ended and the next began And now if it be further demanded why God commanded the Israelites at their return out of Egypt to alter the beginning of their yeare from Autumne unto the Spring unlesse it had been so of old To that it is answered thus viz. that there are two reasons for it 1. The one is this They coming out of Egypt from the bondage of Pharaoh were to begin their yeare from that time in memorie of their deliverance And therefore it is said in Exod. 12. 42. It is a night to be much observed to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations 2. And not onely so but also at the same time of the yeare as God had determined it there was a better and a greater deliverie to be wrought for mankinde namely such a delivery as should free him from the bondage of Satan by the death of Christ. Now this may be called the Deliverie of deliveries of which that other out of Egypt was but a figure because it was but from a corporall bondage whereas this was from a spirituall And thus came the yeare to be changed which ever before pointed to the time of mans creation but now it is made to point another way namely to the time of mans redemption by which God taught his Church then typically delivered how to expect the acceptable yeare of the Lord and time of mans redemption which was both proclaimed and purchased by that Lambe of God who taketh away the sinnes of the world whose offering upon the crosse was at the same time of the yeare when that Paschal lambe by which he was prefigured was slain which time why it is severed from Autumne hath been shewed Yea thus came the first to be last and the last first thus came Nisan to get the dignitie from the other moneths and to be called the beginning or first monethâ—…in the yeare At which we need not marvell for the time of mans redemption was a more worthy mark from whence to reckon then the time of his creation And thus have I delivered what I finde and verily think to be most probable in this matter Unto which may be added that as the evening was before the morning so was the Autumne before the Spring for the yeare and the day have a kinde of analogie between the one and the other as may be seen in the seventh day compared with the seventh yeare and therefore they do well serve the one to expresse the naturall beginning of the other CHAP. III. Containing a discourse of such things as are pertinent to the first dayes work Sect. 1. Of God the Architect of all and of the first part of the first dayes work TIme by whose revolutions we measure houres dayes weeks moneths and yeares is nothing else but as it were a certain space borrowed or set apart from eternitie which shall at the last return to eternitie again like the rivers which have their first course from the seas and by running on there they arrive and have their last for before Time began there was Eternitie namely GOD which was which is and which shall be for ever without beginning or end and yet the beginning and end of all things Aeternitas enim Dei solummodo naturae substantialiter inest saith one that is Eternitie is substantially onely in the nature of God When Moses therefore would have known Gods name he tells him Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel I AM hath sent me unto you By which name saith Junius he would have himself known according to his eternall essence whereby he is discerned from all other things which are either in heaven on the earth or elsewhere Which in another place is thus illustrated Egosum Primus Ultimus praeter me non est Deus I am the First and the Last and beside me there is no God Esay 44. 6. Or thus Before the day was I am he and there is none that can deliver out of my hand Esay 43. 13. To which that of the Psalmist doth well agree Before the mountains were brought forth or ever the earth and the world were made thou art God from everlasting to everlasting Psal. 90. 2. Thus we see that before ever any thing was God onely was who gave both a beginning and a being unto every thing that is and he in respect of his divine essence is but one Yet so as in that single essence of his there be three divine subsistences or persons all truely subsisting whereof every one is distinct from other and yet each hath the whole Godhead in it self and these are the Father Sonne and holy Ghost 1. John 5. 7. 1. The Father is a person who from all eternitie hath begotten the Sonne 2. The Sonne is a person from all eternitie begotten of the Father 3. The holy Ghost is a person eternally proceeding from the Father and the Sonne as the holy Scriptures witnesse These thus distinct in person not divinitie All three in one make one eternall Trinitie From which eternall and undivided Trinitie the whole world consisting of things visible and invisible took beginning as the originall words Elohim and Bara do well expresse For Elohim being a word plurall doth signifie Dii Gods but being joyned with a word singular namely Bara which is Created they then together shew that there are three persons in the Deitie and that the three persons are but one God who did create Or thus Those two words being the one of the singular the other of the plurall number do note unto us the singularitie of the Godhead and pluralitie of the persons And not onely so but they also shew that the three persons being but one God did all of them create For such is found to be the proprietie of the Hebrew phrase Elohim bara Creavit Dii The Gods created 1. Of the Father it is witnessed that he created as the fountain of goodnesse For saith S. James Every good and perfect gift is from above cometh down from the Father of lights Jam. 1. 17. Of whom and through whom saith S. Paul are all things Rom. 11. 36. 2. Of the Sonne it is witnessed that he created as the wisdome of the Father For when he created the heavens saith Wisdome I was there Prov. 8. 27. And again By him were all things created that are Coloss. 1. 14 15. namely by him who did bear the image of the Father and was the Redeemer of the world 3. And lastly of the holy Ghost it is witnessed that he createth as the power of the Father and the Sonne For by his Spirit he garnished the heavens and by his hand he hath formed the crooked serpent Job 26. 13. and chap. 33. 4. Or as the Psalmist hath it By the word of the Lord were the heavens made
word and then the other creatures were produced but now he calls a councell and doth consult not out of need but rather to shew the excellencie of his work or indeed to shew himself he speaks not therefore to the Angels but the Trinitie saying Let us make man Wherein the Father as the first in order speaketh to the Sonne and holy Spirit and the Sonne and Spirit speak and decree it with the Father and the Father Sonne and holy Ghost all Three in One and One in Three create a creature to be the other creatures lord He was therefore the last as the end of all the rest the last in execution but first in intention the Map Epitome and Compendium of what was made before him Three worlds there are and Mankinde is the fourth The first is Elementarie the second a Celestiall world the third Angelicall and the fourth is Man the little world In the first is ignis urens a burning fire and this in the heavens is ignis fovens a nourishing and quickning fire but in those creatures above seated in the supercelestiall world it is ignis ardens amor Seraphicus an ardent burning and Seraphicall love and in the fourth are all these found at once For first as mans bodie is compounded of the Elements he hath his share of that warm fire in him The influence of the Planets working on him doth likewise shew the second And for the third their hearts who burn within them do declare it Neither was he made like other creatures with a groveling look or downward countenance but with an erected visage beholding the heavens and with lordly looks well mixt with majestie He hath a bodie whose members are either Principall and Radicall or else Lesse principall and Officiall His heart liver and brain contain the vitall naturall and animall spirits and these are carried by the arteries veins and nerves The arteries carrie the vitall spirits from the heart The veins carrie the naturall spirits from the liver giving nourishment to every part And the nerves carrie the animall spirits from the brain being spirits for sense and motion and therefore called animall spirits howbeit the motive nerves spring from the marrow in the back and the sensitive come from the brain Also know that under every vein is an arterie for wheresoever there goeth a vein to give nutriment there goeth an arterie to bring the spirit of life Neither is it but that the arteries lie deeper in the flesh then the veins because they carrie and keep in them more precious bloud then the veins keep and are therefore not onely further from outward dangers but clothed also in two coats whereas the veins have but one Whereupon it is no hard thing to distinguish between these two vessels of bloud if we can but remember that the arterie is a vessel of bloud spirituall or vitall and the vein a vessel of bloud nutrimentall for as I said before the veins have their beginning from the liver bringing from thence nutritive bloud to nourish every member of the bodie Moreover his heart is the seat of all the passions as in one instance may suffice for being transported with fear we call back the bloud to the heart as to the place where fear prevaileth the bloud going thither as it were to comfort and cherish the heart And whereas it may seem that our anger is seated in the gall love in the liver and melancholie in the splene it is answered that those humours placed in the gall liver and splene are not the seat of the passions and affections but they are the occasion whereby the passions are stirred up as the abundance of bloud in the liver stirreth up the passion of love which neverthelesse is placed and seated in the heart and so of the rest And again seeing the vitall spirits proceed from the heart it cannot be denied but that this member liveth first and dieth last And as the heart was the seat of all the passions so the head is a seat and place for all the senses except the touch for that is not onely in one place but in all and every place being spread quite through the whole bodie or isle of man The eyes are the windows of the bodie and albeit a man have two eyes in his head yet he receiveth but one sight at once because the optick nerves meet both in one The eares be like certain doores with labyrinthicall eâ—…tries and crooked windings and here again although the eares be two yet a man can heare but one sound at once because his acoustick nerves like to the optick nerves meet both in one His tongue discerneth tastes and albeit he have two eyes and as many eares yet his tongue is single and alone A man should therefore heare and see more then he speaketh and when he speaketh not wrong his heart and secret thoughts by uttering words with a double tongue for bilinguis is more then God made him and double tongues shall be rooted out Besides the lungs be the bellows of the voice and are seated close to the heart to teach us that speech ought to be the interpreter of the heart and not that a man may speak one thing and think another The nose serveth not onely as a gutter for the excrements of the brain to flow and passe through but also for a pipe of respiration to give and take our living breath and to conduct the aire and odoriferous smells up to the brain for the conservation and recreation of the animal spirits When the head is in danger the hand casts it self up to save it And in giving hands to man the speciall providence of God is to be marked for he hath made him to take his meat with his hand and hath not left him to gather and take it up with his lips as the beasts do because that would be a means to hinder his speech by thickening his lips as experience teacheth in those who either by nature or by accident have thick swollen lips causing them to speak in the mouth uttering their words very badly and indistinctly Neither could there be so many quick conceits of the minde or curious inventions of sundry artists brought to perfection without such an instrumentall help as the hand The feet be the bases of the bodie carrying man like a lordly creature with his face from earth and eyes to heaven that he might thither strive to come at last where he inhabiteth who gave him these and all his other members else which now I cannot stand to dilate upon at large And when he had them all and was framed out like a curious piece God breathed in his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul he then took his second part when his first was finished neither was that second made till then for in the infusion it was created and in the creation it was infused
and all the hosts of them spiritu oris by the spirit of his mouth Psal. 33. 6. All which considered and found to be done in the beginning must needs be then when there was no pre-existent matter to work upon For as it is witnessed the Hebrew word Reshith which is englished the beginning doth not signifie any substance neither doth the other word Bara to create signifie any way to create but of nothing and thereby it is distinguished from the word Iatzar to form and Gnasha to make And therefore though now we behold a glorious something wherein appeares in every part more then much matter of wonder yet at the first saith noble Bartas Nothing but nothing had the Lord Almightie Whereof wherewith whereby to build this citie That Axiome therefore in philosophie Ex nihilo nihil fit must needs stand aloof off when we speak of creation For although it be true that according to the course of nature and ordinary custome of things nothing can be made unlesse out of some former matter yet when we descend ad inquirendam primarum rerum conditionem to enquire after the first condition of the first things then we shall finde that God is above nature because he is the Lord of nature And he whose sufficiencie and efficiencie is altogether absolute must needs be able supernaturali quadam ratione by a certain supernaturall means to produce all things out of nothing Of which nothing that I may say something my best and onely way is to look at Moses and as neare as I can explain his meaning In the beginning saith he God created the heavens and the earth In which words he laboureth not so much to deliver a generall proposition of the works of creation or of the two distinct parts of the world or of the matter of heaven and earth as if the one word did insinuate all the superiour parts of the world the other all the inferiour parts beside or as if taking both together he meant by them joyntly totius mundi semen the seed of the whole world mentioning it under these two words of Heaven and Earth as a Chaos This he meaneth not because that which concerns the Chaos is mentioned afterwards in the second verse And what were it but a plain tautologie to say that in the beginning God created a Chaos and that Chaos was a Chaos Wherefore in those first words he intendeth nothing more then to shew that the world which now is called according to its parts Heaven and Earth was not from everlasting but took beginning and so without controversie the right reading of his words doth also witnesse For in their originall as it is witnessed by expositours thus they sound In the beginning God created these heavens and this earth as if it should be said These very heavens and this very earth which now we see in being were not alwayes but began Then afterwards he proceedeth to shew how and in what time God created them speaking first how all was like a disordered and deformed Chaos the earth and the heavens not distinguished but lying as it were in a confused heap all together And this is manifest For on the second day when the heavens were made it seemeth that their matter was from amongst that masse or unfashioned lump which was said to be void and without form and not able to be kept together had not the Spirit of God cherished it for the Spirit of God moving upon the waters did as it were sit upon it and nourish it as a fowl doth her eggs with heat and life yea their matter I say was from among the waters which by the power of Gods word were extended and stretched like a canopie round about the earth as now we see them In which regard S. Austines words are also pertinent saying concerning this All of which we now speak Materies adhuc erat corporearum rerum informis sine ordine sine luce It was yet an informed matter of corporall things without order without light Or as that Nightingale of France hath sung it This was not then the world 't was but the matter The nurserie whence it should issue after Or rather th' Embryon that within a week Was to be born for that huge lump was like The shapelesse burden in the mothers wombe Which doth in time into good fashion come Thus and in this manner I cannot but think of these things not doubting that Moses in his description of the sensible world meaneth otherwise but sheweth that that heaven and earth which now we see were in the beginning or first degree of being an earth or as an earth or one lump without form and void a darkened depth and waters a matter of no matter and a form without form as one speaketh a rude and indigested Chaos or confusion of matters rather to be beleeved then comprehended of us And this saith he is the second naturall beginning For after the expressing of the matter followeth that which Philosophers call a second naturall principle Privation the want of that form of which this matter was capable which is accidentally a naturall principle required in regard of generation not of constitution here described by that part next us earth which was without form as is said and void This was the internall constitution The externall was darknesse upon the face of the deep Which deep compriseth both the earth before mentioned and the visible heavens also called a depth as to our capacitie infinite and pliant to the Almighty hand of the Creatour called also waters not because it was perfect waters which was yet confused but because of a certain resemblance not onely in the uniformitie thereof but also of that want of stabilitie whereby it could not abide together but as the Spirit of God moved upon these waters to sustain them c. Here therefore is the third beginning or principle in nature that form which the said Spirit by that action framed it unto The Hebrews call the whole masse as it is comprehended under the names of Heaven and Earth Tohu Vabohu Tohu without order bohu without varietie But it was not long that it continued in this imperfect state for in one week it was as I may say both begotten and born and brought from a confused Chaos to a well ordered and variously adorned Universe Or as one saith Materiam Deus ipse creat comitque creatam Whose meaning may be taken thus The matter first God out of nothing drew And then addes beautie to that matter new Which was not because he was unable to make all the world perfect in an instant but because he would not Whereupon an holy Father said Voluntas Dei est causa coeli terrae ideo major est voluntas Dei quà m coelum terra The will of God is the cause of heaven and earth and therefore it is greater then either of them God therefore doth not disable his
viz. God commanded this elementarie light to be that so the thinner and higher element severed from the aire might by his enlightning operation effect a light some shining and the aire according to the nature thereof receive it which to the fire was an essentiall propertie to the aire an accidentall qualitie approved of God as good both to himself and the future creatures Thus some But others except against it affirming that this light was moveable by the presence of it making day and by its absence making night which could not have been had it been the element of fire unlesse it be more or lesse in one place then in another and not equally dispersed Or as Pareus answereth it could not be the element of fire because that is above the clouds according to the common rules of Philosophie and therefore in his judgement the fierie element was not untill the second day being created with the Expansum or stretching out of the aire But unto these exceptions I think an answer may be framed as I perhaps shall afterwards shew you Thirdly if as some have done we should think that this was the very light of the sunne and then in the sunne or in such a cloud or subject as was the matter of the sunne the text would be objected against it which affirmeth that the sunne was not untill the fourth day for the creation of that was but then although the light was before Fourthly Aquinas saith Lux primo die fuit producta secundum communem lucis naturam quarto autem die attributa est luminaribus determinata virtus ad determinatos effectus secundum quod videmus alios effectus habere radium solis alios radium lunae sic de aliis Whereupon he concludeth that howsoever it was it was but an informed light untill the fourth day Now therefore amongst a multitude of opinions which are besides these already mentioned I for mine own part cannot but preferre this as the best namely that the light for three dayes space wanted a subject such as now it hath and yet it did perform the same office which now it doth being fastened to a subject or to the bodie of the Sunne which is Vehiculum lucis A Chariot for the light For we may easily perceive that in the works of creation there is such an harmonious order observed as that there may be an union and reduction of all things of one kinde to their own heads and centre As for example the upper waters must be severed by the out-spread firmament and the lower must repair all to one sea as their naturall subject and as for heavie substances they hasten downwards and the light ones they fly upwards In like manner that light which at the first was dispersed and fixed to no subject doth presently as soon as the sunne was unite it self unto that body as now it is This of all other seemeth to me the best opinion to pitch upon and the most probable in this kinde which may well be as an Embleme how God will one day gather his elect from all coasts of heaven to the participation of one glorie S. Paul applieth it to our regeneration thus God who commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts c. that we who were once darknesse are now light in the Lord. And in this consideration I think we need not much dissent from them who would have the element of fire signified by it which opinion was before mentioned for howsoever it be that that element be now dispersed or wheresoever placed yet it might be that the first light shined from it thus I say it might be because we may not reason à facto ad fieri or from the order of the constitution of things in which they now are to the principles of their institution whilest yet they were in making And for further proof of this I do easily assent to them who have probably affirmed that the starres and lights of heaven contain the greatest part of this fire as afterwards in the fourth dayes work shall be more plainly shewed This I have said as seeming to me the best and most probable tenent although perfectly to affirm what this light was must be by our enlightning from him who commanded that it should shine out of darknesse Of which shining and darknesse seeing the Sunne was not yet made which by his course and turning about makes it day and night at the same time in divers places it may be said that it was day and night at the same instant now over the face of the whole earth which made one therefore say that the first darknesses were not loco divisae sed planè depulsae à luce ut nusquam essent yet so as that they should either return or depart according to the contraction or expansion of this first light caused by a divine dispensation Thus Pareus And now of thee oh bright-shining creature it may be said that hadst thou never been the beautie of the world had been as nothing For thou art the beautie of all the beauties else as saith Du Bartas Gods eldest daughter Oh how thou art full Of grace and goodnesse Oh how beautifull Quest. But if God made the Light was he not before in darknesse Answ. No For he needs not any created light who is himself a Light uncreated no corporall light who is a spirituall one God is light and in him is no darknesse at all 1. Joh. 1. 5. He made this light for our mortall journey on earth himself is the Light of our immortall abode in heaven neither did he more dwell in this light that he made then the waters were the habitation of the Spirit when it was said that the Spirit moved upon the waters But see there was Night Light and Day before the Sunne yet now without it there is neither which sheweth that we must allow God to be the Lord of his own works and not limit his power to means And surely as it was before man was made so shall it be after he is dissolved For then as the Prophet speaketh The Sunne shall no more be thy light by day neither shall the Moon give light unto thee but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light and thy God thy glory Lastly unto this amongst many things let me adde but one thing more God made light on the first day so Christ arose from death on the same day being the first of the week And he is the true light which lighteth every one that cometh into the world Of which light if we have no portion then of all creatures man is the most miserable Sect. 3. Of the intercourse between day and night WHat now remaineth God called the light Day and the darknesse Night 'T is true Th' All 's Architect alternately decreed That Night the Day the Day should Night succeed Of both which we have more then
it appeareth that the matter of stones is a watrie humour and a thick unctuous earth which is not so to be understood as if the other two elements were separated from their mixture but because they have not such precedencie as the former And for their efficient causes besides the minerall vertue it is said to be heat and cold Heat bringeth the slow humid unctuous matter through the thin parts of the earth as the Philosophers affirm and cold condenseth it and makes it thick They live not with a vegetative life as plants and trees which have their nourishment from within but their augmentation proceeds from an outward accretion by the 〈◊〉 of particulars adhering to them when they lie in place convenient and in time their vertues may be abated by being long out of their right Ubi in which regard some supposed that they had life and died The common stones are of a more impure and grosse matter then the other Some whereof are solid some more full of pores In the solid the parts are more continued and better compacted yet so as some have a kinde of shining in them others are dark and dull The shining solid stones are chiefly all kinde of marbles of which I finde three sorts 1. Alabaster which is of colour very cleare and white The Greeks call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and about Thebes in Egypt it is especially found there being the greatest plentie of it 2. Ophites which is a kinde of marble having spots like a serpent 3. Porphyrites which is the red marble mixed or interlaced with white spots The not shining solid stones are these and the like 1. The Flint 2. The Marchasite or that whereof they make milstones which being struck with Steel procures fire like to the Flint 3. Cos which is of power to sharpen edgetools wherefore we commonly call it a whetstone 4. Corticula or Lydius lapis which is of force to trie the truth in metalls we therefore call it a touch-stone 5. Smiris which is an hard stone wherewith glasiers cut their glasse some call this an Emery 6. Those which we name wheaten stones or any kinde of rockie stone or such as may be comprehended under the word Saxum Common stones lesse solid are the Pumex and Tophus 1. The Pumex is of a spungie nature and is apt to swimme by reason of the light matter whereof it consisteth 2. The Tophus is a sand or gravell stone that may easily be rubbed to crumbes But come now to precious stones and amongst them we have the noble and the lesse noble both which sorts are begotten of a more subtil and thin matter then common stones and fostered with a more singular influence of the heavens My task were in a manner endlesse to reckon all sorts yet some must be remembred The more noble precious stones are 1. The Adamant or Diamond the most precious of all stones and the hardest insomuch as it cutteth glasse and yeeldeth not either to stroke of hammer or fire notwithstanding it is softened with Goats bloud being warm soon after she hath eaten paâ—…sley or drunken wine Plinie maketh 6 kindes of Adamant The 1. is Adamas Indicus being neare akin to crystall for in colour and clearenesse it is much like it and in quantitie it is in bignesse as a filbert or hasell nut The 2. is Adamas Arabicus like to the other excepting that it is something lesse The 3. is called Cenchros answering in bignesse to the grain of Millet The 4. kinde is Adamas Macedonicus and this is like to the seed of a Cucumber The 5. is Adamas Cypricus this is found in Cyprus and tendeth somewhat to the colour of brasse The 6. is called the Siderite which although it be heavier then the other yet it is of lesse vertue and esteem the colour whereof is like to the colour of iron And this as also that of Cyprus are tearmed by Plinie degenerate kindes because they will be broken by the hammer or otherwise with blowes and may also be cut or rased by other Adamants All these kindes the two first onely excepted are said to have their place of generation amongst the Gold and in golden Mines 2. The Saphire is a very cleare gem very hard and of a skie colour growing in the East and specially in India the best sort hath in it as it were cloves enclining to a certain rednesse This stone is said to be of a cold nature and being drunk it preserveth chastitie corroborateth the heart helpeth against the stinging of serpents poyson and pestilence 3. The Smaradge is of a green transparent colour making the aire green neare about it The qualitie of this stone in physick is much like to the former or of more vertue for it is said to defend the wearer from the falling sicknesse And so greatly doth it favour chastitie that if it be worn whilest the man and the woman accompanie themselves together it breaketh in the very act 4. The Hyacinth is of a watrish colour or rather something blew like a violet It is exceeding hard and cloudy in the dark but pure and cleare by day like unto a false flattering friend whose blithe looks are onely seen in time of prosperitie but gone when the cloudie night of dark adversitie beginneth to approach For where true friends are knit in love there sorrows are shared equally and best are they perceived in a doubtfull matter Si fueris felix multos numerabis amicos Tempora si fuerint nubila solus eris Whil'st thou art happy many friends thou hast But cloudie times those many friends do waste Moreover this stone is of a cold qualitie moderating the spirits of the heart and of the other parts also it causeth mirth and being worn obtaineth favour as some report 5. The Amethyst is a gem or precious stone which in colour resembleth a deep claret-wine and as some suppose it hath power to resist drunkennesse 6. The Carbuncle of which Plinie writeth in his 37 book and 7 chapter is a gem shining with a light like fire representing a flame Some say it is the noblest and hath most vertues of any precious stone 7. The Calcedon is of neare nature to the Carbuncle it is of a purple colour and shineth like a star it is said to expell sadnesse and fear by purging and chearing the spirits it also hindreth ill and fearfull visions or dreams in a mans sleep 8. The Rubie is a red gem shining in dark like a spark of fire it cleareth the sight and expelleth sad and fearfull dreams 9. The Chrysolite is a stone of a golden colour and shining but brightest in the morning It is good against melancholy and fire is much hurtfull unto it 10. The Astarite is a cleare shining Crystalline stone having in the midst the image of a full moon or
cruell teeth two whereof be farre more terrible then the other and much longer his eyes are said to be very dull in the water but marvellous quick-sighted when he is out of it his tail extends it self to an ample length and his bitings are so sharp and cruell that they can never be healed he hath also short feet and sharp claws or nails wherewith he helps to catch and dismember either man or beast which he can lay hold on howbeit it is said that he flies from those that persecute him and persecutes those that flie him Munst. When he hath devoured a man and eaten up all but the head he will sit and weep over it as if he expressed a great portion of sorrow for his cruell fact but it is nothing so For when he weeps it is because his hungrie paunch wants such another prey And from hence the proverb took beginning viz. Lacrymae Crocodili Crocodile teares which is then verified when one weeps cunningly without sorrow dissembling heavinesse out of craftinesse like unto many rich mens heirs who mourn in their gowns when they laugh in their sleeves or like to other dissemblers of the same nature who have sorrow in their eyes but joy and craftinesse in their hearts It is reported by some authours that the dogs in Egypt use to lap their water running when they come at Nilus for fear of the Crocodiles there Which cannot but be a fit pattern for us in the use of pleasures for true it is we may not stand to take a heartie draught for then delights be dangerous howbeit we may refresh our selves with them as we go on our way and may take them but may not be taken by them for when they detain us and cause us to stand still then their sweet waters have fierce Crocodiles or if not so they have strange Tarantula's whose sting causeth to die laughing Porcus marinus or the Sea-hog is a strange kinde of fish headed like an hog with teeth and tusks like a boar and a bending back like a creature begotten among swine onely his tail and hinder parts is like to the tail of other fishes and his foure legs are like to the legs of a dragon Such a fish as this was taken up in the Germane ocean in the yeare of our Lord 1537 as Olaus witnesseth in his 21 book But in Bermuda or in the sea about the Summer islands they have Sea-hogs of another kinde and fashion nothing so big nor terrible without legs good for food and like to hogs in their heads Moreover Olaus again makes mention of another fish which they of Norvegia call a Swam-fisk and this is the most greedie and gluttonous of all fishes For it is continually feeding and filling it self even up to the very mouth untill he can hold no more and his prey is upon other the smaller fishes This likewise is his qualitie and condition when he is in fear of any danger he will so winde up himself and cover his head with the skinne and substance of his own body that he is then but like unto a piece of a dead fish and nothing like himself Which feat he seldome doth without hurt or damage For still fearing that there be those about him who will prey upon him and devoure him he is compelled for lack of meat to feed upon the substance of his own body choosing rather to be devoured in part then to be consumed by other more strong and powerfull fishes These and such like are taken for their fat and oyl rather then for any thing else which is usefull in them And unto this fish I cannot but liken all greedy cormorants and covetous devourers of other men being never satisfied with the measure of their oppressions but lay house to house and field to field untill there be no more place as the prophet Esay speaketh chap. 5. 8. For they covet fields and take them by violence and houses and take them away so they oppresse a man and his house even a man and his heritage Mich. 2. 2. But at the last when they must give an account for all the things that they have done then being oppressed by fear as they oppressed others with cruelty they would be glad to hide their heads and rather consume their own selves then be given up to the tormentours saying with them in the Revelation Let the hills fall upon us and the mountains cover us from the wrath of him who sits upon the throne But it is madnesse to run from punishment and not from sinne And therefore to possesse all things is to possesse God the possessour of all things For omission and commission are a wicked mans confusion and oppressours may verily look to feast the devil for while they devoure the poore the devil devoures them Equus marinus the Sea-horse is most of all seen between Britain and Norway In the Northern seas he will sometimes sleep upon a piece of ice as it floateth upon the waters and seldome do the fishermen desire to take them in their voyages to those parts but when they take few Whales He hath an head like an horse and will sometimes neigh his feet are cloven like to the feet of a cow and he seeks his repast as well on the land as in the sea but his hinder parts are like to other fishes and his tail like theirs Ola. lib. 21. There be also Sea-cows and Calves so called because they do much resemble such kinde of creatures living upon land The Sea-cow is a great strong and fierce monster bringing forth young like her self she is said to be big ten moneths and then delivered sometimes of two but oftenest she hath but one and this follows her up and down whithersoever she goeth Olaus writeth that the Sea-calf is a great devourer of herrings insomuch that coming to the side of a net wherein they are hanged she will eat them up one by one untill few are left And in the Indies the Spaniards use to catch a mighty fish having large teats and dugs And those who live at Bermuda or the Summer Islands are much beholden to that fish which they call the Turtle or the Tortoise she will come on the shore and lay her eggs in the sands a bushell in the belly of some one which being taken in time are very good and wholesome meat and sweet but if they lie long the sunne will hatch them They have harping irons to catch these fishes and being taken one of them will serve to feast about fiftie men at a meal And indeed those seas afford varietie of very good fish pleasant and daintie as I have heard them say who lived there But above all the Mermaids and Men-fish seem to me the most strange fish in the waters Some have supposed them to be devils or spirits in regard of their whooping noise that they make For as if they had power