde The Cable and weigh Anchor hoise vp Saile And thou ô Steeres-man pre'thee do not faile To looke well to the Helme and that with care Let 's now be merry hauing all our faâ—e But wherefore weepe these sad Ghosts but most thou That of thy huge beard wast dispoyl'd but now Because I held the Soule immortall Fye Beleeue him not ô Hermes 't is a lie 'T is somewhat else he grieues at What Canst tell Because after full Feasts he cannot smell Nor walking late whilest others were at rest Close muffled in his Cloake be made the guest To dissolute Strumpets sneake into his Schoole Betimes and with his suppos'd wisedome foole Yong Schollers cheating them of coine and time Thou that pretendest to be free from crime Is not to thee Death tedious Can it be I hastning to 't when nothing summon'd me But stay What clamor 's that a shore so hye We scarce can heare our selues speake Mercurie 'T is loud indeed but comes from sundry places There is a Crew that arm'd with loud disgraces Brand the dead Lampichus Another strife Growes from the women that reproch his wife And yonder his yong children but late borne Are ston'd by children and in pieces torne Some with loud accents Diaphantus praise The Orator for his elaborate Phrase And funerall Oration well exprest In Sycian for this Crato late deceast The Matrons with Damasia's mother there Howle and lament his losse But not a teare Is shed for thee Menippus thou 'rt more blest Novlulations shall disturbe thy rest Not so for thou within few houres shalt heare Dogs lamentably barking at my Beere The Crowes and Rauens croaking at my graue In hope some good share of my flesh to haue Menippus thou art valiant and now land Passe on fore-right incline to neither hand That path will leade you to the Iudgement Hall Whilest we transport the rest that yonder call Saile prosp'rously ô Mercury wee 'l on As best befits vnto the Iudgement Throne What shall of vs become now here they say Are sundry torments that endure foray Stones AEgles Wheeles in number that surmount Now each must of his life yeeld iust account Bias to one who by reason of the great sorrow he tooke for the losse of his children called vpon Death as desiring to depart out of the world said vnto him Why fond man dost thou call vpon that which though vncalled for will come vpon thee Musonius being demanded Who died best made answer Those that make account of euery present day at their last Theramines was no sooner departed out of an house but it presently fell to the earth When his Friends came about him to gratulate his vnexpected safety he said vnto them beyond their expectation Know you ô men vnto what greater dangers or a more vnfortunate death the gods haue reserued me Intimating That the escape from one disaster was no securitie from falling into another Which happened accordingly for not long after he fell into the hands of the thirtie Tyrants and was compelled to end his life by poyson Seneca Epist. 78. vseth these words Is any man so ignorant but knowes that at one time or other he must die yet when the time commeth many weepe and lament Why dost thou mourne ô Wretch why feare and tremble since all men are tied to that strict necessitie and thou art but to go whither all things before thee are gone To this law thou art borne the same thing happened to thy father thy mother and to all thy predecessors to all before thee and shall to all that must succeed thee c. Spartanus being inâ—idiated by Iphicrates the Generall of the Athenians and surprised by an ambush and demaunded of his Souldiers What in that exigent was to be done made answer What else but that whilest you fly basely I die fighting honorably Such was the spirit of Cato Vticensis who persuaded others to the safety of their liues whilest he prepared himselfe to a voluntarie death Rubrius Flavius condemned vnto death by Nero and being brought to the blocke when the Executioner spake vnto him that he would boldly stretch forth his neck Yes quoth he and I wish thou with as much resolution and as little feare mayst strike off my head I will conclude with this Similitude As all those Starres which rise from the East though they be of great celeritie and vertue yet tend to their setting and according to their diuers Circles some sooner some later hide themselues from our aspect So all the Generation of Mankinde from the East that is by their Natiuitie enter into the world and though here for a season they shine and according to their qualities and degrees giue lesse or greater lustre yet of necessity they must all arriue some early some late at the fall or set of Death according vnto the continuance of that Course which God in his wisedome hath appointed them and by degrees withdraw and hide themselues from the eyes of the World Now hauing sufficiently discoursed of Death I will point you to a contented life out of one of Martials Epigrams not without great elegancie thus deliuered vnto vs Vitam quae faciunt beatiorem c. Blithe Martiall wilt thou vndertake Things which the life more blessed make Th' are these A Fortune competent Not got by labour but descent No thanklesse Field a Fare conuenient No strife at all a Gowne expedient For warmth not trouble a minde quiet Strength purchas'd by a mod'rate diet A healthfull body Prudence grounded On Simplenesse Friendship compounded On Paritie then so to call That no one man may pay for all A Table without Art or Cost A Night so spent it be not lost In Drunkennesse yet that thou dare And boldly call it Free from Care A Bed not sad but chast in sport Sleepe that shall make the night seeme short To wish to be that which thou art And nothing more in whole or
quae Caeptis conscia nostris Adnutrixque c. Thou three-shap'd Hecate with me take part Who guilty of my vndertakings art Teaching what spels we Witches ought to vse And what rare Herbs out of the earth to chuse Thou Aire you Winds Hils Lakes and Riuers cleare Gods of the Winds gods of the night appeare By whose strong aid I when I please can make The fearefull and astonisht bankes to quake To see the streames backe to their heads retyre If on the seas a tempest I desire The troubled waues in mighty mountaines rise Threatning to spit their brine-drops in the eyes Of the bright Stars and when th' are most in rage I with a word their fury can asswage Blacke threatning clouds if I but speake appeare And with a becke I make the Welkin cleare The Windes I from their brasen dens can call To blow downe hills or not to breathe at all The Vipers jawes I with my spels can breake The stedfast rockes remoue whâ—n I but speake The grounded Okes I by the roots vp rend Woods I can shift and mountaines that transcend My Charmes can shake The groaning Earth help craues From me whilest Ghosts I summon from their graues And thee ô Moone my Incantations can Draw this or that way make thee pale and wan Through feare or red with rage Aurora knowes I from her blushing cheeke can teare the Rose c. Here I might introduce many to the like purpose but I return where I left and thus proceed That this swift transportation of Bodies though it seeme strange is not altogether impossible Which will the better appeare if either wee aduisedly consider the velocitie of Spirits or the admirable celerity of the Spheres from whence it comes that Magitions haue such speedy intelligence almost in an instant of things done in the farthest and remotest places of the world To approue which if wee shall but examine Historie there be many examples extant When Antonius the great Captaine made an insurrection in Germany against the Emperor Domitian and was slain in the battel the death of that Revolter was confidently reported the same day in Rome with the manner of his Armies ouerthrow though the places were distant as some account it little lesse than fifteene hundred miles And Cedrenus writeth That when Adrianus Patricius was sent by the Emperour Basilius to war against the Carthaginians before he had ouercome halfe his way and whilest hee yet stayed in Peloponnesus with the greatest part of his Nauy by the help of such Spirits as it seemed he was certainly informed That Syracusa was taken and destroyed by fire the very selfe same day and houre that the disaster hapned Panlus Diaconus and Nicephorus haue left to memorie That one Calligraphus of Alexandria walking late in the night by certaine Statues erected without the city they called vnto him aloud and told him That the Emperour Martianus with his Queene and princely Issue were all at that very instant murthered in Constantinople Which when he came to his house he told to some of his Familiars and Friends who seemed to deride his report as a thing not possible but beyond Nature But nine dayes after came a Post with certaine newes of that barbarous and inhumane act which by true computation happened the very same houre that it was deliuered to Calligraphus Platina in Dono telleth vs That Partharus sonne to the King of the Longobards being expelled from his Countrey by the vsurpation of Grinnaldas shipt himselfe for England to be secured from the sword of the Tyrant and hauing beene a few dayes at sea hee was sensible of a loud voice which admonished him to change the course of his intended journey and instantly to return backe into his owne Countrey for the Tyrant hauing been troubled with the Plurisie and aduised by his Physitions to haue a Veine opened in the left arme the flux of bloud could not by any art be stopped but that he bled to death Vpon this warning the Prince Partharus returned and finding it to be true within three months after his arriuall he was inaugurated and freely instated in his proper inheritance Zonarus and Cedrenius affirme That the same day in which the arch-Traitor and Regicide Andraea slew the Emperour Constantine bathing himselfe in Syracusa his death by voices in the aire which could be no other than Spirits was not onely noised but proclaimed openly in Rome the same day Zephilinus in Domiti and Fulgâ—t lib. 1. cap. 6. haue left remembred vnto vs That Apollonius Tianaeus being in a publique Schoole in the city of Ephesus and disputing at that time with diuers Philosophers in the midst of his serious discourse was on the sudden mute and fixing his eyes stedfastly vpon the ground remained for a space in a still silence but at length erecting his head and casting vp his eyes hee suddenly broke forth into this loud acclamation Stephanus hath slaine an vniust man And after hauing better recollected himselfe he told vnto those which were there present That at that instant the Emperor Domitian fell by the hand of one Stephanus The circumstance being after examined it proued true according to his relation Olaus Magnus lib. 3. cap. 16. of his Gothicke History writeth That Govarus King of Norway being resident in his owne Court knew in the same houre of all the machinations and plots intended against him in Normandy though he was distant by land and sea many hundred miles Fulgotius relateth That in the wars betwixt the Locrenses and the Crotoniatae two spirits appeared like two yong men in white vesture who when the Locrenses had woon the battaile left the field and vanished and in the selfe same houre were seene both in Athens and Corinth in both which places they proclaimed the newes of that great victory though these places were distant many leagues one from another And so much for the Velocitie of Spirits The Emblem IT figureth an Hedge-hog who insidiates the silly field-Mice playing about her den and fearelesse of any present danger who the better to compasse her prey wrappeth her selfe into a round globe-like compasse appearing onely a ball of pricks contracting her head within her skinne where nothing is seene saue a small hole for such a little creature to shroud her selfe in and thus she lieth confusedly vpon the ground without any seeming motion The apprehension thereof is borrowed from Greg. lib. 13. Moralium from whence this Motto is deriued Abiecta movent The words of the reuerend Father be these Prius complexionem vnius cuiusque Adversarius perspicit tunc tentationis laqueos exponit alius namque laetis alius tristibus alius timidis alius elat is moribus existit c. i. Our Aduersarie the Diuell first looketh into the complexion and disposition of euery man and then he layes the snares of tentation for one is of a merry and pleasant constitution another sad and melancholy
fingers shine with gold and gemmes But when thou shalt look vpon any such vaine person hold him not for a Priest but rather a Bride-groome And in a third Epistle to Heliodore he vseth these words They are richer being Monkes than when they were secular men They possesse wealth vnder Christ who was alwayes poore which they enioyed not vnder the Diuell who was euer rich The Church supporteth them in wealth whom the World confined to beggerie Therefore saith Lactantius Firmianus Heauenly Religion consisteth not of earthy or corrupt things but of the vertues of the Minde which are solely aimed at Diuine Contemplations For that onely may be called True Worship when the heart and minde meet together to offer vnto God an immaculate offering for whosoeuer confineth himselfe to be a true Sectarie of the Coelestiall Precept may attaine vnto the name of a true and sincere Worshipper being such an one whose Sacrifices are the humblenesse of minde the innocence of life and the goodnesse of action And that man so often offereth vp vnto God an acceptable Sacrifice as he doth any good and pious worke Diogenes feasting in a Temple when stale and mouldy bread was brought before him he not onely rejected it but in great anger rose from the table and cast it out of doores saying That nothing which was base and for did should bee brought into any place where ought sacred was offered vnto the gods We likewise reade of Alexander the Great when in a solemne Sacrifice to Iupiter he offered Incense with both hands at once he was thus reprehended by Leonides for so doing O King when thou hast conquered and subdued those Countries and Kingdoms whence these sacred Fumes and Odors are brought then it will become thee to vse such prodigalitie and waste but till then it shall not be amisse if thou shewest thy selfe more sparing In processe Alexander being victorious ouer Saba and calling to minde what had before passed betwixt him and Leonides he writ vnto him in these words We haue sent vnto thee Myrrhe and Frankincense in aboundance to the intent ô Leonides that hereafter thou be no more so sparing toward the gods Christians need not be ashamed to make vse of these examples from the Ethnicks And as concerning all such Hipocrites who onely sloathfully and coldly tender their religious seruice you may reade in Anthol sacr Iacob Billij as followeth Munera dant gemini fratres at munus Abelis Excipitur munus spernitur alterius Two gifts are to God offred by two Brothers The one 's accepted and despis'd the others Cain with an euill heart that which was vile Tendred to his Creator and the while Kept to himselfe the best of all his store Him such resemble who giue God no more Than needs they must do by some others motion Worshipping more for fashion than deuotion These men as in their actions you may note Seeme to loue God whilest on the World they dote What the Religion of the Iewes is who hath not read And what that of the Mahometans is who but with great terrour and detestation can almost endure to heare First therefore concerning our Christian Religion I shall quote you some passages and places cited by diuers Ethnyck Authors and those learned and approued After the Birth Life Doctrine and Passion of the Sauiour of the World there were three opinions of him I omit the Euangelists and Apostles whose Scriptures and Miracles are vnquestionable and proceed to others Of the first were those that sincerely and vnfeignedly professed Christ and his Gospell many of which gaue apparant testimonie of the Truth some by their blessed Martyrdome others by their Writings and among these were Dionysius Areopagita Tertullian Lactantius Firmianus Eusebius Paulus Orosius c. Others there were which violently opposed the former of which number were Porphyrius Iulian Apostata Vincentius Celsus Africanus Lucian c. Against whom wrot very learnedly Cyprian Origen Saint Augustine and others The third were such as either for seruile feare or worldly preferment durst not or would not openly professe themselues to be Christians or howsoeuer they were such in their hearts yet to temporise with their Superiors and Gouernors if at any time discourse was had of those whom they called the New Sect they would mangle Christs Miracles cauill at his Doctrine and mis-interpret the Scriptures to their owne fancies Notwithstanding which and that they laboured to abolish and exterminate the Profession yet which way soeuer they aimed their words or their works somthing still might be gathered from them by which their malice was easily discouered and the lustre of the Truth more apparantly discerned Such Power hath the Word of God For example Iosophus Ben Gorion not onely a Iew by Linage but in his Religion vseth these words At the same time saith he liued Iesus a wise man if it be lawfull to terme him a man because indeed he did wonderfull things and was a Master and Doctor vnto all such as made enquirie after the Truth He was followed by great troupes and multitudes both of Iewes and Gentiles and hee was Christ and although he was afterwards accused by the principall men of our Faith and crucified yet he was not abandoned of those who formerly followed him but three dayes after his death he appeared aliue vnto them according as the holy Scriptures had foretold and prophecied concerning him And euen in these our dayes the doctrine of Christ and the name of Christian is dispersed through the World And this was that Iosephus who was present at the destruction of Ierusalem and wrot the whole Historie thereof Pontius Pilat who gaue sentence against the Sauiour of the World reported so largely of his innocuous Life Doctrine and Miracles to the Emperor Tiberius that he consulted with the Senat to know whether they would admit of this Iesus Christ to be their God and though they did not assent vnto the motion yet hee gaue expresse commandement that none of that Profession should suffer persecution or injurie To this let me adde the excellent Epistle of Publius Lentulus the Roman Proconsul in which the person of our Sauior is most accurately described The very words being faithfully interpreted which he sent to the Senat and people of Rome during his abode in Ierusalem according to Eutropius There appeared in these our times and hee is yet to be seene a Man of great vertue by the name of Iesus Christ who is called by the Nations A Prophet of the Truth by his Disciples stiled The Sonne of God who raiseth the Dead and healeth all Infirmities and Diseases A Man of a middle stature vpright and begetting admiration of a venerable aspect whom his beholders may easily both loue and feare his haires of a Chestnut colour full ripe plaine and smooth to his eares and from thence neat somewhat crisped and shining in their flowing from his shoulders diuiding themselues aboue in the middle according
did great things and in the comming of Antichrist the Pseudo-Christiani i. false-Christians before him with him and after him by the aid of the wicked Spirit did maruellous things And in another place commenting vpon the same Euangelist As when a man telleth thee a Tale which thou art not willing to heare the more he speaketh the lesse thou bearest away Or trauelling in haste when thy minde is otherwise occupied though in thy speed thou meetest many yet thou takest not notice of any that passe thee so the Iewes dealt with our Sauiour for though they saw many signes and maruellous things done by him yet notwithstanding they demanded a signe from him because they heard such things as they marked not and saw such things as they tooke no pleasure to behold Hugo De Operib 3. Dierum speaketh thus Res multis modis apparant mirabiles c. Many wayes things appeare maruellous somtimes for their greatnesse sometimes for their smalnesse some for their rarietie others for their beauty First according to their greatnesse as where any creature doth exceed the proportion of it's own Kinde so we admire a Gyant amongst Men a Leviathan or Whale amongst Fishes a Gryphon amongst Birds an Elephant amongst foure-footed Beasts a Dragon amongst Serpents c. The second for their smalnesse as when certaine creatures are scanted of that dimension proper vnto their Kinde as in Dwarfes small Beagles and the like or in Moths small Worms in the hand or finger c. which how little soeuer yet they participate life and motion with those of larger dimension and size neither are they any way disproportionate in their Kinds but the one as well declareth the power and wisedome of the Creator as the other Consider therefore whether thou shouldst more wonder at the tuskes of the Boare than the teeth of a Worme at the legs of a Gryphon or a Gnat at the head of an Horse or a Locust at the thighes of an Estrich or a Fly If in the one thou admirest the greatnesse and strength in the other thou hast cause to wonder at the smalnesse and dexterity as in the one thou maist behold eyes so great that they are able to daunt thee in the other thou mayst see eyes so small than thine are searce able to discern them and euen in these little creatures thou shalt find such adiuments and helps of nature that there is nothing needfull or defectiue in the smallest which thou shalt finde superfluous in the greatest c. We wonder why the Crocodile when he feeds moueth not his lower chaw how the Salamander liueth vnscorched in the fire how the Hedgehog is taught with his sharpe quills to wallow and tumble beneath the Fruit trees and returne home laden with Apples to his resting place who instructed the Ant to be carefull in Summer to prouide her selfe of food for Winter or the Spider to draw small threds from it's owne bowels to insidiate and lay nets for the Flies All these are infallid testimonies of the wisedome and power of the Almighty These are only wonders in nature but no Miracles Chrisostom supr Math. saith thus Quatuor sunt mirabiles imitatores c. There be foure miraculous Imitators made by Christ A Fisherman to be the first Shepheard of his Flocke a Persecutor the first Master and Teacher of the Gentiles a Publican the first Euangelist a Theefe that first entred into Paradise And further That of three things the World hath great cause to wonder of Christs resurrection after death of his ascention to heauen in the Flesh and that by his Apostles being no better than Fishermen the whole world should be conuerted But if any thing strange or prodigious hath beene heretofore done by Mahomet or his associates they haue been rather imposterous than miraculous Or admit they were worthy to be so called yet do they not any way iustifie his blasphemous Religion For you may thus reade Iustine Martyr De Respons ad Quest. 5. fol. 162. As the Sun rising vpon the Good and Euill the Iust and Vniust is no argument to confirme the euil and injust man in his wickednesse and injustice so ought it not to confirme heretiques in their errors if at any time miraculous things be done by them For if the effect of a miracle be an absolute signe and demonstration of pietie God would not then reply vpon the Reprobate and Cursed at the last day when they shall say vnto him Lord haue we not in thy Name prophesied and cast out diuels and done many Miracles I neuer knew you depart from me ô ye Cursed c. Christ was miraculous in his Incarnation his Natiuitie his Life Doctrine Death and Resurrection as will easily appeare but first it shall not be amisse to speake a word or two of his blessed Mother Petrus Chrisologus writeth thus Vnexpressible is the sacrament of the Natiuitie of our Lord the God of Life which wee ought rather to beleeue than to examine A Virgin conceiued and brought forth which Nature affourded not Vse knew not Reason was ignorant of Vnderstanding conceiued not This at which Heauen wondred Earth admired the Creature was stupified what humane Language is able to deliuer Therefore the Euangelist as he opened the conception and birth in an human phrase so he shut it vp in a Diuine secret And this he did to shew That it is not lawfull for a man to dispute that which he is commanded to beleeue And againe How can there be the least dammage vnto modestie where there is interessed a Deitie Where an Angell is the Messenger Faith the Bride-maid Chastitie the Contract Vertue the Despouser Conscience the Priest God the Cause integritie the Conception Virginitie the Birth a Maid the Mother Let no man therefore iudge that thing after the manner of Man which is done by a diuine Sacrament let no man examine a coelestiall mysterie by earthly reason or a secret nouelty by that which is frequent and common Let no man measure that which is Singular by Example nor deriue contumely from Pietie nor run into danger by his rashnesse when God hath prouided saluation by his Goodnesse Origen vpon Mathew moues this Question What was the necessitie that Mary the blessed Virgin should be espoused vnto Ioseph but either because that mysterie should be concealed from the Diuell and so the false Accuser should finde no cauil against her chastitie being asfied vnto an husband or else that after the Infant was borne he should be the mothers Conduct into AEgypt and backe againe For Mary was the vntouched the vnblemished the immaculate Mother of the onely begotten Son of God Almighty Father and Creator of all things of that Sonne who in Heauen was without a Mother in Earth without a Father in Heauen according to his Deitie in the bosome of his Father in Earth according to his humanitie in the lap of his Mother Gregorie the Great saith Though Christ Iesus be one thing of the
By Gods blest Spirit an Epiniceon sing Ascribing Glory to th' Almighty King Miraculous thy Workes are worthy praise Lord God Almighty iust and true thy waies Thou God of Saints O Lord who shall not feare And glorifie thy Name who thy Workes heare Thou onely holy art henceforth adore Thee All Nations shall worship and fall before Thee Because thy Iudgements are made manifest This Song of Vict'rie is againe exprest Thus Now is Saluation now is Strength Gods Kingdome and the Power of Christ. At length The Sland'rer of our Brethren is refus'd Who day and night them before God accus'd By the Lambes bloud they ouercame him and Before Gods Testimonie he could not stand Because the Victors who the Conquest got Vnto the death their liues respected not Therefore reioyce you Heav'ns and those that dwell In these blest Mansions But shall I now tell The Weapons Engines and Artillerie Vsed in this great Angelomachy No Lances Swords nor Bombards they had then Or other Weapons now in vse with men None of the least materiall substance made Spirits by such giue no offence or aid Onely spirituall Armes to them were lent And these were call'd Affection and Consent Now both of these in Lucifer the Diuell And his Complyes immoderate were and euill Those that in Michael the Arch-Ange'll raign'd And his good Spirits meekely were maintain'd Squar'd and directed by th' Almighties will The Rule by which they fight and conquer still Lucifer charg'd with insolence and spleene When nothing but Humilitie was seene And Reuerence towards God in Michaels brest By which the mighty Dragon he supprest Therefore this dreadfull battell fought we finde By the two motions of the Will and Minde Which as in men so haue in Angels sway Mans motion in his body liues but they Haue need of no such Organ This to be Both Averroes and Aristotle agree It followes next that we enquire how long This Lucifer had residence among The blessed Angels for as some explore His time of Glory was six dayes no more The time of the Creation in which they I meane the Spirits seeing God display His glorious Works with stupor and amaâ—e Began at once to contemplate and gase Vpon the Heav'ns Earth Sea Stars Moone and Sunne Beasts Birds and Man with the whole Fabricke done In this their wonder at th'inscrutabilitie Of such great things new fram'd with such facilitie To them iust in the end of the Creation He did reueale his blest Sonnes Incarnation But with a strict commandement That they Should with all Creatures God and Man obey Hence grew the great dissention that befell 'Twixt Lucifer and the Prince Michael The time 'twixt his Creation and his Fall Ezechiel thus makes authenticall In midst of fierie stones thou walked hast Straight in thy wayes ev'n from the time thou wast First made as in that place I before noted To the same purpose Esay too is quoted How fell'st thou Lucifer from Heaven hye That in the morning rose so cherefully As should he say How happens it that thou O Lucifer who didst appeare but now In that short time of thy blest state to rise Each morning brighter than the morning skies Illumin'd by the Sunne so soone to slide Downe from Gods fauour lastingly t' abide In Hells insatiate torments Though he lost The presence of his Maker in which most He gloried once his naturall Pow'rs he keepes Though to bad vse still in th' infernall Deepes For his Diuine Gifts he doth not commend Vnto the seruice of his God the end To which they first were giuen but the ruin Of all Mankinde Vs night and day pursuing To make vs both in his Rebellion share And Tortures which for such prepared are Of this malignant Spirits force and might Iob in his fourtieth Chapter giues vs light And full description liuely expressing both In person of the Monster Behemoth The Fall of Adam by fraile Eve entic't Was his owne death ours and the death of Christ. In whose back-sliding may be apprehended Offendors three three ' Offences three Offended The three Offendors that Mankinde still grieue Were Sathan Adam and our Grandam Eve The three Offences that Sin first aduance Were Malice Weakenesse and blinde Ignorance The three Offended to whom this was done The Holy Spirit the Father and the Sonne Eve sinn'd of Ignorance and so is said Against the God of Wisedome to haue made Her forfeit that 's the Son Adam he fell Through Weakenesse and 'gainst him that doth excell In pow'r the Father sinn'd With his offence And that of hers Diuine Grace may dispence Malicious Hate to sinne did Sathan moue Against the Holy-Ghost the God of Loue And his shall not be pardon'd Note with me How God dealt in the censuring of these three He questions Adams Weakenesse and doth call Eve to account for th' Ignorance in her fall Because for them he mercy had in store Vpon their true repentance and before He gaue their doome told them he had decreed A blessed Sauiour from the Womans seed But Sathan he ne're question'd 't was because Maliciously he had transgrest his Lawes Which sinne against the Spirit he so abhor'd His Diuine Will no mercy for him stor'd Moreouer In the sacred Text 't is read The Womans Seed shall breake the Serpents head It is observ'd The Diuell had decreed To tempt our Sauiour the predicted Seed In the same sort though not the same successe As he did Eve our first Progenitresse All sinnes saith Iohn we may in three diuide Lust of the Flesh Lust of the Eye and Pride She sees the Tree and thought it good for meat The Fleshes lust persuaded her to eat She sees it faire and pleasant to the eye Then the Eyes lust inciteth her to try She apprehends that it will make her wise So through the Pride of heart she eats and dies And when he Christ into the Desart lead Bee'ng hungry Turne said he these Stones to Bread There 's Fleshly lusts temptation Thence he growes To the Eyes lust and from the Mountaine showes The World with all the pompe contain'd therein Say'ng All this great purchase thou shalt win But to fall downe and worship me And when He saw these faile to tempt him once agen Vsing the Pride of heart when from on hye He bad him leape downe and make proofe to flye And as the Woman yeelding to temptation Made thereby forfeit of all mans saluation And so the Diue'll who did the Serpent vse Was said by that the Womans head to bruse So Christ the Womans Seed making resist To these seducemeâ—ts of that Pannurgist Because by neither Pride nor Lust mis-led Was truly said to breake the Serpents head Angels bee'ng now made Diuels let vs finde What place of Torment is to them assign'd First of the Poets Hell The dreadfull Throne Where all Soules shall be sentenc'd stands saith one In a sad place with obscure darkenesse hid
About each roome blacke waters such as did Neuer see day Tysephone vp takes A scourge her vnkemb'd locks craule with liue Snakes Of such aspect th' Immortall eyes abhor her She in her rage doth driue the Ghosts before her Ixion there turn'd on his restlesse Wheele Followes and flies himselfe doth tortures feele For tempting Iuno's Chasti'ty Titius stretcht Vpon the earth and chain'd whose body reacht In length nine acres hath for his aspiring A Vulture on his intrals euer tyring Starv'd Tantalus there 's punisht for his sin Ripe Fruits touching his lip fresh Waues his chin But catching th' one to eat th' other to drinke The Fruit flies vp the Waters downeward shrinke There Danaus Daughters those that dar'd to kill Their innocent sleeping husbands striue to fill With waters fetcht from Lethe leaking tunnes Which as they poure out through the bottom runnes Another thus The Ghosts of men deceast Are exercis'd in torments hourely'encreast Where ev'ry punishment's exactly fitted According to th' offence in life committed Some you shall there behold hang'd vp on hye Expos'd to the bleake windes to qualifie Their former hot Lusts. Some are head-long cast Into deepe gulfes to wash their sinnes fore-past Others are scorcht in flames to purge by fire More cap'itall crimes that were in nature higher They with the lesse delinquents most dispence But mighty plagues pursue the great offence For all men suffer there as they haue done Without the least hope of euasion The sinne doth call th' offendor to the Bar The Iudges of the Bench vnpartiall ar ' No Nocent there the Sentence can evade But each one is his owne example made For when the Soule the Body doth forsake It turnes not into Aire as there to make It's last account Nor let the Wicked trust Their Bodies shall consume in their owne dust For meet they shall againe to heare recited All that was done since they were first vnited And suffer as they sinn'd in wrath in paines Of Frosts of Fires of Furies Whips and Chaines Yet contrary to this some Authors write As to the first opinion opposite Who to that doubt and diffidencie grow To question if there be such place or no. After our deaths saith one can there appeare Ought dreadfull when we neither see nor heare Can ought seeme sad by any strange inuention To him that hath nor fence nor apprehension Shall not all things involv'd in silence deepe Appeare to vs lesse frightfull than our sleepe Or are not all these feares confer'd vpon Th' infernall Riuers Styx and Acheron After our deaths in this our life made good No miserable Ghost plung'd in the floud Feares any stone impending full of dread Each minute space to fall vpon his head 'T is rather a vaine feare that hath possest vs Poore Mortals of the gods pow'r to molest vs That in this life may by the helpe of Fate Our fortunes crush and ruine our estate No Vulture doth on Titius intrals pray 'T is a meere Emblem that we fitly may Confer on passionat Tyteruâ—s and inuented To perso'nate such as are in Loue tormented Or with like griefe perplext c. Heare Seneca Is the fame true saith he that to this day Holds many in suspence That in the jawes Of Hell should be maintain'd such cruell Lawes That Malefactors at the Bar bee'ng try'de Are doom'd such horrid torments to abide Who is the Iudge to weigh in equall skale The Right or Wrong Who there commands the gaile Thus say the Ethnycks but we now retyre And from the Scriptures of this place enquire Hell is the Land of Darknesse desolate Ordain'd for Sinne to plague the Reprobate All such as to that dreadfull place descend Taste death that cannot die end without end For life begets new death the mulct of sin And where the end is it doth still begin Th' originall name we from the Hebrewes haue Sceol which is a Sepulchre or Graue Which nothing else but Darknesse doth include To which in these words Iob seemes to allude Before I go not to returne againe Into the Land where Darkenesse doth remaine Deaths dismall shadow to that Land I say As Darkenesse darke where is no sight of Day But Deaths blacke shadow which no order keepes For there the gladsome Light in Darkenesse sleepes The place where euerlasting Horror dwells 'T is call'd Gehenna too as Scripture tells The word it selfe imports The Land of Fire Not that of the knowne nature to aspire And vpward flame this hath no visi'ble light Burnes but wasts not and addes to Darknesse Night 'T is of invisi'ble substance and hath pow'r Things visible to burne but not deuour A Maxime from antiquity 't hath been There 's nothing that 's Immortall can be seen Nor is it wonder that this fire we call Invisible yet should torment withall For in a burning Feuer Canst thou see The inward flame that so afflicteth thee In Hell is Griefe Paine Anguish and Annoy All threatning Death yet nothing can destroy There 's Ejulation Clamor Weeping Wailing Cries Yels Howles Gnashes Curses neuer failing Sighes and Suspires Woe and vnpittied Mones Thirst Hunger Want with lacerating Grones Of Fire or Light no comfortable beames Heate not to be endur'd Cold in extreames Torments in ev'ry Attyre Nerve and Vaine In ev'ry Ioint insufferable paine In Head Brest Stomake and in all the Sences Each torture suting to the soule offences But with more terror than the heart can thinke The Sight with Darknesse and the Smel with Stinke The Taste with Gall in bitternesse extreme The Hearing with their Curses that blaspheme The Touch with Snakes Todes crauling about them Afflicted both within them and without them Hell 's in the Greeke call'd Tartarus because The torments are so great and without pause 'T is likewise Ades call'd because there be No objects that the Opticke Sence can see Because there 's no true temp'rature Avernus And because plac'd below 't is styl'd Infernus The Scriptures in some place name it th' Abisse A profound place that without bottom is As likewise Tophet of the cries and houles That hourely issue from tormented Soules There the Soules faculties alike shall be Tormented in their kindes eternally The Memory to thinke of pleasures past Which in their life they hop'd would euer last The Apprehension with their present state In horrid paines those endlesse without date The Vnderstanding which afflicts them most To recollect the great joyes they haue lost And these include Hells punishments in grosse Namely the paines of Torment and of Losse If we enquire of Lucian after these Betwixt Menippus and Philonides His Dialogue will then expressely tell How he and such like Atheists jeast at Hell The Dialogue HAile to the front and threshold of my dore Which I was once in feare toâ—haue seene no more How gladly I salute thee hauing done My voyage and againe behold the
a sufficient answer namely That the Substances of things were created together but not formed and fashioned together in their seuerall distinct kindes They were disgested together by substance of matter but appeared not together in substantiall forme for that was the worke of six dayes Moreouer when Moses in his first Chapter of Genesis saith That things were created in euery one of the six dayes seuerally in the second chapter of the same Booke he speaketh but of one day only by way of Catastrophe or Epilogue All which hee had before distinctly described saying These are the generations of the Heauen and the Earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the Earth and the Heauens Neither is this any contradiction for we must not take the dayes according to the distinction of Times for God had no need of Time as being first made by him but by reason of the works of Perfection which is signified and compleated by the number of Six which is a most perfect number Moreouer as the Psalmist saith A thousand yeares are vnto him but as one day Avenzor the Babylonian saith That he which knoweth to number well knoweth directly all things Neither was it spoken in vaine but to the great praise of Almighty God Omnia in mensura Numero Pondere disposuisti i. Thou hast disposed all things in Number in Measure and in Weight It is moreouer said in Eccles. 1 2. Who can number the sands of the Sea and the drops of the raine and the dayes of the world Who can measure the height of the Heauen the bredth of the Earth and the depth Who can finde the Wisedome of God which hath beene before all things c. It is worthy remarke which one ingeniously obserues Two wayes saith he we come to the apprehension and knowledge of God by his Workes and by his Word by his Works we know that there is a God and by his Word we come to know what that God is his Workes teach vs to spell his Word to reade The first are his backe-parts by which we behold him afarre off the later represent him vnto vs more visibly and as it were face to face For the Word is as a booke consisting of three leaues and euery leafe printed with many letters and euery letter containeth in it selfe a Lecture The Leaues are Heauen the Aire and the Earth with the Water the Letters ingrauen are euery Angell Starre and Planet the Letters in the Aire euery Meteor and Fowle those in the Earth and Waters euery Man Beast Plant Floure Minerall and Fish c. All these set together spell vnto vs That there is a God Moses in the very first verse of Genesis refuteth three Ethnycke opinions first Those that were of opinion the World was from eternitie and should continue for euer in these words when hee saith In the Beginning Secondly he stoppeth the mouth of stupid and prophane Atheists in this phrase Elohim created Thirdly and lastly hee opposeth all Idolaters such as held with many gods for the saith in the conclusion of the same Verse Elohim He created Heauen and Earth vsing the singular number It is the opinion of some antient Diuines That the Creation of the Angels was concealed by Moses lest any man should apprehend like those Heretiques spoken of by Epiphanius that they aided and assisted God in the Creation For if the day of their Creation which as the best approued Theologists confesse was the first day had beene named by Moses wicked and vngodly men might haue taken them to haue been Agents in that great and inscrutable Worke which indeed were no other than Spectators Therefore as God hid and concealed the Body of Moses after his death lest the Israelites so much addicted to Idolatry should adore and worship it so Moses hid and concealed the Creation of the Angels in the beginning lest by them they should be deified and the honour due to the Creator be by that meanes attributed and conferred on the Creature Rabbi Salom affirmeth them to be created the first day and some of our later Diuines the fourth day but their opinions are not held altogether authenticall It is likewise obserued That God in the creation of the world beginneth aboue and worketh downwards For in the first three dayes he layd the foundation of the world and in the other three dayes he furnished and adorned those parts The first day he made all the Heauens the matter of the earth and commeth downe so low as the Light The second day he descendeth lower and maketh the Firmament or Aire The third lowest of all making a distinction betwixt the Earth and Water Thus in three dayes the three parts or body of the World is laid and in three dayes more and in the same order they were furnished For on the fourth day the Heauens which were made the first day were decked and stucke with starres and lights The fift day the Firmament which was made the second day was filled with Birds and Fowles The sixt day the Earth which was before made fit and ready the third day was replenished with Beasts and lastly with Man And thus God Almighty in his great Power and Wisedome accomplished and finished the miraculous worke of the Creation Rabbi Iarchi vpon the second of Genesis obserueth That God made superior things one day and inferiour another His words being to this purpose In the first day God created Heauen aboue and Earth beneath on the second day the Firmament aboue on the third Let the dry land appeare beneath on the fourth Lights aboue and the fift Let the waters bring forth beneath c. On the sixt day he made things both superior and inferior lest there should be confusion without order in his Work Therefore he made Man consisting of both a Soule from aboue and a Body from beneath c. An Allegorie drawne from these is That God hath taught vs by the course he took in the framing and fashioning of the world how we must proceed to become a new Creation or a new Heauen and Earth renewed both in soule and body In the first day he made the Light therefore the first thing of the new man ought to be light of Knowledge for Saint Paul saith He that commeth to God must know that He Is. On the second day he made the Firmament so called because of it's stedfastnesse so the second step in Mans new Creation must be Firmamentum Fidei i. the sure foundation of Faith On the third day the Seas and Trees bearing Fruit so the third step in the New man is That he become Waters of relenting teares and that he bring forth fruit worthy of Repentance On the fourth day God created the Sunne that whereas on the first day there was light without heate now on the fourth day there is Light and Heate ioyned together So the fourth step in the new creation of the New man is That
he joine the heate of Zeale with the light of Knowledge as in the Sacrifices Fire and Salt were euer coupled The fift dayes worke was of Fishes to play in the Seas and the Fowles to fly and soare towards Heauen So the fift step in a New Creature is To liue and reioyce in a sea of Troubles and fly by Prayer and Contemplation towards Heauen On the sixth day God made Man now all those things before named being performed by him Man is a new Creature They are thus like a golden Chaine concatinated into seuerall links by Saint Peter Adde to your light of Knowledge the firmament of Faith to your Faith seas of repentant Teares to your Teares the fruitfull Trees of good Workes to your good Workes the hot Sun-shine of Zeale to your Zeale the winged Fowles of Prayer and Contemplation And so Ecce omnia facta sunt nova Behold all things are made new c. Further concerning the Angels Basil Hom. sup Psal. 44. saith The Angels are subject to no change for amongst them there is neither Child Yong-man nor old but in the same state in which they were created in the beginning in that they euerlastingly remaine the substance of their proper nature being permanent in Simplicitie and Immutabilitie And againe vpon Psal. 33. There is an Angel of God assistant to euery one that beleeues in Christ vnlesse by our impious actions wee expell him from vs. For as Smoke driueth away Bees and an euill sauour expelleth Doues so our stinking and vnsauory sinnes remoue from vs the good Angell who is appointed to be the Keeper and Guardian of our life Hier. sup Mat. 13. Magna dignitas fidelium Animarum c. Great is the dignitie of faithfull Soules which euery one from his birth hath an Angell deputed for his Keeper Bernard in his Sermon super Psalm 12.19 vseth these words Woe be vnto vs if at any time the Angels by our sinnes and negligences be so prouoked that they hold vs vnworthy their presence and visitation by which they might protect vs from the old Aduersarie of Mankinde the Diuell If therefore wee hold their familiarities necessarie to our preseruations wee must beware how wee offend them but rather study to exercise our selues in such things in which they are most delighted as Sobrietie Chastitie Voluntarie Pouertie Charitie c. but aboue all things they expect from vs Peace and Veritie Againe hee saith How mercifull art thou ô Lord that thinkest vs not safe enough in our weake and slender walls but thou sendest thine Angels to be our Keepers and Guardians Isidor de Sum. Bon. It is supposed that all Nations haue Angels set ouer them to be their Rulers but it is approued That all men haue Angels to be their Directors He saith in another place By Nature they were created mutable but by Contemplation they are made immutable in Minde passible in Conception rationall in Stocke eternall in blessednesse perpetuall Greg. in Homil Novem esse Ordines Angelorum testante sacro eloquio scimus c. i. We know by the witnesse of the holy Word That there are nine degrees of Angels namely Angels Arch-Angels Vertues Potestates Principates Dominations Thrones Cherubim and Seraphim And proceedeth thus The name of Angell is a word of Office not of Nature For these holy Spirits of the Coelestiall Countrey are euer termed Spirits but cannot be alwayes called Angels for they are then onely to be stiled Angels when any message is deliuered them to be published abroad According to that of the Psalmist Qui fecit Angelos suos Spiritus Those therefore that deliuer the least things haue the title of Angels but those that are imployed in the greatest Arch-Angels for Angeli in the Greeke tongue signifieth Messengers and Arch-Angeli Chiefe Messengers And therefore they are character'd by particular names as Michael Gabriel Raphael c. We likewise reade Nazianzen thus Orat. 38. Atque ita secundi Splendores procreati sunt primi splendoris Administri c. i. So the second Splendors were procreated as the Ministers of the first Light whether of Fire quite void of matter and incorporeall or whether of some other nature comming neere vnto that matter yet my minde prompteth me to say thus much That these spirits are no way to be impelled vnto any euill but they are stil apt and ready to do any good thing whatsoeuer as alwaies shining in that first splendor wherein they were created c. The same Nazianzen Carmine de Laude Virginitatis writeth thus At talis Triadis naturae est vndique purae Ex illo puro certissima lucis origo Coetibus Angelicis mortali lumine cerni Qui nequeunt c. Such is the nature of the purest Trine In whom th' originall Light began to shine From whence the Host of Angels we deriue Such Lights as can be seene by none aliue The Seat of God and his most blessed Throne They alwayes compasse and on him alone Th' attend meere Spirits If from the Most Hy Sent through the pure aire they like Lightning fly And vndisturb'd be the winde rough or still They in a moment act their Makers Will They marry not in them 's no care exprest No griefe no troubled motions of the brest Neither are they compos'd of limbes as wee Nor dwell in houses but they all agree In a miraculous concord Euery one Is to himselfe the same for there are none Of diffrent nature of like soule like minde And equally to Gods great loue inclin'd In daughters sonnes or wiues they take no pleasure Nor are their hearts bent vpon Gold or Treasure All earthy Glories they hold vile and vaine Nor furrow they the spatious Seas for gaine Nor for the bellies sake plow they or sow Or study when to reape the fruits that grow The care of which hath vnto Mankinde brought All the mortiferous Ills that can be thought Their best and onely food is to behold God in his Light and Graces manifold Hauing discoursed sufficiently of the Creation of Angels it followeth in the next place to speake something of the forming and fashioning of Man The sixt day God created the four-footed Beasts male and female wilde and tame The same day also he made Man which day some are of opinion was the tenth day of the Calends of Aprill For it was necessarie saith Adam arch-Bishop of Vienna in his Chronicle That the second Adam sleeping in a vivifying death onely for the saluation of Mankinde should sanctifie his Spouse the Church by those Sacraments which were deriued out of his side euen vpon the selfe same day not onely of the weeke but of the moneth also wherein hee created Adam our first Father and out of his side brought forth Evah his wife that by her helpe the whole race of Mankinde might be propagated God made Man after his owne Image to the end that knowing the dignitie of his Creation he might be the rather incited to loue
and to all such as put confidence in them deceitfull and their practise was altogether exploded in Rome Stobaeus Serm. 2. de Impudentia reporteth That Ariston was wont to say of all such as gaue themselues ouer to Encyclopaedia or Mathematicall discipline neglecting meane time the more necessarie study of Philosophie That they might fitly be compared with the sutors of Penelope who when they could not enioy mistres went about to vitiate and corrupt the maids Dion Cassius tels vs That the Emperour Hadrian by his skill in this Mathesis could predict things future by which he knew Varus not to be long liued from that verse of Virgil Ostendit terris hunc tantum Fata neque vltra Esse sinunt c. i. The Fates will only shew him to the Earth and then suffer him to be no more Clemens lib. 5. Recognit saith As it happeneth vnto men who haue dreams and vnderstand nothing of their certaintie yet when any euent shall happen they apt their nightly fancy to that which hath chanced euen such is this Mathesis before somthing come to passe they can pronounce nothing which is certaine or to be built vpon but when any thing is once past then they begin to gather the causes of that which already hath the euent By the creature Oryges painted or insculpt the AEgyptians did hierogliphycally figure a Mathematician for they with great adoration honor their Star Sothes which we cal Canicula and with great curiositie obserue the time when it riseth because they say the Oryges is sencible of the influence thereof by a certain sound which it yeeldeth and not onely giueth notice of it's comming but saluteth it when it appeareth rising Pier. Valer. Lib. 10. Pag. 90. The Emblem THe Emblem to conclude this Tractat I borrow from Iacobus Catsius Emblem lib. 3. which presenteth a hand out of a Cloud holding a Brand in the fire that part which handeth being free the other flaming The Motto Qua non vrit It seemeth to be deriued from Eccles. cap. 3.16 He hath set water and fire before thee stretch out thine hand to which thou wilt Before Man is life and death good and euill what him liketh shall be giuen him So also Ierem. 21.8 And vnto this People thou shalt say Thus saith the Lord Behold I set before thee the way of Life and the way of Death And Deutronom 30.19 I call Heauen and Earth to record this day against you that I haue set before you Life and Death Blessing and Cursing chuse therefore Life that c. Whoso is free and will willingly run into fetters what can we call him but a foole And he who becommeth a Captiue without constraint must be either thought to be wilfull or witlesse And as Theopompus affirmeth If the Eye be the chuser the Delight is short If the Will the end is Want But if Reason the effect is Wisedome For often it happeneth after the choice of a momentarie pleasure ensueth a lasting calamitie The Authors Conceit hereon is this Pars sudis igne caret rapidis calet altera flammis Hinc nocet illaesam calfacit inde manum Ecce Bonum Deus ecce Malum mortalibus affert Quisquis es en tibi Mors en tibi Vita patet Optio tot a tua ' est licet hinc licet inde capessus Elige sive invet vivere sive mori Quid tibi cum Sodoma nihil hic nisi Sulphur Ignis Quin potius placidum Loth duce Zoar adi ¶ Thus paraphrased Part of the Brand wants fire and part flames hot One burnes the hand the other harmes it not Behold ô mortall Man whoe're thou be Good Bad both Life and Death propos'd to thee God giues thee choice the one or other try By this thou liv'st and thou by that shalt die Leaue Sodom then where Sulphur raines in fire And with good Loth to Zoar safe retyre A morall interpretation may be gathered from the same with this Motto anexed Omnia in meliorem partem Bodinus saith Men vse to chuse a faire day by the gray morning and strong beasts by their sturdy limbes But in choice of pleasures there is no election to be made since they yeeld vs no profitable vse Others chuse Aduocates by the throng of their Clients Physitions by the fame of their Cures and Wiues by their rich Portions or Dowers And well they comply with the prouerbe He that maketh his choice without discretion is like one that soweth his Corne he wots not when and in the haruest expected reapeth hee knoweth not what Needfull it is therefore that wee be chary in our choice since there are so few brought within the compasse of Election According to that of the Poet. Pauci quos equus amavit Iupiter aut ardens evexit ad aethera virtus There are but few whom vpright Iove doth loue Or zealous Vertue gaines them place aboue In another place he saith Pauci laeta arva tenemus i. There are but few of vs who attaine to the blessed Fields If Morallists were so watchfull how much more ought wee Christians to be wary how in all things proposed vnto vs we still like Mary in the Gospell chuse the better part For Liber esse non potest cui affectus imperant cupiditates dominantur i. he is not said to be free whom his affections sway and ouer whom his own lusts and desires haue dominion Lipsius Cent. 1. ad Belg. Epist. 5. saith Vt torrem semiustum foco qui tollit non ea parte arripit tractat qua incanduit sed qua ignem nondum accepit sic nos docet c. i. As hee who snatcheth a Brand out of the fire taketh not hold thereof by that part which is flaming but rather that which hath not touched the fire so we ought not to meddle with the bitter and burning things of Chance but rather such as are more benign and comfortable The Authors inuention followeth Hinc rubet igne sudes nullis crepat inde favillis Hinc poterit tangi sauciat inde manum Res humana bifrons tu qua iuvat arripe quicquid Te super aetherea te regione fluit Damna suum lucrum suagandia luctus habebit Excipis incumbens si sapienter onus Morosum nec laeta iuvant rideat orbis Quod gemet ille tamen quodque quaeratur habet ¶ Thus paraphrased Fire here none there yet is it but one Brand One burnes the other end scarse heats thine hand Fate hath two foreheads what to hate or loue To leaue or like is offered from aboue Losse hath it's Gaine and Mourning a Reward Stoope willingly the burden is not hard Mirth doth not please the Sad and though Fate smile We shall finde some thing to lament the while A Meditation vpon the former Tractate I. AId me ô Lord my God for there be three Grand enemies the Flesh the World the Diuel Who with their Nets and Snares insidiat
for it would breake stone vessell and make strange noise and vprore in the night time as vntiling the house and flinging great stones in at the windowes whistling and hissing in the cellar and lower roomes of the house And though it did not indanger any ones life yet oftentimes it made them breake their shinnes faces with other displeasures as flinging dishes and platters and somtimes dogs end cats into the Well Neither could this Spectar be remoued from the house till the said Maid changed her seruice To this kinde of Spirits that superstitious kind of Diuination is referred called Onomonteia which is a coniecture made by anagrammatising the names of those that come to aske counsell of the Magitian by which they take vpon them to foretell either good or bad hap There is a second kinde of Diuination called Arithmomanteia and that is two-fold one is By considering the force and vertue of the Greeke letters and in a combat to know who shall be Victor by hauing the greater number of letters in his name By the which means they fable Hector to be subdued by Achilles The second is vsed by the Chaldaeans who diuide their Alphabet into three Decads and by the section of their names and intermingled with some letters out of one of these Decads vnto certaine numbers and then refer euery number to his Planet Allyed to this is a third called Stoicheiomanteia that is When suddenly opening a booke wee consider the first verse or sentence that wee cast our eye vpon and from that coniecture some future euent So Socrates it is said predicted the day of his owne death And so Gordianus Claudius Macrinus and other Roman Emperors calculated both of their empires and liues We shall not need to call in question Whether Spirits can speake from the mouthes and tongues of others seeing we haue histories to the same purpose many and frequent Philostratus writeth That the head of Orpheus foretold to Cyrus King of Persia That he should die by the hands of a Woman The head of a Priest before dead as Aristotle witnesseth discouered Cercydes the Homicide Phlegon Trallianus writes That at the same time when the Consul Acilius Glabrio ouerthrew Antiochus the King of Asia in battell the Romans were terrified and forewarned by the Oracle from entring into Asia any more and Publius Acil. Glabrio's head beeing left by a Wolfe who had deuoured his body as if re-animated deliuered to his Army in a long Oration the discourse of a great strage and slaughter which should shortly happen to the Romans Valerius Publicola being Consull and warring vpon the Veintans and Hetruscians out of the groue Arsya one of the Syluans was heard to clamor aloud whilest the battel was yet doubtful One more of the Hetruscians shall fall and the Roman Army shal be Victors Valerius preuailed and the slaine of either part beeing numbred they found it to be iust so as the Sylvan had predicted as Valerius Maximus reporteth Who writeth further That the Image of Fortune in the Latine street was heard to speake So also an Infant of halfe a moneth old in the Ox-market And an Oxe at another time All which were the presages of great misfortunes It is reported That a Spirit in the shape and habit of Policrates was created Prince of AEtolia who tooke to wife a beautiful Ladie of the Locrensians and lay with her three nights onely and then disappeared and was seene no more He left her with child and when the time of her deliuerie came shee brought forth an Hermophrodite of a monstrous and prodigious shape at which the parents of the Lady much astonished calling the Senatours together in the market place caused it there to be publiquely shewen and then demanded of them What should be done with the Monster Some gaue their censure That they should burie it aliue others That it should be consumed with fire and some againe That the mother with it should be banished and excluded the confines of AEtolia Whilest they were in this deliberation Polycrates appeares in the midst of them in a long black garment and first with faire intreaties and then with rough menaces demands of them his sonne Whom they denying to surrender he snatcht it from the armes of the Nurse which held it and eat it vp before them all saue the head and then instantly vanished The AEtolians at this horrid spectacle strooke with feare and wonder fell to a second Counsell amongst them to send to the Oracle to know what this portent might signifie When suddenly the Infants head in the market place began to moue and speake and in a graue sollid speech predicted a great slaughter to ensue The which happened not long after in a great war continued betwixt the AEtolians and the Acarnenses A Question may arise Whether a Spirit hath the power to take away a mans sence of feeling so that hee shall not shrinke at torture but as it were sleepe vpon the racke c. Or Whether they haue the power to cast men into long sleepes as wee haue read of some who haue not onely slept moneths but yeares and afterwaked Of the first there is no question for many Witches and praestigious Magi haue endured torments beyond the sufferance of man without the least sorrow or complaint sigh or grone Some vsing naturall Vnguents Oiles extracted from Opium Nightshade and other herbes and mineralls of wonderfull operation by which the humors are disturbed sound sleepe is begotten the Sences stupified and the feeling hindred Some haue this power from a Contract made with the Diuell vsing medicines or applications made of the small bones the ashes or fat of Infants or of men slaine or executed or by swallowing a King of the Bees who is prime Ruler of the Hiue and bigger than the rest or by binding about certaine parts of their body scrolls of parchment inscribed with diabolicall characters or by the muttering of some inchantment Of which diuers Writers haue from their knowledge giuen sufficient testimonie as Grillandus Paris de Puteo Hippolitus de Marseilis Dodimus c. Now concerning long sleepe and first of those seuen brothers of Ephesinum commonly called the seuen Sleepers These vnder the Emperor Decius in the yeare 447 endured many and cruell torments for the profession of the Christian Faith Their names were Marcus Maximilianus Martinianus Dionysius Iohannes Serapion and Constantinus Who after examination and torment were shut into a dark caue there to be famished but hauing commended themselues in prayer vnto God they laid them down to rest and awaked not till two hundred yeares after Which time being expired and the doore of the Caue by Gods prouidence being opened they waking rose and walking forth began to wonder at the change and alteration of things as not knowing any place or face they looked on at length they were brought before the Emperor Theodosius and gaue sufficient testimony of the Resurrection to many
corpora sine vllo vitio sine vlla deformitate sine vlla corruptione in quibus quanta facilitas tanta foelicitas erit i. The bodies of the Saints shal rise againe without any defect without any deformitie without any corruption in which there shall be as much felicitie as there is facilitie And Schoonaeus ex D. Hieron Seu vigilo intentus studijs seu dormio semper Iudicis aeterni nostras tuba personat aures Whether I waking study or sleepe still The Iudges last trumpe in myne eares sounds shrill I conclude with Iacobus Catsius de Eternitate in these words Cum suprema dies rutilo grassabitur igni Perque solum sparget fulmina perque salum Protinus erumpet gelido pia turba sepulchro Et tolletur humo quod modo vermis erit Hic câ—i squallor iners cui pallor in ore sedebat Veste micans nivca conspiciendus erit Alma dies optanda bonis metuenda profanis Ades parvum suscipe Christe gregem ¶ Thus paraphrased When the last day with wasting fire shall shine Disperst through earth and sea beyond each line Straight from the cold graue shall arise the Iust And breathe againe who late were wormes and dust He in whom squallid palenesse latâ— hath beene Clad in white shining Vesture shall be seene O Day the good mans joy the bad mans feare That Christ his Small Flocke may receiue draw neare A Meditation vpon the former Tractate I. BEtimes awake thee And vnto sad and serious contemplation Dull Soule betake thee Thy selfe retyre And after the great GOD of thy Saluation With care enquire Withdraw thy selfe within thy hearts close center Whither saue him alone let nothing enter II. Then let thine Heart Thus say My GOD let me behold thy face Shew in what part Or in what ground Of the vast world what corner or what place Thou mayst be found How shall I finde thee if thou bee'st not here Or why not present being ev'rywhere III. 'T is Thou excellest And in thy great incomprehensible Light For euer dwellest How can fraile Eyes A Glory that 's so luminous and bright By Sence comprise Yet of thy Grace so much to me impart That though it check my Sight 't may chere my heart IV. Who shall abide Thine anger if thou beest insenc't with vs Or if Thou hide From vs thy face Poore wretches then how darke and tenebrous Would be our place Without the lustre of thy louing kindenesse Grope should we euer in Egyptian blindenesse V. Great GOD imprint The Seraphs Loue into this Heart scarce mine Once Flesh now Flint Stirre vp an heate In this my frozen brest by Pow'r Diuine I thee entreat And neuer let thy Grace from me remoue Since Loue is God and thou my GOD art Loue. VI. It was th' ambition Of knowing Good and Euill that first brought Man to perdition The Cherub who Is Knowledge and can teach vs as we ought Our God to know Is He the first Transgressors did expell And chac't from the blest place in which they fell VII Iust is the Throne Iudgement is thine ô GOD and it pertaines To Thee alone In ballance ev'n Vnpartiall thou weigh'st all that doth remaine In Earth or Heav'n Yet though all Iustice be to Thee assign'd In thy good Grace let me thy Mercy find VIII As thou art Iust Beyond all apprehension all opinion Ev'n so we trust That since to Thee With Maiestie likewise belongs Dominion Of all that bee Thou which with mighty sway the World maintainst Wilt pitty haue of those o're whom thou raign'st IX The Vertues they In their high Classe vpon thy Will attend And it obey Ready they are In dangers those that feare thee to defend And still prepare In hostile opposition to withstand Sathan with all his proud infernall Band. X. The heav'nly Pow'rs As Ministers about thy Seruants wait And at all how'rs Assistant bee From such as would our Soules insidiate To set vs free And when these Champions in the List appeare The Tempter flies surpris'd with dastard feare XI Should the great Prince Of this vast World muster his hellish Legions Vs to convince From Water Aire The Earth or any of the other Regions To make repaire Where any of the Principats are nam'd They leaue the place confounded and asham'd XII Proud Lucifer The first of Angels bearing name of Light Who durst prefer Himselfe before His pow'rfull Maker the Great GOD of Might Whom we adore Was in an instant by Prince Michael Cast from high Heav'n into the lowest Hell XIII Gabriel imploy'd I' th' Virgin Mothers blest Annuntiation Mankinde o're-ioy'd He first proclaim'd Vnto the World the LORD of our Saluation EMANVEL nam'd Who though on earth revil'd and dis-esteem'd Yet by his Suffring Mankinde he redeem'd XIV O Holy Holy Holy Three Persons and but one almighty GOD Vnto Thee solely Our Pray'rs we tender And in thy Kingdome hoping for abode Freely surrender Our Soules and Bodies Whilest we liâ—e when die Protect vs with thy heav'nly Hierarchie Obsecro Domino ne desperem suspirando sed respirem sperando FINIS A generall Table THE CONTENTS OF THE FIRST TRACTAT TO proue there is a God from the Conscience the Stars Earth Beasts Riuers Sea Globe Man Pag. 3 4. Poets and Philosophers concerning the Deity 5. The same illustrated by Historie 6. Sacriledge punished 7. Religion from the beginning with the multiplicity of gods among the Gentiles ibid. The historie of Syrophanes 8. Of Idolatry and Superstition 9. The originall of Idolatry 10. Of the Atheist with arguments against Atheisme 11. Of Chance and Fortune 12. Illustrations to confute Atheisme 13. The death of Lucian Atheos 14. A Paraphrase vpon Chap. 2. of the Booke of Wisedome against Atheisme 15. What Atheisme is 18. Seuerall sorts of Atheists 19. Gratitude toward God taught vs by Beasts Birds c. 21. Atheists confuted by their owne Oathes by Reason c. ibid. By Philosophie by Scripture 22. A Deity confessed by Idolaters 23. Proued by acquiring after Knowledge ibid. By the Ethnicks by the Oracle by the Sybils c. 24. Miracles at the birth of Christ. 25. Herods Temple and that at Delphos burnt in one day 26. The sect of the Sadduces with ridiculous tenets of the Atheists proposed and answered 27. Atheisme defined 31. Lawes amongst the Gentiles against Atheisme ibid. Atheists how punished 32. Iudgements vpon Atheisme and of Lucian 33. Of Timon his life death c. ibid. Prodigious effects of Atheisme 34 Holy-dayes obserued amongst the Gentiles ibid. Women famous for Chastitie and Pietie 35. Mortall men immortallised 36. Of the Semones ibid. Of diuers branded with impietie 37. Bad Wiues naughty Husbands wicked mothers vnnaturall Daughters 38 Of selfe-Murthers and Idolatry 39 Idols named in the Scriptures 40 Strange subtilties of the Diuell 42. Prodegies wrought by the Diuell in Idols 43 The malice of the Diuell 45 Augures amongst the Greeks and Romans 46. Aruspices Auspices
the 11 or 12 day of Iune As Adam Bishop of Vienna in his Chronicle Exod. 12. The day of Christs Passion compared with the first day of the Creation According to the computation of the time of the yeare A second reason A probabilitie of the former reason Whether the Moon in her creation were in the full or waine The seuerall offices of the Sun Moon began at one instant Of the Starres and Planets as the Poets haue decipher'd theÌ„ Arcti * Calisto Arctus maior * Lycaon Archas of whom the kingdom of Arcadia took name Arctus minor Agliasthenes qui Naxica conscripsit Serpent Artophilaâ— Coronâ— Eugonasin Lyra. Olor Cepheus Cassiopeia Andromeda Perseus Heniochus Ophincus Anguiteneus Sagiâ—â—â— Aquila Dolphia Equusâ— Deltoton * δ. * For in these dais the fourth part called America was not knowne Cetus Pistrix Eridanus fluvius Lepusâ— Orion Lelaps or Canis maior Procion or Canus minor Argo Philiris vel Centaurus Ara. Hydra Piscis or Notius * A goddesse worshipped among the Egyptians Circulus lâ—cteus or the Galaxia * Mercury in his infancie Of the twelue Coelest Signes Aries Higin de Sign Coelest lib. 3. Hesiodus Pherecides The sea called Hellespont from Helles there drowned Nigidius Taurus Euripides Eratosthenes * As ashamed of the fact Pherecides Athinaeus Therefore called Pluviales These we call the seuen stars Gemini Higinus * The sons of Tindarus Father to Hellen. Cancer The Crab. Pamasis Stars called Asini from Asses Leo. Nigidius This is held by some to be the first of his 12 Labours Some hold Iuno made his skin invulnerable Periandrus Rhodius Virgo Higinus Aratus Pride The 7 Deadly Sinnes The story of Icarius and Erigone Who is also called Bacchus or Dionysius A common Prouerbe in our English tongue The fruits of Drunkennesse Icarius slaine * A prouerbe frequent among Drunkards A remarkable story of a dog InnoceÌ„t bloud spilt neuer goeth vnreuenged Arcturus Virgo Canicula Libra * Higinâ— Arat. Virg. li. Geor. 1. Scorpio Nigidius Sagittarius * The Galaxia which some hold to be the Path which leads to Olympus hall where the gods sit in Counsell Sosythaeus Traged Scriptor Nigidius de Crotone Capricornus * AEgipanes were Beasts like men hauing Goats feet Or wood-gods Epimenides in Ida. Aratus in Phaenom This Goat was called Amalthea Eratosthenes Ovid Met. * A Bird onely breeding in AEgypt Aquarius Aquarius and Hippocoön Quod eius ex oren plurimi Imbres fiunt Aratus Nigidius Hegesinax Aratus in Ihoenom * A mountain so called from her * Canicula into which Mera was translated These winds some call Ecâ—esiae Pisces Aratus Viz. one North the other South The birth of Venus according to most of the Greeke Poets before named Concerning the worlds originall These were the seuerall opinions of diuers Philosophers The World it selfe best Witnesse of the World Vbi motus est nulla Eternitas Time examined to proue a beginning of all things The inuention of letters Sim. Meliâ—us Of Writing Against Pride A needfull obseruation The first erectors of famous Cities Paris Al. Lutetia Carion Chronâ—l * As so first called All these builâ— by seueral men as their Chronicles yet record Of the Ages The first Age. II. III. IV. V. VI. In Hist. Eccl. Grammer The originall of Arts c. Rhetoricke Logâ—cke Art of Memorie Geometry Musicke Physicke Surgâ—rie The Ship The Lyre or Harpe Trumpet Horologie Astrologie Statues and Pictures Vertue of Heâ—bs Lawes Wine City walls Turrets Corne. War Minting Printing Ars tormentaria deuised by a Frier whose name is not knowne Arist. de Intell. Perf. Pbys 1.4.8 56 The argument followed Esse melius quaÌ„ non Esse De Coel 22. Coelâ—m Dei Sedes Procop. against Arist. Quoniam Aristot mare capere non potest Capiat mare Aristotelem Their Reasons confuted by Reason Against vaine Curiositie The Nobilitie of Mans Conceit August de Civ Dei li. 12. ca. 13. The opinion of the Platonists Annus magnus vertens auâ— Mundaâ—us Macr. in Somn. Scip. Ridiculous absurdities Catacl diluvium i. Delug The definition of the World Cap. 1. 4. What the opinions of diuerse Fathers were concerning the World Gregory Chrysostome Sup. Mat. 24. Hom. 4. Hom. 5. Hom. 5. de Poen Lactantius De praem Div. lib. 6. cap. 4. An excellent saying of saint Chrysostome The Poets of the World and the ruin thereof Lib. 1. Lib. 5. de Nat. deor Lib. 2. Of the creatioÌ„ of the World The Philosophers concerning the world Lib. de Coelo The multiplicity of worlds The opinion of Metrodor Met. lib. 1.49 Metaph. 12.28 Aristotles definition of the World Gen. 1. Astron. lib. 1. Ibid. Lib. de Bel. Civ Philosophers concerning the beginning of the World Thal. Milesius The World to haue beginning from Water Anaximenes From Airâ—â— From Fire Opinions contrarie to the â—ormer Atomes Of Atomes some superior others inferior anterior posterior c. Creation from Number Câ—eation from Infinites Lib. 1. Concerning seueâ—all opinions Ser. de Eclips Solâ—â— Euclides Maxâ— ser. 21. Idem serm 22. Epist. 45. Cap. 1. Mat 24. Mark 14. Lib. 2. de par cap. 2. Procop of the Elements Metam lib. 15. The Ages The Golden Age. The Siluer Age. The Brazen Age. The Iron Age. * i. Iustice. Of the Age of Man Met. lib. 1â— Ver Pueritia AEstas Iuvent Virilis AEtas Aâ—tumâ—â—s Hiâ—â—â— senectus Annus or the yeares The Nones Of the number of Nine An. ab Annulo An. Lunaris Solaris An. Annus Magn. Annus Climat Levia Lemâ— cap. 32. lib de occuli naturae miracul Ovid. lib. Met. Lib. Eâ—eg 1. A further illustration concerning the Signes Coelestiall The diuision of the heauen called Culum By reason that the Sun is furthest froÌ„ them Antipodes Stellarum ordo * The Goat and the Kid. * Hercules Or Libra Corona Cignus Pistriâ— Boâ—tes Cignus * Hercules Aquila The Australl Circle Ara. Sagittarius Chyron Virgo Lepus Taurus Trinus Aries Coetus Draco Artophilax Corona Lyra. Atlantiades The death of Orpheus Oâ—r or Cignus Cepheus Cassiopeia Coetus Andromeda Higinus Perseus Aurigâ— * Otherwise câ—lled Amalthea * Hedae Serpentarius Phorâ—â—tus de nat de or spec Aquila Sagitta The sonnes of Tytan Delphinus Pegasus or Equus demidius Deltoton Trigonum Pistrix or the Whale The Floud Eridanus or Padus The Sisters of Phaeton Stella Terrestr Lepus siue Dasippus Higinus The Citie called after the Island Why the Hare was translated into a Staâ—re Orion What Orion portendeth The history of Orion Canis Laelapâ— or Procion Syrius stella Caniculaâ— Palephalus Ovid. in Meâ— Naâ—is Argâ— or the ship These are the fancies of the Poets Aratus Of Danaus AEgiptus So called by sailing or rouing in the Argo Ara the Altar which is also called Thuribulum the Censer Centaurus The death of Chiron the Centaure Hydrâ— How the Crow came to be stellifi'deâ— Pleiadesâ— The Vergiliae Cometa The motion of the Sunne The Bisext or leap-Leape-yeare The Eclipse