before-said but he that kept the heards of King o Admetus with Hercules yet was hee afterwards held a God and counted one and the same with the other And then did p father Liber make warre in India leading a crue of women about with him in his armie called Bacchae being more famous for their madnesse then their vertue Some write that this Liber q was conquered and imprisoned some that Perseus slew him in the field mentioning his place of buriall also and yet were those damned sacriligious sacrifices called the Bacchanalls appointed by the vncleane deuills vnto him as vnto a God But the Senate of Rome at length after long vse of them saw the barbarous filthinesse of these sacrifices and expelled them the citty And in this time r Perseus and his wife Andromeda being dead were verily beleeued to bee assumed into heauen and there vpon the world was neither ashamed s nor affraide to giue their names vnto two goodly constellations and to forme their Images therein L. VIVES THe fiction of a Triptolemus His originall is vncertaine ignoble saith Ouid his mother was a poore woman and he a sickly childe and Ceres lodging in his mothers house bestowed his health of him Lactantius making him sonne to Eleusius King of Eleusis and Hionâ—… that Ceres bestowed immortality vpon him for lodging a night in his fathers house on the day she fedde him in heauen with her milke and on the night she hidde him in fire Celeus was his father saith Seruius But Eusebius maketh him a stranger to Celeus and landeth him at Eleusis Celeâ—… his citty out of a long ship But the Athenians generally held him the sonne of Celeus so did not the Argiues but of Trochilus Hieropanta who falling out with Agenor flying from Argos came to Eleusis there married and there had Triptolemus and Euboles Some hold him and so Musaeus did some say the sonne of Oceanus and Terra that Eubolis and Triptolemus were Dysaulis sonnes saith Orpheus Chaerilus of Athens deriues him from Rharus and one of Aâ—…hyctions daughters Diodorus from Hercules and Thesprote King Phileus his daughter Now Ceres they say gaue him corne and sent him with a chariot with two wheeles onely for swiftnesse sake saith Higin drawne by a teame of Dragons through the ayre to goe and â—…each the sowing of corne to the world that he first sowed the field Rharius by Eleusis and reaped an haruest of it wherfore they gathered the Mushromes vsed in the sacred banquets froÌ„ that field Triptolemus had his altar also and his threshing place there The pretended truth of this history agreeth with Eusebius for it saith that Triptolemus was sonne to Elusus King of Eâ—…s who in a great dearth sustained the peoples liues out of his owne granary which Trâ—…mus vpon the like occasion beeing not able to doe fearing the peoples furie hee tooke along ship called the Dragon and sayling thence within a while returned againe with aboundance of corne and expelling Celeus who had vsurped in his abscence releeued the people with come and taught them tillage Hence was he termed Ceres his pupill Some place Lyncus for Câ—…s He saith Ouid was King of Scythia because he would haue slaine Ceresâ—…ed â—…ed him into the beast Lynx which we call an Ounce b The Minotaure Minos of Crete â—…ied Pasiphae the Suns daughter he being absent in a war against Attica about his claime to the â—…ingdom the killing of his son Androgeus she fell into a beastly desire of copulation with a Bull and Daedalus the Carpenter framed a Cow of wood wherein she beeing enclosed bad her lust satisfied and brought forth the Minotaure a monster that eate mans flesh This Uenus was cause of Seru. For the Sunne bewraying the adultery of Mars and Uenus Uulcan came and tooke them both in a Wyre nette and so shamefully presented them vnto the view of all the gods Here-vpon Uenus tooke a deadly malice against all the Sunnes progenie and thus came this Minotaure borne but Seruius saith he was no monster but that there was a man either Secretary to Minos or some gouernour of the Souldiours vnder him called Taurus and that in Daedalus his house Pasiphae and he made Minos Cuckold and shee bringing forth two sonnes one gotten by Minos and the other by Taurus was said to bring forth the Minotaure as Uirgill calleth it Mistumque genus prolemque biformem A mungrell breed and double formed-birth Euripides held him halfe man and halfe bull Plutarch saith he was Generall of Minos forces and either in a sea-fight or single combate slaine by Theseus to Minos his good liking for hee was a cruell fellow and the world reported him too inward with Pasiphae and therefore after that Minos restored all the tribute-children vnto Athens and freed them from that imposition for euer Palephratus writeth that Taurus was a goodly youth and fellow to Minos that Pasiphaë fell in loue with him and hee begot a child vpon her which Minos afterwards vnderstood yet would not kill it when it was borne because it was brother to his sonnes The boy grew vp and the King hearing that hee iniured the Sheapheards sent to apprehend him but he digged him a place in the ground and therein defended himselfe Then the King sent certaine condemned Malefactors to fetch him out but he hauing the aduantage of the place slew them all and so euer after that the King vsed to send condemned wrâ—…ches thether and hee would quâ—…ckly make them sure So Minos sent Theseus thether vnarmed hauing taken him in the warres but Ariadne watched as he entred the caue and gaue him a sword wherewith he slew this Minotaure c The Labyrinth A building so entangled in windings and cyrcles that it deceiueth all that come in it Foure such there were in the world but in Egipt at Heracleopolis neare to the Lake Maeris Herodotus saith that he sawe it no maruell for it was remaining in Plinyes and Diod. his time These two and Strabo and Mela do describe it Mela saith Psameticus made it Pliny reciteth many opinions of it that it was the worke of Petesucus or else of Tithois or else the palace of Motherudes or a dedication vnto the Sunne and that is the common beleefe Daedalus made one in Crete like this Diod. Plin. but it was not like Egypts by an hundred parts and yet most intricate Ouid. 8. Metamorph. Philothorus in Plutarch thinketh that it was but a prison out of which the enclosed theeues might not escape and so thinketh Palaephatus The third was in Lemnos made by Zmilus Rholus and Theodorus builders The ruines of it stood after those of Crete and Italy were vtterly decayed and gone Plyn The fourth was in Italy by Clusium made for Porsenna King of Hetruâ—…a Varro d The Centaures Ixion sonne to Phlegias the sonne of Mars louing Iuno and shee telling Ioue of it hee made a cloud like her on which cloud Ixion begot the Centaures Sure
besides his female rapes defamed heauē but with one d Ganimede but she hath both shamed heauen and polluted earth with multitudes of e profest and publike Sodomites It may be thought that Saturne that gelded his father comes neere or exceedes this filthinesse O but in his religion men are rather killed by others then guelded by them-selues He eate vp his sonnes say the Poets let the Physicall say what they will history saith he killed them yet did not the Romaines learne to sacrifice their sonnes to him from the Africans But this Great mother brought her Eunuches euen into the Romaine temple keeping her bestiall reakes of cruelty euen there thinking to helpe the Romaines to strength by cutting away their strengths fountaines What is Mercuries theft Venus her lust the whoredome and the turpitude of the rest which were they not commonly sung vpon stages wee would relate what are they all to this foule euill that the Mother of the gods onely had as her peculiar chiefly the rest being held but poeticall fictions as if the Poets had inuented this too that they were pleasing to the gods So the◅ it was the Poets audatiousnesse that recorded them but whose is it to exhibite them at the gods vrgent exacting them but the gods direct obscaenity the deuills confessions and the wretched soules illusions But this adoration of Cibele by gelding ones selfe the Poets neuer inuented but did rather abhorre it then mention i◅ Is any one to bee dedicated to these select Gods for blessednesse of life hereafter that cannot liue honestly vnder them here but lies in bondage to such vncleane filthinesse and so many dammed deuills but all this say they hath reference to the world nay looke if it be not to the wicked f ◅hat cannot bee referred to the world that is found to bee in the world But we doe seeke a minde that trusting in the true religion doth not worshippe the world as his God but commendeth it for his sake as his admired worke and being expiate from all the staines of the world so approcheth to him that made the world wee see these selected gods more notified then the rest not to the aduancement of their merits but the diuul ging of their shames this proues them men as not onely Po◅es but histories also do explaine for that which Virgill saith Aen. 8. Primus ab aethereo venit Saturnus Olympo Arma Iouis fugiens regnis exul ademptis An g Whence Saturne came Olimpus was the place Flying Ioues armes exil'd in wretched case d so as followeth the same hath h Euemerus written in a continuate history translated into latine by Ennius whence because much may bee taken both in Greeke and also in Latine that hath bin spoken against these error by others before vs I cease to vrge them further L. VIVES B◅g a Of. These Galli were allowed to beg of the people by a law that Metellus made O◅id shewes the reason in these verses Dic inquam parua cur stipe quaerat opes Contulit aes populus de quo delubra Metellus Fecit ait dandae mos stipis inde manet Tell me quoth I why beg they basely still Metellus built the shrine o' th' townes expence quoth he and so the begging law came thence Cicero in his sacred and seuerest lawes of those times charged that None but the Idaean goddesses Priests should beg his reason is because it fills the mind with folly and empties the purse of mony But what if Augustine or Cicero saw now how large and ritch societies go a begging to those on whome they might better bestow something whilest hee meane time that giueth it sitteth with a peece of browne bread and a few herbes drinking out of an earthen put full of nothing but water and a great sort of children about him for whose sustenance he toyleth day and night and he that beggeth of him is a ritch begger fed with white and purest bread patrridge and capons and soaked in spiritfull and delicious wines b Red any thing Of their interpretation c Monsters He seemeth to meane Priapus d Ganimede Sonne to Troos King of Phrigia a delicate boy Tantalus in hunting forced him away and gaue him to Ioue in Crete Ioue abused his body The Poets fable how Ioue catcht him vp in the shape of an eagle and made him his chiefe cupbearer in place of Hebe and Vulcan Iuno's children and turned him into the signe Aquary e Profest Openly avowing their bestiall obsc◅ity f What cannot There is not any other reading true but this g Whence Saturne E◅r to Aeneas Uirg Aenead h Euemerus Some read Homerus falsely for it was Eue◅rus as I said that wrot the History called Sacred Of the Naturalists figments that neither adore the true deity nor vse the adoration thereto belonging CHAP. 27. WHen I consider the Physiologies which learned and quick witted men haue endeuoured to turne into diuine matters I discouer as plaine as day that they cannot haue reference to ought but naturall and terrestriall though inuisible obiects all which are farre from the true God If this extended no further then the congruence which true religion permitted then were their want of the knowledge of the true God to be deplored and yet their abstinence from acting or authorizing obscaenity to be in part approued But since that it is wickednesse to worship either body or soule for the true God whose onely dwelling in the soule maketh it happy how much more vile is it to adore these things with a worship neither attaining saluation nor temporall renowne and therefore if any worldly element be set vp for adoration with temple priest or sacrifice which are the true Gods peculiar or any created spirit all were it good and pure it is not so ill a thing because the things vsed in the worship are euill as because they are such as are due onely to his worship to whom all worship is due But if any one say hee worshippeth the true God in monstrous statues sacrifices of men crowning of priuities gelding paiments for sodomy wounds filthy and obscaene festiuall games hee doth not offend because hee that hee worshippeth is to bee worshipped but because he is not to be worshipped so as hee doth worship him But he that with these filthinesses worshippeth not God the creator of all but a creature be it harmlesse or no animate or dead double is his offence to God once for adoring that for him which is not hee and once for adoring him with such rites as is a not to be afforded vnto either But the foulnesse of these mens worship is plaine but what or whom they worship is not so were it not for their owne history that recordes the gods that exacted those bestialities so terribly so therefore doubtlesse they were deuills called by their politique Theologie into Idols and passing from thence into mens hearts L. VIVES IS a not to be Nothing is to be worshipped in that manner neither God nor that
one world in that so infinite a space as to say that but one care of corne growes in a huge field This error Aristotle the Stoâ—…kes beat quite downe putting but that one for the world which Plato and the wisest Philosophers called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vniuerse b Casuall Great adoe the Philosophers keepe about natures principles Democritas makes all things of little bodies that flie about in the voide places hauing forme and magnitude yet indiuisible and therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Atomes Epicurus gaue them weight also more then Democritus did and made those indiuisible diuersly-formed things to 〈◊〉 about of diuers quantities and weights vp and down casually in the voyd and shuffling together in diuers formes thus produce infinite worlds and thus infinite worlds do arise continue and end without any certaine cause at all and seeking of a place without the world we may not take it as we do our places circumscribing a body but as a certaine continuance before the world was made wherein many things may possibly be produced and liue So though their bee nothing without this world yet the minde conceiueth a space wherein God may boâ—… place this and infinite worlds more c For wee With the Platâ—…nists he means d Out 〈◊〉 The ancients held the Platonists and Stoickes in great respect and reuerence Cicero That the world and time had both one beginning nor was the one before the other CHAP. 6. FOr if eternity and time be wel considered time a neuer to be extant without motion and b eternity to admit no change who would not see that time could not haue being before some mouable thing were created whose motion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alteration necessarily following one part another the time might run 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore that God whose eternity alters not created the world and 〈◊〉 can he bee said to haue created the world in time vnlesse you will say 〈◊〉 some-thing created before the world whose course time did follow 〈◊〉 holy and most true scriptures say that In the beginning God created heaâ—…â—…h to wit that there was nothing before then because this was the Beâ—… which the other should haue beene if ought had beene made before 〈◊〉 the world was made with Time not in Time for that which is made 〈◊〉 â—…s made both before some Time after some Before iâ—… is Time past afâ—…â—…me to come But no Time passed before the world because no creature 〈◊〉 by whose course it might passe But it was made with the Time if moâ—… Times condition as that order of the first sixe or seauen daies went 〈◊〉 were counted morning euening vntill the Lord fulfilled all the worke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sixth day and commended the seauenth to vs in the mistery of sanctifiâ—… Of what fashion those daies were it is either exceeding hard or altogeâ—…â—…possible to thinke much more to speake L. VIVES Iâ—… 〈◊〉 â—…euer Aristotle defined time the measure of motion makeing them vtterly inseâ—… Some Philosophers define it motion so doe the Stoikes b Eternity So saith Auâ—…â—…en â—…en Boetius also Nazianzene and others all out of Plato these are his wordes When 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this great mooueable and eternall vniuerse beheld his worke he was very well pleased 〈◊〉 â—…ake it yet a little liker to the Archetype And so euen as this creature is immortall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make the world eternall as neare as the nature thereof would permit but his naâ—…â—…ll and squared not with this made worke But hee conceiued a moueable forme of eâ—… together with ornament of the heauenly structure gaue it this progressiue eternall Iâ—…â—…ity which he named Time diuiding it into daies nights monthes and yeares all which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heauen and none of them were before heauen Thus Plato in his Timaeus Time saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Image of eternity but time mooueth and eternity moueth not being naturally fixed â—…able towards it doth time passe and endeth in the perfection therof and may be dissolued 〈◊〉 â—…orlds creator will In dogm Platon Of the first sixe daies that had morning and euening â—…re the Sunne was made CHAP. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordinary a daies wee see they haue neither morning nor euening but 〈◊〉 â—…e Sunne rises and sets But the first three daies of all had no Sunne for 〈◊〉 made the fourth day And first God made the light and seuered it from 〈◊〉 â—…nesse calling it day and darkenesse night but what that light was and 〈◊〉 â—…nne a course to make morning and night is out of our sence to iudge 〈◊〉 we vnderstand it which neuerthelesse we must make no question but beâ—… b for the light was either a bodily thing placed in the worlds highest paâ—… farre from our eye or there where the Sunne was afterwards made c or 〈◊〉 the name of light signified that holy citty with the Angells and spirits whereof the Apostle saith Ierusalem which is aboue is our eternall mother in heauen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 another place hee saith yee are all the children of light and the sonnes of the 〈◊〉 â—…re not sonnes of night and darkenesse d Yet hath this day the morne and eâ—… because e the knowledge of the creature compared to the Creators is 〈◊〉 â—…ery twilight And day breaketh with man when he draweth neare the loue and praise of the Creator Nor is the creature euer be nighted but when the loue of the Creator forsakes him The scripture orderly reciting those daies neuer mentions the night nor saith night was but the euening and the morning were the first day so of the second and soon For the creatures knowledge of it selfe is as it were farre more discoloured then when it ioynes with the Creators as in the arte that framed it Therefore euen is more congruently spoken then night yet when all is referred to the loue praise of the Creator night becomes morning and when it comes to the knowledge of it selfe it is one full day When it comes to the Firmament that seperateth the waters aboue and below it is the second day When vnto the knowledge of the earth and all things that haue roote thereon it is the third day When vnto the knowledge of the two lights the greater and the lesse the fourth when it knowes all water-creatures foules and fishes it is the fifth and when it knowes all earthly creatures and man himselfe it is the sixth day L. VIVES ORdinary a daies Coleynes coppy reades not this place so well b For the The schoole men Sent. 2. dist 24. dispute much of this But Augustine calleth not the light a body here but saith God made it either some bright body as the Sunne or eâ—…s the contraction of the incorporeall light made night and the extension day as Basil saith moouing like the Sun in the egresse making morning in the regresse euening Hug. de S. Victore de Sacram. lib. 1. c Or els Aug. de genes ad lit lib. 1. d Yet hath A diuers reading both to one purpose e
althings in number weight measure that if he should say too much of number hee should seeme both to neglect his owne grauity and measure and the wise-mans c Let this The Iewes in the religious keeping of their Sabboth shew that 7. was a number of much mistery Hierome in Esay Gellius lib. 3. and his emulator Macrobius in Somn. Scip. lib. 1. record the power of it in Heauen the Sea and in Men. The Pythagorists as Chalcidius writeth included all perfection nature sufficiency herein And wee Christians hold it sacred in many of our religious misteries d That 3. is An euen number sayth Euclid is that which is diuisible by two the odde is the contrary Three is not diuisible into two nor any for one is no number Foure is diuided into two and by vnites and this foure was the first number that gotte to halfes as Macrobius sayth who therefore commendeth 7. by the same reason that Aug. vseth here e For all Aug. in Epist. ad Galat. f By this number Serm. de verb dom in monte This appellation ariseth from the giftes shewne in Esay Chap. 32. Of their opinion that held Angels to be created before the world CHAP. 32. BVt if some oppose and say that that place Let there be light and there was light was not meant of the Angels creation but of some a other corporall light and teach that the Angels wer made not only before the firmament diuiding the waters and called heauen but euen before these words were spoken In the beginning God made heauen and earth Taking not this place as if nothing had bene made before but because God made all by his Wisedome and Worde whome the Scripture also calleth a a beginning as answered also to the Iewes when they inquired what he was I will not contend because I delight so in the intimation of the Trinity in the first chapter of Genesis For hauing said In the beginning God made heauen and earth that is the Father created it in the Son as the Psalme saith O Lord how manyfold are thy workes In thy wisedome madest thou them all presently after he mentioneth the Holy Spirit For hauing shewed the fashion of earth and what a huge masse of the future creation God called heauen and earth The earth was without forme void and darknesse was vpon the deepe to perfect his mention of the Trinity he added c And the spirit of the Lord moued vpon the waters Let each one take it as he liketh it is so profound that learning may produce diuers opinions herein all faithfull and true ones so that none doubt that the Angels are placed in the high heauens not as coeternals with God but as sure of eternall felicity To whose society Christ did not onely teach that his little ones belonged saying They shall be equal vvith the Angels of God but shewes further the very contemplation of the Angels saying Se that you despise not one of these little ones for I say vnto you that in heauen their Angels alway behold the face of my Father vvhich is in Heauen L. VIVES SOme a other corporeall Adhering to some body b Beginning I reproue not the diuines in calling Christ a beginning For he is the meane of the worlds creation and cheefe of all that the Father begotte But I hold it no fit collection from his answere to the Iewes It were better to say so because it was true then because Iohn wrote so who thought not so The heretikes make vs such arguments to scorne vs with at all occasion offered But what that wisely and freely religious Father Hierome held of the first verse of Genesis I will now relate Many as Iason in Papisc Tertull. contra Praxeam and Hillar in Psalm Hold that the Hebrew text hath In the Sonne God made Heauen and earth which is directly false For the 70. Symachus and Theodotion translate it In the beginning The Hebrew is Beresith which Aquila translates in Capitulo not Ba-ben in the Son So then the sence rather then the translation giueth it vnto Christ who is called the Creator of Heauen and earth as well in the front of Genesis the head of all bookes as in S. Iohns Ghospell So the Psalmist saith in his person In the head of the booke it is written of me viz. of Genesis and of Iohn Al things were made by it without it was made nothing c. But we must know that this book is called Beresith the Hebrewes vsing to put their books names in their beginnings Thus much word for word out of Hierome c And the spirit That which wee translate Ferebatur moued sayth Hierome the Hebrewes read Marahefet forwhich we may fitly interprete incubabat brooded or cherished as the hen doth heregges with heate Therfore was it not the spirit of the world as some thinke but the holy spirite that is called the quickner of all things from the beginning If the Quickner then the maker if the Maker then the God If thou send forth thy word saith he they are created Of the two different societies of Angels not vnfitly tearmed light and darkenesse CHAP. 33. THat some Angels offended and therfore were thrust into prisons in the worlds lowest parts vntill the day of their last iudiciall damnation S. Peter testifieth playnely saying That God spared not the Angels that had sinned but cast them downe into hell and deliuered them into a chaynes of darkenesse to be kept vnto damnation Now whether Gods prescience seperated these from the other who doubteth that he called the other light worthily who denyeth Are not we heare on earth by faith and hope of equality with them already ere wee haue it called light by the Apostle Ye were once darkenesse saith he but are now light in the Lord. And well doe these perceiue the other Apostaticall powers are called darkenesse who consider them rightly or beleeue them to bee worse then the worst vnbeleeuer Wherefore though that light which GOD sayd should bee and it was bee one thing and the darkenesse from which GOD seperated the light bee another yet the obscurity of this opinion of these two societies the one inioying GOD the other swelling in b pride the one to whome it sayd Praise GOD all â—…ee his Angels the other whose Prince said All these will I giue thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship mee the one inflamed with GOD'S loue the other blowne bigge with selfe-loue whereas it is sayd God resisteth the proud and giueth grace to the lowly the one in the highest heauens the other in the obscurest ayre the one piously quiet the other madly turbulent the one punishing or releeuing according to Gods c iustice and mercy the other raging with the ouer vnreasonable desire to hurt and subdue the one allowed GODS Minister to all good the other restrayned by GOD from doing d the desired hurt the one scorning the other for doing good against their wills
so shee was indeed both these and withall of such beauty that she was amiable euen at those years L. VIVES A Shower a of fire Of this combustion many prophane authors make mention Strabo saith that cities were consumed by that fire as the inhabitāts thereabout report the poole that remaineth where Sodome stood the chiefe city is sixty furlongs about Many of thē also mention the lake Asphalts where the bitumen groweth b Apiller Iosephus saith he did see it Of Isaac borne at the time prefixed and named so because of his parents laughter CHAP. 31. AFter this Abraham according to Gods promise had a son by Sarah and called him Isaac that is Laughter for his father laughed for ioy and admiration when he was first promised and his mother when the three men confirmed this promise againe laughed also betweene ioye and doubt the Angell shewing her that her laughter was not faithfull though it were ioyfull Hence had the child his name for this laughter belonged not to the recording of reproach but to the celebration of gladnesse as Sarah shewed when Isaac was borne and called by this name for she said God hath made me to laugh and all that heare me will reioyce with me and soone after the bond-woman and her son is cast out of the house in signification of the old Testament as Sarah was of the new as the Apostle saith and of that glorious City of God the Heauenly Ierusalem Abrahams faith and obedience proo◅ in his intent to offer his sonne Sarahs death CHAP. 32. TO omit many accidents for brenities sake Abraham for a triall was commanded to goe and sacrifice his dearest sonne Isaac that his true obedience might shew it selfe to all the world in that shape which GOD knew already that it bate This now was an inculpable temptation and some such there bee and was to bee taken thankfully as one of Gods trialls of man And generally mans minde can neuer know it selfe well but putting forth it selfe vpon trialls and experimentall hazards and by their euents it learneth the owne state wherein if it acknowledge Gods enabling it it is godly and confirmed in solidity of grace against all the bladder-like humors of vaine-glory Abraham would neuer beleeue that God could take delight in sacrifices of mans flesh though Gods thundring commands are to bee obeyed not questioned vpon yet is Abraham commended for hauing a firme faith and beleefe that his sonne Isaac should rise againe after hee were sacrificed For when he would not obey his wife in casting out the bond-woman and hir sonne God said vnto him In Isaac shall thy seede bee called and addeth Of the bond-womans sonne will I make a great nation also because hee is thy seede How then is Isaac onely called Abrahams seede when God calleth Ismael so likewise The Apostle expoundeth it in these words that is they which are the children of the flesh are not the children of God but the children of the promise are accounted for the seede And thus are the sonnes of promise called to be Abrahams seede in Isaac that is gathered into the Church by Christ his free grace and mercy This promise the father holding fast seeing that it must bee fulfilled in him whom God commanded to kill doubted not but that that God could restore him after sacrificing who had giuen him at first beyond all hope So the Scripture taketh his beleefe to haue beene and deliuereth it By faith a Abraham offered vp Isaac when hee was tryed and hee that had receiued the promises offered his onely sonne to whom it was said in Isaac shall thy seede bee called for hee considered that God was able to raise him from the dead and then followeth for when hee receiued him also in a sort in what sort but as hee receiued his sonne of whom it is said Who spared not his owne sonne but gaue him to dye for vs all And so did Isaac carry the wood of sacrifice to the place euen as Christ carried the crosse Lastly seeing Isaac was not to be slaine indeed and his father commanded to hold his hand who was that Ram that was offered as a full and typicall sacrifice Namely that which Abraham first of all espied entangled b in the bushes by the hornes What was this but a type of Iesus Christ crowned with thornes ere hee was crucified But marke the Angels words Abraham saith the Scriptures lift vp his hand and tooke the knife to kill his sonne But the Angell of the Lord called vnto him from heauen saying Abraham and he answered Here Lord then he said Lay not thy hand vpon thy sonne nor doe any thing vnto him for now I know thou fearest God seeing that for my sake thou hast not spared thine onely sonne Now I know that is now I haue made knowne for God knew it ere now And then Abraham hauing offered the Ram for his sonne Isaac called the place c the Lord hath seene as it is said vnto this day in the mount hath the Lord appeared the Angels of the Lord called vnto Abraham againe out of heauen saying By my selfe haue I sworne saith the Lord because thou hast done this thing lust not spared thine onely sonne for me surely I will blesse thee multiply thy seed as the starres of heauen or the sands of the sea and thy seed shal possesse the gate of his enemies and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because thou hast a obayed my voyce This is that promise sworne vnto by God concerning the calling of the Gentiles after the offering of the Ram the type of Christ. God had often promised before but neuer sworne And what is Gods oth but a confirmation of his promise and a reprehension of the faithlesse after this died Sara being ahundred twenty seauen yeares old in the hundred thirty seauen yeare of her husbands age for hee was ten yeares elder then she as he shewed when Isaac was first promised saying shall I that am a hundred yeares old haue a child and shall Sarah that is foure score and tenne yeares old beare and then did Abraham buy a peece of ground and buried his wife in it and then as Stephen sayth was hee seated in that land for then began hee to be a possessor namely after the death of his father who was dead some two yeares before L. VIVES BY a faith A diuersity of reading in the text of Scripture therefore haue wee followed the vulgar b in the bushes This is after the seauenty and Theodotion whose translation Hierome approues before that of Aquila and Symachus c The Lord hath seene The Hebrew saith Hierome is shall see And it was a prouerbe vsed by the Hebrewes in all their extremities wishing Gods helpe to say In the mount the Lord shall see that is as hee pitied Abraham so will hee pitty vs. And in signe of that Ramme that God sent him they vse vnto this day to blow
nations to the other What greater proofe need wee then this to confirme that the Israelites and all the world besides are contained in Abrahams seed the first in the flesh and the later in the spirit Of Moyses his times Iosuah the Iudges the Kings Saul the first Dauid the chiefe both in merite and in mysticall reference CHAP. 43. IAcob and Ioseph being dead the Israelites in the other hundred fortie foure yeares at the end of which they left Egypt increased wonderfully though the Egyptians oppressed them sore and once killed all their male children for feare of their wonderfull multiplication But Moses was saued from those butchers and brought vp in the court by Pharaohs daughter the a name of the Egiptian Kings God intending great things by him and he grew vp to that worth that he was held fit to lead the nation out of this extreame slauery or rather God did it by him according to his promise to Abraham First hee fled into Madian for killing an Egiptian in defence of an Israelite and afterwards returning full of Gods spirit hee foyled the enchanters h of Pharao in all their opposition and laide the ten sore plagues vpon the Egiptians because they would not let Israel depart namely the changing of the water into bloud Frogges c Lyce d Gnattes morren of Cattell botches and sores Haile Grashoppers darkenesse and death of all the first borne and lastly the Israelites being permitted after all the plagues that Egypt had groned vnder to depart and yet beeing pursued afterwards by them againe passed ouer the redde Sea dry-foote and left all the hoast of Egipt drowned in the middest the sea opened before the Israelites and shut after them returning vpon the pursuers and ouer-whelming them And then forty yeares after was Israell in the deserts with Moyses and there had they the tabernacle of the testimonie where God was serued with sacrifices that were all figures of future euents the law being now giuen with terror vpon mount Syna for the terrible voyces and thunders were full prooses that God was there And this was presently after their departure from Egipt in the wildernesse and there they celebrated their Passe-ouer fiftie dayes after by offring of a Lambe the true type of Christs passing vnto his father by his passion in this world For Pascha in Hebrew is a passing ouer and so the fiftith day after the opening of the new Testament and the offring of Christ our Passeâ—…ouer the holy spirit descended downe from heauen he whom the scriptures call the finger of God to renew the memory of the first miraculous prefiguration in our hearts because the law in the tables is said to be written by the finger of GOD. Moyses being dead Iosuah ruled the people and lead them into the land of promise diuiding it amongst them And by these two glorious captaines were strange battels wonne and they were ended with happy successe God himselfe auouching that the losers sinnes and not the winners merits were causes of those conquests After these two the land of promise was ruled by Iudges that Abrahams seede might see the first promise fulfilled concerning the land of Canaan though not as yet concerning the nations of all the earth for that was to be fulfilled by the comming of Christ in the flesh and the faith of the Gospell not the precepts of the law which was insinuated in this that it was not Moyses that receiued the law but Iosuab h whose name God also changed that lead the people into the promised land But in the Iudges times as the people offended or obeyed God so varied their fortunes in warre On vnto the Kings Saul was the first King of Israel who being a reprobate and dead in the field and all his race reiected from ability of succession Dauid was enthroned i whose sonne our Sauiour is especially called In him is as it were a point from whence the people of God doe flowe whose originall as then being in the youthfull time thereof is drawne from Abraham vnto this Dauid For it is not out of neglect that Mathew the Euangelist reckoneth the descents so that hee putteth foureteene generations betweene Abraham and Dauid For a man may be able to beget in his youth and therefore he begins his genealogies from Abraham who vpon the changing of his name was made the father of many nations So that before him the Church of God was in the infancie as it were from Noah I meane vnto him and therefore the first language the Hebrew as then was inuented for to speake by For from the terme of ones infancie hee begins to speake beeing called an infant k a non sancto of not speaking which age of himselfe euery man forgetteth as fully as the world was destroyed by the deluge For who can remember his infancie Wherefore in this progresse of the Cittie of God as the last booke conteined the first age thereof so let this containe the second and the third when the yoake of the law was laide on their necks the aboundance of sinne appeared and the earthly kingdome had beginning c. intimated by the Heifer the Goate â—…d the Ramme of three yeares old in which there wanted not some faithfull persons as the turtle-doue and the Pidgeon portended L. VIVES THe a name of To anoyde the supposition that Pharao that reigned in Iacob and Iosephs time was all one Pharao with this here named Pharao was a name of kingly dignity in Egipâ—… Hieron in Ezechiel lib. 9. So was Prolomy after Alexander Caesar and Augustus after the two braue Romaines and Abimelech in Palestina Herodotus speaketh of one Pharao that was blinde They were called Pharao of Pharos an I le ouer-against Alexandria called Carpathoâ—… of old Proteus reigned in it The daughter of this Pharao Iosephus calleth Thermuth b Of Pharao Which Pharao this was it is doubtfull Amasis saith Apion Polyhistor as Eusebius citeth him reigned in Egipt when the Iewes went thence But this cannot be for Amasis was long after viz. in Pythagoras his time vnto whom he was commended by Polycrates king of Samos But Iosephus saith out of Manethon that this was Techmosis and yet sheweth him to vary from him-selfe and to put Amenophis in another place also Eusebius saith that it was Pharao Cenchres In Chron. and that the Magicians names were Iannes and Iambres Prep euangel ex Numenio c Lyce So doth Iosephus say if Ruffinus haue well translated him that this third plague was the disease called Phthiriasis or the lousie euill naming no gnattes Peter denatalibus and Albertus Grotus saith that the Cyniphes are a kinde of flye So saith Origen Albertus saith that they had the body of a worme the wings and head of a flye with a sting in their mouth where-with they prick and draw-bloud and are commonly bred in fens and marishes troubling all creatures but man especially Origen calleth them Snipes They do flie faith he but are so
〈◊〉 shall stand fast with him His seede shall endure for euer and his throne as the 〈◊〉 â—…f heauen c All this is meant of Christ vnder the type of Dauid beâ—…â—…hat from a Virgin of his seede CHRIST tooke man vpon him 〈◊〉 â—…olloweth it of Dauids sonnes as it doth in Nathans words meant proâ—…â—…f Salomon hee sayd there If they sinne I will d chasten them with the 〈◊〉 â—…f men and with the e plagues of the sonnes of men that is correctiue â—…ons but my mercy will I not remooue from him Where-vpon it is sayd Tâ—…ot mine annointed hurt them not And now heere in this Psalme speakâ—… 〈◊〉 the mysticall Dauid hee saith the like If his children forsake my lawe â—…lke not in my righteousnesse c. I will visite their transgression with rodds 〈◊〉 â—…eir iniquities with stroakes yet my mercy will I not take from him Hee 〈◊〉 â—…ot from them though hee speake of his sonnes but from him which being â—…ll marked is as much For there could no sinnes bee found in Christ 〈◊〉 â—…urches head worthy to bee corrected of GOD with or without reâ—…ion of mercy but in his members that is his people Wherefore in the 〈◊〉 it is called his sonne and in this Psalme his childrens that wee might 〈◊〉 all things spoken of his body hath some reference vnto him-selfe 〈◊〉 that when Saul persecuted his members his faithfull hee sayd from 〈◊〉 Saul Saul why persecutest thou mee It followeth in the sayd Psalme â—…enant will I not breake nor alter the thing I haue spoaken ' I haue sworne 〈◊〉 my holynesse that f if I faile Dauid that is I will not faile Dauid 〈◊〉 Scriptures vsuall phrase that he will not faile in he addeth saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall remaine for euer and his throne shall bee as thee sunne before mee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Moone and as a faithfull witnesse in heauen L. VIVES AN instruction a to Ethan the Israelite The Ezraite saith the Hebrew Hierome This Psalme is spoken by many mouthes from the father to the sonne and the sonne to the father and the church the Prophet him-selfe or the Apostles b In a vision 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c Aâ—… this A diuersity of reading all to one end d Chasten them I thinke it is meant of the waâ—… that often plague the nations e Plagues all the discommodities that befall man f If I faile A negatiue phrase often vsed in the scriptures As Psal. 95. vers 11. Of diuerse actions done in the earthly Hierusalem and the kingdome differing from Gods promises to shew that the truth of his words concerned the glory of another kingdome and another King CHAP. 10. NOw after the confirmation of all these promises least it should bee thought that they were to be fulfilled in Salomon as they were not the Psalme addeth Thou hast cast him off and brought him to nothing So did he indeed with Salomons kingdome in his posterity euen a vnto the destruction of the earthly Hierusalem the seat of that royalty vnto the burning of that temple that Salomon built But yet least God should be thought to faile in his promise he addeth Thou hast deferred thine annointed this was not Salomon nor Dauid if the Lords annointed were deferred for though all the Kings that were consecrated with that mysticall Chrysme were called annointed from Saul their first King for so Dauid calleth him yet was there but one true annointed whom all these did prefigure who as they thought that looked for him in Dauid or Salomon was deferred long but yet was prepared to come in the time that God had appointed What became of the earthly Hierusalem in the meane time where hee was expected to reigne the Psalme sheweth saying Thou hast ouer-throwne thy seruants couenant prophaned his crowne and cast it on the ground Thou hast pulled downe his walles and laid his fortresses in ruine All passengers doe spoile him hee is the scorne of his neighbours thou hast set vp the right hand of his foes and made his enemies glad Thou hast turned the edge of his sword and giuen him no helpe in battaile Thou hast dispersed his dignity and cast his throne to the ground Thou hast shortned the dayes b of his reigne and couered him with shame All this befell Hierusalem the bond-woman wherein neuerthelesse some sonnes of the free-woman reigned in the time appointed hoping for the heauenly Hierusalem in a true faith beeing the true sonnes thereof in Christ. But how those things befell that kingdome the historie sheweth vnto those that will read it L. VIVES VNto the a destruction 2. Kings 25. b Of his reigne The vulgar and the Greeke say of his time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The substance of the people of God who were in Christ in the flesh who onely had power to redeeme the soule of man from hell CHAP. 11. AFter this the Prophet beginneth to pray yet is this prayer a prophecie also Lord how long wilt thou turne away thy face for euer as is said else-where Hâ—… long wilt thou turne thy face from mee Some bookes read it in the a passiue but it may bee vnderstood of GODS mercy also in the aâ—…iue For euer that is vnto the end which end is the last times when that nation shall beleeue in CHRIST before which time it is to suffer all those myseries that hee bewaileth Wherefore it followeth Shall thy 〈◊〉 burne like fire O remember of what I am my substance Heere is nothing fitter to bee vnderstood then IESVS the substance of this people for hence hee had his flesh Didst thou create the children of men in vaine Vnlesse there were one sonne of man of the substance of Israel by whome a multitude should bee saued they were all created in vaine indeede For now all the seede of man is fallen by the first man from truth to vanitie Man is like to vanitie saith the Psalme his dayes vanish like a shadowe Yet did not GOD create all 〈◊〉 in vaine for hee freeth many from vanitie by CHRIST the mediaâ—… his Sonne and such as hee knoweth will not bee freed hee maketh vse of to the good of the free and the greater eminence of the two Citties Thus is there good reason for the creation of all reasonable creatures It followeth What man liueth that shall not see death or shall free his soule 〈◊〉 the hand of hell Why none but CHRIST IESVS the substance of Israell and the sonne of Dauid of whome the Apostle saith Who beeing â—…ysed from death dyeth no more death hath no more dominion ouer him â—…or hee liueth and shall not see death But freed his soule from the hand of 〈◊〉 because hee descended into the lower parts to loose some b 〈◊〉 the bonds of sinne by that power that the Euangelist recordeth of 〈◊〉 I haue power to laye downe my soule and I haue power to take it vppe 〈◊〉 L VIVES IN a the passiue So readeth not the vulgar but in the
Terra and Tartarus but the most say that Uulcan made her and Hercules killed her with a shaft so she was set vp in the skie betweene the tropike of Cancer and the Equinoctiall line But after that Prometheus had prophecyed vnto Ioue being to lye with Thetis that the sonne he begat should bee greater then the father He was loosed prouided he must euer weare an iron ring vpon his finger in memory of his bondage and hence came the vse of rings they say Lactantius saith he first made Idols of Clay He stole fire saith Pliny lib. 7. that is be taught the way how to strike it out of the flints and how to keepe it in a cane It is sure saith Diodorus lib. 5. that hee did finde out the fewell of fire at first The Pelasgiues as Pausanias testifieth ascribe the finding of fire vnto their Phoroneus not vnto Prometheus Theophrastus saith this is tropicall and ment of the inuentions of wisdome f He taught Old Iaphets sonne the worlds full wisest man doth Hesiod call him vnto Epimetheus his younger brother they say hee did willingly resigne the kingdome of Thessaly giuing him-selfe wholly vnto celestiall contemplation and for that end ascending the high mount Caucasus to behold the circumuolution of the starres their postures c. And then descending downe came taught the Caldees Astronomy and pollicy to the which I thinke the fable of the Eagle feeding vpon his liuer hath reference and to his doubtfull cares arising still one from another The interpreter of Apollonius Rhodius saith there is a riuer called Aquila that falling from Caucasus runnes through the heart of the country Promethea lying close to that mount Herodotus writeth that Prometheus the King of Scythia knowing not which way to bring the riuer Aquila to runne by his kingdome was much troubled vntill Hercules came and did it for him Thus of the riuer these two agree Diodorus saith that Prometheus was the King of Egypt and when Nilus had ouer flowed the country and drowned many of the inhabitants he was about to kill him-selfe but Hercules by his wisdome found a meane to reduce the riuer to his proper chanell and herevpon Nilus for his swiftnesse of course was called Aquila g Yet are Yes Atlas was wise and so was Epimetheus but to late for Prometheus is one of a forewit Epimetheus an after witted man for he being warned by his brother Prometheus to take no gift of Ioue neglected this warning and tooke Pandora and afterwards as Hesiod saith he knew he had receiued his hurt And therefore Augustines reason is â—…ong and acute How was he such a great doctor when wee can finde no wise men that hee left behind him who can iudge of his wisdome seeing there was no wise men of his time for â—…ome onely iudgeth of wisdome h His brother Atlas There were three of this name 〈◊〉 Seruius in Aeneid l. 8. A Moore the chiefe An Italian father to Electrae and an Arcadian 〈◊〉 to Maia the mother of Mercury These three the writers doe confound as their vse is For Diodorus lib 4. maketh Atlas the Moore sonne to Caelus and brother to Saturne father to the Hesperides and grand-father to Mercury a great astronomer one who by often ascending the mountaine of his name froÌ„ whence he might better behold the course of the heauens giue occasion of the fable of his sustayning heauen vpon his shoulders Pliny lib. 7. saith that 〈◊〉 the son of Lybia this Moore assuredly was the inuentor of Astrology lib. 2. inuented the â—…here Alex. Polyhistor thinketh that he was Henoch the inuentor of that star-skil that Aâ—…s taught the Phaenicians and Egiptians afterwards when hee trauelled these countries This knowledge in Astronomy might well giue life to that fable of Heauen-bearing Some â—…e it arose from the inaccessible hight of mount Atlas that seemeth to the eye to vnderâ—… the skies saith Herodotus and reacheth aboue the cloudes nor can the top be easily disâ—…d the cloudes beeing continually about it this was a great furtherance to the fiction The Italian Atlas was that ancient king of Fesulae as it is reported i Cecrops his Pausanias 〈◊〉 that Actaeus was the first King of Attica and Cecrops an Egiptian his step-son inheriâ—… kingdome after him and hee they say was a man from his vpper parts and a beast in 〈◊〉 â—…her because hee by good lawes reduced the people from barbrisme vnto humanity or 〈◊〉 â—…her parts were feminine say some because hee instituted marriage in that country and was as it were the first author in those parts of father and mother for before they begot children at randon and no man knew his owne father Affricanus saith that Ogyges was the first 〈◊〉 of Athens that from the deluge in his daies the land was vntilled and â—…ay desert 200. yâ—…ter vntill Cecrops his time But for Actaeus and others named as Kings thereof before 〈◊〉 â—…hey are but bare names Annal. lib. 4. k Phorbas Brother to Perasus saith Pausanias 〈◊〉 â—…rgus and father to Triopas The Rhodians saith Diodorus beeing sore vexed by serâ—…â—…nt to the Oracle and by the appointment thereof called Phorbas into their Island giâ—… 〈◊〉 part thereof to him his heires and so they were freed from that plague for which 〈◊〉 â—…eed that he should after his death be honored as a God but this as seemes by Dioâ—…â—…s â—…s not Phorbas the Argiue nor these of Perasus or Argus but a Thessalian the sonne of 〈◊〉 l Triopas Sonne to Phorbas Paus. Diodorus mentions one Triopas the sonne of vnâ—… parents some say of Neptune and Canace some of Apollo The people hated him saith 〈◊〉 â—…pouerishing the Temples and for killing his brother Higinius saith that some tooke 〈◊〉 bee that celestiall constellation in heauen called Ophinchus who is wound about with a 〈◊〉 for Triopas hauing taken off the roofe of Ceres temple to couer his own palace withal 〈◊〉 â—…enged her selfe vpon him with a bitter hunger and lastly in his end a dragon appeared 〈◊〉 afflicted him sore at last he died and being placed in heauen he was figured as if a 〈◊〉 â—…guirt him about m Iasus Father to Io of whom Argos was called Iasium and the Arâ—… â—…ians n Sthenelas After Iasus saith Paus. Crotopus Agenors son reigned hee beâ—… â—…las o Mercury Tully as I said before reckneth 4. Mercuries This is the third son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Maia taught by his grand-father inuenting many excellent things of himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Magician as Prudentius writes therefore feigned to be the carier and recarier of 〈◊〉 and from hell p Hercules There were 6. of this name as Tully saith The 1. and most 〈◊〉 son to the eldest Ioue and Liscitus he contended with Apollo for the Tripos 2. an Eâ—… son to Nilus reputed the author of the Phrygian letters 〈◊〉 one deâ—…fied amongst the Iâ—… vnto whom they offer sacrifices infernal 4. Son vnto Astery
thinke this place obscure let him looke for no plainenesse in the Scriptures L. VIVES THy a victory Some read contention but the originall is Victory and so doe Hierom and Ambrose reade it often Saint Paul hath the place out of Osee. chap. â—…3 ver 14. and vseth it 1. Cor. 16. ver 55. b When shall death The Cittie of GOD shall see death vntill the words that were sayd of Christ after his resurrection Oh hell where is thy victory may bee said of all our bodies that is at the resurrection when they shal be like his glorified bodie Saint Peters doctrine of the resurrection of the dead CHAP. 18. NOw let vs heare what Saint Peter sayth of this Iudgement There shall come saith hee in the last daies mockers which will walke after their lusts and say Where is the promise of his comming For since the fathers died all things continue alike from the beginning of the creation For this they willingly know not that the heauens were of old and the earth that was of the water and by the water by the word of GOD wherefore the world that then was perished ouer-flowed with the water But the heauens and earth that now are are kept by the same word in store and reserued vnto fire against the day of iudgement and of the destruction of vngodly men Dearcly beloued bee not ignorant of this that one daie with the LORD is as a thousand years and a thousand yeares as one daie The LORD is not flack concerning his promise as some men count slackenesse but is pacient toward vs and would haue no man to perish but would haue all men to come to repentance But the daie of the LORD will come as a thiefe in the night in the which the heauens shall passe awaie with a noyse and the elements shall melt with 〈◊〉 and the earth with the workes that are therein shal be burnt vppe Seeing therefore all these must bee dissolued what manner of persons ought you to bee in holy conuersation and Godlinesse longing for and hasting vnto the comming of the daie of GOD by the which the heauens beeing on fire shal be dissolued and the elements shall melt vvith heate But vve-looke for a nevv heauen and a nevv earth according to his promise vvherein dvvelleth righteousnesse Thus sarre Now here is no mention of the resurrection of the dead but enough concerning the destruction of the world where his mention of the worlds destruction already past giueth vs sufficient warning to beleeue the dissolution to come For the world that was then perished saith hee at that time not onely the earth but that part of the ayre also which the watter a possessed or got aboue and so consequently almost all those ayry regions which hee calleth the heauen or rather in the plurall the heauens but not the spheres wherein the Sunne and the Starres haue their places they were not touched the rest was altered by humidity and so the earth perished and lost the first forme by the deluge But the heauens and earth saith hee that now are are kept by the same word in store and reserued vnto fire against the daie of iudgement and of the destruction of vngodly men Therefore the same heauen and earth that remained after the deluge are they that are reserued vnto the fire afore-said vnto the daie of iudgement and perdition of the wicked For because of this great change hee sticketh not to say there shal be a destruction of men also whereas indeed their essences shall neuer bee anniâ—…e although they liue in torment Yea but may some say if this old heauen and earth shall at the worlds end bee burned before the new ones be made where shal the Saints be in the time of this conflagration since they haue bodies and therefore must be in some bodily place We may answere in the vpper parts whither the fire as then shall no more ascend then the water did in the deluge For at this daie the Saints bodies shal be mooueable whither their wills doe please nor need they feare the fire beeing now both immortall and incorruptible b for the three children though their bodies were corruptible were notwithstanding preserued from loosing an haire by the fire and might not the Saints bodies be preserued by the same power L. VIVES THe a water possessed For the two vpper regions of the ayre doe come iust so low that they are bounded with a circle drawne round about the earthlie highest mountaines tops Now the water in the deluge beeing fifteene cubites higher then the highest mountaine it both drowned that part of the ayre wherein wee liue as also that part of the middle region wherein the birds do vsually flie both which in Holy writ and in Poetry also are called Heauens b The three Sidrach Misach and Abdenago at Babilon who were cast into a â—…nace for scorning of Nabuchadnezzars golden statue Dan. 3. Saint Pauls words to the Thessalonians Of the manifestations of Antichrist whose times shall immediately fore-runne the day of the Lord. CHAP. 19. I See I must ouer-passe many worthy sayings of the Saints concerning this day least my worke should grow to too great a volume but yet Saint Pauls I may by no meanes omit Thus sayth he Now I beseech you bretheren by the comming of our LORD IESVS CHRIST and by our assembling vnto him that you bee not suddenly mooued from your minde nor troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as if it were from vs as though the day of CHRIST were at hand Let no man deceiue you by any meanes for that day shall not come except there come a a fugitiue first and that that man of sinne bee disclosed euen the sonne of perdition which is an aduersary and exalteth himselfe against all is called god or that is worshipped so that he sitteth as God in the Temple of God shewing himselfe that he is God Remember yee not that when I was yet with you I told you these things And now yee know what withholdeth that he might be reuealed in his due time For the mistery of iniquity doth already worke onely he which now withholdeth shall let till he be taken out of the way and the wicked man shal be reuealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall abolish with the brightnesse of his comming euen him whose comming is by the working of Sathan with all power and signes and lying wonders and in all deceiuablenesse of vnrighteousnesse amongst them that perish because they receiued not the loue of the truth that they might be saued And therefore God shall send them strong delusion that they should beleeue lyes that all they might bee damned which beleeue not in the truth but had pleasure in vnrighteousnesse This is doubtlesse meant of Antichrist and the day of iudgement For this day hee saith shall not come vntill that Antichrist be come before it he that is called here a fugitiue
vnlesse it be shored vppe by the worship of many gods whom the blinded Pagans haue beene accustomed to worship and adore auerring but their truth is meere false-hood that neglect and contempt of their vnworthy adoration hath beene the fountaine from whence these bitter waters of aduerse occurrences haue streamed abundantly and ouerflowed them But the other fiue following are not meale-mouthed but speake boldly against them which confesse that the spring of worldly euills is not exhausted nor shal euer be dried vp but the current flowing some-time more some-times lesse some-times swiftly some times slowly changing their state according to the circumstance of places times and persons yet fondly are they opinionated for verity hath not made them a warrant that the deuout adoration of many gods in which sacrifices are offered vnto their imaginary Deity is profitable for the life which wee hope for after death Therefore in these ten bookes the absurdity of these two vaine opinions both deadly foes vnto Christian religion is discouered and confuted But least some man may vpbraid mee that I am too forward to disproue the assertions of others and slow enough to proue mine owne the other part of this worke which is confined within the bounds of twelue bookes is directed to that purpose Although in the first ten where it is needfull wee are not behinde hand to confirme the truth of our owne opinions and also to infringe the authority of contrary oppositions in the twelue bookes ensewing Therefore the first foure of the twelue following containe the originall of two Citties of which one belongeth to GOD the other to this World The second foure containe their progresse The third foure which are the last conteine their due bounds Now though all the two and twenty bookes are compiled together of both Citties yet they haue taken their title from the better part and haue the name of the Citty of God printed on their fore-head In the tenth booke it ought not to bee set downe for a miracle that the fire falling from heauen ranne betweene the deuided sacrifices when ABRAHAM sacrificed because this was shewed vnto him in a vision In the seauenteenth booke where it is sayd of SAMVEL He was not of the sonnes of ARON it should rather haue beene sayd He was not the sonne of the Priest For it was a more lawfull custome that the sonnes of the Priests should succeed in the roome of the deceassed Priests For the Father of SAMVEL is found in the sonnes of ARON but hee was not a Priest yet not so in his sonnes as if ARON had begot him but in such sort as all of that people are said to bee the sonnes of ISRAEL This worke beginneth thus That most glorious society and celestiall Cittie of GOD c. THE CONTENTS OF THE first booke of the City of God 1. Of the aduersaries of the name of Christ spared by the Barbarians in the sacking of Rome onely for Christs sake 2. There neuer was warre wherein the Conquerors would spare them whome they conquered for the gods they worshipped 3. Of the Romaines fondnesse in thinking that those gods could helpe them which could not helpe Troy in her distresse 4. Of the Sanctuary of Iuno in Troy which freed not any that fled into it from the Greeks at the Citties sack whereas the Churches of the Apostles saued all commers from the Barbarians at the sack of Rome Caesars opinion touching the enemies custome in the sack of Citties 5. That the Romaines themselues neuer spared the Temples of those Citties which they conquered 6. That the cruell effects following the losses of warre did but follow the custome of war wherein they were moderated it was through the power of the name of Iesus Christ. 7. Of the commodities and discommodities commonly communicated both to good and ill 8. Of the causes of such corrections as fall both vpon the good and bad together 9. That the Saints in their losse of things temporall loose not any thing at all 10. Of the end of this transitory life whether it be long or short 11. Of buriall of the dead that it is not preiudiciall to the state of a Christian soule to be forbidden it 12. The reasons why wee should bury the bodies of the Saints 13. Of the captiuity of the Saints and that 〈◊〉 they neuer wanted spirituall comfort 14. Of Marcus Regulus who was a famous example to animate all men to the enduring of voluntary â—…tiuity for their religion which notwithstanding was vnprofitable vnto him by reason of his Paganisme 15. Whether the taxes that the holy Uirgins suffered against their wills in their captiuities could pollute the vertues of their minde 16. Of such as chose a voluntary death to avoide the feare of paine and dishonor 17. Of the violent lust of the souldiers executed vpon the bodies of the captiues against their consents 18. Of Lucrecia that stab'd her selfe because Tarquins sonne had rauished her 19. That their is no authority which allowes christians to bee their owne deaths in what cause so euer 20. Of some sort of killing men which notwithstanding are no murthers 21. That voluntary death can neuer bee any signe of magnanimity or greatnesse of spirit 22. Of Cato who killed himselfe being not able to endure Caesars victory 23. That the Christians excell Regulus in that vertue wherein he excelled most 24. That sinne is not to bee avoided by sinne 25. Of some vnlawfull acts done by the Saints and by what occasion they were done 26. Whether wee ought to flie sinne with voluntary death 27. How it was a Iudgement of GOD that the enemy was permitted to excercise his lust vpon the Christians bodies 28. What the seruants of Christ may answer the Infidells when they vpbraide them with Christs not deliuering them in their afliction from the fury of the enemies fury 29. That such as complaine of the Christian times desire nothing but to liue in filthy pleasures 30. By what degrees of corruption the Romans ambition grew to such a height 31. Of the first inducing of stage-plaies 32. Of some vices in the Romaines which their Citties ruine did neuer reforme 33. Of the clemency of GOD in moderating this calamity of Rome 34. Of such of GODS elect as liue secretly as yet amongst the Infidells and of such as are false Christians 35. What subiects are to be handled in the following discourse FINIS THE FIRST BOOKE OF SAINT AVGVSTINE Bishop of Hippo his Cittie of God vnto MARCELLINVS Of the aduersaries of the name of Christ spared by the Barbarians in the sacking of Rome onely for Christs sake CHAP. 1. THAT most glorious society and celestiall Citty of Gods faithfull which is partly seated in the course of these declining times wherein he that liueth a by faith is a Pilgrim amongst the wicked and partly in that solid estate of eternitie which as yet the other part doth paciently expect vntill b righteousnesse be turned into iudgment being then by the
them in these wordes b Gens inimica mihi Tyrrhenum nauigat aequor Ilium in Italiam portans victosque penates The nation that I hate in peace sayles by with Troy and Troyes falne Gods to Italy c Yea would any wise-man haue commended the defence of Rome vnto Gods already proued vnable to defend them-selues but suppose d Iuno spoke this as a woman in anger not knowing what shee said what saies the so often surnamed e godly Aeneas him-selfe does he not say plainly f Panthus Otriades arcis Phoebique sacerdos Sacra manu Victosque deos parvumque nepotem Ipse trahit cursuque amens ad limina tendit Panthus a Priest of Phaebus and the Tower Burdned with his falne gods and in his hand His poore young nephew flyes vnto the strand Doth he not hold these Gods which he dares call falne rather commended vnto him then he to them it being said to him g Sacra suosque tibi commendat Troia penates To thee doth Troy commend her Gods her all If Virgill then call them fallen Gods and conquered Gods needing mans helpe for their escape after their ouerthrow and fall how mad are men to thinke that there was any witte shewen in committing Rome to their keeping or that it could not be lost if first it lost not them To worship conquered and cast Gods as guardians and defenders what is it but to put by good deityes and adore wicked i diuells Were there not more wisdome shewen in beleeuing not that Rome had not come to this calamitie vnlesse it had first lost them but that they had long since come to nothing had not Rome beene as the especially carefull keeper of them Who sees not that will see any thing what an idle presumption it is to build any impossibility of beeing conquered vpon defenders that haue bene conquered and to thinke that Rome therefore perished because it had lost the Gods k guardians when possibly the onely cause why it perished was because it would set the rest vpon such soone perishing guardians Nor listed the Poets to lye when they sung thus of these subuerted Gods it was truth that inforced their vigorous spirits to confesse it But of this more fitly in another place hereafter At this time as I resolued at first I wil haue a little bout as wel as I can with those vngrateful persons whose blasphemous tongues throw those calamities vpon Christ which are onely the guerdons of their owne peruersnesse But wheras Christs name alone was of power to procure them their vndeserued safety that they do scorne to acknowledge and being madde with sacrilegious petulancy they practise their foule tearmes vppon his name which like false wretches they were before glad to take vppon them to saue their liues by and those filthy tongues which when they were in Christes houses feare kept silent to remaine there with more safety where euen for his sake they found mercy those selfe-same getting forth againe shoot at his deity with al their envenomed shafts of mallice and curses of hostility L. VIVES QVo a semel Horace Epist. 2. Commonly cited to proue the power of custome in young and tender mindes such is this too Neque amissos Colores Lana refert madefacta fuco Wooll dyde in graine will not change hew nor staine b Gens inimica Aeneads the 1. Iuno was foe to Troy first because they came from Dardanus sonne of Ioue and Electra one of his whores Secondly because Ganymede Trois son being taken vp to heauen was made Ioues cup-bearer and Hebe Iunos daughter put by Thirdly because Antigone Laomedons daughter scorned Iunos beauty being therfore turned into a storke Lastly because shee was cast in the contention of beauty by the iudgement of Paris Priams sonne c Yea would any wise man The discourse of these Penates houshould or peculiar Gods is much more intricate then that of the Palladium I thinke they are called Penates quasi Penites because they were their penitissimi their most inward proper Gods Macrobius holdes with them that say they are our Penates by which we do penitùs spirare by whom we breath and haue our body by whom we possesse our soules reason So the Penates are the keepers or Gods Guardians of particular estates The Penates of all mankind were held to be Pallas the highest Aether Ioue the middle Aether and Iuno the lowest Heauen also hath the Penates as Martianus Capella saith in his Nuptiae And on earth euery Citty and euery house hath the peculiar Gods Guardians For euery house is a little Citty or rather euery Citty a great house And as these haue the Gods so hath the fire also Dionysius Halicarnasseus writeth that Romulus ordained perticular Vesta's for euery Court ouer all which his successor Numa set vp a common Vesta which was the fire of the Citty as Cicero saith in his 2. De legibus But what Penates Aeneas brought into Italie is vncertaine Some say Neptune and Apollo who as we read built the wals of Troy Other say Vesta For Virgill hauing said Sacra suosque c. To thee doth Troy commend her Gods c. Addes presently Sic ait manibus vittas Vestamque potentem Aeternumque adytis effert penetr alibus ignem This said he fetcheth forth th' eternall fire Almighty Vesta and her pure attire Now I thinke Vesta was none of the Penates but the fire added to them and therefore the Dictator and the rest of the Romaine Magistrates on the day of their instalment sacrificed to Vesta and the Gods guardians Of this Vesta and these Gods thus saith Tully in his twentith booke de natura deorū Nam vestae nomen c. The name of Vesta we haue from the Greekes it is that which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And her power is ouer fires and altars Therefore in the worship of that Godesse which is the guardian to the most inward and internall things all the praiers and sacrifices offered are externall Nor are the Penates far different from the power aforesaid being either deriued from Penu which is whatsoeuer man eateth or of penitūs in that they are placed within and therefore called of the Poets Penetrales chamber or closetary gods Thus far Tully But here is no time for further dispute of this matter Dionysius in his first booke saith he saw in a certaine blinde obscure temple not far from the Forum two Images of the Troian gods like two young men sitting and hauing Iauelins in their hands two very old peeces of worke and vpon them inscribed D. Penates and that in most of the temples were Images in fashion and habit like these old ones I make no question these were Castor and Pollux for in other places they are called the Romanes Penates which Prudentius testifies vnto Symmachus in these wordes Gemini quoque fratres Corruptâ de matre nothi Ledeia Proles Nocturnique equites celsae duo numina Romae Impendent c. And the two
Ioues owne braine why is not she then made the absolut Empresse of heauen seeing yâ— she sitteth aboue Ioue Because it is not meet to make the child Lord ouer the parent why then was not that equity kept between Saturne Iupiter because Saturne was conquered why then belike they fought no yâ— gods forbid say they yâ— is but a poeticall fiction a fable well thus you see they will trust no fables they do thinke better of their gods then so but how chanceth it then that Saturne seeing hee might not sit aboue his sonne Iâ—…ue had not a seate equall with him Because i Saturne say they is nothing but the length of time well then they that worship Saturne worshippe Time and Ioue the King of all the gods is said to be borne of Time and what wrong doe we to Ioue and Iuno in saying they are borne of Time seeing that by the Paganes owne confessions they signifie Heauen and Earth both which were created in time for this the greatest schollers and k wisest of them all commend to our memory nor did Virgill speake out of fiction but out of Philosophy when he said Tum pater ommiâ—…otens saecundis imbribus Aether Coniugis in gremium laeâ—…ae descendit Almighty Aether in a fatning shower Dropt in the lappe of his glad spouse That was the Earth In which they make a difference also for herein l Terra and Tellus and Tellumon are al seueral things they say And all these they haue as gods distinct in name office and ceremoniall rites Terra m is also called the mother of the Gods besides that the poets may now faigne with farre more toleration seeing that their very bookes of religion affirme that Iuno is not only wife and sister but 〈◊〉 mother also vnto Ioue The same Earth they stile both o Ceres Vesta yet p Vesta they say most commonly is the fire and guardeth that which the citty cannot want And therefore the Virgins kept it because fire and Virginity do neuer bring forth any thing All which vanity it was fit hee onely should abolish that was borne of a Virgin But who can endure to heare them ascribe so much honor and chastity to the fire and yet not shame to call q Vesta Venus that her Virgins might haue the lesse care of the honor of virginity for if Venus were Vesta r how should the Virgins do her good seruice in abstayning from venery or s are there two Venâ—…sses the one a Virgin the other a wanton or three rather one of the virgins Vesta one of the wiues one of the whores to such an one as this last is the t Phaenicans coÌ„secrated the prostitution of their daughters before that they maried them now which of these is Vulcans wife not the Virgin she neuer had husband not the whore oh no not v Iunos sonne x Mineruas forgeâ—… be wronged Well then it was Venus the wife yet we would haue her to stand as a patterne to bee imitated for her trickes that shee playd with Mars oh now say they you runne to the fables againe why what reason is there that you should greeue to here those things at our tonges and yet explaud them on your owne stages why doth it vexe you that we should say a thing vtterly incredible but that it is so fully proued that those foule and open crimes of their gods instituted and celebrated in their publike honors and by their own commaunds L. VIVES BEcause a we place Cir. 2. de nat deor The Skie as Ennius Euripides the South-sayers and the whole world affirme is Ioue the Ayre betweene that and the Sea as the Stoicks hold is Iuno sister and wife to Ioue by reason of the ayres likenesse and nearenesse to Heauen now they made the ayre a woman because it is the softest thing that b is Neptune Saturnes three sonnes shared the world Ioue had Heauen Neptune the Sea Pluto the Earth Iuno married Ioue and was made Lady of the Ayre this fable arose from thence because that in the deuiding of the fathers kingdome Ioue got the East resembling Heauen wherein also mount Olimpus stood whose likelyhood of name added to the fiction Neptune had the nauy Dis or Pluto the west part of the realme fained to bee hell Saturne was said to bee banished into Hel because he fled from the East into Italy lying in the West c Salacia of Salum the salt fome varro the water old of faith fest was called Salacia a salum ciendo of mouing the froth so the Poet Pacuuius vseth it Neptune was a cunning seaman and made Admirall by Ioue for which posterity deified him d Proserpina Of hir before Hir mother finding her in Hell begged and obtayned of Ioue that she might be halfe the yeare with her on earth and halfe a yeare with Pluto Shee had her name A proserpendo because she crept some while this way and some while that being all one with the Moone and the earth Uarro you may read of her rape almost euery where e foure First fire then ayre then water and lastly earth f skie Heauen it selfe and the vpper region of the aire they called Ethaer or the skie the lower parts ayre onely though the Poets confound them g Minerua daughter of Ioue and Themis saith Euhemerus Hist. sacr There were fiue Mineruas but the Poets confound them all Tull. de nat deor One was borne they say of Ioues braine and is the Goddesse of all wisdome and therefore was held so borne and a Virgine and her throne was counted the highest in heauen Martian Nupt. lib. 6. Virgo armata deceas rerum sapientia Pallas Aetherius fomes mens solertia fâ—…ti Ingenium mundi prudentia sacra tonantis Aâ—…dor doctificus nostraeque industria sortis Quae faâ—…is arbiâ—…ium sapientis praeuia curae Aâ—… rationis apex diuumque hom númque sacer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vlâ—…a terga means rapidi ac splendentis Olympi Celsior vna Ioue flammantis circulus aetâ—…rae Paslas thou armed Virgin wisdomes wonder Fate iudging faire fount of Aethereall light Worlds vnderstanding and arbritreâ—…e of thunder Arâ—…s ardor spring wherein man cleares his sight Discretions arch which reason raigneth vnder Essence in gods and men suâ—… mounting bright Towrâ—…ng beyond the Spheares and all in fire Thron'd aboue Ioue far brighter and far higher h in the capitol Now Ioue almighty saith Tully that rulest all and then Iuno his fellow and thou Pallas Minerua and all you gods that inhabite the capitoll c. Pro equit in exil Tarquiâ—… Priscus in the Sabine warre vow'd a temple to Ioue Iuno and Minerua and playned the top of Mount Tarpeius to make a place for it to stand in but was slaine â—…e hee had laid the foundation so it was renewed and finished by Tarquin the proud and called the capitoll because of a mans head that was found in digging the foundation Before this there was a temple to Ioue Iuno and Minerua on Floras
destenies of dogs and giue answeres breeding great admiration Nay men are now growne to that grosenesse of braine that they thinke when a man is borne creation is tyed to such an order that not so much as a fly is brought forth in that region at that time for if they giue vs but birth-rome for a fly we will draw them by gradation till we come to an elephant Nor haue they wit to consider this that in their selected day of sowing corne it springeth and groweth vp altogether and being growne to the height iâ—…ipens altogether and yet the canker spoyleth one peece and the birds another and men cut vp the third of al this corne that neuerthelesse grew vp altogether How will they doe with the constellation of this that hath partaken so many kindes of ending Or doth it not repent them of electing daies for these things denying them to belong to heauens disposing and putting onely men vnder the starres to whome onely of all the creatures vpon earth God hath giuing free and vnconstrained wills These being considered it is no euill beleefe to thinke that the Astrologers d do presage many things wonderfully and truly but that is by a e secret instinct of euill spirits whose care it is to infect nousle and confirme mens minds in this false and dangerous opinion of fate in the starres and not by any art of discerning of the Horoscope for such is there none L. VIVES WHo can a endure The Astrologers Haly Abenragel Messahalach and others write of these elections Haly Ptolomies interpretor as Picus Mirandula writeth saith this part of Astrology is friuolous and fruitlesse b Where then If your natiuities destinie be against your enterprise it shall neuer haue good end as Ptolomy holdeth Picus writeth much against Astrologers lib. 2. and of this matter also But Augustine hath the summe of all here c Choose daies Hesiod was the first that distinguished the daies of the moone and the yeare for country businesses and him did all the writers of husbandry follow Greekes Latines and others Democritus and Virgill Cato Senior Uarro Columella Palladius Plinie c. d Do presage He that often shooteth must needes hit some-times few of the Mathematicians false answeres are obserued but all their true ones are as miraculous e Secret instinct The presages from the starres saith Augustine else where are as by bargaine from the deuills and instincts of theirs which the minds of men feele but perceiue not and he presageth best that is in greatest credit with his diuel Of their opinion that giue not the name of Fate the position of the starres but vnto the dependance of causes vpon the will of God CHAP. 8. AS for those that do not giue the position of the starres in natiuities and conceptions the name of fate but reserue it onely to that connexion of a causes whereby all things come to passe wee neede not vse many words to them because they conforme this coherence of causes to the will of God who is well and iustly beleeued both to fore-know al things before the euent and to leaue no euent vndisposed of ere it be an euent from whome are all powers though from him arise not all wills for that it is the will of that great and all-disposing God which they call Fate these verses b of Anneus Senecas I thinke will proue Duâ—… mâ—…summe pater â—…ltique dominator poli 〈◊〉 placuerit nulla parenda mora est 〈◊〉 impiger 〈◊〉 â—…olle comitabâ—…r gemens Malusque patiar facere quod licuit bono 〈◊〉 volâ—…ntem fatâ—… uolentem trâ—…unt Leâ—…d me Great Lord King of eternity Euen where thou wilt I le not resist thees Chang thou my will yet still I vow subiection Being led to that thaâ—…'s in the good election Fate leads the willing hales the obstinate Thus in the last verse hee directly calleth that Fate which in the former hee called the will of the great Lord to whome hee promiseth obedience and to be leâ—… willingly least hee bee drawne on by force because Fate leads the willing hales the obstinâ—…te And c Homers verses translated into Latine by Tully are as these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hominum 〈◊〉 qualis â—…ater ipsâ—… â—…upiter aâ—…fferas 〈◊〉 lumâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the mindes of men as louâ—… the great Vouchsafe that fils the earth wiâ—…h light and 〈◊〉 Wee would not bring Poetique sentences for confirmation of this question but because that Tully saith that the Stoikes standing for this power of Fate vse to quote this place of Homer wee now alledge them not as his opinion but as theirs who by these verses of Fate shewed in their disputations what they thought of Fate because they call vppon Ioue whome they held to be that great God vppon whose directions these causes did depend L. VIVES COnnexion a of causes Cic. de diuin lib. 2. Reason therefore compels vs to confes that all things come to passe by fate by fate I mean the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is an order or course of things canses arising one from another that is the euerlasting truth flowing froÌ„ aâ—…eternity Chrysippus in Gellius saith that Fate is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. A natural composition of causes and things arising one from another from aeleternity being an immutable combination of them all b Anneas Senecas Epist. lib. 18. The verses were Cleanthes his Seneca but translated them they are all Senarian But the first of them is not perfectly read it were better to read it Duc me parens celsique dominator Poli Coleyne copy hath it Duc summe Pater altique dominator Poli. Indifferent well The said thing hath Seneca in his book de beneficijs speaking of God if you call him Fate saith he it is not amisse for he is the first cause whence all the rest haue originall and fate is nothing but a coherence of causes This is the common opinion of the Stoiâ—…s to hold one God calling him Fate and Mens and Iupiter and many other names These are the foure ancient opinions of Fate which Picus Contra Astrolog lib. 4. rehearseth The firstheld Fate to be nature so that the things which fell out by election or chance they excluded from Fate as Virgill saith of Dido that killed her-selfe and dyed not by Fate and Cicero If any thing had befalne me as many things hung ouer mans head besides nature and besides fate This opinion is Phsiologicall and imbraced by Alexander one of Aristotles interpreters The second held fate to be an eternall order and forme of causes as aforesaid Third put all in the stars The fourth held fate to be onely the execution of the will of God c Homers Odyss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Such are the mindes of men c Vlisses speaketh them to Phemius affirming a mutablity of mens mindes and that they are not of power to keepe them-selues fixt but alter continually as it pleaseth the great Iupiter to
first times were called his because as then men did liue vpon the earthes voluntary increase and fruites Whether b tooke he the sickle vpon the losse of his scepter as one that hauing beene an idle King in his owne raigne would become a painefull laborer in his sonnes Then hee proceedeth and saith that c some people as the Carthaginians offred infants in sacrifice to him and others as the d Galles offered men because mankinde is chiefe of all things produced of seede But needeth more of this bloudy vanity This is the obseruation of it all that none of these interpretations haue reference to the true liuing incorporeall changelesse nature whereof the eternall life is to bee craued but all their ends are in things corporall temporall mutable and mortall and whereas Saturne they say did e geld his Father Caelus that is quoth hee to bee vnderstood thus that the diuine seede is in Saturnes power and not in Heauens that is nothing in heauen hath originall from seed Behold here is Saturne made Heauens sonne that is Ioues For they affirme stedfastly that Ioue is heauen Thus doth falshood without any opposer ouerthrow it selfe Hee saith further that hee was called f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is space of time without the which no seed can come to perfection This and much like is spoken of Saturne in reference to the seed Surely Saturne with all this power should haue beene sufficient alone to haue gouerned the seede why should they call any more gods to this charge as Liber and Libera or Ceres of whose power ouer seed hee speaketh as if he had not spoken at all of Saturne L. VIVES IN a his raigne Who first inuented husbandry it is vncertaine Some as the common sort hold take it to bee Ceres other Triptolemus at least for him that first put it in practise is Iustine and Ouid Some Dionysius as Tibullus Diodorus calleth him Osyris and therefore Virgil faith Ante Iouem nulli subigebant arua coloni Vntill Ioues time there were no husband-men Some thinke that Saturne taught it vnto Ianus and the Italians beeing driuen to inuent some-what of necessity after hee was chased from Crete So that still husbandry was not inuented in his raigne but after The poets will haue no husbandry in the golden age the daies of Saturne Uirgill saith the earth brought fruites Nullo poscente no man taking paines for them and Ouid fruges tellus inarata faerebat the earth bore corne vnplowed Hesiod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The earth brought fruite vnforced both good and in aboundance b Tooke 〈◊〉 His sickle was found at Zancle a city in Sicily thence the towne had that name Sil. Italâ—… 14. For 〈◊〉 in the Sicilian tongue was a sickle Thâ—…y did c Some people Oros. lib. 4. cap. 6. Trogus Lact. lib. 1. and Posceâ—…inus Festus Some say the Carthaginians offred children to Hercules Plin. li. 36. but others say it was to Saturne Plato in Minoâ—… Dionys. Halicarn The odoritus Câ—…s in Sacrific Euseb. and Tertullian who addeth that at the beginning of Tiberius his reigne he forbad it them and crucified their priests yet they did continue it secretly euen at the time he wrot this Some referre the cause of this cruelty vnto Iunos hate But Eusebiâ—… 〈◊〉 of Sanchoniato reciting the Phaenicians theology saith that Saturne King of Palestine dying â—…rned into the star we call Saturne and that soone after Nimph Anobreth hauing but â—…e 〈◊〉 sonne by Saturne who was therefore called Leud for that is one onely sonne in the 〈◊〉 tonge was compelled to sacrifice him for to deliuer her contry from a daungerous 〈◊〉 and that it was an ould custome in such perills to pacifie the wrath of the reuenging 〈◊〉 with the bloud of the Princes dearest sonne But the Carthagians being come of 〈◊〉 â—…cians sacrificed a man vnto Saturne whose sonne had beene so sacrificed either of their own first institution in Africa or else traducing it from their ancestry De prae Euan. How these children were sacrificed Diodorus telleth Biblioth lib. 20. They had saith he a brazen 〈◊〉 of Saturne of monstrous bignesse whose hand hung downe to the Earth so knit one within anâ—…r that the children that were put in them fell into a hole full of fire Thus far hee When wee â—…ed this booke first our sea-men discouered an Iland calling it after our Princes name 〈◊〉 wherein were many statues of deuills hollow within brazen all and their hands 〈◊〉 wherein the Idolaters vsed to lay their children they sacrificed and there were they 〈◊〉 â—…ned by the extreame heate of the brasse caused by the fire that they made within 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Gaules Not vnto Saturne but to Esus and Theutantes Plin. lib. 30. Solin Mela Câ—…ane and Lactantius To Mercury saith Tertullian but that is Theutantes Plin menâ—… â—…erius his prohibition of so damnable a superstition Claudius farbad them as Suetoâ—… 〈◊〉 Indeed Augustus first forbad it but that was but for the city onely A decree was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the yeare of Rome DCLVII consulls P. Licinius Crassus and Cn. Cornelius Lantuâ—… forbidding humane sacrifices all the Empire through and in Hadrians time it ceased alâ—… 〈◊〉 ouer the world Iupiter Latialis was worshipped with ablation of mans bloud in Terâ—…â—…y â—…y and Eusebius and Lactantius his time And before Hercâ—…es was Saturne so worâ—… Latium which sacrifice Faunus brought vp for his grandsire Saturne because of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was as Lactantius and Macrobius recite out of Varro this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. bring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and lightes for Dis his father Dis his father was Saturne Lactantius readeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a word doubtfull 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 circumflexe is light and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acute is a man Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Streight gainst the sutors went this heauenly man 〈◊〉 often elsewhere Plutarch in his booke intitled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 liue in priuate giueth the 〈◊〉 why 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should bee both light and a man But Hercules comming into Italy and seeâ—… 〈◊〉 Aborigines that dwelt there continually take of the Greekes for sacrifice that were 〈◊〉 â—…her to inhabite and asking the cause they told him this oracle which hee did 〈◊〉 light not man and so they decreed that yearely each Ides of May the Priests and 〈◊〉 should cast thirty mens images made of osiers or wickers into Tyber from of the 〈◊〉 Miluius calling them Argaei for the old latines held all the Gretians Argiues and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should haue lights offred to him Dionis Plutarch Uarro Festus Gel. Macrob. 〈◊〉 Lactant. Ouid. yet Ouid telleth this tale of another fashion Fastor 5. Manethon saith the Aâ—…tians vsed to sacrifice three men to Iuno in the city of the sunne but King Amasis changed the sacrifice into three lights e Geld his father Eusebius discoursing of the Phaniâ—…â—…ity â—…ity saith thus after Caelus had raigned 32. yeeres his Sonne Saturne lay
before the time that is the iudgement wherein they and all men their sectaries are to bee cast into eternall torments as that l truth saith that neither deceiueth nor is deceiued not as hee saith that following the puffes of Philosophy flies here and there mixing truth and falshood greeuing at the ouerthrow of that religion which afterwards hee affirmes is all error L. VIVES HErmes a Of him by and by b His words We haue seene of his bookes greeke and latine This is out of his Asclepius translated by Apuleius c So doth humanity So humanity adapting it selfe to the nature and originall saith Hermes his booke d Trust So hath Hermes it Bruges copy hath Mistrust not your selfe e Beyond Apuleius and the Coleâ—…ne copy haue it both in this maner onely Mirth the Coleynists haue more then he f For Hermes I would haue cited some of his places but his bookes are common and so it is needelesse 〈◊〉 It being easier A diuersity of reading but of no moment nor alteration of sence h Of that which Reioycing that Christ is come whom the law and Prophets had promised So Iohn bad his disciples aske art thou he that should come or shall wee looke for an other i Peter This confession is the Churches corner stone neuer decaying to beleeue and affirme THAT IESVS IS CHRIST THE SONNE OF THE LIVING GOD. This is no Philosophicall reuelation no inuention no quirke no worldly wisdome but reuealed by GOD the father of all to such as hee doth loue and vouchsafe it k Because Hee sheweth why the deuills thought that Christ vndid them before the time l Truth Mat. 25. 41. Depart from meâ—… yee cursed into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the deuill and his angells How Hermes openly confessed his progenitors error and yet bewayled the destruction of it CHAP. 24. FOr after much discourse hee comes againe to speake of the gods men made but of these sufficient saith hee let vs returne againe to man to reason by which diuine guift man hath the name of reasonable For we haue yet spoken no wonderfull thing of man the a wonder of all wonders is that man could fiâ—…e out the diuine nature and giue it effect Wherefore our fathers erring exceedinly in incredulity b concerning the deities and neuer penetrating into the depth of diuine religioÌ„ they inueÌ„ted an art to make gods whervnto they ioyned a vertue out of some part of the worlds nature like to the other and conioyning these two because they could make no soules they framed certaine Images whereinto they called either Angells or deuills and so by these mysteries gaue these Idols power to hurt or helpe them I know not whether the deuills being admited would say asmuch as this man saith Our fathers exceedingly erring saith he in incredulity concerning the deities not penetrating into the depth of diuine religion inuented an arte to make gods Was hee content to say they but erred in this inuention no he addeth Exceedingly thus this exceeding error and incredulity of those that looked not into matters diuine gaue life to this inuention of making gods And yet though it were so though this was but an inuention of error incredulity and irreligiousnes yet this wise man lamenteth that future times should abolish it Marke now whether Gods power compell him to confesse his progenitors error the diuills to bee made the future wrack of the said error If it were their exceeding error incredulity negligence in matters diuine that giue first life to this god-making inuention what wonder if this arte bee detestable and all that it did against the truth cast out from the truth this truth correcting that errour this faith that incredulity this conuersion that neglect If he conceale the cause and yet confesse that rite to be their inuention we if we haue any wit cannot but gather that had they bin in the right way they would neuer haue fallen to that folly had they either thought worthily or meditated seriously of religion yet should wee a ffirme that their great incredulous contemptuous error in the cause of diuinity was the cause of this inuention wee should neuerthelesse stand in need to prepare our selues to endure the impudence of the truths obstinate opponeÌ„ts But since he that admires yâ— power of this art aboue all other things in man and greeues that the time should come wherein al those illusions should claspe with ruine through the power of legall authority since he confesseth the causes that gaue this art first original namely the exceeding error incredulity negligeÌ„ce of his ancestor in matters diuine what should wee doe but thinke GOD hath ouerthrowne these institutions by their iust contrary causes that which errors multitude ordained hath truths tract abolished faith hath subuerted the worke of incredulity and conuersion vnto Gods truth hath suppressed the effects of true Gods neglect not in Egipt only where onely the diabolicall spirit bewaileth but in all the world which heareth a new song sung vnto the Lord as the holy scripture saith Sing vnto the Lord a new song Sing vnto the Lord all the earth for the c title of this Psalme is when the house was built after the captiuity the City of God the Lords house is built that is the holy Church all the earth ouer after captiuity wherein the deuills held those men slaues who after by their faith in God became principall stones in the building for mans making of these gods did not acquit him from beeing slaue to these works of his but by his willing worship he was drawn into their society a society of suttle diuills not of stupid Idols for what are Idols but as the Scripture saith haue eyes and see not all the other properties that may be said of a dead sencelesse Image how well soeuer carued But the vncleane spirits therein by that truly black art bouÌ„d their soules that adored theÌ„ in their society most horrid captiuity therefore saith the Apostle We know that an Idol is nothing in the world But the Gentiles offer to deuilis not vnto God I wil not haue them to haue society with the deuils So then after this captiuity that bound men slaue to the deuils Gods house began to be built through the earth thence had the Psalme the beginning Sing vnto the Lord a new song sing vnto the Lord all the earth Sing vnto the Lord and praise his name d declare his saluation e from day to day Declare his glorie amongst all nations and his wonders amongst all people For the Lord is great and much to be praised hee is to be feared aboue all gods For all the gods of the people are Idols but the Lord made the heauens Hee then that bewailed the abolishment of these Idols in the time to come and of the slauery wherein the deuills held men captiue did it out of an euill spirits inspiration and from that did desire the continuance of that captiuity
heart that yee may prooue what is the good-will of God and what is good acceptable and perfect Wherefore seeing the workes of mercy being referred vnto God bee they done to our selues or our neighbors are true sacrifices and that their end is nothing but to free vs from misery and make vs happy by that God and none other of whom it is said It is good for mee to adhere a vnto the Lord Truely it followeth that all the whole and holy society of the redeemed and sanctified Citty bee offered vnto God by that b great Priest who gaue vp his life for vs to become members of so great an head in c so meane a forme this forme he offered herein was he offered in this is he our priest or mediator and our sacrifice all in this Now therfore the Apostle hauing exhorted vs to giue vp our bodies a liuing sacrifice pure acceptable to God namely our reasonable seruing of God and not to fashion our selues like this â—…orld but bee changed in newnesse of heart that d wee might prooue what is the will of God and what is good acceptable and perfect all which sacrifice wee â—…re For Isay quoth hee through the grace that is giuen to mee to euery one among yoâ—… that no man presume to e vnderstand more then is meete to vnderstand but that hee vnderstand according to sobrietie as GOD hath dealt to euery man the measure of faith for as wee haue many members in one body and all members haue not onâ—… office So wee beeing many are one body in Christ and euery one one anothers members hauing diuers gifts according to the grace that is giuen vs c. This is the christians sacrifice wee 〈◊〉 one body with Christ as the church celebrateth in the sacrament of the altar so well knowne to the faithfull wherein is shewed that in that oblation the church is offered L. VIVES ADhere a It is the greatest good b Great priest Christ of Melchisedeochs order not of Aarons Hee went but once to sacrifice that with onely to wit his crucified body bought our peace of God c So meane Christs man-hood is the churches head his Godhead the life soule d We might proue So Augustine vseth this place wholy Epist. 86. which Erasâ—…s wonders at the greeke referring good and acceptable and perfect all to the will of God Bâ—…t Augustine referreth them either to the sacrifice or vseth theÌ„ simply without respect And in the later sence Ambrose also vseth it e Understand Or thinke of himselfe his breâ—…hren or other matters f Sobriety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A mediocrity of the whole life is Sobriety 〈◊〉 Tully Offic. 1. out of Plato Some-time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Tully else-where is translated tempâ—…e moderation and sometimes modesty but hee doubts whether he may call it frugality Tâ—…sc 3. That the good Angells doe so loue vs that they desire we should worship God onely and not them CHAP. 7. WOrthily are those blessed immortals placed in those celestial habitations reioyeing in the perticipation of their Creator being firme certaine and holy by his eternity truth bounty because they loue vs mortall wretches with aâ—…alous pity and desire to haue vs immortally blessed also and will not haue vs sacrifice to them but to him to whom they know both vs and themselues to bee sacrifices For we both are inhabitants of that in the psalme Glorious things are spoken of thee thou City of GOD part whereof is pilgrime yet with vs and part assisâ—…th vs with them From that eternall citty where Gods vnchanging will is all their-law and from that a supernall court for their are wee cared for by the ministery of the holy Angells was that holy scripture brought downe vnto vs that sayth Hee that sacrificeth to any but God alone shal be rooted out This scripture this precept is confirmed vnto vs by so many miracles that it is plaine inough to whom the blessed immortalls so louing vs and wishing as themselues would haue vs to offer sacrifice L. VIVES THat supernall a Court Whence the Angels descend and minister vs safety protection Of the Miracles whereby God hath confirmed his promises in the mindes of the faithfull by the ministery of his holy Angells CHAP. 8. I Should seeme tedious in reuoluing the Miracles of too abstruse antiquity with what miraculous tokens God assured his promises to Abraham that in his seed should all the earth be blessed made many thousand years ago Is it not miraculous for Abrahams barren wife to beare a son she being of age both past child-birth conception that a in the same Abrahams sacrifices the fire came down from heauen betweene them as they lay diuided that the Angells fore-told him their destruction of Sodome whom he entertained in mens shapes from them had Gods promise for a sonne and by the same Angells was certefied of the miraculous deliuery of his brother Lot hard before the burning of Sodome whose wife being turned into a statue of salt for looking backe is a great mistery that none beeing in his way of freedome should cast his eyes behinde him And what stupendious miracles did Moyses effect in Egipt by Gods power for the freedome of Gods people Where Pharaos Magicians the Kings of Egipt that held Gods people in thrall were suffered to worke some wonder to haue the more admired foile for they wrought by charmes and enchantments the delights of the deuills but Moyses had the power of the God of heauen earth to whom the good Angells doe serue and therefore must needes bee victour And the Magicians fayling in the third plague strangely mistically did Moyses effect the other 7. following and then the hard hearted Egiptians Pharao yeelded Gods people their passage And by and by repenting and persuing them the people of God passed through the waters standing for them as rampires and the Egiptians left al their liues in their depth being then re-ioyned Why should I reherse the ordinary miracles that God shewed them in the desert the sweetning of the bitter waters by casting wood therein the Manna from heauen that rotted when one gathered more then a set measure yet gathering two measures the day before the Saboath on which they might gather none it neuer putrified at all how their desire to eate flesh was satisfied with fowles that fell in the tents sufficieÌ„t O miracle for al the people euen til they loath theÌ„ how the holding vp of Moyses hands in forme of a crosse and his praier caused that not an Hebrew fell in the fight how the seditious seperating them-selues from the society ordained by God were by the earth swallowed vp quicke to inuisible paines for a visible example How the rocke burst forth into streames being strucke with Moyses rodde and the serpents deadly bytings being sent amongst them fâ—…r a iust plague were cured by beholding a brazen serpent
The knowledge De genes ad lit lib. 4. Where hee calleth it morning when the Angells by contemplating of the creation in themselues where is deepe darkenesse lift vp themselues to the knowledge of God and if that in him they learne all things which is more certaine then all habituall knowledge then is it day It growes towards euening when the Angels turne from God to contemplate of the creatures in themselues but this euening neuer becommeth night for the Angells neuer preferre the worke before the worke man that were most deepe darke night Thus much out of Augustine the first mentioner of mornings euenings knowledges What wee must thinke of Gods resting the seauenth day after his sixe daies worke CHAP. 8. BVt whereas God rested the seauenth day froÌ„ al his workes sanctified it this is not to be childishly vnderstood as if God had taken paines he but spake the word and a by that iâ—…telligible and eternal one not vocall nor temporal were all things created But Gods rest signifieth theirs that rest in God as the gladnesse of the house signifies those yâ— are glad in the house though some-thing else and not the house bee the cause thereof How much more then if the beauty of the house make the inhabitants glad so that wee may not onely call it glad vsing the continent for the contained as the whole Theaâ—…er applauded when it was the men the whole medowes bellowed for the Oxen but also vsing the efficient for the effect as a merry epistle that is making the readers merry Theâ—…fore the scripture affirming that God rested meaneth the rest of all things in God whom he by himself maketh to rest for this the Prophet hath promised to all such as he speaketh vnto and for whom he wrote that after their good workes which God doth in them or by them if they first haue apprehended him in this life by faith they shal in him haue rest eternal This was prefigured in the sanctification of the Saboath by Gods command in the old law whereof more at large in due season L. VIVES BY a that intelligible Basil saith that this word is a moment of the will by which wee conceiue better of things What is to be thought of the qualities of Angels according to scripture CHAP. 9. NOw hauing resolued to relate this holy Cities originall first of the angels who make a great part thereof so much the happier in that they neuer a were pilgrims let vs see what testimonies of holy wriâ—…t concerne this point The scriptures speaking of the worlds creation speake not plainly of the Angels when or in what order they were created but that they were created the word heauen includeth In the beginning God created heauen and earth or rather in the world Light whereof I speake now are there signified that they were omitted I cannot thinke holy writ saying that God rested in the seauenth day from all his workes the same booke beginning with In the beginning God created heauen and earth to shew that nothing was made ere then Beginning therefore with heauen earth and earth the first thing created being as the scripture plainely saith with-out forme and voide light being yet vn made and darknesse being vpon the deepe that is vpon a certaine confusion of earth and waters for where light is not darknesse must needes be then the creation proceeding and all being accomplished in sixe dayes how should the angels bee omitted as though they were none of Gods workes from which hee rested the seuenth day This though it be not omitted yet here is it not plaine but else-where it is most euident The three chilâ—… sung in their himne O all yee workes of the Lord blesse yee the Lord amongst which they recken the angels And the Psalmist saith O praise God in the heauens 〈◊〉 him in the heights praise him all yee his angells praise him all his hoasts praise 〈◊〉 sâ—…e and Moone praise him staâ—…res and light Praise him yee heauens of heauens 〈◊〉 the waters that be aboue the heauens praise the name of the Lord for hee spake the 〈◊〉 and they were made he commanded they were created here diuinity calls the â—…ls Gods creatures most plainly inserting them with the rest saying of all He spâ—…ke the word and they were made who dares thinke that the Angels were made after the sixe daies If any one bee so fond hearken this place of scripture confounds him vtterly e When the starres were made all mine angels praised mee with a loude voice Therefore they were made before the starres and the stars were made the fourth day what they were made the third day may wee say so God forbid That dayes worke is fully knowne the earth was parted from the waters and two â—…nts tooke formes distinct and earth produced all her plants In the second day then neither Then was the firmament made betweene the waters aboue and below and was called Heauen in which firmament the starres were created the fourth day c Wherefore if the angels belong vnto Gods sixe dayes worke they are that light called day to commend whose vnity it was called one day not the first day nor differs the second or third from this all are but this one doubled vâ—…to 6. or 7. sixe of Gods workes the 7. of his rest For when God said Let there be light there was light if we vnderstand the angels creation aright herein they are made partakers of that eternall light the vnchangeable wisdome of God all-creating namely the onely be gotten sonne of God with whose light they in their creation were illuminate and made light called day in the participation of the vnchangeable light day that Word of God by which they all things else were created For the true light that lightneth euery man that coÌ„meth into this world this also lightneth euery pure angell making it light not in it selfe but in God from whom if an Angell fall it becommeth impure as all the vncleane spirits are being no more a light in God but a darknesse in it selfe depriued of all perticipation of the eternall light for Euill hath no nature but the losse of good that is euill L. VIVES NEuer were a pilgrims But alwayes in their country seeing alwayes the face of the father b When the starres Iob. 38 7. So the Septuagints doe translate it as it is in the teâ—…t c Wherefore if The Greeke diuine put the creation of spirituals before that of things corporall making God vse them as ministers in the corporall worke and so held Plato Hierome following Gregorie and his other Greeke Maisters held so also But of the Greekes Basil and Dionysius and almost all the Latines Ambrose Bede Cassiodorus and Augustine in this place holds that God made althings together which agreeth with that place of Ecclesiasticus chap. 18. vers 1. He that liueth for euer made althings together Of the vncompounded vnchangeable Trinity the Father the Sonne
deuill 〈◊〉 from hence-forth The truth of the Gospell tells the faithfull that 〈◊〉 bee like the Angels and that they shall goe to life eternall But if 〈◊〉 â—…re neuer to fall from blisse and they bee not sure wee are aboue 〈◊〉 like them but the truth affirming and neuer erring that wee 〈◊〉 their like and equalls then are they sure of their blessed eternitie whereof those other being vncertaine for it had beene eternall had they beene certaine of it it remaines that they were not the others equalls or if they were these that â—…ood firme had not this certaintie of knowledge vntill afterwards Vnlesse we will say that which Christ saith of the Deuill Hee hath beene a murtherer 〈◊〉 â—…he beginning and abode not in the truth is not onely to be vnderstood from the beginning of mankinde that is since man was made whom hee might kill by deceiuing but euen from the beginning of his owne creation and therefore because of his auersion from his creator and b proud opposition herein both erring and seducing was dâ—…bard â—…uen from his creation from happinesse because he could not delude the power of the Almighty And he that would not in piety hold with the truth in his pride counterfeits the truth that the Apostle Iohns saying The deuill sinneth from the beginning may be so vnderstood also that is euer since his creation he reiected righteousnesse which none can haue but a will subiect vnto God Whosoeuer holds thus is not of the heretikes opinion called the c Manichees nor any such damnations as they that hold that the Deuill had a wicked nature giuen him in the beginning they do so doate that they conceiue not what Christ said He aboade not in the truth but thinke he said He was made enemie to thâ—… truth But Christ did intimate his fall from the truth wherein if he had remained hee had perticipated it with the holy Angels and beene eternally blessed with them L. VIVES WErâ—… a created The time betweene their creation and rebellion was so little that it seemed none b Proud opposition So the approoued copyes do read c Manichees Hearing that the Deuill sinned from the beginning they thought him created sinfull and vicious by nature rather then will for that is naturall and inuoluntary in one which the creator inâ—…eth him with in his creation How this is meant of the Deuill He abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him CHAP. 14. BVT Christ set downe the reason as if wee had asked why hee staid not in the truth because there is no truth in him Had he stood in it truth had beene in him The phrase is improper it saith He aboade not in the truth because there is 〈◊〉 truth in him whereas it should renuerse it say there is no truth in him because â—…e aboade not therein But the Psalmist vseth it so also I haue cryed because thou hâ—… â—…ard 〈◊〉 ô God whereas properly it is Thou hast heard me ô God because I haue cried But he hauing said I haue cryed as if he had beene asked the reason adioyned the cause of his crie in the effect of gods hearing as if he said I shew that I cryed becâ—…use thou hast heard â—…e ô God The meaning of this place The Deuill sinneth from the beginning CHA. 15. ANd that that Iohn saith of the Deuill The a deuill sinneth from the beginning 〈◊〉 â—…hey b make it naturall to him it can be no sinne But how then will they 〈◊〉 the Prophets as Esayes prefiguring the Prince of Babilon saith How art tâ—… 〈◊〉 â—…rom heauen O Lucifer sonne of the morning and Ezechiel Thou hast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods garden euery precious stone was in thy raiment This prooues him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so doth that which followes more plainly Thou wast perfect iâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…y tâ—… wast created c. Which places if they haue none other fitâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do prooue that he was in the truth but abode not therein that 〈◊〉 place Hâ—… 〈◊〉 not in the truth prooues him once in the truth but not perâ—…uering â—…nd that also He sinneth from the beginning meaneth the beginning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from his pride but not from his creation Now must the place of Iob conâ—…â—…he deuill He c is the beginning of Gods works to be deluded by the Angels 〈◊〉 â—…f the Psalme this dragon whom thou hast made to scorne him are to bee taâ—… God had made the deuil at first fit for the Angells to deride but yâ— that 〈◊〉 â—…ned for his punishment after his sin Hee is the beginning of Gods workes 〈◊〉 is no nature in the smallest beast which God made not from him is all 〈◊〉 â—…sistence and order wherefore much more must the creature that is anâ—… by the natural dignity haue their preheminence of al Gods other works L. VIVES 〈◊〉 a deuill Wee may not drawe nay wrest the gospell to those grammâ—…ticismes A moâ—… or two breakes no square in this phrase from the beginning So we say Enuy in broâ—… from the beginning a little time doth not prooue this false b They The Maniâ—…â—…as and those that say the Angells could not sin in the moment of their creatiâ—… it because otherwise the author of their worke should beare the blame rather then 〈◊〉 worke And so Origen seemes to hold saying The serpent opposed not the truth nor was 〈◊〉 go vpon his belly euer from the point of his creation But as Adam and Eue were a while 〈◊〉 â—…o was the serpent no serpent one while of his beeing in the Paradice of delight for 〈◊〉 not malice In Ezechiel So Augustine thought that the first parents offended not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were created c He is Iob. 44. the words to bee deluded by the Angells are 〈◊〉 Septuagints Of the different degrees of creatures wherein profitable vse and reasons order doe differ CHAP. 16. 〈◊〉 â—…ll things that God made and are not of his essence the liuing is before â—…ad the productiue before these that want generation in their liuing â—…ue before the sencelesse as beasts c. before trees in things sensitiue â—…able before the vnreasonable as Man before beasts in things reaâ—…â—…mortalls before mortalls as Angels before men but this is by natures 〈◊〉 they esteeme of these is peculiar and different as the diuers vses are 〈◊〉 some sencelesse things are preferred before some sensitiue so farre that 〈◊〉 power we would roote the later out of nature or whether we know or 〈◊〉 what place therein they haue put them all after our profit For who â—…ther haue his pantry ful of meate theÌ„ mice or possesse pence then fleas 〈◊〉 for mans esteeme whose nature is so worthy will giue more oftenâ—… a horse then for a seruant for a ring then a maide So that in choice 〈◊〉 of him that respects the worth often controlls him that respects his â—…de or pleasure nature pondering euery thing simply in it selfe
and 〈◊〉 thing respectiuely for another the one valuing them by the light of 〈◊〉 the other by the pleasure or vse of the sense And indeede a certaine 〈◊〉 loue hath gotten such predominance in reasonable natures that alâ—… generally all Angells excell men in natures order yet by the lawe of â—…nesse good men haue gotten place of preferment before the euill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vice of malice is not naturall but against nature following the will not the creation in sinne CHAP. 17. 〈◊〉 in respect of the deuills nature not his will wee doe vnderstand 〈◊〉 place a right He was the beginning of Gods workes For where the vice of 〈◊〉 in the nature was not corrupted before a vice is so contrary to 〈◊〉 that it cannot but hurt it b therefore were it no vice for that nature that 〈◊〉 God to doe so but that it is more naturall to it to desire adherence with God c The â—…ill wil then is a great proofe that the nature was good But as God is the 〈◊〉 Creator of good natures so is hee the iust disposer of euill wills that when they vse good natures euill hee may vse the euill wills well Therevpon hee 〈◊〉 that the deuills good nature and euill will should bee cast downe and deâ—…d by his Angells that is that his temptations might confirme his Saints whom the other sought to iniurâ—… And because God in the creating of him foresaw both his euill will and what good God meant to effect thereby therefore the Psalmist saith this Dragon whom thou hast made for a scorne that in that very creation that it were good by Gods goodnesse yet had God foreknowledge how to make vse of it in the bad state L. VIVES THe a vice Socrates and the Stoickes held vertue naturall vice vnnaturall For follow the conduct of the true purity of our nature seperated froÌ„ depraued opinion we shall neuer sin b Therefore If it did the nature that offendeth more real good to offend then forbeare it were no offence nor error but rather a wise election and a iust performance c The euill will Thence arise all sinnes and because they oppose nature nature resisteth them whereby offending pleases their will but hurts the nature the will being voluntarily euill their nature forced to it which were it left free would follow the best for that it loues and goe the direct way to the maker whose sight at length it would attaine Of the beauty of this vniuerse augmented by Gods ordinance out of contraries CHAP. 18. FOr God would neuer haue fore-knowne vice in any worke of his Angell or Man but that hee knew in like manner what good vse to put it vnto so makeing the worldes course like a faire poeme more gratious by Antithetique figures Antitheta a called in Latine opposites are the most decent figures of all elocution some more expresly call them Contra-posites But wee haue no vse of this word though for the figure the latine and all the tongues of the world vse it b S. Paul vseth it rarely vpon that place to the Corynthes where he saith By the armâ—… of righteousnesse on the right hand and the left by honor and dishonor by euill report and good as deceiuers and yet true as vnknowne and yet knowne as dying and behold 〈◊〉 liâ—…e as chastned and yet not killed as sorrowing and yet euer glad as poore and yet make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ritch as hauing nothing yet possessing althings Thus as these contraries opposed doe giue the saying an excellent grace so is the worlds beauty composed of contrarieties not in figure but in nature This is plaâ—…e in Ecclesiasticus in this verse Against euill is good and against death is life so is the Godly against the sinner 〈◊〉 looke for in all thy workes of the highest two and two one against one L. VIVES ANâ—…a a are Contraposites in word and sentence Cic. ad Heren lib. 4. calleth it 〈◊〉 Coâ—…position saith Quintilian conâ—…tion or 〈◊〉 is diuersly vsed First in opposition of 〈◊〉 â—…o one as feare yeelded to boldnesse shame to lust it is not out witte bâ—… your helpe Secondly of sentence to sentence as He may rule in orations but must yeeld in iudgements 〈◊〉 There also is more to this purpose so as I see no reason why Augustine should say the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with vs. b S. Paul Augustine makes Paul a Rhetorician Well it is tolerable 〈◊〉 saith iâ—…d one of vs said so our eares should ring of herefie presently 〈◊〉 are so ready 〈◊〉 some mens â—…ongue ends because indeed they are so full of it themselues The meaning of that place God seperated the light from darkenesse CHAP. 19. â—…erefore though the hardnesse of the Scriptures be of good vse in produâ—…ing many truths to the light of knowledge one taking it thus and another â—…et so as that which is obscure in one place bee explaned by some other 〈◊〉 by manifest proofes Whether it be that in their multitude of opiniâ—…e light on the authos meaning or that it bee too obscure to bee atâ—…nd yet other truths vpon this occasion be admitted yet verily I thinke â—…urdity in Gods workes to beleeue the creation of the Angels and the seâ—… of the cleane ones from the vncleane then when the first light Lux â—…de Vppon this ground And God separated the light from the darkenesse â—…od called the light day and the darkenkesse he called night For hee onely was 〈◊〉 discerne them who could fore-now their fall ere they fell their deâ—… of light and their eternall bondage in darkenesse of pride As for the 〈◊〉 wee see viz this our naturall light and darkenesse hee made the two 〈◊〉 lights the Sunne and the Moone to seperate them Let there be lights saith 〈◊〉 firmament of the Heauen to seperate the day from the night And by and 〈◊〉 God made two great lights the a greater light to rule the day and the 〈◊〉 rule the night Hee made both them and the starres And God sette 〈◊〉 the firmament of heauen b to shine vppon the earth and to rule in the 〈◊〉 night and to seperate the light from darkenesse but betweene that light 〈◊〉 the holy society of Angells shining in the lustre of intelligible truth 〈◊〉 opposite darkenesse the wicked Angels peruersly falne from that light 〈◊〉 â—…ee onely could make seperation who fore-knoweth and cannot but 〈◊〉 all the future euils of their wils not their natures L. VIVES 〈◊〉 The greater light to rule or to begin yâ— day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the Septuagints transâ—… 〈◊〉 both rule beginning principium is vsed somtimes for rule as in Ps. 110. v. 3. 〈◊〉 or that they might shine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some of the Latines haue vsed the infinitiue 〈◊〉 the coniunction Pestis acerba boum pecorumque aspergere virus saith Virgil. Of that place of scripture spoken after the seperation of the light and darkenes And God saw the light
that it was good CHAP. 20. 〈◊〉 may we ouerslip yâ— these words of God Let there be light there was light 〈◊〉 immediatly seconded by these And God saw the light that it was good not 〈◊〉 â—…ad seperated the light and darknes and named them day and night least â—…d haue seemed to haue shewne his liking of the darknes as wel as yâ— light â—…ras the darknes which the conspicuous lights of heauen diuide from the 〈◊〉 inculpable therfore it was said after it was not before And God saw that 〈◊〉 And God saith he Set them in the firmament of heauen to shine vpon the â—…d to rule in the day and night and to seperate the light from the darknes and 〈◊〉 that it was good Both those he liked for both were sin-les but hauing sayd 〈◊〉 be light and there was so hee adioines immediatly And God saw the light 〈◊〉 good And then followeth God seperated the light from the darknes and 〈◊〉 the light day and the darknesse night but heere he addeth not And God 〈◊〉 it was good least hee should seeme to allow well of both the one beeing â—…turally but voluntary euill Therfore the light onely pleased the Creator the Angelicall darknesses though they were to bee ordained were not to bee approued L. VIVES IMmediately a seconded The Scripture speaking of the spirituall light the Angels before yâ— part of this light that is part of the Angels became dark God approued the light that is all the Angels whom he had made good light but speaking of our visible light made the fourth day God approueth both light and darknes for that darknes God created and it was not euil as yâ— Angels that became dark were therfore were not approued as the fourth daies darknesse was Of Gods eternal vnchanging will and knowledge wherein he pleased to create al things in forme as they were created CHAP. 21. VVHat meanes that saying that goeth through all and God saw that it was good but the approbation of the worke made according to the work-mans art Gods wisedome God doth not see it is good beeing made as if he saw it not so ere it was made But in seeing that it is good being made which could not haue beene made so but that hee fore-saw it hee teacheth but learneth not that it is good Plato a durst go further and say That God had great ioy in the beauty of the Vniuerse He was not so fond to thinke the newnesse of the worke increased Gods ioy but hee shewed that that pleased him beeing effected which had pleased his wisedome to fore-know should be so effected not that Gods knowledge varyeth or apprehends diuersly of thinges past present and future He doth not foresee thinges to come as we do nor beholds things present or remembers thinges past as wee doe But in a maner farre different from our imagination Hee seeth them not by change in thought but immutably bee they past or not past to come or not to come all these hath he eternall present nor thus in his eye and thus in his minde he consisteth not of body and soule nor thus now and otherwise hereafter or heretofore his knowledge is not as our is admitting alteration by circumstance of time but b exempted from all change and all variation of moments For his intention runnes not from thought to thought all thinges hee knowes are in his vnbodily presence Hee hath no temporall notions of the time nor moued he the time by any temporall motions in him-selfe Therfore hee saw that which hee had made was good because he fore-saw that he should make it good Nor doubted his knowledge in seeing it made or augmented it as if it had beene lesse ere he made it he could not do his works in such absolute perfection but out of his most perfect knowledge VVherfore if one vrge vs with who made this light It sufficeth to answer God if wee be asked by what meanes sufficeth this God said let there be light and there was light God making it by his very word But because there are three necessary questions of euery creature who made it how hee made it and wherefore hee made it God sayd quoth Moyses let there bee light and there was light and God saw the light that it was good Who made it God How God sayd but let it be and it was wherfore It was good No better author can there bee then God no better art then his Word no better cause why then that a good God should make a good creature And this c Plato praysed as the iustest cause of the worlds creation whether he had read it or heard it or got it by speculation of the creatures or learned it of those that had this speculation L. VIVES PLato a durst not In his Timaeus The father of the vniuerse seeing the beauty of it and the formes of the eternall goddes approued it and reioyced b Expelled from all Iames 1. 17. in whom is no variablenes nor shadowing by turning Hierome contra Iouin reades it in whome is no difference or shadowing by moment Augustine vseth moment also whether referring it to time or quality I know not For neyther retyres at all from his light to a shadow nor is any the least shadow intermixt with his light Momentum is also a turning a conuersion or a changeable motion comming of moueo to moue it is also an inclination as in balances This place may meane that God entertaines no vicissitude or passe from contrary to contrary as we doe c Plato Let vs see saith hee What made the Worldes Creator go about so huge a worke Truly hee excelled in honesty and honesty enuyeth not any mâ—…an and therefore hee made all things like him-selfe beeing the iustest cause of their originall Concerning those that disliked some of the good Creators creatures and thought some things naturaly euil CHAP. 22. YEt this good cause of the creation Gods goodnesse this iust fit cause which being well considered would giue end to all further inuestigation in this kind some heretikes could not discerne because many thinges by not agreeing with this poore fray le mortall flesh beeing now our iust punishment doe offend and hurt it as fire cold wilde beastes c. These do not obserue in what place of nature they liue and are placed nor how much they grace the vniuerse like a fayre state with their stations nor what commodity redounds to vs froÌ„ them if we can know how to vse them in so much that poyson a thing one way pernicious being conueniently ministred procureth health and contrary wise our meat drinke nay the very light immoderately vsed is hurtfull Hence doth Gods prouidence advize vs not to dispraise any thing rashly but to seeke out the vse of it warily and where our wittte and weakenesse failes there to beleeue the rest that is hidden as wee doe in other thinges past our reach for the obscurity of the vse
by temptations the other enuying this the recollection of the faithfull pilgrims the obscurity I say of the opinion of these two so contrary societies the one good in nature and wil the other good in nature also but bad by wil since it is not explaned by other places of scripture that this place in Genesiis of the light and darknes may bee applyed as Denominatiue vnto them both though the author hadde no such intent yet hath not beene vnprofitably handled because though wee could not knowe the authors will yet wee kept the rule of faith which many other places make manifest For though Gods corporall workes bee heere recited yet haue some similitude with the spiritual as the Apostle sayth you are all the children of the light and the children of the day wee are no sonnes of the night nor darknes But if this were the authors mind the other disputation hath attained perfection that so wise a man of God nay the spirit in him in reciting the workes of God all perfected in sixe dayes might by no meanes bee held to leaue out the Angels eyther in the beginning that is because hee had made them first or as wee may better vnderstand In the beginning because hee made them in his onely begotten Word in which beginning God made heauen and earth Which two names eyther include all the creation spirituall and temporall which is more credible Or the two great partes onely as continents of the lesser beeing first proposed in whole and then the parts performed orderly according to the mistery of the sixe dayes L. VIVES INto a cheynes This is playne in Saint Peters second Epistle and Saint Iudes also The Angels sayth the later which kept not their first estate but left their owne habitation hath hee reserued in euerlasting cheynes vnder Darkenesse vnto the iudgement of the great day Augustine vseth prisons for places whence they cannot passe as the horses were inclosed and could not passe out of the circuit vntill they had run b Pride Typhus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Pride and the Greeks vse Typhon of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bee proud and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to burne for the fiery diuell So sayth Plutarch of Typhon Osyris his brother that he was a diuell that troubled all the world with acts of malice and torment Augustine rather vseth it then the Latine for it is of more force and was of much vse in those dayes Philip the Priest vseth it in his Commentaries vppon Iob. c Iustice For God doth iustly reuenge by his good Ministers He maketh the spirits his messengers flaming fire his Ministers Ps. 103. d The desired There is no power on the earth like the diuels Iob. 40. Which might they practise as they desire they would burne drowne waste poyson torture and vtterly destroy man and beast And though we know not the diuells power directly where it is limited and how farr extended yet are wee sure they can do vs more hurt then we can euer repaire Of the power of Angels read Augustâ—… de Trinit lib. 3. Of the opinion that some held that the Angels weee meant by the seueral waters and of others that held the waters vncreated CHAP. 34. YEt some there a were that thought that the b company of Angels were meant by the waters and that these wordes Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it seperate the waters from the waters meant by the vpperwaters the Angels and by the lower eyther the nations or the diuels But if this bee so there is no mention of the Angels creation but onely of their seperation c Though some most vainely and impiously deny that God made the waters because hee neuer said Let there be waters So they may say of earth for he neuer said Let there be earth I but say they it is written God created both heauen and earth Did he so Then is water included therein also for one name serues both for the Psalm sayth The sea is his and he made it and his hands prepared the dry land but the d elementary weights do moue these men to take the waters aboue for the Angels because so an element cannot remayne aboue the heauens No more would these men if they could make a man after their principles put fleame being e in stead of water in mans body in the head f but there is the seate of fleame most fitly appointed by God but so absurdly in these mens conceits that if wee know not though this booke told vs playne that God had placed this fluid cold and consequently heauy humor in the vppermost part of mans body these world-weighers would neuer beleeue it And if they were subiect to the scriptures authority they would yet haue some meaning to shift by But seeing that the consideration of all thinges that the Booke of God conteineth concerning the creation would draw vs farre from our resolued purpose lette vs now together with the conclusion of this booke giue end to this disputation of the two contrary societyes of Angells wherein are also some groundes of the two societies of mankinde vnto whome we intend now to proceed in a fitting discourse L. VIVES SOme a there were as Origen for one who held that the waters aboue the heauens were no waters but Angelicall powers and the waters vnder the heauens their contraries diuels Epiph. ad Ioan. Hierosol Episc. b Companies Apocal. The peaple are like many waters and here-vpon some thought the Psalme meant saying You waters that bee aboue the heauens praise the name of the Lord for that belongs only to reasonable creatures to do c Though some Augustine reckoneth this for an heresie to hold the waters coeternall with God but names no author I beleeue Hesiods Chaos and Homers all producing waters were his originals d Elementary I see all this growes into question whether there be waters aboue the heauens and whether they be elementary as ours are Of the first there is lesse doubt For if as some hold the firmament be the ayre then the seperation of waters from waters was but the parting of the cloudes from the sea But the holy men that affirme the waters of Genesis to be aboue the starry firmament preuaile I gesse now in this great question that a thicke clowd commixt with ayre was placed betwixt heauen and earth to darken the space betweene heauen and vs And that part of it beeing thickned into that sea we see was drawne by the Creator from the face of the earth to the place where it is that other part was borne vp by an vnknowne power to the vttermost parts of the world And hence it came that the vpper still including the lower heauen the fire fire the ayre ayre the water this water includeth not the earth because the whole element thereof is not vnder the Moone as fire and ayre is Now for the nature of those waters Origen to begin with the
India the Easterne sea Taproban and the Iles thereabouts all found out by the power of Alexanders nauy and those you shall find Antipodes to vs if you marke the posture of the Globe diligently for they haue the same eleuation of their South pole and bee in the same distance from the occidentall point that some of the countries in our climat haue of our North poynt b Their feete As Tully saith in Scipios dreame c Coniecture For the temperature of the Southerne Zone is iust like to ours d Each part The world is round and Heauen is euery where a like aboue it Of the generation of Sem in which the Citty of God lyeth downe vnto Abraham CHAP. 10. SEMS generation it is then that wee must follow to find the Citty of God after the deulge as Seth deriued it along before Therefore the Scripture hauing shewen the Earthly Citty to bee in Babilon that is in confusion returnes to the Patriarch Sem and carieth his generation downe vntill Abraham counting euery mans yeares when he had his sonne and how long hee liued where by the way I thinke of my promise of explayning why one of Hebers sonns was called Phalech because in his dayes the earth was diuided how was it diuided by the confusion of tongues So then the sonnes of Sem that concerne not this purpose being letten passe the Scripture reciteth those that conuey his seed downe vnto Abraham as it did with those that conueyed Seths seede before the deluge downe vnto Noah It beginneth therefore thus These are the generations of Sem Sem was an hundred yeares old and begat a Arphaxad two yeares after the floud And Sem liued after hee begat Arphaxad fiue hundred yeares and begat sonnes and daughters and dyed And thus of the rest shewing when euery one begot his sonne that belonged to this generation that descendeth to Abraham and how long euery one liued after hee had begotten his sonne and begot more sonnes and daughters to shew vs 〈◊〉 a great multitude might come of one least wee should make any childish 〈◊〉 at the few that it nameth Sems seede beeing sufficient to replenish so 〈◊〉 kingdomes chiefly for the Assyrian Monarchie where Ninus the subduer 〈◊〉 the East raigned in maiesty and left a mighty Empire to bee possessed 〈◊〉 yeares after by his posterity But let vs not stand vpon trifles longer then 〈◊〉 must wee will not reckon the number of euery mans yeares till he dyed â—…ely vntill hee begat the sonne who is enranked in this genealogicall rolle 〈◊〉 gathering these from the deluge to Abraham we will briefly touch at other â—…ents as occasion shall necessarily import In the second yeare therefore 〈◊〉 the deluge Sem being two hundred yeares old begat Arphaxat Arphaxat 〈◊〉 a hundred thirty fiue yeares old begat Canaan hee beeing a hundred and 〈◊〉 yeares old begat Sala and so old was Sala when hee begot Heber Heber 〈◊〉 hundred thirty and foure yeares old when he begat Phalec Phalec a hundâ—… and thirty and begat Ragau hee one hundred thirty and two and begat Seâ—…ruch one hundred and thirty and begot Nachor Nachor seauenty and nine 〈◊〉 got Thara b Thara seauenty and begot Abram whom God afterward 〈◊〉 Abraham So then from the deluge to Abraham are one thousand seauenty 〈◊〉 yeares according to the vulgar translation that is the Septuagints But 〈◊〉 Hebrew the yeares are farre fewer whereof wee can heare little or no 〈◊〉 shewen 〈◊〉 therefore in this quest of the Citty of God wee cannot say in this time 〈◊〉 those men were not all of one language those seauenty and two naâ—… meane wherein wee seeke it that all man-kinde was fallen from GODS 〈◊〉 â—…uice but that it remained onely in Sems generation descending to 〈◊〉 by Arphaxad But the earthly Citty was visible enough in that preâ—…ion of building the tower vp to heauen the true type of deuillish exalâ—… therein was it apparant and euer after that But whether this other 〈◊〉 â—…ot before or lay hid or rather both remained in Noahs sonnes the godly 〈◊〉 two blessed ones and the wicked in that one accursed from whom that 〈◊〉 giant-hunter against the Lord descended it is hard to discerne for it may 〈◊〉 that most likely that before the building of Babilon GOD might haue 〈◊〉 of some of Chams children and the deulil of some of Sems and Iaphets 〈◊〉 may not beleeue that the earth wanted of eyther sort For that saying 〈◊〉 all gone out of the way they are all corrupt there is not one that doth good no 〈◊〉 euen in both the Psalmes that haue this saying this followeth Doe not 〈◊〉 worke iniquity know that they eate vp my people as it vvere bread so that 〈◊〉 his people then And therefore that same No not one is meant restricâ—… 〈◊〉 the sonnes of men and not the sonnes of GOD for hee sayd before 〈◊〉 looked downe from heauen vpon the sonnes of men to see if there were any 〈◊〉 â—…ld vnderstand and seeke GOD and then the addition that followeth 〈◊〉 that it was those that liued after the lawe of the flesh and not of the 〈◊〉 â—…ome hee speaketh of L. VIVES ARphaxad a From him saith Hierome the Chaldaeans descended b Thara The 70. call him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Hebrew Terah Tha the Hebrew tongue so called afterward of Heber was the first language vpon the earth and remained in his family when that great confusion was CHAP. 11. VVHerefore euen as sinne wanted not sonnes when they had all but one language for so it was before the deluge and yet all deserued to perish therein but Noah and his family so when mans presumption was punished with his languages confusion whence the Citty Babilon their proud worke had the name Hebers a house failed not but kept the old language still Where-vpon as I said Heber was reckoned the first of all the sonnes of Sem who begot each of them an whole nation yet was hee the fift from Seth in descent So then because this language remained in his house that was confounded in all the rest being credibly held the onely language vpon earth before this hence it had the name of the Hebrew tongue for then it was to bee nominally distinct from the other tongues as other tongues had their proper names But when it was the tongue of all it had no name but the tongue or language of man-kinde wherein all men spake Some may say if that the earth was diuided by the languages in Phalechs time Hebers sonne it should rather haue beene called his name then Hebers O but wee must vnderstand that b Heber did therefore giue his sonne Phalec such a name that is diuision because hee was borne vnto him iust at the time when the earth was diuided so meanes the Scripture when it saith in his dayes the earth was deuided For if Heber were not liuing when the confusion befell the tongue that was to remaine in his family should not haue
an horne thus much Hierome In Spaine this Prouerbe remaineth still but not as Augustine taketh it The Lord wil be altogither seene but in a manner that is his helpe shall bee seene d Obeyed Ob-audisti and so the old writersvsed to say in steed of obedisti Of Rebecca Nachors neece whome Isaac maried CHAP 33. THen Isaac being forty yeares old maried Rebecca neece to his vncle Nachor three yeares after his mothers death his father being a hundred and forty yeares old And when Abraham sent his seruant into Mesopotamia to fetch her and said vnto him Put thine hand vnder my thigh and I will sweare thee by the Lord God of heauen and the Lord of earth that thou shalt not take my sonne Isaac a wife of the daughters of Canaan what is meant by this but the Lord God of Heauen and the Lord of Earth that was to proceed of those loynes are these meane prophesies and presages of that which wee see now fulfilled in Christ. Of Abraham marrying Kethurah after Sarahs death and the meaning therefore CHAP. 34. BVt what is ment by Abrahams marrying Kethurah after Sarahs death God defend vs from suspect of incontinency in him being so old and so holy and faithfull desired he more sonnes God hauing promised to make the seed of Isaac 〈◊〉 the stars of Heauen and the sandes of the Earth But if Agar and Hismaell did signifie the mortalls to the Old-testament as the Apostle teacheth why may not Kethurah and her sonnes signifie the mortalls belonging to the New-testament They both were called Abrahams wiues his concubines But Sarah was neuer called his concubine but his wife only for it is thus written of Sarahs giuing Agar vnto Abrahā Then Sarah Abrahams wife tooke Agar the Egiptian her maid after Abraham had dwelled tenne yeares in the land of Canaan and gaue her to her husband Abraham for his wife And of Kethurah wee read thus of his taking her after Sarahs death Now Abraham had taken him another wife called Kethurah Here now you heare them both called his wiues but the Scripture calleth them both his concubines also saying afterwards Abraham gaeue all his goods vnto Isaac but vnto the sonnes of his concubines he gaue guiftes and sent them away from Isaac his sonne while he yet liued Eastward into the East country Thus the concubines sonnes haue some guifts but none of them attayne the promised kingdome neither the carnall Iewes nor the heretiques for none are heyres but Isaac nor are the sonnes of the flesh the Sonnes of God but those of the promise of whome it is said In Isaac shal be called thy seede for I cannot see how Kethurah whome hee married after Sarahs death should bee called his concubine but in this respect But hee that will not vnderstand these things thus let him not slander Abraham for what if this were appointed by God to shew a those future heretiques that deny second mariage in this great father of so many nations that it is no sinne to many after the first wife be dead now Abraham died being a hundred seauenty fiue yeares old and Isaac whome hee begat when hee was a hundred was seauenty fiue yeares of age at his death L. VIVES THose a future The Cataphrygians that held second mariage to bee fornication Aug ad quod vult Hierome against Iouinian doth not onely abhorre second mariage but euen disliketh of the first for he was a single man and bare marriage no good will The appointment of God concerning the two twins in Rebeccas womb CHAP. 33. NOw let vs see the proceedings of the Citty of God after Abrahams death So then from Isaacs birth to the sixtith yere of his age wherin he had children there is this one thing to be noted that when as he had prayed for her frutefulnes who was barren and that God had heard him and opened her wombe and shee conceiued the two twins a played in her wombe where-with she being trou bled asked the Lords pleasure and was answered thus Two nations are in thy wombe and two manner of people shal be diuided out of thy bowells and the one shall bee mightier then the other and the elder shall serue the younger Wherin Peter the Apostle vnderstandeth the great mistery of grace in that ere they were borne and either done euill or good the one was elected and the other reiected and doubtlesse as concerning originall sin both were alike and guilty and as concerning actuall both a like and cleare But myne intent in this worke curbeth mee from further discourse of this point wee haue handled it in other volumes But that saying The elder shall serue the yonger all men interpret of the Iewes seruing the Christians and though it seeme fulfilled in b Idumaea which came of the elder Esau or Edom for hee had two names because it was afterward subdued by the Israelites that came of the yonger yet not-with-standing that prophecy must needs haue a greater intent then so and what is that but to be fulfilled in the Iewes and the Christians L. VIVES THe two twinnes a played So say the seauentie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or kicked Hierome saith mooued mouebantur Aquila saith were crushed confringebantur And Symmachus compareth their motion to an emptie ship at sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Idumaea Stephanus deriueth their nation from Idumaas Semiramis her sonne as Iudaea from Iudas another of her sonnes but he is deceiued Of a promise and blessing receiued by Isaac in the manner that Abraham had receiued his CHAP. 36. NOw Isaac receiued such an instruction from God as his father had done diuerse times before It is recorded thus There was a famine in the land besides the first famine that was in Abrahams time and Isaac went to Abymelech king of the Philistines in Gerara And the Lord appeared vnto him and said Goe not downe into Aegypt but abide in the land which I shall shew thee dwell in this land and I will bee with thee and blesse thee for to thee and to thy seed will I giue this land and I will establish mine oath which I sware to Abraham thy father and will multiply thy seede as the starres of heauen and giue all this land vnto thy seede and in thy seede shall all the nations of the earth bee blessed because thy father Abraham obeyed my voyce and kept my ordinances my commandements my statutes and my lawes Now this Patriarch had no wife nor concubine more then his first but rested content with the two sonnes that God sent him at one birth And hee also feared his wiues beautie amongst those strangers and did as his father had done before him with-her calling her sister onely and not wife She was indeed his kinswoman both by father and mother but when the strangers knew that she was his wife they let her quietly alone with him Wee not preferre him before his father tho in that hee had but one
the blessing belong but vnto one or vnto both if vnto one onely vnto which of them This was resolued when Isaac said That thou maist bee a multitude of people and God giue the blessing of Abraham vnto thee namely to Iacob Forward 〈◊〉 going into Mesopotamia had a vision in a dreame recorded thus And Iacob â—…parted from Beersheba and came to Charra and he came to a certaine place and 〈◊〉 there all the night because the sunne was downe and he tooke of the stones of the 〈◊〉 and laide vnder his head and slept And he dreamed and behold a ladder and the 〈◊〉 â—…f it reached vp to heauen and loe the Angels of God went vp and downe by it and 〈◊〉 Lord stood aboue it and said I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father and of 〈◊〉 feare not the land on which thou sleepest will I giue thee and thy seede and thy seeâ—… shall be as the dust of the earth and thou shalt spread b ouer the sea the East 〈◊〉 North and the South And lo I am with thee and will keepe thee wheresoeuer thou goest and will bring thee againe into this land for I will not forsake thee vntill that I haue performed that I promised vnto thee And Iacob arose from his sleepe and said Surely the Lord is in this place and I was not a ware and he was afraid and said O how tâ—…rible is this place surely this is none other but the house of God and the gate of heauen And he arose vp and tooke the stone that he had layd vnder his head and set it vp like a c Title and powred oyle vpon the tope of it and called the name of that place d the house of God This now was propheticall he did not Idolatrize in powring oyle on the stone nor made it a God nor adored it nor sacrificed vnto it but because the e name of Christ was to come of Chrisma that is vnction of that was this a very significant mistery Now for the ladder our Sauiour himselfe mentioneth it in the gospell for hauing sayd of Nathanael behold a true Isralite wherein there is no guile because Israel that is Iacob saw this â—…ight he addeth Verrily verely I say vnto you hereafter you shall see heauen open and the Angells of God ascending and descending vpon the sonne of man But forward Iacob went into Mesopotamia to seeke a wife where he happened to haue foure women giuen him of whome he begat twelue sonnes and one daughter without affecting any of them lustfully as the scripture sheweth for he came but for one and being deceiued by f one for another he would not turn her away whom he had vnwittingly knowne least he should seeme to make her a mocking stocke and so because the law at that time did not prohibite plurality of wiues for increase sake hee tooke the other also whome he had promised to marry before who being barren gaue him her maid to beget her children vpon as her sister had done who was not baren and yet did so to haue the more children But Iacob neuer desired but one nor vsed any but to the augmentation of his posterity and that by law of mariage nor would he haue done this but that his wiues vrged it vpon him who had lawfull power of his body because he was their husband L. VIVES BErsheba a and. The seauenty read it the well of the swearing the Hebrew interpreted it the well of fulnesse and Aquila and Symmachus do both follow the last Hierome But the well of fulnesse that Isaacs seruants digged is not the same with the well of swearing that Abraâ—… digged and named the well of the othe or couenant which he made with Abymilech giâ—…ng him seauen lambes for Sheba is either an oth or seauen yet both these wells were in one citty b Ouer the sea This is no signification of power ouer the sea by nauy or so but it sigâ—…eth the West as I said before or Syrian sea next vnto ours to shew the foure parts of the world c A title The seauenty read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a piller and that is better then a title d The 〈◊〉 of God The next village was called Bethel being before called Luz now the house of God before a nutte It was in the portion of Beniamine betweene Bethau and Gai. e The 〈◊〉 of Christ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke is vnctus in Latine anoynted in English and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 f One for an other Lea the eldest daughter for Rachel the yonger Gen. 29. Iacob enstiled Israell The reason of this change CHAP. 39. OF these foure women Iacob begot twelue sonnes and one daughter And then came the entrance into Egypt by his sonne Ioseph whome his brethren â—…ed and sold thether who was preferred there vnto great dignity Iacob was also called Israel as I said before which name his progenie bore after him Thâ—… name the Angell that wrastled with him as hee returned from Mesopotamia gaue him being an euident type of Christ. For whereas Iacob preuailed against him by a his owne consent to forme this mysterie is signified the passion of Christ wherein the Iewes seemed to preuaile against him And yet Iacob gotte a blessing from him whom he had ouer-come and the changing of his name was that blessing for b Israel is as much as seeing God which shall come to passe in the end of the world Now the Angell touched him preuailing vpon the breadth of his thigh and so he became lame So the blessed and the lame was all but one Iacob blessed in his faithfull progenie and lame in the vnfaithfull For the bredth of his thigh is the multitude of his issue of which the greatest part as the Prophet saith haue halted in their wayes L. VIVES BY his a owne consent For otherwise the Angel could not onely haue conquered him but euen haue killed him b Israel is as much Hierome liketh not this interpretation nor to call him the Prince of God nor the direct of God but rather the most iust man of God Iosephus taketh it to be vnderstood of his preuailing against the Angel De Antiquit. Iudaic. Iacobs departure into Egipt with seauentie fiue soules how to be taken seeing some of them were borne afterwards CHAP. 40. IT is said there went with Iacob into Egipt seauentie fiue soules counting himselfe and his sonnes his daughter and his neece But if you marke well you shall finde that hee had not so numerous a progenie at his entrance into Egipt For in this number are Iosephs grand-children reckoned who could not then bee with him For Iacob was then a hundred and forty yeares old and Ioseph thirty nine who marrying as it is recorded but at thirty yeares old how could his sonnes in nine yeares haue any sonnes to increase this number by Seeing then that Ephraim and Manasses Iosephs sonnes had no children being but nine yeares of age at this remooue
the eyes of the spirit though not of the dull flesh hence it is that scriptures call a prophecy a vision and Nathan is called the Seer 1. Kings The Greekes some-times vse the name of Prophet for their priests poets or teachers Adam was the first man and the first Prophet who saw the mistery of Christ and his church in his sleepe Then followeth Enoch Noah Abraham Isaac Iacob and his children Moyses c. Yet are not these reckned amongst the prophets for none of them left any bookes of the visions but Moyses whose bookes concerned ceremonies sacrifices and ciuill orders also But these were all figures of future things nor were those the propheticall times as those from Samuel were wherein there neuer were prophets wanting whereas before God spake but seldome and his visions were not so manifest as they were from the first King vnto the captiuity wherein were foure great bookes of prophecies written and twelue of the small At what time Gods promise concerning the Land of Canaan was fulfilled and Israell receiued it to dwell in and possesse CHAP. 2. VVEE said in the last booke that God promised two things vnto Abraham one was the possession of the Land of Canaan for his seed in these words Goe into the Land that I will shew thee and I will make thee a great nation c. The other of farre more excellence not concerning the carnall but the spirituall seed nor Israell onely but all the beleeuing nations of the world in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall all nations of the earth be blessed c. This we confirmed by many testiâ—… Now therefore was Abrahams carnall seed that is the Israelites in the 〈◊〉 promise now had they townes citties yea and Kings therein and Gods 〈◊〉 were performed vnto them in great measure not onely those that hee 〈◊〉 signes or by word of mouth vnto Abraham Isaac and Iacob but euen 〈◊〉 â—…so that Moyses who brought them out of the Egyptian bondage or any 〈◊〉 him vnto this instant had promised them from God But the proâ—…â—…cerning the land of Canaan that Israel should reigne ouer it from the 〈◊〉 Egipt vnto the great Euphrates was neither fulfilled by Iosuah that worâ—… of them into the Land of promise and hee that diuided the whole aâ—… the twelue tribes nor by any other of the Iudges in all the time after 〈◊〉 was there any more prophecies that it was to come but at this instant 〈◊〉 â—…ected And by a Dauid and his son Salomon it was fulfilled indeed and 〈◊〉 â—…gdome enlarged as farre as was promised for these two made all 〈◊〉 â—…ations their seruants and tributaries Thus then was Abrahams seed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so settled in this land of Canaan by these Kings that now no part of 〈◊〉 â—…ly promise was left vnfulfilled but that the Hebrewes obeying Gods â—…ements might continue their dominion therein without all disturâ—… in all security and happinesse of estate But God knowing they would 〈◊〉 vsed some temporall afflictions to excercise the few faithfull therein 〈◊〉 â—…ad left and by them to giue warning to all his seruants that the nations 〈◊〉 â—…erwards to containe who were to bee warned by those as in whom hee 〈◊〉 â—…llfill his other promise by opening the New Testament in the death of 〈◊〉 L. VIVES Bâ—…â—…id Hierome epist. ad Dardan sheweth that the Iewes possessed not all the lands 〈◊〉 promised theÌ„ for in the booke of Numbers it is sayd to be bounded on the South by the salt sea and the wildernesse of sinne vnto that riuer of Egypt that ranne into the sea by Rhinocorura on the west by the sea of Palestina Phaenicia Coele Syria and Cylicia on the North by Mount Taurus and Zephyrius as farre as Emath or Epiphania in Syria on the East by Antioch and the Lake Genesareth called now Tabarie and by Iordan that runneth into the salt sea called now The dead sea Beyond Iordan halfe of the land of the tribes of Ruben Gad lay and halfe of the tribe of Manasses Thus much Hierome But Dauid possessed not all these but onely that within the bounds of Rhinocorura and Euphrates wherein the Israelites still kept themselues The Prophets three meanings of earthly Ierusalem of heauenly Ierusalem and of both CHAP. 3. WHerefore as those prophecies spoken to Abraham Isaac Iacob or any other in the times before the Kings so likewise all that the Prophets spoke afterwards had their double refereÌ„ce partly to Abraháms seed in the flesh partly to that wherein al the nations of the earth are blessed in him being made Co-heires with Christ in the glory and kingdome of heauen by this New Testament So then they concerne partly the bond-woman bringing forth vnto bondage that is the earthly Ierusalem which serueth with her sonnes and partly to the free Citty of God the true Ierusalem eternall and heauenly whose children are pilgrims vpon earth in the way of Gods word And there are some that belong vnto both properly to the bond-woman and figuratiuely vnto the free woman for the Prophets haue a triple meaning in their prophecies some concerning the earthly Ierusalem some the heauenly and some both as for example The Prophet a Nathan was sent to tell Dauid of his sinne and to fortell him the euills that should ensue thereof Now who doubteth that these words concerned the temporall City whether they were spoken publikely for the peoples generall good or priuately for some mans knowledge for some temporall vse in the life present But now whereas wee read Behold the daies come saith the LORD that I will make a new couenant with the house of Israell and the house of Iudah not according to the couenant that I made with their fathers when I tooke them by the hand to bring them out of the Land of Egipt which couenant they brake although I was an husband vnto them saith the Lord but this is the couenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those daies saith the LORD I will put my law in their mindes and write it in their hearts and I wil be their GOD and they shal be my people This without aâ—…l doubt is a prophecy of the celestiall Ierusalem to whom God himselfe stands as a reward and vnto which the enioying of him is the perfection of good Yet belongeth it vnto them both in that the earthly Ierusalem was called Gods Cittie and his house promised to bee therein which seemed to be fulfilled in Salomons building of that magnificent temple These things were both relations of things acted on earth and figures of things concerning heauen which kinde of prophecy compounded of both is of great efficacy in the canonicall scriptures of the Old Testament and doth exercise the readers of scripture very laudably in seeking how the things that are spoken of Abrahams carnall seed are allegorically fulfilled in his seed by faith In b so much that some held that there was nothing in the scriptures fore-told and effected or
effected without being fore-told that intimated not some-thing belonging vnto the Cittie of God and to bee referred vnto the holy pilgrims thereof vpon earth But if this be so we shall tie the Prophets words vnto two meanings onely and exclude the third and not onely 〈◊〉 Prophets but euen all the Old Testament For therein must be nothing peâ—… to the earthly Ierusalem if all that be spoken or fulfilled of that haue a farâ—… reference to the heauenly Ierusalem so that the Prophets must needes 〈◊〉 but in two sorts either in respect of the heauenly Ierusalem or els of both 〈◊〉 I thinke it a great error in some to hold no relation of things done in the â—…res more then meere historicall so doe I hoâ—…d it a c great boldnesse in 〈◊〉 that binde all the relations of Scripture vnto allegoricall reference and therefore I auouch the meanings in the Scriptures to be triple and not two-fold onely This I hold yet blame I not those that can piâ—…ke a good spirituall sense 〈◊〉 of any thing they reade so they doe not contradict the truth of the history But what faithfull man will not say that those are vaine sayings that can belong 〈◊〉 to diuinity nor humanity and who will not avow that these of which 〈◊〉 speake are to haue a spiritual interpretation also or leaue them vnto those 〈◊〉 interprete them in that manner L. VIVES 〈◊〉 Prophet a Nathan After Dauid had sent Vriah to be slaine in the front of the battell 〈◊〉 married his widow Bersabe b In so much Herevpon they say that so much is left out â—…g the acts of the Iewish Kings because they seemed not to concerne the Citty of 〈◊〉 that whatsoeuer the Old Testament conteineth or the New either hath all a sure 〈◊〉 vnto Christ and his Church at which they are both leuelled c Great boldnesse As 〈◊〉 â—…d with great rarity of spirit yet keepeth he the truth of the history vnuiolate for oâ—…â—…l these relations were vanities and each one would sâ—…rue an allegory out of the 〈◊〉 to liue and beleeue as he list and so our faith and discipline should bee vtterly conâ—…â—…herein I wonder at their mad folly that will fetch all our forme of life and religion 〈◊〉 â—…ories entangling them in ceremonious vanity and proclayming all that contraâ—… heretiques 〈◊〉 â—…ange of the Kingdome and priest-hood of Israell Anna Samuels mother a prophetesse and a type of the Church what she prophecied CHAP. 4. 〈◊〉 â—…ogresse therefore of the City of God in the Kings time when Saul was reâ—…ued and Dauid chosen in his place to possesse the Kingdome of Ierusaâ—…â—…im and his posterity successiuely signifieth and prefigureth that which 〈◊〉 not omit namely the future change concerning the two Testaments 〈◊〉 â—…d the New where the Old Kingdome and priest-hood was changed by 〈◊〉 and eternall King and Priest Christ Iesus for Heli being reiected Saâ—… made both the priest and the Iudge of God and Saul being reiected Daâ—… â—…hosen for the King and these two being thus seated signified the change 〈◊〉 of And Samuels mother Anna being first barren and afterwards by 〈◊〉 â—…odnes made fruitfull seemeth to prophecy nothing but this in her song 〈◊〉 â—…ing when hauing brought vp her son she dedicated him vnto God as she 〈◊〉 saying My heart reioyceth in the LORD my horne is exalted in the 〈◊〉 â—…y mouth is enlarged on mine enemies because I reioyced in thy saluation 〈◊〉 holy as the Lord there is no God like our God nor any holie besides thee 〈◊〉 â—…ore presumptiously let no arrogancie come out of your mouth for the Lord is 〈◊〉 â—…f knowledge and by him are enterprises established the bowe of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ee broken and guirded the weake with strength they that were full are hired forth for hunger and the hungry haue passed the land for the barren hath 〈◊〉 seâ—…en and a shee that had many children is enfeobled the Lord killeth and 〈◊〉 bringeth downe to the graue and raiseth vp the Lord impouerisheth and enritchâ—… humbleth and exalteth he raiseth the poore out of the dust and lifteth the begger from the dunghil to set them amongst Princes make them inherite the seat of glory he giueth vowes vnto those that vow vnto him and blesseth the yeares of the iust for in his owne might shall no man bee stronge the Lord the holy Lord shall weaken his aduersaries let not the wise boast of his wisdome nor the ritch in his ritches nor the mighty in his might but let their glory bee to know the Lord and to execute his iudgement and iustice vpon the earth the Lord from heauen hath thundered he shall iudge the ends of the world and shall giue the power vnto our Kings and shall exalt the horne of his annointed Are these the words of a woman giuing thankes for her sonne are mens mindes so benighted that they cannot discerne a greater spirit herein then meerely humane and if any one bee mooued at the euents that now began to fall out in this earthly processe doth he not discerne and acknowledge the very true religion and Citty of God whose King and founder is Iesus Christ in the words of his Anna who is fitly interpreted His grace and that it was the spirit of grace from which the proud decline and fall and therewith the humble adhere and are aduanced as this hymne saith which spake those propheticall words If any one will say that the woman did not prophecy but onely commended and extolled Gods goodnesse for giuing her praiers a sonne why then what is the meaning of this The bow of the mighty hath hee broken and guirded the weake with strength they that were full are hired forth for hunger and the hungry haue passed 〈◊〉 the land for the barren hath borne seauen and shee that had many children is 〈◊〉 Had shee being barren borne seauen she had borne but one when she sayd thus b nor had shee seauen afterward or sixe either for Samuel to make vp seauen but only three sonnes and two daughters Againe there being no King in Israel at that time to what end did she conclude thus Hee shall giue the power vnto our Kings and exalt the horne of his anoynted did shee not prophecy in this Let the church of God therfore that fruitful Mother that gracious City of that great King bee bold to say that which this propheticall mother spoke in her person so long before My heart reioyceth in the Lord c and my horne is exalted in the Lord. True ioy and as true exaltation both beeing in the Lord and not in her selfe my mouth is enlarged ouer mine enemies because Gods word is not pent vppe in straites d nor in preachers that are taught what to speake I haue reioyced saith she in thy saluation That was in Christ Iesus whom old Simeon in the Gospell had in his armes and knew his greatnesse in his infancy saying Lord nâ—…w lâ—…ttest thou thy seruant depart in
and the elder to the worlds The yonger had twelue sonnes one whereof called Ioseph his brothers solde vnto Marchants going into Egipt in their grand-father Isaacs time Ioseph liued by his humility in great fauour and aduancement with Pharao being now thirty yeares old For he interpreted the Kings dreames fore-telling the seauen plentious yeares and the seauen deare ones which would consume the plenty of the other and for this the King set him at liberty being before imprisoned for his true chastity in not consenting to his lustfull mystresse but fled and left his raiment with her who here-vpon falsly complained to her husband of him and afterwards hee made him Vice-roye of all Egypt And in the second yeare of scarcity Iacob came into Egipt with his sonnes being one hundred and thirty yeares old as he told the King Ioseph being thirty nine when the King aduanced him thus the 7. plentifull yeares and the two deare ones being added to his age L. VIVES MEssappus a Pausanias nameth no such saying Leucyppus had no sonne but Chalcinia one daughter who had Perattus by Neptune whom his grand-father Leucippus brought vp and left inthroned in his kingdome Eusebius saith Mesappus reigned forty seauen yeares If 〈◊〉 were Mesappus then doubtlesse it was Calcinias husband of whom mount Mesappus in Baeotia and Mesapia otherwise called Calabria in Italy had their names Virgil maketh him Neptunes sonne a tamer of horses and invulnerable Aeneid 7. b Cephisus A riuer in Boeotia in whose banke standeth the temple of Themis the Oracle that taught Deucalion and Pyrrha how to restore mankinde It runnes from Pernassus thorow the countries of Boeotia and the Athenian territory And Mesappus either had his names from this riuer and that 〈◊〉 or they had theirs from him or rather most likely the mount had his name and hee had the riuers because it ranne through his natiue soile c Apis Hee is not in Pausanias amongst the Argiue kings but amongst the Sycionians and was there so ritch that all the countrey within Isthmus bare his name before Pelops came But Eusebius out of the most Greekes seateth him in Argos Of Apis the Argiue King called Serapis in Egipt and there adored as a deity CHAP. 5. AT this time did Apis king of Argos saile into Egipt and dying there was called Serapis the greatest God of Egipt The reason of the changing his name saith Varro is this a dead mans coffin which all do now call b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also in Greeke so at first they worshipped at his coffin and tombe ere his temple were built calling him at first Sorosapis or Sorapis and afterwards by change of a letter as is ordinary Serapis And they made a lawe that who-soeuer should say hee had beene a man should dye the death And because that in all the c temples of Isis and Serapis there was an Image with the finger laid vpon the mouth as commanding silence this was saith Varro to shew them that they must not say that those two were euer mortall And d the Oxe which Egypt being wonderously and vainly seduced e nourished in all pleasures and fatnesse vnto the honor of Serapis because they did not worship him in a 〈◊〉 was not called Serapis but Apis which Oxe being dead and they seeking 〈◊〉 and finding another flecked of colour iust as hee was here they thought they had gotten a great God by the foote It was not such an hard matter â—…deed for the deuills to imprinte the imagination of such a shape in any Cowes phantasie at her time of conception to haue a meane to subuert the soules of men and the Cowes imagination would surely model the conception into such a forme as g Iacobs ewes did and his shee goates by seeing the party-colored stickes for that which man can doe with true collours the Diuell can do with apparitions and so very easily frame such shapes L VIVES AT a this time Diodorus lib 1. reciteth many names of Osyris as Dionysius Serapis â—…e Ammon Pan Pluto Tacitus arguing Serapis his original saith that some thought him to be Aesculapius the Phisitian-god and others tooke him for Osyris Egypts ancient est deity lib. 20. Macrobius taketh him for the sunne and Isis for the earth Te Serapim Nilus 〈◊〉 Marlianus to the sunne Memphis veneratur Osyrim Nilus adoreth thee as serapis aâ—… Memphis as Osiris Some held Serapis the genius of Egypt making it fertile and abundant His statues saith Suidas Theophilus Archbishop of Alexandria tooke downe in the time of â—…odosius the great This god some called Ioue some Nilus because of the measure that he had in his hand and the cubite designing the measures of the water and some Ioseph Some â—…y there was one Apis a rich King of Memphis who in a great famine releeued all Alexandria at his proper cost and charges where-vpon they erected a Temple to him when hee was dead and kept an Oxe therein for a type of his husbandry hauing certaine spots on his backe and this Oxe was called by his name Apis. His tombe wherein he was buâ—…ed was remoued to Alexandria and so him-selfe of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Apis was called Sorapis and afterwards â—…pis Alexander built him a goodly temple Thus much out of Suidas and the like is in 〈◊〉 Eccles. Hist. lib. 11. The Argiues King saith Eusebius Prep lib. 10 out of Aristippus his â—…ry of Arcadia lib. 2. called Apis built Memphis in Egypt whome Aristeus the Argiue calleth Sarapis and this man we know is worshipped in Egypt as a god But Nimphodorus Amphipolitanus de legib Asiatic lib. 3. saith that the Oxe called Apis dying was put into a â—…ffin called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke and so called first Sorapis and then Serapis The man Apis â—…s the third King after Inachus Thus farre Eusebius b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is the deuâ—… of flesh Therefore Pausanias Porphyry Suidas and other Greekes call him not Sorapis but Sarapis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a chest an Arke or a coffin c Temples of Isis and Osyris were buried at Nâ—…a as some thinke sayth Diodorus lib. 1 A citty in Arabia where two pillers were erected for monuments one for her and another for him and epitaphs vpon them contayned their acts and inuentions But that which was in the Priests hands might neuer come to light for feare of reuealing the truth and dearely must hee pay for it that published it This God that laid his finger on his lips in signe of silence hight Harpocrates varro de ling lat lib. 3. where he affirmeth that Isis and Serapis were the two great Gods Earth and heauen This Harpocrates Ausonius calleth Sigalion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be silent Pliny and Catullus mencion him often when they note a silent fellow and his name is prouerbiall Plutarch lib. de â—…s Osyr saith hee was their sonne gotten by Osyris vpon
Astronomer whence the fable arose of his supporting heauen vpon his shoulders Yet there is an huge mountaine of that name whose height may seeme to an ignorant eye to hold vp the heauens And now began Greece to fill the stories with fables but from the first vnto i Cecrops his time the king of Athens in whose reigne Athens got that name and Moses lead Israel out of Egipt some of the dead Kings were recorded for Gods by the vanity and customary superstition of the Greekes As Melantonice Crias his wife k Phorbas there sonne the sixt king of Argos and the sonne of l Triopas the seauenth King m Iasus and n Sthelenas or Sthelenus or Sthenelus for hee is diuersely written the ninth And o in these times also liued Mercury Altas his grandchild borne of Maia his daughter the story is common Hee was a perfect Artist in many good inuentions and therefore was beleeued at least men desired he should be beleeued to bee a deity p Hercules liued after this yet was he about those times of the Argiues some thinke hee liued before Mercury but I thinke they are deceiued But how-so-euer the grauest histories that haue written of them q auouch them both to be men and r that for the good that they did man-kinde in matter of ciuillity or other necessaries to humane estate were rewarded with those diuine honors s But Minerua was long before this for shee they say appreaed in Ogigius his time t at the lake Triton in a virgins shape wherevpon she was called Trytonia a woman indeed of many good inuentions and the likelyer to be held a goddesse because her originall was vnknowne for u that of Ioues brayne is absolutely poetique and no way depending vpon history There was in deed x a great deluge in Ogigius his time not so great as that wherein all perished saue those in the Arke for that neither Greeke author y nor Latine do mention but greater then that which befell in Ducalions daies But of this Ogigius his time the writers haue no certainty for where Varro beâ—… his booke I shewed before and indeed he fetcheth the Romaines origiâ—…â—…o further then the deluge that befell in Ogigius his time But our z chroâ—… Eusebius first and then Hierome following other more ancient authors herein record Ogigius his Deluge to haue fallen in the time of Phoroneus the seâ—… King of Argos three hundred yeares after the time before said But howsoeuer this is once sure that in a Cecrops his time who was either the builder or â—…er of Athens Minerua was there adored with diuine honors L. VIVES SAphrus a Machanell saith Eusebius reigned iust as long as his father Manitus fourty yeares and Iphereus succeeded him and raigned twenty yeares and in the eighâ—… yeare of his raigne was Moyses borne in Egypt b Orthopolus Orthopolis saith Euâ—… and Pausanias making him the sonne of Plemneus whome Ceres brought vp The 〈◊〉 oâ—… which you had before â—…sus Pyrasus saith Pausanias he rayned fifty foureyeares d Moyses was borne The wriâ—… not about Moyses birth Porphiry saith from Sanchoniata that he liued in Semiramis 〈◊〉 No but in Inachus his time saith Appion out of Ptolomy 〈◊〉 the Priest Amosis 〈◊〉 then King of Egypt Polâ—…mon Hist. Gre. maketh him of latter times Making the peoâ—… led to depart out of Egypt and to settle in Syria in the time of Apis Phoroneus his sonne 〈◊〉 Assirius brings a many seuerall opinions of men concerning this poynt some maâ—… Moyses elder then the Troyan warre and some equall with it But the arguments which 〈◊〉 selfe brings proueth him to haue beene before it His words you may read in Euseb. 〈◊〉 â—…ang lib. 10. Numenius the Philosopher calleth Moses Musaeus and Artapanus saith 〈◊〉 Greekes called him so and that Meris the daughter of 〈◊〉 King of Egypt haâ—… child herselfe adopted him for her son and so he came to great honor in Egipt because 〈◊〉 diuine knowledge inuentions in matter of learning and gâ—…rnment e Prometheus 〈◊〉 Euseb. from others Affricanus I thinke who maketh Prometheus to liue ninety foure yeares after Ogigius Porphiry putteth Atlas and him in Inachus his time But Prometheus was sonne to Iaepellis and Asia Hesiod calls his mother Clymene His falling out with Ioue saith Higin hist. Celest. and many other do touch at this grew vpon this cause being to smal in sacrifices to offer great offrings the poore being not able to offord them Prometheus suttely agreed with Ioue that halfe of their sacrifice onely should bee burnt the rest shold be reserued for the vse of men Ioue consented Then offers Prometheus two Bulls vnto Ioue and putteth all their bones vnder one of the skins and all their flesh vnder the other and then bad Ioue to choose his part Ioue a good plaine dealing God looking for no cousnage tooke that was next to hand light on the bones there at being angry he tooke away the fire froÌ„ mankind that they could sacrifice no more But Prometheus vsing his ordinary trickes stole a cane full of the fire â—…elestiall and gaue it vnto man where-vpon hee was bound to Caucasus and an Eagle set to feed continually vpon his liuer euer growing againe Some say that Prometheus made those creatures who haue fetcht Ioue downe so often women Prometheus his complaint in Lucian is thus answered by Vulcan and Mercury Thou cousonedst Ioue in sharing thou stolest the fire thou madest men and especially women For so it is said that he made men of clay and then put life into them by the fire which hee had stolne from Ioue where-vpon sath Horace commeth man-kinds diseases and feuers Seruius saith that Minerua woundted at this man this worke of Prometheus and promised to perfit it in all it lackt and that Prometheus affirming that hee knew not what was best for it she tooke him vp to heauen and setting him by the sonns Chariot gaue him a cane full of the fire and sent him downe to man with it Hesiod in one place toucheth at that story of Higinus saying that Ioue tooke away the fire from man and Prometheus got it againe to reuenge which iniury Vulcan by Ioues command made Pandora a woman endowed with all heauenly guifts and therefore called Pandora and sent her downe into the earth by Mercury to be giuen as a guift vnto Epimetbeus Prometheus his brother and being receaued into his house she opened a tunne of all the mischiefes that were diffused throughout all mankinde only hope remayning in the bottom and Prometheus as Aeschilus saith was bound vpon Cancasus for thirty thousand yeares neare to the Caspian streights as Lucian saith in his Caucasus Philostratus saith that that mount hath two toppes of a furlong distance one of the other and that the inhabitants say that vnto these were Prometheus his hands bound In vita Apollon So saith Lucian This Eagâ—…e some say was begotten betweene Typhon and Echydna Higin some say betweene
peeces saith Higin lib. 2. and 〈◊〉 harpe placed in Heauen with the belly towards the circle Arcticke Aristotle saith there was no such man Others say he was of Crotone and â—…d in Pysiâ—…tratus his time the Tyran of Athens Author Argonautic Linus was sonne to Mercury and Vrania Hermodâ—… Apollos sonne saith Virgill Hee first inuented musike in Greece Diod. Hee taught Hercules on the Harpe who being duâ—…le and there-vpon often chiden and some-times striken by Linus one time vp with his harpe and knockt out his maisters braynes Some say hee was slayne with one of Apolloes shaftes Suidas reckneth three Musaei One borne at Eleusis sonne to Antipheâ—…s and scholler to Orpheus hee wrot ethiâ—…e verses vnto Eumolpus Another a Theban sonne to Thamyras Hee wrot himnes and odes before the warres of Troy A third farre latter An Ephesian in the time of Eumenes and Attalus Kings hee wrot the â—…faires of the Troyans It is commonly held that hee that was Orpheus scholler was sonne to 〈◊〉 Lâ—…s sayth he wrot the genealogyes of the Athenian gods inuented the sphere and held one originall of all things vnto which they all returned Hee dyed at Phalâ—… in Attica as his epitaph mentioneth they say hee was Maister of the Eleusine ceremonies when Hercules was admitted to them Some as I said before held that the Greekes called Moyses 〈◊〉 vnlesse Eusebius bee herein corrupted b Ruling of the infernall Because held to goe into hell and returne safe and to mollifie the destenies and make the furies weepe Oâ—… Mâ—… 10. This prooued him powerfull in Hell c The wife Shee seeing her husband loue an Actolian maid shee had called Antiphera fell in loue her-selfe with her sonne 〈◊〉 And therefore no seruant may come in her temple The crier of the sacrifices vsed to cry A way 〈◊〉 and Aâ—…lians man and woman At Rome the Matrons led one maid seruant onely into Matâ—…tas Temple and 〈◊〉 they beâ—… 〈◊〉 Pâ—… Prob. Inâ—… and Melicerta being drowned had their names changed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke and Matuta in Latine Melicerteâ—… to Palaemon in Greeke and Porâ—…â—…n â—…n Latine quasi Deus portuum the God of hauens His temple was on the wharâ—…e of 〈◊〉 his feasts called Portumalia Varro In honour of him the Corinthians ordained the 〈◊〉 games Pausan. d Castor and Pollux Iupiter in the shape of a Swan commanding 〈◊〉 â—…o pursue him in the shape of an Eagle flew into Laedas lappe who tooke him and kept 〈◊〉 shee being a sleepe he got her with egge of which came Castor Pollux and Helena 〈◊〉 she laid two egges Hor. Art Poet. and that Hellen and Clytemnestrâ—… came of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say that Helen onely and Pollux were the immortall births of the egge but 〈◊〉 was mortall and begotten by Tyndarus Isocrates saith that Hellen was thought 〈◊〉 the Swannes begetting because shee had a long and a white neck They were all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Tyndaridae because they were supposed the children of Tyndarus 〈◊〉 â—…sband and sonne vnto Oebalus and not of Ioue Yet is a Swanne placed in heauen â—…ment of this holy acte forsooth and Castor and Pollux are the signe Gemini which 〈◊〉 by course because saith Homer Castor and Pollux endeuouring to take away 〈◊〉 of Lincus and Idas Idas after a long fight killed Castor and would haue killed 〈◊〉 but that Iupiter sent him sudden helpe and made him invulnerable So Pollux 〈◊〉 Ioue that his brother might haue halfe of his immortality and Ioue granted it Castor 〈◊〉 good horse-man and Pollux a wrastler They were called Dioscuri 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is â—…nnes Homer saith they were buried in Lacedaemon they were held to bee good for 〈◊〉 and they appeared like two starres because they being in the Argonautes voyâ—…â—…pest arose where-vpon all were terribly afraide sauing Orpheus who cheered them 〈◊〉 hauing prayde to the Samothracian gods the tempest immediately began to calme 〈◊〉 appearing vpon the heads of Castor and Pollux which miracle gladded them all 〈◊〉 them thinke that the gods had freed them and so it grew to a custome to implore 〈◊〉 â—…f those two who when both appeared were a good signe but neuer when they 〈◊〉 But the Romanes called their temple most commonly Castors temple wherein 〈◊〉 â—…yther ir-religious or Castor vngratefull who beeing made immortall by his 〈◊〉 â—…nes would take all the glory and honour vnto him-selfe who had beene forâ—… leâ—…t in obscurity but for the other But Pollux was cause of this for hee obteyâ—… should shine one day and another another day was cause that they could neuer 〈◊〉 â—…others company The ruine of the Argiue kingdome Picus Saturnes sonne succeeding him in Laurentum CHAP. 15. 〈◊〉 was the Argiue kingdome translated a to Mycaenae where b Aâ—… â—…on ruled and then c arose the kingdome of the Laurentines 〈◊〉 Picus Saturnes sonne was the first successor in e Delborah a woâ—…â—…ng Iudgesse of the Iewes GODS spirit indeed iudged in her for 〈◊〉 a Prophetesse her f prophecie is too obscure to drawe vnto 〈◊〉 with-out a long discourse And now had the Laurentines had a 〈◊〉 in Italy g from whence after their discent from Greece the Roâ—… pedegree is drawne Still the Assyrian Monarchy kept vp Lamparesâ—…ith â—…ith King ruling there now when Picus began his kingdome in Lauâ—… His father Saturne the Pagans say was no man let the Pagans looke 〈◊〉 some of them haue written that hee was and that hee was h King â—…ore his sonne Picus Aske these verses of Virgill and they will tell 〈◊〉 â—…id 8. Is genus indocile ac dispersum montibus altis Composuit legesque dedit latiumque vocari Maluit his quoniam latuisset tutus in oris Aureà que vt perhibent illo sub rege fuêre Secula Th'vndocill sort on Mountaines high disperst He did compose and gaue them lawes and first Would call it Latium when he latent lay In whose raigne was the golden age men say Tush but these they say are fictions l Sterces was Saturnes father hee that inuented m manuring of the ground with dung which of him was called Stercus Some say they called him Stercutius Well howsoeuer hee gotte the name of Saturne hee was the same Sterces or Stercutius whome they deified for his husbandry And Pyrus his sonne was deified after him also n a cunning sooth-sayer and o a great soldier as they report him to bee Hee begotte p Faunus the second King of Laurentum and hee was made a Syluane god All these men were deified before the Troyan warre L. VIVES TRanslated a vnto Mycaenae Pausanias his wordes here-vppon All know the villany of Danaus daughters vpon their cousine Germaines and how Lynceus succeeded Danaus in the Kingdome who dying Abas his sonnes diuided the Kingdome amongst them Acrisius had Argoes Praetus Eraeum Mydaea and Tyrinthus and all that lay to the sea In Tyrinthus are monuments yet of Praetus his dwelling there Afterward Acrisius hearing how his
Nor came his whole Nauy hether 〈◊〉 â—…e landed in Apulia and some in other places of Italy of whose arriuall there are monuâ—… vnto this day Some of them leauing Aeneas in Italy returned to Phrygia againe The 〈◊〉 place that Aeneas held in Latium they named Troy It was foure furlongs from the sea b 〈◊〉 Sonne to Ornius Erichtheus his sonne hee stirred the people against Theseus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absence saying that hee had brought the free people of Attica into one citty as into a 〈◊〉 Now Theseus was held in most straite prison by Orchus the Molossian King and he had 〈◊〉 the rauished Hellen at Aphydna which Castor and Pollux tooke freed their sister and 〈◊〉 Mnestheus King of Athens for that hee left them souldiours So Theseus being freed by â—…es and making meanes for the recouery of his Kingdome went into Scyros where 〈◊〉 Lyconides slew him So ruled Mnestheus quietly at Athens for Theseus his children 〈◊〉 but young and in the hands of Elpenor in Euboea Mnestheus respected them not They 〈◊〉 come to yeares went with Elpenor to that vniuersall warre of Troy and Mnestheus 〈◊〉 also with his forces and returning died in Melos and Demophon Theseus sonne succeeded him Plut. Paus. Euseb. So that Mnestheus was dead a little before Aeneas came into Italy 〈◊〉 Polyhistor saith that Demophon reigned at Athens when as Troy was destroied c Poâ—… So saith Euseb. but Pausanias relateth it thus Sycion had a daughter called Echthoâ—… on hir did Mercury they say beget Polybus Phlias Dionysius his sonne married her afterwards and had begot Androdanas on her Polybis married his daughter Lysianassa to Taâ—… sonne to Bias King of Argos At this time Adrastus fled from Argos to Polybus in Sicyâ—… and Polybus dying was King there He returning to Argos Ianiscus one of Clytius Laomeâ—… posterity came from Attica thether got their Kingdome and dying left it to Phaestus a 〈◊〉 of Hercules Hee beeing called by Oracle into Crete Euxippus sonne to Apollo and 〈◊〉 Syllis reigned and hee being dead Agamemnon made warre vpon Sycionia and Hippoâ—…â—…ne â—…ne to Rhopalus the sonne of Phaestus fearing his power became his tributary vpon â—…ion This Hippolitus had issue Lacestades and Phalces Now Tamphalces sonne to 〈◊〉 came with his Dorikes in the night and tooke the citty yet did no harme as beeing â—…ed from Hercules also onely hee was ioyned fellow in this Kingdome with him From 〈◊〉 the Sycionians were called Dorians and made a part of the Argiue Empire d Tautaâ—… 〈◊〉 reigned in the time of the Troian wars Eus. Diod. saith that Priam who held his crown 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as from his soueraigne in the beginning of the siege sent to intreate some helpe of him who sent him 10000. Ethiopians 10000. Susians and twenty chariots oâ—… 〈◊〉 â—…gons vnder the conduct of Memnon sonne to Duke Tython his dearest associate Hoâ—… mentions this Memnon for he was slaine in this warre He was a youth of an hardy and â—…que spirit as his valourous performances did witnesse in abundance e Labdon So doth Euseb call him The Bible hath it Abdon Iud. 12. 13. Sonne he was to Hylo the Ephraite who had forty sons and they had fifty sons al good horsmen he left them al liuing at his death Ioâ—… 〈◊〉 f Pelasgus The old bookes read Pelagus My friend Hieronimo Buffaldo aâ—… vnwearâ—…ed student a true friend and an honest man saith that in one copy hee had read it Pelagus Pausanias putteth other names in this place quite different he giues vs no light here g Sampson Iud. 13. His deeds excelled all those of Hercules Hector or Milo They are knowne I will not stand to rehearse them h Being not to be Mezentius King of Hetruria warred against the Latines and Aeneas their King ioyning battell with him neere Lauinium they had a 〈◊〉 fought field and being parted by night next morning Aeneas was not to bee found some said he was indenized some that he was drowned in Numicus the riuer The Latines built him a Temple dedicated it TO OVR HOLY FATHER AND TERRESTRIALL GOD GOVERNOR OF THE WATERS OF NVMICVS Dionys. Some say be built it himselfe Festus saith Ascanius his sonne did He died three yeares after his step-father Latinus so long was he King and seauen years after the dissolution of Troy He hath toumbes in many nations but those are but for his honour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 empty monuments his true one is by the riuer Numicus Liu. They call him Iupiter indiges so Ascanius named him wheÌ„ he deified him Indiges is a mortall made a Deity Some say it is onely spoken of those whom it is sacriledge to name as the patron-gods of citties and such like But I thinke Indiges bee as much as in-borne or in-liuing that is meaning them that dwelt or were borne in the soile where they are deified Such did Lucane meane when he said Indigites fleuisse deos vrbisque laborem Testatos sudore lares The towne-gods wept the house-hold-gods with sweat Witnesâ—… the Citties labour should be great And therefore he was both Iupiter indiges and Iupiter Latialis But this I may not baâ—…e Aeneas had his swinging places in Italy as Erigone Icarus his daughter had in Greece for thus saith Festus Pompeius These swinging-games had originall from hence because Aeneas being lost no man knew how in his warres against Mezentius King of the 〈◊〉 was held deified and called Ioue Latiall So Ascanius sent out all his subiects bond and free sixe daies to seeke him in earth and ayre and so ordeined swinging to shew the forme of mans life how he might mount to heauen or fall from thence to earth and the perpetuall reuolution of fortune Thus Festus i By the Latines And the Sicilians also in Eâ—…yma a citty that hee built Ou. Met. 14. k Sangus Or Xanthus or Sanctus or Sancus but Sangus is the truth Porcius Cato saith Dionys. wrote that the Sabines had their name from Sabinus sonne to Sangus the god of the Sabines otherwise called Pistius Him saith Lactantius doe the Sabines adore as the Romanes doe Quirinus and the Athenians Minerua Hereof hee that list may read Aâ—…nius â—…equester Uibius in his description of Rome mentions this Genius Sangus l Codrus â—…on to Melanthus the Messenian in whose time the Kings of Peloponnesus descended from Hercules warred vpon Athens because they feared the aboundance of exiles there and Codrus reiging at Athens they feared both the Corinthians because of their bordering vpon them for Isthmus wherein Corynth stood ioyneth on Megara and the Messenians also because of Melanthus Codrus his father beeing King there So the bloud royall of Peloponnesus 〈◊〉 to the oracle and were answered that the victory and the Kings death should fall both 〈◊〉 one side herevpon they conceiled the Oracle and withall gaue a strict chaâ—…ge thâ—…t 〈◊〉 â—…hould touch Codrus But the Athenians hearing of this Oracle and Codrus beeing desirous of glorie and the
namely that God framed the world and gouerned it most excellently of the honesty of vertue the loue of our countrey the faith of friendship iust dealing and all the appendances belonging to good manners they knew not to what end the whole was to bee referred The Prophets taught that from the mouth of God in the persons of men not with inundations of arguments but with apprehension of fear and reuerence of the Lord in all that understood them L VIVES ALthough a there be Vain-glory led almost all the ancient authors wrong stuffing artes with infamous errors grosse and pernicious each one seeking to be the proclamer of his own opinion rather then the preferrer of anothers Blind men they saw not how laudable it is to obey Good councell to agree vnto truth I knew a man once not so learned as arrogant who professed that hee would write much and yet avoyd what others had said before him as hee would fly a serpent or a Basiliske for that hee had rather wittingly affirme a lie then assent vnto the opinion b Anaxagoras A stone fell once out of the ayre into Aegos ariuer in Thracia and Anaxagoras who had also presaged it affirmed that heauen was made all of stones and that the sonne was a firy stone where-vpon Euripides his scholler calleth it a golden turfe In Phaetonte for this assertion Sotion accused him of impiety and Pericles his scholler pleaded for him yet was he fined at fiue talents and perpetuall banishment Others say otherwise But the most say that Pericles who was great in the Citty saued his life being condemned where-vpon the Poets faigned that Ioue was Angry at Anaxagoras and threw a thunder-bolt at him but Pericles stept betweene and so it flew another way c And all the rest Epicurus held Gods but excluded them from medling in humane affayres and hearing vs indeed his vnder ayme was Atheisme but the Areopage awed him from professing it for farewell such Gods as wee haue no neede on saith Cotta in Tully d Towne gallery There taught the stoikes e Schooles As the Peripatetiques in the Lycaeum f Gardens As the Epâ—…cureans did g Some held Of these we spake at large vpon the eight booke h What truth soeuer Euse. de praep Euang prooueth by many arguments that Plato had all his excellent position out of the scriptures Of the translations of the Old-Testament out of Hebrew into Greeke by the ordinance of God for the benefit of the nations CHAP. 42. THese scriptures one a Ptolomy a king of Egypt desired to vnderstand for after the strange admirable conquest of Alexander of Macedon surnamed the great wherein he brought all Asia and almost all the world vnder his subiection partly by faire meanes and partly by force who came also into Iudaea his nobles after his death making a turbulent diuision or rather a dilaceration of his monarchy Egypt came to be ruled by Ptolomyes The first of which was the soone of Lagus who brought many Iewes captiue into Egypt the next was Philadelphus who freed all those captiues sent guifts to the temple and desired Eleazar the Priest to send him the Old-testament whereof he had hard great commendations and therefore hee ment to put it into his famous library Eleazar sent it in Hebrew and then hee desired interpretours of him and he sent him seauenty two sixe of euery tribe all most perfect in the Greeke and Hebrew Their translation doe wee now vsually call the Septuagints b The report of their diuine concord therein is admirable for Ptolomy hauing to try their faith made each one translate by him-selfe there was not one word difference between them either in sence or order but al was one as if only one had done them all because indeede there was but one spirit in them all And God gaue them that admirable guift to giue a diuine commemdation to so diuin a worke wherin the nations might see that presaged which wee all see now effected L VIVES ONe a Ptolomy The Kings of Egypt were all called Pharaos vntill Cambyses added that kingdome vnto the Monarchy of Persia. But after Alexander from Ptolomy sonof Lagus they were al called Ptolomies vntil Augustus made Egipt a prouince Alexander was abroad 〈◊〉 an army 21. yeares in which time he subdued al Asia but held it but a while for in the 32. 〈◊〉 of his age he died and then his nobles ranne all to share his Empire as it had bin a broâ—… filled with gold euery one got what he could and the least had a Kingdome to his 〈◊〉 Antigonus got Asia Seleucus Chaldaea Cassander Macedonia each one somewhat Ptoâ—… Egypt Phaenicia and Ciprus hee was but of meane descent Lagus his father was one of Alexanders guard and hee from a common soldior got highly into the fauour of his Prince for his valor discretion and experience Being old and addicted to peace he left his crowne to his sonne Philadelphus who had that name either for louing his sister Arsinoe or for hating her afterwards a contrario He freed all the Iewes whome his father had made captiues and set Iudaea free from a great tribute and being now growen old and diseased by the perswasion of Demetrius Phalereus whome enuy had chased from Athens thether hee betooke him-selfe to study gathered good writers together buylt that goodly librarie of Alexandria wherein he placed the Old-Testament for hee sent to Eleazar for translators for the law and Prophets who being mindfull of the good hee had done to Iudaea sent him the seauenty two interpretours whome from breuity sake we call the seauenty as the Romaines caâ—…led the hundred and fiue officers the Centumuirs In Iosephus are the Epistles of Ptolomy to Eleazar and his vnto him lib. 12. There is a booke of the seauenty interpreters that goeth vnder his name but I take it to be a false birth b The report of Ptolomy honored those interpreters highly To try the truth by their Agreement saith Iustine hee built seauenty two chambers placing a translator in euery one to write therein and when they had done conferred them all and their was not a letter difference Apologet. ad Gent. The ruines of these Iustine saith he saw in Pharos the tower of Alexandria Menedemus the Philosopher admired the congruence in the translation Tertull. Aduers gentes Hierome some-times extolls their translation as done by the holy spirit and some-times condemneth it for euill and ignorant as hee was vehement in all opposition that story of their chambers â—…e scoffeth at for this he saith I know not what hee was whose lyes built the chambers for the seauenty at Alexandria where they might write seuerall when as Aristeas one of Ptolomies gard saith that they all wrote in one great pallace not as Prophets for a prophet is one thing and a translatour another the one speaketh out of inspiration and the other translateth out of vnderstanding Prolog in Pentateuch That the
translation of the Seuenty is most authenticall next vnto the Hebrew CHAP. 43. THere were other translators out of the Hebrew into the Greeke as Aquila Symmachus Theodâ—…tion and that namelesse interpetor whose translation is called the fift Edition But the Church hath receiued that of the seauenty as if there were no other as many of the Greeke Christians vsing this wholy know not whether there be or no. Our Latine translation is from this also Although one Hierome a learned Priest and a great linguist hath translated the same scriptures from the Hebrew into Latine But a although the Iewes affirme his learned labour to be al truth and auouch the seauenty to haue oftentimes erred yet the Churches of Christ hold no one man to be preferred before so many especially being selected by the high Priest for this work for although their concord had not proceeded from their vnity of spirit but froÌ„ their collations yet were no one man to be held more sufficient then they all But seeing there was so diuine a demonstration of it truely whosoeuer translateth from the Hebrew or any other tongue either must agree with the seauenty or if hee dissent wee must hold by their propheticall depth For the same spirit that spake in the prophets translated in them And that spirit might say other-wise in the translation then in the Prophet and yet speake alike in both the sence being one vnâ—…o the true vnderstander though the words bee different vnto the reader The same spirit might adde also or diminish to shew that it was not mans labour that performed this worke but the working spirit that guyded the labours Some held it good to correct the seauenty by the Hebrew yet durst they not put out what was in them and not in the Hebrew but onely added what was in that and not in them b marking the places with c Asteriskes at the heads of the verses and noting what was in the seauenty and not in the Hebrew with 〈◊〉 as we marke d ounces of weight withall And many Greeke and Latine â—…pies are dispersed with these markes But as for the alterations whether the difference be great or small they are not to be discerned but by conferring of the bookes If therefore we go all to the spirit of God and nothing else as is fittest whatsoeuer is in the seauenty and not in the Hebrew it pleased God to speake it by those latter prophets and not by these first And so contrary-wise of that which is in the Hebrew and not in the seauenty herein shewing them both to be â—…phets for so did he speak this by Esay that by Hieremy and other things by othes as his pleasure was But what wee finde in both that the spirit spake by both by the first as Prophets by the later as propheticall translations for as there was one spirit of peace in the first who spake so many seuerall things with discordance so was there in these who translated so agreeably without conference L VIVES ALthough a the Iewes No man now a daies sheweth an error and leaueth it Mankind is not so wise Againe time gayneth credit vnto many and nothing but time vnto some But it is admirable to see how gently hee speaketh here of Hierome whose opinion he followed not in this high controuersie O that wee could immitate him b Marking of this Hierome speaketh Prolog in Paralip Origen was the first that tooke the paines to conâ—… the translation and he conferred the seauenty with Theodotion Hier. ep id August where he inueigheth at what hee had erst commended saying that the booke is not corrected but rather corrupted by those asteriskes and spits But this he said because Augustine would not meddle with his translation but held that of the seauenty so sacred this power oftentimes 〈◊〉 affection in the holiest men c Asteriskes Little stars d Ounces It seemes the oâ—…ce in old times was marked with a spits character Isidoâ—…e saith it was marked with the Greeke Gamma and our o thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the halfe scruple with a line thus they noted those places with a spit thus 〈◊〉 to signifie that the words so noâ—…ed were thrust through as adâ—… falsefiing the text It was Aristarchus his inuention vsed by the Grammarians in their 〈◊〉 of bookes and verses Quinti lib. 1. Which the old Grammarians vsed with such seuerity 〈◊〉 they did not onely taxe false places or bookes hereby but also thrust their authors either 〈◊〉 of their ranke or wholy from the name of Grammarians Thus Quintilian Seneca did eleâ—… call the rasing out of bastard verses Aristarchus his notes Of the destruction of Niniuy which the Hebrew perfixeth fourty daies vnto and the Septuagints but three CHAP. 44. 〈◊〉 will some say how shall I know whether Ionas said yet forty daies and Niâ—… shal be destroyed or yet three daies who seeth not that the Prophet presaging 〈◊〉 destruction could not say both if at three daies end they were to bee desâ—… then not at fourty if at fourty then not at three If I bee asked the question I answer for the Hebrew For the LXX being 〈◊〉 after might say otherwise and yet not against the sence but as pertinent to the matter as the other though in another signification aduising the reader not to leaue the signification of the historie for the circumstance of a word noâ—… to contemne either of the authorities for those things were truly done 〈◊〉 at Niâ—…ie and yet had a reference farther then Niniuie as it was true that the Prophet was three dayes in the Whales belly and yet intimated the being of the Lord of all the Prophets three dayes in the wombe of the graue Wherefore if the Church of the Gentiles were prophetically figured by Niniuie as being destâ—…oyed in repentance to become quite different from what it was Christ doiâ—…g this in the said Church it is hee that is signified both by the forty dayes and by the three by forty because hee was so long with his disciples after hiâ—… resurrection and then ascended into heauen by three for on the third day hee aroâ—…e againe as if the Septuagâ—…nts intended to stir the reader to looke further into the matter then the meere history and that the prophet had intended to intimate the depth of the mysterie as if hee had said Seeke him in forty dayes â—…hom thou shalt finde in three this in his resurrection and the other in his asceâ—…sion Wherefore both numbers haue their fitte signification both are spokâ—…n by one spirit the first in Ionas the latter in the translators Were it noâ—… for â—…diousnesse I could reconcile the LXX and the Hebrew in many places wherein they are held to differ But I study breuity and according to my talent haue followed the Apostles who assumed what made for their purposes out of both the copies knowing the holy spirit to be one in both But forward with our purpose L. VIVES YEt a forty
ceasing and destruction ensuing which was performed by the Romanes as I erst related But the house of the New Testament is of another lustre the workemanship being more glorious and the stones being more precious But it was figured in the repaire of the old Temple because the whole New Testament was figured in the old one Gods prophecy therefore that saith In that place will I giue peace is to be meant of the place signified not of the place significant that is as the restoring that house prefigured the church which Christ was to build so GOD said in this place that is in the place that this prefigureth will I giue peace for all things signifying seeme to support the persons of the things signified as Saint Peter said the Rock was Christ for it signifyed Christ. So then farre is the glory of the house of the New Testament aboue the glory of the Old as shall appeare in the finall dedication Then shall the desire of all nations appeare as it is in the hebrew for his first comming was not desired of all the nations for some knew not whom to desire nor in whom to beleeue And then also shall they that are Gods elect out of all nations come as the LXX read it for none shall come truely at that day but the elect of whoÌ„ the Apostle saith As he hath elected vs in him before the beginning of the world for the Architect himself that sayd Many are called but few are chosen he spoke not of those that were called to the feast and then cast out but meant to shew that hee had built an house of his elect which times worst spight could neuer ruine But being altogither in the church as yet to bee hereafter sifited the corne from the chaffe the glory of this house cannot be so great now as it shal be then where man shal be alwaies there where he is once The Churches increase vncertaine because of the commixtion of elect and reprobate in this world CHAP. 49. THerefore in these mischieuous daies wherein the church worketh for his fu ture glory in present humility in feares in sorrowes in labours and in temptations ioying onely in hope when shee ioyeth as she should many rebrobaâ—…e liue amongst the elect both come into the Gospells Net and both swim at randon in the sea of mortality vntill the fishers draw them to shore and then the 〈◊〉 owne from the good in whom as in his Temple God is all in all We acknowledge therefore his words in the psalme I would declare and speake of them 〈◊〉 are more then I am able to expresse to be truly fulfilled This multiplication 〈◊〉 at that instant when first Iohn his Messenger and then himselfe in person 〈◊〉 to say Amend your liues for the Kingdome of God is at hand He chose him disâ—… and named the Apostles poore ignoble vnlearned men that what great 〈◊〉 soeuer was done hee might bee seene to doe it in them He had one who abused his goodnesse yet vsed hee this wicked man to a good end to the fulfilling of his passion and presenting his church an example of patience in tribulation And hauing sowne sufficiently the seed of saluation he suffered was buried and 〈◊〉 againe shewing by his suffering what wee ought to endure for the truth and 〈◊〉 resurrection what we ought for to hope of eternity a besides the ineffaâ—…ament of his bloud shed for the remission of sinnes Hee was forty daies 〈◊〉 with his disciples afterwardes and in their sight ascended to heauen â—…es after sending downe his promised spirit vpon them which in the comming gaue that manifest and necessary signe of the knowledge in languages of 〈◊〉 to signifie that it was but one Catholike church that in all those natiâ—…â—…uld vse all those tongues L. VIVES 〈◊〉 a the ineffable For Christs suffrance and his life hath not onely leaft vs the vertue 〈◊〉 Sacraments but of his example also whereby to direct ourselues in all good courses 〈◊〉 Gospell preached and gloriously confirmed by the bloud of the preachers CHAP. 50. 〈◊〉 then as it is written The law shall goe forth of Zion and the word of 〈◊〉 Lord from Ierusalem and as Christ had fore-told when as his disciplies â—…onished at his resurrection he opened their vnderstandings in the scripâ—… told them that it was written thus It behoued Christ to suffer and to rise 〈◊〉 the third day and that repentance and remission of sinnes should bee preached in 〈◊〉 â—…mongst all nations beginning at Ierusalem and where they asked him of 〈◊〉 comming and he answered It is not for you to know the times and seasons 〈◊〉 father hath put in his owne power but you shall receiue power of the Holie 〈◊〉 hee shall come vpon you and you shal be witnesses of mee in Ierusalem and in 〈◊〉 in Samaria and vnto the vtmost part of the earth First the church spred 〈◊〉 â—…om Ierusalem and then through Iudaea and Samaria and those lights 〈◊〉 world bare the Gospell vnto other nations for Christ had armed them 〈◊〉 Feare not them that kill the body but are not able to kill the soule they had 〈◊〉 of loue that kept out the cold of feare finally by their persons who 〈◊〉 him aliue and dead and aliue againe and by the horrible persecutiâ—… by their successors after their death and by the euer conquered to 〈◊〉 â—…conquerable tortures of the Martires the Gospell was diffused 〈◊〉 all the habitable world GOD going with it in Miracles in vertues and 〈◊〉 of the Holy Ghost in so much that the nations beleeuing in him who 〈◊〉 for their Redemption in christian loue did hold the bloud of those Martires in reuerence which before they had shed in barbarousnesse and the Kings whose edicts afflicted the church came humbly to be warriours vnder that banner which they cruelly before had sought vtterly to abolish beginning now to persecute the false gods for whom before they had persecuted the seruants of 〈◊〉 true GOD. That the Church is confirmed euen by the schismes of Heresies CHAP. 51. NOw the deuill seeing his Temples empty al running vnto this Redeemer set heretiques on foote to subert Christ in a christiaÌ„ vizar as if there were yâ— allowance for them in the heauenly Ierusalem which their was for contrariety of Philosophers in the deuills BabiloÌ„ Such therfore as in the church of God do distast any thing and a being checked aduised to beware do obstinately oppose themselues against good instructions and rather defend their abhominations then discard them those become Heretikes and going forth of Gods House are to be held as our most eager enemies yet they doe the members of the Catholike Church this good that their fall maketh them take better hold vpon God who vseth euill to a good end and worketh all for the good of those that loue him So then the churches enemies whatsoeuer if they haue the power to impose corporall afflictioÌ„ they exercise her patience
doe better for the solution of this question to beginne at that time chiefly because then the Holy Spirit descended vpon that society wherein the second law the New Testament was to bee professed according as Christ had promised For the first law the Old Testament was giuen in Sina by Moyses but the later which Christ was to giue was prophecied in these words The law shall goe forth of Zion and the word of the LORD from Ierusalem Therefore hee said himselfe that it was fit that repentance should bee preached in his name throughout all nations yet beginning at Ierusalem There then beganne the beleefe in CHRIST crucified and risen againe There did this faith heate the heartes of diuers thousands already who sold their goods to giue to the poore and came cheerefully to CHRIST and to voluntary pouerty withstanding the assalts of the bloud-thirsty Iewes with a pacience stronger then an armed power If this now were not done by Magike why might not the rest in all the world bee as cleare But if Peters magike had made those men honour Christ who both crucified him and derided him beeing crucified then I aske them when their three hundered three scorce and fiue yeares must haue an end CHRST died in the a two Gemini's consulshippe the eight of the Calends of Aprill and rose againe the third daie as the Apostles saw with their eyes and felt with their hands fortie daies after ascended hee into Heauen and tenne daies after that is fiftie after the resurrection came the Holy Ghost and then three thousand men beleeued in the Apostles preaching of him So that then his name beganne to spread as wee beleeue and it was truely prooued by the operation of the Holy Ghost but as the Infidels feigne by Peters magike And soone after fiue thousand more beleeued through the preaching of Paul and Peters miraculous curing of one that had beene borne lame and lay begging at the porch of the Temple Peter with one word In the name of our LORD IESVS CHRIST set him sound vpon his feete Thus the church gotte vppe by degrees Now reckon the yeares by the Consulls from the descension of the Holie Spirit that was in the Ides of Maie vnto the consulshippe of b Honorius and Eutychian and you shall finde full three hundered three score and fiue yeares expired Now in the next yeare in the consulship of c Theodorus Manlius when christianity should haue beene vtterly gone according to that Oracle of deuills or fiction of fooles what is done in other places wee neede not inquire but for that famous cittie of Carthage wee know that Iouius and Gaudentius two of Honorius his Earles came thether on the tenth of the Calends of Aprill and brake downe all the Idols and pulled downe their Temples It is now thirty yeares agoe since almost and what increase christianity hath had since is apparant inough and partly by a many whom the expectation of the fulfilling of that Oracle kept from beeing reconciled to the truth who since are come into the bosome of the church discouering the ridiculousnesse of that former expectation But wee that are christians re â—…re indeed and name doe not beleeue in Peter but in f him that Peter beleeued in Wee are edifyed by Peters sermons of Christ but not bewitched by his charmes nor deceiued by his magike but furthered by his religion CHRIT that taught Peter the doctrine of eternitie teacheth vs also But now it is time to set an end to this booke wherein as farre as neede was wee haue runne along with the courses of the Two Citties in their confused progresse the one of which the Babilon of the earth hath made her false gods of mortall men seruing them and sacrificing to them as shee thought good but the other the heauenly Ierusalem shee hath stucke to the onely and true GOD and is his true and pure sacrifice her selfe But both of these doe feele one touch of good and euill fortune but not with one faith nor one hope nor one law and at length at the last iudgement they shall bee seuered for euer and either shall receiue the endlesse reward of their workes Oâ—… these two endes wee are now to discourse L. VIVES IN the a two First sure it is Christ suffered vnder Tyberius the Emperor Luke the Euangelist maketh his baptisme to fall in the fifteenth yeare of Tyberius his reigne So then his passion must be in the eighteenth or ninteenth for three yeares hee preached saluation Hier. So â—…ith Eusebius alledging heathen testimonies of that memorable eclips of the Sunne as namely our of Phlegon a writer of the Olympiads who saith that in the fourth yeare of the two hundered and two Olympiade the eighteenth of Tyberius his reigne the greatest eclips befell that euer was It was midnight-darke at noone-day the starres were all visible and an earth-quake shooke downe many houses in Nice a city of Bythinia But the two Gemini Ruâ—… and Fusius were Consulls in the fifteenth yeare of Tyberius as is easily prooued out of Tacitus lib. 5. and out of Lactantius lib. 4. cap. 10. where hee saith that in that yeare did Christ suffer and him doth Augustine follow here But Sergius Galba afterwards Emperor and L. Sylla were Consulls in the eighteenth yeare b Honorius and In the consulship of these two 〈◊〉 draue the Gothes and Vandals into Italy Honorius the Emperor beeing Consull the fourth time Prosper saith this was not vntill the next yeare Stilicon and Aurelian beeing 〈◊〉 c Theodorus Claudian made an exellent Panegyrike for his consulship wherein hee sheweth that hee had beene Consul before Prosper maketh him Consull before Honorius his fourth Consulship but I thinke this is an error in the time as well as in the copie For it must bee read Beeing the second time Consul Eutropius the Eunuch was made Consull with him but soone after hee was put to death Wherevpon it may bee that Eutropius his name was blotted out of the registers and Theodorus Manlius hauing no fellow was taken for two Theodorus and Manlius as Cassiodorus taketh him but mistakes himselfe Yet about that time they began to haue but one Consull d Now 30. yeares Vnto the third yeare of Theodosius Iunior wherein Augustine wrote this e In him that Peter For who is Paul and who is Apollo the ministers by whom you beleeue Finis lib. 18. THE CONTENTS OF THE nineteenth booke of the City of God That Varro obserued 288. sectes of the Philophers in their question of the perfection of goodnesse 2. Varro his reduction of the finall good out of al these differences vnto three heads three definitions one onely of which is the true one 3. Varro his choise amongst the three forenamed sects following therin the opinion of Antiochus author of the old Academicall sect 4. The Christians opinion of the cheefest good and euill which the Philosophers held to bee within themselues 5. Of liuing sociably with our neighbours how
ment hereby S. Augustine confesseth that he cannot define Sup. Genes lib. 8. These are secrets all vnneedfull to be knowne and all wee vnworthy to know them Of the new Heauen and the new Earth CHAP. 16. THe iudgement of the wicked being past as he fore-told the iudgement of the goodâ—…ust follow for hee hath already explained what Christ said in briefe They shall go into euerlasting paine now he must expresse the sequell And the righteous into life eternall And I saw saith he a new heauen and a new earth The first heauen and earth were gone and so was thesea for such was the order described before by him when he saw the great white throne one sitting vpon it froÌ„ whose face they fled So then they that were not in the booke of life being iudged and cast into eternall fire what or where it is I hold is vnknowne to a all but those vnto whome it please the spirit to reueale it then shall this world loose the figure by worldly fire as it was erst destroyed by earthly water Then as I said shall all the worlds corruptible qualities be burnt away all those that held correspondence with our corruption shall be agreeable with immortality that the world being so substantially renewed may bee fittly adapted vnto the men whose substances are renewed also But for that which followeth There 〈◊〉 no more sea whether it imply that the sea should bee dried vp by that vniuersall conflagration or bee transformed into a better essence I cannot easily determyne Heauen and Earth were read shal be renewed but as concerning the sea I haue not read any such matter that I can remember vnlesse that other place in this booke of that which hee calleth as it were a sea of glasse like vnto christall import any such alteration But in that place hee speaketh not of the worlds end neither doth hee say directly a sea but as a sea Notwithstanding it is the Prophets guise to speake of truths in misticall manner and to mixe truths and types together and so he might say there was no more sea in the same sence that hee sayd the sea shall giue vp hir dead intending that there should be no more turbulent times in the world which he insinuateth vnder the word Sea L. VIVES VNknowne a to all To all nay Saint Augustine it seemes you were neuer at the schoole-mens lectures There is no freshman there at least no graduate but can tell that it is the elementany fire which is betweene the sphere of the moone and the ayre that shall come downe and purge the earth of drosse together with the ayre and water If you like not this another will tell you that the beames of the Sonne kindle a fire in the midst of the ayre as in a burning glasse and so worke wonders But I doe not blame you fire was not of that vse in your time that it is now of when eâ—…y Philosopher to omit the diuines can carry his mouth his hands and his feete full of fire 〈◊〉 in the midst of Decembers cold and Iulies heate Of Philosophers they become diuines and yet keepe their old fiery formes of doctrine still so that they haue farre better iudgement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hot case then you or your predecessors euer had Of the glorification of the Church after death for euer CHAP. 17. AND I Iohn saith hee sawe that Holie Cittie new Ierusalem come downe from GOD out of Heauen prepared as a bride trimmed for her husband And I heard a great voice out of Heauen saying behold the Tabernacle of GOD is with men and hee will dwell with them and they shal be his people and hee himselfe shal be their GOD with them And GOD shall wipeawaie all teares from their eyes and there shal be no more death neither teares neither crying neither shall there bee any more paine for the first things are passed And hee that sate vpon the Throne sayd behold I make althings new c. This cittie is sayd to come from Heauen because the grace of GOD that founded it is heauenly as GOD saith in Esay I am the LORD that made thee This grace of his came downe from heauen euen from the beginning and since the cittizens of GOD haue had their increase by the same grace giuen 〈◊〉 the spirit from heauen in the fount of regeneration But at the last Iudgement of GOD by his Sonne Christ this onely shall appeare in a state so glorious that all the ancient shape shal be cast aside for the bodies of each member shall cast aside their olde corruption and put on a new forme of immortality For it were too grosse impudence to thinke that this was 〈◊〉 of the thousand yeares afore-sayd wherein the Church is sayd to reigne with Christ because he saith directly GOD shall wipe awaie all teares from their eies and there shal be no more death neither sorrowes neither crying neither shall there bee any more paine Who is so obstinately absurd or so absurdly obstinate as to averre that any one Saint much lesse the whole society of them shall passe this transitory life without teares or sorrowes or euer hath passed it cleare of them seeing that the more holy his desires are and the more zealous his holinesse the more teares shall bedew his Orisons Is it not the Heauenly Ierusalem that sayth My teares haue beene my meate daie and night And againe I cause my bedde euerie night to swimme and water my couch with teares and besides My sorrow is renewed Are not they his Sonnes that bewayle that which they will not forsake But bee cloathed in it that their mortality may bee re-inuested with eternity and hauing the first fruites of the spirit doe sigh in themselues wayting for the adoption that is the redemption of their bodies Was not Saint Paul one of the Heauenlie Cittie nay and that the rather in that hee tooke so great care for the earthly Israelites And when a shall death haue to doe in that Cittie but when they may say Oh death where is thy sting Oh hell where is thy b victorie The sting of death is sinne This could not bee sayd there where death had no sting but as for this world Saint Iohn himselfe saith If wee say wee haue no sinne wee deceiue our selues and there is no truth in vs. And in this his Reuelation there are many things written for the excercising of the readers vnderstanding and there are but few things whose vnderstanding may bee an induction vnto the rest for hee repeteth the same thing so many waies that it seemes wholy pertinent vnto another purpose and indeed it may often bee found as spoken in another kinde But here where hee sayth GOD shall wipe awaie all teares from their eyes c this is directly meant of the world to come and the immortalitie of the Saints for there shal be no sorrow no teares nor cause of sorrowe or teares if any one
not the lesser and lower doe so too If Ioue doe not like this whose oracle as Porphyry saith hath condemned the Christians credulity why doth hee not condemne the Hebrewes also for leauing this doctrine especially recorded in their holyest writings But if this Iewish wisdome which he doth so commend affirme that the heauens shall perish how vaine a thing is it to detest the Christian faith for auouching that the world shall perish which if it perish not then cannot the heauens perish Now our owne scriptures with which the Iewes haue nothing to doe our Ghospels and Apostolike writings do all affirme this The fashion of this world goeth away The world passeth away Heauen and earth shall passe away But I thinke that passeth away doth not imply so much as perisheth But in Saint Peters Epistle where hee saith how the world perished being ouer-flowed with water is plainly set downe both what he meant by the world how farre it perished and what was reserued for fire and the perdition of the wicked And by and by after The day of the Lord will come as a thiefe in the night in the which the Heauens shall passe away with a noyse the elements shall melt vvith heate and the earth vvith the rockes that are therein shall bee burnt vp and so concludeth that seeing all these perish what manner persons ought yee to be Now we may vnderstand that those heauens shall perish which he said were reserued for fire and those elements shall melt which are here below in this mole of discordant natures wherein also he saith those heauens are reserued not meaning the vpper spheres that are the seats of the stars for whereas it is written that the starres shall fall from heauen it is a good proofe that the heauens shall remaine vntouched if these words bee not figuratiue but that the starres shall fall indeed or some such wonderous apparitions fill this lower ayre as Virgil speaketh of Stella a facem ducens multa cum luce cucurrit A tailed Starre flew on with glistring light And so hid it selfe in the woods of Ida. But this place of the Psalme seemes to exempt none of all the heauens from perishing The heauens are the workes of thine hands they shall perish thus as hee made all so all shall bee destroyed The Pagans scorne I am sure to call Saint Peter to defend that Hebrew doctrine which their gods doe so approoue by alledging the figuratiue speaking hereof pars pro toto all shall perrish meaning onely all the lower parts as the Apostle saith there that the world perished in the deluge when it was onely the earth and some part of the ayre This shift they will not make least they should eyther yeeld to Saint Peter or allow this position that the fire at the last iudgement may doe as much as wee say the deluge did before their assertion that all man-kinde can neuer perish will allow them neither of these euasions Then they must needes say that when their gods commended the Hebrews wisdom they had not read this Psalme but there is another Psalme as plaine as this Our God shall come and shall not keepe silence a fire shall deuoure before him and a mightie tempest shall bee mooued round about him Hee shall call the heauen aboue and the earth to iudge his people Gather my Saints together vnto mee those that make a couenant with mee with sacrifice This is spoken of Christ whome wee beleeue shall come from heauen to iudge both the quick and the dead Hee shall come openly to iudge all most iustly who when hee came in secret was iudged himselfe most vniustly Hee shall come and shall not bee silent his voyce now shall confound the iudge before whome hee was silent when hee was lead like a sheepe to the slaughter and as a lambe before the shearer is dumbe as the Prophet saith of him and as it was fulfilled in the Ghospell Of this fire and tempest wee spake before in our discourse of Isaias prophecie touching this point But his calling the heauens aboue that is the Saints this is that which Saint Paul saith Then shall wee bee caught vp also in the clouds to meete the Lord in the â—…yre For if it meant not this how could the Heauens bee called aboue as though they could bee any where but aboue The words following And the earth if you adde not Aboue heere also may bee taken for those that are to bee iudged and the heauens for those that shall iudge with Christ. And then the calling of the heauens aboue implyeth the placing of the Saints in seates of iudgments not their raptures into the ayre Wee may further vnderstand it to bee his calling of the Angels from their high places to discend with him to iudgement and by the earth those that are to bee iudged But if wee doe vnderstand Aboue at both clauses it intimateth the Saints raptures directly putting the heauens for their soules and the earth for their bodyes to iudge or discerne his people that is to seperate the sheepe from the goates the good from the bad Then speaketh he to his Angels Gather my Saints together vnto mee this is done by the Angels ministery And whome gather they Those that make a couenant with mee with sacrifice and this is the duty of all iust men to doe For either they must offer their workes of mercy which is aboue sacrifice as the Lord saith I will haue mercy and not sacrifice or else their workes of mercy is the sacrifice it selfe that appeaseth Gods wrath as I prooued in the ninth booke of this present volume In such workes doe the iust make couenants with God in that they performe them for the promises made them in the New Testament So then Christ hauing gotten his righteous on his right hand will giue them this well-come Come yee blessed of my Father inherite yee the kingdome prepared for you from the foundations of the world for I was an hungred and you gaue me to eate and so forth of the good workes and their eternall rewards which shall be returned for them in the last iudgment L. VIVES SStella a facem ducens Virg. Aeneid 2. Anchises beeing vnwilling to leaue Troy and Aeneas being desperate and resoluing to dye Iupiter sent them a token for their flight namely this tailed starre all of which nature saith Aristotle are produced by vapours enflamed in the ayres mid region If their formes be only lineall they call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is lampes or torches Such an one saith Plynie glided amongst the people at noone day when Germanicus Caesar presented his Sword-players prize others of them are called Bolidae and such an one was seene at Mutina The first sort of these flye burning onely at one end the latter burneth all ouer Thus Pliny lib. 2. Malachies Prophecy of the iudgement and of such as are to be purged by fire CHAP. 25. THe Prophet a Malachiel or Malachi
seruant namely that same forme of a seruant wherein the highest was humbled added the name of the man From whose stock hee was to deriue that seruile forme The spirit of God came vpon him in forme of a Doue as the Ghospell testifieth Hee brought forth iudgement to the Gentiles in fore telling them of future things which they neuer knew of before Hee dyd not crie out yet ceased hee not to preach Nor was his voyce heard with out or in the streete for such as are cut off from his fold neuer heare his voyce Hee neither broake downe nor extinguished those Iewes his persecutors whose lost integrity and abandoned light made them like brused Reedes and c smoaking flaxe hee spared them for as yet hee was not come to iudge them but to bee iudged by them Hee brought forth iudgment in truth by shewing them their future plagues if they persisted in their malice His face sâ—…one on the mount his fame in the whole world hee neither failed nor fainted in that both hee and his Church stood firme against all persecutions Therefore his foes neuer had nor euer shall haue cause to thinke that fulfilled which they wished in the Psalme saying When shall hee dye and his name perish vntill hee haue setled iudgement in the earth Loe here is that wee seeke The last iudgement is that which hee shall settle vpon earth comming to effect it out of heauen As for the last wordes the Iles shall hope in his name wee see it fulfilled already Thus then by this which is so vn-deniable is that prooued credible which impudence dares yet deny For who would euer haue hoped for that which the vnbeleeuers them-selues doe now behold as well as wee to their vtter heart-breaking and confusion d Who did euer looke that the Gentiles should embrace Christianity that had seene the Author thereof bound beaten mocked and crucified That which one theefe durst but hope for vpon the crosse in that now doe the nations farre and wide repose their vtmost confidence and least they should incurre eternall death are signed with that figure where-vpon hee suffered his temporall death Let none therefore make any doubt that Christ shall bring forth such a iudgment as the Scriptures doe promise except hee beleeue not the Scriptures and stand in his owne malicious blindnesse against that which hath enlightned all the world And this iudgment shall consist of these circumstances partly precedent and partly adiacent Helias shall come the Iewes shall beleeue Antichrist shall persecute Christ shall iudge the dead shall arise the good and bad shall seuer the world shall burne and bee renewed All this wee must beleeue shall bee but in what order our full experience then shall exceed our imperfect intelligence as yet Yet verily I doe thinke they shall fall out in order as I haue rehearsed them Now remaineth there two bookes more of this theame to the perfect performance of our promise the first of which shall treate of the paines due vnto the wicked and the second of the glories bestowed vpon the righteous wherein if it please GOD wee will subuert the arguments which foolish mortalls and miserable wretches make for them-selues against GODS holy and diuine pre mises and against the sacred nutriment giuen to the soule by an vnspotted faith thinking them-selues the onely wise-men in these their vngratious cauills and deriding all religious instructions as contemptible and ridâ—…culous As for those that are wise in GOD in all that seemeth most incredible vnto man if it bee auouched by the holy Scriptures whose truth wee haue already sufficiently prooued they laye hold vpon the true and omnipotent deity as the strongest argument against all opposition for hee they know cannot possiblye speake false in those Scriptures and with-all can by his diuine power effect that which may seeme more then most impossible to the vn beleeuers L. VIVES GHrist a in person According to this iudgement of Christ did the Poets faigne thâ—… Iudges of hell for holding Ioue to be the King of Heauen they auoutched his sonne to be iudge of hell yet none of his sonnes that were wholy immortall at first as Bacchus Apollo or Mercurie was but a God that had beene also a mortall man and a iust man withall such as Minos Aeacus or Rhadamanthus was This out of Lactantius lib. 7. b No mention Hierom. in 42. Esai c Smoking flaxe It was a custome of old saith Plutarch in Quaestionib neuer to put out the snuffe of the lampe but to let it die of it selfe and that for diuers reasons first because this fire was some-what like in nature to that inextinguible immortall fire of heauen secondly they held this fire to be a liuing creature and therefore not to bee killed but when it did mischiefe That the fire was aliuing creature the want that it hath of nutriment and the proper motion besides the grone it seemeth to giue when it is quenshed induced them to affirme Thirdly because it is vnfit to destroy any thing that belongeth to mans continuall vse as fire or water c. But wee ought to leaue them to others when our owne turnes are serued Thus far Plutarch The first reason tendeth to religion the second to mansuetude the third to humanity d Who did euer looke Christ was not ignoraâ—… of the time to come nor of the eternity of his doctrine as his leauing it to the publishing of onely twelue weake men against the malicious opposition of all Iudea and his commanding them to preach it throughout the whole world doth sufficiently prooue besides his prophecying to the Apostles that they should all abandon him and hee bee led to death that night and yet againe hee promiseth them to be with them to the end of the world Finis lib. 20. THE CONTENTS OF THE ONE and twentith booke of the City of God 1. Why the punishment of the damned is here disputed of before the happinesse of the Saints 2. Whether an earthly body may possibly bee incorruptible by fire 3. Whether a fleshly body may possibly endure eternall paine 4. Natures testimonies that bodies may remaine vndiminished in the fire 5. Of such things as cannot bee assuredlie knowne to be such and yet are not to be doubted of 6. All strange effects are not natures some are mans deuises some the deuills 7. Gods omnipotency the ground of all beliefe in things admired 8. That the alteration of the knowne nature of any creature vnto a nature vnknowne is not opposite vnto the lawes of nature 9. Of Hell and the quality of the eternall paines therein 10. Whether the fire of hell if it be corporall can take effect vpon the incorporeal deuills 11. Whether it be not iustice that the time of the paines should bee proportioned to the time of the sinnes and criâ—…es 12. The greatnesse of Adams sin inflicting eternall damnation vpon all that are out of the state of grace 13. Against such as hold that the torments after the
was a plaine figure of Christ and his Church Hee therefore that made both sexes will raise them both to life And IESVS himselfe beeing questioned by the Sadduces that deny the resurrection which of the seauen bretheren should haue her to wife at the resurrection whom they had all had before answered them saying Yee are deceiued not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of GOD. And whereas he might haue sayd if it had beene so shee whom you inquire of shal be a man at that day and not a woman he sayd no such matter but onely this In the resurrection they neither marry wiues nor wiues are bestowed in marriage but are as the Angells of GOD in Heauen That is they are like them in felicity not in flesh nor in their resurrection which the Angells need not because they cannot die So that CHRIST doth not deny that there shal be women at the resurrection but onely mariage whereas if there should haue beene none of the female sexe hee might haue answered the Sadduces more easily by sauing so but hee affirmed that there should bee both sexes in these wordes They neither marry wiues that is men doe not nor wiues are bestowed in marriage that is women are not So that there shal be there both such as vse to marry and such as vse to be married here in this world L. VIVES PRophecy a of Christ Ephes. 5. b For vnity sake That their concord might bee the more the one knowing that hee brought forth the other and the other that she came of him So should man and wife thinke themselues but one thing nothing should diuide them and this is the preseruation of peace in their family Of CHRIST the perfect man and the Church his body and fulnesse CHAP. 18. NOw touching Saint Pauls words Till wee all meete together c. vnto a perfect man were to obserue the circumstances of the whole speech which is this Hee that descended is euen the same that ascended farre aboue all heauens that hee might fill all things Hee therefore gaue some to bee Apostles and some Prophets and some Euangelists and some Pastors and teachers for the gathering together of the Saints and for the worke of their ministery and for the edification of the body of CHRIST till we all meete together in the vnity of faith and knowledge of the Sonne of GOD vnto a perfect man and vnto the measure of the age of the fulnesse of CHRIST that we may hence-forth bee no more childeren wauering and caried about with euery winde of doctrine by the deceipt of men and with craftinesse whereby they lie in waite to deceiue But let vs follow the truth in loue and in althings growe vppe into him which is the head that is CHRIST by whome all the bodie beeing coupled and knit together by euery ioynt for the furniture thereof according to the effectuall power which is in the measure of euery part receiueth increase of the body vnto the edifying of it selfe in loue Behold heere the perfect man head and bodie consisting of all members which shal be complete in due time But as yet the bodie increaseth daily in members as the church enlargeth to which it is sayd yee are the bodie of CHRIST and members for your part and againe for his bodies sake which is the Church and in another place For wee beeing many are one bread and one body Of the edification whereof you heare what Saint Paul saith heere for the gathering together of the Saints and for the worke of the ministery and for the edification of the bodie of CHRIST And then hee addeth that which all this concerneth Till wee all meete together c. vnto the measure of the age of the fulnesse of Christ. Which measure vnto what bodie it pertaineth hee sheweth saying Let vs in all things growe vppe into him which is the head that is CHRIST by whome all the bodie c. So that both the measure of the whole bodie and of each part therein is this measure of fulnesse whereof the Apostle speaketh here and also else-where saying of Christ Hee hath giuen him to bee the head ouer all the Church which is his bodie his fulnesse who filleth all in all But if this belong to the forme of the resurrection why may wee not imagine woman to be included by man as in that place Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD giueh the same blessing also to such women as feare him That our bodies in the resurrection shall haue no imperfection at all whatsoeuer they haue had during this life but shall be perfect both in quantity and quality CHAP. 19. NOw what shall I say concerning mans haire and nayles vnderstand but that then no part of body shall perish yet so as no deformity shall abide and it includeth that such parts as doe procure those deformities shal be resident only in the whole lumpe not vpon any part where they may offend the eye As for example make a pot of clay marre it and make it againe it is not necessary that the clay which was in the handle before should bee in the handle now againe and so of the bottome and the parts sufficeth that it is the same clay it was before Wherefore the cut haire and nayles shall not returne to deforme their places yet shall they not perrish if they returne but haue their congruent places in the same flesh from whence they had their beeing Although that our Sauiours words may rather bee vnderstood of the number of our haires then the length wherevpon hee saith else-where All the haires of your head are numbered I say not this to imply that any essentiall part of the body shall perish but that which ariseth out of deformity and sheweth the wretched estate of mortality shall so returne that the substance shall bee there and the deformity gone For if a statuary hauing for some purpose made a deformed statue can mold or cast it new and comely with the same substance of matter and yet without all the former miss-shapednesse neither cutting away any of the exorbitant parts that deformed the whole noâ—… vsing any other meanes but onely the new casting of his mettall or molding of his matter what shall wee thinke of the Almighty Molder of the whole world Cannot hee then take away mens deformities of body common or extraordinary beeing onely notes of our present misery and farre excluded from our future blisse as well as a common statuary can reforme a mis-shapen statue of stone wood clay or mettall Wherefore the fatte or the leane neede neuer feare to bee such hereafter as if they could choose they would not be now For all bodily beauty a is a good congruence in the members ioyned with a pleasing collour And where that is not there is euer-more dislike either by reason of superfluity or defect Wherefore there shal be no cause of dislike through incongruence of parts where the deformed ones are