not hoppe about like your Grashoppers they flye here like Birds Me thought I saw here fulfilled in mine eyes that of the old Prophets In many places they will destroy you all the Corne in one night The Country people fight very stoutly with these Locusts they bring them home by whole Cart loades to Fesse and then eat these enemies when the have done but for my owne part I am so tender palated that I had rather have one Partridge then twenty Locusts for that these Locusts have devoured this whole Country And this indeed was the thing to be spoken too for as the coursenesse of the Raiment so the slendernesse of the dyet is equally to pretend towards a rigid and austere condition of life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Com. Arab. MS. in Alcoran a wernero citatus And as to this sense I shall make you this new Note out of an Arabick Commentary upon the Alcoran The Tradition is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That John the Baptist when he was yet a Child being in company with some of his fellowes they askt him to play with them but he said unto them I was not created for sport CHAP. XXIX Isa 13.22 And the wild Beasts of the Islands shall cry in their desolate houses and Dragons in their pleasant Palaces c. 'T Was spoken of Babylon and the Prophecy is fulfilled A dayes journey from hence saith Benjamin Bar Jona in his Itinerary is Babel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. This is that Babel which was of old a City of thirty miles in breadth 'T is now laid wast There is yet to be seene the Ruines of a Palace of Nebuchadnezar but the Sonnes of men dare not enter in for feare of Serpents and Scorpions which possesse the place Now you may read the rest of the Prophecy V. 19. And Babylon the Glory of Kingdomes the Beauty of the Chaldees Excellency shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah V. 20. It shall never be inhabited neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation neither shall the Arabian pitch his Tent there neither shall the Shepheards make their fold there V. 21. But wild Beasts of the Desert shall lie there and their houses shall be full of dolefull Creatures and Owles shall dwell there and Satyres shall dance there CHAP. XXX Luke 15.10 Likewise I say unto you there is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one Sinner that repenteth THese words of our Saviour will sound the lesse strange to you if I helpe you to a counterchange of Easterne Expression Would you thinke that in Heaven it selfe whither when we come all teares shall be wiped from our eyes there should now be weeping and mourning for the dead in sinne because they are not 'T is a Tradition firmely received by the Jewes and from them derived to the Mahumetans In an Arabick Manuscript of theirs this answer of God to Moses is found 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Moses c. Lib. quaest Arab. MS. a â—aul citat Even about this Throne of mine there stand those and they are many too 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that shed teares for the Sinnes of Men. If there be teares and sorrow in Heaven for one that is gone astray how much more ought there to be Joy over a sinner that repenteth And our Saviour was not the first that said it The words have a reflex upon that old position in the Hebrew Divinity R. Chimhi in Isay 57.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. That a Repenting man is of greater esteeme in the sight of God then one that never fell away This is the meaning of that expression more then ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance Their Elders talke higher yet of this excellent vertue Saint Austin might have return'd another answer to him that askt him what God imploy'd himself about before the world was made He was making Hell No such matter The Doctours in the Talmud say He was creating Repentance Talmud in Joma fol. 86. or contriving all the wayes how he might be mercifull enough to the Man he is so mindefull of and to the sonne of Man so much regarded by him They say more That one day spent here in true Repentance is more worth then Eternity it selfe or all the dayes of Heaven in the other world CHAP. XXXI Isay 57.15 For thus saith the High and Lofty one that inhabiteth Eternity whose Name is Holy I dwell in the High and Holy Place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones BUt will God dwell upon the Earth The Heaven of Heavens cannot conteine him How much lesse this House which we have built All things are full of God He is therefore called in the Holy Tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hammakom the Place Or that Fulnesse which filleth All in All. God as the great Hermes is a Circle the Center whereof is evere where and the Circumference no where If I climbe up into Heaven thou art there if I goe downe to Hell thou art there also Nor is he present onely to these reall Capacities of Earth and Heaven but even also to those Imaginary spaces of incomprehensible receipt and infinitely extending He is there where nothing else is and nothing else is there where He is not But then are we to think that we men have his Company but as the Devils have to tremble at No The Cry there is What have we to doe with thee thou Sonne of the most High Not so here But why art thou so farre from me O my God Psal 10.1 The Finger of God is there as in the Plagues of Aegypt Exod. 8.19 But his Right Hand is here Psal 20.6 They have God Almighty we All-sufficient There He is a consuming Fire Heb. 12.29 Here Immanuell God not against but with us Therefore it is that though He were here before yet upon our occasion He is said to bow the Heavens and come downe He was seene at Moria At Peniel Face to Face Gen. 22.30 The Patriarch Abraham invited him to Dinner and He lay at Lot's House all Night Jacob wrestled with him at Mahanaim and got the better and would not let Him depart except He blest him He past once by Moses in the Clift of the Rocke He met him often at the doore of the Tabernacle He wandred with his People in the Wildernesse When the Arke stood still so did He When the Arke set forward He also was spoken to to arise Rise up Lord the Leader said and let thine enemies be scattered Numb 10.35 To allow for all this we are to take knowledge of some considerations according to which it may stand with the divine Immensity to be as differently present in some places as alike in All. We can doe no better then rest our selves upon that ancient and well adviz'd of distinction delivered in
Samaritan Character because the vision was before the Captivity The forme of the Character was this N. Th. or as the manuscripts thus Z. 'T was a marke of repented Murther it pointed out the Justice of God enough but his mercy more The vengeance seemeth to have meant his Death by the same violence but by a long expected and accidentall hand The Mysterie of the marke was of easie tradition from one to another for the world was not so presently numerous The sentence of it selfe went forth severe enough but was not given to stand all He was promised to be a Vagabond and a Runnagate but you finde him in the next verse getting of Children and building of Cities And by the greatest Man in the East of his Time It is to be thought that it was a custome of those parts for the Head of the Family to offer up set and solemne extraordinaey Sacrifices for the Children for Job said It may be that my Sonnes have sinned and cursed God in their hearts c. Job 1 5. And therefore I thinke it not unlikely that Adam the High Priest of the World then should doe his uttermost to make an atonement for this Bloud Josephus himselfe saith that he was quitted of the Murther by Sacrifice but he saith too what no man yet hath beleeved that it was by his owne I know not how to account his long life a downe right punishment but indulged by the mercy of God and necessary to the multiplication of mankinde As the Greater before so the Lesser Worlds now were but in their Chaos till the Soule of Society was infused and then they became a politicke Living thing 'T was Cain that first built a City and called it after the name of his sonne Hâ—noch I cannot impute his invention of Arts to the Curse Though simplicity of Living might become a new made world and the beginnings of things yet the growth towards a Common-wealth and stature of People required an exaltation of the first homelinesse by a device of crafts and mysteries I conceive no great matter in this that Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. So did Adam and Eve too But Cain went and dwelt in the Land of Nod. And Abarbinel saith that he findeth in our Latin Bookes that Cain dwelt in Hodu so the Easterne Geographers call India and that 't is possible that place may be call'd so from Nod in the sense of wandring c. But how wandring is to be reconcil'd to dwelling some body would doe well to say The greatest part of Cain's curse lay in this that there was a separation betwixt him and the Faithfull Church of that time concluded up in the family of Seth Said Aben Batric saith Saint Chrysostome also and Epiphanius as they are quoted in the Catena Arabica that our Father Adam after the Fall retired himselfe into a Mountaine of India called the Holy Mountaine prophecying that from this Mountaine one should ascend and another goe downe He meant Henoch by the first The other was Cain who said to his Brother according to the Samaritan c. Descendamus in Campum c. And in these plaines the Murther was committed After which the Family of Seth kept themselves to the Hill instituting a Holy Life and were therefore called The Sonnes of God But the Cainites continued still as they increased to inhabite and take up the valley leading a life there so wretched and forlorne that as James the Bishop of Sarug in Mesopotamia saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither the Children could tell who were their Fathers Jacob. Sarug Epis in â—at Arab. Ms c. 15. nor the Fathers which were their Children c. Therefore these Cainites were called the Sonnes of Men. And thus farre he went indeed from the face or presence of the Lord. CHAP. XVIII Zach. 6.12 Ecce Vir Oriens nomenejus Behold the man whose name is the East Zach. 3.8 Adducam ego servum meum Orientem I will bring sorth my servant The East TO redeeme this place and many other equally engaged from the received sense I must needs lay downe this new ground That the speciall presence of God ever was and is in that part of the Heaven of Heavens which answereth to the Equinoctiall East of the Holy land Here I desire not to be told over againe that God is in all places I know it Or that he is in all places alike I know that too and in what respects But I am sure he is otherwise present in Heaven than in Hell and so otherwise in one part of Heaven then in another Neither is it to be thought as if there were an East or West point in that place which needeth not the Sunne or Moone to shine upon it Neverthelesse I require that that part of the highest Heavens which answereth to the Equinoctiall East of the Holy-Land be so called for the present and I will prove it hereafter that the Scripture hath call'd it so already Now to make good the ground you may heare what the Ancients say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the Gods we attribute the Easterne part saith Porthyrie de Nympharum Antro and these parts are called by Varro in Festus Deorum Sedes The Gods abode for Cincius and Cinnius Capito gave this reason why the left that is the Easterne Omens were more prosperous then the Right Physicor Lib. 8. Text. 84. But more expressely and excellently the Philosopher himselfe The First Mover saith he meaning God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. must of necessity be present either to the Center or Circumference of his Oâ—be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but motions are most rapid in the nearest distance to the Impression Therefore the Mover ought there to be But that part of the Spheare is most raptly moved which is most remote from the Poles therefore the Movers place is about the middle line It is the reason as I thinke why the Equinoxes are beleeved to have so sacred an import and signification in Astrology for by them it is judged saith Ptolomy as concerning things divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and the service belonging to the House of God De Coelo l. 2. c. 2. Text. 15. Averroes l. 2. Text. 3. Proxima autem faucibus utrinque impesiti Montes coercent Claustra Abila Africae Europae Calpe Laborum Hercules metae Quam â—b causam indigenae Columnas ejus Dei vocant â—redunt que perfossas exclusa antea admisisse maria rerum naturae mutasse faciem Plinan Prooem l. 31. Averroes in Arist De coelo Lib. 2. Text. 3. Plin. l. 6. c. 17. But the Philosopher's meaning is not as if the Mover presented himselfe alike unto the whole Circumference but assisting especially to that part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence the motion doth begin that is Orienti to the East as Aben-Rois rightly Vnde quaedam Leges adorant deum versus Orientem Which is
because this Booke also is a Piece of Scripture which very few men and the fewer the better have made bold to understand I shall make use of an Authority which is sufficient of it selfe Ps 68.32 33. David saith Sing unto God ye Kingdomes of the Earth O sing praises unto the Lord Selah To him that rideth upon the Heaven of Heavens which were of old c. So we translate it or from the beginning This runneth counter with that strange Interpretation of Gen. 2.8 by the Chaldee Theodotion Saint Hierome and some more Plantaverat autem Dominus Deus Paradisum a principio And the Lord God planted a Garden of pleasure first or from the beginning Which leaveth the Cabalists in a probable condition for they say that seven things were made before the Creation and they reckon this Garden for one But now since that men have better advised themselves and generally translated the Place as the Lxx did of old And the Lord God planted a Garden Eastward or toward the East It should be so here too which rideth or sitteth upon the Heaven of Heavens Eastward or in the Easterne part The same word Kaedem is used in both places so the Old Saxon fram eastdaele So the Lxx 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so the Syriack Arabick and Aethiopick Translations Indeed the Syriack and Arabick of the Maronites Edition rendreth with some difference and transposition of the Originall c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 audire fecit vocem suam ab Oriente vocem fortem He made his voice to be heard from the East a strong voice And thus I found it also in an Arabick Manuscript de praecept Relig. quoted hereafter But I have an Arabick Translation of the Psalmes the possession whereof I am bound here to acknowledge amongst many other favours to the Learned Master Selden which rendreth the place closer to the Originall 'T is there sing unto the Lord riding or fitting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the Heaven of Heavens in the Easterne part They that would have it otherwise seem to understand it better then the Apostolicall men did for I cannot account the Authors of their Constitutions very much below Then rising up say they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Constitut Apostol l. 2. c. 61. and turning towards the East let them pray unto God which sitteth upon the heaven of heavens in the Easterne part This is the ground I promised to lay downe The superstructions I meane to set up upon it shall helpe to assure the ground it selfe as well as be assured by it This is the reason why God planted a Garden in Eden Eastward The simplest meaning and most resolved upon is that Moses described in respect of Judea But then it had beene sufficient for the Geography to say Bieden for Eastward added nothing to the situation Others therefore comming nearer to the words translate it ab Oriente Edenis referring it to the Country of Eden And so the Garden was planted Eastward that is upon the Easterne side of Eden But consider the word againe and you 'l finde that Mikkedem Eastward respecteth to Paradise not to Eden And therefore Mercer nil obstat saith he generaliter accipere in parte mundi Orientali consitum fuisse tunc Paradisum Orientem Solem versus But to lose over no more of that time which hath beene curiously spent upon the Delineations of Paradise Moses Bar Cepha de Paradis lib. 3◠◠13. not onely what Damaseen and the Bishop of Bethraman deliver That at the beginning of March the Sunne alwayes riseth directly over Paradise The meaning of Moses is this that the Garden of Eden was planted towards the Aequinoctiall East of the Holy Land And the meaning of that is that the Sanctum Sanctorum of this Mother Church pointed toward the part of Heaven where the Sunne riseth in the Month Nisan The Sanctuary of Paradise was that Recesse of the Garden which was distinguished and made so to be by the presence of the Tree of Life 'T is said indeed that this Tree of Life was placed Betoch haggan that is as we translate it in the middle of the Garden And S. John seemes to beare us this witnesse too in the Apocalyps But Tremelius knew this was but an Hebraisme in the old and but an Hellenisme in the New Testament And therefore the Woman's answer in his Translation is Sed de fructu illius arboris quae est in horto hoc c. And yet because the conjunction here is discretive But of the Tree one concludeth from thence that therefore it must needs be in the middle of the Garden though the Hebrew be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not Sed but And of the Tree I know it may be taken for but as elsewhere let it be so Yet the He is emphaticall both to the Tree and to the Garden And so the words are But of the Tree which is in this Garden God hath said c. Doe we thinke that God spake unto Moses out of the Center of the Bush or that our Saviour would have the man and the milstone thrown into the very middle of the Sea The Tree stood in the Easterne part of the place Otherwise why the Cherubins and the flaming sword upon this side of the Garden to keepe the way of the Tree of life And whither should it respect but this way that Cain went and dwelt in the Land of Nod on the East of Eden Gen. 4.16 Nay the Man himselfe when he was driven out was assigned to dwell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 over against the Garden as the Greeke addeth that is on the East of Paradise as the Greeke is rendered by the versio Arab. Ms LXX in Arch. Bodl. Gen. 3.24 The truth is how strange soever it may seeme to be that Adam worshipped God in Paradise toward the East and so did the whole world till Abrahams time The Hebrewes deliver that God created Adam with his face towards the East I cannot tell that but that he was no sooner dispatcht out of the dust but he fell downe to the same earth againe and adored his maker this same way there is this great probability Besides they commonly used words for East West c. in the holy tongue there be 4 other Names assigned to the 4 Cardinall points of Heaven of a more especiall and sacred Imposition and expressed from the measure of a man The East is otherwise called Mizrach i.e. the rising the West Maarab that is the setting of the Sunne c. But in the Holy way the East is called Kedem that is the face or fore-part the West Achor the backe-part The North Smol i. e. the Left the South Teman that is the Right hand But the Heaven could not be said to have a Right hand or a Left or if it could then seeing the East was Kedem the face or forefront the North must have beene the Right hand not the South Indeed Kedem properly signifieth not the
or no notice at all was taken of the Meridian by Corvo no not by those of the biggest exspectation as M. Carpenter M. Camden M. Speed and the rest although this also was the known Meridian of som Globes of the very same Times and before that that is before they had set their last hand to their Descriptions And 't is no mervail for Mercator's Longitudes were more exactly accounted then before and therefore they might well take his Meridian along with them And 't was not amiss to go by the most received but then they should have said so and withall have set down the three severall Meridians at least and the difference of Longitude betwixt them and all this with more distinction then so that another man should com after them to tell themselvs what Meridian they went by And thus much of the First or Great Meridian Of the Lesser Meridians THe Lesser are those Black Circles which you see to pass through the Poles and succeeding to the Great at 10 and 10 Degrees as in most Globes or as in som at 15 and 15 Degrees Difference Everie place never so little more East or West then another hath a several Meridian Shot-over hath a distinct Meridian from Oxford becaus more East Osney hath not the same as near as it is for it lieth West of the Citie The exact Meridian whereof must pass directly through the middle yet becaus of the huge distance of the Earth from the Heavens all these Places and Places much further off may bee said to have the same Meridian as the Almanack-makers Calculate their Prognostications to such or such a Meridian where they pretend to make their Observations But saie too that it may generally serv c. And indeed there is no verie sensible Difference in less then 60 Miles upon which ground the Geographers as the Astronomers allow a New Meridian to everie other Degree of the Equator which would bee 130 in all but except the Globes were made of an Extreme and Unuseful Diameter so manie would stand too thick for the Description Therefore most commonly they put down but 18 that is at 10 Degrees distance one from the other the special use of these Lesser Meridians beeing to make a quicker dispatch in the account of the Longitudes Som others as Mercator set down but 12 at 15 Degrees difference aiming at this That the Meridians might bee distant one from the other a full part of time or an hour for seeing that the Sun is carried 15 Degrees off the Equinoctial everie hour as was said before The Meridians set at that Distance must make an hours difference in the Rising or Setting of the Sun to the several places as if the Sun Rise at such an hour such a daie of the year at Oxford In a place 15 Degrees more distant towards the East the Sun riseth an hour sooner In a place 15 Degrees distant towards the West an hour later the same daie of this or that year Now becaus the Spaces of time are reckoned by the same Degrees of the Equator as the Distances of Place The Degrees of Longitude have been called Tempora which word Camden somtimes delighteth to use as in the Longitude of Bath hee saith it is 20 Temporibus 20 Times that is 20 Degrees distant from the Great Meridian Hee expresseth by the same word in setting down the Latitude but not so cunningly as I think Of the Equator and the Lesser Circles THe Equator is the Middle Circle betwixt two Poles graduated throughout and plainly dividing the Globe into two equal Parts from North to South This is the Circle of Longitude as the Meridian of Latitude for Longitude is reckoned in the Equator from the Meridian Latitude in the Meridian from the Equator Crossing this Circle obliquely in the Middle is the Zodiack the utttermost extent whereof towards the North noteth out the Tropick of Cancer towards the South the Tropick of Capricorn each of them distant from the Equator 23 Degrees or not much more as may bee accounted in the Great Meridian Equi-distant from these and at the same distance from the Poles as the Tropicks from the Equator are set down the Artick and Antartick Circles all offering themselvs to sight by their Names and distinction of Bredth and Color more notably then the rest by the rest I mean the black blinder Circles equi-distantly remooved from the Equator at 10 Degrees difference and serving the same turn in the accounting of Latitude as the Meridians at the same distance in the reckoning of the Longitude And these are called the unnamed Parallels And so much of the Description of the Earth and Water together Now of the Waterie-Part by it self The Description of the Waterie-Part of the Globe by the Rumbes of the Mariner's Compass THe Cours of a Ship upon the Sea dependeth upon the Windes The Designation of these upon the certain Knowledg of one Principal which considering the Situation and condition of the whole Sphere ought in nature to bee North or South The North to us upon this side of the Line the South to those in the other Hemisphere for in making this observation Men were to intend themselvs towards one fixed part of the Heavens or other and therefore to the one of these In the South Part there is not found anie Star so notable and of so near a distance from the Pole as to make anie precise or firm Direction of that Winde But in the North wee have that of the second Magnitude in the Tail of the Lesser Bear making so smal and for the Motion so insensible a Circle about the Pole that it cometh all to one as if it were the Pole it self This pointed out the North-winde to the Mariners of old especially and was therefore called by som the Load or Lead-Star But this could bee onely in the night and not alwaies then It is now more constantly and surely shewed by the Needle touched with the Magnete which is therefore called the Load or Leadstone for the same reason of the leading and directing their Courses in the Nature and Secret of which Stone becaus the whole business of Navigation is so throughly concern'd somthing is to bee borrowed out of that Philosophie The Original of the Mariner's Compass from the Magnetical Constitution of the Earth A Magnetical Bodie is described to bee That which hanging in the Aërial or Aetherial Parts of the Univers firmly seateth it self upon it's own Poles in a Situation natural and unchangeable consisting also of som such parts as separated from the rest can take upon them the nature and conditions of the whole Under this Description the Magnetical Philosophers comprehend the Globes of Saturn Jupiter the Sun c. but becaus these Bodies are placed so far above the reach of our Experience and purpose it shall bee sufficient to make the Description good upon the Earth To do this I think I may suppose First that the Constitution of the
at a stay and grow no longer takes an occasion to undervalue Moses his Philosophy and saith of God Neque sâ— lapidem repente velit facere hominem efficere id poterit c. yes but he could even of these Stones too But Old Orpheus sayes that the man that was born out of the water so Moses indeed is to be called in the Aegyptian did well and Dyonysius Longinus one that knew what belonged to expression having first of all cast a scorne upon his Homer saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Lawgiver of the Iews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no ordinary man neither was in the right when hee brought in his God saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let there bee Light and there was Light c. If you see what Strabo Tacitus Justin Diodorus Siculus * See the translation of Abu Maasciar or Albumazar Introductor lib. 5. c. 9. Ptolomy c. have said as to this you will be no great loser in your Faith by the hand I have thus much left to wish and I hope I doe it well to this Booke that it might be read so farre as this is possible in a full and fixt Translation And upon that a Cleare and disengaged Commentary The way to doe this will not be to doe the Work a great and undertake the whole or any considerable part of the Booke by one man if he could live one Age. How little we have gotten and lost how much by those who have prayed to God they might live to make an end of all the Bible in Commentaries you cannot chuse but perceive enough You must not thinke to looke upon this mirrour of the word as you are to be seene in Roger Bacon's Perspective Vbi unus homo videbitur plures where one man will seeme to be more then so No Break the Glasse in peices and see every one a face by himselfe He that shall thus begin to build may perhaps be one of those that will be able to finish Leo Moden Di gli Riti Hebraici Part. 1. The Jewes when they build a house are bound to leave some part of it unfinished in memory of the destruction of Jerusalem The best Master Builder that shall come to this worke will be forc't to doe so too And yet if those that have undertaken upon the whole had in stead of that compleated but one small part This House of God and Tabernacle of good men had been reared up ere this He that goeth upon this with any Interest about him Let him doe otherwise never so admirably he does indeed but translate an Angel of Light into the Devill I would not render or interpret one parcell of Scripture to an end of my owne though it were to please my whole Nation by it if I might gain the World These Wresters of the Booke are unstable if not ignorant men and it will follow that they must needs doe it to their owne Destruction When all these things are fitly and understandingly resolv'd upon It would be good too to bring these principall matters as neare to a Standard as we can that we might have something to trust to and settle upon Some say that the Heavens could not move unlesse the Earth stood still I am sure since the Earth began to turne about the Kngdome of Heaven hath suffered a violence of Rest and doth not seeme to be so open to all Beleevers as before I am sorry I have so much to accuse my Nation of that ever since the times of Hen. the 8. they should goe about in amaze of Reformation and not know yet how to get either us or themselves out I am not much given to the Admiration and amusements of Astrologicall matters therefore I will not tell you plainly here what * Giafar Abu Maasciar Belchita commonly called Albumaâ—ar Abalachi putteth our Religion under the Dominion of ☿ inde saith Roger Bacon intricatioribus et prâ—fundis maxime momentis laborat propter impedites illes ☿ motus Eccentrum Eccentri It is indeed like enough to ☿ in one sense It is good with the good and bad with bad Facit homines ancipitis naturae semper nova excogitantes qui non quie scunt non adeo manifeste sua agenteâ— Ranzovius Alchindus saith that we are signified by the Woman Planet unde orator in signâ—is pictutu decorari solent What because you Turkes have none Would the Religion had no more to doe with that Planet then so Others put us under the Sunne I think they cannot tell what to put us under very well Silen saith that we are governed by the Moone and the Scots by ♄ If it be so then ♄ is not so dull a Planet as R. Bacon tooke him for who giveth this reason why the Jewes rested upon the Saturday But as to the first our Eshwid quoteth an old Astrologer to say as much and with this Vnde Angli vagi sunt instabilâ—s nunc ad summum nunc ad imum delati Dist 8. cap. 1. fol. 42 a. Ptolomy placeth us under ♈ and ♂ unde impatientes regni c. saith he Cardan addeth that therefore we are a rebellious and unlucky Nation semper novos ritus legis divini cultus fabricantos aliquando quidem in mâ—lius but for the most part in deterius in Tetrab C. 3. Tex 1 2. Hali Aben Ragel saith that he found in an old Booke called Andilareprosu that the signe of the world is Aries T is the same with ours And it were well that the fashion of the whole had not lesse passed away then that of the Divises or be Britannes They did right to call us a people by our selves for I thinke we are like to no body else Ptolomy Cardan Silen Alchindus Eshwid Roger Bacon c. say of us And yet the Sage Guido Bonate Zoroaster in chiefe to some Almanacke men I cannot chuse but give you notice of This Gymnosophist in the 13 Chapter of his First part tels you that Christ himselfe was an Astrologer and made use of Elections The same Man in the third Chapter at his third Part is busie to let you know under what Figure of the Heavens you are to pare your Nailes But that which I indeed intend to say to you is this In the Geographicall Resemblances I finde that Maginus could liken Scotland to nothing But for England 't is fancied by some to come very neare the fashion of a Triangle I am sure 't is farre enough from a Square or that Honest man in Aristotle who falleth still upon his owne Legges The Arabick Nubian Geographer likeneth us to an Estrich indeed we have digested Iron enough But this is that silly thing which leaveth her Egges in the Earth and warmeth them in the dust and forgetteth that the foot may crush them or that the wilde Beast may break them She is hardened against her young Ones as though they were not hers her labour is in vaine without feare And why
towards the East This Originall Principall and as it ought to have beene everlasting Ceremonie by an Errour of the Persian and Chaldaâ—n worshippers degenerating into an Idolatry to the Sunne Abraham saith the learned Maimon by the instincts of God appointed out the West to his Hebrewes Therefore the Tabernacle and Temple were set towards that side of Heaven God in the meane time seeming to leave his mistaken place in the East and come downe to this stiffe-necked people This was a Literall and Pedanticall Nation and to comply with the secret intended mysterie were so to be dealt with They did and they did not worship towards the West Maim in Jom â—akkip c. 3. Sâ—â—â— â— 'T is true all the sacrifices were offered up towards that way In the Rites of Azazell the two Goates were to stand with their faces the same way The pile set up for the Phara Adumnia or Red Cow was to have windowes in it and the prospect of these was to be towards the West Talmud in Phara fol. 96. a. The 6 Lampes in the Golden Candlesticke were appointed to burne towards the 7th which was that in the middle but the face of this saith Maimon was to burne towards the most holy place and that is was called the Westerne Lampe Beth. babbech C. 3. S. 8. But all this while they worshipped no more towards the West then towards the North. They worshipped towards the Arke it was told you before or towards the place of that They doe so still And they were and they are to do so because the Sun of Righteousnesse was to set upon their Horizon Therefore they were And they are to do so because as to them The man whose name is the East is not yet brought forth Observe but the Oeconomy and dispensation of this businesse throughout and there needeth no more to make good the Ground That this MAN was called the East will appear by the places in Zacharie c. 6.12 c. 3.8 Behold the man c. And I will bring forth my servant c. In the Holy Text it is Behold the man whose name is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tsemech that is as not unlearned men have rendred it the Branch It is to be noted that as the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth also germinare so the Hebrew Tsemach signifieth lucere eriri for that which we translate the Brightnesse the Syriacke rendreth the Tsemach of his glory Heb. 1.12 And in the Jewish Astrologie the Horoscope or East Angle is most commonly so called We are to read the prophecy as the Lxx did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. Behold the man whose name is the East Dialog 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 105. Thus it was urged to the Jew Tryphon in the most ancient times of Justin Martyr And thus also to James the Jew in a like conference in the Cetab ol borhan c. 6. 6. meeting The purpose of that booke is to prove out of all the Prophets c. that our Saviour was the Christ c. Cetab ol borhan Arab. MS. in Biblioth Beliolenfi Justus alledged this place among the rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The strong God said by Zacharie the Prophet Behold a man whose name is the East But Saint Luke puts all out of doubt where another Zacharie relating to the former faith of our Saviour that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we render it the day spring from on high or as Erasmus and the vulgar the East Which Bezâ— not knowing how to dislike and yet considering with himselfe that the old Prophecy must be so translated or else the new must not put it down Germenex alto the Branch from on high but which no man accepted of That the Tsemach in Zachary was the same with Saint Lukes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beza judged rightly But that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot be rendred by Germen it is convinc'd by the words following To give light unto them that sit in darknesse c. And therefore qui Germen vertunt saith Scaliger of the Tsemach in Zachary imperite faciunt audeo dicere neque mentiar contra verbum Dei who so translate it the Branch doe ignorantly nay I may say and say true too they doe contrary to the word of God The place in Zachary is to be read thus Behold the man whose Name is the East and he shall rise up and shine out from under him that is from under God the Father Jeremie the Prophet would not otherwise be understood c. 23.5 Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that I will raise up unto David 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tsemach Tsaddick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the righteous East as the Lxx that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Severus Christ the Sunne of righteousnesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Eusebius who elsewhere is called the light of the Gentiles and the light of the world Tacitus himselfe doth unawares deliver some such thing as this Hist lib. 5. He is there telling of the destruction of Jerusalem how the doores of the Temple flew open on a suddaine and a more then humane voice was heard that the Gods were now upon departing c. These things saith he made some reflect upon an old prophecy that was found antiquis Sacerdotum literis which foretold eo ipso tempore sore ut valesceret Oriens That at such a time the East should prevaile I doubt not but the Prophet who ever he were directed himselfe to the Man Cui Orient Nomen ejus whose name is the East Zach. 6.12 Greg. Mag. Moral in Job cap. 1. In relation to this Name of Christ the Christians also by some have beene called Orientales 'T is Gregory the great 's Morall upon those words of Job That he was the greatest man in the East Referring to the same the blessed Virgin hath beene termed Orientalis porta the Easterne gate as if that were the meaning of Ezekiels vision c. 44. So Saint Ephrem upon those words of Jacob this is the house of God and this is the Gate of Heaven This saying saith he is to bee meant of the Virgin Mary who became as it were another Heaven truly to be call'd the House of God as wherein the Sonne of God that immortall word inhabited and as truely the Gate of Heaven for the Lord of Heaven and Earth entered thereat and it shall not be set open the second time according to that of Ezekiel the Prophet And I saw saith he a Gate in the East the glorious Lord entred thereat thenceforeh that Gate was shut and is not any more againe to be opened Caten Arab. C. 58. It is not to be omitted that his Starre appeared in the East and that the wise men came from thence but which is more to be observed that the Angels sent from God with the Gospell of this Nativity they also came from the East for their Temple is to be seene upon the East of Bethlem as the Nubian Geographer
He was borne too in the Easterne parts of the world Nay he was borne in Orientali angulo Civitatis Bethlem Eccl. Hist lib. 5. c. 17. in the Easterne part of Bethlem as the Venerable Bede out of Adamannus The Heavens also met the Earth at this time for the Autumnall intersection one of the Equinoctiall Easts was the ascendent of his Nativity But of this there is more to come The holy men of Hierusalem hold a Tradition generally received from their Ancients that he was buried also with his Face and Feete towards the East It is affirmed by the Geographers of the Holy Land But that he ascended up into the Easterne part of Heaven it hath had the most ancient and full consent of the whole Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Damascene when he was received up into Heaven he was carried up Eastward It was the cause why they read that place of the Psalmist Qui ascendit super Coelum Coeli ad Orientem utpote saith Origen a mortuis post passionem resurgens in Coelum post resurrection ad Orientem ascendents Who rose from the dead after his passion and ascended up into Heaven towards the East after his Resurrection So the Aethiopick who ascended up into the Heaven of Heavens in the East In like manner the Syriack and some Arabick Translations But then the Greek should have beene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in the 18 of that Psalme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ascendisti in Altum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not properly said but of him that ascendeth his Horse or his Asse upon which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is said to sit Say unto the daughter of Sion behold thy King cometh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sitting upon on Asse Mat. 21.5 It fully answereth to the Prophets Laroceu which the older Translation rendred very fitly as concerning the letter who rideth or fitteth upon the Heaven as it were upon a Horse ver 4. So the Oracle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. O thou that sittest or ridest upon the Heavens But the Prophet Esay is plaine for the Ascension as I finde him cited in the Cetab ol barhan cap. 4. 1 meeting Cetab el borhan Ms Arab. in Archiv Bibl. Baliolens James the Jew urgeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. as the Prophet Esay saith The Lord alone shall be exalted and lifted-up above the East The strong Lord shall be exalted in Righteosnesse So he readeth the 16. ver of the 5 Chapter But the Originall as now received maketh no mention of the East or lifting up If then it had not a Jew must needs have knowne it and I see not with what face it could be urged in this Conference but I beginne to thinke what Justin Martyr charged upon this people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Liber Ms Arab de praecept Relig. part 1. c. 14. de Oratione Liber excat in biblioth D. Henrici King Epi. Cicesâ—rensis He makes it appeare to Tryphon that the Jewes had circumcised their Scripture too p. 83. of the Dialogue If our Saviour ascended into Heaven by the Easterne part we need not doubt but that he will returne by the same way which he went The Angels intimate as much I meet with an Author which testifieth that he himselfe said that he would 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Furthermore saith the Author we are to turne our faces toward the East in the time of prayer because that is the Coast concerning which the Christ unto whom be glory said that he would appeare from thence at his second comming And I thinke he referreth himselfe to those words of our Saviour Mat. 24.27 sicut exit fulgur c. Heare therefore what Saint Damasâ—ene delivereth as from the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And thus shall he come againe in like manner as he was seen to goe up answerable to what He himselfe said For as the lightning cometh out of the East and shineth even unto the West so shall also the coming of the Sonne of Man be We worship him therefore towards the East as expecting him from thence And this saith he is by unwritten Tradition from the Apostles A Canon to this purpose I finde ascribed to their Name in the Arabick Code Cod. Conciliorum Arab. Ms in Arch. Roan Biblioth Bodlei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When ye pray say they turne your selves towards the East For so the words of our Lord import who foretold that his returne from Heaven at the Latter day should be like the lightning which glittering from the East flasheth into the West His meaning is that we should expect his coming from the East I was ready enough to thinke that the mention here made of Lightning was to intimate the suddennesse and praecipitation of that coming but not being able to devise any speciall reason other then what is here given why the Lightning should rather come from the East I had the lesse to say against the Tradition Paul de palataio saith that this meaning of the words is made good by the common consent of all Christians Credentium quod in Oriente Humanitas Christi sedeat Ab eo ergo loco veniet ubi nunc est beleeving that our Saviour as respecting his humane Nature sitteth in the Easterne part of Heaven There he is from thence therefore he is to come Therefore that signe of the Sonne of Man that other Baptist as it were of his second coming is expected to be seene in the East A signe of the Crosse it is to be as the Fathers Chrysostome and Saint Ephrem promise And the Aethiopian Church is so sure of it that as their Zebo saith it is profest among the Articles of their Creed That it shall appeare in the East it is undertaken by Hippolytus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For a signe of the Crosse saith he shall rise up more glorious then the Sunne it selfe shinning from the East into the West to give notice unto the World that the Judge is coming Considering all these things I am altogether of their mind who perswade themselves that the Seate and Tribunall of that last Judgement shall be placed in the Aire over against the Mount Olivet Jeel the Prophet is thought to have foretold as much when he saith that all Nations shall be gathered into the valley of Jehosaphat and his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount Olivet which is before Jerusalem towards the East I cannot devise saith one for what reason the Prophet should make so particular a Description of this unto them that knew it so well It is certaine saith another spectare haec ad diem judicii that these things are to be meant of the day of judgement c. And if Clemens may be trusted the Apostles themselves understood no otherwise Lib. â—estivalis in Dedicatione Ecclesiae Our Fore-fathers lived and
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Majim Or if it were found that these Orgia were first or most celebrated at Maiuma the sea side of Gaza 't is possible that the place might give name to the celebration Which hath the more colour Metaphrast Ms in Archiv Baroc Feb. 25. for that in the Tetrampodus or Quatrefois of that City upon an Altar of stone there stood a marble statue of Venus representing the figure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a naked woman c. as Marcus Diaconus in vita Porphyrii Gazcorum Episcopi otherwise the Authors owne derivation must be taken If the Prophet may at all be understood in the sense of the Midbar it foundeth not much unlike to that which the Emperour Julian told the Antiocheans in his Misopogon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There 's none of you all saith he but can willingly spend upon your private banquetings and feasts and I well know how much many of you can throw away upon the Maiuma but for your owne or the Cities safety no man offereth up any thing either in private or in publike The word of Amos is Wo to them that are at ease in Zion c. The stretch themselves upon their Couches and eate the Lambes out of the flocke and that chaunt to the sound of the Violl c. That drinke wine in bowles c. But they are not grieved for the afflictions of Joseph CHAP. XXII The meaning and Considerations of Light in Scripture GOD is Light and in him there is no darkenesse at All John 1. The Reflexion of this Originall Glory shining upon the dust the dust became Light that is man for so the Ancients termed him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Phavoâ—inus we call a man light but the opacous body of sinne interposing it selfe betwixt this borrowed Light and the Fountaine cast a shadow the shadow of death The darknesse being so thicke and so exceeding that if we regard what the Master of the Sentences hath said the Sunne it selfe shined 7 times brighter before the fall then ever it did since To bring the world out of that darkenesse into this Marvellous Light the day spring from on high was to visit us To prepare for this day there first appeared a Burning and a shining Light John 1. but he was not that Light but came before to beare witnesse of the Light Soone after Jesus Iulii Schiller praefat in Vranograph Christian p. 6. Col. 2. that is as in the China Tongue it signifieth the rising Sunne that Sunne of Righteousnesse himselfe arose with healing in his wings Malac. 3. It was then the longest Night in all the yeare and it was the midst of that and yet there was day where he was for a glorious betokening Light shined round about this Holy Child So the Tradition and so the Masters describe the Night-peice of this Nativity At his Transfiguration a greater Light shined about him His face was brighter then the Sun and his very Clothes whiter then the Light Till now the Father of Lights himselfe dwelt in the thicke darkenesse never shewing himselfe but in a Cloud but in these last dayes he is God manifest 1 Tim. 3.16 and in the Brightnesse of his glory Heb. 1. I doe not finde saith Venerable Bede among so many Angels that were sent before the Law that ever any were seene with a Light shining about them Now a Light shineth about S. Peter in the prison and about Saint Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a very great Light Nay a Light shined about the Shepheards too And though it were then the dead of the Night yet the word was brought by the Angell bodie Natus est c. This day is borne to you c. Therefore also at the setting of this Sunne which was the Reverse part of the Mystery darkenesse fell upon the Earth the Naturall Sunne eclipsed in the midst of Heaven and therefore the Moone making it more then Midnight in the subterraneous position all of the colour of Saturne the signifier of blacknesse who rising from the Horoscope beheld these two Eclipses in a square Malignant aspect Not so onely for in the selfe same day which is more perhaps then you have heard of there happened a naturall defection of the Moone in the 11 of Libra beginning at Hierusalem about 6 in the Evening in so much that the Sun was no sooner gone downe but the Moone appeared in the East Eclipsed of more then halfe her Light So that as the Light was taken from that day so darkenesse was added to that Night and within the space of 6 houres the Sunne was once unnaturally and the Moone twice Eclipsed The Calculation and Figure of this Lunar Eclipse you may see if you will in Chronologia Catholica Henrici Buntingii fol. 237. b. 238. a. See also Sethus Calvisius in Tiberius Caesar ad An. post Ch. n. 33. to the 3 day of April As our Lord himselfe so his Gospell also is called Light and was therefore anciently never read without a burning Taper etiam sole rutilante 't is Saint Hieromes Testimony though it were Lighted in the Sunne Supposing therefore out of Albumazar that every Religion is governed by some Planet as the Mahumetan by Venus the Jewish by Saturne c. Some Astrologers did not inconveniently to attribute the Christian to the Sunne Not the Gospell but the Preachers of it also are called Lights Vos estis Lux Mundi ye are the Light of the World and the first Preacher of Repentance was said to be Lucerna ardens c. a burning and a shining Light The carefull Church perceiving that God was so much taken with this outward symbole of the Light could do no lesse then goe on with the Ceremony Therefore the day of our Lords Nativity was to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Epiphany or appearing of the Light and so many Tapers were to be set up the Night before as might give Name to the Vigil Vigilia Luminum And the Ancients did well to send Lights one to another whatsoever some thinke of the Christmas Candle The receiving of this Light in Baptisme they call'd not usually so but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Illumination which further to betoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eucholog fol. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A. the rites were to celebrate this Sacrament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. with all the Tapers lighted c. as the Order in the Euchologue The Neophytus also or new convert received a Taper lighted and delivered by the Mystagogus which for the space of seven dayes after he was to hold in his hand at Divine Service sitting in the Baptistery Who perceiveth not that by this right way the Tapers came into the Church mysteriously placed with the Gospell upon the Altar as an embleme of the truer Light It was imitated againe by the white garment received at the same time in Baptisme as the Emperours expound it in Theodesian's Code Coelestis Lumen Lavacri
any hand the Stars could have in this matter we are to receive it at the same rate as that of the Arabian Astrologers to the Aegyptian Caliph They answered that the cause of Noahs floud was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that there happened at that time a Conjunction of all the Planets in ♓ Pisces Sepâ—er Juchasin fol. 148. b. And yet the same Astrologers foretold of a particular deluge to be at such a time in the Deserts of Arabia which if the Story mock not proved true for the Pilgrimes to Mecca so that saith were drowned upon those Sands where others before time had perished for want of waters And to give up that account which the Common People in Philosophy use to doe that these mighty waters could be emptyed out of the bottles of Heaven the Clouds whatsoever or Condensations of Aire runneth us a ground upon a ridiculous course in Nature or indecent in Miracle whereas if we betake our selves to this other way one onely entercourse of Omnipotency will serve the turne to force downe the motion of these waters by a high Hand which otherwise according to Received Nature must have beene more then 100 yeares in falling What if it rained 40 Dayes and 40 Nights had it rained 40 yeares what could this have done towards such a heap of flouds as prevailed above the highest mountaines 15 Cubits upwards be their perpendicular height taken after the most moderate estimation So that in justice of reason we may conclude that these Decumani fluctus could not be raised without a supply from this great Abysse and unlesse one depth had called another And the Scripture it selfe confesseth as much that the fountaines of the Tehom Rabba or this great Deepe or as the Angel calleth them in Esdras the Springs above the Firmament were broken up Gen. 7.11 the same Deepe upon the Face whereof the Darkenesse was Gen. 1.2 for the Spirit of God moved upon the waters And at the abatement of these waters when God remembred Noah the same Fountaines of this Deepe are said to have beene stopped Gen. 8.2 which can admit of no other but an miraculous sense for we cannot understand it of any subterraneous Abysse without an open defiance to the Principles of Nature Therefore betwixt the Heavens and the Heaven of Heavens there must be a Tehom Rabbah or great Deepe and for this it is that he is said to have layed the Beames of his Chambers in the waters Psalm 104.3 His upper Chambers it should be as the Saxon rightly and it maketh very much for the matter for it will follow from this that these Chambers were the Heaven of Heavens Where the Lord is upon many or great waters Psal 29.3 And Wisdome saw him set this compasse upon the Face of the Depth Prov. 8.27 And he is said to have watered the Hills from these Chambers Psal 104.13 Not from the middle Region of the Aire for the Tops of some Hills whose heights are his Psal 95.4 are lifted up above all the Clouds But he watered the Hills from this great Abysse when at the flood those Cataracts of Heaven were opened Joel 3.18 But let the Hills be taken for such as flow with milke and drop downe with new Wine even thus also it may be said that he watereth them from these Chambers that is from Above The reconcilers on the contrary part are forced to make use of more unmannerly Constructions But let the Chambers be taken as before v. 3. by result at least it was that from these he watered the Hills whatsoever and satisfied the Earth with the fruit of his workes v. 13. I am almost perswaded to thinke that untill Neahs time The Lord God had not caused it to raine upon the Earth but a mist went up and watered the whole face of the ground Gen. 2.5 6. And a River went forth of Eden to water the Garden c. vers 10. But in he 600 yeare of Noah's life in the second month c. Gen. 7.11 Hee caused it to raine upon the Earth c. v. 4. It is no stranger a thing then to finde the whole Earth in such a case for that time as the Land of Aegypt hath beene ever since or those everlasting Hills which the dayes of Noah set out were never yet wetted with the dew of Heaven If it bee otherwise how could he then first set his Bow in the Cloud for as Porphyrie said it must have been there before I say the that proportioning the perpendicular height of the Mountaines to the Semidiameter of the Earth there is nothing to hinder but that this aboundance of Waters supplyed from the Springs above the Firmament might be sunk into the Cavernes of the Earth from whence it hath been upon occasion called forth by the heat and influence of the Host of Heaven And so ever since as Heate and Cold Summer and Winter Day and Night so the Former and the Latter Raine hath not ceased Our Saviour may seeme to have pointed to those Springs above the Firmament where he bringeth in Father Abraham saying to the Richman And besides all this betwixt us and you there is a Great Gulfe fixed c. Luk. 16.26 All this is intimated in the name of Heaven Shammajim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the waters there Talmud in chagig C. 2. as R. Jose in Chagiga fol. 12. a. If it sound ill that any corruptible Nature should be lodged above the Heavens it will bee answered that the Heavens themselves are in no better condition whose matter howsoever trusted by some ill husbands in Philosophy to an inamissible Forme yet hath beene found subject to the like Passions with that here below as the well knowne Tâ—â—ho hath demonstrated in the case of the New Starre To doubt the passage of the Blessed through this great Abysse is an effeminacy of Beleefe for not to say that the Children of Israel passed through the Red Sea upon dry Land These waters are themselves to passe through that fire unto which the Heavens and the Earth which are now are reserved and kept in store 2 Pet. 3.7 The suspension of these waters in a violent situation if such it be I no more marvail at then that the thick Clouds bound up with so many Waters should hang in the Aire unrended under them lesse then at the Stretching of the North over the empty places or the hanging of this Earth upon Nothing Job 26.7 In all this I must acknowledge that there is something of the Paradox which yet hath beene done over by others too and more elaborately and so I would be taken for the present Vid. Scheineri Ros Vâ—sin but that is till I can see how otherwise the Text it selfe can be likely to come off clear CHAP. XXIV Deut. 22.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lapis errantium And with all lost things which he hath lost and thou hast found shalt thou doe likewise TO this purpose The Great Stone in Ierusalem remembred of
Wheresoever 2 or 3 are sitting together and conferring together about the Law Piâ—ke Avoth C. 3. there the Shecinah will be with them 'T is the meaning of our Saviour where he promiseth Wheresoever two or three are gathered together there am I in the midst of them As if he had said The Shecinah shall be there or there I will be by my dwelling presence or speciall exhibition of my selfe by signes of Blessing and Grace In other places he is onely said to bee but in Holy places to be wonderfull Psal 68.35 The face of God is every where alike Quo fugerem a facie tua said the Psalmist whither can I fly from thy face Hee said not quo fugerem c. whither shall I fly from thy Back parts for these are more visible in one place then another 'T is there as every where The Lord. But here the Lord mercifull and gracious slow to anger and abundant in goodnesse and truth Therefore even the most high thus dwelleth in Temples made with hands and though Heaven bee his Throne and Earth his Footstool yet wee men can build him a House A House of Prayer as it is called unto all Nations And this is the place where his Honour dwells Wee say it againe not more essentially here but more gratiously S. Maximus Mystagog cap 24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as the blessed Maximus by the grace of his holy Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which though not seene by us is yet alwayes resident in the Holy Church So the Apostolicall forme of consecration as we receive it of the Metaphrast May it please the mercifull God that thy most holy Spirit may inhabit in this House which wee have built in thy Name c. The presence of this Holy spirit applying to the Place consecrate by a secret and invisible kinde of incubation dischargeth it of all those black incumbrances which the Prince of the Aire might intrude upon it and bringing it under the shadow of the Almighty exalteth it to a Reverentiall state of holinesse and Divinity which intermixing with that Space and Site of Ground not by grosse adherence but by Energeticall Communion induceth a nature and condition apt to quicken and assure devotion and disposeth the Acts there done to more Illustrious and infallible effects of blessing and successe In regard unto this great and glorious presence I am moved to reflect upon two principall inconsiderations The singularity of some and the irreverence of almost All. The first is theirs who preferre the Barne before the Church as if God would be more at home in their out-houses then in his own dwelling Mansion Hee heareth indeed whatsoever prayers wheresoever made but his eares are said to bee arrect and intent only to those that are made in this place I know that our Father is to be prayed to in secret but that is that hee is not to be prayed to in the corners of the streets that is those ends and corners of the streets where the Gates are as the Aethiopick very well rendereth For the Eastern fashion is to have a Gate almost to every street so that these Corners of the streets were eminently open and the fittest places that could be chosen for one to pray in that did it therefore that hee might bee seen of men The King Hezekiah was heard upon his bed but his prayer what was it but that he might goe once more to Church 2 Chron. 20.5 And even then though in that extremity he could not goe up into the house of the Lord yet at least hee turned himselfe in his Chamber that way supplying what he could not doe by bodily remotion with holy Extasie and transportation of minde But the greatest fault is committed by those that come for as we demeane our selves 't were much better for us not to be there or if wee be that God himselfe were away How unreverently we enter and depart and yet how fearefull is this place But in the Businesse it selfe how most unseasonable wee are and strangely impertinent By the Constitutions called Apostolicall the Deacons charge was to overlooke the people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that no man whispered that no man laughed nay that no man so much as nodded his bead or twinkled his eye Tu vero saith Saint Ambrose to his Virgin in ministerio Dei tusses excreatus abstine hee would not suffer her in time of Divine service no not to cough or to spit aloud Instead of any such severe appointment wee sit like those in Chrysostome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shrugging yawning and benumm'd with dulnesse And would it were no worse then so Our whole deportment there is so intolerably notorious and desperately prophane that if Saint Pauls Infidell should come in hee would bee so farre from falling downe and worshiping that he would presently be bound to report God is not in you of a truth 1 Cor. 14.25 Some Christians doe more Reverence to the outside of a Church then we to the presence of God within it Those of Habassia if in a journey though upon the speed they are to passe by a Church no man is so unreverent as to sit still upon his horse Viaggio fatto nell Ethiop c. 26. ma dismonta fin che passe a piedo la chiessa el cimeterio per un grand pezzo but dismounting himselfe saith Alvarez hee walketh on foot till hee hath left not the Church onely but the Church-yard also very farre behinde him Will you take an example from the Turkes while it is called to day and ere yet they rise up in judgement against us Their Church behaviour is after this another manner Called to prayers by the Illah Illahi or the voyce of him that cryeth for they have no Bells they first wash themselves Maronit de moribus Oriental c 10. then putting off their shoes at the threshold of the Mosque doore summo cum silentio discalceati ad instratum pavimentum accedunt Emamus sive Antesignanus Orationem incipit emnes sequuntur dum flectit genua alii idem praestant illo erecto caeteri se erigunt ipsum vocem attollentem vel deprimentem adstantes imitantur ubi neminem tussientem oscitantem deambulantem aut confabulantem in venias sed summo silentio oratione peracta resumptisque calceis discedunt i.e. They draw near with great reverence to the Pavement of the Mosque covered over with Carpets or Mats as it may Then the Emam or High-Priest beginneth prayers and all the company follow him and when he kneeleth downe they doe the like and when he standeth up they doe so too imitating his voyce throughout either in elevation or depression of the Tone And here you must not thinke to finde any one coughing yawning walking or talking but having performed the service with all possible silence they put on their shoes ad depart Nay a Turke a * Sic vero stabant in mesquidis suis immobides
more which fell out at his Nativity and such a one if I take the height of iâ— right as might very well be in company consignifie with that worke of God that strange worke that Act of his that strange Act which he brought to passe when a Virgin was to conceive and beare a Sonne and a Woman to encompasse a Man Here I must tell you that I meane to deceive his Expectation who thinkes I am going about to give Judgement upon any of my Saviours Accidents of life from the Influences of the Starres or Planets The Starre which guided the Wise men or as the Saxon hath well enough rendred it â—ungal Whitegan the Astroligers or Astrologicall Prophets is enough of it selfe to forbid any man this impertinency To shew how little those in the Firmament or lower Heavens should have to doe with his matters he had a Starre of his owne appointed to another Spheare and moving by another kinde of motion then those in their Course purposely created for and by Him and made to walke in the Aire and keepe place with the Magi. It must Have beene in the Aire otherwise it could not have directed the Wise men to the place Tycho Bracheus Nobilis Daâ—â—â—s as the most Noble Tycho hath excellently observed It was a Starre because they were Astrologers that were to be guided by it And it was a new one because none of the old could have done it for the verticity of any of those could not have come and stood over the place where the young Child was Numb 24.17 This starre appearing out of order bid a defiance to all the Persian Astrologie and let the Starre-gazers know that there was one of Jacob now risen which was not to be found in their Barbarick Spheare Neverthelesse and though I meane to doe as I have said I will take Liberty to set downe here the Figure of our Saviours Nativity that is with what Face the Heavens lookt upon the earth at that time as to the Horizont of Bethlehem In the Sphaera Persica saith Aben Ezra out of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there ariseth up in the Face of the signe Virgo a beautifull Maiden she holdeth two eares of Corne in her hand and a Child in her Armes she feedeth him and giveth him suck c. This Maiden saith Abumazar we call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adre nedefa the pure Virgin She bringeth up a Childe in a place which is called Abrie the Hebrew Land and the Childs name is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eisâ— Jesus Introductor lib. 6. c. 1. This was enough to make Albertus Magnus beleeve that our Saviour Christ was borne in Virgo and therefore Cardinall Alliac erecting our Lord's Nativity by his description casteth this signe into the Horoscope But that was not the meaning of Abumazar His meaning was saith Frier Bacon quod beata Virgo nata fuit quando Sol est in Virgine ita habetur signatum in Calendario quod nutriet Filium suum in Terra Hebraeorum That the said Virgin was borne the Sunne being in that signe as also we have it set downe in the Calendar and that she was to bring up her Sonne in the Hebrew Land But according to the received Tradition of the Church our Saviour was borne the 25 day of December at midnight in the yeare of the world 3967. The Circle of the Sun was 9. and of the Moone 1. c. Therefore the Ascendent of his Nativity was not â™ Virgo but ♎ Libra and this was the Figure of the Heavens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 JESU CHRISTI Domini nostri 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An. M. 3967. Decemb die 25. Nocte media Ad Latitud Horizont Bethlehem Juxta Calculum Prutenicum I tell you I do not this as if I thought the Starre of Jacob were Subject to his owne Firmament I abhorre to say as Cardan did that Jupiters being in the ascendent was the cause of his so soone disputing with the Doctors or that he so often travelled from place to place because the Moone was with Mars in a Terrestriall sign or that it should be from Saturnes altitudes that our Saviour should be so often seen to weepe but never once to laugh much lesse that Saturne with Venus could make him to have a mole in his Face Hee quoteth Josephus for these two last accidents but you will not finde it there That excellent Authour giveth indeed a very grave and honourable testimony of Jesus Christ in the 4th of the 18th book of his Antiquities but without any such mentions as these But still I doe but hold you in hand That which I may lawfully and innocently observe in the Scheme of our Lords Nativity concerneth thus First the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Righteousnesse was very fitly borne in Libra the signe and Constellation of Justice Next to this the Redeemers Horoscope was quite contrary to that of the World The Ascendent of the Creation was Aries for the World was created in the Spring as to the position of Iudea I cannot stay to prove it here I have done it elsewhere But much above all this there fell out at this time a Conjunction the greatest that can be of the 8 and 9 Spheares in the Head of Aries From whence it will follow that whereas at the beginning of this world the Asterismes were all out of their proper places it pleased God to have it so now at the restitution of the world they were all found in their owne divisions It is an appearance of that kinde which nature can shew the World but once The same Figure of the Heavens never could before nor never can fall out again unlesse the World should unreasonably last against all Christian expectation by the most moderate Account for if you cast about the slow Revolution of this period it will trouble you to cal these or almost any other the latter dayes The period according to some is to finish a Circle of 30 if not 40 thousand yeares This great year began at our Saviours Nativity but for any man to expect that it should ever have an end as to us and this World cannot be thought of but upon grounded Atheisme and absurdity I have onely one thing here to confesse that this figure of our Saviours Nativity is erected according to the Dionysian rate of account which useth to be called Vulgare initium annorum Domini The vulgar Epoche of the yeares of Christ but demonstrated to bee false as they themselves doubt not by Mercator Christmannus Ioseph Scaliger Sethus Calvisius Suslyga the Polonian and others Masters all in Mathematicall Chronology some of them demonstrate that this Aera is false by one year some by two others by three the Polonian by four and some others by five But when I saw that there could bee so many true Accompts I thought it best to sit down and abide by the old false one as well in reverence to the Tradition of the
auribus tuis imbibe Templo exclusus Et avitâ Relligione Jam senescente nè dicam sublatâ Mutavit Chorum altiorem ut capesceret Vade nunc si libet imitare R. W. The Particular Titles of this Book I. A Discours of the LXX Interpreters the Place and Manner of their Interpretation II. A Discours declaring what Time the Nicene Creed began to bee sung in the Church III. A Sermon upon the Resurrection from 1 Cor. 15. ver 20. IV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Disproof of him in the 3d of S. Luke ver 36. V. Episcopus Puerorum in Die Innocentium VI. De Aeris Epochis shewing the several Accounts of Time among all Nations from the Creation to the present Age. VII The Assyrian Monarchie beeing a Description of it's Rise and Fall VIII The Description and Vse of the Terrestrial Globe A DISCOURS OF THE LXX INTERPRETERS The Place and manner of their Interpretation JVstin Martyr saith that the Translation was performed not in the Citie of Alexandria 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the description whereof let it bee given according to Philo Judaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 448. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that is The Ile Pharos lieth under Alexandria stretching it self toward the Citie wash'd about not with a deep but for the most part a shallow Sea which considered with the largeness doth verie much abate from the streperous nois and turbulencie of the waves This Isle of all other places thereabout beeing judged the most convenient for privacie and quietness and where the Law might bee best attended by everie man in his most retired meditations here the Seniors remained and taking the holie Bible into their hands they lifted both it and them up into Heaven beseeching Almightie God not to fail them in their purpose c. So Philo. Aristaeas speaketh more distinctly for the Place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that is Three daies beeing passed Demetrius took the Seniors along with him and having gotten over the Heptastadium and the Bridg hee brought them to the North parts of the Isle where hee placed the Assemblie in a höus fitted for them standing upon the shore free from all inquietude and having all the conveniences of situation c And it seemeth to mee that by these words of Aristaeas somthing more may bee discovered concerning the Place for the probabilitie from hence is good that the Hous here spoken of should bee meant of that famous Tower which Sostratus of Cnidus set up in this Isle Pharos to direct the Mariners in the dangerous Seas about Alexandria And the situation verie well agreeth becaus the Tower also stood North and upon the Sea side And the Nubian Geographer where hee describeth this Tower telleth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that there were certain Cels erected in it But Justin Martyr putteth us out of doubt for hee saith That the Place where the Cels were set up was * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ubi Phari speculum aedificari contigit which is all one with that wee believed And wee have caus to think that seeing the King intended this matter of the Translation with so much Princely care and providence that hee would make chois of such a Seat as might most eminently adorn his purpose and therefore it was answerably don to chuse the Tower which was everie waie worthie of this glorious emploiment for the Arabick Geographer saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the whole world cannot shew such another Building as this Tower whether wee consider it for the Materials or for the manner of the Structure The Reader may see a large description of it in this Autor in the third Part of the third Clime But seeing the thing was don in Egypt let the Storie of it also bee delivered in their Language and set down in Hieroglyphicks And did it not well becom the business that the Scripture should bee translated in this Place In a Tower to note out to the Interpreters the Sublimitie of those things which they had now in hand that when they went up to their work everie step they asscended might elevate their Mindes one degree nearer to the Contemplations of Heaven And how fitly was it don by the Sea-side that but a little of Earth might bee seen to those who had now to deal with such things as had nothing in them that was Terrene But most of all convenient it was that it should bee don in this Tower For that which hung out a Candle to the doubtful Mariner in the perillous Seas did it not well that it should also hold out A light to the Gentiles The Coast of Alexandria was dangerous for anie least of all for the Natives becaus they were acquainted with the Passages but a stranger durst not venter without som direction from this Beacon Such was our waie to Heaven intricate enough to all Nations yet more obvious to the Jew becaus to him were committed the Oracles of God But wee the Gentiles having no other direction but the light of Nature could not so well tell how to pass the Streits to Heaven without som help from the Word which though it were alwaies a Light yet was it never held out unto us till this time of the Translation and therefore was it verie singularly congruous that from this Place from whence the Sea-faring men took their notice by a Light to escape the hazard of those waies they knew not that it should pleas God also by the Lantern of his Word to give aim to the People that sate in Darkness Musaeus in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore when ever thou shalt chance to go that waie enquire out for Pharos Anie remainder of this Tower would bee worth the seeing and Justin Martyr though there were but a stone left upon a stone yet hee went purposely to take notice of it Why the King should make chois of the Isle for the Interpretation rather then the Citie one reason was to avoid the disturbance of the multitude for Alexandria was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Citie full of Inhabitants as it is observed by the Scholiast upon Dionysius Afer And in times past even before it was Alexandria it had been verie much frequented with a confluence of People for so it is noted unto us by the Prophet Nachum where hee would know of Nineveh Whither shee thought her self Better then Populous No that is saith Chimki 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alexandria in Egypt as it is also interpreted by that Antient Chaldee Paraphrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Art thou better then the great Alexandria c. Taâ—gum in Hac which was performed by the son of Vziel seventeen hundred years past Another Reason was for the safetie of the Translators and this is given by Philo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. where hee urgeth
Tephillim and Mezuzoth onely in the Syriack Tongue But Rabban Simeon the son of Gamaliel saith that the Sepharim also might not bee written in anie other Language the Greek onely excepted By the Tephillim and Mezuzoth the Doctors meant those Schedules which were inscribed with set forms of devotion and placed upon the posts of their Houses or otherwise worn in their foreheads By the Sepharim or Books they intend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Books of the Law the Prophets and the Hagiographa and so the Sepharim are here expounded by the Gloss upon this place By occasion of these words in the Mishna R. Jehudah relateth this Storie in the Gemara 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Wee receiv it by Tradition that King Ptolmai assembled together the seventie two Seniors and placed them in seventie two several Conclaves not making them acquainted with his purpose after that going in to each of them hee said unto them Write mee now down the Law of Moses the Master The Blessed and glorious God put understanding into everie mans heart and they all accorded in one and the same sens So the Talmudists The verie same circumstances of the Storie are set down in their Massicta Sopherim and by Abraham Zacuth in the Book Juchasin besides the four Editions of their Hebrew Josephus or Goreous son in all which it is also extant Among the Arabians there hath as yet com to my Hands one onely Chronologer of these times said the son of Batric and hee also maketh the same report And becaus this Author is not as yet made publick it shall bee here set down what hee saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Said Abeâ— Bâ—ta Arabs in Historia Eccles And in the twentieth year of the Reign of Ptolomie the King went up to the Citie Jerusalem and brought with him from thence seventie Men of the Jews unto Alexandria and commanded them saying Interpret unto mee your Book of The Law and the Prophets out of the Hebrew into Greek And hee put everie one of them into a several Cell by himself that hee might see now each of them would interpret apart And when they had finished their work the King saw what everie Man had don and their writings all concorded nothing was contrarie in anie one of them So the Book of the Interpretation was sealed up and put into the Hous of their God Serapis c. Thus said the Son of Batric according to the Manuscript Copie of his Historia which I saw at Cambridg in the Archives of their Publick Librarie Philo Judaeus though hee maketh no express mention of the Cels yet if hee doth not intimate som such thing let the Reader tell us what hee meaneth by this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is And they sate down privately by themselvs and having no other companie but the parts of Nature the Earth the Waters the Air and the Heauens the Mysterie of whose Creätion their first work was to discover this beeing the begining of Mose's Law they prophecied as if they had been divinely inspired not one one thing and another another but all in the same sens and words as if they had been prompted by som invisible Director In these words however it may bee said wee are not certain that the Author intended our matter of the Cels yet thus much wee can bee sure of That hee pointeth out such a waie of Interpretation as carrieth with it no less of wonder then the former But Justin the Martyr a Samaritan speaketh it plainly and with a verie remarkable Confidence as wee read in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Gentiles where hee saith That the King appointed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to each of the Interpreters a small several Cel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that everie man might perform the Interpretation by himself And having said somthing of their wonderful agreement hee provideth against the incredulitie of all Men by this resolute enforcement strongly urged from his own experience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that is This O yee Gentiles wee report unto you not in the guis of a Fable or a fained Storie but as a received Tradition delivered unto us by the Inhabitants of the Place for wee our selvs also beeing at Alexandria saw the remainder of those Cels and they are yet to bee seen in the Isle Pharos at this present daie To this undoubted Testimonie of Justin Martyr may bee added that of Irenaeus who in the same Centurie maketh the like report Ptolomie saith hee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. considering with himself that if they should bee suffered to confer one with another they might perchance conceal somthing of the veritie of their Scripture by waies of Interpretation hee separated them each from other and commanded them that everie man should translate the same part and this order was observed in all the Book c. And concerning their agreement hee saith That they all set down the same things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the same Sens and in the same Words insomuch that all people that were then present acknowledged that the Translation was made by the inspiration of God c. And that the wonder of the work might not bee an hindrance to it self to make it seem the less probable for beeing strange Hee excuseth it by another of the same kinde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And wee have the less caus saith hee to marvail that God should thus do seeing hee wrought as great a Miracle for his Scripture by the hand of Ezra in the Restitution of the Law In the third Centurie the credit of the Storie is upheld by Clemens of Alexandria and in the fourth by Cyril of Jerusalem Clemens saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that everie one of them having interpreted by himself according to his proper Inspiration the Translations were Compared and they were all found to agree both in Sens and Words But Cyril more perspicuously and at large 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that is And the King providing that the Interpreters which were sent him might not com together appointed for each of them a several Cel in the Isle Pharos near to Alexandria and to each of them was delivered the whole Bible to translate And beeing thus separated the one from the other everie man's part was finished within the space of seventie two daies at which time they all met together and having compared their Translations they were found to concord not onely in the meaning but also in the verie Manner of expression For this Translation was not set forth in pleasing words or the pomp of humane Sophistrie but all was interpreted by the same Spirit by which it was first delivered c. In the fourth Centurie wee finde the Tradition remembred by Epiphanius but not without som alteration of the Circumstances for hee saith that the Translation was performed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in
becaus hee was so indeed but not so onely but an oppressor too his continual conversation with bruit beasts changed his humane disposition into a barbarous and agrestick behaviour and the privilege of Dominion which hee had long used over the beasts hee began to usurp over Men. So Ralbag expoundeth Hee began saith hee to bee Mightie that is saith the Rabbin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 parash Noach becaus hee began to hunt after Domination or Principalitie fol. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The same Rabbi in the same place saith that hee was called a mightie Hunter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 becaus hee was mightie to hunt men and to subdue them under him Don Isaac Abarbinel intimateth a reason of mens subjection to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Becaus hee made himself a mightie Hunter of Beasts and subdued them the sons of men seeing that Bears and Lions were subdued before him with all their might they also for fear of him submitted to him It appeareth therefore by the general consent of the Hebrews that this Nimrod was the founder of the Babylonish Kingdom and that by a Tyrannical kinde of absolute power hee subdued the world to this new kinde of Government Among the Greeks hear what Epiphanius hath said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Others have said as much Som have thought this Nimrod to bee Ninus others to bee Belus both unadvisedly for that Nimrod was not Ninus Justin approve's out of his Autor Trogus Pompie for it was saith hee from the begining of this Monarchie till the time of Sardanapalus 1300 years but hee reckon's that begining from Ninus but wee have proved before that the Epoche of this Kingdom comprehendeth 60 years more and therefore cannot begin in the reign of Ninus but 60 years before which 60 years must bee restored to som King before Ninus either to Nimrod or Belus or els divided between them both and that is most likely becaus Eupolemon an antient Autor maketh mention of Belus the second which could not bee without som reference to a Predecessor of the same name and this without all question was our mightie Hunter who after hee had possessed a World of degenerate mindes with the opinion of his greatness easily wrought the unsetled fancies of the Vulgar sort into a necessarie and undoubted superstition The true God they had forgotten or els they never knew him a God they must have quia nulla gens tam barbara c. Nimrod opposeth the fortitude and felicitie of his designs and easily intrappeth a multitude to worship him who must needs worship som one and besides him knew not whom therefore instantly they call him Baal or as wee corruptly write Bel which in our language signifieth a Lord and becaus after his death another succeeded both in his Place and Name hee was called Bel from his Dominion and Bel the second becaus Nimrod had reigned before him This conjecture can produce a Patron to inforce the probabilitie 'T is Abarbinel upon that place in Esaie Bel is bowed down and Neho stoopeth His words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read the rest in that place The Rabbin saith that the Latine Scribes have written that this Nimrod who raigned first in Babel made himself a God and commanded that they should serv him becaus 't was hee that first had builded Babel c. after this hee made an Idol after his own Image and called it Bel. To this purpose the Rabbin concerning the Stature of Nimrod I had saied nothing had not Methodius said too much who affirmeth and from him Luca Tudensis that this Nimrod was no less then ten Cubits high believ this that will if it were or could bee so the Seventie Interpreters did well to call him a Giant Of the manner of his death Annius hath made Berosus lie Spirits took him awaie and Funccius will needs believ this as appeareth by his Gloss upon the Fiction that is saith hee The Divels took him awaie for his grand Impietie c. Cedrene saith that Nimrod was called Evechous this hee took from an Antient Autor Estiaeus of Miletum whose words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which either are the words of the Autor wee have said or els Eusebius Vide Eusebium Scaligerianum pag. 14. I finde in one of those Manuscripts which were transported from Baroeïus his most famous Librarie to the Universitie of Oxford an observable abstract of Chronologie deduced from Adam thence I transcribed what I found most convenient for the illustration of that which wee have now in hand First therefore for the life of Nimrod the Abstract saith thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tale aliquod ad Cedrenum Lego ad Chronicon Alexandrinum ubi vide 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 paulò post 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rursus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Autor wee see giveth a pregnant testimonie to what wee have said See also Cedren for this of Orion and the Chronicon Alexandrinum adding also one thing more then wee knew before that this Nimrod at his death was Deified as in his life wee have proved so that hee seemeth to bee a God of som note but if wee mark wee shall finde that his divinitie transcend's not the eight sphear As his place was changed so his name that from Earth to Heaven this from Nimrod to Orion The Greek Poets would laugh at this as wee will now at them having undoubtedly found the truest meaning of this Constellation I will not burden the discours nor imploie the page with their vain Fictions who list elswhere to see them let him repair to Higinus Aratus Manilius Stoffler upon the Sphear of Proclus and the nameless Scholiast upon Cesar Germanicus that was found in Sicile This onely I may saie that the Conceit was truely Poëtical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is meerly made not told as having no footstep in Storie nor foundation in Veritie save onely their misconceit of the name Orion quasi Vrion This infirm Gloss upon that word however at the best not able to stand by it self was after made far more impotent by their halting between two opinions one while conceiving Orion to bee that hee is another while to bee Arctophylax far widely guessing the one beeing in the North the other in the South See Hesychius in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But how well our Autor accordeth with the truth wee shall see and greatly approve That Orion was a Hunter the Greeks themselvs confess So Theon upon Aratus his Phaenomena page 539 of that which was printed in quarto at Paris Moses recordeth the like of this Nimrod the Fables also saie hee was a King and in Jansson's Globes hee is called Bellator fortissimus The Astronomers of Arabia call him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Algebar that is as the Lxx doth the Giant All this agree's Add hereunto his posture in the Heavens highly becoming his
profession to shew hee was a Souldier hee is placed with sword and Buckler and is therefore called by the sweetest Poët 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Musaus in Her Leandro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To beetoken his Huntsmanship hee holdeth in his hand the skin of a wilde Beast and in the Asterisms of Cesar Germanicus hee hath a Bowe readie drawn besides this hee hath a Hare at his Feet and the two Dogs behinde Cisleu fâ—oâ—n Cesil becaus of the inconstant weather which is caussed at the rising of this Star for Cesil signifieth inconstancie of this see R. Benjamin in his Itinerarie Let now the Reader judg nay Homer saith That is Orion's dog in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to which Theon in Aratus addeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. becaus Orion beeing a hunter must have his Dog to follow him Of this Orion Moses maketh mention if hee wrote the Book of Job Chap. 9. and 9. yea God himself in the 38 of that Book becaus hee had to deal with an Arabian questioneth him in his own Astrologie Canst thou binde saith hee the swift influence of the Pleiades or loos the bands of Orion The Original in both places as also in Amos who had it from hence is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cesil so called from the inconstancie of the weather at the Astronomical Asscension of this Constellation from whence also their Moneth Cisleu That this Cesil here signifieth a Star all agree the difference is amongst them which of all those innumerable Lights this Cesil should bee Hierome by the instruction of his Jew no doubt translate's it Orion Rab Jonah in M. Kimchi saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that by this Cesil is meant that great Star which the Arabians cal Sohel Rab. Jonah in Rab. Kimchi this Sohel is not Orion but Canopus a bright Star that strike's the Horizon of Rhodes and is placed in the Argonavis as James Christman most truly collecteth out of the Arabian Alfraganus and for this caus the learned Linguist turn's head upon the whole strein of Interpreters who translate's with a general consent Orion I will not bee so bold becaus I am not so well able yet I should ask his leav to follow the old interpretation for one reason of my own becaus I see the Chaldee Paraphrast render's that word Cesil by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a Giant and therefore in all probabilitie intended this mightie Hunter great Nimrod bold Orion The Reader may perchance ask one question why Nimrods name should bee changed into Orion I answer as near as I can conjecture that this is the reason Beeing upon the earth as hee was hee was fitly called Nimrod which signifieth a Tyrant but when hee began to bee numbred among the Stars of Heaven hee was not unaptly termed Orion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or which signifieth the Sun in the plural in Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orin which signifieth the conspicuous Lights of Heaven as these Stars in Orion rise to the elevation of Chaldea glittering * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hipparchus of Bythinia in his Asterismes upon the Equinoctial in the North and South part of Heaven Synchronism The Language is Confounded and the Earth divided And therefore a man of note born at that time was called Peleg that is Division from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dividere In Nimrod's time Serug deserveth to bee remembred if that bee true which Suidas writeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Autor saith hee was a Carver of Images nay hee addeth that hee was a teacher of Idolatrie If so then this might bee the man that made Nimrod God see Suidas in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the same in Estiaeus of Miletum whence Suidas had it Eusebii Scaliger pag. 13. Nahor is born in the thirtieth year of Serug hee lived one hundred and fortie eight years and was Abraham's grandfather Nimrod teacheth the worship of the Host of Heaven maketh the Sun the greatest God above and himself below See Abarbinel upon Genesis at these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abarb. in par Noach Of the worship of the Sun wee have alreadie discoursed in the Manners of the Assyrians from these the Idolatrie spread it self to the Egyptians Persians Medes and throughout the whole world No Nation but worshipped the Host of Heaven The Scythians worshipped the North Star and called it the Iron immoveable Nail As for the Planets they were the constant Gods of all Countries to whom the verie Week-daies have been by the most Antient Nations religiously dedicated Wee will instance onely in our own Sun-daie and Moon-daie from the Sun and Moon Tuesdaie from Tuisco Mercurie wednesdaie from Woden Mars Thursdaie from Thor Jupiter Fridaie from Friga Venus Saturdaie from Seater Saturn These were the first Gods the Greeks knew and therefore they called from these all other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because these kept their continual cours without interruption The Paeonians adored the Sun under the form of a Cup-dish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maximus the Tyrian Serm. 38. Becaus the Sun seemeth to resemble that form and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is somtimes taken for Solis Orbis The Reason that moved Nimrod to command the worship of the Sun was first the manifold benefits redounding to Men by this most glorious Planet Secondly becaus the Sun was chief amongst the Planets which these Nations easily knew by their great searches of Astrologie Nimrod teacheth the worship of fire as seeming to bear a great affinitie with the Sun or els becaus it was the custom of Sem's God to answer by fire as at Abraham's offering when the birds were divided and as som think at Abel's offering for this was a great argument of God's acceptance if hee consumed the offering which is the reason that where the English Metaphrase readeth Thou shalt accept our offerings Psal 51. The Hebrew saith Thou shalt consume c. The like was don in the time of King Solomon and in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes under the Maccabees whereof see Josephus in his Hebrew Historie It might therefore com thus to pass that these perceiving that there was a voice came in the fire and the fire onely appeared and consumed the offerings upon this conceit they thought reverently of the fire This Idolatrie also was not conteined within Vr of the Chaldees but the Persian had it in high estimation Herod Diodor. Q Curtius Arrian Strabo c. After these the Trojanes then the Romanes Maximus Tyrius verie elegantly reprehendeth this kinde of Idolatrie in his Sermon aforesaid Suidas and Ruffinus tell a Storie of our Chaldeäns concerning their God Fire Suidas thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The summ is that the Chaldeäns once upon a time carried their God about to trie the masterie amongst all others so it came to pass that the fire consumed all Gods that were made of brass gold silver wood or stone
igne coelesti flagrâsse concesserim ità halitu lacûs infici terram corrumpi superfusum spiritum eóque foetus segetum Autumni putrescere reor Solo caelóque juxtà gravi Tacitus Hist lib. 4. pag. 619. Lipsianae editionis in octavo The Autor of the Abstract before mentioned when hee cometh to Ninus setteth down to succeed him one Thourias who was called Ares to whom hee saith they made the first Statue and called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Lord God of which saith hee the Prophet Daniel hath made mention Suidas either had this from this Autor or hee from Suidas who hath written the same for as I know not the Autor so neither his time It was after Eusebius how long I yet cannot tell whereas they cite Daniel wee are to understand not that Man of desires but his name's sake intitled to the Storie of Bell and the Dragon which who will may read more at large in Hebrew then 't is found in Greek if they will patiently revolv the Stories of Josippus the Jew called also Gorionides After Thourias the Abstract placeth Lames then Sardanapalus omitting that whole succession of Affricanus without recompens more then of Thourias and Lames neither of which are known Thus far the better hand of pure Antiquitie hath helped us Julius Affricanus reckoneth up the Kings from Zames to Sardanapalus and after him Eusebius and amongst the Moderns Funccius Angelocrator Henningius Reyneccius and divers others Those that deserv greatest commendation are first and chiefly Sethus Calvisius in his judicious Chronologie After him Salian in his Annals so Joseph Scaliger in his Isagogical Canons However I might have both their help and Autoritie yet I forbear so to fill up the great Chasm in this part of our Monarchie yet it shall not bee said that I refus'd to follow such great Leaders for a little reason Amongst others these two have principally persuaded First becaus the Account of Africanus reckoned per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is summing up the years of each King together agreeth not with the Computation of the years in general Secondly becaus wee finde in Autors of undoubted Credit som Kings of Ashur whom notwithstanding wee finde not in the succession of Africanus as for Example Moses maketh mention of Amraphel whom the Hebrews would have to bee Nimrod grounding their conceit upon a fabulous Etymologie becaus they say Abraham was brought before Nimrod for burning his Father Terah's Idols and beeing then but three years old discoursed before the Tyrant concerning the Creätor of Heaven and Earth Nimrod proudly replied that it was hee that made the Heavens and the host of Heaven if so said Abram then say thou to thy Sun that hee should rise in the West and set in the East and I will believ thee Nimrod thus exasperated with the childes audacitie and discretion command's that hee should bee cast into the fire therefore the Jews saie that hee was called Amraphel from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amar and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 phul that is dixit descende hee said to Abraham go go down into the fire and this saie they is Vr of the Chaldees out of which God brought Abraham This Storie is in the Book of Maase Torah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 postea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See Munster's Annotations upon Genesis where these words and the entire Storie is set down out of the aforesaid Book but this discours is idle Again Suidas maketh mention of one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who rained after Ninus and Macrobius of one Deleboris but of these or either of them Africanus saith nothing Som would have that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Suidas to bee Arius in Affricanus their reason is a Conjecture from another name which this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had for which see Suidas in this word Thurias Besides all this Diodorus reckoneth but thirtie Kings from Ninias to Sardanapalus But Affricanus accounteth more This disorder and disagreement in the matter hath mooved us to break of the Succession in this place from Ninias to Sardanapalus interposing one onely Prince of whom Diodorus maketh mention that in his time happened the Noble Expedition of the Argonautes and the wars of Troie The King's name was Teutames but in what place to rank him I finde not not following Affricanus So doth the Abstract leaving out all those Kings which in Affricanus and the fals Berosus were suspected adulterine a thing in this nameless Autor much to bee regarded for certainly he took it for granted that this part of the Succession was meerely lost and without hope of recoverie I will add one reason more which at this instant take's mee up that the maintainers of these Kings reciting their names put 's the Readers off so slenderly that wee cannot but suspect them for of each King they still disgracefully report that hee did nothing worthie of memorie a likely matter that all those Kings were idle The Trojan war is famous and a great part thereof Fabulous For the Historie see Dictys the Cretian and Dares the Trojan translated the one out of the Phoenician Language Or rather our own Josephus Iscanus the other out of the Greek tongue by Cornelius Nepos though som have called in question the credit of both these See also Valerius Flaccus in Latine and Apollonius in Greek for these Argonauteâ—s The last King therefore of the first state of this Monarchie was Sardanapalus as Diodorus and Trogus make mention Diodor. lib. 2. Justin ex Trogo libro 1. Sardanapalus HEe was the son of Anacyndraxis A most obscene and most lascivious Prince set forth not onely in his nature but his name also as Cicero hath observed Justine relateth his wanton and enormous practices so Diodorus and Athenaeus Suidas and manie more scarce an Autor that past by his infamie without a reprehension and reproch An Antient Autor Duris in Athenaeus deserveth to bee read concerning the manners of this womanly and effeminate Prince Hoc solo imitatus virum saith Justine in this onely hee was like a man in that hee burned himself Of the manner how read Athenaeus and of the reason why see Causabon's discours upon that place The most renowned Atchievment that ere this Prince brought to pass was that hee built two Cities in one daie Tarsus and Anchialus as the Epitaphsi make mention in the Autors aforenamed For so Aristobulus report's that his Tomb was set at Anchialus thus inscribed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Sardanapalus Anacyndraxi filius Tarsum Anchialum eodem die condidit Ede bibe lude nam caetera omnia nec hujus sunt that is not worth a fillip For so his Statue was carved as if his hands had given a fillip and his mouth had spoken those words The like Epitaph was inscribed upon a statelie Monument in Ninive in the Chaldee tongue which the Greek Poët Chaerilus thus translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
the Earth as they did from that other Deadnesse of their Mothers wombe Wee our selves grow thus up too like the Grasse of the Field we are not seen but found to doe so 'T is so with these fore-running parts If you draw neare to touch a head or a legge you shall perceive no more of this Resurrection for that time but if you give backe and leave the Miracle to it selfe you shall presently finde it more a man at your returne Because I meane to make no more use of this wonderfull prevention of those that sleep then what I first pretended to I shall be bound to trouple you the lesse with any much repetition of the particulars You may finde a competent store of this matter in Camerarius his Historicall Meditations C. 73. of the first Century I will adde to that this onely out of Simon Goulartius from the Relation of one Steven Duplais an eye-witnesse and a man of very good and sober note in his acknowledgement Il me desoit d'avantage avoir comme aussi firent les autres touche divers membres de ces resuscitans Sim. Goulart Histoires admirabil T. 1. fol. 32.34 c. Et comme il vouloit se saisir d'une teste chevelue d'enfant un homme du Care s'escria tout haut Kali Kali ante materasde c ' est a dire Laisse Laisse tu ne scais que cest de cela i. e. And hee told me moreover that hee had and others had done so too touched divers of these rising Members And as he was once so doing upon the hairy head of a Child a man of Cairo cryed out aloud Kali Kali ante materasde that is to say Hold Hold you know not what you doe That which seemeth to bee wanting to the authority of this strange thing is that there should be no ordinary memory none at all I can meete with yet of the matter in any of their owne Bookes That in the Greeke Liturgies out of the Lesson for the time I know not how to make reckoning of as enough to this purpose in any other Bookes of theirs and some likely ones too I meet not with any notice at all And yet as to that I can retort this answer upon my selfe that a thing of so cheape and common beleefe amongst them could not fitly be expected to bee written out as a rarity by themselves and sent forth into these unbeleeving Corners of the World Which though it may passe for a reason why there should not be any such common report of the thing yet leaveth me scope to think that there is some speciall mention of it in the Arabick or Coptick Histories which when it shall be met with if it be found to referre up the Wonder to some excellent and important Originall it will the better defend this matter of Fact from the opinion of imposture Indeed the rising of these armes and legs otherwise is but an ill argument to be used for the Resurrection of our bodies for 't is easier to beleeve this then that The Arabick Nubian Geographer telleth of a place in Aegypt called Ramal Alt sinem or the Sands of Tsinem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Where there is a great miracle of the most Glorious God And it is that if you take a bone and bury it in these Sands for the space of seven dayes by Gods permission it shall turn into a very hard stone c. Clim 3. Part. 3. And what if all our Bones were buryed in the Sands As if God were not able even out of those Stones to raise up Children unto Abraham If the Phoenix of Arabia should prove to be an Vtopian Bird as I will not now suspect after such a size of Apostolicall Authority and so sufficient a countenance given to that It will be enough for us that the Swallowes know their time too as well as the Storke and after such a manner as if they knew or at least would have us to know it ours too These at the beginnings of winter use to fall down in heaps together into the dust or water and there sleep in their Chaos till hearing the voice of returning nature at the Spring they awake out of this dead sleepe and quicken up to their owne life againe Georgius Major A Commentatour upon the Corinthians to this fifteenth Chapter affirmeth that he himself found a company of Swallowes lying dead under an old Table in a Church at Witteberge which for want of the naturall time of the yeare were by an artificiall heate recovered unto life againe CHAP. XXVIII Matth. 3.4 And the same John had his Raiment of Camels haire and a Leatherne Girdle about his Loynes and his meat was Locusts and wild Honey THe rest is plaine enough but for the Locusts there hath been a great deal of unnecessary Criticisme devised and as it fals out to make the word in a worse case then it was before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word it can signify nothing here but Locusts and the question needs not to be whether these be mans meat or no it is certain that the Jewes might eat them by the law of Moses Lev. 11.22 In Dioscorid Lib. 2. C. 46. And Mathiolus upon Dioscorides saith that this was the reason why John Baptist made use of them as a strict observer of the Law But that they are eaten in the East and elsewhere you may see Kerstenius his Note upon an Arabick Translation of Saint Mathew's Gospell And John Leo in his Description of Africa But that which is here to the purpose is the note of Agatharchides in his Tract upon the Red Sea where he speaks of the Acridophagi or eaters of Locusts He saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That their habit of body is thinne and meager c. So Cleonards Note of the Countrey people of Fez in Africa will be fit to the matter It is in his last Epistle to his Tutour Latomus towards the latter end Nova de Bellis nihil ad Brabantinos neque enim strepitum armorum audietis alius est Exercitus quem Deus his regionibus immisit paucis ante diebus Fesae vidisses Coelum obductum locustarum agminibus quae hic non solum saltant sed avium ritu volitant Jam coram video minas priorum prophetarum multis in locis Nocte una sata perdunt universa bellum strenue cum iis gerunt rustici Nam plaustra plena Locustis advehunt Fesam nam hos hostes vulgo hic commedunt Ego tamen sum tam delicatus ut malim perdicem unam quam locustas viginti quod totam hanc regionem gens locustica devoravit i. e. I can tell you newes of warres but not like yours in Brabant Vid. Eustath in Hexaemeron No noise of weapons here 't is another kinde of Army which God hath sent into these Coasts Within these few dayes you might have seene the whole Heaven clouded over with Troops of Locusts such as doe