videri aut tangi quod careat solido Solidum autem nihil quod terrae sit expers quamobrem mundâ—… efficere moliens deus terram primam ignemque iungebat The same is Tymaeus his opinion in his work De Mundo anima f He meaneth Plato said heauen was of fire the stars of the â—…oure elements because they seemâ—…d more solid But he held not heauen of the nature of our fire for he held fires of diuers nature g Two meanes Water and fire must needs haue a meane of coherence But solid bodies are hardly reconciled by one meane but must haue two which may of theÌ„selues their accidents compose a conuenient third such is water ayre between fire earth for water to earth ayre to fire beare the same proportion and so doth water and ayre betweene themselues which combination rules so in the elements that in the ascending and descending innumerable and imperceptible variations of nature all seemes but one body either rarified vnto fire or condensate vnto earth h Ayre is a spirit But not of God of this hereafter i I am 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a perticiple as one should say I am he that is For wee can not transtate it by one word as Seneca affirmeth Epist. lib. 8. But wee may call it Ens of sâ—… as Caesar did being of to bee as potent of possum So did Sergius Quintil. GOD meaneth thâ—… hee hath beeing whereas as nothing else hath properly any beeing but are as Isayas saith of nothing and Iob hath it often GOD onely hath beeing the rest haue not their existencâ—… saith Seneca because they are eternall themselues but because their maker guardeth them and should hee disist they would all vanish into nothing Plato also sayth that corporal things neuer haue true beeing but spirituall haue In Timeo Sophista And there and iâ—… his Parmenides hee saith that GOD is one and Ens of whom all things depend that â—…ature hath not a fitte expressiue name for his Excellence nor can hee bee defined 〈◊〉 ascribed nor knowne nor comprehended that hee begotte all these lesser goâ—… whom in his Tymaeus he saith are immortall only by their fathers wil not by their own power Him hee calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as he saith of a true Philosopher in his Phaedon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he conceiueth him which is and a little after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pertake of them which is and in his Timaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the eternall beeing vnbegotten And all the Platonists agree that the title of his Parmenides De ente vno rerum prinoipio and of his Sophista 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are both ment of GOD which is the true being and the beginning of all things and 〈◊〉 being a perticile is of the presentence sâ—…gnifying that GOD hath no time past nor to come but with him all is present and so his beeing is That he saith in his Tymeus Time hath parâ—…es past present and to come and these times of our diuiding are by our error falsely ascribed to the diuine essence and vnmeetely For wee vse to say hee was is and wil be but indâ—…ed he onely is properly and truely was and wil be belong to things that arise and proceede according to the times and with them For they are two motions but the onely Lord of eternâ—…ty hath no motion nor is elder nor hath beene younger nor hath not beene hitherto or shall not bee hereafter nor feeleth any affect of a corporall bodie but those partes past and to come are belonging to time that followeth eternity and are species of that which mooueth it selfe according to number and space Thus much out of Timaeus hee that will reade the author let him looke till hee finde these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. there this sentence beginneth Gregory vsed part of it in his Sermon of the birth of Christ and handled it largely in that place GOD was alwaies and is and shal be saith he nay rather God is alwaies was and shal be are parts of our time and defects in nature But hee is eternally beeing and so he told Moyses when hee asked him his name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Then hee beginnes to mount and with diuine eloquence to spread the lustre of GODS eternity and inmutability but this worthy man is faine to yeeld vnder so huge a burden and shut his eyes dazeled wiâ—…h so fiery a splendor Plutarch tells that on one poste of the Temples dore at Delphos was written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 know thy selfe and on the other 〈◊〉 thou art the first hauing reference to our preparation in matters of diuinity and the later vnto GODS nature which is alwaies sixt and firme whereas ours is fluxe and mutable Wherefore it may well bee said of him whose nature is not subiect to any alteration of time but alâ—…aies fixed and vnalterable thou art Thou art may also bee referred vnto the vnmoueable eternity without any respect of the time as Plato saith in his Parmenides who will not haue the time present made an attribute of GOD because it is a time nor will haue him called an essence but rather somewhat inexplicable aboue all essence to know what it is not is easie but what it is impossible Some thinke that Parmenides himselfe in his Philosophicall poeme meaneth of GOD there where hee saith all things are but one and so thought Symplicius for it is vnlike that so sharpe a wit as Parmenides found not the difference and multitude of things which hee setteth plainely downe in his poemes For hauing spoken largely of that onely Ens hee concludeth thus Thus much of the true high things now concerning the confused and mortall thing in which is much error Aristotle through desire to reprehend eâ—…roniously traduceth his opinion in his Physikes which Themistius toucheth at Parmenides saith he did not thinke an accident that hath existence but from another to bee the Ens hee meant of but hee spoke of the Ens which is properly especially and truely so which is indeed no other but Plato his very Ens. Nay what say you to Aristotle that saith himselfe that Parmenides ment of that one Ens which was the originall of all The other Platonists opinions I haue already related Now as for that sentence so common against them that the things intelligible onely not the sensible haue existence Alcymus in his worke to Amynthas declarâ—…th that Plato had both it and that of the Idea's out of Epicharmus his bookes and alledgeth the words of Epicharmus himselfe who was a Philosopher of Coos a Phythagorean who held that learning made a man as farre more excellent then others as the suâ—…ne excells the starres and all other light and the sea the riuers Plato himselfe in his Sophista auerreth the antiquity of that opinion that affirmed the essence of intelligibilities onely and that therevpon arose
and impious foulenesse of these deuills euen for honesties sake for if Plato's prohibition and proofe be iust then is their demand and desire most damnable So either Apulcius mistooke the kind of Socrates his Genius or Plato contradicts himselfe now d honoring those spirits and streight after abridging them their pleasures and expelling their delights from an honest state or else Socrates his spirit was not worth the approuing wherein Apuleius offended in being not ashamed to stâ—…le his booke e De deo Socratis of his god and yet proues by his owne distinction of Dij daemones that hee should haue called it De daemone Socratis of his diuell But this hee had rather professe in the body of his discourse then in his tiâ—…le for the name of a Daemon was by good doctrine brought into such hate that f whosoeuer had â—…ead Daemon in the title ere he had read the Daemons commendations in the booke would haue thought Apuleius g madde And what found he praise-worthy in them but their subtile durable bodies and eleuation of place when hee came to their conditions in generall hee found no good but spake much euill of them so that hee that readeth that booke will neuer maruell at their desiring plaies and that Iuch gods as they should be delighted with crimeâ—… beastly showes barbarous cruelty and what euer else is horrible or ridiculous that all this should square with their affects is no wonder L. VIVES REasonable a Creatures Plato reckoneth three sorts of gods the Deiâ—…yes the Daemones the Heroes but these last haue reference to men whence they arise De leg 4. Epinom Plutarch highly commends thoâ—…e that placed the spirits betwixt gods and men were it Orpheus some Phirgian or Aegiptian for both their sacrifices professeth it De defect oracul for they found the meanes saith he wherein gods and men concurre Homer saith he vseth the names at â—…don how calling them gods and now demones Hesiod fire made reasonable nature quadripartite into gods spirits Heroes and mortalles who liuing well arise both to Heroes and Daemones b The spirits Socrates in Platos Conuiuium mentioneth a disputation with Diotyma where hee affirmeth the spirits nature to bee meane betweene gods â—…nd mans c This power Socrates they say had a spirit that forbad him all acts whose euents it knew should not bee successefull but neuer incited him to any thing whatsoeuer d Honoring Teaching it also Epinom e De deo All that handled this before Apuleius called this spirit a Daemon not a deity him-selfe in aboue six hundreth places in Plato in Plato Zenophon also Cicero and Plutarch Maximus of Tyre who â—…rot a double demonstration hereof So did many other ca lit both Platonists and Philosophers of other nations â—…ecitall were tedious f Whosoeuer Whosoeuer reads the title before the booke ere he read the booke g Madde For the gentiles as then called the Demonyaks and such as were possessed with the deuill mad men That neither the ayry spirits bodies nor height of place make them excell men CHAP. 15. WHerfore God forbad that a soule that feares God should thinke those spirits to excell it because they haue more a perfect bodies So should beasts excel vs also many of which goe beyond vs in quicknes of sence nimblenes swiftnesse strength and long life what man sees like the Eagle or Vultur smells like to the dog is swifter then stags hares and birds strong as a lyon or an elephant or lines with the serpent b that with his skin put of his eares becomes yong again But as we excell these in vnderstanding so do wee the ayrie spirits in iust liuing or should do at least For therefore hath the high prouidence giuen them bodies in some sort excelling ours that we might haue the greater care to preserue and augment that wherein we excell them rather then our bodies and learne to contâ—…ne that bodily perfection which wee know they haue in respect of the goodnesse of life whereby we are before them and shall obtaine immortalitie of body also not for the eternitie of plagues to afflict but which purity of soule shall effect And for the c higher place they hauing the ayre and we the earth it were a ridiculous consequence to make them our betters in that for so should birds be by the same reason d I but birds being tyred or lacking meate come downe to earth to rest or to feede so doe not the spirits Well then will you preferre them before vs and the spirits before them if this bee a mad position as mad a consequence it is to make them excell vs by place whom we can nay must excell by pyety For as the birds of the ayre are not preferred before vs but subiected to vs for the equitie of our reason so though the deuills being higher then wee are not our betters because ayre is aboue earth but we are their betters because our saith farre surmounteth their despaire For Plato's reason diuiding the elements into foure and parting mooueable fire and immooueable earth by interposition of ayre and water giuing each an equall place aboue the other this prooues that the worth of creatures dependeth not vpon the placing of the elements And Apuleius making a man an earthly creature yet preferreth him before the water-creatures whereas Plato puts the water aboue the earth to shew that the worth of creatures is to be discerned by another methode then the posture of naturall bodies the meaner body may include the better soule and the perfecter the worse L. VIVES MOre a perfect Apuleius makes them of a meane temperature betweene earthly and aethereall more pure and transparent then a clowde coagulate of the most subtile parts of ayre and voide of all solidity inuisible vnlesse they please to forme themselues a groser shape b That with his skinne Casting his skinne he begins at his eies that one ignorant thereof would thinke him blind Then gettes he his head bare and in 24. houres putteth it of his whole body Looke Aristot. de gen anim lib. 8. c Higher place Which Apuleius gathers thus No element is voyde of creatures Earth hath men and beasts the water fishes fire some liuing things also witnesse Aristotle Ergo the ayre must haue some also but vnlesse those spirits bee they none can tell what they be So that the spirits are vnder the gods and aboue vs their inferiors our betters d I but birds Apuleius his answer thus Some giue the ayre to the birds to dwell in falsly For they neuer go higher then Olympus top which being the highest mount of the world yet perpendicularly measured is not two furlongs high whereas the ayre reacheth vp to the concaue of the Moones spheare and there the skies begin What is then in all that ayrie space betweene the Moone and Olympus top hath it no creatures is it a dead vselesse part of nature And-againe birds if one consider them well are rather creatures earthly
by temptations the other enuying this the recollection of the faithfull pilgrims the obscurity I say of the opinion of these two so contrary societies the one good in nature and wil the other good in nature also but bad by wil since it is not explaned by other places of scripture that this place in Genesiis of the light and darknes may bee applyed as Denominatiue vnto them both though the author hadde no such intent yet hath not beene vnprofitably handled because though wee could not knowe the authors will yet wee kept the rule of faith which many other places make manifest For though Gods corporall workes bee heere recited yet haue some similitude with the spiritual as the Apostle sayth you are all the children of the light and the children of the day wee are no sonnes of the night nor darknes But if this were the authors mind the other disputation hath attained perfection that so wise a man of God nay the spirit in him in reciting the workes of God all perfected in sixe dayes might by no meanes bee held to leaue out the Angels eyther in the beginning that is because hee had made them first or as wee may better vnderstand In the beginning because hee made them in his onely begotten Word in which beginning God made heauen and earth Which two names eyther include all the creation spirituall and temporall which is more credible Or the two great partes onely as continents of the lesser beeing first proposed in whole and then the parts performed orderly according to the mistery of the sixe dayes L. VIVES INto a cheynes This is playne in Saint Peters second Epistle and Saint Iudes also The Angels sayth the later which kept not their first estate but left their owne habitation hath hee reserued in euerlasting cheynes vnder Darkenesse vnto the iudgement of the great day Augustine vseth prisons for places whence they cannot passe as the horses were inclosed and could not passe out of the circuit vntill they had run b Pride Typhus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Pride and the Greeks vse Typhon of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bee proud and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to burne for the fiery diuell So sayth Plutarch of Typhon Osyris his brother that he was a diuell that troubled all the world with acts of malice and torment Augustine rather vseth it then the Latine for it is of more force and was of much vse in those dayes Philip the Priest vseth it in his Commentaries vppon Iob. c Iustice For God doth iustly reuenge by his good Ministers He maketh the spirits his messengers flaming fire his Ministers Ps. 103. d The desired There is no power on the earth like the diuels Iob. 40. Which might they practise as they desire they would burne drowne waste poyson torture and vtterly destroy man and beast And though we know not the diuells power directly where it is limited and how farr extended yet are wee sure they can do vs more hurt then we can euer repaire Of the power of Angels read Augustâ—… de Trinit lib. 3. Of the opinion that some held that the Angels weee meant by the seueral waters and of others that held the waters vncreated CHAP. 34. YEt some there a were that thought that the b company of Angels were meant by the waters and that these wordes Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it seperate the waters from the waters meant by the vpperwaters the Angels and by the lower eyther the nations or the diuels But if this bee so there is no mention of the Angels creation but onely of their seperation c Though some most vainely and impiously deny that God made the waters because hee neuer said Let there be waters So they may say of earth for he neuer said Let there be earth I but say they it is written God created both heauen and earth Did he so Then is water included therein also for one name serues both for the Psalm sayth The sea is his and he made it and his hands prepared the dry land but the d elementary weights do moue these men to take the waters aboue for the Angels because so an element cannot remayne aboue the heauens No more would these men if they could make a man after their principles put fleame being e in stead of water in mans body in the head f but there is the seate of fleame most fitly appointed by God but so absurdly in these mens conceits that if wee know not though this booke told vs playne that God had placed this fluid cold and consequently heauy humor in the vppermost part of mans body these world-weighers would neuer beleeue it And if they were subiect to the scriptures authority they would yet haue some meaning to shift by But seeing that the consideration of all thinges that the Booke of God conteineth concerning the creation would draw vs farre from our resolued purpose lette vs now together with the conclusion of this booke giue end to this disputation of the two contrary societyes of Angells wherein are also some groundes of the two societies of mankinde vnto whome we intend now to proceed in a fitting discourse L. VIVES SOme a there were as Origen for one who held that the waters aboue the heauens were no waters but Angelicall powers and the waters vnder the heauens their contraries diuels Epiph. ad Ioan. Hierosol Episc. b Companies Apocal. The peaple are like many waters and here-vpon some thought the Psalme meant saying You waters that bee aboue the heauens praise the name of the Lord for that belongs only to reasonable creatures to do c Though some Augustine reckoneth this for an heresie to hold the waters coeternall with God but names no author I beleeue Hesiods Chaos and Homers all producing waters were his originals d Elementary I see all this growes into question whether there be waters aboue the heauens and whether they be elementary as ours are Of the first there is lesse doubt For if as some hold the firmament be the ayre then the seperation of waters from waters was but the parting of the cloudes from the sea But the holy men that affirme the waters of Genesis to be aboue the starry firmament preuaile I gesse now in this great question that a thicke clowd commixt with ayre was placed betwixt heauen and earth to darken the space betweene heauen and vs And that part of it beeing thickned into that sea we see was drawne by the Creator from the face of the earth to the place where it is that other part was borne vp by an vnknowne power to the vttermost parts of the world And hence it came that the vpper still including the lower heauen the fire fire the ayre ayre the water this water includeth not the earth because the whole element thereof is not vnder the Moone as fire and ayre is Now for the nature of those waters Origen to begin with the
eldest holds them resolued into most pure ayre which S. Thomas dislikes for such bodies could neuer penetrate the fire nor the heauens But he is too Aristotelique thinking to binde incomprehensible effectes to the lawes of nature as if this were a worke of nature strictly taken and not at the liberty of GODS omnipotent power or that they had forced through fire and heauen by their condensed violence Some disliked the placing of an element aboue heauen and therefore held the Christalline heauens composed of waters of the same shew but of a farre other nature then the Elementary Both of them are transparent both cold but that is light and ours heauy Basill sayth those waters doe coole the heate of the heauens Our Astronomicall diuines say that Saturnes frigidity proceedeth from those waters ridiculous as though all the starres of the eighth spere are not cooler then Saturne These waters sayth Rede are lower then the spirituall heauens but higher then all corporeall creatures kept as some say to threaten a second deluge But as others hold better to coole the heate of the starres De nat◅rer But this is a weake coniecture Let vs conclude as Augustine doth vpon Genesis How or what they are we know not there they are we are sure for the scriptures authority weigheth downe mans witte c In stead of Another question tossed like the first How the elements are in our bodies In parcels and Atomes peculiar to each of the foure saith Anaxagoras Democritus Empedocles Plato Cicero and most of the Peripatetiques Arabians Auerroes and Auicen parcels enter not the bodies composition sayth another but natures only This is the schoole opinion with the leaders Scotus and Occam Aristole is doubtfull as hee is generally yet holdes the ingresse of elements into compoundes Of the Atomists some confound all making bodies of coherent remaynders Others destroy all substances Howsoeuer it is wee feele the Elementary powers heate and drought in our gall or choller of the fire heate and moysture ayry in the blood colde and moyst watery in the fleame Colde and dry earthly in the melancholly and in our bones solydity is earth in our brayne and marrow water in our blood ayre in our spirits cheefely of the heart fire And though wee haue lesse of one then another yet haue some of each f But there And thence is all our troublesome fleame deriued Fitly it is seated in the brayne whether all the heate aspyreth For were it belowe whither heate descendeth not so it would quickly growe dull and congeale Whereas now the heate keepes it in continuall acte vigor and vegetation Finis lib. II. THE CONTENTS OF THE twelfth booke of the Citty of God 1. Of the nature of good and euil Angells 2. That no essence is contrary to God though al the worlds frailty seeme to bee opposite vnto this immutable eternity 3. Of gods enemies not by nature but will which hurting them hurteth their good nature because there is no vice but hurteth nature 4. Of vselesse and reason-lesse natures whose order differeth not from the Decorum held in the whole vniuerse 5. That the Creator hath deserued praise in euery forme and kind of Nature 6. The cause of the good Angels blisse and the euills misery 7. That wee ought not to seeke out the cause of the vicious will 8. Of the peruerse loue wherby the soule goeth from the vnchangeable to the changeable good 9. Whether he that made the Angels natures made their wils good also by the infusion of his loue into them through his holy Spirit 10. Of the falsenes of that History that saith the world hath continued many thousand years 11. Of those that hold not the Eternity of the world but either a dissolution and generation of innumerable worlds or of this one at the expiration of certaine yeares 12. Of such as held Mans Creation too lately effected 13. Of the reuolution of Tymes at whose expiration some Phylosophers held that the Vniuerse should returne to the state it was in at first 14. Of Mans temporall estate made by God out of no newnesse or change of will 15. Whether to preserue Gods eternall domination we must suppose that he hath alwaies had creatures to rule ouer and how it may bee held alwaies created which is not coeternall with God 16. How wee must vnderstand that God promised Man life eternall before all eternity 17. The defence of Gods vnchanging will against those that fetch Gods works about frō eternity in circles from state to state 18. Against such as say thinges infinite are aboue Gods knowledge 19. Of the worlds without end or Ages of Ages 20. Of that impious assertion that soules truly blessed shall haue diuer s reuolutions into misery againe 21. Of the state of the first Man and Man-kinde in him 22. That God fore-knew that the first Man should sin and how many people he was to translate out of his kind into the Angels society 23. Of the nature of Mans soule being created according to the Image of God 24. Whether the Angels may bee called Creators of any the least creature 25. That no nature or forme of any thing liuing hath any other Creator but God 26. The Platonists opinion that held the Angels Gods creatures Man the Angels 27. That the fulnesse of Man-kind was created in the first Man in whome God fore-saw both who should bee saued and who should bee damned FINIS THE TVVELFTH BOOKE OF THE CITTIE OF GOD Written by Saint Augustine Bishop of Hippo vnto Marcellinus Of the nature of good and euill Angels CHAP. 1. BEfore I speake of the creation of man wherein in respect of mortall reasonable creatures the two Citties had their originall as we shewed in the last booke of the Angels to shew as well as wee can the congruity and conuenience of the society of Men with Angels and that there are not foure but rather two societies of Men and Angels qualitied alike and combined in eyther the one consisting both of good Angels and Men and the other of euill that the contrariety of desires betweene the Angels good and euill arose from their diuers natures and beginnings wee may at no hand beleeue God hauing beene alike good in both their creations and in all things beside them But this diuersity ariseth from their wils some of them persisting in God their common good and in his truth loue and eternity and other some delighting more in their owne power as though it were from them-selues fell from that common al-blessing good to dote vppon their owne and taking pride for eternity vayne deceit for firme truth and factious enuy for perfect loue became proud deceiptfull and enuious The cause of their beatitude was their adherence with GOD their must their miseries cause bee the direct contrary namely their not adherence with GOD. Wherefore if when wee are asked why they are blessed and wee answere well because they stucke fast vnto GOD and beeing asked why they
away and therefore hurteth not for it cannot be both a vice and hurtlesse whence wee gather that though vice cannot hurt that vnchangeable good yet it can hurt nothing but good because it is not but where it hurteth And so we may say that vice cannot bee in the highest good nor cannot bee but in some good Good therefore may be alone but so cannot euill because the natures that an euill will hath corrupted though as they be polluted they are euill yet as they are natures they are good And when this vicious nature is punished there is this good besides the nature that it is not vnpunished for this is iust and what is iust is questionlesse good and no a man is punished for the falts of his nature but of his will for that vice that hath gotten from a custome into an habit and seemeth naturall had the originall from corruption of will for now wee speake of the vices of that nature wherein is a foule capable of the intellectuall light whereby wee discerne betweene iust and vniust L. VIVES NO a man Vice or a falt generally is a declining from the right So that there are of them naturall as if wee haue gotten any custome of any act against the Decorum of that kinde or haue it by nature as to haue more or fewer members then we should stammering of speach blindnesse deafnesse or any thing against perfection bee it in men beasts trees 〈◊〉 or whatsoeuer Then there is falte of manners and fault of art when the worke-man 〈◊〉 erred from his science b Naturall So that is dominereth and playeth the tyrant in a 〈◊〉 seeking to compell him to do thus wherevpon many say in excuse of sinnes that they cannot do withall whereas their owne will nousles it vp in them and they may oppose it if they 〈◊〉 Though it be not so easily expelled as admitted yet the expulsion is not impossible and vnlesse you expell it you shall not be acquit of the guilt Of liuelesse and reasonlesse natures whose order differeth not from the decorum held in the whole Vniuerse CHAP. 4. BVt it were a sottishnesse to thinke that the falts of beasts trees and other vnreasonable sencelesse or liuelesse creatures whereby their corruptible nature is damnified are damnable for the creators will hath disposed of those thus to perfect the inferior beauty of this vniuerse by this a successiue alteration of them For earthly things are not comparable to heauenly yet might not the world want those because the other are more glorious Wherefore in the succession of those things one to another in their due places and in the b change of the meaner into qualities of the better the order of things transitory consisteth Which orders glorie wee delight not in because wee are annexed to it as partes of mortality wee cannot discerne the whole Vniuerse though wee obserue how conueniently those parcells wee see are combined wherevpon in things out of our contemplations reach we must beleeue the prouidence of the Creator rather then be so rash as to condemne any part of the worlds Fâ—…brique of any imperfection Though if wee marke well by the same reason those vnvoluntary and vnpunishable falts to those creatures commend their natures vnto vs none of whome nath any other maker but GOD because wee our selues dislike that that nature of theirs which wee like should bee defaced by that falt vnlesse men will dislike the natures of things that hurt them not consider their natures but their oâ—…ne profit as c of those creatures that plagued the pride of Egipt But so they might dispraise the Sunne for some offenders or vniust deteiners of others right are by the Iudges condemned d to bee set in the hot Sunne Wherefore it is not the consideration of nature in respect of our profit but in it selfe that glorifieth the Creator The nature of the eternall fire is assuredly laudable though the wicked shal be therein euerlastingly tormented For what is more faire then the bright pure and flaming fire what more vsefull to heate cure or boile withall though not so hurtfull in burning Thus that e being penally applied is pernicious which being orderly vsed is conuenient f for who can explane the thousand vses of it in the world Heare them not g that praise the fires light and dispraise the heate respecting not the nature of it but their own profite and disprofite they would see but they would not burne But they consider not that this light they like so beeing immoderately vsed hurteth a tender eye and that in this heate which they dislike so many h creatures do very conueniently keepe and liue L. VIVES THe a successiue One decaying and another succeeding b Change of the He toucheth the perpetual alteration of elements and elementary bodies where some are transmuted into the more powerfull agent and sometimes the agent puts on the nature of the passiue Ayre continually taketh from water and water from ayre So doth fire from ayre and ayre from fire but in diuerâ—… places c Of those The frogs and â—…nats d To bee set A â—…inde of punishment especially infamous yet not without paine The bawdes in Spaine are thus punished set in the stockes and anointed al with hony which drawes all the Bees Fâ—…es and Waspes in a Country vnto them e Beeing penally So wee reade it for the best f â—…or who Thence is the common prouerbe of a thing of common vse Wee haue as much vse of it as of fire or water as Tâ—…lly saith of friendship Lael And to forbid one fire and water mans two chiefe necessaries is as it were to expell him of all humaine societie Uitruuius saith that the comming tâ—…her vnto the fire brought men first to talke together and so produced commerce societies and cities lib. 2. Lactantius prooueth man a diuine creature because hee onely of all creatures vseth the fire g That praise Taught by Plutarchs Satyre that loued Prometheus his new found fire so that hee fell a kissing of it and burning his lippes threw it downe and ran â—…way Such a tale tells Mela of the sea-bordering Affricans to whome Eudoxus caried fire h Câ—…res In Cyprus in the brasse furnaces where they burne redd Virrioll many dayeâ—… together are produced winged creatures a little bigger then the greatest flyes and those liue iâ—… the fire Arist. Hist. animal lib. 5. The Salamander they say not onely liues in thâ—… fire vnburned but also putteth it out with his very touch That the Creator hath deserued praise in euery forme and kinde of nature CHAP. 5. WHerefore all natures are good because they haue their forme kinde and a certaine rest withall in them-selues And when they are in their true posture of nature they preserue the essence in the full manner as they receiued it and that whose essence is not eternall followeth the lawes of the creator that swayeth it and changeth into better or worse tending by Gods disposition still to
disgrace banishment death and bondage which of these can be performed in so little time as the offence is excepting a the fourth which yeelds euery man the same measure that hee meateth vnto others according to that of the law An eye for an eye and a toâ—…th for a tooth Indeed one may loose his eye by this law in as small a time as hee put out another mans by violencâ—… 〈◊〉 is a man kisse another mans wife and bee therefore adiudged to bee whipt is not that which hee did in a moment paid for by a good deale longer sufferance is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pleasure repaide with a longer paine And what for imprisonâ—… 〈◊〉 â—…ry one iudged to lye there no longer then hee was a doing his villaâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seruant that hath but violently touched his maister is by a iust law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many yeares imprisonment And as for damages disgraces and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are not many of them darelesse and lasting a mans whole life wherâ—… be 〈◊〉 a proportion with the paines eternall Fully eternall they cannot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the life which they afflict is but temporall and yet the sinnes they 〈◊〉 are all committed in an instant nor would any man aduise that the contiâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 penalty should be measured by the time of the fact for that be it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or what villany so-euer is quickly dispatched and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be weighed by the length of time but by the foulenesse of the crime 〈◊〉 for him that deserues death by an offence doth the law hold the time that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ing to bee the satisfaction for his guilt or his beeing taken away from the fellowship of men whether That then which the terrestriall Citty can do by the first death the celestiall can effect by the second in clearing her selfe of malefactors For as the lawes of the first cannot call a dead man back againe into their society no more do the lawes of the second call him back to saluation that is once entred into the second death How then is our Sauiours words say they With what measure yee mete with the same shall men mete to you againe if temporall sinnes be rewarded with eternall paines O but you marke not that those words haue a reference to the returning of euill for euill in our nature and not in one proportion of time that is hee that doth euill shall suffer euill without limitation of any time although this place be more properly vnderstood of the iudgments and condemnations whereof the Lord did there speake So that he that iudgeth vniustly if he be iudged vniustly is paid in the same measure that hee meated withall though not what he did for he did wrong in iudgment and such like he suffreth but he did it vniustly mary he is repaid according to iustice L. VIVES EXcepting the a fourth This was one of the Romanes lawes in the twelue tables and hereof doth Phauorinus dispute with Sep. Caecilius in Gellius lib. 20. The greatnesse of Adams sinne inflicting eternall damnation vpon all that are out of the state of Grace CHAP. 12. BVt therefore doth man imagine that this infliction of eternall torment is vniustice because his fraile imperfection cannot discerne the horriblenesse of that offence that was the first procurer thereof For the fuller fruition man had of God the greater impiety was it for him to renounce him and therein was hee worthy of euer-lasting euill in that he destroyed his owne good that otherwise had beene euerlasting Hence came damnation vpon all the stock of man parent and progenie vnder-going one curse from which none can be euer freed but by the free and gracious mercy of God which maketh a seperation of mankinde to shew in one of the remainders the power of grace and in the other the reuenge of iustice Both which could not bee expressed vpon all man-kinde for if all had tasted of the punishments of iustice the grace and mercy of the redeemer had had no place in any and againe if all had beene redeemed from death there had beene no obiect left for the manifestation of Gods iustice But now there is more left then taken to mercy that so it might appeare what was due vnto all without any impeachment of Gods iustice who not-withstanding hauing deliuered so many hath herein bound vs for euer to praise his gracious commiseration Against such as hold that the torments after the iudgement shall bee but the meanes whereby the soules shall bee purified CHAP. 13. SOme Platonists there are who though they assigne a punishment to euery sinne yet hold they that all such inflictions be they humaine or diuine in this life or in the next tend onely to the purgation of the soule from enormities Where-vpon Virgil hauing said of the soules Hinc metunt cupiuntque c. Hence feare desire c And immediatly Quin vt supremo cum lumine vita reliquit Non tamen omne malâ—…m miseris nec funditùs omnes Corporeae excedunt pestes penitùsque necesse est Multa diù concreta modis inolescere miris Ergo exercentur poenis veterumque malorum Supplicia expendunt aliae panduntur inanes Suspensa ad ventos aliis sub gurgite vasto Insectum eluitur scelus aut exuritur igni For when the soules do leaue the bodies dead Their miseries are not yet finished Nor all their times of torment yet compleate Many small crimes must needes make one that 's great Paine therefore purgeth them and makes them faire From their old staines some hang in duskie ayre Some in the deepe do pay the debt of sinne And fire is chosen to cleanse others in They that hold this affirme that no paines at all are to be suffered after death but onely such as purge the soules and those shall be cleared of all their earthly contagion by some of the three vpper elements the fire the ayre or the water The ayre in that he saith Suspensae ad ventos the water by the words Sub gurgite vasto the fire is expresly named aut exuritur igni Now indeed wee doe confesse that there are certaine paines during this life which do not properly afflict such as are not bettred but made worse by them but belong onely to the reforming of such 〈◊〉 take them for corrections All other paines temporall and eternall are laid vpon euery one as God pleaseth by his Angells good or bad either for some sinne past or wherein the party afflicted now liueth or else to excercise and declare the vertue of his seruants For if one man hurt another a willingly or by chance it is an offence in him to doe any man harme by will or through ignorance but God whose secret iudgement assigned it to be so offendeth not at all As for temporall paine some endure it heere and some here-after and some both here and there yet all is past before the last iudgement But all shall not come into these eternall paines which not-with-standing shall bee
miracles that the Pagans ascribe vnto their Idolds are no way comparable to the wonders wrought by our Martyrs But as Moyses ouer-threw the enchanters of Pharao so do our martyrs ouer-throw their deuills who wrought those wonders out of their owne pride onely to gaine the reputation of Gods But our Martyrs or rather GOD him-selfe through their prayers wrought vnto another end onely to confirme that faith which excludeth multitude of Gods and beleeueth but in one The Pagans built Temples to those Deuills ordeining Priests and sacrifices for them as for Gods But we build our martyrs no temples but onely erect them monuments as in memory of men departed whose spirits are at rest in God Wee erect no altars to sacrifice to them we offer onely to him who is both their God and ours at which offring those conquerors of the world as men of God haue each one his peculiar commemoration but no inuocation at all For the sacrifice is offred vnto Cod though it be in memory of them and he that offreth it is a Priest of the Lord and not of theirs and the offring is the body of the Lord which is not offred vnto them because they are that body them-selues Whose miracles shall wee then beleeue Theirs that would be accompted for Gods by those to whom they shew them or theirs which tend all to confirme our beleefe in one GOD which is CHRIST Those that would haue their filthiest acts held sacred or those that will not haue their very vertues held sacred in respect of their owne glories but referred vnto his glory who hath imparted such goodnesse vnto them Let vs beleeue them that doe both worke miracles and teach the truth for this latter gaue them power to performe the former A chiefe point of which truth is this CHRIST rose againe in the flesh and shewed the immortality of the resurrection in his owne body which hee promised vnto vs in the end of this world or in the beginning of the next Against the Platonists that oppose the eleuation of the body vp to heauen by arguments of elementary ponderosity CHAP. 11. AGainst this promise do many whose thoughts God knoweth to be vaine make oppositiō out of the nature of elements Plato their Mr. teaching them that the two most contrary bodies of the world are combined by other two meanes that is by ayre and water Therefore say they earth being lowest water next then ayre and then the heauen earth cannot possibly bee contained in heauen euery element hauing his peculiar poise and tending naturally to his proper place See with what vaine weake and weightlesse arguments mans infirmity opposeth Gods omnipotency Why then are there so many earthly bodies in the ayre ayre being the third element from earth Cannot he that gaue birds that are earthly bodyes fethers of power to sustaine them in the ayre giue the like power to glorified and immortall bodies to possesse the heauen Againe if this reason of theirs were true all that cannot flie should liue vnder the earth as fishes doe in the water Why then doe not the earthly creatures liue in the water which is the next element vnto earth but in the ayre which is the third And seeing they belong to the earth why doth the next element aboue the earth presently choake them and drowne them and the third feed and nourish them Are the elements out of order here now or are their arguments out of reason I will not stand heere to make a rehearsall of what I spake in the thirteene booke of many terrene substances of great weight as Lead Iron c. which not-with-standing may haue such a forme giuen it that it will swimme and support it selfe vpon the water And cannot God almighty giue the body of man such a forme like-wise that it may ascend and support it selfe in heauen Let them stick to their method of elements which is all their trust yet can they not tell what to say to my former assertion For earth is the lowest element and then water and ayre successiuely and heauen the fourth and highest but the soule is a fifth essence aboue them all Aristotle calleth it a fifth a body and Plato saith it is vtterly incorporeall If it were the fift in order then were it aboue the rest but being incorporeall it is much more aboue all substances corporeall What doth it then in a lumpe of earth it being the most subtile and this the most grosse essence It being the most actiue and this the most vnweeldy Cannot the excellencie of it haue power to lift vp this Hath the nature of the body power to draw downe a soule from heauen and shall not the soule haue power to carry the body thether whence it came it selfe And now if we should examine the miracles which they parallell with those of our martyrs wee should finde proofes against themselues out of their owne relations One of their greatest ones is that which Varro reports of a vestall votaresse who being suspected of whoredome filled a Siue with the water of Tiber and carried it vnto her Iudges with-out spilling a drop Who was it that kept the water in the siue so that not one droppe passed through those thousand holes Some God or some Diuell they must needs say Well if hee were a God is hee greater then hee that made the world if then an inferiour God Angell or Deuill had this power to dispose thus of an heauie element that the very nature of it seemed altered cannot then the Almighty maker of the whole world take away the ponderosity of earth and giue the quickned body an hability to dwell in the same place that the quickning spirit shall elect And where-as they place the ayre betweene the fire aboue and the water beneath how commeth it that wee often-times finde it betweene water and water or betweene water and earth for what will they make of those watry clowds betweene which and the sea the ayre hath an ordinary passage What order of the elements doth appoint that those flouds of raine that fall vpon the earth below the ayre should first hang in the clowds aboue the ayre And why is ayre in the midst betweene the heauen and the earth if it were as they say to haue the place betweene the heauens and the waters as water is betweene it and the earth And lastly if the elements bee so disposed as that the two meanes ayre and water doe combine the two extreames fire and earth heauen being in the highest place and earth in the lowest as the worlds foundation and therefore say they impossible to bee in heauen what doe wee then with fire here vpon earth for if this order of theirs bee kept inuiolate then as earth cannot haue any place in fire no more should fire haue any in earth as that which is lowest cannot haue residence aloft no more should that which is aloft haue residence below But we see this order renuersed We haue fire
of all things Non. Marcell They were called vpon in suddaine charmes as Hercules was surnamed Alexicacus the euill-driuer Varro It was a sinne to inuocate Tutilina in an vnfortunate thing h Proserpina Daughter to Ceres and Ioue rauished by Pluto her vncle Cicero de nat deor lib. 2. Shee is Proserpina which the Greekes call Persephone and will haue her to be nothing but the seede of haruest which beeing hid in the earth was sought by her mother Varro will haue her the moone with Ennius and Epicharmus i The knots Plin. lib. 18. Some graine begins to put forth the eare at the third ioynt and some at the fourth wheate hath 4. ioynts rie six barley eight but they that haue those neuer bud the eare vntill all the ioynts bee growne out Varr de re rust lib. 1. The huske of the eare ere it open is called vagina in the care is the graine and the eare is in the huske the awne or beard is as a rough needle sticking forth from the eare which ere it bee died is called Mutica k Because Hostire Hostire is to suppresse and so giue back and hereof comes Hostis. Non. or to strike Festus also to doe iustice to recompence whereof comes redostire and hostimentum both vsed by Plautus l Flora Some take her for Acca Laurentia the Courtizan some for Melibaea Niobes daughter called Chloris for changing her colour through feare of Apollo and Diana Hence shee was called Flora whom with her sister Amicla Niobe hauing preserued and pleased Latona she bore Nestor vnto Neleus Neptunes sonne Homer Odyss 11. who saith that the other perished with her brethren Ouid makes her wife to Zephirus because she is goddesse of flowers m White Some reade Lacticina There was also Lactans the god that whitned the corne with milke Seru. Geor. 1. n Matuta Daughter to Cadmus wife to Athamas casting her selfe downe head-long from a rocke into the sea shee changed her name from Ino into Leuâ—…thé the white goddesse called by the Latines Mother Matuta who say she is Aurora wherof comes tempus matutinam the morning time Melecerta her sonne was also made a sea-god and called Palaemon Ouid. Lact. c. her temple was in the eight region of Rome o Runcina Varro de ling. lat Runcare is to pull vp Auerruncus the god that pulls away euills from men p Euery one One man sufficeth when three gods cannot q Cardea Carna rather first called Carne Ianus lay with her and then made her the goddesse of hinges Shee rules in mans vitall partes her feast is in Iunes Calends Ouid. Fast. 5. Brutus hauing expelled Tarquin kept her feast at the fore-said time with beane-flowre and bacon Macrob. Satur. Whether it was Ioue whom the Romaines held the chiefest god that was this protector and enlarger of their Empire CHAR. 9. VVHerefore setting aside this nest of inferior gods for a while let vs looke into the offices of the greater and which of them brought Rome to such a praeeminence ouer the other nations This same surely was Ioues worke For him they made the King ouer all their gods besides as his scepter and his seate on the highest a part of all the Capitoll doe sufficiently testifie And of him they haue a very conuenient saying though it bee from a Poet b All is full of Ioue And Varro c is of opinion that those that worship but one God and that without any statue do meane this Ioue though they call him by another name Which being so why is he so euill vsed at Rome and by others also in other places as to haue a statue made him This euill vse so disliked Varro that although he were ouer-borne with the custome of so great a citty yet hee doubted not both to affirme and record that in making those statues they both banished all feare and brought in much error L. VIVES HIghest a part On Tarpeius b Al is full of Ioue Virgil out of Aratus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Lucane in his eight booke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deisedes vâ—… i terra vbi Pontus acr Et Caelum virtus Superos quid quaerimus vlâ—…rà Ioâ—…e sits where earth where aiâ—…e wherâ—… sea and shore Where heauen and vertue is why aske vve more c Is of opinion The Greekes call Ioue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both of Liuing because he was held to giue all things life Orpheus in Cratere Plato deriues them both of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to liue by himselfe In Cratylo The Romaines called him Ioue a Iunando of helping The old Philosophers called that same Mens that Intellect that created all things Ioue And therefore the wise men worshipped this who otherwise held no mortall creature for any God but onely that immortall almighty Prince of nature hauing diuers names one amongst the Greekes another with the Persians a third with the Phaenicians a fourth in Egipt c. Plutarch Saturnes son of Crete was called Zâ—… because he was the first of Saturnes male children that liued Lactantius What opinion they followed that set diuers gods to rule in diâ—…ers parts of the world CHAP. 10. BVt why had he Iuno added to him both as his sister and wife because a wee place Iupiter in the skie say they and Iuno in the aire and these two are contiguall one immediately next aboue the other Very well then all is not full of Ioue as you said but now if Iuno doe fill a part Doth the one fill the other being man and wise and are they distinct in their seuerall elements and yet conioyned in them both why then hath Ioue the skie assigned him and Iuno the ayre Againe if onely these two sufficed for all what should b Neptune doe with the sea and Pluto with the earth Nay and for feare of want of broods Neptune must haue a c Salacia and Pluto d a Proscrpina for wiues to breede vpon For as Iuno possesseth the heauens inmost part the aire say they so doth Salacia the inner parts of the sea and Proserpina the bowells of the earth Alas good men they would faine stitch vp their lies hand-somely and cannot finde which way For if this were true the world should haue but three elements and not e 4. as their ancient writers haue recorded if euery couple of gods should haue their element But they themselues haue there affirmed that the f skie is one thing the aire another But the water within and without is all but water there may bee some diuersity to the dyet but neuer any alteration of the essentiall forme and earth is earth how euer it bee seuerally qualified Now the world beeing complete in these foure where's g Minerua's share shee hath a share h in the Capitol though shee bee not daughter to Ioue and Iuno both If she dwell in the highest part of the skie that therefore the Poets faigned her to be the birth of
needie Such may haue store of money but there in they shall neuer lack store of wante And God we say well is ritch not in money but in omnipotencie So likewise monied men are called ritch but be they greedy they are euer needy and monylesse men are called poore but be they contented they are euer wealthy What stuffe then shall a man haue of that diuinity whose scope and chiefe God c no wise man in the world would make choice of How much likelier were it if their religion in any point concerned eternall life to call their chiefe vniuersall God d Wisdome the loue of which cleanseth one from the staines of auarice that is the loue of money L. VIVES ALL a mortall All mens possessions haue reference to money so that it is said that Peculium gaine commeth of Pecudes sheepe Columell Seru. Festus because these were all the wealth of antiquitie for they were almost all sheepheards and from them this word came first and afterward signified cittie-wealth also Uar de ling. lat lib. 4. b Wise iust a Stoicall Paradoxe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely the wise are ritche Tully prooues it strongly and many Philosophers haue confirmed it all whose mindes were against money c No wise man Auarice saith Salust is the loue of Money which no wise man euer affected it is a poyson that infecteth all the manlinesse of the minde and maketh it effeminate being euer infinite and insatiable neither contented with want meane nor excesse d Wisdome as well call our God That the interpretations of Saturne and Genius prooue them both to bee Iupiter CHAP. 13. BVt what should we do saying more of Iupiter to whom al the other gods haue such relation that the opinion of many gods will by and by prooue a bable and Ioue stand for them all whether they bee taken as his parts and powers or that the soule that they hold is diffused through all the world gotte it selfe so many diuerse names by the manifold operations which it effected in the parts of this huge masse whereof the visible vniuerse hath the fabrike and composition for what is this same Saturne A chiefe God saith he and one that is Lord of all seedes and sowing What but doth not the exposition of Soranus his verses say that Ioue is the world and both creator and conceiuer of all seedes He therefore must needs rule the sowing of them And what is a Genius God of generation saith he Why tell me hath any one that power but the world to whom it was said High Ioue full parent generall of all Besides hee saith in another place that the Genius b is the reasonable soule peculiar in each peculiar man And that the soule of the world is a God of the same nature drawing it to this that that soule is the vniuersall Genius to all those particulars Why then it is the same that they call Ioue c For if each Genius bee a god and each soule reasonable a Genius then is each soule reasonable a god by all consequence which such absurdity vrgeth them to deny it resteth that they make the worlds singular soule their selected Genius and consequently make their Genius directly Ioue L. VIVES WHAT a is Genius The Lord of all generation Fest. Pompey The sonne of the gods and the father of men begetting them and so it is called my genius For it begot me Aufustius The learned haue had much a doe about this Genius and finde it manifoldly vsed Natures Genius is the god that produced her the Heauens haue many Genii read them in Capella his Nuptiae Melicerta is the seas Genius Parthen the foure elements fire ayre water and earth are the genii of all things corporall The Greekes call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 geniall gods Such like hath Macrobius of natures Penates Iupiter and Iuno are the ayre lowest and meane Minerua the highest or the aethereall sky to which three Tarquinius Priscus erected one Temple vnder one roofe Some call the moone and the 12. signes Genii and chiefe Genii too for they wil haue no place without a predominant Genius Euery man also hath his Genius either that guardeth him in his life or that lookes to his generation or that hath originall with him both at one time Censorin Genius and Lar some say are all one C. Flaccus de Indigitaments The Lars saith Ouid were twinnes to Mercury and Nymph Lara or Larunda Wherefore many Philosophers and Euclide for one giues each man two Lars a good and a bad such was that which came to Brutus in the night as he was thinking of his warres hee had in hand Plutarch Flor. Appian b Genius is Of this more at large in the booke following c For if each A true Syllogisme in the first forme of the first moode vsually called Barbara Of the functions of Mars and Mercury CHAP. 14. BVt in all the worlds parts they could finde neuer a corner for Mars and Mercury to practise in the elements and therefore they gaue them power in mens actions this of eloquence the other of warre Now for Mercury a if he haue power of the gods language also then is he their King if Iupiter borrow all his phrase from him but this were absurd But his power stretcheth but vnto mans onely it is vnlikely that Ioue would take such a base charge in hand as suckling of not onely children but cattell also calues or foales as thence he hath his name Romulus and leaue the rule of our speech so glorious a thing and that wherein we excell the beasts vnto the sway of another his inferiour I but how if Mercury be b the speech onely it selfe for so they interprete him and therefore he is called Mercurius c quasi Medius currens the meane currant because to speak is the only currant meane for one man to expresse his minde to another by and his greeke name d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is nothing but interpreter speech or interpretation which is called in greeke also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and thence is hee e Lord of merchants because buying and selling is all by wordes and discourses Herevpon they f wing his head and his feete to signifie the swift passage of speech and call him g the messenger because all messages and thoughts whatsoeuer are transported from man to man by the speech Why very well If Mercury then be but the speech I hope hee is no god then by their owne confessions But they make gods of no gods and offring to vncleane spirits in stead of beeing inspired with gods are possessed with deuills And because the world and elements had no roome for Mars to worke in nature they made him god of war which is a worke of man not to be desired after But if Mars be warre as Mercury is speech I would it were as sure that there were no warre to bee falsly called god as it is plaine that Mars is no god L.
likewise in artificiall things as a table a booke or so euery leafe is not a booke nor euery part of the table a table These parts are called Heterogenea or Of diuers kindes multigenae Agricola calles them The Symilar partes Anaxagoras held to bee in all things infinite either different as of wood bloud ayre fire bone and such or congruent as of water infinite parcells all of one nature and so of fire c for though bodies bee generate by this separation yet cannot these parts bee so distinguished but infinite will still remaine that euermore is best meanes for one thing to bee progenerate of another and nourished so that this communication continueth euerlastingly of nature place and nutriment But of the Heterogeneall parts hee did not put infinite in nature for hee did not hold that there were infinite men in the fire nor infinite bones in a man t Diogenes There were many of this name one of Synope called the Cynike one of Sicyon an Historiographer one a stoike fellow Embassador to Rome which Carneades borne at Seleucia but called the Babilonian or Tharsian one that writ of poeticall questions and Diogenes Laertius from whom wee haue this our Philosophy elder then them all one also called Apolloniata mentioned here by Augustine Our commentator like a good plaisterer daubed the Cynike and this into one as hee made one Thomas of Thomas Valois and Thomas Aquinas in his Commentaries vpon Boethius u Ayre Cic. de nat de What is that ayre that Diogenes Apolloniata calles God He affirmed also inumerable worlds in infinite spaces and that the ayre thickning it selfe into a globous body produceth a world x Archelaus Some say of Myletus some of Athens He first brought Physiologie from Ionia to Athens and therefore was called Physicus also because his scholler Socrates brought in the Morality y He also Plutarch saith he put the infinite ayre for the worlds generall principle and that the r◅ity and density thereof made fire and water z Consonance Eternity say the manuscripts a Socrates This is hee that none can sufficiently commend the wisest Pagan that euer was An Athenian begot by Sophroniscus a stone-cutter and Phanareta a mid-wife A man temperare chaste iust modest pacient scorning wealth pleasure and glory for he neuer wrote any thing he was the first that when others said he knew all affirmed himselfe hee knew nothing Of the Socratical◅ discipline CHAP. 3. SOcrates therefore was a the first that reduced Philosophy to the refor◅tion of manres for al before him aymed at naturall speculation rather then practise morality I cannot surely tel whether the tediousnesse b of these obscurities moued Socrates to apply his minde vnto some more set and certaine inuention for an assistance vnto beatitude which was the scope of all the other Phylosophers intents and labours or as some doe fauorably surmise hee c was vnwilling that mens mindes being suppressed with corrupt and earthly affects should ofter to crowd vnto the height of these Physicall causes whose totall and whose originall relyed soly as he held vpon the will of God omnipotent only and true wherefore he held that d no mind but a purified one could comprehend them and therfore first vrged a reformed course of life which effected the mind vnladen of terrestriall distractions might towre vp to eternity with the owne intelectuall purity sticke firme in contemplation of the nature of that incorporeal vnchanged and incomprehensible light which e conteyneth the causes of all creation Yet sure it is that in his morall disputations f he did with most elegant and acute vrbanity taxe and detect the ignorance of these ouer-weening fellowes that build Castles on their owne knowledge eyther in this confessing his owne ignorance or dissembling his vnderstanding g wher-vpon enuy taking hold he was wrackt by a h callumnious accusation and so put to death i Yet did Athens that condemned him afterward publikely lament for him and the wrath of the commonty fell so sore vpō his two accusers that one of them was troden to death by the multitude and another forced to auoid the like by a voluntary banishment This Socrates so famous in his life and death left many of his schollers behind him whose l study and emulation was about moralyty euer and that summum bonum that greatest good which no man wanting can attain beatitude m VVhich being not euident in Socrates his controuersiall questions each man followed his own opiniō and made that the finall good n The finall good is that which attained maketh man happy But Socrates his schollers were so diuided strange hauing all onemaister that some o Aristippus made pleasure this finall good others p Antisthenes vertue So q each of the rest had his choice too long to particularize L. VIVES WAs the a first Cicero Acad. Quest. I thinke and so do all that Socrates first called Phylosophy out of the mists of naturall speculations wherein all the Phylosophers before had beene busied and apllyed it to the institution of life and manners making it y◠meane to inquire out vertue and vice good and euill holding things celestiall too abstruse for natural powers to investigate far seperate from things natural which if they could be known were not vsefull in the reformation of life b Tediousnesse Xenophon Comment rer Socratic 1. writeth that Socrates was wont to wonder that these dayly and nightly inuestigators could neuer finde that their labour was stil rewarded with vncertainties and this he explaneth at large c Was vnwilling Lactantius his wordes in his first booke are these I deny not but that Socrates hath more witte then the rest that thought they could comprehend all natures courses wherein I thinke them not onely vnwise but impious also to dare to aduance their curious eyes to view the altitude of the diuine prouidence And after Much guiltter are they that lay their impious disputation vpon quest of the worlds secrets prophaning the celestial temple therby then either they that enter the Temples of Ceres Bona Dea Vesta d No minde Socrates disputeth this at large in Plato's P◅adon at his death Shewing that none can bee a true Phylosopher that is not abstracted in spirit from all the affects of the body which then is affected when in this life the soule is looseed from all perturbations and so truly contemplated the true good that is the true God And therefore Phylosophy is defined a meditation of death that is there is a seperation or diuorce betweene soule and body the soule auoyding the bodies impurities and so becomming pure of it selfe For it is sin for any impure thought to be present at the speculation of that most pure essence and therefore hee thought men attoned unto God haue far more knowledge then the impure that know him not In Plato's Cratylus hee saith good men are onely wise and that none can be skilfull in matters celestiall without Gods assistance In Epinomede There may
the reasonable soules which are parts in that order of nature are not to bee held for goddes Nor ought it to be subiect to those things ouer which God hath giuen it superiority Away with those thinges also which Numa buryed beeing pertinent to these religious ordinances and beeing afterwards turned vp by a plough were by the Senate buryed And those also to fauor our suspition of Numa Which Alexander the great wrote b to his Mother that hee hadde learned of Leon an Aegiptian Priest Where not onely Picus Faunus Aeneas Romulus Hercules A◅sculapius Bacchus Castor and Pollux and other mortal men whome they hadde for their goddes but euen the c gods of the greater families whom Tully not naming them though seemes to touch at in his Tusculane Questions Iupiter Iuno Saturne Vulcan Vesta and many other which Varro would make nothing but Elements and parts of the world there are they all shewne to haue beene but men For the Priest fearing the reuealing of these misteries warned Alexander that as soone as his Mother hadde read them hee should burne them So not all this fabulous and ciuill Theology shall giue place to the Platonists who held a true God the author of all thinges the clearer of all doubtes and the giuer of all goodnes but euen the other Phylosophers also whose grosse bodily inuentions held the worlds beginning to be bodily let al these giue place to those good god-conceiuing men let Thales depart with his water Anaximenes with the ayre the Stoikes with their d fire Epicurus with his Atomes his indiuisible and in sensible bodies and all other that now are not for vs to recount who placed natures originall in bodies eyther simple compound quicke or dead for there were e some and the Epicureans were they that held a possibility of producing the quicke out of the dead f others would produce out of the quick some things quick and some dead yet all bodily as of a body produced But the Stoikes held g the fire one of this visible worldes foure elements to bee wise liuing the Creator of the world whole and part yea euen God him-selfe Now these their fellowes followed euen the bare surmises of their owne fleshly opinions in these assertions For h they hadde that in them which they saw not and thought that to bee in them which they saw externally nay which they saw not but imagined onely now this in the sight of such a thought is no body but a bodies likenesse But that where-with our minde seeth seeth this bodyes likenesse is neither body nor likenesse and that which discerneth the other iudging of the deformity or beauty of it is more beautious then that which it iudgeth of This is the nature of mans minde and reasonable soule which is no body nor is the bodies likenesse revolued in the minde a body either So then it is neyther fire ayre water nor earth of which foure bodies which wee call Elements this visible World is composed Now if our soule bee no body how can God that made it bee a body So then let these giue place to the Platonists and i those also that shamed to say God was a body and yet would make him of the same essence that our s◅es ar being not moued by the soules mutability which it were vile to ascribe vnto God I but say they k the body it is that alters the soule of it self it is immutable So might they say that it is a body that woundeth the body for of it selfe it is invulnerable That which is immutable nothing externall can change But that that any body alters is not vnchangeable because it is externally alterable L. VIVES THey a make A difference of reading but not worthy the noting b Wrote this Cyprian affirming al y◠Pagan gods were men saith that this is so Alexander writeth in a famous volume to hi◅ mother that the feare of his power made such secrets of the gods to bee reuealed vnto him by that Pries◅ that they were he saw now nothing else but ancient kinges whose memories vsed to be kept at first and afterwards grew to sacrifices De Idoll Vanitate c Gods of the Tarquinius Pris◅s fist King of Rome added 100. Senators to the ancient Senate and these were called the fathers of the lesser families the former of the greater which phraze Tully vseth metaphorically for the ancient confirmed gods If we should seeke the truth of Greeke authors saith Tully euen these goddes of the greater families would be found to haue gone from vs here ◅n earth vp into heauen Thus farre he Tusc. Quaest. 1. Teaching the soules immortallity which beeing loosed from the body shall be such as they who are adored for gods Such were Romulus Hercules Bacchus c. And thus is heauen filled almost ful with men Tully also elsewhere calleth such gods of the greater families as haue alwaies bene held celestiall In Legib. Those that merit heauen he calleth Gods ascript d Fire Cic. de nat deor The Stoikes hold al actiue power fire following it seemes Heraclitus And Zeno their chiefe defineth the nature that he held for god to be a fire artificiall generatiue and moouing e Some The Epicureans held all men and each thing else to come out of Atomes flying about at randome and knitting together by chance f Others So the old Manuscripts do read it g Held the fire Cic. de ◅t de◅ h They had that They could not conceiue the soule to be incorporeall but corporall onely nor vniuersally that but sensible onely And it is triuiall in the Shooles Nothing is in the ◅derstanding that was not first in the sence That is our minde conceiueth but what is circumscribed with a body sensible or an obiect of our sence So we conceit incorporeall things corporally and corporall things neuer seene by imagination and cogitation of such or such formes as we haue seene As one that neuer saw Rome but thinkes of it he imagineth it hath walls churches buildings or such-like as he hath seene at Paris Louvaine Valencia or elsewhere Further Augustine teacheth that the thoughts are incorporeall and that the mindes internall sences which produce thoughts are both before thoughts and thinges them-selues which sences internal God being the Creator of must needs be no body but a power more excellent then al other bodies or soules i Those also Cic. de nat deor l. 1. for Pythagoras that held God to be a soule continuate diffused through al nature neuer marked the perturbations our soules are subiect to by which were God such he should be distracted and disturbed when the soules were wretched as many are so should god be also which is impossible but Plato deriued our soules frō the substance of the stars if they died yong he affirmed their returne theth◅ again each to the star whence it came and that as the stars were composed of the 4. Ele◅ so we◅e the soules but in a
then aâ—…reall on earth they feed rest breed and flye as neare it as may bee and when they are weary earth is their port of retirement This from an imperfect coppy of Apuleius yet Augustines reason of the place must stand for though the spirits bee aboue the birds yet the birds are â—…ill aboue vs but I meane not heare to play the disputant What Apuleius the Platonist held concerning the qualities of those ayrie spirits CHAP. 16. THis same Platonist speaking of their qualities saith that they are as men subiect to passions of anger delight glory vnconstancie in their ceremonies and furie vpon neglect Besides to them belong diuinations dreames auguries prophesies and all â—…gicians miraculous workes Briefly he defineth them things created passiue reasoâ—…le â—…reall eternall In the three first they perticipate with vs in the fourth with â—…ne in the fift with the gods and two of the first the gods share with them also 〈◊〉 the a gods saith hee are creatures and giuing each element to his proâ—…habitants hee giues earth to men and the other creatures water to the 〈◊〉 c. aire to these spirits and Aether to the gods Now in that the spirits are creâ—…res they communicate both with men and beasts in reason with gods and â—…in eternity with gods onely in passion with men onely in ayrie essence with 〈◊〉 So that they are creatures is nothing for so are beasts in that they are reasoâ—…able so are we equally in that they are eternall what is that without felicity b Temporall happinesse excells eternall miserie In that they are passiue what geâ—… by that so are we and were we not wretched wee should not bee so in tâ—…â—…ir bodies are ayrie what of that seeing a soule of any nature is preferrâ—… 〈◊〉 a body of what perfection so euer And therefore the honor giuen by tâ—…â—…le is not due to the soules inferiour But if that amongst these spirits qualitiâ—… 〈◊〉 had reckoned wisdome vertue and felicitie and haue made them communâ—… these with the gods then had he spoake some-what worth noting yet oâ—… we not to worship them as God for these ends but rather we should know him of whom they had these good gifts But as they are how farre are they from woâ—…h of worship being reasonable to be wretched passiue to be wretched eternall 〈◊〉 euer wretched wherefore to leaue all and insist on this onely which I said 〈◊〉 spirits shared with vs that is passion if euery element haue his creaâ—… and ayre immortalls earth and water mortalls why are these spirits 〈◊〉 â—…o perturbations to that which the Greekes call c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence our 〈◊〉 passion deriueth word d of word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and passion being e a motion of 〈◊〉 â—…e against reason Why are these in these spirits that are not in beasts 〈◊〉 apparance of such in beasts is f no perturbation because it is not against 〈◊〉 which the beast wanteth And that it is a perturbation in men g their â—…esse or their h wretchednesse is cause For we cannot haue that perfecâ—… wisdom in this life that is promised vs after our acquittance from mortalâ—… 〈◊〉 the gods they say cannot suffer those perturbations because that their 〈◊〉 is conioyned wiâ—…h felicity and this they affirme the reasonable soule 〈◊〉 absolutely pure enioyeth also So then if the gods be free from passion beâ—… they are i creatures blessed and not wretched and the beasts because â—…e creatures neither capable of blessednesse nor wretchednesse it romaiâ—…â—…t these spirits be perturbed like men onely because they are creatures not â—…d but wretched L. VIVES THâ—… a Gods Plato also in his Timaeus saith that they are inuisible creatures Apuleius de deo Sâ—…cr makes some vncorporall Daemones viz. Loue Sleep b Temporal It is said that Chyron 〈◊〉 sonne refused immortality that Vlysses chose rather to liue and die at home with his â—…er and friends then to liue immortal amongst the goddesses Plato saith it is better to liue a 〈◊〉 little while then to be eternally possest of all bodily pleasures without iustice the other 〈◊〉 de legib the Philosophers haue a saying it is better to be then not to be of that hereafter 〈◊〉 So Tull. Tus. qu. translateth it Quintil. l. 6. termeth it affects holds yâ— most proper 〈◊〉 â—…ly of their ancients vseth passion for it but I make doubt that the copy is faulty li. 20. 〈◊〉 â—…ds are It helpeth the passions of the belly being 〈◊〉 thervpoÌ„ d Word of word as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 passio of pâ—…tior to suffer e A motion Tully hath it from Zâ—…no f No perturbation Tully Tusc. quaest The affections of the body may be inculpable but not the mindes all which arise out of the neglect of reason and therefore are existent onely in men for that which wee see by accident in beasts is no perturbation g Their foolishnesse For wee are ouer-borne with false opinions and our selues rather worke our affects then receiue them ab extra and as Sâ—…a saith we are euer worse afraide then hurt The Stoikes held all perturbations to haue their source from deprauation of opinion For desire is an opinion of a future good and feare an opinion of future euill sorrow of present euill ioy of present good all which we measuring by the fondnesse of our thoughts and not by the nature of things thence it comes that wee are rapt with so many violent thoughts h Their wretchednesse This is mans miserie that the very wisest is subiect to sorrow ioy and other affects doe he what he can i Creatures Socrates durst not confesse that these spirits were bad or wretched but hee boldly affirmes they are neither good nor happy Plato Conuiuio Whether it becomes a man to worship those spirits from whose guilt he should be pure CHAP. 17. WHat fondnesse then nay what madnesse subiects vs vnto that religion of deuills when as by the truth of religion we should be saued from participation of their vices for they are mooued with wrath as Apuleius for all his adoring and sparing them affirmes but true religion biddeth vs not to yeeld to wrath but rather a resist it b They are wonne with guifts wee are forbidden to take bribes of any They loue honors we are c prohibited all honors affectation They are haters of some louers of some as their affects transport them truth teacheth vs to loue all euen d our very enemies Briefly all the intemperance of minde e passions and perturbations which the truth affirmes of them it forbiddeth vs. What cause is then but thine owne lamentable error for thee to humble thy selfe to them in worship whom thou seekest to oppose in vprightnesse of conuersation and to adore those thou hatest to imitate when as all religion teacheth vs to imitate those we adore L. VIVES RAther a resist Christ in Mathewes Gospels vtterly forbids anger Abbot Agatho said that an angry
ment hereby S. Augustine confesseth that he cannot define Sup. Genes lib. 8. These are secrets all vnneedfull to be knowne and all wee vnworthy to know them Of the new Heauen and the new Earth CHAP. 16. THe iudgement of the wicked being past as he fore-told the iudgement of the goodâ—…ust follow for hee hath already explained what Christ said in briefe They shall go into euerlasting paine now he must expresse the sequell And the righteous into life eternall And I saw saith he a new heauen and a new earth The first heauen and earth were gone and so was thesea for such was the order described before by him when he saw the great white throne one sitting vpon it froÌ„ whose face they fled So then they that were not in the booke of life being iudged and cast into eternall fire what or where it is I hold is vnknowne to a all but those vnto whome it please the spirit to reueale it then shall this world loose the figure by worldly fire as it was erst destroyed by earthly water Then as I said shall all the worlds corruptible qualities be burnt away all those that held correspondence with our corruption shall be agreeable with immortality that the world being so substantially renewed may bee fittly adapted vnto the men whose substances are renewed also But for that which followeth There 〈◊〉 no more sea whether it imply that the sea should bee dried vp by that vniuersall conflagration or bee transformed into a better essence I cannot easily determyne Heauen and Earth were read shal be renewed but as concerning the sea I haue not read any such matter that I can remember vnlesse that other place in this booke of that which hee calleth as it were a sea of glasse like vnto christall import any such alteration But in that place hee speaketh not of the worlds end neither doth hee say directly a sea but as a sea Notwithstanding it is the Prophets guise to speake of truths in misticall manner and to mixe truths and types together and so he might say there was no more sea in the same sence that hee sayd the sea shall giue vp hir dead intending that there should be no more turbulent times in the world which he insinuateth vnder the word Sea L. VIVES VNknowne a to all To all nay Saint Augustine it seemes you were neuer at the schoole-mens lectures There is no freshman there at least no graduate but can tell that it is the elementany fire which is betweene the sphere of the moone and the ayre that shall come downe and purge the earth of drosse together with the ayre and water If you like not this another will tell you that the beames of the Sonne kindle a fire in the midst of the ayre as in a burning glasse and so worke wonders But I doe not blame you fire was not of that vse in your time that it is now of when eâ—…y Philosopher to omit the diuines can carry his mouth his hands and his feete full of fire 〈◊〉 in the midst of Decembers cold and Iulies heate Of Philosophers they become diuines and yet keepe their old fiery formes of doctrine still so that they haue farre better iudgement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hot case then you or your predecessors euer had Of the glorification of the Church after death for euer CHAP. 17. AND I Iohn saith hee sawe that Holie Cittie new Ierusalem come downe from GOD out of Heauen prepared as a bride trimmed for her husband And I heard a great voice out of Heauen saying behold the Tabernacle of GOD is with men and hee will dwell with them and they shal be his people and hee himselfe shal be their GOD with them And GOD shall wipeawaie all teares from their eyes and there shal be no more death neither teares neither crying neither shall there bee any more paine for the first things are passed And hee that sate vpon the Throne sayd behold I make althings new c. This cittie is sayd to come from Heauen because the grace of GOD that founded it is heauenly as GOD saith in Esay I am the LORD that made thee This grace of his came downe from heauen euen from the beginning and since the cittizens of GOD haue had their increase by the same grace giuen 〈◊〉 the spirit from heauen in the fount of regeneration But at the last Iudgement of GOD by his Sonne Christ this onely shall appeare in a state so glorious that all the ancient shape shal be cast aside for the bodies of each member shall cast aside their olde corruption and put on a new forme of immortality For it were too grosse impudence to thinke that this was 〈◊〉 of the thousand yeares afore-sayd wherein the Church is sayd to reigne with Christ because he saith directly GOD shall wipe awaie all teares from their eies and there shal be no more death neither sorrowes neither crying neither shall there bee any more paine Who is so obstinately absurd or so absurdly obstinate as to averre that any one Saint much lesse the whole society of them shall passe this transitory life without teares or sorrowes or euer hath passed it cleare of them seeing that the more holy his desires are and the more zealous his holinesse the more teares shall bedew his Orisons Is it not the Heauenly Ierusalem that sayth My teares haue beene my meate daie and night And againe I cause my bedde euerie night to swimme and water my couch with teares and besides My sorrow is renewed Are not they his Sonnes that bewayle that which they will not forsake But bee cloathed in it that their mortality may bee re-inuested with eternity and hauing the first fruites of the spirit doe sigh in themselues wayting for the adoption that is the redemption of their bodies Was not Saint Paul one of the Heauenlie Cittie nay and that the rather in that hee tooke so great care for the earthly Israelites And when a shall death haue to doe in that Cittie but when they may say Oh death where is thy sting Oh hell where is thy b victorie The sting of death is sinne This could not bee sayd there where death had no sting but as for this world Saint Iohn himselfe saith If wee say wee haue no sinne wee deceiue our selues and there is no truth in vs. And in this his Reuelation there are many things written for the excercising of the readers vnderstanding and there are but few things whose vnderstanding may bee an induction vnto the rest for hee repeteth the same thing so many waies that it seemes wholy pertinent vnto another purpose and indeed it may often bee found as spoken in another kinde But here where hee sayth GOD shall wipe awaie all teares from their eyes c this is directly meant of the world to come and the immortalitie of the Saints for there shal be no sorrow no teares nor cause of sorrowe or teares if any one
thinke this place obscure let him looke for no plainenesse in the Scriptures L. VIVES THy a victory Some read contention but the originall is Victory and so doe Hierom and Ambrose reade it often Saint Paul hath the place out of Osee. chap. â—…3 ver 14. and vseth it 1. Cor. 16. ver 55. b When shall death The Cittie of GOD shall see death vntill the words that were sayd of Christ after his resurrection Oh hell where is thy victory may bee said of all our bodies that is at the resurrection when they shal be like his glorified bodie Saint Peters doctrine of the resurrection of the dead CHAP. 18. NOw let vs heare what Saint Peter sayth of this Iudgement There shall come saith hee in the last daies mockers which will walke after their lusts and say Where is the promise of his comming For since the fathers died all things continue alike from the beginning of the creation For this they willingly know not that the heauens were of old and the earth that was of the water and by the water by the word of GOD wherefore the world that then was perished ouer-flowed with the water But the heauens and earth that now are are kept by the same word in store and reserued vnto fire against the day of iudgement and of the destruction of vngodly men Dearcly beloued bee not ignorant of this that one daie with the LORD is as a thousand years and a thousand yeares as one daie The LORD is not flack concerning his promise as some men count slackenesse but is pacient toward vs and would haue no man to perish but would haue all men to come to repentance But the daie of the LORD will come as a thiefe in the night in the which the heauens shall passe awaie with a noyse and the elements shall melt with 〈◊〉 and the earth with the workes that are therein shal be burnt vppe Seeing therefore all these must bee dissolued what manner of persons ought you to bee in holy conuersation and Godlinesse longing for and hasting vnto the comming of the daie of GOD by the which the heauens beeing on fire shal be dissolued and the elements shall melt vvith heate But vve-looke for a nevv heauen and a nevv earth according to his promise vvherein dvvelleth righteousnesse Thus sarre Now here is no mention of the resurrection of the dead but enough concerning the destruction of the world where his mention of the worlds destruction already past giueth vs sufficient warning to beleeue the dissolution to come For the world that was then perished saith hee at that time not onely the earth but that part of the ayre also which the watter a possessed or got aboue and so consequently almost all those ayry regions which hee calleth the heauen or rather in the plurall the heauens but not the spheres wherein the Sunne and the Starres haue their places they were not touched the rest was altered by humidity and so the earth perished and lost the first forme by the deluge But the heauens and earth saith hee that now are are kept by the same word in store and reserued vnto fire against the daie of iudgement and of the destruction of vngodly men Therefore the same heauen and earth that remained after the deluge are they that are reserued vnto the fire afore-said vnto the daie of iudgement and perdition of the wicked For because of this great change hee sticketh not to say there shal be a destruction of men also whereas indeed their essences shall neuer bee anniâ—…e although they liue in torment Yea but may some say if this old heauen and earth shall at the worlds end bee burned before the new ones be made where shal the Saints be in the time of this conflagration since they haue bodies and therefore must be in some bodily place We may answere in the vpper parts whither the fire as then shall no more ascend then the water did in the deluge For at this daie the Saints bodies shal be mooueable whither their wills doe please nor need they feare the fire beeing now both immortall and incorruptible b for the three children though their bodies were corruptible were notwithstanding preserued from loosing an haire by the fire and might not the Saints bodies be preserued by the same power L. VIVES THe a water possessed For the two vpper regions of the ayre doe come iust so low that they are bounded with a circle drawne round about the earthlie highest mountaines tops Now the water in the deluge beeing fifteene cubites higher then the highest mountaine it both drowned that part of the ayre wherein wee liue as also that part of the middle region wherein the birds do vsually flie both which in Holy writ and in Poetry also are called Heauens b The three Sidrach Misach and Abdenago at Babilon who were cast into a â—…nace for scorning of Nabuchadnezzars golden statue Dan. 3. Saint Pauls words to the Thessalonians Of the manifestations of Antichrist whose times shall immediately fore-runne the day of the Lord. CHAP. 19. I See I must ouer-passe many worthy sayings of the Saints concerning this day least my worke should grow to too great a volume but yet Saint Pauls I may by no meanes omit Thus sayth he Now I beseech you bretheren by the comming of our LORD IESVS CHRIST and by our assembling vnto him that you bee not suddenly mooued from your minde nor troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as if it were from vs as though the day of CHRIST were at hand Let no man deceiue you by any meanes for that day shall not come except there come a a fugitiue first and that that man of sinne bee disclosed euen the sonne of perdition which is an aduersary and exalteth himselfe against all is called god or that is worshipped so that he sitteth as God in the Temple of God shewing himselfe that he is God Remember yee not that when I was yet with you I told you these things And now yee know what withholdeth that he might be reuealed in his due time For the mistery of iniquity doth already worke onely he which now withholdeth shall let till he be taken out of the way and the wicked man shal be reuealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall abolish with the brightnesse of his comming euen him whose comming is by the working of Sathan with all power and signes and lying wonders and in all deceiuablenesse of vnrighteousnesse amongst them that perish because they receiued not the loue of the truth that they might be saued And therefore God shall send them strong delusion that they should beleeue lyes that all they might bee damned which beleeue not in the truth but had pleasure in vnrighteousnesse This is doubtlesse meant of Antichrist and the day of iudgement For this day hee saith shall not come vntill that Antichrist be come before it he that is called here a fugitiue
inextinguible lampe This they may obiect to put vs to our plunges for if wee say it is false wee detract from the truth of our former examples and if wee say it is true wee shall seeme to avouch a Pagan deity But as I sayd in the eighteenth booke we need not beleeue all that Paganisme hath historically published their histories as Varro witnesseth seemeing to conspire in voluntary contention one against an other but wee may if we will beleeue such of their relations as doe not contradict those bookes which wee are bound to beleeue Experience and sufficient testimony shall afford vs wonders enow of nature to conuince the possibility of what we intend against those Infidells As for that lampe of Venus it rather giueth our argument more scope then any way suppresseth it For vnto that wee can adde a thousand strange things effected both by humane inuention and Magicall operation Which if wee would deny we should contradict those very bookes wherein wee beleeue Wherefore that lampe either burned by the artificiall placing a of some Asbest in it or it was effected by b art magike to procure a religious wonder or else some deuill hauing honour there vnder the name of Venus continued in this apparition for the preseruation of mens misbeleefe For the c deuills are allured to inhabite some certaine bodies by the very creatures of d God and not their delighting in them not as other creatures doe in meates but as spirits doe in characters and signes ad-apted to their natures either by stones herbes plants liuing creatures charmes and ceremonies And this allurement they doe sutly entice man to procure them either by inspiring him with the secrets thereof or teaching him the order in a false and flattering apparition making some few schollers to them and teachers to a many more For man could neuer know what they loue and what they loathe but by their owne instructions which were the first foundations of arte Magike And then doe they get the fastest hold of mens hearts which is all they seeke and glory in when they appeare like Angells of light How euer their workes are strange and the more admired the more to be avoided which their owne natures doe perswade vs to doe for if these foule deuills can worke such wonders what cannot the glorious angells doe then Nay what cannot that GOD doe who hath giuen such power to the most hated creatures So then if humane arte can effect such rare conclusions that such as know them not would thinke them diuine effects as there was an Iron Image hung e in a certaine temple so strangely that the ignorant would haue verely beleeued they had seene a worke of GODS immediate power it hung so iust betweene two loade-stones whereof one was placed in the roofe of the temple and the other in the floore without touching of any thing at all and as there might be such a tricke of mans art in that inextinguible lampe of Venus if Magicians which the scriptures call sorcerers and enchanters can doe such are exploytes by the deuills meanes as Virgil that famous Poet relateth of an Enchantresse in these words f Haec se carminibus promittit soluere mentes Quas velit ast aliis dur as immittere curas Sistere aquam fluuiis vertere sydera retrò Nocturnosque ciâ—…t manes mugire videbis Sub pedibus terram descendere montibus Ornos She said her charmes could ease ones heart of paine Euen when she list and make him greeue againe Stop flouds bring back the stars and with her breath Rouse the black fiends vntill the earth beneath Groan'd and the trees came marching from the hills c. If all this bee possible to those how much more then can the power of GOD exceed them in working such things as are incredible to infidelity but easie to his omnipotency who hath giuen vertues vnto stones witte vnto man and such large power vnto Angells his wonderfull power exceedeth all wonders his wisdome permitteth and effecteth all and euery perticular of them and cannot hee make the most wonderfull vse of all the parts of that world that hee onely hath created L. VIVES PLacing a of some Asbest Or of a kinde of flaxe that will neuer bee consumed for such there is Plin. lib. 19. Piedro Garsia and I saw many lampes of it at Paris where wee saw also a napkin of it throwne into the middest of a fire and taken out againe after a while more white and cleane then all the sope in Europe would haue made it Such did Pliny see also as hee saith himselfe b By art magique In my fathers time there was a tombe â—…ound wherein there burned a lampe which by the inscription of the tombe had beene lighted therein the space of one thousand fiue hundered yeares and more Beeing touched it fell all to dust c Deuills are allured Of this reade more in the eight and tenth bookes of this present worke and in Psell. de Daem d And not theirs The Manichees held the deuills to bee the creators of many things which this denieth e In a certaine temple In the temple of Serapis of Alexandria Rufâ—…n Hist. Eccl. lib. 21. f Haee se Aeneid 4. Gods omnipotency the ground of all beleefe in things admired CHAP. 7. VVHy then cannot a GOD make the bodies of the dead to rise againe and the damned to suffer torment and yet not to consume seeing hee hath filled heauen earth ayre and water so full of inumerable miracles and the world which hee made beeing a greater miracle then any it containeth But our aduersaries beleeuing a God that made the world and the other gods by whom he gouerneth the world doe not deny but auoutch that there are powers that effect wonders in the world either voluntarily or ceremonially and magically but when wee giue them an instance wrought neither by man nor by spirit they answere vs it is nature nature hath giuen it this quality So then it was nature that made the Agrigentine salt melt in the fire and crackle in the water Was it so this seemes rather contrary to the nature of salt which naturally dissolueth in water and crakleth in the fire I but nature say they made this perticular salt of a quality iust opposite Good this then is the reason also of the heare and cold of the Garamantine fountaine and of the other that puts out the torch and lighteth it againe as also of the Aâ—…beste and those other all which to reherse were too tedious There is no other reason belike to bee giuen for them but such is their nature A good briefe reason verely and b a sufficient But GOD beeing the Authour of all nature why then doe they exact a stronger reason of vs when as wee in proouing that which they hold for an impossibility affirme that it is thus by the will of Almighty GOD who is therefore called Almighty because hee can doe all that hee will hauing created so
that sorrow in the Scriptures though it be not expressed so yet it is vnderstood to bee a fruitlesse repentance conâ—…oyned with a corporall torment for the scripture saith the vengeance of the flesh of the wicked is fire and the worme hee might haue said more briefely the vengance of the wicked why did hee then ad of the flesh but to shew that both those plagues the fire and the worme shal be corporall If hee added it because that man shal be thus plagued for liuing according to the flesh for it is therefore that hee incurreth the second death which the Apostle meaneth of when hee saith If yee liue after the flesh yee die but euery man beleeue as hee like either giuing the fire truely to the body and the worme figuratiuely to the soule or both properly to the body for we haue fully proued already that a creature may burne and yet not consume may liue in paine and yet not dye which he that denyeth knoweth not him that is the author of all natures wonders that God who hath made all the miracles that I erst recounted and thousand thousands more and more admirable shutting them all in the world the most admirable worke of all Let euery man therefore choose what to thinke of this whether both the fire and the worme plague the body or whether the worme haue a metaphoricall reference to the soule The truth of this question shall then appeare plaine when the knowledge of the Saints shall bee such as shall require no triall of it but onely shal be fully satisfied and resolued by the perfection and plenitude of the diuine sapience We know but now in part vntill that which is perfect be come but yet may wee not beleeue those bodies to be such that the fire can worke them no anguish nor torment L. VIVES THeir a worme Is. 66. 24. this is the worme of conscience Hierome vpon this place Nor is there any villany saith Seneca how euer fortunate that escapeth vnpunished but is plague to it selfe by wringing the conscience with feare and distrust And this is Epicurus his reason to proue that man was created to avoyd sinne because hauing committed it it scourgeth the conscience and maketh it feare euen without all cause of feare This out of Seneca â—…pist lib. â—…6 And so singeth Iuuenall in these words Exemplo quodâ—…unque malo committitur ipsi Dâ—…splicet auctori prima est haec vltio quòd se Iudice nemo nocens absoluitur c. Each deed of mischiefe first of all dislikes The authout with this whip Reuenge first strikes That no stain'd thought can cleare it selfe c. And by and by after Cur tamen hos tuâ—… Euasisse putes quos diriconscia facti Mens habet â—…ttionitos surdo verbere caedit Occultum quatiente animo tortore flagellum Poena autem vehemens multo saeuior illis Quas Ceditius grauis inuenit Rhadamanthus Nocte dieque suum gestare in pectore testem But why should you suppose Them free whose soule blackt ore with ougly deeds Affrights and teares the conscience still and feeds Reuenge by nousling terrour feare and warre Euen in it selfe O plagues farre lighter farre To beare guilts blisters in a brest vnsound Then Rhadamant or sterne Ceditius found Nay the conscience confoundeth more then a thousand witnesses Tully holdes there are no other hell furies then those stings of conscience and that the Poets had that inuention from hence In l. Pis. Pro Rosâ—… Amerin Hereof you may read more in Quintilians Orations Whether the fyre of hell if it be corporall can take effect vpon the incorporeall deuills CHAP. 10. BVt here now is another question whether this fire if it plague not spiritually but onely by a bodily touch can inflict any torment vpon the deuill and his Angels they are to remaine in one fire with the damned according to our Sauiours owne words Depart from mee you cursed into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the deuill and his Angels But the deuills according as some learned men suppose haue bodies of condensate ayre such as wee feele in a winde and this ayre is passible and may suffer burning the heating of bathes prooueth where the ayre is set on fire to heate the water and doth that which first it suffereth If any will oppose and say the deuills haue no bodies at all the matter is not great nor much to be stood vpon For why may not vnbodyed spirits feele the force of bodily fire as well as mans incorporeall soule is now included in a carnall shape and shall at that day be bound into a body for euer These spirituall deuils therefore or those deuillish spirits though strangely yet shall they bee truly bound in this corporall fire which shall torment them for all that they are incorporeall Nor shall they bee so bound in it that they shall giue it a soule as it were and so become both one liuing creature but as I sayd by a wonderfull power shall they be so bound that in steed of giuing it life they shal frÌ„o it receiue intollerable torment although the coherence of spirits and bodies whereby both become one creature bee as admirable and exceede all humaine capacitie And surely I should thinke the deuills shall burne them as the riche glutton did when hee cryed saying I am tormented in this flame but that I should be answered that that fire was such as his tongue was to coole which hee seeing Lazarus a farre of intreated him to helpe him with a little water on the tippe of his finger Hee was not then in the body but in soule onely such likewise that is incorporeall was the fire hee burned in and the water hee wished for as the dreames of those that sleepe and the vision of men in extasies are which present the formes of bodies and yet are not bodies indeed And though man see these things onely in spirit yet thinketh he him-selfe so like to his body that hee cannot discerne whether hee haue it on or no. But that hell that â—…ake of fire and brimstone shall bee reall and the fire corporall burning both men and deuills the one in flesh and the other in ayre the one iâ—… the body adhaerent to the spirit and the other in spirit onely adhaerent to the fire and yet not infusing life but feeling torment for one fire shall torment both men and Deuills Christ hath spoken it Whether it bee not iustice that the time of the paines should be proportioned to the time of the sinnes and crimes CHAP. 11. BVt some of the aduersaries of Gods citty hold it iniustice for him that hath offended but temporally to be bound to suffer paine eternally this they say is â—…ly vnâ—… As though they knew any law chat adapted the time of the punishment to the time in which the crime was committed Eight kinde of punishments dâ—…th Tully affirme the lawes to inflict Damages imprisonment whipping like for like publicke
they can afflict it no more because there is no sense in a dead body So then suppose that many of the Christians bodies neuer came in the earth what of that no man hath taken any of them both from earth and heauen haue they No And both these doth his glorious presence replenish that knowes how to restore euery Atome of his worke in the created The Psalmist indeed complayneth thus The dead a bodies of thy seruants haue they giuen to be meat vnto the foules of the ayre and the flesh of thy Saintes vnto the beastes of the earth Their bloud haue they shedde like waters round about Ierusalem and there was none to bury them But this is spoken to intimate their villany that did it rather then their misery that suffered it For though that vnto the eyes of man these actes seeme bloudie and tyranous yet pretious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints And therefore all these ceremonies concerning the dead the care of the buriall the fashions of the Sepulchers and the pompes of the funeralls are rather solaces to the liuing then furtherances to the dead b For if a goodly and ritch tombe bee any helpe to the wicked man being dead then is the poore and meane one a hindrance vnto the godly man in like case The familie of that rich c gorgeous glutton prepared him a sumptuous funerall vnto the eyes of men but one farre more sumptuous did the ministring Angels prepare for the poore vlcered begger in the sight of God They bore him not into any Sepulcher of Marble but placed him in the bosome of Abraham This do they d scoffe at against whom wee are to defend the citty of God And yet euen e their owne Philosophers haue contemned the respect of buriall and often-times f whole armies fighting and falling for their earthlie countrie went stoutly to these slaughters without euer taking thought where to be laide in what Marble tombe or in what beasts belly And the g Poets were allowed to speake their pleasures of this theame with applause of the vulgar as one doth thus Caelo tegitur qui non habet vrnam Who wants a graue Heauen serueth for his tombe What little reason then haue these miscreants to insult ouer the Christians that lie vnburied vnto whom a new restitution of their whole bodies is promised to be restored them h in a moment not onely out of the earth alone but euen out of all the most secret Angles of all the other elements wherein any body is or can possibly be included L. VIVES DEad a carcasses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 morticinia the dead flesh b For if a goodly Et eternos animam collegit in orbes Non illuc auro positi nec thure sepulti Perueniunt Lucan lib. 9. The eternall spheres his glorious spirit do holde To which come few that lye embalmd in golde c. c Gorgious of whom in the Chapter before d Scoffe at The Romanes had great care ouer their burials whence arose many obseruances concerning the religious performance thereof and it was indeed a penalty of the law hee that doth this or that let him bee cast forth vnburied and so in the declamations hee that forsakes his parents in their necessities let him bee cast forth vnburied hee that doth not declare the causes of their death before the Senate let him bee cast forth vnburied An homicide cast him out vnburied And so speakes Cicero to the peoples humour for Milo when he affirmes Clodius his carcasse to be therein the more wretched because it wanted the solemne rites and honors of buriall e Philosophers those of the Heathen as Diogenes the Cynike for one that bad his dead body should be cast vnto the dogs and foules of the ayre being answered by his friends that they would rent and teare it set a staffe by me then said he and I will beate them away with it tush you your selfe shall be sencelesse quoth they nay then quoth he what need I feare their tearing of me This also did Menippus almost all the Cyniks Cicero in his Quaestiones Tusculanae recordeth this answer of Theodorus of Cyrene vnto Lysmachus that threatned him the crosse let thy courtiers feare that quoth he but as for me I care not whether I â—…ot on the ayre or in the earth and so also saith Socrates in Plato's dialogue called Phaedo f Whole armies meaning perhaps those legions which Cato the elder speake of in his Origines that would go thether with cheerfulnesse from whence they knew they should neuer returne Nay it was no custome before Hercules his time to burie the dead that fell in warâ—… for Aelian in his Historia varia doth affirme Hercules the first inuenter of that custome g Poets to speake with the peoples approbation Lucan in his 7. booke of the Pharsalian warre speaking of the dead that Caesar forbad should bee burned or buried after hee had brought forth as his custome is many worthy and graue sentences concerning this matter at length he speaketh thus vnto Caesar Nil agis hac ira tabesne Cadauera soluat An rogus hand refert placido natura receptat Cuncta sinu In this thy wrath is worthlesse all is one Whether by fire or putrefaction Their carcasses dissolue kinde nature still Takes all into her bosome And a little after Capit omnia tellus Quae genuit caelo tegitur qui non habet vrnam Earths off-spring still returnes vnto earths wombe Who wants a graue heauen serueth for his tombe And so saith the Declamer in Seneca Nature giues euery man a graue to the shipwrackt the water wherein he is lost the bodies of the crucified droppe from their crosses vnto their graues those that are burned quick their very punishment entombes them And Virgill who appoints a place of punishment in hell for the vnburied yet in Anchises his words shewes how small the losse of a graue is That verse of Maecenas Nec tumulum curo sepelit natura relictos I waigh no tombe nature entombes the meanest Is highly commended of antiquitie The Urna was a vessell wherein the reliques and ashes of the burned body was kept h In a moment 1. Corinth 15. 52. The reasons why wee should bury the bodies of the Saints CHAP. 12. NOtwithstanding the bodies of the dead are not to be contemned and cast away chieflie of the righteous and faithfull which the holy ghost vsed as organs and instruments vnto all good workes For if the garment or ring of ones father bee so much the more esteemed of his posteritie by how much they held him dearer in their affection then is not our bodies to be despised being we weare them more neere vnto our selues then any attire whatsoeuer For this is no part of externall a ornament or assistance vnto man but of his expresse nature And therefore the funeralls of the righteous in the times of old were performed with a zealous care their burials
Ioues owne braine why is not she then made the absolut Empresse of heauen seeing yâ— she sitteth aboue Ioue Because it is not meet to make the child Lord ouer the parent why then was not that equity kept between Saturne Iupiter because Saturne was conquered why then belike they fought no yâ— gods forbid say they yâ— is but a poeticall fiction a fable well thus you see they will trust no fables they do thinke better of their gods then so but how chanceth it then that Saturne seeing hee might not sit aboue his sonne Iâ—…ue had not a seate equall with him Because i Saturne say they is nothing but the length of time well then they that worship Saturne worshippe Time and Ioue the King of all the gods is said to be borne of Time and what wrong doe we to Ioue and Iuno in saying they are borne of Time seeing that by the Paganes owne confessions they signifie Heauen and Earth both which were created in time for this the greatest schollers and k wisest of them all commend to our memory nor did Virgill speake out of fiction but out of Philosophy when he said Tum pater ommiâ—…otens saecundis imbribus Aether Coniugis in gremium laeâ—…ae descendit Almighty Aether in a fatning shower Dropt in the lappe of his glad spouse That was the Earth In which they make a difference also for herein l Terra and Tellus and Tellumon are al seueral things they say And all these they haue as gods distinct in name office and ceremoniall rites Terra m is also called the mother of the Gods besides that the poets may now faigne with farre more toleration seeing that their very bookes of religion affirme that Iuno is not only wife and sister but 〈◊〉 mother also vnto Ioue The same Earth they stile both o Ceres Vesta yet p Vesta they say most commonly is the fire and guardeth that which the citty cannot want And therefore the Virgins kept it because fire and Virginity do neuer bring forth any thing All which vanity it was fit hee onely should abolish that was borne of a Virgin But who can endure to heare them ascribe so much honor and chastity to the fire and yet not shame to call q Vesta Venus that her Virgins might haue the lesse care of the honor of virginity for if Venus were Vesta r how should the Virgins do her good seruice in abstayning from venery or s are there two Venâ—…sses the one a Virgin the other a wanton or three rather one of the virgins Vesta one of the wiues one of the whores to such an one as this last is the t Phaenicans coÌ„secrated the prostitution of their daughters before that they maried them now which of these is Vulcans wife not the Virgin she neuer had husband not the whore oh no not v Iunos sonne x Mineruas forgeâ—… be wronged Well then it was Venus the wife yet we would haue her to stand as a patterne to bee imitated for her trickes that shee playd with Mars oh now say they you runne to the fables againe why what reason is there that you should greeue to here those things at our tonges and yet explaud them on your owne stages why doth it vexe you that we should say a thing vtterly incredible but that it is so fully proued that those foule and open crimes of their gods instituted and celebrated in their publike honors and by their own commaunds L. VIVES BEcause a we place Cir. 2. de nat deor The Skie as Ennius Euripides the South-sayers and the whole world affirme is Ioue the Ayre betweene that and the Sea as the Stoicks hold is Iuno sister and wife to Ioue by reason of the ayres likenesse and nearenesse to Heauen now they made the ayre a woman because it is the softest thing that b is Neptune Saturnes three sonnes shared the world Ioue had Heauen Neptune the Sea Pluto the Earth Iuno married Ioue and was made Lady of the Ayre this fable arose from thence because that in the deuiding of the fathers kingdome Ioue got the East resembling Heauen wherein also mount Olimpus stood whose likelyhood of name added to the fiction Neptune had the nauy Dis or Pluto the west part of the realme fained to bee hell Saturne was said to bee banished into Hel because he fled from the East into Italy lying in the West c Salacia of Salum the salt fome varro the water old of faith fest was called Salacia a salum ciendo of mouing the froth so the Poet Pacuuius vseth it Neptune was a cunning seaman and made Admirall by Ioue for which posterity deified him d Proserpina Of hir before Hir mother finding her in Hell begged and obtayned of Ioue that she might be halfe the yeare with her on earth and halfe a yeare with Pluto Shee had her name A proserpendo because she crept some while this way and some while that being all one with the Moone and the earth Uarro you may read of her rape almost euery where e foure First fire then ayre then water and lastly earth f skie Heauen it selfe and the vpper region of the aire they called Ethaer or the skie the lower parts ayre onely though the Poets confound them g Minerua daughter of Ioue and Themis saith Euhemerus Hist. sacr There were fiue Mineruas but the Poets confound them all Tull. de nat deor One was borne they say of Ioues braine and is the Goddesse of all wisdome and therefore was held so borne and a Virgine and her throne was counted the highest in heauen Martian Nupt. lib. 6. Virgo armata deceas rerum sapientia Pallas Aetherius fomes mens solertia fâ—…ti Ingenium mundi prudentia sacra tonantis Aâ—…dor doctificus nostraeque industria sortis Quae faâ—…is arbiâ—…ium sapientis praeuia curae Aâ—… rationis apex diuumque hom númque sacer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vlâ—…a terga means rapidi ac splendentis Olympi Celsior vna Ioue flammantis circulus aetâ—…rae Paslas thou armed Virgin wisdomes wonder Fate iudging faire fount of Aethereall light Worlds vnderstanding and arbritreâ—…e of thunder Arâ—…s ardor spring wherein man cleares his sight Discretions arch which reason raigneth vnder Essence in gods and men suâ—… mounting bright Towrâ—…ng beyond the Spheares and all in fire Thron'd aboue Ioue far brighter and far higher h in the capitol Now Ioue almighty saith Tully that rulest all and then Iuno his fellow and thou Pallas Minerua and all you gods that inhabite the capitoll c. Pro equit in exil Tarquiâ—… Priscus in the Sabine warre vow'd a temple to Ioue Iuno and Minerua and playned the top of Mount Tarpeius to make a place for it to stand in but was slaine â—…e hee had laid the foundation so it was renewed and finished by Tarquin the proud and called the capitoll because of a mans head that was found in digging the foundation Before this there was a temple to Ioue Iuno and Minerua on Floras
cliffe Diodor. Sicul. i Because Saturne was sonne to Caelus and Terra a most vngratious flellow but quitted by his Sonne Ioue who expelled him as he had expelled his father and so made the prouerbe true Do as as you would be done vnto Hereafter he was called the god of time Hesiod Euhem Diod Cicero Saturne is he they say that diuides and distinguishes the times and therefore the Greekes call him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is spâ—…ce of time Hee was called Saturnus quasi Satur annis full of yeares and was faygned by the Poets to deuour his children because time deuoures all things He was imprisoned by Ioue that is limited by the starres from running too wild a course k their wisest Uarro de ling. lat lib. 3. calles Iuno both Terra and Tellus Plutarch interpreteth Iuno the earth and the nuptial coniunction of man and wife Euseb de prep Euang Seruius saith that Ioue is put for the sky and the ayre Iuno for earth and water l â—…Herein Terra Terra is the earth it selfe Tellus a diminutiue the goddesse of the earth though the Poets confound them yet they alwaies said Tellus her temple and not Terra's Pluto also and Proserp were called Tellumo and Tellus also Altor and Runsor were both his names and hee had charge of all earths businesse so that some say hee was Ceres Sonne Diodor. lib. 6. Porpheryus calles one part of the earth Uizy the fat and fertile Ceres and the craggy hilly and stony Ops or Rhea Euseb. de praep Euang where he saith much of these things lib. 3. m is also namely Rhea n Mother for as she was Iuno she was his wife and sister and as she was Ops his mother o Ceres the earth is called Ceres a Gerendo of bearing corne or of Cereo to create Varro Tully out of Chrisppus for the earth is mother to all Pluto in Cratyl She was daughter vnto Saturne and Ops Sister to Uesta and Iuno all these sisters and mothers they say is but onely earth Ouid. Fast. 6. Vesâ—… eadem est terra subest subit ignis vtrique Significat sedâ—… terra socusque suam Vaesta is earth and fire earth vndergoeth The name and so doth fire Vaesta's both And a little after Staâ—… vâ—… 〈◊〉 sud vi stando Vesta vocatur Earth stands alone and therefore Vesta hight To this doth Orpheus and Plato both assent p yet Vesta Cic. de nat deor for Uesta is deriued from the Greekes being called with them Hestia her power is ouer fires and altars de legib 2 Vesta is aâ—… the citties fire in Greeke which word we vse almost vnchanged Ouid East 6. Nec in 〈◊〉 Uestam quam viuam intellige flammam Nataque de flamma corpâ—…ra nulla vides Thinke Vesta is the fire that burneth still That nere brought creature forth nor euer will And being a fire and called a Virgin therefore did virgins attend it and all virginity was sacred vnto it first for the congruence of society and then of nature which was alike in both this custome arose in Aegipt and spred farre through the Greekes and the Barbarian countries Diodor. It was kept so at Athens and at Delphos Plutar. Strabo Uaestas sacrifices and rites came from Ilium to Latium and so to Rome by Romulus his meanes and therfore Virgill calles her often times the Phrigian vesta Sic ait et manibus vittas vestamque potenten Aeternumque adytis effert penetralibus ignem This said he bringeth forth eternall Fire Almighty Vaesta and her pure attire Speaking of Panthus the Troyan Priest There was then for euery Curia a Vaesta Dionis but Numa built the temple of the first publike Vesta In the yeare of the citty X L. as Ouid accompteth q Uesta Venus naturally for the naturalists call the vpper hemisphere of the earth Uenus and Vesta also the nether Proserpina Plotinus calleth the earths vertue arising from the influence of Venus Uesta Besides Vesta being the worlds fire and the fatnesse comming from Venns there is little difference in respect of the benefit of the vniuerse so that Vesta was euery where worshipped not as barren but as fruitfull and augmentatiue making the citties and nations happy in eternall and continuall increase r How should The punishment of an vnchast Uestall was great but after thirty yeares they might leaue the profession and marry s is there two so saith Plato In Conuiuio Heauenly procuring excellence of conditions earthly prouoking vnto lust the first daughter to Caelus the later to Ioue and Dione much younger then the first There was also a Uenus that stirred vp chast thoughts And therefore when the Romaine women ranne almost mad with lust they consecrated a statue of Uenus verticordia out of the Sibills bookes which might turne the hearts from that soule heate vnto honesty Ualer lib. 8. Ouid. Fast 4. t Phaenicians This Iustin reporteth of the Cipprians lib. 18. It was their custom saith he at certen set daies to bring their daughters to the sea shore ere they were married and there to prostitute them for getting of their dowries offring to Venus for the willing losse of their chastities I thinke this was Uenus her law left vnto the Ciprians whome shee taught first to play the mercenary whores Lactant. The Armenians had such anther custome Strabo and the Babilonians being poore did so with their daughters for gaine The Phenicians honored Uenus much for Adonis his sake who was their countryman they kept her feasts with teares and presented her mourning for him Macrob. She had a Statue on Mount Libanus which leaned the head vpon the hand and was of a very sad aspect so that one would haue thought that true teares had fallen from hir eyes That the deuills brought man-kind to this wil be more apparant saith Eusebius if you consider but the adulteries of the Phaenicians at this day in Heliopolis and elsewhere they offer those filthy actes as first fruits vnto their gods Euseb. de praeparat Euang which I haue set downe that men might see what his opinion was hereof though my copy of this worke of his be exceeding falsly transcribed This custome of prostitution the Augilares of Africke did also vse that maried in the night Herodot Solin Mela. The Sicae also of the same country ' practised the same in the Temple of Uenus the matron Ualer The Locrians being to fight vowed if they conquered to prostitute all their daughters at Uenus feast v Iunos Sonne It may bee Mars that lay with Uenus and begot Harmonias for hee was Iunos sonne borne they faigned without a father because they knew not who was his father It may be Mars by that which followes cooperarius Mineruâ—… for both are gods of warre but It is rather ment of Vulcan sonne to Ioue and Iuno though vsually called Iunos sonne and Apator who was a Smith in Lemnos and husband vnto Venus that lay with Mars So it were Vulcans wrong to
slew him as hee was vpon going into Italy Hee was a religious Christian Prince This of him and the rest here mentioned I haue from Eutropius Paulus Diaconus Oros. and Pomp. Laetus l Pompey Ptolomyes guard flew him in a boate before all the people of Alexandria looking on them An vn worthy death for so worthy a man Liu. Flor. Plutarch Lucane Appian m Theodosius He was a Spaniard Gratian at Syrmium made him his fellow Emperor with the peoples great applause being a man both vertuous and valiant descended from Traian and they say like him in person He tooke Maximus at Aquileia and beheaded him n A yonger Valentinian Of the faith and deuotion of Theodosius Emperor CHAP. 26. SO he did not onely keepe the faith which hee ought him in his life time but like a Christian indeede receiued his little brother Valentinian into his protection and defence when Maximus his murderer had chased him from his state and held the care of a father ouer him which he needed not haue done but might easilyly haue taken all to himselfe had his ambition ouerpoysed his religion But he preserued his state imperiall for him and gaue him all the comfort honest courtesie could bestowe And when as the good fortune of Maximus begot him a terrible name Theodosius did not creepe into a corner of his Palace with wizards and coniurers but sent to b Iohn that liued in a wild ernesse of Aegipt whome he had hard was graced from God by the spirit of prophecy to him sent hee and receiued a true promise of victory So soone after hauing killed the tyrant Maximus he restored the c child Valentinian to this empire from whence he was driuen shewing him all the reuerend loue that could be and when this child was slaine as hee was soone after either by treachery or by some other casualty and that Eugenius another tyrant was vnlawfully stept vp in his place receiuing another answer from the prophet his faith being firme hee fetched him downe from his vsurped place rather by prayer then power for the soldiors that were in the battell on the vsurpers side told it vnto vs that there came such a violent wind from Theodosius his side that it smote their darts forth of their hands and if any were throwen it tooke them presently in an instant and forced them vpon the faces of those that threw them And therefore d Claudian though no Christian sings this well of his praise O nimiuâ—… dilâ—…cte deo cui militat aethaer â—…t coniurati veniunt ad clâ—…ssica venti O god's belou'd whomâ—… powers aereall And winds come arm'd to helpe when thou dost callâ—… And being victor according to his faith and presage hee threw downe certaiue Images of Iupiter which had beene consecrated I know not with what ceremonies against him and mirthfully and kindly e gaue his footemen their thunderboults who as they well might iested vpon them because they were glad and said they would abide their flashes well inough for the sonnes of his foe some of them fell in the fight not by his command others being not yet Christians but flying into the Church by this meanes hee made Christians and loued them with a Christian charyty nor diminishing their honoures a whit but adding more to them He suffered no priuat grudges to bee held against any one after the victory He vsed not these ciuill warres like as Cynna Marius and Syâ—… did that would not haue them ended f when they were ended but he rather sorrowed that they were begun then ended then to any mans hurt And in all these troubles from his reignes beginning hee forgot not to assist and succouâ—… the labouring Church by all the wholesome lawes which hee could promulgate against the faithlesse g Valens an Arrian heretike hauing done much hurt therein wherof he reioyced more to be a member then an earthly Emperour He commanded the demolition of all Idols of the Gentiles knowing that not so much as earthly blessings are in the diuells power but all and each particular in Gods And what was there euer more memorable then that religious h humility of his when being euen forced by his attendants to reuenge the iâ—…iury offered him by the Thessalonicans vnto whome notwithstanding at the Bishoppes intreaties hee had promised pardon hee was excommunicaâ—… and showed such repentaunce that the people intreating for him rather did lament to see the imperiall Maiesty so deiected then their feared his warâ—… when they had offended These good workes and a tedious roll of such like did he beare away with him out of this transitory smoake of all kinde of humaine glory their rewarde is eternall felicitie giuen by the true God onely to the good For the rest be they honors or helpes of this life as the world it selfe light ayre water earth soule sence and spirit of life this he giueth promilcually to good and bad and so he doth also with the greatnesse and continuance of the temporall Empires of all men whith he bestoweth on either sort as he pleaseth L. VIVES WHen a as Andragathius one of Maximus his Countes an excellent souldior and a cunning leader managed all the warre and with his trickes brought Theodosius to many shrewd plunges b Iohn An Anchorite that had the spirit of prophecie presaging many things and this victory of Theodosius amongst others Prosper Aquitan Theodosius sent often to him for counsell in difficult matters Diacon c The childe He made him being Gratians brother Emperor of the West but Arbogastes Count of Uienna slew him by treachery set vp Eugenius and with a mighty power of Barbarians stopped the passage of the Alpes to keepe Theodoâ—…s back The godly Prince fasted and prayed all the night before the battle and the next day fought with them though being farre their inferiour in number and yet by gods great and miraculous power gotte a famous victory Eugenius was taken and put to death Arbogastes slew himselfe d Claudian Most men hold him an Aegiptian and so Posidonius that liued with him and was his familiar affirmeth Not Posidonius the Rhodian but a certaine Prelate of Africa He was borne to Poetry elegantly wittied but a little superstitious There is a Poeme of Christ vnder his name perhaps he made it to please Honorius for he was a great flatterer The verses here cited are in his Panegyrike vpon Honorius his third Consulship written rather in his praise then vpon Theodosius though he speake of this victory at the Alpes which like a scurrilous flatterer hee rather ascribeth to Honorius his fate and felicity then to Theodosius his piety For thus hee saith Victoria velox Auspiciis effecta tuis pugnastis vterque Tu fatis genitorque manu te propter Alpeâ—… Inuadi faciles cauto nec profuit hosti Munitis haesisse lâ—…cis spes irrita valli Concidâ—… scopulis patuerunt claustra reuulsis Te propter gelidis Aquilo de monte procellis
for the thing it selfe and a flaggon a set in Libers 〈◊〉 to signifie wine taking the continent for the contained so by that huâ—… shape the reasonable soule in the like included might bee expressed of 〈◊〉 â—…ure they say that God or the gods are These are the mysticall doctrines 〈◊〉 â—…is sharpe witt went deepe into and so deliuered But tell mee thou accâ—…n hast thou lost that iudgement in these mysteries that made thee say that they that first made Images freed the Cittie from all awe and added error to error and that the old Romaines serued the gods in better order without any statues at all They were thy authors for that thou spokest against their successors For had they had statues also perhaps feare would haue made thee haue suppressed thy opinion of abolishing Images and haue made thee haue sought further for these vaine Mythologies and figments for thy soule so learned and so ingenious which we much bewaile in thee by being so ingratefull to that God by whom not with whom it was made nor was a part of him but a thing made by him who is not the life of all things but all lifes maker could neuer come to his knowledge by these mysteries But of what nature and worth they are let vs see Meane time this learned man affirmeth the worlds soule intirely to bee truly God so that all his Theologie being naturall extendeth it selfe euen to the nature of the reasonable soule Of this naturall kinde hee speaketh briefly in his booke whence we haue this wherein wee must see whether all his mysticall wrestings can bring the naturall to the ciuill of which he discourseth in his last booke of the select Gods if he can all shall be naturall And then what need hee bee so carefull in their distinction But if they be rightly diuided seeing that the naturall that he liketh so of is not true for hee comes but to the soule not to God that made the soule how much more is the ciuill kinde vntrue and subiect that is all corporall and conuersant about the body as his owne interpretations being dilligently called out shall by my rehearsall make most apparent L. VIVES FLaggon a Oenophorum of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wine and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to carry Iuuenall vseth the word Sat. 6. and Apuleius Asin. l. 2. 8. and Martiall Pliny saith it was a worke of the rare painter Praxitales but he meanes a boy bearing wine Beroaldus out of this place gathereth that they vsed to set a flaggon of wine in Bacchus temple It is more then hee can gather hence though it may be there was such an vse Of Varro his opinion that God was the soule of the world and yet had many soules vnder him in his parts all which were of the diuine nature CHAP. 6. THe same Varro speaking further of this Physicall Theology a saith that he holds God to be the soule of the world which the Greekes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and b that this world is God But as a whole man body and soule is called wise of the soule onely so is the world called God in respect of the soule onely being both soule and body Here seemingly he confesseth one God but it is to bring in more for so he diuides the world into heauen and earth heauen into the ayre and the skie earth into land and water all which foure parts he filles with soules the skye c highest the ayre next then the water and then the earth the soules of the first two hee maketh immortall the latter mortall The space betweene the highest heauen and the Moone hee fills with soules ethereall and starres affirming that they both are and seeme celestiall Gods d Betweene the Moone and the toppes of the windes he bestoweth ayry soules but inuisible saue to the minde calling them Heroes Lares and Genij This he briefly recordeth in his prologue to his naturall Theologie which pleased not him alone but many Philosophers more whereof with Gods helpe we will discourse at full when wee handle the ciuill Theologie as it respecteth the select gods L. VIVES THeology a saith The Platonists Stoiks Pythagorians and the Ionikes before them all held God to bee a soule but diuersly Plato gaue the world a soule and made them conioyned god But his other god his Mens he puts before this later as father to him The Stoikes and hee agree that agree at all Thales and Democritus held the worlds soule the highest god b That this Plato the Stoikes and many Phylosophers held this c Skie the highest Aristotle puts the fire aboue the ayre and the heauen the Platonists held the heauen to be fiery and therefore called Aether And that the ayre next it was a hurtlesse fire kindled by it This many say that Plato heldâ—… following Pythagoras who made the vniuersall globe of 4. bodies But Uarro heere maketh ayre to be next heauen as the Stoikes did especially and others also Though the Platoâ—… and they differ not much nor the Peripatetiques if they speak as they meane and be rightly vnderstood But aether is the aire as well as the skie and fire as caelum is in latine Virgil. Illa leuem fugiens raptim secat aethera pennis With swift-wing'd speede she cuts the yeelding aire a 〈◊〉 the moone The first region of the Ayre Aristotle in his Physicks ending at the toppe of the cloudes the second contayning the cloudes thunder rayne hayle and snowâ—… the 〈◊〉 from thence to the Element of fire Whether it stand with reason that Ianus and Terminus should bee two godees CHAP. 7. I 〈◊〉 therfore whome I begun with what is he The a world Why this is a plaine and brief answer but why hath b he the rule and beginnings then and another one Terminus of the ends For therfore they haue two c months dedicated to them Ianuary to Ianus and February to Terminus And so the d Terminaâ—… then kept when the e purgatory sacrifice called f Februm was also kept 〈◊〉 the moneth hath the name Doth then the beginning of things belong to the â—…ld to Ianus and not the end but vnto another Is not al things beginning 〈◊〉 world to haue their end also therein What fondnesse is this to giue him 〈◊〉 â—…se a power and yet a double face were it not better g to call that double-faced statue both Ianus and Terminus and to giue the beginnings one face and the 〈◊〉 another because he that doth an act must respect both For in all actions 〈◊〉 that regardeth not the beginning fore-seeth not the end So that a respectiue memory and a memoratiue prouidence must of force go together But if they imagine that blessednes of life is but begun and not ended in this world and that therefore the world Ianus is to haue but power of the beginnings why then they should put Terminus amongst the selected gods before him For though they were both imploied about one subiect yet Terminus should haue
altogether execrable or els the gods were showne by them to bee none but men departed whome worm-eaten antiquity perswaded the world to bee gods whereas they were deuills that delighted in those obscaene mynisteries and vnder their names whom the people held diuine got place to play their impostures and by illusiue miracles to captiuate all their soules But it was by gods eternall secret prouidence that they were permitted to confesse all to Nâ—…a who by his Hydromancy was become their friend and yet not to warne him rather to burne them at his death then to bury them for they could neither withstand the plough that found them nor Varro's penne that vnto all memory hath recorded them For the deuills cannot exceed their direct permission which GOD alloweth them for their merits that vnto his iustice seeme either worthy to be onely afflicted or wholy seduced by them But the horrible danger of these bookes and their distance from true diuinity may by this bee gathered that the senate chose rather to burne them that Numa had but hidden then e to feare what hee feared that durst not burne them Wherefore he that will neither haue happinesse in the future life nor godlinesse in the present let him vse these meanes for eternity But hee that will haue no society with the deuill let him not feare the superstition that their adoration exacteth but let him sticke to the true religion which conuinceth and confoundeth all their villanies and abhominations L. VIVES TO a Hydromancy Diuination by water Diuination generally was done by diuers means either by Earth Gâ—…mancy or by fire Pyromancy or Ignispicina found by Amphiarans as Pliny saith or by smoake Capâ—…mancy or by birds Augury or by intrailes Aruspicina vsed much by the Hetrurians and by Ianus Apollo's sonne amongst the Heleans and after him by Thrasibulus who beheld a dogge holding the cut liuer or by a siue called Coscinomancy oâ—… by hatchets Axinomancy or by Hearbes Botinomancy the witches magike or by dead bodies Nâ—…mancy or by the starres Astrologie wherein the most excellent are called Chaldees though neuer borne in Caldaea or by lottes Cleromancy or by lines in the hand Chiromancy or by the face and body Physiognâ—…my or by fishes Icthyomancy this Apuleius was charged with or by the twinckling and motion of the eies called Saliatio the Palmique augury Then was there interpretation of dreames and visions or sights of thunder or lightning noyses sneezings voices and a thousand such arts of inuoking the deuills which are far better vnnamed Hydromancy I haue kept vnto the last because it is my theame It is many-fold done either in a glâ—…sse bottle full of water wherein a Childe must looke and this is called Gastromancy of the glasses belly or in a basen of water which is called Lecanomancie in which Strabo sayth the Asians are singular Psellus de damonibus affirmeth this also and sheweth how it is done that the deuills creepe in the bottome and send sorth a still confused found which cannot bee fully vnderstood that they may be held to say what euer 〈◊〉 to passe and not to lye Many also in springs did see apparitions of future things 〈◊〉 â—…aith that in Aegina a part of Achaia there is a temple of Ceres and a fountaine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein sick persons after their offring sacrifice behold the end or continuance of 〈◊〉 â—…ses Iamblichus tells of a caue at Colophon wherein was a Well that the Priest haâ—…â—…ifice certaine set nights tasted of and presently became inuisible and gaue anâ—…â—…at asked of him And a woman in Branchis saith he sat vpon an Axle-tree and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a rod that one of the goddesses gaue her or dipping her foote or skirt in the water so 〈◊〉 â—…d prophecied Apulcius writeth out of Uarro that the Trallians inquiring by 〈◊〉 of the end of the warre of Mithridates one appeared in the water like Mercurie 〈◊〉 that looked in it and sung the future successe of the war in 360. verses but because of â—…tion of the boy I thinke hee meanes Gastromancie Apolog. de Magia This last 〈◊〉 Nâ—…a vse in a fountaine Plutarch saith that there were women in Germanie that 〈◊〉 euents by the courses noyse and whirle-pittes of riuers In his life of Caesar. 〈◊〉 Pythagoras A carefull respect of the times for Numa was dead long before 〈◊〉 was borne Some say that he was Pythagoras his scholler and Ouid for one they all 〈◊〉 â—…ror is lighter in a Poet then in an Historiographer c Caesar Dictator and Priest 〈◊〉 dedicates his Antiquities d Aegeria Some held her to be one of the Muses 〈◊〉 called the wood where shee vsed Lucus Camaenarum the Muses wood Some 〈◊〉 but a water-nimphe and that after Numa his death Diana turned her into a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith she was called Aegeria ab egerendo of putting forth because the great 〈◊〉 sâ—…rificed vnto her for the ayde shee was thought to giue them in the deliueâ—… 〈◊〉 â—…estus e To feare For Numa durst not burne them for feare of prooâ—…â—…nger against him Finis lib. 7. THE CONTENTS OF THE eight booke of the City of God 1. Of the questions of naturall theology to be handled with the most excellent Philosophers chapter 1. 2. Of the two kinds of Philosophers Italian and Ionian 3. Of the Socraticall discipline 4. Of Plato the chiefe of Socrates his schollers who dâ—…d philosophy into three kinds 5. That the chiefe controuersie with the Plâ—…sts is about theologie and that all the Pâ—…rs opinions heereof are inferior to theâ—…y 6. How the Platonists conceiued of the naturall part of Philosophy 7. The excellency of the Platonists aboue the rest in logick 8. That the Platonists are to be preferred in Morallity also 9. Of the Philosophy that commeth nearest chrtianity 10. What the excellence of a religions christian is in these philosophicall artes 11. Whence Plato might haue that knowledge that brought hiâ—… so neare the christian doctrine 12. That the Platonists for all their good opâ—… of the true GOD yet neuerthelesse held thaâ—… worship was to be giuen to many 13. Of Platoes affirmation that the gods were all good and louers of vertue 14. Of such as hold three kinds of reasonable soules In the gods In ayery spirits and in Men. 15. That neither the ayry spirits bodies 〈◊〉 hight of place make them excell men 16. What Apuleius the Platonist held concerning the qualities of those ayry spirits 17. Whether it becomes a Man to worsâ—… those spirits from whose guilt he should be pâ—…e 18. Of that religion that teacheth that those spirits must bee mens Aduocates to the good Gods 19. Of the wickednesse of art magick depending on these wicked spirits ministry 20. Whether it bee credible that good Gods had rather conuerse with those spirits then wiâ—…h Men. 21. Whether the Gods vse the diuills as their messengers and be willing that they should 22. The renouncing of the worship of those spirits against Apuleius 23. Hermes Trismegistus his
far different manner then that composition of the bodies k The body Vâ—…gil Georg. 4. Aeneid 6. reciteth Pythagoras his opinion singing of God that is the worlds soule whence each one drawes a life at his originall and returnes it at his death But because it may be doubted how all soules haue one originall sence one vnderstandeth better then another and vseth reason more perfectly this difference he held did proceed from the body and not from the soules For these are his wordes Principâ—… Calum at Terras Camposque liquentes â—…temque Globune terrae Titaniaque astra Spâ—…s intus alit totamque infusa per artus Mens agiâ—…at moleâ—… magno se corpore miscet c. Heauen Earth and Sea each in his proper bound The Moones bright globe and all the spangled round A spirit within doth feed doth mooue and passe Through euery parcell of this spatious masse All â—…hich is explayned at full by Seruius the Gramarian Porphyry confesseth with Pythagoras 〈◊〉 the soule suffereth with the body whose affects good or bad redound in part vnto the 〈◊〉 yet denieth hee that they alter the soules nature De sacrificijs lib. 4. How the platonists conceiued of the naturall part of Phylosophy CHAP. 6. WHerefore ' these Phylosophers whom fame we see hath worthily preferred 〈◊〉 before the rest did wel perceiue that God was a no bodily thing therfore paâ—…â—…rther then al bodies in this inuestigatioÌ„ they saw that no b mutable thing 〈◊〉 and therfore went further then al mutable spirits and soules to seek for 〈◊〉 â—…gain they saw that c al formes of mutable things whereby they are what 〈◊〉 of what nature soeuer they be haue originall from none but him that is 〈◊〉 vnchangeable Consequently neither the body of this vniuerse the fiâ—…â—…alities motions and Elements nor the bodies in them all from heauen to 〈◊〉 â—…her vegetatiue as trees or sensitiue also as beasts or reasonable also as 〈◊〉 those that need no nutriment but subsist by them-selues as the Angels 〈◊〉 being but from him who hath only simple being For in him d to be and 〈◊〉 â—…ffer not as if he might haue being without life neither to liue and to 〈◊〉 â—…d as if he could haue life without intellect nor to vnderstand and to bee 〈◊〉 â—…s if he could haue the one and not the other But his life vnderstanâ—… beatitude are all but his being From this invariable and simple essence 〈◊〉 they gathered him to bee the vncreated Creator of all existence For they 〈◊〉 â—…ed that all thinges are eyther body or life that the e life excelleth the 〈◊〉 â—…hat sensibility is but a species of the body but vnderstanding of the life 〈◊〉 â—…fore they preferred intellect before sence Sensible things are those 〈◊〉 to be seen or touched Intelligible can only be vnderstood by the minde 〈◊〉 is no bodily sweetnesse be it in the body as beauty or in motion as 〈◊〉 â—…ll song but the minde doth iudge therof which it could not doe if this 〈◊〉 â—…ere not in it more excellent then eyther in that quantity of body or 〈◊〉 â—…se of voyces and keeping of tones and times Yet if it were not mutable 〈◊〉 â—…ld not iudge better then another of these sensible species nor one be wittiâ—…â—…inger or more exercised then another but he that began after should 〈◊〉 much as he that learned before and he that profited after should bee vnâ—… from his ignorance before but that which admitteth maiority or minoriâ—… angeable doubtlesse And therfore these learned men did well obserue 〈◊〉 first forme of things could not haue existence in a subiect mutable And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beholding degrees of diuersity in the formes of soules and bodies and 〈◊〉 the seperation of al forme from theÌ„ directly destroied theÌ„ this infered aneâ—…ty of some vnchangeable and consequently an all-excelling forme this they 〈◊〉 the beginning of all thinges vncreated all creating exceeding right This 〈◊〉 they knew of God he did manifest vnto them by teaching them the graduâ—…â—…emplation of his parts invisible by his workes visible as also his eternity â—…inity who created all things both visible and temporary Thus much of 〈◊〉 Physiology or naturall Phylosophy L. VIVES GOD a was no body This Alcinous in Plato's doctrine argueth thus If God were a 〈◊〉 hee should haue substance and forme for so haue all bodies being like the Idea's wherein they haâ—…e a secret resemblance But to say God hath substance and forme is absurd for he should â—…thor be the beginning nor vncompounded Therefore hee hath no body Besides euery body is of some substance What then shall GOD bee of fire or ayre earth or water Nor of these are beginnings but rather haue a later being then the substance whereof they consist â—…ut these are blasphemies the truth is GOD is incorporeall If he were a body hee were generated and therefoâ—…e corruptible But farre are those thinges from GOD. Thus farre Alcinous b No mutable Plato in Timaeus calls God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c one the same and alwaies like him-selfe as Tully translates it Alcinous saith hee must needes bee an intelligible substance Of which kind the soule is better theâ—… what is not the soule but the power that is perpetually actual excelleth that which is potentiall such therefore is God c All formes In Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Tully others interprete it d To bee and to liue Alcinous saith that God is supreme eternall ineffable selfe-perfect needing nothing eternally absolute Deity cause of all bâ—…ing truth harmony good and all these in one and one For I count them not as dis-ioyned but coessentiall And a little â—…ter he saith that God is incomprehensible onely apparant to the thought but conteyned vnder no kinde what-soeuer not definable nor specificall nor subiect to any accident to say hee is euill were wickednesse and to say hee is good is insufficient for then hee should participate of goodnesse but hee hath neyther difference nor accident This opinion did Dionisius the Diuine follow denying wisedome life or vnderstanding to be in god For these are the names of particular perfections which are not in God This seemes to bee grounded on Plato's wordes in Phadon that all good is such by participation of good but there hee excepteth true good that is doubtlesse God the Idea and essence of all beautifull goodnesse e Life excelleth He cals the soule life as Aristotle doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perfection or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any thing eternally actuall both may bee said of the soule But Plato speaking of soules meaneth it seemes onely the rationall The excellency of the Platonists aboue the rest in logicke CHAP. 7. NOw as concerning the other part of their a doctrine called logicke farre bee it from vs to ioyne them in comparison with those fellowes that fetched the iudgement of truth from the bodily sences and held all things to bee swayed by their false and
before the other the other spent their wittes in seeking out of the causes of things the meanes of learning and order of life these knowing GOD found thâ—… their was both the cause of the whole creation the light of all true learning and the fount of all felicity So that what Platonists or others soeuer held thâ—…s of GOD they held as we doe But wee choose rather to deale with the a Plâ—…tonists then others because their workes are most famous for both the Greekes whose language is very greatly ' esteemed of the nations doâ—… preserue and extoll them and the Latines mooued by their excelleâ—… and glory learning them more willingly themselues and by recordiâ—… them in their tongues also left them the more illustrious and plaine to vs and to all posterity L. VIVES VVIth the a Platonists From Plato and Aristotles time vnto Aphrodiseus that liued vnder Seuerus and his sonne Aristotle was rather named amongst the learned then either read or vnderstood Aprodiseus first aduentured to explaine him and did set many on to search farther into the author by that light hee gaue yet did Plato keepe aboue him still vntill the erection of publike schooles in France and Italy that is as long as the Greeke and Latine tongues were in account but when learning grew Mercenary and Mimicall all their aime was gaine and contention and verbosity and sond subtility with vile fained wordes of arte and friuolous quillets then was Aristotles logike and physikes held fit for their purpose and many better bookes of his throwne aside But as for Plato because they vnderstood him not nay and Aristotle much lesse yet because hee teacheth no trickes oh neuer name him I speake not this to imply Aristotles learning more insufficient then Plato's but it is a shame that Plato a holy Philosopher should bee thrust by and Aristotles best part also and the rest so read that he must speake their pleasures beeing such fooleries as not Aristotle no not any mad man of his time would haue held or divulged Whence Plato might haue that knowledge that brought him so neare the Christian doctrine CHAP. 11. NOw some of our Christians admire at these assertions of Plato comming soneere to our beleefe of God So that some thinke that at his going to Egipt hâ—…e heard the Prophet a Hieremye or got to read some of the prophets bookes in his trauell these opinions I haue b else-where related But by all true chronicles supputation Plato was borne an 100. yeares after Ieremy prophecied Plato liued 81. yeares and from his death to the time that Ptolomy King of Egipt demanded the Hebrew prophecies and had them translated by the 70. Iewes that vnderstood the greeke also is reckned almost 60. yeares So that Plato in his trauell could neither see Hieremy beeing dead nor read the scriptures beeing not as yet translated into the greeke which he vnderstood c vnlesse as he was of an infatigable studie he had had them read by an interpretor yet so as hee might not translate them or coppy them which Ptolomy as a friend might intreate or as a King command but onely carry away what he could in his memory Some reason there is for this because Genesis beginneth thus In the beginning GOD treated heauen and earth and the earth was without forme and voide and darkenesse â—…as vpon the deepe the Spirit of GOD mooued vpon the wateâ—…s And Plato in his d Tiâ—…s saith that GOD first e ioyned the earth and the fire Now it is certaine that f hee meaneth heauen by fire so that here is a correspondence with the other In the beginning GOD created heauen and earth Againe hee saith that the two g meanes conioyning these extremities are water and ayre this some may thinke he had from the other The spirit of GOD mooued vpon the waters not minding in what sence the scripture vseth the word Spirit and because h ayre is a spirit therefore it may bee hee gathered that hee collected 4. elements from this place And whereas hee saith a Philosopher is a louer of God thâ—…re is nothing better squareth with the holy scriptures but that especially which maketh mee almost confesse that Plato wanted not these bookes that whereas the Angel that brought Gods word to Moyses being asked what his name was that bad him goe free the Israelites out of Egipt answered his name was i I am that I am And thus shalt thou say to the children of Israell I am hath sent me to you as if that in comparison of that which truely is being immutable the things that are immutable are not Plato stuck hard vpon this and commended it highly And I maâ—…e a doubt whether the like be to be found in any one that euer wrote before Plate except in that booke when it was first written so I am that I am and thou shalt tell them that I am sent me to you But wheresoeuer he had it out of others bookes before him or as the Apostle saith Because that which is knowne of God is manifest vnto them for God hath shewed it them For the inuisible things of him that iâ—… his eternall power and god-head are seene by the creation of the world being considered in his workes This maketh mee chose to deale with the Platonists in our intended question of naturall Theology namely whether the seruice of one GOD or many suffice for the felicity of the life to come For as touching the seruice of one or many for the helpes of this temporall life I thinke I haue said already sufficient L. VIVES PRophet a Hieremy Hee went with the two Tribes Beniamin and Iuda into Egipt and was there stoned at Tanis there the inhabitants honour him for the present helpe his tombe giues theÌ„ against the stinging of serpents b Else-where De Doctr. xpian 2. Eusebâ—… saith Hieremy began to prophecy the 36. Olympiade and Plato was borne the 88. of the Septuagines hereafter c Unlesse as he was Iustin Martyr in Paracl ad gent Euseb. de prâ—…p Theodor. de Graec. affect all affiâ—…me that Plato had much doctrine from the Hebrew bookes Herevpon Numenius the Philosopher said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what is Plato but Moyfes made Athenian And Aristobulus the Iewe writting to Philometoâ—… saith as Eusebius citeth it Plato did follow our law in many things for his diuers allegations haue prooued him an obseruer of it in particular things and that in many For the Pentateâ—…ch was translated before Alexanders time yea before the Persian Monarchy whence hee and Pythagoras had both very much d Timaeus So because Timaeus the Locrian is induced as disputing of the worâ—…d hâ—… had Plato heard in Italy and he wrote of the world in the dorike tongue out of which booke Plato hath much of his doctrine e Ioyned the earth The words are traâ—…slated by Tully thus Corporeum aspectabilem itemque tractabilem esse necessarium est nihil porrò igni vacuum
saith he exceeding in power and goodnesse and the causes contayning all are wretched if they be drawne down by meale fond were their goodnesse if they had no other meanes to shew it and abiect their nature if it were bound from contemning of meale which if they can doe why come they not into a good minde sooner then into good meale d Doe hold Porphyry saith those euill Demones deceiue both the vulgar and the wise Philosophers and they by their eloquence haue giuen propagation to the error For the deuils are violent false counterfeits dissemblers seek to imbezell gods worship There is no harme but they loue it and put on their shapes of gods to lead vs into deuillish errors Such also are the soules of those that die wicked For their perturbations of Ire concupiscence and mallce leaue them not but are vsed by these soules being now become deuills to the hurt of mankind They change their shapes also now appearing to vs and by and by vanishing thus illuding both our eyes and thoughts and both these sorts possesse the world with couetice ambition pride and lust whence all warres and conflicts arise and which is worst of all they seeke to make the rude vulgar thinke that these things are acceptable to the gods And poesie with the sweetnesse of phrase hath helped them pâ—…tily forwardes Thus farre Porphyry de Abstin anim lib. 2. not in doubtfull or inquiring manner as hee doth in his writing to the priest but positiuely in a worke wherein he sheweth his owne doctrine e admirers The Philosophers whom hee saith erred themselues concerning the gods natures some in fauour of the gods and some in following of the multitude f Why the best Thus hee beginnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Of those that are called gods but are 〈◊〉 wicked Dâ—…mones g The soothsaier Epoptes the proper word for him that lookes on thâ—…r sacrifice h The Sunne So saith Lucan his Thessalian witch that shee can force the gods 〈◊〉 what she list Lucans i Isis or These are the Sunne and Moone Their secret ceremonies being most beastly and obscene the deuills feare to haue them reuealed as Ceres did 〈◊〉 else delude their worshippe by counterfeite feare and so make vse of their fonde errour This of Isis and Osyris belongs to the infernalls also for Porphyry saith the greatest deuill is called Serapis and that is Osyris in Egipt and Pluto in Greece his character is a three headed dog signifying the deuills of the earth ayre and water His Isis is Hecate or Proserpina so it is plaine that this is meant of the secrettes of hell which haue mighty power in magicall practises These doth Erictho in Lucan threaten to the Moone the infernalls and Ceres sacrifices The Poet expresseth it thus Miratur Erichtho Has satis licuisse moras iratà que morti Uerberat immotum viuo serpente cadauer Perque cauas terrae quas egit carmine râ—…mas Manibus illatrat regnique silentia rumpit Tyâ—…iphone vocisque meae secura Megaera Non agitis sâ—…uis Erebi per inane flagellis Infelicen animam I am vos ego nomine verâ—… Eliciam stigiasque canes in luce superna Destituam per busta sequar per funera custos Expellam tumulis abigam vos omnibus vrnis Teque deis ad quos alio procedere vultu Ficta soles Hecate pallenti tabida formae Ostendam faciemque Erebi mutare vetabo Eloquar immenso terrae sub pondere quae te Contineant Ennaea dapes quo foedere moestum Regem noctis ames quae te contagia passam Noluerit reuocare Ceres tibi pessimé mundi Arbiter immittam ruptis I itana cauernis Et subito feriere die Erichtho wonders much At fates deâ—…ay and with a liuing snake She lasht the slaughtred corps making death quake Een-through the rifts of earth rent by her charmes She barkes in hells broad eare these blacke alarmes Stone-deaf Megaera and Tysiphone Why scourge yea not that wretched soule to me From hells huge depths or will you haue me call yee By your true names and leaue yee foule befall yee You stigian dogs I le leaue you in the light And see the graues and you disseuerd quite And Hecate thou that art neuer knowne But in false shapes I le shew thee in thine owne Whole heauen perforce shall see thy putred hew And from earths gutts will I rip forth to vew The feasts and meanes that make thee Pluto's whore And why thy mother fet thee thence no more And thou the worlds worst King al-be thou dead In darkenesse I will breake through all and send Strange light amid thy caues And Porphiry in Respons brings in Hecate compelled to answer the magician 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Why doâ—… thou blind vs so Theodamas what wouldst thou haue vs do Apollo also confesseth that he is compelled to tell truth against his will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I answer now perfore as bound by Fate Anâ—… by and by calleth to bee loosed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c loose the left ring Porphiry also saide as Iamblicus writeth in Mister that the Priests were wont to vse violent threats against the Goâ—…s as thus if you doe not this or if you doe that I will breake downe Heauen I will reueale Isis her secrets and diuulge the mistery hid in the depth I will stay the Baris a sacred shipin Egipt and cast Osiris members to Typhon Now Iamblichus saith those threates tend not to the gods but there is a kind of spirits in the world confused vndiscreet and inconsiderat that heareth from others but no way of it selfe and can neither discerne truthes nor possibilities from the contraries On these do those threatnings worke and force them to all duties Perhaps this is them that Porphiry giueth a foolish wil vnto Iamblichus proceedeth to the threats read them in him k Constellations Prophiry writeth out of Chaeremon that that astrology is of man incomprehensible but all these constellated workes and prophecies are tought him by the deuills But Iamblichus opposeth him in this and in the whole doctrine of deuills The man is all for this prodigious superstition and laboureth to answere Prophyry for Anebuns Of the miracles that God worketh by his Angels ministery CHAP. 12. BVt all miracles done by angells or what euer diuine power confirming the true adoration of one God vnto vs in whome only we are blessed we beleeue truely are done by Gods power working in them immortalls that loueâ—…s in true piety Heare not those that deny that the inuisible God worketh visible miracles is not the world a miracle Yet visible and of his making Nay all the miâ—…les done in this world are lesse then the world it selfe the heauen and earth and all therein yet God made them all and after a manner that man cannot conceiue nor comprehend For though these visible miracles of nature bee now no more admired yet ponder them wisely and they are more admirable then
the priuation thereof The office of this sence neither the 〈◊〉 eare the smell the taste nor the touche can performe By this I know 〈◊〉 â—…ng and I know this knowledge and I loue them both and know that I 〈◊〉 both L. VIVES SO a naturally A Stoicall and Academicall disputation handled by Tully Offic. 1. de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stoically and De fin 5. Academically b For their Foolishnesse is the greatest 〈◊〉 â—…nd wisdome the good So held the Stoikes c Deeper A diuerse reading the text 〈◊〉 both d Antisthenes the first Cynickes choise His reason was because to reioyce in â—…d minde was base and cast downe the minde from the true state Socrates in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alcibiades that possessions with-out wisdome are not onely fruitlesse but hurtfull e â—…re It is not then our witte or toyle but GODS bountie that instructs vs in the 〈◊〉 â—…ourse of nature and sharpens the iudgement which bounty the good man attaining 〈◊〉 bad must needs bee wiser though lesse learned or popularly acute Therefore saith 〈◊〉 Into an euill soule wisdome will not come The same that Socrates said Onely good men 〈◊〉 f Iust by By a forme left in my minde by seeing iustice done and the due conâ—…â—…ing thereto which be it absent I conceiue what iniustice is by seeing the faire 〈◊〉 â—…ent harmony subuerted I build not vpon hurts violence iniuries or reproches 〈◊〉 no priuations but may be iustly done vpon due command of the magistrate or with â—…ent but vpon this I see the vertues decorum broken Forme is neither to bee taken â—…pes or abstracts of things reserued in the soule and called motions say some Well 〈◊〉 they either want witte or knowledge And because they cannot make them-selues 〈◊〉 by things really extant they must fetch their audiences eares vp to them by pursuing 〈◊〉 non entia this is our schoole-mens best trade now a dayes â—…ther we draw nearer to the image of the holy trinity in louing of that loue by which we loue to be and to know our being CHAP. 28. 〈◊〉 wee haue spoken as much as needeth here of the essence and knowledge 〈◊〉 much we ought to respect them in our selues and in other creatures vnâ—…â—…ough we finde a different similitude in them But whether the loue that 〈◊〉 â—…e them in be loued that is to declare It is loued wee prooue it because it iâ—…â—…d in all things that are iustly loued For hee is not worthily called a good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 knowes good but hee that loues it Why then may wee not loue that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 selues whereby wee loue that which is to bee loued They may both 〈◊〉 â—…e man and it is good for a man that his goodnesse increasing his â—…d decrease euen to the perfection of his cure and full change into 〈◊〉 for if wee were beasts wee should loue a carnall sensitiue life 〈◊〉 good would suffice our nature b without any further trouble if 〈◊〉 â—…ees wee should not indeede loue any thing by motion of sence yet should we seeme to affect fruitfulnesse and growth if wee were stones water winde fire or so we should want sence and life yet should we haue a naturall appetiâ—…e vnto our due c places for the d motions of weights are like the bodies loues go they vpward or downwards for weight is to the body as loue is to the â—…ule But because we are men made after our creators image whose eternity is true truth eternall charity true and eternall neither confounded nor seuered we runne through all things vnder vs which could not be created formed not ordered without the hand of the most essentiall wise and good God so through all the workes of the creation gathering from this e more playne and from that lesse apparant markes of his essence and beholding his image in our selues f like the prodigall childe wee recall our thoughts home and returne to him from whom we fell There our being shall haue no end our knowledge no error our loue no offence But as now though wee see these three sure trusting not to others but obseruing it our selues with our certaine interior sight yet because of our selues we cannot know how long they shall last when they shall end whither they shall goe doing well or euill therefore here we take other witnesses of the infallibity of whose credit wee will not dispute here but hereafter In this booke of the Citty of God that was neuer pilgrim but alwayes immortall in heauen being compounded of the Angels eternally coherent with God and neuer ceasing this coherence betweene whom and their darknesse namely those that forsooke him a seperation was made as we said at first by God now will wee by his grace proceede in our discourse already begun L. VIVES FOr that a is loue There is a will in vs arising from the corruption of the body which reason ruleth not as it doth the better will but it haleth it and traileth it to good it flyes all good properly and seeketh euills bodily delights and pleasures These two Paul calleth the law of the flesh the law of the spirit some-times flesh and spirit The first brutish foule hated of good men who when they can cannot expell it they compell and force it vnto Gods obedience otherwise it produceth a loue of things vnmeete b Without Either in this life or vnto our bodies c Places Or orders and formes of one nature the preseruation of which each thing desires for it selfe helping it selfe against externall violence if it bee not hindered d 〈◊〉 of this before the Latine word is momenta e More plaine Our reason plâ—…ceth an Image rather then a marke of God in vs. Man hath the sight of heauen and the knowledge of God bestowed vpon him whereas all other creatures are chained to the earth Wherfore the spirit ouer-looking the creation left his image in our erected nature in the rest whome hee did as it were put vnder foote hee left onely his markes Take this now as a figuratiue speech f Prâ—…digall Luc. 15. Of the Angels knowledge of the Trinity in the Deity and consequently of the causes of things in the Archetype ere they come to be effected in workes CHAP. 29. THese holy Angels learne not of God by sounds but by being present wiâ—… thâ—… â—…geable truth his onely begotten word himselfe and his holy spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of substantiall persons yet hold they not three Gods but one 〈◊〉 this thâ—…y a â—…ow plainer then we know our selues b The creatures also 〈◊〉 they know 〈◊〉 in the wisdome of God the worke-mans draught then in the thingâ—… produced and consequently them-selues in that better then in thâ—…-selues though â—…ing their knowledge in both for they were made are not of 〈◊〉 â—…nce that made them Therefore in him their knowledge is day in 〈◊〉 as we sayd twy-light But the knowledges of a thing by the means 〈◊〉 and the thing it selfe made are farre different c The vnderstanding 〈◊〉 a figure doth produce a perfecter
this subsequent that since they were Egiptians Heauen hath had foure changes of reuolutions and the Sunne hath set twise where it riseth now Diodorus also writteth that from Osyris vnto Alexander that built Alexandria some recken 10000. and some 13000. yeares and some fable that the Gods had the Kingdome of Isis and then that men reigned afterward very neare 15000. yeares vntill the 180. Olympiad when Ptolomy beganne to reigne Incredible was this abâ—… vanity of the Egiptians who to make themselues the first of the creation lied so many thousand yeares Which was the cause that many were deceiued and deceiued oâ—…hers also as concâ—…ning the worlds originall Tully followes Plato and maketh Egipt infinitly old and so doth â—…ristotle Polit 7. g Yeares but Pliny lib. 7. saith the Nations diuided their yeares some by the Sommer some by the Winter some by the quarters as the Archadians whose yeare was three monethes some by the age of the Moone as the Egiptians So that some of them haue liued a thousand of their yeares Censorinus saith that the Egiptians most ancient yeares was two moneths Then King Piso made it foure at last it came to thirteene moneths and fiue daies Diodorus saith that it being reported that some of the ancient Kings had reigned 1200. yeares beeing to much to beleeue they found for certaine that the course of the Sunne beeing not yet knowne they counted their yeares by the Moones So then the wonder of old 〈◊〉 ceaseth some diuiding our yeare into foure as diuers of the Greekes did Diodorus saith also that the Chaldees had monethes to their yeares But to shew what my coniecture is of these numbers of yeares amongst the nations I hold that men beeing so much giâ—…n to the starres counted the course of euery starre for a yeare So that in 30. yeares of the Sâ—…e are one of Saturne fiue of Iupiter sixe of Mars more then 30. of Uenus and Mercury and almost 400 of the Moone So they are in all neare 500. Of those that hold not the eternity of the World but either a dissolution and generation of inumeraâ—…le Worlds or of this one at the eâ—…piration of certaine yeares CHAP. 11. BVt others there are that doe not thinke the World eternall and yet either imagine it not to be one a world but many or b one onely dissolued and regenerate at the date of certaine yeares Now these must needs confesse that there were first men of themselues ere any men were begotten c For they cannot thinke that the whole world perishing any man could remaine as they may doe in those burnings invndations which left still some men to repaire man-kinde but as they hold the world to bee re-edified out of the owne ruines so must they beleeue that man-kinde first was produced out of the elements and from these first as mans following propagation as other creatures by generation of their like L. VIVES NOt to bee one a world Which Democritus and Epicurus held b One onely Heraclytus Hippasus and the Stoickes held that the world should be consumed by fire and then be reâ—…ed c For they cannot Plato and Aristotle hold that there cannot be an vniuersall deluge or burning But the Stoickes as Tully saith beleeued that the World at length should become all on fire and the moisture so dried as neither the earth could nourish the plants nor the ayre be drawn in bredth â—…or produced all the water being consumed So that Plato and Aristotle still reserued 〈◊〉 then for propagation these none but destroied All to re-edifie All. Of such as held Mans Creation too lately effected CHAP. 12. WHerefore our answere to those that held the world to haue beene ab aeterno against Plato's expresse confession though some say hee spake not as hee thought the same shal be our answere still to those that thinke Mans Creation too lately effected hauing letten those innumerable spaces of time passe and by the scriptures authority beene made but so late as within this sixe thousand yeares If the bâ—…ity of time be offensiue and that the yeares since Man was made seeme so few let them consider that a nothing that hath an extreame is continuall and that all the definite spaces of the World being compared to the interminate Trinity are as a very little Nay as iust nothing And therefore though wee should recken fiue or sixe or sixty or six hundred thousand yeares and multiply them so often till the number wanted a name and say then GOD made man yet may we aske why he made him no sooner For GODS pause before Mans Creation beeing from all eternity was so great that compare a definite number with it of neuer so vnspeakeable a quantity and it is not so much as one halfe drop of water being counterpoised with the whole Ocean for in these though the one be so exceeding small and the other so incomparably great yet b both are definite But that time which hath any originall runne it on to neuer so huge a quantity being compared vnto that which hath no beginning I know not whether to call it small or nothing For with-draw but moments from the end of the first and be the number neuer so great it will as if one should diminish the number of a mans daies from the time he liues in to his birth day decrease vntill we come to the very beginning But from the later abstract not moments nor daies nor monethes nor years but as much time as the other whole number contained lie it out of the compasse of all computation and that as often as you please preuaile you when you can neuer attaine the Beginning it hauing none at all Wherefore that which we aske now after fiue thousand yeares and the ouerpâ—…s our posterity may as well aske after sixe hundreth thousand years if our mortallity should succeede and our infirmity endure so long And our forefathers presently vpon the first mans time might haue called this in question Nay the first man himselfe that very day that he was made or the next might haue asked why he was made no sooner But when soeuer hee had beene made this controâ—…ie of his originall and the worlds should haue no better foundation then is 〈◊〉 now L. VIVES NOthing a that Cic. de senect When the extreame comes then that which is past is gone b Both are Therefore is there some propertion betweene them whereas betweene definite and indefinite there is none Of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Times at whose expiration some Philosophers held that the Vâ—… should 〈◊〉 to the state it was in at first CHAP. 13. NOw these Philosophers beleeued that this world had no other dissolution 〈◊〉 renewing of it continually at certaine a reuolutions of time wherein the 〈◊〉 of things was repaired and so passed on a continuall b rotation of ages 〈◊〉 and comming whether this fell out in the continuance of one world or the 〈◊〉 arising and falling gaue this succession and date of things by
although they haue more then one exposition yet all they haue must be lyable to one rule of concord in the Catholike faith L. VIVES THe a length The same also hee hath against Faustus lib. 12. Ambrose also compares Noahs Arke to mans body but in another manner Lib. de Noe et Arca. b Were types The Apostle Peter taketh the Arke for a figure of the Church 2. Pet 3. 56. Where Hâ—…romeâ—…eth â—…eth the Arke to be the Church Contra Iouin contra Luciferianos Cyprian doth the 〈◊〉 â—…so De spiritu sancto if that worke bee his Origen also and many others say much of 〈◊〉 Allegorie c Lowest second The Arke was thus built saith Origen It was diuided inâ—…o â—…o lower roomes and ouer these were three other roomes each one immediatly aboue oâ—… The lowest was the sinke or common Iakes and that next it was the graner or place where meate was kept for all the creatures then in the first of the other three were the wilde beâ—…s kept in the second the tamer and in the third were the men themselues Iosephus writes 〈◊〉 of foure roomes whereas all else make fiue But hee might perchance omitt the Iakes as 〈◊〉 de Natalibus saith d Iewes and He distinguisheth them by their tongues for Paul coâ—…rsed with none but they spoake either Hebrew or Greeke for at Rome they spoake 〈◊〉 as commonly then as we doe Latine at this day Of the Arke and the deluge that the meaning thereof is neither meerely Historicall nor meerely allegoricall CHAP. 27. BVt let none thinke that these things were written onely to relate an hystoriâ—…ll truth without any typicall reference to any thing else or contrary wise â—…ere were no such things really acted but that it is all allegoricall or that â—…soeuer it is it is of no vse nor includeâ—…h any propheticall meaning concerâ—…â—…he Church for who but an Atheist will say that these bookes are of no 〈◊〉 haue beene so religiously kept and so carefully deliuered from one age â—…ther so many thousand yeares together or that they are onely historicall 〈◊〉 â—…s to let all the rest passe the bringing in of the vncleane creatures by 〈◊〉 and the cleane by seauens must needes haue some other meaning for they 〈◊〉 haue beene preserued had they beene but paires as well as the other 〈◊〉 not God that taught this meanes of re-instauration repaire them as hee 〈◊〉 â—…ated them And now for those that say that all this was but mysticall oneâ—…â—…st they imagine it impossible that any floud should become so huge as to 〈◊〉 the height of any mountaine fifteene cubites because of the a top of 〈◊〉 Olympus which they say reacheth aboue the cloudes and is as high as â—…uen so that the grosser ayre that engendreth windes and raine cannot 〈◊〉 so high neuer obseruing in the meane space that the grossest element of 〈◊〉 earth can lye so high or will they say the top of this mountaine is not 〈◊〉 no why then doe those bad proportionators allow the earth to lye so 〈◊〉 â—…nd yet deny the water to mount higher auerring not-with-standing that 〈◊〉 â—…ater is higher and of a more ability to ascend then the earth what reason â—…hey shew why earth should holde so high a place in ayre for thus many â—…sand yeares 〈◊〉 et that water may not arise to the same height for a little 〈◊〉 They say also that the Arke was too little to holde such a number of creaâ—… seauen of euery cleane one and two of euery vncleane one It seemes 〈◊〉 make accoumpt onely of three hundred cubites in length fiftie in breadth â—…irtie in depth neuer marking that euery roome therein was of this size making the whole Arke to be nine hundred cubites in length one hundred and fiftie in breadth and ninetie in deapth or height And if that be true that Origen doth elegantly prooue that Moyses being learned as it is written in all the wisdome of the Egiptians who were great Geometricians meant of a Geometricall cubite in this case one of which make sixe of ours who seeth not what an huge deale of roomes lyeth within this measure for whereas they say that an Arke of such greatnesse could no way bee built they talke idely for huger citties then this Arke haue beene built and they neuer consider the hundred yeares that it was a building in through-out vnlesse they will say that one stone may bee bound fast vnto another by lime onely and walles on this manner bee carryed out d so many miles in compasse and yet timber cannot bee lastened vnto timber by e mortayses f â—…piri nayles and pitch whereby an Arke might bee made not with embowed ribbes but in a streight lineall forme not to bee lanched into the sea by the strength of men but lifted from earth by the ingruent force of the waters them-selues hauing GODS prouidence rather then mans practise both for steres-man and pilot And for their scrupulous question concerning the Vermine Mice g Stellions Locusts Hornets Flyes and Fleas whether there were any more of them in the Arke then there should bee by GODS command they that mooue this question ought first to consider this that such things as might liue in the waters needed not bee brought into the Arke so might both the fishes that swamme in the water and h diuers birds also that swamme aboue it And whereas it is said They shall bee male and female that concerneth the reparation of kinde and therefore such creatures as doe not generate but are produced them selues out of meere putrifaction needed not bee there if they were it was as they are now in our houses with-out any knowne number if the greatnesse of this holy mystery included in this true and reall acte could not bee perfited with-out there were the same order of number kept in all those creatures which nature would not permit to liue with-in the waters that care belonged not vnto man but vnto GOD. For Noah did not take the creatures and turne them into the Arke but GOD sent them in all hee onely suffered them to enter for so saith the booke Two of euery sorte shall come vnto thee not by his fetching but by GODS bidding yet may wee well holde that none of the creatures that wante sexe were there for it is precisely sayd They shall bee male and female There are creatures that arising out of corruption doe i afterwardes engender as flyes k and some also without sexe as Bees some also that haue sexe and yet engender not as Hee-mules and Shee-mules it is like that they were not in the Arke but that their parents the horse and the Asse serued to produce them after-wards and so like-wise of all other creatures l gotten betweene diuerse kindes But if this concerned the mysterie there they were for they were male and female Some also sticke at the diuersitie of meates that they had and what they eate that could eate nothing but flesh and whether tâ—…e were any more
it is he was King of Thessaly where horses were first backt Plin. lib. 7. Bridle and saddle did Peletronius inuent and the Thessalians that dwelt by mount Pelion were the first that fought on Horse-back Virgil goeth not farre from this saying Georg. 3. Frena Pelethronii Lapithae girosqué dedêre Impositi dorso atque equitem docuerè sub armis Insultare solo gressus glomerare superbos First Pelethronian Lapiths gaue the bit And hotted rings and taught arm'd horsmen sit And bound and proudly coruet as was fit The same hath Lucan in his Pharsalia lib. 6. Primus ab aequorea percussis cuspide saxis Thessalicus sonipes hellis ferallibus omen Exiluit primus Chalybem frenosque momordit Spum auit que nouis Lapithae domitoris habenis Since Neptune with sea trident stroke the rockes First the I hessalian horse with deadly shocks A dismall signe came forth he first bit bruzed And fom'de at Lapith riders reines vnused Seruius explaining this place of Uirgill saith thus The Oxen of a certaine King of Thessaly gadding madly about the fields hee sent his men to fetch them in but they being not swift enough for them got vpon horses and so riding swiftly after the Oxen pricked and whipped them home to their stables Now some seeing them in their swift course or when they let their horses drinke at the riuer Peneus began this fable of the Centaures giuing them that name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of pricking the Oxen. Some say this fable was inuented to shew how swiftly mans life passeth on because of the swiftnesse of an horse Thus farre Seruius Palaephatus hath it thus When the wilde Buls troubled all Larissa and Thessaly Ixion proclaimed a great rewarde to those that could driue them thence So the youths of Nephele got vpon the horses they had broken for they had waggons in vse before and so droue them away very easily and hauing receiued their reward they grew proud iniuring both Ixion him-selfe and the Larissaeans then called Lapithes for being inuited to Pirrhas his marriage they fell to rauishing of the virgins Thus began the fable of the Centaures and their horse-like bodyes and of their birth from a clowd for Nephele their cities name is a cloud These Centaures also were Lapithes for Nephele was in the Lapithes countrie and they are distinct as the Romaines and the Latines were e Cerberus begotten by Typhon he made an hideous noise when he barked hauing fifty necks Hesiod in Theogon Thus Seneca describeth him in his Hercules furens Post haec auari Dit is apparet domus Saeuus hic vmbras territat Stygius canis Qui terna vasto capita concutiens sono Regnum tuetur sordidum tabo caput Lambunt colubri viperis horrent iubae Longusque torta sibilat cauda draco Par ira formae sensit vt motus pedum Attollit hirtas angue vibrato comas Missumque captat aure subiecta sonum Sentire vmbras solitus The haule of greedy hell comes next to sight Here the fierce Stygian Dog doth soules affright Who shaking his three heads with hideous sound Doth guarde the state his mattring head around Snakes lick his mane with vipers horrid is At his wreathd taile a Dragon large doth hisse Furie and forme like when our feete he heard Darting a snake his bristled haires he reard And listned at the noise with lolled eare As he is wont eu'n shady soules to heare Boccace and others compare him to a couetous man and Boccace wrote nothing so vainely as the rest of that age did Porphyry saith that the badge of Serapis and Isis that is Dis and Proserpina was a three-headed dogge viz. that triple kinde of deuill that haunts the ayre the earth and the water De interpr diuin He was called three-headed saith he because the sunne hath three noted postures the point of his rising height and setting This Cerberus Hercules they say did traile from hell vp to earth and that is now a prouerbe in all hard attempts Some say he drew him out vnder mount Taenarus Strab. Senec. this is the common beleefe for there say they lieth the readiest and largest way downe vnto hell It is thought that Hercules killed some venemous serpent there that thence the fable had originall Of those parts we read this in Mela. The Mariandines dwell there in a city that by report was giuen them by the Argiue Hercules it is called Heraclea the proofe of this is because hard by it is the hole called Achereusia whence Hercules is thought to haue haled Cerberus Pliny followeth Mela. l. 27. The Herbe Aconitum grew say they from the froth that fell from Cerberus his lips when he was trailed along by Hercules therfore it groweth about Heraclea whence the hole is at which he came vp Ouid assigneth no set place for the growth but only Pontus at large where Câ—… was first seene to cast his froth vpon the cliffes for it is called Aconitum of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a cragge or flint and he is called Cerberus quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a deuourer of flesh Aâ—…deus the Mollosian King had a dogge of this name for he being called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Orcus named his wife Ceres his daughter Proserpina and his dogge Cerberus Some say he stole his wife and called her Proserpina but on with Plutarchs tale Theseus and Pirithous comming to steale his daughter hee tooke theâ—… and cast Pirithous vnto his dogge Cerberus and kept Theseus in straight prison Here-vpon came the fable of their going into Hell to bring away Proserpina For the countrey of Molossus in Epyrus lying West from Attica and Thessaly was alwayes signified by the name of Hell Homer Palaephatus tells this tale in this manner Hercules hauing conquered Gerion in Tricarenia a city of Pontus and driuing away all his heards there was a very fierce Mastiffe that followed the Oxen they called him Cerberus so when they came into Peloponnesus Molossus a rich Nobleman of Mycene begged the dogge but Euristheus denying him hee agreed with the shepheard to shut him into the caue of mount Taenarus with a sort of bitches that hee had put in there So Euristheus set Hercules to seeke the dogge and hee found him in Taenarus and brought him away and this is the ground of the fable f Phryxus and Helle Brother and sister the children of Athamas sonne to Aeolus a man of Nephele who becomming mad and running into the desers Athamas maried Ino Cadmus his daughter who hating Phryxus and Helle made meanes by the matrons to spoile all the fruites of the citty the cause where of they should go and inquire of the Oracle and returne this false answer that the children of Nephele must be sacrificed But Iuno pittying them sent them a golden fleeced Ram to ride ouer the sea vpon Helle being a young virgin and not able to guide her selfe sell into the sea that runs betweene Asia
peace of a family an orderly rule and subiection amongst the parts thereof peace of a citty an orderly command and obedience amongst the citizens peace of Gods Citty a most orderly coherence in God and fruition of GOD peace of althings is a well disposed order For order is a good disposition of discrepant parts each in the fittest place and therfore the miserable as they are miserable are out of order wanting that peace-able and vnperturbed state which order exacteth But because their owne merites haue incurred this misery therefore euen herein they are imposed in a certaine set order howsoeuer Being not con-ioyned with the blessed but seuered from them by the law of order and beeing exposed to miseries yet are adapted vnto the places wherein they are resident and so are digested into some kinde of methodicall forme and consequently into some peacefull order But this is their misery that although that some little security wherein they liue exempt them from present sorrowes yet are they not in that state which secludeth sorrow for euer and affordeth eternall security And their misery is farre greater if they want the peace of nature and when they are offended the part that grieueth is the first disturber of their peace for that which is neither offended nor dissolued preserues the peace of nature still So then as one may possibly liue without griefe but cannot possibly grieue vnlesse hee liue so may there bee peace without any warre or contention but contention cannot bee without some peace not as it is contention but because the contenders doe suffer and performe diuers things herein according to natures prescript which things could not consist had they not some peacefull order amongst them So that there may bee a nature you see wherein no euill may haue inherence but to finde a nature vtterly voide of goodnesse is vtterly impossible For the very nature of the deuills consider it as nature is most excellent but their owne voluntary peruersnesse depraued it The deuill abode not in the truth yet scaped hee not the sentence of the truth for hee transgressed the peacefull lawe of order yet could not avoide the powerfull hand of the orderer The good which GOD had bestowed on his nature cleared him not from GODS heauy iudgement which allotted him to punishment Yet doth not GOD heerein punish the good which himselfe created but the euill which the deuill committed nor did hee take away his whole nature from him but left him part whereby to bewaile the losse of the rest which lamentation testifyeth both what hee had and what hee hath for had hee not some good left hee could not lament for what hee had lost For his guilt is the greater that hauing lost all his vprightnesse should reioyce at the losse thereof And hee that is sicke if it benefit him nothing yet greeueth at the losse of his health For vprightnesse and health beeing both goods it behooueth the loosers of them to mourne and not to reioyce vnlesse this losse bee repaired with better recompence as vprightnesse of minde is better then health of bodie but farre more reason hath the sinner to lament in his suffering then to reioyce in his transgression Therefore euen as to reioyce at the losse of goodnesse in sining argueth a depraued will so likewise lament for the same losse in suffering prooueth a good nature For he that bewaileth the losse of his naturall peace hath his light from the remainders of that peace which are left in him keeping his nature and him in concord And in the last iudgement it is but reason that the wicked should deplore the losse of their naturall goods and feele GODS hand iustly heauy in depriuing them of them whome they scornefully respected not in the bestowing them vpon them Wherefore the high GOD natures wisest creator and most iust disposer the parent of the worlds fairest wonder mankinde bestowed diuers goods vpon him which serue for this life onely as the worldly and temporall peace kept by honest cohaerence and society together with all the adiacents of this peace as the visible light the spirable ayre the potable water and all the other necessaries of meate drinke and cloathing but with this condition that hee that shall vse them in their due manner and reference vnto b humaine peace shall bee rewarded with guiftes of farre greater moment namely with the peace of immortality and with vnshaded glorie and full fruition of GOD and his brother in the same GOD c but he that vseth them amisse shall neither pertake of the former nor the later L. VIVES THe a bodies peace Saint Augustine in this chapter prooueth althings to consist by peace â—…nd concord so that consequently discord must needes bee the fuell to all ruine and confusion Wherefore I wonder at the peruerse nature of men that loue dissentions and quarrells as their owne very soules hating peace as it were a most pernitious euill Surely they had but there due if their bosomes within and their states without were wholy fraught with this their so deerely affected darling warre b Humane peace But men doe turne all these goods now a daies into contentious vses as if they were ordeined for no other end neuer thinking that there is a place of eternall discord prepared for them to dwell in hereafter where they may enioy their damned desires for euer The whole goodnesse of peace and of that especially which CHRIST left vs as his full inheritance is gone all but for the name and an imaginary shade thereof all the rest wee haue lost nay wee haue made a willing extrusion of it and expelled it wittingly and of set purpose imagining our whole felicity to consist in the tumults of warres and slaughters And oh so wee braue it that wee haue slaine thus many men burnt thus many townes sacked thus many citties Founding our principall glories vpon the destruction of our fellowes But I may beginne a plaint of this heere but I shall neuer end it c But hee A diuersity of reading in the copies rather worth nothing then noting Of the law of Heauen and Earth which swaieth humane society by counsell and vnto which counsell humane society obeyeth CHAP. 14. ALL temporall things are referred vnto the benefit of the peace which is resident in the Terrestriall Cittie by the members thereof and vnto the vse of the eternall peace by the Cittizens of the Heauenly society Wherefore if wee wanted reason wee should desire but an orderly state of body and a good temperature of affects nothing but fleshly ease and fulnesse of pleasure For the peace of the body augmenteth the quiet of the soule and if it bee a wanting it procureth a disturbance euen in brute beasts because the affects haue not their true temperature Now both these combined adde vnto the peace of soule and bodie both that is vnto the healthfull order of life For as all creatures shew how they desire their bodies peace in avoyding the causes of
not the lesser and lower doe so too If Ioue doe not like this whose oracle as Porphyry saith hath condemned the Christians credulity why doth hee not condemne the Hebrewes also for leauing this doctrine especially recorded in their holyest writings But if this Iewish wisdome which he doth so commend affirme that the heauens shall perish how vaine a thing is it to detest the Christian faith for auouching that the world shall perish which if it perish not then cannot the heauens perish Now our owne scriptures with which the Iewes haue nothing to doe our Ghospels and Apostolike writings do all affirme this The fashion of this world goeth away The world passeth away Heauen and earth shall passe away But I thinke that passeth away doth not imply so much as perisheth But in Saint Peters Epistle where hee saith how the world perished being ouer-flowed with water is plainly set downe both what he meant by the world how farre it perished and what was reserued for fire and the perdition of the wicked And by and by after The day of the Lord will come as a thiefe in the night in the which the Heauens shall passe away with a noyse the elements shall melt vvith heate and the earth vvith the rockes that are therein shall bee burnt vp and so concludeth that seeing all these perish what manner persons ought yee to be Now we may vnderstand that those heauens shall perish which he said were reserued for fire and those elements shall melt which are here below in this mole of discordant natures wherein also he saith those heauens are reserued not meaning the vpper spheres that are the seats of the stars for whereas it is written that the starres shall fall from heauen it is a good proofe that the heauens shall remaine vntouched if these words bee not figuratiue but that the starres shall fall indeed or some such wonderous apparitions fill this lower ayre as Virgil speaketh of Stella a facem ducens multa cum luce cucurrit A tailed Starre flew on with glistring light And so hid it selfe in the woods of Ida. But this place of the Psalme seemes to exempt none of all the heauens from perishing The heauens are the workes of thine hands they shall perish thus as hee made all so all shall bee destroyed The Pagans scorne I am sure to call Saint Peter to defend that Hebrew doctrine which their gods doe so approoue by alledging the figuratiue speaking hereof pars pro toto all shall perrish meaning onely all the lower parts as the Apostle saith there that the world perished in the deluge when it was onely the earth and some part of the ayre This shift they will not make least they should eyther yeeld to Saint Peter or allow this position that the fire at the last iudgement may doe as much as wee say the deluge did before their assertion that all man-kinde can neuer perish will allow them neither of these euasions Then they must needes say that when their gods commended the Hebrews wisdom they had not read this Psalme but there is another Psalme as plaine as this Our God shall come and shall not keepe silence a fire shall deuoure before him and a mightie tempest shall bee mooued round about him Hee shall call the heauen aboue and the earth to iudge his people Gather my Saints together vnto mee those that make a couenant with mee with sacrifice This is spoken of Christ whome wee beleeue shall come from heauen to iudge both the quick and the dead Hee shall come openly to iudge all most iustly who when hee came in secret was iudged himselfe most vniustly Hee shall come and shall not bee silent his voyce now shall confound the iudge before whome hee was silent when hee was lead like a sheepe to the slaughter and as a lambe before the shearer is dumbe as the Prophet saith of him and as it was fulfilled in the Ghospell Of this fire and tempest wee spake before in our discourse of Isaias prophecie touching this point But his calling the heauens aboue that is the Saints this is that which Saint Paul saith Then shall wee bee caught vp also in the clouds to meete the Lord in the â—…yre For if it meant not this how could the Heauens bee called aboue as though they could bee any where but aboue The words following And the earth if you adde not Aboue heere also may bee taken for those that are to bee iudged and the heauens for those that shall iudge with Christ. And then the calling of the heauens aboue implyeth the placing of the Saints in seates of iudgments not their raptures into the ayre Wee may further vnderstand it to bee his calling of the Angels from their high places to discend with him to iudgement and by the earth those that are to bee iudged But if wee doe vnderstand Aboue at both clauses it intimateth the Saints raptures directly putting the heauens for their soules and the earth for their bodyes to iudge or discerne his people that is to seperate the sheepe from the goates the good from the bad Then speaketh he to his Angels Gather my Saints together vnto mee this is done by the Angels ministery And whome gather they Those that make a couenant with mee with sacrifice and this is the duty of all iust men to doe For either they must offer their workes of mercy which is aboue sacrifice as the Lord saith I will haue mercy and not sacrifice or else their workes of mercy is the sacrifice it selfe that appeaseth Gods wrath as I prooued in the ninth booke of this present volume In such workes doe the iust make couenants with God in that they performe them for the promises made them in the New Testament So then Christ hauing gotten his righteous on his right hand will giue them this well-come Come yee blessed of my Father inherite yee the kingdome prepared for you from the foundations of the world for I was an hungred and you gaue me to eate and so forth of the good workes and their eternall rewards which shall be returned for them in the last iudgment L. VIVES SStella a facem ducens Virg. Aeneid 2. Anchises beeing vnwilling to leaue Troy and Aeneas being desperate and resoluing to dye Iupiter sent them a token for their flight namely this tailed starre all of which nature saith Aristotle are produced by vapours enflamed in the ayres mid region If their formes be only lineall they call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is lampes or torches Such an one saith Plynie glided amongst the people at noone day when Germanicus Caesar presented his Sword-players prize others of them are called Bolidae and such an one was seene at Mutina The first sort of these flye burning onely at one end the latter burneth all ouer Thus Pliny lib. 2. Malachies Prophecy of the iudgement and of such as are to be purged by fire CHAP. 25. THe Prophet a Malachiel or Malachi
such heate that it will ripen greene apples who gaue the fire that wonderfull power to make althings that it burneth blacke it selfe beeing so bright and to turne a shining brand into a black coale Neither doth it alwaies thus For it will burne stones vntill they bee white and though it bee redde and they whitish yet doth this their e white agree with the light as well as blacke doth with darkenesse Thus the fire burning the wood to bake the stone worketh contrary effects vpon obiects which are f not contrary For stone and wood are different but not opposite whereas white and blacke are the one of which collours the fire effecteth vpon the stone and the other vpon the wood enlighting the first and darkening the later though it could not perfect the first but by the helpe of the later And what strange things there are in a cole it is so brittle that a little blow turnes it to powder and yet so durable that no moysture corrupteth it no time wasteth it so that they are wont to g lay coales vnder bounders and marke-stones for lands to conuince any one that should come hereafter and say this is no bound-stone What is it that maketh them endure so long in the earth where wood would easily rot but that same fire that corrupteth althings And then for lyme besides that it is whitened by the fire it carieth fire in it selfe as taken from the fire and keepeth it so secret that it is not discouerable in it by any of our sences nor knowne to bee in it but by our experience And therefore wee call it quick lyme the inuisible fire beeing as the soule of that visible body But the wonder is that when it is killed it is quickned For to fetch out the fire from it wee cast water vpon it and beeing could before that enflameth it that cooleth all other things beeing neuer so hot So that the lumpe dying as it were giueth vppe the fire that was in it and afterward remaineth cold if you water it neuer so and then for quicke-lyme wee call it quenshed lyme What thing can bee more strange yes If you power oyle vpon it in stead of water though oyle bee rather the feeder of fire yet will it neuer alter but remaine cold still If wee should haue heard thus much of some Indian stone that wee had not nor could not get to proue it wee should surely imagine it either to bee a starke lie or a strange wonder But things occurrent vnto dailie experience are debased by their frequency in so much that wee haue left to wonder at some-things that onely India the farthest continent of the world hath presented to our viewe The diamond is common amongst vs chiefly our Iewellers and Lapidaries and this is i so hard that neither fire stone nor steele can once dint it but onely the bloud of a goate But doe you thinke this hardnesse so much admired now as it was by him that first of all descried it Such as know it not may peraduenture not beleeue it or beleeuing it one seeing it may admire it as a rare worke of nature but dayly triall euer taketh off the edge of admiration Wee know that k the loade-stone draweth Iron strangely and surely when I obserued it at the first it made mee much agast For I beheld the stone draw vppe an Iron ringe and then as if it had giuen the owne power to the ring the ring drew vppe an other and made it hang fast by it as it hung by the stone So did a third by that and a fourth by the third and so vntill there was hung as it were a chaine of rings onelie by touch of one another without any inter-linking Who would not admire the power in this stone not onely inherent in it but also extending it selfe through so many circles and such a distance Yet stranger was that experiment of this stone which my brother and fellow Bishoppe Seuerus Bishoppe of Mileuita shewed me Hee told mee that hee had seene Bathanarius some-times a Count of Affrica when hee feasted him once at his owne house take the sayd stone and hold it vnder a siluer plate vpon which hee layd a peece of Iron and still as hee mooued the stone vnder the plate so did the Iron mooue aboue the plate not moouing at all and iust in the same motion that his hand mooued the stone did the stone mooue the Iron This I saw and this did I heare him report whom I will beleeue as well as if I had seene it my selfe I haue read further-more of this stone that l lay but a diamond neare it and it will not draw Iron at all but putteth it from it as soone as euer the diamond comes to touch it These stones are to bee found in India But if the strangenesse of them bee now no more admired of vs how much lesse doe they admire them where they are as common as our lyme whose strange burning in water which vseth to quensh the fire and not in oyle which feedeth it we doe now cease to wonder at because it is so frequent L. VIVES THe a Salamander Of this creature you may read in Aristotle and Pliny I haue written of it else-where It quensheth fire with the touch and is in shape like a Lizart b In Sicily As Aetna and Hiera commonly called Volcania as also in Theon Ochema in Aethiope Vesuuius in Campania Chimaera in Lycia and in certaine places about Hercules pillers besides Hecla in Island c. c Admirable qualities Truely admirable for they are easie to bee wondered at but most intricate to bee searched out d A dead peacock Many of these examples here are beyond reason and at the most but explanable by weake coniectures which wee will omit least wee should seeme rather to oppose Saint Augustine then expound him e White agree It is a light collour and offends the eye as much as the light black is the darkest and strengthens the power visuall like the darkenesse f Not contrary Contraries are two opposites of one kinde as blacke and white both collours moist and drie both qualities c. but Substances haue no contraries in themselues g To lay coales As Ctesiphon did vnder the foundations of Diana's temple in Ephesus Plin. lib. 36. I thinke it should be Chersiphron and not Clesiphon For so say all the Greekes and Strabo lib. 14. h Quick lyme Sen. Nat. quaest li. 3. i So hard that neither Plin. lib. vlt. cap. 4. Notwithstanding Bernard Ualdaura shewed me diamonds the last yeare that his father broake with a hammer But I thinke they were not Indian nor Arabian diamonds but Cyprians or Syderites for there are many sorts k The Load-stone Hereof reade Pliny lib. 36. cap. 16. Sotacus maketh fiue sorts of it the Aethiopian the Macedonian the Baeotian the Alexandrian and the Androlitian This last is much like siluer and doth not draw Iron There is a stone saith Pliny called the Theamedes
iust opposite in nature to the loade-stone expelling all Iron from it l Lay but a diamond Plin. lib. vlt. m In India And in other places also But in India they say there are Rocks of them that draw the ships to them if they haue any Iron in them so that such as saile that way are faine to ioyne their ships together with pinnes of wood Of such things as cannot bee assuredly knowne to bee such and yet are not to be doubted of CHAP. 5. BVt the Infidels hearing of miracles and such things as wee cannot make apparant to their sence fall to aske vs the reason of them which because it surpasseth our humane powers to giue they deride them as false and ridiculous but let them but giue vs reason for all the wondrous things that wee haue seene or may easily see hereafter which if they cannot doe then let them not say that there is not nor can bee any thing without a reason why it should bee thus seeing that they are conuinced by their owne eye sight I will not therefore runne through all relations of authors but try their cunning in things which are extant for any to see that will take the paines a The salt of Agrigentum in Sicily beeing put in fire melteth into water and in water it crackleth like the fire b The Garamantes haue a fountaine so cold in the day that it cannot bee drunke oft so hot in the night that it cannot bee toucht c In Epyrus is another wherein if you quensh a toarch you may light it againe thereat The Arcadian b Asbest beeing once enflamed will neuer bee quenshed There is a kinde of fig-tree in Egypt whose wood e sinketh and being throughly steeped and the heauier one would thinke it riseth againe to the toppe of the water The apples of the country of f Sodome are faire to the eye but beeing touched fall to dust and ashes The Persian g Pyrites pressed hard in the hand burneth it wherevpon it hath the name h The Selenites is another stone wherein the waxing and waning of the Moone is euer visible The i Mares in Cappadocia conceiue with the winde but their foales liue but three yeares The trees of k Tilon an I le in India neuer cast their leaues All these and thousands more are no passed things but visible at this daie each in their places it were too long for mee to recite all my purpose is otherwise And now let those Infidels giue mee the reason of these things those that will not beleeue the scriptures but hold them to bee fictions in that they seeme to relate incredible things such as I haue now reckned Reason say they forbiddeth vs to thinke that a body should burne and yet not bee consumed that it should feele paine and yet liue euerlastingly O rare disputers You that can giue reason for all miraculous things giue mee the reasons of those strange effects of nature before named of those fewe onely which if you knew not to bee now visible and not future but present to the viewe of those that will make triall you would bee l more incredulous in them then in this which wee say shall come to passe hereafter For which of you would beleeue vs if wee should say as wee say that mens bodies hereafter shall burne and not consume so likewise that there is a salt that melteth in fire and crackleth in the water of a fountaine intollerably hot in the night and intollerably cold in the day or a stone that burneth him that holdeth it hard or another that beeing once fired neuer quensheth and so of the rest If wee had sayd these things shal be in the world to come and the infidells had bidden vs giue the reason why wee could freely confesse wee could not the power of GOD in his workes surpassing the weakenesse of humane reason and yet that wee knew that GOD did not without reason in putting mortall man by these past his reason Wee know not his will in many things yet know wee that what hee willeth is no way impossible as hee hath told vs to whome wee must neither impute falsenesse nor imperfection But what say our great Reasonists vnto those ordinary things which are so common and yet exceed all reason and seeme to oppose the lawes of nature If wee should say they were to come then the Infidells would forth-with aske reason for them as they doe for that which wee say is to come And therefore seeing that in those workes of GOD mans reason is to seeke as these things are such now and yet why no man can tell so shall the other bee also hereafter beyond humane capacity and apprehension L. VIVES THe a salt Hereof read Pliny lib. 21. b The Garamantes Plin. lib. 5. Neare vnto this fountaine is Hammons well of which you may read more in Diodorus Lueret Mela Ouid Silius Solinus c. c In Epirus Pomp. Mela lib. 2. and Plin. lib. 2. It is called the fountaine of Iupiter Dodonaeus d Asbest A stone of an Iron collour Plin. l 38. e Sinketh Plin. lib. 13. cap. 7. f Sodome Fiue citties perished in the burning of Sodome Sodome Gomorrha Adama Seborin and Segor whereof this last was a little one but all the rest were very large Paul Oros. hereof you may read in Solinus his Polyhistor as also of these apples Tacitus seemeth to giue the infection of the earth and the ayre from the lake for the reason of this strange effect vpon the fruites lib. vltimo Vide Hegesip lib. 4. Ambros. interprete g Tyrites So saith Pliny lib. vlt. Pur in greeke is fire Some call the Corall pyrites as Pliny wittnesseth lib. 36. but there is another Pyrites besides of the collour of brasse h The Selenites Plin. lib. vlt. out of Dioscorides affirmeth this to bee true i Mars So saith Solinus in his description of Cappadocia And it is commonly held that the Mares of Andaluzia doe conceiue by the south-west winde as Homere Uarro Columella Pliny and Solinus Plinies Ape doe all affirme k Tilon Pliny and Theophrastus affirme that it lieth in the read sea Pliny saith that a ship built of the wood of this Island will last two hundered yeares lib. 16. l More incredulous For some will beleeue onely what they can conceiue and hold althings else fictions nay some are so mad that they thinke it the onely wisedome to beleeue iust nothing but what they see despising and deriding the secrets of GOD and nature which are wisely therefore concealed from the vulgar and the witlesse eare All strange effects are not natures some are mans deuises some the deuills CHAP. 6. PErhaps they will answere Oh these are lies wee beleeue them not they are false relations if these be credible then beleeue you also if you list for one man hath relared both this and those that there was a temple of Venus wherein there burned a lampe which no winde nor water could euer quensh so that it was called the
many things which were they not to bee seene and confirmed by sufficient testimony would seeme as impossible as the rest whereas now wee know them partly all and partly some of vs. As for other things that are but reported without â—…estimony and concerne not religion nor are not taught in scripture they may bee false and a man may lawfully refuse to beleeue them I doe not beleeue all that I haue set downe so firmely that I doe make no doubt of some of them but for that which I haue tried as the burning of lyme in water and cooling in oyle the loade-stones drawing of Iron and not moouing a straw the incorruptibility of the Peacoks flesh whereas Platoes flesh did putrifie the keeping of snow and the ripening of apples in chaffe the bright fire makeing the stones of his owne colâ—…our and wood of the iust contrarie these I haue seene and beleeue without any doubt at all Such also are these that cleare oyle should make blacke spottes and white siluer drawne a black line that coales should turne black from white wood brittle of hard ones and incorruptible of corruptible peeces togither with many other which tediousnesse forbiddeth me heere to insert For the others excepting that fountaine that quensheth and kindleth againe the dusty apples of Sodome I could not get any sufficient proofes to confirme them Nor mett I any that had beheld that fountaine of Epyrus but I found diuerse that had seene the like neere vnto Grenoble in France And for the Apples of Sodome there are both graue authors and eye-witnesses enow aliue that can affirme it so that I make no doubt thereof The rest I leaue indifferent to affirme or deny yet I did set them downe because they are recorded in our adâ—…ersaries owne histories to shew them how many things they beleeue in their owne bookes with-out all reason that will not giue credence to vs when wee say that God Almighty will doe any thing that exceedeth their capacity to conceiue What better or stronger reason can be giuen for any thing then to say God Almighty will doe this which hee hath promised in those bookes wherein he promiseth as strange things as this which he hath performed He will do it because he hath said hee will euen hee that hath made the incredulous Heathens beleeue things which they held meere impossibilities L. VIVES WHy then a cannot God Seeing the scope of this place is diuine and surpasseth the bounds of nature as concerning the resurrection iudgment saluation and damnation I wonder that Aquinas Scotus Occam Henricus de Gandauo Durandus and Petrus de Palude dare define of them according to Aristotles positions drawing them-selues into such labyrinths of naturall questions that you would rather say they were Athenian Sophisters then Christian diuines b Sufficient Mans conceipt being so slender and shallow in these causes of things in so much that Virgil said well Faelix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas c Grenoble It was built by Gratian and called Gratianopolis Valens being Emperour of the East It standeth in Daulphine and reteineth part of the old name That the alteration of the knowne nature of any creature vnto a nature vnknowne is not opposite vnto the lawes of nature CHAP. 8. IF they reply that they will not beleeue that mans body can endure perpetuall burning because they know it is of no such nature so that it cannot bee said of it that nature hath giuen it such a quality we may answer them out of the scriptures that mans body before his fall was of such a nature that it could not suffer death and yet in his fall was altered vnto that mortall misery wherein now all man-kinde liueth to dye at length and therefore at the resurrection it may vndergoe such another alteration vnknowne to vs as yet But they beleeue not the Scriptures that relate mans estate in Paradise if they did we should not neede to stand long with them vpon this theame of the paines of the damned whereas now wee must make demonstration out of their owne authors how it is possible that there may bee a full alteration of nature in any one obiect from the kinde of being that it had before and yet the lawes of nature be kept vnviolated Thus wee read in Varro's booke De Gente Pop. Rom. Castor saith hee relateth that in that bright starre of Venus a which Plautus calles Hesperugo and Homer the glorious b Hesperus befell a most monstrous change both of colour magnitude figure and motion the like neuer was before nor since and this saith Adrastus Cyzicenus and Dion Neapolites two famous Astronomers befell in the reigne of Ogyges A monstrous change saith Varro and why but that it seemed contrary to nature such we say all portents to be but wee are deceiued for how can that be against nature which is effected by the will of God the Lord and maker of all nature A portent therefore is not against nature but against the most common order of nature But who is hee that can relate all the portents recorded by the Gentiles Let vs seeke our purpose in this one What more decretall law hath God laide vpon nature in any part of the creation then hee hath in the motions of the heauens what more legall and fixed order doth any part of nature keepe and yet you see that when it was the pleasure of Natures highest soueraigne the brighest starre in all the firmament changed the coulour magnitude and figure and which is most admirable the very course and motion This made a foule disturbance in the rules of the Astrologians if there were any then when they obseruing their fixed descriptions of the eternall course of the starres durst affirme that there neuer was nor neuer would bee any such change as this of Venus was Indeed wee read in the Scripture that the Sunne stood still at the prayer of Iosuah vntill the battle was done and went back to shew Hezechias that the Lord had added fifteene yeares vnto his life As for the miracles done by the vertues of the Saints these Infidels know them well and therefore auerre them to be done by Magicke where-vpon Virgil saith as I related before of the witch that she could Sistere aquam fluuiis vertere syder a retrò Stop floods bring back the starres c. For the riuer Iordan parted when Iosuah lead the people ouer it and when Heliah passed it as likewise when his follower Heliseus deuided it with Heliah his cloake and the sunne as wee said before went back in the time of Hezechiah But Varro doth not say that any one desired this change of Venus Let not the faithlesse therefore hood winck them-selues in the knowledge of nature as though Gods power could not alter the nature of any thing from what it was before vnto mans knowledge although that the knowne nature of any thing bee fully as admirable but that men admire nothing but rarieties For
both on the earth and in the earth the mountaine tops giue it vp in aboundance nay more wee see that fire is produced out of earthâ—… namely of wood and stones and what are these but earthly bodyes yea but the elementary fire say they is pure hurtlesse quiet and eternall and this of ours turbulent smoakie corrupting and corruptible Yet doth it not corrupt nor hurt the hills where-in it burneth perpetually nor the hollowes within ground where it worketh most powerfully It is not like the other indeed but adapted vnto the conuenient vse of man But why then may we not beleeue that the nature of a corruptible body may bee made incorruptible and fitte for heauen as well as we see the elementary fire made corruptible and fitte for vs So that these arguments drawne from the sight and qualities of the elements can no way diminish the power that Almighty God hath to make mans body of a quality fitte and able to inhabite the heauens L. VIVES A Fifth a body But Aristotle frees the soule from all corporeall beeing as you may read De anima lib. 1. disputing against Democritus Empedocles Alcmâ—…on Plato and Xenocrates But indeed Plato teaching that the soule was composed of celestiall fire taken from the starres and with-all that the starres were composed of the elementary bodies made Aristotle thinke else-where that it was of an elementary nature as well as the starres whence it was taken But in this hee mistooke him-selfe and miss-vnderstood his maister But indeed Saint Augustine in this place taketh the opinion of Aristotle from Tully for Aristotles bookes were rare and vntranslated as then who saith that hee held their soule to bee quintam naturam which Saint Augustine calleth quintum corpus a fifth body seuerall from the elementary compounds But indeede it is a question whether Aristotle hold the soule to bee corporeall or no hee is obscure on both sides though his followers â—…old that it is absolutely incorporeall as wee hold generally at this day And Tullyes words were cause both of Saint Augustines miss-prision and like-wise set almost all the Grecians both of this age and the last against him-selfe for calling the soule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereas they say Aristotle calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is habitio perfecta and not motio pereâ—…nis as Tullyes word implieth But alas why should Tully be so baited for so small an error O let vs bee ashamed to vpbraide the father of Latine eloquence with any misprision for his errors are generally more learned then our labours Against the Infidels calumnies cast out in scorne of the Christians beleefe of the resurrection CHAP. 12. BVt in their scrupulous inquiries touching this point they come against vs with such scoffes as these Whether shall the Ab-ortiue births haue any part in the resurrection And seeing the LORD saith there shall noâ—… one haire of your headperish whether shall all men bee of one stature and bignesse or no If they bee how shall the Ab-ortiues if they rise againe haue that at the resurrection which they wanted at the first Or if they doe not rise againe because they were neuer borne but cast out wee may make the same doubt of infants where shall they haue that bignesse of body which they wanted when they died for they you know are capable of regeneration and therefore must haue their part in the resurrection And then these Pagans aske vs of what height and quantity shall mens bodies be then If they bee as tall as euer was any man then both little and many great ones shall want that which they wanted here on earth and whence shall they haue it But if it bee true that Saint Paul saith thâ—…t wee shall meete vnto the measure of the age of the fulnesse of CHRIST and againe if that place Hee predestinated them to bee made like to the Image of his Sonne imply that all the members of Christs Kingdome shal be like him in shape and stature then must many men say they forgoe part of the stature which they had vpon earth And then where is that great protection of euery haire if there bee such a diminution made of the stature and body Besides wee make a question say they whether man shall arise withall the haire that euer the Barber cut from his head If hee doe who will not loath such an ougly sight for so likewise must it follow that hee haue on all the parings of his nayles And where is then that comelinesse which ought in that immortality to bee so farre exceeding that of this world while man is in corruption But if hee doe not rise with all his haire then it is lost and where is your scriptures then Thus they proceed vnto fatnesse and leannesse If all bee a like say they then one shall bee fatte and another leane So that some must loose flesh and some must gaine some must haue what they wanted and some must leaue what they had Besides as touching the putrefaction and dissolution of mens bodies part going into dust part into ayre part into fire part into the guttes of beasts and birds part are drowned and dissolued into water these accidents trouble them much and make them thinke that such bodies can neuer gather to flesh againe Then passe they to deformities as monstrous births misse-shapen members scarres and such like inquiring with scoffes what formes these shall haue in the resurrection For if wee say they shall bee all taken away then they come vpon vs with our doctrine that CHRIST arose with his woundes vpon him still But their most difficult question of all is whose flesh shall that mans bee in the resurrection which is eaten by another man through compulsion of hunger for it is turned into his flesh that eateth it and filleth the parts that famine had made hollow and leane Whether therefore shall hee haue it againe that ought it at first or hee that eate it and so ought it afterwards These doubts are put vnto our resolutions by the scorners of our faith in the resurrection and they themselues doe either estate mens soules for euer in a state neuer certaine but now wretched and now blessed as Plato doth or else with Porphyry they affirme that these reuolutions doe tosse the soule along time but notwithstanding haue a finall end at last leauing the spirit at rest but beeing vtterly separated from the body for euer Whether Ab-ortiues belong not to the resurrection if they belong to the dead CHAP. 13. TO all which obiections of theirs I meane by GODS helpe to answere and first as touching Ab-ortiues which die after they are quick in the mothers wombe that such shall rise againe I dare neither affirme nor deny Yet if they bee reckned amongst the dead I see no reason to exclude them from the resurrection For either all the dead shall not rise againe and the soules that had no bodies sauing in the mothers wombe shall continue
reformed the defects supplied and the excesses fitly proportioned And for collour how glorious will it bee The iust shall shine as the Sunne in the Kingdome of their Father And this lustre was rather hidden from the Apostles eyes at CHRISTS resurrection then wanting in his bodie For mans weake eyes could not haue endured it and CHRIST was rather to make them to know him then to shew them his glory as hee manifested by letting them touch his woundes by eating and drinking with them which hee did not for any neede of meate or sustenance but because hee had power to doe it And when a things is present thus and not seene with other things that are present and seene as this glory was vnseene beeing with his person which was seene this in greeke is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines translate it in Genesis caecitas blindnesse The Sodomites were smitten with it when they sought Lots dore and could not finde it But if it had beene direct blindnesse they would rather haue sought for guides to lead them home then for this dore which they could not finde L. VIVES BEauty a is So sayth Tully Tuse quest 3. who maketh beauty of two sorts one wherein dignity excelleth another wherein comelinesse Aristotle giueth euery part of mans life a seuerall beauty 〈◊〉 1. That euery mans body how euer dispersed here shall bee restored him perfect at the Resurrection CHAP. 20. OVr loue vnto the Martyrs is of that nature that wee desire to behold the scarres of their wounds borne for the name of Christ euen in their glorification and perhaps so wee shall For they will not deforme but grace them as then and giue out a lustre of their vertue not bodily albeit in the body But if any of them lost any member for his Sauiour surely hee shall not want that in the resurrection for vnto such was it sayd not an haire of your heads shall perish But if CHRISTS pleasure bee to make their scarres apparant in the world to come then shall those members also that were cut off haue visible markes in the place whence they were cut and where they are reioyned for although all their miserable hurts shall not bee their visible yet their shal be some which neuerthelesse shal be no more called hurts but honours And farre bee it from vs to thinke a GODS power insufficient to recollect and vnite euery atome of the bodie were it burnt or torne by beasts or fallen to dust or dissolued into moysture or exhaled into ayre GOD forbid that any corner of nature though it may bee vnknowne to vs should lie hid from the eye and power of the almighty b Tully their great author going about to define GOD as well as hee could affirmed him to bee Mens soluta libera secreta ab omni concretione mortali omnia sentiens mouens ispaque motu predita sempiterno A free and vnbounded intellect separate from all mortall composition moouing and knowing althings and moouing eternally in himselfe This hee found in the great Philosophers Now then to come vp to them what can lie hid from him that knoweth all what can avoide his power that mooueth all And now may wee answere the doubt that seemeth most difficult that is whose flesh shall that mans bee at the resurrection which another man eateth â—…c Ancient stories and late experience haue lamentably enformed vs that this hath often come to passe that one man hath eaten another in which case none will say that all the flesh went quite through the body and none was turned into nutriment the meager places becomming by this onely meate more full and fleshy doe prooue the contarry Now then my premises shall serue to resolue this Ambiguity The flesh of the famished man that hunger consumed is exhaled into ayre and thence as wee sayd before the Creator can fetch it againe This flesh therefore of the man that was eaten shall returne to the first owner of whome the famished man doth but as it were borrow it and so must repay it againe And that of his owne which famine dried vppe into ayre shal be recollected and restored into some conuenient place of his body which were it so consumed that no part thereof remained in nature yet GOD could fetch it againe at an instant and when hee would himselfe But seeing that the verie heires of our head are secured vs it were absurd to imagine that famine shold haue the power to depriue vs of so much of our flesh These things beeing duely considered this is the summe of all that in the Resurrection euery man shall arise with the same bodie that hee had or should haue had in his fullest growth in all comelinesse and without deformity of any the least member To preserue with comelinesse if some what bee taken from any vnshapely part and decently disposed of amongst the rest that it bee not lost and withall that the congruence bee obserued wee may without absurdity beleeue that there may be some addition vnto the stature of the bodie the inconuenience that was visible in one part beeing inuisibly distributed and so annihilated amongst the rest If any one avow precisely that euery man shall arise in the proper stature of his growth which hee had when hee died wee doe not oppose it so that hee grant vnto an vtter abolishing of all deformity dulnesse and corruptibility of the sayd forme and stature as things that beeâ—…it not that Kingdome wherein the sonnes of promise shal be â—…uall to the Angells of GOD if not in their bodies nor ages yet in absolutâ—… perfection and beatitude L. VIVES TO thinke a Gods power The Gouernor of a family if hee bee wise and diligent knowes at an instant where to fetch any thinke in his house be his roomes neuer so large and many and shall we thinke that GOD cannot doe the like in the world vnto whose wisdome it is but a very casket b Tully Tusc. quaest lib. 1. c Ancient stories Many Cities in straite sieges haue beene driuen to this There is also a people called Anthropophagi or Caniballs that liue vpon mans flesh What new and spirituall bodies shal be giuen vnto the Saints CHAP. 21. EVery part therefore of the bodies peryshing either in death or after it in the graue or wheresoeuer shal be restored renewed and of a naturall and corruptible bodie it shall become immortall spirituall and incorruptible Bee it all made into pouder and dust by chance or cruelty or dissolued into ayre or water so that no part remaine vndispersed yet shall it not yet can it not bee kept hidden from the omnipotency of the Creator who will not haue one haire of the head to perish Thus shall the spirituall flesh become subiect to the spirit yet shall it bee flesh still as the carnall spirit before was subiect to the flesh and yet a spirit still A proofe of which wee haue in the deformity of our penall estate For they
were carnall in respect of the spirit indeede not meerely of the flesh to whom Saint Paul sayd I could not speake vnto you as vnto spirituall men but as vnto carnall So man in this life is called spirituall though hee bee carnall still and haue a lawe in his members rebelling against the law of his minde But hee shal be spirituall in bodie when hee riseth againe â—…o that it is soâ—… a â—…urall bodie but raised a spirituall bodie as the sayd Apostle sayth But of the measure of this spirituall grace what and how great it shal be in the bodie I feare to determine for it were rashnesse to goe aâ—… it But seeing wee may not conceale the ioy of our hope for the glorifying of GOD and seeing that it was sayd from the very bowells of diuine rapture Oh LORD I haue loued the habitation of thine house wee may by GODS helpe make a coniecture from the goods imparted to vs in this transitory life how great the glories shal be that wee shall receiue in the other which as yet wee neither haue tried nor can any way truely describe I omit mans estate before his fall our first parents happinesse in the fertyle Paradise which was so short that their progeny had no taste of it Who is hee that can expresse the boundlesse mercies of GOD shewen vnto mankinde euen in this life that wee all trie and wherein we suffer temptations or rather a continuall temptation be wee neuer so vigilant all the time that we enioy it Of mans miseries drawne vpon him by his first parents and taken away from him onely by CHRISTS merites and gratious goodnesse CHAP. 22. COncerning mans first originall our present life if such a miserable estate bee to bee called a life doth sufficiently prooue that all his progeny was condemned in him What else doth that horred gulfe of ignorance confirme whence all error hath birth and wherein all the sonnes of Adam are so deepely drenshed that none can bee freed without toile feare and sorrow what else doth our loue of vanities affirme whence there ariseth such a tempest of cares sorrowes repinings feares madde exultations discords altercations warres treasons furies hates deceipts flatteries thefts rapines periuries pride ambition enuy murder parricide cruelty villany luxury impudence vnchastnesse fornications adulteries incests seuerall sorts of sinnes against nature beastly euen to bee named sacriledge heresie blasphemy oppression calumnies circumuentions cousnages false witnesses false iudgements violence robberies and such like out of my rememberance to recken but not excluded from the life of man All these euills are belonging to man and arise out of the roote of that error and peruerse affection which euery Sonne of Adam brings into the world with him For who knoweth not in what a mist of ignorance as wee see in infantes and with what a crue of vaine desires as wee see in boies all man-kinde entreth this world so that a might hee bee left vnto his owne election hee would fall into most of the fore-sayd mischiues But the hand of GOD bearing a raine vpon our condemned soules and powring our his mercies vpon vs not shutting them vppe in displeasure law and instruction were reuealed vnto the capacity of man to awake vs out of those lethargies of ignorance and to withstand those former incursions which notwithstanding is not done without great toyle and trouble For what imply those feares whereby wee keepe little children in order what doe teachers rods ferâ—…laes thongs and such like but confirme this And that discipline of the scriptures that sayth that our sonnes must bee beaten on the sides whilest they are childeren least they waxe stubborne and either past or very neere past reformation What is the end of all these but to abolish ignorance and to bridle corruption both which we come wrapped into the world withall what is our labour to remember things our labour to learne and our ignorance without this labour our agility got by toyle and our dulnesse if wee neglect it doth not all declare the promptnesse of our nature in it selfe vnto all viciousnesse and the care that must bee had in reclayming it Sloath dulnesse and negligence are all vices that avoide labour and yet labour it selfe is but a profitable paine But to omit the paines that enforce childeren tolearne the scarcely vsefull bookes that please their parents how huge a band of paines attend the firmer state of man and bee not peculiarly inflicted on the wicked but generallie impendent ouer vs all through our common estate in misery who can recount them who can conceiue them What feares what calamities â—…doth the losse of childeren of goods or of credite the false dealing of others false suspect open violence and all other mischieues inflicted by others heape vpon the heart of man beeing generally accompanied with pouerty inprisonment bandes banishments tortures losse of limmes or sences prostitution to beastly lust and other such horred euents So are wee afflicted on the other side with chances ab externo with cold heate stormes shoures deluges lightning thunder earthquakes falls of houses furie of beasts poisons of ayres waters plants and beasts of a thousand forts stinging of serpents byting of madde dogges a strange accident wherein a beast most sociable and familiar with man shall sometimes become more to bee feared then a Lion or a Dragon infecting him whom hee biteth with such a furious madnesse that hee is to bee feared of his family worse then any wilde beast what misery doe Nauigators now and then endure or trauellers by land what man can walke any where free from sudden accidents b One comming home from the court beeing sound enough of his feete fell downe broke his legge and died of 〈◊〉 who would haue thought this that had seene him sitting in the court Heli the Priest fell from his chaire where hee â—…ate and brake his neck What feares are husband-men yea all men subiect vnto that the fruites should bee hurt by the heauens or earth or caterpillers or locusts or such other pernicious things yet when they haue gathered them and layd them vp they are secured notwithstanding I haue knowne granaries full of 〈◊〉 borne quite away with an invndation Who can bee secured by his owne innocency against the innumerable incursions of the deuills when as wee see that they doe some-times afflict little baptized infants who are as innocent as can bee and by the permission of GOD euen vpon their harmelesse bodies doe shew the miseries of this life and excite vs all to labour for the blisse of the other Besides mans body wee see how subiect it is to c diseases more then phisick can either cure or comprehend And in most of these we see how offensiue the very medicines are that cure them nay euen our very meate we eate during the time of the maladies domination Hath not extremity of heate made man to drinke his owne vrine and others too Hath not hunger enforced man to eate